#don't even know how to explain it

[chamaleonsoul]

[lazylittledragon]

i am losing my entire shit right now, this single panel caused a nuclear disaster in my ig comments when someone said "halsin just saying 'astarion's partner' instead of his name feels icky"

which is such a fucking reach by itself but descended into this in about 5 seconds

[umblrspectrum]

happy solvermas

[sootnuki]

editing process

[flowersforthemachines]

What home smells like (Crossroads comments)

Note: judging by the audio I extracted and the conversation file, Bellara and Taash don't have lines for that event (if they actually have lines and I missed them, pls lmk).

Rook: That scent… I can't place it. Neve: For a moment… it smelled like Dock Town after it rains. Lucanis: Coffee. Like Illario and I smelled in the kitchen where we grew up. But that cannot be right. Harding: That's my ma's apple cake! But… how? Davrin: That's smoke from my old clan's campfire. But… how do I even know that? Emmrich: It's reminiscent of the mortuary's perfumes, but… ah. Of course. Emmrich: There's small enchantments around this place. From the old elves, welcoming their kindred home.

My DAVG Extracted Audio Masterlist

[sengenism]

gen is next to senku like, 90% of the time just to stand there and look pretty while going "ohhhh?" when senku explains science stuff

[shipwrecked-with-wizards]

tangents I yapped about in therapy today:

public transit and trains my beloved

how tumblr does in fact still exist and is active (I did resist the urge to tell her my boywife is a tumblr micro-celeb)

this one man I hate at my university because bad vibes and weird comments

how this other man at my work basically told me he's into older women in response to me mentioning I'm gay and I had no idea if he was joking (she did ask whether I think there's any possibility I'm autistic in response to that, thanks for asking.)

the differences between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

my boyfriend's silly little gender

the really bad job the first person who fit me in pointe shoes did

[million-with-a-b]

how is DID the most subtle yet obvious disorder ever

[adragonthatwrites]

Nuzi is a ship where

"Me and the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic"

works from both directions.

[scenic-route33]

Gordon: hey Warren why does the robot have my voice haha it's a bit weird

Warren: *trying desperately to think of an explanation that doesn't sound gay* uh

[teh-nos]

actually i loved 11's run, i think a lot of it gets just wildly misinterpreted because when 10 behaved like that the narrative might semi-subtly nod to him being a dick but it didn't really hold him to account and preferred to focus on how sad he was about this latest problem he had caused himself. whereas 11. does not get that. but i think the parallels to 10 and the learned expectation that the story approves of his actions or at least will be too chickenshit to openly admit he fucked up makes people somehow think the series/characters/writers approve of however he's messed up this time.

especially the amy thing. the doctor accidentally makes a child fall in love with him and she basically goes mad and self-destructive because of it and is a dick to her everyman boyfriend while the doctor is never going to marry her because what the fuck. i suspect a lot of fandom does not want to think too much about what the obvious comparison being made here is.

if you approach 11’s era assuming it was written as a weird wish fulfillment fantasy by the worst human who ever lived then yeah that’d probably be horrible. i’d hate it too if i had done that. but to me it was just not pulling the punches on the "oh my god what the fuck have you done this time" things that the doctor occasionally does. he fucks up, it causes problems later on, but we are not just sweeping it all under the rug at the end of the episode while he cries at the camera and goes back to being a straightforward hero. which i love! but i also feel like this is for many other viewers the reason they get mad at/about 11.

[somedaytakethetime]

ANYWAY

I'm still not over 2000s Nico Rosberg..

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

Help I feel like the more I play the game, the more confused I get about Sylus' actions when he first appeared in the story, now replaying his first chapters after the new ones 😭 I mean, he has this past with MC and loves her, came to the n109 zone for her, and was the one to save her from the lab where she was essentially being tortured/killed over and over for profit, but when he finally meets his beloved again he treats her terribly? he chokes her, apparently keeps her captive for days trying to force resonate without giving any explanations, threatens her with his evol when she's hesitant to go to meet Philip, all while having the knowledge she was already traumatized before meeting him, grieving the sudden death of 2 loved ones and thinking he was the one behind it?

This isn't hate at all, I LOVE Sylus. But it's like he's a whole different person in that beginning. I was hoping you could help me make sense of it, because it just seems to fall out of line with everything we keep learning about him and seeing how deeply he cares for MC. Was that just the writers playing up the dark romance with big bad criminal trope or something? Or is there actually a good reason, storywise, for his initial treatment of her?

Ok first things first – You're absolutely right. Sylus does treat MC terribly at the start of LAR. You'll never catch me defending or trying to make excuses for his actions there regardless of his reasons. The narrative itself paints his actions as bad. And Sylus too realizes that they were, and that he went too far. And I've said it before and I'll say it here again – MC would have been justified in not forgiving him or in not wanting to have further contact with him. That's why her behavior in subsequent early cards never bothered me or struck me as "too mean". She could've been a lot meaner, actually. And this is coming from someone who broke down in the shower crying earlier over how bad I felt for Sylus and all he'd suffered during his separation from MC. But much as I love Sylus and recognize the selflessness and the purity of his love, I won't justify him when he acts like a red flag (which he does at certain moments in LAR. That's just the truth.).

That being said, I can try to speculate as to the explanation behind his actions. But bear in mind that we are still missing important backstory and lore for SylusMC's past before they got separated in the Deepspace Tunnel. And as such, more than likely missing context for why Sylus acts the way he does with MC. Why he is so rough and... seemingly a bit resentful. However, I do have theories/speculations regarding that that I'll get to in a bit... a long bit because... um... yeah this got... very long ijbol don't ever ask my autistic ass to write posts like this unless you're prepared for essays 😅

But first, I need to clear up an important misconception...

Sylus has never choked MC. Ever.

For one, he just would never do that. It goes against everything we know of him. He'd never lay his hands on MC with the intent of hurting her, much less to choke her out. Sylus himself hates being choked. Him doing that to the person he loves most in the world is inconceivable.

Just look at the way he cradles her whenever she is in small danger or in real danger

He wants to protect MC and make her stronger. Not injure her. Never that.

Then there's also the fact that the scene itself from the main story makes it clear that the choking never happened.

Look at this image here. You can clearly see Sylus' hand. Which wouldn't be possible if he were choking her. Just try wrapping your own hand around your neck, and you'll see what I mean.

MC also speaks and breathes heavily in the scene which she wouldn't be able to do if Sylus was choking her out (let's be real, she'd be dead if he did that).

It's clear that he is grabbing her chin and tilting it upwards to force her to look at him. To jog her memory.

And that is exactly why MC ends up passing out (in combination with having been drugged earlier by Sherman's goon). She is reacting to his eye, to the visions their soulbond causes her (bloodstained hands). If Sylus had choked her out, she wouldn't have been out of it for as long as she was (seemingly in and out for 3 days).

Now as for Sylus' subsequent behavior... it's bad. Plain and simple. And again I am not and never will be defending it. I am just trying to speculate as to why he would be behaving this out of character with what we know re: his treatment of and feelings for MC. Apart from obviously being shocked and hurt that the love of his life that he's exchanged souls with, searched the cosmos for, built his empire for, protected from the sidelines, waited 14 years for, doesn't remember him ofc. And also blames him for the death of her family and says she wants to kill him. So Sylus most definitely wasn't in his prime state of emotional or mental stability, which I do think accounts for some of his behavior. He hadn't expected any of this and for once doesn't really know how to properly handle the situation. Especially since for the vast amount of time they've been separated, he hasn't been used to being soft or gentle. He's been pretty much going from violent encounter to violent encounter. So safe to say he's a lot more rusty at being soft and gentle than memory (as in date card) Sylus is.

Then there is of course the possibility that being rough with each other was part of their past dynamic. They certainly were in the the dragon myth, and might very well have been the case in the nebula and after. So perhaps it just doesn't initially click for Sylus that Linkon MC is not the same hardened individual as she was in the past, and responds a lot differently to rough handling.

Now, I've seen people online that theorize that Sylus bears an active grudge or even hatred for MC. That that's where his rough treatment of her stems from. Granted, we don't know what happened before they were separated or under what terms they were. Maybe something went down between them. Maybe MC was somehow responsible for Sylus' imprisonment (there is merit to this assumption – Child MC threatens to throw Sylus into Tartarus, and adult Sylus does say this line at one point "You are my unforgivable sin in the fabric of eternity. The very thing that has imprisoned me" which is... interesting).

The point is, we have no idea how their separation came about nor Sylus' imprisonment. I will say however that I personally don't think it was violent or dramatic or even hateful, just because of these lines from Sylus "We were like flowers. We were meant to grow together in the same soil. Yet you were quietly moved to another garden in a foreign land. Still, you managed to grow beautifully." Idk to me that beautiful analogy isn't indicative of resentment or angry feelings over their separation, or of MC betraying him, which knowing MC she never would in the first place. She's as fiercely loyal as Sylus is, not to mention the fanbase reaction if "we" were to betray or own LI would not go down well. So I'm not terribly sold on MC actively betraying him... If she were somehow to blame for him landing in prison, I rather believe it to be a case of her perhaps committing a crime and Sylus taking the fall for it to protect her. Which would be in line with how he operates re: her. Idk I'm just yapping trying to say that I don't see MC betraying him or their separation being dramatic.

I have seen people speculate that Sylus went to earth to kill MC. That the fury we read about in the second Timelock Key is not directed at her situation, but at her. But that he changed his mind and let her live, only to wait for her to be stronger so he could kill her fairly.

I personally don't see this at all (again, I can be wrong). Because it doesn't line up with Sylus' emotions when he pinpoints MC's location (he is melancholy, sad. Not angry). And in my mind him wanting to kill MC doesn't line up with anything we know of him or his subsequent actions. Plus, killing MC would play into the hands of fate. And Sylus' whole thing so far has been giving fate a giant middle finger.

And I don't believe that Sylus was even angry at MC in LAR and that he took her to Philip's to make her stronger to get revenge and kill her. Why?

Look at his expression here. Look at his eyes. To me it's plain that he isn't doing this out of malice or feelings of revenge. But out of desperation. A feeeling that he has to do this.

Then there is also this reaction when he learns that MC rejects him, fears him, and is disgusted by him.

If Sylus was intent on killing MC... why would he give a shit? Why would he change his ways for the better?

If Sylus harbors resentment for MC, why does that all seemingly leave here? It shows up nowhere in Death and Rebirth, for instance.

And in the iconic scene in LAR where they dance, he looks at her like this

Mind you this takes place like... one or two days after the incident at Philip's shop?

Hell, he even looks at her with love in his eyes when they first come face to face again

Doesn't look terribly much to me like a man who harbors hatred or anger or a desire to kill, but that's just me and my interpretation.

And then there is his iconic line from Razor's Grip ( a card that takes place very early on in their chronology and well before they begin to date) "You should know very well that I adore you. There is no love purer than mine"

Not the words of a man who would a) choke said object of adoration or b) originally land on earth to kill her, and then plan to kill her for the next 14 years or c) who's love is secretly mingled with hatred and darker feelings. That is not what can be described as as a pure love.

And lastly...

Sylus himself claims that he hasn't ever been genuinely mad at MC. Which if he had wanted revenge or to kill her... he definitely would have been, right?

Anyway this a very longwinded and probably overly detailed way of saying... I don't think that Sylus' actions in LAR were guided by anger or malice.

I believe they were guided by fear and desperation.

By a need for her to grow stronger so that she can both control her latent powers and face off the future threat that is for sure on the horizon.

I mean at the end of Death and Rebirth Sylus even offers to help MC with exactly that. To become stronger.

And to be perfectly honest, I think desperation and fear for her safety and survival best fits his demeanor and just how far he is willing to go in LAR. Remember, he actually overrides his core principles in that part of the story – consent and autonomy (which I believe is part of the reason why he gets so distraught later and why he never again lets desperation take over. He realizes just how badly he fucked up, how far he overstepped). I genuinely cannot see any other scenario where Sylus would do that, apart from one where he's losing his sanity to his dragon instinct or something. He has shown time and time again how much he values MC's freedom of choice and action and consent.

We know that Sylus knows about Gaia. He knows about EVER. He knows about MC. He knows that she is a target for future use and abuse. He knows that her powers can potentially spiral out of control.

And he knows that if she is to survive against future threats, she needs to be stronger. So I think the main reason why he is so forceful and treats MC roughly is a combination of his hurt and surprise and not knowing how to act over the fact that she doesn't remember and distrusts and hates him, and also his desperation to ensure that she both regains her memories and gets stronger. He thinks he's acting for her wellbeing, and at first doesn't mind being rough or forceful if that will ultimately save her. Because in his mind, talking to MC and trying to explain to her wouldn't do any good – in her eyes he is a big evil threatening criminal that killed her family and then forced her to resonate for three days. Why on earth would she listen to him much less believe him?

So, force it is. The ends justifies the means... If the ends is that she will be stronger and able to survive.

Or at least, that's what I think his mindset was at the time. It's really only when Philip both tells Sylus that MC is disgusted by him and that altering MC could potentially damage her for life that Sylus lets go of his plan (and we see him do it with obvious anguish). Then he almost certainly steps out and does some serious self reflecting, realizing that regardless of his intentions and his pain, he went too fucking far. That this has done far more damage than good and that he could have approached things better. After which he noticeably changes.

And that is what is so impactful about Sylus' character to me. The fact that he recognizes just how fucked up his behavior was and course corrects. That takes a lot of maturity. And his development because of it is all the more satisfying to me.

To end off this incredibly long post – I am sure that there are other reasons for Sylus' behavior, and I recognize that my interpretation is not more likely to be correct than most others'. I am just working purely off of the info we have as if right now (which isn't a lot) and what makes most sense personally to me. And again, I am in no way excusing Sylus. He was in the wrong no matter how you spin it. He is flawed, and I won't ever make excuses or pretend as though said flaws don't exist. If I did, it would be a disservice to both MC and to Sylus and to the writers. He is also complex and grey and sometimes... well, sometimes people just do strange and seemingly inexplicable stuff when they're faced with unexpected and stressful situations. Again, no excuse here for his behavior, just an explanation.

But rest assured that Sylus loves MC and always has. His love for her is by his own admission pure. And if there's one thing Sylus never does, it's lie.

[maricacarica]

Defending Fugaku because somone has to

One of many thinks I dislike in Naruto fandom is the way Fugaku is treated. He's labeled as abusive and neglectful father even tho he really isn't and they never try to see his perspective.

First of all abusive part, it just isn't true. We never even saw him doing anything to harm Sasuke or Itachi. Like not anything close. Even when Itachi attacked his classmen for suspecting him of Shisui's death. All Fugaku does is scold him, barely rising his voice, and as for what we saw, Itachi had no conquences for that. Even when Itachi came to kill him and Mikoto, Fugaku doesn't put up a fight because he doesn't want to fight his son. He isn't angry, even gives Itachi reassuring words, mind you Itachi came to kill him. Only thing that can be abusive is making him a double agent, on which I will touch in a minute.

As for abusive to Sasuke, he also simply isn't, we never have a scene which implies that. In manga his first scene is Sasuke asking him why is Itachi so cold to him. So Sasuke felt comfortable enough to ask that and complain to him. Fugaku also took time out to help train Sasuke, mind you this was in the middle of coup planning and tension between clan and village were high. Yet he still found a little time for Sasuke. His last words were also about Sasuke, asking Itachi to take care of him.

Now for the neglectful part, this is one I can understand why people think, but people also tend to forget what was Fugaku's position in the moment. He was the clan head of a clan that was already fed up with how village treated. And Uchiha were justified in being angry. So Fugaku had to deal with angry clansmen who were already pissed off. While on other hand he was still clan head, which means he had to deal with complaints from people outside of clan too. Which would make anyone stressed and overworked. Add in the fact clan was literally in the middle of planning a coup. Which makes things about thirty times more complicated. Also add in the fact he was leader of group of people against whom the government was prejudiced.

It was a given he'd be a little distant, wether he wanted or didn't. So yeah in that sense Sasuke was neglected. But as I said earlier, Fugaku didn't really have much choice here. He was a father, but also a political figure. He had to balance his families desires and clans desires. Fugaku would be a bad leader if he threw away all his responsibility to spend time with his family. In this moment Sasuke simply wasn't his biggest priority. I can also imagine Fugaku thought that in the end coup would end up beneficial for Sasuke too, so it would be worth it.

Onto the part where he made Itachi a double agent. A lot of things I said prior also applies here. Fugaku in that moment chose prioritising the clan over Itachi, which would make Itachi overwhelmed. And that was bad on Fugaku's part. Let's just make that clear. But it was also understandable for someone in his position. Fugaku couldn't constantly prioritise his children, that would make clan angry at him too, because he would be putting his son's needs above the needs of other Uchiha's. Then you'd have people be angry because in that way it would seem like Fugaku thought his children were more important then other Uchiha children who were, again, being prejudiced against. And that would also make clan against him. So Fugaku here sacrificed Itachi's needs for needs of others. And also, same as for Sasuke, since Itachi would benefit from Coup and wouldn't be double agent anymore, he probably thought it was worth a sacrifice.

Fandom's dislike for Fugaku, let's be honest, comes from the fact he doesn't look like Chico Lachowski or something like that. It's a good example of pretty privilege. I can bet you money he wouldn't be as hated if he looked different. Mikoto is good example, she also supported the coup and had many beliefs same as Fugaku, which is normal since it's her husband. Yet fandom doesn't treat her like Fugaku. Which I believe is mainly because she looks better (not saying that's evrebodys reason). I've seen a lot of people saying Fugaku and Mikoto had arranged marriage. Literally no evidence for that. As I said on my other post, God forbid slightly ugly character is in healthy and loving relationship.

In my conclusion, Fugaku is a flawed man, but a good man. His choices were reasonable enough for position he was in. Even with little screen time you can make him complex. Kishimoto definitely wasted him, like a lot of other characters. But fandom's dislike for him literally only comes from not thinking about his perspective for a second or just simply disliking him for his mouth. He was a flawed father, but not abusive, terrible or willingly neglectful one.

[queenvhagar]

Rhaenyra sends a boat of food past the blockade and it's framed as a politically smart maneuver as if it wouldn't just highlight that she has full control over the blockade and it's because of her that there's no food for anyone in the city 🙄

[m-for-now]

As someone who is genderfae (microlabel under genderfluid), I have a lot of different experiences with gender.

I just wish someone told me sooner that it won't go like "today I'm a girl" "today I'm an enby" but more like ,,, "today I am a swamp witch" "today I am a feminine victorian vampire boy" "today I am a forest goblin collecting people's stares about my gender expression like shiny rocks on the ground" "today I'm an androgynous pirate lady"

Like,,, sure, are those real genders? I don't fucking now. If a cisgender person asked me what I identify as that day, would I answer like that? No, definitely not.

But to my genderqueer, trans and genderfluid friends; do you get me? I can't be alone with this, right?