#i can see why people might be dissatisfied with her ending

[youweremyversaillesatnight]

not gonna put this on the post itself bc that feels rude and i think this is maybe an unpopular opinion but actually i don’t feel like maddie’s ending was bad or wrong in any way! it felt like a happy ending for her, whether or not it was considered a happy ending for the audience.

the thing is, is maddie is the middle ground. she cares about felice and her feelings, and she agrees with some of felice’s criticisms about the school (verbally or through her actions), but she never truly goes all the way. she reassures stella and fredrika that if the school was going to close because of what felice said, it would have already, but she doesn’t reassure felice that she was allowed to say whatever she needed to say. in a lot of the conflicts between felice and stella and fredrika, maddie is a silent bystander or a mediator. she is just as hard for felice to be honest with as stella and fredrika. she doesn’t take a side. stella and fredrika want everything to remain as it was—they want to uphold the status quo and keep their traditions. felice sees the problems with this, and tells the truth, which brings the whole thing down. maddie sees the problems, but doesn’t actually seem to care about changing them in a significant way. and that’s why she doesn’t get to get her “happy ending” at the end of the season (although again i do think she was happy with her ending! this was happy for her!).

i love maddie! a lot! i think she’s certainly more likeable than stella and fredrika and much less classist. i would have liked to see her get more screen time, and if she had, that might have changed my position on her ending, but as it is, i think it feels like the right choice for her and her character. with the open-endedness, i think she and felice will remain friends in the future, and things might happen that we don’t get to see, but that doesn’t need to be shown on screen.

[i-love-invincible]

Let's Talk About Atom Eve

Invincible Spoilers and Gore CW Abound! Please watch this incredible series... So who is ATOM EVE?

I would love to talk about this, but first we have to talk about character design in Invincible. The costumes, personalities, and heroes of Invincible are all self-referential. Take the Guardians of the Globe for instance, the first heroes we see on-screen.

We see these people, and IMMEDIATELY we get what they're about... even if these characters are new to us, we KNOW who they are. Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Green Lantern, all obvious parodies and fun little characters.

I'm sure your eyes will start glazing over once I go "blah blah subverting tropes blah blah absolute genius." but one thing that Invincible does very well is destroying the audience's connections with established superhero tropes (See the one million white boy video essayists talking about why Evil Superman is awesome.) The reason why the slaughter of the Guardians of the Globe in that fucking THREE MINUTE LONG SCENE is so surprising is because THEY ARE THE FUCKING JUSTICE LEAGUE (while the fight scene also conveniently tosses some casual shade to DC Comics.) Not only is it stunning since we have some frame of reference for how powerful they are, but also stunning because we have ALREADY become attached to these characters.

What follows are a couple real quotes from people I've shown the first episode to: "Oh Batman + Silver Surfer that's awesome!" "OH DUDE! FISH AQUAMAN" "Wonder Woman but she's a lesbian.. as she should be..." .. and all these people, the ones with the most superhero experience, were the ones all most taken aback by the ending.

So let's look at Eve.

At first glance, we get the same impression as a lot of the heroes we meet in Invincible: knockoff. In the same way Omniman and the entirety of the Guardians of the Globe are made to resemble the Superman and the Justice League so to does Atom Eve's costume and powers SCREAM token. She is the first female hero we meet that is Mark's age and perhaps more importantly (and more evident to a first-time viewer) she has some very clear themes of femininity. Such as her costume, which Doc Seismic callously points out in Episode 3 (neglecting the fact she designed her own costume)...

... as well as her name. "Atom Eve" is a combination of her ability to influence atoms and her middle name, but it is also a reference to Adam and Eve (see the bible.) She even has a female symbol with two revolving electrons around it emblazoned right on her damn shirt. So just like the Guardians of the Globe, her design is meant to carry a lot of weight and immediacy to the viewer, you see them and you understand who they are and what they stand for (or at least you think you do.)

So we've seen the way that the Guardians subvert our expectations so how does Eve diverge from the audience's first-impressions? Well for the first couple episodes she doesn't. You might even suspect her of being some one-dimensional, neglected and under-characterized female character (and to be honest if you were reading the comics you wouldn't be too far off...) until you start to see her dissatisfied with being a superhero. Her boyfriend cheats on her, the Teen Team breaks up, her parents consistently disrespect and talk down to her, she's misunderstood by the naive and silly Mark Grayson, and she struggles to find connection with anyone outside of when she's "beating up bad guys." She even goes as far as to reject a position in the Guardians of the Globe just to avoid her ex-boyfriend, despite her killer tryout.

She's frustrated by the frame that's been left for her, and realizes her powers enable her to do much more than beat up random villains. Her powers BY THE WAY, which up until now anyone could have mistaken for "shooting pink stuff," is actually atomic manipulation. She can just fucking rearrange matter to make anything she wants. So instead of being a superhero she fucks off to do things that ACTUALLY help people. Like idk she could be irrigating rivers and feeding the starving or like manufacturing free medicine or something. Atom Eve is a hero who is chronically misunderstood by literally everyone around her, even in the final episode Mark is under the impression Eve just stopped being a superhero to get away from her ex, parents, and school. However with the earth-shattering familial trauma that Mark goes through in the Season 1 finale, maybe they will have more in-common than either of them think.

and NOW there's a surprise ATOM EVE SPECIAL EPISODE! it shows off her origin story which goes even more in-depth into her trauma, and her loss of the only people who even WOULD be capable of understanding her. It also has my FAVORITE FIGHT SCENE OF ALL TIME!!! It was absolutely incredible

ps: omg why tf did they make her far-shot model have an x over the female symbol instead of the detailed electrons (crying emoji) cool i didnt proofread this okay i might do more of these okay bye, i love this show okay

[pavel-chekov-appreciator]

I want better for Sybok.

I want a world where he got a fighting chance to do anything but become a cult leader. I’ve seen aus where he becomes a counselor and I can’t stop thinking about it.

No gods, no Sha-Ka-Ree, no cult. Just a kid who knows his history. Who researches Surak, and the world before him, and finds himself dissatisfied with present day Vulcan’s interpretations of his teachings. Unable to see the logic in following one ancient man’s words with no additional input or thought. Is this truly the best way for them to live? His mother didn't think so. He doesn't think so either.

He’s young, and he has big ideas and a lot of charisma, and a lot of inner pain from losing his mother and being suddenly told the way she was raising him was wrong. He quickly earns a reputation as a troublemaker. Indulging in blatant displays of emotionalism, just to prove his point, that he smiled and nothing bad happened, he cried and he felt better after.

He’s dissatisfied and ostracized and convinced there’s a better way to be living.

He fucks off at 18-not quite banished, but so strongly encouraged to leave that he might as well have been-and goes to a college on Earth, because the federation is a post-scarcity society so he has his basic needs met and he just wants to figure himself out, and where better to do that than a college campus, as far away from Vulcan society as possible. On his step-mother's home planet, where he knows at least a little of the culture, the language, what to expect.

He sees the school counselor a lot, and gets a lot out of their sessions. Takes some psychology courses and ends up getting really passionate about it.

Teaches himself to embrace his emotions while acknowledging that it’s very easy to be ruled by them. Utilizes aspects of traditional Vulcan control combined with the human practice of mindfulness to understand his emotions and control his strong impulse to act on them, without completely rejecting them. Knows he is choosing not to control his emotions, but he can and should control the actions he takes in response to them to avoid hurting himself or others. Knows that understanding why he feels a certain way can help him understand himself better.

Lives his best life and studies psychology to help other people find the same joy and peace he has, in whatever form that takes for them.

Then he finds out his baby bro basically told the VSA to fuck off and that dad more or less disowned him for joining Starfleet. Feels so damn proud of him for standing up the their parents like that.

Reunites with his brother after years of separation.

It’s rocky at first, but after both being disowned they’re all the family the other has left now, and they both do really care about each other.

Spock doesn’t understand Sybok’s choices, but he doesn’t need to understand them to respect them; Sybok is clearly still exercising some degree of control over himself, he even still meditates, he’s just controlling himself less, and differently, and his mind is more at peace than it’s ever been before. Sybok doesn’t really understand Spock’s continued dedication to logic either, but he respects it too, because clearly it still means something to Spock in a big way.

They make peace with each other, and their differences, and with the fact that their parents and society have rejected them. That Sybok did everything “wrong” and Spock did everything “right” and yet they both ended up in the same place; on Earth, with mom ignoring their calls, because she loved them both but she loves her husband more.

And ultimately he enrolls in Starfleet medical to become a ships counselor, because he still takes great joy in doing things he knows dad would hate, and because he wants to specialize in trauma and grief counseling and Starships need a lot of that, and because getting a new perspective on life from being around humans helped him a lot and he’s rejected a lot of philosophy that he found unhelpful but IDIC is something he still believes in; he wants to be around as many different ideas and perspectives as he can to improve himself and his practice, and Starfleet is a great way to do that.

Getting to follow his only remaining family into space is just a bonus.

[theweeklydiscourse]

I feel like any alternate ending of Shadow & Bone that involves Alina losing her powers is inherently flawed.

For example, I’ve see people say that they could accept the Ruin and Rising ending if Alina actually CHOSE to give up her powers as opposed to them being stripped away by as punishment for her “greed”. Another potential ending I’ve seen involved Alina undergoing an actual corruption arc before losing her powers as a consequence for her wrongdoings. But I can’t help but feel that these endings are still dissatisfying.

Having her powers, and by extension her status as a minority in Ravka, taken from her gives her the easy way out and does not actually challenge Alina in a meaningful way. Why go through the difficulties of embracing your differences in the face of an intolerant society when you can simply be cured of those differences and assimilate? Of course, Alina loses a great deal when she loses her powers but what gives her ending the illusion of happiness is the fact that she gets to abandon all responsibility she had to her community and blithely trot her way into a life of obscurity where she never has to do the work of embracing who she truly is.

But of course, because her powers are intertwined with the Darkling due the fact that they are symbolic opposites any ending where he dies would be unsatisfying. LB would have to change the Darkling’s character quite radically to justify an ending where he is killed and Alina lives. The Darkling’s attempts to sway Alina by telling her that he is her only equal might be manipulative exempt for the fact that his claims are absolutely true! The contrary dynamic of Alina and the Darkling must remain in order for the story to be balanced and that balance cannot be achieved unless both of them reconcile.

Alina keeping her powers would deprive LB of taking the easy way out and using the Darkling as a convenient scapegoat to pin the systemic problems of Ravka (THAT SHE WROTE) onto. The story should have taken the route of a journey of self acceptance and liberation instead of glorifying repression and passivity.

[justlookfrightened]

Invisibility

A teeny Zimbits ficlet

“Hmm. Jack, if you could have a superpower, what would it be?”

Bitty looked up from his phone to ask the question of Jack, who was making an omelet for breakfast. It was one of Jack’s favorite things, to cook for Bitty, especially when there was a morning when they could both sleep (or not-sleep) in, and then cook and sit and eat and drink coffee and clean up together before even considering starting their day.

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Mind reading, maybe? So people wouldn’t be so confusing all the time.”

Bitty considered the mess of motivations that had made him do anything from adding ginger to a peach pie to kissing Jack on the ice after he won the Stanley Cup.

“I’m not sure knowing what people are thinking would make things less confusing, sweet pea,” Bitty said. 

“What about you?” Jack asked. “What superpower would you have?”

“Invisibility,” Bitty replied immediately.

“You didn’t even think about that,” Jack said. “Anyway, why would you want to be invisible?”

“Why not?” Bitty said. “If you’re invisible, no one can hurt you.”

“Huh.” Jack gave a dissatisfied sort of grunt, and turned back to the eggs.

Bitty didn’t know why Jack was bothered. He’d always thought invisibility would be the best superpower for him, ever since he first considered the question.

He’d been in high school, clinging to the end of the bench at the lunch table where all the misfits sat. Well, the misfits-but-not-outcasts. It had a couple of band geeks, the one cheerleader who never sat with the rest, the kid who was always the stage manager and never on stage for the drama productions. The only student in Bitty’s class who played on the rec league hockey team had invited Bitty to join them, and Bitty was doing his best to not be relegated (again) to outcast status.

One of the girls — Bitty thought it was the cheerleader, but his memory might be faulty — had read the question out of a quiz in a magazine, and most people had answered things like flying or having super strength or x-ray vision. 

Then someone said they’d like to be invisible, in order to do whatever they wanted and never get caught, and Bitty had thought the idea of not being seen sounded like a kind of heaven. Not  that he wanted to avoid the blame for any misdeeds; he just didn’t want to be seen. If the football players couldn’t see him, they couldn’t push him into lockers or trip him near the top of the stairs. His Algebra II teacher couldn’t call him to the front of the room to solve impossible problems. If Coach couldn’t see him, he couldn’t “playfully” cuff him on the back of the head and ask when he’d find a girlfriend.

He’d miss his mama’s hugs, he thought. But maybe the power would allow him to be visible when he wanted to be, or maybe mama would just understand, and hug him when he told her he was there.

Ever since then, “invisibility” had been his stock answer to the superpower question. Even though there were no longer any football players dogging his steps, the idea of going through life unobserved, and thus uncriticized, had a more than passing appeal.

Apparently, his answer sparked more than passing thoughts in Jack, who brought it up as soon as breakfast was ready.

“I’d really miss being able to see you, bud,” Jack said.

“Yeah?” Bitty asked, purposely looking up at Jack through his eyelashes. “See something you like?”

“Always,” Jack said, “But I didn’t mean like that. I meant, I don’t like the idea of a world where you just disappeared. And I don’t understand how you can say you would want that, either. You’re always out there, whether it’s online or on the ice. You figure skated. You did a sport where, literally, everyone was looking at you because you were the only one to look at.”

“And I stopped doing that sport, because when people noticed, they decided I’d make a good tackling dummy,” Bitty said. “Figure skating was different. When I was on the ice, I was alone, and no one could get to me. No one could touch me. And when I make videos online, it’s kind of the same. No one can hurt me. Even if someone is rude in the comments, I can block them and move on. Aren’t there times you would have liked to be invisible, with the way people have invaded your privacy?”

“Sure, sometimes,” Jack answered. “But not for long. And I remember that the problem is their behavior, not my existence.”

“I never said I didn’t want to exist,” Bitty said. “I just want people to leave me alone.”

“Even me?” Jack’s voice was small. 

“Never you,” Bitty said. “Well … there were some times my freshman year. But not now. I want people to live my life and keep their nastiness to themselves. And my life includes you.”

“That’s good,” Jack said. “And for the record, I think it’s good that people can see you. I think they need to see you, because you are strong and determined and good. Sorry if that sounds corny. I don’t mean it to be. I really believe that you are good, and people need to see that.”

Bitty was nearly tearing up.

“Oh, come on,” Bitty said. “Don’t be so nice to me! You’re gonna make me cry. I do appreciate that’s how you feel. And maybe … maybe it is different now. Now that we’re together, and I don’t feel alone.”

“So, if not invisibility, then what?”

“Have you ever thought about what it would feel like to fly?” 

[sevensoulmates]

I really appreciate you making the buddie meta post for 7x4, taking that many hours of your time just to write it and sharing it with us. I'm really grateful, I was literally giggling and kicking my feet while reading your post 💕

What a wonderful episode, it still feels like an out of body experience and I'm so happy Buck is finally free (I'm still in disbelief they gave us bi Buck in such a beautiful way).

I really wonder how they will give us the Eddie coming out arc. ¿Do you have any theories at the moment? Also why does it feels like Marisol will be kicking rocks sooner than expected? 👀

Thank you again ❤️

Thank you so much!! I mean I always have so many thoughts going round and round in my head about this show at all times so at least this gives me a place to put em.

I was beyond happy with everything we got in this episode. 10/10 no notes. I'm getting the feeling next episode is gonna be similar but is also gonna have some plot twists as well. The possibility of a double date has me V~I~B~R~A~T~I~N~G especially if Eddie doesn't realize the entire time that BuckTommy are on a date. Eddie and his queer blinders runs so deep and I want to see the way his face changes when he realizes.

I loved how they handled Buck having this discovery and I'm beyond happy they're not going the "gay for you" route with Buck (and I hope not with Eddie either). I'm glad Buck can exist in the world as a bisexual man outside of his relationships, but also in conjunction with them. They're all a part of him and he deserves to finally be settled in that aspect of who he is.

I do get the feeling that Buck's gonna be so swept up in the euphoria of figuring out his sexuality that he's likely going to be attributing a lot of those feelings to Tommy where he actually isn't wholly the cause. Don't get me wrong, I do think Buck is genuinely interested and attracted to Tommy, and I'm excited to see where that goes, but we're already getting some hints about potential issues with their relationship and I'm very intrigued about where that will go.

My prediction for Buck is that he's going to dive headfirst into whatever he has with Tommy and start seeking out the feelings/connection he has with Eddie, but in Tommy. I think the date will have some hints at Buck and Tommy trying to connect in certain ways and Buck in the back of his head finding *something* missing.

As for Eddie....HOO boy. I think that he's gonna be in for an interesting time. There's a chance he might break up with Marisol in 7x05, or I was also seeing spec about breaking up in 7x07, etc. IDK ANYMORE!! As much as I PERSONALLY would like to see them break up next episode, I think it would also be interesting to extend that relationship out a bit more just to show Eddie's sexual struggles and have her as a foil.

I'll give you what I would LIKE to see instead of what I speculate might happen because at this point the information we do know is confusing.

I would like to see Eddie feeling visibly weird about Buck dating Tommy. The reasons for him feeling that way can be nebulous at the start. I want this to cause some issues with Marisol, but I want his primary issues with Marisol explored separately from BuckTommy as well.

I would love to see more of his incompatibility with Marisol explored, whether that's in terms of how they act on a date, how they talk to each other, maybe even sexually (?). I want Eddie to genuinely start questioning why once again he's not feeling anything in a relationship with a woman. Like Ana could've been a fluke, but now Marisol too? I want him to think about why he just forces these relationships into something full-blown when most people would be able to recognize they're not attracted/into someone after the first few dates and end it.

I would love to see him possibly being dissatisfied with sex (if they go the demi route) and being really confused about if it's the sex itself, or the woman he's having sex with. I want some definitive building blocks for Eddie being like "I don't understand why I don't feel attraction to her" leading to an eventual "I don't feel attraction to women" realization. I think that Eddie's queer realization arc deserves more nuance and time put into it and a slow unveiling. I think it can still overlap with BuckTommy, with his feelings regarding them confusing him even more.

Buck getting kissed once by a man, understanding and accepting his sexuality right away, and being excited about it makes sense for his character. Eddie on the other hand I think is gonna struggle with it a lot more. I would like to see those struggles highlighted. Bring in more of his family (parents, sisters, etc) and show him struggling with heteronormativity around them. Show Eddie struggling to act "normal" in his interaction with BuckTommy when they're around him as a pair.

I would love it if a surprise kiss in the heat of the moment came in somewhere. Whether Buck is/isn't with Tommy and Eddie is/isn't with Marisol, would provide different ramifications. But I don't want the kiss to immediately lead to them getting together. I want them to have to sit with it, and maybe Eddie can then deconstruct his feelings about men, his sexuality, and his feelings for Buck at the same time. I wouldn't mind this struggle continuing over the hiatus and into the season 8 opener, or having this be a season 8 storyline altogether.

Either way, I do firmly believe Eddie's queer arc is coming down the line, and what we're seeing now is going to be the foundation for him to work up to it. As we know, Eddie doesn't really have sudden realizations. He kind of lets things build and build until it explodes and he is forced to sit down and think about it.

Also I don't believe Tim Minear about his "spur of the moment idea to have them kiss". What a liar. They were filming the scene with Buck, Tommy, and Eddie at the helicopter hangar back in January. That was a whole 3 months ago. Oliver literally said it was his first day back on set. You can't tell me you filmed that without knowing how the episode was gonna end, Tim. What a lying liar who lies. I do believe him that bringing Tommy in to replace Lucy probably meant they could streamline the queer Buck storyline faster in the season, but I firmly believe he knew they were planning to get to it at some point. There's no way Tim could've gotten the green light for it from ABC that fast without major lengthy discussions, both with TPTB and the writer's room. People take a long fucking time to respond to emails, Tim. Get better at lying.

[katyspersonal]

I am kinda interested, what is Sulyvahn exactly? Is he supposed to be a tree? I checked out the design of many bosses and it does seem that having tree elements in his design isn't unique as there many characters who have these elements as well (demons,humans,giants etc..) , also his wings look very similar to the wings of the "angels" we see in lothric.

I am pretty sure that with whatever turmoil the developers faced upon creating this character and deciding what he'd be, in the end they've settled for him being either a half-tree or a quarter-tree! Also look at these images:

( x ) Ok sorry if I had to see it then so did you fdhjfhdssfd

Okay the thing about him, he was born in the Painted World, which would make him either a Tree Person or a Crow Person! He doesn't show any corvid features, and as for the wings, Tree People do have them anyways:

His mother likely was Tree Person!

( x ) The dialogue directly referencing this is a cut content, of course, but it is one of those moments where Fromsoft cuts something without actually cutting it!

There is this particular Tree Woman who guards one of his youth spells, who is also heard crying before you approach her! As for why I'd mention he could be '25% tree' and not just a Tree Person, I will just quote what @val-of-the-north already said on the potential of Gilligan being his father:

As for Gilligan, it's probably to mention it as a jokey what-if lmao. People aren't ready for the truth. The gist of it though, is that in the area with that angry tree woman, there's a hidden, comically long wooden ladder that only appears when you defeat all the tree women in the area. Stupidly long ladders are the dude's staple, so the theory goes that it was Gilligan's way to come down, meet his family, and leave. Suly's mother would then hide the ladder so no one could use it. Of course, her son would one day discover the illusion and leave, dissatisfied with the Painted World, and her mother never saw him again

It's also worth pointing out that you can find Gilligan in the game itself, though he isn't exactly in a living state. He is found in the Profaned Capital surrounded by his wooden ladders. Suly has also been there as part of his rise to power so there's a second connection lol. Interestingly enough, his spell descriptions mention he "had not yet experienced loss", which might imply he did experience it in the future. It could have been losing his dad

So yeah, it might sound like a shitpost but like.. Where is the evidence against this idea? fdsjfjhds So if he had a Tree Person mother (who is 50% tree) and a human father, that'd make him 25% tree. AND it works with how as you can see from his model, he IS notably more humanoid than an average Tree Person! Nonetheless, still absurdly tall hahah

Personally, I think he doesn't have a face, either 🤔 It looks like it's not a mask, but his head and "face" is JUST like this, featureless. We were not supposed to see him 'naked' by normal means in the game, of course, but Fromsoft is notorious for putting too much effort into something only like, 3 dataminers on Earth will appreciate xd They bothered to model him this way under his clothes, so I just take it as legit! Nor I think that he somehow 'lost' his normal face later on.. though this IS a good question as to why his wings are considerably bigger than average Tree Person's ones, so I'll think about it later,

[aoki553]

'bpd makoto teruhashi??'- a character analysis/yapping session because no one understands the siblings like i do

Time to turn the capslock on for this one! The writing might be incoherent, but I want to focus on getting my thoughts out with this one, so be aware. Let me start this post by clarifying - I am not a psychologist. This is for fun, done used resources I've found online. This is about an anime character, not about a real person's struggles.

Trigger warning for obvious sibling marriage romanticization mention sighhh like we aren't talking about it constantly when it comes to him apparently.

We all know the way Makoto has been protrayed in the series - a comically overexaggerated siscon. His portrayal makes many people uncomfortable due to his perverted obsessive behavior.

Except, I'm going to throw it all out the window cuz in this post I meant to take a look at his behavior from a fan's perspective without any biases like 'eww yucky siscon make me uncomfy'. NONE of that here.

I'll start by addressing the elephant in the room and the main reason i'm making this post: Makoto's obsession. Both of the Teruhashi siblings have obvious superiority complexes, however, Makoto is overshadowed by his little sister's charm, whom he idealizes and has an unhealthy attachment to. He's aware of his own charm and beauty, but only takes it to account to point out how he's the only one worthy of Kokomi's love and attention.

Kokomi has clearly been his whole world ever since she was born. A life-long fascination and attachment that went unnoticed. His perfect little sister is able to change his mood drastically whenever she's getting attention from anyone other than him or is even slightly dissatisfied with him.

He lacks a sense of self - only Kokomi matters for him. He's able to ditch his responsibilities in an instant, only to be with her. He's depicted as a cherub to Kokomi's goddess appearance in the mobile game and as a chauffeur in the Duet Shite KudaPsi anime end credits. Always below her, as her servant.

He becomes severely distressed and panics over even something so simple as a her getting a cold. (Just like everyone else at her school, but he's there for her.)

At all times he needs to make sure she isn't surrounded by men that are 'unworthy' of her, even to the point of stalking her to get some piece of mind. He craves her approval and cares for her like no one else in the entirety of the manga. (Example: Taking her to movie theatres and watch every movie he has ever starred in to show her.) These are signs of Kokomi being Makoto's 'favorite person'.

Awesome, but does it explain Makoto seeing her not as his sister, but as a future wife? Is it just him making things way creepier in his mind than they need? Yes, actually.

Makoto's overprotective and obsessive behavior is comically exaggerated, duh, but if we think about it for a second... Kokomi is a person he's been there for her whole life, he provides and protects her from unwanted attention. He dedicated his whole life to her and knowing there is an unavoidable future of his whole world collapsing because someone will take his place. Not as a siblings, but as a lover - something more important than family. How can he avoid this? By being the one to marry her, of course. No one but him is worthy of her anyway, right? Why should she need anyone else? No matter how messed up that sounds, it's his way of thinking.

Now let's go over some of the diagnostic criteria for BPD. I'll be using this site and infographic as my resource, just to give a few simple (but appropiate in my opinion) examples.

Fear of abandonment, rejection - while it's not explicitly stated, I believe his 'marriage' thing is just that. Not wanting to be abandonned and forgotten by the only person he loves and cares about. I don't believe he has any perverted motive behind it. Just fear and wanting her only for himself.

Idealization and devaluation - both extremes show up in his behavior. Most notably towards Kokomi or Kusuo. He's hostile and outright rude to Kusuo, but the moment Kokomi shows up he becomes all sunshine and rainbows. Another example of it is his indifference towards Kokomi's friends, compared to the excessive attention he gives to his sister. My theory is that Makoto doesn't have relationships due to a predisposition to making his relations with other people unstable, or never even bothering to try in the first place. (Like he is towards Ruchi, for example.)

Impulsivity and inappropiate anger - he rushes to anger the moment his love is threatened. A simple thought of Kokomi getting romantic advances enrages him. Even if it could cost him his career or his public image - something Kokomi cares about the most for herself, the opposite to her brother.

Emotional instability - we've only been shown his mood swings like the one below. If we got to see more of his personal life, this one would be much clearer, but it's something a siscon pun character doesn't get to have in a comedy manga, so I'll leave it at that.

Paranoia - Let the image below speak for itself... His delusions can be interpreted as a symptom on its own, too.

But what could've caused this? Since we never see what the Teruhashi siblings' parents are like, it's easy to assume Makoto has a role of her caretaker or a provider, due to only these two being ever shown living in the wealthy Teruhashi residency. The only time we ever see their parents being acknowledged is when Saiko spread a fake rumor of Mugami Tooru having an affair. Note: We never actually see them, we don't know if they're even there.

My personal theory is simple - Kokomi's charm and absent parental figures must've affected Makoto's development and made him emotionally dependent solely on Kokomi's well being. I'm taking his idol career into an account as well, since he must've been scouted into show business in his teens, or earlier. (He was already famous by 17.)

Conclusion: I think Makoto is an interesting example of a person with BPD in media, but I'm often disappointed how little we talk about it. Or maybe I'm just too obsessed with him to see him only as what he is on the surface. :3

PHEW. So after like 4 hours of trying to put my words into one big post I think that's all I had to say for now about this topic~! I have a lot of love for this boy and I really needed to get my thoughts out about this theory of mine. Sorry for unnecessary rambling and incoherence at times. Thanks for reading!

[bumblingbabooshka]

Elieth.

_ “I apologize again for the inconvenience.”

“It’s fine,” B’Elanna said. “We’re both going the same way.”

The Klingon woman was walking with him through the quiet city streets. They were both on their way to the transport station and Tuvok had decided to walk rather than ride with anyone else. The fresh air would be…beneficial. 

It was surprisingly calm for a city at night. Even on Vulcan, nighttime was usually when the city came to life. Tuvok glanced up at the sky, looking for stars, and found only a swath of smooth black interrupted by jagged buildings.

“B’Elanna.”

The woman straightened. “Yes?”

“Have you ever heard the word pelrinah?” 

B’Elanna nodded. “Yeah, it’s Terrelian right? For gotcha.”

Tuvok narrowed his eyes. “Forgatcha?”

B’Elanna gestured but Tuvok didn’t know how to interpret it. He was still intoxicated and it was dark. He could only really see her in the lights from the businesses they passed.

“You know…um…gotcha! Like, fooled you.”

Tuvok blinked, turning forward once again.

B’Elanna smiled. “Did someone play a prank on you?”

“It would seem so,” Tuvok said thoughtfully.

“Maybe you should get them back,” B’Elanna suggested.

“I believe it would be in poor taste given the person in question is either in hospice or-” he paused, remembering that Terrelians did not have graves or funerals. He remembered the red bag. What did they do with their dead, if they didn’t bury them? 

“It just hits you sometimes, huh?” B’Elanna asked.

Tuvok tilted his head.

B’Elanna continued. “I’ll just be walking along, minding my own business and suddenly it’ll crash onto me like a ton of bricks aimed right for my chest; oh, she’s dead. He’s dead. They’re all dead.”

“You’re referring to the Maquis,” Tuvok guessed.

B’Elanna hummed in affirmation. “I know you probably don’t care about them but they were my friends. They were like family to me, really.”

“On the contrary, I believe that any loss of life is unfortunate.” Tuvok looked at the woman’s hazy profile. She seemed strangely energetic. From what he remembered of her she’d usually been somewhat agitated, frowning, she’d most often seemed…upset. Dissatisfied. He’d expected her to be even more so after ending her marriage to Tom Paris.

“Though I do not ‘care’ in the way you might feel is warranted, I do appreciate that their loss is not something to celebrate.”

B’Elanna exhaled, perhaps laughing. “Thanks Tuvok.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes and it occurred to Tuvok that they’d never really spoken like this aboard Voyager. There had never been any occasion for them to. When they spoke there had always been a reason or some sort of pressure behind it.

He stumbled and held out his hand to stop B’Elanna from touching him. She held hers up and backed away, watching him carefully as he continued on.

“Can I tell you something?” she asked after a moment.

“You are free to do as you please,” Tuvok replied.

“Great, well…” she hesitated and stilled as if considering whether or not she’d like to speak while sedentary but then began to move again, even faster. Tuvok kept up with her pace.

“Sometimes when I think of them it’s that thing I said before. The bricks and the sadness and the…the hollow feeling. Like, ‘what’s the point?’ where nothing has meaning anymore.”

Tuvok remembered the ex-lieutenant’s past troubles. Kathryn had been disturbed by her self-destructive tendencies and Chakotay had been frightened. Tuvok had not understood why a living being would intentionally seek to injure itself. In truth he still didn’t but he understood the mindset that B’Elanna was speaking about; the urge to do nothing, to stop and stay down. 

Unlike her however, he did not desire to feel anything.

“People get that,” B’Elanna continued. “People are sympathetic about that but then there are things they aren’t quite so sympathetic about. Like the anger.”

“Anger?” Tuvok asked, avoiding a puddle. It had begun to snow. It reminded him of ash.

B’Elanna shook her head. “It’s horrible but sometimes I think if I could see them again all I’d do is scream. It’d be all I could do to keep from wringing their necks; How could you do this to me? What were you thinking? Nothing in the universe was more important to me than your life and you threw it away for some ideal that never took hold.” 

When Tuvok didn’t respond she brushed her hair out of her eye. She’d let it curl a bit. “The ones in jail thought I’d berate them for being cowards. I said I’d rather be friends with a live coward than a dead idealist. Some days I don’t know if I believe that, others…”

The snow began to come down harder and B’Elanna sighed, muttering about the weather on Earth. Tuvok held out his hand and let a snowflake hold against his skin, melting slowly. 

“Neat trick,” B’Elanna said.

Tuvok wondered where Elieth was.

“Look, I know I’m getting all…” a frazzled hand gesture. “A lot with you right now but I just thought maybe you could use someone. I know you’re Vulcan and all but…the captain feels too guilty to even face you, Chakotay’s gone, Seven’s gone and the rest of them don’t really know what to say. I mean, I don’t either but…”

Tuvok turned his hand over and thought about the ashes sitting in an urn of T’Pel’s making. She had worked tirelessly for several days while Tuvok slept or attempted to meditate before sleeping once again. He remembered Wari’s effigy.

“It is important that I move past this,” Tuvok asserted.

“Your son’s death? I think even Vulcans-”

“You know nothing of Vulcans,” Tuvok said icily before lowering his hand. “I am not…processing my grief as I should. It should not be so…present.”

Several nights he had laid awake in bed, aching. The longer the ache lasted the more fright chased after him, attempting to devour him whole. He was frightened of how much he was grieving. Vulcans could not allow themselves to become victims of their emotions. It could kill them. He was well aware of this, having nearly died from the shon-ha’lock in his youth: the burning, being engulfed by the flames of affection. 

This was a different sort of engulfment. It was weighty and draining and whenever he slept there was a voice in the back of his mind that told him this time it might be forever and that always brought with it a…relief.

“You’re right,” B’Elanna said, voice slightly rougher than it’d been previously. “I don’t know anything about Vulcans or how you’re feeling- or not feeling right now. But despite everything, we’re friends. And because we’re friends I just wanted to let you know that I’m here if you ever need anything.”

She looked up at a passing hovercar. Snow was sticking to her hair but it melted the moment it touched her skin. “...You’re a good father. You care about your kids in your own way and if I ever lost Miral I know it’d be the end of the world to me. That’s all I know. The rest I can’t imagine.”

She looked at him and quickly wiped her eyes, clearing her throat. She’d always been overly sensitive. “You’ve probably heard this too much but I have to say it. I’m sorry, Tuvok. I’m so sorry.”

“Elieth-” Tuvok started before knowing how he was going to finish his sentence. “I did not feel his death. He shut us all out from his mind the moment he decided to forgo evacuation. He did not leave his katra behind or it did not come to me. The ash Starfleet gathered for our mantle holds nothing of him.”

Tuvok’s eyes burned. He tilted his head. It felt as if he were observing his body from another, detached, perspective. He disliked the weak creature he had become since his experiences in the Delta quadrant. He had no control over himself. Though the world had stopped spinning he was still stumbling and acting like a fool.

“One moment he existed. On Deneva, within my mind, and the next he did not and there is nothing but…absence, to confirm that he lived at all.” 

B’Elanna didn’t speak but she stepped closer to Tuvok as he sat down on a bench. His head was in his hands. She was blocking him from view.

“Elieth…” Tuvok began again, voice low as the snow came down around them; the vigilant Klingon and the Vulcan with tears in his eyes. “...I wonder if he sang.” _ This is a snippet of 'Tuvok: Patron Saint of Love' which you can read in full as a member of my patr*on (any tier) or get a free preview on my itch*io! I hope you enjoyed regardless!

[sokkastyles]

I think the main problem is most Azula fans (myself included) what to see Azula heal and get a redemption. But in canon, that's not what Azula wants. Azula in the Spirit Temple does a good job showing that. She has a better understanding of what she's been through but still refuses to change. At the end of the day, it's her choice to make.

I'd like to read the comic myself because it sounds like she is getting there. I've seen a lot of people dissatisfied that the comic didn't really change anything, but I said this before it came out. People have to understand that a post-series comic isn't meant to do that kind of character development. It's mostly going to just rehash what we already know about the character. It might open up some avenues for change, but Azula still has to do the work herself. These kinds of comics are most interesting as character study. If you are looking for actual development, I'm afraid that we'll have to leave it to fanfiction.

I get the impulse to want to see Azula heal. But I agree with you, Azula does not want to heal. She wants to be happy, but she hasn't yet reached the point where she can take responsibility for her actions and truly heal. I do think that she does make some small steps towards that from what I hear about the comic (foregoing vengeance against the Fire Warriors, realizing that her mother was afraid FOR her). And even that vision of Zuko telling her that she won't admit how she's hurt the people who love her, yeah it's a spirit pretending to be her brother, but the spirit is riffing off of Azula's own subconscious so that tells us that on some level, Azula is aware of this, too.

But all this stuff about how actually, it's her mother's fault, or anyone else's? That's not giving Azula an opportunity for healing. She can't heal if she continues to blame other people. She just can't. I think what the comic shows, and what we always knew, was that Azula wants to be loved by the people who are important to her. But she doesn't know how to get that love in a way that isn't hurting others. Which is why she blames them for not giving her the recognition she wants, because she can't admit that she was the problem, and that her father was the problem. She wants two things that are in conflict with each other, and this is a conflict she has to reconcile within herself. Does she want to be her father's "pefect" daughter, or does she want love, real love, from the people around her? Because the latter would mean realizing the ways both that she has hurt them and the ways her father has hurt her. This "Oh, wait, maybe it was mom's fault" is a means of avoiding that.

Like I said before, that scene with Azula firebending for the first time is so poignant because it captures very well what it's like from a child's perspective to witness domestic abuse. Azula picks up on her mother's fear of her father, but does not understand it. It's too scary for her to understand. And her father is happy she is firebending, so why can't her mother be? So she ends up internalizing the blame for the conflict between her parents. It's also safer psychologically for Azula to align herself with the more powerful parent, and we know she does do this and learns from Ozai that the way to avoid being hurt (being like mom) is to be strong (like dad). And she learns through her family dynamic that strong people prove their strength by hurting those weaker than them.

When Azula says her mother thinks she is a monster, she is not saying that Ursa is wrongfully assuming things about her that aren't true. She says in the same sentence that it is true, and that she doesn't care. It isn't true, but the point is that Azula thinks it is, but has internalized this as the only correct way to be, and justifies it with a belief in her own superiority. Because being the monster means you don't have to be afraid of the monsters. It's the cycle of abuse. Azula becomes an abuser to avoid facing the reality of her own abuse. To act like it's her mom projecting is to completely miss that context in its entirety and rob Azula of the opportunity to learn about who she is outside of the "monster," which also robs her of the opportunity to realize how she was a victim. Which means she won't heal, she'll continue going through life wondering why the people she's hurt don't want to be around her, and she'll keep hurting because what she really wants deep down are real relationships.

[i-heart-hxh]

You've mentioned a few times that the CAA is your favorite arc, and I'd love to hear you wax on about why that is! Since it's so....controversial amongst fans, it seems. Or, alternatively, you could wax on about your *least* favorite arc and why! I very much enjoy hearing your hxh meta, no matter what lol

Thanks so much for asking! It's hard to summarize all of the many reasons why I love Chimera Ant Arc, but I'd love to go on and on about it for a while nonetheless and maybe people will get something out of what I have to say!

(I actually don't think I'd have much to say about a least favorite arc, as I've re-watched/re-read I've found reasons to love all the arcs and I think the series works so well as a whole that it's gotten harder for me to single out any particular arc as a least favorite.)

I can understand why CAA is controversial to a degree. I think for a lot of shounen anime fans in particular, it's a difficult pill to swallow--it's long, it's complex, the focus isn't always on the main characters, and I'd actually agree that there are points where it gets overly dragged out and could have used some editing (especially in the anime, as much as I love it). It also goes in a lot of directions that aren't what one might expect watching it for the first time, which is actually one of the things I love most about it.

Togashi toys with shounen tropes and expectations from the very beginning of the series, but CAA is where that aspect of the series starts to get more intense and pointed. If you look at Yu Yu Hakusho and read interviews about it with Togashi, it seems he was dissatisfied with having to stick to the usual shounen formula (particularly in the Chapter Black arc, where you can almost see the editors forcing him to tone it down and telling him what he can and cannot do, removing his authorial autonomy). He has stated that he wanted to deconstruct the characters towards the end of Yu Yu Hakusho, but he was told he could not by his editors. I think this was deeply disappointing to him, especially with his health seriously dwindling at that time due to overwork.

When he created HxH, I believe he did so with the intention to build a series where he could initially follow a familiar battle shounen formula (albeit with clever twists from the very beginning), only to later use the series as a vehicle to comment on that very formula and then give himself far more freedom to pivot between different genres and switch focus as much as he wanted.

Here are just a few of the many, many ways CAA directly contradicts the audience expectations from a shounen series:

Gon (protagonist) and Merum (antagonist) never battle one another--in fact, they don't even speak to each other once

As the arc goes on, the human side of the war increasingly expresses negative sides of humanity (selfishness, pride, revenge, etc.) while the ant side increasingly expresses more noble aspects of humanity (loyalty, kindness, self-improvement, etc.), which of course makes it morally complex and there isn't just one "side" to root for

Gon's big power up is horrifying, tragic, brutal, and self-destructive instead of glorious

Netero ultimately defends humanity using a dirty trick instead of his own hard-won battle prowess

Meruem finds his reason for living in a disabled, physically weak girl, and the way he dies centers around spending his time with her rather than in any battle or involving himself in what the protagonists are doing

Gon is unable to save Kite despite "winning" (of course, Kite does make it ultimately, but not due to anything Gon did)

Gon and Killua's friendship and mental health are deeply affected by the things they go through in this arc--the "power of friendship" isn't enough to make everything turn out okay (at least not in the short term)

It is often the genuine kindness and mercy of the characters that makes the biggest difference in this arc, and those kindnesses are ultimately what changes the trajectory of the story

This is by no means an exhaustive list nor am I expressing it as well as it deserves, but I love how CAA intentionally subverts what the audience expects from it, but at the same time it also tells an emotionally engaging, intense, thoughtful, and beautiful story. I love how much of what happens in Chimera Ant arc involves themes and ideas Togashi had been subtly building on through much of the series, like Gon's risk-taking behavior and his issues with guilt and self-esteem, Killua's painful devotion to Gon, the idea of having to make great sacrifices in order to obtain great power (like Kurapika's nen contract prior), the idea that one's entire life can change when you meet one person, the idea of second chances...

The parallels between multiple characters and the way themes repeat and are interwoven into the story are breathtakingly brilliant in my opinion--I've gone through CAA so many times and I've read and written tons of meta about it, and yet it feels like I'm constantly discovering or realizing some aspect of it that I had missed or didn't consider.

I love what Togashi has to say through this arc about the transformative power of love and the different sides of humanity.

And on a more personal level, I adore the intensity of Gon and Killua's relationship in this arc and all the love and angst between them, the fact that the Meruem and Komugi scene made me sob multiple times even after I had already seen it before, how beautiful and filled with heart the anime production is for this arc even if the pacing is a little rough at times (the animation, voice acting, and soundtrack are top-notch), and the character development of Meruem and his Royal Guard. To me, CAA was what turned the series from something enjoyable and well-done to an absolute masterpiece. I love that you can go back through the series from the beginning and see the subtle ways it was building towards CAA as well--for me, it elevated the entire series because knowing what it's heading towards changed my perception of everything leading up it as well.

I could say so much more and I'm tempted to, but I think this a good summary of what I love about it at least. Thank you so much for asking me and giving me a chance to talk about what makes this my favorite arc!

[poisonheart]

I think we need to have an honest discussion about shipping in the ILY fandom, especially as the story unveils relationship dynamics that go beyond platonic moving forward.

We cannot let the past repeat itself.

When the comic started, it was advertised as a romance by Webtoons, but Quimchee had always planned and proposed a mature drama. Around that time, they also began monetizing the platform so they asked her to change some of her dark ideas to fit the requirements advertisers might have pushed for initially.

It was an uncertain time with regards to what was or wasn't allowed.

[The comic was supposed to ramp up with those dark themes around the formal arc and it was going to places that would have been triggering to many readers.]

The editors pushed and sold the concept for a love triangle that was never intended because they probably believed this formula would attract more readers and it did.

Unfortunately, with it came all the bad things, too.

This strategy fostered hostility within the fan base and pressured Quimchee to create content to validate it.

Things got so heated in the fandom that we ended with harassment of not only readers but also of Quimchee—to the point that she understandably withdrew from engaging with the public.

[All while going through health issues and personal struggles, too.]

It was a very dark time in the ILY fandom and many people left the communities that had been built because of it. There were hiatuses, uncertainty, and a lot of things withheld from us due to Webtoons' abysmal communication on behalf of the series' they featured.

But the core problem was that unforgettable toxicity and ship war.

There were people who believed their desires were more important than the well being of a real person and that their vitriol was justified because things didn’t go their way.

They believed Quimchee deserved punishment for it.

There wasn't much outrage directed at Webtoons for their false advertisement or for pressuring her to tweak aspects of the story initially to fit their romance marketing agenda. Why?

Because what Webtoons wanted aligned with their desire and it was easier to pretend that Quimchee was a liar about her plot than admit they were misled by the platform, but most importantly, that their interpretation of the story was always flawed.

Quimchee was harassed constantly across multiple social media accounts and they justified their behavior with logic such as "if she created Character X first, then it means they're the lead" when she had constantly stated that there were three main leads in ILY who were equally important to the whole story.

To accept Quimchee's words would break down their arguments and defy the ideas they had created themselves.

They even believed she "sold herself out by not staying true" to a concept she had come up with in high school. They expected the loose and chaotic musings of a young girl to be the version of ILY we got despite her claims otherwise.

[What's funny is that their idea of what the original was is completely wrong and there is proof of it in all her old drawings and drafts.]

They simply refused to accept reality, substituted their own, and went on a campaign of hatred against her because of it.

Now we're here and the drama begins to show hints of romance through heavy, dark themes, and we're seeing that same deranged toxicity trying to make a comeback in the communities we have left.

Don't feed trolls. Don't give them what they want: attention.

To those who remain readers, I hope you can enjoy the story despite the romantic undertones. If you're unhappy, make fan works. If you're dissatisfied to the point you think harassing others and the creator is justified, then please check yourself and stop. Move on. There are a lot of stories waiting for you to enjoy.

To those who feel like they’ve “won” because of how the canon is playing out—stop it. You’re also part of the problem.

That useless “us vs them” mentality is what got us so far gone last time. That whole ‘we won’ or ‘we’re morally superior’ makes you just as problematic as the people who drove fans and Quimchee away years ago. Please check yourself and stop.

You’re not creating a healthy environment by being that way.

Finally, at the end of the day, everyone behind the computer screen is a person. You should never hurt real people, especially over fiction.

[tbookblurbs]

The Atlas Complex - Olive Blake (The Atlas #3)

1.5/5 - disappointing conclusion to the trilogy; no real satisfying character arcs or conclusions to those arcs; truly baffling character decisions

SPOILERS BELOW

To be completely honest, I read this book more out of a desire to see how, exactly, Blake planned to wrap up the character arcs than any real desire to engage with it because I also found the second book to be disappointing.

Basically, none of the characters are truly served in this book. The one with the best outcome is Callum and he ends up dead anyway. Every single character spends this whole book whining and complaining about their lack of purpose. Over 200 pages of the book go by before anything of note happens. Truly, I think Blake needed an editor and/or someone to tell her the harsh truth - that everything in this nearly 500-page novel could have been said in 200.

I just found myself extremely dissatisfied with the arcs. Reina gets no screentime and undergoes no real change. Nico/Gideon are stagnant. Parisa doesn't do anything interesting until page 350/474. Tristan whines, literally, the whole time about how he doesn't know what his purpose in life is. Libby undergoes a "corruption" arc and still manages to hem and haw and bite her nails the entire time, even though she's supposed to have grown a spine by now. By the end of the book all I wanted was for someone to just do something instead of overthinking their place in the world.

This book also continuously asks questions that I find to be overwritten and that Blake attempts to answer in text. The meaning of life and why humanity is the way it is does not need to be answered in your trilogy about six people without an ounce of backbone or direction between them. Even more so, the answers that Blake provides are not answers I find terribly interesting or useful. I am no longer interested in debating if humanity is fundamentally awful or if people with talent are always directionless and easily swayed to power schemes or if somebody can be both a good and bad person at the same time. These have all been done and, frankly, been done better elsewhere. To have multiple of your characters claim that ethics isn't really "their thing", that their experiments are just that and have no consequences is ... not a good look, particularly after the summer of Oppenheimer and the moral imperative of scientists everywhere. Like, yes, your experiments do have a greater ethical cost. That's common sense, actually.

The worldbuilding remains frightfully vague. The prose used is purposefully convoluted, which meant I had to read probably a third of this book at least twice to actually understand it. And I don't mean that in the there-are-complicated-metaphors-here sense. I mean it in the this-sentence-structure-and-word-choice-are-so-odd-and-complex-as-to-be-useless-to-the-reader sense.

By the time something interesting came up, I was so done with slogging through the rest of the book that it felt like a relief that might come in death. I just wanted it to be over.

Chief among these sins is that Blake also introduced new characters in this (already overstuffed) book that were substantially more interesting than our POV/main characters. Why tease me with concepts that are actually interesting before throwing me back into the weeds? It's cruel.

[ridiasfangirlings]

yata having a big fat crush on mikoto and not getting why mikoto calls him a kid until anna herself gets a crush on him

Imagine Yata maybe not even entirely aware that he has a crush on Mikoto — though certainly everyone else has figured it out, and Mikoto himself knows because occasionally Totsuka will lightly tease him about it. Mikoto doesn’t treat Yata badly or anything because of it but he’s not really interested either, to him Yata seems like just a good enthusiastic kid and he pretty much sees Yata in a way similar to how he sees Anna (well, that or as a particularly eager chihuahua). Yata’s always trying to get Mikoto’s attention and to be useful to him, he wants Mikoto to praise him or tell him how valuable he is to Homra, and as much as he tries to blow this off as just being a good clansman to his King it’s clear to everyone else that Yata is absolutely having baby’s first crush. Yata also can’t quite figure out why he feels dissatisfied when Mikoto just like ruffles his hair and tells him ‘good job,’ he knows he should be pretty pleased but it feels like he’s being treated childishly somehow. 

Then Anna gets her first crush on him and suddenly Yata’s a lot more aware of his own feelings and where that dissatisfaction comes from (also imagine Anna’s crush at least starts when Fushimi is still in Homra, I think he’d find it super amusing that a kid has a crush on Yata and wouldn’t be able to resist teasing Yata constantly about the kind of women he attracts). Anna acts in a way towards him that’s almost similar to how Yata was acting towards Mikoto but in a much more low-key and subtle fashion, like she keeps trying to do things to be helpful to Misaki and trying in her own shy way to get Yata’s attention. Yata doesn’t even get why she’s acting that way until someone clues him in, I think he’d be totally oblivious as to why Anna looked upset when he just patted her head, and then Totsuka pokes him and says it’s hard when your crush treats you like a kid isn’t it. Yata’s both embarrassed and a little flattered that Anna ended up with a crush on him of all people but he’s also suddenly aware that doesn’t this mirror his feelings for Mikoto and wait doesn’t that mean he’s had a crush himself all this time. I think in that case he might be a little more sympathetic to Anna now too, like he isn’t going to encourage or lead her on or anything but he gets how it is when your crush treats you like a child so he does his best to treat her more maturely when he can. 

[joswriting]

Writer Q&A

Finally doing this, thank you for the tag @lexiklecksi!!

I tag: @wheres-all-the-tea-gone and @atmospheric and anyone who wants to do it

What motivates you to write?

An inherent desire to communicate and deal with certain feelings I have (usually bad ones). My big WIP On The End Of Everything is about characters that are very dissatisfied with their lives and with who they are but have no way of changing this, as well as an exaggeration of the apocalyptic feeling we get when we don't have our lives completely together (might that tell you something about me?). Both this story and my short story anthology WIP make political commentary in the stupidest way possible, like any scifi story should.

Every character has a trace of me and every trace of me is examined and judged in all sorts of situations. It's both a form of self-therapy and a way to unload nonsensical ideas and peculiar humour.

A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

I like my poems best of the stuff I've written in the past 3 years, and there's a rather long one with some body horror elements (CW), but here are two verses from that one:

you may climb to the valley but the descent is steep there the partyhouse is filled to the brim here lie the parents, not awake nor asleep tie them together for their bodies are thin down the sea over yonder and into the deep see them drown and wonder, why had they no skin? a fly on the water comes to pose a conundrum if your face were another would you feel any different? then all insects fall dead to beat of a drum the wet blows are approaching and becoming vociferant another face is growing over your own now, how fun the next mouth utters sweetly the cry of an infant

What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

I'm not sure but I used to think descriptions? Especially of rather gorey and disturbing scenes, that's what I used to think. I haven't done that sort of thing in a while though, I hope I get to do it again soon. Well, apart from poems, as you can see.

But I think desciptions in general, they are my way of bringing the humour.

What do you enjoy most about the Writeblr community?

The fact we all stay curious about other people and their work! Plus everyone here is so earnestly in love with writing, it's nice.

A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Those synonym and rhyme websites, translators, but in my case especially wiktionary.org

A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

I like the world building in On The End Of Everything's first universe the best, but it's a sort of mystery so I don't want to spoiler it. To give you an idea of the current vibe (after all the worldbuilding that is to be uncovered); it is a universe with no sun, one planet that is able to support human life due to geothermic activity and an ecosystem of bioluminescent critters, and a human population with names like Nestlé (my main girl of this universe, I love her).

What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

If you're stuck just write Anything else. Could be a completely unrelated story idea you have or you can try to write the scene from someone else's perspective or write what someone completely different is doing somewhere else in-universe right now. Just because it won't be part of the finished story doesn't mean its not valuable. And hey, depending on the tone of your writing or how exciting the scene is you could just put it in anyway. For example: i dont really know how to write my current scene so instead i just wrote about a random bioluminescent dog called Stephen Colbert and his take on the scene. My writing is silly.

[rosa-qing]

Themis-Scenario

Artem Wing

Once in a moon

**Bittersweet end**

🥀.notes: kinda inspired by once in a moon by sarah kang

Masterlists

In a busy coffee shop Artem sits on the corner while seriously reading the file on his hand. He have been sitting here for an hour and he can’t seem to get a breakthrough.

Putting down the paper he caught a glance of the empty chair in front of him.

A faint smile spread across his lips, three years ago there was someone who sits there. A woman who always encourages him, the person who shows him whaat it means to loved and be loved in return.

A woman who have the brightest smile and the courage to face anything.

But three years ago that same person left him, it was still clear to him how they break up.

It was another late night for them, files scattered on the table of his office as they need to find the breakthrough to end this case. She sat across off him neither of them speak as they both focus reading the papers at hand.

he took a glance at her seeing the fatigue he decided to let her rest.

“I’ll sort this out, take a nap first your exhausted” He reaches out to grab her hand but she avoid it . Confusion washes over him, did he do something wrong.

A sigh left her lips before putting down the paper to meet his gaze, she smile faintly at him. This time it was her who grabbed his hand.

“Let’s Breakup” she said as if those words was so easy to say.

Artem look at her stunned

“You should take a rest first, let’s talk again later” He urges her but she doesn’t move an inch.

“I’m not breaking up with you cause I’m tired, I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. We’re always both busy. Case after case we barely even have time for a date. How many times we go out twice in a month.” Tears formed on the corner of her eyes

“ I always thought as long as I’m with you wether on work or outside it will be enough but it wasn’t. We’ve been dating for two years and barely nothing has changed, we a lot our time in our work and now I’m leaving the city to handle the new branch of the firm. How do you expect this relationship to work.”

Artem was left speechless, she always happy around him. Never once he saw a sign that she was dissatisfied with their relationship. But now she spilled it out everything like she’s holding it in for months.

“Why? Didn’t you tell me” Artem can’t look at her, he might crumble if he does.

“Nothing will change even if I did”

“How did you know, if you haven’t even try” He asks

She look up at him tears trickle down her cheeks “Cause we both put our work on top of our priority”

“I never did,” Artem pulled his hands away as he walk away from his office leaving her alone.

He was in a daze when a familiar voice called out his name. Looking up the person he was thinking about moments ago is now standing in front of him.

“Can I sit here? If only if you’re okay with it” She nervously asks, afraid that Artem might still hate her.

Artem smile at her and let her take the empty sit in front of him. Stifling silence hangs over them as neither of them speak.

“How have you been?” She asks breaking the awkward silence between them.

“I’m good, when did you return” He asks

“Last month” she answered

Then there’s this silence again, as their waiting for something. She look over the scenery outside the cafe, seeing people walking down the street Before looking back at him to say thee things she approached him for

“I’m sorry” She looked at him a faint smile spread across her lips.

“For what” Artem asks giving her a confused look.

“For leaving, for giving up on us and for breaking your heart” She let go of her breath that she kept holding on for the whole time.

Artem smiled at her

“Honestly even if you break my heart I couldn’t bring myself to hate you.” He confess

The words got caught in her throat how can this man be so good to her until now, she did regret breaking up with him. But it was way too late. She was about to speak when her phone suddenly rings.

Looking up the caller ID she quickly answered. She say a few more words before ending the call.

“Someone is waiting for me I need to go” She gave him an apologetic look “Thank you Artem” She smiled at him before she left in a hurry.

He followed her with his gaze

Outside the coffee shop he saw her hugging a man and showing him the smile that once belongs only to Artem. He look away as his chest tightens unable to continue watching the scene before him.

He can never unloved a person that once holds his heart, he might love her in some way but not the same as before.

He focus his tension back to his case when his phone rings, a smile plastered on his face as seeing the caller ID.

“Hello Love” he answered sweetly.

---

As she ride the car of her lover, she looked back and saw him talking to someone. Even if she can’t hear it, she still saw glimmer in his eyes that reflect his love for someone. It was once belong to hers but she broke his heart. A pained smile spread cross her lips.

“Are you okay?” Her lover asks

She look at him and nod before taking one last glance at Artem.

12-21-22 @rosa-qing