#i said possible bc i don't want to say that it's officially going to happen in case i change my mind later KJKSDJ

[birdietrait]

winnie - oc from my possible future sims story

[kyokiiro]

General dating hcs w/ Robin

Synopsis - what it's like to date the renowned halovian singer

Warnings/content - Men please dni!!, Fem!reader, wlw/nblw, fluff, slightly suggestive, relationship hcs, small scenarios, use of petnames(cutie, dove/my dove, pretty girl, angel, etc), physical touch/affection, mentions of Sunday, Reader works under Sunday as his assistant, possibly ooc Robin bc this was written before she was released, Robin being the sweetheart she is, Robin being a tease, protective Sunday, messy+rushed cuz writers block was being ass, possible grammar mistakes, not proofread

A/N: First time doing Fem!reader so i hope this turned out okay! This is for the sapphics out there so thats why "Men please dni!!" is in the warnings. Also this a bit different from my other dating hcs fics, since i wanted to try smth new. I hope yall don't mind:') I don't have anything else to say, so enjoy the fic!!<3 I also had a writers block so apologies for the wait🙃

Tags: none yet

No one knows how you managed to get into a relationship with the famous renowned singer Robin. You didn't know either. You were just an assistant of Sunday. But you somehow caught the attention of his little sister and now you guys are in an established relationship

Nevertheless you guys were happy with eachother. Though it was hard to get Sunday's approval of you guys' relationships. Since he is quite protective over his little sister, but with a bit of Robin's help. You guys managed to get Sunday's approval!

Robin already was quite affectionate with you before ya'll got together, but after becoming an official couple her affection doubled

Robin definitely isn't one to shy away from pda, but if you aren't fan of it she will keep it minimal. Though handholding is a must, also she will 100% call you petnames.

If you are someone who is easily flustered. Yeah i pray for you, because this woman will tease you relentlessly- But if it makes you uncomfortable she will stop the teasing, since she never wants her pretty girl to be uncomfortable<33

You guys don't get alot of free time, due both of your guys' jobs. Both of you are extremely busy, you being Sunday's assistant and Robin being a celebrity. But the time you guys do spend together is worth it<3

Robin adores cuddles, she likes the feeling of being so intimately close to you. She likes to brush her fingers through your hair whenever you had a particulair stressful day. She will softly sing a lullaby to help you relax

When Robin had a stressful or exhausting day, you always offer her a massage, sometimes a bath. She always accepts the offer with a soft smile on her face

Remember when i said Robin loves physical touch? Yeah don't be surprised when you randomly feel someone hug you from behind/side or a small kiss/peck on your cheek/lips- Robin loves to catch you off guard. Be it in private or public

Robin won't tell you this, but she loves it when she leaves lipstick marks on you. Be it on your neck, cheek or even your entire face. She will have a proud smile on her face, while you are as red as a tomato.

Robin loves to call you petnames. She mostly uses my dove/dove, my muse, sweetheart and angel, but when shes in a more flirty/romantic mood she uses cutie, darling and sweetstuff

Robin doesn't get jealous often nor quickly. She's confident in your relationship. She will only step in if the person who is flirting with/hitting on you makes you uncomfortable. Her status alone makes them leave, but that doesn't mean it always works. Though it rarely happens expect this time..

You sighed annoyed when yet another person started flirting with you. This isn't the first time though, but it really is starting to annoy you. The person continued to flirt with you even after you told them you had a girlfriend. You tried to leave, but instead they grabbed you wrist. "Where are you going beautiful, i still didn't get your name" They said while smirking at you. "Let me go you creep!" You shouted while trying to get out of their grasp, but to no avail. You let out a yelp when you felt someone pull you towards them. But you recognized the familiar scent, but when you heard their voice you instantly knew who it was. "Hmm, who allowed you to touch my girlfriend like that?" Robin asked with a soft voice, but you could clearly hear the bitterness in her voice. "And who are you supposed to be?" The person asked irritated. "I'm Robin, a renowned singer. I'm sure you have heard of me before!" Robin spoke cheerfully, while her grip on you tightened. The person chuckled "And you think that will scare me? Pfft, i don't care who you are, just mind your own business" they hissed at her. You could feel Robin's aura changing and the strained smile on her face made it clear that she is pissed. "Listen up here you pest, if i see you touching my girlfriend again. Ill make sure your entire life will be destroyed." Robin spoke with venom lacing in her voice while glaring at them. You watched the color from their face disappear and the pride they held was gone in mere seconds. "Now scram" Robin hissed at them. You have never seen someone ran so fast. Robin then turned to you with a worried face, completely different from what her face was seconds ago. "Are you okay sweetheart, they didn't hurt you right?" She asked with a soft, yet concerned voice. "N-no, i'm fine Robin. They didn't hurt me" You quietly said. Robin let out a relieved sigh and looked at you with a warm and loving gaze. "I'm glad you're okay (name). How about we go home and cuddle?" She cooed at you caressing your cheek. "That would nice" you murmured leaning into her touch. She gave a quick kiss on your forehead before intertwining her hand with yours<33

Sunday still is abit against the relationship, but seeing his sister so happy makes him hold his tongue for now

Although the relationship is abit unexpected. You guys love eachother nontheless<33

Reblogs are appreciated!!

@𝒌𝒚𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒊𝒓𝒐★

[marnikula]

Can u do early seasons spencer x reader who has a lot of problems and they let people walk all over them and they dont set boundaries and they struggle with their emotions. Reader likes spencer a lot but doesn't seek him out bc they feel like he deserves better! And u can decide what happens but make it happy ending :)

Oh my word, I literally spent like 2 hours writing this because I wrote something and then my internet cut out when I posted and now it's lost, so I had to rewrite it. Hope you enjoy!

Cw: gn reader, people dumping work on reader, Spencer being cute

Enjoy!

You were a doormat. You knew it, your friends knew it, everyone knew it. You tried to set boundaries, to say no, but it never seemed to stick. Saying no made you feel guilty, it made you feel like a bad person even though you knew you weren't.

Being a doormat, people tended to walk all over you, requesting ridiculous things of you. That is how it came to be that you were sitting alone in the bullpen, the clock ticking away, showing you that it was around midnight and you still had a whole stack of papers to go through. You felt yourself about to fall asleep, and truly, you were too tired to fight it off when a ding signaled the arrival of someone.

Without even turning to look who it was you knew it was Spencer Reid. You recognized his footsteps, and even if you didn't, the smell he brought with him would have alerted you. It was the smell of coffee mixed sweet undertones, almost as if he had spent his whole day in a café. It was intoxicating. "What are you still doing here?" "Working, I have a lot of stuff to finish before tomorrow" "you mean today" looking back at the clock you could see he was right, it was now officially the next day.

"Do you need some help?" without even waiting for you to decline Spencer took half of the pile you were working on. He moved fast, knowing you well enough to know that you hated asking for help, especially from him, he just could never figure out why.

"Spencer, you really don't need to, I've got this" reaching your hands to take the files back only to be swatted away by the doctor was something you did not expect. "I'm not saying you don't have it, I'm just going to help you so you can go home earlier"

Sighing you admitted defeat and went to go make coffee for the two of you. With Spencer's help you managed to make it through the massive stack of papers on your desk in less that an hour, something you would never have been able to do on your own.

"You, doctor Spencer Reid, are amazing, what can I do to thank you?" it was a slight tease on your part. You didn't expect him to ask you anything return, it wasn't like him, he was too nice . That was one of the things you loved about him, and one of the reasons you willed the crush growing in your heart to shrivel up and die. He deserved so much better than you. Someone with a mind as amazing as his own, someone with kindness rivaling his and someone who knew how to say no. You were none of those. At least not in your own eyes.

"You could go on a date with me" Spencer surprised himself with those words, he really hadn't meant to say them out loud, but he really liked you, and in a moment of confidence inspired by sleep deprevation, he decided to take a chance.

"Really? You mean it?" the both of you were blushing hard at this point, him thinking about how he could have possibly screwed this up and you thinking about how this could possibly get any better.

"I-I mean, only if you want to, you really don't have to feel pressured, I know I said I would take it as paiment, but honestly spending time with you was enough of a payme-" grabbing his face in your hands you turned him to look at you, shutting off his ramblings with the movement and shutting off his brain with your words

"I would love to"

[mangosaurus]

Hi ❤️ I'm the anon who send that question about your opinion on the Ben's gf reveal, and thank u so much for the answer! Abt the part I use the word "painful", i was talking abt that if the reason behind the gf mention was revealed to be just a way of trying to "shut up" that "gay theories" it would be painful bc we know is a thing that happens in some medias. I know is just a reaaally low possibility, but I wanted to mention that too bc we know it happens in some stories.

I mentioned that possibility bc I really like jwcc queer rep but I always try to remind myself that it's still a show so they're not immune to censure and bad stuff that happen in this kinda of media. I remind myself this so it's not that painful if happens, that is way I used that word, but I do know it isn't that probable in jwct case! (and yeah, like u I don't think queer rep in jwcc is painful or anything)

Totally agree that the subtext thing is really subjective, so I was talking more abt the fact that the ppl in production probably knows that fans see a lot a "gay subtext" on him than saying that I think that the subtext is canon. I never had a headcanon for Ben through, my whole anxiety was just bc of knowing all this context and not knowing if the whole gf reveal will go to a chill thing or not.

I don't know much about the inside production of jwct like you, so my fear is just based on how medias sometimes deal with queer characters in general... That is why I LOVED your analysis, oh and sorry for the long post, hope u're doing fine!

hi again! :D thank YOU for sending in that ask, i really do love talking to people lol

i hear you on being fearful about censorship 😭 even if you knew about the production of the show and the people involved with it (which ... it's not like i have some sort of intimate understanding of everything that goes on, i just follow a lot of the team members on social media ^_^;) i think that's a valid thing to be scared of. media has made a lot of progress in terms of queer rep in the last decade, especially in the realm of animated TV shows primarily aimed towards kids/families, but that doesn't mean artists don't still have to fight for the inclusion of that rep. i wasn't super into she-ra, but i do vaguely remember its creator ND stevenson talking about how much he had to negotiate with dreamworks just to make catradora a thing (if someone can find me a source on that that would be incredibly appreciated), and that was as recently as 2020 (if we're measuring by when SPOP's final season aired). that was the same year JWCC premiered, and two years before yasammy would be made official. a lot of doors had to be opened to allow JWCC/CT to be as gay as it is, basically, and that status isn't always going to be guaranteed.

but if i can ease your mind any further: JWCC S5 received a lot of backlash online, and even one of JWCT's early access IMDB clips drew scrutiny from anti-woke conservative types because it dared to portray a diverse cast of characters. that didn't stop a large portion of the crew from digging their heels in and defending their show, though! plus, yasammy are still together, and JWCT shows no signs of rolling back on their queer rep for the sake of appeasing a certain group of people.

so, to go back to ben having a girlfriend ... i very much doubt that such a choice was made out of malice, or to "shut up" any theories about him being gay (generally speaking or in the "i, as a man, exclusively like other men" way). but like you said yourself, there was already a veryyyyy low possibility of that happening.

tysm once again!! no need to apologize for the long ask—i usually give long answers anyway. and i'm doing well, hope you are too! 🫶

[alitgblog]

ok thoughts for volume IV bc I actually enjoyed it a lot lol

also I'm currently on a Jin route (i might switch to claudia i have not decided) so that's important context lol

I Spy was an interesting concept for a game but if i can nitpick here, it felt much more like a firepit game than a challenge and that would be nice to have some variety since last week was the Heartbreaker thing and next week we have Excess Baggage.

For whatever reason I can't remember the format of the show rn but I think if the game is gonna continue with doing about a day more or less per volume, it should be like the show where there is at least one or two major events being either dates (where couples are either all in the same area, one couple goes out of the villa, or there's bombshells involved), challenges (where they go out onto the stage and do some physical challenge), or parties (which can include games). And right now I feel like we're getting three challenges in a row and I'd rather we change it up. But that's besides the point

anyway i believed Jack when he said his secret wasn't supposed to cause drama but I did not believe Theo at all and the fact that we got to tell him that later? Great choice. (and also so in character for MC to tell him off and him to just continue pretending like she didn't say that)

Also very flirty moments with Claudia is what is making this Jin route so hard. she's very forward and the fact that you can pursue her so soon is great actually. I thought maybe she and theo would share a slow burn route but it seems like it might be just Theo (or that you can't officially couple up with her later but apparently you can kiss her and go to the hideaway and stuff so that's cool).

I'm always hoping for non MC centered drama and we got it (but also there WAS MC centered drama too so that's even better)

I love to have a character to hate/dislike, so thank you so much Sophie and Jack. I can't imagine what it would be like with Luna and Jin though because they seem way more chill whereas I can see Sophie (a PERFORMER) doing all that and Jack (self proclaimed romantic) also just doing stuff to fit with Sophie.

And honestly still having residual feelings from the previous episode works. Like, yes to the Jack and Emel kiss (at least from Jack's POV about being insecure about Sophie,,, I'm not so sure about Emel but as someone who played it flirting with Oakley up until the end of Vol II and knowing Emel wants a romantic guy like Jack, I will let it slide). I kinda wish it implied more that Jin rejected Sophie so that's why she didn't pick him at the last recoupling so she's still hurt and still antagonizing MC and Jin for that reason. Otherwise it's just like, why are they still mad though?

Emel and Oakley are so cute. I also kept wishing after S5 and S6 that we got more strong couples in the game and I'm very glad they seem happy and if anything happens to them I'm gonna be so upset.

And tbh Jack and Sophie making it work is so nice too. Even though I think they're gonna keep having a lot of drama, it's entertaining and it's also great to have a couple that's probably gonna get dumped or split up at some point (and you know they're not gonna make it on the outside).

I don't care for Brad and Christy at all but why is that option 29 gems?? Like even asking for drama about the Islanders currently in the Villa is 17 gems (which I still don't think should be behind a pay wall but it feels like that one might be more relevant).

I do like that Jack is trying to be sweet to Sophie because even though he has also been an asshole to MC and her couple, he's still a possible route for if you replay, so that's nice they're not making the other LI's unappealing like in S6 (...yet???? im not giving fusebox the all clear yet)

I hate that Jack called his apology thing a game, I wish he just gathered everyone at the firepit and did the same thing but not called it a compliment game.

in the same vein, why did he invent the chemistry game because that feels like they should've gotten a text about that and then the next text about voting for the couple with the strongest chemistry to go into the hideaway would make more sense.

regardless, I really liked Jack's compliment to MC because that's how I've been playing this character and the fact he pointed it out, I feel like she'd love that. Also everyone else's compliments were fun too except maybe Sophie's which is funny.

And then he tried to make a joke at the end which was bold, but then I found out it might have been Jin's fault which is far more in character but again I don't know how well that would play out if I was playing a different route.

Also you can cheekily ask Oakley how he felt about Jack's joke about Emel being the best kisser in front of everyone and you best believe I did that

Then everything seems fine until the chemistry game and then suddenly Sophie, Jack, Emel, and Oakley are doing fine and everyone else is not and I love that turn in drama. Again, can't speak for a Theo route but the way suddenly Claudia is in between Jin and MC is crazy and Jin has a somewhat reasonable response (considering that fusebox wanted to give you space to go to the hideaway with Claudia). he probably forgave MC too fast imo but that's on me for playing the messy route.

Also Claudia's response after hearing Jin and MC are going to the hideaway together instead of her and MC is so good. Like she does convey she's disappointed but understands, and MC says there's still time for them, and Claudia's response is like it would blow your mind like we gotta give Jin a fighting chance, and I love that. also bc I'm indecisive so I'm glad her routes not closed yet.

as much as I like the drama, Tyler did not make a big splash so it does feel like we just got drama four volumes in a row, so I'm kind of hoping we get a bombshell mid challenge. Unfortunately, it's the excess baggage challenge, which I do like and I think we're due for this challenge to show up, but a bombshell showing up mid excess baggage challenge is literally what happens in S3 so I don't think I'm right.

I already posted my little joke about the Hideaway scene but yeah it's so much better than it's been recently. And like it looks like there's a few more options to change up the scene/dialogue so that's good they put effort into small stuff like that

and I'm not advocating for them hiding scenes behind a pay wall (like I rather them put these expensive gem choices behind drama I don't care about, that's fine) but like if there was ever a time to have a pay to win part of the game I would've made it this and not the kissing challenge. HEAR ME OUT: so it's like an early in the game hideaway first of all, technically you've known each other for like four days and if it comes up again for free, i wouldnt even miss it. Second, it kinda dismisses the drama that JUST happened. Like, either Theo or Claudia have just blown up their strong couple to pursue MC and their LI doesn't do anything? And the other couples vote for them anyway? Like get rid of the gem choice early on for MC and Jin to prove their chemistry and have them stumble anyway. Then after the Claudia/Theo confession, the gem choice is MC announces she wants another shot and because Sophie, Jack, and Emel like her for solving their drama they agree. And then MC can choose her second try with Theo, Claudia, or her LI. And then still has the chat later with her LI and then you win with whoever you pick (or I guess if you pick Theo then you don't bc I guess it's the slow burn route. Maybe you get a chat with him on the daybeds or SOMETHING lol). And third, Jack did this whole campaign to get him and Sophie to a stronger place so like there was a perfect backup couple right there.

and also some non volume specific thoughts:

I'm kind of excited to replay and like couple with Jack or Oakley at this point because I'm curious if the dialogue is much different. I really like Jin's dialogue and it fits his character, so I'm wondering how much of it is copy paste (but most people here are also on a Jin route so I can't cross reference damn).

also I would've reordered the past couple of episodes so that like Luna and Tyler would stay for longer and have a bigger impact but I don't need to make this long post even longer so maybe I'll post it some other time

still don't know why it's called tempting fate but if we're returning to the non themed seasons I'm not complaining

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #526

Yuri!!! on Life official guidebook, Toshiharu Mizutani (Art Director) interview

Part 3.

-- For sure, there is a lot of small things in the designs.

M: When I look at just the line arts, I always think that they are drawn in a very loose way, and a lot of those small things are skillfully drawn in a simplified way/omitted. It's something that only somebody with a lot of practice can do. Even newcomers can draw precisely, if they look at a drawing and try to copy it, but the most important thing is not to draw something that is not necessary. If you have to later erase something that you drew, then you give yourself twice the amount of work, but only people with a lot of skill can simply not draw too much to begin with.

-- Then it must have been a good opportunity to learn for the younger staff members, I'd guess?

M: They were all very desperate [to get the job done] and working while on the brink of death.

-- The ice in the skating scenes is very realistic, too. Was it a request from the Director?

M: Yeah. Since the first PV. Even I have watched some figure skating on DVD, so it was something that was on my mind, too. In case of ice shows, the lights are very elaborate, and your eyes are really drawn to the ice, cut with blades of skaters' shoes. Because of how it sparkles. I was wondering if it would be possible to try to achieve this effect, but I thought that if I touched this subject, we all were going to suffer, so I kept quiet. But then I decided that I want to have those cuts in the ice, after all. All were drawn on the same layer, but then split into multiple layers. We put at least three such layers on the surface of the ice.

[Notes: Long time no rant, so...

((Just in case, newer readers may not be aware, that I'm a "fujo-hater" 😂 But fret not, I'm not against seeing relationship between Yuuri and Victor as romantic or against people reading BL, but I'm very much against fujos, who as it was in the case of YoI, try to "teach"/press the creators/other staff members to make the canon bend to their doujinshi tropes.))

The talk about staff members on the brink of death reminded me about that huge controversy about MAPPA that happened last year 💀 It's not a secret that Sayo was overworking animators during YoI and there are still screenshots of animators calling her names on twitter and say condolences to each other, bc of being involved with YoI. So, YoI fandom now hating MAPPA, bc "bad MAPPA, bad working conditions, poor animators...", while demanding that they should stop producing shonens, bc they should make YoI instead is well... an example of how spending time in an echo chamber and just following the crowd can make you a huge hypocrite.

It should also be said that it's not that those shonens are "just for boys" or anything like that if we talk about this topic, btw. GoYuu from JJK (Gojo x Yuuji) is so popular with fujos that it has now more views in total on pixiv than VicYuu, and gets more views in 10-30 min than VicYuu gets in 24 hours (a huge credit for that should ofc go to YoI's IP holders, as they've been trying to starve the fandom to death since 2018, basically...) It's really ironic that it's YoI fans who are so much against MAPPA making those popular shonens, bc so many Jp VicYuu fujos moved to GoYuu (it's basically the same trope "the most awesome, strong and cool man in the world the seme" x "fujoshi avatar the main character in the center of the universe the uke") - one of the reasons, why Jp fans don't attack MAPPA - they very much enjoy those shonens. (Another is that they can read and it's very easy to check who owns the IP.)

To sum up, as always, it's very unfair for YoI fans to call Otsuka CEO the greedy homophobic liar, while absolutely refusing to see the bigger picture.]

[manofmanymons]

Hey I don’t know if you’re still into Digimon Survive but if you are could you do some headcanons on Minoru x Ryo? Maybe like first kiss headcanons or something? But if you’re not into it anymore or don’t want to that’s totally okay! I just have brainrot over them lol

Have a good day!

IS THAT AN EXCUSE TO TALK ABOUT MINORU AND RYO AGAIN I SEE

all my thoughts about their general dynamic I already kinda ranted about that one time here. But a lot of that was more "once they're in an established relationship" hcs

so let's talk about early relationship and lots of firsts

I think them confessing would be repeated attempts by both of them that continuously end in them chickening out last second. Minoru tries to sound serious with a "I need to tell you something important " but Ryo shuts him down with "if you're gonna tell me about some random superhero thing again, don't," and he panics and says nevermind

Meanwhile Ryo only said that because he was about to try to confess and Minoru saying he was going to say something important made him get in his own head and he also panicked aldkfaj he didn't want to look too nervous or excited so he settled on mean instead ToT

Eventually Minoru just keeps texting this genre of picture

until Ryo gets confused enough to ask if he's trying to ask him out (he is)

Very big "oh no I fell for an idiot" moment for our dearest Ryo, but hey, he still says yes XD

And here's my reason for thinking they'd have such a rough time confessing right (besides the fact that I personally just think confessing to someone you truly care about and are close friends with is always probably hard). I think in part because they both Caught Feelings they'd be a little scared to drop their acts around each other, so sometimes Ryo still can't tell if Minoru is joking or not and Minoru can't tell if Ryo is actually mad or not. They're both afraid of reading too deep into the other's reactions and getting their hopes up and that makes it hard to gauge each other's reactions to their failed confessions.

They get past it once they're together though ofc.

FIRST DATE ALSO AWKWARD (UNTIL IT ISN'T)

Idiots trying too hard bc their friends, possibly even partners, got in their heads insisting the way they normally talk to each other isn't romantic at all and that they can't keep messing with each other so much now that they're dating. It doesn't take them all too long to realize that that's stupid actually bc they like their dynamic and they didn't fall for each other by not liking the way the other talks.

Also think some of the awkwardness would come from the fact that it would be both of their first real date ever (no, "bro dates" don't count. no, the time Ryo was dragged to a mixer and was flirted with doesn't count either) and neither of them knows how to act. All is well once they both agree to be normal.

Their first kiss would be significantly less awkward. They have officially escaped the awkward zone, good for them. Genuinely think it would just happened. Y'know like a casual kiss goodbye after spending a day together that they only fully process happened and freak out over after they're alone.

They don't really talk about it. Minoru lies awake at night regretting his life choices and wondering "why did I do that" until Ryo kisses him back the next time they're together.

OR OR OR HEAR ME OUT

they kissed one time before that in the other world when they thought they were gonna die and then NEVER acknowledged it. Maybe it was a real kiss, maybe it was a "I don't wanna die before having my first kiss" kiss. Happened so fast neither of them really knows for sure who initiated it. Get cheesy teen drama'd.

First romantic holiday as a couple...Ryo does not think twice before making chocolates for Minoru. That's his boyfriend, why wouldn't he do that for him? Minoru has significantly more of a dumbass crisis of "but he's a guy, what are the rules if we're both guys?!" Luckily Takuma (nicely), Kaito (not nicely), and Falcomon (somehow even less nicely) all tell him not to overthink it.

Lowkey think Minoru would have a FEW moments like that in the very beginning. Wanting to do a gentlemanly thing like hold a door open or offer up his jacket only to worry too much about if he's accidentally treating his bf "like a girl." This time Ryo talks some sense into him. He admits that okay yeah maybe it's a little embarrassing, but only because he's not really used to being doted on by someone other than his parents, not because he's offended that his bf loves him and wants to do nice things for him adlkfaj

TLDR: I think they're both insecure little overthinkers who really don't want to do things wrong, but once they get past that they're really not much different as a couple than they were as friends (with the exception that they're a lot more open with each other now and also kith sometimes lmao)

[dreadfutures]

I do get very frustrated with the "how can you tell me to vote for x dem/leftist" and "I'm not going to vote for anyone" takes because like

demonstrably, one side at least entertains the possibility of governmental reform and freedom of speech and anti corruption laws and undoing gerrymandering and voter suppression. another side is adamantly against it and has spent countless millions to make an environment where violent racism and voter suppression and domestic terrorism against minorities is PROMOTED and UNPUNISHED.

during Trump's election I told all my friends after a certain point: "if you vote third party or for Bernie because of principle, knowing that they will not have a chance to become president, or if you sit out, you are saying to me that you are okay with what Trump is saying about Mexicans. You are going to have to look me in the face when the day after the election, a crowd walks through town and chants "go home" to every person who isn't white. You are saying you would rather give up and let it happen than accept that this is what we have to work with in our society as it stands. And if you decide to not vote because you want to keep your moral purity you better sign up immediately to go into policy and change our electoral college, and change how government officials are paid, and to work on anti corruption laws. You have to put in the work somehow to prove to me that you actually want the world to be better, because by putting trump in office you are making it HARDER and MORE DANGEROUS for me to do that activism."

and guess what fucking happened. the day after the election. in my town.

guess whose friends don't do anything but complain on the internet. Who don't call their politicians and who don't donate and who don't volunteer.

by sitting out and for voting against the nominee they said they would rather put trump in the office than to put a stop to white nationalism. they would rather put trump in the office than empower an administration that wouldnt gut the EPA (which by the way got investigated for misuse of funds and embezzlement under trump lmfao). they would rather put trump in office than empower an administration that probably would leave the majority of the state department alone to do effective work across the globe on most issues.

there is no moral choice except to keep that party out, and go leverage the tools we have to push the more malleable party to be better. And you know what, every us president is going to have blood on their hands until the day we dismantle the whole fucking military. None of us are going to live to see that day so we owe it to the future generations to set up a world where that WILL be possible.

WHO actually chased down the big banks? WHO actually chased down sketchy political donations? WHO actually enshrines laws that protect whistleblowers at least in name?

Getting big money out of politics, getting lobbyists out of politics, getting whistleblower protections and getting more independent-thinking government officials who are of minority backgrounds and empowering them to do the work they are experts in -- that is how we change the US society. And that will never happen under a conservative republican government.

Working for a government agency now I hear about how hard it was for good people to get good work and changes made in their jobs, even if it wasn't political at all! Because promoting better workplaces and a safer environment and green energy and food security and better infrastructure and better healthcare is all, apparently, Political. People were moved, fired, hushed up, and replaced with stooges during the last presidency. On the ground levels of government where people are really trying to make a difference.. And now they are ABLE to do the good work bc this administration is a) more inclined to want those things and b) is more inclined to keep its nose out of that, since they actually tend to respect the hierarchy of government.

If you DONT vote, or if you vote third party, the statistics and history show that we will end up with increasingly fascist and hostile government from top to bottom, that is NOT malleable to public opinion in any way shape or form.

We live in a terrible fucking world, alright? The rich protect their own interests and old white men protect the Norms and Biases that have kept them in power and kept the world quiet for so long. We don't have a lot to work with but the option to sit back is to allow another monster like Trump and Bush take over, who will UNDO many great improvements normal people have worked so hard to get implemented into policy, get rid of the people YOU WANT to be making policy on the ground, and IMPOSE WORSE POLICIES for everyone.

There is only so fucking much we can do with this fucking mess of a world where the figureheads are all rich buddies at the same country clubs and all of them laugh about arms deals like it's a trade on free and for sale, but like. Demonstrably. Demonstrably the only way to make sure the government gets incrementally better is to keep democrats in office.

And yes if you locally have a democrat up and comer who you like better than your old rep then yeah vote the old bastards out of office. But fucking hell literally when you are voting for a president you're voting for a whole administration and ideology about government. And sitting out IS LETTING SOMEONE ELSE'S VOTE FOR FASCISM COUNT MORE THAN YOURS!

Everyone has the potential to be a single issue voter. For a long time it was whether a politician was pro choice or not. Remember? But when the choice is between a Democrat who is prolife and a Republican who is pro life, you can't sit out. Because when the republican is in office, they are more likely to put in judges and officials and policies that will be incredibly restrictively prolife, and the dem is less likely to do that and more likely to leave it up to the states.

like god I hope we get an anti war presidential nominee, I hope we get a pro choice nominee, I hope we get a pro labor nominee, I hope we get someone willing to buck decades and decades of fundraising and lobbying and form their own moral stances but most of all I hope we don't end up with another round of hobbling government agencies, and silencing any and all dissenters and whistleblowers, and putting in even more conservative judges across the country and in the supreme court, and I hope we don't give a green light to fucking fascists everywhere to run rampant and hurt people and promote hatred because we're too busy eating each other alive about moral purity.

I hate the world we live in. I know the most important differences we can make are on the ground, volunteering with each other and doing actions in our communities. But it becomes infinitely harder to do that under certain administrations.

And if you still don't agree then you better fucking get out there on your hands and fucking knees to make the world better.

Yeah it's fucking unfair to ask minorities to do the work. But the other option is what?

Sitting in your internet armchair being angry at people and refusing to act because *they* should do it hasn't done fucking shit in your community. Yeah *they* should be better. That doesn't mean we get a free divine indulgence to let things get worse.

Take breaks? Sure. Tell people to do their own research and growth? Sure. But when it comes to bettering the world and there is a choice to potentially maybe make it better or definitely make it worse you have to act.

[captainimprobable]

Hey Furubacord, I don't know how many of you still follow me or don't have me blocked, but I wanted to talk about what's happening from my POV.

In January, I made a comment about how hard it is living with my parents. Everyone dogpiled on me, said it was my fault bc I'm not doing enough to move out, I should leave the state, I should get another job, and then getting mad when I said I couldn't do those things since I had just gotten out of a depressive episode. They insinuated they'd been talking about how annoying it is when I talked about that for awhile (that and my love life) and I said something rude to them. So I immediately messaged every single person and apologized. I was told it was fine. I was told this would not ruin our friendship. This was a lie. For the next eleven months I was COMPLETELY IGNORED by one person, and barely spoken to at all by a few others. I noticed this but stayed in the discord bc I really like a lot of you and wanted to stay friends with the ones who didn't inexplicably hate me. In September I stopped interacting as much with the Discord, and finally by November I decided to leave. I made a post saying I was leaving, and that I'd like to stay friends with people, and then things just. Got so bad. People IMMEDIATELY started shit talking me in the group, calling me a "colonizer apologist" for reasons I don't get but am assuming it's because I dared to say Israelis shouldn't be murdered either. I woke up the next day to almost every single person in the Discord unfollowing me on all social media, and someone who I had spoken to the night before, who told me they wanted to stay friends, had blocked me. Nobody spoke to me about this. Nobody told me what was going on. I can only assume a bunch of yall have been talking in DMs about what a bad person I am for awhile, and you convinced each other to drop me. Do you know how much it hurts to lose like ten people at once? People who you thought you were close to? For reasons they never explained? Do you know what a blow to self esteem it is to realize that your friends have been talking shit about you for possibly months, and were just waiting for you to leave so they could officially drop you? Idk if you dropped me bc of what happened in January or bc you assume I'm anti Palestinian (which I never once said???? And was pretty clear about???????) but either way it was hurtful and honestly immature, especially in the case of the people who promised we would stay friends. Idk if this will get back to yall and even if it does you'll probably talk amongst yourselves about how right you were to leave me, what a pain I am, and how much better you are than me bc your activism looks a little bit different from mine. Do you feel better now? Now that I'm no longer annoying you with my personality or pissing you off for caring about dead Jews? Thanks for four entire years of what turned out to be a complete lie. The only reason I don't think I wasted my time there is because I still have a few friends in the server who I love dearly and who didn't randomly drop me (thanks you guys). I figured out I was nonbinary and a lesbian in this server. I met a few of you in person. I gave a lot of you advice. I thought of some of you as my younger siblings. But message received. I'm out of your lives now. Thanks for doing it in the worst way possible. Hope you feel great about yourselves. Bye ig.

[ninepentz]

**SOLVED**

Update at the bottom

22yo Yohanes Kidane has went missing.

What we know so far is that yohanes took an uber from San Jose to San Francisco to "meet a friend". His uber ride was successful and everything was fine with that, he had apparently arrived at his destination. His sister said she checked his location at around 8 pm and found he was at the San Francisco Bridge which she thought nothing of. The next day/morning she noticed his location showed that he was still at the same exact location. Later on in the day, his location was seen moving to which his family tried to contact him from that point. A stranger had picked up the phone and said they found his belongings and were just returning them to the welcome center. He was officially reported missing at 2:45pm, August 15th. As of today he has still not been found and they say there is no evidence of suspicious activity.

What I want to do is see what the charts can tell us about his possible location and what happened that night. We have 3 different times and charts to look at so it should be good, we have a lot of information to dissect. Let's hope we can find yohanes 💜

August 14, 7:15pm chart.

So by looking at this last seen chart alone, let's see what we can find out.

The ascendant (victim) is opposite the 7H moon:

This is interesting. I don't think this was just a friend, I believe he could of been on a date possibly with the 7th house here.

5th house gemini:

If he was with a friend, then their intention would of been to have fun and explore the golden gate bridge since it is an iconic historical place. The 5th house, which is pleasure, joy, recreation, entertainment is in gemini. So our curiosity, intellectual pursuits, knowledge/truth, experiences. It could of also been somewhat of a childlike curiosity to a dangerous extent bc he was definitely young and not from California. He had just very recently moved there from New York, so this could of been his 1st time visit. I'm not sure how busy it is at the Golden gate bridge welcome center at 8pm, on the website it says they're closed at 6pm. So not sure if he was there after hours or what, I just know during active hours they can be pretty busy/chaotic. There's a bunch of cars/traffic, variety of people/vistors/tourists/families etc, lots of things to do, so it's easy to be overwhelmed by everything going on there.

Jupiter square the asc:

He could have done something in excess possibly, maybe he is located far from where he's expected to be. Maybe something foreign and unexpected/untypical happened to him.

Mars sesquiquadrate the asc:

Idk why but I get the feeling he could of been under the influence, maybe smoking/drinking. Mars in hard aspect to the ascendant would be brash decisions, being to heavy on their feet, clumsy, impulsive, abrasive, excessively confident.

Even tho I don't think this is something he would do based on what we know about him and his past. If that's not the case maybe whatever happened to him was quick, harsh, forceful/painful, basically anything but soft or gentle.

Pluto conjunct ascendant:

It would of been very visible to others that he was a influential individual, maybe he was intimidating, powerful looking, deep, he could of also been eerily quiet at some points. Like his presence was felt strongly to those surrounding him.

He could of also seemed very naive tho at the same time since I just noticed that pluto is in the 12th house. Maybe this power and influence was hidden/dimmed in some way.

7H Moon opposite 12H pluto:

Maybe he was feeling very unstable at this time, like one second he was feeling safe, good, comfortable, in a familiar environment but then all of sudden he would be paranoid, hyper aware, afraid, suspicious etc. He could of felt like he was having some kind of psychosis, derealization.

I have my natal pluto in the 12h also conjunct my ascendant so I understand that feeling very much.

Something interesting is that with pluto on the ascendant and with moon opp pluto it seems like this could have a lot to do with assets, power, extracting resources from something/someone but all of his belongings were found. A backpack with his personal paperwork, 2 laptops, wallet. So if all of his belongings were found, it would be only him who went missing..

Let's not get too ahead ourselves bc this was at the point when he was seen leaving in the uber. Let's check out the 8pm chart.

Wow...looks like a lot has changed since he left in the uber at 7:15pm.

Moon in the 6th house:

So the moon was in the 7th house at 7:15, meaning that he was definitely with someone at this time where it was mutual/give-take type of relationship. Could explain basically the whole uber situation "ride sharing" to now at 8pm at the Golden gate bridge. It's possible that he needed help at this time, the 6th house to me is our health, so I wonder if he was hurt already at this moment. Either he needed help or someone was asking him for help. He could of been at aid of someone else or looking for some himself.

The moon can actually tell us a lot about the current situation, in a crazy deep way. To me this one is very important.

So leo moon in the 6th house could explain that maybe he was trying to have fun and medicate himself? Maybe he wanted to be seen in a good light, could stem from anxiety, perfectionism, wanting validation. Medicating was his way of getting his nerves under control and to get him to feel how he wanted to feel in that moment. He was seeking some attention/affection/admiration, maybe even just needed someone to acknowledge everything he's done. It's like sometimes all you need is to hear is that you're doing well, or some words of encouragement. Some people don't get enough reassurance, so it makes them feel somewhat insecure and unstable. He could of also wanted some kind of feedback, advice, someone who can solve a problem he had.

Sun opposite asc:

Maybe he could of been somewhat egotistical, swinging between wanting to be self-assured, bold, presentable, to needing others to ground him, validate him, soothe him. Maybe at some points he wanted to be alone but then he suddenly wanted company and to socialize. This may be a very important point in the chart bc the sun is exactly opposing the asc both at 22° so that confirms that this is a significant aspect. He could have been having trouble being perceived, he felt at odds/disconnected with his appearance vs. center core self. He could of felt somewhat chaotic or unorganized.

I'm curious who this friend was that he went to go see and if they can confirm that they were possibly doing dr*gs bc that's what this chart seems like to me. From what we know about this case, there is no information about the friend and who he went to meet that night. No follow up about that person or anything. The police must know something we don't, they don't wanna reveal all the information yet or maybe in the process of getting it.

Venus opposite asc:

Maybe he was unaware or not in control of how he was being perceived. Bc venus is the ruler of libra which is our partnerships and relationships, aspecting the ascendant would be the way we show up for ourselves and others in a presentable, respectful, thoughtful, pleasing way. With venus opp asc maybe he was getting somewhat sloppy and losing his "grace" if that's the right word. Basically he was just becoming someone who was unpleasant to be around or he would swing between self interested, selfish to trying to please others. Since venus is in the 6th house maybe he wanted to seem normal and not intoxicated.

Jupiter in the 3rd conjunct uranus:

It's possible he's a short distance away/nearby. Something very unexpected happened.

UPDATE:

This whole post was unfinished bc at the time (before we knew what happened to yohanes) my mind wasn't super clear and I was unable to read these charts, but we now have an update so I'll finish up the rest of the details later.

They say his death was consistent with murder/suicide.

I remember telling someone in the forensic astrology group on fb (link to that below) that it couldn't have been a suicide bc he had so much going for him with his new job at netflix and his accomplishments, but at the end of the day those things aren't as important as who we are with out those things. It doesn't matter how "good" someone has it, there's more to life than what the public sees or what we do to stay afloat/survival.

RIP YOHANES KIDANE

I'm so sorry this happened to you..

✨️Nine of Pentacles ✨️

[strqyr]

I think it definitely has to be before Beacon because there is an established age limit of about thirty that one needs to be below so they can inherit the Maiden powers, and Raven has a nineteen year old daughter, so I'm pretty sure she's over the cutoff date. Personally, I think she might've been just at the edge of that cutoff date when she killed the previous spring maiden.

i feel the need to clarify that my "before or after beacon" was in regards to raven attending beacon, not the fall. i definitely phrased it in a confusing way, so my bad lmao

BUT. i love talking about the maidens, so. ages. the unofficial official word is that the cutoff point for becoming the maiden is 30yo. usual graduation age would be 21—though depending on how nitpicky you want to get (and i sure do love to nitpick!), raven does say that they were the perfect age, not the right age, so it's possible with their background that the branwens twins were either younger or older than that, as they just needed to be old enough to look 17, not actually be 17—and with yang being 19, add another year or two bc pregnancy and an assumption that team strq was active after graduation longer than like. a day or a week, and what we end up is raven being about 41, give or take. the spring maiden was said to have ran away "over a decade ago", which taking into account how sneaky the writers can be with their phrasing, i'm assuming means anything from 10-20 years.

so, essentially, it completely tracks that raven would have gotten the powers after she left. it can be a close call depending on how you read "over a decade ago", but it tracks.

however. even outside of crwby treating this a spoiler territory despite it being seemingly revealed in the show already, there's plenty of stuff that makes me go huh, what's this about then? things that don't quite track aka i've spent too many hours thinking about this that i've probably led myself astray but i like to talk so here's a list:

raven taking in the spring maiden in the first place. this is someone who left ozpin's group and wants nothing to do with the war, whether it meant helping ozpin or salem, and then she just. lets a maiden—someone who definitely has a target on their back—stick around? as cinder so helpfully pointed out, wanting no part in the war is a ship that sailed the moment raven chose to harbor a maiden. the only way it makes sense if raven believed salem would come for her eventually anyway, which admittedly could be the case; not sure if the shapeshifting magic alone is enough to put a target on raven's back, but if ozpin made it an additional key to the beacon vault and raven knows it, then it wouldn't really matter if there's a maiden within the tribe as well.

another thing that cinder so helpfully points out is that the bandits recognize the power of a maiden, and as such know not to fight back; raven returned to the tribe and became their leader—exact timing unknown—but according to qrow, just her return was enough to see a rise in the tribe's numbers; he then assumes that spring's arrival would have made amassing a following easier, but if he has kept an eye on the tribe enough to see it grow after raven returned, you'd think he'd notice another surge of followers when spring joined and grow suspicious if it lined up with her disappearance—instead, he gets clued in only after seeing shion, which looked like a rush job happening conveniently just as team rnjr were planning to catch an airship to mistral from there... and we know raven was following qrow around that time, so she would have likely known about said plan.

"She was determined, at first, when she inherited her powers, but the weight of responsibility proved to be too much for the child. She… ran. Abandoned her training, everyone."—does this not sound like raven? i mean, it also sounds like summer, but considering the two are paralleled quite a bit, i think it just adds on; they both couldn't handle the weight of a magical burden, so they left. took different roads but ultimately, they both left.

we also never get the spring maiden's name. ya know, that one thing—besides a photo or something—that could be very useful information to help look for her? even by an off-chance that someone from team rnjr might have run into her—jnr are from mistral / anima, after all—but nope. we've got amber. we've got fria. and then we've got.... the spring maiden. a complete non-character to the point that neither qrow or lionheart have any reaction to vernal, be it of familiarity or recognizing that the powers have changed host.

i don't think this is necessarily proof that raven was the spring maiden before she left—some of this could be explained by ozpin doing some fuckery with the bird thing and raven finding out—but it's enough for me to be a bit suspicious on what's really going on.

[srslyspiderman]

mk so i had this FREAKY dream about Webster(spidersona) and Miguel. but the thing is Webster and Miles are pretty similar in comparison since Webster is just me.. and im similar to Miles,, so... yeah!! so im thinking.. how about i take this as an opportunity to right a freaky ass fic or smth based off that? well ur opinion doesn't matter bc HERE WE GO!!! In 1st person bc it's the only way I can write. :')

— — — woah, the mans a vamp?! — — —

I had always wanted to be apart of the Spider-Society, I always loved the idea of being.. "official" and that place was my one-way ticket to that. Being an "official Spider-Man".. what a dream! I was on my way to Miguel's office-like place and honestly the walk wasn't so bad, I had already gotten my own watch.. well wristband; this way I wouldn't glitch out and die or.. something like that! Once I got there he was lowering himself down on a platform of some sort but he didn't say a word, it was pure silence the entire time.. I had to break it, I had to say SOMETHING.

"So..how's it going big guy? You're awfully quiet," I started, he didn't have anything to say he was just tapping on some holograms doing some lame junk that I couldn't care for so I continued talking "I was thinking... I could be apart of the Spider-Society! I'm pretty helpful in my universe and I think I could be preeeettttyy useful here too!" I don't remember what I said after but I just couldn't stop blabbing at the mouth and I'm sure he said something but I couldnt hear him over how excited I was, I was so lost in my own words I hadn't heard a single word he said to me. He talks to low anyway so..not my fault! However, I guess that made him think I was ignoring him.. which didn't make him the happiest of people. Before I knew it he lunged at me and was pressing me against a wall, he arm pressing against my throat.

"COULD YOU STOP TALKING? YOU'RE VOICE IS SO SICKENING TO LISTEN TO. YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT?" his fangs retracted which honestly scared me, but IM SPIDERMAN. I'd be okay and bounce back up again, those dumb fangs couldn't possibly do a numher on me. Either way.. he couldn't hurt someone who's important, right?

"Hey man, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings I just thought maybe I could help-" He didn't like the fact I kept mentioning helping him, I could tell by the way he was just.. LOOKING at me. Like he wanted to kill me.

"Look kid, I don't need your help. I don't need any of the spider-people here but I can't wipe them all out because people all across the multiverse would drop like flies. Trust me, if I could I would've done it a while ago." Honestly I thought he was playing the role of a tough guy so I wanted to lighten the mood.

"Come onnn, why so sour? You and me could be a team! Check this out; Miguel O'Hairy-Legs and his amazingly charming side-kick, Webster! I could be like your kid, it'd-" He lifted me up into the air for just a moment and slammed me down onto the ground. I think I felt the floor break underneath me. I let out a groan and looked up at him.

"You aren't MY kid. You're just a random kid who just so happened to get some fucking powers, and you'll NEVER be anything more than that. A KID IN A SPIDER COSTUME. A FANBOY PLAYING DRESS-UP." I could see the spit coming out of his mouth, it was disgusting but it was all I could focus on with the amount of pain that was flowing through me from when he slammed me down. "Look, you're gonna go back home and live your life. And you won't be seeing anyone again, no Hobie. No Gwen. Not even Miles. You got it?"

"psh, who's gonna stop me? You're too busy cooped up in your office doing your lame work. You're just like a dad but.. without a k-" I think that's what really got to him, well, I know that's what got to him since before I could even finish my sentence I felt a sharp pain in my neck. My eyes widened as I lifted my hand up slowly but I felt a grip tighten around my wrist and lower it down with force. Miguel wasn't infront of me anymore.. he was to my side, biting down on my neck. The room was quiet like before, the silence that was so unbarable to sit through returned it also seemed to be dimming around me as I tried to push him off me but it didn't matter at that point, my entire body weakened and then everything just went black.

BOOM THE END 😱😱

[apothecarywormcrud]

Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go? & Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like? for any f/o u want :]

ty anon >:] this is for griddle and law bc theyre the Worst At It Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?

genuinely i have no idea. it definitely uhhhh. it Went. if you say anything to imply theyre dating theyll be like are you on fucking crack. is that what this is. your crack hallucinations. its not gay to stand in front of another guy with your sword out to protect them from harm thats a completely normal thing to do for all your bros (this is true for law. griddle is not beating The Allegations) i guess. as i have things written its. a series of tentative hand-touches over the course of several weeks and then both of them going hey can we uhhhhhhh discuss the elephant in the room bc its making us both very stupid. they have the elephant discussion on top of the Actual Elephant, as is appropriate. it goes as well as any relationship-oriented conversation can go between two people w/ gold medals in the repression olympics and mostly culminates in "maybe lets hold off on getting Attached until after we've gone and successfully completed this other Very Dangerous Mission That Might Kill Us" but jokes on them theyve already failed step 1 and its only gonna get worse from there. law has, in fact, been failing step 1 for pretty much his entire life. dude has no less than 20 people (or more!) that he would throw himself onto a sword for so i dont think adding another one to that list is gnna change much. i love idiots.

Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?

yeah they went to dressrosa nd had a great time bleeding out on a hill together <3 held hands nd everything it was great i don't think either of them know how dates work. law thinks "go on a really long walk" counts as a date and frankly he is correct. griddle doesn't see the point of going on a date with someone they hang out with all the time anyways. if you forced them into a romantic candlelit dinner they would both combust from indignance and also because theyre gay. THAT BEING SAID i have a really funny side arc ft. Love Island which is a thing i made up solely for the Bit and also to serve as the Gay Torment Nexus. v popular romantic getaway slash honeymoon location run by a guy named Mr. Cupid who has a shady reputation for meddling with people's emotions due to his devilfruit but actually he's just the worlds best couple's counselor. really great resteraunts. honestly not a bad place to stop for shore leave provided you can stand the Themed Decor. against their wishes, griddle nd law have an Ok Time in between retching into the bushes. possibly they also accidentally get married for like. 5 minutes. maybe this isnt first date material anymore. it's a thing that happens at some point, anyways.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

I can't remember if you've said it before, but are there specific reasons behind Akari's team in oop? Typhlosion because that's her starter, but why slyveon and an alpha luxray? And is there a reason behind her starter choice? I think the way people choose the mc's team is interesting, and yours seems like it might have been planned out, given that you specified she only has three because she's a researcher more than a battler. P.s. I hope Rei keeps that porygon, it seems so eager, like it wants to be useful really badly! I liked that the reasoning behind its inclusion was because it's from the future and is used to humans instructing it in battle. I found that very nice world building and a clever solution to Rei's dilemma

oh this is a good question!! yes i have thought about it!! and actually this is sort of tangentially related to the other topic abt competency levels.

what i mean to say is like, akari is a modern trainer with modern trainer knowledge, but she's not, like... a pro. she's not choosing for strategy. in hisui she's really going through what a kid on their gym challenge goes through, in building up her first team and all, except akari also is, like you said, doing research more than battles, so she keeps her slots freed up for the pokemon she's researching.

and on that subject, luxray and sylveon actually are (or were, really, they're now official Permanent Team Members) long-term research subjects. both of them are intentionally ones you can pick up very early on, because that's the time when she would have been properly building up her team, and by the later areas she already had it set.

sylveon is here because eevee has these super funky evolution patterns, and laventon was like, ok, new idea, try to NOT evolve this one and let's see what happens. so she kept it on her team but avoided exposing it to anything like a stone that would trigger one of the known evolutions. and then it stayed with her team through the fieldlands and part of the mirelands questline (i haven't fully settled yet on where it evolved exactly, i mean it could have been anywhere really given how much grinding the game lets you do purely via research, but i think it was maybe the fortunes battle?) and then wow! surprise fairy type!

and laventon went WHAT IS THAT, because sylveon are exceptionally rare in the wild and really require a trainer bond to appear. although pla merged the requirements mechanically, psychologically it's a different sort of "friendship" to the kind that they form with another pokemon or a more hands-off partner like the clan leaders.* so she kept it to study how it performed in battle. and also because she loves it lots and lots. (*out of universe, i think sylveon is also apt because it contrasts with the teams of eeveelutions the leaders have in their later fights, notably neither of which include a sylveon.)

luxray, otoh—and here i was sort of kicking myself for a while for not making it kricketune, because that would have been such a nice canon plotline tie-in, but kricketune's pla moveset is also actual ass so it's probably a good thing i didn't—but luxray is the first alpha akari ever caught. and, quite possibly, the first alpha anyone had ever managed to tame at that point. (er. anyone in the galaxy team. they did not know about ingo then.) she caught it as that luxio you find on the way to floaro gardens, by being very sneaky and also very lucky—she went after it half because it was an alpha and they wanted an alpha specimen, and also in hopes of helping zisu out, bc she was worried about having that alpha so close to jubilife but couldn't take it on herself. (cyllene was mad at akari for A While for taking that risk, altho very quietly.)

then akari kept luxio because lav wanted to see more of how the alpha phenomenon affects pokemon beyond augmenting the physical size and strength, and what of those effects persist after the red-eye frenzy dissipates, for example, they know moves they don't learn in the wild! what's up with that?? and alphas are very likely to respect and like the people who catch them, and irida sort of hints at why in ch11- being frenzied is an awful, terrifying experience, and they know that the person who caught or battled them into submission was the reason they're free from it. if you let a pokemon go after defrenzying it, it'll forget fairly quickly, but since akari kept luxio on her team, it instead formed a trainer bond with her. and it was a beast when she caught it, and that hasn't really changed, it's her strongest physical attacker. it evolved first out of the group, i think.

as for cyndaquil... honestly, out of universe, this was mostly process of elimination. cyllene already has oshawott for the swordsmanship thing, and lav has rowlet on a vibes basis. in universe, i think cyllene also picked up oshawott as a partner before akari got there, since it's now a dewott and evolution doesn't happen in a day (unless you are a protagonist going apeshit on dex tasks, but this is not really canon progression, it's slower than that in reality.)

akari's real reason for picking cyndaquil specifically, tho, was probably mostly empathy, bc unevolved cynadquil are lil balls of needles and shyness, and she was sort of like, y'know i'm also very scared of The World and want to curl in a ball and shoot flames at people. i think laventon offered her a partner more as insurance for her first ever outing than imagining it would be her permanent forever partner, but for the aforementioned reasons they bonded super fast and now are inseparable.

cyndaquil's evolutions are another thing i haven't 100% settled on, but i think they happened at important canon moments—the fight with kleavor for the first, and then... i'm not sure about the second. it could've been lilligant, i suppose, but i could also see it happening at some later point to space them out a bit more. (i could even see it happening during the ingo fight, lmao, altho probably more for some future fic than as going canon.)

...oh god that got long. oops. uh. yeah you could say i've Thought About It. re: the rest of your ask lol, yeah i also really love porygon!! i'm not gonna ramble on bc this post is too long already and you basically hit everything i would say already, but YEAH i think their inclusion/existence in pla is really fascinating and they make for fun characters. so. yes! porygon is gonna be a going thing!

[daz4i]

oh wait btw another life update (talk of medical shit under the cut) (it's not too graphic or anything but jic) (it's not good tho) (and it's p long)

so 🥲 if you saw my post abt it. i did like a pre-test thing, to see if i even can do a certain test, and that. did not work. so i can't do this test i was prescribed to see if i have crohn's. the doctor gave me like a referral for a stomach mri but due to health insurance stuff they might just say no (bc they normally don't accept it for ppl over 18, unless it's an emergency ig bc i do remember getting one when i was in the hospital to eh) and i'll have to pay a bunch to possibly get another negative answer 😭 not like i have any other options left tho. he did give me some other tests + blood test to see if i have celiac or if there are other signs of some internal inflammation so. ig we'll see.

but the actually extremely bad part is 🥲 he said i mustn't take ibuprofen bc it can harm your intestines esp if you already have a disease there. so. given how that's the only painkiller that actually given me relief. idk how i'm supposed to do even the most basic functioning when my pains get too bad to move (which, esp now due to my heightened stress from the war, happens way more often). i mostly want an official diagnosis for literally anything so i can at least get prescribed smth for the pain alone fr 😭😭😭😭😭

um on a more positive note. my recovery program thingie was approved! starts next week. social worker coming over on wednesday. and. i am very stressed. bc i don't feel ready yet. and the idea that now i can't even take any painkiller means i don't quite know how i'm supposed to start doing the whole functioning thing (mainly they really want me to start going outside i think, esp on my own which i. can't. but i mean ig that's what they're there for. i just hope they don't get tired of me esp since i'm not in therapy) while in excruciating pain. so good fucking luck to me lmao 💔

[uselessheretic]

These takes about what's racist that end up being racist themselves also continue to. Overlook how blatant the show's writing is about racism. Every time they present an action or character as racist it gets called out textually and thwarted in short order and they're consistently good at keeping racism to these instances. In part bc the writing room and cast is very diverse themselves. If Izzy was meant to be a stand in for colonialism we'd KNOW the characters would KNOW and it'd be a stated reason they'd move against him... this isn't the kind of show where that'd slip through the cracks or be obfuscated it'd be right there in the text.

And also reducing a character's actions and motivations to their race and their race only is ??? Racist lmao if everything Ed does and says is bc he's a poc (and it's always this general term, possibly to cover up that they're looking at this like he's Black and specifically Black American and not Māori. Shoving every single poc into the experiences of Black Americans is shockingly also racist) and not an intersection of whatever brands of brain weird, his class, his position as a pirate, his personality, every single other thing that makes Ed Ed along with his race it's weird! It's a weird way to read a text!

the show is just...... not subtle about racism. there isn't any gray area and there aren't any characters who are racist that we're supposed to sympathize with. the closest we get to that is black pete and stede saying a microaggression to the indigenous tribe in ep 2 which is immediately called out and corrected. the way the show portrays racism is often thru poc being able to reclaim power and subverting white supremacy. the writers of color were also explicit that they dont want to portray racial trauma as a driving character trait! blackbeard was also written before taika was officially casted (altho ik jenkins said he wanted to have taika play him) but i'm pretty sure a bulk of his initial writing would've been done with the character written aracially (he is not aracial, btw)

that and we also know that taika doesn't like having his writing or characters boiled down just to their race. he's talked about this before where he wants to write stories with māori characters that aren't centered on super serious interrogations of their identity. not erasing their māori heritage, but that it was alienating for him growing up and only seeing certain depictions on screen. also... idt there's any māori writers on the team. like i just don't think there's going to be a super in depth deep dive into ed's racial trauma unless there was representation of that in the writers room. jenkins and taika are both pretty good with that (i mean reservation dogs has an all indigenous writers room! we just gotta get some black natives in there too now lol....)

anyways, i do feel like there's a tendency for people to center their reading of ed, and the other characters of color as well, through a lens of an american view. which just happens to most often be a black american view. either that or people applying an indigenous american reading to ed's character and not actually. looking anything else up. which does a disservice imho like even to the other black characters who are all likely from different regions and experiences and therefore have different interactions with race. like frenchie, who's biracial and presumably had been "in service" in parts of europe has a completely different lived reality than oluwande, whos likely of the african diaspora and seems less familiar with majority white spaces. (these are guesses ofc)

shrugs idk it's just weird i feel like people put very little effort into trying to look into other experiences than what they're familiar with. which is an issue across fandom as a whole and something i think white fans and fans of color are both guilty of. i feel like a big part of it is a very american-centric view tbh (the continual shock and confusion from the brits at "olu is an offensive nickname" lol) which i am also american and need to work on my own biases and assumptions.

i want to be careful to not seem like i'm pushing blames onto fans of color or anything like that, but i also think it's necessary for us, as poc, to continue to challenge ourselves as well. there's a tendency in fandom to relate our analysis through a personal lens exclusively when that doesn't always cut it. when it comes to topics of identities separate from our own, we should be open to feedback to ensure we're not platforming misinformation or a limited view.

but there's soooo much rich and good diversity in ofmd that covers a wide range of identities that it feels like a shame to flatten them into a one size fits all reading. a great part of representation in media is that it exposes you to narratives you may not have been familiar with before, and ofmd offers a chance to engage with them on a deeper level!