#i'm not trying to excuse her actions but i think they're understandable

[lunar-years]

Okay. Let's talk Jamie and Roy getting beers and being idiots.

I know we are all still processing that whirlwind of a finale. I'm understanding that a lot of people hate the Roy & Jamie scene because it is 1) backslide-y (true) 2) they treat Keeley like a prize to be won (true) and 3) it's OOC (I actually disagree with this one, but I can understand why it's complicated). I want to start off by saying I completely see where this opinion is coming from and I respect everyone who just hates the scene because it shows normally kind characters being very unkind to each other etc. This is less me arguing against that as it is me trying to articulate (at great length, sorry) why it not only worked for me, but I genuinely liked it.

I like to think I strike a balance between loving everything the show has done and hating overwhelmingly on a show I claim to enjoy, but sure, you could definitely argue that I'm just giving my favorite characters the benefit of the doubt, or making excuses for them, because they're my favorite characters. I'll admit I'm historically very forgiving of all the main characters' many fuck-ups on Ted Lasso, but that's because I think the show works best when it emphasizes how kindness, forgiveness, friendship and love can still operate between imperfect, flawed people. I like seeing them make realistic mistakes much more than I like everyone handling everything perfectly, I'll bite.

So, back to Jamie and Roy. I enjoyed their finale plot because despite them making a world of mistakes, the regression felt very, very human. I don't agree at all with the take that this somehow erased all the progress they've made this season or the friendship the show has lovingly crafted between them. In fact, I think this actively reiterated it! (Note: I am operating with my ot3 goggles on at all times, so I'm going to write this with that at least partially in mind, but I think the gist of it works even if you ignore the bits that get a little shippy.)

For both Jamie and Roy, Keeley and their love for her is a major beacon guiding them. I think that is the crisp, clear thing in both of their heads this episode: Keeley is the love of my life. And they both believe that wholeheartedly, and they both want to be with her. (and it's goofy to pretend this came out of nowhere for Jamie/since when is Jamie still in love with her/etc. because he literally told her and us this last season and nothing that has happened since has indicated otherwise, btw.) But there's also something else now, which is their relationship with each other, battling with their Keeley thoughts. It's like, in Roy's head, for instance, I imagine there are two wolves: on the one hand he loves Keeley, and wants to be with her, and plans to win back her heart. On the other hand, there's his love and care for Jamie Tartt, which is much less defined and inarticulate and maybe still a little repressed, but just as overpowering. His love for Keeley feels so simple and clear in comparison, while his love for Jamie is something complicated and unsure, and in this episode, he's leaning hard into the first to avoid unpacking the second.

So Roy starts off strong. He sees Jamie with Keeley in the hallway and he doesn't flip out!! Instead, he approaches Jamie calmly, and invites him out for beers. Think about how different this is from his reaction to Jamie's love confession to Keeley in season 2. This is Roy's growth in action, and it's a resounding sign of just how important Jamie is to Roy now. Even when he is feeling jealous of the woman he loves potentially leaving him behind for a man he loves (a completely natural reaction, let's be so real, if not a "good" one), he also knows that for as much as he wants to be with Keeley, he doesn't want to lose his friendship with Jamie.

As for Jamie, I know some people took his reaction and subsequent response to Nate's question as like, shock at the realization that he and Roy are actually friends now, which I agree is something that had to have come earlier in the timeline (what was Mom City if not that) and would seem very out of place at this point. What I saw it as instead was Jamie's brain more just. sort of short-circuiting? Because: holy shit isn't this the best day ever? First Keeley agreed to go to Brazil with me and now Roy is asking me on a date for beers? this is so sound. This invite is out of place behavior from Roy even within the parameters of their friendship, because they still have a match to win and Roy has banned Jamie from beers as part of his training and despite them being close now I find it hard to believe that Roy often comes up to him right there in dressing room to ask him to grab a beer with no pretense.

Therefore, they're already walking into that bar in completely different head-spaces. Jamie isn't planning to discuss Keeley, and for Roy that is his major intention behind the evening. Jamie is nervous and downing his beer, and Roy is internally panicking, I'm imagining, over when and how to bring Keeley up. I think Roy is thinking: Well, I don't intend to stop pursuing Keeley, I genuinely don't want Jamie's feelings to be hurt when I get back together with her (and yes, it is a huge presumption for him to assume Keeley's going to eventually take him back. But I think it's also an understandable one), so I've got to tell Jamie I care about him, and that I'm going to keep going after Keeley, and he needs to be okay with that so that this won't get in the way of our friendship, which I also desperately need and am unwilling to give up. In his mind, Jamie is of course going to accept all of this, because Roy and Keeley are soulmates, which Jamie will clearly recognize deep down because it is so obvious and right and anyway, Jamie always does what Roy tells him to do (again, this is all misguided thinking. But we can see how Roy's anxious little brain that's bad at processing feelings and holding space for emotions could get himself here, can't we?).

So again, we start off strong with Roy saying he's proud of Jamie and them both thanking one another. But then Roy's blurting out nonsense about how Jamie just needs to pull himself out of the running and just let Roy be with Keeley. Which is obviously not on. And Jamie responds, simply, with No. I'd argue this is also a huge step for Jamie. Jamie really doesn't tell Roy no anymore, he doesn't tell anyone no. Jamie has spent so much of his time since coming back to Richmond working to be the person everyone around him wants and expects him to be. This is him fighting for something he wants for once, doing what is best for him. It was a fabulous progression to see. In the moment, boy does it work Roy up, because why is Jamie not agreeing with me, Jamie always agrees with me? but obviously at this point, Jamie is in the right. His relationship with Keeley was no less meaningful than Roy's just because Roy says it was, Roy doesn't have any claim on her, and there's no real reason Jamie should not try and shoot his shot with Keeley if Roy is going to do the same.

Here's where things start to spiral. Established flaws we know about Roy: he's competitive. He's bad at voicing his feelings productively. And he is territorial about the people he loves, a category that safely includes both Jamie and Keeley at this point in time, for better and sometimes worse. Yes, his next actions are grossly possessive over Keeley, yes Roy has made a lot of effort over the past year to do and be better than that, to break free of that cycle. But look, it's not a linear process. He's going to still mess up, and he does here. In fact he's downright mean, weaponizing Keeley against Jamie and throwing having sex with Keeley a month ago into Jamie's face, bragging about it, boasting. Same old cycle, same old patterns of ego-driven, prideful mistakes.

Which promptly prompts Jamie to also fuck up by bringing up the leak. It's a concentrated response intended to get a suitable rise out of Roy, because Roy has really, genuinely hurt him here, and Jamie knows bringing up that video is the one thing that will hurt Roy just as much in turn. It's not the right thing to do, obviously, but again, it's such a human thing to do. Hurt the person who's hurt you right back, even if you're hurting someone else (Keeley) by extension. Mind you, Jamie came here expecting a hangout (/date) with Roy over a rare beer, and instead he got Roy being a complete asshole and lecturing nonsense at him out of seemingly nowhere. He reacts to this change-up, well, not greatly. There is something so messy and emotionally complicated happening here and it hinges on how very much Jamie and Roy care about each other, not negates it.

Keeley, queen that she is, rejects them both out of hand and kicks them out not the curb immediately because they're both being complete idiots, acting like they're so gracious in giving her the honor and privilege of choosing between them. Not to mention they've clearly got something going on between them they haven't worked through and that sure as shit isn't her problem, is it? Keeley (presumably, and I wish we had seen this) calls them out their shit and tosses them right back out the door.

Which leaves Jamie and Roy to lament how they've let their egos get away from them, they've been idiots (which they acknowledge immediately) and decide that now they should go for kebabs, presumably to actually hangout this time, not to interrupt themselves with inflated talk about who "deserves" Keeley more. They both screwed up, they acknowledge it, and all they can do is try again tomorrow, and in the meantime, go on that kebab date.

I guess....I can just see where both of them are coming from? it's not mature behavior, obviously, it's maybe not what we would have liked to have seen from them in the finale episode of the show. But it was regression that I didn't feel impeded their overall progress. Roy in particular was being a complete dick about it, but that's why the very next morning he's finally knocking on the Diamond Dogs' door. And honestly, that conversation was heartbreaking. When Roy admitted he'd expected, after a year of putting in the work, to be a whole new person...god. This is a man who still completely hates himself, to the point where he can't quite grasp that he can be better where he's at now, that he doesn't have to transform magically into someone new in order to do right by himself and others. And so he has to consciously determine, once again, to do better, be better.

The message is: change isn't linear, you're going to fuck-up, and fall back into old patterns. What matters is trying every day to do better together, and be better for one another, than you were the day before. That is the meeting point all three sides of the royjamiekeeley triangle were heading towards by the end of the episode.

So yes, it was rushed, because no one gets much screen time in a finale (and the overarching issue with this season anyway is god awful pacing. The last three episodes could've easily been the second half of the season, while the first half of the season was stretched out and largely extraneous). And yes, I would've liked a more thoughtful follow-up conversation between Roy and Keeley or all three of them. My biggest issue was that we didn't get to hear Keeley's voice hardly at all. I would at the very least have liked to have seen her setting them straight at her kitchen table, because turning both of them down signifies very important growth in her, too, and I would've liked exploring that more explicitly. So it wasn't perfect. But I still liked it, I really did.

#ted lasso #ted lasso meta #ted lasso spoilers #roy kent #jamie tartt #royjamie #royjamiekeeley

[sunshine-jesse]

Ashley Literally Did Nothing Wrong, Fuck You, Fight Me

Alt title: Ashley Graves: The most convenient scapegoat in the world

I'm going to espouse a take here that will no doubt be controversial, as you can tell by the title. This is a take I've created from my hollistic understanding of the events of the game, and isn't dependent on any one single point I make in this essay. Because of that, I want you to read it with an open mind; if you hyperfocus on one or two smaller details I might've gotten wrong or are fallaciously interpretated, and either use that to discount the whole essay or go into the comment section and immediately try to debunk my interpretation of that event, that'll make it obvious to me that you're not trying to seriously engage with the core of what I'm trying to say. Because unless quite literally everything I've said here is wrong, I feel confident in saying this:

Ashley Graves did nothing wrong.

Moreover, I think Ashley is on the level of people like Rossiu, Shinji Ikari, and Skylar White as far as people who are mistreated by their fandoms goes.

At first this was going to be an essay about how I don't think the demons are evil, using textual and thematic evidence to show that they're just part of a system that deals mostly fairly with humans and doesn't have any nefarious plans, or at least nefarious plans that stand to fuck anyone over. But then I realized that, goodness gracious, that is boring as shit to write! But I looked at what I had written already and realized that I could write something else with it: something better. I could sum up a lot of the points made in my prior essays and elaborate upon them in much more detail, showing why I think certain themes are obviously present within this game. And here, I intend on doing that.

I've spoken a lot before about how Ashley is a scapegoat for all of Andrew's worst habits; and to a lesser extent, her mother's. The game makes it seemingly obvious that she's the bad one, and generally just a Very Not Good person. It shows her and her brother committing many different acts that are, under most moral systems, wrong, and implicitly implies that she's the reason that Andrew ever did those things. It implies that she's corrupting him, that he could be better and refuses- or is unable to- due to her poking and prodding. But… is that the truth? Is that how their relationship actually works, in practice? I don't believe so. I think I've made it obvious by now that I believe the exact opposite!

I'm going to start off by tackling the morality behind their actions, especially relative to the world they're in. Specifically, I'm going to tackle how the game presents the morality of their actions from a thematic point of view, and any statements it may or may not make.

First of all, TCOAL plays with a lot of different taboos- demon summoning, cannibalism, incest, murder- but the game goes through great lengths to muddy the moral weight of the siblings' actions. Every single action they commit is portrayed in the most neutral possible light- killings were done in self defense (with one notable exception), or done to people who greatly wronged them, cannibalism was a necessity to survive (also with one notable exception), incest is shown to come from a marked improvement in their relationship- leading me to believe that this game is taking a hard morally nihilistic stance. Else, they'd be shown to suffer for their actions, when in reality, the literal exact opposite is happening; they are being rewarded for it. This isn't necessarily glorifying the actions, but instead showing that even the worst of actions can potentially be excused, but whether or not you do is up to the reader. Hence, nihilism, or at the very least, skepticism (as noted by Lisafication). There's an existentialist reading of this too, but I think much of that is contingent on the events of chapter 3 so I won't get into that here.

It contrasts this mostly nihilistic perspective on interpersonal taboos with the deep societal ills that drive people to commit such actions. Evil exists at every level of analysis here, but curiously, the only thing that are shown to do direct harm to others without having a justification of some kind- be it self-defense or retaliation- are those societal ills. There is no (morally) good reason to quarantine people, starve them, and harvest their organs. There's no good reason to burn all evidence and then put a hit on the ones who did escape. There's no good reason to extort sexual favors from someone in exchange for food. These are deep structural problems that force people to either retaliate/lash out or enable people's most exploitative or abusive habits lest they just let themselves die.

And thus, the obvious evils become much less obvious. The game makes a point of subverting the obvious or the well-known when it comes to morals, and I think it does so when it comes to everything else, too. Outside of those societal ills (so far, ch3 might have something else to say), every situation where someone could obviously be shown as the bad person in a situation is immensely more complex than it first appears. So much so that I'd argue that displaying said complexity and subverting simplicity to force/encourage people to analyze things deeper is one of the central themes of the game.

So why, exactly, does he blame so much on her? It's because Ashley is the world's most convenient scapegoat, and the game is well-aware of this and displays it in ways both obvious and not.

First off: the title screen has Ashley wielding the cleaver, establishing that she’s the violent one. It's covered in blood, too, implying that she's the one more driven to kill. The reality of this is the opposite; Andrew is the one with less hesitation to inflict violence on others, the cleaver is his weapon, and most of the kills in the story are done by him (and fully justified). Ashley might push him to do these violent acts, but… does she?

Her reaction to the death of the first warden is one of utter shock.

And her expression afterwards?

This is not the look of someone who enjoyed the fact that someone killed for her sake. This is not the look of someone who finds joy to be had in violence. It's not even the look of someone who is apathetic towards violence. It almost seems to express shame or guilt, but at the very least, she's timid over it. At the very least, it's an "oh shit, he actually had to do that for my sake" face. Not a "haha, I am making him worse!" face.

Not to mention, not only does Andrew kill the first Warden without a care in the world, he proactively kills the 302 lady to eliminate all witnesses, and because he believes Ashley would want him to. But Ashley actually grills him for it; she didn't want the 302 lady to die, although she hardly had good-person-reasons for it. But that's not my point. The point is that she is not the violent one between the two of them.

The door doesn't open in response to violence, remember?

The game intentionally misleads us.

And what happens when Ashley tries to make him take responsibility for all this violence? To point out that she didn't force him to do anything and that he chose to do all of it, including lock Nina in the box? She lashes out, hits him a few times… and then he goes to strangle her, and doesn't let go until she acknowledges that he has no reason for her to be around. He literally doesn't cease his threat to her life until she acknowledges she's useless to him.

I acknowledge that this isn't the most charitable framing for Andrew, and maybe too charitable for Ashley. After all, she wasn't indignant. She was mocking him. She found it hilarious. But I have reasons for that charitability that I'll go over towards the end. But even with that charitability in mind, I don't think my reading is too off base. Defaulting to laughter or mocking in stressful situations is just what Ashley does. She's not indignant about it; she just finds it hilarious that people keep pretending to be better than her, when they're not.

Andrew killed the 302 lady and used Ashley as a scapegoat to justify it; this is indisputable, stated in the text during the dream. This alone validates Ashley's point of view. There is no interpretation of this event that doesn't paint Andrew as every bit as unscrupulous as Ashley, and thinking she corrupted him into this- when it was both one of the first actions he did on his own in the story and something he explicitly uses Ashley as a scapegoat for- is just ridiculous. It's frankly unreasonable. She has every right to be sick of being used as a scapegoat. And at the very least, whether or not you accept the idea that Andrew only let Ashley go once she acknowledged that she's useless to him, he's still so taken aback by his misinterpretation of Ashley's desires that HE goes to strangle HER.

This is NOT Andrew triumphantly standing up to his abuser. This is both of their masks slipping; Andrew revealing how violent and insistent on keeping up his internal narrative that he is, and Ashley revealing that she's getting tired of being blamed for everything.

And then, when he finally lets her go… she hugs him, and acknowledges that she's happy that Nina is gone, which makes little sense at the face of it. Why would that be her first response to being let go, when it was ostensibly what made Andrew so upset to begin with?

I think, to her, it's a conciliatory gesture. As chapter 2 showed us, she's more than willing to take responsibility for violence to relieve Andrew of stress over it, as evidenced by her finishing off their parents. This is an earlier instance of that; by acknowledging she was happy that Nina was dead, she took responsibility for it. She willingly framed herself as a bad person here, so Andrew wouldn't have to be.

She let herself be the scapegoat, because it's all she ever knew. She put the mask back on.

This alone is enough to challenge the idea that Ashley 'corrupts' Andrew in any meaningful way. How, exactly, can you define it as corrupt when society itself is twisted enough to force these actions to survive? In a more sane world, a lot of their actions would've been bad, sure, but they're also actions that the siblings probably wouldn't have done in a more sane world. Ashley's actions aren't making Andrew worse, they're helping to ensure their survival. You could say that this is still corruptive in its own way, but at that point it seems like your reasoning is motivated by having already had that narrative rather than making a good-faith reading of their dynamic.

At no point did she actually make him worse; he was already like that and just used her as an excuse.

Next up is the Nina situation. This one is obviously cut and dry- Ashley manipulates Andrew into killing Nina because she wants no competition between the two of them. It's not Andrew's fault and Ashley was an evil abuser from the jump. Obvious, right?

No. It's really not.

It's pretty strongly implied that Ashley was mistreated by people her whole life. The Lemon Cupcake scene shows this in more detail, about how people always neglect or ignore her birthdays, but she also says that nobody likes her because she's weird and loud in the Nina flashback too. But unless something big happened in between the two flashbacks, none of this behavior indicates particularly maladaptive or even strange tendencies on Ashley's part. She's a needy, bratty child, and the closest thing to a friend she has- Nina- wants to take away the one thing from her that's a source of comfort and emotional validation.

It's not entirely rational, sure! But it also -makes perfect sense-. NOBODY treated her well throughout her entire life; it's strongly implied that Nina never did either, given Nina's reaction to Ashley being there and the lower left-hand painting past the Questionable door showing her being distant from the two of them. We can also see a star bouncing off of her head, and stars represent closeness in this game, so it shows there was an attempt made somewhere along the line, it's just not clear as to who made the attempt.

At the very least, Nina's reaction of disappointment fed into Ashley's preconceived notions of how people treat her, and how she deserves to be treated. Although, from what has been directly stated, rather than implied, Nina was nothing more than an innocent victim in this scenario; I don't mean to take that away from her.

"But she didn't care when Nina died?"

So? If Nina treated her like trash for most of her life, why should she care? She didn't expect Nina to die. It was just an acceptable consequence. You can say "That's not how normal kids act!" all you want, but there's a level of spite and apathy that comes with intense bullying and emotional neglect that I don't think you really understand unless you've been there to the extent someone like Ashley has implied to be.

Andrew, meanwhile, was the one who told Ashley that they had to lock Nina in the box to keep them in there. He's the one who looked for and found the stick to keep them locked in. You could say he was coerced by an abusive person into hurting someone, sure, but you'd be wrong. Cataclysmically wrong, even. Like, if you actually think that a seven year old girl (nobody wears overalls past the age of seven) can have anything approximating an abusive dynamic with her as the perpetrator with someone both older and stronger than her, you frankly have some issues with women you need to work out. That's simply not how abuse dynamics work at that age.

Andrew wasn't entirely responsible for it either, mind- he was just a kid who should never have been saddled with this kind of responsibility. But that's not my point; the point is that it enables other people, Andrew included, to use her as a scapegoat to avoid his own responsibility. All this scene does is retroactively justify any preconceptions you might've had about them from seeing their adult selves first. But the moment you start digging, it becomes much less obvious who's really culpable here. Andrew was, as evidenced by the blood oath scene, fully aware that he held the advantage over her in strength, and managed to give up nothing when making the oath while he made Ashley swear to silence. He was fully aware that he could've chosen to do better, but he refused, and instead opted to reinforce Ashley's insecurities for the sake of exerting control over her.

I've said before that the 302 lady was murdered without any input from Ashley, but this is also relevant on a meta-level because it's done without any input from the player, either. Both of the murders in chapter 1 were like that, whereas all that we, the player can choose to do in that chapter is either solve puzzles, or hilariously, die. The only person with control here is Andrew, the character, and this is reinforced by the fact that we have no control over him for much of the Nina flashback, too. He locks her in the box regardless of our input, even though Ashley spends a lot of time trying to convince him. The main difference between the Nina flashback and the scenes in the apartment is that Ashley had absolutely no idea that any of that was going to happen in the present, whereas it's something she wanted with Nina- which isn't that big of a difference when discussing how much agency she really has.

As much as the game frames Ashley as a manipulator- and much of the fanbase uncritically accepts- she is given shockingly little in-game control over many of the actions committed. Even in the case of the Hitman- as a good friend of mine pointed out- the only choice the player is given is whether or not to check the closet and be killed; an impulsive decision leading to a swift and unceremonious end. In the end, Andrew is the one given the choice to kill the hitman, and we can consciously choose whether or not his reaction is panicked or measured. No such choice is given to Ashley, as most of her reactions are impulsive and spontaneous rather than planned. This is not the makings of a standard "manipulative evil bitch" trope. She's pretty consistently portrayed as someone with poor impulse and emotional control who loudly and aggressively states her intent in every single scenario she's in.

And you can still call what she says and does manipulative despite that, sure, but at what point are you just pathologizing relatively normal (if extreme and highly emotional) social interactions for the sake of fitting into a narrative you already held?

We see Ashley's status as a scapegoat for people to use to pretend to be normal reach its most blatant with the parents. This time it's pretty cut and dry to anyone that doesn't already have it in their mind that Ashley is evil and unforgivable. Mrs. Graves explicitly brings up the possibility of a normal life without Ashley to Andrew in the basement, and claims that Ashley was at fault for shutting her out. She would've been a normal parent otherwise, right? Well, no; the game wastes no time in showing that this wasn't the case in the Burial ending.

From when Ashley was a baby, Mrs. Graves was already tired of her shit, and too emotionally exhausted to be a parent. Despite her attempts at blaming Ashley, she would've never been a normal parent unless Ashley was a golden child in the same way that Andrew was. And yet Ashley didn't even deny shutting her mom out. She didn't deny the chance to be used as a scapegoat; it was all she ever knew. The fact that Mrs. Graves had the audacity to claim that she was a saint when she was never prepared to be a parent for a child who didn't make it easy, and when she was willing to sell out her children and let them die for a life insurance payment is absolutely astounding.

This alone should've been enough to recontextualize everything we supposedly know about how responsible Ashley really is in all of this, but bad parents have a knack for being great at manipulating both family members and everyone viewing from the outside, including the people playing the game.

And almost including Andrew.

Andrew almost accepting the mom's offer is the single most tragic moment in the game, by far.

Dandy said it best in his video essay: By Ashley leaving Andrew alone with their parents, she showed that she is capable of changing. That she is capable of getting better. She showed that she loves and respects Andrew enough to be able to put aside her usual role as the scapegoat and allow him to make the decision that was for the best for both of them. And make no mistake, it was for the best; if the mom really DID sell out the siblings, and given the two of them were already on the run for supposedly being dead, there was no hope of any of this ever working out. They saw through the conspiracy and knew the truth of how the quarantine operations really worked. They were an active threat to one of the most powerful entities seen in the setting so far, to the point where they had a hitman sent after them.

Mrs. Graves had every reason to sell them out again, for their presence in a public setting was more than enough to put everyone in their family in danger. Mrs. Graves had every reason to believe that the normalcy she wanted was nothing that could ever be grasped again so long as her children were alive, and as such, it was clear that she had nothing to offer either Andrew or Ashley. Ashley trusted Andrew to see through their obvious manipulations and lies, and understand that the parents had nothing left to give them. She trusted him to love her more than the false promises their parents could give.

…And yet. In spite of it all.

In spite of her love, in spite of clearly displaying that she can grow up and become a person that causes him less stress, and in spite of Ashley showing that all she wants now is their safety and security…

Andrew can still choose to consider Ashley the problem. He can still choose to use her as the scapegoat he always has.

He can still choose to see her as the one thing that caused him to be this way, that stands in between him and normalcy, when she, not once, forced him to do anything.

Were he to accept Mrs. Graves' offer, this would've been the single most tragic moment in the game. It almost was, and still stands to be, because he ignores every indication that things could be better for the sake of his own narrative, and a narrative echoed by much of the fandom.

But no matter what ending was picked, things could be better. They could've been better all along. Compared to chapter 1, their dynamic in chapter 2 is already much healthier. Their banter is less venomous, and while they still poke and prod each other in ways that aren't exactly great, they don't get into the same violent fights we saw in the 302 room. By all accounts, what happened in that room was an outlier. Even when they find themselves in their parents' house, where they stand to do the One Thing That Means They Would Never Be Normal Again, Ever (ignoring the fact that this is already a lost cause by then), Ashley doesn't get into any fights with Andrew in the same way she did back in the apartment. All she wants is affirmation and security. She doesn't even lay into her mom like she lays into Julia over the phone, even in their private conversations.

We’re led to believe that she’s still getting worse because the actions she’s taking are more extreme, but her attitudes and behaviors are much, much different. The actual actions they're taking are so obviously the right thing to do (both morally and practically) that I don't think it's until they eat their parents that you should make a double take and go "Wow, maybe these goblins actually are kinda fucked up," because until then, well… everything is justified! Perfectly so! Even then, eating their parents serves a purpose, even if not a mentally healthy one.

Maybe she’s calmer because she’s in control over the situation, but if the calls she made to Julia are any indication (independent of the theory that she didn’t actually say those things), were she unchanged as a person, she still would’ve lashed out at their mother over how much more useful she is to Andrew than their parents were, or something of that nature. Something about how nothing their mom offers could compete with what Ashley gives. But she makes no such claims. She feels no need to prove anything to her parents, or to reaffirm her place in Andrew’s life even in the face of her mother challenging it (or at least implying such a challenge). Regardless of her insecurities, she’s changed. It’s hard to see, but she has.

And then Andrew can ignore that and consider betraying her because he refuses to believe that she's willing to make their dynamic work, when she shows many different indications of being willing to concede as long as Andrew stops giving her mixed signals.

A friend of mine put it best, and I'm pretty much quoting her word for word here, because of how strongly I agree with it. When I look at Ashley, I find very few actual "flaws." I see familiar wounds.

The Burial ending, despite being triumphant and not nearly as "dark" as some people think, is still very, very sad. A lot of abusive dynamics are characterized by someone having to fight every step of the way to get what they need from the other person, usually some kind of emotional validation or relief. This is what happens between Andrew and Ashley for most of the game: Ashley wants Andrew to treat their relationship as special, to acknowledge there's something to it beyond just him going through the motions. And yet for most of the game, he refuses to, especially in chapter 1. And then, in Burial, when he does…

She's confused.

A lot of people view this as her being afraid of losing control over Andrew, since her "Andy," who she can push around, is gone. Andrew has changed, and the same tricks wouldn't work. But that's not what that is; it's not about control, it's about her finally getting what she wants from him without having to fight. She still thinks about using sex as leverage to keep him around, but that's because she's never understood what it's like to have someone actually want to be around her. And I speak from experience; when you no longer have to fight for every little bit of emotional validation or relief, when you no longer have to keep checking your messages to keep an argument going so you can finally be proven right, when you no longer have to force yourself to let go, to stop engaging, the reaction isn't happiness. It's not relief.

It's confusion. It's discontent.

Because something you've tied so much of yourself up in to is no longer there, despite it being more peaceful, it still feels wrong. The dynamic still has to be this way in your mind, because you've never known anything else. You latch on to whatever you can in order to justify that, and your actions are still heavily biased in favor of maintaining your place in that nonexistent dynamic. This isn't manipulation; it's trauma. And the fact that Ashley almost immediately understands that Andrew is changing is nothing short of a miracle. By consolidating past and present Andrew into a single person rather than splitting them into two, she showing that she can actually heal from that trauma. And all Andrew had to do to enable this is to acknowledge that she CAN change, that things CAN be better, and that everyone who claims to be better than her is full of shit.

I've analyzed the events of the story in a way that may seem needlessly antagonistic to some characters, and overly charitable to others. But I have to ask you, that if you disagree with anything I've said:

Where does that disagreement come from? What about my narrative clashes with your own? -Why- does it clash? Is it because the game presents your interpretation as obvious, whereas mine is not? Is it because you've experienced someone like Ashley before in your life, and you know it when you see it? Maybe you strongly identify with Andrew, and view his status as a doormat with no agency to be obvious? Or did you just accept the narrative that much of the fanbase has taken at face value, without further analysis other than building on top of it?

I don't believe these things to be contrarian; I've held most of these opinions since my first or second playthrough. I don't believe what I do because you don't, I believe what I do because I understand what Ashley has been through. I've experienced a lot of the specific traumas she had, such as deep feelings of isolation and being deprived of the emotional validation I need from the people who need to give it. I know what it's like to be misunderstood, to have who and what I am taken for granted, and to be terrified of being abandoned by the people I need the most. I see what I do because I understand.

And I want to give her that understanding that nobody gave me.

Maybe you should think about it. Why do you take it for granted that Andrew is a doormat who is strung along by Ashley? Why do you find it so odd when the trope of a woman corrupting a good man through leveraging sex is drawn into question? Why is Ashley seen as crazy, when all of her actions are so straightforward and rational? How is she corrupting him, when the single most needlessly violent act in the whole story- outside of the Nina flashback- is done without her influence? Why is Ashley seen as the abusive one when Andrew both threatens and resorts to physical violence and witholds emotional validation?

Weirdly personal tangent aside, Ashley and Andrew are two of the most well-written characters I have ever seen. They're not written like archetypes who interact with each other through a series of tropes; they're written like real people who's words and actions have astoundingly human motivations. They come from places that we can understand and relate to.

And just like people, they deserve respect. In spite of all they've done, they deserve love.

But make no mistake, Ashley is not the one stopping that love from happening. She just has the audacity to still want it in spite of everything telling her that she doesn't deserve it. We're led to believe she wants too much, but all she ever wanted was the bare minimum that she was never given.

And she has every right to be mad about it.

#andrew graves #ashley graves #the coffin of andy and leyley #tcoaal #tcoaal essay #gaming

[niiwa-angel]

Justice League Uncanny Valley Headcanons.

The members of the Justice League are all very uniquely trained and most of them aren't human but have to ACT human in their day to day lives. But despite them trying their best, normal humans can still tell something isn't quite right.

Clark Kent has no give to him. Superman is the Man of Steel but as Clark Kent, people find it awkward to hug him, shake his hand, or cuddle because his muscles and skin feel too tough.

Diana Prince is weirdly strong. Her coworkers struggle to move cases of artifacts because they're heavy but she has no trouble. When they ask, she always just says she knows the right way to hold things or push them but never elaborates.

Bruce Wayne is just a normal human, but he's trained himself into a weapon. His reflexes are sharper than anybody else's. Whenever he gets caught on camera catching something before anybody else, or dodging something most people couldn't, he always waves it away as "dad reflexes"

Barry Allen moves very deliberately. Every action looks like it's rehearsed and planned, yet he's twitchy when he thinks nobody is watching.

Hal Jordan spends so much time in space that it's vacuum has removed his scent. It's not something most people would notice but when they spend a lot of time with him, they get the sense that something is missing.

Arthur Curry blends in pretty well in Atlantis but in the surface, some of his Atlantean traits seem odd. His webbed feet and hands are particularly noticable. "A birth defect" he'll say and never elaborate on. Everyone else is a little nervous to ask

John Jones looks photoshopped. His features seem too semetrical, his expressions are too well done. He almost looks like an AI generated image, but he's standing in front of people, they can reach out and touch him. He's real. But his features just seem too perfect.

Clark Kent knows things before they happen. He knows when a storm is coming, he warns people about incoming hail before their weather apps even alert them. He'll look in the sky for a few minutes and eventually, everyone else will see a plane or helicopter coming from that direction. He'll ask people about their colds before they even show symptoms.

Diana Prince seems wise beyond her years. She'll tell stories from when she was younger but will never give anybody an exact age. When asked, she'll just laugh and say "older than I look" and eventually, people are too unnerved to keep pushing.

Bruce Wayne makes no noise when he walks. He's a ditzy playboy, always leaning on things, talking loudly about nothing, and he loves a good cocktail... And yet his steps make no noise. He can sneak up on people, despite his size and clumsiness. It's completely out of character and it confuses people at Galas and parties.

Barry Allen is very prone to static shock. He'll shake someone's hand and zap them, only to apologize and say he's nervous. Touching him feels like holding an overcharged battery and nobody understands it. Sometimes people's arm hair stands up around him and people have to explain it as goosebumps or the chill, because there are no other explanations.

Hal Jordan drops things a lot. Not in a clumsy way, not like "I didn't put the whole bottom of the cup on the edge of the table" kind of way. He'll just straight up let go of things he's holding. He always has some excuse. He was looking into your eyes and got lost. Someone pretty walked by. But sometimes he does it and seems just as confused as everyone else.

Arthur Curry's skin feels bumpy and cold. It's like his circulation is terrible but he never complains about a chill. When he isn't wearing a long sleeve, people notice that his skin has a weird looking texture, but some brush it off as old scars.

John Jones seems to know everything another person is about to say, even before they say it. He's answering questions that haven't been asked, only thought. "Good intuition" he'll say or "I'm a detective" but it makes people nervous.

#justice league #justice league head canon #JLA #barry allen #hal jordan #green lantern #the flash #Bruce Wayne #Batman #Clark Kent #Superman #Diana Price #Wonder Woman #Arthur Curry #Aquaman #John Jones #martian manhunter #head canons

[nalyra-dreaming]

I'm sorry but I can't believe sex in ep6 even topic of discussion.

1)Why would they go to such lengths and spend their time and resources on making floaty sex, if it didn't mean anything and didn't serve any purpose? What purpose did it serve? Well, the first and last time we also saw floaty sex in ep1 and it was clear representation of connection and pleasure that sends you flying to Saturn and back. So, logically, ep6 sex too supposed to show connection and pleasure.

2) Next point (i'm not sure about this one tbh): perhaps there's one more parallel to ep1 scene - Louis "didn't consider himself a homosexual at that time" and we see cut to him having enthusiastic sex. In ep6 he was telling Daniel about being numb and we have cut to him PARTICIPATING in sex and not just lying there like a corpse.

3) They literally included Lestat stopping and checking on Louis and not doing anything before Louis kissed him. He noticed that Louis wasn't mentally there and stopped. Clear indication that Lestat wanted CONSENSUAL sex, if he truly didn't care he would just proceed to fuck Louis because Louis wasn't stopping him.

4) Give Louis a little agency, would you?(general you, not you, Nalyra) As I said, we didn't have any indication that Louis wad pressured into it, that lestat didn't care about Louis' consent and pleasure. Just because you're depressed doesn't mean you're incapable of making decisions. Louis' kiss was him reassuring lestat that he's here with him. He KNEW that lestat needed reassurance to proceed. Lestat can't read Louis' mind, he can't be 100% if Louis wants it or not, so he has to rely on what Louis TELLS him with words and body language. Louis told lestat with his actions that he wants him to proceed. That's Louis' decision, like it or not

5) I know fandom likes to act like Claudia is mentally 14 forever, but for majority of story she's grown woman. I'm actually not sure if she truly thinks Louis wouldn't mind her being in his head while they're having sex or she's actively disregarding his boundaries (that he didn't establish) but there's fact: it's weird. Maybe she thinks she's helping Louis to "cope" with sex because she's projecting her trauma with Bruce on Loustat (which is understandable!) but for me Louis' sounds uncomfortable, and resigned, half-heartedly trying to deflect Claudia. "Anywhere sounds like nowhere" - for me it was clear that he doesn't really want to leave and doesn't want to have this conversation but he fails to say it outright and shut down Claudia. So he just makes up excuses not to leave, avoids telling NO, and blocks his mind when Lestat notices that something is wrong.

So, my point, that cut from Bruce to Lestat was Claudia's mind coming to comparison. She thinks Louis does it to appease lestat, she's probably tries to help telling Louis about her escape plan, she views Louis' reluctants as fear of Lestat and that's it, when probably main reason is Louis simply not wanting to leave.

I'm so sorry for long essay, hope you don't mind! Love your work and blog:)

:) Glad you like.

And yeah... I cannot believe we're at this point again/still either.

Exactly. This is a deliberate thing, a deliberate connection to the best sex Louis had. As said before, it carries meaning.

Well, I mean, there are a lot more instances of Louis saying something and the show showing us something else. Or vice versa. That is... exactly the point. Louis is telling the tale for an effect. And that effect was to lead to the justified "murder night". But the why will be part of season 2.

I know

Louis is (not just) depressed because of Lestat. He is deep in the rite of passage. He addresses that on the bench. And yeah.. for some reason Louis' never gets his agency in these discussions. Because he could have moved away. He could have left. But he did not want to. He stayed right there, in Rue Royale during those 6 years (for example). Where Lestat could find him. But I digress. Louis does have agency, indeed. And it is often dismissed for some reason -.-

Claudia's thinking is very black and white, pun not intended. It's stark contrast. She hates and loves with the full power of puberty, at all times, no matter her mental age. Her hatred for Lestat colors her perception of Louis' love for him - she just cannot imagine Louis loving him. Oh she understands it. But to her Lestat is like Bruce, the worst of the worst, and she cannot fathom that there are actually vampires out there... who are much, much worse. That is part of the horror, that she just cannot... imagine, because ultimately Lestat and Louis raised her as a child and then a loved family member - not as a coven member. She has no point of reference, unfortunately. And no, Louis neither wants to have that conversation (but he is too nice to shut it down), nor does he want to leave. And that just... flies right over her head.

Neither Claudia nor Louis actually fear Lestat, and definitely not even after the fight. The car scene made that quite clear, imho.

Oh, they are angry at him, and justified in that anger. But fear? Nope.

#Anonymous #asks #ask nalyra #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #loustat #iwtv claudia #claudia de lioncourt #episode 6 #floaty sex

[gourmet-trash]

Okay so hear me out but Rose working on some creative writing assignment or short story that involves a character getting stabbed or cut or whatever. And Corinthian proofreading like, "The lead up is good, but I'm telling you, Rosebud, this just isn't what it's like." "I can't write it the way you described it!" "Well why not? I'm the authority here, aren't I?" Rose throws her hands up. "Because you like stabbing things, and the protagonist doesn't like getting stabbed."

Corinthian clicks all three of his tongues and flips to the next page. "That doesn't excuse a poor description of handling the knife."

"I'm sorry, all right? I just understand better when I'm seeing stuff rather than just hearing about it," Rose says, sighing. She shouldn't have waited so long to start this project. And it's not like her creative writing professor is going to spend this much time fussing over the scene, but now that she's aware it's wrong, it's going to eat at her until she gets a pass from the Corinthian.

Corinthian who, after a moment, lifts his head from the pages he's reviewing. And even with his sunglasses on, Rose has learned to recognize that particular look on his face. This can't be good.

"You know," he says, drawing his words out the way he usually does when he's leading into the kind of suggestion he knows doesn't align with "human moral values" as he's put it on more than one occassion. "If you need a visual and a more first hand account of what getting stabbed feels like..."

"No," Rose says immediately.

"Why not? It's a perfect solution!" Corinthian insists.

"I'm not gonna watch you kill somebody!" Rose says. "...Again."

There's a soft click-click of unseen teeth that Rose associates with Corinthian's version of "rolling your eyes." "I'm not suggesting we kill somebody," he says, "Couldn't if I tried anyway!"

"No," Rose repeats when she realizes what, exactly the Corinthian is suggesting.

"Oh, come on," Corinthian says, waving the heavily marked pages of her story between them. "We could at least ask, right? And he could definitely give you some pointers on writing about being stabbed."

"....Well...that part's probably true," Rose admits slowly. Being able to ask specific questions would also be more useful than a bunch of questionable Google searches.

"So....?" She sighs and gets up from her desk, rolling her eyes at the wide grin Corinthian flashes for it. "Just to ask if he can give me some advice! That's it," she says, pulling in the same firm voice she uses to tell Jed that they absolutely are not having chicken fingers for dinner again.

"You want to stab me for a creative writing assignment?" Professor Gadling repeats slowly.

"No!" Rose says at the same time Corinthian says, "Yeah, that sums it up."

Rose shifts on Professor Gadling's couch so she can kick Corinthian's ankle beside her, feeling vindicated by the echoing hiss of air between teeth. "Well that was uncalled for," he grouses, pointedly proping that ankle up on his knee away from her. Like she can't reach the other one if she wants.

They spend a few moments glowering at each other - Rose trying to decide if she wants to kick him again and Corinthian trying to predict said kick so he can avoid it. They're both interrupted by Professor Gadling setting mugs in front of them and lowering himself into an arm chair.

"Thank you, Professor," Rose insists, reaching out to take hers. "What Corinthian meant to say is that I'm working on a story for class and he doesn't think my action scenes are...authentic enough. I was wondering if you might be willing to proofread a bit? Or give me some advice to make it sound more realistic?"

"On account of you having been stabbed so many of times," Corinthian helpfully adds over the top of his mug. Rose doesn't know a lot about British tea, but she knows there's an absurd amount of milk (and probably sugar) in his judging by the color.

Professor Gadling, thank god, looks more amused than anything else. Rose suspects he's used to a lot of this on account of whatever is going on between him and Corinthian and Uncle Morpheus, but she keeps that particular thought to herself. That's a topic better left for gossping with Matthew.

"That is, unfortunately, true," Professor Gadling agrees. "I'm happy to answer any questions you have."

"Now, Rose, didn't you tell me earlier that you have a hard time understanding something that's just said out loud to you, though?" Corinthian drawls.

"Maybe it's just the way you describe things that's hard," she argues, rolling her eyes again when he lays his fingertips against his chest like a stricken southern belle.

Professor Gadling chuckles into his own tea while he watches them bicker, and after a moment he shrugs and rocks back onto his feet. "All right, come on. We're not doing this so close to the rug and the furniture."

"What?" Rose says, but Professor Gadling is already carrying his tea towards the kitchen, and Corinthian wastes no time abandoning his own mug on the coffee table to follow. Rose curses softly and moves Corinthian's mug onto a coaster before hurrying after them.

"Professor, you really don't have to do this," she insists.

But by then, Professor Gadling has already shrugged out of his cardigan and is considering the shirt underneath. "Probably more helpful to see the blood spread on the fabric, right?"

"Yeah, that would fit the scene better," Corinthian agrees, flipping a knife over his fingers and looking her way. "Right, Rosebud?"

When she doesn't immediately answer, Professor Gadling looks over, and something in her expression must read as more than concerned for his safety, because he walks over and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. If it'll help what you're writing, I really don't mind, Rose. And frankly, if I don't let him stab something now, he's probably going to find something to stab," he jokes with a pointed glance at Corinthian.

Corinthian does not correct him, so he's probably right about that.

Even so, Professor Gadling's expression is soft when he turns back to her." But if it's not something you're going to be comfortable seeing, we also don't have to do this. We can go back to the couch and you can ask questions. I'll try to describe things better than Cor does."

She makes a small, amused sound, but she still feels her brows knitting in together. Was she comfortable seeing this? She hadn't even stopped to consider that, so set as she'd been that this wouldn't be a possibility in the first place. And now that it was, she didn't know if she wanted it to be.

Corinthian leans his hip against the counter beside them and tilts his head. "You like horror movies, Rose?"

She blinks, turning from Professor Gadling's concerned expression to Corinthian's considerably more mild one. "Um...yeah, I do."

"Cause in a horror movie, even if people are getting hurt, you know they're actually okay, right?" he reasons. "The actors walk away right as rain after the credits start rolling."

She frowns slightly but nods.

"Hob does that too. You know he's actually okay and he'll walk away right as rain after all this. Not that different from watching a real good horror movie."

Professor Gadling makes a soft, amused sound, and when Rose glances back at him, he has a wry, affectionate look on his face. "That's...not a bad way of putting it," he agrees. "Even though none of those actors are actually getting stabbed."

"Details," Corinthian scoffs.

"And you're sure you're okay with this Professor?" Rose asks, relaxing a bit when he nods.

"I wouldn't have said yes otherwise. And stab wounds don't take that long to heal. I can even show you when it's healed up if that'll help."

Rose glances between them, Professor Gadling waiting patiently for her to decide what she'd like to do and Corinthian looking like he might jump in and start stabbing at a moment's notice regardless.

Something about the scenario feels a little too familiar. Not for her, of course. But between the two of them. She's starting to think this isn't the first time Professor Gadling has let himself get stabbed, and she's starting to think she doesn't want to look too closely into that.

"....Uncle Morpheus isn't going to like this," she points out, watching the two of them exchange a quiet, but communicative glance.

"Well your Uncle Morpheus doesn't have to know if we hurry up," Corinthian insists, lifting a wrist to check his watch. "We still got some time before he gets back with Jed."

Professor Gadling snorts softly. "We'll worry about Morpheus," he says. "So?"

"....Okay. Okay, yeah, let me just grab my notebook!"

"Attagirl!" Corinthian crows, shaking his knife a bit like one might a trophy they've won. And as soon as she's back, he waves her over to show her the grip he has on the handle so she can jot down notes.

And that's how Rose spends the afternoon in Professor Gadling's kitchen being shown precise knife handling techniques, blood spatter behavior, and getting a first hand account of what being stabbed feels like in real time. All of it turn out to be tremendously helpful in her story edits - she gets Corinthian and Professor Gadling's approval before turning it in. (The former insists she should consider writing more action like this in the future and he's, of course, happy to help with additional research.)

She gets an A. [ next → ]

#it's a win-win-win for everybody your honor! #either dream has no idea hob and corinthian do this and has a little meltdown over it #or he does but he finds out they were doing it IN FRONT OF HIS NIECE and he has a little meltdown over it #i just think corinthian would always be looking for an excuse to stab #and hob would probably fucking let him #it's that or he's stabbing other people right? #(he's definitely still stabbing over people just maybe with a more discerning hand) #rose walker #hob gadling #the corinthian #the sandman #hobrinthian #hobrintheus #fic #tw: stabbing #tw: knife

[genericpuff]

So I have a question is hades telling Persephone his trauma with kronos trauma dumping? I see this word tossed around alot I just want to know if this was an example

It depends on which scene. If you're talking about the one early in S2 where Hades shares what happened to him with Persephone, that one's kind of a combination of lovebombing and trauma dumping + trauma bonding. And the reason I say that is because he basically takes away Persephone's moment to be vulnerable and talk about her own trauma and turns it into something about himself. Which he does a LOT in LO.

Like, this all happens after she's JUST revealed her side of the Act of Wrath and the events that led up to it (particularly involving her childhood) and Hades segues it into talking about himself.

Of course, that's after he shows her the tape of HER memories that he got without HER consent.

But of course Persephone's fine with it because she's not allowed to realize that her future husband might be a creep.

Anyways, it does seem like Hades is trying to "repay" Persephone for telling him her backstory, but that just doesn't work all that well here because it just comes across as insensitive. She's barely had any of her own time to reflect on the events that occurred VERY recently (though the timeline is unclear, know that Persephone was 19 when she moved to Olympus and the Act of Wrath had to have happened shortly before because she was clearly a young adult) and now she has to sit through listening to his baggage from 2000 years ago.

Like, this man has had two thousand years to talk to someone about this. But of course, it's the pink cinnamon roll girl that he met at a party and has known for TWO WEEKS who gets him monologuing about himself and trauma dumping.

And it's trying so hard to be painted as romantic, but really, it's just another case of Hades love-bombing Persephone.

This kind of dialogue is used in romance novels a lot but when you actually condense the timeline and understand that this 40+ year old man has only known this 19/20 year old girl for two weeks, it comes across as less romantic and more like he's just manipulating her. This is a VERY common tactic used by abusers and groomers (*note: this is a blanket statement that does not apply to all relationships) where they'll make the victim believe that they're just that special, that important to them, that they would tell them things they've "never told anyone before." Maybe this would happen in a relationship between two people that's been going on for a while, but someone you've only known for two weeks and you're still trying to get with? It's a bit more of a red flag there.

Meanwhile I'm staring at LO like, you're trying to convince me this man has never talked about his trauma ONCE? Not even with Hera, who he HASN'T EVEN TOLD PERSEPHONE HE'S BEEN IN A LONG-TERM AFFAIR WITH? Never mind the fact that he wasn't the only one who went through what he did, you're telling me he's never talked about it to anyone, in 2000 years? That's a load of baloney. The man needs a therapist, not a girlfriend.

And this isn't the only time Hades uses his trauma as a way to either trauma bond with Persephone OR to make excuses for his own actions. I can think of no better example than when Persephone finds out about his affair with Hera.

He makes the topic about Hera and her trauma. She does not know Hades is talking about this. She hasn't given him consent to tell Persephone about this. Hades is saying ALL this to get to the final point of: "I was in an affair with Hera because Hera and I were both traumatized and Zeus just couldn't understand that." (never mind the fact that Hades is also dismissing everything Zeus went through here just because Zeus doesn't have physical scars like Hera and Hades do, which is... ick.)

And then he goes off even MORE about his experience being sentenced down to the Underworld and eating the pomegranate and yadda yadda yadda the man literally will not shut up. Persephone at this point has opened up to him about her trauma once across the course of like, two episodes (and he doesn't even know about the SA yet!) and meanwhile Hades gets MULTIPLE episodes to talk about how sad and lonely he's been his whole life.

(he also thinks therapy is pointless because of course he does:)

He doesn't take any real accountability here for his actions. He doesn't take accountability for lying to Persephone about his affair with Hera. He doesn't take accountability for lying to Zeus - her husband and his BROTHER - about the affair for centuries, and he still doesn't know. And this is one of the first signs (chronologically) that Hades makes it a habit to form his relationships off trauma bonding and love-bombing.

(I'm so sad for Minthe here now in hindsight because she's literally telling Persephone that Hades is a chronic love-bomber but then she never connects that she should stop fighting with Persephone over Hades because of this. Like in any other comic, Minthe would be warning Persephone, not trying to get Persephone out of the picture so she can get Hades back.)

So yes, I would say Hades is absolutely trauma-dumping when you take into account the fact that he seems to be using it as a form of love-bombing and trauma bonding, and the fact that the comic spends way more time justifying his horrible actions through his trauma, while Persephone's trauma which is an ACTIVE PLOT POINT in her character arc and the comic, gets shoved off to the wayside so it can take a backseat to Hades' 2000 year old baggage. Screw what the women are going through, the man's talking.

That said, don't get me wrong, Persephone's still a horrible person who uses her trauma as an excuse for her actions too, but that's for another post.

In the meantime, have this great video about love bombing:

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #antiloreolympus #ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything

[its-the-sa]

it is serious. the ship just comes off as nasty to me and i dont understand it

oh, then I'm sorry for being dismissive. I thought you were just a hater lol.

but in all seriousness, if a ship seems nasty to you, then a logical explanation of it is probably not going to change your mind. squicks are just gut reactions, so it doesn't really matter whether or not you understand the thing that squicks you. and that's ok! if the ship makes you uncomfortable, you should just block the rw regicide tag (or in my case you should probably just block me entirely lol )

but since you did ask sincerely, I'll at least try to explain why I ship it:

basically, I'm just a sucker for the 'enemies to lovers' trope and the 'villain redemption' trope. show me any two characters who fit both of those, and I'll probably ship it lol

I like villain redemption, because I like tragic villains. I like villains whose actions are inexcusable, but understandable. villains who lash out due to grief and end up doing horrible things in the throes of rage. and I like making them feel bad about it. I like villains who know they are monsters, who know they have done despicably evil things and truly hate themselves for it. and I like giving them a second chance. I like to see them feel remorse and turn away from evil and try to become better people.

and I like enemies to lovers because... well, for a lot of reasons that would probably take several thesis papers to unpack, lmao. but basically there's just something really intimate about two characters who can handle each other at their absolute worst, when no one else can. arti is like an unstoppable force of rage until she meets scav king, who is like an immovable object to her. he's willing to fight her and kill her as many times as he needs to, but he never strikes first, and he always gives her the chance to back down. and since he does have min aggression and max sympathy, I see him as the type of person who would easily forgive someone who is genuinely remorseful. he doesn't want to keep the cycle of violence and hatred going; whenever arti is ready to let go of her rage and stop the bloodshed, so is he. when she's ready to face the consequences of her actions and try to become a better person, he would rather support her than condemn her. he doesn't necessarily expect his people to forgive her, and he doesn't try to make excuses for her or downplay any of the harm she caused. i just think he could personally look at arti and find someone worth caring about underneath all the rage and hate, and in turn she could look at him and find someone she can trust enough to let all that hate go and admit she was wrong.

obviously, this type of relationship could never happen in real life (or if it did, it would be a fucking toxic disaster). but they're just characters, so their relationship doesnt have to be realistic, and I just want their story to have a happy ending I guess.

idk if any of this makes sense to you, but it's fine if not. you don't always have to understand why people like things that you don't like, it's ok to just block them for your own peace of mind. so if this ship still makes you uncomfortable, feel free to block me, I wouldn't take offense. stay safe and remember that fandom is for having fun , so dont stress out about it too much!

[total-drama-brainrot]

Unpopular Opinion: Island of the Slaughtered doesn't make much sense to me honestly... I don't hate it, but the serial killer wouldn't last a day after there's revealed to be one on the island... Because Chef is a psycho that probably went to war and would snap the killer like a twig... Or Chef and Chris would get guns and shoot the killer down... Also, some of the contestants are strong enough to take down wild animals... The killer wouldn't stand a chance against their combined forces... Plus in canon, Chris and Chef did try to save Gwen from a killer (and Gwen defeated the killer)! XD

Island of the Slaughtered was actually what initially drew me back in to Total Drama as a whole, which is ironic because the AU itself kind of got overshadowed by the source material for me.

I like the concept, and the execution is really good too, but I haven't really interacted with the AU at all besides following the Tiktok uploads when they dropped last year. So please excuse me if anything I say here is inaccurate.

But I'm fairly certain that a pivotal plot point of the AU itself is the fact that both Chris and Chef abandon the campers on the island at the first sign of foul play; Chef wouldn't be there to fight off the killer. And that's not exactly out of character for them either- both Chris and Chef are shown throughout canon to not care for the safety and wellbeing of the contestants, and the two of them would believably prioritise their own wellbeing over the campers' survival.

And as far as the strong contestants go, the only characters in Island who would really stand a chance against an active serial killer would be the likes of Eva, Izzy and maybe Duncan- who all survive the massacre because the killer never targets them. I don't know if that's a sign of intelligence on the killer's part or pure coincidence, but it's true nonetheless.

Courtney later shows off her physical prowess in Action, but throughout Island there's nothing to indicate that she could take on a serial killer alone. Since the AU is based in the canon of Island, she doesn't count as a "strong" camper. In the same vein, DJ is very strong, but he's also a 'gentle giant' who's hesitant to cause physical harm to anyone- he wouldn't have the courage to confront the killer.

In the AU itself, the killer works more as an ambush predator than your stereotypical "hunt and kill" murderer; the only time a contestant is ever killed is when they stray from the pack. A huge aspect of this AU is "safety in numbers", the only time someone ever dies is when they're alone and/or in a vulnerable position. This implies that the killer themself is never too far away from the cast; they're always watching, hidden in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to pick off the weakest links as they stray too far from the safety of their group.

Would it have made more sense for the group to attack the killer as a united front (allowing the likes of Eva, Izzy and Duncan to subdue/kill them in turn)? Probably. But at the end of the day, these are frightened teenagers- they're not going to think logically when they're being hunted for sport. They're going to follow the safest route of their continued survival, which in this case is remaining together as a tight knit group and waiting to be rescued from the island.

I, personally, think the plot of the AU makes a lot of sense when you consider the above factors. And, of course, because it's a Horror AU- you'd need to suspend a lot of the cartoon logic to make it somewhat believable, which includes the fact that Gwen canonically 'takes down' the real killer by insulting him. That kind of stuff wouldn't fit the tone of the IotS AU.

Not that I'm saying you have to like it. You're entitled to your opinion! This is just how I understand the AU.

#now that i'm thinking about it i should probably read through iots again #it was a really cool and unique concept at the time! plus the art was stunning #total drama #island of the slaughtered #ophe rambling #meta analysis #others' hot takes #replies

[seariii]

i know everyone is really mad at kotoko, but i’ve been thinking a bit about why she ended up like this

I have a friend who has a really similar mindset to kotoko, so i'm kinda familiarized with how it works. as i've said before, she really sees everything in black and white, and while she originally said she would forgive those who did the same as her (basically amane, and fuuta to some extent), after her t1 inno verdict, her ideals got reinforced, well, more like radicalized and pushed them a step further, losing her original self/mindset in the process

every time i talk to this friend about kotoko, they really do see themselves in kotoko, and with everything currently going on (and them going to therapy and trying to be a better person, and just getting bad looks from others when they talk) has made them notice how some stuff isn't that good or how it's frowned upon. my friend has a black and white sense of justice, and when i told them about how kotoko would’ve harm amane, they went “it's good to know she wouldn't spare the child” (i know, messed up). their context to that is, we all know how children can be some of the most horrible people in earth, innocence can be seen as beautiful, but it can also be terrifying. their argument is that when children commit a crime, they're not trial respectively to what they committed, a child who killed someone doesn't get the same repercussions as an adult who killed someone. 

having said that, that mindset comes from a place of black and white morals, of difficulties during childhood, of seeing how people arent brought to justice and of how one suffers so much but no one cares. this friend struggles with empathy and struggles to understand others in general. the main difference they have with kotoko is that they try, that they were put in situations where they had to face reality and other people 

i believe kotoko must’ve went through something that in the end pushed her to this belief system. “it doesnt excuse what she did” i know, but i still think if she have had someone to guide her towards the right path, someone who she actually connected with and showed her why her actions and beliefs were harmful, this wouldn't have ended like this… 

now here, im not asking people to forgive her, i actually think that a guilty verdict this trial would be really good for her and hopefully would force her to face reality in some way

#as i was writing this said friend texted me with a problem about how they messed up in a friend gathering but they dont know what they did #they were stressing tf out about it and i tried my best to explain and break down their feelings #said friend reminds me of kotoko and muu… kinda funny kotoko is my favorite and muu is my most hated one #i can completely see why people dont like her but i still do... its such a tragic story about someone who never let anyone in and #went down a dark path that just brought more tragedy to them and the people around her. even when what she was looking was salvation for th #rest. even when she knew she could be condemned by her actions #milgram #kotoko yuzuriha #heh im back on my shit i can think about kotoko again i just needed content #also said friend gave me their permission to post this thanks friendo <3 #seari writes

[gremlinaristocrat]

Things I got from playing Patho Classic HD that I didn't get from the sequel or from watching videos about it

As the Bachelor:

Thinking I'm being clever buying/trading-for alpha-tablets over the course of Day 1 only to find out at the end that they're effectively useless.

Hearing my boots go squish-squish-squish as I walk through a pile of [???] in a plague district, and continue to make that noise for several steps afterwards.

Wandering around late at night after a long day in Daniil's head, noticing changes to houses' windows: "Are these absolute barbarians setting their houses on fire while they're still inside!? Oh wait, that's just the glow from their hearths keeping them warm at night, and what I thought were embers were leaves falling . . . that's kinda cute actually."

Realizing the logic puzzle with the three Watchers is solvable even if everyone plays their roles perfectly, solving the harder version, and then seeing the Earth Watcher blatantly contradict himself & make all my cleverness redundant.

The weirdness of the empty plagueless Day 12 streets.

Georgiy appearing to straight-up admit in his last conversation that there's no magic soul-preserving trick and he's just LARPing as Simon.

As the Haruspex:

The sheer surreality of Big Vlad being helpful and straightforward with you after seeing how he acts in the Bachelor's route.

You can insult the weirdly-dressed dudes in the Stone Yard in exactly the same way as the Bachelor (as if we needed more evidence that they're soulmates . . .)

Daniil is a lot more reasonable early in this route than tumblr and hbomberguy led me to believe, he really is trying his best.

[Completes Day 4's main quest before noon] [Knows what's in rough terms what's coming next] [Wakes up in a cell after being beaten to death and getting all my weapons stolen] . . . oh hey it's only late afternoon, that's not so bad . . . WAIT IT'S LATE AFTERNOON OF THE NEXT DAY!?

Slowly realizing what the Worms want the organs for after noticing that A) they also trade for fresh food and B) they value the non-organ-ic food a lot more highly.

The weird anticlimax associated with making the panacea (especially contrasted with how it goes in P2).

The feeling of utter horror when I realized what the potions Oyun gave me did.

The insane corkscrew trail I needed to follow to get Grace's opinion so I could relay it to that one Worm.

The fact that EVERYONE seemed to know that Oyun killed Isidor the ENTIRE time and NO-ONE tells Artemy (Vlad alludes to it on day 1! My Haruspex found out from ****ing Dankovsky of all people!)

"Hah! I got to save everyone and meet the Makers in the Theater without killing a single child!"

As the Changeling:

"Welp, guess I'm killing a child now."

Her mad leaps of logic during Day 1 which only make sense when you realize she's laundering OOC knowledge.

The arc of my understanding of P1 Artemy over the three playthroughs: "Seems like a scary weirdo"->"Okay now I'm playing as him his actions make a lot of sense"->"Okay now I'm getting to meet him a lot from another perspective I realize he actually is a scary weirdo without my mediating influence".

Nina's grave having slightly different stuff on it, for no obvious reason.

"I killed those muggers and they dropped . . . jewellery? I know what muggers drop, that's not it." "What are you talking about, Player? You did kill those muggers, this isn't Clara coming up with an excuse for you, she definitely didn't break into people's houses and take their valuables."

Realizing Clara doesn't have to buy maps, and what that implies.

#pathologic

[ca-suffit]

yeah anon I don't want to publish ur specific ask for the reasons u said, but thank u for reminding me of this post. this post from nalyra-dreaming was part of the affirmative action drama and I think a lot of what's in this post got lost out being talked about because of that. so let's talk about it. let's comb thru this so ppl can rly understand nalyra's racism and what they're defending when they want to defend her.

first off, lol take ur own advice. but anyways. this way of speaking is crazy. this is why this whole group of besties put everyone off as time went on. that's why it's lol when ppl come to me saying nobody likes u, we prefer them. okay?? ur weird and u like being yelled at idk. these ppl read some dumb books and think they work on the show. they reference each other's fanon more than anything else. there's no discussions. they talk AT u. it's a bunch of ppl who want to be seen as smart and popular. that's it lol. "we've been trying to tell them" girl u don't work on the show stfu.

this bitch is a whole bitch. u act like u have been victimized by a black fan because you had a disagreement. u play up "I tried to listen and I agree too! poor me, THEY don't want to hear anything else but what THEY want to hear :(" and THEN u have the fckn audacity to say shit like why aren't u all listening to BLACK MAN JACOB ANDERSON. why aren't u listening to black fans? why are u here making this post to act like a victim to "mean" black fans who just don't listen to facts and logic and jacob anderson himself. why are u here twisting this shit up to pretend u have empathy for black ppl by stepping over everyone here (who does not have to filter anything for show press) and saying "actually ur all wrong and stupid and ur the REAL racists because u take away jacob and bailey's own voices."

this is a real level of fucking evil racist shit and why I'm spelling this out rly slow rn so u all understand.

"Louis is not chained to his coffin guys, he could have left, and a fight which shows off power discrepancies within the show story line is not automatically domestic abuse."

u jump thru so many hoops for lestat's defense it has made u dumb as fuck.

where was louis supposed to go? he's black, his family hates him, his husband is a demon spawn who stalks everyone down who tries to leave. who BEAT HIS ASS already at the *thought* that he'd even leave. that's not DV?? he could have left?? how are u like 50 years old and victim blaming like this and then saying u have authority over analyzing these books for the peasants here lol.

the favorite go to line from this dumb group is "they're monsters" "they're vampires." anne rice was famous in the first place for using iwtv to humanize vampires. I think she used this type of "logic" over time too tho and that's prbly where this comes from. it's a bad excuse tho. we're talking about DV but u say it's not DV and then say "they're all murderers anyway so nothing matters." girl the redemption isn't about vampirism, it's about whiteness. u big fucking dummies who can't talk about race always want to pretend this is about lestat being a vampire and how we're too stupid to understand vampires and monsters. the horror of lestat rn is his whiteness. the horror is the power that gives him as he's the least capable of rational thought in that whole "family" unit. he's ignorant, controlling, and quick to anger. he never tries to fix his ignorance, he makes excuses for all his behavior because he CAN. because society allows him to do that! louis and claudia can't make any mistakes or be forgiven because black ppl are not given that same grace. u can call lestat a monster because on a white man that's still an attractive quality. ppl LUV white serial killers and abusers so much and hype them up like they're galaxy brain heroes. calling a black person a monster is just every day. with no benefit. that's the one u rly believe is the threat and then u shoot to kill.

she's so dumb omfg. isolation doesn't mean put in an empty room. lestat wove himself into every aspect of louis' life so that louis could not exist without him. yes, on a level, louis was showing off his man, but u see how the "roots" take hold more and more over time. he's living in lestat's house, lestat is now the one driving the car. more and more lestat is telling them what they're doing and becoming critical of what louis will not give up. acting up v loudly when he doesn't get his way (he brings antoinette in when louis isn't "acting right" so he can torture louis at his job so he'll fix himself already, then he "allows" louis to see other people except now I'm gonna overreact about that too, now I've chased claudia off but btw did u know I've always had a big dick and u not being fun for me anymore is why all of this has ever happened??)

again with the evilness of trying to prove ur shit point by saying "if u disagree with me then u hate black people (jacob anderson) even tho I'm speaking over all black ppl here with this post." ok lestat lol. u are always trying to excuse lestat's actions for being what they are by saying there's a book reason behind it or saying louis or whatever black or brown character is the REAL abuser. do u think abuse has to be intentional to count as abuse? do u rly think lestat's actions are justified when he could have easily explained any of it without doing all that? his response to louis' depression is to do everything I wrote above. u think that's not abuse? u think that's not isolation? "be my companion" but he didn't mean emotionally. u don't think that's maybe the arc lestat is going to have to go thru to be a better partner to louis? what do u think his arc is then, louis just made it all up and soon we won't have to care about race and lestat has been a cool guy this whole time just kidding?? anne rice rly gave u a smooth ass brain.

I don't even know what this means. u all love to skip over points and just say "okay SWEETIE u just don't understand dark themes and monsters, u won't ever get it." okay U, SWEETIE, ur 50 years old, talk slow for me. I know u can do it. if u want authority then prove u know ur shit. a loud voice by itself doesn't do anything but yell. but this is all mama rice taught u tho. so here we are lol.

"everything is unreliable narration except for lestat who is always telling the truth because his egotistical crazy ass white woman author who wanted to be a white man so badly and wrote in his voice IRL to yell at ppl for real said he's telling the truth" u are all so crazy and racist and then u get big mad when ppl notice how crazy and racist u are lol. this gap between series airing has been annoying af but it's sure exposed ur asses because ur not smart like u think u are. when someone rly shows up and breaks down ur arguments to ur face and that is the sole reason I'm here, u all have nothing to say anymore. so fuck u lol enjoy this well earned fallout.

#interview with the vampire #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #amc iwtv #iwtv 2022 #fandom racism #nalyra-dreaming

[nestaismommy]

Die- hard acotar stans are so damn sensitive. It is no wonder why everyone outside of sjm thinks the same about them..

Someone on a tik tok comment section asked if acotar is worth it. Some people confused the person because, some said it's really worth it and others said it's not. I just explained to them that if they're there for only enjoyment with no braincells required it's worth it, but if they like worldbuilding exploration, characters development and good plots then acotar isn't for them. Another acotar stan disagreed, saying the books have good worldbuilding and good character development and when I told them no they started to get all pissed, complaining why I don't respect their opinion even though they don't respect mine. The conversation shifts to Rhys: When I told them the bs that he pulled such as lying, SA, hurting others etc. They laughed and said I'm delusional. Apperantly what he did wasn't SA and he "needed" to touch her in order to save her life. He "needed" to withhold important medical Information from Feyre because he didn't want her to worry. I very much made it clear that intentions don't f*cking excuse their actions, it's still not right.

They also told me I'm a hater and whatever, telling me that I have a problem because I read a book series that I hate. Apperantly we aren't allowed to critize a book anymore? Apperantly me saying the worldbuilding and character development in acotar isn't good is an insult to society I guess?

I can't deal with these stans. Sjm brainwashed them.

Hi Anon I’m so sorry it took so long to reply, I am just starting to get more active on here.

Trigger warning: SA

It is not a surprise that you’ll get attacked whenever you express an unpopular opinion.

ACOTAR is poorly written and not a lot of people see that. Sjm destroys her characters, there are many retcons, she can’t write about mental health, and don’t even get me started on the misogyny. Especially when it comes to Rhysand, his stans can’t accept any criticism about his character because he’s just so “perfect” and a “feminist king”. He “needed” to SA Feyre. But there will never be a valid reason to SA and abuse someone. They’ll call you delusional, they’ll tell you that you don’t understand the book, and that you should reread it. And that they don’t “think” it’s SA. And so on. At this point, I stopped trying to explain because honestly, they are the delusional ones.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, if you hate the series then there is absolutely no problem with that. ACOTAR fans need to get their heads out of there assholes and accept that not everyone will agree with them.

#anti sjm #anti rhysand #anti sarah j maas

[anti-spop]

When people compare Catra to Amity, I just had the thought of “Yeah! Remember how smug and satisfied with herself Amity was when she accidentally fucked with Willow’s mind and memories in Understanding Willow and then she chuckled to herself about covering up/saving face in front of Boscha and left Luz, King, Gus, and Eda to clean up the mess she made?”.

I'll admit that one thing about Amity's arc bothers me, and that's the way they make Amity more complicit in the bullying against Willow. Like, Inner Willow says that Amity "let" her friends pick on Willow for years, and not the fact AMITY was Willow's main bully. It's true that at this point in the story, she wasn't actively going after Willow anymore. But yeah, I don't like the way they worded it. That's a minor issue that I thought was relevant.

THAT BEING SAID.

Amity is obviously way better handled than Catra. Amity never meant to burn all of Willow's memories, and she clearly showed regret once it was done. I also like that the other characters openly point out how messed up it was, too, regardless of Amity's intentions. She might try to avoid going inside Willow's mind at first, but it's more out of guilt, not pride, and not her trying to push the responsibility to Luz.

And I think the best thing about Understanding Willow is that even after we discover Amity's abusive background, it's still not an excuse and Amity actually admits the errors of her ways. "You were never too weak to be my friend. I was too weak to be yours." Better yet, Amity and Willow don't immediately become friends again. "It's a start."

That never happens to Catra. For starters, Catra never apologizes to Glimmer of all people (they straight up don't bring up Angella, only at the last minute and it was so Glimmer could save Micah). Catra doesn't save Glimmer out of genuine care, it's simply for Adora's sake. While Amity grew as a person because of Luz, Amity shows real remorse for her actions. Amity and Willow have their proper reconciliation without Luz in the picture, for that matter.

And yet Glimmer is already defending Catra when Adora vents to her about how shitty Catra is. Like? Seriously? GLIMMER? Glimmer was always the person who called out Catra. If anything, Glimmer is the most brutally honest character here. I'm appalled that they made her say "oh lol did you expect Catra to be a completely different person?". Nah, the real Glimmer would agree with Adora. I don't care what season 5 and the stans tell me.

Yeah, that's the problem. Adora reasonably gets angry with Catra but she's seen as... you guessed it! Stupid! Naive! God, I'm tired.

... I feel like I went off tangent here. But to sum up: Amity is nothing like Catra and I'm tired of everyone pretending they're alike.

#asks #spop critical #anti c//a

[miyuhpapayuh]

ten.

The next month had flown by and it was just as blissful as the last, bonding Leon and Zora like super glue.

“Okay, what kind are those?” He asks, pointing to the spiral-like white flowers near the middle of the store.

“Cala lilies! My mama’s favorite flower!” She answers.

“You think that, and Aster would look pretty together?” He asks.

“Yeah, that sounds like a pretty combo.” She nods, squinting at the smirk on his face.

“Right,” he nods, walking towards another flower inside the same flower box. Pink ones she would frequently paint, the shape being one of her favorites.

“Cosmos! My favorite, next to poppies of course.”

“They come in orange, too?”

“They do!”

“Good to know,” he nods again, moving toward another flower box, altogether, with her in tow, silently laughing at him.

He thinks he's slick.

“You sure you don't wanna be a botanist?” He asks, looking back at her.

“An expert on flowers? I thought I was already there!” She quips with her hand on her hip.

“You are! Just not established, like you said.”

“Okay?”

“So, you wanna be established?” He asks, reaching out for her hand.

“I don't know. Maybe? Why?” She asks, latching onto him as they continue their stroll.

“Because you love this place and flowers. It seems like your element. One of them, anyway.”

“Like you know me,” she waves him off, earning a chuckle from him.

“Have I been wrong, yet?” He asks, looking down at her.

“Nah, your scores are high.”

“What, are we playing a game?”

“Mmhm, and you're winning.” She giggles, patting his chest with her free hand.

After buying her usual bundle for her, and another for his mama, they pack up and head towards mint hill for lunch.

Zora had told Leon about Wayback Burgers and how delicious they were, and he was sold after hearing “burger”.

They're sitting outside, like usual, grubbing away on their cheesy burgers and greasy loaded fries.

“Oh, Linda wants to have a meeting tomorrow. I wonder what's going to happen.” Zora says, stuffing another handful of fries in her mouth.

“Whatever happens, it better be necessary action against her knucklehead of a child.” Leon comments, catching her eye.

“Yeah, I'll be holding my breath, still.”

“Why? She suspended him, finally.”

“Yeah, after how long, though?? I'm still skeptical about their relationship in the workplace, whether she finally “got it” or not.”

He nods, knowing she's just being precautious. “Yeah, I understand. I just don't get why it's so hard for parents to show their children right from wrong.”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she shakes her head.

“If he was my kid, I'd kick his ass and fire him in the same breath.” He says, making her crack up.

“Leon!”

“What? There's no way I would let that go on and on and on! He'd have to feel me, since he can't get his shit together. Better yet, she should let you beat his ass.”

“Oh, I'd love to! He deserves his ass beat.”

“See?”

“I never said you were wrong,” she laughs, “it's just funny to see you get all worked up. Especially over his stupid ass. He's not worth it.”

“Yeah, but you're worth protecting.”

She twists her lips up, trying to hide the smile on her greasy lips. Hiding behind a napkin was her only other choice, with them sitting almost shoulder to shoulder.

“Stop that,” he laughs, pulling the napkin from her grasp. She turns her head, only making him kiss the skin of her neck that's bared to him. Turning back, his lips catch hers, making them both laugh.

“Leon,” she starts, snatching the napkin back to wipe her mouth and his.

“Zora,” he leans back in, his head laying on her chest, those eyes looking up at her.

“You're pretty.”

“So are you.”

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

Bright and early on Monday morning, Zora and Linda sit in the side office at the job, while Linda gears herself up to deliver the news.

“Alright, my dear Zora. I know I've apologized before, but again I sincerely apologize for not putting a stop to Cory's foolish and disrespectful behavior, a long time ago. There's no excuse.”

“I appreciate it, Linda. I'm glad you listened before he got cut. I'm just being honest.” She shrugs.

“Yeah, I won't argue with that. But, you won't have to worry about that cause he's not coming back.”

She raises both brows in total shock. “What?”

“Yeah, he still feels like his actions never harmed you or made you that uncomfortable. I told him to can it, cause nobody wants to hear that. So he's fired.”

“See? A pig. Your son needs a swift kick in the ass.”

“Get in line. As you can see, he doesn't have the greatest rap sheet.” She shakes her head. “I need to try all over again with him, it seems.”

Zora lets her have her bad parent moment, cause if she wasn't gonna say it… Zora woulda still been thinking it.

“I know it was tough firing your son, but it's better for your business. Your patrons couldn't stand him, either. And.. now I don't have to get harassed at work anymore.”

“Yes, all for the greater good. Plus, I love you like my own! I couldn't let you feel like I didn't care about what wasn't going on. Again, I'm really sorry. Is there anything I can do to help patch this over?” She asks.

“Mmm… how about a raise?” She innocently smiles, making Linda return the gesture.

“How's $25 sound?” She asks, swearing she saw Zora’s eyes bug out her head.

“Twenty-huh?”

“With a person cut, and finally a genius to look at my taxes, I can afford it!”

“I— that sounds like a plan.” She straightens up after a moment, shaking her boss's hand.

“Good! Now go out there and look pretty, we open soon!”

Today might've been the first day she felt like she could breathe, and it rolls by quick and easy, just like every day should and would, moving forward.

Calling Leon, right after Nique, on her break and telling him the wonderful news, one would think he was shedding tears on the other side as he expressed his excitement.

“I think you're happier than I am!”

“I'm just glad I ain't have to floor him in his mama's business. I mean, I woulda loved to do it, honestly. But.. you know what I mean.”

“Leon,” she talks him down, laughing. “Cut it out. That's what the parking lot is for. Don't damage the property.”

“You right, you right! My baby smart.” He chuckles, as she fondly shakes her head.

“Oh! I got a raise, too!”

“Really? What she bump you up to, $30?”

“Pretty close. $25!”

“That's my girl! You deserve it.”

“Thank you, baby. It's been a good morning and afternoon.”

“The rest will be just as good. Promise.”

“Yeah? What you got planned?”

“If I tell you, I'd have to kill you!” He says back dramatically.

“Sounds like you took a page outta my book, dear.” She giggles.

“Ha, ha. You'll see about everything later. Have a great rest of your shift and I will see you soon.”

“Okay, alright. See you soon!”

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

Every bit of her fifteen minute drive felt so long, as she finally pulled into the lot, near his building and cut her car off.

Hopping out and sprinting to his door, he greets her with a glass of white wine and a couple sweet kisses, pulling her inside.

“Thank you, baby.” She smiles, looking around at all the tea-light candles he’d lit before she arrived. As well as another batch of orange poppies and cosmos in a vase on his table.

“Leon, you are so cute.” She frowns, sitting her glass down and cupping her own face in awe.

“Am I?” He asks, leading her towards the other side of the island, where their plates are already prepared with the delicious food he'd made.

“Yes, you are! Oh, this looks so good!”

He wraps his arms around her, stuffing his face in her neck like usual as they sway. Her eyes start to sting.

“You deserve it, ya know? People are listening to you and what's important to you. Life's working for you and your needs, cause it's about time, right?”

“Yeah, it's about time,” she nods, tracing his arm with her finger, wiping her tiny tears away with her free hand. He spins her around in his hold and kisses the rest away.

“You okay, my beautiful flower?”

“Perfect.”

As they sat and ate, their sweet evening turned into an even sweeter night as they found themselves in between the living room and kitchen, dancing to a playlist he'd made her.

She probably told him how cute he was, about a thousand times, and each time earned her sweet kisses she would never grow tired of. He felt the same way about hers. About her.

“You know what I was thinking?”

“What?”

“I could finally move somewhere nicer. I mean, I love my complex but I can actually pick up and go somewhere else!”

“Yeah, you can! Where you thinking?”

“Oh, I've got a few places on my list. They're close to everything still, especially my job and you. Nique stays in one of them— ooh that would be trouble,” she snickers, hiccuping right after.

“I'm sure she'd love that. Soberly give these some thought.”

“Yeah, I know. I'm just excited! Life's really the bee’s knees right now.” She cups his face now, gazing up at him with twinkling stars for pupils.

“I love you,” he says, without a second thought, watching her smile brighten.

Both of their hearts stopped and started again at the same time.

“I love you, too. It's not too soon.” She assured him, pulling him down to her level for another kiss as they got wrapped up in the moment.

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

“Uh, did you go out with a vampire?” Neoma asks, making Lovita snort as Zora places a hand over the hickey in question.

“No, did you?” She asks, pointing to the dark mark on her older sister's neck, making her reach up to cover it.

“Touché,” she squints, before smirking at her little sister. “We know your other secret, though!”

“How??”

“We caught on as soon as you walked in here! It's all in your walk and you're glowing even more than before!”

“Dear god,” she laughs, making them both crack up at her.

“I think you and god have been having enough conversations, don't you think?” Lovita cracks.

“Stop,”

“Continue? I will. How was it? Cause we heard from a lil birdie that it was the best, ever!”

“It was,” Zora giggles. “Also, say goodbye to Nique cause she's dead once I get to her.”

“Ohh, don't kill her. She was so happy for you! You know girly is our fourth sister!”

“What kind of flowers should we bury our fourth sister with?”

“Zora!” They both call out, making her laugh and throw her hands up.

“Alright, okay! I should direct my fire at you,” she points at Lovita, “cause you set me up, miss bartender!”

“Hey, I'm not responsible for you gettin’ all touchy with that man. That's on you.”

“And on her, he was.” Neoma smirks.

“Okay, okay! I don't need visuals, Jesus! We're just glad you're enjoying yourself and that fine man. He's a sweetheart, and he really cares about you.”

“He told me that he loves me.” She says, making their jaws drop.

“Awww, that's so sweet! It's only been like two months!”

“I know, but when you feel it, what's time? Just a factor.”

“Do you feel it?”

“Yeah, you love him back?”

“Absolutely, I do. Our relationship has been so easy going. Even when the days get a bit tough, we're still meeting in the middle. Still there for each other. I mean, after I broke the news about Cory being fired and me getting a raise, he was so happy for me. He knew how important all of that was, and we had one of the best nights! He cooked, he got me flowers, he praised me. Fed me back the words I always tell him. It was beautiful. He's beautiful.”

“You're gonna make me cry, man!”

“Hell, I cried several times last night!”

“Now, backtrack for a minute. Cory really got fired??”

“Yes! He's really not coming back!”

“No way! I never thought I'd hear those words.”

“Girl, me either! But listen, I need y'all's opinion on something.”

“Yes, it's too soon for marriage.” Lovita says without missing a beat, making Zora roll her eyes.

“Nobody's getting married! Listen!”

“Okay, okay, I'm done. I'm listening.”

“I'm thinking about moving out of my complex.”

“Oh, thank god!” They yell in unison.

“Oh, come on. It's not that bad.”

“As if your landlord being infatuated over you isn't bad.”

“It's not, you know why? My rent is reduced, he lets me smoke the fuck outta my apartment and I got the maintenance crew wrapped around my finger. I be helping my neighbors out!”

“Right, it's time for Zora to help herself out, though. I'm all for you moving.” Neoma nods, making Lovita do the same.

“Nique’s complex is really nice! They've got a fountain, an indoor gym, a pool, a pit! Like it's one of those all inclusive places for real!”

“How much?”

“A little over a band, I think. Maybe $1050 or something like that.”

“Usually, I wouldn't be able to understand but it's got actual amenities so we'll chalk it up. Call her!”

“Okay, I'm calling.”

Nique answers the FaceTime almost immediately, already giddy for whatever it was that Zora had to share.

“Oh, all my favorite people! Minus that lank of a boyfriend. What can I do y'all for?”

“I love her,” Neoma giggles.

“Hey Nique! Guess what I was thinking about?”

“Moving in with me?!” She excitedly guesses.

“Pretty close! How about maybe being your across the hall neighbor!”

“You know what?? My neighbor is actually moving out soon!”

“Would you look at that!” Lovita taps Zora on the shoulder.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Any. Time.”

“Anyway,” Zora sighs, “I would love to have that apartment.”

“Let me get in touch with the rent office lady and see if you can just pay first month's rent when she dips to secure it or sumn!”

“I'm prepared to do that! I can't back out now either, I've told all three of you.” She sighs.

“Aw, you still keep that rule in place?” Lovita coos.

Some odd years back, Zora made a rule that if she shared something with Nique or her sisters, she'd have to make it come true. Some way or another.

It definitely helped her through tough times.

“Yeah, I pinky swore! You know I take those serious as hell.”

“It's true!” Nique laughs.

“Did you tell Leon? We could use his box-movin’ ass!”

“Yeah, he knows! Oh, we used the L-word!”

Nique's eyes grow as wide as her mouth, making the three of them scream in laughter.

“Oh my gosh! When did this happen?”

“Last night. We celebrated Cory's firing and my raise, and he told me that he loves me. It felt like he had been holding it for a while.”

“Aw, that's so sweet! Zora!”

“I know,” she frowns, dabbing at her eyes. “Stop it, I don't wanna cry again!”

“Okay, okay,” Nique says, both of them laughing it off. “But I will definitely talk to her tomorrow! I'd love for you to be my neighbor!”

“Me, too!”

“I'm so happy for you! I'm glad Cory's gone, too. His stupid ass.”

“Thank you boo, and me too. Leon is too,” she snorts. “He was ready for his scrawny ass.”

“Oh, we know!” They say unison, falling into another laughing fit.

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

“I dream about you.”

“Yeah? In what ways?”

“All the ways. You're a muse in all of them. A goddess. I happily kiss the ground you walk on,” he continues, making her giggle.

“Happily, huh?”

“That's what I said, girl.” He says back, dropping his head for emphasis.

“I hear ya,” she returns the petty gesture. “You lucky we're on the phone or I'd fight you.”

“We gotta work on your flirting, Zora-Jean.” He says with a laugh, causing her eye roll to come like clockwork.

“One day, they're gonna get stuck just like that.”

“Ha. We gotta work on your jokes, Leon… what is your middle name?”

“I told you, I'm not telling you.”

“Aw, come on! It cannot be that bad.”

“It's not, I just don't like it.”

“Okay.. what if I like it?”

“Zora,”

“Oh come on, Leon! Just tell me.”

“Okay, fine.” He crosses his arms like a spoiled child. “It's Avery.”

The smile that spreads across her face makes him look towards the ceiling, feeling his face get hot.

“Uh oh! I thought you said brown boys don't blush, either! Ya face look a lil red, baby!” She mocks, making him laugh and rub a hand down his face.

“Cut it out.”

“You first!” She places her chin in the palm of her hand, waiting patiently as he locks back in on her face.

“Ugly, right?”

“Leon Avery. It's country as hell like mine. I think it's adorable!”

“Yeah?”

“That's what I said, boy.” She mocks, again.

“I'm coming over just so we can fight, now!”

“The door's unlocked,” she says with a raise of her right brow.

“Bet.”

After five minutes, he was stepping through the threshold of the love lair and there she was, swaying to the low music coming from her speaker.

She never ceased to get him caught up in her. Mesmerized, he always was.

“Come dance with me,” she says as her eyes land on his, holding a hand out for one of his, pulling him to her once he latches on.

“I thought we were fighting.”

“We can. After we dance.” She answers, making him grin and shake his head at her, loosely wrapping arms around her waist.

Her hands rest at his neck, one at the back and the other at the front, her right thumb brushing against his adam’s apple.

His hips find her slinky rhythm in no time, drawing them even closer to each other. He finds a reason to spin her around, making her laugh.

“I dream about you, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Mmhm. Also, in all ways. My prettiest subject. I kiss every flower to lead me to you.”

Their eyes dance over each other's faces, searching for words to make the moment sweeter.

“You think I'm pretty?” He asks, pulling a hand from her hip to rub the scruffy sides of his face, while she wholeheartedly nods.

“The prettiest man I've ever seen with my own two eyes, Leon Avery.”

 “You gon wear that out, huh?”

“I was just about to ask you the same,” she says, covering his hand with hers, leading it back to her hip.

“Oh, you must be ready to fight now.”

“Yeah, take me down.” She innocently smiles, it only brightens as he hoists her up from the ground to toss her on the bed, climbing on top of her.

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

A few days go by and Zora gets word that she can put down a cash deposit of half the rent to secure the new space, which she happily does.

Another thirty days was gonna be draining enough, so she immediately began packing and sorting through things she'd been meaning to part ways with. Of course Nique was helping.

“I feel like I haven't seen you in a minute, friend.” Zora frowns, as they fall into another hug.

“Aw, you're all mushy on me! What has that man done to you??” She pokes fun, as well as actually poking her in her sides.

“Like I never showed you affection before.”

“Girl, you've hugged me seven times in the last ten minutes! We'd be slap boxing by now.”

“Yeah, well…”

“What?”

“Change is good. Shut up, and listen to this bullshit.”

“What happened??”

“I think my landlord's gonna be a problem.”

“What he do?”

Flashback 

After getting her recertification papers inside her mailbox, she headed down to the rent office to speak to her landlord face to face, so there'd be no discrepancies between the two.

“Hey, Jordan. Can we talk?” She asks, knocking twice on the outer wall of his office.

“Sure, doll! Come in and sit.” He smiles, looking at her over his glasses.

“Thanks. I just came in to let you know that after my lease is up, I'll be moving out and I won't be needing these.” She sits the papers on his desk, watching the frown stretch across his face.

“Oh, I see. What's got you leaving?”

“I've been here for about five years, give or take. It's time for something new, even though I really like this place.”

“So stay,” he tries to sway her.

“No, sometimes you gotta spread your wings and fly somewhere else.” She nervously laughs, sighing as he joins in.

“I understand. I've made it easy for you here, though. Who's gonna treat you like that?”

“Excuse me?”

“Come on, Zora. You're my special tenant. I give you the hook up.”

Her face scrunches up. “All though I've appreciated you being so nice to me, I've always said that you never needed to.”

“Fine.” His tone changes. “In thirty days or less, since you wanna play games, the locks will be changed. So you and your things better be out by then.”

She was surely expecting him to turn on her, which is why she recorded their conversation.

“The agreement is thirty days. Do not make this ugly.”

“It got ugly once you said that you were leaving, dear.”

“I don't have to stay here if I don't want to.”

“Who's telling you that you have to stay?”

“Did you not just try and sway me to stay?”

“Zora, this conversation is making me dizzy. Let's wrap it up, shall we?”

She's taken aback, but nods anyway.

“Noted.”

Flashback over

“I'm so glad you recorded this. Ew, he's such a slimy man!”

“I know! That's why I'm packing up early. I don't have time for his bullshit.”

“Do you think he's gonna try some shit?”

“With that threat? Yeah, probably.” Zora sighs.

“Tell Leon! Get him to kick his ass or something.”

“I don't want Leon going to jail for me.”

“Girl, you know he got a ski mask that's been waiting on its shining moment,” she replies, screwing her lips up.

“Nique, please!” She laughs, shaking the juvenile visual from her head. “I'll tell him, but we're not fighting anybody.”

Ch 11

@sheabuttahwrites @soufcakmistress @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @blackerthings @thegifstories @essaysbyciara @nayaxwrites @headcannonxgalore @twistedcharismaaa @prettyisasprettydoes1306 @abeautifulmindexposed @fujiiapples @harmshake @ghostfacekill-monger

[gorgynei]

The Tyler Split Personality Theory

AKA why Tyler Galpin is 100% innocent. And deserves a hug.

Foreword. I know that DID being represented as like an "evil mode/personality" is harmful and not accurate, but I do think its what the writers are doing with Tyler (and hydes as a whole), so heres my theory on why:

Tyler, to my understanding, has 3 modes: Regular Tyler, Evil Tyler, and the Hyde. Regular Tyler is the nice, sweet guy we spend most of the show getting to know. Evil Tyler is the manipulative and cruel side that gets shown off in episode 8. The Hyde is the literal monster (I'll be referring to Evil Tyler and the Hyde both as "the hyde" because they're the same entity, and just calling Regular Tyler "Tyler"). Thinking about Tyler and the hyde as two separate people with different morals and motivations really helps to understand the dichotomy at play with his character.

I believe that Tyler can't control what the hyde does and doesn't enjoy doing violent things, at all.

1. Tyler admits it. Sort of.

To start off, this conversation between Wednesday and Tyler is very very significant. The show lends a lot of weight and screen time to this supposed mural destruction from a year ago for, seemingly, no reason. Yes, it informs how Tyler and Xavier act around each other, but I think it represents Tyler's feelings on his destructive actions as a hyde.

The way Tyler looks off into the distance when he says "I could give you a million excuses, but... the truth is I'm still trying to figure that out" leads me to believe that the hyde had something to do with it. He isn't quite sure whether that was something he did intentionally, or if he was commanded to. If you read everything Tyler says here as him talking around being the hyde and doing violent acts against his will/knowledge, the conversation suddenly means a lot more than it did at face value, and it has a real reason to be present in the show.

In particular, Tyler mentions a "boot camp" which is presumably his torture sessions with Thornhill. He also does not call himself a normie, rather a "townie", which could be semantics, but it's worth mentioning. Tyler saying "I did a terrible thing, but I swear I'm not a terrible person" is also a great way of foreshadowing his split personality and guilt over his actions in a subtle way (assuming this theory is true).

Edit Feb 3 2023: Made a few realizations so I'm adding on.

Tyler isn't just talking around his actions as a hyde or being symbolic, he's literally talking about them, and about his mom. Tyler holds (or held) a lot of resentment towards Nevermore because his mom wasn't offered the tools to try and contain her hyde. When he says "a bitter townie that blames everyone else for the shitty hand he's been dealt", I'm pretty sure he's talking about his mom and how her death was directly caused by Nevermore's failure to help her. Thornhill releasing his hyde specifically using information about his mother feeds into this idea, it unlocked a rage inside of him once he learned that fact.

When he destroyed Xavier's mural, it was an act of anger and frustration. A way of getting back at Nevermore for his mom's death. But afterwards, he realizes that's not who he wants to be. He doesn't want to be an angry, resentful person that acts out and blames Nevermore for his mother's death. He even completely stops pranking Nevermore students, which he did often with the other normies before he "went soft". He forgives them.

Unfortunately, the hyde is an amalgamation of all of that hatred and is being wielded by an even more bitter victim of Nevermore (Thornhill), so he's forced to do terrible things in order to try and take down Nevermore.

Tyler not only refuses the hyde, he also refuses to hate Nevermore for something it did in the past. There's no possible way that he's on board with anything that Thornhill is doing.

2. Jekyll and Hyde

Obviously there's the hyde's namesake: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If you're unfamiliar, Jekyll is a brilliant scientist that unlocks his alter ego, Hyde, using a chemical mixture. He's aware that he is Hyde and knows that Hyde is doing terrible things, but allows him to do so (at first) because he feels like needs to keep the "evil" inside of him separate from the "good" inside of him.

While it's possible that Wednesday borrowed the namesake just to allude to the well-known story and add to the "monster that transforms into average person" mystery, a INCREDIBLY crucial aspect of Jekyll and Hyde's story is that Jekyll is a good person but also can't control Hyde. While Jekyll unlocked Hyde intentionally, he quickly lost control and Hyde took over more and more until Jekyll was forced to commit suicide. I strongly believe this is also a big part of being a hyde, with the individual affected by hyde-dom taking the place of Jekyll.

Tyler had his hyde unlocked by Thornhill, not by himself, which is immediately a deviation from the old story. To me, this just means that Thornhill tortured Tyler in order to force him to let it out, weakening his ability to hold the hyde at bay, and increasing her hold over him.

3. Tyler's Therapy with Dr. Kinbott

In episode 2, Tyler mentions that he's seeing Kinbott because he has "court ordered" therapy. This is odd given that court ordered therapy is usually only given to people if they are a direct harm to themselves or others, like in Wednesday's case. It's unclear whether this is the result of his hyde getting him in trouble or if he was just ordered therapy following his mother's death because it was especially hard on him.

Near the beginning of episode 8, there's a scene where Sheriff Galpin is listening to recordings from Kinbott regarding Tyler's therapy sessions:

"When I press him on his mother or any sensitive issue, he snaps. It's like I'm talking to a different person. I'm increasingly concerned. I believe the trauma of losing his mother may have left Tyler with deeper psychological scars that I had suspected"

That scene serves zero narrative purpose outside of letting the viewer know this information about Tyler, so it has to be significant. In particular, the line about him turning into a "different person" is especially relevant. It seems like some part of Tyler (hyde or otherwise) is very defensive about his mother and has an extremely hard time even discussing her. This may be the result of Thornhill using his mother to coax the hyde out (see: "Tyler honey, make Mama happy and shut her up."), so any discussing of his mom makes the hyde come to the forefront.

4. Tyler's relationships

A lot of the things Tyler says and does could be interpreted as an extremely well thought out manipulation plot, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I genuinely believe that Tyler is a good person and that most of what he says pre-e8 can be taken at face value.

Tyler does genuinely care about Wednesday. Many of his actions with her are likely influenced by the hyde (especially their date lining up perfectly with Thing's stabbing), but he put so much care put into their dates and conversations that it's hard to believe it was all a lie. If Tyler really didn't care about Wednesday, he might not have go so far to decorate a crypt, apologize so profusely for wrecking Xavier's mural, or help her escape Jericho when he knew Thornhill needed her for her plan.

5. Episode 8

There's a lot of small but crucial things in episode 8, so I'll just mention them all here.

This tiny moment is EXTREMELY concrete evidence in my eyes. The way the music rises to an intense swell but then fades almost immediately (as if some danger has passed) and Tyler goes from smirking and being all confident to almost crying, it's just the only explanation that makes sense. Tyler was taken over by the hyde and then regained control of himself. Seeing how shaken and afraid Wednesday was overwhelmed him with guilt, so he backs off immediately.

Edit Feb 4 2023: It's also worth noting that when Tyler says "You have no idea what's coming" it is, at least partially, a warning. Wednesday even interprets it as one, later telling Xavier that "Tyler warned me that something bad was coming". I do think the hyde is almost entirely in control in this scene until the moment I described above, but some part of Tyler, some speck of his true self, wanted desperately to try and help Wednesday.

Similar to the scene in the police station, it seems like Tyler snaps himself out of the hyde's control for a moment. But this time, instead of it being at the end of an outburst, it's Wednesday mentioning his brief torture at her hands that brings him out of it.

At first, Sheriff Galpin's involvement in the Tyler vs. Enid fight seems strange and sort of pointless. He doesn't contribute much other than giving Enid the upper hand for a moment and futilely calling out for Tyler. To me, they included the Sheriff here in order to demonstrate that the hyde is not Tyler. If it were, he might have calmed for a moment or even just hesitated before rushing to attack his father, but he didn't. I believe they're using the Sheriff to represent Tyler's humanity, which the hyde has completely stripped away in this moment.

6. Master/Hyde Dynamic

A hyde becomes a "slave" to the person who unlocks it. This is a big part of the unraveling mystery of the show and it seriously calls into question Tylers agency and free will. Even if Tyler was a completely terrible person who wanted to do everything Thornhill told him to do, he would still partially be a victim because hydes by nature form a weird and dependent bond with the person who freed them, even if the hyde was freed against the individuals wishes.

Aand thats all! I'm sure theres more stuff I didn't mention, and there was even stuff I left out because I didn't want to get to bogged down in the micro-expressions, but! There it is. Can Tyler haters give him a break now?

#number 4 doesnt have as much evidence as it could but. *shrugs* im tired and i think everything else is more significant anyways #ramblings #wednesday #wednesday netflix #wednesday spoilers #tyler galpin #tyler #wednesday tyler

[groupalpha]

WARNING

This comic contains themes of death, specifically murder. If you are sensitive to such, please skip this comic.

if you wish to proceed, the comic is under the cut

RSbSS: ... Well.. this is what happened. I apologize if this could be disturbing to any of you.

Loading memory from Memory Conflux

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TSA,FS: So she has been working well I presume?

LS,TBS: Of course. What about Endless Beyond?

TSA,FS: She's... okay. A bit distracted at her work, but she should get the hang of things soon.

LS,TBS: Perhaps that isn't the best course of action. Endless Beyond should be on task, after all, that's what we've created iterators for. A shutdown seems best, and to rework her code.

TSA,FS: ... Perhaps you are right. I need to dwell on such an idea though. I will consider such options.

LS,TBS: I understand. In my position, I would go through with such actions. She was rather rushed due to the recent creation of the Space Unit. This is quite evident with her... puppets design.

TSA,FS: Her puppet is unfinished due to us not getting the proper materials from Ethos. You know they're rather stubborn, and are quite against Endless Beyond's creation.

LS,TBS: To be blunt with it, her puppet is quite mismatched. It looks like you patched everything together as if it were putting together paper and glue.

TSA,FS: Well, Lost Spirit, Thirty Broken Shards, How about you try to fund Endless Beyond when everyone is against it? I'd certainly enjoy seeing her made with a complete puppet instead of being made up of spare parts.

LS,TBS: I suppose the mismatched puppet and the rushed creation speaks quite loudly on its own. If in your position, I would rethink about being her creator, and abandon a defect.

RSbSS: Take that back.

LS,TBS: Ah, give me just one moment Ten Stars Above, First Supernova.

Excuse me? Ruby Skies by Sapphire Shores, that was not addressed to you.

RSbSS: You can't talk about her like that. She's alive like the rest of us!

LS,TBS: Ruby Skies by Sapphire Shores, you will not raise your voice to your prime administrator, especially over something so trivial.

RSbSS: This isn't a trivial matter. This is a line a basic respect. This is someone who provides information that none of us could obtain otherwise.

LS,TBS: I didn't think I would be having a discussion with you about such, but my stance stays firm. Quite the few of your local group has issues as well, such as the problem with Atlantis. Eight Crashing Tides shouldn't have control over her citizens, and Fifteen Pearls, Setting Ocean Mist is an idiot for allowing such ridiculous ideals.

RSbSS: That doesn't mean anything, and maybe it would be better if you actually heard our wishes out.

LS,TBS: Ruby Skies by Sapphire Shores, you will not suggest such changes. I will not have it.

RSbSS: But-

LS,TBS: Ruby Skies by Sapphire Shores. I said enough of this nonsense. You-

RSbSS: I don't want to show what went down but uh...

RSbSS: it's not something I'm proud of. I... hurt them. They came back but... I shouldn't have done it.

RSbSS: Because of it, I had had my puppet's arms taken away, I was humiliated, and feared by my own ancients. ... I... messed up big time.

Part 1/2

#rain world #rain world oc #rw oc #rain world iterator #rain world iterator oc #rw ancient #ancient oc #rw iterator #rw iterator oc #iterator oc #iterator #lost spirit thirty broken shards #ruby skies by sapphire shores #tw death #death tw #cw death #death cw #death #blood #blood cw #blood tw #tw blood #cw blood #tw murder #murder tw #cw murder #murder cw #murder #ga lore #ga comic