#i'm not really interested in coffins that much but they do an entire part about the use of new techologie and present some projects and idk

[vickyvicarious]

The first part of Mina's entry starts out really funny. Mr. Swales has given off a "sweet old incomprehensible grandpa" vibe, but today I noticed some other stuff going on that's quite funny, even if in another situation it might be a little annoying. He's very much the 'main character' of his friends (Mina doesn't even bother to take down their names), and will cling to that role very tightly. Has to be the center of attention, everyone has to agree with him, very stubborn and will bully until he gets his way, he'll perform to the crowd and make sure his boys are laughing at his jokes. He's actually quite cynical, though it's possible some of that is also performative here. He's also super fixated on that idea of the souls carrying their gravestones on their backs on the Day of Judgement, he circled back to that one like four separate times.

I also love this bit:

"Now look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again.

Mina internally: just smile and nod.

But on a more serious note... in all of this, there's something kind of interesting going on. The fact that he's talking so much about lies alongside empty graves/coffins. I'm not totally sure of where I want to go with it exactly, but it reminds me of Dracula's boxes. Though those are full of dirt, but still. They're like empty coffins in a way, and the entire use of the headstones to cover up the darker truth with a polite/pretty lie sure does remind of the Count. I'm sure this talk of empty suicide grave and such won't be relevant at all...

#dracula daily #mr. swales #also as always the audio is great for understanding him more easily than the written dialect

[mikuni14]

How funny it is that throughout the entire series I didn't share or sometimes even understand the dislike of many viewers towards Phee and Jin, only to hate them literally in the last minutes of the finale 😁

I liked Phee and Jin's dynamic from the beginning and I liked this relationship more than PheeNon's. Phee, both in the present and in flashbacks, was a great character for me, very much my style, and I also had a lot of sympathy for Jin. I was also convinced that Phee was on his path of revenge/searching for answers, and that Jin didn't upload the video.

I was so confident in my opinions that even when Phee spilled the beans to Jin, I was convinced that he wasn't that stupid and mean and that it was all part of some bigger plan. Likewise, until the end I was convinced that Jin was wrong and he was not the one who leaked this video, also based on Fluke's words (who said to Tee for some reason that he "knows everything, INCLUDING the video").

So when the finale brought confirmation that yes, Phee was a fucking snitch, that he sided with his "friends", and that yes, Jin actually released the video like an absolute piece of shit, all my sympathy evaporated in the blink of an eye. Poof! 🥳

I understand Phee's concerns and his refusal to participate in Tan's plan, but that's not the problem, it's HOW he did it. Phee isn't trying to protect the group AND TAN, who is also his friend ffs! NO! Phee is constantly confrontational, aggressive, escalating violence, doing everything against Tan, treating him like HIS worst enemy. He openly accuses Tan when everyone is agitated and someone has a gun, provoking Tan (Tan, who according to him is a dangerous murderer!) without thinking about what he might do. Phee accuses him, Tan takes control and manages the situation so that Tee confesses what really happened with Non, so , you know, a big deal right? That's what it was all about, right? And what does Phee do? He ends the scene by pointing his gun at Tan. When Tan says "you wanted to know the truth about Non, now you know" how does Phee react? He punches Tan. I'm absolutely surprised and appalled that after 3 years of friendship with Tan, watching the nightmare that is his life, saving him, when it comes to choosing, Phee comes so easily to choose "friends", without offering Tan a single bit of kindness, a kind word, extended hand. As if their friendship, their cause, their shared past, Non, didn't exist, didn't matter.

THE MORE BAD HE FINDS ABOUT THE BOYS, THE MORE HE HELPS THEM AND THE MORE HE IS ON THEIR SIDE. This is something I just cannot understand at all! In addition, Phee shot Tan even though he had a camera stand right next to the gun, used successfully many times in the series! 😆 He could have hit Tan unconscious, he didn't have to kill him!! And, what really pisses me off, he shot Tan in defense of Tee!!! Then he helped Tee and Jin, people who ruined and led to Non's death with their choices and actions. I don't know how much more you can insult his memory!

The ending itself is the final nail in the coffin for Phee and Jin's reputation in my house 😎 As I understand it, the final scenes are their hallucinations. And these hallucinations are nice and normal, they have a nice life, they fulfill their dreams, they have a career, they go to college - everything that Non and Tan don't have. In their hallucination there is no room for reflection, for regret, or for any discomfort. They are selfish even in hallucinations that show their real feelings. They still have the nerve to analyze Tee, the only one on whom the events of this house left any impact. I'm not surprised that Non himself appeared in Phee's hallucination, since Phee didn't find a place for him 😏

Their hallucinations, the earlier ones, are also interesting. As much as I loved Jin's hallucinations, it's telling that even in his guilt, Jin still made everything about himself. HE is the victim in his visions 🤷‍♀️ In the same way, Phee wakes up from his visions because it is he who decides which Non is real and which is not. Which means that Jin, instead of feeling bad for what he did to Non, feels bad for imagining "what if it were me." And Phee's guilt is not deep enough to allow Non to dominate his visions, as it happened with Tee, for example.

So in the end, I'm sad to say that as someone who really liked Phee and Jin, that after the finale - fuck them 😈

#dead friend forever #bl drama #thai bl

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 15 interludes thoughts

Carol interlude:

Holy shit you really were just a fucking TERRIBLE mother!

Like I get it, you had lots of horrible childhood trauma. And you didn't want to adopt Amy and let yourself get bullied into it by your sister. But that doesn't give you an excuse for how you treated both your kids.

Got to see another trigger event!! Fuck yes. Give me more. I want to see more details on those higher dimensional beings.

Fucking hell seeing Marquis's powers in play is pretty crazy. Dangerous boy.

Carol was just going to full blown stab right through that closet door without even looking inside! She almost killed a child! God damn.

“No.  He’s just my daddy.  Reads me bedtime stories, makes me dinner, and tells me jokes.  I love him more than anything else in the world.  You can’t take him away from me.  You can’t!” Fucking ooof that's a line.

No seriously though this can't be the first time there has been a young child of a cape that needed to be adopted because their parent was arrested or killed. Is there really no system in place for this? Cause Amy should not be going with Carol.

Just the way through most of the present sections of the interlude that Carol thinks about her daughter and Amy. Not her daughters. And this was before she knew anything about what Amy had done. Terrible mother.

HOLY SHIT AMY OH MY GOD YOU MADE IT EVEN WORSE! And I thought flesh coffin Victoria was bad! FUCK!

Vic is going to need lots of therapy.

Fucking Carol basically deciding Amy is her daughter now only because she doesn't want to think about Victoria being her daughter. Damn. Bad mother.

And Amy is in the birdcage (Hellfire playing in my head the entire damn time I'm reading this part). I'd be rather terrified to see what she becomes except no one ever gets out of the birdcage so obviously there is no worries. She is never going to be an issues. (I shouldn't need the /s but just to be safe.)

Brian interlude:

Not much to say here, most of my thoughts on this relationship was said in my last post.

I do always love seeing Taylor from the PoV of someone else. Just shows how fucking badass she is. And kinda terrifying.

"She conveyed an eerie kind of confidence that he knew she didn’t have at her core." This is just incorrect bud. When she isn't thinking about how she is portraying herself she conveys the confidence she does have at her core. The stuff she hides from herself.

Alexandria interlude:

DATES! DATA! LORE! AHHHHHHH!!!!

Date of first Endbringer attack!!!!! Strong estimation of the number of capes in August 1986! Knowledge that Cauldron was working in 1986! Their "success" rate at the time that I can compare to now! (Success in quotes cause I don't personally think tentacles is a failure. I want to meet tentacle lady.)

Obviously I'm not a big fan of any of the Cauldron people on the surface. But I think I like Contessa within those boundaries. I technically have no idea what she can do but I'm almost positive she is some type of precog. And I kind of ship her and Alexandria.

Behemoth is fucking scary. Just light people on fire from the inside, shoot lightning. Full energy manipulation. Damn.

Alexandria is the head of the PRT! Damn! (I assume at least.)

I want to know more about the Terminus project!

And Coil is a product of Cauldron! But he doesn't know it (supposedly). Damn. They list him as an alternate to the Protectorate which is very interesting. I'm super curious what Cauldron's goal with the Protectorate was and how Coil can do the same.

Fucking Alexandria just going and grabbing people to be experimented on and it's "ok" cause they were dying. Holy shit! She even manages to make the comparison to her chemo treatment and still does it! Fuck lady. You can justify anything.

Triumph interlude:

See? Triumph is fine! So Skitter didn't do anything wrong.

Triumph is Cauldron created too. Cause he was only good enough at baseball for the minor league but not the majors. God damn fucking privileged ass rich white boy. And he describes it as a traumatic thing! God. At least later he does kinda call out that he got stuff from having a rich dad with connections.

Assault seems to be doing great! Sure was a good idea to let him join the Protectorate just cause he wanted to be a creep to this one girl. Turns out when that girl is gone he doesn't have any motivations to be a "good guy". Great decision Legend.

Robot daughter! Good to see you again! And you built yourself a bio body! Or a head at least. Still, fun!

AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Defiant.

Definitely isn't Polearm McGee! Nope! Absolutely a different person. That also likes really long pointy sticks.

I am glad Frank Miller's Armsmaster was able to remove the restrictions on robot daughters code. She deserves freedom. Pretty much served his purpose now and she basically just keeps him around to humor him. "Oh yes I need Defiant to help me, even though I built his suit and could just control it directly myself."

Seven Dragon suits in Brockton Bay huh? I'm sure that won't result in anything next arc. What with Dragon specifically on the lookout for Taylor and Taylor planning on going with her dad to the town hall on the election.

Triumph gives in to the weight of not speaking up about Defiant being Armsmaster but then he gets mad at Prism for not speaking up! My dude! You didn't speak up, you can't be mad at her for the same thing!

Fucking LOVED the ending of this interlude, and thus this arc, though. Absolutely perfect. Just with the inherent comparison of Defiant to Mannequin, especially considering Colin called Mannequin a "monster" in his interlude and said "I'm nothing like you!" And then Triumph thinking how he could see the reason for every step Colin made and could see himself justifying each one. And the previous chapter had Taylor dealing with how far she had let herself go. All that and then ending this chapter with Triumph staring at the bodies of Crawler and Mannequin (finally confirmed dead) and the line "Maybe it was to find some clue, some sign he could watch out for, that would let him identify the monsters from the men."

Just fucking. So good. I think it's my favorite quotable arc ending so far. I might like Arc 11's ending more (it's close) but not in quotable way. "All lies" at the end of Arc 14 is a close second, but I like this one more.

#Worm #Worm Web Serial #Parahumans #Cairavende reads Worm #Carol Dallon #Creepy Crawlies #Alexandria #Cauldron #Triumph #Dragon #Frank Miller's Armsmaster #For real though I kinda want to write up an essay on the “identify monsters from the men” bit. There is just so many layers of stuff! #At a minimum it goes all the way back to 3.6 when Tattletale is talking about her “cops vs robbers” analogy. #And she says “And then there's the monsters.” Referencing SH9 and Nilbog (want to know more about) and Skitter brings up the Endbringers. #And the whole constant theme of the heroes not necessarily being the “good guys” and labels mattering more than actions. #And just the idea that there is 3 things. Heroes. Villains. And Monsters. #Monster in many ways being just as made up of a label as hero or villain but it lets people justify their actions better. #Just. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #Worm is good. #Girlfriend thank you tag! Thanks for pestering me (affectionately) to read Worm. #My life (and the life of everyone who likes reading my thoughts on it) is better for it! Love you!!!

[ineffably-human]

Canon! Queer!! Slow-burn!!!

Okay, but I think we can call it text now, right? Said-out-loud, have-this-on-your-radar text? 'These people are canon queer and have strong feelings for each other, and this is the most important aspect of both their plots' text?!

Nandor suspects Guillermo would be jealous of him getting married .

Guillermo confirms that he knows everyone, including the documentary crew, is thinking that. But because things are going well for him in that department as well he's over it, he's totally moved on from his canon textual feelings he acknowledges having.

Guillermo's entire face and voice journey lingering on Nandor having male wives that seems part "you were openly queer even when you were alive?" and part "nice to know THAT was never the problem." (He assumes it's a woman when first asked to be the best man, too, I think he genuinely didn't know Nandor would have considered a man as relationship material.)

Nandor getting a casual offer to join Laszlo and Nadja in sex, specifically to fuck Laszlo. Nandor being actively hornier with the male-presenting people during the whole wife montage. Leering at the guy he's wrestling with. Planning coffin sex with the other dude. Slapping the third guy's ass. 'Nandor's true love could be a man' we are loudly told over and over and OVER again.

"I'm cool with you getting married, I really am." "Oh good, I'm so glad you are cool with it." Nailed it, both of you.

The sheer married couple energy they have in basically everything.

"I already found love," hard cut to Guillermo's face before it goes to the portrait.

Like we are not getting a story of a man trying to find a relationship. He finds the relationship right away by ruling everyone else out, and then shows no interest in who it actually is.

The story is of a man who is deeply lonely but afraid to be challenged or vulnerable, even when both of those things are happening with the most important person in his life - who he loves anyway. Right as that person is getting more honest, and more in touch with himself as a sexual being, and might also be pulling away forever.

Some additional eyesemoji.jpg:

They sure as fuck aren't desexualizing Guillermo in this process. The robe, the stubble, denying he's a eunuch, the Guide having vivid horny fantasies. (As Laszlo, who needs some sensitivity training, talks about seducing a vampire? a vampire woman? being 'every young man's dream'. Guillermo's never said he's queer out loud, and it shows.)

Man, we sure did establish what a HUGE taboo it is for a vampire to fuck a vampire slayer. With lifelong punishments and/or memory-wiping consequences. (I wonder if the Guide fucked someone we're gonna meet later...)

Guillermo imprinting on Colin as a fellow latchkey kid, and wanting desperately to protect him. We already have such a strong sense of what his deal is with his family.

"I would have to know when your mother's birthday is and the things that you do." How Nandor looks guilty at that, but also how much it says about Guillermo being guarded. Nandor never asks, but does Guillermo ever try and tell? Did he try once, back when Nandor didn't care?

Guillermo is so barefaced honest about the things he needs and feels, in that basement scene with Nandor and baby Colin. Nandor not only hears him out, Guillermo tells him because this time Nandor did ask.

And when Guillermo says these things out loud? Colin falls asleep. I wonder if energy vampires only work in boredom or sadness. Maybe they can even respond to positive kinds of communication...

#fandom: wwdits #what we do in the shadows #otp: nandermo #wwdits spoilers #i am a meta gremlin #fuck we were SO FED with these episodes i am so jazzed for this season

[nobodyfamousposts]

This is going to sound dumb, but Emilie's in a coma and not dead right? So how exactly does Gabe give her proper nutrition and help with the bodies natural functions like going to the bathroom in a glass coffin? Sure, it's sorta pretty to look at but how is she so clean and healthy after spending over a year in there?

Maybe it's the magic keeping her that way?

But no, reasonably speaking, she should be requiring some serious medical care. Breathing tube, IV, etc.

To be fair, I am not entirely knowledgeable of medical care, but I'm fairly certain that part of the problem with someone in a coma is that when they don't move and just lay in bed all day, there are health issues that come of it. Contrary to movie portrayals, they don't just sleep and look pretty like some sort of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. There are complications to it, bed sores due to staying in one position too long and muscle degeneration and weakness from an extended period of not moving.

In addition, there's the matter of just what the magical backlash itself is doing to the person. We clearly see with Nathalie that even just using the broken Peacock the first time is enough to make her seriously ill. And she was noted to be getting weaker as time progressed. Plus statements from Adrien suggest that his mom had similar symptoms. So there's no telling just WHAT the extent of the symptoms are, though I would love to see a full theory workout exploring that.

It could be argued that the magic involved is freezing them in time, given it doesn't look like Emilie has aged.

However, it should also be noted that this is apparently more than just a world with magical jewelry. We've seen in Origins that other heroes exist and the specials (even if we don't want to remember them) show the other heroes. PLUS there was an episode where Gabriel used a hologram to hide his activities. So it's clear that this is very much a world filled with magic and advanced technology.

As such, it is fully possible that the tube Gabriel has her in could just be a very technologically advanced time capsule that puts anyone in it in a sort of stasis, keeping her "alive" and set in a single moment until he can get the means to cure her.

Though that may just be me giving the show too much credit and it's really just a matter of the writers being lazy. But still, it's more interesting to think about and add to world building.

#ml analysis

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten 2, MAG 2

Second part of the relisten analysis, featuring my beloved Joshua Gillespie <3 Sorry this is a bit later in the day than expected, had it queued but must've saved it wrong.

Spoilers ahead!

Facts: Statement of Joshua Gillespie (my love) from November 22nd, 1998, regarding an empty wooden casket he acquired while living in Amsterdam.

Character Notes: Jon's from Bournemouth confirmed! Again, hindsight is hilarious when Jon says "it's nice to hear my hometown is not entirely devoid of odd occurrences." Like sir you were almost eaten by a book?

Statement Notes: Another instance of drug use. Again, I can't necessarily tell if this is just a device so that Jon can dismiss the statements or if the entities are specifically preying on people in fragile/weak states of mind.

But none of that matters because the incredible Joshua Gillespie was there <3 <3, smartest character in the series on God. Specifically loved the end of the statement when the man who gave him the coffin sees the key in the ice box and seems impressed, because damn I'm impressed to. The statement specifically says he was impressed after Gillespie "Told him where he could stick it." This definitely feeds into the idea that, as much as the fears prey on weak and scared people, they're really attracted to confident and bold people. I think a person's response to a scary scenario has a lot to do with whether they become an avatar or a victim; not necessarily whether they were scared or brave, but whether that fear overtook them or they dove into it. Gillespie really faced his fear of the coffin and just dealt with it in a head on, practical manner.

I don't recall the character who gives Gillespie the coffin coming up again, but of course his name is John. Obviously Breekon and Hope come up, but I don't remember this other guy showing up again, anyone else?

It's super interesting that the coffin didn't get delivered until after Gillespie spent the money, as if it was waiting for some kind of a debt to be established.

Entity Alignment: Little on the nose, but this is the Buried. It pretty weird, that although long term fans know this is Buried aligned "thing," there's really no mention of anyone entering or being buried in the coffin in this episode. But at the end of the statement, Tim discovers that no one was living in the building with Gillespie for many years. That could have to do with the money, whoever gave him the coffin may have set up the apartment sale to manipulate him into spending it, but a part of me really likes the idea that all the other residents wandered into the coffin while they slept, unable to resist the call. There's obviously evidence against that, being that no Tim found no one lived there for the entirety of Gillespie's residence and any other possible residence wouldn't have the coffin key.

People like to bring up the Vast/Buried dichotomy a lot, and I think it's really prevalent in this episode. Gillespie first hears the scratching on the coffin when he places a glass on it, but he doesn't hear the wailing until it starts raining. Thinking about the End episode in Season 5, where Oliver Banks determines things stop being scary if you become too used to them, I think hearing the rain is a tool used by the Buried to keep its victims afraid. It may be easy to succumb to the dirt and the darkness on a regular day, but a day you're reminded that there's a wide open sky you can't and won't ever be able to see? Not gonna happen. Letting the victims hear the rain amps up the fear and torment.

One of the best episodes in the series, let me know what you think!

#magnus archives #the magnus archives relisten #tma relisten #tma #tma podcast #tma spoilers #MAG 2 #Do Not Open #the mag pod #rusty quill #rusty quill network #tim stoker #jonathan sims #jonny sims #joshua gillespie #podcasts #horror podcast #horror #audio drama #the buried #the vast #tma entities #fear entities #analysis #media analysis

[septimusmoonlight]

Anonymous: I think you might be the reason i'm into ear/brain fucking. It's not something I've ever thought about before but now I'm obsessed with it. Specifically with it being long, drawn out and painful. It should hurt having someone stuff their cock in your ear. Something forced into your brain against your will. but it would hurt in a good way As it fucked you (cock tentacle doesn't matter), it would obviously damage your brain. making you dumber and dumber they more they fuck you. Your eyes start rolling back, your tongue hangs out drooling. Once they're done they cum in your head leaving basically braindead, but now you're ready for the next cock to fuck your head. Now it's all you can think about.

Ooh, yes, it should be painful~ It should hurt, and the pain should only make the entire experience better <3

Ears aren't meant to accommodate cock, which honestly has its appeal already. A tight hole, not designed for penetration and yet oh so ripe for it? That's a target. And it's one I unfortunately find out about when someone talks me into trying it despite my reservations; I'm interested enough for it to be an intriguing prospect, even though I know it will be uncomfortable. A cock forcing its way deeper into my skull hurts, of course, but there's just something, something about it that gets me throbbing. The person fucking me holds my head still as they push deeper, ignoring my uncomfortable shifting to resolutely spread out a hole never meant to be fucked.

Eventually, painfully, they stuff enough of themselves inside to reach their target. The sensation of cock meeting neurons is something I'm entirely unprepared for. A jolt of undiluted input, just sheer physical feeling rattles me to my core, followed by another; the pain is reduced to a dull ache, a current in the background that serves to elevate the rest of the experience while the person fucking my skull works their way deeper. Brain matter gives way so easily that it's almost like I was meant to take something like this - a thought that comes out of nowhere. Or maybe a thought that comes from the literal cock on the mind I'm experiencing.

Shoving aside connections and chunks of matter to slide deeper, the person at my head doesn't take long to get hilted. They groan in satisfaction, adjusting positions slightly while my consciousness starts to wriggle uncomfortably, aware that I'm in danger, somehow; unfortunately for the lucid part of my brain, the part currently yielding to sexual pleasure is much louder, and much more in control. The first thrust does away with almost all of my reservations, and the next serves to wipe away what remains of my trepidation. It's all too easy to start fucking my soft, warm brain, the matter in my skull cavity squelching and sloshing as it's pulverized into a useless sludge that used to make me human.

On the outside, the damage to my head is clear. I'm already moaning wordlessly, my eyes rolled back in my head as my hand works furiously at my cunt. I'm so dripping wet that I can stick three fingers inside myself with ease, jamming a fourth in with little hesitation while I slouch to the side, into the grasp of the person reducing me from a human being into a moaning fleshlight. It still hurts, on some level, but I've stopped caring about the pain; in fact, I welcome it at this point. It's just a part of the experience, and the experience is one I'm relishing at every turn, now that I don't have any other choice. Now that I don't have the presence of mind to do anything else.

With a moaning slut under their control and a tight hole milking them dry, the person fucking my skull doesn't take long to cum after I start drooling, my tongue lolling out and my eyes rolling back in my head like I'm getting railed normally instead of brainfucked. That's really the nail in the coffin for what remains of my psyche. Once able to complain and think for myself, the only thing I'm capable of now is begging to have a cock in my head at all times, something to get rid of the rest of that pesky gray matter leftover. I only want cock and cum to fill my empty skull cavity.

Luckily, there are plenty of people willing to oblige. All it takes is a few phone calls.

#Originally posted August 14th 2023 #asks #anonymous #my writing #nsft text #patreon.com/septimusmoonlight #brainfucking #mindbreak #pain #anon writing

[captain-of-the-gwynriel-ship]

i love gwynriel and your answers are really convincing. but I'm confused why the hell Sarah put Azriel having some kind of involvement with Elain if gwyn and Az ended up together in the end. because we can't deny that there's something between Elain and Az, there's interest on both sides, even though it might not be simple, there's something lol. but I still don't know who Az will stay with? I don't have an opinion on that. sometimes I think Az and gwyn are endgame, other times I think they didn't get together and there might be someone else for him and someone else for gwyn, obviously. i find azriel so confusing, sarah doesn't give a lot of hints about him, it pisses me off because i love him so much. Also, I'm so sad that there is so much hate on gwyn and Elain because of the ships, if Sarah didn't put azriel with either of them, it would be a war 😂 Sarah is sharing opinions I'm scared of what she's going to do lol

This got a little long, sorry I just digressed 😅

Honestly, I was an e/riel until I read ACOSF (so I guess a total of like a week?) I thought that the whole breaking the bond to be with someone you loved thing was romantic. I thought their aestetic was cute, if not overplayed a hit. But honestly, SJM gives us a lot of clues in ACOSF to show Elain will not stay in the NC and ultimately won’t be with Az. I truly believe that ACOSF put the nail in the coffin for e/riel as endgame. However, it is important for both Az and Elain individually.

1) Az does NOT respect Elain or view her as an equal. She wanted to help with the dread trove and the moment she left the room he went against her decision. She wants to do more with her life, but the entire IC EXCEPT FOR HER MATE underestimates her.

2) Az confesses he has never thought of Elain past sexual fantasies. “He hadn’t gotten that far with his planning, certainly not beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself to.” This is again him just seeing her as a sexual object and not as an equal. 

3) throughout the bonus chapter, Azriel is CONSTANTLY saying how wrong his feelings for Elain are. The shadows tell him to go to bed because they knew Elain was waiting up for him. I’m sorry, but THAT IS NOT HEALTHY. Forbidden love is the WRONG trope for Azriel. There is a great post by @lunainfortuna linked here that goes into it with my commenting there. There is another great post by @acourtofthought that talks about the negative emotions in the BC here

4) Azriel would stifle Elain's growth in the guise of protection (as we have seen in ACOSF by not respecting her choice behind her back) and Elain will appease Azriel (as she does with her sisters) to keep the peace and allow him to do what Nesta did especially if she notes he gets upset whenever she wants to help even if it puts her at risk (call back to how he was overprotective with Mor to the point she feels guilty about making a decision on her own knowing it will upset him). That's not a couple that would compliment each other's growth or challenge each other. Neither will pull the other out of their shell and this is something I think both Azriel and Elain need because everyone around them is happy to let them be in their own head for too long.

5) Aesthetics and being nice to each other does not warrant a long-term stable and equal relationship when we actually look at them as characters and their personality and actions. Azriel, like Nesta, speaks for Elain even if he thought he was thinking in her best interests but those "best interests" are clouded by his desperation for a mate and his jealousy of Lucien and Rhys and Cassian. They weren't Elain's own words and she does have a voice to speak out on it instead of Azriel.

6) I still think ACOSF and the bonus chapter are big indicators that they don't work out as a couple. Sarah could've made them more appealing to the readers but she didn't. This was Nesta’s book, and she could have made Elain a larger part of Nesta’s recovery journey and had her spend more time with azriel. But she didn’t. You know who had the most page time in ACOSF? Nesta, cassian, gwyn, and azriel.

7) rhys is almost always right. The podcast BookTalkforBookTok consistently jokes that he is always telling the future. When he steers Azriel off of Elain before things escalate, he is truly looking out for Az’s best interest. Rhys has great intentions and poor execution. However, whenever rhys says something it’s true. If rhys thought they would be good for each other, then he wouldn’t interfere and would work something out with lucien.

8) cassian saying that Elain looks dreary in black is just SO ON THE NOSE and idk if SJM can make it any clearer. Black is the night court color, black is azriel’s color. @yazthebookish confronts this here and I couldn’t have said it better myself.

9) time and time again, SJM is asked about what the couples would do and EVERYTIME she talks about what Elain and lucien would do together. In her head, they are end game. When asked where they would go on vacation together, she said Paris. Then there was this beauty:

10) Az is still not over mor by solstice and he has a LOT of work to do before being in a relationship. He is using Elain as a distraction against his bigger issues with intimacy and belonging.

Ultimately, I have a theory that Elain tried to steer herself towards azriel and away from lucien for all the wrong reasons. Azriel, despite the wings, looks more or less human. He has rounded ears, is soft spoken, and she associates him with her human life. She meets lucien on the worst night of her life (mirroring how gwyn met Az on her worst night too just fyi), he has long hair, fae ears, a mechanical eye, and looks the part of the fae she grew up hating. HOWEVER, if she got to know the males the opposite is actually true. Despite his looks, azriel is incredibly male and fae. He follows his instincts, he growls/snarls, he is a fighter and a torturer. Lucien, on the other hand, has a very human soul. He currently even lives with Jurian and Vassa. She clings to Az because accepting lucien means accepting being fae and I think she is still in denial. I wouldn’t doubt there would be a point at the beginning of her book where she might want to jump at the opportunity to become human again. She lost the most out of the three sisters by becoming fae and she loves life. Accepting the bond means accepting being fae and this emotional and sexually charged relationship with Az is the bandaid on her gaping wound. It will only keep the bleeding at bay for so long.

Both azriel and Elain are using each other as distractions from their true trauma’s. Azriel latches onto women who are unable to give him the love he deserves. Elain is trying to keep the one human part of her she has left, the ability to choose her partner and not have it chosen for her by the cauldron.

TOG Spoiler:

After finishing TOG, I feel like chaol and azriel will be on similar love stories. Chaol had loved a girl prior to the events of throne of glass but found her in bed with Rolland, and I think this parallels to Az’s relationship to Mor. Then his next relationship was with Aelin. It was hinted at through all of TOG and before they got together in COM. Their relationship was short and brief and ended badly (I think they were officially together for like a week before shit hit the fan). This parallel’s Az and Elain. Both couples look good on paper, but lack the special spark that makes SJM couples endgame. They end up being worse for each other because of their personalities and they give into their insecurities with each other. This leads me to think that Azriel will go on a journey of introspection and emotional healing with the help of gwyn, just like chaol did with yrene. Just like yrene, gwyn has the power to heal with her invoking stones. I can go on but you get the point. When they all meet again in KOA, they are all happy for each other despite their rocky past just like I think the whole Elain/lucien/Az/gwyn group will be.

Ultimately SJM is gonna do what she is gonna do. But I for one will be incredibly disappointed if Elain and Az are endgame because I think they both deserve better. They are both good characters, but toxic together.

#welcome to my soapbox #soapbox #i swear I do more than just think of ACOTAR all day #i can hate elriel without bringing up gwynriel #these characters really all need therapy stat #these coping mechanisms are getting out of hand #acotar #azriel shadowsinger #anti elr*el #anti e/riel #anti e*riel #anti elriel #lucien #elain kingslayer #pro elain #elain archeron

[the-writer-nerd-ro]

Back on my bullshit (Writing Sara Pena and Hunter Richardson fics)

I actually based part of this on my own relationship, I'll say which part in the tags if anyone is interested lol.

This fic is chock full of headcanons and most of them are my own but one of them is a widely overlooked detail from Hunter's generated bio because everyone was too focused on the fact that she was a vandal

You can find my other fics by clicking on most of the tags below I am too tired to link them

When I look at the stars I feel like myself

It was ten o'clock at night and Hunter Richardson did not want to be at work. But people die at all hours of the day and some of those people have wealthy families who insist on having their funerals planned pronto.

In between a dull discussion on coffins and floral arrangements, Hunter was texting her girlfriend.

Sara Pena had gone out for a late-night walk, so Hunter was swinging wildly between being jealous that she couldn't also be there instead of in a business meeting and being worried about Sara's safety. Of course, Sara was more than capable of taking care of herself, but Hunter was still always worried.

SP: The sky is sooo pretty tonight. Wish you were here :-(

H: Me too

H: Send a pic

"Excuse me, are my father's burial wishes boring to you?"

"No ma'am, sorry, just dealing with a personal emergency." That wasn't technically a lie, missing Sara Pena always felt like an emergency.

"Fine. Let's get back to the matter at hand."

They proceeded to talk about different types of coffin wood for the next 30 minutes. The only reprieve Hunter had was when she glanced at her phone and saw a pitch-black image.

SP: That's the best I could do sorry bb (^_^;)

Hunter almost snorted, but since she was about to seal the deal and get to go home she managed to stay silent.

Finally, she dragged her corpse onto the bus. When it wasn't dark out she usually walked home, but she did not have Sara's confidence about walking alone at night. When she got the chance, she took one more look at the blacked-out photo.

"Hm…."

She downloaded the photo, clicked edit, and fiddled with the brightness until small white pinpoints of light appeared. Then she saved it and attached it to a text back to Sara.

H: Fixed it

SP: Oh, yay! Are you gonna be home soon?

H: Yeah I'm on the bus

SP: I'll stay up, cya soon (^3^)/～♡

Hunter stared fondly down at her phone, ignoring the real sky outside the bus window, preferring Sara's shabby attempt at photography. She made the terrible photo her lock screen -Sara was already her home screen- and put her phone away since the bus was pulling up to her stop.

Sara was eagerly waiting for her when she got inside.

"Have you eaten yet? I made popcorn."

"Sounds perfect," Hunter said, exhausted after a long day.

"Sorry I couldn't have taken a better photo for you, I really wanted to. It was just so beautiful tonight."

"I didn't know you liked stars that much," Hunter remarked before taking a handful of popcorn. It was a little burnt, but Hunter didn't care.

"Yeah, stars make me think about life and my place in the universe. Sometimes they make me feel small but in the grand scheme of things I'm lucky to be a speck in a galaxy so large and majestic."

"That's how I feel when you spoon me," Hunter said, a rather lame response to the profound statement Sara Pena had said, but apparently the correct response.

"Well, then, I am lucky to be your starlight."

"And I am lucky to be your speck."

Hunter spent the whole next day thinking about that conversation, especially whenever she had to open her phone and she saw the photo she'd edited for Sara.

"We can definitely do better than that," Hunter finally decided, a plan cementing itself in her brain.

She had to wait a little while for her plan to fall into place since she spent most evenings either at work or with Sara. By the time a window of opportunity opened, Sara had probably forgotten their star chat entirely, but Hunter didn't forget things very easily.

Opportunity struck when Sara was hired to work a party. Her business, SaraPenaPartyForHire, catered to awkward party hosts who were desperate for overly-confident extroverts who would liven up their party. Sara fit the bill perfectly. Hunter, who spent most of her days talking to corpses and mourners, did not fit the bill at all.

Still, Sara always invited her, and sometimes Hunter obliged. But that day she had a perfect reason to say no.

"I'm working late," Hunter lied.

"Again?" Sara practically pouted.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, you'll just have to come to the next one."

"I will," that part was not a lie.

Once Sara was satisfied, Hunter got to work. She had to call in a favor or two to set her plan in motion, but the main part was actually extraordinarily easy.

She went up to the roof of the funeral home and waited for the sun to set.

Once it had, she pulled out her professional camera and began to photograph the sky.

Photography was still only a hobby for Hunter, but she'd taken every class she could on the subject and had hung onto her camera like it was solid gold. She'd met some people during those classes, and one of her colleagues was going to help her edit and print those photos so that she could make a framed collage.

This plan of hers only worked, of course, if she could get good photos of the night sky. If she could only get photos as good as the one Sara initially took then it would be a waste of time and money.

Fortunately, the night was clear and her hands were steady, so the photos turned out pretty good. Maybe she still needed a few more classes, but the photos were at least good enough to hang up in their apartment, and that was enough.

Hunter barely got home before Sara did, quickly hiding her camera when she heard the door open.

"How was the party?"

"It would've been better with you. How was the cemetery?"

"It would've been better with you."

Sara beamed.

"Did you eat at the party? I was going to make some ramen."

"Mmm, ramen."

While Hunter cooked, Sara chatted about what went down at the party, the music that was played, the people she danced with, and the outfits she planned to copy in the future.

And as Sara talked, Hunter imagined how excited she would be to receive her present.

The next few days, whenever Hunter had a spare moment she spent it assembling. The touched-up photos were beautiful. She selected four of the photos to frame, and as a finishing touch took a white paint pen to the black picture frame, writing the phrase "Lucky to be your starlight" on the top and "Lucky to be your speck" on the bottom.

Then, she just had to arrange the perfect time to present it.

H: Are you working tonight?

SP: Nope! Are you?

H: No, do you want to do date night?"

SP: Yeah! Where do you want to go?

H: Maybe we could get takeout and stay home?

SP: Oooh cozy, I love it. I'll pick something up after work.

Sara worked a series of part-time jobs when SaraPenaPartyForHire wasn't blowing up. This latest job was pretty close to a pizza place they really liked. So, with the date set and dinner squared away, Hunter just had to wait.

When Sara got home with their pizza and cheesy bread, she was surprised to find Hunter in the living room holding a beautifully wrapped gift.

"H? What is this?"

"I made you something," Hunter said, trading Sara for the pizza.

Immediately Sara tore into the gift, her eyes wide and sparkling like the stars she loved so much.

Sara gasped. "Oh, Hunter, these are beautiful, did you take these?

"I did. I wanted you to have a nice picture of the stars since you love them so much."

"I do love them," Sara agreed, reading what Hunter had written for her. "But I will never love all the galaxies in the universe as much as I love you."

Hunter set down the pizza, and Sara set down the stars, and soon they were holding each other. And when they were tangled up, so close that two forms became one, they were so much more than just specks in an uncaring universe. When they were together, they were the universe in all its glory.

#drawfee fanfic #sara pena #hunter richardson #sara x hunter #hunter x sara #the part I stole from my relationship was the photo thing. my SO and I were on the phone and they had to walk their dogs #so i asked for a picture of the sky and then had to edit it to see any of the stars #i thought that was very sara and hunter of us lol #also petition for their ship name to be sphere (sphr)

[girlwholovesturtles]

Opening with Nikola immediately, I see. Why do this? Oh god.

"Needs to be near us." Breekon and Hope need the coffin near? That's interesting. Also worrying that the coffin is there at all.

Nikola makes me uncomfortable. I kinda love them... They've said "Can I call you Elias?" twice now. I'm not convinced they entirely know what's going on.

Did Jon just try to say "Fuck you?" I'm smiling way too much from this episode already.

Oh god, are they gonna- oh god, they are gonna skin him.

"Can I call you Elias?" Number three.

"Do you have a preferred brand of lotion." Oh my god. This should not be making me laugh so much.

Wait, is this the episode? It is! This where the animatic came from that got me into the show to begin with! Yes!

This one!

Jon, why do you sound more annoyed then you do afraid of this man saying he's gonna kill you? I guess when so many people are saying the exact same threat, it stops being scary after a while.

Okay, Michael or I suppose the Spiral is lies and deception. He has nothing to do with the Unknowing but he wants it to fail. Jon, fuck why he's here, ask what the Unknowing is. He doesn't want the Circus or the Archive to win?

Okay, I think I get it.

Theory before it's all said: Michael was Gertrude's assistant, he some how got taken by the Spiral, and the part of him that is still Michael resents the Archive he what happened to him. The Spiral doesn't want to be Michael anymore because it has made it's nature complicated but I suspect it can't get rid of him, for whatever reason. Okay, starting the video again.

Sure, Michael, give up a statement. I'm sure this will be very coherent and not at all filled with me going "WTF?!" constantly.

Michael Shelly... Oh, Michael here implying Gertrude is deceptive, that's interesting... what? She FEED him to the Spiral? Oh... Michael really cared about Gertrude and she used him for this.

"Is a thing evil when it simply obeys it's own nature?" That is an interesting question. A polar bear isn't evil just because it willing to hunt humans, it's just hungry. And near as I can tell, the Spiral and all these other entities, they also are just hungry in their own ways. So, maybe they aren't evil. Though that certainly doesn't make them good.

"He believed everything she told him..." Alright, me and Gertrude aren't friends anymore. But what is the Becoming, exactly?

"Okay." Jon is just giving up? I mean, I know he lives because there's like 200 episodes but...

What do you mean "It's loc-

Uh... is Michael dead? Oh, hi Helen... Yeah, I guess Michael is dead? If it could kill Michael whenever it wanted, why didn't it before? Or did it need someone to replace him? Which I guess it what Helen is for?

You're options are the door or being skinned, my guy. Make good choices.

Wait, is the Spiral cool? It's just... taking Jon home? That's pretty chill of it, given the Archive's history with it but alright.

Okay, hold up. It's entirely possibly I'm reading this all wrong but were these entities at some point just kinda vibing and Gertrude decided they all needed to be destroyed? Because that's what it sounds like to me. Like, I don't know what the Becoming is yet but it sounds like the Spiral was attempting to transition from being a thing that could never be into something that was and perhaps could even be defined. At it's very core, it sounds like these things simply wish to exist but they're so volatile that it's difficult to do so. Gertrude even wanted to destroy the Archive, the focal point of the Eye. Even though, as far as I can tell, it's only interest is to collect knowledge.

So did she just decide to go rogue and destroy all these monsters and that's why they're mobilizing like they are?

#the magnus archives #tma #live blogging #long post #episode 101

[kitsunebishake]

I'm so amazed at how honkai star rail for once got me hooked into a gacha game story

this rarely ever happens to me in gacha games, I usually go on for like a week and then lose interest (since it tends to get boring)

like, for example, with genshin I only started to catch interest in sumeru, yet I never got there because the gameplay being overwhelming + how much text I had to skip on inazuma lol (no hate if others liked it, I just didn't find it that interesting so I'd skim through it waiting for it to pick up,,, at some point I was only reading whatever ayaka and thoma said and ignoring everyone else, never even reached ayato)

MY POINT IS THAT THIS GAME HAS GOT ME ACTUALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO READING MORE AND THINKING ABOUT THE STORY EVEN 2 WEEKS AFTER I FINISHED WHAT WAS AVAILABLE OF MAIN STORY

this game? hooked from the start

here's a screenshot of my best friend realising I was actually reading the story and not just skipping dialogues (something I am very famous for doing in my friend circle, it's a meme that I only have 2 modes: "I read this 3 times and didn't understand anyways" and "I read the entirety of this in 3 hours let me make an entire dissertation about it for you", and me going into the second one is a COMPLIMENT to the writer)

it's amazing

on that topic though, I think so much of that stupid coffin of luocha's... like genuinely, I'm like 99% sure I know what is inside of that shit and I am so fucking looking forward to seeing it happen

but also I've been also thinking of the relation between the xianzhou's history and fu hua's "no mercy for the corrupted" era

she's clearly the marshal, there's no way they're teasing a "marshal hua" (it's in one of the assignments), saying BARELY ANYTHING about the marshal on the xianzhou story video, and NOT making it the hua that is famous for destroying that of which she believes is corrupted without exception

the hunt's relationship with the abundance is exactly what was happening back in that plotline

plus we have jing yuan here who had to kill his own master, who imo looks like fu hua, and since he looks like jingliu there's that relation there for me, no one can convince me I'm wrong ok

his job as the general in the luofu feels as if fu hua and zhongli were mashed into a single character

(which worries me seeing the little twerp that is his disciple but I'll give the little shit the benefit of the doubt, I'm gonna enjoy avenging my goddess in the boss battle anyways)

WHICH

TAKES ME TO THE COFFIN

THAT'S TOTALLY JINGLIU

whether jing yuan requested it or if it's some sort of twisted "gift" from the abundance themselves I still can't tell from the clues we've got

these clues being:

luocha having a much stronger connection to his path, to even heal cyborgs with magic, carrying that shit everywhere, saying it's "a favor" from someone, saying he only met the person in the coffin once, his "it's a secret. (smiles)" as a response to being asked what his thoughts were on jing yuan in a JAPANESE MAGAZINE THEY REALLY DROPPED LORE IN A PART ONLY JP WOMEN AND POSSIBLY QUEERS WOULD READ

there's still nothing about whether this is also part of jing yuan's calculations or if this will throw him off guard,,,

AAAA I NEED ANSWERS HOYOVERSE WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME

#old man ranting #spoilers #hsr spoilers

[iamthecomet]

Where I live, I'm on a couple acres of land, my grandparents' home has been here for around since around the 1950's or so, and was built in a sort of peculiar way, because my grandfather wanted to be able to see over the hills and valleys.

It's built like a barracks, partially chunked into a hill with a flat front and an equally flat roof.

But that's not the important part.

So my entire early childhood, and part of my adult life, I spent a lot of time/lived there, and it never felt "off" to me or any of my family members, yeah?

Well, jump forward to when we were moving out (still on the land) we were getting the new owners, family members, acquainted with the house/the property in general.

One of them had also spent a lot of time there when they were little, so they also felt... comfortable.

But it seems to be a common thread that anyone who didn't grow up there gets an almost sinister feeling that they're being watched.

In particular, there's this short hallway with a large hand-painted mural on it that my grandmother did as a memorial piece decades ago, but even that isn't what puts people off.

It's the studio.

If you're standing at the end of the hallway, no matter how bright the overhead light is, no matter how much light creeps in the window.

It feels dark and cold.

I say feels dark, because, well, it's hard to explain how a space can be bright and still so... weird.

Anyway, I've had people legitimately ask to leave after standing there in the hallway without any prior knowledge about this quirk of the home.

It scares them more than the basement or the attic there, and it's barely ten feet in length.

Meanwhile I was walking down that hallway daily for 4-5yrs after high school.

Also had a guy genuinely shiver saying the place was haunted, but it is what it is.

ooooh yes, my favorite! situational hauntings! That's wild. It's almost like the house (or ghost, or whatever) likes people who grew up there, but has its eye on people who didn't. Very strange. I swear there's one room in my parents' house that feels like that, but I only really felt it when I was younger--and all my friends did too. Young people never wanted to sleep in that room.

But adults are fine. I've slept in it as an adult and been fine.

I could, of course, chalk it up to an overactive teenage imagination. The wildest thing about my house is how much it lacks that particular feeling. I am very familiar with the feeling of standing in an old dark house and feeling like someone is standing behind you. It always happened to me in my parents' house--my whole life. It sometimes happened to me in various apartments and other living situations.

But this house? I can't recall ever feeling it. No hair on the back of my neck standing up as I bolt up the dark stairs, or go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Just a strange, complete, silence. A peaceful one. Fun house fact: Because my house was a parsonage, and there absolutely were funerals here. There are two, interesting, things this house has. One is a coffin door. It's just an extra door on the side of my house that leads directly into the dining room (which is open to the living room with a big cased opening). You could never get a coffin in the front door and around all the corners of the entry way into the living room, so there's a door there for ease of access. The other is that the only room in my entire house that has "fancy"casings around the windows and doorways is the living room. Most of my casings are simple, flat, nondescript. The ones in the living room are pretty. because, you know, funerals. but despite the funerals (or maybe because of them) this house is the chillest place I've ever lived and I do not understand it.

#comet comments #lamp

[hellsbellschime]

I don't hold as strong hatred for the Targaryen as you do (don't really hate any of the characters, I like how complex they all are), but yes! It is very GRRM to make prophecy the downfall of a person.

I think it's interesting that they put that prophecy reveal in the same episode with the dream Viserys had of a true male heir with a crown, and how he sacrificed his wife for the heir that died anyway. They said that Aemma would have died anyway but he made that call because of his prophetic dream/dragon dream (as the Targaryens are known for them) , so his belief in his own dream lead him to basically murder his own wife.

For the thing with Targs passing down this knowledge down heir to heir, it's very interesting isn't it? Very politically motivated to retain power, I love the idea that this need to hold power is what truly starts the downfall of the House Targaryen.

Makes you wonder how much is true? How much of the original prophecy has changed after so many retellings? Is it lost after the dance? After so many quick changes between kings and queens did they continue to pass it on? Did Aerys tell the story to Rhaegar or did he discover it himself separately? Did all that secrecy lead to Rhaegar's actions that put the final nail in the coffin of the Targaryen house? I wonder if Aegon I just saw that Targaryens were involved and went oh well better rule them because we have dragons and we're best, then told all his heirs like 'mmm.. actually we are to be kings or we dead'. Others such as Melissandre also believe that an specific person must be king for them to defeat the long night in her case she believes Stannis must be king. The use of prophecy or religion as a way to gain political power is again something like to explore. So many questions so much potential.

I disagree with how some people think that suddenly this knowledge of the prophecy makes Aegon's conquest any less bloody or more noble. It was still very much about political gain, I do think it explains why perhaps the three of them were so willing to leave most of their Valiryan traditions for Westerosi ones, perhaps to make them settle faster into power?

In the books it was already speculated that the Targaryens were aware of this, so I wonder how it would all play out in the books. With Daenerys, Jon and young Griff set to all be in the same continent I'm sure it will be an interesting situation (specially if Daenerys does kill Aegon for being a Blackfyre)

As for the show I hope they develop it and play with it even more, the og show was so afraid of anything magical they rarely touched all the prophecies in the books.

-

All in all I'm so happy that I get to talk about this world again.

I actually don't hate them, I love them as villains, far more than a lot of the other ASOIAF villains, but the fact that I see them as villains is a hot point of contention with people who love them as saviors.

And when you phrase it that way that's a VERY VERY VERY INTERESTING parallel to Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa and I can't imagine that was unintentional. The fundamental concept of sacrificing SOMEONE ELSE for the greater good is a fascinating one, and seeing it not only play out in a very visceral and terrifying way, but to see that Viserys' belief was incorrect anyway, is really pointed to me.

It also paints the entire Targaryen dynasty in a more interesting light, because it begs the question of what they were doing in service of this imagined destiny and also likely demonstrates how radically differently they all interpret that destiny and see themselves within it. Like, this would mean that Maegor the Cruel and Baelor the Blessed and Aegon V and Jahaerys and Rhaegar all did what they did because they knew this prophecy and believed themselves to be the most important part of it. And, not only did they do a lot of fucked up shit, but look at how absurdly different their choices all were. Honestly even just talking this through now makes me way more excited about this whole prophecy concept because that is an incredibly interesting avenue to explore.

#hotd spoilers

[thissugarcane]

qaf rewatch, 1x11

wait, is this the birthday party episode? am I here already?

first, before the ep even gets going, let's mention my very fave part of this episode and it is nothing to do with brian or mikey; it is actually J Taylor and melanie drinking tequila in the background and being catty as shit. luv those drunk fools

ted's 33 which means he's 3 and a half years older than brian and 3 years older than michael

michael tryna pretend he doesn't like sex with the same person, but actually he really doesn't seem that unhappy he isn't moving in with david

"hey busboy" -- justin is a very bad busboy, his fingers in the fucking water glass. wonder if he's terrible at this from the beginning? or just with the guys that made him get the job?

otoh, him flicking water at brian in faux irritation while being very swishy is hilariously cute

awww, ted and emmett and the HIV scare - I forgot this is at the same time, what Em's got going on while brian and michael are fighting (I also forgot Ted had the original HIV scare / had unsafe sex, which makes his "dump Ben" even more mean)

Michael bitching about turning thirty to Brian and then six months later he gives brian a coffin cake? jesus

also, brian points out that michael shouldn't break up with david on account of him -- as much as brian is jealous and doesn't like david, I also think he realizes david isn't a good guy for michael (in a weird way, I think probably david isn't right for michael because he's too like brian, too controlling, etc)

Emmett's "You're too important to me!" awwwwwwww. emmett and ted, the healthy michael&brian.

petition to get more fanfic about emmett and ted's friendship. <3

in one moment, deb is all "michael you're thirty, maybe grow up". then in the very next moment she treats him like a child by insisting he call david and apologize for whatever michael did wrong. and then, when michael makes a very good point -- "david and I had *nothing* in common other than pantene shampoo and conditioner, and I had to give up my entire life" -- she ignores it.

like sure, we know he broke up with david because of brian, but there were ALSO GOOD REASONS. idek, deb. you can't tell him to grow up in one second and then coddle him the next

oh jesus, deb yelling at brian again for ruining michael's life. I just-- brian is too smart to know that deb's blame is partly unfair

"it was then I knew I was trouble. and you haven't disappointed me a day since." "you've been there too much." -- deb's emotional maturity is extremely, extremely nonexistent

hahahahaha mel and ted in the sex toy store, luv this Mel.

"the minute you start telling your friends your relationship problems, it's the beginning of the end" - hi ted, you nailed it, linds and mel are indeed in the death throes, they just don't know it (for the next. five. years.)

mel: [to ted's muttering "i'm negative"] "oh that's okay. happy people can be really annoying." oh mel. <3 so true.

this emmett storyline is one of the most difficult to watch.

ugh, david, why are you still around

love ted's inability to coddle michael's drama queen moment over aging and is just like "get off your ass and come to your surprise party"

these lesbians are such terrible parents; why did they bring gus to the party? like sweet lordt

justin taylor, hottie in the background

you know what this definitely mirrors? the rage party at the end of 2x20 *weeps* why must brian cut his heart out in such public ways

the rage party: the second worst moment of brian's life, or the second worst moment of brian's life? ...maybe the third? in recent memory at least.

david's present is something *he* wants, not something michael wants. why do you even want this guy back?

ted challenging brian to let michael go, and brian challenging ted right back -- even here they're actually. what each other needs. interesting that they don't like each other very much but still, this

also while Ted is accusing him, brian just folds his arms and hunches his shoulders, makes himself smaller. (of course then he goes on the offensive but still)

note to self: Vic's speech to emmett - come back to this if you write about the cancer, because it could be similar to how to cajoles brian into being less reactive

there are a shocking number of women in this crowd, all things considered (aka more than melanie, lindsay and deb). where'd they come from? are we to assume they're friends of michael's? they can't be brian's friends, brian doesn't have any friends *G* maybe they're Ted's friends

Mel being annoyed and jealous of Linds and Deb bonding over motherhood, also mel being annoyed at Lindsay for "i'm being innappropriate. lindsay's never inappropriate". these two are really... I mean they're not as badly suited as david and michael but they're still pretty damned unsuited to each other

Ted and Michael: ted finally accepting the two of them aren't gonna get together and his wanting michael is, like, a fantasy. mirrors brian's drunk psychotherapy in S2 where he tells ted "you got exactly what you wanted, which was nothing" while so shitfaced he's actually slurring.

aww, also, Ted's "love someone for real, Michael". how sad is it that it takes Ted four years and five seasons to realize how that feels

also oh my fucking god, david punches brian out at a party and everyone is pissed off at BRIAN, and then two years later at Mel and Lindsay's party brian punches michael and everyone is STILL PISSED AT BRIAN? what the hell

like yes, brian deserved it. but why did they assume it automatically? those fuckers.

Tracy saying 'you're a liar, Mike'. oh so true. michael is a liar

hehehe. mel being vicious makes sense since she's drunk and mean. emmett's not that mean, lindsay is a bitch

Brian waiting for justin to leave too <33333 "you're gonna need someone to help you clean up this mess" <33333333 J TAYLOR FOR THE WIN *inarticulate screaming*

also, let's talk about how justin a. stayed over after the party (where we can sort of assume that, peut etre, brian either had an orgy or did copious amounts of drugs to forget his pain); b. slept in the clothes he was wearing, so c. stayed over and they didn't fuck??

like, justin was allowed to stay / decided to stay / brian didn't kick him out even though they didn't fuck, because he wanted the company and was all right with justin being the one to give it? and there's no trick in the loft so nobody else stayed??? <3

give me the fic for the end of this night.

it's shallow but. i don't find michael and david have any chemistry whatsoever

let's also talk about brian drinking in the morning

let's NOT talk about how much of a cunt debbie is to brian because I can't handle it

so brian gets angry and tells justin "get up!" but, is he really mad or just defensive?

"I finally figured it out" -- Deb, you TOLD HIM TO DO THIS and now you're STILL MAD AT HIM?!?! you bitch

justin: "I'm brushing my teeth" and then Deb's "you loaned him your toothbrush?!" are you seriously going to give brian shit for treating justin like a friend/a boyfriend?

justin doesn't want to leave while deb's still talking to brian -- good, taylor. you remember, she's not on brian's side. she never has been. ... if only brian would remember it.

my dislike of how everyone venerates deb and doesn't-- actually, you know what it is about deb (and michael) I don't like, narratively? and lindsay (though there are other reasons there). it's the Willow Rosenberg / Xander effect. the main character(s) do things that are shitty, and bad, and whatever -- and people call them out for it, their friends and family support them and love them but don't let them pretend like shit they pull is okay or whatever.

but willow and xander (almost) never face anyone being like "hey, actually, the shit you did just then isn't cool with me." like, I'm not saying every bad thing people do has to be dealt with, but as a pattern of "being let off the hook by friends and family / never being told 'that's shitty behaviour" bugs me, narratively. a lot.

and that's deb in a nutshell. almost no one talks back to her -- especially not the people who really should -- so she never has sto face when she's treating people badly.

#queer as folk us #qaf

[jonthethinker]

I've been mulling over my impressions of the premiere of campaign 3, trying to grasp some sort of explanation for this unique feeling it has given me, and maybe I've finally cracked it. Part of the joy of being in a fandom is making tons of bold assumptions based on barely anything at all while holding your nose up at people doing the exact same thing, and I reckon that sounds like a good old time at the moment.

My brain is stuck on two characters in particular, and those characters are of course Imogen and Laudna. I'll leave all the shippy stuff to others, as that's not really what I'm interested in, but I am fascinated by what is revealed about these characters through their mutual friendship with each other.

While some have jumped to the conclusion that it is a case of each of them looking on the inside as the other does on the outside, I don't think that quite does it justice. Not to say there isn't a dark side to Imogen, or a light side to Laudna, but these characters aren't really morally motivated people in my mind. What makes them interesting is how they react to other people, and in turn, how they react to each other.

If I were to assume anything about Imogen, it's that she is heavily motivated by the practical realities of her existence. She can read minds, and it would seem this isn't an ability she's entirely in control of. She's incredibly intimidated by crowds almost certainly because of this fact, as one might expect accidentally hearing the intimate and private thoughts of dozens of strangers to be a bit overwhelming.

And I wonder if there's also a dimension of seeing more of people than she really ever wanted to see. Of seeing right through people's socially crafted masks to whatever they hide behind it. I can't wager to guess how one might change if they occasionally knew what people really thought of them without realizing they revealed anything at all. Illuminating and sometimes probably quite hurtful, I suspect.

And then there's Laudna. The absolute sweetest nightmare you ever could meet. While there's almost certainly a couple of coffins full of backstory with this one, I largely think, for now at least, that what you see is what you get with Laudna. What you get is wonderful, but I reckon she's probably fairly simple in her motivations. That's not a knock at her, by the way, far from it. I immediately sympathized with her because I could tell right away what it is she cares about.

Laudna obviously is not someone that can easily gain social acceptance. And while I don't think this has deterred what I imagine to be a fairly strong spirit, it's still not easy to be alone in the world. To be different in a way that sets one apart. To not just see the smile on another person's face, but to know you are the reason it's there in the first place. That's a special part of being a person no one ever thinks about, and one Laudna must think about quite a lot.

While both Laudna and Imogen are motivated in large part by the practicality of existing in a world while strange, It's interesting that for Laudna it's how the world reacts to her, and for Imogen, it's how she's forced to react about the world instead. The ever-seen and the seer, joining forces to survive two entirely different obstacles posed by the very same people, the very same world. They must see the world in entirely different terms, but in ways that are strangely complimentary as well. It would make sense that they are actively filling in each others' blind spots, whether they realize it or not.

For Imogen, she can probably see exactly what sort of person Laudna is, and seeing that inner self must have come to the conclusion that despite appearances, Laudna is mostly harmless and totally sincere. She does appear to have a certain familiarity and comfort with death, and doesn't seem to rest too much of herself on sentimentality, but overall, she's a good egg. And being so strange, it probably feels to Imogen that they share a similar character in that way, even if Imogen herself gets to hide hers for the most part.

For Laudna, Imogen is for all intents and purposes a day-walker. A weirdo just like her, but one who can blend in and get around without too much fuss, something Laudna has almost certainly never been able to do. So suddenly, Laudna has a key to a whole world she was formerly blocked from participating in.

It's no wonder she's so enthusiastic and energetic. Due this friendship, Laudna gets to be a person and not a creature for once, at least mostly. And when it fails, and the kids run away in terror, she still has Imogen to turn to, just as Imogen has her to turn to when she begins to feel overwhelmed by it all.

They're social parachutes for each other at a time in their life where they probably need one the most. If that's the assumption you're running with, it should be no surprise how willing they were to express to one another that if things didn't work out in this town, the one thing they know for certain is that they're sticking together. And I'd guess that no matter what answers they find about themselves and each other, that sentiment probably won't change, and that they both know that. And that's a remarkable conclusion to draw about characters after all of four hours, but I'm going with my gut, and I don't think I'll be proven wrong.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #Imogen #Laudna #cr campaign 3