#so i reread chapter 10

[whumpy-wyrms]

Anton is a sopping wet cat of a man

[shitboxcar]

Blue and gansey: we’re in love but we can’t tell adam…

Adam and ronan side plot:

[crow-n-tell]

I read the newest chapter of Cryptid Sightings, and @naffeclipse I SWEAR ON MY LIFE. The minute I read them say those lines I thought of that scene with the rake but IT FELT DIFFERENT. IT DUNKED MY BRAIN IN THE INSPIRATION POOL so I drew the thing

And if ya wanna see it a little better I have some lighter ones under the cut :)

Also just a lil doodle cause I changed they look

Eclipse looks a lil… dare I say whorish??? Or maybe maniacal. I have a hard time separating those two

[staryarn]

curious what you mean by don quixote, hong lu, and ryoushuu's promos? I vaguely remember them and I definitely think there's some elements that. Need to be talked about, but I don't want to miscontrue what you're trying to say about them.

To preface this it's entirely like my own theories and while there definitely could be foreshadowing (in sinclairs he's vaguing demian and Ishmael mentions 'if that bastards really dead than I have nothing left to chase after' (summarizing it) ). This is all a theory a ga-

I'm just very intrested in Don's because of how she reacts in it. On the actual limbus company site she has delusions of grandeur in hers (under particulars) and I really think that we'll eventually see how shee sees the city and the justice she wants vs how the city actually functions

For Hong Lu and Ryoshu they escape me both because I haven't read their source materials and because (moreso with hong lu) they're hiding themselves (ryoshu has her shure nice to meet you pun at the end of her promo vs Ishmael having something lore related in hers)

I can guess more about Ryōshū due to knowing the general plot of hell screen but can't say a lot on Hong Lu due to not fully getting tye plot of Dotrc (that and due to reading leviathan I can at least guess her beef with the fingers and how she sees art)

(For other sinners context rodion talks about wishing to undo things as easily as you can earn back lost money and how she just wanted everyone to feel some warmth, and outis talks about her oddest and how despite needing to go back she hasn't been able to take one step)

[dreadark]

kim namwoon posting (orv spoilers) (incoherence)

ch 474 still has possibly the craziest whiplash in orv where hsy goes from insulting knw for wearing gundam themed underwear (lol?) right to insulting him for... hiding his self-harm scars from jihye

i ?!?!??!?!?

insane detail to drop in one line. what do you mean that's why he has the chuuni bandages.

and not just that but that he's actively trying to hide this from the one he loves...

...he's ashamed of it. knw might act all full of himself on the surface but when you get down to it... he hates some parts of himself so much he'll try to hide them for eternity if he can...

(megaphone) HEY KIM DOKJA DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR

but that's the point of his forty thousand year old crush. okay. if it's requited or not doesn't really matter (imo it's not) but rather that on some level he's still too ashamed of himself that he's never even managed to confess in the first place and at least part of the reason is this, which....

knw :(

[soo-won]

Yona and Keishuk as representations of Suwon's feelings and pragmatism.

Disclaimer: Yona, Keishuk and Suwon are obviously their own persons with dozens of more layers than what I talk about in this post. The scenes I use as examples are also about much more than what I use them for here. All of this is just one way I like to read things and I don't claim that the manga is meant to be read that way at all (the contrary honestly). This is just me having fun overanalyzing everything.

Something that has been on my mind since chapter 232 now, is the idea that Yona and Keishuk represent perfectly the duality inside of Suwon. I have loved this trio for all the potential they hold since the castle arc now, and I didn't get as much as I wanted with them at all but this specific page of chapter 232 still makes me "oooooh".

(Long post under the cut. sorry)

I know the important part comes just after with the "You are needed." Suwon-Yona scene, but I think the composition is super interesting here. Yona and Keishuk are having a full conversation, debating over what to do about Mei-nyan, and Suwon doesn't participate at all (he only enters the conversation next page but doesn't say anything on that matter specifically until chapter 233, when he makes his decision). As if quietly listening to both sides and considering all the points they present. Yes saving Mei-nyan is a bother, why should they do so much for one captive? Yes it's also dangerous to let her in enemy hands given the informations she has against Suwon. It's not farfetched to imagine Suwon can agree to both of their statements. Suwon is hidden by the bubbles of their conversation, erasing himself to give room to their discussion. It's as if we were inside Suwon's head and being a spectator of his trains of thoughts, as if Yona and Keishuk were two parts of Suwon's psyche. They're obviously their own independant characters outside of that with their own merits and personality etc ect but I think it's still interesting to read their dynamic this way.

After all, didn't Yona always represent for Suwon his own feelings? And Keishuk the lack of them? Discarding Yona (and Hak, but I think Yona especially represents that) has always been synonym to discarding his feelings. By discarding her, Suwon discards that he is not a 100% impartial human being that loves (and hates) some people more than others, and that he actually cares and cannot always 100% control his heart. The reason he discarded Yona when the coup happened is because his feelings don't matter from that point on and are directly in the way of his goals. And one of the reason he rejected her so much in the castle and kai battle arcs is exactly because she means something special to him and she keeps trying to appeal to Suwon's heart and feelings (by making several references to Yonhi for example, but also simply by being herself and asking Suwon to save the prisoners, etc) and tries to make the situations personal, two things that Suwon forced himself to stop and not do for a plethora of reasons I won't develop here.

(About Yonhi, the manga has made a connection between Yona and Yonhi a few times? One thing is Yonhi's hairpin that Yona also wears on one of the magazine cover, and there are the few mentions Yona makes of her in front of Suwon. I don't think the manga tries to say that Yona=Yonhi at all, but rather that Yona acts as some sort of reminder of her to Suwon? After all, there's close to no one left in the world who knew her, and even less in the castle and around Suwon in contrast to how Suwon grew up and is surrounded by Yuhon's faction and people admiring him. But most people forgot about Yonhi or never thought much of her. So I assume post-diary Yona tries to balance things out a little bit on that aspect, showing that even if people see Suwon as Yuhon's successor, he is also at his core his mother's son and it's sad to pretend he is not.

In parallel, even if not as explicitely as Yona (as I don't remember Keishuk ever mentioning Yuhon in front of Suwon?) Keishuk is one of the many reminder of Yuhon to Suwon. Keishuk definitely isn't Yuhon either, but the way he thinks and his ideology are similar enough. So you could say that Yona and Keishuk are Yonhi and Yuhon's voices in the present.)

In parallel Keishuk represents the exact opposite of listening to your feelings. Keishuk needs analysis posts for him alone, but even though he is obviously not without emotions at all, his place and role by Suwon's side is precisely to present him things as objectively as possible and make the most practical and efficient decisions, leaning towards machiavellianism (and I love him for that <3). Plus, contrary to Suwon, Keishuk doesn't have any emotional attachment for Yona and Hak, so while Suwon can rarely think straight when it's about them, Keishuk can, and is essential. Suwon would have never made it like he's engaged to Yona, he would have never proposed an alliance with her in the first place, nor would he have asked her to support him on the battlefield on his own. Before the alliance, Keishuk also investigated on the DDHHB behind Suwon's back, and tried to kill Yona and Hak several times because he knew they would be/have become a nuisance, while Suwon overlooked what Yona could/does represent because of his feelings.

Keishuk takes the decisions Suwon can't. And I think a part of Suwon is aware of that. Keishuk is like a point of reference and the reason he has Keishuk by his side and lets him do all these things is because he agrees that these actions are sounded and benefit Kouka in some way. Suwon would have never imprisoned Hak himself, but when Keishuk tells him about it, Suwon doesn't object. When in chapter 2 Keishuk tells Suwon to kill Yona, he doesn't object either, and readies himself to do so.

Keishuk is Suwon's speaker. Suwon rarely voices his true thoughts but Keishuk as a proxy often gives us an idea. His personality makes him more snarky and they don't agree on everything, but Suwon knows that Keishuk will always absolutely prioritizes Kouka as a whole over everything else and he can trust that. And that's also why I think Keishuk can represent one part of Suwon's psyche. He is the part of Suwon that shows no remorse for his colder decisions and is resolved to make any sacrifices needed for the sake of his goals. He is the part of Suwon that refuses to let himself be moved by his emotions and unable to make sound decisions because of it, the part of himself that won't prioritize someone only out of love or compassion.

And Yona is you could say the speaker of Suwon's feelings. Take the Hak imprisonment fiasco for example. This is a moment that shows a bit of Keishuk's vulnerability, but if you decide to read every interaction between Keishuk and Yona as some kind of metaphor of Suwon's inner conflict it's also super interesting. Keishuk wants to kill Hak because he is a threat to Suwon's life: simple and straigthforward. Keishuk doesn't love Hak and is still afraid of the danger he represents for Suwon's life at that point and very much doesn't like how Hak tries to get closer to Suwon without his approval. These are points very specific to Keishuk as an individual, related to his backstory and his personality. But this very reactive answer to Hak suddenly getting too close to Suwon is also very befitting of how Suwon feels imo. Suwon doesn't know Hak was here at that point sure, but on a meta level rejecting Hak so extremely the second he gets too close and sees him at a weak point just makes sense. Hak was the very last person Suwon wanted to be seen by this way. And him not objecting to his imprisonment is for me a sign that he is okay with things this way. He doesn't want Hak to get close. It's better like this. If Hak gets close, he can't think straight in more way than one. So let's discard him.

But then Yona enters and stops Keishuk. This scene is meant to show Yona's development and how she is able to protect Hak her own way and how Hak's life is not something she will ever compromise on, things that are distinct to her as an individual as well. But if you see Yona's rise in the castle as the rise of Suwon's closeted feelings, getting harder and harder to repress, it also shows that it got to the point where these feelings directly clash with his usual mindset, that these feelings for Hak have enough power to put a curb on the "discard every piece in your way" ideology.

Suwon is a secretive person who learned to keep most of his thoughts and feelings to himself. He is by nature someone who doesn't react to tragedies the way you would expect him to, looking detached and unconcerned. But what Akayona showed again and again is that by no mean this is equal to him being indifferent and not feeling anything at all. This is just his way of processing and dealing with grief(I'm not gonna go on a tangent on how he can be read as neurodivergent but yeah. he's so real for that). Being openly emotional like Keishuk and Yona is just not who he is as a person, it happens but only rarely, so the two of them are the perfect proxy to show the turmoil going on in Suwon's heart. Whether it's when Suwon is annoyed and angry, or when he's worried about Hak's whereabouts, they're his voice. (Interestingly Keishuk seems to be the only one convinced Hak is dead and thinks as such. Something something Suwon swaying between hoping that Hak is still alive somewhere(like Yona) and giving up on that hope(like Keishuk).)

But Suwon is not Keishuk. And actually a lot of times when Keishuk advises Suwon to kill someone, Suwon compromises to only capturing and imprisoning them or even lets them escape in Yona and Hak's cases. And one of the way I choose to interpret the Kai battle arc like is that it's all about Suwon accepting his own feelings, that even if he agrees with his father's ideology, he is his own person and he can't keep discarding the part of him that cares and loves and worries and feels. He can't keep discarding Yona and Hak. Yes Yona is needed, his own feelings are needed.

And he is not Yona either. That's why he still sees saving Mei-nyan as a nuisance. Suwon is Suwon, and being able to look at things calmly and evalutating the risks and costs of an action over another and making his decisions based on that is still very much a part of him that you can't remove.

He is somewhere between Yona and Keishuk. A King who inherently prioritizes the bigger number over a few individuals, and yet someone who genuinely likes the people around him and can be swayed by his own emotions. He is very much both his parents' child. And he has to learn to reconcile both, without discarding one or the other.

Going even further, Yona being a proxy of Suwon's feelings fits perfectly the role she has now. She always tries to help the people that Suwon discards for his goals and he used to not let her do so, as a symbol for closing himself off completely, but now he accepts it (with still some reluctance but hey!) and knows he can entrust her with it. I don't think this is inherently a bad thing and it works well with Keishuk as a parallel again, as Suwon always entrusted him with all the logistics and the things he doesn't like to think about. Keishuk also often carries the bad role and direct the negativity at him (on purpose or not) so it doesn't reach Suwon. So like, to each their own role.

TDLR: Yona and Keishuk are like the little angel and devil on Suwon's shoulders respectively telling him to save and kill.

[unholyhelsing]

"My heart feels at peace when I'm with you."

(this image but positive)

[beanmochiii]

drew some of my favorite scenes in a soft place to fall by @jallieae !!

[sysig]

Did you expect Rescuing Rusty in 2023??? (RR is @zeejax‘s ♥) (Patreon)

Trick question! Even I wasn’t expecting Rescuing Rusty, but since it was up next on my fics to vet for construction, I had to give it a reread!

Didn’t it turn out lovely 💕 There’s not a lot of sky-related imagery in RR, but I couldn’t not go with this colour - it’s an even richer rust colour IRL :D

The spine ended up being big enough that I was able to sneak in two bookmarks! One for Zoom (the black) and one for Rusty (the red)

Even though they sit separately, Rusty’s still crosses over Zoom’s hehe ♥

[darthluffy]

Surprise Yuri!!!! 2.5 Dimensional Seduction has one of the horniest starts to a manga I’ve read , then turns into something actually pretty sweet and wholesome about cosplay to now actually delivering an actual confession on a long running yuri romance that looked like it might just be subtext for a long time. Yuri wins again

[starswallowingsea]

do my man (not you, the redhead)

jaspdfioamsdpfoasd okay

This might be all over the place but I'm just gonna rant about Rinne's character development and how other people see him mostly since I think that is the most interesting way to look at him.

Rinne, as we all know, puts up a facade in front of basically everyone. He's always laughing and scheming about something and makes it fairly obvious to everyone that he's all about causing trouble on purpose. He wants to destroy ES from the inside out, breaking the system that threatens to homogenize idols and take away what he loves about them.

(Cutting a lot of other screenshots due to image limit). The new system is limiting and that's something Rinne explicitly doesn't like. He wants to be loud and angry and be human. This, ultimately, is what motivates him through the entire main story.

Now, during this same time period we're also establishing the basic Bee dynamic. In the first interactions between HiMERU and Rinne we get some back and forth about what they should do and also find out that Rinne knows about Kaname. Maybe not more than the broad strokes (just that the HiMERU in his unit is not the original HiMERU and that the original is out of commission) but he knows there's something going on there. HiMERU does not like this and directly says that anyone who knows about his secret needs to be erased, but Rinne is too important as their leader to erase, so he'll have to leave him be for now.

Rinne is a nuisance to HiMERU but a necessary one. Crazy:B needs to survive in order for HiMERU to make a proper comeback as an idol, and eventually the plan would be to break away (which comes up again in Night Club, which is a whole other post, but Rinne eventually convinces him that being a solo idol would be a bad idea, potentially also thinking about how it would impact Kaname's legacy, though that's just speculation on my end)

Niki we know at this point sees Rinne as a nuisance as well, at least that's how he vocally expresses it. His conversation with Mayoi in Chapter 5 shows that he does know Rinne better than almost anyone and that Rinne is just putting up a front to keep other people away.

Kohaku's view of Rinne is a little harder to pin down right away. Kohaku fights back initially against Rinne's views on the ES idol system, saying he needs to go with it and put aside his arguments for the sake of survival before Rinne shoots that down with his monologue about not being crushed in the gears of the machine and becoming something he hates. Kohaku, of the three other Bees, seems to be the most open and willing to trust Rinne and follow him, likely because he doesn't have as much to lose.

Kohaku is the most willing to accept Rinne's vision of idols as well, willing to get his hands dirty alongside him because that's all he knows (he brings it up a lot in the joint conversations between Crazy:B and Alkaloid). Even if he would rather take the easy route and go with the system, there's no real fun in that. It would be like he never even left home if he just gave up without a fight.

[deepwoundsandfadedscars]

.

[lairn]

I’m still slowly rereading Fool’s Assassin and chapter 10, “My Own Voice,” is so stunning. I’ve read this first section of the book roughly 4 times and it still made me cry. The range and depth of everything that happens in less than 20 pages blows me away.

[kuiinncedes]

akjsndglidfligauhglsighoiurdfhg

[firewoodfigs]

Next chapter of a study in reformation probably won’t be up till sometime in August (aka the month of salt air and rust on the door) because past me was dumb enough to sign up for an exam in July on top of working full-time, BUT I’ve created a monstrous playlist which you can listen to here for good vibes :) enjoy!!! I’ll see you guys very soon in the next chapter 💕💕

Feel free to let me know as well if you have a specific song in mind 🥰

[michael-runs-hot-guerin]

Good morning! Haters? I'm the comments of my fic? Girl you already know

The back button is free my good bitch