#bettering themself

[sparingiscaring]

Girl (Gender Neutral) Help I gave my throwaway Seeker OC a Tragic Backstory and now I'm attached

[magpie-murder]

"if your girlfriend is genderfluid why do you usually only use she/her pronouns for them" maybe. maybe it's because they asked me to do that. maybe it's because. they prefer that right now. maybe genderfluid people are not all the exact same. maybe some people do not WANT you to switch pronouns mid-sentence. maybe i know my loved ones' preferences better than a stranger on the internet does.

[despoticmouse]

…Spearmaster learning what uppies are?

SM nearly had an entire spiral not understanding what the sluppy wanted but luckily the baby took things into their own grippers. SM definitely knows what to do next time when there's insistent grabbies in their face.

[e-vasong]

Interview With the Vampire (2022-) is one of the best adaptations of anything ever because it is clearly made with so much love for the original text but it also is very open about critiquing the books while also existing in perfect, constant conversation with it. every change made is a strong writing choice on its own, but it is also made 10x stronger when viewed not just as an alteration of the original but an evolution.

louis being black and a brothel owner rather than a plantation owner is a really fucking smart idea all by itself. but it also directly furthers the differences in worldview between louis and lestat from the books. daniel being older, smarter, keener - much more obsessed with the truth - is an excellent conceit on its own, but its even better when we know that this is round 2 of the interview. he's learned from the awful way the interview went in the books, and now hes here for the truth. devils minion being a dance that arguably stretches decades (even if there wasnt a chase arc in the 70s!) only heightens their game of cat and mouse. armand being an adult physically and also being a POC is fucking inspired, both for how it places him in contrast to louis, and also because it allows them to avoid casting a minor in a very sexual role while still keeping the same dynamic (i.e. the frequent infantilization/fetishization of POC, especially asians).

The fact that some people are mad about its adaptation style boggles my mind, because I honestly think this set a new fucking standard for what adaptations should be. I'm insane about it. If they aren't changing the game like IWTV 2022 who even cares anymore.

[uncanny-tranny]

Actually, it's insane that "psychosomatic" is so often:

1. not neutral

and

2. actively used to undermine, discredit, and sometimes even bring scorn to somebody's condition

Imagine going through so much stress, for example, that it's eating you from the inside out and being told that you've just got a case of Crazy Idiot Who Makes Things Up For Fun to Inconvenience Us and Get Attention.

[gummybearstastelikesadness]

Danny going around cleaning up headstones and placks in cemeteries and graveyards. Graveyards and cemetery’s are considered the resting places for the dead, so when he’s there he just super relaxed and safe feeling.

That’s how he meets superheroes/vigilantes/antiheroes/villains/civilians/side characters from different cities.

He just gives them advice on mourning and basically lends them an ear or shoulder for a few days before he goes to the next cemetery.

Eventually Danny runs into one of the Bat fam in a Gotham cemetery and they ask him what he’s doing, he’s completely distracted in a really calm state from the dead resting place vibes and says something cryptic about even empty graves deserving care while cleaning up a grave.

Right in-front of Jason’s grave.

[seeminglydark]

Posting this one on its own cuz I just really love this image. gently hold your teenage self and tell them it’s gonna get better one day.

Look how far we’ve come.

[mushroominaforest]

Well, I drew baby Hunter and Arti, so here’s baby Inv and Saint from the au!

Lore dump time!

Like I’ve said, these siblings are total opposites, and they were even more different as kids. You guys seem to like Saint’s silly expressions, but when they were younger they didn’t express anything. They aren’t bored or annoyed with Inv in the picture, they just literally always looked like that. Inv on the other hand, can’t mask to save their life. They’ve always been very expressive, loud and hyper, in sharp contrast with their sibling who almost never spoke back then.

Unfortunately for Inv, the Iterator that created and raised these two definitely preferred Saint. Inv was too much of a handful, but Saint was the perfect kid in their opinion- basically just a statue. Inv isn’t as stupid as they can act sometimes, and they definitely knew that their younger sibling was the favourite. That wasn’t a great feeling for them.

Despite their differences, Saint and Inv are very close. Inv has always been able to tell what Saint is feeling regardless of what expression they have, and Saint has always been patient with Inv and has never really minded their antics.

[st4rstudent]

bugthinker but I just did whatever to him

bonus slop

[codacheetah]

The start of the Loop segment of the Siffrin & friends twitter QNA, and the message that flipped Loop's answers from silly to dodgy and blatantly upset.

Loopchat from speaking to Loop 20+ times.

Certified Loop dysphoria post

[lainalit]

Today I saw multiple tiktoks on my fyp where "feyre stans" still blame nesta for everything bad that happened to feyre.

Maybe instead of hating on a mid-20-year old whose biggest crime against feyre was being mean/awful ( which many instances aren't even shown to us on page), they should criticize her 500+ year old mate, who ON PAGE humiliated, degraded, drugged, assaulted, and stripped her of her own autonomy.

The fact that they love bringing real life standards into a fictional world but only doing it for the characters they hate because if they did do it for both Nesta and rhysand, one would be a mean girl from high school and the other would be a criminal in jail

How can they call themselves feyre stans I thought stans want the best for their fave, but with how they defend rhys, I think they want feyre to suffer more

[good-beans]

this is so stupid but i always have fun imagining the milgram characters watching their own/others mvs and seeing their reactions, especially for MeMe

That’s not stupid at all, thank you so much for the ask!! It’s sooo interesting to think about! I planned on just posting this drabble, but the more I thought about it, the more I started jotting down headcanons for everyone 👀 Of course there’s the initial disbelief and shock that Milgram can really do what it claims, but once they accept that, they’d have a lot of interesting reactions…

Es gets to watch the video first, then the prisoners are free to watch their own in the privacy of the courtroom/extraction room/wherever. Other prisoners can watch them only with explicit permission from the video’s singer. No one is allowed to watch Undercover except for Es. At first they spend hours looking at those final frames of themself flinching from the camera, hoping to jog any sort of memories, but eventually they give up on it. While actually watching it, they don’t mind the murder silhouettes. While sleeping, however, it has triggered more than one nightmare.

Haruka: He thinks Weakness is very pretty – he’s amazed seeing himself on the screen and hearing his voice, knowing he’s not that good of a singer. Even before his innocent verdict, it gives him a huge surge of confidence. Once he gets to know the others better, he gives them mv permissions, then stares intently at their faces to see their reactions as they watch it. AKAA scares him a bit, seeing his own intense emotions on screen, and he only gives Muu permission to see it. When he’s alone, Haruka pauses the shots of his mother, just to stare for a while.

Yuno: Laughs at the symbolism her mind used in Umbilical. She’s never shied away from sexual words/thoughts, so it's funny the video was as tame as it was. She thinks the song is fun, and isn’t afraid to show the others and sing snippets of it around the prison. Some days it’s too emotional for her to get into it, but most of the time she tries to display a confident attitude about it. After Tear Drop, she’s satisfied with her anger and more overtly sexual images. If anything, she feels too exposed by the shots of herself looking more vulnerable/sad. 

Fuuta: He experiences a solid mix of embarrassment at the gaming theme in Bring it On and feeling a surge of pride that he looks badass in the knight’s armor. He’s worried the warden won’t take him seriously with the video game obsession, but he absolutely loves the song and thinks it portrays his toughness and ideals well. He’s less thrilled with Backdraft, everything about it unsettles and embarasses him. He’s thrown by the shot of crossing out his own silhouette – he’d had self-harming thoughts, but wasn’t quite ready to confront them so blatantly yet. Like Haruka, he can be caught pausing the arcade shot just for a moment before turning the whole thing off and storming away.

Muu: She has mixed emotions towards After Pain. She hates seeing herself look so weak and pathetic, but it gives her a lot of hope that her story will be understood. She misses her friends, and seeing them again is bittersweet. She closes her eyes at the moment of the stabbing – she’s only gotten the courage to watch it through her fingers once. She watches INMF once, then refuses to look at it again from shame/horror. Despite Haruka’s begging, she doesn’t let him watch it, either. 

Shidou: He asks Es what they saw in Throw Down. Upon finding out his family wasn’t in it, he chooses not to watch it. He believes he already knows all about his emotions and crime, so there’s no need to go through that pain again. He’s tempted to watch it when he’s confused about Es’ verdict, but still holds off. He does watch Triage when informed his family is in it. He spends hours in front of the screen by himself. Only after seeing that one does he watch Throw Down, though he’s still left confused about Es’ decisions.

Mahiru: Absolutely loves TIHTBILWY. She thinks it perfectly describes her situation, and that the song is very cute. She lets others watch it, and unlike Yuno, feels like singing it 24/7. It reminds her of her bf, and she thinks that’s very romantic. Similar to Shidou, she spends a lot of time watching I Love You just to look at her boyfriend. She shows it to everyone, just to show him off and talk about him, even if she does skip over the beginning and end each time.

Kazui: He is very similar to Shidou; he refuses to watch his videos until T2, assuming it would be too painful to watch something he already knows and wishes to avoid. Unlike Shidou, seeing Hinako is far too painful, and he regrets watching it and seeing her so happy on their wedding day. Though maybe he’s still waiting, and hasn’t seen any of the videos yet…

Amane: Magic makes her worry more than anything. She fears she’s poisoned by unnecessary vainness since so much of her video involves cute things, colors, outfits, animals, and is set up like a tv show. She’s also worried that Es and the others will really see her as a child because of how cute the whole thing is. She prevents herself from watching it too many times, but buried under all her fears, it gives her a surge of pride seeing herself so talented and pretty and the star of the show. Purge March only reaffirms her confidence in her crime – the video brings up some awful memories, but it shows her as a leader, a warrior, a hero! It brings her comfort and confidence more than anything.

Mikoto/John: The videos are distressing to both of them, and they spend all their time studying the others’ screentime. Mikoto watches in horror as John does things that line up with his spotty memories, and John panics seeing that his actions distress Mikoto more than they’ve reassured/saved him. John does end up watching his own scenes a few times – it feels incredibly good to appear in a way that Mikoto may finally notice him. He feels seen. Now, logically I think that MeMe would be the final tipping point in which Mikoto finally accepts the situation and his DID, but if I must stick to his canon denial, then I’d say he goes on a whole rant about movie magic andt the crazy things you can do with editing nowadays. He doesn’t have a good explanation on how Milgram found his home and knew so much about him, but he explains everything away as cgi or camera effects. Double manages to sway him a bit more, as he hears John speak so plainly to him. Just as the audience had some debate on who was apologizing at the end of Double, Mikoto and John wonder who is apologizing to whom. Though they both come to the conclusion it’s their own apology, they decide that if it was the others’, they’d accept it and forgive them.

Kotoko: She’s very pleased with Harrow, and is unashamed to show it to the others. Though she’d been able to watch a few of the previous prisoners’ videos, it still shakes her a bit when she realizes that Milgram really does have the tech to look deep inside her. She watches it just a few times – not obsessing over it, but not afraid either. Deep Cover, however, is a once-and-done sort of deal. She claims she’s not letting the others watch it because “they couldn’t handle such harsh but true criticisms about themselves,” but she doesn’t end up watching it anymore herself, either.

[aria0fgold]

Ever think about how tragic it is to be in The Universe's place as a being that loves all of creation but can never express that in a way that the subjects of their affection can understand so they created a middle line of it. To grant any and all wishes just to show that they are there, they are listening, and they are giving you the means to grasp what you desire.

But it's never enough because to a higher being such as The Universe, with no bias on What wish to grant or a bias on What is right or wrong, they grant wishes indiscriminately. Because they love everyone, so they grant everyone's wishes, all the while bending it so as to prevent needless damage, because they love you.

But their love is also what hurts you, like how Loop had to give up in the end cuz of how hopeless it all seemed so Loop had to make another wish. And how Siffrin continued to suffer during the timeloops, and especially how much it hurts Loop, to see someone else achieve what they've always wanted to have. To Loop, they're The Universe's favourite cosmic joke but to The Universe, they love them.

They granted Loop's wish, and then granted another, they continuously grant Siffrin's wish. They love them, but they don't know how much it hurts all the same because they can't understand the way all of creation expresses love. Because their own language is incomprehensible to anyone else but them. Ever think about how lonely it must be to be a higher being with a language only they can understand.

[time-slink]

i dont think its even formally incorrect but its a hell of a pet peeve for me when people use 'themselves' to refer to a single person. ITS THEMSELF!!!!

[northstarscowboyhat]

is clover's a mama's boy?

Honestly, I'd say Clover is preeeetty equal in terms of their affection for their parents? They have a lot more in common with Starlo and they're two peas in a pod, so they just naturally get along great and it's easy to spend time together, but I think as they grow up they do get a lot closer to Ceroba. Losing their biological mother at such a young age really impacted them, and Ceroba helps fill in the void left by not having a mother figure, and they really get close once they're able to work out some of the issues they faced post Pacifist ending.

As a kid, Starlo's definitely their favorite, but I think when they're older they also get a lot closer to Ceroba. So they're a bit of a mama's... kid? Whatever the gender neutral term is?

[avdmai]

the repetition of "my friend, Vaughan" is so weirdly eerie in a setting like the silt verses, it sounds almost like a title, a chant, an invocation, something that gets bound to them and follows them from their friendship with Carpenter to their friendship with Paige––like yeah ok it's just a little phrase, a normal thing to call someone, but Paige and Carpenter say it with exactly the same inflection. In addition to the analysis I've seen around of "everyone Mallory Glass has loved has died", there's an element of being relegated to "friend," having your story serve to drive the stories of others. They leave for the CLS and their absence drives Carpenter to turn towards the Parish. They... leave... the marketing job, which is what drives Paige's loss of "faith" in her corporate life. Doomed by the narrative as fuck