#and very leaderlike

[saltedsolenoid]

i would do an analysis on sonic's character writing in sonic boom but that'd mean that i'd actually have to watch the show and i can't do that because everyone else's character writing sucks balls imo. peace and love

[rednite-dork]

I've been thinking of SebastianXMC children for a whole day so I couldn't help myself and decided to draw them 💕

Meet the Sallow kids!

Hazel Sallow

the firstborn

sorted into Slytherin

is a perfect mix of her parents and also somehow looks a lot like Anne??? 🤔

Being the eldest child she has adopted the leaderlike role among her siblings - which might or might not make her quite bossy in the eyes of her siblings

is quite adventurous but that trait is often repressed as she often gets a duty to look after her younger siblings

Samuel Sallow

the second child

sorted into Ravenclaw

looks very similar to Sebastian that makes you do a double-take when you meet him, but is a lot more collected and calmer than his father was in the younger years.

loves to read, always with a book

has a sassy edge to him, but doesn't show it often

Peter Sallow

the third child

the genetic oddball

when he was born, his hair was red like his mother's but as he grew into a toddler, his hair turned blonde (much to his mother's disappointment). And to make things even weirder, as he grew older, his hair gradually started to turn to brown most of his other family members owned.

gets into trouble - without his consent 😤

he's the embodiment of "why is it when something happens, it's always you?" "believe me professor, I've been asking myself the same question my whole life"

sorted into Gryffindor

Mabel Sallow

the youngest of the bunch

and the gremlin of the four

she's the apple of her mother's eye, possessing all the features from her side of the family (just don't tell MC Mabel's hair turns chestnut brown as she grows older--)

knows she can get away with almost anything, and abuses this fact 😈

sorted into Slytherin (naturally)

[punkpandapatrixk]

🏮Who’s that Girl I See?—Timeless Tarot Pick A Card

Title says ‘girl’ for aesthetic purposes, but as always, this PAC is universally gender-neutral a.k.a. unisex~☯Though I guess, it may indeed speak more to the Yin (feminine) aspect within all of us~👑

[Back to Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 2]

Looking at all the Priestess cards (for the bonus content) and the over-abundance of Wands—followed by Cups—energy… Y’all are such passionate peeps and you feel deeply. This world being a world such as this may not always be friendly towards individuals like you, and for that, you may have suffered a great deal emotionally and spiritually. But look! Every card at the bottom of each deck looks like this!🔻

II The High Priestess Rx, Priestess of Shine & Silver Geographer (Francis Drake)

The High Priestess in reverse… and to think the name Drake means dragon!! Holy Bad Bitch🎻🐉🩰Take up space and fuckin' SHINE, motherdragon~🧸💛💛💛🎀

Pile 1 - Emerald Ocean of Feelings

what you’re holding inside – King of Wands Rx

You’re a generous person with an exquisite kind of kindness. Your heart is genuinely very, very good but this world has brought you so much darkness. You often feel like crying in public, but you know nobody would appreciate your vulnerability anyway, so you keep an ocean of feelings all to yourself. There’s an inner battle you’re fighting: as much as you try to hide your fragile heart, you endeavour to appear tough. As much as there are obligations to fulfil, there’s just as much image to maintain. So…

You created a lot of limitations for yourself. You’re holding yourself to a very high standard of conduct. Can’t appear weak, lacking, lesser than anybody else. You can’t stand the idea of being disrespected—but this isn’t petty ego; this is your protecting your heart from getting damaged by other people’s careless conduct. And thus, these restrictions—and mostly fears—are keeping you from showing the full spectrum of your heart’s generosity.

But the truth is, you’re a Kingly character—a person with leaderlike qualities— who has a lot of compassion for what other people are going through. If only the world hadn’t made you feel so powerless, you’d be more than glad to carry forward those who are suffering. I sense you may be small, cute, or just unrealistically gentle and soft that this has given people the wrong impression about your strong spirit and rich inner world.

VIBE: Dorothy by SULLI

what little you’re showing outside – 2 of Cups Rx

Putting up barbed wire around your heart, you’re stopping everyone to touch the deepest layers of your being. You’re protecting your emotional world by putting up this sparkly show in your physical world. Perhaps you toughened up the way you talk, you changed your aesthetics, you buy big houses or own several jet planes; you have a lot of wonderful things in your material world so people don’t see how vulnerable your Soul is. You want to be invincible, so you make your Heart invisible.

Your biggest goal is to be seen as a Queen of Swords whilst in reality you’re a Queen of Cups. But you think the Queen of Cups is weak, so you killed her. You killed your softness and now people see you, from time to time, that you’re unnecessarily harsh, mean, or cruel. Because you’re trying too hard to become the logical, stern, unfuckwithable Queen of Swords, so you took only the harsher qualities of this Queen. It’s like a weird coping mechanism or survival tactic because you find this world too much to bear with just softness.

By becoming this persona, you often find yourself feeling trapped. But you also know that this golden cage is a prison of your own making, and damn, it feels safer this way. Because up until now, you haven’t really met anybody who can see your flaws and still wholly accept you for who you are. And it’s painful to feel envious of the love others take for granted—that thing that seems to come ever so naturally to them. And it’s tragic because you’re the one viewed by everyone else as having it all.

VIBE: INVU by Taeyeon

wearing your CROWN unapologetically – 5 of Wands Rx

Obviously, the first thing to do is make peace with yourself. You battle a lot with a sense of self-loathing because of the way the world outside of you has made you feel. Even the fact that you’ve needed to harden just for survival makes you hate yourself, because you’re rejecting what’s inherently kind about you and that makes you sad. You’re not a bad person, honey. Other people form shit opinions about you after you changed your game and you mistakenly took those assumptions as truth.

Uh-uh-uh. Stop that. Remember yourself from the inside. Realise yourself from the inside out. Bring back the Light and have the courage to say ‘no’ to other people’s ideas, opinions, or rules about what you can be. The world is yours and that Life is yours. You don’t need other people’s approval on your fucking existence. OK? You are your own ideal type and role model!

Prioritising yourself for the sake of the development of your healthy self-esteem won’t turn you into a selfish bastard. Originally, you’re already someone with a kind heart and that sets you apart from those who are already a selfish bastard. Weak, poor-souled fuckards are selfish (and destructive) because they don’t believe in being generous with others. That’s why their character is rotten. You’re not like that. You’re an Emerald ocean of compassion. Now go shine and act like the Queen of Cups you’re meant to be✨👸🌹

VIBE: Better by BoA

Amplifying your natural attraction🔻💜

your very own unique identity – Red Astrologer (William Lilly)

synthesising: AS WITHIN SO WITHOUT – Priestess of Good Fortune

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 2 – A Monster Held Captive

what you’re holding inside – 3 of Cups

You’re honestly a bit crazy. You’re strange, unique, unorthodox; you’re just different. Frankly, one in a billion of absolutely common personalities. Your inner world is so rich, so vast, so cosmic; but out here in the real world, you’re underappreciated. And you became afraid of showing yourself fully, and because of that there is unspeakable chaos inside of you and you’re trying your best to manage it. The term tortured artist may apply to you.

Rather than ‘hiding’, you’re actually controlling the monster within; which you think is crucial for survival. If you want to be at least accepted, even if only on a surface level. After all, we can’t live a totally solitary life lest we cease to exist. Half of you reading this are hard at work taming this monster within, but the other half of you may have tried multiple times to change yourself—to become like everyone else. Either way this kills you from the inside, because in a way, you’re rejecting yourself.

Because of this, you often don’t even know your true personality. Other people say you’re hard to figure out or that you seem to have a lot of hobbies or everchanging interests, aesthetics, like you can’t stick with just one that you like. They make it sound like it’s a bad thing what you’re doing, whilst not grasping you’re just constantly running away from yourself. You scour for different aesthetics as a form of escapism from the real things that you like; because the things that you do like seem like rubbish to society.

VIBE: Heart Burn by SUNMI; I’m good at goodbyes by BIBI for some

what little you’re showing outside – Knight of Cups Rx

Because people haven’t been exceedingly kind towards your unique expression, you hold back from showing fully the true colours of your personality. If anything, you’ve tried so hard to act like a normal person, but the more you try, the weirder you appear in the eye of others. There’s always something special, a different aura surrounding you. You can’t hide this, babe, so why bother trying?

But anyway, forever feeling like you don’t belong has caused you a greater deal of chaos and suffering within. And because you’re constantly battling yourself, your external behaviours aren’t always in SYNK either. There’s the part that wants to be seen as just the same as others, and god knows how hard you try to hide your brilliance, but when you’re careless for one second, all sparkles break loose cuz you’re too fucking original. Meanwhile, there’s the other part that gets people the idea that you’re unreliable, a liar, or fake, simply because you keep changing your styles or opinions. They don’t get it that you’re just SO complex. You’re not 1D like 97% of the Human race; you’re not even 4D like those funny people; you’re a 5D dragon, honey.

Boring people with a lacklustre personality talk big about wanting to be unique. But when they’re as different—as weird and wonderful—as you are and finally taste discrimination, they’ll understand why you’ve wanted, and tried, to be ordinary your whole Life. Somehow, somehow, you hold back even your breath because you fear breathing comfortably might accidentally burn those small insects to nothingness🌬🔥🐲💨tch

VIBE: Lucid Dream by aespa

wearing your CROWN unapologetically – Ace of Pentacles Rx

TAKE UP SPACE, honey baby dragon!! So what if others can’t be comfortable with themselves when they see you BURN like that? It’s not your fault the Universe blesses you with so much ORIGINALITY! As if God hand-picked you out of billions of stars and decided you’re too precious to be made in the likeness of fucking peasants! What can you do? You’re too singular like that. There’s only so much you can do to betray your Light, honey.

In a world where everyone is expected to look and behave like everyone else, you hold close to your heart the original blueprint of your own personality. Sparkly shit like that is hated by Earthlings who don’t possess a backbone to be themselves. Your sheer presence irritates them because you make them realise what they’ve allowed to die inside of them. But shine anyway! Because—

There are so many people in this world and there’s bound to be those who are on the same wavelength as you. Such people need a role model! To remind them their own POTENTIALS. Such people are also struggling to keep their originality intact because this world has a hobby of murdering authenticity! For such a long time, you’ve wished for a Soul Tribe of people who can understand you. But your kind is far and between. So at least one individual has to Light Up. You have to let the Fire of your Soul burn so brightly so that others see you—so you can find each other.

‘Look at Me, I’m your QUEEN! aju manjokseureopge’ ‘You know what I deserve? DESSERT!’

VIBE: DEEP & DESSERT by HYO

Amplifying your natural attraction🔻💛

your very own unique identity – Gold Alchemist (Roger Bacon)

synthesising: AS WITHIN SO WITHOUT – Priestess of Prosperity

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 3 – Cursed with Staggering Beauty

what you’re holding inside – 10 of Wands Rx

There’s something really tragic about this Pile. You’re someone who has mega talents and you’ve worked so hard your entire Life. But you’re not even sure what you’ve been working hard at. It only feels like you’re trying to survive a world that doesn’t welcome you. You make me think of Arachne a lot. Cursed by a jelly bitch who was 100x more powerful than you.

If not in this lifetime, maybe in a past incarnation, you slighted someone powerful who was also petty (or you were accused of doing something bad or maybe you did do something bad) and now you’re living the consequences of that. You feel as if you had to atone for a past sin. Although other people can see your worth, you struggle a lot with feeling like you’re any good. Do you maybe have Chiron in your 1st or 12th House?

At any rate, I know you’ve been struggling a lot and I think you often find breathing itself is already hard work. But I want to convince you that the moment you find this reading, something mega important is rolling out in your Life. Maybe most of it is happening behind the scenes so you can’t see it yet. But this reading found you! And so, this Light that’s contained within… these talents that are supposed to assist you in co-creating an abundant Life… they’re coming online fast and they’re gonna serve you BIG TIME🌞🍄

VIBE: Arachne by Kaya; TAIL by SUNMI for some

what little you’re showing outside – 3 of Wands Rx

On a spirit level, you’re powerful and blessed with many creative talents. YOU KNOW THIS. But you’re always unsure of yourself. You have this keen ability to notice other people who are more talented than you and that reduces your confidence in what you can deliver. But to complicate matters, you also notice those who are lesser than you and that makes you hold back so that you don’t accidentally be seen as a show-off. You don’t want people to hate you for being better than them.

I feel you have what’s called a siren beauty. You attract unnecessary envy and hate because people can’t understand who you are. They’re fascinated, but not always in the greatest sense. They say all kinds of things behind your back because they’re trying to make sense out of you. All gossip though; barely any truth. Meanwhile, you also hold, probably, a past life trauma in which you were persecuted for being different/beautiful/talented/good—whatever, the world is crazy when it’s jelly.

As a result, you’ve learnt to be a chameleon. Changing your attitude, personality, vibe, even the tone of your voice, depending on the situation at hand. This is survival; and this drains the heck out of you. At the end of the day, you’re exhausted after trying so hard to fit yourself into different characters other people hopefully would accept.

VIBE: CAMO by BoA

wearing your CROWN unapologetically – 6 of Wands

Honey, you’re a natural-born celebrity, OK? Maybe you have South/North Node in Leo or 5th House? Maybe you have a fuckton of Pluto or Neptune placements? Whatever the case, without even trying you fascinate the public. Might as well flaunt all that you are. The right people are gonna be drawn to your natural magnetism for the right reasons. You could even have a following or fanbase. Why not? Seems to me you were born for fame~🤩Whatever the scale may be.

Embrace this idea: fuck everybody’s opinions about who you are or what you’re doing in Life; those things don’t pay the bills, OK? As long as you have a clear vision about what you’re meant to do in this lifetime, no matter how hard it may be to actualise that because other people are viewing you unkindly, you’ll get there eventually. In fact, you’re so destined for great success and wealth in this lifetime. Nothing can stop you at this point!

The key is just loving yourself fully and accepting your fate. From that pool of empowered consciousness you’re constantly creating a destiny meant for your highest good. You were born with staggering beauty and this is not a curse; this is your blessing if you know how to play your cards right😏You were dealt bad cards, but you’re so smart you won anyway! BAM!🧐

VIBE: The Greatest by BoA

Amplifying your natural attraction🔻🧡

your very own unique identity – Red Astronomer (Johannes Kepler)

synthesising: AS WITHIN SO WITHOUT – Priestess of Fertility

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Feel free to support me on Patreon if you love this kind of content🍑I create stories and tarot readings that calm the mind & heal from within🍒

[Back to Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 2]

[lumineary-arts]

Hey, there. I've got a question for you. Is Tessa really overprotective of her kids? Also, your swap au is awesome.

My first instinct was to say yes, but in reality, Tessa's protective of the entire colony as a whole. While she's very loving towards her kids, she isn't a perfect mother. For example... making the choice to close the doors on N in order to keep the Murder Drones away from the colony. Unlike Khan, who's leadership stems from him developing the doors, Tessa does actually have a leaderlike mentality to her. Unfortunately, it's not a "no-man-left-behind" kind of one. She just does what she has to to save the majority of the workers.

I feel like, given her whole "choose Uzi or the universe" thing in the canon, this isn't too far off.

BUT, THAT BEING SAID. She loves her kids, and is very protective of them most of the time. It's just that she tends to... muddle her priorities.

[itsdeniini]

Could you do a reading for katseye group dynamic? thank youu

PART II ABOUT HYBE'S NEW GLOBAL GG KATSEYE: GROUP MEMBERS DYNAMIC + their personalities

a tarot reading જ⁀➴

PART I : About their concept and success in the US

First of all, all the members are so cool! 😭 The energy those girls are exuding is just so bright, and all around the place, they are the definition of spreading positivity to the masses. They know how to have a bit of fun and connect not only with the public but also between each other, as the debut lineup found a common spell instantly, as if they were meant to be in one group. Now we'll talk more about the members personalities, and later I'll say a bit about their in-group dynamics.

MANON

The Queen of Cups, The Strength, The Star 𖹭

Manon is such a sincere person with a beautiful soul. Her heart is genuinely very good, and she's getting unappreciated for that. At the end of the day, there aren't a lot of people quite like her. I feel like she's also struggling with her own emotions, but she's keeping this ocean of emotions to herself because she thinks that nobody would appreciate her vulnerability. She's so strong for fighting through the difficulties and the circumstances she was put in, as this was something completely new for her, and she wasn't 100% sure she made the right decision to even join the group after being announced. But I think she made the right decision and remained. She has strong star potential, and with more improvement, she'll be able to reach high peaks. She was also the final piece of the puzzle that the group needed—the connection point. Although she has a fragile heart and can get overwhelmed by her own emotions, she knows how to keep her own image and continue to fulfill her obligations.

SOPHIA

The Empress, The High Priestess, 2 of Pentacles 𖹭

Oh, that's queenie! 👸 She has a personality with leaderlike qualities and a lot of compassion for what other people have been through in their lives. Her energy is giving "girl power,"  like she'll gladly carry after her the people who may struggle. Sometimes she may appear unrealistically gentle and soft to the public that is not that familiar with her, to the point where everybody appears oblivious to her strong spirit and rich inner world. She's also holding herself to a high standard in everything, not wanting to appear lesser than anybody else. She can stand by her idea in order to protect her heart from being damaged. Also, her emotional palette is very diverse; she can experience a full spectrum of them, and that's cool, she has duality, something that will most probably help her in her artistic career.

DANIELA

The Fool, The Page of Cups, 7 of Cups 𖹭

She's a bit crazy in a good sense! Her energy is very different from that of the other members. While the other girls are advocating for team building and are good team players, she's more of an independent type. She would make a good solo artist, but starting a group is not a bad decision for her either; she'll gather a lot of experience. The same as Sophia, she has a vast and cosmic inner world. She's so imaginative, sometimes floating in her own fantasies. She most probably had people in her life that told her that she's hard to figure out or that she has a lot of everchanging interests and hobbies, and words like, "Girl, stick to something! You change your attitude/personality/vibe way too much every time." They are just not grasping that she's naturally a chaotic person, and that's not a bad thing. The other way around, that shows she can and will be embodying anything that she will consider her aesthetic, like a chameleon, and thanks to that, she will stand out a lot as time passes.

LARA

The Tower, The Queen of Wands, The Sun 𖹭

The universe has blessed this girl with so much originality! To the point where all that originality can be compared to a bomb that is tick-tack... about to EXPLODE 💥 In a nutshell, Lara is so cool! She likes to keep things real with everybody, and her personality can serve as a blueprint for many other people because she has those special qualities that make her unique. She has a strong backbone to herself, and at first you might think she's so serious, but nah! Lara is sparkly and so funny! She will truly shine as a performer, and with the constant development of her own skills, she will thrive! Everybody should keep an eye on her; she's full of surprises.

MEGAN

The Page of Swords, The Moon, 8 of Pentacles 𖹭

She's on her own wavelength! It's looking like she's in the chapter of her life where she's discovering her own personality, and that's okay; she's the second youngest member after all. I feel like, thanks to this experience, she will discover a lot of new things about herself and will show impressive improvement. Until that time, her light will start to shine brightly to the point where it's dazzling, she will be somewhere in the second roles, as if she will be underappreciated and underrated! People will be sleeping on her for some time, and VERY BAD for them! If there's a member whose potential is still leashed, then that's Megan. In the future, she'll show more versatility and all the other sides of her that she's still oblivious to, discovering everything step by step. She has a great future ahead of her; she should keep it up, and the stars will align for her.

YOONCHAE

The Chariot, The Magician, The World 𖹭

I know a Sagittarius in 5th House girly when I see one! Her personality is so fascinating~ I can compare it to a magnetic field, you know? You can get so easily drawn to her natural charm, and that's the right reason. She's so young but has a clear vision about what she's meant to do in this lifetime, and that's all thanks to her determination and confidence. It's like she found a key to a door in the world of loving yourself to the fullest so early in her life; isn't that fate that she achieved what she was dreaming about for a long time, hm? That's what we mean when we talk about empowerment, and she will display it more and more in the future! If she plays her cards right, then she'll achieve massive success in a short period of time. All she has to do is be 💃smarta🕺baby💃smarta🕺.. c:

☆Their compatibility/ group dynamic☆ ˆ𐃷ˆ

Katseye's members vibe is on point; they're totally in sync ahead of their debut! Each girl brings something exclusive, and together, they're so good. Their energy is infectious, and they know how to hype each other up. They're not afraid to keep it real between themselves, which makes their bond even stronger. They are just at the start of their path and yet to discover more about each other, but if they continue to share a genuine friendship, then they'll get even closer to their common goal of achieving success not only in US but also globally! <(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)>

Their current synergy: 3 of Cups, The Sun, The Empress, The World, The Fool

That was it, hehe! I wish Katseye a successful debut (𖹭)

[redux-iterum]

Which cat in each Clan would you say is the most highly respected/most popular amongst the other Clans? Using RiverClan as an example: I'm pretty sure Crookedstar is well-liked in the other Clans for being a barrel of laughs (and for holding a position of power, in spite of his disability). I'mma hazard a guess that Fireheart is the most respected ThunderClan cat amongst the other three Clans (which would be hilarious if that came as a shock to the rest of his Clanmates).

We'll go for the spot of time at the end of BH, to make things simple, because the answer radically changes during book 3. It should also be noted that these cats are all in positions of power, because those are the cats everyone knows.

In ThunderClan, it's a tie between Tigerclaw and Bluestar. She's been a very skilled and respectable leader in her time, and is exceptionally eloquent when it comes to serious matters that other leaders may have a hard time responding to as quickly and efficiently as she does. There's a reason they had her take control of Brokenstar's trial! Tigerclaw, meanwhile, is seen as an all around upstanding tom (as far as they know) that an outsider could look at and immediately see him as the ultimate ThunderClan warrior: big, strong, an excellent fighter, and direct in his speech. No one was surprised when he became deputy; rather, they were surprised it took as long as it did.

Fireheart...I wouldn't call him the most respected, so much as the most liked. He's a good kid that makes friends wherever he goes, but his kittypet background and refusal to humor physical conflict keeps him from being seen on the same level as his leader. Any warrior should be ready to fight at a moment's notice, after all!

I would say that for RiverClan, you're right - it's Crookedstar. He's not exactly the most classically leaderlike cat in the world, but he's good-natured and has a charisma to him that makes his jokey attitude feel natural and respectable instead of classic RiverClan refusal to take things seriously.

For ShadowClan, when she was still there, Yellowfang took the throne. Even now, she's the most well-known cat from ShadowClan and everyone who meets her has to admit, she's pretty entertaining to talk with. As for a cat who lives in the marshes in current day... maybe Russetfur? She's in the nursery now, but once she returns to her duties, she's a kickass deputy. Blackstar is respected too, but he's hard to get a read on and doesn't do a lot of talking to the other Clans, so no one really knows enough about him to make a judgement call with certainty.

As for WindClan, it has to be their deputy, Deadfoot. Disabled cats who made it to a position of authority are always highly respected by default, but the fact that the Clan of runners saw the cat who can't run as someone to listen to and obey is remarkable - enough so that the other Clan assume he's a secret badass of some kind and easily bow their heads to him. He doesn't say much, and perhaps he doesn't need to in the first place. He just curtly returns the nod and hobbles on after Rookstar.

[rockybloo]

An asshole is being fleshed out *checks off knock off of iconic superhero that is also hella patriotic from my hero focused story checklist*

Anyways, Freebird is meant to be part of the mainland American hero force with a leaderlike role similar to Superman for the Justice League and Captain America for the Avengers.

He does enjoy his job and loves to help others but he also loves the fame that comes with it and tends to blur the lines between hero and celebrity.

He has a blatant crush on Sweetheart, making it very publicly known and keeps taking her disinterest and polite rejections as her playing hard to get. Especially because to the general public, she seems to be single. And a pretty AND single heroine in this age means she is ripe for the romancing.

We all know she's in a loving relationship with Bitterbat though but we all also know she can't just drop that bombshell on everyone. At least not yet.

And since Freebird thinks Sweetheart is up for grabs, any chance he gets to visit Decking is a chance he takes.

[dandelion-and-fire]

When I say that Mike and El should break up, it is purely based on the way that I view either of their characters. I just think that narratively, it’s stunts the growth of both characters and actively goes against their personal arks, as well as the part that they play in the show.

I love both Mike and El. Even after the terrible treatment of Mikes character in S4, Mike is still #2 on my list and El is #6. They are both great characters, but them being in a relationship doesn’t work for their own personal growth.

Let me explain why (some of this is opinion based, but some of it is based on genuine fact, so if you disagree with me, just move on).

#1 Their characters change when they are together:

In the moments in which Mike and Eleven are together, as in Dating and not in close proximity, neither really feels like their own character.

Mike, in his normal moments is very leaderlike, as well as kind, determined, extremely caring of those that he loves, and self sacrificing. He is the type of person who will jump off a cliff if it means protecting his friend or who will sleep in a hospital chair all night so that you don’t feel alone when you wake up. But in the moments where him and El are dating, his entire story becomes about her, with his entire character being reduced to just being in a relationship with El. He loses all importance to the plot other than being her moral support, and all of his character traits disappear. The only time in season 3 where we see old Mike begin to return is when they are broken up. Moments like where him and Lucas bike in the rain to apologize to Will. He can’t be his own character when he is with her.

Eleven, in normal moments, is courageous, curious, strong, intuitive, honest, and tenacious. She is powerful in both her actual powers, as well as her stedfast ideals and her willingness to fight for good and protect her loved ones. Normal Eleven doesn’t let people walk all over her and will always fight back. But when her and Mike are together, she loses several of these qualities. She stops being curious about the world and never strives to learn anything new, she turns into a liar, and her tenacity dwindles. When she is with Mike, she is robbed of her strength (not physical, but mental) and typically her own individuality, usually just reverting to who she was in S1, not who she grew to be afterwards. She (mostly in S4) tries to create a picture of herself that she thinks Mike will most appreciate, and she stops being herself.

#2: Their other relationships always suffer:

When the two are dating, usually their other relationship end up falling to the wayside, as they are so focused on each other that they stop paying attention to everyone else.

Mikes main relationships other than El, are his with Will, Lucas, and Dustin, his relationship with Nancy, and his parental figures, including Hopper and Joyce. Seasons 1&2 show Mike putting these relationships above all else, and doing everything that he possibly can to make sure that they are safe, happy, and okay. Once he’s dating El… basically none of the matters. We see him basically blowing Dustin off, ignoring Will completely, not showing any concern towards Nancy, and actively working against and mocking Hopper. When El is in Cali, he actually returns to caring about his relationship, but the moment he is in Cali, once again, no one matters but El. He can’t seem to pay attention to anyone else but her as she takes over his entire mind.

Elevens main relationship besides Mike, are Hopper and Joyce, Will and Johnathan, Max, and the other boys. When she is with Mike, she doesn’t really seem to want to be around Hopper at all, she fights with Will, she only really became friends with Max after she stopped wanting to be with Mike, and her relationship with the other boys only appears in S1 and brief scenes in the last episode of each season. Mike also consumes her everything, but in a very different way. Eleven was not really raised with any important relationship, other than that of Papa. She was not shown to be close to any of the other experiments and she had a connection with Peter… but we all know what happened there. Mike was the first person to come into her life who she really had a genuine relationship with and because of that she has no idea how to balance anything else.

#3 they fail to grow when they are together:

Basically (and this one could definitely be up for interpretation), I see it as Els arc is about her becoming Independent and Liberated, and Mikes is about… actually, I’m not going to lie, I have no idea, I’ve been trying to figure this out for months, but I’m stumped.

Now, I may not be able to figure out Mike arc, but I do know that his character is restricted when it comes to his relationship with El. We don’t see him grow or change at all, with his character staying pretty much the same for most of seasons 3&4. He hits some (a) milestone in S4, but it does little to actually change or effect his character. He’s not growing or changing. He just continues to remain exactly, blandly, the same. I mean you can’t really grown when your only trait is being in a relationship.

As for Eleven, her whole story has been about growing into her own person and becoming free and independent of the things she was forced to rely on for most of her life. And the way that S4 ended, I feel like she is really really getting to that point, but she still won’t be able to fully reach her truest point of independence until she is alone. I firmly believe that Eleven is one of those characters who shouldn’t be with someone. She deserves, even more than Nancy, to not have to be in a relationship, and to just get to be her own person. When she is with Mike, she often changes herself to better line up with him.

#4 what the cast, crew, and Duffers have had to say:

Even in post season 4 interviews, the Duffers still compare Mike and Els relationship to that of E.T. and Elliot. When Finn Wolfhard talks about their relationship he talks about how Mike saw her as more of a dog that he took in. That doesn’t sound romantic to me. Their relationship outside of the show is rarely framed in a romantic light, and rather shown in a context of Mike seeing Eleven as this otherworldly thing and El seeing Mike as her main connection to the real world. That just doesn’t feel like a good dynamic for a romantic relationship

#5 Eleven needs to be the one to end things:

If they do break up, it needs to be something  initiated by Eleven. Her being the one to end things would be a true showcase of her personal independence and growth, and though Mike would be upset, it would be better for him in the long run.

So yeah. That’s my rant. I love both of them, and in the end I just want what’s best for their characters and I personally think that that is for them to break up. They are better suited to be friends as that way they can still love and care for each other, but they both gain back their own personal independence, and their characters are given the room to grow and change.

I tried to keep this as unbiased as possible and to keep all of my personal ship preferences out of it. If you disagree, you’re totally fine, but I don’t need to hear about it.

Thank you for reading.

[thewertsearch]

TA: bro youre not the red team leader. TA: i picked GC for that. CG: WHAT????????????????????

Karkat’s the protagonist. The narrative seems to be setting him up for leadership, but the only leaderlike trait he’s displayed to so far is his initiative, since he spearheaded Project Trolling. 

The guy has asserted that he’s meant to be ‘in charge of something huge and really important’, but GC really seems to be a better choice - provided she actually wants to help out her team, which is far from a guarantee. 

CG: I AM A HATCHED LEADER AND YOU KNOW IT.

We’ll see. You have to actually do something leaderlike first. 

CG: ARE WE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE BECAUSE OF STUFF I SAID. TA: eheheheh you LITERALLY ask me that every time are you joking.

Poor Karkat. He doesn’t even really want to act like this, but it seems to be ingrained in... his personality? His biology? His culture?

Maybe there are some well-adjusted trolls around somewhere, but it’s starting to seem like the life these Players are leaving behind isn’t a very good one. 

Sounds like someone downstairs is getting pretty crabby.

Crabby, eh?

Karkat’s crab is destined for the kernel, which means it’s probably destined for the grave first. That’s just what Karkat’s emotions need right now. 

Looking back at this panel, his room doesn’t really match what we’ve seen of his house in Hivebent. To be fair, this page was released months before Act 5, so Hussie probably just upgraded its design. 

A new challenger approaches. 

Looks like a pretty colorful room - and we know someone who’d love to taste those colors. 

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Warriors of hope who form sector v form knd would you get along

I guess we are kind of like the KND group...

Yeah...Masaru's totally like Numbah 1.

Because I'm the big hero?

No...Because you have a uncanny ability to put yourself in awkward situations.

You-!?

Nagisa's like Numbah 5 because he's very leaderlike, and he's the most level-headed guy.

I will...take that as a compliment. Kotoko reminds me a lot of Numbah 3.

How do you figure?

You have a great spirit and a fiery attitude when you're angry, despite your kindness and sweetness. Additionally, though your general carefree attitude and attempt to see the bright side of things is prevalent, you are determined and prepared to take decisive action when necessary.

Aw, that's really nice actually! As for Monaca...

I'm the skunk. Can we get that out of the way?

Not what I was gonna say.

Monaca is Numbah 2, since she's the tech savvy one of our group. Although she presents a silly front, she is actually a very astute and careful thinker. Also, she annoys the hell out of everyone.

Guilty as charged. Guess that leaves Jataro as Numbah 4.

I think that fits.

And here I was thinking I'd be the skunk.

Guys, let's not kid ourselves. Kurokuma is the skunk.

Word~

[troutfur]

As we all know, I'm obsessed with the idea of injecting more explicitly dynastic politicking into WC and I love theorycrafting and pondering the possibilities of tweaking the rules of this society. To that effect I've thought a lot about different types of hereditary succession and how they'd play out within the society of the Clans. I've been wanting to share my thoughts for a while because I think they make for very fun thought experiments and they could be very interesting to explore in the context of OC stories or AUs.

So, without further ado, here's four styles of hereditary succession other than plain vanilla primogeniture that I think would be interesting in the WC world:

Succession by Seniority

I call this one the murderous uncle prevention strategy. Essentially, the principle is that rather than the monarch's children being next in line to inherit it's the monarch's siblings. At the death of the youngest sibling, said sibling's oldest child inherits, starting the cycle anew. Thus, inheritance passes horizontally rather than vertically across an entire generation before it descends again. Considering cats are born in litters, almost every leader is going to have a sibling or two around, usually a same-age sibling. This has the delightful consequence of making twin/triplet/etc birth order squabbling have pretty significant political consequences. I can see both comedic and dramatic angles to it. And while this type of succession reduces risk of uncles murdering their nephews since they're not threats to their eventual inheritance, this does incentivise children of the monarch to eliminate their uncles to ensure their father is the youngest sibling. So, there's another angle for y'all...

Ultimogeniture

The opposite of primogeniture, rather than oldest child inheriting it's the youngest. This style of sucession tends to emerge in cultures which place the burden of caring for one's elderly parents onto the youngest child whilde elder children are expected to go out and make their living on their own. With this cultural logic in mind it makes perfect sense why youngest children would be entitled to the lion's share of their parents' inheritance. When it comes to importing it into the world of WC there's already a cultural practice of the Clans that lends itself to it, the fact apprentices are the ones in charge to tending to the needs of elders. Thus, in this hypothetical Clan, perhaps the reason younger children of leaders are preferred is because there's a cultural belief that the values apprentice duties instill onto apprentices, qualities that mark a cat as leaderlike, degrade over time. Thus it is preferrable to have a leader as close to apprentice age as possible. Of course, this style of succession produces, on average, very young leaders, maybe even apprentice leaders. This opens the door for scheming regent plotlines which are always fun.

Succession by Tanistry

This one's the most sensible one on the list. Well, as sensible as you can make hereditary monarchy, but I digress. I've talked about it before on another post, so I'll be brief here. Succession by tanistry is a form of elective succession practiced among Irish and Scottish clans that has a hereditary element in who are elligible candidates. At the ascension of a new leader, the clan gathers to elect a successor called a tanist. The tanist must be an adult descendant of the leader previous to the current. This has the advantage of ensuring the leader has the Clan's approval, at least at the time of the election, as well as avoiding regencies on account of the tanist being underage.

Porphyrogeniture

Not so much a concrete style of succession as a strategy of legitimation that emerged in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. According to this principle, a child born of a ruler after their parent has taken the throne has a stronger claim on the title than their elder siblings born before their parent took the throne. This works in conjunction with the succession by appointment already in place in WC, such that a leader is expected to raise one of their children to eventually take on a deputy position with preference for those children born after he's taken leadership. I think there's one scene from The Broken Code in which ThunderClan nepotism was justified because "Leaders raise leaders" and this could very much play into it. Perhaps a leader is expected to pass on their leaderly qualities by being an example to their children raised under their leadership. I have a concept relating to this particular idea in my endless list of things to write concerning Onestar, a leader who I think is particularly fun for this as he basically went straight from warrior to leader thus whatever children he could hypothetically have before ascending to leadership would be blindsided by this whole thing. In the AU concept I have for it, Haresrping and Kestrelflight are his children and got aged up so that they are fully trained by the time they reach the lake, with Heathertail being their younger sister born right after Onestar took leadership. There's more to it than simply "Harespring gets jealous of his literal baby sister" but... yeah that's kind of the core of it.

[miztrixx]

KIMI GA SHINE - THE MASTER ANALYSIS - Chapter 1-1: Introduction of Sara and Joe! (SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 3-1B)

So you know what I said about this being a daily thing..? I broke the streak on day 1. Well, I’ll try to keep a better record from here on out. Because now we’re gonna analyse the scene that introduces our protagonist, Sara Chidouin! And her best friend, Joe Tazuna!

Right from the get-go, without any much deliberation we are introduced to the protagonist, Sara Chidouin! Sara is probably the most important character in the game, as any protagonist should be and is a great character in her own right! Although Sara appears as a model student/uptight, we do learn that her inner monologue is slightly sarcastic talking about how the pond could be a useful thing for a loner.. and we’ll see a lot of this characterisation, a representation of her more light-hearted and kind side rather then the fierce and leadership side of her that is less present in this early characterisation of her. But we do see a glimpse of it!

Sara’s ID No. is “SAMURAIONNNA” which translates to “samurai woman” and is also her main theme. This small little thing is just a sprinkle towards Sara’s defining character trait of being very leaderlike and a strong person! There is an extra N, possibly to make the ID No. be an anagram for “MINNA ASUNARO” which means “everyone is asunaro” which is another bit of foreshadowing to how the participants are connected to the Death Game from their pasts. But no time to dwell on the future cause here comes Joe Tazuna!

From the very moment you meet him, Joe’s character design, his sprites and the way he talks to Sara very obviously conveys the tone and vibe of his characters. He’s a laid-back, upbeat guy who always tries to lighten the mood! It’s interesting how Sara is initially paranoid seeing his shadowy figure near the entrance of the school. Probably mistaking it for Kai/the stalker which this as well as the fact that Joe decides to walk Sara home is some small hints at the fact that Sara probably has a stalker, something which is revealed in the next scene. Although Joe tries to mask this with light-hearted banter about how he came to back to brag to Sara about his date with Ryoko.

Speaking of Ryoko! The whole conversation between Joe and Sara about Sara introducing her [Ryoko] to Joe is fun to watch in hindsight with the extra knowledge of how that all went down in the Sara minisode. For now, though, that’ll be it! I’ll see you all tomorrow…

Also, a small detail to mention is that when Sara sees Joe's silhouette at the gate not knowing that it's Joe. We get to see a bit of her red text inner monologue with the line "Someone's there...". This is the first introduction we get to the other aspect of Sara, her self-preservational and distrustful side. This aspect's dichotomic nature with Sara's more selfless aspect creates one of the main focuses of Sara's character (and the themes of the game in general), throughout the game. We'll see more of it later...but for now, I'm signing off.

[this-is-how-i-study]

Psychological Studies (CAFS)

Ah. Leadership. Now isn't there a lot of that in Slugterra.

Okay, okay. Let me just say, I love Slugterra. There are things I admire, and things that I think need improvement.

So, I gotta study leadership stuff.

There are many leadership styles, but Kurt Lewin categorized four. Autocratic, democratic, transformational and finally, laissez-faire. Now, obviously we have Eli as the leader, but I've got something to say about that part of his story.

He starts out as not a leader but learns fast and accepts others with a very nonjudgmental view. He's a quick thinker especially under pressure, and his most leaderlike trait - in my opinion - is his ability to communicate and bond with others, which is crucial for his democratic style of leadership, but also for a transformational style.

Democratic leadership style is exactly what it sounds like. A democracy. Basically, there's a group with lots of discussion allowed, and everyone gets a say to help the leader to make the final call.

Transformational style is less set on completing a task efficiently but seeks more to complete a long-term goal of creating a social goal. Like how Trixie blogs the damage Blakk does to inspire people to fight back.

The first introduction we have to him is a newbie entering an almost alien world. A normal kid fresh into fifteen with not-so-normal secrets. He struggles with slugslinging at first. He assumes that his place would already be established by being a Shane, until he gets knocked on his butt and has to get saved instead of it being the other way round like he assumed.

We see his openness and naivety here, and also when he signs up for the Tournament. He stands out as an outsider, a Shane who can't slugsling. However, he quickly steps into the expected role of him only to face the trouble that defeated his dad five years ago.

He communicates efficiently with his slugs, not just the whole naming slugs part, but also how Burpy just immediately knows what Eli's plan is in his first round with Shockwire, and how Eli naturally becomes a leader figure in the round with Kord, Trixie and their slugs against the Power Triplets.

So, first, I would've liked to see more on Eli and Will's relationship. And second, Eli's flexibility with others and any situation he's in leans towards both high task and people emphasis, meaning he has good social abilities and workplace abilities among a group.

So, Eli has a democratic and sometimes a transformational leadership style.

The problem with how the show addresses this is it happens fast, which, okay, maybe he's just a natural leader. But it's a little too fast. There should've been more of a struggle for Eli to really step into his father's footsteps, since it literally only lasts, like, half an episode that he goes from 'I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing' to 'Yep-all's-good'.

Speaking of which, I have this fancannon(?. Sorry, not familiar with all this yet): The reason Eli's so good at slugslinging and connecting with Slugs and being able to withstand the Shadow Talker is because of a genetic thing, and not about the whole Shane thing. Maybe the Shanes have some ancestry with the Shadow Clan that gives them a closer connection to the energy down there. They both start with the letter S - alliteration, ha - and if Will was able to wear the Shadow Talker and Eli is too, then it's genetic. Possibly. And Eli's able to do that shared-sight thing with Burpy.

Eli should have a character arc that the show misses. And that's kind of my problem here. So yea

[tieria-erde]

oooh tell me about "only the young die good" because that title Hurts Me

i am SO happy you asked about this one bc lemme tell you dude, this au is my baby HKJDFHG even though i haven't actually worked that much on it in comparison to my other 00 projects... i think this au is a year or two old by now, but it's sort of gotten sidelined by other things (like xenogundam), so i haven't written a lot for it yet. here's a snippet from the prologue!

"—leaving." "And why is that? Don't you want to say hello to our guest?" "..." "You look so serious! Suit yourself, then. I'll talk to him." "...Regene." "Yes?" "When I come back, you'd better be able to convince me that this was a good idea." "...I'll see you later, Ribbons." A quiet scoff. Footsteps. The sound of a heavy door creaking and slamming shut. And then— And then... And then, Tieria Erde's eyes snap wide open.

the classic "lockon lives" au, but with a twist! because instead of lockon stratos, tieria erde is the one who goes to confront ali al-saachez during operation fallen angels, and instead of lockon stratos, tieria erde is the one who dies. nadleeh is destroyed, and its pilot along with it; only the gn drive can be recovered from the scene. setsuna missing, allelujah missing, tieria dead—lockon is the sole survivor of the gundam meisters. except, unbeknownst to the remaining members of celestial being, there are systems in place to resurrect a fallen innovade, and regene regetta doesn't seem satisfied to let his sibling die just like that.

so, this au doubles not just as a lockon lives au but also as an innovator!tieria au; regene spends the 4 years between seasons 1 and 2 convincing tieria to join ribbons's side, while neil spends those years stewing in his survivor's guilt and mourning the friends he's lost. i may not have a lot written for this au but i have PLENTY of thoughts, bc the concept is just chock full of so many fun implications and ideas. like, how would neil handle being the only gundam meister left? in canon, tieria is able to assume a more leaderlike position in those in-between years, but neil is so bitter and downtrodden that i don't even know if he would be able to bring himself to believe that setsuna and alle are still alive. as much as he tries to act like he's an optimist we all know that's not the case lmao. also imagining lyle as seravee/seraphim's pilot? very fun. give that man a big gun, i think he'd like that! also, tieria would get to interact with louise and neil would get to interact with saji, which is... ohhhh you have no idea how many thoughts i have on that. the parallels between louise and neil are palpable and you bet i'm gonna explore those as much as i can. there's lots more i could go into (ie: anew my beloved) but this post is long enough and i don't want to give away too much so i'll keep quiet for now :3

i think the fact that i have so many thoughts about this au is actually a big reason why i've barely written anything for it HKGDFJGK like, there's so much to explore that i have a hard time sitting down and sorting out details like "what actually happens in the fic" and "the order in which those events happen". but i really want to make this au into a proper fic some day! i swear to god i'm gonna do it!!

as for the au's title, it comes from a song of the same name by saintseneca! it hurts me immensely too, so i'm glad i could inflict the same pain upon you <3

[abusedandromeda]

Picking Favorites

Hey y’all! I know I’ve been a little quiet but I’ve been a little busy irl. Also, due to some medication, my PTSD has been a little worse but it does help with depression so I can do more stuff. I’ve decided to write about my most recent memory and vent about it so here it goes!

It’s exactly like the title said: my birth mother had a favorite outside of the family. I really don’t wanna dox her, so we’ll just call her J. A little bit of backstory: We met during 4th grade and she was a little bit of a farm girl. She had to take care of chickens and a couple horses. Unfortunately, this does come into play later. My birth mother took a liking to her and got to know J’s mom as well. J was basically things that I lacked in: hard-work, pride, had a ton of friends and was very leaderlike. Compared to me, who was lazy, spoiled and dramatic.

Shit hit the fan in middle school. There was an incident that made me cut J out. No, there was no abuse involved or anything major. In fact, I don’t even blame J now but at the time, I disliked her but I figured after I had cooled down, maybe we could reconnect because the thing is she apologized over email over and over. I would’ve definitely talked to her again…if it weren’t for my birth mother. During this time, she made it known that she hated the fact that I wanted space. Never said I’d cut J out. Just wanted space. But over and over again, my birth mother would say “she was such a nice girl, you’re acting spoiled” or “you should be more like J. She was such a hard worker and had so much pride in her work.”

In fact, I remember I was with my bio grandparents over the summer trying to deal with high school registration and she tried to talk about J and how we should be friends again. When I didn’t respond, she yelled at me “being too prideful and spoiled” to the point where I wanted to cry. Again, she yelled at me for crying and being dramatic. (Very unrelated, but I felt guilty for leaving my birth mother last week and then I remember all this shit and knew I did the right thing. How’d she expect me to stay??)

Anyway, this made me go from disliking J to absolutely fucking hating her. Other than a couple differences in lifestyles and opinions, she wasn’t actually evil. Yeah, she was a hardworker. She was an average C student and took pretty good care of herself despite how many things she had to do in her life. Even though I found it odd at the time that we only played on our phones when we hung out, I realized now that that was one of the rare times she actually got to relax. When we did hang out, she was always moving when we weren’t in her room. So basically, she deserved none of the hate.

Thankfully, I rarely verbally took it out on her, but I did very much emotionally did. She was very hurt that I cut her out. She told me she was crying and at the time, I just didn’t care because I just hated her for basically being my birth mother’s daughter. She may as well have been because my birth mother had so many great things to say about her and none to say about me. But still, it just sucked ass because she didn’t deserve to feel like shit. While I don’t blame myself 100%, maybe just one email saying at some point that it wasn’t her fault or just something.

We did end up talking for a bit during high school, but not as often and we didn’t hang out after we started talking. Emotionally, I was pretty busy. Pretty sure I never told her of my plans to cut off my birth mother. So fast forward to when I cut off my birth mother, I did end up getting a message from her asking what was going on. I was honest and told her and mentioned that my birth mother really favored her and we ended up basically having a conversation where now why she was always so busy came up.

Basically, I MYSELF WAS HER MOTHER’S FAVORITE. I’m not sure if she mentioned the exact reason, but it may have been along the lines of school. Like I said, she was a C kid, which wasn’t bad at all considered what she did day to day. I couldn’t imagine maintaining a C and also having a farm to take care of but apparently that wasn’t good enough. I guess my birth mother mentioned me being an A and B kid and that was what her birth mother wanted. That’s just another reason why I figured nothing I did would ever be good enough for my birth mother. Because even if J was her real daughter, my birth mother would only find flaws in J. With abusive parents, they’ll always want more. The favorite child is only a comparison, not the standard for them. So it just sucked ass for both of us because even if both of our bio parents traded, it wouldn’t be enough for them.

It’s still so bewildering to me that no child would ever be enough. J woke up at like 5 in the morning before school to take of the farm and was passing in school and still had time for clubs and activities while I was a scholarly kid who also used to balance clubs and activities and yet it just wasn’t enough.

This might be a tough lesson but unfortunately, even if you became a carbon copy of your abusive parents’ favorite child, it won’t be enough. They’ll always demand more from you until you can’t perform so they can find all of your faults. Anyway, J and I don’t talk as often. We didn’t end up as friends due to other differences in lifestyles but the main reason would be because we were basically pitted against each other because we weren’t enough for our birth parents. I don’t remember the convo but hopefully I did apologize for being so cold😔.

Like I know it was my birth mother’s fault. I wouldn’t have hated J so much if it wasn’t for my birth mother but J also went through the same thing and still reached out :/.

Hopefully, though, my bio brother is enough for my bio mother but when I think about how she is nowadays, I highly doubt she’ll ever change. Anyways, sorry if this is a little more rushed lmao. It’s 11 and I haven’t eaten dinner and my food is here so night y’all!

[mongrelcave]

Blood and Water - .ii

She wakes to the sound of wood creaking.

There are stars above her.

No. she realizes that they're not just above, but all around her. She's in space. She sits up and runs her palm over the cool wooden planks underneath her before actually scanning the perimeter. From what she can tell, she’s on a galleon ship right next to its shrouds, and everything's relatively clean for what she assumes is a pirate ship - judging by the jolly roger she sees tied to the ship's jibboom.

“…Where-“ she startles at the sight of a very strange creature that looks like a wad of pink chewing gum approaching her. What’s stranger is what follows: Ryan, grinning and clad in old-fashioned pirate gear while other people that look unfamiliar to her trail closely behind. He looked more leaderlike than usual, here. There's a twinkle in his eye - one he lost after the recent 'incident'. "Welcome aboard!" He holds out his arm, inviting her to let him help her up. Irene blinks and obliges. Somehow, he was able to pull her up with ease despite the differences in stature and weight between them. "Ryan--" Her eyes narrow when she 'receives a message'.

search his mind. find the truth.

"Hell," she facepalms. "I must be in your brain." "Into the brain…" He blinks and looks off. Irene follows his gaze to see a pink planet in the shape and color of a brain. "That's where we're going now!" "What? No, Ryan, you're dreaming. What is all this about, anyway?" "It's an epic tale of my journey to get the treasure from the Dread Pirate Roberts." He bowed and mocked a British accent. "'With Pride. What can I do you for?'" She frowns slightly at his ridiculousness, although what he said sounded quite familiar. "We need to get out… I do, anyway. Let's go." Irene takes a step toward Ryan, but his smile disappears as he takes a step back in return. He looks upset, which makes Irene panic. His emotions might make this a lot uglier than it should be. "You're not…" He grumbled and suddenly Irene was wearing a full pirate costume, hat and eye patch included. Now it's her turn to grumble. "Much better! Now we can travel to Teller Prime!" "Teller what?--" He turns and points firmly at the brain planet. "Full speed ahead!" Irene isn't given the time to react when the ship makes a sharp turn - which would have knocked her down, if she hadn't held onto the railing. As commanded, the ship sails toward the planet at full speed. The angle at which the ship is sailing doesn't help, either. She looks off to the side only to see that Ryan and his crew stood completely still on the slanted ship.

Irene blinks and suddenly, they're no longer on the ship. In fact, the ship is nowhere to be seen. An old western style took over, pink sand under their feet - although she, Ryan, and the other crewmates continued to wear pirate outfits. The citizens of the old city rushed around busily. Irene takes in the scenery for a moment before turning to face Ryan. "Fun's over," she puts her hands on his shoulders. "You're in a dream. I'm from the real world." He blinks and everything around them slows. "Woah… Okay, lucid dreaming." He follows that up by closing his eyes with a pinched expression as if focused on something. Irene's hold tightens and her eyebrows furrow in frustration over what to say. "This isn't lucid and I'm not from your imagination. Notice how I'm the only one talking to you directly?" He pushes her off and looks around. He flinches when he rubs his shoulders. "Ow… Manage your stress. I know a guy--" "Ryan!" She snaps. Ryan holds his hands up defensively. "Woah! Don't like therapists. I get it but--" he's cut off by a hard smack, leaving a stinging mark on his cheek. "You need to wake up!" He rubs his face with a shocked frown. "That felt real… Okay. Yeah. Easy." Ryan stares at the ground with a strained expression. "Wake up… Just… Wake up!" Irene stares at him expectantly. He looks like he'll pop a vein, but he gives up at some point. "I can't wake up…" He exhales deeply. "Is this…Is this some Bucket prank?" Irene tenses as her heart sinks. She fears what will happen if she lingered here any longer without fulfilling her duty. Although, she doesn't exactly know what Jackson meant when he wanted her to find the 'truth.' Is Ryan hiding something from her? She ceases the thought and replaces it with something else. "Can you contact Leach?" He blinks out of his disappointment and looks up at her. "True! Ahem. Leach! Hey buddy!" They both just stand there for a moment. Nothing. Ryan looks back at her with a shrug. "No luck. Huh… I never tried contacting Leach in a dream." Irene sighs. As expected, Jackson wouldn't make it that easy. How is this even possible, anyway? She doesn't recall Jackson having this ability - then again, he does have two gods in him. Perhaps one of them is the god of dreams. "Alas. I suppose this will continue until I fulfill my part of the contract," she says bitterly. Ryan makes a neutral hum. "What, so Jackson can send people into minds now?" He mutters. "I don't know. Doesn't matter much now, though. I'm supposed to be 'finding the truth'," she makes air-quotes with her fingers, "but I don't know what that even means." To that, Ryan huffs. "I'm an open book, Irene. We can just tell Jackson," he stood on his toes to get close to Irene's eyes like they were camera. "To fuck off!" She cracks a smile but immediately goes back to her serious composure. "As much as I'd love to, I think the messages are a one-way thing… Maybe if we just look through your memories? Your history?" "Yeah. Let's go into my repressed memories like this is Inside Job. Maybe there's a folder of all my traumas organized neatly. Like the time my superman undies got caught in my locker the first day of middle school," Ryan scowls. "Honestly Irene. I don't know why he sent you here." Irene stares at him.

he's hiding something. isn't willing to show it. he doesn’t trust her…but she doesn't need trust.

She shakes her head. "Shut up." He frowns. "Damn, okay." She looks back at Ryan apologetically. "No, not you… Just- Him. He's driving me nuts," He nods. "Maybe he can let us out?" She gives him a thin-lipped smile. "Well you know him. He's not one for charity." That comment was meant to be light-hearted, but it just makes her heart sink even deeper. Despite the fact that she's been bound to Jackson for only a day, this felt all too familiar. The contract pulled out memories she had buried deep within her psyche. She's known men like him, and he knows this. He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants.

There's an awkward silence. Maybe it was too soon to jest - she isn't quite used to doing that. She tries for another: "I can't believe I'm stuck in your head now." Maybe that was too rude-- "There are worse places to be," he hums, looking off at the middle of nowhere. Seems that time has stopped completely. This isn't working. Get to the point. "Look. I know this situation is…bizarre, but help us out here. It will be uncomfortable, but we've gone through worse together." Ryan scoffs, still not meeting her eyes. "Let's just find a way out." "Please, Ryan," she pleads as gently as she can. He needs to make this easier for her. For the both of them

Another beat of silence. She takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry--"

he doesn't trust you. that's fine. you know when to use force.

Her voice is caught in her throat as all her nerves set off at once. Irene awaits a command.

command? she doesn’t need commands. he’s nothing but a pest - much like a mosquito, and mosquitos are better off squashed - but before that…

She steps forth. He doesn’t know why, but the act makes the hair on Ryan’s neck bristle. He takes a step back in response - but this proves to be futile when she grabs his wrist quicker than he could react. She closes their distance by yanking him toward her. “Did nobody-” he tries pulling away to no avail. “Did nobody teach you about personal space?” The silence that once surrounded them is filled with the grinding of wood from the western buildings and the whistles of wind as it kicks up sand beneath their feet. “Don't you want to wake up?” she snarls, grip tightening to a painful degree. He winces. "Irene- how are you-" Irene takes a deep breath, as if to calm herself. Then, she gives him a thin, eerie smile that doesn't meet her eyes. He doesn't like this. "Very well." She finally lets go and Ryan turns to rub his sore wrist. He looks around to see the barren, pink wasteland with broken planks of wood, furniture, and glass buried under the sand. Then, he barely hears Irene mutter: "I never liked using force…Given me no choice."

Everything warps. His heart sinks.

"Irene!" Ryan turned to face Irene, his eyes were filled with horror, tears caught on the base of his eyelids. The junk sinks into the sand, and his surroundings start to look foggy - like he was staring at a closeup of a Monet painting. His mind feels like it's being dissected as his dream shifts into a recent memory. The cave. He's struck with the stench of dried bodily excrement and mold. The memories of voices echoed around them as the new scene settled into place. Like a movie screen circling the two of them, they watched the scenery change again: his home, his brother - what he had and lost; a memory within a memory. Ryan stood frozen helplessly as the memory played. All of his emotions washed over him and Irene all over again as he stood paralyzed. Tears fell silently from his face, he dug his nails into his shaking arms. In the corner of his eye, he sees her flinch. His voice was shallow and full of resentment. "Is…is this what you wanted?" He didn't look at Irene. It wasn't entirely clear if he was talking to her or Jackson. She hesitates. He barely hears her muttering a quick apology before disappearing without a sound.

He sniffles, wiping away his tears, and he tries waking up - but he doesn't. He's pulled deeper into the graveyard of his buried memories, and he starts to panic.

He tries again,

Fuck.

The nightmare worsens. Memories mixed with horrific things he didn't even know he could imagine. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wake up. Irene simply abandoned him.

She lied.

.iii