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thesherrinfordfacility · 10 months

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ive had an epiphany (i think, hard to tell) and im going to shove it under a cut because 1) it's going to be long as shite and feral in tone, 2) if im right about this it could potentially be a spoiler, and 3) if im wrong then its at least camouflaged slightly

(does NOT however contain The Spoiler but references it in the abstract)

but i hereby submit for your consideration my thoughts on what s2 is going to be

okay let's get down to business bitch, tbh i just want to write down my thought process on what s2 might look like, crackpot theories and all

Amazon makes a reference to two things in their synopsis that i and others have remarked on before and think the wording is incredibly important: "attempt to fix a relationship", and "things become increasingly unsafe for them, in the past and the present"

to be completely blunt, and ill explain why ive arrived at this as i go, i think the plot might just be centred around the ineffable plan going to hell (metaphorically but see also: literally) in a handbasket

the whole point by the end of s1 is that noone knows god's true plan, and the fact that the little-apocalypse-that-could may have been the true plan all along. that the world is not meant to end, and that whatever follows is gods intention

so what happens if something or someone messes around with it? say, perhaps, crowley and aziraphale being chronically unable to mind their own business, and get caught up in fixing a relationship that may not have ever been intended in the first place? or, at the very least, aziraphale started it?

and what happens once they start meddling? would, perchance, things start going wrong in the timeline? their own personal one, and that of others? is this well intentioned matchmaking clusterfuck the epicentre for all things that have Happened to unravel?

take gabriel for instance. does something change on the timeline, in the ineffable plan, that means he gets punished for his part in s1? and heaven clocks that something has gone awry and sets out to find out where he's gone and what caused it? like, my boy goob was practically sent to earth to sit on the naughty step

the bit in the trailer where he gets his purple eyes back - is that part of alternate timeline unraveling? gabriel starts leaking through into goob?

did sandalphon suffer the same fate, and that's why he's not in S2? (i know the actor wasn't available but presumably they will explain his absence in plot terms)

beelzebub! they look like they've gone missing too, been punished and relegated somewhere else - was that meant to happen? the demons start to rise up and it looks like they come to attack the bookshop,

and what about the Dinner of 41? was that even meant to happen? or is it an alternate timeline of the church scene, and aziraphale and crowley end up having a wee romantic dinner and a bit of a cwtch?

the scene in the graveyard in the late 1800s? is that another true flashback scene, or is that the holy water argument gone differently? aziraphale agrees to help crowley get it, and takes him to a church at night to help retrieve it?

i think somehow the jukebox mystery plays a role here too - is the jukebox being stuck on buddy holly the first clue to aziraphale that something has gone wrong? that there's no reason for a song from 1957 to suddenly be playing on repeat, and it's a little rip in the timeline that sets them on trying to sort out what the hell has happened, and what caused it?

magician aziraphale: might be a flashback, or just simply a cute scene in the overall plot, or given that there were pictures and advertisements for his magic act, did he suddenly become a famous magician? literally able to do miracles, and he loves it, so why not have a side hustle?

im not going to go in depth of The Spoiler because i don't want to ruin someone's day, but does The Spoiler happen on the alternate timeline? after the "there's just god, moving in mysterious ways" scene? 👀

the weather starts going fucky, and all the green mist that was in the poster AND at the end of the trailer when the demons descend - not necessarily indicative of anything but seems rather catastrophic and other-worldly

and then the opening sequence! there's so much i could look at but the general atmosphere of 'everything has gone to shit' is really apparent, and little details like "the ladies of camelot", the bomb dropping, and the Titanic (?) in the side of the hill at the end is all screaming to me as being hints of major events having been messed up, or at least different points of time colliding

and lastly!!! (for now) the picture of the school of athens by raphael. other, better people have speculated on it better than i can, but ultimately i think we can firmly take this as an indication that crowley, aziraphale, and goob weren't meant to be there originally

(SIKE one more thing) then recently prime social media recently shared infographics of aziraphale and crowley's historic timeline from s1e3 and, not to be a knob about it, it was bold of them to assume that we don't have that half hour of screentime memorised frame for frame... So why remind us???

i have no meaningful way of concluding this other than the fact that i will continue to minutely analyse everything we've had so far re: s2, including the opening sequence, bts photos, the trailer, all of it... because idk about you but i am either lightyears away from predicting s2 or im about to win the leisure cruise and 5000 quid spending money... and there will be no in between

#good omens #i dont even have much to add in the tags for once #but this will likely be periodically updated as i find out more #and lets face it even if im hysterically wrong at least its a nice prompt for a fic #just give me due credit i worked hard on this #to be continued

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stra-tek · 1 year

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With Picard season 3 ending very soon, let's review the endings to modern Trek, and see the chances of it ending well. Or rather, you read what I think.

Discovery S1: Flat as a pancake end to the Klingon war, following epic and satisfying ends to the Klingon sarcophagus ship and Lorca's mutiny storylines. Massive backstage unheavel meant the end and beginning had very different creative direction. 1/5.

Discovery S2: I loved it, a massive epic space battle, a big emotional farewell between Spock and Michael (argubly the first time Discovery paused a massive crisis for a therapeutic chitchat, which would go on to become a tiresome cliche) and great time travel scenes even though the Red Angel did things Michael never could have (like disable the Ba'ul technology as if by magic) so it doesn't work if you look closely. Still, more creative upheaval and rumours of a massive change in creative direction mid-season, supposedly dropping a faith vs science plotline which would have featured a religious Captain Pike butting heads with Michael for the fun but cliche Control/Skynet story. Set up Section 31, Strange New Worlds spin-offs and Discovery's jump to the 32nd century. 5/5 despite flaws I was buzzing afterwards.

Picard S1: A flat ending to the synth storyline, a weird choice to kill Picard and make him a synth (perhaps a fix job for an originally planned sacrifice they had to work around when they decided to carry the show on?) and with some solid gold scenes with Picard and Data in the weird synth computer simulation afterlife. 2/5.

Discovery S3: A fun end with big fist fights in an impossible hammerspace between Discovery's decks. 3/5.

Picard S2. The final scenes between Q and Picard were solid gold. The rest was runny shite. 1/5.

Discovery S4. Big alien aliens. Deus ex machina brings Book back from the dead. Book gets community service for terrorist activities. Peace is made with the floaty giant aliens. Flat again, as was the whole season IMHO. 2/5.

Lower Decks S1. I don't remember. 3/5 it was always fun and watchable.

Strange New Worlds S1: The Ghost of Christmas Future and a reboot of Balance of Terror. Iffy Jim Kirk casting. 4/5.

Lower Decks S2. I remember Carol's arrest. 3/5.

Prodigy S1. Amazing season, amazing finale. Every emotional beat was earned. 5/5 the best of modern Trek, watch it if you haven't.

Lower Decks S3. Loved the race between Cerritos and the Texas-class. But holy shit Starfleet needs to stop with letting AI control anything important. The end with the Cali-class saving the say was ace. 4/5.

Don't fuck it up, Picard S3 people. Your season has been an amazing, contrived, fanwank explosion clusterfuck that somehow works really well so far. Don't ruin it.

#star trek #star trek discovery #star trek prodigy #lower decks #strange new worlds #star trek picard

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demonslayedher · 11 months

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Appreciating the KnY Noh Production: Part 2 of 3

Humans are demons, demons are humans. Weave their eternal feelings, and dance.

Or... nerds are fangirls, fangirls are nerds. Weave their eternal feelings, and screech about how good the Kimetsu no Yaiba Noh/Kyogen stage production was.

This post is going to be my play-by-play of the things I appreciated in the staging and script choices, and I'm writing it assuming you've read through Part 1, which describes more of the background of this production, and more broadly, some Noh theater basics. This review comes in two parts, for this entry I will cover the elements of the first act:

~Surprise! It's Muzan! Part 1~ Okina: Hinokami (as in Hinokami Kagura)

Waki-Noh: Sagiridoushi (featuring Sabito & Makomo)

Shura-Noh: Fujikasaneyama (featuring the Hand Demon)

Kyogen (Interlude 1): Katanakaji (featuring Haganezuka)

Katsura-Noh: Shirayuki (featuring Nezuko... and Giyuu!)~

~Surprise! It's Muzan! Part 1~

As stated in the previous post, I was totally startled by this, as I expected Hinokami Kagura right away because this Muzan part wasn't included the pamphlet. It also totally took me off-guard because he was dressed in Michael Jackson style, and although he was moving with Noh stylistic movements, the overall entrance and delivery felt like something you'd find in a Western-influenced stage production.

Mansai-san--nay, Mansai-sama gave the performances I had the most fun watching, he can do such a variety of styles. I had no idea it was the same person performing later roles, such as immediately after Muzan's brief scare of the audience and declaration that he is a perfect being.

Okina: Hinokami

Seeing as the Okina is a sort of holy dance only performed on special occasions like New Years, this was on point. From a storytelling standpoint, it also helped to introduce Hinokami Kagura right away so that the reference made in the fight with Rui would be immediately understandable to an uninitiated audience. Mansai-sama is back right away as Tanjuro, who against the backdrop of the chanters and musicians, teaches Hinokami Kagura to Tanjiro, in the shite role, played by Ohtsuki Yuuichi*. Hearing the Breaths of Hinokami Kagura set to Noh chant was very cool, especially because they incorporated the movements Gotouge illustrated.

They made no ambiguity about whether this was a fire god or a sun god, though--in addition to using the kanji for "sun," Kinoshita (the script writer) made use of many poetic references to the sun. Speaking of references, while impressing the importance of this dance to Tanjiro, Tanjuro calls it a "dance of Kagutsuchi." If sticking more strictly to the Kojiki records of Shinto mythology, this little fire god of the hearth and protection from fire accidents would be referred to as Kagutsuchi-no-Kami, and although Kinoshita kept the full kanji, he stressed that it should only be read as "Kagutsuchi," in reference to the Taisho Secret in volume 1 in which Gotouge mentioned other possible titles which would had used a reference to this god, like "Onigari Kagutsuchi" or "Sumi no Kagutsuchi" (Demon Hunter Kagutsuchi or Kagutsuchi of the Charcoal).

*Reiwa Secret: Speaking of Ohtsuki Yuuichi, Gotouge's illustration of Tanjiro for this event is based on a photo of this actor performing an Okina, and it seems Ohtsuki was thrilled with it. Like the young actors portraying Zenitsu and Inosuke, it seems he felt a heavy weight of responsibility in portraying Tanjiro (and for one scene, Nezuko). Being a shite role, that means that even when other Kyogen characters could break into simpler styles of speaking for dramatic or comedic effect, Tanjiro was played in a very serious manner for every line. It was a taken on Tanjiro we can't really get anywhere else. We feel the weight of the path of tragedy he walks and morals which structure his conduct, without the refreshing sides of Tanjiro's cheerfulness. It has an air of awe and respect for his circumstances.

Waki-Noh: Sagiridoushi

We begin this scene with Tanjiro exchanging his Hinokami Kagura prop for a Nichirin blade, and entering the hashigakari bridgeway from the stage, imply going from one world or time to another.

From the other side, Urokodaki and Giyuu enter. By the passing of a letter prop and taking turns with narration of the letter's contents, we hear Giyuu's words of introduction to Urokodaki beautifully melded into Noh style chant and delivery. Giyuu is a waki character in this production, and like the shite Tanjiro, his lines are delivered with weight and seriousness. Often he is an observer, a simple, austere presence, and one of the character who felt the most like himself. His costume was rather simple (I attempted a sketch here), but I kind of wish they'd have experimented more with brocade to tone down the colors of the haori with more elegance, like they did for Urokodaki and Nezuko.

Urokodaki, though. He was a Kyogen style character in a waki role, like an adorable old man with more freedom of expression, also played by Mansai-sama. I'll get to my favorite joke with him later, but the training was kept simple as he walked Tanjiro down the hashigakari to the far end, where the simplistic boulder prop was placed. We then were promptly introduced to Sabito and Makomo (who was kind of funny, seeing as she was clearly played by a full-grown man speaking sweetly behind a fox mask), and I don't know if the initial swordplay with Sabito beating up on Tanjiro was traditional Noh, or a modern innovation for telling this story.

In the original script, Sabito & Makomo perform a dance which explains more of the Demon Slayer Corp, including very artful references to all the known Breath styles. Frankly, this whole script is written artfully, like using the listing of the Corp ranks later on for their sound opposed as to their direct meaning in context, but I confess my ears were not attuned enough to the chant to be able to pick these things up like when I read the script later, so all these Breath references were either something I missed or they were cut out to shave down stage time.

The final face-off with Sabito on the hashigakari was very cool in how they only used a single drum with a steady tempo, and because Noh props are simple, practical, and easily moved, Sabito and Makoto immediately hid behind the boulder as the two pieces split. They then reappear from behind the rock, with fox masks to one side, but more traditional Noh masks over their faces, for a ghostly effect as they bid Tanjiro to win at the Final Selection.

Urokodaki grants Tanjiro permission to go, Tanjiro leaves from the far end of the hashigakari while Urokodaki lingers by the stage side. Tanjiro bids him to say hello to Sabito & Makomo. The script notes how when Urokodaki enters, he passes by Sabito & Makomo but does not notice them. Sabito & Makomo look at him before they exit.

Urokodaki is left there alone in the same spot on the hashigakari, remarking how those children lost their lives at the Final Selection. He lifts his hands up in the air and prays, as though ordering, that Tanjiro return safely.

Tanjiro quickly enters and announces he has returned.

Urokodaki is exaggeratedly startled. "Already!?" The audience laughs. Tanjiro is playing this extremely seriously and Urokodaki insists its impossible that a week has already passed, but ah, no matter, Tanjiro must tell him how it went! That takes us straight into...

Shura-Noh: Fujikasaneyama

In true Noh style of characters orating a story that already happened, Tanjiro tells Urokodaki about his battle with the Hand Demon. And, we get the Hand Demon on stage. He looks like this.

(Source and interview with Ohtsuki here)

Not one of the better demons in this production, I felt--initially, anyway. The actual battle was inspired by and paid homage to more traditional Noh stories about heroes, and the Breath of Water practical stage effect with ribbons on the end of the sword was very cool--a lot more grounded than the video projection effects used in the stage musical versions of KnY.

Speaking of traditional stage techniques and working with the confines of reality to guide an audience's imagination...

The Hand Demon's death was slow. Three of the six actors melted away to the back right away, with two still actors remaining behind the actor wearing the face, whose hand Tanjiro slowly and solemnly holds. The slowed pace and dimming of the lighting contrasts with the battle. Tanjiro's lines wishing for the Hand Demon to pass on are beautifully transcribed into Noh style. The moment the Hand Demon dies, the face disappears behind the two actors who just as swiftly reveal themselves as Sabito and Makomo.

And I was like, "WHOA!!!! IT'S THEM!!! THEY WERE THERE AS GHOSTS!!!!!!"

Kyogen (Interlude 1): Katanakaji

With Tanjiro nowhere in sight for this scene, Haganezuka makes himself comfortable telling us, the captive audience, about how Nichirin blades are made. Even better, after quoting some of my favorite panels of lore which are never brought up again, he pantomimes the process of sword making with some simple props, making full use of the fun onomatopoeia of Kyogen.

Putting it into the fire--ouch ouch, ooh, hot!--giving it a hit with a nice 'ten' sound, a nice 'kan' sound, cooling it down in the water, juuuuu, heating it back up--ouch, ouch!--hitting it with ton-ten-kan ton-ten-kan. in the water, juuuuu, in the fire--ouch, ouch!--ton-ten-kan, ton-ten-kan, ton-ten-kan, and he gets progressively faster as he starts complaining about the nerve of some swordsmen and how they treat their swords, ton-ten-kan-ton-ten-kan-ton-ten-kan, until eventually Haganezuka breaks the sword he's working on.

This scene was not performed by Mansai-sama, but Mansai-sama contributed a lot of jokes to it.

Katsura-Noh: Shirayuki

If I could rewatch one scene again, it would be this one.

(Source and interview with Ohtsuki here)

The challenge the scriptwriter Kinoshita faced with Nezuko as the clear shite character to use for the female-centric Katsura-Noh was that Nezuko doesn't speak. She can't tell her own story.

It's a good thing we've got Giyuu for that! He plays the waki, using lines from when he first encountered the Kamado siblings and warned Tanjiro to use his anger to get stronger and such, and it worked very well in Noh chant style. I was listening very closely to it, because prior to the performance I flipped to this part of the pamphlet was expecting a certain element.

In the original conception of this scene, Kinoshita was thinking about scenery as themes and how it is tied to the psyche of the characters--the sun in the Hinokami scene, and the moon in the Rui scene, for example. For Nezuko, he chose pure white snow.

The idea behind this scene is that she is dreaming in her box--she starts and ends the dance in the box prop at the back of the stage, while Giyuu has passed by it and sat at the corner of the stage for the waki. Nezuko is dreaming of her family, and the lyrics of "Koyama no Kousagi" (the song about the little rabbit with red eyes) are written into the script.

Her appearance is that of an innocent girl, but movements of the dance in time with the drums and flute give the impression of a demon. It was striking; the white snow is also in reference to the mind of a young girl fighting on the boundary between humanity and demonhood. Giyuu presence feels as though he is watching over her, as well as watching her.

The script for this scene ends with a striking shift from the innocence of Nezuko's dream to the reality of Nezuko's memories--red splashes of blood against the white snow.

This is the part of the script that almost made me cry as I read it, thinking back to the impact of the movements and sounds on stage.

But you wanna know why else I wanna cry??? Because when the scene ended, I was like, "what?? No!!!! Where were the Kousagi lyrics??? I was waiting for the Kousagi lyrics!!!! How did I not catch them???" and I realized upon reading more carefully later than large portions of the first draft of the script did not make it into the finalized production.

I'm so sad and I want to see this scene again, in full.

Review to be continued (and concluded) in Part 3!

#kny noh production #kny in real life

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raposarealm · 2 years

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Oh!! A new model! Usually a new unique model indicates another potential magical girl added to the roster, like what we saw with Mitsune or even Kagome before her. It’s exciting to see some new cast, especially if this indicates either a potential Arc 3 being set in the present, or a replacement for an Arc 3, or even a supplement to it! (Remember that the instances we’ve seen of characters with new unique models becoming magical girls usually ended up being a major part of the main story!)

Shioya Harumi, eh? She seems like a very polite yet skiddish kiddo so far. In the previous lines, she panicked when Mito got to her while introducing everyone. So far, we’ve seen a couple of normal (generic) NPCs, a fifth grade boy NPC, Natsuki, Mitama, Kanagi, Mito, who’s been introducing everyone, and the person introduced before Harumi here...

HUH??????? A DUDE WITH A FACE?????

My god, that’s the third unique male model we’ve seen, after Tonker’s dad and Tasuke. Huh, speaking of which, those latter two did end up becoming very important in late Arc 2, and they were both family members of main character magical girls...

Oh, he has a name too!!! “Izumi Sougetsu”...

WAITWAITWAIT IT’S NAGITAN’S BROTHER!!! Holy shite, we finally have a name for him! Wow, he’s got the exact opposite appearance to Nagitan, looks like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket. What a mood, mate.

He mentions here that he’s a 3rd year middle schooler at Daito Academy, which is odd, I seem to remember Nagitan’s brother being older than her?

I gotta go read through some parts of Chapter 10 again, but I could’ve sworn he was one of the ones who helped to snap Mitama and Nagitan out of their depresso funk, which, if I’m right there, means he’s already story relevant!!

Oh, also, looks like Sougetsu here has his own set of emotes, too. I wasn’t able to catch it well in the screenshot, but he starts showing up in event episode 2, so there should be plenty of scenes with him during the event.

#oh also one of those emotes is a straight-up tomato face blush it's hilarious #anyways i know shots of these two have been floating around for a little bit now but #i saw harumi and yelped a bit #and then saw sougetsu and screeched #ok but i get to make the joke i couldn't with tasuke: unique model usually means prospective meguca yeah?#does this possibly mean we're finally gonna get a male meguca #def not but it'd be stupid funny #adding these two to the list of 'potential fanfiction victims'#magia record #dark halloween is the color of love #shioya harumi #izumi sougetsu #first time i've seen the name 'shioya' before #reasonable last name just one i hadn't seen yet #rapo loses her damn mind

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vierandancer · 7 months

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No matter how far she traveled or how many different kingdoms (or worlds) she found herself staying in, Ishgard would always be her second home. Although she had not had a chance to stay as long or as often as she liked, walking through the Gate of Judgment never failed to remind her of everything that had transpired.

She would be sure to pay a visit to the Fortemps Manor and try to drag Ser Aymeric out of his office for a break, but she had one very important stop to make first.

She was amused to find Sidurgu in the Forgotten Knight, but not quite surprised. He was very much a creature of habit. She was surprised, however, to find him there alone.

"I hope you're not still rentin' a room here when you've a perfectly good apartment a very generous someone gave you th'key to," she teased as she approached.

Sidurgu, who had seen her walk in the door, set down his glass and shook his head. "Can a man not drink in peace?"

"Never." With a grin, she moved around the table quicker than he could react and gave him a brief hug. He froze up awkwardly, as expected. She released him and stepped back. "M'sorry it's taken me so long t'visit. World's always in need. No whisperin's o'any other blasphemies runnin' about, I hope?"

"None that I've heard. Ishgard's skies only burned for a few days before returning to normal. But it was mad for awhile there. Then again, it was mostly the clergy who were affected, so..." He shrugged, expression blank. "I didn't lose too much sleep over that." His gaze then focused on her, taking in her appearance up and down. She didn't appear to be worse for wear despite her burdens. "Are you well?"

Meiko nodded. "Aye, fully recovered from battlin' a deity o'despair at th'end o'the universe. Able-bodied an' sound o'mind, as far as I know." Her smile softened as she added, "Thank you for askin'. I worried fierce about you an' Rielle when everythin' started to spread towards Eorzea. But I knew neither o'you would succumb to misery; not after all you've been through. An' like you said -- it was mostly holy men turnin'. You an' Rielle don't exactly frequent the cathedral." Sidurgu snorted and took another drink from his mug. Meiko looked around the familiar bar, then asked, "Where's Rielle, then? She take the apartment for herself finally?"

He hesitated. Then he shook his head slowly, averting his gaze.

"No. She... she's been avoiding home for the last few days."

"What?" Meiko's brow furrowed. "Did you two argue?"

"Not exactly." With a sigh, he looked back at her and put his mug down again, hitting the tabletop with a heavy thump. "She's being a brat. Or just a teenager, I don't know. Don't take any of it to heart, all right? She knows you have important responsibilities, she just..."

"She's mad at me?" Meiko felt her heart drop into her stomach.

"She's upset you don't visit as often. When I told her you planned to come by in the next few days, she got upset and said she didn't want to see you." He waved a dismissive hand. "I told her that was stupid because she clearly missed you. She was praying for your safety every day during all of it. But she's -- I don't know."

"Sidurgu."

"I mean, would I like you to visit more too? Of course I would. But I know--"

"Sid," Meiko reached out and touched his forearm, stopping him before he drew the attention of the rest of the bar. This had clearly been bothering him, too. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to--"

"No, I do," she insisted. "I agreed t'help you raise Rielle. An' even though I've had good reasons for not bein' here, it doesn't change th'fact that you've both suffered for it. You need support an' she needs a guardian that isn't you on occasion. I've not been able t'provide much o'either these past years, an' I can't promise you the same shite won't happen ever again. So...I do have to apologize for that. An' for th'fact that nothin's likely t'change."

He opened his mouth to say something. Then shut it. Conflicted, remained quiet and frustrated, struggling to come up with a response. She would give him time.

"Is Rielle upstairs?"

"...Aye. She rented out our old room."

"All right. We'll talk more again after she's yelled at me." At his nod, Meiko turned and jogged up two flights of stairs to where the private rooms were settled. Navigating down the famiiar narrow corridor, she stopped before the door marked 3 and gave a few sharp knocks.

"Rielle," she called when there was no immediate response. "S'Meiko. Can we have a chat, please?"

"No," came the sharp response. Even when upset, hearing Rielle's voice never failed to warm her heart. She waited. Eventually, there was a shuffling and the door unlocked before opening up just enough to reveal the teenager's torso. "You don't have to keep visiting, Meiko. I know you have more important things to do."

Ouch. Meiko fought the instinct to over her heart with her palm. Those words stung.

"It's not a matter o'importance, Rielle. It's a matter o'safety. Makin' sure there's a tomorrow for the world so you can live in it," she sighed. "But you've a right t'be mad regardless. I've not been 'round when you needed me. It's my failure, but you're the one that pays for it. Sid, too."

It hurt to know that she had let them down. It reminded her just how unreachable she could be. How any relationship outside of the Scions was doomed to follow the same pattern.

"If it's too painful to only see me now and again, then I can stop comin' around. I'll sign the apartment to you an' Sid only an' give my copy o'the keys. And I can stop comin' to the Knight, too. Won't say hello in the street, either, if that's what you want."

She doubted Sidurgu would be happy with that. But she could always meet him outside of Ishgard and keep in touch with letters.

Rielle, however, only seemed to get more upset. Her grip on the door tightened, voice breaking.

"...That's it? You'll just -- you'll just go away, then? Just like that?"

Ah, fuck. She'd said the wrong thing.

"I don't want to, Rielle," she insisted, running a hand down her face and shaking her head. Damn it all, she was getting choked up, too. "M'tryin' to offer -- to offer whatever'll make you happy."

"That won't make me happy! What'll make me happy is you staying with us! You said you wouldn't abandon me, but you weren't even around when the world was ending! You didn't even come back when everything got better!"

"Rielle, I can't just --!" Meiko bit back what would have been a shout. She didn't want to shout at her. There was just so much she wanted to say, and for the briefest of moments, she was standing back in Ultima Thule standing on the walkway paved by the lives of her friends.

An Elezen poked his head out of his room down the corridor, looking perturbed. Meiko gave a wave of apology and sucked in a breath before looking at Rielle.

"Can we go inside, please?"

Rielle nodded numbly and left the doorway, moving inward to sink down onto the untidy bed. Meiko followed, shutting the door behind her. Not wanting to invade the teen's space, she sat down in an uncomfortable armchair across from her instead.

When Rielle didn't speak, Meiko took a shaky breath and started again.

"Rielle. I cannot begin t'describe everythin' I've faced since I left for Gyr Abania. I know we've seen each other here an'then in th'in-between, but... it..." She shuddered, her breath catching. "I... I needed time away, by myself, after the End of Days were stopped. I needed that time to get my head on straight."

She leaned forward, elbows on her knees.

"I can't escape my fate, Rielle. Titles an' glory an' adventure aside, I will never have a normal life. Only brief respites between th'horrors. If I could settle here in Ishgard, make a home for myself with you and Sidurgu, I would. But that isn't possible. I didn't know that when I promised to take care o'you. I know it now. So as much as it would pain me to be out of your life, I understand why you would. That's all I meant. I'm not givin' up on you. I want to visit you whenever I can, an' I promise t'make a better effort to do so. I'll even try t'write you more, even if it's a struggle. An' I will always, always love you, even if it's from the other side o'the world. But...that's all I can offer. I wish I had more."

Rielle didn't say anything. Meiko, too, could only manage to sniffle here and there. The silence felt like it stretched on for an hour, but it didn't. It only lasted a couple of minutes.

"...I don't want you out of my life," Rielle said finally, voice soft. Fragile. "I'm just...I'm mad that you're not here when I wish you were. And -- And I know it's always for a good reason. I just...I just wish the reason was me sometimes, too. I know it's not your fault, but I'm still upset -- it -- it's just so unfair, I can't stand it! Can't you just retire? I thought the Scions of the Seventh Dawn disbanded!"

"We..." Meiko felt so useless. There was nothing she could really say to comfort her. "We have, Rielle, but ... there's still a lot going on. And it goes beyond the Scions' business now. I..." Gods, she didn't have the energy to explain to her how the world came to be and her connection to Azem. She didn't even know if she was permitted to. "I can't retire. Not while I'm still breathin', at least."

She would die on a battlefield. Or in an infirmary succumbing to her injuries. Or in a great big ball of light, a heroic sacrifice... nothing anywhere as peaceful as she would have liked. No seaside cottage listenng to the waves gently lap against the beach, watching the sun rise for the final time. No comfortable bed and nurturing partner.

She would burn out like a falling star. Brilliant and terrifying. And gone in an instant.

Rielle pulled her knees up onto the mattress and hugged her arms around them, still sulking, but at least more miserable than angry at the moment. Meiko guessed this was her cue to join her, and cautiously put an arm around the girl's shoulders.

"M'sorry, Rielle."

Rielle sighed and leaned her head on Meiko's arm.

"I'm sorry, too."

#memories.#endwalker.#rielle.#sidurgu.

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wikagirl · 11 months

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This is a bit of a long one so tldr: wiika has some big feelings about the way ghost hunters on youtube treat places of cultual importance (specifically nonchristan cultures) and tragedy as well as their very narrow christian view of things

rambelings below the cut

I've been rewatching sam and colby ghosthunting videos lately and I find it really funny how you can just tell that they are christian and grew up very culutrally sheltered because they refer to literally anything from a different culture as demonic or evil, especially things from pre-christianization and by that I don't just mean europe, I also mean over in america before christians felt the need to forcibly spread the word of their imaginary skydaddy to even more people than they allready had (and they're still fucking going)

The point that I'm trying to make here is maybe all those supposed ghosts and "demons" wouldn't be out to fucking kill you all the time if you didn't go in there with the expectation that they are evil and show some respect for the culture or, alternatively, just left them the fuck alone entirely.

Of course the spirits at native american burial sites will want you off their turf if you're out there appropriating their culture and talking shite and also probably by just kind of being there considering that's their land which has been forcibly taken from them and now you're just kind of walking around like it's a tourist attraction.

Of course the woman burned as a witch at a day and age where knowing the right herbal combination to make tea for a sore throat was seen as magic would be mad at you for accusing her of demonic rituals.

Of course the supposed ghost of dracula in romania won't answer your questions in english because the chances of that man knowing english to be begin with are about as slim as a tapeworm considering that Vlad the impaler was a 15th century romanian man.

Also I feel like they should maybe dig a little deeper than the places website and two or three wikipedia pages because maybe then they'd know that just because there were childrens bones next to a knife in a pagan grave hat doesn't automatically mean child sacrifices seeing how gravegoods were a common thing in paganism and had meanings bound to tradition and family heritage as well as personal character.

like I find ghost hunting videos kind of entertaining because I like the idea of ghosts existing but don't actively believe in them atm but at the same time I'm kinda miffed about them because of the way many treat the places they are visiting.

I'm just waiting for the day where one of these ghosthunters has the nerve to go to a c-ncentration camp because that's the day I'm really going to loose my shit.

I don't really care if they are prancing around haunted churches that never had anything really happen to them or the houses of families that probably just had rodents in their walls and blamed the noises on the devilor some supposedly haunted castle in europe because fuck the monarchy go meme on them as much as you want

But please for the love of all that is divine and holy stay away from actual places of tragedy or places that are important to other cultures.

alos idk about you but If I was a pre-christian creature I'd just look at those crosses and go “Do not cite the deep magic to me Witch. I was there when it was written”like who are you trying to impress with that flimsy giftshop roserie?

#Like I'm not the most well informed about everything going on across the pond and the cultures who mingle there #but if I was a ghost and the offspring of the colonizers that took away my home #slaughtered my brethern and enslaved my children and tried to stomp out my culture entirely #showed up for a fun little chat I'd probably also be pretty pissd #especially considering that said offpsring (broadly speaking not sam and colby specific) have done next to nothing to make amends #I'd say actually quite the opposite considering how every time someone brings it up you get treated as a heretic to the american dream #I've had someone in a discord voicecall literally ask me if I'm not proud to be an american when I brought up the bloody history #and then promptly got hit with the “well you have no right to judge us because you're german” when I told them I'm not american #as if the existence of the h-locaust somehow makes any other form of large scale violence justifyable???

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queerticulate · 2 years

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Almost put it in the tags of the previous post but this deserves its own post: what if Vickie is the wrong girl? Robin said she's sacred of the consequences of asking out the wrong girl. What if it's foreshadowing?

Let's analyze:

1. In seasons 1 and 2 it is very well established this is a homophobic time/place. Lots of characters are picked on with the implication they might be gay. It happens twice a homophobic slur is used in combination with a beating. Then suddenly they give us a gay character and its all fun and cute. They could have had a change of heart, but if they are planning to be consistent: Robin has been having way too easy a time of it.

2. The costumer in that near 30 minute video said "our new character Vickie". But the truth is Vickie has barely been a character at all... so it's hinting at more to come. So Vickie matters. But what bugs me is that they spend barely any time on building a Robin/Vickie romance (and instead gave Robin and Nancy a lot of screentime together). If it's just a nice easy romance for Robin, it seems too inconsequential to play it out in full in the last season where there will be a lot of pressure to wow everyone and wrap up a lot of plots.

3. I dont think they introduced the fullblown Satanic Panic arc implicating the entire hellfire club just for quick shock value. I think thats gonna be a very important plot point - that the entire gang gets dragged into this. Vickie publicly outing Robin and using that to spur people on against her/the gang on top of all else would tie that in. (I also see the most tragic Steddie/Fruity Four potential here... holy shite).

4. The West Memphis Three case was brought up as an important inspiration for Eddie's arc. I dont know at this point what is rumor and what is truth, but I looked it up and it seems very clear this has been an inspiration for Stranger Things before. (Very much not recommend looking it up, there are way too many gruesome details on the Wiki page.) One of the dead kids was literally called Byers, the way he was described kind of sounded like Will, and a lot of Will's disappearance plot rang very similar. So maybe I've completely lost my shit but there was an important witness in this case called Vickie. This real life Vickie swore to the police that she was with the three guys convicted for the crimes at a satanic ritual and heard them confess to the murders - this was a major point towards convicting these guys. Some fifteen years later, she recanted. Saying she had made that all up cause she felt coerced by the police/was scared of what the police might have on her. If they took inspiration from these real life people and events while keeping the name once, why not twice?

5. Stranger Things is a show that really makes you look right at the ugly bits of life. The social issues the characters are facing, the tough family lives, characters falling apart from trauma - unlike many other entries in similar genres they don't gloss it over. And honestly? I think that is when the show is at its best. So i think it would be very on brand for this show to go right where it hurts, and Vickie taking things badly and using Robin's sexuality against her would be very painful (but also a very real experience gay folk have gone through). There would also be a nice side arc for Steve with the guilt he could feel for pushing Robin.

I really hope I’m wrong, because woof this will be so painful. But if I Sherlocked this one out I’m also gonna be kinda proud.

#Stranger things #robin buckley #stranger things vickie #stranger things 4 #homophobia #theories & headcanons

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sybilius · 2 years

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12, 14, 22?

12. what kind of day is it?

H A W T outside. I'm a little sleepier than I'd like to be but that said my wife and I watched Ozark so that's nice. Holy shit also I realized that the trees that grow on my neighbor's yard are APRICOTS and they're fucking going off (yes I ate one (1) and wowwwwww someday I'm gonna plant an apricot tree).

14. do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes a thousand times yes.

22. what type of person are you?

A lover, not a fighter. A gardener. A physicist. An atheist, but a funny kind of atheist I suppose. Apparently I had some thoughts on that:

I've been thinking about that one a lot lately because a good friend has hit a New Thing with her spirituality that I'm happy for her on but I'm having a difficult time connecting with. It's interesting because when we met she herself was a fairly militant atheist, and I was I suppose distantly culturally Christian. Now she's come back to a kind of new age flavored belief in god, and it's tough. It's tough because even then, she was the kind of atheist I wouldn't be able to talk about my atheism with. And now that she's... a new age deist, I guess? I also find it hard. People who get into Capital T Truth in a way that seems to want to make the answer easy, you know?

I guess it's like. The religious thing, for me, does rest firmly on a relational question rather than one of Absolute Truth-- which is to say, the important question is not "does god Exist?", I actually don't care as much about that as I do about how people think about their belief in god. How does believing in their god(s) help them survive, and treat people well, and relate to other people better?

Atheists don't really have a satisfying answer for "why not god (truth value)" either to me -- it's usually "oh it's simpler without a god, so why would I believe in one"-- like Occam's Razor fallback. That doesn't compel me. Many things in life are not simple.

But admittedly, when I think about believing in a god of any kind, it feels like to fold that into my worldview would betray all the people for whom Shite Circumstances has ever smacked down. I don't think that everything happens for a reason. I think we're good storytellers, though, at picking ourselves up and living again in spite of that, and there's something very spiritual in that. It's not just that life is simpler without a god, it's that I feel more love for humanity without that narrative. I find my worldview very comfortable and helpful for me to cope with being alive -- and I think that any god that demands belief allegiance really has some weird shit going on and would get on my personal shit list. So people who fall back on Pascal's Wager -- I mean, for me, a god that petty wouldn't be worth worshipping anyways.

Anyone who can talk about their god(s) humbly and coherently about they see things like karma, good/evil happening -- I like to talk about those things. I don't only want to talk to atheists, I love hearing good ways to think about the Problem of Evil. After all-- it is true that humans are the ones causing the problems, a lot of the time too. So good discussions on god(s) or philosophy within that are great. But it's not very fun to talk to people trying to convert you. I don't also want to convert anyone.

It's tough right now, because it's not a neutral kind of sharing for me to hear about, and she's very sweet to me about the things I'm interested in and curious about them. The way my friend talks about her relationship to god, I have to fight the instinct to feel that thinking that way about the way things happen seems very cruel.

It's giving her peace, and that's what's important. I hope someday we can speak about these things without me having to fight that feeling, and that I learn something interesting from her about yknow, coping with being alive and human in this world.

#weird asks #religion #atheism #locked to reblog because usually people have to be on like friendship level 50 with me to get me to talk about my relationship to god #having a Sophia Moment I guess!

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futueteipsi · 2 years

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witcher s2 spoilers!!

(this is literally just gonna be me ranting about it)

1. eskel stans, how are we feeling? i don’t know how they managed to fuck up a character that badly but holy fucking shit. eskel is my favorite character from the books and I love him in the games and I was so excited for him. lambert and coen were amazing and their bond was amazing, but I so desperately wished eskel was written to be how his character is. the very small flashback snippet of him and geralt was the only time I felt like that was eskel, the rest of the time he felt like a completely different character who was only used as a plot device.

2. I did not understand why they had vesemir suddenly so obsessed with recreating the trial of the grasses. that felt so out of character for him and I didn’t like it at all. i feel like there is some line in the books where vesemir says something about being glad they can’t make more witchers bc of all the trauma and shite.

3. there were so many pieces of plot that were pulled out of nowhere. I’ve read blood of elves twice and I’m currently on book 6 out of 8 (tower of swallows) so I feel pretty confident in discussing the plot of that book, but there was so much taken out and stuff put in. yen and fringilla being kidnapped by the elves? yenna losing her magic? francesca being pregnant? cahir and yenna? the monolith shit? so much was pulled out of the writers asses. don’t get me started on stuff left out; the socia’tael; any interaction with geralt, jaskier, and dijkstra; so much other shit. going off of jask and dijkstra, I liked how they teased their acquaintanceship but I’m eager to see how they go forward with it.

4. the socia’tael. what is going on. i feel like they play an extremely important role in the books, and they weren’t brought up at all. i feel like the elves as a whole with filivandriel and francesca were meant to be the socia’tael but it’s weird they didn’t mention it.

5. the emhyr reveal. I’m halfway through tower of swallows and it hasn’t even been mentioned then. i knew the whole emhyr-being-ciri’s-father thing bc of the games and all, so i feel like it was an extremely early reveal but it makes sense, plus I get that they wanted another cliffhanger ending.

6. yes jaskier is still my favorite character and I love him and that shirtless scene killed me i love joey batey so much.

#the witcher books #the witcher #the wither netflix #geraskier

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guacam011y · 3 years

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***SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 6***

So I’m still processing everything but holy shite that ep was wild...

FIRST THINGS FIRST - WANDA, VISION, BILLY AND PIETRO ALL IN COMIC ACCURATE-ISH COSTUMES AND TOMMY IN A MINI QUICKSILVER COSTUME

PIETRO CALLING BILLY AND TOMMY DEMON SPAWN - GOD DAMMIT, IT’S MEPHISTO ISN’T IT? HOUSE OF M HERE WE COME

HERB ASKING WANDA IF SHE WANTED SOMETHING CHANGED

AGNES ASKING VISION ABOUT THE AVENGERS AND STUFF AND AT FIRST SHE SEEMED GENUINELY FREAKED OUT BUT THEN STARTED LAUGHING MANIACALLY AND I STILL DON’T TRUST HER AND AGNES BEING DRESSED AS A WITCH? AGATHA HARKNESS WAS A WITCH - COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!

DARCY LOOKING OVER MONICA’S MED SCANS AND TELLING HER HOW THE HEX AFFECTS HER EACH TIME SHE GOES IN - IS SHE DEVELOPING HER POWERS?

PIETRO’S CORPSE - SCARED ME JUST AS MUCH AS VISION’S

MOVIES SHOWING IN THE THEATRE IN THE BACKGROUND - THE INCREDIBLES: A MOVIE BASED AROUND A SUPERHERO FAMILY AND THE PARENT TRAP: A MOVIE ABOUT TWINS WHO MEET AT CAMP AND TRY AND SET THEIR PARENTS UP

DON’T GO PAST ELLIS AVENUE - NOW I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS A CONNECTION OR JUST A COINCIDENCE BUT ELLIS IS THE LAST NAME OF THE PRESIDENT DURING IRON MAN 3

TOMMY HAVING HIS SPEED POWERS AND BILLY HAVING HIS REALITY WARPING/TELEKINETIC POWERS - WELCOME SPEED AND WICCAN

A CALL BACK TO INFINITY WAR WHEN VISION EXITED THE HEX? SLIGHTLY DUSTING AND HE PROBABLY WON’T SURVIVE BEING OUTSIDE OF THE HEX - HE’LL JUST DIE AGAIN 🥲

I STILL DON’T TRUST HAYWARD - HE’S VERY SUS

DARCY BEING TAKEN INTO THE HEX WITH THE OTHER S.W.O.R.D AGENTS - HOPEFULLY WE CAN SEE THE OUTFITS THAT KAT DENNING’S WAS EXCITED ABOUT

I SWEAR THEY BETTER NOT STRAIGHTWASH BILLY AND TOMMY OR I WILL RIOT 😤

***FURTHER UPDATES***

So sit-com wise, it seems they were referencing Malcolm in the Middle as the twins broke the fourth wall and talked to the audience, like Malcolm did

However, the theme song has told the viewer to stop questioning the reality of Westview - which could be a little reference to Mystery Science Theatre 3000? - When Pietro first shows up in the title sequence, along with his name title card, the lyrics say “Though there may be no way of knowing who’s come to play” - Istg, I do not trust Pietro

Vision says to Wanda that he had to wear his Halloween costume because there were no other clothes in his closet, Wanda is trying to move the plot along and forcing Vision to play along

Evan Peters’ ‘Mom’ tattoo is shown, which is a tattoo he actually has in real life ! But could this stand for ‘Multiverse of Madness’ or some other red herring?

Pietro mentions to Wanda that if he had found ‘Shangri-La’ he wouldn’t want to leave either - Shangri-La is a real place on Earth-616 that was founded by a version of Vision

Tommy refers to Pietro’s speed as ‘kickass’ and then Wanda repeats that, saying ‘kickass’ again - Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Evan Peters (both versions of QuickSilver) were in Kick-Ass together

The ad for this episode was freaky af - the character on the beach who starved and decomposed could be a little nod to Indiana Jones, where a Nazi’s face melts in - and it could also be reference to Wanda being all alone and struggling to process her grief. The shark in the ad could also be Nightmare or Mephisto or just someone more powerful than Wanda offering her a new beginning with Vision or trapped her in some way - and is feeding off her magic? The flavour of the yoghurt is strawberry flavoured and strawberry’s are red on the outside and pink-ish on the inside - much like Wanda’s og costume and her magic being red 👀

Pietro and Wanda talk about their Sokovian accents at a point in the episode and how neither have them anymore. Wanda’s, as we know, has disappeared over the course of the MCU movies and Pietro’s just doesn’t exist - another nice little nod to Peter Maximoff from the fox X-Men films? Also, Pietro states that “I’m just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the Rugrats (a 90’s cartoon 👀) and ultimately give you grief.” - in reference to the grief part, could Pietro be killed off again? Stir up trouble with the rugrats, being possible shards of the demon Mephisto’s soul, could this be Mephisto trying to influence them on a deeper level? It’s also many many common sitcom clichès

Pietro talks about how “I got shot like a chump on the street for no reason at all” - nice little nod to how Pietro was killed off unnecessarily and how we as a fandom still talk about how regular bullets shouldn’t have killed him

Herb is dressed as Frankenstein’s monster - Dr. Frankenstein created his monster and soon lost control over him, and he was created using electricity or lightning - much like Vision was created and brought to life by Thor using Mjolnïr to bring lightning down to his incubator thingy majig. Could this also be a reference to either Wanda slowly losing control over Westview or someone else controlling Wanda/controlling the citizens of Westview - we saw in episode 3 that Agnes told Herb to be quiet as it seemed he was about to spill the beans 👀

Vision goes towards Ellis avenue and is at a ‘crossroads’ of sorts - in folklore, crossroads are often used to speak to or summon the devil and are also used when an important character is making a decision that could change everything. He spots some citizens repeating certain actions and/or just standing completely still, could these be npc’s (non playable characters)? And now that the barrier of the Hex has spread, will those citizens now start to move? 👀 Also I know that all stop signs look like it, but the stop sign is also a red hexagon 🛑

Darcy scrolls through Hayward’s computer files and goes past a file called “Project C4-113” - it could reference Avengers Issue #113 in which Wanda and Vision both appear on the cover and she says she’s going to make the world pay for Vision’s death. There’s also another file called “Project M5-247” which could be a nod to Avengers Issue #247, which shows the origin of the Eternals and in the same vein, Scarlet Witch and Vision trying to help Captain Marvel. And when Darcy emails Hayward’s cataract plans, you can see the names of “James Alexander and James Gadd” - James Alexander is a visual effects producer on Wandavision and James Gadd works on post production at Marvel

Also: Agnes pulls as Mrs Hart and repeats the same phrase over and over again

After Wanda blasts Pietro, you can see on a fake grave stone the name of “Janell Sammelman”, Janell is a first assistant director on Wandavision

When Wanda moves Westview to save Vision, she turns S.W.O.R.D and it’s agents into clowns + a circus - I just love that the agents turned into clowns 😂 but there is a nice little plot line in the comics where Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye join the circus - and this COULD be stretch, but earlier in the episode there is the number #22 which could be Avengers Issue #22, which is the Issue that they join the circus

As soon as Vision was brought back into Westview, he was healed - which means if he was to exit again, he probably wouldn’t survive 😭

The episode title is ‘All-New Halloween Spooktackular!” - which “All-New” is a designation that is often used on covers for comic books. And the first issue of the second The Vision and the Scarlet Witch series takes place on Halloween night - but the events in this comics didn’t influence this episode’s plot

Pietro points out that he has the “XY chromosome” - X for X-Men? Plus there’s the X gene 😂

He mentions “Uncle Peter to the rescue” - Peter is the name of Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men Franchise

Pietro and Tommy quote the movie Top Gun (1986) by saying “I fell the need, the need for speed”

Wanda almost seems hesitant to trust this version of Pietro (rightfully so, in my opinion) and is wary of him being around Tommy and Billy

Pietro says some very Mephisto/Nightmare-like things this episode - “Unleash hell, demon spawn!”, “The kids need a father figure”, “Damnit, if Westview isn’t charming as Hell...” - And if Pietro isn’t Mephisto/Nightmare, it HAS to be Agnes or her other half Ralph and Pietro is probably Ralph tbh...or could Pietro just be a scapegoat and Hayward is Ralph? 👀

The theatre in town, which is playing the Incredibles and The Parent Trap, is called the Coronet. There’s a classic poem called “The Coronet” written by Andrew MARVELL (Marvell, is also the true name of the first incarnation of Captain Marvel in the comics) and is about a guy who knows that the sins of mankind led to the death of Christ. He attempts to create a new crown for Christ’s head in an attempt to atone, but finds that there is sin in the crown as well, as the devil is within the crown and therefore he may achieve glory and success with his new creation 👀

Hayward’s confidential project “Cataract” included experimenting on Vision’s body, as was revealed by Darcy (my wife 💙 and Monica is also my wife 💚 and so is Wanda 💛, I just love women, you know? 😂). A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision - is Hayward trying to weaponise Vision? Or maybe even trying to bring Ultron back? Or do what Tony wanted to do in the first place, and make a suit of armour that’s around the world? Either way, it’s for nefarious purposes

Who is Monica’s guy? Jimmy and Monica are off to meet him - could it be Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic)? Or could it be Victor Von Doom (Dr Doom)? Could it be Hank McCoy (Beast)? Or even Adam Brashear (Blue Marvel)? Or if it is a woman, could it be the Skrull daughter of Talos that Monica befriended at the end of Captain Marvel? Could it be Abigail Brand (A major character in recent S.W.O.R.D comics and an Alpha Flight Member)? Or even Toni Ho (Iron Patriot, and could she be introduced to help lay the ground work for my other queen, Riri Williams/Iron Heart?)? Or could it even be Sue Storm (Invisible Woman)?

In the background of the episode we see a number of children and adults dressed up as many different characters, which includes: Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, Jason Voorhees, with a sweater striped like Freddy Krueger’s and even a kid that looks dressed in an off-brand Charizard costume 😂 Pokèmon has always been popular, but saw an increase during the 90’s

Pietro and the kids are drinking “Kane Cola” which could be a reference to the 90’s drinks “Jolt Cola” or even “Surge” - it could also, with all the X-Men Easter eggs, be a reference to Garrison Kane, who was a member of Cable’s mercenary team “Six Pack” and is sometimes also known as ‘Weapon X’

The kid that Wanda mentions having a “skin thing” in the orphanage - could that be a reference to her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants co-worker Toad? Or maybe even Mystique? Maybe Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler)?

One of the houses has a sign up that says ‘Macabre Mansion’ - another possible reference to House of M?

During a flashback, it’s shown that the twins are playing Dance Dance Revolution, which came out in 1999. Also this might be a stretch, but the boys have a dog plushie in their room the right - which is coloured red and black - could this be a reference to Dogpool? 😂

I love this show 🤣💙

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i-dont-want-your-hysteria · 3 years

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Highlights from the “All I’ve Got Is a Photograph” live stream with Phil, Joe, and Ross

DISCLAIMER: towards the end in the last half hour, my computer was lagging a lot, so I probably missed up to a solid five minutes in total. That being said, some things on here may or may not be clarified.

Joe is VERY TAN HOLY SHIT it is very attractive

Phil getting Mike Wazowskied by the chat when he first came on

all the implications that Joe is not in Dublin right now

“My name is Ross Halfin and I’ve been photographing Def Leppard for about... oh, five minutes?”

people cutting out, leaving an awkward silence, and Joe giving a solid English “Wot?”

the way Joe pronounces the word “mosquitos”

in Holland 1984 Joe left his window open and when he got home there were mosquitos all over the fucking ceiling, so he had to vacuum them off and put the trash bag like 4 blocks away so they wouldn’t come back

Joe saying that Heinz baked beans are an “English delicacy”

^^Furthermore, saying he’s eaten cold baked beans sandwiches on butter bread before

literally all three of them PLUS THE GUY WHO WORKS FOR THE VAULT seeing a photo from Euphoria era and collectively agreeing it’s from the Slang tour and no one corrected them

^^meanwhile everyone in the chat is ripping their hair out saying “IT’S EUPHORIA OMFG”

As per the infamous story where their plane dropped 2000ft in 3 seconds: there was an ashtray floating right in front of Sav, and when the plane got back to normal, it smacked him in the face

^^Joe and Phil laughing a lot at this

Joe saying he loves the bathtub photos of himself: “the shot of me in the bath has always been one of my favorites because it’s just so goofy and it sums up my personality”

Ross’s small black fluffy dog on the couch in the background

Ross saying the bathtub photos had a purpose because Joe was “hunk of the month or something”

^^ Joe laughing at that

I have yet to find out if this is true but- Joe said Slash is Bowie’s godson...??

Joe further regretting his early 90s outfits

Joe being embarrassed by this photo:

^^ (while trying not to look embarrassed) “there’s not a lot you could say about it”

^^^ furthermore explaining he was only doing that because Rik Mayall from The Young Ones was in the pit at the foot of the stage doing that at him during a rehearsal, so Joe did it back to him “sadly, Ross just so happened to be there and captured it”

Ross being the mom friend, trying to get them to behave and pay attention in order to take photos

Rick being the worst one to pay attention during photoshoots

Sav taking the longest to get dressed before a photoshoot

Phil talking about how his pants ripped onstage on the Hysteria tour and “stuff” was “hanging out”

me being once again reminded that that iconic photo of all of them in their Union Jack booty shorts and tank tops was taken less than hour away from me ;-; (not important but anyway)

Joe saying he would wear the Union Jack shorts again next year

Ross getting overly excited whenever he remembered when/where/why something was taken

Joe’s memory still being super accurate and oddly specific

Joe has one of Phil’s old guitar straps and it’s rusted from sweat, plus it’s in a drawer in his studio in Dublin

Joe retelling the story of how they met Brian May:

“hi boys, I’m Brian from Queen :D” Joe, right into the camera: NO SHITE, M8

Bri in ‘83: *plays the opening riff to photograph* Joe, internally, watching him from afar: *level up* :o

Joe- “I will forever go down in pub quiz history as the first person to sing with Queen after Fred died”

Joe eating “a bunch of greasy vegetarian food” then traveling with Robert Plant on his private plane, then “going through the most horrendous turbulence, then about ten minutes before we landed, I just BARFED all over the place”

^^Robert laughing because Joe puked everywhere and all over himself

^^Robert giving Joe one of his shirts to wear instead of the barfy one

^^It’s a black long sleeved illuminati shirt

^^Joe still has it

Joe said he recently had a knee replacement and will “probably have to get the other one done soon”

^^He blames his constant air splits for his knees being fucked up now

Joe reenacting neutral photoshoot poses and staring right into your soul through his camera

Ross confirming the “pissing into the sink” story from ‘79

Joe saying they can’t afford Ross anymore and that he needs to lower his prices and Ross cackling at this

Phil recalling a photoshoot where a seagull shat on his head and he had to go wash it off

^^Joe absolutely fucking LOSING IT it at this. I’ve never seen him laugh so hard I swear he was almost CRYING with laughter it was so adorable

Joe acknowledging how tan he looks because “I’ve been spending a lot of time in the sun these past few months- as you can tell”

^^Joe brushing his hair back so you could see his tan face

Joe saying they (the band) were “fortunate enough to avoid the virus”

Joe stole the “don’t forget us and we won’t forget you” line from (big surprise) Ian Hunter

we ALMOST got through this hour and a half live stream WITHOUT Joe advertising Mott the Hoople we were SO CLOSE GUYS

Joe blowing a kiss at the end of it

Phil thanking the fans UwU

Joe waving goodbye as the Vault closed and sounding sad when he said “cheers, see ya”

ENORMOUS thank you to @ballistic-lipstick-dream-machine for paying for a ticket and letting me watch it in real time even tho she couldn’t ilysm ;-;

#def leppard #the vault #joe elliott is a fucking dork #joe elliott #phil collen #ross halfin #all i've got is a photograph #i'm so fucking happy it was such a soul cleansing thing to watch #rachel may or may not leak it in a while #highly recommend watching #it was like 90 minutes fyi #if you don't feel like watching it then well #that's why i made this post #you're welcome #these are all the important/funny bits

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mollymarymarie · 3 years

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20 questions Writer’s Edition

Thanks @blitheringmcgonagall for tagging me in this!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

696,047

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Harry Potter (Marauders Era) Marvel (Stucky, Bucky/OC, Pietro/OC) And then one about Sam Kiszka from Greta Van Fleet (that I wrote as a commission, sort of) and one I wrote about Lee Pace (cause I saw it in a dream lol)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Lad That Loved You - sort of canon Hogwarts-era fic with a twist on The Prank (Remus and Sirius pretend to fight to cover up their relationship)

When It Counted - Remus gets spiked with Veritaserum and makes Sirius (and everyone else) believe it was Amortentia to cover up the truth

Vow Under the Covers - Remus is getting married. And not to Sirius. And Sirius has to decide if he can live with that.

Save Me, Save Me, Save Me - Remus thinks Sirius is in love with his neighbor and offers to help cook her dinner (Sirius and Marlene have to pretend to be attracted to each other, despite being VERY GAY, to cover up Sirius’ feelings)

Heavy In Your Arms - Sirius is the Slytherin prefect and has to nurse Remus Lupin back to health after a vicious full moon

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

ABSOLUTELY - comments make my whole day, my whole week, I want people who take the time to comment to know that I LOVE THEM DEARLY

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

It’s a one-shot, but the angstiest ending is definitely in Where The Willow Don’t Bend (the story is about Remus becoming one of the ghosts at Hogwarts, so it’s OBVIOUS that it is not going to exactly end ... happily)

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Generally, I tend to write all my fics with happy endings? Real life has enough terrible endings on its own AND I’M HERE TO ESCAPE FROM THAT OKAY

But honestly, I think the ending in Heavy In Your Arms is QUITE happy :)

8. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I’ve never written a crossover! I don’t write for enough fandoms to have done that, I guess. Mostly just HP and Marvel and there isn’t a lot of room for crossover there, lol (besides, I haven’t written for Marvel in ages)

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Somewhat. In Show Me Everything I Missed, I had someone tell me they were disappointed with how I made Remus be the emotional weight-bearer of the fic. But it was DIRECTLY after Sirius had gone through a VERY traumatic event, so of course Remus would be trying to help him through it. I get where they were coming from, and I guess I should be honored that my characters made them upset? isn’t that kind of the point of angst??

10. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do. For me, I went to private school (read: religious), so it was heavily instilled in me that sex is bad and disgusting and dirty, but then you get married and suddenly it’s beautiful and holy and important? So it took me a long time to be comfortable with sex in general, even more so with the idea of writing it down, but the idea of “smut” is kind of nonsensical to me. We go through all these things as human beings and those are all okay to write and to read and to experience, but a BASIC HUMAN NEED for most people is something to be hidden?? I’m going on a rant, but basically, I’m tired of the stigma, I guess.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not ... directly?? I have had people tell me, after the fact, that they posted my fic on a site outside of AO3 but it was still listed as being written by me, but I didn’t have an account with that site. I was still sort of weirded out by that one.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! I had someone ask my permission to translate to ... Italian? I think? I can’t quite remember, but that was kind of cool, I guess. Again, it’s sort of iffy with those things because I think this was on a third-party site, too, so I was kind of indirectly attached to it.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I never have! I have a problem with deadlines and working as a group looool I think i have control issues?? hahahahah

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Wolfstar, hands down. I’ve been writing Wolfstar for, gosh, almost ten years. Which, comparatively is not that long, but it’s longer than any other ship for me

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a couple WIPs for characters that are NOT Wolfstar that I’d like to finish (mostly the one about Cassidy from Preacher, because I have a MASSIVE Joe Gilgun crush) but I haven’t written on it in YEARS so it’s probably not happening

16. What are your writing strengths?

oh gosh. okay, so i’m not good at answering these. I think I write smut relatively well? I do pretty good angst I think?? My characterization is usually something people enjoy? (honestly, i just write them as MY own versions of the character, but people seem to agree with me for the most part??)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I FOUND THIS OUT RECENTLY - i am not always good at following through with a plan for a fic and also i am not good at writing down what i see in my head. for example, if a character has black hair and glasses in my head (but maybe not necessarily in canon), i often have to go back and add these details because halfway through, i’ll be like DID I EVEN TELL THEM WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE AT ALL???

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

oh i’m SHITE at it. I wish I could speak another language well enough that I could incorporate it into my fics, but I doubt that will ever happen for me! (I had quite a bit of French dialogue in We Can Pretend and it went okay, but I did have someone tell me I had a grammatical error because I just used Google Translate lol)

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

this is going to be a HILARIOUS answer, but ... the Good Charlotte fandom. I never posted it, just my friends read it (I had quite a few fics about boys in bands back then, I was sixteen) but yeah it was a total soap opera. Like. outrageous.

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

They all have uniquely special places in my heart, but I have two favorites:

We Can Pretend - Remus and his father are the butlers for the Black family, and Remus has to figure out how to take care of Sirius while hiding his feelings

Heavy in Your Arms (the Slytherin!Sirius one, and also Ravenclaw!Remus!)

#tag game #Thanks Mia!#fic asks

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zelskzerker · 3 years

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Mangadex went down so I read alot 5/7

Let’s CONTINUE reviewing isekai and related stuff.

Youjo to Scoop to Maganou

Chapters 1-13

THUMBS UP. [Insert isekai startup here] but this time the MC is just a normal salaryman dude who has Evil Eye. He doesn’t start out OP in this. He starts off like a normal dude. Practical, yet kind. Not an idiot and not omniscient. An easily relatable adult. But the theming of this manga is spot on making it so that what happens in his isekai ,i.e. him reaching his breaking point and just GLARING WITH CURSE ENERGY explains him as a character and foreshadows actions he takes later. Also of note is the fluffy companion, Lourie. Absolutely adorable princess knight she is. Wanna see her succeed in a similar way to Fran. Except Lourie has way more delusions of grandeur and its funny. Final thing, MC fighting with kicks is pretty based. Art is great.

Koko wa Ore ni Makasete Saki ni Ike to Itte kara 10-nen ga Tattara Densetsu ni Natteita

Chapters 1-19

A reincarnation(kinda) style manga featuring aliens. Both ayylmao and cthulu tiers. Typical of them, they have great art and fights. The MC of this one specifically has a speciality magic that is cool to see. Well written it that it loops back to answer questions and provide backstories at times as well. Gotta like Luck’s pluck. THUMBS UP.

Eiyuu-ou, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tenseisu

Chapters 1-13

[Insert reincarnation startup here] but this time its a genderbent battle maniac. What more can I say? THUMBS UP. Real nice art.

Saijaku Tamer wa Gomi Hiroi no Tabi o Hajimemashita.

Chapters 1-7

A beuatifully drawn little manga that straddles cute and sad. A little girl is run out of her village due to having a weak skill and ultimately she has to run away from the place that wants her dead. She has to live in the forest and rummage through garbage, but eventually she finds a monster she can tame. THUMBS UP. Feels good for a weak little girl just trying to survive in the world. Also its an isekai but that isn’t really important.

Tensei Kyuuketsuki-san wa Ohirune ga Shitai

Chapters 1-30

THUMB IN THE UPPER CORNER. [Insert isekai startup here] but this time its a genderbent vampire. It is also kinda a slice of life adventure. Argento Vampir, the MC, just wants to find a place to sleep. Although plot happens, it can be a bit hard to comprehend in the latters chapters minus money dungeon, and the pacing can feel all over the place. But it is still a nice ride if you accept it as a slice of life lackidasical journey rather than an adventure towards a goal. Also adorable yuri throughout.

Boukenka ni Narou!: Skill Board de Dungeon Kouryaku

Chapters 1-21

This is an odd manga. First off, its a reverse isekai aka dungeons started appearing in the human world and caused a semi-apocalypse. So now salarymen go risk their lives in dungeons. MC gets the power to... do skill points? Whatever. The more important part about the MC is how insane he is. In a cute way. First of all he cannot be recognized as an entity normally. His prescence is just that low. And of course, as an aspiring hero, this hurts. BUT he can be recognized whenever he wears this creepy possibly a scam possibly not wooden mask. ONTOP OF THAT he is incredibly powerful for his means and talented, but is often faced with ridiculous tasks or surrounded by such amazing people that he doesn’t recognize his own skill. Always kinda funny to see character who cannot comprehend their own power and always undersell themselves. THUMBS UP. For just how weird the setting is and lovable the MC is.

Maougun Saikyou no Majutsushi wa Ningen datta

Chapters 1-18

This one is... tiring. [Insert isekai startup here] but this time its a demon general who is actually a human. And also the Demon Lord is also an isekai person who is roleplaying oda nobunaga. This manga is almost there and has interesting parts, but ultimately its not enough for me. Not interesting enough war machinisms for a war story, not interesting enough mystery for an isekai, and not interesting enough themes or characters for a story. THUMBS DOWN. Seen it all done better by other stuff on this list.

Isekai Meikyuu no Saishinbu o Mezasou

Chapters 1-19

This manga is surprisingly good in two elements. First is the character relationships. The relation between jaded isekai MC Sieg and the crossdressing adventurer Dia is wholesomely and slowly built up and that makes the second element, the boss battle, even better. The boss that is fought is a truly amazingly drawn fight. From what is revealed about the world, about Sig and Dia’s powers, and even just how the boss exists and is drawn is truly superb. Worth reading just for that fight. THUMBS UP. And then after that fight setting up a whole new dimension to Sig/Dia character dynamics going forward makes me want more.

6-sai no Kenja wa Hikage no Michi wo Ayumitai

Chapters 1-10

Wow. They fucked up a shota [insert reincarnation startup here] story. And the reason why is due to lack of theming. The great reincarnation mangas put their foot down about theming, why the character reincarnated and what their goals or plans are in an aged world. This one has none of that. MC reincarnated just because they wanted an easy life, but instantly messed that up and are right back on the same path as their previous life. Also incredibly weak world building and setting make it VERY underwhelming if compared to any other reincarnation story. THUMBS DOWN.

Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu!

Chapters 1-33

This one made a lot more sense once I realized that the author pretty much made their own subgenre of “powerful girl in isekai that has ridiculous crazy godtier unstoppable overpowered skill and is also super smart and scheming their way out of any situation”. Because that happens all the time in this one. Don’t expect the MC to actually make any notable progress towards her main goal though. Despite all her smarts, her own kinda evil nature, constant scheming, and known overpowered abilities keep setting her back 20 steps for every 20 she leaps forward. Fun if not repetitive a bit. THUMB IN THE UPPER CORNER.

Berserk of Gluttony

Chapters 1-35

This is kinda similar to Danmachi in that its in a videogame-esque world with quantifiable levels, is not an isekai, has a specific well explored mythos(Greek gods/gods in general for danmachi, seven deadly sins for Berserk of Gluttony), and most importantly ITS GOOD. The female lead in this is a driven and good person that is never a damsel in distress, yet the MC still supports her from the shadows. The other sins are goofy, tragic, and mysterious. The holy trifecta of admirable characters. Typical of seven deadly sins stories, the MC has to fight of urges, and that the fact that it is tied into the level system really makes the story feel modern in a certain way. With the advent of isekai and more video-game esque worlds, it is a happy marriage of modern and classical concepts. THUMBS UP.

Henkyougurashi no Maou, Tensei shite Saikyou no Majutsushi ni Naru

Chapters 1-9

THUMBS UP. Gotta love the reincarnation stories. Especially since this one starts with the tale of an immortal vampire and how that kindly demon lord had to be killed by the people he protected and loved. Heartbreaking to see all the conspiracies laid against Nosferatu for his mere existence. And yet there isn’t a bit of ill intent or vengeance in him. Good art, well paced, and just generally has a good air about it that is a bit hard to describe.

#Youjo to Scoop to Maganou #Koko wa Ore ni Makasete Saki ni Ike to Itte kara 10-nen ga Tattara Densetsu ni Natteita #Eiyuu-ou Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tenseisu #Saijaku Tamer wa Gomi Hiroi no Tabi o Hajimemashita.#Tensei Kyuuketsuki-san wa Ohirune ga Shitai #Boukenka ni Narou!: Skill Board de Dungeon Kouryaku #Maougun Saikyou no Majutsushi wa Ningen datta #Isekai Meikyuu no Saishinbu o Mezasou #6-sai no Kenja wa Hikage no Michi wo Ayumitai #Potion-danomi de Ikinobimasu!#Berserk of Gluttony #Henkyougurashi no Maou Tensei shite Saikyou no Majutsushi ni Naru

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chiveburger · 3 years

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I have way more important things I need to do and prioritize but for the last two days I’ve been tryna set up and update my OLD computer that was still running windows 7.0 in a room that I don’t even sleep in. It took me two full days to have it running the newest version of windows, which wasn’t very hard but holy shite... the AUDIO??? I think the motherboard or whatever the fuck you call it has a corrupted sound system so every speaker I tried plugging in didn’t work and I spent hours downloading new drivers and reinstalling, uninstalling so many things to see if it will register any sort of sound. the rare chance that it did was through my airpods and it was SO statically it felt like a poltergeist was tryna communicate with me. so finally, I realized that this shid was broken or I was too dumb to fix it so I passed it by connecting a usb headset that had it’s own audio jack and I connected that to the speaker and it worked... after 7 motherfuacking hours. It was grueling so I made shrimp fried rice with cheese for dinner afterwards.

#borger diary

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onthepageoftears · 4 years

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Kill Your Darlings Ch. 17 (Jaskier x Assassin!Reader) || Witcher

A/N: Long chapter is long. This was actually supposed to be longer, but I decided to split the rest of it into next chapter, so next chapter will be longer as well. Pretty sure this series will be 20 chapters, so we only have 3 left! Can you believe it?? There may be more of this series after it’s over though, but we’ll have to see if people want more when it’s over...;)

Your comments and feedback are always encouraged and mean a lot to me!

Summary: The truth is slowly unraveling.

Warnings: language, gore, graphic violence, mentions of kidnapping/murder/adultery, insinuations of child abuse (very lightly insinuated), some pining, a little angst, and a heaping cup of comfort :)

Words: 3,906

Please Don’t Plagiarize My Work!

The sun was still high in the sky by the time the three of you found the place from the note. To be honest, you didn’t actually know the place from the note was a bandit camp until you made it to the road and saw a group of bandits walking through the woods. Well, more like Geralt saw them and made you and Jaskier follow him as he trailed them from a distance, beckoning all of you over to a hill that lay a safe enough distance away from the camp.

As you and Geralt surveyed from the small hilltop, Jaskier’s nervous chatter clouded any chance you had at making a plan.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? Attacking in the day? What if they see us?”

Your eyes were dark when you turned to him, “Who says we don’t want them to?”

That got him quiet. It also gave enough time for you and Geralt to watch over the scene before you, silently coming up with your own strategies.

This camp was larger than the last one. More spread out. But that didn’t mean anything to you, other than the fact that there was more room to fight.

Though the camp was bigger, there weren’t too many guards on the perimeter — but, unlike the last camp, there were multiple entrances, and enough men to guard them.

Finally, Geralt spoke, “Three guards at the front entrance, only two in the back.”

“Take the ones in the back out, there’s a clear opening to sneak inside.”

Jaskier looked between you and Geralt, his disbelief clear on his face, “Y/N, you are not going in there like last time.”

You smirked at his protective tone, which might have annoyed you before. You nodded, “I know.” Jutting your head to the bandits near the back of the camp, you turned to the bard. “One of em’ has a bow.”

Jaskier blinked, then squinted to see that you were right.

Despite the obvious protest on Jaskier’s face, you and Geralt snuck down to the back of the camp, where the two guards were idly standing by. Geralt wordlessly gestured for you to take the smaller man, and when you widened your eyes in protest, all Geralt did was look pointedly at your leg. You rolled your eyes, but complied anyway.

Geralt grabbed the man closest to the two of you, knocking him in the head with the end of his sword. You didn’t bother being so modest — just as the second guy was turning around, you threw one of your knives, hitting him right in his jugular. He gurgled as he fell to the ground, and Geralt glared at your actions before rushing over to pull his body out of view. You shrugged when he handed you your knife and the bandit’s bow and pack of arrows, ignoring the careful glare he was sending you.

You regrouped on the hill with Jaskier, keeping an eye on the camp as you did so. No one seemed to notice the missing bandits — at least, not yet.

“The note I have made Hotch seem important.” You dropped the arrows to the ground beside you, then tested the bow’s strength and stretched the string carefully. It was pretty nice, despite its quality.

“He’s probably the leader.”

“Exactly. And the leader would probably have the nicest tent with the guards outside.” You drew their attention to the tent that sat in the middle of the camp, two guards on either side of the closed entrance.

“How do we know he’s in there?” Jaskier spoke, his voice just above a whisper.

“We don’t,” you said, biting your lip. “But that’s our best guess. So we should start from the outside and clear the perimeter until someone notices. Then Geralt will have to swing his way through, and we hope we have enough arrows to help."

“Works for me,” Geralt said, already standing up to go. “I’ll start from the back and work my way around. Only shoot the ones who are hidden as well.”

You nodded, then turned back to Jaskier as Geralt walked back towards the camp. It would be easier if Jaskier went back to guard the horses, keeping him out of trouble and leaving you to your…business. “Jaskier, you should go—“

“No. I’m staying with you.”

You frowned at his defiant tone. “Jaskier—“

“No.” Jaskier sighed when he noticed the surprise in your eyes. “I know why you needed to be away from me for Joneta. You didn’t want to be alone, you wanted to be—“ He stopped himself when he saw your eyes were wider. “It doesn’t matter. But right now, I’m staying with you.”

You blinked, your voice smaller than usual, “Why?”

“Because I…care”

You tried to ignore the heat that rose to your skin at his words, especially since Geralt was almost at the edge of the camp. You didn’t know what answer you thought he would give, but it wasn’t that. You let in a sharp breath, not knowing what to say. After a second, you settled on simple, “Okay.”

Turning away from the bard, you readied an arrow in the bow and stretched your arm back, simultaneously ignoring the way Jaskier’s eyes trailed over your body. You pushed down the feeling in your stomach even as you noticed Jaskier lick his lips and quickly turn away, trying desperately to focus on the task at hand. Maybe you thought Jaskier being by the horses would keep him safe, but it would also keep you less distracted.

You swallowed the lump in your throat and focused on Geralt, who had managed to take out two of the bandits that lingered outside. Your eyes narrowed as he snuck by some of the tents, probably to see if any bandits were inside. He was about to check one tent when a bandit emerged from another, forcing him to slip through the tent’s opening. You followed the bandit with your eyes, making sure to keep him in your range of fire.

The bandit yawned and stretched — he looked like he was talking when he walked over to the tent beside his, where Geralt was currently hiding.

“Shit,” Jaskier breathed, his eyes on the same place as yours.

You kept target steady, “Any bandits near that one?”

“Uh…no. No, none.”

“Good.” With a deep breath in, you released the string from your fingers, causing the arrow to soar through the air and sink right into the bandit’s skull.

Jaskier’s eyes were back on you, “Holy shite.”

You hid a smirk as Geralt dragged the bandit’s body into the tent, already readying your bow with another arrow.

Though you and Geralt were far apart, you worked in near perfect understanding. Silent nods were often used when you fought together the last time, but even without the visual confirmations, you two seemed to read each other’s minds. Geralt would sneak up to two bandits who were sharing a meal, and you would wordlessly shoot the opposite one with an arrow as Geralt choked the other one out. It was working well, with you two getting through a good amount of the guards — but of course, that working system would have to end.

Geralt was currently choking yet another bandit — as he kept sneaking around the camp, more bandits seemed to show up. It was like when one went down, another sprung from the dirt. Up until then, Geralt was able to isolate them and take them out one at a time; to your dismay, another bandit happened to be nearing where Geralt was, where he would be in clear view of the witcher.

You reached down, only then realizing there were no more arrows. You turned your gaze back to where Geralt was —

“We’ve got trouble here!” The bandit’s voice was loud enough for you and Jaskier to curse in unison — Geralt had been spotted.

As you watched the scene below, you cursed to your self again. With a grunt, you pushed yourself to your feet, “We have to go down there.”

“What?” Jaskier grabbed your arm, his eyes wild, “No, no we don’t!”

“Yes, we do.”

“We aren’t going in there. Geralt can handle himself—“

“Jaskier.” You put your hands on the bard’s shoulders so he would look you in the eyes, “Trust me.”

After a moment, Jaskier rolled his eyes with a huff, slinging one of your arms over his shoulder, steadying you as the two of you descended the hill. When you got the bottom, you and Jaskier snuck into the camp while Geralt continued to fight the bandits that were surrounding him.

You and Jaskier shoved yourselves behind a group of barrels, just far enough that you could practically feel the swings of swords and slashes of skin. It made you want to just rush right into the battle, despite your wounds — but Jaskier’s worried gaze on you kept you back, kept you grounded. Your eyes searched wildly around you, landing on a body nearby.

Without a word, you crawled the short distance and wrenched the crossbow that was in the dead body’s hands. The body had a couple of arrows — not enough to take out all the bandits, but enough to help Geralt a little bit.

You positioned yourself over the barrels in front of you, using the surface to keep your shots steady. Jaskier crouched beside you, holding a hand on the small of your back to keep you upright as your leg was laid straight to the side, previously throwing off your balance. As his touch shot fire up your skin, you pulled back the bowstring and lined up your shot with a bandit who was swinging a mace at Geralt’s head.

“Argh!” The bandit fell to the ground, screaming in pain as he flailed to try and rip the arrow from his now punctured back. You barely flinched as he did so, only focusing on reloading the bow.

Geralt seemed to notice the two of you had moved, as he was purposefully shifting his body so he could face your direction. The bandits didn’t notice your location yet, which was an advantage for the three of you. You continued to shoot arrows at the ones surrounding Geralt, taking them out as quickly as you could.

Of course, that wouldn’t last either.

“Shit,” Jaskier cursed when he noticed you were out of arrows. He whipped his head around the two of you, looking for something — anything, to help. Meanwhile, you had already tried to stand up to go help Geralt.

“No.” Jaskier pulled you back down, his concerned gaze beating your frown. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”

You would have argued, but he was already sneaking off in the opposite direction. Your heart was pounding as soon as he left your sight, the worst ideas of what was happening to him popping into your head. At the sound of a frustrated grunt from Geralt, you shook the thoughts from your head, instead unsheathing your knives and aiming to throw them at any bandits close enough.

You had just reached for your last knife when a hand gripped your shoulder, “Here.”

You gasped in relief when you saw it was only Jaskier, who had returned with a handful of arrows.

Almost as soon as the relief filled your features, you narrowed your eyes at the bard, “Trying to get yourself killed?”

He only smiled. “For you? Anything.” You rolled your eyes, despite the way your stomach flipped. But Jaskier smiled wider, “What? I can’t be reckless too?”

You shook your head, instead focusing on reloading the crossbow.

You and Geralt took down a couple more bandits before you realized the guards from outside the main tent were gone. Geralt seemed to notice too — he sent you a look before he slashed his way towards the tent, hopefully going to stop them before they could get Hotch out of there.

There were still some bandits that could get in the way, but not too many that you couldn’t take them on yourself. The only way Geralt could make sure Hotch was still in the tent without getting ambushed was—

“Don’t do it.” Jaskier was looking at you, his warning glare making you bite your lip. How did he know what you were thinking?

You rolled your eyes,“Any better ideas?”

“Yes, actually.”

Before you knew what he was doing, he jumped up from behind the barrels and brought his fingers to his lips, erupting a sharp whistle that had the remaining three bandits whipping their heads in Jaskier’s direction.

“Use the barrels,” he said out of the corner of his mouth before he once again ran the opposite way. You would’ve laughed at his wimpy screech if not for the angry bandits that were running your way. Instead, you shifted your body and pushed one of the barrels out from in front of you, making two of the bandits trip over it and slam their faces in the ground. The last one stopped in time, and just as he made eye contact with you, you grabbed the crossbow off the ground and shot the last arrow right into his smug face.

Without another breath, you unsheathed your last knife and stabbed into the back of the other two bandit’s heads.

You were breathing heavily in your spot by the time Jaskier sauntered back into the now quiet camp.

Your eyes raised to his in a glare, “I thought you didn’t want me fighting? With my wounded leg?”

“Oh, come on. You were thirsting for the thrill of the fight the whole time.”

He was right, of course. Regardless of the throbbing in your leg, the adrenaline pumping through your veins was worse than any addiction you could have.

Still, you wanted to be mad at him.

You tilted your head to the side, “And what if I just let them get you?”

All he had to do was raise his eyebrows at you — you wouldn’t.

“Whatever,” you said, pushing yourself off the ground to collect your knives from wherever they had ended up on the mini battlefield.

Jaskier was helping you up from retrieving your last knife when the main tent’s entrance flipped open.

Geralt emerged from the tent, his face softening ever so slightly when he saw you. He sent you a curt nod and headed back inside, making you take a deep breath in. It was finally time to figure out what the hell was going on. It was time to know the truth.

“Are you ready?” Jaskier asked, his hand hovering over your lower back.

You nodded and followed after the witcher.

The tent was definitely nice. Well, besides the two dead bandit-guards that Geralt so neatly stacked in the corner, and the mess of a struggle. But before the three of you got there, you were sure it was a lovely space. A nice cot, a table full of newly shined weapons — someone had to call this place home at one point or another.

Geralt had already taken the liberty of tying the leader up, but left his mouth free to curse obscenities at you as you walked in.

“What the fuck do you want? Killing all my men—“

“Hotch, is it?” You stepped forward, crossing your arms over your chest. “A pleasure.”

“I’ll show you a pleasure—“ His scowl quickly turned into furious surprise as Jaskier stepped into the tent behind you. “You!”

“Normally my presence doesn’t emit that much hatred, but okay.” Jaskier’s playful tone almost made you smirk, but you kept your stone cold glare on the man on the ground. He nearly seethed at the sight of Jaskier, making a shiver go down your spine.

“You filthy prick, you insolent—I outta kill you right now, you scum of—“

“Enough!” You grabbed a sword off the table beside you, swiftly placing it under Hotch’s chin. You had enough of his venomous words, and to be honest, hearing him talk about Jaskier like that made your blood boil. Predictably, he shut up once the blade with under his throat.

You spoke slowly, “What do you want with the bard?”

“I want nothing.”

Hotch spit towards Jaskier. You rolled your eyes at his theatrics, pressing the blade closer to his skin, “Why did you hire an assassin to kill him?”

“I did no such—“ You reminded him of the blade that trailed on his skin. It took a second for him to respond, but his words were spoken through gritted teeth, “He slept with my wife.”

You blinked, your face in scrunched up in confusion, “He what?”

Hotch sighed. His eyes glazed over as he dramatically recounted the memory, “She worked at an inn. I knew she was working late one night, so I went to visit her. And her boss pointed me to that pricks room. I caught them in the act.”

“Oh.” Jaskier’s voice interrupted, “Oh! That was…rather embarrassing. Marion, was it?”

Hotch only gritted his teeth harder.

You turned and looked at Jaskier over your shoulder, who was cringing at the murderous glare Hotch sent him. He fixed his gaze on you with wide eyes, quickly plastering on a guilty smile and lifting his shoulders in a meek shrug. Before you could whack him over the head, you turned back towards Hotch.

With a sigh, you tilted the man’s chin up higher. “Worked? As in no longer does, as in is no longer alive?”

The bandit leader’s eyes looked away from yours in shame, “I tried to forgive her. To forget. But I couldn’t bear the sight of her face any longer after I found them."

You surprised yourself with a dry laugh, “He slept with your wife. So you killed her.” You tilted your head to the side, narrowing your eyes, “Hardly seems rational.”

“You don’t understand. I couldn’t get the scene out of my head. Even now, it haunts me every night. The betrayal. And seeing his posters everywhere, it only made it worse.”

You pursed you lips as you tried to read the man at your mercy. Even if he released the information rather quickly, it seemed like he was telling the truth — and his anger for Jaskier was definitely real. But that meant that Rauf had been fooled, somehow. This man broke the code of the fellowship, and fro that, you wanted to get more out of him.

The bard’s voice cut through the silence, “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t know she was married.”

“Jaskier.” Geralt sent a warning glare from behind Hotch.

“Right.”

Once Jaskier predictably shrunk backwards at Geralt’s tone, you decided to continue questioning, “We found your note at another smaller camp. The note was about a little girl.” You squinted your eyes, “What did you want with her?”

“Why should I tell you?”

Jaskier spoke before you could, “Because there is quite literally a sword under your chin.”

You shrugged when Hotch clenched his jaw and glared at you.

Fortunately he complied, “The assassin hasn’t been successful. Obviously.” Hotch’s eyes darkened, “I thought I would take it into my own hands to ruin his life.”

“Ruin his life?”

Hotch smirked, “What would make people hate him more than thinking he took a little girl for his own pleasure.”

Your back stiffened at the realization of his words, “You sick, sick fuck.” You pressed the sword harder into his throat, causing a trickle of blood to fall down his neck, “If you touched a hair on that little girl’s head—“

“We didn’t.” The leader smiled wider despite the steel against his skin. He looked at Jaskier. “He did.”

Your chest was heaving now from anger. Rationally, you knew Lilla was okay. You had saved her, after all. But the smug smile on Hotch’s face made you want nothing more than to bash his skull in and watch the blood mix with the forest floor.

Your eyes flicked to Geralt’s, who sent you a single nod. Without hesitating, you swung your arm back and slashed into the bandit leader’s neck.

“Oh, oh gods.”

Ripping the sword from Hotch’s neck, you brought it back up and swung harder, making sure to make a clean cut through this time.

You breathed heavily as you watched Hotch’s head detach from his body and fall to the floor, his eyes still open in surprise. Dropping the sword to the floor, you wiped your forehead with the back of your hand, not realizing you smeared the blood that was already there. With a final huff, you turned around and pushed past the bard on your way out of the tent.

—

You were sitting on a tree log in the middle of the camp, cleaning off your knives, when Jaskier found you.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“No, I don’t think you are.” He sat down carefully beside you, as if you might swing the knife you were holding and slash his throat. Obviously, you didn’t. Otherwise he wouldn’t be talking.

“If you’re mad that I slept with that woman—“ Your glare stopped him from continuing.

“I’m not mad you slept with that woman. I’m mad that you almost got yourself killed for it.”

You turned away from the bard and closed your eyes with a deep breath. You honestly didn’t know if that was the full truth. There were so many emotions flowing through your body that you couldn’t focus on one, not like usual.

And Jaskier’s presence wasn’t helping either.

“Here.”

His voice made you turn back towards him, where he had taken out a handkerchief. You watched as he wet the cloth with his tongue and gently took your chin in his other hand, leaning forward to clean off the blood that you didn’t even know was on your face.

As he concentrated on cleaning your skin, your heart was nearly bursting out of your chest. He was so close to you — and not only in proximity. Not long ago you were like Hotch: counting down the moments until you could see this bard dead at your feet. Now, you were worrying that this same man could hear your rapid heartbeat whenever he was near.

I want to kiss him. You thought, but immediately backtracked. Kiss him? What were you, stupid? You just heard about him unknowingly breaking up a marriage, and now you wanted to kiss him?

He was an idiot. Annoying, loud, everything you should hate. That you thought you did hate. But you didn’t. You wanted to take his face in your hands and kiss him until your lips were bruised. You wanted him to place his hands on your waist and grip them like he’d never let them go, like your body was the only thing he would hold for the rest of his life.

You blinked, almost shocked with yourself for even thinking that — for having those thoughts in your head when you should be worrying. About what, you didn’t know. Your assignment? Rauf? But with Jaskier’s eyes flitting over your face, his hand barely brushing your skin, you couldn’t think of anything but him.

Your mind was practically racing with itself. And the words that came out of your mouth weren’t the ones you expected.

“You’re an idiot,” you said, and Jaskier snorted with a smile, not bothering to defend himself. Because you both knew it was only partly true.

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I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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