#no clue which is from which but presumably appearances from only two of the one acts are included here given same look in two

[unproduciblesmackdown]

asia kate dillon in triptych, ft. one-acts “phenomena & existences” by daniil kharms, “SPIDERS ARE REAL! THEY'RE ALIVE AND THEY HATE YOU!!” by t. adamson, and “le mort de tintagiles” by maurice maeterlinck

#ORB #no clue which is from which but presumably appearances from only two of the one acts are included here given same look in two #if i had to guess / compare to another pic ft faux spiderweb i'd say the second pic in coveralls w/a work light is from SPIDERS #all i know abt phenomena & existences is that the author is known as like avante garde early absurdist maybe #le mort de tintagiles was supposedly like. the author thought it'd have to be performed by marionettes vs live actors. but was not here #asia kate dillon #wait wait. stop the presses i think i can make a guess. they are The Queen in tintagiles. who causes le mort de tintagiles #primarily since they seem to have a crown...and are maybe holding a marionettesque pose there in the orb picture #and well maybe coveralls and work lights are about phenomena & existences. i'm only now relatively confident abt the other two there #triptych #phenomena & existences #(the coveralls pic) #la mort de tintagiles #(act 3 at the top; 1 at the bottom) #still figure they could be the queen with the crown & all. despite the queen not appearing; being Discussed as always unseen #and having no dialogue. or else i suppose they're ygraine; effective main character #but there were Other Actors naturally & seems like they were even speaking

[canyourfavesurvivecastledracula]

Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors?

ooooOOOooooooh

Does it make a difference whether ut's Audrey II from the original movie, from the stage musical, or from the film adaptation of the musical? I think their (her? its?) character is largely the same in all three, but I believe only the third text provides any mechanism by which the plant can be destroyed: electricity. And there is no electricity in Castle Dracula (presumably just one of many reasons he's looking for a new house).

The trouble with Audrey II is that she and Dracula are two of a kind - obligate hæmovores bent on conquest who exert a mesmeric power and have satanic/demonic coding (Audrey II as a Tempter, Dracula just for funzies). Who is playing whom? Is Audrey II there as Dracula's invited guest? Or did this Strange Plant just appear in the Castle during a TO-TAL E-CLIPSE OF THE SUN (da-doop).

[I looked it up, there was a total solar eclipse on April 16th, 1893 - the date on which, according to Stoker's notes, Jonathan Harker visited Mina at her schoolroom before departing for Transylvania - probably for the purpose of proposing. This is a convenient moment for Audrey II to have arrived on our planet. Unfortunately this eclipse was off the coast of Brazil, which is a bit out of the way for our purposes]

Okay it's bothering me - what are Audrey II's pronouns? The human characters refer to the plant as "it." Or should it be "she," because Audrey II self identifies as a mother (specifically, one that is mean, green and from outer space). Is there any clue botanically - Audrey II reproduces both sexually and asexually (that is, both via flowers and via cuttings - and possibly spores? As in "I swear by all my spores" - but Audrey II at least appears to be an angiosperm why are there spores?? But Audrey II is also an alien so maybe the question is "why not") I... yeah I dunno. You guys decide:

So okay. We know Audrey II can fake being in distress to basically beg for treats. Like Dracula, feeding seems only to increase its hunger (and power). All plants will happily drink blood (they sell blood meal fertilizer, it's a good source of potassium) but Audrey II seems to actually require it. Does this mean she doesn't require normal Plant Things like water and sunlight? Seymore initially cares for it like an ordinary plant and it doesn't help, but it remains unclear whether the blood is sufficient as well as necessary. Like, it's not like he stops watering it, right? Although given that the plant travels through space and arrives during an eclipse, it might well not require things like sunlight and rain.

Does Dracula want a houseplant that is going to be competing with him for nourishment? Or is it convenient that he doesn't have to go for groceries twice, as it were? Since Audrey II frequently eats people whole, is this a good waste disposal unit to avoid vampire toddlers clogging up the Castle? Will Audrey II be content being tossed the scraps and leftovers of the Castle's humanoid residents. Does Dracula really want a fourth thing in his Castle incessantly demanding to be fed? Audrey II is not particularly solicitous about her needs - and very much does not do as she's told.

Audrey II is fundamentally a Tempter - what can they offer to Dracula that he can't already do for himself? There's a reason that Audrey II textually preys on a desperate impoverished orphan - just as Dracula does. I want to say Audrey II is a master manipulator but... really all they seem to do is find a poor schmuck with nothing going for him, give him a taste of success, and then browbeat him into submission. Dracula will not respond well to this approach. Dracula is not really the right kind of Mark for the Mean Green Mother from Outer Space - until or unless he actually moves to London. It's no Cleveland, but it's still extremely edible.

I guess what I keep circling back to is that they're too similar. They want the same things - to glut themselves on teeming millions in an ever-widening circlre of ...plants... perhaps for centuries to come. Neither is terribly useful to the other because they each have the same role. Dracula is not going to be feeding Audrey II with his own blood - he may decide to feed it with other people's blood but... why? Audrey II can't tempt Dracula with fortune and fame and the girl of his dreams. Neither is going to be especially tolerant of the other's attitude. Most frustratingly, neither one can eat the other. Well, Audrey II physically can eat Dracula (if someone's been feeding her up to this point), but I doubt Dracula would fall for "come close enough to trip and fall into my open mouth" you know? Especially with the shape-shifting and the mistform and all that.

Okay wait I think I've got it. Dracula and Audrey II is kind of a non-starter, but Dracula isn't the only person who lives there. I think the Girlies and Audrey II could come to some kind of arrangement. They'd feed it their leftovers, and in return the world's Most Interesting Plant might be an ally for them against Dracula. Again though, nobody is going to respond well to Audrey II just hurling abuse at them when she doesn't get her way. But I am enchanted by the idea of the Girlies and their Green Best Friend moving to London in Dracula's place and opening a little flower shop and then just happily eating people together forever. Maybe they can set up next door to that pie shop in Fleet Street

I am gonna call this one at I really don't know

#little shop of horrors #audrey ii #botanica #aliens #opera and musicals

[via-the-cryptid]

Eddie is beginning to regret his decision to bring the gremlin into his hideout. On the one hand, she let him bandage her wounds and has been trying to come up with legitimate answers to every riddle he’s asked her so far, but on the other… well. There’s green and red spattered all over the floor, an alleged ceiling ghost judging him, and he’s currently got a terrible headache from trying to comprehend anything she says.

What he’s gleaned so far is, unfortunately, just the basics. Her name is Ellie — short for Danielle, not Eleanor (he asked), she’s fourteen and not ten or eleven like he’d assumed, she tried to tell him her eyes were blue even though he can very clearly see that they’re green, and she does not want to go back to where she was before.

She’s mentioned two names a few times, Danny and Vlad. The first seems to be in a good context, but the second… not so much. Eddie can’t help but wonder just what sort of situation she escaped from before landing herself in Gotham, but she’s made it rather clear that she’s not going to expand upon that.

Still, there are things that don’t add up. Her appearance, her mannerisms, her abilities… she has to be a meta, but what exactly can she do? Is it limited to going through solid objects? Is there anything she can’t go through? How did she get like this? Perhaps that’s why he brought her here — Eddie never could stand to leave a question unanswered, and this kid is practically a treasure trove of mysteries. He can’t help but want to know more.

She’s talking again, this time to the ceiling and not to him. It almost seems like she’s having a legitimate conversation with done invisible person, which only makes him wonder more about toxin and hallucinations. The Joker’s poisons can do far more than induce uncontrollable laughter, after all, and not even Eddie knows the full scope of the Joker Toxin’s effects. For all he knows, sudden vivid hallucinations are a part of that list.

“Yes, I know that, but it can’t be a safe box, those have keys and lids.” Ellie insists. “And probably hinges. I don’t know, I’ve never seen one.”

Silence falls for a moment as Ellie presumably waits for an answer. Then, she huffs.

“I can still make an educated guess. How would they put anything in without a key?”

More silence.

“No, that’s not right, there’s nothing gold in it… but you could put something in it! Hey, green beans, I got the answer!”

He’d given her an easy one this time — easy if one knew the pop culture reference, that is. Ellie, apparently, did not. Yet another odd thing to add to the list of facts about the gremlin currently sitting on his counter: nearly every time he brought up something that was common knowledge, she didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.

Maybe he needed to revisit that theory about government labs and human experimentation.

“A box without hinges, key, or lid, and yet inside, golden treasure is hid,” Ellie recites. “I think it’s a vase full of coins.”

“…A vase full of coins.”

“Yes.”

“May I inquire as to why you guessed that?”

“No hinges, no key, no lid, but it’s not open on top like a bowl, so you can hide things inside if you want. The golden part is the coins.”

How unconventional. Not the answer he wanted, but not technically wrong, either.

Fascinating.

#danny phantom #dc comics #dani phantom #danielle phantom #ellie phantom #dp x dc #gotham ghost au #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #dp x dc au #ace batman #dc ace #the riddler #edward nygma

[sleepyghostuwu]

The Artist and the Gem: Part 2

"...this'd better be a dream right now."

Synopsis: You start brainstorming about your mysterious client's request and begin working on it. Unfortunately, that means finding a way to get your unconventional art subject to cooperate with you, whether or not he knows about it.

Notes: Fem! Reader POV will be used in this series as it is what I'm most comfy writing in ^^ Also it's really lengthy lmao (I got too excited writing this) so get ready for lots of reading-

Previously: Part 1

It has been a good number of months since you've received the mysterious client's commission.

You've been finding yourself becoming increasingly productive in both your white collar and artistic jobs, presumably from wanting to rid yourself of as much work as you could to work on Aventurine's portrait. It has gotten to the point you even managed to send out most of your commissions to your other clients, even the impatient one who had been living on your nerves for what felt like an eternity. What made you want to get his portrait done and over with so badly? That was a question you were too afraid to find answers to.

Speaking of Aventurine, you had a problem: you know how he looks like very well, but you have no clue how to draw him that well. The fact that the both of you work in different departments and hence very rarely see each other made your task of observing his appearance better all the more difficult.

With all possible odds pitted against you, only two solutions remain: you could either spy on Aventurine during your lunch and tea breaks and sketch him in secret, or directly ask him to pose for you for a few minutes. Given your current ranking in the IPC, you have a slightly better chance at the former. As the clock strikes at lunchtime, you quickly grab your tablet and head for the first place you can think of: the lounge.

-------

"...Don't worry, I'll be sure to send you the updates as soon as I get them," Aventurine's carefree voice echoes like a chime as he and the other Stonehearts leave the meeting room for their break. Your breath hitches and you quickly crouch behind the nearest potted plant you spotted in the vicinity, peeking through its leaves cautiously.

"This is the worst idea I've ever thought of..." you curse under your breath as you stabilised yourself against the wall. You have passed by Aventurine during work before on several occasions, and rarely ever get to briefly speak to him about work-related matters, so seeing the man himself with your eyes was not something unfamiliar to you. However, what left you the slightest bit horrified was the next thought that entered your mind.

Aventurine is stunningly handsome.

His sandy hair, which was slightly tucked behind his left ear, flowed down his neck like sand in an hourglass, and his eyes were as vibrant as stained glass windows in the sun. The deep green and gold coattails trailing behind him reminded you of a brightly coloured bird as he strode across the hallway, always seeming like he had people to show off to in every corner.

(Y/n)! Focus! You frantically shake your thoughts out of your hand and ready your tablet. It's your only chance at this, so don't mess this up! Propping yourself against the wall as you continue crouching behind the potted plant, you whip out your stylus and begin drawing furiously.

The first few attempts you made were a little sloppy (by your standards, at least), but in a short while, you manage to fill the better half of your drawing spread with surprisingly good sketches. The fact that Aventurine was perfectly still as you drew each pose made your success feel too good to be true. As you watch Aventurine leave the vicinity with a few cups of coffee in hand, you heave a sigh of relief and stood up, propping yourself against the wall as you wait for your legs to recover from crouching on the ground for so long.

And it's still lunch hour, too! You smile to yourself as you turn to leave for the office cafe. Everything went according to plan. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong after this-

"Oh, (y/n)? I didn't expect to see you here."

A chill runs down your spine as you slowly come face-to-face with none other than Aventurine himself.

#honkai star rail #hsr aventurine #aventurine #hsr #hsr x y/n #hsr x you #hsr fanfic #hsr x reader #hsr aventurine x reader #aventurine x reader

[coraniaid]

I understand why it happens, but it's kind of striking how quickly fighting vampires on Buffy goes from being something that only the Slayer can do at all ("she alone will stand against the vampires", as the opening narration tells us in the first two seasons) to something only the Slayer can do well (meaning that other people can try but they'll risk getting hurt or letting vampires escape), to something that only the Slayer can be trusted to do properly (even if it might seem superficially that other people are doing okay) and then finally to something so mundane that pretty much anybody can do it, with or without any special powers.

The pair of mid-season 3 episodes I've reached during my current rewatch (Gingerbread and Helpless) almost feels like the last time that the writers will really take seriously the initial premise that being able to fight vampires is not something anyone can be expected to manage if they just put a little effort in. Both of them feature as plot points the idea that being able to fight vampires makes Buffy somehow uniquely special (which is perhaps one reason why Faith doesn't appear in either one of them). And yet, if anything , they already feel a little anachronistic at this stage in the show's history.

In Season 1 or early Season 2, the idea of Joyce accompanying Buffy on patrol as a sort of impromptu mother-daughter bonding event would have felt ridiculous (and not just because Joyce had no clue that Buffy was the Slayer or that vampires even existed) and it's clear in Gingerbread that we're still meant to think that it is. But it's a little harder to accept that when we've seen Buffy going on patrol while casually chatting with Willow just a couple of episodes earlier, or when we know that Willow, Oz and Xander spent all summer fighting vampires without sustanining any significant injuries. If it's okay for them, why can't Joyce tag along while Buffy's on patrol? (It's presumably not going to lead to her trying to burn her daughter at the stake every single time.)

Equally, the test that the Watchers' Council subject Buffy to in Helpless -- in which she is robbed of her powers and forced to fight a vampire without them -- is meant to be cruel and arbitrary. But by Season 7 the writers will decide that expecting a bunch of teenage girls with absolutely no special powers to be able to fight vampires is, in fact, a perfectly reasonable thing to do. And as the show progresses, more and more people without powers will do just that. Indeed, the conclusion of this very season will upend the show's premise by having Buffy's classmates take on a small army of vampires at their graduation ceremony.

In fact, vampires as a serious threat at all become increasingly rare in the show, starting from around this season. This season's main vampire adversary Mr Trick has been relegated to a subordinate role after less than a full episode on his own devices, and this is a role he will only manage to keep for a few more episodes. Despite a fun first appearance, Trick has never really managed to make an impression in the way that the Master or Spike or Drusilla or Angelus did. I'm honestly not even sure when exactly Buffy first learns his name. This season's Big Bad, the Mayor, is the first primary season villain not to be a vampire, and in fact no vampire will ever get to play this role again.

(Vampires in general start to become so quotidian and non-threatening that by Season 7 the writers resort to the rather embarrassing measure of introducing a brand new special type of really dangerous vampire, with decidedly mixed results.)

I might be missing a couple of names, but I think the list below covers every single speaking vampire character that appears in more than one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Darla (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 1)

The Master (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 3)

Angel (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 7)

Luke (first appears in Sesaon 1, last appears in Season 1)

The Anointed One (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 2)

Spike (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 7)

Drusilla (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 5)

Dalton (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 2)

Lyle Gorch (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 3)

Mr Trick (first appears in Season 3, last appears in Season 3)

Wishverse!Willow (first appears in Season 3, last appears in Season 3)

Tom (first appears in Season 4, last appears in Season 4)

Harmony (first appears in Season 1, first appears as a vampire in Season 4, last appears in Season 5)

Sandy (first appears in Season 3, first appears as a vampire in Season 5, last appears in Season 5)

And what's striking about this list is that we have, less than a third of the way through the show, already met almost everybody on it. The only two recurring vampire characters with speaking parts who haven't appeared at least once already as of The Wish are Harmony (who we've met, but not yet as a vampire), Sandy (who we'll meet as a human in just a few episodes), and 'Tom', a character so unimportant I had to look his name up on IMDB because it is never spoken in the script for either of the two episodes he appears in. (He's one of Sunday's goons who's later captured by the Initiative, if you were wondering.) More recurring vampires have already appeared for the last time than are yet to appear, with still a hundred episodes left to go.

Yet, at the same time, (unnamed, mostly harmless) vampires will actually appear in almost every episode of Buffy until the show ends. Season 3 is actually the first season of the show to feature a vampire on-screen in every episode. The season where vampires appear least is actually the first: there are four episode of Season 1 with no vampires at all, and only three other episodes where that's true (one in Season 2 and two in Season 4). Perhaps that's why Season 1 is able to take them seriously as an obstacle.

Buffy will continue to be a show where vampires feature heavily after this run of episodes, but it won't ever really be a show where the audience is expected to find them particularly menacing. Even in The Zeppo, the very first episode after these two, it feels telling that the supernatural threat Buffy is worried about Xander being exposed to -- and the dangerous enemies she and the other Scoobies fight in the background while we follow Xander around town -- are demons, not vampires. Because as much as the show wants us to think that Xander is the "Jimmy Olsen" of the group, by this point it's stretching credulity to suggest that even he would be seriously troubled by something as unimpressive as a mere vampire.

#btvs #buffy rewatch 2023

[delizbin]

A little thought on why I like Hayffie so much:

They represent the polar opposite of the perfect stereotype:

Effie, perfect Capitol citizen, frivolous, loud, bubbly, brainwashed Effie with her colorful, unique, over the top outfits. She is just the perfect representation of what the Capitol is, plus she’s also an Escort, practically the death reaper for district 12.

Haymitch, on the other hand, is everything the Capitol despises and thinks about the Districts. Rough, outspoken, ungrateful, drunk Haymitch who can’t even do his job properly. Practically an animal.

They hate each other because that’s what their household do. Districts and Capitol has nothing in common.

That’s what people see on the outside and how Katniss describes them to us at the very start of the first book, basically. We don’t have an omniscient narrator, we got what we get just through Katniss eyes, and , slowly, we get to know them, particularly Haymitch, and their very unique way of balancing each other’s out. They don’t hate each other, first of all.

Haymitch is a smart, broken man that masks his problems with alcohol, and Effie, on the other hand…

Effie is very cryptic to me.

She never really gets close to Katniss that way so we have no clue how she really is, if she’s just the perfect result of the Capitol education or if she got something else going on. All we know is that she and Haymitch accepted each others the best that they could and shared some good goddamn bond together.

Haymitch and Effie had basically only each other’s during the games before Katniss and Peeta appeared. They are the only one that understood what mentoring district 12 meant, as frustrating and humiliating as it could have been, for years.

Haymitch literally had no one to rely on expect Chaff and some other victors, I doubt he even tried to get close to someone else after what happened to his family and started drinking, so I think Effie really played a role there. Especially after the revelation of book 3 that suggested they were not totally indifferent to each other’s, but we’ll get there.

Effie, on the other hand, was stuck with 12, we have no idea for how long but sure is for more then 4 years since Katniss never mentioned knowing another Escort from the Reaping day before Effie.

Now, 4 years working with a drunk delusional man after the Capitol promised a big nice job is tough for her , I guess, and she’s also non enthusiastic to work with someone that makes you face what the games are: death and destruction while they’re supposed to be egregious and prideful.

It makes no sense does it? She must be just unlucky to have been assigned to such a gross district.

Still, she does the best that she can. She’s totally detached from reality but she never looked evil. Just dumb. (Let’s remember it’s all from katniss pov, which doesn’t make it any less valid but see very little of her, because Katniss wasn’t that much interested and how can you blame her?)

Plus, she’s younger than Haymitch, that was pretty much implied.

Anyway, that’s the situation: Capitol doll from one side, drunk sassy man from the other.

And then Katniss and Peeta came.

Haymitch starts working seriously to keep them alive.

We have no idea if their collaboration had been this intense other years as well, presumably not, but here they are, only the two of them trying to keep their kids alive. Nice.

And they did! They both won! Hurray!

Oh no

And here we go, hell begins

Effie basically created that perfect family scenario in her head (which is adorably sad) while Haymitch was busy planning a revolution and keeping the kids out of troubles.

The 75th announcement happens.

Everyone worlds crumbles down, but while for Haymitch it’s an opportunity to strike the revolution , I have no idea what it might have meant for Effie since it’s the first time in her lifetime her “family” faces reaping. And she’s actively part of the reaping part.

We already know Effie is good and faking , it’s basically her whole work, so we have no idea how much Effie knows. We’ll never know about it but she surely starts to understand stuff about the Capitol. Or at least the perfect scenario in her head starts to crumble a little. And why do I say so? Because of the dinner scene when Seneca Crane was brought up.

We might think “maybe she knew Seneca Crane and was genuinely sad about it” … yes. That was my first thought. Yes that might be a reason and probably what Katniss thought as well, but now, reconsidering , I also think she was scared.

She started to put two and two together and understood that no matter what or who you are for the Capitol , you can be replaced just like that. An error and you’re out.

But, as I said, we’ll never know, all we know is that she just leave the table (rude!) while crying.

She gives her family tokens, which Haymitch had the brilliant idea to use has a symbol for the revolution… And then the revolution!

This part.

Not many are going to agree with me but I genuinely like the book better, even if it means we don’t get Effie for the 99.99% of said book.

I think it just makes more sense for her character development to be mistakenly left behind and imprisoned and (probably) tortured.

It’s not because Iike to see her suffer, it just makes sense.

She stays with Peeta , first of all , which is basically a parallelism.

I think Johanna mentioned her somewhere at some point which I think really gives the idea that she’s been treated like any potential rebel because nothing matters anymore at this point. Yet they don’t execute her, even after Peeta is taken by the rebels, why!? It doesn’t make sense to me why they spared her life while killing everyone else linked to the rebellion. Maybe because they thought they could use her somehow? Seems improbable but I’m glad they did anyway.

After all of this mess the war ends, she gets freed, Haymitch is partially sober still

We get no idea how or why but we know for sure Plutarch and HAYMITCH did everything they could to keep ber alive. (I think it was really Haymitch that wanted to keep her alive and Plutarch just backed him up because he didn’t want the ex mentor angry and not collaborative to the cause but alas)

We have no idea what happened to her or where the heck has she been or how Haymitch managed to save the prep team and not her and why and if he tried to get in contact with her somehow but Suzanne must have had some idea in her mind while writing it because it was very much intentional. (Thank you Elisabeth Banks for giving her a reason to rewrite the character into it)

Differently from the movie!Effie, that has not a real catharsis, implying that she stayed more or less the same throughout the whole process even if she changed her mind and gave her trust to Katniss, book!Effie can’t be the same person from the start of the book because how can it possibly be. She probably lost everything during the war (apart from being literally destroyed inside) and wasn’t even given a possibility to choose sides. She was forced into change into two totally different ways.

Anyway, the war ends, Panem is free and I think only now Haymitch and Effie might have some chance of real connection beside chemistry and funny banters. Here we got two scarred people that need each other’s because they’d understand and respect each other nonetheless.

For Effie it’s the chance to start an authentic quiet life with people that she loves and love her , maybe not right away, but the girl really needs emotional support and the only people that can understand and that she knows they will are Katniss, Peeta and especially Haymitch. Katniss herself gave Effie her blessing, and if she did is pretty obvious that Peeta already liked her, and so did Haymitch otherwise his bother with Coin wouldn’t have made sense at all.

While Movie!Effie has a chance to rebuild herself in the Capitol, even after the connection she made , especially with Haymitch, she didn’t really have a reason to abandon her old lifestyle or her hometown to move to 12, where she just can’t really fit. Maybe she will eventually, who knows, but I think the kiss especially was more symbolic for the truce between Capitol and Districts than foreshadowing of a potential future for them BUT MAYBE, I don’t know , maybe they got a chance somehow

Book!Effie otherwise I don’t really think so, how could she stay in the Capitol, after everything that happened and alone (even if some people she knew before the war survived how could they understand the experience of being jailed, tortured or even else?)

On the other end, for Haymitch it’s actually his chance to have a family. They already got kids together , maybe they could have a chance at comforting each other for good this time. Safely and without the constant threat of someone being murdered.

Protecting each other’s, being safe and trying to rebuild themselves a day at a time. Like a family.

And that’s it, I’m basing my opinions on canon events only , as few as we got, and free interpretations . Of course with the movie it’s a totally different story but I’m mostly interested in the book potential because of how many things are left unsaid or implied.

If someone managed to read until here you deserve a forehead kiss, muah❣️

#thank you for listening to my nonsense #I needed to put it out somehow for some reason #I think ​tbosas is very useful here because it gives a tiny prospective of what the Capitol thoughts on district actually is #and thg basically is the district pov #so we got a lil bit of both #I really think Haymitch is too smart for that tho

[gehtsis]

'In Which Celebi and Cresselia Have A.. Lesser Than Friendly Chat'

Celebi finds out that Twig was alive during the 30 years where she was presumably dead, and with Cresselia being the only one who knew where she was and all the while choosing not to say a word to Twig's friends who were mourning the death of a a person who was alive. Celebi decides to share her own two cents on the matter. A thingie I wrote for @sincerely-sofie and her Mortality Exchange AU, because why not?

Celebi wasn't one to hold grudges. Or resentments, for that matter.

Now, all of that depended on how and where you knew the little lady from.

Be it from the once-cold and tethering future or from the warm and chilly present, you'd always see her as this cheeky and cheery individual who would always have a smile stapled on her face, who just likes to goof on and about for no reason.

But as of recently, Celebi didn't feel like that.

It all started 30 years ago, on one faithful morning. Twig, one of Celebi's friends, simply.. disappeared. Nobody knew where she went or how, as the only clue that everyone had was that it happened at night. Perfect enough for no witnesses to see. And the worst of all? There were no traces left behind. She was gone. Like the wind, she came and she went.

Treasure Town underwent a rather depressing change with her disappearance. Wigglytuff's Guild issued that all explorers will scout any possible dungeon and report any signs of Twig, be it from the closest Beach Cave or as far as the Zero Isles.

They all returned empty handed.

The future only became darker as people eventually started giving up, simply choosing to accept the fact that she was gone. That she isn't coming back.

Those strings of words made the minds of Twig's friends hurt, and almost hurl at the implication.

Kip, her partner, never stopped looking for her even after everyone gave up. He stayed up nights, trying to figure out just who or WHAT was capable of taking her away, and for what reason. Even after decades and having to evolve out of distress, he never stopped looking for her. He would've rather perish than accept that she was gone for good. Be it out of determination or out of desperation, he wasn't gonna stop.

Grovyle, her closest friend, grieved in his own way. Constantly blaming himself for Twig's disappearance, almost as if he was somehow supposed to know that something like this would happen. He stayed up countless nights, not having the willpower to face whatever nightmare was conjured for him after all of this. It was depressing to see him this way. At one point, he set out to the other regions, hoping to find Twig there and pray for a chance that it wasn't too late.

Dusknoir.. grieved the hardest. Knowing his own history with Twig, the fact that she was gone played with his heart while simultaneously ripping it out. Despite maintaining such a collected look on his own face, he was mourning.

Everything felt dim. As of something essential was ripped from everyone's lives, and it slowly deteriorated them. Celebi felt like this. She hated it. She missed Twig. She missed her so, so much. But there was nothing to be done. She was gone. And all they had to do now was accept it, and move on.

... Or so they believed.

A week ago, Kip was escorting a guild of explorers that were on an expedition to the ruins that were a few good miles away. Something about the place having a curse that made people fall asleep in there forever when they get tired, apparently.

Obviously, with the hell-load of Chesto Berries everyone packed, falling asleep may as well be a dream. But the biggest thing that was discovered within said ruins was what CAUSED the curse.

It was a Charizard. It boasted a different appearance, almost akin to a Mega Evolution counterpart, yet it's body looked entirely different.

And yet.. it only took one good look from Kip to know who it was. He immediately recognized her. And she recognized him. Twig.. was alive.

With her return, life returned to Treasure Town, and after the lovely reunion (and Celebi zipping all the way to Grovyle who was on the literal other side of the globe at this point to tell him the news), everything was good and happy once more.

At least Celebi hoped it was. She eavesdropped on a conversation that Twig had with Dusknoir, something about her explaining just how and WHERE she was.

".. I ran away, more or less. Turns out that when I killed Darkrai in Dark Crater, I just sort of.. got his powers? I didn't want to hurt everyone, especially after people only started recovering from Darkrai's grip on their dreams.."

"While I appreciate your intentions, you must be aware that you've had all of us absolutely worried, Twig. For the longest time, we all thought that something horrible happened, and nobody even knew WHERE you were."

"I mean.. you'd almost be correct with that last part."

".. How come?"

Twig went on explaining that Cresselia essentially knew where she was. Something about her having some kind of ability to see where Darkrai was back when he was alive to ensure he wouldn't cause all that harm. And since Twig IS Darkrai, it also worked with her.

And Celebi was absolutely enraged with that fact.

Now, Celebi and Cresselia didn't know each other that well for Celebi to form her own opinion, but she DID come to take a few Lunar Feathers for when Grovyle and Kip were on the brink of collapsing from the lack of sleep they went through. Celebi eventually told her about what happened to Twig and how much she misses her, with the latter talking about her own experiences with both Twig and Kip and how they ventured off to fight against Darkrai -- doing something that most people would consider a death sentence -- in his own domain.

Celebi didn't want to mention it, but everytime she talked about Twig.. Cresselia acted rather odd.

She barely made eye contact with Celebi as she spoke, fidgeting with her own hands or her mouth curling into a distasteful frown. Almost as if she wanted to know something, but chose not to.

Celebi believed that maybe Cresselia was processing the grief in a different way than did. That this was just natural for her.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Not only did she pour her heart in front of Cresselia about how the person she saw as a family was simply gone, but the latter just chose to ignore all that grievance and act like it didn't matter; all the while knowing that the person who everyone grieved for was just a few miles away.

To say she was enraged was an understatement. This was a new low, this.. this was just indescribable. Celebi never felt so angry, and she dealt with Dusknoir and Primal Dialga before.

But this? This felt like someone spit in her face and rubbed it all in.

She was gonna give her own two cents on this very predicament to Cresselia, but she couldn't just fly off without notifying anyone.

Grovyle, Kip and Twig -- Arceus bless their hearts -- all knew that something was going on with Celebi. It was obvious. Clear as day. But she held out on, just to ensure that no one would get too worried.

But opportunity struck like gold as Twig voiced her worries about her powers causing everyone to have nightmares again, with Dusknoir suggesting to ask Cresselia for some Lunar Feathers to ensure that Twig gets to stay AND the nightmare problem is solved.

Celebi was on board with bringing the Feathers best, as Twig will have a reason to not run away again and Celebi could get her message across to the ol' crescent head. It was a win-win!

Leaving the warm and humble home back in Treasure Town, Celebi's expression steeled as she made her way to Cresselia's place, hands curled into fists and determination harder than a Steelix.

Now, trying to fight a Legend is foolish. Cresselia was very much out of Celebi's power capabilities, and trying to fight her would only create more issues than it would with problems, and the possibility of accidentally finishing off Cresselia and gaining her powers was an entirely new bucket of problems.

But Celebi wasn't gonna use power, not at all. It's like how that one saying went.

'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.'. Oh, she was gonna make sure those words hurt, alright.

After making her way to the top of the mountain Cresselia lived on, Celebi came face to face with none other than the Lunar Pokemon herself, with the latter meditating and not noticing Celebi's presence.

Celebi made a loud and clear 'ahem' to let her know of her presence, to which Cresselia was very alerted by, not before seeing who made the source and calming down when seeing it was only Celebi.

"Ah, Celebi. Good afternoon. How can I help you?"

Celebi let off a very coy smile, sending off the vibes that she was totally okay on the outside, even though she was seeping with anger on the inside.

"Heeeey, dear. I'm just gonna need some of your feathers again, if you don't mind. I feel like we may need a use for them soon."

".. I see. I can spare a few, I suppose."

Giving her the slick Lunar Feathers, Celebi gave her thanks before pretending to walk away, not before stopping by the way down.

"Actually, darling, there's something I wanted to tell you about. You remember my friend, Twig, right?"

Something about the way Cresselia's twitched at the mention of Twig's name spoke volumes, and it gave Celebi just about enough legitimation on how to act next.

".. I am aware of her, yes."

"Good! Good. You see, turns out she was alive all this time. Her friend found her huddling away at some old ruins far from Treasure Town. I was so happy and relieved when I saw her. It felt like a piece of my life was finally brought back! But you see, I heard her say something that has rather.. caught my interest, and I just wanted to know if you can confirm that or not."

Cresselia was silent for a moment. Be it out of anticipation or worrying, Celebi know she has her on the ropes.

"That thing being..?"

"Twig said something about you knowing where she was all this time. Something about you having the ability to know where Darkrai was, and by extension Twig since she took his place."

"Now, the last thing I wanna do is point blaming fingers here, my dear Cresselia, but do tell me this. Why did you choose to hide the fact that she was still alive from us, all the while allowing us to grieve and mourn like it meant nothing to you?"

Cresselia was silent once more, but her face displayed more panic than it ever did in their previous encounter. The truth was out, and the Delcatty was out of the bag.

"Celebi, listen. I can understand that you're upset! But you need to understand that Twig specifically asked me to avoid telling any of you where she was! And I respected her wishes! There was nothing I could really do in the matter as her counterpart!"

At this point, whatever calm and collected facade Celebi had up has practically desolved into nothingness. She may regret saying what she'll be saying in the future, but at this point, she may as well say what she has to.

"Oh, sure, darling, sure. There was absolutely nothing you could've done.. besides realizing that the wish was SO BLATANTLY SELF-DESTRUCTIVE!! GOOD GOD, ARE YOU CALLED THE LUNAR POKEMON BECAUSE OF YOUR FEATHERS, OR BECAUSE YOUR HEAD IS SO FAR UP THAT IT'S CONSIDERED A CELESTIAL OBJECT?!"

Cresselia was immediately taken aback by the comment, but something about the look in her eye showed that she acted as though she deserved any part of this. Celebi only spiraled downwards from here.

"I LOVED HER LIKE SHE WAS MY OWN FAMILY! I FELT LIKE MY SOUL WAS GETTING CRUSHED WHEN I FIRST HEARD SHE DISAPPEARED, AND HOW EVERYONE AROUND ME FALL INTO NOTHINGNESS AS SHE DID. AND YOUR SELFISH, PRICKLY LEVITATING BUM JUST SAW THIS AND MOVED ON. WHY?!"

"Because I didn't want another Darkrai scenario to happen, alright?!"

Celebi froze at that statement, almost having to rehear it as she did. She wasn't exactly well versed about what happened between Legends, but she was intrigued as to what might've happened to require such a promise to follow.

".. How come?"

"The reason Darkrai ended up the way he did was because no one was there to love him, with me only kicking him aside when he could not control himself. I believed that if I could change myself with Twig, I believe that may I could prevent a second Darkrai scenario. She kept insisting that she was fine where she was, so I eventually set her off on her own!"

Celebi could only remember how Twig looked like during the day she was found. She looked scared. So, so scared. Filled with such immense power, yet she couldn't even bring herself to be around people out of fear.

"Cresselia.. do you want me to tell you how Twig looked like when her partner brought her back home? She was suffering. She was dehydrated. She was hungry. She was tired. Every part of her body just made her feel more ashamed of herself, and it tore her apart. Is that supposed to be 'okay' for you, dear?"

Cresselia could no longer respond this time. All she did was look down in shame, with Celebi's judgemental gaze not leaving her at all.

"You.. I have no words for you. I can't even stand to look at you anymore. I need to go."

Celebi began making her way down, before Cresselia piped up again and called Celebi as she looked miserable and regretful. Celebi was gonna stick out her tongue and bolt away as she did, but at learning and listening to just whatever this scum of the earth has to say would be entertaining enough.

".. Celebi, can I at least tell you send something to Twig before you go?"

"Fine. Whatever. Get on with it."

"I wanna tell her that I am sorry. For everything, with my whole heart. And I am so sorry that I have done such a.. horrid and selfish thing to you all."

Celebi was silent. The quietness strew between them. It felt suffocating.

".. Okay. I will."

Celebi left, and Cresselia was left alone with her own woes on the mountaintop. In the end, she wondered. She could only think about all the indirect pain she caused. It was overwhelming.

[sonkitty]

Crowley S2 Hair Post #18 Redone

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 2, The Clue, meeting with Shax in the car

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are long and are what I've generally gone with calling the default demon reading from the car. Once Shax is inside the car, the lighting favors Crowley's right. So, the left sideburn looks more full in hair than his previous demon encounters and the preceding night's miracle.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

For the most part, there are two more saturated red streaks that can be found above Crowley's left eye. They are close together and spread a little between each other.

...

Hairstyle Changes

The hair is darker and not as saturated compared to when it was last seen charged up with so much red for the miracle in episode 1. Based on my own observations, the darkness can be attributed to Crowley being in his demon space with the car. One could guess he's been in the car for awhile since he's asleep at the start of the scene.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

This scene is quite unusual because so little is shown of Crowley's hands and him making pockets with his own body using a limb or fingers or hands. I think the scene is designed to offer clues to The Window Trick, which is the last Threshold Trick of the season at the end of episode 6. It concludes right before Muriel's last scene.

Crowley starts with his arms folded in the car, presumably with his back to the seat. Due to the camera's movement, the nearby buildings cast a darkness that looms over the front window, allowing part of Crowley to be seen more clearly, such as the longer sideburns. Still, due to where the camera stops, it's not as clear with the window pane's glare that Crowley's right shoulder is touching the back of the seat. It's a good guess, just not easily seen. Meanwhile, his left shoulder could be in the space between seats.

Due to this position, he is covering the thumb joints and thumbs of his Tied Hands.

Shax knocks on the window. Her hand's reflection can be found in the window pane this time.

When Crowley opens the window, it's more clearly confirmed that yes, he has his right shoulder on the back of the seat.

Shax is not reflected in his sunglasses. For The Window Trick, there will be humans walking to Crowley's right that will have parts of their bodies reflected in his sunglasses to indicate what he sees.

Generally, I've interpreted that to mean that Crowley doesn't see the way humans see by choice because it works to his advantage to sense with his eyes instead. The sense operates in a very similar manner to seeing while not actually seeing the way most humans understand it. His special sight is what allows him to perform The Window Trick at all because he can show what the windows of his sunglasses see, and that it changes when he moves enough for the reflections to disappear.

Such things also help communicate that the ending trickery is not an appearance swap because only Crowley could even do it with how he uses the sunglasses as his own double door set with lenses for windows. Well, at least I would hope so given all the effort put into the whole thing.

For Shax's "Hello," she greets Crowley with, "You're in trouble."

Once inside the car, Shax is shown with her right arm against the back of the seat. Crowley is also shown with his back to the seat.

Otherwise, the scene shifts to focusing on their head shots as they talk. Shax's reflection can at least be found in the window pane to her left.

The scene itself never shows Crowley closing the window but based on how things are structured, I would think the window by Crowley closed once Shax entered. Crowley's reflection is never found in it to be sure. Part of The Window Trick is indeed to leave the window open while blurring it and making it harder to confirm it's open while the reflections are happening. That blur is a pass or share with the sunglasses. However, The Window Trick ensures an open window with its full window frame is shown at its end. That's not what happens here.

There are white window frames of the nearby buildings, and these things repeatedly appear as reflected in Crowley's sunglasses throughout this scene. That's another clue to what Crowley sees and chooses to see with his special sight. Light is the most common reflection I've found in his sunglasses, but here, it's not light. It's something lighter in color and specific to the space of the supernatural zone outside his own domain of the car.

Plus, window frames themselves are important thresholds for figuring out the game's mechanics, both for looks and physical touches.

For paying attention to the pockets, the Tied Hands never show their thumbs or thumb joints. Or rather, the tie never shows its clasps and tassels. Only the knot is partly revealed early on before Shax knocked and then before the scene itself shifts to being outside the car as Crowley starts driving.

With the window open and addressing Shax, Crowley makes a pocket with is own ear, neck, and shoulder to the passenger seat of the car. Some of the plants and the cardboard box they are in is in that pocket. He is visually pocketed briefly between the greenery of the plants.

The plants are important to The Window Trick because it is their Green that represents the maintained Rainbow Connection between Crowley and Aziraphale after Aziraphale has completed The Door Catch. They represent Earth and a shared love for Earth. With my latest studies in these posts, they also contribute to how Crowley's sideburns shorten during the drives of the present day.

When Shax starts talking about the miracle, a self-made pocket of hair can be more clearly be seen on Crowley as he listens to what she says. This pocket contains some of the roof of the car.

The main pocket Crowley makes with a limb is when he uses his right arm to start the car before fully kicking Shax out of his space. The pocket is between his arm and the lower part of the screen. It visually contains the window pane, frame between the window pane and the door, and the door. As the camera zooms out, some of the steering wheel ends up included in the pocket before Crowley fully lowers his hand.

Once the closer head shots start for the conversation, the plants end up pocketed between Crowley and the right side of the screen. Such pockets keep happening. Meanwhile, they keep not happening with Shax. There is extremely little of the plants that can be found in the cut where her right arm is shown touching the seat. After that, she is framed without the plants in the car, even when they start shuddering.

Not only that, before Shax entered, she had a pocket between herself and her giant bow. Once she's in the car, she's not making that pocket anymore. I don't think she's avoiding that pocket on purpose. I think her play isn't advanced enough to consider that option. She does seem to be one of the more aware players in the game because she has one of the more notable play styles. She's very intentional about when she is willing to make skin contact touches, for instance.

She seems to continually "dress down" over the course of the season, when it comes to her head and not taking on the appearance of a specific human. Once the hat and gloves are gone from her earlier encounters with Crowley, she has a headband and earrings when she talks to Aziraphale in the car. Once the headband is gone, she has no hat or headband and smaller earrings in Hell, both in 1941 and the present day before she addresses the gathered group of demons. Once the earrings are gone to address that gathered group of demons, she has red highlights in her longer hair that last from that point onward.

If I'm remembering the overall series properly, she is allowed to say Crowley's name the most of anyone who isn't Aziraphale.

Back to this scene, when Crowley's right hand is finally seen after first opening the window, it's blurry. I can't make out the fingers and can only reasonably guess there's a thumb joint of relevance near the steering wheel.

For my tangential reading progress of a desperate attempt to improve my play, I have finished Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett and The Sandman Volume 2 by Neil Gaiman.

Guards! Guards! has at least two familiar passages that certainly resemble what can already be found in the Good Omens book and season 1. In Good Omens the book, the narration describes things as follows:

This proves two things: Firstly, that God moves in extremely mysterious, not to say, circuitous ways. God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players,* to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.

Note the game and "smiles all the time". Season 1 switches things so that God is a She, and She describes the game in much the same manner. I can assure you, the word "ineffable" has occurred to me in trying to describe and figure out the rules of Earthly Objects...the funny thing is, some rules can actually be found. You gotta look really hard and really think about it though. Still, they are there.

Now here's another "smiles all the time" in Guards! Guards!

Nobby looked up from the table in the corner where he was continually failing to learn that it is almost impossible to play a game of skill and bluff against an opponent who smiles all the time. The Librarian took advantage of the diversion to help himself to a couple of cards off the bottom of the pack.

Did Terry Pratchett have some challenging poker opponent who smiled all the time? Or is this some reference I don't get because the next batch is definitely a pop culture reference done many times over outside these two books? A quick Google search attributes some variation of the Good Omens quote to Neil Gaiman and the actual quote to the Good Omens book, so...it might be a joke they shared and he re-used.

Time for "feeling lucky", which a frequent pop culture reference to the Clint Eastwood movie, Dirty Harry. This reference is made in plenty of other places besides these books.

Here's how it goes down in the Good Omens book:

“Maybe I am,” said Crowley, in a tone of voice which he hoped made it quite clear that bluffing was the last thing on his mind. “And maybe I’m not. Do you feel lucky?”

And here's how it is in Good Omens Season 1:

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. Ask yourself: do you feel lucky?"

Now I doubt you were asking yourself if Crowley was making pockets for that scene in the TV series, but yeah, he was. There's a pocket between his right arm, chest, watch, left arm, and the bottom of the screen. There's yet another between the plant mister, back of the right hand, watch, and bottom of the screen. That then effectively puts his watch and some of his left arm in a pocket between the plant mister and chest. He's got all 5 digits of the right hand visible and his 1 right thumb for a *gasp* 6 digits total. As I've said before, 6 is a number strongly associated with Crowley himself in season 2. Also, when two hands are involved, that ensures over half of the 10 available digits are in use.

Anyway, so here's the "feeling lucky" bit in Guards! Guards!

“Now I know what you’re thinking,” Vimes went on, softly. “You’re wondering, after all this excitement, has it got enough flame left? And, y’know, I ain’t so sure myself . . .” He leaned forward, sighting between the dragon’s ears, and his voice buzzed like a knife blade: “What you’ve got to ask yourself is: Am I feeling lucky?” They swayed backward as he advanced. “Well?” he said. “Are you feeling lucky?”

Meanwhile in The Sandman Volume 2, guess who makes an appearance there and in Good Omens season 1? William Shakespeare.

Anyway, time to move on...

...

Story Commentary

It's Tactical Turtleneck Tuesday!

Well, the implied Tuesday anyway.

In season 1, Crowley wore a turtleneck while plotting to steal holy waiter in 1967.

It's got something to do with him enjoying James Bond movies and James Bond wearing a turtleneck at some point. So I've heard.

So, what's Crowley's scheme? What's so important that he chooses this day of the implied days to wear a tactical turtleneck? Well, this demon has been scheming quite a bit already with the sideburns, the Earthly Objects game, and in that game....pockets. Indeed, there is going to be some big-time pocket-scheming later because The Pocket Trick starts in this episode. Dun dun dun.

But not yet.

This scene with Shax is the last of the three demon visits to Crowley's own demon space where he kicks out the visiting demon from that space.

We aren't going to see Crowley in this special supernatural zone for the rest of the season. These are the clues we get and have to use them with the other pieces of the puzzle found elsewhere.

Studying this scene all the more, I still can't find any humans or animals. There are no flies this time around either. There are still plants inside and outside the car. In fact, the plants outside the car move as if in a breeze behind Shax to make me look all the more closely just in case I still somehow missed a human presence because of the movement. But no, it's still just plants as best I can tell.

As the scene starts, the car mirror from within can be seen positioned as if to face Crowley. That is to say, Crowley presumably made sure those sideburns were long before falling asleep.

In the Good Omens book, Crowley sleeps because he likes it. He doesn't need sleep, but he's found it to be one of the pleasures of the world. So, here, I generally assume the same. It's probably also what allows Shax into the supernatural zone compared to her earlier phone call in episode 1. For that visit, I believe Shax had to wait up to an hour for Crowley to answer the phone.

When Shax brings up the "miracle of enormous power", Crowley looks like he's nervous and trying to hide it. She specifies the power as something "only the mightiest of archangels could have performed".

Crowley says, "How'd you know I didn't do it?" It sounds boastful, but there are a lot of signs in season 2 he's not just saying that. Shax herself doesn't deny the possibility.

That is one of several clues about Crowley's past rank as an angel.

Even so, Shax doesn't question further for if he did it and what it was.

An interesting technicality in the dialogue is that Shax says the miracle was "somewhere very close" to the bookshop—not in the bookshop or from the bookshop, like the angels will say to Aziraphale in an upcoming different scene. No, Shax said, "somewhere very close". The actual lightning Crowley shot out was very close to the bookshop, but it wasn't at night and happened before Beelzebub summoned him—well, according to the deceptive presented story that is. He did recall that power with less dramatic flair very close to the bookshop after the summon that night, I'll admit.

I mentioned earlier in the Earthly Objects section above about the window frame reflections and will add a little more here. I was recently going over season 1 after noticing certain things in the minisodes, and I did find one place where Crowley does have a person, Aziraphale, reflected in his sunglasses and moving. That's been a big factor in why I've considered The Window Trick reflections so important and special. Such reflections generally do not appear in Crowley's sunglasses. Even when people are seen reflected on the sunglasses at least three different times in Good Omens 2 that are not The Window Trick, they are not shown to be moving.

In season 1, this found moment I refer to is not when Aziraphale is discorporated, which is also a special case on its own. Still, this found moment is when they are entering the car after leaving the tent for the birthday party, and Crowley's about to contact Hell to ask about the hell-hound. Crowley has already opened the door to his car and not closed it yet. Aziraphale is entering. Then I can find Aziraphale moving and reflected in the sunglasses. Wow. I always keep an eye out for such things, afraid I've somehow missed it and still have missed that one. When Crowley opens the door to the car during The Window Trick and crosses the threshold, that's when the people reflections first show up. Said reflections do not show the faces of the bodies walking by. This found moment in season 1 does have Aziraphale's face.

~Start excerpt from my main post~

Crowley allowed Shax in by not verbally denying her entry and looking at where she would manifest. He kicked her out by non-verbally revving up his car even more after doing it once and giving her a second look. The home base understood it was about to de-activate and kicked her out.

~End excerpt from my main post~

I prefer to head-canon that the plants are scared because they sense Crowley's anger, not fear. He did easily kick out Shax, and even if his space did not have the special rules it does now, the last demon who didn't leave his car was discorporated by Crowley driving through a wall of fire in season 1.

While studying the minisodes, it looks like even hats affect how a space reads Crowley, so I'll at least acknowledge Shax is wearing a hat here, as she was in her last two encounters with him. Crowley isn't wearing a hat though he has altered his clothing enough to have a turtleneck for his shirt.

I haven't quite figured out how the hats make things go one way or the other because it's more like they change things when combined with factors like if there is fire around and what Aziraphale himself is doing with his hat, such as wearing it, removing it, plain touching it, or has a hat at all.

Focusing on this particular scene of season 2's present day, the sideburns stayed long whether Shax was inside or outside the car while she kept her hat on for both. The space is stationary and acting as a home when Shax enters. There's no visible fire though it's established the street is wet enough for visible water on Shax's arrival. The roof is visible for Shax and Crowley once she's in, though it stops being visible with her after the initial shot with her arm against the seat.

So, whatever is happening with hats doesn't force the sideburns to change here. The longer sideburns usually associated with supernatural readings for the present day—in the earlier episodes—stays on Crowley.

...

That's it for this post. Up next is a special one! We're going to the pub! The visit to the pub is the first touch of The Bigger Thresholds Trick.

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

...

Past version of this post:

Post #17 (meeting with Shax in the car)

The numbering between older and newer posts no longer matches because I went ahead and covered the first minisode scene with Crowley this time around. I'm almost caught up to where I left off before I put this project mostly on hold to study Earthly Objects.

#crowley #good omens 2 #good omens #david tennant #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #crowley sideburns #crowley s2 hair project #good omens theories #good omens theory

[gaygoetia]

Background Details in Helluva Boss S1 E1 - Murder Family

1. The Murder Family's House

There are a lot of clues in the background of the episode that the family are serial killers (and likely cannibals) before it's revealed to the characters.

This is mainly apparent from the décor (pelvis bone wallpaper, furniture made of human-looking bones and most blatantly a human head mounted on the wall) but also the human hand hanging out of the fridge and the various weapons covering the walls.

2. I.M.P City Details

The number on the fire engine is "420" - this is possibly a play on words based on the phrase "blaze it".

And I know this one has been brought up a few times already in other posts but I can't not mention the infamous billboard mentioned in the pilot and shown in the background not far from the office.

3. The I.M.P Office Building (Exterior)

The plated sign at the entrance of the building says "Succ Ink" with a hand-written sign underneath saying "I.M.P Floor 7", implying that the building is primarily used by Succubi and Incubi.

Additionally, the building is marked as condemned but Blitzo and co appear to have intentionally hidden this by covering up the sign with an I.M.P poster advertising their services (also shout out to the "Dick?" billboard in the background)

4. The I.M.P Office rooms (interior)

I actually first noticed this in a later episode but only realised when re-watching the series later that it was present in episode 1: There's a lemon tree in Blitzo's office with a sign saying "no whores", presumably referencing this infamous porn intro.

The main room of the I.M.P offices has tons of pictures on the walls but some particularly notable ones shown in this episode are:

A drawing (in Blitzo's signature style) of two imp-horses kissing. Considering the horns and markings, one of them seems to be based on Blitzo himself but it's not clear who the other horse is supposed to be, if anyone.

Another Blitzo drawing of a bunch of horses running.

A picture of Fizzarolli with an arrow through his neck (though based on the colours and clothing this may be robo-Fizzarolli specifically)

A picture of a person in a top hat with an arrow pointing to them saying "Loser". It looks like it might be Sir Pentious from Hazbin Hotel but I'm not totally sure (let me know what you think!)

The photo Luna's holding - the main thing that's notable about this one is that the boy in the picture seems to be the same one from the Helluva Boss pilot.

5. Blitzo's Horse Thing

In addition to all the aforementioned horse drawings, this episode introduces the first of Blitzo's horse toys/figurines which he keeps in his inner pockets and for some reason takes with him on assassinations.

That's it for episode 1 but let me know if there are any other fun details I missed and if there's enough I might make a part 2.

In the meantime, you can see all my other Helluva Boss background details posts here.

#helluva boss #my posts #blitzo

[dovithedarklord]

Age of Monsters - Chapter Fourteen

Pairing: OFC x Simon "Ghost" Riley, OFC x König

Tags: Slow Burn, Slow Build, Enemies to Lovers, Alternate Universe, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, POV First Person, Not Beta Read, Medical Inaccuracies, Military Inaccuracies, AFAB OC

Trigger Warning: The story will contain violance, blood and smut in detail. Please, keep that in mind!

⚠️MDNI⚠️

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Author's Note

New developments are revealed, and the small team gets involved in interesting new adventures.

Hello!

A little late, but Merry Christmas to you all!

I have a few trigger warning for this chapter! Detailed description of blood, violence and injury.

Have fun! :D

I.M.L. – Infected Mammal Lifeform I.H.L. – Infected Humanoid Lifeform

if you're interested you can find the story on AO3: Chapter Fourteen

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The soft ringing of the communicator fills the silence that settled between the walls of the office with a deafening sharpness, and with each passing second, the urge to smash the wretched device against the wall grows more and more. As I glance at the two Hunters standing next to me on my periphery, I can immediately identify that they are also raging with the exact same helpless fury and astonishment that is driving my consciousness towards a complete nervous breakdown. There is no denying that our little trip started rather unluckily, and ended with such a surprise that helps us slowly sink into a mess from which it's not certain that we will be able to climb out anytime soon. And although the burglars ransacked the whole place quite skillfully, we were left with enough clues to piece together what the hell could have happened in the slaughterhouse that the facility had become. After our little research, at Alejandro's suggestion, we made our way back to the base, and I had the opportunity to admire what kind of crumbs we managed to collect, and the fact that I became a naked, shredded nerve fiber is an understatement. Life has dragged many fools into this world from the womb of their mother, but Alviar surpasses all of them, with which the only non-negligible problem is, that we bear the brunt of his stupid god-role-play. Or rather, humanity.

Suddenly, the blue hologram appears from the device, and in the small window of the call our two friends forgotten at home take shape, who presumably retreated to Price's office and were already waiting for us on the edge of their seats to finally give word about the progress of our investigation. And it doesn't take the captain's keen eyes more than a few seconds to realize that something is very wrong, because as soon as he sees our trio and the gloom sitting on us, then any hopeful expression with which he might have joined our chat disappears from his face in a blink of an eye.

"Is there a problem?" Price inquires cautiously, and although his voice comes through the communicator crackling, I can clearly make out the seriousness in his tone. And judging by the way his eyebrows slowly meet on his forehead in a troubled grimace, it's evident that he's already started making theories in that sharp brain of his, wondering what we might have discovered during our hike in the mountains that helped us put on this gentle, ominous radiance in such beautiful unison.

"We're in some deep shit." MacTavish says almost immediately, perfectly summing up the conclusion of the clues we found with this one sentence. There is no mistake in my Scottish friend's statement, because as soon as we shared what we came across in the maze of the research institute, we quickly realized that the fucking chaos we experienced on the city mission was just a friendly little party compared to what the good doc cooked up in the basement of his humble residence. Because Alviar's handiwork has the potential to make us think back fondly to the experience that we enjoyed in or failed mission.

"To say the least." I add, pulling the corner of my mouth into a sour line, and as the very fresh sight of the strange corpse discovered in the lab pops up in my head, I don't try to stop the frown that moves to my face from the nervousness that has moved into my head. And this is enough for the two men waiting at the other end of the call to put on the well-recognizable features of confusion, now probably burning with the desire to finally have someone blurt out what the hell could have happened.

"What did you find?" The bearded Hunter asks, and even in the faint glow of the hologram, I can see doubt creeping into his blue eyes with insidious certainty, as he slowly realizes that we haven't contacted him in the company of the fantastic developments he was hoping for. At the beginning of our little adventure here, even I had the foolish hope that maybe fate would be kind and throw a complication in our path that we are able to iron out. But now I've learned that I shouldn't beg for karma, because every single time the bastard proves that it can and wants to show me surprises that make me lose my mind.

"The research institute is destroyed. Someone got there before us and killed everyone." My Scottish friend begins to elaborate on the events, and I catch it only from the corner of my eye, as his mouth presses into a thin line, and his unfocused gaze settles on the table, as if he wandered off to somewhere else in his mind for a moment. And I have a inkling that he is projecting the victims of the senseless bloodshed on the canvas of his consciousness again, as if he is looking for more motivation to brace himself for revenge, which he is no doubt considering. What a shame that we are once again left without a culprit, so there is no one to vent all the creative tricks of his brutality out on.

"Alviar created a mutant-human hybrid." I share this little tidbit with the captain quickly, leaving no time for him and Garrick to react to the first unfortunate incident. Because this is the detail that, in addition to the tragic silence of the facility, contributed to the tension inside me, which slowly helps my stomach shrink to the size of a tennis ball. And it seems that I'm not the only one who is filled with a sufficient amount of anxiety by the new information, because when the two Hunters on the other side of the line understand what I have shared with them, the icy shock of recognition appears on their faces with definite outlines. Because they also know very well that this is a catastrophic turn for us even in the best-case scenario.

"What?" The surprised question breaks out from Price, and I could swear that I have never had the pleasure of seeing the man so astounded. For a moment, the self-confident calmness slips from his face, and if the situation weren't so terribly serious, I would surely enjoy watching his mouth open in astonishment, like fish washed up to the shore, starving for oxygen. But now, even my witty little mind doesn't want to dwell on this, because the stress dancing on my nerves helps to direct my thoughts back to the topic immediately.

"Based on the notes found in the lab, he created a serum from the DNA of multigenerational mutants, which is capable of creating a lifeform from humans that is more intelligent than an I.H.L."  I summarize the knowledge of the myriad of documents I found, and this very simple fact sounds even more impossible when said out loud. I wasn't mistaken that I managed to stumble upon a whole gold mine on the computer, because I got my sly little hands on every single research and experimental log, observation record, and other similarly interesting tidbits created up to that point. And among the data I found in these documents, I had plenty of options as to what I wanted to be more horrified by. Alviar bit off more than one could chew with his entire work, because the virus that subverted humanity was too fast-changing from the beginning to even be able to make a vaccine against it. Although it became obvious after the appearance of I.H.L.s that the human body is also a suitable host for the pathogen, my dear colleague soon realized that he wouldn't be able to achieve results different from the original course of the infection if he tried to play with the virus itself. And even I can't deny what a brilliant idea it was on his part to use multigenerational mutants, because the changes of the infection in their genetic material remained stable enough for the doc to be able to work with it. The doctor made an amazing breakthrough, but it doesn't change the fact that only a full-blown idiotic fool would do something like that if he knew there was even the slightest chance of shit hitting the fan. And it did hit the fan, big time. "According to the test records, their physical strength and endurance is similar to that of other infected lifeforms, but in the case of hybrids, their cognitive abilities remain completely intact." I continue my not-so-rosy explanation, laying out the most important pieces of information in broad outlines, because I have a feeling that no one is interested in the exciting scientific details, but rather in the shit we are sinking deeper and deeper into every day.

As the shock on the faces of the two men freezes for a frightening moment on the projected image, it occurs to me that maybe technology is playing a cruel joke on us, and the connection with the home base has been lost. It's only then that I realize that only my little presentation has been too effective, when Garrick pushes himself away from the table with some colorful curses rolling off from his tongue, running his palms over his head in an angry motion, as though he wanted to test that he was really in reality and not just in some morbid dream. And I can sympathize with the existential crisis he must be going through, because even my brain had a hard time accepting that there are indeed such ambitious but extremely single-minded people who are willing to risk the fate of the world for the sake of their powerful friends and a fat credit or two.

"Bloody hell..." Garrick mumbles his insults under his breath, slowly clasping his hands behind the back of his head, directing his dark eyes to the ceiling, maybe looking for an answer there to those troubling doubts that are surely already filling his consciousness with ever-increasing enthusiasm. "But why?" The very legitimate question emerges from him, as he finally turns back towards the conversation and spreads his hands wide, channeling all his frustration in this one movement.

"They want to replace us." Riley also joins the conversation, and his voice reaches such dangerous depths that I can almost feel the poison raging inside him, hidden behind his mask of indifference, on my skin. His anger is understandable, because we were faced not only with the fact that my colleague cooked up a catastrophic new danger in the darkness of his basement, but also with the reality that with this thoughtless experiment, they also wanted to reshape the system that had been standing on an unsteady ground, to begin with. "There aren't enough of us, and there are more and more of the I.M.L.s."

From this one statement, the face of the Hunters on the other side suddenly turns into something quite scary, and the somber mood creeping into Price's features inevitably awakens the instinct of flight in me. Even though we are separated by thousands of kilometers, even through the image from the communicator, I can feel every single spark of hatred burning in those pair of bright eyes, which tells me that the doctor is almost lucky that someone else blew a hole into his head, because I suspect it was a still kinder death, than what the bearded man would want to give him after what he had heard.

"Based on the research data, they wanted to create artificial soldiers akin to the Hunters. But since they had no luck synthesizing the DNA of the Hunters, when they saw that during the new evolution of the virus, humans could also survive the infection, they thought they would give it a shot." I attach my explanation next to the masked Hunter's grim comment, briefly outlining the quite logical, but no less spineless and immoral solution, with which Alviar wanted to remedy the problems that have arisen in recent years. There is no doubt that the doctor started his work along a very real and pressing issue, no matter how much he went astray on a path full of dangers and moral questions. I also don't argue with the fact that with the spread of the virus and the interbreeding of the I.M.L.s, the amount of beasts to be exterminated has greatly multiplied, compared to which the Hunters, unfortunately, didn't manage to be born in sufficient numbers, of course. Several decades ago, with highly questionable reproduction experiments, the government already tried to create Hunters in a natural way, practically forcing both male and female Hunters to mate with each other. Of course, they realized the problem very quickly, because sadly both the Hunter and the Healer genes showed recessive inheritance, so although, with a sour taste in their mouth, the authorities were forced to leave the right to create their little butchers to nature and luck. And it seems that after many years the attempts have started again, first with the DNA of the Hunters, then after the failure, with that of the mutants. The goal was obviously to increase the number of people fighting against mutants with this new invention, and to create a species with whom there is no need to fear that they erase half a colony without regeneration. And this would indeed have been a very tempting solution if Alviar hadn't completely ignored the fact that the basic properties of the virus include not only the boosting of physical strength, but also aggression for its easy spread. Of course, this didn't stop my colleague from trying to make the new superweapon since the appearance of the first I.H.L.

"Nothin' is enough for these fuckin' bastards." MacTavish hisses from between his clenched teeth, shaking his head resignedly, and his voice is filled with such bitter anger that it makes me feel sorry for him for a fleeting moment. He feels betrayed, and even I can admit that he is right. He and his companions have put their whole lives on the line so that the people can live out their days in safety within the walls of the colonies, without having to worry about a beast gutting them alive. The same peace is enjoyed by the upstanding member of the government, who rest in the warmth of their offices, behind their desks, in the peace that their loyal dogs create for them by wading in blood. All this so that they can reach for the first solution, weak even as a hypothesis, with the greatest peace of mind, which may bring even more tamed fools to their feet to serve them. One might think that they do this out of love for their people, but only morons are so naive. The government knows too that a new tool is needed against the growing threat, so why not create something whose mental stability is not tied to conditions and can be sacrificed, because they can produce a new one to replace the dead at any time? They don't have to spend years and huge resources on their training, but with a tiny ampoule of miracle medicine, they can turn anyone into a weapon. It's just a bonus that they managed to get a large number of subjects for the experiments from the many law-breaking prison inmates. How fucking smart.

"And what about the I.H.L. from the city? Is that a hybrid too?" Garrick suddenly speaks up, thus diverting the conversation to another interesting component, which caused me quite a headache at first. Because the hybrid found in the morgue and the mutant-rider I.H.L. have very visible differences between them. While our friend observed in the city remained surprisingly human, it was disfigured in the same way as the rest of its species, although it hadn't turned into a grotesque, lanky creature, as unsuspecting victims do after being bitten. But the hybrid... It's a different story. Alviar produced a spitting copy of a full-grown, at least S-class Hunter, except for the abnormal sharpness of the teeth, the characteristic whiteness of the eyes, and the sickly paleness of the skin. That creature, with one or two negligible differences, is a human, not a degenerate monster.

"Oh, no. That one was bitten by a hybrid." I give this very simple answer, and as a wry smile makes its way to my lips, my two friends appearing on the hologram know as well that this isn't a joke. "The bite of the hybrid only affects humans, and the infection creates a less intelligent lifeform. Smart, but just enough to obey the hybrid and be able to attack in an organized manner. Only an improved I.H.L." I further elaborate on this subtlety, deepening the gloom of our companions listening to us in our small home, because this is certainly a fact that brings the mess we've fallen into full circle. If the existence of the hybrid itself were not enough, which according to the data easily rivals a Hunter in terms of physical strength and endurance, then we also have to face the fact that the bastard is also able to make its own little minions, thus creating an entire deformed army for itself. And the icing on the cake is that, unsurprisingly, the hybrid gets along very well with the other members of its little mutant family, and is able to play the role of the leader if it feels like it, thus bringing the diverse multitude of infected lifeforms under its power.

"If the hybrid was in the research institute, how could it bite anyone?" Garrick continues his quizzing, leaning on Price's desk with his palm, and it seems that his brain, stimulated by stress, is pouring out better and better insights, one after another. And I'm not surprised, because my little fan boy's mind is sharp as a knife, and he immediately put together the rather small detail that I couldn't grasp with my mind either, until we found the embarrassingly simple answer to it. "And how did that I.H.L. get this far?

"Easily. Because the hybrid was made-to-order."  Riley answers, spitting the words with contempt, and although he seems to be a model of composure and coolness even after such serious discoveries, I only need to observe the furrows slowly appearing around his eyes and the strong line of his jaw clenching under the material of the mask to know that it's not as easy to restrain his anger with an iron fist as it seems.

"What are you talking about?" Price frowns in confusion, and it seems that this statement fills him with a sufficient amount of foreboding to hold on to his desk and look for a way to ground himself. Although I suspect he guessed as well, that Alviar didn't choose this very interesting field of research out of pure passion, after we learned that the new threats were created by the hands of humans. With many years of experience behind his back, he knows all too well that in this wretched world, only the things that the authorities know about can be executed in the greatest secrecy. Because it's in their interest to hide problematic elements.

"I found Laswell's report in Alviar's office." MacTavish gets to the juicy bit of information he found in the doc's extravagant grave. As it turned out later, I was indeed not mistaken about the poetic sense of fate, because Alviar was executed in his own neat hole of an office. Based on the Scottish man's clever reconnaissance, the intruder probably killed the good doctor with a well-aimed shot after he conjured up the serum hidden in his safe. And I could pat myself on the back for my flawless intuition again, but it would be tasteless to make fun of the dead. His pathetic death is shameful enough for him even in the afterlife. "They wanted to deliver the final product to the customer a month ago, but a little whoopsie happened on the way and the bastard got out. Before he was captured, he bit two guards, one was killed on the spot, and the other was brought home so that the doc would have somethin' to examine."

After the Scottish Hunter shared the content of the report with us in the car, several of our burning questions were answered quite easily. The I.H.L. was able to travel thousands of kilometers undetected to the neighbor of Colony No. 17, because they were traveling there with what was able to create our mutant-riding friend in the first place. Alviar believed that after much effort, he had finally succeeded in creating the perfect specimen, which he could finally show off to his customer. However, he was quite ignorant about how sophisticated the hybrid he created was able to communicate, and he forgot to take into account the very small detail in his big experiment, that the mutants are also able to contact each other with pheromones. So why shouldn't a hybrid be able to perform such a magic trick? So, when the mutant intended for a weapon released its small chemical signals in the wild and the rescue army arrived in the form of monsters, the well-laid plan was overturned. Although the threat was defeated, the hybrid broke free and gleefully munched on two guards, who underwent a transformation so rapid, compared to what had been observed so far, that it was quite impressive. Under normal circumstances, it would take a few days for the changes to kick in, but here the two victims began to mutate very quickly in a matter of minutes. One was shot dead immediately, but Alviar insisted that the other to be saved, so that his sneaky hands could get closer to him. So the tattooed man survived the entire ordeal to turn into an experimental subject, and the one, who was believed to have been left behind to die, easily healed himself with the abilities he developed from the virus and set off to the nest where we later met him. It's a real fucking bedtime story.

"Who was the customer?"  Comes the question from Price, and by the sinister curve of his mouth, it's quite clear that although he wants to hear it with his own ears, he has a candidate who is so reckless as to commit such a despicable act. And before, I would have made fun of the man for so blindly ignoring the many small steps that led up to this point. Because there could have been a whole series of subtle little signs that the sharp-eyed captain should have noticed much sooner. But the fact that fate has once again confirmed another theory of mine doesn't fill me with joy, because my soul aches from the bitter lines of betrayal slowly settling between the Hunter's features.

"Shepherd." Riley shares the name that rests next to Alviar's signature on every single research document, his deep voice filled with a piercing loathing that makes it painfully obvious how much he feels stabbed in the back. It's impossible not to notice the way his broad shoulders tense up as his hands clench into fists, as if he wanted to keep chaining his body to immobility with this, before the anger that burns beneath the surface with the heat of slowly bubbling lava erupts.

The masked man isn't the only one who is disturbed by this development, because the room is enveloped in stunned silence as the two Hunters on the other side of the hologram fall quiet upon hearing the shocking information. And I suspect that the fact, that the hand of the leader of Colony No. 17 reaches so deeply into this slow-boiling, bloody upheaval can be enough to make anyone sick. The very person who decided to manufacture disposable replacements was the one who entrusted the unit with the noble task of cleaning up his dirt. Of course, it makes sense why the colony leader entrusted the small team with the task of eradicating the nest, and why he wanted to end the case as quietly as possible. He probably knew what made the I.M.L.s befriend their humanoid counterparts from the moment that wretched footage of the merchant's attack surfaced. He was well aware that the frenzy of his new toy had created the fuckup into which he was most happy to send us to erase, along with every little trace of his crime. The only thing the old man didn't consider was what would happen when his loyal subjects started asking questions, when they found themselves face to face with the terrible mess he had managed to create with the doc. Shepherd was conceited enough to think he didn't have to fear the bites of his loyal dogs. And most of the time it's this presumptuous stupidity that causes the fall.

"That fuckin' scumbag." Garrick snaps in disbelief, filtering the words between his teeth as his expression slowly turns into a snarl of rage. And he isn't alone in his indignation, because I suspect, that the only thing that keeps the Scottish Hunter and his threatening bosom friend in a transient state of calm is that it wouldn't be their own equipment on which they would vent out their anger, should they decide to let the ire pulsing through them in sure waves take control over them.  But unfortunately, it's not the time for legitimate resentment, because we have to face a much more urgent complication than the grievances of Unit 141 against the colony leader.

"The hybrid was eliminated after that because it was found to be too dangerous. But the serum was very much preserved. And someone found it long before us." I sprinkled this tiny little nothing that gives me far more cause for concern now than Shepherd's and Alviar's questionable business dealings. For although there is no evidence that the serum was stolen by those who turned the whole facility upside down with such great enthusiasm, it doesn't take more than a few working brain cells to realize what could have been so terribly valuable, that made them visit the facility at all. This drug contains a myriad of horrible possibilities if it falls into the wrong hands, and surely the person who ransacked Alviar's nice home was aware that there was a market niche that he could serve with it.

"We need to find out who took it." Price states almost immediately, formulating the obvious next step for our little team. Because there is no doubt that the culprit needs to be found before they have a chance to pass on the goods. Once we lose the trace of that serum, I have a feeling that the next time we have a chance to catch up with it is when someone has already destroyed half the world using it.

"The bastards tricked the security system, but they weren't thorough enough." Alejandro joins the discussion of the clues, who has been following our increasingly tense discussion silently from a small corner of his office. With determined steps, he gallops closer to our little trio to conjure up from the depths of his pocket the one small object what's existence equals the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel. "We found this." He raises the insignia in front of the hologram, on which a rather morbid skeleton-like creature announces the sign of the organization whose brave members have wandered into the research institute for a bloodshed-filled holiday. Although the perpetrators were resourceful enough to temporarily disable the security system in some clever way, they probably didn't have enough brainpower left in the middle of the rampage to not leave one of their dead comrades behind with the clear marking that Alejandro can now show off from his gloved hand to the two men on the other side of the call. Very stupid from the scumbags who had time to play tag with the poor staff of the research institute.

"It doesn't look familiar to me."  Garrick comments, shaking his head in confusion, after squinting at the symbol embroidered on the emblem, giving voice to the not-inconsiderable dilemma that crushed our joy in two. Because we found this precious little thing in vain, if none of my fellow knowledgeable Hunters even have the faintest idea about who it belonged to. However, it can be a very organized team if they have produced such a scout badge for themselves.

"Neither to us. But there is someone who knows everyone." Alejandro notes, bringing up the juicy bit of information he shared with us not long ago, giving us a possible way out of the rather hopeless situation in which we found ourselves. "El Sin Nombre. A lowly criminal, but might know who this symbol belongs to." He explains, and his mouth curls in such a sour scowl that it is clear that the unknown villain was involved in enough quastionable deals to establish the Hunter's dislike.

"Catch the bloody arsehole." Our captain issues his firm instructions, giving us the starting push for our next action. "Until then, we make sure that Shepherd won't have another peaceful night." He assures us, and there is an edge to his voice that I can hear from what painful threat he has in store for the colony leader. Because the dark expression that slowly spreads across the face of the bearded man instills that icy temper in his eyes, that promises nothing but revenge and suffering. As I turn my gaze to the unfriendly pair of MacTavish and Riley, I know that they are quite inspired by their captain's drive as well, because even though they can't personally approach the leader of our colony for a little chat, there is someone else they can let out their frustration on. And the poor fool has no idea what kind of storm is approaching.

⃰

Booming music fills the peace of the night, and the flashes of colorful lights from the building not far from us announce what kind of fun is taking place within its walls. And even I think, that it's quite brave that anyone dares to party so cheerfully in the orange zone, even if they are criminals. Of course, I understand that such people have to keep up the act of coolness when they are passing the time behind god's back in the middle of important business negotiations, but I doubt that these tough guys would feel so peachy in pieces if this ruckus encouraged a mutant to join in the fun. And it doesn't matter how many traps they have set up around their little hideout, if anyone can disarm it with playful ease. Although it could also be true that only my Hunter friends have such unique skills, with which they eliminated the tricky little surprises that greeted us when we came to them in a pitifully short time.

Although it must be said that the run-down building in the middle of the wilderness is, if not from the point of view of the mutants, in a perfect place for hiding from the authorities. Just far enough from the colony to avoid prying eyes, and just close enough to return to the walls for a leisurely business meeting at any time. And while one would think that the patrols would easily find a dilapidated structure in the middle of the forest, according to Alejandro's information, this misled them many times so far. Dozens of such crumbling piles of bricks lie in the jungle surrounding the colony, and these cunning little thugs move from one to another so quickly that by the time the authorities get wind of where they hide, they have already done a disappearing act, leaving behind nothing but empty ruins. So terribly sly.

And maybe that's the reason why it took Alejandro two full days to find any kind of usable clue, which told him where this scoundrel named El Sin Nombre wanted to show up again. He'd had to break quite a few noses to get the coordinates of our date tonight out of someone, but I wasn't wrong about him being able to get anything if his fiery drive pushed him to act. Because although it took time, he led us to the abandoned warehouse, where we now lurk under the cover of night like a pack of wolves on the hunt for prey.

The bass drifting away with the wind fills me with an almost nostalgic feeling, because it instantly reminds me of those carefree times, when I didn't have to kneel in the mud, behind a bush and hide without a sound, but I scouted my dinner for the day to a similar rhythm. Those were indeed the easier times when I roamed the streets of the colony as I pleased, but now that life is nothing more than a fond memory left behind. Because for some reason, I don't regret for a minute that I can indulge in the umpteenth excitement of the last few days together with my small team. My eyes automatically search for my two companions, and although I see nothing but shadows moving in the distance and the fleeting flashes of two pairs of glowing red eyes, I know that not far from me they too are following with the same intense attention as I am, how Alejandro and his men slowly sneaks closer to the building.

The Hunter and his soldiers tiptoe between the cars parked in front of the crime den with such invisibility that even I have to concentrate to spot the metallic glint when the knife of one of the men dressed in black sinks into the tires of one of the cars. And suddenly, Alejandro's teaching, which he shared with me while improvising today's action plan, dawns on me. Or there is only one way to catch pests. They have to be smoked out of their nests, so that they then voluntarily run into the outstretched arms of the predator waiting for them. And I have to admit that even I was impressed by Alejandro's slyness, with which he invented the details of our mission, after the interrogated moron finally got chatty enough to spill the info after the unit leader’s rather forceful nagging. And if I take into account that this method also works on mutants, why wouldn't it work on a couple of bandits who will flee the moment the ground gets even a little hot under their feet.

The infiltrating team eliminates the guards lurking around the building with ruthless efficiency, and their victims have no chance to defend themselves, because the soldiers ambushing them appear and cut their throats as quickly as a snake attacking its prey. And when, after a few minutes, the last guard is on the ground, they all gather in front of the entrance of the warehouse, ready to begin the part of the operation where they make the rabbit jump out of the bush, which has no idea how dangerous guests wandered to the threshold of its humble abode.

"Victor 1-1 here. We're moving in " Comes the announcement of the head of the unit on the radio, and my hands automatically wrap tighter around the grip of my pistol, as the adrenaline awakening in my body prepares me for action. The two soldiers hiding not far from me ready themselves for the fun as well, and through the scope of their weapons, they are looking for every small opening that serves as a possible exit from the building, so that they can immediately pounce on anyone who dares to show up from there.

"Copy. We're ready." Riley answers, and as the cruel calmness hiding in his voice creeps into my ears, the excitement in my stomach also stirs up. I could have gotten used to how quickly the man gathers his cool composure, but I'm more and more impressed by the icy purposefulness that fills his thick-accented baritone when he takes on the role of the fearless Hunter. And that makes my heart rate go up, and excitedly pumps the energy ready for action in my body, which makes all my senses suddenly become a thousand times sharper. Because now that I finally don't have to fight for my survival, and I don't have to worry about my own bodily integrity, I can enjoy this adventure a little more.

Alejandro only hesitates for a minute, and in the dull light coming from the building I see him slowly counting down on his hands, so that when he gives the starting push with a wave, he opens the huge door with a single kick to throw the smoke bombs into the crowd inside, and taking advantage of this sudden surprise, pushes into the warehouse with his men. The sound of gunshots mixes with the melodious sound of music, almost providing an undertone to the rapidly developing chaos. Loud shouts penetrate the noise, as the flash of the firing weapons breaks through the colorful dance of the rhythmically changing lights, and the startled members of the crowd caught in the act appear as dark silhouettes on the dirt-obscured glass of the windows. The leader of the unit was indeed right, because although one or two of the more reckless gang members start to fight the soldiers, the others decide to escape ridiculously quickly. As soon as the first window is broken, and a figure dressed in a tacky shirt jumps out to start running toward the depths of the forest, then a rifle is fired from among the trees, and the man falls to the ground, like a sack of flour. This part of our plan may even seem cruel, where we take down all those who try to escape one by one, strictly avoiding to cause a fatal wound if possible, but I have no doubt that if the roles were reversed they would be more than happy to send a bullet into the skull of any of us. We need only one person, and only she must stay alive.

"Take down everyone except the woman!" The noise of the slowly unfolding disorder is interrupted by the yelling of the masked man on the radio, reminding everyone of the most important task of our small group waiting in ambush, and upon hearing the order, the soldiers kneeling next to me aim at the figures rushing out of the building without hesitation. It seems that we may have disturbed a very important party, because each of the thugs, emerging from the structure like frightened birds, are loaded with jewels and weapons that are way beyond the reach of ordinary people. And they start a headlong rush immediately, taking off with pathetic terror for being big-shot criminals. There are a few halfwits among them who jump into their cars to try to get away, but they soon realize that our sly team deprived them of the chance of this escape route a long time ago. And when they become aware of this, they decide to seek cover behind the vehicles and try to target us with their guns instead, but all in vain, because they cannot find any of us, hidden by the protective cover of the bushes and trees.

"The target has disappeared! She left the building!" Alejandro's infuriated yelling disturbs my tense observations, and this is enough information for everyone to get nervous all at once. It's no wonder that everyone tenses up in the blink of an eye, and I hear my Scottish friend's angry swearing in my ears, because this is not good news at all. Because the criminal, which we threw this whole party together for, according to the plan, should have been caught inside by the intruding team already. Since, according to Alejandro, the woman has a bad habit of fleeing as soon as there is even the slightest chance of escaping, and she vanishes again and again just when she is within arm's reach. And if we lose sight of her, we lose the chance to find out who stole our serum.

And this fills my body with just enough adrenaline to turn towards the firefight unfolding in front of the warehouse with intense concentration. But slowly it becomes impossible to make out which new unknown thug burst out of the building, who are the ones who are running and speeding towards the thick of the forest, or who are the ones who are bold enough to try to fight back against their invisible attackers. Suddenly, everything turns into a cavalcade of raining bullets, inarticulate yelling, and shadow-like figures, and it becomes more difficult by the minute to make out anything in the upheaval.

Maybe it's due to my sharp eyes, or the universe is finally smiling at me, because as my gaze darts around in the madness of the fight, for a moment I catch a slender figure on my periphery sneaking almost imperceptibly between the barrels lined up behind the warehouse. A single cry is heard in my brain almost immediately, and it echoes in my skull that I must not let the lowlife escape. My body moves on its own, and almost without thinking, I jump up to back away from our hiding place, ignoring the soldiers who look up in confusion from their weapons, keeping my eyes on the target. Someone is throwing rushed Spanish words at me, probably trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing, but it's muffled by the sound of gunshots. They don't have the chance to react, because I start running with such hasty steps that by the time they come to their senses, I'm already gone.

My legs nimbly carry me through the ground of the forest teeming with roots, and I don't pay attention to the attack of the twigs cutting into my face, because the momentum of the stress hormones raging in my muscles drives me forward instinctively. And as I emerge from the underbrush and bolt forward, avoiding the thousand and one rust-gnawed junk lying on the edge of the battlefield, left behind by the people who worked here perhaps decades ago, then I continue to sprint, embraced by the background noise of the gunshots, like a predator that has caught a scent. Maybe the enemy also sees me, and I feel something whizzing past my ear, but luck seems to be on my side, because not a single bullet hits me, and suddenly a cold determination takes over me that allows me to focus on just one thing. On the woman heading toward the trees, who rushes forward without caring about the turmoil unfolding behind her, leaving each of her accomplices to their fate, like a real cowardly scumbag. But I won't let her disappear.

As soon as I get close enough, I aim my pistol at the gangster who reaches the tree line, and even though I know that my skills are nowhere near sophisticated enough, I pull the trigger before I can talk myself out of it. And I'm even amazed at how close I came to hitting her, because it was only because of the woman's sudden movement that the bullet pierced the trunk of the tree instead of her shoulder. But unfortunately, this is enough of a warning for her to realize that she is caught, and when she flashes her irritated eyes at me, I know that I have to hurry, because from now on I won't be able to surprise her. I start firing again, taking advantage of the opportunity while I still find her in my field of vision, and when she suddenly disappears in the darkness of the forest, I only suppress the colorful words that climb to my tongue and increase my already fast speed.

Without hesitation, I throw myself between the trees to immediately follow the woman's trail, but I can hardly get inside, when suddenly out of nowhere a stick the size of my forearm swings towards me, and it hits my hand clutching the pistol with such deadly accuracy that my fingers involuntarily release their grip due to the force of the blow. I halt with a gasp, as the pain radiates through my arm, and I know from the slow throbbing ache in the back of my hand that I will collect a nice little bruise from this. My gun lands in the leaves with a soft thud as it slips out of my grasp, and I don't have enough time to get over my surprise and reach for a new weapon, because my attacker steps forward from behind one of the thick tree trunks, and unlike me, these few seconds were enough for her to prepare for the fight.

The hunting knife clutched in her gloved hand glints metallically in the light that penetrates through the foliage, and it's only thanks to my sharp reflexes that she doesn't slits my throat as the blade swings towards me, when she charges at me without further hesitation. But she doesn't let up, she strikes again almost immediately, and I thank Price for every punch, kick, and injury, because it's only due to his skillful and consistent teaching that I have any chance of escaping the woman's onslaught. Perhaps it's this muscle memory that allows me to parry her attack long enough to understand that she is far too practiced for me to compete with her abilities. Her movements are like those of a cat, light but deadly, and each of her moves can be the result of years of hard work, which she probably showed off successfully even against more professional opponents than me. And as I hastily back away from her, it becomes painfully obvious that this confrontation can have two very simple outcomes. She either slips away or kills me. And while I'm able to patch myself up, if she manages to drag me off my feet here for long enough, then she will vanish without a trace. And I can't let that happen.

And my brain goes through my options in a minute, and it soon becomes clear that I have only one option to get close to her and handle her with my own technique. And the fiery energy raging inside me doesn't allow me to doubt even a little bit that my plan will work, because I don't have another shot. It's either now or never.

My enemy seems to sense that something is wrong, she takes advantage of my hesitation almost immediately, and when she lunges at me, thrusting her arm forward, I prepare myself for the counterattack, grounding my feet. The knife cuts through my vest like butter, and as the blade sinks into my stomach, only the sensation of dull pressure reaches my brain. I don't give myself time to be shocked, but I suddenly grab the woman's arm holding the weapon so that my free hand reaches towards her with the speed of a venomous snake. And it seems that I finally manage to startle her too, because she doesn't have a chance to react when my hand clamps down on her face and my dull nails dig into her delicate skin. The energy surging inside me rushes along my hand with impatient speed, and as it reaches her, her eyes almost roll back into her skull in surprise. It takes only a moment, and I let go of her arm to let her fall limply to the ground like a rag doll.

When I realize that I have succeeded, the adrenaline racing through my veins begins to dissipate, and suddenly the fact that a blade punctured my stomach reaches my brain. Blinding pain pierces my insides, and I stagger backward groaning, as my body slowly sinks into the shock caused by the agony. All of a sudden, all the strength escapes from my legs, and I fall to my knees, panting, as every single nerve gets paralyzed by the suffering spreading inside me, and my hands just manage to support me, before I too fall face forward in the dirt next to the woman. The quiet little voice in my brain cuts through the screams of misery buzzing in my head and warns me that I need to signal where I am before I even attempt to treat myself.

With trembling hands, I reach for the many devices resting on my vest, and when, after a few moments that seem like decades, my fingers find one of the signal flares trapped in a narrow little loop, I yank it out, crushing the ache that ripples through my body as I pull the blasted thing out of its place. I clumsily snap off the small cap, and gritting my teeth, I push myself off the ground to sit on my heels to keep the signaling device away from me before I even collect a burn injury on top of my existing torment. And as I pull out the cord, and the bright red, sparking flames burst out of the tube, I throw it further away and, taking a deep breath, gather all my remaining concentration to find my radio to inform my little companions about my fruitful private stunt.

"This is Viper... I caught the target."  I speak up as soon as I find my voice, focusing with every cell on the movement of my mouth, instead of the heat of the blood soaking the fabric of my shirt. "I'm at the signal flare..." I add, suppressing the painful moan that is bubbling up in my throat, because I don't need the whole team to witness my torture, which I voluntarily caused to myself.

Even if there is an answer, I can't understand it clearly, because I can't make out the crackling hum that comes through the radio over the noise of my ever-accelerating heartbeat drumming in my ears. I can feel how the shock is slowly taking over my limbs, and I, falling back into the dust, try to gather all my remaining strength, because I have to overcome the pain that paralyzes my muscles. Squeezing my eyes shut, I take one deep breath after another, but with each breath, the tension of the blade penetrating my stomach only grows stronger, and I have the stray thought that I should finally start healing myself before I bleed to death here after the successful completion of the mission.

"Woods!" The roar of a familiar voice penetrates the fog that has descended on my head, and the pounding of heavy footsteps only faintly reaches me, with which the one who came to save me gets closer to me. And as I feel a large, warm palm on my arm, my eyes slowly open to look to the side, and it takes a few seconds for me to recognize MacTavish crouching next to me, his face distorted by worry. "What the hell..." He would begin his speech, as his eyes glowing in crimson find the weapon wedged into my stomach, but before he can sink into his shock, I weakly gesture forward with my head.

"Take the woman... I'll handle this..." I hiss clenching my teeth, trying not to let too much of the pain radiating through my every nerve ending leak through. Because even through my greatest suffering, I know that there is no need to give way to my weaknesses, because they only draw the attention of those around me to the fact that I'm vulnerable. And even though my hazy consciousness is aware that the man would probably not take advantage of my defenseless situation, it's difficult to overcome old habits, especially when my survival instincts guide my every action.

The Scottish Hunter only spares one glance at the woman lying unconscious not far in front of us, but instead of doing as I tell him, he just wraps his fingers more firmly around my arm, as if to help me find my balance. And I don't have the strength to argue with him anymore, so I surrender myself to the action and search for the handle of the knife with my hand, finding the courage to pull it out after a few shaky breaths. No matter how hard I try to stifle the scream that creeps up my throat, a tortured whimper escapes from my pursed lips, making me look like a wounded, whining dog. Dark spots suddenly swim in front of my eyes from the burning pain, and I try to blink away the dizziness that slowly settles into my head, when finally the last inch of the blade leaves my body. The knife falls out of my hand, but it doesn't bother me, because with an almost instinctive urge, I smooth my palm over the wound, my fingers carefully digging under the material of the torn shirt. Closing my eyes, I look for the panicked energy pulsating in me, and it obeys my pleas and starts its slow journey towards my injury, so when I feel the first cooling waves, as they begin to weave together the torn tissues, I can let out a relieved sigh. It takes a few minutes for my clever little ability to restore my body to its undamaged state, but with each moment my head becomes clearer, and when the last mangled layer of skin closes, I push myself up onto my knees. 

"Woods, ya scared the livin' shit out of me!" MacTavish breaks the tense silence, and now I have the free brain capacity to study how his eyebrows are furrowed in disapproval, and the reprimanding curve at the corner of his mouth, which makes it look like he's considering congratulating or scolding me after my stunt. And I'm quite moved by the knowledge that I managed to arouse such concerns in the Hunter, even though I know that I should be ashamed of myself after my little performance. Although I don't think that anyone who throws themselves, without thinking, in front of the enemy for the sake of protecting others has the right to look at me in such a reproachful way.

"As long as they don't aim at my head, I'm fine." I soothe him, putting a small sly smile on my face, graciously allowing him to finally help me up to a standing position. "Don't worry, MacTavish, I won’t kick the bucket so easily!" I assure the man that, contrary to appearances, it's not nearly as easy to send me to the afterlife, merely noting to myself as a side note that our target would have managed to come close to this if she had had a little more time to show off her skills. And as I turn my gaze to the woman immersed in her beauty sleep, I realize that we didn't come across a simple criminal, because I doubt that she would have acquired these amazing moves during the mandatory school training. And something tells me that she didn't manage to hone her skills so effectively during his illegal games either.

"It's not me ya have to convince."  The Scottish Hunter announces, gesturing behind my back with his head, and it would be impossible not to notice the line of the faint nasty smile appearing on his mouth, with which he leaves when he finally decides to comply with my earlier request and collect our prey.

And I, confused, tear my eyes away from the man slowly gathering the unconscious woman into his arms, to turn around to find who the hell he could be referring to so mysteriously. Almost immediately, I find Riley standing in the shadows with the stiffness of a statue, his gaze fixed on me almost motionlessly, not paying attention to his companion, who just saunters past me with a wide grin, patting my shoulder absent-mindedly, as tough he wanted to wish me good luck. And for a moment, I don't really understand what the problem could be, because my brain is unable to find a fault in the series of actions that led me up to this point. But as the masked Hunter stalks towards me with measured steps after we are left alone, like a cat about to break the neck of a small bird, I understand that my stunt did not please him nearly as much as I thought. And suddenly I can't understand what got his knickers in a bunch, because for once I didn't disobey orders, I may have improvised a bit, but I did exactly what I was supposed to do.

"It's stupid to risk your own physical safety." He remarks, and his voice sounds unreasonably harsh to my ears, as if the fact of the extremes I'm willing to go to in order to achieve my goal would really bother him. Of course, I know that I don't reach the final destination with conventional means, but without his superpowers and experience, I'm forced to use sneaky tactics. Because these were the solutions that got me out of trouble all my life and were at my service. Obviously, my current idea wasn't very smooth, but it was the only logical step that my brain could create. If I stopped the attack she would have run away, if I continued to fight her she would definitely do more damage to me. Getting stabbed was the smallest collateral damage I could suffer as the result of the situation. "There will come a time when you won't be able to heal yourself." He informs me, and as I see his flaming eyes narrow, I sense the irritation in them, and I just tilt my head to the side in interest, because I'm seriously starting to lose track. He is undoubtedly right about this detail, which Price has already pointed out to me a couple of times as well. There will indeed be times when my sly strategies won't work, but so far they've served me well. All my life I had to take care of such unpleasant problems by myself, and every single time I solved the complications that life threw me into. And since I could never count on the help of others, I quickly learned that there are situations where you have to take realistic risks in order to succeed. Like, for example, in order to prevent the shitstorm threatening the whole world, I'm unfortunately forced to allow someone to stab me. And luckily for me, the blessed ability of my kind always supported my cunning tricks.

"Are you worried about me, perhaps?" I raise one of my arched eyebrows, twisting a lazy, cheeky smile on my mouth as I slowly immerse myself in the smoldering gaze intertwined with mine. And when he settles, just a few narrow steps from me, I feel the pulsation of heat emanating from his body, which makes the warm tingling under my skin come alive with reflexive speed, further encouraging my brave little teasing. Despite the fact that we buried our differences, and even though during our outing at the research institute, he showed me how beneficial it is for me if he turns to me with goodwill, I'm unable to resist the temptation to poke a little at his feelings swirling under the surface. Because every time I see another emotion flash in those eyes, and his undivided attention is directed at me, I'm filled with satisfaction. And maybe sometimes I don't even want to fight the feeling.

"I prefer to see you alive." He states simply, but my heart skips a beat excitedly from the breath of tenderness in his tone, and I try to guide my pulse back to its normal rhythm with a small swallow, before the stupid thoughts that start in my head divert me into questionable side streets. Even though he has already stated covertly that he cares about the fate of my survival, but now that he is finally voicing this openly, I'm unable to banish the evil little joy that flares up inside me, which settles in my chest contently. Because this terrifying man is genuinely concerned about my pretty little body, and this is a development in our relationship that I would never have been able to predict.

"If I evoke such deep emotions in you, then maybe I should get injured more." I take another reckless step towards him, almost masochistically enjoying the tiny glint of danger in his eyes. Slowly, perhaps, I could start to get over the fact that something is not right in my head, because it's more than worrying, as the burning tremble wakes up in my stomach, when he leans down and gets temptingly close to me. And I have to force my hands to stay still, so they don't reach for him, because my fingertips start to tingle almost desperately to touch him.

"You've been a good girl so far, Woods. Don't make me change my mind." He warns, and I can almost feel his voice resonating along his chest, as it suddenly deepens in a delicious way, as if a big cat were just starting to purr. But I'm much more surprised by what he wants to convey to me with his words, because I doubt that I only imagine the praise disguised as scolding, which he gifts me for the first time since our complicated acquaintance. To others, his little statement might not mean anything, but I'm getting more and more accustomed to seeing behind his dubious comments. It's almost ridiculous how my mouth dries up from these two sentences, and it's downright desperate how quickly the excitement rushes through me, as I replay in my head how guilty it was to hear "good girl" from his mouth. And I don't think he used this wording by accident. Because every little move of this man is intentional.

And this quite simply encourages me to let my guard down for a fleeting moment and give in to the damned little voice lurking in my head, which wakes up again and encourages me to play with fire just a little, just this once. And as my fingers slowly crawl up between the many holsters and pockets of his vest, and settle at the edge to look for a grip there, I only reach up on my toes and pull myself closer to him, tracing the parting line of his lips through the dark material of the mask with my hot breath.

"I'll be a good girl for you, Riley." I tease and let the intensity of the flames dancing under my skin make my voice even more lustful. And I know it's not just a hallucination when I see his pupils slowly absorb the scarlet glow shining in his eyes. "Pinky swear."

When I see one of his gloved hands move in my periphery, I just back away from him with a wicked little grin, enjoying the way a very interesting hoarse growl emerges from his throat. And as I walk past him and head towards our small group, I can almost feel his gaze burning the back of my neck. It may not be time to entertain myself in the shadow of this new threat, but sometimes I can afford to have a little fun. Especially when it's the easiest way to silence the tangled thoughts swirling in my head. Because this is really not the best time to figure out what to do with my attraction for the man, which I can no longer deny. This is the problem for future Leona.

#call of duty #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #cod #simon riley #cod ghost #johnny soap mactavish #john price #kyle gaz garrick #captain price #kyle garrick #kate laswell #cod konig #könig #cod modern warfare #cod 141 #cod mw2 #cod mw ghost #ghost call of duty #ghost cod #ghost simon riley #ghost x reader #ghost mw2 #ghost #simon riley ghost #simon riley x reader #soap mactavish #soap #john soap mctavish #captain john price

[bracketsoffear]

Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) "Growing up a fosterling near the Earnshaws, Heathcliff becomes an angry man, in love with Catherine. When he realizes that he can never marry Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff leaves to make his fortune. He later returns and devotes his life to making their families and heirs miserable, explicitly destroying their lives and happiness for the sake of petty revenge. He is described by other characters as a demon, and after death people see his ghost and his love Catherine’s walking the moors together.

Wikipedia says “Owing to the novel's enduring fame and popularity, he is often regarded as an archetype of the tortured antihero whose all-consuming rage, jealousy and anger destroy both him and those around him; in short, the Byronic hero”."

The Artificer (Rain World) "A fierce combatant, master of pyrotechnics and explosives. Keen to move up in the foodchain, your journey will surely be one lined with constant bloodshed and warfare."

The Artificer is a violent, carnivorous slugcat with the ability to propel themself through the air by creating explosions, along with the power to turn spears and rocks into explosives at the cost of food. They have a bitter grudge against the Scavengers, specifically, for reasons that are at first unclear, and their reputation is locked at the lowest possible value. Throughout their campaign, they sometimes dream before the save screen appears, showing you snapshots of their past. The first two dreams show them caring for a pair of pups. The third dream shows them passing by a Scavenger toll, where one of the pups attempts to steal a pearl. The fourth shows them running for their life and being forced to leave one pup behind, presumably to be killed, before the ground begins to shake as the rain comes. The fifth shows their second pup's death--drowning in a pool of water as they attempt to flee. All dreams after that show them killing Scavengers.

Five Pebbles is unusually kind to them, due to both the Citizen ID Drone they carry and the fact that they share a common enemy. A Scavenger pack has made its home in Pebbles' formerly-abandoned city, and he tasks the Artificer with destroying them, as they have been damaging the top of his can.

In this city (Metropolis), the Artificer can speak to an Echo, Twelve Beads among Burning Skies, who tells them the following:

"You are stuck in a cycle of wrath and destruction, simple being. Gripped by raw emotions whose chains bind you, destined to this land. Shortcomings of the past haunt one and all like whispering phantoms. Listen. Let this be a warning to you… An unrewarding battle awaits, culminating in a path of no return. A perpetuity of struggles begetting more of the same. Find a way out, if you still can."

Eventually, the Artificer (when following the game's usual route) finds their way to the Twelfth Council Pillar; The House of Braids, where they face off against the scavengers' chieftain. Upon defeating them and taking their mask, they are permanently locked at Karma One, which is believed to represent wrath and violence due to clues in-game. If they visit TBaBS after this, they say:

"You, who have encountered a consequence much like my own. Gripped by raw emotions whose chains bind you, destined to this land. Shortcomings of the past haunt one and all like whispering phantoms. An unrewarding battle awaits, culminating in a path of no return. A perpetuity of struggles begetting more of the same. We are a pair who have forfeited everything."

Alternately, the Artificer can seek ascension, however their wrath prevents them from ascending fully, and they are only briefly reunited with their pups before meeting an unknown fate.

tl;dr: local sapient slug's kids die and they commit warcrimes about it

oh yeah also they're the only* slugcat with the ability to maul so that's something

*enot can technically do it also but we don't talk about them in this household"

#desolation poll #the magnus archives #the desolation #wuthering heights #rain world #poll

[hrokkall]

Saw the little nightmares 3 trailer got released and wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Is there anything in particular that you're excited for or just generally hyped about?

Also sorry if this question comes across weird I have no clue about the series but remembered you enjoyed it and drew some stuff for it so I thought it'd be fun to talk about it if that makes sense?

- 🥊

Oh I have so many thoughts on it. So many that I'm going to put them below the cut so this post doesn't take up anyone's entire dash.

First of all, damn my copious amounts of coursework for the fact that I couldn't sit down and start drawing fanart immediately the moment I finished watching the trailer once… or twice… maybe three times. Mark my words though these kids WILL be getting some day 2 (actual) art, even if it's just a little sketch.

…Point being, I was pretty excited right out of the gate. Admittedly, I was a little nervous that the studio changeover would mean that any (potential) future Little Nightmares content would mean a massive tonal shift, but based on the trailer alone + the additional guides related to the game, it nails the atmosphere of the previous games pretty damn well. Hell, the giant baby enemy even resembles some of the concept art from the flesh walls!

Already, Nowhere is combining some of my favorite things (notably locations that seem/are "alive", steampunk motifs, and copious amounts of birds… also reminds me a little bit of Zone 3 from OFF, but that's probably just me), but most notably is the fact that it actually seems to resemble some of the locations seen in the (tragically cancelled) 2017 comics. This is particularly notable in the first issue, which features two children taking shelter in a barn from a monster known as the North Wind (who is made of/"sees through" the eyes of black birds, presumably crows), but the second issue is about a monster that lives within mirrors, which are shown a lot in the trailer as well. Either way, I'm cautiously hoping for some references to the comics, especially because we never got to learn what happened to the rest of the Maw kids there (the answer is probably "they died horribly" but I mean hey. You never know).

The designs of the two protagonists are, of course, adorable. I love the plague doctor/gas mask duo (especially because having face coverings makes sense in such a dusty place) and the bit where they both glide down using feather umbrellas is genuinely so fun—absolutely no complaints there.

…Actually, one complaint: I have no idea which one is Low and which one is Alone. None of the official sources have clarified that. Please LN3… I need to know the names of my new kids before they get put into the meat grinder like every other protagonist in these games. (Given the series' track record, I'm not too optimistic about their fates—sorry little guys! I'll be rooting for you anyway). EDIT: It seems like Low is the bird mask kid and Alone is the hazard suit kid

Mechanically… I don't think we've seen enough of the game for me to make any hasty judgements. I know everyone wanted LN2 to be multiplayer (and LN3 appears to have a singleplayer option), but I'm unsure of how that will work. Will it be Spiritfarer style multiplayer where only one player has to own LN3? Will it be online? Will it be splitscreen? Will me inevitably ditching the main campaign to screw around with my friend ruin the atmosphere? No idea. The way I see it, it's too soon to tell.

While we're on the topic though, I did also listen to the first episode of the audio drama! Without spoiling anything… yeah I can definitely recommend it. It's very reminiscent of The Magnus Archives and/or The Bright Sessions, so if you like either of those podcasts you'll probably like The Sounds of Nightmares. Even if you know absolutely nothing about Little Nightmares, I'd honestly recommend it. Voice mixing is a little off in places (though there's a decent chance it was just my headphones being fucky), but the podcast MORE than makes up for it in terms of imagery and phenomenal sound design. No word on the lore implications though; I'll listen to episode 2 when I get the time and THEN deliver the verdict there. I also hope they release an official transcript for it—there isn't one right now afaik, but that would be really helpful for a multitude of reasons.

But yeah, that's about it! TL;DR hell yeah I'm excited for this game, but I'm trying not to fill in the blanks with too much supposition while there's still so little info available

#Also I can promise this isn't a weird question at all; I was freaking out over it on main #And I've drawn/talked about loving the LN series here too! Point being no worries :] #Re: Inbox #🥊 anon #Little Nightmares 3 #<- For indexing. Apologies to the maintag

[xieyaohuan]

The Gloves are Off - The Symbolism behind Homelander's Gloveless Moments in Seasons 1 through 3 of The Boys

Submitted by Xieyaohuan to the International Journal of Homelander Studies for collective peer review. Please point out any errors or oversights that you spot. All comments, disagrements and additions are welcome.

Abstract: Homelander is the main antagonist in the series The Boys (2019 - ). He is known for wearing a super hero costume that usually includes a pair of red gloves. In this paper, the authors discuss the patterns of when Homelander takes off his gloves in seasons 1-3, and analyze the themes and symbolism associated with his gloveless moments. We argue that the absence of gloves is not random but follows certain patterns that are used to convey important points about Homelander's psychology, and his most fundamental desires. There are some inconsistencies in how the gloves are used across seasons, but overall, the act of not wearing gloves is connected by common themes that run through the entire show. They are linked to Homelander's search for "home", "family", "intimacy", "belonging", and "love", and they hint towards the existence of a fledgling private persona that is separate from the much more dominant and established public superhero persona that Homelander projects to the outside world.

Keywords: character analysis, Homelander, clothing, symbolism

The Hypothesis

The character of Homelander is know for never apparing in civilian clothing and instead always* wearing his superhero uniform, which consists of a blue top, a separate pair of blue pants, a gold belt, a flag cape attached to the suit top with a pair of gold eagles, a pair of red boots, and a pair of red gloves. *Adult Homelander wears his suit during all scenes with only one exception at the beginning of episode 3 of season 3 (S3E3), when he is fully naked.

Apart from this one scene, only two parts of his uniform occasionally come off: his pants and his gloves. The pattern for when he (partially) removes his pants is easily recognizable: he takes them off in three scenes, all while having sex (S1E8, partial; S2E5, fully; S2E6, partial). The removal of the pants therefore principally serves a practical purpose and carries no greater symbolism, except when analyzed in conjunction with the pieces of clothing he does not remove during sex, a topic which will be touched upon briefly below but which mostly exceeds the scope of this paper.

By contrast, the patterns of when Homelander takes off or appears on screen without his gloves are more subtle and deserve to be explored in more detail. The authors posit that the status of the gloves is not random but carries symbolism that contributes to establishing who Homelander is as a character, what his values and desires are, as well as, potentially, giving some clues to his mental state.

Methodology and Disclosure of Author Bias

In order to test this hypothesis and determine the patterns during which types of scenes the gloves either are or come off, the authors rewatched all three seasons of The Boys. For each scene in which Homelander appeared, the glove status was noted in an Excel sheet along with brief additional details about the scene as well as information on whether the gloves where visible on screen (see Table 1). We used three main status options for the gloves: on, off, or not visible (note that in most scenes where the gloves are not visible, such as on television, they were presumed on based on context). For season 1, the status of the flap of his suit top (up or down) was also tracked. This was not tracked for seasons 2 and 3, as we had previously determined that the flap is consistently up in the latter two seasons.

Table 1: Screenshot of the Excel tracker, excerpt from S2, E1-2

In our research we mixed both inductive and deductive approaches. While our starting hypothesis was that the status of the gloves carries some form of symbolic value, our initial approach was inductive with regard to the exact symbolism and themes conveyed by the presence or absence of gloves. During the research process, we refined our initial working hypothesis to include more specific hypotheses about what the gloves symbolize. Preliminary findings indicated that the absence of the gloves appeared to be related to values and sentiments such as "home", "family", "intimacy", "belonging", and "love". All of these carry some relevance for the phenomenon known in fandom as "shipping", defined by the Urban Dictionary as "the act of [...] wanting/supporting two individuals involved in a romantic relationship."

GIF 1: A visual representation of how the authors feel about Homewell and Butchlander

In order to avoid the authors' own shipping bias, care was taken to record the status of the gloves as accurately as possible and to remain aware of our own bias during the analysis stage. For each interpretation, alternative interpretations and counter points were taken into consideration. In addition, we disclose our biases here (see GIF 1) so that the reader may take them into consideration when reading this paper and evaluating its conclusions.

Pattern description

There are considerably fewer instances where Homelander does not wear his gloves compared to when he does have them on, namely in 4 out of *ca. 40 total instances where Homelander appears in Season 1; 9 out of *ca. 65 total appearances in Season 2, and 4 (5 when counting the scene where he is fully naked) out of *ca. 55 in Season 3 (see Table 2 for an overview and brief descriptions of all gloveless moments). This means that Homelander only appears without his gloves in 10% or less of his scenes.

*Only approximate numbers are given for his total number of appearances per season because some scenes where he shows up only briefly, such as when flying by or overhead, were not counted. For other scenes, there could be legitimate disagreement on whether to count them as one or multiple scenes. The main point that Homelander wears his gloves in 90% or more of his scenes applies regardless of the margin for error.

Table 2: All scenes where Homelander's gloves are off

There is a limited number of characters around whom Homelander appears with his gloves off. These are, in order and by season:

Season 1: Madelyn (twice), The Deep†, Madelyn's baby*, Starlight* (In all scenes in Season 1 where Homelander does not wear his gloves, he also has his flap down at the same time)

Season 2: [Madelyn†], Ashley*, Blindspot*†, Ryan (3 times), Becca (twice), Maeve†, Starlight†, Stormfront

Season 3: [Stormfront†], Ashley* (twice), The Deep†, Cassandra*, Starlight†, Victoria Neuman*, VNN host*

[ ] Characters in brackets are not on screen physically, but things or places reminding Homelander of them are.

*For characters marked with an asterisque, the authors believe that they could (or should) be discounted from the character pattern analysis in one or more scenes of that respective season.

†Characters (or an object or setting reminding Homelander of them) marked with a cross are the ones where he makes physical contact with his bare hands.

There are also several instances where Homelander is by himself when the gloves are off: two in Season 2 (one when he drinks Madelyn's breast milk in her office and another where he goes through Becca's things while she is gone), and two in Season 3 (one when he mourns Stormfront and one when he is in his penthouse taking phone calls). In addition, there is one instance in Season 1 when Starlight runs into him staring at Madelyn through the wall that should be counted as Homelander being by himself, as he clearly did not anticipate Starlight seeing him like this. If the scene where Homelander is fully naked is to be counted as a "gloveless" scene, the same logic should apply, as he was expecting to be alone.

Similarly to how Homelander only takes his gloves off around a limited number of characters, there are only a limited number of places where Homelander is gloveless. These are:

Madelyn's office: twice in Season 1 with Madelyn present (three times if staring into her office through the wall watching her counts), and once in Season 2 alone (before Ashley barges in on him)

Meeting room of the Seven on the 99th floor: once in Season 1 (with the Deep), and once in Season 2 (with Maeve)

The hallway of the 99th floor: once in Season 1 (watching Madelyn)

Becca's place: four times in Season 2 (three times with Ryan or Ryan and Becca present; once while alone)

His penthouse: four times in Season 3 (twice alone, once with company, and once while fully naked, which arguably does not count and/or should be analyzed separately)

VNN studio: once in Season 3

Last, there are a limited number of activities Homelander typically engages in without his gloves on (note that what is relevant here are his original intentions, not what actually ended up happening due to the actions of another character):

Private time with Madelyn, trying to impress her and prove his competence

Private time with "family" (Ryan and Becca), doing classic "family things" such as having breakfast together, playing baseball, or saying goodnight - all things he would only know from having studied them in theory in the lab

Attempting to bond with former and/or prospective love interests (Maeve, Starlight)

Spying on Madelyn through the walls

Rummaging through Becca's home while she is away

Trying to be close to a dead love interest by spending time in a setting that contains memories of them (Madelyn, Stormfront)

Spending time by himself in his penthouse

Threatening and/or disciplining junior members of his surrogate family team (Deep, Starlight)

Threatening to kill or killing/injuring supes (Starlight, Blindspot)

Drinking milk

There is only one scene to the best of our recollection where he drinks milk with his gloves on, and that is when he milks the cow in S3. GIF from S2E3

These activities roughly fall into the following categories: seeking out love and family, enjoying the benefits of "family", stalking his love interest and his "family", spending time alone, and performing his private family duties as the "family patriarch" of the Seven (as he would see it).

Of at least equal importance is the fact that there are some activities he never does without his gloves on throughout all three seasons:

Public appearances (with one exception)

Performing official duties as The Homelander

Flying (he does use some of his other super powers without gloves, such as warming Madelyn's breast milk with his laser eyes and using his x-ray vision to stalk her, but when he flies, the gloves are always on)

Killing non-supes (he lasers most of them, but when he does use his hands, he always wears gloves; by contrast, he has killed and threatened to kill supes with his bare hands in his capacity as the family patriarch of the Seven)

Touching non-supes, with the exception of Becca, whose waist he touches briefly without gloves in S2E7, but in a possessive way that is meant to assert dominance

Sex (with one possible exception when he masturbates on top of the Chrysler Building, as only one glove is clearly visible in the scene, so the other could theoretically be off though, let's face it, it's probably on)

So the activities he only does while wearing gloves are mainly those that are connected to The Homelander in his official professional capacity, anything to do with getting too close to or touching non-supes, and sex (with both supes and non-supes).

Pattern Analysis and Interpretation by Season

As noted above, by sheer number of scenes, Homelander wearing his gloves is the norm, while Homelander taking them off is a somewhat unusual occurance. Therefore, it makes sense to look at especially at the scenes where the gloves are off or come off and see what, if anything, ties them together. In some cases, multiple interpretations are possible, but some themes are fairly consistent across individual instances and seasons.

Season 1

The character arc for Homelander in Season 1 is a dark coming of age story, where he changes from a character who, although clearly an antagonist, is relatively well-adjusted and content with his situation to one who is growing increasingly restless and discontent with his role as a public mascot of Vought prized only for his looks and public speaking skills ("smile, look pretty, say my lines"). He wants to be recognized for his intellectual contributions to Vought instead, especially by his boss Madelyn Stillwell, who is also his oedipal love interest/obsession. (Incidentally, all of this character development should have happened much earlier during his twenty years at Vought, but that is the topic of a different essay.)

From the character arc perspective, it is notable that in season 1, Homelander only takes his gloves off (and has his flap down) in episodes 2 and 3 (his early "rebellious teenager" phase), not later during the season. So to an extent, this "informal" look is temporally associated with the earlier stages of his character arc when he is still a more "innocent" and "playful" version of himself - someone who has done bad things but who has not yet, for example, abandoned a plane full of passengers to die (arguably one of the most important scenes to define Homelander as a character for the viewership). It is possible that it was intentional to let the more informal look, especially the more playful "flap down", disappear as the character grows even darker and more determined to prove himself and put his mark on the company's direction in the worst possible ways.

Independently of the temporal dimension and the character arc, other patterns and themes associated with gloveless appearances emerge in S1 that are more significant and that recur in S2 and S3, namely privacy and intimacy as well as his desire for a home, love, and family. Homelander only dresses "informally" in the (relative) privacy of the 99th floor (or, in S2, in Becca's home). By contrast, whenever he is outside Vought Tower (doing press, on missions, on stage, etc.), participates in large meetings, chairs a Seven meeting, or acts in any other form in his formal professional capacity as The Homelander, he is dressed fully with his gloves on (with one notable exception in S3, discussed below).

His informal look ("gloves off, flap down") is spatially and thematically tied to Madelyn as his mother/love interest and her office as a location where he can play around a bit with who he wants to be when he is not in public, all while trying to get her attention and proving himself to her. Out of the four instances in S1 where he has his gloves off, two take place directly in her office. The first is when, to her great annoyance, he barges in on her while she is just finishing up pumping breast milk (see GIF 2) and she ends up confronting him about the mayor's plane.

GIF 2: Nope, we do not knock before we enter someone's office around here (S1E2)

The second is in the presence of her baby when he first complains to her in her office about the talking points she gave him for Believe Expo (not to be confused with the scene where he tracks her down while she takes Teddy to the pediatrician - in that latter scene, he is outside Vought Tower and wears his gloves).

The third instance takes place when Homelander stands in front of Madelyn's office, watching her through the wall pumping breast milk (see Video 1). While Starlight surprises him, he clearly had no intention to be seen by her like this. As a person, she is therefore irrelevant to his glove status in this particular scene (unlike later gloveless scenes where she is present in S2 and S3); it is the location and the person he is spying on (Madelyn) that are relevant to the absence of gloves.

Video 1: Good thing he's not creepy, or this scene would be reeeaally creepy, S1E2

Notably, the next time he stalks Madelyn in S1E5 and she calls him into her office and lets him suck on her fingers (see GIF 3), he is in full costume, flap up and gloves on, either because he realized the hallway on 99 is not as private as he had previously assumed, having been surprised by Starlight once, or because the season progression required a more formal look and Homelander felt he could no longer allow himself to be vulnerable by showing up in anything but his full attire even on the 99th floor.

GIF 3: Yup, the gloves stay on during the act (S1E5); nope, they don't come off in S1E8 either

The only other instance where Homelander has his gloves off in S1 is when he confronts the Deep about going to Madelyn about the mayor's plane in episode 2 instead of to him. This scene takes place shortly after Madelyn confronts him in her office, where he wears the same informal look. Arguably, he simply went directly from her office to the meeting room of the Seven in his informal attire. However, unlike in the other three scenes, the gloves are visible in this scene, lying in front of Homelander on the table. So if he had wanted to appear in his full professional capacity and outfit, he could have put them back on fairly quickly.

We therefore argue that the themes of family and intimacy apply in this scene as well, but with Homelander not as the recipient of love and affection but in the role of "family patriarch" disciplining his children to ensure their loyalty to him. First, Homelander does refer to the Seven as "his family" multiple times. Allowing himself a certain intimacy and familiarity around members of his team, especially while in a 1:1 setting on 99, would be in line with other gloveless scenes. More importantly, in this scene, Homelander performs what he sees as a necessary duty as the head of the family. This is to ensure their loyalty to him, which by extension, in his mind, guarantees that the family the team runs well.

There are other scenes where Homelander takes his gloves off around junior members of the Seven to show them some tough love and bring them in line during later seasons, including another scene where he bullies the Deep (or, as he would see it, where he demands a token of complete submission to the head of the family before letting him back on to the team). So while this scene could also be interpreted differently, the "family patriarch" interpretation makes most sense based on both how Homelander views himself vis-à-vis the Seven and on parallels with coparable scenes in S2 and S3.

Season 2

Season 2, for the most part, fairly unequivocally ties the glovelesss moments to Homelander's search for family and love. The presence and absence of his gloves are largely disconnected from his character arc and are instead primarily tied to places, memories, and people he associates with having his own family.

In episode 1, the connection to Madelyn's office and her memories is picked up again when he enters her office, which is under renovation. When he enters and first starts rummaging through her stuff, looking at old photos of them together, the gloves are still on. He then takes them off off-screen before the camera cuts to him opening her fridge and taking out the last bottle of her breast milk, warming it up and drinking it. It's the last intimate memory of a person he regrets killing, and taking the gloves off is a way to get close to a person he wanted both as mother and as lover one last time.

GIF 4: Don't look at the tongue, look at the hands! S2E1

Ashley then surprises him, and he keeps the gloves off in her presence, as well as when they go to see Blindspot together. As these scenes are consecutive, Ashley (and Blindspot) do not seem particularly relevant as characters around whom Homelander takes off his gloves, beyond the observation that he does not feel the need to put them back on and assume his full professional persona in their presence. The other point of potential note is that he hits (and ends up killing) Blindspot with his bare hands, an "honor" that seems to be reserved for supes. (However, while HL does not kill "normies" with his gloves off, there is variation with regard to supes; for example, he wears his gloves while killing Noir.)

While dead Madelyn's memories in her barely recognizable office are deserving of a gloves off moment, the alternate reality he creates in the cabin with Doppelganger does not. It's a set up he ultimately knows to be fake and that fuels his self-loathing for even needing such a set-up in the first place, as he indicates when he kills Doppelganger after he has transformed into a Homelander lookalike. Although the cabin is a private place that he experiments with, and where he also takes Ryan later, it is not a home, and Doppelganger is certainly not family.

Instead, for most of S2, Homelander takes his gloves off when he is at Becca's place, that is at his new "home" with his involuntarily little 1950s family he so desparately wants to make a reality. He plays baseball with Ryan without his gloves. His gloves are also off when Becca is gone and he is rummaging through the home, drinking milk from the fridge, smelling her clothes and doing other creepy stuff to create intimate impressions of her place. His gloves are off when he has breakfast with Becca and Ryan (though he does put them back on before he goes outside and pushes Ryan off the roof). And his gloves are off when he tells Ryan goodnight. In sum, he takes his gloves off during all the little family rituals he has known in theory for so long but has never experienced himself minus the creepy stalking.

GIF 5: Let's not think about the fact that the gloves lying on the breakfast table touching the fruit have probably been in a lot of people's guts. S2E3

Notably, just like in S1, the kind of intimacy and love associated with absent gloves is completely unconnected to sex (make of that what you will; it definitely breaks the authors' hearts to know it may just be something the Meow Meow does because he thinks it might win people over so that maybe he can get some real love and affection down the line). Homelander wears his gloves during all of his sex scenes with Stormfront; in fact, the only scene where he takes them off in front of her is in episode 7, when they are both visiting - yup, you've guessed it - Becca's place.

GIF 6: Perhaps it was just too visually appealing for the show runners to ensure that Homelander always wears his boots and gloves during sex? (And no, that normie is no Starlight.) S2E6

There are two more scenes in S2 where Homelander takes off his gloves. One is in episode 4 when he threatens to kill Starlight in the elevator (see Video 2). Someone somewhere said that Homelander having his gloves off during that scene is the universal sign for meaning business. It's quite possible that that's all there is to the symbolism in this scene. However, there is a certain parallel to what Homelander does to the Deep in S1 (and what he does to him again in S3). He is acting in his capacity as the family patriarch, demanding absolute loyalty from the supes he considers to be the most junior members of his team. In this case, Starlight has already disappointed him, and he is ready to eliminate her as part of his self-perceived duty as the head of the family. Read this way, his willingness to disembowel her with his bare hands is another twisted manifestation of "family" that fits a certain (if not conclusively established) pattern.

Video 2: We only kill our surrogate children with our bare hands around here. S2E4

The other gloveless scene is in episode 3 when he seeks out Maeve on 99 right after he got chased away by Ryan. In this scene, the association of gloves off with the search for intimacy, family and love seems to apply again. Homelander is frustrated he failed with his experimental hostage family and is looking for some kind of connection at a similar level. The obvious choice is his previous love, Maeve, who will belong to him forever in his head. Yup, that's the scene where that little gloveless awkward wave is from (see GIF 7).

GIF 7: GIF quality like it's 2023 and we're on mobile! S2E3

When she pretends to reciprocate his feelings, he is genuinely overwhelmed for a moment and grabs her hand (see GIF 8). Of course, he doesn't actually believe her because he's beginning to catch on to her relationship with Elena and asks her about it directly afterwards. But this is Homelander who is fully capable of rationally understanding that somebody hates him while still wanting to believe so desparately that somebody loves him that he can hold two completely contradictory thoughts in his head at the same time. And that makes this a short but genuine gloves off moment.

GIF 8: No snarky comment, this makes us emotional af. S2E3

GIF 9: No seriously, just look at that face, that's five different emotions in under two seconds. S2E3

A big thank you to @deliciouskeys for pointing out that this scene strongly parallels a second scene in S3, where Homelander takes Starlight's hand in a public setting. The parallels and the significance of both the Maeve and the Starlight scene will be discussed below.

Season 3

In S3, there are fewer gloves off scenes again, and they are most frequently associated with private moments in his penthouse. This makes sense because for most of S3, he has no family or lover he can share these moments with in a "home" en par with Madelyn's office or Becca's house. The first instance where he has his gloves off is in episode 2 after Stormfront killed herself. He is lying on her bed in his penthouse touching her blood with his bare hands. The scene mirrors Homelander drinking Madelyn's breast milk in S2E1. In both scenes, he is trying to get close to the person he loved and lost for one last time without his gloves getting in the way of direct contact with the respective bodily fluid only thing that's left of them.

GIF 9: Full disclosure, we are a bit scared that one of the revelations in S4 when they run out of cheap shock value will be that HL is keeping what's left of Madelyn's and Stormfront's corpses somewhere.

With one exception, the remainder of the gloves off scenes in S3 show Homelander in a private setting in his penthouse. In one of them, he is completely naked and is surprised by Ashley. This scene was only included for completeness' sake in the strictest sense but will not be analyzed here as it makes points that clearly go beyond glove symbolism.

In another gloveless scene in episode 3, Homelander serves a meal to the Deep, his wife and Ashley in his penthouse, #justicefortimothy. On the one hand, the glove status makes sense from a purely pragmatic perspective because who wants to eat with gloves on that have been in who knows whose guts. On the other hand, this scene parallels the other two scenes where Homelander takes his gloves off to assume his role as family patriarch (towards Deep in S1 and towards Starlight in S2). Again, he is disciplining a weak inferior "child" and gives him a test of loyalty before letting him back into "the family". Like in S1, where he chokes Deep, he makes physical contact again in this scene, massaging his shoulders while forcing him to eat his friend. Yay, family?

The other gloveless scene that takes place in his penthouse is when he is by himself in episode 7, yelling at Ashley on the phone, Ryan's address in front of him, before taking Soldier Boy's call. There is nothing inherently remarkable about this scene other that it fits the S3 pattern of Homelander mainly taking his gloves off within his own home.

The one big aberration to this pattern, not just in S3 but across all seasons, where Homelander breaks his rule of not appearing in public as The Homelander without his gloves on, is in episode 6 when he appears with Starlight and Victoria Neuman on a VNN talk show (and storms off just a few questions in after feeling ambushed). In the scene, Homelander is on the show without his gloves, perhaps because he is so freaked out (this is the next Homelander scene right after the Mirrorlander scene) that he fails to uphold his official dress code for public appearances.

Whatever the reason, when he sees Starlight, he tells her he is really glad she is there before squeezing her hand, taking her aback with how genuine he sounds.

GIF 10: Brought to you snark free again. S3E6

As mentioned above, there are parallels with the scene in S2E3 where Homelander awkwardly takes Maeve's hand. First, in both scenes, Homelander has just lost someone really important to him. In S2, he was chased off by Ryan after pushing him off the roof; in S3, he just learned that Noir abandoned him after hearing of Soldier Boy. In both cases, he rationally knows that both Maeve and Starlight hate him, but he still cannot let go of the hope that perhaps they are going to be there for him after all.

Given the context, it is obvious that this moment is not for show; he actually means it. The lack of gloves serve to underline the search for human connection, love, and any kind of friendship or support. Just like with Maeve in S2 after losin Ryan, in this moment of desperation Homelander is genuinely projecting his search for real family and love onto Starlight for a very brief moment.

Summary and Some Concluding Observations

The Boys is a show written by many people. As such, just like other themes and symbolism, the use of the gloves does not line up perfectly across seasons and episodes, and some inconsistencies should be expected. Despite all this, certain patterns do emerge and are consistent enough to be of note.

The first is his public versus private persona, though drawing a clear distinction via glove wearing habits only works in one direction. With one exception, Homelander never appears in public without his gloves, but there are many scenes which for a normal person would be considered his private life in which he does wear gloves, sex being the most obvious but not the only example. This should come as no surprise. Officially, as per his own words, a private Homelander persona does not exist: he gave up on his "secret identity" "a long time ago", as he tells Starlight when she catches him ostensibly staring at his own portrait in the hallway.

This shows two things. On the one hand, it is obvious, and the many instances when he wears gloves in otherwise "private" situations confirm, that his public persona bleeds into his private persona to such an extent that most people, including himself, believe he does not even have a private persona. On the other hand, and this is perhaps the more surprising revelation, Homelander still attempts to have a private persona through his search for family. He may have given up on what he considers his "secret identity", but he has not completely abandoned the public-private distinction and the idea that there should be something intimate in his life that is not part of his public persona, namely giving and receiving love from a family. (And however skewed his understanding of love in a family context may be, it is still less screwed up than his equation of public adoration with love.)

The second pattern, relatedly, is the clear association of gloveless Homelander with these very particular ideas about family (both the benefits coming with it and the duties he has to perform), love, and "nesting". Showing himself without his gloves on is, for the most part, reserved for a certain small circle of people he considers, or desperately wants to be, his family, though Homelander himself assumes different roles and personas (ranging from someone who is searching for an equal to love him to family patriarch) depending on the context and who he is dealing with. Whatever his exact role, going gloveless is reserved for contexts where he can be fully himself because the people he is showing this part of himself either are or are supposed to be so loyal and committed to him they would not (dare to) take advantage of any vulnerability he shows them.

Several people or groups of people stand in as his family from this perspective. In season 1, it is his main love interest, Madelyn. It excludes her baby, which is not only not his, but active competition for Madelyn's love. He shows himself to her from his playful, personal side in her office mainly to gain her attention in his early stages of realizing he 1. wants to be more than a pretty face for Vought but also 2. he is losing the battle for Madelyn's heart to... a mewling accessory shitting its pants and drinking up all the milk.

In season 2, it is Ryan - and, by biological family extension, Becca - are Homelander's chosen family that he showers with what he sees as love and affection. Consequently, it is Becca's home where he is most frequently seen from his most private side without his gloves. This includes both appearances in front of others - both Ryan and Becca - but also private moments where he is alone and is trying to commit the place to his sensory memory.

In season 3, Homelander has no clear place comparable to Madelyn's office or Becca's home that is tied to his ideals of family. He resumes his role as family patriarch familiar from previous seasons, but overall, he is pretty lonely throughout the season, so his own place stands in as the place where he appears most often in informal dress without gloves (or fully in the nude once). Interestingly enough, Starlight is the only person he briefly tries to connect with on an equal level in his search for love.

Much more could be said on the topic of glove symbolism, but it is Sunday evening, and this essay is already too long, so we will leave it at this and maybe pick up some of the strands touched on here in future articles.

#homelander meta #homelander's gloves #homelander #the boys #starlander #maevlander #homewell #sorry for writing in the style of a mock academic paper it's annoying I know #there are probably plenty of errors and ommissions #please point them out and send me all your thoughts #this is the pre-pub draft submitted for collecting comments #I'm currently lacking the brain juice to shorten it and make it more concise #but I may revise this later #I was going to make some more stats and graphics but the work day tmr starts 6 hours from now so maybe next time #Youtube #shitposting #let's be honest I probably would have stayed in academia if i had been allowed to illustrate my publications with GIFs #wow this ended up being almost 6k words

[power-chords]

Wait did I miss something, what is it you think is going on with Nate in the Heat book?

It’s not just the book! Even in the film, Mann has put him in a position that should render him intrinsically suspect: he’s a broker who trades exclusively in information and who appears to be the sole mediator of access to that information. When Neil and his crew pull off a successful score, he gets a cut of the proceeds. (From his phone conversation with Van Zant: “Because there’s no percentage in everybody getting their underwear in a twist,” emphasis mine.) He does not accompany Neil or his crew and is therefore not at any immediate risk of injury, death, or incarceration on the job; nor does he share in any of the physical labor involved. By definition, this makes him a manager, and judging from his interactions with the rest of the active “players,” he’s upper management. His role is analogous to that of a capital investor who assumes some measure of financial risk but is able to foist the mortal kind off on somebody else. The book makes it clear that he’s dialed in to some extensive international shadow-market of underworld buyers and sellers. Other than that, we know next to nothing about him or how he leveraged access to that network. According to Chris, Nate taught Neil “everything he knows.” Presuming this is true – and I would not put it past Nate to strategically withhold information, or tailor it for a particular audience – already we can infer an asymmetry of knowledge in that relationship.

I’m not suggesting that Nate is secretly malicious in the way that, say, Waingro is or Wardell is (though with the way the novel sows all that golem* subtext, one has to wonder whether Nate is in some part responsible for them). On the contrary – I think he genuinely cares about Neil and believes he is acting in Neil’s best long-term business interests. Which are, conveniently, aligned with his own best interests. After all, Neil is worth more to him alive than dead, and continuing to take on high-payout, low-exposure scores for which he will continue to charge his finder’s fee. At the end of the day, he’s still looking out for number one and his bottom line. And that includes maintaining his monopoly on intel. Whatever he tells Neil and Chris, and by extension the audience/reader, is only a small fraction of what he knows. So I love him, but I don't trust him!

*Waingro is really the more golem-like of the two. Given his name and a bunch of other textual clues, I am now leaning toward a reading of Wardell as some type of nasty biblical angel, who may or may not be an embodied projection of Vincent’s repressed guilt/longing/jealousy/self-hatred. Metatron through the looking-glass, darkly.

#heat 2 midrash #heat 1995

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

For some reason the whole Taylor Swift mania thing has made me reconsider the way I look at celebrities and stan culture… I’m a huge fan of bts, especially jungkook, sometimes even to the point of obsession. But I see these people losing their minds over Taylor, following her every move, worshipping even the small actions she does, defending her like their life depends on it and it’s like? You don’t know her? She doesn’t care ab you, not to say she doesn’t care ab her fans but to her, you’ll always just be an indistinguishable “fan” no matter how much of your life you dedicate to her. She’ll just keep getting richer and richer.

It made me realize how I do a lot of these same things for bts, especially Jungkook, and has really made me rethink my behavior and how stan culture has kind of warped my thinking. Like yes, Jungkook is incredibly attractive and talented and kind, but he’s still a person. And it’s such a fine line in stanning spaces between admiration and straight up worship. stan culture seems to be getting more and more unhinged and it’s so strange to watch from another perspective. Just my rambling thoughts, haha

Yes, you're absolutely right, but it's also very easy to fall into the trap. It's not just the individual fan's fault, but a myriad of reasons that lead to it, including from the artist side. I recently listened to someone explaining one of Swift's methods of keeping her fans so attached and interested and it was presumably because she stopped giving promotional interviews and in order to have that gap filled, fans turn to her lyrics in order to find clues about her life. Her dating life is mediated and very public, but she creates a distance by lack of more candid or intimate appearances (in depth interviews and so on). It's easy to create this cult-like image and to have a fandom that moves like that. The bigger it is, the more unhinged the behavior gets. See Army as well or other Kpop fandoms. The Swarm tv series was definitely inspired by the beyhive. When the artist turns into this larger than life figure, this phenomenon is to be expected.

Can we keep ourselves in check? Yes, sure. But not always and it's not easy. Stan behavior is complex and its levels of craziness are on a scale. I see myself falling into the trap. But just because I have awareness, it doesn't mean I stop, you know. Often I have this issue with "babying" some of these men which is ridiculous because I have never done that and I still don't do it with others, except for JM and JK. More in the sense that I see them through rose-tinted glasses sometimes, I can find justifications, they're two babygirls and can do no harm and so on. You know how easy it is for me to check myself? I only have to apply the same way of thinking to other idols and guess what? It doesn't work. I don't see it. In some cases I find some of it completely ridiculous. But this says something about me, not the idol in question. It's the result of being biased and it's difficult to step away from that, but I do try to find a balance.

Another thing that happens when we spend a lot of times in fandom spaces is that we might tend to forget that celebrating achievements and the way we write about these people can turn ridiculous very fast. And if you like the person, it's harder to notice. Writing about an idol through this perspective of them being extraordinary, every minor or mundane aspect has to be praised, etc., gets very close to sounding like propaganda texts. Again, I notice it better when I read stuff about people that I'm not really into. Ten minutes scrolling through Club Chalamet's twitter page and it's like getting a cold shower.

#m thoughts #fandom behaviour #stan behavior

[gremoria411]

Just a little on the Gundam Asmoday/Asmodeus today (it apparently could’ve been called the Ashmodai, which is neat).

Okay, so the ASW-G-32 Gundam Asmoday is found by Wistario the Erda II crew (specifically Sinister) inside an Aridne Cocoon in the Debris zone. It’s specifically noted to be essentially brand new, with no records of it fighting in the calamity war, and a full complement of weapons ready to go. Based on this, and the fact that it seems to have its reactor hooked up to the cocoon, we can gauge one of two things. Either;

The Gundam wasn’t completed until either very late in the Calamity War, or just after, and thus didn’t have an opportunity to fight against the mobile armours.

This Cocoon relay station was apparently important enough to dedicate a Gundam frame just to keep it operational.

Based on the assumption that a bunch of regular ahab reactors would probably have done the job just fine, I think it’s more likely to be a case of it being completed late.

What makes this interesting is that we only know of one other Gundam frame that was completed late in the calamity war:

The ASW-G-71 Gundam Dantalion.

Now, because this is both at the end of the series (71/72) and because it’s stated that the Dantalion had been completed late, I had previously assumed that the Gundam Frames were completed sequentially. So, the ever-elusive ASW-G-70 Gundam Seere would have been completed just prior to the Dantalion, and the 72nd Gundam would have been completed after, possibly even being completed postwar (At a guess, either the Gundam Andromalius or Gundam Pruflas/Bufas - I’d be very interested in know what happened to it, since it’s be the most likely source as to any clue to the end of the calamity war and it’s immediate aftermath). But the Asmodeus implies something quite different. Unless its deployment was delayed for whatever reason, then it’s evidence that the Gundam frames may not have been built sequentially. (I’m not sure which it would be - it doesn’t seem to have any equipment that’d be too difficult to work with, being structured as a fairly direct combatant - gigant javelin as a sort of whip-sword to attack from a distance, smoke grenades and then grand tonfa’s up close, but then there’s plenty of other reasons for it to not have seen combat).

We do, however, know that Bael was the first. Add to that the seeming increase in complexity as the numbers climb (Dantalion appears simple but it has a bunch of add-on equipment not shown above, a lot of the 50’s and 60’s-series Gundams have fancy designs or systems, especially compared to the relative simplicity of the 00’s and 10’s), and we can guess that they were at least designed sequentially, with Asmoday’s presumed delay being an exception.

However, what I also think is interesting is where it was found. Inside an Ariadne Network Cocoon, big enough to be used as a harbour, administrative and let’s face it defensive point, in the network. Administered by the Falk Family (presumably headed by either Kalf Falk or his immediate successor), who already possess a Gundam Frame to their name - the Gundam Gamigin (shown above).

So what was the Asmodeus, for all intents and purposes a “phantom machine”, which exists on paper but was never actually deployed, doing there? Each Seven Stars Family or similar organisation within Gjallarhorn has precisely one Gundam Frame to their name, with no evidence of one family using multiple frames. I find it particularly interesting that it’s the Falk’s of all people that seem to have this frame - they’re one of the two families we know the absolute least about, the other being the Baklazan’s. Even then, most of the information we do know is what can be inferred from their Urdr Hunt point and their Gundam Frame. The only real supposition we can make is that they’re probably the oldest out of the Seven Stars - assuming no family got multiple Gundam Frames during the calamity war (which feels a fair assumption to make, given that we know absolutely nothing about any frames that were destroyed, implying no-ones really around to keep those records), then the ASW-G-04 Gamigin Gundam was likely deployed the earliest out of all the Seven Stars Gundam Frames, shortly after Bael (again, assuming sequential deployment). So it’s possible that the Falks were the longest surviving active participants in the Calamity war, besides Agnika Kaeru himself, of course. But it’s unclear why they would end up with another Gundam frame, and then not use it. A few possibilities:

The Intended Pilot for the Asmoday was killed before it could reach them, and the Falk’s didn’t have another pilot on hand to use it.

There was a Cocoon was involved in transporting the Gundams to their pilots, and it was kept at the cocoon until it’s recipient could be sorted out.

The Falks wanted extra “insurance” of their position once the Calamity War was over, and arranged for a second Gundam frame to be assigned to them somehow.

The Asmoday had nothing to do with the Falks, and it was left at the Cocoon by N as prize for Urdr Hunt participants.

It was salvaged from its transport during the war, and restored by the Falks.

In short, I don’t know why it was there and we’re probably not going to find out anytime soon, but it’s fun to think about. I would also like to point out that the Asmoday was also just…. Left there, which feels like it must have been purposeful in some way, but also means that the Falk’s didn’t recover it in the intervening 300 years.

#Watch the Baklazan’s have ASW-G-02 now or something #The Gamigin’s just one of those suits I reference constantly for some reason #Gundam Gamigin #Falk Family Gundam #Gundam Asmodeus #gundam asmoday #Gundam Dantalion #Gundam Bael #gundam #ramblings #gundam ibo #Calamity War #Gjallarhorn #gundam urdr hunt #Seven Stars #Falk Family