#rika discourse

[ramyeonguksu]

putting clown makeup on over no fe4 remake

[marshmallowprotection]

Hi Kait!

I have a question... to this day, do you still stand by your opinion that V is not OOC in RAE?

I do. I stand by my opinion and I don't believe that will ever change. I understand why people are so jostled when Jihyun holds up a smoke bomb filled with poisonous gas—you don't think he would sink so low as to drug his friends—but I think it's important to understand he has hit rock bottom in the RAE, and that is similar to how he reacts in the Secret Ending as well.

I think people forget that Jihyun was the one who showed up after Unknown contacted Mint Eye with their location to come and find him. Sure, we all understand that he did that with the knowledge he could give Saeyoung a device to contact Jumin and the others to do something about the situation, but he had no way of knowing if he'd be able to get away with that. He took a gamble, a risky gamble, all in the name of his promise to Rika.

Do you know how easily Rika could've ordered the guards to keep him away from Saeyoung? How easily she could've done something to prevent him from giving Saeyoung a way to contact Jumin? That was A DAMN GAMBLE... and he was lucky he was able to give him the phone to do that when all odds were stacked against him.

And, that's really the point I try to make whenever someone brings up this question. He will shoot himself in the foot a hundred times over... all to keep his promise to Rika. He tries to keep his promises to others alive and well, but when those promises come into conflict with what he told Rika, he doesn't do what's right for not only himself but for those he holds dearest to his heart.

You can ask him at least a dozen times in the RAE about his goals and why he decided to return to the toxic cycle he and Rika share, but the answer is always in the same vein if you look at it.

He refuses to abandon Rika, even when he and Rika needed to be FAR, FAR AWAY FROM ONE ANOTHER a long time ago. He can't "abandon" her, if he does that, what does it say about the kind of love his mother "died for"? He's self-aware enough about himself to bring up his mother's death during the RAE, and you AND Saeran call him out for trying to use that as an excuse. "Your mother's standing isn't the same as Rika's. Why are you trying to stick by Rika when this isn't healthy for either one of you?"

He knows what he's doing isn't right by any means, but... he can't step out of the cycle. Having been in a similar dynamic as the one Rika and V are in, I can say it's very difficult to get out of that kind of relationship. Jihyun was actually close to doing so at the end of Ray Route, but when he saw MC and Saeran lean on one another the way they did, he thought he could try to do things differently with Rika... just one more time... and clearly, that wasn't the right thing to do as "trying again" meant walking through hot coals.

But, that's how it is, unfortunately... you'll try to leave, and then... well… something happens and you don't end up leaving. It's a cycle, and it's a hard one to break.

From Jihyun's perspective, imagine this: You know once the police get their hands on Rika, they're going to realize she had Saeran with her if they do a little digging, and even worse, they're likely to find out about Saeyoung and the cathedral as well. Saejoong Choi will find the door to his sons that you both made a promise to protect (let's not go into heavy detail on how this promise was broken damn near day one, okay?) Yet, you know Rika can't get away with what she's done. You're well aware she needs to be held accountable, but you promised to be there for her.

You promised to be her light. What are you supposed to do now? If you let the authorities get her, it's only a matter of time until the truth comes to light. You know you're damned, you know you're going to take as much blame as humanly possible to keep every promise you have ever made, but it gets worse... it gets worse the more you think about it.

He doesn't want to forsake her after everything they've been through because he became her God, her light, her Savior, etc. He wants to be able to keep the promise he made to her, because what he learned at the time of his mother's death was DAMN WELL NOT the real lesson he needed to learn. When his mother saved him with her very life, he took the idea of true love via sacrifice to heart. To love somebody, it means to give them everything you are, even if it leaves you nothing in return. That's what he took to heart.

Now, we all know this is by no means the healthy thing to conclude from the loss of his mother, but that's what he took away from it and it shapes so much of his thinking onward. Now, here's something else I need to put into perspective.

Jihyun witnessed Rika kill Mother Choi in cold blood, and not only did freeze in the moment, he realized the weight of what happened far faster than Rika did. No amount of "this was self defense" would save her from what Saejoong Choi would do to scrub not only Rika from this reality, but him as well. Saeyoung left for the agency at the age of 14-ish, and Saeran was pulled into Mint Eye around the time he was 19 years old. That gives us about... 5 years of wiggle room to play with, and I can tell you that my rough estimation from playing every part of this game leads me to believe she was killed within the last two of those five years.

Now, you'll need to suspend disbelief because this game was written in such a way that V, Jumin, and Rika should've been in their early to mid-30s to make things somewhat believable about the RFA, but!

Jihyun Kim is 26 years old. Saeyoung and Saeran are 21 years old. That gives you about five years of an age difference between them. Now, Rika's age is definitely all over the place because there's been some confusion with her Behind Story and whatnot, but her age was first presented to us as 23 years old. I believe she's older than that to make sense of the DLC timeline we're given, but—what you can take away from this information is that if my approximation is correct—at the time of the murder, if Saeran was 17/18 years old, that means that V was 22 years old, and regardless of what Rika's age is, she would've been in her early twenties as well.

Imagine. You're an early twenty-something, you're barely out of your teen years, and you're still trying to learn how to take care of yourself, much less the illegitimate children that just you encountered that're cowering in fear behind you to avoid being killed by their father, the ACTUAL PRIME MINISTER (or soon to be) OF YOUR COUNTRY. He has the power to get rid of you and these innocent children, but you are trying everything in your power to protect them regardless of the fear you're experiencing.

Now, on top of that, imagine that you have to reason with the boys' alcoholic, abusive mother to be able to take care of them. Because the threat these boys face isn't JUST their father, it's their MOTHER, TOO. She uses them as a meal ticket and it's a wonder that you even had the chance to gain Saeyoung's trust enough to help him as much as you have knowing what that woman is like to him and his brother! You have to put on your best church face to that woman all the time, smile through your teeth, and convince her Saeran should be allowed to go to church so she "doesn't have to deal with him".

Add to this that this woman is hardly rational even when she's in the right state of mind, and she's just as paranoid as both Saeyoung and Saeran are when step outside. You have to fight this woman while it takes everything in you not to think about the crushing weight of this situation. You're an adult, but you feel like a child playing dress up as you navigate situations that not even somebody older than you could easily handle.

This doesn't even get into the toxic, codependent relationship V and Rika have that's playing out in the background while these factors are happening, either. But, I digress, you're barely an adult, you fear that you're doing everything wrong, and you're constantly cornered by a beast you can't even begin to imagine... and then one day, the wicked woman raises her hand to you with a threat, and you... panic, no, you both panic.

If you're Rika, you panic, you panic because you've spent your entire life being physically abused by the grown-ups in your life. You don't think twice about defending yourself because you embraced the idea of being a "devil" to reclaim your autonomy, but you don't realize the weight of the glass in your hand will change your life forever. You just want to LIVE. You don't care how. You need to live, you don't want to die, and—you black out... only to come to when your hands are cold... wet... and sticky. You can't take back what you've done, but you... you are alive.

If you're Jihyun, you freeze, you freeze because you don't know what to do in a moment of violence. You've experienced a traumatic event before, but that event was a fire that rendered you unconscious from smoke inhalation. You've never seen two people fight with the intent to live or die. You hate yourself for freezing, for not moving to protect Rika, for not doing SOMETHING to stop this before it was too late to take back... but you can't move... you can't move until you hear Rika come to... and you have no choice but to clean the scene and remove anything that could link this to you two.

You have no choice but to make a pact to take this to your graves. She was a woman, a person just like you, and regardless of how cruel she was, you know you'll never be able to forgive yourselves for what you've done. For Rika, this cements this idea that she's the devil. She no longer believes she can be more than what the church told her she was. What was an attempt at claiming her autonomy has turned into a realization that she's... been a "monster all along."

For Jihyun, this cements the idea that he is a failure. He needs to give more and more and more and more of himself because if he doesn't... he can't bare the thought of what may happen to Rika and all of those promises he made. They're bound together by a murder, accomplices in crime, no matter if the law would call it self-defense. A slap on their wrists. That's a life that was taken and you have to live with that. You have to live with what happened regardless of the reasoning behind it or the justification.

I mean, I don't know if I could imagine what that must've felt like for them, or how it continues to feel because there is no timeline where Mother Choi ISN'T DEAD. The amount of trauma that would come from not only taking someone's life but having to hide it for the rest of your life is unimaginable.

Why else do you think Rika and Jihyun break down the way they do when they reveal this truth to Saeran? The murder of Mother Choi is THE MOMENT IN THE GAME THAT SHAPES WHERE THINGS GO FROM THEN ON. Had she not been killed, I think the events might have played out much differently, I can't say how, but I can say that it'd look different from what we got.

But, what I'm trying to say here is that Jihyun isn't out of character when he goes "overboard" at Rika's side in the RAE and... even the Secret Ending.

It's a byproduct of his promise not to abandon Rika, no matter the cost to himself, and inevitably, the people around him no matter how much he tried to "mitigate" the damage. You, as the player, try your best to reason with him and have to realize that he shouldn't keep his promise to Rika because it's destroying him, but... unless you're on his route, you're never going to be able to get through to Jihyun the way you want to.

Jihyun has a moment where his bio says something like, "How do I be Evil -MeTube search". He knows what he's doing is wrong, but he's so far gone into the sunk-cost fallacy and his devotion to his promise he can't see a way out of the tunnel. V and Rika's relationship is terrible for both of them, and their relationship causes destruction not only to each other for a multitude of reasons, but... to the people around them as well.

I think it's important to understand that Jihyun's promise to Rika is as intense as it is because of the murder. I think he blames himself for not doing more to protect Rika at that moment, and that the reason why Rika is where she is now is because of him. Classic move for V, though, he'll blame himself a hundred times even though that isn't his fault. She saw him as her God, and he tried to be one to her, but what is a God who "fails" his believer?

Jihyun will do a lot to keep his promises... and this is to his detriment. Unfortunately, relatable. I love Jihyun Kim as a character because he makes an uncomfortable mirror at times, but sometimes you need to see that mirror so you can learn and do better for yourself. I mean, it's all well and fair if other people believe Jihyun is being OOC because I get the place you're coming from when you say it! I just don't think he is OOC, and that's my opinion.

Oh, yeah, before I forget! Fun fact! Jihyun is crying in this CG and nobody ever seems to realize that.

[valkylander]

Does Rika/Poppy have a "___shipping" name or has fabdom fallen so far that we can't have that anymore?

[fun2blowflower]

Oh really? Damn, I guess people were right. Being gay IS about how you dress and act. You aren't allowed to like men if you're the tiniest bit gender non-conforming. Give it up ladies, if you're even the least bit masculine you're automatically BANNED from liking men

Fucking... don't use your headcanons as an excuse to spread homophobia.

Shipping was never about this

[jjk-confessions]

Sukuna being fictional is not the argument because if so none of this would be up for discussion. I saw another anon touch upon morality within the discourse. I personally have a hard time suppressing my own morality for the sake of suspending belief just because something isn't real.

I'm very impressed with those that can but that is neither here or there.

"She behaves like a child but can you really say she's a child?" This is probably rhetorical but I'd like to answer that yes...I can say that she's really a child even if not in human form. A childish spirit because doom came upon her in her youth. We actually see in the show how Rika, even in spirit form, still has the maturity level of a child when she talks to Yuta. Does that nuance not mean anything just because she's no longer human? Why wouldn't she still be viewed as a child?

Same with Tengen. Same with Sukuna. My man immediately woke up and started salivating at the possibility of killing women and children because he was still stuck in the time he died. This is a personality trait that is still valid in him as a spirit, but somehow him dying in adulthood and now being a curse makes him...not an adult?

(FYI: There is no malice. I just like hearing from those that have something to say.)

.

[do-you-ship-it-polls]

sorry if some of these are not toxic. i dont know them.

propaganda under the cut. there is so much

Junko and Mikan (Danganronpa)

Toxic yuri but it’s actually so toxic it ended the world for a while

Alicent Hightower and Rhaenyra Targaryen (House of the Dragon)

Doomed toxic Yuri with all the hate and yearning. They were childhood friends (whose actresses played them as having romantic feelings for one another) until parental abuse/patriarchy intervened and they became enemies yet still care about each other despite it all. Situationship so bad it caused a civil war. Gays divorcing without even breaking up. Also they have matching scars on their arms that they inflicted indirectly and directly. Basically if the realm allowed gay marriage they would have been an awesome ruling and happy couple. Childhood friends to enemies to friends to reluctant enemies (the love is there but it’s a tragedy - not enough to save them) idk they are driving me insane.

Misty Quigley and Natalie Scatorccio (Yellowjackets)

ACTUAL toxic yuri

Taco and Microphone (Inanimate Insanity)

Listen, I just want to see the controversy. There is a whole blog dedicated to tacomic discourse. I want everyone to bark and snarl and bite. I’m an avid tacomic shipper btw, I ❤️ toxic yuri

Jasper and Lapis Lazuli (Steven universe)

It’s all “toxic yuri <333” until the yuri is toxic /j

Rika Furude and Satoko Hojo (Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni)

They are baby married and living together (with no adults???) in the main Higurashi story but Gou focuses on their relationship and how focused on Rika Satoko is (spoilers: she is time looping and killing them both to do so and stay together)

TL:DR Codependent Doomed Toxic Yuri. Long version: They are extremely codependent childhood friends who literally lived together since they were preteens because they are both orphans. Both would rather kill themselves then live in a world where they aren't by each other's side. (Spoilers) In Higurashi Gou/Sotsu, they attend a prestigious catholic all-girld school together and become more distant towards each other. Timeloop shannigans occur where Satoko keeps trying to convince Rika to not go to said school- but every loop ends with Rika still wanting to go and Satoko killing herself to reset the loop. All of this eventually makes Satoko (who has horrible abandonment issues) trap Rika in timeloop so they can relive their childhood forever even if gruesome murders occur in every loop. There's even a gut pulling scene- they are literally the ship of all time.

[virgobingo]

thinking about this and goddd satosugu is really so.. pure in the way that their connection thrives on its ambiguousness. the way their friendship bleeds into romantic affection, the momentous sensation of falling in love for the first time.. that is undercut by reality's ugliness (just like yuta and rika as children)

but since the world is still filled with ppl bogged down by labels, the profundity of their relationship, the space they live in— right in the middle of it all— is instead seen as a ground for discourse. so we get ppl dismissing geto's importance to gojo's life, in an attempt to distance him from something they, maybe without even realizing, associate with weakness

[femaleboysblog]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER 262 OF JUJUTSU KAISEN AFTER THE CUT

original theory post on reddit made by u/RileeFigOr (better resolution btw)

before starting unecessary discourse here, please remember:

- what we know and what we don't know about kenjaku

- it wouldn't be the first time gege pulled a fourth option (see: yuta using gojo's corpse)

- kenjaku taking over (only god knows how) gojo's body is a pretty popular theory too lately. who knows

- [edit] killing yuta and taking over rika was geto's initial plan (see: jjk 0)

[charbon-et-eau]

Hey, I'm Jess!

Welcome to my art blog!

I'm a hobby artist. Pokémon and Zelda are two of my favorite things, so you can expect to see a lot of fanart for those two series. I tend to obsess over one thing for a while, but I have other interests that may sneak into my art from time to time. And on rare occasions, I might even draw some original art!

I use this blog mainly for sharing finished artwork, but I'll also sometimes post sketch dumps and respond to asks related to my art. I don't want to clutter this blog with reblogs, so if you don't want to miss anything, I recommend clicking on the "get notifications" button for this blog or following my main blog.

Anyone is welcome to follow, but please be aware that I sometimes post nsfw art (I always put it behind the filter). Also, I am very liberal with the block button and will not tolerate bigoted, entitled, or generally hateful behavior. I will also block anyone who spouts pro-censorship rhetoric and/or supports harassing creators over fiction.

Main blog: @charbon-et-feu

Other socials:

🐘 Blorbo.social (Mastodon)

☁️ Bluesky

I'm not currently taking commissions, but if you'd like to support me financially, feel free to donate to my Ko-fi.

I also have a Discord server for my art where I share sketches and WIPs. Sometimes I stream and chat in vc while I draw. Please DM me for an invite link if you're interested in joining the server. (18+ only please)

More about me and my interests and some handy links under the cut.

I may add to this later, so it can be a masterpost for my favorite art and fandom thoughts. But this works for now.

Pokemon

Currently obsessed with ✨️Wallace✨️

Favorite ships

Volo/Akari Cogita/women Cynthia/Dawn Volo/Cynthia/Dawn Steven/Wallace/Brendan May/Lisia Cynthia/Diantha Geeta/Rika

Age headcanons for some of the ships I've drawn the most

Hoenn Boys (Steven/Wallace/Brendan)

Sexuality and top/bottom headcanons

Mer!Wallace AU

How often does Steven kiss Brendan?

Does Steven workout? (body type hc)

Who has more spicy thoughts?

Contest Star Brendan: X X

Volokari (Volo/Akari)

Distortion Volo AU (aka Gira!Volo)

Reversal AU (Akari betrays Volo)

Zelda

Favorite ships

Urbosa/Zelda (BotW) Midna/Zelda (TP) Sidon/Link (BotW) Ghirahim/Link (SS) Link/Zelda (SS is my favorite version) Link/Malon (OoT) Kafei/Anju (MM)

Majora's Mask mini comics(WIPs): 1-3, 4

Fire Emblem: 3 Houses

Favorite ships

Linhardt/Lysithea Mercedes/Constance Caspar/Hilda Leonie/Marianne Balthus/Lysithea Edelgard/Lysithea F!Byleth/Edelgard Claude/Petra

Misc

I try to avoid discourse and drama, but since I like to draw characters kissing, I have unsurprisingly received asks about character ages and whether or not certain characters should be allowed to kiss, and I'm sure I'll get more. I'd prefer not to answer the same question twice so here's what I've already answered.

My response to being called a "fucking proshipping bastard"

My thoughts on people assuming the ages of anime/cartoon characters

Also, I want to make it clear that the proshipper ask is the ONLY ask of that nature that I will ever respond to on my art blog. I will most likely delete any future similar asks, but if I do decide to respond to one, I will do so by making a post on my main blog and including a screenshot of the ask. I refuse to clutter my art blog with aggressive asks from people who just want to be mad at nothing.

[sunny6677]

Never really made a introduction post to my blog, so here—

Hello! I am Sunny, or Lila, or Tomori—you can call me either one of those but Lila makes my gender euphoria go yippee more jdnsnsj /lh

I'm taken by my lovely partner who I would tag if they actually had a Tumblr hsnsns /lh

My pronouns are she/her but I don't mind being referred to with they/them. I am transfem and lesbian—(and possibly on the ace spectrum??? Still trying to figure that out). I am autistic, and possibly have BPD—I also have pretty bad anxiety issues and some pretty bad OCD.

My interests are: FNAF, Spooky Month, horror, analog horror, poetry, BATIM, dinosaurs, jurassic park, TADC, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, etc etc the list goes on.

My kins, or rather just characters I strongly relate to are: Lila, Skid, Streber, Radford, Pomni, Zooble, Patty, Wednesday Addams, Eleven from Stranger Things, Rika Furude from Higurashi, Edd from Eddsworld (the character), Toriel, Alphys, Pacifist! Frisk, Kyoko Kirigiri, Jake from The Music Freaks, The Crying Child/CC from FNAF, Darwin Watterson from TAWOG, Garnet from Steven Universe, Marceline from Adventure Time etc etc.

My comfort characters right now are: Kevin and Lila from Spooky Month, or rather basically any character from Spooky Month, but mainly those two lmao.

My ships are: Lila x Kevin, Kevin x Radford, Edd x Tord (the characters are who I ship), Tom x Matt, Pomni x Ragatha, Lila x Jaune, Wednesday x Enid, Betty Groff x Simon Petrikov, etc etc.

DNI: MAPS, MAPS supporters, Zoos, Proshippers, any NSFW accounts in general because I'm a minor—I'm chill if suggestive stuff or jokes are made but nothing too heavy, anyone who takes shipping a little too seriously, ableist people, racist people, transphobic or homophobic people, any kind of LGBT-phobic people, anti-self shippers or anti oc x canon (I do self shipping and oc x canon so you should probably skedaddle out of here if you don't like either of those things). Tbh, just dni people who are weird or do stuff that harms other people in general. I'm cool if you don't like certain characters or shows or whatever the hell, but if you like doxx or harass people over having opinions or if you do anything creepy in general, you should probably get outta here. Also younger kids in general—like any age below 13. And people against age regression. I'm a permaregressor. And I support age regression, littles, and caregivers. I don't care what you've been through or what your reasons are. You don't get an excuse to invalidate people no matter what. So get the hell off this blog if you're against people trying to cope in a healthy manner and stop invalidating people cuz of your personal issues. Pro-lifers, MAGA, and any republican viewpoint—don't interact with me—or join any of my communities. Please.

This is also supposed to be a chill blog where I just post stuff I like—and I tend to really hate fighting, so chances are if someone tries to start fighting shit up in here, I'm probably either not gonna respond or I'll just delete whatever they said. I mean like if I did something genuinely wrong I'll reply, but this isn't meant to be a discourse blog. I'm just here to have a good time fam. /lh

And request—if you're gonna block me at least tell me why before you do. Not because of any specific reason, I just happen to flip out due to a personal experience I had a while ago and I start thinking that they blocked me because I'm a horrible person and did something terribly bad. So if you're not blocking me because you think I'm a bad person, it might be better to explain to me before you do since my obsessive thinking won't freak out if it's just something like me being into a ship that's a trigger for you or me just creating stuff that makes you uncomfortable/just stuff ya don't like in general. /gen

Other blogs: @ask-the-wage-trio and a few others I can't tag for some reason

BOUNDARIES:

1. The following two words trigger my OCD—so don't say it. I'd rather not get into why, but just know I mainly say this because my OCD gets VERY obsessed over different distressing things sometimes—and I'd rather not be triggered.

"Psychotic/psychosis" (Nothing to do with people who have the mental illness itself—I just don't like it when people use that word to describe me. My brain just keeps trying to scare me into believing I have different terrifying things sometimes.)

"Delusions/delusional" (As in describing me—)

2. You can make suggestive jokes if you want—just don't be too explicit cuz I'm a minor.

3. Be aware that if I seem dry when talking to you, if we haven't talked that much before—it's likely just cuz I'm a bit awkward talking with people I barely know, not cuz I'm mad at you./gen

4. Please don't pick fights on this blog, alright? And don't bring up any discourse either. I hate discourse, and generally find it petty and stupid most of the time. You can say you dislike something all you want, just don't hate me or someone else if I or they say they like it. And don't do the same if I or someone else says they dislike something either. If ya wanna fight, do it somewhere else. This isn't the place for that./gen

5. Do not vent to me, send me pictures of disturbing stuff (including vent art if I didn't ask permission), etc etc without my permission. Seriously. I've had that done twice to me and would appreciate if it wasn't done again.

6. Do not try to guilt-trip me either. P l e a s e.

7. If you have problems with or criticisms of me, don't be rude it. Criticism without empathy isn't criticism. You're just being a bully.

8. Don't be a dickhead in general, even if it's to someone else. I hate when people are assholes.

9. No trying to rope me into fights I wasn't even a part of. Please.

10. If you are in my DNI—get the fuck out and respect my boundaries. Shoo. Don't ignore my DNI.

SONAS FOR IF ANYONE WANTS TO DRAW ME—

————

(OOC: Wasn't able to make a blog for this one due to some minor troubles, so here—this one is the Ask Tom! blog thing jrndnd)

(Edit: Finally made a Tom blog!!)

"...OHOHO! THERE IT IS!"

(She jumps up and down in front of the camera, placing her hands on her hips.)

"HELLO, PEOPLE OF TUMBLR! I AM THE GREAT PRINCESS OF SEDONAH, TOM! AND I HAVE LEARNT JUST RECENTLY ABOUT THIS THING CALLED.. ASK BLOGS. I FIGURED I COULD TRY IT MYSELF, SO HERE I AM! YOU MAY ASK ME ANYTHING! FROM MY FAVORITE COLOR, FROM WHETHER OR NOT THE EARTH IS FLAT, TO IF I COMB MY HAIR! I, THE GRAND PRINCESS, SHALL ANSWER EITHER WAY! OHOHO!"

————

(Tom's reference sheet)

Tom's relationship chart:

[kideaternomnom]

I think the reason people mischaracterize megumi or any other charas is because half the fandom has no critical thinking skills and just mindlessly consumes the manga, also I feel like a lot of the discourse I see is just people arguing about current events completely disregarding the first half of the manga as if it never happened if that makes sense? like are we talking about the same character rn?😭😭

Anon, this is too true and it's sad lmfao

The worst part is that it isn't like let's say Sailor Moon 90s Anime where the adaptation was inaccurate to the manga, or how Wit was with Mikasa where they changed her leading to people misinterpreting her. NOPE!!! We have a great adaptation and everything, the fans are just irredeemably stupid....

At this point JJK fandumb is practically just power scaling idiots, corny jokes, etc. And while I do agree Megumi was done DIRTIEST there's also Maki being watered down to a "Toji copy," Yuta literally being called a GROOMER just for having Rika (yes, dumbshits on TikTok actually said that smh -_-), Yuji being called "not an mc" or people saying Gojo/Yuta would've been a better mc, Mai being done dirty when she would've done what ANY of us would do if we were in her situation, etc. You get it lmao-

[marshmallowprotection]

In your opinion, do you think V was fully at fault for what happened to Saeran? There's no denying that he is partially responsible, but honestly I don't think he should be as blamed as much as he is? From Rika's Behind Story, we find out that Rika had told V that Saeran was "moving boarding schools" when in actuality it was a lie to distance V from Saeran and cut off any contact between them, so that she can deceive Saeran into thinking V abandoned him later on when she kidnaps him to Magenta. Still, V insisted on seeing Saeran, even asking for the apparent school's name, but backed down when Rika was adamant about not giving him answers. I agree that V was wrong here for not looking into Rika's words more, but he only relented because he genuinely trusted her—that this was for the sake of protecting the twins, and because he literally had no reason to suspect Rika had any malicious intentions towards Saeran. It took a month for V to find out about Mint Eye after Rika left, and he definitely needed more than a month's time to gather enough materials and intel to infiltrate the place himself, so by the time he managed to enter Mint Eye and find about what Rika did to Saeran, it was already far too late. A lot of people blame him in this part; that he didn't do anything to save Saeran or get him out. But truthfully speaking...what can V even do at this point? It's not like he can just grab Saeran and book it unless he wants a gun pulled on his ass 😭 he had to resort to taking Mint Eye down from the inside. A lot of people also brought up that V should've called the police, but wouldn't that jeopardise Saeran's position to Saejoong? He is actively looking for the twins, and while it may seem like he'd pay no mind to an ordinary cult takedown case, he is desperate. I can see him having his people keep tabs on potential "suspects" from all sorts of places. Sorry this turned out so long, I would really love to hear from your perspective as a passionate Saeran fan. I hope this doesn't start any discourse :'))

I think I'll preface by saying Mystic Messenger suffers in terms of the writers not communicating with each other between routes. There's a lot of differing information about what happened to Saeran. The diary plants one story, and Another Story and Rika Behind paint something else... and in Casual and Deep Story, there are parts of the story a lot of players aren't sure about in terms of what happened since there's a slightly different vibe there.

So, when it comes to errors in continuity, you have to take it with a grain of salt and make your own assumption.

I think it's hard to have a conversation about this subject because neither Jihyun nor Rika are innocent. We can't assign blame to one without assigning blame to the other, but the rate at which they're guilty differs because of the choices they made. There are people in the fandom who place all the blame at Rika's feet, but she's not the only guilty party here when it comes to what happened to Saeran in the end.

It's important to understand that neither of them is innocent, and at the same time, it's even more important to understand the dynamic Rika and V had in the first place.

Rika tortured, manipulated, brainwashed, and abused Saeran. That fact is undeniable. The things she did to him are unimaginable and I hope she pays for it every day after the events of the RAE take place and she has to face judgement day in the court of law.

Jihyun's greatest failure was his decision to uphold his promise to Rika Kim. He promised he would never abandon her in her time of need, no matter what, because he didn't want to fail someone like he "failed" his mother. He believes in his heart that he has to give all he has because of his mother's sacrifice.

This is what causes him to avoid telling Jumin about what happened, because as much as he wants to save Saeran, he wants to "save" Rika, and that's why his greatest failure in the route comes from the player fighting to convince him to do what he should've done in the first place. Ask for help and admit that sometimes, promises aren't worth keeping if they destroy everyone you love, including yourself.

When we compare the choices Rika and V made, yeah, it's easy to see how Rika has done the worst to Saeran, but it's important for players to know that V's inaction served to hurt Saeran, too. That's something he acknowledges during the route, but ends up shooting himself in the foot over by the end because he decided to uphold his promise to Rika despite knowing it wouldn't help her or himself in the end.

Yes, Rika and V are both guilty of failing Saeran and Saeyoung. There is no doubt about that. But, their guilt comes in different flavors and it's important to understand how those choices hurt the boys. Rika's blame is widely understood and correctly spoken about with hatred and ire by fans, but when it comes to Jihyun, it's not often I see fans assign the appropriate blame to him.

It's all or nothing with a lot of players. Either you're a saint or you're a guilty monster. There's no wiggle room in the middle for the grey area that covers choices people make that aren't inherently good or evil. It is the choices that fall in the middle that are hard to understand and easy to misconstrue.

Jihyun Kim is a man I like to refer to with the old saying, "The path paved to hell is made with good intentions."

I think people should be upset with V, and I understand why people hate him for his inability to act when it counts. But, that's one of the things that makes him human and some as a person. You should be angry with V because he outright confesses that he's aware that what he's doing is wrong and that he should be doing more to make things right. You should be disappointed in him.

Because, if you decide to sit down and play V Route, you'll see him make the right decision and do what he should've done from the start.

Ask for help.

Do you want to know what I think Jihyun should've done? He should have told Jumin he was in over his head when discovered the plans in the apartment for Mint Eye. Jumin has proven time and time again to be someone who will do the right thing, no matter the cost, and if he had simply trusted his best friend, they could've done something for Saeran to get him away from Rika and take down Mint Eye with it. I'm certain that Jihyun knew he could do that.

But, to do that would mean breaking his promise to Rika. He told her he would keep their promise. So, if he told Jumin, and then Jumin did everything he could to take down Mint Eye, Rika would likely lash out at Jihyun for "breaking" their promise.

I think he could've feared that Rika might've revealed the truth about Saeran or Saeyoung to spite him in the process, despite making her own promise to Saeyoung to do the right thing, and her promise to Saeran to "take care of him since she killed his mother." So, he was weighing that fear on top of the shame of breaking a promise. But, I am certain that if Jumin helped, Saeran would be safe far away from Seoul, and they would be hunting for a way to get Saeyoung out of that fucking agency.

Jihyun could've continued to investigate Saejoong in private with the help of Jumin's team. Even if Rika let something slip to the police and sided with Saejoong, I think they could've found a way to make things work out. Would it have worked out well? I don't know, but I think I've got enough faith in Jumin Han to trust that he would make it right as soon as he could.

Jihyun was the one hunting down information about Saejoong Choi to take him down. He was away most of the time for that reason, and Rika took it upon herself to take care of Saeran when he wasn’t in classes at the cathedral. He had no way of knowing what Rika was doing to Saeran. He gave her an inch and Rika took a mile in terms of control.

He trusted her to do the right thing and uphold her promise, and he had no choice but to believe in the idea she would keep her promise to protect Saeran because it was the two of them against the world. Two broken people in a relationship that was bound to fail from the start, trying to help two little boys who needed more help than they could provide on their own, it was a recipe for disaster. 

Truthfully speaking, the only thing he could have done when he discovered that Rika lied to him was talk to Jumin. His best friend would have been the only person in the world who could have helped him, but he didn't ask his friend for help out of shame and regret. So, while Rika and V are both guilty, it's important to understand the why and how.

It won't change their guilt, but it does give you more insight as to why Saeyoung doesn't bite Jihyun's head off in the VAE like he tried to do to Rika. Oh, he's still angry with Jihyun, but he's realized that Jihyun's choices were different from Rika's. Still terrible because his promise was broken tenfold, but he can despise Rika far easier because she actively tortured his twin brother and Jihyun's failure of his inaction in the face of weighing promises.

[skuntank]

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hi i am billy i like to draw. i am 30+ and i dont care to update that number every year so thats as good as youre gonna get. i am a nonbinary transmasc dyke and accept any pronouns (with a preference for they and he)

Official legally authorized super duper non negotiable for realsies #1 biggest fan ever of Cheryl Pokemon, Gardenia Pokemon, and Diantha Pokemon ✨

WHAT THIS BLOG IS:

a sideblog (I follow from @hotshotshitshow !) for me to indulge in fandom-based hyperfixations, post my art, and ramble on about headcanons! especially that last point!

a place that focuses on and celebrates primarily female (and nonbinary) characters! i make a point of not giving much time or energy to male characters or m/m ships. i may discuss a few here and there in passing, but they are not and never will be the focus of this blog.

trans safe and terf exclusive! i will always have more love in my heart for and more in common with trans women than i ever will with a terf. terfs are welcome to block me.

a space for me to be as openly creative as i please! i delight in ripping apart side characters that dont have much canon development and frankensteining them back together. if you are of the belief that "at that point you may as well just make an oc," then you are welcome to block me.

very happy to swap and discuss headcanons! jamming with others about headcanons often is the highlight of my day. pokemon is the fandom i am the most comfortable doing this with by far and i am likely to not have much to say about other fandoms, unfortunately.

very happy to accept unsolicited drawing prompts ONLY for my favorite characters and ships! and if you asked something directly to one of said favorite characters, I may even draw the response in character! : )

mature in nature of the content that i post! i am a fully grown adult and expect you to be one as well if you follow me. i block minors with no exception. i do post somewhat regularly about sexual topics, which i tag with "the nasties" if that is something you need to blacklist.

SLOW to respond!!! I love getting messages and I try to answer everything I get but I am easily distracted, forgetful, have low social energy at any given time, and generally like to take a while to think about things (on top of working full time.) Please be patient with me!!

WHAT THIS BLOG IS NOT:

a pokemon news blog! im just some schmuck that loves climbing aboard the pokemon hype train as much as anyone else. if you found me from my gamefreak teraleak posts, you are still welcome to follow, but do not come here with the expectation that i consistently post about pokemon news.

Interested in getting involved in proship/anti discourse! People on both sides need to go outside. Don't drag me into anything and we can mutually move on with our lives if we come across something we don't like.

I would appreciate you liking this post if you have read all of it!

fandom preference stuff under the cut:

pokemon is and always has been the absolute love of my life and my faves from it are:

+ gardenia, cheryl, diantha, cynthia, rika, geeta, hunter j, cyllene, cogita

+ gaiashipping (gardenia/cheryl), phaesporiashipping (cynthia/diantha), geeta/rika, gothicrockshipping (roxie/marley)

other things of great importance:

+ karlach, karlach/shadowheart, any of the other bg3 ladies

+ sadie adler, sadie/molly, just about anything red dead related

+ noi, noikaido (dorohedoro)

+ midna/zelda (legend of zelda)

this of course is not an exhaustive list, but rather a list of what you are the most likely to see here.

I also enjoy monster collection games in general, such as neopets and palworld

You will undoubtedly see me bitching from time to time about popular male characters and m/m ships as well as misogyny in fandom. This is not the blog for you if you are a big fan of the more popular male characters and ships in most fandoms I have stated above, or if you're one of those bozos who gets upset when a lesbian vocally doesn't like men.

[sabineelectricheart]

The Silent Discovery over the Nature of Loving

Summary: Jihyun Kim did not believe in soulmates.

Rating: T - Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

Words: 2300

Notes: So, I’m thinking this is a half-way Jihyun. The kind of who has let go of Rika, but hasn’t truly freed himself of the thought processes that had gotten him in that situation.

Jihyun Kim did not believe in soulmates.

It sounds rich coming from him, of all people, but he did not. It was always an idiosyncrasy in his friendship with Jumin that bitterly amused him: one, a free-spirited artist that was too much of a realist when it came to relationships, and the other, a cutthroat capitalist that nurtured romantic sensibilities.

Though, perhaps it is not properly a lack of faith or belief in soulmates, but rather a pragmatic view. He believed that love was not that world of rosy fairy tales and sunshine that everyone seemed to believe it was, but suffering and sacrifice. He thought that, with enough disposition, he could love just about anyone, so the notion of “fated one and only” seemed false. He did not see how one single person could complete a life. He believed that there was more to it than finding such a thing.

In Rika, he thought he found his version of a soulmate. After all, he loved her in that manner, she excited his senses and she made him suffer. They felt tethered to each other, like two stars rotating the same axis, destined to a collision of galactic proportions. It sounded a lot like how the discourse surrounding it all seemed to go.

He was wrong, of course, about Rika, though he still nurtured the underlying notion about love. Even now, after all he has been through, he still holds those beliefs, and his conviction does not seem to waver.

Then, there was her. MC.

A smile large enough to replace the sun and moon and all the stars in the sky. A soft glow in her eyes whenever she met his lingering stare. Crinkles framing them when her grin greeted her eyes. An angelic dusting of blush upon her cheek when she did.

That woman feels like she is truly the picture of beauty to him. So much so it almost hurt. Quickly, without he being none the wiser, she had slipped into his mind like a thief in the night, kicking out the old permanent tenant that once inhabited there. She has stolen his thoughts and taken his heart with it.

When it was all said and done, after he was discharged from his surgery, Jihyun wanted to leave. He wanted to be alone and heal himself away from everything and everyone, somewhere overseas, somewhere there was just nature and little to no human settlement. Alaska came to mind a few times.

MC, however, began talking to the hospital psychiatrist after having a minor panic attack while caring for him. He does not know what she said, and he is pretty sure that it was not her intention, but they put him under watch and had him take a few sessions of therapy.

Considering his situation, he agrees that he could stand to benefit from some professional help, so he went in open-minded. The doctor helped him to talk through some of his feelings and how they got where they were then, and put some things in perspective.

Mainly, how selfish was his plan of simply leaving the country with no date of return, waiting for others to clear up the mess he left on his stead.

It is not as if Jihyun did not know that, he did, but… Everybody else seemed to indulge him on it, saying that he should take care of himself first. When he expressed that desire, Jumin offered him tickets and MC insisted that he should do as he pleases. Why should he not believe their sincerity? Though, he must admit that he dismissed Yoosung’s sole dissenting voice on grounds of the animosity between them.

The doctor agreed that they must have meant what they said, but it does not mean that they were right in saying so. The demands of the sick take precedence, and they recognize it, even if it places an undue burden upon them, even if it is not the right choice for his own mental health. Besides, the professional points out, it is unfair of him to expect that MC waits for him on a flimsy promise. If he wants to leave, then he should make sure that she is free of any obligation towards him.

He soon found that this was not something he was willing to do.

Therefore, he was faced with a choice: either leave everything behind with no promises and no attachments, or stay and find some other way to get to mental health and self-appreciation. When put on those terms, moving to Alaska seemed quite a bit silly.

So, he stayed, and set himself disciplinarily on a path of healing, while guarding the target of his affections close to his heart. He knew what he felt was something like love. It felt natural and, like very few, he explored it willingly, even if restrictedly.

He did not push it down and stifle the feelings so desperate to sing out to her, he did not try to deny it or run away from it. He faced it for what it was, otherwise he knew they would explode at some point. However, he stopped short of a confession, settling himself on the role of a close friend, while working upon himself. He was content with them for now, thinking that he placed it all in its rightful place, keeping them a secret behind closed doors and wandering eyes.

Respectfully wandering, of course. Jihyun would never dream of seeing her in a light like that when he was not properly hers.

Which does not mean he had not struggled with his situation. What never failed to get him was her laugh. A hymn he would never grow tired of, one that stood out from the usual white noise. He believed she could bring down nations with that laugh of hers. How sweet and welcoming it was to him, playing his heartstrings like a harp and he relished in it.

The feeling close to love would bloom in the very bottom of his stomach, flowing to his chest and amusing it with emotions indescribable to him. Words could not even do justice to the overwhelming deep oceans of passion, admiration and respect that washed over him.

However, he is not drowning, he was finally breathing. For the first time in his life, he could finally slow down. There was clarity within him when sorting through things with her. Everything reminded him of her and her essence.

He had never met anyone else like MC. He does not want to meet anyone else like her. He can never believe something or someone as perfect and exact as her could exist more than once, as a dot in eternity. His love for her can quench any thirst, satiate any hunger and rest any fatigue. Yet, he was still left thirsty, starving and exhausted, longing for more of her lingering affections and advances on his ever-doting heart.

Perhaps he had it right all along. Love and pain go together. With enough effort and a good disposition, the heart grows fond. What truly changed between Rika and MC is that, while one seemed to latch upon him like a drowning woman dragging him down, the other seemed to rejoice in lifting him up.

This is exactly why Jihyun, a non-believer, held onto his feelings. He understands how it helped him being a better person, he sees how he needed to grasp onto it because something this wonderful could only come once in a lifetime, and they were too short to be wasted.

He never knew how truly wonderful it was to be loved back by someone, especially MC. Perfect, angelic MC.

Her lips invited him in but he hardly took a breath. She would lift his chin in soft kindness with her refined graces, cast a glaze upon his eyes, set his fluttering stomach at rest in the comfort of her. He would get on his knees and beg her to do it all. To have no mercy on his enthralled soul. 

With her lashes dusting his blushing cheeks, he is reminded of her other feather-light touches. Embracing him with her words, cradling his delicate and quivering lips.

He would let her, as his idol, treat him as she wishes. Let her abuse his advances on her love or tell him what he wished to hear and what he would never want to admit. Turn his words on him so he can see her listen. Let him drown in them. Let him look into her eyes once more before they parted ways and leave him searching for a part of himself that she is yet to touch.

The way she held his hand, how she cradled his lips with hers, contrasting rough with delicate. It was a movement that felt like religion, one he would devote his whole soul and being to. Her name was a mantra, a prayer on his lips that he would never grow tired of chanting softly to her. She is an altar, a temple of everything divine about life. He would idolize the ground she walked on every day for the rest of his life if he had to.

The way in which she embraces him with a warmth only for him. A warmth he held only for she too. It burned greater than any sacred fire within any hearth.

If MC wanted him to, he would do it all willingly.

At that very moment in time, it only just occurred to Jihyun why it is called being in love. He feels fully submerged and surrounded by her devotion to him. How did she do it all to him? Is she a magician?

One night, after almost a year’s worth of labour, he finally cracked.

She came to his house upon invitation, good-intentionally. The pretext had been a movie, he believes, but it did not matter: it was Friday, and they always met on Fridays. Either as a date somewhere, or at her home for whatever reason; this time, however, he would host, as he was finally proud of all the cleaning and Rika-banishing that he had done. Aside from the artwork, every single piece of furniture in there had been progressively changed and, when the new couch arrived earlier that week, he lived in a place completely devoid of her memory and her presence.

Fresh strawberries and white cream laid out perfectly on a gingham blanket to greet her. Soft silk woven into clothes that she drapes over her arms, shoulders and chest. The natural skipping of his heart that is synchronised to her breath and her breath only. Conversation ran long, and she had to ask to stay over.

To him, that is what he wanted to capture as bliss. Home is not where he is. Home is wherever she may be. When it finally became too much and she drifted off in that same new couch, marked with a new and bright memory, it broke his heart having to leave her to sleep. He knows that the end of this moment will come soon, but he resists.

He wants to take a picture, but he knows he cannot. Even if he could, it would be only a pale imitation of what he truly desired of it.

Jihyun always took a few moments to contemplate in something akin to prayer, held in a daze as he noticed the rise and fall of her chest form a steady pattern. He could recall it as he had committed it to memory the first time she had slept over. The quirk of her lip where a hum of a snore vibrated in her chest caught him out with a smile.

Love had been described to him in many ways by his mother and his father, always in different terms. Good thing so, as it taught that this is a personal idea and is one of the few things that humanity shall never conquer. Now, he would admit that a childish part of him found this belief naïve. As nothing but a sinner, a man, nothing more, looking upon her resting figure he feels nothing but love, and for such a significant emotion, he feels ignorant to have numbed it and reduce it to four letters. Well, that could not even do a fraction of justice to what he experienced with her.

Perfect ache. That is what he would attempt name it. The contradiction of love and how it wounds him into submission. His heart aching splendidly and tied down to her. Beating meekly but still beating for her. Time has often cut the time she shared together short and stolen the words unsaid from his starving mouth.

Still, as she leaves when the morning comes, he had an unwavering faith that every time was not a goodbye for good. It was a goodbye for now.

MC is everything to him, and he would never let that sense of belonging go. Not when he finally felt at home with his angel. His saviour. His divinity. Maybe he was crazy. Still, she is what made him sane in a deranged sort of way. She is what he saw in his past, present and future. Her company was heaven and without she was a hell no man should feel.

When the day comes and he does confess, when the day comes when Jihyun no longer knew the horror and sin he had seen as a cultist, he knows he will be finally free. He will finally know what it means to feel pain in love, and he will know satisfaction. He would determine what is worth his time and if he want to continue living in it.

Jihyun Kim did not believe in soulmates, but then he met MC.

*_*_*_*_*

Mystic Messenger Masterlist

[neonscandal]

Hello...just want to say, so happy !! Finally my best friend who is anti-shipping in shounen (and love to make fun of me because I have ships in every shounen that I watched/read), said that he can't find any het explanation for Gojo/Geto and Bakugou/Midoriya relationships...

Especially when I showed him your posts (that is based in canon and so true). Thanks for sharing your wonderful posts....

What do you think about JJK s2 op1 and ed1? I can't believe when I reas that the op is about geto from gojo's perspective (so romantic)....

OH ANON. HAVE I GOT SOME BRAINROT FOR YOUUUU. I've also noticed some of my older Satosugu posts are attracting attention and subsequently feel like I need to just list out all the most tragic things about them that I hold dear in a separate post because you've basically prodded a festering wound within me.

Re: Your last ask (maybe the same person?), I really only tried to focus on stuff that's already been animated because I try to avoid spoiling the fun for everyone. 🥹✨

It's hilarious that Gojo/Geto and Bakugou/Midoriya are the two relationships that stick out specifically considering their creators intently make them complements of one another.

Gege Akutami cited specifically that Gojo and Geto were designed to be a duo in an interview with Mandou Koboyashi (shout out to twitter user @/soukatsu_ or @soukatsu here as the real MVP for translating and adding further context for other fans). Fans seem to recognize their yin and yang design everywhere. There are countless salt and pepper shaker videos set to Ricky Montgomery's "Mr. Loverman" on tiktok, I'm positive. This is despite being marked by their dissonance.

Kohei Horokoshi has Bakugou and Midoriya recognized as two halves of the same whole by other characters in the story, most remarkably All Might who in many ways carves the deepest chasm(s) between them. The wax and wane of their unique development as individuals being integrally related is also something to note.

But this isn't unique to these two stories. I haven't even watched Naruto but know that Naruto and Sasuke serve as the sun and the moon to one another (literally within the story, their seals and by design/disposition) and I'm sure we could find this in other shows I haven't hyperfixated on haha

There's probably nothing new I can add to the MLM shipping discourse in shonen/seinen genres that hasn't been said, especially when it's been so eloquently broken down by IG user @/ariavelz. I also think there's a fair amount of queerbaiting in mainstream media and anime alike. Five seasons of Free! comes to mind...

Now the MUSIC!? In JJK? Bestie.

S1 already had me gagged with this brain worm. But, the fact that the song playing during Yuta and Rika's final moment in the fight vs. Geto and subsequently during the final moments Gojo and Geto share in that alley in JJK 0 was called "This is Pure Love"??? That's when I knew there were some Satosugu's on staff at Mappa. I don't think we need to dig into the parallels of how Yuta's fondness for Rika being the catalyst for her becoming a curse was the same way Gojo's fondness subsequently led to Geto's "comeback". Gojo, based on his experience at the time, said "love is the most twisted curse of them all" and time showed him just how twisted it really could be in season 2.

NOW THE OP!? It's just so lonely. Their cursed techniques being at odds with one another is so tragic, in a sense, and ultimately creates this divergence from one another. Geto, a genius of diligence, nobly consumes and sullies himself with the curses he has to imbibe like a martyr. Gojo, a genius of happenstance, is pristine. Born into privilege and untouched by the need to work hard or literally touch curses which Geto later grows to resent.

Meanwhile, Gojo's largely a product of isolation as imposed by his status and cursed technique and "Ao no Sumika" or "Where Our Blue Is" by Tatsuya Akitani waxes on about how, despite his best efforts, he could never reach Geto. The irony. As the story continues, we do, in fact, see that Gojo's never changed in the canonically affectionate way he regarded Geto. I think about this dissonance a lot. Literally, how did your Six Eyes miss that?

We could have shared everything. // Little by little since that day, // The curse of me being different from you grew thicker. The sorrow behind your smile, // All the way, I’ve regretted missing it. // To you, who bloomed and fell away as a fruitless flower, // Farewell. Our blue still lives, // Our blue is still clear. // No prayer or word could ever reach you, // No matter how close they could get to you. // In such a color as if it were a silent love, // Or as if it were a summer rolling down a cheek. // I’ve got a curse word for you stuck in the back of my throat. It is the unvoiced voice that says, // “We’ll see each other again, won’t we?” // Like star grains in an infinitely expanding galaxy, // Spilling through the gaps between my fingers

Now, I initially assumed the EP was from Gojo's perspective because Geto only seemed to smile in his presence (who's blushing face are we trying to see, afterall?). However, it is said to be from Geto's perspective and that, too, makes sense. Two viewpoints acting as bookends of the history between them.

I think what's sad about it is the way in which Gojo's POV is centered wholly on Geto, regardless of who or what he became; whereas Geto's perspective is more broadly applied to Gojo in part but also his own turmoil and moral dilemma.

Part of why Geto is thrown into such chaos is because of his inherently principled existence and yet, he is still the moon to Gojo's sun (Naruto, what are you doing heree?). Where Gojo always held a place for Geto, I think Geto assumed that his radicalization and subsequent defection marked a departure from Gojo because he was never really one to exist in shades of grey. Even if his impetus for this new society was ultimately to protect Gojo (and others like him) in the only way he felt he could.

Before my goodwill crumbles away, // I should have told you everything. // In a life descending and dissolving into the night, // Fuzzy emotions, a flickering light. With nothing to search for, love sways. // Living while concealing, // Hence, the moon is dark, head in flight. // Today, unable to go anywhere. // Sleeping, sleeping towards a brand new morning, // Loneliness under crying Though I understand a wounded heart // Why do I end up hurting and leaving the same scars? // Labeling it as ego, grouping it all together, // The true essence of you and me, burning transparently. Longing for change, but the feelings stay the same, // Only the form crumbles away, // Holding onto the hand of hope, your ghost Realizing that something seemingly everywhere // Exists only here, // In the trivial silence of the night. // Only I, residing in memories, awaken It exists only here. // I want to touch you, // Even with trivial conversations. // Show me your blushing face once more...

Pardon me, anon, while I burst into flames after reflecting on all this. 🫠

Edit: just adding this visual for everyone because SAME. 🥹

[crystalelemental]

Okay guys, we're on the honor system not to reblog this one, it's a vent post about fandom stuff, sort of Pokemon specific due to the catalyst but also it's broad, just move along unless you want to hear me complain for forever.

I feel like Geeta Pokemon is like...the perfect encapsulation of why I don't engage with fandom spaces pretty much ever.

On the mild end, it's just how much is shipping stuff that I don't like. I know I will sometimes click with a pairing, but generally I'm just not that interested in shipping stuff. This is entirely personal and not really a problem, but it's such a huge chunk of general discussion that it's hard to feel like there's a clean entry point when that tends to be where people start. And yes, I'm sorry, this does mean I don't care for Geeta/Larry or Geeta/Rika, I don't really ship Geeta with anyone, it's just not a thing I gravitate toward.

But on the worse end it's just...okay I'm finding out how to turn off reblogs, honor system over.

Geeta discourse is just insane. We're still on about how her fight is bad, or she's a bad boss for (insert innocuous thing about having a job here), or some other character or design flaw that's just asinine or trivial. And the most recent catalyst was someone complaining that there was obvious foreshadowing for Evil Geeta, but the DLC didn't capitalize, which is just...you are in another world. Like you want to vilify her so bad, and for what?

And like, I realized I have never really seen any proper dissection of Geeta as a character, really. It always seems to be these sort of weird accusationally toned posts, then the defensively toned posts about "nuh uh" and little else, or like...fanart that seem disproportionally suggestive of her specifically for some mysterious reason. And not really any actual analysis of her character. Like the most I've seen recently is one post just making the fandom standard assertion of "X character is autistic/(insert sexuality or gender presentation here)," but also stating "don't ask me how it's just vibes."

And maybe this is also a me problem. It's an innocent enough headcanon, people can generate that interpretation for the representation they want however they please, but like. Has anyone ever really noticed there's never an explanation to these? Like I'm not asking for much, but what in their presentation rung true to you that you made this interpretation? Was there anything, or are you conjuring it from thin air? I personally don't care for the readings people do with Red, but there's at least stuff they will point to and go "that," but it feels like there's never anything substantive to these posts. It's just words. You don't even need to engage with the actual character at all, you just say whatever you want and either it doesn't need an explanation because it's just a headcanon or what's used as evidence is just...wrong. That's why we have takes like Geeta being a bad boss or a weak champion, because people took a general gut feeling, examined nothing, and made an assertion based on made up nonsense. And it makes the experience of just looking in a fandom's direction frustrating, because it's not that there's nothing, it's that there's negative value; you took away the parts that were good to just...fuck, I don't even know half the time. To try really hard to vilify a woman of color? Because her vibes were off or something? And this is just Pokemon! This is narrative Easy Mode because there's barely shit there! I cannot imagine what it would be like if I took to the fandom fields of something denser and more thematically salient in earnest. I see occasional Dungeon Meshi posts float by that make me think I am so blessed for not talking to fucking anyone outside of my followers about this one.

I know none of this is new. I know others make these complaints too. I even know that at least some of this feeling is a bit of arrogance as far as "my interpretation is the correct one." But also I've been feeling sick for days and am coated in sweat despite feeling freezing cold and am very cranky over it so I need to bitch about something else for a minute. Vent over.