#i have a story to tell damn you

[fitemilk]

long post so settle in

when i was at the nail tech school tour, the owner (director, i think is her official title?) asked me why i wanted to be a nail tech. this is something my therapist prepared me for!

___

one of the goals i had for therapy was gaining enough confidence to career switch. i was unemployed for the longest time, had a brief but unsuccessful stint at a local game store, and have been unemployed since. i refused to go back to retail and needed to switch.

my therapist would always notice my nails during a session. they are well-manicured and the color was always different each session. they are also my natural nails.

after a couple of unsuccessful tries at finding something out there for me, she asked to see my nails up close. she got me talking. since we communicate using telehealth, i showed her the nail polish collection i’ve amassed for 18 years, neatly organized in an ikea file cabinet.

she was impressed. nearly every color has its own drawer. she remarked, “i think this is what you were meant to do, patton. i think you should pursue this.”

i told her a story. it goes like this:

——-

when i was a little kid, my mom would do my nails. my mom had a modest polish collection, stored in a small wooden box. they were older polishes, based on what i currently know. not from the 90s, when i was little, but earlier. some of them probably dated back to the 70s, but they were still good. back then, the range of colors was nowhere near as wide as it is now. it was pinks and reds, maybe a plum purple. my mom would paint my nails pink.

then in 1995 (i don’t know why i remember that year, but i do), the game changed. revlon had just put out its street wear line. finally! more than just pinks and reds and maybe that purple. there were blues, greens, yellows, even a black! i went gaga. my first one was a dark blue.

my auntie got me a markwins polish set for christmas when i was 13. it was HUGE. i think it was a 30-polish set. while everything else in the house may have been an absolute clusterfuck of a hoarder mess, i held on to my polishes.

when i moved out and out-of-state, i had three polishes in my possession — a frosty blue from mary kate & ashley (yeah, those twins), a orange from wild n’ crazy, and a sheer sky blue from revlon called bright sky. i still have the latter two! and i did my nails with bright sky last week!

i began to amass my collection once more. my mom was diagnosed with cancer shortly after i left home, and by 2009, my mom was dying. she signed a dnr (do not resuscitate) order, and by late summer/early fall, the time had come. my mom was in too much pain to continue. she was in at-home hospice care, in a hospital bed, hooked up to a morphine drip. i made my final visit. i was spending what little time i had left with my mom, watching tv, getting out any final stories we wanted to share.

my mom wanted me to do her nails one last time. she knew i brought polish with me, i always did any time i traveled. she picked out two colors — korean fruit and flower stand by carolyn new york for her hands (a light peachy coral crème) and cherry glaze by sally hansen salon for her feet (a slightly jelly neutral red)

it came around full circle.

my therapist was right. i was meant to do this.

————

when the director asked me why i wanted to be nail tech, i simply said, “my mom would paint my nails when i was a little kid. when i was older, i would paint hers. it’s something that i’ve always loved.”

she loved it. when i was leaving, she said, “i thing you’re going to do well here. you’ve got style, your pink hair is very nice!”

—-

and that’s my long-winded non-linear story

[torawro]

y’all . . . . . .

[kacievvbbbb]

I feel like I need to know more about Todo and Yuki’s relationship as mentor and mentee. Like they seem the same flavor of person which is very different from what gojo and megumi have going on.

But also Yuki is very adoptive “dad” coded in the way geto’s relationship to the twins is very adoptive “mom” coded.

In that Geto seems to take on primarily a caretaker role than a mentor while Yuki is more a trainer and life coach than she is a caretaker. Which is something you don’t really see given to female characters in anime.

Like Todo lives by her words and fights by her example. Everything he knows about jujutsu she taught him and Todo’s a very skilled and violent fighter and that reflects back perfectly on Yuki’s own fighting style. It’s so very anime mentor it’s insane she is just introduced to us as Todo (this absolute menace’s) teacher before anything else. I’ve never actually seen a female anime character be introduced this way.

in contrast to Geto who serves as the caring parent who was tragically taken from the girls violently and too soon and the girls wish to honor him and live how he would have wanted them too despite the ungodly situation they find themselves in. Which is such a stereotypical anime mom trope it’s almost funny. He even fits in with the still very much in love with and still speaks highly of the father that abandoned the family in hopes that the kid will one day understand and forgive them. He is essentially the mom from Full Metal Alchemist.

Gege that fucking deranged cat actually flipped the script on us and it’s so interesting which is why it’s so frustrating how little we actually end up getting off yuki when all her little scenes point to such an interestnn in character.

She is introduced as one half of a crazy dynamic that we never actually get to see put to screen and that’s such a shame. Because Yuki is such a welcome addition to the tropes of female characters we need more female “dads”

[beanghostprincess]

Sorry I really didn’t mean I’m attacking you or your ship. I also don’t think it’s a red flag, most gay men I saw don’t really like shuggy either. I mean, probably the entire world prefers any other shanks ships? On almost every site, con or store there’s always tons of mishanks and Bennshanks and never shuggy. I get it’s also about dynamic and connection those two pairs have, like with the parallels to other ships the base for them is extremely strong. But the minimal shuggy does speak volumes. I genuinely wonder about this. Shuggy is unpopular and again while I do agree there’s strong connection between “rival ships” I don’t think that’s the only reason… and like…. Buggy is ugly, isn’t he? He doesn’t have cool style, doesn’t look cool, makes ugly faces all the time, also is a coward. I like him as comedy character and shanks brother though!

I understand where you're coming from when you say Shuggy is unpopular amongst some people (actually, before anyone says anything. It IS an extremely popular ship in Japan but I have seen A LOT of hatred towards it in this side of the fandom, so that's what I'm talking about when I say it's unpopular). I have talked about this before. And I have said a lot of times that the reason why is often because people only focus on looks and Buggy is not conventionally attractive for the fangirly twinkified sexualized gaze numerous sides of the fandom and the general audience seek. Like, I am not forcing people to ship them, but I have had people admitting the only reason they don't is because of the looks, and I personally believe that is a very (despite valid, of course) dull way of seeing ships. And respectfully, I don't care that other gay dudes or all the people in the world agree with you. It's not a red flag to not like Shuggy, what it is a red flag, though, is to come into people's inboxes to do what you're doing!

I know you don't mean to attack me or anybody who ships them but your tone does wonders showing otherwise. Your perception of shipping is just based on looks and the fact that you came here, to a blog that explicitly ships these characters and is fond of Buggy, talking shit about one of the characters' looks... Is just straight-up mean and not following the social etiquette this site should follow, which is "let people do whatever the fuck they want".

So with all due respect, what makes you think I won't find your questions offensive in any way? Because you keep talking bad about a character I like in my inbox for literally no reason. Do you expect me to admit that the ship is unpopular because Buggy is ugly and boring? Well, I do admit people view him as ugly and only a comedy relief, but I don't. Expecting others to find beautiful and interesting the same things you do is having a very close-minded vision that One Piece's plot itself is against.

By the way, you're showing that you clearly don't like Buggy in the slightest because you're only talking about the traits that you find negative about him. But of course, you like him as comedy relief. Of course, you like him as a character in Shanks' story and not as a character himself. Despite Buggy having lots of depth. Your perception of these characters seems, in my opinion, extremely empty and, as I said, only based on looks. And you're free of shipping whatever you want however you want! But please, please, don't do this anymore. This is just petty high school mean girl behavior. Even Regina George would word this in a more polite way.

So, as a little advice for you, let people ship whatever they want without questioning their favorite characters! I am sure you will live a more peaceful life!

[coconut530]

RELIGIOUS TRAUMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[lorepossum]

….y’all do realize that GBA isn’t just going to tell you how Bastards vs Zombies is going to go right?

Like…?

Theory crafting is one thing (but also you don’t need Geeb to confirm/deny your theory for it to have legitimacy and be fun for you), but some of y’all are just straight up asking him to spoil so much of the intrigue of a series with only 3 parts so far.

Become comfortable in having questions. It is by design that we don’t have answers yet. We’ve barely even started this story.

[zaynes-left-chesticle]

Screenshots | Hidden Motive ❄️

[inknopewetrust]

oh jesus fuck hbo

[fanfoolishness]

I do not understand TikTok edits and fandom. Why is the video twenty seconds long? Why are the cuts so fast I’m barely getting a glimpse of my blorbo’s beautiful face? I can’t feel an emotion that quick! Is that why the same shots are then reused 2 or 3 times in this twenty second video? But we could’ve just had the shot be longer in the first place! And I still can’t hardly tell what the shot is even 2 or 3 times around because the cuts are still so fast, and then it’s just over and I’m confused on what I was supposed to feel about That.

[solacedeer]

and if i said they’re my ot3 then what

[puhpandas]

Tony Becker is one of the only times that I've seen that a character has actually been doomed by the plot when people say he is

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Does anyone here remember when I decided to grab three randomass characters from two different seasons of Power Rangers, NONE OF WHICH HAD EVER APPEARED ONSCREEN TOGETHER, and went, hey, I wonder what the hell would happen if we shipped them together? Just for shits and giggles? And wrote a coherent 6k oneshot that actually made their character arcs deeper and make more sense than the show's? Now that was a proper crackship!

(Anyway, I was putting together the last of the playlists for this series and stumbled upon my Matt Griffin/Heckyl/Levi Watson fic. And remembered how batshit insane I could be back in the day. Because I don't remember how I thought of this concept, just that it worked out weirdly well. Also led to some of the funniest scenes in the series when Chase/Ivan found out that Heckyl was not only Riley's brother's Soulmate, but that Heckyl and Matt had another gold ranger as a Soulmate. I'm still tempted to write the world's funniest family dinner ft. Heckyl, Matt, Chase, Ivan, Brody, Levi, and Preston.)

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Yangchen and Aang: *trying to hold onto what Air Nation qualities they have while still performing their duties* Disha, to Roku: You are a spirit of NO Nation. Me: ??????

[bl-inded]

The most heartbreaking part about the MohkDay break up, is that once again Mohk is all alone. And this time, he didn't make that choice. He wanted to stay, he wanted Day to be by his side. And he was still left alone

After Rung especially, we know that our boy has severe abandonment issues. And even though we can't be certain her death was preventable by him picking up the call, he blames himself for it. The fact that Day and Mohk have only ever spoken about Rung in surface-level conversations (hell I don't think they really ever spoke about Mohk a lot at all), it hurts sooo much more that Day broke up with him after Mohk laid his heart out in front of the whole family.

I saw a bunch of people talking about how Day refuses to do any emotional labour, and I see where they're coming from. But, i gotta disagree. He did not break up with Mohk because of his trauma. He broke up with Mohk because Mohk was willfully destroying his life to stay with Day. I don't want to say his heart was in the right place, but it was in the right area code at least. I genuinely believe that the "you also pity me" was an excuse because he didn't want to hold Mohk back. I want to believe that he didn't have the time to understand the implications of what Mohk meant when he talked about Rung and he regretted it later.

(I will live in that lie till I'm told otherwise)

But Mohk has never been a fighter for himself. He'll fight in a heartbeat for what Day or Porjai need. He'll put himself in harm's way to protect those he love. But the moment he has to fight for himself, he'll back out. I don't know if this is a post-ep1 flashback thing, but that is what the show has established for us. And so as gut wrenching as his "if that's what you want" is, it's very in character for him.

But just to be clear, now that I've been a rational adult about this analysis of this show and characters. FUCK ALL OF THIS. Like straight up wtf? Who asked for an ep11 conflict huh? Who? P'Aof?? I love you, but WHYYY. My absolute green flag of a man does not deserve this nonsense after everything he's done. So FIX THIS RIGHT NOW.

[doctorbrown]

MCFLY JULY ‘24 ⸺ 「 11 / 31 * BAKING JOEY'S CAKE 」

October 24, 1985, Twin Pines Timeline

Do you know how embarrassing it is when the whole town knows your Uncle’s a criminal, Mom? It sucks!

It wasn’t your Uncle’s fault, Linda. He got involved with the wrong people a—

And went to jail! Ugh! I can’t even pretend we’re not related because we’re the only McFlys in a hundred miles!

Lorraine sets the eggs down on the counter, wrenching a sigh from deep within her soul as she stares down into the empty porcelain bowl. Somewhere beyond the thinning haze in her mind, a sneering voice asks why she even bothers. Why go through the trouble of baking a cake, only to put the kids through the same song and dance as the last time? Joey wouldn’t make parole—you know that—and in a year, three years, five years, whenever they scheduled the next hearing, they would go through the same hopeless endeavour all over again, forcing her to suffer the looks of disgust and disappointment thrown at her from her kids.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Her and George, the kids—

She dumps the first cup of flour in the bowl and watches it settle.

Finding even a small shred of optimism to combat the pessimistic voice in her head proves a Herculean task and she glances out over the bowl and into the living room, to the backs of the heads of her three children seated on the couch.

Dave turns, catching her eye, and Lorraine throws him a weak smile that he acknowledges with a nod before muttering something to Linda and Marty that she can’t hear over the television.

She would have to try for them.

This will be the year Joey gets released, she tells herself, compounding lie upon lie, building a shaky wall in her heart between reality and this flickering hope because something has to go right for her family. Difficult as it was, she would cling to it, willing God that the news in the morning would be favourable.

That her little brother would come home to their mother's chocolate cake recipe.

Poor Marty hadn’t seen Joey since he was a kid and he adored him, always so full of life and sunshine every time Uncle Joey showed up, bursting into fits of giggles and laughter when Joey would scoop him into his arms and raise him high above his head—she misses those days.

She misses a lot of things, things she fears she never truly even knew.

Lately, Marty just seems—

Lorraine reaches for the glass that’s always there, always within reach—her one constant companion throughout the years—and chugs until she’s drowned every one of those thoughts in liquid fire.

Functionally numb, Lorraine sets to work, burying the last thirty years underneath generous heaps of sugar.

[sanjiswetcigarettes0]

I can’t get enough of this shi and it is crazy.

This mfng song literally screams that “zoro vs mihawk” wasn’t just about Zoro failing on defeating Mihawk and in return gaining a huge cut on his chest that he’ll carry his whole life and luffy going crazy internally and worrying sick about his man; this song screams and bleeds pride and given promises, a meaning and an ending / beginning of a life. This song is the moment zoro decided to trust himself wholly for %100 for the first time and stood in front of Mihawk even tho he knew he could die while bleeding all his blood out. This was the very moment zoro felt for the first time/ finally realised that he was a half and the rest of him was a big missing, that he wasn’t enough no matter how hard he tries and needed that seventeen years old mf kid who’s been following him around like a lost puppy as his captain & a leader to follow, because his instincts already were screaming about this at the very beginning of their first time together. Luffy was the most powerful man he’s ever seen, he learned that for the first time at that moment. And he was right. This song is the end and a beginning of a life.

Opla songs should be talked about more often because these damn songs literally feels like what happens in whole One Piece.

Please read the tags !🏷️