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highlandwhackamole · 1 month

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A Grand(ish) Theory of What the Heck

I love the utterly unhinged, super detailed theories about what's going on in Good Omens, especially in season 2. I hope one or more of them turn out to be true, as some kind of glorious puzzle-box-hidden-code monstrosity. And also I think that there has to be a simpler explanation for things, for the people who are at least Somewhat Normal (tm) about this show. (... I assume such people do exist somewhere...) This is what I have been pondering recently.

The thing that started me thinking about this was this post, containing some promotional materials for season 2 that feature main characters with scenes in their heads. Like this:

Seeing this created a very similar situation in my own head, but with a nice shiny lightbulb.

All the weirdness: the car, the sideburns, the clock, the behavior of the folks of Soho, the vanishing storefront signs. The absence of God. I think this is all because everything we see is in their heads.

I don't mean it's made up. At least not entirely. Memory is already a plot point. Why not explore it on a deeper level? I've read theories emphasizing the minisodes' stories being retold by Aziraphale and Crowley. I think the whole season is like that.

You know that sort of conventional-wisdom-fact-concept that you can only dream faces of people you've seen before (or variations therein), because your brain can't make new faces up? So it just fills in what it thinks is close enough? I think that idea, applied to remembering or recollecting things, could explain so many things that are wonky in this show.

Wonky Things

Crowley parking in an impossible London location? He definitely remembers it was in London, so his brain just stuck some obvious London landmarks in there.

Awkward clattering happening when Crowley throws the stacks of books he's inexplicably carrying around the bookshop? He wouldn't actually throw Aziraphale's books! But he'd like to think he's cool and nonchalant enough to do that, and if he did it would definitely make Some Kind of Noise.

Jim walking toward the bookshop from somewhere mysterious? Maggie and Nina saw him first, and he came from that direction, so he must've walked all that way. They don't know about the elevator in the Donkey.

Aziraphale remembers tartan hills and the Loch Ness monster because he was having a jolly time driving through Scotland, so obviously the scenery must've been whimsical Scottish things.

Nina put the Honolulu roast sign up, so she remembers its presence, but perhaps the occult/ethereal visitors to her shop do not.

Maggie really did text Aziraphale about the rent, but a note through the mail slot is a much more dignified way for a scholarly angel to imagine he received a message.

On the Fallibility of Recall

This season is loaded with unrealistic inclusions. The colors are turned up to 11. Some of the scenes are more caricature than believable interaction. Remembering things never copies or reproduces them with what one might call high fidelity.

Scenes recalled by separate memories will inherently vary. One person's hefty jigger might be another person's dash. Who knows for sure where the sun was that day? You and I might recall an event having different lighting or a different color palette, sort of like viewing something with different lens filters.

According to Neil, Crowley is an unreliable narrator of the story of his Fall. He labels the variations in clock times as a continuity error in a show where Everything Is Meant, but he doesn't say whose continuity error it is. He insists that the Bentley is the same through the whole season; maybe it was the same, but remembered differently. Maybe this is part of why there's more CGI but it's harder to spot.

So What?

Is this all there is to it? I sure hope not. I like my Good Omens with enough layers to put to shame an onion wrapped in a cake and covered in a parfait.

Is this possibly the fancy footwork that's distracting from the real magic trick? I wouldn't put it past Our Gaiman. There are a lot of things one could hide in the narrative of unreliable memory.

Is this going to stop me from rewatching and repondering and remaking theories for the next couple years? Not even at gunpoint.

#good omens #good omens meta #ineffable mystery #neil gaiman #good omens questions #good omens 2

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ultraericthered · 2 months

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One Villainous Scene: My First Emotion

As Valentine's Day is the day of love, my Valentine's gift is not one but two One Villainous Scenes featuring love as the central theme, one leaning on the darkly comical side, the other on just plain dark.

This would be former. In the third episode of Happy Sugar Life, Satou has spared the life of Asahi Kobe when she was about to kill him while he lay unconscious, due to something relating to Shio from him and regaining the good sense to know that a murder like this would compromise her and Shio's peaceful, happy, loving life together. On the walk back home, Satou starts to wonder why it was that she'd even thought to attempt Asahi's murder in the first place. She's normally very much in control of her feelings and able to think through all the decisions she makes, so what had made her so impulsive and uncontrolled back there? And so she contemplates:

I'm not new to bitter tastes. But this was on a totally different level. Just remembering it brings back the bitter taste. What IS this? Anger? Pain? A warning sign? It's different from anything I've ever felt before. It's bitter. So bitter.... I have to understand it to control it.

Satou recalls what set her off: Asahi, in his semi-conscious delerium, speaking the vows of love that Satou and Shio exchange on a nightly basis. Satou says that when she heard this, she got the image in her head of "Shio-chan and that thing saying those vows to each other" (and I love that Satou is just insistent on thinking of Asahi as a "thing" and an "it" rather than a fellow human being, like she has to internally dehumanize any person towards whom she has immediately venomous and bitter feelings of dislike). This puts into perspective that what was driving Satou up the wall was the very idea that her special someone, the one and only person she truly loves, could ever be with someone else in any close capacity where he loves her and she even might love him back. And that's when it finally hits her.

She was jealous of Asahi over how he's someone who knew and loved Shio well before she ever met her. It's jealousy that she felt.

Colorful shooting stars rain down in Satou's eyes and the mood of the scene does a sudden hard shift to being joyous, whimsical, and sweet. Soft, pleasant backgrounds and bright colors replace the dark and icky "bitterness" of before as Satou literally prances and skips down the street in girlish glee, now happy to have felt such a visceral, anguishing response of envy, rage, and disgust towards Asahi because these painful feelings are born from Satou's love for Shio! "My first emotion!", thinks Satou as she merrily skips along, clearly not meant to suggest she had no emotions before 'cause she earlier admitted to feeling different emotions in the past, but this is the first non-happiness stirring within her heart that anything to do with her relationship with Shio has made her feel on a deep level. It's the sociopath's first experience of actually connecting with something deep within herself that is purely, rawly, and unmistakably human.

The moment only gets schmaltzier and goofier from there!

That could be said to be the end of it....but only two minutes later, we see Satou get on the elevator to go back to her apartment room when Asahi crosses her mind once again. While still thinking of him as "that thing", she's at least in the mood to use his proper gender pronouns this time as she resolves to ensure he and Shio don't meet.

From unhinged and creepy to cute and pleasant, then back around to pants-wettingly terrifying. Really, what better way to sum up the masterstroke of yandere horror that is Satou Matsuzaka than that? Just as Satou adores Shio, I adore Satou's character. So much captivating complexity and nuance and psychological fucked up-ness. You see all the darkest facets of her and are so fearful and repulsed that you have the instinct to look away from her, yet find you can't because she's already pulled you into her world. You want to know her better, you want to see her in action, and because she is so charming and a lesser evil than others around, a small, secret part of you might even want to see her come out successful in the end.

I guess that can't be called anything less than a form of love. <3

Here's the full scene, from 5:50 to 9:58, in English. And whatever can be said of that fandub, Malina Rose is fucking GOATed as Satou.

#One Villainous Scene #Happy Sugar Life #anime #Satou Matsuzaka

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outer-space-face · 1 year

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Top five cryptids!!!! :)

Oooh okay here's my list:

5: Jackalope

These are just plain cute :) there's no real significant reason I love 'em, I just think they're neat. I wanna feed them some little carrots or celery from my hand.

4: Mothman

The moth boy himself!! Such a fun little guy. Love his look too. Something about an unhinged winged creature looming over people and cities is just so darn cool. Also, according to that one statue of him, incredible dumpy. Absolutely caked up.

3: Ogopogo

One that I don't know how many people know of outside of Canada but it's one that I've always loved. Similar energy to Nessie but more sea serpent-like. There's something so whimsical about Ogopogo and I love that. Also the name is objectively the best thing in the universe.

2: Fresno Night Crawlers

LOOK AT THOSE LITTLE GUYS. JUST. SUCH LITTLE GUYS. I LOVE EM'. WHO WOULDN'T?? Really fun to draw too! They're very quintessentially foresty and fun about them. Gotta love it :)

1: Loch Ness Monster (nessie)

Aaah a classic. There's something so oddly gentle and calm about her, I just wanna give her a little pat on the back. She deserves so many pats. I also feel like she probably lives a pretty peaceful life and considering there hasn't been many recent sightings (at least not that I know of) she's probably not been bothered for a while which is good :) also I am legally required to quote the ICONIC linein twilight. (YOU NICK-NAMED MY DAUGHTER AFTER THE LOCH NESS MONSTER??? 🤬😤😠)

Thank you so much for the ask chir! And also sorry I am kinda late to this ask lol. But this was super fun! Please lemme know what you're top 5 are 'cause I'm very cuious :)

#ask game #ask game!

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narukoibito · 3 years

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Ahhhh, what you do best, Naru: Mutual Pining + Stranded Due to Inclement Weather for the trope mashup ❤️

You know me so well, @whathefawkes! ♥️

Mutual Pining + Stranded Due to Inclement Weather

Annnnd I'm going to write a little scene from the librarian!Harry and witch!Ginny universe just for you.

---

It was typical with Harry's luck that it would be pouring out the moment he got off his shift. While it had been wet out in the morning, it was nothing compared to the outright downpour of the moment. The only upside was the late email from his professor that the exam would be delayed because of car troubles.

Harry rifled through his book bag and, yep, he had forgotten to grab an umbrella this morning. He paused, attention caught by the colorful and odd magazine the redhead had left behind earlier. He looked back up at the sky, which rumbled ominously back at him.

Normally, he would use his bag to shield him, but he felt a reluctant affinity to the bizarre rag. Maybe she was unhinged and he should want nothing to do with her, but...while the content was utter nonsense, it didn’t necessarily mean she actually believed in these mythical what's-it creatures. Maybe it could even be a harmless hobby, like believing in the Loch Ness Monster.

It was whimsical and funny, and, he was a bit embarrassed to even think, a little magical. It filled him with a strange nostalgia, like those times he would sneak the Narnia books to his cupboard under the stairs.

Harry snorted. Maybe he liked the magazine because it would give the Dursleys a heart attack.

The magazine safe and secure between his textbooks, Harry tucked his bag tightly under his coat and made a run for it.

The downpour was even worse than it had looked. Rain pelted him relentlessly, immediately soaking him to the bone. His wet glasses made it impossible to see, and he had only made it three blocks before a car seemed to burst out of nowhere right in front of him. It veered just in time, the violent honking nearly drowned out by the storm and the adrenaline that pumped through his body.

It was too dangerous to keep going when Harry and possibly traffic couldn’t see. Teeth clattering, he needed somewhere to wait out the worst of the storm. He squinted through the curtains of water at the red splotches to his right. He rushed toward them, slippery fingers sliding and searching until they wrapped over the latch. With a sigh of relief, he hurried in and shut the door to keep out the rain.

"Oh!" a female voice said.

Shit, there was someone else squeezed in this telephone booth.

"Sorry, I didn't realize someone was in here!” He brushed his dripping locks out of his face to apologize properly.

His mouth dropped at the wide brown eyes looking up at him.

"Ow!" he yelped. In his shock, he had let go of his bag, which fell right on his foot.

He thought he couldn’t be any more stunned, but then the redhead from the library started laughing, a bright sound that seemed to chase away the gloom that had been hanging over him. "You’re really having a stellar day, aren’t you?" she teased, leaning down to pick up his bag.

"Yeah," Harry said, feeling a bit breathless as he accepted the bag.

She scrunched up her nose, which made her freckles bunch together. “You’re not one of those stalker-types, are you?”

“No!” He jumped at the accusation. “I couldn't see, and these booths are usually abandoned, what with cellphones, and I..."

He slowed to a stop when he registered her body was not trembling in fear but from her snickers.

“I’m sorry, you made it so easy.”

He sighed, removing his useless glasses. “You mock me, but I’d be blind in that weather even if I didn’t need these things.”

“Let me,” she said, taking his glasses from him. Without them, he couldn’t quite make out what she was doing as she muttered something under her breath. “There, that’s better.”

His heart sped up as she leaned toward him and placed his glasses on his face. He blinked, surprised. They were clearer than he could remember, like when they were brand new. Not just dry, but squeaky clean.

“Thank you,” he said, amazed and a bit flustered now that he could see her clearly. He hadn’t realized how close she was.

“No problem,” she said with a smile. A light hue brushed over her cheeks as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Suddenly Harry extremely self-conscious of the close proximity, the heat consolidating in the small space, making the glass fog in contrast to the cold, rain sliding down its exterior.

Harry swallowed hard.

Maybe his luck was turning around.

#whathefawkes #trope mashup #ohhh maybe you got me unstuck!#Harry Potter #Ginny Weasley #Harry/Ginny #hinny #librarian!harry #witch!ginny #mutual pining #stranded due in inclement weather

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byunfirstlady · 5 years

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Baekhyun fic recs

In which i am crazy enough to classify all “my” baekhyun fics reblogs since 2016, why am i doing that part 2 / part 3

First of all, I would like to thank you for the time and energy you have devoted to your writings. When you can’t close a page, and you say "go, one more writing and I stop" is that the author did a good job. I would like to tag you to congratulate you and thank you very much for your exemplary work. I feel much more alive every time I read one of your writings, I pass through many emotions and thanks to you. You do not even have to write for free, and yet you do it? You are all the pearl of readers.

> Favorite

> * New

Gif is mine but credit to jongdaerous for the video. (this is amazing)

Series:

@unbosomedme : Lost (ongoing)

@whimsical-ness : Cataclysm (completed) / Ticking Clocks (completed) / Felon (Baekhyun x reader x Kyungsoo) (ongoing)

@kollectionn : Roots (completed)

@biaswreckingyourlifefics : Letting go (completed)

@cherrydae : Clandestine (ongoing)

@twocupsofsuga : His treasure (ongoing)

@tiffanystherapeutics : Three Pints (ongoing) / All

@baekberrie : Him & Her (ongoing) / Fresh (completed) / Mistletoe (completed) / Cupid (ongoing)

@citrusicheng : Crimson Craving (ongoing)

@prince-baekhyunn : Battles (completed)

@soobadnoonecanstopher : I Give Up (M) (completed)

@forexcapism : Bloodlust (M) (completed)

@thesammtimes : Snatched (M) (completed) / Conflicted (M) (ongoing) / Nuisance (M) (completed) / A beast within (completed) / Unhinged (ongoing)

@pebble-xo : The Secret (completed)

@lovesehunright : Selfish (completed) / Play (ongoing)

@chanyeolisland : I can’t find your masterlist ;;

@oh-beyond : All

@velvetchen : Ad Finem (ongoing) / Bruise ( Baekhyun x reader x Suho ) (ongoing)

@pinkjonginie : Bitten (ongoing) / All

@3kpop2jagi1 : All’s fair (completed) / The Universe in Us (ongoing)

@lofiexo : Admiration (ongoing)

@fullbyuntale : Before We Hit the Bottom / Gotta Be You / Mingling in the Mailroom / The Beauty’s Tragedy (deactivated)

@peachykaix : Nothing More (completed) / Ambivalent (completed)

@dmumts : Unrequited (completed)

@simplyyeol : The strings (ongoing)

@suho-mochi : Mellifluous (completed) / Permeate (ongoing) / Resonant (completed)

@lufancy : Just Like Tales (M) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (completed) / Turned / Sparks

@playboybaek : You’ve Never Been So Wrong (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (ongoing)

@idolscenario : New Encounters (ongoing)

@kitcatreads : Hunters Prey (ongoing)

@ffspjm : Late (1) (2) (3) (ongoing)

@looking-for-my-seoulmate : Strangers (completed) / Six Steps (M) (completed)

@babygotbaekhyun : Not Love At First Sight (completed)

@puppyeoll : Speak of the Devil / Wildest Dreams / Devil in Disguise / Fracture / Puppet Strings / Hook, Line, and Sinker

@exol-life : Gone Swimming (ongoing)

@tsucheri : Serendipity (1) (2) (ongoing)

@messyscriptorium : You’re in my spot (1) (ongoing)

@baekingpancakes : Black & White (M) (completed)

@galactichen : To defy or accept (1) (2) (3) (4) (ongoing)

@yeolsmuffin : All

@lucyandthepen : A lesson on style (1) (2) (3) (ongoing) / I won’t give up (1) (2) (3) (ongoing)

@uhoh-exoscenarios : Of Vampires and Faeries (1) (2) (3) (ongoing)

@danceydanceykpopfancy : Too close (ongoing)

@treasure-exo : Action! (M) (ongoing)

@chan-yolo : Benevolence (ongoing)

@xominseo : Sinful (was deleted but you still can read their others work)

@yehet-me-up : Delayed

@realexotrash : Cabin (M) (ongoing)

@yaaahbaekhyun : Stay (ongoing) / Writer’s block (ongoing)

@ifyouaskiwontanswer : Mafia!au

@sehunsmuabrows : Superstar (ongoing)

@neonlights92 : That Way (completed) / Bloom (ongoing)

@cazziamo : Runaway (ongoing)

@aegipcy : Stockholm Syndrome (completed)

@omyeol : three words (M) (completed)

@parkbearum : Wishes (ongoing) / All

@sehun-is-sad : Mend Me (completed)

@exoprexo : Privy (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (completed)

@promisesox : Mine (M) (completed)

@suprexomacist : (extra)ordinary (1) (ongoing) / The President (1) (ongoing)

@baekwell--tart : Trauma * (ongoing)

@baekhyuniebacon : Lost Prince * (ongoing)

@cherrybaekhyunee : Tutor (M) * (ongoing)

* On asianfanfic: Kiss Me, Drink Me (M) (completed) Hawaii You ? (completed) A Wolf’s Heart (ongoing) The Marriage Life of Mr.Byun (completed) Good girls go to heaven and bad girls go everywhere (completed)

@sorrybaescenarios : Rain (1) (2) (3) (4) (completed) / Love me not (1) (2) * (ongoing)

#exo fics recs #fanfic #baekhyun #im sorry i forgot a lot of writers here!#but i've been doing it since 10pm and it's 12am #exo scenarios #exo series #exo imagine #exo fics recs 1

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