#✰ ━ ❝ COMFORTABLE TO SELL A SOUND. ❞ SELF PROMO.

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

🧸Mikey

Sunday dinner

Masterlist

A/N: I feel the need to apologize for this. It was supposed to be a comfort fic, I know, but instead we get a whole lot of angst and not a lot of comfort. We're still in the babybro!Mikey AU, and it maybe helps a little to have read Astraphobia (shameless self promo, I know)

(This was written from a promt from this ask game!)

Characters: Walter Marshall, littlebrother!Mikey

Summary: Walter visits Mike in his dorm after the death of their mother.

Word count: 600

Warnings: Angst. Lots of hurt, very little comfort. Parent death. Whole lot of grief.

“Bear?” I take the fluffy dog Walter is holding out to me. Fucking hell, I haven’t seen this thing in years!

“It… eh… I found him at mom’s place.” Walter swallows hard. ‘Mom’s place’. It sounds so silly now. There is no ‘mom’s place’ anymore. There is no ‘mom’. “Thought you might… I don’t fucking know, man.”

“Come in.” I step aside to let him past me. There’s not a lot of room to move, it’s a dorm room after all. He takes my desk chair, I fall back onto my bed, crushing Bear against my chest. It’s obvious we’re both going to cry at some point. Now, it’s just a matter of who goes first. Won’t be me. Can’t be me. Fuck. It’s me.

I didn’t sleep at all for two nights, then I cried myself to sleep the next two. Suffice to say, I’m not in a good place right now. My whole afternoon was lost to thinking about how I’d keep myself from spiraling tonight. Because tonight is Sunday night – and on Sundays, I always went home to have dinner with my mom. And now I can’t do that, because mom. is. gone.

“I can’t believe I bailed on dinner last week,” Walter says. Now that he isn’t at a loss for words, his voice sounds about as hoarse as I imagine mine to be. “Didn’t even have a good excuse. Tired from a long shift, that was it.”

“She called me an hour before she… I hung up on her. Figured I’d call her back after basketball practice.” Obviously I never got the chance. Both of us stay quiet for a very long time. Sometimes one of us cries, sometimes we both do, but we don’t say a word, and neither of us moves. After about an hour, Walter gets up.

“I should probably get going,” he says softly. Somehow, the idea of him leaving hurts me. I’ve already lost my mom… I can’t lose my brother as well.

“Are we just never going to see each other anymore.” My voice is weak – weaker than I’d like it to be. Walter’s hand drops off the door handle.

“Why do you think that?” he asks softly. I can hear his voice breaking halfway through.

“You’re a lot older, and you moved out a while ago. And we only ever saw each other at mom’s place, and now mom’s gone and…” I don’t even know if there are more reasons for me to think that. The fact that we never really got along? Mom swore it was just because there are ten years between us, that things would get better as I got older… I just hope I’m gonna get a chance to find out she was right about that.

Walter looks at me for a second and then wraps me up in a hug. And not the cool, manly, bro kind of hug. No. A massive, brotherly, ‘we’re both fucking hurt’ kind of hug. When I sit back down on my bed, he sits next to me.

“I didn’t want to bring this up yet,” he says, “but I’ve been dealing with some of the legal stuff…” I’m about to get angry when he assures me he hasn’t been making any decisions without me.

“I don’t want to sell the house,” he says, explaining that she left it to us, I get a say in things, but he’d really like to move back there.

“On one condition,” I say hoarsely. “We have dinner together on Sundays.”

#walter marshall fanfiction #walter marshall #mike hellraiser #mike (hellraiser) #mike hellraiser fic #mike hellraiser drabble #walter marshall drabble #henry cavill characters #henrycavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill

[coffeebanana]

In honour of today being the one-year anniversary of when I posted the first chapter of Say Something, I wanted to--ahem--say something about this fic. And I thought about sharing the beginning of the next chapter, but 1. it's still the first draft so it's fairly rough, and 2. it's not very representative of the fic as a whole.

Instead, I thought I'd pick short passage I like from each chapter I've posted so far, because what is my tumblr for if not a little shameless self-promo, and I'm proud of the writing (read: neverending rewriting) I've done for this fic!! Plus this gives me an excuse to list all of my chapter titles which I really love as well ahaha.

(And for anyone who hasn't had a chance to read yet, I'll drop the link to chapter 1 here!! If you're interested in ladrien and/or prpr hurt/comfort featuring sentiadrien angst, then this is the fic for you!!)

Snippets are under the cut!

from chapter 1: Maybe They Sell Amok Chains at the Hospital Gift Shop

Ladybug faced away from him now, her stance rigid as she stared out the window. She kept one hand wrapped around the ring, which hung from a chain around her neck. Adrien wondered for a moment where she’d found the chain—she hadn’t left his side for long yesterday. Maybe her yo-yo had a secret stash of Amok chains. Maybe they were sold at the hospital gift shop. She could have fetched one when the doctors took him for scans. When they’d ensured he wasn’t quite bleeding to death by his father’s hand—only almost. Was a gift shop trinket really strong enough to entrust with the ring responsible for Adrien’s life? Hard to tell—that wasn’t the sort of thing people included on promotional signage. And that was…just about right. Adrien’s very existence was false advertising.

from chapter 2: Failure Sounds Like a Dripping Tap

The bathroom sink had been dripping the entire time, but suddenly it was all Marinette could hear. Suddenly it made her skin crawl. She knew there was a way to make it stop—a particular way to twist the handle—but she couldn’t find the energy for that. So the tap kept dripping, each drop serving as a reminder of the mess she'd made. Drip. She let Gabriel get away. Drip. She was failing her team. Drip. Adrien wouldn’t even look her in the eyes.

from chapter 3: Popcorn Ceilings Are No Substitute For Cloud Watching

This time when she sighed, Adrien felt her breath against the back of his neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Would those bumps make patterns like the ceiling? If Ladybug could read their warnings, would she back down? “Please,” Adrien whispered. He didn’t have words to explain, but he needed this. Panic sank its claws into him, tearing through old scars that never had a proper chance to heal. The chain bearing his Amok grew heavier. Would he ever get to make his own decisions?

from chapter 4: The Stars Don’t Always Lie 

Outside had been about…existing, mostly. About casual touches and errant thoughts. Inside expected a certain something. Words. Interaction. Progress. Adrien had no idea how to go about any of that. He didn’t even realize Ladybug had spoken until she placed a hand on his arm. “Chaton? You okay?” “Fine.” He couldn’t be terrible if he wasn’t entirely present, right? If some part of him seemed to have remained up on the roof, still longing for that freedom he’d barely gotten a taste of?

from chapter 5: Still A Mere Facade

Adrien was curled up on his side, sliding his phone lethargically back and forth across the blanket. He’d been listless all morning, answering her questions a beat too late or not at all. It wasn’t quite the same as the past few days’ silent treatment, but he was still a far cry from the Adrien—and the Chat Noir—that she knew. Marinette just wished she could think of something to say. But the longer she sat there, the more pressure she felt to speak, which in turn made it even harder to cobble together coherent thoughts. And she really had tried everything—there were shockingly few internet resources for how to help your partner come out as a sentibeing. In a last ditch attempt at finding some guidance, she was about to check the copy of the Guardians’ Grimoire she kept on her phone when Adrien froze, inhaling sharply. It took her a moment to figure out why, a moment to process that the other sound she’d heard was that of his phone rolling over the chain bearing his Amok. It always came back to the ring.

from chapter 6: As The World Flickers In Slow Motion

“It’s not stupid.” Nino assured him. “Your feelings aren’t stupid. They’re just… they’re you.” Adrien bit his lip. “Are they, though?” “What do you mean?” Adrien hooked a thumb under the chain around his neck, watching as his Amok hung in the space between him and Nino. “My father had this. The man who never wanted me to go anywhere or do anything. You really think he didn’t use it?”

from chapter 7: Believing in Moments To Come

Nino and Adrien sat side by side against the headboard, Nino smiling at Alya who stood beside him. She was still pulling out folders, stacking them on the bedside table while her eyes lingered on the pizza boxes stacked between the boys. Adrien paid them no attention—his eyes were glued to the spot where Marinette entered the room. He smiled when he saw her. Marinette would have done anything to freeze that moment—finally, a moment where his smile felt real. Where his eyes sparkled the way they had for years whenever he saw her, where his lips curved softly like every time he’d caught her before she could fall. Maybe Alya was right. Maybe she hadn’t screwed everything up.

from chapter 8: Like Molecules In A Gas

He flinched when Ladybug touched his shoulder. “Are you ready?” Midway through her question, an air vent whirred to life overhead, almost seeming to trap her words inside. It would explain why they sounded so far away. Adrien felt just like the air forced through the tube—it didn’t matter what trajectory its individual molecules took, how many times they collided with each other or the walls throughout their journey. In the end, they had no choice but to follow an overarching path, and he had no choice but to keep moving forward either. If only he could remember how to reply.

from chapter 9: A Colour of Wanting More

[...] “The point is, you have strengths and flaws. You make mistakes. You learn. You…you’re human.” His gut plummeted. “Am I, though?” “Yes,” she insisted. “I don’t know how to convince you, but—well, okay, how about this? They took a blood sample, when you were in the hospital. In case…” She shuddered. “Obviously they didn’t find anything strange, or they would have said something. And I’m sure if they did a DNA test, that would come back normal too. If you wanted, I could figure out how to get one done. I’m sure it’s easy.” “I…maybe. But—” “But what? You have a blood type, and…a heartbeat—probably all your organs in the right place too, because they never said anything about that either. And you just…you have this incredible capacity to love people, and you have—” “Existential crises?” “I—well,” she spluttered. “That’s not exactly what I was going for, but…yeah.” She gave a huff of amusement. “I suppose that’s pretty human of you.”

💜 💜 💜

Thank you to everyone who's been reading and interacting with this fic so far! I appreciate you all so much!!

#miraculous ladybug #say something #coffeebanana fics #aaah this post feels like a tiny word scrapbook of the fic so far #these are not necessarily my FAVOURITE bits of each chapter because how am i supposed to choose? #and also i wanted to have things that aren't too spoilery but give a good feel for the fic in case i can entice someone new to read haha #anyways i definitely thought this fic would be DONE by now instead of like half-done buuuuuuut oh well #hopefully it'll be done within the NEXT year haha #sentiadrien #long post

[lexafavs]

Golden Hour— Rodrick Heffley x Ben Segal (part 1)

(crossposted from Wattpad)

wc: 1.5k

     "I just wish you weren't in love with the same bimbo as everyone at this stupid fucking school," is what Ben Segal would say if he had an ounce of self-respect in his body. Unfortunately for Ben, he put his best friend's lovesick fantasies before his own. Crossland High School's drab, poorly-maintained interior aggravated those trapped within its walls; summer break was, after all, merely minutes away, but each tick of the clock felt like a day had gone by. And Rodrick Heffley's complaining wasn't doing Ben any favors.

"Give it a break, Rod!" Ben exclaimed, finally exasperated from Rodrick's whining. "She's way out of your league anyway. Besides," Ben grinned. "You'll meet plenty of chicks over the summer, right?"

"This is Heather Hills we're talking about, Benjamin!" Rodrick laughed. "She's totally into me. Just watch."

Almost on cue, the school bell rang, marking the end of their sophomore year. The duo hurried out the door with excitement lining their faces, the cool, early summer breeze feeling comforting on their cheeks. Just then, a blonde-haired boy, donning glasses and a Metallica t-shirt, tapped Ben on the shoulder.

"Chris! Hey!" Ben smiled, climbing into the passenger seat of Rodrick's van. The vehicle was dilapidated and barely functional, with paint chipping off of its once-white exterior, rust eating away at the rims, and chairs crusted with peeling fabric. The floor of the van was littered with cigarette butts and cans of Coke: the remnants of late nights spent in Country Fair's parking lot. Rodrick climbed into the driver's seat, with Ben in the passenger's, while Chris, and the band's lead guitarist, Juliette, clambered into the backseat— or, more accurately, what could be described as what was formerly a backseat, as the seats had been moved to make room for second hand band equipment.

" 'Sup, Benjamin! Are you ready for Loded Diper's summer world tour?" Juliette asked, gripping the passenger seat for dear life as the van accelerated forward, only accentuated by Rodrick's poor driving abilities.

"I wish we could stop calling it a world tour, guys, because last time I checked, we aren't even leaving Plainview, are we?" Ben said, rolling his eyes at Juliettet's prospect. "Old-Timey Ice Cream Parlor and some kid's birthday party isn't exactly the world. Though...I doubt you'd know that, Jules. You don't get a thirteen percent in World Geography for nothing, right?" He playfully nudged Juliette on the arm, leaving her unamused.

"Jules, Ben, will you two just shut the fuck up for once?!" Rodrick asked, playfully. "I have to pick my brother up from school, anyway. We could go promo there!"

"Do you really think a bunch of Westmore kids would wanna see a band full of greasy teenagers perform? Let's just go to the pool and sell CDs again, that worked last time, didn't it?" Chris butted in, finally speaking after an eternity of silence. As it usually goes with bassists, however, he was ignored; the bickering of the former three bandmates was enough to drown out his proposition.

The exterior of Westmore Middle School was packed to the brim with preteens saying goodbye to one another, and standing beside an attractive, blonde girl, and a pudgy, ginger boy, was Rodrick's fourteen-year-old brother, Greg. Rodrick, Juliette, and Chris exited the car with flyers quite willingly, while Ben opted to remain in the car.

"C'mon, Benny, I need you!" Rodrick exclaimed, sighing. "You're my best friend, right?"

Ben hopped out of the passenger's seat rather reluctantly. "You sound like a little girl."

Rodrick shrugged, and moved on to passing out posters to random passerby— the majority of which pushed him away as he walked past. Juliette had the most luck, charming several people into seeing their next gig at the Headless Chicken bar.  The blonde girl that stood alongside Rodrick's brother held a book unmistakable as Westmore's yearbook in her arms, and was in the process of signing Greg's as Rodrick approached the group of young teenagers.

"Isn't that...your brother?" she asked, indicating Rodrick standing by the entrance of the school.

"Holly..." Greg began, but Rodrick interrupted him.

"Loded Diper's coming to rock a town near you! Aww, you're getting your yearbook signed? That is so cute." Rodrick gave his brother a playful shrug, and Holly stared at the two of them reproachfully as a turquoise Corvette pulled up in front of Westmore.

"That's Heather Hills..." Rodrick trailed off, unable to take his eyes off of the girl in the passenger's seat of the car. She looked like an older version of Holly— beach blonde hair, piercing, blue eyes, and a stature that made countless heads turn. Unfortunately for Rodrick, the only Hills to ever show interest in a Heffley was Holly, and, quite frankly, Rodrick's relationship wasn't making as much progress as Greg and Holly's was.

"And that's Madison Belle," Juliette groaned. "We're still a bit sore."

"Get over yourself, Julie," Rodrick nudged her gently in the ribs. "At least you actually dated her. She's the next best thing to Heather, you uncultured—"

Before he could finish his sentence, however, Madison drove her car in Holly's direction. "Get in," Heather demanded, ushering her sister into the backseat of the vehicle.

"What?! But I need to finish signing Greg's yearbook!" Holly exclaimed, trudging into the cat before her sister could drive away without her.

"News flash, I don't care," Heather said, as Madison was about to step on the gas.

"Sorry," Holly stared at Greg reproachfully as the trio got ready to go, but not before Rodrick could, once again, interrupt.

"So...Heather! I'm goin' on a world tour. With my band. If you're around, I could maybe comp you chicks some tickets!" Rodrick grinned at her, Juliette shooting her the best way-to-screw-it-up-for-the-both-of-us look that she could muster. However, before any of them could say anything to each other, Madison, Heather, and Holly were long gone.

"She was just tryin' to act cool...but I know she's into me," Rodrick said, sighing.

"Keep telling yourself that, Roddy," Ben teased, tussling his hair. "It'll come true...in your dreams, maybe. If you go to sleep and never wake up, you'll be able to have Heather for the rest of your life!"

Rodrick was unamused.

" 'Rowley, you are so cute!' " Ben heard the ginger boy say, chuckling to himself. "Cute's underlined like, three times! Stay cool! XOXO, Holly. What'd she write in yours?"

" 'Have a great summer. You are such a good...friend,' " Greg responded, the smile sliding off of his face as the word friend reached his tongue.

"Oh, man! Friend! That's the kiss of death," Rodrick chortled to himself.

"I'd know from experience," Ben whispered to Greg, smirking. "Do you know how many people have called me their best friend? Closest friend, even? How many of those men have wanted to take our friendship to the next level? Zit. Zil. Zero, even."

"We get it, Ben," Juliette sighed, a little bit too loudly for Ben's liking. "You live a sad, and lonely, and pathetic life, and no one will ever love you, yadda yadda yadda. Maybe you should fall for a queer dude next time, I dunno. Someone you'll actually have a chance with."

"Keep your voice down," Ben hissed. "We can discuss the details later."

"Details? Details, Ben?" Rodrick asked, climbing back into the driver's seat of his van. "Don't tell me you've fallen for another person outta your league. Forget friendship— that gives you less of a chance of getting into a relationship than Greg does. And that kid's fourteen years old and still plays Twisted Wizard and Neopets."

Ignoring Greg's conspicuous "Hey!" in the background, Ben carried on. "You guys just love to rip into me today, don't you? As if you're not as much of hopeless romantic as I am."

"Just you wait, Ben," Rodrick said, staring lovingly at the turquoise Corvette that was parked in the driveway of a cul-de-sac, Embury lane, suburban home. l have Heather Hills in the fucking bag."

-

If there was one thing that Ben Segal learned about catching feelings for straight men, it was that they would always settle for the one woman that wasn't fawning over them. Rodrick Heffley was a heartbreaker; his puppy dog eyes, fluffy hair, and lean stature were enough to make any rational human being go crazy.

Any rational human being except for Heather Hills.

But being somebody's best friend for the better part of twelve years has a tendency to bring out the absolute best—and absolute worst—in people.

Ben knew Rodrick's face better than he knew his own.

He knew that every freckle on Rodrick's otherwise-pale face would stick out darker in the summer, his sun kissed skin further accentuating his features.

He knew that the deep abrasion on Rodrick's hand was from his skin-picking habit, aggravating the tiny rash until there was no way that it could fully heal. Hell, he could name every source of every scar that littered his best friend's body—Ben had experienced everything with him. Running around on the beautifully-paved roads of Plainview eventually turned to learning to skateboard on the same, now careworn one-way lanes. Late nights spent at sleepovers in the Heffley living room with Juliette and Chris turned to band practices, much to Mr. Heffley's disdain.

Ben watched as Rodrick began to try and fail to court every girl he could lay his eyes on. Off the top of his head, he could name Crystal, Heather, Lyndsey, Amanda, Madison, hell, for a solid week, Ben had to hear about some random girl from Isla de Corales, until she cheated on him with a boy named Rodrigo.

And he was tired of it. But he did everything in his power to tell himself that it wasn't jealousy.

#rodrick heffley #rodrick heffley x reader #rodrick heffley ff #fanfic #fanfiction #doawk #diary of a wimpy kid #ben segal #lexa writes

[crisisproduct-blog]

NONE OF YOU ARE GOING TO HEAVEN.                  THERE’S A TRILLION ALIENS COOLER THAN YOU.

ind. sel. mutually exl. au / canon divergent. doctor who original character.

#✰ ━ ❝ COMFORTABLE TO SELL A SOUND. ❞ SELF PROMO.

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 204: Nain Rouge

“Suddenly across their path, trotting along the beach, advanced the uncouth figure of a dwarf, very red in the face, with a bright, glistening eye; instead of burning it froze, instead of possessing depth emitted a cold gleam like the reflection from a polished surface, bewildering and dazzling all who came within its focus.”

– Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin from her book, Legends of Le Détroit, 1884

Reference Links:

Nain Rouge on Wikipedia

“Myths and Legends of Our Own Land” by Charles M. Skinner on gutenberg.org

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac

“Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, founder of what is now Detroit” on RobinsonLibrary.com

Louis-Hector de Callière

Detroit, MI

Chateau St. Louis

Château Frontenac

“People of Detroit: Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac” on historydetroit.com

“The legend of Detroit’s Nain Rouge: Raising Nain” by Lee DeVito from The Detroit Metro Times

“THE RED DWARF OF DETROIT AND THE MARCHE DU NAIN ROUGE” on AbsoluteMichigan.com

1701, The Great Peace of Montreal - Part 1 of 3 on YouTube

1701, The Great Peace of Montreal - Part 2 of 3 on YouTube

1701, The Great Peace of Montreal - Part 3 of 3 on YouTube

“THE LINCOLN IMP: SURROUNDED BY MYTH AND LEGEND” on VisitLincoln.com

Will-o'-the-wisp - The Americas

John E.L. Tenney’s WeirdLectures.com website

John E.L. Tenney’s “What’s Up Weirdo” website

John E.L. Tenney’s “Realm of The Weir‪d‬” podcast

John E.L. Tenney and Jessica Knapik’s podcast on Spotify, “What's up Weirdo?”

John E.L. Tenney on Twitter

Location:

The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, possibly near where author Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin in her 1884 book, Legends of Le Détroit, says Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and his wife were strolling in the old King’s Garden, formerly “between Jefferson avenue and Woodbridge street, near the site of the present Chamber of Commerce,” when they encountered the Nain Rouge.

Related Books:

Suggested Listening:

Click here to listen to John E.L. Tenney and Jessica Knapik’s podcast on Spotify, “What's up Weirdo?”

And the What’s Up Weirdo? website

And his WeirdLectures.com website

Hear Scott and Forrest interviewed by their podcasting buddy Max Kreutzer for his comedy podcast, The Story Of, and visit his website, https://maxkreutzer.com/podcasts

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Credits:

Episode 204: Nain Rouge. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2021 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

#2021 #204 #Nain Rouge #Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac #Cadillac #Detroit #le Détroit #The Straits #Marie Caroline #Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin #Michigan #New France #Red Dwarf #goblin #hobgoblin #Iroquois #imp #prophesy #fortune teller #gypsy #Hector Louis de Callieres #Callier #Louis-Hector de Callière #Louisiana

[lonestarpost]

Episode Review - 2100 Degrees

by @lonestarbabe

9-1-1 Lone Star’s second episode of its second season, 2100°,  presents viewers an unfathomable disaster. A highly-promoed volcanic incident gives the original 9-1-1 a serious competitor in its bid for the most outlandish emergency scenario to ever be imagined. Funnily enough, the outrageousness allows the show to combine offbeat humor and character development that culminate in utter heartbreak. While the insane 9-1-1 calls may be the flashy attention-grabbers of the show, it is the character dynamics that make the show most compelling and allow the audience to suspend their disbelief and become invested in the lives of the characters. Thus, the episodes that align their attention around the characters’ lives rather than the emergencies are the most endearing. 2100° puts the characters front and center and allows the emergencies to reflect the concerns and insecurities of the characters, and it wonderfully shows the forged togetherness of the 126 and everyone in their periphery.

The episode begins with a pool party that inherently feels more dangerous in a COVID-19 world, even before the party turns into a flesh-melting horror show commences. The pool becomes the first volcanic hot spot viewers see, and the irresponsible partygoers start to live out their worst volcanic nightmares. The next scene cuts to eight hours before the party. The 126 is having a party of their own to celebrate Owen being in remission from his cancer. The event is made comical with a tumor cake that T.K. had gotten made to look like scans of Owen’s tumor. It’s no doubt an ugly cake, inscribed with the words “Tumor Slayer,” but the gesture shows how the 126 has built a family and how they have become even closer since we saw them meet way back in season 1. Cheesy tumor jokes are shared in jubilance, but there’s undeniable darkness that still looms. Owen sets the tone of the episode when he says, “I am both repulsed and moved.”

Hints of what is to come in future episodes are shown through casual moments. Carlos not-so-artfully dodges T.K.’s inquiry about meeting Carlos’ parents, Tommy sits alone and shows the insecurities she has about coming back to the job, and Owen broods rather than enjoying the party. Gwyneth tries to get Owen to not bottle things up (referring likely to their past relationship issues). Things are looking up, but there’s still a sense of unease that follows viewers into the next scene, which features a young family. They’re having a fun day at Paradise Family Fun Center. The dad seems to be in good spirits as he plays mini-golf, but his wife mentions that he is tense. Just like Owen, he is bottling his feelings up. He’s set over the edge when he misses the shot for mini golf, and it’s revealed that the family is “officially broke.” As the husband boils over, his wife is understanding. You can see the tension drop from the husband’s shoulder, but before the moment can get too comfortable, in true Lone Star fashion, the man falls into a steamy pit. This scene furthers the sense of urgency that suggests the 126 shouldn’t get too comfortable— the world is too unpredictable for comfort.

The 126 rescues the man with Marjan diving into action without waiting a beat, and while tending to the family, Tim makes a dangerous promise to a child that “Nobody is going to die today.” The minute the words are out of his mouth, it’s clear he’s said the wrong thing. Tommy scolds him about it, telling him that he wanted to make himself feel better by reassuring the child, but just scenes later, she makes similar promises to her eight-year-old twins. She feels guilty, knowing it’s never good to make promises that she can’t guarantee. She’s self-aware of her actions, and the guilt begins to spike. She is doubting her role as a leader, and she wonders if she can balance her work and family life, which is a reoccurring theme for the new character. Gina Torres excellently shows the conflict the character faces in a way that feels subtle but poignant.

Grace gets one of her few moments in the episode when a young woman named Lily is stuck in a comedically named food truck called Guac and Roll that sells vegan Tex-Mex. She is surrounded by both scorpions and lava. Yikes! Grace thinks quickly, and she’s an expert at keeping a reassuring voice as she goes through options until she finds one that works. Grace sounds so in control that it would be easy to lose track of how smartly she manages emergencies. Grace helps Lily create a dressing concoction to get the scorpions to scramble until Carlos comes and escorts Lily out.  Seeing Carlos, however briefly, always makes a scene better, and he and Grace make a pretty great team.

Back at the pool, nice girl, Elise, has badly burned herself by trying to save a jerk, who had mocked Elise for her looks, saying that she is a “Waco four.” A nicer young man, who pines for Elise, is hit by volcanic debris, which draws the attention of Tommy and Nancy. Elise and the young man are taken to safety, but the chaos only increases for the 126. Tim tends to a young man, Spence, and despite Spence’s pleading for reassurance, Tim refuses to promise that Spence will be okay, learning from his past mistakes. Unfortunately, it is at this time his words come back to haunt him. The words “Nobody’s dying today,” feel especially ominous as the volcanic debris strikes Tim and kills him right there and then. The show doesn’t take the time to even try to save him, which makes his death blink and you miss it. The speed of the tragedy shows how quickly life can take a turn for the worse, and it adds to the helpless feelings the 126 collectively has in the following scenes because they were powerless to save Tim, but they still regret that they hadn’t found a way to save him.

The final quarter of the show is fittingly dedicated to the initial grief that the team is feeling. They are despondent, and Nancy especially expresses guilt over leaving Tim. They had no choice but to leave him, and Judd’s words, “There was nothing left to work on, Nancy,” feel like a big, volcanic boulder through the viewers’ hearts. The small gestures between the 126 show the skill of the actors and the closeness of the team.  Marjan grounds T.K. with a hand on his shoulder. Judd passes Marjan a pillow after clutching it himself (just as he did when he clutched the pillow in therapy back in episode 2). Judd, incredibly familiar with the pain of losing members of his team, is a voice of reassurance and strength in the ending scenes, and this shows how much he has grown. He tells Tommy that she has added to her family, which reiterates the idea that while they have all lost so much, the 126 is still family. Prompted by Judd’s words, Tommy apologizes to Nancy for her loss, and then changes her words to say, “our loss.” You can feel in this moment, as she comforts Nancy, that Tommy is becoming more integrated into the group whereas before these episodes she only really knew Judd and Grace.

The final moments show how each of the 126 and their family members are coping with the loss. The song Hallelujah makes the scene even more heartbreaking and the startling beauty and horror of the falling ashes sets the tone of the montage. You can feel the grief of each of the characters, but there are moments of intimacy and love between the intense sorrow (and these connections make these final moments all the more painful for the viewers). These moments are some of the best images in the entire show, and they evoke so many feelings without having to overact the grief that the characters are feeling. These moments feel resigned, and the helplessness they all face is tangible. All they can do is search for the parts of their life that give them meaning and reprieve from their feelings of loss.

In these moments, Owen pets Buttercup and talks to Gwyneth about what has happened. He sits outside, after just recovering from lung cancer, and breathes in volcanic ash as he drinks tequila in a way that feels unhealthy. His survivor’s guilt from 9/11 is still strong, showing that loss doesn’t just go away over time. Marjan and Paul are together, and Marjan tearfully boxes with Paul. Mateo goes on a lone run, and you can imagine the dialogue that’s going on in his head— the pained thought that he is always in trouble. The guilt that naturally comes with such thoughts is probably intense. He runs to a church, halting in front of it as the song starts to reach its crescendo. He’s looking for meaning, and it is no coincidence that he is the one character who has no companionship in those moments. Tommy, meanwhile, tends to Buster, Tim’s kitty, who she has brought into her own family. The moment shows immense progress for Tommy, and it only took her one episode to make such large strides.

In one of the most powerful moments of the episode, we see T.K. entering Carlos’ apartment. He climbs up the stairs before falling into Carlos’ waiting arms; this instant is a glimpse of the intimacy that viewers have been wanting to see between the characters. It is a brief but painful moment. Echoing the scene between Carlos and T.K., Judd goes home to Grace, who is waiting in bed; she is still awake and pulls Judd closer. They have each other, and that is a small comfort. Judd’s face is filled with all the memories and sorrow that he has gone through in such a short time. He doesn’t close his eyes. It will be a sleepless night for everyone.

The episode was beautifully paced, and it showed the bond between the team. It emphasized relationships between characters over plots, and the balance between the characters felt more balanced. 9-1-1 Lone Star is making good progress with its characters and learning how to balance the large cast of characters. Nevertheless, the show still has work to do to make sure that the diverse characters are not objectified or ignored. Too often, characters like Grace and Carlos are used merely as puppets in other characters’ stories. For example, while Carlos was expertly played by Rafael Silva in this episode, his appearances were brief, and when he did appear, he furthered other people’s storylines, particularly T.K’s.  The future for these often neglected characters looks promising, however, and the show will make great improvements if they learn to incorporate all the core characters better. 2100° shows both the progress that 9-1-1 Lone Star needs to make, but it also

#text #episode review #january 30 2021 #issue 1 #Lone Star Post #911 lone star #contributor: lonestarbabe

[gadgetspinoy]

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[emptymasks]

wilford validates you being a cute boy // wilford warfstache x reader

So How About That Date? ( A Heist With Markiplier x Reader Collection [SFW])

Pairing: Trans! Wilford x Trans-male!/Genderfluid! Reader

Words: 1300

Rating: General Audiences

Read on Ao3

Tags: Comfort | Fluff | POV Second Person | Pet Names | Tooth-Rotting Fluff | Gender dysphoria

Notes (more notes at the end): something completely self-indulgent because i needed to hear this said to me because i'm worrying a lot about it

basically i wanna feel cute today but still be a guy and i think the ultimate 'you can be a guy and wear cute shit and pink and not be crazy masculine' advocate is wilford

Gender was frustrating.

There were so many rules and expectations being put on how you had to act if you were a boy or a girl, and then if you weren't either if you still had to be masculine or feminine or if you weren't allowed to be either. It was so stupid. You knew you were a boy, you knew you were... It was just hard to think that when you were just in such a mood to be, well, cute. You just wanted to throw on something baby blue or pink, some pride wristbands, hell if you were feeling incredibly brave and carefree maybe even a skirt, maybe even make-up? Perhaps not that much but, you couldn't explain why but you just wanted to look cute.

But that wasn't allowed, was it? You're identifying as male, so therefore you should have to want to be masculine? If anyone else told you they were feeling that way you'd tell them of course not, being a boy isn't about feeling or wanting to be masculine, and being a girl isn't about feeling or wanting to be feminine... But you're not talking to someone else... you're talking to you and that advice just feels stale on your tongue when you apply it to yourself.

You stand looking at yourself in the mirror. It'd be so easy to just grab something out of your wardrobe, it's not like you didn't own cute and pastel clothes. Wilford had bought some of them for you (he liked you to match colours sometimes, it was adorable) and some of them were from before... before you realised your gender, and you still thought they were cute. It would be so easy just to not care whether anyone else thought you were male... It's not like you were planning on even going out anywhere, you just at least wanted to feel nice inside your own home but...

"You in here, sugarplum?"

Oh no Wilford was back and he was going to see you getting all worked up.

"You okay?" He stopped in the doorway, squinting at you and looking you up and down. "You're just sorta... standing there."

"It's nothing, Will," You bit your lip and turned away from the mirror.

"Now, don't give me that, look at you. What is it?" He demeanor shifted. "Did someone hurt you?" You could feel the danger radiating off him.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," You reach out to touch him, your palms sliding on his chest. Physical contact always seemed to calm him down and ground him. "I just... I was thinking..."

"Ah, well, that's a dangerous thing to be doing."

"Yeah," You blew out a laugh. "I was thinking about me... being a boy and all, and I just... I felt like looking cute."

"Okay...?" He blinked down at you and cocked his head to the side. "Am I missing something?"

"Well... I'm a boy, I'm male, people already look at me and don't see a boy and now I want to dress in cute colours and stuff and so that makes it kind of definitive that no one will see me as male, because I won't look masculine enough..."

You bowed your head and didn't look up at Wilford. He didn't go into stoic silences often and you could feel your anxiety churning in your gut.

"Sweetness, you do know who you're talking to right? Look at me," You didn't move and he tilted your chin. "Am I at all stereotypically masculine?"

You looked at him. There was still pink hair dye lingering at the ends of his hair, which was flopping into his right eye, and covering meticulously maintained moustache. He had a pink button-up shirt rather than his usual yellow, with suspenders that bore the trans pride flag colours in their stripes connecting to pale blue trousers. He almost ruined the look by wearing those ridiculous, pink crocs.

"Okay so... not typically masculine colours, but you look good in them. You still like... The way you carry yourself and your voice and everything," You insisted.

"Well, as flattered as I am, that all took time you know, I'm sure you could master it if you worked at it, but just because you think I'm... passing better than you, doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. There's no wrong way to be you," He stroked his hands over your head. "Who are you trying to convince, hm? Who's opinion is bothering you? Because I'll have you know, cupcake, most people are idiots so it really doesn't matter what they think."

You buried your head into his shirt. "Was worried about what you'd think," You mumbled into the fabric.

Suddenly there were hands on your shoulders, pushing you back so that Wilford could see all of you. "What nonsense are you coming out with now? Why would it matter in the slightest to me?"

You looked at the floor. "Because you're hardly going to see me as your boyfriend if I look like a girl." You shifted your weight, you were not going to cry.

"Since when does wearing pink make you a girl? And even if the point is you want to look girly or feminine, why would you think that I...? You know we're in the same boat, sugar, but do I look like I'm letting what clothing people think is 'masculine' stopping me from wearing whatever I feel like?"

You shook you head.

"Right," His hands left you. "What do we have then?"

You looked up and he was rummaging through your wardrobe.

"What are you doing?" You asked.

"Finding you something cute to wear. You'll look absolutely, delectably, adorable." He turned and grinned at you and you finally started feeling more at ease as a blush tinted your cheeks.

Some of Wilford's fashion choices baffled you, but at least he knew what colours went together. There wasn't that many pieces to go through, and he held each one up to you, turning his head this way and that way, checking with you if you were comfortable wearing each item. Seeing as you didn't feel confident enough to go out he decided on something comfortable and lazy, a pair of pale pink leggings and an oversized white sweater that had a rainbow pastel rainbow stripe stretching from just under one armpit to the other. It buried you when you put it on and Wilford made the most ridiculous 'aww' or cooing sound which he assured to be because he was just so besotted with how sweet you looked.

"The finishing touch," He said as his hands brushed around your neck and he fastened on a baby pink choker. It had a metal charm of a flower, with pink stones in the petals and a white one in the centre, dangling from the centre just above the hollow of your throat. "Do you feel as cute as you look, honeybun?"

Your face heated up at the pet name, it always did every time he used one, and you managed to get yourself to nod. It was a pretty cute outfit, there was just still that worry of looking like a boy. You told yourself Wilford was right, it just mattered what you felt like not what you looked like, and he'd know, he'd been down this road just as you had.

"What do you think?" You asked tentatively, but smiling as you already knew the answer unless it had changed from the compliments he'd been giving you seconds ago."

"I think that I am incredibly lucky to have such a cute boyfriend," He leaned around to plant a kiss on your cheek, moustache tickling your skin. "I think I'm going to have to dress you up more often."

You think you'd let him as well.

Tag list: @thehalfdemonwitchfromamestris​ @rats-this-username-is-taken​​ @hamiltrash1411​​ @line-viper​​ (let me know if you’d like to be added to the tag list for my ahwm fics, also let me know if you want to be taken off the tag list)

More notes:

so listening to kirby music playlists and 'in love with a ghost' is a total mood for being in this headspace of wanting to feel cute, but also being around wilford. could super recommend ｃｈｉｌｌ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｋｉｒｂ　~　【ｌｏｆｉ　ｍｉｘ カービーミックス】

big thanks to himbo in the @yancy-support-group​ server for inspiring me to also make wilford trans in this and for giving me the cursed idea of putting him in crocs.

and if you guys could please help me out and and reblog this promo post for the heist charms, stickers and pins i'm making and selling that would mean the world! there's also the link in there to my Etsy shop where you can buy them plugging that again because i need moneys

also if you want to see the heist art i keep drawing you can follow me on instagram and twitter

#wilford warfstache #wilford warfstache x reader #wilford x reader #ahwm #a heist with markiplier #mywriting #mine #so how about that date #markiplier egos

[mattatouile]

Gwenspiration self-rec

I don’t NORMALLY do these things because LiveJournal Anon-Memes will stay with you for the rest of your goddamn life. But, in the interest of not being cowed by LiveJournal history, here, the three fics I most often allow myself to be proud of:

1) i fear no fate (for you are my fate) - season 8 canon divergence. Dany’s on the throne, ready to execute Jaime, but Brienne pleads for his life by offering to take him to Tarth as her prisoner. I just really like this one. It’s a soft, quiet sort of fic and I still think the final scene is maybe the best scene I’ve ever written. 

2)  no sweeter innocence (than our gentle sin) - season 8 canon divergence (it was a THEME for me, OKAY?). Pod dies during the Long Night. Jaime comforts Brienne. There is a minor amount of ser kink and a whole lot of gently, kind, soft Jaime: Service Sub. Also known as: Jaime helps Brienne undress and bathe and then there’s very loving explicit content. I’m not selling this well. 

Look, it’s the fic with my most popular line: 

"I want you to look at me and know I'm not a ghost before I sink inside of you so deeply you won't remember what it was like to be separate bodies."

3) waiting to be consumed by you  - book 3/season 3 (i guess?) canon divergence. That fic where Jaime is a vampire. It sounds . . . well, it probably sounds really dumb. But I’ve worked super hard on it and tried really, really hard to make sure that the backstory actually makes sense as a canon divergence and that the story stays close enough to canon that it feels like an AU of book 3 and not just an original story I tried to shove Jaime and Brienne on top of. 

I’m just stupidly proud of this dumbass fic. That’s all. 

--

self promo is hard.

#self-rec? #LIVEJOURNAL SCARS US ALL! #i write things #sometimes #WHY DO I WANT TO APOLOGIZE FOR THIS #BYE #DON'T LOOK AT ME #don't hate me :((((

[cupidcore]

hi fashion icon 💖 im not technically out yet how can i show im lesbian by what i wear without being too "explicit"? i know this sounds weird but i literally dont know any lesbians irl :/ love u (and sorry for my bad english!)

me!!!? a fashion icon oh ily thank you!

there is no way to show your a lesbian through clothing unless ur wearing a shirt that says lesbian on it lmao! but there is "typical" lesbian wear i guess!

all my baby lesbian clothes were lots of plaids! so depending on your style plaids with jeans or leggings or skirts! I also wore lots of button ups! i tucked in like a lot of my shirts!

here a shameless self promo! im selling my baby lesbian clothes (as well as art and custom Chain belts and pants) on depop

and if you feel comfortable there are clothes with rainbow themes!

these are from h&m. i have the third one but i got it from a thrift store! very comfy!

lesbian fashion on whole is daring funky and fun. so if you are comfortable to don't be afraid to wear non mainstream clothes! (e.g my style is very nu-gothic)

please don't force yourself to wear things you are uncomfortable with though! if you can be more specific with your style or presentation, i can give you a better guide!

good luck! and your english was fine mwah!

#asks #anonymous #advice

[coup-de-maine]

How to enter a fandom - RPC

Hey guys, time for a friendly PSA from yours truely~

So I’ve been in and out of a lot of fandoms, made friends, enemies, frenemies, grave mistakes and happy accidents. I also see a lot of people come in other fandoms. Most of yall do great but I see some people carry in this weird sort of self deprecating attitude that can immediately turn rpers away from them, which results in; more of that self deprecation. So Im here to hopefully help out with the best ways to enter a fandom or an rpc, make your presence known and make lots of wonderful friends.

Now the first, and most important thing, and I notice a ton of people struggle with it is:

General attitude. 

Let me give two examples of some first time posts.

“Hey! I’m new to the fandom. I know my bio and my theme sucks but would anyone like to rp? Maybe?”

VS.

“Hey! I’m new to the fandom. My bio and rules are located here, though they’re still under construction I’m really eager to develop them with interactions!”

Now I know the first one is tempting for a lot of reasons. You might not even feel like its all that bad, but up next to the second one it actually sounds a little...depressing, monotone, dry. Even though they start the same, one ends with me feeling like: this person really doesn’t put effort into things, they dont even really want to be here. All my threads with them are going to be lazily written or probably written with half baked enthusiasm.

The second person is happy to be here, eager to interact, admits that since they’re a new blog not everything is perfect. Yet, they don’t talk down on themselves or make it seem like anyone who talks to them will only be taking pity on them.

This is actually a big problem I see in the rpc. Making people take pity on you for interactions and the rule with that is simple:

don’t make people feel like they have to take pity on you. 

It’s a knee jerk reaction, I know. We’re all awkward humans on the internet who want to play up our faults. Who wants to say “My stuff is SO awesome! It’s the best”??? 

Well. You do. You’re new to a fandom. People already have established relationships, character arks, possibly with another version of the muse youre playing. Backstories so detailed it’ll make your head spin. You are literally selling yourself to these other rpers. Don’t sell them “A vacuum cleaner that sucks. No, not sucks up the dirt, it just sucks. Like me, Im trash and dont even have a working vacuum” No one wants to buy a vacuum cleaner that sucks.

Hate to break it to you, but when you say you suck, or your stuff sucks; people are gunna believe you. Or they’re just gunna pity you. And thats not great either. 

Heck you might think; why not? So long as they rp with me, whats wrong with that? 

Well... lots of things but mostly; pity isn’t a good feeling. Nobody wants to feel guilted into rping with you. Imagine seeing someone on your dash constantly posting about how no one likes them, their character or interacting with them. How they wanna die because they never get asks, no one likes their starters. (Sound extreme? I’ve seen it.) It makes you feel bad right? It makes you wanna like them but like- where do you even start??? They don’t even like them?? What common ground do you have?? “Hey, I see you hate yourself... uh... I hate you too?” Not great. Actually bad. You don’t know how to approach this person without becoming an emotional crutch, and you know they’ll latch on to you and suck every positive emotion out of your body so how do you win?

So lesson one is; People don’t want to be forced to feel so bad that they rp with you, they want to feel inspired to. Inspire some dudes! (or non-dude identifying people)

Presentation!

This is everything. Present yourself. You don’t need flashy icons or a cool promo- let me tell you, I’ve made some shitty promos in my life. See Here

That was my promo for a long as time. Until it was THIS that a friend made for me (A friend that I made. Through how awesome I presented myself. Thanks Vee, if you see this I still love you)

I can’t stress enough how important attitude is because I’ve had both a shitty attitude and a great one in the RPC and let me tell you, nothing kills a blog faster than a shitty attitude. Wanna make a self deprecating posts about that meme that you got 0 asks for? NUH UH. Think again. PITY = BAD, SHORT LASTING FRIENDSHIPS. INSPIRED = SUPER AWESOME HAPPY FUN TIMES FOREVER.

Yo, present yourself in a way that makes people wanna approach you. Get them interested, say something wacky or edgy or if your character is self deprecating then self deprecate through them but DO IT IN A FUN WAY. The people who care about icons and fancy promos usually aren’t worth lasting friendships either. Sometimes they literally spend more time formatting than writings something worth while for you. (some of you really balance it and just love formatting but u know im not talking about u Im talking about those that literally wont talk to us that dont)

So present yourself well and be genuine.

--- WAIT WAIT WAIT- be genuine?? What if my genuine self is self deprecating and negative? 

[JOHNNY TEST NOISE] 

HELL NO shut the what up I know you’re not, I know that’s a reflex to cover up how insecure you are, I know you hate how pathetic and small you feel so you point out all the things wrong with you before someone else can. That’s not you, and you are capable of more than that.

Dude. (and non-dude identifying peeps) I’m gunna say it again. I’m gunna say it a million times; one day it will sink in. Everybody feels that way. 

What?? Octo ur so cool and confident tho

You know how you never noticed?? CANT SEE MY HANDS SHAKE THROUGH THE COMPUTER.

DONT KNOW HOW LONG I HESITATED BEFORE SENDING THAT ASK MEME TO YA.

The internet is a playground because you can trick people into believing whatever you want about yourself. YEP even good things!!! You don’t have to wear your flaws on your sleeve, and you certainly don’t have to wear them like a full body cast that prevents you from doing anything fun in your life.

Take the cast off, take a risk. You literally have nothing to lose. Especially if no one interacts with you as is anyways.

Be mindful

This is more of a trick I use to make myself feel better. I don’t follow a lot of people so my dash is pretty slow. It’s fairly easy to tell when people are and aren’t active/online so I literally have to trick myself sometimes but;

If you reblog a meme and get nothing, step back and ask yourself; am I sure anyone even saw it? and are the people who did maybe to shy to send anything? Or maybe nothing in that meme applies to their character.

As a mute character I am VERY restricted to what memes I reply to. As a character who speaks VERY LITTLE I am VERY restricted to what dialogues I can send at all. This means I’m required to edit memes a little (this is allowed by most meme creators btw) or I need a very good relationship with a character in order to say/sign that many words at them.

And worse case scenario, queue it and reblog it again/later. Its no biggie, some memes don’t make it.

Self reflect

Check out people on the dash. Do they have interactions? What are they like? Is their character more welcoming? Maybe you’re character is more intimidating. You might need to actually seek out interaction.

Tumblr has this huge enigma where everyone wants asks but no one wants to send them. Curious anons come from someone, magic anons come from your peers, followers, friends. Some of them are pretty obvious. Want asks? Send them. We really need to get the ball rolling with this because its honestly a problem. Show some initiative and reach out. It actually feels pretty good seeing someone react to your outrageous anon. And its a lot of stress relief if you play an otherwise very serious character to get to branch out and be silly.

So you send asks, you like starter calls- why isn’t it working?

Well, a stranger knocks on your door and tries to get to know you. Its a little awkward- it can work sure in some cases. But in most you’ll probably close the door and phone the police.

The RPC isn’t as strange as that but what’s easier? Talking to a muse you’ve never met from a blog you’ve never seen before? Or writing a thread with your best bud, throwing in inside jokes and references to your favourite shows- teasing each other about that one embarrassing thing that happened to your muse- yeah. Yeah you get it.

If you have history or at least an idea what someone is like, you will want to interact with them more. I don’t know if you’re some mean... meanie pants whos gunna smack my muse because he offered you a cookie. And maybe you are, but if I don’t know you, or know that your muse is deeply traumatized by cookies, I might take that as you saying “Ew no get away I never wanna rp with you”.

It sounds harsh, but I KNOW it happens. It STILL happens to me, even with people I’m friends with. Even if someone has multiple blogs and I get on fine with one muse, if the other hates me I might get uneasy about sending in asks cause I feel like I’m directly bothering the mun (who I love on this blog but WHAT IF THEY START HATING ME THERE TOO???)

Separation is tricky. We all get jealous or feel neglected when our partners focus on another thread/ship or send mean angsty replies which is why its important to check yourself remind yourself you have value, mun =/= muse and that it’s all in good fun.

Have Rules

UGH no!!! Not rules I hate rules, I dont want to restrict anyone!

Listen. I get it. I was a rule-less blog for a long time. But you know what? You need them. Not just for you, but for the people who wanna interact. I still feel the need to ask people who have rules what they are and aren’t comfortable with. You might not realize it but shit can go down in rps especially in certain fandoms. Even if its just the basics. Write them. They matter.

Unless you’re fine with someone literally controlling your character, or a blog you dont even follow who RPs David Letterman tags you in a smutty thread where your muse and him are married and he’s heavily pregnant with 4 narwal baby’s I- I think you can see where I’m going.

If its just the basics, thats fine, everyone loves seeing that. No god modding, not forced shipping, ect- great. Less for me to remember. Add to it if you need to. Everyone experiences rp different. Make your experience a comfortable one.

(And stay tf away from me Preggo-letterman)

Step away.

If you’re feeling negative, just step away. Do not make a big post about it alerting everyone who follows you because they might not all respond well. If you have close friends in then fandom you can go to, talk to them, vent a little, or just remove yourself and get those feelings out. But remember that no one here is equipped to be your therapist, and we cant all be expected to take the burden from you. It is up to you to regulate your emotions. Use coping skills but please don’t make the fandom or your blog a toxic place to be.

You don’t feel good, and no one reading your posts feels good, and building friendships on not feeling good is just... completely not good.

Im not saying you must be sunshine and rainbows all the time, but feeling bad feels bad and even though rping is just a hobby and a past time you are still reaching into other peoples lives. Leave a good impact, try to be someone you would want to meet in the rpc. Make it a better place.

Tips and Tricks

If you leave with nothing else, please take these:

Send Messages. 

IM people, send them asks, get to know them before RPing.

Be kind.

Be generous.

Be enthusiastic.

Be happy.

#PSA!!! #Im so so so SO sorry its so long #I tried really hard to make it entertaining #anyways I just get a lot of people asking me how to enter the RPC and... #I wish I had heard this shit when I started lmao #rp #tumblr rp #roleplay

[crisisproduct-blog]

tags!

#✰ ━ ❝ BLACKPINK IS THE REVOLUTION. ❞ TANISHA TALKS. #✰ ━ ❝ A LONELY SONG THAT'LL PLAY FOREVER. ❞ PANDORA. #✰ ━ ❝ SWEET RUSSIAN ROULETTE. ❞ CHARACTER STUDY. #✰ ━ ❝ STARRY NIGHT. ❞ MEME. #✰ ━ ❝ SMARTER THAN YOU'LL EVER BE. NO OFFENCE. ❞ IC ANSWER. #✰ ━ ❝ HIT YOU WITH THAT DDU DU DDU DU. ❞ OOC ANSWER. #✰ ━ ❝ GRAND THEFT AUTUMN. ❞ CALL. #✰ ━ ❝ I'M IMMATURE. I HAVE NO FEAR. ❞ OPEN. #✰ ━ ❝ AS IF IT'S YOUR LAST. ❞ CLOSED. #✰ ━ ❝ MY LOVE IS ON FIRE. ❞ PROMO. #✰ ━ ❝ COMFORTABLE TO SELL A SOUND. ❞ SELF PROMO. #✰ ━ ❝ IF MY PENCIL AND MY ANGER CAN AGREE TO SUMMARISE. ❞ PSA. #✰ ━ ❝ I'M A BROKEN RECORD. ❞ HEADCANON. #✰ ━ ❝ I ONLY SMILE EASILY FOR MYSELF. ❞ AESTHETIC. #✰ ━ ❝ I KNOW YOU WANNA TOUCH. ❞ BAIT. #✰ ━ ❝ SPACE CASE. ❞ TBD. #✰ ━ ❝ THERE'S A TRILLION ALIENS COOLER THAN YOU. ❞ MAIN. #✰ ━ ❝ THE NEXT BIG ADVENTURE. ❞ TRAVELLER. #✰ ━ ❝ I AM TRYING TO QUEUE ETERNAL LOVE HERE. ❞ QUEUE.

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 202: The Scrying Game

“The scryer does not seek reflections, but visions.”

– Donald Tyson, author of "Scrying for Beginners: Use Your Unconscious Mind to See Beyond the Senses

Description:

Who among us hasn't wanted to know the future or have insight into the hidden, at least in passing? From the first instance a human had a premonition that came true, it seems likely that the adventurous who were shocked and astounded wondered how those without the "gift" could duplicate this impossible experience. Then, when someone stared too intently into a reflective pool of liquid, a glowing ember, or even the night sky, and experienced an extrasensory perception, a technique and its medium are discovered to tap into a sixth sense. Practiced now for millennia, this procedure for obtaining occult information has become known as scrying. One interesting observation is that although there are general guidelines for preparing oneself and performing a scrying session, many mediums can facilitate the phenomenon. It appears that any object can be used that can capture the light and dazzle the eye, or a reflective surface that can offer deep introspection or a dark void that focuses the senses. But then the burning question becomes, how does this process work, and from where does the information come? Does this "second sight" materialize from deep within ourselves, external omniscience, or some combination of both? In tonight's episode, we'll look at the elements, the history, and the concepts behind this ancient and mysterious means of knowing the unknowable.

Reference Links:

Scrying on Wikipedia

The 1992 motion picture, The Crying Game

Samhain

Lori Williams’ Controlled Remote Viewing website IntuitiveSpecialists.com

Russell Targ

Crystal Gazing – Its History and Practice, with a Discussion of the Evidence for Telepathic Scrying, by Northcote W. Thomas, M.A.

Benjamin, from the Old Testament or “Hebrew Bible”

“The Forgotten Art of Scrying” by Fernando S. Gallegos on ExploringTraditions.com

Bernardino de Sahagún

Moctezuma II

Nostradamus

John Dee

Edward Kelley

“Notes on John Dee’s Aztec Mirror” by Ed Simon on NorthernRenaissance.org

Horace Walpole

“Making a Sigilum Dei Aemeth out of Wax [Esoteric Saturdays]” on YouTube

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Thelema

“Joseph Smith's "Magic" Glasses and Other Bizarre Objects from Mormonism” on ranker.com

Related Books:

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Credits:

Episode 202: The Scrying Game. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2021 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

#202 #2021 #scrying #Nostradamus #John Dee #crystal ball #asphaltum #Snow White #Magic Mirror #Bloody Mary #Candyman #obsidian #mirror #magic mirror #fortune telling #tarot #palm reading #psychic #medium #future #predict

[xxalatteteaxx]

GIANT PROMO FOR MY BLOG!!!

Well I’m going to be promoting my blog a bit! I really want my characters to become known, and get out there and interact with others! I want to be an active part of the Cuphead fandom! I just wanna have fun! So I hope this shameless self promo will help me accomplish that! 

Anywho here’s a MASTER list of all my characters SO FAR and some backstories surrounding them. Maybe if you get to know my characters a little more, curiosity will spark and you’ll be intrigued to interact with them! Who knows anywho here they are!!!

Name: Pumpkin Spicella Latte {{ Nicknames: Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin, Pumpy, Pumpkaboo, Puddin, P.Pie, Kinny }}

Age: 20

Gender: Ambiguous

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic homosexual

Relationship status: Single

Backstory:

Pumpkin lives on Inkwell isle with their half sibling, Teacup. Pumpkin and Teacup work at a family run bakery by the name of Sweet N’ Spicy Delights. Their parents are no longer among the living, but their grandparents, who own the bakery, are still around. Pumpkin loves making sweet and spicy treats, and always lets costumers have free samples of their treats.

Name: Teacup/Teakettle {{ Nickname: T.C. Tia, Kettie}}

Age: 18

Gender: Ambiguous

Romantic/Sexual orientation: biromantic bisexual

Relationship status: Single

Backstory:

Teacup lives on Inkwell Isle with their half sibling, Pumpkin. While Pumpkin likes making sweet and spicy treats, Teacup on the other hand loves making cold sweets, like icecream, fruit pops, and other such treats. One of Teacup’s favorite things to make is icecream cake. Teacup can also make cakes for different occasions such as a birthday or even a wedding.

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Name: Rootbeer Float {{ Nicknames: Rue, Rooty/Rootie, Rubie, Root/Rooter, Ru-Ru, Rb, B., Flo }}

Gender: Male {{ But doesn’t mind what pronouns are used for him. }}

Age: No set age, but he is an adult

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic homosexual

Relationship status: Single

Personality: Timid, shy, honest, caring, considerate, eccentric, sly -when he wants to be-, can be charming/flirty when he comfortable around the person he’s being flirty with. Despite being timid and shy, he can be very brave when he needs to be.

Backstory:

Rootbeer lives just on the outskirts of Inkwell. He’s a shy fellow who mostly keeps to himself. Rootbeer was kicked out of his home at the age of 14 by his neglectful and unsupportive parents. Rootbeer built his house by his own hands, and survived on the streets for four years, before he was able to build his home. He took refuge in homeless shelters and did odd jobs just to make money. He was mugged quite often and he almost made a deal with the Devil for riches beyond his wildest imagination. But a kind elderly woman kept him from doing so, and he and the elderly woman became good friends. At the age of 18 Rootbeer had built his home and the elderly woman, with no living relatives left moved in with him. Sadly, the elderly woman has passed away, her last wish was to be cremated and that her dust be sprinkled underneath a cherry blossom tree. Rootbeer honored her wishes and did just that. Rootbeer is now trying to make a living in the music industry.

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Name: Dustella Bunnie Cinders {{ Nicknames: Duzzy, Duzzles, Dustie }}

Gender: Nonbinary but goes by female pronouns.

Age: A legal adult

Personality: Meek, naive, easily frightened, but when they are around those they knows well they are open, zany, free spirited and outspoken.

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic asexual

Relationship status: Single

Backstory:

Dustella lives outside of Inkwell isle as a farmer. She lives with her grandfather and the manage the farm by themselves. Her grandmother, although still around, cannot work because of her arthritis. Dustella loves working the farm, but her dream is to become a big star through singing and earn enough money so her grandparents can have a peaceful retirement. That and so Dustella can help fix up the farm.

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Name: Claudia Cirrusula Accumalita {{ Claudie, Clu, Chloe, Dia }}

Gender: Agender

Age: ??? Do clouds even age, I don’t know. Eh fck it they are an adult!

Personality: Zesty and always full of cheer. They are wacky and silly, not afraid to speak their mind. They aren’t afraid to show off and they aren’t afraid to express themselves, no matter what others may think.

Romantic/Sexual orientation: panromantic pansexual

Relationship status: Single

Backstory:

Claudia runs a boutique where they make fashionable clothes for all ages. They love fashion, its their whole world. There’s nothing they are more passionate about than the world of fashion. They are not interested in anything that has already been done, but only what will be. Claudia is always looking for inspiration for new and unique ideas for outfits. They also host a monthly fashion show, The gets to have their own line of clothing displayed in Claudia’s boutique, so they can advertise their own brand of fashion. Claudia’s parents are very rich, and are proud of Claudia’s accomplishments. Often paying for very expensive vacations and other such things for Claudia. However, despite Claudia’s accomplishments and the pride of their parents, Claudia isn’t always a bundle of joy. Claudia wants nothing more than to spend time with their parents, but due to work schedules and other such matters it is hard for them and their parents to take time off to hang out.

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Name: Marshie Amanita {{ Nicknames: Mars, Mari, Mai }}

Gender: Male

Age: Adult

Species: Anthro Mushroom

Personality: He’s very reckless and bold. He loves pranking people, but can also be very lazy. Making puns is his favorite thing to do. But he’s a hopeless romantic and can’t flirt worth a damn, he freezes up around other guys. He’s often mistaken for a female, due to wearing female clothing and his soft feminine sounding voice.

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic homosexual

Relationship status: Single

Backstory:

Marshie is Claudia’s fashion model. Marshie was adopted by Claudia’s parents after Marshie’s birth parents died. Marshie’s mother died of cancer and his father committed suicide by hanging himself. Marshie has always loved fashion since he was little, and when Claudia was old enough to start their own boutique, Marshie asked to be a model. Claudia accepted, and now Marshie is happily modeling for Claudia.

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Name: Raimen Eduardo Payne {{ Nicknames: Ramen and Ray }}

Gender: Male

Species: Ramen Noodle head object.

Age: 22

Personality: Raimen is very nonchalant and laid back. He’s not much for a conversation and would much rather just listen to people talk, than actually talk to them himself. 

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic homosexual

Relationship status: Single

Raimen makes money by selling noodle based dishes he makes himself. He sets up a food stand and just waits for costumers. He also has a horrible smoking habit and suffers from insomnia. He often suffers from pain caused by his fibromyalgia. Which causes him to not get enough sleep, making him also suffer insomnia as well. He doesn’t have the best of health and gets ill often.

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Name: Razzmatazz {{ Nicknames: Raz, Razzie, Razzles, Razzle Dazzle, Rara }}

Gender: Male

Age: Adult

Species: Anthro moth

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic homosexual

Relationship status: Single

Personality: He’s very quiet and reserved, keeping to himself most of the time. Razz is very much an introvert and doesn’t do well in crowds. But he’s a good listener and a great advice giver. 

Backstory: Not much is known about Raz, other than the fact that he doesn’t seem to talk at all. Many people wonder if he’s mute, considering he writes down what he wants to say and shows it to whoever he’s talking to. He seems to want to become an author of novels and poems.

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Name: Dimitri {{ Nicknames: Dim, Dimi, The Dster }}

Gender: Male - he/him pronouns

Brush type: paint brush

Age: Legal adult

Romantic/Sexual orientation: biromantic bisexual

Relationship status: Single

Personality:  spontaneous, zany, go with the flow, can be somewhat lazy, can be bold/reckless, he’s also a sassy boy who isn’t afraid to express himself.

Backstory: Dimitri’s family died at sea. A horrible storm sunk their family’s private boat and he was place in the orphanage until he was old enough to inherit the family fortune. He doesn’t talk about his past much, but he’s mostly moved on from it. The only thing that really gets to him is watching his sister being swept away by large waves in the storm.

Name: Raine/Rain {{ Nicknames: Rain Mc Grump <- Dimitri likes to call him that }}

Gender: Male - he/him pronouns

Brush type: thinner brush

Age: legal adult

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic asexual

Relationship status: Single

Personality: lone-wolf, gruff, moody, very sensitive, sometimes rather cold and blunt. Can be dreadfully sarcastic and rude.

Backstory: Raine’s family died when fire blazed through their family mansion. Raine blocks that night out and refuses to speak of it. He was placed in the same orphanage as Dimitri and Dimitri was the only one who attempted to be friends with him. Raine tried to push Dimitri away, but they soon became friends over time. And now Raine considers Dimitri his brother. Dimitri adopted Raine as his younger sibling and they both moved into the mansion Dimitri’s parents used to own.

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Name: Ross Riaz  {{ Nicknames: Ro, Ruben, Ros-Ros, Rossie }}

Gender: Genderless but goes by male pronouns

Age: He’s ageless, but is a legal adult

Species: Anthro gem 

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Unknown but is rumored to be gay due to the fact that he doesn’t seem interested in woman. 

Relationship status: ???

Personality: Ross is cunning and sly, his suave nature is charming and alluring. He’s a smooth talker and has talked his way out of tough spots before.He’s also very flirty, but he seems to have no interest in any female that makes advances on him.

Occupation: Fashionista by day - part of a mafia organization by night. But this mafia targets known criminals. Like serial killers, rapists, pedos etc etc. They don’t do drugs and don’t go after innocents. They’re a large group of vigilantes and Ross is their boss.

Backstory: Ross grew up the single child of a single mother. His mother was a stripper and a prostitute, but it was only due to the fact that she couldn’t make enough money to survive otherwise. They grew up in the slums and were very poor, Ross used to be the target of many street thugs. He has escaped death multiple times. He almost died five times during his childhood, once by almost drowning, the other time he and his mother were victims of an arson attack by street thugs, the other three times he was beaten and left for dead in allies. Now that he’s the leader of a mafia, albeit it’s a mafia that punishes criminals, he’s the target of many criminals and he is dodging assassination attempts on almost a regular basis. The only other time his life was in danger was before he created his own mafia, but no one knows what happened to him. Whenever that life threatening situation is brought up, he becomes uneasy and seemingly terrified. This is the only time Ross ever shows fear in front of anyone. All he says is that it doesn’t matter what happened to him, all that matters is that he lived. And that’s that. Who knows what he is hiding and what other secrets he has buried?

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Name: Nebula Cosmos Lunetta

Gender: Genderless - goes by any pronouns

Species: Comula-Nebulis {{ A Comet space alien }}

Romantic orientation:  Abroromantic {{ experiences a fluid or rapidly changing romantic attraction to different gender expressions. }}

Sexual Orientation: Demisexual {{ Has to have a deep and close bond with someone, before any sexual desires form. }}

Relationship status: Single

Age: Unknown

Backstory:

Nebula is a mysterious creature, an alien comet. Not much is known about Nebula, the only thing that is known is that they love to serve others. They are very mysterious and their personality is one that is yet to be explained.The only thing that is known about Nebula is that they crash landed from outerspace and that they are a butler for Azura

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Name: Azurette/Azura Sapphiris Okeley {{ Nicknames: Azzie, Azu, Azurrie }}

Gender: ???

Species: Blue Hibiscus

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Unknown

Relationship status: ???

Personality: Azura is very soft spoken, they are a tender and loving soul, who is always willing to help others. Their kindness is their greatest strength but also their greatest weakness, because being kind could end up being their undoing. Despite their sweet and generous nature, Azura’s sense of humor is rather odd. They more often than not will laugh at anyone’s jokes no matter how awful they are. Azura is polite and chivalrous, and if someone is in trouble Azura will be there to assist. Azura isn’t afraid of confrontation and will stand up for others and isn’t afraid to defend others who are either being mugged or assaulted. Azura will even face off with someone wielding a weapon. This often lands Azura in the hospital, but Azura doesn’t mind it.

Backstory:

Azura being born into a rich family, doesn’t have to work a day in their life. But they choose to do so anyways. Azura has many interests and part time jobs. Thankfully their work schedule for their part time jobs never interact. Azura is a part time model for Claudia and a part time maid for the Sweet N’ Spicy Delights bakery. Azura’s full time job is a florist, they own their own flower shop. Azura’s hobbies include painting and volunteering and local animal shelters whenever they can. But by night, Azura is none other than a member of Ross’s Mafia. Azura is only called in for important missions and is Ross’s right hand and the main cook for the Mafia. It is rumored that Ross and Azura are a thing, but this has never been proven.

Name: Violetto Mauve Lumina (( Nicknames: Vio, Violet, Vivi ))

Gender: Male {{ But doesn’t mind what pronouns are used for him. }}

Age: Early 20s

Romantic/Sexual orientation: Homoromantic homosexual

Relationship status: Single

Personality: Vio is a lone-wolf. He prefers to keep to himself and doesn’t like confrontation. He is always polite even to the most horrid of ruffians. He is very trustworthy and devoted to those he sees as friends and family. However he is sometimes naive to a fault and that can land him in trouble. He’s very empathetic and generous beyond what most people would expect of a lone-wolf like him to be.

Backstory: Not much is known about Vio except that he lives in a mansion on a lonely hill and writes stunning fantasy novels. It seems he and his sister are the only residents of the mansion. He made his fortune through his hit-seller novels. He is often seen around town hastily getting what he needs and going back to the mansion. His sister is rarely seen with him at any point in time.

Name: Sakura Esme Lumina {{ Nicknames: Sakie, Essie, Kura, Blossom }}

Gender: female

Age: in her 20′s

Romantic/Sexual orientation: biromantic bisexual

Relationship status: Single

Personality: Sakura is a gentle and kind soul, she’s a pacifist and seeing violence of any sort causes her pain. She sees beauty in things that others often miss. She is soft spoken and endearing, she is very patient and always tries to see the good inside of everyone. Even if people tell her that someone’s a lost cause, she will never give up on anyone. She is very sensitive to those around her and will share in their pain.

Backstory: 

Sakura grew up with Violetto in their mansion with their rich family. However, the family had a falling out. And they cut some ties with some of the family members. Violetto was able to buy back the mansion and now he and his sister own the mansion. Sakura can be seen tending the gardens, tending to hurt or sick animals, and finally singing and dancing around the grounds. Especially at night. Sakura used to work for an orphanage but that was before... the unfortunate event and she had to quit. Sakura, not wanting to give up work, because she feels antsy without something to do, runs a small flowershop right next to the mansion. Sakura is hardly seen anywhere except her flowershop and inside the mansion. Her brother worries about her immensely and often treats her like she’s a fragile flower.  

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And there you have it! There’s all my Cuphead ocs! I hope you enjoyed reading all about them! I can’t wait to be an active member of this wonderful fandom, and make awesome friends! If you’d like to help me out, hit that reblog button~

But don’t feel obligated to do so, but it would be appreciated!

ALatteTea mun out!

PEACE!~

#Blog promo time #All my Cuphead ocs #Here you go one and all #Here's all of them so far! #Pumpkin Spice #Teacup.Teakettle #Rootbeer #Dustella #Claudia #Raimen #Razzmatazz the moth #Dimitri the paint brush #Raine the thinner brush #Ross Riaz the ruby #Azurette.Azura the blue hibiscus

[elizabethrobertajones]

13x03 watching notes

The Saga Of Dean’s Fluctuating Grief Scruff

Berens has made me cry exponentially more in each of his episodes for a while. At this rate I will cry 6-9 times in this episode, so I really hope we break the streak.

I'm so pumped for this episode.

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Hahaha me 10 seconds ago: fuk u berens don't make me cry

recap: how about we paste "goodbye Cas" over the shot of Dean kneeling by dead Cas?

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I have returned with my stuffed toy umbreon "taako from eevee" and I have hugs

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OH NO Jack recap, pasting Lucifer over him in awful flashes and trying to sell his dark side even though he is a squishy.

WELP they're going right there with the Sam drinking blood parallel with Dean saying when has anything ever gone right for us. Is Jack going to Fuck Up today? Or is that just emotional backstory?

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Awww Missouri's BFF. I love her already.

I guess this guy is the wraith. I think I remember him from the promos.

Hey, here's the tarot cards. They're for the MotW

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The wraith was in the mirror that's behind them but it didn't show his face all wraith-y. Pfft.

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Uhoh, Dean's music is different... Brb need to get a Mittens on the line.

The only word I caught was wall and then we cut to no music and Jack marvelling at the brickwork.

Okay, Mittens told me the song and I looked it up and yeah it's the Rolling Stones and completely romantically neutral.

This is the bit we got:

Mama says yes, Papa says no, Make up you mind 'cause I gotta go. Gonna raise hell at the Union Hall, Drive myself right over the wall.

I almost think it was chosen just because Jack was pawing at the wall.

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Jack being fascinated with the bricks in both 13x01 when Sam was ASKING him about the portals between universes, and now when he's just pawing at the bricks reeeally makes me feel like Jack has a fascination with the brick and mortar pattern, like these lines between the solid planes are somehow tickling at whatever deep down cosmic part of himself knows about the portals. If he's still figuring it out or something.

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Oh no here's the awful promo that nearly made me cry last night.

I am so sad that Jack's been hiding in his room.

It is adorable how he looks at the data stick, like, getting it's important but totally baffled about HOW and what to DO with it. Sam's starting to take for granted that Jack is a bit more... well, together, than he actually is. The real question is does Sam know he was stabbing himself?  That's such a hard thing for Dean to tell Sam, and not betray empathy to Jack - unless he grumpily delivers the news and legs it :P

But yeah, anyway. Sam expecting Jack to be able to do things he can't, maybe starting to take Jack's fast learning for granted when it comes to how he's managed to adapt to burgers and reading and stuff. He's still a 4-5 day old person, and he's never done this before... Sam hands him the USB stick without even stopping to think at first that Jack might not be capable of using it...

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*stares at Sam staring at Jack* I think he's feeling deeply sympathetic - I reblogged some meta about how they have a shared experience here but Jack's getting so much more than Sam ever did. Ironically, I was gonna make a parallel to Home, without stopping to think that Missouri is here but let's call it a real meta parallel then - Mary saying even 3 words to Sam in Home was the most Sam had ever seen of her in his entire life and the most words he could remember her saying to him, ever. Of course Mary and Kelly were/are paralleled as mothers, and Kelly to Jack will be a much more pure image because she never did anything dark or made any deals - he's born because she had no idea she was sleeping with Lucifer, so even though Mary was put in an AWFUL place she made the deal with enough accountability she is held responsible for it, and FEELS responsible for it. Since Jack's powers are already being textually paralleled to Sam and his demon blood I think this is an interesting thing to put a pin in.

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MIIIISSOURI HELLO

She sounds and looks almost exactly the same. It's been THIRTEEN YEARS what the hell

She looked older in 1x09

maybe it's just the different colour schemes and lighting these days :P

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Oh no and we're back to Kelly

Her words are so important in a kind of free will exposition way. She's so proud of him!!!

"YOU HAVE AN ANGEL WATCHING OVER YOU"

I know I sobbed about that in 12x23 a bit but just... the reminder, right now. In this episode where we have been teased that Cas is going to be around again (I miss him so much)... I think it's interesting because Kelly tells Jack that no one can tell him who he can be (which I think may be a problem long term that Sam is interested in moulding him so even TFW aren't a completely safe bet to hang out with for Jack to gain a sense of personhood - he'll have to fly the nest eventually) but then she reminds Jack that an angel is watching over him. Obviously she is a Good Person in the show's narrative, and angels in her perspective are good (because Cas was kind to her) and Cas specifically is AWESOME and this is the reminder that Cas is Jack's father now apparently and all... but it's also setting him aside in a way. I think perhaps Jack needs to come to terms with what Cas is that isn't exactly his FATHER per se but also isn't just the angel on his shoulder, in the exact same way Dean needs to realise Cas isn't his BROTHER per se but also not just the angel on his shoulder. It's that grey area. In Jack's case, it's because a reckoning with Lucifer and understanding the potential darkness in him, or his legacy as being Lucifer's son, can't be ignored. Cas can't be pasted on top of it for his deep down personal understanding, and Kelly mentions the father and Castiel as separate entities. The father doesn't define what Jack is... Cas has a more neutral position, a guiding one... But I think some wires may be crossed with Jack, too, that has given Cas absolute fatherhood in such a way that it's going to be GREAT for Jack to set his moral compass by such a well-meaning good character who seems to want the best for Jack, but it can't be his entire understanding of himself.

...

Sorry for just throwing a Destiel parallel into all that but it fascinates me that tbh Sam is like the only one who doesn't have a complicated relationship with Cas. I guess also Mary got to grips with him around 12x09, but then also didn't have a whole bunch of contact with him... On the other hand in my Christmas fic I haven't even got the remotest idea what it will be about yet but will feature all the current living characters in a fluffy Christmas scenario, I'm pretty much ready for Cas and Mary to be the chillest friends :P

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LOL Sam and Dean talking about how long since they saw Missouri "what has it been a decade?" "MORE" Yeah you FUCKS she said to stay in touch. DON'T BE STRANGERS.

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That is a cold sweat moment for Dean, like... fuck I haven't ever even sent her a CHRISTMAS CARD

Maybe he sees her name in John's journal sometimes and does send her one.

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Awww and Sam was talking to Jody off-screen, which I love because that is my JAM

*badum tish*

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Dean is alarmed that Sam handed off the case to her, because he wanted to leave the freaking house and get awaaay from Jack

He's not that concerned about Jody.

I mean, rationally, he knows Jody is the Toughest Cookie they've ever met. She went up against Leviathan WITH AN APPENDECTOMY

But in the immediate here and now? He is PISSED that Sam wants to keep them sequestered away in the Bunker with the one thing he can hardly bear to co-exist with in the same universe.

His stomping off is an End Of moment... Reminded of 9x06 because Berens, but also because in the start of that episode Dean takes the lead from Cas and legs it from researching with Sam and Kevin, and it's like a horrible reverse motivation. Cas is dead and he can't bear to be around that horror and guilt and confusion. He needs the distraction, so off he goes on a solo case, leaving Sam behind. His angry "you got me" when he skips out on research and Kevin thinks he has it all sussed out why Dean is leaving is again a reverse of Dean's self-professed anger at the situation when he knows that Jody will be FINE and of course she's part of their competent hunter network who can handle things probably a hell of a lot better than them, being an actual cop and all. But it makes one hell of an excuse to go. And Dean was in a pissy mood then as well but it was his own fuck up about Gadreel bothering him and his guilt about what he'd done to Cas. So external motivators help him leave. This time it's all internal motivators where he WANTS to leave. So he makes it all happen by getting irrationally angry at Sam.

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CORN FIELD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

I know it was most likely just There but hey we have a Turducken slammer poster in the background and corn syrup blah blah, and corn = Cain

Theeeemes, as Mittens says.

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JODY JODY JODY

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Missouri drops some heeeavy hints about not having family around any more.

She always did love that car. A reminder she's known them basically their entire lives, since The Fire, and she knew the car as both John and Dean's.

Also a handy way to make her a trusted ally and as Mittens says, the car is Dean's soul and Missouri has seen inside him.

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HE JUST WANTS HUGS

He heard Missouri and Jody were in the same place and was like FUCK YOU SAM I AM GOING TO COLLECT MY HUGS

But seriously even if he's kinda putting it all on a bit because he's miserable, these people are genuinely cheering him up just to see and he's getting physical comfort from two parental figures to him.

(he's so weird about Jody being a mom figure)

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LOL Missouri did the thing

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The thing literally every single person said they wanted her to do

he should have hugged Jody first

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Is it just me or did she hesitate on "loss" and then add the "es" after a moment of uncertainty? Please tell me one is not drowning out the other I will die.

Although of course, Missouri is a HUGE reminder of the Mary stuff because she comes connected to their home and Dean is having to re-re-confront that and OF COURSE he does it when he's lost Mary AGAIN. And pfft I spent yesterday writing about Jody re-losing her son in 5x15 and having the problem of fresh loss after getting someone back you didn't think you'd ever HAVE back.

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I love that we're seeing Missouri's process. She's reaaally spelling out the exposition. But in this case I can trust that that's just because the actual method and knowing that it's a wraith and his MO is just a random detail to all the more important emotional stuff. That this is just some necessary building blocks to get to the good stuff and this is the fastest way to get us there.

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Sam immediately starts getting into choppy water and I'm one line into the next scene. He's bringing up training Jack... Sam, we've spent the last 2 weeks talking about how it's not a great idea for you to try and harness him for your own reasons because it will make you look bad to him. Jack needs to trust you!

I'm worried he'll end up thinking that Sam giving him the connection with his mom was just a way to soften him up a bit more to Sam. Like yeah on the surface level it's lovely and shows Sam has been careful and paid attention and collected all the evidence from the house to check if anything will be important for Jack (not the 100s of diapers)... And then found this thing and immediately decided Jack should have it because it would mean so much to him. it's great that he cares so much he did this!!

But yeah putting the scenes back to back is a little uncomfortable because Sam does have motives, and like I said last time out, if Sam HADN'T just lost Mary through a rift Nougat unknowingly opened, he would 100% definitely treat Jack with the exact same care because he is a sweet guy.

But looks bad.

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Sam is waving a pencil. He looks like a lecturer.

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This is a different part of the Bunker or the library from an angle we never see and this is a new table with a different lamp and I am so horrified, as the Table Meta person, to have a bunch of new stuff to work out and write about :P

This is the Yoda Table for the time being

I suppose it's a new place for a fresh start and, like, virgin territory for meta meaning. Whether it's the store room or the library the important thing is it's DIFFERENT and it's a sort of secluded corner than right out in the middle of the war room or something. It's a sort of private nook kind of feeling. Sam is trying to make a comfortable environment for Jack.

Jack glances at Sam.

Thing is, Asmodeus got him to open a portal to hell by cajoling him, and Sam's asking him to get control of basic things like moving a pencil around. It SEEMS safe and like a good exercise to try and get to grips with his powers and learn finesse and control, and for Jack's sake too. But... Idk, still looks dodgy Sam. I mean I can absolutely and 100% see a surface level where this is adorable and great and Sam has a new friend/nephew, and for the time being I'm enjoying it as it is. But I have this worried feeling that Sam is not going to help Jack emotionally, even if this works in the short term, because Jack has room to be suspicious of what Sam wants, and even if Sam doesn't ask for a while, he has a motivation for Jack to learn to control his powers beyond JUST wanting to help him. I think their dynamic is great and fascinating, but I am worried that from Jack's perspective he won't get the nuance of Sam - Sam needs to open up to him for one thing about his own fuck ups and what Azazel - another yellow eyed demon - did to him.

And Jack glancing at Sam who is watching him so intently is the tension here - can Jack trust Sam when Sam may be just as interested in Jack as Asmodeus was? How can a 5 day old TELL?

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James has a super nice house.

Also Missouri is "not supposed to call" but they used a recent calls screen on her phone instead of a contacts list, and James was on it, which means that she HAS been in contact with him recently, and therefore prop department messed it up. The CGI in this episode has made 2 errors already >.>

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OH NO JAMES DOESN'T BELIEVE

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"it's coming for you and pa-" nooo

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WHERE IS PATIENCE

I wanna see her on screeeeeeeeeeeeen

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WHAT DID MISSOURI DO TO JAMES?

She was a John parallel in 1x09 and allied with him and withholding epic amounts of plot info that only she knew what could have been everything up to and including end of season 2 reveal stuff. Her powers make her kind of a disaster friend tbh. Like, great at a party but if you don't believe your mother has visions and is, idk, hysterical or something, then OH BOY that makes for some family trauma. We'll see how this shakes out but right now James at least is successful and rich and has nooothing to do with his mother even though he may potentially be psychic and repressed about it himself, since the wraith will be coming for him and Patience, and we know SHE is.

I kinda don't wanna make a parallel where she's the bad parent and fucked up her son who has repressed his powers because oh boy he's got like a Dean Smith level apartment and this is a can of worms I can't be bothered to delve into when Patience might be on screen soon.

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Dean "yes ma'am"'d Missouri because everything is awful, because he'd "yes sir" John and oh god. Ow.

Jody is watching like "what the hell sort of dynamic have I missed here?"

She has been taking notes on these boys for years and she still doesn't know anything about them. I was thinking the other day watching 5x15 that when she meets them they're in Fed get up and they bluster at her like they're the authorities when she first challenges them, until she calls Bobby and sees through it and calls their crap. But something something defensive retreat into surface level clam shell around Jody, re: she had no idea Dean went to Purgatory, was a demon, or that Mary had come back to life, just for STARTERS.

I wonder if Missouri commenting on the car was a tie back to John as well specifically in her alignment. This season is all about fathers and without an actual John for Dean to deal with, bringing Missouri back as a John figure... eep

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Meanwhile Jack is still squinting at a pencil and calling himself useless, so I think Sam is about to climb on his back and make him run through a swamp while beating him with a stick

(dear god I hope every single one of you has watched Empire Strikes Back)

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Jack's catchphrase is "I don't -" he just doesn't understand. He doesn't KNOW.

Asmodeus was "in his head"

Holy shit and then Sam suggests Jack try that and Jack snaps back at him because HOLY SHIT SAM CAN YOU HEAR HOW BAD THIS SOUNDS?

You really can't, because you think you are doing a good thing but USB STICK, SAM. USB STICK.

Asmodeus was a master manipulator who made Jack want to do a thing so badly and used all the right words to make him do exactly what he wanted. Sam is nice enough not to brainwash Jack like see the pencil, be the pencil dramatics... But asking Jack to remember one of his many traumatic experiences? Noooo don't do it.

This is a very bad plan, Sam.

Anyway also Jack confirms how Asmodeus manipulated him and shows his innocence and also his feelings on what happened - how horrible it was for him to go through it, and, well, he was 3 days old and he got tricked and he has no emotional touchstones to handle this sort of thing :(

And Sam is just being way too rigorous - we take a break, he gets some food, then he'll come back and we try again? Nooo Sam.

(btw I have to say I have been saying over and over that Berens writes my favourite Sam, and this is indeed Berens making Sam absolutely fascinating, although I have to repeat, as a totally flawed and messed up person. No one was ever there for Sam to guide him through what he could do. He didn't even know how he moved that wardrobe the one time he did telekinesis... He's completely lost and trying to handle this alone and with a lot to prove because Dean's snapped at him and stormed off, and he wants Mary back... He's being like Dean - angry and taking it out on Jack - but in Sam's chill, deep under the surface way, and of course like Dean can spare smiles and hugs for Jody and Missouri, he still can have a kind and well-meaning surface layer just like Dean can have a happy one. But bring on the frustration and he slips and says the wrong things and now he's acting like a strict teacher....)

Jack's face that was cast to be both perfectly scowly and perfectly cute is now being used to be very scary and scowly.

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OH NO MISSOURI!!!

She was badass and defiant to the end but it's still sad and we knew it was coming because, well... I swear there was spoiler chatter that Patience and Missouri would meet, but I suppose it's more like Patience is going to find out about her grandma and have to learn about her that way...

I mean the whole point of Wayward Sisters so far has been Jody collecting orphaned girls and she has a living father and until this point Missouri, so she has to end up in a way where Jody is now the only guiding light she has

but bleeeeeeeh.

-

ANYWAY like passing the baton, we get the last scene of Missouri (making a stand) and move to Patience.

HELLO NEW MAIN CHARACTER

-

She's a neeeerd

I love her

-

She is good at volleyball because she's psychic

-

heee wonder woman comparison. Blah blah meta from when Dean owned being wonder woman.

-

Her athletic friend looks nerdy and she describes her as being a bookworm athlete because Patience looks cool and athletic (she's very tall or her friend is short...) so there's 2 false binaries here: the nerd and athlete one where you can only be one or another. Her friend with the massive glasses and fringe (bangs?) is nerd-coded. And Patience carrying around her files but secretly being good at sports is the direct opposite... I like this imagery, no prizes for guessing where else I apply it :P

-

All the lights are flickering... It would be hilarious if SHE was causing it, just because monsters don't do that...

I think she is having a vision.

OH it was a dream, cool. (We're really expanding what psychics can do all of a sudden, because we're about to send 2 of them off into Wayward Sisters. If Kaia and Patience can hang out in dreams, that would be AWESOME. I bet visiting Patience's dream landscape once she has her powers under control would be amazing, if 8x08 and Fred's inner mind is anything to go off of :P)

Also OH NO poor Missouri. She's used her death as an omen for Patience, like, basically just because her father won't talk to her. I mean talk about spite, she's right in the John Winchester model of family, like, well guess I'll just DIE then, and get Patience to deal with this for me :P

Getting back to those flashing lights, also, even though it was just a dream, I do think it was interesting because Jack blew all those lights. I think it's a sign of losing control as much as a display of power - if we go from 4x01 and Cas doing it, it was just because raw power on display. In 13x01 for Jack it's both that and loss of control. For Patience it's the sign of the supernatural creeping up on her but also she loses control of her dream environment and Missouri invades it to send her the warning...

-

James has something on his screen about crude oil. He's probably like a stocks and shares guy or something. This house is ridiculous. Patience is going to be the rich kid on the team, and probably adjusting to the gross gritty life of being a hunter :P

-

Ooh she did recognise Missouri - so the contact wasn't broken off THAT long ago.... I say remembering how I thought she hadn't changed at all since season 1 :P

-

James doesn't give anything away about her phoning like, yesterday. He looks baaad about it.

Don't lie to kids about their powers and heritage...

I say side-eyeing Sam for not getting into the exact thing with Lucifer I was blah-ing on about at the top of this episode. Which is probably not helping Jack understand and control his powers

-

Oh noooo Dean at a Gas n Sip

hearing about the murder on the TV OH NO

I got to ask why it's night at the fortune teller's and day where Dean is.

-

Singer directed this and I'm up to 3 boo boos of the wraith not being in the mirror, the phone breaking the story, and the wrong time of day in the footage on TV so I'm just gonna side eye and move on. Maybe he's having an off week when he made this or something because when he's not directing Eugenie's scripts he's normally competent.

-

Knock Knock hello James

Wait, Dean has got massively more scruffy between scenes.

HE HAS - I WENT BACK AND LOOKED

Is this a continuity about them driving all night?

I am loving the look. Gimme more of the season 9 look Dean.

-

They are kinda treating James like he knows and cares about monsters, when really he's a stock guy with a fancy house. Wrong approach, but telling the absolute truth. Dean, again, not sugar coating it. Jody has to step in and help with comforting sounding words about the truth. She, also, doesn't even mention she's a cop and is acting very much as Dean's partner on the hunt rather than a cop.

-

Patieeence. At school with her friend, who is badgering her about hot boys. Patience relucantly says okay fine he's hot. *wonders exactly how gay she is* Probably not with a huuuge crush on her friend but we'll see :P No one can be that "ugh" about the entire concept.

-

Patiiiience. She's been ACTIVATED.

-

The fact she had a couple of pencils sticking out of something in her locker just makes me think that over on the other side of the story Sam is trying to activate Jack's powers via a pencil.

-

AAAH

HAHAHAHA She's awesome!!!

And she snaps the gross wraith spike off with like 0% of the fuss Dean made.

-

I LOVE the shot of Dean rushing down the stairs to follow the wraith... I also love that Jody is now united with Patience, and she's gonna glom onto her and drag her into her spiiiiin offffffffff

-

After all the fuss I'm making that better get picked up or I'm rioting.

-

Dean nearly gets hit by a blue van - hey, monsters in blue vans? 8x18, that time when Dean was like "what, my feelings????" when Sam asked him how he was, and then there was that creepy Metatron sweater dude being a terrible stand-in father for Krissy in like the dark timeline version of what Wayward Sisters is promising to become.

-

Bah Dean shaved again... Get the continuity together!!

-

Ohh no Patience thinks Missouri doesn't caaare... She ditched her after her mom died? heeeey-o John parallels where he emotionally ditched them after Mary died. Only this leads to Patience growing up with no idea about her powers... Except she has been unnerved enough by her deja vu to sound like she's researched it on wikipedia and reassured herself that hey this happens to everyone...

Well if she's not queer she's certainly having one hell of a metaphor journey :P

-

HOLY SHIT SAM. He put Jack in that table because there's a SECRET CAMERA

you know what Sam has done? Once he knew the BMOL put cameras in the bunker, he's gone and found their wifi and he's got into it with undefined magic hacking powers they all have and he's using Ketch's surveillance for his own purposes now.

Look. You mean well. You're reading the sort of parenting book for psychic kids you never had yourself (love it) but this is creepy! You shouldn't be spying on Jack!!!!

Sam has boundary issues with his magic nephew, more news at 10

-

I know I know  he's just concerned and worried and wants to do the right thing but he's not got any frame of reference for how to emotionally nurture someone. It's a MIRACLE and testament to his nature that he's come out anything like as sweet as he did. But oh boy this is bad. You can't just come running in yelling because Jack moved out of sight because now Sam has betrayed that he was watching Jack or WHY WOULD HE COME RUNNING IN IN SUCH A PANIC?

-

Jack's starting to sound done with everything and I love my Nougat child who likes sitting in dark corners.

-

He's not sitting cross-legged this time, it's much more like how Sam found him in 12x23

-

I think Jack seeks out dark shadowy places to lurk

-

His voice has literally changed to be more gravelly

-

OH NO JACK NOOOOOOOOO

HOW DARE YOU THINK YOU'RE EVIL, YOU PRECIOUS CHILD

-

But Dean thinks he'll be evil and Sam has surveillance set up on him...

-

Oh dear god let this be the Berens Speech of the episode that makes me weep openly

-

OH NO NOUGAT

-

He's got all his comparisons to live up to but he doesn't have his angel watching over him!!!

I said earlier that's a bad comparison for Jack to treat him as his father AND that phrase needs to be hauled out and torn to shreds, but I think some short term guardian angeling will probably be good for Jack and maybe even Cas depending on how he feels when he gets back... I almost trust this season to treat that relationship slowly and carefully since they're being so absolutely on the nose with character development stuff being spelled out.

-

Sam's doing the "listen" thing and sitting down... Can you get to Jack?

SAY THE THING

Oh gosh he apologised for pressuring Jack

I didn't think that would work

I should yell at the screen more

-

HE WANTS TO FIND A BETTER WAY

AND THEN HE TOOK JACK'S HAND AND HAULED HIM TO HIS FEET

-

OH YEAH HERE IT IS "I know what it feels like -" THAT WAS PART 2 OF "SAY THE THING"

-

AHAHA STOP MAKING SAM CRY, BERENS, YOU MONSTER

-

It makes me cry

-

"Dean, Cas - my family helped me through" NOOOOOOOOOOOOPE FUCK OFF BERENS

"you're not evil, Jack" THANKS SAM, THOUGH

-

Meanwhile: Jody and Dean awkwardly stand next to each other while Patience has a Family Moment.

Dean's connection to Missouri goes so far back that Patience has to mean something to him in the sense that omg this is Missouri's family... However she treated Dean (and kinda scared him i think :P) he has an investment in them because Missouri was there at a bloody awful time for him, and she was helpful and good to them (and he has no idea she was lying about John the whole time - tbh the fact that she can see stuff that happened in a scene pretty much just confirms to me that what we DIDN'T see was that the first time John met her he took her to the nursery and BAM she sees the scene from 2x21 that Azazel showed Sam of the demon blood and she's like... ah.)

(pls refer to my pre-wayward sisters watching notes for actual thoughts on that :P I got super rambly and i'm not going over it AGAIN)

-

OH NO James grew up having total faith in her powers and then she said what James wanted to hear and told him the better news either making a mistake or doing EXACTLY WHAT WE SAW HER DO in her introductory seconds... Temporary help to alleviate pain but in the end - well, that guy's wife was still banging the gardener whether he knew it or not and one way or another he might find out...)

UGH Missouri what did you do.

-

OH NO JAMES HAS DEAN'S BACKSTORY OF HIS PARENT ON THE ROAD HUNTING MONSTERS

Remember when I said I hated the Dean Smith life he made for himself? I HATE IT SO MUCH

-

I went to vent at Mittens about this and she told me she has been comparing Patience to Kev and James to Linda and that's another extremely awful way to look at all this :D

-

"I didn't want that life for you" I think it's interesting that James managed to put it all behind him SO effectively, especially if he's somewhat psychic himself (I BET IT HELPS WITH TRADING SHARES, IF IT HELPS WITH VOLLEYBALL. JUST SAYING)... He's basically done what both John and Mary repeatedly said especially in the context of Sam and just letting him go to school and live a life. Patience has got that - so far - but lo and behold it all catches up.

-

Aaaand James chooses to run again.

Like, it sucks, but "use her as bait and kill the wraith" is generally the better tactic when it comes to just confronting your problems. And the horror genre is ALWAYS about confronting those inner problems. In this case the wraith going specifically after the psychics in the family is blatantly a metaphor for this catching up and James no longer being able to pretend this isn't what his family is all about. I would say it's targeted at his decisions and Patience's awakening - a vision is one thing, an attack BECAUSE she had it seals the deal and makes it impossible to ignore.

And if James runs again, he only puts the problem behind them, to try and live normally but... Patience has already been changed by this encounter and Missouri's awakening.

-

Awwwwwwww nooooooooo flashback.

She's so SMOL.

This is all the perfect sort of emotional manipulation to get me completely attached to her.

-

I'm trying not to meta too much between The Man Pain and Patience's story (she's the POV character of WS I think? I mean I desperately want her to be, as the new character to the dynamic aside from Kaia who's being introduced later as a part of Claire's story - and I think I saw one comment somewhere in the PR and completely latched onto it) but there is something about James saying that Missouri's influence is poison and Patience learning to be psychic is something he desperately wants to avoid, and the parallel story with Jack also discovering his powers. Patience thankfully only seems to have Sam-like visions and will probably have Missouri's skill set (i mean sheesh this might not be a memory but a vision but in this case it's almost impossible to tell apart for Patience except that maybe this is literally the clarity of what she's remembering on screen :P) - I think it works better in the present day, that the adults are all here to weigh in on what Patience can be.

I think Missouri appearing in flashes mirrors Kelly to Jack, since he's not getting anything from Cas at the moment, so she's the beacon of someone who truly believes in Patience, and there was a sort of powers birth transfer awakening thing in the way Missouri dies and Patience gets her first strong vision that she can't shake off as deja vu.

-

Dean said that Missouri reads objects so Patience is probably getting this vision off the brooch, tbh.

-

This hazy memory is probably actually circa like... season 2 or something, if Patience is supposed to be school aged NOW and the show is THIRTEEN YEARS OLD so if she's like... 5... that's season 1 or 2, if she's roughly supposed to be 18

I am not good at maths btw feel free to call this out

-

That kid REALLY looks like young Patience, in that creepy SPN casting directors way

-

OH GOSH the vision parallels not just to Kelly but Missouri will always look out for her, and that's very much like Angels Are Watching Over You

-

AAAAAH HE GRABBED PATIENCE

put it back.jpg

-

Is James going to use his own secrit powers he's been repressing the entire time and find her?

-

HE'S GONNA USE HIS PSYCHIC POWERS TO FIND PATIENCE

Bless this entire metaphor of repression being overcome and accessing the true parts of yourself.

-

Is this the same creepy set that Cas once stabbed a demon in that time when he was looking for something or other? I can't even remember if that was season 10 or 11 or what he was looking for, but a gif of him wandering around doing The Eyebrow is common enough on my dash I don't forget that it happened :P

-

Oh great he basically has super wraith powers because he drinks people with super powers.

Stupid creepy wraith

Leave her alone!!!!!!!!!

LOL

"first: gross" I love her.

-

NOOOOO JAMES

You were just starting to be cool

-

Wait is she having a vision, because Jody should probably not be dead right now if she has a spin off to be playing around in:P

I bet Dean's about to killed too

Yep

owie, that was embarrassing for him

He's super off his game if he lets himself get killed THAT EASILY

-

This was super metaphoric on so many levels though - once I know what happens with James I should get back to that, but Jody symbolically being killed and she's moving on to another property with her flock of girls, and DEAN, getting symbolically super killed like stabby stabby stabby, make it look good for the next time they have to recap how often they all die on this show.. :P But yeah, even just showing him dying is fascinating, especially with the context of how he's feeling.

And oh no Mittens pointed out he's not just off his game but if he saw Jody being dead, that's all his worst fears, and ANOTHER dead friend on his hands, and he did specifically come here to protect her, in his words. :<

-

I love the 2nd version of this. The new fight coordinator guy is really showing off. I type in the instant Dean grabs the rope because improvised weapons are a thing now :P

-

I should probably dig up that meta about veils between worlds because even if Dean didn't die he just got shoved through like 100 hanging sheets and that is ridiculously symbolic.

-

Nice one, Dean.

LOL his face. "welp, killed that guy"

I feel like there was a Moment there. Like maybe he thought hunting would make him feel something but -

oh no

-

HE'S SCRUFFY AGAIN

I feel attacked by the bad continuity but the fact that the bad continuity is because Dean's apparently due some grief scruff

-

"You handled that wraith! Guess you still got it!!"

*dean pauses* *stares into the nihilistic dark void consuming his soul*

"guess so"

I hate this

-

PATIENCE

Snuggly hoodie is snuggly. I wanna hug her

-

"Thank you, for everything" that phraaase nooo

-

James thinks she should put her gift away and get back to normal... But she has a spin off to go to.

-

NOO DEAN DO NOT DO A IN THIS LIFE SPEECH

I HAAATE THIS

-

elizabethrobertajones WHAT THE FUCK HE'S SCRUFFY AGAIN I'm phoning the continuity guy how do I find his number Dean's scruff has been coming and going all episode :P

mittensmorgul wait where are you?

elizabethrobertajones Dean's broken pls help him this must be the scene they wanted the scruff for and he showed up on day 1 of filming clean shaven and they were like... Jensen... no

mittensmorgul HAHAHA

elizabethrobertajones Dean's gotta talk about how everything sucks and he wants to just go live on the beach in a house made of sticks and you need at least 5mm of scruff for that speech

mittensmorgul oh no...

-

Anyway Dean and James agree - Patience should go live in her house and they should exploit their skills only for shares and volleyball. Dean is utterly, utterly defeated and he hates the job and it's the worst and everyone you love will die and you just have to kill monsters all day and it's not even FUN...

-

please help him

-

YAY JODY

"you don't have to listen to him" because guess who is NOT THE BOSS OF US ON THE WAYWARD SISTERS SHOW?

That's right, The Man Pain(TM)

Jody you absolute beacon of sunshine and love and accepting yourself. She can see Dean's broken and spoke out of turn to what Patience might need in his own grief (and I think that must parallel to Sam's treatment of Jack somewhat although thankfully they resolved it back to a functioning relationship already) so she offers her an alternative.

OH NO and she refers to Claire as a sort of daughter

haaalp

And she's so sad she couldn't keep Claire safe against her nature to be a hunter.

And Jody OBLITERATES repression completely. Go be gay with the Wayward Sisters. :D

"You try to force it down to make someone else happy, you will only make yourself miserable"

I love you Berens.

-

And Jody recruits another avenger :D

-

*glares at my tables tag* Sam is sitting alone in the dark at the war room table, exactly like the end of 9x06. Sometimes being right about the sneaky imagery the show uses feels so pointless because, well, I'm right, but to what purpose does this serve? The tables tag will never bring me glory in battle :P

-

Mittens just warned me to squish Taako for the rest of this scene so I'm in hug mode.

-

"How's the kid, did he go darkside yet?" "nooope."

I mean I'm using Sam's line as a reaction gif forever but OW.

Is Sam gonna call Dean out on what he's been saying about Jack? I scared.

"He's messed up because of you"

... uuh. Again. I'm gonna stop asking Berens for the next line of dialogue because i feel like I'm in that gameshow where they are trying to finish a phrase and I'm just asking for all the right letters while thinking I know what the phrase is and I am scared about what that phrase is.

-

And Sam is playing with the rings on the table, which Lucifer once did, and Sam did a few times in season 12 when things were HAIRY.

He fidgets when he is upset with his family.

-

"You think you can USE this freak"

I'm SHAKING. DEAN, NO. STOP TALKING IMMMMMMEDIATELY RIGHT NOW.

I stand by that Sam has a dodgy approach to Jack but fuck that entire concept that Dean just aired, we're getting into Open Warfare in the fandom between the Sam n Dean factions, I can tell. Like... the only question is is this going to be worse than Sam Hit A Dog or In The Same Situation I Wouldn't, or both on top of each other?

-

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO JACK IS THERE

-

Dean is wearing a black henley and Jack is wearing a white one I HATE IT

-

"I didn't end bad" OH WE ARE GOING THERE

WE ARE SO GOING THERE

Sam's been going there since Dean said "freak" because i have recently rewatched enough of season 1-4 to screeech when Dean said it.

-

And here's the season 2 thing back again

-

OH SHIT

Dean no

NO.

He's saying ALL THE THINGS AND HE SHOULD NOT BE SAYING THEEEEM

(I mean... healthy communication and the truth? But like... not doing it at top volume in front of the kid??)

NO THE CAS THING

THIS IS THE SAME FACE AS 9x22 WHEN DEAN SAID IT WAS A DICTATORSHIP

-

CAAAASSSSSS

-

HI BABE

Wakey wakey

-

Okay I had to go to dinner and I took my laptop down and made my mum extremely sad

I noticed a couple of other things on the next pass through, mostly sneaky dialogue repeats that I can't remember

but pass 2 through that last argument anyway because I was rushing it

-

Oh teardrops in the bead curtain at Dede's place, because grief. More passing through veils too.

The 9x06 parallel because Sam has a pencil for Jack, and it's a different room in the Bunker but weird shades of them keeping Crowley there, at least on the negative side of how they're treating Jack. Not a true parallel - different room and they're not asking him to write anything down, and Jack is doubling as Kevin.

Thinking of doubles - Patience framed as having 2 consciences about whether she becomes a wayward sister or not in Dean vs Jody - very much like Jack having dual father issues. Jody says "don't listen to him" for the negative example and wafts it away with love and she's gonna keep Patience :3

Also I thought of like 18 more reasons why I love Patience while I was watching

-

So, 3rd pass through this argument... WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF

Sam confronting Dean is again something where the episode establishes a mixed sort of approach but overall he has a GOOD approach to Jack and the best he's getting at the moment. Dean calling out Sam for using Jack THAT loudly and angrily instead of gently critiquing his methods and asking Sam if he'd care if Jack couldn't get Mary back - that's something Jack can't overhear right now but super needs to.

Of course, Dean is the Worst Parent but he hasn't signed up for that role. He still has an influence over Jack and is too super pissed off to see Jack - and Jack is behind a wall, which takes us to Berens and 12x22 and the wall between Dean and Mary. Dean can't see Jack for what he is and that means he's saying all the wrong things and not even able to reach out to parent him.

Jack basically wakes Cas up to get him back so he can have a non-yelling parent who will be uncomplicatedly good and the angel who watches over him.

(More on that dynamic once they interact a bit)

-

The fact Sam summons the spectre of John to tell Dean that he told him to put a bullet in Sam... Of course Dean can refute what John said and that Sam deserves to be saved which is lovely but you know. Awful argument. Not really the time for that sentiment :P Dean can see Sam - knows and trusts him like no one else in the universe; even Cas in some respects, because Cas is complicated and it's always so messy, that he keeps on giving Cas trust but Cas leaves or does stuff Dean doesn't approve of, and Sam is generally easier for him to deal with...

(Also the complicated feelings about Cas)

-

Sam goes and demolishes that this is about Mary. That Dean might be SAD about her and losing her but that he knows as well as Sam that she's gone because she went into that fight willingly, to protect them.

Cas, on the other hand, Dean absolutely can't see past. Dean's *entire* problem with Jack is because he lost Cas. Because he looks at Jack and sees dead Cas. Sam can explain how Mary chose to punch Lucifer right in the face (hehe) in some easy steps, but Dean then spells out his perception on what happened to Cas because of Jack.

-

I am so not over how the only time I've seen Dean this angry with Sam is in 9x22 and he yells right in his face and - GAH. I mean he's been angry with him before but it was a cold, sad or defeated anger, usually with tears involved. This is wide eyed, crazed, Mark of Cain Dean, who then walked around the corner and flipped back to a smooshy smile because Cas was there.

And this fight is taking place in almost the same space of turf as that argument, because heeey war room where the wars take place.

-

At this point, after "you might be able to forget about that, but I can't", I am pretty sure that Destiel has just gone horrifically canon in like the worst possible way, that Dean calls out the difference in their feelings about Cas.

It's literally putting on the table "is sam a dick or does dean just love cas in a special kind of way"

and dear god, Sam is not a dick.

Sam is amazing.

-

But not as much as Misha Collins who got a special card with his name on and "starring" above it, just for opening his eyes and sitting up.

#my stuff #13x03 #season 13 spoilers #i'm just saying if you have to google 'does everyone feel like this' about something you're probably gay #even if it's a metaphor and you don't have a clue if deja vu works like that #reblog if you're gay and get deja vu a lot

[dinamicus]

Thursday’s Child https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/thursdays-child/

One summer day some ten years ago, I was helping to paint a house. On the boombox was Best of Bowie: a long, chronological march from the beachhead of “Space Oddity,” with most songs met by indifference and occasional hums. The caressing synthesizers of “Thursday’s Child” began, and as Bowie started crooning, a fellow painter stopped mid-swipe and looked over at the CD player.

“What happened to that guy?” he said.

We’d made it through “Dancing In the Street” with a few chuckles and “Under the God” without comment. But “Thursday’s Child,” on that hot afternoon, sounded awful: treacly, gaspy, wan; the limp expiration of a career. When heard as the close of a sequence that runs through “Rebel Rebel,” “Ashes to Ashes,” “Modern Love” and “The Hearts Filthy Lesson,” “Thursday’s Child” sounds like a man falling down in the street, a hasty end scene tacked onto an overlong Act V. “I’m done with the future: here’s a song for your grandmother.” Dies, borne off stage right.

Sure, any slow, fragile-sounding number could’ve gotten a raspberry that day from our collection of young and recently-young NYC snobs. It’s not as if “Thursday’s Child” is an ill-constructed or poorly-sung track: if anything, it’s one of the few Bowie compositions of the period sturdy enough to withstand being a cover, whether a trumpet solo or a busker’s guitar piece (solo electric guitar interpretation by Jake Reichbart here). Its verse melody, a dance of mild leaps and modest falls, suits a lyric crafted for common use. In the verses, an older man regrets the paths he’s taken; in the choruses, he dares to hope a new love can give his life meaning. It’s Bowie’s “September Song.”

But “Thursday’s Child” wasn’t hip; it didn’t offer any pretense that it was—it sat in a comfortable present tense and stewed on the past. It felt genteel and a bit shabby. After a few years of running across stages in his bottle imp incarnation, after his stabs at industrial and jungle, after all the interviews about Damien Hirst and body scarifications and Millennial doom and Internet-as-cultural-dynamite, Bowie suddenly turned up as the sad clown again. He’d dusted off his Buster Keaton suit and reclaimed the shadow bloodline of his “rock” one: the Bowie of “When I Live My Dream” and “As The World Falls Down,” the cabaret and mime Bowie, the “light entertainment” regional thespian, the bedsit saddo, the Mod who worshiped Judy Garland and Eartha Kitt (see below).

The singer of “Thursday’s Child” is another of the Pierrots he’d played since the Sixties: a perpetual loser at love, like the glum figure of his “Be My Wife” promo. Take the Mr. Pitiful tone of the opening verse—

All of my life I’ve tried so hard doing the best with what I had: nothing much happened all the same…

—with its most desperate emphases (“best,” “hope”) cued to gloomy B minor chords, while the verse’s circular structure strands the singer back where he started, on an augmented E major (“breaking my life in two”). You can take the song as a straight-faced lament, as a quietly over-the-top spoof of the same, or both (it is Bowie, after all).

And while the chorus offers a hope of release from the cycle, its alternation of F# majors (“falling”) and F# minors (“really got,” “my past”) suggest the hope’s rather thin. The repetitions of “throw me tomorrow” start to feel desperate; Bowie’s “everything’s falling into place!” is someone trying to hypnotize himself. It’s as if Bowie’s answering Joni Mitchell:

It’s got me hoping for the future And worrying about the past

Ours was the most exciting show that had hit London since the war…I was glad that I was born in a part of the world that had been so well protected, but I was also ashamed of my protection. I carried guilt inside for being a privileged character when the rest of the world was being destroyed.

Eartha Kitt, Thursday’s Child, 1956.

This song, I might point out, is not actually about Eartha Kitt.

Bowie, 1999.

He’d taken the song’s title from Eartha Kitt, Bowie said upon introducing “Thursday’s Child” on VH1 Storytellers. Writing the song, he’d recalled the paperback cover of her first autobiography (“it just kind of bubbled up the other month”). It had been an erotic memory of his youth (that and D.H. Lawrence, he said).* Using Kitt as a starting point suited Hours’ theme of a middle-aged assessment of lost youth, a 50-year-old flipping through a box of mold-speckled records shipped from his childhood home (Ray Charles’ “Lucky Old Sun” —a man stuck in the middle of life and envying death—also gets a nod).

The title also plays with an old prediction rhyme—“Thursday’s child has far to go” (another variant is “Thursday’s child is merry and glad”)—that had come out of the ground somewhere in medieval England. The rhyme was a popular corruption of court astrology: Thursday was considered a day of great fortune as it was under the sway of Jupiter, kingpin of gods. The Book of Knowledge, by one Erra Pater (1745), notes a “child born on Thursday shall arrive to Great Honour and Dignity” (By contrast, David Robert Jones was born on a Wednesday “full of woe”).**

So the refrain of “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday born, I was Thursday’s Child” was Bowie spading up his old occult interests, presenting them in anodyne forms: the little boxes tucked away on a newspaper’s comics page: horoscopes, birth stones, fortunes, lucky numbers (see “Seven”). It’s the “secret histories” of the Sixties reduced to syndicated copy; it’s another diminishing of unearthly power into ordinary life.

It’s also a clever way to cloud the lyric. What to make of the chorus kicker: “only for you I don’t regret/that I was Thursday’s child“? It’s at odds with the picture the singer’s painted so far: that he’s someone for whom little’s worked out, someone who’s estranged from everyday life yet firmly stuck within it (“He’s a teethgrinding, I’ll-get-this-job-done guy,” Bowie said of the narrator). (It’s also possible that, as Nicholas Pegg noted, Bowie’s referencing the VU’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties“: “For Thursday’s child is Sunday’s clown.“) But a Thursday’s child would be a lucky child: someone with pull, some who had far to go: a Kitt, or a Bowie.

Go back to Eartha Kitt for a moment. Born in South Carolina, she’d reinvented herself in the early Fifties as a nightclub goddess who’d seemingly flown in from the Continent; she played the seductress, the gold-digger with taste (“Santa Baby”) who captured men with her boxful of languages. She’d be cast in that role for the rest of her days: a life spent forever vamping. But what a role! As her biographer John L. Williams wrote of her performance of “Monotonous” in the film New Faces: Eartha is playing a character that’s almost unimaginable in reality [in 1954]: a black American woman who’s tasted all of the world’s delicacies and found them lacking…we wonder, who on earth is this woman? And how can she seem to be so indifferent to the laws and mores of her time? A question that could have been asked, with a gender change, about another performer in 1973.

So maybe the singer is someone like Kitt: not some teeth-grinding anonymous drone but a bright public figure, someone whose name everyone knows, someone to whom things seem have come easily. Doing the best with what I had becomes a modest boast; shuffling days and lonely nights are those of a stage life. Or maybe even the common life of an office drone is a stage life. Bowie had called himself “the Actor,” but in a way, we’re all actors.

Composed in Bermuda in late 1998, “Thursday’s Child” appears to have been mainly Bowie’s work, written on acoustic guitar. It was earmarked as a potential single, with a prominent role for backing singers. The question of who those should be became a bit contentious once Bowie and Gabrels were back in New York.

After toying with having Mark Plati’s six-year-old daughter sing the “Inchworm”-inspired “Monday, Tuesday..” line (she turned Bowie down! “she said she’d rather sing with her friends than with grown-ups,” Plati told David Buckley), Bowie thought of contacting the trio TLC. In 1999, they were arguably the premier female R&B vocal group of the decade. But they were tottering. Rife with personality and financial squabbles and having taken five years to cut their follow-up LP, they were about to be dethroned by Destiny’s Child.

Using TLC sat poorly with Gabrels, who thought it stunk of Bowie’s “New Jack Swing” moves in 1992: “Thursday’s Child” could be another potential Al B. Sure! fiasco. Gabrels had positioned himself as the house purist: some faint analogue in the Bowie camp to Steve Albini. He’d met Bowie during the nadir of Never Let Me Down and he saw it as his charge to keep Bowie honest and weird, to stop him from embarrassing himself by chasing trends after their sell-by date. During the making of ‘Hours’ Gabrels came to feel that his time with Bowie was over (we’ll get into this more in next week’s entry); his veto of TLC would be his last strategic win.

His alternative proposal had a touch of self-interest: he recommended a Boston friend, Holly Palmer, who Bowie auditioned via speakerphone (“let’s hear it with more vibrato now”). You could argue that Palmer’s vocals were just as time-stamped as any TLC vocals would have been: the Liz Fraser-inspired vocalese, the coffee-shop ambiance (a slightly edgier Dido). But Bowie liked what he heard and Palmer joined his touring band in 1999-2001.**

Another question was how far to take the production. David Buckley argued that the song was “crying out for strings,” and the various synthesizer fill-ins for woodwinds, strings and brass can make the song seem stuck in an embryonic state. Had Bowie held “Thursday’s Child” back for what he was calling the “Visconti album,” slated for 2000, it likely would’ve had a much grander production. Perhaps what kept “Thursday’s Child” from being a monstrous hit was that it hedged its bets too much.

The last piece was Walter Stern’s video. “Bowie,” with little makeup to mask his plus-fifty face, and his partner prepare for bed. They brush their teeth, she takes out her contacts (verrry slooowly). There’s a naturalist feel to counter the tasteful Wiliams Sonoma bedroom set: you hear Bowie cough, mumble and half-sing over the recorded track (taken from Elvis Costello’s “I Wanna Be Loved” video), and the plash of water in the sink. He looks in the mirror, transfixed by his aged but still beautiful face; he’s a veteran Narcissist. A twist of the glass and he sees younger versions of himself and his partner.

The mirror pair have the easy, arrogant confidence of youth; they stare at the older couple with the cold pity of  what Bowie once called “the coming race.” They seem like beautiful wraiths. Bowie, seemingly infatuated with his younger self, does the Marx Brothers Duck Soup mirror game with him. The double plays along for a while, then stops, bored and disgusted with his older self. We passed upon the stair, Bowie had sung long ago, upon meeting another double. He’d been on his way up then, his life still mostly potential. This is the other end of the staircase: a man realizing that time has changed him, that the majority share of his life lies behind him now, that his younger self would’ve regarded the current him like some threadbare costume. Perhaps that was the right question to ask after all: What happened to that guy? He kisses his wife in his imagination, and so to bed....