#the duality of this town is compelling | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

inposterumcumgaudio · 3 months

Note

Uncle Jack & Foggy Jack

So if you're asking about both of them, I'm assuming that's because you're into the idea that they are one and the same.

I don't dislike the concept, but I like it much more for that the game seems to push that notion while simultaneously giving you nothing to substantiate it and, at times, even giving you details that seem to contradict it than the idea for its own sake. Good shit!

It's another one of those things you'll never have a canon answer for!

And frankly, I've never really found the question of whether Uncle Jack is Foggy Jack that interesting. It's a little contrived, a little obvious, a very basic bitch story. The most famous man in town has a mental breakdown and becomes a serial killer? And he somehow does this despite being instantly recognizable by everyone? And also he's doing this while he's still filming his show every day and looking all normal and shit?

Too, the whole Foggy Jack thing intrudes on the natural predisposition of fledging fanartists to make serial killer OC's.

Foggy Jack also exists as an urban legend in the town in a way I think predates even the toxic fog (and I was given a separate ask about this as well so I'll save my thots about that for then!)

But suffice to say, because I do not find the whole Uncle vs Foggy Jack thing compelling and I'd never really devoted much thought to it, I struggled to think of something interesting to say about it. The only chapter I ever wrote about the subject was actually about why Ollie's surface-level investigation of the crime scene in "A Pomaceous Puzzle" did not arrive at the correct conclusion. It simply doesn't fit the MO.

However... in reviewing what we know concretely about Foggy Jack from the main game, I actually did arrive at a fascinating new theory.

Because we think of this as a duality, do we not? Uncle Jack is one side of the coin, Foggy Jack the other. That's why you asked about both.

Let us go over what we know for sure about Foggy Jack, that was reported in the game, to separate out the unreliable information given in "Lightbearer". There are only two sources of "solid" information about Foggy Jack in the main game:

In "The "O" COURANT - Article 3", we learn that five Wellie women - Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly, and Mary Anne Nichols - have been found hacked to pieces in the streets. All of these women are named for real-life victims of Jack the Ripper.

Stated in the above and reiterated in "Interrogation Report", these murders seem to take place on particularly foggy nights. "Interrogation Report" also states that the witness, Daniel Dunglass, reported that the apparent murderer's face looked "oddly familiar" to him.

One further piece of information that we learn in Ollie's act is that Foggy Jack apparently kept a hideout in the Gardner House, at least until plague wastrels overtook it. We know this from the suitcase which contains a cleaver and the "Mystery Note" with the only the phrase "I'm afraid you've come to the end of your time" on it.

And here we learn that Foggy Jack has some interest in Margaret. And that makes sense if he's actually Uncle Jack.

But... what it's it's not a duality.

What if it's a triptych?

What if it's not Uncle Jack, but someone who would have us come to that conclusion? Someone who would want us to think Uncle Jack is avenging his murdered daughter, but is in fact trying to frame him for it?

Why, who would have motive to do that?

Who indeed.

But DJ, you say, that's crazy. You play through Ollie's entire act and not once do they ever imply that he could be Foggy Jack.

Yeah, well, there's a lot of stuff they don't imply through his act, ain't there?

And just like with Uncle Jack, the details don't say anything conclusive but consider.

Ollie is said multiple times over his act to have periods of lapsed memory, both due to the Oblivion he took and excessive drinking. Margaret mentions specifically in both "The Camp of Thine Enemies" and "Cache as Cache Can" that Ollie has trouble remembering things due to his drinking. And it's an interesting coincidence that Ollie also "vaguely remembers" leaving himself a cache of supplies in that quest and its the same sort of vague notion that leads him into Gardner House where he finds Foggy Jack's suitcase.

He's also in deep denial about the limits of his morality and how far he'll go to see traitors get theirs. Still, killing innocent women just to make Uncle Jack look bad? Surely not! Maybe Ollie ratted out a little girl and got her chased down and murdered, but he's not a serial killer!

Then again, if there's one thing Ollie hates, it's a collaborator. Deutschland Über Alles special and all. And you know who about the first people to start collaboratin' with an occupying force are?

Prostitutes.

All of Foggy Jack's not-hallucination victims are named for the "Canonical Five" of Jack the Ripper's victims, all known prostitutes. Which, sure, maybe that's just the reference, but we actually meet Elizabeth Stride before her apparent death. As Ollie. At the Jack O Bean Club, where she works as a cook serving a bunch of collaborationist traitor lovers. She has no love for them, calling them toffs and wankers as she does, but she does also muse aloud to herself about it: "Take the job, she says. You'll never have to suck another cock, she says." Which sounds an awful lot like a thing a (former?) prostitute would say, making it two separate issues to Ollie, really. And why else would a fine upstanding Wellette be out on the streets at night anyway? That's how Foggy Jack gets you!

And for my most tenuous point: remember that guy from the Interrogation Report? Daniel Dunglass. I looked his ass up and

Reminiscent!

Dunglass (the character, not the actual guy) also says that the murderer's face is "oddly familiar" to him. Uncle Jack is familiar, but not oddly so. Ollie isn't exactly a nobody in town, but he's definitely odd looking in a world that conformist.

And as long as we're drawing specious connections, Daniel Dunglass (the real guy, not the character) was a Scottish medium famous for levitation and speaking with the dead. You know who else does a lot of that?

But... even if Ollie is Foggy Jack, I don't think he killed the constables at the apple tree. Which means there's copycat killer pretending to be the guy who's pretending to be Uncle Jack pretending be urban legend Foggy Jack.

#uncle jack worthing #foggy jack #we happy few #ollie starkey

9 notes · View notes

nanabanyin-blog-blog · 4 months

Text

Dual Realities: Embracing Life's Duality, One Veiled in Sorrowful Tones.

This story holds a deeply poignant tale, and I feel compelled to offer additional context (which you may find unnecessary) to fully convey the depth of its sorrow.

The night unfolded with camaraderie, drinks at Heritage, and an attempt to navigate the crowded Garage before settling at Alley Bar, where the pulsating music and the collective celebration created a temporary escape from the harsh realities outside. Amidst the rhythmic beats of afrobeat music, I immersed myself in the lively dance floor where a diverse crowd, a blend of young and old, reveled in the joyous atmosphere.

However, my euphoria was short-lived. Around 1 am, I reluctantly considered leaving, mindful of my wife waiting at home. She, left alone for the first time in a while, deserved my attention. Little did I know, the night held unforeseen challenges.

Returning home at 4 am, I realized my car emitted an unusual sound. I woke up around 2 pm and despite my weariness, a sense of responsibility to my baby(my car) led me to my friend, the custodian of my cars. The city was alive with people enjoying the Christmas season, causing traffic snarls. Eventually, my car received some attention, and I set out to visit my grandmother before heading home.

At my grandmother's residence, I encountered my wife, fatigued from a demanding day during her “cocoa season”. To express my love, I decided to leave my car at my grandmother's and drive her home in her car. Little did I know, this gesture would set the stage for an unexpected, heart-wrenching encounter.

As I settled into bed, ready to embrace the comfort of home, I received a call message my friend, desperately needing the keys he had left in my car while working on it. With a sigh, I retraced my steps to my grandmother's house in an Uber. The night took an unexpected turn as I found a makeshift structure obstructing the driveway. Despite the late hour, I approached, discovering a mother and her two children seeking shelter from the streetlight's harsh rays.

Overwhelmed with empathy, I explained my predicament, apologizing for disturbing their makeshift sanctuary. In the ensuing conversation, the mother shared the harsh realities of her day – a struggle to make ends meet at her market place and the necessity to sleep on a cemented driveway due to financial constraints. In that moment, the stark contrast between the revelry in town and the struggles of this family weighed heavily on my conscience.

Desperate to help, I enlisted my grandmother’s security man's aid in helping them set up on the softer carpet grass in front of my wife studio, while providing what little financial assistance I could. As I drove off to deliver the keys, my journey through the city revealed a disheartening tapestry – the vibrant festivities coexisting with the silent struggles of many. In the midst of mad traffic at Madina around 11 pm, frustration boiled within me. Why should there be this disparity? Why?

Returning home close to midnight, I lay in bed, haunted by the divergences in the lives of my fellow citizens. The image of the mother and her children, juxtaposed with the festive traffic, ignited a profound sadness. As tears welled up, I pondered the deeper questions – what more can I do, and why does the nation I love seem engulfed in such disparity, with leaders seemingly indifferent to the plight of its people?

#a sad story

0 notes

firewoman14 · 2 years

Text

Is It Time For Age Restricted Servers?

Anyone who has been playing WoW for a bit knows that this game is unique in that both adults and children can enjoy it at the same time. Indeed this duality can be considered one of the best features of the game. How often can you sit down with your son or daughter and truly enjoy the same video game? Besides the amazing adventures of Dora The Explorer, other kid friendly games like Disney Online's Toon Town and Club Penguin just don't provide the same level of enjoyment for adults and their children. (What's the game in Dora, you ask? Assisting her in finding the red berries or yelling at Swiper. See this not-safe-for-work Kevin Smith YouTube excerpt for an explanation.)

However with that in mind, there are some compelling arguments that its due time for World of Warcraft to get a few age restricted servers.

For starters, take a look at what Second Life has done. it's all about games and game servers here 're a pretty successful venture, and have a lot of parallels to MMORPGS like WoW. They've created a server called Teen Second Life in which they do their best to only allow teenagers between the ages of 13 - 17 access. When you turn 18 you're moved up to the adult server along with all your gear and property. Of course this has the same pitfalls as any other internet site where you can fake your identity, but it is a start; and a good one since Linden Labs actively polices age restrictions.

For environments like Second Life and World of Warcraft, think for a minute about the benefits of an age restricted server. On the adult side of things there would be less interference from age related and maturity issues*. Things like talking in l33t s93ak, the social issues of growing children and teens, and not having to worry about age appropriate content/conversations would be a very good thing for many of the adult players out there.

And as Helen Lovejoy reminds us, "Won't somebody think of the children?" Of course! Age restricted servers in a game where people have to register their names and use secure identities such as valid credit cards will be a significant factor in securing the game for kids. While nothing but strong parenting can completely protect against people like those seen on To Catch a Predator, giving parents a secure server to let their kids explore the game would be a major step in the right direction.

So what do you think about a server with an age restriction? If you're a parent of a teenager, would you exercise your parental muscle and insist they use it?

*I'm sure we all realize that adults can be just as bad, if not worse, than any child. However, that's another blog post for another time. ;-)

#Blog About Games #it's all about games and game servers here

1 note · View note

dryadsoraka · 3 years

Photo

so god damn this boiling space [...] forget the horror here, forget the horror here

arcadia bay aesthetic, side b

x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

(side a)

#life is strange #arcadia bay #life is strange aesthetic #lis #this one is supposed to be more ominous the other one is more cheery #the duality of this town is compelling #the sign on the first one... no exit #the last pic hits me hard. poor rachel.#bugs #butterflies #irl bugs #swarms #creepy #surrealism #violence

20 notes · View notes

ahundredtimesover · 3 years

Text

February 2021 Reads

Happy Love Month! All my February reads of JK fics are listed below. Please note the angst, fluff, and smut descriptions and much love to the authors (reblog, comment!) and to our blue-haired lil bun jk 🐰

Timbs pt1 + pt2 by @rightsockjin (s) - best friends au (read if you want great build up and smut)

Coffee & cream by @yoontopia (a, f, s) - fwb au (read if you want something funny and a pretty chill read)

Please love me pt1, pt2, pt3 by me (a, f, s) - arranged marriage au, childhood friends au, ceo kids (read if you want some pain and fluff and angst in between)

Into the forest by @taehyungssss (s) - fantasy au, fae au, royalty au (read if you want a story on forbidden love and a mysterious yet courteous jk)

By your side by @euphoriara (f) - s2l, rich kid jk, bodyguard reader (read if you want a mix of action and fluff and cute OC and jk)

Shooting flowers by @monoguk (s) - boyfriend au (read if you want filthy and hot lovemaking)

Rough hands by @bratkook (s) - e2l, fuckboy jk (read if you want really good sexual tension and smut and fun side characters)

Wine and cheese nights by @mimithings97 (f, s) - boyfriend au (read if you want hot and sensual lovemaking)

Breakfast in bed by @wommied (f, s) - fiancé jk (read if you want fun banter and domestic fluff and smut)

Sucker punch by @satanssmuts (a, s) - boxer jk, therapist/patient au (read if you want some angst of bad boy jk and feisty OC with some hot sexual tension and smut)

Not so honest by @parkmuse (s) - roommates au, childhood friends au (read if you want fun banter and something so funny and so hot and whipped jk)

Trust issues by @7deadlysinsfics (s) - bar au (read if you want a quick read of sexual tension and smut with a dash of fluff)

Splinter by @jungblue (a, s) - college au, exes au (read if you want a well-written and painfully beautiful fic that will make you think about relationships and growing up)

Queen of broken hearts pt1, pt2, pt3 by @bratkook (a, s) - sort of fwb au (read if you want angst due to whipped but in pain jk and if you want to feel pain and anger)

Orange tulips by @kainks (a, f, s) - soulmates au, reincarnation au (read if you want a well-written, painfully beautiful and tragic love story, and if you maybe want to cry)

Smitten by @megahwn (f, s) - arranged marriage au (read if you want a soft and fluffy falling-in-love story)

The suspenders + The criminal by @kpopfanfictrash (humor) - detectives au, b99 au (read if you want a quick, fun, and hilarious read)

Wintervale by @fantasybangtan (s) - royalty au, fantasy au (read if you want something sooo hot)

The sea & the storm by @jamaisjoons (f, s) - fantasy au (read if you want a well-written, fantastical, and soft and hot story)

Mark me + Scent me by @guksthighs (s) - werewolf au, boyfriend au (read if you want really good smut)

Headspace by @whatifyoulivelikethat (s) - workmates au (read if you want some good smut)

The view by @koyamuses (s) - lovers au (read if you want sexy time in the tub and hot lovemaking)

Dotti by @jungcock (f, s) - workmates au (read if you want really good smut, shy jk but would still ruin you, and something actually quite soft)

Heated by @whatifyoulivelikethat (f, s) - childhood friends au, best friends au (read if you want to laugh bc of their banter, enjoy a fun relationship and dynamics, and be turned on with really good smut)

Take a sip by @ve1vetyoongi (f, s) - rich reader, server jk (read if you want fun sexual tension and hot smut)

Moonlight by @yeoldontknow (a, f) - soulmates au, childhood friends au (read if you want well-written angst with good ending)

Black market baked goods by @chaangbin (f, s) - boyfriend au (read if you want something cute and funny with good smut)

Heavy machinery by @chaangbin (s) - strangers au (read if you want something quick with good smut and hot construction worker jk)

2:15am + Nothing good happens after 2am by @whatsthedistancebetweenus (a) - idol jk (read if you want a quick read of angst)

A promise of freedom drabble + oneshot by @jimlingss (a) - war au, officer jk (read if you want something so beautifully painful and well-written angst and really compelling characters)

Pining 101 drabble series (with update) by @guklvr (f) - hospital au, doctors au (read if you just want to smile and have your day be made with adorable characters)

A home found in you by @lovmail (f) - strangers au, dad jk (read if you want small town softness, adorable single dad jk, and good storytelling)

Claws of carnality by @jjungkooksthighs (ongoing) (s) - werewolf au, fantasy au, alpha jk (read if you want good world-building, hot and mysterious jk, great sexual tension and smut)

It could be worse by @tae-cup (a, f) - e2l, roommates au (read if you want well-written but not too heartbreaking angst)

Enouement by @littlemisskookie (a, s) - war au, Mulan au (read if you want a well-written adaption of Mulan and really good smut with good ending ft. Ot6)

A piece of the moonlight by @jiimlingss (a) - war au, Mulan au (read if you want really good Mulan au story with a twist, something so well-written and painfully beautiful)

Tattoos and tutus pt1 + pt2 by @fresh-outta-jams (a, f) - dad jk (read if you want bike-riding, tattoo artist and shy and adorable dad jk)

The art of wanting by @venusiangguk (s) - dad jk (read if you want really hot dad jk and good sexual tension and delicious smut)

Dilf jk drabble series by @himbojk (f, s) - parents au, dad jk (read if you want simple, funny, sexy, cute family moments and hot and adorable dad jk)

Too young pt1, pt2, pt3, pt4, pt5 by @jeonggukookies (ongoing) (a, f) - dad jk (read if you want good characters and dramaaa and a really good read)

Isn’t she lovely + Milkshake man by @jungnoir (f) - parents au, dad jk (read if you want super soft and heartwarming family moments and adorable dad jk)

Teasing by @letspurpletogether (s) - college au (read if you want shy jk and good smut)

Playing with fire by @floralseokjin (a, s) - (read if you want something really hot and delicious smut)

Daddy day care pt1, pt2, pt3, pt4 by @yoonjinkooked (f) - dad jk (read if you want rom-com type fic, really fun main and side characters, and a good story about parenting and growing up)

Happy birthday Baby by @writemywaytoyourheart (f) - parents au, dad jk (read if you want family fluff and emotional and beautiful dad jk)

Too close by @cutechim (a, f, s) - parents au, dad jk, gang au, boxer jk (read if you want well-written, movie type fic with great angst, smut, and fluffy family moments)

Nice guys by @kookiesbadhabits (s) - college au (read if you want nervous jk and good smut)

Since day one + Morning after by @joonsgalore (f, s) - best friends au, werewolf au, tattoo artist au, boxer jk, alpha jk (read if you want a well-written story, duality of jk, and really hot smut)

After dark by @seokoloqy (s) - royalty au, vampire au, fantasy au, knight jk (read if you want well-written story of hot vampire knight jk)

Corrupt by @bratkook (s) - vampire au, fantasy au (read if you want hot smut with vampire jk)

Sate by @adonis-koo (s) - royalty au, vampire au, fantasy au (read if you want well-written character of vampire prince jk and good sexual tension and smut)

Twenty-four by @deerguk (f) - parents au, dad jk (read if you want good family fluff)

Starry eyes by @gguksgalaxy (f) - best friend au (read if you want a warm hug and soft blankets in jk form)

Hearts like paper by @btsracket (a, s) - strangers au (read if you want something so real, very well-written and painfully beautiful story that hurts so much but is so good and a must-read)

Crush on you by @high-on-food (a, f) - best friends au (read if you want well-written humor, build-up, a dash of angst and a cute and fluffy ending)

Swipe right by @ppersonna (a, f, s) - best friends au, gamer jk (read if you want sweet best friend and boyfriend jk with fun side characters and hot smut)

Cabin fever by @jeongi (a, s) - best friends au (read if you want well-written story with tension, dash of angst, and hot smut)

Lilac wisteria by @blushoseoks (f) - best friends au, childhood friends au (read if you want something soft and well-written with sweet best friend jk and cute moments)

Electric by @moonlightchildz (s) - sort of fwb au (read if you want something self-indulgent bc of the hot smut)

(monthly reads masterpost)

#jungkook fic #jungkook x reader #jungkook #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff #jungkook smut #jeon jungkook #jungkook fanfic #bts jungkook #bts fanfic #jungkook fanfiction #bts fic rec

451 notes · View notes

filmnoirfoundation · 2 years

Photo

NOIR CITY 19 wraps up today at Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre with ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1:00), THE PROWLER (3:00), ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (7:00) and FORCE OF EVIL (9:00). All films introduced by Eddie Muller.

Sunday Matinée • March 27

ON DANGEROUS GROUND1:00 PM

Big-city cop Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan), embittered by his job, has become a ticking time bomb. Aware that Wilson's unhinged brutality is a lawsuit waiting to happen, his boss sends him to a snowy upstate town to cool off. There, Wilson meets Mary Malden (Ida Lupino), a sage blind woman who sees through his cynicism and vitriol. But before she can melt his defenses, a young girl is found murdered, and Wilson throws himself into the vengeful manhunt for the killer. Ryan and Lupino give powerhouse performances in this unusually structured film, ingeniously and aggressively directed by Nicholas Ray. Half of it takes place in the nocturnal city, the other half in blinding white snowscapes; notions of natural and human duality abound. Featuring brilliant cinematography by George Diskant and one of Bernard Herrmann's most distinctive scores, which plays up the film's themes through an astounding juxtaposition of propulsive brass and wistful strings.

1952, RKO [Warner Bros.] 82 minutes. Screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides, based on the novel Made with Much Heart by Gerald Butler. Produced by John Houseman. Directed by Nicholas Ray.

THE PROWLER 3:00 PM

Patrolman Webb Garwood is more interested in achieving the American Dream than he is protecting it for others. After answering a woman's distress call about a peeping tom, Garwood hatches a nefarious plot to worm his way into her affluent but lonely life — and into her husband's life insurance policy. Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes give stellar performances in this disturbing spider-and-fly romance, written covertly by legendary blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and directed by the soon-to-be-blacklisted Joseph Losey. Largely dismissed by critics upon its release, it's now regarded as Losey's best American film, one that offers a compelling warning about small-minded people's willingness to abuse power for selfish gain. Restored in 2007 by the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive, the first triumph in a long-running partnership.

1951, Horizon Pictures/United Artists [FNF/UCLA Film & Television Archive]. 92 minutes. Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo (fronted by Hugo Butler) . Based on a story by Robert Thoeren and Hans Wilhelm. Produced by John Huston and Sam Spiegel (as S.P. Eagle). Directed by Joseph Losey.Sunday Evening •

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW 7:00 PM

Disgraced ex-cop Dave Burke (Ed Begley) masterminds a piece-of-cake bank robbery in upstate New York, but to pull it off he requires the cooperation of two dangerously mismatched cohorts: hot-headed redneck war veteran Earle Slater (Robert Ryan) and gambling addict jazzman Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte); their racist antagonism threatens to thwart a seemingly fool-proof plan. Silent producer Belafonte hired blacklisted screenwriter Abraham Polonsky to adapt William P. McGivern's novel, specifically to subvert the sanctimony of The Defiant Ones (1958), a "feel good" movie about racism. Robert Wise's direction is as fresh and expressive as anything being done by the French New Wave of the period, and the score by John Lewis's Modern Jazz Quartet is innovative and exhilarating. With vivid supporting performances by Shelley Winters, Kim Hamilton, and Gloria Grahame. An all-time classic heist thriller—and much more.

1959, United Artists [Park Circus]. 96 minutes. Screenplay by Abraham Polonsky, with Nelson Gidding (fronted by John O. Killens). Based on the novel by William P. McGivern. Produced by Harry Belafonte (uncredited) and Robert Wise. Directed by Robert Wise.

FORCE OF EVIL 9:00 PM

One of the most distinctive works of the noir era, Abraham Polonsky's directorial debut is an exposé of the New York numbers racket and a riveting tale of a fallen man's attempt to reclaim his soul (John Garfield, in one of his best roles). Unfortunately for Polonsky, the House Committee on Un-American Activities also felt the film was a thinly veiled attack on the nation's capitalist system, suggesting parallels between the operations of businessmen and gangsters. Polonsky was blacklisted, unable to put his name on any work he produced over the next twenty years. Force of Evil is innovative and superlative in every respect; its stylized art direction complementing vivid New York location footage. With an evocative score by David Raksin and memorable performances by Thomas Gomez, Beatrice Pearson, Marie Windsor, and Roy Roberts.

1948, MGM [Park Circus]. 78 minutes. Screenplay by Abraham Polonsky and Ira Wolfert, from Wolfert's novel Tucker's People. Produced by Bob Roberts. Directed by Abraham Polonsky.

#noir city #noir city 19 #film noir festival #restoration #film restoration #on dangerous ground #robert ryan #ida lupino #nick ray #the prowler #evelyn keye #van heflin #odds against tomorrow #harry belafonte #ed begely #force of evil #john garfield #abraham polonsky

24 notes · View notes

lockhartism · 3 years

Text

Aerith and Tifa as Sephiroth’s Foils

There are a lot of moving pieces to Final Fantasy 7--something that has historically contributed to its infamous reputation of being confusing. But one consistent thematic pattern that FF7 utilizes is duality. Life and death. Meetings and partings. Loneliness and togetherness. Many of the main themes presented in FF7 fall into this same format. Even the characters can be considered dualities in and of themselves. One of the most obvious dualities in the game is that of Aerith and Sephiroth. However, in varying degrees, all of the main characters are in some way antithetical to Sephiroth.

Like in many other classic hero vs. villain tales, you’d think that Cloud is the perfect foil to Sephiroth--after all, they’re at odds, so it would make sense that they’d be opposites. However, what makes Cloud and Sephiroth’s conflict so fascinating is that they actually have a good amount in common. Both Cloud and Sephiroth struggle with their identities. They also experienced trauma and loneliness in the past, and tended to isolate themselves from others. It’s this commonality that actually makes them compelling rivals, as Cloud not only has to battle Sephiroth, but also the aspects of Sephiroth that Cloud himself struggles with.

The real foils of Sephiroth are Aerith and Tifa. While there is some debate as to whether Aerith or Tifa is the real heroine of FF7 (mostly spear-headed by weird LTD-pushers), the big-brained answer is that they’re both the heroines. This is evident in concept art from an older FF7 Ultimania, pictured below:

As you can see, the concept for the story’s heroine started out as a hybrid of Tifa and Aerith. The character’s design resembles Tifa, and the name below the sketch reads “ティファ”, or Tifa. However, the character’s role was very different. She was intended to be both the childhood friend of Cloud Strife and a Cetra, the sister of Sephiroth (who originally looked more like Vincent). Eventually, the idea to kill off one of the main characters was introduced, and the role of the heroine was split in two: the Cetra, Aerith, and the childhood friend, Tifa. There is some evidence of the original concept still present in the series; Tifa’s iconic red eyes match Vincent’s, because originally, the two characters were designed to be siblings before eventually going to separate roles.

Based on this evidence, it would seem logical that both Aerith and Tifa retained their dualities with Sephiroth. And, indeed, even in the final product, both characters provide a foil for Sephiroth to balance the scales.

To exemplify the dynamic that Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Sephiroth have with one another, I’ve drawn a (crude) spectrum:

Obviously, Aerith and Tifa play different roles and have different importance to the story. Aerith’s role is more “big picture”, so to speak. She is responsible for the Planet and for protecting it from Sephiroth after discovering his plans to destroy it. Tifa’s role is more fine-tuned and detailed. She is the rock and the only stable element of the Nibelheim story, a key part of Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth’s backstories. To understand how each of them foils Sephiroth, we have to look at them individually and analyze how they interact with both Sephiroth and Cloud.

Part I: Aerith as Sephiroth’s Foil

As stated above, Aerith’s role as foil is a little more obvious. Sephiroth and Aerith are both “Cetra”--or, at the very least, they both claim to be. For Sephiroth, his identity as a Cetra is tied to his belief that Jenova, his “mother”, was a Cetra who was betrayed by humanity when humans left the traditional Cetra nomadic lifestyle in order to colonize the land and the Planet.

However, Jenova was not a Cetra at all--she was actually a “calamity from the skies” that crashed down and created the Northern Crater two thousand years before the events of FF7. After encountering the Cetra, the creature known as Jenova began infecting and killing the Cetra one by one. These killings only stopped when the Cetra banded together to seal Jenova in the Northern Crater; but, by the time it was done, the Cetra were dying off.

So how did Jenova become known as a Cetra? That seems like more than a clerical error to me. It was actually Aerith’s father, Professor Gast, who uncovered Jenova from the Northern Crater and mistakenly identified her as a Cetra. The Shinra Corporation, desperate to find the Cetra’s “Promised Land” thinking that it would be rich in Mako energy, enlisted the professor to find a way to create a Cetra from a human specimen. Using the cells extracted from Jenova, Sephiroth was created, and after reading Shinra’s archives, he discovered his relationship to Jenova and embraced his identity as “Cetra”.

Aerith, on the other hand, really is a Cetra. Her mother, Ifalna, was the last Cetra--making Aerith, by relation, half-Cetra. Her connection to the Cetra race is real, unlike Sephiroth’s.

This give her declaration in the final chapter of FF7 Remake all the more important:

There’s a duality between Aerith and Sephiroth in truth versus lies. Aerith’s heritage as a Cetra is founded in truth. She is connected to the Planet in a way that is real. She is a Cetra, in covenant with the Planet to protect it that was passed down to her by her mother. In contrast, Sephiroth’s claims to be a Cetra are lies--whether he’s aware of it or not. Jenova, Sephiroth’s “mother”, is not a Cetra. She is not even from the Planet, but rather from somewhere beyond it. Jenova acted as a parasite of the Planet and is actually responsible for sending it into chaos and draining it of its life. He has no real obligation to protect the Planet, and he is not truly connected to it the way that Aerith is.

Aerith and Sephiroth also represent the original duality between the Cetra and Jenova, with both parties continuing to be at odds with one another even two thousand years later.

Tying in a more overarching FF7 theme, Aerith and Sephiroth also personify the duality of life and death, respectively. With Aerith, her “domain” of sorts, the Sector 5 church, is bursting with life. It is the only place in Midgar where flowers will grow. Even gameplay-wise, she is a healer, and is constantly giving life to other characters in the party. Sephiroth, on the other hand, only destroys. He set fire to Nibelheim and killed the townspeople, including Cloud’s mother and Tifa’s father. Cloud even notes his strength while recounting his version of the events in Nibelheim.

Cloud: “Sephiroth's strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality than any story you might have heard about him.”

Therefore, Aerith and Sephiroth represent two different dualities: life versus death, and truth versus lies.

Part II: Tifa as Sephiroth’s Foil

Tifa’s role as foil to Sephiroth is more understated but nevertheless important, especially in the latter half of the story. Tifa, Cloud, and Sephiroth are the only survivors of the Nibelheim incident, wherein Sephiroth burned the town of Nibelheim to the ground and killed the townspeople after discovering his “Cetra” heritage. However, Cloud’s memories are clouded due to his trauma and the Mako poisoning he endured during the five-year gap between the Nibelheim incident and the start of FF7; and Sephiroth purposefully twists the truth in order to weaken Cloud’s already-fragile mental state. Therefore, the only one who can decipher what’s true and what’s not is Tifa.

Like Aerith, Tifa also represents the truth, while Sephiroth represents lies and deceit. This is very evident in this scene that takes place in the Northern Crater, and again in a scene during Tifa’s journey into Cloud’s mind. In the Northern Crater, Sephiroth tries to convince Cloud that he was never real, and that all of his childhood memories, even the ones he shared with Tifa, were fabricated.

Sephiroth: “You are just a puppet... You have no heart... and cannot feel any pain... How can there be any meaning in the memory of such a being? What I have shown you is reality. What you remember, that is the illusion. [...] Five years ago you were... constructed by Hojo, piece by piece, right after Nibelheim was burnt. A puppet made up of vibrant Jenova cells, her knowledge, and the power of Mako. An incomplete Sephiroth-clone. Not even given a number. ...That is your reality.”

Sephiroth, at first, succeeds in convincing Cloud that he is not the “real” Cloud but rather someone who never existed, who never grew up in Nibelheim, and who clung on to fake memories as a means to cope with that fact. However, later in the Lifestream, Tifa expresses a different sentiment:

Tifa: “Sephiroth once said... Cloud made up his memories by listening to my stories... Did you imagine this sky? No, you remembered it. That night the stars were gorgeous. It was just Cloud and I. We talked at the well... That's why I continued to believe that you were the real Cloud. I still believe you're the Cloud from Nibelheim...”

By reminding Cloud of a memory they both share--a true memory--she is able to provide a solid ground, wherein Cloud can begin to rebuild his true self after falling for Sephiroth’s deception.

Obviously, Tifa’s relationship with the truth is complicated, and she herself suffers from her own self doubt throughout the story. But in this defining moment, Tifa finally realizes without a doubt what the truth is, and together both Cloud and Tifa are able to reconstruct what really happened in Nibelheim and solve the mystery once and for all.

But this duality isn’t simply about truth versus lies. It’s also about hope versus despair. In deceiving Cloud, Sephiroth strips him of all his hope. Cloud is filled with such fundamental despair that he can’t see the truth and believe that he is indeed an experiment created by Hojo. Tifa, in contrast, provides him with hope when she affirms his memories with her own. Separately, Tifa’s resolve to continue the team’s journey without Cloud is another example of her hope in the face of Sephiroth’s despair.

The idea of hope versus despair in Sephiroth and Tifa is exemplified in Kingdom Hearts (although KH is not canonically related to FF7, I think it’s a neat little call back):

Tifa: “Cloud, you can have my light.”

In Kingdom Hearts II, Sephiroth represents Cloud’s darkness, while Tifa represents Cloud’s light. This is a similar dichotomy to truth versus lies, metaphorically, where Sephiroth is “casting shadows” on the truth, and Tifa is “shedding light” on what really happened. (Okay, sorry for the puns!)

Another duality that Tifa and Sephiroth represent is the dual meaning of reunion in the context of FF7. It’s common knowledge among FFVII fans at this point, but to everyone who’s playing for the first time or who has recently picked up the franchise and not gotten all caught up yet, Sephiroth talks a lot about “the Reunion”. Like, a lot. Sephiroth’s “reunion” is a reference to the Reunion Theory, a scientific theory posited by Professor Hojo that states that Jenova’s cells--once separated from their host, i.e. Jenova--will seek out the main body. This makes everyone who has ever been injected with Jenova’s cells essentially part of a massive Jenova hive mind, with the primary goal to eventually reunite with Jenova.

Obviously, this is a bad thing for Cloud, who was exposed to Jenova cells and is thus connected to Sephiroth.

However, Cloud and Tifa also have a reunion at the beginning of the story--a reunion between friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time. Unlike Sephiroth’s reunion, this is a positive thing. Cloud and Tifa, on multiple occasions, discuss “meeting again” and “finding each other” after so many years apart. Even after they reconstruct Cloud’s memories, he says:

Cloud: “Yeah...... Tifa...... We finally...... meet again......”

Sephiroth’s reunion with Cloud leads him astray from the path; Tifa’s reunion with Cloud sets thing right again. One reunion destroys Cloud’s perception of what’s real, and the other helps him to find the truth once again. Reunion changes meaning with Sephiroth and Tifa, and these opposing definitions of what “reunion” is make Tifa and Sephiroth perfect foils.

Part III: Final Thoughts

Part of what makes Sephiroth such a compelling villain are the striking similarities he shares with the protagonist Cloud Strife. In the original storyboard for FF7, Tifa and Aerith shared a role as the main heroine and the perfect foil for Sephiroth. But even after the role was separated into two distinct characters, the characteristics that made each one of them a foil to Sephiroth remained. For unique reasons, they balance the scales, providing an anchor of “good” to counteract the badness of the story’s main antagonist.

That’s all I have to say about it! I’ve been thinking a lot about Tifa and Aerith’s unique roles in the story as deuteragonists, or dual heroines, and how they both represent antitheses to Sephiroth. I figured I share my thoughts!

#final fantasy #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy vii #ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy vii remake #ff7 remake #ffvii remake #remake #tifa #aerith #sephiroth #cloud #tifa lockhart #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #theories #mine

176 notes · View notes

meyerlansky · 3 years

Note

You’ve talked before abt Daniil- what about the other two patho protags?

oh man do not let how much i talk about daniil fool you, i fucking love artemy. the Moment for me with him was when the thought for ascending the polyhedron pops up, and the hover text is "the world is very beautiful indeed." there are plenty of moments that made me love him before that, ofc, not least being the fact that he's a snarky bastard if you want him to be, but that moment sort of encapsulates what i find so compelling about him—the way he's defined by all these dualities, and tries so hard to reconcile them all. the kin vs the town, love vs anger, violence vs healing, the man-made vs the natural, free will vs fate, he straddles so many lines [ha] and for the most part he actually does solid job managing the tightrope walk? ascending this thing that is causing his town and his people so much pain and grief and suffering, he could be furious about its existence, he could be analyzing it for weaknesses, but his actual takeaway is "the world is beautiful, and that includes this." he doesn't outright dismiss the "utopian" vision of ascension, he doesn't insist there's one right way of doing things, he sees things worth saving from all the perspectives the game presents, and it's only through dire circumstances that he's forced to choose—little bit of crit here for the game itself, i find the dichotomization of the endings to be a little... hm, unfair? dissynchronous? with the rest of artemy's storyline, in that up until day 11 you CAN play him as straddling all of these lines and successfully holding all these dualities within himself, but there's no way to not choose one or the other in the end. it lacks the synthesis that makes his character so compelling for me, but that's critique of the endings, not the character. artemy himself embodying and engaging with all of these dualities is one of my favorite things about his character. also as briefly mentioned he's so fucking funny and so full of snark which is the best trait for any character ever.

clara is uhhhhhhhh extremely unsettling to me as someone with an uncomfortably keen awareness of xtian modes of thinking acting as repressive and authoritarian wrapped up very neatly in a form that's hard to hold responsible for the damage it causes, and i realize this doesn't sound complimentary but i do applaud ipl for managing to characterize her in EXACTLY the most uncomfortable form for me personally

send me a reverse unpopular opinion topic here :D

#anonymous #asks #pathologic #pathologic 2 #artemy burakh #clara saburova #this is just about p2 for the record #haven't played p1 so i'm not gonna talk about it #reverse unpopular opinions meme

29 notes · View notes

lo-lynx · 4 years

Text

Laurits/Loki as a queer character in Netflix’s Ragnarok

Spoilers for season one of Netflix’s show Ragnarok!

I binged the first season of the Netflix show Ragnarok yesterday, and felt compelled to write something about it. This is somewhat hastely written, so I apologise if the arguments are not as well thought out as they could be, but I wanted to write something. So here we go:

In the Netflix show Ragnarok we meet the two brothers Magne and Laurits as they move to the Norwegian town of Edda with their mother (Ragnarok 2020a). The audience and the characters soon realise that this town is not quite normal, and something mysterious is afoot… It becomes clear that Magne has been bestowed with some sort of magical powers and has been put in the role of Thor in the battle between Norse gods and giants. However, it is less clear what role Laurits is supposed to play. In this text I will claim that he is the Loki to Magne’s Thor, and that is especially interesting in regards to the queerness of his character.

So, first of all, why do I think Laurits is Loki? I think the first point that should be made here is his and Magne’s physical descriptions.

Here we see Laurits sitting furthest to the left, with a green jacket, and Magne sitting to the right of him (with blue jeans and a red t-shirt). Magne and Laurits very much look like how one would imagine Thor and Loki, especially a contemporary audience who has seen the Marvel version of them:

But even beyond Laurits’ looks and brotherly relation to the Thor character, there are parallels between Loki and Laurits. There is his slightly deceptive and trickster like nature, such as when he plays pranks on Magne (for instance by messing up his essay for class when he was supposed to look over the spelling) (Ragnarok 2020a, 22 min). Then there’s also his affinity with the Jutul family, who are actually giants (the name seems to be a play on the old Norse word for giants, jǫtunn). The Loki of Norse myth is often associated with giants as well and might be giant or half-giant (Hume 2019). In the series it is also hinted at several times that Laurits has some sort of magical connection to the giants, for instance at the school dance (Ragnarok 2002b, 31 min). It is also hinted at that the father of the Jutul family, Vidar, has had an affair with Laurits’ mother Turid previously (for example: Ragnarok 2002b, 11:30 min). This makes me wonder if Laurits’ parents are in fact Turid and Vidar, making him half giant… If that is the case, he would have a sort of double cultural heritage, that of humans and that of giants.

Another cultural aspect that is interesting to look at is the parallels between the Loki of myth and the culture of the indigenous Sámi people in northern Scandinavia and Russia (Laidoner 2012). For one, the land of the giants seems to somewhat resemble the description of the Sámi peoples land, in regards to geographical location (north, on the borderlands). Similar to how Sámi was (and are) seen as “other” by Scandinavian people, so were the jǫtunn seen by the æsir (the gods). Laidoner also sees parallels between Loki and historical Sámi shamanism (noadi). She writes:

Loki’s potential links to the cultural world of the Sámi might perhaps first and foremost lie in his combination of being both a jǫtunn and (possibly) an áss and the fact that he seems to lack a home and a clear cultural background (…). This certainly makes him a very untrustworthy outsider among the æsir who, irrespective of the fact that their own ancestry goes back to the jǫtnar, frequently show hostility towards them. Loki’s jǫtunn background, and the possible connection between the Sámi and the jǫtnar whose headquarters seem to have been placed in an area that corresponded to the Sámi territories, allow us to place the focus of the following discussion on Loki’s potential affiliation with Sámi culture, where ideas of symbolic soul travels, cosmic oppositions and ambiguity seem to form a natural part of human existence, something most clearly reflected in the noaidi-tradition. It is difficult to overlook the fact that many dualistic ideas of the same kind are also embodied in the Loki figure. Besides being borderline jǫtunn and áss, a curious relic of Loki’s possible connection to the Sámi-world can perhaps be found in his everpresent duality. This duality is shown in several contrasting qualities, such as existing in both male and female form and being a father and a mother, representing aspects of both good and evil (to the extent that such clear distinctions existed in pre-Christian times), being a causer and resolver of problems, a thief and a bringer of valuable objects, all of which again seems to be in accordance with the functions of a noaidi. (Laidoner 2012, 69)

So, as we can see, Loki crosses borders between both cultures and genders, and both of these aspects make him seem untrustworthy. We can also see a parallel here to how indigenous people have been seen and are seen still today. Now, to return to Laurits, we can see some of these aspects here. Laurits move between different worlds, from the luxury of the Jutuls and the popular kids at school, to his rather less glamorous home-life. As I mentioned above, I also think there’s a possibility of him being half Jutul. But he also most definitely plays with gender borders.

I have previously written on this blog about characters moving between genders, for instance regarding Varys in ASOIAF/GoT and Alex in the “Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard” series by Rick Riordan. As mentioned in the latter text, in that story Loki is presented as genderfluid for similar reasons as I outlined above with his changing of sex/gender. In the analysis of Varys, I wrote about how he was perceived as a transgressor of both borders of gender and ethnicity, with being a eunuch from “the East”. (I there relied on texts about the historical eunuchs in for instance Ancient Greece (Llewyn-Jones 2002; Nikoloutsos 2008)). Similar to what Laidoner writes about Loki, one can see that the fluidity of Varys is connected to his movement between different gender expressions as well as cultures. Here I want to briefly touch on some more theoretical background that might be useful when understanding the crossing of borders with gender and ethnicity. Emma Bond writes about the experiences of trans people who also crosses borders of nations, and how they are seen as transgressors in double ways (2018, 71). She further writes that those who permanently inhabit this liminal space between borders, this site is often experienced as a place of alienation and violence (2018, 97). So, throughout these different examples we can see that people who cross borders of gender and ethnicity are seen as suspicious, and perhaps doubly queer (in the sense of non-conformity to norms of sex/gender/sexuality, which is of course also bound up with norms of ethnicity).

In the show, Laurits is seen crossing gender borders several times. One clear example is during the school dance, where he shows up with eyeliner, skinny jeans, and his mother’s old shirt (Ragnarok 2020b, 22:30 min). At the same dance it becomes clear that he has somewhat of a crush on the popular boy Fjor Jotul (who might be his half-brother if my theory is correct… but I’m also not sure if the Jutul family is actually related in the way they claim…) (Ragnarok 2020b, 24:36 min). This is of course also a break with gender norms, that dictate that men should be attracted to women. Then in the last episode of season one Laurits shows up to the school’s celebration of the national day dressed as the school’s headmistress Ran Jutul to mock and criticise her (Ragnarok 2020c, 31:40 min). Here he cross-dresses, perhaps in a similar way as the mythological Loki has done at times. He also plays the role of the trickster very well. Throughout the season it has been somewhat unclear on whose side he is on, but here at the end he helps the “good guys” (mainly his brother), but of course in a mocking manner. This illuminates the dualistic nature of Loki that Laidoner describes (2012).

Overall, Laurits can be seen as portraying several aspects of Loki. He is a trickster, but also a somewhat fluid character in regards to his heritage/culture and gender/sexuality. He moves between different spaces, inhabiting the liminal space between borders of good/evil, feminine/masculine, etc. This portrayal of a queer character is very interesting, and I hope in the event that the show is renewed for a second season it will explore this further. I should however mention the risk of showing a queer character as a deceiver, this could of course play into stereotypes about queer and/or trans characters. This is something that I write about in the previously mentioned text about Alex from the Magnus Chase novels. But I also think this can be portrayed well and interestingly if the audience is shown a contrast between how Laurits is perceived and who he is. A similar element was most definitely present with Magne in season one. So overall, this portrayal of a queer Laurits/Loki is quite interesting and promising.

References

Bond, Emma. 2018. Writing Migration through the Body. Springer: Cham

Hume, Kathryn. 2019. “Loki and Odin: Old Gods Repurposed by Neil Gaiman, A. S. Byatt, and Klas Östergren.” Studies in the Novel, (51)2: 237-308.

Laidoner, Triin. “The Flying Noaidi of the North: Sámi Tradition Reflected in the Figure Loki Laufeyjarson in Old Norse Mythology.” Scripta Islandica 63 (2012): 59–91.

Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd. 2002. “Eunuchs and the royal harem in Achaemenid Persia (559-331 BC)”, in Eunuchs in antiquity and beyond, ed. Tougher, Shaun, 19-50. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales.

Nikoloutsos, Konstantinos P. 2008. ”The Alexander Bromance: Male Desire and Gender Fluidity in Oliver Stone’s Historical Epic.” Helios, (35)2: 223-251

Ragnarok. 2020a. New Boy. [TV-show] Netflix, 31st of January.

Ragnarok. 2020b. 541 Meters. [TV-show] Netflix, 31st of January.

Ragnarok. 2020c. Yes, we love this country. [TV-show] Netflix, 31st of January.

#ragnarok #ragnarok netflix #ragnarok 2020 #HOW DO I TAG THIS SO PPL DONT THINK I MEAN MARVEL #feminism #queer

856 notes · View notes

whatiwillsay · 3 years

Text

The Duality of Lover

Hi! It’s me, the Cruel Summer anon, back with some more hot takes! Is this probably clownery? Yes, but it sure is fun! So take this analysis with a grain of salt.

In light of the new Kaylor timeline, I have had some thoughts about Lover as an album. I think there are definitely a lot of songs about Joe (or Lily, or whoever you think was Taylor’s muse for the album), but I also think there are a large collection of songs about Karlie. In terms of the timeline, I think these songs describe the “Messy Summer of Mess,” or the summer of 2016 and subsequent end of the Kaylor romantic relationship, as described by @swiftiesleuth’s new Kaylor timeline.

For a quick breakdown, here are the songs I think are about Kaylor:

Cruel Summer

Cornelia Street

Death By A Thousand Cuts

False God

So let’s get into it!

First off, we have “Cruel Summer,” which, in addition to being my favorite on the album and possibly my favorite Taylor song of all time, sets the tone for the entire chapter. If you’ve read my previous analysis, you know that I do not think this song is optimistic in any way, shape or form. Genius says that this song “narrates the fragility and uncertainty at the beginning of Taylor’s relationship with Joe Alwyn,” and I really just have to side-eye that description. Why? Well, as per my last analysis:

it’s cool, that’s what I tell ‘em/no rules in breakable heaven

they say that we’ll just screw it up/in these trying times, we’re not trying

I'm always waiting for you just to cut to the bone

if I bleed, you’ll be the last to know

said “I’m fine” but it wasn’t true/I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you

This ain’t the beginning of a communicative, healthy relationship, folks. That’s all I have to say on the matter. (You can read my other post for more.)

Next we have “Cornelia Street,” which I also think is a Karlie song because of the following lyrics:

I’d never walk Cornelia Street again

baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name

back when we were card sharks, playing games/I thought you were leading me on

you hold my hand on the street/walk me back to my apartment/years ago, we were just inside

barefoot in the kitchen/sacred new beginnings

First of all, the obvious: in this song, Taylor links her lover very specifically to Cornelia Street and NYC as a whole. New York City definitely does not scream Joe’s name. But, as many before me have pointed out, it’s pretty inextricably linked to Karlie. I mean, Taylor literally has a song called “London Boy,” which makes it clear to me which city Taylor associates him with. London = Joe, NYC = Karlie.

A lot of arguments linking “Cornelia Street” to Joe are because the song appears to depict the beginning of a relationship–and obviously, in the traditional Kaylor narrative, Kaylor would have been together for a long time at this point. However, I think this song makes a lot of sense with the new Kaylor timeline. I could see it taking place sometime in late summer/fall 2016, in a time when Kaylor reunited and Taylor thought she and Karlie might actually work things out. Taylor’s word choices in this song support the idea that this is the beginning of another “on” period in an on-and-off relationship.

In the bridge, Taylor contrasts the true beginning of this relationship (which was “years ago”–a lyric that definitely does not fit Joe) with the present. The notable difference between then and now is how public the relationship is; their relationship is not “just inside,” as it was years ago. Now, her partner can “hold [her] hand on the street.” If you buy the Kaylor timeline, this song takes place in the fall immediately after the “Cruel Summer” from that song–perhaps Taylor thought Karlie might choose her over Josh once and for all, so they would not need the same level of secrecy as they once did. (I don’t think this lyric is about bearding–Kaylor were always publicly affectionate–but if you buy my analysis of “Cruel Summer,” the relationship may have been kept secret from Josh.)

She also calls the present a “sacred new beginning,” which would be redundant unless this is not the first beginning this relationship has had. The lyrics back when we were card sharks, playing games/I thought you were leading me on also allude to a shared history–and the idea that this might be their chance to make a relationship really work, when Taylor felt led on by her lover in the past.

While “Cornelia Street” is definitely a romantic song, it’s sad and desperate in the same vein as “Cruel Summer”–it focuses on the strong possibility that this relationship will end, unlike a song like “Lover,” which very clearly foreshadows commitment.

Next song! “Death By A Thousand Cuts,” which is overtly a breakup song. Taylor says this was inspired by the movie “Someone Great” on Netflix. Maybe it was, but we’re all mad here, right? So I'mma do some wild speculation and say that I think it could have some personal inspiration as well.

Notable lyrics:

I see you everywhere, the only thing we share is this small town

but if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?

quiet my fears with the touch of your hand/paper cut stings from our paper-thin plans

gave you so much, but it wasn’t enough

Is NYC a small town? Nah, but I do think it’s still notable that this song ties Tay’s lover to a geographical location just like in “Cornelia Street” and “False God,” both of which I think are about Karlie. The lyric also has similar vibes to “I get mystified by how this city screams your name."

I also think the "still writing pages” lyric is telling–the relationship with Karlie is long over, but Taylor still feels compelled to tell the story even if it hurts her (“paper cut stings”). The “paper cut stings” and “paper-thin plans” lyrics form a direct contrast to the song “Paper Rings.” (Might do a more in-depth analysis of this later, but I’m just saying it’s interesting for now.)

And finally… “False God,” because:

we were crazy to think/crazy to think that this would work

I’m New York City/I still do it for you, babe

the altar is my hips

you’re the West Village/you still do it for me, babe

even if it’s a false god/we’d still worship this love

Is it a sexy song? Yeah, but it’s also very fatalistic; it’s basically a song about having an argument with a lover and then patching it up through sex. And knowing the relationship might still be ill-fated even if you resolved this particular argument with some wine and ~sexy times~, which is why I do not think it is about Joe.

First of all, we have the obvious geographic connection; NYC is very much a Kaylor thing, not a Joe/Taylor thing. I have no idea how you’d even argue that the “West Village” line refers to Joe–it just makes so much more sense for it to be referring to Karlie.

Second, the lyrics are very queer-coded. The lyric “the altar is my hips” seems very much like a reference to going down on a woman. Which is by no means an exclusively lesbian thing, but you get the point. The song also connects back to the religious imagery that Taylor uses in “Don’t Blame Me” (oh, Lord, save me and baby, for you I would fall from grace/just to touch your face). Subversion of religion is just a very gay thing, which makes sense because lots of people very literally think gay love is a sin. If you don’t believe me, see: “Holy” by King Princess, “religion (u can lay your hands on me)” by Shura, “Animal” by Troye Sivan, “God In Jeans” by Ryan Beatty, the music video for “Take Me To Church” by Hozier. Taylor and Joe’s love is not a fall from grace–but love between two women would qualify.

Anyway, all this is a long way of saying that I think Lover is at least partially inspired by the Kaylor breakup; songs like “Cruel Summer,” “Cornelia Street,” and “False God” aren’t as happy as they initially seem. I also think “Afterglow” and “The Archer” could have hints of the Kaylor narrative, but this is WAY too long already, so I’m gonna end it here.

And lastly: thanks, Cam, for posting these! I’d submit them to a Kaylor blog, but yours is my favorite gaylor blog, and also, uh… babygate. Obviously I do not believe the girls are together still, so I think the strong Kaylors would not appreciate my hot takes at the moment.

SUBMISSION⬆️⬆️⬆️

amazing stuff! tysm for writing this stuff up and submitting, i bet if you do end up starting a blog you’ll get lots of followers who would love more great content like this!

#kaylor #gaylor swift #cruel summer anon #submission

39 notes · View notes

book-of-curse · 3 years

Text

The Twin Peaks Guide to the Occult [3]

The Summoning of Spirits

Summoning is such a quintessential part of magick practice. This has been the case historically as well as currently. What is summoning? It is a particularly involved way of communicating with the self, and of picking and choosing aspects of our memory and personality that we then give animation to. We create a spirit within ourselves with these dimensions. The mind is incredible - particularly in its ability to model and to imagine. We are limited only by the boundaries of our imagination and memory.

Below is a method to summon entities. It is particularly easy to give animation to elements of our memory that we have a defined stereotype of. The characters of a show, people we know in person and have a long relationship with - drawing on our internal stereotypes of people we have a strong “sense” of is one of the easiest ways to develop an animate point of consciousness within our mind’s eye that can be talked to and influence our behavior in a way that feels abstracted from our main sense of self.

This can be used for many things. Gaining perspective. Modeling character interactions in a work of art - imagining and then modeling what will happen next in a story you are writing. The abstracted nature of these animate characters we can create in our mind lends themselves to spontaneous psychological effects and moments of inspiration - things that feel somewhat outside of our control. This adds variability to our thoughts. It’s also just a fun practice and it is interesting to play around with the mind and what it can do.

A Consideration of Character

The interactions between the various parties in Twin Peaks in addition to the general social context of the town serves as one of the main points of interest in this show. Twin Peaks presents a compelling and immersive community of characters. Understanding and analyzing their motivations is a good place to learn the general logic behind the idea of entity contact or summoning spirits.

For this summoning ritual, the only materials needed are your imagination and a quiet space. Enter your mental space that you set aside for considerations related to Twin Peaks and, perhaps, your studies of the occult more broadly. Model all of your senses in this space; attempt to immerse yourself as vividly as you can in your internal reality. This is now your entire reality; repeat this idea to yourself as you disavow information offered to you from your circumstances outside of your mind’s eye. Let go of daily life concerns, unpleasant physical sensations, and so on. All there is, is the internal world.

There are two main divisions in types of spirit work. Perceiving the other consciousness outside of yourself (evocation or summoning), and perceiving yourself as becoming this new consciousness (invocation or possession).

A third type involves hallucinating the other consciousness. A study of imposition (learning to consciously create hallucinations), which is outside of the scope of this post, can be used to provoke this third type. It is similar to the other two types but with a slightly different focus. A fourth type involves altered states such as dreams or the use of entheogens. A fifth type uses a ritual or other external cue. These latter three types are all different ways to obtain one of the former two types of entity experiences.

It is furthermore possible to integrate or transform the resulting abstracted consciousness into the self to change the self in the direction of that integrated consciousness. By being forced into direct contact with the consciousness as it integrates, the main self decides its own answer to the internal conflicts encountered by that consciousness.

External places and ideas have a type of consciousness to them, although it is experienced slightly different by the magick practitioner. This is likely due to the way the mind remembers information. It remembers information along certain axes. We have a division in our place vs. our person memory and the way we handle perception related to these two things.

Some people find it easier to shapeshift into a new consciousness. Other people find it easier to animate a consciousness that feels separate from themselves. Repeated attempts to access and animate the same concept/character increase the elaboration and complexity of the resulting spirit/animated and abstracted aspect of the self.

While in your internal space, visualize the character you wish to model. Imagine their appearance, their mannerisms. From there, it becomes a matter of modeling their mind. Focus on your internal stereotype of that person, focus on your sense of that other person, your feeling when you think of that person.

Route 1:

Draw your sense of that person into yourself. You become that person. Everything you do is checked between your logic vs. that other person’s. Everything in this trance state is done in the shape of that other person. All of your thoughts are this other person. After 10-15 minutes, more or less if you want, you can stop.

Route 2:

Imagine that other person separate from you, either in your mind’s eye or outside of yourself in your physical location. Have a conversation with that person. Model what they would say. After 10-15 minutes, stop for the day. At first, it will feel awkward and as though you are talking to yourself via a puppet, but after enough times it will become more natural and automatic, and you may find yourself slipping into that alternate perspective or hearing its internal logic comment on what you do throughout the day. Don’t forget to regularly remind yourself of the division between yourself and this part of your memory/personality/perception.

If you want to reintegrate with this abstracted sense of self, reverse the process. Take the feeling of that self and integrate it with your main sense of self. Visualize a picture, something symbolic, maybe of colors mixing to become a new color. Blue and red becoming purple. Keep reminding yourself that the only voice you hear inside your head is yours, and this is your thought process. It will quickly integrate into your main sense of self.

Don’t forget to come up with a cue that signals the beginning of a summoning/possession session and a cue that signals the end of it. Clean compartmentalization of behaviors and mental states is essential for a particularly vivid psychological experience.

Bob, Leland, and Mr. Robertson

Leland is one of the most compelling characters of the show. We see aspects of his psychology expressed indirectly in the events of the show. Leland, as Bob, is a character that affected the lives of not only his daughter, but of his co-workers and the people he engaged in criminal activity with. The various moves he makes to cover his second life are found peppered throughout the show; 25 years after the events of his daughter’s death and his subsequent suicide, his attempts to cover-up Bob are still being discovered - like with his attempt to hide his daughter’s journal entries in the police station that is only discovered in the third season.

Leland is one of the most interesting characters from this show to model, least of which being the wealth of information the show contains on his character. Leland is implied to have been a user of cocaine, and that fire was his metaphor for the high of cocaine. “Fire, walk with me.” Leland’s relationship with Mr. Robertson from his childhood is left mostly in the shadows; was it a sexual relationship? Did he witness Mr. Robertson kill someone? In either case, the psychological impact of Mr. Robertson on Leland’s childhood changed him as a person, leading to his possession by Bob in the show. It is a wonderful metaphor for the process of introjection itself, and how traumatic experiences and individuals can seem to haunt us for the rest of our lives. Not only did Leland find himself personally haunted by his experience with Mr. Robertson, but the way it affected Leland as a father to Laura affected her as well. Bob is a terrific metaphor for the psychological affects of these cycles of inherited trauma.

The Duality of Leland Palmer and Laura Palmer

Laura and Leland were similar and opposites in many interesting ways. There is an important contrast between the two that is worth considering. Laura and Leland both had difficult upbringings; Leland’s implied traumatic past and the implied trauma Laura witnessed from living in Leland’s household with its particular demands (his involvement in organized crime and drugs, and so on.) At the same time, it’s heavily implied that this makes them similar in some ways. Leland has a difficult time controlling his behavior, up to the point that Ben Horne calls for his murder (it is implied that Bob’s possession of Leland and his subsequent suicide may have been a metaphor for the psychological effects of Leland dodging Bob Horne’s hit) because he’s attracting too much attention. Leland was a man who could call a hit or kill a prostitute for fun, and it was implied he regularly practiced both things. Laura was not this sort of person at all and wanted to bring him down after discovering these things, making them opposites in a sense; however, this was Laura’s own approach to death, and it could be said this was how Bob manifested in Laura. Death by prison isn’t much better than death by hitman.

#witchcraft #witch #occult #twin peaks #pop culture magick #evocation #invocation #spirits #spirit work #fictives #otherkin #summoning #possession #mediums #mediumship #hedgewitch

8 notes · View notes

returningwriter · 4 years

Text

A Night at the Lux

So this was posted before over on AO3 but because I don’t think I’ll be able to post much here today I present to you my weird little Supergirl/Lucifer crossover to tide you Tumblr folks over. Roll the intro hype!

"...Kara Zor-El what is it that you truly desire?”

A short and sweet story wherein Kara, while on assignment for CatCo in Los Angeles, finds herself at a nightclub called Lux and draws the attention of its annoyingly charming owner. There will be admissions of desires, singing and Kara deciding to stop being so weak about confronting Lena. Supergirl is about to dance with the Devil.

“You... at the end of all things, I thought about you..."

All in all, Kara felt that this trip to Los Angeles had been a roaring success and there had not been a single Supergirl emergency that required her attention. CatCo had sent her to cover a video-game convention something she had jumped at the chance to do. Especially after the last few months being one disaster after another.

The Red Daughter and the dark mirror she’d been forced to stare into. The Crisis and carrying the burden of hope as Oliver had sacrificed his life for the multiverse and then coming back from that with Lena still hating her freaking guts thanks to Lex’s machinations and her own stupidity. It had been a rough year, even by her standards and she'd fought World Killers and evil Nazi Doppelgangers.

It hadn’t been all doom and gloom though, the Crisis and the following universal reboot meant that Kate and Barry were now only a phone call away and she had more masked friends than ever before with Nia and Brainy around. Alex was happy with Kelly and her extended family was strong even though it was missing a key member. None of that was the reason why she was in a nightclub called Lux with some of the reporters that had been covering the convention. No, she was here due to good old-fashioned peer pressure.

Truth be told, this place wasn’t her scene at all, she was a dive bar kind of girl and this place well it was too loud and glitzy. People watching from her safe spot in the corner while sipping her virgin Virgin Mary she counted down the minutes until she could go back to her hotel room.

Watching the club's patrons dance and drink the night away while wondering why there was a grand piano in a nightclub did take her mind of Lena though. Now, by her estimations, it was two more hours of this. Then she could make her exit without offending her peers and get back to the hotel to mope in private.

“Now I know every regular that comes through my doors, but I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” a British accented voice said and when she looked up she was faced with what could best be described as a tall, dark and handsome man in a black suit with piercing eyes. How she had not heard him approach her private corner? She thought before she found herself strangely compelled to explains why she was here.

“I’m not from around here, actually, I’m in town on business but would really love to be back on the couch at home and... why am I telling you this?” she asked as the words fell out of her mouth and on a hunch she used her x-ray vision to be sure that this wasn’t an alien. But what she saw confused her more than anything. Because upon using her enhanced senses, he appeared like a glowing being of light.

“It’s a gift, people always seem to want to tell me things, Lucifer, Morningstar,” the man introduced himself while taking a seat across from her.

“Kara Zor… Kara Danvers,” she said almost saying Kara Zor-El before finding the willpower to resist the man’s annoyingly soothing voice and piercing gaze.

“Oh, you’re impressive Miss Danvers,” he laughed, and she wished she’d paid more attention to when Eliza had been trying to teach her about Earth religions because that name was so familiar.

“Lena doesn’t seem to think so, she thinks I’m downright vile right now,” she said and that was it. Who was this being? Because he, sure as heck wasn’t human or alien and she sure as heck didn’t need her mind probed right now. Especially by some smooth-voiced club owner and she felt anger and rage rising in her chest.

“What are you?” she demanded with a bit more steel to her voice while letting the mask of Kara Danvers, good-natured reporter, slip.

“Oh, hello there, I must say this whole duality of being you got going on here is very interesting, Kara Zor-El, and I told you already my name is Lucifer Morningstar,” he laughed and greeted her again.

“As in the Judeo-Christian devil? The one that fell?” she asked in disbelieve when it finally clicked, but she'd always been more of a science guild girl herself anyways ever since she was a kid on Krypton and Krypton didn't really have a devil analog in their pantheons aside from Vohc the Breaker.

“The one and only and you look like one Constantine’s little friends, you know... one of those cape-wearing demi-gods that popped up after that little universal merger the other day,” he replied without any hint of not being serious while waving off the Crisis like it was just another Tuesday.

“How… how do you know all this?” she demanded and drained her Virgin Mary in one big gulp while her mind tried to process who she was sitting across from. Rao help her, not even going out clubbing albeit against her will could be simple.

“Let’s call it my unique outlook on the world, now Kara Zor-El what is it that you truly desire?” he asked and again those eyes bore down on her with the weight of ages behind them.

“I… want…” she stated saying through gritted teeth as she fought tooth and nail against what she wanted to admit. It was like a mental block, she knew what she wanted, but three years of denial wasn't easily overcome.

“Oh, this is fun, humans usually come right out and blurt out their darkest desires right away. I must admit, I haven’t had to work this hard for a confession in ages,” he laughed and clapped his hands together with unbridled glee.

“I want Lena Luthor! Now get out of my head Vohc!” she roared out switching from English to Kryptonian as she tore off her glasses and flashed her heat-vision at the insufferable being in front of her.

“My, my, my, that is a lot of pent up rage and emotions,” he chuckled and got to his feet seemingly satisfied with having gotten her to confess her desire for Lena.

“I want… Lena,” she whispered to herself while looking down at her hands and all of a sudden, memories of every touch, every gesture and every shared look between her and the raven-haired beauty came flooding back.

“How about a song? I bet you have a wonderful singing voice Miss Zor-El,” the infuriating devil, well literal Devil, asked her and offered her his hand.

Glaring up at him, with half a mind to fry him with a blast of heat-vision but judging from his personality he’d probably like that. Screw it, she thought to herself and took his hand with as much force as she could, which to her considerable pleasure made him wince.

“The Devil Went Down to Georgia, I assume you know it?” she asked with a smirk as he slithered behind the grand piano and then the club went oddly silent.

“Cheeky… I like it,” the Devil laughed and started gliding his fingers over the black and whites keys of the piano.

Devil Went Down to Georgia, sung with gusto, gave way to All Along the Watchtower at Lucifer’s request which then slipped into Moon River before her requesting that they sing Running Home To You which she had sung at Barry’s wedding. By this point, some of her colleagues from the other outlets had started filming the impromptu concert on their phones but she paid them no heed. This was fun and Lucy wasn't half-bad on the piano or when it came to singing.

“This next song is for a very special girl, her name is Lena,” she said softly before launching into Total Eclipse of the Heart and when the notes died down Lucifer was looking at her with something akin to sympathetic sadness. While she was pretty sure she was crying as she took off her glasses and placed them on the piano.

“It isn't simply a desire that you feel for this Lena is it?” he asked her as she looked around the club, then down at him before giving a small smile and shaking her head.

"Well providing distractions is something I'm very good at, how about another song, something more upbeat? We make a pretty good duet you know," the said with a devilish grin.

“Yeah, we do, but you for the record are still a jerk,” she said and accepted another drink from a passing waitress who was kinda cute and this drink wasn't virginal at all, no she was pretty sure this one fucked.

“Then let's do another song, what will it be?” he asked without missing a beat and she grinned at him thankful for the distraction and for some reason this particular cocktail was working freaking wonders for her.

“Piano Man! Scoot over!” she exclaimed and the groan and the look of horror on his face made the lame suggestion so totally worth it as she sat down next to him.

“Oh, you play too?” he asked sounding impressed and gave up the keys to her for which she flashed him a beaming smile.

“Didn't you know? I’m all sorts of impressive... Lucy,” she assured him with a tipsy giggle.

The night passed in a blur of drinks, music, dancing and an impromptu bar brawl when someone got too handsy with one of the cute waitresses. Thus, both her and her new best friend, the Devil, had stepped in to settle things. With her being a bit tipsy she might have gotten a bit too excited but Lucy assured that the hole in the wall could easily be patched up. Along with the handsy bro she'd thrown through the wall

"Your waitresses are all so cute!" she giggled with her glasses off and forgotten on top of the grand piano as they danced together. Oh yes, she was tipsy, potentially drunk and dancing with the Devil, but she was having the best time without any expectations weighing her down.

"And you are very drunk Miss Zor-El," he laughed and twirled her around before letting her go but he made sure she bumped into one of the said cute waitresses.

"Hi I'm Kara... you're like super cute!" she giggled to the waitress and the girl in a very short dress actually smiled back at her.

"And I'm... off the clock," the girl said with a grin before taking her hands and placing them firmly on her hips. Oh, this was new and she kinda liked it.

When she woke up the next day, she was back in her hotel room and thankfully by herself although that waitress had been cute, her endgame was Lena. Cracking her eye open to see that on the nightstand there was an apple and a bottle of water along with a handwritten note that read: You’re heavier then you look, come back for an encore anytime. L. p.s. Emily says hi

“Of course… an apple,” she chuckled but that made her head hurt. What had been in those drinks she wondered as she picked up the apple and took a bite. By Rao it was delicious, but then again Lucy would know a thing or two about apples.

Then she made the mistake of looking at her phone and to say it was blowing up would have been an understatement. Barry, Kate, Alex, Kelly, Nia, Brainy, Eliza, and even J’onn had messaged her while she slept. What had she done? What had she texted?

“Not good…” she muttered to herself as she checked the first message which was from Barry along with a link to a video.

Can’t believe you had a concert without me! I thought we were Super Friends and isn’t Lena that girl who hates you though? The message read and she clicked the link with a sense of dread.

“This next song is for a very special girl, her name is Lena,” she heard herself saying before Lucifer started playing the first few bars to Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Watching the video it was clear as day from her body language and singing how special Lena was to her and while this was a good thing, she did want the greeny-eyed genius, she hadn’t intended for her singing to the absent beauty to become quite so public.

“Oh shiitake-mushrooms!” she cursed and opened the message from Kate which was not as, let’s say, tactfully put as Barry’s.

So how was Narnia? Also how come I didn’t know you could sing sunshine? So much for me being a detective I guess. Call me if you need to talk the text from her cowled friend in Gotham read followed by a winky face and she wanted to crawl under the covers and die.

Love you and I’m here when you need to talk the message from Alex read. It was in a reply from one she'd sent at 4 AM which read, I'm bi or maybe pan and drunk and dancing with a girl! Don't tell Lena!?! and she smiled despite how gosh-darned awkward this all was.

The rest of her friends' messages were more along the lines of lovably mocking in their comments or outright praising her performance, but the one person who hadn’t texted her was Lena. Not that she’d had a text from the former CEO in ages anyways.

“I want Lena,” she repeated what she’d confessed to Lucifer the night before to herself and it still rang true in her heart and mind.

But if last night had taught her anything, it was that she didn’t just want to be friends with Lena again. No, she wanted to fly there and kiss the stubborn woman senseless after talking some sense into her thick skull. They’d both made mistakes but for Rao's sake, they weren’t teenagers.

Thinking about how to best approach getting to Lena as she munched on her apple before rolling off the bed. Giving a loud groan before gabbing the water bottle and chugging it to try to relieve her hangover because whatever was in the drinks at Lux wasn’t of this Earth that was for sure. Then a hot shower and room-service by an open window with the sun on her skin took care of the rest of her hangover.

Making the tactical decision of ignoring her phone, aside from sending a thank you text to Alex and sending ones that read something to the effect of; I’ll get you next time you do something stupid to Barry and Kate. It was almost time to leave the safety of the hotel room, so she packed up her carry-on and got on the flight back home. Of course, she would have preferred to fly home under her own power but CatCo was paying for her tickets and it would look weird if she didn’t use them.

Admittedly, the radio silence while on the plane was a welcome diversion too because it gave her time to think and to plan out her next moves. Getting Lana to see that she was truly sorry would require more than moping around like some heartbroken teenager, she was Kara Zor-El for Rao’s sake and it was time to act like it. Once she landed in National City, she headed straight for the nearest place to change into her Supergirl suit.

Lena would still be at work of course but that meant that she had time to put her plan into action. Drawing in a deep breath before taking off towards the sky she rose higher and higher until she broke free of the bonds of Earth. Her destination was a small asteroid, though covered in eons worth of dust it was in fact made of a special type of crystal and she needed one. Cutting a piece from the astroid using her heat-vision, she turned the crystal over in her hands and inspected it, this would do nicely.

Looking at the stars and then to the Sun, she smiled, feeling the rays of the yellow sun kiss her skin. Lena was her Sun, and she's been in an eclipse for far too long. It was well overdue she fixed that.

Returning from near-Earth space, she crashed through Earth’s atmosphere on course for the Fortress of Solitude. Lena had been here not so long ago and even in the cold of the Artic the woman had been stunning and she swore that one day she would bring her back here. Shaking away her day-dreams, she took her freshly harvested crystal and plugged it into one of the pillar style consoles that dotted the Fortress.

“Format this crystal and download all data on Krypton to it along with all information on my personal history,” she instructed the Fortress’s system and the crystal started pulsating with a faint blue light.

While the crystal was being prepared, she started zooming around the fortress, constructing a small device that would be able to read and display the information on the crystal. Combing information in the Fortress’s archives with her own living knowledge from Krypton the small metallic device took shape.

“Data upload complete Kara Zor-El,” the Fortress droned and the crystal now pulsating with blue light popped out of the console.

“Thank you,” she said slipped it into the reader she’d constructed. The entirety of Krypton’s history flashed before her along with her own family’s history.

Time for the final steps of her plan. Flying back to National City she stopped at a cute little stationery store while in full costume. There she bought a card and a box along with some red ribbon. The star-truck cashier was very helpful and as a matter of fact, so was the florist across the street when she asked him for a single longstemmed red rose.

It was getting dark so Lena would be back home by now and she had everything ready. The gift was wrapped, the card was written, and the rose would indicate that this wasn’t just a friendly gesture, she hoped. Taking another one of those deep breaths she flew to Lena’s apartment and landed gently on her balcony.

Through the glass, she could see the raven-haired beauty bent over her laptop with her hair up in a tight ponytail and wearing a blue dress minus the heels. If there ever had been any doubt about her wanting Lena, the sight of the raven-haired goddess working dispelled those doubts like the first rays of the sun when they hit the morning dew. She wanted Lena with all her Kryptonian heart but she had to approach this carefully.

“Here goes nothing,” she said to herself and knocked on the glass while hiding the gifts behind her back.

The knocking made Lena jump and then frown at the sight of her but she was used to being frowned at by now. Waving through the window, she watched the woman walk across her apartment and slide the door open.

“Kara I…” Lena started saying no doubt going to ask her to leave but this wasn’t about being nice or polite, she had something to say and she wasn’t going to be stopped or sent away. Supergirl didn't back down from a challenge or a fight and this was a fight for the most precious thing in her life.

“Lena, all I ask is that you listen to me and then I’ll go,” she said with as much authority as she could muster while being in the presence of Lena like this.

“Very well, speak then,” Lena said with a raised eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I messed up badly and I know that I’ve told you that before, but last night in L.A. I realized something and well these are for you,” she said and pulled the long-stemmed rose and wrapped gift from behind her back.

Lena looked at the rose and the small white box with the red bow and then back up at her. The look of confusion on that beautiful pale face was clear as day and she smiled back at her friend while holding out the gifts silently begging her to take them.

“I want to make amends for not telling you about... well everything, so this is everything,” she said and slowly Lena reached out and took the rose and then the small box.

“Everything?” the ever-curious raven-haired beauty asked and pulled the ribbon of the box to open it. The crystal pulsed when the box was opened bathing Lena's face in ethereal blue light.

“That crystal holds the entirety of Krypton’s history and knowledge and everything about me. It’s who I was and who I am, Kara Zor-El, everything,” she said softly, and it felt like she was introducing herself to Lena for the first time.

“The rose, it’s a thank you and something I should have given you a long time ago. A thank you... for filling my office with flowers back when we met... for buying CatCo and for believing in me and letting me be myself... for letting me write my Pulitzer winning article at your desk… for well everything,” she said stopping herself before going on too long and smiled at Lena again with hope in her heart because those memories were among her most cherished.

“Kara, what are you saying?” Lena asked in a moment of genuine confusion from the usually on-top of things woman followed by dawning realization.

“I’m saying that I get it now and that I want to start over again but do it right this time,” she said and leaned in placing a kiss on Lena’s cheek as softly as she could. Hold it together Danvers, she reminded herself, you're here on the hope that she will hear you out

“You… can’t just do that... not after…” Lena protested but didn’t push her away and Rao she smelled good.

“I am sorry, I will keep telling you that I’m sorry until the end of the universe. But Lena, I’ve seen the end and you want to know who I thought about when all seemed lost? What gave me hope? ” she asked and looked deep into those Kryptonite green eyes.

“No... please...” Lena tried to refuse but with her voice choking up and she could see fear flashing in those lovely green-eyes as those red lips trembled.

“You... at the end of all things, I thought about you and how I would never get the chance to see you again... to say I'm sorry again... to hold you again,” she spoke in almost a whisper with her lips almost touching Lena’s ear.

“You’re… not playing fair Kara,” Lena whispered back and she felt Lena's hand on her arm. They were the shaking hand of someone who was overwhelmed and afraid but she was getting through to her, she knew it.

“I’m telling you the whole truth. What you decide to do with it is up to you and when you want to talk things out I’ll be ready,” she said and as much as she wanted to kiss Lena right there and then, they weren’t there yet.

After a moment of silence with Lena holding onto her arm, she turned away while wiping away a tear and she got ready to fly off. Lena would need time to think and analyze as she always did but she’d said her piece and made her peace offering. But before she could go, Lena, pulled at her cape.

“Stay...” Lena asked in a very small voice while holding onto a handful of her cape and she smiled her happiest smile at the raven-haired woman who had always been the one. She knew that now.

“Only if you want me too,” she replied and turned around with Lena not letting go of her cape which pulled them dangerously close together. It was only when Lena started touching her cheek that thinking became very hard.

“I want you to stay… you’re not off the hook yet, but you’ve raised some interesting points that we need to explore,“ Lena said with her voice slowly gaining some of that confidence that she so loved and there was that smirk. That gosh-darned smirk and she felt herself melting inside from the look she was being given.

“That’s why I came... oh and in the name of full disclosure, there is a video online you should watch... then we can talk all night long if you want,” she said as she felt a small blush creeping into her cheeks. The Lena problem was not solved, not fully, but progress had been made and progress was something she could work with.

"Is that a promise... come on darling let's watch this embarrassing video of you, together," Lena said with her voice sounding husky and wait was she teasing her? It sounded like Lena Luthor was teasing her, then those ruby-red lips were pressed against her cheek and there was that kapow that Winn had told her about all those years ago. From just a kiss on the cheek, she felt those elusive fireworks go off and she allowed herself to be led into Lena's apartment for a long night of talking. Hope had been restored with a little help from the Devil.

Want to find out what happens next look right over HERE!

#supercorp #supercorp au #supercorpau #kara x lena #fan fic #kara danvers #crossover #lucifer #lena luthor #supercorp fluff #repost #ao3 repost #supergirl #supergirl fanfic #luvers #idiots in love

40 notes · View notes

lotus-mirage · 4 years

Text

The Untamed episode 50 liveblog

Wow. D: I can’t believe I’m almost done with this. I will probably wind up at least watching some of the animated version, but for now this is the end! Aaahh

So Jin Guangyao didn’t make a move, then.

Focus is squarely on Nie Huaisang now. He did it on purpose then?

‘Didn’t have a clue’?

Okay, but was the rest of it him, too? He seems pretty shaken right now honestly.

He pushed the sword further in??? D:

Oh that’s a horrible confession to make. That he didn’t want to hurt Lan Xichen, I mean. That’s absolutely going to hurt the guy after Jin Guangyao finally passes.

It’d almost be kinder to tell him that he was using him too, frankly. Almost. I don’t know. Yikes.

Oh jeez that background shot of Jin Ling D,:

I keep forgetting he’s here watching this too yikes

Wait what’s he doing

How the heck did he do that???? He’s been bleeding out for at least a few minutes already!

Is he breaking the seal thing!?

Uh oh

Is he going to stay? It looks like he’s at least considering it.

???? I thought he wanted him to stay!?

Okay now these are the dramatics I was expecting from Nie Mingjue

Jin Ling D,:

Where’d he go? Is he still in there?

I still don’t know what to make of Nie Huaisang

Oh! Was he the last person he had to get revenge on?

Well there’s literally everyone else

:,( at Jiang Cheng just watching him

He’s leaving!? D:

How many child actors did they have for like one scene each??

Oh Nie Huaisang was holding the hat?

Wait is that blood

Not sure what he was feeling there. It was interesting though. Huh.

I’m D,: at this entire conversation with Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling. It’s so good.

Oh flashback?

Did he get himself caught on purpose!? D,:

Ahhhhhh

Hahaha was that an interrupted confession? It sure felt like one.

Ahhh Lan Sizhui :,D

Oh good they’re telling him

Ahhhhhhhhh

they’re hugging ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

‘Sad but thrilled’ is a good description

Hahaha this is fantastic

Okay the leg hug is a little awkward but the sentiment is nice

Ahhhhhh

Oh! They’re going back to Qishan together! Oh that’s so nice.

There is a lot of ‘person in black and person in white walking off together’ in this show

WAIT WAIT is he not going too!??

?????

WHAT

?????????????????

is this a flashback or a time skip what is happening

I mean very pretty but what

Okay these are new clothes so assumedly not a flashback

Good they didn’t split up

Oh I recognize this shot

Several of these shots actually - they’re used in either the opening or the ending I think

Oh good Nie Huaisang’s here too. We might actually be getting an explanation.

Okay that ‘Thou shall not befriend the devil’ was very threatening please clarify.

They laughed but I’m not sure if it was actually a joke

...okaaaay

Oh good they’re confirming it even without him

More or less

?? Okay what’s going on now. I’m on edge after that whole-

Shoot they are splitting up!?

??????

Okay so it’s not forever but??

Oh he’s playing the song!?

Thank goodness they’re implying it’s not for too long.

Wow is he in another outfit already?

That’s very pretty

?? What prompted the pause in music??

Okay he turned around was that them meeting back up?

Oh.

Oh thats the end. :,(

End notes:

Okay I had to do something but I am back half an hour later and watching the ending and it is giving me very strong emotions wow

Okay so.

First off: very good series - I was confused a whole lot but it made me feel things and I love it.

The ending was really well done, I think - there was a lot of ambiguity but it wrapped up enough of the emotional threads in a very effective manner.

Wow, uh. Hmmm. What to say.

Thoughts on characters/plot threads as I remember them:

I found that the strongest emotional thread of this show was probably the family/grief aspect. Mainly the family aspect, but the two were often combined. It showed up absolutely everywhere - it was both Wei Wuxian’s driving factor and in a way Jin Guangyao’s? Moreso the lack of it in the latter’s case. And a complicated issue with both (especially with their parents). On second thought this may hold true for a lot of the cast.

It did kind of feel like Wen Ruohan was kind of not a character and was just there to drive the war forward (and thus the characters and plot). Which is fine? But it leaves me feeling like the driving force behind the war was a little hollow, which is eh.

The Wen remnants were super compelling, though. That entire arc hit hard and made sense as a logical effect of the war.

I don’t really know how to feel about the post-timeskip stuff as a whole. On the one hand, I enjoyed myself a lot? It was great fun. On the other hand a lot of it contrasted sharply with the mass death at the end of the last arc.

The characters themselves were mostly pretty great (with the exceptions of, like, the Wen antagonists, some sect leaders, Su She and Jin Zixun).

I always have a hard time talking about main characters (in this case WWX and LWJ). I think it’s because we know so much about them that it’s hard to pick a single subject to talk about with them??

Anyway, they were really great. They had unique dynamics with each other and with all the other characters that evolved as they did. Neither were static characters and each step they took made sense?

Jiang Cheng is a very flawed character and he made me feel a lot and he’s my favorite. After a certain point he just had so many strong emotions, many of which conflicted each other and it was just entirely compelling and relatable. I feel like he is the strongest character outside of the main two + Jin Guangyao, although that may be my bias speaking.

Jin Guangyao. I totally forgot to think about story structure with him, frankly - didn’t see why he kept getting so much screen time and was constantly developing as well. I didn’t realize he was going to be a full-blown antagonist, let alone the antagonist, way past when I should have. He’s a sympathetic character, and the audience is reminded of this even as he does all these awful things. Yeah, he keeps finding himself in terrible situations but he also causes a lot of innocent casualties. I don’t totally know how to feel about him fully, but I think that’s the point.

Lan Xichen is also very flawed, but like. In a gentler way? I’m not sure we really see enough to know him as well as we could, but we do know that he’s trying and he cares, and sometimes that sucks for him.

Nie Huaisang is frankly a bit of an enigma. Unlike Jin Guangyao, he doesn’t exposit or drop masks where we can see him. I think he’s very interesting but maybe too underutilized in the majority of the series for me to say much else about him. I did really like the banter he had with Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, though.

Not sure I have as much to say on the other characters. Oops.

Lan Sizhui! Best boy. I love him.

Wen Ning is also best boy. He’s adorable. And also terrifying sometimes.

Wen Qing was fantastic. I liked her character so much and was very sad to see her go.

I was very surprised by how much Jin Zixuan grew on me. Props to that.

Jin Ling was also great. I loved his interactions with basically everyone. Also I feel like with maybe the exception of maybe Lan Xichen the ending probably was the worst for him. Smack dab in the center of the family drama, if you can count multiple set-ups and murders that.

I kind of simultaneously wish Jiang Yanli was more and am kind of content with how she was? I mean some of her role is a little... overly-limited, but she’s still a fairly important aspect of the story and continuously makes her own decisions and the like.

Madame Yu was a more interesting character to me than her husband but was also much more antagonistic. It’s an interesting duality where I want to see more of her but also want her to not interact with the other characters much, which doesn’t make any sense.

Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan didn’t have much of an impact outside of the Coffin Town bit, but frankly that was painful enough that it’s fine!! It was well done and their situation was awful but that hurt enough already!

Xue Yang is a character. Very well-portrayed and I feel like the actor had a blast but I feel like he didn’t have a giant impact either? He was a cool and scary villain.

Overall, it was a great show with a lot of interesting characters! It was great at emotional storytelling, except for when there was whiplash. I loved the music and the costuming, and the actors were great. Some of the special effects were a little wacky (looking at Lan Xichen’s instrument and the Wens’ dog thing), but some of them were really cool (see: Wen Ning’s entrance into the temple). Sometimes the politics-talk grated my nerves a bit, but that may be mostly a personal preference thing. The fighting also took some getting used to, but was impressive in some areas.

The show made me feel a lot and I am still feeling both the mixed bittersweet feelings from the show and that oh-shoot-the-story’s-over hole-in-the-chest feeling right now, but I don’t know how else to talk about that.

It wasn’t perfect but I enjoyed it a lot and am very impressed by it.

Let me know if I missed anything - there’s a lot and I am totally open for discussion.

#the untamed #mdzs #untamed liveblog #my thoughts

7 notes · View notes