#another post for another time

[sueske]

Let's look at all the times Naruto and Sakura have 'chased' after Sasuke.

Part 1:

Sakura knows that Orochimaru is the one Sasuke will go to in order to seek out more power from. She had her doubts about whether everything would be okay or not after witnessing what Orochimaru's mark did to Sasuke and everything else that happened during and after the Chuunin exams, which is why she was on lookout the night that Sasuke left.

However during her confession she says that if Sasuke won't stay, she'll go with him. So actually she's 'fine' with Sasuke going to Orochimaru who is super dangerous, something she's witnessed first hand, as long as she can be by his side. Not once did she express concern over his safety while she was trying to get Sasuke to stay. It's about her feelings, how much she loves him, how revenge won't make Sasuke happy... or her happy. 

Meanwhile Naruto won't even entertain the thought of letting Sasuke go to Orochimaru, to such a dangerous place, highlighting the fact that Orochimaru is not someone who would be willing to give Sasuke power for free.

Part 2:

Sasuke and Orochimaru

So both of them want to save Sasuke and they're under time pressure because of Orochimaru's body transfer technique that they are fully aware about. So they chase after him. Even if they don't understand why Sasuke would go so far for vengeance, I don't think chasing after a loved one to prevent them from being taken over by a giant snake man is a bad thing. Even though both of them are obviously concerned for his safety, Naruto is the one who explicitly expresses concern over it, just like in VOTE1.

It's also here that Sasuke voices aloud the extent to which he would go to in order to defeat Itachi - he says he's fine with giving up his body, which we can see particularly weigh on Naruto's mind a lot afterwards.

Sasuke and Itachi

Naruto and Sakura find out Sasuke killed Orochimaru but that Sasuke is still set on killing Itachi. Again, they don't understand Sasuke's need for revenge here and still want to bring him back to Konoha (where it's safe). They couldn't reach him in time.

Kage Summit

It's when the Itachi/Danzo/Kage Summit goes down that things start to change drastically. Sasuke is marked as an international terrorist. There is a marked difference between Naruto's and Sakura's thought processes, and what they decide to do in regards to Sasuke.

So Sakura takes it upon herself to kill Sasuke for falling too deep into the 'darkness' because she loves him. The way she does it is bad, too. She tries to trick Sasuke into thinking she just wants to join him which he obviously sees right through, and then she tries to sneak up on him and stab him in the back (which she ultimately fails doing). Sakura was always kept at arm's length when understanding Sasuke, but chasing after Sasuke with the intent to kill him because she thinks he's too far gone in the 'darkness' is a bad thing. 

Naruto on the other hand is in disbelief with Sakura's decision of killing Sasuke, because he obviously loves Sasuke but would never fathom killing him. Naruto chases after them and thinks this: 

Naruto doesn't need confirmation about whether or not Obito was telling the truth about Itachi or not. Naruto says that he understands Sasuke's actions. In the end, Naruto's answer is to bear the burden of Sasuke's hatred and die together with him. And then after everything he says this:

It's not about chasing Sasuke anymore. It's about letting Sasuke come to him, on his own terms, whenever he's ready.

See the different conclusions Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi came to during the Kage Summit? The different actions they took after chasing him all this time?

VOTE2

So here Sakura is 'chasing' Sasuke to stop him leaving by saying she can't do anything for him. She can't see inside his heart (trade blows with him). She can only cry. But if there's a tiny part of him that cares for her he won't leave. Lol. 

She wants to go to the way things used to be because that serves her, not Sasuke, the latter of which very clearly wants a revolution. Lol. She's showing blatant disregard for Sasuke's wants once again, chasing after him with an empty promise of things going back to how they were. She should know by now things are forever changed and can't go back. Sasuke says it best:

He even puts in her in a genjutsu so she won't chase after him and get in their way.

Naruto chases after Sasuke because this is the promised fight between them from the Kage Summit. Just as Sasuke honoured Naruto's wishes, Naruto is honouring Sasuke's just like he said he would.

Post-VOTE2

Sakura asks Sasuke to stay because of his arm. This is strange to me for two reasons. Wouldn't have Tsunade asked Sasuke if he wanted one prior to starting the process or did she just assume he would? Or did Sasuke initially agree but all of a sudden make up his mind to promptly leave? 

Whatever the case, Sakura is trying to get him to stay a bit longer. Which would be fine from her part if it was just about the arm, but immediately after she asks to go with Sasuke! It's just like her first confession - If she can't get Sasuke to say, she asks to go with him. If it was truly just about the arm she wouldn't have asked Sasuke to go along, realising that Sasuke needed space. 

Compare that to:

Naruto didn't tell Sasuke to stay some more, or ask to join him. It's implied they had a conversation prior to Sasuke's departure, but Naruto clearly understands what Sasuke wants and needs. And they leave each other on a promise of finally settling things between them in the future, as opposed to a brotherly forehead poke that symbolises distance :)

Then in Gaiden we're informed by Karin that Sakura chased after Sasuke while he was traveling. 

So while Sakura and Naruto's motivations overlapped at one point, they branched off into different things. Naruto stopped chasing after Sasuke during the Kage Summit after he spent a lot of time rolling around in his bed and on the floor thinking about Sasuke and trying to understand him, going through his own character arc of revenge/forgiveness, and then ultimately waiting for Sasuke to come to him. In comparison Sakura chased after Sasuke to kill him. Even as a grown woman she chased after him. One is selfless, marked by an understanding and acceptance of Sasuke's wants and needs, meeting him half way and letting him do his own thing. The other? Selfish. Self-important. Constant pursual of someone that did not want to be be pursued. They are not the same. 

[zeldassecretwell]

listen. listen. hear me out.

trans zelda and trans link (of course), HOWEVER (long speculation and gender worldbuilding/headcanon follows):

link, afab and genderfluid. as a child, shrimply does not Care about gender. does not cross her mind (homeschooled and fucks around in the woods too much for it to be relevant to his life). But when they pull the sword, suddenly there's all this attention on them and guess what? The Hero Of Legend is a boy, and so Link must be a boy, always. He doesn't really mind at first, because it isn't like he cared anyways, but it eventually becomes stifling as he realizes that he, as The Hero, is expected to perform a certain kind of masculinity (and only ever perform that kind of masculinity).

zelda, amab and trans, she/her. grows up as aware of gender roles as a child can be (given that those roles are tied to the monarchical power structure that she's born into). Sees that her mother is 1) the one with the divine heritage and 2) I'm going to assume favorite parent since I dislike Rhoam intensely. Is like, yeah sure I'd like to be a girl, sounds neat! Rhoam et al. are like but your roles...no...be a boy... And then her mom dies when she's like 6 and everybody's like well shit The Princess Of Legend is a girl, and Zelda is an only child, so now we will choose to see you as a girl. And at first Zelda doesn't mind because she thought being a girl was neat anyways, but then it becomes stifling as she realizes that she, as The Princess, is expected to perform a certain kind of femininity (and only ever perform that kind of femininity).

I just think it's incredibly interesting how gender can play into the themes of destiny/expectations/personhood/choice/self discovery if you operate off of the assumption that the botw/totk universe has an (even slightly) different system of gender. because most societies do in one way or another. FOR EXAMPLE:

- link starts dressing more fluidly and expressing themself more after he wakes up post amnesia, moving away from rigid, stoic masculinity of pre-calamity

- zelda cuts her hair post botw. she cuts her hair. oh my fucking god! she cuts her goddamn hair! she is louder and more outspoken, and she leans into being a scientist. and she cut her hair!!! because she IS a girl, but not the one that her father wanted her to be.

- and on the topic of how this influences the rhoam-zelda dynamic: you could read an element of rhoam projecting onto zelda (and zelda very much perceiving this) "well, if only you had been 'BORN' a girl, maybe your powers would work sooner" or "well you wanted to be a girl, so why do you complain about the kind of girl that you must be for the good of the kingdom (read: the kind of girl I want you to be)"

- THUS. INTENSE ZELDA LINK BONDING (romantic or platonic doesn't matter) VIS A VIS BEING TRANS AND THE WAY EXPECTATIONS SHAPED THE WAY THEY WERE PERCIEVED AND THE WAY THEY PERCIEVE THEMSELVES. CAN I GET AN AMEN.

- also, last little note - because I'm assuming (as much as one can) that the kingdom of central Hyrule is to some degree imperialistic and subjugating other regions in the country pre-calamity - other societies in hyrule could have gender systems that differ from that of Central Hyrule (and this is sort of present in canon but. you know. in the way that canon is the way it is. well.). ERGO. none of the Champions have to be in line with the central hyrulean concept of a cisgender person. I rest my case.

[clearcutcasualty]

“Do you think seahorses write fpreg” and the many other riveting things my friend texts me right before I go to work

[s0up1ta]

"so grunkle ford how do you know bill?"

"... that's not important."

[christadeguchi]

me and senshi: i've only had izutsumi for one day but if anything happened to her...

also.... she has nekojita (cat tongue) ;___;

[windkonig]

when people say "ok but x bug has no benefit to nature" I bet they can't even name 5 facts about the bug they're shitting on. so how could they Possibly know what its function is in the environment and if it's "useless" or not

wasps being the perfect example, I still get people saying "oh bees are cute and pollinate :) yay. but WASPS ARE EVIL and they don't contribute ANYTHING!!!" and it's like buddy. wasps pollinate too. they also control spider populations. they do a lot of great valuable things. but even if they didn't, they're still worthy of being here. I see SO much hatred toward wasps and I wish people would try to learn a little more about them.

I'm mainly talking about paper wasps here because these are common ones we run into in daily life and most commonly deemed "aggressive". but wasps have body language. and if you learn to read this language and learn how to properly act around them, things will go a lot better for you! wasps can be curious creatures and they may come up to observe you, especially if you're wearing something brightly colored. this can be startling for sure, but my best advice is to just be still, DO NOT SWAT or wave your arms. try to just back away or sidestep so it loses interest and leaves. swatting is just gonna make them feel as if they are being attacked and increase your chances of being stung.

many stings happen due to unfortunate but accidental circumstances. unknowingly getting too close to a nest, stepping on a wasp on accident, one getting stuck in clothing, etc. I got stung once while gardening, went to pull a weed and the wasp was on it, so I grabbed her without knowing and she stung me because she was scared. this doesn't mean "oh wasps are AGGRESSIVE and EVIL" it means you stumbled into an unfortunate situation where the wasps felt threatened and defensive. instead of being like "FUCK all wasps" go forward trying to learn about common nesting areas, be wary of holes in the ground, wear gloves while gardening, and if you do have to be around a nest, try not to make a lot of noise. if the nest absolutely needs removed, call a professional.

[raynewolferune]

DC x DP Prompt: Bruce is bad at emoting but at least ghosts are empathic (too bad bat kids are not)

Was reading Twincognito on AO3 when I stumbled across this gem again:

~

" “Danny, Tim. I was just…checking in. Is everything alright?” Curse his inability to make meaningful conversation when it wasn’t a life or death situation.

They glanced at each other and shrugged.

Then Danny hauled himself out of the bed and walked over to Bruce.

Bruce tried not to let too much excitement show on his face. "

~

Now I really want to read a story where Bruce adopts Danny post Meta trafficking and is being his usual emotionally constipated self. His kids keep getting mad at him because he's treating their new meta brother who was trafficked poorly (generally being stilted in conversation with him, walking away hurriedly mid-conversation, avoiding Danny when he's feeling really awkward, etc). They think Bruce is discriminating against Danny for being a civilian, meta, dealer's pick, but really it's just Bruce being horribly socially awkward. Danny knows this because of ghost empathy and find the whole thing hilarious. The whole thing comes to a head with the Bat Kids staging an intervention in the Bat Cave.

[gammija]

nothing personal but this kind of comment rlly exemplifies to me a disconnect between canon and popular fanon jmart characterization because they almost literally had this conversation in canon - except, their lines are swapped!

jon, for all his scared grouchiness, is a secret romantic, while martin, for all his forced optimism, is at his core a pragmatist

[renthony]

I am begging people to use LibreOffice and personal storage devices like hard drives or USB sticks instead of relying 100% on Google Docs. LibreOffice is free and open-source, it saves files to your own computer, and it lets you save as many different file types. You can write in it, format ebooks in it, and do everything you might possibly need to do as a writer.

"Oh, but I'll lose my USB stick--" Fine, back things up in whatever cloud you use as a form of extra protection, but you should also try your absolute damnedest to also put them on some form of storage that isn't a cloud.

I know it's not accessible to everyone, but if you at all have the ability, don't rely on shit that lives on other people's computers. Especially with everything going on with AI theft and aggressive censorship of adult media. If you don't store your files on your own personal computer that you have control over, your files aren't fully yours, and they're at the whims of whoever owns the cloud.

Learn where your files are stored and how to access them. Get into the habit of backing up your files to your own personal storage. Even if you're not up for intense tech research and you don't care about how the computer actually works, please stop letting your art live in corporate clouds.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

i'm begging you guys to start pirating shit from streaming platforms. there are so many websites where you can stream that shit for free, here's a quick HOW TO:

1) Search for: watch TITLE OF WORK free online

2) Scroll to the bottom of results. Click any of the "Complaint" links

3) You will be taken to a long list of links that were removed for copyright infringement. Use the 'find' function to search for the name of the show/movie you were originally searching for. You will get something like this (specifics removed because if you love an illegal streaming site you don't post its url on social media)

4) each of these links is to a website where you can stream shit for free. go to the individual websites and search for your show/movie. you might have to copy-paste a few before you find exactly what you're looking, but the whole process only takes a minute. the speed/quality is usually the same as on netflix/whatever, and they even have subtitles! (make sure to use an adblocker though, these sites are funded by annoying popups)

In conclusion, if you do this often enough you will start recognizing the most dependable websites, and you can just bookmark those instead. (note: this is completely separate from torrenting, which is also a beautiful thing but requires different software and a vpn)

you can also download the media in question (look for a "download" button built into the video window, or use a browser extension such as Video DownloadHelper.)

[novelconcepts]

I Saw the TV Glow is such a uniquely, devastatingly queer story. Two queer kids trapped in suburbia. Both of them sensing something isn’t quite right with their lives. Both of them knowing that wrongness could kill them. One of them getting out, trying on new names, new places, new ways of being. Trying to claw her way to fully understanding herself, trying to grasp the true reality of her existence. Succeeding. Going back to help the other, to try so desperately to rescue an old friend, to show the path forward. Being called crazy. Because, to someone who hasn’t gotten out, even trying seems crazy. Feels crazy. Looks, on the surface, like dying.

And to have that other queer kid be so terrified of the internal revolution that is accepting himself that he inadvertently stays buried. Stays in a situation that will suffocate him. Choke the life out of him. Choke the joy out of him. Have him so terrified of possibly being crazy that he, instead, lives with a repression so extreme, it quite literally is killing him. And still, still, he apologizes for it. Apologizes over and over and over, to people who don’t see him. Who never have. Who never will. Because it’s better than being crazy. Because it’s safer than digging his way out. Killing the image everyone sees to rise again as something free and true and authentic. My god. My god, this movie. It shattered me.

[clownowo]

been replaying the Portal series I think this is where its heading

[waywardstation]

HISUI PMD AU

So I’ve been going through a bit of another rough period lately and have turned back to my DS system, one of the few gaming consoles that doesn’t seem to terribly hurt my hand (yay!!)

I picked up PMD Sky again, and seeing as I had reset my file at some point but didn’t make a new one, I inserted Ingo and Akari into it — Cyndaquil for Ingo (hero), and Eevee for Akari (partner)!

I think it’s very fitting since Hero character has total amnesia except for remembering their name, and Partner character is someone with an outgoing personality who’s just joining a guild.

I’ve been getting really attached to it, and so I’ve been thinking about a little AU with some adjustments to it. Hence these doodles I’ve been working on for the last few days (mostly warmups/practice to try and tighten linework with my non-dominant hand, so no hatching or handwritten words for this one ^^;).

I may develop more to this. It’s been so so fun!!

[phrysic]

old destiel art back when I used to be a hardcore shipper of them

[heartorbit]

searching for a star that's still unknown to anyone!

[mud-muffin]

This is totally how it all happened 💗