#especially when they've shown no interest in speaking to you the whole time..

[tears-of-boredom]

being non-verbal -whether its for the forseeable future or for just a moment- is not rude, is not unkind, and neither is it unpolite.

[tallsc]

Deltarune Chapter 3 and 4 main route ramblings below.

If you don't want to read the whole thing, please note I have only done the main (pacifist) route for both chapters so far, along with the chapter 4 secret boss and have started attempts on the chapter 3 secret boss (cause I missed it on my blind playthrough) so please do not spoil anything past that! Thanks.

Okay so just gonna start this off with. VERY good chapters. Was not expecting a lot of that but it was all wonderful. I played it blind and streamed it with a friend so some of these thoughts originated from her btw, we theorized a lot with each other so I can't recall who's ideas half of these started out being XD

Fascinating pacing though - I expected these two to follow the formula of "brief intro section, explore a dark world for most of it, then longer outro section where we explore town" like the first two chapters but neither of them really did that?

Like chapter 3, there was sort of a calmer intro section with the walk through the dark world but there was no time to explore the town at the end, and the dark world itself felt smaller almost? Like a lot of things happened, but we didn't explore much like we usually would, which was an interesting change of pace.

And chapter 4, we went through three whole dark worlds after an incredibly long introduction time, and the outro was significantly shorter than usual.

Also so many things were confirmed that I was not whatsoever expecting to be confirmed or shown this early on in the game. Seeing the Knight, and ESPECIALLY seeing the Titan, I thought that would all be chapter 6-7 stuff, maybe 5 or very end of 4 at the earliest, but nope we got them here and they scare me.

I might have gotten grazed by Apollo's Dodgeball a bit there though cause anyone remember my old cancelled Control Switch comic? Well now that it's cancelled I'm gonna give some spoilers to things I had planned for it, one main thing being, Dess was the Knight in that story and, when in the Dark World, she looked like a shadowy creature who could sometimes have white save-point eyes and a white outline. Her main goal was to resummon the Titans. Does that. Does that sound familiar perchance.

(Also that one frame of Susie's eyes turning red when she opened the fountain? Control Switch perhaps? :> I am fully aware it is not that but I find it funny we still got a red-eye-spark Susie in canon game)

I'm obviously not right about all of it cause Dess in Control Switch couldn't leave the Dark World and the canon one can, also my Dess was an actual deer while this one is some Gaster-looking-Dess-amalgamate who likely has very different goals but y'know just got a little grazed by the dodgeball of prophecy.

Although speaking of which, what is with the amalgamate stuff? The amalgamates shouldn't even be in this game, the people who are part of them are dead and there's no determination here, yet they've been showing up more and more. We got Everyman, part of Reaper Bird's attacks, showing up in both the Light and Dark worlds in the form of graffiti and Jevil attacks, we knew about that since chapter 2. But Endogeny appearing as the main visual in seeing things in the dark that aren't real? Endogeny puppy what are you doing there??? And the graves of both Shyra and Crystal being given a bit of extra importance (Snowy and his dad visiting Crystal's grave, and the fact that Shyra's grave does not seem to be visible in Susie's flashback along with her giving dialogue to ONLY that grave up until after chapter 4) seems concerning with everything else being considered.

Also more on that point, the Knight looks like an amalgamate to me. Like an amalgamate of Dess and Gaster, if not more people - the horns and possible fur? of Dess and the skeletal shape and holes in the hands of Gaster, along with a lot of amalgamate-looking features. A face that can appear and disappear at will, turning from a smile to an eye and back into a smile and shifting positions on the face, able to rip their mouth open into a scream and open a visible ribcage, dripping in their introduction animation, potentially unable to speak or at least unable to speak properly (haven't finished the ch3 boss fight to see if they ever do talk). It feels very amalgamate-like.

The Ralsei lore was also very good, he's still not telling us everything but he's being more honest about what he can tell us. I will admit I was kinda mean to him at the start of ch4 after how he talked to Susie but I think he deserved that one. He still gets comfort in the end. He's trying to be more honest, and from what I can tell, Kris is starting to care about him more.

Also I cannot do a ramble without talking about Susie but I also have SO MUCH to say about Susie so that might warrant an entire other ramble later bc I loved the character development and am also incredibly afraid. So I'll just do some quick random points about her.

I loved how the Gerson fight had such a different vibe and how it was focused around Susie rather than Kris, unlike any of the other secret bosses. Having a secret boss who isn't creepy and horrifying, especially one who doesn't go for the kill when they win and who was totally willing to give up the rewards even when Susie lost - it was such a nice change of pace. And Susie getting to have that mentor figure was wonderful, really. Her character development throughout these chapters was amazing.

But also - Susie's basically self-sufficient in a fight now. Chapter 1 and the first part of 2, Susie was the worst party member for a pacifist playthrough, cause no battle required fighting and the only thing she was good at was fighting, tanking hits, and occasionally sparing. Now she can act - maybe not amazingly, but enough to win a fight by herself if she needed to. Now she can heal - maybe not as cheaply as Ralsei, but with the magic buffs I gave her she can heal more hp in one turn than Ralsei and it's implied her heal will continue to improve. She's still the tankiest member and the best at fighting when it's needed. Out of anyone - Kris being unable to heal and Ralsei being awful at tanking damage - Susie is the person most able to win a battle on her own, which is fascinating to me.

But the most pressing thing about Susie in these chapters is uh. She's. She's supposed to die at the end of this, right? Like that is 100% what I am gathering from the prophecy and symbolism here. I don't know that she actually will - "The girl" in the prophecy didn't totally look like Susie and there's a ton of theming about breaking fate anyway - but she's supposed to, narratively, it's what everything is hinting at. Ralsei repeating how nice she is, Gerson trying to encourage her breaking the plot of the story and continuing to see tomorrow, the prophecy itself seeming to get stuck on her and who she is, how one triangle of the Delta Rune - the same one that had Susie's color on Kris's carpet - was broken, Susie's blood on Ralsei's face as he tells Kris that fate is already decided, Susie's not supposed to survive here. Maybe she will anyway, but she's not supposed to.

Actually I'm gonna grab a screenshot of the Deltarune triangles cause I feel like that's one that would be most easily not noticed in people's playthroughs. Thank you to my friend who took so many screenshots of our playthrough and noticed the broken triangle.

Susie's triangle is broken and I am very scared for her safety. Why does she bleed by the way. The game made it very clear to us for the rest of the chapter that monsters are supposed to dust. We got a book about it and we had Gerson's dust and everything. Why does Susie bleed. Is she even a monster. Ralsei called her a monster in the prophecy but the actual prophecy never says the word "monster," just "girl."

One more thing about the books tho - the not-goner bird guy blocking off all the books scares me. So does Onionsan, Onionsan's missing and the library bird guy was where Onionsan should be and was freaking out over something and it so very much scares me, but ig we'll see when we get there.

I think that's it for now, I may post more coherent theories later - especially when I'm free of hiding from spoilers - but for now if you read all that good for you XD Hope you enjoyed!

As a treat here is a sketch of me suffering to the Shadow Mantle Knight fight on our experimental save. I still have yet to finish it there and I'm also gonna have to do it when I play with a different friend, when I do a completion route with the first friend in preparation for ch 5-7, and potentially in the Weird Route if that has relation to it. So gl to myself yaaay :D I beat Gerson in two tries why is this one so much harder

[fatuismooches]

whats up pookie bear

I KNOW KNOWWWW I JUST SENT IN LIKE. SO MUCH FUCKING ASKS and im guilty im sorry feel free to ignore for a while them if you're getting annoyed 👍. but anways it's time for me to be annoying for the last time because i will hide away in shame 😭😭😭😭

i dont think people talk enough how dottore being in love, or his thoughs when he's in love or whatever.

LIKE YEAH, they've talked about it. but i wanna really just. IDK... more like, how i view it LMAOOO 💀💀

i just like to think that, there's just instances where he's so fucking in love with you, and that oh, he really needs you in his life and if you leave him it'd be like a shot through the heart. like he'd never be whole again, you know?

HEAR ME OUT,,😭😭

deep in his heart, he hopes you're not afraid of him, you know? that you're not like the rest of them—whispering behind his back, giving him fearful looks when he hasn't done anything. he's do grateful that you see him as a friend, not some fucking freak like everyone makes him to be. but monsters get treated like one, so when his village started grabbing pitchforks n torches, telling him to leave and go away,,, his eyes immediately looked for you amongst the crowd,,,, to see if you were one of them,, afraid of something they didn't understand,, something they didn't care to understand,,, n it was probably the first time he has ever truly felt fear, his heart pounding as he tries to dodge the fire being thrown at him, heat licking his skin,,, but then he sees you, looking around frantically with a bag on your shoulder,, and when you see him, you grabbed his hand and ran away together,, running and running as far as you could,,,

n honestly, all zandik could think about is how your hand fits so perfectly in his... intertwined,, feeling the texture of your hand as you ran together into the unknown...

thinking about how domestic you two were back at the akademiya n how living alone with you was so much better. he felt soo light on his feet when you're around, like youre constantly bringing him up to the clouds... he's so used to people giving him dirty looks, but you?? oh gods you just look at him so kindly, like he hasn't done things that the akademiya deems immoral and forbidden. as if he hasn't shown you his ideas that would be vile and inhumane to others,, u smile, n you laugh, and suddenly he finds himself thinking about how much you brighten your shared dorm room when you smile,, and how much he has grown to adore it,, he wanna hold your face to feel how your muscles flex and contracts whenever you smile and talk to him. he wants to count your teeth and feel them on his fingertips,, and it may be odd to others, but oh this.. this just means he's super into you. like he wants to study the entirety of your being,,. n its all because he's so curious and interested,, he wanna know more about you,,,he'd have xrays of you, memorizing your bone structure and how they all look individually n thinks its romantic when he digs his fingers onto your skin n tell you what bone he's feeling.

he compares it to when you cook for him 😭💗 like how you know all his favorites, and how he wants his food to be cooked, what temperature, texture and flavor,, like baby no, its not. but hey, its zandik and he's really trying hard to be romantic in his own way.

he thinks you're so pretty when you speak up for yourself, unlike him, who'd rather stay silent because he needed to keep a low profile after his offenses to the akademiya. you're not scared of getting your hands dirty, especially for zandik. you didn't fight a senior without a good reason (they were calling zandik a freak). and he loves how the dark crimson of the senior's blood smeared all over your reddening, and bruising knuckles looked. n as much as he loves seeing you smile, he loves the way your brows furrow in anger, eyes sharp as you punch your senior in his face,, and he feels goosebumps forming on his forearms when you grab on his collar and yell profanities at hi,,, n then when you look at zandik to check if he's okay, he's zoned out, but he's staring at you with flushed cheeks and heart in his eyes,, n he thinks ur sooo cute when you get flustered because of it, laughing sheepishly and rubbing the back of your neck. u get suspended for a few days n zandik was absent until you were able to go back to classes.

or when you go for expeditions w/o him cuz youre in diff darshans,, it feels so empty w/o you, and he can't imagine a life w/o you at that point. he gets so unmotivated and he's suddenly he's counting the ways, hours, minutes, and seconds until you're back>.. n when you extend for a week longer??? oh he's wallowing in pain and misery cuz ur not there to yell at him for not having a proper sleep schedule, or to remind him to eat at least twice or once a day, or to tell him that he's your pretty bf and that you love him, or there to hold him, or listen to him rant about his research...,, w/o you his life feels like a constant itch he can't scratch for some reason and he HATTTESS how being in love with you makes him feel so stupid like. w/o you, no distractions,!! he can do his research without you nagging but,, he misses it sooo soo much!!,, (he never tells you he misses you, but it's so obvious by the way he clings onto you so tightly when you finally cuddle after weeks of separation or how he refuses for you to leave his side for more than a minute, or if you have another expedition to do ,,, he'd literally fight the people telling you to join or his professors lMAOOO

it feels nice to just, look onwards and know that you'll be right behind him,, because you'd always have his back,, and after years and years of being with him and teaching him how to love,, he's proud to say that he'd do the same with you!

literally has piles and piles of research papers thats either all about you (your vitals, his notes of his observations (which is literally just talking about you like a love sick girl would in her diary about her crush), and probably other notes to keep an eye on your health), or himself (why he feels this way, what is the effects, etc etc). and he can never get a clear answer really,, all he does is observe, and think,, because fuck, no matter how hard he tries, loving you has to be one of the things he will never figure out,, you he doesn't have to, you know? you always tell him that, but he's a scholar, he has to! so the files pile up higher and higher... he's so endearing like that idk about you 😭😭😭

so happy you're with him in the fatui. i dont think he could handle his descent to madness w/o you in his life 😭💗

okay so i just ended up rambling 😡nvm LMAOO 😭😭💔 anyways uhh my head started hurtnng so thats alll HAVE A GOOD DAY SMOOCHES,, finally fluff for you

Kai thought he could drop this absolute masterpiece and we wouldn't notice 💀 LITERALLY SHUSHH OH YM GOSH THIS IS SOOOO GOOD I WAS SMILING SO HARD LIKE AN IDIOT HRAHHHH DDBJWDND COME BACK RN YOU'RE NOT ANNOYING. Because omfg,,, you're literally being so real right now, we need to talk about how much Dottore is in love with you, sure he can frequently be a rude ass sometimes but don't let that fool you into thinking he's not down bad for you... i just know that he's literally completely and utterly obsessed with every part of you. IBDWUIDWUD FUCK YOU WORDED WHAT I THINK SO PERFECTLY. There's a reason why he's so possessive over you. Why even when you two get into arguments, even if they take long af to resolve because he's also hella stubborn, they're going to get fixed eventually. Among other things. It's because he really does need you there by his side and if he didn't have you he doesn't know what the hell he would do. (Or his segments. No work would be done.) HEARING YOU OUT LOUD AND CLEAR POOKIE.

Oh gosh yes, it hurts my heart to think child Zandik would have to think such depressing thoughts but mhm. He definitely does. He's only a child. He can't help but worry. Sure you're his friend, sure he repeats all the times you were nice and kind to him in his head, but sometimes it does little to reassure him of your intentions. Maybe you're just as scared of him like everyone else and this is just some elaborate game you're playing with him. Though Zandik knows it's not true, he knows you're sincere, but every now and then the idea pops up in the back of his mind and it takes ages to get it out again. But on that day when everything changed, when nothing would be the same ever again all those thoughts immediately bubbled back up to the surface and Zandik wondered if this would be the end of the two of you. If this would be the time when you finally showed your true colors. And despite the world being against him he found that you were still with him, without an ounce of hesitation present in you. Despite everything, he felt relief.

Oh my gosh i love writing and reading the crazy unethical completely undomestic doctor man as being domestic with you. As time goes on and further away from that event, he would feel significantly more relaxed. You two would fall into a sort of routine, attending classes and doing group projects, whining about professors and ending the day off with you falling asleep to Zandik's tinkering in the background, and of course the research expeditions you two do together. I also believe the word "home" doesn't have any meaning to him nor does he care for it for obvious reasons, he doesn't consider anywhere his "home" nor does he have an emotional connection to it, but... with you, he feels the most comfortable, which is something. But that's what home is anyway, isn't it? And though he'll never say or perhaps even realize it, you'll always be the first to accept that Zandik is your home, the two outcasts who were thrown out together who have nothing but each other.

REALLLL i love how we all just agree that a part of his love language is just like, inspecting and examining you. Zandik wants to know every inch of your body better than you know it yourself. Yea it's a bit strange when he brings up a beauty mark on your body that you didn't even know you had yourself or when he shows you pictures of your bones to show how healthy and strong you are or analyzes a strand of hair he probably plucked from you while you were sleeping but how else is he supposed to show his love!! He doesn't understand why you look so 😧 in the beginning! He adores you so much that he's going out of his way to give you the utmost most in-depth examination and memorize all of it easily! He doesn't even know this much about his own body. HELP Dottore making horrible analogies is so him... but it's okay because soon enough when you see how serious he's being about it you start to find it pretty cute and endearing... we love a bf who tries his best.

I can't im literally exploding from all of these points... they're canon fr he would so love when you don't take shit from anyone, I mean why would you anyway? You're so obviously better than them so you shouldn't take poor treatment from anyone (he wouldn't allow it either, even though he does keep a low profile he will find a way to get back at anyone who dares to hurt or talk badly about you.) And omg yes,, there is no doubt in my mind he would find it so hot when you injure others. He loves the way the look in your eye changes to as if you're looking at nothing else besides a piece of trash. Your figure looks so hypnotizing when you're standing over your victim,,, when you casually leave and apologize for wasting time like it's a normal regular day,, that sweet smile back on your face,, and I guess you actually helped him out a bit because people talk less about him now solely because of the chance they might get beat by you.

UGH YES Zandik would definitely think he'd be fine without you, he doesn't need you that much, he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself! In fact, he could probably get some more work done without you bothering him every five seconds. Well, he's dead wrong. Everything just seems to annoy Zandik without you. You cooked some food to keep him fed for a few days but once it's done it really sets in that now he has to make his own food which tastes like shit compared to yours. He's put into a group project but you're not his partner because you're out on the expedition. He's already accidentally broken a few mechanical parts because the room is far too quiet without your voice. He's getting less sleep because you're not there to force him under the cover. He's less productive and he has no one to rant or go off on tangents to so now he's bottling too much things inside. Everything is just so bad and suddenly he's calculating the various amounts of time until you come back which is making Zandik tear his hair out. How dare you do this to him. This is disgusting behavior. In no way should he be so needy for you! He's honestly pissed at both himself and you. He wonders if you feel the same way he does right now or if he's really just a complete idiot. Oh but of course, he refuses to let go for once when you get back, he is not doing that shit ever again nor are you.

And as much as he hates it, the scientist part of him just finds it interesting how much smoothly things run when you're around again. You and your influences need to be studied further. And oh does he study. The filled-to-the-brim notebooks and papers say it all. You think he's reciting the universe's history with how much he writes. You tell him that he doesn't need to understand, some things in life are things you just know, but no. Zandik simply can't accept such an ideology. He must know exactly every single detail. If he can find the answer to godhood he can find the answer for love. You don't think that day will ever come, but you have fun watching your lover pore so many hours into this task.

Overall, he is really your sweet bf (and soon husband tbh) ily for this Kai. <333

[jackabbot]

Hi I'm back having now watched the episode and oh my god it has been a very very long time since an episode of TV made me this emotional - i don't cry in general but this came very *very* close. Also no one I know is watching it so I hope it's fine that I'm just ranting in your inbox XD

I know you said it was good and emotional and yet it was even more than I expected?!? I think what is striking me so strongly about Brilliant Minds is that you can feel that everyone in the room just /cares/ so much about the characters and the stories they're telling? There's a tenderness underlying all of the character beats we've seen so far, from Oliver to the interns (Dana and her backstory especially comes to mind) and now to John Doe. Having that whole storyline expand over multiple episodes, building up anticipation, finallly meeting him (and oh the dialogues! Playing chess with Dana! Thanking Jacob! Aaaaah). I also really love and appreciate how they've addressed assisted dying, the ethical and emotional quandries that come with it, how your medical team might react to that... So so good. (On another note, I don't know if you're much of a podcast listener, but the very first Invisibilia episode deals with another Locked In syndrom patient - with a happier ending, though - and I couldn't stop thinking about it throughout the episode)

Honestly unsure how they're going to continue/top that in the following episodes, but I'm just so glad I'm along for the ride.

hiii, i'm glad you enjoyed it, i was trying hard not to give away just how mindblowingly good it was agxvgss

as you said, you can just tell that the creators and the writers and the actors and everyone cares a lot for the show, but they are also just there to have fun and it frees them up creatively, i mean i think that much is visible on the show and in the bts stuff they post!

but the show goes out of its way to humanise people with neurological and mental disorders instead of just magically fixing them up and sending them on their way, which is frankly so rare and even rarer to have it this well done. actually, i couldn't really bring up another example at all.

the way they broached the topic and the way they handled it was amazing. i mean... this person was locked in and he had someone who would've cared for him until the end of both their lives, doctors who cared about his wellbeing, his quality of life and him receiving help and love and they all cared enough to respect his wishes and let him die in a peaceful manner anyway, where he was surrounded by people who cared for him, who went out of their way to make it a genuinely good experience (as good as dying can be a good experience, anyway).

clearly my mind is blown, but all that and the way they shown the interactions between Roman and his boyfriend and the interns and Wolf and Carol and just... it was beautiful, painful and skillful storytelling.

it was everything i never knew i needed to see on television.

and i agree, i absolutely love how they just drop some info-nuggets and then let them be, until they expand on them in later episodes, be it the backstory of the interns or Wolf or any of the patients, they don't rush things that don't need to be rushed and get things done quickly to make a point when that serves the narrative better (the latter be more at play in the next episode, but no spoilers).

(also i don't know that podcast, but it does sound interesting for sure!)

in any case, i don't mind that you went long cuz so did i and this episode and this show certainly deserve the attention, so i think it speaks for itself how invested we both are agxvsgs

i'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you for sharing your thoughts with me <333

[coulsonlives]

ATLA spoilers/Azula stuff. Kinda big mad now, why does this fandom suck so hard.

I posted something in the ATLA fandom for the first time and was super excited about participating. Then I was immediately grossed out by how much ship hate and toxic discourse there is oml.

The ship wars surrounding Zutara are bad enough, especially when I ship all the things. But on top of that, apparently if you think Azula can be redeemed (not in the sense of being forgiven, but more like coming to terms w her past actions and sorting out her very, very obvious baggage), or are even ambivalent to the idea, you're a fascist sympathizer?!

I don't even care what happens to Azula. but some people really gotta chill with the attacks and tbh, totally reductive takes?

For starters, Azula was literally groomed to become a child soldier by her father. It doesn't excuse her actions at all, but there are so many signs in the show to explain why she is like she is, and why her finding some kind of closure wouldn't be out of the blue. The whole point of her and Zuko's backstories were to show how things came to be how they were. The writers and animators didn't put that stuff there for no reason.

That look on her face when Ty Lee was speaking during the campfire scene, for example? She was obviously sympathetic to Ty Lee, but as soon as Ty Lee looked at her, she snubbed her! She wanted to care, but she didn't want to show it. World's most obvious 'tough guy' act, and how much do we wanna bet it was because her father didn't let her show weakness, and she was just more receptive to indulging it than Zuko was, for whatever psychological reasons? She came off like she was hard-wired for self-interest, which probably predisposed her to all of Ozai's bs. But I also see people calling Azula a psychopath, and I'm like bruh, did we watch the same show?! A psychopath would feel no emotions about hurting people, Azula clearly does feel stuff, even if she takes pride in her war-related work, which does involve hurting/killing people. She's not a psychopath by definition, plain and simple, calling her that is reductive af.

I don't even think 'psychopath' is the right term to use in general for people like that, so there lol. Credibility points -1.

Then she apologized to Ty Lee during the party. Her apology could've just been a way to keep Ty Lee on her side, but then she went a step further and openly admitted to being jealous of Ty Lee. What purpose did that serve in the initial apology? None! She just did it because reasons, it had no functional or tactical purpose. Her interactions with all the party people screamed that she wanted relationships, too, but she didn't know how to communicate, and it obviously bugged her. She was upset about it.

She's shown she cares for Zuko at many different times, for example, she finds out he's been visiting Iroh, but she doesn't tell anyone even though she should. She's 'looking out for him'.

She also had a total breakdown at the end of the show. Again does it excuse her actions? Nah fam, not at all. But her emotional turmoil was super obvious. She'd built up an identity around being strong and winning at all costs, and she lost it, and she never got closure with her mom, so she didn't have anything left and she just.. cried. That doesn't sound irredeemable to me, that sounds like a scared fucking person who is wondering why the f everything they're doing, which they've been told to do from day one, is falling apart.

She's a 14-y/o child soldier, and I'm not about to say child soldiers are all irredeemable (again in the context of finding self acceptance and closure) in spite of the horrors they've done and the brainwashing. She's also a product of her environment and her abusive father, of generational trauma, and I'm not about to say people who grew up in abusive households can never get better from all the harm that was done to em! I've seen some really shitty people totally turn over a new leaf.

One of the best quotes from the show is something Aang says: 'Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil.'

So I'm not buying the narrative that Azula is pure distilled evil and has nothing going for her, not with what the show has given us. Ozai had virtually no redeeming qualities, but there are so many hints with Azula that it really pisses me off to see so much garbo talk around her.

Anyways that's my complaining for today.

I really don't wanna go near this fandom. I don't know what the tags are for discourse/harassment free stuff, where people can just ship what they want, and want what they want, without being heckled or shit on. If anyone knows a tag or some blogs like that, hmu.

(Inb4 all the people without nuance interpret this as 'I support Azula's war crimes', who are the main reason I sure as f won't be letting this loose with reblogs. I guess people can still screenshot this and take bits out of context, but idgaf. Their problem not mine!)

[melbatron5000]

I am familiar with the Liar Paradox! I never gave it a ton of thought, just let my brain go round the thought loop a couple times and went, "Haha! That question has no answer! Logic is weird!"

But both Neil and Terry have a history of playing with logic and philosophical concepts, either to make the reader really stop and think or to tweak the noses of philosophers they don't agree with or who they think haven't thought their thoughts all the way through to the end. Terry, particularly, always enjoyed adding in philosophy ideas that he felt weren't applied to real people or just got people wound up inside their heads. It's one of my favorite tropes to read from him.

So I feel like the inclusion of the Liar's Paradox here is probably not by chance, number one. Is it just to make our brains go in a few mental loops around the logic merry-go-round and go, "haha! That makes no sense!" or is there a deeper reason for it?

I'll posit that the Liar's Paradox is paradoxical only as a thought experiment. In a real-world situation, with real people, if someone tells you that they are a liar, you immediately decide whether you believe them or not based on whether you like them or not. Which is interesting human behavior. You might start to watch the person for fibs, and if you catch them at a few, you may either feel totally betrayed, even though they told you they are a liar; or you might decide their lies are not worth ruining a decent friendship over, depending how bad you feel the lies are and how you feel about why why they lied. The paradox of what they've said doesn't occur to you at all. Because even liars don't lie every moment of every day with every word they speak.

I also feel like, number two, on a narrative level we've just had both characters tell us that they are liars, and while it's not easy to see on first viewing, after watching a few times you start to pick up that the whole season is shown from the perspective of the characters, especially our two heroes -- people have repeated that Crowley is an unreliable narrator, forgetting that Aziraphale, while devastated to have to lie at first, did so because he felt he had to and has grown more comfortable with the concept and the action as the centuries have gone by.

Here's the thing I think matters: When a liar tells us they are a liar, we immediately judge if they are telling the truth based on our like/dislike of them. Who among us doesn't like Aziraphale and Crowley? We love them, and so we trust them, even though they have told us, and shown us, with their own words and actions, that they will lie to protect things that matter to them. The other reason we trust them is because morally, we agree with why they both lied. Crowley lied to protect his own vulnerable feelings from an angel he didn't yet know, which we sympathize with. Aziraphale lied to protect Job's children, which we feel is truly righteous, versus what Heaven wanted to do. So because we like the characters and agree with their reasons, we overlook the lies and continue to trust them and believe them when they speak. But they have never said they will not lie to us.

As far as the characters talking to each other, rather than what they do and do not promise to the audience, it sure looks and feels like Crowley just opened up and admitted to Aziraphale that he also lies when he has to, and that he is lonely. They have worked together now, and have a bit of the measure of each other, and have tacitly agreed that lying is something that sometimes must be done and that they agree on why. Crowley is saying, "We have a lot in common, you and me." I got an immediate sense of bonding here, as I think most of us did, but the exact words didn't jump out at me. But the parallel is there. They have a lot in common. Perhaps they do not need to be lonely after all.

Anyway. That's my brain rambling. This was super interesting to think about, thanks!

i think we all moved on from aziraphale’s “i’m a fallen angel, i lied” and crowley’s answering “i’m a demon, i lied” a little too quickly

[tuttle-did-it]

(a rant about Star Trek: Picard)

So I just watched an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theatre (S.2, e11), 'There was an Old Woman.' It aired in May of 1988.

In this episode, an old woman, Tildy, played by Mary Morris, is surprised when men come into her house with a wicker basket that is the general shape of a coffin. There's a strange man who is completely silent. Tildy talks to him, yells at him and eventually tells all the men to get out of her house.

Turns out, predictably, they've come to collect her body and she is dead. The silent man is obviously Death, and he seems to respect the fact that she's spent all this time yelling at him because he eventually just puts his hat on and leaves.

For 30 minutes, this 70+ woman essentially monologues about her life. How she had refused to marry, how she had refused to have children. How she had raised her sister's daughter (and loved her) when she died. How she had never compromised her needs and wants for men. And how proud she was of all of this.

In the end, Tildy screams at the men at the funeral parlour to give her back possession of her own body. Confused, they agree. She gets back into her body, and goes back to her house.

Tildy was the primary focus for the entire show. Her needs, wants and desires were paramount. Sometimes she talked about men, but most of the time, she talked about herself and her own life.

Tildy was allowed to be angry. She was allowed to be emotional. She was allowed to tell men to leave her space. Tildy demanded autonomy over her own body- she literally screamed at about 10 men and argued to get possession of her own body back. Tildy yelled at all the men to take her body back home, to pick her up and put her back over her body, and then SHE found a way on her own to take control back over herself. And then she kicked all the men out.

Raffi's entire storyline in season 3 has been Worf telling her to control herself and calm down, but Tildy, in 1988, was allowed to be angry and emotional the whole time.

Tildy, as a ghost, got more respect from all the men in the room than Shaw has shown Seven in every scene.

The final scene is her in her chair, Tildy happily muses that the coroner's sewing up of her chest during her autopsy was 'decent sewing, for a man.'

Tildy had more agency and identity in a show from 1988 than ANY of the women from Star Trek: Picard have had in season 3 in particular.

All I could think about when watching this was how much more progressive this episode was compared to what I've seen from Star Trek: Picard.

How, in Picard, they keep everyone (but especially the mature women) in dark corners so you can barely see their faces. Picard's age is one that feeds directly into the plot at various points- sometimes there are light-hearted jokes, but for the most part, we're encouraged to relate and understand what life is like for man 'past his prime'.

Where is this discussion of age for Crusher? For Troi? For Laris (remember she exists?)? For any of the women? Riker gets to complain that his knees are shot- where's Crusher talking about her shoulder replacement? Oh, wait, that's right- Crusher's barely allowed to speak. Instead, she has to have long meaningful glances. And Gates does this amazingly well, but the men are allowed to monologue whilst the women are stuck in dark gloomy corners with ~meaningful glances~.

Tildy had her own unique storyline and identity that had nothing to do with the needs, wants and trauma of all the men around them. Because Seven, Crusher and Troi in particular have each been denied independent storylines, forced instead to orbit the men and mitigate the men's trauma and stories. Even Sidney's plot revolves around Daddy issues and a love interest with Picard's son.

And all I could think was how sad it was that this 70+ year old woman had more agency and identity in a show from 1988 than ANY of the women from Star Trek: Picard have had in season 3 in particular.

How we're allowed to SEE her -- LOOK at these lines.

Picard keeps all of their characters, but especially the ~women of a certain age~ in dark shadows. Gates McFadden literally said that she couldn't even see Patrick Stewart during filming for their scenes.

The saddest thing is, this episode from 1988 is not that groundbreaking; rather, it's just that Picard is that much of a failure when it comes to women.

In DS9, they gave Keiko her own storyline, and she wasn't even a main character. They gave Grilka her own storyline and she was in two episodes. So why can't Picard bother to give Seven something more to do than sit there and listen to abuse from Shaw and trauma-dumping from Picard and Jack? Oh, and wax lyrical nostalgia. Not enough.

And this isn't just a Star Trek: Picard thing. Yes, hands down, TOS was awful toward women and rarely let women even speak to each other. TNG only let Crusher and Troi talk to each other when it was about men and they were in leotards. But by the time they reached DS9, things were better. Kira is allowed to be angry when we meet her- and she stays angry for a long time. There are storylines about her anger. Keiko hates DS9. She's allowed to have a storyline about that. And for Voyager, Janeway has plenty of chats with B'Elanna, Kes and Seven that are not about men. B'Elanna is, like Kira, allowed to be angry (though VOY often takes a step backward saying that she is 'out of control' with her emotions-- notice the white woman (Kira) is allowed to be angry, but the woman of colour (B'Elanna,) is out of control. Some racial bias there, I think). Janeway is allowed to be occasionally batshit crazy, and that's okay.

Point is, by the time DS9 and VOY came on, they figured out that it was okay to have women as a focus for a story, and they were allowed to have their stories and plots and identities and needs and wants and mistakes of their own. There was room for improvement, but it was the 90s and it was better than TNG. Kira and Dax were allowed to be together to talk about nothing significant. They did this well on DS9, and although they could have done better on Voyager, the women were still autonomous and had their own identities.

So if Janeway, B'Elanna and Kira were allowed to be angry and emotional more than 2 decades ago, why is Raffi is treated as defective for her emotions? Why is she treated as a time-bomb who can't be controlled-- who is so out of control, by the way, that they have to separate her and Seven?

Dax (and Evil Kira!) are allowed to have romantic relationships with women and a career at the same time- something Seven and Raffi are not allowed to do because Matalas doesn't think you can have both simultaneously.

Star Trek: Picard has NO EXCUSE.

Gates McFadden, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Michelle Forbes, Marina Sirtis and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut have done amazingly well with the tiny crumbs they've been given this season. They've managed to make what are completely forgettable and insignificant moments realised just through brilliant acting- to move their characters beyond what few bits there are for them on the page. They deserve so much more than to only exist in order to further the needs and wants of the men in the show, and to give the men a sounding board to process their trauma.

But here's what I'm asking myself...

WHY IS AN EPISODE FROM A SHOW FROM 35 YEARS AGO MORE PROGRESSIVE IN ITS DEPICTION OF WOMEN THAN STAR TREK: PICARD?

In conclusion... tl;dr

The petrol of Nostalgia that this show [Picard] is currently running on is not enough because the very era they're being nostalgic about was more progressive than the current show.

[taylortruther]

"and the thing is, the real issue here is racism and bigotry and creating a more just society. a symptom of this issue is that matty, and men as a whole, make comments or jokes like this as a matter of course. why is that? how do we coexist with men who find violence against women, and especially women of color, joke-worthy?" I think this is such a crucial point in this convo a lot of people are ignoring. I don't like Matty and I am a member of multiple groups he's been crappy towards. But also. We literally constantly put women in this impossible situation of needing to tolerate men, to not be a bitch, to not take what they say seriously -- and also needing to be morally/ethically/politically spotless if they want to have an opinion on anything at all. We tell them they NEED to date, they NEED to have a man in their life, and the men in question ... are allowed to do/say whatever. And we only object to it when we can find a way to make what they've said/done into a stick to beat women with. The brutal truth is, the vast majority of men have said/done shit like MH has. But when women en masse object to it, we treat them like they're crazy and overreacting. So the tacit message to women is clear: This is not a big deal. Do not treat it as such. I know multiple women irl who are losing their minds over Taylor rn, who are dating/married to men who have done the same shit or even worse. And I'm not mad at them, because I get it. But it's fucking stark. I don't care if people think I'm not taking this seriously enough or w/e anymore. I am a woman of color and an actual fucking social worker and that's a big part of the reason I can't take people acting like this is a major stain on Taylor's record seriously. Yeah, he's gross. But we rake women over the coals for objecting to men's grossness all the fucking time. I think the porn thing he did was disgusting, but also, we castigate women who criticize porn literally at all -- even for being racist, even when they're not objecting to the violent misogyny at the heart of it -- as puritan feminazi pearl-clutching bitches. And now we expect Taylor to say something about it? Are you fucking kidding me? There is no norm of criticizing this in the mainstream, even the mainstream left. I think we love having a stick to beat women with. I'm sick of pretending otherwise. I know how hard it is to get people to give a shit about women of color, and I know how disinterested they are in doing it when it only involves criticizing a men and not the women involved with them. People are so eager to use me as a banner right now so they can have fun proving how morally pure they are by shitting on a woman in my name. But the minute I say, hey, how about celebrity man x, he's done this (and worse!) too -- crickets.

you are so right that some of the issues people expect taylor to speak up about are unreasonable considering her actual job and what she's shown us she's comfortable saying explicitly (IE, vote democrat, and sign petitions.)

i think, ideally, some fans want to blame her less and simply see her not date a gross person to begin with. and i feel the same. and we must always remember that the context of conversations in the fandom is taylor focused because that's our shared interest.

but i also agree with what you're saying- lots of men say shit like this, and, even though fans aren't trying to hold taylor accountable for matty's actions, making the conversation about taylor essentially has that effect because we are assuming many fans don't have conversations about these topics any other time.

i want to give grace to people and hope that this matty situation will lead people to become more politically active irl. unfortunately i also know some fans admit on here that they do find this to be a form of political activism. so. idk what i'm trying to say here except i fully understand and relate to your frustration here.

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

Lucy Theorization: Connections to Wanda(...?)

I think I've mentioned this once before, but I really wanted to bring up something interesting I've noticed about Lucy as of late... More specifically, her 'relationship', or lack thereof (we'll get into that in a second) with Wanda.

Now, I'm sure we all know by now, but just in case by some miracle someone's forgotten: Wanda's whole niche is around time travel. Very frequently when speaking to the survivors, she'll get the past, present and future all mixed up in her head, and sort of forget which one's which.

On top of this, she also frequently uses occurrences in previously visited timelines and directly relates them to present ones- which also frequently leads to confusion when there's discrepancies between them. This is what I really want to focus on, here. Now let's take a look at this quote for a second:

This quote in particular has always struck me as odd. Wanda doesn't know about Lucy's existence.

Now, of course, I've mentioned before that Woodie's compendium update already confirms Lucy to be a canonical, 'living' entity. Not a figment of anyone's imagination. And I'm pretty sure it's well known at this point that even Maxwell of all people is willing to indulge the axe's personhood. But, if you need even more evidence, even Wagstaff of all people knows full well that something is amiss with her:

So we can pretty much guarantee here that Wanda is incorrect in her silent assumption that Lucy isn't real or alive. But the real question of the matter is how could that possibly be? It isn't as though she doesn't spend a lot of time around Woodie. She seems perfectly well versed in his deeper secrets (shown below), and not to mention it's very clear she's been around him long enough to know how much he cares about her. Obviously she's aware that he considers Lucy to be alive. She just doesn't believe him.

Really, I can only see this phenomenon having two implications.

Theory one is that this is meant to imply that this is the only timeline in which Lucy is actually alive. While I suppose I have no definitive proof to argue this point with, I don't think this is the case at all. Especially when we consider a lot of the similarities Wanda elaborates on between timelines (Willows are all seemingly arsonists, Abigail is seemingly always deceased, ect):

Really, the theory I'm leaning towards is the second of the two options: Lucy doesn't like Wanda.

Now the why of the matter is to be debated, but I definitely don't think this theory is implausible. For one, it's been pretty much canonically confirmed by Klei that Lucy doesn't really allow her existence to be noticed by those who she does not trust. If she does talk, it's frequently- if only- with Woodie, somewhere where she doesn't think she'll be overheard.

However, it's very clear through both the compendium itself, as well as the other survivor's quotes that they've got at least a hunch that Lucy's not your typical axe. And in the case of, again, Maxwell, as well as Wortox*, their dialogue implies they've actually spoken to each other before.

While it's by no means solid evidence of anything, we do have to consider that we still don't know anything about Lucy's history, nor how she came to be at all. Though if it's anything similar to the magic Maxwell wields, or perhaps something similar to the Constant's natural magic like with Wortox, a native, it might explain why Lucy seems to be so amicable with the two of them... And, considering how much Wanda hates both Maxwell and Wortox, it would give her an excuse for keeping quiet around her specifically.

*It has come to my attention that somewhere in between Wortox's introduction and now, Klei have changed Wortox's Lucy quote. Unfortunately, I can't find the original line verbatim, but it was something along the lines of "She tells good jokes". As of present day, it's now "An axe is an axe, those are the facts". I have literally no idea why they would change it, but the focus on altering that quote in particular is incredibly odd.

tldr: - Wanda, who knows a frightening amount of pretty much every survivor- on account of her time traveling abilities- knows absolutely nothing about Lucy, and does not believe she is alive at all - Lucy has canonically slipped up around other survivors in the past, and has even been implied to willingly speak to some of them before- though whether in the past or present is unclear - The implication here is that Lucy is either afraid or otherwise distrustful of Wanda, and has never once slipped up around her, despite the fact that she can't say the same about most, if not all of the other survivors - Also Wanda's kind of impolite to both Woodie and Lucy :( knock it off Wanda. Show some respect.

[thevindicativevordan]

On Lois Lane

Figured it well past time I got to the matriarch of the Superfamily, especially since I already wrote about the other major "LL" in Superman's life.

Hardest part of writing about Lois is what more can be added that hasn't already been said? She's The Love Interest when it comes to female supporting characters, so iconic and successful that like Superman himself, she's inspired countless copycats: Iris West, Vicki Vale, the current video game version of MJ Watson, if your hero has a love interest who is a reporter, they're drawing on the archetype that Lois established. She was there from the very beginning, before there were Krypton, Smallville, the Kents, the Rogues, before Superman could even fly Lois was there.

And my God is she such a fantastic character in her own right.

Whereas Clark himself is pretty damn different if you compare and contrast his Golden Age incarnation with his modern incarnation, Golden Age Lois is pretty recognizable as Lois Lane. Feisty, independent, scornful of danger and of cowardice (especially in a "peer" like Clark), a bit in awe of Superman while also eager to press him for information about himself, willing to throw herself into danger if she can get that exclusive scoop. Her personality in the early comics is much more like her modern incarnation than the lovestruck wanna-be housewife she became in the Silver Age. Lois is one of the few characters who basically came into comics perfect from Day 1.

I love the Rucka idea that she somehow has everyone's number and can call up anyone from the lowliest criminal to the highest politicians. I like when writers show that she herself is able to wear a variety of disguises, something I'm sure she and Clark can bond over once he reveals his identity to her. And I love that she is basically waging a one-woman war against corruption and evil in Metropolis long before Superman shows up, something the Superman & Lois show highlighted.

It's easy to see why Clark would fall for her. Even putting aside that Lois is hot as hell, she's a great foil to him personality wise. They both are committed to rooting out social ills and taking the fight to crime and oppression wherever it rears it's head, from the Lexcorp boardroom, to the darkest underbelly of Metropolis. They both are kind and compassionate, but have explosive tempers if you piss them off. They both love to snark, although Lois has more bite whereas Clark is more deadpan.

The biggest contrast, and honestly the biggest turn on for Clark, is that Lois is free from doubt. Clark is constantly second-guessing himself, worrying about how others see him, worrying about whether he's making the right choices or if he's approaching his heroics/journalism the right way. Lois? Lois never second-guesses herself, never allows the doubts or opinions of others to affect her course in life. She knows her dad is disappointed and upset with her and she couldn't care less. She knows others think she's a bitch and that only amuses her. She's confident and self-reliant and those are attributes Clark wants desperately to posses himself. How could he not fall head over heels in love?

Why Lois would fall in love with Clark is a bit trickier. It's easy to see why she would love Superman, which is part of why Clark wants her to love the "whole" of him and not just the public persona. Superman is confident, Superman is powerful, Superman kicks ass, he's kind and intelligent, he's a huge celebrity, who wouldn't love him? Clark? Eh he's easy on the eyes but he doesn't really have much of a presence. That's how everyone else views Clark. Lois, I think, would start off viewing Clark as a dweeb who will be gone in a week, the big city too much for him. That he sticks around and toughs it out impresses her. That he manages to outscoop her multiple times infuriates and intrigues her. That he manages to live in Metropolis and see how rotten it can be beneath the shiny gilded exterior, yet doesn't lose his sense of optimism, his faith in other peoples inner goodness, his "naivety" so to speak? I think that's what would make her fall in love with him.

Lois is at heart a "cynical idealist" in my estimation. The cynical side is she's someone who will always fight for the truth, for justice, but I don't think she believes that peoples inherent goodness will win out in the end most of the time. She's seen how selfish people can be, how uncaring, and I think before Clark shows up there's a part of her that thinks she's just bashing her head against a wall trying to change things. The idealist part of her is that she will continue to bash her head against that wall of public indifference anyway. Lois will always fight even if nobody else will fight alongside her, she'll keep writing articles and investigating long after a lesser woman would give up, because it's the principles that matter damnit, even if only to her. That Clark is someone who will join her in that fight while still believing that the rest of the public can be swayed to join them is what I see as the reason why she finally gives him a chance, that optimism remaining in Clark is refreshing and uplifting to her. That he's also hot and can trade banter with her doesn't hurt his chances any.

Lois becoming a mom has been really interesting, even if I haven't always been wholly satisfied with how they've handled the relationship between her and Jon. I haven't seen enough of Lois traits in Jon to really buy him as her offspring, I hope that changes. While I'm not the biggest fan of Tom Taylor to put it mildly, I liked that he emphasized Lois' importance with regards to Jon becoming Superman in interview leading up to the first issue, and I hope we get lots of Lois/Jon interaction in Superman: Son of Kal-El that really flesh out their relationship. At the very least I want to see Jon get some of that Lois patented verbal bite to him.

One last thought with regards to Lois: how the hell was Tom King the first one to realize that Lois and Selina would immediately hit it off?

They're both so similar when you think about it: Brunettes who are willful and independent, who flaunt the rules to get what they want, who outright laugh when their male significant others try to order them around, yeah I totally can see the two of them becoming friends. I really hope that gets continued under someone else, since I don't think anyone other than King has really played with it, but I love the idea of Lois having a "gal pal" that's also caught up in the insanity of life with a superhero.

If not Selina I'd like to see Lois being shown to have a friendship with her copycats such as Vicki or Iris or the rest. Definitely with Cat (even though Cat Grant can drive her up the wall sometimes). More girls' nights out/double dates for Lois, that's all I'm saying.

[justoneofthoseghosts]

I wish Kara would speak up for herself. She's the longest-running female OC character, and she's just going along with these storylines, which are supposed to be about Sylvie but end up being about Violet, Hawkins, Hawkami, Stellaride, her love life and anyone, but her individual character OR they end up being using her as a comedic storyline even when it's incredibly inappropriate.

The lacklustre storylines they give to Sylvie are made worse because they have shown they can give her good things outside her love life -seasons 3, 4, 7 and 8.

Watching this season, you wouldn't know that Sylvie is supposed to be the lead character, and it's not about her screentime (some fans have speculated that Kara may have asked for reduced screentime) but the weird and nonsensical storylines they are giving her. Sylvie is just playing supportive friend to Violet and love interest.

PS Where is Ritter??

I think she's in a tough spot. I mean, I've read articles where she expressed where she hoped they'd take the character and what storylines she'd like to see but just like with people who have non-showbiz jobs, you can't really bite the hand that feeds you.

I agree that they've written some wonderful stories for Sylvie so it really makes me wonder if they've just ran out of SLs for her (which is a crap excuse - it's their job to create new and exciting ones). Even with Violet - all the SLs she's had still revolves around her love life. We still barely know anything about her and she's a relatively new character so I'd think some people in the writers room at just lazy and rehashing storylines from 5 seasons ago.

I also get that it is an ensemble show and there's a lot of characters the writers need to write for but the vibe has been strange overall. Ritter got more screen time back when Daniel wasn't a series regular, they got rid of Mason, who Stella called "the missing piece" in favor of some dude I care nothing about and also a whole lot of drama that could be avoided, we barely see Boden at all, storylines still revolve around Hawkins (a recurring character), Severide is still a fire cop and I can't really remember the last time I felt the comforting family feels of 51. In all honestly, I feel like OC is probably going to be renewed especially since NBC isn't getting rid of the 10 pm hour yet but I feel like CF has to end soon especially with DH leaving. I fear Andrea is going to steer the ship in a completely wrong direction.

I barely watch this show anymore but clearly, I still have thoughts 😅

[imjustsoscaredallthetime]

I said I wasn't gonna say anything because the whole situation is already so polarizing and there's so many things to think about as it conerns it all, but here are my two cents on what's going on with buck and chim right now.

Do I think buck was right in hiding what happened from chim? Yes and no. say yes because first and foremost, Maddie is his sister. For most of their lives, they've practically only had each other to depend on. They have been in similar situations before, albeit with the roles reversed. We saw in Buck Begins that Buck has been where Maddie is now, and I think maybe he was actually speaking from experience when he said that maybe she just needs time.

Of course, leaving your family because of postpartum depression and running away from your parents are not the same, but looking at the situations in the context of the Buckley siblings you can kind of see how he could have made that logical leap.

Also, I want you guys to consider the fact that Maddie has a habit of putting Buck's comfort and peace of mind above her own safety. Once again, in Buck Begins we were shown that even during the height of her abusive relationship, she still put Buck's interest before her own, and even while he was away she never really let him know how bad it got with Doug.

It's very likely that she did the same thing in this situation. We don't know what the phone call was like when she told him what happened with Jee and that she was leaving. There is a very real possibility that she tried to pass it off as her just needing a break, and not actually as her being in a fragile mental state. We already know that she felt guilty about being a burden to Chim and also about being a bad mother, so she might have pretended that things were fine in order to prevent any extra worries. Maybe Buck genuinely things she's more okay then she actually is, and that would be because she wanted him to think that.

And there's also the plain fact that she's his sister! And with all that Maddie has done for him, I see why he would want to do this one thing for her. As somebody that's extremely close to my sister as well, I would have kept quiet too (provided I was sure she wouldn't be a danger to herself ofc).

On the other hand... Will I excuse Chim for punching Buck? Also yes and no.

Man, Chimney straight up deserves to know about Jee. It's a simple as that. I know maddie doesn't "owe" anything to anybody like that as it concerns her own mental health, but at the end of the day he's her partner, and her coparent, and the father of her child, and given all they've been through together and all he's been through for her and just the plain fact that Jee is his actual blood, biological, first born daughter and his only child, I just think he deserved to know.

Aside from all the things I just mentioned , given Chimney's romantic history and Madney's overall history, it's obvious why he was as distraught as he was throughout the episode. Even though it all came from a place of fear, confusion and paranoia, his concerns in the beginning of the episode we're somewhat valid, especially given what had just happened with Harry and Athena.

And remember by this point, she had been gone for more than a week leaving absolutely no trace of where she could possibly be, so the stress was obviously going to be tremendous for him. Putting up with that kind of worry and anxiety for a whole week can turn anyone into a live wire, so it's honestly perfect the kind of understandable why upon hearing that Buck knew the answers to all of the questions that had been tormenting him for the past week, he lost his temper and just snapped. I think the punch was just the culmination of a whole week's worth of extreme stress and negative emotion finally breaking the camel's back.

I'm not really saying it was right, but sometimes people get frustrated, and I'm pretty sure chim was beyond that point.

I don't think there's any way they're going to let this conflict between them last. Buck probably understands Chim's perspective a little bit better after talking with Eddie, and and chimney is going to be in a much clearer head space after he finds Maddie. I think they're going to talk it out and everything is going to be okay between them eventually, but for now I find it a hard and also kind of unfair to pick a side.

[aot-snk-4238]

AOT No Requiem Fanfic Review Part 2

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of ANR myself, so I knew that I probably wouldn't like most of what this fanfiction is putting out there. That being said, I decided to check it out anyway because I was interested in seeing what changes these people were planning on making. This review is not meant to bash the work or the team of artists and writers behind it. These are just my own personal opinions, and I will try to express them as professionally as I can without coming across as aggressive or rude, as that is not my intention.

After a four month hiatus, it looks like the popular fan fiction Attack On Titan No Requiem is back in action. I'm glad to hear that their creator is doing okay. Since this fan fiction covers the final three chapters, I'm splitting my review into three parts. The first one can be found here so if you haven't read it, you can check that out first. I kept it short and to the point and I intend to try and do that with the rest of these as well, so without further ado, here are my thoughts on the second installment of this short series:

This chapter opens up where the previous one left off, with a clash between Eren and Armin's ideologies, their discussion getting more heated by the minute. Armin still believes in a more peaceful way out of the situation that involves more talking and less bloodshed, whereas Eren sees no other options other than the path he is currently on. Fuming with anger now, Armin grabs Eren by the shirt and this is where the scene transitions to the rest of Eren and Historia's conversation from chapter 130. I still can't believe we were deprived of this in the canon universe, so I was interested to see if any of it would play out in a way that I wasn't already expecting. As it turns out, it did not. I was fully prepared for them to confirm or at least imply that Eren is the father of Historia's baby considering what theory this whole thing is based off of and that's exactly what happened. To their credit, they didn't make it as cheesy and overly-romantic as I was afraid they might, but it still could have used a bit more exposition and time to develop. I didn't care for what appeared to be a brief elopement scene in the woods, though. And was that supposed to be Floch officiating it? That's...just too weird for me. Sorry, but a secret wedding in the woods with Floch as the priest felt more like a joke to me rather than a serious event. I remember when most fans used to hate him, but that changed at some point and now he's quite popular. I can't tell if it's for the sake of memes or if people really had a change of heart. And just to be clear I have no issues with people liking him, I'm just a little confused as to how it came about. As for the whole pregnancy subplot in general, I don't think there's anything that can done to make me like it at this point. It came out of nowhere and it led to nowhere. It looks pretty clear to me that making Eren the baby father is the only solution that people can come up with to have it actually mean something and have relevance, which only serves as further proof to me that it never should have happened in the first place. Even if this team has something clever up their sleeve, I feel like there's only so much they can do to make it better, especially considering that they're only changing the last three chapters. To me, a much better handling of Historia post time-skip by Isayama would have involved giving her a chance to actually be queen and exploring her thoughts on Eren's actions and whether she would have allowed the Yeagerists to take over the island. We saw in the end that she did let them take over, but we're not clearly shown why. We also never found out why Eren was able to change her mind so suddenly regarding his plan and what made her decide to have a child. Not to mention that not once did we get to see her interact with the rest of the cast, which it doesn't look like will happen in this fan ending either. It was just her in that stupid chair and then the baby is born and that's it. I appreciate the AOTNR team's attempt to breathe some life back into her, but it still doesn't make up for all the missing screentime she had from chapter 90 onwards.

Moving on to the last part of this chapter, we see that after learning Eren's secret, Armin has had enough. He calls Eren a hypocrite for hiding what he did with Historia from everyone and how things could have been better if he just trusted them, but Eren is still unfazed. Armin asks Eren why he was brought back into Paths if it wasn't actually going to fix anything, and this is how the rest of the chapter plays out:

I like the way this cliffhanger is depicted. It shows Eren and Armin both as children this time facing each other, each with a determined look on their face while their adult faces shine in the background. It serves as a good visual representation of just how much things have changed between them since their early years and prepares the audience for a huge face-off outside of PATHS where everyone else is still trying to fight off Ymir's horde of ancient titans. Speaking of that, these two fan-made chapters have not given much focus to what's been going on on the outside, unlike Isayama's chapter 138. It looks like their three biggest priorities here are giving us Eren's POV, which we didn't get until the very end, Historia's POV, which we never got at all, and a final boost of character development for Armin. As a result, other important plot points are put on hold, such as what's next for Zeke and the rest of Eren's friends. This, paired with a lack of action sequences, causes the pacing to feel slow. Seeing where we are now, though, I'm assuming that it will pick up next chapter. And now that they've given Historia some much needed attention, I'm interested in seeing if they have any plans for Mikasa. There are a lot of people who strongly dislike her, so changing that perspective into something more positive looks like it's going to be a big challenge and I'll be very impressed if they pull it off. Overall, I thought this chapter was okay. It's very good for a fanfiction, though, and I'm glad that other people are enjoying it. I'll be grateful if it brings at least some level of peace to this fandom in the end, so until next time, thanks for reading ✌.

[dragynkeep]

Irish-American musician speaking. I just want to say a couple of things (a) i appreciate that other people are at least willing to criticise Jeff (even though i don’t agree that he was copying “ethnic” styles of music because that’s just bullshit and he was just going for a specific feeling, because that’s how music works) and (b) i really appreciate that this blog takes James' character seriously and not whatever the fecking hell the writers think they've done.

i did want to say that i'm really upset about it as a person with an autistic specturm disorder. i doubt the writers (bless their hearts) realised it, but the semblance they gave James is one of the hallmark signs of ASDs, especially in adults and young people. given the way they've always written him until the end of season seven, i really related to him and his struggles for a variety of reasons. i could get just as angry about the way they've portrayed military service (my dad is a similar ranking to the character and has been through some shit) especially given that a lot of people in my family have or are serving, but i get the sense that everyone sees how problematic that demonstration is. the former is a lot more subtle, and it honestly upsets me more.

and then there's all the bullshit surrounding Penny (they should have just left her dead or given Winter the powers to begin with for fuck's sake). firstly, i'm just going to come out and say that i've hated the way they've used vocal music to bash us over the heads with messages the last few volumes. Cinder's TWO (whyyyyyyy) songs in just that one episode this volume were basically narrating what was on screen which took away from the moments and the second one during her fight with her mentor was just plain bad. i thought those two were the worst we were going to get but apparently i was wrong and we get whatever the hell "Friend" is. (although i will say i bet the only reason they threw in that second song for Cinder was because Casey just had to get publicity for her shitty band). but look. i'm lgbtqia myself and it really (especially considering Penny and Ruby's intereactions) felt like queerbaiting/bury your gays but i'll set that aside. making Penny human (a) took away the only unique/interesting thing left about her character and (b) her death was essentially a glorifying suicide "for the greater good" which really slaps in the face of people who have honestly suffered from depression and suicide.

this isn't the first time that they've shyed away from trying to explore serious subjects, but it is particuarly gross because of the song. an earlier example of them doing this is with regard to "the path to isolation" when Casey felt the need to say Weiss has never cut and that she wouldn't do that. while that was (to say the very least) a bit uncomfortable for her to just drop that, it sounded like she just wanted to avoid talking about the subject because it's too dark. i have a lot of problems with Casey and her actions over the years, but i think it's important to note that SHE WROTE PENNY'S SONG. she is the one responsible for this, and she keeps talking about how great it is and how "humbling" the experience was. bitch no. you can't just take only praise and get mad about critisicism to the point where you basically recieve none anymore.

besides, Casey is pretty hard to understand because she STILL doesn't enucniate much when she sings so if she and her dad are going to keep being basically worshipped hand and foot by people while recieving no criticism even where it is due, then they shouldn't be in this or music. part of being a musician is that you SHOULD be critiqued by your peers and even by just casual listeners but that doesn't happen and they (but especially her) don't improve. by no means do i think Casey and Jeff are the worst of CRWBY, but they are part of the problems with tone in the storytelling and they should be critiscised for it more.

oh god this is a long ask & it’s like a month late, please forgive me.

yeah, my issue with the whole jeff issue was never that he was “copying” ethnic music, though there is a discussion to be had when that music comes from closed off cultures like my own & others & how that should be respected, but that this vague claim by someone who’s lied to push their headcanons before was using it to claim ruby & summer were romani coded when there has been anti gypsyism sentiment in crwby before via arryn’s sexualization of us. i simply don’t trust these white americans to write any gypsy ethnic groups’ stories with any sense of respectability & it was on a baseless headcanon anyways so. that frustration was easy enough to let die down.

i also have a lot of issues with how ironwood was treated, especially as a disabled person & some of the fndm’s insistence to treat this fictional military as a 1 to 1 representation of the flawed militaries in our world is just utterly frustrating. especially when they use that to justify theirs & crwby’s ableism towards one of the few disabled characters we had on screen. i don’t have a place to speak on any autistic representation or harm from ironwood or his semblance because i’m not autistic but i am sorry that you were harmed & upset by this portrayal of a semblance that isn’t even canon, because it features nowhere in the text explicitly. hell, ironwood’s va had to be told what his semblance was from a fan. all this harm & hurt & it’s for something that isn’t even featured in the story. ridiculous.

i’m really trying not to waffle on in this ask because it is so long already but yes yes yes. i agree with you completely, the way that songs are crafted for this world & featured into it most of the time doesn’t fit with what we’re shown on screen. weiss’s songs feature a patriarchy & go over the same arc like five times, as well as those lines alluding to self harm. jeff & casey can cry that they didn’t mean it that way but there are certain themes brought to mind with certain wordings & you have to be mindful of this when you write them; we had this same issue with people believing mercury was sexually abused by marcus because “i’m the one” featured the word defiled, which is most used in a sexual context. when we come to learn that it meant his soul was ruined by his father stealing his semblance, that still didn’t erase the sexual allegory & jeff should have been mindful of those types of themes when he’s writing these songs. often times it feels like the songs & the show are giving us two different stories & both give off different meanings & themes.

not being able to take criticism seems like a common theme in crwby, self admittedly from miles himself who said he “wants” to take criticism but doesn’t like it when “it’s done in a mean way.” that criticism has to be fair & nice, which is a solid sentiment, no one’s going to listen if you’re being an asshole but here’s the rub. nothing is ever nice or fair enough for them. they always find a way to turn even the most innocent of criticisms or questions into a personal attack & it’s pathetic. jeff & casey aren’t exempt from this. like you said, part of being a musician is criticism from your peers & much like you don’t need to be a chef to tell if there’s dogshit on your plate, you don’t need to be a writer or a rock star to tell when a story isn’t making sense or a song isn’t good.

& for fucks sake, i’m with you on them needing to enunciate better. i’m hoh, please jeff & casey, it’s hard enough for me to try & listen to songs that i want to enjoy without having to wonder what word you’re mumbling for this third rhyme in bad luck charm. fuck that song’s rhymes.

[princess-sengoku]

Secret Santa Fanfic

@hunny-pp This is for your request in Secret Santa for this year. I hope this is great. Merry Christmas to you and Merry Christmas to everyone else. AAAA My first fanfic to be posted on Tumblr :')

Carnival Competition

Rating: K

Modern AU

Summary: Shingen and Kenshin are going to Osaka carnival to see who can win the most games at the carnival.

The carnival's in town as everyone from all over the land of the rising sun go to one of the most underrated festivals in the land; Osaka Carnival. The fun games, great food, and amazing rides that it had was all in good fun for everyone to enjoy. Once Shingen heard for himself that the carnival was going to be in town tomorrow, he just had to call Kenshin to join him for the carnival. He was disappointed that he didn't show up last year, then again they weren't dating at the time. Maybe this year would go in his favor? He and Kenshin could at least compete in the games, kinda like a battlefield? Shingen was in Osaka for a quick vacation and the carnival would be the top of the cake. With that in mind, Shingen picked up the phone and began to text to Kenshin.

Shingen: My stoic dragon "nemesis", are you still awake?

Kenshin was comfortable on his futon at his Castle, just starting to head off to bed and sending a quick prayer to Bishamonten to thank the god of war for allowing him the pleasures of life. There was wine, business, and finally Shingen. Shingen was probably one of the most worthy friend and business partner he could ask for in this life. Although he didn't show much happiness on his stoic face, his actions show that he cares for him, especially when he accepted to be Shingen’s boyfriend. Speaking of Shingen… 'Bing Bing'. Kenshin heard his phone go off. "It is almost time to go to bed… Who's texting me?" He said, visibly annoyed. He picked up his phone and once he saw the message, he softened a little bit. It was Shingen. 

Kenshin: Tiger of Kai, my "nemesis", I was about to go to bed, but I can talk for a bit.

Shingen gave a good-natured chuckle at Kenshin's message sent a couple of minutes later. Of course he forgot that Kenshin would be getting to bed around this time.

Shingen: Sorry about that, I was hoping maybe this year we can go to the carnival together. Think of it as a date.

"A date?" He mouthed to himself. When was the last time they had a date together? It had been a while. They were both taking it slowly so they wouldn't be discovered and to have it at a carnival, that everyone was going to…

Kenshin: Are you sure you want me to go?

Shingen was not giving up on making him go to the carnival. They were always competitive when it came to the games. A lightbulb went off in his head. He can use the games as an excuse for him to go.

Shingen: I bet I can win a lot more games than you. Don't worry I'll give you some prizes :)

Shingen always knew how to push Kenshin's competitiveness button. They both were like strategists in their own businesses but eventually one must come on top eventually. He really now was interested in this carnival but he would conceal his intentions to him.

Kenshin: It is tempting to go to the festival to have a friendly competition. Go have fun. Good night "nemesis"

Shingen shrugged at his message. At least he tried to convince him to go. At the back of his head, he did feel that Kenshin would come here. He just had that hunch.

Shingen: Good night. Don't have a rough night.

As soon as he got Shingen’s message, Kenshin got dressed again, called his limo driver, and took a blanket. He would now begin to surprise Shingen to the festival date. "Shingen, let's see who wins the most games." he thought with confidence. They always liked competitive plays over each other. He just thought of what kind of games would be there to play as the limo left with him inside, going to Osaka, as he drifted to sleep.

~The next morning- 8 AM~

Shingen saw the shining sun glimmer in the curtains as morning came and he was just starting to wake up from the tiger's slumber. This short bald man yawned as he sat up in the bed, slowly getting his act together. It was also very hot today when the festival and vacation was in the summer. He could only imagine what the south had to deal with like the Shimazu in the summer. After 10 minutes of just sitting there, he finally got up to brighten the room. The curtains opened and Shingen shielded his eyes from the brightness a bit. Once it got adjusted, he finally saw a limo in front of the hotel. It had the Uesugi symbol on the side and the limo was white. He could see Kenshin come out the doors. "Hahaha, I knew Kenshin would be here!" Shingen said to himself. He put on a tiger print t-shirt with some khaki shorts and some sandals.

Kenshin walked out of the limo with a nice short sleeved buttoned white shirt with white pants with some nice black loafers. He was casually sleeping the whole ride so he would be well rested for today. Carnivals are mostly energy sucking. The driver let him know he's here so he doesn't have to rest during the day. "Great Bishamonten, please give me strength to have fun today and beat Shingen in a whole bunch of games." He prayed. They both met in the lobby and gave a hug. "Haha, I knew you would come. So are you ready for the carnival?" Shingen asked. Kenshin gave a small smile and nodded. "I am. Looking at the clock means that it had just started." Said Kenshin as he looked at the clock which read 9:00A.M.

Looking out at the carnival laid out before them, it was full of life and high fun energy. Many games, food stands and other attractions can be seen before them. People were walking around them full of laughter and friendly talk. You can't really hear what they had to say because there were so many people and they were loud. Shingen and Kenshin simply walked side by side together holding pinkies looking out at what games they should play.

The first game they saw was kinda strange with a huge log and there were lines in the ground. Musashi was actually the one hosting that game. "Hey you two! Do you want to try the log toss? 1 yen to try it and the rules are clearly read on the sign." He managed to get Shingen and Kenshin's attention. "You want to have a go Kenshin?" Asked Shingen. "Sure" said Kenshin blatantly. 

They both walk up to the wooden sign. It was well made with no chances that anyone can get a splinter and it looked really smooth for writing on as shown in words that are painted on. It says the following: 

Log toss:

'You throw a log as far as you can. This can be played for competition. If you are solo, you win a prize no matter what. If you are against each other, then the winner gets a prize.'

Shingen was known to do some lifting at the gym sometimes, Kenshin watched him while he worked so he knew as well. They've decided to do the competition version. The prizes included stuffed animals, posters and pins. Shingen went first as he went and picked it up by the sides then he spinned around a few times getting ready for the wind up. He threw it up and away pretty far and it landed with a thud and the ground shaked a bit. Musashi ran to where the log went with a measuring tape and a flag. "150 feet-1st person!" Musashi announced. Kenshin smiled at Shingen’s impressive performance. It was as expected for him as was a worthy challenge for Kenshin to try to beat.

"You're next Kenshin." Shingen said as he stood back with a smirk, a smirk that Kenshin loved a lot. "I have practiced a bit in lifting." Kenshin remarked as he picked up the log. He winded up by standing back a bit then using the force that he gathered to launch the log forward as he stepped forward. It flew not as high as Shingen did but it definitely was going far. There was a thud in the distance and Musashi was running fast with the other marker. "Not bad! It's about… 160 feet. The second person wins!" Musashi announced happily as he went to pick out a prize. Kenshin kissed Shingen on the forehead proud of his own victory. "Well done 'nemesis'." Shingen said, congratulating him. Musashi gave Kenshin a big tiger plush. 'It would be perfect for Shingen.' Kenshin thought.

Many hours go by with more prizes, food, the times they went through a funhouse and a haunted house in a succession while holding many little toys, pins, posters, more stuffed animals. It was a lot to carry for a long time, then again they had played lots of games. Games were ring toss, balloon pop, guess what's approximately in the jar, bumper cars, test your strength, and many other games.

It was the last few minutes of the carnival to be open for the day. There was one more game they wanted to try for a magnificent dragon plush. Shingen was immediately reminded of Kenshin when he saw that plush. "Kenshin! Before we go let's try this game!" They both look at the bucket of water with ducks floating right along. The sign read the following:

Lucky Duck:

'You hook a duck on the hook stick provided to you. Get a star duck (which the star is on the bottom) to win any prize you want.'

"This game sounds simple and quick." Kenshin remarked. "You can do this game." Said Kenshin as he gave the game owner 1 yen to play the game.

Shingen concentrated on the pond itself like a fire trying to get hotter by the minute. Any of those ducks could have a star on the bottom and any number of the ducks could have stars. They all looked the same. All he could do would be to guess which one had the star and which ones didn't. He took the hook stick on the ground and just went for it, eyes closed. When he opened them again, he looked underneath the duck and a gold star was at the bottom. He won the game and the dragon. "This is great!" thought Shingen as he got the dragon in his hands.

As Shingen turned he saw Kenshin take the tiger plush out of the mass of prizes they won and handed it out like it was a gift for him. Shingen saw a slight blush on Kenshin's stoic face. "So umm… this is for you 'nemesis'." Kenshin said in a softer voice than usual. Shingen laughed out of kindness a little, knowing that Kenshin wasn't used to the sometimes sweet moments of their relationship. "Thank you 'nemesis'. In return, I will give you this dragon I just won."  Shingen blushed a little bit as he received the tiger and Kenshin received the dragon. They soon divided all of the prizes in between them. Shingen’s vacation would go on and Kenshin would join in for the last week that Shingen had left.

--------------------------------------------------

P.S. as a bonus I give you some headcanons of the pairing on google slides that I made myself. This helped me create the fic lol.

[serendipitybutterfly]

Finally doing Yoongi's birthday year ahead reading too... (at least it didn't take quite as long as it took me to do Hobi's!). Anyway... Let's get right into it...

The message which came to me here is kind of...... Well it seems like a continuation of a past reading I did for Yoongi and I was surprised because I kind of assumed this situation had passed... If you remember, last year there was some strange situation involving a shady woman who came up in readings regarding both Yoongi and Jimin... When I did Jimin's reading I got a bit more clarity because Yoongi's reading I found really confusing and I kept drawing more cards to try to understand the message... I've since realised that with my energy and Yoongi's, it's best for me to stay back and try to understand what's being put forward.

This time I think I better understand what the cards are saying straight away (although I still say that when it comes to Yoongi, for some reason the cards speak to me differently, or rather speak through me to try to give him advice very differently, and it means I have to kind of get in a very different kind of headspace to understand the message at all...

It's hard to explain, but basically I think out of all the members Yoongi is probably energetically the most different to me so his guidance almost feels like it's coming in a different language (imagine big symbolic runes, hieroglyphs or pictures or big waves of feeling instead of nice neat descriptive prose) that I then have to try and interpret... It's interesting but I think by staying back with a respectful distance and just accepting whatever comes without trying to overthink at all (because it's actually kind of direct... Only in a different way than I'm used to) or pry to understand more I'm getting way more from him...

Anyway... My purpose here is to write out the advice reading. I just wanted to preface it with this growing understanding of how I perceive his energy (does anyone else get this with other members?).

Back to business... We have reversed King of Wands and the reversed Ace of Cups signifying this reading. I'm taking this as there being some situations and events which knock his confidence and security in himself this year and that they will likely revolve around his emotions. This is a shame, but I don't actually see it as being Yoongi's own problems primarily that cause this...

To start off with, we have the reversed 5 of cups which I'm actually seeing as his present state rather than advice. I think currently he's recovering from a big set back, a huge feeling of disappointment is here... Reversed strength showing that it's something that made him feel powerless, helpless. Ten of cups reversed and The Moon are telling me that from Yoongi's point of view, this is not just something he's dealing with. BTS in general is taking this setback way harder than they're letting us see. A lot of things are not as they seem and there's a lack of clarity on what they're going to do that leaves them feeling unstable. To me this seems to be pretty obviously talking about the current Corona Virus global pandemic and how it's put a big spanner in the works for Yoongi as an artist who wants to perform for his fans, and of course for BTS as a whole, as they were supposed to be doing a world tour this year. They've been trying to keep up a calm image for the fans, but behind the scenes it's been much more stressful, upsetting and chaotic and this is first hurdle he needs to get over this year. Hard to do with such a lack of clarity.

However, the next cards are talking about something different and something which I think is being built up to either resulting from these setbacks or simply coming later in the year. The five of swords and Queen of Wands sees the return of this strange woman that I saw coming up last year. Again she seems to be a subject of discord... I think between at least three of the members of which Yoongi is one.

From these cards I get a strong impression of distrust from him towards her so I don't think he's actually the one she's messing with... It's definitely a younger member, so not Seokjin either.

The reversed King of Pentacles and Knight of Cups represent how he views this member in this situation; as someone who isn't being sensible or practical, who has lost touch with reality and who's being stupid with money... A fool in love who is being taken advantage of. This, as shown by the Nine of Swords, will cause him a great deal of stress and anxiety... Especially with the three of cups here, it's letting me know this is mainly concern over a close friend's recklessness and that this will mainly involve three people... Probably Yoongi, the younger member and this woman, although I also see three members in particular arguing about it...

The answer or advice on how to handle this? Well, it's pretty simple. The Angel Oracle card I pulled is Grace and Antoinette: To help heal this situation, see the other person's point of view with compassion. This is pretty obviously referring to the latter situation involving someone close to him whose choices Yoongi's probably going to seriously disagree with this year. The message is to try to make peace with him and relinquish the desire to win the argument or control the situation... To try to view the situation with empathy and compassion to find a resolution.

The numerology of this reading comes to 9, completion. We also have the Full Moon: Completion card from the Earth Magic deck. This is something that has to come full circle to resolve itself. The message I get for Yoongi is that as much as he might want to protect his friend, his brother, sometimes people just have to make stupid mistakes in order to grow and learn... That's just part of life and something they have to go through. The overall message for this reading is that you can't control everything... Sometimes you have to just let go and let the storm ride out, let the wave take you... And learn to be ok in the aftermath. Once this situation is allowed to play out, it will actually finally be resolved. It will be over and peace can be regained...

Yoongi should also try to use the instances of setback and delay this year as a chance to take a breath and release... He's actually very intune with the universe and perhaps can already sense that we're building towards a new beginning of some kind... All of us. This can definitely cause feelings of fear and anxiety, but if we let go of the fragile illusion of power and simply accept that a cycle is ending so a new one can begin, we will be able to find a great sense of peace and release as this year goes on and we look into the future.

I pray for the peace and wisdom he needs to get through his challenges this year to be granted to Min Yoongi. 🙏 💜