#at least to a certain point

[canisalbus]

I love how Vasco looks like he is always living his best life while Machete looks like he never had a moment of rest, ever, in his life. Like a mirror reflecting two opposites

.

[egophiliac]

So,I read silver's relaxation vigente and now I'm sad for the poor boy. If lilia broke up silver's curse why is it acting so strongly on him?

to be fair, the chronological placement of his birthday story just doesn't make any sense in general. like, it can only really take place during his second year, since Ace and Malleus are both there...yet we have seen pretty definitively what Silver was doing on the evening before/morning of his 18th birthday, and it was very much NOT his history homework. this myth?

jk jk I think it's just one of those card stories that's meant to be more...perpendicular to canon, if that makes sense? 😅 like a lot of them aren't really supposed to fit into a specific point in the timeline; instead all the characters and relationships tend to be somewhere vaguely post-episode 1 (occasionally with a bonus post-6 Ortho) except Yuu is already friends with everyone and nobody is surprised to hear them call Malleus Tsunotarou.

mostly they can get away with it, but it starts getting a bit weird with the cards that are supposed to be set at specific times. :T for those I think you gotta just kind of suspend your disbelief and take 'em as, like...little what-if AUs, or something like that! it's not exactly not canon, but more like. this is Silver's birthday if none of the narrative development happened and so his curse is still in effect, or something. 🤷 uhhhh basically Twst's timeline is an eldritch thing that cannot be perceived by mortal eyes, to try will lead to nothing but suffering, down this path dwells only madness.

that said I do 100% accept the presented canon that Silver's roommate is in eternal torment. this is the real victim of Twst right here.

[syluses]

big girls dont cry QNA

i know you guys have lots of curiosities about this fic lolll so i’ll try to answer some of the questions i received (∗ᵕ̴᷄◡ᵕ̴᷅∗) 💕 if u still have some, just shoot me an ask!! :] also im really bad at explaining so i apologize 🤦🏻‍♀️ i have the plot nailed in my head but its tricky to articulate it in a clear, linear way for yall considering all the little nuances i added lol. i’ll try my best tho hehe :,)

Okay so there’s a whole ‘nother plot that exists in the background of this fic- which was super fun for me to write, but im sure from a reader standpoint it’s also kinda thrilling to try to connect the dots i left lol. thats why theres so many interpretations for this story (which i love!! i loved reading all yall’s theories)! 💕 BUT. that being said, the ‘canon’ goes like this:

SPOILERS BELOW read it first then come back! ( ⸍ɞ̴̶̷ ·̫ ɞ̴̶̷⸌ )

was caleb really dead?

No. Caleb staged his own death and then, similar to the main story homecoming wings, didnt tell mc :,) for his own reasons, for a time, he decides he’ll let her go on believing he’s truly gone…

why did he stage his death?

I dropped little crumbs of it in the fic, but it’s hinted that mc, on top of all her grief, feels a bit bitter over the whole shebang and also blames herself for it. hmm… why would that be? 🤔 well because their final moments together (or so she THOUGHT) were emotionally charged and volatile.

the foundation of their sibling relationship was growing weaker and weaker before the explosion. arguments are forming out of nowhere- things are becoming more tense and mc, for the life of her, can’t understand why her gege is always pulling her into a heated debate about safety, danger, blahblahblah, this that and the third, every time they interact. He’s being wildly unreasonable, which she knows, and protective- a trait that has snowballed as they entered their adulthood- but what she doesn’t know is the why behind it. she tells herself she just has a super protective older brother who views her as a little baby in need of his guidance- which isn’t entirely wrong… but she doesn’t see the full picture. His true feelings. All this tension eventually climbs to its peak. Caleb just gets worse and worse. He needs to do something before the world collapses on them both.

Now, in this au, he works at EVER, a somewhat shady but lucrative company- which dabbles in robotics amongst other things. I imagine they have abundant resources and wealth- and what with his promotions, it’s safe to say caleb is making a LOT. So, the delusional guy he is, he buys a big fancy suite with the idea in mind of two eventually living in it ;) but mc doesn’t want to- she has her own life in linkon!! She wants to spread her wings and separate from the nest anyway. Partly to start her own life; partly to prove to her gege that she can take care of herself. The argument that unfolds over this is the last they have before the big tragic explosion 😭 caleb, putting on a show with his beaten puppy eyes, leaves and then that’s the last time she sees him.

Caleb meticulously plans his ‘death’ out (with some help from his wingman ofc) and then eventually the robot is introduced to mc. It serves as a trojan horse. He’ll finally conquer her heart with it and win full autonomy over her. THIS IS HIS MAIN GOAL WITH THE ROBOT. WHY HE EVEN DOES ANY OF THIS TO BEGIN WITH.

Caleb gets to spy on mc with it and also slowly reshape her to accept his feelings; his ‘death’ has left her in a fragile state of mourning and he knows, after she warms up a bit to not-Caleb, he can more or less get away with anything- bc she will claw for whatever’s left of her family member. He can make her finally reciprocate and understand him— whether that be his feelings or fear or love. He tried to be patient, to be good, but obviously he had to travel a new route. He’s thinking of her 24/7. He’s obsessive, longing, protective, you name it- and all of this just worsens the more she denies him. When push comes to shove… well, caleb will do whatever it takes to win her :] He knows it’s unconventional and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t hurt him too- monitoring his endearingly stubborn, but sweet meimei and the shattered pieces he left of her through his android’s eyes— but it’s all temporary, and he truly believes it’s for the better.

did gideon know?

Yes, Gideon knew all along. He’s Caleb’s best buddy after all. To be matter of fact- Gideon didn’t just know, he quite literally ‘herded’ mc into the lion’s den in a way. Mc knew vaguely of their work at EVER, but not too much; so Gideon was the one who shined that light on their robotics and really introduced her to the concept of not-Caleb. Now, i wouldnt say Gideon is exactly comfortable with his involvement, but he actually really does care for mc and thinks she needs that help- as dubious as the means are. Anyway, it’s almost impossible to shut out all of his buddy’s demands: the brunet is nothing if not insistent on getting what he wants. In his own whacky way, Gideon thinks what he did- playing into Caleb’s plan- was for the better as well. I mean, Mc clearly wasnt doing good before not-Caleb came along,… but with the few visits he managed before the android got a little too stingy and sent him off, Gideon actually managed to catch a smile or two from her! So clearly he did the right thing 👀 not to mention… the real caleb seems very pleased with the progress, too. besides- the whole robot situation is temporary anyway :] She’ll be reuniting with the beloved gege she misses so much sooner rather than later.

how accurate was not-caleb?

His programming is like 100% accurate. Mc, for a mix of both naiveity and delusion, thinks not-Caleb is flawed when he starts to show signs of amorous/romantic feelings for her. Really, though, after she tells him to stay the night with her (innocently; and after years of having not shared the same childhood twin bed), it triggers a part of his ‘brain’ that undoes all real caleb’s self restraint thus far :] If the same exact situation happened with the real caleb, his reaction would’ve more or less been the same. Homeboy can only keep his feelings in check for so long

who programmed not-caleb?

Real Caleb

how is mc pregnant?

Because the robot’s creator wanted to add his own special touch to his work if you know what i mean :) yeah he’s a freak like that. Dont think he WOULDNT install in his robot the ability to indirectly knock his ‘meimei’ up. I will say though, that while caleb wants to get mc pregnant, its not fully bc he wants to start a family- at least not right away- but because he wants to emotionally and legally trap her with him. Besides monitoring her/wearing down her walls while she thought he was ‘dead’, this was actually one of caleb’s biggest goals with sending not-caleb into her home.

is not-caleb self-aware?

Yes

what’s real caleb been doing all this time?

Basically climbing the ranks of EVER from his lil perch somewhere in skyhaven. all the while, of course, spying on mc like a hawk. Biding his time & waiting for the right moment when she’s at her weakest, most codependent state to replace his carbon copy :)

was caleb controlling his robot?

No. But he essentially created its whole program. And there are cameras inside its eyes in which he watches mc from :) and cant help but snap pics with sometimes: she’s just so pretty— and endlessly sexy when he finally, in a vicarious way, gets to lie her back and make love to her <3

what is real caleb’s motive/ultimate goal?

1. to control/protect/‘tame’ mc through the robot; get her to see things from his point of view (which means realizing she belongs with him- where it’s safe and he can protect & love her)

2. to knock her up (hence the. ahem. reproductive abilities of the robot) so that he can trap her with a baby on top of all the other emotional strings he’s hogtied her with.

does gideon want mc too?

the question is not would gideon smash her. the question is would caleb LET him…. 👀

also, below i just attached a screenie from some of the notes i took. theyre ofc a little disjointed but i think it might clarify things too :] im so bad at answering questions esp for a plot this spiraling but i really tried my best guys my brain is tired forgive me :,)

[op-dumpstertruck]

Can we just get to the reunion art please? Hurts my heart so much

~~I love it but also whyyyyy~~

Sure :)

Zoro has an out-of-body experience, Kuina was the one who got out and is now finally home again and the stawhats 100% made quite the ruckus, so little eggplant was quite scared. This will eventually end well, but I never said the reunion would be fluffy :o)

[rednightmare18]

Sometimes I do think the hyperfocus on religious guilt, especially the hyperfocus on religious guilt pertaining to sexual behavior (with one particular romance taking up 90% of the fandom's concern here), is eclipsing the absolutely fascinating canonical relationship Henry has with God.

Henry's guilt, a complicated tangle of survivor's guilt and moral guilt, is never on clearer display than when he dreams of his parents. This dream is the face of how Henry feels about himself and the sins, moral and divine and cultural, he has committed. It always troubles me when I see people yelling at Henry's parents as if they were really there... and not recognizing this is insight directly into how Henry feels about what happened in KCD2.

Notice that he is deeply caught up on theft and revenge/wrath (even when he argues with his father/i.e. himself in his own defense).

Notice, too, that he has no apology to make about Hans (if romanced). Of even greater interest from a character analysis standpoint, neither of his dream-parents (the voice of his internal guilt and misgivings) spare more than a moment's surprise on it. Henry's mother immediately scolds Henry's father when he expresses surprise; down to the marrow of his dreams, Henry does not seem to feel badly, guilty, or conflicted about romancing Hans at all.

Henry's aversion to touching the dead in kcd1 and kcd2 (particularly when someone he deeply cares about does it) is period-place-typical. It is fascinating how he rationalizes with himself in different contexts and how he justifies or does not justify this.

Henry usually gravitates toward social pariahs out of genuine curiosity first, compassion second; I find this point (blended with the above point) especially interesting in the context of his work with Executioner Hermann from KCD1!

Henry's anger is extraordinary, especially in KCD1, and whether or not Henry comes to understand his anger has immense echoes into the "voice" of his guilt.

Henry has a curiously spotty religious knowledge; this always delights me, as he's had a dash of monk's education and grew up in a town without a church. "Crimbo" is a hilarious line, but in other ways, it is also nicely representative of the half-formed grip he has on religious philosophy.

Henry's furious outbursts of "you call yourself a Christian?" are almost exclusively tied to his outbursts in defense of the defenseless, and this is used as a call to moral shame, especially against militant men. I always think first of his genuinely furious attempt to interject when Kuno deliberately uses civilian women as bait in KCD1.

Henry at times seems incredibly confident in his personal relationship with God. I adore the quest A Sinful Soul for how it showcases this. In a direct prayer the player has limited control over, Henry addresses God as informally as one might address a neighbor he has a minor grievance with. He essentially tells God, "Look, I know what you said about this issue, but I also know that YOU know I'm right this time, so I'm gonna do it my way, cause I know you didn't exactly mean it the way you said it there. Thanks in advance - knew you'd agree with me." Henry believes in a God who makes individual exceptions based on what is moral; he also differentiates what is moral from what is godly, and seems certain that God also draws this distinction for Himself.

Fucking thrilling from a character development standpoint! Fucking thrilling in the breath before the Hussite rebellions.

[starkspi]

"why, I had no part in that. you've always been this way!"

just a little something from @morningstarwrites fanfiction "of saints and sinners" which i'm obsessed with

[cookieshapedrat]

She deserves the universe…

[mirror-and-mind]

Rewatching Ayakashi "Bakeneko" after seeing the movie, I realized something. It's not just the movie's Medicine Seller or mononoke or even character design that feels "softer" than in the series. It's the everything. It's the whole tone. It's the sense of humor, more light and playful than the grim humor of the series. It's the degree to which the characters are relatable, understandable, or even forgiveable. It's the gentleness of the emotions they express and the degree of sincerity with which they express them. It's in how even the most awful characters show that they were better people once and that those better people are still in there somewhere.

The movie looks on humanity with a much kinder eye. In the series, the focus was on acts of brutality, largely committed by men against women, and about the rage and violence they awakened and perpetuated. Even though the patriarchal structure of the shogunate is behind the situations of the women in the Ooku, the Karakasa is not driven by violence or vengeance. It kills horribly, but when its Regret is revealed, it's far more about grief than rage. Its Truth, Kitagawa, doesn't bear a grudge against anyone--she simply can't move on from what she lost. The Karakasa's Regret is a true Regret: a longing for what was thrown away, trapping those who created it in a never-ending search for their own hearts.

So Karakasa is kinder. It's a very different kind of story.

[seafleece]

PICKMAN AND THE TRAIN.

my 2024 secret samol gift to ratvortex on twitter! admittedly the idea of pickman in the style of a western movie poster sort of got away from me… but nonetheless it was a ton of fun :3c below are some detail shots and some bonus sketches of the ladies in pickman’s life admiring her heroic countenance… to fulfill the prompt “pickman being fawned over”

[equalperson]

the animosity I see between antisocials and narcissists (on both sides) is absolutely bizarre to Me. how are you advocating for the acceptance of people with egocentric hypoempath disorder #1, just to look at people with egocentric hypoempath disorder #2 and go "yeah. these people are repulsive and should be tortured actually."

[starry-bi-sky]

MMMM twins au with danny and dan except its og TUE timeline danny and dan

ok okay i neeeeed o write this down and share it before i explode buT. as the title says. twins danny and dan (who im going to be calling James/Jamie bc i cannot express how much i despise the name dan) where, instead of disappearing into the ghost zone after he's separated from danny's body, Dan rips out Vlad's ghost half, tears THAT in half, and fuses one half with himself and the other with Danny.

Shit happens, and BOOM. Two morally ambiguous and perhaps slightly murderous demonic twins from hell. Daniel James Fenton and his Twin WHose Always Been Here What Are You Talking About :) James Daniel Fenton. They are both depressed, lonely, and one bad day from becoming a mass extinction event :)

this is because i got grabbed by the hair today and dragged into the SVSS fandom screaming and the fanart of Shen Jiu/Shen Yuan/Shen Quingqiu (????) with his fan entranced me. Ice Prince Core is my favorite thing so naturally i have to implant that onto my favorite blorbos ever :)

After the Incident, both their appearances changed and they're practically identical to each other. Sorta. They both have heterochromia and salt-and-pepper hair. But Danny has one green eye and one blue eye and white hair with black streaks, while Jamie has one blue eye and one green eye and black hair with white streaks. I'm iving them both long hair, for funsies <3

nobody can tell them apart, they keep getting confused on whose who and frankly the mix-match hair and eyes make it worse not better asjd. they're horrifically codependent. please do not separate :)

and because i must. im pulling a blood blossom/tales of the passerine and giving them to pre-robin batman. batman and his terrifying demon(??) twins. nobody is quite sure if they're human or not, and the scourge of gotham are a little too terrified to ask.

(they dont HAVE to go to batman while he's pre-robin. however. i think its much funnier that way bc gotham isn't use to A) Batman having kids, and B) Batman having TERRIFYING kids yet. think of all the new fun rumors)

they both use war fans while they're out, and neither of them use their ghost forms because they at least have the remaining empathy to know that they're more likely to murder someone accidentally as a ghost :). Ghost form is for fellow mythicals and Functionally Immortals Only! Not for Squishy Humans.

Jamie: murder. bloodshed. revengggee Bruce: no. no. Justice. peace!! hope! Danny: bittinngggg. blooood. ^-^

They're honestly not bad kids they're just horrifically traumatized two halves of a whole that can never be reunited ever again :).

idk what their vigilante names are but i do know that the underground refer to them in horrified whispers as 'the twins'. this all stemmed from the desperate and sudden urge to see Danny and Jamie, as their vigilante selves, hiding the lower half of their faces with fans and looking terrifyingly judgmental while they do it <333

[introspectivememories]

thinking about shanks and buggy and how the love was there!!! it was there and it was clear and it was real and it was tangible and it still was not enough!!! the love was there when they grew up together and the love was there when they traveled the world together and the love was there when shanks gave up on the one piece for buggy and the love was there when shanks dived into the ocean to save buggy and the love was there when they promised to go to raftel together on their own ships and the love was there when they lived together in loguetown in the hiatus before roger died and the love was there when buggy damaged luffy's hat and the love was there still when they saw each other at marineford after two decades and shanks still trusted buggy to get the strawhat back to luffy and the love was there still, still, still, when rogers' body was cooling on the execution stand and his blood was being washed away by the rain and shanks put out his hand, palm faced up in supplication, and said "i'm not going after the one piece" and said the words he's been saying since he was a child, a plea, a prayer, "come with me buggy" and buggy who had given up on his hopes and dreams, crushed under the promise of shanks' shining future and his brilliant potential, humiliated by his cowardice and his belief in his would-be king, his friend, his brother, his shanks, slaps his hand away, closes his ears to the plea, the prayer, the devotion shanks is saying, and said "i'll never come with you!" the love was there still and it was not enough.

[basilibino]

My favorite beautiful princesses who have done everything wrong

FOREST GREEN EDITION @saiwestfield

[deadbaguette]

Some Athena thoughts and headcanons for the ‘Diomedes goes to Ithaca AU’

Headcanon that Athena moves around completely quietly (like how owls hunt). So, Telemachus meeting Athena for the first time he gets the shit scared out of him. Diomedes by now knows the tells of Athena being here (and he has the magic eyes) so he’s the one basically warning Telemachus if Athena is in proximity

Telemachus: are you even listening???

Diomedes staring intently at the dodgy looking owl (Athena) in the tree: …yeah

Athena is very much still cool aunt. But I wanna characterise her as a little more mischievous (which could be interpreted as cunning ig) than she probably is in the original mythos. She keeps a close eye on both Telemachus and Diomedes. Most specifically Telemachus! While she cannot reveal to him that Odysseus is alive directly (she cannot incur the wrath of her uncle just yet), she does help him in starting his little Telemachy. It helps boosts his confidence and helps reassure him that maybe his father is alive. HOWEVER, the sudden disappearance of Telemachus causes the stress meters of Diomedes and Penelope to exponentially rise. And Athena finds this a little funny, so she still withholds the information from them.

Telemachus: Athena… sometimes I wonder if father is dead :(

Athena in disguise clenching her fists to try not reveal anything: … he’s too stubborn to die, have a little more faith in him

Athena:

Athena: Hey, I have a great idea if you’re worried about your dad

-

Penelope stressed out of her mind: WHERE IS HE???

Diomedes equally stressed: I DON’T FUCKING KNOW?.?.????

Athena: *eating popcorn knowing she’ll make sure Telemachus is safe*

Athena is keeping this family very blessed. She is the patron goddess of both Odysseus and Diomedes, and I like to imagine maybe in a more subtle way to Penelope too (I mean… she’s smart, beautiful, AND she can weave???). She’s much closer to Telemachus in this AU than in the original Odyssey, but not like in the way of EPIC?? She keeps her distance from him nonetheless bcs she’s a god and whatnot, but him being close with Diomedes, I imagine Athena has more of an excuse to be around Telemachus growing up.

Telemachus: so.. you knew my father and Diomedes growing up?

Athena trying to act nonchalant, but she’s so proud of them both: you could say that

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 3 - Arendelle

[sammki]

i'm gonna add my two cents for the zero people that asked

also i never write up posts like this so be nice to me. or don't. i'm not your mom

i love eddie as a character. i love messy characters, i love messy relationships, i love conflict and drama and flaws and shades of grey. i'm of the opinion that just about anything can make for a good story in the hands of a skilled enough writer. everyone being fluffy and getting along always and agreeing with each other can make a good story.

but that's not what 911 is about.

i'm absolutely due for a rewatch, but ever since eddie's introduction he's been a guy trying to make the best of a bad situation, but can get in over his head with the decisions he makes. he struggled with chris's schooling/care situation at the beginning, and it was after buck introduced him to carla that progress was made on that front.

his grief over shannon's death leads to the street fighting arc in season 3, where it takes almost killing a guy to snap him out of it. his treatment of buck during the lawsuit arc is an extension of this turmoil. bottling up his emotions after this, and the shooting, leads to his breakdown in season 5 that scares christopher enough that the kid calls buck in for help. his unresolved issues lead to the kim fiasco, which results in chris moving back to his grandparents. he follows chris to el paso to rebuild their relationship--yay! (ignoring the lack of addressing the kim of it all) ...but because he's there, he misses bobby's death, and the guilt and the grief of it all causes him to lash out again.

is this healthy behaviour? not really! should he probably go to therapy and maybe address some of this? everyone on this show needs to go to therapy! and maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but this mess is what makes eddie interesting to me.

stepping back for a moment, i've also seen people bring up that eddie is far from the only character to physically lash out at anyone--buck, bobby, chimney, they've all done it in the past. how was eddie putting hands on buck any different from bobby pinning him to the wall in season 1? what about buck spraining eddie's ankle due to his jealousy over the whole tommy situation?

chimney punching buck--i only recently started watching (within the last year) so i wasn't around in the aftermath of that punch, but i do see some of that bashing floating around. i'm not gonna say racism has nothing to do with it. i'm white. it's not my place to say what does and doesn't count as racism. others have and are able to put it much better than i ever will, but i didn't want to say any of this without at least acknowledging it.

the difference between eddie last night and these other physical altercations? the narrative frames the others as in the wrong.

bobby's actions are not depicted as in the right because buck was snooping through his stuff. sure, buck shouldn't be snooping, but that very same episode ends with him and hen performing a welfare check on bobby after he's fallen off the wagon. bobby is deep in his suicidal self-hatred spiral. even the score throws in a little dramatic sting here. there's reasoning behind his actions, but they're not reasonable.

chimney's punch is less in-your-face since the apology happens offscreen, but the narrative makes sure to throw in a line that there was an apology. he's at the height of this great emotional maelstrom--maddie's left him with their months-old daughter, who he's just found out had to go to the er after the incident in the bath--and he's just found out that buck's been keeping important information from him. sure, jee was fine and it was an accident, but as her father he certainly had a right to know. nonetheless, lashing out physically is presented as wrong, even if only as an afterthought with a throwaway line. there's reasoning behind his actions, but they're not reasonable.

after buck checks eddie and sprains his ankle, he spirals in his guilt. he let his jealousy get the best of him, and he maimed his best friend. bad behaviour, and it's all on buck. he says as much! in both his conversation with maddie, and with tommy at the end of the episode, he owns up to his actions! we don't see him apologise to eddie onscreen, but he's pushed to do so and i get the implication that he does call and clear the air. there's reasoning behind his actions, but they're not reasonable.

*beats that last sentence in with a hammer* see what i'm trying to get at here?

with eddie, his actions are born out of his immense guilt and grief at not being able to do anything when bobby was dying. earlier in the season, he snapped after buck told the rest of the team about eddie's plan to move back to el paso, which eddie was not comfortable sharing yet (again, putting aside whether the secret-keeping was smart, to eddie, buck still betrayed his trust by telling everyone while he's dealing with the stress of trying to find a subletter)

but... does he really apologise for either of these? in the first fight, they're interrupted by bobby hen and chim showing up at the front door and taking him out for a goodbye celebration. in the second he flies christopher in from texas as a surprise visit with tia pepa with an offhanded "heard some dick was being mean to you"

chris was the apology? eddie took responsibility? he doesn't even say i was a dick. he distances himself and throws chris and pepa at buck as a diversion. only one diaz actually said i'm sorry in that scene and it wasn't eddie.

i just. this whole thing could play out exactly the same and it'd sit so much easier with me if i knew there'd for sure be some form of payout at the end of it all. if you have two characters that are supposed to be best friends and one of them has buck's insecurities, then having the other go for the jugular in fights like that can't be fixed with a simple "aw someone was mean to you :(" and throwing a kid at him.

and backing buck into a corner, getting his face, putting hands on him? call it abuse or don't, but in what world is it at all okay to put hands on someone like that, in such an emotionally charged moment? i don't buy the argument that buck and eddie's friendship is Like That, or even that some irl friendships are. someone putting their hands on another in the middle of a heated disagreement is NOT RIGHT and the number of people i've seen calling it "romantic" is. concerning.

write him flawed. write him angry. write him aggressive. but for the love of god stand behind what you're putting on the screen.