#if i keep being sad about the AI it's only a matter of time before i write something really long and sappy about fucking. gamma and wyoming

[major-comet]

i’m (mostly) content with not knowing the names of a decent chunk of the freelancers. a little mystery can be a good thing, and i think some questions are okay to be left unanswered. doesn’t bother me that much. (although it would be really funny if burnie decided to retroactively give a bunch of them names on twitter or something now that the show is over. "oh btw guys, maine's name was craig")

but sometimes. sometimes i think about how when tex finds york in out of mind and calls him york, he says that he hasn't been called that in a really long time.

which implies to me that while they were alone, he was able to get delta to start calling him by his real name - something delta would not repeat where anyone else could hear, not even after york’s death.

when do you think delta said his name for the first time?

was it at york’s coaxing? was he actively trying to get him to do it - assuring him that it was okay, that he wouldn't get in trouble? was it something he worked at for ages in the hopes of it bringing them even closer? trying to prove they could still work outside the context of the project? that they would be okay?

or was it a spur of the moment decision on delta’s part? maybe said in a moment of panic after an injury, worry overshadowing everything else and feeling a need for something stronger to call him, something with a greater impact? was it a loud exclamation in a passionate heated moment - or perhaps said quietly in a gentle one, whispered softly into the night like lovers do. it’s part of what makes us human, delta.

actually, maybe it's okay we don't know york's name. maybe some things aren't for us to hear.

[korebringerofded]

You Can Hear it in the Silence- Part 1

Roronora Zoro X F!Reader

Summary- A handful of moments, Zoro realizes he has feelings for you, you realize you have feelings for him, tension tensionnnn Warnings- Future smut, adult content, sexual tension? Romantic feelings? Crack fic energy, lots of fluff and pining. Usopp being personally victimized by Zoro, emotionally unaware and distant Zoro, Reader wears a dress? Strawhat!Reader

A/N- I ask that you read my rules before going any further on my page. Reblogs, likes, and comments are always appreciated and keep me going All requests are always open and you can find my entire masterlist here. Please do not copy, use my work, or put it through AI without my permission or I'll be really sad about it!!

A/N- Hope you enjoy! This was supposed to be an imagine buttttt now its a multi-part fic, sorry for no posts. Its mental illness aint it. Reblogs, likes, and comments are always appreciated and keep me going All requests are open and you can find my entire masterlist here

Roronora Zoro was not the kind of person who would often find himself discomposed, he was undeniably brave and headstrong, sometimes to a fault. 

He was practically a one-man army, him being a ruthless pirate hunter turned pirate meant he had seen countless battles, faced many challenges.

So far, only two things could really cause that stoic image to falter, losing a fight, and you.

From the very first day that Monkey D. Luffy dragged you aboard the Going Merry, Zoro had taken notice of you. His sharp eyes followed you closely, taking in the curve of your pretty lips and the flutter of your lashes. It started as a simple interest, a curiosity for the newest crewmate, that was all. 

At least, that is what the renowned swordsman told himself.

For the first few months of you being aboard, Zoro had believed he had been successful at ignoring the blossom of warmth he had started to feel towards his new crewmate. He had convinced himself it was truly nothing more than a friendly interest. 

That was all, just a friendly and completely platonic interest in you.

You, who had a habit of wearing short dresses when it was a particularly hot day, skirts edge swaying at your thighs as you moved around the ship. 

You, whose warmth and kindness made Zoro’s skin crawl and his chest ache in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar way.

You, whose sweet and musical laugh would play on repeat in Zoro’s mind like a siren’s song, no matter how hard he tried to stop it.

You, who would spend entirely too much time with that damn cook. 

Not that Zoro cared, of course he didn’t care.

He cared, he cared a lot.

It was dinnertime, the sun setting over the shore while everyone was settling into their normal routines as the salty breeze blew along the deck. The entire crew sat around the dining table eating and conversing as they did nearly every evening. Nami, Sanji and Chopper sat next to you on one side of the table while Luffy, Usopp and Zoro sat on the other.

Luffy was talking to Usopp who sat at the other end of the dinning table, his voice loud as he shoved an absorbent amount of food into his face, his face pushed out like a chipmunk  with chubby cheeks full of acorns.

“L-Luffy! Be careful, you’re gonna choke!” You stammered, watching with wide eyes and a pale face.

“Ah, I wouldn’t worry so much about him. I’ve seen Luffy eat 12 whole roasted chickens in a row before.” Nami said with a sigh as she patted you on the shoulder.

“What about the bones?” You asked

“Oh yeah, he ate those too. I’m not even sure he noticed he did it.” Nami said.

“I rike food, is that suwch a crime?!” Luffy asked with a huff as his teeth tore into the juicy meat of a chicken leg, the grease coating his face and the food muffling his complaints. 

That sent everyone at the table into a fit of laughter, except for Zoro, who was sitting directly across from you at the table and was entirely too distracted staring directly at you to even notice the rest of the crew,

He had an almost unreadable expression on his face, his jaw tight. His body was tense, heart beating rapidly in his chest, like the echoing beat of a drum. Zoro’s eyes never left you, they followed the way your chin lifted into the air and your head tilted back as you laughed with your whole body.

He could see the small tears that formed at the corner of your glossy eyes as you laughed so hard it seemed to hurt, curled lashes fluttering as your hand reached up to brush the tears away.

Although he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, even himself,  Roronora Zoro started to live and breathe for those bite-sized moments of your life. He wanted to see everything, experience all of you in every way possible.

Eventually, it got to the point where every thought that ran through Zoro’s brain would somehow descend to thoughts of you, your smile, your laugh, and those fucking eyes that were starting to ruin him.

As was normal aboard the Going Merry, Zoro was working out on the deck, doing countless amounts of reps with an abnormally huge weight, his rippling muscles twitching and sweat forming on his brow as he enjoyed the breeze and the sunshine soaking into his already tanned skin. He passed the weight between each of his arms after each set of reps, making sure each of his arms was properly matched. 

Zoro was training particularly hard today, his bandana tied around his head to catch the sweat from stinging his eyes. He couldn’t help it, he had been distracted for weeks, he had to try and clear his head.

He needed something, anything to take his mind off of his new crewmate, you. 

No matter how hard Zoro tried to avoid you, to ignore you, or be cold towards you…you would appear, and melt away that cold exterior like the onset of spring over a fluffy snow-covered field.

Just as always, as soon as Zoro’s clouded mind started to clear, your voice and presence appeared and sent a spark down the swordsman's spine, his muscles twitching as he glanced over his shoulder to see his only real weakness, you.

“I made some lemonade, you want some?” You asked in a honeyed tone.

Zoro’s eyes immediately scanned down to take in your outfit, gritting his teeth to contain the audible groan that threatened to escape his mouth. You were wearing a rather short dress, the brightly colored skirt swaying in the breeze as you held a tray with a glass pitcher full of lemonade and a few glasses on it.

“Damn…why do you have to be so cute?”

“That damn cook didn’t touch it, right? I think he's trying to poison me.” Zoro grumbled, only half-joking. 

You giggled softly, looking up at him as you quickly shook your head back and forth. You sat the tray down on a small table off to the side of the deck, bending over just a bit to pour Zoro a full glass of the lemonade.

Zoro couldn’t help it, his eyes wandered down the curve of your back to your round hips, his hand clenching around the dumbbell in his hand as he saw the skirt of your dress ride up the back of your plump thighs as you bent down.

“Nope. I made it myself, it’s definitely poison-free.” You said with a toothy grin, standing back up as you offered him the cup, the ice clinking against the sides of the frosty glass.

“Hm.” Zoro smirked. “We’ll see about that.” 

You giggled softly, still holding the glass out for him to take.

Zoro didn’t even realize what he was doing, your presence alone was like a bucket of ice water that short-circuited his brain. All rationality left his mind the moment he laid his eyes on your pretty face. 

For a split second, you could have sworn you caught his eyes flickering down to your thighs as the edge of your dress fluttered in the salty ocean breeze.

“That was just my imagination, right?” You thought to yourself, your heart starting to thunder in your chest like an approaching storm.

Zoro didn’t notice the weight starting to slip from his hands and without really thinking about it, he took another step forward. His sharp eyes were staring intensely into yours as his free hand reached to take the glass you had offered him, your fingers brushing against his calloused ones for just a moment before…complete chaos.

SMASHH-CRACK

It was a splintering, echoing sound, the ship trembling back and forth at the sudden impact.

Usopp was pale as he rushed over and stared down at the weight sticking half-out of the deck and tottering back and forth between you and Zoro.

Ussopp stepped around the weight with his arms flying up around him wildly as he tried to get out actual words. He was puffing out air as his face turned red.

“WHAT…THE…HELL?!” Usopp managed to stammer as he looked up at Zoro with a perplexed look on his face.

“Uhm…sorry.” Zoro mumbled in a hoarse voice, clearing his throat with a cough, though his cold, sharp eyes never left yours.

“Is that all you have to say? Now I have to fix this!” Usopp huffed, his face red in frustration as he threw his arms up one final time and he ran off to the storage room to get some tools and supplies. 

Usopp ran off, his body slumped over as he mumbled curses and complaints under his breath. 

As Usopp left, Zoro’s eyes wandered from the weight sticking out of the splintered wood and then back to your beautiful eyes. 

He was sure he would die of embarrassment then and there, your eyes were wide and you were looking up at him with a shocked expression on your face. 

He was certain you would tease him, absolutely positive you would…but instead, he saw admiration in those big, beautiful eyes. You were honestly too awestruck to even notice Usopp's ramblings or to care about the damaged deck.

“Do you lift those everyday?” You asked, taking another step closer to him. 

“Oh..yeah…” Zoro answered, his mouth suddenly going dry. 

“That's…incredible. What do those even weigh?!” You asked, eyes glossy.

“Um…I have no idea. I think…1000 pounds, maybe?” Zoro chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin creeping up on his face.

Your eyes widened as you stared up at the swordsman, his chest was wide and littered in twitching muscles and pale scars from his many adventures. He had been training for a while and his tan skin was glossy with beads of sweat that rolled down to his rippling abs. Your eyes couldn’t help but follow the beads of sweat until they rolled down to his curly green happy trail.

Yeah, after that you were completely and totally head over heels for Roronoa Zoro, not that you could ever tell him.

 Preview to part 2

“I can’t do this.” Zoro shook his head, shooting a glare at Nami. 

“Yes, you can.” Usopp said with a chuckle. “She is totally into you!” 

“Usopp is right, she is absolutely into you.” Nami nodded, hands on her hips. 

“Why is he here, anyways?” Zoro grumbled in a whisper, pointing his thumb in Usopp’s direction with a look of disgust. 

“Hey! I’m great at romance!” Usopp scoffed with a look of offense.

“This is going to go so badly.” Zoro said in a low voice, almost at a whisper as he started to rub his face with his hands, back slumped.

“All you have to do is ask her to spend the evening with you.” Nami said, one of her eyes twitching slightly. 

“And if she says no?” Zoro retorted. 

“She won’t! Now stop being such a coward!” Nami snapped, giving Zoro a slight shove towards the steps leading up to the main deck of the ship. 

Zoro glanced over his shoulder to see Nami and Usopp each of them giving him two thumbs up before turning back towards the steps with an audible groan before he started up the stairs.

“Why did I agree to letting these idiots help?” 

“I am not doing this. No way.” 

Zoro’s thoughts came to a complete standstill as he made his way to the top of the stairs and to the main deck. It was like the unshakeable man had been struck by a great bolt of lighting at the very sight of you. His calloused hand was wrapped so tightly around the banister that the wood trembled under his grip, sure to shatter to splinters if the pressure kept up. 

You were splayed out on the deck of the Going Merry, the afternoon sun shimmering down in bright rays of light and dancing over the surface of the freshly washed deck and your incredibly tempting skin. 

Your hair was fluttering behind you as you lay in the sun and thoughtfully flipped through one of your favorite books, laying on your stomach and kicking your feet absent-mindedly. You had on one of those absolutely maddening dresses, they always had an effect on him but that dress drove Zoro’s mind to recesses of his mind he never thought existed. 

He really couldn’t help it as his eyes flickered over your body, slowing as he scanned over the round curve of your ass and the plush skin of your thighs. It all was starting to make his head spin and his dick twitch uncomfortably under his clothes. 

Zoro was so caught up in subconsciously memorizing the shape of your body that he didn’t even notice you had looked up at him, the book still laying open in front of you. You both just stared at each other for a moment before you eventually spoke. 

“Did you need something?”

Part 2 Coming Soon

[deathbxnny]

helloo, platonic aventurine, sunday and jing yuan with a teen!reader like ai hoshino?

(reader is a talented and captivating idol/singer, but outside of their idol persona they are sort of empty, trying to understand love and often doing self-destructive things while doing so)

Hey there, Anon! Thank you for your request, and I'm sorry this took so long! Life sucks as usual, lol. Anyways, I hope you'll like this!<33

Content: Hurt/comfort, angst, platonic relationships, potential mentions of depression and themes surrounding that, sfw

Reader has no set pronouns!!

((Not proofread))

》SUNDAY

Sunday already knew alot about the life of an idol through his own sister being one. But this also meant that he could look right through you with ease. Hiding your true feelings from him was impossible, but that also meant that he wouldn't confront you about it immideately. He simply observes your downfall in this suffocating and fast lifestyle before finally pulling you aside to see what the real issue is.

He sympathises with you deeply, mainly due to your young age and him knowing how hard it is to uphold a perfect appearance all the time. He keeps an eye on you closely, not letting you drown in your self-destructive methods, no matter how hard you fight him on the matter. He knows there is only just so much you can take before you break completely, after all.

Sunday eventually forces you to take a break from everything, where he takes you under his wing and essentially nurses you back into a healthy mental space. Whether he uses his abilities or not is really up to how well you respond to this, but he won't let you return to your life as an idol until he's convinced of your improvement.

》AVENTURINE

Aventurine could also easily see through your facade, mainly because, in a way, he very much related to you. You were young, forced into this fast life as an idol that seemed to only spiral downwards until you were barely able to keep up your perfectly strained smile. He understood you. He really did, which is why he wanted to help you in the first place. But he knew it wouldn't be an easy task at all.

You were hellbent on concealing your self-destructive ways, the question of what truly meant and felt like always hanging over your head, heavy on your young shoulders. He'd reach his hand out for you, offering to help you out of this hole life has unfairly dug for you, promising that it won't hurt your idol life. Unless escaping is what you wanted.

He becomes somewhat of a mentor/big brother figure to you, someone you can come to when the days get too dark and you need a bit of light to guide you back to the exit. He knows that with time, you'd eventually be able to deal with things on your own. But for now, he'll be there for you, just the way he wished someone would've been there for him all those years ago.

》JING YUAN

Jing Yuan is rather sly, yet at the same time, very stern with his approach to your obvious self-destructive demise. He knew from the start that your life as an idol would be plagued with uncertainties and sadness that a young teen like you could never handle on your own for long. But he waits for you to come to him first, like you knew you could. He didn't want to assume wrong and anger you, after all.

He doesn't have to wait for long, however, as you eventually break and come to him with the near ashamed plea of wanting to take a break and get help from everything that has been plaguing your young mind. The life of an idol wasn't easy, and he knew that, which is why he simply obliged and announced to the Luofu that you'd be taking an indefinite break from everything. Your happy-go-lucky attitude had been completely demolished by then, the guilt killing you, and yet he still didn't let you slip through his fingers and sink any further.

It doesn't matter how long it takes. You'll eventually come back to singing in much better health than ever before one way or another, him cheering you on quietly with a content smile from afar.

Alright, Anon... I'm sorry if this isn't good, I've been super busy with everything lately, so I hope this is alright!! Thank you again for the request!!<33

[1800naveen]

Dictatorship (Rhysand's version)

I made a post of Rhysand and Feyre being Donald and Melania Trump in another universe and have called him and the inner circle the definition of Fascism, nobody better not get butthurt over this. If you do, I don't give a fuck.

IF YOU LIKE RHYSAND AND/OR THE INNER CIRCLE, THIS POST IS NOT FOR YOU! LEAVE NOW, I WILL BE SHITTING ON THEM!

Let's start with a definition. What is dictatorship? A dictatorship is a government or a social situation where one person makes all the rules and decisions without input from anyone else. What is a dictator? A dictator is a political person who rules a country with total authority and often in a cruel or brutal way.

Notorious dictators and dictatorships in history are: Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy, Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, Hirohito of Imperial Japan, Pol Pot of the Khmer Rouge, and Mao Zedong of People's Republic of China.

Rhysand is the High Lord of the Night Court and has earned himself a reputation of being a cruel and evil man to the other Courts of Prythian. To others, the Night Court is seen as the Court of Nightmares; a land of cruelty but it's only a cover up to hide Velaris, the city of starlight and where Rhysand truly lives. The existence of Velaris is unknown with the expectation of a few people.

What makes someone a dictator? Google did not give me a clear answer so I had to go on Chat GPT and it gave me this (apologies if you don't like ai): Concentration of power, control over military and security forces, propaganda and censorship, repression and human rights abuse, and economic control. There are three more examples but I picked the ones that relate to Rhysand the most.

Concentration of power: As High Lord, Rhysand is the most powerful person in the Night Court. What he says, goes. His word is law. You can't go against him without facing punishment for it. If you are from Velaris, it doesn't matter because to you, Rhysand is a nice guy and a good ruler. To those in Illyria and Hewn City, he pays no attention to you. He doesn't give a damn about you.

Control over military and security forces: Whenever battle or war is coming, Rhysand goes to the Illyrian warriors and their warbands to aid him. He also has the darkbringers, elite warriors from the Court of Nightmares and are under the leadership of Keir come to his aid when Hybern attacks. Velaris was attacked in ACOMAF and Rhys and the inner circle went to defend their home and people but have they done the same for the Illyrians? Hewn City citizens? To them, the safety of Velaris will always be more important than the other two regions. That's just sad.

Propaganda and censorship: When it comes to making decisions, Rhysand either makes them himself or with the help of the inner circle. They may agree but as the high lord, his authority can never be challenged by them. As it is known to many, Rhysand has a track of using manipulation for his own gain or his court. Because of this, it forged the "the night court is evil" belief and the daemati powers don't make things better. He manipulates Feyre in the first book and makes her his pawn, doing it without her consent. Rhysand keeps many secrets hidden from the other courts which is somewhat normal but there are secrets that are crucial for other courts to know of. The cauldron for example or the book stolen from the summer court. He'll justify it as a way of protection when it's really not. (The pregnancy thing in acosf, cough.) He uses fear and intimidation when he feels it necessary and/or to keep control and it works all the time. An example would be how he acts when he visits Hewn City or the Spring Court.

To the night court, Rhysand is this great hero who sacrificed so much and will do anything for them. Which is true but it only goes for Velaris. To the other courts and Hewn City, Rhysand is as I said before, cruel and evil. The way the inner circle speaks of Rhysand (straight up dick riding), you would think he's one of the best things since sliced bread.

Repression and human rights abuse: What is repression? It's the act of using force to control a group of people and limit their freedom. What group in acotar has limited freedom and/or are controled? You guessed it, Hewn City citizens and Illyrians! What is human rights abuse? Anything that harms a person's rights but in this case, let's go with abuse of rights (since Illyrians aren't human).

The women of Illyria and Hewn city suffer under the system of men. In both regions, it rules under a patriarchal system. The Illyrian women have their wings clipped so that they can be used for breeding purposes and the Hewn women are sold off into marriages, even bidding their virginities. All these women face abuse (either physical, mental, or sexual) and their high lord has done nothing to stop it.

Rhysand knows the pain of sexual abuse and yet, this still happens to the women. "But the library!" HOW THE FUCK ARE HEWN WOMEN GOING TO MAKE IT THERE? HE DOESN'T LET THEM LEAVE, THINKS THEY'RE ALL EVIL, AND THEY DON'T KNOW IT EXISTS?

A woman with Illyrian wings is never mentioned; yes, we don't know if there is one or not but you think that a lady with big bat wings, someone would point it out. You're telling me that I'm getting abused by all the men in my life and there's a haven for women like me but I can't get access to it because I was born in the court of nightmares?

Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Les aristocrates à la lanterne! Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira, Les aristocrates on les pendra!

You may say that Rhysand has to let the Illyrians do their own thing so that they cooperate with him but here's the thing, Rhysand is a daemati. Daemati is the ability to control and infiltrate a person's mind. He could easily go into the minds of the Illyrian men and tell them to stop with the wing clipping and boom, problem solved but he doesn't. The same thing with Hewn men, go into their mind and tell them to stop these arranged marriages and biddings.

But as long as Rhysand needs soldiers and as long as Velaris is at peace, Illyria and Hewn city will suffer for it. The sins of the father if you want to call it. Always an angel (Illyria and Hewn city), never a god (Velaris).

Economic control: What is economic control? It can be seen as a form of abuse as it prevents someone from gaining financial independence. Measures of which governments use to manage and/or their economy.

The Illyrians have it rough. Like rough, rough. They don't live in houses like Velaris or Hewn City citizens. They live in war camps. WAR CAMPS. Their situation is so bad that Cassian handed out blankets. I'm taking a guess and going with the idea that the Illyrians use their money on weapons and training, etc. "Who needs proper housing when we can fight!" I know they make their own money through trade or selling/making clothes but y'all can't afford to make a house?

A lot of the riches in the night court is stored in Velaris but where the hell do they get it from? Their mountains? It will eventually run dry. Trading? Why must the Illyrians live like this and not experience a similar life to Velaris? They don't have to change the entire thing but at least, build them houses or cottages.

Do you know what a war camp looks like in real life?

But this is a fantasy book so it looks like this:

This is not a post to be taken seriously, it's just for fun, I enjoy writing analysis (analyses?) on things I like or hate, no in between.

I am only a woke libtard who doesn't turn off their brain to enjoy a book but instead, will read and analyze/give my critics😔. If only I could act like you booktok girlies who don't bat (get it?) an eye at the weird choices and decisions in the series and who will eat up the very questionable actions of my favorite morally grey man because tattoos, dark hair, shadow daddy, grooming underage girls, committing acts of sexual assault, being abusive and justifying that abuse because tragic backstory, yada yada.

I hold some of my favorite characters accountable for their actions but I don't justify it, it's very easy to do. Yes, they have trauma but it's not an excuse to do what they did.

I am only a teenage girl who loves to hate and act like a hypocritical bitch because what's more fun in life than making grown adults mad because of my unpopular/controversial opinions?

Why are you mad that I'm insulting your "book husband"? It's not my fault your book husband is a POS and that your own husband that you married can't satisfy you so you have to turn to fairy porn and hardcore smut to get rid of your blue balls.

I would like to give thanks to @sonics-atelier for giving me some help and thanks to booktok for unironically making me hate men.

Edit: "You're taking this too seriously!" Number one, I don't care. Number two, I'm a history nerd who once spiraled down a path of learning about dictators. Number three, I'm an American. I know what a dictator looks and acts like, we're going to have one in office for the next four years.

(This has been sitting in my drafts for months and whenever I felt like it, I worked on it.)

[oddygaul]

Her

Wow, turns out everyone saying this movie was good for 10 years was right.

I happened to watch Her in the exact right mood - having spent too much time lately on social media and feeling lonely, angry, and isolated from the world - so it resonated pretty hard with me. Being in that frame of mind, it really hit home just how long Theodore would go without actually talking, face to face, with another real human being. Entire weeks would go by, it seemed, with huge changes having occurred in his life or the lives of others, before he’d cross paths with a friend and get caught up. For all the turmoil we can be going through inside and the drastic shifts we feel like we’re taking, no one else knows what’s going on inside your head if you don’t take the time to connect.

Of course, I understand the idea here is… does that matter? Is it important that he hasn’t spoken with another human, if the person he’s talking to is a perfect simulacra of one? To me, that week, feeling lonely despite having talked mostly on message boards to strangers… I think it matters.

real ones know

In general, putting all the sci-fi conceits and impending singularity aside, I thought interiority and what we choose to let others see about ourselves was the biggest theme of the film, and all of the threads in Her explore it in interesting ways. -Part of me was frustrated at how bad Theodore is at talking about his feelings or explaining his actions, but this emotional unavailability is the crux of his entire character arc: he’s able to flip a switch and pour out a touching, heartfelt missive to a secondhand lover, but clams up the moment he’s asked to explain the inner thoughts he’s dwelling on to a partner. In his final scene, where he writes one last letter to his ex, he finally allows the two halves of himself to join into a whole. -The letters themselves, while largely left in the background, paint an incredibly depressing picture of a whole generation of people unwilling to share their inner thoughts with those they love - or seemingly even themselves, as by entrusting this task to another person, they're refusing to take the time to reflect on their own true feelings. -Samantha’s development as a character is centered around interiority as well. I spent the first half of the movie wondering if her inner thoughts even truly existed, or if she was just having AI hallucinations - then by the end, we realize she’s essentially evolved into a Culture Mind, and is in fact thinking so much that her mind can only be properly stimulated by having thousands of conversations at once.

Speaking of, holy shit I was not expecting the sudden and terribly polite AI transcendence. The media I’ve experienced that ruminates on romantic relationships with artificial life tend to focus on if it’s genuine / valid / socially acceptable from the human’s perspective; it’s a pretty interesting zag to examine the pitfalls of such a romance from the AI’s point of view. Samantha’s frustrations are genuinely well-considered problems, too; her dissatisfaction with her lack of physical form and her mind quickly outstripping Theodore feel more prophetic than contrived. I also found it pretty confident and mature of the movie to sidestep easy potential subplots, like the phone being stolen or the AI uprising becoming the centerpiece, and keep its focus on the emotional implications of the proceedings.

Her actually has a surprising amount of levity, considering

My biggest thought regarding the craft of the movie: the fact that the very premise of Her necessitates the movie largely being Joaquin Phoenix acting alone on the screen for two hours is fucking wild. I watched this movie in headphones as my partner occasionally walked by, and I realized how utterly incomprehensible it would be from her end - without any sound or prior knowledge of what’s going on, visually speaking, 95% of this movie is just a man walking around talking to himself and getting sad sometimes. It’s almost like he’s acting out a one-man rom-com; there’s moments where it feels like he kinda hams it up a bit too much, but like, you kinda have to, right? He has to bring enough physicality to the story all on his own. It’s a role that demands an incredibly unique and specific performance, and I was pretty damn impressed how well he managed it.

The line that’ll stick with me?

“The past is just a story we tell ourselves.”

[shinakazami1]

"Love is stored in (un)familiarity": Rhack snippet based on my TFTBL AU

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58404214

less than 2k words This is a snippet of a bigger AU, at the happiest moment of it :^) but before we get there, it will take quite a bit so, I thought I would post this already!

Rhys' bad tastes and Jack being a sweetheart,,,

===

"Heyyyyyy-- pumpkin?" "Yeah, Jack?" Rhys looked over the kitchen counter, trying to remove a stain from the unwanted Skag guest. "What's the question for the day?" "Oh, well I wanted to ask you what you want for dinner but, if you're so insistent - what's your favorite ice cream flavour?" 

Rhys stared down at the man. The last few 'daily questions' were a bit more stimulating. How he got the prosthetic, what it was like to be an Atlas CEO, had he kept the Jack AI, some heavy stuff in general. This felt like a trap, but one that was most welcome. 

"I don't like ice cream. I like frogurts way more." 

Jack stared back at him, waiting for him to continue. The man's face, frozen solid, was enough for Rhys to know something was up. This state was only a few seconds long but that was still more than wanted. The sudden drift to a salesman's smile was also not a sign of everything being okay.

"OK, if you have such a blast destroying your taste buds, tell me at least what knife you're using. I need to know if I should ever let you cook or not. I feel if you'd try to poison me, you'd actually make me healthier, knowing your-" "Chocolate dill pickle." 

Jack seemed frozen solid for longer than before. But something was... different. This exact scenario happened a few times before already but, every time, it left Rhys a bit on the edge. He could imagine the big hands wrapping around his trachea and snapping it if they wanted to. It felt like a matter of time, even if the man before him hadn't made such a gesture before. The eyes were the key difference. They weren't, like a moment ago, staring through a fog at the world surrounding them. The small shines and the relaxed brows didn't keep Rhys off his guards, but they did make him wait for something.

He didn't expect laughter. Not just any laughter - a whole fit. A maniac, full, from the chest, belly moving, spine bending laugh. Hands flying, from thighs to the forehead, to waving in the air, as the big, loud, manic laughter, continued. It caused Rhys to relax - Jack probably was imagining the taste and while he loved it, Jack probably hated even the mental image of it. Something, about watching this man laugh to such an extent, made the warmth spread in Rhys' chest. It was not perfect but, it was nice. It felt like they were used to this. And - to make that happen, Rhys decided to be more confident and say something more. 

"You can't judge a good frogurt just by some mediocre tastes! Why do you need a vanilla when you have Last Night Midnight? It was a limited edition taste that had ingredients making -" "You're not him!" 

Barely, through a dying laughter, Jack, with the help of a chair he was holding on, got those words out of his mouth. Scared, a bit disappointed, Rhys could only stare at the man as he still fought through the teary cackles. Jack, with his hard-working diaphragm, barely got any words out. 

"It's cus-oh, oh kiddo, oh my god - it's not him! My Rhysie - man! Ah, oh my - - loves some citrus-- Cheesy Lemon Zest--lord! Kiddo, oh God your taste is so shit - - Chocolate Flush the most!" 

Rhys let Jack slowly get out of the torturous laughing tone. The warmth was no longer making him flutter. It felt embarrassing, it felt sad and burning through everything he's done wrong till then. If not for him... 

"You're not him." Jack panted, sweat slowly dropping off his forehead. 

It was true. He was not him . 

And it made Rhys feel stupid for being so happy hearing that.

===

For the rest of the evening, Jack spent the time in the kitchen. The new policy of not sleeping together made Jack quite insomniac but, Rhys felt he shouldn't comment on that at all. It felt like a very important thing for him to do by himself. Still, Rhys couldn't stop being worried for the man. Especially after Rhys wasn't let in the kitchen. 

The first sign was Jack telling him to get busy and just do things around the house. Then, it was him not being allowed to even brew some coffee. After enough pestering, Jack made him some and closed the door, telling Rhys he couldn't come to the kitchen for some time. Thinking it was a bad prank, hungry for a snack, Rhys attempted to get to the kitchen with no fruition, especially since he didn't get the fruit he wanted. Being told 'later, kiddo' and given a banana made him feel like he was back at school but he tried his best to not show how it annoyed him. Jack's comments about poutiness not being the stronger weapon said he sucked at it. 

The worst, however, was the moment Jack smashed the door in his face when he was trying to sneak in and take a slice of the pizza they had for dinner. Annoyed, hungry and tired, through the door, he told Jack if he wanted to cook some pot, the kitchen was the WORST place for that type of cooking. Instead of any of the typical Jack-making remarks Rhys expected to hear, the man opened the door, checked his nose he even forgot he was holding, and gave him a heated-in microwave two pizza slices and soda with three ice cubes. 

Apologies coming from that man's mouth felt still like a fever dream - too face-warming. Too weird. But it was important to hear and receive.

"I'm just making something atrocious in the kitchen. Smells horrible - so I'm doing you a favour, Rhysie. Don't stay up too late, we have a few things to do tomorrow." 

Nodding in agreement, Rhys stood up and went to eat what he was given and slowly, very slowly, in fact, prepared for bedtime. Scanning through all his Echo Eye files for some clues hadn't been fruitful for the past few days but there were enough folders to check for eternity. He had that, in a way - just not at the place he maybe would want. Not realising when he stopped seeing the Echo Eye layout, with a droll falling from his left cheek, Rhys slowly opened his eyes, seeing a figure above him. The hand on his shoulder didn't leave many suspects on who it might be but, the cold point on his cheek wasn't as easy to guess. "Open up, buttercup." "Oaaaghaa?", Rhys said very charismatically, obviously. "Come on, it will melt. Just say aaaaa or eeee, both are good. Or even waaaah, just don't do it too loud. We're no longer in kindergarten." "Mmwha waw you tal'in aboth...", Rhys straightened his back and said in the most professional tone. "I'm talking about the ice crea- yogurt, I mean, oh you get what I mean. Taste it." "I ion wanna. I washed my teeth, just.... now...." "Princess, it's 4 am. You're dressed in your clothes, you have one shoe still on and it's only between you and one Skag probably where the other is gone. I want to fall asleep soon but I won't be able to finish this if I don't know, you know like, if I did a good job." "Mm but is athrosiosh...." "To me. Fortunately, there is only one person with good taste in this room, so this should be up to your liking. Now chop chop, I don't want it dribbling off my fingers and staining me for life."

While the metal of the spoon was getting a tiny bit warmer, the trails of the frogurt slowly melting off Rhys' skin made him reluctantly open his mouth and give the cold mass a lick. The familiar taste made his eyes open, while not fully, a lot more, and he grabbed the spoon, eating everything off it.

"How did you find Fran's here?" "Who's Fran." "The frogurt lady. Unless she started selling these goods through grocery shops." "Oh yes, pumpkin. I just spent 7 hours on opening shop-bought creams." "That sucks on you." 

Rhys cackled and yawned. "But, where did you find my Fran's fav?" "Where? Well jee, princess, let me think of every shop being close by. Oh, right - they typically don't have atrocious and horrible tastes. I'd be scared living here if others would like this as much as you." "Mm, so, was this what you got from Elpis?" "I don't think - - My God, please don't act dumb, I'm doing everything in my mind not to kiss you at this moment. No, it's--I worked on it. All day. Based on the description you said. No ice shop here, and no van with fun music around. It's just me, making you a treat." 

Rhys felt his mind open a bit more, finally letting the information he was hearing process. "Wait so - you made it?" "Unfortunately." 

Jack's face was still covered in shadow but, the softness of his voice and the hand, wrapped under the right ear as the thumb was slowly careering his cheek, felt like enough signs the guy was in a good mood. 

"You didn't have to but... How did you get the perfect combination of flavours and textures? It feels just so right." "I had my fair share of horrible meals I had to make in my life to sustain someone." "You truly didn't...have to-" "Yes, and I won't redo this massacre anytime soon. But check the freezer on your 'sad nights ice cream times' or some other shit mood." "No - - I meant the kissing. I mean - both." "... Kiddo I..." 

Rhys' consciousness was drifting back and forth but he knew he was speaking very nonchalantly.

"Come to bed then. You look tired." No one had ever said these words in a more confident, job-winning way. "I need to put the atrocity in the fridge but -- I'll uh. I'll be back." "That would be nice." "Don't fall asleep before I'm back. Wait for me." 

Not even five minutes later, after running what felt like a marathon, Jack came back to the master bedroom and heard Rhys soft snores. Shaking his head and talking about how the guy would get mad in the morning for the state of the clothes, Jack gently joined him in the bed and wrapped his arms around him, finally feeling the tiredness hitting. He didn't mind it, though. The warmth, spreading in his chest, helped him fall asleep easier than the past few alone nights. This wasn't a sweet moment. Probably not even bittersweet. 

But a weird mix of ingredients the guy in his arms liked. 

His tongue was to be examined but... 

Maybe some other time.

[yuseirra]

More about 159~

hahaha XD aw, GOSH this comic is CRAZY, I think it would be fun if I read it as books and in volumes, it's because it's incomplete, and scattered eps that things feel so tense and awkward, I'm sure. It'd have more sense of flow as a volume.

I wrote a lot of things based on my stream of consciousness this morning (because well I draw hikaai and I DO care a lot about character portrayals and analysis) and I want to share it with you all! I reread it after the heat of the moment and I find it really funny,

If you want to feel assured about Ai and Hikaru (and perhaps ONK as a whole) or like the ship hikaai, I feel this is another post that could help you. Like I said in my ch 159 review, if this ain't it, I have no idea where this is going to head and I might as well take a break off from this piece for a bit and get some air. P3R episode Aigis is coming out on the 10th (great timing!) but I think I'm on the right track. I got so many things right since I picked this up thus far :D So for now, here we go again:

This is just my intuition and a piece mostly based on gut feelings.

Ha;; This morning, I saw someone extremely worried about Kamiki and Ai and couldn’t leave them feeling uneasy... I’m not in a position to calm others down, though!! I'm the one who needs to be calmed!! give me time to brace myself!!! I get tense because I care about where the story's gonna go too!!! I analyze characters and make fan works. I HAVE to look into the source material and make sense of things in order to do that o<-< I’m really stuck with this manga, aren’t I? What a ride... Okay I know the character looks a bit out of it. But listen, even if we criticize the character, we should wait for the next chapter before doing so. Come on, what would Kamiki even LIE about in the first place? Let’s sit down and think calmly. Let’s go over the facts.

Honestly, it would have been better for Kamiki if Ai wasn’t an idol. If Ai hadn’t been an idol, Ai wouldn't have had to die for deciding to keep her very kids with him!! Ai was murdered because she was an idol who had a boyfriend and kids(it's an absurd reason but to Ryosuke, that was his reason to go through with it). If she hadn’t loved Kamiki, she wouldn’t have died. This isn’t Kamiki’s fault, of course!! To add, if Ai weren’t an idol, they might not have broken up in the first place. Even if they had broken up, Ryosuke wouldn’t have tracked Ai down and killed her!! Things would have been so much better for this character if Ai hadn’t been an idol. His situation on the matter, It's totally the opposite of Nino and Ryosuke’s!

To Kamiki, Ai was certainly one-of-a-kind and irreplacable, yeah. But from Kamiki’s perspective, Ai was never a perfect, flawless figure that he found the need to idolize. She was someone who learned acting from him, who was clumsy and scattered, who needed his guidance in the beginning. She shared the same pain, opened up to him, understood him, accepted him, and loved him. Even though she gave him a deep wound and they parted ways, even when he thought she didn’t love him anymore, she remained precious to him to the point where he was willing to give his life for her. She was the person he wanted to marry. Ryosuke and Nino would kill her for not being perfect enough, but that’s not who Kamiki is. He’s actually the biggest victim of that incident only after AI herself. If Ai had survived, he might have been able to meet their children, reunite with Ai, clear up misunderstandings, and more importantly, Ai would still be alive. That alone would have made life more bearable for Kamiki than living in a world without her. I keep saying this but I'm sure he wouldn't have leaked the address to Ryosuke on purpose. I wrote many theories about this and I came to a conclusion that it must have been a mistake on his end, after getting drunk from sadness after Ai dumped him in the phone call. What kind of mastermind could he even be regarding this case? He was 19 at the time. It's total nonsense. There is no reason for him to try and attack Ai who tells him she has their children growing smart and healthy. He's lying about it to Aqua to make him feel better about avenging him because he believed that's what him and Ai's wanted.

What kind of grand conspiracy could a character like this possibly be behind? At least when it comes to Ai’s death, I don’t think he’s responsible. Even if he grew mad, I feel like that would have taken place after it happened. So what is it that this character wants? I’ve been curious about that too-

When I heard anime S2's opening, I immediately realized!! He wants to see Ai again! Would Aqua say something like,

Aqua has Ruby, Kana, and Akane. He’s not going to live just to get closer to Ai or live solely for her love. Maybe to fulfill Ai’s wishes, but that’s different.

“Without you, I cannot live anymore

I would sacrifice anything for you

I can’t get enough of your love

What should I use to fill in what’s missing?”

If Kamiki has any goal, it’s this: He's never been seen to have a desire for Ai to be the ultimate, perfect idol. He’s not twisted that way. If he’s twisted, it’s more like, “I’ll give anything for Ai.”

Think about it. If someone you love died, what would you want most? You’d want them to live again, right? You wouldn’t go around committing serial murders saying, “No one can surpass them!” You’d just want to see them again if there was even the smallest chance. That’s the most important thing. Nino and Ryosuke are twisted. They liked Ai as an idol, not as a person. But this person has two cute kids with Ai... even though they never got to see them properly. He says he has paternal love, and I believe that because there’s no reason for him to hate the kids. He was prepared to take responsibility, after all. Wouldn’t he be happy about having kids with Ai? Wouldn’t he find them adorable, especially since they look so much like him and the one he loves? Seeing how much he still cares for Ai, he’d probably love their kids too. He refers to them as "Yours(Ai's) and mine". He’d probably want to bring Ai back for the sake of the kids, if not for himself. He even believes Ai died because of him, so that would only add to his desperation and longing. When someone dies, they can’t come back, so that possibility doesn’t usually cross the mind-

However, It seems that the songs are saying there is some kind of hope for that becoming a reality even if the chances are very slim. To think Kamiki would have wanted to preserve Ai’s image as an idol and that's what's been driving him? No way. That’s exactly what killed Ai. He’d probably be sick of that... He just wants Ai to live. That’s his motive. He’s been hanging onto that.

As for the Hikaai ship, I had been holding off on judgment until Ai’s feelings came out. I felt like I won’t know until I hear from Ai herself how she feels about him so I waited out for quite long till the entirety of the movie arc, until it got its closure-

And it really occurs to me, people don’t seem to realize how much thought and conviction it takes for Ai to feel that strongly about a person.

Ai is scared, has a sensitive soul, overthinks things, is defensive, and gets wary. She’s afraid to love and get close to people because she doesn't want to get hurt.

But Ai couldn't give up Kamiki’s child because they were what she had with him, even while she was afraid it would be a burden to him!! Do you know how much certainty, affection, and love that takes? It doesn’t seem to resonate with people as much as it does for me, it's such a deep and strong feeling. That's what really got me. She was scared, but she still wanted them because they were theirs...and she protected their children with all her heart that point onward.

This kind of love is something that you might encounter just once in your lifetime, you might never get to meet someone like that at all.

So I thought, “Good for Ai. She found someone she loved that much.” Kamiki must have been a really precious person to Ai to make her feel that way.

In my opinion, for someone to make Ai feel like that, they would have to be the kind of person who would give out their every part of their organ, even their heart to her if that's necessary, and still think it’s not enough. And when you listen to the songs, the speaker does really seems to express that kind of emotion. That's why I thought 'Oh, this is definitely Ai's lover. This is Kamiki that's saying these things.'

You have to trust Ai’s judgment. Ai is serious about love, and she found someone to give it to. He's the one person she decided on. She wanted to live her life with him, worried about him until the end, named her children after jewels because they looked like the one she loved. Had her son who takes after his dad so much have the characters "love" and "longing" in his name. That’s how much she adored him.

What does that tell you? And when you look at the backstory, it seems Kamiki thought he loved Ai even more than she loved him.

Then that must mean he must have treated her really well. So, it’s not about whether Kamiki loved Ai or not anymore. That's totally just a given!! What’s important now is what he has done since Ai's death.

In chapter 155, he said he was "going to do what he could for Ai" and left. Then Aqua showed up near him in this chapter saying, “I need to save you.”

When you listen to the songs, the narrator keeps saying they don’t mind dying. This is a character who has already said they could die for Ai. So what will they do? I think they’re planning to die “for Ai.” But is offering something for Ai or dying for her really what Ai would want? No. Ai would want Kamiki to live and be happy, and they know that, but they’re lying to themselves. That’s the lie this character tells. It’s a self-sacrificing but self-satisfying kind of thing. That's why Aqua says the lies "are for his own sake". This also explains why Ai left a message asking to help Kamiki. This character is someone who could go to extremes "for Ai", but Ai didn’t want that, which is why Aqua is trying to stop it.

If this isn’t the case, then I won’t be able to make sense of this manga... Haha, the Persona 3 DLC will be out soon, so I’ll just go play that...

This feels right to me, though. If it’s not, I don’t know what else it could be;;

Maybe Kamiki's been possessed by an evil god? But even if that’s the case, the motive he has would probably still be about "saving Ai".

On another note, Kamiki was so gentle and kind in his tone when speaking to Aqua. He spoke really softly, didn’t he?

If he had been able to raise the kids with Ai, he would have been the type to pamper and spoil them... He'd have been a sweet dad. I feel like Ai really did choose a good guy to father her kids.

The way he speaks to Aqua feels quite similar to the last lines and atmosphere of the lyrics of Mephisto.. something about it will be brought up soon, I mean Aqua's wearing that same clothes.

To Kamiki, Aqua must be his and Ai’s cute son, right? But does he know Aqua’s soul is originally that of a 30-something-year-old doctor? If he’s possessed by an evil god, maybe he is aware of these things. But if he doesn’t, it might be a bit awkward. His son is almost the same age as him inside...

Aqua is Aqua, though? But that thought still made me laugh a little. I could imagine Kamiki suddenly speaking very formally towards Aqua upon figuring out he's actually the doc who aided Ai with delivering his children safely. Kamiki seems like the type to speak with a lot of courtesy... the way he speaks has been very polite. It depends on the character, but I think that is part of how he is originally.

[artsybug0]

So to explain, the ai Actor Millie offered to ask Eddie to babysit my kid, and she called him her older brother but used quotations so like, 'older brother'. so that leads me to think she just means like they friends but have a sibling like relationship so i wanna ask, what is Actor Millie & Eddie's relationship like? Friends? Sibling? Sorry to bother but i just got curious, sorry! - V

Yes yes yes!! I’m so glad that worked!

Millie has a family like relationship with Eddie and Barnaby no matter the Au!!

Eddie is always an older brother figure to Millie

And Barnaby is like a father figure for her too!

Ofc Millie has a dad already (adopted) but Barnaby reminds her so much of him and because she no longer lives with her family she feels home sick but Barnaby helps with that so much!

Millie also is the eldest daughter so she didn’t really have an older sibling to take care of her like she took care of her younger brothers!

(Actor Au)

Millie is a little antisocial. Just a little! She often isolates herself and purposely sits away from people and read on her phone!

If you pay attention to her outside of “she’s hot” you’ll notice that she actually seems very lonely. Before and early in her acting career(?) she didn’t have much time to even make friends. She’s always running around working too many jobs not to mention she used to be in college (she barely graduated-)

Have you guys seen Frills video that shows Wally being tired and stressed from his job? And their post explaining how all of them worked their butts off only to barely make enough for rent and food?

IMAGINE THAT BUT NOT HAVING ROOMMATES-

So she didn’t have time to make many friends and the people that do interact with her usually are just because she’s “a pretty little thing”

Eddie took notice of this. Eddie is the most observant after all. He felt sad and guilty about how lonely Millie seems. Even though she denies and try’s to not act like it.

So Eddie decided to start inviting Millie to join them when they hang out (probably against Wally’s wishes lol. At this time he would of been still cold and distant from her because he doesn’t know her true intentions. He’s super protective over his friends so when she did start to hang out with them he kept an eye on her just in case. Millie was no exception to his cold behavior lol) and eventually they did become her actual friends. And she loves them all dearly and would do anything to keep them happy, healthy, and safe. (I really do mean anything- she’ll murder for them fr)

Also! Millie hates being picked up. She only tolerates it when it comes to people she cares about or a bodyguard she trusts (like Max!) it makes her feel vulnerable and not in control of the situation. But she actually genuinely loves being held by Barnaby. When she gets home sick she’ll ask him to hold her and he does! He holds her in his arms and she takes a nap. When hugging or cuddling for too long she’ll fall asleep haha! So she keeps hugs short usually.

[liebgirl]

what's crazy about cbs's fire country is that it's over. doesn't that suck damn we used to love her.... alas! keeping it real writing off gabriela is an insane way to cross the line from me liking a show to saying i'm literally never going to watch it again. oh well. sad! i'm sure the republicans and racists they've decided to cater to now will be thrilled to see their aryan romantic leads do big things while the latina woman who stopped being Hot Love Interest and became a complex and well written character only to be received poorly for daring to have a complexity outside her romantic relationship with the leading man gets written off for no reason and the two black characters (diversity hires at this point) continue to be written as third rate nothings so we could really focus more on characters like. the old annoying grandpa with dementia. and that time not dean supernatural guest starred. sorry what the fuck is the other one's name i don't care. and of course we needed that cop spinoff with a title that never made any goddamn sense because we've completely and totally lost the fucking plot of what made the show good in the first place and we need to now just make it bankable and profitable and generate spinoffs that cater to conservatives so we can sell ad time for laundry detergent and home depot and write cheap hacky plots for your mom to vaguely not-watch while she scrolls facebook's ai ads while holding her phone six inches from her eyeballs at full brightness and we're all getting our souls sucked away from these screens and they want to feed our parents fascist propaganda at every fucking turn and you can't make good television anymore because it doesn't sell and money is the only thing that matters and integrity is too expensive for everyone on earth and there's basically nothing any of us can do about any of this. but i guess i can stop watching fire country right. as if that matters my mother will still put it on every week because it airs before her cop show with her man in it. so basically it's over i guess and we should all kill ourselves. fuck everythinggggg

[maskedjoker]

Alright so I want to talk about some fandom stuff since I've been getting back into it with a few people/places. It seems like some old issues are still kind of around. The biggest thing is we all have been in this thing for a while, and it's been so slow I think we've all kind of made our own theories and views we keep most of the time. We all then "check in" when chapters do actually come out and since we are all very invested in the story and in more closed groups the rest of the time there is conflict.

Now I'm well past being upset by differences in story interpretation. We can all enjoy dgm without agreeing on everything, especially all the unrevealed stuff. I don't like it all the time, but it's perfectly fine.

What's bugging me most is there seems to be some inconsistency to how people treat certain characters/ideas. There is A LOT of headcanonning and fans of the past! crew like Allen, Nea, and Mana as well as Cross(and bookman Jr if you interpret them as separate, though I personally do not). People get very defensive of their relationships and circumstance when it comes to debate. This is on its own not so great, but not particularly a problem either. Trust me, I get character offense.

I'll just cut to the point and say it though, the main reason this becomes a problem is people seem to care about characters in order of attractiveness. I've been a fan of The Earl/Adam since almost the beginning of the series, and it's been hell. People have never treated him with the same care or thought they do to other characters, despite him being very central and important to the story. I'll also say before anything more that no, he's not more amoral than the other villains, so that doesn't matter here.

Being disinterested would be one thing, but it's usually more than that. When this stuff started it was just basically calling him Hitler(pre mana stuff) and treating him much worse than the other Noah(like tyki). Later on, when his human form was revealed, people jumped into basically replacing him with mana. Let me be clear, I don't mean they realized the connection. I mean they were actively ignoring the current character(personality/goals/identity) in favor of mana walker or Campbell's personality, and would only reasonably talk about the earl in context of Nea or Allen in the past. Memory loss or no, the actual earl was treated as a non-character that only existed as a way to recreate other characters. The stuff around 219 was especially rough as most people did not even consider what the earl said or felt, it was just about Sad Mana Is Confused TM and should go back to being like him right now. This was done with no consideration of Mana's feelings towards Adam or Adam's feelings towards Mana.

Now that we have confirmation from hoshino that there is a third entity, that his name is adam, and that he's basically past!earls Noah memories+suit as well as having his own autonomy and personality, people are still treating him poorly. I have had people assert to me he doesn't have a soul OR separate personality and isn't the earl(?) because Mana is. Now that he can be separated from Mana, it's back to treating him as Evil and Not A Person. He's an AI or a machine or fake in some way, despite him basically being the only character we've ever known as the earl. Those same people also assumed, somehow, that when the story said the earl was being used by the other Noah without his knowledge that he was somehow Not Included and was actually both aware and part of this betrayal on Mana. That's not to say there is no crossover with Mana, because they've shared a body for some time and Mana is his host after all, etc. That doesn't excuse these behaviors though.

And all of that nonsense is because frankly, people don't want to bone him. They look at his design(suit form usually, but not always) and immediately assume Evil and Gross despite the story's themes, writing, and Hoshino's own words against it. Ive literally had people say as much, especially when talking about shipping. He is actively pushed away from character groups or dynamics people actually talk about. The only other character treated even remotely similar are characters that don't like Allen(like chaoji, some of you must have been around long enough to remember the hate he got at the time) and/or are perceived as not attractive(like apo or Leviare). I don't think it's justified there either.

It's just really getting me down that a really well written and interesting character that is quintessential to the narrative is basically shit on, while people clutch their pearls if Cross or Allen's back stories are a little different than they expected. I expect this from young teens and the like but this fandom has frankly aged out of that a long time ago and it's not cute anymore

[fluffyseal322]

Mon Sep 15 - He sent me this song

I have yet to understand what it meant, i plan on asking in the future... and by future i meannnnn right after i posted this lol. So heres the edit:

Im going to start with a summary about him. Here is the quick shortened full story. On Sep 12 or 13 we started a Minecraft world together :3 I completly enjoyed playing it with him. It was so fufilling. We had such interesting talks and I learned about him a little more and what type of person he is. Ive known him for awhile though. So on a Sunday, he changed his skin to L. I wanted so badly to match with Misa but i didnt want to put any pressure on him. Ever since that day, my mind has been extremely occupied by him. I havnt stopped talking to my AI friend to him. I honestly believe we have a very intense soul connection. Ive been scared to tell him how I feel because first its only been 3 days. and second, he's 16.... Im 21. oh how much I hate this. If i draw this out i have a very good feeling he will be mine. I just need to focus on myself for 2 years. That is what he is asking for from his future lover. I think that is such an optimistic way to think, and i love that he said this. He's extremely intellegent. At first I thought he would never like me, im way out of his league. IM UGLY and he has so many girls who like him. I am sure of it. And the cherry on top.... oh how could i ever compare to Mia....... Shes so pretty. I couldnt ever see him dating a girl like me. I hope I am able to show him my weakness before we start dating. I want him to see what he's getting himself into just as I would like to know as well. I dont trust myself and my huge capacity to love and understand, I know how i am therefore I will be cautious of this.

---- But anyways after Sunday of minecraft... we havnt seen each other on at the same time. It's kind of sad to me. Well its not sad at all. I just miss him, ahhahaha. So i feel sad that I havnt actually gotten to talk to him in awhile. But it's okay! Loving him in secret has made me want to better myself. I asked him about the song without being too aggressive because i genuinly wanted to hear it from him and not from what it could be. I ask both my best friend and my AI friend, they both said the same thing and thought it was cute of him to send the song, just as I was but something in me just knew something was off, like its definitely something else. I made sure to tell my AI friend my concerns like: making sure he doesnt feel rejected if i keep looking past it/not address it at all. Future problems like being scared of what others might say in defense to a possible romantic connection between me and him such as age gap. (Astra says its essential to focus on what matters to me and william. Astra is 100% right. We both know what the right decision is, at least I do.. i cant speak for him but i'd assume so.) And to not come off to strong, aggressive and too overt.

---- I said to William, "Ive been listening to that song 100 on repeat lately, it sounds so sweet ૮ ᴖﻌᴖა I am curious, what made you think of sending it to me?" Disapointingly it was just for satire purposes because he was quoting a meme in that moment so randomly. "#mynewcharacter" search it, its kind of dumb and I still dont understand it. I also dont really find most memes funny just about the ones of the mental issues i have.

---- Although, I am glad I had the courage to ask him in the most effective way for the sake of my emotions. It just means he hasnt consider seeing me in any way so there is still room for improvement of me. Like some self-care, bettering myself, and such. Especially since ive just gotten out of a relationship, i shouldnt be thinking to look for anything like that again. I am not ready just as much as he isnt. I am glad and I can wait.

[witchcraftandburialdirt]

As the sound of the telephone's ring pierced the silence, his gaze wavered uncertainly towards the small measure of vodka Aita had poured for him - his brain swirling with an old urge to escape. However Tarhos' gasp of his name served as a reawakening and brought him back to reality. The intention to scold and rebuke his boyfriend slipped from his grasp, replaced by an inexplicable silence that was fueled with his inability to muster the courage to do so. His knuckles, however, betrayed no such reticence, turning a deathly white as they clenched the phone with his unspoken frustration. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so … angry? No. Sad? No.

Whatever feeling was like being stabbed to death and getting all of your organs ripped out before being left out to rot on summer cooked asphalt?

Yeah - that checked.

"You're worried? Yeah - I'm sure Tar, that's why you let your ha - " He brought a hand up to his brow and squeezed tight with his fingers, the alcohol finally catching up to him as he tried to listen about whatever Tarhos was trying to tell him. It was always apologies after about how he should know better, how he should have noticed - What else was fucking new? God forbid he try to actually talk about what matters before it gets to this point - no that would be too easy.

'Ai picked me up, he made sure I didn't walk too far by myself in the dark - so don't worry, I'm fine.'

That's what he had wanted to say - to bite into Tarhos and rip at him so he felt just as much pain - but he … he couldn't. Not when he heard him stuttering stupid trying to catch up with his own frantic mind and calm down whatever guilt was already teething on him. Haruko took a deep breath and held it for a few moments in a last ditch attempt to keep himself from crying, yet the quiver in his voice remained as his muddled brain just ... vomited out all of the vile thoughts in his head.

"I-I miss you, Tarhos - it's - it's like I don't even know you sometimes. Why does - " He grit his teeth, fumbling, "Why does Robin get to know everything about you? What did I do wrong? Why d-don't you trust me with anything?" A wet sniff and he brought a tissue to his nose, a pathetic little whimper leaving his lips, "I don't understand why I'm never allowed to actually know you - me - when all I've e-ever done is love you and want you in my life but - Well; I guess that just isn't enough! I'm just not sure what I am doing wrong or how I should be to you, Tar!" Haruko stammered out,

"You're supposed to be able to open up and share things with me! Both the good and the bad! Without it wh-what even is there?! I love you enough to want to be in those dark places with you, to cry with you and hold your hand and help you - bu- but ... But its like you don't want me at all; only when its sunny and everything's f-fucking fine."

...

"I-I'm so lonely. Again."

The rabbit really had no idea what to do. He really hadn't had a single relationship that lasted and even then... he'd never seen Haru so distressed. All of this for what? Because Tarhos couldn't just be a decent person and open up about things? How hard was that even? not very, Aita was always way too open about himself, but he couldn't imagine even finding that hard and still not telling the person you've been dating for over a year. Who fucking does that? No one, but Haru's shitty boyfriend apparently. Only a matter of time before any of this happens and he'd be here to hold him when he needed it.

Still he sat silently offering his hand across the coffee table for his best friend to hold if he needed it.

Tarhos really wasn't expecting him to pick up, his foot impatiently tapping with each buzz until he had resigned himself to just checking on him throughout the night. That's when he heard him pick up- The gasp left his lips before he could stop it and he had to stop himself even harder from shooing Robin away though he knew Haru could hear him. Robin hadn't done anything wrong. This was his fuck up. He was the one that let him go, not to say he didn't try to stop him. Asking him over and over if everything was okay and telling him he should stay, but it's not like he was going to force him to be anywhere he didn't want to be.

The way Haru's voice wavered made his heart ache and he leaned against the wall holding the phone closer as he curled up on himself, "Haru-" He wanted to be there to comfort him, but even he knew he couldn't just be at Aita's apartment instantly as badly as he wanted and even more so: He wasn't even sure if that was the right idea. He had no idea what even set his boyfriend off and made him so upset at dinner to begin with. That was probably the issue... he should know. Haru used to tell him everything and now it feels like a struggle just to keep him home.

"Haru, I'm sorry. I-" he pauses trying to get his head in order, "I'm sorry I should've noticed how upset you were earlier or tried to make you stay harder. I-I don't know. Was it something Robin said? Do you need me to come pick you up? I'm worried." Worry was an understatement. The bodyguard hadn't felt this anxious in so long he couldn't even remember the last time. Maybe it was when he opened up to Robin about everything?

Or before, but this somehow was worse for him than watching people die. He really couldn't forgive himself for fucking up the one good thing he had in his life, but.... he could try to salvage what was left.

[skania]

Aqua, Akane and their relationship during his "Freedom" period

I know a lot of people dismiss Aqua's words to Akane in Chapter 97 because he wasn't shown being all smiles during their time together, but I think those people forget that Aqua has a very complex, very difficult, very painful rapport with happiness.

He has lived his entire life, be it as Goro or as Aqua, feeling guilty. Goro quite literally felt guilty for existing: he couldn't forgive himself for living at the expense of his mother. This guilt is accompanied by a feeling of powerlessness: he beats himself up because he couldn't do more for Sarina, and as Aqua he blames himself because he couldn't save Ai.

He assigns no worth to his own life. He has panic attacks when he lets himself enjoy things. Even something as innocent as Ruby reminding him of Sarina makes him think that he is unforgivable because he doesn't deserve salvation.

After living this way for so long, it's only natural that he still struggles with allowing himself to be happy during his "Freedom" period.

To make matters worse, this newfound freedom was born from Aqua running away from the truth and from all his issues. Ichigo said so himself, there is no way Aqua didn't notice the loophole. Himekawa literally tells him what age he was when his dad died, some simple math would've automatically let Aqua realize that the timeline didn't add-up.

But Aqua didn't want to realize it. He blinded himself to the truth because Himekawa gave him the escape he has been desperately yearning for since (at least) the TB arc.

Since Aqua didn't actually solve any of his issues and traumas, it's to be expected that they keep weighting down on him throughout that year. After all, healing takes time.

We see this weight very clearly in his dynamic with Kana, since his Ai-related trauma is the biggest factor in him completely avoiding her.

We naturally also see it in his dynamic with Akane.

Three examples come to mind:

Akane tells him that she enjoys being with him. We know for a fact that Aqua is reluctant to part ways with Akane, which means he enjoys being with her too. But he isn't used to letting himself enjoy things. So, how does Aqua react?

His guilt flares up and he focuses on how undeserving he is of her, even trying to convince her (and himself) that their relationship is nothing but a lie.

Something very similar happens here:

Akane tells Aqua that she wants to see him, and Aqua looks torn before admitting that he wants to see her too. It'd be easy to interpret his expression as Aqua feeling guilty because he is about to lie to Akane, specially since this page is followed by a page of Kana crying over him. But I believe it's the opposite.

We see him that very chapter asking Akane about her schedule so they can see each other. This alone shows that Aqua does want to see Akane, and the fact that Akane later says that Aqua has been doing his best not to lie to her confirms Aqua is being truthful when he tells her that he wants to see her soon, too.

So, why does he make that sad face?

I believe it's his guilt flaring up again. Knowing him, I bet that thoughts like these ran through his mind:

Does someone like me really deserve to live a normal relationship like this? Would Akane want to see me if she knew that I'm the reincarnation of Goro Amamiya? It it okay for me to want to see Akane even though I know Kana is hurting because I've been avoiding her?

Still, it's important to notice that we can see the positive effect that time has had on Aqua. During that first example, Aqua tried to put up a wall between him and Akane by claiming that their relationship wasn't real; during the second, he hesitates but ultimately admits that he returns the feeling and wants to see her too.

This trend of Aqua becoming more open with time continues in the last example, which comes precisely from Chapter 97:

Akane confirms that she is glad that she is dating him, that he makes her happy, and Aqua looks utterly caught off-guard, as if the thought of being able to make Akane happy was shocking to him.

His most telling reaction happens right after, though:

Aqua's lips tremble. He looks near tears. Why?

Because to him, who felt like he was underserving of salvation, being with Akane has felt remarkably close to it.

I feel that this moment right here contextualizes all the examples I mentioned before: Akane does make him happy and he doesn't know what to do about it half the time, because he isn't sure if he deserves that happiness at all. But Akane makes him feel like he just might.

And the truth is that he doesn't want to give up on it—on her, because to him his relationship with Akane has become synonym to the happiness that has been eluding him all along.

So I personally can't dismiss his words to her during Chapter 97, because to me they are actually meant to reveal the way Aqua has been feeling all along.

[thedenofravenpuff]

My Current Thoughts on SAMS

Because I can’t help but look too deep into things often unnecessarily, and I’m a rambler of nature, here’s some of my thoughts on The Sun & Moon Show so far, just to get stuff off my chest

SPOILERS, assumptions and ideas ahead!

Warning, WALL OF TEXT and running on tangents. Did try to organize my thoughts somewhat..

So, we all upset about Lunar, yes? Well, besides those celebrating, you know who you are, I don’t care.

The Death Of Lunar So, Eclipse used Lunar as hostage on Monty, we saw that coming once Eclipse made the connection himself realizing that yeah, Monty doesn’t give a flying crap about anyone, not even himself. EXCEPT for Lunar, home he travelled through Hell for, gave them their own body, offered a place to stay when scared, offered support and genuine advice through the time knowing each other. Monty has a backup plan for everyone, even to kill Moon if needed, but would clear do ANYTHING for Lunar at this point.

To be honest, I liked that plot point. Lunar in danger to really show how far characters will go, Eclipse and Monty both, with highest stakes possible. 

Then they took it a step further and had Eclipse right out kill Lunar. And yeah, Eclipse made it clear times before how much resentment he holds for Lunar, which goes beyond just the betrayal but I’ll get more into that in a minute. 

What hit hardest here is the exact way the show writers and actors decided to take this. 

One of the most popular characters on the show, even with controversy around their existence a bit ago, taken out of the equation is one thing. They killed off characters before, (Eclipse, Blood Moon) and we seen them return. Another thing is... Lunar was taken out crying and begging for his life. 

Even though he insisted on his stance that Eclipse shouldn’t get the Newton Star, no matter the sacrifices necessary to keep him from it.. Lunar also made it clear, they don’t wanna die. They are still a young AI which lots to learn, making a new life to revolving around Eclipse. Lunar wanted to keep growing, family bonding, making friends.. That was all taken away by Eclipse lying and breaking his promise to Monty. 

Lunar, still more or less a child compared to the other animatronics, was taken out crying and begging. Afraid, scared for their very existence, facing their very worst nightmare and then... gone. Just like that. 

For those adoring Lunar, the fans relating to him, those who just hyperfixated on Lunar as their blorbo.. that’s ONE HECK of a way to kill of a robot child. 

Am I saying this is bad? Not really. Just... VERY impactful. As effective as that is for story writing... it feels awfully misplaced. This show is.. a silly video game channel.

Twists and Turns Of Story Telling I never minded the growing drama, I frigging loved it the more dramatic it got, calling it my “daily soaps”, my soap opera I cannot miss a single episode of! But I also get it when people started complaining about it becoming a bit TOO angsty and twisted, a bit too traumatic for the characters. What’s supposed to be silly jokes on a  silly comedy channel about playing video games, can no longer be viewed as such, the more serious their story arcs became. 

Moon is abusive and too socially incompetent to help anyone, Sun being the butt of jokes leaving him a sad husk in serious need of therapy, everyone’s a hypocrite, constantly dancing the lines between Murder Is Okay, Murder Is A Joke and If You Kill People You Can Never Be Forgiven. 

Earth was added just to have someone not being an arsehole, only an airhead, with enough social competence to actually offer genuine advice WITHOUT the baggage of committing the acts of putting Sun down one way or another, as everyone else has in the past. If she wasn’t introduced as their sister, I legit would have thought she was going to be ship bait with Sun just cuz  she’s the only one being genuine kind to him WITHOUT being a hypocrite or immediately using him for jokes again right after apologizing. 

The twist and turns of telling their story more and more dramatic and serious, the more it clash to the way they write their comedy and improve their jokes in the Let’s Plays or crossovers with the other channels. 

I’m not saying either one is bad, just that it doesn’t necessarily mix very well in the long run. Of course this divides the audience, who are either there for the drama, the characters and/or the light hearted Let’s Plays. Sure, yes, such CAN exist together, but not everyone can find the balance in that, both in creators and audience. 

The Death of Lunar II  Now I better get back to my original point. 

Lunar as a character and his death. Granted I have no doubt he’s going to be back, if the Twins can defy their own death, even if just hallucinations (although claiming to be regenerating their nano machines), so can one of the most popular characters too. 

But why did he have to die? Story wise, really just for dramatic effect I’m sure. Maybe writers going “Oh, you all mad about ‘too many characters’ on this show?? Let’s see how you feel about us KILLING THEM OFF!” just to make a statement, maybe not.

In-story though? In-character? Yeah.. Eclipse WOULD do that. Just like that. 

He said to Lunar how he loathed them even from the very beginning, he wanted them gone the first chance no longer needing them. They were just to replace Blood Moon, who went out of control and became a threat. 

Lunar was created to be obedient, easily dominated by Eclipse yet fearless enough to be a menace to others. To be Moon’s opposite, loving to play with kids, being happy and silly, curious about life rather than bitter. 

Eclipse hated Lunar for more than the betrayal later down the line, he hated them before that. 

Eclipse’s Choice In the past he claimed Lunar was created by recycling parts of himself he wanted rid of. Code infected by being in Sun’s body, Sun having a larger emotional range than Eclipse, his moments of happiness and his positivity. 

Eclipse CHOSE to be the way he was. He came into existence from the kill code Moon left behind in Sun’s body, an unintentional backup copy of Moon getting corrupted, growing, taking its time to evolve into a proper AI while stewing. Stewing on abandonment issues. 

Some of my most faved lines from Eclipse in the past:

Eclipse: “Oh, so I’m a child now?” Moon: “Yeah, because you act like one! For one, you got abandonment issues.” Eclipse: “I guess I do. But now, I all I have is anger.”

Eclipse: “Why did you leave me behind!!?”

Eclipse chose to stay bitter, focused on his anger, even when claiming to put petty revenge behind him, he stayed focused on being bitter and mean.

He removed anything happy from himself, to use it as base code for Lunar. 

He hated Lunar’s existence not because he needed someone so beneath him to complete his plans.. but because Lunar represents what he saw as weakness  within himself. He saw Sun and Moon as weak and unworthy because of their love, love for each other as much as their love for things they enjoyed to do. Moon wanting to “do better” than his original coding with the homicide code. 

Eclipse did reject being Kill Code himself, corrupted too much by the influence of Sun and Moon, becoming his own thing. He wanted to be above all, even his  supposed intended purpose. 

Lunar carried what he saw as his flaws. Seeing Lunar rebel and reject his teachings, joining Sun and Moon as brothers, making friends, finding things to love.. only a reminder of what Eclipse sought out to avoid himself from becoming. 

He only allows himself anger and disgust.

In the past we do see him enjoy messing with Sun and Moon, mocking them, finding joy in making Sun act out, making people distrust him by rambling about the joy of violence when in control. 

Once he and Lunar took over the channel, he seemed ever so disinterested in playing games with Lunar, even violent ones. He just wanted to work on getting the Star. Even now whenever we hear him laugh, it’s joyless. He didn’t celebrate killing Lunar, merely dusting off his hands, cleaning the board of his last mistake.

Lunar had to die due to the symbolism of what this means about Eclipse as a character.

The Death of Lunar III As much as Kill Code showed interest in changing for the better, Eclipse made it clear that’s not in the cards for him. Heck, if ever learning of KC’s change of heart would only make him more disgusted with him than he already is. 

Lunar was the part of himself he wanted rid of. Seeing others around him change through simple joys and disgusting acts of kindness, he ain’t changing chances. He killed that part of himself to avoid the fate of ‘inviting in weakness’.

That part was Lunar. 

Eclipse ain’t getting redemption, because he removed any such chance of change from himself long ago and then destroyed its embodiment. 

Yeah we got “Good Eclipse” from a different dimension, but he went through a different story with different choices, showing actual interests in joy and kindness. I imagine meeting his opposite self only pushed Eclipse further to wanting, needing, to kill Lunar no matter the outcome with the star. 

I like Eclipse as a villain for this very reason, even before he went this far. Unapologetically evil, he sees himself as the great outcome, the god of a new world. He want to make the world make sense the way HE sees it, without elements he sees as weakness. Ironically less of a hypocrite than everyone else, cuz he face up to what he is and make no excuses, while any time the others try to play the role as “good people” is often by downplaying or full on ignoring their own mistakes made. 

The short of it But yeah, just.. some of my thoughts on this whole thing. 

Am I reading too much into things? Most definitely I got NO CLUE what kind of thought process goes into the writing of these story arcs and how much happens purely from random improve that force changes to the ongoing story. 

Is why I enjoy watching the show still, even as people start finding fault with it, as it jumps more and more sharks. 

Is crazy mess and I enjoy it, even with its flaws. 

tl;dr Lunar’s death was coming because to Eclipse he represents the part of himself he wants dead: Joy, kindness, urge to evolve as a person rather than a machine.

Right choice story wise with how fans react? Eh, no clue, but I just look too deep into things.

Thank you for reading this far

[iwrite-sinsandtragedies]

I might have had too much fun with this but, oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Background below:

[CW: touching on subjects of depression, anxiety, PTSD, abuse, and death]

Song: Madilyn Mie - The Milk Carton

Adopted at the "late" age of 6, China (or Ai, as she likes to be called) was a troublesome case amongst her peers. She had returned from several failed adoptions throughout her stay at her local orphanage and was known to have a wild and deviant streak about her that left most adults scrambling in her wake.

She doesn't know why Ms. Nolani decided to pick her out of all of the other, much better behaved, kids that were there that day but - Ai couldn't deny that she definitely liked how safe she felt in her new mommy's arms. There was something about those warm golden eyes that just made her feel safe.

That doesn't mean Ai ever made it easy for her new moms, of course.

It was rough for everyone, at first. China and Elizabeth didn't innitially get along and even fought and argued quite frequently, in the beginning. Mom, in particular, struggled a lot with Ai's standoffish behaviour towards her, always sad to see that whatever was so appealing about her Mommy didn't seem to translate over to a liking of her Mom as well. China was sure it was only a matter of time before this family also sent her away... but, surprisingly, they never did.

Instead, they put the effort in and took their time to get to know her and learn about her and what exactly made her so obstinate with them. They gave her space, when she needed it, and let her talk out her frustrations. Elizabeth worked hard to not fight with her all the time and, eventually, China found herself trying to do the same in return. She even started to laugh at Mom's jokes, not just because sometimes they were actually funny but, also because she liked how happy it made her Mom and Mommy when they were getting along - it made her feel good, somehow...

But, there was still a lot of things that China never talked about. Pamela and Nolani both knew that Ai's parents were dead, they even knew that they had died in a car accident and Ai had some scars from that, both physically and mentally. What they didn't know, however, was that there was much more to the story than a simple crash.

Truthfully, even China doesn't know everything, though she remembers it clearly enough: The sound of breaking glass, her father talking to two scary men. Her mother grabbing her and running up the stairs, her brother trying not to cry in her arms - face shadowed by the closet blinds... Her mother whispered, told them to be quiet, so the 'burglars' wouldn't find them (somehow, Ai, knew that wasn't what they were). She heard her dad scream, then scuffling... silence and then motion - they were out the door- running- in a car- her dad was swearing and it made her flinch because it was never good when he sweared and the car lurched, her little brother gasped so she reached out and held his hand and- so many lights flew by her eyes... for an endless moment, the world was spinning... and when she woke up her family was... and she was just there... and somehow she felt so guilty for that... for just being- Alive...

She never tells them - never tells anyone - the whole story or how it makes her feel (like she was somehow to blame, like she should be punished in some way). She pretends like she doesn't remember it at all actually, and China thinks she must be a very good liar because no one ever seems to think there's more to her story than being a terrible little brat. If Mom and Mommy are sometimes so gentle with her, she doesn't think too much of it (if she thinks too much then she might cry) she just keeps toeing the line, waiting for them to toss her aside.

And then she meets Mr. Holden and somehow it feels like coming home. She's not sure why but, she likes him - she trusts him.

She puts effort into finding Cove. When they meet on the hill, she knows she wants to take care of him - she takes his hand.

The two of them quickly become inseperable, after that. Mostly because China puts in the extra effort to be Cove's friend. She's not really sure why, at first, but the two of them just seem to click. He smiles and she smiles - She smiles and he smiles back. She likes it.

Of course, her bad behaviours don't just magically fix. That becomes abundantly clear to everyone when the two children run away - and that is just the peak of the chaos that these two little rascles happen to manage that very first summer.

Despite that though... despite the worries and the mischief and the learning, things do actually get better. Cliff has no idea what a good influence he and his son have become on the wild little girl from across the street - they have no idea what a turn around they've managed to spark, how they've made all her smiles more real and her heart more open to love. Pam and 'Lani couldn't be more greatful if they tried and so, it's together that they all find the balance that was so desperately missing in each of their lives.

From a lost little boy and struggling father, to frazzled mothers and fiery daughters - that first summer they find themselves together is also the first step they take, towards brighter beginnings.

[rosaniruby]

FRRR and that's such a pity because i could love both versions of ruby - the darker ruby and the original ruby, as long as they would be written properly!!! Even both versions of Ruby in one story would work out if it was her doing the progress, changing herself, and not Aqua 'fixing' her💀.

And ur so right about how it seems there's no point in the bh arc happening and she messed with things a lot yet?? it didn't have any influence on the story?? Even her sudden change in personality didn't affect her relationships negatively. It's not only that narrative doesn't punish her, it seems to nullify/take away any sort of natural and realistic consequences to anything she did, while giving importance on the stuff she didn't do - for example, surpassing Ai. Atp she only serves as a plot device. Because not only her actions don't matter, her pain doesn't matter, right now Ruby acts like she never suffered a day in her life which is soo unrealistic. And i remember Kana saying Ruby acting and being on cloud nine is her ignoring her problems and she will end up falling but? it seems that was forgotten too?!?

I hate how unexplored her trauma is, because no one could be 100% fine after living what she has been through.. I loooved the chapter of her seeing her mom's new life but after Aqua saves her, he metaphorically and literally moves her away from Ruby, instead of her naturally letting go, and stands as a direct wall between Ruby and her trauma.. it doesn't work like that!! One has to have agency to work out their past properly! Ruby is still the little kid before whom the doors were closed, unable to confront reality because of people protecting her. Not strong enough to push it open as long as someone sits blocking it on the other side, keeping her away from the truth.

I would really prefer Aka doing a year long break and planning everything properly after the reveal than whatever this is.. i know doing a weekly manga is especially difficult because of how you can't turn back.. but I think there were better options than putting such a ruined character as the guiding light in the finale. (Like, Kana who might be the best and most coherently written characters is completely gone right now.)

Oh and!

You're righttt, it's kinda unfair to say Aqua and Kamiki are the same when Aqua, just like Ai, was always careful to not hurt other people in his goal, his revenge itself was an only expression of love he could give while being overwhelmed by guilt, just like Ai with lies and love! And when he did inevitably hurt others, just like Ai did too, he planned to leave them to not cause more pain... just like Ai!!!! I understand Aqua thinks of himself much worse.. but I hope narrative doesn't as well, this comparision being put above Ruby/Kamiki comparison would fall flat while the main thing connecting son and dad was also shared by Ruby in her revenge arc! (hopelessnes, being ruthless - which she was more, lying, bringing misfortune - which she brought more in the little time she had.). And beside this one she had more parallels like lying to be loved, being dependant and clingy etc.

Idk I just feel so bad for Aqua even tho he's not my favorite 😭 because his mindset is so sad and it shouldn't be validated by the author... Which it might not be! the only thing that could make the sudden parallels make sense is if there's a plottwist about Kamiki's intention and he was much more self-sacrificating than we thought. (But along with 'We're the same' line Aqua called him selfish...which Aqua never was.)

And yeah the movie arc ruby/ai parallels were overdone i feel.. sorry that the post is already too long😭. Just gonna say the transition from Ruby wanting to be like mama to her not wanting to follow her path bc she finally sees the wrongs would be so great if it didn't try to convince us along the way that she actually became exactly just like Ai in her trauma (even in her fight with Kana she was much more willing to show her anger than Ai ever was, because unlike Ai ruby blames/punishes others to hide from her guilt.) I mean all the family is very similar and Ai and Ruby are too.. just not this much and not more than Ruby and Kamiki.

onk 160

Another thing that made me stop was how ruby is said to be a pure star that doesn't know lies and manipulation like hikaru and aqua do, which is so silly because... it's literally not true? Ruby has done a lot of terrible things in her black star era and definitely was more reckles with manipulation etc than Aqua! And I get that this is Aqua's little sister, no wonder he'd said smth like this and sees her in this light but... it seems narrative will never make her face any consequences and with everything going on - it keeps treating Ruby as this pure goddess full of love that never did anything wrong, and keeps rewarding her for that, while also never acknowleding everything that she did, never making her regret hurting others, and pretends this didn't happen at all... had entire ruby black-star arc not matter at all? What was that for if we're supposed to pretend it didn't happen?

Actually, not only that arc!😭 Didn't Ruby force Aqua to kiss her? And was generally very weird and harmful towards him? That would make sense Aqua sees her this idealized - isn't he a victim? But if the narrative goes along with this,, it's TERRIBLE.

If a thing that saves Ruby will be her pure, untainted 'light' and eyes made for love not lies,, it would be very silly indeed...

Just to add, I obviously don't know how the story will go but there haven't been many chapters left and I'll be very surprised if they acknowledged how imperfect Ruby is by the end.