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moeitsu · 12 days

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Song Lyrics That Remind Me of Arthur Morgan

Nobody asked for this, but I listen to A LOT of music, and this boah is constantly on my mind 24/7. So I thought I'd share some lyrics that remind me of him and his relationships <3

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Hard Believer - First Aid Kit

"So you ask for my opinion. Well, what is there to say? To be honest and just foolish, won't make you wanna stay. You've got to go on and get moving. And I can't do that for you. Got so many plans and so much you wanna do. Love is tough, time is rough on me."

To a Poet - First Aid Kit (Mary & Arthur)

"You said, 'Don't give me nothing you don't wanna lose.' I said, 'Darlin' I'll give you everything I got, if you want them to choose.' Though unwillingly I left and it was so, so hard to do. Now I miss you more than I can take and I will surely break. And every morning that I wake, God, it is the same."

Afraid of Heights - Boygenius (Dutch & Arthur)

"I know I fucked up when I told you I'm afraid of heights. It made you wanna test my courage. You made me climb a cliff at night. You wanted me to jump and I declined. You called me a coward, I replied, I don't wanna live forever, but I don't wanna die tonight."

My Silver Lining - First Aid Kit

"I don't know if I'm scared of dyin', but I'm scared of living too fast, too slow. Regret, remorse, hold on. Oh no I've gotta go. There's no starting over, no new beginnings, time races on. You've just gotta keep on keeping on."

Sun Bleached Flies - Ethel Cain

"If they strike once, then you hit 'em twice as hard. But in the end, if I bend under the weight that they gave me, Then this heart would break and fall twice as far. We all know how it goes, the more it hurts, the less it shows. But I still feel like they all know, and that's why I could never go back home."

Saviour - George Ezra (Mary & Arthur)

"Time was young and you were mine. Take me back to that midnight moon. Cradle me, at that midnight moon. All of me is all for you, and what I got to give is not enough. It's a dark night. Being your own savior, is it saving you?"

Cowboy, Gangster, Politician - Goldie Boutilier (Mary & Arthur)

"We said goodbye, but it never ends. 'Cause you can't get away from a woman who loves you. 'Cause you can't run away from feelings that haunt you. No, you can't separate a fire from a flame that already burns. Every saints a sinner, we all have our past. Forever is a fiction, nothing lasts."

Let Him Fly - Patty Griffin (Mary Gillis-Linton)

"Ain't no talking to this man, ain't no pretty other side. Ain't no way to understand, the stupid words of pride. It would take an acrobat, and I already tried all that so, I'm gonna let him fly. You know the light has left his face, but you can't recall just where or why. So there was really nothing to it, I said I'm gonna let him fly."

The Chain - Fleetwood Mac (Dutch & Arthur)

"And if you don't love me now, You will never love me again. I can still hear you saying, we would never break the chain. Run in the shadows. Damn your love, damn your lies."

Devil's Resting Place - Laura Marling

"I've been with the devil in the devil's resting place. Water won't clean you, you only hold yourself to the things you do. Come up here to speak to me and hold your face to mine. Any man can hold my gaze has done his job just fine. You sold your life away to be with me tonight. Hold your head against my chest, I think you'll be just fine."

Through the Valley - Shawn James

"I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And I fear no evil because I'm blind to it all, and my mind and my gun they comfort me. Because I know I'll kill my enemies when they come. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell on this earth forevermore. Well, I came upon a man at the top of a hill. Called himself the savior of the human race. Said he'd come to save the world from destruction and pain, but I said, how can you save the world from itself?"

Youngest Daughter - Superheaven

"It's useless, I tried, but to no avail. To tell you how much I know, how much I care. Breathe until your lungs fail, you can sing 'til you go deaf. I am sick, I am horrified at everything I hear. Everyday repeats itself again, the cycle of our misery, It drives us all insane."

The Fall - Gregory Alan Isakov (John & Arthur)

"You heard blood was thick, brothers and sisters. But ya don't know where anybody's at. Time was a bust, you thought you'd better be tough. Nobody gets past the trembling wire. All eyes on you now, on you. We're all holding our breath."

Second Chances - Gregory Alan Isakov (John & Arthur)

"I'm running from nothing, no thoughts in my mind. Oh my heart was all black but I saw something shine. Thought that part was yours, but it might just be mine. I could share it with you, if you gave me the time. I'm all bloody knuckles, longing for home. If it weren't for second chances, we'd all be alone."

My Mind - Paris Paloma (Dutch & Arthur)

"What did I do wrong? Will you tell me what I did wrong, what did I? Was it a first offense? How long had you been harboring that vemon? You could have used your words then, you wanted them to hurt and so I let them. Never would I beseech you, to endure what you put me through."

#arthur morgan #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #dutch van der linde #mary gillis #red dead redemption community #red dead fandom #arthur morgan rdr2 #arthur morgan x reader #rdr2 fanart #john marston

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frostbite-merun · 10 months

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I got reminded BBCs Merlin exists and that spiraled into remembering a bunch of other really, really shitty adaptations of Arthurian canon and now I'm mad so I'm going to list some true facts about it that should hopefully demonstrate why adding "gritty realism" to it pisses me off so much

-Morgan le Fay serves as a Rita Repulsa-esque figure who throws problems at Arthur. She is also a wholly separate person to Morgause, the mother of Mordred. Morgan le Fay is a badass sorceress who's only motivation for being a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain(tm) is that Guinevere snubbed her in some way.

-It's full of Welsh folklore, especially regarding faeries, and initially started as a recounting of a bit of Welsh military history before people started adding their OCs to it. It then broke containment and spread across europe, especially during the renaissance.

-Loads of the knights have superpowers. Straight up superpowers. Gawain gets stronger (and in some sources, bigger) the higher the sun is in the sky. Kay has some sort of fire shit going on... It's great. People would add their own guys to the round table and give them Cool Powers because they could. Though mostly it was just super-strength. This fell out of favor as it was Christianized because people are COWARDS.

-Lancelot is a French guy's OC, and despite the whole thing being full of those, Lancelot is the most OC of them all (affectionate). The second most OC of the bunch is a dude known for his edgy coat that he always wore that belonged to his dead dad (I am not joking)

-Half of the dudes are described as 'the fairest' or 'the most handsome'. Some have the caveat of 'second only to Arthur'. I legit read a description of how handsome a random knight was that filled a full page once. This is hilarious.

-There's a knight called Bedivere (he whose name has no set spelling) and he's my favorite. He has a prosthetic hand, is head butler, and is the only bitch to survive the big last battle in retellings that I respect. He's also one half of a comedy duo with Kay, also in retellings that I respect. I am admittedly biased because I played him in a middle school production of a really bad adaptation of a knockoff spamalot

-People just fucking murder each other on accident all of the time to show off how STRONK they are. After jousting got added they started having the horses die when lance met shield which DOESN'T MAKE SENSE but is there to, once again, show how STRONK the knights are.

-More on the note of casting, but there are dark skinned people in the canon. Specifically Moors (which is old europe for muslim north-african people with dark skin, a term not really used anymore because it wasn't actually one ethnic group but several). MORE SPECIFICALLY there is one explicitly biracial knight who's the son of one of the other knights and a (and I quote) "Moorish Princess". His name is Morien because people have never been subtle and was one of the knights for whom the tales waxed poetic about how stronk and handsome he was.

-Saved the best for last but this all gave way to the an early historical examples of larping and possibly kinning. King Edward the Third loved a knight named 'Sir Lionel' so much to the point where he'd hold big round table tourneys where everyone would larp as different characters from Arthurian legend (himself always being Lionel) and even named his son after him. The kicker? Lionel doesn't actually have that much in the way of story. He has like one story to himself and is functionally a sidekick in every other appearance I can find. King Eddy 3 had a Blorbo.

All of this to say that Arthurian canon is lovely and goofy and if I see someone make Morgan le Fay into Mordred's mom again I will spew fire and rain hot, bloody terror from the skies. I also think we should start adding OCs to it again and nobody can stop us.

#long post #i just love this shit so much #i didn't even get into the goofiness that is merlin #text post #queue #king arthur #arthurian legend #arthurian mythology

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serendipity8832 · 7 months

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Favorite merlin headcanons: Arthur is actually very smart and Arthur figured out merlin has magic

Now picture this: Arthur connects the dots on day Zero. This peasant he's never seen before shows up in Camelot talking some big game about "I can take you apart in less than that," proves completely inept at physical combat, and then by some insane twist of fate Arthur's flail gets tangled in some chains right before he was going to teach this idiot a lesson. Only, remember, Arthur himself is not an idiot. He saw the flash of gold in the peasant boy's eyes. He knows exactly what happened. And his first instinct is to frog march the boy to be judged by his father. But as the people around him start to laugh at his "bad luck" he realizes none of them have noticed what he did, and for a moment he's actually impressed at the gall this magic idiot had to waltz up to the most magic-intolerant place in the known world and immediately challenge the crown prince to combat he couldn't possibly hope to win without the aid of said magic. And that moment lasts just long enough for the boy to scramble away. Now Arthur could easily track him down and bring him to justice, but he reasons that if he was able to figure it out that easily the boy will get himself caught sooner or later, and it might be more fun to watch his idiotic bumbling in the meantime.

Fast forward to the feast where Merlin saves Arthur's life and Uther all of a sudden decides to assign Merlin as Arthur's manservant. Arthur is losing his fucking mind because on the one hand the boy is most definitely a sorcerer and sorcerors are evil, but on the other he did just technically save Arthur's life, and on the third hand Arthur feels responsible for Merlin's presence in the castle in the first place because he didn't turn him in when he had the chance so really it's all Arthur's fault isn't it? Oh God. So Arthur decides to keep his mouth shut and not tell his father that the boy who will now be closer to Arthur than anyone else in the castle is guilty of crimes punishable by death, and he also decides not to tell Merlin that he knows about his magic because there's a good chance that if the peasant sorcerer thinks Arthur poses any sort of threat he'll rescind the extension he granted on Arthur's life and he'll find himself dead in his bed the next morning. Cue however many years of Arthur trying to keep the rest of the court, especially his father, from discovering Merlin's magic while also trying to find a good time to tell Merlin that he does in fact know but hey listen he's not going to do anything about it, doesn't Merlin see how Arthur's been protecting him all these years? And uh oh, what's that? Now there are FEELINGS? For his manservant, the PEASANT SORCERER?? seriously what did Arthur do to deserve this. At least nobody else in the castle has magic 🫤

#listen. i couldnt give him everything #gotta keep this at least a little realistic #merlin #merlin bbc #arthur pendragon #merthur #i think thats it

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smallsies · 8 months

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something about the way stars are so often associated with malevolent.

at face value, it doesn't really make sense: there's no obvious motif or connection to space shown throughout the narrative, yet if you take a look through the fanart tag you'll more likely than not find artwork of arthur or john with star-shaped freckles on their cheeks, stars in their eyes, or, in arthur's case, splashed across his vision entirely.

symbolically, stars are often a source of guidance. a flicker of light even in the midst of the darkest days. hope, if you will.

arthur and john might be doomed, might've always been doomed, but in their story we still find the littlest fragments of hope (of understanding, of healing from your hurt, of fighting even when you know you can't win.)

it's knowing there are terrible people in the world doing terrible things, but the world is still good regardless. the stars are still there and they are still shining even when there is a man tearing himself apart, because he cannot forgive himself and cannot accept forgiveness from others.

(faroe was a star, to him. when you are lost, follow the north star. his north star is dead and it is his fault.)

there are no stars in the dark world, john tells him. what john doesn't know is that he, too, has become a star in arthur's sky. maybe they are doomed, they will never get to be okay again, but john is still shining and arthur is still following him and it's not going to save them in the end. but for now, there is hope.

arthur is nobody when he is alone. john is a destructive force of nature, if it can even be called that, when he is alone. together they are just a traveler and his star, hopelessly doomed yet still clinging quietly to fragments of hope.

#shut up about symbolism that isn't even there @ myself tbh #i miss them can you tell #malevolent #malevolent podcast #malevblogging

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someguyinc · 4 months

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Guinevere "There is always a choice" Pendragon is unironically the strongest character in bbc merlin.

why?? because she knows how to say no!! not only to those around her but to herself as well. gwen's strength as a character comes not from her eventual status as queen, but to understand and utilize the information given to her and then choose accordingly regardless of fear mongering. in a story where the villain is the narrative/cycles of abuse gwen wins against the underlying adversary every. single. time. where every other character with major plot points literally fails at this so hard it either results in their own moral demise or their literal death, gwen tanks through the challenge and even gives others hope where there seems to be none

every other character is controlled by some sort of fate,, arthur is told by the disir that "he has always been known" and that the fate of camelot is doomed unless he embraces the old religion, he's also born a prince and knows his entire life is laid out for him, merlin is told that he must help to bring magic back to the lands if arthur is to live and camelot of be successful, and morgana is first plagued by visions of the future (which as we learn in merlin that knowing the future does nobody any good) and then is told that emrys will be her doom.

gwen,, is just gwen :), yes other people know of her fate and purposefully try to mold it but she herself isn't fully and because she is free of the narrative cage, instead of being pulled to and fro by the other characters whims, she fortifies her own beliefs and through trial and anguish learns that nobody is coming to save her from cycles of fear except herself

(very obviously there are time when gwen is put in the damsel in distress situation, but to me it's the type that megara from hercules is in: "i'm a damsel, i'm in distress, have a nice day :)" )

let's look at lancelot and guinevere's relationship specifically and how their character thesis parallel each other and how it plays into her being better than everyone else

when lancelot arrives he and gwen immediately hit it off,, they're infatuated with the other and think of the other often having romantic moments and lingering touches before he eventually leaves without saying goodbye in the first season. lancelot is in my opinion the antithesis to gwen's character, not because he is guided by some bigger fate (because so are merlin and arthur) but precisely because he is also someone technically "free" of that narrative cage.

lancelot came to camelot because he wanted to be a knight, when he found out he couldn't be, after shenanigans and committing identity theft, he left and eventually became a sell sword as he had "no other choice",, when they eventually break out he leaves gwen again after learning arthur has feelings for her instead of fighting for her telling merlin: "she has changed him forever but some things are just not meant to be"

taking away her choice, but also confining himself to the gilded cage of fate for what he thinks is for her but really was for him

lancelot is not the only character who does this, in fact almost all of the bbc merlin character do:

merlin has times where he repeatedly goes to gwen and tells her about his dilemmas where he talks about how dismayed he is that he doesn't have a choice where gwen then repeatedly reminds him that he actually does have a choice,, these interactions flow on through merlin to arthur where the closer merlin is to gwen he remembers that he always has a choice to do the right thing and only reverts back to "i have no choice" as the seasons go on and they distance themselves

is sort of a reverse of merlin, arthur the closer he gets to gwen, is further introduced to the idea of free will,, specifically in his love life when he knows that he will have to marry one day and goes from telling gwen that they could never actually happen, to outright marrying her in front of king and country not because gwen pushed him to, but because she gave him the confidence to be the king he could be and realize he didn't want to spend a life bound to destiny (not that he had much of a choice tbh)

morgana and gwen are so interesting to me because she was a character who tried to fight against destiny,, but also clung to it like the future was a solid thing and let her hatred consume her because of fate, like when fighting gwen in s4ep13,, gwen asks why she despises her so much and morgana replies "it's not you it's what you will become",, like even in fighting against fate morgana doesn't even question of what she is seeing is set in stone she just assumes it is and acts according like (does that make sense??)

gwen has her own prejudices and anger, by the time s5 rolls around she is wary of magic and has seen it destroy so many of her loved ones and those she's supposed to protect as queen. but like,, her constant determination not just to do the right thing because so many of these characters believe they are, but to reminder others and herself that "you always have a choice" saved not just her life but all the other characters lives multiple times

in fact camelot was often in its most critial danger when gwen wasn't there, either physically or mentally,, the only thing that could be done to stop the positive effect she had was to literally brainwash her and even that took so much effort because even under extremely psychological abuse gwen refused to give in to morgana's torture and only broke when her brother literally died in front of her

(i also could make an entire post on the SCRAPS. that the bbc gave us on gwen and elyan's relationship and their reaction to choice)

anyways gwen solos hope this makes sense <3

#some guy talking #bbc merlin #bbc guinevere #guinevere pendragon #arthur pendragon #morgana pendragon #bbc lancelot #parallels and theme #im just yapping fr #merlin meta

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o-uncle-newt · 4 months

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Cabin Pressure Advent Day 24: Xinzhou

To quote Stefon from SNL, this episode has everything! It's actually pretty crazy how much it manages to fit- seamlessly!- into less than half an hour. We have the introduction of such iconic concepts as Fizz Buzz and "here I am don't tread on me," the excellent Film Double Bills game, bacon shirt, baby chicken and baby lamb... I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but honestly the big things is that this all fits around SO many conversations that move the plot forward.

So many of the important things that we need to do before moving on toward the end of the show happen in this episode. We establish that Martin is dating Theresa (even if he won't put a label on it) and is invested enough to potentially want to choose a job in proximity to her. We know that Carolyn hasn't given Herc any kind of real answer and is pretty avoidant of the consequences. We know that Douglas did not know that Carolyn is essentially cutting his job out from under his feet.... and we know that Arthur doesn't know what multiples are. Oh, Arthur, I love you so.

It's interesting, because the arc of Douglas moving from being obnoxious to Martin about his interest in Swiss Airways is not super clearly laid out. What we do perceive is that he isn't necessarily being snarky at first because he genuinely has no confidence in Martin- he's having a knee jerk reaction to the idea of losing this situation. He's basically exactly where he wants to be- and I think to him that's the depressing part, because he has an image of himself as being so much more than he currently is and if he's happy regardless then that can feel like a weakness of its own... it's hard for him to admit he's really happy where he is. I think that what really changes his mind is realizing that Martin genuinely does have bigger dreams, and that those dreams have nothing to do with being a captain. As I've mentioned in one or two of these, Martin's motivating factor for trying to rescue MJN, every other episode when they have to work to save the day, is that nobody else will let him be a captain and being captain is massively important to him. But now, he's prioritizing flying airliners and being near the girl he's dating over that ego thing. He's grown up, and I think seeing that proves to Douglas how selfish his earlier thought is.

And Carolyn... it's so hard to know what Carolyn is thinking exactly. On the one hand, she's pushing Herc away by telling him not to consider her as he takes the Swiss Airways job, and at the same time she's encouraging Martin to leave for his betterment, which will eventually (as far as we now know) lead to the end of MJN Air. Is it some kind of weird self sabotage? Is it her being a more selfless person than one might imagine her being in S1? She's probably the most emotionally bound-up character, and it will of course be fun to see how she navigates the next few episodes...

But also, as already discussed, this episode has so many amazing amazing moments in it and I'm just so in awe of JF for pulling it off so flawlessly- while Limerick is the bomb, I think this one might be even more skillfully pulled off, with a lot more demanded of it. I also have a nice nostalgic memory related to Xinzhou as I made a friend through this episode! A friend and I were out for dinner with a group of people, some of whom we knew and some who we didn't, and someone (for some reason) mentioned baby food- possibly in the context of them liking to eat baby food? I don't recall. Anyway, I made a sotto voce comment to my friend about eating chicken flavored baby food and I suddenly heard a British accent a few seats down- "is that a Cabin Pressure reference?!" Turns out, she was IN THE AUDIENCE for Xinzhou and said it was even better in person, I was very jealous, and while we've drifted apart since then it was very nice to get to know her- and all because of a Cabin Pressure reference.

Next episode is Yverdon... can't believe this is almost over!!

#cabin pressure #cabin pressure advent 2023 #cabin pressure advent #john finnemore #xinzhou

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mariusperkins · 4 months

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my favourite new-to-me movies of 2023

a few years ago my resolution was to stop just only rewatching Ocean's Eleven over and over and actually watch some of the thousand-ish movies that I say I'm going to watch and then don't, which, honestly, has been Very fun and something I highly recommend! It also means that I watch a lot of movies that aren't actually "new" (which, honestly, I also recommend).

Picking a top 20 was really hard this year (I would do top 10 but that was impossible), I watched so many movies I absolutely LOVED, and so I narrowed them down to the below using the only criteria that I think really matters when it comes to lists like this which is 1. How insane did I feel about the movie at the time, and 2. Do I still feel insane about it when I think about it now.

This list got long so to save your dash I have put it under the cut:

20. Fire of Love (2022): a documentary about the lives of two volcanologists who ultimately died together in a volcanic eruption. It's told in such a beautiful, moving way, and I've been telling everyone I know to watch it, so of course it had to make this list

19. Lady For a Day (1933): a group of loosely-socially-connected people work together to convince a wealthy man that an old impoverished apple seller is a member of high society so her daughter (who also believes her slightly-estranged mother is high society) can marry into real high society. It was literally the first movie I watched in 2023 and I truly can't think of a better way to start off a year than with a movie that is about helping other people for the sake of Just Helping Them, because we should care about other people, because what else are we on this earth for if not to help and care about other people. Also, this is one of those 1930s movies that seems wildly progressive in it's treatment of women (nobody shames Annie for having a daughter out of wedlock or anything that goes along with that, everyone wants her to be happy, and healthy, and to help her get the thing that she wants above all else: for her daughter to be happy and safe).

18. The Talk of The Town (1942): one of the many "Cary Grant's most bisexual movies" but boy howdy is it!! Cary Grant, a communist sympathiser and unionist, has to hide out at Jean Arthur's farmhouse to escape the law after being accused of a crime he didn't commit but wouldn't you know it, Jean Arthur's just rented out her farmhouse to Ronald Coleman, a judge who prides himself on his neutrality who's about to be nominated to the supreme court! Jean Arthur, thinking fast, says Cary Grant is her gardener for the farmhouse and also sets about trying to prove to Ronald Coleman that Cary Grant is innocent, Cary Grant sets about trying to radicalise Ronald Coleman before he can get to the supreme court. Ronald Coleman spends a significant amount of time playing chess with Cary Grant while the two of them speak softly to each other. Just wonderful stuff, and Jean Arthur is so beautiful that I genuinely tried to find out what her skincare regime was.

17. Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (2020): a short (just over an hour) Japanese scifi film where a man discovers that the tv in the cafe downstairs from him and the tv in his apartment are connected, with the tv in the cafe showing two minutes into the future (of whatever is in front of the tv in his apartment). It does some really fun stuff with this time-travel adjacent concept, especially in the final "fight" sequence! It's a little hard to find (I think I might have watched it on vimeo?), but absolutely worth it.

16. White Zombie (1932): sometimes called the "first zombie movie", it's so different from what we now think of as a "zombie movie" that it feels fresh (or, at least, it did to me). A young bride is "killed" by an evil count and brought back as a zombie forced to obey his will. I found the short scene towards the end of the movie where her husband and True Love almost breaks the hold on her mind and there's a close up of her expression as it changes from wide-eyed blankness to almost a smile before she slips back under Bela Lugosi's spell to be genuinely affecting. Also, there's a scene right at the start where Bela Lugosi's eyes are superimposed over a scene that I found genuinely frightening, I was as jumpscared by those eyes as a person watching in 1932 probably was, which is always a fun feeling.

15. A New Leaf (1971): Walter Matthau, an aging, asexual bachelor is informed that he is on the brink of complete poverty and decides to find a orphaned heiress to marry (and then murder) to keep himself in his preferred lifestyle. After several unsuccessful endeavors he meets Elaine May (who also wrote and directed the movie), a weathly and extremely absent-minded botanist. Instead of killing her, he trips his way through improving both her life and himself. I was enthralled by this movie, I just want to rotate every part of it in my mind forever.

14. It's a Wonderful Knife (2023): the most recent of all the movies on this list in terms of both release date and me having watched it, this slasher retelling of 'it's a wonderful life' has it all: a Scary Slasher opening featuring a killer with a gimmick ("The Angel"), the classic bit where she wishes she'd never been born and stumbles through realising Oh No I'm In The Universe Where I've Never Been Born, the universe saving True Love of lesbians, Justin Long being a little weirdo, the bit where she runs down the street wishing everyone and everything a merry christmas. All the in-text callouts by the characters that what's happening is "just like" it's a wonderful life snowballed into a (to me) touching romantic moment ("you were my Clarence"). It all just Worked!! The perfect holiday watch.

13. Bones (2001): I love a horror movie that I've never heard of and the early 2000s is a great time period for this. 1970s Snoop Dogg (with beautiful 1970s hair!) is murdered, and his ghost comes back to get revenge on those who killed him. Features some great gross-out horror scares (the nightclub scene, especially, made me jump out of my seat and pace around). Also, a very cool, scary-looking poster!

12. Eyes Without A Face (1960): A doctor attempts to use his plastic surgery skills to "replace" his daughter's face, which has been mangled in a car accident (that he caused). I hope whoever designed the mask the daughter wears, which is a plain white 'death mask' style with only the eyes cut out, got some kind of award because it's visually striking in every scene (especially when combined with her mod/60s coat). This movie is full of the gestures towards a broader life that his daughter would have had, or the life she did have that is just enough to both paint a vivid picture and make you feel so curious that the movie would be enthralling even without the serial murder/body horror aspect. Has one of the greatest "good for HER" endings to a movie I've ever seen, which I would implore you not to spoil for yourself if you want to watch this. The version up on internet archive does have english subtitles (thank you internet archive!!).

11. Grosse Point Blank (1997): A disconnected and disaffected hit man attends his high school reunion, confronting his past (the mother that barely recognises him, the girlfriend he abandoned on prom night, the friend that never heard from him after he left town) and his present (the other hit men attempting to kill him). I feel cringe somehow for putting this on my list, I feel cringe admitting that I did feel a big Swell of emotion as John Cusack makes eye contact with a baby as the lyrics to Queen/Bowie's 'Under Pressure' swells in the background (why don't we give ourselves one more chance), I even feel a little cringe for liking something that seems like it should only appeal to Gen X's. But what is this list for if not for films that game me cringe levels of emotions?

10. Waxworks (1988): Much like the early 2000s, the 1980s are also a great decade for 'horror movies you've never heard of'. The plot summary doesn't do much to give it away: 'a group of teens go to a wax museum and get killed off one by one'. "Well, that's just house of wax", you think to yourself, "I know what to expect from this movie". It isn't, and you don't. Please don't look up scenes ahead of time, please do watch this movie!

9. Knightriders (1981): I'm a very loud member of the Movies Should Be Shorter club but this movie is over two hours and I wish it had gone on forever. Every time you think 'well that's the end of the movie' another movie arc starts, and I couldn't have been happier. It follows the "knights" (motorbike stuntmen) in an 80s renaissance fair as they travel from town to town, argue about modernising, and put on shows. Feels like you're really vibing with them under the 1980s sun. Also features a cameo of Stephen King, who eats a sandwich in a truly disgusting way.

8. House (1977): a group of teen girls go to the house of one of the girl's aunts. It's a very haunted house. The best way I can think to describe it is that it's like watching the description of a nightmare you had as a child, almost too over the top and ridiculous to be scary in an explainable way but it is still scary. I'll think about the piano sequence until the day I die.

7. They Might Be Giants (1971): A man who, after the death of his wife and his subsequent mental breakdown, believe himself to be Sherlock Holmes. His brother, who's attempting to get him committed to collect his inheritance, introduces him to a woman named Dr Watson. They run around around town as the man who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes attempts to solve the mystery that he believes Moriarty is orchestrating, solving real problems for various people around town almost by accident. A extremely hopeful and upbeat movie with the saddest last 60 seconds to a movie I've ever seen, a very, very bittersweet love story.

6. The Palm Beach Story (1942): Claudette Colbert is deeply in love with her big rectangle of a husband Joel McCrea, but wants to divorce him because she believes that providing for her is holding him back (and he won't let her accept money from random men who want to give her money for being beautiful - a realistic thing to happen if you are Claudette Colbert imo). He's desperate to stay married to her so when she runs off to Palm Beach for a quickie 1940s divorce he follows her, but on the way she meets mega rich Rudy Vallee who falls instantly in love with her. As a complete 180 to the previous movie, this is a fun movie with the most rediculous final 60 seconds. I truly believe that your enjoyment of the movie hinges on those final moments - I, of course, loved it.

5. The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971): the king of horror Vincent Price stars as the mysterious Dr Phibes, who's out to kill a very specific set of people in various very specific ways, assisted by his beautiful and incredibly dressed assistant Vulnavia while the police unsuccessfully try to figure out what he's doing and stop him. I truly loved this movie, the mystery just silly enough, the kills just over the top enough, the elaborate sets not really trying to not look like sets and better off for it!! The sequel, in which Dr Phibes and Vulnavia travel to Egypt to resurrect Dr Phibes' wife, is also quite good!

4. Brief Encounters (1945): A man and woman, both happily (or at least contentedly) married to other people, meet and fall into a whirlwind-style love before the real world crashes back into them. Soul-obliteratingly sad, but in the way that love can be, sometimes.

3. Shocker (1989): A college student starts having visions of a serial murderer in which the murderer can see him, helps to catch the murderer... And then the movie really starts. This was going to be lower down until I realised that it's become such a reference point for me since I watched it. I wish Wes Craven would make a sequel about the protagonist's girlfriend, who, by the end of the movie, is a ghost who shares his body.

2. Wild Thing (1987): Tarzan, but if Tarzan was in 1980s New York instead of the jungle. I had such a fun time with this movie! Excellent use of 'wild thing' (the song) needle drop, which happens in conjunction with a Spiderman-style man-on-the-street interview section. To me, this one is an undiscovered gem.

1. Tampopo (1985): a woman, who isn't good at making ramen but owns a ramen shop, asks a truck driver and his friend to help her improve her cooking. He agrees, and they begin a winding journey, encountering and befriending various people to help her along the way. Tampopo is also a movie that's interested in exploring the different relationships people can have to food and the different roles it plays in society, so it's full of little tiny scenes staring all kinds of wonderful weirdos like this scene, which is one of my favourite scenes in all of cinema, of a little old woman causing chaos in a small supermarket late at night. Also, if you watch this movie: get ramen first, because otherwise you'll have to pause the movie to go and get food.

Honourable Mentions: You've Heard Of This Edition

Best movie about The Movies: Asteroid City (2023)

Best action scene that made me claw at the person next to me: Mission Impossible (Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Award for 'movie famous for being good that is good': RoboCop (1987)

Award for 'movie referenced as a punchline that actually has Things To Say about the treatment of houseless people to the point that I now feel like those punchlines do the movie and incredible disservice': C.H.U.D (1984)

Best rediculous stunts/scene chewing from Jake Gyllenhaal: Ambulance (2022)

Best 4th movie in a film series that was still incredible and also made me cry: John Wick Chapter 4 (2023)

Award for special effects/goo (for when you see the clones sloughing out of the pods): Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Best use of Bill Pullman as a romantic lead: While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Award for 'predator movie that is actually enjoyable to watch': Prey (2022)

Best use of cocaine as a plot device: Cocaine Bear (2023)

Honourable Mentions: Maybe You Haven't Heard Of This Edition

Best movie that is just really a series of weird little sketches: Better Off Dead (1985)

Best movie about a married couple that are horny for each other: Undercover Blues (1993)

Best use of Willem Dafoe as an ally to the protagonist: Daybreakers (2009)

Best use of a one location (and primarily one set): Welcome Back Mr McDonald (1997)

Best use of the little lock of hair that falls out of the gelled-back hairdo in a 1930s male lead: Love Is News (1937)

Best use of enemies-to-lovers: Legal Eagles (1986)

Best use of Bob Hope: Nothing but the Truth (1941)

Award for 'most people cheating on each other with everyone else' in a single movie: Dinner at Eight (1933)

Best movie involving a woman who died and then possesses another woman to get revenge on the man who killed her: Supernatural (1933)

Best use of weird masks and scary basements: Popcorn (1991)

Award for 'most 1980s tropes in a 1930s movie': The Old Dark House (1932)

Best underutilised setting for a horror movie: Intruder (1989)

Best movie that you truly can't believe got made and released: Roar (1981)

Best performance of an actor pretending to be a robot: Deadly Friend (1986)

Best 1930s 'extremely wealthy old man and poor fast talking woman best friendship' in a movie: Easy Living (1937)

Best early 2000s thriller you haven't heard of/best Emily Blunt performance: Wind Chill (2007)

Best use of 1940s tropes and jokes in a hallmark movie: A Biltmore Christmas (2023)

Best use of best friends in a noir movie: The Gun for Hire (1942)

Best netflix movie that netflix inexplicably didn't bother promoting: They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

Best Dylan O'Brien performance: The Outfit (2022)

Best slimy little weasel performance: Cure For Wellness (2016)

Best use of time travel to a Very specific but not well-known historical event: Timeline (2003)

Award for most specific accident in a horror movie that required a transplant: Mad Love (1935)

#mariusperkins at the movie #if you enjoy this let me know and I'll do more of it I guess

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garthofshayeris · 4 months

Text

MY OFFICIAL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM. Spoilers ahead.

OKAY. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It was very fun and it did not have the problem of too many villains that I was expecting based on everything I read. If that was the result of the rewrites and reshoots, I am happy for them.

A lot of the visuals and smaller adventures felt very Silver Age! There were certain creatures that were directly from the 60s, which I appreciated. Topo was lovely. If you know me, you know one of my major gripes with some of the recent Aquaman comics is that they do not lean into the animal sidekick thing anymore. And the group of whales straight up killing all those people? THAT is the Aquaman content I like to see.

The horror elements were just enough to balance out the sillier parts. Although I knew Arthur Jr was never in any actual danger, this is the closest DC has come since the 70s to making it even somewhat realistic that they would kill a baby. Like, I knew they wouldn't. But for once I said to myself, "they've established this enough that I believe this threat." You know my stance on DC trying to bait another Death of a Prince...

The cursed Trident possessing Manta was giving such Preboot Orm vibes. I liked it, I appreciate a slow possession arc. Manta was scary and felt like a real threat, which is difficult to achieve when he's a human and he's fighting people so much stronger than him. Shin was also SO good, you knew he was going to redeem himself but it still felt very natural for him to do so. Idk why Manta trusted him with the baby duffel bag tho, after all the times Shin clearly was snooping and giving Manta disapproving looks. Also why did they put that baby in a duffel bag lmao

Overall, it was a pretty straightforward story that felt easy to follow. This isn't always the case for superhero films, so it was refreshing. And a good end to the franchise. This actually felt like it would have been a great end to a TRILOGY, and that we were missing a middle story...

HOWEVER.

Not to make this about me and my blorbo but.......this would have made a lot more sense as a story about Arthur and Garth. I'm sorry, but it's true. Every time I saw a Silver Age reference, I just said to myself "oh yeah, that's a story with Aqualad in it, but now it's Orm." I KNOW that Orm needed his lil redemption arc, but if Patrick Wilson was not besties with James Wan, I don't think he would have gotten one.

Because Kordax was Slizzath. He just was. They took Slizzath's story and renamed him Kordax. So many parts of the movie I was like "this is adapted from Tempest (1996)" BUT IF THEY HAD USED SLIZZATH WITHOUT GARTH I WOULD HAVE BEEN PISSED so I get it but I don't get it, you know? But Kordax was just Slizzath.

I posted a few years ago about my ideal Aquaman trilogy, and tbh this felt like my ideal third movie, plot-wise and tone-wise......except my vision was about Garth, not Orm. Orm could be there, I guess, but imo he should have had a sequel redemption and then the third movie should have introduced the evil sorcerer thing. It would have made perfect sense to need Atlan's blood, thinking they're fine because they saved the baby but then Garth accidentally bleeds on the altar and unlocking his powers, and releasing Slizzath. PLUS then he could freeze the ice caps again with his new found powers lmao I'm worried about the implications.........nobody in this universe has ice powers.....

I get that it would have been hard to introduce a new character for a sequel with absolutely no chance at a third movie, so I do understand that Garth was never an option....but holy shit, Garth would have been a perfect fit for this movie.

AGAIN, not to make it about my blorbo .......

also I cannot believe they killed Vulko via plague?? I almost laughed out loud. It's absolutely because they could not reconcile that if Vulko was alive, Arthur would not need Orm's help lmao RIP Vulko I choose to believe you were hanging around as a ghost like in Vol 5

One last gripe but omg Atlan's trident looked so BAD in some scenes??? It looked very prop-like, and not metal at all??? did anyone else notice it? It's really bad on the iceberg scene. The costumes were actually great but omg that trident prop lmao

OVERALL, it was a really fun movie. I'm happy to say that I liked it. I think it will get bad critic reviews and really good audience reviews. It just felt very fun and heartfelt. The action scenes were also well lit and easy to follow, and that alone should convince people to see it

I'm going to see it again tomorrow and I want to make a list of the other random things that I noticed. I know I'm missing a lot. How did ya'll feel about it??

#aquaman #aquaman and the lost kingdom #yes I DO need to make everything about my blorbo sorry besties

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miamierre · 1 year

Note

Hii phoebe!! sorry to have another piarles breakdown in your inbox but imagine power rangers piarles au

where charles is a DISASTER magnet, who's always at the worst place at the worst time (he's still a ferrari f1 driver) and pierre is the red power ranger who keeps having to save him (while eventually also falling in love)

maybe arthur is the yellow power ranger or something so charles gets introduced to pierre as pierre (I'm trying so hard not to make this like peter & mj but fail) (the rest of the power rangers can be anyone from the grid)

anyways they're both idiots in love with each other, but they're idiots so neither of them make a move until the bad guys figure out charles must mean something special to the rangers because he happens to be at like 3/8 of the crime scenes and red ranger is actually tender with him in a way he isn't with anyone else, they think charles can be the rangers weakness

fast forward a few weeks, the bad guys have finally figured out a plan of attack, that they'll leverage charles for the jewel of power or whatever and they plan to carry it out at some ferrari event in Italy EXCEPT pierre (and arthur) are already there. not as rangers but just as the charles leclerc support squad. and they both fight dirty but somehow thwart the bad guys plan anyways and then it's just the three of them in an empty building and they end up revealing their identities to charles and when charles calms himself down enough to not kill his baby bro (who sheepishly takes his leave and runs the hell away from there but not before giving a suggestive wink towards them both and pierre makes a reminder to give him the worst tasks from now on because that little shit.)

then it's just pierre and charles and charles and pierre and charles comes and stands so close to pierre that their toes are touching and he looks furious but also so concerned and a little worried and maybe even hurt and it looks like he's about to either slap pierre or kiss him and pierre can't decide when charles snatches him by his collar and their mouths collide but since they're both idiots they lose their balance and fall on top of each other before bursting into hysterical laughter that turns a little too emotional and charles says the deepest, most emotional poetic thing pierre has ever heard in his life with that teary look in his eyes and pierre is like "fuck I am in love KISS KISS KISS"

anyways they become boyfriends after that and nobody ever let's them live it down especially arthur

(I am sorry for yet another piarles breakdown but you and katie indulge me so much and I am spoiled, thank you for being some of the most amazing piarlies ever)

KSBSKDNSHDBKDKD ANON IM LITERALLY GOING TO KISS YOU SO HARD

first things first. oh my god. never apologize ever. i feed off of people having piarles breakdowns it is my LIFE BLOOD please ALWAYS come tell me every piarles thought you have always im so serious this goes for every single one of you

secondly, baby are you kidding me. are you KIDDING ME. area woman who never got over power rangers (2017, dir. dean israelite) IS GOING TO START EATING HER ARM ABOUT THIS

ok deep breaths. literally this is so sososososososo so good im gonna die. like?!?!?!? charles being a disaster magnet just feels right (in the green lantern au that lives vaguely in my head that is exactly how he is too so 🤝🤝) and pierre being the one to constantly rescue him is soooo. Yeah. arthur makes fun of him so much for being the Knight In Shining (Red) Armor and pierre is like "i dont care if we both have ranger strength. i am going to kick your god damn ass." arthur just laughs bc pierre would never, he's too fond of the leclercs no matter how annoying they are.

BAD GUYS TAKING NOTICE OF PIERRE'S AFFECTIONS FOR CHARLESSSSSS AJDBSGHDKDNDKFKA yeah. yes. yes bc its so obvious of COURSE the red ranger has a weakness. of course. everyone can see it. EVEN CHARLES KNOWS. he tells pierre sometimes he has a thing for the red ranger and it makes pierre insane every single time. like he has to repeatedly Take A Walk and charles thinks it's bc he hates the idea of the power rangers but in actuality it's "he can't see me get maybe turned on by this so i have to get out of here"

also also also. oh god. oh my god. charles after he finds out the red ranger is pierre?!?!? would be so worried immediately after the battle bc pierre is bloodied and beaten a little, mostly okay but also definitely a lil fucked up. he's touching pierre's face, are you okay, pierre, you could've fucking died--and that devolves into the How Could You Not Tell Me and he starts to get mad and pierre just. is so relieved charles is ok and he knows that he just grabs charles to pull him close for a hug, but charles has other plans and kisses him instead. and he's like oh yeah you do have a crush on the red ranger don't you🤭😏 and charles is like "you're actually the worst person in the world bar none"

ANYWAY @cerona14 BESTIE. COME LOOK. PIARLES PR AU

#had to tag cerona bc i KNOW this has been discussed in passing at some point #anon i love you sm thank you for gracing us w this GORGEOUS AU #AU tag #10 x 16 #ask reply #Anonymous

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late-to-the-magnus-archives · 1 year

Text

Worth the Price of a Bottle of Pop

So, anybody want a crack-fic with Kayne, Arthur, and too much sugar even for an Outer God?

Sugar calculations now included at the end, because why not?

AO3

-------------

“What is so special about you? I checked. I watched your life unfold, Arty. I went back to see… well. I watched you grow, you graduate, you fall in love! Or… like. Let’s call it like. I watched your parents kill themselves, I watched your wife die, your child drown… boy, you’ve had a lot of death around you!”

Which could be the reason, though boring as fuck. There was sometimes an aggravatingly stubborn balance the universe pooped out.

Like pinning a paintbrush to the canvas instead of letting it sweep.

Like stuffing a fist (with or without arm, unimportant) into a tuba before it went full Flight of the Bumblebee.

Like—

“And?” says Arthur, getting all tough (it was cute, Kayne could admit it, like a kitten going floof), as if none of that recitation had hurt him.

Oh, it hurt him. Kayne can see the bleeding, the deep and lambent ooze from the wounds in his soul this self-hating moron literally prevented from healing.

“And,” says Kayne, “I still don’t see what the big deal is. I don’t see why you managed to survive. Anyone else, and believe me, I’ve checked the math through trial and tribulation (though not my own)... anyone who would’ve opened that book and taken what you took from Hastur would’ve died. They all die! Popped like a ripe cherry.” And he laughs.

Because… well. They did.

Kayne hits pause and returns to one of his game’s saved states.

It isn’t enough to just watch Arthur’s life. Obviously, he’s missed something, so he tries again.

It makes sense to start with the closest connected factor?

But Parker just blows right the fuck up, and while it is pretty funny (the unpredictability of bloodstain patterns when magic was the murder weapon never ceases to delight) (and and and Arthur has a lovely screaming voice), it obviously isn’t the answer.

Whatever. He buys a bottle of pop (never quite tastes as good in later times) and returns to the game in progress.

“So?” Arthur challenges, just so very spunky.

“So what’s so special about the little boy from Arkham that made it so? What’s so strong about you that I can’t figure out?”

Ooh, from Arkham. That was an idea.

Pause.

Six tests in (and twenty-eight bottles of pop), Kayne’s finally sure it isn’t Arkham.

He tries people who moved there, and people who were born there.

He tries Anna Stanczyk, who’s indirectly tied to old Shubby via blood and family, and that doesn’t work.

He tries Frank Underhill, because at least that guy’s got a more direct connection to the idiot deities running around like bugs with delusions of grandeur.

Popped. Popped. Popped.

It ain’t location, and it ain’t blood. Hm.

Maybe it was Arthur himself?

Kayne goes back again, kills young Arthur, turns his body to ash, and lives his life.

It’s not like he hadn’t watched it a dozen times already. Really fucking easy to make all the same choices, and have all the silly conversations—

(And bathe in that self-torturing self-centered bizarro balance Arthur seems to have, which makes no sense because he hates it about himself but still chooses it and doesn’t even know why and isn’t that delicious?)

—and make the same connections and write the same songs—

(Maybe not all the same, maybe there are some special tricks hidden in the ones he performs himself for recording, but nobody’s gonna really notice until the bloodshed, and he timed it all to come true after the book opens so it won’t interfere with the test.)

—and fuck pretty Bella and make little Faroe—

(And she won’t come out the same, no she won’t, and surely it makes no difference to store her away instead of killing her because when she comes of age that’ll be a laugh and a half… but pretending she’s dead, anyway, which is so easy to do.)

—and making reluctant friends with Parker and becoming a P.I. and finally getting the gods-damned book in the mail and opening it up and—

Popped?

Popped.

Popped!

What the hell! He did everything right! It’s entirely Arthur’s body! Whatever he had in him should’ve worked, but nooo, instead he had to die, and ooze, and splatter Parker with skull bits, and that was a fucking waste of thirty-four years. Ugh!

He calms down by drinking fourteen bottles of pop in a row and melting the glass into madness-inducing runes.

Fine. Still no answers. Fine.

He peeks to make sure Faroe’s alive (because she is gonna be a riot when puberty hits), and finally resumes his game in progress.

“I… I don’t know,” says Arthur, which is not the answer Kayne wanted to hear.

“But you do. You have to, ‘cause if I don’t, that only leaves one other person. So we’ve both walked a mile in your shoes, kiddo. Take a wild guess: why are you so different?”

“What do you mean?” says Arthur, who really seems to be some kind of freaky one-off, and for someone so self-centered is really missing the point that this is all about him. “Why am I…”

“So different?” Kayne’s being patient because this has actually gotten interesting. “No wrong answers here. Come on, let me hear it. First thing that comes to mind. Shoot it out!”

And then Arthur makes up some absolutely Hallmark-level bullshit about being human, and Kayne has to pause the world again so he can laugh his ass right off.

Oh. Oh, that’s just… too much.

Human. Sure.

Though maybe it’s not completely off?

Kayne couldn’t replicate Arthur’s human soul, after all.

Could it be something… soul-related?

Huh.

That’d be weird.

Because Kayne sees souls (eats souls, shreds souls, cuts them into shapes and sews them together wrong), and Arthur’s really seems completely normal, utterly banal, which makes no sense unless there’s some kind of—

“What the fuck are you doing?” bellows Sothoth, and the whole, frozen world damn near crumbles down.

“What?” says Kayne with all the guilt-free confidence of a cat.

“There have been complaints,” says Sothoth, who looks like an office manager, whose double-breasted plaid suit somehow speaks money and dullness at the same time. “You’ve created at least a dozen unstable timelines, without warning anybody, in the span of an hour! What is going on?”

“Oh, it’s all for this guy.” Kayne waves his hand and points.

Sothoth adjusts his totally unnecessary c-bridge pince-nez (which nevertheless do a great job showing off the third eye he bothers manifesting) and looks.

There is a long, stupid pause.

“What the hell am I supposed to be looking at?”

“Right? You don’t get it, either!” Kayne feels weirdly justified in his confusion.

“It’s… a human, with part of… what the hell is that? Hastur? It looks like Hastur. Except it isn’t.”

“Yeah, that idiot tried to steal a portal and got cut in half. Hilarious, right? But lookit! He’s in a human! And he’s changed!”

“This shouldn’t be possible.” Sothoth’s tone has changed, too, and Kayne does not like it, because now, it is darkly and distinctly interested. “I don’t see why it happened.”

“Or why the human is alive.” Kayne can’t help boasting a little. “I’ve already checked him out. Little Arthur here is a great big weirdo! At least, I think he is.”

“An interesting human.” Sothoth is thoughtful. “How unusual.” His eyes (so many! That show-off) have gone a sick, corpse-yellow, and his red pupils slit with focus.

Nope, not letting that play out. “This one’s my game,” says Kayne. “I already licked it. My mess, my conundrum. I saw it first.”

“You’re just going to kill them,” Sothoth points out, which is completely accurate.

“Well, sure, but not yet. I want answers.”

Sothoth sighs and dabs his forehead with a handkerchief that matches his silk tie. He looks put-upon, wearily managerial, and his rings each carry more power than an entire exploding sun. “There. Have been. Complaints.”

“If somebody’s got a problem, tell them to come to me about it.”

“No, because you’ll just kill them, too,” Sothoth says, being so aggravatingly reasonable.

“So?” Kayne challenges.

Sothoth eyes him. “Are we going to come to blows about this?”

That’d be annoying.

They’ve already done it twice, and then had to go rebuild the universes from scratch or there’d be nothing to play in, and it was a pain in the ass, and all the resident Old Ones (great and otherwise) bitched the whole time, and it wasn’t fun, and Kayne doesn’t like things that aren’t fun.

Hence the killing.

“No,” Kayne mutters. “We’re not.”

“You’ll restrain yourself?”

Kayne snorts. “Sure, that’s what I like to do with my time.” Sothoth gives him a look, and Kayne rolls his eyes. “All right, all right.” He throws his hands in the air. “I’ll just deal with these two, okay? Just fuck with this timeline. For a while, anyway, until the little pea-bruised princesses calm down. I promise.”

He says nothing about the Faroe he left under Daniel’s tender care, because a fucking Freemason priest raising a girl in tight and miserable morality with chaos in her soul is bound to be hilarious.

Also, it’s not him messing with that timeline if she’s the one doing things, right? She lives there! It’s her reality to break!

Sothoth visibly does not believe him, anyway. Looks like he’s about to produce paperwork, or something.

Kayne crosses his arms.

Finally, Kayne’s fellow Outer God shrugs. “If you make a mess, you clean it up.” And he vanishes.

“Way to kill the mood,” Kayne mutters, and tunes back in.

“...that humanity that allowed this fragment of a god to stay within me,” Arthur is droning on, and it is still funny, but less than it was.

Kayne sighs. “Eh… maybe. Probably? Naw. No, I don’t think so. Maybe? Probably not. Got another guess?”

“I… I have no other guesses,” Arthur says, because he put all his pwecious heart and soul into that tooth-rot of an answer. “You know more than me, clearly, by a country mile.”

And Kayne cracks up.

Because even though he’d lived Arthur’s life, he had not expected that phrase, didn’t even know Arthur knew it. Surprise (which is delight) cranks the saturation back up to eleven and peaks his interest all over again.

What else can Arthur do that’s surprising?

“Wait,” says Arthur, doing one such thing right now. “You said you saw my life. My daughter. My wife. You… you lived my life?”

So Arthur caught that.

Even John had not, and John’s shock is just whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

“‘Lived’ is such a primitive word,” says Kayne, because he likes making people feel dumb. “Let’s just say… I understand you very well.”

Except he doesn’t.

He does not. This dorky little human, who would live and die and never make the history books, is surprising him.

“You know, I think I’m starting to like you,” he warns with great cheer.

And that should fucking terrify these two.

It doesn’t yet—but it will. It’s like making a joke they won’t get for a year.

This is all about planting seeds, after all, and seeing how Arthur’s soul makes them mutate.

So it’s worrying at Arthur’s emotional wounds via the music box, because Arthur’s soul bleeding is funny.

And it’s doomsaying to shake them both up and get them crazy to break away from “fate” (which isn’t a thing, but boy are these two afraid it is).

And a dagger, because a little violence never hurt anyone. Except whoever was on the other end, of course.

Then it’s off to the cheap seats, the metaphorical bleachers, where Kayne has settled in with some good old-fashioned popcorn and twelve 5¢ bottles of pop (real sugar, none of that corn garbage, which was funny as hell in terms of damage but tasted like absolute shit), and a show he’s going to remember for years.

And the dagger is used.

And the blood is great.

And everybody is wailing, and Kayne is having a blast.

Lucky them.

When he gets bored, he’ll kill them all—but he isn’t bored yet.

Lucky, lucky them.

(Was it luck? Naw. If it was, though, it’d be bad luck, and that sure was funny.)

So. This game. For a while.

Then off to see what Faroe is doing, and maybe nudge her along and see what she did if he went Vader to her Luke.

This, Kayne thinks, was well worth the price of a bottle of pop, and he cracks open another one and chugs.

---------

NOTES

So, hey! He drank 55 bottles of Coca-Cola.

In 1934, the bottles came in 6.5oz.

Each bottle contained 24.65g of sugar.

So, uh. By the end of this affair, he's had 1355.75g of sugar.

That's how you do it, I guess?

I am aware what I have wrought by creating a Faroe of this nature. We will see where THAT plot-bunny goes in the future.

And I'm quite sure all that sugar can't be good even for a being of chaos and death, but I'm sure as hell not gonna tell him.

#kayne malevolent #malevolent kayne #malevolent #malevolentpod #malevolent pod #malevolent fic #malevolent fanfic #malevolent podcast #malevolent arthur #malevolent faroe

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captain-lonagan · 1 year

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thinking about the choice merlin made with the disir, not defending magic when the door was wide open for him to do so.

this person was born with magic and lived in fear of being discovered his entire life. he moved to camelot, the heart of that hatred, with very rare contact with his mother, but oh he’s found a purpose he’s found a person. he’s found multiple people! a little friend group, a little family, and none of them know the truth nobody can know the truth but it’s all he has here. and he gets told that magic will be set free by himself and his person! yay!

but then a magic user attacks and nearly kills his family. and then another. and another. and another. and merlin never makes one single positive relationship with another magic user that lasts more than an episode. his only exposure to magic is betrayal and pain and heartache and gaius telling him to keep it secret. and he is young and his fragile little family is all he has so he keeps it secret and he protects them where they’ll never see. and he never connects with magic or the magic community. not really.

and then the disir. he interprets their bargain as “kill arthur or save magic users”. kill his person or save people who he doesn’t know and doesn’t associate with and has almost never had a positive experience with. and he doesn’t explain the situation to arthur, doesn’t tell him about the prophecy and mordred and everything, because for the last 10 years, since he was a teenager, it has been drilled into his head that arthur must never know.

so he chooses arthur. magic be damned. people of magic be damned. he’s not one of them. he’s never had the chance to be. arthur and the people he lies to and the person who encourages him to lie are all he has and that’s really fucking sad.

#bbc merlin meta #bbc merlin

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red-dead-disaster · 1 year

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We should apprechiate how Rockstar constructed the missions and the narrative purposes they have (and my own thoughts (because this is my account and i'm telling you what to think))

Most missions in the game follow the format of "go to x, do y, get z" and most of them center around the gang because that's what the plot demands. Obviously.

The format doesn't really change because if it did this would be like an rpg and it'd be too happy. The ones involving Dutch or other members of the gang rarely change, you do as is told. You can only really control what guns you have and how quickly you go do them.

Towards the end of chapter 6, we start getting to make choices. Arthur thinks for himself, he can make choices on what he does.

But this isn't the first time there are canon significant missions where you can decide on what to do. There has been someone throughout the game who has always been a choice. Where the gang is always mandatory, it comes first.

No matter how stupid or wildly evil the mission is, Arthur does it because he has to. Saving Micah was never a choice, despite it having even in realistic numbers killed at least 5 people for the sake of Micah.

The side missions, however are not. Some play into the wider plot, but they don't really count in this case. These are random people you don't have an obligation to.

Yet when it comes to Mary, seeing her is not a choice but she always is. No matter how big the problem is, Arthur (within the narrative) has a choice between helping her or not. This something you don't see with anyone else, you don't get a choice in wheteher or not you help Dutch rob the cardinal or whatever he has decided to do.

I think this poses an interesting plot point too, it shows how things might always have been like this. It can also showcases how Arthur puts himself second when it comes to Dutch and the squad.

Their needs come first. I think something similar used to go on where he (and by extention Mary) always has their relationship off the priority list.

But despite all that, he can go help her out with some shit nobody seems to take seriously. When your little brother joins a suicide cult he's serious about and your dad is an abusive alcoholic things are pretty serious and she shouldn't be shamed for asking for help.

He does care for her despite what a lot of the fandom seems to headcanon.

I also think the mission structure was an interesting choice by rockstar because it shows that she is not forcing him into anything. He has a choice halfway through whether to fuck off or help.

He's really the one with the choices, or at least the reasonable and rational choices. John left the gang, he was accepted back.

Arthur seems to sense a lack of control in his own life and that he owes loyalty to a gang.

She does not. Leaving a shitty family can be done by marrying some guy or, well, that's pretty much it, isn't it? Doing something else would completely ruin most relationships she has. Marrying Arthur when he isn't changing is a really stupid idea. You can love someone but that doesn't mean you can't think their choices are shit.

Anyway, it could just be feelings to but i find it improbable.

Remember, you aren't doing it for idiot brother npc or asshole father npc, you're doing it for wife npc and her quality of life to remain... okayish relatively speaking because this is a relationship in the game that cowboy pc is supposed to care about enough to make the choice to help her.

i have a lot of thoughts on her but i'm scattering them around so come eat, chickens

#mary linton #mary gillis #mary gillis linton #i am so not normal about her #arthur morgan #rdr #rdr2 #rdr 2 #red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption

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paperstorm · 1 year

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10 random lines

I am LATE but I was tagged by @cinnaluminum @reyesstrand and @rmd-writes

Rules: pick any 10 of your fics, scroll somewhere to the midpoint, pick a line (or three), and share it! Then tag 10 people.

He tastes like mint. Must’ve chewed some gum or a Tic-Tac before coming over to ask TK to dance, and TK resolutely sets that information down and doesn’t pick it up again because if he has to think about there being intention in the way this man approached him, he might have to stop kissing him. Back to the habit after kicking it (911 Lone Star)

“Dude, I was born in Manhattan,” TK defends. “Lived there my whole life until three months ago. Nobody I grew up with knows how to drive, having a car on the island makes no sense unless you’re super rich or have some kind of kink for sitting in traffic for an hour to go 10 blocks.” Life's a game of inches (911 Lone Star)

Merlin seeks Arthur’s lips for a messy kiss, tilting his hips to change the angle and pushing Arthur inside just a bit deeper, rubbing, sending resplendent waves of pleasure through him. He wants so badly – aches, really – to be everything Arthur could ever need so Arthur never has to look anywhere else. Golden Hour (Merlin)

“I couldn’t remember every kiss, not 800 years of them, but I remember that one,” Joe continues, in a dreamy voice. He is more emotional than Nicky. Quicker to anger, and indignance, and ferociously protective of those he loves. His fire burns quick and hot, and when it melts into languid moments such as this, where he’s introspective and soft-hearted, it’s Nicky who aches to protect him. Nothing But a Song (The Old Guard)

Nile surprises them with her poker skills, in the evening when Joe breaks out a pack of cards and they sit around the table with an old radio on in the background. The nights were long and boring, sometimes, when she was stationed overseas, and she took a considerable amount of money off all her commanding officers in the months she was there. It’s that baby face, one of them had complained, you never think it’s lying to you until it is. Hands Battered but Hearts Survive (The Old Guard)

They struggle to pay the bills and sometimes they run out of hot water before both of them have had a chance to shower and they have to hide their love away to keep it safe from people who would want to hurt them if they knew, but despite all that, they’re happy. It aches and it aches and it aches in Bucky’s chest to think of how much he took it for granted, how many times he should have told Steve he loved him but didn’t, how likely it is that they’ll never have that again. Bucky’s not as simple as he’s been pretending. He doesn’t believe the advertisements, the campaigns that promise they’ll be gone six months and home as heroes by Christmas. That’s what they said last time, and millions never came home. Parallel Sinking Ships (MCU)

Steve sways a little on his feet as Bucky works, and Bucky sees the crash coming. Steve must have been running on sheer adrenaline since the end of their latest mission, perhaps spurred on by grief over the people he hadn’t been able to save this time and anger at himself for his perceived failings. He’d managed to get himself to Wakanda and to Bucky on nothing but leftover fumes, and they’re very quickly running out. Through the Monsoon (MCU)

“Do you want to know the moment I hated myself the most, in all this?” Nick asks. Pieces of himself, he figures. He knows better than anyone how tough it is to be so see-through. To know that despite all his best efforts, he’s utterly transparent. Maybe he can be transparent on purpose; maybe that will make Charlie feel safer in the notion of confessing. All Of These Moving Parts (Heartstopper)

Sitting here, holding TK’s arm in his hand, he feels like he can sense TK slipping away right here in front of him, filtering through his fingers like sand. No matter how he tries, Carlos can’t seem to grasp him tight enough to keep him. And maybe that’s always been the problem. Maybe he’s never known how to do that. Collateral damage (911 Lone Star)

“If we’re playing around, if we’re having fun and you want me to be a little rough that’s fine. I love that, too. Not when you’re this upset. I can’t …” He runs out of ways to explain the way that makes him feel, to imagine being rough with TK while he’s crying and using the mix of pleasure and pain to distract himself from his grief. Of him associating Carlos with hurt in a moment like this, of him believing he doesn’t deserve to be treated gently, maybe because someone died while TK was there and in the dark recesses of his mind he thinks he should be punished for that. Silent (911 Lone Star)

I'm not sure who's done this already but I will tag @musette22 @riricitaa @bubblesandroses8 @chaotictarlos @theghostofashton and @tailoredshirt

#tag meme #fancition #paperstorm writes #who me having written fic for like 15 different fandoms more likely than you'd think

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tiodolma · 1 year

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all the deaths of merlin's loved ones had a connection to arthur and morgana bruh lmaoo

season 1

WILL - morgana was the first to offer support to merlin's cause, arthur followed, will got hit with an arrow for arthur

season 2

FREYA - merlin stole morgana's dress for her coz he wanted to make her more confident and happy, arthur ran a sword thru freya in her bastet form

BALINOR - dragon's payment was to be freed in exchange for telling merlin how to cure the curse (kill morgana), merlin and arthur persuaded (guilted) balinor enough to come back, balinor takes a hit for merlin

morgana loses alvarr and the other radicals, gains an ally in morgause

season 3

NOBODY THAT MERLIN MORGANA LOVES DIES. (yay?)

merlin gains an ally in gwaine (but dude dislikes magic so he's kinda like arthur too)

season 4

LANCELOT - morgana unleashes dorocha to spread havoc, lancelot sacrifices himself to stop merlin from sacrificing himself in arthur's place

at this point, morgana loses morgause too.. and then agravaine and helios later (close confidants and allies of morgana).

season 5

FINNA - arthur and morgana both chase merlin and the sorceress down to the point where finna sacrificed herself for merlin

DAEGAL - morgana machinations made him and daegal meet, daegal works for and then against morgana, takes an arrow meant for merlin

at this point morgana loses daegal and also the whole catha sect. (possible strong allies of morgana). Notably though, this is Morgana real attempt to kill Merlin once and for all (bruh it took morgana 5 seasons and it wasnt even for revenge, but just a step in the destabilization plan) merlin has no real magical allies now. tho gwaine is there as next closest thing (but not magic related)

it's interesting how it's all interconnected though.

S1 and S2 Morgana started out as Merlin's biggest direct and unknowing supporter, with her being the first to offer support to save his mom and also her dress clothed Merlin's girlfriend in her final resting place.

Fires of Idirsolas tore them apart and lead to Morgana and Balinor slipping from Merlin's life.

S3 was a respite with no familial deaths. Though it was the tipping point with the addition of Gwaine serving as Merlin's new sword ally (kinda like replacement for Lancelot/Morgana but not quite).

S4 Morgana steps into her power and destiny to terrorize the whole community, although the price merlin paid was his own and last true best friend and ally as well.

S5 Morgana is at the peak of her hunt for Emrys and her quest to truly embitter Arthur against all magic-folk. She personally targets t kill Merlin using Daegal and was finally successful (more successful than the fomorrah incident at least).

Merlin lost friends and allies first tho. It's because the machinations of his destiny and his freedom constantly being tightly tethered to a unclear future (arthur) that he pushed Morgana (and also Mordred) away, turning them from strong allies to really bitter enemies.

#mergana notes #mergana #bbc merlin #bbc morgana #merlin critical #merlin thoughts #essays #merlin crit #notes

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gwidien · 7 months

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hc: loyalty. i think about how nobody in camp thinks trelawny is trustworthy or, at least, that there's some serious doubts as to his loyalties. how, really, this is understandable—trelawny does appear like a mysterious rash and does disappear just as mysteriously. i think about how, ultimately, they're wrong.

charles: you think he'll talk? arthur: 'course he'll talk. he'd sell his own sister to save a train fare. he don't know how not to talk.

when trelawny is taken by bounty hunters and beaten, battered, and threatened to divulge information about the van der linde gang, he doesn't squeal. he could have if he had no loyalties—it's like he said, they didn't come for him, so it's logical to assume that by being a traitor, he'd spare himself potential death and further pain. why not spill? but he doesn't. he lies about being an intellectual looking for work at a university near rhodes. he takes the beatings not knowing if he'd die for not cooperating. when they storm his caravan and pummel him until he leaves a trail of his own blood, he doesn't break. when they drag him to the cornfields teeming with armed men, he doesn't throw them under the bus. trelawny gave nothing away about the van der linde gang at no benefit to himself when the very opposite would have. that's loyalty.

arthur: thanks for disappearing on us during that sean business, by the way. trelawny: i'd done my part. each to their strengths, dear boy.

the thing is that trelawny, at the end of the day, is sensible. he didn't stick with the gang during the "sean business" not because of a lack of loyalty, but because of pragmatism. he knew he had nothing more to offer. he isn't a gunslinger or a fighter. there really would have been no reason for him to be at the shootout. this may look like disloyalty because it seems like he's true to them only when it's convenient, but it's less that and more that he played his part, and for him to stay would have been to the benefit of no one. loyalty, perhaps to arthur and the rest of the gang at this moment, is being there and by your side 24/7, but that's not how trelawny views it. as he proves with the bounty hunters, he's loyal when it counts.

similarly, this is partly the reason why he leaves the company of the van der linde gang for good. by this time in chapter 6, trelawny is fully aware that the group has broken down. dutch is not the leader they remember. the law like the force of an army is bearing down on them. they're not just fighting that, either, but each other, dividing and hostile. why not leave unannounced? he has no reason to stay and nothing more to offer them. dutch and micah, and to a lesser extent, javier and bill, are belligerent and antagonistic towards anyone who displays even a shred of doubt. trelawny could have done the thing he's good at and simply slipped away and spared himself the headache, but he doesn't. he packs up, uncharacteristically antsy, and tells arthur face-to-face that he's leaving despite his own trepidation. he gives arthur that respect and courtesy not knowing what the reaction would have been, if the others would have been tipped off, or if he'd gotten heat for it. he tells arthur despite these uncertainties, and not just because there's no point in him staying on a sinking ship, but because he considers arthur his honest-to-God friend.

i'm sure everyone already probably thinks all of this about trelawny, but the thought has been taking up prime real estate in my head and i had to put it down into words.

#( gwidien: hc. )#not really an hc so much as it is just a reflection on him but joe is loyal (imo!)#i will say that trelawny leaving the gang is also (at least to me) because he's thinking of his family #sure he's not winning 'dad of the year' awards and isn't with them as often as he should be #but staying with the gang unnecessarily jeopardizes their safety.#any one of dutch's enemies from a rapidly growing list of enemies could have targeted them if they knew he was connected to dutch #or even the law itself could do the very same.#also x2 trelawny cares about the gang and they're not just business associates or a means to an end #he checks up on them and expresses concerns when he sees everything starting to break down and everyone fighting or down or tense #he even shows the ladies magic tricks to try and bring a little joy into camp!#i just rmr him asking arthur what's happening with everyone and how that seemed to genuinely affect him. he cares yknow??

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