#but that's not day's fault either

[stormyoceans]

Hiiiiii! I just want you to know that as a fellow day defender, I totally agree with you about your opinion of night and day’s situation. People keep saying that day is a bad guy since he treated night like that without knowing the reason behind it. I read the novel btw and thought that if I’m in day’s shoes, I’d probably be acting the same way as day. He just needs time to heal and I totally understand that. I hope people can consider day’s feelings too, not just night’s.

HIII FRIEND HIIIIIII!!!!!!!!

first of all, i wanted to thank you for not giving away any spoilers even if you've already read the novel!!!!! i don't take that for granted because not everyone is so considerate, so i really appreciate it!!!!!

about night and day's situation, im so incredibly glad that you agree with my thoughts on it!!!!! maybe it's because i feel very protective of day as a character, but it's been pretty hard to see him bear the brunt of people's criticism, first with the whole mork vs august affair and now with night. i know it's natural to sympathize with night because we don't have an explanation for day's behavior yet, and regardless of what happened it will never be an excuse for lashing out like that, but at the same time it's kinda upsetting to have day's feelings being constantly dismissed. like being in night's presence makes day feel SO BAD that one time he was literally willing to step in the middle of the street without being able to see rather than staying in the same space as night, and another time he was ready to give up attending aon's wedding (which he really cares about) and would have gone back to isolate himself from the world if it wasn't for mork, and i just think this should be taken into account a little bit more

i also think it's not a matter of who's right or who's wrong, because unlike what night said there are actually no villains and no heroes here. the narrative isn't pushing the audience to side with a character or another, on the contrary it's trying to make the viewers understand both points of view: night's attempts to be a good brother and reconnect with day are commendable and it's indeed both very sad and very frustrating to see day constantly reject them so cruelly, but day has only now started to accept his disability after an entire year of isolation where he was made feel like he could no longer take care of himself and live a fulfilling life, and like you said i think he should be allowed the time to heal (and eventually to forgive night, if he is actually involved in the accident that made day lose his sight)

in the end they're both just two boys with a lot of misunderstandings and unspoken feelings between them who are trying to do their best and i think it's unfair to pit them against each other

[iphigeniacomplex]

“support autistic ppl who dont get social cues” until the autistic person in question is sir lancelot du lac and the social cue is not having an affair with the queen. like honestly he was raised in a lake he doesnt know these things i dont think he did it on purpose. And if he did well hes suffered a lot. so have some kindness.

[chiricat]

ahahaa what that’s so silly… imagine that… you and i… uhhhhhhhhh

[novelconcepts]

In watching more interviews with Liv about Van and the escalation of Van's pragmatism to such dark degrees, I find myself genuinely baffled that anyone could ever think Van the bad guy. I mean, I'm perplexed at finding ANY of these girls The Bad Guy. The bad guy is the situation. It's being lost. It's freezing. It's starving. It's being scraped down to the barest bone of being alive. They make choices that might be snippy, or cruel, or hard-headed, sure--Shauna refusing to just hash it out with Jackie; Jackie being too stubborn to come inside; Taissa refusing to discuss her situation plainly; etc--but by the time we reach the end of season 2, it doesn't even matter. Petty bullshit doesn't matter. Jealousy doesn't matter. Those things are still going to be present and complicated, because--for all their choices, for all the distancing they're trying to do--these kids ARE still human beings. But it isn't the point.

The point is survival. Plain, simple, straightforward. Van's pragmatism is survival. It is the difference between living another day with blood on your teeth or dying pretty. It is the difference between fighting forward through the fire and the snow and the hell of it all, and laying down to die. Van knowing, in watching the ritual violence of Shauna beating Lottie nearly the death, that they will be killing and eating one another soon. Van coming up with the cards for the hunt. Van not blinking when the moment comes, Van choosing a weapon that doubles as a tool to bring the body back, Van refusing to apologize for staying alive--it's not evil. It's not Bad Guy behavior. It's purely about survival, because there is nothing else left to her--or to any of them. They can play the pretty little Sweet Angel Girl game and die, or they can get dirty, bloody, horrific and fight. Van chooses the fight. Van chooses to fight for herself, for her lover, for her team, even knowing not everyone is going to make it out...because the alternate path there is that no one makes it out. Van knew the baby wouldn't live. Van knows the rest of them won't, either. Not unless they start making the hard choices.

And, honestly, the fact that Van sees this narrative coming. Comes up with this plan. Brings out the cards. To me, that is the opposite of Bad Behavior. That is as close to justice as anyone can find in the wilderness. If someone else came up with an idea, maybe it would have come down to voting--but that would have had such a human element to it, with bitterness or hostility or whatever ultimately petty shit always comes of humans selecting who to Other. The cards don't leave room for that. It isn't fair, because the situation isn't fair, because Man vs. Nature isn't fair, but it's as close to a just system as they could possibly find. It's the kindest solution to an unwinnable game. Not to bring it back to American Gods again, but all I can think is "it's easy, there's a trick to it: you do it, or you die." Van gave them that.

[chlo-le-mouton]

Playing ocarina of time again as an adult (i have developed severe brainrot)

[haunted-xander]

You ever think about how Ryne probably got a more honest yet closed-off Thancred while Minfilia got a more disingenuine yet open Thancred?

Like, the Thancred Minfilia knew and grew up with was the one we saw in arr, the flirty, teasing and sassy but friendly man who was clearly not very honest seeing as no one- not even Minfilia- noticed how worn out he was from his constant work. Even just by hw he's noticably more prickly and. not quite rude but. more outwardly cynical? He's always been kinda cynical, but in arr his teasing and banter hides it well, which never disappears but is more. natural? genuine? now. Krile directly points out that he's much more brusque than she expected of him based on how Minfilia described him.

And sure, you could attribute that behaviour to his grief and stress (which is certainly a part of it) but considering he acts much the same in ew, when he's finally moved on and come to terms with everything (and is also post-shb character development), I think it's safe to say that this is the most honest we've seen Thancred be.

But this is all Ryne has known him to be. She's never seen Thancred be flirtatious or as social and friendly as he is in arr, she's only seen him be brusque and cynical but still teasing and kind. But he's also far more closed off from her (and others) bc of That Whole Deal going on. Urianger has told her more about Thancred's true feelings than Thancred himself has. and even that's not a lot, for Urianger is not only not a mind reader and doesn't know everything that goes on on Thancred's head, but also is reluctant to share more than is necessary since it's not his place to divulge these things (and also he himself is not free from the folly of emotional self-isolation).

With Minfilia though, he's open enough that she's never doubted that he cared for and loved her even when he couldn't spend much time with her, and she felt comfortable enough to admonish him when he did his usual self-destructive behaviour (you know, becoming an alchoholic at 17 and All That Entails)

Just. food for thought

[running-in-the-dark]

okay, Flynn fangirling over Darrington Dare might be the cutest thing ever

[yasu-kun]

Ｓｃｉ　ｘ　Ｇｉａｎｔ！Ｅｄｇｅ

[gayofthefae]

Found a new, concise way of putting it that I'm gonna try and remember so I can reuse it:

To say, as a straight person, that a queer character's queerness is out of the blue or unrealistic is to claim that they understand the queer experience to be able to identify inaccurate representation of it.

To call a character's queerness out of the blue as a straight person is to claim full understanding of the queer experience.

[foxstens]

genuinely can't imagine how kevin even got through his first few months at psu

[uncanny-tranny]

By implying that children are too stupid and rude to learn about the world and learn how the world works and how to interact with others, you are casting responsibility away from the people who are responsible for that child's upbringing and placing the blame on the children (who don't have the autonomy given to them to be allowed to decide what they want) who can't help what they do and do not learn, often.

If the children aren't okay, then investigate why before turning to thought-terminating clichés of, "Well, the kids are just stupid and dumb and aren't even worth the effort because they're lazy!"

[time-is-restored]

btw not to make everything about My Fucking Guy but i honestly think one of the things that seperates q!phil out from the other islanders is the approach he takes to dealing with the lack of agency + control all the islanders have over whatever the fuck the federation's doing.

it shows up most prominently whenever tubbo is excitedly telling him about the 'progress' he's made with cucurucho or various investigations (ie: trapping him into a corner with the 'do you have free will' questions), and phil always shoots it down w an immediate 'that doesn't mean anything. curucuho will say anything to mess with you. you can't take anything he says as true.'

and it's not that phil is... a paticularly pessimistic character? he's just EXTREMELY practical. like, he's yet to give up on anyone EVER finding ANY answers (he was the one who initially gave the federation that one week ultimatum w the cage for a cage stream), he just doesn't trust the idea that curucuho is ever going to voluntarily give them. they're uncontrollable + senseless - you might as well argue with the weather.

and like, if that's how he sees the one (1) and only point of contact the islanders HAD with the federation for months, it explains a lot abt his characters lifestyle! ofc he sits on the wall all day, talking to his kids, and keeping his head down. he believes that the federation wants nothing more than to drag the islanders into sick games + tasks just so they can fuck with their head (ie: curucuho revealing he was the one cellbit gathered all that information for). and while he can't totally PREVENT any of that from ever impacting him, he can make sure his kids are well fed, well protected, and as happy + comfortable as he can manage. this is objectively not a perfect situation, there is a guaranteed amount of suffering + fear that he can't mitigate, but he can at least account for it.

like, he REFUSES to engage. whenever curucho shows up, he treats them with total ambivalence. he's not going to get riled up by anything they do, he's not going to get super attached to the guy, he's just gonna laugh it off and irish goodbye it when things drag on. the ONLY time he's strayed from that general guiding principle has been since he's lost his eggs, and can no longer afford to let the federation's fuckery go: those are his fucking kids.

hence the completely unprecedented levels of outward rage and sadness and terror he shows throughout the birdcage streams - almost all directed directly to cucurucho. it's all a completely fair + proportional response to the horror the islanders are being subjected to, but it feels so different bc until now, q!phil has been so dedicated to not reacting, and not giving the federation any sign that they're actually getting to him.

[monstermoviedean]

sam externalizes blame for all the things he hates about himself and dean internalizes blame for his.

[tragedykery]

another small detail in adofn that has been haunting me is the fact that wulf takes the newly born princess sabran to the tomb of an inyscan princess. not inysh, inyscan. keeping in mind how eller meant to mould glorian into “a queen of inysca” but failed—how incredibly poignant is it, then, that wulf seeks protection for his daughter in a place that symbolises the death of what she could have been.

[leafytaffy]

A lot of discussion involving minors safety online has people saying a lot “just don’t let kids online at all, or control and monitor all their online activity, simple as.”

That argument just uh. Completely relies on parents to not be abusive and bigoted. Which most parents nowadays are.

[circebutbetter]

2.

(An embarrasing story)

Funfact☝️ IM NEVER EMBARRASER HAH