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princessfroslass · 2 months

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Angel Dust has a clear validation problem.

I had been thinking about this ever since episode 2 and episode 6 all but segmented this onto my subconscious.

Angel clearly doesn't care whenever anyone slut shames or just overall insult him- he lives to get a rise out of people. Hell, Hazbin Hotel's VERY FIRST SCENE on the Pilot was him going full "oh yeah slut, very creative." And going after Travis life- but not on a insecure way, he very clearly didn't care. Fast forward to the actual show and it's more of the same- he doesn't care whenever Vaggie or Husk or anyone else threaten him because he enjoys the chaos and it's open about the fact he is only there to no pay rent. He just doesn't care about what others think of him.

Except.... When he does.

You see it's interesting because back on that origin comic (that I don't even know if it's canon anymore but for a characterization point I'll take it.) when Charlie states they need a quest and even pays him for his time (Angel was working on the street when they meet him) and she goes full "this is an investment, on you." He leaves the limo all "oh...ok....sure...." Clearly moved or touched by her faith in him, even though he still thinks it's misguided trust.

Back to episode 2, it's pretty much the anthesis of this. For once, someone else seems interested on changing his ways and THAT obviously excites Charlie, who referred to Sir Pen as "the hotel's first real quest" now to be fair with her, Angel is very vocal about how he thinks the Hotel is BS and hadn't show any intention to change his ways soon- but y'know that still must stings like it hasn't even been a week and this girl that is all sunshine and rainbows already gave up on him lmao but it gets even worse- on the roleplay thing, look at the fucking role he is giving- A CRACKHEAD- like he had to pause before saying that shit- and to rub salt on the wound, Sor Pen performance ends with the "no sex before marriage!" Line. Like out of all sins one could commit- you pick Addiction to Drugs (more specifically CRACK) and Sex. Yo girl what the fuck- and ofc, only Sir Pen gets congratulated, because Angel was critical of the whole thing and the former was full on enthusiastic about it- the last shot before the bedroom scene we get us Angel staring at Charlie validating Sir Pen's efforts and how he is going to be redeemed so fast before Angel sadly goes upstairs.

Now the room scene..... Yikes. The fact that the roleplay was all and on about the drugs thing and how the last voicemail/Angel's imagination? Things we heard it's "Addict trash like you doesn't change"... Hahaha all the yikes with that fucking roleplay. So yeah it's very fucking clear from the get go Angel has....issues. Hell even after "It starts with Sorry" when everyone goes back to sleep he doesn't looks happy, just resigned lmao

(Which it's funny because on the very next episode he saves Sir Pen from the war thing going down but I digress)

Now episode 4- oh MAN where do I even start. Now remember how in the first paragraph I mentioned how Angel disses Travis but like, in a confident way? Not on the way someone affected would react? Well this ep is everything but that lmao "I don't give a shit about what a drunk ass bartender thinks of me" reeks of insecurity by the tone alone I am sorry. Notice how he looks very taken aback when Husk calls his act out before he doubles down and goes full "I am actor dumbass" bit. Man's defenses were penetrated in a way it hasn't before and he needed a moment to put more bs out of his ass because God forbid someone in this Hotel knows how horrible his life is and how much he hates himself- and then his advances were thoroughly rejected for good ("It's never gonna work on me") and he absolutely losses it. Not being able to compute that someone that clearly stared at him long enough to read him, doesn't want to fuck him. Disgusts from people that barely knows him he can take- being told to his face it's not working, he can't. And it's not even because he particularly want to fuck anyone there- that is how he sees his own worth. He makes Val money, everyone around wants to take him, his services are apparently FAR from cheap ("you know how much I am WORTH?!") and he had based his whole self worth around it- no matter how many times he gets taken advantage of on a random club on 3am or if is his own fucking abuser (he literally only opened Val's voicemails after the whole ep2 fiasco) people either despises him because of his overt sexuality or want to use him for it (there is also the middle road where his worse habits are enabled and that makes him 'fun' company- but I'll be there in a min) there just can't be a reality where he is told to his face that he is destroying himself and any connection he can have WITHOUT the alterior motive of wanting to fuck him- right? I mean even Charlie's hope on him was proven to be limited, so why bother?

Enter Loser, Baby.

And yes, my beloved Huskerdust atem- you see there is something fucked up about it. Angel only joins in to sing as well after he goes full "I am a hoe that likes drugs tehee" but unlike always, he is...not proud of it. He only sings about it because Husk sang how "it's ok to be a-" like expecting a negative, and it's ONLY when Husk completes it with a "Baby that is fine by me" does Angel truly smiles. He just had a whole breakdown, he doesn't has the energy to put his facade and his "I don't care what you think" actitude. But because Husk validates that he is able to follow along.

There is also the "This guy it's not that bad" part. Angel softened up at that because, again, Husk validated him- the real him. He saw through his facade and embraced it.

In episode 5 there is this little scene where Charlie is talking to her father over the phone and everyone else is silently supporting her from behind. And Angel, the ever realist- is just....grimacing through the whole thing lmao but to his credit seemed to support her regardless- but what cought my eye through the whole thing is that when Charlie goes full "Dad, this is important to me!" The camera focus on Angel a bit....touched? See the scene you'll get what I mean.

Then episode 6 came along. Cherrie comes along, and her and Husk play devil and angel on Anthony's shoulder the whole night. But there is something interesting about this- Angel never.... really stops Cherrie, nor explain why he would avoid drugs- Husk does. He ONLY explains himself when Cherrie confronted him about being so protective of Nifty. When Cherrie offer him the pills he doesn't goes full "I am sober now" cut and dry, instead he goes full "er....I dunno, I am tired. Maybe another time?" after Husk does the whole "I thought you were better than that" bit. Cherrie enables Angel- she clearly CARES about him, there is not doubt about that- but Hell is made with good intentions, validating his excesses and taking an active part on it is how they bond- and how his relationship with her makes him feel a bit better about himself, even when at the end of day it all comes crashing down (hello end of Addicted) and what is the first THING he smiles at after his confrontation with Valentino? "You did good, kid".

Ao in synthesis, Angel craves for validation in all and any way he can get it- regardless of how good the intentions of those giving it are. It either can be an validitation of his usual behavior (Cherrie) an validation of him wanting to better himself (Charlie, Husk) or just.... validation of his body as a whole (those weird sharks he ran to at ep4) it really depends of how much his mental state is on the gutter that day.

And then there is Valentino.

It's clear Angel's self Worth issues are not much better thanks to the way he is treated in and out of the studio- but, and knowing his familial relationship, it's doubtful they CAME from there, and it was an unfortunate result of it.

Valentino and the Vees pray on the vulnerable- that was DIRECTLY stated at ep2, and what is more vulnerable that a drug addict whose own family rejected? Sure Angel had been on Hell for a WHILE but his foundation was already shaky to begin with, he is street smart and posseses more common sense that some of his peers (literally the only one that stated they SHOULDN'T bring every psycho that tries to kill them to the Hotel lmao) but this need for Validation running deep on his core makes him the ideal pray for any asshole that is willing to drop a few "oh you are so pretty 💜"s his way until it's too late. How tragic would it be- to have the first person that validated him in a WHILE be the one that hurt him the most.

#i dunno where the fuck this came from. its just did #hazbin hotel #angel dust #huskerdust #ish #it still counts #because Husk:s validation of Angel is like the backbone of their ship a d it actually started

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marshallpupfan · 8 months

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New Marshall Pics! (Season 10, Ep. 8)

Thinking about it now, I can't remember when exactly I started doing this whole New Marshall Pics routine after each new episode. It was around season 7, I think. It's always something I look forward to posting, and fortunately, I've got plenty of good pics today!

The first segment - "Jungle Pups: Pups Save a Golden Sweetie"

As the title suggests, Sweetie was involved in this one. Sadly, the stream I was watching started acting up, so I didn't get to see much of what she did... but hey, I did get to see that this is another mission that called Marshall in as a first responder! He had plenty to do here, which after seeing him get so much focus in that other Jungle Pups episode, I didn't expect! I'm really starting to think season 10 is trying its best to make up for how bad 9 was to Marshall, and trust me, I really appreciate it! :D

And the second segment - "Jungle Pups: Pups Save the Giant Ants"

This one was rather cute, and it had some good moments all around. Everyone got to help out at some point, which as I always say, I'm always happy to see happen! Marshall even got a really cute moment near the end with one of the ants, so of course I liked that!

This episode closes out Jungle Pups. I have to say that, overall, I liked it! The new location was interesting enough, I like that it gave plenty of attention to Tracker, and as a big fan of Marshall, it really did him justice here (unlike the last two sub-series). Honestly, I'm sad to see Jungle Pups go! Hopefully the next sub-series is just as good, if not, better!

That's all for now! Another new episode should air next week, so of course, I'll be back then with more New Marshall Pics! :)

#PAW Patrol #PAWPatrol #Marshall #Marshall Paw Patrol #MarshallPawPatrol #Paw Patrol Marshall #PawPatrolMarshall #Spin Master #Nick Jr #SpinMaster #NickJr

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adhd-merlin · 9 months

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merlin S1 rewatch: episode 3

I'm putting this above the cut because I am outraged:

THEY CUT SOME LINES ON BBC iPLAYER. THEY CUT THE LINE WHERE MORGANA SAYS MERLIN IS "A LOVER"!! THEY CUT MERLIN SAYING "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT". WHAT KIND OF VICTORIAN CENSORSHIP IS THIS!!!!!

seriously!! (I only noticed because I'm watching this with subs off this time, but I had a transcript to glance at on my phone because sadly I can't hear without my subtitles).

random thoughts/observation:

• Interesting choice to have Nimueh cast her curse via a Fabergé egg

• Nimueh doing her Galadriel shit in a very cool cave actually

• S1 Arthur had some snazzy little outfits. Love the Jedi vest.

• I don't like bad cop Arthur :(

• baby's first raid!!!

• okay but Gaius tells Uther the plague is caused by sorcery, and the king IMMEDIATELY sends Arthur to search Gaius's chambers? "we're searching every room in town" my ass. Uther only trusts Gaius as far as he can throw him, which explain a lot about the way Gaius keeps begging Merlin to keep a low profile.

• this is maybe one of the gayest episodes. if you don't think so you're looking at the wrong couple.

• Gwen picked flowers for Morgana. MORGANA WAS READY TO FIGHT A CAVE MONSTER FOR HER GIRLFRIEND MAID. Don't talk to me.

• Merlin and Gwen's friendship is so heartwarming and pure and I've missed it!! wish the writers had remembered they were good friends later in the series

• Can we talk about Merlin being such a lovely boy. a literal ray of sunshine. can we.

• Gaius (in ep 1): "Magic shouldn't be used for idiotic pranks!!". Merlin (in ep 3): "okay so can I use it to save a man's life?" Gaius: "NO"

• I can't tell whether or not Gaius knows about the prophecy (if the writers had even decided at this point). He keeps making allusions to destiny and great things to come, so it kind of sounds like he does?

• Merlin & Gaius having their first significant disagreement about the best approach to take to solve the problem at hand. They are Feelings vs Logic. I think fandom sometimes forgets young Merlin was fierce and opinionated as well as kind and sweet. Any boy less stubborn than him wouldn't have lasted long around Gaius. I think this is one of the ways in which they are similar — both headstrong and loath to back down when they believe they are right. Which they often do.

• Gwen only asking Merlin to remember her after she's executed 😭😭😭

• lol @ Merlin being laughed out of the room after his attempt at a heroic sacrifice. He really thought he was doing something.

• Arthur: "OBVIOUSLY he's not a sorcerer!! leave him alone. he's mentally ill and in love and stupid. did I mention stupid"

• the elemental solution was kind of stupid (the beast is made of clay > water + earth, so it can be defeated by fire + wind?). They literally didn't know it was going to work. MERLIN SWEETIE WHAT WAS YOUR PLAN B. WHAT WAS YOUR PLAN A, EVEN

• great Afanc monster clearly just a guy in a suit. that's just Steve from the make-up department.

• Merlin casting his spell without a care for who hears it. BABE YOU'LL GET CAUGHT

• I know the last exchange between Merlin and Morgana is meant to be a gag but it’s also sad how relieved and happy Merlin is at hearing Morgana say she knows his secret, and her asking if she can talk to him about it :(

All in all a cute little episode, not much to say about it

funny/notable quotes:

• UTHER (to Morgana): Have you ever seen an enchantress? Believe me, they bear no sign, no mark. There is no sense of evil in the eye. (👀)

• KILGHARRAH: You are but one side of a coin. Arthur is the other.

#rewatch1.jls #merlin's body count: still 1 #merlin

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ineffable-opinions · 4 months

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Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023) ep. 3

Ongoing Review: Going good. Ongoing Rating: 7.5/10

Summary: Yanki remakes himself after falling for his class teacher.

Pairing: Class teacher X Yanki Probable side-pairing: Senpai X Kouhai (step-brothers)

What I liked:

# Bloody sweet first kiss

I had tons of apprehension regarding how this scene’s gonna play out. I am very pleased with how they handled this scene. I am not a fan of falling into a kiss. If I’m not wrong it is a visual story-telling trope and seldom shows up in books. But this one was really good and changed my mind about it. The kiss was triggered by a knee giving out, a slip of foot, shown in slow-mo as sensei falls face first onto our yanki only for skin to break and blood to flow. While their audience is shell-shocked.

# Step-brothers trope

It has been a while since I last encountered this trope. I am surprised that this is side CP to a sensei X yanki pairing. Classics. I am glad that the supportive friends trope got complicated. Also it has ushered in another: all male characters are BL targets.

# Sweetest evil stepmother

I am such a fan of Rise. His looks, attitude, personality, aura – so dazzling! This is the kind of person I would unknowingly emulate. Seeing him in stepmother costume made me realize: if that character was a female, I would have had a serious case of akka pasam* for that character while watching.

# The girls are so vivacious. It is a delight.

# Mirror to comphet

The scene of Toki contemplating what kind of person sensei likes. Three doors open and Toki’s classmates pop-out. Now that’s an awesome expose of how comphet operates. It props up artificial limits to what one is allowed to feel and imagine. Why were Toki thinking of his classmates in terms of Sahara’s love interest? Because that’s whom comphet picks out for him (not necessarily for Sahara) – “right” age and gender.

# Opening song is pretty cool

# Same-sex theatric performance

I’ll take it as a tribute to premodern kabuki queers.

# The prince who conveniently fell ill.

It is the silliest. But hey, the prince got scared. It is no Ojou-sama he is paired with, rather a yanki who live by the lines_

Forget safety.

Live where you fear to live.

Destroy your reputation.

Be notorious.

_ (oft attributed to) Rumi

Of course, I’ll remember Rumi and Shams-e-Tabrizi. That too was student-sensei aashiqii.

It is no wonder his nervous jitters were particularly bad. Convenient for the narrative that the yanki scared his classmate away so that his prince can be who saved the day.

# Todo Takuya-kun

I love how creepy, stalkerish he is. It has been a while since I had walking, stalking obsession gracing my screen. My Beautiful Man: Eternal (movie) was months ago. I liked the interaction between Takuya and Toki. My precious perverts assemble.

# Snow White Braveheart

Toki-kun’s version of Snow White looked like a valiant warrior marching into a battlefield. He was such a delight on stage. I felt Sahara, almost. Sensei and yanki, both look pretty good with make-up make-up.

# Outburst, overflow, on target

Post-kiss scenes were spot-on. While I am not particularly interested in Sahara’s swimming past, I loved how all of it (him and his history) landed on Toki.

What I didn’t like:

# Sahara’s ex

I don’t think I’ll like that character even a little bit. I want Sahara to stop thinking about him too. This is such a great feeling. I like being made to feel this way. The storytellers are clearly doing something right.

I mean, it is so deliberate. Look how cold the frame with the ex is. Compare this to frames with Toki. They designed Toki’s wardrobe such that each frame with him feel warm.

# So much recap from previous episode.

The episode is way too short. The source manga is probably typical length 2 volumes. In that case, they don’t have a lot of material to work with. Even though I would take recaps over useless filler scenes (except for scenes of Toki fighting and being yanki which sadly we won’t get) any day, I am feel undernourished after each episode.

# Intentionally dense

While I understand Sahara, I don’t endorse. I like how Todo Shinji brings it up subtly – Icchan’s kanji, of course. But Shinji-kun, my son, hypocrisy clearly doesn’t suit you.

_____

Akka pasam – (Tamil) love for elder sister. Similar to sis-con.

#Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun #佐原先生と土岐くん #sahara sensei to toki kun #japanese bl #jdrama #japanese series #boys love #shonen ai #japanese dorama #bl jdrama #鳥谷コウ #Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023)

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inevitably-johnlocked · 2 years

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Thoughts on Moon Knight E5

(And My Predictions for E6)

Ah, like Episode 4 of MoonKnight, I have some more thoughts about Episode 5 that I needed to talk about with someone, and I wanted to put down my predictions for E6 (I like doing this with the final eps). This one is a long one, because I REALLY like this character a lot. Again, not my usual content, but this show has me hooked and I just really need to get these thoughts out. I really appreciate y’all humouring me, hah. This is the last week of this show, so I’ll probably have ONE more meta after E6 depending how I feel, but I am enjoying my brief ride in the fandom.

Spoilers under the cut for The Asylum, and possible spoilers for E6 since the predictions are based on what I know about the comics from watching breakdowns and easter egg vids of each episode (which I do to get a bit more back story on characters... as a Coles Notes version of them, LOL). Also, TW / CW for mentions about violence, suicidal ideation, child abuse, depression, and death.

Okay, first things first, the disclaimers:

I am not a professional in any regard relating to mental health / psychology / therapy. I just simply read a lot about these things to help me understand my own struggles and I enjoy deep-diving into fictional character psychology (have done since I was a kid... I was weird kid LOL).

Everything I know about DID is based upon reading articles (both professional ones and Wiki Articles) as well as watching YouTube channels of Systems talking about themselves and the show and how the character and their representation is being handled. PLEASE correct me on anything I have erred on, as I want to be as respectful as possible and I don’t want to spread misinformation.

Okay, that’s out of the way: first some comments / speculations regarding the episode:

Oscar’s acting in this episode was PHENOMENAL. Holy hell in a handbasket, the RANGE of this mo-fo. Love him so much. As Steven, he’s amazing at portraying his innocence and confusion and despair, and then exuding empathy and compassion for Marc. As Marc, I empathize with his pain and his need to want love in his life that doesn’t hurt. I fully believe these are two different people, it’s astounding. My fave scene is the scene on the street as Marc’s struggling with the death and as Steven witnessing the pain. Brilliant.

I absolutely adored this episode. I really love when media dives into characters and focuses on what makes them who they are. For as long as I can remember, I’ve ALWAYS really liked doing deep-dives of characters (I think my earliest ones were back when I was in the Sonic fandom; I used to do them in my fanfics), and this episode was right up my alley. I loved learning about Marc and his life, I loved the rollercoaster of emotions I felt for them, and the horrific circumstances that lead up to the events of the series, and the bombshell that it was only 2 months prior that Marc emotionally broke so bad he had to go dormant to deal with it. I really like when media leaves the “origin story” until near the end of the season. WandaVision did something similar, and it is ALWAYS a good episode for me.

Steven’s cute little “Hippo!!” when they cut back to them screaming in the hospital. And his geeking out over Taweret and the Egyptian afterlife. Steven is so precious and tiny and I want to yum him up. I adore how much character Oscar put into each of these altars.

I mentioned this in my last breakdown: I really wasn’t feeling Marc as a character until these scenes with him in the Asylum and dealing with his past. It REALLY helped me empathize with his character, and it REALLY helps show that he purposely hides a LOT in his life just to even survive day-to-day. And as I suspected last time, Marc has DEFINITELY spent a LOT of time in a psych ward... Tawaret says as much when she states that the Duat is “perceived as something more recognizable”, and Marc’s flippant “we’re insane”, because, sadly, that’s how he thinks of himself. I now suspect that Steven has NEVER fronted at the psych ward, given his confusion at the beginning and his skepticism with the whole scenario with “Doctor Harrow” at the end. I think the Third Alter (who, for the sake of this meta, I’m calling Jake because that’s who the third alter is in the comics) and Marc both spent a lot of time fronting at an asylum instead, and I think they were drugged to the nines so often that Steven just... never had a chance to front to help Marc. NOW Marc’s sadness at not feeling/seeing Steven in the reflection in Episode 4 makes sense to me... it’s because it’s happened time and time again to him. He probably even tried to reach him while at the ward just to cope with his depression and couldn’t. God that hurts.

I think it was a really good move for the showrunners to put this backstory as a penultimate episode. I think it helps humanize Marc in the audience’s eyes, and helped show just how much he cares about the people and alters in his life.

Jesus, Marc’s whole childhood, my lord. Frig, this was REALLY hard to watch.

I mentioned this under the cut of my mini-breakdown of this episode, but I think it’s VERY deliberate that they showed the “therapist” scene three times. That first time was NOT Marc, in my opinion... I think it was Jake. AND I suspect Jake was ALSO the one who took all the beatings and abuse from his mother, hence his bloodied / broken nose and only fronting when a situation is physically dangerous or stressful for Marc. Only because it doesn’t make sense to me that Steven doesn’t remember the beatings, even though Marc confirmed to him that Steven was basically an emotional protector, and Marc doesn’t want Steven to see (I think Marc was co-conscious for them, which is why he knew about them). I think that Marc IS semi-aware of Jake and hides him from Steven (more about this in the discussion about Steven’s “death” in the predictions section) but doesn’t acknowledge him because Jake has most of the physical trauma memories. Again, I want to also mention that I think Jake is the one who has the more suicidal tendencies that may have landed Marc in the Asylum in the first place (I think it was also Jake on the statue willing to kill himself, as an aside), and is more violent as a result of the abuse, so his first reaction is always to fight when he’s confused / scared. In that first scene, the character fronting speaks with a different cadence than Marc OR Steven, is more aggressive than Marc, and uses very short sentences or accusatory statements which neither really do. I suspect he doesn’t front often so he’s REALLY uncomfortable in any social situation, and I imagine that once he realizes where he is (”oh fuck, this fucking hospital crap again”), he isn’t having any of it. He’d rather end it for all of them than deal with this shit again, even if it is just a sublevel in the innerspace.

Also on the topic of the three therapist scenes, I REALLY like that it’s Steven who is the most skeptical of the whole thing. Steven’s scene immediately follows upon the realization that he’s “made up” and it really shows who he is for Marc: he knows this whole thing is bullshit, notices everything in the room is bullshit, and knows Harrow is bullshit. I think the only reason he gets thrown off is because he’s forced to face a reality he’s not “made for”, the fact that their mom is dead (which is something Marc never wanted to confront, so they both in turn struggle with this).

I don’t know why, but the line “When Danger is Near, Steven Grant Has No Fear”, and having Steven read it out loud, DESTROYED me. That was when I realized that Steven was probably an emotional protector of sorts for Marc. Steven fronts anytime Marc is experiencing severe emotional pain or trauma. This is further explored when Marc refused to go to his mother’s shiva, and then broke down in the street, feeling guilty about her death (I suspect it was suicide, and Marc feels like he caused that by not saving RoRo). And OH MY LORD Steven’s face when he SAW Marc switch, watching Steven REALIZE his importance and who he is for Marc. That single look that showed it clicked for Steven, and him dropping his head in empathy and sadness destroyed me. I sobbed. That was the moment Steven accepted that they protected each other, that he was more than “a stress ball” for Marc. FRIG I love them SO much.

Also, it breaks my heart at how nonchalant Marc is about his suicidal ideation. As someone who also struggles with dark thoughts on my worst days, it HURT hearing some of those lines come out of his mouth, because I for sure have thought some of those things too.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about Steven’s “death”, and I high key REALLY hope that they don’t permanently turf him. Again, I’m not a professional, but to me the surface reading of the whole thing is that their scales wouldn’t balance because Steven existed, and the scales only balanced because Steven was removed from the picture, which to ME implies that Marc needed to be “cured” of his mental illness to be “saved” and “allowed into paradise”. I REALLY hope I’m wrong on this, but that feels like a REALLY troublesome message to portray for actual DID systems.

I remain hopeful of Steven’s fate mainly because a few Systems on YouTube explained that alters never actually “die”, that they either fuse with another altar or go “dormant”. I hope for the latter, obviously, because I love Steven, and because I REALLY don’t think that, again, it does Steven justice as a fully-fleshed character in the show. Having him come back in some way would be an emotionally powerful scene, I think.

And because I need you guys to feel this pain too: I am compromised by Marc after Steven sacrifices himself. Marc absolutely LOST it, his voice broke as he called out for Steven (the third cry for Steven specifically, FUCK), and then Steven’s LAST WORD is “Marc!”, and Marc’s final words before “paradise” are pleading for Steven’s life. Like, stab me in the face with a fork, HONESTLY. There’s NO FUCKING WAY that those scales are balanced properly, Marc CLEARLY still needs Steven.

Also, the fact that Steven is being painted subtextually as “the replacement for the brother Marc lost” and then Marc having to deal AGAIN with the trauma of losing another brother, in a sense, is really heartbreaking.

The foreshadowing in episode one of Steven’s demise in this episode where, yeah, it DOES hurt for Steven being rejected from the Field of Reeds is a big “wow thanks I hate it” for me.

I’m SO sorry, I can’t get over them “Bing-Bonging” Steven. He was my comfort character. They need each other. Steven is the brains, the empathy, the honesty... Marc NEEDS him... No way Marc “solved” his “issue” with a 10-minute magical mindfuck quest! Now that he understands, they need to learn to work with each other. I’m sorry I’m SO hung up on this, but Marc is NOT OKAY. HE NEEDS STEVEN.

OKAY moving on, sorry. I like the subtle implication (or maybe it’s just me because my brain is always on subtext mode) that The Field of Reeds is, to Marc, basically his version of hell. My support for this: the whole episode up until this point showed that Marc doesn’t really like being alone, or is very used to being able to “turn to” someone at all times. When the camera pans out from the Reeds, they ephasize just how BARREN and isolating it is. An eternity of solitude for a man who is used to always having voices around him... jesus, I can only imagine how alone he felt in that moment, feeling like the solitude is essentially punishment for his perceived failure at protecting those close to him.

Another “hmm” to me, and PLEASE forgive me for this one because I am not Jewish nor religious at all, so I could be REALLY off-base and ignorant here so correct me if I’m erring... but if “an afterlife” is based on the beliefs of the person, why is a Jewish man being condemned to an Egyptian afterlife? I mean, I can suspend my disbelief and blame it on “Marc died on Egyptian soil in a sacred Egyptian tomb, ergo: Egyptian afterlife”, but I’m just curious if this is a thing from the comics or if it’s just some multiverse shit LOL. It’s just been niggling at me, is all. Don’t know why.

And now some predictions for the next episode (possible spoilers ahead):

I really don’t think Steven is gone (SORRY I CAN’T). My evidence for this is both in the show itself AND from what I understand about the comics. In the comics, The Three are a HUGE part of the Moon Knight character, each altar fronting when their unique skills are required, each working together in tandem to put them ahead of their opponents. To basically turf one completely, I think, would do a huge disservice to him. In the show, I STILL stand firm about my “two hearts on the scale = Steven’s alive” point. One heart each for Steven and Marc; it makes no sense that BOTH hearts balanced but only ONE altar “made it”. That said, and referencing my way-above point about Marc hiding Jake from Steven: the whole series has been about Marc essentially hiding his entire life from Steven to ensure Steven always had “a good life”, so what’s to say that Marc ALSO didn’t hide Jake from Steven, because Marc knows Steven is not-okay with violence... and in turn, Steven can’t die because it’s an unfair judgement without the “whole being”. I have a feeling that will be the “twist” that gets them out of the bind they’re in: Marc has to admit that there is a third, so the scale wasn’t weighing their entire person, essentially pitting the Ennead’s strict rules against them. I have a feeling (given the clues they threw in all season) that their “sentence” will be ruled by one of the Ennead as an illegitimate or unjust ruling because the System is actually THREE people, not two, so there’s the loophole that gets them out.

And obviously, I believe Jake will finally be revealed, but not necessarily be explained because it’s Disney+. More as an afterthought, or flashbacks? Or a post-credits. Either way, they need to address the big-assed elephant in the room (though at this stage in my fandom life, I’m used to showrunners avoiding said elephant).

I think Jake has been on the boat this whole time... perhaps the orderlies who were chasing Marc in the previous episode heard him banging on the sarcophagus, let him out, assumed it was Marc, and dragged him back to the office kicking and screaming, resulting in the banged-up face (which is the first scene with Harrow). Only flaw with this is that Jake knows about the hippo, so maybe there’s some bleeding between the three of them? ACTUALLY, this could be the case, because Marc relives his brother’s death in-time with Steven when only Steven finds the memory, even though he’s not there, so yeah, there is the semi-telepathic link they have in this place simply because they share the body. Hmm.

Also, I REALLY hope Marc actually acknowledges aloud or accepts that he has DID. It’s not actually ever been mentioned on the show, just in the first episode’s synopsis that he has it, so I think finally putting a name out loud to what Marc is going through in the final episode is important.

I think this infamous scene will either be referenced, OR called back to in the future. Because a BIG part of the character, from what I understand, is that they accept themselves as a System, and learn to work together to be a formidable opponent.

And because I’m kind of liking this theory I’m seeing going around (that ties into that above link): Khonshu is revealed to be the true “baddie” of the season, not in a villainous way but in a “I’ve been grooming this mentally-ill child since I disappeared his brother so he’ll be perfect for me in the future” morally-grey dick of a character sort of way.

I also want to re-state my hopes that Steven becomes the primary fronting character mainly because I feel like his character is the most unlike any of the others the MCU seems to be introducing in Phase 4, so I think his dynamic with the others will be an interesting watch. Again I’m biased because I love Steven so much.

I should probably write this after the next episode, but I’ll state it here because I don’t want to forget: I need Layla to be a “major minor character”. I absolutely think she will show up again given her ties to Madripoor, and I ABSOLUTELY want her to still remain in a relationship with the System. They all have such good chemistry and I would be saddened to see it end.

I’m a bit wary on this last episode, to be honest. There seems to be TOO much to wrap up in 45 minutes (Harrow, Khonshu, Layla, Steven/Jake, saving the world), especially if this is a one-off series... I’ve found Marvel’s dropped the ball on almost every one of these final episodes of the D+ shows, and good lord I’ll be upset if they do it again. I’m TRYING to stay positive because Isaac IS the executive producer on this show and he seems to be a good dude who takes mental health seriously and seems to genuinely want to deliver the best with this character, so I’m not gonna judge until Wednesday’s finale.

I know the big-wigs are saying there’s only one season, but I suspect that might be a big fat lie, provided that Disney continues to allow Oscar to have some creative control over the character (plus I believe the director also said that he’s interested in a second season). They lied about LOKI only having one season right until the end credits of E6, so I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility. And, if there is one, I think the second season will focus on the system learning to work together now that they’re all aware of each other, or they’ll adapt more radical aspects of the Lemire run of the comics (which this show is heavily influenced by) that had to be omitted for the series.

I think the ending or post-credits will somehow tie into Multiverse of Madness. I REALLY don’t think it’s a coincidence that the timing of this show’s final episode airs the day before MoM comes out (PLUS there were confirmed reshoots and scheduling changes of MK and MoM). I’m hearing / reading conflicting stories, but one account I read mentions that Strange and MoonKnight did interact together in a comic series or a few issues, as well as they are rumoured to be working together in an upcoming D+ Series. Who knows at this point... I’m trying to avoid leaks and spoilers for anything, so I’m probably off base.

Another prediction for the Post Credit: IF Steven is back-seated the whole episode, I think the post credits is where we get the reveal he’s alive.

And despite Oscar’s protests of MK being a one-and-done for him because he doesn’t want to get franchised, I think he will return in the future, because I suspect their deal to even GET him was to let him have control over the treatment of character. People are speculating he’s going to return in the rumoured Werewolf by Night Halloween Special, and in Midnight Suns, AND possibly the next Avengers movie.

Anyway, I really don’t know what to expect of the final episode... it’s a free-for all at this point, but I really want to see more of MK. I love him, he’s such an interesting and different character that they can do SO much with, and Oscar is the PERFECT choice for him. I do think that this show will ultimately end up being my fave D+ show, if they stick the landing regardless of Steven’s fate.

I am so pumped for this new era of Marvel because I really like mind-fucky types of things, and I am excited to see them go whole-hog on the mysticism and dimension/reality stuff. I’ve always had a fascination for them, and it seems like they’re making Doctor Strange and the weird shit he deals with the new norm for the MCU. I see this as a win, honestly.

Anyway, Disney, please make another season or a movie for MK, I need more of this character.

Thank you all for reading if you got this far, and I hope you guys enjoyed my ramblings. I like writing character meta. <3

#moonknight #moonknight meta #moon knight #my meta #my thoughts #spoilers #character study #i am not a professional

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beautifully-lumpy · 1 year

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the beautiful person's journal - #6: the month of terraaarrr!...(arr)

the air is becoming chillier...the leaves are falling...you can smell pumpkin spice and leaves...caddy is upping the ante on his video production values...it must be...the-

(arr...)

something that the post-reboot caddicarus fans have sadly had to miss out on so far is the iconic month of terror - when the caddicarus channel would spend the entire month of october posting wonderfully scary episodes and sometimes bonus videos. most youtube channels of the comedic game reviewer variety take christmas seriously; a christmas special would usually be the last video of the year, and the season finale. but with the caddicarus channel, halloween was taken very seriously, and by god did we all have the time of our lives with it.

this event was officially named in 2015, but even before that the channel's halloween specials were full of effort and passion. i myself was always hyped up for october to come because the caddicarus episodes would be on point. some of my greatest memories in the caddicarus fandom and the hiddenblock fandom by extension were had in october; for example, it was the month i opened my first youtube channel in 2014, and it was the month i began interacting with the fandom more in 2015.

so, as today is halloween, this entry will look back at the halloween caddicarus episodes pre-2020!

these are the three halloween specials that came out pre-2015, before the whole month was dedicated to halloween. the evil dead and top 10 scariest songs in video games episodes were filmed in a creepy old shed - the former episode being its first appearance. the latter was unlike any top 10 we'd seen before, with a much darker, somber tone with little humor. caddy describes the scariness of the songs as he walks through various areas outside. and you can't forget those early 2010's saturated video filters.

the 2014 special sticks out to me the most because it was the first one i was around for. it was on resident evil zero, and it was a collab with jordan underneath. this was the first special to be posted in november, and it wouldn't be the last time the halloween festivities carried on into november! i believe this episode was filmed in cerys' house at the time - the same house seen in the iconic bratz episode outro.

i specifically remember hauling ass to my room and turning this episode on with a freshly baked totino's pizza, back when they were round. i remember how insane the outro was, with jordan killing caddy, and i remember being so underwhelmed when the next episode didn't mention it at all because i just needed that deep early 2010's game reviewer lore. XD

and now, onto 2015 - the first year in which the month of terror was official! from this year up until 2019, the caddicarus show would be entirely focused on spooky stuff through all of october, and the event would end with the proper halloween special - where caddy would wear a cool halloween costume!

this year, he explored these super cool and creepy old caves while he gave his top 10 games that got under his skin. then, for the halloween special, we got the very first 2-parter caddicarus - the long-anticipated casper: a spirited beginning review that was teased in the croc video 2 years earlier. for this special, he dressed up as a vampire...a MOHAWKED vampire! he even dyed it pumpkin spice-colored! XD

as i stated earlier, i have amazing memories with these videos and they're still some of my favorite caddicarus episodes to date. overall, this is my 2nd favorite MOT. there's nothing quite like cooltext logo-era caddicarus...

now 2016? to this day, this year is STILL my favorite for the MOT. not only did we get 6 banger caddicarus episodes, but current quickies also covered some spooky games for the occasion! although they're not pictured in this screenshot, film fridays also went all out. this MOT was so damn awesome, it kept going on into november with a bonus scary ep after the official halloween special.

oh boy, the top 10 scariest things in non-horror games...i remember 14-year-old me getting a wave of scary fic inspiration from the ending of that one. i actually wrote a terribly narmy godawful fic called "trapped", where caddy's house became haunted...i've actually thought about rewriting it, but in the actual caddicarus show universe. spons basically haunts the house with advertisements and it's a giant shitpost that's also making a point. XD

and spice world!! that one aged extremely well imo, given how short it was and how there wasn't extra time spent pointlessly over-analyzing it. the humor was in line with his style nowadays, i was laughing so hard watching it recently. i also have a fond memory with this one - i'd invited a new friend over to my house the day this episode came out, and this was their first episode. they drew me a fanart of caddy and i used it on the cover of my school binder for a long time!

the medievil episode was also fun. and then there was the top 10 horror games halloween special that saw caddy running around town in a deadpool costume...and a cameo from rosie!! then the next week, we had the creepy doll, a bonus episode!

2017's MOT was the first one in the current house. there was a huge gap between these two videos, as the scheduled 2-week-break just happened to fall in the middle of october. because of this, the halloween special aired in november, just like in 2014.

we had knack II - or SHAT II - starting off this event. as you may imagine, the comment section was littered with dunkey memes...and i admit i contributed lmaooo. one thing that stuck out to me was the ending where caddy shot the game and it bled, leading him to freak out. that got me making angsty in-universe TCS AUs...dead serious. LMAO

and the halloween special on condemned - OMG. the review part itself didn't stick out to me but what DID was the production value. all the decorations and stuff looked cool, and caddy's costume- Y'ALL. 15 year old mel was looking respectfully.

and how could i forget "ces...or as they say...cerys..."

this is my least favorite MOT, mostly because the topics weren't as interesting to me and i thought the videos weren't as funny. there weren't any bonus vids except for a review of the evil within. this is when i thought TCS was starting to decline in quality, and this was during season 9 - the season i used to think was the worst.

and now we're in that weird era between the removal of slaughter/salvage and the channel reset! this was during season 11, and we were starting to see more experimental vids. one of these in particular was the super bowsette 64 video, which was completely out of left field at the time. with mega man 11, we started seeing topics that weren't really "scary" being covered as part of the MOT with scary thumbnail art. and we finally got a proper resident evil review! it was the first time since 2016 that a PS1 game was covered during this event.

it's definitely not one of my favorites, but i certainly thought it was better than 2017's MOT. unfortunately this was when i was starting to slowly get out of caddy's content, and the fandom as well. so i can't really talk about these episodes in any meaningful depth.

now 2019 was an interesting one to look at - because i was absent for this one. i was three years late to checking these out. when these episodes were releasing, i was looking for another hyperfixation...i was crashing with ducktales until onward sucked me up into its tornadic pull, ironically exactly one year after i initially unsubbed to caddy, AND not too long after he retooled his content.

pushing the switch lite to breaking point was kinda eh, but i will tell y'all a story i had with this ep. back when this one came out, there was deadass someone in front of me watching it at church. although i wasn't watching the videos anymore, i did know what was going on with the channel and all the changes that were happening because a fandom friend kept updating me. so the MOMENT i looked over and saw that brick wall behind the brown couch on that kid's phone, i found it hard to hold in my laughter. watching an atheist talk about goose game during a youth group sermon, now that's amazing.

then we had the yooka laylee and the impossible lair episode! again, not the greatest. season 13 absolutely excelled with episodes like the thomas game, the peppa pig album and the garbage game opinions, but not this one. nothing stood out to me.

only "scary" thing covered here was the medievil remake review, which was the halloween special where he dressed up as a goddamn gravestone. i think this shows how much crazier his writing had gotten since 2015, and it was one of the signs of things to come in 2020. XD

so yeah! that's the history of the caddicarus channel in october. this man knew how to celebrate halloween!

i hope we get a halloween episode next year in the new style. the lumpies and germs need to have that formative scary-caddicarus-episode-in-october experience!

#caddicarus #the beautiful person's journal #the BPJ #hidden block #hiddenblock #jim caddick #the caddicarus show

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amateurmagic · 1 month

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For the Pokemon meme- 1, 11 and 22! And also passing along the be sure to stay hydrated train :)

Eeee thanks for the ask!! I haven't done tumblr asks in a while

1) Who was your first starter?

Turtwig!! I was pretty late to the game for Pokemon, but I adore him!! Sadly, I really don't use the line very much bc they're weak/allergic to everything

11) List your top 6 favorite Pokemon

1. Espeon!! I had one in my og Diamond file that just blasted through everything and that's what put it on my radar. I also love its simple and elegant design and I'd love to have one follow me around. I also really like the emphasis on bond and trust in all its dex entries

2. Raichu - it's just so big and looks so nice and soft and pudgy to hold and hug. And also absolutely strong enough to decimate my enemies. It also seems like the least loved member of the Pika-line, (most of its anime appearances are basically Raichu slander lol) but Alolan Raichu is nothing but soft pancake-loving perfection

3. Lucario - bit of a basic choice but i will always love this reliable ace. It was also one of my friend's favorite pokemon who helped get me into Pokemon, so there's the nostalgia points there. And no one can deny that Lucario's movie was, and still is, an absolute banger

4. Ponyta - again with the nostalgia play, but Ponyta was the first pokemon i learned. (I guess separate fun fact is that my first pokemon I learned wasn't Pikachu). I also grew up riding horses and still do, and the little childhood desire of being able to ride and own a literal fire horse has not subsided. It's also got a real cute face

5. Hisuian Arcanine - Kantoian Arcanine has always hovered near the top of my favorites list, but when the Hisuian form came out? Instant top. I love it's design and also it's callback to historic asian guard dogs. Also who could resist a giant fluffy dog to help hunt down your enemies and then lower your heating bill in the winter?

6. Meowscarada - after a lot of internal debate, I've gotta give the last spot to my Scarlet ace. Initially, I actually hated how the final form of our grass cat looked, but it's definitely grown on me (though the puffy sleeves and weird hand-paws are still problem but we're fixing that in fanart wut). And working to develop my ScarVio muse’s Meowscarada’s personality and arc for my slew of fics that hopefully will make it out of google docs one day lol has also endeared it to me. Also Scarvio has been the first mainline Pokemon game to really grab me since XY, so Meowscarada gets points for that too

Honorable mentions (bc that last choice was hard) - Eevee, Buizel, Absol, Torterra and Latios

22) - If you were a gym leader, what would your typing/theme be?

I love that this question says theme, because I've always wondered how Gym Leaders and E4 end up specializing in types. Besides for Misty, I don't remember anyone in canon who wasn't already a gym leader deciding to specialize in only one type (yeah I know Misty becomes a gym leader, but when she battled Ash in like. ep maybe 7, she barely was). Because they must've had mixed teams when they were up and coming trainers, winning leagues and challenging Champions and such. I much prefer some of the mixed teams of the ScarVio teachers in the Academy Ace tournament and then Battle Frontier brains in the anime that have a unifying theme instead. Like an international gym with all final forms of starters would be cool

As for me, it's so basic, but I'd love an Eeveelution gym with Eevee as the ace, maybe with Gmax, even though I haven't finished Shield yet. But if I had to pick a type, I think I'd go Fire-type with Hisuian Arcanine as my ace, along with Ponyta/Rapidash, Hisuian Typhlosian, Delphox, Houndoom, and maybe Salazzle

And yes!! Hydrating is good!! Hydrate or die-drate. Currently doing with tea

#asks #pokemon #lol sorry my tastes are all nostalgia and basic

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isirumarin · 1 year

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Rumarin x Isira (LDB)

Ep.9 Secrets

Isira woke up first, again. She sat up and watched Rumarin sleep for a moment. She loved him so much, so quickly, it was...unsettling a bit but, she felt like she already knew him that day at the barrow. It was far more similar to rejoining with an old flame than an utter stranger. He was definitely following along. She hoped it was genuine and not the get-laid-and-see game some mer play. She felt embarrassed for a moment. Doubting her behavior- as always, her powerful instinctual intuition fighting against logic and common sense. She closed her eyes took a deep breath and meditated on her instincts. When she opened her eyes, he was looking up at her with his floral pink eyes and his stupid smirk. 'I'm right where I should be, and with whom.' She smiled at him and kissed him. She lay down over his chest. Her hair fell out of the braids and flowed over his skin like silver mist. Rumarin petted her head. She snuggled her face into his chest, savoring his pleasant scent. She rubbed her hand over his copper colored chest hair, soft and curly.

"So manly!" She teased. Rumarin chuckled. "That's the last thing I deserve to be called." He retorted. "Banana-ly is more like it."

"Oh no.." Isira said sadly. "There's a hair in my banana." They both laughed heartily together.

"I'll give you a new banana.." Rumarin growled, rolling on top of her. "I'll give you two melons in exchange for your fresh banana, sir." She said with an impish smirk. "It's a good day to trade." He replied before kissing her passionately. "Okay, we can go to the market..but I have to go soon, so we must be brief." She said breathlessly, throwing her head back as he kissed her neck.

---

Isira walked up the staired corridor into the Arcanaeum. Books and locked shelves were everywhere and the room had a unique smell. It smelled...ancient.

Urag gro-Shub greeted her in his usual gruff manner. "Archmage, I've unlocked the chest."

"I'm ready. Show me." She replied, taking a deep breath. Gro-Shub placed the rusted, ominous- looking black box on the counter and opened it for her.

She looked inside. An amulet was inside. It was made of a dark material. The pendant was a large, black, spherical teardrop. "How odd.." she muttered, picking it up by the chain. Small runic letters of an unknown script were etched into its dark material. "Thank you, Urag, I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

Urag nodded in acknowledgement. "I would be careful, Archmage. The runes appear to be the same script that was on the Eye of Magnus. And I haven't made any progress trying to decode them. I swear they change after I've studied them, and my notes don't fare any better. Its maddening and I think its dangerous. We know nothing about it..." He growled, his irritation apparent.

She hadn't told him where she got the box. Quaranir, the Altmer mage from the Psijic order that had guided her through the Magnus artifact crisis, had given it to her.

She remembered how he had appeared in her chamber while she was soaking in her hot bath:

A blue orb flashed and there he was, Quaranir the Psijic. "Greetings." Isira called out, not moving from her comfortable position.

"I don't have much time."

"You never do." Isira quipped coldly as she inspected her fingernails.

The Psijic pursed his lips. His green eyes narrowed and he walked towards her. Standing at the edge of the bath, he set a black and rusted box at the water's edge.

"Care to join me, Psijic?" Her voice just above a whisper. "Too few Altmer in this frozen place." She complained.

The Psijic eyed her with contempt before casting his robes aside and kicking off his leather boots. He stepped carefully into the warm waters. He sat next to her, his green eyes staring straight ahead.

She stared at the side of his face for a few seconds. He didn't flinch.

She hungrily mounted him. Their lovemaking was rushed and greedy but he was always on time and when he left she was always satisfied. The Psijic Way.

She looked at the amulet. How things had changed. Her flings with the Psijic were soulless and greedy. Not at all like Rumarin.

She put the strange amulet in her pouch. It would no doubt be an awkward visit next time Quaranir ported in. She needed to talk to Rumarin and tell him everything. His identity was also a shock. Surely the humor of fate.

#3dnpc #fanfic #interesting npcs #rumarin #rumarin 3dnpc #rumarin skyrim #isirumarin #x ldb #ldb #skyrim fanfiction #quaranir #psijic order #skipping school for some nookie #mannimarco and vanus

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wonniesmile · 3 years

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❥ playground! (ep. 1)

⤷ ellie’s moments in playground episode 1! (ft. txt <3)

⤷ bulletpoint format !

⤷ read ep. 2 here!

ellie was like...extremely nervous.

not only was it one of the first variety shows they were ever filming, but with TXT TOO??

she has been a massive fan of theirs since debut and she was quite literally starstruck seeing them in person.

they met backstage before the recording and she couldn’t move a muscle.

if you asked her to recall what happened before filming, i could guarantee you she wouldn’t be able to.

(she might have the tiniest crush on mr. choi beomgyu and the members tease her for it relentlessly.)

had to freestyle dance in front of everyone and could not keep a straight face bcs she was so nervous.

“she’s so cute!” (said by yeonjun himself)

at that point the poor girl’s heart almost stopped.

“i want ellie on my team!” (said by yeonjun yet again)

thinks her life flashed before her eyes at that very moment.

hey...do u remember when i mentioned her tiny crush on beomgyu? yep! as it turns out...jay actually forced her hands up for his team when picking groups!

great job jay! (from me of course...ellie was mad)

anyways, she tried pulling it back down, but obviously she gave up after remembering how strong he was lol.

so here she was...standing next to the one and only choi beomgyu...face literally tomato red (good thing makeup is a thing!)

“hey ellie-” , “don’t talk to me rn.”

that was her conversation with jay by the way, she was mad (at least on the outside, her heart was pounding very heavily on the inside).

“hi! i’m beomgyu, and you’re ellie right?”

oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

he knows her NAME? HER DAMN NAME.

alright, ellie calm tf down.

“yeah! i’m a big fan of you guys!”

why in the hell would you say that? are you literally stupid-

“aw thank you! you’re very good at dancing, we should collab sometime!”

...

what?

no.

there’s no way that just-

wait...

come again?

“wh-? oh- uh- u-”

“she’d love to collaborate!”

thanks jungwon, she owes you one.

“yeah! what he said!”

good god, that was the most embarrassing thing she has ever experienced in her life.

back to the actual show, they were put into desks.

ellie tried sitting in between jungwon and taehyun, but of course, jay being the literal devil he is, forced ellie to sit next to beomgyu.

jungwon giggled and she gave him a death stare.

was red the entire time.

kinda carried the group, along with mr. yang.

knew all the questions during the quizzes and beomgyu would compliment her each time.

i think her ego went straight through the roof every time gyu complimented her.

she would make eye contact with sunoo from across the room and they’d both start laughing their butts off.

“why are you laughing so hard?” (jungwon)

“oh its nothing.” she says this as she wipes the tears from her eyes.

after the quiz missions, they had to do the blindfold challenge.

jay (being the annoying ass he is) tried to get ellie to do it with beomgyu, but she didn’t budge.

“you know you want to ellie~” (jay in a mocking tone)

“shut up.”

ended up doing it with jungwon.

giggled so much at the feeling.

held jungwons hands bcs she was “scared”.

“WHAT IS THIS.”

it was cold and- “HARMONICA!”

ellie won the round (as she most def should)

then it was time for the tennis game shat.

OH GOD. what a game.

they went second, after ni-ki, sunoo, yeonjun, and heeseung’s team, so they had time to prepare.

made “small talk” with beomgyu.

(it was literally just her blushing, nodding, and staring in awe the whole time, but beomgyu didn’t seem to mind.)

got really immersed in the game being played in front of them and started clapping every time the other team failed.

sucked at the game (oops).

they almost came in last, but thankfully, she had good teammates.

tripped on her own foot like 80,946 times, suprised she didn’t break a bone.

she would hear one of her members laugh from the sideline and she’d have to try so hard not to laugh.

the next game was ~easy~ as stated by ellie.

“we are the one!” beomgyu said in english, made ellie burst into laughter.

first word was crab, she got that one right (or at least the majority of her teammates picked the same one as her (majority=jungwon and taehyun)

if she was being honest, her team sucked at the game.

its alright though, it was fun.

she liked watching the other teams fail, it was so entertaining to her.

“JAKE ISN’T DOING THE SAME HAND!”

got really defensive for some odd reason.

others found it adorable.

sadly, the episode had to end there.

but THANKFULLY, they were gonna shoot more.

she said her ending ment. and threw finger hearts at the camera.

after the shooting for the first ep. ended, she became close to huening (after finding out he brought his nintendo switch).

they played for so long in the dressing room.

won every time...yep.

“WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD?” (this is hyuka as ellie is absolutely crushing his dreams)

“i dont know, hai.” (ellie with the biggest smug smile on her face)

“its her secret talent.” (heeseung mentions next to her)

“everyone, get ready for the next shoot!”

“darn, let’s play again later!” hyuka says.

ellie nods her head so aggressively (it legitimately almost snapped).

that pretty much sums up the first episode!

(someoneee got a little jealous with the whole beomgyu and ellie ordeal, but i wont name names rn...figure it out for yourself ;))

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creativeashproductions · 3 years

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A Distant Dream IV // Luke Patterson

Summary: In 1994 seventeen year old Luke Patterson had once again tried to ask out the girl that held his heart. With the belief he would see the younger Mercer girl the next morning he decides to wait to confess his feelings. Only to have soft music bewitched the reader into an antique wardrobe with lots of history

Warnings: Swearing, grief, mourning a relationship, sadness, angst, war/death, mention of strict parents, and fluff

Words: 3.1

A/N: This is a disclaimer: just because the reader and Luke start to get along better and have a date does NOT mean she isn’t grieving her relationship. Whether the love faded or not with Peter that is still a large part of who she was/is or don’t expect her and Luke to fall into a relationship immediately.

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The phantoms had disbanded for the night, leaving Julie alone in her room surrounded by books and Flynn. You’d snuck down to the basement as you had since you arrived in 2020 from a different world. The wardrobe that quite literally changed your life was in the back corner, unassuming for the young girl.

Your e/c eyes pinned to the antique wooden furniture that had traveled from England to America as if fate had guided it. No matter how long time went by you’d never been able to touch the wardrobe, let alone touch remotely close. A part of you feared finding if you could return to Narnia or not.

It was something you kept private from the new people helping you to assimilate back into a life on Earth. The boys often refused to leave you for very long after the traumatic disappearance, even when you urged for space. It had almost been as tricky as negotiating peace with a land boiling with civil unrest.

Alex had taken to holding your hand as you slept for peace in both him and you; he’d noticed the state of sleep you endured. It was fitful and often filled with memories in the form of nightmares. The one from last night reared its head once more.

An intake of breath as you pulled your fingers closed to your cheek. Eyes on the movement before you released the bow. The arrow sailed true into the unsuspecting enemy with a faint whistle as it travelled.

The body dropped, one of many of the battles you had attended since defeating the White Witch. A life was still a life, and taking one was incredibly difficult. You saw it in the eyes of Peter, heard it in Susan’s strained voice, saw it in the way Edmund carried himself, but the most heartbreaking was the feeling of Lucy’s tense shoulders in certain moments.

Edmund and Lucy had been children when the White Witch had reigned and fought. Lucy had been only nine years old when her foot first touched Narnian snow. At that tender age, she’d watched the evil of the world up close. Edmund not that incredibly older. The youngest Pevensie had watched her brother take his last breath. Felt the trauma of Edmund’s gasping as the cordial bled one life-giving drop of liquid.

“I’d like to say it gets better, but it truly doesn’t, Your Majesty.” General Oreius’ announced from his station beside you. It was a lull in the tension building as people got ready for the enemies on the horizon.

Oreius’ addressed you but kept his gaze on the approaching army from an enemy land; the General was gifted in multitasking. He’d stopped to give you a little peace in only the way he knew how to.

“Thank you, Oreius.” You informed the General as he took off into the land ahead, leaving you to hold off the enemy with arrows. The short lapse is a game-changer for you as you run into battle.

Last night’s dream had been a reprieve from the dreams of Peter staring sadly at you curled around Luke. It hadn’t happened, of course, but that didn’t dim the bonfire of emotions you felt for the hazel-eyed guitarist.

You couldn’t quite figure out if you loved Peter the way a wife should love their husband. It wasn’t solely Peter that made you come to the wardrobe frequently. It had to do with the family that became yours when your parents had been shitty.

“Hey.” Julie spoke, stepping up to your side. The first person to have found you in the basement where you had an entirely different life.

“Hi.” You murmured, breaking your stare to meet the lovely teenager who had taken your brother and friends into her home. Even if it hadn’t been a smooth start, the band had grown infinitely closer.

“Do you think you’ll ever go back?” Julie softly questioned with soft brown eyes taking in the action you’d known for years. Your fingers brushed a strand of her gorgeous coil hair behind her ear with a gentleness you’d done so with Susan and Lucy.

Julie watched as your eyes saddened, “I don’t know. Mere seconds before I stumbled out of the wardrobe into your home, I was an adult. I had been in my early ’30s reigning beside my husband, and then I was the same sixteen-year-old girl breaking the chains of the Mercer name.”

“You feel guilty you left Alex, Luke and Reggie without answers, but you feel like you’re betraying your new family?” Julie questioned, shifting on her sneakers to stare at the emotional mask you’d developed in Narnia.

“Something like that.” You simply replied, casting one more look at the wardrobe in your haste to leave the basement.

Julie waited until you had left before she opened the wardrobe with a loud creak. Her hands brushed material hanging before her hand met a solid surface. Her face dropped at the physical evidence that Narnia couldn’t be reached from this wardrobe again.

Julie adored you, but she wanted to know how true happiness looked on your pretty features. Even if she had to give up you just so you could be happy, it was worth it, so when you left the basement each visit, she’d check the wardrobe.

It always failed. Not a speck of snow or a call of your royal title. Had Julie not seen you tumble out of the wardrobe, she’d have never believed the story.

“One day.” Julie murmured to the silent wardrobe.

Your foot barely passed the threshold of your attic space when your ’90s friends dropped unceremoniously on the floor. Each wearing a big grin that matched the fake one you plastered on.

“Where’d you go this time?”

“Top of the Hollywood sign.” Reggie piped up, skipping over to distribute a cheesy tourist keychain of the sign. Had it been someone else than Reggie, you would have joked about it, but you never could with the sweet puppy like teenager.

“Thank you.” You told the boy who had taken to grabbing little souvenirs for you. You couldn’t remember when he’d sat beside you, but he’d softly informed you how much he’d missed you.

In the year following your disappearance, Reggie had built up a collection of trinkets he thought you’d love; he was the one with the most optimism. Even if he believed you’d met an end, that little spark of hope never died. He wouldn’t be Reggie Peters if the hope wasn’t there.

“I wish I knew if my parents kept that box.” Reggie sighed, referring to the trinkets he had collected the year you’d gone missing. You merely squeezed his shoulder in response before catching gazes with Luke.

“Flynn still here?” Alex questioned, pushing himself to sit on the box bench underneath the window. He’d proudly chosen the wear one of the t-shirts Flynn had personalized for the band.

You shrugged, “Dunno. Julie found me.”

Reggie and Luke were oblivious, but Alex knew to the core of his soul where you tended to spend alone time. Alex would see how you’d return with that ache in your eyes more prominent, and your lips quirked down just enough for him to tell. He saw the guilt when you looked at Luke, the way you thumbed your ring.

“Do you want to hang out? Maybe to use Julie’s computer to search for our childhood friends? See if Sarah got valedictorian?” Alex asked, swinging his feet, trying to pull you from your thought which he was successful with.

“Sure.”

Reggie and Luke watched as you and Alex left the attic for some one on one time together, leaving the two.

“I wonder where they’re going?” Reggie questioned, staring after the closed door. His hands pushed into the back pockets of his jeans.

Luke shrugged, “You wanna write a song?”

“Sure! We could-”

“Not country,” Luke told the bassist, who pouted but followed as his best friend poofed to the garage.

The two Mercer siblings wandered the streets of Los Angeles, each in their own thoughts but comforted by the odd brush of their arms. For Alex, it felt like the old days when you both snuck out of the house just for some air. To just to leave the tense expectations shoved on their shoulders by their perfectionist parents.

“If I’d never disappeared and you didn’t die, where do you think we’d be?” You mused, thinking of all the what-ifs. Would you have gotten together with Luke? Would Sunset Curve had gone on to do sold-out shows.

“I don’t really know, to be honest. I think if we’d gone on to be successful that Reggie would have a ranch somewhere. He might have even released an EP of country songs. I think you and Luke would be together.” Alex thought with a bittersweet smile.

“And?”

“And what?”

“Where do you think you would be?” You questioned the older Mercer, who simply shrugged, “I like to think you would have been happy. Whether that was with someone, who was worthy of you or just by being yourself. Maybe you would have started a charity or been an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.”

Your e/c eyes caught the smile growing on your older brother’s mouth, bringing a lightness to your body.

“I don’t think it matters. We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be. If we had survived, I would have never seen you again.” Alex confessed, “I think we were always meant to meet Julie.”

You went to open your mouth when your eyes found one of the last places you wanted to be. Somehow you and Alex had walked into the area where the country club was sitting just as it was back in the ’90s. From a distance, you could see the unmistakable form of Sarah, the girl in your grade who had always unwillingly competed academically with you. Sarah was just another girl with heavy expectations from her own wealthy parents.

“Is that Sarah?” Alex softly chuckled as the girl, now a woman, holding the hand of her husband with genuine happiness, “She looks happy.”

“She deserves it. The rivalry all our parents had was insane, so I’m happy one of us got the least complicated life.” You informed Alex bumping your hip against his leg as you talked with the pink-loving male.

England, 1940s

Four youth occupied one of the many rooms in the manor that didn’t hold a candle to Cair Paravel grand size and beauty. Not that the four confused siblings spent time taking a gander in the room. Each focused on how they’d lived well into their thirties before regressing back to the ages they were when they stepped into the wardrobe. There were minor changes.

Edmund wasn’t acting like a knob, Susan inserting herself as dominant, and Lucy was quieter than usual. Peter, however, had a boiling rage he could barely contain within himself.

“Do you think Aslan did this?” Susan questioned her siblings. A single tear rolling down her face at the grief she felt.

Each Pevensie was in the beginning stages of grief. They had to grieve the life they had lost in a magical place. A place where the war didn’t ravage like it did to their home country. For the suitors, she’d only just started to seriously look into.

Not a single shred of evidence tied themselves to Narnia.

“Who else?” Peter scoffed, bringing a gasp from Lucy’s mouth. They had all proudly reigned with Aslan in mind. Not a word is spoken against the great lion who’d died for Edmund and came back to life.

“Pet-”

“This is your fault.” Peter told his younger brother with a grimace on his face, “We had everything we ever needed in Narnia. Why did you need to catch that stupid stag?”

Edmund’s eyebrows furrowed, “You make it sound like our lives were perfect. Newsflash, King Peter, but it was far from that. You barely focused on your marriage, let alone Y/N.”

“Edmund.” Susan admonished, glancing between her brothers as if watching a tennis match. The only sister paying attention as Lucy stared out the window at the overcast day.

“It’s true! His marriage was a sham, and he lied to the entire kingdom!” Edmund shouted with a heated glare, “You acted like you were the most important person in Narnia, like the only reason the place worked was because of your hand solely.”

“Shut up,” Peter growled, stepping right up to his little; Edmund had lost a lot of inches, brother with a sneer. Their hair mussed from rubbing against the furs.

“Just because you’re older and you had High in front of your title doesn’t lessen our power too.”

“STOP IT.” Lucy screamed, stomping her foot, “Who cares about that. How about we focus on where Y/N went? She was right with us in there, and then out of nowhere, she’s gone.”

“I know.” Peter’s shoulder dropped in defeat as it settled further into his mind. Not only had he lost the years he’d lived, but he’d also lost you somewhere along the line.

While you’d fallen out of love, or maybe you’d never even been in love with Peter; he’d faithfully kept feelings for you. Part of him had always known your heart was taken by another, but he cherished the times you had together.

“And she’s not in another place right now. She’s somewhere in the far future.” Edmund added with his arms crossed over each other, “She never elaborated on when, where or what the future looks like. How can we find someone that doesn’t exist yet?”

“We hope our future selves can find her.” Susan finished sending a look at each of her siblings, “In the meantime, let’s live our lives for her, so we have tons of stories for her to listen to.”

Molina Household, America 2020

Luke Patterson shook in his black vans, his best pair he owned, holding simple flowers Julie had gotten. Money from busking down at the pier for some cash the boys could have for anything they wanted. They always left money with a note when they got items.

The flowers’ stems were definitely in a battle to survive the grip from the scared teenage ghost. He’d started the day with a tickle in the back of his mind to ask you out. Just a simple date with no strings attached to see where it could go. He couldn’t chicken out when he’d already knocked, and the door was opening.

“Oh! Luke.” You gasped, blinking at the sudden appearance of the phantom. Luke’s eyes melted at the oversized flannel layered over a cropped dark blue sweater.

Your style pre-Narnia and during Narnia had coalesced over the few months you’d found yourself on Earth. Your love of cropped tops returned with a modest twist, the modesty unshakable.

“I know it’s been hard adjusting from Narnia, but I was wondering if you would go on a date with him?” He blurted, dancing on the balls of his vans with an expression of pure nerves.

Your mind flew twenty miles an hour thinking through the implications of accepting a date with this teenager. A dead teenager at that. Sure he was only a year older, but fate had a sick sense of humour.

“I don-”

“I know in your other world you have a husband. I get that, but there’s something undeniable between us. It’s been there since the ’90s, and we always just pushed it away. I learned over the twenty-six years that life is too short.” Luke pleaded, slowly pushing the pretty bouquet into your arms, “Just one date to see if this is worth pursuing.”

You should have said no, but you couldn’t, “One date.”

Luke mentally pumped his fist in the air in celebration as if he was starring in a John Hughes movie. As if reading his mind, you teasingly thrust your hand in the air, the very same hand coming into Luke’s grip.

“There isn’t a lot that we can do, but Willie knows a guy unaffiliated with Caleb. Well, he knows him through a few guys, but he hooked me up. In this lovely basket, we have a menagerie of food that I can eat.” Luke spoke proudly with that same twinkle he always had with you by his side.

Your lips parted in pure elation. Luke Patterson was taking you out on one of the things that had been on your bucket list. A picnic date, something you and Alex each desired to enjoy.

Luke led you down a few streets to a park notorious for cute dates. Julie stood over a cliche checkered blanket. In her hand was an old iPhone or iPod hooked up to a Bluetooth speaker, a playlist curated of your favourite songs ready to go.

“You remember how to use this?” Julie questioned the teen ghost with one raised eyebrow. Luke nodded in his mission to unpack the food in a form that was as romantic as possible.

Julie nodded before casting a quiet goodbye to the two ’90s teens.

“How’d you know?” You questioned Luke as he poured a glass of the beverage he’d chosen. His ever-changing eyes flicked up to yours with an endearing expression.

Your eyes scanned his messy hair. He had taken the time to meticulously styled for his date with you. He’d chosen that gorgeous purple corduroy long sleeve shirt that turned his hair to melted milk chocolate. He hadn’t done a 180 on his style; he’d never tell you he’d styled his hair off his forehead into what Alex had dubbed the Prince Charming hair.

“1994 in the studio for Alex’s fifteenth birthday. Bobby snuck some alcohol he’d collected from his uncle’s BBQ and his father’s stash. We got drunk for the first time and played truth or dare.” Luke recalled with a smile.

He remembered how much of lightweights they were and the way his heart fluttered when Alex answered Reggie’s question. He explained how his ideal date was a picnic in a park with either a guy he was seeing or his celebrity crush. He’d mentioned it was something he shared with you, and then all Luke could think about was taking you on a picnic.

“Dealing with Alex’s hungover ass was a nightmare.” You grunted, swiping one of the pieces of watermelon from a container.

“I can only imagine.” Luke chuckled, slowly shifting closer to you with a sandwich in his left hand. His right arm slowly slinked over your shoulders to rest, the movement halting as your shoulders tensed momentarily.

“Were you really gonna confess that night I disappeared?” You asked the guitarist currently focused on the delicious sandwich. It reminded him of his mother packing his lunch every day, even in his high school years despite telling his mom he could do it himself.

“I was. I chickened out.” Luke admitted and had he been alive, his ears could have flushed along with his cheeks. The bashful ghost struggled to meet your gaze, “I had-have this massive crush on you. I’ve had it since you called me your knight in shining armour-”

“When I sliced my knee open, and you carried me home.”

“I’ve never told anyone, but you’re kinda the reason why I started wearing no sleeves. The guys and us were watching a film, and you mentioned something about the actor’s arms.” Luke snickered with a smile that faded at your sheepish grin, “Oh my god, you knew.”

“Bobby let it slip, ‘I watched him cut the sleeves of his shirts, stitch the raw edges of the fabric, prick his fingers a ton, and he nearly broke my foot’”

“Yeah I almost dropped a weight on him.” Luke snorted, shuffling to lay his head to rest on top of yours. He’d quickly learnt in his mission to gain muscle for your attention that he liked the exercise. He continued to get in shape and grow some muscle, but he still wore sleeveless shirts for you.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Luke beamed at your words, “Nah, you’re the beautiful one.”

The rest of the date was everything you had ever wished for. Luke went above and beyond your expectations, even as a ghost. He’d packed a sweater to help you into when the night appeared, and the cold came. He held your hand on the way home and walked you straight to your attic door.

Luke didn’t push for a kiss either. He simply raised your clasped hand to press a lingering kiss on the back of your hand.

“Sweet dreams.” Luke murmured before he walked down the stairs. The euphoria ensuring he forget his ability to poof.

He wore the same lovesick expression into the studio where two ghosts waited for all the details. Alex and Reggie each buzzing in anticipation for their guitarist best friend.

In your room, you analyzed your feelings closely.

The guilt wasn’t as suffocating as you’d anticipated after going on a date that wasn’t with Peter. Just the guy that had been a reason your marriage with Peter wasn’t how it should have been. You also knew in your heart that Peter would want you to be happy and move on. In fact, in the last two years of your marriage, things had changed to just being two best friends married.

Your eyes met the window of your attic bedroom with a small smile. Your right hand slowly sliding the symbol of love from your finger. For the first time in a very long time, your wedding and engagement band left your hand.

“I’ll always love you, Peter Pevensie.” You murmured from your place in front of your dresser. The two rings slid into the old jewellery box where they would stay.

The only signs of your previous relationship status are just memories and a pale line on your ring finger.

Time to move on. Time to accept that Narnia was in the past and not in your future. Time to accept that Luke Patterson always had and always would hold your heart in his hands.

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chalkrevelations · 3 years

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SO. Word of Honor, Episode 10, and everyone is deep in their feelings … well, their feeling, which is misery.

First, due diligence, and I really mean it on this one: SPOILERS not just for this ep but for the entire show. Out of the car, for now, and come back later, if you want to watch the whole thing unspoiled.

Well, it’s the breakup episode, y’all. Everyone is wallowing in misery, and Our Couple is taking that out on themselves and in some cases (:cough:WKX:cough) on everybody around them. We open on sad-sack Wen Kexing digging sadly in the dirt with a sword, the bodies of the Four Sages of Anji laid out beside him as he gives a RIP speech about how you have to be careful when making friends, because they’ll turn out to be bad news, which is clearly yet another warning about himself, because I don’t think anyone in the mob who killed these aging hippies in the last ep was a friend (although I suppose it could be argued that WKX is talking about their friendship with Gao Chong getting them killed) and anyway, you have to understand that WKX is a demon under the skin, not even really human, you guys, and he’s only ever going to disappoint everyone. Has he not made this clear by now? His sword breaks at this point, which probably ought to tell him he’s not going to be able to bury any of this mess. Then Zhou Zishu shows up and is understandably unhappy at the way his decision last ep to walk out on faith for this guy has gone completely pear-shaped, and he asks some rather pointed questions about whether four dead Sages of Anji is what WKX wanted and if he’s happy now – questions that sound, my dude, a little confrontational. I mean, I think you’re entitled, given the situation, but I’m just sayin’. WKX flings off ZZS’s hand and wants to know if “Leader Zhou” has only ever killed bad people, which is a hit that lands, and it hurts, just like it was supposed to, and this is definitely one of those nightmare scenarios where everyone just keeps digging themselves deeper. ZZS is all, FINE THEN, and leaves. Again. Because WKX is apparently a demon in human form who’s only ever going to disappoint everyone. Including his zhiji. I love you with all of my heart, ZZS, but a little bit, you come off like you only showed up to twist the knife, my man. Anyway, ZZS stomps off to go mope at Yuefan Tower, the scene of his bad decision to trust this guy BEFORE finding out he sets up revenge murders for fun. We’re treated to a flashback sequence of some of ZZS’s Tian Chuang state-sanctioned violence, including a pile of bodies in a burned-out house with a little girl who reaches out to him and calls him “shushu” (which I think is a reference to something that actually happens in Qi Ye); killing that official dude and making Jing’an drink poison, from Ep 1; inserting the Seven Nails into Bi Changfeng - a whole bunch of bad shit that WKX has dug back up way more successfully with a few words than that grave he was trying to dig with his broken sword. ZZS sighs mournfully and unfairly beautifully (your FACE, my dude) over the fact that he thought he found his soulmate, but he was apparently WRONG, and meanwhile, we see Han Ying lurking worriedly and devotedly in the background.

Then, both of these morose motherfuckers proceed to drink themselves (even more) stupid over each other, WKX in a brothel and ZZS moping by himself downstairs at the (No Longer) Getting Lucky Inn, leaving poor Han Ying and A-Xiang to eventually deal with them. ZZS is literally falling over as he calls for more wine – you are a sloppy drunk, laopo, although I have to admit, you’ve worked your way through a lot of bottles, so I suppose it’s understandable – and WKX proceeds to drink his four ... five? ... four, I think, girls under the table and clearly has no intention of sleeping with them, because it might interfere with his waxing drunkenly and mournfully about finding a thing you thought you’d lost forever but not being able to keep it at the price of giving up your big revenge murder plan you’ve been working out since you were 8 years old. (Also because he’s gay af. I’m just sayin’.)

So, yeah, Han Ying and A-Xiang eventually have to deal with these two, and for my money, the single most important scene of the ep - thematically, at least - is the one we get between A-Xiang and WKX, where a couple of big things are going on. One of the themes I see again, running through this ep, is the separation between the human world and the world of “ghosts,” and how that line is policed, and how Wen Kexing tries to maintain it as a bright line, in order to maintain his own distance from Zhou Zishu and the world. Now that things have gone so spectacularly wrong with ZZS, he’s going to dig in on the “ghost” side of that line for all he’s worth – much harder than he was digging that grave for the Four Sages of Anji, given he breaks the sword and gives up halfway through on that one, but this one he’s determined to get all the way to the bedrock on. So yes, in this scene we get the theme made explicit again, of human-ghost separation - which will echo and rebound throughout the rest of the show, until we see its awful, gory truth made manifest when it turns out WKX is horrifically correct and A-Xiang is NOT, in fact, going to be allowed by “humankind” to leave Ghost Valley and walk up to the human world with her lover, while meanwhile, if WKX is going to get out of the valley, he’s not staying in the mortal world but is going to end up on the icy remote mountaintop. BUT ALSO, this may be the first time we really see the show put A-Xiang forward as a proxy for Wen Kexing. This is going to be an increasingly weighted Thing as we go on, of course, but what I didn’t remember on my first watch-through - even after I realized what they were doing with the A-Xiang/Cao Weining and Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu parallels further down the road – is that, in this first time we really see it, it’s not even about their respective love interests, it’s about their respective relationships with Chengling. I mean, clearly, clearly, when WKX is being a drunk asshole to A-Xiang about how she’s been too long in her human skin (and huh, interesting that, when we also have instances where fake skin disguises are literal), and DON’T EVER FORGET WHO YOU ARE, HEARTLESS AMETHYST FIEND GHOST VALLEY MASTER HEARTLESS AMETHYST FIEND, and who among them would ever pity you me you, he’s really talking about his recent breakup with ZZS, in which he got called a crazed psychopath just for setting up a few amusing revenge murders. But here’s the thing – what triggers the diatribe is A-Xiang saying she feels sorry for Chengling trapped in Yueyang Sect, in the course of nattering on about what’s up with Chengling, and what she and Chengling have been doing together, and how much Chengling misses WKX. Which is, A-Xiang tells WKX, a lot. After which WKX puffs himself up and proceeds to be a drunk asshole to her, because of course, he’s not worthy of having anyone care about him, they might think he’s human, or something, and then he’s only going to get hurt again when they find out he’s NOT. So, all that happens. We also find out in this conversation that Changing Ghost was responsible for the pile of heads; that A-Xiang was at the Funeral/Wedding Game and saw Deng Kuan become the last survivor and get set free in much better condition than he later showed up at Yueyang Sect, so what the hell’s happened to him in between; and that A-Xiang definitely thinks her Murder Dad master is crazy but isn’t afraid that he’ll end up killing her someday. I mean, let’s be clear, I don’t think she’s absolutely positive that he won’t go crazy and kill her – she’s just not afraid of it. Zhou Ye is fantastic here, because she has A-Xiang give WKX this gorgeous little smile that’s so simple yet just so filled with love and trust and faith and everything that must have kept his heart alive all those years, the one that she probably gave him even after he burned her mouth on congee that was too hot, and I end up clutching my chest because I think she’s killed me. And then in a horrible twist on what’s eventually coming down the pike, she tells him that she’d follow him even if he’s crazy, and that if he killed her, she’d even follow him in death, and GOD. MY HEART. Because we’re going to see that in fact, he’s going to almost follow her into death, and then he’s going to dream of her leaving him instead of actually staying with him after death, and the only thing keeping me together at this point is the idea that Nian’xiang will actually be A-Xiang reincarnated so that she can be with WKX and the rest of her family again.

Anyway, all of this is apparently a dress rehearsal for WKX, because he then gets himself dolled up in some luscious green robes and proceeds to go to Tragicomic Ghost’s mansion in order to terrorize the troops and spread the misery. He requests a report from all of his top ten nine eight devils; credits them with three Funeral Games (I guess we don’t get to see the other two), annihilating Danyang Sect, destroying Mirror Lake Sect, killing Mount Tai Sect’s leader (Ao Laizi), and leaving a pile of heads for Yueyang Sect to find. He’s doing his best Lunatic Wen bit, but come on, my friend, do they really deserve credit for ALL of that? Do they really? It sounds like you have your suspicions, as well, because you want to know who was responsible for the Mirror Lake massacre. Everyone looks around, pointedly not meeting his eyes, so, hmm, it must have been Long-Tongued Ghost, right? Right? (Who we last saw getting killed and getting his (Danyang) Glazed Armor took by Wen Kexing while pretending to be Hanged Ghost.) Changing Ghost, who’s supposedly Long-Tongued Ghost’s superior and who’s smart enough to sense the wind shifting, even if he’s not sure in which direction, hastily says that LTGhost doesn’t listen to him anymore. (Yeah, because he’s dead.) At this point, White Grim Reaper is dumb enough to draw attention to himself, and WKX chokes him out just ‘cause. ‘Cause he’s Lunatic Wen, and fuck you, that’s why. Both Tragicomic Ghost and Beauty Ghost look more Completely Done With This Bullshit than scared – in contrast to the men, who are shitting their pants - which is an early indication that their relationships with WKX are different than his relationships with the male Devils. WKX also makes some pointed comment about how oh dear, he’s killed someone, and they were already low on manpower, but as a chief of GHOSTS, that’s all he has to work with, isn’t that RIGHT, Changing Ghost – which sounds on the surface kind of like policing that line between ghosts and humans, but really seems more like he has his suspicions about exactly who Changing Ghost is actually working with, because while he may not be as smart as A-Xu, he’s not DUMB. Now, let’s all come up with a plan to fuck over the Five Lakes Alliance during the Hero’s Conference. Aaaaand … end scene (and ep).

Meanwhile, Han Ying is dealing with his poor, drunk dumbass charge, and we see ZZS wake up in some richly appointed rooms, in some strange bed, and he’s clearly thinking “Oh snap. What I do last night?” Also, feeling the hangover. Once he manages to get his boots on, he notices a shrine, complete with candles, and just about this point, Han Ying busts in like he’s WKX or something (although to be fair, it is his bedroom), and wants to know exactly wtf is wrong with ZZS, getting blackout drunk with his actual face hanging out like he doesn’t care who recognizes him? (I just have to take a moment here, and point out that ZZS, who went all in, in the last ep, and who will continue to be the more open one as this relationship goes on, is being berated here for not wearing a mask, for showing his real self, while the issue for both A-Xiang and WKX is going to continue to be keeping on a protective mask/skin, even though WKX accuses A-Xiang himself in this very ep of thinking the mask is real and not just a cover for her true face. Anyway.) Oh, and also, My Lord, how is your injury? DO YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TENDERLY CARE FOR YOU? I like this scene, because Han Ying’s actually kind of angry at ZZS, and a little bit, he shows it, and we get to see that he’s not spineless, even in the (blindingly beautiful) face of ZZS, he’s just devoted. And if that means keeping this dumbass safe from himself, well, Han Ying will try to do that, too, even if it’s enough to drive him to find religion, as we also find out in this scene, explaining the shrine. I suppose he needs all the help he can get. Anyway, ZZS tells him that he’s too mean to die just yet, although he doesn’t expect any blessings on his path, and Han Ying responds – and I think this is important, given ZZS’s decision last ep to spend the rest of his life living instead of dying – that “any day we live is a day gained.” (HAN YING. MY BELOVED.) ZZS pulls some Glazed Armor out of his robes to give to Han Ying, and they both realize that it looks exactly like two pieces Han Ying already has his hands on, gdi WKX. At this point, ZZS reiterates that he just wants Han Ying to lay low and stay safe, Han Ying reiterates his undying devotion, and ZZS has clearly had it with these kids and their starry-eyed devotion. He tries telling Han Yng again to just live a good life - as if Han Ying is at all wired that way – before making some dramatic pronouncement about expecting to have to deal with what’s coming to him in hell and sweeping out the door in the last we see of him this ep.

Let’s see, other things that happened:

Gao Chong, Zhao Jing and Shen Shen confer over their complete loss of face in the run-up to the Hero’s Conference; Shen Shen gets very offended and denies killing Ao Laizi, which is the rumor going around town; Gao Chong says the Ghost Valley isn’t responsible for Ao Laizi’s death (which they are) or for spreading the rhyme about the Glazed Armor (which they are); Zhao Jing says Five Lakes Alliance can’t get a reputation for forcing other sects to do things (when he can manipulate them into doing what he wants), and Shen Shen wants to know WHY THE HELL NOT (oh, Shen Shen) when the jianghu has always been, and I QUOTE, “a place where the strong pery on the weak,” so again, I have to kind of side with WKX on this one about the hive of scum and villainy. Or I would if you guys seemed capable of actually accomplishing anything.

Elsewhere in Yueyang Sect, it’s been Bullying Hour again for Chengling, and A-Xiang is furious when she finds out, threatening to break the legs of whoever’s responsible for smacking him around (she really is like the most delightful Chengxian love-child, I have to say). She also has some Wolong Nuts – crispy and delicious! – for him. Gao Xiaolian shows up with some treats, but Chengling doesn’t want her food, and also he doesn’t want to marry her, because he doesn’t want to be Gao Chong’s puppet, which is kind of new, because he said a couple of eps ago at the Five Lakes monument that he would abide by Gao Chong’s decisions. I guess now that he’s found out from A-Xiang that their Murder Dads are still around, he thinks there’s still a chance to run away with them. Gao Xiolian runs away, crying. Harsh, Chengling, but it does give him the chance to complain to A-Xiang that he’s effectively under house arrest, WHERE ARE OUR MURDER DADS TO SAVE ME?

Last but not least, there’s this incredible scene with Yu Loser Qiufeng, leader of Mount Hua Sect, in which one of the Mount Hua Virgins (tm WKX) comes complaining that everyone is looking down on them. Yu Qiufeng tells him that the entire jianghu is falling apart and to suck it up, and then another Virgin (tm WKX) shows up to say that some people from Mount Tai Sect are here to talk about Dead Ao Laizi, because the Five Lakes Alliance killed him omg. Yu Quifeng’s response is literally “Tell them I’m not here,” and when the disciple wants to know how he can possibly say that, Qiufeng’s response is literally “Say I went out. Say I’m sick. Say I’m dead.” (OMG, Zongzhu can’t see you right now, he’s dead!)

#wen kexing #zhou zishu #gu xiang #han ying #zhang chengling #yu qiufeng #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

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shinygoku · 3 years

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James for the character ask

Ahh, the ✨Splendid Engine✨ himself!

First impression

...Red Thomas? :v

Impression now

Honestly, James may be one of the more interesting characters if you really get in close and examine him and his dynamics with the other characters. And maybe this is me having drawn the wrong conclusion, but my own reading into him has me find him actually rather misunderstood, in and out of universe. You've heard of The Sad Story of Henry? You better be ready for the Tragic Tale of James!

So, at a basic, surface level look, James is The Vain One. He's the only Red [Standard Gauge] Engine on the Island (somehow??) and won't let anyone forget about it. He obsesses over the condition and colour of his coat. He resents having to pull trucks, which are often dirty and full of contents that would make him dirtier still. He's astonishingly rude to anyone near him who isn't sufficiently clean but he'll also get jealous of someone who has fresher paint than him.

What if I told you that his Shiny Colouration to the NWR livery is but a small part of the larger picture?

Peering closer, and it's more overt in the books than the show, but of the 7 deadly sins, he's arguably less Prideful (than say, Gordon) and instead, more Wrath?

James has one [red] hot temper, it doesn't take much to set him off and he simmers in resentment for a long time afterwards. While he started it, his tiff with Toby resulted in a completely avoidable headlong crash into the Tar Tankers, all because he was too busy fuming to pay attention to his job. What got him so mad in the first place there? The Bootlace Incident.

Poor James! Much like Henry and the Tunnel, the Bootlaces is one thing that continues to hound him even long after the event, and it seems a bit unfair for that card to get played so much, as he was a total noob at the time with Coaches, but when that button is pressed we always see his angry face.

Even without that particular old saw, he is testy about a lot of things. The aforementioned "DIRTY trucks in DIRTY sidings!" comes to mind. He’s (predicted by the Fat Controller himself!) in a bad mood when he suddenly has to pick up Donald’s work after the latter crashed into the signal box. Sometimes he just snaps when the others are talking (to be fair, often Griping) amongst themselves.

Let's rewind all the way back to James' first day on Sodor. He's in his black livery and has wooden brake blocks. Predictably, these don't last and it only takes some trucks shoving him down the hill for them to burn up and him to spill out in a field. Thomas comes by to save him, but that's still one helluva bumpy start to your new home! After that incident, The Fat Controller offers him a new paint colour and allows him to have Red, completely unique (even moreso if you're in a canon where Henry was blue at the time, meaning James isn't just the only one with Red, but the only one to not follow the Blue uniform).

There's still a bit more!

So, he won't shut up about his distinctive paint? He wants to be seen by passengers and have a nice time pulling coaches? He's the smallest of the "Big 3" Tender Engines? He's a one-off deviation from his class with the extended front end, but the difference wasn't significant so none of the others got the same treatment? He’s anxious the whole day after unintentionally wheeshing steam on FC1 (which is sadly not baseless!)?

James, to me, is a character with a pretty huge Inferiority Complex, and his various posturing and claims that he's the best are him trying very hard to believe it.

Unfortunately, he's so obnoxious about the faking it, generally the others ignore what may be lying beneath.

One last bit here! His attitude definitely declined after he buddied up with Gordon and sometimes pulls the Express, so Big G was something of a toxic (but oblivious) influence.

Favourite moment

His overcoming the trucks, complete with a fab remix of his already dope theme! After his disaster of a first day where trucks ran him off the rails, and then his very bumpy few days after being painted with the Coach Break Fluid Pipe and the Steam and being very unfairly punished, he gets to show some of his worth and ability!

He also gets a number of very funny lines in exchanges which are a bit butchered when I put them up here lol, like “Hello, Gordon! Is it tomorrow~? [...] Must have been Instinct!” or (Percy, taking a metaphor literally: The sky’s empty...) “Like your smokebox, Percy!”

Idea for a story

I would Enjoy something where, as is often the case with these asks, someone examines subjects I’ve been rambling about lol. So yeah, a character who isn’t fooled by his dazzling red coat and sees who he is inside, and the possibilities that spring from that would be real neat!

I also have a more silly [albeit Current Events based] idea which is more shallow, but here it is anyway:

In the time(s) of a pandemic (remember Spanish flu? James would), Engines who pull passenger coaches would be given decorative engine size face masks to show a good example to the customers. Some of them feel Rather Silly but regular passenger trains like Thomas on his branch line, and Mr Express Gordon don’t really get to refuse. They just quietly roll their eyes as their lack of ears or a back of their smokeboxes mean the cloth has to be physically taped to the sides of their head and try to maintain their dignity. 😷

Suddenly, James is uncharacteristically eager to pull goods trains, as these engines are much further away from the passengers and visitors to the railway, and thus don’t need to wear them lol

Unpopular opinion

Not sure how unpopular it is, but I really like Angelis’ Liverpool voice coming through much more strongly for James. His read on “Why are you always complaining all the time??” is just excellent, and other Scouse Moments just sound Right to me. Also gotta mention Ringo’s take on James’ sarcastic, very angry HAR HAR in one of the weird Toby episodes, and thanks to ytp splicing that with the word Harbour I think of it a lot haha

Maybe his voice should be more Yorkshire or Lancaster, as that’s where he was made? But (also applies to Thomas) I vibe with Liverpudlian James.

Favourite relationship

It’s actually a bit hard to think of a particular engine, James tends to get grouped with Gordon and Henry (The Big Engines, The Jerk Trio, etc) but as I’ve said, I think him palling up with Gordon was actually pretty bad for James in hindsight. For merch and prolly in the CGI eps, he’s grouped with Thomas and Percy, because Primary Colours I think (though the same colours as Gordon and Henry offered!) but More Marketable. But I dunno, does James really fit in with either group that well?

I think what James needs is less to hang out in the fringe of a clique, and to instead have a real, frank, genuine connection with someone. Then maybe he can make his friendships with the others a bit healthier, too. I just can’t think of any cast members who fill that role at the mo... 🤔

Favourite headcanon

As he is a Mixed Traffic Engine, he’s a Jack of All Tasks (he just prefers some to others!), also under the issues he has, he’s absolutely trying to be a good engine and friend, he just needs some guidance and tons of patience to get there.

#this is ttte #ttte talk #TTTE James #TTTE #James the Red Engine #Thomas the Tank Engine #this is after cutting a fair bit out of the 2nd section and it's still ruddy long! lol

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elffees · 3 years

Text

some little additions to the ep 5 endings for low brotherhood

oh this post is going to hurt but i’m doing it anyway. these are just some brainstorms on tweaks to the endings bc for the most part, they all come off as high brotherhood, which is fine for me tbh bc i have never played a LB route cause im Soft™️. but i’m also Curious™️ and thought up some variations that couldve been made for people that did have a LB playthrough

these are mostly tiny changes. nothing too major bc like in canon, i think morality having the highest affect on Cross vs. Surrender is fine, but it would’ve been kinda cool if the epilogues had been tweaked a little to reflect brotherhood also. so possible tweaks i thought of is basically what this post is about.

here’s some:

redemption

(sidenote: okay i said the changes were mostly little and i promise they are. this ending specifically tho just has the most significant ones i’ve made by adding in like 2 extra scenes. but that’s really it)

in this ending things are the same when they reach the road block, including daniel tearing up, until sean says “you’re my brother”. they do not exchange i love yous nor hug or touch foreheads. sean goes straight to “and i know it’s gonna be alright” while keeping an outstretched arm on daniel’s shoulder. daniel also goes straight to his “how do you know”. the car scene plays out the same from then on except without hugging. they mostly stay separately in each other’s seats.

daniel doesn’t panic and jump to his feet when the police start walking sean to the car. he stands up resigned and watches sadly but quietly. sean doesnt say anything as he gets in the car but does look back at daniel before they pull off

in the collage, there is still a picture of daniel visiting sean in prison, but they don’t hug and just speak tensely across from one another.

daniel doesn’t come on the day of sean’s release, karen is the only default. now, like lyla, daniel is a determinant. (imagine if they were all determinant and even karen didn’t come meaning sean could get out of jail with nobody in the world caring about him jesus christ) there’s a scene with sean afterwards visiting daniel’s apartment. when daniel opens the door, he’s shocked and slams a palm to his forehead, clearly having forgot sean’s release date.

there’s small polite smiles on their faces as they greet each other at the door, but sean never makes it past the front steps. their conversation is brief before daniel gestures that he actually was walking out and has to go. they say their goodbyes with a casual hug (quick back slap) before daniel hops in his car using his power and pulls off with sean watching.

sean still goes back to their first campsite but alone. it mostly plays out the same where he still cries, but with no comfort, and then drives away towards the right after taking one last look at the trail

the epilogue ends with daniel stepping out of his car and approaching faraway friends that he waves to. they’re drawn vague and out of focus to save on production costs (don’t worry dontnod i gotchu). the angle of the scene shifts so it looks like daniel is walking off towards the left

summary (1/2) -> sean took the heat in order to let daniel have a childhood in america. and he succeeds in this, but because their relationship was poor, during his incarceration their bond practically turns to dust. daniel gets a childhood, but sean loses his own and his brother in return

summary (2/2) -> sean still wants some kind of relationship with his brother, but its awkward and distant. daniel does not hate sean. he holds some semblance of polite respect for him bc in his HM!eyes sean “did the right thing” at the end of their journey. but overall, they are not that close and are more like acquaintances who just worked on a group project one time.

blood brothers

sean doesn’t say “be careful” before daniel gets out the car. just “you know what to do”

they don’t hold hands after daniel’s massacre. daniel just stares out the window while sean focuses ahead

(after the 6 years) when sean backs into the garage and daniel sees he’s being held at gunpoint, daniel doesn’t do anything at first. he doesn’t even move forward to get a better look. he simply watches the scene play out until the gang members notice he’s there, bc sean keeps glancing his way, and they begin to threaten him too. that is when he uses his powers.

sean giving daniel a pat on the shoulder? yeah in this LB version it’s now a shove. he noticed that daniel did not have his back. daniel just shrugs.

he still heads out to their patio and takes a seat. the scene is angled so that the player sees sean over daniel’s shoulder think about joining him, wanting to go smoke, with their dad’s lighter already out so we still see it. but he instead waves his hand dismissively and turns back into the shop.

daniel stares out towards the beach alone.

summary -> they gain freedom and escape to mexico, but their relationship is empty. there’s no polite respect, but there’s no outright animosity either. it’s just….. empty.

lone wolf

daniel doesn’t say the “it’s my turn to take care of us” line (omg it was so good tho). it’s now smthg along the lines of “i won’t let you stop me here after all this”

when saying the “we made it” set of lines, he’s still happy but also boastful, ready to hold it over sean that he was right

he doesn’t cry. instead of sobbing over the death of his brother, he is more shocked bc of how unexpected it is. he still calls out for sean’s name frantically, but does not get distraught afterwards. instead of leaning onto sean’s arm like he does in canon, after it sinks in that sean’s dead, he only grimaces while sitting uncertainly in his seat

the pictures stay the same

when sitting on the beach and looking over the ocean, he is not drawing in sean’s journal. he still has a small smile on his face but we also see him taking swigs of the beer can(?) here instead of later

also instead of a teardrop tattoo, he has a tattoo of 3 dots. the teardrop has several meanings, including death of a loved one or crime affiliation. but bc a lot of players interpreted it as being a tear for sean, then i think it’s preferable to just not have it in the LB version at all to avoid confusion and just have him with the 3 dots to make it clear it’s solely part of the gang/crime lifestyle

(moving on) daniel heads over to sean’s memorial and it is absolutely not as decorated as it is in canon. there is only 1 candle and no plants. the brick is still there but instead of a cross, it’s just a hastily laid single wooden plank with sean’s name scribbled down it. there’s no eye patch. the only thing of sentimental value there is their dad’s lighter.

daniel doesn’t sit, he stands looking at the memorial while drinking his beer. he realizes it’s empty tho and lazily litters the can beside sean’s memorial before turning to walk off and as he does he sees the gang.

most of their interaction plays out the same, but while daniel’s walking away instead of sparing the group, it’s clear he kills them as they are all unmoving, us seeing the dude with the gun flop to the ground over daniel’s shoulder. this change is bc personally i interpreted daniel sparing them as a sortve homage to sean’s high morality in this route. as in he’ll still do what needs to be done to survive, but will try to kill as little as possible out of respect for sean’s beliefs. so being as though daniel does not value sean as much in this LB version, he doesn’t care about that and kills them without thought.

summary -> for the most part, daniel still has the relatively content life he does in canon except, going by the now bare minimum memorial and littering, he doesn’t value sean’s memory nearly as much as he does in HB. sean’s death was ofc still a shock and smthg he still remembers, but it didn’t crush him like it does HB!daniel, and he honestly feels more annoyance than regret. in his LM!eyes, hes disappointed and thinks its a little stupid that sean wanted to switch gears at the border like that. he doesn’t hate him tho, he just sees sean as a disappointing memory.

parting ways

at the border daniel still cries, but instead of saying sorry to sean he says “i can’t do this sean. i have to go”, making it extra clear he’s not crying bc it’s the end, he’s crying bc of the damage he does not want to do.

he still says the “i hope you’ll be happy” line, but instead of being genuine it’s now full of disappointment with a twinge of bitterness

you know that quick angry facial expression he has before he’s walked off by the cops? WELL HOWDY IT DEFINITELY STAYS

the picture collage still shows him having a relatively happy upbringing with stephen, claire, and chris

when he’s on the phone at the reynolds’ and claire comes up to him, he’s still smiling and content. when he gets the letter with no sender name, his smile drops after taking the pic out and realizing who it’s from. the player doesn’t see yet tho. emphasis on 1 pic bc it’s not several like it is in canon/HB.

daniel rolls his eyes and with his power tosses the envelope & photo card (no sand btw) across the room so they land on a distant table. the camera zooms in on them and we finally see it’s of sean in mexico.

when claire comes back into the room, she halts seeing the mail and picks them up, glancing between them and daniel regretfully before sitting down

we go back to daniel and with arms crossed, he glances out at the tree in the yard for a brief moment before walking away

the scene stays focused on the tree and we still zoom out to the Wolf Brothers carving, except it has a not-recent slash cut through it

summary -> daniel gets a childhood in america and sean gets his freedom in mexico, but their relationship is destroyed. daniel doesn’t approve of sean’s final decision at all and holds little to no respect for him. sean sends the post card bc, like in redemption, he still wishes to hold some kind of relationship, but he doesnt try all that hard and doesn’t miss daniel that much to send several pics and a chunk of sand.

and so these were some of my ideas for low brotherhood endings! i tried to put them in order from most positive (minute respect) to most negative (outright disdain). i’d love to hear thoughts on this or if anyone wants to add to these, then that’s fine to! just don’t break my heart pls

#lexi plays lis2 #life is strange 2 #surprisingly my variations to the LW ending hurt the least #still messed up but my redemption & blood brothers tweaks just feel cold #and the parting ways one…. :(#lis2 #lis 2

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cipher-fresh · 3 years

Text

Just Out Of Reach

Posting on tumblr due to Discord's character limit, this one's a lot longer than my other ones. A prompt from @marlinspirkhall about how food on the holodeck doesn't exist once you step off it got me thinking. TW for violence, injury, blood, food, eating disorders I think (?? rather safe than sorry) and long-term distress. Thank you for the Federation gothic prompt!

It's fuzzy, you remember the ship leaving spacedock after repairs, and some of the anticipatory silence as the odd lack of Dominion ships greeted your rush toward the Bajoran sector to help recapture Deep Space Nine and the Bajoran wormhole. You had never been this far away from home, but you'd tried to steel yourself. The red alert had blared in your ears, and you don't remember much else. You look down. You're bleeding. You curse, and look around for medical supplies.

You're in a dark building, with debris strewn around. A force field makes it's presence known as a hurtling piece of Dominion ship tailwing is stopped in it's tracks from perhaps it's original destiny of destroying wherever you were. If there was a forcefield up, there must be an energy source. You find you had crash-landed here, as there's an escape pod near the fallen bulkheads. You saddle up with the materials from the escape pod, and hunt around for any available resources on whatever man-made, oxygenated building you'd been lucky enough to land in. You put your bag down, and take off your Starfleet outer shirt. You're still wearing the gray undershirt, and over it you tie the main shirt over the wound. You wish it had been an easier area to tie, like your lower leg, and press on. After a trek over fallen metal, everything from large carts, a whole shuttle, bulkheads and PADDs, you find the opposite wall, marked with a plaque designating it the Miyamoto, a mini-space station hardly the size of a neighborhood street. Some place, you scoff. It feels like a shadowy castle fallen into disrepair, with the flickering lights looking like the occasional sunbeam brightening it. Atmospheric, at least, if it wasn't going to comfortable. It feels as if you could almost hear sad music, accentuating just quite how dark the station was, cold and alone. The Miyamoto station echoes sadly, the destruction and carnage of Dominion and Federation ships making their final stand above the station feeling long off, although you could place it as happening mere hours ago. Continuing onward, you clear a path the best you can of the debris on the ground, in case you round this area again.

You see places that look like shops- the *Miyamoto*, as per it's informational plaque, was a station commissioned and controlled by Starfleet, but it had housed many Federation-aligned planets, that is to say, planets that hadn't joined the Federation for one reason or another, but remained in contact with it, politically or economically. Your journey around the station ends as you look back down at your outer shirt, wrapped around your torso wound, and it's too red with blood for comfort. You take an unfortunate, seething inhale, processing what this might mean. You have no other than the most basic medical supplies on your bag, and you're alone on a mini-space station with debris that was ripe to fall over and crush you at any time. Nobody else seems to have crashed near you. You're alone, on an at least semi-functioning, mini-space station. And you were determined to survive. The bleeding cut on your torso should be dealt with first. Can't look for food or set up a distress call if you're bleeding to death. You take a tricorder from the bag, and scan around for anything useful. It picks up gauze a few meters ahead of you. Better than your shirt, certainly. You navigate toward it with the tricorder's map, and it navigates you to a holodeck, you recognize from the doors. Gauze in the holodeck? You thought the violin music had been a symptom of a bleeding body and the brain processing your day, but no, the violin was louder. Getting closer to the holodeck, that made more sense. It was extremely lucky the program was still running. You walk inside. The inside is a gothic, turn-of-the-century sort of laboratory. Indeed, a holodeck character playing a violin spots you, and huffs.

"You're bleeding. Are you looking for my partner, Dr. Watson?"

You take a moment- oh, this was a Sherlock Holmes program. You doubt Dr. Watson could help you, but then you take a moment to think. Emergency Medical Holograms are just as holographic as Dr. Watson here, and they have helped millions of people. You're too tired to act, so you ask him, "Yes, I need a doctor. Can you get him?" Too much also eating at your mind to enjoy the program, Dr. Watson fixes you up in the flat. You wince at the old medical technology, and wish the two of them lived in a period of time with more current medicinal knowledge. - Wait. "Computer?" you say. "Change the time period to, uh, 22nd century. No, I mean, to today. 24th century. Keep Sherlock and Watson with me." The computer responds to your request, and you see the program change around you. You laugh at the mystery-solving duo's updated outfits for the 24th century, then look back at Dr. Watson. It's a little jarring how seamlessly they continue from the jump in time, but better that than their program stop working. Watson asks a replicator- a holographic replicator, which makes you laugh a little bit, for a dermal regenerator, and you get patched up. "Stick around for a cup of tea?" Watson asks. "Sherlock really wants to know why you broke into our flat." You consider it. You've heard jokes from non-Federation species when trying out holodecks for the first time, "Calories don't count on the holodeck!" Anything you eat here wouldn't sustain you, the minute you left the holodeck. You could activate this program so long as there was energy to the station, but food was a priority. Assuming the *Miyamoto* had been in a tussle just a few hours ago during your fly-over to Deep Space Nine, now was a crucial time to find genuine replicators before they went offline. You leave the holodeck. You see the gauze over your injury (kept for good measure) disappear as you exit the holodeck, but not the skin you'd grown back from the dermal regenerator. The gauze was holographic, but the stimulated skin cells and tissues were not. You follow the path set by rounding around the small, circular station, and tracing your steps back through the cleared path you made. Your injury healed, you could now look around and find something to eat. You follow around a downloaded map of the *Miyamoto* from the plaque's infochip, and hunt down all the replicators marked on the station. One by one, they're all broken, in pieces, or missing. Maybe the station was in poor shape to begin with. You take another trip around- at least you're getting plenty of exercise in, you halfheartedly cheer- and visit all the food shops. You raid the fridges, cabinets and cupboards, and still find nothing. Intending to not be disheartened, you sit down for a moment. Your hunger is suddenly made aware to you, your vision swirling. Not good, you decide. Your stomach hurts, and you try to remember the last time you ate. Breakfast on- on the *USS Halay*. Maybe tea with Dr. Watson wouldn't be so bad, you assure yourself. You have some food with the two of them, think of a new plan, then go back out there and find some food. Some water, while you're at it, too. You walk back, and almost trip over debris you swore you moved out of your path. You enter back to the holodeck, and smell the fresh air. You find Watson and Sherlock again, and you're offered a pastry you can't remember the name of. You eat, and have some tea, and you feel at peace. You're still directly aware of the stakes, you're stuck on a space station in the middle of nowhere, but you're at least still alive. And going from desperately hungry out there to the sweet scent of buttered pastries in here in a still-peaceful London before the Dominion invaded was a sense of home you'd missed. You sat down, and considered your optics. If you left now, you'd probably be just as hungry as before, but here, you could come up with a plan, and make the time before it worth it. You clued in the holographic Sherlock and Watson into it, without exposing to them they were holograms. Quite tricky, it was, but you were glad they got over

their suspicions and were just willing to help. You and the two problem-solvers looked over the schematics of the *Miyamoto*, and found from your walkaround of the station, the replicator at the Bolarian food shop was the least broken- it had gotten halfway to forming bread before it puttered out. Although not quite a chief engineer, this seemed to be your only option. You picked back up your supplies from the escape pod that you'd kept with you, and journey off to the replicator. You feel the distinct hunger pangs as soon as you leave, and almost regret leaving. Little matter. You'd already gone and done it, you might as well make it worthwhile. You get to the replicator, and try to recall your engineering training. Basic engineering design over necessary machines like replicators and transporters were required classes at the Academy, and you couldn't remember a thing from it. You open a hatch at the back and fiddle with some of the wires and steel EPS hubcaps, and put everything back into place. Not ever quite sure what to do, you feel a fog in your brain, you know you're putting a square peg in a round hole as you try to fix this. You screw things on and off, scan it, flip a switch. Closing the hatch, you hit it for good measure, and try replicating food again. It produces a gray slop of what could only technically be edible, organic material. You take your tricorder out and get a holo-scan of it. A moment of darkness in your vision, you fall to the ground. You're really feeling it. You hold a hand to your stomach, and close your eyes tight. It hurts, it does. You could make the feeling go away, if you just went back.

A deep breath, and you turned around. Just back for a second.

Desperate to get back to the holodeck, you're assured you can figure out the replicator's problem with the holo-imager scans. You get back inside, and feel the pleasant, clean air, and walk back inside. Ravenously, you scarf down the food given to you, and you can feel your mind finding clarity again. If you could find a way to fix the replicator while inside the holodeck, you'd be set. You could fix it there, and only be hungry from the minute you walked over to the replicator, no brain fog as you tried to fix it. Maybe engineers had "Don't fix things on an empty stomach" as a rule. If not, they should. You spend a few more hours there, going over the specs of the replicator, sitting in the nice flat. It's an amalgamation of every depiction of 221B ever put to screen, and all the books are real, wholly scripted ones. You chuckle, certainly sure only a man of fiction could read so many books, bookshelves stacked wall to wall. Many of them had frantically scribbled notes and writings in them. After some time, you fall asleep. You're woken up by Watson, telling you again that you need to wake up. You rub your eyes, and consider everything from the day previous. Hungry, stuck on a space station with no food, and surviving in the holodeck. This would be a lovely nightmare to wake up from, eh? Lovely, for the fact you're waking up, you joke. "-get out there and find something to eat or your body will starve. Please. The program-" You burst out from under the blanket on the couch. Dr. Watson looks at you. "Sherlock and I put together that you're on a holodeck. Incredible inventions, truthfully, but what is more important now is your life. You haven't eaten in how long? A human would starve after not eating for-"

"About a week. But without water is a different story. Three days, at most." Sherlock filled in. You swallowed. Wonderful. You look back at Watson. "Please, we're trying to help you. You need to head back out there." That's the last thing you want to do.

Neither of them were being helpful. "Look, we can't leave the holodeck. All we can do is-" "I don't care!" you yell. "I'll just-stay in here until I figure it out." The two exchanged looks with each other. Watson got closer to you. You feel small. Threatened. "You're Starfleet, right? You haven't even given us your name. How about you-" You lash out. "Computer, delete characters Sherlock and Watson." "Not possible." "Fine! Delete whatever you need to get rid of them." "Confirmed." the computer says. The two of them phase out of existence. You breathe heavily. You hope they won't be mad at you. "Computer, change scenery. Somewhere on Earth. As far away from Sherlock as possible." "Changing location to Dunedin, New Zealand." the computer replied. You stop, and catch your breath. You'd just- stay in here. For a while. Yeah.

The systems of the Miyamoto station degrade. The holodeck, over time, begins to lose critical imaging projectors. One corner of the holodeck shows the depressingly bare and black wall, the whole program not covering the entire room. You try not to mind. You sleep. If you could just- just learn how to fix the replicator....no. You have everything you need right in here. Everything....you need. You take an arduous breath. The holodeck doors have sealed shut. The imagers have stopped working. You're trapped inside. A lone Starfleet officer starves to death on a holodeck, over an agonizing three days, just as Sherlock predicted. The Miyamoto station is destroyed by the Breen a year later, unimportant and completely alone. If one listened closely, passing an unimportant, tiny little station, they may have heard faint music of a violin.

#star trek #my writing #federation gothic #uss lilac #blood #dominion war #ds9 #wasn't planning to add sherlock holmes to the mix but when I had the injury and the violin i couldn't resist

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Amphibia Season 2 Reviews: The Second Temple and Barrel’s Warhammer “The First Drumbeats of War”

Welcome back all you happy people! We’re in the final stretch of the season now, only three more episodes after this. And with this episode the end trajectory of the season becomes clear and the anticipation to the finale mounts.. and the dread as boy oh boy is this one going to hurt. Join me under the cut for a recap and spoiilers as I break down my thoughts and prepare for war.

The Second Temple:

Our heroes head to the great north for their next temple...

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No no I just mean the arctic part of Amphibia. That’s sadly not a crossover we’re getting.. yet. One can dream.. or write weird fanfiction. Point is it’s time for an ice adventure. Also Hop Pop now has his own “Hop Pocket” in Joe’s sweater> Aww. Also Joe has a sweater now. Awwww. And he crashed upside down. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I keep thinking I love this bird as much as humanly possible and he keeps going and finding new ways to make me love him more.

Our heroes soon run into a problem though: While Marcy’s coordinates got them there the temple isn’t in sight. Anne does find them some help though as she spots a familiar stand. It’s some lady they met back in the bizzare bazzar named valeriana?

Yeah clearly a lot of you have better memories than me, which isn’t hard my mind is a never ending sinkhole and while I remember a LOT of stuff, I often forget just as much. So a vendor lady who was hinted to be important but didn’t do much in the episode itself totally slipped my mind and I didn’t even notice she was apparently in the season 2b trailer. I have no memory for a character who turns out to be vitally important yet all the memory for Stoopy.

Your doin Odd’s work Stoopy. But she is as she offers to take them to the temple, revealing herself as part of a hiden order dedicated to the calamity box and protecting it.

But like most hidden orders, Val seems to be a huge prick, and chastises and berates Anne constantly questioning her worthness and skil, and chastising her for giving up her coat to save her friends when a cardinal Val summons goes after their catapillar skin coats, and goes out of her way to rescue a family in the path of an avalanche. Val decides from all of this Anne is not worthy and she won’t guide them.. which causes Anne to rightfully call her out on her episode long streak of irritating condesencing bullshit. Val responds as you’d expect.. by warping Anne to another dimension and trying to steal the box from her leading to a fight. The fight is engaging with Anne giving it her best, though weirdly she didn’t take her sword along, while Val points out a lot of anne’s thefts over the years: from bessie to hop pop’s wallet.. to the box. Which Anne admits.. but also admits as shitty as it is it’s better to learn from bad things you did and do the right thing now, than to dwell on them and let htem drown you.

Anne wins and val is dangling by a ledge and while she points out Anne can’t escape without her.. Anne figured out the staff. But Anne.. is a good persona nd as much as she’d like to let val die when her hand slips...she dosen’t. SHe’s her enemy sure but she’s still a person and her death does nothing and solves nothing. And that.. turned out to be the whole point. Val was simply testing Anne’s character: The whole journey was the temple and while the previous temple tested for intellegence.. this one tested for heart, anne’s greatest trait. Val powers the gem with her staff glad to have found something worthy.. but much like Luke or Aaang, Anne hears her friends in trouble and leaves with the gem only mostly charged. She returns.. to find everyone okay, Marcy showing the plantars stuff on her phone, and they set off... but the gem blinks a bit as they leave.

Final Thoughts on the Second Temple: The second temple is a decent episode. It has some great worldbuilding, some good gags and really shows off anne’s character development, her empathy and her bravery while giving us an intresting side character and possible future Ally in Valeriana and increasing the mystery around the calamity box. If it’s REALLY as bad as it’s name implies... then why are these people protecting it? And why are the protections, the order the temples.. benevolent, based on personal character and making sure the right person passes. Did Andrias name it that.. and if so.. did he do it for his master? I have a lotta questions and i’m excited to get the answers. All in all a very decent ep.. but like last week the second one majorly upstages it.

Barrel’s Warhammer

So we finally check back with Sasha and I was excited as her previous spotlight episode earlier in the season is still the best episode of the season. But this one brilliantly builds on that.

The various leader of the toad towers are having a summit and well...

So i’m just going to call them the cryptkeeper, bad haircut and grime’s sister. Their all doubtful of whatever pitch Grime has while Grime and Co are preparing, and have bonded with Percy and Braddock more and the two having designed a cool one eyed logo for their army.

The pitch is intrigues the toad with even Grime’s Sister he used to tease as a kid being impressed.. and reveals to our anti-heroes that his name is Grimothy. Grimothy. GRIMOTHY

But their not impressed with the idea of a disgraced captain and his “Hummus” leading them, even if Andrias has his own Humuss’... and this reveals to Sasha her best friends exes are doing just fine without her and working together. She takes it how you’d expect.. by taking it out on Bad Haircut’s guards and angrily asking waht it’llt ake. it’s then the cryptkeeper rises, turning out not to be dead with one request: Barrel’s Warrhammer. Sasha agrees to retreive it for them, but both Percy and Braddock are terrified.. as is GRIME of all people.

We find out why as they take a lava boat to go fetch the thing: Barrel’s Warhammer is a legendary weapon, wielded by the Toad Hero Barrel, who used it to fight off a great monster and keep it from destroying a villiage dying in the process with his hammer apparently still guarded by said beast. Grime doubts it’s actually real and feels i’ts just a legend. But Percy and Braddock are more concerned with posisbly dying but Sasha reassures them that they’ll be fine and if it gets too dangerous, she’ll bail, using a Kawaii pose as a signal and making me feel very old.

They find the Hammer but can’t lift it because “Only those who be worthy can”.. oh wait wrong hammer. No this one is just really heavy. They soon find the beast, a narwhaal worm, a massive armored horned worm. Phrasing. So naturally Braddock and Percy want to opt out... but Sasha chooses going after the worm over honoring her promise, and hooking the things horn to ride it to the tower. They just need to bring the hammer there.... even if it costs her friends their lives and saftey and involves betraying them. And this creates a marvelous parallel to the other episode in this pairing: Anne time and time again puts her family and girlfriend, random strangers and even an enemy’s life above her own. To Anne it’s helping other people what’s important damn what happens to her. If she’s cold, buired or something else fine. What matters is someone else is safe. Sasha by contrast.. is willing to risk herself and other sif it means getting waht she wants. It’s her will to matters.. and it’s her lack of empathy that’s holding her back. Anne is strong because she has her new family, Marcy, and an army of loayal friends in Wartwood. Sasha may be strong in ablility.. but her weakness in heart costs her. She has grime.. btu that end sup being it as while they sucessfully arrive and get the troops they need.. Braddock and Percy can’t bear the cost or danger or the hurt of Sasha’s betryal and depart with Grime noting that getting what you want costs. But as we’ve seen with Anne and Marcy’s respective temples, it was doing the right thing NOT getting what they wanted, that made them better as people and got further. And as the look on Sasha’s face shows as her friends depart her, and she realizes she’s almost entirely alone.. she’s not sure world domination is really WHAT she wants. OR that it was worth the prices she keeps having to pay.

Final Thoughts:

Barrel’s Warrhamer is another masterpiece following sasha. While not as strong as Toadcatcher it’s still damn good, showing Sasha’s further travels down a bad road, and her starting to doubt if this path is really worth it. The acting and animation are topnotch, as is the world building. It’s a truly stellar showing that just ratchets up tension for the fianle.. and for the inteivitble reunion between our three heroines and the clash between their three sides; the king Marcy serves without realizing his true malevoence, the Toads Sasha and grime are leading to war.. and the frogs Anne once swore to protect that are about to be swept up in the tides of war.. and possibly take a stand against both sides. War is coming for our heroines and they are not ready for the hell that is to come.. and neither am I. Frog this is going to be painful isn’t it?

If you liked this review follow me for more, shoot me an ask or comment with your own thoughts, send me a dm if you want to comission a review and join my patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet so I can keep making these reviews. Until the next rainbow it’s been a pleasure.

#amphibia #sasha waybright #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #hopidiah plantar #joe sparrow #captain grime #percy #braddock #kawaii #barrel's warhammer #the second temple #disney channel

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