#misinformation!!!11!!!!!1!!!!

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

@nerdy-catfish

I felt like I needed to clarify some things before we could continue any more conversations on this godforsaken website.

I’m very proud of the European Robin, I think I really captured it.

[blueteller]

Hi! Can you please tell me the cannon events of ogCale. I want to know about ogCale's life from his childhood till his death.

There are too much misinformation about him in the fandom. I can't decide anymore what is canon and what is fanon about ogCale anymore.

I would also like to hear your head-canons about ogCale's past.

You might want to check out this recent post of mine, concerning what is canon and what isn't about OG Cale's personality. As for the exact events? Let's see... (Big Spoilers Ahead!)

OG Cale was born in year 763 of Felix Calendar (the particulars of the calendar are never elaborated upon), in the main city of the Henituse Territory: Rain City or Weston, depending on translation. While the details of his childhood are never directly stated, it's implied to be a happy upbringing by his parents, until the death of his mother Jour/Drew Thames (Jour was first proposed version of the name and I'm personally partial to it over EAP's "Drew") sometimes around the year 771. Jour got into a carriage accident when coming back from Harris Village, where she split her own plate and hid half of her Anciet Power, the Annual Rings of Life, making it seem like it was the carriage crash was the cause of her death. OG Cale only found out the truth about the even after he made the deal with the God of Death many years later.

Within one year Deruth Henituse, Cale's father, met and married Violan, whose past is mostly unknown aside from the fact that she comes from a merchant family (which raises all sorts of red flags, considering how the Hunters like to disguise themselves as merchants, but it might just be red herring) and that she had a son named Basen/Bassen from an unknown previous relationship (no mention whether she was married or not). Basen is 3 years younger than Cale, so he had to be born in 766, and shares no blood relation with him as his step brother (although Kim Rok Soo!Cale is unaware of this fact for most of the story, as he never was given any details about OG Cale' mother and her death). Deruth and Violand had another child named Lily/Lilly, Cale's half-sister, who was born in 774, 3 years into their marriage, when OG Cale was 11.

We know that in year 771 Basen and Cale had a conversation where OG Cale told him to pretend to be Deruth's biological son. From that point on, he did his best to act like "trash", aka. a spoiled brat, with the explicit goal to be kicked out of the family and pass the heir position to his step brother. In year 778, when OG Cale was 15, he added drinking to his personna and became known as an alcoholic with low alcohol tolerance and terrible, violent temper when drunk. It continued that way until year 783, when 18-year-old OG Cale met Choi Han, on his way to report the Harris Village massacre that occured on March 28th ("third month of the year" to be exact, but we never got any direct confirmation that that months were named differently in this universe, so whatever). "Drunk" OG Cale insulted the dead villagers to Choi Han's face, possibly because he was being "in-character", but canonically also because he hates Harris Village as the place where his mother died. Which lead to OG Cale's brutal beatdown documented in "The Birth of a Hero" series, Volume 1.

Now, let me dive into that for a bit, because there seems to be a huge misunderstanding about the following events among the fandom.

I carefully re-read the beginning of the novel recently (the official translation that is, mostly to see if there were any major differences from what I remembered of EAP's translation), trying to fish out as many details as possible about the TBOAH timeline. One intersting thing about OG Cale's introduction in the books that Kim Rok Soo read is that he did not actually appear just once. He was not a recurring character mind you, nothing particular being mentioned about him or the Henituse family after the first Volume, but it was clearly stated Choi Han "bumped into him a couple of times" before their final confrontation.

The way I see it, the timeline of TBOAH probably like this: Choi Han must have passed a bar where OG Cale was having a huge public tantrum over his wine not tasting good, causing it to be mentioned in TBOAH, which was written from Choi Han's POV. It probably did not count as a meeting though, with Choi Han having no reason to actually enter the bar. But that tantrum caused OG Cale to injure himself with a piece of broken table leg, making KRS!Cale notice that he did not have a scar on his side when he transmigrated; a specific detail which allowed him to place his position in the TBOAH timeline.

We don't know what Choi Han did for the next couple of days; possibly he spent looking for something to eat, a place to rest, or asking for information about where was the man in charge and how he should approach him. Maybe he spent time in the slums, met some homeless kids along the way (the reason why Cale had a specific quote in mind about them when he met On and Hong), got into some fight where he showed his fighting prowess (more on that in a bit), possibly went past the Man Eating Tree, prompting its backstory regardless of the fact that no one got the Indestructible Shield Ancient Power in the TBOAH timeline (at least, not within the first 5 Volumes which Kim Rok Soo had read). Kim Rok Soo never thought about the narration seeming too strange, and he's an observant guy. So it must have felt like natural exposition for the audience. Perhaps Choi Han met Billos/Bilose Flynn as well, prompting his introduction and backstory.

What we know for sure is that OG Cale and Choi Han had their "first meeting" the next day after Choi Han jumped over the wall (missing Hong and twisting his ankle as the result, slowing down his progress on top of physical and emotional exhaustion), while OG Cale was out and drinking. But I think it also makes sense to assume they did not exchange words just yet, as Choi Han was in full depression mode at the time had no reason to be chatty. It's possible OG Cale just threw a casual insult at him, reinforcing Choi Han's terrible impression of him. In other words, they had at least one "meeting" by that point in the timeline, but OG Cale did not get beat up just yet.

In TCF, Deruth also mentioned that "Cale would leave for the capital in five days", causing Cale to think how "OG Cale would get beat up in four days time", delaying the actual confrontation of these two from Choi Han's initial arrival quite lot - about a week, in fact!

Here's what I pieced together: in order for Choi Han to meet the Count he had to find way to get past the guards, without showing an identification or fighting them, which he was actively trying to avoid (his conscience recovered enough for him to remember not to kill innocent people regardless of his rage). So the meeting was no accident: he must have approached OG Cale on purpose, knowing that he was the son of the local Count. He probably asked for help regarding the Harris Village directly to OG Cale in hope that the man would be sympathetic enough to let him meet his father (not a very good plan, but probably the best one he had at the time). We also know it happened on a rainy day, and it did NOT rain when Cale first met Choi Han in TCF, nor the day after when he got the Shield, which took a couple days of buying bread for Cale to acquire (and when he finally did was only foggy, presumably because of On helping, but not raining!). After Cale got his Shield, it was explicitly stated that it rained heavily for a several days in a row; like during Cale's talk with Billos about his father. Once the rain passed, Cale was satisfied with the fact that the deadline for his beating had passed and he successfully avoided that fate.

So... Choi Han must have spent a full week in Rain City before he beat up OG Cale (minimum of 3 days of Cale buying bread, and 4 consecutive rainy days), unlike many fans seem to believe; the generall impression I get is that Choi Han stayed in the city for barely a day or two before moving on.

We also know that Beacrox/Vicross Molan met Choi Han exactly four days earlier in TCF than in TBOAH. Which leads me directly to the bottom of the misunderstanding I mentioned earlier.

In TBOAH, after Choi Han beat up OG Cale, there did not seem to be any legal complications for him; no mention of him paying a fine, since he was homeless and poor he couldn't have afforded it, and no mention of guards trying to arrest him. Either no guards witnessed the confrontation, or they chose not to help OG Cale. I find the second option hard to believe though, since what we have seen in TCF seems to indicate that despite OG Cale's behavior, the Henituse Territory's knights were quite loyal and competent. I think they probabably didn't see nor hear anything BECAUSE of the rain. Someone could make an argument that Beacrox COULD have seen something, but that's highly unlikely; instead, I think Choi Han must have had a fight with someone else, because it was mentioned that Cale wanted Choi Han and Beacrox to bond over Choi Han impressing him with his strength. I don't see how "impressive" it would be to see Choi Han beating up OG Cale, who was completely ordinary in strength... I think that's where the common misunderstanding among the fans lies.

To sum it up: I am fully convinced there was no one around when Choi Han beat up OG Cale. It was raining, OG Cale was too stubborn to admit defeat or to call out for help, and Choi Han was never arrested. I'm 100% certain there was no witnesses, especially not Beacrox.

And beside that, if we sum up days, we reach another crusial conclusion: Choi Han met Beacrox before approaching OG Cale.

It only makes sense from the timeline! When I mentioned earlier that during the week that Choi Han spent in the city, "he possibly got into some fight where he showed his fighting prowess", that is what I meant. Either Choi Han got into a fight with some thugs (which do exist despite the Henituse Territory not having a criminal underground; TBOAH narrative clearly states that OG Cale liked to terrorize thugs instead of bothering innocent people), and Beacrox happened to see it, or they bumped into each other and fought personally. Possibly both.

Choi Han's exact TBOAH activities might not seem all that relevant to the original question regarding OG Cale, here's where we come back to the main point. Namely: Ron and Beacrox leaving OG Cale behind to travel with Choi Han.

Since Ron was such an important figure in OG Cale's life, we can imagine him leaving (wihtout a goodbye or warning, no less) affected him quite a bit. But fans like to make extra drama, and somehow created this narrative where 1) Beacrox sees Choi Han beating up OG Cale and doen't stop him, and 2) Ron leaves OG Cale with the guy that harmed his charge without any care in the world. Which simply does not add up at all! This is the reason why I think that there were no witnesses when Choi Han beat up OG Cale: Ron absolutely would have tried to avenge him!! For his own professional pride if nothing else - he wouldn't have simply left with Choi Han if he knew!!!

Yes, Ron and Beacrox were under the impression that Choi Han was involved with Arm, due to him "having their scent" (more of my exact thoughts on that in this post). So they decided to follow him not because they LIKED him, but because they found him useful. Their comradery developed slowly and gradually after that misunderstanding got resolved and got to trust him more (and Choi Han lightened up a bit after the events in Harris Village). But I'mstill pretty sure they never found out about Choi Ha being the one who beat up the guy they worked for over a decade. The Henituse had always been generous with them, and aside from OG Cale's bratty behavior they really had no reasons to complain. And no matter his protagonist status, Choi Han certainly wasn't "charming" enough to make them forget all of their gratitude out of the blue.

You might be thinking, "but how could they not figure it out"? Well... OG Cale was known for causing trouble. Someone beating him up around the same time that Choi Han was in town? Doesn't mean much. And Deruth wouldn't have let it slide either! If he had any idea what Choi Han had done to his son (remember, he beat him up NEAR DEATH), Deruth would have never sent Hans to help with the proper burial of the villagers! That kind of gesture of good will just doesn't make sense, no matter how tragic the massacre was. OG Cale was clearly found and brought in for healing, Choi Han got the audience he wanted with the Count, OG Cale wasn't around to make any comments on it because he was stuck in bed, and Basen went to the capital for Zed's birthday instead in his older brother's place.

Then the terrorist attack happened, and the rest of 5 Volumes of TBOAH happened, followed by the Henituse Territory invasion by Clopeh Sekka... 20 years of war, erased from the timeline by the transmigration deal with the God of Death... and the rest is history.

So, here's the quick summary of my long, LONG post about what exactly is canon regarding OG Cale:

OG Cale was born in 763 (no exact month of birth confirmed)

His mother died in 771 (when he was 8)

Deruth remarried same year, Violan and 5-year-old Basen becoming Henituses

OG Cale started acting as a spoiled brat to help his step family

He added alcoholism to his personna in 778 (15 years old)

He met Choi Han in 781 a couple of times (18 years old); first time probably sometime 1st of April, and got beat up around 5th-6ths, around 1 week after the massacre of Harris Village on March 28th,

He probably spent the next 2 years trying to get himself kicked out from the family but Deruth nor Violan ever allowed it (because their love was unconditional)

Henituse Territory fell in spring of 783 to the Indomitable Alliance of the northern countries, officially lead by Clopeh Sekka of Paerun Kingdom

He transmigrated around 803 (40 years old), becoming 36-year-old Team Leader Kim Rok Soo

What fans commonly misunderstand and get mixed up:

Choi Han did not beat up OG Cale upon their first meeting

Beacrox did not see OG Cale getting beat up nor stood on idly the sidelines watching

Ron probably never found out Choi Han was the one who beat up his charge either

Neither did Deruth or anyone important someone would have tried to arrest Choi Han or at the very least fine or blacklist him from Rain City, none of which got mentioned in TCF

So Ron and Beacrox did not merrily set off into the sunset with the guy who beat up OG Cale, they left to keep an eye on the suspicious guy who smelled like Arm (Beacrox liked sparring with him but that was just a side bonus)

We do not know whether Basen died or got hurt in the terrorist attack as it was never explained in TBOAH, we just know he had to be there instead of OG Cale

It is implied that all the Henituses aside from OG Cale died during the invasion, but the how any why was never explored so anything about that topic is pure speculation from the fanbase

OG Cale fought in the war later but his exact role was never elaborated on either

I hope you find this helpful! Have a good day everyone 💖

[Bonus: I forgot to adress one last thing: the scene OG Cale witnessed in the final battle. OG Cale saw the White Star grab Choi Han by the arm (not the neck unlike most fanart of that scene!) and say the line about his time being warped. There is no mention whether OG Cale have ever actually met the White Star before that point, and there is no information regarding their relation (which is implied because of how similar they look and how White Star was able to use the Annual Rings of Life, which could be only used by the Thames). So anything about OG Cale's family is still yet to be adressed in canon. OG Cale's unknown relative (possibly uncle because of Jour mentioning her brother) showed up exactly ONCE, and he never even showed his real face. So everything connected to that stuff is still only theories and all.]

[imaginariumwanderer]

So with Ep 10 out what are your thoughts and opinions?

Ep 10 might be the best beast yeast ep ever baring ep 8, I actually can't decide which is my no 1 as they're both absolutely fantastic. Warning: ep10-11 spoilers, the post got way too long so I'm putting undercut, there's also ship talk which um, yup, abandon hope ye who enter:

About ships:

I'm putting this first to get it out of the way... It's canon, it's actually canon guys no more denying it alright. BxA fans keep on winning as always, some joke about it but I seriously won't be surprised if salt does straight up proposed to wl once it's their turn. Honestly I can't believe how blatant they went with it. The pride month post, the costume, everything about esugar and holly's relationship EVERYTHING. Esugar even called holly "my love" several times, as least in her costume if I remember right.

Wedding confirmed, right on time for June too ty devsis!!

Ok ok I jest, still, ppl would argue it's one-sided therefore non canon but I would argue affections being explicitly confirmed in one party is a pretty big deal in of itself. Holly on her part accepted esugar n even agreed to be her other half, now if only esugar agreed to stop trapping ppl in jars.

That said, I'm really hoping players won't go out of their way to scream "fanservice" at the story, I've seen this happen w smilk's update. It's sad seeing fans dismiss good writing as yaoi or yuri bait when the beasts' wish to keep their ancients close play a big role in their characters. That said I don't want non-shipper to feel forced into liking BxA or even admit they're canon, I just want them to leave shippers alone ok since it's clear BxA didn't come outta nowhere, don't dismiss the writing when it's clear the writers DID puts efforts into it.

No more "b-but it make no sense, they only wanted the souljam!" ok it may apply to mflour but esugar does not give a single fuck, she won't take the souljam at least not by force. We have in-game dialogues of her confirming it, I need people to stop saying they only wanted the souljam since that's not only untrue but is an active simplification of their motivations!

About our beast/ancient duo:

A couple of Hollyberry scenes almost make me cry... It's great, it's amazing, beast-yeast partly serve as a revisit to the ancients' characters so having the story digs into her past was everything I needed. Sad dcacao-goldie didn't get the same treatment, we can only hope they get a revisit one day. Dunno if this is controversial but- while the game now confirmed hollyberry does have a drinking problem. I don't want fans to flanderize n make it holly's only trait, we do know she have a problem but we can assume the severity of it does fluctuates, we've seen several instances of holly's drinking n not all of them are shown in a bad light. Compared to, let's say, her Triumph of Sloth costume which arguably is holly at her worst mental-wise n have her dialogues mention drinking several times. In short, I just hope fans would depict these subjects w the nuances they needed. The same thing apply to pv's eating disorder that's, while the game did hint at, is still unconfirmed n only a headcanon as of now. The fandom have a problem with misinformation+taking theory/headcanon as canon in general tbh.

I really enjoyed the revelation about holly's empty heart, the story did touched on the survival-guilt she got after the dark flour war before n I'm so glad it is brought up again. Holly avoiding love in general does track w her attitude toward royal magarine's flirting n her cake hound decor lol. As explained in her awakened's description she cloaked a shield around herself, so much that she didn't noticed the cracks forming within.

Cookie run mostly focused on platonic relationship but this time we got romantic love playing its role as one of the extra themes within the story. Royal berry+jungleberry cookie are one of the few married/explicitly romantic/not one-sided couples within cookie run lore. To get a bit personal here, I find it way too relatable seeing pavlova (being the cookie ver of eros/cupid/romantic love) constantly telling holly she'll be happy once she accepted love into her heart. And the implication that holly is deliberately ignoring the affections of those around her. It's a revelation I find endlessly interesting. Note, despite her Awakening along w accepting pain as something one have to face in life, her "empty heart" has yet to have a 100% resolution. I kinda like how all of the ancients still have unresolved issues despite their Awakening, cacao not yet reuniting w choco, goldie not yet recovering her kingdom, vani and his 99+ problems... And damn what did holly meant by "I've learned from experience"?? My celibate queen who hurt you?...

She's just like me fr

Also, the reveal that hollyberry did resented wl make me tweak. Here we though the ancients sans goldie was too forgiving but turned out the truth is far more complicated. Good stuff. (the gang have no idea how insane I am about this one line)

Weirdly enough I'm not as attached to esugar as I am w the other beasts. Before the update she's my 2nd beast based on design alone but after reading the story, um, she might be my 4th writing-wise. It's a matter of personal opinion, her story is still incredibly well-written all things considered. I just don't vibe w her like I do the rest of the beast ig?? (Current ranking for anyone wondering: 1st mflour; 2nd smilk; 3rd spice; 4th esugar; salt is undecided)

I am thriving so, SO hard w this ep. That scene near the end where we can only hear esugar's voice, the godly choir in the bgm n sugarfly screaming her heart out in terror. Peak, so so PEAK. The "don't leave" scene was sooo fire, someone made a dub compilations of it, my favs are the English n Taiwanese dub. Some of the voice actresses were screaming their lines at the end of it, peak. That one sprite of hers might be the most terrifying thing the artists over at devsis put out yet I need moreeee. Hoping smilk's new sprites (and he WILL get new sprites not even a prophecy we all know he's the game's darling by now-) managed to outdo this cause that one motivated sprite of his doesn't do it for me tbh. The one where he broke his own neck is close but still kinda eh. Do note how exhausted esugar look here.

My preciousss Spice currently hold the "most sprites that give me the heebie-jeebies" award

I'm kinda sad holly's "ancients psycho-analyze the beasts" speech isn't much of a speech but a couple of short revelations. Esugar's wish to grant cookiekind's happiness is genuine, confirmed, she deluded herself into believing hardship is a unnecessary thing in life, confirmed. Ok it's esugar's reaction to the whole ordeal that's interesting to me. Esugar just zeroing on the fact holly came back for her- will she actually consider the words holly said or not place ur bet now everyone. Esugar being a denial queen does tracks w her theme of sloth, it's running away from pain both physical n mental. Pretending everything is fine (webtoon reference)

I like how at the end esugar insists on decorating her garden for when holly returns despite the garden being the problem in the first place. She's so distracted by her own delusions that she can't recognize pavlova's misery despite him standing right beside her. Not story-related, but another aspect of sloth is when one stopped caring about anything around them, esugar display this aspect in the bond costume. Once she achieved everything she wanted, neither cookies' happiness nor the garden is of any concern to her, all she cares about is staying beside her beloved other half. Did I mentioned she wanted holly? Cuz she wanted that cookie baddd. But it's not just that, holly is the representation of passion. Is it by keeping passion locked within her garden that esugar proved her ideology is the right one. That the happiness she has nurtured for so long is "correct."

>About the supporting cast

Pavlova cookie may ended up being my favorite beast follower, ough, but nutmeg tiger... I can't choose... "Sidekick who's done w their boss' shit" is one of my fav archetype. I'm so glad we got pavlova for that, he's what I expected black sapphire to be tbh. Maybe it's cuz he hits my niche but pavlova's story throughout the ep have been one of the most intensive character development we've got for the beast follower trope. I seriously hope we see more of him, his potential are a-plenty, being the only follower so far who's unhappy w his current disposition. (Current ranking: 1st pavlova/nutmeg I can't decide ok; 2nd the deceitlings; 3rd sugarfly; 4th cloud haetae)

We might see more of sugarfly tho, seeing as she'll be returning to the faerie's kingdom. That scene of her breaking off the sugar coating was beautiful, I like how the game presented it. It's not boom she's able to insta fly again, her wings are permanently messed up after not being in use for so long. There's true beauty in that. Both sugarfly and pavlova ended up going through a transformation in the end. To talk about them though, s*garlova eh? Fitting the update of passion gave us 2 peak af ships, but I only like s*galova as one-sided haha... Let's be real here pavlova treated sugarfly pretty bad😭 He spends all of their interactions pilling his work onto her then/and insulting her for being compliant. It's projections n him secretly being mad she's trapped like him, but feelings are not actions, did he ever do or say anything nice directly to her? Idk. Lil guy just have this love/hate envy/admiration mess of emotions toward sugarfly while my girl be out there living her best life. Again, so much potential here, once they met again they'll be at the opposite side of war. What will their interaction be like?

One of the biggest problems cookie run faced is their large cast. With "large" being an understatement... Most of the time the characters aren't utilized well/ ended up being under-used or misused. Ep 5-6 is the best of the best in term of utilizing characters for reasons I'll elaborate on another day. I'm impressed with how the writers managed to juggles so many characters this time around. Rasberry, wild berry etc etc all got their moments. N the illusion at the end left quite an impact despite holly's loved ones appearing for one dialogue box at most. All in all, I'm quite satisfied with how ep 10 turned out despite tiger lily being the only side cookie that got properly explored imo. My only nitpick is I wish the game presented clearer reasons as to *why* the hollyberians wanted to return to the kingdom. Blueberry wanted to leave cuz the place is gross I think? Funniest thing ever.

Just for fun: cookie run have a thing for yearner x wanderer dynamics. One will just be out there living their life while the other yearns for them, one tend to have some kind of emotional constipation toward the other, they are hinted to may or may not reunite once again. From the top of my head- lord oyster -> black/white pearl (low-tier since one of them is DEAD), pv -> lily, the blue one-> pv, can apply to all BxA ships tbh, sea fairy -> moonlight cookie (the yearning r heavily implied to be mutual in this case), cotton -> sherbet (the yearnings r also heavily mutual, not as much as seam*on tho), now we got pavlova -> sugarfly (New!)

>About... The Azure one... Actually the smilk cameo wasn't that bad all thing considered. I wish they didn't put him in the title screen though consider he's only in the ep for a single scene, there's some debates on how much smilk's advice played a part in esugar's downfall, but eh. They knew what they were doing putting him there, they managed to pull fans coming in to see smilk so that's a win ig.

Ok I'm hoping it's not pure vanilla for once c'mon. Might have to do a poll on this...

Anyways, IN STORY BEAST INTERACTION IN STORY BEAST INTERACTION AAAA. This lil scene gave us so much tidbits into esugar/smilk's relationship I love it! Esugar appeared very cautious around smilk, yet she never denied her fellow beast the berries. Smilk once again is scheming sth as smilk do. I won't lie I did miss this casually cackling clown. The passive-aggressiveness, smilk giving advice leaving us to wonder if it's sincere or not. Back when the beasts got revealed fans locked in(tm) n shadow-sugar got the most fanart ship or otherwise. It's still unbelievable to me they're the first beasts duo to get an actual direct interaction in-story. I wonder if it's sth that's added in due to the fandom or sth that the writers already planned n the fans r just that in-tuned. I'm willing to bet the former seeing as the sh*dowsugar fans r not, mm, happy w their canon dynamic. Again the amount of "yuri bait"/"they ruined esugar's character" discourse gave me a headache (I have to emphasize some, only SOME shippers do, all the sane sh*dowsugar fans I wish u a very good day). Gang we all know the beasts mostly don't like each other just by their battle dialogue by now. Everyone, ship what u want, I'm just praying we won't have anymore blowups when it turned out... Idk spice doesn't care for smilk or sth along those lines.

Side note: smilk/lady azure casually brought up killing cookies for fun in that scene, I got told some fans r actually shocked about that?? I'm sorry but did we read the same story😭 that mf killed off a named character in the INTRO of beast-yeast. Attempted to murder cookies, some included KIDS, several times. Scratch that it's not even an attempt, smilk *did* pushed the gingergang off the spire just for giggles bro. Ik the fandom woobified the clown but for some to collectively forget his crime(s) is, wow- even when lady azure is just standing there the writers have to drive home the amount of crimes this mf has committed, every new smilk appearance is a new crime added to the list it's so funny asdfghj

I used the jp voice-over for this update, funfact esugar straight up called him "gross" in the dub. Talking about it though, I'm insane absolutely insaneee about the way the jp voice actress managed to replicate Toriumi-san's speech pattern, even his iconic "KHEHEHE" laugh. Her voice was so amazingly, wonderfully deep n villainous it feel like my beloved Beatrice is back by my side again.

>Other miscellaneous thoughts

-Not ep 10 related but I'm seriously insane about the costume, not only is it yuriful but it's the closest we'll ever get to a "beasts win" AU, one let down is we have no intel on the other beasts since the focus is on these two. The story said holly have no foes to protect the garden from so I'm guessing they left the garden alone or is somehow incapacitated. Some of holly's dialogues are so sad, n looking back it's disturbing how many times she mentioned berry juice, also, "her voice… is my paradise" "my heart feels at peace around… her…" bro, bro? Brooo aa aaah hold me bro ough...

-Alongside happiness n love there's also the theme of parenthood, that scene when tiger lily calms her crying dad by giving him berries.. Can make a grown man cry tbh. We were so close to a family reunion, what a fool I am, for thinking the game might finally resolve a plot thread. Truly we're all fools, gotta wait 5+ more years for it.

-Rip "silent salt is elder faerie" theory it was fun while it lasted (or did it...?) So much details in one image. I'll take whatever ef official art I can get. Interestingly enough ef represented the moon here while the guest resemble the sun w their golden halo. Ef have vines n foliage which is wl's motif not his, the foliage here doesn't resemble the silver tree's branches either. Hm... While the guest have three claw marks ripping them apart. Must this be silent salt? The majority of the fandom agreed so. I'm curious what everyone else's theory is.

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

What do you need to know about lgbt+ history as a lgbt+ person? 

Well, if you ask like that: nothing, actually. You do not disqualify from being lgbt+ if you know nothing about history whatsoever. There’s no exam to pass. 

It also doesn’t make you a bad person or a disgrace to the community or an embarrassment if you haven’t heard about a specific chapter of lgbt+ history yet - saying so would be really unfair! Maybe you live in a situation in which you don’t feel safe to do a lot of research on lgbt+ related stuff. Maybe you are a young person growing up in hard times and you’re busy just surviving. Maybe your brain works in a way that makes it harder for you to learn or retain new information than for others. Or hey, maybe you already know lots - but your learning simply focused on a different chapter than the one that hypothetical exam would be on!

Of course there are many benefits to learning about lgbt+ history. You get the general benefits of learning new things (such as training your critical thinking skills, which will help you in your everyday life, and even supporting your brain health!) but there’s also specific benefits to learning about this specific subject.

History isn’t all “learning boring stuff about dead people” - learning about past events and their consequences also helps you understand present events and gauge their potential consequences for your future. This will for example empower you in your voting decisions (or help you understand how politics influence everyday life at all, if that’s your starting point!). 

Knowledge about lgbt+ history also helps you to notice misinformation more easily and enables you to counteract homophobic myths with facts. 

It may even help you on a more personal level: reading up on all the people who came before you can foster a sense of identity and belonging. It might make you feel more confident to know that people like you have been around forever and have achieved so many things! 

So, rather than “what do I need to know”, I think the much better question is “where do I want to start?”. 

Nobody knows everything about lgbt+ history (or about any given topic, really!) and unrealistic expectations will only set you up for disappointment. It’s best to let your curiosity lead you! You’re much more likely to actually read up on something you are genuinely excited to learn about than something you’ve only been told to read. 

With that in mind: it can feel overwhelming to pick a topic to start with! Especially if you’re pretty new to lgbt+ history, you may not even know where to start. So I do want to make some suggestions here. Not as a “you need to research all these today or else I’m revoking your license to gay”, just to spark your curiosity! I will not add explanations right here in the post, I just want to give you some terms you can easily put in the search bar. (Important: these are in random order, not ranked by importance or anything like that!) 

US-Centric lgbt+ History

1. Stonewall Riots

2. Harvey Milk

3. Marsha P. Johnson

4. Sylvia Rivera

5. The Lavender Scare

6. Obergefell v. Hodges

7. Don't Ask, Don't Tell

8. The Mattachine Society

9. The Daughters of Bilitis

11. The AIDS crisis

12. Bayard Rustin

13. Lawrence v. Texas

14. The Gay Liberation Front

15. The Human Rights Campaign

European lgbt+ History

1. Section 28 (UK)

2. Oscar Wilde

3. Alan Turing

4. Magnus Hirschfeld

5. Paragraph 175 (Germany)

6. The Homomonument (Netherlands)

7. EuroPride

8. James Barry

9. The decriminalization of homosexuality in the UK (1967)

10. ILGA-Europe

11. Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 (New Zealand, part of the Commonwealth)

12. The Equality Act 2010 (UK)

13. Transgender Europe (TGEU)

14. The first same-sex marriage in the Netherlands (2001)

15. Dora Richter

Have fun learning! 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

P.S: You may wonder “But what about places other than the USA or Europe?” (or those of you who already know a lot about lgbt+ history, “but what about (topic I haven’t mentioned here)”) - and that’s actually a really great point! It highlights what we talked about above: nobody knows everything + lgbt+ history is way too rich of a topic to put it all into one short list! This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of everything important, just some potential starting points that hopefully lead you to topics beyond ones mentioned on this list.

[witchyintention]

Red Flags to Watch for Online as a Witch or Pagan

The internet is a wonderful place for witches and pagans to connect, learn, and share experiences. But just like a bubbling cauldron can contain both healing potions and questionable concoctions, the online witchcraft and pagan community has its fair share of red flags. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or a baby witch just starting out, knowing what to look out for can save you from misinformation, scams, and straight-up cult-like behavior.

1. The "One True Way" Mentality

If someone claims their way is the only correct way, run. Fast. Witchcraft and paganism are vast, diverse, and deeply personal paths. No single tradition, spell, or deity is superior to another. Anyone who insists otherwise is likely more interested in controlling you than in fostering genuine spiritual growth.

2. Gatekeeping and Elitism

"You’re not a real witch unless you do XYZ." Sound familiar? Gatekeeping is rampant online, and it usually serves to boost egos rather than build community. Whether it’s requiring a specific lineage, expensive tools, or obscure knowledge, true spiritual paths welcome curiosity and growth, not exclusion.

3. Charging Exorbitant Fees for Basic Knowledge

It’s fair for experienced practitioners to charge for in-depth classes, readings, or handcrafted tools. But if someone wants hundreds of dollars to "unlock your true potential" or sell you a "highly exclusive" spellbook, take a step back. A lot of foundational knowledge in witchcraft and paganism is freely available through books, forums, and online communities.

4. Fear-Based Marketing

Beware of anyone who tells you that you’re cursed and that only *they* can remove it—for a hefty fee, of course. Fear-based marketing plays on insecurity and panic, leading people to spend unnecessary money or perform rituals they don’t understand. Authentic practitioners empower, not frighten.

5. Toxic Positivity or Love-and-Light Only Spaces

Yes, positivity is great, but shadow work and acknowledging the dark are just as important as embracing the light. Beware of spaces that shut down conversations about struggle, trauma, or the more challenging aspects of spiritual growth. True spirituality isn't just "good vibes only."

6. Cult-Like Behavior

If a group or individual discourages questioning, insists you cut off family and friends, or demands unwavering loyalty, you’re stepping into cult territory. Healthy communities encourage independence and critical thinking.

7. Misinformation and Historical Inaccuracy

Social media is full of posts that sound mystical but are factually incorrect. If someone confidently declares that "witches were burned at the stake in Salem" (they weren’t, they were hanged), or claims an ancient spell that clearly came from a 1970s book, do some fact-checking. Reliable sources and scholarly research are your friends.

8. Unverified UPG as Universal Truth

UPG (Unverified Personal Gnosis) refers to personal spiritual experiences. They can be powerful, but they’re just that—personal. If someone insists their deity *only* communicates in a specific way or that their interpretation is the only correct one, take it with a grain of salt.

9. Overuse of Fear Tactics About "Wrong" Practices

While certain precautions in magic are important, some practitioners online will have you believe that if you so much as light a candle incorrectly, you’ll be cursed for eternity. Magic isn’t that fragile. Mistakes happen, and the universe isn’t waiting to punish you for using the wrong incense.

10. Exclusivity and Hierarchies in Online Groups

Some online covens or groups try to create a hierarchy where only a select few are deemed "worthy" of deeper knowledge. While mentorship and initiatory traditions do exist, beware of groups that make you jump through endless hoops for basic spiritual insights.

11. Fake "Secret Ancient Knowledge" Claims

If someone claims to have knowledge that no one else in the history of witchcraft has ever had and will only share it for a price, it’s likely nonsense. Most magical traditions have been passed down for centuries, and while personal gnosis is valid, true wisdom isn’t exclusive.

12. Cultural Appropriation Disguised as Spirituality

Be mindful of practitioners who claim to be able to teach you "Native American Shamanism" when they have no actual connection to the culture, or those who mix and match sacred traditions without understanding them. Respect and research go a long way.

13. Demonization of Certain Practices Without Context

If someone tells you that working with certain deities or spirits is automatically "evil" without any nuance, they’re likely spreading fear-based misinformation. Not every dark god is "dangerous," and not every light being is "safe." Context is everything.

14. "Instant Results" Promises

If someone guarantees that their spell or product will give *instant* results, be skeptical. Magic, like anything worth doing, takes effort, energy, and patience. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

15. Dismissing Science Entirely

While magic and spirituality involve metaphysical elements, dismissing science completely is a big red flag. If someone tells you that "quantum physics proves magic is real" but can’t explain how, or insists that modern medicine is useless in favor of "pure energy healing," be cautious.

Final Thoughts

Navigating the online witchcraft and pagan community can be both magical and overwhelming. The key is to stay curious, question things that don’t sit right, and trust your intuition. The best teachers and communities will encourage your growth, not stifle it.

Happy practicing, and may your online journey be as enlightening as your magical path!

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[psychicwavementality]

🚨 🚨 ‼️ 🇨🇳🇭🇰 HK/CHINESE SUOPOST V2 PART 1 HAS LANDED!!

EDIT NOV 11 2024: So with recent Niisato interview news that Suo was designed to be a cool Chinese character, I have officially lost all words. Take my post as my "I called it so hard because it was obvious from the start, but I sure do appreciate the extra confirmation" cheer.

I never thought it would see the light of day because this draft got deleted like, 2 times and running. But it's here. It's finally here.

Below the cut is another long and lengthy Suopost V2 about his inherent Chineseness and, may I now congratulate, even further Hong Kongness! Not only that, but now we have Endo Yamato also starting to show signs of diagnosable Chineseness, and because my CN friend and I are ridiculously tweaky when it comes to overanalyzing characters who show even a smidge of Chinese in their eyes—this post was born! Sadly, because I am slow as hell when it comes to writing, this post only contains 11,000 words discussing Suo Hayato. You'll need to wait for Part 2 if you want to see me Hallelujahpost and Chinkpost Endo Yamato... blame my stupid baka life.

Now feast your eyes upon me having to correct my own errors in analysis that turns out to reveal even more Chinese connotations 😭😭😭💪!! This is VERY VERY long and has genuine deep analysis regarding a lot of China/HK culture/like 8 seconds of politics and 15 minutes of history + the weight behind some symbolism in Suo's name + theories regarding Suo's arc + Suo's absolutely yappable connection to 儒家思想/Confucianism.

Later in Part 2, we'll talk about Endo Yamato's biblical symbolism + alchemical influence + his connections to Suo, and how I can jokingly chinkpost him lol. I'll also be uploading a Reddit version of this post onto r/WindBreakerManga either tomorrow or the day after because I have to re-format a lot of things.

So strap in for a long and potentially mind-exploding ride because this is what happened to me while researching/writing all this. BTW, feel free to spam live commentary at me using Tumblr's comment function or something because I'd love to hear your thoughts while reading this whole gigantanorstus assfuck of a post... I'm not okay. I think I went insane. Niisato needs to pay me USD 1,664,800 for a new heart because I think mine stopped beating multiple times during research.

Before we begin, I'd like to tell everyone who has read my previous Suo chinkpost (v1) to DISREGARD EVERYTHING I SAID ABOUT SUO'S FLOWER BEING PLUM BLOSSOMS. You'd think I'd be devastated to find out I have to retcon an entire analysis because I picked out the wrong flower. You'd be expecting Suo to lose Chinese aurapoints. I shit you not: he auramaxxed HARDER. It's like opening a Pandora's Box; you learn about the real flower and then 5 trillion more connotations are thrown at you at Mach 20. It is more over than I thought possible when I wrote the traditionally symbolic Chinese boypreggers marriage room part. And one connection caused me to spiral into another, thus stretching this post's wordcount into unholy numbers 😭

Anyway.

In Suopost v1, I thought these fuckass flowers [IMG 1] next to Suo were plum blossoms [IMG 2] and, ngl! They look plenty like them. But after I read this mind-blowing char analysis + theory document made by u/Snowy-kitten, my jaw fell as:

Oops, Suo's name means Chinese redbud [IMG 3], and if Sakura's flowers are sakura, then Suo's flowers should be redbuds. Damn, I got it wrong, time to rewrite my Suopost. Sorry for spreading misinformation gu—

...What are these flowers called in Chinese anyway?

why do i hear boss musicHOLY SHIT OH MY GOD THEY'RE CALLED 紫荊花. OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH M

Taken directly from the wonderful and super informative document which I highly advise you to read to fully understand this post, especially if you have time:

Su (蘇) – sappanwood, a wood that can be made into medicine used to improve blood circulation, treat wounds, and alleviate pain. It also symbolizes revival, resurrection

O (枋) – sappanwood or a tough wooden plank that can be used for crafting, maybe symbolizing the bridge of communication between other characters?

Suo (蘇枋) – Sappanwood, a deciduous shrub of the legume family (ie a small shrub that loses all its leaves in winter), or Chinese redbud, symbolizing family harmony, can be used as treatment for fever (No wonder why Sakura recovered after Suo visited him)

Haya (隼) – Falcon, a symbol of nobility (high status + wealth) in Japan, also symbolizes bravery, power and vision, is an icon of pursuit and movement, heading toward success (Falcon in other cultures also symbolizes freedom, which might have something to do with Suo’s dream – the liberation of slaves)

To (飛) – Fly or Flight

Hayato (隼飛) – Flying Falcon

Analysis: Most likely the key to the success of Sakura or Bofurin’s rebirth, if Sakura became the leader of Bofurin, Suo would most likely be his right-hand, just like Hiiragi and Umemiya

- Although Chinese redbud symbolizes family harmony in Chinese culture, it also symbolizes betrayal/death due to betrayal in the Bible

- Unlike other characters, Suo’s name contains more than one species of tree, would this be a hint of him having more than one identity, hence the traitor theory?*

*I'll elaborate with my own understanding on the traitor theory expanded from the information I've gotten from u/Snowy-kitten's document. Please please pleaser read their theories and their analyses!! It's super super good and deserves so much credit and a lot of this post is built from it.

-

1. Suo and the 'Chinese Redbud'

Suo's name is extremely fucking insane if viewed from a cultural lens — specifically the symbolism of the 'Chinese redbud' as well as some themes of the 'sappanwood'.

If you're from HK you might already be freaking out with me when you saw those three Chinese characters: 紫荊花, AKA the Chinese name of Suo's second plant after the sappanwood. You might be thinking, User Psychiwavementality, is it truly joever as it is? Is there no coming barack from the HK suoposting? Have we found salvation? Is Suo from Hong Kong, better yet, the Wind Breaker version of Sun Yee On or 14K???

Unfortunately, I have to inform you: no. 🥲 Suo's flower is NOT the bauhinia, known as the '洋紫荊' yang zijing/bauhinia x blakeana/羊蹄甲屬 (yang ti jia shu) which happens to be the official flower of Hong Kong.

Suo's flower is the '紫荊花', or the zijing hua/cercis chinensis, which, in China, can be found in southwest Guangdong, southern Guangxi, and southeastern Yunnan the most. <- These could be places Suo hails from!

However, the Chinese redbud/ZJH and the Bauhinia/YZJ are often used interchangeably (and also incorrectly), causing confusion and mix-ups between both flowers, as HK's 'yang zijing' is sometimes shortened directly to 'zijing'.

Outside of WBK, this shortening is a topic of political discussion. For reference, there is debate around the could-be or could-not-be intentional omission of the 洋 (yang) character in Mainland China when referring to the yang zijing (making it simply zijing (hua) and not the YZJ) as well as how it affects HK.

There was discussion when the HK's Gov. omitted the 'yang' and referred to the YZJ as the 'zijing hua' in our Basic Law. If you want to get a gist of the discussion it feel free to Google Translate this image because mobile Tumblr only lets me embed 10 images and I need to use it sparingly lol.

From Wikipedia:

洋紫荊作為香港法定代表花卉，在《香港特別行政區基本法》第一章第十條提述香港區旗及區徽時被稱作「紫荊花」，英文版則使用泛指羊蹄甲屬的「bauhinia」。然而「紫荊花」一名除在中國南方多泛指羊蹄甲屬外，也可以泛指紫荊亞科的其他花卉，甚至特指紫荊屬物種紫荊（Cercis chinensis）的花。紫荊與洋紫荊兩個物種的花朵外觀有顯著分別，但因中國大陸媒體多依照「紫荊花」一名來宣傳香港市花[註 3]，引致部分中國大陸民眾誤以為香港市花為紫荊的花。

(Edited MTL):

As the legal representative flower of Hong Kong, Bauhinia is called "紫荊花 (ZJH)" when referring to the Hong Kong regional flag and regional emblem in Article 10 of Chapter 1 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The English version uses "bauhinia" which generally refers to the genus Bauhinia. However, the name "紫荊花 (ZJH)", in addition to generally referring to the genus Cercis chinensis in southern China, can also generally refer to other flowers of the subfamily Bauhinia, and even specifically refers to the flowers of the genus Cercis chinensis.

There are significant differences in the appearance of the flowers of the two species, Cercis chinensis and Bauhinia x blakeana. However, because the mainland Chinese media mostly uses the name "紫荊花 (ZJH)" to promote the municipal flower of Hong Kong, some people in mainland China mistakenly believe that the municipal flower of Hong Kong is the 紫荊花 (ZJH).

(I'm not shitting you when I tell you even Google Translate didn't pick up on the nuances between yang zijing and zijing hua 😭😭 also the scientific names have me tripping so the MTL might be wrong yet I'm too blurry to correct it properly... if any native Chinese speaker wants to write a proper TL in the comments I allow you to help me!!)

2. What does this mean for Suo?

The Lack of '洋 (yang)':

(This part touches a little on HK/China/UK history and politics.)

Now that you know the difference between the 'yang zijing' and the 'zijing hua', let me explain some possible symbolism that Suo might carry by having the ZJH as his other plant and not the YZJ.

In Chinese, '洋' means 'foreign'. And yes, Suo likes foreign tea and cakes. Anyway, some people think that the omission of '洋’ is a way to be politically accurate as it may carry connotations of HK being colonized by the UK, and the Mainland Gov. is known to be against the colonization of Hong Kong, often being reluctant to admit that HK belonged to the UK in a brief period of history after signing an unequal treaty. The Mainland Gov. commonly asserts that HK has always been a part of China even during the colonial period, claiming that HK was rightfully returned to its roots on the 1st of July, 1997.

Hence, there is the omittance of 'yang/foreign' from 'yang zijing', whether unintentional or not, when referring to HK's flower, resulting in many current-gen Mainlanders referring to it as the ZJH, which if intentional, could be used as a way to linguistically minimize the alienation between HK and China.

Theories/Speculation as to why it was omitted:

There are multitudes of reasons why Nii Satoru could have chosen to use the ZJH instead of the YZJ in Suo's name.

On a practical level, one reason may be because Suo's name is intended to have double meanings—sappanwood and the Chinese redbud—to show that he has two sides to him, most likely being connections to Chinese culture. Nii Satoru might have been unable to use this two-sided symbolism if he used the YZJ instead, hence why he used the ZJH instead of the YZJ; furthermore, there is a cultural story that comes with the ZJH that could very well coincide and foreshadow Suo's arc which I will explain soon. I personally think this is the most likely reason.

Another practical reason is that Nii Satoru genuinely had no idea there was a difference between the YZJ and the ZJH and, if he ends up revealing that Suo is a born-and-raised in HK lad, he made an honest mistake while trying to hint at Suo being from Hong Kong.

Nii Satoru could also not want to be too 'on-the-nose' when hinting at Suo having correlations to HK, OR he wanted to imply that Suo was originally from China and immigrated to HK at a young age — or it could be hinting at his ancestors moving from China to HK, which was common back in the 'golden era of HK' spurred forward by its advancement in the film industry as well as budding business opportunities for being an international trading hub. Either way, it could have meant to be a nod towards Suo being from China and not Japan/HK etc.

On a theory/canon level, Suo could have intentionally chose this Japanese name for himself and intentionally omitted the '洋 (yang)'/'foreign' character. He could've done it because he dislikes its implications, that he's a stranger in a foreign land (Japan). Or he could be touchy about his identity as a 'foreigner' — what differentiates him from the Japanese? Hence why he dresses and expresses himself so Chinese-ly — or he could've done it to show that he's freeing himself of his roots — people who leave their OG culture behind often become walking time capsules of That Particular Period, and the loss of '洋 (yang)' could also imply he's losing his connections to Hong Kong/the triad. The latter ties in with my tiny theory that Suo's hair is short because he cut it as a way to symbolize him breaking away from his shixiong/shidi, yet his past still haunts him in the way his tassel earrings resemble long hair at times. (The flower meaning of ZJH is also very very in line with this latter theory. I will elaborate more in my next part about the meaning of the Chinese redbud/ZJH.)

Suo could also be omitting this character on purpose to reconnect with his Chinese side after immigrating to HK and then Japan, I suppose? This might be EXTREMELY controversial to show in HK/China if he shows bias towards one side's culture by stepping away from the other, and I don't see a way this can be written without stomping on one side's good graces + provoking political disgruntlement amongst HK/CN readers, so this is probably not going to be an option up for consideration (hopefully).

Furthermore, if Suo also shows favor of JP culture/claiming that he's JP over being HK/CN as his arc and that he's abandoning his past identity as a Chinese/HK person, I promise you that some CN readers might become unhappy as there are long-standing grudges between the Chinese and the Japanese from WW2 that are too long to elaborate here. If you're curious to learn about it, search up 'Nanjing Massacre' and 'Unit 731' to see for yourself — please heed a TW for extreme brutality and inhumane torture.

OK, this is the last of all things political, but I promise the historical part will still continue. Let's move on.

3. The Meaning and Stories Behind the Zijing Hua/Chinese Redbud and The Yang Zijing/Bauhinia x blakeana

In Chinese culture, the Chinese redbud/zijing hua has a well-known cultural story behind it. It is deeply tied to the flower meaning of the Chinese redbud -- which has core symbolisms of familial reunion/love (親情) and brotherly harmony (兄弟和睦). And to any SuoSaku enjoyer's delight, they also symbolize steadfast love, passion, and affection; it is known to be a well-received gift for husbands and wives; it can even symbolize a strong and loyal friendship (if you're into that). The growth structure of a Chinese redbud, as said by a user in an online Chinese forum to whom I will graciously quote:

3、倔强坚强

紫荆花的花语为倔强坚强，紫荆花的花朵生长的十分紧凑，就算在阴雨天气，叶片被大风所吹动，不断摇慎态摆，也不会掉落，好似一位倔强的人，永远不会向困难低头，努力拼搏，最终收获成功。

(Edited MTL):

3. Stubborn and strong

The flower language of the zijing hua is stubbornness and strength. The flowers of the zijing hua grow very compactly. Even in rainy weather, the leaves are blown by strong winds and keep swaying cautiously, but they will not fall off. Just like a stubborn person, they will never bow their head to difficulties, work hard and exert oneself to the utmost, and ultimately achieve success.

It can also symbolize new beginnings, just like Sakura's sakura:

紫荊花的象徵意義 紫荊花象徵著愛情、美麗和純潔。 在中國傳統文化中，紫荊花還被視為春天的使者，寓意著新生命和新的希望。

(Edited MTL)

The symbolic meaning of zijing hua symbolises love, beauty and purity. In traditional Chinese culture, the zijing hua is also regarded as the messenger of spring, implying new life and new hope.

Moving on to English sources, I've basically learned that the Chinese redbud:

Is not resistant to winter frost, but is generally able to survive the cold. Suo's favorite season may be winter, but both the sappanwood and the Chinese redbud are not resistant to either the cold or frost, with the first losing all its leaves in winter and the second potentially dying to snow/frost (like most plants lol.) Despite being resistant to the rain and heat of spring and summer and being able to tolerate degrees under 38°C (remember Suo not breaking a sweat when training in the summer with Furin?), Chinese redbuds fall short when it comes to braving brutal winters, thriving best when the temperature is above 10°C.

They bloom during spring, around March-April. Could this be a parallel as to why Suo idolizes Ume, the 'plum blossom' that can bloom in the cold of winter? For being able to stay resilient and stand proudly/beautifully even amidst harsh and stressful conditions?

Has many parts can be utilized for traditional Chinese medicine, cooking, and decoration. The wood and the bark have been used to treat abscesses, bladder ailments, and head troubles. Treats bladder diseases, post-partum discharges, bleeding piles, and internal parasites; its flowers are used for relieving rheumatic muscles and joint pain. Even the flowers can be eaten raw or pickled, containing vitamin C with a fresh and acidic taste. The bark of young shoots can be used to weave baskets, as the wood of Cercis species is generally of good quality. -> Suo's plants can both weave baskets and act as good wood...

Is also known for its ornamental purposes, and has a neighboring family tree—the Cercis siliquastrum, known as the 'Judas Tree', which is a symbol of betrayal. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and committed suicide by hanging himself from a redbud tree. Additionally, I was told by my friend that u/Snowy-kitten realized the kanji for Suo's name is is 蘇枋（すおう), but the tree he represents is Chinese redbud (花蘇芳/ハナズオウ/hanazuou in Japanese). 蘇枋 and 蘇芳 are pronounced the same and one of the hanakotoba (flower language) of 花蘇芳 is apparently death by betrayal.

While the Chinese redbud/ZJH is known for these traits, the YZJ is a little bit different; it was difficult to find meanings and symbolism for the Bauhinia x blakeana due to it being a lesser-known flower + a sterile hybrid flower.

Locally, the leaves of the YZJ are considered "clever leaves" and a symbol of wisdom; sometimes harvested to be dried into bookmarks to bring good luck in studies.

The Bauhinia x blakeana is a hybrid between the Bauhinia purpurea and then Bauhinia variegata. But I could not find anything about the symbolism of the Bauhinia purpurea... I looked at some other ones in the Bauhinia genus, though.

From what I found, the genus has flowers that typically represent new beginnings (is he twinning Sakura?), feminine beauty (he's still ♂ fertile ♂ like that), grace, elegance, and nobility.

Bauhinia kappleri:

Historically, it has been seen as a symbol of unity due to its bilobed leaves resembling joined hands. This symbolism was especially prominent in cultures that valued harmony and cohesiveness. [...] Pink Bauhinia represents grace, unity, and resilience. Its delicate yet sturdy appearance communicates a balance of beauty and strength. [...] In Chinese culture, for instance, it symbolizes renewal and new beginnings [...] Meanwhile, in Western contexts, it often represents appreciation and noble elegance.

Bauhinia acuminata:

The Bauhinia acuminata's striking appearance symbolizes beauty, elegance, and grace. It is often associated with the ideals of feminine beauty and charm. In some cultures, these blossoms are seen as symbols of new beginnings and growth, making them popular choices for weddings and other celebrations.

Bauhinia variegata:

1. [...] the white orchid has held reverence throughout Chinese culture and stands as a symbol of nobility, beauty, and innocence.

2. The Orchid Tree holds symbolic meaning in several cultures. In India, it is associated with love, fertility, and prosperity, often featured in weddings and religious ceremonies. In Chinese culture, Bauhinia variegata is a symbol of beauty, grace, and the fleeting nature of life.

Bauhinia x blakeana in Chinese Sources:

在中國文化中，紫色常代表高貴與權力，而洋紫荊則代表了優雅和力量。 此外，洋紫荊還象徵著團結和繁榮，這也使它成為許多盛大活動的首選花卉。

(Edited MTL)

In Chinese culture, the color purple often represents nobility and power, while the yang zijing represents elegance and strength. In addition, the yang zijing symbolizes unity and prosperity, which makes it the flower of choice for many grand events.

I have a headache. 🤕 Am I just yapping or was this all preordained by Nii Satoru?

Do you still remember that Suo's earrings are made of coral? The very coral that symbolizes a lofty status, auspiciousness, nobility, power, and eternity? 🤕

It's all coming together...

The Story of Three Brothers and the Zijing Hua Tree/田真兄弟：

This story could very well be a direct hint towards Suo's future martial siblings + how his arc will end. I vaguely remember(?) studying this passage for DSE unseen 文言文s so I managed to find it again. I'll cross-reference and do a direct word-to-word translation. If you understand Chinese I recommend just reading the 文言文 because it has more of the OG meaning 💪

原文/Original:

京兆田真兄弟三人，共议分财。生资皆平均，唯堂前一株紫荆树，共议欲破三片。翌日就截之，其树即枯死，状如火然。真往见之，大愕，谓诸弟曰：“树本同株，闻将分斫，固憔悴，是人不如木也。” 因悲不自胜，不复解树。树应声荣茂，兄弟相感，遂和睦如初。

註釋/Glossary

（1）京兆：京城地區。

（2）生資：生活資料。

（3）皆：都。

（4）唯：只有。

（5）破：使之破為。

（6）就：開始。

（7）即：立即；立刻。

（8）狀：形狀；狀態。

（9）然：通假字，同“燃”，燃燒。

（10）翌日：第二天

（11）愕：驚訝。

（12）諸：眾；

（13）斫（zhuó）：砍。

（14）勝：承受；控制。

（15）憔悴：枯死。

（16）故：所以。

（17）解：分解。

（18）其：他家的。

（19） 堂：門。

（20）株：棵。

（21）遂：於是。

句子翻譯/Sentence TLs:

1、翌日就截之：第二天就準備截斷它。

2、狀如火然：形狀像被火燃燒過一樣。

3、樹木同株，聞將分斫，故憔悴，是人不如木也：樹本來是同根的，聽到要砍斷分開，所以枯死了，我們人都不如樹木。

4、樹應聲榮茂：紫荊樹聽到（田真的）話後（立刻）枝葉繁茂（了起來）。

My attempt at an English TL:

In the capital city [Beijing], the three Tianzhen brothers divided their property. All other assets [means of living] had already been evenly divided; all except the Chinese redbud tree/zijing tree in front of the door. They discussed and agreed to split the tree into three pieces each. The next day, they prepared to cut the tree down, but the tree immediately withered to death, as if it had been torched by a flame. The oldest brother looked at the sight and was extremely stunned, saying to his younger brothers: "This tree is originally from the same root. It heard it was going to be separated after it was felled, and thus, it withered. We, as humans, were no match for/couldn't live up to even a tree."

Because they were unable to bear with/contain their remorse, the brothers decided not to cut the tree. When the Chinese redbud/zijing tree heard the eldest brother's words, it immediately sprouted flowers once more. The Tianzhen brothers were astonished and emotional and thus returned to their harmonious relationship from the beginning.

From this, I'm heavily inclined to believe that:

Suo is one of three brothers/martial siblings.

Suo left/they left Suo due to family issues or family inheritance trials.

Suo's arc will end well, with all brothers reaching an understanding and becoming friendly again.

OR, Suo is the Chinese redbuds/zijing tree in this scenario.

Suo might end up facing Endo because the passage mentions 'as if it had been torched by a flame [状如火然]'. Endo's name is '棪堂' -> this also means something else which u/Snowy-kitten mentioned, it being 'a tree that bears edible red fruit' in Chinese, which contributes to Endo's biblestuff. But let's analyze it later in Endo's part.

Chinese can somewhat be considered playing Pictionary—if you separate the words from 「棪堂」 into three: 「木」、「炎」、「堂」， you could literally interpret this as, in 文言文/Classical Chinese, 「Tree/Wood」、「Flames Rising」、「Courtyard/Doorfront」

This coincides with the "Chinese redbud tree/ZJH" looking as if it "had been torched aflame" in front of the house/the courtyard/the door.

In conclusion, this might allude to Suo having to fight Endo, or Endo having to fight Suo to get him back due to a family feud—and Suo might get heavily injured. His martial brothers might realize the impact of their actions and finally retreat and make up.

Suo and Sappanwood:

Sappanwood can make a type of valuable red dye named brazilin.

The character of 'Su' (蘇) in JP also means resurrection, reviving, resuscitation, and rehabilitation.

The red pigment found in the sappanwood tree (brazilin) has also been used to treat wounds and ward off infections, encouraging faster healing.

Sappanwood isn’t as favoured for extracting dyes as brazilwood, though—the discovery of brazilwood led to a boom in red pigments due to its greater concentration, whereas sappanwood was much less saturated in comparison.

This is pure yappanese but maybe Suo sees himself as inferior compared to his brothers...

That's the color of the dye sappanwood creates and that is the color of Suo's eye and his coral earring. I don't need to say anything more, right?

4. FALCON KICK 𓅃𓅃 FALCON PUNCH 𓅃𓅃

Rejoice!! We have made it to the next section of Suo's name at last!! I never thought I'd get here!!!! LET'S MAKE THIS QUICK (it's not quick).

Again, from the document that u/Snowy-kitten wrote, "隼" means 'falcon' and "飛" means 'fly/flight', spelling out "隼飛" lit. 'flying falcon'.

Reviewing the Symbolism Blargh Off This Page: (OG text has been slightly edited)

"The falcon represents vision, freedom, and victory. Hence, it also connotes salvation to those who are in bondage whether moral, emotional, or spiritual." <- I find it very interesting that many of Suo's symbolisms tie back to things relating to a new beginning/healing: salvation, revitalization, resurrection, a new hope, etc., which falls in line with his dream: the liberation of slaves. And look, I know this possibly means Suo breaking free of whatever chains down his heart, but ACTUALLY Suo will be stuck in 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 bondage and then be saved by EndoSaku. Trust me y'all I'm Nii Satoru's right-hand man

"In Christian symbolism, the wild falcon represents the unconverted, materialistic soul and its sinful thoughts and deeds. The tamed bird symbolizes the Christian convert pursuing his lofty thoughts, hopes, and aspirations with courage." <- I don't think Suo is wild or tame or Christian in particular, but you could take it as current-Suo suppressing and masking his true identity/emotions. And that actually makes sense when you remember how Suo nearly went Insanity.PNG during KEEL Arc and Sakura had to stop him from continuing to pummel a guy when he was down; when Sakura admitted he was pissed at himself and turned away Suo thought 'I really am no match for you'. On one hand, this could be explained extremely well if we view it from a Confucian + Suo's theory of adulthood lens which will be talked about later in Part 6. However, this could also symbolize Suo being bound in emotional chains and having... wtf, 'sinful thoughts'? That he's suppressing?? Maybe that's why he doesn't use his phone around people coz there's a bunch of 料 (blackmail) in there 🤣. And when Suo gets his arc I suppose he gets 'tamed' and is finally free to pursue his aspirations with courage (being with Furin and supporting Sakura), which will effectively act as another new beginning/his healing—further tying into his whole shtick surrounding resurrection revitalization healing salvation blah blah blah. (POV: the 'Suo has no Christian allusions' part comes to bite me back in the ass via. Taiping Rebellion parallels where an ethnically Han Chinese mf in Suo's triad or Noroshi proclaims to be "Endo's brother-in-christ" slash the brother of the WBK Jesus Christ. And then I kill myself)

"In Egyptian hieroglyphs, the falcon glyph was used in words and phrases such as 'god', 'pharaoh', 'greatness', 'year', 'sovereign', 'star', 'hour', 'prayer', 'land', and 'world'. It was associated with the deity of the sky, of kingship, and of the sun, Horus [...] In early dynasties, the king’s ascension was known as the “Flight of the Falcon”." <- Aha! AHA! YEAH MORE NOBILITY HOURS AND A DIRECT REFERENCE TO THE DEFINITION OF HAYATO. Okay. So. This is highly unlikely to happen but imagine Suo becomes the head of his triad branch. Or maybe this means that Suo is the heir to something lofty... deadass the fated ascension to big bad boss which he skedaddled from or was denied from, who knows?

"The Eye of Horus, the Egyptian symbol for the Sun, depicts a stylized falcon's eye and face markings. It signified royal power and protection from danger, evil, and ill health." <- More nobility/higher status allusions and illness-warding shit, typical Suo Hayato behavior.

"A human-headed falcon served as a symbol of the human soul on its flight from this world to the afterlife. Similarly, the crossed arms of Egyptian mummies were intended to symbolize the folded wings of a falcon at rest." <- And here we have more Suoshit related to afterlife-isms resurrection-isms and new beginnings-isms. Chat can I stop talking about Suo Hayato ... he's just a never-ending Pandora's 24-hour unboxing video...

"The sport of hunting with falcons was associated with nobility in Europe, Japan, and China, where falcons symbolized keen vision, boldness, and power." <- 'Takagari (鷹狩) is Japanese falconry, a sport of the noble class, and a symbol of their nobility, their status, and their warrior spirit.' - Wikipedia.

To continue with Wikipedia: In the 13th century, hawking became popular among the rising samurai class as well as among court nobles (kuge). At that time, the practice of hawking was a means of resolving struggles over land ownership among lords. <- This feels a little similar to the splitting of property mentioned in the Tianzhen brothers!

What's more interesting about falconry is that falcons typically wear 'falcon hoods' that blind them, which forces them to be calm.

The bird wears a hood, which is used in the manning process (acclimatizing to humans and the human world) and to keep the raptor in a calm state, both in the early part of its training and throughout its falconry career. Out of all the falconer's aids, the hood is the most important piece of equipment. There are various styles and types of hoods for raptors within falconry. The hood is handmade, often from kip leather or suitable kangaroo leather. —Wikipedia

Suo's eyepatch is made from leather as mentioned in his character sheet even though nowadays, a lot of eyepatches and most medical eyepatches are made with cloth and/or other adhesive materials.

What's more, a majority of traditional falconry gloves/gauntlets have tassels extremely close if not similar designs to the earrings Suo wears:

Remember when Suo once mentioned that he had an 'ancient Chinese dragon spirit sealed away in his eye', hence the eyepatch? Maybe there's weight behind that joke because he might lose his composure if the eyepatch is taken away.

If Suo is a trained falcon belonging to his family—although he's 'flying' right now, either for a hunt or free roam—he's been educated in a way that eventually, he will always turn back and roost on the gloves of his master.

"The falcon was seen as the bird of Princes, the gyrfalcon the bird of Kings, and the eagle the bird of Emperors. [...] A falcon [would be released] at the funerals of Pharaohs. This illustrates the ancient view of raptors as intermediaries between the divine and eternal heavens and the mortal earth." <- The 'bird of Princes' part really makes me want to believe Suo is truly in a high-ranking and potentially triad-inheriting position of power; he could really be a 'prince' of sorts for his gang... The O (枋) in Suo can stand for a 'sturdy plank', and even 'raft/boat', which might symbolize him being a bridge of connection between the 'divine and eternal heavens' (his triad/family/whatever dude) and the 'mortal earth' (Furin).

"Furthermore, falcons are represented by the constellation Aquila [lit meaning eagle], as are all raptors. This constellation is said to confer the qualities of boldness, ambition, courage, liberty, generosity, penetrating vision, and a noble spirit, along with a gift for martial arts and the fabrication of weapons.

"This contrasts with a vulnerability to and enmity toward reptiles and their symbolic qualities of deceitfulness, underhandedness (venom), vindictiveness, and baseness of spirit.

[OP's Quick Interjection: from the source some mf added a little 'that aint falco' after the following part and I gotta agree. But also, falcons and eagles are both under raptors as birds of prey, and from what I've seen, Suo is the only known person in WBK so far to have a bird of prey in his name, so I'll still keep this here as food for thought—as well as a theory I have for later.]

"Reflecting this opposition, the battling eagle and serpent has been a motif from ancient times, common to Western, Eastern and New World civilizations. See classical Roman statuary, the ancient coat of arms of Mexico and the Garuda emblems of Indonesia, Thailand and Ulan Bator. The dichotomy can also be seen in the eagle and the rattlesnake competing to be symbols of the Revolutionary United States in the 18th century."

Right. So. I have a lot to say about this chunk. The first is the numerous stories of raptors, mainly eagles, and serpents/snakes, as well as my theory that the family Suo has been sworn into will feature new characters with birds of prey as their joining kanji.

I'll elaborate on the latter first because it's shorter: so far, out of all of the named and introduced people in WBK up till Rooftop Fight, not a single person except Suo contains the character of an animal capable of flight, much less a bird of prey.

The only person who comes remotely close to having birds as a symbol is Chika Takiishi and the full-page spread ft. his fight with Umemiya which u/Just_EveB theorized to be the karura, which originates from the Garuda in Hinduism (will also elaborate later). But even Chika doesn't have any bird radical in his name. Shishitoren isn't exempt from this; the gang known for people with animal radicals only contains land mammals and reptilians:

Tomoyama Choji (兎耳山 丁子) = rabbit

Togame Jo (十亀 条) = tortoise

Sako Kouta (佐狐 浩太) = fox

Arima Yukinari (有馬 雪成) = horse

Kanuma Minoru (鹿沼 稔) = ♫ Shikanokonokonokokoshitantan ♫

(There's also Inugami Teruomi who is a dog for "inu" but I CAN'T FIND HIS KANJI AND HE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A WIKI PAGE??? FREE MY MAN!!!)

Even other characters who happen to have an animal in their name e.g. Hiiragi Toma (柊 登馬) (馬 -> horse) don't have an animal capable of flight, much less a bird of prey, and no one has the radical for bird (鳥).

Hence, I'm genuinely going to go out on a limb and say that the family Suo has sworn into—or his biological brothers or martial brothers or whatever fucked-up triad business he's in—will have characters containing '鳥' (bird) or one of the following in their names: 鷹、鵰、鳶、鵟、鷂、鴞、鵂鶹、魚鷹、鷲, which are respectively eagle, eagle but different*, kite, buteo, the birds that are under here, owl, collared owlet, osprey, and vulture. OR, if these family members have Chinese names instead of JP, it's plausible they have the same pinyin pronunciation as some of these.

*Btw, this is the difference between a 鷹 and a 鵰. Don't even ask me tbh

Next up, let's talk about the correlations between birds of prey and serpents. I did some scouring through the internet and dug up quite a lot of stuff.

Let's first establish that the only person so far who has been shown with serpent/snake imagery is none other than Endo Yamato himself.

(And yes, I switched to desktop just to embed more images, I'm crying. Anyway, these panels are all taken from Chapters 144 and 145.)

The tattoo on Endo's neck, an infinity symbol, is derived from the ouroboros, a snake/serpent/dragon biting its own tail.

It symbolizes 'eternal cyclic renewal' or 'a cycle of life, death and rebirth'. Wow, so Suocore.

(BTW, in some religions... the ouroboros is also a fertility symbol. This just in: Suo, Sakura, and Endo are all ♂fertile♂)

I have so much more to say about Endo's tattoos but that's reserved for when I'm done with Suo Hayato... so let's go back to the topic of serpents and eagles and their tales.

Here's some prominent stuff I found:

Aesop's fable: This is the first example I managed to find. It's a story about how kindness will always be repaid. I honestly can't seem to think of a way this coincides with Suo/Suo's family/Endo etc. You can click on it to read the story yourself. Like, I think Endo's on a path to pseudo-redemption or at least 'potential future allies', and I can't see a reason why? He'd want to poison? Somebody?? Even 'figuratively'. Like, let's pretend my theory of Suo's family having birds of prey in their names is correct. Why would one of Suo's martial bros, or better yet the head honcho or something, swoop in to save this Countryman from Endoshittalk? But well, if anyone can think of anything, feel free to comment on it!!

Thus Spoke Zarathustra:

An eagle soared through the sky in wide circles, and on him there hung a serpent, not like prey but like a friend: for she kept herself wound around his neck. “These are my animals,” said Zarathustra and was happy in his heart. “The proudest animal under the sun and the wisest animal under the sun” […]

“That I might be wiser! That I might be wise through and through like my serpent! But there I ask the impossible: so I ask my pride that it always go along with my wisdom. And when my wisdom leaves me one day—alas, it loves to fly away—let my pride then fly with my folly.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, “Zarathustra's Prologue,” translated by Walter Kaufmann.

This is something that also came up, yet this is a more different example compared to the beginning—instead of feuding, the eagle and snake are in harmony, representing the mind and body becoming one, as well as taken from u/__Can__ from the linked Reddit post detailing what they symbolize:

It represents the highest strivings/capacities in man (eagle) and the lowest and more earthly/instinctive faculties (serpent). They are not opposed to one another but are rather one. Just like the other metaphor Nietzsche used, the tree (thought as the self-actualizing man) that if it wants to grow towards heaven (the highest in man) has to have its roots deep beneath the earth in the dark and evil layers of the psyche so to speak. You have to integrate your obscure and evil side in order to become whole.

There's a lot of tree imagery that I'm not really familiar with but know exists in WBK... such as that time Sakura's branch was nearly snapped off by Endo. To me this feels more like a general 'concept' that can be written into the story rather than an important foreshadowing towards future arcs ... plus I haven't read the book so I can't commentate on the philosophies of Nietzsche, so far the only thing I know about him is that he is one of the philosophers outspoken on overcoming Nihilism... taken from a deleted Reddit user:

People who haven’t read or understood Nietzsche think he is a nihilist, which is a bit understandable as his thought is complex, and he was a devastating critic of both dominant and trendy movements/institutions and their values. I believe he once described himself as a maggot that goes into a wound to eat away at the decaying flesh to clean it out. He also described himself as philosophizing with a hammer. In many ways, he is one of the intellectual fathers of postmodern deconstructionism. Which can often border on the nihilistic, but Nietzsche wasn’t simply trying to tear everything we believed in down for its own sake, his intention was to make things better.

From a site (really good read about Nietzsche and Buddhism):

Nietzsche aimed to overcome nihilism by affirming the unconditional embrace of existence. For him, life was not to be denied but rather created by one’s own value system, and built on the foundation of understanding that there is no inherent meaning in the universe. Nishianti describes this process as “dying the great death in the abyss of nihility and coming back to life again” (1983, 233). In doing so, active nihilism becomes a transitional stage rather than an end in itself. It is the abyss into which we must descend, “the darkest night before the dawn” (Nietzsche, 1968, 12). It is through the experiential stages of active nihilism that an individual strives for the heights of the ideal being, the übersmench. He asserted that living by one’s own ‘noble morality’ is characterized as a vigorous, free, and joyful existence, ruled by an innate “will to overpower, and will to rule” (1968, 16). From his works, it is evident that Nietzsche detested the weak and humble man who sought to escape the realities of life.

I can somewhat link Nietzsche's theories on nihilism with the process of creating the Philosopher's Stone (nigredo, albedo, citrinitas, rubedo), which is suuuuper interesting because Endo has vaguely alchemic symbols tattooed onto him. But again I'm digressing.

Norse Mythology [1] and [2]: According to ancient Norse mythology, the World Tree Yggdrasil has an unnamed eagle at the top and a serpent/dragon named Nidhogg at the bottom, and beneath the eagle there is a hawk named Vedrfolnir, standing for '"storm pale", "wind bleached", or "wind-witherer". Between them, there is also a squirrel named Ratatoskr who carries messages between the eagle and Nidhogg.

From Wikipedia: In historical Viking society, 'níð'(nid) was a term for a social stigma, implying the loss of honor and the status of a villain. Thus, its name might refer to its role as a horrific monster in its action of chewing the corpses of the inhabitants of Náströnd: those guilty of murder, adultery, and oath-breaking.

It's faster to just attach images of me and my friend tweaking:

I might one day do a separate post about Norsestuff and Furin because this is really interesting.

This entire Reddit comment section: Talks about the historical significance of the eagle and the snake in tales, depictions, etc. From u/Wayrin:

This symbol goes way way way back. There are depictions of eagles with snakes going back to Babylon and Elam around 3000 BCE. Of course the image was borrowed by everyone and the Egyptians saw it as Horus defeating Seth. Similarly Ahura Mazda was depicted as an eagle and Ahriman as a dragon. The Greeks borrowed the idea of the eagle as a symbol of resurrection from later Egyptian tradition and then it starts popping up everywhere. India, Indonesia, Rome and all over the Mediterranean. Most of these traditions use the Eagle to represent some great good. Usually a god related to the sun combating the forces of evil the snake. We believe the symbol to be borrowed and expanded (except for Mesoamerica) since they have so many commonalities. A lot of the stories have the Serpent winning over the Eagle before the Eagle triumphs. If you can access it, this is my source "Eagle and Serpent. A study in the Migration of Symbols." It was written in 1939 though so take it with a grain of salt.

And from u/tonycmyk, about ancient Mesopotamia:

[...] The snake/serpent has always represented the giving of knowledge to humans and the connection to earth. The eagle has always represented power over the earth and war. And this symbolism can be traced back through every ancient culture we know of and probably the ones we don’t. Powerful stuff.

Something not related to Suo: So about the Karura... the theorized demon JoJo stand that Chika has in the spread originated under 'Garuda' in Hinduism. You can read more about Garudas VS. Nagas here and the common point between Karuras and Garudas is that they're both depicted as people who feud constantly with dragons/serpents/snakes. In Hinduism, though, Nagas aren't depicted as evil like in Christianity. (And they're also a symbol of fertility... Endo's more ♂fertile♂ than Suo confirmed...)

5. Final Closing Notes on Suo

So, in summary, what do I think about Suo?

... What do I think about Suo... (crushing the chopsticks in my hand) I have multiple proposals as to what Suo is doing in Furin and what's going on with his family. And other Suostuff in general.

Falcon flying away: - To me, I see this as Suo leaving the family for a brief period, similar to how falconers can train their falcons to hunt but inevitably return to their owner. - If Suo's arc involves him cutting ties with his family, then this part could also symbolize Suo's desire to leave his original background behind in favor of Furin. - If the falcon symbolizes Suo's family as a whole, then this could represent the downfall of Suo's triad/noble family too, or that they're conducting some of their business elsewhere from their place of origin (*suspiciously Chinese ringtone starts to echo from my phone holder*)

u/Snowy-kitten's traitor Suo theory: Suo could be a spy in Furin. He could be scoping out the area for his own triad/gang/whatever. But what's most curious is the already-existing relevance between Endo and Suo that u/Snowy-kitten pointed out: Suo’s given name and Endo’s given name, Hayato and Yamato respectively are the names of two ancient Japanese tribes. [...] The Hayato is a tribe of ancient Japanese people that existed during the Nara period. The Yamato is another tribe of ancient Japanese people that existed alongside the Hayato. The Hayato frequently resisted the Yamato rule until the year 720 when the Hayato rebellion broke out. It was a rebellion of the Hayato against the Yamato. The rebellion ended in the year 721 with the Yamato being victorious. The interesting thing about the name 'Yamato' as u/Snowy-kitten also mentions is that its kanji (哉真斗) holds almost no meaning in JP. In Chinese, though, this can more or less translate to an expression, 'Ah, a real fight!' as '哉' in classical Chinese can be translated into an exclamation of sorts (「哉」可表示感嘆、疑問及反問語氣，相等於「啊」、「呢」、「嗎」), the '真' translates to 'real/true', and the '斗' (or 鬥 in trad) translates to 'fight'. So in the end, the Serpent VS. Eagle thing might happen in the form of Endo fighting Suo himself or Endo fighting one of Suo's family members.

Tsuge-chan and Suo: Remember this part?

Yeah, so, wtf was that? Fun facts on Tsuge's name from u/Snowy-kitten again (thank you bro you're saving my life):

I feel like Tsuge is going to be interlinked with Suo's backstory, that maybe he knows something more about Suo's 'family' than anyone in Furin should. Whether or not the XL river in Tsuge's name can be crossed with a bridge from another character's name or not... IDK we'll see if said bridge can be crossed when we get to it or burnt in favor of Suo lol... because Suo mentions bridge building in his character song gg

My final hard read on Suo's arc (take this with 2 mouthfuls of salt): - Suo will be called away briefly and leaves Furin either without notice or on short notice. He might leave behind enough clues to let Furin know why or where he's going. Or he might leave none at all, and Tsuge has to guess and explain what's most likely going on. - Endo might have to fight Suo in some way. Or he ends up fighting Suo's older martial siblings (the 'eagle') and triumphs over them. - If the oldest is truly the 'eagle', then there will be a younger one, the second-in-command, the 'hawk', like in Norse mythology. - I might come up with more stuff and I'll edit this into here as time comes.

6. I Lied

Suo isn't over. We still have to talk about how well he fulfills the shit we learnt in the HKDSE about our goat Johnny Hung's virtues/morals/principles.

So anyway, this is Johnny Hung our fucking GOAT!!!!!:

AKA Confucius lmao. Sorry it's an inside joke

This man is the reason I had to memorize so much classical Chinese sayings and literature that eventually culminated into Knowledge for the Suopost. It was all built towards this moment :( Let's start with an explanation of 論仁、論孝、論君子 as well as 五倫/四端！

...User Pyschicwavementality, wtf is this?

(Stares at you with the most depressed, sick, and haunted eyes) Chinese lore.

I will sadly not be sane if I explained every single one of these sayings to you guys. (Mutters) I mean I did have to memorize all of them back in the day but I'd kms elaborating on all of them so. I'm just going to take the relevant ones that could tie into Suo's character.

Let me first establish: the core of Confucianism revolves around "仁、義、禮、智、信、恕、忠、孝、悌". The arguably quote unquote """""important""""" ones (to today's discussion and in What I Learnt in general anyway) would be 仁義禮智信 and also 孝, of which I will now try? My best? To explain?? Please forgive me I learned everything in Chinese and it's really hard to do an accurate translation/analysis without going deep into culture and history 😭

CLASSICAL CHINESE 101

仁：This is read as rén. It is like... altruism, betterment, and love, I guess? Rén is how you interact with people, it is the innate connection and bond and interaction between human beings. (人與人之間互相關懷，尤其以關愛自己的親人最為重要。) It is respect and love and doing good deeds and Kind deeds out of our inner Goodness in our hearts. It is born from our inner individual and it affects our actions and what we do. We aim to always be a 'jūnzǐ' （君子）in Confucianism, someone who embodies all of Confucianism as the "self-improving and good-hearted" individual. To be empathetic and the kindest/most altruistic and loving person to one and all; to treat everyone equally from our innate Goodness—that is more or less rén. In the ideal society of Confucianism, everyone practices rén. This would mean society would always be harmonious.

義：this is read is yì. It is morality, justice, and helping others when in need. It is doing what is right and according to rén.

禮：this is lǐ. It is respect, treating people with manners, following social rules under rén, showing filial piety to your parents and elders, etc.

智：this is zhì. It is the pursuit of knowledge, creation, innovation, and improvement. It is having the intelligence to separate right/wrong and good/evil.

信：this is read as xìn. It is to have faith and belief in our beliefs and pursuits and our governing body. It is also integrity, honesty, and truthfulness. Whether it be a person, an organization, a business, or a government, they must have integrity as their core value.

(Additional) 孝：this is read as xiào and is essentially filial piety. Confucius believed that respect and love towards our parents should not be seen as an 'obligation', but rather something inner from the heart. There are four 'levels' of xiào: 孝順、孝敬、孝養、孝承 (xiàoshùn, xiàojìng, xiàoyǎng, xiàochéng). This is super complicated to go through so if you're bored and have tons of free time on your hands, feel free to run this PDF through a translator to get a better idea on what xiào is.

To get an idea on xiào, Confucius said that, if our parents became old and we only send them food and money, this is no different from raising a dog or a horse (孝養). He says, "Without respect (敬), where is there a difference?". When his disciples asked what we must do to respect (敬) our parents, he answered "We must not turn our backs on them [or more specifically, do not turn our backs on lǐ (etiquette)]. We serve them according to etiquette while alive; bury and commemorate according to etiquette after death."

But anyway, in turn, parents must also treat their children with all the above-mentioned virtues and said parents need to respect their parents with the same attitude as well. In theory, this goes both ways.

There's also Mencius' beliefs branched from Confucius' teachings (still part of Confucianism):

惻隱之心：read as 'cèyǐn zhī xīn'. This is your innate ability to feel compassion and empathy. Some people always see the "evil" around them and fail to see the goodness inside people and thus choose to be "evil" in turn. Mencius, one of Confucius' disciples, believed everyone was born kind and carried compassion. For those who are unfortunate, people will sympathize with them out of their own kindness; for those who are weak, people will have compassion for them and reach out to help them. He believed that people should never abandon their inner kindness, as kind people will always be rewarded by the kindness of others.

是非之心：read as 'shìfēi zhī xīn'. This is the innate ability to differentiate right and wrong actions as well as morally incorrect/correct decisions others make and reflect on them to judge why it is wrong and what not to do.

羞惡之心：read as 'xiūwù zhī xīn'. This is the innate ability to feel shame and guilt for making mistakes or doing things that are not following lǐyí (禮儀). It is also feeling scorn/disgust for others who do not follow lǐyí (禮儀).

辭讓之心：read as 'círàng zhī xīn'. This is the innate ability to feel thankful when others do something kind towards you, and you will feel like you need to pay it forward. It is giving others opportunities in exchange of your own and taking a step back to put others in mind first.

There's also the concept of inter-relationship hierarchy from the foundations of filial piety, which stipulates the order of respect should go from 君臣、父子、夫婦、兄弟、朋友 -> Lord/Emperor & Gov., Father-Son, Husband-Wife, Brothers, and Friends

Additional aid via. translations of my super helpful diagrams I made ages and ages ago about how to differentiate 仁義禮智:

(2) Analogy: POV you are in Ancient China and you see an elderly man killing a random guy

(3) Because you have 惻隱之心 (cèyǐn), you feel pitiful for the guy being killed. Because you have 是非之心 (shìfēi), you can judge and realize why the elderly man killing the guy is wrong. Because you have 羞惡之心 (xiūwù), you feel angry that the elderly man is killing the guy.

(4) Because in Ancient China, the lǐ [social rules] is to respect your elders [filial piety], but because the elderly man is doing something not in accordance with lǐ and yì (禮儀) [social rules and justice], you will do what is right (the lǐ action) and stop the elderly man from getting killed.

(5) Think: your choice to act and do correctly and the correct act itself is yì; your heart's inner compassion is rén; your ability to tell if the situation is in accordance with lǐyí (禮儀) or not is zhì; and the environmental/social rules = lǐ, e.g. respecting your elders. When you do actions that are not fulfilling yì, you feel guilty because you have 羞惡之心 (xiūwù). Rén is inner moral/virtue requirements [to be a 君子 jūnzǐ)，whereas yì is your outward action.

(6) Oh, and don't forget: 羞惡之心 (xiūwù) is feeling disgusted/hateful when you see others do something not in accordance with 禮儀 (lǐyì). If you do non-lǐyì things yourself, you will feel ashamed.

(7) Adding on to the last sentence in (5), 'rén' is not a requirement; it is inner 'love' exuded from the heart. If you are forced or required to do so, that is not 'rén', that is 'duty'.

So how does this all tie into Suo Hayato?

(Shakes my fist full of documents) so this is where I start CRAZYMAXXING.

If you also lovehate this man you might have already made some connections between Suo and the above few values I've described. Otherwise let me elaborate: when dear old Niisato made Suo to be the most stereotypically Chinese lad ever, he also managed to include a shitton upstanding moral traits that a jūnzǐ (君子) would have, essentially making Suo an amazing representation of core Confucian beliefs (so far as of writing this post in my theory state of mind).

When Suo talks about 'growing up' or taking the steps to adulthood, he mentions one of the most important core values being able to make your imagination reality as well as empathy.

You could actually simplify rén into putting yourself in another person's shoes to see/think/feel from their perspective, and one famous saying from Confucius is to wish no harm to come upon others that you do not wish to come upon you, which ties in with Kanuma mocking the fallen Shishitoren member and only starting to feel panicked once he realizes the same harm was going to happen to him. ("己所不欲,勿施於人。")

Suo also insinuates the ability to chase your goals and turn them from dreams into reality is another part of 'attaining adulthood'. You can boil this down to being able to fulfill what you say/living up to your claims/fulfilling your beliefs. Honesty and integrity also play a major role in Confucian beliefs. There are a few sayings under xìn '信‘ that Confucius said about this:

5.1 A jūnzǐ (君子) must be mindful of what they say and do things swiftly/efficiently/quickly. 5.2 A jūnzǐ (君子) does not endorse a person just because he speaks favorably, nor does he reduce a man's worth just because he has a bad impression of him. 5.3 A jūnzǐ (君子) will feel shameful if he cannot go through with what he said he will do. 5.4 [Text Before Image] If one's name/renown is not righteous, his speech will not be reasonable; if one's speech is not reasonable, he will not be able to accomplish anything. If things are not accomplished, the law will not be able to reach into one's heart; if the law cannot reach people, the punishment will not be fair; if the punishment is unfair, the common people will be at a loss. [Text In Image] Therefore, leaders must be steadfast and reasonable in both what they do and what they say. When leaders speak, they must not be careless (read: 'whatever' energy) or rash.

^^ When you translate this, doesn't this essentially reflect Umemiya as a leader? Which also falls in line with Suo seeing Ume as his ideal 'picture' for adulthood and further aligning w/Suo's statement of 'making your imagination reality'?

It doesn't end here though...!!!

KEEL ARC! When Suo got PISSED as hell seeing his friends around him hurt, Sakura had to step in to stop Suo from losing composure in Chapter 50 | Extreme Emotions. Remember when I talked about explaining how this could be understood SO WELL from a Confucian lens in Part 4?

What Sakura said: 'I'm pissed as all hell at myself. I was talking big [I can 'em all on my own], and look what's happened. But getting pissed off isn't gonna help. We need to focus on what we have to do.'

(Pokes my finger at statement 5.3 and 5.4)

This ABSOLUTELY makes Suo's reaction called for ("I really am no match for you") because right now Sakura is embodying the core values of Confucianism better than Suo was moments prior. In that moment, Sakura was the one closer to being a jūnzǐ (君子). At that moment, Suo was the one who should've been learning and modeling after him.

Remember 羞惡之心 (xiūwù)? It is feeling disgusted/hateful when you see others do something not in accordance with 禮儀 (lǐyì). If you do non-lǐyì things yourself, you will feel ashamed.

Suo was disgusted/hateful at the KEEL member for hurting his friends. He may have reflected and felt shame when Sakura came up to stop him.

It's still not over though!

Suo has consistently shown contempt for those who are older than him yet do not practice the same values of 仁義禮智信! Another one of the major Suo moments:

"Goodness... How self-centered. Even to the very end. To teach others, you need to engage with their feelings and support them to stand on their own two feet for the first time." — Suo Hayato on the most Confucian thing he could say at the moment

How self-centered:

顏淵問仁。子曰：「克己復禮為仁。一日克己復禮，天下歸仁焉。為仁由己，而由人乎哉？」 [1] 顏淵曰：「請問其目。」子曰：「非禮勿視，非禮勿聽，非禮勿言，非禮勿動。」 [2] 顏淵曰：「回雖不敏，請事斯語矣。」（《顏淵》第十二）

(HIGHLIGHTED = TRANSLATED BELOW; EDITED MTL)

[1] "Rén is to restrain one's selfish desires and to conduct oneself in an honorable manner. Once you have done this, all the people of the world will submit to your benevolence and virtue. The fulfillment of rén depends entirely on oneself. How could it depend on others?"

[2] "How do you practice rén?" "Do not look; listen; speak; or do things not in accordance with lǐ."

Already, gymnast-guy has violated the above.

To teach others [...]:

"與人交,推其長者,讳其短者,故能久也。"

"When interacting with people, you should pay attention to discovering and promoting others' strengths, rather than always pointing out other people's shortcomings." [MTL]

Confucius was known to be a very open and benevolent teacher. He did not require students to pay fees; he simply wanted your desire to learn. Suo's really open with teaching Nirei and he matches the teaching style of Johnny Hung really well <3 He's very positive and uplifting when it comes to Nirei. Personally, I also like to believe Suo also sees a younger or past version of himself in Nirei which adds more layers to his intrigue...

Scroll back up to the part where I had three Instagram stories explaining how 仁義禮智 linked with Mencius' additions if you forgot about it. You can re-read what I said regarding the example of seeing an old man killing someone.

Then the gymnast guy talks about 'discipline', and Suo has a vision of his master, which he adds with: "'Discipline', 'training and passing down your teachings'... Okay! I've got a question, sensei! How are you supposed to act when you go barging into another person's home?"

(He's pissed.)

Rewording [2] from my Instagram Story Explanation: Because you have 惻隱之心 (cèyǐn), you feel pitiful for Furin getting invaded and fighters/friends getting hurt. Because you have 是非之心 (shìfēi), you can judge and realize why the Noroshi invading Furin is wrong. Because you have 羞惡之心 (xiūwù), you feel angry that Noroshi is invading Furin.

And once again, just like from KEEL: 羞惡之心 (xiūwù) is feeling disgusted/hateful when you see others do something not in accordance with 禮儀 (lǐyì).

For someone older to be breaking 禮儀 (lǐyì) and speaking on how Suo's 'similar to him' and how he's having 'fun', this was The singularly most awful thing gymnast-guy could've done at the moment as someone Suo is meant to respect according to the age/skill hierarchy in Chinese culture. Not to mention the gymnast guy establishes himself indirectly as a 'teacher' in this scenario by using the phrase 'discipline'. It's even crazier when you realize that Confucianism explicitly believes that anyone can be a teacher to you because you do not know everything. There's literally a story about Confucius speaking with a 7-year-old who spoke so much facts that Confucius himself recognized the kid as a teacher. Suo taunting the guy asking what he could learn from the gymnast is NUTS.

Some other quotes that I think really match Suo's character:

子曰：「君子病無能焉，不病人之不己知也。」（《衞靈公》第十五）

“A jūnzǐ (君子) worries that he himself is incapable, and not that others do not understand him.”

子曰：「君子不重則不威；學則不固。主忠信。無友不如己者。過則勿憚改 。」（《學而》第一）

"If a jūnzǐ (君子) is not steadfast/solemn/decisive, he will not be dignified; and what he learns will not be stable. Maintain loyalty and integrity as your main principles. Do not make friends with people who have lower moral standing than you/who are not as good as you are, and do not be afraid to correct your mistakes."

Final Theory Pitch: "Death By Betrayal"

"Death By Betrayal" in Suo Hayato's name based on the symbolism of the Chinese redbud might make one immediately think of his master and his family. Perhaps Suo's teacher passed and Suo's embodying his master's teachings, or his family has backstabbed/been backstabbed. If we go down the route of Suo still being an active triad member, then this may talk about his triad being betrayed and Suo having to briefly live/train with his master under a new identity. If Suo's former martial siblings (whom he respects, by the way, literally so xiào) want to reform the group, Suo might force them to align with his current set of values (which are extremely similar to Furin too—to protect the common people) and avoid harming innocents.

From another point of view this can also symbolize the "death" of Suo Hayato's former character, where instead he was the one who turned his backs on his clan/family first. Either to learn from his master who may or may not be dead, or to escape his supposed triad ties.

There is another piece of classical literature that I can yap about: 《魚我所欲也》. Here's a quickest translation of it possible:

“魚，我所欲也，熊掌，亦我所欲也;二者不可得兼， 舍魚而取熊掌者也。生亦我所欲也，義亦我所欲也;二者不可得兼， 舍生而取義者也。

"Fish, I desire it; bear paw [rare and believed to have medicinal properties], I also desire it. If I cannot obtain both at once, then I will sacrifice the fish for the bear paw. Life, I desire it; yì [to do morally correct/upstanding/good things], I also desire it; if I cannot obtain two at once, then I will sacrifice my life for yì.

生亦我所欲，所欲有甚於生者，故不為苟得也; 死亦我所惡，所惡有甚於死者， 故患有所不辟也。 如使人之所欲莫甚於生，則凡可以得生者，何不用也 ? 使人之所惡莫甚於死者，則凡可以辟患者，何不為也 ?由是則生而有不用也，由是則可以辟患而有不為 也，是故所欲有甚於生者，所惡有甚於死者。非獨賢者有是心也，人皆有之，賢者能勿喪耳。

Life is something that I want, but there is something I want more than life [yì]! so I will not be greedy for immediate survival. Death is something I hate, but there is something I hate more than death [not fulfilling yì], so I will not avoid the evil that comes my way. If there is nothing that men love more than life, why do they not use whatever means they have to live? If there is nothing that men hate more than death, why do they not use any means of avoiding evil? By these means may we live, but some do not use them; and by these means may we avoid evil, but some are unwilling to do so.

Thus (it can be proved) that there are things that people want more than life, and there are things that people hate more than death. It is not only the 賢者 (virtuous man) that has this nature—all men have this innate nature, but the virtuous man can preserve and maintain it.

一簞食，一豆羹，得之則生，弗得則死 。

A serving of food, a bowl of soup; if you obtain it, you will live. If you do not obtain it, you will die.

嘑爾而與之，行道之人 弗受;蹴爾而與之，乞人不屑也;萬鍾則不辯禮義而受之。

Giving this to someone while mocking and hollering at them, normal people (people on the road) will not accept it because they feel disrespected; stepping on it before giving it to someone, a beggar would not accept it because it is unclean. The temptation (t/n: 萬鐘 is similar to 'bad temptations' or 'great benefits') for benefits: one will not differentiate whether or not it is aligned according to yì [etiquette/moral ethics] before obtaining it.

萬鍾於我何加焉?為宮室之美、妻妾之奉、所識窮乏者得我與?鄉為身死而不 受，今為宮室之美為之;鄉為身死而不受，今為妻妾之奉為之;鄉為 身死而不受，今為所識窮乏者得我而為之，是亦不可以已乎?此之謂 失其本心。"

What do these benefits have that can help me? For a beautiful house, many wives, and for the recognition and thanks from poor people? In the past, one would sacrifice their life before accepting these benefits; but now, for a beautiful house, many wives, and the recognition and thanks from poor people, they will accept temptation. Can we not stop this? This is the act of losing one’s trait [of sacrificing your life for the greater good]."

A summary of this thinking would be to "捨生取義", lit. 'sacrifice your life to obtain yì/the greater good'.

It is completely possible that Suo, when raised or sworn into the triad, was taught by his master (either in secret or after he briefly leaves) about the importance of 'upholding the ultimate good', which may have caused him to realize his triad—which may or may not prey on the weak—does not align with his moral worldviews any more.

To escape, Suo could've decided to fake his death or leave behind his old self and turn his back as betrayal, which ties into his 'noble' symbolism and 'flying falcon' name in Hayato.

But tbh, I'm inclined to believe Suo's master was on okay terms with the triad because he/she had long hair. Suo's hair, as I've stated elsewhere, could be short due to hair being used as a major symbolism device in WBK as a way to say he's tried to leave his past.

Yet some things may be unable to be broken away from so easily, and Suo, a trained falcon, might be unable to leave behind everything. He was likely loyal since a young age and unconsciously finds himself lingering on old sentiments. Maybe his earrings are gifts from his master. Maybe his eyepatch is from his triad/family.

Still, Suo being from a criminal family and having distaste for Noroshi/KEEL is really interesting because we can see that he doesn't enjoy it when people lack empathy or cause pain to others. You’d expect him to react more to Choji’s gang because of their “violence for violence’s sake” going against his whole empathy tangent, but Suo seems to hate it more when someone finds interest in violence for meaning’s sake or violence for profit’s sake. I think Suo understands Shishitoren is built off violence to become stronger (<- literally the WBK OST), and everyone in SSTR seems to mutually be okay with this in-fighting. There's also a big difference between Suo clashing with SSTR and the other: he hasn't forged as deep of a bond with Furin compared to vs. KEEL and vs. Noroshi, and the latter two have made active attempts at hurting Furin through morally corrupt means (beating Nagato up and taking over Furin for personal gain).

Suo could've developed this sort of morality to distance himself from his family, who may have gotten infamous/profited off similar methods. (<- and this is really funny because Confucius has ALSO said that a jūnzǐ (君子) should not accept wealth or escape poverty if it wasn't achieved through morally correct means. A jūnzǐ (君子) cannot turn his back on rén in the span of a meal, and this remains true even during hasty and urgent times + when one is poor/wandering/living in tough conditions.)

A possible timeline:

-Suo is born to a rich family, possibly wealthy through a criminal empire.

-Suo dislikes his family because of his morals (may not have happened), and his family may dislike him back because he is considered “weak” (could explain why he’s the one who offers to help Nirei or why empathy as an adult is so important to him). Or, he's a super loyal lapdog and hella admires his brothers. Maybe they're the only good guys in the triad. Maybe they're really bad and Suo's also really bad. Suo might have two wolves inside him... the Confucian morals vs. Organized crime persona

-Suo studies Chinese fighting techniques and philosophy with someone (possibly a figure outside his family)

-Suo's family and/or mentor is betrayed/Suo betrays them

-Suo has to escape and create a new identity fully based off of his Confucian learnings.

...

And with that, I've said almost everything I need to say on the topic of Suo Hayato.

It totally didn't take 10,000 words or anything.

What's up next in Part 2?

I'll be writing Endo's version of this post and include some Suo-Endo joint theories and/or notes. Things to look forward to include Endo, Christianity, and alchemy... And maybe I'll even start yapping about the 0.2472983% potential Daoist/Taoist influence Sakura has.

I'll be back in 1 business century!

(Bonus) out of context convos and quotes my friend and I have said during the process of writing this that may foreshadow Part 2 or something:

Me: Picture Endo being Chinese too but it's Mainlander vs HK [Suo] beef

Me: WHO'S THE TAIWANESE 😭😭😭 IS IT UME??? HE HAS PLUM BLOSSOMS

Nakama: Okay so (crackposting) it's choji because of TW's association with the sun

Me: What if it's Chiitan [Chika Takiishi] and we get the Mainland x TWnese "forbidden" romance...

Me: But anyway I find it devastating choji would say cao ni ma wo che ne and its not even ooc

Me: ...Shit now I can imagine endo with a strong beijinger accent

Nakama: ...yamato儿(er) endo儿(er)

Nakama: ....chiika儿(er) takiishi儿(er)

Nakama: ...sakuraur harukaur

Me: endo going BEJINGRR WELCOMES YOU

"You not only ate, you devourered that like you were unaccountably peckish." —Nakama-kun 2024

Nakama: Waiting very politely for ur suopost to show up

Me: It might tonight, I'm typing like a keyboard warrior rn

Me: When u wake up it might be posted 😎

—A lie quoted from the 17th Aug 2024 at 3：57 PM GMT+8, a whopping one month and seven days ago.

"Y'know maybe suo's from oklahoma" —Me, delirious, 2024

The Suo Post's TLDR:

"WE NEED TO KILL HIM FOR BEING TOO CHINESE"

—User psychicwavementality after 1 month of crying in voice messages about Suo Hayato.

(Total word count: 11,781 words. Part One, scene!)

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

Please don't forget to fill in the survey, fellas!

As consumers — and as people who care about the longevity of this game — it is vital that we make ourselves heard whenever possible. And surveys like this one is one of the best ways of voicing our concerns and/or complaints.

(For anyone looking for a template, @/simp4liferz on Twitter has one that you are free to use and build upon as you wish)

Below are the requests I plan to put in my own survey, for anyone interested:

1. Release the rest of Sylus' standard content, increase his affinity cap, and update his orbits.

2. Give us roadmaps for future updates/additions to the game

3. Add more permanent ways to farm Diamonds and other resources.

-As currently is, it is incredibly difficult for end-gamers and F2Players to earn Diamonds outside of dailies and SHC, the latter of which requires a high number of high level 5 stars and protocores, and a variety of stellactrums. For Sylus mains, Caleb mains, low spenders, and F2Players it is near impossible to adequately meet these requirements.

4. Increase event rewards.

5. Increase droprates for bounty hunts.

6. Increase the rewards for awakening memories.

7. Lower the mats needed to level up memories.

8. We need better and clearer communication from the company.

- the total lack of response or communication from the company regarding the concerns we — your consumers — have repeatedly brought up through emails and social media during these last couple of months has been incredibly disheartening and disappointing. As customers, we deserve the bare minimum of communication from you. The lack of it causes uncertainty, as well as in some cases the spread of rumors and misinformation.

9. Add more regular updates to the main story.

10. Add more permanent and substantial features to the game, such as additional playtime minigames or new battle modes

11. Announce new banners at least a week before they are released so that every player has a chance to somewhat prepare for them.

12. Release reruns of past banners, particularly solar myths.

13. Fix the lighting for low light kindled scenes. At present, the lightning issues in said scenes make it difficult to see MCs with darker skin tones in them. We want this game to be equally inclusive for every player

14. Do not separate the outfits and hair/cosmetics in limited banners. Put them all in the same crate.

15. Do not put event outfits or hairstyles/cosmetics behind paywalls.

16. Do not put any of MCs non-combat outfits behind paywalls.

17. Make curly hair for MC an option in cutscenes and etc. Not just in glint photobooth.

18. Allow us the option to hear MCs voice during kindleds and Tender Moments.

19. Slow down the speed of MCs subtitles. They go by so fast that they are impossible to read without pausing the game and using the dialogue log, which breaks the immersion.

20. Sell LADS merch globally.

21. (during battle) Don't start the timer until the player has reached the checkpoint.

22. Release at least one 4 star with an illustration of Sylus and MC together. Every other LI has at least one each with MC. Fair treatment amongst all 5 LIs is important

[liminal-therianthropy]

!!Small rant, about 'fake therians'!!

I know i dont usually post things like this but i just wanted this out of my brain so i can move on if that makes sense? This will be a long read so sorry in advance. So i keep seeing on tiktok, roblox, and now youtube of fake claiming therians and im honestly tired of it? Like really tired of it. All the points {in my opinion} are really dumb too. Point one was that 'Oh you have a common theriotype you clearly choose that and yer fake11!!!1!'. Which.,,.so? So what if some creature 'has a common theriotype'. Who cares? I certainly dont and most creatures ive met and seen do not care. It is such a minute thing to care about. Now do i find it interesting? Yes but in a /pos way! That there are 'common theriotypes' in the first place! But i find it ridicules to be made that someone else is a wolf or cat therian must be fake in someway. Like calm down it is not that serious. Point two is 'oh you have multiple theriotypes? Yer clearly fake especially if they have nothing to do with eachother!11!1!!'. Creatures can have multiple theriotypes and still be valid. Period. Point blank. And so what if they have nothing to do with each other??? That feels so random to me. So what if a creature is both so a lion therian and a deer therian. THAT IS STILL VAILD!! Someone's experience is just different then yours and THATS OK!!! Nothing is cookie cutter. We even have a term for this, its called a polytherian. A therian who has multiple theriotypes. So i dont know why that is being demonized now but here we are i guess. Point three 'oh yer popular you must be faking it!!!'. Which.,,.what? What kind of an excuse is that? Just say you dont like them! Its not that hard you do not need to fake claim a fellow creature just because they are popular. To me its like 'good for them for getting popular.' and i move on? I dont see why its such an issue. Now i can understand if said creator did something very bad and something that is unforgivable. Then yes hate them and deplatform them. Get them off the internet. But really guys? Oh yer popular? Must be fake! /sac, really gets on my nerves. Point four is a big one to me. 'Oh you dont know the definition of something? FAKE! YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YER TALKING ABOUT SO YER CLEARLY A FAKE!!111!1!!!'. Which. Guys. My fellow creatures. What ever happen to education? Like educating yer fellow creature? Education is one of the most important things in todays climate and i find it imperative that we just inform politely and move on. Ive had to, and always its just they didnt know and that they learned something. They most likely do not honestly know and thats ok. Some just simply dont know. Educate and move on. Simple. Or if they are somehow intentionally spreading hate or misinformation, educate and block or straight up block. Thats just on the top of my head, i bet there are more bs points that i just dont know or have the energy for. Thank you if you read this far, sorry again for posting this. Just needed this out of my brain ^^;

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Torri Lonergan at MMFA:

When President Donald Trump announced his intention to end birthright citizenship, right-wing media figures immediately began spreading misinformation to make the move appear more palatable. Right-wing media amplified Trump’s false claim that the U.S. is the only country with birthright citizenship, inaccurately suggested that birthright citizenship makes it easy for undocumented parents to become citizens, and obscured the fact that Trump’s executive order applies to the children of some who are in the country legally.

Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship

Since 1898, the 14th Amendment has been interpreted as guaranteeing birthright citizenship, meaning that all children born in the U.S. are American citizens — regardless of their parents’ immigration status. The amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” [NPR, 1/23/25; BBC, 2/5/25]

On the first day of Trump’s return to the presidency, he signed an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship. If the order is implemented, children born in the U.S. would only automatically become citizens if their parents are citizens or lawful permanent residents. The children of undocumented immigrants and the children of people here legally on temporary work, student, or tourism visas would no longer be granted birthright citizenship. [White House, 1/20/25; NPR, 1/20/25; NBC News, 1/22/25]

Trump’s executive order is already facing at least five lawsuits from 22 states and has been temporarily blocked by multiple federal judges. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour called the order “blatantly unconstitutional” and issued a temporary restraining order to stop it from taking effect. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman later issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against Trump's executive order, saying it “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment." [NPR, 1/21/25; AP News, 1/23/25; ABC News, 2/5/25]

MYTH: No other countries have birthright citizenship

Right-wing media figures seized on Trump’s false claim that the U.S. is the only country that recognizes birthright citizenship, repeatedly amplifying it without fact-checking.

[...]

FACT: The U.S. is not the only country with birthright citizenship

Dozens of countries, including Canada and many Central and South American countries, recognize unrestricted birthright citizenship. Many other countries grant birthright citizenship with restrictions — for example, by granting birthright citizenship only to the children of legal residents. [Library of Congress, 11/2018; NPR, 1/23/25; Time, 1/23/25]

Right-wing media are launching a war on birthright citizenship with baseless lies, such as falsely claiming that only the US offers birthright citizenship.

[stu-dyingstudent]

Sakura is the youngest of team 7

Let’s talk about a hot topic rn in regards to Sakura… the age order of the rookies. Tbh, I don’t think it’s a big deal but I’m tired seeing misinformation going around.

It’s been the common belief for many years that Sakura is the oldest member of team 7 because of the thought that the Naruto universe follows the American school system for age. However, if we use the Japanese school system then she would be the youngest of her entire graduating class.

What is used by many to back that Sakura is older is the information derived from the databook 4 character files. In those entries it follows that Shino is the oldest and Hinata is the youngest of the rookies. Sakura is said to be 17 during the war and Naruto (as we all know) turned 17 at the end of the war. This would indicate a following of the American school system for the ages.

However, databook 1 goes against this information. In this databook, it takes place in the middle of the chunin exams. For the character files it states that all of the rookies graduated at the age of 12 and that all of them are still 12 while under examination for promotion to chunin. Why does this matter? The only way for this to be possible is if it follows the Japanese school system and let me explain why.

In chapter 11 of the Naruto manga, kakashi states that “it’s springtime” during the Land of Waves arc. This whole arc lasts about a month. Not long after they return to the village (about a week) the teams enter into the chunin exam, which, according to Hiruzen in chapter 34, starts on July 1st. In Japan, spring is from March to May and graduation takes place from mid to late March. Furthermore, the Japanese school system works where children with birthdays from April to March of the following year (ex. April, 2024 - March, 2025) are placed in the same class. This lines up perfectly with the information here as if they graduate in late March then the rookies would be 12 when becoming genin and for the exam.

Now, you might say “well why should we trust one databook over the other?” Well, if you look at databook 2 and 3 it still follows that all of the rookies graduated at the age of 12, which follows what was said in the first databook. The entire timeline of Naruto is very difficult to follow without looking to extreme detail (which I don’t have time or care for). However, the wave arc being in spring is an easy find and sets up the storyline for it to follow the Japanese school system/year.

Now, lets take a look at the novels. We know that The Last took place when Naruto and Hinata were 19; however, no information was given about Sakura's exact age at the time. On the other hand, Gaara Hiden explicitly states multiple times that Gaara is 20 years old during the novel, which is why they are pushing for his marriage in addition to the fact the Temari and Shikamaru and engaged. That later part is important. Gaara is apart of the same graduation year as the rest of the rookies and his birthday takes place in January, which makes him one of the disputed ages. There is a scene in the novel where Gaara calls Shikamaru his "elder brother" on page 122 since he is his soon to be brother-in-law. On that same page, Shikamaru also refers to Gaara as his "troublesome little brother." Now, Shikamaru is born in September, which makes his age confirmed to being in accordance to what we already believe, yet Gaara claims that he is the older one. This follows that Gaara, and thus Shino and Sakura, were born the following year like what is seen in the Japanese school system.

Notice this: Gaara Hiden is written by Ukyō Kodachi, who is one of Kishimoto's former assistants while working on Naruto. He is also the original writer of Boruto until it got taken over by Ikemoto. None of the other novels in the Hiden series are written by him or another assistant. Instead, the rest are by various Japanese authors who are working on Naruto for the first time. Why is this important? Kodachi is the most reputable source when it comes to the information we have gotten from the Hiden novels and he says that Shikamaru is older than Gaara.

Furthermore, let's look at the official timeline of the Hiden novel series, which was released by Shonen Jump. Shikamaru's novel is set before The Last, and in such novel it is said that he is 19 years old at the time. Very shortly after (same time section), The Last takes place and as discussed earlier, Naruto and Hinata are said by Kishimoto in interviews (and based off of Shikamaru's age) to be 19 as well. Then there is a few months break to where Sakura Hiden occurs. It is stated multiple times throughout the novel that it's spring; however, Sakura's age is never discussed. Nonetheless, it is said by Kakashi that Naruto and Hinata are "going to be married soon." From Naruto Mobile, it is said that they officially got married on May 8th, which would be the month that Konoha Hiden would occur.

Note: In the novel of Konoha Hiden (brief ceremony and events leading up to the wedding), there is no mention of cherry blossoms like is seen in the anime and some official art. However, it can be disputed that the wedding took place in spring, which does not affect the timeline I have put forth below.

Akatsuki Hiden, which Sasuke's portion is in the same time period as Gaara Hiden, mentions that flowers are in full bloom. This indicates that it takes place in springtime as that is when such an event occurs. Meaning, it must be the year following Sakura Hiden in order for this to be possible since Gaara Hiden and Akatsuki Hiden are set to take place an unspecified number of months after Naruto's wedding (in summer/spring).

Note: Sasuke's age is not mentioned in either Akatsuki Hiden or Sasuke Shinden, which occur at similar times.

Now, this would indicate that Gaara Hiden takes place a little over a year after The Last. This would mean that Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru are 20 at this time and Gaara would be newly of that age as well.

The premise of Gaara Hiden alone proves that Naruto uses the ages proposed in my post. As I already mentioned, much of the novel centers around the fact that Gaara just newly turned 20 years of age. In addition, we know that this takes place in the year following Naruto and Hinata's wedding, which took place in spring/summer when they were 19. Meaning, since Gaara's birthday is in January, if he was born in the same year and Naruto and the other rookies, then he would already be 20, but he is not. He only turns 20 the following year and so that there is a contradiction that that proves that it must be that case that Gaara, Shino, and Sakura are all born the following year.

This still works with the ages in Boruto as those indicate that the next generation wasn't born until the rookies were about 21 years old.

Even with all of this being said, I have seen plenty of people argue that “Naruto doesn’t take place in Japan and therefore doesn’t follow their school year.” Now let me ask, why would Kishimoto, a Japanese man who has used lots of Japanese history and folklore in his series and even said much of the scenery was based on Okayama (which is in Japan), not use the Japanese school year? Why would he use the American system instead? It makes no sense. The only logical conclusion is that Naruto follows the Japanese system and that databook 4 ages were a mistake.

Kishimoto himself has never officially come out to state the age order and there are no direct references of it in the manga. The only thing absolutely certain is that Sasuke is older than Naruto, which we all know and doesn’t help at all. Now, there is one scene in chapter 18 that could give us a clue that Sakura is the youngest, but it’s all perspective imo. Kakashi calls Sakura “our young lady,” which although doesn’t confirm anything, it does indicate or imply that she is the youngest of the team. Otherwise there would be no reason for kakashi to point that out instead of just calling her “our lady.”

Anyway, what I saw rekindle this debate was the apology that Shueisha released regarding some official Naruto merchandise that came out back in 2023. In this apology they admitted to getting the ages of Sakura and Gaara during the war arc wrong and changed the info cards of the characters from 17 to 16. In addition, Sakura's character description (for the war) in one of the Naruto videogames (Borutage) also places her at the age of 16 during this arc. Many fans say that these technically aren't "official" sources to confirm her age, but aside from the databooks, which contradict themselves, these are the only other sources of her age in the war. It's also something to consider that Shueisha went out of their way to make a public apology on the matter and corrected themselves. The databooks have plenty of mistakes, so if they apologized for one mistake then they would have to do it for all. Meaning, it's best if they don't.

Furthermore, you must note that Shueisha is the publisher that Shonen Jump and obviously Naruto are under. This is the official copyright holder of the series coming out saying that Sakura is the youngest.

Also, I have seen some fans say that this illustration was released by shonen jump, but I haven’t found any proof of that being the case. Nonetheless, I will still place it below as it provides a visual for the birth order and you can use your own discretion if you think it’s official.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter of age order. Cheers!

[classicstober]

✨Welcome to ClassicsTober 2024!✨

The idea is to create something – anything – for the prompt. Like other October prompt lists, it can be an illustration, but it can also be text, reference, historical artefact, video, story, translation, pretty much anything you’re interested in from the Ancient Med World that fits with the prompt. There’s no pressure to do every single one, just the ones you like.

This year it’s an ANCIENT HISTORY TAKEOVER! We asked Classicists, Ancient Historians, Archaeologists and Authors we know and love to suggest an ancient personage that they think everyone should know about! And, to combat misinformation and encourage research, we invite you to share your sources with your submission, whether that’s image references, texts, or even a whole bibliography!

✨NO AI USAGE ALLOWED✨

See the ClassicsTober24 Details page for background on each of the names chosen by our friendly Classicists, Archaeologists, Historians and Authors, to get your creativity going! https://greekmythcomix.com/classicstober-24-details/

THE LIST:

1 Regina of South Shields

2 Eumachia

3 Thucydides

4 Cleopatra Selene

5 Pliny the Elder

6 Meleager of Gadara

7 Harmodius and Aristogeiton

8 Boudicca

9 Eritha

10 Vitruvius

11 Julia Felix

12 Homer

13 Zenobia

14 Kallistomache

15 Aesop

16 Elagabalus

17 Iphikrates

18 Tacfarinas

19 Vespasian

20 The Trung Sisters**

21 Marcus Aquilius Regulus

22 Martial

23 Corinna

24 Cleopatra Thea

25 Sappho

26 Vitellius

27 Menander I Soter

28 Crassus

29 Phryne

30 Flavius Cerialis

31 Sejanus

*Ancient Greece and Rome and other near-Mediterranean Ancient cultures

**wildcard!

[proshippers-against-censorship]

Hello there! :)

I hope you are doing well!

Okay, so, I was coming across some anti posts and they made me think because they only seem to have one argument ever, which is "At least I'm not some sicko defending CP.". and I started wondering how it is that proship is immediately (and falsely so) connected with CP. That thought made me come to you because I thought the gang could have a bit of discourse around that :)

The misinformation about what proship actually is and stands for is driving me up the walls lately. I'm aware that loli and shota exist. Is it something I interact with personally? No. Just not my thing, but I acknowledge it and leave it alone. I am very much able to differentiate fiction from reality.

"Uh...uh... but they are getting off on it!!!1!1!11!!" Okay? Speaking as a survivor of a decade full of CSA and much SA after that, I'd very much prefer someone jorking it to fictional pixels instead of a real child or person getting harmed and severely traumatised. Might be a hot take or an unpopular opinion, but that's my two cents on it.

Thank you for running this blog on here! Always glad to see you pop on my dash. Have an amazing day/night.

<3

You have a lovely existence as well ^^

[skunkboydreams]

🚨 Callout: @/anendoandfriendo & @/ur-fave-hates-autism-speaks 🚨

TW: endogenic misinformation, DID faking, proshipping, trans mockery, ableism, gaslighting (real & misused), manipulation

I never wanted to write a post like this, but I’m not going to stay quiet while harmful behavior is being passed off as “activism.”:

Their manipulative behavior and narrative rewriting

False claims about system origins

Mockery of trauma and trans identities

Support of proship culture

Misuse of mental health terms (especially “gaslighting”)

Fake autism advocacy used to silence dissent

And yes—I sent them an ask, calmly and directly. And they:

Blocked me

Called me a bigot

Edited their original post to flip the narrative and claim they were the one being “gaslit”

Let’s unpack the harm:

1. They Promote Endogenic System Lies

They call themselves a “pro-endogenic plurality blog.” But endogenic systems—systems formed without trauma—are not recognized by any mental health organization. DID and OSDD are trauma-based dissociative disorders, per:

The DSM-5

The ICD-11

The ISSTD Guidelines (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation)

Creating headmates at will is not a recognized or respectful way to relate to plurality. What they’re doing is erasing the lived experiences of real survivors—those who formed systems due to severe trauma, often in childhood.

2. “Build-a-Headmate”: MF this Isn’t Sims

Yes, they’re proudly and intentionally making up system members. Picking traits, personalities, “vibes,” etc.

That’s not plurality. That’s character roleplay in the disguise of a mental health condition. Actual systems do not choose who forms. Alters develop out of trauma-based necessity, often without the host even being aware of them for years.

This behavior:

Encourages DID/OSDD faking

Reinforces stigma

Makes it harder for real systems to be taken seriously by friends, family, and clinicians

3. They Rewrote the Story & Claimed Abuse

After receiving criticism, they:

Blocked me

Called me a bigot

Then edited the original post to sound more like the victim, claiming I was “gaslighting” them and “trying to tear apart the fabric of their subjective experience”

This is manipulation.

And it’s also a complete misuse of the term "gaslighting."

4. They Misuse the Term Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a serious psychological abuse tactic. It’s when someone intentionally manipulates another person into questioning their own memory, perception, or reality—often over time.

Criticism ≠ gaslighting.

Disagreeing with your worldview ≠ gaslighting.

Calling out harmful ideology ≠ gaslighting.

By accusing others of gaslighting for simply disagreeing, they are:

Diminishing the seriousness of real psychological abuse

Weaponizing a clinical term for social clout

Silencing trauma survivors with a guilt trip

This is dangerous, especially to people who have survived narcissistic or psychological abuse. It’s not trauma-informed, and it’s not okay.

5. They’re Proudly Proship

They defend proship ideologies while using “fiction isn’t reality” to brush off legitimate concerns about content that:

Normalizes abuse, incest, and pedophilia in fiction

Desensitizes readers to real harm (proven through media psychology studies)

Harms survivors and minors in fandom spaces

Proship isn't neutral. It creates unsafe environments—especially when combined with identity politics and mental health misinformation.

6. Autism Advocacy... With a Huge Asterisk

They run @ur-fave-hates-autism-speaks, which at first glance looks like a fun advocacy blog. But don’t be fooled. The same person:

Blocks dissenters and calls them “abusers”

Uses the fact they're “pro autistic” as a shield from all criticism

Supports harmful ideologies while claiming they’re “neurodivergent inclusive”

As an autistic person, I’m disgusted. I don’t want their name tied to the autistic community I love and fight for.

Autism isn’t a free pass to be cruel, dishonest, or manipulative.

7. They Mock Trans Identity With Terms Like “Trans Weight”

This is not a joke. They’ve described their made up "alter" using phrases like:

“Trans weight”

“Trans Welsh accent”

And more

That’s not dysphoria. That’s not gender. That’s mocking the trans community by turning transness into a list of .

Trans people don’t fight every day for visibility, care, and safety just to have their identity reduced to “lol I identify as a thin person now.” or "lol I have a Welsh accent now" It’s not brave. It’s not inclusive. It’s just disgusting.

The Core of the Problem:

These people conflate identity with mental health conditions. They treat systemhood like an aesthetic, autism like a shield, and trauma like an inconvenience that gets in the way of their fantasy.

They:

Twist terminology to suit their narrative

Accuse others of “gaslighting” when called out

Pretend disagreement is abuse

Rebrand criticism as oppression

This is how harmful online ideologies spread: through emotional manipulation, bad-faith arguments, and rewriting reality.

TL;DR: Why You Should Block @anendoandfriendo & @ur-fave-hates-autism-speaks

They:

Promote endogenic systemhood, which is not real and undermines survivors with DID/OSDD

Claim to create ���headmates” like OCs for fun

Misuse serious terms like “gaslighting” to deflect criticism

Are proship, defending romanticization of abuse/pedophilia in fiction

Mock trans people with terms like “trans weight”

Claim to be autism advocates while using it as a mask to spread harmful ideals

Rewrite posts to frame themselves as victims of “abuse” when they’re called out

Encourage impressionable people to fake mental illness and confuse identity with trauma responses

If you care about:

Accurate mental health advocacy

Safe spaces for systems, autistics, and survivors

Responsible fandom

Real trauma-informed activism

Then block, report, and don’t trust these blogs.

(And yes I did request a skunks hate autism Speaks thing from them before I knew how terrible they were I didnt know and have since unreblogged and unliked it)

[jobjobstuff]

Maxi Muffin Chocolat Intense Dupe

(2024 Olympic Village Chocolate Muffin Recipe)

Original dupe recipe by Becky Krystal of the Washington Post

Instructions based off of a video by @jordan_the_stallion8

Typed up by: @LegendsCookbook

EDITED 8/12/24 to correct misinformation! The recipe was a dupe but passed off as the OG!!

The rest of the image text is under the cut! Also a little rabbit hole on the whole correction at the very end.

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Bake Time: 20 to 24 Minutes

Yield: 12 Muffins

Muffin Ingredients:

¾ cup milk

¼ cup water

2 tsp instant coffee

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup chocolate chunks

¼ cup butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup vegetable or canola oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

⅓ cup chocolate chunks + more for garnish

Chocolate Ganache Filling Ingredients:

½ cup heavy cream

¼ cup chocolate chunks

pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add in the milk, water, and instant coffee. Bring the mixture to a simmer.

3. Once simmering, add in the cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Then add in the ½ cup of chocolate chunks and the butter and stir until both are completely melted. Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.

4. In a separate mixing bowl, add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir to combine. Set aside.

5. Once the chocolate mixture is slightly cooler, stir in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.

6. Add in about ⅓ of the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add the rest of the flour and fold until just combined. Do not overmix! Lastly, fold in the ⅓ cup of chocolate chunks.

7. Grease a muffin pan or line it with muffin cups. Add the batter to the muffin pan, filling each cup about ⅔ full. Add a few chocolate chunks to the tops as garnish.

8. Bake the muffins for 20 to 24 minutes. The muffins will be done when a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out mostly clean. Set aside the muffins to cool slightly.

9. For the filling, in a small saucepan over medium heat, add the heavy cream. Heat until just simmering before removing from the heat. Add in the chocolate chunks and salt and gently stir until the chunks are melted.

10. To fill a muffin, add the ganache to a piping bag. Pierce the muffin with the tip of the piping bag and fill with as much chocolate as desired. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can fill the muffin by carefully carving out a small chunk of the muffin from the top and spooning in the filling.

11. We may not be Olympians, but we can try to eat like them!

Additional notes:

Bake time will depend on how big the muffins are. Are they jumbo muffins? Cupcake sized? Mini muffins?

For richer muffins, use whole milk but 1%, 2%, and skim milk will work as well.

---

After doing some research, it looks like this recipe is actually a dupe! While the original video by Jordan the Stallion was vague enough to have you think it was from the original bakery, Coup de Pates, it is actually taken from Becky Krystal of the Washington Post. That recipe can be found here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/olympic-chocolate-muffins/

The Maxi Muffin Chocolat Intense at Coup de Pates are mass produced, frozen, and sold to bakeries all over. As of 8/12/24, they have not officially released their recipe but that hasn’t stopped chefs from trying to recreate the chocolate goodness! https://www.coupdepates.fr/produit/maxi-muffin-chocolat-intense-831295

The blogger Kassie Mendieta was able to get locate an ingredient list and has based their dupe recipe around that. Give that recipe a peek too: https://ibakemistakes.substack.com/p/the-highly-sought-after-olympic-chocolate

Currently, we’ve reached out to the bakery to ask if they are willing to share their recipe, though we’re sure that we are one of many who want to know. We’ll keep everyone updated if they respond!

We decided to do this update to correct misinformation and to give credit where credit is due. If you make any of these recipes, please share photos and your experience making them! We love food and sharing meals with others 😊

[apple-onigiri]

DISTANCE IN VAUGARGE (revamped edition)

IMPORTANT: this post was deleted and made again to make edits and not spread misinformation (because i made a stupid mistake and took earth's entire circumference and accidentally treated it like it was only half of it! it's really funny because i did think that this feels way too big of a distance... happens i guess! especially at 4am lmao but it did uh, increase all the numbers by a whole Two so. unfortunate! gotta fix it!!)

@cyten0 (sorry to tag you again just figured you'd like an update and an actual correct answer, and you're still the one who inquired about this) asked if i could provide more information about my calculations for traveling across vaguarde, and since it seems too long for a reblog and i want to categorize it properly on my blog, here it is in a whole separate post!

this honestly started out as a curiosity about what climate the northern island could've had given its distance from the equator compared to earth's countries and uh. spiraled into me thinking about this. don't ever think about anything guys

TL;DR (for people who don't want the super fun math part): it's 1111.4 km/690.59 miles from dormont to bambouche in a straight line and somewhere in the ballpark of 250 hours of constant travel by foot to cross the distance. with a bonnie-ordained preteen-friendly tempo of around 5 km/h (3.1 ish mph) and eight hours of travel per day from 8am until 1pm and then 3pm to 6pm to set up camp properly early, it'd take around a month or so to make the trip, not counting any and all longer stays to refill supplies and any irregularities caused by going to a town and not having to set up camp or pack it back up.

ok quick geography lesson: the lines on the globe running horizontally are the latitude. they go up to 90 in each direction from the equator, which is 0, so there's a 180 in total. obviously for specific locations you'd use decimals but who caressss

longitude is important too here - the vertical lines - but less so. they go up to 180 on each side of the latitude's version of the equator, the prime meridian, as well but it really doesn't matter where that meridian is placed here, the only thing that matters is that the lines are in a correct distance to each other.

here's the globe id5, in her infinite wisdom, bestowed upon us (i'm completely normal about the existence of any and all maps. in the original post i said can be trusted with them but that is! clearly not the case!) that i added all the southern hemisphere latitude lines onto, as well as the longitude needed for my insane needs (math)

i obviously assumed the planet is the same size as the earth because i genuinely see no reason why it couldn't be other than to make my life sad and hell also. the general distance from one pole to another is 20,000 ish kilometers. (if you for some reason want the planet to be smaller or bigger, cool trick, literally just multiply the 20,000 by it. want it to be one third of its current size? multiply by 0.3. two-and-a-half times bigger? 2.5!) so what i did was draw out the lines onto the actual map and measure the estimated distance based on how big of a chunk it is out of this 20k.

it seems dormont is at about 19 degrees, while bambouche is at 11. easy here!

just divide the whole distance by 180 and you get 111.(1) km (that 1 in a bracket telling you that that one goes on foreeeeever if you let it). since we're looking for the distance of 8 degrees, and we've got a distance of one, you can either multiply it by 8 or subtract the one degree times 2 to get 889. ish. any decimals are the enemy here at this point.

you do the same for the other direction - both bambouche and dormont seemed to be about 2 degrees from the longitude lines, so you do the process with just multiplying by 6 at the end or subtracting the one degree times 4 and get 1333. ish.

it's pythagorean theorem time!! it looks like a lot of big numbers but they do that only to get added nicely, it's okay, they're not that scary and they don't bite pretty promise with a cherry on top, and you get the resulting distance of 1111.4 kilometers like that!

here's how it measures up in reality for some scale:

(hey it fits into all of france now!!)

the average recorded speed of a preteen - which the party logically must move at most of the time - is about 5 kilometers per hour (3.1 ish miles). with a travel plan of 4 hours of travel since 9am until 1pm, a two hour break, and another 3 hours until 6pm, because you need to set up camp and things like that need time, it's safe to assume they'd be crossing around 35 km/h a day. and this is still a really good pace!!! very endurance-heavy! divide the total distance by that and you get an estimated time of travel in days, which here is 31; just around a month.

this is, while less than my initial busted calculations, still a lot! lots of walking. so i uphold my statement that they better have sent a letter to nille ahead of them and that the vaugarde postal system is robust enough to deliver it in a timely manner right after the entire country defrosted, to keep her from worrying to death!

[dandelionh3art]

This idea—**that evil must reveal itself and gain consent to deceive—**can be seen in many areas of life, both spiritually and in real-world systems.

1. Spiritual Teachings & Scripture

Many spiritual paths warn about deception disguised as truth:

Christianity:

“For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” – 2 Corinthians 11:14

This reflects the idea that evil often looks good, holy, or trustworthy to gain influence.

Islam:

The Quran speaks of fitnah (trial/temptation), often disguised as good, testing people's ability to discern truth from falsehood.

Buddhism:

Maya (illusion) is a central theme. Much of the world is considered an illusion that people choose to believe in, keeping them in suffering.

2. Real-World Examples

Media & Propaganda:

Misinformation or harmful agendas are often presented with a positive spin—"for your safety," "for progress," or "for the greater good." People often agree to surveillance, censorship, or war because it’s framed as protection or justice.

Consumerism:

Ads often promote lifestyles, products, or values that subtly harm mental health or the environment—but they’re packaged as empowerment, success, or happiness. We buy in, not realizing what we're agreeing to.

Toxic Relationships or Systems:

Abusive individuals or corrupt institutions often hide behind charm, respectability, or tradition. Victims sometimes stay or comply—not because they agree with the abuse, but because the deception was normalized and subtle.

3. Why Consent Matters

If evil forces (spiritual or human) force deception, they break a universal law of free will. But if they trick someone into accepting the lie—then they claim legitimacy. This is a chilling thought, but also empowering:

It means awareness, discernment, and truth-seeking are your weapons.

This concept isn’t just creepy—it’s a call to wake up, think critically, and trust your inner voice. Evil wins when people stop questioning, stop seeking truth, and start letting things slide because they look “normal” or “safe.”