#I still love shipping though <3

[earthwormspaghetti]

Now that the Sherlock Holmes stories have become public domain, I’d like to add my own thoughts on the “are they in love?” discourse.

I’ve been a fan of the books for absolutely years, and have reread them all countless times. One thing I noticed is how many people note on the way Holmes treats his roommate (aaaand here come the “and they were roommates” jokes) Watson, which is with great affection, even frequently calling him “my dear” and trusting him enough to help with his independent investigative works, which he would normally do alone.

Watson also describes Holmes affectionately, quite enjoying his company and considering him an amazing friend.

Whether Watson’s thoughts about Holmes are platonic or romantic, we may never know. He married in one of the accounts he wrote, and still considered Sherlock a great comrade.

Sherlock’s feelings towards him, however, are quite complicated. On one hand, he seems to adore Watson with all of his heart and soul, but on the other, one must observe his outlook towards other things he likes.

Firstly, the thrill of the hunt. In “A Study In Scarlet”, he is compared to a foxhound sniffing for clues, ever-exited to learn more about a difficult case when he cracks it. His happiness knows no bounds when mulling over a difficult case.

Secondly, his love for the fiddle and music itself. He is said to be and avid player of the violin, playing tunes based on his fancy at the moment, be it sad and slow or jaunty and fast.

Thirdly, his love of the scientific arts. His adoration of new things to learn and experiments to be solved makes him act like a child in a candy shop. Also in A Study In Scarlet (where a lot of the things he enjoys are described while Watson gets to know Holmes better):

I probably will explain this pretty badly, but what I can see is that Mr. Holmes shows massive love towards things that make him happy. He’s described as being rather emotionally distant towards other, less important things, but he loves the things he holds dear with all his heart.

Such a level of adoration towards something you like is a beautiful thing to see, of course, but that also applies to people in his life. He loves Watson, with all of his heart. Same as he feels love towards doing something fun, same as he loves expressing his feeling on the violin, same as when he finally works out a difficult experiment.

This is a man who gives all his heart and soul towards the things he holds dear, and I think that such a rare thing is far more beautiful than simple attraction. To love a friend so much that you would trust them with your life, as Holmes definitely has, to share your home with them and respect their privacy with pleasure, to hold their hand in the dark to guide them so they don’t get hurt.

This is love that brings tears to the eyes, that prevails through years and years and still stays strong. This is love for the little and big things in life, because the only things that matter are the things that you refuse to hate. Because life only lasts for so long, but a love like this is eternal, even though the lover and loved may be long dead and forgotten.

[haluton]

No you don't understand how important the gay people in my phone are to me

[hauntingsofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[ruporas]

i killed. i murdered. i'm nothing like these sleepy people here… nevertheless, you can actually be grateful? bastard… i’m saying… thank you. because you spilled blood, you saved all of these people’s lives. i couldn’t have done it without you. (ID in alt)

[pocketgalaxies]

I've got my eye on you. I'm still here.

[slavhew]

28/01/2024

stars don't twinkle moon doesn't shine

big thanks to @nahrgles for finishing this for me after i hit a wall with colors bg and effects- chromatic aberration blew my fkn mind

pre edit transparent version under cut because i spent too much time cleaning it loll

[andthesunwillalwaysshine]

the i believe in you spike speech i am not crying you are but also the you are a better man you may not see it but i do... i do (the voice as she repeated i do my heart can't do this) i love s7 spuffy

[scatterpatter]

What if I presented a whole complicated Megaman Classic AU except I didn't give a SHRED of context

Haha, just kidding!

... Unless?

No these aren't being presented in the order they were drawn in but they ARE presented in AU-timeline chronological order so like im at least a LITTLE kind with throwing these all at youse

[asexualbookbird]

April's gone already? Wow, really flew on by huh! I finished a bunch of Secret Projects which I'll be able to share soon! Played a lot of Project Sekai, too much maybe, do not ask for numbers I do not wish to know, and read some books. Not a lot, but some. I've not been very good at the book part of book blogging, but that's okay! Started a knitted hat for my mom, and made progress on the Never Ending Blanket.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett ⭐⭐ - I was very disappointed in this. If I had writerly abilities and disciplines, I'd rewrite it because the bones are there! It has potential! Until then, I will hold on to what I've read of Lady Trent.

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch ⭐⭐⭐⭐- Fun! Silly! Exciting! I've been successfully bullied into reading Rivers of London! There were some bits that lagged, but it's a good start to a series and I've already checked out book two from the library so that tells you all you need to know.

Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennet ⭐⭐⭐- Not my favorite of the trilogy, but LOOK AT ME FINISHING A SERIES! This actually made me Hate Clef, and there wasn't a whole lot of scriving going on which is what I really enjoyed about the first two. Still, a decent enough ending to the series, though the epilogue kept me from hating it outright.

Reading goals for May are read and annotate a book for a friend (in progress), Moon over Soho, and System Collapse. I am behind on my bullet journal so I'd like to catch up on that too. I have a few sewing projects to attend to, and a few long term crocheting projects to work on as well. Birthday was lowkey and fun, friends have sent me lovely gifts! And of course, at some point, I will start BG3 and liveblog the progress. Yall will not be spared. Happy May! <3

[the-angry-pixie]

the losers love each other moodboards (20/?) - Hanzier 🎧

[sickficideas]

Omg who's your favorite Hazbin character?? I love my boy Angel Dust with all my heart~ 🕷️💕 -Ace

i would die for alastor i think...i really love angel dust as well (both of them have great whump and angst potential lol)!! i really just love the whole main cast that found family is too real...

[loveydoveylex]

happy new year friends!! 🥳 of course I started 2024 off the right way by giving my rayman plushie a big ol' smooch the second it turned to midnight :)

[rotisseries]

inspired by elli's poll lol cause this seems fun actually but if you guys have bad answers I'll kill myself on your doorstep or smth

[vanillabat99]

Here is a screenshot of my heavily modded ship in Starbound!! I've been working on it for a couple days now and I really like how it's turned out :3 I still have the cockpit to make pretty, but I have no idea what I want to do with it.

Most of the furniture is from "WW Furniture" (Steam Workshop link)!! I've installed too many mods to list, but if there's anything in particular you're curious about I can absolutely get the mod pages for you!!

[dramarants]

Wanting more homoeroticism in the tension between the show’s leads as the narrative introduces greater intimacy and higher stakes between them, especially in a landscape that lacks queer representation who isn’t a villain or dies within one or two episodes, but also recognizing that core values/motivation for these characters lie in their relationships with one of two major female characters in an on screen sausage fest where the only other woman is a morally reprehensible femme fatale and erasing and/or vilifying female leads in favor of conventionally attractive males is a common practice observed in fandoms that’s rooted in misogyny and justified under the guise of rejecting heteronormativity, thinly veiled double standards, or claiming the woman is simply not interesting enough and not wanting to bolster that mindset

[deus-ex-mona]

unnecessary comparison of the day!

volume 5’s release of one of asuna’s chapters changed the subject of her stan twt cancellation posts from mona to miyu (of frusu)!