#this all sounds awful tho

[elany]

Yk what I want? I want a very early stages post canon labrumisu, but from Chilchuck's POV.

Imagine mister 'interparty romance is the devil' visiting court just to see these three circling each other like a pack of uniquely unhinged cats. And of course he sees it immediately, he's nothing if not perceptive and he's seen this happen so, so many times before. Kabru is hardly subtle in his fascination with Laios, who trusts him in turn more than nearly anybody else. He can see how close Mithrun and Kabru still are, even when there's little reason for the former captain to even stay in Melini. He can see where this is going. And he can see the disaster it's gonna end up in.

So he's just staring at them in horror, trying to figure out what in the world the dynamic here even is and glaring daggers at Kabru all the while for seemingly being the linchpin of this entire bullshit situation. King, his adviser and a fucking foreign noble?? Who thought THAT was a good idea! Is nobody else seeing this?? (no lol) Why is nobody objecting to this politically unsound love triangle that could literally ruin the kingdom they've only just established??

The anger! The distress! The despair when he first sees Laios getting all giddy when Mithrun so much as talks to him. Because hell, now he can't even blame the entire situation on one pretty boy insisting on having fingers in every possible pie, on political and personal level both!

And then they just. Quietly get together. All three of them. And Chil's just watching from the sidelines in complete bafflement because he's invented infinite worst case scenarios for how this will implode in all of their faces and destroy their friend group and topple the entire country and--

Instead they do. This. He'd be relieved if he wasn't so goddamn mad that he's spent months worrying about this shit just for them to resolve it in the least dramatic way possible.

Fuck this, he's taking a holiday.

[seaweedstarshine]

Hi! Long time no yap but I've been really bothered by this thing and I know you're just the person I can go to with this (even if we don't always end up agreeing at times).

I got into a tiff with someone in a comments section of a post that was about Amy (Which character do you think deserved to become a villain? or something similar). They brought up Amy's abuse of her boyfriend. I may have tried to defend Amy (key word is tried. I am officially rubbish at debating) but then I may have said something? Because they said that I (and apparently a lot of other fans) was excusing Amy's abuse because of her trauma. It got me stumped because isn't young Amy's treatment of Rory rooted in her trauma? Did I miss the memo where we separate trauma and abuse? Am I missing something?

That statement bothered me a lot because if there's one thing I never want to do it's defend an abuser. So here I am, humbly asking and hoping to clear the muddy waters.

Your really confused and disturbed moot, Tia 💌

TIA!!!!! Thanks for the ask 💌 , and I send you all the hugs.

Discussion of abuse, trauma, ableism, infidelity, and unhealthy relationship dynamics beneath the cut.

(First off… while I really appreciate your faith in my explaining skills <3 <3 <3 my passion for traumatized characters and mentally ill+neurodivergent rights doesn't make me especially qualified to fully clear muddy waters especially not knowing the full context, but I feel you, and what follows is my informed perspective!)

Speaking generally first, harm done in media is best examined by the impact on the audience, with a different lens than harm done to real people. While relatable experiences in media can be useful and validating and incredibly important, you can’t be “defending an abuser” when the abuse is fictional. It's actually normal for traumatized/ND/mentally ill people to project onto mentally ill villains, when villains are the only significant representation for those stigmatized symptoms in a media landscape that excludes and demonizes us simply for existing. RTD can't stop people who hallucinate from reclaiming the Master's Drums and projecting onto the Master, for example — 90% of the best Doctor Who psychosis fic by psychotic authors is about the Master, whether RTD likes it or not. It's not true crime.

(This is speaking generally. Amy Pond is very much not the Master.)

Abuse is a behavior, and there can be many reasons for it, but reasons based in trauma don’t make it not abuse (some forms of generational trauma can propagate abusive parenting styles, when the parent thinks abusive parenting is normal, or lives entirely vicariously through their child). This absolutely should not be taken to mean trauma correlates with abusive behavior; rather that abusive behaviors from traumatized people are more likely to present in specific ways.

Abuse is also a targeted behavior, based in control — not consistently displayed C-PTSD symptoms as seen in Season 5 Amy Pond through many aspects of her life. Mental health symptoms don't become abuse just because they hinder one partner from meeting the other partner's needs. Any life event can do that.

Without knowing the context of the arguments, this is the aspect of their relationship I've seen you talk about before (which I also feel strongly about), and what I assume is what you were debating? So, here I will talk specifically in regard to Season 5.

We all know Amy — she's never attached to Leadworth because she never wanted to leave Scotland, no steady therapist because none of them stick up for her, can't stick with one job yet her first choice is a job that simulates intimacy because her avoidant behavior (a known trauma response) isn't sustainable to her wellbeing. Rory knows her fears of commitment stem from her repeated abandonments, it’s why he’ll always wait for her, and it's why he blames the Doctor “You make it so they don't want to let you down.”, who apart from having caused a lot of her trauma, has actively taken advantage of her being the “Scottish girl in the English village” who's “still got that accent,” because he wants to feel important, so yeah, I think interpreting Amy's issues (and how Amy and Rory transverse them) as Amy abusing Rory indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of their relationship, as well as a misunderstanding of the (raggedy) Doctor’s role in Amy’s formative self-image (which of course she works through in Season 6, but I am sticking to Season 5).

Abuse is always based in control. That just doesn’t fit here. While Amy's detachment from her real life includes things like calling Rory her “kind of boyfriend” (which she is upfront about to his face; differing commitment levels isn't abuse, though it can be a relationship red flag for both parties IRL) — her Season 5 disregard of Rory’s feelings occurs only in response to the fairytale embodiment of her trauma. It's never a response to Rory; it's a response to the Doctor, who stole her childhood and led her by the hand to her death. She cheats on Rory with the Doctor in her bedroom full of Doctor toys, drawings, models, she made from childhood to early adulthood.

(And yes, like many repeatedly-traumatized people, Amy is prone to being sensitive and reactive. Take her “Well, shut up then!” line in The Big Bang; but given Rory responds to this by hugging her, clearly he doesn’t take it as her actually dismissing him. He knows her better than that.)

And by no means do I meant to imply this is fair to young Rory, poor Rory, who's left struggling with the feeling that his role in her life is in competition with the role of her trauma (aka the Doctor). But not every unhealthy relationship dynamic is unhealthy because of abuse. Labelling Amy's treatment of Rory in Season 5 more accurately isn't the same as excusing her harmful choices — but making mistakes is part of being human, Amy's mistakes are certainly understandable, and she works through them out of love for Rory.

If there's one thing to say about Moffat women, it's that Moffat allows his female characters the same grace that the male characters *coughTENcough* have always had, to hurt and struggle and make realistic mistakes and overcome those mistakes and to heal without being demonized.

Amy isn't perfect, but she is a fully realized character, and her story gives us a resonant depiction of childhood trauma.

[crescentmoonrider]

hakaba kitarou may be a horrible child, but he is my horrible child (gets dissolved in acid water)

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[crimeronan]

wow that latest silt verses episode. i've listened to it twice so far and i feel like there's Some essay meta connection i want to make about terminal illness and tragedy and losing people to the mundane even when you have the power of gods at your fingertips and when you've tried so hard and done everything Right..... but i don't know how to fathom it into words. maybe with another listen or two i could post coherently about it but for now just. waow. hey. what the fuck.

[alistairlowes]

You're not being gaslit. Different people have different tastes. If we didn't, the family tree would be a straight line. You're damn near 30 years old. Grow up and move on to people you like.

was it really that serious bff... was it

[chibishortdeath]

I just put on a playthrough of CV1 as background noise for drawing and I have realized that I can tell exactly where this guy is in each level by sound effects alone. He just missed a secret chest.

[nobodybetterlookatme]

Okay I'm not saying that this semester's students suck ass bc I'm not there to teach them, but isn't it just such a coincidence that the vast majority are failing so miserably and they don't have someone who will tutor them outside of class and go over notes and skills with them, while the previous semesters did have that and the majority passed? Super interesting stuff. Too bad we'll never know if things could've been different if they had just fucking paid me :)

[jrueships]

I read your latest gunsmith fanfic and I really loved it!! 🥺💖 I recognized so many of your Tumblr posts in it (they were like little Easter eggs). And there were so many banger lines in it…it made me laugh so many times! 😂 Thanks for writing AND sharing it. 😌✨

P.S. I love the title…it describes them sooo well!

P.P.S. I’m shy too but uhhh if you ever wanted to talk about gunsmith/the Rockets then send me a message on Tumblr!!! Would enjoy hearing your thoughts on their pairing!! Okay bye!!! 🙈

GONNA CRY RN 😭😭😭😭😭

[boyghcst]

i feel so ugly

[spicyicymeloncat]

Sorry gang for being late to the party but this guy

And every other lava shipper is so right and I can’t believe I never even noticed I’m actually disappointed in myself.

Under cut I ramble aimlessly

When you think, oh yeah lava is no more valid than any other non canon Ninjago ship but then you get reminded

Cole is the most queer coded ninja, his true potential was about him coming out to his father. Also Kai is the most touchy in that episode, hugging him

In s7 when Jay calls out Nya’s name and Cole calls out Kai’s (Ik this and a lot of other points might be handwaved that Kai and Cole are more of a default match up just because everyone is already in relationships, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t in one too)

S10 Kai’s reaction of trying to turn back the ship, and then crying to Cole falling (although I’ll accept that this is more of his reaction to grief,m, counterpoint from Cube - Kai only really reacts like that, here and then with Nya both times she died)

S10 when Jay and Nya help each other up, Cole does the same for Kai (and then Cole takes his hand off Kai’s shoulder when Kai points to Zane coming over - yeah that doesn’t mean anything it’s just kinda sus)

S10 Kai and Cole paralleling Jaya’s hug also

Wildbrain era really said lavashipping

S11 Cole is the one supporting Kai when he brought back fire to the village. That could have been anyone it could’ve been Lloyd or Nya in that shot with him but it was Cole

S11 Cole being the one to comfort Kai when the village was frozen. S11 said “you can have all these close ups of Kai but it’s mandatory that Cole’s face is in the corner of the screen”

S12 and everything about it. “On one life Kai” jumping off the mountain to save Cole

S12 Kai watching Cole dance before Cole pulls him into dancing

S12 them sharing a car and then having the gayest sacrifice in the whole show (on the race track)

S12 also being notable for its dance lesbians (who aren’t confirmed to be gay but if it gets censored in Russia and Malaysia then I think it counts) and

Also s12 including couple moments for every other character (Jay and Nya, the Pixane episode, even Lloyd and Harumi show up (not saying their a good pairing, just that technically they were a romantic pairing at some point)

Cube mention s13 where Kai is the one to demand to search for Cole (which Ik can be handwaved as just Kai’s personality) and then Kai being one to call out to Cole just before the tunnels collapse whilst Zane doesn’t (again this could be chalked up to their personalities; Kai is the loud one and Zane doesn’t need to follow suit, but these are less of evidence and more of increasingly interesting add ons when after you watched prime empire). Tbf s13 had Kai and Cole separated so they couldn’t have interacted much anyways

The island, where Kai and Cole share more moments tm with Cole complaining he’s hungry and later on Kai getting Cole something to eat. This actually contextualises that one comment from Cole in s11 where he says he’s done with cake jokes from Kai. Anyways it’s cute that Kai first makes fun of Cole and then goes out and gets him food

Seabound where they both stayed behind to play video games. Do I need to say anything?

Crystalised, the only thing I remember is that one scene where Kai went for a hug but Cole ran passed him to get water

Besties that’s actually a lot yknow. Pretty sure that’s more interactions than both of those characters and other characters. It’s like lava is in a weird position where its not canon but it’s definitely more canon than the other non canon ships. Including kailor and conia.

No shade to either shippers but Conia’s only claim to canon is that Vania is a girl introduced in the Cole season, he said he didn’t even like her, and Kailor are not even dating. I think Tommy Andreasen and Chris Wyatt also tweeted that neither are dating (also Tommy replied in a tweet in regards to Cole’s sexuality that anyone’s interpretation is valid). (Also imo I personally see Vania is younger than the ninja yknow)

With Kailor, Kai barely knew her and she barely new him or literally anything other than the island, and they go their separate ways in the end. I mean Skylor definitely needed to establish her own identity after being an extension of her father her whole life so I think it’s fair. Yeah they continue to be good friends but Kai doesn’t even have Skylor’s number. Ik Kai visits Skylor in s7 but that’s to talk about his dad with someone who understands. Ig the more convincing moments are near the end of s9 where whilst some can be seen platonically, there is this one shot where they look at each other in a more romantic way (the same shot in which Cole embraces his true soulmate, cake), idk ig it can be just a hug but I will say, that post s4 that shot is probably the biggest Kailor contender. But as Cube said, it’s just a little awkward. Kai doesn’t really visit Skylor often and their closeness in s9 could be due to the fact that everyone nearly died? I’m assuming there’s a chance Kailor, regardless of whether it’s a thing in the past or the present, will be addressed in crystalised tho.

What is interesting is that both s4 and s13 have a lot of parallels. In both, the ninja stay over at a new place hosted by the villain, who underneath his house, owns slaves who he uses to earn money, and his daughter turns to the side of the ninja. Kailor and Conia have a lot of similarities (and therefore a lot of similar issues, such as the assumption that woman = love interest)

Also I don’t think I have to argue that Cole was ever interested in Nya. He was much more concerned with kicking Jay’s ass and we all know it.

But yeah lava is surprisingly a lot more convincing. Also some of their interactions (s10) do imply they’re keeping it a secret from the other ninja. Either because they’re worried how the others would react (although it’s hard to believe the legos are homophobic. Imagine. Homophobic Zane 🙀) but also, in a world where there probably is homophobia (considering there are pride flags) it’s still possible that there is a worry. I could see Kai being closeted since he very clearly showed interest in girls since s3 to s6 so the realisation that he is anything but straight may have shaken him and he’s not quite ready to be open about it (oh look a fanfic idea), and I can see Cole maybe wanting to be more private about the relationship since he tends to withdraw when anxious (see pilots, where the death of his mother made him leave home and climb mountains, see s4 where the group’s fight made him retreat to the forest to become a lumberjack, see s5 where he wanted to quit the team because he was a ghost, s11 where he leaves on his own because he felt bad about losing the tea, this guy has a history). The last romance related thing Cole was a part of was s3’s love triangle which was not fun, so maybe Cole is still kinda traumatised but that. Or on a lighter note, maybe they’re both seeing long it takes for the others to notice. An out of canon explanation is that it’s making fun of how Russia and Malaysia wouldn’t accept them either. Also that was in s10 and tbh since they canonically killed of Hageman (idk which one) in s11, there has been a lot more lava so maybe in canon they’ve become more of a relationship as time went on and they might be out now, if they weren’t before. Or maybe I’m reading into it too much.

Anyways they’d definitely have double dates with jay and Nya can you imagine Kai and Nya getting ready and then Cole and Jay (cuz they’re besties) getting ready because that’s cute.

That’s it. Just know I’ve successfully turned into a lavashipper (I mean polyninja ftw but as in this could literally be canon if Lego says yay to the gays) this is all I’m going to think about this week.

[pallases]

ourgejjg

[orcelito]

I've been following that AITA blog for a bit now and it has me thinking about my own life situations with conflict and drama. A passive "do I have anything I could submit to that blog?" But upon thinking about it, it's like... I really find no value in asking strangers whether I'm "the asshole" in situations. There are situations where I'm clearly not at fault, situations where I was a little shit but it was justified, and at least one situation where I have a definite "Oh yeah, I was definitely the asshole there". All in the past, so it's not like I'd even need advice or anything. I already know, so what's the point?

Maybe it stems from me being a generally self-aware and self-confident kind of person. I know what's going on with myself, know when I've wronged people, & I have a mentality of "well, I'll try to not do that in the future." Even if I feel a little guilty thinking back, what's the point of asking after something when I know I'm at fault? Or situations where things were complicated and both people had fault in things, but I know I wasn't being shitty on purpose & that's what matters to me. Ultimately, it results in a bunch of strangers drawing conclusions about things I really don't care about outside input on.

Still love reading the blog tho. There's something about reading up on random people's life drama that satisfies that gossipmonger soul in me So well.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[jils-things]

pkmn soulsilver babbles c:

i have reached the tag limit writing my thoughts help. im not even done but ig ill just leave it at that AHAHSHSHSH

[professorllayton]

there r certain voice acting crimes that certain actors have committed that I will just simply never forgive ever in my whole life and I have a grudge against those actors forevermore . they r christian bale as howl. and matt damon as sprit the stallion. of the cimarron