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a-flickering-soul · 3 years

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EverymanHYBRID And Deer In Media: In Five Parts (click for individual comparisons)

Deer are both a symbol of fragile purity and the untamable wild–here, we examine deer in the context of man, where deer come to represent the urge within us to abandon the conscious ego for the subconscious id. The deer is a symbol, too, of rebirth, of transformation, of shedding and regrowing its weapons each year. To kill, to be reborn, to choose to be monstrous through our proximity to humanity. Is there not something pure in surrendering to animal instinct? If deer are the twin themes of innocence and wildness, then we in turn are the juxtaposition of humanity and monstrousness–our actions made monstrous by the attempt to temper them with humanity.

(transcript, analysis, and sources below cut)

1: The Secret History & EverymanHYBRID--Bodies

The Secret History, on the killing of a man in a hallucinatory bacchanal:

"'Henry,' I said at last. 'Good God.' "He raised an eyebrow. 'Really, it was more upsetting than you can realize,' he said. 'Once I hit a deer with my car. It was a beautiful creature and to see it struggling, blood everywhere, legs broken ... And this was even more distressing but at least I thought it was over. I never dreamed we'd hear anything else about it.'"

EverymanHYBRID, "Ryan and the SEVENTRIALSOFHABIT":

A shot of a deer's dead body at the side of the road at night, looking crumpled and not quite right. The captions read: "Jeff: It's a fucking deer, dude. (Evan: See it?) Yeah. Something cut its belly open. (Evan: It cut its belly open the wrong way.)"

Parallels drawn:

Consider this one an amuse-bouche. Henry draws comparisons between a man he killed to a deer he accidentally hit with a car, mildly naming the incident ‘distressing’. There is a lack of human empathy, of guilt over killing a fellow man. In comparison, Jeff, Evan, and Vinnie at this point in the EMH plotline have not yet become hunter or hunted–they have not yet been warped by their roles in this iteration and can acknowledge the upsetting nature of the events that befall them. Henry has tasted that amoral nature and is less human for it, more visibly willing to shed that veneer of attempting to care about other people. Jeff, Evan, and Vinnie have not yet reached that point.

2: “Whoso List to Hunt”, EverymanHYBRID, and The Secret History--The Chase

"Whoso List to Hunt", on hunting a fabled white hind:

"I am of them that farthest cometh behind./ Yet may I by no means my wearied mind/ Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore/ Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,/ Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind./ Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,/ As well as I may spend his time in vain. And graven with diamonds in letters plain/ There is written, her fair neck round about:/ Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,/ and wild to hold, though I seem tame."

EverymanHYBRID, "Slushpops and Surprises”

A shot of white text on a black page, "[Enter the tragic hero and his unattainable companion.]"

The Secret History, on hallucinations experienced during the bacchanal (bold for emphasis):

“‘Camilla said that during part of it, she’d believed she was a deer; and that was odd, too, because the rest of us remember chasing a deer through the woods, for miles it seemed. Actually it was miles. I know that for a fact. Apparently we ran and ran and ran, because when we came to ourselves we had no idea where we were.’”

EverymanHYBRID, “December & early January”:

A shot of Vinnie, hand covering his face in shock, as he sits and listens to Jessa’s last voicemail before she went missing. Jeff can be seen in the background, listening in silence. The captions read “[Jessa’s voice, recorded]: Steph, that thing you were talking about, I saw it...he’s real, he’s right here. What the hell does he want? I think he’s following me.”

Parallels drawn:

The deer symbolizes wild nature, something that man cannot obtain, touch, or capture without abandoning something of his own humanity. Similarly, deer represent the unattainable prey. Noli me tangere, says Caesar’s unattainable deer– touch me not, no matter how hard you may attempt to catch me. Jessa of EMH is deemed the unattainable companion and Jeff’s driving force to discover the truth behind the situation they’ve been placed in–it is Jessa, dangled in front of him after she goes missing, that leads Jeff down the path that inevitably leads to his own death after uncovering too much. The deer is to be chased, to be hunted, and never captured. Camilla from The Secret History believed herself to be a deer during the same hallucinatory bacchanal that cost a man his life, and led her brother and friends on a chase spanning miles. Jessa was hunted by an unknowable force, then used as bait to draw her partner down the path to his own death. Unattainability, the shape of something fleeing in front of you, elicits a powerful reaction to follow, to hunt, to chase. Jessa fell victim to that reaction. Camilla, and the white hind, did not.

3: The Myth of Diana and Actaeon, EverymanHYBRID, and The Secret History--Madness

The Diana and Actaeon Fountain at the Caserta Royal Palace:

The detail of the fountain shown depicts the pivotal scene in the myth of Actaeon and Artemis, where Actaeon, mid-transformation into a stag, is killed for the slight of viewing the goddess Artemis nude.The sculpture shows the transformation in no mercy, plain in its depiction of Actaeon’s pain and terror, and the simple ferocity of the hounds that surround him.

EverymanHYBRID, “May & June”:

A shot of Jeff, blood spattered across him, speaking with a shocked and angry tone. The captions read, “Jeff: Why were we doing that? That was...that’s not what we were looking for. We knew damned well that wasn’t what we were trying to kill. (Vince: Close enough.) It was a deer! It was a fucking deer! I tried to pull you off, you tried to punch me in the fucking face!”

The Secret History, on the Greeks’ view of beauty and terror (bold for emphasis):

“Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful to souls like the Greeks or to our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves? Euripedes speaks of the Maenads: head thrown back, throat to the stars, ‘more like deer than human being’.”

Parallels drawn:

Most depictions of Actaeon, sculpture or painting, usually show him with antlers or a deer lower body, leaving his head and face a recognizable human shape. However, the sculptor here decided to subvert expectations and leave his body human, giving Actaeon the animal head of a stag. The loss of control and the descent from human to animal is not glorified or made palatable by the mere addition of a crown of antlers--there is only the one constant, fear, that follows him all the way down. Madness may be defined as a loss of control, and there may be something beautiful and terrifying in feeling your sanity slip through your own fingers. Jeff, Evan, and Vinnie are overtaken by brief, inexplicable madness and tear apart a deer as they come dangerously close to uncovering exactly who and what is hunting them. They skate close to seeing soemthing they shouldn't see. It is only Jeff who looks up, shocked by the blood on his hands, and voices his fear. Vinnie, apathetic, lets it go. But Evan, houndlike and irrational, defends his kill.

4: EverymanHYBRID & Hannibal--Warnings and Temptation

EverymanHYBRID, “May & June”:

A shot of Evan, spattered heavily with blood, standing with shoulders caved in protectively. His left hand is raised to his mouth, with his hair covering his eyes, and he is licking the blood off of his fingers.

“Shot Through The Hart, and Hannibal’s To Blame” (bold for emphasis):

“In my post about ravens, I talked about how it’s not always easy to tell what the Ravenstag really means. Is it evidence of the Hannibalesque elements of Will’s soul? Or a warning of those parts growing within him? Does the Ravenstag urge Will forward on his journey, or warn him of what’s to come?”

Hannibal, Season 1, Episode 1 “Aperitif”:

A shot of the Ravenstag, staring directly into the camera with one hoof up, as if to approach. There are black feathers interwoven with its pelt and its eyes have an uncanny shine.

Parallels drawn:

On a naturalistic note, deer are skittish creatures. They have thin legs and a sleek body, made for running. A small head and big eyes, placed wide-set to see coming predators. Keen ears. They are ready at any moment to sense danger, warn others, and flee. When a deer does not move, it is either safe or sizing up its options, either accepting where it is or preparing to run. Deer, staring directly at the viewer, come as a sympathetic warning to flee or, in its dark eyes and firm stance, a temptation. Me tangere, they say. Come closer. We are one and the same. In Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal, the commanding presence of the Ravenstag serves as both a warning and a beckoning temptation to turn his feet down the darker path. It is otherworldly, black-furred and feathered, and yet a warning of events rooted in the real world--does Will understand what danger he is in upon meeting Hannibal and take the warning, or will he ignore it, sensing that same darkness in himself, that same potential for corruption? In EverymanHYBRID, it is that same killing of a deer that hints at that same potential for darkness growing inside Evan. He licks at his fingers, animalistic, fully ignoring his own Ravenstag warning signs for the delight of the hunt. Is he Evan anymore? Or is something else growing inside him?

5: EverymanHYBRID & Hannibal--Predator and Prey, or the Final Act

EverymanHybrid, “:D”:

A shot of HABIT, looking up a set of stairs with one foot on the bottom step. In one hand down by his side, he is holding a knife. His posture is tilted forward, poised, ready to spring into action, like that of a hunter.

“Shot Through The Hart, and Hannibal’s To Blame” (bold for emphasis):

“The idea of deer as symbols of rebirth also stands out to me. Hannibal is a series obsessed with becoming and transformation. People start one way, and are reborn as something completely other by the end of the show. There’s even a character sewn up into a deceased pregnant horse in the hopes that when she’s released, she will be literally reborn as something different. It’s thus a neat fit, this significance of deer with the themes of the show.”

EverymanHYBRID, “:D”:

A shot of Jeff, looking up and to the side with an expression of caution and fear. His eyes are unnerved, squinting as, from offscreen, HABIT’s hand plays idly with his hat.

Parallels drawn:

The first and final incarnation of the deer is, of course, prey. Beyond and before any symbolism of innocence and wildness and warnings, deer are prey animals, to be hunted and devoured. And yet, in keeping with the concept of contrasting symbolism, deer are not helpless. Yearly, they shed and regrow their antlers in a transformation of horn and blood. At the climax of EverymanHYBRID, the final reveal, the final transformation, comes to fruition. HABIT, formerly Evan, takes its place as the Hunter, the archetypal predator, with Jeff shown most prominently as the Prey. Jeff’s luck has run its course, with him in the chair as the sacrificial prey-victim to fall to HABIT’s knife. HABIT, reborn, reiterated, made incarnate through Evan’s unwilling transformation, is poised to start the hunt. This is the big reveal, the crux of the transformation, Actaeon caught mid-transfiguration and the bloody sloughing-off of velvet humanity to reveal perfect and gleaming antlers. This is what it comes down to, time and time again. The hunter and the hunted. The wilderness embraced and the wilderness captured, and the monstrosity in that act.

Works Cited

Callimachus. Actaeon and Artemis. C. 220 BC

Fuller, Bryan. “Apetirif.” Hannibal, season 1, episode 1, NBC, 4 Apr. 2013.

Koval, J., Caffarello, V., &; Jennings, E. (Directors). (2011, July 12). May & June [Video file].

Koval, J., Caffarello, V., &; Jennings, E. (Directors). (2012, October 9). :D [Video file].

Tartt, Donna. The Secret History. Penguin, 2006.

Uhminuh. “Shot Through the Hart, and Hannibal's to Blame.” Read the Rude, Wordpress, 19 July 2020.

Wyatt, Thomas. “Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind.” c. 1530.

Honorary mention to this fanart by @/rrhaes that started this whole spiral

#emh #everymanhybrid #flickerthoughts #flicker wrote this #i'm serious when i say this has been brewing in my head for a calendar year #i finally pieced it together at the beginning of this week and it's STILL incomprehensible but i think the vibes are there #emh my beloved emh and the themes and motifs and symbolism that exists in my head #i have a love hate relationship w the secret history but i put it all in here #also i am two eps deep in hannibal but i think i got the gist idk #anyways i want you all to know i REALLY wanted to work in the iphigenia/steph parallels but it just didn't make sense in this context #maybe i'll post it later idk but!!! here take this #in keeping with the theme of my best literary analysis showing up when i'm at my breaking point wrt life #this :handshake: reylux parallels post -- created under emotional duress #i rly wanna do one that's like 'slenderverse women + being followed' bc that's a FEELING.#if i am saying the emh boys are actaeon torn to shreds by their own dogs after they hunt the wrong prey.....that's my business lmao #should i tag the other stuff? here i'll tag em here so they don't show up in search #hannibal #the secret history #flicker's meta

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twdmusicboxmystery · 3 years

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TWD 11x06: On the Inside - Details

Okay, let's talk details.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 11x06. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

Connie and Virgil:

The first thing it shows is a spider. I seem to remember seeing one of these around Alpha, and we've seen them other times, too. I wasn't sure what they meant, but remember how I talked yesterday about how Virgil and Connie were led into a trap here, and that points to the same thing being true of the Daryl and Beth in Alone? I think the spider represents someone being caught in a web or trap. And that actually creates really interesting implications for episodes in 4B, such as Inmates.

Speaking of Inmates, we see Connie and Virgil running through tall grass, very similar to how Beth and Daryl did in Inmates. Yet another example of why they (Connie and Virgil) will probably end up being romantic.

Inside this house there are quite a few stuffed animals. Not the toys, but the taxidermy type. See a fish on the wall, a bear, and plenty of deer. All of those are important Beth symbols.

When Connie goes to search the house, she sees a whole bunch of paintings with the eyes scratched out. If that's not a “see no evil” reference, I don't know what is. A.K/ had a convenient explanation for it, but if this is the Beth template, then in the template, it represents something else entirely than in the reality of the episode.

So, what does it represent? Well, obviously we don't know for sure. But I had the thought that they certainly did focus a lot on Connie's deafness here. We’ve never had much indication that Beth will have hearing problems. That’s something unique Connie's character. But maybe the equivalent of that in Beth’s arc is that she’ll have vision problems. So, paintings with no eyes here are meant to represent that Beth will be similar to Connie, except in her case will be vision problems rather than hearing problems. Just a theory, though.

So, they did this thing where when it was shown from Connie's point of view, we couldn't hear any sound. I thought that was really great. It definitely put us into Connie's experience and makes it creepier. Angela Kang talked about how they did that purposefully to show when it was from Connie's point of view. So, one to recognize is that this is proof that what we’ve said about different episodes being from different characters’ points of view is a thing. We don’t have obvious indications of it like this all the time because no other characters are deaf or blind. But this means the writers consider this and do tell various stories or parts of the stories from specific character perspectives. I’m just saying.

In the bathroom, Connie seems sees mushrooms growing beside the bathtub. That's more of the mushroom/hallucination theme.

When she sees the eye on the other side of the wall, she runs down to Virgil and tries to tell him what's going on. She gets so flustered that she can't write it and ends up carving “not alone" into a painting. Obviously, this is another way we can relate this to Alone and suspect it is a Beth and Daryl template.

But also pay attention to this painting. It is a real painting that @galadrieljones was able to find. It’s called “Wolf and Fox Hunt” by Peter Paul Reubens. I’m going to talk about this in a theory later in the week. It’s SUPER important. For now, notice that there are foxes, wolves, and dogs in it. Someone sent me an Ask about something Norman posted and I believe it's related to this. Norman's dropping hints about the duality theme. So, like I said, it's too much for this post but I will be talking about it very soon. Also notice that the painting is framed with deer antlers, which means the deer symbol is thrown into the mix as well.

Also note that the lighting inside this house in general is a lot like Grady, with it being darker inside and having brighter, white light streaming in through the the windows.

We see a door slide across the hallway and separates Connie and Virgil. This is what I mean when I say there are representations of Beth and Daryl being split up and needing to find each other again.

I wasn't entirely sure what was going on with Connie putting her hands on the walls at first. But if you listen to the sound, she can basically hear or feel the vibration of the guy running toward her. It's a little like putting your ear on the ground to hear horse hooves. She can hear his footfalls getting closer and closer. Super creepy.

We do have this one interesting sequence where Kelly is trying to pull her horse forward but the horse doesn't like the mud and is pulling back. Kelly ends up falling in the mud just before Carol's group finds her. It was kind of random sequence and didn't seem to go anywhere in the episode. But if Kelly is a foreshadow of Maggie searching for Beth, it's probably a foreshadow of something else we don't understand yet.

@wdway pointed out that in 10x19, we saw Father Gabriel fall into the mud when he was with Aaron. So, chances are, these are both foreshadows of the same thing, but we don’t know what yet.

We see Connie finding bones in the basement. The walls shake and she climbs into the vent, moving into the passages between walls. This is where she sees Virgil in the outer room, running from the same people she is. This part really creeped me out because my first thought was that he wouldn't know that this was her rather than one of the creatures. I totally didn't see it coming that one of the creatures would walk up behind him. Seriously creepy.

This is another representation of no exit, as I said yesterday, and of Beth trying to warn Daryl of something but not being able to.

I also noticed at this part, the guy Virgil was fighting with said, "hungry." That's in keeping with the idea that these people were cannibals, but it also occurred to me that in the broader, CRM situation, this might indicate something to do with famine and resources.

But here's the other thing. Maybe this goes to the heart of it. I said in the Matrix theory that we don't really know what the CRM is doing, resource-wise, and that’s true. Isobel told Al it had something to do with purifying water, but I’m sure it’s more complicated than that.

The thing is, we've seen several indications of cannibalism now, which all seem to point forward, toward some bigger arc we haven’t seen yet. I mean, it's sort of started in 4x01 with Clara trying to feed Rick to her walker husband. Of course there was Terminus, which was a thing (sort of) in the comic books, but everything about Terminus foreshadowed things we haven't seen yet. This season we have that story Maggie told, and now this Virgil/Connie arc. I just can't help but think maybe one of the things the CRM is doing is using people as a resource in a literal way by eating them. Conjecture on my part, but it does make sense given the symbolism we've seen.

After Connie manages to let Virgil know it's her and not one of the monsters, he pulls her out of the wall, and they hug. This is one of the reasons people are feeling like this might be a romance. It is kind of reminiscent of the Bethyl hug and had a certain intimacy to it.

Later that night, we see Kelly arrive at the same place that Connie and Virgil were at the very beginning. In this case, she goes the wrong way. The opposite direction to the one Connie and Virgil took. The interesting thing is, we see the mailbox has fallen over.

I will post about all the mailboxes later in the week. I do think it attests to the Matrix theory and points to the CRM. I'll explain how I think it was used in this episode when I get to that post. But even showing Kelly go the wrong way is kind of interesting. In the episode, it just means that at some point her group must have doubled back to the house. We’re never told why. Maybe they went that way and didn't find anything, and so decided to come back. Or maybe they heard screaming coming from the house and that brought them back. Either way, I'm sure it's foreshadowing something in the future.

I’m also thinking that the storm we see here is probably important. It doesn’t play a very big part in this episode, but I don’t think it can be unimportant that there’s a storm going on (think Them) while Kelly is searching so close to Connie.

We also see Virgil and Connie talking inside. He says he's never seen people this far gone. "To herd us like prey." That's a “too far gone” reference, which we've seen since S4 and Rick's speech at the prison. And I talked about the fact that this they were herded into this trap yesterday. This is where we get a lot of Beth and Daryl dialogue.

Virgil talks about how he wants to get her HOME, how he wants to get her back to her family. This is also where he talks about losing himself for a long time and Michonne giving him a second chance. Basically, he's willing to die, willing to sacrifice himself to get her back to her sister. But Connie says no, we do this together. *coughs* Bethyl *coughs*

Right after that, they hear the monsters in the house start grunting and Virgil says, “time’s up” and they jump up and run. I just couldn’t help but think of the “time escapes” reference from the clock in Still.

I talked about how I think Virgil being hurt represents Daryl getting hurt and Beth saving him, but also want to point out that we've got a getting-stabbed-in-the-back theme going on this season. We also saw it with Bossi, who Pope threw into the fire. Maggie nailed him in the back with one of her knives and Pope made a big deal about how his wounds were on his back. At it’s core, it’s probably a betrayal theme (another connotation for stabbing someone in the back) and given that Daryl is already planning to betray Leah, that makes sense, and may be the reason for it. We’ll have to see where it goes.

Connie covers herself and guts and lets walkers in. That's how she saves herself and Virgil. I'm assuming that will correlate to something with Beth and Daryl that’s similar.

Daryl and Leah:

In the torture scene with Frost, I just wanted to point out that they're torturing him using fingernail methods, and then Daryl cut off one of his fingers. They specifically did not waterboard him. Waterboarding wouldn’t be the only form of torture the Reapers are familiar with, but the point is, it's a purposeful choice on the part of the writers. Daryl was tortured by water, but Frost wasn't.

(Love how the light is shining down on Daryl’s wings in this picture.)

At one point, Frost says something to Daryl about how are they going to just keep staring dreamily at one another. Kind of an odd reference, no? On the one hand, I think it's a reference to Bethyl, because while the two of them stared dreamily at each other over dinner, there was Frosty Cola on the table. But on the other hand, it could also be a reference to the hallucination theme.

When Daryl and Leah and the rest of them go to check out the town, Daryl stops next to a van that has its hatchback open. It just another way of showing a trunk being open. He uses power lines to alert Maggie to their presence. Could be part of the power/battery/lamp theory.

At this point, Daryl also puts his hand on a mailbox. Once again, I’ll go over the mailboxes later in the week, but this seemed very purposeful to me.

Incidentally, we learn more of the Reapers’ names. Powell, Washington, Fish, and of course Carver. Washington could be a reference to the revolution theme (George Washington). I also thought of George Washington Carver. He was a famous scientist who worked on agricultural methods for eradicating famine. 👀

And of course there's Fish. It sounds like their names that are purposely chosen for their symbolism.

I’ve already said I get heavy Claimer vibes from the Reapers. That was definitely reinforced here. When Carver and Daryl were arguing, Carver kept saying that he was chirping. He said, “Chirp, chirp” to Daryl several times. Which is clearly a bird reference.

But then he also says, “if this dirt bag wants to play, I’ll teach him the rules.” Which is almost a direct call back to Lenny saying that they had to, "teach Daryl." And this extends even to what happens in this episode. Maggie and her group getting out of the house while the Reapers are still inside was very reminiscent of Rick getting out of the Claimer house without them realizing it. I’ve pointed out before how much the situation is like that one. The Claimers were hunting Rick, and Daryl ends up joining them. Here, the Reapers are hunting Maggie for some as yet unknown reason, and Daryl has joined them.

I want to point out a cryptic conversation that Carver, Leah, and Daryl have here.

Carver, talking about Daryl: We both know who he is, deep down.

Leah: What?

Carver: I was there, remember? After? Do you really think this is going to end any different?

Leah: So this is what? You looking out for me?

Carver: Always.

Then she basically calls bullsh*t on that because he allowed Pope to lock her in a room that was set on fire.

But what are they talking about here? In a generic way, it sounds like Leah tends to trust people that she shouldn't, and it always ends badly. Carver is telling her that she shouldn't trust Daryl or it's gonna happen again.

But we’re also kind of thinking that he's actually talking about Daryl here. When he says “after,” maybe he means after Daryl left Leah the first time, in Find Me. So what does he mean about what happened after? It sounds like Leah didn't handle it so well. Did she try to commit suicide? Did she do something else? We don't know. It was just a really cryptic conversation and it's hinting at something we haven't seen yet.

But after that conversation, Carver also says, "You’re not seriously gonna —" but he gets cut off. Sirius reference.

Finally, let’s talk about the title. On the Inside. One thing we’ve learned is that when there are multiple story lines going on in an episode, the title must refer to all of them in one way or another. And often, it will be literal for one story but symbolic for another.

The most obvious meaning of the title is from Daryl’s story line. He’s the “inside man” in the Reapers organization, and is spying on behalf of Maggie and the rest of his people.

But what about Connie and Virgil? Inside of what? The house? Maybe, but that’s pretty cheesy. This is another reason I think this foreshadows Beth and Daryl being inside the CRM. On the “inside” of that organization and trying to get out.

TTD:

A quick note on The Talking Dead for this episode. There weren’t any massive TD smoking guns or anything, but I wanted to point out how they react to the idea of romance between Connie and Virgil.

I’ve said this about a million times, but they only let the actors tease romance partners for Daryl when they AREN’T going to happen. So, I often point to when Lauren Ridloff was first on TTD in S9. People asked about a Connie/Daryl relationship and she made a Daryl/Connie shower joke. Most of the fandom took that to mean they would go canon, but the opposite is actually true. Every time they’ve made that joke, it hasn’t happened.

Meanwhile, with Beth, who was the only one he had really obvious romantic chemistry with, and for whom Daryl’s feelings have now been confirmed, they’re constantly directing us away from it. Saying things like, they were brother and sister, or we didn’t miss out on any great romance, Daryl felt about her like he felt about Sophia, etc. And that, to me, says that Bethyl is the one that will happen. The other things are just teases, but they’re directing us away from the truth so that it’s more of a surprise when it happens. (Not that it will be for TD, but for most of the fandom it will be.)

Anyway, they kind of did the same thing with Connie and Virgil. Again, remember that when they asked LR about Daryl, she teasingly suggested it would happen and made a sex joke. But here, when asked about Connie and Virgil, she acted like it was absurd and she never would have thought of that. And if you ask me, there was WAY more going on in this episode between Connie and Virgil than there ever was between Connie and Daryl.

That, coupled with all the Alone references, and I’m relatively sure Connie and Virgil will be a thing. Because they aren’t canon yet, I can’t prove it. But if/when they do, we can point at this as more evidence of what won’t go canon, and what will. I’m just mentioning. 😉

I think that's all the details I have for now. This is definitely a super interesting episode and I'll be talking more about it over the next few days. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

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Humans are Weird, “Rescue Without Reward”

I had been planning to write something similar to this for a long time, but @cyberstrikebeast also suggested it, so thought this was about the time to try it. Again, just something fun and easy I wrote really quick for today. Hope you all like it and have a good day :)

The planet was quite beautiful. The GA scientific team, brought on world with a protective detail of UNSC Harbinger marines, stood outside the open shuttle doors and stared around at the mesmerizing landscape.

They had landed on a wide outcropping of rock surrounded on all sides by shallow pools of still water sectioned off into ponds that, from above, looked like the organizational structure of cells seen under a microscope. The rock itself was almost pure white glittering brightly in the cold, distant light of the star. A range of small black hills rose over the pools in the distance, and the occasional monolith of rock rose form the landscape cutting high into the air at odd intervals framed magnificently by the shadow of a neighboring gas giant and its rocky concentric rings. Weather it was due to some strange atmospheric occurrence, or the way the star’s light hit the atmosphere, the sky was a striking pinkish purple cut across with clouds tinted blue.

The magnificent scene from above was reflected against the water below giving the alien landscape an even more alien quality.

Members of the GA research team stood wide eyed in wonder while their protective detail of humans muttered in appreciation for the scene.

“Damn that’s awesome.”

One of the humans pulled out some sort of device pointing it towards the scene before stowing it back in her pocket.

“Send that to me when we get back onboard the ship.” Someone was saying, and the agreement was quickly made.

The humans, serious about their duties moved into position around them. Along with the humans, they were accompanied by two Drev, one small and glittering with blue armor, while the other was absolutely towering and glittering with bright red armor. The humans formed around the GA team like the head of an arrow meters away from each other but still close enough to be in sight.

The commanding human, stayed on the inside three rows deep behind the arrowhead directing their movement as they moved out towards the pools of water. The first human was ordered to test the integrity of the ground pressing his boot against the narrow rock shelves which separated the pools. Finding that it was enough to hold his weight, he moved forward, and the others fanned out behind him making different ways across the little rock shelves.

When asked why they didn’t just walk in single file, the humans said something about avoiding an ambush. This idea made their companions rather nervous, but there was nothing for it at this point, and so they followed the strange, powerful predictors across the open landscape.taking samples and doing their best not to leave anything behind.

All of them had been decontaminated before leaving the ship, but still the human body was a biome of bacteria, so all the accompanying humans were forced to wear full face masks and goggles just to keep their germs away from a potentially delicate environment before it was tested to susceptibility. The last pool of water faded behind them, and they stepped foot into a thick growth of trees.

Of course to call them trees was a rather strange way of putting it. They were a little bit like tree roots in the way that they twisted, and kind of like trees in the way they reached towards the sky, but otherwise they were more like strange twisted skeletons rising from the ground. They had no leaves and no branches really simply twisted black forms rising from the ground a good ten to twenty feet splitting at odd intervals into their “branches, which plunged back downwards into the soil covered all over in patches of turquoise moss.

They were growing in such a way that you could walk underneath them, and through their twisting branches. The ground was sort of mossy, bright green in most cases with a splash of purple. Aside from the trees they were these, giant bright-orange ferns that towered into the air and cast themselves downwards under their own weight bringing the ground into shadow against the sun. They were placed at distant intervals from each other leaving enough room for the strange tree-like things, and a lot of the forest floor moss.

There were thousands of other little ferns, some in spiral shapes and others, in bright blue, which looked like giant blades of grass rising into the air patterns of dark black cutting up their surfaces like tiger stripes.

“Ah! Don’t you dare touch that.” The leading human ordered, and the marine at the front of the column withdrew her hand wilting.

“Yeah I know it looks cool, but it could be poisonous.” Their leader walked up and rested a hand on her shoulder, “It’s alright,...” His voice lowered, “If I am being honest with you, I want to touch it too.”

The GA members looked on in worry at the human’s conversation. They had gotten into some sticky situations, with this particular crew, from touching strange plant life in the past, and they were not interested in repeating such a situation. Luckily for them, the humans found some semblance of self control and kept their hands to themselves as they moved through the strange forest.

A white critter with one leg and one eye blinked warily at them from under a fern before leaping away into blackness.

The humans watched it go with mild fascination as the creature used it’s coil to bounce off the ground and into the bushes.

The temperature hovered a few degrees below freezing despite the tropical-esque plantlife that seemed to dominate the forest. It was hard to discern just how the plants survived in such an environment, but that is what they intended to learn. A low fog rolled in at some point plunging them into an eerie world of uncertainty.

With some trepidation, the humans constricted their triangle in order to see each other through the mist.

It was at that precise moment that they heard it, the strange sound rising on the air. It was close by. An echoing trumpeting bugle that rattled and wavered before dying back into darkness. In response, all the humans hunched into a low crouch weapons at the ready. It had a strange almost…. Metallic noise to it as if made by a rundi ship, but not quite.

It was difficult to explain as none of them had ever heard such a sound before.

A few moments past, and then they sound came again rising in the air and then dying back into a sort of thrumming gurgle.

The GA scientists shifted nervously.

One moved forward approaching the humans as they talked quietly to each other through their earpieces. One of the members tugged on the elad human’s hand, and he turned to look blinking at him with his single eye.

The expression was disconcerting, “What is that?” They wondered.

The humans looked at each other with a shrug, “We aren’t entirely sure right now.”

Again came the low bellowing rattling through the trees and echoing through the forest.

“Some kind of animal/” One of the other humans wondered.

“That would be my first guess.” Said the one-eyed human

“Should we head out?” They asked glancing into the fog and towards that echoing sound.

The lead human paused head tilted to the side as the sound came again, “No…. it doesn't seem to be moving in this direction. In fact, it doesn’t seem to be moving at all.” The aliens looked on in surprise at the human’s confidence. Of course they could all hear the noise, but theirs was not so tuned as to locate or detect where it was in the environment. It could be anywhere for all they knew.

The human kept his head tilted and continued to listen, “it sounds…. In… distress.”

GA representatives looked on in consternation, “how could you possibly think to tell that. You’ve never heard the creature before. Perhaps it is a mating call, perhaps it is hunting, and perhaps it is giving birth. There could be any number of reasons.”

The human shook his head with a frown, “I…. something just feels off about it. Hard to explain…. I think we should at least head in that direction to see what is going on.”

To the incredulity of the watching aliens, the rest of the humans agreed, though hesitantly, shouldering their weapons and forming into firing positions behind the first human.

With her weapon shouldered, the small blue Drev walked over and allowed the leading human to climb onto her back bracing his weapon against her shoulder and he directed her to the trees. The GA representative hung back towards the back of the group as the humans made their way into the fog. It’s not like it mattered though, if they were forced to run the humans would be much faster, and would outstrip them in minutes anyway.

As they walked, the distant bellowing grew louder and louder until they broke through the ferns and fog at the edge of a clearing. The humans stopped just ahead.

“Sweet Jupiter.” One of them muttered.

His expletives came at the behest of a strange scene. To the shock of the GA the leading human’s guess at the strange sound was correct. There was in fact a creature, that did, appear to be in distress. It was a strange creature tall and gangly with four long legs, or what they guessed to be long, and a short sloping back.

It had a long neck and head whose muzzle was long and conical tapering towards a shallow point at the end. As it trumpeted, it would tilt its head back and emit the noises from the small round mouth at the end of it’s cone, face. The head itself was topped by a strange array of what must have been either antlers or horns, many ending in sharp bladed leaf-like points.

On the creature’s back this same leaf like pattern continued, but with long feathered protrusions that flared when it bellowed sticking upwards and outwards two feet on either side.its body was furless, so there was another mystery as to how it survived in the cold, but it’s skin was a strange flower orange color hinting towards pink, very bright and shocking against the mud and the mist.

They could only assume the creature was tall based on its neck and body as much of it was hidden below a gelatinous mass of frozen mud which shifted and squelched as it struggled unmoving and getting nowhere.

It bellowed another mournful cry.

The humans had stopped in the clearing a few stepping closer to get a better look.

The GA representatives relaxed. If it was trapped, than it wouldn't be able to hurt them.

However, the humans began to move closer, causing the GA representatives to shift nervously in their places.

Seeing the humans the animal began to bellow wildly and thrash, and who could blame it as the predatory species moved around in a tight circle examining the creature.

“We should move on.” One of the GA reps stated nervously as the humans returned to their beginning circle.

The main human frowned at them, “what? ANd just leave it here.”

The GA scientists looked at him in consternation, “Well of course we are going to leave it here, what else would we do.”

The human held out his hands to either side, “Rescue it obviously. We can’t just let it die there, whatever it is.”

“Commander, it is no place of ours to intervene with the natural order.” “Clearly you don’t know humans very well.” he shot back, and the other humans began to mutter in agreement.

“Commander, what reason would we ever have to rescue that thing. What would be the point. It would only waste time energy and resources, and just look at the thing. If you get any closer it will gore you.”

With a stubborn shake of the head, the human glowered at them, “because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Who said that.”

“I did.” The human responded petulantly before turning to look at his men, “We are going to need tow cables, and anything else that we can come up with. Maybe a shovel if you have one. We aren’t going to leave this poor thing here to die.”

Behind them the creature was still thrashing in the bog as the humans began to gather their material, a few of them running back towards the landing shuttle to gather supplies they had neglected to bring, unknowing what was to happen. The GA scientists watched in consternation and a mild bit of annoyance. It didn’t make any sense, there was no reason for humans to be out here doing what they were doing. They had no idea what the creature was or what it could do, and for all they knew it would rip them in half as soon as it was able. In fact, this may just be how it lured it’s prey in before drinking their blood.

They had no way of knowing.

But still the humans insisted on doing what they were doing. Ropes and cables were brought. The humans discussed the best way to retrieve the creature. The commander took suggestions drew up plans in the dirt and offered to do the most dangerous part of the operation, seeing that it had been his idea to begin with, not that the other humans were disagreeing with him, and his choice.

The scientists watched from the forest as the human slowly began approaching the creature. He had the rope in one hand opened into a wide loop that had been tied by one of the marines. He approached slowly foot by foot. It was clear he did not go without notice, and the creature began to balk and shriek as he approached.

It jerked its head sending its knife like bladed horns flying in all directions. The human had to step back more than once out of the way of the thrashing creature.

“Shhh, shh. Its ok.” He was saying, doing his best to sooth the creature that didn’t seem intent on being soothed. This went on for more than an hour as the human attempted to get closer to the creature only to be driven away by the things bladed horns. Slowly, however, the creature began to lose energy bugling less, and slumping deeper down into the mud. The human grew closer and closer before eventually, reaching out and tossing the coil over the creature’s antlers.

It didn’t move but lowed piteously.

“Shh it’s ok. We’re going to have you out in no time. Just relax.” The human urged slowly reaching out to adjust the rope over the thing’s antlers.

His hand was right next to the creature’s multiple eyes.

It’s sides heaved in fear.

The human stepped back and motioned to the marines who moved forward to further secure the animal.

The commander reached out hesitantly brushing his fingers over the things neck. It recoiled at his touch.

“Shh. You’ll be ok.” He muttered resting the flat of his hand on the creature’s muscled neck. At first it shied away from him, but eventually relaxed still breathing heavily, eyes wide with fear.

Establishing a solid connection, the commander ordered his men back into position before stepping away to join them, “Come on, pull.” He grabbed the rope along with them, and together the humans began to pull. A small group of them wasn’t nearly enough to do more than cause the animal to bugle.

He ordered some of the others over, “Just pull enough to loosen it up, and then we can get closer so we don’t hurt it’s neck.” They agreed, and another group of marines walked up grabbing the rope and began to haul on it. Together the humans worked in unison rocking back and forth chanting in unison as they began to pull. If they had thought that one powerful human was impressive, the might of at least six was greater than impressive.

There was a sharp sucking sound as the creature’s legs shifted in the mud, and they lurched back.

“Hold it there.” He ordered three marines motioning two others with him as he moved forward.

He came in first between the creature and his men flexing his gloved hands, “IT’s alright, you’re almost out.” The creature just looked at him with wide frightened eyes.

He reached out delicately wrapping his hands around the base of its horns. He was just inches away from it’s huffing mouth.

“On my order…!... PULL!” They began to pull again and he gripped the creature tight hauling backwards with his feet digging into the soil. They strained and pulled for the longest time dirt giving inch by inch.

It would have taken ages if they ever did manage.

Until the two Drev took hold of the rope. They clearly didn’t understand what was going on either, but they decided to help.

ONe tug, a single tug. The mud made a sucking noise, the humans staggered back, and the commander flopped to his back still gripping the beast’s antlers. The creature was pulled bodily out of the mud, it’s long dangling legs stiff rigid it’s head lying on the commander’s chest it’s antlers just inches from his face.

He was breathing hard staring up at the razor edges.

With some difficulty, the human pulled back undoing the rope form the creature’s antlers as it lay in the mud before making a prudent retreat backwards. But they weren’t out of the woods yet. Using the rope he had taken from the antlers, he secured a loop around the front feet of the creature, strange, with three toes looking almost like fingers two facing forward and one facing back. Once standing, it seemed as if the animal would walk on the knuckles of the front two fingers and stabilize itself with the back appendage…. Like a thumb.

That done, he ordered the marines to pull very slowly and gently dragging the animal up onto the bank before retrieving his rope and making a hasty exit back towards his men.

The creature didn’t move for a very long time before slowly lifting it’s head and folding it’s legs. It sat there for an even longer time appearing almost confused as it turned it’s head to look at the watching humans. It had probably expected the predatory animals to go right ahead and eat it, but here it was…. Free.

It let off a soft bugle, and this time the call was returned from the distance.

As they watched, the creature urged to it’s four legs awkward with what appeared to be two knee joints as well as an ankle. The creature was quite tall when it stood upright.

It was watching them.

The humans grew very still.

The thing hesitantly stepped towards them leaning closer with its long neck. Something like a strange white tongue flicked from it’s circular mouth. They stood facing each other for many seconds eventually broken up by the call just outside the clearing.

All together they turned as the thing’s companion stepped into the trees. This one was a light peach color, almost as tall as the first but missing the antlers. Instead it had many of those long clear feathers dangling from it’s head and reaching towards the ground.

Around it’s feet there pranced at least ten very tiny orange creatures that looked like them in a vague sort of way. Like how a caterpillar kind of looks like a butterfly if you ignore the wings. Humans and GA scientists alike remained silent, watching as the tall horned beast took a few wobbly steps towards it’s little family turning its head to look at them one more time before vanishing into the trees.

It made no sense really. There was no reason for the behavior of the humans. The act itself didn’t reward them anything. In fact, they lost both time and resources trying to help the creature. The commander risked his life and limb against something that could easily have eviscerated him if it had really wanted too.

What they didn’t understand is that this behavior is quite common in humans.

Perhaps it has something to do with their great amount of empathy, but whatever the case.

The good of humanity doesn’t like to leave anyone to suffer weather it be human alien or beast.

#humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #earth is a deathworld #Earth is space Ausralia #HUMANS ARE WERID

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kiss-my-freckle · 4 years

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The Stag & The Wendigo

"What particular body you currently occupy is trivial." - Hannibal

Hannibal is the wendigo (man-stag). The stag is a representation of Will's "devil" within (just as “The Dragon” is the devil within Francis). Viewed as a separate being due to Will’s internal struggle. I refuse to call it a ravenstag because the reference is absurd. This is my theory on the stag & the wendigo. Feel free to let me know if I missed any.

“So you set his mind on fire.”

(1x1: Apéritif) It waits by his side as Will showers.

(1x2: Amuse-Bouche) It disappears down the hall as Alana’s footsteps are waking Will. It was never in the room with Abigail because it’s too dangerous to be, as shown in 1x3.

(1x3: Potage) Will dreams he slits Abigail's throat just as Hobbs did. It watches, but disappears when Will wakes. The difference shows in the stag and the way Will wakes. Sudden beeping of an alarm clock, scaring the stag into the woods. Slowly waking Will, stag takes his time walking down the hall.

(1x5: Coquilles) It walks behind Will when he sleepwalks down the road. It nudges him to keep going. Perfect place to put this line of dialogue: “You drew a man with a freak on his back.” Will is drawn to the stag statue in Hannibal's office. “My brain is playing tricks on me?” He touches it.

(1x6: Entrée) It walks through the door of his classroom because Will is half-awake. This is shown in Jack's dialogue before the cut: “I know when I’m awake.” Will doesn’t know when he is. “I'm not even sure if I'm awake now." Alana’s voice wakes Will, and the stag disappears.

(1x7: Sorbet) Will sees it entering the hotel bathroom as he reenacts the crime scene. The devil within a man likes to kill, but he has to remain a separate being until Will accepts what he is.

(1x8: Fromage) Hannibal kills Tobias with the stag statue because he fears Will is dead: “I was worried you were dead.” The stag left on the floor represents Will’s death, thus... the death of his devil within. This pushes forward to the stag in 2x13, dying on the floor next to Will and Abigail.

(1x11: Rôti) It pushes him to Gideon’s car because Will knows he isn’t gone, and he plans to take him at gunpoint.

(1x12: Relevés) Georgia’s murder helps him connect Hannibal’s kills back through to the murder of Cassie Boyle. The stag impales her, then Georgia becomes the stag. “See? See?”

Preparing for the wendigo to appear as two separate beings.

(1x13: Savoureux) In dream: Will takes a rifle shot at the stag and chases it into the woods. The wendigo appears, kneeling at the tree to look at the blood he left behind. Will wakes as he comes face-to-face with the wendigo.

(1x13: Savoureux) "Like a thread through pearls." The wendigo is shown throughout, starting with the dream sequence. It lurks behind the one way mirror, it stands behind Hannibal as he and Will replay the events, then Hannibal takes its shape at the Hobbs’ residence.

(2x1: Kaiseki) It walks by the stream as Will imagines himself fly fishing. The wendigo comes out of the water when Will tells Chilton, "I want to talk to Dr. Lecter." He's in the water because Will plans to catch him like a fish. He sees a stag hoof outside of his cell because he hears Hannibal's shoes tapping across the floor. Similarly to Hannibal taking the stand in 2x3. Focus is placed on his shoes as he's walking into the courtroom. Hearing the animal, seeing the man. He sees the wendigo when Alana tries to help him recover his memories.

(2x2: Sakizuke) Will sees the wendigo peering through the top of the silo because he knows Hannibal killed the mural killer.

(2x3: Hassun) As I said of the stag hoof in 2x1, they placed focus on Hannibal's shoes as he entered the courtroom. Hearing the animal, then seeing the man. The wendigo in a person suit. Will comes to a realization in his dream. His cell door opens. When he walks out, he sees the stag at the end of the hall. It wants Will to follow him, so he does. When he reaches the end of the hall, Hannibal calls out to him. Will turns to see him as a man instead of the wendigo. He’s standing by Will’s cell. Hannibal extends his hand, motioning for him to return. Through his dream, Will basically realizes Hannibal isn't the stag. He wouldn’t direct him down the hall only to direct him back to his cell, and he can't be in two places at once. If Hannibal isn’t the stag, this only leaves one possibility in Will’s mind. IMO, one of the most important stag scenes. He now knows what it represents. Will’s knowing gives us the stag scene in 2x5. I should also make mention to the scene prior because it’s the reason Jack gets left behind in the series finale.

(2x5: Mukōzuke) Will sees the wendigo lurking behind Beverly’s body, cut into sections and placed on slides because he knows Hannibal killed her. Will becomes the stag after sending his admirer to kill Hannibal. Will’s realization in 2x3... the stag is his devil within.

(2x6: Futamono) Will's antlers grow through the roof of his cage and expand. “He's playing a game and he's not scared, not anymore. That's what's making him dangerous." Indeed. He’s building his rack, preparing to impale on a serious level.

(2x9: Shiizakana) This episode makes it a little more obvious. "Must I denounce myself as a monster while you still refuse to see the one growing inside you?" Will dreams of using it to kill Hannibal who appears as the wendigo prior to his decapitation. The devil within a man likes to kill, it’s less personal/intimate for Will, and the "good" part of himself remains clean. This scene also acts as an introduction to Randall Tier, a young man who sees himself as an animal. During his crime scene replay, Will sends the stag to kill the couple, then he himself transforms into what I'd call a semi-wendigo.

(2x10: Naka-choko) Because Will knows Hannibal sent Randall to kill him, his mind turns the bear into a stag, then the stag into Hannibal and the wendigo. When Hannibal puts on his kill suit and heads to Freddie's room, a stag picture is shown hanging above her bed. Foreshadowing. "Are you thinking about getting into bed with Freddie Lounds?" Freddie is at Will's house, the picture represents Will "getting into bed" with Freddie because he has no choice. He's baiting the wendigo. Before I get into the sex scene, pointing out something I noticed while watching 1x13 wendigo scenes: "Wind him up and watch him go. And apparently, Dr. Lecter, this is how I go." There's a certain sound sequence that plays in those scenes when the wendigo winds Will up to watch him go. It winds him up in his dream, after he vomits Abigail’s ear, in the interrogation room, and as he pulls a gun on Hannibal at Hobbs’ house. It also winds him up during their sex scene in this episode. Will is sexually driven by Hannibal. He’s winding him up and watching him go.

(2x11: Kō No Mono) The opening scene appears to be a dream, but I'm not sure if it's a dream or just a representation. Either way, the wendigo follows a stag. It watches as the stag dies and Will emerges from its belly as a semi-stag. It's basically meant to come off as a rebirth, similarly to Peter’s storyline with the horses at the stable. I believe this scene appears at the open because it follows the final scene in the previous episode. In that scene, I believe Will was eating actual human flesh, as it shows his face becoming Hannibal’s before they cut to black. The wendigo appears as Shiva in Hannibal’s office. “Did you know?” Will's belief that Hannibal is the reason Margot turned to him to get pregnant, so he sees Hannibal as the destroyer of Abigail and the creator of his Verger heir.

(2x13: Mizumono) "I build forts." Will returns home after meeting with Jack and Hannibal. The side-by-side doesn't show who he's truly siding with, only how he feels. “Good" Will wants to be loyal to Jack, the devil within wants to be loyal to Hannibal. He's friends with both. When he reaches his porch, he sees Hobbs waiting for him. This scene reveals who he's siding with. "See? See?" Will finally sees what he was meant to after shooting Hobbs ten times. He has two options. This episode offers the first: Kill the devil within. He and Hobbs are shown in a tree house. He takes aim at the stag on the ground and fires. Once Will saw himself in Abigail's position (wanted for the murder of Randall Tier), he decided to switch sides and disappear with Hannibal, but arrived at his house too late. At the end of the episode, the stag is shown on the floor right beside him and Abigail because it’s his devil within. They’re dying together. He betrayed the wendigo, and he can’t kill the devil within without killing himself. It’s part of who he is whether he likes it or not.

(3x2: Primavera) Picking up where they left off in season two. The stag's blood floods Hannibal's kitchen. In his hospital bed, Will hallucinates being stabbed in the gut from the inside out by one of the wendigo's antlers because Hannibal cut into him. Association. Hannibal saw Antony Dimmond as the man he was before Will's betrayal twisted him up. “I'm here to help you untwist to our mutual benefit.” Antony wanted to untwist him as Hannibal wanted to untwist Will. “It's a savage pleasure, and we are born to it. A pleasure we can share." He basically says the same thing when they take off to face The Dragon. "You'd be much more comfortable if you relaxed with yourself." Typically, Will sees Hannibal as the wendigo, but roles reverse with Antony. The eating of the heart. Antony treated Hannibal as Hannibal treated Will. The stag is skinned of his person suit, his broken heart left for WiIl to eat. I made mention to this on one of my rewatch posts. Vide Cor Meum (See My Heart). The soundtrack at the end of 1x13 as Hannibal walks into the mental hospital to see Will. It’s based on Dante’s first sonnet.

(3x3: Secondo) Antlers behind Will as he sits by the fire. Chiyoh is cooking dinner for her prisoner. Again, perfect place to put this dialogue: “You drew a man with a freak on his back.”

(3x5: Contorno) Will hallucinates Chiyoh dead in a thicket of antlers. She pushes him off the train. The stag nudges Will awake, then walks down the tracks. His devil within basically telling him to move his ass.

(3x7: Digestivo) How Will sees the wendigo as Hannibal saws into his head. The way he sees the wendigo and Jack, their faces deformed as they are... it appears somewhat similar to the way he saw Hannibal’s face when he was suffering from encephalitis.

(3x6: Dolce) The dinner sene. Hannibal as the wendigo. Will on one antler, Hannibal on the other. "They are identically different, Hannibal and Will."

(3x8: The Great Red Dragon) Behind Chilton in the office as he talks with Alana. Foreshadowing. Because Will’s opinion counts. “Hard to believe an inmate's opinion will count for anything in the professional community." Yes, it’s going to sting.

The same position as the “pet” photograph in 3x12. I believe “This is the child of a nightmare” is a quote from Chilton’s book on Hannibal. I think Will realized it was a book of lies, and knew Chilton was planning to cash in again by writing a book of lies on The Dragon.

(3x9: …And the Woman Clothed with the Sun) Hannibal's wendigo reflection in a mirror shard. They don’t show Will’s reflection. I believe they were left with a choice to make. Keep them as they are, or switch the stag to a lion and the wendigo to a tiger.

Will’s second option: Become stronger than the stag. “I’m stronger than The Dragon now.”

#Hannibal

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pinebypine · 5 years

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Longest Night of the Year

Triplet AU Fic. The triplets have been caught up in a cult’s midnight shenanigans.

In the monster movies, when the evil cultists have the virginal maiden tied to a post so she can be sacrificed to the ancient eldrich horror or terrifying creature out of time, she is always in a thin slip of a dress that reveals just about everything. Mabel had quite liked those scenes in the movies, it was practically the climax of the film and she either got to see the monster get defeated by the intrepid heroes or, occasionally, somebody get eaten. She’d secretly imagined what it might be like to be in such a position, held spreadeagled and awaiting an uncertain fate.

What she had not imagined was doing so in central Oregon in the middle of the night in the dead of winter. Mabel was freezing her tuckus off. She was so cold in fact, that her worry about whether it was possible to get frostbite of the nipple was actually overriding the worry coming from the fact, despite all her tugging, she was unable to wiggle or tug or otherwise make any progress on the ropes around her wrists or ankles.

To her left, Ty hung limply by her arms, strung to a post of her own. She’d either passed out or taken a hefty bonk on the head during the struggle to get them tied up here. Mabel was starting to get seriously worried that her sister hadn’t moved in a while. On Mabel’s other side, Dipper was violently thrashing against his bindings, but his yells of fury were being effectively blanked out by the rag that had been stuffed into his mouth and taped over.

If circumstances had been different, Mabel would love to be mocking her brother right now, but not only was this probably the worst time for some good-natured sibling ribbing, she’d been gagged too. She considered though, that despite the obvious handicap of trying to make-over a struggling and unwilling subject, theses cultists had done a surprisingly decent job making her brother look like a girl.

Several red and guttering lights began to bob toward them through the trees.

Oh thank god, Mabel thought, they’ve got torches. Maybe they’re just planning on burning us alive. At least then I’ll be warm.

“Behold the sisters of the year! The triple-goddess made incarnate again!” A voice called out from the darkness.

Mabel heard her brother’s faint yelling grow slightly louder. She could discern shapes in the darkness now. Hooded figures surrounded them, some holding torches, others sickles, and yet others what looked like branches.

The cultist speaker continued. “For this night the Wild Hunt has ceased its endless game and rests; so that in the belly of this darkness, the seed of the new year can be sown. We call to you, Leader of the Hunt, King of Winter, Father of the Seasons!”

Around the triplets, the cultists all repeated the titles, thrusting their torches and implements into the air.

“Come to this glade, receive our willing sacrifice, and set burning the fire that will warm the world!” She then continued to speak in some other language that Mabel didn’t recognize and the other cultists took up the words as some sort of chant. At the shouting grew louder, Mabel thought she also could hear the baying of hounds start somewhere in the distance.

She quit pulling against her ties; all she had accomplished until this point was to give herself rope burns. She craned her neck and peered up at where the rope that bound her wrists was secured to the post. If she swayed her arms and body back and forth, she could see the knot slip along the wood. Was it working loose? She couldn’t tell but it was better that what she’d be trying before.

There were definitely animal sounds coming from the forest now; dog howls and horses hooves. Mabel looked past the hooded figures and saw riders circling, getting closer. She looked up at the ropes above her; the knot seemed to have loosened slightly and she was dragging it across the rough bark of the post. Keep this up, she reasoned, and the rope would certainly wear through. That might take minutes though, and she was becoming more and more convinced that they did not have that kind of time.

Mabel checked on her siblings as she continued to work at her bindings. Dipper wasn’t flailing anymore, he had a look of deep concentration on his face and Mabel saw that he’d managed to twist his wrists apart a little, and the fingers of one hand were digging at the knot. On her other side, Ty was as still as the dead, mouth hanging agape. Mabel saw her sister’s hair begin to whip around her head as a fierce wind swelled, biting into all of them.

The cultists and dog fell silent in a rush and the air became lifeless around them. The woods were dead calm, but for the sound of hooves and bodies moving in saddles beyond the rim of the lights. Dipper made a small noise of shock and Mabel turned to see a figure standing before them.

He was enormous, like someone had put an NFL linebacker in a copy machine and hit the 150% scale button. A pair of curling, many-pronged antlers rose from his forehead and Mabel should see wisps of frost floating from their points. His mountainous shoulders were wrapped in what looked like an entire bearskin and he held a spear that could serve as a ship’s mast. His long hair and beard were silvery tangles of thick hair that surrounded a grizzled and scarred face. A single shining blue eye pierced the shadows from beneath his overgrown brows.

One of the cultists came forward and beckoned toward the Pines triplets. “We present you with our offering, Lord of the North. Three pure girls to represent the seasons you will father in them.” She pointed to Mabel first. “The maiden of spring, blushing with new life and promise.” Her hand turned to Ty. “The mother of summer, in full flourishment of growth.” And finally she indicated to Dipper, who was glaring back so furiously and he might burst a blood vessel in his forehead. “And the crone of autumn, who wanes with the year that it may begin anew.”

The huge man smiled and spoke in voice deeper than the calving of glaciers. “For-wel fæger, bearn.” The spear swung around in his hand and he drove the point of it into the cold ground with ease. Then a hand the size of a spade reached to the clasp of his cloak and pulled it away. His only remaining covering was a loose loin cloth which was not doing a good job of hiding anything at that moment. His smile was wide as he began to close the distance between them.

“Okay, this is complete bull.”

Mabel’s head whipped toward the voice and she saw Ty up and alert, her face a mask of indignation. Mabel’s heart swelled at the sight; her sister must have faked some or all of her time unconscious, and because she had not been struggling the cultists had failed to gag her.

“Fearr?” The man said, looking puzzled.

“Or what comes out of one, in any case. First off, none of us is ‘pure’ by any stretch of the imagination. Second, you will not be planting any seed in anybody tonight. And third, that ‘girl’ on the end there is my brother Dipper. You’re little groupies are trying to pull a fast one on you.”

Now even the sounds of the riders ceased and the wood fell silent, a heavy tension filling the air. The King of Winter’s chest swelled as he drew in a breath, stepped over to Dipper, and lifted the pure white dress. His jaw dropped agape and he wheeled on the cultists.

“Sparks and splinters! What on earth were you planning? Did you think I would not notice?!”

The nearest cultist shrunk from him and turned away. “Many pardons, my lord. We attempted to find a set female triplets but there was a mistake and there wasn’t time too-”

The King’s face dropped and he covered it with one huge hand, shaking with frustration. “What are you? Morons? There’s nothing in the ritual that says they have to be triplets. They don’t even need to be sisters. But they do need to be female.” He bent over to look under the hood of the cultist. “I don’t recognize you; how many solstices have you overseen?”

By her body language, the cultist was unprepared for this sort of questioning. “Uh. One.”

A single large silver eyebrow cocked at her. “Really?”

“Well, including this one. Look we’re doing our best.”

The King heaved a sigh and turned back to the triplets. “I am so very sorry; they shouldn’t have bothered you three with all this.” He strode over and with a casual tug, snapped the rope holding Mabel’s arms up. “There seems to be a misunderstanding among my worshippers about a few things.”

Ty was freed next, then Dipper, who wobbled and nearly fell over when he tried to put weight on high heels. Mabel shook the loops of rope off her hands and tore at the tape over her mouth. “Ow ow ow. Man that hurts.”

“Oh dear, you three look cold. Here.” The fur cape was lifted from the ground and the King wrapped it around them in a bundle. The steamy heat of it began instantly to warm them. “Out of curiosity, were the ropes your idea? I mean, I’m all for a little kinky stuff but I just want to make sure nobody thought they were expected.”

Mabel fumed. “The ropes were because we kept trying to get away! They trapped us outside our Grunkle Stan’s cabin! They threw a net over us!”

“We only came to Oregon,“ Dipper chimed in, ”because we got a letter from him saying to come give him a ride back home for Christmas. But when we got here we find out he’s in Barbados for three weeks. I think they faked that letter to get us out here!” He almost lost his balance again but was caught by his sisters.

Ty finished the tale. “Then they panicked because Dipper was actually a boy; which probably shouldn’t have been that hard to figure out before they kidnap somebody. So they decided to try and fool you, dressed us like this and tied us to these posts.”

The King’s head sank again. “Oh son of a...” He turned back to the robed figures, who were congealing into a tight crowd. “That’s what you think I want? This is supposed to be fun. It’s the one night off I get all year and you guys think I want to spend it...” He shuddered visibly. “You’re just supposed to put an ad in the newspaper or something. ‘Wanted: three beautiful young women to lay with god of winter. Lubricant and snacks provided.’”

Huge fists clenched and the triplet’s head height. “You know what?” the King’s voice was suddenly full of resignation. “Since my evening has suddenly become free, I think it’s time for the Wild Hunt to get back to its business.” The baying of the hounds resumed and now the glint of the moonlight off of metal was visible among the motionless riders. The King of Winter smiled. “I’m going to take these nice young people back to their cabin and then I go back to work; that’s how much of a head start you all get. Not that it’ll make any difference in the end.”

When the hooded figures had scrambled from sight, the huge man plucked his spear from the ground and beckoned to the Pines triplets to follow him. They did, helping Dipper when necessary, and were lead a few dozen yards away to a spot where an enormous wagon sat in wait. Harnessed to it were more than a dozen horned beasts: elk, deer, bison, and even some sort of antelope with a strangely shaped nose. A pair of attendants, who were so covered in leather, furs, and sheathed weapons that not a scrap of skin showed, handed the King a huge set of reins, helped the triplets up onto the wagon’s copious bench seat, and began to unchuck the wheels.

“I hope you three can forgive me for the actions of my worshipers. I assure you this is the last time I let the new world branch of my church handle a big event.” The King pulled another fur cape from the back of the wagon and tossed it around hiself, then commanded his draft animals into motion. He shook his head in shameful wonder. “Ugh they didn’t even get all the names right. They’re lucky this wasn’t midsummer; Titania isn’t as merciful as me.”

Mabel looked at him quizzically. “Aren’t you going to hunt them like animals?”

As the King laughed, they could see a few snowflakes fall from his horns. “Compared to what my queen would do, that’s practically a slap on the wrist.”

Mabel felt some movement inside the immense span of the fur cloak and then heard Ty whisper in Dipper’s ear. “Did they actually shave your legs? You are really smooth.”

Her brother hunkered into the fur more. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Mabel slipped her arm around her brother’s shoulders. “Don’t worry about it, bro. It turns out you’ve got some great gams.”

Dipper sunk further. “I hate you both.”

They didn’t seem to have gone very far, but the dark bulk of the Mystery Shack, shuttered up and closed for the season, suddenly loomed before them. When the wagon came to a halt near the front door, the strange attendants seemed to materialize from nowhere and helped them down. The King of Winter dropped from the wagon and placed a hand on Mabel’s shoulder.

“I owe you all a debt that will be difficult to repay. But we’ll see about getting a start on it, at least.” He rose and pulled a wrapped parcel as big a man from the back of the wagon and a sack of nearly the same size; these he handed to his attendants, instructing them to get things set up inside. Then he knelt on one knee before the Pine’s siblings and smiled warmly at them.

“I want you to know that you may count me a friend.” And suddenly they were encircled by a pair of arms like anchor chains. As the King rose, his one eye twinkled at them. Then he leapt into the seat of his wagon and bellowed some of that strange language into the sky. The sounds of the hunt grew around them and swelled as the King whipped his wagon team into a frenzy, speeding off into the forest.

One of the attendants retrieved the King’s cloak from the Pines siblings, and, divested of its warmth, they all hurried inside.

“Oh my god, Mabel.” Ty giggled. “Did you see he popped out of his loincloth when he knelt down?”

“I know! When he hugged us it was like- BAM- right there. Swear to god, it was the size of my leg.”

Dipper groaned. “Will you two grow up?”

“How is that even supposed to-”

They all froze when the saw the interior of the shack; the place seemed remade. Candles burned from nearly every horizontal surface. A fire crackled in the wood stove. The little table in the living room overflowed with food: roasted meats, loaves of bread, fruit, and a plethora of sugary things covered in frosting. Laid out in middle of the room were three piles of parcels, wrapped in plain brown paper but bearing colorful ribbons and tags.

Dipper started to walk toward the enticing spread of food but wobbled on a heel and landed in Ty’s arms. When he was righted and starting to kick off the shoes, Mabel dug him in the ribs with her elbow. “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it, Big D.”

“What?” Dipper looked up with a slightly hunted look. “No, no! No I won’t; this is never happening again!”

Ty winked at her sister and ambled over to the table. “Oh I think that now that we know the possibilities, at the very least we’re going to have to come up with something different for next years Halloween costumes.”

“No, Ty.” Dipper started pulling off the dress.

Mabel caught one of his arms up with hers and gave him a tender peck on the cheek. “You’ll make a great Buttercup, Dip.” She started to drag him over to eat.

“No, Mabel.”

There was a lull in the conversation as began to dig into the food. They hadn’t eaten since breakfast and started to pack it away like only teenagers can. Eventually Ty was the one to break the silence.

“So, are we just not going to talk about what happened out there in the woods?”

Dipper swallowed a huge mouthful of venison. “You mean that it turns out Santa is a prehistoric seasonal god of the hunt with antlers and an army of riders and dogs that he uses to chase people and that once a year some followers of his arrange for him to have four-way with three young women to don’t have to be related but it would appear to be preferred?”

Mabel perked up. “Or that he’s got a huge cock?”

Ty considered the choices. “I’m gonna go with ‘cock’. It’s a much more interesting topic.”

Both of the girls turned to their brother; it would appear that unwrapping their presents was going to have to wait.

#pinecest #pinebypine #GFTripletAU

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