#and with her second persona mode *on* | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

keepingsecretstokeepyoutk · 4 days

Text

This is going to be very long and sound a little crazy at first, and maybe a little mean but please hear me out…

I’m convinced that Taylor sometimes purposefully includes one line or multiple lines of poorly written or clunky lyrics in specific songs to make a point.

We all have seen some version of this with bearding songs like London Boy, a simple bop whose lyrics were immediately detected as sounding disingenuous, even with the general population (the locations she was signing about were the most touristy and too far away from each other to visit on the same day, etc, basically implying that she doesn’t actually have a long term local bf there that she spends a bunch of time with exploring the city with, etc).

But just like everything else on the album, I think she’s doing maybe a more in your face version of that. No holds barred.

So High School is an obvious example of this, with all of the early 2000’s hs imagery, she seems pretty blatantly to be mocking the idea the public has of her “living out every American girl’s high school fantasy” of dating the tall popular football player. With lyrics like “touch me while your friends play grand theft auto” (barf), etc, shes being clear enough that this is not a serious song.

This is the possibly controversial part, but I’m so curious to see what others think about this - I think another iteration of this on this album is the title track, The Tortured Poets Department. Hear me out.

(First, I want to reassure you that there are lines in this song that I really like and think are well written, like: “you’re in self-sabotage mode/throwing spikes down on the road” and “but you awaken with dread/pounding nails in your head/but I’ve read this one/where you come undone/I chose this cyclone with you”. And I fully agree with the idea that these sentiments are from Karlie’s perspective. Basically, when you take out the chunks I’m about to talk about this song makes way more sense and has a beautiful sentiment of undying love behind it - which makes the following parts stick out that much more!)

The first time I listened through the album, and this was the second song, I got terrified because I didn’t understand its place in the whole narrative and when I heard the first clunky line “scratch your head like a tattooed golden retriever” I got the ick. Then the bridge with no structure and no wit and no clever turns of phrase, no metaphor, just “you put my ring on the finger people put wedding rings on” and “that was the closest I’ve ever been to my heart exploding”. So over simplified and cheesy, and doesn’t sound anything like her writing, especially the caliber of her recent lyrics

I know art is largely subjective, but I insist there is no way that the same person who wrote Cowboy Like Me wrote these lines into her title track if she didn’t have a reason and a point to make. To make it clear that this isn’t a matter of genre personal taste, because I know CLM is a very specific sound and a style that music snobs often take more seriously - I love SO many of her candy pop bangers, they are infinitely more clever, articulate, and overall works of art by a true wordsmith than this. Karma, The Very First Night, etc are all a master classes in clever words and tight writing being tucked into an “unserious” pop song.

The lyrics I cited above to me sound like what haters believe her writing sounds like, even fans who make little jokey TikTok’s about her and make up a spoofy something to sing while in character - that’s what these lyrics sound like.

Im worried im being too harsh, but please stay with me because the more I think about the more genius I think it actually is.

In the context of the themes of rest of the album, (her being trapped, miserable, manipulated, ready to burn it all down, screaming to be seen) this theory became clear to me. I think she’s leaning into her public persona (in more ways than one, we’ve already seen it with the stunting), in a way setting a “trap” for her fans and the public, that will essentially call them all out on how they ignored the real her in favor of her pr narrative, making the album about paternity tests, etc, all of which I’m guessing will become very clear in retrospect, possibly after she comes out? (Of course it’s already clear to us now, which is another purpose of the beard songs including clunky writing - to signal to us that these are not serious and that she knows that we know that she knows (like Phoebe on friends lol))

Ultimately, this is (along with So Highschool) a classic beard song. When she writes in this voice, she embodies the most extreme versions of her public persona, not just the one she has cultivated on purpose, but also the one that people have of her that don’t know her (as she did in Blank Space), including those that don’t take her seriously - because her identity as a boy crazy psycho ex girlfriend is directly tied to people dismissing her art as vapid because, they’ve only ever heard her singles, they don’t know the full her.

That voice is the straightest, the most boy crazy, the most one note, and sometimes the most unsophisticated writer version of her that people have in their minds, including her fans - the fans that refuse to see her as a whole person, the real, that believe she is head over heals for big football boy, that believe “he knows how to ball, I know Aristotle” is a romantic line about how opposites attract, the fans that say they don’t “get” some of her most beautiful and well-written songs, the fans that don’t see her and haven’t been seeing her.

They didn’t see giant Taylor on the eras tour, they refuse to see all of her queer signaling, etc, and I think she’s making the bearding songs obvious to underscore the difference between her Taylor(TM) and Taylor(person) personas.

She knows that despite the fact that the lyrics don’t even come close to measuring up to the rest of the album, the public, and many of her fans, will make this song one of the most listened to simply because they are looking for evidence of her relationships from the past year. We’ve all commented on how insane it is that this layered, complex, devastating album is being reduced to the usual paternity tests. This is currently one of the top songs precisely because it is “about Matty”. And of course, So High School is one of the tops songs along with it because it’s “about Travis”.

The juxtaposition of the bearding songs alongside her beautifully written poetry of Prophecy, Peter, Whose Afraid of Little Old Me, Cassandra, How did it end, The Albatross, etc mirrors the juxtaposition of her two selves during the Midnights era.

She has proven the point that if they think she wrote every line of this song completely in earnest, then they see her largely no differently than her haters do, as a subpar writer who writes absurdly cheesy love songs praising trashy to mediocre, problematic men. By eating it up they tell her that’s what she’s good for, for being the subject of tabloids and warring fans who make this entire album about two (purposefully) mediocre songs and the men who “inspired” them.

She has proven her point - that a subset of her fans will be distracted by a lesser song simply because they think it’s about one of the greasy men that’s she been seen holding hands with. That they will ignore once again all of her pleas to be seen, that she’s in pain and caged, and has been driven insane by their willful ignorance. That they don’t appreciate her full potential and talent, that they don’t even see it, and just want to be confirmed in their ideation of her.

This song is essentially the “forget him(her)” pill at the beginning of the fortnight mv, but it’s a sedative for the fans, who are addicted to her straight narrative. Similar to Willow’s 13 chants of “that’s my man” that started off evermore, casting a spell of heteronormativity over everyone who wanted it, so that they could choose to just completely ignore the following 14 gayest songs ever written. Don’t pay no mind to her singing directly about women with zero male perspective - she said “that’s my man!” We’re good! She’s still straight!

Taylor in the fortnight mv had to a take a sedative to be able to go into the next room and write her bearding songs - ie she self medicates to deal with keeping up the straight persona and to get through having to release dumbed down songs to feed the masses. (I also see the pill as something forced on her, I think it represents both layers)

From the first time I watched the music video I thought the writing Taylor looked so miserable and the bearding songs are why.

In this room she’s trapped, churning out the songs that her fans expect of her, the songs that make her team money, the songs that make her money, but that she has to compromise her truth to create.

But when she frees herself she’ll burn the stories that weren’t true, the filler that doesn’t represent her.

I’m curious to hear other’s thoughts on this - have you ever felt like Taylor purposefully inserts off-sounding lyrics that are written in a different voice to make a point?

I want to reiterate that it’s not the entirety of either song that I think is terrible, I genuinely love bopping along to both So High School and TTPD (track). Like I said above, when you remove the clunky lines from ttpd (track), the song has another layer and likely gives voice to some Karlie insight that is beautiful and tragically profound. It’s the red herrings, the pieces specifically meant to tie this song to a bearding narrative, that I’m dissing, and the only reason they are suspicious in the first place is because I know how gifted Taylor is with the written word.

Taylor is such a skilled writer that she can embody the voice of the bad writer that dismissive ignorant idiots believe her to be, just to make a point!

I even wonder if maybe there is a second version of this song locked away in one of those drawers in the fortnight writing room that leaves out the red herrings and is a thousand times better than the bearding version we got.

I hope one day we get to hear it.

#gaylor #kaylor #bearding #closeting #ttpd #so high school

161 notes · View notes

d4rkpluto · 2 months

Text

𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔶 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔤𝔦𝔯𝔩 𝔦𝔫𝔣𝔩𝔲𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔢

happy black history month for my african americans! hope you have an amazing month filled with prosperity and success!

♇ before i get into this post, the celebrities/influencers that will be mentioned are not in order of who are the most influential! the people i picked out were specifically picked out by me so if there's someone i left out, it is most likely because i already used them for a similar previous research or i did not want to :)

♇ this isnt only a post about the influence black girls have, its also black women who are known for their beauty, you might not know them by name but if you research them on pinterest, you'll see all of them have been used in black girls mood boards.

+ this is also a fame indicator post.

THE DEGREES EXPLAINED HERE IS AIDED BY JANDUZ ALONG WITH MY OWN RESEARCH!

paid chart readings :)

the public figures i have used are rihanna, itslos/lorraine smith, kenza, vinetria, lauren london, jodie woods, maya jama, lori harvey, JT, aaliyah, jayda wayda and india love.

ASCENDANT

♇ the ascendant sign that appeared the most was the ascendant in aquarius, it is not a surprise that the sign of influence, trends and the internet appeared the most in the ascendant research. the person in the gif above is known as indialove, a known tumblr girl who set the wave for many more black it girls to take their own stage. perhaps there was someone before her but india is the most known.

though take this with a grain of salt, it is a little booster, the modality of the ascendants that appeared the most was the fixed ascendant.

and the element that appeared the most was air.

ASCENDANT ASPECTS ⬎

♇ moving on, the aspect the ascendant made the most was the ascendant aspecting neptune, neptune is one of the planets of glamour and projection, this could link to how people found these people to be inspirations and living their lives through them.

ASCENDANT DEGREES ⬎

♇ lastly, the degree that appeared the most for the ascendants was the 15°, a gemini degree, a degree that is known for being inventive, aiding someone to have a lot of inventive ideas. this degree can bring fame and wealth.

SUN

♇ the sun sign that appeared the most was the sun in capricorn, in greek mythology the Greek God that ruled over capricorn was Pan, [Saturn is ruled by Kronos/Cronous], one of the commodities Pan ruled over was being a shepherd, a shepherd rules the sheep [followers] and whatever the shepherd does, the sheep follow, which could be symbolise the trends and styles that are copied and admired.

the second sign that appeared the most was leo, and the second was sagittarius.

the sun element that occurred the most was fire and the modality was cardinal, take these with a grain a salt, they are little boosters.

SUN HOUSE ⬎

♇ there wasnt a specific house the sun appeared in the most, but if we used mode calculation, the house the sun appeared in the most was the 1H. but the sun appeared in cardinal houses a lot.

SUN ASPECTS ⬎

♇ moving on, what i had realised is that the planet that aspected the sun a lot was the sun aspecting mars, the sun ruling themes like persona, style and the mars rules someone taking the first step/doing something first.

sun aspecting mercury was the second aspect that appeared the most, mercury ruling over trends and the internet. [so does uranus].

SUN DEGREES ⬎

♇ although, the degree that repeated the most was the 2°, a taurus degree, also a degree that is known for its beauty.

the second degree that appeared the most was the 14°, another taurus/venusian degree. within the research i couldnt help but notice that fixed degrees appeared a lot.

MOON

♇ the moon sign that repeated the most was the moon being in taurus, taurus a sign of beauty and the moon being a planet of audience helps an individual become notifiable because of their appearance.

the second moon sign that appeared the most was leo and the third was pisces, think of it as a mini boost since they were not first.

the element that appeared the most within the moon signs was the element earth.

MOON HOUSE ⬎

♇ the house the moon appeared in the most was the Moon being in the TWELFTH HOUSE, the twelfth house is an underrated house of fame [will explain in another post], and is also ruled by neptune/pisces which are the commodities of glamour and camera.

MOON ASPECTS ⬎

♇ the planet that aspected the moon the most was neptune, [moon-neptune], moon the celestial planet that rules the face and neptune the planet of glamour and beauty.

the second aspect that appeared the most was the moon aspecting mars.

MOON DEGREES ⬎

♇ to finish with the moon content, the degree that the moon was in the most within my research was the moon in the 26°, a Taurus Degree that speaks about receiving flattery from other people. the 26° is also a Venus degree.

on the other hand, i noted that there was a lot of cardinal and fire degrees.

MERCURY

[mercury can rule trends and social media like uranus/aquarius, mercury is more quick and uranus has is more around longevity]

♇ the mercury sign that appeared the most within the research was capricorn in mercury, the same explanation that i had for the capricorn sun can be said here. especially since it is in mercury, the sign of flashy trendiness.

the second sign that appeared the most was mercury in scorpio.

though for modality, fixed mercury appeared the most and for the element, it was earth.

MERCURY HOUSE ⬎

♇ the house mercury appeared in the most was the 11H, its not a surprise uranus/saturnian energy is coming to play. the 11H as i have said before is centred around longevity in trends and just things being passed around on social media. the 11H will help the mercury planet bring bigger attention.

on the other hand, mutable houses appeared the most for mercury, and for the element it was air.

MERCURY ASPECTS ⬎

♇ for this part of the research, this planet really aspected mercury to the point that it actually really surprised me, and once again like it has to other planets i have written about, the planet that aspected mercury the most was neptune. mercury a social planet being paired with a beauty and glamour planet, as a summary, imagine how people quickly move onto the next beauty trend like, "mafia's/mob's wife", "office siren", etc. that is basically mercury-neptune, the mercury lacks the longevity of the "trend".

the second mercury aspect that had appeared was mercury aspecting saturn.

MERCURY DEGREES ⬎

to finish with this party of the research, the mercury degree wasnt really precise, but within all the degree research for the mercury planet, air degrees occurred the most, and fixed degrees.

VENUS

♇ moving onto venus, the sign that appeared the most for venus, was once again capricorn. same explanation that i used for sun can be used here.

the second sign that appeared the most was aries, not a surprise.

take it with a grain of salt, but the element that occurred the most was air venus.

VENUS HOUSES ⬎

♇ now the house venus appeared in was mainly mutable houses, venus will be able to adapt to whatever it is in, but since virgo is a mutable sign, venus might have to work harder since it is in its fall there.

VENUS ASPECTS ⬎

♇ the planet that aspected venus the most was mercury, a planet of trends and social media.

the second planet that appeared the most was venus aspecting saturn.

VENUS DEGREES ⬎

to finish with the venus section, the degree that appeared most for venus was the 23°, i dont know it if it s known fact, but the 23 degree is a beauty degree. it also talks about artistic gifts, so people with this degree in venus or in their big six are likely people who know how to dress.

MARS

♇ the sign that appeared in mars the most was sagittarius, i dont know if i said it on my blog or on a previous discord, but i remember mentioning the sagittarius in mars is a fame indicator overall, with the jupiterian influence in mars, the individual is more passionate and ambitious to complete their goals, they can be great at speaking things into reality along with their charisma and humour aiding them to be approved by the people around them.

the second sign that appeared the most was capricorn and the third was aquarius.

MARS HOUSE ⬎

♇ the house mars appeared in the most was frequent, but modality wise the house mars appeared in the most was fixed houses. [2H, 5H, 8H and 11H are fixed houses]. makes someone have a straight vision for what they want.

MARS ASPECTS ⬎

♇ the aspect mars made to a planet the most was venus, not a surprise since this aspect can make someone very interested in "sexiness", "beauty", "fashion", and having an appeal in general. people with this aspect tend to attract the opposite sex a lot, [attention wise].

the second aspect to appear the most was mars aspecting saturn.

MARS DEGREES ⬎

♇ the degree mars appeared in the most was the 27°, a Gemini Degree, the degree in gemini itself can speak of success, especially if they pursued anything artistic/creative.

the second degree to pop up the most was the 28°, a Cancer degree.

JUPITER

[you may wonder why i put jupiter here, but jupiter amplifies a sign, and it is also linked to how people worship/praise you, i have a post about it here].

♇ lastly for the planets, the jupiter sign that occurred the most was jupiter in capricorn, what i said for the sun in capricorn applies here as well. on the other hand, jupiter in capricorn strengthens someone longevity and authority over what they're good at. it gives honour and respect and sort of makes someone the face of a sub-genre they're in.

the second jupiter sign that appeared the most was libra and third was aquarius, take these with a grain of salt.

JUPITER HOUSES ⬎

♇ there wasnt a specific house jupiter was in the most, but i was able to identify that most houses were in water houses.

JUPITER ASPECTS ⬎

♇ the planet that aspected jupiter the most was jupiter aspecting saturn. same explanation i have for the jupiter in capricorn context above.

the second planet that aspected jupiter the most was the moon.

JUPITER DEGREES ⬎

♇ the degree that occurred in jupiter the most was cancer degrees. cancer which is governed by the moon rules over audiences, and jupiter with it adds more admiration and people having their eyes on you.

⟶ EXTRAS

PLANET DOMINANCE ⬎

♇ the top planet that appeared the most was saturn.

second was mars and third was uranus.

SIGN DOMINANCE ⬎

♇ the sign dominance that occurred the most within the research, was clearly capricorn!

second was aries and third was sagittarius.

ELEMENT DOMINANCE ⬎

♇ the element dominance that appeared the most within my research was earth.

in second place was fire.

MODALITY DOMINANCE ⬎

♇ the modality that repeated the most was cardinal.

second was fixed.

DEGREE[S] ⬎

♇ the degree that appeared the most was the 15°, a gemini degree that speaks of someone who is inventive and had many ideas. can bring fame and wealth.

second degree that appeared the most was the 7°, a libra degree, and the third degree that occurred the most was the 16°, a cancer degree.

thank you if you made it here! hope this post was resourceful :)

masterlist

344 notes · View notes

eiightysixbaby · 9 months

Note

Ooh how do you think the boys would react to shy!reader finally breaking the shy girl persona and initiate sex? Like they haven’t done anything sexual before because they know she’s a shy blushing mess but one day, she catches them by surprise and either is on their bed in lingerie waiting for them or straddles them during a make out session taking her top off 🤤 I bet their pretty little heads would explode!

ooooh so scandalous.

Eddie would be so excited. So, so fucking thrilled that you’re coming out of your shell and coming onto him. I think we all agree that Eddie is so outwardly flirty and does not typically hold back on letting you know he wants you, but he tries so hard being so patient for you and not pushing the subject because he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable. So when you’re finally the one that’s all over him he’s ridiculously happy. If he came home and found you in his bed with nothing but lingerie on, he’d lose his damn mind. He’s frozen in place, jaw on the floor just staring at you. He gets instantly hard, practically falling at your feet the second you beckon for him to come love on you. He makes sure that you’re feeling so incredibly good by the time the night’s over, he’s making it his personal goal to make you cum as many times as possible. And the whole time he’s just so insanely proud and ecstatic that you’ve opened up to him in this way.

Steve is taken aback when you pull your top off in front of him, just staring at you and taking in how beautiful you are. He’s not as feral about it as Eddie, he’s really almost nervous you’re only coming onto him to like, prove something. He wants to make sure you’re doing it because you truly want to, and once he has that reassurance he’s all in. He feels like he’s going to melt when he gets you completely naked for him, and he just takes all the time in the world admiring your body. He doesn’t want to do too much with you the first time, as crazy for you as he is, he wants to savor everything and go slow. He’s so soft with you you wonder why you were shy about this at all.

Jonathan is also a shy blushing mess, but he’s usually able to at least put on the confident guard dog persona for you when your shyness takes precedence. But when you make the first move, when you’re grinding down on him while you make out and when you’re grabbing his hand and making him touch your tits, he’s in full flustered mode. He’s suddenly fumbling as if he’s never done any of this before, so shocked at your sudden boldness. It takes him a minute to regain composure, but he treats you so well when he does. All he wants is to please you at first, doesn’t care if he gets nothing in return, it’s all about you.

#leah’s got mail 💌#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson smut #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington smut #jonathan byers #jonathan byers x reader #jonathan byers x fem!reader #jonathan byers smut

382 notes · View notes

gadriezmannsgirl · 1 year

Text

Prank Gone Wrong -P.G

100 Posts! YAY! Thanks for the support guys! Here's a little gift, let me know what you guys think of this! Feed back is very well appreciated

Summary: Your boyfriend Pablo, has been on prankster mode with Javi, Aurora's boyfriend as his ally and Aurora being tired of it, gets him back... With your help of course

"I need your help" Aurora had said inmediately after you opened the door to yours and Pablo's apartment

"Hello you too, baby" You giggled shutting the door "What's up?" You saw her making her way to the living room and made herself comfortable in your couch, you did the same

"Your boyfriend is what's up!" You furrow your eyebrows nodding slowly

"You mean your brother?"

"THAT SAME ONE!" She yelled as you laughed lightly

"What's up with him?"

"HE'S BEEN PRAKING ME NON-STOP!" You roll your eyes

"I told him to stop"

"Well he definitely hasn't"

"He started with me but ever since one of his pranks ended up badly, he switched targets"

"What happened?" You raised your eyebrows instantly remembering that day

It was one of those bad days everyone has, your alarm didn't go on, on time so you ended up being stuck in traffic and not being allowed into the exam you had been studying so hard for, next a random persona spilled his coffee all over your front, staining your shirt, your car broke down in the middle of the road, the little amount of money you had with you all gone into the tug, you had to walk over the mecanic to pay double since you didn't have any cash with you and finally drove home wanting nothing more than to be in your boyfriend's arms and pass the day away

But no

When you stepped into your apartment, you yelled out a little "¡Bebé!" only to feel something cold splash down on you, you freezed in your spot, seconds later you heard his laughter. You lifted your head up only to then feel something heavy fell on your head

"Ow!" You yelled out both hands going to your head, Pablo laughing harder

"Mi amor, are you okay?" He asked in between laughter

"Of fucking course no, Pablo!" You stepped forward a little

"Be careful, mi niña" You didn't listened still walking

"I'm drenched and my head-AH!" You yelled after loosing your stance, the slippery floor and your socks didn't helped you at all making you face the floor with a big impact

You swore you could feel something breaking, your teeth sticking into your tongue, your jaw and nose burning as if you had a lighter on top of them, you let out one single but strong enough cry of pain

"¡AMOR!"

You didn't wanted to move both hands, now, off of your face, pressing into the sore areas as if that was going to take the pain away, the anger of the day catching up to you as you started crying too

You felt Pablo turning you around and calling your name repeatedly, your eyes were closed, everything hurted, he wanted you to take your hands off but you pushed his hands away

"Just let me see" You shook your head whimpering when you felt a tug in the crown of your head, you turned on your stomach once more "No, no, no amor" He turned you on your back again, grabbing you by the head softly "Fuck, Y/N. You're bleeding and a lot... Let's go to the hospital. I'm calling Pedri"

Let's just say you almost broke one of Pedri's car doors and gave Pablo a good silent treament for four days straight

"Joder" She cursed out as you nodded

"Estaba tan enojada, no quería ni verlo, recuerdo que le dije luego de que me curaron, apenas y podía hablar un poco: 'Te callas o estoy así de cerca de terminar contigo a pesar de que luego me arrepentiré' He didn't talked back on the way home but you should have seen his face!" (I was so pissed off at him, I didn't even wanted to see him, I remember telling him after they treated me, I could barely talk something like: Either you shut the hell up or I'm this close to break up with you even tho I know I'll regret it later') You both laughed "He looked like a lost puppy, did everything for me"

"He deserved it" You nod

"I was still angry so by doctors orders I couldn't speak for two days, he had told me and Pablo that I should message with him seeing as I hitted my head and blah blah blah... Thing is I couldn't do harsh or fast movements and Pablo had to be there for me, I didn't messaged him in one single bit only whenever I felt too bad and he looked so lost because he wanted to fight me but at the same time didn't wanted to fight me and wanted to take care of me but he was the one that put me throught that..." You giggled

"You're mean, girl!"

"No, your brother is mean!" You both laughed

"He hold me the door open to Pedri's car and I just slammed the door back and walked to the other side to open it by myself" Aurora's mouth opened in shock

"Y/N" You laughed shaking your head

"I'm sorry but I was so, so... The word angry and it's synonyms don't make justice to what I felt, Aurora. I just wanted a nice way to end up my horrible day" You shrug your shoulders "I ended it up on the hospital" She laughs

"How'd you know?" She asked you

"Because after I talked to him and let him know he was forgiven, he told me that inside this apartment hard on jokes were off, totally a no go for him"

"He felt really bad, didn't he?" You nod

"He did"

"But thing is... He changed my toothpaste with neon toothpaste"

"Does that mean your teeth light up in the dark?" You ask surprised as she nods "Really?" She nods once more "Can I see?" You ask excited already getting up to turn off the lights

"Y/N!"

"Right! Sorry, sorry!" You sat back again "So... What I'm good for?"

"Help me get back at him" You raised your eyebrows

"Rora" You shook your head lightly

"C'mon, he has been doing this with Javi and I want to get back at them... What better than fight our boyfriends together?" You roll your eyes

"Okay" She smiled excited "I'm not making any kind of plan tho. I'll just follow your lead"

"Good because I heard Javi talking on the phone with Gavi, I think they're planning their next prank" You nod "We need a good one, just one. To let them know they can't mess up with us"

"I like that" You smile nodding and high fiving her when the door opened, you heard a little tug and some shuffle

"¡Preciosa, I'm back!" He yelled as you and Aurora shared a little look

"Living room, mi niño!" You yelled back

It was only matter of time for you to get back at him, you trusted Aurora and you only were hoping it wasn't something extreme

Three Days Later

"Please, tell me you're joking" You pleaded

"I'm not, he will really going to do that"

"That hijo de p-" She raised her eyebrows a little "I meant it not for your mother but for Pablo" She laughed lightly "You're sure he'll do it today?" She nodded

"Hundred percent"

"And that's the thing they will do?"

"It was Javi's idea. I looked it in his phone" You furrow your eyebros confused

"Why you look around in your boyfriend's phone?"

"You don't grab Pablo's phone and do everything with it?"

"Sometimes" You say "But I do not go through his messages, I go through his music and pics of us" You clarify "Even tho he doesn't have anything to hide, because even himself asks me to answer some things tho"

"You're cute" You blushed

"Shut up" She laughed

"Anyway... What we'll do, is follow his lead, prank him in his own prank"

"And you think I can do it?"

"Of course you can" You nodded feeling nervous

You couldn't believe this, not from him...

Your phone dinged with a message, you open it sighing "Pablo will be here at any moment. He said we need to talk"

"Oh my gosh, he's starting" Aurora said as you laughed "Text him you have to talk him too" You nodded doing as told

"Go and hide" You said as she hurried to get behind the couch. The doorbell rang

You went to answer finding Javi, Aurora's boyfriend

"Hey! Javi, what's up? What are you doing here?"

"Doing good, Y/I. Just passing by and got a text from Aurora saying she left her purse the last time she was here" You made a thinking face

"Which one?" You let him inside "I don't remember seeing one" You furrowed your eyebrows

"The small one" You 'thought' for a few seconds before lighting your face up

"I get it! The zebra print bag?"

"That exact same one!" She didn't had one, in fact, she hated the zebra printed things

"Well, we went upstairs, not sure if it's there tho. Let me go and check" He nodded smiling, you reached your bedroom and shook your head when your phone dinger once more

Aurora Páez💖✨: That idiot doesn't know I don't like those things or what?

You laughed shaking your head only replying with '🤣🤷🏻‍♀️', you decided to come out and yell

"Javi, are you sure she left it here? I don't see it anywhere"

"She must have mistaken it then, she probably left it at Alicia's! I don't take much of your time now, I'm in a hurry Y/I! Thanks!" You sneaked your head just in time to see Javi opening the door and closing it but he didn't left

You texted Aurora 'Don't come out he's still here'

Aurora Páez💖✨: Entendido, jefa.

You smiled shaking your head, coming down the stairs and into the kitchen to prepare yourself a little snack when you felt the door being opened

"¿Preciosa?" You smiled hearing Gavi's voice

"¡En la cocina, cariño!" You exclaimed getting ready

"Hola" He said with a tired smile on, he went over and hugged you by the shoulders

"¿Que tal el entrenamiento?" (How was training?)

"Jodidamente cansador" (Fucking tiring) You smiled lightly shaking

"Hungry?"

"A lot" You hummed

"Go shower and get changed, you're home now, relax" You smiled at him kissing his cheek, making a small smile appear in his face and a light blush too.

But still, he went upstairs to shower and change meanwhile you prepared the snack that after Pablo's words of hunger turned into a proper dinner.

And in your head, you replayed all the ways this could go.

You were too deep into your thoughts that you didn't noticed Pablo was back, hair a bit wet, with some brown short and a white tee

"Preciosa" He snapped his fingers in front of you

"What?" you coughed up a little, recovering your voice

"You okay?" You nod "You've been stirring the chicken with the flame and gas turned off"

"Ah, mierda" You looked down the food and it was true, the food was ready but you kept stirring it "Sorry" You laughed "Was in my own world"

"What's wrong?" You sigh shaking your head "What did you wanted to talk about?" He asked

"What did you wanted to talk about?" He smiled

"I asked you first"

"But you said that first" He nodded face changing to a serious one "What is it then?" You asked in worry, eyebrows furrowed and all.

Seeing Pablo sigh made you stood straight

"Can we eat before doing this?"

"Can we do it now before eating this?" He sighed looking down

Pablo took a few seconds before lifting his head up and looked somewhere else "I think we should break up" Your eyes travelled to find his

"What?"

"You heard me"

"Why?" You acted confused

"These days everything has been stressful for me, I feel like we've kind of been doing our own things and I just... Yeah" He nodded several times "I don't want us to just simply fall apart because we've been friends since always and I think media these days have been a lot, I don't want you to get any of-" You cut him off

"Thank god" You sighed in relief showing a small smile

"What?" Gavi's face turned into a confused one

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO TELL YOU TOO!" You exclaimed a bit happy "Dude, we're so in sync"

"What?" Gavi's face changed to a horror one "You what?" Color draining from his face, white as his tee.

"Yes, I wanted to break up with you too, Pablo" You said

"Fucking hell" You heard someone whisper "This went so bad"

"You're obviously focused on training meanwhile I'm working and studying" You huff "Maybe it's not our moment right now, who knows? But I'm so glad you think the same way because you just lifted a weight out of my shoulders, I didn't wanted to make you feel bad"

"Wait, no!"

"We can keep on touch, yes. But don't you think it'll be a bit awkward? I mean..." You made an obvious face as Gavi stood up from the seat and walked to be in front of you quickly "And all of this it's just a lot! These fangirls of yours saying stuffs that aren't true, twisting everything little thing up, they have been giving me hard days, let me tell you that. And the media? OH GOD! Let's not talk about that point... But it just... Gets harder and harder everytime to be with you. And you're absolutely right I felt like we somehow disconnected at some point" He started shaking his head quickly and attempting to grab your hands but you keep moving them one side to the other

"NO! NO! BABY, I'M PRANKING YOU! THIS IS A PRANK!" You stopped your ranting, pulling your best 'Shocked' face on

"Ay, maldición" You cursed out

"Do you really want to break up?" He whispered eyes filled with tears

"Pablo" Hearing you say his first name made him bury his face into his hands

"Please don't" He whispered and you launched yourself at him, hugging him

"I'm sorry"

"We can work this out. It's us, Y/N. It's always been us and it'll keep going on that way" He hugged you back tightly "Please, tell me. I'll do anything, we always fix our problems together. I'm sorry for this stupid prank I didn't meant it. I love you too much"

"I love you too, baby" He hugged you tighter to him

"What can I do?" You shook your head with a light smile on

"End up this stupid pranks-on-thing and that'll be enough" He was so into it that he nodded inmediately not realizing what you had just said

"Sure, of course. I'll do it in a heartbeat" He let you go for a second before he leaned onto the kitchen counter "Hijo de puta" (Son of a bitch)

"¡¿CÓMO COÑO ELLA SABÍA?!" (HOW THE FUCK DID SHE KNEW?!) You heard Javi scream

"¿¡POR QUIÉN CREES TÚ, MI AMOR!?" (WHO DO YOU THINK, MY LOVE!?) Aurora appeared laughing "¡ESO ES PARA QUE DEJEN LAS BENDITAS BROMAS!" (THAT'S FOR YOU TO STOP THE FREAKING PRANKS!)

You wanted to laugh but your eyes were stuck of Pablo, who with his head down walked straight towards the couch and threw himself at it

You inmediately following him and got yourself onto his back, when you realized he was indeed crying

"No, no, no" You murmured turning his head to you so you could kiss his left side repeatedly, your lips feeling wet because of his tears "It was just a prank, mi niño" You whispered

"Do you really want to break up?" You shook your head, your hands finding his underneath the cushion, Pablo's inmediately gripped yours

"No, I don't" You whispered

"Is it really hard to be with me these days?" He spoke softly

"It isn't, baby. I love everytime I spend with you"

"Have you been feeling like we're really falling apart?"

"Of course not, baby. We're stronger than ever" You kissed his side "I will never break up with you, mi amor. It was just for the prank, I swear to god. You're the love of my life" You whispered

"Just don't do this again"

"No, I won't" He shook his head "This hurts like hell, can't imagine how I was going to put you through that" You giggled a bit.

One of his hands untangled with yours and reached out behind for you, grabbed you by the waist and flipped you to be the big spoon as he cuddled up to your chest

"Yes, you're mean to me" He shook his head "It wasn't enough to nearly swipe my face off of my head"

"I'm still sorry for that and I'll always be" You giggled "¿Me das mimos?" (Give me cuddles?)

"Claro que sí, mi amor" (Of course) You kissed his forehead "Todos los que quieras" (All you want) You kissed him, feeling him smile against your lips

You saw Aurora come up in the corner of the room and you inmediately shushed her away. You grabbed your phone and texted her 'Bring over a full on plate with dinner, please?'

You didn't get a response but you did saw Aurora enter a few minutes later with a plate of the dinner youjust made

"We'll be going" She whispered as you nod smiling at her

"Thanks babe" You whispered, she ruffled her younger brother hair winning a groan from him and made him cuddle more up to you

"He's baby" You smiled at your boyfriend's figure "Talk to you later" You nod "Text you when we get home" You nod letting out a soft Please do. And with that they left your apartment

"Wanna eat a bit, baby?" You asked softly as he shook his head a bit "C'mon, only a bit. Don't wanna eat alone" You parted a bit of the chicken with your hands and offered it to Pablo who huffed, pulled his head up and ate it before bringing his head down once more "You're a baby" He hums

"Your baby" You smile kissing him and kept on babying him, loving him and feeding him taking all of his insecurities away. You nod

"My baby"

°°° °°° °°° °°°

@gaviypedrisbride

865 notes · View notes

notalkingbusiness · 3 months

Text

The Book of Carol & The Heroine's Journey - Part 2: The Search

The Search sees our heroine in mission mode - she's left home and she's determined to find her loved one. She'll do whatever it takes to have them safe in her arms again.

According to Carriger, The Search's beats are as followed: the heroine being isolated, the heroine using disguise, the heroine finding friends to help her in her quest, and the heroine visiting the underworld.

Ready to find out how these beats could be used in The Book of Carol?

(1) The heroine’s loss of family yields isolation/risk.

The heroine's mission takes her far from home, far from those who love and protect her.

We all know that Carol can handle herself, but she's still going to be physically and emotionally vulnerable throughout her entire journey.

Carol is venturing into the unknown and she's going to be extremely isolated.

She's got no-one to watch her back.

She's also got no-one to hold her back and stop her from unnecessarily putting herself in danger.

The fact that Carol has no-one to hold her back is a worry because, like most of us, Carol doesn't always make the best decisions when she's in a bad headspace. Granted, things are different this time around. She's not indifferent as to whether she lives or dies like she was at the end of S6/S10b. She's not hellbent on revenge like she was in S10.

Spoiler Alert - I think mistaking a walker for Daryl will be the ultimate moment of isolation/risk for Carol, even if the actual scene is relatively short. What could be more isolating than the love of your life being a member of the undead? All the fight would drain out of her in that split second, she'd be ready to curl up and die.

We've seen how Carol reacts to her loved ones being zombified before, but Carol cared about these individuals in a familial and platonic capacity. I'm interested in seeing how the show makes it clear that this one is different - how this prospective loss wounds Carol like no other. Obviously, Melissa's acting choices will be doing the heavy lifting in this scene. As we know, her choices are always very expressive and she pays close attention to detail. Like, every micro expression has to be *perfect* level of detail. As attested by Khary Payton: "We were going through a scene once and she started to cry and she stopped and said she was sorry because she was crying for the wrong reasons. Most actors would be like, “Who cares? I’m crying. It’s the emotion needed.” She wanted it to be specific to the moment in time."

I have no doubt that Melissa will act her heart out throughout the whole show, I'm just hoping that the script is as strong as her performance. After Caryl reunite, I think Carol and Daryl need to have a conversation about that moment when she thought he was a walker. They need to use their words and explain their feelings for one another. We can't just rely on subtext, not when there are important conversations to be had.

Carol needs to explain why she can't lose Daryl. Daryl needs to explain why he can't lose Carol.

(2) The heroine employs disguise/subversion and alters her identity

The heroine is a shapeshifter. She employs disguise/subversion to keep her safe during her journey.

Carol is an expert when it comes to disguises and subversions. We've seen this many times on the flagship show: she somehow managed to steal a grenade without anyone noticing, she secretly stormed Terminus, she infiltrated the wolves, the list goes on.

In narratives, a good disguise or mask should be speaking to some deeper truth about the character. All masks should ultimately be revealing of their wearers.

I'm not entirely sure what Carol's disguise should look like in TBOC. It could be as simple as donning camouflage like she did just before the Terminus raid, or she could adopt a persona (like when she called herself Nancy). Either way, Carol's disguise should reveal a deeper truth about her - about where she's been and where she's going.

It's worth noting that these disguises/subversions don't have to be literal/physical. I think Carol could alter her identity in a symbolic and permanent way by dropping her last name. She could refuse to provide her last name every time she's asked for it. She could insist she's only to be known as Carol. Carol's name change is long overdue, and I think it would be quite fitting to finally drop Peletier (a surname of French origin) while on a quest to rescue Daryl in France.

Of course, after dropping her surname, Carol would be free to take any name she chooses. If we're lucky, we might get to see her call herself Carol Dixon before S2 closes. I want that to be the reason why she's wearing a ring.

I want her to be wearing that ring because Carol and Daryl chose each other.

(3) The heroine appeals to and forms a surrogate network (found family)

Heroines are social creatures. They don't want to go it alone, but the initial stages of their search forces them into isolation. Until they start making friends, that is.

This is where Ash comes in.

While we don't know the full extent of Ash's role, it seems likely that he's going to help Carol fly across the Atlantic - something she wouldn't be able to do by herself. This is textbook Heroine's Journey - this framework is all about collaboration and connection. Heroines like Carol don't privilege themselves above others - they're big enough to recognize when they need help. The heroine's friends make up for skills she's lacking and vice versa.

The Heroine's Journey provides writers with a great opportunity to create a diverse cast of supporting characters because the heroine is going to be encountering lots of different people on her quest. It's also important to stress that you can't have meaningful diversity and inclusion without depth. Minority characters, such as Ash, need to feel three-dimensional. We don't want him, or any of the supporting cast for that matter, to feel like non-player characters.

I want to emphasize that diversity behind the scenes is just as important as diversity on-screen. TWD wasn't always an inclusive space for minority writers and creatives.

In Conversations with Women Showrunners, Angela Kang shows what BIPOC creatives were up against. Writers of color, particularly black writers, would struggle in Georgia because there were symbols of the Confederacy everywhere. Some symbols were immediately obvious - like Confederate flags flying. Other symbols of a segregated past were baked into the built environment. For instance, the team would go location scouting and some buildings would have four bathrooms because they were built in an era of racial segregation.

In the early days of TWD, Angela Kang "went for days without seeing another person who was an Asian American other than the actor on my show, Steven Yeun [...] When I was on staff while Steven was there, there was a year when there was another Korean American writer on staff with me and it was so unusual at the time. Like, there’s two of us! That sounds so horrible, but it’s very common to be “the only one.” And it becomes your job to represent every underrepresented group somehow.”

Can you imagine the pressure of trying to represent every underrepresented group? No writer should be under that kind of pressure.

Things did get better on TWD; it slowly became a more inclusive and diverse show. Ultimately, Kang says she was proud of TWD's on-screen diversity. And she says that things were getting better behind the scenes - "It's not perfect, but we're trying".

TBOC needs to keep trying too. It would be beyond disappointing if TBOC went backwards in terms of representation. The end product would undoubtedly be poorer for it.

TBOC needs to carry the torch and keep trying to make the show more diverse and inclusive, both on-screen and behind the scenes. Diversity makes for a better show, as does listening to a multitude of different voices.

(4) The heroine visits the underworld, aided by friends and family

Visiting the underworld essentially means the moment of confrontation with the people who took the heroine's loved one.

I think we're probably going to get two big moments of confrontation in Carol's story. I think there's going to be one big fight just before Carol meets up with Daryl. After Carol and Daryl have reunited there's probably going to be another big confrontation so we can see Caryl fighting side by side.

I enjoy seeing Carol kicking ass and taking names as much as the next Carol fan, but action scenes are not the most important scenes for me. I don't want the action scenes and the moments of confrontation to overwhelm the narrative. Heroines don't care about revenge; they just want their loved one back. Carol and Daryl shouldn't be hunting down every last kidnapper/French tyrant. They should do their bit and then leave France as soon as possible. They need to leave Daryl's Parisian ordeal behind and pursue what's important to them.

The people in power need to remember that TWD resonated because it was a deeply human story. It was about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

I'm watching TBOC because I care about Carol and Daryl. I want to see them together in every sense of the word. I want to see their shared future.

Final Thoughts on The Search

I don't know when Carol and Daryl will reunite, but The Search is likely going to take up a lot of Carol's screentime. It's really important that The Search keeps us engaged. I definitely don't want to see a stoic version of Carol who's only there to blow things up - that's not interesting to me. Blowing things up is not character growth for Carol.

Carol's search needs to stand on its own - it needs a solid emotional core.

The Search will feel rewarding and compelling in its own right if Carol has meaningful interactions with others. Strong dialogue is absolutely critical. Carol needs to talk about her feelings. She obviously won't be an open book to her new friends, but she could make some tentative steps towards admitting how she feels about Daryl. Laying this emotional groundwork will make Caryl's reunion a hundred times more powerful.

That's a wrap on The Search!

Do let me know if you have any thoughts or questions on this one.

Do you have any ideas as to how Carol might use disguise?

Do you have any thoughts on how the aftermath of *that scene* (spoiler listed above) should be handled?

What would you like to see in Carol's new friendships?

I hope you'll join me for The Ascent where everything will be coming up (Cherokee) roses for Carol and Caryl. I'm going to be talking about Caryl's reunion and what makes a good TV reunion. I'll also be talking about what comes next for Caryl and what we ultimately want for these two characters.

Thanks for reading :)

#caryl #carol peletier #melissamcbride #the book of carol #twd caryl

37 notes · View notes

helloworldjj · 24 days

Text

no thoughts only tsukasa and the way he emphatically includes anyone without a second thought

he may be just the littlest bit dense and overwhelming when interacting with others but he has that bright-eyed enthusiasm and willingness to accept others wholeheartedly that reminds me of how younger kids are. and not in a “wow he’s so childish and immature” way. he’s just so BRIGHT and unapologetically himself in the way that kids who are beginning to experience the world tend to be. and that’s such a perfect contrast to the rest of the cautious heart class.

despite his childhood loneliness, his personality wasn’t dampened and he’s honestly not what you’d describe as “cautious” lmao. he kinda skipped that phase where kids become self-conscious of their actions and suppress themselves for the sake of fulfilling expectations. whereas the others in the aptly named cautious heart class have aren’t as true to themselves in some way and are working to be more so

mafuyu, trying to find herself again and obviously having her “good girl” persona

honami, working to stand for her own opinions and ideas instead of always appeasing everyone

kohane, learning to be more out there and to stop worrying about what everybody thinks so much

haruka, always being in idol-mode and realizing that it’s okay to take breaks from that. (her story is different from shizuku’s and how shizuku previously had to hide her clumsiness and whatnot to be the perfect idol in Cheerful*Days, but I think that naturally as an idol, there’s going to be discrepancy between Haruka as a person and Haruka in the eyes of others/fans. this is very apparent in the miya girls school festival event where a girl tells haruka that she’s realized haruka isn’t some unapproachable professional idol that people think her to be. saki inviting haruka to the event committee provided haruka the opportunity to relax and show the less serious, regular-high-school-girl side of herself)

at first glance, tsukasa might seem like he’s an outlier in the cautious heart class. but in actuality, he fits so well because he’s just so great at encouraging the rest of the class to throw away any “cautions” about fitting into a certain expectation and just be themselves instead. obviously he himself doesn’t seem to care much about what others think of him, so he shows the others that it’s not so bad to put yourself out there

hence why he seems to be leading the class in the MV (when I watched it, I initially found it odd that he was so prominent lmao. I have thoughts on rui’s placement in the MV as well but i feel like that’s gonna turn out to be another long ramble LMAO)

tsukasa tenma, you endearing, endearing little man <3

#as an anxious quiet kid myself I just was so touched by honami’s line about getting invited to kickball LMAO #i haven’t gone through the convos of the april fools event yet #so I feel like I’m gonna find out that my long ass rant about them was just a reiteration of a convo #pls don’t mind this post if that’s the case 🙏🙏#guys ik this is just a silly april fools event but sooooo many thoughts are running around in my brain :’D #tsukasa tenma #pjsk #project sekai #colorful stage #hatsune miku: colorful stage

30 notes · View notes

artbyblastweave · 1 year

Text

Gideon The Ninth Liveread, Chapter 18

Teacher’s order at the end of the last chapter to bring the bodies up isn’t followed by a jump cut to the parlor scene, as it easily could have been; instead, we get some insight into the logistics of getting two mutilated corpses and an unresponsive cavalier up a narrow ladder. The physical comedy implied by the process of getting Colum up the ladder is good bathos, but the fact that this takes them over an hour seems salient; whatever boogeyman Teacher was afraid of had over an hour in which to attack prone targets. And it didn’t show up for the hours on end that the houses spent attempting necromantic workings. My inclination is that either Teacher is feigning ignorance in order to scupper the investigation, or Teacher is genuinely afraid of something that still lies dormant and is projecting his longstanding anxieties onto the first blank crisis that presents itself.

Corona is very casually cited as one of the Colum liftees, alongside Gideon, which I feel like reading into a little. A quick runthrough of who’s even left reminded me that Corona actually is one of the most physically capable people remaining at Canaan house- Magnus being dead, Colum being in his state, Pro being attached to Dulcinea at the Hip, the teens being pubescent, Babs being mildly eaten…. Corona is, like, one of the taller/stronger people in the assemblage, right? But this gives off the vibe of a task that you’d assume, from her social butterfly persona, that she’d get someone else to do. And she’s doing it in her nightie, as well. I pegged her and her sister coming down in the skimpy nighties as… not a head game, exactly, but part of their attention to presentation. This is not body-hauling attire. But she switches modes without hesitation, with only one word of textual acknowledgement that she’s the one who knuckled down. She actually spends a good bit of time in this chapter abruptly cutting the bullshit and knuckling down to try and address the situation at hand. I’m starting to like Corona.

The Second House were the ones to run and get Teacher. I’m reiterating my initial read on them; they’re there to keep up with the Joneses, with limited investment in the trial outcome or their own path to ascension through it. The Necro/Cav pair are barely visually delineated from each other, in contrast to basically every other dyad. They are not Of Necromancy, beyond its utility; they are Of The Military. They have limited respect for Teacher’s religious edicts about lines of communication off-world, and while it’s difficult to tell how much stock any of these people put in the theology vs how much they’re going along to get along, it’s telling that they lead the push to undermine the foremost religious authority in deference to military authority.

As an aside, I’m well-versed enough in this series via tumblr osmosis to know that the Emperor is, like, very much all that, and his personal power eclipses and obviates what any other house could hope to bring to the table, so usurpation as a goal is unlikely. Adherence to his religion is less like a matter of doctrine and more like acknowledging the sun’s ongoing contribution to the ecosystem. But inter-house infighting isn’t unheard of; the Eighth has it out for the Ninth, after all. I wonder if we’re witnessing an internal fracture between the military dynasty and the hardline religious elements of the empire; if this attempt by the Second to call things off and bring in reinforcements isn’t JUST a practical plan but is also them finally making the kind of power grab they actually know how to make.

“A Second captain don’t outrank a Third official.” Wait. Is Naberius supposed to have, like, a genteel southern drawl? Also, interesting that this is where Ianthe chooses to intercede on his behalf. “Prince Tern, if you please.” The Third does circle the wagons against outside threats.

Alright, Key ownership rundown. The Sixth has a key, Dulcinea’s gambit using Pro to brute-force check all the doors apparently netted her a key. It turns out that both mine and Harrow’s suspicions were correct; Silas did cue Abigail and Magnus in on the facility, using both the rationale that they aren’t NOT supposed to work together, but also under the rationale that the hated Ninth can’t be allowed to be the only ones with access to the facility. Unfortunate that Harrow does have someone ready and willing to validate her paranoia.

The exchange between Silas and Dulcinea is fascinating. Silas clearly likes Dulcinea; everybody does. When he finds out it was the Seventh Cavalier who put him out, he seemingly takes this in stride, and he’s unwilling to sic Colum on Dulcinea… but he is willing to have Colum duel Pro, which Dulcinea (and Gideon, by extension) gets predictably up in arms about. Dulcinea and Silas run parallel in that they’re both radically reliant on their cavalier to get anything useful done, more so than any other necromancer we’ve seen; Silas requires Colum for soul siphoning and general henchman work, while Dulcinea uses Pro as a caretaker and mobility device. Silas is significantly more, uh, cavalier about imperiling Colum over petty bullshit than Dulcinea is; the charitable read is that Dulcinea’s reliance on Pro gives her a significantly greater appreciation for him. The uncharitable read is that anything happens to Pro, she’s going to be in a pickle; he’s already saved her ass once by putting Silas out, and the crisis has barely started.

Coronabeth puts her foot down; “The Golden Butterfly was gone.” Her rousing speech noticeably gets everybody moving in the direction of productive action- The Second Cav passive-aggressively entertaining Teacher’s theory, Isaac committing to hunting a monster if it exists, with Palamedes putting on the brakes on his enthusiasm with a commitment to a scientific autopsy, an implied deference to Coronabeth’s call for unity, and a (not unreasonable!) entertainment of the possibility there really is a horde of vengeful ghosts in play. He even folds in Harrow and Silas’s dispute by making it clear that collaboration on the murder issue isn’t incompatible with continuing to compete in the lyctor trials. Third House’s hat, so to speak, is that they’re the rulers and governers- but Sixth house were previously mentioned to be the house with policy wonks, and there’s a synergy there! Palamedes knows how to align himself with Corona for maximum productive effect.

Ianthe admits to being in possession of the last key, distressing both Babs (who she took the key from) and Corona, who expected to be privy to this information. Something I find interesting about this is that Ianthe is pretty clearly a Machiavellian operator; if nothing else, she had the key, and kept that fact to herself. But! When it comes down to it, she’s also willing to come clean and put her cards on the table in a crisis situation. She was in the trenches necromancing right along everyone else; there are parallels here be drawn here to her sister’s willingness to drop the butterfly routine in the name of getting the situation under control. On the other hand, it’s also possible that this is a rehearsed ruse; Ianthe, as the obvious evil Twin, publicly taking the fall by positioning herself as the only one from Third House who hypothetically could have had access to the facility at the time of the murders. This is conceivable even if the Third genuinely have nothing to do with it; an implementation of a general strategy they’ve worked out amongst themselves, painting Ianthe as the heel in contrast to the Great Golden Butterfly, establishing the narrative that Coronabeth doesn’t have complete control over what Ianthe does. Campy Wickedness as a cultivated affect, overlaying a subtler, realer scheming nature. “Ianthe is a Vriska,” “Ianthe is Rancid,” all these no-context Ianthe posts have got me going full Charlie Kelly over here.

The meeting adjourns. Palamedes works off Coronabeth’s cue to lead all interested parties to the freezer, including the Second and Seventh houses. Gideon chalks this up to Seventh Houses broadly morbid tendencies, but it also strikes me as likely that Dulcinea might have applicable medical knowledge as an outgrowth of constantly dealing with her condition, or at a minimum could effectively rubber-duck for Pal while he talks out the implications aloud. Second House I’m assuming are along for the ride because they realize they live in a universe where they have to at least begrudgingly entertain the ghost thing, but they want to be in the room concurrently with any autopsy that might reach “ghost murder” as its conclusion, to make sure there’s no funny business going on.

Pal, conspicuously, stops to have a word with Harrow. Harrow is characteristically concerning; her singlemindedness (on display in full force at the end of the chapter!) is poorly suited to such a radical shift in the circumstances. She’s the least willing to change her focus during the meeting beyond what’s necessary to avoid getting fingered as the murderer, and Pal’s word might very well be words of warning or reprobation that he had the tact not to deliver in front of the peanut gallery.

The scene with Silas starting the process of bringing back Colum is interesting; I think that Silas’s utmost confidence in Colum’s ability to make it back is the first time we see any expression of regard from Silas towards his Cav, and while it’s a strong endorsement of Colum’s capabilities, it’s part and parcel with the extent to which Silas is taking Colum for granted. Earlier I drew parallels between the necro/cav dynamics of the Seventh and Eighth houses, but there’s also a strong parallel between the Eighth and Ninth houses- each with a zealous, thoroughly stick-assed Necromancer , each of whom are paired at the hip with a Cav with a stoic demeanor and a frosty-and-best attitude towards their Necro. This line of thought is causing me to re-evaluate the lens through which Gideon has been assessing Eighth house; no Necro/Cav pairing is remotely Normal About It, but Eighth and Ninth have some parallels in their dysfunction. The key difference being that Silas routinely, habitually makes use of his Cav, and Gideon’s beef with Harrow is at least partly informed by the fact that, up until very recently, Harrow gave her absolutely no opportunity to be of use. Colum represents the path not taken, the grass that’s greener, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Gideon pays so much attention to the Colum situation right before Harrow shows up to drag her off towards another once-longed-for stint as an accomplice. Is Harrow’s attention an improvement in her circumstances, or has she this whole time unwittingly been dodging Colum’s sorry lot?

The sequence with Jeannemary is heartbreaking. They’ve hit the hero-worship beat a couple times now, the idea that she’s looking up to/admiring/(crushing on?) Gideon. It’s interesting that the “Bad Teen,” up till now an irksome background presence, is the one to finally break Gideon’s composure in a semi-public, not-technically-a-live-emergency setting- quietly and quickly enough that the illusion is probably still largely intact, but it’s a significant break! Also significant is Jeannemary’s insight into a suspicious detail nobody else seems to have touched on in the meeting; Abigail specialized in Ghost magic. Jeannemary’s love of Abigail means that her awareness of this fact cashes out as a belief that Abigail should have been able to defeat a ghostly threat regardless of magnitude. But the unstated second truth is that whoever or whatever killed Abigail, simultaneously got rid of the necromancer best suited to the necromantic forensic work everyone else was struggling with in the last chapter. This doesn’t feel like a coincidence.

Harrow’s barreling forward on the heels of Colum’s return to the land of the living feels like a great for-want-of-a-nail moment, and another example of Harrow’s too-clever-by-half tendencies snipping a thread that she really, really should have followed up on. Jeannemary has an important insight here! If Colum had been seventeen minutes late instead of fifteen, Harrow might have limped into the middle of a very illuminating exchange.

In closing, I’m pretty sure we’re looking at two memes in one here. Harrow’s “I’m sick of these people” bit reads to me like a reference to Dr. Manhattan’s, “I tire of Earth. These people” monologue and the resultant meme panel. “An admirable attempt at comedy in these trying times” reads like a reference to the Egg bit from It’s Always Sunny. Bonus points because the specific Dr. Manhattan line that I believe is being referenced here comes during his myopic dark night of the soul, where he’s conflating his own depression with the true meaning of the universe and letting his heartfelt belief that he already knows everything important blinker him to some important fucking details he hasn’t noticed. Just like how Harrow is overlooking potentially massively important information in her rush to capitalize on her perceived information advantage. Assuming I’m correct that this is a reference and not just random apophenia, this is, like, sliding past the point of mere pop-cultural meme reference into the realm of meaningful literary allusion. Which is a real good way to integrate your meme references! Nothing there just to convey that you’re hip and with it, everything acting as a character beat or a thematic vector. I’m going to go right ahead and adopt a hardline policy of treating every apparent meme reference as an indicator of deliberate thematic depth, and there is absolutely no way that this might potentially cause me to spill over 500 words of ink over something that just turns out to be a vaguely similar sentence construction to another work.

170 notes · View notes

p5x-theories · 3 months

Text

Info on Future Phantom Thieves

(as of the third beta; last updated 1/24/24!)

There are currently several known future Phantom Thieves, and a few other things that may either be related to one of them, or tied to yet another future thief.

The first up is Riko Tanemura, also known by the codename Wind.

She’s featured in promo art with the main cast, and she’s present as a silhouette in the second and third betas' title screens along with Wonder, Cattle, Closer, and Soy, so she’ll likely be the next teammate to join in the game’s story.

In all three betas, we see her at school, as a student who mainly appears in scenes to remind other students of the rules. She and Motoha seem to be at least a bit familiar with each other. She was also listed as a Confidant in the first beta (but it was locked), and was present in photo mode in the third beta. The third beta trailer shows her talking to Wonder in a scene that has not yet been present in any beta.

According to datamining, she has battle voice lines indicating she'll be a navigator teammate with the Persona Chiyome, who has been found in the files:

Her Japanese voice actress is Atsumi Tanezaki.

The next one’s full name is currently unknown (though her keychain says “Aran”, so that may be part of her name), but she appears in a scene in the second and third betas, and her codename in the files is Polter.

While no visual evidence of her future thief outfit exists in the files, she matches the naming convention used for all known Phantom Thief characters, both story and Phantom Idols, so it’s very likely she will join the team in some capacity.

In the betas, she appears as screenshotted above- riding on the train at the same time as Wonder, Motoha, and Cattle, they unknowingly catch her attention, and she digs around in her bag for her sketchbook as the train is stopped. However, when she looks back, she’s confused to find they’ve vanished into thin air (as they used the MetaNav to enter Mementos to get off the train).

She appears to wear a school uniform underneath her purple jacket, and her bag has the Kiga High School emblem on it, so she’s almost certainly a high school student attending there.

The third one’s name is also partially unknown, though some gossiping girls on the train refer to him as “Ikenami-kun”, so his last name is likely Ikenami. His codename in the files is Enco, and he appears very briefly towards the beginning of the second and third betas.

Similarly to Polter, his 3D model in the files matches the Phantom Thief naming convention, so it’s likely he will join the team in some capacity as well.

In the second and third betas, he rides the same train that Wonder is taking to school one morning. Wonder overhears two gossiping Kokatsu girls refer to Enco as a “good-looking guy”, then they recognize his uniform as being Kiga High’s, and exclaim he must be Ikenami-kun (implying he has some kind of reputation to be recognized for). He doesn’t visibly react to their gossip in any way, and is only shown reading his book for the entire scene.

Besides being a Kiga High student, his 3D model has a pin with a II on it, so he’s most likely specifically a second year.

This one's name is completely unconfirmed, though her apparent codename in the files is Liben, and she appears briefly in the third beta. Her Japanese name is written as 梨本成瑠海, which may be read as Narumi Nashimoto, among other possibilities.

She can be found during one of Wonder's Confidant events with Merope. She stands outside a maid cafe in Akihabara, and offers them flyers for the cafe. Later, Merope's Rank 11 event where they actually enter the maid cafe, after Merope has fully researched cafe etiquette, she is their server, and she and Merope play off of each other. Eventually Merope orders enough food that she gives her a special coupon to take pictures with her.

After a moment, she receives a phone call, and has to step away for a moment. The player overhears part of the conversation- she calls the person on the other end her older sister, and tells her there is bento from her part-time job in the fridge. Merope and Wonder have a conversation about going to the photoshoot another time, though I haven't found gameplay of this event.

Like with Polter and Enco, her 3D model in the files matches the Phantom Thief naming convention, so it’s likely she will join the team in some capacity.

Even less present in the actual game so far is an unnamed Kokatsu student with the files codename Wuhexi. He has portraits and a 3D model in the third beta, but has not been found in-game anywhere.

As with the others, his 3D model in the files matches the Phantom Thief naming convention.

Finally, there is also this character with the files codename Jitianzhudai, which seems to be her Chinese name rather than a codename. Her Japanese name is written as 吉田珠代, which has been translated as Tamayo Yoshida (written the same way as Toranosuke Yoshida's last name), though this name is unconfirmed and there are particularly a lot of possibilities for her last name.

She appears in the third beta during ranks 9 and 10 of Motoha's Confidant, having known Motoha in the past when they played baseball together as kids, and now being part of a high school girls' baseball team. She wants Motoha to join her team, seeing Motoha as her "eternal rival" even as Motoha's gotten rusty from not playing baseball for so long, and hopes to eventually revive women's professional baseball.

Like the above characters, her 3D model in the files matches the Phantom Thief naming convention, even if it seems to use her name rather than a codename.

Other possible aspects related to future Phantom Thieves include the “Pegasus” Persona in the files and an unfamiliar name.

Besides the battle portrait above, Pegasus has a 3D model as well. There’s no indication of whose Persona Pegasus is, however. It could be any of the potential thieves listed above, or someone else entirely.

The unfamiliar Japanese name in the files, 梅洛普, could likewise be either the name of a future teammate, or just someone Wonder receives text messages from.

#character info #third beta #wind #chiyome #polter #enco #liben #wuhexi #jitianzhudai #pegasus #if anyone finds wuhexi before the third beta ends I'll update this!

27 notes · View notes

aurora-daily · 3 months

Text

AURORA in GAFFA by Sigurd Hollen Elgenes (January 21st, 2024)

After some back and forth on DM's, the artist agreed to meet for a chat with GAFFA. At least as long as there was cake. Carrot cake. This despite the fact that she has never liked cake and other sweet things.

A relatively small artist from Bergen, and a relatively large journalist from Oslo, find themselves in a cozy little room a stone's throw away from Karl Johan, while the afternoon darkness is falling cold outside the windows. The walls are decorated with summery floral motifs. In the background you can hear bossa nova playing softly. We are at Kongens Gate 10, AKA The Cakery. A place the journalist's mother has warmly recommended.

“Oh, how sweet you are! Thank you very much!", - exclaims Aurora Aksnes in a burst of fireworks when the owner of the café patisserie comes strolling over with a not-too-mini mini-carrot cake cut into four large pieces. On top, they have sparingly sprinkled walnut kernels. Immediately she begins to feed herself with her hands. It is Monday, and after a long weekend this is the first meal of the day, she says. She wears a stolen sequined jacket adorned with two clip-on medallions she "bought from an old lady".

I try to talk a little about the cake.

The human being above me makes contented grunts. Smacks glaze off fingers.

"mmmm daddy," she exclaims in a "foodgasm" as I'm trying to pull myself together and go into serious interviewer-mode.

A dazed little "wow!" falls out of me.

It embarrasses me a bit.

We both start laughing.

If anyone wonders whether the high-flying "persona" of Aksnes is a character, I can assure you that whatever her thing is, is a genuine full-time show. I might have to give up high hopes of journalistic integrity and professionalism. The mood is set.

Happy New Year! Did you have a nice Christmas and all that?

“I'm not very happy about Christmas Eve. But I am very happy in the run-up to Christmas. I love the first of December when there is a lot of Christmas atmosphere. It's a new season of Snøfall (a norwegian childrens show) this year, and I really enjoyed it."

We discuss children and cancer (a central theme in the new season of "Snøfall"), and together come to the conclusion that 1. - it is important to talk about difficult things, and 2. that all tax money should go to sick children.

"Sick children are beautiful." Aurora says warmly.

I point out that not all sick children are necessarily beautiful, and that children are basically as different from each other as adults. We agree that some kids are cool and that others are assholes. Fine and clever photographer Ole tries discreetly to snap pictures while we chat, and we laughingly try to ignore the intense flash.

How is the carrot cake?

"Delightful." she answers quickly.

“It's just this icing that I have to constantly lick off my fingers. It requires dedication.”

As I am about to point out that she has a fork right in front of her, she locks her gaze on an invisible point in mid-air. With squinting and thoughtful eyes, she chooses her words carefully.

"I've always.. felt like a person who should like cake... It's kind of been in my cards.. but.. I hate cake."

The gaze drops and she laughs a little. Apparently by itself.

"Sweet things usually make me sick. But I would really like to like cake. And this is, after all, a perfect cake."

The time has come to fulfill Aurora's second premise for the interview. From my jacket pocket I fish out a small pink net with a bow on it. There is nothing inside. Something grown from my own body, actually.

"Ooooooo!!!!"

Again she bubbles over with enthusiasm and happiness. How do anyone manage to find so much joy in strange things?

"I'm considering making a piece of jewelry. When I have enough of them.”

“It all started when I walked across a field in Canada. Then I came across something absolutely amazing! It was so big that I didn't understand what it could have come from, but eventually I came to the conclusion that it must be a cow molar!"

A cow molar.

"A cow molar! For real! It was so huge and beautiful. One of the dearest things I own. Now I've got a thing for teeth."

Here the interview reaches a point where it becomes "challenging" to transcribe, to put it mildly.

To briefly recap some digressions from the sea of digression-digressions: She mentions that she recently told a barista that she wanted human milk in her coffee, and that he didn't think it was funny. That she has made a habit out of putting people out for talking about something very strange, and then dismissively pointing out that it is strange to talk about when the person herself says something about the strange thing she herself brought up. We come back to children, and how much fun it would have been to teach a baby to say "PAHPHA" and "MAHMA" in a monster voice and that in theory you can teach children the alphabet incorrectly for fun.

"Do you want cake in your mouth?"

She looks dead into the eyes of photographer Ole. He hesitates a bit, nervously.

"BrrrrrRrRrmm"

She has forked off a piece of her piece of cake which is now on its way through the air like a crashing plane heading for the mouth of Ole who, somewhat reluctantly, leans forward and receives the plane crash orally.

This is spinning completely out of control. I carefully look down at the yellow post-it note with factual questions I haven't asked.

What are the plans for 2024? Any new music?

She looks directly into my eyes as she is patiently tasting the question. Wrinkles her nose a little.

“Hmmm. I can say as much as there will be music. It will come sooner than you think, but later than you want.”

Ole and I start to guess a little about months, but she just smiles mysteriously. This is hush-hush. Since she doesn't want to say anything about when, what or who, I do some question acrobatics and ask something else.

You recently released the music video for "Your Blood" with Canadian-Iranian Kaveh Nabatia. Really dig the song and the video. eeeh, would you like to tell me a little about it?

"oh Kaveh is so cool. Did he meet completely randomly at a Japanese whiskey bar in Canada (ed. the same trip she found the cow's tooth?) where we sat and chatted for hours. We got along so terribly well that I decided then and there. "You're going to make all my music videos from now on!". A decision I stand by. Almost all the collaborations I do are a result of me finding people I love. I love people! And - human chemistry is so important when making things together!"

We chat a little further. She says that she will next meet a guy who claims that he is a 5-time world champion (?!) in billiards. He works at the billiards bar "Que" next to Jysk below Sannergata. She had met him there at Girl in Red's Christmas party a few weeks prior. The same evening/night where we agreed to do this interview over DMs actually!

We realize three or four digressions later that the place has actually closed 20 minutes ago, but that the kind owner didn't want to disturb. We thank each other before exchanging hugs and saying our goodbyes. A new friend richer, I would recommend everyone to eat cake at The Cakery. They offer home-made cakes and proper coffee served on vintage Alice in Wonderland-like crockery.

#aurora #aurora aksnes #interviews #photoshoots

25 notes · View notes

megafaunatic · 1 year

Text

fer @vinelark tagged me so here are my

5 no skip albums

HARD MODE: NO MOUNTAIN GOATS (JUST ABOUT EVERY MOUNTAIN GOATS ALBUM IS A NO SKIP ALBUM)

💿 you will not die (deluxe version) (2018) by nakhane. nakhane has such a clear, beautiful voice, and their instrumentation is by turns sparse and lush, bright and unsettling. listen to "by the gullet" with good headphones for a really weird and cool binaural intro with the syncopated marimba (?). also i love really deep sounds so when they hit me with the cello AND the fat bass kick drum AND the natural depth of their voice, i am IN IT!!! also i'm a lyrics guy first and foremost and their lyrics are so interesting and beautiful

💿 transangelic exodus (2018) by ezra furman. WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE? incredibly romantic. trans and gay as hell. fucking full of rage. explicitly jewish trans gay angel (i love those). i love a concept album! her scratchy punk vocals combined with fuzzy electric guitars and intense drums kill every time. every time i listen to this album i hear something new

💿 three futures (2017) by torres. ugh torres's voice. UGH THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR THREE FUTURES BY TORRES!!! what can i say i love a melodic low voice over lofi droning. and synths. god i love synths. this whole album is like a thick gauge compression spring: the instrumentation on many songs works on a rapid beat while the vocals are drawn out and almost strained. and then when they synchronize (like in much of "helen in the woods") the tension is released and you feel it in your gut!

💿 ripely pine (2013) by lady lamb. the violin key changes in the crest of "you are the apple" changed my life. next question! ok but actually half of these songs are 5+ minutes long and every one earns it. it's like every song is a little opera. the transition from fairly standard acoustic love song to [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS] in "crane your neck" is SOOOOOO!!! holy fuck!!! it's so hot when women yell

💿 pony (2019) by orville peck. ok well first of all more musicians should make it so clear that their persona as a musician is a character they're playing and not a 1:1 reflection of who they are in real life. second of all have i mentioned that i love low voices singing beautifully? men are so scared to sing beautifully. it's a wasteland out there. it's like orville peck and fucking. michael bublé holding down the fort. anyway every song on this album is so fucking fun and boppy, i love a steel guitar. really good album for walking to work to (beat of most songs is comparable to walking speed) and singing really loud. thank you orville peck for saving country!

thank you for tuning into lore's music hour! everyone go listen to all 5 albums! you're welcome!

i tag @houtaroo @whatisthiswitchcraft @uhuraisgay @rose-indigo-and-tom AND @sleepnoises

#u DONT have to provide any commentary. i did that for me #ask meme

114 notes · View notes

swampgh0stt · 6 months

Text

here's the tag for my AU (x) art by @stardustrobin

Harry & Peter are married! Childhood friends that (much to Norman's excitement) got married young. They have a son together (Normie)

Harry is trans (FtM) & started transitioning after he had Normie. However, he socially transitioned when he was younger.

Together, they run the Emily-May foundation. Peter still manages to do Spider-Man work on the side, as Harry is well aware of his husbands "other job." This sometimes causes issues between them when Peter gets a little too involved in Spider-Man duties.

But that's okay, bc these two have a Third in their relationship: a now mostly reformed Quentin Beck. Harry likes to bring him into the "Spider-Man" arguments to help get Peter's shit together

Info dump below the cut for our AU

Harry Osborn:

standing at 5'10, black hair & lilac eyes (Norman also has lilac eyes. might be something to do with their illness? hmm... )

He has a pet wolf named Lyra, who he & Quentin stole from a local dog-fighting ring that Mysterio interrupted (thanks to Harry's begging). Harry is rarely ever seen without her

Harry & Norman both have a genetic, terminal illness they hide from the public.

Harry is biracial-- his mother originally from a Reservation in Montana. She is Lakota. However, she is no longer with Norman & no one knows why she left

Harry speaks Lakota fluently. He often talks shit with Quentin

Harry is the secret donor behind Quentin's Mysteriums that have been popping up around the city. He, Quentin, & Peter all frequent the locations for dates, which lead to these Mysteriums being a huge success

active on social media, with successful insta & tiktok pages. He also shares a Youtube page with Quetin, but Quentin usually runs it & comes up with projects for the page

Harry is an abuse survivor, but only Quentin & Peter are privy to the extent of what he's endured from Norman through his life. He has a strained relationship with Norman, but can't completely separate himself

Harry used to have a relationship with MJ, but it was short-lived. They're still very close. Normie loves his Auntie MJ too

despite Harry & Norman's condition -- Normie didn't seem to get the same illness. odd...

Harry has some goblin tech he worked on for himself. he calls his persona the Hobgoblin & will sometimes join Peter on patrols, but not often. This persona has also been seen with Mysterio, but never for any villainous activities

Peter Parker:

tall and lanky with some decent lean muscle; boy is topped off at around 6’3”

fluffy chocolate brown hair

dark hazel eyes; lots of nice deep greens mixed with some browns and ambers

freckles only on his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose; also has a few on his shoulders

aside from web-slinging his main modes of transportation are a skateboard, a bike, a scooter, and getting rides from Harry

his board, bike, and scooter are all second hand, he got the board from the pawnshop and the bike and the scooter from alleyway dumpsters

he’s fixed up the bike and scooter himself, the board was already in pretty good condition

Uncle Ben did teach him how to drive, but it's just easier and quicker for him to board where he needs to be

he and Aunt May did keep Ben’s old truck in case they need it to drive around town

100% Jewish

like in your face about it, he and Aunt May celebrate every holiday

used to go Synagogue all the time with Uncle Ben and Aunt May; now it more or less every so often when he has or can make the free time-- Aunt May goes to Synagogue often and catches Peter up on what he misses

he knows how to speak and write Hebrew; Uncle Ben was his primary teacher and then Aunt May helped out

doesn’t always stick 100% to Kosher-- oops don’t tell Aunt May

will absolutely throw in Yiddish into his speech-- Aunt May is 100% to blame

has only ever dated Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy-- doesn’t date MJ in my books

however he does get a bit of a crush but quickly loses interest but they become really close friends

doesn’t like taking handouts, prefers to work and earn his own money/things

does get visibly uncomfortable when people offer/give him money and/or handouts

Harry Osborn was his first crush and first love

Gwen is also his first girlfriend

Peter is bi

he really loves taking pictures and he’s good at it, once he started working for the Daily Bugle he started to get more serious in his photography

pretty much all his photography gear is second hand, he does have a few new things that he’s saved up for and bought for himself

doesn’t leave his Aunt May, he makes sure to stay with her so he can help her out with what she needs

doesn’t really buy a lotta new stuff for himself, most of his things do come second hand

his gadgets are mainly made from scraps and spare parts he finds, but he does buy what he needs

after the spider bite he doesn’t really need to wear his glasses anymore, but he does wear them/keep them on her person out of habit-- he’s changed the prescription glass to just regular plastics

May let Peter keep Ben’s wedding band, he keeps it on his Star of David necklace that he keeps tucked in his shirt for luck and inspiration

Aunt May totally knows that he’s Spider-Man, he just doesn’t know she knows

after becoming Spider-Man he started to teach himself how to fight better, some of his moves in the beginning of hero came from his spidey sense, instinct, and reflex-- he chose to hone those skills to become better and not get himself or others hurt

has a pet opossum named Gizmo that he rescued from a dumpster and he thought she was a cat

Lyra & Gizmo are very close, surprisingly. You can often find Gizmo hanging on to Lyra, traveling & sharing food together.

when Spider-Man & Hobgoblin go out, they call themselves the "Spider-Pals," which started as a joke but stuck

#harry osborn #peter parker #parksborn #marvel #spiderman comics #spiderman never alone #hobgoblin

28 notes · View notes

vs120shound · 7 months

Text

She retired from the biz a few years ago, moved 3 states away, competed for Cover Girl status for an "ink" publication. There's life beyond SF for Quinn yet she's still probably a Marlboro 100s Girl!

NEW SERIES!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK 🚬 🚬 (SF HALL OF FAME) 🚬 NUMBER 6 IN THE SERIES!

For the Week of 100223-100823

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ | Four-and-a-Half "Stars"

From vs120shound staff | ★★★★★ (16 total: L)

Tri-Media 9-Post, 44- Pack (Super-Megapost)!

Quinn from USA Smokers!

"No Menthol Girl here. This is a Marlboro 100s Gal! . . . Sure, she is pretty, very much so. But she’s as cute as a button, and then some. Sexy as a woman can be, to the order of being adult industry worthy. Wonderful smoking style, confident and alluring. Heavy smoker. Firmly addicted. Playful. Funny. Authentic. A joy. A treat. A treasure to behold. Understands and appreciates the smoking fetish. Proud of her habit. Enjoys the ritual of smoking. Acknowledges smoking is an identifying part of her personae. Girl-next-door look with a Goth flavor. Complimentary, exciting, trendy, fashion-setting, attention-grabbing and colorful outfits. Into tattoos big time. Excelled in partner shoots with other SF models.

"Left the website’s stable of SF models when she moved from Arizona to the Seattle, Wash. area, saying good bye to the SF World in 2021. Our loss. Her run was sensational for as long as it lasted. SF Hall of Famer. Smoking Goddess. A dream come true who walks, talks, loves and smokes. For that, we are grateful. Amen!"

. . . well, the Lead Introduction (what you are reading here is the secondary Intro) was lifted nearly verbatim -- with minor edits -- from the January 14, 2023-released post announcing tattoo-loving Quinn as our Number 3 selection for the "unofficial" official Top-25 all-time favorite SF models list distributed on vs120shound! Not much more to add other than we have no idea of the combined number of SF models/SF entrepreneurs/Social Media Smoking Darlings among the the three administrators and the 10 staffers for the ole VS120s Hound SF-Content Shop that have been seen -- viewed, glanced at, studied and downloaded over the years! So to say that we collectively rate only Ariel/Arielle "Skittlez Cano" (No. 2) and Laura from Australia (Snaps Random) as more beloved is saying a lot!

Hope Quinn is healthy, happy and safe in Greater Seattle with even more grand "ink" on her sexy little body! Know she's still smoking cigarettes, still probably with Marlboro 100s. And be prepared for this realization: Soon, if not already at the threshold, Quinn will be approaching the Big 3-Oh (30 y.o.). She must be in her late-20s by now! Ah, how enticing, the vision of a slightly more mature Quinn!

Quinn, No. 3 All-Time SF Model, The Media:

As announced on vs120shound in January 2023 for "The List!"

(In order) . . . GIFs (2); previous posts within our network of 4 blogs/vlogs/webpages (8); Instagram videos and "Reels" (5); links (contained within text) for Instagram videos (2); YouTube videos (2); photos from www.usasmokers.com and Facebook.com/usasmokers (9); anchor picture, à la Solène post mode (1) . . . 3 centerpiece photos used as "section breakers!"

GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format) of Quinn!

From de-activated smk-images on February 14, 2022 . . .

From USA Smokers website . . .

Previous Posts Featuring Quinn within our network

From vs120shound on January 31, 2023 (in a compilation video with stablemates Preslie and Amber; Quinn leads off) . . .

From vs120shound on January 14, 2023 . . .

From vs120shound on November 22, 2022 . . .

From vs120shound on November 21, 2022 (digitally-enhanced through AI by Juniorjunior from Smoking Fetish Kingdom) . . .

From vs120shound on July 29, 2021 . . .

From vs120shound on January 8, 2020 . . .

From vs120shound on March 13, 2019 . . .

From vs120shound on July 31, 2018 . . .

Quinn exhaling with a tight cone!

Social Media!

From Instagram@usasmokers on July 25, 2019 . . .

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by USA Smokers (@usasmokers)

instagram

From Instagram@usasmokers on April 30, 2019 . . .

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by USA Smokers (@usasmokers)

instagram

From Instagram@usasmokers on March 10, 2019 . . .

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by USA Smokers (@usasmokers)

instagram

From Instagram@usasmokers on November 25, 2018 . . .

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by USA Smokers (@usasmokers)

instagram

From Instagram@usasmokers on September 23, 2018 . . .

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by USA Smokers (@usasmokers)

instagram

Links to some IG "reels"

From Jan 6 2020: https://www.instagram.com/reel/B6_74_9lYQJ/

From December 24, 2018:

Quinn posing with a Saratoga 120s!

From YouTube!

From YT's "Sensuality Soft" webpage in 2020 . . .

youtube

From YT's "Smoking Girls" webpage in 2020 . . .

youtube

Photos of Quinn!

From www.usasmokers.com and Facebook.com/usasmokers . . .

Quinn dangling a lit Marlboro 100s -- our anchor piece!

#SF #Hot women who love smoking cigarettes #Smoking cigarettes #Smoking #The Video of The Week (Honorable Mention)!#The Video of The Week (HoF) . . . Hall of Fame!#Quinn from USA Smokers (Arizona - U.S.A.!#Instagram #Youtube

51 notes · View notes

somethingpersonarelated · 10 months

Text

On how Futaba views Akechi

A piece of fanon I've noticed that comes up a lot is how supportive Futaba is of anything that involves Akechi. I don't want to go "Oh she just hates him and any interpretation otherwise is WRONG!!>!" or like she'd totally be cool if he randomly waltzed back into their lives.

It's not something that particularly annoys me or anything. It's just something I've noticed and wanted to comment on because I feel like Futaba's character gets overly simplified. I think it's an interesting dynamic that should be explored more! NOTE THIS IS LONG SORRY LMFAO. Also, I should clarify this isn't a ship post. (don't make this weird)

At the beginning:

We all know the infamous "wait why are you telling me about your trauma, this is a wendy's" scene but it gives us our first insight into her perspective.

When he talks about his mother, it's a fairly similar scenario to Futaba's own. So much so that she has her own cut-in looking sad/sympathetic towards him.

But she's still defensive when he asks about the Phantom Thieves' and their popularity by deflecting sarcastically with,

"...You're popular too, Ace Detective Akechi."

They definitely don't start off on the right foot, much like his relationship with pretty much all the Phantom Thieves, for obvious reasons. Although at this point they don't fully know the extent of his suspicious behavior, just that he is generally sus.

During the Casino + Shido Arcs:

Futaba cannot stand Akechi at this point, but as a part of the plan, she has to act naive even though arguably she probably knows the most about all the mechanics of the plan. She does get to mess with him though (making the newbie do stuff, the whole cognitive akechi part of the plan, bugging his phone). Her perspective is probably still similar to the others and it shows how much she was able to improve by being able to face him without cracking at all.

Shido's Arc and Third Semester is when it actually gets interesting though:

Futaba: You know... sometimes I think about that fake Medjed that you guys made up... Futaba: That was the worst trap... but if not for that, I don't think I'd be here right now. Futaba: Uhhh, basically... it doesn't matter where you start over!

This one gets me, I think this line is where her perspective begins to shuffle a bit (and it will be important later). She's trying her best to sympathize with him, as this is before the black mask part of the breakdown, and get him to see that there was some amount of good that came from his actions. It doesn't work, and I kind of think she doesn't really believe it, but they are all trying anything to get him to come to his senses. But I do think she means the part about him starting over, in a "I did it, so could you" kind of way.

And of course this engine room dialogue which is peak (even if it may be an incorrect description of his abilities):

Futaba: But you trusted no one, so you only got two Personas: one for your lies, and one for your hate. Futaba: Still, you thought that was enough, right? That part I totally get.

Okay the first part of the dialogue may not be accurate to how his Personas work but I don't want to talk about that (there's some good posts on that though). But the point isn't being accurate, she's throwing back what he's done in attempt to get through to him. Like this is where you went wrong and here's why I can relate to that. The second line confuses me and I had to sit on it.

One point she makes is that he's operating on his own without teammates (the translation is a bit different), "playing in single player mode." I think this refers to how she thought she could manage her situation on her own, but wasn't able to. Additional note, it could also be referring to the way she attempted to push people out of her life (like how she tries to stop the PTs when they say they need to meet her to change her heart). That she needed the help of the Phantom Thieves (I think, even beyond the change of heart) and those bonds proved her wrong. So even though she initially thought no one needed her and that her life was meaningless, she did something Akechi couldn't conceive of doing, reaching out for help. This is her way of extending a branch even though there's no reason for her to.

Third Semester

Source:

An additional line I can't screenshot:

"So please let me get back to navigating! I wanna navigate so hard that I won't be able to think about anything else."

When this happens, I think it's pretty clear that there's a strong inner conflict for her when it comes to forgiving Akechi. Even though they reasoned it out by saying they needed him on the team due to Maruki's abilities, she's still trying to look for a better reason to work with him. And she just can't find one. I wouldn't say it's necessarily out of pity, but it shows that she does on some level still feel bad for him. I guess the word I'm looking for is compassion? A thought that comes into my head is that she does want him to start over, just not with the team. If it was only Shido, then it would have been justified, but the circumstances are different here. Knowing that he might be alive changes the way all the thieves interact with him (they aren't trying to get through to him anymore, and some dialogues are just awkward- you can tell no one knows what to say to him now that he's acting 'normal').

A counterpoint to this dialogue would be her dialogue in the engine room and Mementos. She's pretty open to talking to him in these dialogues. In Akechi's section there are some really interesting interactions imo:

Akechi: You may not like working with me, but I'm counting on your assistance until our goal is achieved. Futaba: You better appreciate just how open-minded I am.

The fact they don't play together in Tycoon but they still get Mementos dialogues confuses me a bit but eh. Without Haru and Futaba's approval it's pretty clear the others wouldn't be on board with Akechi on the team. The delivery kind of makes it sound like she's forcing herself to be open minded about it, and that's what the safe room dialogue implies too. She doesn't want to be around him.

Akechi: Do you prefer my previous outfit or this one? Moving around's become much easier for me. Futaba: They both work fine. Just wear whatever you want.

Akechi: You think I'm frightening when I fight? Well, I'm afraid you're just going to have to accept it. Futaba: I was pretty shocked at first, but now I'm used to it.

I think these are pretty clear. She hasn't forgiven him, hell she probably doesn't like him, but she's come to accept him for who he is. But she isn't scared anymore, nor is she trying to reason with him, he just exists.

Conclusion/TLDR: She goes from actively disliking him at the beginning of the story to still disliking him but it's complicated™. She understands what he went through to get to that point, and wanted him (like the others) to face Shido with them. But when it comes to third semester, the circumstances are far different, complicating it further. She doesn't need to forgive him at all, she knows that, but after everything that happened wants to find a reason to forgive him. But she can't. At the very least, she's begrudgingly accepting of his existence, and can deal with it only for the sake of the team. She doesn't hate him, at all, actually, but to say she's okay with him is also a stretch.

edit: some edits for clarity/demonstration.

#this is basically a ramble on why I think the half-sibling theory is interesting and complicates their dynamic #spreading futaba propaganda just as god intended #i wonder why ik so much about this #looks at the 60k longfic i have saved #text #long post #futaba sakura #goro akechi #p5 spoilers #p5 meta #spoilers #give futaba credit for being interesting!#thinking emoji

54 notes · View notes

bethanythebogwitch · 8 months

Text

Giving Owl House characters Digimon partners

Because I'm a huge nerd, I'm combining to franchises I like and giving Owl House characters Digimon partners. For TOH fans who don't know how Digimon works, typically a human character will have a partner Digimon that somehow reflects parts of their personality and character development. Digimon also evolve up and down through different levels, but I'm not going that deep with this. Side note, I could not figure out a Digimon I liked to partner with Gus, so sorry, but he's not here. There will be spoilers.

Luz is the easiest, she's partnered with Witchmon. Witchmon is a witch, she's a bit creepy (which Luz would love), and she's very dedicated to learning magic like Luz is. Witchmon also goes through a parallel but reversed journey to Luz. While Luz goes from Earth to the magical world of the Boiling Isles, Witchmon comes from the magical world of Witchely (the setting of another virtual pet series by the same company) to the (allegedly) scientific Digital World.

I gave Amity Ranamon, which seems weird but I think works. Ranamon's personality in Digimon Frontier (the English dub anyway, haven't seen the original) is very much based on the same mean girl archetype that Amity fit before her character development. Amity's early persona was mostly the result of her mother's influence and Ranamon in Frontier is the corrupted version of the originally benevolent spirit of water. Abomination slime is kind of like water I guess. I also like that Amity's hair goes from green like Ranamon to purple like Ranamon's rival Fairymon/Kazemon.

Willow will be partnered with Togemon, a cactus with boxing gloves. The plant connection is obvious but I went with Togemon specifically to match how Willow is physically tough and and athlete. While I said that I won't be discussing evolutions, but I do want to mention that Togemon's usual evolution Lilymon is very cute plant fairy. I think the combination of the rough and tough Togemon and cute, feminine Lilymon really fits Willow.

I'm going to give Hunter Leomon. Leomon is pretty much the archetypical noble and heroic Digimon, but just like Hunter started out as a villain, it can go bad. I'm specifically referencing its dark alternate MadLeomon and the Leomon in Digimon Adventure (original) that was mind controlled into evil twice. On a darker note, the series has a running gag of a Leomon or variant showing up in different series only to die and Hunter is the latest in a long line of clones that Belos keeps killing.

King is getting partnered with Impmon. I'm specifically going with the characterization of the Impmon in Digimon Tamers. Both start out their series as very weak and childish critters with delusions of grandeur but do eventually gain great power. Hopefully King's growth into an adult titan will go a lot more peacefully than Impmon's evolution did. You could also draw a comparison between King being an orphan looking for his father and Impmon abandoning his human partners due to their mistreatment of him.

I'm not super satisfied with what I came up with for Eda, but I'm giving her Babamon. I wanted to try to draw some parallel to Eda and the owl beast but there really aren't many Digimon who switch back and fourth between a sapient and non-sapient forms. The closest I could think of was Belephemon Sleep Mode and Rage mode or ChaosDukemon/ChaosGallantmon and Megidramon and those are both way too evil for Eda. So Babamon it is. Babamon is based on a grandmother and Eda has been prematurely aged by her curse. Babamon is also a sorceress and is even sometimes used as a mega/ultimate level evolution for Witchmon, drawing a connection with Luz. Babamon being a grandmotherly figure but also (in the Digimon Tamers English dub) pretty sassy fits Eda's personality and her growing to become Luz's second mother.

Two quick ones I don't have too much to say about are Lilith and Raine. I'm giving Lilith Wisemon. She is the most scholarly and book smart of the core cast and is a historian and Wisemon is a scholar who preserves a record of the Digital World's history. Wisemon is also a time traveller and Lilith was very prominent in the time travel episode. If you want Lilith to have a mega/ultimate level to match Eda she can have AncientWisemon instead, it's essentially a more powerful Wisemon. I was tempted to give her Lilithmon, but aside from the name they have no connection and Lillithmon is too evil even for season 1 Lilith. Raine is getting Sirenmon and I fully admit its because Sirenmon is the only musical Digimon I could think of. Except the Geckomons, but they're too gross for Raine.

The Collector is going to have a Monzaemon. I think someone who loves play as much as the Collector would love to have a giant teddy bear partner that loves children and just wants people to be happy. However, just like the Collector's childlike innocence drives them to horrible acts in pursuit of fun, Monzaemon is hinted to have a dark side and that there is something very dark and scary hiding inside the big plushie.

Finally we come to Belos and I have given him Titamon as a partner. Titamon isn't exactly known for being the long-term schemer that Belos is, I think there are a lot of parallels that still make it work. Belos is driven by his hatred of anything magic and Titamon is born from the hatred of evil Digimon who were defeated by the heroic group known as the Olympos XII. Titamon also wears the skulls of his defeated enemies and draws power from them like how Belos sustains himself by eating palismens. Furthermore, Titamon can use the skulls to summon an army and Belos has his own personal army in the form of the Emperor's Coven. And of course, Titamon's name comes from titan and the titan is central to Belos's plan. Furthermore, Titamon is now used as the main mega level evolution of Ogremon. Ogremon is the natural enemy of Leomon, further emphasizing the enmity between Belos and Hunter. If Caleb also had a Leomon partner then the conflict between their partners could definitely parallel how Celeb and Phillip/Belos became enemies. Hell, Hunter's Leomon could even be the same Leomon that Caleb partnered with, reconnecting with his old partner's clone to avenge Caleb and stop Belos and Titamon's evil. I love this parallel and can see a fanfic in this.

40 notes · View notes