#making me rant about headcanons and character analysis is the only way to make me write apparently

[farginen]

on another episode of fandom blogs having bad takes

i don’t understand people’s headcanons that riza’s education, which she herself describes as good in canon, couldn’t be academically solid because she also says that she doesn’t get how alchemy works. but these are not contradictory statements at all.

there’s a huge, and i mean huge, gap between having a solid grasp on things like physics and chemistry for an academic level that would be appropriate for a teenager (consider berthold died when riza was sixteen) and being able to make quantum physics equations or thermonuclear chemical equations off the top of your head ⸺ that is the level of knowledge that alchemy requires.

there is a reason why most state alchemists were middle aged people, why mustang is considered ridiculously young for a state alchemist and then when edward comes along that’s monumentally mind-blowing. because the amount of studying and dedication necessary to achieve that level knowledge takes years and intense immersion. 

also we have no reason to believe berthold went easy on riza’s education, knowledge was his whole drive. his own last words revolve around defining alchemists as human’s innate need for knowledge. so even if he was giving riza an education level above average for a 16 year old that would be still nowhere near comparable with alchemy, that would be like comparing having a college level science education to being einstein.

and that’s not even taking into consideration that alchemy is an occult practice, it’s basically a magic system for this universe. it’s a practice that needs to be cultivated and felt on a physical level while doing the science in your head. riza has none of that experience, she’s never even tried so why or how could she understand it? 

but that doesn’t mean she’s not educated or that berthold would’ve confined her to gender role-tied “education” as many fandom blogs often outright claim. yes he was neglectful and mentally ill, but he also didn’t have a problem with having long hair while his daughter had very short hair (if we really want to split hairs over the subject,, get it,,, splitting hair) and cared about science and education more than he cared about life ⸺ literally. him wanting riza to be academically uneducated doesn’t fit with his character at all. in fact, it doesn’t seem he wanted her to appear “marriageable” at all (which i would argue is part of the paranoia about people taking her away from him)

once more i know this is a rather inconsequential thing but fandom’s tendency to analyse and interpret canon material in ways that are always reductive of female characters is exhausting. the underlying message in these takes is always along the lines of ~ riza cut her hair and took up guns to feel empowered ~ because “masculine = strong and free” / “feminine = uneducated and weak”. 

it’s frustrating that a rare piece of media that isn’t riddled with misogyny has a fandom constantly slapping misogynistic microaggressions right back into the story where there was none to begin with.

mind you in canon she explicitly finds comfort and agency, even humanity as an individual and connection to other women in things like growing her hair or keeping her earrings (and yes, womanhood is way more than having long hair and wearing earrings but since fandom dwellers are continuously proven to be completely incapable of nuance we have to keep it surface level for the deficient crowd)

so maybe she’s just a well educated woman because her only parent was a scientist and reasonably the material available at home would be fit for a scientist to have even if she’s not consumed by studying them like an alchemist, maybe she just enjoyed other subjects like history or language more than natural sciences without having to be considered “uneducated because Woman”

[idyllic-affections]

HI can you do me a favor and help me figure out baizhu?? i love his character but i have never played genshin impact and watching through walkthroughs? yeah no thanks (i mean cmon 48 hour walkthrough JUST for inazuma??

like, his personality and lore? i mean, i'm doing my own research about him rn by reading through the wiki and ill also watch cutscenes later but i just need some insight!! u can 100% just use this to rant about him, i am desperate 💔 how does one write for him!! how do you write for him!? help 😭😭i love him sm i wanna write him AT LEAST a bit accurate to character

if you don't mind of course! feel free to ignore this! take it easy aph, have a great day!!💞💞

aph's baizhu analysis.

hi kaiser hello <333 that is SOOO valid tbh inazuma specifically is a headache for multiple reasons... i think i'm going to watch someone else play the fontaine archon quest (...i did this with baizhu's story quest too LMAO) because i have no genshin motivation, but there are a couple people who are wanting to hear my thoughts about lyney lynette & freminet. THAT'S NOT THE POINT THOUGH I WOULD BE SO DELIGHTED TO HELP YOU FIGURE OUT BAIZHU i love him so much he is so dear to me... as a professional baizhu liker i would be glad to help you out. if you need me to, i can explain anything in more detail! just let me know <33

first and foremost, baizhu is generally a very gentle, benevolent, and patient character. he's got sass to him, but generally is very kindly about everything he does. also my guy is so stubborn. god. he is so stubborn.

^ additionally, he is well-trusted by children because of his soft demeanor. they generally aren't scared of check-ups performed by him.

regarding his stubborness, baizhu tests his own medication on himself. he will also poison himself to gain a better understanding of what poison he's working with. he's stubborn with things like his own health and the way he tests medications.

now, this may be more of a headcanon, but... about baizhu's supposed cowardice. yeah. i don't think that's true. do you know the distinction between being harmless and being peaceful? one who is harmless can cause no damage. one who is peaceful can cause damage, but chooses not to. i believe baizhu is peaceful, not harmless. to me, his supposed cowardice is... not genuine. i don't see it, but this opinion may vary depending on who you ask i think.

he is a good-hearted person canonically...

...however.

bro also, canonically, has shady business practices. i personally write these business practices in a very particular way; that being, baizhu overcharges people who he knows can afford to be overcharged. he overcharges the wealthy.

^ similarly, baizhu may sometimes charge nothing at all. he does this when he knows someone can't afford what they need. he generally does his best to make healthcare accessible. he's so real for that.

this is a little headcanon-y, but baizhu cannot stand people claiming to heal illness through piety and faith. he fucking hates that.

^ that headcanon is based off of the fact that he has legal dealings with yanfei about people selling fake medication and whatnot.

i don't know if you know baizhu's entire backstory yet, but the general idea is that changsheng is something akin to an adeptus and has been making contracts with people to keep herself alive for (presumably) a few centuries.

her power enables her hosts to use what baizhu refers to as a "secret art" to heal folks ailed by anything from injuries to poisonings... but of course, there is a drawback. the user of this art transfers whatever their patient is suffering from onto their own body. this is why baizhu is disabled and chronically ill; he has taken on probably every condition known to man fr but we love him for being so kind.

changsheng can only make contracts with pure of heart people. people who aren't genuinely, truly good literally are not viable for her contract. she will die without a host (presumably because her power is slowly draining and she can no longer sustain herself without the support of another being's life force).

^ going off of that, this is part of the reason why baizhu seeks immortality (and do be sure to remember that his pursuit is not a secret. literally all of liyue knows AJSKSHAKFHF... but do also keep in mind that changsheng's contract is a secret so he doesn't tell people about that part). he doesn't want her to die, but he also doesn't want another person to take up her contract and continue the cycle. i also like to think that he doesn't want to leave qiqi alone but that's just me being insane over dad!baizhu he's so fatherly in my brain please hear me out on this one /lh

to stop qiqi from fulfilling orders, if i recall correctly, someone would have to hug her and tell her they love her the most. baizhu does this, but the effect is greatly diminished when he says it. the only reason baizhu sounds insincere when he tells qiqi "i love you the most" is because he believes every life has equal value. he loves her, but not the most, because he is enamored with life in general. this detail about his character is often the topic of angst in fic, but it's important to remember that baizhu is not incapable of love because of it. he is just... not someone who would put ultimate value on one life, because again, he believes all life has equal value.

yes, he does use qiqi for his own ends and research about immortality HOWEVER. however. he is not neglectful or abusive in any way towards her. he treats her well.

because she is a character closely related to baizhu, here's a little detail for the silly snake: changsheng canonically has no filter. she says whatever the fuck comes into her little brain. she's silly. i adore her. she is not bad though! her intentions are generally good.

baizhu doesn't like taking things from people for free. he has difficulty accepting gifts... which often come from the general population of liyue.

generally, what i find to be helpful when learning to write a new (playable) character is reading their voicelines and lore. reading voicelines can help you figure out any particular speech patterns or diction that characters are inclined towards using!

i promise i am not trying to advertise my fics LMAO but if you need a reference, and you want to see how i write him personally, please let me know! i have a few pieces in which i feel like i wrote him well.

i love when people ask me to help with characterization ausskgkgng so if there's anything else i can do please don't hesitate to say so <3

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

💗🍓💋 Heart’s Masterlist 💋🍓💗

Requests: closed 

Inbox: open for asks only

Safe space for Leon x Ada / Aeon!!!

M!NORS DN!

guide ♡ - fluff / 💋 - you’know  / ☁ - angst / 

💗🍓💋 Leon S Kennedy x Ada Wong 💋🍓💗

Fics

Series (Everyday with you)

♡💋 Mornings with you / on AO3

♡☁💋 Longing with you / on AO3 

♡💋 Quiet moments with you / on AO3 

♡💋 A Midnight with you / on AO3

♡☁💋 A vacation with you / on AO3 

Series (Another Order: Everyday with you) 

(To be read alongside with ‘Everyday with you’)

♡☁💋 Excerpts of my memories of you / on AO3 

Alternate Universe (AU)

♡☁💋 The Night Shift (Security guard! Leon Kennedy x (?) Ada Wong)

♡☁💋 Stop and smell the roses (aeonweek day 2) (pregnancy au)

♡☁💋 tempting fate (aeon week day 4) (werewolf au)

♡☁💋 Detective!Leon Kennedy x jazz club singer!Ada Wong (aeonweek day 6)

One shots (~ 4k words)

♡💋 dessert before dinner + moodboard

Short “blurbs” (under 2k words)

💋 just smutty smut with au aeon parents in mind

💋 quiet night hehe (putting the kids to bed)

☁💋 after leon’s failed date (again)

💋 ada suckin and ridin that  (hopefully i think of an appropriate title at some point) (Also posted here as “Phone Call”)  (on ao3 ~3k words)

even shorter “blurbs” (under or around 1k)

💋 ada riding leon’s face

💋 ada c*CAWWW!!!*warming leon

💋 leon furiously *jsbkaf* into ada

💋 ada jsdkfbdsjkfbjsk herself and leon walks in on her doing it

💋 ada riding leon’s thigh and leon’s furiously CAWWW!!!

💋 leon and ada on his bike HEHEHEH 

♡ aeon fluff week day 1 - love letter

ideas i wanna work on

aeon twins au (grown up)

Song fics

☁💋  Glimpse of Us / on AO3

Headcanons

all of my headcanons for my au / (Everyday with you)

Them playing video games

random thing about saying i love you for the first time

double proposal idea

nsfw alphabet headcanons

aeon as parents + aeon with babies + more aeon pregnancy + more with tea shop idea + more aeon twins (as babies) 

aeon kinks

aeon first time together + intimacy 

aeon high school au headcanons

aeon angst (TW: ptsd) + aeon nightmares 

early aeon sex headcanons + post damnation sex headcanons

random aeon headcanons + afterglow headcanons?

leon with daughter (and some mommy ada)

more aeon seggs headcanons

ada’s a business owner and leon’s her bodyguard

aeon twins halloween

aeon twins christmas

💗🍓💋 All of my artwork and moodboards 💋🍓💗

Aeon Coded Songs (also use #aeon coded songs to find more)

[1] don’t blame me [2] arcade [3] here without you [4] iris [5] the night we met

[6] all or nothing [7] consequences

Other posts of interest

aeonweek2023 masterlist

why I ship Leon x Ada and why I don’t ship him with other characters

re4r analysis (spoilers) + separate ways analysis (spoilers)

small details of aeon in re4r 1/2

small details of aeon in re4r 2/2

my favourite aeon moments

nick’s guest stream with ohkaty

nick’s guest stream with neil newbon

characterizing ada

ada wong and asian representation

why it makes sense for leon and ada to end up together in the end

leon's characterization in re4r strays too far away from the rest of his iterations- so much so that it no longer feels like this is the same leon

💗🍓💋 list of re content creators (on going) 💋🍓💗

aeon fluff week collection on ao3

Frequent tags I use

#heart rambles #heart shitposts #heart rants 

#hearts horny hours  

#hearts wholesome hours

#ask heart   #heart answers

#picrews

#aeon coded songs

(anons with names)

interacts from pink-strawberry-kisses-interacts

ASK RULES HERES

[p-receh]

I'M BAAAAAACK

Let's continue the missing part from anon's questions.

LET'S GO

Anyway anon. I'm in deeply sorry for late reply. Please don't be mad at me T_T

For me back to my previous rants over that vid of episodes 6. Oboi let himself quite and take a rest a little while to comprehend what he's done while splitting.

Since I thought elementals didn't have an official leader under Oboi, Oboi himself in my headcanon were in sleep paralysis during split. Letting his elementals do the job. So whenever they recombine, I always see Oboi as he just woke up and try to recollect all the dreams he saw.

There's a random hypothesis I came up with while watching movie 2 for the first time: That is Oboi's individual elementals exist and only exist as long as they live in Oboi's.

So when Retak'ka and Tok Kasa pulled them out, the elementals instantly went ... uuuh how you pronounce it? Torpidity? Becoming apparent death as a silent tool to its original owner. Same case when Ki'rana took Halilintar from Oboi via Satriantar's sword(?).

This is proven with how l did mention this before, Oboi is the first one who uses split technique. And the way he handled the elementals is like he treating the elementals like some sort of how people control emotions. This comment I stumbled upon beautifully encapsulates it.

Also I find it quite interesting and almost in a bit shock after Beliung incident and during battle in Gur'latan. The former one is showing how Oboi resigned in lending the Wind power to Lady Kuputeri. Beliung case reminded him a lot of Retak'ka, but I think it reminds him from the first time Angin got his 2nd Tier, Taufan.

(back to my other analysis here. With how huge the wind element that Boboiboy absorbed in Planet Windara, his overwhelming joy unconsciously took over Boboiboy)

Whereas the later is portraying Oboi's actually petrified that Halilintar will got the similar unexpected treatment for the third time!

(The way after he shout then comes a pleading voice right after that. I have a headcanon that the pleading voice was Halilintar's last second slipped in.)

If anything, I see both of them not as Oboi, but the real character of the elementals! | know the spoiler about Halilintar's. But I didn't expect to be this worse. (Now I can see why people went frantic about Halilintar at that issue :3).

It goes back to the picture | found on Pinterest. Please tell me the original link. I can't find it (the font whoever use it was hardly readable for me, I'm sorry ^^`)

This is also goes back to what I've mentioned with Boboiboy movie 1 & 2 review. Everytime he let off his hat. His also let his hidden "weakness" opens up.

But at the same time...

The moments his hat wears off is also to show his proofs as a hero for everyone and his family. Especially for his dad who Oboi's dearly missed. That's why he looked very mature whenever he fight without his hat.

His hat for me is resembles of Monsta's clingingness and guardedness 24/7 to make this series still be kids friendly.

If the season 2 ended with 3rd tier design like that. And movie 3 concept art of him being alone... I don't want any Monsta excuses to not upgrade their age ratings.

No.

You started it. So you face the consequences, Monsta >:(

Ehem.

And the elementals unknowingly helps him to achieve that. If I can make some wild headcanon: No, anon. I don't think the elementals wants to leave Oboi.

Not directly proven but their bondings with Oboi are too strong to divide. If anything, the elementals are unofficially being loyal to him. Movie 2 and galaxy season 2 for is already evident enough. (Also it's how Hang Kasa dreamed of with all elementals being unite to protect the galaxy. He couldn't be more proud when there's a boy did that indirectly. Just like how Gempa purposely being the leader of the elementals :'))

Also.

Linking to what I said about the amnesia problem on previous post. Oddly enough, for comic ver, Monsta didn't dwell further on this problem until Baraju arc. But then again in the same arc, Oboi's mental health hasn't detected any worrisome effects! And he CAN STILL FIGHT normally by using a new fusion not long after recombining??

Like-

bro-What?

Monsta didn't let Oboi fucking rest for the sake of introducing the last fusion, Sopan(Not to make any rudeness for Sopan, mind you. I honestly loves his design and attacks. The most unique design of all fusion if I say so myself). Holy shit both Blaze and lce just did a smash brawl shit and almost unleashed their final smash! If not because of Fang, both the temper duo and Oboi should be dead by now. Period.

[mothdecomposed]

please rant to us. Both about the dynamic of the DOA AND your headcanons. All of it. We want to hear everything you have to offer.

okay fuck it. long(ish?) post.

most of them are either self projection or stolen but i just wanna compile them now :')

i'm gonna try to exclude my reasons for most of them though because that'd take too long. or it's just like.. analysis on canon stuff. i get it mixed up.

Nikolai:

- ADHD, maybe autism

- for being one of the characters i relate to most i have a hard time coming up with stuff aside from what i attribute to ADHD. 😭

- low spatial awareness/clumsiness

- has "emergency stickers", decks of cards, balloon animal, etc. trying to cheer up people but ends up doing something horrific instead. you never know what it's going to be though.

- /\ he either does that stuff on purpose or has no self awareness no in between

- bisexual

- he/him (but doesn't mind they/them)

- out of all of them, he's the most comfortable identifying himself as queer, though still struggles with it a LOT. (especially around Fyodor, who isn't against it, but sometimes makes negative comments out of internalized issues.)

- you know the thing where it looks like he has a scar and maybe a blind eye or heterochromia? for some reason it's makeup and a contact lens. why? who knows. it makes him look less like a "normal person".

- theater kid.

- stims by flapping arms (we kind of see this anyways) and imitating different bird noises. he actually practiced a lot.

- canonically a cane user?? but because he has a disability that isn't obvious. (i don't know enough about this to give anything specific.)

- STRONG rejection sensitivity but hides it well most of the time (me)

- often compares Fyodor to a crow or raven.

- Forms attachments way too fast and doesn't like to be called out on it. He's aware it makes him vulnerable. (calling Fyodor his intimate friend or whatever you wanna call it but claiming to have barely spoken to him. acting conflicted after his "death".)

Sigma:

- ASD (autism), CPTSD

- i wrote more about my headcanons for post-meursault in another post so i'm not gonna re-type those.

- bigender (but wouldn't really have the word for it.) and doesn't mind any pronouns. he just doesn't care about correcting people.

- he likes Nikolai the least because he's so unpredictable and loud all the time. it's stressful to him and probably triggering to his anxiety/PTSD. of course he doesn't like Fyodor either but at least he acts calmer.

- Terrified of the ocean (I had a reason for this but I don't want to try to remember/explain.)

- I don't have a sexuality headcanon at all because he literally has not existed outside of survival mode before. of course he's an adult with an adult brain (I'm not one of those people who thinks he's literally 3.) BUT he does have a life experience of only 3 years, so from that perspective, would he really know or care?

- Specifically dissociation, depersonalization, etc. with the CPTSD.

- help i wrote the least for him I promise there's more I just forgot </3

Fyodor:

- ASD (autism), ASPD, insomnia, unspecified psychosis/delusions

- chronic illness along with canon anemia (nothing specific but i've seen EDS headcanons and i'm hypermobile too so that tracks.)

- aro/ace but oriented or spectrum or something. (pan-oriented?) just very a-spec.

- either doesn't know the words for his sexuality and passes it off as celibacy OR does know and is indifferent. not that he wouldn't consider relationships, but he just doesn't really care.

- asexuality may be related to having a heavily religious upbringing/revolving around shame, but that's valid. (me probably.)

- having more empathy/sympathy for animals than people

- ignoring chronic pain/illness symptoms to avoid feeling "weak"

- paranoia related to having extreme control and trust issues.

- polyglot, idk what other languages but obviously Russian and Japanese (Ukrainian? French?)

- was the type of kid to read dictionaries for fun (me)

- isn't fully aware of when he makes Nikolai insecure about something. he definitely makes manipulative comments on purpose, but it's not always intentional.

I did this in my notes app and was going to put more (especially about relationship dynamics and stuff) but i let it sit for over a day so i'm just gonna hit post.

[atlasaur]

a trans miyano rant / a bit of a character analysis

sometimes i think that canonically trans miyano wouldn't make sense but actually the more i think about it and relate it to my own experience being trans, it TOTALLY works.

he's insecure abt people thinking he looks feminine, though, it didn't start that way, just over time the more people told him that, the more insecure he got about it. when i first came out, i kinda didn’t care how people saw me, if they thought i looked like a girl, it didn’t bother me much in the start, but just like miyano, as time went by, it bothered me more and more.

and that insecurity started in middle school for him, so it is totally possible he started transitioning socially around that time and passed almost well enough for people to believe he was a boy, but to the point some people were still confused and thought he looked feminine.

now i thought it didn't make total sense with the fact that he does actively hide BL from his family be he's scared of what they’ll think, because he’d have no reason to be worried if they already accepted that he was trans and let him start transitioning socially, but it also doesn’t entirely specify why he hides it, it’s only vaguely implied when he tells sasaki that some people can be “weird about that sort of thing,” but he didn't really say his parents specifically were that way, it was only loosely implied, so it could just be because the material isn't exactly family friendly all the time and that's why he doesn't talk about it or read it around them.

(side note: for the sake of my own projecting, we're gonna pretend japan isn't as transphobic as it is and that it isn’t incredibly difficult to transition there, even just with basic things such as changing your name is nearly impossible without many other steps, but we can pretend that’s not the case for the sake of fiction and my headcanons, ty)

this would make his insecurities about dating sasaki make so much sense too aside from what's already given and his internalised homophobia and such

a major reason that he was reluctant was because he wasn't even sure sasaki was into guys, and so he thought that maybe he just liked him because miyano looks "feminine". that on top of the internalized homophobia.

that was the other thing that made me iffy about it, was the fact that miyano clearly does struggle with internalized homophobia, and why would he if he was trans? etc. but the more i thought about it, the more i think that it honestly can make sense even if he is trans. he could very much still kind of have the mind set that "being a guy means i have to like girls, and if i like a guy i might as well be a straight girl" and it could tie in to some internalized transphobia as well.

anyways concludes this little rant, do with it as you will!! if you disagree and don’t have anything nice or constructive to say, just leave. i hope i have recruited more trans miyano believers, that is all for now.

[11x13kyle]

hi feel free to ignore this if you ain't taking asks about this topic anymore. but i feel the need to rant. I saw a post that went something like "If you like one sided kyman you are still a kyman shipper" and I'm like huh???? like.... yes I headcanon Cartman has some fucked up crush on Kyle. no, that doesn't mean I'm rooting for them to get together romantically??? and I'm sure as fuck not comfortable with seeing kyman fanart and fics for personal reasons I do not wish to delve into

but yeah curious to hear your take on this. hope you are having a great summer tho

i’ve seen this take many times and it always pisses me off because it reflects a larger issue to me which is that it feels like many people only know how to analyze media through a “shipping” lens and nothing else. this isn’t to say shipping isn’t fun, it totally is, but it’s frustrating because it means that if you want to talk about other nuanced relationship dynamics there’s an assumption that you’re shipping by default and not just like. observing patterns.

so like with the one-sided kyman/cartman crush thing — i feel like there is a lot in the show that leads me to believe that cartman has some kind of fucked up crush on/obsession with kyle. at the same time, kyman makes me viscerally upset and uncomfortable to see and i have all the tags that feature it filtered for my own peace of mind. and i have been told by people that these two things are contradictory because it’s “still shipping” which makes exactly zero sense to me. the way i see it, shipping is inherently a two way street and has to involve attraction on either side, and it also involves me (the viewer/reader/etc.) enjoying the act of imagining them together. shipping to me does not include looking at a character’s behavior and going “huh. that character seems to have a weird thing for the other character. fucked up!”

and fandom aside, let’s put this in a real life context for a second so i can really just emphasize how silly this take is: imagine some guy has a crush on you and you hate him, absolutely despise him, but you know that he has a crush nonetheless. you tell your friend the objective fact that he has a crush on you and your friend replies “EW! i can’t believe you want to date him!! oh god that’s disgusting, what’s wrong with you???” even though you never even hinted at reciprocating. this would be really odd, right? we all know that one person being attracted to another person doesn’t equal a relationship in reality, why can’t that translate to how we view media? shipping isn’t the be all end all of analysis!

sorry this got long, it will happen again and again. and i am having a great summer, i hope you are too!!!! :]

[neonponders]

As bad as the writing on st is I really thought that the intention behind Billy's line to max about Lucas was incredibly clear. We learn later that max living up to Neil's rulebook decides when Billy is abused. Neil doesn't take her misbehavior out on her yet. But Billy knows Neil's rules and consequences more than anyone. As much as Billy takes his anger and resentment out on her, I genuinely can't see that line as anything but a warning. Not about how black people are bad so you need to stay away from them. It's about how Neil is racist and Billy knows he's violent. Lucas and Max could be in physical danger if Neil found out about them. If Neil throws around the f slur you can't convince me he doesn't throw around the n word too. The line is so specific- there are some people in this world that you learn to stay away from. The given circumstances point directly to Neil as that teacher.

You could call it a headcanon but if I was playing Billy I would have come up with this backstory for him anyway. Lines like that imply history. It could be that Billy has had to listen to Neil's racist comments in general his whole life, or maybe he tried having black friends in California as a kid. Neil would have been furious and the lesson was probably punctuated with violence. (I find it even more interesting if the incident that brought them to Indiana involved Billy being caught with another boy. Maybe that boy was white, maybe he wasn't. It all makes for a more fleshed out story either way.)

So I genuinely don't think that Billy pushing Lucas against the wall was racially motivated. It is entirely valid for Lucas and the rest of the kids to have perceived it that way. I probably would too. So anyway, you're totally right. There's no way Neil knows who Lucas is, but I think Billy was very clearly trying to keep it that way for all of their sakes.

Sorry for the million word character analysis. I just think Billy is so interesting and he had so much potential if he was written better. One day I'm gonna shake dacres hand and thank him for loving Billy as much as we do.

(I deleted my story post because I delete everything nowadays, but I think you're right in that Billy was trying to stop Max x Lucas from happening before it could blow up into a real issue.)

But yeah, I've been really looking back on my life and realizing that the racial stuff in this show is so careless and really shows a lack of actual experience.

The thing that really gets my cylinders firing is that no one talks about Billy being the Oldest Sibling™ and Max being the Youngest Sibling™.

(For anyone who missed my story from last night, it was when my best friend had a crush on a Black boy and had to break up with him because she discovered her father and brother were a threat to him.)

But this brings me to my own brother, who had to learn racial stuff the hard way. That's what Oldest Siblings do, they face the world alone and get the worst of everything. My brother was making friends with two black boys in my grandparents' neighborhood, and as soon as my white, Christian/conservative grandmother got wind of it, she unveiled some really nasty character traits to my brother.

But not to me. I'm the baby of the family. I'm the precious baby girl (she/they) who could do no wrong (jokes on her because I've dated Black people lol).

Clearly, this entire issue isn't just racial, it's also sexist, because girls are treated differently than boys. That's a different rant entirely.

Billy Hargrove is such an accidental love letter to eldest siblings who get super messed up because of the adult figures in their life, and Max is the poster child for younger siblings who get to watch all the mistakes and promptly avoid them.

It infuriates me how this show manages to create very real and complex characters, only to then write the plot around them so carelessly and shitty.

[withgreatpowercomesmyfuckingdick]

The Red Sea Official Summary:

He was never a man made to tread water. All his love is dead. This is what it is to soar on burning wings.

Beautiful in the flight of a fall; the prophecy is his, and all will witness the fire of rebirth.

———————

“You’re a silver tongued, jackboot thug with

White skin but you’re no white dove and you’re

Scared of us cause we show you love till there’s

None of us left to love you”

-White Dove by Koda

———————

Top Three Songs:

the last beautiful thing I saw blinded me- Paris Paloma

Daffodil- Florence + The Machine

The Calling- The Amazing Devil

————————

Sound tags and genres:

fast, destructive, folk/acoustic, indie, unstable, regretful, mourning, angry, vengeful, self-righteous

————————

Click here for the prelude: The Halves That Left the Hole.

Read more if you’d like the creator’s ramblings on certain song choices and their headcanon of Genesis’ character in relation to their own fanfic. Or don’t. It certainly isn’t necessary to the enjoyment of the playlist.

Disclaimer: This explanation/analysis/headcanon is written with a romantic Angeal/Genesis context, and while this playlist isn’t central to that, that headcanon has a huge effect on the interpretation. So. Not into that? This may not be for you, my friend. Into that? You’ve come to the right place my friend.

(Fun fact: the most repeated keys in this playlist’s songs are A and G. So. Do with that what you will.)

-

Genesis’ degradation has always been something that fascinates me from a heavily fanon perspective. I actually don’t think his degradation was characterized enough in the canon, but I also don’t think degradation is developed enough in general, but that’s opening another can of worms I won’t rant on today.

Henceforth, almost all of the following is fanon in its specifics but canon in its events, if that makes sense. I had a lot of fun with this and, even if you don’t read the whole of this, I hope you enjoy the playlist. Key phrases and songs are in red should you be looking for highlights rather than an extended read.

-

My top favorite is "the last beautiful thing I saw is the thing that blinded me" because 1. I am a slut for Paris Paloma and 2. it suits Genesis in a sad away. FF7 is established to be a very large reference to the Bible in several ways and has several parallels, but Genesis is the most obvious one. Paris makes several allusions to Christianic purity, like a dove that when she attempts to 'help' is revealed to have been a 'creature of ash' and was bound and left to die. The event of blinding is also committed under a church's arch, and I find it comparable to Genesis' story in a way.

Just like anyone else, he looked up to a greater purpose to excuse the things he had to do for Shinra, only to discover they concealed his origin from him. He ends up manipulated and led about blindly, both by Hollander and Jenova. There's a certain sound to the song that's both hopeful and dreadful. By the end it feels like you're folding in on yourself, timid and sightless. But Genesis isn’t the type to dwell on his suffering for long, I think. No, he keeps it, but he weaponizes it. He turns the dread and fear into anger. He turns to anger to flame. He burns.

Who can do what Genesis did without doubts? I don’t think you can. I think Genesis had doubts but was overruled by his instinct for survival and his fascination with the fulfillment of LOVELESS, both of which were turned to sick perversions of their origins thanks to Jenova’s influence.

That’s why “The Calling” follows as the second song. It’s a reminiscent song, but not in the way of longing for what was. It has more of the feeling of, ‘think of this one last time then let it go.’ The lyrics of this song are easily the most visceral on the playlist in my opinion. I think Genesis had another flash of regret and dread at what he had done and what he planned to do, but Jenova overtook it with the lure of his calling, his prophecy. Somewhere beneath it all I think he might’ve known there was something wrong, that the things he was doing went against what he stood for, but he became too enraptured in his acts to entertain those quieter emotions.

He gives himself over to the anger and longing for retribution, and the forever present chase of divinity and salvation. Jenova feeds that until it's uncontrollable. And that's the rest of the playlist.

“Daffodil” is a close second for my favorite because of it’s deeper meaning. The scientific name of daffodils is “Narcissus,” as in the Greek myth of a man so entranced by his reflection in a pool that he died looking at himself. The root of the word “narcissism.” The chorus of the song says ends in “Saw the future in the face of a/Daffodil.” Genesis reaches this point where everything revolves around him and I think this borderline narcissism is inflated by Angeal’s death. Hence why “Daffodil” is situated after “Heavy In Your Arms,” where Genesis becomes aware he is too much for Angeal and that his oldest lover is going to let him go.

I chased a sound that was both haunting and hypnotizing, with accents of insanity and desperation, because Genesis hit a point where that was all he was. “In Dreams” has a scattered and frantic tempo that I think reflects that very well, “World on Fire” is definitely haunting in its echoing strings and repetitive lyrics, and “Rule #5- John Picard” mixes deep cello and tight violin into a sound unstable but beautiful.

He’s such an interesting example of degradation to me because at first, it started with rebellion. He at least tried to give the impression of righteousness and liberation, and his love for Angeal sticks around the longest because he's had it the longest, but over time even that sours into this perversion of his true feelings and thoughts. He’s obsessed with the prophecy of LOVELESS, his rendition, to the point that his cloning and murder is just a means to an end.

Then he’s humbled so thoroughly he’s thrown into the baser instinct of all that lives: survival at all costs. He still demonstrates some aspects of his personality but he commits acts that his true self would balk at, demonstrating how Jenova can exacerbate any emotion, even and especially despair.

“Icarus” is the only instrumental, albeit with some operatic vocals, and is purposefully placed at the end of the playlist. It sounds like watching an angel lose its wings and I believe it suits Genesis losing sight of himself and his own ideals perfectly. He devolves into a creature staring at its own demise, watching the ground approach. Yet he flaps and thrashes his wings in vain.

His fall is graceful and coated in black feathers and ash. There’s a certain tragedy in how he was manipulated to turn his back on the very people he fought for and was led to, ultimately, become self-absorbed. I tried to reflect that in the music, this feeling where he thinks everybody’s out to get him and that he’s justified in the retribution he’s dealing in fire.

To round out, this is my favorite playlist I’ve made so far and will probably stay the favorite. I hope you guys enjoy this as well.

Oh, and how could I forget—it’s dramatic. Because what is Genesis if not dramatic?

[prettyinpwn-blog]

I saw your post in the Ford tag and gotta say: I have heard stories about the times when Ford was commonly disliked, and I can't imagine living through that 😭 I joined the fandom right before Lost Legends came out, and I only ever came across one blog still posting about disliking Ford. He is my favorite character from any media ever. Welcome back to tumblr, I'm glad you get to experience the fandom finally giving Ford all the love and appreciation he deserves

Come and sit near the fire, youngster. Let old Grandma PiP tell ya stories about the good old days...

But yeah, both Ford and Mabel got lots of angry rants in those days. To be honest, most of them were made out of love for Stan (because Ford did treat him like garbage at points) and Dipper (because people perceived that he gave up way more for Mabel than vice versa).

But it kinda sucked because oh man, here was our theory son finally getting his time to shine. And what was even better is that he was just as awesome as we'd hoped he'd be. We'd always thought he'd be a giant nerd like Dipper but also a badass because of his getting lost in the portal (though we were wrong about some things - like him being the author and not McGucket, what he was doing before he was lost, why he and Stanley fought, that his name was Stanford and Grunkle Stan was Stanley, etc).

He was my favorite character the moment he walked out of that portal and showed his face (well, kind of before that, given much of my blog was posting headcanons/theories about him before he was revealed, but nothing was canon yet so it was all what-ifs - we never knew if we’d actually like him or not until he had screentime). 

And then I get online to see how other people responded... and it was not good. Granted, some like me loved him and many had their minds blown with the reveal, but he got a lot of flack. Even legit anger. I remember thinking, “Damn, I know we all love Stan to bits, but give Ford some slack! Give him time to shine and make it up to Stan.”

To be honest, I think had he had more screen time, especially more scenes from what was described in the physically released Journal 3 and Lost Legends, people would have liked him more from the outset. I’m still of the opinion that the story in the latter half of S2 feels rushed, and as much as I love this show and appreciate the effort put into it, I think Ford suffered for it.

Stan, Mabel, and Dipper got two seasons to shine. He got half of one, and a few episodes of that half didn’t even involve him much or at all (cough Roadside Attraction cough). And what we do see of him is punching Stan, talking about their broken relationship, telling Stan that the Mystery Shack has to go, him giving Dipper a mind control device, him explaining how he worked with Bill, and him inviting Dipper on a path away from Mabel. The few positive scenes we saw were in DDaMD and his heroic actions in the finale episodes.

He gets fleshed out way more in supplementary materials and, upon reading those, I think he arguably can be seen as the best character in terms of growth and depth (though Stan rivals him closely in this area imo).

I would love to do a whole Ford character analysis post at some point soon, because the way they wrote him is worthy of a closer look. He’s heavily flawed, but that’s what makes his arc and story all the more satisfying, and interesting to examine. A flawed character is a good character from a writing perspective, and like you, he’s been cemented as my favorite character in all media ever so far because of it. 

He had an arguably abusive father, deep insecurity and ego issues, pride that shattered his relationships and led him to push people away, made many mistakes, was intelligent but easily manipulated, and had to accept that - as much as he wanted to be a hero - it was Stan who was the true hero... But even so, he found redemption and happiness in the end. He’s still a broken man and still has flaws, but like I said: his growth arc? Amazing. He’s also relatable to me on a personal level because I’ve struggled with many of the above issues in my own life.

I am like 99.99% sure Hirsch will never return to Gravity Falls, but if he does in some form, it would be great to see a mini series or comic or [insert thing here] with Ford as a main protagonist, be it his story between getting to Gravity Falls and being shoved into the portal, his portal adventures, or his adventures with Stan after the main series. I know we’ve seen summaries or hints of these time periods, but man, with how little screentime he got in the show, I think fans would gladly go for it.

I also think it would be great to explore his and Stan’s stories in material that’s allowed to be more adult. Gravity Falls gets away with an astonishing amount of darkness for being a Disney show, but I think something targeted for an older audience would allow for greater delving into these dark aspects of Ford and Stan’s lives, like breaking generational trauma and family cycles, how to mend long-broken familial relationships, reflecting back on major regrets in your life, morality in the face of survival (if Ford’s portal days are ever explored more in-depth), etc. 

But Disney owns the rights so if they’d be up for that... not sure. I’m not saying make it Rick and Morty or Inside Job level adult, but somewhere between the original series and those shows. The fandom is older now, and if Stan and Ford were the protagonists, it’d make sense to age up the target audience, as well.

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

makoto? 👀

Thank you for the ask!

What I like about them

I love Makoto's arc of realizing she's just a tool of adults who don't care about her, and its not worth it to compromise herself just for their approval. It's very powerful and relatable. I also like her confidence and intelligence. She really is like an honorary second leader to the Phantom Thieves who keeps them grounded. Without her the Thieves probably would have been found out a lot sooner. Akira can be...a little reckless, lol.

Also. She's hot.

What I dislike about them

Ok, before I get into this rant, let me first say: Makoto is one of my favorite Thieves. She's slowly lowered in my internal ranking of them over the course of the past year as I've soured on where her arc ended up and other Thieves overtake her as I grow to better appreciate their arcs, but I still love her, and I say all of this as a Makoto stan.

That said. Literally everything about her becoming a cop. It's not only an insult to Akira's trauma and a flat-out contradiction of the game's core themes, but it also walks back any progress Makoto makes in her character arc. Because, let's face it, Makoto can be a bit of an authoritarian. She's very uncompromising and stubborn in her point of view. Her confidant wants you to think that her friendship with Eiko expands her worldview, but in then the entire situation resolves with Makoto being Right and using her Fist of Justice to force Eiko into doing what Makoto thinks is best. Like a cop would. What happened to Makoto's flaw of being too stubborn and close minded? The narrative ends up taking Makoto's side and saying she was right all along. She doesn't learn anything.

I should probably write a more in depth analysis of her at some point because it is SO frustrating but I'm really tired of the fandom taking it out on her when its the writers' fault for screwing up what was intended to be her character arc.

Favorite moment

Her Awakening, no contest. One of the best Awakenings in the whole game.

Least favorite moment

Any scene that revolves around her dream to become a cop. Especially when the game forces Joker to support her in that goal after everything he's been through.

A situation with this character that I want to see explored more

This is probably obvious by now, but I want to see Makoto realizing her dream of becoming a "good cop" is fundamentally flawed and changing her career goals accordingly, deciding to reform the system in a way that doesn't turn her into just another cog in the machine that nearly ate her up in the first place.

An interesting AU for this character

AU where she hates the police.

Jk. Sort of. There was art I reblogged the other day where Makoto is a cop and Haru is an underworld crime boss and they fall in love and I think that is very very sexy I would totally read a fic about it. Here it is.

A crossover

I'm bad at thinking of crossovers so I'm just not going to try.

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favorite ship)

Makoharu!!! It's my second favorite Persona 5 ship after Akeshu. I Love Them. Their friendship in the game is really sweet, I love how Haru is able to get Makoto to relax and loosen up a little, and how they're both ruthless but in contrasting ways. They're like opposites and yet the same (haha, like akeshu). They're just so cute and wholesome. And the Aesthetic is perfection. I adore their showtime.

Other ships?

Makoann is cute.

BROTP

Makoto and Akechi, also Makoto and Ryuji. The Potential of both of those friendships is tragically untapped in canon other than Makoto and Ryuji's Showtime, which to be fair, is amazing.

NOTP

Makoto x Joker. I don't hate it but I also don't ship it to the point I haven't romanced her despite her being my waifu. Yeah I know I'm a weirdo. I plan to romance her on a future playthrough ok.

An assortment of headcanons

She plays animal crossing and has her island organized Just So. The Thieves make fun of her for practically running a military state with how organized it is and how stale its aesthetic becomes with everything made of metal and stone. Haru helps liven the place up by planting flowers all around the island.

Makoto becomes like a surrogate older sister to Akane and becomes the kind of person for Akane that she wishes Sae had been for her.

Makoto and Haru go to the same college and become roommates (oh my god they were roommates).

send me some p5 characters

[seventeenlovesthree]

Iori and Koushiro

Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:

Taichi Yagami | Yamato Ishida | Sora Takenouchi | Koushirou Izumi | Mimi Tachikawa | Jyou Kidou | Takeru Takaishi | Hikari Yagami | Daisuke Motomiya | Miyako Inoue | Iori Hida | Ken Ichijouji

Whether canon provides input on them or not:

As much as Iori often gets the short end of the stick in terms of screentime and character development, this one gets a clear yes. Koushirou and Iori are obviously set up to be paralleled with each other - not only is Iori the heir of the Crest of Knowledge and also the shortest in his group, but both of them deal with their own inner turmoils regarding their family backgrounds, which clearly define their personal value systems and development. I have already outlined how they’re portrayed as parallels here, talking about how they’re both highly curious and very polite, what their roles in their respective Chosen Children groups are, who their foils and most important interactions are, etc. 

The essence of their general relationship with each other is already displayed perfectly in the screenshot above though: 02!Koushirou has grown into a mentor figure who enjoys to be an aid for the new Chosen Children and once he realizes how similar Iori is to him, he basically immediately takes him under his wing, telling him that he could always come to him for advice and to ask for help. That is actually a huge deal considering how much he struggled with his own people skills in 01 - and the fondness with which he looks at Iori here definitely displays a sense of care and curiosity very early on already. Iori takes the offer very gladly - and even though they don’t have that many scenes throughout 02 that show just the two of them interacting with each other (Iori is actually seen being more close with Jyou in that regard), they’re seen investigating in the Digital World together, with Koushirou generally being very protective of Iori (which, in my opinion, slightly mirrors the way Taichi was protective of Koushirou himself in 01). 

Whether I think why and how they’d work:

As pointed out in the upper part - and the comic/meta I’ve linked -, there are two particular scenarios about these two I highly enjoy: One of them is just them having that “investigative senpai/kohai (or big brother/little brother)” vibe going on, exploring the whereabouts of the Digital World together while everyone else is shaking their heads about how deeply they’re already lost in their own little world (especially Miyako, who would occasionally join in on the rambles and nerdisms, but can’t always keep up with them). In a very self-indulgent headcanon, I would love these two to spend huge chunks of their free time together with Taichi and Takeru (and Jyou), with Iori trying to take note of how casually Koushirou is interacting with Taichi (whereas he himself is still sometimes struggling to understand Takeru properly, but really wants to). Basically them having a very kind, mutually supportive, brotherly relationship with each other sounds very endearing.

The other scenario is the romantically inclined one - with Iori having an (unrequited) crush on Koushirou, because he just admires and adores him not only for being his knowledgable mentor, but also for his general attitude, displaying confidence, a hands-on-mentality and courage to make his opinion heard when it matters, inspiring him to do the same. Koushirou, on the other hand, may not be able to pick up on his crush and is just generally very excited to be able to teach him things and encourage him - since Iori would be one of the few to happily listen to his rambles without losing interest at some point (the others don’t do it on purpose, but at some point, they simply can’t follow him when he’s in absolute rant mode, as mentioned above with Miyako).

Maybe in some kind of future scenario, with both of them being adults (since there’s still a four year age gap between them), Iori might be able to confront and confess his feelings to Koushirou. However, I’m not sure if they could actually let completely loose towards each other, as they’ve been just very similar and might not be able to give each other the emotional attention they’d need. (Admittedly, it could be an intriguing concept to have Koushirou notice that the boy, who was always by his side looking up to him, turned into quite the capable man himself who’d also probably be taller than himself, haha, and with Iori embracing his own sense of kindness, forgiveness and openness, their changing bond could be an interesting thing to look out for.)

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship:

Since I have a vague idea who has sent me this ask (hehe), I know that they enjoy these two as a romantic ship and I may or may not have drawn them like that before - but as outlined above, I feel like they work better as brotherly combination (or with the one-sided crush scenario), as Koushirou is basically the mom big brother to all the 02 kids anyway. So he’d happily take his little brother on an adventure, together with Taichi, Takeru and Jyou, watching him grow and develop into a fine young man, with all the pride and affection he can gather. (We might need to see how the 02 movie plays Iori’s 19-year-old self to tell how compatible they could be at this point in time).

[fumifooms]

Beat x Nagi masterpost

Apparently I’m the only person on this Earth who ships them so I’ll have to pull the heavy weights I’m afraid. So much like Nagi pulling up her 30 google slides presentation on EleStra, I will rant about their chemistry and provide plenty of screenshots that had me nyoom to grab my shipping goggles 

This will be an analysis-essay about why I think they’re great for each other, and then the more I make posts compiling their interactions together or other headcanons etc, I’ll add the link on here!

Hmm… Daisusui? Nagibeat? Nagito?... Well I know how they would call their kid now

Tldr: it’s the adhd x autism duo, the wholesome understanding supportive couple, the “sometimes you can be intense about what you like but I mean, same”, it’s the difference in speech yet how well they meet with each other, how they can be each other’s anchor, it’s the aesthetic, it’s the character arcs!! Nagi learning to both move away from her fictional crush and getting less scared of socializing with others, finding love in a “creature of the light”, meanwhile Beat finding vulnerability and not having to be the strong one that has his shit together, settling down a bit and finding someone that understands and supports him unconditionally while still grounding him with sound and blunt advice. If Beat is the dad of the group, Nagi is def the mom of the group ( figuratively ofc). Ok anyways let’s actually get into it-

Let’s first talk about Nagi’s chemistry with other characters:

(Keep in mind I’m not advocating against or for any of these ships, and the 4 years age gap with some of these isn’t smth I support, I’m doing these to showcase why me shipping Beat and Nagi isn’t just because they fit some bare minimum standards, that it’s something which not only has a basis on their interactions with each other but also with everyone’s. Character analysis babyyy. Skip if you’re not interested, but my goal isn’t ship bashing, I also don’t force my interpretation as the supreme right one ofc. Consider this me laying groundwork for the actual ship talking)Her crush on Sho is literally just because he looks like Tomonami and she becomes disillusioned after he abandons them. But, it is pointed out that even while being far from Tomonami’s general attitude, Nagi doesn’t dislike Sho’s passoniate demeanor, which is something pointed out in-game that Sho shares with Beat. 

Even so, in my opinion it is good that Nagi’s love interest isn’t too similar to Tomonami, if similar at all. Not only would always comparing the two be unhealthy for Nagi and her relationship with any lover, but letting go of idealized expectations for a partner would be good for her imo. He might not be lord Tomonami, but if they get along together well and they’re good together then that’s more than enough. This is not to say I dislike Sho x Nagi, I do like the autism duo and it’d be good for Sho and he’d certainly be entertaining to her at the very least, but yeah there just isn’t a strong base for it besides her misplaced delusional attachment. Honestly having only played the first 2 days for a while because of the demo, I was convinced Nagi was Swallow and I shipped her with Rindo a bit, but after playing a lot more days... Yeahh they don’t really have anything interesting going on chemistry wise. She doesn’t idolize Rindo like with Sho, but she does think highly of him and always speaks of him highly as such, unlike with the others in the group. Even so, Rindo wouldn’t really bring anything for Nagi in a relationship, while being another introvert who could be chill with her, he often lacks values like understanding or good faith which would make them clash were they to be in a relationship together imo. Similarly, Nagi doesn’t share Rindo’s interests and she wouldn’t want the same activities or life goals in general, it wouldn’t work out well. She offers him good advice and support, but besides friendship there’s nothing to give from him, they just don’t have personalities that fit in that way. Which sucks because the hyper unhinged otaku x the straight man is such a fun ship in theory. She brings observation skills to the table and can help ground him when he gets overworked, but that’s about it, best left as a platonic support. I don’t dislike Fret with Nagi tbh, but there are many reasons I think Beat would be better for her. Firstly, age, yeahhh 19 and 15 is... Iffy at best for sure, but I do encourage nuance when discussing such age gaps; the framing of the game and the way they interact with each other doesn’t showcase any sort of power imbalance (except for the first murder ig lol). BUT since the game doesn’t exist in a vacuum, the fact that Beat and Nagi only have 1 year of difference does make a big difference, they’re in a much closer place in life and can proceed together being more on the same wavelenght and maturity level as well. And like I said earlier, I’m doing these more on a hypothetical where age doesn’t matter/focusing on dynamics only to break down some aspects of their characters more than anything else lol. Beyond that, what Beat brings to the table I’ll bring up shortly, but while Fret and Nagi have a nice arc together and they do build up understanding and support for each other. Unlike Beat who has an unshakeable layer of authenticity, honesty, openness and genuineness, Fret is more guarded, more willing to twist his feelings and truths with words for his benefit or persona, which is something that Nagi and autistics in general are known to dislike and be exhausted by: social mind games. He’s still understanding/observant which would be important in a relationship with Nagi imo, he could be the extrovert social cues master to her socially awkward introvert, and overall they would be great together romantically. But ultimately, Fret’s life dreams don’t align so well with Nagi’s, and while they could remain great friends for a long time I think they’d drift apart eventually. When thinking of them as a couple I kinda just think casual and puppylove relationship, which is cute for like, being in college together and whatnot but it’d get kinda stale the more they go on together. Cute for a few one shots or slow burn, meh as an OTP (imo), better as friends. Shoka… They wouldn’t be good for each other romantically. Listen, I adore them as a brotp, they’re GREAT, even cute as an aesthetic ship!! Platonically, they could really help bring the other out of their comfort zone and introduce the other to things they would have never expected to enjoy. They’d have an interesting dynamic and could become great friends that hang out together, but romantically...? Shoka is too sarcastic and cutting, and Nagi would be too highstrung and laser focused on some things instead of taking in the bigger picture in her opinion.

Now, Beat’s chemistry with other characters:

Rindo is very brotherly-esque imo? Supportive and such, but it’s very much in a looking after Rindo way, Rindo similarly sees Beat as a pillar of strenght that often gives him the confidence needed to commit to something, but similarly he’s kinda distant on an emotional level to him. He doesn’t really care to connect with him, beat moves too quickly, doesn’t think enough and is best left as an asset and a friend/mentor-ish figure and he has 0 interest in even thinking of being something romantic.

Fret and him have a cute bond over being similarly “act first, think later” social goofballs, like pointed out many times by multiple chars, but they do differ on many points. And again, it’s very shown in a best bro/almost big bro-lil bro way. Again, Beat has kinda taken him under his wing. Again the age difference does show in that way.

Neku, blood brothers, a lot of ppl ship them and ehhh I can see why, honestly I don’t remember the latter parts of the first game too much, but they’re kinda too casual and brotherly in their interactions to make them anything seemingly romantic imo. Not that there’s not fun potential, but for me it doesn’t do it. In Neo Neku is sorta a gary stu (which I don’t say negatively, mind you) but his shit is too pulled together, it can be kinda cute in contrast to Beat, but overall it’s kinda bland for me. Similarly, Beat’s relationship with Sho is kinda interesting, but ultimately they just don’t understand each other and have no desire to do so. What I like more with Neku and Sho is that Beat’s dynamic with them is less mentor-ish with the other looking up to him, it puts them on equal footing etc etc.

His interactions with Shoka are admittedly very fun, but again the age diff does affect them imo. He’s protective of her in the same way he is with everyone, but doesn’t know them enough/is a bit too emotionally distant to have significant attachment not born out of circumstances. Her sarcasm also doesn’t land well with his too-honest blunt easygoing attitude imo, he’d misunderstand her or she’d kill his vibe lol. But yeah they don’t have much interactions together at all, he understood her grieving, but even that was kinda used to compare him with Nagi iirc. Tbh I don’t remember this part of week 3 all too well

Beat is often either looked up to or looked down on, either the competent strong and knowledgeable group member or the somewhat silly goofy impulsive friend. It’s interesting how Nagi connects with him in a more equal way, that the unexpected maturity makes them chill and plan together while his act first think later loud attitude is complementary with hers in a productive way.

Alright, my musing-rambling is done. Now that we’ve analyzed their relationship with the others a bit…

Le���s get to the meat of the topic, yo

They’re just so complementary, guys.

Understanding, observation and bluntness

Remember when I said understanding would be important in a relationship with Nagi? Beat can be observant, but as a proud non-thinker he isn’t the kind to notice little things most of the time. But what he lacks in the observational department (which Nagi can complement anyways), he does make for in understanding, in empathy and good faith. You’ve got a problem? You’ve said something that ruffled me the wrong way? ‘S all good bro I gotchu, I know you enough to trust you’re not messing with me, wanna talk about it?— Yes, that’s not so true with strangers, who can rile him up really easily to which he’ll react agressively, but as soon as you’re in the pal zone Beat becomes an unconditional supportive presence. His honesty and openness would be such a relief for Nagi, who never has to worry about reading his cues wrong or missing something; when Beat wants to say something, he says it loudly. His authenticity makes it easy for her to feel secure in his presence and her relationship with him, she never has to worry about being thrown a curveball, or discovering Beat finds their conversations boring, or whatever.  It is pointed out that Fret and Beat are very similar in many aspects but Nagi treats Beat significantly better, and while I think it’s partly because she wants to keep the status quo of her relationship with Fret more than anything else, and while my shipping goggles tingle at her favorizing Beat, I do think it’s because of that genuineness. Nagi can tell in the looks Fret gets sometimes that he isn’t always being himself or saying what he truly means. When Nagi confronts Rindo and Fret about having a lot of tension together, she gets gaslit by them saying nothing’s wrong while obviously that not being the case. Of course I use gaslit very lightly here, but the fact of the case is that Nagi, as an autistic, struggles to read social situations right and react appropriately to them, we don’t know what to make of social cues but that doesn’t mean we can never pick them up. Not only did Rindo and Fret brush off Nagi’s correct assumption and worries, they dismissed her attempt to solve the problem and have an open conversation about it. But Beat? That dude would adress it, not relent until you aknowledge it too, then attempt to have a productive convo to stop it, yo. Something that not only aligns with Nagi’s manner of dealing with problems, but complements it with confidence that she doesn’t and cannot have. Autistic people will assume wrong sometimes, it’s not an unfounded reservation to have, and while Beat is generally pretty good and mature at reading others’ intentions and mood, Nagi’s rational thinking and coming to objective conclusions can tame down his self-assured confrontational instincts if he does get something wrong, explaining in detail what their true rationale is in the situation, hopefully making Beat understand what he has missed and see the situation in a much more poised light. Again with the complementarization. Nagi can be a grounding influence for Beat, and explain things he misses or doesn’t understand in ways that will at least make him understand it isn’t just mindless attitude or restrictions, which he hates, like that time with the curry critic: https://at.tumblr.com/fumifooms/underrated-autistic-nagi-observations/pzg19lmlm02b (if you need a refresher/in-depth analysis)

Grounding

[In which Nagi smirks Beat’s last reply, when she only stared off guardedly before with the rest. I wish I had more screenshots of it, sob...]

Building up on top of that last part, Beat is also grounding for Nagi. Nagi here is expressing how social people who can effortlessly interact with each other alienate her, she feels so separate from them, they’re inattegnable for her, a lone creature of shadows while they have the light. At ease in the spotlight, basking in the light of the sun and thriving. It’s not for a lack of trying, but Beat successfully comforts (and literally grounds) her better than Fret, whose reply goes pretty much fully ignored/dismissed. In a way, Beat missing the subtleties of social hierarchies and refusing to adhere to them is why he’s able to effortlessly put her at ease. Fret does understand what she means on some level and tries to play into her metaphors, but it only strenghtens that yes, they are worlds apart, much different, while Beat simply crushes those frontiers and concretely confronts her with how they see eye to eye just fine and are similar where it matters. I think Beat has adhd tbh like mentioned, Fret is prob neurotypical lol (not Fret slander) or maybe not but you get what I mean I think. Small over-explanation of psychology tangent: Nagi being autistic, it isn’t just low self-esteem or a flawed mentality that explains why she considers herself a “creature of darkness” where others are “creatures of light”, it isn’t just dramatics, it isn’t her sensationalizing everything and wanting to roleplay or self-pity or something. It’s true, it’s real, she really is different, really cannot relate to neurotypicals easily. Has been socially shunned, rejected and bullied in her childhood for sure, more than likely, and has always felt different, like she could never truly fit in. It’s not a struggle that can be friendship-ed away, it’s not a “well you just need to build up confidence or learn social cues and you’ll fit right in!”, it’s literally the shape of her brain. She is different and it is a source of distress for her yes, but she never shuns herself being a creature of shadows, instead she is wary and guarded around creatures of light, probably with good precedents of being mocked and taken advantage of tbh. (She doesn’t notice how Rindo and Fret don’t like her and solely want to use her at first, so I’d say that’s canon). All that to say, when Fret was like “it’s the same world as yours!”, what she heard is a dismissal that those differences exist at all, a dismissal of her experiences and convictions. Fret of course said it in a caring way with good intentions, but for Nagi it was the equivalent of going “You can do it!” at a disabled person who cannot do it and has said as much. Meanwhile Beat goes “idk about you but I live in Shibuya”, not dismissing what she confided about, which in all honesty no matter what level of observant and literal thinking he was here he could never have fully gotten what she meant and her situation even if he attempted, so sometimes aknowledging that you can’t say something for them but not treating them any differently or mocking her for it is the best you can do. Nagi heard that and did not hear her ideologies being dismissed and questioned, but also heard “if you a creature of shadows or not doesn’t matter to me, right now we’re here in the now and I’m not judging you”, and yeah, she’s here, in the now, and ready to move on, hence why the convo stops there.This is what I meant by him being grounding for her, he’s able to talk her into coming back into the spirit of the game, in Shibuya with her friends-acquaintances. They go back to being a merry band. It’s interesting to see that even when Nagi is using words or metaphors that he doesn’t understand, he enthusiastically has her back and understands the basics of it.

Kindred spirits

[She meant "kindred spirits” both at Rindo and Fret, who they watched make up in this scene, and at herself and Beat (which is interesting to note was something she said after the whole creatures of light interaction)...]

Unlike with Fret, who gained her friendship through forced contact and growing more familiar together over the weeks, forming a bond through that, or Rindo who always had some level of her respect since she joined the team and has more or less maintained that and gained some genuine care for him too as they went, Beat and her quickly and naturally formed a bond through understanding, through multiple, multiple interactions. It always kinda feel like Nagi is just waiting to jump into a convo after Beat, that they’re standing next to each other, having the L and R buttons for support to Rindo and Nagi’s x and y. They’re always ready to have each other’s backs and that kind of easygoing atmosphere, non-judgemental zone is something that developped between the two much quicker and stronger than Nagi with the others the way I see it.  During the time that the team was only Rindo, Fret, Nagi and Beat, the latter two were always like… The ones trying to smooth things over, kind of the two mature voices of get-along and again, observant. Mostly thinking of them looking at Rindo & Fret patching things up. But yes, they’re both very much in that position of looking after the others and caring in that “I am your senior and more emotionally mature and good at healthy mindsets than you” way, and from Beat’s side moreso on the “I’mma keep the mood high and give everyone self-confidence” as well as just straight up being protective of them from others and about injuries. Keeping the morale high has also been shown to be important to Nagi, as in she took the role upon herself as well. They’re on the same wavelength guyssss

Indeed, Beat and Nagi are in fact shown to be very often on the same page. Not only with their bond strong enough for Nagi to be confident and comfortable enough to want to help him understand what was up with something (curry critic again, alongside so many other trivial examples). She pretty much always has his back, either by agreeing (not cheating on the find the differences game, backing his plans, etc), and kind of completing Beat’s actions and thoughts, like when she explained what Beat meant after a convo the two of them had on their own (hehe look at them having a serious & productive convo <33 Unlike with Fret with who she’d be bickering and Rindo’s who’s always too much in his own head), when Beat ran in a different direction than he claimed and she covered for him. Nagi and Beat very very often enthusiastically agree with each other, and when they don’t they either complement each other with input or talk it out in a productive and mature way!

Filling in for each other (or following each other’s line of thinking)

Dear god... There is so much for these than I anticipated, I’mma have to make posts for each of these kind of interactions they have. Like, compilation of them being war strategists together. There is SO MUCH

Agreeing

They’re just... Cheerleaders for each other and exchanging one liners or answering each other and gosh <333

Raising self-confidence

[Beat’s speech bubble comes after Nagi’s. For below, week 3 has a lot of “Pinny, ya can do this!!” to which she says “yes, sir!” lol. Then after that it’s to show the progression from Nagi being doubtful of their skills in week 2]

I’ve already hinted at it but yes, Nagi definitely complements Beat with her rational laidback thinking, to his more heathed impulsivity. When he’s ready to recklessly jump in, she’s down to Earth and can reign him back. On the other hand, Beat’s confidence often transfers to her, giving her enough assurance to state her opinion or make her feels less anxious! Her anxiety, which is a pretty emphased on part of her character/character arc. The fact that he can ease her anxiety is a huge development, as in, very noteworthy. Also because yeah, Nagi can be pretty not-laidback but when she is it’s usually because either high emotions or anxiety, which as we’ve talked about Beat helps with.

I love how Beat has never ever been shown judging Nagi, he truly is a no-judgement zone. Rindo was pretty convinced Nagi would be a burden more than anything else mostly because of her personality and interests, and even Fret had his doubts and would be a bit judgy of her interests. Beat? Never. Similarly, Nagi calls him a creature of light, “a man of action and no thought” upon introduction, but she’s never shown treating or considering him worse for it. They both truly, genuinely value each other’s strenghts and opinions despite how different they are, no questions asked, unconditionally, and it’s actually so... Pure to see? They’re so nice and wholesome to each other. Nagi does point out Beat’s boisterous attitude often but never makes judgements on him for it or call him out about it, and she doesn’t flinch at his outbursts as much as the others.

They’re not only complementary with multiple differences, they also have plenty of similarities, hence them often agreeing. They both have a proactive rather than passive attitude, which Rindo does not share at all, and Fret who does to some degree but still can be rather hesitant, follows others’ opinions when confronted about pursuing what he thinks is best, and tends to be a bit wishy washy about it. Every character’s confrontational and non-confrontational traits exist on a spectrum, but Beat’s and Nagi’s align on a lot. Another thing I love about this ship is how intense they are, both of them even if in different ways. The way they both scream “after her!!” and “omg Fret you did not just suggest we skip this game of Find the differences” is so funny to me, they have no chill. Nagi definitely seems like she’s much less intense than Beat since she’s not as loud and can be meek on some aspects, but she rants with formal vocabulary on sometimes the smallest thing, let’s not even mention how passionate she is about EleStra, and she often experiences emotions very black and white as well, with her sprite of extreme shock, when she gets very happy and swoons over Minamimoto, etc etc. They’re both confident in their convictions, and both hare willing to fight to the death for them lmaooo. Let’s not forget Nagi literally said she’d risk limb and life to repay Rindo after 3 mins of knowing him. So here they are, both intensely passionate, not judging each other for it in the least and being a grounding & calming presence when needed. Also, I think besides maybe Shoka, Beat is kinda the only one that genuinely wouldn’t listening to her ramble about EleStra, and similarky I think she’d be interested in learning about Beat’s interests.

Ok from here on out it’s mostly me just pointing things out rather  than overanalyzing and making thesis statements from them lol

Nagi once asked if Beat got his pin from a love interest out of curiosity. It felt odd to me since it both A)went nowhere and B)Nagi isn’t usually the type to question others’ relationships or focus on romance. Could be a sign that she’s not not interested in Beat, scouting the terrain for courting, jealous, whatever

Beat is kinda protective of Pinny? In a way that wasn’t really shown the same way or to the same intensity as with the others. In a time where they fight terrifying supernatural monsters on the daily, what makes Beat go “omg!!!” face full of worry and lowkey fear, probably rushing to her, is her falling frontward in stairs. Best case scenario he’s hyperaware of her safety and wants her never to get hurt ever, worst case scenario, he cares <3

Also, do y’all remember how Nagi hated name puns and nicknames? Fret immediately started calling her his nagirl (/p) anyways and she showed distate for it, BUT (while it can be just seen as her getting used to nicknames) when Beat starts calling her Pinny she literally never even hints at disliking it or mentioning she doesn’t like nicknames or anything- which makes me aw <3

Yayy this is done...! For now!

I’m not even finished with the game… Thid is SO intensely long and doesn’t even cover that much... I plan on making other posts with more screenshots of them, so when I do and when I have more to say or link here, I’ll come back and add it. Hence why I call this a masterpost! Feel free to add onto this post with whatever you see fit

Thank you for reading my unhinged ramble about my hyperfixation and I hope you see the light of this rarepair’s incredible potential!! So wholesome I’m insane about them, I’m so sorry

[mundanememorize]

okay i will rant for like two seconds my once a month rant but i have recently realized fucking psychology or i guess like modern/pop psychology especially is destroyingggg art. so bad.

like as writer/artist for like the past 2-3 years i’ve found myself being like oh i need to be able to perfectly articulate how my stories deal with mental health and then i get in this awful loop bc i’m not writing anymore im dissecting.

and on the audience part too it’s also awful. i love metas and analysis etc etc but it’s all turned into this strange phenomenon of like “proving a theory” and so many of these metas (im just going to use that for the catchall) focus on the same dissection.

just lately when it comes to art and discussion old or new academic or twitter rants i feel like i constantly see people asking “what is wrong with the artist to make them make this” instead of understanding the emotion or subject present in the piece and dissecting that as it relates to you. it has ti be clinical and hard fact and true to the creators intent.

i hate this approach so much and the way i see it effects my writing has made me crazy so i’m glad i’ve realized. i do not like to see abstract concepts put into a box im sure no one else does but being in like online art culture it’s so so so bad for that because no one can discuss anything online it has to be a debate. and then you’re debating art instead of analyzing and sharing experience.

this is all very vague and that’s kind of the point. what i’m talking about applies to anyone from like brain rotted edge lord anime girl artists to characters in mainstream/high production projects. there is no separation of art from artist on the basis of how does it make you feel it seems like it’s everyone’s wondering what’s going on in the artists head and trying to use their art as tools to figure it out. i think that has terrified me in creating and it’s made me feel like i have to make it present in my art in the first place so i have “nothing to hide” but why does an audience need to be in your psyche???

this is not me saying exploring mental health and illness and symptoms of it in art is a bad thing, it is exactly the opposite. it’s when it turns into everyone fighting about how xyz proves their headcanon correct and then no one else is allowed to interpret a character another way when the point of most art from the people i know and/or admire want the exact opposite. every character should be a mirror to a large variety of people and experiences. the same shade of green should excite one person and disgust the next. i am just so tired and appalled and over the like compartmentalization of art to enjoy it as a monolith go fuck yourself!!!!!

and i kind of got off topic with the subject of psychology present in art but looking at art with a psychological lense can be fun but that’s the lens you should already be using in the sense of connecting emotionally to pieces. i’m seeing yourself in the art right in front of you. most people (especially people who don’t create art often) go into art immediately trying to “figure it out” which i understand but how to you make it clear to everyone that they already understand, they just need to listen to what is there in front of them.

to look at art through a clinical lens is the death of art is maybe a more accurate way of talking about it. to look at art and try to dissect it, not for yourself, but to say “i know exactly what the artist was thinking” you’ll never be right. it’s fun to joke about in the basis of relation to the art but then that’s just you relating. that’s your experience and perception. you will never know the artists intent.

this is more specific and a little more silly but i feel like that^ over laps with people freaking out about character and “good/bad” representation. saying gay characters can only act this way. that characters with plurality can only be portrayed like this. that characters with a disability or neurodivergence or this or that can only say this list of things or else you’ve made a “harmful character”. of course there is harmful stereotyping but i would hope everyone able to publish and produce stuff knows what to do and not to do. i know that’s not realistic but i hope majority of writers don’t need a strict do and does list to write all of their stories!

i really mean this more in the way of making a strict view of how exactly to portray a certain character especially when it comes to marginalized identity and psychology then makes a new box that pisses people off. people did not like autistic people being portrayed as emotionless genius robots who parade as people and that’s normal because that is fucked up. but why now does every autistic character need to be almost a joke about being “too weird”. why also does a character need to be confirmed by the creator to be anything. it’s definitely nice but to me if a character portrays your experience without being confirmed anything, why not just enjoy the character in the way you perceive them. i’m also just a really big fan of ambiguity and surrealism in art so that’s how i prefer to take it but i don’t understand why every single aspect of art needs to be labeled for enjoyment. it’s killing it.

i kind of got off track with this but i hope it’s clear how i feel like psychology effects art in the ways of when you confine symptoms to one box and you put people into those boxes and those people love art and make art. then the perception of art will be affected and it’s hurting it badly. it is okay to be uncertain but i think psychology is hurting people and art badly in tandem

[crush3dmary]

16 and 17 for the violence ask game?

One more for the choose violence! I'm really late answering these but let's get mad (even if it's at me!)

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Aroace Aegis. I've ranted about this on twitter a little bit and it made multiple people block me but it seems like such a bare bones analysis of his character. This is someone who canonically is uninterested in women, who struggles processing his desires, and not only that, but struggles with themes of righteousness, morality, and justice - you're just gonna say "nah, he just doesn't experience attraction"? Dig a little deeper! It's "the curtains are blue because the author said so" but maybe I'm just thinking too hard about this because nobody but me and Blue actually analyze his character for more than 30 seconds. (I did a whole ask on my Aegis opinions though, so i'll keep it at that, lol)

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

I really love character studies, that try to explore the motivations and backgrounds of characters to explain why they are the way they are. Make me empathize with them, make me understand them, make me feel something for them. I feel like there are a lot of characters I would completely come around on if someone would write something that explored these things, you know?

[ackerfics]

hi, rory! <3 what majors would the sc veterans take if they were in the modern world?

hi, anon !! thank you so much for this ask, this is heaven in disguise from all my schoolwork. tbh, the whole time i was working for a lab report, my mind will go back to this ask bc i wanted to have the association as accurate as possible hhhajshw

i asked one of my friends for help and thank God for them bc my single brain cell really said 'it's time for you to rest' after staring at one backlog. without further ado, here are the veterans' majors if they're studying in university:

first off, hange zoe, because if you ask me this question in real life, they would be the only one i can answer. every damn time i would think of them in a college setting, being a biology major is really hange's forte. at this point, this is what everyone would associate them with.

hange is all about experimenting and doing brilliant breakthroughs in any field of science but knowing that they have this unparalleled fascination with the unusual and unexpected life-forms (ahem titans ahem), the biology lab would be the surest place where you could find hange. i feel like biology is too broad so i will add that microbiology or bacteriology are just some of the specializations they will be taking in their time in college.

imagine, being lab partners with hange and immediately knowing that you will have one of the highest grades in the class because they're that well-versed in a specific lab report. and if you're partners with them for the rest of the academic year, you might as well have a shot at an immaculate grade. i'm not saying that you should depend on them too much though hHHHH, hange is still a member of the majority of the student body who relies heavily on caffeine to keep them invigorated. who isn't at this point?

so far, some of the biology majors that i encountered (well, more like chatted behind a screen — online classes suck), they have this energy that could drain my social battery too quickly and hange fits that description. (note that this doesn't apply to any college bc i observed this in mine soooo 🤭) they're the type to always go on a tangent on a certain science article or coerce you into joining this org thing. i can imagine levi just looking at hange like they're the one sucking his brain cells out whenever they speak about a documentary in bbc they watched the night before.

and if you're stuck on anything biology-related, hange will be the best person to ask help from. they're the first ray of sunlight you get while waking up. they're that approachable.

okay, so erwin smith.

don't come at me but he just radiates this ceo vibes and with that, one of his probably majors is business administration. i know this is so stereotypical of me but let's face it, erwin is a smooth talker through and through and if he doesn't take up marketing, business is one way to spend his college years. knowing his personality in attack on titan of establishing deals easily with a determined resolve, he fits the broadest description of being a business administration major. (again, don't come at me because my consultant for this statement is google and nobody comes after google sometimes hhhhh)

just for the benefit of myself, i will add what google says about this major, "[they] learn the mechanics of business through classes in fundamentals, such as finance, accounting and marketing ... students find ways to solve problems using data and they develop communication and managerial skills." and i thank you.

he's also probably the most well-spoken and most professional when conversing with others among his friends (and i'm not saying this to drag the other characters but this is what i pick up on) and that is exactly the qualities his major specializes. it is expected for them to strike deals and be a people person and who better character for the job than our very own erwin smith 🤩

now i mentioned 'one of the probable majors' and yes, aside from business administration, philosophy just exudes erwin smith. ngl, when i imagined erwin in a college setting, this major will always come first. his mind is just so sexy to me??? and i hope you guys think the same, too, because i don't want to be the only one who thinks that 👀 kidding aside, erwin is one of the smartest people in attack on titan and every time he speaks in one episode, my brain will instantly go mush, and that's what i feel when i hear philosophy majors talk.

philosophy majors (according to any other youtuber who does lookbooks for various majors hhhhhh) challenge what is unanswerable and analyze questions with no right answer. i feel like erwin, like hange, will talk all night to explain a theory. just imagine a date with him and you just listen to him rant about a topic that they should be making a report on. just listen to this man, okay?? it's adorable when he lets his guard down to include you in his little bubble of philosophies. he would also mention random things that he learned in classes, sometimes finding joy in knowing the philosophies of other people, or even deciphering levi's dream of an apocalyptic world. (it pisses levi off but he just leave him be.)

if you want a man who can do both of these majors, erwin smith is the answer 😉

sigh, mike zacharias.

this man holds so many talents and will forever amaze me.

i assume all of us here watched the movie perfume. and no, i'm not saying that mike is going to be a murderer but just like the main character of that film, making perfumes will be his forte with that sense of smell of his. and here, i conclude that mike will definitely take up chemical engineering.

he gives me the vibes that if it covers the one thing he does best, he will love his major. (mr. zacharias, can you please spare me that quality because i really need that now 😩) being in the labs while experimenting mundane things that can be found in the environment to create different scents is also a likely situation you can find him in, again, very much like hange. he's the type of student who really puts so much effort in staying afloat the honors list, even to the point of topping midterms in his major, for the sake of his dream. there will never be a moment where you will catch him complain about his major and professors.

he's that type of friend in college who agrees to any rant you say but in reality, he's got his life easy 😭

i headcanon mike owning a perfume shop after college just like how levi always dreamed of having a tea shop.

okay, imagine this little scenario if you're dating mike where he creates this unique perfumes as random gifts for you. they're not the typical perfumes that can seep through the room and can make you gag for no reason, they're subtle scents that will stay for the duration of the day. because again, he's got a sensitive nose, so making perfumes according to what his sense of smell dictates will always result in a revolutionary experiment. if you're randomly blurting out that you want a fusion of flowers and fruits as your perfume, say no more, he's your man.

now, the veteran who i find the hardest to associate a major with — levi ackerman.

after much deliberation and a break from plant physiology, i see him taking up law or criminology.

(i asked some of this from my mom because she attended law school :>>>)

levi is so organized and detailed in the things that he do and he fits in either of these majors since they require tedious memorizations and analysis of laws and crime scenes while being assertive enough to defend someone. he's the typical person who blurts out the true situation of a crime scene when watching film adaptations. yeah, he's that person, the one who sucks the enthusiasm out of you while watching a movie because he just had to correct some of the scenes. nevertheless, he means well though, he just wanted you to understand the reality unlike how films portray gruesome murders. movie nights always end up with levi ranting about half-assed mystery clichés.

levi's binder of readings are always too bright for everyone's good. his notes are full of highlighters and scribbles that it can blind someone. for one, he's always up all night studying his readings and cases for a practice court so by choosing neon highlighters, it's a way for him to wake up. there isn't one book in his possession that he doesn't highlight like it's a fricking coloring book. hange once jokingly said that his binder now acts like his bible and for once, he agrees because he was never seen without one. hange had a field day since levi never agrees with them.

when doing practice courts though, his go-to resting bitch face always come in handy when carrying out his role as one of the lawyers. he's just so sexy with his hands in the pockets of his slacks as he tries to justify his supposed client. the way he questions the accused definitely isn't hot because he's like one of the panelists in your thesis defense, the one who just comes up with questions that have you melting on the spot. he's dangerous i tell you. it also doesn't help if you accidentally hurt one of his friends or just landed randomly in his blacklist for being annoying as hell. relax though, he doesn't mean harm other than the fact that he's ready to throw some hands from all the pent-up rage he gathered in his body.

of course, i couldn't forget how he dresses up like a typical dark academia fanatic so look out for eye-candy.

if you want someone who can recite articles from the constitution, this man is perfect for you 😌

i had so much fun doing this !! again, i'm not generalizing every major i've talked about in these little headcanons, this is all for fun and based on the people i encountered in college. if you want more of this, don't hesitate to ask !! 😚