Cup is my favorite character. Cup could make or break the Star Wars universe and it chose make. Cup doesn't have any lines and yet it still gives an absolutly stunning performance. Cup is a prime example of just how much how body language and attitude contribute to a scene. Cup is marvelous. Cup is great. Cup has had one of the best character arcs I've seen in a long time.
We love Cup.
We stan Cup.
Cup is a international icon and should be treated and respected as so.
it's actually so fascinating to me that Brennan has created a character that maintains a pretty relaxed and mild-mannered demeanor and has said multiple times that the absolute Core of her is "FEAR" and how often we see this Fear manifest specifically in Avoidance; it really nails a relationship to that mentality where your brain fully Stops recognizing the emotion properly out of like, sheer self-defense from the stress of having to carry it all the time
I think this is also perfectly showcased in the way we tend to see Tula swing so suddenly from 'level and steady' to 'snarling Panic' and then back again - Just because your brain has detached itself from the Conscious Recognition of the emotion doesn't mean it can Actually stop itself from experiencing it. So the Fear is always there and always acting as a stressor, but because of that inability to Identify it there's no way to recognize or address it before that final straw hits and your bodymind jumps Straight into Full Meltdown Mode; but then once again, once you drop even a Little bit below that Peak Terror your brain ceases to process the emotion; it's like the most exhausting form of Poor Object Permanence in the world
And even if Tula is aware of this happening to her, that doesn't really make it any easier to deal with / address. Even if you're able to spot the symptoms Around the emotion -- chest pain, irritation, nausea, whatever -- because the Emotion Itself is basically impossible to find, you can't really Successfully Pin Down what the problem is OR a way to cope with it. If you can't figure out That You Are Anxious, then figuring out What Is Making You Anxious is impossible, which makes Find A Way To Make Peace With That incomprehensible. That's where the Avoidance comes in: you can no longer identify what might be a Dangerous Situation, which means that Anything New has a big potential to be Really Bad in a variety of ways (ranging "I don't Feel Good" to "Fully Lashing Out bc you've entered Fight/Flight and can't get out of it" to "Actual Outside Danger This Time") and that means the Only Way you know how to be Safe is to just Avoid Doing Anything New and Only stick to Familiar Situations, because anything unfamiliar is a monster of a gamble you don't know how to prepare for or cope with
Assuming that Nobby has seen Edward in preservation (post 1963 rebuild) (I think it was '63), what are his opinions on Edward being rebuilt into something not-so-Furness?
tl;dr: Nobby's just glad Edward is still alive, thank you — though he knows he has to pretend to give a damn about this sort of thing
The Awdry’s explanation for Edward does not come down to a single rebuild but to numerous modifications over the past, erm (checks notes) century or so. Some of these rebuilds would have been more extensive than others but it’s not clear to me that the one after the crankpin failure would have been one where they made the biggest alterations to his design.
I am sure that some significant rebuilding took place between 1920 and 1941. So Nobby already saw the beginnings of the Edwardification of 34 before he left Barrow.
Life is change. Most of Nobby’s own working career was before Mr Pettigrew brought standardisation to the F.R., he knows how it goes.
And, like, look, Nobby knows that when visitors come and say anything along the lines of oh if only so-and-so was still in their original form (and they do mention the Edward case to him of course, quite a lot), his job is to make vague sympathetic noises and to be sure to sound genial rather than biting if he observes that the world already has a preserved Sharp and Stewart passenger engine, you can go visit him any time, oh yes, I’m told the Dutch take very good care of him...
Incidentally, Nobby was sceptical about the project to rebuild 20 to his original form. May have kinda definitely been polite, diplomatic conversations with earnest representatives of the newly-formed Furness Railway Trust that boiled down to Nobby being like ‘Ya can’t bring back the past, shit don’t work like that’ and the FRT blokes being like ‘lol wut, nah bro, if you throw enough money at it you totally can — relax, we’ll show you.’
(At the risk of spoilers… the attitude of both parties proved justified in the end.)
"she met a pinecone's fate" was hysterical the first time around and it's still funny but the longer I think about it the more unsure I actually am about the line
some of you never grew up in a small conservative town as a (gay) nerd that was bullied, harassed, and excluded for years on end for not fitting in and for visibly and enthusiastically liking geek things—geek things that then branded you a satanist in everyone's eyes and as something Other, Lesser, and Undoubtedly Unworthy of Basic Human Decency even though you were literally just an actual child with harmless interests and not a satanist or an evil disgusting subhuman thing, and it shows.
you cannot apply modern views and beliefs to a show that is set in the eighties, especially not when it's set in conservative midwest eighties which is a whole other beast. being a socially awkward and nonconforming geek is something that people STILL get bullied for if you don't do it in a way that the majority deems "acceptable", especially if you live in a conservative, religious area.
your experiences are not universal and your inability to relate to a certain motif or story does not make it "lesser" or "bad writing."
wanna hear something hilarious? i was shipping ben and eloise just based off gifsets i saw of them sitting on the swings together before i started bridgerton and knew what it was.
>:) you're texting with Leon while he's out of the house (maybe errands or had to go to a meeting) and you accidentally text him "i wanna fuck" instead of "i wanna duck" and he replies "I'll be home in ten, be ready for me" JABSJWWIE BUT YALL ARE ROOMIES 👀👀👀
HAHAHHAHAHA BET THAT'S FUCKING GENIUS 👏😭
It was a simple misspell you swear to God, you were merely too excited to tell your roommate Leon about how there's a store nearby that's selling ducks. Which was something you've always dreamed of having. You couldn't wait until he got home to tell him so you texted him instead.
But you were just ONE letter off.
You actually screamed a little when you witnessed your mistake too late. Watching in horror as it went from sent, to delivered...
And then read.
Please just let the ground swallow you up right now, if this is the universe's way of playing a joke you're not amused in the slightest. Your heart sinks when you see the three dots. He's typing.
Your fingers work quickly, trying to explain you didn't mean to say that. Only to nearly choke on air at the response he sends back.
"I'll be home in ten, be ready for me."
Deadass...? Is something you would say but you're too busy trying to climb out of your shocked stupor. Mouth hanging open slightly while rereading the message once, twice, ten more times. Is he for real? It's hard to read tone in text. You won't lie at all when you say you had the hots for your roomie for a good long while now, which you always kept to yourself since you never knew if he felt the same way or not. Leon Scott Kennedy was drop dead handsome- sterling blue eyes framed by shiny golden hair that appears so soft to the touch, his voice deep and smooth like the finest whiskey he drinks.
And you just know he's fucking huge.
You don't say anything, instead opting to simply set your phone down and 'get ready' just to see if that's really where your evening is going to go very soon. So you didn't get a duck but...
I'm feeling extremely anxious right now. I can feel my heart beating against the pillow. The only thing comforting to think right now is that it could be his chest. This pillow could be his chest. And maybe he could softly pet my head to ease me down. Or maybe we get up and go outside and sit on the porch. We have tea and breathe the cold air of the night. Soon enough we get cold and head back in, he asks if I wanna go back to bed, and as much as I wanna go and lay with him on a warm, cozy bed, I stay in the leather sofa that's uncomfortable and cold. I stay there and wonder. Why am I so anxious about? I started to think about it.. it made me rage, it made me sad, but after feeling these intense emotions I forgot what even had caused them. I sigh, get up and head to bed. He's still wide awake staring at the ceiling as I awkwardly get in the bed, laying beside him close enough to feel the heat of his body. His slow, calm breathing is enough to ease me. It would be enough to ease me.
“Wasn’t I just one of the countless people he was passing by in his long existence? I kept thinking about everything... but mostly about the sense of my belonging. I didn’t dare to touch. Even now that I have done so many things and controlled so many people, I still felt like I wasn’t worthy of something so beautiful. I hoped to be strong and mature and not to fall into illusions, where my emotions weren’t suppressed or rational. Yet I was still dreaming, not wanting to sober up.” - Wu Xie, from 120+ or something chapter of me now rereading “Restart” novel and drowning in tears again.