#some of them are about the blorbo. but more of them are about the deeper things. so yes. i mean this post very Seriously. quite Earnestly.

[onewingedsparrow]

that feeling when you encounter a new blorbo and you just know. oh. you've gone and changed my life forever, haven't you.

[stranger-opinions]

maybe it's not a writers-block; maybe you just need a break

creativity is a muscle, right?

you need to exercise it to keep it in good shape, to have it ready when you need it and don't we all love those hyperfocused sprints of writing where the words just spill out of our fingertips...

but muscles get sore when you overuse them, will strain when you force them past their limits, they need nourishment to stay healthy and in shape

fandom today has a competitive atmosphere. many wouldn't admit that; it's supposed to be fun after all. just vibing with our mutuals, playing with the blorbos having a fun time online to scratch a few itches.

but the truth is that it can become a lot of pressure rather fast.

putting out several k of (edited) writing a month, setting up painstakingly formatted posts with the right tags and a fun header we spent hours on to look effortlessly cool and eye-catching just to hit post and then feel... nervous. excited too, sure...

but damn, when will the next chapter be finished? or the next one shot? will there be enough time to put a few blubs in between so that the few people who actually seem to care won't forget about us and move on?

writing for writing's sake is a nice notion. the myth of the self-sustaining artist who needs nothing more than a passion and their tools of choice.

but shit isn't just created out of nothing.

what has that all to do with the title of this post do you ask?

very few people can just keep going and going making art like that without needing any breaks and a good portion of those people very likely have very different conditions than most of us have with full-time jobs, families, school and so on.

For many of us writing is a main outlet, an important hobby and a safe space but that still doesn't change that it is a creative hobby, an outlet that demands energy: emotional, mental and physical (typing for hours is hard work if you want to believe it or not) and that sometimes makes it impossible to accept that we just need a fucking break.

"writers-block", in my own experience, is my brain telling me that something is off and that it's on strike until I fucking fix that.

and sometimes it's just that I need a break.

that I need to recharge my creative batteries, take in things that inspire me, that make me happy and get me excited without having to make anything myself. to just be. take some walks amongst trees, watch a new series, read a new book, go into a deep dive of some random topic on wikipedia until I don't know where the fuck I started from.

sometimes I just need to log out, cut the overstimulation of a never ending dashboard, turn off what everybody else on tumblr is doing, how much everbody is putting out, get away from my frustration about "my flopped fic" or the latest fandom drama and reconnect with the real reason I am doing this.

the love for stories and the source material.

for some people those breaks can be as short as two days, for other is might be weeks or months and that is not only okay but totally normal.

sometimes you might realize that the reason you are not writing is that you actually don't want to. sometimes you just want to daydream without the extra work sometimes you're just not in a writing mood and it's not much deeper than that.

that doesn't have to mean you're done with your blorbos. it just means that there are more valid and fun ways to play with them.

don't worry, the fandom will still be there when you decide to pick up the keyboard again. maybe with less people, maybe with many different people but you will always find someone who cares. those who have moved on to different things not come back wouldn't likely have stayed if you had powered through.

fandom shouldn't be a you're in or you're out thing but a place you come to when you want to.

contentification of fandom has had a lot of negative effects on the way we create and so many people fade from their hobby because they simply burn themselves out to a point where it leaves a scar.

so. find something that makes you happy that does not require you to invest too much creational energy. rest those muscles as long as it takes.

nothing you can get on tumblr or ao3 is worth the sore brain, the frustration with yourself and the stress you add onto your mental health ontop of everything else in your life.

recharge, reevaluate, reconnect

have fun

[sukugo]

i have to ask because i adore you and i want to know about your new blorbos- who are they and what are they and why are they always soaked in blood

JDHSJFHJFDDJFFSDFDF, oh man where do i start cassie.

they're from the anime/manga jujutsu kaisen, and they are:

gojo satoru. love of my fucking life. my fucking everything my boy my man, i am so so in LOVE with this man i cant even begin to tell u. he consumes my every waking thought, my life is dedicated to seeing him get fucked. (he's the guy in my header humping his all into the other's arm)

and (ryoumen) sukuna. beautiful sexy evil man.

(can u tell who's my fave)

so in this world, we have jujutsu sorcerers, who are people with special powers that they use to defeat/exorcise curses, which are basically evil spirits born of negative human emotions

gojo is the strongest jujutsu sorcerer alive. he is insanely strong, not a single person can go against him. his powers make it so that u literally physically cannot touch him. he controls "infinity" and can warp space, and he also has pretty special eyes that let him perceive things at a much deeper level than a regular person. those two things combined make him quite literally untouchable. and insanely powerful.

as for sukuna, he used to be a human who lived thousands of years ago, who used to be the strongest sorcerer of his time, and is considered to be the strongest sorcerer in history. he is the King of Curses, no one could ever defeat him, or destroy his soul, which he divided into his 20 preserved fingers so it would survive through time, even after dying.

so itadori yuuji

this lil baby boy (literally the babiest sweetest boy to exist btw) (he's actually the main character haha)

due to some stuff, he ends up eating one of sukuna's mummified fingers and sukuna reincarnates inside him. yuuji becomes a vessel for sukuna, who lives inside yuuji's mind now and sometimes takes over his body (reason why they look the same)

and now, yuuji is sentenced to be executed bc he holds the most evil sorcerer in history inside him, but gojo goes nope! wait a minute, let's not do that. and manages to convince the people in charge to postpone yuuji's execution, saying that they'll get yuuji to find and eat all of sukuna's fingers and then execute him, getting rid of sukuna all in one go.

ok so that's the context (that's actually what the anime's about haha), but as to gojo and sukuna.

THEY ARE IN LOVE

well, they're there. sdkkhfkjdkfdf

ok no, so like they do their things right. gojo is a teacher (tho we never actually see him do any teaching lmao) and sukuna lives inside yuuji and causes trouble sometimes. they don't really ever interact in the story (they literally meet and have a lil confrontation, decide to kill each other and never talk again djshjfdasdadfd) (until they actually have their Fight, more on that later)

BUT!!!!!!!! they may not interact, but they are completely tied together narratively.

as u can see, they're both the strongest from their respective times, so they have a lot of links when it comes to their characters themselves and what they are referred to in the story. specifically that, in being the strongest, they exist in a plane above everyone else, literally untouchable.

now, in the story, this position of strongest is coupled with solitude, being the strongest meaning u're alone and no one else understands you bc of this

and SO they have their fight. bc plot reasons right. this is obv what it was all gonna lead to. fight of the two strongest.

and the fight, consequently, revolves around that idea of solitude, and understanding each other.

which like. ok. yeah we saw that coming. ofc. no big deal.

EXCEPT, to make reference to their relationship and that idea of understanding each other, the term that is used is, and i kid u not, love.

there's a very specific phrase that is used multiple times between them. which is actually used originally with a character who shows romantic feelings towards sukuna.

she challenges sukuna to a fight and sukuna promises to marry her if she wins. her goal in this fight is to share in sukuna's solitude and show him love (read R→L)

but she says this to sukuna and this. this is his reaction.

SUKUNA KNOWS LOVE ALREADY

to which she gets super pissed bc that's not!!! love!!!!!!!

sukuna defeats/kills her. and u know when the next time that exact fucking phrase is used? when sukuna and gojo finally meet again and set up the date to have their Fight, where sukuna remembers her words

which tells us that.

sukuna was.

thinking about gojo when she said that.

*screams into hands*

BUT IT DOESN'T STOP THERE. this phrase is then repeated. multiple times.

1. right after gojo punches the fuck out of sukuna:

2. said in reference to gojo, when he realizes there's a chance of him losing:

3. gojo reminiscing about their fight:

so, as u can see, they were going to teach each other love. their fight is. canonically. about teaching each other love. what the FUCK.

but ENOUGH love talk (or else i'm at risk of going crazy insane)

LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW THEY'RE LOADED WITH SEXUAL TENSION

this was in their first meeting where they fought (for quite literally 10 seconds)

like... why he do dat.... .......... . ....

next day sukuna goes "hey im gonna kill u first <3" and gojo just goes "teehee omg really? *hair twirl* <3"

they also decide to have their final battle on dec 24 which is like a super romantic date in japan (explicitly said so by another character)

and their FIGHT. it is LITERALLY just them flirting and touching each other

LOOK AT THIS SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i fucking lost it. i still haven't recovered. that is the hottest thing i've ever seen in my life. gojo wants that dick so fucking bad

not to mention thigh grabs and hand touchies

and the entirety of the fight is just them having fun 😭😭 they're supposed "enemies" on opposite sides and the fate of the world is at stake here, but they actually don't give a fuck about that.

they're literally smiling and having a great fucking time. this fight for them is just play. their fight is just for them to have fun as the strongest and to connect with each other. they're enemies but they don't hate each other or anything, they only search for that sense of fulfillment in each other OTL

AND ABOUT THAT, oh my GOD

sukuna wins. he defeats gojo. and at the end, this. is what sukuna says to gojo at the end of the fight:

FUCKING. I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU. SCREAAAAM THAT'S ROMANCEEEEEE.

and the soft smile? the fucking petals falling all over them? oh GOD they're trying to kill me

but that's on sukuna's side, what about for gojo? well

HE GENUINELY TRIED TO REACH SUKUNA, GAVE IT HIS ALL TO CONNECT WITH HIM. TO TEACH HIM LOVE AGFKDHSKFHFKJFHDF (BUT HE FAILED HE COULDN'T GIVE SUKUNA WHAT SUKUNA GAVE HIM 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

HHRRRRGJFHSJDFHDSJFSDFA KJHDKFJSFKASLDKS ADKJKFHEWRKJEKRKTRELRW

and if i start crying OTL

but alas *deep breaths*

even without all that they're just very fucking sexy. two insane powerful men going at it? come on. how could u NOT want them together. they both hold the same title of the strongest, might as fucking well fuck nasty about it.

and oh god, when i tell u gojo is a fucking brat and he's so strong and untouchable, but then sukuna is capable of putting him down which is. insanely sexy. and i need it. i need gojo obliterated. and i know sukuna won't let me down (AND HE DID NOT. HE OBLITERATED THAT MAN) can he now obliterate his holes too

agdkhfhdkhdhs, anyways.... yeah.. that is the situation.........

im just gonna end this by saying

SUKUGO MY LOVES

[risingscorchingsuns]

OHHH MY GOD YOU CANT MAKE ME WAIT A FUCKING WEEK FOR THIS. YOU CANT MAKE ME WAIT A WEEK FOR THE MUZAN KAGAYA CONFRONTATION YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME. FUCKING HELL OH MY GODDDD

hiiiii im feeling so normal right now!!!!!!!!!!!! *barely contained frenzy of biting and screaming*

anyway thoughts on this weeks ep!!! <3

- tanjiro. please. please i love you baby but i will never understand why you decided it was a good idea to go “🥺 are you fighting about ohagi? ill make lots!!” tanjiro honey they are TRAINING

-/pos btw. I love him he’s iconic for this

-shoutout to giyuu for immediately finding out about Sanemi’s favorite food and being like “:) if I bring some to him we’ll be best friends :)” giyuu sweetheart i love you. ive been waiting so long to see this scene animated god I love them. im not even much of a sanegiyuu shipper i just think this whole scene is iconic

- the ECHOES of muzan’s FOOTSTEPS right after Sanemi realizes they’ve been infiltrated????? holy fuck it is CHILLING. ohhhhhh mygoooodddd. oh my god im going INSANE

- holy shit, I feel like it’s massively under-discussed how dark Gyomei’s backstory is. Like… the whole scene really pounds it in how brutal his experiences were. His disgust at having to fight, much beyond what a normal human would tolerate. He likely had to keep caving the demon’s head in over and over because it kept regenerating. Holy shit. The color choice of everything being monochrome except for the blood is particularly chilling. I love when media uses that palette and KNY does it so good

- AUGHHHH his smile when he pats tanjiro 🥺🥺🥺 he thinks about Sayo…. GOD I love the Hashira

- I’d love to read more character analysis on Gyomei. I feel like we didn’t get as much context for his character as we deserved- why he continued to fight, despite how disgusted he is by his own strength, why he trained Genya despite his general distrust, especially towards children? Ultimately, I believe it comes down to Gyomei being a genuinely gentle human, and I’d love to read more analysis on how he maintains that. Maybe his own repetitive action helps him. I wrote a big paragraph about questions about his character, but wound up deleting it because I found myself answering them as I wrote. Regardless, if Gyomei is anybody’s blorbo to the extent that Kyojuro is mine I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on him- I think he’s a massively underrated character and I’d love to understand him deeper!

-OUGHHH THE MUSIC!!!!!!! god I am LOVING the theme they did with the sanegiyuu fight that shit went CRAZYYYY. and the ANIMATION. look im biased because i love the way water breathing looks but godddd its so pretty. also drop ripple thrust mentioned!!!! we haven’t seen that form since Susamaru!!!

-is the next episode gonna be the last in this season?????????? where are they cutting this off?????? god i wish i could reread the manga but i lent the set to a friend so he could read it pain agony MY CROSS REFERENCES

- [MANGA SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT]

-I’m presuming Zenitsu’s letter was about his Master’s suicide, and Kaigaku’s transformation. I think it was really clever of ufotable to put this scene in Gyomei’s episode, and put spotlights on Kaigaku being the kid that first betrayed Gyomei- I think that fact was only actually mentioned in a Taisho Era Secret. That’s gonna blow a lot of minds in the finale arc lol

-I wish we got more development on Zenitsu in this arc. His processing of the letter, his departure from Tanjiro and the others. I think Zenitsu is also a really misunderstood character, and this arc doesn’t exactly do him many favors in that regard. I wish we’d gotten a bit of filler vis-a-vis his development, but I’m hoping we still get that in his fight with Kaigaku.

[werewolf-cl4ws]

Sonsally Week 2024: Day 1 - Age

I'm sure it's the 31st still somewhere in the world, so I'm not late.

I'm still kinda struggling on the creative side of things, but I already missed out on last year's Sonsally week and I wanted to at least give some prompts a go on their days. Plus I miss thinking about my blorbos.

Once again taking place in my AU, fast forwarding to the Timeskip era.

It was an all hands on deck sort of day in New Knothole for the Freedom Fighters. The night before Antoine – who had been on guard duty – had spotted a group of mobians running through border of the Great Meadow, heading out towards its distant lands with a pack of SWATbots on their tails.

Once the alert was raised the Freedom Fighters had made short work of the SWATbots and had taken the group of five in. Though because of how late it was the best they could do at that moment was give the group a place to settle in and collect themselves, as they were understandably rattled by their close escape and were unsure of their rescuers.

Everyone in the Freedom Fighters were doing their part to accommodate as they were more than familiar with how to work with refugees, so it was a well versed process for them.

Which meant that Sally should have remembered that Sonic probably wasn’t the best mobian to be left alone with the unofficial “leader” of the group, as she was swiftly reminded of when she happened to walk by the two “discussing” a matter quite loudly between them.

“You can’t order us around, these mobians are my responsibility!” the unofficial leader – a male boar – snapped at Sonic.

“I ain’t orderin’ you around, I’m just tellin’ ya wha’ your options are here,” Sonic clarified, and Sally had to give him some credit here, he did look like he was actually trying to be polite. She wondered how long it was going to last.

“We’re fine, we don’t need you telling us what to do,” the boar growled, flashing his teeth at Sonic, and Sally couldn’t help the wince when she spotted Sonic’s own jaws flex to do the same. Amazingly he didn’t, but she could see him clicking his teeth subtly instead, recognising his frustrated quirks.

“You didn’t look fine while those ‘bots were chasin’ ya down. If it weren’t for us you wouldn’t be standin’ here bein’ a pain in my tail,” Sonic pointed out. “All I’m tellin’ ya is one o’ your crew needed medical attention ‘nd I was helpin’ her get some.”

“She’s fine, we’re fine. Just mind your own business!” the boar snapped.

“Oh boy,” Sally muttered to herself as she started speed-walking towards the two, knowing what was coming next.

“Mindin’ my own business woulda meant you bein’ caught by those ‘bots ‘nd me gettin’ a full night’s sleep not even knowin’ you existed, pal!” Sonic snarled before Sally could even get a warning shout out, making her wince harder and move faster towards the two. “But too bad for you you’re in our village now ‘nd we actually want to help your ungrateful ass.”

“Okay, everyone relax!” Sally called before the boar could retaliate, pushing herself between the two mobians and forcing them to take a step back from one another. “Sir, we’re just tryin’ to make sure everyone is all right.”

“And I’m telling both of you everyone’s fine, we don’t need any help,” the boar reiterated.

“That girl has a massive cut right across her forehead, that’s not fine,” Sonic explained, giving Sally a somewhat pledging look.

That would explain why Sonic was getting so riled up about the argument. But why the boar was being so stubborn about it Sally didn’t know, and she doubted that she would as with every argument Sonic presented, the boar just seemed to dig his heels deeper into the ground over it.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s just a scratch,” the boar stated. “Just leave us alone.”

Sonic made to snap something back, but barely stopped when Sally raised her hand and gave him a stern look. A small growl still bubbled through him, which made the boar jump slightly at the sound.

“How about you go back to your team and check in on her yourself?” Sally offered. “Go make sure everyone is all right, and take some time to settle in some more. I’ll give you an hour before I come check in on you.”

“We don’t need to settle in and we don’t need anyone checking in on us. Just leave us alone already,” the boar fumed, before turning sharply on his heel and walking away.

“Yeah see if we help ya again, pal!” Sonic snarled after him, earning a back-handed smack to his chest from Sally.

“What happened?” Sally demanded.

“How should I know?” Sonic shrugged, shooting another dirty look after the boar. “When I dropped off some supplies to ‘em I saw one o’ the girls had a nasty gash ‘nd offered to walk her to Booker’s. But then Loud-Mouth McGee over there swooped in ‘nd told her to go back to their hut so he could start arguin’ wit’ me.”

“That’s all?” Sally asked.

“I swear that’s it. He was actin’ like I was tellin’ her to jump off a cliff,” Sonic huffed. “Why are adults always so stupid about listenin’ to us?”

Sally blinked at his last statement, before she turned to look at the still retreating boar just as he disappeared into their temporary hut. The boar did look a little older than them, but not by much as far as she could tell. Probably a couple of years older at best. But she also remembered what their earlier years in Knothole was like – back when it was just the Freedom Fighters and Rosie living in the village, every time any refugees were brought in they would instantly try to take over the village, not realising that the children had been living there for quite some time and had established a structured way of living there. The adults would only listen to Rosie, not realising that she was acting on the children’s systems that she had helped refine.

It wasn’t that they wanted to be in charge per se, but Sally had to admit that whenever older mobians did try to take charge of the village they didn’t seem to have any idea of how to do it. They only worked off the belief that just because they were older, they should be in charge. It had to take an embarrassingly long amount of time and being one upped by a child to humble the adults into listening, and as the children grew older and became Freedom Fighters the adults of the village realised how the pecking order actually worked.

Sonic was usually the one that had to do most of the one upping, and was stubborn enough to fight the adults until they submitted, despite Rosie’s own protests. Sally had long known that Sonic never had any faith in any of the adults, save for his own uncle, and Rosie, though even with Rosie it took a long time for him to warm up to her despite her being their nanny before the coup. It was almost comical how much Sonic mistrusted adults and anyone that tried to boast themselves as a true authority when they were anything but capable of being one.

But hearing Sonic still voicing such an opinion now, she had to look up to him and just give him a blank stare. One that took the hedgehog a while to notice because he was still death glaring after the boar.

“Wha’?” Sonic asked.

Sally blinked again, wanting to give Sonic a moment to try to realise what he had just said. But when a few moments passed with him just frowning at her while he tapped his foot impatiently, Sally pressed her lips into a fine line, hoping her next set of words wasn’t going to cause another fight.

“Sonic... you’re also the adult here,” Sally pointed out.

Sonic’s expression didn’t change, making Sally wonder if he had heard her. She was about to repeat herself when Sonic’s foot stilled and his frown deepened suddenly.

“Why are you tryin’ to ruin my day, Sal?” Sonic asked.

“I’m not,” Sally said, but her lips quirked with mirth that she could just barely contain. “I’m just pointing out that you are an adult now.”

“That is the most insultin’ thin’ anyone can call me,” Sonic huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Take that back.”

“I can’t if it’s fact.”

“Look, just ‘cause we were forced to grow up way faster doesn’t mean I’m an adult,” Sonic waved off, and Sally sighed.

“Do you actually know how old you are? Really?” Sally asked.

“My sense o’ time is messed up, you know that,” Sonic said, his ears twisting back stubbornly. “So I don’t need exact numbers here.”

“I think you do,” Sally argued. “Look, you were 17 when you went missing--"

“Don’t use that tone o’ maths at me,” Sonic cut in.

“--and you were gone for four years--" Sally continued.

“The forest is right there I will just go,” Sonic threatened.

“--and you’ve been back for nearly a year. So that makes you twenty--"

“Bye.”

Sonic had only taken a few steps before Sally intercepted him, though he attempted to side-step her as he loudly protested about not wanting to hear any more maths from her, which earned a few confused glances from the other villagers as they passed the two.

“It’s not a bad thing to be older!” Sally protested back as she matched Sonic’s side-step.

“Yeah but I don’t wanna hear about it! Just lemme live my life here, Sal!” Sonic explained, giving a short growl when Sally got in his way again.

“We’re the same age though, it’s no big deal,” Sally added.

“You’re welcome to be old. ‘nd let’s face it; you’ve been an adult since you were five so it doesn’t really count for you,” Sonic pointed out. He attempted another side-step only to have Sally block his path once more, and he clicked his teeth at her. “I will run you over.”

“No you won’t, you actually like me,” Sally stated.

“I’m startin’ to question that.”

“Uh-huh.”

The last intercepted side-step had Sonic throwing his hands up in the air with a frustrated sigh that ended in a growl, which made some of the nearby villagers scatter. He rolled his eyes at the display, before he looked down at Sally, his foot tapping rapidly again.

“Can I go now? I ain’t dealin’ wit’ that jerk no more ‘nd I ain’t gonna stand here bein’ insulted either. I got better things to do,” Sonic asked.

“I just want to make sure you actually know you’re older here. I mean I know you won’t act your age anyway because that’s never going to happen, but I just need to know you understand the concept here,” Sally explained.

“I don’t wanna think about that! Who wants to think about that?” Sonic exclaimed. “You already ruined my day by tellin’ me it starts wit’ a two, I don’t have time for an existential crisis today.”

“You say that like you haven’t had one already today,” Sally sighed.

“Which is why I don’t have time for it,” Sonic said. “Look, I get it. We ain’t kids no more. But I don’t want to think about it in exacts, y’know?”

“Even if it means we actually reached adulthood despite everything we’ve been through?” Sally asked.

Sonic paused, his lips pressing into a thin line as his next protest died in his mouth. He still tried to think of something, anything really that would steer the conversation anywhere else, but his mind still stalled at that reality.

The coup had happened when they were five, and for a few years it was only them and Rosie fighting against every odd to survive in their own pocket of Mobius that Robotnik hadn’t been able to take over, despite how far and wide his reach was on the rest of the planet. When they had decided to start fighting back they were around twelve, though Sonic himself had been doing his own improv missions since he was ten, which that in itself was a miracle he had survived. As resilient as they were, they were inexperienced kids that had no one guiding them on how to fight, create strategies or even just live day to day in their new world.

The fact that they had survived this long against so many odds was something that should be celebrated, Sonic agreed. But it still made his brain turn itself inside out at how many years it has been.

“Can we agree to disagree on this one?” Sonic chanced eventually. “I ain’t sayin’ it’s a bad thin’ ‘cause we really nailed th’ whole stayin’ alive thin’. I just--"

“Don’t like feeling old, even though you aren’t really,” Sally sighed, rolling her eyes teasingly. “Fine. It’s not like I could ever get you to act your age anyway.”

“You say that like it ain’t part o’ my charm,” Sonic teased, grinning as Sally rolled her eyes again at him.

“Whatever.”

“Excuse me?”

Both mobians blinked as a young female badger approached them, and as Sally looked her over she spotted a gash on her forehead that she couldn’t help but wince at mentally. This must have been the girl Sonic was talking about before, and Sally kicked herself for not knowing about the injury sooner as it did look quite nasty.

“My friend went for a walk, but I wanted to go with you to the doctor before he got back,” the badger explained. “I’m sorry he’s being so weird, I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

“Well, sometimes people just want to figure stuff out on their own, y’know?” Sonic shrugged. “He’ll get there, maybe.”

“How very mature and grown up of you to say, Sonic,” Sally cheered, smirking as Sonic stuck his tongue out at her. “We’ll walk you to Bookshire together.”

[utilitycaster]

Whoaaaa holy shit something just snapped into place reading you mention the concept of creating a shape of negative space bc i've been thinking so long abt the "unspoken things/quiet part" of characters. I've often had this feeling that fandom will go a million and nine yards to red string board an ocean of depth for their favorite blorbo over.... what comes down to what's technically extrapolating based off of xyz canon, but said canon will be like "this character fidgets once, half his dialogue is quoting an in-universe play he tries to recreate (by ruining ppl's lives), and he doesn't understand why someone wouldn't want to be called a monster, therefore he is AUTISTIC and that drives his logic," or "this character has xyz vague background and is TRAUMATIZED because of WAR" inventing an entire character and it's like. Oh boy. This might be a matter of not being invested enough in these characters to TRY and delve so "deep" but I keep thinking that none of this is actually. written or feels purposeful in the context of How Storytelling Works/the Narrative to MAKE me invest or think that it's worth doing so. I always wonder how many people are trying so hard to project a better story onto something without understanding that the story actually needs to BE THERE and ADDRESSED, even subtly, and token moments aren't enough. But then that gets me thinking about how Thereness needs to exist for something to be subtle but written as opposed to Conspiracy off loose projection.

I was kinda thinking abt Laudna and how to use her as an example, because she's one of those characters for whom like, yeah I as a person totally understand the cycle of being upbeat and normal and everything and then having a random spiral of Bad Upstairs before being normal again, but narratively how do you portray that and why does everyone do it so much better than her. With equal screentime, everyone feels like they have so much more meat to their motivations and psychology despite some being significantly less fraught backstory wise. What's happening here because things just feel like they come out of nowhere with her with "oh so that matters all of a sudden?"

Hi anon,

Yes to all of this! With regards to your first paragraph - I feel that a lot too. It's a tricky situation because I think it's completely valid to project things onto characters and imagine them to have specific qualities that either you have or simply that you wish to see in fiction. It only becomes difficult in a fandom sphere when people insist that this is a fully evidence-based endeavor and not a personal interpretation (especially because a lot of that evidence is, as you say, either very much open to interpretation, or else totally spurious. The number of times I've had to shoo people off my posts for talking extensively about how an immensely self-absorbed character who never thinks about others unless forced to clearly has ADHD...but I digress). And as for the conspiracy element, especially when works aren't as good - absolutely. If you haven't read this, which I reblogged a few weeks ago (has Good Omens 2 spoilers) I highly recommend you do because what you're saying resonates a lot with OP's post, both in terms of our need as fans to project or find similarities with characters, and the fact that when people are disappointed by a work sometimes they try to create a better one, but instead of just writing fanfiction and calling it fanfiction they go full conspiracy theorist and assume there's some secret twist, and fall so hard into that all-crumbs-no-schnitzel (to borrow a metaphor from that post) fanon echo chamber they forget it is, in fact, only fanon.

Which brings us to Laudna. Before I go deeper I want to cover three things. First: for me at least, this criticism comes because I know Marisha is capable of doing this negative space work. It didn't come up much with Keyleth since we kind of knew her whole deal very early (which, to be clear, is valid; not every character needs this), but it's present with both Beau (her relationship to her father is masterfully done; the hallmark of good negative space work is that when the reveal comes you say oh of course) and to a lesser extent Patia, who, like all the Calamity characters, conveys a story much greater than the one that unfolds over a single night. Second: I think part of why a number of us in the fandom are so frustrated is that we have been doing that work of generously interpreting Laudna since the beginning, but nothing ever sticks, so it's becoming less and less worth the effort.

I'd have to go back through my archives pretty extensively, but early on, the going expectation for Laudna was that she would explore the idea of being one of the bystanders in a larger story as someone killed simply because of a passing resemblance to someone the Briarwoods wished to send a message to; that we'd get insight into Whitestone during the occupation from someone who wasn't freed by Vox Machina but rather killed, indirectly, because of them. However, not only have we not gotten that, but she also was chosen for being special: Delilah chose her as a vessel because of her inherent sorcery. So then it was perhaps about that tension between finding power in her sorcery vs. warlock levels - Pâté seemed like a clear setup for Pact of the Chain, after all - but then Marisha admitted she had no intention of taking that third warlock level, and always just planned to play Laudna as exclusively leveling in sorcerer, until FCG attacked. And meanwhile, there's no exploration of those sorcery powers, either.

Speaking only for myself, I've been interrogating "hey, why is her backstory that she was chased out of everywhere but for the most part everyone is mostly fine with her?" and "in 30 years she did nothing about Delilah? Really?" for quite some time. There's a number of questions that are not just unanswered, but lack the hints that this negative space work would provide. And to be clear there are ways to explain those things! This meta does a good job of talking through why she may have been chased out, and I've floated, in the past, that even Delilah's unwelcome presence was better than the absolute silence of being truly alone. But the work to support these fandom theories, again, is not really being done at the table, and moreover, even if it starts being done...it's episode 70. It should have come up in some capacity.

Marisha said (to be clear, somewhat jokingly) in the 2022 ComicCon panel that "Yeah. I don't want to think anymore. I'm tired," re: Laudna but the thing is...honestly, in my opinion? A character with Laudna's premise requires far more work than Beau or Keyleth to do well. Not only is she tied into one of the most famous events and entwined with one of the most famous villains of Campaign 1, but she's got 50 years of backstory! Beau and Keyleth are in their early 20s! (I could make a whole other post about this but character intelligence does not equal how hard they are to play; Imogen is an immensely tough concept that Laura's doing a good job with and she's lower INT than Laudna. I'd rather play a wizard than a character like Grog any day of the week because I genuinely believe that the acting burden for making a character like Grog sympathetic and believable without going into cheap mockery and parody is immense).

Going back to that statement, it really does feel as though every 4-Sided Dive episode or panel, when Marisha talks about Laudna, it's always just that she was envisioned as being over her trauma, and the premise was always just "make that creepy girl from her nightmare". And even then: it's fine if she'd done that - simply made a creepy character who was here to be creepy and cheerfully macabre - but through gameplay it's become clear that Laudna is not over that trauma (her arrested development being one of many options), and has acquired new traumas to boot, and for that matter never was really over it given that she displays intensely but they come up so inconsistently that there's never any follow-through. I agree with you completely that the idea of her often seeming fine and happy and then having spirals is believable and true to life, but one does need to actually follow through on the spirals - I think a lot of us finally threw up our hands when Laudna's believable, well-played, and justifiable anger and resentment after being thrown across the world away from half the party, essentially pushed into a fight that isn't her own, being betrayed by Bor'Dor, and feeling Delilah's return melted away without resolution. If you want to make a character who's over their trauma and go-with-the-flow, I feel as though step 1 is to not have an eternal reminder of one's trauma permanently stuck in one's head. "Warlock who dislikes their patron" is actually a premise that requires quite a lot of thinking and effort, and we are consistently not seeing it.

I think what's most telling is that the defense of Laudna for the weird freakout this past episode is both vehement, and in conflict with itself. Is Marisha just making a joke (that didn't really land with anyone at the table nor much of the fandom, and was taken at least semi-seriously by both)? Or is it actually great and good that Laudna is incredibly traumatized and clingy and we should all hope she becomes even more clingy and codependent? When even the people who are shielding Laudna from even a whisper of criticism can't agree what Marisha's doing, it's pretty dire, especially when that criticism is "this character feels directionless and incoherent."

So getting back to negative space: It's my hunch that there just...wasn't a lot of clarity to Laudna's motivations, and the questions in her backstory weren't answered. She's creepy and she's kooky, Sun Tree corpse, Delilah in her head, met Imogen two years ago, was friends with a little girl at some point (which we only know from 4-Sided Dive, which is, to be clear, bad that it's never come up in-game). We don't know how she feels about her sorcery powers other than a vague enjoyment of their creepiness...but she also sees them as a way out from Delilah...but she also barely engages with Delilah and hasn't done anything to get rid of her. We have no sense of how she got to "the worst thing that's happened to me already happened" because while it's completely fair to play her as feeling that way 30 years later, I highly doubt she felt that way as she cut herself down from the Sun Tree. So as a result, it's hard to pick a direction because that foundation is lacking.

The thing about that negative space is that to do it well, you really need to know what you're trying to convey. Which is also why, as you say, characters with much simpler backstories are fine; Fearne was basically hanging out at her grandmother's place until EXU and her parents left when she was very young; she is curious about her parents and loves her grandmother and is a chaotic fey entity who was sent into the Material Plane with the Weave Lens, and mostly she just wants to explore and have fun and hang out with her friends. Ashley just needs to...play Fearne like that, which she does with aplomb. The complex setup for Laudna demands a huge number of answers in the backstory, and my guess is that Marisha does not have them. I think the problem isn't with the acting (in fact, I'm fairly confident it isn't, because, again, I know from past characters Marisha can do this); it's that Laudna's concept prioritized the aesthetic, mechanics, and facts of the backstory, and didn't adequately fill in her beliefs and motivations, so she's just flailing. I also suspect from the most recent 4-Sided Dive and the most recent SDCC panel that Marisha is specifically looking for interparty conflict, and to be clear that's valid...but again, to do that believably and well, Laudna's philosophy and motivations and characterization need to be much more clearly established than they are.

[scummy-writes]

Wanted to post a 'final gilbert route notes' where it was just me musing about his route, but it turned into me admitting that I am very confused by the backlash I saw about him, and some of the backlash I received, when hes not an insanely terrible villain.

I think that would cause a lot of misunderstanding and think I am being a dick to those who just dont vibe with him, instead of me just pondering how hes a lot like chev in many ways and similar thoughts. So I scrapped it.

I don't really know how to make my thoughts or intentions clear, as I am not good with words. But i dont really care if you dont like characters I like. We have our own personal traumas and limits, and that will make us dislike characters. Sometimes you just dont vibe with a character, and its not any deeper than that. I'm used to my irl friends or close friends not caring about the blorbos I simp over.

So, like. I dont care. Its pixels on a screen.

I do, mind, when people try to get me to read thinkpieces on how awful a fave of mine is, or purposefully guilt me for liking ~terrible~ characters, send me odd asks with the purpose of trying to convince me to stop liking them, etc.

So when I reference people disliking him or similar, I am strictly talking about the more intense side of that, where people who dislike the character go out of their way to be a dick to those who like them. OR.... the intense superfans who freak if you get things wrong.

Not folks who are chill about it and polite.

[deramin2]

Bell's Hells are so stupidly reckless and refuse to communicate even though they're breaking down from the stress and have all decided their lives aren't worth living so they'll fatally gamble for the cause. But also they love each other very much from the trauma bonding of the last 81 days and if any of them died the others worried destroy the world in their grief. They are walking disasters who should not be relied on to make cookies for a pot luck but have just been tasked with one of the riskiest and most critical scouting missions in history that could be the only thing that stops or mitigates a second Calamity. They might end up fighting each other to the death.

I love them so much. They are each my blorbos that I endlessly rotate around my brain. I'm having fun with seeing where this goes precisely because it feels unpredictable. Or like Uncut Gems where the whole appeal is that the main character is digging himself into a deeper and more dangerous hole with every decision and you're just curious how far he's going to get. And because it feels so real.

Love my representation for people that are mentally ill in very realistic ways where you really do just continually sabotage yourself and suffer through it but that always feels like what you deserve in the moment. The desperate need to prove your worth while feeling like you've lied to anyone who deems you worthy and they're going to figure it out any second now and everything's going to come crashing down. It NEEDS to come crashing down. But like, it doesn't and all that does is dump all your baggage all over the floor and some of it breaks and is sticky.

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity was fun because three explicit premise was the heroes were going to fail and the world would be destroyed because of it.

Campaign 3 is between Calamity and Vox Machina. Vox Machina were chaotic but it was a deeply heroic fantasy story where good is supposed to triumph over evil. There was always the risk they could fail, but that wasn't the favored option. Calamity they were doomed to failure and couldn't win.

But Bell's Hells feels like there is 50/50 odds on whether they win. It's far more challenging and urgent to stop Ludinus. And crucially the CHARACTERS are meant to be more challenging to have win. They are getting in their own way as real people do. They're all teetering on three edge of a corruption arc.

Corruption is what doomed The Ring of Brass. Covering up experiments. Trusting the wrong god because of incredible hubris. Manipulating the truth. Enabling others to do the same. They were so focused on their own ambition that they ignored or minimized the risks in their calculations.

Bell's Hells' greatest weakness is they're all self-sacrificing and willing to embrace dangerous powers to make themselves stronger at whatever cost to themselves or each other. They don't think they're good enough but they desperately need to be because there is no one else. Chetney voiced what they all believe: that their biggest asset right now is they're expendable.

And that's not really something you talk about with your friends because it sucks when you verbalize it like that. Your friends (of they are friends) are going to try to talk you out of that line of thinking even if they're deeply empathetic about why you're feeling that way. Just voicing their fears was a lot. Imogen feeling disappointed with Fearne because she didn't take the shard was really that Fearne was more afraid of sacrificing herself (and giving into corruption) than everyone else.

What if the heroes weren't heroic? What if they were in touch with their feelings on the surface but struggled to ever talk about it or change? (This is a theme in a lot of queer media.) What if they aren't good enough? What if they could be but there's no guarantee. Everyone agrees in advance that failure is just as interesting and pleasurable and fun here as succeeding. Just to watch the world change as a result of your actions. It's a very different tone.

Three Mighty Nein were nobodies who largely stayed nobodies even though they had a profound impact on the world. Bell's Hells are nobodies getting a crash course in becoming somebodies caught up in a nightmarish struggle, and they're crumbling under the weight of it. That's the story that rarely gets told even though it's far truer than heroism.

This is in line with the kinds of stories being told in Candela Obscura where mortality and heroism are more troubled in the face of unending nightmares. D&D's Epic fantasy is just a rarer setting to tell that story than horror. Personally I find that more mature and nuanced storytelling. Equally enjoyable but here there's more room to say something less often said and progressively more exploded than power fantasies.

This is like an evil campaign where every one of them is a mostly good person that has the capability to do great harm that others will curse their name for. They're desperately trying to pull out of that nose dive while the winds of change push down on them.

Tybee point isn't to make optimal decisions, it's to make interesting decisions. Press the big red button just to see what happens. Be brave enough to fail and see what happens when your character falls down. As Travis said her plays by following intrusive thoughts.

I'm having a lot of fun with this one because I get to follow why the characters made a decision and by what twisted logic that felt like a good idea even though it's very likely to blow up in their face. It's juicy. It's dramatic. It reflects a mindset I struggle with. It's different.

[rosemirmir]

linky!! what's gotchard about? what do you like about it? i see your posts about it and i love the joy and i wanna know

Ness!! I'd be more than happy to answer <3

A very basic summary of Kamen Rider Gotchard is: Hotaro Ichinose is a highschool student who comes across a belt that turns him into the titular Kamen Rider Gotchard. Alongside getting this belt, these artificial creatures created by alchemy called chemies are unsealed and brought into the world.

Hotaro then gets into a secret alchemy school! After passing a test in a rather unique way. He and his friends in his class: Rinne Kudo, Renge Icho, and Sabimaru Tsuhara have to go out and get the chemies. As well as stop the plans of The Abyssalis Sisters: Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis. They have a teacher called Minato (we have no idea what his last name is) and an alchemist called Spanner Kurogane is also sent in to help catch chemies.

There's much more to it than that, especially as the show goes on but thats a basic summary.

What I love about gotchard is just about everything... But I think the biggest parts for me are its characters and messages. I grew to adore this entire main cast over the course of the show. They're just all my blorbos now. I love them. (And there's other characters I haven't mentioned for spoiler reasons that I also really adore.)

I also really love the many hopeful and optimistic messages you can find in this show throughout:

How the youth can bring hope to the future, and its important for the older generations to help lead the way for them.

How even when the world is scary, its worth being alive. We can go together and we can accomplish our dreams and see the shining blue sky.

There's also so much I could gush about it from a thematic standpoint that I adore about this show and find just to be excellent, but that all gets into spoiler territory. (Same for the cast too if I wanted to delve any deeper here.)

I also love the chemies! They're just fun little guys. There's even a song thats essentially just the chemy pokerap. (I always think Kamen Rider benefits from having a little guy of some kind.)

And the alchemy theme is just really cool. Kamen Rider OOO got me interested in it, so when they announced this show I was excited. The more I read up on alchemy and its history the more little details I find referenced in show through details in the world. It's so cool.

And it's just such an optimistic show. Which is something I really needed when it began airing last year. <3

[theboy-thebitch-thelegend]

if u dont want my long ass rambling about Alastor, and some minor spoilers, dont look 😅 but he's my blorbo and therefore i'm studying him like a fucked up little bug (affectionate)

I see Alastor's character as a combination, mainly, of three main traits/motivations, plus one that i'm more guessing on but wouldnt surprise me:

1. he lacks empathy. this isn't a moral judgment, just a trait he displays

2. he seeks freedom above all else, but if asked, would rather admit to seeking power above all else. i believe his attempts to gain power are (consciously or not) a means to the end of freedom, not vice versa

3. he sorts people (demons, angels, whatever) into two categories: those he has control over, and those he doesnt. he is capable of respecting and forming relationships with only the latter category. not saying theyre healthy relationships, but they are often at least somewhat functional and prove lasting

...

the fourth (speculation) is that he hates himself lmao. which i think gets very intertwined with number 3. he's very self centered, that's just his view of the world(s). he has more respect for people who he has trouble controlling because he sees them as being in the same category as himself (as opposed to them being in the broader general category of a puppet audience beneath him). however he's not able to feel anything much deeper for them, because if his only lenses are "idiots" vs. "people like me", well. he has no respect for the former and no capability for love of the latter.

...

i think his inability to feel empathy or love leads him to have interesting motivations. freedom through power is perhaps the main one, as i mentioned. but when he first came to the hotel he stated his main goal was to be entertained. while he definitely had additional motives, i do think that was a true statement.

i think he's fascinated by Charlie because, well. she's the princess of hell. she should theoretically be one of the most powerful beings there. she *could* rule hell with an iron fist, if she wanted. but she doesnt. and i think Alastor wanted to see what that was about, i think it intrigued him.

right off the bat, she refuses to make a deal with him. that choice solidly places her in the "people he respects" category, by virtue of her keeping grasp on her own power and freedom. since that's Alastor's main goal for himself, it makes sense that he is drawn to others who manage to achieve it. if she'd taken a deal, the rest of the season wouldve gone way differently.

and probably, not as entertainingly.

one of the key parts of entertainment is that you don't quite know what's going to happen next. for a control freak like Alastor, that's hard to come by, unless he himself *is* the entertainment (which is a big part of his character). but he stated he came to the hotel to BE entertained. i see that as an admission that he didnt know what to expect from the hotel. which, coming from a powerful being, is quite a compliment- almost a statement that he believes in them.

i think Charlie challenges those fundamental categories that he puts people in. he can't sort her into either one. he can't control her, but she's nothing like himself. he knows she has something he doesn't. and unlike most other people, it's not something he can take from her to acquire for himself:

the ability to love.

as i said in the tags of a post i just reblogged:

#i think its interesting that the night before the fight tho when he's talking about getting used to the lot of them #it almost seemed a bit wistful #like i always knew he was fighting for his own goal whatever that may be #and yes he'll make alliances and stay loyal to them #but i really do think he was starting to wish it could be deeper than that #i dont know if he considers himself capable of it #we know he has old friends #not just strategic alliances but what actually appear to be friendships by every outward definition #but i dont think he's allowed himself (or believed himself able to) actually *feel* something for them #even when he can and will play the role of a friend and ally for various reasons #i think the hotel started to 'work' on him more than he anticipated #he didnt quite get to the point of truly feeling love for them #loyalty, protectiveness, willingness to avenge- yes. but he didnt feel love for them quite yet #but i think he wanted to. #ultimately he still was fighting for freedom (and i think his attempts to gain power are to that end, not vice versa). but i think he #did at least *want* to feel love even if he wasnt quite able to yet #and i think thats the only reason he didnt die.

in the battle, he lost his microphone, which represented his power, the measure of freedom and control he was able to claim: it's literally a tool to amplify and broadcast one's voice. by most reasonable calculations, he shouldve died. instead, his power and freedom was "killed"- but yet he wasn't.

the hotel didn't quite redeem him just yet: but i think it made him consider things he never had before.

...

i found it interesting that there was no big fuss about his return. they had to all assume he was either dead, or deserted them. he had to know that they would assume one or the other: and neither one looks good on him. yet he confidently just shows up again and falls right back into the group. whether he realizes it or not, he knows on some level that they will accept him back.

he might not be able to love himself, and he might not be able to love them- maybe not yet, or maybe even not ever. but some part of him knows that they love him. and accepts it enough to go back without shame.

some might read that as more of a strategic move to keep furthering his own ends. and actually tbh i think *he* only sees it as that.

but there *is* more to it than that. there *is* love there, and he's connected to it in some way, which is probably a first for him. and i think/hope that *thats* what will end up being the key to his freedom.

[dewdropreader]

Describe your WIPs Badly

Okay so I wasn’t officially tagged on tumblr but @cha-melodius did this and it looked fun so I’m doing it anyway!

Basically the goal is to summarize your WIPs badly— some of mine are badly described plots and some are just me poking fun and making a joke about the content, some are both lol. Please feel free to send me asks asking about ones you’re curious about, I love talking about ideas and sometimes it helps me get inspiration to work on them! Some of these are newer and some are ones I’ve mentioned before, but they’re all ones that have at least one sentence/deeper idea written (not always a good one, but an idea at least lol)

The real storms were the daddy issues along the way

Tom Hiddleston called Loki a mercurial spirit one time and I ran with it, now Loki and Sylvie are ghosts gently terrorizing and falling in love with Mobius who is just trying his best

Sylvie has only known Jack 10 minutes but if anything happened to him she’d kill everyone in the room and then herself

Everyone is drunk, Loki wants to kiss that old man so bad it makes him look stupid, and Mobius wants to kiss that god so bad it makes him look even stupider

Author is a swiftie and Mastermind is so Lokius coded it hurts

No I’m not over Loki season 2 and neither are Classic Loki, Kid Loki, and Croki

What if all the Lokis just loved themselves and their Jotun forms, wouldn’t that be nice? They don’t yet but they’re trying

Loki has grown so much but would snap Brad’s neck and like it if he so much as breaths wrong at Mobius again

So many hugs and softness that your teeth might fall out

All the Lokis getting the heavy dose of gender fluidity and self expression that marvel didn’t give them

Birthdays are weird for Lokis when they’re centuries old but their favorite silver fox is going to give them all the happiness regardless, dammit.

Author is also a Disney nerd and will make her blorbos experience Disney too

Sylvie is taking the end of season 2 a lot less well than it appears

Loki controls his timeslipping but really has a bad time as he thinks way too hard about “who” and what is at stake

Casey and OB are smitten, neurodivergent kings who are absolutely clueless despite being obsessed with each other, no I’m not taking criticisms at this time

The boastful origin fic that haunts me more than ever because we didn’t see more of him in season 2

Author putting two of the most attractive, badass women from marvel in a room together in an apocalypse and letting them take the reins

There are definitely other WIP docs that exist but none others (that I know of anyway) that have enough to summarize yet!

Might be double tagging but this is fun so if anyone wants to give it a shot!

@starport-seven-five @insert-witty-user-name-here @blackbirdofasgard @lgwilt and anyone else that wants to do it!

[acearcane]

Who’s your favorite TUA character?

I’ve done been asked about my hyperfixation‼️

Because I’m incapable of being normal about Umbrella Academy rn, I’m going to rate all the Hargreeves siblings by way of choosing a favorite.

Going from least favorite to favorite (I like them all, but some are more precious than others):

7. Allison. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the siblings. For me, what really makes the media is the characters, and all of the Umbrella Academy characters are unique, endearing, yet flawed. That being said, Allison is the one I connect with the least, and also after season 3... well...

6. Diego. He would be higher, but I didn't really start to like him until season 2. Like Allison, Diego's one of the ones I connect with the least, although I do find his character arcs very compelling (and heartbreaking, to be honest).

5. Luther. Luther is very much back and forth for me. Like, he's such an idiot towards the end of season 1, but AMAZING in season 3. Honestly, I just love the trope of a big blond himbo, so even if Luther is as dumb as rocks, he's so endearing.

4. Viktor. He explodes things. He's just three apples tall. Viktor is just a little guy, and I've been his firm supporter since season 1. (Like, my sister keeps dissing him and I'm ready to throw hands). Plus, I really love Elliot Page, so like... Viktor, ya know?

3. Ben. I don't wanna let my men-loving show, but like, Ben's gorgeous. He's so hot. Ahem, anyway-- I love the whole concept of him being Klaus's conscience and voice of reason (even if Klaus never listens) and the only time I cried while watching this show was at one of his scenes. That being said, I don't really like Sparrow!Ben. I won't count him out quite yet though, we still have season 4.

2. Klaus. He's hilarious. He's sexy trash. He's wife material. Klaus is very much a close second when it comes to my favorite character, if only for the fact that he never irritates me. All of the other characters (except maybe Five) have moments where I'm screaming at the screen because they're so dumb (affectionate) but... never Klaus. Live love Klaus. He's great.

1. Five. I. Fucking. LOVE. Five. Which sure that's probably predictable, he's a fan favorite, but he's freaking hilarious, one of the deeper characters in the show (in my opinion), and his actor does a brilliant job with all of his quirks and mannerisms. Plus I hardcore headcanon him as either ace or aroace, but maybe I'm just projecting. But anyway, he's the new blorbo consuming my brain, and when I attend my first convention this summer (yay me!) I really want to cosplay him.

I'm so sorry for how rambly this was. If you can't tell, I'm very hyperfixated rn, and my sister hasn't finished season 3 yet so I'm practically vibrating with spoilers. I feel a little awkward being so obsessed with it cuz the fandom seems to be dead, for the most part, but hey-- I'm having fun. And that's what matters, right?

To all of my beautiful mutuals who followed me for Owl House content-- I am so sorry. The hyperfixation will return, the big ones always do. I'll try to feed you once in a while so you don't starve. Love you <3

[then-ponder]

Truthfully, I am critical of most arguments that urge people to learn math. This is in particular because most public defenders of mathematics and math education argue with the implicit assumption that you should learn this if and only if it is useful. They will argue that because we can use all of our math to travel the stars and save our dying planet it is worth learning.

I do not blame them for this. After all this is a common practice under capitalism. The constant need to prove useful is a hellish practice in which all professions participate even if some have it easier than others. But it is harmful. It separates us from seeing math for what it is. Want it wants to be.

Many people would call math a science and there is a truth to that. Much of mathematics is a process of learning cold hard facts, even if the idea has been proven a million times over, but that ignores all the bits of it that we tend to not include. The parts about logic and reasoning, the parts about discovery, the parts that suggest a deeper explanation, the parts where intuition feels like magic and reality feels fake.

At the beginning of this post I said that “arguing math is useful is a harmful argument”. This is why. There is no discovery of facts. Logic, what should be the foundation of all mathematics, is not taught and proving that a statement is true goes ignored and is deathly fatal to students who seek the answers, yet are obscured. Worse, the facts we teach in math are plainly obvious to the student in a way that destroy any merit of the claim “ math is useful” because why would I use math when I could use logic. Why would I use the Pythagorean theorem when I know that two sides of a triangle are longer that the hypotenuse when I’m path finding and why the hell would I use a polynomial to describe anything. You use the language of usefulness you should be teaching useful things, but math can’t teach useful things. It’s math not a trade or a science.

And in truth mathematics isn’t useful. Nothing you point to that most people understand are useful things and the vast majority of research is on problems that most people either don’t care about or find utter nonsense. Truly I don’t mean this to be cruel, it’s just that the proof for 1+1 = 2 is a books worth of pages. And that’s the thing people can’t possibly be bothered to ask questions that a mathematician would lose years to. They just want a fucking answer and that’s fine, but this more explicit explanation is why Mathematicians don’t like ‘applied’ math. It’s because assholes take our prized possessions, our meow meows, and our blorbos and they throw them in a shredder and mangle them up till they have a thing that they like and then they give it to another person who fucking hates math because they got their degree in “I hate math but I love problem solving so I became a [insert stem field here]” so they can blow up that thing so that they can use it to solve something.

The truth is that math is a humanity because it is a reflection of our own reality. Quite like art. And the reason for studying art is the same reason you should study math which also happens to be the reason why math and art education sucks. You should learn about these things because you want to. No amount of money can justify it. You have to want it. And the thing is art is best taught as art. It’s not a just or simply a tool for people to make money. It’s an expression of the self - The very people who created it.

Many fear that if we allow people to stop studying the math people won’t. Fair, but high school math is not reflective of math. It doesn’t teach foundations, it doesn’t teach about the different sub-disciplines. It refuses to teach any math that can’t be directly applied to science and engineering. Of course people don’t want to learn that. You’ve ripped out the meat.

[roseofcards90]

kotoko q3 and 25 for the ask game?

OMG HIII ARC I HOPE YOUVE BEEN DOING WELL!!!

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

The fact that she isolated herself for like a fucking year and we barely got to see any timeline interactions with her and the other prisoners during T2 😭 which I think is very interesting narrative wise and really shows well how much Kotoko's self hatred and destructive ideals feed into her isolation, but it's frustrating to me personally because I want to know more about what Kotoko thinks of the others, I want to know her thoughts beyond them being "sinners" and her pushing them away :( because she stated herself that she does hold fondness for them, but alas I only hope for more interactions in the future potentially

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

It's funny because when I first went through Milgram, Kotoko was not my fave at all LMAO I didn't look beyond the surface-level, troubled vigilante, and then I dug deeper and read some analysis stuff and was like...holy shit, SHE IS SO WELL WRITTEN WTF and yeah now I'm here with her being a huge blorbo of mine 💀

[starleska]

I messed up and walked through the room one too many times when my family was watching a random crime drama show and now I’ve got “Consumed Media and Now I’m Gonna Go Missing For 3 To 4 Business Days” disease, my beloved...my beloathed…my becomplicated. WHY IS IT SO EASY TO GET THAT

Vicious cycle……congrats on the Resident Evil and the Star Wars and Futurama and Despicable Me and so on tho :3c I continue to look forward to your thoughts and opinions, it all seems like so much fun 👀 and if I disappear I’ll be back, keep going strong with your immaculate taste 💪 and if you get “Consumed Media and Now I’m Gonna Go Missing For 3 To 4 Business Days” disease too or get it several times over uhhhhh….good luck we’re in this together 💖 separate but together <33333

Thank you for letting me on your TEDTalk once again <3 or not letting me on, I guess I Don’t Actually know that yet. I could be smote Right Now

oh for goodness' sake, not again!! let me get the first aid kit...*returns with a comically large syringe* now now Lorelei, you know you can't pass through the gates of this blog without giving up a little fandom/blorbo news in exchange!! you think you can get all of, um...this...for free? 😂 go oooon, let us in on what this fascinating new media that's rewriting your brain is!!! can we have a hint? 🥺 dfgfdsd you pose an excellent question - i don't know!!! do you find that sometimes you'll be suckered into a fandom/character for years unflinchingly, and then other times you're pulled all over the place? i certainly have longer/deeper fixations, and am sometimes in a much more...flighty mode, jumping between media and characters!! but i think that's a good thing - means we're not denying ourselves potential paths of happiness 🥰 hahaha awww thank you darling!!! so funny seeing them all laid out like that, and i'm sure there'll be more to come 🙈💖 waiting for everything to cycle back round so i can finish up some wips!! but in the meantime, i eagerly await hearing about your latest fixation 😉

[cilil]

Hello ☺️. I'm curious how you got into the Silm fandom. And what got you invested in the Ainur in particular?

Thanks for the ask, and good question. I'm afraid I'll have to start with LotR to explain that whole mess😂

So when I first watched the movies as a kid, my older cousin told me about all the background trivia she knew and for some reason it stuck with me that a man named Sauron forges jewelry in volcanoes and somehow causes huge problems with that.

Fast forward a few years and I found myself talking to other LotR fans and was informed that "actually, there's way more lore to this whole thing and there's another dark lord". I googled Melkor and saw all the fanart and decided I really need to know more so I borrowed a copy of the Silmarillion and read the entire thing immediately - turns out I did in fact end up enjoying the dark lords and all the other cool stuff in it!😁

And that brings us to the Ainur. My (brandnew at the time) blorbos just happened to be Ainur so I ended up researching and reading about them in particular. I tend to like the magic and supernatural elements in stories in particular and once you dig deeper into Ainur lore you get past the fairly conventional angels & demons facade and discover some rather strange shape-shifting cosmic spirit beings who do a lot of weird shit, frankly😂 the others grew on me, even those I didn't really like at first, and continue to do so to this day (same also applies to other characters in the Silm ofc :D)