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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 months

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You wanna know what I just realized....You know how in chapters 1-4 MC/Yu kept asking Crowley to go home. But Once Chapter 5-7 they stopped asking to go home and gave up. Why? Did they just change their minds once they got friends or did they just give up on trying completely until Orthro put it back in their brain? Or Did they just gave up on asking adults period?

Oooh, interesting topic 🤔 I went back in each book to see when instances of Yuu asking about going home were brought up and (shockingly) this actually happens very little, maybe a few times max in the main story (not counting the prologue):

***Main story spoilers (INCLUDING book 7) below the cut!!***

In 1-19, Yuu does NOT ask Crowley; Crowley is the one who brings the topic up. He claims he is in the library to research a way to send Yuu home, and definitely is not reading the latest edition to a new novel before anyone else (which, come on, we all know Crowley is just giving a convenient excuse for himself). Crowley's presence here is then used to inform us of a way to dethrone Riddle via duel.

In 2-4, Yuu DOES ask Crowley when summoned to his office. Crowly then says he is busy preparing for an inter-dorm Magift/Spelldrive tournament, so he hasn't made any progress for Yuu. In 2-14, Yuu also wonders about when they will be able to go home while talking around the campus at night, but does not discuss it further with others.

In 3-6, Yuu does NOT ask Crowley; again, Crowley is the one to bring up the topic when trying to get Yuu to convince Azul to stop his shady dealings. He uses their rising food bills and all that "effort" he's putting into researching as a means to guilt trip Yuu into agreeing.

In 4-2, Yuu DOES ask Crowley if he's actually researching. This occurs because Crowley is all decked out for vacationing in a tropical destination, so Yuu of course questions whether he's doing any real work. Crowley defends himself by saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!" and that he's broadening his knowledge base by researching in a southern region.

After book 4, there are no new explicit or even implied scenes of Yuu asking Crowley anything about home. However, 5-33 does feature a flashback to the prologue in which Crowley is struggling to find Yuu's home on a map.

There isn't really a strong mention of Yuu going home in book 6, unless you want to count Yuu talking to Mickey through the mirror and wondering what's on the other side.

7-10 and 7-11 has Ortho to concluding that the mirror with Mickey could be a "connection" to Yuu's original world, and can thus serve as a route home.

Most discussion of Yuu going home is concentrated in the prologue (as it is an important piece of the set-up and explanation for Yuu's presence in Twisted Wonderland), as well as book 7, when the issue becomes very relevant again. There is the occasional instance of Crowley using "oh, there might be information here about a potential way home" as an excuse to rope Yuu into an event's story (ie Glorious Masquerade), but nothing meaningful ever comes from it. These are just contrivances to bring Yuu and Grim along for a more immersive self-insert experience.

If you want a boring answer as to why Yuu asks/seems to care so little about going home and stops completely by the start of book 5, I would wager it's the metacontext. Even in books 1 through 4, Yuu going home is mentioned like maybe once and then is dismissed for the rest of the book. You’ll also notice that in these instances where Yuu going home is mentioned, they are almost immediately then used as a springboard to propel the problem of the week onto them to resolve. Yuu going home isn’t a plot point for most of the main story, it’s a plot device to force Yuu into an OB boy’s path.

There is very little urgency granted to finding a way home because you, the player, WANTS to be in this magical world even if Yuu, the actual in-game character, may be uneasy being away from their friends, family, and home world. Yuu's unease is most likely not depicted or not frequently brought up because it would interfere with the player's enjoyment of the escapism to another world. These desires very obviously clash with one another. However, because the game itself is trying to tell you its story, it has to provide a reason (no matter how nonsensical it is) for there to be no progress made in the search (thus keeping Yuu in Twisted Wonderland), and that reason often happens to be Crowley's incompetence. This is not true of all iterations of Yuu (as the light novel has a strong focus on Yuuya’s anxieties about being in a new world), but it must be this way specifically for in-game Yuu since they are the most easy one for players to project into.

If you're looking for a meatier answer, consider this: book 5 is the turning point in the main story. Before book 5, Yuu seems to defer to Crowley for finding a way home. They don't really wonder or investigate into this area on their own. By the start of VDC/SDC training, it's mid to late winter, or about halfway through the year. Given that Yuu is incentivized by the promise of renovations to let the NRC Tribe boys use Ramshackle as their base of operations, I get the impression that maybe Yuu thinks they'll be stuck in Twisted Wonderland for longer than initially anticipated. Rather than an "I give up", it feels like a "boy, this is taking a while so might as well upgrade the accommodations and make myself as comfy as possible while I wait it out" This thought is helped by the fact that book 5 is also the first time when both Yuu and Crowley don't mention them going home, but also nothing disparaging or hopeless is referenced. As I've said before, we still get a flashback from Yuu which is centered on them going home, so it's clearly still a topic on their mind. It's just not consistently shown to us so as to not interfere with players self-inserting or to avoid making the gaming experience not fun by focusing on Yuu's distress or worries.

Many other significant things happen in book 5 which makes it the "turning point": Malleus reveals his true identity to Yuu, Grim finally going a little feral from the blot stones, and Yuu seeing and speaking with Mickey clearly. From there, Yuu starts thinking about the mirror and how it could lead into another world. They begin to take more agency in their own return, later confiding in their friends about Mickey and what he means for them.

Book 6 mostly glosses over Yuu going home because... well, let's be honest, there's a lot more immediately at stake with six students being kidnapped and experimented on. Yuu's focus and concern is on getting them (and especially Grim) back safely. They weren't thinking about themselves or their own situation back then, they were thinking of others.

Going home returns in book 7 because it has story significance once again. Yuu going back to their own world adds to the growing dread and sense of loneliness that our OB boy for the evening, Malleus, feels over Lilia's departure. It helps to push him closer to the brink of snapping. What's more, this contributes to the overall themes and questions that book 7 poses: those of farewells, change, and leaving friends behind. These are sentiments that Ace, Deuce, and Grim discuss in 7-17, and they parallel Malleus's own anxious thoughts. In all previous books, Yuu's own quest to get home is not closely tied to the themes of a particular book, or it simply was not relevant to mention (it would disrupt the ongoing conflict or pacing).

Finally, to more address each of the specific things asked by the asker (since I know the information in this post is sort of all over the place and might be hard to match up to each question):

[Yuu] stopped asking to go home and gave up. Why?

Yuu did not frequently ask about going home to begin with. (Again, likely because on a metatextual level, the story needs an excuse for Yuu, ie the player, being present in Twisted Wonderland and experiencing its happenings.)

At that point, it comes down to individual interpretation as to why, but personally I believe Yuu realized that the solution was more complicated than just poofing up a portal home, so they decided to make themselves comfortable while they waited for updates rather than keep asking only to be constantly disappointed. Later on, events going on around Yuu become too hectic for them to focus on their own wants.

Did [Yuu] just change their mind once they got friends?

Wouldn’t this imply that Yuu didn’t consider Adeuce and Grim “real” friends until the start of book 5??? I just don’t think that’s true; they were friends way before this point, not hanging out with each other for convenience’s sake. Why would they sit together at lunch every day? Why would Yuu try to help Ace make amends with Riddle? And why would Ace defend Yuu when Riddle insults their upbringing? Why would Yuu try to free the idiots of their anemones at the risk of going homeless themselves? Why would Adeuce use public transportation to go all the way from the Queendom of Roses to Sage’s Island because of a SOS text from Yuu? The same logic goes for the Ramshackle Ghosts, who are very friendly with Yuu and Grim. They play games with them, tell them about the school, and even do Yuu’s chores for them while they’re held hostage in Scarabia.

I also think gaining friends isn’t necessarily a strong enough reason for Yuu to renounce their old life and suddenly be committed to staying. Yes, it can be said that this could change depending on individual interpretation of Yuu—but assuming a very basic backstory, a regular person would not be so quick to forgo their old friends, family, etc. I don’t think new friendships are a significant motivator for Yuu no longer asking about home.

Or did they just give up on trying completely until Orthro put it back in their brain?

Yuu didn’t stop thinking about going home just because they stopped asking about it. Post book 4, they are shown to have flashbacks to earlier discussions of going home. Yuu hardly ever expresses thoughts about their original world or wanting to go back (most likely to not break the self-insert immersion of their character), so it’s easy to perceive this as “Yuu gave up completely/Yuu forgot about it until book 7”.

Or did they just gave up on asking adults period?

I believe Crowley is the only adult Yuu really asks about finding a way back. I doubt Yuu actually thinks all adults are as useless in this endeavor as Crowley is, but we aren’t ever shown Yuu communicating in this manner to other adults. Crowley is the only “required” adult to interact with on account of being the headmaster typically forcing you into the plot anyway. In conclusion (I know I keep bringing this point up, but it’s because I truly believe in it), this is all probably done for convenience and/or to allow the player to fantasize and imagine themselves or their own Yuusonas navigating these circumstances. They don't want to constantly keep the story gloomy by having Yuu angst about how they miss home or how badly they want to go back. They want you, the player, to enjoy the world and the people of Twisted Wonderland and never want to leave, even if it may be contradictory to what Yuu themselves fails to express in the narrative. This is 100% intentional, and it's made clear because it ties in very deeply with the themes in book 7, which is when the idea of Yuu going home becomes extremely relevant again. Book 7 creates an analogy between a digital pet that Malleus owns and how sad he is that its lifespan has to end, that the digital pet is just "fiction designed to amuse". This is also true of what Twisted Wonderland (the game) is. The player is in the same circumstances as Malleus, who is too attached to his fiction and doesn't want to let it go.

As much as the game's structure encourages self-inserting, it cannot be denied that, ultimately, the perspective of the player ≠ the perspective of Yuu. The player does not actually have to worry about never returning home or being stuck in a foreign world, at the mercy of strangers (which, if not for entertainment purposes, would be something truly terrifying to deal with). The player is glimpsing into this other world for fun and can step away whenever they want. Yuu can't.

askhdvasoydvuealalf I know this was a lot, but I hope it made sense and properly communicated my thoughts ^^

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canon-transgender-virgil · 10 months

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ALRIGHT I HAVE SOME TIME SO LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS (also shut up i only noticed the typo when i was taking this screenshot-)

Okay, so I noticed a common theme in all the videos that orange (or Orange) is in: right after you see the color orange, you can see some form of shame or embarrassment in one of the characters.

Let me explain.

Let's take the flash card scene from Learning New Things About Ourselves.

As many people know, right when you see Logan crumple up the flashcard in his hand (like the upwards POV shot), you can see orange light coming from up the stairs. Many people (as I've pointed out, like, three times now) believe this to be the first time we see Orange show up.

Now, logically, many people take seeing the color orange show up when someone is visibly angry to mean that Orange is the representation of anger, but I think I disagree.

Look at Logan's face immediately after the flashcard hits Roman.

That's not anger. That face says a lot of things, but it doesn't say rage. It says, most notably, "I wish I hadn't done that".

AND! I can't believe I forgot about this but Logan literally says "I do regret throwing that paper at puppet Roman" in the Five Years Later episode! He says the words "I regret throwing the paper"!!

I'm going to get back to the Five Years Later video later but keep that in your mind.

I wouldn't put much thought into this if it was just a one off thing, but it's not - Logan's not even the only who exhibits this sort of behavior!

In Putting Others First, what is the first live action scene we see (that isn't the recap of course)?

That's orange. That is Thomas bathed in orange.

And again, Thomas may be angry here but this anger is mainly directed at himself for letting himself go to the wedding and not the callback!

Patton I feel is in the same boat, where he regrets or else is embarrassed by not being able to answer "Logan's" questions (for context here, Lilypadton's eyes are orange).

And then there's Working Through Intrusive Thoughts.

Logan was mad of course, but I think, once again, this is more so the regret of not putting his foot down earlier and making Thomas listen to him (hence the lashing out not thirty seconds before Thomas decides to abandon their plan).

Alright, on to a more solid bit of proof: the Five Years Later video.

There is a whole segment in this episode about C!Thomas and the other characters talking about their regrets.

Aside from the aforementioned Logan's regret of throwing the paper at Roman, there were some other notable reactions to this question:

Roman's regret of making Thomas go to the wedding in the first place (cementing my earlier point that that wasn't fully anger on Thomas's face but rather regret about the situation entirely) is a major one, but then there's Virgil's entire CVS receipt of a list (ranging from "boiled carrots" to "achieving consciousness" - mans is full of regret), to Roman's mirrored regret from Logan's about wishing he'd thrown something at Logan before Logan got the chance to throw the flashcard at him, to Janus's regret of "lack of attention to detail" (which, while unrelated to this discussion, I thought was an interesting point to make before the release of the season finale - hopefully we get to see more disguised Janus content in the finale? 👀👀 )

It's also interesting to note that in the Five Years Later video Remus is the only one who doesn't have any regrets about, you know, anything. That makes sense obviously in the context of who Remus is as a character but it also tracks that the one of the only characters who doesn't seem threatened or scared of the Orange Side has no regrets.

This is all I have for now, but if anyone would like to add on to this please do.

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #ts logan #ts roman #ts patton #ts virgil #ts janus #ts remus #sanders sides theory #sanders sides theories #orange side theories #orange side theory #orange side #ts orange side #god it took me so long to get back to this draft i have a whole ass different name

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thewrongmoon · 2 years

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El's Possible Queercoding

been meaning to actually documents my findings on this for awhile, so I'm gonna go over some reasons I think its possible that El is gay, specifically just how I think she may be attracted to girls, whether you think that means lesbian, bisexual, pan, etc etc.

El's interest in femininity:

I think to further understand why El has an interest in feminine things, we have to look at how she was raised:

The children in the lab were pretty much stripped of a gender identity entirely. They all had the same haircut and hospital gowns. They all played with the same toys, most of which were puzzle games which have no societally assigned gender. It's worth noting that these short haircuts do have a masculine association (at least in modern western culture) and the kids also pretty much solely interacted with men. Really the only indication of their gender was the pronouns that they used for them.

The concept of different genders acting differently was probably completely foreign to El when she had just escaped the lab. We can see that she tries to strip in front of Mike, Lucas and Dustin and is confused when they all react negatively.

Being surrounded by all this masculinity, seeing someone feminine like Nancy for the first time (or at least the first time in years) is magical to El.

El takes a very quick interest in feminine things. Long hair, pastel colors, dresses...

What sparks more of a queer connotation is her interest in the feminine form. We see her appreciate the ballerina in Nancy's music box, which would very well just be because she thinks the dress is pretty or something, but she also singles out the figure on Mike's trophy.

Obviously I don't mean anything explicit by pointing this out, but as a lesbian I remember having a similar reaction to things like mannequins of women at a young age.

There's definitely a duality of her longing for a childhood where she's able to express her femininity that I don't want to dismiss, though. There's a shot where she stares at Nancy's childhood photos, and it's pretty clear she's wondering what her life would be like if she were raised like a normal girl. That storyline is further explored when she visits the Ives in season 2.

El was also previously not interested in Mike's nerdier hobbies, but when Max shows her comics, specifically ones with female superheroes, El is intrigued. She assumed comics were just about boys at first. We all poke fun at Mike for having a crush on Superman, but maybe we should stop to question if El had a thing for Wonder Woman?

Fashion choices - Mirroring other girls:

A classic quandary for anyone with same-sex attraction. Do I want to be them, or do I want to be with them?

We talk a lot about how Mike tries to wear and do things Eddie does (this was confirmed by the costume department), and how that totally makes it look like he has kind of a crush on him. But what about El?

In season 1 we definitely assume El wants to be Nancy. Her attempts of mirroring her are clumsy and largely influenced by Mike, Dustin and Lucas. After the wig comes off she just gives up, surrendering to her fate of never being "pretty."

In season 2, she wears mostly boys clothes provided by Hopper. The main makeover of this season is done by Kali, who turns El into her mini-me. This time we see El refer to her new look as "bitchin'" rather than "pretty."

Her new look is very punk inspired. Punk subculture has close ties with the LGBT community. As the punk scene is all about questioning/rejecting societal norms, queer people flocked to it.

In season 3, her makeover revolves around Max. While Max tells El to pick something that she likes, El still kind of chooses to resemble Max. In the beginning of s3, her hair looks like this:

But after her trip to the mall with Max, she chooses to part her hair to the right like she does.

They later have both their hair tied up:

Middle parts for both of them:

This is all to say, she mirrors Max's looks, because she likes Max. Not necessarily romantically? And there's also no way to tell if she's doing this consciously. But I feel like there's something in El's brain that just goes "pretty girl = I have to steal her look"

Which brings us to season 4:

Now, there's no makeover scene for her in this one. Disappointing, I know. But she's had a considerable glow up since season 3.

Her hair is now down past her shoulders. Now you may be wondering who her style inspiration is. And the obvious answer is Joyce, because she looks just like her.

But I would actually like to propose an alternative to her hair style inspo:

We can see that Angela pulls up the sides of her hair but still has bangs framing her face, similarly to how El styles hers.

Angela is an awful human being who bullies her, but she's also everything El wants to be: pretty, well dressed, well-liked by the people at school. This is precisely why she chooses her to lie about being friends with. She thinks Angela is cool, so Mike will think El is cool if he sees she's friends with her.

Let's move on to her fashion.

El's style is dependent entirely on layering in this season. But she has one staple in her closet, which we also see in seasons 2 and 3-- flannel.

The wardrobe department head has stated that they specifically wanted it to seem like she was wearing clothes from Will's closet.

Will has always been associated with flannel, wearing it almost exclusively in every season besides season 3. This is interesting because flannel is generally seen as masculine, and gay men are usually stereotyped as more feminine. He does wear those short shorts in s3 though so I guess it balances out idk, this is besides the point, moving on:

Flannels when worn on women are associated closely with lesbians. There is some historical basis here; back when women were first being allowed to wear pants (1940s), lesbians were some of the first to jump on it. Jeans were seen as most normal for women to wear, and flannel was usually paired with it. Flannel was warm, durable and practical. A lot of women in the work force wore it because it held up well. Usually work boots (doc martens in particular) were worn as well, which is why they are also associated with the queer community today (though it was more of a practicality thing than a fashion thing back then.)

From my research, it seems like lesbians wearing flannel became a stereotype in more popular media sometime during the 90s. This doesn't necessarily mean it didn't exist during the 80s, I honestly wish I could find more info on when exactly it became a well-known signifier of lesbians, but alas, I cannot find any good sources. Doesn't change the fact that we as an audience know of it's existence, though.

Wearing flannel definitely makes El stick out from the crowd. It was probably considered really normal in Indiana, where the temperatures are cold, but in California you really have no use for flannel in your wardrobe. The late 80s was also known for it's focus on loud colors and bold prints, which isn't at all like the muted, practical nature of flannel. You would definitely see waaay more men than women wearing it.

So El being seen almost exclusively in more masculine fashions would have probably been one of the points of bullying for her. I think her neurodivergent coding was also a factor, but that's an analysis for another time.

El's bullying: possibly homophobically charged?

So this is the furthest stretch I'm gonna make in this post. But upon noticing how often she wears flannel, I jokingly said in my head, "I wonder if they just saw her constantly wearing flannel and assumed she was a lesbian and that's why they started bullying her." And then I was like oh wait but what if actually that's what it was.

I'm assuming she was probably labeled as a tomboy for just wearing her brother's clothes. But then I began to imagine her interactions with girls like Angela which would have caused their hatred for her.

El has a habit of calling other girls "pretty." One of the first thing she seems to notice about other girls, actually. So imagine that Angela sees this girl in men's clothing, and the first thing El probably does with her is call her pretty. Would it be a stretch to assume Angela may have thought El was hitting on her?

I don't think she was, I honestly don't know if El knows how to hit on someone at all. But the perception of Angela and the school at large could have just been... "Jane is a lesbian."

We see other girls avoiding her. This would be a good reason (not morally, but logically, especially considering the time period) for them to do so.

There's also this line from Angela: (0:09-0:14)

youtube

Now, I first noticed this when editing a completely different video. And I had to rewatch this clip like 50 times to see if I was crazy or not (I still might be, lol.) But, does it not sound like Angela is.. saying "boyfriend" in quotes?

So I went back to rewatch Angela entering the roller rink, and her and her friend group seem surprised that she has a boyfriend. Now this could be just because El is unpopular and has no friends (that they know if.) But just like Ted Wheeler saying "our son with a girl?" could just be a dig at Mike being a nerd, other context makes me wanna look closer into this line.

Did they maybe think El only got a boyfriend to mask her "real" sexuality? It's definitely possible.

Paralleling El to other characters who are queer or labeled as so

This is a point I'm going to need to further expand upon on a later date. But in watching movies off the s4 inspo board, I've found a couple where the characters are meant to parallel El:

Let The Right One In-

I have a whole post on this parallel, if you want to read it.

So basically, El is Oskar in this parallel. Oskar is a character who is bullied for 2 things: being fat (this is better shown in the book the movie is based upon) and being possibly gay (this is also shown better in the book.)

Oskar does end up having a romantic relationship with a character who is gender-nonconforming. Not gonna go into that particular character's exact gender bc it's kind of debatable and their backstory is sad, but the character, in their own words, is "not a girl." Oskar himself seems to be bisexual, again, you could maybe debate this, but he is non-straight at the very least.

The character he's in a relationship with, Eli, has also had their gender identity stripped away from them, which could make another interesting parallel to El, character wise.

Welcome To The Dollhouse-

So this parallel is a bit less concrete, but the only one I could draw from it is that, once again, the main character being bullied is referenced in El's own bullying.

The main character of this film, Dawn, is bullied for two things: being "ugly" and being a lesbian. She is not actually a lesbian, but the kids bully her for being one, and girls avoid her. One goes as far to claim she was "making a pass at her" when all Dawn did was have a conversation with her.

Being paralleled to two different characters who were bullied for being gay is definitely a weird coincidence.

El's relationship with Max:

El has pretty unarguably romantic themes with Max.

It could just be the Duffers trying to break free from a trope, but in S4 Max takes up a damsel in distress role while El takes on a hero role, for like, the 4th time, please give this girl a break omg.

We see both Mike and Lucas attempt to save El/Max, but at the end of the season Max and El save each other. You could say this was with the power of platonic love, but there are some lines that really make you question if it could be something more.

Conclusion:

I feel like El being gay is a theory that has some legs to stand on! You could definitely go even further and find a lot of rainbow imagery with her, maybe some other small details. This was just my own findings.

#el hopper #eleven hopper #jane hopper #byler #elmax #long post #analysis #stranger things #eleven

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bangtansocean · 9 months

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Roommate's Prohibited List: Five

Content Table: 01 l 02 l 03 l 04 l 05 l 06

“You look nice today.”

Oh God, here we go.

“Thank you, Soobin.” You thank him with a soft smile, looking down to your outfit as you step out of your building, walking next to him.

“Anytime,” He replies softly, his eyes wandering around before looking down with a shy smile, watching your steps synchronised as you make your way down the street.

The weather today is perfect, sunny with a light breeze not too hot and not too windy.

You enjoy the sun in silence as you make your way down to the exhibition, turning to look at Soobin every now and then who looks too emerged in his thoughts.

You think about asking him if everything was okay when you finally see the line to the entrance, surprised to see the area looks more like a fair than a museum exhibition which is what you were expecting.

“Oh wow,” You turn to Soobin with questioning eyes. Did you come to the right place?

He turns to look at you and nods as if he can read your mind and knew you were confused at what you were seeing.

So this is where you guys are going.

You make the line which thankfully goes by quickly, both you and Soobin taking in the vibrant energy that surrounds the place.

“Thank you. Enjoy your day!” The lady at the entrance welcomes you after scanning both of your tickets, a warm smile on her face as she invites you to access the event.

The place looks more like a market at plain sight.

There’s stalls on each side of the narrow main street, and it meets with other streets that keep getting smaller and smaller.

Live music fades into the background, as the smell of delicious Italian cuisine fills the air of the place.

“So… what do you want to check out first?” Soobin asks you, looking down to meet your eyes, “We could walk around to see if we like anything and stop as we go, or is there anything you specifically want to see?”

“I thought we were here for the Roman exhibition.” You tease him, to which he rolls his eyes in a joking manner.

“Yes,” He laughs. “But we are already here. We might as well enjoy the rest of the festival, no?” He winks at you before focusing on the stall behind you, a cute handmade jewelry stand being managed by two young girls and their father.

“Okay, maybe we can just walk around and see what calls our attention?” You repeat Soobin’s plan to which he nods before making his way into the busy hall, his eyes turning to you every now and then to make sure you’re still walking next to him.

You walk deeper into the market, and the deeper you get the more you feel like you are actually in Italy.

Soobin walks next to you, humming to the song the live band is playing as he scans the variety of stalls surrounding you, a faint smile never leaving his lips. Both mesmerised at the beauty and the diversity of the things around you.

You try to keep up with his steps, but you notice the more you walk into the market, the less space there is to walk.

You are able to follow Soobin thanks to his outstanding head amongst the crowd, but suddenly you reach a junction where people are flowing from all sides, and you completely lose the direction he just turned to.

“Fuck,” you whisper to yourself, “Soobin?” you call louder as you look around the area.

Still no sight of him.

You start to worry when you are unable to see him in the sea of people, calling his name again before a loud noise and people gasping makes you turn nervously to the right.

The people gather around making a circle around the stall where you could see fruits scattered all over the floor, and where you find a distressed Soobin picking the fruits up as he continues to apologise to the owner for tripping with the baskets.

“I’m sorry, I’m looking for my friend and didn’t see the basket.” He continues to apologize as he places the fruits back in the basket. His eyes scan the crowd quickly before bowing to the old lady who looks at him with understanding eyes.

You can’t help but laugh at the scene in front of you, which makes Soobin’s head turn to look at you with big eyes, his shoulders relaxing at the sight of you.

He walks to you and grabs you by the arm, dragging you back to where he was standing.

The lady of the wrecked stall smiles at you, which you reciprocate with a small bow.

“Please don’t disappear again.” He whispers before diverting his attention from you again as he continues to help the nice lady clean up.

You open your mouth to reply, but you are taken aback by his serious tone. He sounded very distressed, and you weren’t sure if joking around was the best option right now.

In fact, you didn’t know how to react at all.

You watch him silently as he finishes cleaning the mess he made and makes his way back to you and the owner of the stall. He exchanges a few words with the nice lady, offering her some money for the damaged fruits.

She refuses to take it at first, but after Soobin's insistence, she finally takes the money with a small bow.

“I apologize again ma’am, I’ll be more careful from now on.” He bows one more time before turning to you, a light shade of red covering Soobin’s cheeks and ears as he grabs your hand and walks to the opposite direction of where the accident happened. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

You stare at your joined hands, his fingers intertwined with yours as his thumb strokes small circles on your hand, sending shivers down your arm. Your eyes linger a few seconds more before looking up at him with confused eyes.

Sobbin stops walking when you don't reply to him, your head still all over the place trying to process everything that happened in the span of five minutes.

“Are you okay?” He asks, his worried eyes scanning you. “y/n?” His eyebrows are almost touching due to his frown.

His eyes land on your intertwined hands, letting go of your hand and placing it on your shoulder, shaking you softly as he calls your name again.

“Yes, sorry,” You shake your head, snapping out of your zoning out. “So much happened just now my brain is trying to process it all.”

You stare at each other in silence, a smile appearing on his face as he continues to stare with intrigued eyes.

“Why are you acting like you are the one who just embarrassed themselves in the middle of the market?” He asks in a teasing tone, holding his laughter as you press your lips in a straight line, trying to not laugh.

It doesn’t last long before you both give in, laughing at the spectacle Soobin created.

“This is your fault,” Soobin pouts as his neck gets red, the embarrassment taking over him again as his eyes avoid you. “I thought I lost you.”

Your heart sinks at the words, the endearing tone making you hold back a nervous laugh;

Him being upset at the thought of losing you was making you feel things, and you are not sure if that's a good thing at all.

“I thought I lost you too,” You reply with a shrug, trying to play it cool. “You walk too fast.” You tease him, making him huff back at your jab.

“Well, you walk too slow,” He replies in a challenging tone.

“No, I walk at normal human speed. It’s not my fault you are built different.”

Soobin jaw drops in disbelief before he snorts laughing, throwing his head back as he covers his mouth with his hand. “Hey! that’s bullying!”

The tension and the seriousness of the situation ease out as you both laugh it out. His dimples grow bigger as he tries to calm himself down, failing to do so as he continues laughing which makes you laugh.

“Okay, enough market for now.” Soobin says in between laughter, his hand reaching out to yours before intertwining his long fingers with yours again.

You look down to your hands, a thousand jabs in your stomach as he plays with your fingers. His thumb caresses the back of your hand before he squeezes your hand a couple of times, making you laugh at his antics.

You look up to him, who is still entertained with your hand, a faint smile decorating his lips before he speaks again.

“I’m not losing you again.” He speaks slowly, his words sinking in as his eyes meet yours.

You hum back in reply, not sure how to respond at the sudden seriousness.

“Let’s go to the exhibition then?” You try to avoid being awkward again, taking a deep breath before he nods.

He turns to look ahead, pulling on your hand gently as you walk down the market together, his hand never leaving yours.

The market is very busy, but you can’t really focus on whatever is happening around you. All you can think about is how his hand covers yours, his thumb still caressing your skin softly as he continues to hold your hand tightly, squeezing it lightly every now and then.

It’s almost like he is trying to remind you that you are holding hands.

You walk peacefully until you reach a small gray building by the lake with the words ‘Roman Empire Exhibition’ written on a sign by the entrance door.

It seems like the place is usually a restaurant, and they took half of the place to host the exhibition which would explain the amount of tables and chairs stacked up by the entrance.

“Should we head in?” Soobin turns to look at you with excited eyes.

You nod with a faint smile before you both step into the exhibition, his hand never leaving yours as you make your way inside.

You spend the next hour walking around the exhibition, enjoying the artifacts and the extensive video-documentaries being displayed on the walls. Soobin took it as his personal duty to explain everything to you, and even though you already know most things thanks to your dad, you listen to him attentively with a smile as he gives you a tour around the exhibition.

You notice a special glimmer in his eyes when he talks about the artifacts, the excitement exuding from him as he continues to walk you through the exhibit which makes your heart rate increase every time your eyes meet.

And by the time you are done with the exhibition, you are surprised to realise that you are still holding Soobin’s hand.

He did let go of your hand every now and then when explaining and pointing at things, but he would immediately hold your hand back, almost like second nature to him.

You obviously didn’t mind it at all, but you weren’t sure why he would keep holding onto your hand when the exhibition barely had people inside, there was no way of losing you in there.

But you didn’t want to make things awkward, so you decided to keep quiet and keep the questions for yourself.

At the end of the day, you are almost certain he doesn’t realize what he is doing.

“Well, what did you think about it?” You ask him as you make your way out the exit into the main lobby of the building.

He rolls his eyes as he moans in satisfaction, “It was better than I expected, ten out of ten.” He nods while closing his eyes, making you giggle at his child-like attitude.

You take a glance of the lobby, your admiration to the beautiful decoration interrupted when your eyes spot the white board on the corner of the room: Make your own pizza here! Pizza classes starting 2 euro each!

“Oh my God, Soobin!” You exclaim excitedly, making him turn to the direction you were looking at.

He squints his eyes to read the sign, gasping in surprise once he is able to read it.

You both turn to look at each other with a smirk, speaking with your eyes before he pulls you by the hand and begins skipping his steps towards the entrance, pulling you by the hand as you follow with a laugh.

Once you are by the sign, you can spot the chef who welcomes you with a grand smile.

“You are in luck! We have one more spot available for the next class, it starts in 5 minutes!” He types into his Ipad your names before going back inside the kitchen to get the credit card machine, Soobin pulling out his wallet to pay the classes to which you quickly reject.

“I can pay,” You speak nervously, not wanting Soobin to spend all his money, taking into consideration he payed the lady for the damaged fruits.

“Absolutely not.” He taps his credit card into the machine, not giving you a second chance to try and offer to at least pay your half. “My treat.”

You feel giddy inside at his gentleman-like attitude, biting your lip before thanking him.

You’ve been good at keeping your feelings in check, but he has been testing you ever since you arrived at the event, the crush growing by the minute which makes you extremely nervous.

“This way please!” The old man greets you into the kitchen, pointing at the one spot left in the long table, your eyes scanning the room to realize…

It’s all couples.

You turn to look at Soobin who is turning pink, his eyes meeting you as he lets out a nervous giggle, realizing too, that you just got yourself into another awkward situation.

You walk to your spot in silence, Soobin following you as he stands behind you once you reach your spot.

The ingredients are organized per couple, and you are thankful to see they have your favorite pizza toppings for selection, turning to look at Soobin with excited eyes to which he replies with a small smile.

The class starts and your attention is fully on the chef, who explains the first few steps to make sure the dough is perfectly made. You made some space for Soobin next to you so you could both work at the same time, but the table was shared with another couple who were taking a lot of space and it was very uncomfortable to try and fit all of you in a line.

“Sorry,” You whisper to Soobin after elbowing him for the fifth time, blowing a string of hair off your face, beginning to get frustrated at the couple next to you who keeps taking more and more space. Even after you kindly asked them to move slightly to the left so you and Soobin could have enough space to work on the dough, they kept taking extra space unconsciously which was making this experience a very unenjoyable one.

“Hey,” Soobin calls your attention in a whisper, turning to look at him with a pout as you punch your dough softly, making him laugh at your antics. “I know,” He comforts you, giving the couple a dirty look which they miss as they are laughing with each other, throwing their dough up in the air like professionals.

You both stare at the couple with a frown, unsure of how to deal with the situation without sounding extremely rude and ruining the mood for everyone else in the class.

“Here, let’s try this.” Soobin whispers again, moving away from the table and walking behind you.

You try to turn around to see where he was going, but he grabs you by the shoulder to prevent you from turning around, standing behind you as he lowers his body to reach your height. “Let’s see if this works,” He speaks softly into your ear, sending shivers down your spine as his hands travel from your shoulders and down your arms until he reaches your dough.

He taps your hand before grabbing the roller, holding the farthest sides before speaking into your ear again, “Come on, grab it.”

You swallow dryly at the unintentional innuendo, letting out a quiet giggle before grabbing into the roller, your hands on top of his as you begin to stretch the dough.

“Why is it so hard?” Soobin asks, surprised at the amount of strength he has to use to stretch your dough.

Your mind, already in the gutter, fails you as you laugh louder.

It takes Soobin a few seconds to understand why you were laughing, nudging you with his shoulder before he joins you laughing. “You’re so nasty,” He scolds you as he continues to stretch your dough, his chest bumping into your back every now and then which just makes the situation worse for you.

You can’t help but laugh every time you feel his hips against your ass, the whole situation making you slightly horny as you try to stay focused on making your pizza…

But all you can think about is having him bend you over and fucking you against the table.

“How thick do you like it?” Soobin genuinely asks, making you laugh again before replying.

“This thick is perfect for me,” You reply in a higher tone, unable to take the conversation seriously which makes him huff at your childish innuendos.

“You are worse than a high schooler,” He laughs, surprised to see how dirty minded you are. “Behave,” He scolds you in a deeper tone, playing along with your immature game.

“Yes daddy,” You reply in almost a high pitched moan, making you both burst into laughter.

You notice the couple next to you staring in annoyance, which makes Soobin cough as he goes back to working on the dough in silence, trying to ease the awkwardness between you two and the couple next to you, feeling slightly victorious to see that they too, had a taste of their own medicine.

“Let’s make a heart,” Soobin breaks the silence as he puts his dough in front of you.

You blink repeatedly before grabbing the roller, stretching his dough without replying, or looking back.

This time around, his hands are on top of yours, rolling carefully to not hurt you as you do most of the work. Thankfully, his dough was softer than yours, which made it easier to roll by yourself.

Once you are done rolling you begin to shape his pizza, both of your hands working diligently to make it a pretty heart. You continue to make sure the heart is perfect, molding it a couple of times with your thumbs to fix any edges that could look bumpy and ruin the shape.

“You’re good at this,” He compliments you as he takes his hands off the dough, letting you finish the small details you were diligently working on.

However, your breath hitches when his hands land on your waist, your head turning to meet Soobin’s eyes.

You stare at each other in silence, your hand still on the dough as his rest on your waist, his thumb making small circles on your skin which made it tingle to his touch.

He licks his lips as his eyes dance between your eyes and your lips, making you nervous as you notice him lean closer to your face.

You can’t help but look at his wet lips and then back up to his eyes, his stare soft and his nervous eyes as he is a few inches away from your lips.

And then...

Clap!

A thunderous clap startles both of you, turning to the front to see the chef standing in the middle of the room congratulating everyone for finishing step one, and informing everyone that you will begin adding toppings to the pizza now.

You clear your throat as you shift in your place, Soobin’s hands leaving your waist as he takes a step to the side, still feeling his eyes on you before he takes a step forward, standing next to you but his eyes now focused on your pizzas.

You were able to get all the toppings on the pizza in less than 5 minutes, and then you waited 10 minutes for the pizzas to cook in the oven, which was handed to you in a pizza box by the chef who thanked everyone for coming to the class.

You exchanged a few words with Soobin and a few other people from the class as you waited for the pizzas, adding one of the girls to your contacts as she recognised you from orientation.

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow!” You wave back at her before stepping out the door, Soobin following behind as you make your way down the lakeside. You look up to notice the different colours in the sky as the sunset reaches its peak point . “The sky is so pretty.”

Soobin looks up as he continues to walk beside you holding both of the pizza boxes, humming pleased at the pretty sunset.

“Let’s sit over there,” He points with his head to a small bench by the lake, a man setting up his amp to busk not far from there.

“Sure,” you nod, walking towards the bench as the sound of the man’s saxophone starts to ring in your ears, a romantic ballad complementing the scenery surrounding you.

“Oh I love this song!” Soobin exclaims as he makes it to the bench a few seconds before you and places the boxes on top of the bench before turning to look at you. “Let’s dance,” he smiles as he grabs your hands, placing one on his shoulder before placing it on your waist.

He holds your other hand as he pulls you closer to him, slowly swaying side to side before you could reproach him.

You can’t help but laugh with him, both of you swaying slowly as he guides you. “You’re a great dancer,” You compliment him, watching his profile as he watches the sunset over the lake, a smirk appearing on his face before turning to you.

“My mother signed me up for dance classes when I was younger.” He explains in a soft voice, “She always said that if I wanted to marry a princess I would have to know how to dance with her.”

“You wanted to marry a princess?” You tease with a smile before he lets go of your waist to make you twirl, his hand finding your waist again as you continue to dance.

“No. I wanted to marry Rapunzel, to be specific.” He looks down and smiles, the memory playing in his head. “I was an ambitious little guy.”

“That’s so cute,” You scrunch your nose in endearment, picturing baby Soobin telling his mom he wanted to marry Rapunzel.

The song unfortunately comes to an end, and both of you let go of each other to clap for the man who bowed and mouthed a quiet thank you before getting ready to play his next song.

“Okay, let’s eat and then I’ll take you home.” Soobin places his hand on your shoulder and taps it lightly before walking towards the boxes, handing you the one on the top.

“Thank you,” You bow lightly before opening the box, “Oh, this one is yours.”

You look at the heart shaped pizza, noticing it has the exact same toppings as yours and it was slightly bigger than yours, your mouth watering at the sight.

“It’s okay, we got the same topics. Plus you worked extra hard to shape it, it’s only fair you get it. ” He takes the other box and sits on the bench, placing the box on his legs before opening the box to air the heat out. “My heart is yours if you want it.”

You stare at him for a few seconds, his eyes never leaving yours as a faint smile appears on his lips.

“Thank you,” You whisper, feeling shy all of a sudden as you take a seat next to him, opening the box to air the pizza as Soobin nods in response, taking a slice of his pizza and taking the first bite.

“Anytime, y/n” He replies after swallowing, turning to you one last time before you begin eating your heart shaped pizza in silence. The saxophone and the sunset being your companions as your heart beat increases for the thousandth time today.

a/n: Hello guys! Thank you for reading and for liking this story. I'm having a lot of fun writing it for you guys :] I apologise for the late update, I just came back from a work trip so I've been all over the place trying to get back to normal day to day life!

What did you think about the date? your comments and reblogs motivate me to write, so don't forget to share your thoughts! it helps me a lot c: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, happy readings!

Ceci x

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1braincell4rent · 10 months

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Welcome, my dear humans to this... rambling?

Yes, I think that´s probably it. I´m just going to analise the Good Omens Season 2 Opening, talk about a few things that caught my attention, do some innacurate predictions and probably make more questions that are not gonna be solved (not even when the season actually gets released).

That being said, I apologise for tha will I´m about to write. But I had nowhere else to write it, so bear with me, okay?

Okay, we begin with a sequence pretty similar to the opening for the first season. Where´s this? I wonder.

But there´s two things that inmediately caught my attention, as Crowley and Aziraphale begin their particular procession across the fields.

The first one, there´s a person walking with a box on their hands. That same box has a couple of arrows signaling upwards and I can tell it´s also the same symbol we saw on at least one of the promotional posters of GO S2. So it´s probably the thing Gabriel had to deliver, if we go with theories plus what was said in the sneak peeks.

The second thing here... Why are here so many goats? Is this a hell reference?

So now we set the goats on fire because why not, and there´s a building on the top right that gives me ancient roman vibes (nevermind me guys, the clear thing here is that we´re soon all going to hell and more people will join the charade).

We keep going to a cementery now with people following the angel and demon and there´s a few tombstones with eyecatching things written on them.

"Jane Austen", says in one and I wonder why.

"Here lies the former shell of Beelzebub", in another (which clearly makes reference to the fact they changed the actress for that part).

"Everyday", in reference to the song.

And also "Here lies Adam"...

Wait, Adam? What the actual f-

Anyway, so now they finally descend to hell and I can just tell by the chair and computer set in there what whoever has that administrative job is not getting paid enough for this shit.

Back up in the Earth I´m finally able to spot Muriel (sorry guys, I´m real shit to spot characters in these things) and we´re clearly in the middle of World War II, as you can see by the Winston Churchill signs and all the destructive ambience very fit for that historical period.

Now, what I wanted to talk about was the movie that´s being announced, "Stairway to Heaven". I´m going to leave down here the summary because I think it might be interesting:

"Returning to England from a bombing run in May 1945, pilot Peter Carter's plane is damaged and his parachute ripped to shreds. He has his crew bail out safely, but figures it is curtains for himself. He gets on the radio, and talks to June, a young American woman working for the U.S. Army Air Forces, and they are quite moved by each other's voices. Then he jumps, preferring this to burning up with his plane. He wakes up in the surf. It was his time to die, but there was a mix-up in heaven. They couldn't find him in all that fog. By the time his "Conductor" catches up with him twenty hours later, Peter and June have met and fallen in love. This changes everything, and since it happened through no fault of his own, Peter figures that heaven owes him a second chance. Heaven agrees to a trial to decide his fate."

So we got a miracle, a romance and heaven and hell involved in conflict... Does it sound familiar to you?

As we keep walking rabbits start to fall from the sky and I feel as we approach the theater the time has come for Aziraphale to do his so much awaited magic show.

So, there´s a few things to point out here as well.

For starters, the posters of The Ladies of Camelot (that I´m guessing are the showgirls), those same ladies joining the procession and... have you noticed this is the first time in these openings where Aziraphale is not walking with Crowley but joining him later at the stage, dressed as magician?

And so here goes one of my crazy theories: what if the scene in the trailer where we see Aziraphale surprised at the theatre is because he´s surprised Crowley arrived? Surely we also see a whadow before him and it could also be something completely different and scary... But then again, if what Aziraphale is seeing at that second is real bad stuff, why are the showgirls in the background looking amused?

The theater curtain opens and we get this scene when, again for the first time, Crowley and Aziraphale fly together. Like, literally together, not one after the other as until now.

Wasn´t Crowley proposing to run away to another galaxy together last season? (ah, of course they´re not going to do that now, they got things to do on Earth).

But I´m hopeful we can see where these people were before the beginning of times, before the Eden, when Crowley was still an angel and helped creating galaxies. I read somewhere a theorie that he might be Raphael or (and I thing this is more plausible) someone close to Raphael. So yes, we´ll see where this goes...

Back on Earth we can see Crowley and Aziraphale sitting together on the bookshop roof and, have I mentioned since the space thingy now are raining hearts? What is this? And who was the genius who thought putting "Give me coffee or give me death" to a coffee shop was a good idea? (ah, we all know this and we love Neil for it, just saying).

Anyway, I´m so glad to see the Bentley again. And all those discs... Will it be so important the constant repetition of the song Everyday? Why? And had it something to do with the fact Crowley´s car has a similar problem and no matter what CD he puts it always plays a Queen song?

People´s announcing the "Second Coming" which could very well be a reference of Season 2 and we don´t need to panic yet.

But there´s a lot of elevators here, with angels inside, so we can fairly guess it´s time to go to heaven (and it´ll probably be the last stop).

But before that, and notice that no one in this procession uses an elevator, they get to this cinema where "The Arrival" is screening.

Could it be a reference of the movie of the same title or just a hint because the first episode of this season is titled like that? I´m gonna go for this last theorie, because it makes more sense to me.

The same symbol (arrows pointing upwards) that were in Gabriel´s box are now here in the screen...

Finally, all these people get to heaven not by the usual system (the elevators) but by some stairs and under it there´s a lot of stuff piled that I´m not going to analise because I basically blind at this point (my fault, don´t cancel me).

Can I guess here there´ll be more conspiracies with heaven involved?

#good omens #good omens season 2 #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #anthony j crowley #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #good omens fandom #crowley

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variousqueerthings · 6 months

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SO IT'S PANDORICA OPENS TIME

we'll do this episode on its own, because I think it's its own thing!

and oh boy do we get into that peak M*ffat bullshit now...

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 4/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or to have agency over her emotional interiority): 4/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 4/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 2/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 4/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 5/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 4/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 42/100 (if I can count….)

oh dear oh dear oh dear.... and tbh. I think I was being kind

OBJECTIFICATION: River Song dresses like Cleopatra in order to be sexy for the Doctor. Let's just... get that out of the way. Amy is I believe wearing short shorts and not a miniskirt, so that's a bit better

River Song's first outfit in Stormcage is actually kinda great (and so is ofc her hair, always), but then later on she goes full sexy but competent outfit, eh. I'm rating it this low because they're our lead female characters and that's what we're getting

PLOT-POINT: OH! BOY! Amy is wandering around, asking what's going on, not really able to contribute anything other than a big questionmark, then she gets attacked and saved by Rory, but of course she doesn't remember Rory, so it's all his POV (and we do get an eye-rolling, she's up there surrounded by Romans, so you'd better get there first joke + Rory making a jealous comment later on)

Furthering that we get... for actually the first proper time this season outside of episode one! some sense that there were repercussions of the Doctor's falling into Amy's life like that, but it's a single scene of River walking through Amy's bedroom and seeing all her figures and home-made Doctor paraphernalia and going "Oh Doctor, why do I let you out," and like... look, she knows the Doctor better than the Doctor -- and therefore we -- know her, but she's just some woman still. this is her third episode. her POV doesn't quite... work... for me

more than that though, we now get bits of Amy's past, except these things have never been brought up or been important before. Amy likes Romans now, because it's needed for the plot. Amy liked the story of Pandora's box, because it's important for the plot. ARRRHG M*FFAT! this is not character-writing! and it's only casually mentioned, it's not really anything to do with her

and then she gets shot by Auton!Rory. that thing where in Cold Blood I mentioned the tragic turnaround of Rory dying when he was trying to protect Amy, but anyway. that's now back to the status quo. Amy got shot by Rory and he's sad

COMPLEXITY: classic M*ffat bullshit. it's not actually that complicated, technically, sort of, it's just made to feel complicated, because it keeps setting up mysteries -- the Tardis is exploding (do we ever find out why or how exactly, I don't remember, we'll find out!) and there's a best-of people we've seen this season in a bit of a stupid montage that's all about River finding the Doctor, and this Pandorica fairytale thing and it's about sooome mysterious being, and now ALL THE ALIENS are there, and the Romans are autons, and River called the Doctor by grafitti'ing an ancient rock... it pretends to be complicated, but it's not really, it's just about a big universe conspiracy with the Doctor at the centre. and therein lies... one of the rubs

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: it does better here, because it's literally season finale part 1 -- so what do we get?

Rory is back! wait, whaaat? compelling mystery -- he's sad because Amy doesn't remember him, and then she's happy to see him without knowing why

the Doctor and Amy don't have much going on... nor really do Rory and the Doctor, outside of their first fun interaction

the Doctor and River... eh, middling, she keeps saying things that make me sigh, because it's meant to be a haha wait and see why she's treating them like an old married couple, and that assumes I want to wait and see, or believe M*ffat can pull it off (I don't think he did)

uh lore and plot, the Pandorica... I think it should have been explored earlier. the myth, that is, not the box, the box is fine here. it should have been built up more, but here it is! and the Doctor is going into it and the Tardis is exploding... my opinions on this is two points down

COMPANIONS MATTER: lol. Okay. so I mentioned that Amy doesn't do anything in this episode and she doesn't. she spend the Big Doctor Speech Moment unconscious (not that she could have done anything there either, but at least have her in the scene, in awe at all the life that the Universe is full of or soooomething)

Rory does matter in a sense, but at this point I'm so frustrated by Amy not doing anything and being treated like a plot-point that I just see his character as a facet of that. he saves her life and then goes to talk with her about stuff in the hopes she'll remember him, and then shoots her accidentally -- to be fair, more might happen in the next episode

River... does River count as a companion? she is stuck in the Tardis exploding

but man. focusing in on what Amy is doing (or not doing) is increasingly making me want to tear my hair out

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I SHOULD RATE THIS LOWER! THE ONLY REASON I DON'T IS BECAUSE I KNOW THIS GETS WORSE LATER IN THE RUN! oh you know that mysterious being the Pandorica myth was about? that was THE DOCTOR! who is, hold on, finds quote:

"A nameless terrible thing – soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies – the most feared being in all the cosmos -- and nothing could stop it or hold it or reason with it" siiiiiiiiiiiigh sure Jan. we have begun step one of our journey of "the Doctor is not just some guy travelling around space (quite powerful, can perceive time and is near-immortal, absolutely), the Doctor is everyone's special war criminal, who destroys everything by being So Damn Cool

oh wait, let's bring up this as well: "no plan no backup no weapons worth a damn, and oh something else, I don’t have anything to lose, so if you’re sitting there in your silly little spaceship with your silly little guns, remember every black day I stopped you and then do the smart thing: let somebody else try first.”

you see, when RTD was establishing the nu!who ethos, a lot of the time, it was companions, or other people who solved the day. compare this to the poison sky, where the Doctor is about to commit suicide to stop the Sontarans, and then this kid -- this kid who absolutely fucked up and was an asshole -- tries to do better by taking the Doctor's place... and dies... and stops the Sontarans...

or Rose. or Martha. or Donna. or Harriet Jones. or Jack. or Jackie and Pete and Mickey. or fucking Wilf! Remember hiiim. or any countless single-episode people who did cool shit!

and tbh even watching Classic!who there's a fair bit of other people sorting out parts of the plot, while the Doctor does the more sciencey-whiency stuff

the Doctor didn't yell at aliens that he was better than them and then they ran away, that's not... what happened in so many of those episodes

but no, see the Doctor is the most dangerous, most important being in the world, and rather than just fuckn... destroying him (Time Lords Can Die, it is in fact so well-established that all of them are dead, except the Doctor... and the Master)... they put him in a prison, made by an elaborate trap surrounding AMY POND

so Amy is not a character who is in this story as a character. Amy is in this story as bait. for the very important Doctor. jeez.

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: Eh, I mean technically it's a best-off with the villains, but their whole Selves are now bent towards the Doctor in a way that makes no sense, and it completely forgets why the Doctor is ever able to do anything so... on the ethos of previous DW it falls hard

“SEXINESS”: actually there is less of this once we get past the whole... Cleopatra... thing.... and the Amy and the Romans jokes.... it's not as egregious as, say, the first few minutes of Time of Angels

INTERNAL WORLD: I rated this one middly, because there isn't really any world-building in this, and I gueeesss there doesn't have to be?

Amy's world-building sucks. I put it down a point

POLITICS: apart from the sexism inherent in the writing of Amy Pond, there's not anything more. and I feel like I've gone over that enough in the other points. but like. it ain't good writing

#im watching nu!who #im watching eleven who #the pandorica opens #the measurement

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dialovers-translations · 1 year

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Diabolik Lovers LOST EDEN ー Carla Dark [06]

ー The scene starts on the open fields at Rotigenberg

Carla: We’ve arrived. This is Rotigenberg.

Shin: Blergh...It smells like a dumster in here. Also what the fuck is up with this soil!?

Yui: ( The ground’s all muddy...Like we’ll sink right through in when simply standing on top... )

( Also, an odd stench lingers in the air. Slightly sweet, like something which is rotting... )

( I feel like I might get nauseous if I stay here too long. But this is our destination, isn’t it...? )

Carla: I explaind that these are the wastelands of the Demon World, did I not?

The Ghouls have no other choice but to live here.

Shin: In other words, they’ve been banished to the North because they’re second-rate Demons?

Carla: Shin. Watch your words. This is their homeland. Who knows who could be listening in on us.

Shin: ...I know. I’ll be careful.

Anyway, we’re here to drag them away from here, no?

Yui: ( Drag them away...I feel like we could use a less violent term to describe it... )

Carla: We will not. I shall not ask for them to cooperate with us against their own will.

We shall make a deal.

Shin: A deal...huh?

???: Huh? Didn’t think we’d run into each other here.

ー Somebody approaches them

Carla: Kino, huh? What brings you here...?

Kino: I mean, I was born and raised here? It’s basically my homeland.

Carla: Your homeland, you say? Are you not Karlheinz’ illegitimate child?

Kino: I am? I’m his child. A prince. But that has nothing to do with it, does it?

Carla: ...

Yui: ( Huh...? I feel as if Carla-san...made a strange expression just now while looking at Kino-kun... )

Kino: If you’re curious, allow me to explain. I was left behind here.

Yui: ( Eh...!? )

Kino: That’s why I told you that I was born and raised here.

Carla: If you are an orphan, how did you find out that you are Karlheinz’ son?

Kino: Heehー Such a dull question.

Let me redirect the question to you, Mr. Founder. How would you explain these powers of mine?

*Woosh*

Yui: ...!!

Shin: Oi, that’s dangerous!! What are you doing!?

Carla: Stop, Shin.

Shin: But...!

Carla: Don’t.

Shin: ...

Kino: See? I can deal tons of damage, and I wasn’t even being serious.

I’m sure you remember how I nearly wrecked your entire manor the other day?

I believe you recognize these powers. Don’t you, Carla?

Carla: ...I do.

Kino: Fufu. You’re quick to understand. I happen to be rather fond of that.

Anyway, it’s not very comfortable talking over here, is it? Come with me. I’ll show you around.

Shin: Oi, where are you going to take us?

Kino: I don’t have any bad intentions. When in Rome, do as the Romans do...No?

I know these lands like the back of my hand. Let me take you someplace where you can relax. ...Come on, let’s go.

ー Kino walks ahead

Shin: Che...That bastard...

Carla: Shin. Don’t let your temper get the best of you.

Shin: But you know...!

Carla: I shall take him up on his offer.

Yui. What will you do?

Yui: I...

Selection

→ Guess we have no other choice

Yui: ...Guess we have no other choice. Not much else we can do.

Like Carla-san said, we just have to do as Kino-kun said...

Carla: That is a rather backwards reasoning.

Yui: Eh...?

Carla: I am not obeying him for such a reason.

First you get a grasp on what your opponent is like, then you use that to your own advantage. That is how I do things.

Yui: M-My bad...

( Right. Carla-san always thinks well before he acts. )

( It’d be rude of me to assume he had the same simplistic reasoning as me... )

→ I’ll go with you (❦)

Yui: I’ll go with you.

Besides, it seems like Kino-kun is knowledgeable on this area.

He might be able to teach us a thing or two about it.

Carla: Heh. That is a rather constructive comment.

Yui: ( ...Did he just praise me...? )

( I can’t help but feel happy by that. )

Kino: Oiー What’s taking you so long? Hurry up and come over here.

Carla: Yes. We are coming. ーー Understood, Shin?

Shin: Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, standing here in the mud isn’t exactly appealing either.

Monologue

Rotigenberg, the home of the Ghouls,

turned out to be a very unpleasant, smelly place

I honestly cannot imagine,

that I would be able to live under such circumstances.

However, Kino-kun said that this is his homeland (故郷).

On top of that, he was abandoned at this place...

I do not know,

how much of what he told us is even true,

However, it seemed as if somewhat about his story caught Carla-san’s attention (思う所).

I wonder what exactly awaits here,

up here in the far Northーー?

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #carla tsukinami #lost eden #diabolik lovers translation #lecarladark6

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jvstheworld · 8 months

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The Buffy Re-watch: S2E6 (part 2)

Halloween

Buffy looks good in her costume, as does Willow.

Correct reaction Xander on both counts.

Cordy is confusing, Oz thinks so too.

Who gives toothbrushes to kids on Halloween? And how many did they buy to be able to give out to kids? Like did they buy a few shop's stock of them? Are they dentists so they are able to get them in bulk, if that's a thing? Just get candy, it would be easier and cheaper.

What was the point of Ethan's plan? Just complete chaos with no actual goal? Just doing it for shits and giggles. Not judging, just curious.

Willow is a ghosty, Xander is an army man, and Buffy is an 18th century noble woman. This is going to be fun.

To someone from the 18th century a car would seem like a demon. Sort of reminds me of the Star Trek: TNG episode where Picard had to convince a group of proto Vulcans that he wasn't a god. Specifically, the conversation he has with one of the villagers about how technology has advanced and how it might appear to others from the past. To an 18th century woman, a car could be seen as something horrible and evil because she can not comprehend the technology, just like in Star trek where Picard was believed to be a god because his crew saved someone's life. Does that make sense? Because it does to me, but I know that not everyone might follow what I'm saying.

And after only a few seconds of 18th century Buffy, Willow is already done with her shit.

'Who died and made her the boss?' Well, Willow technically died and since she was the only one who remembered her own name when she got turned into a ghosty, she got to be the boss.

Spike loves the chaos.

Has Giles been oblivious to the chaos this whole time?

Cordelia is good at recaps, Very succinct. Hey maybe she should do the intro recaps.

How and when did someone get in to the Summer's house basement? That made no sense to me. They just hide in there until someone happened to be around for them to come out and kill them? I know it's a fantasy, horror show, but come on. Because there's no way Angel would have left the door open when he walked in and he would never have let anyone follow him in. And before Angel got there, they locked the place down. So, someone give me a realistic answer to this, please. I'm struggling for one.

Giles is curious as to how Willow's costume makes her a ghosty. It's a fair question since he probably never saw her before the trick or treating started.

Giles goes quite at the name Ethan. He has good reasons to.

Spike rounding up mini demons to hunt Buffy.

Larry the Pirate from earlier is now an actual gross pirate.

Janus- the Roman God with 2 faces. In season 1 episode 3 of Sherlock, this particular god was used as the name of the hire car company that Sherlock and John investigate.

'Hello Ripper.' Damn, Giles has a dark past we don't know about. We'll find out in 2 episodes time.

Xander gets revenge on Larry the Pirate. Okay, but still needs to work on his issue of feeling inadequate.

Cordy still doesn't believe hat Angel is a vampire?

Angel just picks up Buffy, sweet.

Giles has been hiding a lot of himself from Buffy and friends.

Spike, if you're going to kill someone do it quickly, because at any second the tables could turn and you will get your ass handed to you.

'Hi honey, I'm home.' See, I get that you want to savour the moment but if your goal is to kill someone, don't talk, just do. Think of all the heroes who would have died if the villains didn't monologue. But also slight parallel here as Spike will being saying this to Buffy in season 7 episode 21.

Ethan disappears and Spike knows when to get the hell out of Dodge. Self preservation skills.

I like that after this entire night Willow feels confident to wear her outfit without the ghosty costume. It's a great look for her and Oz likes it too. It's the second time he notices her.

Angel hated women from his time. We could have saved so much trouble if we knew this earlier. The scene between Angel and Buffy is cute, I won't deny that. And Buffy is just as pretty in a tank top and sweatpants as she was in her costume.

Ethan is gone for now, but the look on Giles' face, damn that's dark. He really doesn't want people finding out about his past. I mean, you really wouldn't want anyone to find out if your secret was as bad as his is. Which we will find out about in 2 episodes time. I seriously thought that gap between these was bigger for some reason.

Okay, that's it for this episode. Tomorrow, Buffy has an unexpected visitor with some shady shit going on.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #rupert giles #willow rosenberg #xander harris #angel #cordelia chase #spike #btvs s2 #buffy rewatch #tv show thoughts

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anthurak · 2 years

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The Tragic Irony of Neo’s Semblance

Has anyone else noticed the quite interesting, almost tragic irony that is Neo’s semblance?

With not even a snap of her fingers, Neo can assume the form of anyone she wishes. She can mimic another’s appearance perfectly. With her semblance, you’d think Neo would be the ideal spy and infiltrator, able to get into anywhere she wanted.

And yet, for all of her skill and talent in the mimicry of others, there is ONE thing, one aspect of just about anyone who’s form she assumes that Neo simply cannot replicate:

The ability to speak.

It’s almost kind of funny when you think about it. Here we have a girl who can not only mimic any appearance she wishes at a moment’s notice, but also has years of experience and practice in mimicking body language and other physical quirks. With only a bit of observation, she can replicate a person’s appearance and physical mannerisms so perfectly that not even that person’s closest friends and loved ones would be able to tell the difference...

...right up until the moment that person was expected to actually SAY something.

Again, it’s almost comical the way Neo’s semblance is hamstrung by her inability to talk. It’s easy to picture countless situations where Neo is able to replace some important or significant character, is able to perfectly replicate their appearance, get RIGHT up to whatever target she’s after... and then someone just asks her a question and then everything falls apart.

It’s why we always see Neo disguise herself as random background extras like Atlas soldiers or Schnee servants and almost never tries disguising herself as one of the heroes for more than VERY brief instances. Because she KNOWS that if she tried to replace Ruby or Weiss or anyone else to slip in among the heroes, she’d have maybe two minutes TOPS before everyone would start getting VERY curious at just how quiet Ruby or whoever else is suddenly being.

Oh, and if/when that person in question escapes whatever closet Neo stuffed them in and confronts their friends and puts Neo in a ‘spot the shapeshifter’ situation, Neo would be screwed. Like I think it’s pretty easy to imagine such a scene in Volume 9 where Ruby and Neo are fighting and Weiss/Blake/Yang find them, with Neo have disguised herself as Ruby.

The rest are confused at first, then Ruby blurts out “I’m the real one! That one’s Neo!”

The group then proceeds to look to the other Ruby who simply opens her mouth. Opens it again. And then gives a look that can only be described as “...Fuck.”

And given what we’ve seen of Neo, I can’t help but think this irony fits her all too well. When we look at Neo across her appearances in Roman Holiday going through Volumes 6-8, I think we see a girl who very often tries to use her semblance as a way of ‘escaping’ a painful reality. At first, this took the form of Trivia using her semblance quite understandably as a means of escaping the control of her parents. But by the end of the book, we see it used in a more unsettling manner.

At the end of Roman Holiday, after fulling assuming her new persona and more or less orchestrating the deaths of her parents by blowing up for childhood home, Neo basically writes off any guilt or trauma she might feel from this by simply deciding that Trivia ‘died’ in that explosion too.

And we see this trend continue in Volumes 6, 7 and 8. Rather than actually trying to cope with her grief over losing Roman, Neo just chases revenge on anyone she considered responsible for his death. But this just leads to her being easily manipulated by Cinder, a fact she is totally oblivious to right up to the point Cinder kicks her into the void.

I think Neo’s character and arc through the show represents the futility of trying to completely escape reality through fantasy. That no matter how perfectly you craft a fantasy, reality still comes crashing through the wall before too long. Whether it’s Neo’s perfectly crafted disguises being undone the moment she’s expected to actually SAY something, or her obsession with revenge blinding her to how easily Cinder was manipulating her.

It’s rather fitting, considering that Neo’s semblance is called ‘Overactive Imagination’.

#rwby #rwby analysis #Neopolitan #rwby semblance #Ruby Rose #Cinder Fall #in which neo's semblance is no where NEAR as OP as people seem to think

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indelibleevidence · 1 year

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Apparently I didn't do this the first time round (what was wrong with me?), so here are my 4x02 thoughts:

Really cool puzzles in this episode - both the magnetite map and the ATM have such great solutions. I wonder who came up with the creepy facial recognition gas-ATM.

I get why Patterson was so pissed at Boston to begin with this time around (the whole 'I coded a backdoor into Wizardville so I could snoop on people's phones' thing was a massive betrayal of trust, even if he then apologised and helped the team arrest his terrorist boyfriend), but why was Boston so mean to Kurt? 'You got one, Limpy!' I'd love to see you survive a gut shot, Boston (and let's be realistic, if they hadn't stopped the show at season 4.5, he probably would have gotten one, because gut shots are Blindspot's favourite injury - Mayfair, Jane, Roman, Patterson, Kurt, Keaton, Weitz...).

I've said it before and I'll say it again - as much as I love both Rich and Boston, the comedy gay couple/sassy gay friend trope makes me facepalm. I just don't get the sense in this episode that these men are attracted to each other, despite Rich's cooing. They have sibling chemistry, not ex-lovers who are still pining for each other, and they remind me of children squabbling over who gets the first cookie. 🙄 At least 4x08 goes a little way towards fixing that (until Rich ruins it by being a total asshole).

Remi's face when Sokolov describes the FBI as hamstrung by bureaucracy and ego is just awesome. She's like, 'Yep, this guy gets it.'

And again, the FBI's 'shoot first, ask questions later' policy comes back to bite them, because if Sokolov had lived, no 4x08... 🤷‍♀️ But also, I have no idea how they would have written it into the show, so...

The Remi and Roman scenes just made me so sad, because Remi is completely alone, talking to her brother who isn't there, trying to justify herself and her convictions (which we see at the start of 4x03, she isn't that sure of. 'Of course I can kill my husband...but not right now, that wouldn't be the right time.'

They really could have used the 'Zapata was on the plane, but not really' plot thread to make everyone cry, but they didn't bother. I wonder if they filmed a scene or two that were cut for length. I'll forever be sad that we never got any deleted scenes for seasons 4 or 5. 😭

Sometimes Blindspot is as subtle as a brick to the face with its cases and subplot parallels, but they did a great job with this episode. Sokolov being able to convince agents from multiple agencies to hand over documents, because there's no inter-agency cooperation, goes nicely with Keaton's complete lack of inter-agency cooperation re: Zapata (and why does it need to be kept so super secret that even a team working to take HCI Global down can't be read in, Keaton?). And Madeline's gleeful confession that she killed her husband pairs really well with Remi mixing up a little gift for Kurt at the end of the episode.

Audrey did so well with her 'I hate this undercover assignment' scene. Poor Tasha. Even though I don't see why Reade couldn't know, I do feel awful for her.

Madeline has such potential to be a great villain, but they just didn't bother to go anywhere meaningful with her. Helios was pretty masterful as a plan, but her underlying motives with her father are tissue-paper thin. :/ It makes all of the Helios arc feel kind of pointless, in retrospect. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio does a great job, but after Shepherd and Roman, Madeline is just meh. Plus Remi just steals the show with her plotting and scheming.

Remi turning an argument around on Kurt again is so much fun to watch, and especially the way she course-corrects with the giant eyes and 'I just want to help people, just like you' stuff. Makes me think of the Jane-as-Goth!Remi episode, where she's just overly bitchy. 😁

Brb, squeeing over every moment of Remi now! Especially her knowing that he'll be first through the door to save her, even though she doesn't remember anything about being in the field with him from being Jane.

#blindspot #blindspot rewatch 2023 #blindspot 4x02

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orbmanson7 · 1 year

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now here's a doozy ask— which side do you think logan would confide in first? or, do you even think that, by the end of sanders sides, logan will be able to fix his relationship with the sides completely?

So, you specifically asked who Logan would "confide in" first, which makes this a bit tough to answer, because I'm not fully convinced he would choose to willingly talk about what's bothering him before things get out of hand and the choice is no longer his to make. This is partly because things are clearly at a tipping point for him in the series, but also because it's more entertaining for there to be a big confrontation in an episode before anything gets resolved.

Most likely, I'm betting on Logan blowing up at Roman and/or Thomas directly, and the other demanding an explanation but Logan will be unable to properly vocalize his thoughts and feelings, so things won't go very well.

If Logan were calm and given the chance to speak to someone who may be willing to hear him out, he'd probably be able to at least somewhat articulate what's bothering him. While I would narrow down that kind of scenario to only happening with either Remus, Janus, or Virgil, I don't think Remus would bother with it outside of possibly causing the confrontation, and I'm unsure if Virgil is in a state to not be defensive throughout the conversation.

That mainly leaves Janus, but that doesn't seem like an exchange that would take place as part of an episode, more like a behind the scenes sort of thing that would be referenced in another episode at a later time. And since I said they'd likely want to make Logan say things in an episode, that brings us back to Virgil, so long as he's in the mood to listen.

That being said, I do think Logan speaking up for himself would be part of an episode. Especially since he needs to bring this up to all the sides and Thomas by this point, and if it were to happen after a particularly emotional outburst, he may also be expected to apologize and divulge something about why he said what he did or acted the way he did.

I also am unsure if Logan would want to be vulnerable around any of the other sides. The most likely candidate would be one he may think he's closest to, which is most likely Virgil, but like I said before, he may be too defensive right now to hear Logan out. But he has the best chance of understanding what Logan is dealing with and, depending on how Virgil is doing mentally himself, may be able to help him, either through putting names to emotions or offering what's helped in his own experiences. Virgil and Logan are also the only sides that marginally get along other than Patton and Roman that we've seen (though the latter are a bit on the rocks a bit at the moment, huh?).

To answer the second question - I have hope that improvements will be made by the time the series has ended, but I don't think everything will have been resolved. Maybe it will end in a way that we know they have the ability to work together with a decent balance between the sides, but there's still some hills to climb before things will be evenly remotely harmonious. We may not even get to see what that looks like, but I'm sure the sides can absolutely get along enough to handle further issues constructively by the end of the series.

#logan sanders #sanders sides #orbs speech bubbles #long post #i somehow didnt post this earlier when i answered it so im just posting it now #sanders sides analysis

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fresh-bag-of-ham · 1 year

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for me the tragedy i keep thinking about is how much the kids are all still in logan's thrall, up to the very end. roman of course has already gone back to his dad at the first sign that he's wanted, sets fire to his only real mentor/pseudoparental relationship when his dad tells him to and only meekly asks after the fact if logan was doing it to be a cunt, like he's not sure. maybe he wasn't being a cunt?? logan's death means he'll never have the answer to that question from logan's mouth.

shiv feels like she's staked out her position in a fight but still sees her estrangement from logan as a fight, something that was still current and still being litigated, something where maybe she'll say her piece to logan, punish him with her silence, go off and establish her power outside of waystar like she was doing before, and then maybe, maybe with some distance professionally, she can go back to being just pinky again. and logan's death makes all that impossible of course, and it happens before she can get to where she wants to be in their relationship, at the point furthest from where she wanted to be in that relationship.

kendall has been fighting the battle with logan a lot longer than the others, he knows by now that his relationship with his dad isn't going to get better, that logan isn't going to change. there's a finality to that knowledge now though, that that was as far as your dad ever got, as much as he was ever able to grow and be. you can tell yourself that you'll never get what you need from your relationship with your dad, but to know you'll never get anything at all ever again? not because of who he is and because of your convictions and boundaries but just because he's gone. no calls to screen, the line has been disconnected.

and then how they all have their turn to talk to their dad, desperately blubbering their love into a phone held up to their dead dad's ear, unresponsive, what they've done their whole lives distilled down to a single scene, trying to say the right things, not knowing if he can hear them, not knowing if they'll ever get a response, but still trying, trying, hoping that it means something, hoping that they get through

#connor has the fewest illusions about what he can expect from logan as a father #and logan still manages to let him down on his last day on earth #it's impressive really #succession #succession spoilers

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kimwexlers-brownhair · 10 months

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So sorry if you've been asked this before but in your Yellowsuccess universe, how do you think Shiv's relationships with her brothers would have changed after her rescue both in terms of how they related to each other as teenagers and adults (sorry tried to make a question mark but my keyboard is broken).

Ooh, thanks for asking! I definitley think it would make the brothers more protective of her, at least at first. Shiv, however, would want things to automatically go back to normal so would start ragging on them and making fun of their big feelings almost immediately after the initial tearful bear hug of a reunion. I got a whole scene planned of her just being the biggest shit to them and after some shock, they eagerly play into it because it's so much better to pretend everything's gone back to normal than to truly acknowledge what she went through.

So their relationship appears to stay the same, but of course more is going on underneath the surface. The brothers probably talk in private about...the rumors. Roman is in denial, but goes back and forth between brushing it off and alluding to it in cruel jokes when he and Shiv are really at each other's throats. Connor is confident Shiv dipped into the ol' cannibalism pot, and cites all the survivalist examples such as the Donner Party and the Andes soccer team that had to resort to it. He rationalizes it all quite calmly, not really getting why everyone is so shocked at the idea. Ken wavers. In his mind, he is the Eldest Boy and Shiv is the Baby Sister. Always. I think he would be the most protective, and that may come out in him infantalizing her so much internally that he refuses to believe she'd be capable of it (Pinky can't dance), but that hard, rational side of him inherited from his father also knows deep down the truth. She survived somehow, after all.

Shiv in canon obviously went through some kind of ordeal before we meet her, so I imagine in this universe this is what makes her "a mess" when she meets Tom. But this doesn't seem to really mess with her dynamic with her brothers that we as the audience can see, so it's my belief that fundamentally none of them are able to really change that dynamic. They can stab each other in the back then provide each other comfort in the next scene. Honestly, I think the ordeal would only solidify these dynamics rather than alter them.

Where the real tension lies is that she never says a real word to them about it all. All she ever does is stare them straight in the eye, smile, and say, "The truth is, the plane crashed. A bunch of our friends died. The rest of us scavenged, starved, and prayed until they finally rescued us."

#never apologize for asking me things! it really helps me in my writing #shiv roy #bleeding to death everything's fine #yellowsuccess #succession #kendall roy #roman roy #connor roy

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romanxdrake · 7 months

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sleepness nights and sleepless days, pill bottles hidden in the glove box, skin marred with scars both old and new, deafening silence, crossing the yellow crime scene tape, another pot of coffee for another long night, the fallen son, missing persons fliers, a dog without a muzzle that bites and bites and bites.

❝ I'm not a hero. I don't do good, it's not in me. ❞

supply list: rope, duct tape and zip ties, pain pills and benzos, a few guns that definitely aren't in his name. the guy travels light and packs like a serial killer i don't know what to tell you.

Gender & Pronouns: Cis Male & He/Him Sexuality: Questioning Birthplace: Las Vegas Room #: Apt. 303 Years at the Wexley: 0

roman was raised in the city of sin by a family that seemed to take the name a little too literally: drugs. jail. gangs. violence. there wasn’t much in the criminal underground that the drakes didn’t have their fingers in. the second youngest of six kids, roman was expected to do his part in the family business just as those before him had–but even as a kid roman had his doubts about the lifestyle; growing disoriented as family members came and went to county, their criminal records growing longer every year. he was twenty-three when he finally had enough of the bullshit. roman had known for a long time that his family weren’t good people, it just never occurred to him that he had the option to break the pattern.

becoming a cop hadn’t been his first idea, but at the time it was the biggest fuck you he could think of to send to his family. roman became more or less dead to the drakes, ex-communicated the moment he stepped foot into the police academy. he tried a few awkward attempts at reaching out to his sisters, but he never really knew birdie and mauve was busy trying to make a life of her own. eventually he took a page from mauve’s book, moving to california and starting a life of his own. marriage was hard, and having a kid on the way only made things harder. he took his job at cold cases seriously and made the wrong priorities in life; there are only so many long nights you can spend alone before you go looking for someone to fill the space left by an absent spouse. roman and delilah had been on the verge of ending things for a while, but the events that happened the night june was born ensured their relationship was over.

roman doesn’t remember the night in its entirety–only coming home to see his wife and a stranger in the midst of an argument, then flashes of a golf club swinging at him. when roman awoke in the hospital several days later he was terrified to learn just how much he’d lost in the attack: his marriage, his hearing, and quite possibly his daughter, who was now fighting for her life in the icu after being born months too early. the official report was attempted murder-suicide, a jealous lover who wanted to kill the woman who’d ended their affair. roman was devastated, knowing that he’d drove delilah away from him and nearly put her and their daughter into an early grave. they'd tried counseling. couples, individual, ptsd. fucking art therapy for a month--because he owed her that much. in the end they agreed there was no way to put the pieces of what they had back together. delilah would take june and go live with her parents, but roman could have shared custody if he promised not to get her hopes up of having a father in her life then ghosting. roman quit the force, went private. went dark. hurt people who hurt people, that kind of thing. he developed a reputation as someone willing to work outside the lines of the law and birdie was able to put him in contact with people who needed that kind of help.

he was in new york to meet with birdie and follow up on a new job when the city went into lockdown. he's taken up in an apartment on the lowest floor to keep an eye on things near the lobby, because he has a real bad feeling about how things are heading in the city.

Previous zombie experience: N/A

#he does in fact have good in him #dramatic ass bitch #bnyintro

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anxiouslyfred · 2 years

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Arguing with Characters

For @aro-sides-week Free Day

Summary: Roman is writing a story and struggling with a character who’s identity he doesn’t believe he can write properly. Perhaps through going with it he’ll learn something about himself on the way

Warnings: a few sex mentions

/\/\

Roman was writing but the characters weren't behaving. Well, really they were behaving too well and becoming too fully formed for where he thought his skill was at.

One character in particular was trying to turn every scene to making her have an identity that he really doubted being able to accurately portray. Asexual, probably Aromantic as well, and truthfully he barely knew anything about the identities. How could people tell when they didn't feel something other than in situations where they're being pressured to feel it? Do scenes like that have to be included?

Actually Roman's biggest argument with the character now insisting she was ace was that it contradicted scenes he remembered writing and without going back to read a few thousand words of his own writing and probably putting himself off the entire story he couldn't know how easily they could be changed. That wasn't reasoning that was working against the characters in his head and he'd known it wouldn't from the start.

“You're glaring at your laptop again. Is someone writing a fanfiction that offends you? Can I write a worse one?” Remus commented, wandering past and shoving Roman lightly, but enough he clung to his laptop to avoid dropping it.

“I'm arguing with a character. Do we know anyone Ace or Aro? Can I change Amanda to make her so without destroying the story I've written so far?” He grumbled, looking over to his brother who at the first question clicked and pointed to himself.

Remus just grinned, “I'm ace so that's a start and sure you can. The scenes that would contradict her being either make little sense with how she'd really be feeling anyway. If you swap it from getting embarrassed over a crush to upset over her identity being ignored the argument stays but doesn't cause issues with her family right after moving out.”

“Since when are you ace? Weren't you thirsting over, goodness, who was it last week? That emo kid?” Roman side-eyed him for a moment before looking back at the screen. “And are there videos or do you mind getting interrogated so I can know enough not to write Amanda completely cluelessly?”

Remus waved a hand, pulling things out of the cabinets behind Roman and licking random packaging. “Since ages. I just think sex is juicy to talk about, not actually doing anything, that's dull. Talking to me ain't gonna help you write a traumatised kid who is as likely aroace through trauma as she is to naturally be that way. Ecosia it so the great googlepire can't control the results.”

That day Roman nodded and returned to just writing what was in his head, minus a few arguments over if how Amanda should act. He could trust his character for now at least.

/\/\

“So you've started treating your characters as people. Will I get yelled at for saying I think Greg and Harrison used to have tons of kinky sex but broke up when Harry tried to make the role play full time?” Remus was lounging on Roman's bed when he got in one afternoon, flicking through the notebook that held his novel project.

Roman just rolled his eyes, going to snatch the book back. “No, they're meant to be exes and I don't care what you headcanon for their past.” He sighed, flicking to the next blank page to carry on writing something since the book was out.

“Well it's obvious Greg is going for exhibitionism with Luke so he's gotta be kinky already.” Remus coaxed, only to get a pillow thrown at him. “Just saying what I'm seeing.”

“You're seeing wrong and those guys aren't even getting together. Now hush. Amanda needs to actually get an apology already.” Roman focused up on what he'd been writing recently, scanning the last page.

Remus cackled, pushing the pillow under himself. “From hating to write the girl to constantly having her involved in everything is quite the turn around, Rospeare. You projecting over there?”

“Course not! She's just the most interesting person to describe.” he protested, but paused, glancing to the page. “Cause I am just writing about people, aren't I? Not some label or minority but people whomever the world sees them as.”

For some reason the words sent Remus into triumphant cackles. “He finally realises it! People are people are people, fictional, acted or real, people are people.”

He'd heard the word people so many times it had lost all meaning so decided to ignore his brother and just write for a while. Besides Amanda was re-framing his own memories and how he'd thought about crushes before now and it was becoming fascinating to write about, even just when she was spending time with her siblings, thankfully less unpredictable than his own.

/\/\

Editing was a surprise to Roman. He'd never finished writing a story that he was sure had a reasonable plot of such length and he'd been excited to start typing it up.

Now he was just disturbed, reading over the next scenes he had to write up and edit, just wishing he could tear the pages up and completely rewrite them. Loosing any of his writing was loathsome so he settled for just ignoring the pages.

How could he have ever believed that Amanda would have a crush, let alone one on someone barely mentioned at all? It boggled his mind before he remembered the time he'd had a mental battle before accepting that his character was aroace. Roman almost wondered if part of his fight against letting himself write that was to avoid the self-reflection Amanda had brought with her.

After all, now he saw himself in Amanda more than any other character that had turned up in the story, including the actors that were friends with a few of his main characters.

“Me and Amanda match.” He murmured to himself, deciding to just note that there would be an argument between the main group during this scene in the plot he'd been compiling. He could sketch for a while instead, and perhaps see what his characters might actually look like.

“Yeah, I love your little blue dress number. Pretty sure I was meant to be the one to make it though.” Remus agreed, suddenly leaning through his door. “Or wasn't that what you meant about matching?”

Roman rolled his eyes, “No, I meant we're both aro. The ace part is yet to be decided but I doubt I'm aroace.”

“Fun. You're stealing my colour and refusing to look even a little remorseful of it. Pick something with a red flag instead.” Remus teased, throwing some fabric up so it fell draped over him.

For a moment all Roman could see was green and grey as he floundered in confusion at the sudden covering, before reaching to tug it off. “Favourite colours are not the way we chose our identities Remus!” He protested before realising the fabric in his hands was an aro flag, put together by various fabrics he'd been saving for unknown projects. “You? How did you figure this out before me?” He blinked after a moment, only to realise his brother had vanished again.

Looking to the sketch of a face that clearly screamed itself to be Amanda, Roman smiled. “Yeah, we match and I think I love you for making me realise that.”

#arosidesweek2022 #aro Roman #ace Remus #creativitwins #roman sanders #remus sanders #writer Roman #supportive Remus #writer struggles #cw sex mentions

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