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meandmyechoes · 3 years

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On the live-action costume.

As with every element of the episode, I sit less well with the execution than the concept. Surprisingly I do have some positive things to say on this nitpick from neck-to-toe (we are ignoring the head). The mixture of TCW/Rebels/realism has almost confused me into thinking there IS an agenda of presenting such a jumbled look.

Dave Filoni has dialed up the Japanese influence in this episode from the landscape to costumes. Commenting just on hardware, though efforts be praised, it’s difficult to shake that this is only slightly a less poor attempt of ‘asian style’ from western studios.

Only word on Ahsoka’s costumes across all periods: hood supremacy.

The Elephant in the Room: Grey

Read this interview. The only connection I can confidently make is how she has not corrected people calling her a Jedi. She was sure of who she is in rushing to aid the needy (since Walkabout arc), and possibly figured through carrying out justice and her moral compass. But the reconciliation with the Force and her Jedi identity that coincides with how she carries her mission? That is something I'd love the story to continue showing. Also consider The Lord of the Rings/Gandalf parallels.

Neckline

collar's on the right side, though the emphasis on right-over-left varies in cultures, so I'm willing to have a stare contest with the bathrobes out there. In Japanese tradition, left-over-right is a taboo, only the dead wears their cross collar this way. See with the white it isn't a good omen, Pajamas!Anakin & Mace in TCW 2.22.

tangent: The custom has its roots in the year 718 as a bill to demand all peasants can only wear the collar right-to-left. But no one is special in the afterlife, all the dead gets to wear the collar left-to-right like nobility. There's also a Buddhist connection in both Japanese and Chinese view. While kimono is borrowed from China, during the same time, China was made up of more diverse cultures than it is now. The collar difference is also an indicator of social class, but instead of economic status, it was to determine if you’re a ‘foreigner’ from Central Asia or Mongolia or a born-and-raised Tang Dynasty subject. The rule was less strict, as a norm instead of law. Right-over-left survives as the standard for the Han population in what we call ‘central’ China. either way this is a western production

There're subtle distinctions in the angle one's kimono collar cross, that signifies age and social status, but I don't think I need to go there since they sure didn’t. This is more a bonus point if they get right, but too minute to expect in the first place.

It looks like there's one more layer beneath the top yet the collar is still positioned too high-neck for me. Please cross it at the clavicle instead of the throat and properly show the undergarment to complete the two-collar look in Jedi tradition.

A turtleneck (sweater) per Rebels epilogue choking her would’ve been fine with me but not this collar in this fashion please. I couldn’t hate her in high collar it’s just, this isn’t even a high collar.

Upper body

the vest: eerily reviewing I’m sympathetic because I tried styling Anakin’s S1 vest myself. I am neutral with it being U-shaped (instead of V). might even commend on how they pulled an extra inch loose from the belt, giving a little room

what i don’t like is how quite obvious it’s a fake two-piece. the vest and the shirt are sewn together at the arm holes and yes, i get it’s for stunt purpose and it doesn’t look bad per se, just a nuance.

what i really don’t get is the hourglass cut on the back. I know *for stunts purpose* she doesn’t have a magnificent hind lek to highlight the silhouette of her back. The hourglass cut not only looks quite “modern Earth”, it’s not the most flattering on the actor’s back.

arm sleeves: I do looooove the diamond legging sleeves! I put that in my design once too!! I’d have pulled the sleeves three inches higher on the biceps so it doesn’t look like constantly slipping down. The iconic diamond motif does not deserve to be wrinkled up.

Belt

I wonder if the high waistline has to do with the actor being more busty than animated but it also kind of make sense that a martial artist would need a wide belt for core strength. Proportionality is probably the culprit to my nag. If it drops two inches to natural waist, it slims down the upper body. The upper and lower half would balance and allow more room for the bust to properly finish its inward curve that’d look more pleasing to me lol.

The belt is my second favourite. It’s authentic to Rebels (their reference) along with the gauntlets. The ring buckle looks great in real life. It’s one of the earliest element in Dave’s design of a ‘samurai woman’ influence for Rebels!Ahsoka. I am a little disappointed how it was casually tied at the back with two strings, which makes it look more like a prop front. Otherwise the leather and cross string details on the front half is a nice touch.

Skirt armour: I've been staring too long at this cursed image to tell if it was separate pieces or an extension of the vest, or label it with the correct term. But it does look a bit stiff as if carded especially in the front panel. The length is also kinda embarrassing, too short to be kama, or even a miniskirt; too long to be a vest. I agree it might not be appropriate to put her in a skirt at this age. I would've made the front panel one-piece with the top in a diagonal bottom cut; and the side panels part of the vest.

Just saw the character poster. It really was two separate piece of gridles ಠ_ಠ Good thing the belt drops to natural waist. Please release higher-res ver so I can confirm the belt buckle indeed have the AWBW wolf door engraved. That would make a sick merchandise.

Lower Body

Yes, Ahsoka in pants is a Look, as in the Monkey Boots outfit and the Walkabout Jumpsuit. On top of that! I’ve been manifesting “HAKAMA” from May this year, even went out to sew my own hakama for Ahsoka because I couldn’t draw her in one. so how come I didn’t know it’s (supposed to be) a hakama until I saw a tumble post ( ¬_¬ )

The previous Ahsoka-in-pants design are all slim cut. But this is not a design problem since the concept art looks AMAZING and only one bow and arrow away from my hallucination. It’s the fabric. This flow-y soft linen is consistent with the rest of the outfit. Traditional cotton is sacrificed for the lightweight linen, again, for stunts purposes. I know jackshit about orthodox kimono or tailoring, but I wish it'd have retain more structure. But that, would cause a problem tugging into the boot...

There'd be a tonal clash if Ahsoka is in full hakama. The heavier bottom would've resonated with the age that made her wise. The pacing in the final fight would've been less jarring when the costume conceals her agility. But with the amount of animation-style flips they shoehorn in, full hakama is not compatible. I don't really bother coming up with a compromise here, seeing the Mouse is already pleased with their solution.

Shoes

They are Siege of Mandalore boots, period. And frankly the boots themselves look fantastic as a reproduction of a pair of pixels. They are properly weathered and looks metallic. However it only fuels the confusion as if they mix up pieces to mess with the timeline, or if there's some deeper symbolism. (no.)

edit: I forgot to mention another post points out they’re tabi shoes/socks, as is in the japanese concept. saw it in the ahsoka tano tag last night but can’t find it now.

Cloak

Looks like the hot toys cloak’s linen with the same asymmetrical (unfinished!) hem. all the more to fuel ‘hot toys got insider tip’ conspiracy. Jokes aside, the overall drape is not bad for vigilante vibe.

Hood: there are dart lines? on the inside of her hood but can’t find a clear front view to confirm their location. If then I’m disappointed they didn’t try to hide the darts at all on the inside. Darts are optional and a hood for short montrals could maintain shape undarted so why are there visible unfinished edges? Line that thing! Give her nice clothes!

Since the shortened montrals/lekku approximately reduce seven yards of fabric in her hood, it's also disappointing from a seamstress point of view the hood capelet that would've draped over her shoulders disappeared. (re: Onderon red cloak, Shaak Ti's cloak)

I’ve looked more closely at the White Cloak and the new character poster. The White Cloak is easily recgonizable as the only Ahsoka hood with a visible seam. They actually nailed the only detail: the twin lace crosses at her sternum. The Grey Cloak has an extra piece of rectangle closing that screams velcro to me. It’s also shorter for easy movement. Otherwise, the hood shape is uncannily similar in the shoulder-width to the amount of overlap on her shoulder. Pretty sure they wire the hood fringe for it to stay in bell-shape for the still. Not a big fan of the messy tweed in terms of comfort, but fitting I guess.

Bonus Round: Headband

Dave cited Ahsoka's Rebels headband as an homage to Aurora's crown. This is a mash-up of the Walkabout headband, being leather and the central diamond, and the Rebels headband, without the hind lek strap and a smooth arc instead of the widow's peak. The subtler vertical stripes is reminiscent of Dave's early concepts of post-war Ahsoka as shown in the Untold Tales Panel. It looks tightly attached on the actors forehead too, unlike the side lekku.

Huge beef with that suspiciously ear-shapes ovals at the foot of the headband. The gap between the side lek and the cheek is too wide and the ovals just put a flashing sign pointing there I guess. If you couldn't find an actor that can physically handle the prosthetics then maybe hire a better one?

Conclusion

I don’t hate this costume, I just think it could be styled better. and I won’t give my opinion on whether the finished version or the heavy hakama is better because I prefer her not to have a heavy action scene at all. The Grey is so dull and unsaturated from an aesthetic point of view. What could be in store for its owner? But to end on an enlightened note, I do appreciate the unisex appeal to this outfit, and some, attention to materials and replication in the accessories. Sadly, there’s nothing togrutan about this costume anywhere.

P.S. A two-minute MS Paint edit to tweak something I didn't like.

I'd have done the hakama but why bother just look at the concept art

look at that natural waist and high sleeve and double collar (but the collar is on the wrong side) (╯▅╰) can i say this face looks like ashley though (conspiracy confirmed)

#ahsoka tano #the mandalorian #star wars #sw meta #my sw meta #mando spoilers #this wasn't going in the meta tag but it got long #i wrote the whole thing and take a look at the concept art had everything i would tweak...#not me plowing through tokusatsu monster suits to prove you CAN fight in long prosthetics ಠ~ಠ with limited visibility too ಠ3ಠ #mka #m5 madness

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cali-holland · 4 years

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Interview Trouble, Part Two- Tom Holland Mini Series

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Prompt: With your relationship now public, you and Tom do interviews together.

Word Count: 1900

Part One

Masterlist Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

A/N: Didn’t intend on doing a part two, but I couldn’t help myself!

~~~

“Hi, everyone, I am Y/N Y/L/N.” You smiled at the camera.

“And I’m Tom Holland.” Tom said with a wave.

“And we’re here to answer some questions while playing with puppies.” You explained, as prompted. Tom immediately started to try to play with as many puppies as he could. Meanwhile, you just casually played with the one nearest you. Your relationship had been public for a year now, and, with Tom’s new movie coinciding with you releasing new music, your managers set up couple’s interviews for the two of you to do together.

“How did you two meet?” The interviewer asked, off camera.

“We met,” Tom started, looking at you with a smile, “At this pub in London about two years ago. I had been a fan of Y/N’s music for a while, so when I saw her I just had to go say hi.”

“Correction. He tripped and fell on his way over to me so I had to help him up.” You teased and he pouted.

“What can I say? I was already falling for you.” He laughed, “But it’s true. I was whipped.”

“I’m whipped too.” You leaned over to give him a peck on the lips.

“You live together now. Would you two ever adopt a dog?” The interviewer spoke up. As if on cue, a small black puppy flopped down into your lap and started to fall asleep.

“Aw, I feel chosen.” You smiled, softly petting the dog. You turned your attention back to the camera to answer the question. “We haven’t really thought about it, have we?” You looked over at Tom.

“We haven’t, no.” He laughed, “I love that you have to look at me to make sure we haven’t talked about getting a dog.”

“Maybe I just want to look at you.” You joked, playfully rolling your eyes at your boyfriend.

“We should get a dog, though. When we go home next, we’ll get a dog, just for you Buzzfeed.” Tom said, continuing to play the puppies crawling over his lap.

“What’s the most romantic thing you’ve done for each other?” The interviewer continued.

“Oh God,” You let out a small sigh as you started to think about what you’d consider to be the most romantic thing.

“Oh God? Am I really not that romantic?” Tom questioned, feigning offense.

“No, no.” You laughed.

“Did you see her reaction? Just ‘oh God, he never does anything romantic’.” He teased.

“I didn’t say that.” You playfully hit his arm. “I need to think about it.”

“I say, the most romantic thing you’ve done is- remember when we first started dating and you were over at my place?”

“Oh, this.” You smiled fondly. Tom turned to the camera to continue explaining.

“We’d only been dating for about a month, and I got really sick when Y/N was at my house. I had food poisoning so I couldn’t stomach anything, but she stayed with me and made me soup when I could eat again.”

“That’s such an odd thing for you to consider the most romantic thing I’ve ever done for you.” You teased. “You were like ‘most romantic thing? She saw me puke but she stayed’. Peak of romance right there.”

“It’s true, though. I really thought ‘she’s seen me vomit, she’s going to break up with me’, but you stayed. You’ve done a lot of romantic things, but that was the first one that I was like ‘I’m in love with this girl’.” He said, a small blush in his cheeks because, yes, he did just embarrassingly admit to the world that him being so sick was ‘the peak of romance’.

“Aw, babe.” You smiled, leaning over and kissing him. “I think the most romantic thing you’ve done for me was when we were in Atlanta, just before my tour while you were filming Avengers. You had the day off and we went to this small boutique, and I saw this cute wolf figurine.” You held up with your hands about the size of it, not bigger than your own hand. “I didn’t buy it that day, but when you surprised me on tour like a month later, you gave me that because you’d gone back and gotten it for me.”

“I like that you both went for small gestures, when we’ve all seen the Bali pictures.” The interviewer joked, referring back to when Tom surprised you with a trip to Bali. Not only was the trip a surprise holiday, but he also had candles and rose petals put throughout the hotel room.

“Oh, no, that’s up there.” You laughed. The small puppy on your lap let out a whine, calling for attention.

“We’re definitely adopting a dog.” Tom said and you nodded in agreement.

And a couple weeks later, when you both returned to England, you had adopted not one, but two puppies.

~~~

Back in England, you two still had more interviews to do. This time, though, you two were doing it through Facebook live. Instead of having an interviewer ask questions, you two read off a cue card, asking each other questions to see who knew the other better.

“Which of your movies is my favorite?” You asked Tom, once the cameras started to roll.

“Far From Home.” He said, smugly, already knowing he got the right answer. “What’s my favorite song of yours?”

“A Thousand Years.” You replied, immediately knowing his answer. It was the first song you had written about him, and he went weak anytime he heard it. “What’s my go-to drink?”

“I might not know this.” Tom laughed, nervously. “I like beer, but yours is tequila, right?”

“Two years and you still question if I like tequila.” You teased. “But that’s right.”

“Who was my childhood celebrity crush? Damn, that’s easy.” He shook his head, “Unfair.”

“Is it Jennifer Aniston?” You asked, and he nodded, “I guessed that one.”

“Oh sure.”

“Who would I love to collab with?”

“Ed Sheeran.” Tom replied quickly.

“You know me so well.”

“What’s my all-time favorite movie?” Tom read the card, laughing, “Wait, I don’t even know this one.”

“Does Dodgeball count? We’ve watched it like a million times together.” You joked.

“Yeah, it counts.” He nodded, approvingly.

“Last question. What’s my ring size?”

“Wait, I know this.” Tom paused, thinking about it. “I just talked to your sister about this the other day.”

“You what?” Your eyes went wide at his comment. He laughed, awkwardly remembering the interview was live.

“She was talking about how she has a ring that she wants to get rid of, she was going to give it to you.” He explained, maintaining his cool. The blush on his face told you another story; you could tell he was lying. He may be an actor, but he could never lie to you, no matter how much he wanted to.

The interview’s director cut the livestream there, and everyone left you and Tom on the couch to talk about the elephant in the room.

“So you asked my sister about my ring size.” You said, smiling hopefully at Tom.

“Yeah,” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to spoil it. God, I’m so bad at keeping secrets.”

“I love that you suck at keeping secrets. It’s adorable and it’s so completely you.” You placed a hand on his arm, rubbing it softly. Tom fished into his pant pockets and pulled out the small red box.

“This isn’t how I wanted to do this, but I don’t really care because I just want to be with you.” Tom shifted off the couch and onto one knee.

“You don’t have to do this now. I can wait.” You reassured him, knowing that you couldn’t convince him to change anyway. Not that you wanted to wait- your answer would still be the same no matter when or how he asked.

“Y/N Y/L/N, I love you more than I can explain. Everyday that I spend with you, I fall more in love, and I want to spend everyday with you for the rest of my life. I’m already the luckiest and happiest man on earth because I have you, but will you make me even luckier and happier and marry me?” Tom asked, popping open the box to present a beautiful, small diamond ring to you.

“I love you so much- yes!” You hadn’t even finished your own sentence before Tom was already slipping the ring onto your finger. Both of you knew exactly what you’d say, and it made you love him even more. He sat back on the couch next to you, so that you could kiss your fiance properly.

~~~

“Please welcome the talented, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Tom Holland!” Jimmy Kimmel announced as the curtain opened to reveal Tom. Tom walked out onto the stage, waving at the audience, and shaking hands with Jimmy. He saw you in the crowd and blew you a cheeky kiss before sitting down in his spot.

“So, it’s been a year since you’ve last been on the show. How has life been?” Jimmy asked.

“It’s been good, just lots of work. I spent a good portion of last year just working on different sets. I got some exciting stuff coming soon.” Tom replied happily.

“You also,” Jimmy paused as he got out a picture of Tom’s post on Instagram. It was of you two kissing while you held up your left hand; the classic proposal photo. “got engaged recently?”

“Yeah, I did.” His cheeks went red as his eyes found yours in the crowd.

“Congratulations. Can we bring Y/N up here?” The host asked and the audience cheered when you stood from your seat. Jimmy greeted you with a hug and you kissed Tom as you sat down next to him on the couch. “Let’s see the ring.”

“There we go.” Tom said proudly as you showed off your left hand to Jimmy, the audience, and the cameras.

“Did we get a good close up of it?” You joked.

“It’s so shiny, it’s hard to take a good picture.” Tom laughed. You casually rested your left hand on his leg and he covered your hand with his own.

“I heard a rumor that, Tom, you actually spoiled the surprise.” Jimmy said, “How did- how did you do that?”

“So we were doing a livestream interview, and I had been very secretive about proposing-“ Tom started.

“You were not secretive.” You teased. “You told everyone except for me.”

“That’s generally how proposals work.” Jimmy laughed.

“No, I’m talking about how fans knew he was going to propose. He would tell people in the grocery store, that kind of everyone.”

“I was excited and trying not to tell you.” Tom said, “It’s hard not being able to tell the person I tell everything to about something so exciting.”

“But anyway,” you continued the story, “He said during the livestream he’d just asked my sister for my ring size, and then he proposed when the cameras stopped rolling.”

“How sweet.” Jimmy commented.

“The cat was already out of the bag. It’s not like I could go back.” Tom joked.

“You two also just adopted a couple dogs, right?” Jimmy asked, pulling out another picture of you and Tom with your two rescue staffordshire puppies. The audience let out a series of awes at the photograph.

“So Hugo’s the fawn colored one and Marley’s the white one.” Tom stated.

“What kind of breed are they again?”

“They’re both English Staffordshire bull terriers. Tom’s got one named Tessa and she’s such a sweetheart. But we did an interview with puppies for Buzzfeed and decided we needed to get a dog.” You explained.

“And then we couldn’t choose just one so we got two.” Tom laughed.

“They’re our babies.” You joked, feeling Tom’s finger brush over the ring on your left hand which made you smile.

#tom holland #tom holland fanfic #tom holland one shot #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you #tom holland fic #tom holland series

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megashadowdragon · 3 years

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This post is a reworked and somewhat expanded tidbit from a massive writing about House Martell I posted last Friday. I think the topic—Doran's gout—is of interest even to those who have no interest in "tinfoil" of any kind. Because I think it deserves a wider airing than the one it likely got buried deep in the comment-continuations of a monster post, I decided to pull out the relevant, not-tinfoil-y stuff, goose it out a little, and post it on its own, separated from the tinfoil context.

TL;DR: Doran has "saturnine gout", caused by chronic lead poisoning from the lead sugar used to sweeten his beloved "sweet heavy strongwine". His gout and elements of his story are a riff on the story of the infamously gout-afflicted real world King Charles I of Spain AKA Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

All About Doran's Gout

Doran has gout. Why might that be, and what is the purpose of giving him gout?

Gout was historically/colloquially believed to be caused by excessive alcohol (onlinelibrary . wiley . com/doi/pdf/10 . 1002/art . 1780080442 ) consumption. We absolutely see Doran drink and indeed show a "love" for "sweet, heavy strongwine":

[Doran] ate a bit of it, and drank a cup of the sweet, heavy strongwine that he loved. When it was empty, he filled it once again. (CotG)

Each of the Martells in general seems to like to drink in their own way, too. Thus we see Selmy tell Dany Quentyn is…

"Drinking with his knights" (DWD Dae VIII)

…and when Quent subsequently appears, his face is "flushed and ruddy". Dany assumes he's drunk on wine (just like Elder Brother):

Too much wine, the queen concluded… (ibid.)

We also see Quentyn really savor a glass of wine in the dark and pour himself another, much as Doran did, above:

Quentyn… poured himself a cup of wine and drank it in the dark. The taste was sweet solace on his tongue, so he lit a candle and poured himself another. (DWD tDT)

Oberyn swills wine like water:

"Is it Dornish wine you're drinking?" [said Oberyn.]

"From the Arbor."

Oberyn made a face. "Red water."

…

"I think I may drink some of Lord Redwyne's grape juice after all."

"As you like." Tyrion served him a cup.

The man took a sip, sloshed it about in his mouth, and swallowed. "It will serve, for the moment. I will send you up some strong Dornish wine on the morrow." He took another sip. (SOS Ty IX)

Tyrion found Prince Oberyn drinking a cup of red wine as he donned his armor. He was attended by four of his younger Dornish lordlings. "Good morrow to you, my lord," the prince said. "Will you take a cup of wine?"

"Should you be drinking before battle?"

"I always drink before battle." (SOS Ty X)

Arianne likewise really enjoys her wine:

When [Arianne] required more wine, Timoth would fetch it. (FFC PitT)

When [Arianne and Tyene] were ten Arianne had stolen a flagon of wine, and the two of them had gotten drunk together. (PitT)

Cedra glanced up shyly at his name and almost spilled the wine that she was pouring [for Arianne]. (PitT)

[Arianne] drank a little wine to settle her stomach. (PitT)

She seems to prefer her wine strong and she makes fun of Arys's low tolerance for alcohol:

[Arys:] "I was drunk when I said that.

[Arianne:] "You'd had three cups of watered wine." (FFC tSK)

She also tacitly informs us that the Dornish as a whole are a drunken bunch when she says the "Drunken Dornishman" Inn was "aptly named". (TWOW Ari II)

Thus we might simply conclude that Doran has gout because he, like a typical Martell and typical Dornishman, drinks too much.

In truth, though, while booze isn't good for gout, clinically fructose is a greater villain. Thus Doran's orange-eating—

He had decided to break his fast before he went, with a blood orange and a plate of gull's eggs diced with bits of ham and fiery peppers. (CotG)

"We were eating oranges." - Doran Martell (CotG)

—is probably worse for his gout than his alcohol consumption, per se (notwithstanding the fact that vitamin C on its own may slightly lower one's risk of contracting gout in the first place). Besides all the oranges he eats, the purine-rich ham he puts in his eggs is especially bad for him, while the dates Dorne is known for (along with its fruit in general)—

A fortnight past, a trader had been butchered in the shadow city, a harmless man who'd come to Dorne for fruit and found death instead of dates. (FFC tSK)

—are a veritable fructose bomb.

Not Simply Gout, But Saturnine Gout

All that having been said, I strongly suspect that Doran's gout is not about his alcohol consumption, per se, nor even all that fruit. Rather, I suspect his gout is "saturnine gout", which is caused by lead poisoning. Lead sugar AKA "salt of Saturn" AKA lead acetate was often added to wine in and after the Middle Ages to sweeten and/or preserve it. And what kind of wine does Doran love?

sweet, heavy [like lead!] strongwine

Sounds like wine sweetened with lead sugar to me, especially given (a) lead's colloquial reputation as quintessentially "heavy" and (b) GRRM's love of wordplay.

Sure enough, the distinguishing features of saturnine gout perfectly coincide with Doran's symptoms. Unlike normal gout, which tends to afflict one or perhaps two joints only and most frequently the joint at the base of the big toe, bouts of saturnine gout "tend to occur in the knee" and "are frequently polyarticular", meaning they affect many joints at once. (www . ncbi . nlm . nih . gov/pubmed/2661030) Indeed, Doran's knees are a huge problem, and his gout is very polyarticular:

The gout had swollen and reddened his joints grotesquely; his left knee was an apple, his right a melon, and his toes had turned to dark red grapes, so ripe it seemed as though a touch would burst them. (FFC CotG)

Doran has other subtle symptoms that are consistent with lead poisoning/saturnine gout as well. Consider these descriptions of Doran:

…they found Doran Martell seated behind a cyvasse table, his gouty legs supported by a cushioned footstool. He was toying with an onyx elephant, turning it in his reddened, swollen hands. The prince looked worse than she had ever seen him. His face was pale and puffy, his joints so inflamed that it hurt her just to look at them. (FFC PitT)

Beneath the coverlet, his legs were pale, soft, ghastly. Both of his knees were red and swollen, and his toes were almost purple, twice the size they should have been. (DWD tW)

[Doran] sounded so sad, so exhausted, so weak. (FFC PitT)

When he raised his head to look at her, his dark eyes were clouded with pain. Is that the gout? Arianne wondered. (PitT)

In the shade of the orange trees, the prince sat in his chair with his gouty legs propped up before him, and heavy bags beneath his eyes . . . though whether it was grief or gout that kept him sleepless, Hotah could not say. (CotG)

The prince leaned back against his pillows and closed his eyes, but Hotah knew he did not sleep. He is in pain. (CotG)

Sometimes in the deep black hours of the morning sleep found him in his chair. (CotG)

The prince sat in his high seat beneath the Martell spear, his face pale with pain. (CotG)

Look, his hand is shaking. The Prince of Dorne is terrified. (tSK)

[Doran's] legs had been useless for three years, but there was still some strength in his hands and shoulders. (DWD tW)

Doran's generalized pain, exhaustion and weakness, his insomnia (complete with more wordplay surrounding lead's weight: he has "heavy bags under his eyes"), his hand tremors (if not feigned for Arys's benefit) and his mostly pallid complexion combined with the lividity (blood pooling/dark color/swelling) in his hands and lower body is likewise consistent with chronic lead poisoning.

Another symptom of lead poisoning is loss of appetite (whereas common gout is associated with overconsumption), and Doran certainly doesn't seem the hungry sort:

A serving man brought him a bowl of purple olives, with flatbread, cheese, and chickpea paste. He ate a bit of it, and drank a cup of the sweet, heavy strongwine that he loved.

Chronic common gout leads to the formation of "tophi"—white, chalky deposits of uric acid crystals which can break through the skin—whereas "tophi rarely develop" in cases of saturnine gout. And lo! There's no hint of tophi in the descriptions of Doran's gout symptoms.

Given the medical evidence, it's safe to say that Doran's beloved strongwine is the primary cause of his troubles. (In a certain unusual sense, then, it can be said that Doran does have a drinking problem of sorts after all. It's just not the alcohol that's causing the problem.)

The "Saturnine" Giveaway

While the medical evidence adds up, for me there's an even better, textually-coded reason to believe that Doran has saturnine gout. Remembering that saturnine gout is caused by lead poisoning, isn't it interesting that Doran's brother Oberyn is (a) a master poisoner and (b) literally called "saturnine" in juxtaposition to a reference to Doran's gout"

"My brother's health requires he remain at Sunspear." The princeling removed his helm. Beneath, his face was lined and saturnine, with thin arched brows above large eyes as black and shiny as pools of coal oil. (SOS Ty V)

Ladies and gentlemen: GRRM.

The Charles I/V Parallel

Doran's gout is clearly riffing on the story of one of real-world history's most infamous gout sufferers: Spain's King Charles I AKA Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Charles didn't marry until he was 25—very late in life for his era and station. Doran likewise married very late for a firstborn highborn man of Westeros: Given that Doran is 52 at the beginning of AFFC, in very early 300 AC—

Though he was but two-and-fifty, Doran Martell seemed much older. (FFC CotG)

—he was likely 25 c. 273, when he did not sail to Casterly Rock with his mother and siblings because…

…Doran was [as yet merely] betrothed to Lady Mellario of Norvos… (SOS Ty X)

Much as King Charles famously fell in love with his wife at first sight, so did Doran and Mellario fall for one another at first sight—

"I saw Volantis once, on my way to Norvos, where I first met Mellario. The bells were ringing, and the bears danced down the steps. Areo will recall the day."

"I remember," echoed Areo Hotah in his deep voice. "The bears danced and the bells rang, and the prince wore red and gold and orange. My lady asked me who it was who shone so bright."

Prince Doran smiled wanly. (FFC PitT)

—such that It Is Known that he "married for love". (DWD tDT)

Perhaps most obviously, Charles was infamously carried from place to place in a sedan chair due to the pain of his gout, just as Doran transported by litter, unable to walk or even ride.

King Charles was famous for something else, too: a famously enlarged lower jaw. And what do you know, Doran's son Quentyn "heavy jaw" that is "too square", which Doran seems to share, as Arianne says Quentyn both "looks like" and "looks too much like" Doran. (DWD Dae VII; tMM; FFC PitT; WOW Ari I)

Two Doran-Charles connections are more playful. First, Charles's love was Isabella of Portugal. Portugal is, of course, famous for the production of Port, which "coincidentally" could be described rather perfectly as a "sweet heavy strongwine" like the one Doran "loved".

Second, while Charles's wife Isabella gave birth to five children in total, two of her sons died as infants, leaving her with three children who grew to adulthood. This just so happen to prefigure what we're told about Doran's mother:

"I was the oldest," the prince said, "and yet I am the last. After Mors and Olyvar died in their cradles, I gave up hope of brothers. I was nine when Elia came, a squire in service at Salt Shore. … And a year later Oberyn arrived, squalling and kicking." (FFC CotG)

All these allusions to King/Emperor Charles are fascinating. To the extent that some people have speculated that Charles suffered from saturnine gout, much like many believe the Romans did, the parallel could even help reinforce the idea that Doran's gout is saturnine, caused by the lead sugar used to sweeten his wine.

The Point

Neat, huh? For many, parallels and references like this are simply "easter eggs", interesting little nuggets that are "cool" and little else.

Personally, I think they're an inherent part of GRRM's greater project, part of a web of references pointing to in-world truths that ASOIAF has yet to even let us know we don't know. (We are all all Jon Snows to GRRM's Ygritte, here.) The much larger writing from pieces of this writing were extracted, reworked and expanded upon here (a reworking which I have subsequently gone back and overlaid into the original) argues that House Nymeros-Martell has two major players in interesting places that readers do not yet realize are Martells. Specifically, that writing argues that Archmaester Marwyn the Mage is a Martell, and that Elder Brother of Quiet Isle, who has no name and who tells Brienne he "died" at the Trident, is in fact none other than the "late" Prince Lewyn of Dorne, who I argue is Marwyn's younger brother.

And wouldn't you know it? Marwyn has a King Charles-esque "slab of jaw", while Elder Brother has a "heavy jaw", also called a "thick square jaw". (FFC Sam V, B VI) What's more, if I'm correct that Elder Brother is a former prince of Dorne who's now retired to the monastic retreat on Quiet Isle, this sets up a huge parallel to history's most famous gout sufferer, Charles V. How so?

Charles famously abdicated all his titles and retired to a monastery, which is exactly what I argue Doran's uncle Lewyn did after the Battle of the Trident. What's more, Charles famously staged his own death and resurrection at the monastery—

…about six months before his death Charles staged his own funeral, complete with shroud and coffin, after which he "rose out of the coffin, and withdrew to his apartment, full of those awful sentiments, which such a singular solemnity was calculated to inspire." (wikipedia: Charles V, quoting a famous 19th century biography of Charles)

—which is in essence what I believe Lewyn Martell did when he was "reborn" as a monk on Quiet Isle:

"When I died in the Battle of the Trident…" - Elder Brother (FFC B VI)

"I woke here, upon the Quiet Isle. The [old] Elder Brother told me I had washed up on the tide, naked as my name day. I can only think that someone found me in the shallows, stripped me of my armor, boots, and breeches, and pushed me back out into the deeper water. The river did the rest. We are all born naked, so I suppose it was only fitting that I come into my second life the same way. I spent the next ten years in silence." - Elder Brother (FFC B VI)

#asoiaf #A Song of Ice and Fire #doran martell #asoiaf meta

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freddieslater · 4 years

Text

Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Joe West x Martin Stein (The Flash)

Requested by @light-miracles

Hearing the name was the first thing that tipped Joe off. When Barry said it while talking about Firestorm, he thought surely not.

Surely it's a different Martin Stein, somehow. He can't quite tell if he was hoping he was right or not, but he convinced himself he was, that it's all just a big coincidence.

But here he is, and there's Martin. Standing across from him in the Cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs. Despite it being well over a decade or so, he knows immediately that it's him.

Martin shifts slightly, eyes down, focused on nothing particularly interesting as the team talks away, unaware that neither of them are in their little bubble.

He saw him, Joe knows. They looked right at each other the second he walked into the room. He watched Martin's eyes widen behind those same glasses, the look of utter bewilderment on his face. And in came Barry and Iris and the rest of the team, going straight into introductions and figuring out a game plan.

Joe thinks it's a good thing; it gives him time to wrap his head around this properly, think through what to say when he gets the chance. But no matter what runs through his mind, nothing feels right. Nothing eases the twisting, churning mixture of feelings he's got going on inside of him right now.

"Joe?" Barry asks at last, snapping him out of his daze, dragging his eyes over to meet his slightly concerned gaze. "Does that sound okay?"

In all truth, Joe has no idea what the hell Barry just said. His eyes dart off to the left.

"Uh, what? Sorry, didn't catch that last part."

Martin's eyes flick to him for the second time since he walked in.

"I asked if you could stay here with Stein, make sure everything's okay here while we head out to catch the Meta," Barry repeats gently, and Joe's aware that he's gonna get a few questions about this later.

For now, he nods. "Yeah, yeah, of course. Just be back soon, alright? There's only so long I can stay away before Singh comes back to revoke captain from me."

Barry laughs at that. He promises, and he, Cisco, and Ralph head out while Caitlin and Iris relocate to the lab in the back of the room to go over what they have so far on one of their other cases.

Leaving just him and Martin. Alone again.

Martin clears his throat and Joe lifts an eyebrow an inch, watching him, waiting with this annoying little flutter in his chest.

"So..." Martin starts uncertaintly, but he's looking at him, right in his eyes. "It's been quite a long time, hasn't it?"

Joe makes a quiet noise at that, half a snort, half a chuckle. "I guess forty-six years is a long time, yeah, you could say that."

Martin falters, as if he thought maybe he wouldn't remember. Or at least wouldn't know how long in exact numbers.

He draws in a deep breath, then nods.

"Things have certainly..." he lifts a hand to gesture at him, letting it fall back to his side a second later, "...changed. I hear you're a detective now."

"Well, I was majoring in law when we met, that shouldn't be all that surprising," Joe points out.

Martin smiles. It almost feels forced. Sad.

"It's not. I'm happy for you," he says, sincere. "And rather proud. Working part-time out of a lab? I thought you once said that science just 'wasn't your thing'."

"Oh, it's still not." Joe shakes his head, making a face as he glances around. "I'm just here to help out with the arrests and legal side of things, and because of Iris."

He stops after he says it. It hadn't really processed in his mind before it left his mouth. Martin's still wearing that smile, nodding now. He's got that look in his eyes; he always used to get it before, when he was trying to hide something.

"Yes. Iris. Your daughter. She's rather lovely. And a lot like you, from what I've seen."

"Well..." Joe shrugs. "I did raise her alone from the age of eleven. Guess some things just sort of stuck."

There's a flicker of surprise in Martin's expression. He doesn't comment on it, doesn't ask. Joe's admittedly a little relieved. Telling him about Francine just isn't a conversation they need to be having right now.

"I imagine you're incredibly proud of her," Martin says. "You should be. She's been nothing but kind to me since I got here. Very intelligent. Would make an excellent detective as well."

"Yeah, that's what she said when she wanted to sign up. I talked her out of it."

Martin nods, as if that makes complete sense to him. There's a glint in his eyes.

"You did say you'd never let your child go through the same tedious process as you did," he says. "It's good to see not everything is different now."

Joe hums in the back of his throat. He swallows and waves a hand vaguely at him.

"And--hey, I heard you have a kid, too. A daughter? Caitlin talks a lot about her. They went to some college together, I think?"

Martin nods again, though looks a little thrown. "Yes. They did. Lily is rather fond of her."

"And... her mother sounds lovely."

Caitlin's mentioned her a couple times as well from what he can remember of the snippets of casual conversation. Just little things about going with Lily for family dinners.

The comment definitely catches Martin by surprise. Joe doesn't really know what he's expecting, but he hates that a little part of him is waiting with so much anticipation and dread, already regretting saying it at all.

"Yes," Martin says again, then shakes his head, clearing his throat. "Yes, she is rather extraordinary. A brilliant mother, too."

That same part of Joe sinks. It's just a little stab in his chest, nothing too painful, but still enough.

He presses his lips into what he can muster of a smile. "That's good. I'm happy for the two of you."

Something seems to register. Martin rubs at his jaw with his left hand. It's an old habit, a nervous tick he used to have and apparently still does, and that's why it takes Joe a moment to notice the lack of a ring.

His eyes widen a touch in realization before Martin even speaks. He wasn't going to say anything about it himself; like he said, things have changed since they knew each other. For all he knew, feelings and a whole lot more could have as well.

"Clarissa and I are no longer together," Martin tells him. He pauses, lifts his eyes to meet his. "We divorced a few years back. After I told her the truth."

The truth. "Oh," Joe says slowly.

"It was for the best," Martin says, shrugging. "I loved her more than anything, but..."

"But you weren't being honest with yourself," Joe fills in the blanks.

Martin stares at him. "Precisely."

They both know, the unspoken thing between them, desperately calling out for one of them to just acknowledge it.

Rehearsing possible lines in his head hasn't done him any good. It's like there's this giant elephant just sitting in the corner of the room and they're both supposed to pretend it's not there. But Joe's never really been all that great at ignoring things.

"I feel like I should be apologizing," he says, chuckling nervously.

Martin's brow furrows. "For what?"

Joe tilts his head and softens his voice. "You know what. All of it. I just..." He sighs, shaking his head now, trying to find the right words to explain.

"You weren't the one who ended things between us, Joe," Martin says quietly. "If anything, I should be the sorry one."

"No, I shouldn't have pushed you like I did," he says. "I got too caught up in it all. I thought that everything would magically be perfect after college."

"You can't blame yourself for liking the idea of a perfect world or wanting to get a little lost in a romance."

Joe just shakes his head again, pressing his lips together, a knot pulling tight in his stomach.

"I was the one who pushed you away, remember?" Martin points out, stepping closer. His hands are moving as he talks, palms up, like he always used to do. "I shouldn't have, I know that now, but I got scared."

"Of course you were scared," Joe scoffs, gesturing around them. "The world was terrifying back then--still is! Our entire relationship was against the law and every second day there was some news story about people like us dying."

Even just remembering it makes him sick to his stomach. The fear that was instilled in him. In Martin. They always tried to push it away, focus on the good between them. But it was harder, and the secrecy didn't help.

Martin stops in front of him. The look on his face is so familiar, it reminds him that not everything has changed. The way he's looking at him. A small comfort settles in his chest.

"That's why I had thought that what I was doing for the best. Ending things for both our sakes before it even really started. But--"

Martin shakes his head, his mouth stretching up into that smile. His shoulder sink and he sighs.

"I still regret it," he says. "To this very day. I thought that that day was the last I would ever see you, and I've spent forty-six years since wishing it had gone differently. I never wanted to lose you from my life."

Joe's biting his cheek so hard he worries it might bleed. He breathes slowly, his eyes stinging, and he blinks, glancing away from him.

"Yeah, that was the part I hated the most," he says, his voice tight and straining to his own ears. The pain is finally sinking back in after being ignored for all those years, and it's a lot heavier than he thought it would be.

"I really did love you, you know," Martin says softly.

Joe nods, biting harder. He meets his gaze again, and it's taking everything in him.

"I know," he tells him, sincere. He never doubted it, not really. "I loved you, too."

Neither of them knows what to say now. It's like they've torn the barely healed skin off of an old wound, ripping it open to bleed out all over again. The elephant is gone.

"Hey, dad?"

Joe's eyes widen and he quickly blinks, looking over at Caitlin's makeshift lab to see Iris peering out out of the doorway. It was easy to forget they were only separated by two panes of glass with no actual door.

"Yeah, baby?" he asks, hoping that she didn't notice.

"Would you be able to do a coffee run for us?" she asks, and smiles widely. "Please?"

Relief sinks in. She seems blissfully unaware of anything that just happened, her attention clearly caught up in the work.

He chuckles, and nods. "Yeah, sure. But, uh..."

He glances at Martin, uncertain. Martin smiles back at him and shrugs.

"I'll come with you. I doubt anyone's going to attack me in the middle of a coffee shop."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, we've seen stranger," Joe says, and Iris agreez.

Martin's smile widens. "I'll have to take my chances then. Believe me, I need some fresh air, as lovely as this place is."

"Great!" Iris says. "Oh, and could you maybe throw in a croissant or something? Cait's hungry and threatened to eat me."

"Hey! You're the one who said that!"

Joe shakes his head at them, rolling his eyes. He gestures to the entrance and starts walking, Martin going with him.

"Be back soon!" Iris calls to them.

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timelock97 · 4 years

Text

Game Changer

Chapter Two: A New Game, A New Discovery

Word Count: 3155

Warnings: Language

_________________________________________

The summer before the new semester was long, and I missed Leon a lot. Leon was busy in Galar, trying to figure out why I wasn't even able to come in the first place, as well as keeping himself in shape for the season. On the other hand, I spent the summer working my tail feathers off, and on the occasion spent some much needed time with friends.

My group of friends from high school had always stayed close, even though we went to different schools. We spent countless hours talking about new games and shows that were out, but also throwing in stories from the year: failed flirting attempts, horrible teachers, funny all-nighters, you name it. However, one of the hot topics we talked about, or at least three out of four talked about, were the new Pokemon games. Ginny, Aaron, and I had spent a majority of the summer speculating the new game and they attempted to fill me in on what I had missed from the past few games.

"Wait, how much have you actually missed," Aaron had asked as he steered the boat to head back to the house to pick up Max to continue our lazy wandering and conversing.

I stretch my arms over the back of my seat, Ginny giggling as I make a face in thought, "Uh, the last game I played I had Piplup as my starter-"

"So generation four." Ginny concludes, making Aaron laugh.

"I'm really behind." I giggle, leaning back against the seat, soaking in the sun.

"Oh yeah, definitely behind. I think a crash course is needed."

"I think you'll enjoy it more going in blind." Ginny giggles, moving to sit next to me. "Besides, it'll be fun either way to see what you think."

"The game cannot get here fast enough!" I cheer excitedly, ready to explore the newest region on my new console.

Leon sighs into the receiver. "Sorry it didn't work out for this summer, love."

I shift my phone between my ear and my shoulder as I gather my school supplies from the backseat, I had one more week before school started back up and I was already feeling restless. "Quit apologizing, Lee. It's not your fault there is some weird process for me to get approved to come to Galar. You wouldn't have known. Besides, they were happy I was able to come back and work for the summer." They being an old diner that can't seem to hold servers. I was used to the workload and the usual people that came in, which meant better tips. "How was your season?"

"Good as always, Raihan gave me a run for my money, but still ended up on top. Hop is just happy to have me home."

"Well they are probably even happier knowing you don't need to come back here." I walk over to the front door and shove my key in the lock and slip inside.

"Yeah, the Chairman has been having me running ragged; doing errands and practicing."

"Hopefully nothing too hard," I smile as I set my bag down on the floor.

"Nothing I can't handle." His voice is teasing, and it makes me miss him more. I don't say anything as I unpack my stuff, just hum into the phone. "Are you excited for school?"

I laugh, shaking my head, "More like already ready for break. You are coming for Thanksgiving, right?"

"Already have it on my calendar." He hums, making me smile. "You're going to do amazing this year, you know that? You always amaze me with how much you know."

A blush warms my cheeks, damn do I miss this boy. "And you are gonna do amazing things in Galar. Just remember to take some time for yourself too, okay?"

I hear his sigh as I sit on a kitchen chair. "I'll try my love. I will try." There is a long pause, and for a second I think he hung up until, "I really miss you."

"I miss you too, Lee. November, and then you will be here."

"Doesn't make the waiting any easier."

"I know, but keeping yourself busy will ease it a little." I turn toward my stuff before sighing. "As much as I want to stay on the phone with you, handsome, I really need to study for that test I have next week."

He chuckles, his voice soft. "I know, I'll call you tomorrow. That okay?"

"Sounds perfect." I smile, "I love you, Leon."

"I love you too, my love."

I practically throw my stuff onto the ground as I enter the house, new game already in hand. Aiden, my little brother, follows in behind me complaining about school and how some of his friends were being annoying. My mom lifts her head from what she is completing on her laptop, giving us a lopsided smile. "You look excited, and you look like you need to go take a nap."

Aiden groans again before placing his face into her shoulder to complain in muttered tones as I move about the room to get my things together.

"I am headed to Ginny's, I don't expect to be home until about nine or ten-"

"Don't forget you have a dog, (Y/N)-"

"I will be home by nine then, and no worries I know," I giggle, rubbing Buster's head, the little Australian Shepard pup is bouncing at my feet as I slip my shoes and coat back on. "Sorry, bud. Go ask Aid, he will probably love to take you outside to run."

Aiden happily agrees as I wave one last time to my mom before slipping back outside. The drive is quick thanks to Ginny only living outside the neighborhood. I pull into her driveway and park in my usual spot, practically running to the door.

I hear her dog bark as I make it onto the porch, "Are you excited?!" Ginny's voice calls from behind her front door. She opens it quickly, pushing her dog aside as I enter.

"You know it!" I call back, stepping inside, my hand falling onto her chocolate labs head to keep him from slipping out the door. "Afternoon, Theo." I coo as I scratch under his chin before turning toward my best friend and pulling her into a hug. "How far are you?"

"Not too far, I've just been exploring." Ginny smiles as she motions me to follow her. The two of us clamber down the stairs, talking quietly about school and her job. Once settled on the couch she grabs her switch from where it sits on the floor plugged in.

I finally get to take a break, no school, no classmates, no responsibilities besides playing the game.I pop out the game already inside the console and replace it with the new game. "Here we go, here we go, here we go!" I sing, making Ginny laugh.

I turned up the volume and let the game start. As it starts through the main intro I decided to read along aloud, simply to get a laugh out of my best friend, making comments all the way. Until I come across the name of the region,"Galar?"

"Yeah, that's the region this game." Ginny states nonchalantly, eyes never leaving her switch.

I nod, eyes reading along. I let out a squeal, "Look at the elephant!"

"I know! I don't know what it is, but I want it!" Ginny giggles back.

"My name is Rose, and it is a pleasure to be here."

"Rose?" I whisper, no it's just a coincidence on the name and place, it's not the place Leon had been describing the past four years

"Now turn your gaze to the Galar region's greatest Pokemon Trainer, your undefeated champion..."

"It's time for Champion Leon's exhibition match!"

My eyes watch as the screen lights up, as it brings the game's champion into view and my breath hitches, making Ginny look up at me.

"What's wrong?"

I shake my head and stare wordlessly as the battle begins, Charizard dynamaxes and the shield logo appears on the screen. It quickly switching over to the protagonist, showing off "Wooloo?"

"Isn't wooloo adorable?" Ginny smiles, but she can see the confusion on my face. "You good?"

"Yeah, yeah, I think." I mutter as I get into the game. As the game continues, my heart gets a little tighter. Hop arriving at the protagonist's house, telling her to meet him at his, taking the main character to meet his brother at the train station. "God, Hop is a little shit," I giggle, Ginny agreeing with me with a laugh. "Like how long have I been living next to him and I haven't met his brother once? Aren't we like the best of friends?" Finally I have to stop, saving after choosing Scorbunny and setting my switch down into my lap. "Ginny?"

"Yeah?" She doesn't even look up.

I go to the screen shots on my switch and pull up a picture of Lee, my Lee, on my phone. "Please tell me I'm imagining things."

Ginny sets down her switch before shifting closer to me. She takes the phone from my hand before looking back at my switch. I watch as her eyes widen before she shakes her head. "Okay, this just has to be a coincidence." She raises her head to look at me, "They just look really similar-"

"That's what I thought, except Lee's boss is Chairman Rose, he lives in Galar which is an island off of the United Kingdom, his little brother's name is Hop-"

"(Y/N)." Ginny lets out a nervous giggle, but I continue.

"Ginny, he has even described animals for me to draw and one of them I just saw on screen." I can feel a headache coming on, and my anxiety is starting to settle in. "He has described his whole home and hometown to me and my character just ran through it." I place my head in my hands, putting pressure on the places that are aching.

She looks between the photos, she knows exactly what I am talking about. She has heard all about what Lee has told me, and seen the pictures in my sketchbook. She takes a breath, "Look, you can't prove anything right now. If he knows that this is a huge coincidence, he would tell you."

"I don't know, Ginny..."

"You have to have faith in him, you know how he is. He will tell you-"

"If he even knows." I whisper, lifting my head.

She nods, "And if he doesn't, then you will just have to bring it up. Everything will work out." She nudges my side, "C'mon, let's turn on YouTube for a bit then we can try and get back to the game."

I sit in my room that evening, I didn't go much further in the game even though I wanted to. My eyes linger on my cell phone, text messages open to Leon's messages.

_________________________________________

Lee Lee

I'll be at work til late, but I just want to tell you goodnight and that I love you.

Hope your day was good, gorgeous

_________________________________________

He could just be someone who works for the games and didn't tell me? But then why did he need a business degree, especially here? I rub my forehead as my dog crawls over to me and places his head on my lap, a sign that I should really be headed to bed. But my mind is reeling, and sleep probably wasn't going to happen for another few hours. Tonight would be a night I would lose sleep over.

I wake the next morning by Buster pressing his cold nose into my cheek. I sigh as I rub a hand through his fur before sitting up in bed and seeing Leon had texted me.

_________________________________________

Lee Lee

Good morning, my love.

I hope you didn't stay up too late playing your game 😉

I'll call you later today after I see Hop back home

(He has been asking when you are coming to visit)

I love you!

_________________________________________

My fingers move across the screen in habit, telling him good morning as well, but adding that I had a lot of homework this weekend and would need to be working and that I'd call him later in the week. I slipped in to enjoy spending time with his family and to tell Hop that I was excited to meet him when I finally made it out there.

I rolled out of bed and followed the pup out into the kitchen before letting him out into the backyard to do his business. I sigh as I lean in the doorway, watching him prance about the backyard happily. I let out a low whistle, "Buster, c'mon baby it's cold."

Buster comes barreling over, happily bouncing about my feet as I walk back into the house. Time to get to studying.

After a few hours, my mom pops her head into the office to see me hard at work on a presentation that was due that Monday. "Hey, honey?"

I put up a hand to tell her one minute before I finish the sentence I was working on. I gently push away from the desk to look at her. "Sup?"

She shakes her head, laughing, "You good?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I ask, standing to walk past her and get a drink from the fridge.

She's quiet as she follows me slightly. "You and Lee okay?" She sees me visibly stiffen, "Did you two have a fight?"

I sigh, setting the juice container on the counter, "No, we didn't have a fight; I think it's the long distance getting to me. I mean, he keeps in contact and we skype, but it's not the same as being in person you know?"

She nods, "I can understand that." She shifts to the side and watches me for a minute while I pour my juice. "Did he tell you when he was going to fly out?"

"No, he just said before Thanksgiving." I sigh, replacing the juice in the fridge and chugging down the amount in my glass. "I can text him and ask though."

My mom shakes her head, "No, it's okay. Ask him later, you don't have to do it now."

I look over at her, and a part of me tells me that she is hiding something, but I shake it off and rinse the glass out before returning to the office. Just have to finish this presentation.

Thanksgiving could not come any faster. Between practicals, exams, and paper presentations my classmates and I had finally hit our wall. My hands were basically hovering over the keyboard as I skimmed over the material. God, I needed a break.

The sound of the back door opening catches my attention, ears perking up over the music playing from my laptop. After a minute, I hear my mom talking to my dad making me nod as I go back to my typing. Buster barking excitedly doesn't fade as I make the last bullet point to my study guide before I jump back over what I needed to look at for the practical for Tuesday, and the chapters due for Monday.

The door opening causes me to pause my typing to rub my forehead. "What?" I ask, it comes out more harsh then I expect, but between school and Leon suddenly being MIA, my nerves are a little shot. Whomever walked in makes no sound, and before I can ask what they want again a pair of hands clasp around my shoulders and massage the muscles there. A soft groan of satisfaction leaves my lips as I tilt my head to the side, their hands moving with me to massage at the base of my neck.

"You know, if you laid on the bed I could reach a lot more." My head whips around to meet golden honey eyes. Leon laughs before cupping my cheek, "Don't turn too fast love, you'll get whiplash."

I manage to let out a soft "move" before I spin around and stand from the chair, throwing my arms around his neck just as he leans down to pull me in and lifting me so that I was just that much closer. Emotions erupt as a small sob leaves my lips, arms tightening around his neck as I bury my face into his neck.

"I got you, love, I got you." Leon coos, shushing me as he sits on the couch, his hand cupping the back of my head to keep me close.

The two of us sit silently, Lee rocking me softly until my sobs turn into sniffles. I eventually move so my face is away from his neck, forehead pressing against his while I catch my breath. "Sorry, the past two weeks have been shit."

"Should'a brought you a hot cocoa then huh?" He teases, making me laugh as I press a soft kiss to his lips, his curling into a smile as he attempts to hold me there, only to let out a small groan when I pull away.

"I don't think you want me kissing you until I have washed my face." I tease, motioning to my blotchy, snotty face as I untangle myself from him and stand. Lee doesn't let me get very far, following me into the bathroom so I can do just that. Once that is done, Lee doesn't waste time grabbing my face between his hands and kissing me deeply. I sigh against his mouth until someone clears their throat. We pull apart to see Aiden standing in the doorway.

"Can you not make out in the bathroom? Thanks." He groans before walking away.

Leon chuckles behind me, "You know, I think he and Hop would get along pretty well."

I nod before turning and kissing Leon's cheek again. He smiles at me, hand cupping my cheek again before he presses his forehead to mine, my body relaxing at the contact. But my mind goes back to that game, and Leon's face flickering and talking with the characters. "Hey, Lee?"

His eyes flicker up to mine, "Yes, baby?"

My mouth opens and closes again, words not wanting to come out. I have to talk to him about it.

"(Y/N), what's wrong?" He whispers bringing his other hand to my other cheek.

Later, we'll talk later. I shake my head, "Lost it, sorry. Brain's kinda fried." I force out a giggle.

I can tell he sees right through the excuse, but he nods anyways. "Okay," he whispers before kissing the tip of my nose making me laugh. "C'mon, let's not stand in the bathroom. I'll help you finish studying then we can relax, that work?"

I nod, "Sounds perfect." Lee pulls away and grabs my hand before walking out of the bathroom with me in tow. Just enjoy the quiet before the storm hits.

_________________________________________

A/N: Goooooood day! IDK what time it is for everyone but I’ve decided that Monday’s and Thursday’s I will be posting new chapters to this story! I am really excited for you all to see what is to come! Let me know if you wanna be tagged for the next installment of Game Changer! ~CG

Masterlist

#cg writes #champion leon #champion leon x fem!reader #champion leon fluff #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield

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buddaimond · 5 years

Photo

Rob Quotes (in bold) extracted from Variety. Photography by Matthew Brookes for Variety

About being Batman

“When that thing leaked, I was f—ing furious...Everyone was so upset. Everyone was panicking from my team. I sort of thought that had blown up the whole thing.”

“I was sitting next to Christopher McQuarrie...I’d never met him before. Oh, God! He’d seen me Googling myself for the past hour!” Pattinson tried to explain to the director behind the latest “Mission: Impossible” films what had happened. “No worries,” McQuarrie said, nodding. “I’d probably be doing the same thing.”

“Big movies, generally the parts aren’t as interesting — at least the stuff that was coming my way,...I guess there was some fear...I think I probably would have been a little bit nervous to have gone straight into it immediately afterwards,”

“When I was a kid, it was the only outfit that I had,” “If I actually said it in an interview (where I worn it), I would definitely have a lot of abuse afterwards,” he says with an outburst of nervous laughter. “If I successfully play the character, I can say it at the end.”

“To be honest, it was less vitriolic (casting response) than I was expecting,” he says. And he’s not deterred by the doubters: “It’s much more fun when you’re an underdog. There’s no expectation of you.”

Pattinson reveals he had an informational meeting with Marvel around the time of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but nothing came of it. “I don’t know what I would really be chasing,” Pattinson says. “The idea of trying that transition after ‘Twilight,’ I never saw a road in that direction.” Batman was different because he was the only comic book character Pattinson always loved. “It’s actually an interesting part,” he says. “I think it’s because he doesn’t have any superpowers.”

“I’d had Batman in my mind for a while,” Pattinson says. “It’s such an absurd thing to say. I sort of had an idea to do it, and I’d been prodding Matt. He didn’t accept any prods. I kept asking to meet him.”

When Reeves finally finished a script, he relented and agreed to a meeting in Los Angeles. “And then I had to kind of try to imagine what he’d written, and I hadn’t even read the script,” Pattinson says. “I’d come with this pad full of notes.” As discussions continued, Pattinson arrived in Cannes in May, and all hell broke loose in the press. “It was terrifying,” he says. “I was like, ‘Oh f—! Does that screw me because they are so intent on secrecy?’” He found himself attending the “Lighthouse” premiere in the middle of reading the script pages that he’d just been sent. “I’m literally in Cannes in my hotel room [rehearsing],” Pattinson says. “The whole thing was a lot.”

After “The Lighthouse” screened to a rapturous standing ovation, Pattinson promptly flew back to L.A. to try on the Batsuit for the final phase of the high-stakes audition. “It’s maybe the craziest thing I’ve ever done in terms of movie stuff,” Pattinson says.

“I put it on. I remember saying to Matt, ‘It does feel quite transformative!’ He was like, ‘I would hope it does! You’re literally in the Batsuit.’” Pattinson describes what the moment was like: “You do feel very powerful immediately. And it’s pretty astonishing, something that is incredibly difficult to get into, so the ritual of getting into it is pretty humiliating. You’ve got five people trying to shove you into something. Once you’ve got it on, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I feel strong, I feel tough, even though I had to have someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs.’”

Although he had a clear take on how he’d play Batman, he had to adjust his movements to his new latex body. “You’re trying to think of the way to balance, how to bring something new to it and not want to scare people off,” Pattinson says. “And work in the confines of the costume.”

About himself and the movie industry

He’s noticed how much the entertainment industry has transformed since the first “Twilight” hit screens a decade ago. “It felt like the mid-budget movie completely disappeared, but then it kind of came back with Netflix and the streaming services,” he says, adding that he wishes Netflix offered a better way to navigate all its titles. “Hardly anyone sees independent movies at the cinema anyway. It would be amazing if people did.”

“I think I’d come back and my house would have flown off,” he says. “I would have absolutely nothing. I’m constantly living in terror.” Of what? He searches for an answer. “If you experience a loss of momentum, you don’t want that to happen again,” he says. “And I really enjoy working. There’s no part of me that can go off and disappear.”

Besides, he’s come to appreciate the camaraderie of the movie-making business. “There’s something about people who work in the film industry — they very much wear their heart and dreams on their sleeve,” Pattinson says. “There’s so much desire falling out of them. I think people in other jobs, their dreams aren’t valued as highly. Also, there’s nowhere to put them.” He says that if he’s in an Uber and a driver starts to pitch him a movie idea, he doesn’t shudder like other actors would. “I’m so, so into it,” Pattinson says. “I don’t want to be in L.A. to talk about f—ing restaurant reservations. I want to be in L.A. because I love movies.”

At least he still does. Pattinson says he can sneak into a multiplex, and nobody will bother him. He tried to do that the other day for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” but all the shows were sold out. “It’s literally impossible to get a ticket anywhere in London,” Pattinson says with a sigh. Couldn’t he have called in a favor? “I used to have a tiny bit of power. And the power is completely gone. I can’t do anything anymore. I actually just called my publicist: ‘Can I get some free stuff? Just anything!’” he says in a mock-pleading voice. “‘I just want a package.’”

About “The Lighthouse.”

“I remember doing it thinking I don’t know how I’m going to promote it,” Pattinson says. “Every single scene is just sprinting up to a cliff.”

To settle into the character, Pattinson grew a mustache, which he’d been trying to persuade directors to let him do for other parts. He’s not offended when a reporter asks if it was a prosthetic. “It’s actually real,” he says. “I thought it looked a bit fake as well.”

Dafoe says that Pattinson will sometimes use humor to disarm others. “He’s wildly self-effacing,” Dafoe says. “If you ever talk to him about performing, he acts like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. That’s a little bit of a device to allow him more freedom. And I might add that Rob really wants to jump into things, sometimes with his eyes closed.”

On “The Lighthouse,” he had trouble seeing anything due to the stylized cinematography. “We realized, because of the combination of shooting on black-and-white negative and the 1920s lenses, you need so much light just to get anything,” Pattinson says. “We were doing one scene which was talking to each other over a table. The light is so bright, you couldn’t see the other actor. OK, this is an unexpected turn of events.” Since his character is inebriated for most of the film, Pattinson had to double down on throwing his equilibrium off-balance. But he didn’t attempt a Method approach like on 2011’s “Water for Elephants,” where he actually got plastered. “All you’re doing is trying to stay sober afterwards and hoping that no one will find out you’re drunk for a drunk scene,” he says.

Pattinson relishes all the peculiarities of “The Lighthouse.” He reveals that the crew had to move a sex scene from the frigid waters of the ocean to the shore. “We were just sitting there convulsively shivering,” he says. “It’s not very sexy at all.” And he’s eager to discuss the moment when his character pleasures himself while thinking about a figurine of a mermaid that he’s just found. “I keep masturbating,” Pattinson says of a theme that runs through his recent work. “In the last three or four movies, I’ve got a masturbation scene. I did it in ‘High Life.’ I did it in ‘Damsel.’ And ‘The Devil All the Time.’ I only realized when I did it the fourth time. But when I saw the clay figure of the mermaid, if you’re getting turned on by that, you’re in a very strange place in your life.”

About Christopher Nolan movie

Nolan wanted to meet him. “I couldn’t believe it,” Pattinson says. “He’s one of those people who seem quite out of reach.”

Five days later, he officially became the Dark Knight. “I was absolutely relieved when Matt called,” says Pattinson, who got the role over actor Nicholas Hoult. In fact, Pattinson received the career-changing news on his first day on the set of Nolan’s film. “It’s so bizarre,” he says. “I was like, ‘What a coincidence this is happening. It’s absolutely crazy.” A surprise benefit was that he was able to pepper Nolan, who made the “Dark Knight” trilogy, with questions. “I was talking about things to do with the Batsuit,” Pattinson recalls. “How to get more movements in it.”

Pattinson won’t say whether he’s committed to additional “Batman” movies. “I don’t know anything,” he says. “I’ve got an idea how to do about four scenes, and then I’m working on the rest gradually.” At one point in our conversation, he offers a mundane comment about Joaquin Phoenix, who stars in “Joker” (a movie he hasn’t seen yet), before asking to retract it. “Oh s—,” he says, adding that he’s not accustomed to thinking about spoilers. “I definitely should not say that. I’m so used to pretty art-house movies, where you can watch the movie three times and still not know what it’s about.”

It’s likely that playing Batman will invite the paparazzi back into his life, but he’s not concerned. He says that Instagram has taken the pressure off movie stars, because there’s so much free photo content of celebrities (and wannabe celebrities) on the web. “There’s no money in it for people to follow you around,” Pattinson says. “There are just so many photos of me you can get in a black baseball cap getting a diet peach Snapple. Or on Friday night, getting a Kit Kat.”

Like Bruce Wayne, Pattinson has taken shelter in his own Batcave. “I made it impossible for people to follow me,” he says. “I’d be completely hermetic. It wouldn’t be worth it to wait outside my house, because I wouldn’t come out.”

#Robert Pattinson #Batman #The Lighthouse #Variety #Christopher Nolan #Tenet

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moonysfrexckles · 5 years

Text

Looking Back- Jily

September 1977

“You weren’t in Transfiguration yesterday,” murmured Sirius.

James kept his attention on his work, sketching with long, dragging strokes of his quill. “I didn’t feel well.”

“Neither was Evans.”

Now, he paused. His eyes flicked to the front of the room, just once, before landing on Sirius. His friend was watching him with carelessly raised eyebrows, looking entirely blasé about the whole thing. James saw the slackness of his mouth, however, curling into a little smirk, and a sparkle in his dark eyes that gave away how terribly amused he was by this fact.

“What a coincidence,” James swallowed. “She mustn’t have been feeling well either. It’s probably flu. That’s contagious.”

“Indeed,” said Sirius.

The two boys lapsed into a knowing silence. James said, “We weren’t-“

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, I know. Even if you were someone else, which you’re not, and Evans could stand being alone with you for more than five minutes, which she can’t, I wouldn’t think that of her.”

James didn’t reply. His eyes, almost absently, trailed to her. She’d shoved her flaming hair up, away from her face, and she was laughing at something that Mary had said.

Sirius had asked him once, when they were still baggy in their thirteen years, why he fancied the pants off of a ginger. It had been the middle of the night, and James had been awake because the butterflies in his stomach- heck, they weren’t even butterflies, they were stampeding elephants- fluttered more erratically than the stars he could see out the window. Sirius didn’t sleep anyway, it transpired, and the two boys whispered deep into the night. James couldn’t answer him. He didn’t know how to tell his best friend that there was something in Lily Evans’ eyes, something that made him speechless… and James Potter was never speechless. He was always on the highest speed, the highest volume, but Lily Evans made the world slow down and go so quiet all he could hear was his heart beating.

He couldn’t exactly pinpoint the moment, but every time his eyes fell on her, the feeling was reinforced, and it hit him like a wave, buckling his knees and taking him out completely. She turned, and caught him, and smiled. It was a small and hesitant smile, but it shone from her lips like sunbeams.

Sirius was watching him when he blinked and looked back at his friend. “What?”

Sirius smiled knowingly, but shrugged and got on with his work. James prodded his arm. “What!”

“Nothing!”

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“No, but you’re thinking it.”

Sirius burst out laughing, putting his quill back down, and regarded his friend with raised eyebrows. “If you knew what I was thinking, why did you have to ask?”

James muttered something, but turned away. The two boys worked quietly, and that smug smirk still clung to Sirius’ lips when James stopped again and said, “It was her sister’s birthday yesterday. They don’t get along because she called Lily a freak over her magic. Rosier’s comments got to her and I just- I can’t get it out of my head. She has to prove herself in two worlds, Pads. She doesn’t belong in either of them, not completely. She’s not welcomed in either of them. Have you ever just been struck by your privilege? By how tough other people have it in comparison to you?”

Sirius stared at his friend and huffed. He said, “Everyone has it tough, James. My family’s Gringotts account goes back centuries, and yet here I am, disowned and penniless, ostracised from one side because I won’t conform and distrusted by the other because I still have my mother’s blood in me.

“Evans has it tough. But she’s a fucking cookie to crack. If it’s her against the world, I’m inclined to feel sorry for the world.”

James laughed at that. He glanced at the board, and picked up where he left off, copying down the notes.

Sirius didn’t let him do so for long. He leaned in, voice dropping so low James had to strain to hear it. “Speaking of tough times- tomorrow.”

He didn’t have to ask to know what Sirius was referring to. James followed his friend’s gaze, but didn’t let it linger. He didn’t have to stare for long to notice the way Remus’ shoulders sagged, as though he was constantly piggybacking his secret around with him. There were dark crescents under his eyes, and his skin was pallid and taut, stretched over his skeleton tightly as though it was two sizes too small. His hand kept slipping as he wrote, but his grip on it was so firm his knuckles were white.

“I don’t have a lesson in the afternoon so I can make sure it’s empty,” said James.

Sirius nodded. “It’s getting worse.”

“It will be stress,” said James, but he wasn’t sure.

“Exams haven’t started yet though. He doesn’t seem overworked.”

“Remus always seems overworked,” James countered, laughing slightly. “He’s either that harried he gives the rest of us second-hand stress or he’s so relaxed he could be high.”

Sirius nodded again, but he didn’t carry on working, nor did he look at anything but the grooves in the desk. “He’s sleeping less. I can count how many hours he slept last night on one hand,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but not even his Potions are helping. I think he’s stopped taking them.”

James opened his mouth, then shut it. He wondered how he had missed that. He always checked Remus had taken his Potions and was sound asleep before he even allowed himself to consider closing his eyes. He prided himself on knowing when the people he loved began to stumble, but James looked at Sirius, at his pristine hair and dark eyes and skin flushed with life, and he remembered how he had looked on his doorstep two years ago in the rain and thunder. He’d have to pay closer attention.

“Are you sleeping?”

Sirius didn’t even falter. He grinned. “Like a baby.”

And yet, James wasn’t sure whether he could believe him. Once you’d seen the lightening, it was hard to accept the blue skies that followed.

Flitwick stood on his books at the front of the room, tapping his wand against the blackboard. “You can pack up now.” As if on cue, the bell chimed. “Oh! Before you go, homework, please! Don’t forget to give me your homework or it’s detention- yes, Mr Graham, just because you are part of my House doesn’t mean you’re off the hook!”

The two boys jumped to their feet, shoving their paper in their bags and putting the lids on their ink. James noticed Remus freeze in the corner of his eye. His body collapsed in on itself, even more so than it already had done. He quickly grabbed his homework out of his book, murmured a spell to erase his name, and scrawled Remus’ at the top. He took Sirius’ too and piled them together before he jogged to the front and handed them both in, smiling brilliantly at the teacher.

He packed the rest of his stuff away, and his eyes snagged on a certain redhead leaving the classroom. He called her name. She waited for him outside.

“How are you feeling today?”

Lily looked up at him. She reached half way up his chest. Mary was talking to Peter, who had blushed a fantastic shade of red, and Sirius and Remus stood on the other side of the corridor, grinning like the idiots they were. James ignored them.

“I feel better,” she replied, tucking her hair behind her ear. She had a fresh face today, and it glowed pale in the September sun.

He smiled at her. It felt so natural- his lips just curled up all on their own. “Good. That’s good.” He swallowed. “You ate some breakfast this morning.”

Lily laughed, and she closed her eyes, wrinkling her nose. “What have we said about watching me eat, Potter?”

“Habit,” he said, blushing. He scratched at his neck, hoisted his bag higher up his shoulder.

“Well, I have to go to class.” She turned slowly, and walked back to her friend.

“Have you got any plans for this weekend, Evans?” he asked casually.

Lily stopped, and sighed. She turned to look at him. “Potter, it was one dance. I’m not falling in love with you after one dance.”

The breath left his lips as a shaky laugh, and James offered her a courteous smile, bowing his head in defeat. He made to turn around and carry on his way to class, but something jumped in Lily’s throat, and she said, “James!” He spun on his heel, so quickly he nearly fell. She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear again. “Maybe I tripped a little.”

The smile grew across James’ face slowly and lopsidedly, and he nodded, eyes sparkling behind his glasses. He waited there, smiling at her, and Lily hesitated. She laughed a little, turning back around to carry on her way to class. She looked back though. James counted it as a victory.

#jily #james potter #lily evans #marauders #sirius black #harry potter #marauders fanfic #marauders fanfiction

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thegazettefanfiction · 5 years

Text

Home (Aoi)

(Y/n) was awoken by the sound of a baby cooing through the speaker of the baby monitor she placed on her nightstand. Groaning as she fought sleepiness, she sat up to check the time – which was already 8 a.m. – before dragging her feet towards the nursery, where the coo was gradually becoming louder. She slowly opened the door, making sure to not startle the woken guest, and walked towards the wooden cot. As she approached it, the baby, who was laying on a light blue mattress with tiny yellow duck prints, looked up and smiled, to which his mother return one.

“Good morning,” she greeted softly, earning another coo from the infant. “Are you ready for another day?” She reached in to unzip the grey baby blanket, revealing a white onesie with a print of an elephant carrying a peanut with the caption “little peanut” at the bottom. With one hand cradling the back of his neck and another on his bum, she brought the baby up to her chest, letting him rest on her shoulder as she left the room to do his daily care. Once he was taken care of, she placed him inside a hanging baby hammock with his favourite fox plush before going off start her day.

As soon as she stepped out of her room after changing into a new set of clothes, she heard the door unlocked, followed by someone stepping into the apartment and said, “I’m home!”

(Y/n) rushed to the door and hugged the man as she said, “Welcome home.” The couple shared a hug before she pulled away to look at him in the eyes. “How was work?”

“Pretty tiring,” he replied while handing his bag to her, to which she willingly took as he bent down to take off his shoes. “But we managed to complete our ninth album on time. What about you? Have you started a new story?”

(Y/n) shrugged. “Well,” she began. “I’ve been busy taking care of our little prince to even think of a storyline.”

Before the GazettE’s guitarist Aoi met (Y/n), she was a famous author known for her collection of short horror stories “(Book title)”, which became an international bestseller translated into many languages. Many directors approached her for its film adaptation, but despite what everyone told her, obstinate (Y/n) declined every one of those offers. From there, she released one dystopian novel and a fantasy trilogy, both became as popular as her debut work. Despite rejecting multiple film adaptation offers, she was still laughing to the bank thanks to her success.

Now, one would certainly think, “How on earth did a young author with much versatility in her works meet a guitarist from a once small visual kei band that’s now growing internationally?”

It all started when (Y/n) was having a book signing for her novel “(Title)” in Books Kinokuniya Tokyo. Reita, who was a huge fan of her work, heard of the event and wanted to have his copy autographed badly. But with his busy schedule in the way, he felt that there was no way he could attend the event, so he sadly forewent it in the end.

However, his crestfallen expression didn’t escape Aoi, and the latter didn’t like that look. As a friend and a bandmate, he didn’t want something like their work stop the bassist from doing something else. To boot, the latter’s birthday was just around the corner, and the day of the signing was on the same day as their photoshoot for their sixth studio album “Division”, so this was the right opportunity for him to do something for his friend and colleague; whether it was coincidence or not.

It was late at night when the band had finished their photoshoot. Aoi left unnoticed and hopped onto his bike, making his way towards Takashimaya Shibuya where he parked the vehicle outside and went into the building. As he made his way towards the bookstore, he saw the queue was starting to get shorter. The guitarist joined the crowd, making him the last one in the line. When it was his turn, he took out a notebook and flipped to an empty page before handing it to the seemingly tired author.

“Just left work?” she asked with a friendly smile.

“Yeah,” he replied, courteously returning one. “My friend couldn’t make it, so I thought I’d get your signature on his behalf.”

“That’s really nice of you,” she commented before bringing the notebook closer to her. “So what would you like me to write for your friend?”

Aoi took a moment to think before replying, “Maybe wish him a happy birthday?”

With the black Sharpie in her hand, (Y/n) wrote her wish to the man named Reita and then left her signature at the bottom. As he watched her wrote, he couldn’t help but glance at her a few times, taking in her appearance. Although she was tired after spending hours sitting behind the desk and signing probably at least a hundred times, he sorted of found her attractive. Maybe it was her dulcet tone that complemented her, making her sound appealing to him. He could see why she had a lot of male fans going after her, judging by the various comments he saw on her social media.

After getting what he wanted, he thanked her with a bow before going home. He neatly ripped out the page she signed on – being very, very careful not to tear any parts of the paper – and put it in a glass frame. He then placed the picture frame into a small cardboard box and closed it, wrapping the whole thing with a white wrapping paper that had gold “Happy birthday” written all over. He stared at his work triumphantly before going to bed with a smile.

When Reita’s birthday came, Aoi gave him the gift, and the bassist couldn’t stop marvelling at (Y/n)’s beautiful handwriting, to quote the latter. Seeing that he was contented with the gift, Aoi decided to take to Twitter and privately send the author a message to thank her for giving him her signature. Honestly, he didn’t expect her to reply, for he thought that judging by how successful she was, there was no way she was going to see that message. But lo and behold, she did and even replied. From there, they got to know more about each other and eventually went out for a meal, then they started dating for a good five years until he decided to pop the question; the rest was history.

Of course, Reita was jealous that his friend got to marry his celebrity crush, but nevertheless, he gave them their blessing.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” assured Aoi, who looked up and ruffled her hair with his free hand. After placing his shoes at the side, he put on a pair of house slippers before going into the apartment. “Now where is our little prince?” As if on cue, the baby cooed from the living room. Aoi went in and saw the hanging hammock gently bouncing up and down. He looked in to see the infant, who was now wearing another white onesie that said “Daddy’s drinking buddy” with a print of a milk bottle in the middle, smiling at him with one hand gripping on the orange fox plush.

“Hello,” greeted the father, earning another coo from the child. “How are you? Have you been good to Mama while I was gone? I hope you haven’t forgotten that I’m Papa.” All the baby could do was coo once more.

“He has been a good boy all this while,” said (Y/n), who returned to the living room after putting his bag in his studio. “He’s been sleeping throughout the night, and only cries when he’s tired or hungry or need a diaper change.”

“Is that so?” responded the man, who reached in to bring the baby to his chest and began swaying gently. “What can I say? He’s our son. Oh, yeah. The guys are planning to come over this Saturday. Is it alright with you, or do you prefer another time?”

“I don’t mind this weekend,” assured (Y/n). “I miss their company. It’s always nice to have them around. I actually enjoy watching them play with (son’s name).”

“Do you remember how awkward Kai was with (son’s name)?” asked Aoi.

His wife chuckled at the memory, saying, “Oh, yes. I remembered that he was so uncertain of how to carry a baby that he didn’t even want to because he was afraid that he’ll drop (son’s name). But we can’t really blame him for that. He is a single child, so I think he had less experience with younger kids. Anyway, I plan to cook breakfast. Would you like some?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “That’ll be nice. Has the little prince eaten?”

“Yes, he has.” was (Y/n)’s reply before going into the kitchen, leaving him to have a father-and-son bonding session in the living room.

Aoi watched his wife’s disappearing figure as he thought about his life up ‘til now. He never thought someone like would ever finally settle down with a wife who stuck by his side through many ups and downs in their relationship, nor did he ever thought of having a son who was just as beautiful. He had a beautiful family, great friends he could happily work with as a band, supportive fans that helped them a lot in their career; he felt like his life was complete.

“I don’t need a lot of things,” he said to his son, who was staring at him with wonder. “As long as I have the people I love in my life, anywhere is home to me.”

#the GazettE #Aoi #fanfiction #Jrock fanfiction #the GazettE fanfiction #visual kei

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guylty · 5 years

Text

Or maybe it’s rather a touch-up subject… Yes, she is going there. She is going to address the elephant in the room. The filteri-filtera that is going on. But let’s start properly.

We all wouldn’t be fans if we didn’t scrutinise the images of our favourite actor to the nth. For a while, I – although I fancy myself as an observant photo reader – didn’t even really see what was going on. That images are touched up when they are taken on professional photo shoots, is a given. And it has to be said that retouching is usually not demanded by the sitters, but is an essential part of the process in digital photography. In fact, there are plenty of celebrities – mainly women – who have publicly spoken against retouching, mainly because it creates unhealthy images, stereotypes and expections of women in terms of beauty, body and appearance. Among them are well-known actors such as Kate Winslet or performers like Lady Gaga. However, photographers rarely let go of their images without editing – because it is in their own interest to create an all-round beautiful image. The better/smoother/prettier the image, the higher the chance that the photographer can sell it. An easy calculation. But unfortunately the criticism by celebrity against photoshopping already shows that there is an ethical dimension to the issue. How much editing is “normal”? Especially given that photography still has a vague reputation of being “documentary” and “reflecting the truth”. The latter can really not be said (anymore). With digital photography, retouching has become part and parcel of post-production. And not only that, it actually has become somewhat automatic, thanks to the ubiquitous filters that are now available for any app that offers photography features. And that is what I am going to address today. Because the filters on Instagram are what pulled the wool over my eyes. It took me a while until I really copped on, mostly because I know from my own photographic practice that photoshop/editing/retouching was a time-consuming, detail-rich process – one that I really did not enjoy at all. I am a minimal invasive photographer myself – if I can get away without retouching, I am happiest. Thus I never liked editing – or filters. And because I wasn’t using them, I didn’t realise how good they were.

Amusing coincidence: RA also stands for “Retouching Academy”. No further comment *sniggers*

And boy, are those filters good. Coming back to the scrutiny from the beginning, it was only due to the in-depth familiarity with my favourite actor’s face, that I eventually could not ignore the truth any longer. Mr A is a filterer. Or a filteRA? In any case, he likes the automatic filters, judging by his output on Instagram. But until recently, there was never really any tangible proof that he was putting filters across his pictures. Sure, there were indications – however good the years have been, but the smoothness around the eyes just sometimes looked a little bit too pixel-fresh – but it’s hard to find evidence when you don’t have anything to compare with, i.e. an original photo beside a filtered one. But a while back, the evidence finally surfaced. And I think this is absolutely fascinating. During Richard’s visit to Sundance Film Festival 2019 he was photographed by Ryan Pfluger, and this is the image that was taken for the Vulture feature The Faces of Sundance.

Picture by Ryan Pfluger for Vulture

Gorgeous, right? I could go into full *ooof* mode here and talk about what *I* love about this photo although many people would consider a “floating head” as bad photography. I don’t. You just have to look straight to the right to see my own version of a floating head, taken in Leeds. I love b/w, especially on a man who has got a few edges and lines in his face to be illustrated with light and shadow, creating a beautiful historical map of a life lived. B/w is boring when it doesn’t have contrast to work with. And I like how this “floating head” simply draws attention to everything that is remarkable about this face – the intense gaze, that seems to hold a slight glint of danger; the eyebrow, almost quirked; a few straight lines coming from the corner of the eye, like rays of the sun; a memorable nose that is not just a sharp line but has some interesting curves; a hint of grey on the temple; There are beard hairs to count and pores to pore over; and a forehead that shows signs of some worthy thinking going on behind.

Apparently not an aesthetic that Richard himself likes. Compare this:

This is the Ryan Pfluger image again, posted by Richard on his Weibo page, a little later. And a little different. Wait, I’ll show you.

I wish there was an eye shadow filter for when I get up in the morning

I have focussed on the essentials in my gif here. It is a montage of the two images, dissolving into each other. There is no editing otherwise on my part, but it is quite apparent in my gif that some filtering is going on: The filter lightens up the shadow – which essentially means that some of the lines are filled with light and the skin appears smoothed out. Let’s have a look again, side by side.

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Interesting, right? I am not going to get into the ethics of this; and I don’t really want to be judgmental about it, either. Richard can do whatever he wants on his social media outlets, and the important thing always remains that he himself has to be happy with the choices he makes. His choice of photographs – as well as filters and poses – have always fascinated me because they often do not match with my favourite pictures of him. Likewise, whether you prefer the original image or the one reposted by Richard, is completely up to you. My own hunch is that I prefer the first version. Not least because I firmly believe that an image that has been officially published, constitutes the “definitive”, final version of a work of art/creativity as it has been intended by its creator. But also because it appears to have character while picture number 2 looks kind of… washed out? Eroded? I suppose those words already are loaded with meaning, and I do not want to judge. I emphasise again, that this is merely *my* approach and my preference. And circling back to the beginning, maybe this isn’t really as big a thing as we make it out to be. As fans, *we* notice. But do others who are less familiar, do? Probably not. Touchy subject…

Sorta *ooof*: A Touchy Subject Or maybe it's rather a touch-up subject... Yes, she is going there. She is going to address the elephant in the room.

#photography #Richard Armitage

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spicy-beats · 5 years

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“Good evening to all. On behalf of the Octarian Government, I, Lain Gallows, thank you for your presence at this press conference.”

“First, I would like to mention that until King Octavio’s return, the government will not be commenting on the events that happened in the Elder Kettle. Rest assured that we will have official communication concerning this in a timely manner.”

“Now that we addressed the sea elephant in the room, it’s time for us to present a new initiative, fostered by the Octarian Department Of Housing.”

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“We will not be telling lies today - engineers working for, or affiliated with the ODOH have noticed a number on instabilities in residential sectors for the last fifteen years - numbers that have been coinciding with the energy crisis that plagued us.”

“We most likely know someone who had been victim to partial, or complete kettle collapse syndrome. Someone who has been living in a kettle who should have been deemed unsafe for civilian occupation, either due to unstable grounds, presence of fungi/mold, or other circumstances.”

“In the last months, a team of engineers and urbanists have mapped the Valley - rating each kettle from 1 to 5. 1 being Optimal, and 5 being Inhabitable.

“Therefore, the Octarian Government and the ODOH would like to announce an emergency initiative to shelter people living in zones marked as 4 or 5. Residents of these areas will recieve information about displacements in the next thirty days.”

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“Naturally, we cannot announce this without discussing the matter of living space in the Valley - while we are not running out of physical space, we have to consider other living arrangements for multiple reasons, may they be health related, political, or religious.”

“Several reports have been made over the past fifteen years, suggesting numerous plans for the Valley and its residents. While numerous specialists have weighed in and have provided the ODOH with a good base, we would love to hear the opinion of Octarians, no matter where they live.”

“Therefore, I would love to introduce our new project : the Octarian Commission for Safe Housing. The commission will be operating for the next five years - our head commissioner will answer all of your questions in a few minutes.”

“The goal of the Commission will be to give us insight and the ability to develop long-term solutions for everyone, and will allow our people to share their experience concerning living in, and out of the Valley.”

“Rest assured that your insight is absolutely welcome, even if you reside in Inkopolis, or in a Zone 1 Kettle.”

“Without further ado, I would like to introduce the head of the Commission for Safe Housing, Commissioner Bellwether.”

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88thparallel · 6 years

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Do you really believe that mofftiss know what they're doing? I mean, I hope so... but sometimes I can't believe it.

It really is a hard idea to stick to, Nonny, I totally get it.

Here are the things that help me keep the hope alive (settle in, folks, I’m about to go on a tangent):

First, S1 & S2 (and I’d argue at least some of S3) were so well done, crafted with such care by everyone involved. Gatiss and Moffat are such fanboys it is ridiculous, and I don’t think we should forget that we fell in love with this show and these characters in the first place thanks to them.

Second, I personally think it’s par for the course for show runners to keep fans in the dark. I know Mofftiss are sometimes arseholes in how they go about it, but they obviously need to keep the element of surprise (especially if they’re doing something that is truly groundbreaking and never-before-seen-on-tv like they claimed they were ::cough:: Johnlock ::cough::). They can’t tell us what they have planned, and this is not unique to these writers, this show, or the BBC.

Third, I think that the show is following a five-act structure. We’ve witnessed the good times, and now this is the crisis/conflict stage, after this comes resolution/happy ending. Read more about how this is a 5 act show here in @toxicsemicolon‘s most recent meta.

Fourth, there are too many coincidental loose ends that can’t possibly be accidents, like in HLV -- Molly tells Sherlock after he is shot: “It’s not like it is in the movies. There’s not a great big spurt of blood and you go flying backwards.” Yet that is literally exactly what happens to Mary when she is shot in T6T (the very next episode). Why would they do that unless they want to raise red flags for the viewers. It was almost comical how overblown Mary’s bullet wound was, and that was on purpose. So... why?

Same thing with the skull painting. The same painting has been a prominent mainstay of the flat at 221b for 3 seasons/series and suddenly in S4, it glows and changes colors and sometimes is completely black. Why? Mofftiss claims that it’s budget constraints with the original painting’s artist, but in the same exact series they were able to afford to film two helicopter scenes and rent an Aston Martin? I don’t buy it. There’s a reason.

We’re lucky to have a fandom full of brilliant people who like to pull at those threads and unravel the nonsense. Check out the blogs of @inevitably-johnlocked, @monikakrasnorada @mrskolesouniverse @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @fellshish @heimishtheidealhusband @may-shepard @toxicsemicolon @marcespot @marcelock @jenna221b @tjlcisthenewsexy @consultingidiots @shylockgnomes @patiencegrenade @possiblyimbiassed @ghislainem70 @ebaeschnbliah and @sagestreet (and I’m forgetting tons, my apologies!) for some great insights and discussions.

Ever since I discovered meta I’ve been sure that there is something more meaningful coming.

If nothing else, there are too many coincidences to be accidental. Just a few examples (I could go on for days... don’t tempt me)

In TLD, Culverton Smith says (of getting away with murder) “You don’t build a beach if you want to hide a pebble; you just find a beach!” and then in the very next episode, Mycroft tells Sherlock about Eurus while flashing back to a beach covered in pebbles (which they shipped in for that scene) and then holding a pebble, which he drops onto the beach. Read more in @finalproblem‘s amazing meta here.

In TFP, the patience grenade explosion in 221b was powerful enough to blow John and Sherlock out a window (and according to Mark Gatiss, “boop they’re fine” cuz they bounced off the thin awning of Speedy’s cafe, which must also heal burns and scrapes and bruises but whatever), but it didn’t burn paper or half the things in the flat. It DID, however, destroy John’s chair. The chair that they replaced it with? John’s chair from TAB. From Sherlock’s 1800s mind palace. Arwel Wynn Jones has confirmed this.

This tale from Sherlocked Con of a discussion with Wanda Ventham from @fleurdebee legitimately haunts me.

Comments from the cast and crew that don’t make sense yet... including Louise Brealey’s tweet about Chekov’s gun

Speaking of which, you should read all of @toxicsemicolon‘s other astoundingly brilliant meta including Poetry or Truth?

Set designer Arwel Wynn Jones has trolled us (or given us clues?) many times, namely referring to elephants (”the elephant in the room”), but also the skull painting (more skull fuckery here).

Here’s a solid list of questions that @snycock came up with for Sherlocked UK that either prove that the whole cast and crew went through some sort of collective insanity for TFP, or there’s something more coming and things don’t make sense for a reason (which is what I think)

“The Lost Special”

“Mirrors” (where one character stands in for another in a scene, like Molly for John, or Culverton for John, etc.)

Imagery of both burning/fire and drowning/water

Check out my tags for more meta, it’s incredible what this fandom discovers. Most of my meta is tagged under #hope for s5 #what fresh fuckery is this #I believe in mofftiss

Ok, I’m starting to get incoherent and my browser just crashed all my tabs so I’ll leave it at that. The meta rabbit hole is deep and wide and curvy and I could probably fill a book filled with just links to other people’s brilliant findings.

I guess the main takeaway I want to leave you with is this:

I don't think two men who cared so much about this show for so long would chuck it into the toilet for no reason. The same brilliant minds that gave us villains like Moriarty, Culverton Smith, and Magnussen suddenly giving us an improbable two-dimensional psychopath in Eurus makes no sense. TFP itself makes no sense in about 100 different ways. And I don’t think any of that was an accident.

More is coming. When the Garridebs story is finally free of copyright, we’ll get our resolution. I don’t know which theory I believe but there are so many... that Eurus shot John and TFP is his dying hallucination, that Sherlock is still in his mind palace (possibly since HLV, or even earlier), that the whole thing is us seeing events through John’s blog (which was commissioned by the BBC yet often conflicts with canon), alibi theory... who knows. I’m happy to point you toward more meta, but I think the blogs I mentioned above and some of the links should start you on your way. Once the evidence starts to stack up, it’s clear... we don’t have the whole picture yet.

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lynseylou · 6 years

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Backdoor Pilot “The Originals”

Because The Originals recently debuted their series finale, I thought I would share my rather lengthy recaps of the first six episodes of the series that I did a year ago. I was so pumped about the show I made my own Wordpress website and everything. Now I have these lonely recaps with nowhere to put them but here! Enjoy if you want.

In regular backdoor pilot fashion, this The Vampire Diaries episode begins with very forced exposition explaining why we as viewers are leaving/escaping the wonderfully supernatural Mystic Falls and entering, what appears to be, an even more sadistic and cutthroat, New Orleans.

“Welcome to the dark side of New Orleans,” says the random tour guide with rad facial hair, “a supernatural playground where the living are easily lost and the dead stick around to play.” Spooky.

But what exactly are we doing here? Klaus Mikaelson recieved a tip from everyone’s favorite doppelgänger, Katherine, that a witch with the name of Jane Anne Deveroaux is conspiring against him. Conspiring? Very vague. Could it be a trap set by Katherine and this Jane Anne Deveroaux? Let’s keep watching to find out!

While Klaus is making his rounds of murderous threats, Rebekah and Elijah are arguing back in Mystic Falls. As per usual, Elijah wants to help Klaus, like the loyal brother that he is, and Rebekah wants Klaus to go to hell.

“Where are you going?” Says the particularly pouty Rebekah Mikaelson.

“To find out who’s making a move against are brother, and then… I’ll either stop them, or I’ll help them. Depending on my mood.” Oh, Elijah! You crack me up when you’re indecisive about when its appropiate to murder.

However, through the collective perspectives of Hayley Marshall, a sassy werewolf girl in search of her family, and Sophie and Jane Anne Deveroaux, we find out Hayley is pregnant.

Holy cow! Remember a few episodes back when Klaus and Hayley have a super steamy one-night stand while amongst bonding over their perpetual loneliness and sorrow? I do!

But how could this be? Well, being that Klaus is both vampire and werewolf, the original hybrid, he can in fact procreate. If you weren’t on the edge of your seat already, you are now.

But back to Klaus. During his interrogation of a French Quarter witch, Klaus finds out that a vampire in charge, Marcel, won’t let the witches practice magic. Klaus finds Marcel singing his little vampire heart out at a bar. My first impression of Marcel? Hot. Second? Exudes confidence.

Klaus and Marcel approach with caution, and you don’t know if they’re going to kill each other. But they don’t! It turns out, Klaus and Marcel are old friends, in fact, Klaus sired Marcel. We also learn that the Mikaelson’s helped build New Orleans but were run out of town for some reason. So the plot thickens!

What exactly is the deal with Marcel? “Well we can tell you!” Says The Originals writers from beyond our TV’s. Marcel has quite a little vampire community. He has night-walkers, vampires who thrive under Marcel’s rule, and the inner circle, which are those who get to bask in the sunlight with the help of mystical daylight rings. It’s as if Marcel has complete control over the supernatural in New Orleans, and Klaus is jealous. However, Klaus focuses on the task at hand and asks Marcel what he knows about Jane Anne Deveraoux. What coincidence! Marcel is scheduled to hold a weird criminal trial in the middle of the street accusing Jane Anne of practicing magic.

But unlike an actual court of law, Jane Anne is publicly executed.

“Was that convincing? I studied law back in the fifties.” Oh Marcel, you can do anything you set your mind to.

Rats! Klaus didn’t get to talk to her before Marcel cut her throat open. But there is still hope! Klaus tracks down the sister, Sophie, where she works at a bar called Rousseau’s. Unfortunately, Sophie is to scared to speak due to the night-walkers that are following Klaus. Damn it Marcel! You foil everything! Fed up, Klaus threatens the night-walkers and lavishly orders them some scotch and hands the bartender a $100 bill (which will be important later).

Meanwhile, Elijah vamps through an alleyway and demands that Sophie Deveraoux tell him what the hell is going on. Of course, he articulates this request in a more respectful and Elijah-like fashion. He also kills a couple night-walkers while doing it, but that’s neither here or there.

Marcel is throwing a rave in his house/mansion and Klaus crashes, giving off murderous glances while searching the wild party for Marcel. Marcel calms Klaus down and shows Klaus to a balcony overlooking the city. We quickly learn that Marcel is smart and calculating, could he be another Klaus?

“Mmmm, new blood.” Marcel, don’t do it.

“Bartender. Walking alone at night. She’s either brave or dumb.” Klaus don’t encourage him.

“Brave, I let her live, dumb, she’s dessert.” Marcel, don’t eat the nice bartender.

Marcel quickly vamps off to go flirt or drink the bartender from Rousseau’s, while Elijah vamps in to inform Klaus of what he has found out.

Elijah takes Klaus to a creepy cemetery where Sophie Deveraoux reveals she has been holding Hayley captive for leverage over Klaus.

But why would should I care? Wonders Klaus, looking back and forth between Hayley and Elijah.

Because she’s pregnant the and carrying your baby Klaus.

Well, shit.

DENIAL, DENIAL, DENIAL, DENIAL!

Sophie Deveraoux reveals her evil plan. Jane Anne sacrificed herself in order to confirm the pregnancy, because the witches need help taking Marcel down. They need big bad Klaus Mikaelson. What better way to achieve that then by linking Klaus’s baby mama to Sophie, so that if any harm comes to her, the same harm happens to Hayley and the baby.

DENIAL, DENIAL, DENIAL, DENIAL!

Elijah is rather disappointed in his brother’s behavior, and expresses this child to be their best chance. At happiness. At a home. At family. However, Klaus doesn’t feel the same.

Klaus crashes, once again, Marcel’s rave and picks a fight with him. Seriously guys, just put in on the table and measure already.

“Now look at you! Master of your domain, prince of the city.” Klaus, could you have made a more obvious set up towards Marcel’s big monologue?

“Hey man, I get it. 300 years ago you helped build a backwater penal colony into something. You started it, but then you left. Actually, you ran from it. I saw it through. Look around. Vampires rule this city now. We don’t have to live in the shadows like rats. The locals know their place, they look the other way. I got rid of the werewolves. I even found a way to shut down the witches. The blood never stops flowing, and the party never ends! You want to pass on through? You want to stay awhile? Great. What’s mine is yours, but it is mine. My home, my family, my rules.” By the way, throughout this episode, every time Marcel says “rules” take a shot.

“And if someone breaks those rules?”

“They die. Mercy is for the weak, you taught me that, too. And I’m not prince of the quarter, friend. I’M THE KING!”

Well that does it. Klaus inflicts his fatal werewolf bite on one of Marcel’s inner circle, Thierry, and makes his grand exit.

Next commences the wonderful New Orleans nightlife montage. As Klaus is enjoying the festivities, he spots the brave bartender, she’s looking at a painter while he’s painting, and he approaches her. Her name tag says Camille, but she rejects that name because of the notion that its made for a grandma. We can call her Cami.

“And what do you suppose his story is?” Ask’s Klaus.

“He’s… angry. Dark. Doesn’t feel safe, and doesn’t know what to do about it. He wishes he can control his demons, instead of having his demons control him. He’s lost. Alone.” Hmmm… does this painters emotional state remind you of anyone else?

Cami apologizes for being an overzealous psych major, but Klaus reassures her, and whooshes away.

Klaus and Elijah meet up and Klaus admits that he wants what Marcel has. But Klaus? What are you going to do about the baby sized elephant in the room? To which he concludes, “every king needs a heir.” Not the most heartwarming, but we’ll take it, and so will Elijah.

Klaus now has a plan being put into action. Klaus gives Marcel his blood, which will heal Thierry, in order to get close to Marcel again. And it works. Now that Klaus is feeling all powerful again, he gives the lovely Caroline Forbes a call. But of course she never calls back. Ouch.

Rebekah doesn’t want to go to New Orleans, despite Elijah’s protests. She’s still upset apparently. Also it looks like the end of Elijah and Katherine. So sad.

And that was the amazingly epic backdoor pilot of The Originals!

Onto Power Rankings! Who are the top 5 characters that “slayed” this episode?

#5 goes to… SUPERNATURAL BABY!

Your heart beats strong, young one.

#4 goes to… Sophie Deveraoux!

Getting Klaus and Elijah Mikaelson into an alliance is no easy task.

#3 goes to… Elijah Mikaelson!

Kicking butt and taking names.

#2 goes to… Marcel Gerard!

Smooth talking, karaoke singing, king of New Orleans.

#1 goes to… Klaus Mikaelson!

You glorious bastard and all of your dysfunction.

To the characters that didn’t make it on this list, maybe next time.

Do you agree with my power rankings? What was your favorite part? Enlighten me in the comments!

#backdoor pilot #the originals #recap #the originals recap #the originals tv show

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tomeandflickcorner · 6 years

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OUAT Episode Analysis- The Eighth Witch

Well, this episode was quite the ride. Buckle up, folks, because we’ve got a wild one here.

We begin with the Parallel Enchanted Forest flashback, where we see Henry introducing the newborn Lucy to Regina, Wish Killian, Tiana and Jack, who is later revealed to be the Parallel E.F.’s version of Jack of Beanstalk fame. Which was interesting, considering the Jack of Enchanted Forest Prime was a woman. Let’s hope the gender wasn’t the only difference between this version of Jack and Jacqueline, and that the giants that this version of Jack dealt with really were the bad guys, and not the real victims. (Rest in peace, Anton’s Brothers.)

On a side note, it was rather jarring that they started off this episode with Lucy’s birth. The last time we saw Henry and Parallel Ella in Pre-Curse Parallel E.F., they had only just kissed for the first time. But now we’re suddenly fast forwarding to them becoming parents. I just found that rather funny. Like, is Henry that good of a kisser that his kisses result in instant pregnancy? I hope not, because otherwise I’d feel really bad for Violet.

Joking aside, I do find it slightly upsetting that the rest of Henry’s family wasn’t invited to the party. What about Snow, Charming, Emma and Killian Prime? Did they not get notified that Henry’s first child was being born? I realize the real life reason why they’re not there, but I still want to know the in-show reason for their absence.

However, Henry notices that Regina also isn’t present, but before they can really figure out what happened to her, Drizella suddenly appears, announcing her intention to cast the Dark Curse on Lucy’s eight birthday. I do find it a bit strange that Drizella was going to wait that long before casting the curse, but I do have a theory that I’ll touch upon later. Though I also found it surprising that this most likely means Lucy is actually eight in the Hyperion Heights scenes. While I realize they’ve never specifically stated her age, I’d always figured she was ten. I suppose it’s possible that the curse has simply lasted for two years, but even so.

Returning to the episode, Drizella’s threat is interrupted when it’s revealed she’s unknowingly triggered a bit of Blood Magic. Apparently, Parallel Stepmother is actually helping Henry and company now, as she’s teamed up with them to stop Drizella from casting the Dark Curse. I guess the fact that neither party wants to see Drizella cast the curse led to Parallel Stepmother burying the hatchet with the New Nevengers. In any event, Parallel Stepmother’s surprise assistance results in Drizella getting turned into a stone statue, which obviously would prevent her from following through with her plans. Because she can’t cast the Dark Curse if she’s encased in stone.

But then, we fast forward AGAIN to Lucy’s eight birthday party. Where we see Tiana is now a queen. Obviously, a lot has happened during the eight years they didn’t bother to show us. Tiana has apparently succeeded in her mission to overthrow the corrupted monarchy and has become the new ruler of the kingdom. And even though the members of her team of Freedom Fighters no longer need to band together, they’ve all remained friends, and have come together to celebrate Lucy’s birthday.

Anyway, Lucy’s birthday party is suddenly interrupted when Gothel appears out of nowhere, effectively gate crashing the festivities. She’s accompanied by a bunch of mysterious guys, all dressed in dark robes. Upon arriving, Gothel reverses the spell that had turned Drizella into a stone statue. The moment Drizella is returned to her flesh and blood state, she, Gothel and the robed figures all teleport off again.

Now, you’re probably wondering who these robed allies of Gothel are. Throughout the episode, we learn that Gothel and the robed figures are part of some secret sect called the Coven of Eight, which I gather is a feared group of powerful Dark Witches. Where did they come from? I have no clue, considering this is, to my knowledge, the first time we’ve heard of them. But it appears that Drizella joined the Coven of Eight in order to cast the Dark Curse. Which kinda makes sense. If memory serves, we saw Regina’s first attempt at casting the Dark Curse back in episode 2 was assisted by a group of nameless background characters, including a blind hag and a gnome. Apparently, Drizella also needs assistance of other people to cast her version of the Dark Curse.

This brings me to my theory about why they apparently had to wait for Lucy to turn eight before casting the Dark Curse. Maybe the number eight is a magical number in this realm. Kinda like how people in this world associate the number seven with good luck. I admittedly know very little about arithmancy, but my quick research on the subject states the number eight is the number of success. Maybe that has something to do with why they decided to wait eight years before making their move. And maybe it’s no coincidence that the number of years they had to wait is identical to the number of witches that are supposed to be in this coven.

Regardless, the fact that Drizella is now at large again, and fully capable of following through with her threat to cast the Dark Curse, puts the New Nevengers on high alert. They begin to take steps to prepare for a way to combat the revived threat to their peaceful lives.

Wish Killian heads off to meet up with Rumpelstiltskin. Who has, for some reason, gotten that weird skin condition of his back. But they’re not telling us why he’s back to being a walking disco ball. Maybe they’ll tell that story in 7B. Anyway, Wish Killian asks Rumpelstiltskin if there’s a way to stop the curse, but Rumpy Rumps insists there’s no way to stop it. However, he does present Wish Killian with a carved elephant. Possibly a reference to the whole saying about how an elephant never forgets. According to Rumpelstiltskin, while this elephant totem won’t keep him from losing his memories, it will enable him and Alice to recognize each other as father and daughter. Wish Killian is both skeptical and a bit taken aback that Rumpelstiltskin seems interested in helping him, which makes sense. Even though this is Wish Killian and Rumpelstiltskin Prime, it seems they can’t completely forget the feud that existed between them in both realities. (Guess this means Rumpelstiltskin knows fully well that Detective Rogers isn’t Killian Prime, after all.) But it turns out that Rumpelstiltskin is actually doing this as a favor for Alice, who has been in Rumpelstiltskin’s company for quite some time now. According to Alice, she feels she owes it to Rumpelstiltskin, because, as she puts it, he gave up a lot for her. Is this related to how Rumpelstiltskin went all ‘crockey’ again? Once again, that’s something they’ve yet to fully explain.

The conversation between Wish Killain and Alice is really lovely, though. Especially since it’s clear that the Curse of the Poisoned Heart is still in effect, and preventing them from getting too close to each other. Plus, Alice might still feel guilty for unintentionally inflicting harm onto her father after Drizella gave her the bogus cure. After all, Killian Prime was notorious for feeling intense guilt over things that weren’t even necessarily his fault. It’s possible Wish Killian possessed a similar trait and passed it down to his daughter. I do wonder, though, if this is the first time they’ve seen each other since that day. I get the impression that they saw each other again at least once between then and now, but it probably wasn’t that often. Before Wish Killian leaves to rejoin the others, their conversation shifts to someone else. Alice begins to refer to someone else she dearly cares about, and she gives Wish Killian what appears to be a love letter, instructing him to deliver it to ‘her.’ Wish Killian promises that he will do so. Before parting, Alice tells Wish Killian that she would have written a letter for him, but she knows he already knows how she feels about him.

Meanwhile, Regina heads off to some small farmhouse in the middle of the woods. As she approaches the house, a few arrows fly by, narrowly missing her by inches. Upon turning, she sees the archer is a young woman who is quickly identified as Baby Robyn, Robin Hood’s daughter, now fully grown. Somehow, Zelena and Robyn have also wound up living in Parallel Enchanted Forest. Once again, there’s no explanation as to why they left Storybooke. Or why Robyn is a young adult now.

To properly explain why this is so weird, I have to discuss a plot point that’s revealed near the end of the episode. The love letter Alice wanted Wish Killian to deliver turns out to be meant for Robyn. Because Alice and Robyn are in love. Again, we currently have no explanation to how they met. But I don’t have any issues with this particular pairing. And it’s rather cool that the daughter of Robin Hood and an alternate version of Killian Jones fell in love. I’d always wanted to see more interaction between Robin and Killian, and I can’t help but wonder how they’d react to knowing Robin’s daughter ended up with Wish Killian’s daughter. The thing that makes me scratch my head is that Alice was conceived around the time when the timelines for Enchanted Forest Prime and Wish World diverged. Which means Alice should be around Emma’s age. And Emma was probably thirty when Robyn was born. Which means Alice should be roughly thirty years older than Robyn, too. But in this episode, Alice and Robyn appear to be around the same age. To the episode’s credit, it does kinda acknowledge the whole aging issue, with Regina commenting on how Robyn grew up so quickly. But Zelena just gives a hand wave explanation, stating that time didn’t pass by so quickly in their realm. Which I guess is the show trying to say that time simply passes differently from one realm to the next. (Though that doesn’t exactly explain why Henry and the others don’t appear to have aged a day, even though eight years have apparently gone by in Parallel Enchanted Forest.) But random aging processes are just a common thing in this show.

Anyway, Regina and Zelena discuss the problem about Drizella, and the involvement of the Coven of Eight. Turns out they’ve been trying to recruit Zelena, as their calling card coin had been left out on her porch. This is something that might be confusing, as Zelena was supposed to have lost her magic at the end of S6. But according to @fandom-oracle, it’s possible she managed to regain her magic after the Black Fairy was defeated, and that there was even a scene from the S6 finale that showed her using her magic to play with Baby Robyn, which ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. So I guess that’s as good an explanation as we can get. So Regina suggests she and Zelena once again team up to try and combat the Coven of Eight together, in the hopes that doing so can prevent them from succeeding in casting the Dark Curse.

While all this is going on, Henry and Parallel Ella have been working on the question of how they’re going to protect their daughter from Drizella and her allies if Regina and Zelena can’t find a way to stop them. Eventually, Henry comes to a decision that Parallel Ella has misgivings about, but she knows that it’s their best shot at keeping Lucy safe. This plan brings us full circle with the scenes we got in the S6 finale. Henry takes Lucy deep into the woods, where they find the Parallel E.F.’s equivalent of the magical tree that was used to create the magical wardrobe that sent Pinocchio and Baby Emma away before the original Dark Curse was cast. Henry’s plan is to use the magic tree to get him and Lucy to safety, so they’d be able to work together to break the curse once it’s cast. While Henry works on fashioning the new magic wardrobe, he entrusts Lucy to the care of Tiger Lily, who has finally made her appearance. I like to think her appearance is the show’s way of showing that Henry maintained contact with everyone back in Storybrooke, and maybe even visited them on occasion. (To be honest, it would make him look like a huge jerk if it was any other way. Imagine never returning home to visit your family, even after eight years have passed.)

Unfortunately, Henry’s task of building the wardrobe is interrupted when the Coven of Eight attacks. As we saw in the S6 finale, Henry quickly makes his way back to Lucy, instructing her to get the Storybook to her mother and then stays behind to try and buy Lucy time to escape. After Henry is captured, Tiger Lily escorts Lucy back to Tiana’s castle, where they inform everyone of Henry’s abduction. While everyone’s first instinct is to organize a rescue mission, Parallel Ella ultimately decides that that’s what the Coven of Eight want, and that doing so will distract them from their main objective in stopping the Dark Curse from being cast. They also know that Henry would not want them to risk everyone’s safety for his sake. So the New Nevengers set out to the place where Drizella, Gothel and the rest of the Coven of Eights are to cast the Dark Curse. And once they arrive, it looks like they’ve succeeded in stopping the ritual, with Parallel Ella, Regina, Wish Killain and Parallel Stepmother subduing the witches. That is, until Drizella reveals the ace up her sleeve. It turns out one of the cloaked figures standing among the Coven of Eight is actually Henry, who has been bound and gagged. And once his identity is unveiled, it’s also revealed the Coven of Eight had poisoned him in such a way that Regina’s magic cannot cure him. Drizella proceeds to tell Regina that this was the full extent of her plan. In this version of the Dark Curse, you don’t need to actively crush someone’s heart. All you need is the magic of someone who already crushed the heart of the thing they loved most. Which means that Regina, who had crushed her father’s heart to cast the original Dark Curse, can cast the curse anytime she wants. As such, Drizella tells Regina that she has a choice to make. She can either cast the Dark Curse now so Henry and everyone else will be transported into the Land Without Magic, where the effects of the poison inside Henry will be nullified, or she can do nothing and let Henry die.

So now we know what the Big Horrible Thing that’ll happen if the curse breaks will be. Because the moment the curse breaks and everyone wakes up, the poison inside Henry will also reactivate. No wonder Regina is feeling conflicted over breaking the curse in Hyperion Heights. She knows that doing so would mean sacrificing Henry. On the one hand, I do wonder if Regina contacted Emma in Storybrooke after Drizella woke her up a few episodes back. After all, Henry is Emma’s son, too. So she has a right to know that her son’s life is on the line. On the other, I suppose it’s possible Regina knows that Emma would come in with guns blazing if she knew the current situation, and that might end up complicating matters a bit more. So it’s probably a whole dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t sort of deal. (Still, Emma has a right to know. And maybe she would be able to come up with a possible solution to the problem.)

In the end, Regina decides to give into Drizella’s demands and casts the Dark Curse in order to save Henry’s life. And, because of Drizella’s grudge against her mother, she makes it so Parallel Stepmother/Victoria will go about thinking she was the one to cast the curse as part of her plan to resurrect Anastasia, not knowing that it was actually Drizella that was pulling the strings. And, as the Dark Curse cloud consumes everyone in sight, we witness Alice and Robyn meeting up one final time before the curse takes hold, vowing that they’ll remember each other, even if they don’t. As for Wish Killian, he ends up giving the elephant totem he’d gotten from Rumpelstiltskin to Parallel Ella. Even though he desperately wants to have a chance to be with his daughter while under the curse, he knows that the curse would leave Lucy completely alone, unless he gave the elephant totem to Parallel Ella, thereby allowing them to maintain their relationship of mother and daughter. Just like how he was unable to go through with his plan to take Killian Prime’s place in order to reunite with Alice upon finding out Killian Prime had a child of his own on the way, Wish Killian once again proved how unselfish he truly was, sacrificing his chance to be with Alice so Parallel Ella could be with her daughter.

That brings me to a current theory I’m seeing circulating around. At present, the show is really making an effort to make it look as if Anastasia is The Guardian. But what was the test that Gothel gave Blonde Rapunzel to see if she was The Guardian? It was to see if Blonde Rapunzel was pure enough to sacrifice her own happiness for the happiness of someone else. Well, Wish Killian has now passed that test twice. His happiness is directly tied to the opportunity to be with Alice again. And he has twice given up that chance so someone else wouldn’t be separated from their child. Not only that, he had clearly earned the nickname of Eagle Scout while working for the police department in Hyperion Heights. What if Wish Killian ends up being The Guardian? If that’s what they’re going to ultimately end up doing, that would be quite an impressive twist. Not to mention it would be fitting, considering it would be a version of Killian Jones who ultimately puts an end to the Dark One’s existence. (Plus, who was it who wielded Excalibur and came very close to forever destroying The Darkness? That’s right, Killian Prime.)

Back in the Hyperion Heights storyline, Lucy is admitted to the hospital after passing out in Jacinda’s arms. And the woman is visibly distraught. Sabine, ever the best friend, is quick to provide support, suggesting that Jacinda call Nick and Henry to tell them what happened while she gets Rogers to start asking around to find out where Lucy might have been before she passed out. Because maybe something happened to Lucy while she was out to explain her current state. So Jacinda begins making phone calls, but Henry ends up unintentionally missing her call, and it takes him a while to reach her when he tries calling her back.

Speaking of Henry, we see that the reason why Regina dragged him off to San Francisco is because that’s where the curse sent Zelena. Under her cursed memories, Zelena believes she’s a spin instructor called Kelly. The cursed memories have also led her to believe that she and her sister, Roni, had a falling out over Kelly’s daughter, who apparently ran off to Phuket, the place where Pinocchio/August was living when Emma first arrived in Storybrooke, because the daughter in question thought her Aunt Roni was cooler then her mother. Or something like that. Either way, because of her cursed memories, Zelena/Kelly is less than pleased to see her sister.

That’s when Henry finally gets in touch with Jacinda. The instant he finds out that Lucy is lying unconscious in the hospital, Henry is adamant about going back, his subconscious paternal instincts kicking in. Regina is visibly torn, deeply concerned about the well-being of her adopted granddaughter, but she knows that she can’t go back to Hyperion Heights without Zelena. So after Henry heads off to the airport to get back to Seattle, Regina once again returns to the gym where Zelena/Kelly works. She eventually convinces Zelena/Kelly to drink some whisky that was laced with some of Drizella’s memory potion. At first, it looks as if the potion failed, but the effects of the memory potion kick in after a few seconds. Not sure what was up with the delayed reaction. Maybe the writers were trying to throw in some false tension.

Anyway, once Zelena wakes up, she is nothing but happy to see Regina again. However, she is still somewhat conflicted. Much like Emma during the Lost Year, Zelena met someone while living in San Fransisco. And it turns out that they’re getting married. Zelena even has a wedding dress hanging up in her closet. Obviously, this does put Zelena in a bit of a bind. Because she still loves this man, but she remembers she’s not Kelly but Zelena. And she doesn’t want to deliberately lie to him, so she’s going to have to explain everything about the curse and all. Personally, my first thought was if this guy Zelena was going to marry was legit or if he was going to be another Walsh character. Because that would be quite the case of karma if it was the latter. Imagine Zelena going through the same thing Emma did because Zelena sent Walsh to keep her occupied during the Lost Year. I suppose we’re just going to have to wait and see what this guy is like before passing judgement. In any event, Zelena ultimately decides to go back to Hyperion Heights with Regina and resume the battle against Drizella and Gothel. Because that’s what heroes do and all. She can explain everything to her husband-to-be when she gets back from her mission.

As for Henry, he reunites with Jacinda by Lucy’s hospital bedside. As they talk, Jacinda hands Henry a copy of the new Storybook, stating that Lucy always loved the book he wrote, and that maybe if he read it to her, it would help her regain consciousness. If Henry had doubts about that, he didn’t let them show, and he proceeds to read to Lucy, skipping right to the part that chronicled the time when he ate the poisoned turnover, and Emma revived him with True Love’s Kiss. As he finishes reading that passage, Henry admits to the unconscious Lucy that, if it’s possible that he was her father in some other version of reality, then he’s willing to believe it. As he makes that statement, he kisses her forehead, much like Emma did at the end of S1. But this time, there’s no rainbow arc. Because Parallel Stepmother had succeeded in breaking Lucy’s spirit, and she stopped believing. So that’s going to be a problem. With Lucy unconscious, there’s no rational way to restore her sense of belief. When Regina and Zelena hear that Henry’s TLK didn’t work, they find themselves faced with a fresh conundrum. They know that they can simply break the curse with someone else’s TLK. But they know that Henry will die if the curse breaks. At the same time, if the curse doesn’t break, then Lucy will be the one to die. I admit, that’s quite the dilemma. But if Henry were awake, I’m sure he’d be perfectly willing to sacrifice his life to save Lucy. Though I don’t want to think about what that would put Regina and Emma through.

Meanwhile, there’s a small scene with Rogers and Tilly. While Rogers is out and about, trying to shed some light on what might have caused Lucy to pass out, he’s approached by Tilly. Who can apparently touch him without triggering the effects of the Curse of the Poisoned Heart. I guess being in the Land Without Magic also nullified that, too. Anyway, Tilly has discovered something that she thinks would interest Rogers, and she quickly leads him by the hand to the back of that weird stone troll statue. Behind the statue, they see some maintenance man in the process of cleaning up a bit of graffiti. Only it’s not just a random bit of graffiti. It’s the same mark that was on Tattoo Guy’s arm. Except we can now recognize it as the emblem of the Coven of Eight. Meaning the evil witch troop is in Hyperion Heights somewhere.

And that brings us to the subplot with Rumpelstiltskin, Parallel Stepmother and Anastasia. Rumpelstiltskin isn’t happy at the moment, as he wouldn’t have helped Parallel Stepmother get out of jail if he’d known she would go after Lucy. Though I was a bit confused why he suddenly seemed to care about Lucy’s well-being all of a sudden. Yes, she’s technically his great-granddaughter and all, but when was the last time he gave a bat’s behind about his grandson, Henry? While there might have been a teeny tiny blip on the radar during the Frozen arc, when he tried to get the heart controlled Killian to help him abduct Henry and bring him out of Storybrooke while leaving everyone else behind to destroy themselves, Rumpelstiltskin has barely acknowledged his relationship to Henry since the return from Neverland. But Parallel Stepmother reminds him that the signs point to Anastasia being The Guardian, which I suppose suggests that she can heal Lucy. I’m not really sure what happens next, to be honest. Rumpelstiltskin arranges a test for Anastasia by placing a few knives in front of her, including the Dark One’s Dagger, instructing her to pick which one is the magical artifact. And Anastasia is instinctively able to determine that it’s a trick question. Because the real Dagger is hidden in a nearby cabinet. But then it gets weird, because she can suddenly move the knives in front of her telepathically. And when she gets upset, the lights go completely haywire. Did Anastasia show any indication that she possessed the magical gene prior to this moment? Granted, Emma was completely unaware of her magical potential before Cora tried to steal her heart at the end of 2A, and there were only subtle hints before that part. But Anastasia’s sudden magical powers seem to be displaying themselves more sporadically than they did with Emma. I’d have thought someone who has that much difficultly in controlling her magic would have had it spilling out in random bursts more often.

But there’s no time to really dwell on that, as this is when Gothel appears. Anastasia instantly recoils, as something about Gothel doesn’t bode well for her. But when she tries to run while Gothel incapacitates Rumpelstiltskin and Parallel Stepmother, Anastasia runs into Drizella. Because Anastasia doesn’t know her sister is in league with Gothel and a coven of evil witches, Anastasia instantly trusts her younger sister and goes with her, finding out too late that Drizella was tricking her. But then Gothel reveals that she was the one playing Drizella the whole time when she double-crosses the younger of the two sisters, shoving her into a well. Turns out Gothel’s true plan was to recruit Anastasia into the Coven of Eight, because her supposed Guardian Magic will make the group unstoppable.

And that’s the note we’re left on before the Winter Hiatus begins. Meaning we’re going to have to wait three months before finding out what happens next. Obviously, I’m annoyed that they left off with Lucy still in a magical coma, with Henry, Parallel Ella, Wish Killian, Alice and Tiana still stuck with their cursed memories. But now I know why they can’t just break the curse. Henry’s life is on the line. So there’s that, at least.

Also, we’re left with so many questions. What exactly happened during that eight year jump between Lucy’s birth and the final days before the Dark Curse was cast? And is there a specific in-show reason why Regina can’t call in the Original Nevengers for help? I’m sure Emma and the others are all wondering why Henry hasn’t checked in with them lately. And is Anastasia really The Guardian, or is that a red herring? I’m just really hoping A&E can wrap everything up reasonably enough in 7B. Because as much as I am liking the storyline they gave Henry, and the plotline with Wish Killain and his relationship with Alice, even I can admit the show’s floundering now. So I’ll be very surprised if they get renewed for an eighth season.

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rough-tweed-action · 7 years

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🔥 about tjlc and the tinfoil hat conspiracists

This is a tough one. I'm guessing my opinion (why are they doing this to themselves?) is actually a popular one. So, an unpopular opinion about these people, hmm.

Have you seen Rowan Atkinson's sketch about Toby the Devil? He welcomes souls to hell and divides them into groups: murderers, thieves, French and lastly, Christians. 'Christians? Ah yes, I’m sorry, I’m afraid the Jews were right.' Apart from being hilarious, it makes me wonder: what if we, the non-johnlockers, are wrong and they are right? What if everything I think I know about Sherlock is wrong because I'm a straight, adult woman and judging from the post-TFP dramatic posts, the majority of the cult consists of gay youth. What if BBC Sherlock really is a romantic story and I saw none of that because I'm biased?

What if they were rightfully angry after series 4? I mean, from what I heard, they predicted TAB's content pretty well. Maybe they aren't as delusional as we think. Maybe they were, in fact, portrayed on the show not only as the First TJCLer Hudders but also as the league of furies. Maybe today's gay youth needs more recognition than suffragettes. I don't know.

What if Mofftiss did betray them? What if they intentionally made Sherlock gay and John bi to attract the attention of gay fans? What if they wanted to give them the kiss, but the BBC didn't let them?What if Mark Gatiss, who seems like a lovely person, is actually the evil incarnate and a homophobic, cruel gay who likes to torment people like him? How can I tell? I don't know him. What if Mofftiss are lying liars who lie about lying about lying about lying and they really are playing a long game here. Maybe they intentionally made series 4 not gay and hurt the fans only to make the kiss in series 5 sweeter? Who can tell?

Did Gatiss honestly tell gay fans via Mary that it doesn't matter who they really are? Would he do that? Will he and Moffat butcher Dracula and make him not explicitly gay?

What if I, a Sheriarty shipper, completely misinterpreted the Moriarty episodes? What if Sherlock is, in fact, scared of Moriarty and there's no chemistry? Perhaps Sherlock wanted to catch Moriarty to save John and be gay with him? Could the Sheriarty content be just a cynical milkshake to lure the hungry Fannibals to the yard? What if the Sheriarty scene from TAB was not sentimentally and sexually charged? What if Moriarty's motivation was 'if I can't have you, then no one can'? WHAT IF SHERLOCK JUST HAD A GUN IN HIS POCKET AND WASN’T PLEASED TO SEE HIM?

What if Adlock isn't canon? Is Irene's theme really a johnlock theme? The person who deflowered Sherlock, Irene or John? Were Irene's pupils dilated because she was scared? Did she say 'Well I am [gay], look at us both' to prove there was no Adlock, not because saying 'Well I am bisexual' would make no sense? Were all the reminders of Irene meaningless? Do I ship it bc I'm straight? Was I.... straight-baited?

Was it a coincidence that Sherlock said 'I'm you' to Jim and played Irene's theme when asked to play himself? Was the Adlock/Sheriarty mash-up (TAB) unimportant? Is Sherlock actually attracted only to his exact opposite, John boring dull predictable Watson?

What if that Arwel guy is not a funny person who likes elephants and things that glow? What if he taunted the cult with gay elephants all those years? I'm actually surprised to have heard of the Eurus' glass elephant just recently and not from a cult member. Huh. Is the glowing skull a secret sign? What if the billboards from HLV were not a coincidence?

And what if all the small inconsistencies like the disappearing John from the T6T scene with Hopkins are, in fact, important? Look, as a Holmescest shipper, I watched the Unwise, brother mine scene many, many times. Two inconsistencies there.

What if the First TJLCer and John are actually likeable characters? Is John's abusive behaviour excusable bc of sexual frustration and being closeted? Was his awful comment about Mycroft (what goes around comes around) justified? We may never know.

Is johnlock actually a sweet, lovely, vanilla ship, romantic and pure? Despite all the women deceived and used to stop the gossip? It bothers me, actually. Maybe it's because I think that honesty in any relationship is crucial. Did Sherlock and John really flirt with each other in Mary's or Irene's presence? Did John make a decision to marry Mary just to prove he's straight, although he could have just ditch the bitch and make out with his loved-up booooooooooyfriend? Is it ok for a bi-curious person to lie to their straight partner and use them a shield? Should I root for a gay couple who try to get together on the fucking WEDDING RECEPTION in front of the clueless bride? Is this good? Do I find it disgusting and inexcusable bc I'm not gay? Maybe it is a gay fantasy, the opposite of the hetero wish to turn a gay person straight? Mystery.

Is this theory that the true villain of BBC Sherlock is anyone who thinks Sherlock is not gay right? Do I erase an important part of his personality bc I don't want Sherlock the fictional character to be happy the way he should have been from the start? Was ACD inspired by Oscar Wilde and the original Sherlock Holmes was in as gay as Wilde? Did Watson invent Mary Morstan to be safely gay with Holmes?

Is the unaired pilot gay and I can't see it bc I am not? Did Sherlock say that he knew being gay is fine not because John said his 'which is fine' the way I say 'I do like the Germans and I’m not scared of the German nationalism and do not resent them for using the most hideous language in the world, no sir'? Did Sherlock never correct the people who assumed he was John's boyfriend not because he simply didn't care what they thought about him?

What if Mary killed herself to make Sherlock commit suicide? What if Sherlock hated her the whole time and only pretended he liked her, so very convincingly? Did he and John conspire to murder her while she was heavily pregnant and sipped tea in John's chair? Was she the real Moriarty? Did she work for CAM? For Mycroft? Did the homicidal Sherlock and John try to protect her from Ajay because... they wanted to kill her themselves?

Was the Warstan reunion in HLV not sweet and realistic but sinister? Did John threaten her while she was pregnant with his child?

Is the *sigh* M theory true? Moriarty, Mary and Magnussen using Mycroft to destroy johnlock? Because nothing else that universe is more important than these two Brits licking Marmite off the other's prick.

What if our perception of the acronym cult is wrong? Maybe it's not just toxic. Maybe it helps its members embrace their sexuality. Maybe they were just trying to defend themselves? Maybe the only member who needed therapy was one of the leaders? Was it ok for another leader, the one who's still active, to respond to my message by going through my blog and judging the content? Despite my having mentioned twice in the message that I was just curious and had no evil intentions. I'm no expert.

Is the concept of a slow-burn romance (with a huge portion of miscommunication) between John and Sherlock possible? Wouldn't Sherlock just say: 'John, we should kiss, for science!' or John, when Sherlock returned, 'I have missed you so much. Don't ever leave again. Also, I love you, I can say this now.'

Did the suggestion to name the baby Sherlock actually meant 'I wish we have got married, I'd love to be your Sherlock Watson'? Did John the free widower say 'the chance doesn't last forever' and put so much emphasis on the word 'alive' because... I dunno, really.

Does John's 'I am not gay/not Sherlock's boyfriend' mean: 'I'm bisexual and would love to show Sherlock some military discipline'? Wouldn’t bi-John feel comfortable with Hudders, enough to tell her his secret?

Was John's reaction to Mary's death really less emotional than his reaction to Sherlock's suicide?

Was John's WTF when Janine strode out of Sherlock's bedroom jealousy and not the strong feeling that Sherlock either changed overnight or was doing some serious bullshitting?

Is Sherlock’s reaction to Janine and that other female character flirting with him a definite proof that he does not want to offer his virginity to a woman? Even... The Woman?

Was the idea of Warstan bad enough to make Sherlock suicidal on FIVE separate occasions? I counted: the sad, suicidal chips in TEH, the conversation with Sholto through the door, the post-wedding relapse that was NOT for a case, the TAB overdose and the TLD relapse. Dude. Sherlock, son, maybe find a hobby.

Did Mofftiss lose their minds and made not one but TWO 'all in your head' series? Is John dying? Is Sherlock in a coma? Was Eurus real? Is Redbeard a dog? Do I care?

Are Adlock and Smallcroft shippers delusional bc both Holmes brothers are so obviously gay? Is it all right to say that a character's sexual orientation cannot be different from the actor's (but only if the actor is gay)? Does Gatiss have a right to play or create non-gay characters? Is he morally obliged to make every Sherlock character gay? Does he owe anything to the gay community?

What if having your otp work together and raise a kid together is not enough?

WAS THE LAZARUS REAL? I do agree with finalproblem on this particular subject, 100%.

Is Jim Moriarty alive? Is Mary alive? Is Rosie real?

IS FUCKY a real, useable word?

WAS IT HUDDERS WHO SAID 'SOFTER, SHERLOCK' IN TFP??? That old, stoned witch, I knew I shouldn't trust her.

WHAT IF THERE WILL BE A LOST SPECIAL/LOST GAY BAR SCENE/THE KISS AND WE, THE NON-BELIEVERS/CASUAL ANTIS, WILL DIE OF SHOCK AND CHOKE ON OUR HOMOPHOBIA?

WHAT IF IT WAS TWINS???

Seriously, though. Do I think conspiracy theorists are crazy in real life? No. I think I'm fairly normal despite my strong belief that General Sikorski was murdered by the British. I will NEVER accept that it was an accident. Never.

Thank you, that was a journey.

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