#and obviously has no idea he was murdered in another timeline and also!! neither does anyone else!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

murasaki-murasame · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep11

*Rika voice* we poppin’ the BIGGEST bottles next week when we successfully tear apart fate and reclaim our happy ending! :)

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

I think we can all agree that there’s no way in hell this is going to go as smoothly as this episode wants us to think it will, when we still have 13 episodes left to go before this all ends, lol.

Obviously this won’t play out exactly the same as Minagoroshi, but even Minagoroshi ended with everyone getting brutally murdered because they didn’t actually manage to achieve the proper win condition, so going into this type of scenario was never really a good sign anyway.

And yeah on that note, this episode takes a hard swerve into full on Minagoroshi mode, which I figured might happen, but not in such a 1:1 way. But the fact that it’s suddenly lining up so much with that arc just makes me even more suspicious that we’re being given a false sense of hope.

Obviously the bottom line is that one way or another, this isn’t Minagoroshi, it’s Tataridamashi, and the overall situation is distinctly different. Like how Ooishi is on bad terms with Keiichi this time around, unlike in Minagoroshi, so they’re probably going to have a much harder time getting the large-scale protesting done if he decides not to help them. Which might also lead to the Sonozaki family refusing to help them either.

I also get the feeling that even if Keiichi has been successfully convinced by his dream to not murder Teppei, it still feels like both Rena and Shion are on the brink of going off the deep end, and if their attempts to handle the situation via peaceful protesting gets shut down by the cops this time, that might push them over the edge.

And even though I have mixed feelings about the ‘Satoko culprit theory’, I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the big twist of this arc will be that Teppei already got murdered off-screen by Satoko before anyone else could get to him, and she’s been lying about it.

Specifically I don’t like the idea of her being some kind of villain who’s intentionally and maliciously lying about being abused to get away with murder, but I think it’d make a lot of sense if we find out that Satoko did something like accidentally overdose Teppei with his medication, or push him down a flight of stairs in an abrupt fit of her syndrome, and then afterward she might enter the stage we saw in Tatarigoroshi where she straight up hallucinates that he’s still alive. So even if he’s dead, she might not be intentionally lying about it.

I can at least imagine a scenario where the gang [or at least part of the gang] gets fed up once and for all and breaks into Teppei’s house to murder him, but they find his corpse instead. And in a Tatarigoroshi type of way, maybe Satoko will see them and assume that they’re the ones that killed him, and everything will go to shit.

Then there’s also the whole separate question of what’s going on with Takano and Tomitake, and the statue in the Saiguden, and so on. We should at least get some more clues about that stuff before the question arcs end.

This episode is also making me even more confused about how much Rika actually knows about what’s going on, and what arcs she actually remembers. She seems to directly quote Keiichi from Minagoroshi in this episode [I think], but even in the VN they stated that she completely forgot what happened in that arc, and Hanyuu had to tell her about it later.

But her being more active in this episode and thinking that they actually have a shot at winning this is kinda just making it even more strange that she hasn’t said or done anything about the Takano situation. Especially since the entire deal with Minagoroshi in the first place was that they assumed dealing with Teppei in a timeline where neither Rena or Shion go L5 was enough to get a happy ending, but then Takano came around and killed everyone. So the fact that she seems to have basically the exact same mentality she had in Minagoroshi after Keiichi convinced her she could change fate makes it feel like she’s in the exact same position of thinking that Takano isn’t important.

And then there’s the fact that in ep2 she talks about ‘knowing who kills Furude Rika’ and how they all achieved their happy ending, so really there’s just a lot of conflicting information going on here, lol. I honestly can’t tell if it’s intentional, or if it’s literally just weird writing and Rika is acting ‘out of character’ because having her immediately reveal the Takano situation would spoil new fans.

I can’t exactly deny that it might just be a weird writing issue that we shouldn’t think much about, but I think it’s more interesting to try and think about what it could mean if this apparent contradiction in Rika’s level of knowledge and her actions in Gou thus far is actually intentional and meaningful.

I haven’t entirely ironed out my theory about this yet, but my current idea is that the whole meta-structure of Gou is that it’s basically a series of fictional stories created by Rika and Featherine together after the events of Matsuribayashi, and the Rika we see in Gou is effectively just a fictional character in this story who doesn’t actually align fully with Rika from the VN.

Specifically I think that Gou’s whole story is basically written from the premise of being a what-if fanfiction of sorts, where the Rika we see in Gou is more or less based on Rika’s character as of the end of Meakashi, or maybe Tsumihoroboshi. So she starts off in Gou at the point where she’s already figured out the basic rules of the gameboard, but doesn’t actually know about Takano, and also hasn’t experienced in any timelines where they successfully deal with Teppei, and she maybe also hasn’t seen any of her friends start to remember past timelines yet.

And I think the way they might explain what we see Rika say in ep2 of Gou is that Tataridamashi is actually the first arc chronologically in Gou, and it might with a deceptively happy ending where everyone on paper gets their happy ending, and everyone even survives long enough for Rika to go to high-school, but then she winds up dead there, and it’s after that point that Rika wakes up in ep2.

I don’t even necessarily think this would be incompatible with the idea of this arc going off the deep end and going in a more tragic direction. Maybe Teppei does end up dying one way or another, but everyone else survives, not even Satoko goes L5, and Teppei’s murder gets successfully covered up and everyone just goes back to living their lives. And because of whatever’s clearly been changed behind the scenes with Takano, the GHD never happens, so everyone just assumes they managed to achieve their happy ending by killing Teppei. But then Rika ends up dying a few years later in high-school anyway, in a way that ties into whatever the actual mystery of Gou is that all the characters are missing. At the very least I think teenage Satoko is gonna end up being the one to kill teenage Rika, and I could easily see that happening in a timeline where Teppei dies and she doesn’t immediately go off the deep end, but still has psychological scarring that nobody is fully aware of or properly deals with. So maybe she ends up becoming secretly resentful of Rika and all of her friends, blaming them for what happened, and she winds up killing Rika because of it.

I think this would actually pretty neatly explain the apparent contradiction of Rika talking about ‘knowing who killed her’ and ‘getting her happy ending’, while coming across like she genuinely doesn’t understand what’s actually going on. Her wording to Hanyuu in ep2 was always intentionally vague, but instead of just being about hiding the truth from new fans, maybe it was a multi-layered twist where what she’s talking about is totally different to what VN readers assume she means. Maybe the happy ending she meant was Tataridamashi, with everyone killing Teppei, and the person who kills her is Satoko.

She did act like she knows who kills her in *every* timeline, but if Rika in this arc is effectively pre-Minagoroshi, and this ends with a version of events where Takano never kills anyone and the GHD never happens, and it’s Satoko who kills Rika, that might lead Rika to falsely assume that her death in at least most of the timelines is just a result of Satoko going L5 and killing her.

Gou’s whole deal seems to be based on the idea that Rika is acting on false information, so I think it’d make sense if we find out that the truth she talked so confidently about knowing in ep2 was totally misleading.

One thing I’ve also been considering that might support this is that we see what at least seems to be teenage Satoko in the OP, but given that they’re going to change the show’s subtitle for the second half, they might change the OP too, which would imply that we’ll see teenage Satoko before this arc ends. Which makes me think that there’ll be some kind of timeskip epilogue at the end of the arc, and it’d be pretty likely at that point for that to be the big pivotal thing that happened with Rika as a teenager.

It’d also just flow better for new fans if the timeskip stuff with them in high-school takes place after one of Gou’s arcs, rather than Matsuribayashi, since that’d be kinda confusing and make new fans feel like they’re missing out on vital information.

Either way, like most people I think most of Gou’s central mystery is going to revolve around Satoko, and I think ultimately it’s gonna boil down to the question of what it would truly take to ‘solve’ all of her personal problems, and whether or not just getting rid of Teppei would be enough. For one thing, I imagine this arc will also still leave Satoshi’s whereabouts completely up in the air, which is another bit of unresolved trauma for Satoko.

More broadly than that, though, I feel like the Gou gameboard is Featherine’s way of giving her own perspective on the original story of Higurashi, and being like ‘if I take control of the story and introduce a new element to get rid of Takano before she does anything, does that automatically mean that everyone will get their happy ending, or is it more complicated than that?’. And I think this arc might be the best representation of that, where everything seemingly goes well for everyone, and Takano seems to never do anything evil, but everything still goes to shit anyway because of the various issues that the main characters still have even if Takano is dealt with.

I’m not sure exactly what new elements Featherine could bring to the board, and how it could lead to Takano being dealt with in every arc, but it probably has to do with what Takano found in the Saiguden, and also the fact that Featherine herself literally appears in the Saiguden in the OP.

I won’t get into super explicit details about Umineko here, but I think that Umineko Ep5 gives a pretty good example of how a new author can take control of a gameboard and insert a new ‘piece’ in order to achieve some new goal.

Anyway, once we get into the second half, I think the next arc will basically just be a version of Meakashi that acts as Watadamashi’s answer arc. We’ll probably spend about three episodes on Shion and Satoshi’s whole backstory from Meakashi [mixed with some of the flashbacks from Matsuribayashi], and then the arc will end with showing Shion and Mion’s perspective on Watadamashi, which I don’t think would take very long if they just focus on showing what they were doing in some of the important scenes. And some of it still might be left a little intentionally ambiguous.

Then I think that either whether they label it as it’s own arc or just treat it as part of one big final arc, we’ll get around three episodes that show Onidamashi from Rena’s POV, which would basically serve as a substitute for Tsumihoroboshi, and we’ll finally get an explicit reveal of how Keiichi hallucinated part of their fight scene. It might play out in the exact same way, but I could also see it seeming like a 1:1 retelling of Onidamashi at first, that then diverts at the last minute by having Keiichi remember the truth of what really happened in Onidamashi after he invites Rena into his house, in time for him to talk her down from killing him. Then after that I think we’ll basically get Gou’s take on Matsuribayashi, where everyone properly tackles the real issues and mysteries going on, to achieve a proper happy ending.

I’m not really confident about a lot of this, but I think it all more or less makes sense, especially since I’ve been thinking for a while that Gou will probably end up being much more of a remake than a full on sequel.

And then in the final episode we might get a glimpse at the ‘outside world’ where Rika/Bern is going over Featherine’s manuscript version of Gou, to help explain the whole framing device.

Also, I’m still wondering if Lambda is gonna play into Gou’s story at all, going by how we’re more or less already dealing with Bern, and Featherine has shown up in the OP and will presumably come into play later on. It’d feel a bit weird to have those two show up but not Lambda.

I feel like it’d be much harder to provide context for her whole deal compared to those two, though, but if Gou is effectively a fictional story in-universe, then she doesn’t necessarily need to follow the same logic she did in the VN. She was technically already present [but unmentioned] in the VN as being the witch who provided Takano with her blessing of certainty, so maybe she’s going to do the same for Satoko here instead [and maybe her not providing Takano with her blessing within the context of Gou is part of how Featherine is ‘dealing with her’]. Maybe a post-Tataridamashi Satoko ends up making a deal with Lambda as a result of her years of unresolved trauma and whatnot. Maybe she wants to go back in time to stop herself [or her friends] from killing Teppei, and Lambda agrees to provide her with the power to turn back time.

And along those lines, I’m also wondering if that might be part of why the Saiguden statue’s hand is undamaged in Gou. We’ve seen how Satoko thinks that she got cursed when she did that, and that it caused everything in her life to go to shit, so maybe she specifically wants to go back in time to prevent that incident from happening. And like I’ve also theorized, maybe the statue is undamaged in the first two Gou arcs because they happen chronologically after this one, and start from the premise of Satoko avoiding that incident.

Anyway, this is a whole lot of wild speculation that might not turn out to be true at all, lol. For one thing, even though I think teenage Satoko will show up in this arc because she’s in the OP, I’m not sure if or even how Featherine might appear in this arc, and that might really take things in a whole new direction I can’t predict.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi gou #this got longer than I planned but I've got lots of theories lol #I probably should have just made a separate post about them but oh well

19 notes · View notes

kuchenackerman · 5 years

Note

Sooo I kinda don’t understand now lol after this recent chapter, whose the real bad guy? Lol because Grisha said eren’s future is “terrifying”

Are there actually “bad guys” in SnK though? Like in the sense of “full villains”?

Ever since I started watching SnK, the Titans didn’t really strike me as the “bad guys” because I saw them as miserable over-sized zombies with no real capability of thinking and measuring their actions. Were they even aware of what they were doing? Were they hurting humans because they wanted to? Not really. They ended up being people turned into Titans against their will, trapped in some sort of never-ending nightmare unless they ended up eating a shifter to get a second chance in life or until someone killed them, which was very tragic.

When the corresponding reveals about Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt as Titan Shifters happened, I also couldn’t see them really as plain “bad guys” because I was sure their reasons weren’t so simple. While some people on Tumblr and on other social media demonized them years ago, I always saw the warriors as victims of their circumstances. They were obviously child soldiers that were manipulated by knowing adults in my eyes. I was sure about that way before we knew anything about Marley. It turned out that they were indeed victims that ended up victimizing other innocent people. Once we got the full picture, we learned they were Marley’s tools and were seen as war heroes for fighting the “devils” - that happened to be other Eldians like themselves, their own people. They were brainwashed into thinking they were doing humanity a favor… just look at Gabi, the best example in this case.

Zeke is another example of someone that in first place appeared as some sort of plain “bad guy” for the fandom because he killed some beloved characters in gruesome ways and betrayed his parents at an early age. Then we learned his backstory and how damaging it was for him that his parents, especially Grisha, didn’t treat him like a child but like a tool in order to reach their goals. He was a hurt child that later got encouraged by another adult - that he saw as an actual parental figure - to exterminate his own race, just because he wished he wasn’t been born… Now he thinks he would be doing a good deed by stealing Eldians their right to reproduce and, hence, condemning them to get extinct as a race. I don’t agree with Zeke’s goals, but can I see him as a real “bad guy”? Nah. I actually pity him for thinking in the way he does. He really thinks he’ll be sparing Eldians from suffering and saving everyone else, when the outside world with or without Eldians will still also suffer for one reason or another.

Eren and the rest of the Walldians were victims of RBA, Zeke and Marley, plus victims of the offenses done by their ancestors that led to the attack to the Walls. At the beginning we only saw Eren and the rest of the Walldians reacting to these circumstances, and we rooted for their survival. Later, we learned the rest of the world wants them dead, extinct forever, because they only see them as monsters and not as human beings that have the minimum right to live. They need to be erased from the map for the well being of everyone else, or so they say (cough Zeke cough).

Eren was a victim that ended up victimizing innocent people, just like RBA did, and I guess we all can agree on that. Now we found out that he started time-traveling and manipulating some of the things that had happened and that led to what is happening in the present timeline.We saw in chapter 121 that he manipulated his dad into murdering the Reiss family, and that it seemingly happened way before (these paradoxes can be a bit confusing, huh?) he ended up killing innocent civilians and children as collateral damage back in Liberio…

For about a couple of years we’ve been denied Eren’s POV and his actions have been turning more and more confusing for both other characters and us, readers. We’re finally getting some answers and exposition, but we still don’t know what exactly his plan is. Is it something as straight-forward and extreme as the rumbling? Is it something more complex but still as terrifying as that? Is it a mix of things? Is it something we haven’t even really thought about yet?

All I know is that the rest of the world wants Eldians dead and gone for good, and that Eren doesn’t want that. Does he, in exchange, wants the rest of the world gone for good? We still have to see. If by stopping the genocide of his people he genocides the rest of the humans that aren’t “his people”… then lmao. I love Eren but his “if other people are going to steal my freedom, I’m going to steal theirs” doesn’t rub me the right way atm, because honestly, what’s the point of freedom if you just go and steal other people’s freedom? How does that make you any better or different than the ones that steal or try to steal your own freedom? Nelson Mandela once said “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

I’ve always rooted for Eren as a character and for his fighting for freedom, simply because it’s beautiful to fight for a basic right. Oppression must be fighted and never accepted, so I’d certainly feel upset if he for real just goes ahead and finally, and completely, disposes of anyone that doesn’t think like him or that isn’t a Walldian. If he did that, then I guess he might end up being crowned as the indisputable ultimate SnK “bad guy” (?) by the fandom.

Anyway, it’s important to remember that this manga has never been black and white on its depictions of the story and its characters, which are way more complex than that. This isn’t a child tale. So, just like I did with the Titans, RBA and other characters, I can’t say yeah mate, Eren is definitely the “bad guy” of the story, because it’s not that simple and nothing is when it comes to SnK. I’ve witnessed the development of his character, his story and his relationships, his hardships and everything. I’ve seen both his soft side and his cruel side. I’ve seen how much he cares about the people he loves, his friends. I’ve seen how his face still pulls out emotion when seeing his mother and his father holding him as a baby in the memories of chapter 120, and how much he got absorbed by the sweet moment when he gave Mikasa his scarf in the memory he was witnessing in 121. I wasn’t blind to his pain when Sasha died and how against he was at the prospect of Historia being turned into a breeding machine. I know how desperate he was when the first Levi’s Special Operation Squad was crashed by Annie, and how upset he was when he realized that Annie was indeed the Female Titan. I remember how much it broke him to see Armin on the verge of dying after he sacrificed himself in their battle against Bert. He cared deeply about them all and I think he still does, even behind that cold mask he’s been trying to wear and his hurtful words in chapter 112.

So, like I said before, we have no idea what his exact plan is yet, neither we know exactly what he has or not done through the timeskip and through his time-travel hack. However, it doesn’t matter how hard he tries to play the cold-blooded motherfucker, his feelings will always betray him in one way or another (we’ve already seen it in the past months, he also wasn’t happy after telling his dad to murder the Reiss family and didn’t enjoy it). He’s too intense to keep a poker face for too long, and he has a heart too big for it to be fully tainted by the mere “bad guy” role.

Whatever happens, whatever Eren ends up doing, for me he would still be Eren, just Eren. Whether I like how things turn out or not, that’s another matter. I’m here still hoping for this whole journey to be worth it in the end.

#eren jaeger #eren yeager #snk 121 #snk spoilers #snk meta #I'm not sure about tagging it this way but whatever #wtf I wrote a lot #replies #Anonymous

52 notes · View notes

possiblyimbiassed · 5 years

Text

John’s wedding is a crime scene - Part III

I’m sure I’m far from the first one to suggest this; I know a lot of people have discussed it years ago, but it hit me so hard now while re-watching the stag night scenes in TSoT, that I just can’t get it out of my mind: This is not some random apartment of a dead man; the crime scene of the Mayfly Man is actually 221B! If you like, this can be seen as Part III of my earlier meta series called “John’s wedding is a crime scene and Sherlock is the victim”. You can find the first two parts here (1) and here (2).

You don’t believe me? OK, let’s do a crime scene investigation à la Sherlock and sample the different clues here:

Hmm, well, I do see a wallpaper with a pattern of large flowers on it...

...and I also do see a leather sofa with Sherlock on it:

Yes - nice, isn’t it? John really seems to appreciate it. ;) But this meta is going to hurt, so if you’re not up for it, please don’t read further.

We also have a buffalo skull...

...not very unlike the bison skull on the wall of 221B:

In several cultures, this is the symbol of someone being cheated on. But judging by the headphones, this guy apparently tries to turn a deaf ear to it.

Sherlock’s chair is square-ish, with seats of leather...

...while John’s chair is more well-rounded:

And they both seemed very comfortable in them, just a little while ago...

But, back to the crime scene: Why would the land lord let some random drunk people into his dead tenant’s apartment late at night, just because a woman claimed she had been dating another person there? It’s not exactly a murder case we’re talking about. And the thing is, we never even see them leave their own flat! It doesn’t make sense.

And, even before that: Why would Mrs Hudson let a client in late at night at Baker Street, when she knew that both John and Sherlock were too drunk to even stand on their feet? And how could the client be so stupid to rely on a detective who was very obviously drunk? It doesn’t make sense.

But what is Sherlock actually doing here? Well, John tells us:

He’s trying to find out where it all went wrong, isn’t he?

To continue ‘clueing’, we also have a soft rug, just like we have in 221B. Many people have pointed out - since long ago - the sexual nature of this scene, and many fics have been written about the whole stag night:

Or what about this innuendo?

People have also pointed out long ago that the stuff on Sherlock’s mouth doesn’t really look like vomit:

And why on earth are we suddenly two centimeters from John’s mouth directly after this? Who is looking so closely at it, while John is sighing?

So, my hypothesis here is that these two guys indeed did got intimate on John’s stag night, inside 221B. But what we see is Sherlock setting up his repressed memories of this in his Mind Palace/Mind Theatre. After reading John’s blog and reminiscing their life together (as I have suggested before X).

Why is the ‘crime scene’ supposed to be a dead man’s apartment? Well, probably because Sherlock felt completely dead inside while setting this scenario up in his Mind Theatre. And hey; they were interrupted by a nurse. Who else do we know that is a nurse, and who has definitely come between John and Sherlock?

As for John Watson as an unreliable narrator, what does the blog say? We know that Sherlock was indeed organising John’s stag do, because John himself says so in the post about the Bloody Guardsman (June 29th):

And yet, John’s description of this whole stag event afterwards on the blog was simply this:

A “quiet, civilised evening in the pub”. John never mentions that it was his stag do! I do believe John is hiding something here, and the timeline might also be altered. And neither does he mention that they went to the dead man’s apartment to investigate traces from the Mayfly Man; indeed it seems like Sherlock investigated merely by the info he got from the client. And this is John’s last post on the blog. John never wrote up Sherlock’s solutions of both the Mayfly man case and the Bloody Guardsman case, when he elegantly saved John’s wedding from ending in disaster - why? Because John was busy preparing his own honey moon? Didn’t he appreciate what his friend did for him? Or was it because these solutions didn’t actually happen? When Sherlock hacks the blog and starts talking jealously about their ‘sex holiday’ after the wedding, John (and Mary) just tell him to shut up and stop posting. And when Sherlock explains his solution to the Mayfly Man and the Bloody Guardsman as two back-stabbing cases, he’s only met with complete silence from John.

Additionally, Sherlock here claims that the attempted murder happened “today”, when the wedding must have been at least a couple of days ago, because on August 11th he told us that John and Mary were already on their ‘sex holiday’. I’ve said before that I find the idea of a mere uniform belt (which mustn’t be worn uncomfortably tight, because it would render both the uniform and the soldier in it inefficient) stopping the blood flow from a stabbing utterly unlikely. And I’ve actually asked a guy I know who works as a royal guardsman in my town, if he ever has lost the feeling in his back muscles while standing guard for hours. His answer was no; he rather gets to feel an increasing pain in his back. And if the Mayfly Man failed to kill Bainbridge with this method, why did he proceed to try the same inefficient method on Sholto?

So no; I don’t believe this actually happened in the show’s reality. And John’s silence on the blog might be a confirmation of this. (And/or possibly a sign that at this point John stopped reading the blog and instead tried to get someone to check on Sherlock, since the guy clearly was using again).

OK, just a couple of clues more: When John wakes up after the stag night, he feels like he’s imprisoned:

And Sherlock is sleeping beside him.

So, what’s the actual ‘crime’ here? Why are Sherlock and John imprisoned? I’m not sure about what the law says in UK, but I somehow doubt it would be a criminal offense to be accidentally sick on someone’s rug (it’s not a public place), and the landlord had actually let them in. So if this is a symbolic arrest happening inside Sherlock’s head, what’s the actual reason? Is it a) John cheating on Mary, or b) John breaking Sherlock’s heart? Or is it c) that these two guys actually had sex with each other (Internalized homophobia)?

If this actually happened (as I tend to believe it did - look at all the clues!); if they did end up having sex at 221B on the stag night, while drunk, and John then woke up, with closet angst and terrible guilt over what he had done, and then he - in desperation - left Sherlock there and decided to get married anyway, that must have been the final blow, the most painful heartbreak possible for Sherlock. Because then he was treated like just one more of John’s one-night stands or never-to-be-serious girlfriends. Hence the back-stabbing metaphor repeated twice in TSoT (the wedding only sealed the deal). Hence the Mayfly Man mirroring John. Hence Culverton Smith the Coagulation of Human Evil in TLD. Probably even the Serial Killer Jeff Hope outliving several people in ASiP. And hence John’s devastating guilt in TLD over cheating on Mary in TST by mere text messages (which looked innocent enough). OMG; if this turns out to be the truth, it really, really hurts. Because that’s burning someone’s heart out, indeed.

Tagging some people, just in case they’re interested:@sarahthecoat @tjlcisthenewsexy @ebaeschnbliah @fellshish @gosherlocked @loveismyrevolution @sagestreet @sherlockshadow @darlingtonsubstitution @devoursjohnlock @tendergingergirl @kateis-cakeis @csi-baker-street-babes @88thparallel @timilina @dieseldrakilis @sherlock-overflow-error @elldotsee

#Ouch

339 notes · View notes

filippoinzaghi · 5 years

Note

Director's cut for the shower scene on the Gigi/Rino fic, please?👀👀👀

Way to be direct, I see 👀!

So, let’s see. I had just gotten out of the previous chapter which had obviously drained me emotionally with feels™ (might be my fave chapter with number 6 !). I was crying almost once every day because of finals coming up and that new master degree they compltely fucked up and the lack of communication from teachers. A hellish month tbh and that fic really was an escape to just try to calm down and focus on something else for a little while.

I had basically the rest of the chapters mapped out from chapter 3. Since I decided it would be a 7 chapter fic, linear and a Friends to Lover, I had landmarks on chapters. Chapter 1 served as the meeting, 2 as properly meeting, 3 as being friends and also contrast Rino’s and Gigi’s career with Italy NT while they’re actually the same age (can you fucking believe asedrftygh ! And same month as that ! Should exploit that piece of info next time !) : with Gigi having been precocious, debut in 1997 and 3rd gk in 1998 while Rino mainly played with Andrea with the U23 and pretty much had his debut with him (not the same game but the same year. The amount of games I researched on football database to have the exact dates, games and month the three of them were with Italy, I swear aqzserdtfygh).

Chapter 4 was inevitable. When I saw the progression of my fic, I just knew I had to talk about the 2003 and then the depression that followed since I sticked with Gigi’s POV throughout that fic. And so, chapter 4 was the growing closer part, the first sign they might care more than they think. I had a brief moment of hesitation of putting the first kiss in that chapter but I quickly decided against it as the was neither the right time nor the right place to do so. The focus was essentially on the depression, on recognising that that’s what it was and finally realising he needs help, as in therapy (as seen with that piece of dialogue : “And I can’t help as you need to.”).

So yeah, all these paragraphs (see I can’t stop talking when you launch me), to say that in the logical course of action, the kiss needed to happen in chapter 5. Since I already had the ending (chapter 7 and what a fucking blessing for Sandro Nesta to marry in 2007, t’was the best gift to my timeline !) and obviously the 2006 World Cup indulgement. I also must say that seeing you thirsting for that first kiss after chapter 4 was a pure delight and boost zqasedrftyg. Now, I had no fucking idea how to put the kiss into action, looking at the prompt lists. My only clear point was that “Gennaro” was to be used. If you followed closely, I’ve tried to play on names and how Rino he’s referred to by Gigi as the fic goes on. He’s first “one midfielder of Perugia” and “Gennaro Gattuso” full, matter-of-factly, then it’s “Gattuso” when they have lunch with Pirlo. And from chapter 3 on, he becomes “Rino”. That was also another, more subtler, way to show the evolution of their relationship. So, even though I didn’t know yet how I would write the kiss, I just knew that Gigi would use his first name and not his nickname in the crucial moment (aka… seconds to the kiss, lips only centimetres apart). I thought there was something intimate in play here in using his full first name and not just the nickname as everybody else does, like a secret only Gigi knows of and has the right to utter. Rino didn’t use “Gianluigi”, though but mainly because in the first “Gigi, I…” he’s not yet sure of what’s gonna happen, it’s “Gennaro…” that prompts the whole thing and makes Rino abandon any doubts he may had had still; and in the second “Fucking hell, Gigi…” he’s not really thinking straight (pun intended 👀) obviously and utters the first words he can comprehensibly forms, the first thought that can come out of his mouth. That’s to be made up for in chapter 6 with the use of “Gigione”.

(my god where’s my option to turn that ask into an audio post, it’s beginning to look like a dissertation azsedrftgy)

I chose the showers as setting because I had the first sentence of the fic, looking once again at the prompt lists and I just knew then that would also be my closing sentence after the kiss. The rest pretty much wrote itself, trying to keep up links in between chapters to keep the linearity of it all. The Rino popping in in Turin from time to time and taking the couch, the fact he now has his reserved blanket in Gigi’s home and the “A couple of times, Gigi had woken him up and asked if he could come sleep with him…” was kind of a wink to your (and a lesser extent my small contribution) Chiello/Monto Domestic fluff challenge. Turin and Milan are truly close, after all and I just love the trope of the popping in of one “by accident” (yeah sure) to take care of the other. I also like to imagine Rino on the phone and trying to be all grumpy and threatening to bribe some of the Juve players (mainly Zambrotta (and Alex but he didn’t need that to check on Gigi) who then spread the word to the others) to pop in into Gigi’s flat and have them tell him how he’s doing. It all added to show again how their bond evolved again and the process of them thinking about the other more and more, even when they’re not together.

And so the shower scene (yes, finally zqasedrftgyujik). I just love them, honestly (and I had no idea you did to !!). There’s the symbolic of water washing away not just dirt on your skin but whatever else : here, thoughts, trying to calm down for Gigi and for the kiss, it’s more about stopping to fool around, wash away the masks, the doubts, the uncertainties that comes with the “I might like him a lot but does he like me back ?” and stuff like that. There’s also the nakedness which reinforces the fact that, they’re bare, no place to hide, that’s them in all they have to offer, in their whole honest and truest way. Which is why I tried to make it as much non-sexual as I did (although, re-reading it, I may have insisted on that point too much which kind of spoils it, but I tried and that’ll be helpful to remember in the future). I made the shower booth as small as possible because… Reasons obviously (also, the showers in my taekwondo club are fucking small, I can barely wash my feet without murdering my knees every two seconds, so they were obviously an inspiration). Then I asimply had to use hot shower because a) that’s always more agreeable, b) it fits with the whole “Rino’s energy burns Gigi and he can’t get enough thing, and c) THE STEAM™ ! With the steam, there’s the whole point we already discussed in the comments of blurry lines, ethereal atmosphere that comes into play. It was also a way for me to show it all seemed like suspended in time, as if the steam hid them from the rest of the world.

I must add that I did not exactly meant flip-flops when Rino enters the showers as for me flip-flops are, well… flip-flops with the thing going between your big toe and second toe. But what I actually meant was this kind of sandals which are basically a sole and a strap below the toes (like this) because that was a fucking hilarious image to me and considered a mood-killer/most unsexy thing for some. The fact that Rino joined Gigi was just… Logical. Well, obviously for reasons since otherwise, there wouldn’t have been any kiss. But that’s also the level of comfortable they get with a) the dressing rooms and b) their evolving bond and so yeah, considering the two of them, it’s no biggie for Rino to share the booth, however small with Gigi. I mean… The water’s already hot and running, why use another booth 👀! Also I’m a sucker for wet hair and the glory that was Rino and Gigi’s hair at the time just needed to be wet and highlighted here, that’s all.

Anyway, that got long, sorry (or not) ! Thank you so much for the ask

#My fics #ask stuff #answers

6 notes · View notes

qqueenofhades · 6 years

Text

the dragons on the map: viii

Rating: M Summary: After the Lifeboat is nearly destroyed, the Time Team ends up stranded in their strangest and most unfamiliar destination yet: 1195 France. With Rittenhouse to stop, medieval adventures to be had, and a pair of rival kings at war, it’ll truly be a miracle if they ever get home. (Garcy/Lyatt/pre-Garcyatt, Flogan, Rufus Is Judging, general Time Team relationships and bonding. Guest appearances from the Plantagenets, for reasons.) Available: AO3

This has not been the most enjoyable night of Wyatt Logan’s life. In fact, it’s one of the worst, and considering how stupid it’s been recently, that’s saying a lot. First, the only thing less enjoyable than having a bullet dug out of your gut with medieval hardware store tools is getting to lie there for eight hours, completely sans morphine or even a goddamn Tylenol, feeling it throb with every heartbeat. Next, your only company is your friend who is still kind of mad at you, but isn’t enjoying watching you suffer, and who can’t go out to get liquid comfort in case he’s abruptly murdered by members of the cult you are chasing through Medieval Times Dinner Theater. And when your ex-girlfriend and your – fuck if he knows what Flynn is – are trying to stop said cult’s leader from doing anything bad like killing your wife version 2.0, and you don’t know when they’re coming back, or what’s going on, because the frigging Pony Express would be an upgrade…

Yeah. Wyatt thinks he’s earned a little bitterness.

He lies on his back, since he can’t exactly lie anywhere else, trying not to breathe too deeply. He’s a soldier, he’s been messed up in pretty gnarly ways before, and if nothing else, he’s always been used to pain. You can thank his dad for that. Wyatt can feel every single one of Flynn’s careful stitches, holding his side together with silk embroidery thread, and to his bafflement and disquiet, he keeps catching himself worrying about Flynn in the same way he’s worrying about Lucy. Not quite in the same way, but… not altogether different, either. Despite the chronic bickering, they’ve worked together since getting here, and Flynn has now saved his bacon twice. Once after the Lifeboat wrecked, and again with this. Kind of rattles his pessimistic presumption that if it came down to it, Flynn would still let all of them (aside from Lucy) die at the first chance.

In the back of his head, Wyatt wonders if that’s entirely true, if that’s what he really thinks, since he’s gotten used to having Flynn around and hasn’t actively wanted to kill him for… well, a while now. Has had to trust him in tight spots, worked with him on the mission to save Rufus, even had a beer with him when they got back, sweaty and grimy and exultant. In fact, there have been a couple moments where Wyatt thinks they might almost be friends, and he… he’s wanted it. And yet, since getting close to Flynn always feels like a terrible idea and Wyatt has several reasons to avoid it, he hasn’t said so overtly or made any real indication that he does anything apart from still 100% hate him. He’s reminded himself that Flynn's involvement (aside, again, from Lucy) is entirely strategic. The team is fighting Rittenhouse, it’s easier to do that with them than alone. Definitely better than jail. That’s all.

(Wyatt does know that this is a complete crock of shit, but emotions have gone really horribly for him recently. It’s better to take refuge in a few delusions, pretend that things are still simple, pretend that he hasn’t changed, when frankly, more than anything else, even painkillers, he wants Flynn and Lucy to come back. Both of them.)

He and Rufus do not talk much. Rufus dozes sporadically on the whatever-the-medieval-couch is called, a low, armless padded bench, though he keeps lifting his head whenever footsteps go past outside. Nobody tries to force the door, which is good, given as they’re completely unarmed after Wyatt sent his gun off with Lucy. Finally in the wee hours, when it’s become apparent that neither of them are going to get much sleep, Wyatt says, “I’m sorry. That I tried to lie to the others at dinner. About Emma.”

Rufus shifts position, rolling over onto his back. Even if obviously better than a gunshot wound, the couch thing (settee? Why does Wyatt want to say settee?) doesn’t look like luxury accommodation. It’s clear that he is weighing how to respond, is not going to instantly lie and pretend it’s fine. Finally he says, “I guess I’m just wondering if we would have been friends if this wasn’t our job. I don’t even mean that as a diss. But I’m an engineer and a nerd and a black kid from the West Side of Chicago who went to MIT, and you’re a redneck military white boy from Texas. It just feels like if it wasn’t our responsibility to save literally all of the known universe on a weekly basis, we wouldn’t have much in common.”

Wyatt opens his mouth, then shuts it. He wants to ask if Rufus really has to kick him while he’s down, but that’s the thing he does where he takes what someone is saying about their pain and makes it about his own, and he’s trying, he’s trying, to be less of a tragedy in that department. “Rufus, if this is about Chinatown, about Jiya… I know it was because of me that Jess was in the bunker and all of that happened, and I guess… it’s a lot to ask you to forgive me for. If you want to just be teammates and that’s it, I – I get it.”

There’s a pause. Wyatt stares miserably at the dim ceiling, thinking that he’s totally whiffed it with the other two, why not Rufus too? They can be the new threesome who are friends and family, and he can be the shunned, fuckup outsider looking in the window but not part of the house, the position he keeps putting Flynn in for comfort’s sake but which more accurately belongs to him. His loneliness hollows out the core of him, makes him feel as bleak and desolate as an abandoned ruin (all the ruins in their modern time probably haven’t even been built yet). “I’m sorry,” he repeats hopelessly, into the silence. “I’m sorry.”

“Look,” Rufus says. “Being dead sucked. At least I think it did, because – consciously, at any rate – I don’t actually remember it. After all, you and Flynn and Jiya saved me before it happened. I know that in your first timeline, I died, and you got visited by Lara Croft and an extra on the Walking Dead, and figured out how to work it around for another try. But you remember that happening, and I don’t. And that’s because you saved my life. Yes, I am still pissed about some things, I’m not gonna lie. But you know what? Honestly, it doesn’t matter a crap whether we would have been friends in another life or not. This is the one we ended up in, and we are friends. At least I think we are. You can disagree.”

“I – ” Wyatt blinks hard, tasting tears in the back of his throat. “No. No, I don’t. I’m just sorry I’ve been such a monumental screwup and I’ve hurt all of you and I kept doing it as a reflex instead of trusting you. I have a lot of humble pie to eat and… I just need to make sure I actually try to goddamn do that.”

“That’s all any of us can do,” Rufus says. “Even when time travel isn’t involved.”

“Yeah.” Wyatt grimaces as a bolt of lightning spears his side. “If you want to punch me in the face or stick my head in the toilet or whatever other dumb dude stuff we have to go through to make it up, just – wait until I can stand up on my own, all right?”

“No thanks,” Rufus says. “Because as you said, it’s dumb. You definitely owe me a proper dinner when we get back to the twenty-first century, though.”

“If we get out of here, I’ll buy you literally whatever you want.” Dining out might be a little complicated at the moment, but it’s the thought of just being able to do ordinary real-life things like that again, instead of being on house arrest in a succession of government bunkers and anonymous safe houses, that sends a pang through Wyatt’s abused chest. “Cool?”

“Cool.” Rufus sits up, gets to his feet, and walks over to the bed, holding out his hand, and they do as much of a bro-shake as Wyatt is functionally able to manage. It still hurts anyway, but he manages to ignore it for a while longer. Rufus goes back to the settee, they both doze off, and by morning, when they haven’t been murdered, aren’t sure whether to be relieved about that or worried about Lucy and Flynn. There’s no way to say how long that was going to take, when they should expect them back, or if they’d even know if something went wrong. In a slightly too-cheery voice, Rufus says, “Think they have continental breakfast?”

“I’m guessing no.” Wyatt can’t tell if he’s hungry or not; the thought of food is nice, but the effort required to eat it would probably make him puke. He also has a killer need to take a piss, but doesn’t want to make Rufus have to help him with that. “Maybe you can go look, though? See what’s going on in the castle, what people are saying?”

“I suppose.” Rufus is aware that they’re not supposed to leave this room until the others return, but he hesitates a moment longer and then says, “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Don’t try to go Superman on me or anything like that.”

“Yeah. Not gonna be a problem.”

Rufus raises an eyebrow, as if to say that he had to make sure, then pulls the bar out of the door and vanishes through it. Once he’s gone, Wyatt slowly staggers to his feet, and by dint of a clever trick (profuse and repeated use of the f-word in noun, verb, gerund, adjectival, and emphatic forms), manages to pee without killing himself. He peels away the knotted, blood-crusted tablecloth, trying to see if the wound looks infected, though there’s not a hell of a lot he can do if it is. It’s red and swollen and otherwise unhappy anyway, he can’t really tell. He’s glad Eleanor isn’t dead, he really is, but God. They definitely owe him a get-well fruit basket. Or maybe a knighthood.

Wyatt eases himself back down onto the bed, breathing hard. He has just gotten (not) comfortable when the door opens again. Rufus reappears, trailed by a grimy, tired, frowning Lucy, and a grimy, tired, stunned-looking Flynn. Wyatt bolts upright, swears again, and falls on the bolster pillows, but he doesn’t even care. “Oh my God,” he says. “I’m – thank God. Thank God. I’m so relieved you made it back.”

“You’re not going to be in a second.” Lucy looks at him with a foreboding expression. “We did catch up to Emma, and we even know what she’s doing, we think. But it – it’s bad, and you aren’t going to like hearing it. I’m sorry.”

“Oh?” Wyatt wonders what exactly can be worse than – well, everything, but tries to brace himself. “What are we talking, or do I really want to know?”

By the time Lucy has filled him and Rufus in on the latest terrible development (Flynn has continued to look like he’s been concussed the entire time, making Wyatt briefly worry that maybe he was hurt, and then have absolutely no idea what to do with that), Wyatt has concluded that maybe he didn’t. “Fuck,” he says. “Thirty Rittenhouse agents? And Emma brought Jess here? To marry Richard and use my kid to – the fuck?”

“I’m sorry,” Lucy says again. She sits down on the bed next to him, putting her hand next to his, but not quite taking it. “It’s – it’s diabolical, honestly. It makes plenty of sense for her, and it might be something Richard could see his way into accepting, but… neither you or even Jessica deserve this.”

Wyatt doesn’t know how to respond. His old instinct to lash out at them and defend Jessica’s honor is clearly not going to fly, and he doesn’t feel that he should. As they all keep saying, she’s chosen her allegiances, but – even for the sake of an organization that this version of her remembers as being part of since childhood, that saved her brother and whatever else – is she really willing to barter her kid, their kid, off like this? To choose between staying in the twelfth/thirteenth century with him for the rest of her life, or going back to the present as a faithful Rittenhouse disciple, having proved her bona fides, and never seeing him again?

(Wyatt supposes the takeaway from this is that he is in fact having a son. A son he’s probably never going to meet. A son who will live his entire life as Rittenhouse’s pawn to change the world, who will think that this time is his own. He’ll get to be a king – is that going to make it worth it? Make any of this worth it?)

(The thought hurts even worse than his perforated side, and he doesn’t think it ever won’t.)

There’s a pause as Rufus, Lucy, and Flynn all avoid looking at him, as Wyatt thinks grimly that yet again, his mistakes are here to bite them in the ass. Then he swallows his pride and decides to give this a try. “Okay, Flynn. What do we do?”

No answer.

“Hey. Flynn?”

“Sorry.” Flynn blinks hard, rubbing a hand over his face. “What?”

“Dude,” Rufus says. “Wyatt just asked you what you thought we should do, and you missed it? You must really be distracted.”

“I – oh.” Flynn doesn’t take the tailor-made opportunity to gloat, which is equally astounding. Wyatt glances at him in confusion, then notices that Lucy is maintaining a slightly too-casual expression herself, and feels as if he’s missed a step going downstairs. This is definitely not the time to wonder if anything happened while they were out on their overnight excursion, but even more unsettling is the fact that he isn’t sure if it’s just the obvious part of that (Lucy with Flynn) which bothers him. Or if it’s also somehow the –

Right, no, never mind that, back the truck up, up, up. Besides, Wyatt is still working on accepting that things have been broken and may not get put back together. After all the time he’s spent with broken – well, everything, you’d think this would be easier, but it isn’t. Flynn still seems too discombobulated to put together a substantial response, until Rufus is finally the one to chime in instead. “You two know where the Mothership is, right? Can’t we just go steal it? I know we can’t all go home with thirty frigging Rittenhouse agents here, but I could take Wyatt to a real hospital, and then come back to join Flynn and Lucy.”

“There’s no way Wyatt could manage a ride all the way there,” Flynn says. “The wound would open and he’d bleed to death before we got close. Besides, if we leave Wyatt in the present by himself in some hospital, how do we know Rittenhouse doesn’t just go in and pick him off? He’d be a sitting duck.”

Wyatt starts to say something, then stops. Not least because Flynn has voiced explicit concern for his well-being (twice!), and he is, yet again, not prepared to deal with that. At last he says, “I don’t want to split up except as a total last resort. Besides, if we make any move for the Mothership, that blows our cover and Emma realizes we’re onto her and her entire plan. We only have one shot at getting to it while she doesn’t know – yet – that we know where it is or what she was doing with it, and yeah. This eats a huge amount of ass right now. I’m not going to say it’s fun. But I’m not gonna let you blow that shot for me.”

Lucy glances at him, her expression troubled and tender. “Wyatt, we have to take care of you. You’re still part of the team.”

If nothing else? Wyatt doesn’t want to ask that, or know how she might answer. Delusions, after all. Kinda wants to hold onto a few, after reality has bitch-slapped him on both cheeks and taken a dump in his front yard. “Yeah,” he says, “but I think we’ll also agree that you’re all tired of me fucking up things for you. Don’t make me do it again. Okay?”

“Okay,” Flynn says. Yet again, refraining from any of the obvious cracks that are there to be made, which is just bizarre. (Or perhaps not at all, but Wyatt’s still not going there.) “Though either way, we’re probably going somewhere. I said they’re most likely taking Jessica to Chinon, and Emma will tell Richard to meet her there. So some of us will need to go.”

“I can’t ride, obviously,” Wyatt says, as neutrally as possible. “That seems to rule me out.”

“It’s your wife and child.” Flynn looks at him with an intensity that Wyatt can feel to the back of his spine. “That Rittenhouse wants to use for their own sick little game. Don’t tell me you’re content to do nothing about it.”

“Of course I’m not fucking content.” Wyatt wants to be more emphatic, wants to shout about this, wants to kick up more of a fuss, but his chest feels pulverized (in more ways than one) and the most he can manage is a croak. “Of course I don’t want this to happen. I never wanted any of this to happen. But I’m half-dead and I would definitely get all the way there if I rushed after Jessica right now, to – what? Get my heart stomped on all over again? Can I save her if she doesn’t want to be saved? I don’t know. I honestly don’t. I’ve tried to do that for years, since I joined the damn team in the first place, and we can safely say that I have totally blown it. Maybe this is what I deserve, I don’t know.”

“Yes,” Flynn says. “You’ve totally blown it. But you’re not the only one who has, eh?”

Wyatt blinks. He doesn’t know what the hell has gotten into Flynn, why he keeps saving his life and then worrying about it later and saying these things that almost sound like clumsy olive branches, and once again, he thinks it’s better not to ask. There’s another silence. Then Rufus says, “Just spitballing here. But is there anything to be said for the nuclear option? Say fuck it, tell Richard we’re time travelers, and that’s why he can’t remarry? I mean, he’s got his thing going on with Andrew, he doesn’t really want to shake that up, right?”

Flynn raises both eyebrows, but charitably restrains from comment. Then he says, “What? Tell Richard that he has to die without a son, to fail in the central duty of a king, to leave his throne to his little brother with whom he has, at best, an ambivalent relationship? That John then proceeds to arse it up to such a degree that it becomes enshrined in law for hundreds of years? I can guarantee that is not something Richard would have any interest in facilitating, and if we tell him that, we have to tell him his future. Tell him when he dies, and how. Which he would then obviously try to avoid, messing up history still further.”

“Yeah,” Rufus says. “Since you’ve always been the one of us who’s really concerned with preserving history, Flynn. I can absolutely see why you’d suggest that.”

Flynn seems to sense that he deserves that, and gives a sue me shrug instead of answering. Then Lucy says, “We could just not tell him that part. Right? Even if he asked – ”

“Do you want to be the one that says no to him?” Flynn asks. “Spill the beans that you know everything that’s going to happen in his life and after it, and then refuse to tell him? We’d get into even worse of a mess. Besides, if we come clean about that, we’d also have to tell him that we came from Paris and Philip sent us. And while he might laugh off the time travel, or not bother taking us seriously, I can assure you that he would not do the same when it comes to Philip. They hate each other past all reason, and if we get Richard angry at us…”

“Wild guess,” Rufus says. “We won’t like him when he’s angry?”

“Not in the least.” Flynn leans against the wall, eyes darting to Wyatt, then back to Rufus. He seems to be avoiding looking at Lucy if remotely possible, even when talking to her earlier. “He’ll kill us if he finds out that we’re supposed to be spying for Philip, and he’s not going to buy any pleas of having our arms twisted.”

“But he’s obviously going to notice that – sorry, Wyatt, but still – Jess is pregnant,” Rufus persists. “Aren’t they really into bloodlines and legitimacy and all that? He’s just going to accept some random Jon Snow as his heir, especially when he knows he is NOT the daddy? I mean, it’s not like they have Maury here, but it seems like an issue.”

“I don’t know,” Flynn says. “He might take it as a backup option. Or he might think that he just needs a son born to his wife and isn’t too particular about how he gets one. Emma could have already told him about it, assured him it’ll be a boy and promised he doesn’t need to end his relationship with Andrew if he doesn’t want to. If nothing else, it’s proof that Jessica could have more children, especially since Berengaria hasn’t had any. I have no idea where they’ve told him that she’s from, what she’s the princess or countess of, but I assume they’ve made it worth his while in plenty of ways. They could tell him what Philip’s going to do, treat him with modern medicine so he doesn’t die when he’s shot – anything, really.”

Wyatt grimaces. This may be an operationally necessary topic of conversation, but he still doesn’t want to hear it. “So what, Richard’s flirting with Flynn and now he’s gonna marry Jessica and steal my kid? The fuck? What gives?”

There’s a slightly too-long pause. Then Rufus raises both eyebrows. “Dude, I get why you’re upset about the latter, but… why the former, exactly?”

“I – ” Wyatt opens his mouth, keeps it that way, and then shakes his head. “Look, so, what are we doing?”

“I’ll go see if I can talk to Richard,” Flynn says. “I need to find out if Emma’s tried to approach him and what she’s said, and if there are any plans afoot to send the court to Chinon. He’s grateful to us for saving Eleanor’s life, so – ”

“You mean me, right?” Wyatt points out. “Still the one who got shot here.”

Flynn rolls his eyes. “Yes, Logan, we’re all grateful for the sacrifice. Anyway, I’ll try to leverage that. You three, don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”

With that, sounding very much like the stern school principal or exasperated father who is sick of these motherfucking Rittenhouse agents on this motherfucking field trip, Flynn whirls around and heads out. Rufus notes that he didn’t actually find any food earlier, and excuses himself as well. That leaves Wyatt and Lucy, who is still sitting on the bed next to him, though she glances away when he looks at her. The silence is not horrendously awkward, but it’s a long way from comfortable. Finally Lucy says quietly, “I’m sorry about Jessica. It just seems like that wound never gets to close, does it?”

“Guess so.” Wyatt blows out a jagged breath. “I suppose it makes sense as a plot for Emma. And Jess – I don’t know what she thinks about this. I was a shitty husband to her in any reality, so no wonder Rittenhouse feels like home. That they’ve given her what I couldn’t and didn’t, even though I wanted to. I don’t know if we’re ever going to be together again, but I just wish…” He trails off. “A son. I’m having a son. I used to think about that, what that would be like. Playing catch with him, having buddy fishing weekends, going to his parent-teacher conferences, teaching him about cars, all the stuff I was going to do and not screw up like my old man. I don’t even know if I could manage that now. It’s like half of me thinks it might be better for him if he grows up here and gets to be some medieval king, rather than have me as a dad. How fucked up is that?”

Lucy bites her lip, then looks at him full-on for the first time. “I don’t think so,” she says. “I don’t think that would be better. Not just because of messing up history, but because you deserve the chance to know your son, and I’m going to help you fight for it. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Jessica, but if she’s still what you want – ”

“I don’t know.” Wyatt stares at the ceiling. So long so determined to get his wife back by hook or by crook, convinced it would fix all his problems, and it’s only made everything worse. “I – meant what I said to you, Lucy. It’s just… it occurs to me it wasn’t a good time to say it, and it wasn’t what you needed to hear right then, and maybe I’ve screwed up things too far to ever really be fixed. So if you want to say something to me about that now, I’m listening.” He waves a hand and grunts in pain. “Can’t exactly get away.”

“Yeah.” Lucy lets out a breath of her own. “I don’t know either. You – you did hurt me. I can’t say I want to rush back into anything. Actually, I – ” She stops. “Never mind.”

“No,” Wyatt says. “Come on. I want us to be friends again, I want us to start talking to each other about things. I swear, you can tell me.”

Lucy looks at him as if she’s not really sure that she can, and the simple, painful realization that the trust between them has been broken, that he can ask but he has to be all right with it if she doesn’t answer, twists in Wyatt’s gut in a different way than the blacksmith’s pincers. He can’t push, that’s counterproductive, but he tries to think of a way to keep the conversation going, rather than cut it off full stop. “Okay, can you maybe tell me the reason why not?”

“You don’t – ” Lucy looks down at her fingers twisted in her lap. “You don’t take it well.”

Wyatt supposes that this doesn’t really narrow it down, alas, as he hasn’t exactly handled anything well in the recent past. However, he has an inkling what it might be, and while they’re being honest, maybe they should give it a try. “Is it about Flynn?”

Lucy tenses, shifting away from him, as if in clear preparation to be yelled at. Then she says, purposefully casual, “Yes, it’s about Flynn.”

“Okay.” Wyatt thinks that literally any way he’s ever reacted to this topic in the past, it’s probably wrong, and he should try something else. “I’m – look, him and me have had our thing, and it’s been what it is, but he’s saved my life twice now. I guess I can see why you trust him, and he’s been a big help. He still likes kicking my ass a lot, though.”

“That’s just how he is.” A small, fond, private smile turns up Lucy’s mouth, clearly summoned just by the thought of the team’s large garbage fourth party, and Wyatt struggles not to let it sting. “I just – I like him, Wyatt. I like him, and I want him around, and he’s proven himself as much as you or me or Rufus or Jiya or any of us. So if it’s just about you not trusting him, I think that’s settled. More than settled.”

“I do trust him.” It’s not easy, but Wyatt decides it probably should be said. “I don’t like him, but I trust him.” He doesn’t want to go so far as apologizing for being a dick to Flynn, since he feels like Flynn invites and eagerly reciprocates at least seventy-five percent of it, but he looks up at Lucy. “I promise, I’ll try to quit sniping at him as much. But if he starts it – ”

“I wouldn’t tell you not to defend your honor.” Lucy rolls her eyes, but laughs a little, and it feels like one of the first genuine moments they’ve had in a while. Not even in a romantic sense, but just as two people who are familiar with each other and are stuck doing a dangerous job with a difficult coworker, who can commiserate on equal footing and try to shut out everything else for a while. “I know he’s… a handful.”

“You seem to manage him pretty well.” Wyatt wants to bite his tongue, but it slips out anyway. “I mean. Never have any trouble getting him to listen to you.”

Lucy’s cheeks go rather pink, and she looks down at her hands again, that same shy smile paying a return visit to her lips. “That’s different.”

Yes, Wyatt supposes, it is. He glances up at her with a crooked smile, doing his best to play the role of a friend elbowing another friend about a crush, an aw-come-on-you-like-him sort of thing. He doesn’t have the heart to commit to it, but at least he can put up the appearance. Fake it ‘til you make it, and because Lucy deserves something else from him on this topic apart from condescension and critique and shame. Finally he says, “You think Rufus is going to come back with breakfast? I could maybe eat something.”

“Hopefully.” Lucy gets off the bed and goes to peer out the window. “Well, nothing’s on fire yet, so maybe Flynn and Emma haven’t come face to face.”

“Always a good thing,” Wyatt cracks weakly. His side is starting to really hurt again, and his flash of appetite is deserting him as fast as it’s come. He feels nauseous, and puts his head back down on the pillow. Well then. He fondly fancies that maybe he didn’t completely blow that conversation. Where it’s going to go, or how, or why, he’s given up speculating. Not dying is top of his priority list right now. The rest of it can wait.

(He is also thinking about when Flynn is going to get back, and whether he’s run into Emma or any of the new Rittenhouse gang, and what he’s said to Richard, and any of it. But that also feels like something that he would definitely prefer to delay.)

It takes Flynn a while, especially when his head is still going in wild vortexes and he needs to struggle an alarming amount to maintain the keen and razor-focused competence that he is generally known for, to track down Richard. He eventually finds the king just getting up (it’s midmorning, so Richard was definitely not springing out of bed with the lark to attend Mass at six AM) and not terribly interested in being bothered with business first thing. He is also clearly annoyed with Flynn’s lack of proper deference. “What exactly are you doing here, Garcia? Is it the custom in Spain to burst in on the royal presence unannounced?”

“Sorry, Your Grace.” Flynn inclines his head, hoping that Andrew de Chauvigny will not choose this moment to make his entrance and be even less enthused to find him in Richard’s private chambers at a still-unsociably-early hour. “How is your mother?”

“My mother is quite well, and if you really were interested in enquiring after her health, you would have burdened yourself elsewhere.” Richard whirls on his heel, pouring a cup of morning wine from the decanter. His hair is tumbled in his eyes, he’s only wearing a dressing gown and loose braies, and despite his protestations, he doesn’t seem entirely averse to Flynn glimpsing him in this less-than-regal state of dishabille. He sits on the unmade bed, stretching his long legs, and enjoys a few sips, with the kingly prerogative to make Flynn stand there and wait until he’s ready to continue the conversation. Then he says, “Your serving man isn’t dead either, I take it?”

“No, he made it through the night. Not very comfortably, but he’s alive.” Flynn hesitates. He doesn’t suspect that Richard is at all concerned about the well-being of servants in the ordinary course of things, and tries to think how to gently nudge the conversation from here. He knows that it’s only Richard’s – well, whatever notice he’s taken of him, of whatever sort, that is the reason he’s still here, and the king has not called his guards to remove this unwashed interloper until later. Much later, possibly. “Last night, what my wife told you and the queen about the assassins’ guild, Rittenhouse. Their leader, the woman called Emma – I don’t know if she’s approached you. But if she – ”

Richard gazes back at him inscrutably, until Flynn realizes that if Emma has, she may also have warned him that people might be asking about it, and to keep it appropriately on the DL until he has come to a decision. Probably with plenty of flattery. Richard is not the kind of man who appreciates criticism, constructive or otherwise, and if Flynn pushes him too hard into thinking he’s made a mistake entertaining Emma’s overtures, he might double down on them, just because. Still, Flynn feels the need to emphasize it. “Emma’s men are the ones who organized the attempt on your mother’s life. She wants you to marry again for reasons of her own, and you – you can’t trust her.”

“Even if any of that was true.” Richard finishes off the wine and puts the goblet back on the sideboard, then stands up. “Do you have any shred of proof?”

This was always going to be tricky. “No.”

“So how would you know that?” Richard stares at Flynn with a narrow, shrewd expression that makes it clear that no matter if Flynn has caught his eye or not, he is not going to be swayed into overlooking any other suspicions he has about them. “My mother said to me last night that she doesn’t believe you’re really from Spain, and I must say, I’m starting to agree with her. You don’t speak French like anyone I’ve ever met, for a start, and that weapon – ” He points to the Rittenhouse assassin’s Glock, which is lying on his desk, looking jarringly out of place among the charters covered in gothic script, waxen seals, daggers, quills, inkhorns, melted candles, and rolls of parchment. “I took it apart and looked at it, and I see no receptacle for Greek fire, which was how you said it operated. It’s much more advanced than the crossbow, and I can damn well promise that I would remember if the Saracens had been shooting at us with this thing while I was in the Holy Land. Where did you get it from? Who sent you?”

Flynn fights the urge to take a step back. To say the least, it’s the rare man that can intimidate him, physically or verbally, and that’s not even quite what’s going on here. But the Angevins of Richard’s paternal line are colorfully rumoured to be descended from the Devil’s daughter Melusine, for reasons of their hair and tempers, which are equally blazing. Richard’s father Henry used this legend to great effect, and Richard himself is extremely fond of it, telling the story to anyone who ever doubts his ability to cosmically fuck them up. But so far as Flynn remembers, there always came a moment when, faced with an angry Plantagenet, everyone started being pretty sure that it was not just a tall tale. As well, this is only an irritated Richard, not an angry one. Flynn himself was warning everyone about that. He needs to be very careful.

“Your Grace,” Flynn starts at last. “That is… a long story.”

Richard stares at him cuttingly, deeply unimpressed by this non-answer. “Yes, Garcia. I gathered that. Or are you several poxy halfwits cunningly disguised as a man?”

Well, Flynn supposes, that was feeble enough for him to deserve that. It occurs to him, ludicrously, to actually give the time-travel thing a try. He’s hardly been the most close-mouthed about that fact in the past, and witchcraft panics (and the attendant stake-burning, though that’s also a massively overstated stereotype) are an early modern phenomenon, not a medieval one. Heretics don’t even get the burning treatment until after 1400, in the run-up to the Reformation. Richard is religious, as everyone is in some way or form, and he is a crusader who believes deeply that the Christians are entitled to reclaim Jerusalem, but he formed real friendships with his Muslim counterparts and has made laws to protect his Jewish subjects, as well as repeatedly objecting to the crusade’s religious philosophy when it clashed with his thoroughgoingly pragmatic view of things. In other words, religious bigotry or baseless zealotry is not really in his nature; he is interested in how things work on a tactical and strategic level, and doesn’t have time for irrationality or hysteria or incompetence. Flynn says, “I don’t think you’d believe me, Your Grace.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Richard raises both eyebrows. “Your Saracen friend, Prince Ali, the one you said was an acquaintance of Saif al-Din. Where is Agrabah, exactly? It was never mentioned in any of my negotiations with the sultan’s brother or his advisors.”

Flynn winces. As he also seems to recall warning the others, Richard is much too smart to be easily manipulated, and their cover stories have been flimsy at best. Oh, what the hell. “We’re… travelers, Your Grace. From… well.” For once, he actually doesn’t want to be the one to do this, but needs must. “From the future.”

There is a long and very hideous pause. Then Richard bursts out laughing. “Travelers from the future? So you’re lunatics, you mean? Or are you from a traveling fair, one of those charlatans who promise to tell fortunes for a silver penny and get burning bushes to speak with the voices of saints and angels? You remind me of that venerable padre back in Messina, Joachim of Fiore. He was very keen to prophesy that my crusade would be a great success and usher in the fiery advent of the Last Days and the judgment of the faithful, along with various other dramatic mumbling that I misremember. To say the least, he was wrong, but it did earn his abbey a generous reward. Is that what you want? Money?”

“We don’t want money, my lord.” Flynn supposes this is a reasonable interpretation for Richard to take, but it’s also not helping them very much. “I don’t expect you to believe me, but it is the truth.”

Richard snorts. “You struck me as a sensible man, Garcia. Even if you were traipsing about with a woman, a Saracen, and a blockhead. Why disappoint me in such a fashion now?”

“I…” Flynn tries to think of something he could say to convince Richard, while wondering if he actually wants to do that, and if revealing any information at all could in fact get them (once again, as warned) into more trouble. “It’s just – it’s important that you don’t remarry, and especially not to the woman that Rittenhouse has chosen for you. That’s all.”

Richard regards him inscrutably. “My wife has not given me a son. That being the case – ”

“And have you tried very hard for her to do that, my lord?” Flynn is starting to push it here, but he’s in too far to turn back now. “I’ve heard certain… rumors of your conduct, both now and in the past. If you remain estranged from Queen Berengaria, surely that gives them cause to proliferate? Surely if you were to recall her to your side and – ”

Richard’s nostrils flare. In the original timeline, he was shamed into reconciling with Berengaria after a serious illness led him to reflect on his sinful conduct and hastily abjure it for the good of his soul, but unless they poison him (which, to say the least, is a terrible idea), it’s less clear if he has the same incentive now. In a very dangerous voice, he says, “What exactly are you accusing me of, Garcia? I suggest you choose your words most carefully.”

“I…” Obviously, as a modern man who has a certain perspective on this, and who has batted for the same team a few times himself, Flynn’s natural instinct is to tell Richard that there’s nothing wrong with him, and the church should shut up about the thrall of guilt and terror it exerts on him and others like him. Wants to say that he knows Richard and Andrew love each other and should be allowed to stay together. But while Richard is relatively open about his preferences, or at least habitually returns to them after brief episodes of public repentance, that does not translate into unconditionally accepting them. He views sodomy as a venial sin like any other, to which he seems unfortunately prone, and certainly not as an orientation or a legitimate way of life. Even if Flynn gets out his inner pride flag and tells Richard that in the words of one Stefani Germanotta, he was born this way, that will go directly against everything Richard has heard all his life, that he has taken to heart and believes about himself, and it’s not clear that he would appreciate it. Flynn isn’t going to call him a dirty gay, obviously, but how the hell does he do this?

When Flynn doesn’t answer, Richard seems more or less satisfied that he’s won the argument, but continues to stare at him in a way that makes it clear the subject has not been dropped. Then Richard says, “You’ve amused me thus far, Garcia, and as I said, I’m grateful for what your man did for my mother. But I get enough damned sermonizing from churchmen, and I am not certain that I require your advice going forward. Nor do I recall asking for it in the first place, or why you thought you had any right to offer it. If you wish to collect your wife, the Saracen, and your servant, then I think it best that you remove yourself from my court and get on amusing others with your fables.”

Oh dear. Flynn can sense this about to go badly. “My man is hurt, Your Grace. He can’t stand a long ride, and we need – ”

“I don’t recall that’s my fucking problem.” Richard’s eyes have turned to blue-grey slits. He gets up sharply and turns away, pulling off the dressing gown and shrugging on a red velvet tunic, the sleeves decorated with lions in golden embroidery. He ties his braies and slides his feet into his boots, then turns around. Richard the man is gone, and it’s the Lionheart, the king and feared warrior, who’s staring dead at Flynn and looking like it’s entirely likely he’ll go for his throat. “Was any part of that statement unclear?”

Flynn opens his mouth, even though he knows the best course of action is to duck for cover and run like hell. “Your Grace – ”

Just then, he’s almost abjectly grateful to be interrupted by a knock at the door, even if only because this might give Richard’s hurricane a chance to blow onto someone else apart from him. Then Andrew de Chauvigny’s voice calls, “My lord?”

Wait, no. Never mind. Flynn is pretty sure he doesn’t want to be caught like this. But it’s too late, as Richard strides past him and jerks the door open. “God’s balls, Andrew, what the bleeding Jesus is so important that you have to – ”

Flynn turns around just in time to see that it is very bad. In fact, actually worse. Because yes, Andrew is standing there, and standing right behind him –

“Good morning, Your Grace,” Emma Whitmore says, in flawless Old French. “I was hoping you had a moment to talk.”

#timeless #timeless ff #garcy #garcy ff #flogan #garcyatt #the time team #the dragons on the map

23 notes · View notes

happyhollow-mellowmarsh · 2 years

Text

Samsara Cycle || Monty || Trial 5.1 || Re: Nico, Natalie, Fran, Star

While he was really hoping that Zoomy could've joined them in the trial room, her disappearance courtesy of Hex didn't come as a shock to Monty. Very unwelcome, obviously, but not unexpected, because Hex was just like that. The promise he made to Izumi circles around in the back of his mind as the game developer waves to Mallory on his way to his table, holding onto Tetley with one hand and what's left of a vanilla milkshake with the other.

A pause. He studies his deskmate, takes into account the fact that he can visibly see the man's hands shaking with what he supposes is either agony or unadulterated rage, and immediately gets up. Considering the scope of what Monty is planning to cover during this trial... perhaps it was for the best he wasn't immediately next to Fran. Maybe he'd come back later.

"Small error, Nico. Aisling also murdered me in the first cycle, shortly before the reset." He points out succinctly, neither accusatory nor upset. If yesterday evening's Monty was overly affectionate, then this is the calmest you've ever seen the jerk, yet another abrupt shift in his emotional state as a result of his newest element. It might have been a lot more reassuring if it was anyone but Monty, but you had to take what you could get. "I disagree with your theory though: based on the notes they've written about us in the tenth dorm, and this notebook, they can remember enough about each individual timeline to scribble down the multitude of ways we have died in resets." He flashes the notebook from the outhouse. "I think it more likely that there are timelines in which Wolfgang revealed or had his name revealed, and timelines where it didn't happen, explaining the inconsistencies."

Finally settling down on where Mao once sat, positioning himself close to both the Natalie-Haven duo and Mallory, Monty continues listening while glancing at the latter every so often to gauge her reaction to learning these things. It's after when Star is finished, and there's a lull in the discussion, that he clears his throat. "We've established on different occasions before tonight that our fair-weather friend has a vested interest, almost certainly amounting to a personal stake, in both the apprentices from the first game that Trick held two years ago and us right now. The third of Hex's workshop notes reveals they requested the opportunity to personally scout us as participants while he handled the technological and magical ends. We'll get back to the former soon enough, but with the latter, Hex eventually created the generator in the morgue downstairs to siphon magic energy from all eighteen of us."

He pauses. "Here's the catch. While Star is right that Hex had originally constructed this experiment to change Mallory's past, I suspect he no longer desires that outcome. Or if he does, it's likely he's been talked out of it." Monty shoots Mallory a meaningful look. "It's also why Hex is so keen to end this cycle and trial by uncovering our friend's identity: while he doesn't need the time machine anymore, his associate very much does, and I imagine they'd want to use it and alter the past by a factor of two years. Well, two years and a couple of weeks - while Hex's nexus point was the day Mallory fell ill, I postulate that theirs was instead the start of Trick's apprenticeship and the first mutual killing game. It's the most likely event that lines up with everything else we've gleaned so far, but I'll take a check on any other ideas."

Monty shrugs. "I won't lie, I already have someone in mind, but there's still things we should establish before we begin the endgame. For example, what happened in the last cycle to give rise to the events of this one."

#monty #trial5 #submission

0 notes

kierongillen · 7 years

Text

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine #29

Spoilers, obv.

Weird issue this, for me.

We've been away for a few months, so this is the reintroduction. As I've said, the second half of Imperial Phase is more constricted in time than the first, so we've got to set all that up. And in terms of my “stuff to do” list, I obviously had a bunch. I also had a structure, which was putting the focus on Persephone and take her through her day (akin to 24). It's about that hangover, juxtaposing the realisation of Sakhmet's actions and the feeling of being sapped and wrecked and regretful.

(I'm writing this with a hangover, oddly, though it's the “last night was amazing!” sort of hangover, so not exactly right.)

Anyway – I have the story goals and the structural means and all that, and basically hit them. But I also didn't do something more than that, despite having plans for a Big Swing issue. I simply choked. I hit the point and just didn't want to write what I had planned. Not even “didn't want to”. Maybe “wasn't capable of putting myself through it.”

As such, even though the issue has gone down well – better than I would have thought – it nags at me. I suspect it was best for me not to do it, and may even show character growth on my part in choosing not to, but it's still mildly annoying. I suspect it'll be my least favourite issue of the arc... but that may have been true anyway. I am particularly fond of the rest of this arc.

Anyway – that ennui and reluctance fed into what the script ended up being: “I'm tired and I don't want to do this any more but what other choice is there?” is very much the mood and the point.

(Why has this gone down well? The character focus, I suspect. We've got 10 main characters, and all of them bar Baph (and arguably Woden) get meaningful scenes.)

Okay – remember back in issue 27 on Phased I talked about how I solved trying to fit all the information in by realising one sub-plot could be excised and then pushed later? That was the Sakhmet/Persephone relationship stuff from this issue and the rest of the arc. We obviously had some of it in 27, but it was the absolute minimum necessary for 28 to make sense and to establish their interactions. I realised the rest would be just as effective if it's stuff Persephone remembers, in terms of the ghosts of their past together. It integrated well with the themes of Waking Up The Night After And Thinking Back.

Jamie's Cover

Was mildly annoying that this was released online just before the last issue dropped, as the blood coated coat is something of a spoiler. But you end up shrugging, because “Sakhmet covered in blood” is very much her look anyway.

Jamie covered this one, due to Matt being away on well deserved holiday.

The breaking of the portrait is the theme for the second half of Imperial Phase, as those who've seen the future covers will know.

Jock's Cover

Very happy to get Jock doing a cover – one of the definitive cover artists of the 21st century, and one of the nicest people in comics. If I ever made a faustian deal, it was made on the floor of Jock's hotel room in Dublin, waking up and picking fluff off my tongue and thinking “you need to earn some money at some point, Kieron.” Jock had let Jamie and me crash on his floor, like the kind and lovely fella he is.

Anyway! Morrigan, in full fashion-sepulcharal. Obviously look at how Jock uses space here, and plays with the logo. That sort of awareness of the specifics of any individual cover is one of the reasons why he is what he is. Lovely stuff.

The 25 Issues In Future Cover

For Image's theme months, we normally say yes or no depending on whether it strikes us as a worthwhile idea in terms of the book – which normally means “do we have a good idea instantly.” In this case, Eric went “A hypothetical cover for your book 25 issues in the future.” Everyone on the team went “Well, by that point the book is over so...”

Original idea was a graveyard, but realised that a monument would be the way to go. It's based on one in Glasgow, which Jamie pointed out as we went past it.

One day I'll get the HUMANITY statue in London into the book, but not yet.

IFC

Deciding what information gets added to these is always an interesting challenge. What matters? What doesn't?

Page 1-2

We're back, and first panel is the Laura narration we haven't seen since issue 11. I miss that girl.

Jamie does this whole sequence so well. Matt too, in terms of mood. I'm always interested in the question Jamie asks me – in this case it was “why the hell is she living in a crappy room in the underworld? She's rich.” And then I have to justify it, which is nice, because it reminds me that my choices actually do have the justifications built in. I suspect I believe I used Bojack Horseman and Sid Vicious in crappy hotel as my references.

Yes, the Lucifer fangirl is cruel and unusual. That Persephone left the party saying she wanted to be alone and wasn't in the mood, and between then and now she's picked up someone else, and someone who reminds her of her old friend says a lot about her. Same as later, when she goes clubbing rather than go home.

Really interesting colour choices in the second panel of the second page by matt – that beige-y red of the cigarette light. And then look at the cold blue/white light when the phone clicks in.

I think a lot about how we hear about news, both personal and world news. Occasionally it's in person, but I think of refreshing the Warren Ellis Forum and then the top post being “Plane flies into World Trade Center” with one unread message or anything else. Just a line of text that is going to change everything. We do a lot of stuff like that – I find myself thinking of the climax of The Immaterial Girl.

Page 3

I believe I was thinking of Bananarama's Love In The First Degree. Bananarama were my original text pop band. Huge chunks of what I love in Pop Music can be traced back to Bananarama.

Page 4-5

Earliest scene in the current recurrence, I believe... at least in terms of showing gods.

This is in part to make sure the timeline was clear. As Baal's Death Day was revealed, we know when he must have appeared... which was before 2013 Ragnarock which still clearly believed the gods not have returned yet. If this is Baal's first gig, then we know he spent a couple of weeks not doing performances.

The question of when Sakhmet came is open. I suspect I'm never going to actually say it in the script, but I can see Sakhmet's appearance basically prompting Baal into doing his first gig just to make sure he gets to be first. Those would be fun conversations. I could talk about our choices in terms of when we started our story, but there's certainly another version of WicDiv which did everything in straight chronological. If I was writing it for (say) television, I suspect I'd take that route.

(The short version is that in a monthly comic “Gods reincarnating as pop stars” isn't a big enough hook. That's a theme and setting. I needed the specific big plot, which was the Did Lucifer Do It?)

Anyway – party in a Warehouse, but look at what Matt does with the colours here, which are brutal. In an issue with so little joy, this level of pop just shows what the book isn't now.

Page 6

I'm always interested in Jamie's choices for the gods when they're not on stage. Amaterasu's clearly herself, but not quite as loud.

Eight panel grid, which is my standard choice. I suspect I could have pushed either of these half scenes to longer scenes, but I have bigger fish to fry.

Jamie does great stuff here with the body language – being questioned by the police about your girlfriend murdering a bunch of folk when you're hungover can't be much fun, and panel 2 really shows it. And then there's panel 4 – Persephone holding herself as she trudges away. The contrast between that and the detective's words is a lovely bit of irony by Jamie – she really doesn't look like someone who could.

Matt's colouring in the fifth panel is just startlingly wonderful. Just look at that.

Chrissy's ongoing biggest regret is that we did PERSY instead of PERSEY when we first did Amaterasu's nickname for Persephone.

Page 7-9

The formalist in me is a little annoyed that I break the purity of “follow around Persephone on her hangover day” and have a scene which starts before her.

Jamie and Matt always realign their work between arcs, and Jamie is trying some slightly different approaches to the page. I mention, as for me, this scene is where it's most obvious in terms of “something is a little different to usual.”

Return to the I Can't Believe It's Not The Danger Room, introduced in issue 17. Also, Minerva and Baal in Valhalla, which says how seriously they're taking it – neither live there any more.

I smile at the hot pink in panel 4 on page 8. Hot pink! Hot Pink!

The last panel of page 8 took some tweaking – originally Amaterasu didn't have a line, which made it easy to overlook their entrance, which made Persephone appear to come out of nowhere in the next panel. Adding a line to her solves that problem, but does undercut the beat of Baal/Minerva – Baal had a line which we lost, which meant the reader's eye would treat the panel as two moments. The celebration of the two – a gap on the page – and then Amaterasu coming in on the right.

I think Marlboro Shite has been in my notes since issue 4 or 5. Everything eventually finds a home.

(It's so old I was worried I'd used it before somewhere. Baal repeating himself would be terrible.)

Writing that has also reminded me that I had a stress dream last night about a continuity error in Uber where someone pointed out we'd changed names of one character mid-through the story. My subconscious is totally crap.

Page 10-11

I don't use that sort of caption-dialogue transition a lot in WicDiv, even though it's a classic story writer trope. In terms of modern writers, I always connect it to Rick Remender. It's one of his main bridging devices.

More about the gig next issue, but it was important to set up a bunch of stuff here. It's been talked about, but not in this level of specific. Clearly it's going to be a big part of the plot. It's been a while since we've done a big performance scene, after all. Imperial Phase is all about getting to your Knebworth, after all.

God, Cass is almost translucent here. She works too hard.

I really like Persephone's necklace in this page. Just noticed it.

Page 12-15

Highbury & Islington, as seen in issue 5 and returned repeatedly to since then.

I'm still not bored of how we flipped Young Avenger's White Backgrounds As Aesthetic Device when dealing with the Underground. Which probably says everything about the two books.

Obvious setting up key stuff for the Underground we'll need later in the issue on page 12 – namely that we can find to places you've been before, but it is infinite down here.

I believe ”Crap Narnia” was a last minute tweak of the script, but it does please me. The Norns are not have it with these tropes.

Panel 3 on page 13: Awwwwkward.

I have no idea how Jamie keeps on doing these outfits. He's an amazing talent. I should do a comic with him.

The specific choice of “At least 3G” makes me smile, as if Cass is working out what signal is reasonable to get in a magical underworld. “Yeah, maybe you'll lose 4G, but 3G should be good” she thinks to herself.

Yes, nothing at all comfortable in any of this.

It's always interesting to me how Cassandra is as vulnerable as she clearly is. You choose the right places to hit her, and she'll be derailed. Some characters clearly understand that, and others don't.

The last panel is the point where people who read the solicits are thinking “wait – when Kieron said “Wherein Dionysus sits in the darkness for most of an issue, but in an awesome way. Honestly, you'll love it. Also: other stuff.” was he being literal?”

Last panel is great. Full bleed gets the sense of the endlessness of the dark, and Dionysus sitting there, facing it. Art against the void. Our comic in a panel.

Page 16-17

There's more interaction with the public in this issue for a while, but the crowd stuff is where we're trying to show the responses more. Some people are petrified. Some people are still trying to snap her. Some are both.

Yet more fine gods-casual-clubbing looks.

The club they're leaving would be the Buffalo Bar, as seen in issue 18 of WicDiv (since repaired in WicDiv). They're stairs leading down on the right. Also showed up in Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl.

Interesting flashback colour choices here from Matt. Teal and turquoise? Colourists are amazing.

The Bridge Reconstruction sign is 100% period Highbury & Islington sign. We moved dialogue over it to try and signal “I know this looks important, but it's not.”

Deciding which exact euphemism for sex Cassandra should use on 17.1 was some degree of thought. Originally I'd written “Fucking” but that jarred with Persephone's own Fuck. “Banging” was the most comic option – it just speaks to the lack of respect Cass has for Pers/Baph's act.

“I've never said that out loud before” echoes with Young Avengers, of course.

I wanted the hard – mid sentence to set up for a hard-cut to the club. I'm a fan of hard-cut jokes, but doing it as an anti-joke was kind of the point. Let's go home, as I need to OH NO I AM IN A CLUB AND HAVING A SHIT TIME.

Page 18-19

I look at the first page, and smile, in purely a “I love comics” way. When I talk about “Wanting to write comics” versus “wanting to write stories that get turned into comics” way, it's stuff like this I'm thinking of. If I didn't write full script, it wouldn't work like this. Well... not as easily. It's calling for specific effects that Jamie and Matt completely get. Matt bleeding the red in is pretty astounding – that third panel especially. The second one you can think it's just the club lights, but the third is saturating the image, and then it just takes over. And that expression on panel 5. Yay, jamie. Comics!

Thinking this was a pro-pantheon fan club, so the response is different than on the streets. These people are shook up. They mean well. But... yes.

Obvious call back to Baphomet's dialogue way back in issue 7.

I believe the last panel description was “Hmm. I do like coke?”

Page 20

A general sentiment, but dancing with Taylor Swift's Blank Space.

21-22

And we return to where we started.

How good was the coke? Will we ever find out? Stay tuned to The Wicked + The Divine, kids!

(Not the first time Coke has been explicitly referenced in Imperial Phase. It was implied in episode 24, and Woden's memorable nose-piece in 28. Imperial Phase, proggy double albums and all that shit is just connected with that particular drug for terrible people. Year 4 will be less coke-y, hopefully)

And Ruth's surname revealed.

It's odd – when writing this I'd completely forgotten the obvious fact that Persephone is disobeying the television's instructions. I am useless.

That this is the second time that data access in the underworld has been referenced in this issue makes me wonder whether my own router problems were working their way into the comic. All work is autobiographical, but not usually that crappily.

(Don't worry. It's solved now.)

Great Jamie expression on the final panel, of course. The colouring of the section was one of the most debated bits of the book, and I like where we ended.

Page 23

I suspect I've got some pun interstitials which are worse than this ahead, but not many. That would be impossible.

Anyway – back next month for top sitting in the dark adventures.

Thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #the wicked and the divine #Writer Notes

124 notes · View notes

moriavis · 7 years

Text

List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, whatever.

Tagged by @elrhiarhodan. I saw that I was tagged and couldn’t stop laughing. I have so many wips. SO MANY. I’m putting this under a read more because It’s so damn long.

Tagging: whoever wants to play. I have no idea who has wips these days. D:

*stretches* *cracks knuckles*

Okay, let’s get down to business.

Works in Progress

1. Coldflash Winter Exchange 2017 fic. Fandom: The Flash.

No details on this. Top secret. Going to be much longer than I hoped, I’m sure.

2. Bodyswap AU - Fandom: The Flash. I started writing this for the Bodyswap prompt of Coldflash Week A 2017. This is the story where Barry and Len switch bodies because of a meta, learn to deal with each other’s shortcomings, and fall in love while arguing about who is keeping Barry’s body because neither of them want to wake up with a back ache in the morning. It has one of my favorite lines in it, and I think it’s going to end up a little lighter than most of my stories? Len is definitely more playful than my usual way of writing him.

Word Count: 1,200. It’ll probably end up in the 15k-20k range, because I’ve forgotten what it is to write something short.

3. Squeaky Bed Porn - Fandom: The Flash. I started writing this because I wanted to write a silly sex scene that wasn’t hampered by canon. Len crawls through Barry’s bedroom window after a rough mission with the Legends. Barry wants to get intimate, and Len doesn’t want Joe West to shoot him. This was the story I was writing when I realized I’m bad at writing porn. D:

Word Count: 1,500 words. Would probably be around 3k if I just re-read it and finished the porn. There’s literally no plot. Still not likely to finish it, tbh.

4. Farther Than Everything - Fandom: The Flash. This was going to be my Coldflash big bang before I was overwhelmed with work and depression and stopped writing for a couple of months entirely. Barry sacrificed himself in the Crisis and has been in the Speed Force. When he finally breaks out, he discovers the sun is gone and the world is broken into tribes ruled by villains -- Central, of course, belongs to Captain Cold. This one came out of a dream like, three years ago? It was right after the fever dream of writing BuotI, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. I think I’m closer now.

Word Count: 400. It’s literally the first hint of the first scene. This’ll be another long one.

5. Untitled Porn - Fandom: The Flash. Does anyone remember A Cold Encounter? And how, last November, I promised there would be a second chapter of porn? THIS IS IT. Barry returns Len’s clothes and decides to give their thing a try. I have been writing on this for a year, feeling intensely guilty for every day that passed without adding more to it. The first draft is done, so this one is ready for editing and will be posted soon! Yay!

Word Count: 8,100. It’s literally talking and sex. My god, why is it so long?

6. Untitled Hannukah Fic - Fandom: The Flash. This is the next story in my holiday series. I meant to write this for last Hannukah, but, uh. Obviously that didn’t pan out. Barry is having problems hiding their relationship from Joe, so Len takes things into his own hands.I only have one or two more in this series planned? But this one has been giving me the runaround.

Word Count: 400. But I know where it’s going, so that’s something, right? I’m going to circle Hannukah on my calendar this year and get it done by then.

7. i dreamed of snow (I call that loving you) - Fandom: The Flash. Remember that AU I wrote where Barry has two soulmates? Coldwestallen. The story in which Iris struggles to accept the bond Barry has with Len, Len wonders why Barry couldn’t just let him die, and Barry feels like he can’t give either of the people he loves anything they need. TBH, I wasn’t going to write any more for this au? But Barry clung in the back of my head, and whenever I’m not focused on something specific, it’s there.

Word Count: 160. Definitely at the beginning, and who knows how long it’s going to be? Not me!

8. Resonance - Fandom: The Flash. Ah, this story. This is my soulmate AU love letter to coldflash. I haven’t updated it since, jeez. April? But that doesn’t mean I’m not working on it. Leonard Snart meets Barry Allen when he’s 23 and Barry is five. It changes the course of his life. I don’t even know what to say about it, other than I have everything up to season 1 outlined? It’s going to involve a slightly different Legends crew, a different origin to the names Heatwave and Captain Cold, a very different STAR Labs, an angry Eobard Thawne and a Barry who is intensely in love with Len, which is terrible because Len is absolutely oblivious. So, yes. I... may also have elements I want to introduce in season 2? AM I GOING TO REWRITE THE ENTIRE SHOW? I HAVE NO IDEA. Anyway, I’m working on Chapter 6 right now (that’s going to be at least 10k, guys, since everyone’s been waiting so long.)

Word Count: 22k. We haven’t even begun. *_____*

9. Trade All My Tomorrows - The Flash. I started writing this story sometime when S3 of the flash was airing, but it was based off a prompt that joyouslee left me, about what happened to the rogues after flashpoint. The idea behind this one is that Len regains his memories from Doctor Alchemy, so that he remembers the original timeline, where he died -- the Flashpoint timeline, where he was Citizen Cold and Lisa was murdered by the Rogues -- and the current timeline, in which he has never had a sister and has lived his life trying to escape the reach of his father. And he’s willing to do anything to get his sister back. This story will eventually include the Legion of Doom, the Legends, and a fuckton of time travel, as soon as I can get my butt in gear.

Word Count: 6,700. No idea what the ending word count is going to be, for real.

I do have a slew of others that I have in a list and that I don’t have an active word count on yet: The Silent Hill AU (where Barry deals with some serious guilt) the Conjuring AU (where the West family is suffering under a haunting and get help from Lisa, who’s psychic, and Len, who protects her when she gets in over her head), several different tumblr prompts, including the newest one, which would be a new story for the JLA verse. There’s the No Powers story where Barry and Iris are reporters together and Len is a cop with a secret. SO MANY. SO LITTLE TIME. *cries into my hands*

#meme #coldflash #so many coldflash wips #omg #crying

2 notes · View notes

rcttenego · 5 years

Text

◤ ∴ BRADLEY TASK 001 - interrogation.

Hello, Mr. Bradley Evans. My name is Detective Booth and I’m handling this case. I don’t need to go into details; you know why you’re here, and we already have you down as a suspect in her death. We’ve got witnesses to corroborate and a budding timeline, but we need more information from you directly. Make my day easier and cooperate with me on this, will ya’? I just need you to answer these questions for me. Do me a favor and don’t lie – you’re talking to a trained professional right now, I’ll be able to pick up on certain things whether you realize it or not. Lying will only come back to bite your ass later on. Just some food for thought. Let’s begin.

Q: I’m gonna’ start light. I hate interrogators who go straight into the hard stuff, ya’ know? I find it impolite. So, tell me a little about yourself. Give me your full name. A. [rolling his eyes] “Bradley Evans, the same name you just used to start this conversation.”

Q: Alright. Tell me your date of birth and age. A. “November the fourth, 1998. And I’m 20.”

Q: Where did you grow up? What was your home life like? Tell me about your family and your upbringing. Give me your story. A. [Brad shifts uncomfortably at the question]. ‘Well, I grew up in Italy. Most of my childhood was there. It was all right, I suppose. Can’t complain. I was well cared for, had the best schooling, and we had everything we need, really. “ [Brad shrugged] Q: Tell me about the most impactful people in your life. I’m not picky – they can be good or bad impacts. A. “Uhhhhhh.” [Brad shrugged, shifting where he sat. He was highly annoyed.] “What does this --- my personal life, have to do with Morgan?” Brad hated talking about himself. Q: What are your goals in life? What would be your ideal final ending? What would help you reach these goals? A. “Well, I want to be a neurosurgeon. One of the best, really. My ideal final ending? Life has a funny way of not going the way you expect. I may want things, but fate and the universe decides, not me.” Q: How would you describe yourself? A. [Brad frowned.] “Again, my personal life has --- what to do with this?” Q: What do you do in your free time? What’s your idea of fun? What sports or extracurriculars are you in at Hyland University? A. “Baseball. Or baking. Or research. That’s mostly it.” Q: Do you drink? Smoke? Take drugs of any kind? Answer carefully on this one, kid. A. [Brad scoffed at the use of the word kid.] “No. Drinking? Maybe if there’s a party or something?” Q: Tell me about the relationships in your life. Friendships, romantic, everything in between. A. “I have neither of those.” Q: What’s the best thing that has ever happened to you? What’s the worst? A. “Nothing, and ......... nothing.” Q: Let me throw in a fun one, lighten up the mood. Would you rather only be able to tell the truth or only be able to lie? A. “I’m not a dishonest person. So this question is quite moot. I’m already always telling the truth.” Q: Did you kill Morgan Parrish? A. [Brad rolled his eyes.] “Again. No I did not.” Q: Let’s get some background information on this. How do you know Morgan Parrish? A. “We have -- had a few classes together. She was always --- almost --- outwinning me. We were neck and neck, honestly. We were academic rivals. She kept me on my toes. I miss it.” Q: Explain the extent of your relationship with her. Was it platonic? Civil? Rocky? Romantic? A. “Civil and platonic.” Q: In your own words, describe Morgan Parrish to me. A. “Annoying, witty. Cute. Always in your face. Hard-headed. Annoying. Smart. And annoying.” Q: Would you say your life got better or worse upon meeting Morgan Parrish? A. [Brad shrugged.] “Didn’t really have that much of an effect to warrant either feeling.” Q: What was your favorite thing about her? A. “How smart she was. Besides being miss popular, she wasn’t also miss airhead.” Q: What was your least favorite thing about her? A. [Brad shrugged]. “Never really paid that much attention.” Q: Where were you the night of her murder? A. [Brad pouted. He was with a client.] “I was out at a night club. They were having happy hour and I thought, why the hell not?” Q: Where were you the day before? A. “At school. Where else would I be?” Q: Where were you after? A. “The day after? At home. Well, in my dorm room. I had assignments due.” Q: How did you feel about her passing? A. “It’s sad. Someone lost a daughter, a best friend, a sister ..... it’s sad, honestly. I’d never want to go through something like that.” Q: What do you think about the way she died? Just as a refresher, Morgan Parrish was drugged, strangled, beaten, and then shot. A. “It’s morbid. Killing someone in any way is fu- morbid. How else do you suppose I would feel about it?” Q: Did you make any sort of tribute to her death and put it on social m- A. “Social media? Just retweeted stuff and shared her memorial photo.”

Another interrogator walks into the room. She’s holding a folder with your picture clipped to the front. She opens it in front of Detective Booth and whispers something into his ear. He shoots you a look and then excuses himself from the room. He returns twenty minutes later, features stony. He quickly writes something down on his notepad and then caps the pen.

Q: Change of plans. I’m going to scrap the questions I had prepared and ask you what I see fit. Where were you exactly the night Morgan Parrish died? A. [Brad rolled his eyes.] “Again, I was at a nightclub.” Q: Tell me all the details you can remember from that night. A. “I decided to go to a bar, had a few drinks during happy hour. Spoke to a few people. Hired a cab home. Nothing spectacular.” Q: Were you intoxicated at any point? A. “Obviously if I was drinking, I was.” Q: Are there any witnesses able to corroborate your story? A. “Probably.” Q: I feel like you’re leaving things out. Tell me all the details you can remember from that night. [Brad laughed.] “Now, I have nothing to hide. I told you everything.” [Well, besides the fact that he was screwing a client. But that wasn’t anyone’s business. Q: … are you telling me the truth, kid? We got six other students we’re talking to today – sure would suck for you if one of ‘em was able to prove that something you’re saying is false. A. “Try me. I don’t care. Again, I have nothing to hide.” Q: What was the last thing you said to Morgan? A. “Probably something along the lines of I’m gonna kick your ass in that exam.” Q: Have you ever gotten into a physical altercation with Morgan before? A. “Do I look like a man who would put his hands on a woman?” Q: Have you ever fought verbally with Morgan? A. “Over academics, sure.” Q: Would you say you felt safe around Morgan? A. “Sure, I did. Why wouldn’t I have? She’s harmless.” Q: Do you wish you had never met Morgan? A. “Nah, she kept me on my feet. It was good for me.” Q: Do you own a gun? A. [Yes]. “No.” Q: Have you handled a gun before? A. “Yeah, I have. A few times.” Q: Do you know someone who owns a gun? A. “I know a lot of people who own guns.” Q: Have you gotten into physical fights before? A. “Nope. Not unless you want to count simple squabbles between siblings.” Q: Is there anyone who can prove where you say you were on the night of her death? A. “Didn’t you ask me this before?” Q: Do you think Morgan deserved to die? A. “No one deserves to die.” Q: Do you wish she was still alive? A. “I mean, her death and life did not 100 percent affect me. But --- saying something like that is pointless to me. People die when they’re supposed to. Wishing someone back to life is like telling the universe to fuck off.” [Brad cleared his throat]. “Sorry.” Q: Do you miss her? A. [Brad shrugged.] “Uh, not .... necessarily.” Q: Has your life gotten better or worse since her death? A. “No?” Q: If you could bring her back to life, would you? A. “No? Didn’t I just talk about this sort of thing?” Q: Are you hiding something from the people of Hyland? From your family? From me? A. “Who isn’t hiding something from the people around them?” Q: Have you been telling the truth this entire time? A. “Duh.” Q: Did you kill Morgan Parrish? A. “No. I did not.”

#hylandtask #┋ ▵ ▴△▴ ▵ ⸻ ( brad: interactions )

0 notes

joannalannister · 7 years

Note

Let's say Tyrion hadn't married Tysha, but kept her as a mistress. Do you think Tywin would have reacted differently?

This got long and went far afield from your original question, the short answer to which is a simple, “No.”

I think a lot of Tywin’s reaction toward Tyrion and Tysha’s marriage was rooted in ableism. If Jaime had married Tysha, I don’t think Jaime would have been forced to participate in Tysha’s gang rape. Tywin repeatedly punishes and humiliates Tyrion in a sexual manner throughout the books, using girls like Shae, Alayaya, and Sansa, as well as Tysha, to do so.

I think this relates to the very ableist idea that Tyrion, as a disabled man in Westeros, is (ironically) viewed as both a sexual “deviant” and a desexualized / sexless child. For example, Tywin complains that Tyrion spreads his seed “In the gutters and the ditches” while also forgetting that Tyrion has “a man’s baser needs” because he sees Tyrion as a child who stands “no taller than a boy”.

While what happened to Tyrion and Tysha was arguably the most egregious “sharp lesson” that Tywin ever “taught” Tyrion, I would say that Tyrion’s whole life has been a long series of “lessons” from Tywin. These “lessons” were meant to reinforce Tywin’s teachings that Tyrion is “the last and least” of the Lannisters, someone who was only saved from infanticide by the grace of a good family name. A name, Tywin would argue, that has been besmirched simply because Tyrion has every right to bear it proudly and flaunt the fact that he is Tywin’s trueborn son.

(istg those “Tyrion is a bastard Targ” theories miss the point of everything. istg George, if you vindicate Tywin from beyond the grave with a “See! Tyrion wasn’t my trueborn son after all, the golden genes of Tywin Lannister are perfect!” I will burn these books.)

It also ties into the idea of Tyrion as “halfman,” a name GRRM bestows on Tyrion because it is so loaded with meaning and so symbolic of Tyrion’s oppression. People in Westeros obviously name Tyrion Halfman because they think of him as half the height of a “regular” man, but it continues to reinforce Tywin’s ableist (and fascist!) beliefs that Tyrion is subhuman, that the group-identity of “Lannister” is valuable while the individual identity of “Tyrion” is worthless. “House Lannister” is the “whole,” while “Tyrion” is merely an individual “part” in the steel Lannister war machine, and a “defective” part at that. That’s what makes this line so very, very heartbreaking, because Tysha loved Tyrion The Individual, not Tyrion The Lannister*:

“I love to say your name. Tyrion Lannister. It goes with mine. Not the Lannister, t'other part. Tyrion and Tysha. Tysha and Tyrion. Tyrion. My lord Tyrion…”

The value of the individual is a theme that GRRM stresses over and over again in all of his stories, across his whole career as a writer, and it’s part of his strong anti-fascist, anti-authoritarian themes.** What is one life worth, against the fate of the whole world? GRRM’s answer is everything.

Here lies Stannis’s great tragedy in TWOW, because for all his good intentions, he does not understand this.

And this is Tywin’s tragedy as well, because he cannot see worth in Tyrion as an individual. The Lannister part is valuable to Tywin, “t’other part” is not!!

Seriously!!! Look at how Tywin associates Tyrion with the whole, as an extension of Tywin himself, when assigning Tyrion an important task at the end of AGOT, telling him “You are my son.”

Contrast this against Tywin’s final words to his son, after Tyrion shoots him with the crossbow!!! “You … you are no … no son of mine.”*** Some people believe this to be an admission of Tyrion’s secret Targ paternity, but they’re wrong. Tywin disowning Tyrion is how Tywin tries to hurt Tyrion, to deprive Tyrion of his humanity one final time, by depriving him of the Lannister name, cutting the individual off from the more “valuable” whole. If the Lannister name is what makes Tyrion human, it’s Tywin’s final act of dehumanization to revoke that name, thereby revoking Tyrion’s humanity.

But Tyrion says, “Now that’s where you’re wrong, Father. Why, I believe I’m you writ small.”

No, Father, I’m you. Just on a smaller scale.

AND THIS IS THE TRAGEDY OF TYRION’S ARC IN A DANCE WITH DRAGONS!!!

Because who is Tywin, really? He is a villainous monster who robs so many of their lives and their humanity.

By the end of ASOS, the scales have dropped from Tyrion’s eyes and he realizes that his father is a monster who had an innocent girl gang raped for loving the individual and (in Tywin’s eyes) threatening the whole of House Lannister, as a replay of what happened to Tytos and his mistress. Tywin feared this one little girl would mean House Lannister would fall back into the ~dark times~ and be seen as weak. (How strong is House Lannister, really, if Tywin feared it could be broken by one little girl?)

No, Father, you’re a monster. And I’m monster too. Just on a smaller scale.

“Give me the cup, he told the Stranger, for I shall drink deep. And if it tastes of gold and lion’s blood, so much the better. As I cannot be the hero, let me be the monster, and lesson them in fear in place of love.”

Tyrion murdered Shae, he feels tremendous guilt over Tysha, and he does horrible things in ADWD - Tyrion’s playing the monster. Tyrion is extremely depressed and suffering from PTSD in ADWD, but I would argue that Tyrion feels very deprived of his humanity in ADWD. (If you’ve ever been depressed, it’s like … “I don’t feel so human today.”)

Tywin did deprive Tyrion of his humanity at the end of ASOS, as the capstone of his efforts to deprive Tyrion of his humanity for his entire life. I see Tyrion’s narrative in the remaining books as a long and hard journey to

get out from under Tywin’s long black shadow

to escape from Tywin’s ableist and dehumanizing ways of thinking

to realize that Tyrion as an individual is valuable and so very human, something that will be made evident to him when he helps save the world

SO!! BACK TO YOUR QUESTION!! No, I do not think that Tywin would have reacted differently if Tyrion had only taken Tysha as a mistress instead of marrying her. For Tyrion’s whole life, Tywin has been trying to dehumanize Tyrion, and I do not think he would miss this opportunity. Tyrion’s forced participation in the gang rape telegraphs the message that Tyrion as an individual is worthless to Tywin, as worthless as Tysha, and the lie about Tysha being a prostitute sends the message that no one could love Tyrion as a person, which is what Tywin believes. He wants to make that explicitly clear to Tyrion, which is why Tywin made Tyrion “go last” “with no trace of love or tenderness remaining.” Tysha acting as Tyrion’s mistress might even be taken as more of a threat than what happened in the original timeline, because there is a stronger similarity between what happened between Tytos and his mistress.

Of course, if we asked Tywin, I don’t think he would say or think, “Oh goody!! This is an opportunity to dehumanize Tyrion!! YAY!!” Tywin’s ableist thinking is a lot more insidious than that. If we asked Tywin, he would think, “This is for Tyrion’s own good, and for the good of House Lannister” because he believes his own bullshit. He thinks he’s teaching Tyrion a “lesson” and ~helping~ him and hammering the “love or tenderness” out of Tyrion as if Tyrion is a piece of steel (or gold) that Tywin can forge into the masculine ideal of Westeros. (Look at Randyll Tarly, who is neither loving nor tender.)

Tywin believes that Tyrion needs to be ~put in his place~ because Tyrion’s very existence as someone who cannot (and will not! Tyrion’s choices matter!) conform and uphold fascist masculinity is a threat to House Lannister and everything the Lannisters stand for. As I’ve been saying elsewhere, Tyrion and other prominent ASOIAF protagonists are the Resistance, fighting against dehumanizing regimes. (Tyrion, more than any other protagonist imo, stumbles in his mission, but he is the Resistance.)

So, NOPE, I think the Tysha incident would be just as horrible, even if Tyrion ~committed a lesser offense~ and only took Tysha as a mistress.

~~~~~

*This is part of how I think Tywin became “a different man after [Joanna] died”. While I think Tywin has always believed in Lannister superiority, I think he did build individual, valuable relationships with prominent people in his life, like Kevan and Joanna and Genna, who was once Tywin’s “precious princess.” It’s after Joanna’s death that we see Tywin expressing ideas like “love is worthless” to bb!Jaime and we see him become the Perfect Poster Boy of Fascist Masculinity “with no trace of love or tenderness remaining”. I have lots of thoughts on this and perhaps I will expand on this another time, but it deserves its own post.

**In Theweleit’s studies of fascist aesthetics, he found that fascist aesthetics place great value on the whole, while individuals, uncontrolled masses of individuals were to be feared. Analyzing ASOIAF through an anti-fascist lens opened up A WHOLE NEW WORLD for me, especially when it comes to Tyrion and Tywin’s relationship, it’s WONDERFUL. (Horrible, but wonderful.)

***Tywin disowns Jaime as well when he refuses to leave the Kingsguard to marry Margaery and take up his duties as heir to Casterly Rock. “You are not my son,” Tywin tells Jaime, to hurt Jaime and pay him back in kind for the pain Jaime has caused him with his refusal. There is a distancing and excision here as well, but it’s different from what’s going on with Tyrion, because Jaime has simply chosen one organization (one “whole”) over another, the Kingsguard over House Lannister. For the rest of ASOS, Tywin is eager to win Jaime back. In AFFC and ADWD, Jaime’s loyalties are divided between Kingsguard knight and Lannister heir, between true knighthood and false, between Brienne and Cersei, between honor and “glory”. “The question is, who are you?” “We all must choose.” It is similar but also different from what’s happening with Tyrion, because Jaime was not born with a disability.

#asoiaf meta #tyrion lannister #tywin lannister #tysha #rantingandravenclaw #replies #tywin meta #tyrion meta #rape tw #fascist masculinity in asoiaf #jaime meta #ableism #lannister thoughts #a plus j does not equal t #tywin x joanna #tjmeta #(to be expanded upon later)

131 notes · View notes

lotrewrite · 7 years

Text

Well, here’s my comments! Feel free to message me with any questions or for clarification of anything

Overall, this is really solid you guys.

The biggest issue is just fleshing some of the episodes out a bit. Character arcs are nicely done and the character stuff is spread out surprisingly well. In general, I think there’s a little more focus on Mick and Len than the others, and Amaya could probably be given a slightly larger role, but overall I’m impressed. Writing a team and giving them all equal focus is really hard. I’m so excited this is already so good

(Also like three of these episodes are set in times/places related to special interests I’ve had over the years so if I start getting caught up in historical details that’s why)

I haven’t looked at other people’s feedback yet, cause I didn’t want to be influenced so sorry if I’m just repeating stuff

LOTREWRITE: Yay, more comments! Sorry about the delay in posting these, all!

Episode 1:

- I love the opening sequence with Kendra A+

- How has Nate’s pencil lasted so long? It has to be at least 20 years old, right? A pen might be more plausible but have the same basic narrative effect. If you’re keeping the dog tags bit from the original though it might be best to cut it the reference to it being from his grandfather entirely or have it be a replica or something. Best to focus on a single sentimental object.

- The banter is flawless and in character. Nice!

- Thawne’s explanation is a bit of an infodump. That’s gonna need to be reworked into more of a dialogue, at the very least. It would probably be better to show it somehow. Maybe show the Black Flash appearing a few seconds after Thawne leaves, then disappearing just as quickly? Darhk can research it on his own and then explain it to someone later, for those viewers who aren’t familiar with the concept from The Flash.

- “Damien Darhk?” Stein asks. “As in –” “The man who murdered your sister,” Rip says. I assume we’re talking about Laurel, but this makes it sound like Darhk murdered Stein’s sister.

- “I never did” Talk about OUCH. This is amazing.

Episode 2

- Some clarification on when and where “the infirmary” is would be good, as well as what Jax and Stein’s history here is, but I figure that will be added as this is fleshed out

- Same with “decision makers”

- I vote yes on “not drinking and driving” quip that’s excellent

- Bambi is adorable

- Make sure when you’re researching the crusades to look at things from multiple perspectives. This seems like it could very easily fall into a very generic “Good Christians” vs “Evil non-Christians” crusade narrative and that’s… less than ideal. There was a lot of politics surrounding the crusades, even if you’re just focusing on the Christians. That might also help provide a motive for your dissenter? Someone who thinks these soldiers should be back at home looking after things there instead of invading a foreign nation to secure power and riches for the church? Someone who’s been convinced that the crusaders have no divine right to this land and that they should leave it to the people who actually live there? Could maybe be a place to start setting up some doing what’s “right” vs doing what’s supposed to happen conflict? This is obviously just an outline so maybe you’re already planning something like that but I figured I’d mention it

- I’m a fan of Bambi not dying

- I love Firestorm as an angel that’s an amazing idea in so many ways A++++

- Mick roasting a T-Rex with his gun heck yeah

Episode 3:

- I love Sara’s canary pendant

- Continuity issue: in episode 1, Mick punches Rex and that’s about the extent of their interaction. Not much of a basis for the trust he seems to be showing in this ep.

LOTREWRITE: Possibly we could make it more explicit that Rex noticed that the bomb the JSA were tracking was discharged harmlessly after Mick said he went after it, thus the trust?

- Yay for bi Sara!

- The Sara and Amaya scene sounds like it’s gonna be so cute

- Ray’s speech to Nate about heroism is really solid

- I see now why it’s a pencil, but I’m still not loving the idea. Does it just magically never get not sharpened? Has Nate never noticed? Does he sharpen it and lose tiny fragments of the spear every time? Am I being too nitpicky?

- Love the mention of non-fighting military personnel

- Mick is starting to feel like he’s taking over the story a little too much here maybe, especially considering that he’s been the most major character in the previous episodes as well, while Jax and Stein seem almost nonexistent. Nate could probably have a little more prominence given that this is his big reveal episode.

Episode 4

- Might want to give a quick rundown of some basics about Chernobyl in the finished episode for audiences unfamiliar with the history. I had to look it up because I thought it happened years later and was very confused.

- Give some reason for why Stein’s actions were changed from the original timeline. Is Darhk’s presence there already changing things?

- What do you mean by Jax can “safely detonate” the bomb? Is there some reason he and Stein can’t Firestorm up and transfigure it? I don’t recall Jax being a particular expert in bombs previous to this.

- The Stein and Clarissa storyline is very very good

- Sara and Mick (not) talking about their shared grief Thank You

- Sara seems rather quick to trust Eobard. She knows it’s a speedster who killed Rex, right? Nevermind. She still seems very quick to trust for a former assassin.

- Maybe avoid Eobard villain monologuing? He has no reason to.

- Doesn’t the Black Flash only come after the speedsters, not anyone whose death is changed by time travel? iirc, both Cisco and Barry’s mother were brought back to life by Barry changing the timeline at one time or another and neither were targeted. There may be extenuating circumstances I’m forgetting though…

- Sara and Laurel’s storyline is really touching and sweet

- LISA!!!!!!

Episode 5

- I’m loving the mix of historically accurate costumes and especially Mick

- Crew interacting with Vikings is great and in character

- Jax and Gunlød’s relationship is really cute

- The funeral for Len and the others they’ve lost is fantastic

Episode 6

- Eobard and Darhk banter already sounds like it’s gonna be great

- How’s Lisa getting in? nevermind, that’s answered

- The image of Len doing anything “emphatically” is kinda cracking me up. A look or something would probably be more in character.

- Vampiric octopuses omg please have a flashback here

- Building of tension for the break-in is excellently done. A bit cliché, but in a good way.

- Lisa’s fury is great.

Episode 7:

- Oa?

- Independence Day banter is really fun

- Lisa/Cisco scene is YES

- “justified” I see what you did there

Episode 8:

- Remember to introduce Constantine etc to audiences who might not be familiar with them

- Are you going to show Mick vanishing or just have him suddenly no longer be there? Related: does he leave and then get beaten up or get taken out while with the rest of them? Does the audience know he’s telling the truth or will there be some room for them to wonder?

- HARLEY/IVY YESSSSS

- I’m assuming Booster is Booster Gold, yes? Do we get him in this season?! Okay coming back, we don’t. It’s a nice shoutout for those who know, but the prominence it’s given implies it will be relevant.

- Clarify who Resurrection Crusade are

Episode 9:

- Sara’s disguise for the Christmas party isn’t specified

- This might be an issue with the original version of the episode as well, but the colonies were in open rebellion against the British crown and GW probably wouldn’t expect honorable treatment or a prisoner exchange if captured. He was openly committing treason in the eyes of the British army.

- Ray navigating with one boot is hilarious and wonderful

- Would soldiers from the pre-telephone era be able to adjust well enough in one night to work with a comm? Guns they at least have experience with. Tiny devices that let them talk to each other through long distances might be a bit pushing it. Or I might be getting too nitpicky.

- The whole massacre plot needs some work tbh. How does Jax and Amaya knocking out a total of three soldiers stop a full massacre? How many were there? How did the soldiers feel about it? Sneak attacks on innocent (white) civilians weren’t really a common part of warfare at the time. Some or all of the villagers would have supported the British or at least pretended to. Not to mention the British soldiers were probably occupying the nearest village. Village sounds really feudal I’m thinking town might be more appropriate okay I’m definitely getting too nitpicky

- End scene is great

Episode 10:

- Ray’s pirate persona is gold

- Why do they ask Jax for his name first? (or do they?)

- Foreshadowing Rip joining the other side? Neat

- Looks like this just needs more details for the climactic battle then you’ll be good

Episode 11:

- The opening is so good

- Adorable engineering duo yes good

- So does the Greenpeace member know about the explosion? How?

- This episode feels a bit short? It’s focused on a single plot that gets resolved relatively straightforwardly. Maybe add subplot(s) and/or throw a wrench in things somewhere?

Episode 12:

- A little hard to follow at first but I think it’s supposed to be

- Does Mick say “who’s Grace?”? That seems to imply that he recognizes the other names.

- This has the potential to be really creepy I like it

- Can Rip be incorporated into this somehow? Or not necessarily be incorporated as the character, but at least mentioned? It feels relevant, since he had the closest relationship to Gideon

Episode 13:

- Could Legion!Len’s reveal be moved? If he’s not heavily involved in the Legion’s main plot for this ep, the previous ep would probably work better with a single big reveal (that oculus!Len is not just a hallucination) rather than two back to back. There could be mentions of a new Legion member (Darhk and Eo discussing Legends in Argentina “We’ll let the new guy handle them,” following orders from him, etc), without Len being revealed until he’s revealed to the Legends, or the end of this episode.

- Really good moral quandaries here.

- You could probably do something with the fact that the team (presumably intentionally) imitates oppressive government agents to get away with kidnapping, even if it is for a good cause. That’s gotta make them uncomfortable. (Mick seems like he’d probably be the most chill with it, Jax seems like he’d be really uncomfortable, and I could see Stein going either way.)

- Maybe include one or more OCs or historical figures in a major role to add a human element to the conflict

Episode 14:

- How does Rip find out? Does he already know?

- So is the thing on the throne not the spear piece?

- Tudor jewelry would probably not involve wood. They were big on showy jewels and metals. Maybe it’s in a fancy locket and rumored to hold part of the cross or something? You could have Anne make some sort of joke about how it’s probably fake. Artifacts like that were very common and almost never what they claimed to be.

- Henry’s feeling a little flat here, but that might just be the outline format

- This is another one that could use a subplot or two

- MICK BURNS DOWN THE GLOBE I LOVE IT

Episode 15:

- I like the option of Hex reacting badly to Rip

- Carter and Kendra cameo is really neat

- Continuity error: Len leaves and then says something in scene 6

LOTREWRITE: Len probably shouldn't leave since he has a big leaving sequence in the next episode

- Lots of good stuff here

- Make sure Lily stuff lines up with the following episode

LOTREWRITE: Lily should probably show up and have the argument with Stein in this episode, since the next one is very crowded

Episode 16:

- Make sure Lily stuff lines up with previous episode

- Bart Allen is from around this time period too. Can he cameo somehow?

- I love this entire concept

- All the hostages taken are women. Is there specific reasoning behind this? If not, maybe reconsider hostage choices

- So Lily is volunteering to be a hostage, not switch sides? That was a little unclear.

- I love the Monty Python joke. But it might be a little too anvil-y? Maybe change the wording from “what is your favorite color?” to “pick a color”?

- How are the trials being administered? Verbally with spoken answers? Touchscreen? Fancy buttons?

Episode 17:

- Cameo suggestion: A young Selina Kyle. The joke is that the found family she’s talking about consists entirely of cats. This can either be revealed to Jax via innocuous comment that wouldn’t make sense if referring to a human (something about litter boxes?) or revealed to the audience later when she looks at a picture in her wallet or something.

- I love Legion!Len being fed up this is a Good Scene

- The Legends make him cake aww

- That ending man

- Another episode that could use a bit of fleshing out. A little focus on what the other Legends are doing specifically might be enough.

Episode 18:

- Love the cold open

- Kendra cameo!

- Why would putting Ray in a toga convince the guard to let him pass?

- I’d add a subplot or a lot more happening at the gladiator fight. Does Darhk attempt to cheat? How does Sara counter that? Is she tempted to kill him? Maybe she could have a scene before or after where she talks to someone about her past with the League of Assassins and how sometimes she still has to fight those instincts? Even though she saved Laurel, he still almost killed her and Laurel is still almost completely out of reach for Sara so there’s got to be some pent-up anger there.

Episode 19:

- HI YES YOU’RE INCLUDING MORDRED LET ME LOVE YOU

- I can tell that you know your Arthurian legend or at least did some research this makes me so happy the Camelot episode was disappointingly generic in the official season but this is so much better

- MICK AND MORDRED TALKING ABOUT BEING TRUE TO YOURSELF I HAVE ASCENDED

- Yeah sorry I should have more constructive criticism but my brain kinda just starts screaming in delight at any mention of Mordred so just know that you did a good and there aren’t any glaring plot inconsistencies

Episode 20:

- Snart is totally dedicated to his theme enough to take Antarctica let’s be honest

- I believe there was a reference in a much earlier episode to Harley and Ivy both not returning someone’s calls. Did Harley do something to get back into the Legion’s good graces or…?

- Ted Kord :D

- This just needs more detail, in non-Len-related scenes in particular, which will presumably come with the full thing

Episode 21:

- How is Rip rescued?

- How does Ray contact GL and SS? Also, being in space shouldn’t keep them from being influenced by timeline change, since they’d still be within the bounds of time

- BATFAM!! (I was gonna say that it was surprising no one changed things to keep them from being vigilantes, but that could be because they have secret identities and none of the LoD knows who they are) (Also are you going to include Oracle? You might be able to tie her into Ray’s character arc, since she’s a superhero who not only doesn’t have powers, but is physically disabled.)

- How are you showing the spear going “fuck this“?

- Wait is the implication that pre-doomworld didn’t have Batman or was pre-Batman? Because the gameshow ep mentioned him in one of the trials

- I’m not sure about Sara being the one to throw Mick out. She is a former assassin, and she gave spear pieces to Thawne to save her sister earlier in the season. Seems like she would be among the more lenient. There should at least be some clarification of why. Maybe she’s upset because she was forced back into being an assassin?

Episode 22:

- “proper Time Master captain” ouch

- Sara’s scene with Laurel is lovely

- Why would Ray blow up if he touched the spear?

- “He holds up Cisco’s communication device with the” Finish this sentence

- LEN!!!

- This is a good ending

3 notes · View notes

sueboohscorner · 7 years

Text

The Vampire Diaries 815 Recap “We’re Planning a June Wedding” #TVD

Episode grade: 10.

We’re down to the final weeks of this wonderful series, and I am going to miss spending time with these characters! Thank goodness for the modern age, with Blu-ray box sets and Netflix-CW deals, allowing us to watch the best shows over and over again for all time. Remember when we had to make our own tapes of shows, with the VCR, and they’d either preserve the commercials, or you’d have to carefully hit pause on the recording and restart it at just the right time? Just me? All right, never mind.

In the final season’s blast from the past parade, we start by welcoming Matt’s crappy mom back to Mystic Falls. Remember Kelly Donovan? Drunk and embarrassing, neither providing a good example for her kids nor watching over them? Yeah, she hasn’t been exactly missed. Including by Matt, who reacts to his long lost mom in about the same way you might react to running into your high school bully at a chain restaurant. She’s apparently here with Peter, because contemplating hell makes one want to reach out to the wives they abandoned and make some amends, I guess.

Our heroes are hatching a plan to deal with the imminent return of Katherine, and it’s Damon who suggests that Katherine would be helpless to resist ruining Stefan’s wedding. I think there’s a little more to this, of course, that Damon is determined to see Stefan get a happy ending, and he knows that in their lives, the longer you wait to start your happy ending, the less likely you are to get there at all. So he chooses a Katherine plan that conveniently also lets him celebrate his little brother’s humanity and happiness. Notably, though, Caroline is not quite as sure about this plan. She says it’s because she wanted a big, beautiful wedding with time to plan (and no super-villain waiting in the wings), but it’s hard not to read a little uncertainty into her reluctance.

Stefan overhears Bonnie and Caroline in a moment of girl talk, and while the text is clearly about why Bonnie won’t be there as maid-of-honor (no offense, bestie, but you’re marrying the man who murdered my true love a couple of weeks ago), the subtext is unmistakably that Caroline isn’t really sure about this pairing. I think there’s a chance she’d back out if she actually believed the wedding was going to occur; she’s kind of rolling with this, because she’s pretty sure the ceremony won’t be completed. From the look on Stefan’s face, I think he’s reading her the same way I am.

Also instrumental to the Katherine plan? An actual instrument with which to bring about her bitter end. Taking their inspiration from the Cade blade, they note that luck is on their side for once–Katherine’s body was burned here in Mystic Falls, so her bones are still around to turn into weapons. Peter Maxwell finally gets to be useful, because he’s a legacy metalworker, so he’s given the crucial task of forging the weapon. Don’t screw this up, bad dad.

Bad dad’s task leaves Matt alone with his crappy mom, giving us a chance to see her cough up some black goo and kill the hell out of a random chick, because Kelly Donovan is actually back…from hell!

Back at the mansion, Caroline finds a gift that is 100% obviously from Katherine, but she won’t realize that, because plot and stuff. I mean, seriously, it’s a printed card, not written, so there’s no handwriting to recognize, it’s addressed simply “To the Bride,” which is ominous AF, and inside the card, the typed message of “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” has the first phrase circled. Get a clue, Caroline. But hey, she’s got stuff on her mind.

Here comes Damon, a very drunk Stefan in tow…no vampire metabolism anymore means rediscovering the experience of drinking yourself into a stupor and waking up hungover. Um…yay humanity? While Stefan is passed out, Damon and Caroline share a lovely moment. He puts her through a series of no doubt hilarious practice toasts for the reception, but we only see the last of them; he gets real and toasts to his dear friend Liz Forbes, who raised this strong, wonderful woman he is now honored to call his family. This is the truest smile from Caroline yet–even if she’s not 100% sure about Stefan, she can’t deny that being Damon’s sister-in-law is a-okay.

Damon puts Elena’s necklace on Caroline’s wrist, adding the “something borrowed,” and ensuring her friend is part of her day in some way. Damon, I’ll miss you most of all.

Caroline is getting ready for the wedding, and she opens a gift from Bonnie–here’s the something new! It’s a gorgeous tiara, because Bonnie’s a good friend who knows this isn’t the wedding Caroline has dreamed of…but that doesn’t mean she can’t still be a princess.

As another surprise gift to Caroline, Lizzie and Josie come running in, all dressed up for the big day! Alaric explains that Katherine would smell a rat if Caroline’s own daughters weren’t at the wedding, so Valerie did a protection spell to keep them safe that day.

He, on the other hand, will not be there…Alaric was, after all, engaged to Caroline a few years ago himself. And just last week, before Stefan again showed up to screw him over, Alaric had been reaching out to Caroline about building a future together, centered around their kids…while it wasn’t overtly romantic, you could see the light in his eyes when he looked at her. I should note that I’m not often a fan of a storyline about a wistful love triangle and marrying the wrong person, but this really works for me. Alaric is such the better man! And while it made some sense that she had unfinished business with Stefan because of his having to go on the run, and it made some sense for vampires to be together…those aren’t factors anymore. She could have been free of her obligation to Stefan, but he came back and begged her to marry him anyway, and Caroline’s defining characteristic has always been steadfastness. She is being fairly railroaded into this wedding ceremony, and Alaric’s heartache is reasonable, not to mention beautifully acted.

Guests are arriving, starting with Matt’s lousy parents. Kelly Donovan greets her ex, Peter Maxwell, then instantly pries for details on the weapon he’s been forging to kill Katherine. When he acknowledges he’s already delivered it to Stefan, he is rendered useless to this hellcat, and she slashes his throat.

Bonnie again proves what an amazing person she is, showing up to the wedding to support Caroline. Enzo’s been the angel on her shoulder, begging her to put aside her anger toward a version of Stefan that no longer even exists. Aside: Enzo and Damon are both really good at compartmentalizing Ripper vs. Stefan, and that’s really because they are not like Stefan. Being a Ripper puts Stefan in a completely different category of vampire. Enzo and Damon can flip their switches and be legitimately different people than they were a moment before. Stefan is a Ripper, so his evil is a more ingrained part of his personality, not just a position on his humanity lever. But bless them, they don’t have his weakness, so they give him the benefit of the doubt.

Because Matt Davis is a truly spectacular actor, one of the best scenes in the episode is Alaric’s monologue to Dorian, remembering the long and winding road that brought him into these people’s overly complicated lives. I’m so grateful TVD made time for this quiet moment with one of my all-time favorite characters.

The wedding is getting started, and Caroline looks gorgeous walking down the aisle, of course! But when she takes her place beside Stefan, he recognizes the cameo necklace she’s wearing, and just as the audience knew, it was totally sent to her by Katherine. She freaks out, but Stefan says to leave it on, because Katherine will hate seeing it on her.

Sitting out in the crowd, Matt whispers to his lousy mom about how his dad should be there by now. Hilariously, she makes a well, isn’t that just like your dad? face, which is recognizable to any child of divorce.

Damon, acting as the officiant, loudly invites anyone to voice their objections to this union. When Katherine fails to show, Caroline’s moment of panic is evident–she really didn’t expect to have to go through with this wedding. But it’s too late now!

Because they expected this to be interrupted by now, and perhaps because neither of them really believed the wedding was a great idea, the bride and groom have failed to prepare vows. Oops. Credit to Stefan for coming up with something charming enough to win Caroline over in the moment. By the time he kisses the bride, it seems like they’re both in the spirit of the event again, despite all the craziness.

There’s a little timeline weirdness here, in that Kelly Donovan runs out before the daytime wedding is over, yet it’s full dark out and well into the reception before Matt is seriously looking for her. Fortunately for Peter, she didn’t strike too deeply with her scary knife; Matt finds him alive and learns the truth about mom.

No one else knows yet, so we’re treated to a drunken toast from Kelly Donovan in the reception tent. She rants about how this crappy town never gave her a chance, and she reminds Damon of that time they made out (ha!). Then she brings up what he did to Vicki, who “never hurt anyone” (this is important). Finally, she gets in Matt’s face about how he cared for her so little that he didn’t even know she was dead. And the penny drops.

Confronted with the question of what Katherine is up to, Kelly honestly says she has no idea; she was too busy starting a gas leak in the house. Caroline knows that Bonnie just took Lizzie and Josie in to use the bathroom, so they’re all in a house about to explode…which it does.

Inside the blazing mansion, Bonnie and the girls are standing in a bubble of safety. The girls are magic siphons, after all, and holding Bonnie’s hands gives them access to her latent magic. Enzo appears to her to say his goodbyes; letting her magic get siphoned will save her life and the girls’, but it will also sever her connection to his pocket dimension. She doesn’t want to give him up, but the alternative is death, and he talks her into living. It’s heartbreaking. Enzo, you were the best vampire.

With the girls and Bonnie safe from the fire, it’s time to get back to squeezing Kelly Donovan for information. She took a deal from Katherine in exchange for a true death, returning to oblivion rather than more torture in hell. She reveals what else she knows of the master plan: Katherine is using the Maxwell hell bell!

But wait, it can only be rung by someone in the Maxwell family line…and Kelly reveals that Vicki has also come back from hell for this assignment. And here’s where I again question the bizarrely selective quality of hell. Vicki died as a vampire, and she died long before the Other Side was destroyed. It makes sense that Katherine was so bad she was sucked into hell, but Vicki really wasn’t a bad person! Her mom just made a point of that in her drunken toast. I mean, I’ll take it–nice to see you again, Vicki–but I’m not sure it makes total sense. (Granted, I do recall Jeremy’s visits from ghost-Vicki who begged for help because she was in pain, and that fits with hell…but I’d still like an explanation of how she wound up there.)

Ah, TVD, I’m going to miss you. One more week of this gloriously well-written and well-acted series. Thanks to The CW for giving us The Vampire Diaries, and for letting it end with a plan, honoring the show as it deserves.

Who will you miss most of all? Comment with your favorite character!

#The Vampire Diaries #The CW #Michael Malarkey #Matt Davis #Ian Somerhalder #Candice King #Kat Graham #Paul Wesley #Damon Salvatore #Stefan Salvatore #Caroline Forbes #Bonnie Bennett #Enzo #Alaric Saltzman #Matt Donovan #Zach Roerig

1 note · View note

cwdcshows · 4 years

Text

Supergirl - S5 Ep11 - Back From the Future Part One

Okay, we know the multiverse was reborn after Crisis, but for all intents and purposes, none of the characters who were previously aware of the multiverse on these shows knows it still exists. They have every reason to believe it no longer does; and until they reintroduce it, I get the impression we’re supposed to go along with the conceit that it doesn’t. And I think Olivre’s narration about the multivere’s rebirth was really just a nod to explain how all the other DC properties still exist, but don’t exist in the same continuity as the Arrowverse, which is now singular.

So with all that considered, having all these refugees from parallel universes that no longer exist is getting a little contrived; especially the way Supergirl is doubling down on this idea between last week’s episode and this week’s. It’s more than a little convoluted at this point.

“An old friend of yours is going to be there”?

But, you know….not really…. Because this Winn is from another universe than the guy you’re trying to put him on. I mean, obviously if this Other Winn is a psychopath, he’s not really going to care who he hurts, and one guy is as good as his double from another Earth, but don’t try to make it sound like he actually has an ax to grind against this guy; for who all we know, didn’t do whatever he did on Other Winn’s Earth.

For that matter, how the hell does Lex know what happened on Other Winn’s Earth? Did he take a stab in the dark and assume that things played out the same on the other Earth as they did on his? Does he still have ungodly knowledge from the Book of Destiny rattling around in his head?

So wait, based on Lex’s comments about Other Winn’s crime spree “surviving well into the future,” I gather he’s using OW as bait from Original Recipe Winn to learn about the crime spree a thousand fucking years in the future and come back to do something about it? That means Lex knows about the Winn Prime and that he’s in the future; and for some reason wants him to come back to the present….

Why the hell are Lex and Kara carrying on this farce of an interaction? Lex and Kara were both at the dawn of time, so they both know that the other remembers Pre-Crisis. Is it all for the benefit of…what’s his name? The new guy who’s so boring I’ve even forgotten whatever nickname I might have given him earlier in the season. Because he clearly holds Lex in contempt, so I don’t think he’d bat an eye too much if Kara suddenly stopped kissing his ass.

You gotta love the fact that the real Winn shows up wearing a mask and Kara not only immediately recognizes him without any trouble; she shouts his name loudly and clearly across the convention floor, as if she has no experience whatsoever with masked identities. Not that anyone would care or know who she’s talking about, but it pretty much makes him wearing a mask pointless.

And why the hell is he wearing a mask? I could be mistaken, but I can’t think of anyone in the Legion of Superheroes who wears masks.

Oh, bullshit. There’s no way “Toyman” managed to duck behind a curtain and replace himself with a dummy before Supergirl could super-speed over to him; not unless he’s a speedster.

Or are we to believe that that wasn’t him before he ducked behind the curtain, but rather an android or something, capable of moving on its own as a distraction? Because there was clearly more detail in the face of who or whatever made a run for it than the dummy had; to say nothing of how easily the dummy fell apart as soon as Kara caught up to it.

Fuck you guys. Come on. If there are fucking “time cops” – who ostensibly patrol history and identify people who are changing time or whatever and have the ability to so expertly know that some iteration of Winn was in the present to kill some other dude, wouldn’t they also have the ability to tell that whoever it is didn’t use time travel to do it; never mind whatever implications him being a refuge from a now non-existent parallel Earth would have. Surely there’d be some historical record that these doubles arrived on Earth, if not record of the Crisis itself. For that matter, how could they be sure it’s no his twin? Identical twins have identical DNA; and while there may be no record of Winn having a twin brother, are we to believe that time cops a thousand years from now, investigating temporal crimes don’t have more advanced forensic tools than we’re using now? Because even in this day and age, things like finger prints and DNA evidence isn’t nearly the end all be all science that a lot of shows make it out to be. Time cops sure as hell need to be better equipped than that.

Plus, it’s one fucking thousand years in the future; when do the time cops learn about something that happened a millennia earlier? Shouldn’t the ripple effect of any changes made to history mean that in this briefly altered history, by the time Winn first arrived in the future they’d be aware that someone who looked like him had done something in the past that they’d want to bring him in?

Are these time cops in any way related to the Time Bureau from Legends? Because it’s all one universe now, so presumably it’d all be connected. Maybe Alex can call up Sara and have them put a note in their files or something so they know what’s what.

How the hell does someone like Winn, who’s wanted by the time cops for carrying out an assassination in the past, manage to get his hands on a ship to take him back to the past? And why aren’t the time cops following him? I won’t be surprised if they show up later, but they’re “time cops” – they should show up at the exact same time Winn does. Hell, they should have shown up instead of Winn and arrested Other Winn before he could take the shot; rather than looking for him in their present. After all, even if there was no “Other Winn” and the shooter was the real Winn Schott, for all they know the Winn that they went to go question hadn’t gone back in time yet, and by questioning him about a crime he hadn’t committed yet, they could be setting into motion him going back to commit that crime.

If you’re going to be time cops, you presumably have the ability to go back in time, because otherwise, why fucking bother? And if you have that ability, why wouldn’t you go back to when the crime is about to be permitted and a) stop it from being committee and b) apprehend the person responsible at the moment they’re about to do it?

Which goes back to my earlier question of, how do they even know it has anything to do with time travel, when the version of Winn who attempted the assassination didn’t use time travel; which means it’s just an ordinary murder.

And let’s not forget all the other time travel bullshit the other shows do that neither the Time Bureau nor these supposed “time cops” investigates; the most recent of which being Laurel and Dinah showing up in 2040 to prevent the murder of a socialite, that would give way to anarchy in Star City within a year.

Wait, Winn thinks Lex is a hero? I get him not having his Pre-Crisis memories, but him having no concept of Lex being untrustworthy after living in the future for years would suggest that history never comes to regard him as the villain he really is.

So what, in this new timeline Andrea never got turned into the shadow manipulating assassin/thief? What’s the point of that?

How does one go about getting a secret elevator installed? Asking for a friend.

Is that the same Non-CGI Martian Manhunter outfit they gave J’Onn when they introduced it an episode or two ago? I swear the last time/first time it looked more like what his outfit looked like in full CGI mode, but this looks different somehow. And it just looks weird on him on.

See, this is arguably the problem of having J’Onn leave the DEO, but still be part of the team effort. They either had to come to his office, which was an impractical staging area for their more secret heroing efforts; or he’d need to meet them back at the DEO. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alex and Kara at least, to say nothing of Brainy, ending up leaving the DEO by the end of the season and working independently; perhaps running into conflict with the DEO.

So does J’Onn own the space he’s been using as PI office? Because I think his landlord might have some concerns or questions about how he’s using his space.

Also, in theory this whole space existed before he converted it into a secret headquarters; right. It just apparently sat empty for the last year or two or however long J’Onn’s been away from the DEO – I can’t even keep track any more.

Wait, I know I’ve complained about this a lot over the last few weeks, but how the fuck does whatever J’Onn is doing to restore knowledge of Pre-Crisis work??? By all rights he’s somehow, inexplicably restoring the memories each person had before Crisis, but in this instance, Winn hadn’t been around for years before Crisis happened; so how does he know about Lena killing Lex? How does that knowledge or anything else he wouldn’t have been around for fit into his new perspective of Pre-Crisis?

This is such a cluster fuck.

Why is Winn the only one having this sort of volatile reaction to being caught up? With everyone else, J’Onn does his Vulcan mind meld thing and then they went about their business. There might have been a few comments, a gasp; Mia fainted, but that’s also because she remembered her fiancé being a psychopath and murdering one of their friends….

Really, whatever technology Toyman is using, Winn – who has been living a thousand years in the future for years – is like nothing he’s ever seen before? How is that even fucking possible?

Oh, fuck you. Yeah, there are some assholes out there, but I’m a little hard pressed to believe that Toyman would so readily gain followers with his lame ass anarchy speech.

I have mixed feelings about Winn’s “anti-trolling legislation” comment. On the one hand, that can be a slippery slope; one person’s “troll” is another legitimate criticism. I got called a troll the other day for daring to comment on an Arrow Facebook post that I didn’t like the finale. But on the other hand, in terms of any measures that might actually, effectively curb truly legitimate, garbage content that is a real detriment to society, whatever that might entail, would invariably be a good thing, but it’s depressing that it could take over a century before that becomes widely adopted….

Oh, fuck you Andrea. And here I actually thought that after everything that went down the first part of the season, they were going to ease up on the horrible boss routine and actually try making her more human, more personable. But nope. I look forward to Leviathan activating you so the super-friends can kick you ass.

Since when has “Wildcat” been Brainy’s nickname? And why would that possibly be his nickname?

As ever, how the hell did Other Winn managed to build these fucking tigers from scratch, when he’s at best been on this world for two weeks; and according to Lex was arrested shortly after arriving and has only been free for a day or two?

Also, how are these things resistant to Kara’s heat vision??

If ever there was a time not to wear a mask, it’s when fighting your murderous identical doppelganger from a parallel in front of a crowd and probably a fair amount of press; especially if said double is not wearing mask, exposing your identity anyway and ruining your reputation through misidentification. Take the fucking mask off and let people at least know there are two of you.

Okay, the wanted poster is gone, but what about Winn’s standing as a domestic terrorist in the present? Is there anything that now clears his name?

“Press the button. Now think of what you want.” Lena holds the cube, suddenly a bunch of Supergirl porn starts flashing in front of them. “I should have been more specific….”

Wait, why is Winn wearing glasses during game night? Is he doing the whole glasses=secret identity thing now?

I assume a thousand years from now they’ll have come up with a more effective way of correcting vision problems than prescribing glasses…..

0 notes