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fadingoutintothehands · 10 months

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(Long post sorry)

Ateez as Danger Days songs

Danger Days (by My Chemical Romance) has a lot of similar aspects and themes to Ateez' discography, mostly because their storylines are both dystopian. So I went through all the Danger Days songs and matched the songs to the Ateez members (more so the characters they play in the lore) based on my personal interpretation of the lore of both groups/bands. It's for my own enjoyment, I had fun.

1. Hongjoong as Vampire Money

Initially I didn't know if I should include Vampire Money because it's not really apart of the overall DD/Killjoys story. But it's very Hongjoong coded, with the David Bowie inspiration, and the fast pace of it all reminds me of his rapping. It stands out from the rest of the album, maybe that reflects on his authority as a Captain. I'm biased but Hongjoong has always reminded me of Gerard Way and his mannerisms, and its especially prevalent in this song. Unrelated but this song is pretty much a diss track on Twilight, and I love Twilight btw, but now it means I can connect Hongjoong to another one of my major interests - vampires.

2. Seonghwa as Destroya

HEAR ME OUT if you know anything about MyChem you probably also know the weird reputation of Destroya. But my reasoning is that behind the somewhat strange vocals, Destroya's main theme is based around a beacon of hope, with the actual character - of the massive robot called Destroya - representing salvation for the oppressed. This theme (in my interpretation) is also in Halazia, because in the music video that scarecrow/Halateez figure seems to represent hope for those people. And Halazia for me always reminds me of Seonghwa, probably because of his visuals in the music video and his siren vocals which I am so in love with.

3. Yunho as The Only Hope For Me Is You

I read up on some of the diary entries a few days ago, but I am by no means we'll versed in what they mean or what they represent. But Yunho's entry was very focused around his brother and a very close relationship between the two, which is also shown in this song as the narrator places their faith entirely in the hands of the person they trust. It connects with the Killjoys (the main characters of Danger Days) as being their wish to be remembered, and I think that's also something Ateez (or Halateez?) would want in their universe.

4. Yeosang as S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W

The distortion on this song is so heavy and that reminds me Yeosang's low register/voice in Halazia & Ep2: Outlaw. The lyrics are really out there with this idea of isolation and separation, and from watching Ateez' music videos (though I definitely don't entirely understand them) Yeosang seems to be more distant from the group on the regular, like when he's trapped in another dimension/world. Furthermore it connects to Ateez lore as "Scarecrow" refers to a police type extermination team, and that could either be Halateez in the earlier MVs or the masked individuals who keep popping up.

5. San as Save Yourself I'll Hold Them Back

This song holds a message of making a name for yourself and being determined to stand up for yourself, both in the real world for the fans and also for the Killjoys in the fictional dystopia. It took me a while to decide who'd fit this concept best, but I decided on San within the MVs he's a very stand out character who's hard to miss, his character obviously strives to be strong and overcome (re: pulling down the moon/sky ball in Halazia) but also in his diary entry he mentions making it "his" world, showing that he's not going to conform to a higher being.

6. Mingi as Party Poison

Party Poison inspired this entire post. This entire deep dive. I made the fatal decision to watch the Bouncy music video (for the 100th time) right after listening to Party Poison and seeing Mingi in the bar put me through it. I'm assuming Mingi is Django, that's my interpretation, and Party Poison is one of the Killjoy characters who's also Django, in a conceptual sense. The song walks you through a very violent encounter where Party (the character) uses dance and music as an accompanying metaphor. Music and dance is a very strong theme here, and obviously it's also a main theme within Ateez' music as a whole. Party Poison is also just a very eccentric person and those vibes shone through with Cowboy Mingi in Bouncy.

7. Wooyoung as Planetary (GO!)

Similarly to Mingi and San, Wooyoung matches with Planetary because of the overarching themes of dance/music as well as overwhelming determination. A big part of the Killjoys characters is that they're never ones to be forgotten and they'll do the craziest out of pocket things in order to be remembered by fellow outsiders or by Blind (the oppressive system) themselves. This brings chaos to the song, I personally think Wooyoung embodies this chaos in his performance and his character within the lore. The song speaks directly to you, as the listener, and it's very easy to imagine Wooyoung being the one to shout these social commentaries at you.

8. Jongho as SING

Again, if you're familiar with My Chemical Romance, you might know that SING doesn't have the most favourable reputation among fans. They're wrong, objectively I disrespect their opinion (jk) because SING is so goated, so top tier. Why Jongho, besides the obvious reason that his singing is off the scales incredible. It's Jongho because the song details the power of singing and music in the face of who want to put you down and the way Jongho's vocals make me feel is like that. He's very inspirational, he said on Lee Mujin's service that he wants to be recognised for the work and effort he's put into his voice and SING represents that view entirely. Goated man for a goated song.

Finally, overall I adore My Chemical Romance and Ateez and they're probably the only thing I think about most of the time. One of the reasons I found myself loving Ateez so much was because I recognised the similarities they have with MyChem so I often find myself comparing them as artists and comparing their songs, mostly the themes within their songs. Obviously it's not a unique idea to portray motivation and inspiration through a dystopian storyline, but Ateez & Mychem (MyTeez? AtChem?) manage to do this incredibly well through both sound and visuals. If you've read all of this then THANK YOU <3 wholeheartedly I appreciate you for giving me the time of day to talk about silly little musical connections, despite them not being that coherent or even making sense.

If you've never listened to Danger Days, or My Chemical Romance, I'd highly recommend it, it's a very enjoyable listening experience. And look into the Killjoys comic book/story if you're into dystopian fiction. and found family tropes

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llycaons · 1 year

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Ep2: little apple mvp

fuck, but these are getting long. putting under a readmore

these early wandering scenes are really nice. lighthearted and peaceful, and probably quite enjoyable for a wwx whose last memories were of grief and pain and exhaustion and stress and persecution

reminds me - wwx was crying last episode when jc came to kill him. he might have smiled a bit, but he seemed so resigned to the fact that jc hated him but when jc told him to go and die he started crying. it was so fucking sad

the most brilliant mind of his generation on coaxing a donkey to walk...

you know this was 😬 but wwx has tremendous bad luck here because how was he supposed to know? saying something slightly rude is now punishable by death because of the context. but wwx made an honest mistake! also jl was being extremely arrogant and aggressive

jc crushing the paperman while lwj carried it so carefully on his palm...so deep

I don't agree with either wwx or lwj's methods here but jc being extremely aggressive and mean and critical of jl is really not helping his emotional development either. fuck, if a parental figure treated me like that I'd act out too

lwj coming just in time to keep jl from fucking stabbing wwx >>>>>>

the petty-off between jc and lwj is extremely funny here bc lwj refusing to deign to even open his mouth while jc fumes and throws as cruel insults as he can and I think wwx is finding it funny too? it seems like he's trying to hold back a smile here

this being wwx's memories of teenage jc 😭

THIS LINE. AFTER HE REMEMBERS HIS SISTER. SOBBING

little apple coming back to him after this very sad little scene had me a little misty-eyed...god but that donkey loves him so much in the end and he loves her so much...lsz was the first to show him kindness in this new life but she was the first to stick with him 🥺

I honest to god could not care less about this plot I think it's very boring but I do like jl's outfit with the little gold dots and the hair pieces

wwx is also kind of harsh to the kids lmao and then jingyi is like 'hgj is going to KILL us 😭' which is very funny given what we've seen of lwj so far (he's very calm and gives them support, info, and encouragement) esp compared to the anger, critiques and unhelpful demands of jc. like, I don't doubt he's disciplined juniors but we never seen anything harsh from him so what is jingyi even referring to? I don't count the handstands as cql canon btw I think it's absurd

comedy scenes of all time. to me. the anti-chemistry is palpable

it's so so funny to see Those jc fans rewrite this episode like 'jc was looking for wwx the entire time 🥺 they're brothers' when it's so starkly apparent that jc was clearly extremely angry the entire time, told jl to kill wwx before learning his identity, told jl repeatedly that all dc's like wwx should be killed and fed to the dogs, and then immediately tried to expel him from mxy's body (kill him again) after learning his identity. buddy I don't think he's at the point in his journey you think he is

he's also really rude and demanding of his disciples...I was wondering how he was with them bc I didn't remember and the answer is, not surprisingly, pretty harsh. well...at least he's involved?

the editing on this was SO funny. cut from wwx asking this to this statue, far in the distance, chasing after these tiny figures of cultivators. way to sap the drama out of a shot

he loves to do a spinny <3 even if they are in mortal danger he must do a spinny

REUNION SHOT!!!!! the tension building between them and FINALLY having them meet is just MWAH. and wwx grabbing lwj's arm afterwards is still one of my favorite little things bc wwx doesn't actually do that very often! it's nice to see him reach out to lwj almost on instinct when it's usually lwj reaching out and trying to connect with him instead. the romance in these first two episodes. ugh. delicious

whatever they did make wn look like this is was really effective

BE NICE TO HIM JC!! also even tho jiangs are the purple clan, they seem to wear blue a lot

lwj also doing a little spinny to open his weapon even though his newly resurrected beloved is in mortal AGAIN from the guy who killed him the first time = wwx doing a little spinny earlier even though his nephew and a bunch of kids were about to die. truly soulmates

I hate this shot SO much. the lens and the angle are so unflattering. you can see right up his nostrils in some of these shots

OHHH YOU"RE HURTING ME. LOOK AT THOSE SMILES

jyl scrunching up her nose here is one of my favorite tiny moments in this entire show. it's so fucking cute and I love her so much

Personal highlights: ep2

wwx grabbing lwj's wrist right after they reunite

jyl scrunching up her nose

wwx and lwj twin spinny maneuvers

little apple coming back and wwx being excited about it

#cql re-rewatch

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quellmythirst · 2 years

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Chaos and The Dark EP 3.

Summary: The Darkling has only ever had one real friend and she’s not exactly who you would expect. They have both lived very long lives. This is a collection of one shots taken from their timeline, before he meets Alina. The order is iffy, but somewhat in order.

Characters: F!Grisha!Reader (Pinky) x The Darkling + Alias’

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Slow burn, alcohol, swearing, canon typical violence.

EP2

As Aleks became more powerful and more influential the Druskelle became even more vigilant. Often resulting in them accosting lone women, because obviously a woman without a husband or a father in sight must be Grisha. They aren’t wrong about you, but they made it more dangerous to be out alone. You knew that the Druskellke had documents detailing your past and couldn’t risk being caught. As far as they knew you were dead and you would fight like hell to keep it that way.

There was only one feasible option left for you, especially in the colder months when sailing was a poor option and the mountains were too dangerous. You didn't mean to make it a habit, but it sure was becoming one. For the last 4 years you’d been staying at the Little Palace through the winter. The cooler months wreaked havoc on your body sending chills through your spine and although you hated being trapped here, it was much more pleasant than starving, freezing to death or worse having an unexpected run in with the Druskelle and exposing yourself. Maybe if you had more friends, people who you could trust. It had been a long time since you had met a civilian you could confide in, there hadn’t been one another like her in nearly a century and even that turned out poorly.

You were sitting in the dimly lit library, reading through a dark romance novel when Aleks approached you with a warm cider in his hands.

“How are you doing?” he asked, sitting next to you on the loveseat, your knees brushing softly against each other.

“Better now,” you replied, taking a sip of the cider, “What’s the problem?” you asked, you hadn’t seen him in days. While not unusual, it begged the obvious question. Why had he sought you out now? Had he started a prank war with the younger Grisha and needed expert help? Hopefully, but judging by the glum look on his face. Probably not. Why did he always look like it was the end of the world? Placing your book on a nearby table you took his hand, trying your best to reassure him.

“I need your help,” He answered, watching you process his meaning. He truly didn’t want to interpret your peace, but this mission was urgent. He would go alone but the stolen goods were too precious, he couldn’t risk Druskelle getting away with them. His fingers brushed along the back of your palm, his eyes staring deep into your own. A small spark spread over his hand where his fingers brushed. Hoping you could see the desperation, but you still smiled. Always smiling at him, even when he was the worst, thought the worst and worried that the worst would befall his people, those beautiful smiles brought light unto his life when he needed it the most.

“Ok,” you said, matter of factly.

“You don’t even know what I need help with,” he looked away, folding his hands together on his lap. He needed to stop these careless touches, the feelings that stirred in him could only wreak havoc on your friendship. Why were you like this? Always willing and ready to help, not just him. He had seen you once stop to help a child get their cat from a roof, he struggled to understand how you maintained your kindness through all the wars the people of this world had put you through.

“Doesn’t matter. You haven't asked for my help in nearly 50 years. I’ll help you.”

“We’ll be leaving tonight,” he informed you, “Meet me in the war room in 2 hours.” he said, exiting the room with haste. He had informed you of a young Grisha being held captive, a mission of sorts that had to be small, had to be kept that way for it to work. He spent some time informing you of the plan. The two of you would be the only ones on the mission, the risk of being spotted with more than 2 was too high. His plan was for you to sneak into their camp, you would act as a distraction while he did his best to help the child. With the setting of the sun it was time to get this plan underway.

Heading to your room that was unsurprisingly massive and gaudy, you changed into your most distracting outfit. A long red dress, cut low at the bosom, the corset cinching in your waist. This would be perfect. With your hair firmly in place you strapped a dagger to your thigh and headed towards his room.

“You ready? Know your part?” He asked, when you knocked on the door.

“Sure do, I sneak in and distract the guard. You get the kid,” he turned to face you and his face was almost as red as your hair.

“No,” was all he said.

“No? No, what?” You asked, genuinely bewildered, he wanted you to distract the guard. In this outfit they would be hard pressed to keep their eyes off you.

“Not like this,” he gestured to your outfit, his eyes deliberately glancing quickly over your protruding bosom.

“Fuck off, this was your plan oh mighty Heretic, I'm just going along with it.”

“Can you not be distracting without it?” he murmured, he had thought you would wear pants and a cape, something easier to traverse the woods in. This outfit, while stunning, was more likely to distract him and not suitable for the journey. His brain stopped when he realised the implications of what he said. You felt heat rumble though your body, was he suggesting? No, he wouldn’t mean...

“Not without giving myself away,” you replied, hoping that you had dodged whatever lewd thoughts, now was not the time. It never was.

“Fine,” his long fingers running down his face, he wrapped one of his black capes around your shoulders, hoping to cover some of your exposed skin from the cool air. “let's just go then.”

You reached the encamped quite late and were happy to see there were only two guards on duty. Unclasping his cape you let it fall into the snow. You dropped to the ground rolling around in the dirt and he gave you the strangest look. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked, rolling his eyes at the strange behaviour you always seemed to exhibit.

“You'll see,” you smiled at him, taking the dagger from your leg and slicing a shallow swipe across your arm, running your hands through your already tousled hair, before running with an exaggerated limp towards the guard.

“Sir, sir!” You called, reaching towards them, “please help, there's a monster. It's following me.” throwing yourself into the taller ones arms, you began to shiver. You hadn’t been this close to one of them in a very, very long time.

In the brush behind you, Aleksander rolled his eyes. You always had a flair for the dramatic. He watched as the guards helped you to what he assumed was their medical tent. Taking careful steps he crept towards the tent he knew they were holding the young Grisha. He moved fast when he spotted the young girl, she would’ve been no more than 10. Her face bloodied and bruised from where the monsters had hurt her, her wrists bound tightly, her small head hanging almost lifelessly on her chest. Only the soft rise and fall of her chest confirmed that she had not succumbed to her injuries yet. He felt the wind rise around him, the flaps of the tent opening flapping wildly and he knew he only had moment left. With one slice of a shadow he had freed the young girl, cautiously lifting her.

When he exited the tent, he saw the camp was in shambles, the other tents knocked over, fires blown out and the two men were nowhere to be seen and there you stood. The wind blowing your hair wildly around your face, the dress spiraling like a flame skirting around your body and he saw a glimpse of the woman he had once known, the reason you had hidden yourself away from the world The oncom- "sir," the young girl stirred on his shoulder, "where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere you'll be safe, rest now," he reassured her, patting her hair as he pressed her face into his shoulder to shelter her from the wind. Your eyes met his and you saw the young girl beaten and battered on his shoulder. You made your way towards them.

“Is she ok?” you asked, observing the bruises along her small arms.

“No, but she will be, in time. The men?” he lifted his head, his eyes sweeping over the camp.

“Not a worry, but we better go now,” you said, ushering him into the wood. You knew if you told him what they had tried he would tear them apart. He didn't need that, he already had enough on his plate. Besides they wouldn't be trying that on anyone else anytime soon.

“I knew you were the right woman to bring,” he smiled at you and you took him by the hand, the warmth of his touch relieving the chill of the wind. You walked slowly hoping not to the harm the young girl anymore and prayed you would make it back to the little palace before their reinforcements came.

EP4

#the darkling #the darkling x reader #the darkling reader #shadow and bone fanfic #aleksander morozova #black heretic x reader #chaos and the dark

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

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Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments

So... have I ever told you guys that Louis is my favorite character in TWDG? No? I didn’t have to? You could tell by the everything that is my blog that he’s my favorite?

Well your deduction skills are great because it’s true-- Louis is, indeed, my favorite character and after all the nonsense going on with last week’s T5F, I wanted to talk about my boy to get that salty taste outta my mouth, y’know?

I want to talk about some of my favorite Louis moments from The Final Season, and in turn, about why I love him so much.... also this challenge of giving myself only 5 moments was just cruel and I struggled because I love nearly every Louis moment. I had to narrow it down to the favorite moments where I believe his development as a character were at its greatest, because that’s something I love about him-- his growth through the season.

Wanna give a quick shoutout @pi-creates for letting me use some screenshots for this post! I’m also doing a bit of a collab with Pi and a few others for this T5F. I thought it would be fun if they did some lists for other characters! I’ll update this post with links to their Top 5′s as they come out. :D

Pi’s Top 5 Aasim Moments @kaylee-wolf’s Top 5 James Moments @taurusicorn2400′s Top 5 Favorite Things About Violet @akemi-rose578′s Top 5 Favorite Ruby Moments

5. Appealing to Louis

I won’t spend too much time on this one because I talked about this entire scene in great detail in my Marlon character study, but I do truly love everything about it.

When you appeal to Louis, he’s pretty insistent about staying out of it... even though you can tell this whole situation is hurting him. With Marlon still having a grip on him, Louis feels like he has to side with Marlon because he’s his best friend, he’s always had his back, he’s gotta trust him... Marlon wouldn’t kill Brody like that, it just doesn’t make sense, right?

Add that on top of the fact that Louis is already established as “Marlon’s lap dog,” as Aasim puts it, and Marlon himself even implies that Louis is irresponsible and doesn’t ever step up.

So to have Louis instinctively puts his hands up like “Oh no, no, noooo I am not involved! Sorry, I like ya Clem but yeah, you’re on your own.... sorry,” makes sense with how he’s established, and you as Clementine have to sway him to your side by giving him some much needed courage and a chance to break from Marlon’s control to do the right thing, which is executed super well.

My personal favorite choice is to ask Louis if he’s really going to just let Marlon shoot me just so that he doesn’t want to get involved. You can see from his body language and facial expressions that Clementine’s words struck a nerve... he doesn’t want that to happen, that he doesn’t want Marlon to murder Clementine like this, and that he knows this is all wrong.

Also, Clementine’s “I thought you were more than that” is just.... so good. When you consider his entire arc... as far as we know, this is the first time someone has said something like that to Louis and it shows.

So he tries to talk to Marlon the first time, and Marlon intimidates and manipulates him to where you believe he’s not going to help you... and I love it. I love the way this is shot where Louis, with his hands up, slips right in front of Clementine and talks Marlon down. He sees that Marlon has a damn gun pointed at him, but he puts himself in danger to protect Clementine [and Marlon, in a way]... someone he doesn’t know that well, and he even walks towards Marlon while the gun is still pointed at him to protect her and those around him.

There’s also the other bits where Louis tries to be reassuring to Marlon, that they’re gonna help him out, that they’re all they got, that Marlon wasn’t always pathetic.... which that last one prompts the “Yeah I was, you’re just the only one who didn’t see it,” and that’s... a whole thing.

This is the first glimpse of growth we see with Louis and I love it.

4. The talk in the dorms

Okay... this scene.

I love this scene... obviously. One of my favorite’s from Ep2. After AJ is patched up and recovering in the dorms, Louis comes by to bring AJ some new clothes since his got torn up from Abel’s magic shotgun.

At this point, we already know that Louis is dealing with a lot of shit-- his best friend of 8+ years was murdered right in front of him, he’s traumatized, mourning, and hurting buuuuuut most of the Ericson crew don’t seem to care that he’s going through this. Violet keeps invalidating this pain and calling him a shithead while talking shit about Marlon right in front of him without any care. Mitch acts like Louis should be more aggressive because he was Marlon’s best friend, which results in Louis feeling even shittier.

He doesn’t know what to do about Clementine and AJ, all he knows is that them being there makes everything feel worse and he’s scared... AND on top of that, he just learned what Marlon was really like, Brody did indeed die because Marlon hit her, the twins might be alive because Marlon traded them away, AND there are asshole raiders coming to kidnap and/or murder them.

AND because he took part in the vote that got Clementine and AJ kicked out and insisted they follow through, AJ ended up getting shot by Abel’s magic shotgun and could’ve died... and Louis feels responsible for that, but he’s conflicted because this kid literally murdered his best friend that’s why they were kicked out in the first place.

Also, presumably, he’s dealing with all this by himself.

Honestly, I’m surprised he’s still functioning because that’s a lot.

Despite all that, he still sticks with Ruby in helping patch AJ up, and is thoughtful enough to bring him new clothes so he’s more comfortable. It says a lot about him, y’know? He’s still hurting, he’s still angry, but he doesn’t hate Clementine and AJ for what happened. He never did, he just didn’t know what to do. He’s still processing what happened and sorting out his feelings.

Oh and then the talk with Clementine... okay, I love the talk.

It’s quiet, sincere, and emotional. Clementine kinda begins to pry about whether or not he’s okay with them staying after AJ gets better and the raiders are taken care of, and he avoids giving her a straight answer until she pushes, to which he answers with an honest, “I don’t know, Clementine.”

Then AJ wakes up, and I love the way Louis responds to AJ asking if they’re friends again. He doesn’t lie to make AJ feel better, but he’s not a jerk about it.

And finally, we get the final dialogue prompt with him. I usually tell him I really missed him, to which he responds with, “Missed you, too. Goodnight.” and I just... it’s so good.

Honestly, Louis could’ve turned into a real bitch and not bothered, he could’ve remained angry and took every opportunity to remind Clem and AJ of how terrible they are... I can think of plenty characters that would’ve done that in his situation, but that’s not Louis. He’s not that kind of person... which is interesting when you consider his backstory and what landed him at Ericson in the first place. He’s seen what that kind of resentment, no matter how great, can lead to.

Overall, one of the best moments in his character development.

3. Louis opening up to Clementine in the music room

Oh, where to begin?

First off, not gonna gush too much about the clouis because this is a list focusing on Louis, not necessarily his romance with Clementine... I’ll only bring it up when it pertains to his character development, y’know? Second, not gonna get into the poor lead up to this scene where the writers dropped the ball with the ‘go with Violet to protect the school vs screw around with Louis and probably die’ thing. That’s a topic for another day. Just talking about the scene itself.

Because this moment is so damn good. Honestly, these last three entries I could probably do entire posts picking them apart and analyzing everything but we don’t wanna be here for hours so I’ll try to condense it the best I can.

So Louis invites Clementine to the music room because he needs up with a project. Clementine enters to find him playing a song that he wrote, and they have a fun conversation. Right off the bat, we get Clementine mentioning that they haven’t heard any music for a while [implying that Louis hasn’t been playing] and Louis responds with, “Some say you’re not about to hear it now.” which we all know is him trying to make light of people telling him he doesn’t have any music talent and like.... his face. The way it falls as the music goes from cheery to sad. The way Clementine looks at him.

I talk about Louis having a wall around him a lot. Well, that’s because he does. It’s the irony thing where the happy, loud, funny character is actually putting that on as a façade because they’re hiding behind a wall too scared to let anyone in because it’s either bit them in the ass before or no one has bothered to ever take them seriously anyway or a number of other reasons.

Louis seems to let that wall down for little bits at a time without realizing it, then when he does, it shoots right back up. A great example of this is in ep1 when he and Clementine talk in the woods. The shift is obvious, and here he’s still doing it.

He turns around and asks Clementine how they feel about their imminent deaths in a jokey tone. My favorite thing to do is here is remain silent. When you do that, he becomes serious again and in a soft voice, he tells Clementine that he’s here for her.

I find this whole sections of the scene, including the tuning the piano part, so interesting because it’s him testing the waters with Clementine, if you will. He’s inching the wall down until they’re both sitting comfortably at the piano when he begins to play his song for her. They mark the piano, and I think that seals it for him that they’re here together, that Clementine isn’t like the others who have never taken him seriously or never bother to look below the surface.

So, he takes a chance and fully brings the wall down, opening himself up to her as he thanks her for being there with him, even after everything.

Like... Louis is just so aware of people’s perceptions of him. This is a discussion that I’ve had with people before where Louis is very much a people person in the way that he’s not just charismatic, he’s observant, too.

Anyway, you can have Clementine confess she has romantic feelings for him, establishing them as a couple, or you can remain friends but now you’re super best friends. You know me, I go the romance route because clouis.

I do wanna point out that Louis does have romantic feelings for Clementine no matter what you pick, but if you do wish to remain friends, he’s incredibly respectful of that. There’s no bitterness, there’s no pushing. He’s maybe a little sad for two seconds before he realizes that he has a new [and probably better] best friend and embraces it. He’s just happy to have Clementine at his side.

As for the romance, I will never get over his reaction to Clementine confessing. His face? So good. Then he becomes so giddy talking about how he was hoping Clementine felt that way and “Holy shit, it’s me!”

Then he names the song he wrote after her and they smooch~!

uhh sorry, said I wasn’t gonna gush about clouis but can’t help it... and hey, in my defense, it does pertain to his development because this relationship influences him greatly.

What else can I say? It’s fucking great.

2. Louis finally shares something from his past & plays Don’t Be Afraid

Yeah I’m combining them, they go hand in hand okay.

Listen.... like I said before, I could write an entire analysis of Louis in this scene, but I’m gonna reel it in.

We finally get the reason Louis was sent to Ericson in the first place-- he was stupid rich with parents who gave him whatever he wanted except singing lessons, and being the spoiled child he was he didn’t take kindly to that... so he broke into his father’s credit card accounts and faked an affair in order to break up his parents marriage, and then when it was all said and done, he threw his fathers words back in his face.

Like.... I’m pretty fucking sure not a single one of us thought this was going to be the case when it came to Louis giving us his backstory.

He finally puts it all out there and now Clementine knows what kind of person he was before he arrived at the school, what he was capable of before she met him. That wall is gone.

But this is what I was talking about before. Louis knows first hand what can happen when feelings go unchecked, when resentment is held onto, when you don’t apologize or try to repair mendable relationships, when you’re vindictive and bitter and take it out on others. He’s been there and now he’s here, and he holds a lot of that with him. You can see he does in the way he talks about himself and struggles with confidence in his abilities.

I also love the line he says when you remain silent about how he doesn’t even know the person he’s talking about, how it’s like the only thing they share is the same name. He then goes on to say that Clementine should know who she’s riding into battle, which I’ve always seen as his way of telling her she should know who he really is, good and bad, before she puts anymore effort, faith, love, etc. into him and their relationship.

Then there’s the song.

Tenn asks Louis if he can play Don’t Be Afraid for them, a song that he composed with Minerva back before she was taken by the delta, and it’s my favorite version.

Just the way he looks at Clementine before he starts and she gives him a small reassurance before he starts, and he fucking dedicates the song to Minnie... who is going to try to kill him later and that’s a whole thing, but it’s still a sweet sentiment.

Then the song plays and it’s that calm before the storm moment, y’know? Like, everyone is sitting there listening to him play this beautiful song while realizing that shit’s going down soon and this might be the last happy moment they get.... and then as he’s playing, Louis looks over at AJ’s drawing of Violet, Aasim, and Omar and just.... his expression.

Also, he looks up at the ceiling as he’s playing and given how glossy his eyes look at the end of the song.... you know he was trying to hold it together. And that last look he and Clementine share? ugh.... it hurts my heart.

I adore this scene.... We finally got something about Louis’ past, which is something he hardly shares up to this point. Anything shared is minor, like how he used to play baseball or he hates cantaloupe.... but nothing major, y’know? So good.

1. The walk back to Ericson

This is it.

When it comes to Louis’ development as a character, this is it. Let me tell you about this moment because oh my god.

To start things off, Louis gets back to the school with everyone and then alone decides he’s gonna go look for Clementine, AJ, and Tenn. Which I don’t know if that’s something he would’ve done in ep1, at least he wouldn’t’ve gone alone. This to me says that he got back, made sure everyone was taken care of based on his comment about Violet’s eyes, and then set off on his own to look for them.

Then we get the cute clouis, Louis celebrates victory a little too early, and they begin their walk about to the school... and it starts off so quiet. He and Clementine steal glances at each other before Louis brings up Dorian. Y’know, the woman he killed.

We learn that it’s his first human kill ever.... in the 8+ years of the apocalypse, Louis has never had to do that and it’s one of the things he was so scared off. We were supposed to get a bit about that during the party but y’know, it was cut for budget reasons.... which is lame but you can figure it out from his behavior before they snuck onto the boat anyway.

It’s a great talk between them. I usually tell him that it’ll get easier, and he acknowledges that it’s fucked up, but he believes it will get easier and he’s just glad he has it in him at all. He tells Clementine that having a home means protecting it, he shares some things about his past, and then he and Clementine talk about a dream house together.

And this.... THIS. Okay look. Listen. I know people give Louis shit for how he behaves in ep1. You don’t have to go far before you see people writing him off as lazy, irresponsible, blah blah blah..... and like, I think people forget that character growth is a thing? That a character usually starts out flawed and over the course of a story, they change? for better or worse?

I’m perfectly okay with Louis being portrayed as irresponsible and carefree and whatnot because from that point he grows.

Remember what he said in ep1? He says he prefers to think of survival as a day-to-day task, he says that the future doesn’t exist and there’s only today, that the only thing anyone has is this moment.

Louis didn’t look at the future because he didn’t care, or rather, it wasn’t a priority for him. He slacked off because he turned away from responsibility when Marlon needed him, and while I don’t disagree with his view of appreciating the now, I do believe the future should be considered.

Now compare that to Louis in ep5.

That whole conversation is Louis telling Clementine he wants a future with her and the rest of Ericson, and while maybe they can’t build that 914-floor purple mansion, they can still try.... they can still create a home together. I think he still believes his this moment talk, but has a better grasp of what he really wants, y’know?

His whole journey when you stick with him is just.... so good. It’s not perfect, I mean y’all know that I have my issues with how some things were done, but Louis’ development as a character is one of the greatest accomplishments in TFS.

Also, Louis lost the 4th grade spelling bee because of “recommend” and he had a pet turtle named Geoff. My patience has been rewarded and I know more about his backstory.

I don’t even know what else to say? It’s #1 for a reason? Because it’s a great showcase for how far he’s come? and I love him so much? Seriously this scene is so good?

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Honorable Mentions

-Louis’ introduction in the music room. It’s a classic fave. -The walker piñata moment where Louis lets his guard down around Clementine to tell her his view point on survival. -The archery moment where Louis apologizes to Clementine and opens up a bit about Marlon. -The card games. Both of them. He’s great. -Everything in the dorms in ep3. -y’know what? Just everything that isn’t the cell scene okay? 90% of Louis scenes get honorable mentions.

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So there we go. There’s all my gushing about Louis. Could do it for much longer, but I don’t think we wanna be here for hours. So, what are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with any of my choices? Or have anything to add? I’m always down to chat about muh boy.

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

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Next week’s T5F Top 5 Reasons Doug Was Pretty Great

#twdg t5f #twdg louis #twdg clementine #twdg aj #twdg violet #twdg marlon #twdg aasim #twdg tenn #twdg minerva #twdg mitch

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