#tangential realization

[song-of-the-rune]

Actually, Becoming Potatoes is a bit of a Kaz mood as well

[deadpoets]

GEORGE HARRISON The Making of Sgt. Pepper (1992)

[stromblessed]

Mizu was wrong to let Akemi be taken because they both deserve better

First, a confession. When I saw this for the first time:

I was relieved. I knew that was what Mizu was going to say and I felt like it's what I would have said in that situation too.

When Akemi does this:

I cringed, because if we know anything about Mizu, it's that she (1) isn't quick to make friends (though to be fair, even though Akemi did try to kill Mizu, so did Taigen - multiple times! - and look how that turned out lol), and (2) doesn't take orders.

So when Akemi and Ringo and later Taigen get angry at Mizu, are they being unfair?

Sure, Mizu isn't obligated to treat Akemi - or Taigen or Ringo or anybody else - nicely, or to serve them, or to be honorable, or be a hero to them, or whatever. No human being is obligated to any other human being. We all have the choice to do whatever we want to anybody else. But the point of flawed characters in storytelling is the tension between those characters and their potential. Their growth into someone who can choose the higher, harder path, who chooses to be obligated to others, who chooses kindness and compassion.

Because Mizu's problem isn't revenge. Nobody is preaching at Mizu that revenge isn't the answer. Her circumstances do suck, her life has been incredibly unfair, she is marginalized, and as far as we and Mizu know for most of the season, she is a child born of violence and no one is saying that that violence doesn't deserve to be repaid in kind.

Mizu's problem is isolation. And the fact that she thinks she has no responsibility toward her fellow human beings, because her hatred of her own circumstances and her having no life outside of her quest devours everything else. This is a problem because it turns Mizu into the worst version of herself. A version that hurts the people who like Mizu, the people who care about her.

Practically, Mizu has just taken on an entire army almost by herself. She's hurt. She's exhausted. If she were to defend Akemi now, it'd be yet ANOTHER fight, this time against horsed and armored samurai.

But that's not the reason Mizu gives Ringo. Mizu's ability or willingness to fight isn't even on her mind. All she says is, "She's better off."

"She's better off" is Mizu deciding what's best for Akemi. Akemi's entire story is about her being a caged bird longing to fly free.

One after the other, every man and woman in Akemi's life makes her decisions for her. She has to grovel and smile prettily and lie through her teeth just for the chance to be heard. Mizu judges Akemi for being a rich princess who isn't being more grateful for what she has, all without understanding Akemi's situation, and without any curiosity for why Akemi feels the way she does. From Akemi's perspective, Mizu is just one more person (one more man!) in a long lineup who ignores Akemi's wishes and (casually!) makes a decision for her that impacts Akemi's life greatly.

In the end, even Seki concludes that Akemi should get to decide what's best for Akemi. What others think that Akemi SHOULD want does not matter compared to what Akemi wants for her own life. As Madame Kaji said - Madame Kaji, who despite calling out the weirdness of Akemi's situation as well as the childishness of her decision to run away - is the only person Akemi meets who doesn't try to make decisions for Akemi, but instead only challenges Akemi to work for and be worthy of what she wants - she needs to decide what she wants for her own fucking self, and then take it.

Mizu being born female does not make her automatically wiser for letting Akemi be taken, and it does not preclude her from having a hand in giving Akemi back to her jailers. A patriarchy that Mizu knows full well would stop Mizu from achieving her own goals if she didn't present as male.

Mizu is still understandable here. She just had to kill Kinuyo, a disabled girl sold by her father into prostitution, a girl in a situation so far beyond Akemi's worst imaginings that I can practically feel Mizu's world being rocked just by comparing them in her mind the way she most likely is. That still doesn't make it right for Mizu to let Akemi be carried off to be sold into marriage by her father against her wishes. Those "good options" Mizu thinks Akemi has don't exist, no more than they ever existed for Mizu. Akemi and Mizu both have to get creative, make the best of their circumstances, take dangerous risks, and break rules in order to have any control over their own lives.

Even on my first watch, when at first I thought that Mizu had made the right decision and that Akemi was being unreasonable, Akemi screaming Mizu's name while being dragged, LITERALLY DRAGGED, back to her father was haunting as hell.

Mizu had the power to help Akemi, and simply chose not to.

Mizu lets Akemi be taken, Akemi who has just begun to trust Mizu. Mizu calls Ringo weak and quickly - seemingly easily - turns her back on him. Mizu values her quest over Taigen's life, after Taigen has endured days of torture to protect her, and she not only risks his life in the process, but doesn't tell him that Akemi is engaged to someone else, or that she came looking for Taigen, or that she is in danger.

Mizu's sword breaks because it is too brittle. Too pure. Too singleminded. Mizu only melts down the meteorite metal when she mixes the metal with objects from parts of her life that have nothing to do with her quest. Objects from the people she cares about, and who care about her.

All I'm saying is - Mizu doesn't have to be a hero. But she is the better version of herself when she reaches out to help and connect with others. When she's just a decent, kinder human being. And I think that's what this story is telling us that we should want for Mizu.

[solvskrift]

Idk if I've sent this before (she can't resist a call for head cannons) but I think removing the horcrux would have caused some kind of physical damage. Like we just ripped something out of this kid's brain. and there's so much potential there- does the damage show itself right away? Or is it a slow reveal? What symptoms do we see? Personality changes? Let's angst it up folks!

oh no

ohhhhhhh no

it would honestly be so ~fun~ if harry's magic or mood or thought processes just went buckwild for a bit while his body and brain try to adjust to the sudden shift. wouldn't it just be cool if harry straight up started having seizures that no one could figure out, and he had to be taken off auror training/duty because of his symptoms, and he really can't cope with that and --

[silently adds this note to my post-DH draft 👀]

[justjudethoughts]

It's not that I'm not insecure. My internal monologue every day goes like, "Wow, I should probably talk less, I am probably really annoying." It's just that, even after that comforting thought, I don't shut up. You see?

[jazzypizzaz]

this is incredibly stupid of me but I didn't know Neilman's ex wife was lead for the Dresden Dolls, which I've been listening to a lot recently, and it was reading about her role in victimizing young women and directly enabling his behavior that has me torn up. like he's evil to the point where I can't even engage with it, so beyond villainous, but I was never a groupie of his anyway, so it's the enabling that I've fixated on which is a lesser offense sure but still gross. I mean I guess everyone else knows who Amanda Palmer is and her history, but it literally never occurs to me to pay attention to who's in what band or who's married to who or whatever

[sysig]

Evil Time is great :) (Patreon)

[lokaror]

going to be honest of the best things i ever learned is that some people just enjoy arguing and view it as a game and will not take into accounts whatever personal stakes you have in the subject. once you realize that it becomes so much easier to just disengage with arguments in general because you realize that some people take you getting upset about something you have personal stakes in as a win in a game and not something they actually care bout.

[cruel-hiraeth]

my life has drastically improved ever since i stopped caring about celebrities

[whimsicalcotton]

favorite word?

hmmmm i'm really bad a picking just one favorite so i will say Mollifying & Mayhaps & Milky

[autumnalfallingleaves]

I actually had this revelation a few weeks ago, but I thought it prudent (and funny) to come out about it now. Happy TDOV/Easter, my new level of gender is boy (approximate) :)

(pronouns are still they/them but I might start using he/they at some point)

(also yes this revelation came about because i was thinking about how rots obi-wan is gender envy for me. sue me.)

please do not repost my art

[lbhslefttiddie]

life in shambles brain a puddle of useless dysfunctions BUT my doctor friend told me that i have an immaculate liver and pancreas :]

[jackals-ships]

the downside is they keep trying to hand me political stickers and im like No that is not the energy

this is

[luminesnake]

a little mean but it annoys me when people are like 'yeah he's a red flag but he's MY red flag'

cause.

a. literally who cares

b. the fact you feel the need to justify your enjoyment of the character shows your lack of true conviction

[vullcanica]

Characters baring a mouth full of sharp fangs as show of aggression is top tier but can we talk about how sinister a flash of smooth square omnivore teeth can be. The implications therein? The difference between facing a carnivore vs a member of the terrifyingly, aptly named 'opportunistic eaters'? The fear of being on one's menu, the knowledge that you are on the other's - no matter what you are. The inherent danger of a threat display where there are set rules to avoiding harm turning into a hunt on a dime.

Anyway, thinking about Nikodemus and how beautifully all of this translates into his supernatural setting...

[gemharvest]

ated more chocolate than i should have and i feel sick. fuckall monday going perfectlyu