#kept it pretty basic

[fangsanddaggers]

Berries For a Jam and Leaves for the Scent ||@dragonhcrt||

Astarion hadn't meant to be here as long as he had. But two sweet old ladies had asked for aid so he'd spent hours helping them bring back their baskets. They were full, but the poor things had canes and poor spines.

It's upon turning to leave for his own basket that he was informed he had a new partner. Fine. He just wanted to sniff leaves and decide if they or the flowers would be a good addition to perfumes.

"So, eager for your jar of these things?" They'd been quiet for some time as Astarion led the other to an untouched part of the space, happy to settle on his knees to pick carefully. "Any plans for what you want to make with them?" Perhaps he'd get some ideas to hand over to Nicholas when he see's him next.

[egophiliac]

A-anime?

you know, sometimes I forget that Twst is actually an isekai that starts with the protagonist getting run over by an inexplicable horse-drawn carriage. and every time I'm reminded is a delight because that's AMAZING.

also. look. okay. there's a lot of very fun stuff in the trailer but I am obsessed with that Crowley surprised pikachu face. me when I spend all my keys and gems literally hours before they announce overblot SSRs and drop the anime trailer:

[theaonlax]

he might be sitting outside your windows now

[blueskittlesart]

the master works discourse on twitter is killing me. none of these bitches understood the game or its characters AT ALL

[secondarysefikura]

What if when Cloud gave him the black materia instead of letting Cloud fall into the lifestream, Sephiroth grabbed him and pulled him into the mako crystal?

So we know that after getting the black materia, Sephiroth remains in the mako crystal for a while longer as he shapeshifts/ascends into his safer form. So my first thought is that Sephiroth almost absorbs or imprisons Cloud within himself as he develops his safer form. Although Cloud's body does not survive the process, Cloud's consciousness remains safely tucked away in Sephiroth's mind.

It's actually rather pleasant for Cloud, once the initial excruciating agony of having his body dissolved is finished. Sephiroth goes through great pains to ensure his rather fragile puppet is kept blissfully unaware of all the scary things going on outside.

My other idea is that Sephiroth keeps Cloud separate from himself. Eventually he leaves the crystal, but he keeps Cloud trapped inside. After all, as long as Cloud is in the crystal, there will be no mean words or fights. Cloud can just stay inside the mako and look pretty whenever Sephiroth wants to stare at Cloud's body.

[deoidesign]

Hm... I'm feeling benevolent...

[r7inyz]

my designs for them hehehehe

[emperor-forneus]

what better way to use my degree in asian studies than to spend my whole day analyzing suoh's entire character in an attempt to give him even more depth? this is gonna be a series of posts but for now i'm starting off with his name: goshuin suoh (御朱印スオウ)

goshuin is comprised of three kanji characters

御 (go) - honorable

朱 (shu) - vermillion, scarlet, red

印 (in) - mark, seal

a goshuin is a mark / seal you can receive from both buddhist and shinto temples in japan. in recent times they're more of a souvenir to collect than anything else (there's even special notebooks where the seals are placed called goshuin-cho). in the past, to receive a goshuin seal you'd have to prove your devotion to a temple. i think it's safe to assume this part of suoh's name is referring to the mark / seal he received after acquiring salamander and that really showcases how much devotion and commitment went into the process. it could also be hinting at suoh only giving his time and approval towards people he deems devoted enough (to beyblade specifically). fubuki lost to aiga in no time = not devoted enough if he let a rookie beat him (this might be me really stretching it though FJLDSJFLD）

now, his first name (スオウ) is a bit hard to pin down a meaning to since it's written in katakana. it's a common practice to have first names written down in katakana both in real life and in media. unlike kanji, katakana is phonetic with no deeper meaning attached to its characters. i have nothing better to do though, so i went digging and found a candidate for what his first name might be hinting at:

"sappanwood" in english, "suou" in japanese (katakana: スオウ) (kanji: 蘇方, roughly translates to "way of the red"?) is a tree native to southeast asia. when in bloom it's covered in yellow flowers. the wood from the tree can be used to produce a red type of dye. during the asuka period of japan (538 - 710), the dye from suou was used in dyeing the clothes of nobles and ukiyo-e (woodblock prints). this tree also has a cousin named "chinese redbud", or "hanasuou/hanazuou" (ハナズオウ, 花蘇芳, or "blooming suo"), with reddish-purple flowers. it's actively used in the art of ikebana during spring. in hanakotoba (花言葉, language of flowers) hanasuou/hanazuou symbolizes negative connotations such as suspicion and betrayal and we can definitely assign those connotations to suoh himself as well

they done named our boy after a stamp and a tree /j hopefully this was coherent! i think this wraps up me rambling about his name. the next post will be covering his family + his ikebana career. all i'm gonna say is that it's tough shit being born into a traditional arts family

[bennetsbonnet]

In preparation for shortly going to see a talk about Jane Austen by historian Lucy Worsley, I finally finished her book Jane Austen at Home (it had been sitting on my shelf for months, I'm a terrible procrastinator).

Overall, I did enjoy the book. I thought that looking at Jane Austen through the lens of the various places she called home over the years and how they shaped her writing was definitely an interesting approach. Though I can't say I learned anything of significance that I didn't already know about her life, it's well-written and researched and I would recommend it if you are not so knowledgeable about her life and wish to discover more.

But I recommend it more for the historical context than the literary analysis as, although it was evident that she is hugely passionate about Jane Austen, her novels and her life, unfortunately, there was a moment where Worsley slipped into that frustratingly all too common trope found in biographies of Jane Austen. Where authors are desperate to prove that AcTuALLy, they, and they alone, truly understand her novels and everyone else has been reading them wrong all along!

I have no idea why so many of those who write about Austen have a tendency to slip into this, is it born out of sheer desperation to prove that they're actually The Biggest Janeite and that the other countless readers who have enjoyed her novels, over the course of more than two centuries, are actually idiots?

Chapter 25 of Jane Austen at Home concluded with the argument that, because the novels tend not to dwell on the so-called "most romantic" scenes (such as where the hero and heroine finally get engaged) taken in combination with the fact that Jane Austen often wrote letters with double meanings (often sarcastic remarks about relatives/friends) that contained passages that would not be picked up on by inattentive listeners upon a first reading aloud, but that later those who were closest to her (such as her sister, Cassandra) would understand, means that, if you want to, you can find evidence that Jane Austen didn't write happy endings for her heroines, actually, and was secretly undermining the institution of marriage!!

Personally, I think that Austen wanted her readers to use their imaginations and had laid the foundations well enough already in the hundreds of pages prior to these moments to convince the audience that, actually, marriage to their respective heroes was a good and positive step for all of the heroines who we've already grown so fond of.

It was a pretty egregious passage on the whole, but perhaps the worst part, to me, was the quotes selected from Pride and Prejudice.

Brace yourselves...

People who see some merit in this argument perhaps don't believe in love and marriage and happy endings more generally, for in Jane Austen's work you find, above all, what you seek. It holds as many different meanings as there are readers. So what is it that these sceptical readers might spot? Lizzy Bennet only marries Mr Darcy with 'uncomfortable feelings' about their differing rank, which 'took from the season of courtship much of its pleasure'.

I audibly gasped. The sentence itself is a little confusing, as I'm still not sure who allegedly has those uncomfortable feelings? Regardless of whether the argument is for Elizabeth or Mr Darcy, I certainly did not recall either of them expressing such sentiments at the end of the story.

So, naturally I went to the novel and this is the passage, right at the end of Chapter 61 which Worsley very selectively quoted from:

Mrs. Phillips’s vulgarity was another, and perhaps a greater, tax on [Darcy's] forbearance; and though Mrs. Phillips, as well as her sister, stood in too much awe of him to speak with the familiarity which Bingley’s good humour encouraged, yet, whenever she did speak, she must be vulgar. Nor was her respect for him, though it made her more quiet, at all likely to make her more elegant. Elizabeth did all she could to shield him from the frequent notice of either, and was ever anxious to keep him to herself, and to those of her family with whom he might converse without mortification; and though the uncomfortable feelings arising from all this took from the season of courtship much of its pleasure, it added to the hope of the future; and she looked forward with delight to the time when they should be removed from society so little pleasing to either, to all the comfort and elegance of their family party at Pemberley.

The meaning of this passage is to illustrate that, despite a much-reformed Darcy trying his best, even still, there was only so much he could (understandably) take in Meryton before his patience was exhausted due to the vulgarity of Elizabeth's relations. Though he wasn't rude anymore and made an effort with them, he still wasn't exactly comfortable in the company of the Bennets and their relations. Elizabeth understood this, and did everything she could to keep him happy as she accepted that her family could be A Lot too and she knew that he was trying his best to be civil in company with them.

I mean, that's not subtext, it's RIGHT THERE. We are told that the society of Meryton is 'so little pleasing to either,' that both Darcy and Elizabeth cannot wait to retreat to Pemberley. See, they both feel the same. This is no longer a case of Mr Darcy being a snob and Elizabeth feeling desperate to rush him off before he realises 'their differing rank,' as Worsley puts it, will prevent a happy marriage and is tempted to call off the wedding entirely. No, both went into the marriage with their eyes wide open.

Plus, both Darcy and Elizabeth have already overcome 'their differing rank.' It's such a ludicrous argument. Is Worsley seriously contending that the woman who boldly said to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, in the face of overwhelming snobbery and personal attacks,

'in marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal,'

would retain any 'uncomfortable feelings' about her upcoming union to a man of Mr Darcy's standing? The woman who views herself as his equal? I don't buy it.

Likewise, Darcy does get along with some of Elizabeth's relations. It's shown that he does find Mr and Mrs Gardiner in particular to be good company. That is the last line of the entire novel. And let's not insult Elizabeth Bennet's intelligence! She would not have accepted him if she truly believed Darcy was still a snob who thought himself so much her superior.

Anyway, if this argument wasn't already weak enough, due to Worsley's selectiveness when quoting from the novel (conveniently she leaves out the end of the 'season of courtship' quote; that, while it may have lacked some pleasure, 'it added to the hope of the future' i.e. that though being in company with her relatives during her courtship wasn't always pleasant, Elizabeth had seen enough of Darcy's altered manners to know that she'd be happy with him) and the fact that when she does quote from the novel, she uses them completely out of context in a weak attempt to back up her points, it is the conclusion is perhaps most unconvincing of all:

But if you follow me this far in the idea that Jane was undermining the very moment where you'd expect marriage to be most praised, there could be an explanation. The same applies to her novels. At first reading, these are stories about love and marriage and the conventional heterosexual happily-ever-after. Only at the second does a sneaky doubt perhaps creep in to suggest that maybe marriage is not the best thing that could ever happen to these women.

What?! Seriously, if you have a 'sneaky doubt' that any of the heroines and heroes would not lead happy lives together, you need to reread the novels! All six are dedicated to showing us why these two people are compatible with each other, and truly love and respect each other in ways that go deeper than any superficial attraction.

More to the point with Pride and Prejudice, I think that any remaining unmarried sisters, upon Mr Bennet's demise, who ended up as spinsters entirely dependant on other men, would maybe have been 'not the best thing that could ever happen' to the Bennet sisters, to say the least.

So, not only is this passage astonishingly poor literary analysis, it's also baffling that an experienced historian would make such an argument... given the historical context of how vital it was for women to marry for financial considerations just as much as romantic reasons.

Ultimately, and although this quote which I'm about to use can be used in the worst context sometimes, especially from thoroughly pretentious individuals, it's still worth concluding with. Jane Austen wrote in a letter to her sister Cassandra, shortly after the publication of Pride and Prejudice:

There are a few Typical errors – & a 'said he' or a 'said she' would sometimes make the Dialogue more immediately clear –  but 'I do not write for such dull elves As have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves.' [The 'dull elves' quote is not originally from Austen, rather she quotes from Marmion by Sir Walter Scott]

Which to me, shows that Jane Austen clearly believed that she did not need to spell everything out for her audience. That we are capable of filling in the gaps for ourselves and that we can understand, thanks to the context of all that has preceded it, that although we do not get to see really anything of the Darcys married life, that they certainly would have been very happy together.

And, most importantly, we can easily understand that Elizabeth did get her happily-ever-after at Pemberley with Mr Darcy. There is no secret other interpretation that needs to be made which claims otherwise.

[greennoobartist]

*walks in from the void*

*looks at the clock: 9pm*

...

Sup chat ✌

[itissadbutitsmy-artblog]

i have some thoughts about familiars

took us a while to come up with one for larry

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[condy-wants-a-cookie]

Helluva Boss Rant

The new Helluva Boss episode was truly wack in my opinion, because why the hell was this episode titled “Full Moon” and was supposed to be about the deal between Stolas and Blitzø just for the majority of the screen time be the Dhorks and the Cherubs being failures with no actual stakes for the main cast.

Like the majority of the episode had nothing to do with anything up until the last minute where Stolas and Blitzø have the same “miscommunication” as always and blow up at each other just for it to end with no resolution. Also, why is Stolas always treated like a victim in all of his conflicts? Stolas even acknowledges how wrong the basis of the deal with I.M.P. and Blitzø is in the song in the beginning of the episode just for him to be like “I can’t believe you think so low of me” when Blitzø points out that Stolas does, in fact, treat him like a peon.

There was so much build up and hype for this episode and I was disappointed. The animation is decent and the VAs are great (glad to have Erica back, too). But man, the writing does feel like bad fanfiction. I love Helluva Boss as a concept but I really don’t like the direction that several characters have gone in. Stolas being the biggest for me because he could’ve been something, you know? But he just comes across as pathetic and self-absorbed.

Idk man. I’m just tired of the same old song and dance with this show.

[swoo0zy]

the fact that there r no female watchdogs on the skullship is fucked up for obv reasons n stuff but tbh. if there were ONLY women on the skullship i wouldnt bat an eye. id think its pretty cool actually . the yuri empire ... is that a double standard

[fishareglorious]

does anyone here fw sheep urd as much as lambtin. if not what animal do you think is her udimo. i need answers asap

[akkivee]

do you think they always intended from the beginning to have mcd knp and nb and then the later mcd2. and bat and dh

as much as it kinda irks me— bc it def reflects some of the issues hypmic’s long term storytelling has lmao— bc the tdd manga is foundational to hypmic’s plot, everything that happened in it was according to plan and therefore it was always intended for nagosaka to be introduced later in the story

nb and mcd are integral to hypmic bc while samatoki did give ichiro the alternative to be free from mozuku, i don’t think ichiro would have had the heart to trust samatoki if kuukou hadn’t been there to slowly heal his heart. ichiro had been betrayed and manipulated by his partner and the adults around him prior to meeting kuukou and couldn’t trust anyone, which is why it was so important that kuukou was there to support him and tell him to make the best of his awful yet necessary situation

we don’t talk enough about how samatoki usually takes on others goals as his own so it’s telling how much samatoki did value sasara that he reached out and asked sasara to be his partner in changing their world. sasara, like kuukou, was the first person samatoki felt like he could trust with his own aspirations (but they’ve always been slightly misaligned in methodology, hence why ichiro and kuukou in last man standing are on the same page, but sasara and samatoki are out of harmony lol)

and idk what more you need explained about kp lmao ramuda literally taught jakurai how to rap and in giving him that power, it gives jakurai the chance to save as many people as he can, including ramuda regardless of how he feels about that lol

as for nmcd, while i like to think samatoki and ichiro would have gotten there eventually, i don’t think they would have been as close as they were in the time they were given had kuukou and sasara not been there to help ease tensions. samatoki now hates ichiro’s disrespect lmao but if he thinks he’s a little punk now, samatoki would have hated the attitude ichiro had prior to meeting kuukou, and it would have been an uphill battle for the two of them to bond when they barely had a year together (and it took ichiro a long ass time to trust kuukou even tho kuukou was practically throwing himself at ichiro whenever he could lmao)