#it was one of my favorite relationships in the myths even when it's more heavily implied than outright said
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Blood Upon the Snow
Word count: 6,814
Summary: The full flashback from Before the End of Time (TVA Loki fic I'm wrapping up). Loki and his love go into the forests of Asgard in the dead of winter to find an Asgardian child lost in the mountains. Ending up in a fight for their lives, both reveal their true selves and come together as one in the heat of battle. The myth of how Loki got his horns.
Warnings: Gore, intense fight scene, angst, bookended in fluff
The playlist I made while writing this linked here
Spoilers: The only spoilers are in the Epilogue, so if you haven't seen Loki S2 E6 just don't read that part.
Author's notes: This kind of just ran away from me while writing a fic inspired by Loki S2 E6 (coming soon!) -- but there are no spoilers for most of this. This all takes place before the first Thor film.
For this, I leaned a little more towards Norse myth, where the love interest/reader is heavily inspired by Skadi, goddess of the mountains and hunting (and skiing, interestingly, but that's not represented here). That being said, if you like the reader to "wear the pants" of the relationship, this one is for you!
This was truly my imagination running wild with easily my favorite fictional character of all time, Loki, as a love letter to him and the myth he comes from. I hope you can feel the love as you go on this adventure with me!
ALSO: Thank you all so much for the support for my first fic I posted a few months ago (linked here)! It means so much to me that people enjoyed it. I'm getting more comfortable with posting fanfics, now, so expect to see more in the future. The fact that some of you enjoy my unorthodox approach to fanfic makes my heart so full and grateful.
Loki held her to his chest. Her smell mixed with the freshness of the air coming in through their window — a cool Asgardian summer night. He could feel her relaxing into him.
She looked towards their bed, where he had put his helmet moments before. The long horns coming from it curled away from the bed, white and streaks of brown matching the rich earth tones of the bed, gold contrasting in a way screaming of the old world and power.
“Do you remember when we got those horns?” She asked.
“How could I forget?”
It had been one of the deepest, most harsh winters that Asgard had experienced in centuries — as if a curse had fallen over the land and made it permanently frosted. The snow had gotten so deep that a child had gone missing, running into the forest to play and not home when they should have been — evening beginning to come over the land.
The child’s mother had come begging to her, as most of the Æsir had gone to battle in another realm. It had just been her and Loki at home, helping to move cattle between fields. Or, rather, Loki was there for moral support while she worked her magic, singing to the cattle and them responding like she was speaking their language, butting each other and blowing out steam as they trudged through snow coming up to their withers behind her.
The mother had come right up to her, casting him a wary sideways glance as his love gently grabbed the woman's arms, steadying her. The mother then described her son running into the forest and not coming back, despite her calling for him and being gone longer than he had ever been before.
By the time she had looked over to Loki, he knew they had already said that they would find the boy.
The mother cast another weary look to him, turning to her and worriedly whisper-speaking to her. He was sure she was whispering something about how Loki couldn’t be trusted with something this important, that he always caused chaos wherever he went.
His love calmed the woman then, walking them over to Loki.
“I would trust him with my life.” She gave him a knowing look. “He wouldn’t let anything happen to you boy,” to which she then looked to Loki expectedly, tilting her fur-enrobed head to the mother.
Loki stuttered over himself trying to get the words out. “O-of course. We’ll bring him home to you.”
After settling the cattle, they moved to the stables to grab their horses.
Loki came up beside her, speaking low.
“Are you sure about this?”
To his surprise, she looked to him with foreboding, no admonishment in her voice.
“This could be dangerous, Loki,” she looked ahead and began to take her draft horse out of its stall, absentmindedly rubbing its muzzle. “We can’t not go out there, though.”
He recognized her demeanor — quiet, introspective, serious.
“A premonition?” Half-whispered as they stood between their horses, fully saddled. Ice crystals blew through the barn, making his horse shake its head, pressing into his back.
She cast him a wary glance. “I don’t know yet, for sure. But we need to be exceptionally careful.”
Looking out to the forest on the edge of the city, where spruce was white with snow clinging. She sheathed a long sword into the scabbard on her saddle, the horse adjusting to the sudden weight.
“This is the kind of forest that doesn’t want to be disturbed,” she spoke, “and we’re disturbing it.”
He took the hint and followed suit, sheathing his daggers. She had always refused to take a weapon into the forest outside of a battle, and it made his intuition twitch to see her doing so now.
When they rode out to the edge of the forest it was exceptionally quiet save for the disrupting of the snow, their horses making paths through it. His horse was struggling, a couple hands shorter than hers, which moved through the feet of snow with ease. She never lost that look on her face, though — whole body tense, eyes moving between the trees.
An owl moved from one tree to another, catching a rodent. The small scream reverberated through the trees, stilled only by its echoes fading.
Loki realized he was holding his breath, then, and gasped to breathe normally again. A billow of his breath crystalized in front of him.
Her horse was suddenly next to his, and she reached down to grab his hand. Looking up to her he was met with an intensity that screamed eternal, screamed ancient in a way he had never seen in her before, as if he were looking into the eyes of a wolf.
“I love you,” she spoke, steam billowing from her lips, “stay alive”.
Loki swallowed hard, looking up at her, in all of her beauty and wildness. He reached his hand up and caressed her head, pulling it down to his, lips meeting. The freezing cold left for a minute while they kissed, her lips full and warm against his, fortifying him.
When she pulled away from him, there was a red tinge to her cheeks. Their faces hovered for a split second.
“I love you,” he repeated, “stay alive”.
They moved into the forest, feeling the difference in light like a cloak as the forest enveloped them. He quickly found small footsteps dredging their way through the snow, leading deeper and deeper into the trees. They followed them.
Loki noticed that he had lost count of how many trees they had passed after a while, all looking identical to him save for the occasional gnarled knot or branch that he would duck under.
A quiet so profound it felt like a blanket followed them, making him jump every time a vole or bird would move by them. She, however, never startled, as if she had known they were coming long before an animal would make itself appear. She would twitch her head, cocking it one direction or another, like a dog catching a sound in its soft ears, pinpointing it.
They stopped after making their way close to a mile, where the tracks of the boy stopped.
Snow was kicked up in a several foot radius, like something massive had come from the side and bowled the child over.
She jumped from her horse. Moving to the disturbance cautiously, crouching down, she ran her fingertips over a few drops of blood, moving it to her lips. The bloodied snow stuck to her lips and her tongue darted out, taking it into her mouth.
Loki had never seen her do this before, but didn’t question it. He sat in the saddle with baited breath waiting for her to say something.
When she looked up to him, her face said it all: it was the child’s blood.
“What do we do now?” Loki spoke, breaking the silence that had lasted between them the entire way through the forest.
Standing up, she looked towards a tree to her left, where massive claw marks dug into the bark, revealing the lighter pulp underneath. Her fingertips ran across it. Immediately she jolted as if struck by lighting; she whipped her head up, back stiff, eyes wide as a gasp choked out of her.
Loki leapt off of his horse and came to her side, grabbing her by the shoulders, fingers digging into the fur of her cloak. He spoke her name, shaking her slightly.
She took in a shuddering breath, turning to look at him. Her eyes were wide and crazed, shaken, as if she had seen a ghost. Her voice came out stuttering over itself in a way he had never seen from her before. For her to be this shaken by something could mean Ragnarök itself was in the forest, a great wolf waiting to swallow them.
“Whatever took him was touched by a dark force — something I’ve never felt before.”
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
“What do we do?” He asked.
She looked to him again with that intense stare, the look of premonition.
“We kill this thing,” she said, “whatever it is, it a scourge on the land. It won’t stop with one life.”
The massive path of whatever this creature was moved onwards from them, towards the sharp black mountains that were a few more miles out from where they were, uphill.
They mounted their horses and made their way up the mountain, a solemn silence between them.
By the time they were approaching the edge of the forest, their horses were breathing heavily, steam coming from their backs. They had made their way into the upper mountains, where trees mostly gave way to rocky cliffs, creased with snow blowing over them. Ice shards blew into his face, no forest left to soften the wind. It was bitterly harsh and cold, the kind of place that only some of the most extreme and terrifying animals and monsters would reside in — or the land of frost giants, Jötunheim, from whence he came. A shiver rang down his skin at the thought of this birthplace.
Soon after they had cleared the trees and were up into the mountain, a boulder came into view — pressed up against the stone was the boy. His clothes were tattered, a large gash across his chest.
“There he is,” Loki gasped.
She immediately hushed him.
“It’s close,” she whispered. “It wouldn’t have left him.”
Just as the words left her mouth, the rustle of something large came from across the mountainside.
At first, Loki couldn’t see anything.
Then it moved, a mass that had looked like the shadows of many trees making its way towards them. An immense beast, with gaping, blood-coated teeth and several pairs of horns jutting from it. It towered at least fifteen feet above them at the shoulder, covered in snow-white and mottled grey scales. Several sets of reptilian eyes set on them, pupils narrowing as it began to circle them. Its eyes glowed red, a black smoke trailing from them.
A bilgesnipe, but not one like Loki had ever seen before. This beast was several hundred pounds more massive than any he had seen, and it reeked of a dark magic that Loki couldn’t place.
Loki looked over to her. She was looking towards the child.
“Protect the child,” she said, voice flat and low.
Before Loki could say anything, she moved back and ripped her blade free — one of the finest of the dwarves’ creations, a large broadsword forged with several metals, a hilt of gold.
He decided to trust her in that moment, his body flowing warm with his magic as he removed his daggers from his steed and sheathed them. He then ran to the child, concealing himself from the beast in the meantime. It felt unnecessary, though, for as Loki turned from his partner, he heard a guttural yell come from her, beckoning the beast over.
Glancing back, Loki saw their horses disappearing to the trees as she growled to the bilgesnipe, making animalistic growling sounds that he couldn’t recognize. It took the bait, bowing its head low before beginning its charge towards her.
Loki forced himself to turn his head away and focus on the child, fallen haphazardly against the rock.
The boy looked worse than he had from a distance. Blood smeared on the rock behind him, like he had been thrown against it. The wound on his chest seeped blood, soaking his soft wool shirt. Loki carefully moved the boy upright, feeling the warm wetness of blood on the back of his head, kneeling down to cradle the child in his arm. Loki bent his ear down by the child’s mouth, watching his chest for any sign of breathing.
Shallow and labored, the child was breathing. Loki gasped in relief, resting his hand on the child’s chest. Swirls of green emitted from his fingertips and into the wound, beginning to heal it ever so slightly. His magic was limited when it came to healing, but it didn’t matter — this boy was hanging on by a thread and Loki was not going to let him die.
Loki whipped his head towards the battle that was unfolding between the bilgesnipe and her. She moved close to the beast, staying just out of reach, forcing it to careen its head faster past its limit. Knowing she couldn’t take it head on, she was coming down on its back where she could, the hide exceedingly rough and difficult to get through. Her blows barely drew any blood. She had shed her outer coats, leaving a thin shirt and hide pants — also leaving her vulnerable to the beast. The smallest miscalculation in her movements and the monster would be on her.
Bilgesnipes were more a thing of legend than of fact — they were rarely seen and feared tremendously, like a dragon without its wings, lurking in the dark mountains and taking cattle that had lost their way as a snack. Their size alone made it almost impossible to take one down unless you had several men and a ton of luck, even with Asgardian warriors. Seeing her take on the creature alone terrified him — one wrong move and she was gone from him forever, the only person he had ever loved.
Her movements were almost unnatural, leaping away right as it would bring its head around to snap at her. She was taking full advantage of its blind spots, occasionally rolling away to avoid its spiked tail whipping around. Growls shook the earth they were on. The cry that would come from her as she struck the beast was guttural and extreme, the muscles in her arms quivering as she would cut into the massive beast.
He needed to join her in battle — but looking down at the child, he was barely coming out of his death throes.
“Come on, child”, said somewhat impatiently, “your time in Valhalla isn’t upon you yet.”
As if he had heard Loki, the boy choked to life, gasping, and clutching his arm like a lifeline. The small sounds he made brought tears to Loki’s eyes, laughing in relief.
Just as the child’s eyes opened, a blood-curdling scream ripped through the cold air.
The bilgesnipe had landed a massive blow across her torso with its claws, sending her tumbling back into the snow.
He screamed her name across the mountain, guttural and piercing, ringing silence following.
She didn’t move.
Loki sat the child against the boulder tenderly, sitting him up and ensuring he could breathe. He cast an illusion over the child, and he disappeared entirely.
The roar of the bilgesnipe barely registered in his peripheral as he ran over to her, knees collapsing in the snow. Loki turned her over so she wouldn’t suffocate.
Three long, deep gashes tore from her lower hip up to her face, slicing across her lips. Blood poured from her, streaming, staining the snow red — like a freshly hunted deer after you had slit its throat in winter.
Her eyes were closed, but he could see her breathing, laboring and shuddering as it was. Her face was torqued in pain, tears streaming down the sides of her face towards her ears.
This wasn’t happening.
He called to her, voice cracking, desperately trying to bring her back from where she was going. Pressing his palm into the largest wound on her chest, he flowed magic into her like a tidal wave, feeling every cell in her body desperate to repair itself. He had never revived someone before, but damn it all if he wasn’t going to do it now.
The moment his magic slammed into her, she shot up, a visceral scream ripping from her that echoed across the jagged mountains. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot and animalistic, pupils slitted and glowing yellow. Her teeth were bared and he saw that her canines were larger and sharpened, and he felt sharpened claws rip through his leather armor where she gripped it. Loki has seen glimpses of this when they had gotten into particularly heated arguments — the slight sharpness of her teeth, the look in her eyes of something untamed — but he had never witnessed her fully in this animalistic, berserker-like state.
When she looked to him, he saw that archaic thing that he had been noticing from her for years, now at its peak. He truly felt like he was looking into the eyes of a god for the first time, power coming from her that took his breath away.
After she had screamed, a deadly silence had fallen over them, and he realized that the wind no longer blew, the forest no longer shaking or making a sound. A pin could drop in the snow and he could have heard it a mile away.
Then the forest moved.
He couldn't explain it, couldn't contort any part of his conscious mind to make sense of what his eyes were seeing. The trees moved, as if they were shifting the forest forward towards them.
A cacophony of howling so loud that it rang in his ears, blurring his thoughts.
Massive streaks of brown, white, grey and black came bounding from the trees, practically ripping the spruce from their roots, backs breaking branches as they moved underneath them.
A dozen or more dire wolves surrounded them then, the same yellow eyes glowing as they looked to him, looked to her, and then immediately took to surrounding the beast, easily standing half as tall as the bilgesnipe themselves. A couple of them broke away, sending massive amounts of snow flying as they bound to the boulder where the child was, surrounding him and standing guard.
Looking back to his love, he could see the resemblance, especially with her massive head of hair knotted and braided all around her face.
He could feel her power emanating from her as she rose, bending to lift the long sword as if it were nothing. Her blood fell freely into the snow, but she never flinched as she growled, twirling the blade in her hands expertly and making her way back towards the beast. As she did so, the dire wolves reformed rank, nipping and growling, barking and tearing at the bilgesnipe at all sides, clearly distressing it. Now it bore seeping teeth and claw marks on its hide, each attack of a wolf adding more.
He noticed that they were behaving precisely the same way lesser wolves take down large prey, like a moose or wisent — surrounding it on all sides, making small attacks on all sides to exhaust it, making it easier to deliver the killing blow.
But the bilgesnipe came to its wits, lashing out and striking one of the massive furred beasts, where it flew and slammed into a tree, falling limp. Its companions cowered then, growling and moving their heads down.
Even now, the fight wasn't even.
She fought as if this wasn't the case — easily standing among the wolves, she ripped at the beast, now tearing away large chunks of flesh, distracting it and weakening it just as the rest of the pack was.
Loki suddenly felt his magic coursing through him, felt the chill of the mountain seeping into his soul, reminding him so much of Jötunheim. It coursed through him, the snow beginning to flurry and manipulate itself to his will; with the snap of his wrist, it turned it to a long shard of ice.
He felt growing pains with this magic, a familiar and suppressed power that gave away his roots that he had let go of in order to be in his place with the Æsir. He was hesitating, not wanting to allow himself to go into that place entirely — to completely yield himself over to his full power. Transforming back into an older version of himself.
Then he looked to her, seeing her in her warrior-state, blood streaming from her wounds. Entirely unyielding and releasing all of her power that she had suppressed for years, exulting cries and bared teeth. He didn't know if she, too, was of a different blood or not, but she was bearing all of her soul to this fight; screaming and howling, lashing and throwing everything into each swing of her sword, joining the wolves.
When the beast lashed her with its tail and she cried out, falling to her knees, all hesitation left his body.
When the creature turned to attack his love, a wall of ice bolted from the ground, shards of ice shoving into the creature’s gaping mouth. It reeled, letting out an earth-shaking howl, stepping back.
Loki saw her look to him with wild eyes, fully see him in his Jötun state. He froze in that moment, terrified of what she would think — would she realize that he was a monster?
She smiled — what?
No, she couldn’t be — but she was, her bleeding lips bearing her bloodied teeth, eyes crinkling with mirth.
Her voice resonated through him, more in his mind than in the air.
“Come and fight with me in our true forms, my love, my heart!” she waved her arm, beckoning him to her. “If we die today, we die as one in our true selves.”
He had never loved her more than in that moment.
By the time Loki had come up next to her, the wolves were in their full frenzy and the bilgesnipe was beginning to grow desperate — throwing its head and crying out, biting at whatever was near it. Another wolf had been knocked unconscious and others bore intense wounds, but they showed no signs of slowing.
Their cries were growing frenzied, heat rising in the air, the prey getting weaker, the time for the killing blow growing imminent.
Loki looked to her, the leader of the pack, asking with his gaze what the next step was.
She looked to him, smiling wide in the thrill of the hunt.
“It’s our time, Loki,” her words flowed from her like poetry, “when the time is right, we finish this monstrosity”.
Taking a deep breath of the frosted air, he felt it settle into his lungs like home.
The dire wolves then changed their behavior, beginning to take more intense bites, dragging the bilgesnipe by the legs, the hips, the back, throwing their weight into each part and dragging it down. The earth shook as its legs collapsed underneath it, causing so much snow to come up that it temporarily looked as if they were in a blizzard.
Loki to the chance, snow in the air, to bring an immense chunk of ice on the withers of the best, bringing it down completely. Its head trapped under the weight of the ice, it thrashed its head, deteriorating.
She didn’t hesitate. Coming down with her sword, she slammed the blade tip-first through the largest eye of the bilgesnipe, ocular liquid and blood flowing following a resounding crack as the blade was buried to its hilt in its skull.
Its body fell still against the snow, quiet settling over the mountains as its final cry rang through. Snowflakes fell and melted on the fresh blood pouring from it. The black smoke slithered from its slacked mouth and eyes, cascading over the ledge of the mountains and down out of sight.
The dire wolves stood then, howling into the dusk that had settled over the land, snow turning purple against the blue of the sky. The brightest stars and planets began to twinkle. Howling resonated in the air, the differential notes clashing and resounding, ringing and echoing in solemn victory across the wind.
She collapsed into him then, Loki grunting and looping his arms under her shoulders to support her. Her breath was ragged, blood continuing to leave her body from the gashes across her, matching the child’s but lager in magnitude — he could see her ribs between the shreds of her skin.
The boy.
Just as Loki whipped his head towards the boulder, he saw a grey wolf gently nudging the child to stand, another of white gently lifting him by the clothes onto the back of the grey. The white kept its muzzle up for the child to grab onto as he adjusted, falling forward and grabbing the grey fur of the wolf’s neck. They began making their way towards them.
Looking back down to his love, he saw that she came back to her normal form, eyes back to normal, teeth blunted and human. Her breath was ragged, crying out when he shifted his weight to support her better. Her face was dangerously pale, showing how much blood she lost. She gasped with every move she made, but she forced herself to turn and face him regardless.
She lifted her hands to caress his face, shaking and smearing blood on his blue-tinged cheeks, fingers ice-cold. Her face was bloodied, raw, and beautiful, looking at him in pure love and reverence.
“You’re so beautiful as your true self, my love,” she spoke.
Loki Laufeyson, adopted child of Odin, held her in his true form, tears streaming down his face. In all of his life, he had never felt love like this — pure and raw, bloodied and glorious, soft and furred. The love of his life looking at him in his true form and smiling filled a hole in his heart that had been aching for centuries, and the relief of it being filled brought tears to his eyes. She wiped his tears as they came down his face.
He smiled, lifting a hand and caressing her cheek in kind.
“I've never felt a love like this,” he confessed, face serious. “I've never loved anyone as much as I love you. I never will.”
Her eyes widened slightly at this; breath baited.
“Will you take me as your husband?” He whispered, looking to her perfect, scarred face.
She smiled wide in that moment, laughing despite the pain she was in.
“You were mine the moment we came together, Loki.” She leaned in, their lips brushing. “Ragnarök itself could never steal you from me.”
He hesitated for a moment, and then began:
“You will be mine and I will be yours until the end of time,
Under the leaves of Yggdrasil, we will be joined,
Two branches intertwined into eternity.”
She continued the vow:
“Of one mind and body,
Souls bound until the end;
I take you as my one true love,
In war and in peace.”
In unison, they spoke:
“The mountains will echo with our song,
The halls of Valhalla will be warmed by our embrace.
The fields will be fertile from our union,
And our love will battle through Hel itself.”
They were both crying, now, the happy tears of a wedding on a lonely mountain where their witnesses were wolves and the monster they had felled together, pouring blood upon the snow.
Their foreheads joined, breath steaming between them. They looked at each other with pure love, mirth at the edges of their eyes.
They came together as one when their lips met, the pain and ache they were both feeling melting away for that moment. The world disappeared from around them. He felt her lips against him and felt home, felt the rest of this life.
When they parted, she cried out, resting her head against his shoulder.
He sobered, looking over her shoulder to the dark mountains, stars shining over them. Her weakened body sent fear jolting through him, and the thought crossed his mind that he might lose her here.
“You’re not leaving me,” Loki said, voice lilting between a question and a statement.
She strained out a laugh under her breath and into his shoulder.
“Not this time, my love. It takes more than this to kill me.”
He held her face to his neck, arms wrapped around her, holding her warm body to him. She was the only thing in the Nine realms that mattered in that moment.
“I’m guessing we’ll need to postpone our lovemaking as newlyweds a few days,” he joked, starting to feel the deep ache of battle coming to him as adrenaline wore off.
That drew another hoarse laugh from her, making him regret it slightly as she dug her fingers into his sides in pain. Her warm breath cascaded over his neck, giving him chills.
Loki felt his body move back into its Asgardian form, the frost suddenly hitting him much harder than before. One of the wolves came up to their side, coming down on one knee and bowing its head towards them.
Despite his knowing, he still felt prickles of fear when regarding the dire wolves — again, a creature that he had been raised to fear, not fight alongside, ride on the back of. Its fur was bloodied in many places, its mouth dripping with fresh blood and scales.
But when he looked back to his wife, all that he saw was love and respect for the beast. She started moving them towards the wolf, moving from supporting herself on him to the side of the wolf. His body felt cold from the absence of her body against his, already missing her. The blood coating his front added to the chill against his skin.
She turned laboredly, gesturing to the fallen bilgesnipe. He looked to her, confused.
“Take a set of its horns, Loki,” she said, “let them serve as a reminder of our union and your true power”.
Loki nodded, cautiously moving over to the bilgesnipe. He grimaced at the grotesque state of the thing, sword still sticking from its head, eyes bulging.
It had a few sets of horns protruding from its skull, larger than Loki could even carry himself. There was one set, though, that appeared to have just started growing — only a little over a foot long and thin, curving elegantly back around, though not touching back.
He reached out to grab one, taking out a hunting knife and carving it out of the scaled head, trying to remove as much of the flesh as possible. Loki held it over for her to see, earning an approving nod.
After removing the other horn, he placed them both under his arm while removing her broadsword from the skull of the bilgesnipe, sneering at the squelching sounds that came as he did so. Both of their horses had returned a few moments prior, and he sheathed the sword after wiping it off with some snow. It gleamed from its hilt, as if exuberant over its victory. He stowed the horns in a saddlebag on his own horse, which turned to sniff at them curiously.
Loki helped move her onto the back of the wolf. He then leaped up behind her, holding her steady as the wolf rose. Her back was pressed against him comfortably, that warmth he had craved coming back to him. His hands were around her waist, grabbing some of the neck fur of the wolf, noting the mixture of coarse and soft hairs that constituted its coat. She leaned back and rested her head on his shoulder, shuddering a sigh of relief as she let some of the tension in her body relax.
He gazed down at her, still trying to figure out what he had done right to be here, with the love of his life in his arms, her warmth against his. Peace settled over him then, in a way he hadn��t felt before — it settled deep in his bones as her breaths rose into the dark sky, stars shining brilliantly, the starkness of the mountains beyond them.
Two ravens circled above them, coming together and moving out from one another in perfect sync.
They made their way back through the forest, the other wolves beginning to dive into their hard-fought feast behind them. The wolves carrying them and the boy seemed to know exactly where to go, and it felt as though they got back in a fraction of the time, their horses trailing behind. Loki flowed his magic into her the entire way, not caring that it made him slightly lightheaded to focus so much of his power for a prolonged time, working to start mending some of her wounds and relieve some of the pain. She sighed in relief as he did this, her face nodding into his neck.
They eventually broke the edge of the forest and entered back to the plains that surrounded Asgard, the full brilliance of the city on display as warm lights flickered from towers through the cold air.
Loki immediately took notice of the small crowd that was ahead of them. Men and women, most armored, were gathered around in groups, torches illuminating their faces as they began moving battle steeds out and were assembling weapons. Townsfolk, with a nervousness to their stares, watched the group. A search party was being formed, he realized, to come and find them. Even the warriors who had just come from a long battle were there, blood and exhaustion all over them. Loki felt his heart swell at this, that they would come out to find them.
Quickly, Loki recognized the armor and faces of several of the soldiers — his brother, Thor, stood out in his silver armor plates, Mjolnir resting anxiously in his left hand.
The moment they were in sight, a silence swept over the group, turning and looking out towards the two dire wolves, which hadn’t been seen this close to Asgard in centuries.
He knew they were about to call to arms, so Loki waved an arm above his head.
“It’s us!” he cried out.
“We have the boy!”
Thor, recognizing Loki’s voice, started out towards them, torch in hand. The rest of the group stood in an uneasy anticipation, unsure of whether to start readying for an attack or not.
Once the wolves and Thor met several paces from each other, a flash of recognition and bewilderment came over Thor, and he waved back to the others, confirming that it was them. Several others started coming over, then, torches in hand.
Thor came up to the side of the wolf. A slight terror that he was trying to underplay made Loki smirk a little.
“How…?” Thor’s voice was bewildered.
He opened his mouth to speak again, but Loki cut him off.
“I assure you, Thor, these are not illusions of my making.” Loki said.
He looked down to his love, who was resting on his shoulder still.
“These are her beasts?” Thor’s confusion only grew, his voice upturning in disbelief.
Loki nodded, reveling for a moment at having something cooler than his brother. It was childish, but he needed this. Just let him have his moment.
“If you’re done ogling, dear brother,” Loki began to shift her, making her gasp in pain, “my wife is injured.”
Triple-kill on Thor’s confusion, but he quickly focused on her, only taking a small step back as the wolf lowered itself and she slid off. Several rich Asgardian curses flurried out of her mouth as she landed, immediately grabbing onto Thor with a vice-like grip, knees buckling under her. He wrapped an arm around to support her. He grimaced at her front, soaked in blood and ripped.
“You’ve fought a great battle, haven’t you?” Thor asked, looking up to her face, echoing blood and scars. He smiled with sorrow in his eyes at her state.
She grimaced, looking up to him. “It would appear that way.”
Loki jumped down, turning to the wolf that had fought beside them. Behind it, he saw some bewildered soldiers take the boy from the back of the other wolf. The boy was weak, but alive, and Loki smiled as the boy’s mother rushed and clutched her child to her chest, tears of relief streaming down her face as she cried.
The wolf they had ridden in on looked down to him patiently, waiting to see what he was going to do. It was waiting for something form him, glancing over to her and then back. Loki reached a hand out to it, landing on its shoulder.
He felt a response come to him, though he didn’t fully understand it.
“Thank you,” he murmured, “for letting me have her.”
The wolf bowed its head towards him for a moment before turning back to the other wolf.
They bounded into the forest, completely silent despite their massive frames. They disappeared into the tree, back to their home.
He turned and rushed back over to her and his brother. He was doing what Thor did best, making his wife laugh to take her mind off of her gaping wounds. They had stopped bleeding for the most part, some of the flesh threading back together, but they still made him nauseous whenever he would look down at them.
“Loki!” His brother called to him, eyes twinkling.
Loki raised an eyebrow, coming over and helping to support his wife, relieve even just a touch of her pain.
Thor reached out to him, grabbing the back of his neck in the way that he did when really trying to communicate with his brother. Loki yielded, his wife leaning against him.
“She told me the smallest part of what you did up there,” he spoke gently, looking up to the mountains.
Loki gave him a confused look. Where was he going with this?
He noticed tears start to come to Thor’s severe blue eyes, dropping Loki’s obstinancy.
“I’m honored to have you as a brother, Loki.”
Loki couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“I mean it,” Thor said, putting their foreheads together.
“I will gladly fight with you until the end, brother, and then we will have our places in Valhalla together”.
Tears were stinging at Loki’s eyes, now, making his whole face ache from exhaustion.
“Thank you, brother,” was all Loki could get out.
When he turned back to her, she was smiling up at him. Her face was still pale, though, and he could tell that she was losing strength fast.
“We need to get you to a bed,” Loki remarked, looking to Thor.
They limped her over to the crowd, where Thor immediately started shouting about their glorious battle and the mighty feast that must be arranged for the two in celebration of their love and bravery. Loki was more focused on getting her somewhere where she could be healed, but there was a warmth in his heart that his brother put there, returning him to that serene sense of belonging, of love.
The official wedding was in the Spring, after she had healed and they had caught up on the newlywed traditions they had missed out on previously.
The ceremony was a true Asgardian ceremony, with lavish decorations and bountiful feasts, drinking and dancing that went long into the night and next morning.
When they repeated their vows to each other, Thor walked up to them, a helmet in his hands. It was a rich gold band with the bilgesnipe horns coming from it, curling back in spectacular fashion, polished to their full beauty.
She took the helmet, turning to Loki, tears brimming as she spoke.
“Loki Laufeyson,
This helmet, made from the finest dwarven smiths, bears the horns of the bilgesnipe that we battled on the day that we were married — on the day that we came together as one body, one spirit.”
She lifted it and set it on his head, the helm fitting him perfectly, black hair cascading out from underneath it.
“May it bear the symbol of our union under the loving branches of Yggdrasil, and your true power, for as long as you wear it.”
The cheers echoed for miles as he leaned down and captured her in a kiss, his love for her aching in his heart.
The merriment echoed far into the trees, bouncing through the mountains, where lay the bones of a mighty beast in the everwinter of the mountains.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Epilogue (Loki Season 2 Episode 6 Spoiler!)
Loki sat on a throne of shattered obsidian and gold.
Strands of time — of lives, of deaths, of freedom — came from him in all directions, each one tended by him. They ran down to the roots and through to the branches of Yggdrasil, intertwining with each other, branching into the endless cascading possibilities of time, glowing green with his power, his purpose.
His helmet sat on his head, the horns in their full glory, natural and no longer covered in gold.
He looked up at them, framing the intertwining branches of fate that were brought together by him. Now safe, under him. His true self, in a way that he grasped with an intensity and purpose that aged him, settled into his bones with such truth that it made him sigh.
A tear fell off of his cheek, echoing into the void until it landed on a branch, pulsing green.
#Spotify#loki laufeyson#loki series#loki (marvel)#loki fandom#loki fanfic#loki imagine#loki imagines#loki odinson#loki x reader#loki season 2#loki finale#loki s2#loki spoilers#loki x you#loki x y/n#marvel imagine#marvel fanfiction#marvel comics#avengers#marvel cinematic universe#mcu#marvel mcu#marvel#writing#creative writing#original character#loki x oc#loki x original character#loki fic
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odysseus! for the send me a character thingy :3
First Impression
I read about odysseus first in my Chinese textbook as a wee child of like. 10? Or something? It was the "Nobody" story, and I thought nothing of it because it was. You know. For a class. I did think it was a funny story though, and I suppose my first impression would be "classic main character from mythology", and nothing else.
Impression now
He's a war criminal. He's my babygirl. He's cruel and wily. He's my poor little meow meow. He would kill with no hesitation and excels at war. He's a draft dodger and longs for home. He's the Sacker of Cities. He's the Father of Telemachus. He's filled with hubris and had a solid hand in his own downfall. He's paid his price and he just wants to go back home.
I don't know man I'm squeezing him and throwing him off a cliff but I'm also tucking him into bed in Ithaca. u get me?
Favorite moment
Many... but I love the part where he shot an arrow through the axe heads and did the dramatic reveal. it is I, odysseus. you've taken my home, prepare to die. etc etc. There's a visceral tonal shift when war and bloodshed suddenly seep through the pages after dozens of pages with no active warfare and not much death ... it's good stuff. I liked it.
Idea for a story
Concocting a sci-fi fantasy AU for the Iliad and Odyssey in my brain, in which there are spaceships and magic and godly-AI-run companies and cyborgs and impenetrable planets made of metal and firewalls. Demigods are cyborgs whose cybernetic enhancements come from one or more godly-AI-ran companies. Ody's skills now include hacking and programming, and the Greeks finally won by attaching a "trojan horse" to their peace treaty. Calypso is a deathly intelligent and powerful space mob boss whose henchmen are all androids, and she wishes to meet someone who matches her own intellect. Circe runs an exotic space casino with replicas of long-since extinct creatures, with only magic-users as employees. Polyphemus is a heavily guarded surveillance station with hidden company secrets from Poseidon(TM) which Ody and co. stole, leading to tragedy. has this been done? this has probably been done. but I'm basing it off my own OC sci-fi universe so this is. so so niche. and only for me.
Unpopular opinion
I don't know why there's a sudden uptick in the need for characters to be morally pure and good, and I think the debate surrounding "whether Ody cheated" is. odd? especially since there's so much vitriol against the guy for cheating? It may just be me but I don't really get it,, I wouldn't have cared even if he cheated. Listen. Listen. There's no moral high ground in Greek myths. They're all war criminals and that's fun for me.
Favourite relationship
10 fics on ao3 and it's odydiopen. i love poly relationships. even if they have no basis in canon at all. but neither did telegony and it's still considered to be part of the epic cycle, now is it?
but also: ody & telemachus. your son is grown, and you have never even seen him as a child. your son is grown, and he does not even know your face. are you still a father? is he still your son? you've missed every part of his life and then some, and now he is a man grown, with his mouth twisted in his mother's wry smile - though he has your hair and eyes, you cannot see yourself in the tilt of his head, or the gentle crinkle in his brows. but now there's time to learn of him, now there's time to hold him in your arms - there is time, you are home, and that is what's important.
Favourite headcanon
He would've loved the GPS. RIP my guy.
All jokes aside I don't think I have one? Feel free to tell me any of yours though. Please.
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I have read a lot of books and explored various kinds of genres but my favorite novels are divided into 3 groups based on their genres; Fantasy, dystopian, and the classics.
Fantasy started existing during the 18th century but it started getting recognized as a separate genre in the 19th century. Fantasy is a unique genre. It often consists of mythical creatures, superpowers, and improbable situations. It is sometimes known for being childlike but I believe that is not true. Reading fantasy novels feel like expanding our world and creating other alternative universes. If it is well written enough it gives the feeling of home and it often consists of the same tropes like good against evil, coming of age, and betrayal. It is often full of plot twists, unexpected events, and a little bit of reality and sorrow as most main characters usually go through hell and back. For example, one of my all-time favorite book series in fantasy is the Six of Crows duology written by Leigh Bardugo. The duology follows Kaz Brekker and his gang of anti-heroes, also called “The Crows”. The story is full of tension and mind-numbing plot twists until the end. There's also some magic, which is complemented by a darker atmosphere to make things even more interesting. Kaz Brekker, the infamous thief is promised a considerable amount of cash to kidnap Bo Yul-Bayur, a scientist. The Ice Court is the most heavily guarded location in Fjerda, and Kaz will not be able to enter it alone. He hires Inej Ghafa. Inej is well-known for her agility in climbing buildings and moving across impossible terrain. She is quiet but powerful. Next, Kaz hires Jesper Fahey, the crew's sharpshooter. He is careless, sarcastic, and enjoys gambling a little more than he should. The third member is Nina Zenik, who is a witch. She is confident, loud, and not afraid of who she is. She is also powerful as she can kill people from meters away, without even having to touch them. Matthias Helvar is a witch hunter who somehow ends up on the crew. He has a history with Nina and he only accepts to join the crew if he gets to kill Nina in the end. Lastly, Wylan Van Eck is the son of a rich merchant. He is very insecure because he is not able to read but he is the brain of the group. He is a demolition expert and an incredible engineer. He is the only ace in Kaz’s hand since Wylan’s father is the one who is paying them but soon they have to learn that Wylan’s relationship with his father is not like they have expected. The second novel follows the aftermath of the heist and has an intriguing storyline since politics get involved. The duology is full of diversity and everyone can find a piece of themselves in a character. I believe that it is one of the best examples of this genre because it consists of a fair level of magic, diversity, myths, and plot twists that leave a bittersweet feeling in your heart when you are done with it.
Moving on to Dystopian Literature, The word dystopia has greek roots and it means “bad place”. Dystopian literature began as a response to its polar opposite, utopian fiction where everything seems to be perfect. The history of dystopian literature traces back to the French Revolution in 1789 and it is first used to criticize dictatorship. Dystopian books are set in a different universe, where everything seems to be as bad as it can be. Its purpose is to make people uncomfortable, examine our values in society, and make comments on society’s flawed parts with making them stand out while using an unfamiliar setting. Every dystopian book is an echo of our society’s voice. Dystopian literature reaches its peak in the late ’90s and early ’00s. One of the most popular series written in this era is The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins. It is a trilogy and a perfect example of how corrupt governments can be and how far they can go, just to stay in power. It makes discrimination, selfishness, need for revenge and hunger for power stand out. In the books, there have been attempts to get rid of the corrupt government of Panem but none of them are successful. The government sets up a punishment called “The Hunger Games” where 2 kids from every district are chosen to fight in an arena until there is a survivor. The main heroine, Katniss Everdeen is a confident archer who hunts with his best friend Gale to keep her family well-fed. When she volunteers to go to the Hunger Games to replace her 12-year-old sister, she knows that she has to survive. The other tribute from the 12th district is Peeta Mellark. Peeta’s parents are sure that their son is not going to be able to make it out alive from the arena. During the games, Barbaric murders occur but somehow Katniss and Peeta are the last ones to remain alive. They both find a way to stay alive and it makes the president furious. They eventually lead an evolution when they get back home but realize that things are getting worse as they keep fighting for their freedom. It is a story of characters that eventually have to lose everything they ever had and Katniss needs to choose between Peeta and Gale. In the story, they are used for metaphors and two pathways Katniss could take while Gale symbolizes anger, war, and trouble; Peeta symbolizes light in the darkness, mercy, rebirth, and peace. What makes the story relatable is the parallels we can see in our daily lives. For instance, why does the public allow The Hunger Games? Because they do not believe their children will be picked. How many people believe that they will never be unsatisfied, separated, seriously ill, or harmed? People enjoy making decisions based on themselves. But wouldn't we be better off as a society if we ensured safety for everyone who is having a hard time? Also, The metaphor for Gale and Peeta is a parallel showing the two ways a person can take after traumatic events. Recovery or Rage. The story is like a wake-up call to everyone, making them find connections to their lives. This is why dystopian books are important for society. It teaches people what is wrong in the world they are living in. Hopefully, more people start reading dystopian again and it continues to exist as a reflection of our society.
Lastly, there is Classical Literature. Etymologically, the word classics comes from the Latin adjective “classicus” which means "belonging to the highest class of citizens". Classical literature originates from ancient Greece and Rome but the term classical is mostly used in every period when authors provide excellence and high quality in their work so it also includes parts of French, Russian, and English Literature. The middle to late 1700s was considered the Golden Period of Classicism. Some well-known authors that contributed to Classical literature are; John Milton, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, and Mark Twain. Every novel from this era is written with clearness and elegance and analyzes some timeless, unchangeable reality about how people behave so it can connect with readers both from our time and its time even if it is mostly based on themes about the time it was created and classic themes like love and mankind against nature. They still get passed from reader to reader and seem to be one of the most indispensable parts of literature. For example, The Lord of The Flies by William Golding was an award-winning and famous book in the past and its reputation still carries on. The book is based on the theme of morality and immorality as the story follows a group of teenage boys surviving a deadly plane crash and ending up on an uninhabited island. Two of the boys find a big shell on the island and decide to use it as a horn to make the other survivors know where they are. They choose one of the boys, Ralph as their leader and split up since some of them have to go and hunt. The boys first take advantage of their time without adults, playing games and splashing around in the pool. Ralph, though, says that they should be keeping the signal fire going and building shelter huts. The hunters' attempt to capture a wild pig is unsuccessful, but their leader Jack grows more and more obsessed with the act of hunting. The rivalry between Jack and Ralph is the main conflict in Lord of the Flies. A peaceful democracy, personified by Ralph, and a violent dictatorship, personified by Jack, are at battle in the conflict over control of the island. Although Jack first unwillingly accepts Ralph's leadership, both boys can lead the entire group. As the story continues, their rivalry increases and strengthens until it becomes a fight to the death. Boys who identify with Ralph, Jack, or either of them reflect many morals and aspects of human nature. Jack stands for aggression, harshness, duty, and protecting the weak, whereas Ralph stands for respect for the law, responsibility, and reason. The book, which is set against the background of a world war, is both a warning against the specific effects of nuclear weapons and a study of human nature and the unstable influence of man in nature. The novel gives the specific tale of a small group battling nature and one another a sense of inevitability and humanity by narrating the story through the experience of young boys isolated from the rest of civilization and making few references to the world outside. It is also an accurate example of how classic novels should be as it checks all the boxes about how a classic novel should be. Classics are like an old door that leads the way to nostalgia and a look at the old times. They should be protected and get passed on to the generation after us, making them have the same opportunity to take a look at the past, just like we did.
In conclusion, every genre is unique in its own way and important for society in different aspects. We should explore different genres and find the ones that fit our taste the most and try to learn some valuable lessons. Remember that everyone can be a reader if they find what they like, try to enjoy what you are reading, and discover your favorite books and genres. Maybe in the future, you can enjoy classifying your favorite books according to their genres too!
#six of crows#the hunger games#the lord of the flies#classical literature#dystopian literature#fantasy reads
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every other one for the nsfw questions. jennafaith.
i read the first part and was going to block you then saw jennafaith and said ok. you can live
What was their first time like?
slow and drawn out. less in a sensual, luxuriating way and more in a jenna taking the time to learn about faith’s responses and get used to her type of way. the time and location was seemingly spontaneous (they hid out in one of the little bunkhouses at sacred skies after going out together to check on how the bliss crop was doing), but they’d been feeling each other out for awhile, and the timing (pre harvest season, when there weren’t other project members around) was more than somewhat premeditated.
How often do they have sex?
varies heavily with the season slash how busy they both are slash what “phase” of their relationship they’re in (they aren’t exactly on/off, but there are lots of natural fluctuations in how intertwined and committed they are). when they’re busy with different things and not seeing each other as much they can easily go weeks to sometimes months without, but when they’re more settled and domestic usually at least a couple times a week.
Who is more sensitive?
i don’t know that faith is actually more sensitive, but jenna is a little more likely to get in her head and overanalyze or focus on performance in a way that distances herself from fully experiencing the sensations of her body. so it might take jenna more grounding to be as readily sensitive, faith tends to be more sensitive/responsive in the moment.
Favorite place to have sex?
jenna loves to sprawl out with pillows and blankets on the floor in front of the bay windows at the conservatory, when there’s lots of warm sunlight spilling in. faith not-so-secretly enjoys when she can actually manage to distract jenna when she’s in the lab (evil, safety hazard).
Who’s best at oral sex/oral headcanons?
time for me to finally get cancelled. i don’t think faith is good at head. jenna is definitely better at oral. she’s an attentive lover and she knows a lot about the human body and literally methodically measures its responses as part of her profession. she’s good.
Who’s more romantically sexual?
i think they’re romantic in different ways wrt sex, faith tends to hold onto more idealized notions of sex/romance/relationships but for all her clinical detachment jenna tends to be more genuinely doting.
Do they have sexual nicknames or titles?
nothing really reserved just for sex, jenna will call faith “darling” from time to time and faith will shorten jenna’s name to just “jen” when they’re alone, but none of that is dirty talk specific.
Who looks at porn more/porn headcanons?
jenna but she doesn’t even jack off she just stares and takes notes. not on technique or anything on physiological inaccuracies and cultural myths perpetuated by the medium
How long can they go?
hours in theory, jenna loves marathon sessions and dedicating time to her partner and has a definite has edging kink. in practice, she often must resort to more efficient trysts limited to the fifteen minute range.
Any routines?
faith likes to make a regular habit of waking up before jenna in the morning (i cannot stress how difficult this is to do, she’s a real freak of nature for this one) and having tea ready for her anyways, and when she wants to turn that into bonus morning sex she will turn jenna’s alarm off and wake her with gentle kisses instead, straddle her for awhile then move her hands where she wants them and roll over to let jenna know it’s time for her to take charge. (pillow princess. that’s my opinioooon.)
jenna is a more meticulous longterm planner and tends to make more of a habit out of looking at their schedules plotting out days she knows they’ll both actually have free time, starting with a nice picnic or other outdoor date and doing lots of slow, subtle teasing before bringing faith back home to really make an event out of things.
What roleplay scenarios do they have/want?
genuinely none, jenna is not a fan of roleplay and it’s one of the few things she’s not even particularly interested in exploring for the sake of pleasing a partner. the self is already a social construct what’s the point.
Who, if anyone, would they most likely bring in to join them?
jenna went out with dr. sarah perkins for awhile during her initial time in hope county and very much enjoyed her (in all aspects), things ended more due to schedule than sexual incompatibility and jenna would be very happy to have her as a guest. (if she could overlook the cult affiliation.)
Something they tried and won’t do again?
shower sex. in the lab safety shower. imagine all the drawbacks of shower sex (slippery + cramped + balance difficulty) multiplied by ten.
Any headcanons not touched on?
jenna is a big fan of teasing and unraveling faith to be very vocal and specific about what she wants. she can be a pillow princess but she has to own it and say what she wants, etc.
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Shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up. Then copy/paste this ask to your favorite mutuals.
the playlist for my fic this love left a permanent mark
now let's talk music!
are we falling in love by madilyn bailey
The panic in my mind is getting louder
And I can't stop it now, and I can't drop it out
This wasn't a part of the plan
The point of no return is getting closer
And I can't stand it how you're all I think about
This one's gonna force my hand
every story of mine - fic and original - that features friendship slowly turning into love has this song in the playlist.
in my mind, this song is featured most heavily in sixth year, especially when they try dancing together at slughorn's christmas party. it's a fun contrast from the yule ball because this time they're almost on the same page. gideon's feeling like an emotional wreck from his breakup with diane, and halley is caught in the whirlwind of feeeeeeeeeelings.
all flowers in time bend towards the sun by jeff buckley and elizabeth fraser
Oh, all flowers in time bend towards the sun
I know you say that there's no-one for you
But here is one
All flowers in time bend towards the sun
I know you say that there's no-one for you
But here is one, but here is one...
Here is one
yes! this is the song that plays when they finally have that kiss! it's flowers and sunlight and the fact that love has been there all along!
the alcott by the national
I tell you my problems
You tell me the truth
It's the last thing you wanted
It's the first thing I'd do
I tell you that I think I'm falling back in love with you
this is when gideon falls back in love with her. it's after they reconcile from their fight, and halley tells him everything that she has learned from dumbledore's lessons. honestly plays an important role as their relationship evolves over the years. when halley learns that he still has lingering fears from the diary, she takes the initiative by sharing allllllll the terrible tom riddle lore.
wait for me (reprise) by hadestown
Wait for me, I'm comin'
Wait, I'm comin' with you
Wait for me, I'm comin' too
I'm comin' too
i've been obsessed with the story of orpheus and eurydice since i was a kid. what kind of person does it take to willing walk all the way to uncertain death, what kind of person reemerges into the land of living? i made sure to have the myth echo throughout the fic - halley walking with gideon out of the chamber, gideon helping her in fifth year when she thinks she's alone, etc etc etc.
fire and the flood by vance joy
Since we met I feel a lightness in my step
You're miles away but I still feel you
Anywhere I go, there you are (anywhere)
Anywhere I go, there you are
Late at night when you can't fall asleep
I'll be lying right beside you counting sheep
Anywhere I go, there you are (anywhere)
Anywhere I go, there you are
before even pulling him from the lake, the friendship starts in third year. various fandom chats had people wishing we got to see more of the little moments in their friendship - how do they bond over their shared trauma, how do they recognize the similar pain in each other - and also the lighter stuff of playing exploding snap and having silly conversations. the love has to start somewhere.
this is why i enjoy the friends-to-lovers arc.
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"Solitaire" - Alice Oseman
⤷ RATING:
⤷ STARTED: September 1, 2023
⤷ FINISHED: September 3, 2023
⤷ STARTED (2nd): October 3, 2023
⤷ FINISHED (2nd): October 4, 2023
[WARNING: Spoilers after the break!]
“There’s a time and a place for being normal. For most people, normal is their default setting. But for some, like you and me, normal is something we have to bring out, like putting on a suit for a posh dinner.”
⤷ ALICE OSEMAN, "SOLITAIRE"
This review was rather, inevitable, really. Anyone who knows me (which, amounts to a total of no one) knows that I am a HUGE fan of Alice Oseman. I own a copy of all of her published novels and novellas and I am currently hoping to get copies of the Heartstopper comics. So yeah, a huge Oseman nerd.
Into the review!!
"Solitaire" follows the story of Tori Spring and the emergence of a "vigilante group" who are dedicated to revealing the flaws of the school system and liberate the students. Tori doesn't care. Tori doesn't care and doesn't want to be involved until our ICON, the MAN, the MYTH, the LEGEND: Michael Holden.
I, personally, adore Michael Holden. He's precious, but I really appreciate the fact that Oseman did not keep him as some one-dimensional character. He's so unfathomably three-dimensional through the excitement and charismatic points to the angry, "human" characteristics of him. He's human. I love characters with flaws, characters who aren't perfect. Michael Holden is a character I undoubtedly love.
Tori is depressed. That's such a blanket statement, and quite of an understatement, actually, but she is depressed. She, too, is three-dimensional like Michael. Their story (IT'S NOT A LOVE STORY) is beautiful.
Overall, their characterization is just so AAA that I can't even put it into words. What I can put into words are the post-it notes I put in this book. It's actually the first (personal and not school-assignment) book that I've put post-it notes in because 1) the majority of books I read are library books and 2) i usually finish them in school and I don't carry POST-IT NOTES.
SO:
Page 23: "And I know kissing... isn't a race, and there are some..."
⤷ This entire quote has to do with a discussion around more explicit topics and originally, when I first read this chapter, I was sort of going through my own identity crisis regarding asexuality. It's 2023 and Tori is canonically asexual in the comics but when the book was written, it wasn't directly written on the pages. STILL.
Page 77: "'I think it's better to just read and not study books.'"
⤷ When I read "Solitaire" for the first time, I marked all of my favorite Michael Holden quotes down with a yellow Post-It note. The second time I read this book, I heavily resisted the urge to mark every time he spoke. Nevertheless, I've been a big reader since the 3rd grade and I've never really minded book studies in English classes, but I've always tried to read them BEFORE the heavy analysis to get my own perspective on a book. So yes, I completely agree.
Page 88: "You don't have any friends. Nobody feels bad..."
⤷ This quote kicked me and kicked me and KICKED me, because it resonated so unfathomably close to my experiences. I feel like today I constantly remind myself of these things and it's painful. It really is.
Page 114: "'I don't really need a boyfriend.'"
⤷ This isn't a love story. THIS ISN'T A LOVE STORY. Society doesn't quite understand the idea of not wanting a significant other. Personally, I don't. This quote is just 👌
Page 143: "'Happiness.. is the price of profound thought.'"
⤷ Another beautiful Michael Holden quote. That's it. That's all I can say, really. It speaks for itself.
Page 159: "'But he loves, and I guess that is all that really..."
⤷ yes, yeS, yES, YES. Someone needed to say it!! Some of my favorite relationships in novels are the platonic ones that make you giggle and shriek because I WANT FRIENDSHIP LIKE THAT. More often than not though, the majority of popular books are romance-based. AND THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! I love a good romance at much as the next teenage girl because most books are good books! I think a lot of people are missing out on a lot of good love stories because they don't like the fantastical aspects of them. But what about the other relationships?
Page 251: "I have come across flaw after flaw after flaw. And..."
⤷ For the second time, yes, yeS, yES, YES. That's all. That's it.
Finally, the entire last page is noteworthy. Anyways, each time I've read this book, I've added more and more post-it notes to this book. This will probably continue with every read and I am okay with that. This book is totally worth the read and I'm so thankful to be apart of the community surrounding it. <3
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The Voyage So Far: Wano (Part Two)
east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)
okay so the wano flashback is possibly my favorite in the whole series for a whole bunch of different reasons, and oden as a character is a big part of why. honestly, i think he’s great. he’s wildly entertaining and ridiculously likable, just like a folk hero should be.
i care about oden and the akazaya nine a lot. they have one of my favorite found family dynamics in the whole series, up there with the strawhats themselves- a bunch of thugs and castoffs who wound up gathering around this one wildly charismatic moron and deciding to be stronger and better for him.
i think they really feel like a family, in these little moments we get of them just interacting and messing around, and it only makes later events- oden’s death, the twenty-year separation, kanjurou’s betrayal- hurt all the worse.
on god it is the funniest thing on earth to me that this is how oden and izou wound up on whitebeard’s ship.
the roger pirates!! i really really like the roger pirates!! i love that there’s this entire predecessor crew who are both absolutely fucking fascinating from a lore perspective and who are just all individually really good characters with really fun relationships. the dynamics we get to see just in this brief part of the flashback are absolutely delightful. i think the fact that i would read a whole series just about the roger pirates is a testament to oda’s character writing.
there’s a specific sort of tragedy to the roger pirates, and i think it really hits home in their last few pages in this flashback. by all appearances, they were a crew just as close-knit as the strawhats are. they cared about each other a lot- that ship was their home.
and then their captain died, and they just- fell apart.
awhile back, in my sabaody post, i talked about how we get to know roger first as a story and then as a character by getting to meet characters who knew him personally. to the rest of the world, roger is a story, a name to curse or a height to aspire to. but for shanks and rayleigh and crocus and buggy and all the rest of the roger pirates, he was their captain.
the whole wano flashback, possibly more than any of the others in the series, really feels to me like a story being told, a folk tale being passed down, which makes sense, since it’s canonically framed as oden’s diary entries. and i think that framing device just adds so much to the atmosphere of this entire section of story, the feeling of myth and legend to it.
i honestly really like how oden’s death is handled. i have trouble articulating it, but it’s so much, so over the top, so heavily set up and foreshadowed- a legendary death for a legendary man, if that makes sense.
toki’s prophecy is one of my favorite motifs in this whole arc. wano is all about a country that’s been trapped and dying for years and years, holding out desperate hope for salvation. toki is the one who gave them that hope. she doesn’t try to tell them that everything will be okay, she says it will be dark and the darkness will be long, but the dawn will come, and even though she gave her life to do that, she did it smiling.
without toki, the wano arc never would have happened, because there would be no future to fight for.
this panel is the header on my favorite op discord server and sometimes i just scroll up and stare at it. it’s so good.
this entire sequence, starting from luffy law and kidd’s entrance, is probably my favorite in wano arc. it’s the turning of the sides, the daybreak after the darkest hour- these three show up, and then jinbe, and denjirou reveals his true colors and it’s revealed all the rest of the samurai left before orochi blew the bridges, and it turns out they haven’t lost a single step to kanjurou’s treachery. it just feels so good to read, after the prior hopelessness of the akazaya and the tragedy of the flashback.
i really like how the akazaya nine are absolutely ready to roast each other at any and all times. that’s how you know they’re best friends.
i think i mentioned it back in fishman island, but one of my favorite things is the strawhats just being absolutely cheerfully, chaotically destructive. every time we get to see them wreck havoc while nonchalantly bickering with each other it puts a huge smile on my face.
i think ulti and page one are very very funny and i like their dynamic a lot, it’s a laugh riot. i also like that oda lets luffy seriously fight a woman here!! i’m serious, we don’t see enough no-holds-barred fights between men and women (conventionally attractive women, specifically) in this series, so i’m pleasantly surprised when it does happen.
i do appreciate wano’s ability to continuously raise the “holy shit!” quotient without it ever really feeling like a twist just for the sake of the audience. like, i don’t know that anybody saw kaidou killing orochi coming, but at the same time, it feels like it does make sense, given what we know about kaidou, for him to do this.
my heart goes out to momo, honestly. he’s only eight, and in that time he’s lost his home and family and his whole world when he was thrown twenty years into the future, and he has the weight of his whole country resting on his shoulders. he’s borne up admirably under that stress, starting from zou and building up to this point.
i LOVE kin’emon’s speech to kaidou about luffy SO much. kin’emon’s come a long way from being a mostly comedy relief character in punk hazard to here, where he’s shouting down an emperor. i really like this progression- kin’emon doesn’t change, exactly, but the side of his character that is revealed in wano is very likable and admirable. it goes back to something i’ve mentioned before, about how one piece’s characters are very rarely one-dimensional.
kaidou’s dragon form is extremely cool, and so are most of the panels where it appears- it’s extremely striking, especially in panels like this, where he’s silhouetted against the moon.
i love... the ripple effects of luffy just being himself that spread throughout the world of one piece, and i think this is one of the best examples. luffy befriended coby all the way back in chapter two, mostly by accident, and now, nine hundred and some chapters later, that’s what leads to drake joining the strawhats’ side. because drake is friends with coby who says luffy is trustworthy, so when drake is stuck with nobody else to turn to, he turns to luffy.
moments like this really reinforce just how much the world and story of one piece is built on relationships between people, and i really like that. i like that instead of necessarily being built around abstract ideals or morals, characters’ actions are, more often than not, motivated by either specific personal goals or by their relationships with other characters. it feels much more true to life.
i like the loss of kiku’s arm, because it showcases exactly how serious the fight is on both sides. it both shows that kaidou is fighting to maim and kill and do whatever it takes to win, and that the akazaya are fully prepared to take whatever he throws at them. kiku gets back up smiling after losing her arm. neither side in this fight is even close to backing down, now or ever.
i genuinely can’t believe how long it took me to talk about yamato, so let me just say: i love him so much. part of this, i’m sure, is my personal bias towards any and all kickass queer characters, but part of it is just- he’s so cool. he’s ten feet tall and carries a club about as big as he is and tanks explosions like they’re nothing while also bickering with luffy and falling out of ceilings and generally being like... stupidly lovable.
i just like yamato a lot.
a thousand chapters in, and every strawhat but robin has had a moment where they declare luffy is going to be the king of the pirates, but honestly, i think nami’s might be my favorite yet. nami has always been a person who acts at a distance, not one inclined to direct confrontation and putting herself in danger-
and yet, when it comes down to it, when faced with a choice between death and disavowing her captain’s dream, even when assured by usopp that she would be fully justified in lying for her life, nami chooses luffy. even in the most dire of circumstances, all of the strawhats know luffy is going to be the king of the pirates, and none of them would ever deny it.
i kind of alluded to this back in my dressrosa post, but i really like the development of law’s new dream being discovering the meaning of the will of d. it just feels like a very good and natural progression for his character, given he’s the only holder of the will of d who we’ve been shown is consciously aware of it and what it might mean. and in general, i like seeing him having something else to work towards after doflamingo’s defeat.
i’ll end this by just saying i am so desperately curious to know what is in that book, and what yamato knows about the will of d, about the dawn of the world, about laugh tale.
guess we’ll find out, huh?
thanks for reading through to the end!! i had a lot of fun putting these posts together, and writing them up was a really cool way to be able to compile my thoughts headed into chapter 1000 and beyond. i can’t wait to see where oda takes us next.
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6 Anti LO Asks
1. wasnt there a myth where ares dates demeter? (sometims erinyes instead) and they have a CHILD together? i know RS doesn't really research so it wont come up, but ... how awkward would that family reunion be? "hello, barely-legal version of the teenage girl i tried to mack on, i knocked up your mother"?
2. (Bit of a rant so be warned) I wish that RS had characterized everyone better, I mean I still can’t get over how Apollo was characterized (I got into LO before I fully delved into mythology and once I read on how Apollo really was I didn’t know how to feel about the story). It would’ve been so amazing if she portrayed them differently than they were in the myths in a way that made sense, like Aphrodite given a fully developed personality outside of being a bitch with a pretty face (she was a very loving mother in the myths and very much loved Ares, who adored her as well). And let’s be honest, persephone being a “cinnamon roll that can secretly kill you” trope is kind of getting boring, RS could have had some more fun with her character by portraying her much differently. Another trope that’s getting old is Demeter being an overprotective, controlling mess of a mother towards persephone which sucks once you really think about it (I mean the poor woman lost her daughter in an instant and didn’t know what was going on until she had to go to Helios to find out, she deserves a better portrayal than what RS gave her). Heck my favorite portrayal of Demeter that feels accurate to how she is mother-wise in the myths is from Mythic the Musical (“Mother’s Do What Mother’s Have to Do”). Also don’t get me started on how dirty she did Thetis (I love her design but my god was she done wrong personality and even role wise). I remember when I first started reading this and read through the majority of the comic and I genuinely loved it, not thinking about how weird it was until I read through this blog and it kind of just hit me. Hades is a creep in LO and he could’ve just not been written that way, she didn’t have to write Persephone as a literal 19 year old (even 119 is young for gods but at least that would’ve been a more comfortable number) the baby shower gift thing was gross once I thought about it again. If I had to put my main frustrations with this series I would put these as the main problems: Gods/Goddesses being done dirty in terms of personality and role in the story, Hades being a high key creep, I heard that Chiron is being portrayed as female which defeats one of the purposes of his character (he’s a genuinely kind man which is rare to find in Greek Mythology, he’s awesome), not utilizing other Greek mythological figures to help move the story along or even help persephone (for example, Ganymede who’s story starts off very much like hers or even other figures who were SA by gods), and Persephone not only being a self insert but a major Mary Sue which is a massive yikes when it comes to a serious storyline. Oh and her “erasing” the incest factor of Greek Mythology is hysterical because even with how she changes it up, Hades and Persephone are STILL technically related because Demeter is Hera’s sister, who is married to Zeus (Hades’ brother) still making Hades her uncle by marriage smh. Demeter considers Persephone her daughter so that doesn’t erase the incest completely. At least Percy Jackson made it clear that it was a thing, and they handled it very easily: they’re divine beings that don’t have blood and they’re not mortals, despite that Percy and the other demigods express obvious disgust at the topic. Done and done. At the end of the day I’m still not sure how I feel about LO and maybe I’ll continue reading it for the hell of it or just give it up since from what I’ve heard, the story has gone off the rails
3. i like how just off that timeline, we're supposed to feel like "aw look both hades and persephone had traumatic childhoods and important life changes at 19!" instead of being like yooooo this seven year beat the shit out of his dad and took him out? why would i care about hades' teen angst and then late 20s man pain whi lusts after a 9 year old when a goddamn second grader can kick ass? also yeah depending on this timeline theyre all pedos and zeus is actually a vicim 🤷🏼♀️
4. Okay, I could be misremembering things but, didn't Hera have a file on Persephone (which listed her under the TGOEM program) that she made for "possible suitors" purposes? And she included Hermes and Ares and Hades?
Again, I could be misremembering this but doesnt the TGOEM require the goddesses to, not be in relationships? Romantic or otherwise? And if thats the case, then why the f*ck was Hera making a "compatibility chart" of possible husbands for Persephone?
Was it because she noticed that Persephone and Hades had a thing for each other? Even though she was potentially still having an affair with Hades at the time And knowing he was having an off and on again relationship with Minthe?
Also isnt Persephone in college on the TGOEM scholarship? So wouldn't Hera want to like, talk to Athena + Hestia about that? And be like "Hey so I know Kore is in your program, but.... I want her to marry Hades" And I know Hera is technically Queen of the gods but wouldn't she still check with them?
Also, I had a seperate thought. So I know Hades says something like "I thought we agreed not to (see each other) back in the 80's" - now it feels like because Hera is/was having an off-and-on againa affair with her brother in law that her putting Hades and Persephone together and setting them up as a couple is an excuse for her to cover up her affair.
(Like if Zeus ever got wind of Hera's affair with Hades and he was upset she could just try to side sweep it by being like "oh, no thats not what was happening. I was really checking to see if Hades is a good match for Persephone and he is!" So she doesnt get in trouble for having an affair).
5. okay, legitimate question: if artemis having a ton of uber-devoted female followers is enough to make her a lesbian ... why is ares not gay? because like ... not only were soldiers/male athletes famously homosexual, a lot of them basically ritually gave themselves to ares. it's heavily implied that this means that they considered themselves spiritually his eromenos'. the whole practice's bad implics aside ... ares should be SUPER gay? oiled up gym-rats wrestling nude levels of gay.
6. Okay so normally I don't care and or don't want to know, but - in this case I am a bit curious - is Persephone just RS's self insert character / Mary sue? Because if she is then that means that all the other male characters simping over Persephone (Hades, Hermes, Ares, Apollo, etc) gets a lot more concerning.
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Best Books of 2020
Hi all! As always, I read some banger books this year and I like to do my best to get like everyone in the world to read them, because they’re deserving and being an author is hard. So, without further ado, here are the books that made my year!
There Will Come a Darkness/As the Shadow Rises--Katy Rose Pool
A pretty standard fantasy YA fare, but a step above in character and entertainment. There’s a world-ending prophecy, of course, and a collection of kids trying to save the day, but the world building is excellent and the plot develops from the characters and their relationships, not the other way around. I have characters I would die for and the second book in the series didn’t fall into the typical mid series lag. 8/10.
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow--Natasha Pulley
This was a follow up to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, which is another of my personal favorites, and this did not disappoint. I, in fact, like it better than the first. Set in Japan in the late 1800s, it is part ghost story and mystery, as Thaniel’s--the main character--love interest goes missing, his past having caught up to him. Thaniel is so relatable and his devotion and relationship with Mori could carry me through like forty more books exactly like this. I don’t want to give it away, but it’s one of the most satisfying historical fiction queer relationships I’ve ever read. 10/10.
The Vanished Birds--Simon Jimenez
A space odyssey story that hits closer to home for me than most do, as I’m not typically a science fiction fan. There are aspects of time and space travel, leaving the main character outside of normal space and time, meaning most of her friends have aged and died past her. Eventually, she meets a boy, lost and alone, and grudgingly takes him in. They form a bond, but he has a secret and it ends up wrecking her ship, her crew, etc. but she does her best to keep him safe anyway. The plot is incredible, lots of twists and turns--the good kind--and I’m more than a slut for found family stories, so here we are. 9/10.
Upstream--Mary Oliver
This is an essay collection by Mary Oliver and like everything by her, it changed my life just a little. Before this year, I wasn’t reading her every day and now I am. She offers much needed perspective and the tools for self healing and this short essay collection is such a simple way to get started. I loved it to pieces, just as I love her. 10/10.
The Autobiography of Red--Anne Carson
I read a fuckton of Anne Carson this year. I encountered her on this site and decided to read as much as I could and I have no regrets. This was my favorite by her, but they’re all so so so good. This is a modern retelling of a Greek myth starring Herakles and Geryon, centered on their relationship and Geryon’s journey to discovering his own power. There are times when it is incredibly harrowing, but I stopped like every two pages just to process her way with words. This is the most English major offering of the year, as it works heavily in metaphor and allegory--and is also poetry--but it is worth it. 10/10.
P.S. If you’re looking for more Anne Carson, I also highly recommend The Beauty of the Husband.
This is How You Lose the Time War--Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
God, I loved this book. Maybe the surprise of the year for me. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and the tropes are some of my favorites. Two women on opposite sides of a war who fall in love with each other through hidden messages and a happy-ish ending. Though it is more vignettes than an actual plot--that being said, the ending comes through--it still affected me intensely. 9/10.
The House in the Cerulean Sea--T.J. Klune
Read this book, please. Please, please, please. It is the comfort you need, I promise. It’s about a weary man, stuck in the hell cycle of capitalism, who is sent on a job to an old, rickety house owned by a man who takes care of magical creatures/children than no one else will take care of. They fall in love and the mc finds a family and begins to enjoy his life. The relationship is so healing and cute and I spent half my time screaming and the other half crying. 10/10.
Gideon the Ninth/Harrow the Ninth--Tamsyn Muir
I do not even know where to begin talking about these. They’re weird, hilarious, morbid, and absolutely wonderful. I would die for both mc’s, who are definitely halfway through an incredible enemies-friends-lovers plot, and this book surprised me with plot twists more than once. There are necromancers and bones and sacrifices and threesomes with God and queer characters up the wazoo and old, dangerous ruins and space and ugh. I reread these almost the second I finished--both of them--and I know I’ll need to reread before the last book comes out. 10/10.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home--Carol Rifka Brunt
I gave this to every member of my family to read, almost directly after I sobbed for like forty-five minutes at the end. It’s from the POV of a young girl whose uncle dies of AIDS and can’t find comfort in her own family, because they didn’t like him nearly as much as she did. She becomes friends with the boyfriend he left behind and they heal each other through their friendship. It wrecked me and put me back together. 10/10.
These Violent Delights--Chloe Gong
This book is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet in Shanghai...loosely. But it’s such a good read. Shanghai is so visceral it’s practically it’s own character and the threat of the monster lose in the city is genuinely terrifying. Juliette and Roma were together at one point, then broke up after a betrayal, and when they come back together to save the city, it creates such an interesting character dynamic that never lost my interest. Lots and lots of props too to the relationship between the Benvolio & Mercutio counterparts. I cannot wait for the continuation of that in the next book. Just...so good. 9/10.
Honorable Mentions: A Deadly Education-Naomi Novak, The Only Good Indians-Stephen Graham Jones, The Memory of Babel-Christelle Dabos (only here because it’s the 3rd book in a series, it’s a 10/10), Black Leopard Red Wolf-Marlon James, The Eye of the Heron-Ursula K Le Guin, and Fifty Words for Rain-Asha Lemmie
#book rec#books#tell the wolves i'm home#these violent delights#the locked tomb#the house in the cerulean sea#this is how you lose the time war#the autobiography of red#upstream#the vanished birds#the lost future of pepperharrow#there will come a darkness#best of 2020
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Okay so here's the comparison and my heart is breaking while I write this.
Tony grew up with a life, a house, good food in his plate, while Dean didn't have that too. Both of their fathers were abusive and while it's never heavily implied that Howard was an abuser, it's implied with John. Dean gave every little happy thing he had to his brother, be it his favorite cereal, be it gifts for Christmas and he always took the blunt of his dad's anger, always saving Sam from his dad, while Tony at least had a better life and he didn't have to sacrifice as much as Dean did, because he didn't have a sibling. He had a proper education, a home and good food, granted that he was shut off and was never good at communicating but it was a fault in his upbringing not his, plus he was learning and he lived a lavish life after Howard died: Stark expo, having parties, meaningless hookups and granted that he was never happy with those things, because as yinsen said "so you're a man who has everything and nothing" he craved real relationships too and then we saw his journey to become Iron Man from there and the sacrifices actually started from there, while Dean lived his 38 years on Earth living like hell and he spent 40 years in literal hell, which is so much worse than how Tony lived (gosh I love Tony and he deserved to live more than anything but when I compare these two, Dean literally deserved it more)
Then comes the death: Tony left a legacy, he had a family for 5 years, hell he was so much better since Spider-Man homecoming, his death was mourned by the whole planet and he died saving the universe. While Dean's death was a literal joke compared to this, no one knew about their legacy, no one was there at Dean's funeral except Sam and the dog, he freaking died by a crowbar and it wasn't a big sacrifice. When Dean was going to sacrifice himself at the end of season 11 he vocalized that he wanted a big funeral and they didn't even give him that. I hardly doubt that any of Dean's friends even knew about his death because they never even SHOWED Sam mentioning it to ANYONE. And after a few years, no one in the hunter community will even know if the Winchesters were a myth or actually real, that's how shitty their legacy was. And his abusive parents in Dean's heaven, really? At least in the deleted scene of endgame Tony gets to meet a grown up Morgan which makes so much more sense than that shitty platter they called the finale of the best show. Both Tony and Dean wanted to live more than anything, Tony said this while handing the avengers equipment for time travel while we see how Dean applied for a job and he even said that if they didn't keep on living the sacrifices people did for them will go to waste and he was so terrified while dying, it's written all over his face. To the people saying that Chuck was out of the picture so the death makes sense, you thick headed people, they won their luck after 15.11 and they defeated chuck didn't they? You're saying all of his strength and fighting skills are due to Chuck and disrespecting his heroism so bad. HOW CAN YOU EVEN CALL HIM YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER IF YOU'RE OKAY WITH ANY PART OF HIS DEATH, GOD.
I hated Tony's death, I still do and he deserved to retire while Steve should have wielded the gauntlet and made the big sacrifice and it would be a good way to not throw off Steve's character and giving Tony a semi-retired life with his family but when I compare Dean's ending to Tony's it makes me ABSOLUTELY feral.
#destiel#marvel#mcu#spn#supernatural#dean winchester#dean winchester is bi#dean and cas deserved better#destiel is the greatest love story ever told#dean winchester deserves better#dean winchester deserved to live#jensen ackles#jensen ackles deserved better#they silenced them#theysilencedthem
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mechanisms fiction!
also known as: i read all the fiction so you don’t have to!
under the cut: summaries of each fiction, word count, and content warnings! the summaries are of my own writing, and unlike the ones on the website, i’ve opted for useful rather than intriguing. i’ve also ordered the list to make a bit more sense/fit better timeline-wise!
some of the fiction has an audio version; i’ve included links to TheVoidSings’ lyric videos of said audio where applicable!
i’ve put the ones with relevant lore in bold, the ones i personally like in italics, and i’ve put a * after all the ones that include the mechs!
AURORA AND THE CREW
breakup*
summary: nastya and aurora have an argument and then both go off to sulk. mostly focuses on nastya. interesting thing: scuzz is in this one!
word count: 707
content warnings: implied nsfw
the story of the toy soldier*
summary: it’s the toy soldier’s backstory! covers what’s probably at least a decade and has a lot of lore! also has illustrations, most likely courtesy of ts!
word count: 605
content warnings: murder, images of choking, implied rape
who killed doctor carmilla?*
summary: carmilla’s just been pushed out an airlock and various mechanisms are going around trying to get an alibi out of everyone.
word count: 647
content warnings: n/a
interview transcript 34/08/7012*
summary: a police officer attempts to interview jonny when he’s in prison. includes a lot of information about him that’s nice to have for characterization!
word count: 782
content warnings: discussed murder, including child murder; attempted suicide
archive footage*
summary: an ivy character study, pretty much! goes into her fucked up brain and how it works. one of my personal favorites, as it’s very well written.
word count: 1390
content warnings: death, minor blood/gore
octokittens*
summary: a short one-off featuring some ashes and jonny banter!
word count: 208
content warnings: guns, animal death
feeding the octokittens*
summary: another one-off: this one has some quality tim, ivy, and nastya content. very fun!
word count: 455
content warnings: animal death
tales of the blogbot*
summary: comes off as an odd fiction, addressing the ‘blogbot’, the thing that used to send out the updates on the mechs mailing list (among other things) and makes passive-aggressive comments about them occasionally. goes through a few answers to what the bot is, and comes to no conclusion, but directly links to the next fiction in my list, ‘ghost in the machine’.
word count: 988
content warnings: referenced mass murder, implied nsfw
ghost in the machine*
summary: what happened to aurora’s programmer when jonny and carmilla took over ‘her’ ship (which is explained/expanded on in ‘how the aurora was won’); lots of aurora lore, as well as a more close view into the actual atrocities the mechanisms commit.
word count: 1152
content warnings: death
how the aurora was won*
jonny steals the aurora from the cyberian navy, in the most unsettling way possible!
word count: 631
content warnings: suicide, graphic depictions of violence
a bedtime story*
some fluffy nastyaurora for the soul!
word count: 326
content warnings: n/a
drive the cold winter away*
part of a group with cyberian demons and nomadic spacers! i think i’ve arranged them chronologically, but might have messed it up.
nastya visits the ruins of cyberia. jonny and ashes are there.
word count: 432
content warnings: n/a
cyberian demons*
a nastya character study- reflections on her memories, as she works on destroying what is left of cyberia.
word count: 1699
content warnings: blood, violence
nomadic spacers*
an outsider pov on the events of ‘drive the cold winter away’ and ‘cyberian demons’.
word count: 1120
content warnings: death
out*
nastya leaves the mechanisms for good after she finds her love, aurora, is no longer who she once was; presumably, this is her death.
word count: 1210
content warnings: suicide
ONCE UPON A TIME [IN SPACE]
gingerbread
hansel and gretal’s villain origin story! (they were the scientists speaking in ‘the twins’)
word count: 609
content warnings: child neglect, murder, needles/syringes
midnight
a bit of a cinders character study/some more of her backstory!
word count: 628
content warnings: n/a
mirror, mirror (audio version here!)
post-pump shanty/snow’s flight. the beginning of snow’s descent into a worse person, and how it overlaps with the myth of snow white/how she begins to take on the role of the evil queen.
word count: 860
content warnings: smoking
a fireside chat
a radio broadcast by scheherazade, king cole’s chief propaganda minister.
word count: 842
content warnings: mentions of concentration camps, death, and bombings
a rebel yell (audio version here!)
counter to ‘a fireside chat’- a radio broadcast by tom thumb, the voice of the rebellion! one of my personal favorites, as it’s very funny.
word count: 574
content warnings: mentions of mass murder
chapter’s end*
mad jack spratt and jonny d’ville play cards.
word count: 790
content warnings: discussions of death
by any other name
basically all the lore around briar rose, in a form of a report by hood, the rebellion’s hacker!
word count: 2023
content warnings: murder, graphic depictions of violence
this little piggy
all of the (incredibly fucked up) lore around the three little pigs!
word count: 993
content warnings: child abuse, brainwashing, non-consensual body modification, medical abuse (it’s a very intense one, please stay safe!)
what big eyes
all the lore we have on hood, in the form of king cole’s intelligence officers trying to figure it out.
word count: 1946
content warnings: mentions of war crimes and death
in the army*
the toy soldier and a group of rose reds hang out in a bar together! it’s a very fun one, with lots of banter! presumably takes place before the toy soldier met the mechanisms, but we don’t know that for sure. lots of lore about the rose reds, as well!
word count: 707
content warnings: mentions of war crimes and death
true love
colonel belle’s report on her efforts to manipulate adam ‘the beast’ bete into joining the resistance. (the mechs’ take on beauty and the beast). also a small bit of lore about rose!
word count: 1151
content warnings: manipulation, torture, unhealthy relationships
one thousand and two
a character study of scheherazade- the thoughts running through her head as rebels are about to find and kill her.
word count: 2236
content warnings: suicide; mentions of torture, concentration camps, and child death
ever after*
you know how jonny was being annoyingly cryptic about what happened to briar rose! well, they have a fiction that says!
word count: 680
content warnings: graphic depictions of violence
ULYSSES DIES AT DAWN
you’ll have to tell us the story sometime*
the mechanisms explore the ruins of the city, thousands of years after the events of ulysses dies at dawn!
word count: 469
content warnings: n/a
death in the metropolis
not anything super relevant- a news article about gang violence and the increased shifts for acheron workers as a result, setting a bit of a mood for the city as a whole. establishes hermes’ role in olympus.
word count: 547
content warnings: nothing to note, but there’s the background fucked-up-ness of the city going on and mentioned!
how not to die
another news article, this one focused on a group of people (’helljumpers’) trying to escape the acheron.
word count: 926
content warnings: suicide
fao: hermes – not urgent
a bit of a followup to the previous two fictions! the editor, herodotus, gets in trouble for discussing the helljumpers.
word count: 453
content warnings: n/a
orpheus, dionysus, muriatic acid and the strange whirring thing*
a look into orpheus’ character and how he ended up in the ulysses job! (mechs don’t heavily feature- just a note of the role brian took on, as well as mentions of ashes of course)
word count: 5017
content warnings: addiction, suicidal thoughts, police; implied nsfw, but only in the context of orpheus being a sex worker
orpheus and narcissus go to the seaside
i personally really love this one! it’s low-key the mechanisms’ take on the great gatsby- takes place a few years prior to the above fiction, and explores orpheus and narcissus’ friendship! it’s morbidly funny, with lots of very good banter/interaction!
word count: 6300
content warnings: eating disorders, addiction, implied nsfw (again in the context of sex work), suicidal thoughts, mental institutions (even if that’s not normally a problem for you, they get very dark and graphic, so be careful), non-consensual drugging; technically self-harm, but it’s a lighthearted joke
in the madness of war
how ulysses was forced into the war (a darker take on the story about him attempting to avoid it at first).
word count: 817
content warnings: n/a
the hacker’s mistake (a fiction to accompany prometheus)
prometheus is revealed as corrupt, but that doesn’t stop people from believing in him, so he is made an example of.
word count: 903
content warnings: torture
one of the chosen
another low-lore worldbuilding piece- this one about a teenage girl who gets conscripted to the acheron early.
word count: 824
content warnings: n/a (it’s fairly dark, though, so be careful).
eskhatos*
after the events of ulysses dies at dawn, the mechanisms leave, but not without causing a bit of chaos first.
word count: 464
content warnings: cannibalism
HIGH NOON OVER CAMELOT
the fastest shot
guinevere’s backstory!
word count: 792
content warnings: murder, child abuse, alcoholism
the sharpest aim
a western-style tall tale, starring lancelot!
word count: 1667
content warnings: relationship abuse, murder, violence
i will rule this town*
another personal favorite! expanding on ‘ten caliber railgun he got off a bandit in the flooded sectors’, it deals with arthur’s attempts to bring down nimue, the lady of the lake, and gain control! also has some lancelot/arthur/guinevere fluff, and a bit of an insight into his friendship with brian- as well as his original hopeful mindset, and how that diminished.
word count: 1488
content warnings: murder, drowning
the wake
morgan le fay (mordred’s surrogate mother)’s funeral, and mordred’s decision to go seek out camelot.
word count: 1045
content warnings: death (but only in the context of it being a funeral), cultural cannibalism
pellinore and the beast (audio version here)
this one’s a bit of an odd one- i’ve included it for the sake of completion, as it’s on the fiction list, but it’s just the lyrics to the mechs song pellinore and the beast? i’ve excluded the word count and content warnings for this one, as it’s literally just the lyrics. unsure of what to do here.
OTHER
the prisoner of dorian gray
the mechanisms’ take on the story of dorian grey! this one is part fiction, part song lyrics with a note of the tune they should be sung to.
word count: 1746
content warnings: suicide, torture
and that’s it! the fiction is all very good and well written, and i’d highly recommend reading at least a few of these!
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Telvan Tale: Whale of a Time
Here’s the first Telvan Tale! (More information can be found here) It’s probably one of the most horrific ones I’ll write so viewer discretion is advised. It’s heavily inspired by a mix of myths around Alcatraz and typical slasher story tropes. Instead of writing of a retelling of the urban legend, I instead chose to write the truth that no one knows.
Content Rating: Mature
Content Warnings (send me an ask if you think of a tag that should be added): Graphic violence, blood & gore, murder, forced captivity, cannibalism, death, extensive body horror, war (mentioned), memory loss
Word Count: 2374
Telvan Tale Taglist (ask to be added/removed):
General Taglist (ask to be added/removed): @ecwrenn
“The best time in my life was when I went to Kromhold.”
“Well golly, that makes me feel great to hear but you don’t look like you're having a whale of a time.” I laugh heartily. Not much I can do for him besides try to lighten the mood.
“I mean before all the barbed wire and concrete.” He takes his head out of his hands and looks off to the window. I know that look, I invented it. It isn't focused on what’s here or what’s to come, is to look back on what was. He didn’t need to say much past that. He’s told me plenty about him and where we are. His tone is genuine and his gaze is forlorn enough that I can’t help but feel pity for him.
My friend here talks about Kromhold when it was under a different name. I remember those days but not as clearly as him. This was back when it was a castle open to all instead of a fortress designed to contain and isolate. One could enter for a pittance and in exchange be given a memory worth a lifetime. Decadent foodstuffs lined every street. A friend lurking behind every corner. Every poster, every coat of paint, every leaf was prim and proper. I’s were dotted and T’s were crossed. It was wonderfully, perfectly, saccharine. All thanks to an anonymous benefactor, Bellanaya was able to stay open for years, ensuring at least three generations had seen its glistening walls. That was the past, and all that’s left now is a bitter aftertaste.
“What was your favorite part? Mine was the whale watching. I could catch up with the whole family from right on the beach.” Another jest, but what could I do, tell the truth?
“The teacups.” He nodded, as if to agree with himself. “Definitely the teacups.”
“You always striked me as a coffee person.”
“No, no,” waving his arms like he’s swatting away my witty retort. “The ride. Never could handle most of the others, even the bumper cars would tumble my stomach around like a washing machine. I threw up plenty of times on the trip here. “ He looks out the window and locks eyes with the sky.
Even in the past he wasn’t worth his salt it seems. It’s fair I suppose, the only thing he has to hang onto is me after all. Even his skin looks ready to leave him. Dry and gray, it clung to his bones shivering with shallow, dissonant breaths. He had to look better than this at some point, if he’d been here back in the heyday. The cars were taken out around the 14th year of business. Another 11 before we had to close up shop. Back then his name wouldn’t have mattered, only how much he was willing to spend. They needed it more than he would. But just like everything else, discounts and promotions wouldn’t help what was to come.
He takes a break from his staring match and sighs. “How’d this happen? You were here from when the park was still a park, weren’t you? What happened?”
I let loose a giggle. Unintentional and all it does is serve to unnerve him. We’ve had this conversation so many times I can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of this situation. Despite all the trust I’ve cultivated with him, he has troubling matching eyes with me. Granted, all he can do is look down at me from this position. “You aren’t from around here are you? From the south I bet, beyond the sea and all?” He doesn’t need to answer yes, he’s already talked about the plains where he lived enough for me to guess with certainty. I continue, “The same thing happened to this place that happened everywhere. Money was the only thing keeping us in business. Memories stopped being made and started being sold. Then the war hit the mainland. We were ready to shut down and leave, but that wasn’t an option with the flames licking away at the island. So we stayed. When all was said and done, the Sangreguila came and forced us to stay open. As you can see, the objective was still to give our visitors memories they wouldn’t be able to forget. This time they couldn’t leave.”
He curls up into a ball at the foot of his cot. “Zastüd didn’t help.” He couldn’t help but shudder and sniffle after uttering those words. For some it was a victory the likes of which no one had seen, and for others it was a loss felt around the world. He fell into the later camp it seems. A shame.
“Wiping a city off the map didn’t do much for international relationships. Not to mention Zastüd was a technological marvel. It was even worse that they couldn’t find out who did it. After everyone was done pointing fingers, they picked a couple patsies to throw in here and tossed the key in the ocean. They wanted to make a place for just the absolute worst society had to offer. People who wanted the world to burn and chose to do so with their own hands. Just like you.” Those words hurt him, but I know he couldn’t redirect his anger at me. I’d been his only friend since he arrived here in Kromhold.
Gods, I hate that name. Cold and hard, so I guess it's at least truthful. Bellanaya was such a better name. Regardless, Kromhold did it’s best to break him down but he refused. He was innocent, after all. When he’d first arrived he was greeted with a fist to the mouth. Despite his absolutely rancid reputation and overpowering stature, he fell apart at the first sign of a conflict. Being given what was in essence a death sentence didn’t help his confidence either. Those who wanted fights found a whimpering dog. Those who wanted friends found a monster only held back by a tight leash. But then he found me.
I’ve been the only companion this poor boy has known. I’ve given myself the task of helping him throughout this trial. The only way I can is to help him remember. The good times, the bad times, the times in between, they all fade away with a nice rosy pink when you look back on them. It was my Mother who first told me about what I could do. She once had it herself but thought it better to give it to me. “People will always forget about you until they need you,” she said. I’ve always hated that word. Forget. I still took the gift gratefully, it was my Mother’s and to have anything from her was the greatest honor. Even now, that gift is the only thing I have of value. It’s all the boy has needed fortunately. As long as I flash a smile or say some outdated slogan he stays sated for the day. It’s a small price to pay for what he’s done for me. He always forgets the next day or sometimes even right after I’m done speaking but I’ll always start talking to him the next time he asks.
“Oh gawrsh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. Best friends don’t hurt best friends right?” I squirmed over and offered a “hand”.
He looks up and wipes his face. He appears to mull it over but I know his answer. He takes my loose fibers in his claws and mutters, “Friends till the end.”
I hate being in this position but it’s the only way I’m still here. At least I’m not in the same situation as the other mascots. They usually “enforce” the rules around here along with the standard armed guards. One of the boys on my friend’s block snapped and stabbed one, only to find out it was another prisoner. Warden made sure they stayed in character and kept silent, permanently. The rumor was the Warden wore the suits too, but no one had the fortitude to try and hunt him down after the first incident. The boy came to me that day, crying up a storm. Took ages to calm him down. When he could finally look me in the eye, I didn’t miss the gleam in his eye. It came from a deep, dark place that even he didn’t know he had. Perfect, I thought.
Many a day and night has passed and that boy has turned into an old man. He’ll still be a boy to me, bright eyed and gentle, not wanting to hurt a fly. This place changed him. It made him rough and broken. This is one of the few days he can speak to me with clarity. Normally, he can’t help but keep looking out that window and hoping for something different. I think it’s high time I gave that to him. This is not the first time I’ve said these words, but I believe it is the first time he’ll hear them.
“Do you remember your first day here? They needed five men to drag you in. All you could do was scream ‘I’m innocent’. That didn’t matter to them. Everyone in here could be innocent of their crimes but the guards don’t care. Still, they needed five to bring you in, and that wasn’t even with you trying, bud.”
He looks wide-eyed. Confused, even. Enough to register what I said. That’s all the proof I need to continue.
“Do you remember the day you met me?” He shakes his head. Words escape him and so does the memory. “I remember it like it was yesterday. I was just a scratch on the floor and a prayer sitting in between the walls. Forgotten. All I could do was sit, wait and listen. And then you came in. You wanted to never forget. Not Kromhold, but Bellanaya. It was pretty shoddy workmanship but you made a burlap sack into the spitting image of Wilfredo the Whale. You know, me! I scared you half to death the first time I talked but we’ve been friends since then.”
He grinned ear-to-ear. Revealing a row of sharpened, yellow teeth. Not fit for anything but meat. Ironic since all he’s eaten for the past couple of years is gruel.
“I remember.”
“Do you want to go back?”
“Excuse me?” He’s a bit taken aback. Understandable but unwanted and unnecessary. All I need is a “yes”, not a “yes and”.
“What would you do if I said I could take you back? To the days where you were free. No man could control you. If they tried, they’d learn why they shouldn’t. You are the only important person to me. I can’t let you rot in this cell.”
“What do you mean you can take me back?” There wasn’t disbelief in his voice, only contemplation. They love it when you play the hero. Thanks for teaching me that lesson, Lecuto. What a wonderful Sister.
“I can give you back your body, silly. All you need is to put me on your head. Say the magic words, then watch as the magic happens.”
He thought for a second. And then another second. He did not take a third. Years upon years of friendship does that. I waited initially, just to add a sense of suspense. I’d do my Mother wrong if I didn’t have a dramatic flair.
“What are the magic words?” There was a slight tremble to his voice. He didn’t believe something so incredulous despite my entire existence. Hilarious.
“There aren’t any.”
My body didn’t have much to offer as it was, so I could do little besides spread my fibers. A bit of resistance and they began to slink under the skin. All the natural pathways of his body were too easy to explore, invade, and conquer. He didn’t have much to offer in terms of a protest. Was it shock that I’d betray him so easily or was it a staunch belief that I’d help him?
It mattered little in the face of what I was presented with. All the juicy goods he’d amassed over the years sitting in front of me like a feast before a king. The first birthday he could remember was light and refreshing in a place like this. Benito, his childhood hound was next to go, rich and flavorful, like his surprisingly long life span. Almost fifteen years, that one. As delicious as they were, they were unimportant.
Ah, here it is.
His first kill. The rage. The bloodlust. The emptiness. The overwhelming fear. And finally, hunger.
He’d never truly been strong, especially when it comes to impulse control. The other piece I’d needed came soon after, about five or so years. Countless bodies scoured those days but none were like the first. He became complacent and slow. He wanted to savor the meal rather than simply consume. When he was caught he had nothing but regret. He said plenty that meant nothing to the Sangreguila. It wasn’t his hands that made the first cut. He wasn’t there to bathe in blood, he merely slipped onto a scene and unsuccessfully tried to make himself scarce. That wasn’t flesh stuck between his teeth, he just so happened to rip into livestock with reckless abandon moments earlier.
I could tell some didn’t deserve the pain Kromhold had inflicted upon them. My friend here was not one of those poor souls. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why they didn’t shoot him right then and there. Haven’t they heard the saying “a legend is made when someone hides the truth?”
When I was done sifting through his head, I drained out all that wasn’t important. I didn’t require much magic to remold his shape back to those years. He still remembered them fondly somewhere deep down. Muscles atrophied by years of misuse and malnutrition now pulsed with power. Legs that trembled with each step stood straight. Teeth that reeked of disease and looked a putrid yellow instead became fierce, white fangs. A perfect weapon to be used by me. I couldn't have wished for a better present. Now only one thing was left. To leave this prison behind with a trail of terror.
No one will ever forget me again.
#telvan#telvan tales#short stories#writeblr#writing#creative writing#writing community#vylequinne#fantasy#age of the rebel
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I’d love for you guys to have Mark Lewisohn on your show just to grill him. As someone who’s experienced workplace bullying and sexual assault, that he would go so far as to paint Klein as “heroic” when he said things like “reluctant virgin” is just so devastating to me. It makes me feel ill. I do NOT want this man to have a say in Beatles history. I love the Beatles. I don’t want that tainted by people who will paint over abuse just to feed their own self importance.
We vehemently agree, Listener! Thank you for writing in.
Our list of grievances with Mark Lewisohn is long, but in a nutshell we believe his intent is to publicly “redeem” John Lennon and we have seen copious evidence that he will go to whatever lengths he has to in order to do this.
That includes, but is not limited to:
Claiming that readers of his Tune In Series may consider Klein the “hero” of the Beatles break-up
Deliberately spreading the demonstrably false lie that John (and Yoko) did not have a significant heroin problem in the late 60s and early 70s (Lewisohn suggests Cold Turkey is just John playing make believe)
Displaying unapologetic favoritism by using glowing terms to portray John and Yoko as the world’s most perfect romance, as opposed to Paul and Linda, whose 29-year marriage he dismisses as “conventional” and motivated by appearances (namely Linda’s pregnancy, even though it was planned) and Green Card needs
Stating that he could tell from watching the infamous “it’s a drag” clip that Paul was kind of sad, but primarily annoyed at how much positive attention John was getting on the day of his murder
Apparently suggesting to an audience of his Power Point Show that Paul maybe stole a leg off Yoko’s bed (the bed she had delivered and built in the Beatles’ recording studio, mind you), a personal “theory” which is based on the fact that Paul later wrote a song called “Three Legs” (you know that song: “My dog, he got three legs, like the bed you inappropriately brought into Abbey Road 2 years ago which I secretly vandalized behind your back because I have nothing better to do, am certainly not busy writing the Beatles Swan Song and don’t have a fucking 7 year old at home or anything”)
This isn’t even to mention Tune In, which could be a whole separate post and episode. Suffice it to say, this book often reads less like a Beatles biography and more like John Lennon Fanfiction to us.
Lewisohn managed to distinguish himself by doing (some) research and unearthing some original documents. That he had some skill in research is not surprising given that he started his career in Beatledom as a researcher for Norman, on his book Shout — which Lewisohn still contends is a good book. Norman, on the other hand has evolved his opinion of his own work and thinks Shout was flawed, so has written a whole biography on Paul to make up for what he sees as the failure of Shout, which is his underestimation of Paul. Unfortunately, Lewisohn does not seem to have made this same journey. He pays lip service to John and Paul being equal, and then spends all of his time and energy trying to prove otherwise. Norman says that he has created a monster in Lewisohn. We take his point.
One of our biggest issues with Lewisohn is that he vigorously promotes himself as an unbiased truth teller, and his calm manner seems to telegraph this. But it is not true. The research that Lewisohn does and the spin that he applies to his findings are all heavily biased. As we mentioned in one of our episodes, he travelled to Gibraltar simply to experience where John and Yoko got married. Yet when Paul calls the May 9th meeting over management the metaphorical cracking of the Liberty Bell, Lewisohn doesn’t even bother to Google it so he can understand the metaphor.
What he chooses to research is also a form of bias. For example, we at AKOM are very interested in Paul’s relationship with Robert Fraser during the Beatle years — since Paul has commented that Fraser was one of the most important, influential people in his life. Paul McCartney was the concept artist behind Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Magical Mystery Tour film, the iconic Apple logo, and he co-designed the covers of the White Album and Abbey Road. All of these are pretty defining moments in the Beatles’ career. As Beatles fans, we’d like to know more about Paul’s art education and influences. But we would be shocked if Lewisohn dug into Fraser at all beyond his relationship as John and Yoko’s gallerist/curator (and heroin dealer, but since that isn’t a thing in Lewisohn’s world then maybe he will be ignored).
We think Lewisohn benefits massively from the fact that Beatles authorship was like the Wild West since its inception, when everyone with a connection to the Beatles (plus or minus a personal axe to grind) wrote a book about their experience. It was absolute chaos, with no rules, no checks and balances, uncredited sources, etc. Just an absolute shit show. What Lewisohn did was bring some order to the chaos with some proper documentation. But again, what he chooses to dig into often reflects bias. And this certainly does not mean that he is intellectually or emotionally equipped to interpret his findings. Doing this takes social intelligence and insight, which is a very different skill. As a creator of myths, he is no better (and no more insightful or original) than many of the others who came before him; he worships John Lennon and freely admits it. He is not even close to being unbiased. But in this dumpster fire of a fandom he has at least checked some boxes and done some digging. The fact is, the bar has been so low for so long that Beatles fans don’t even know how to expect or want better. But WE certainly expect better. We expect some breakthrough, fresh thinking. Not just Shout with Receipts.
We think it’s significant that Lewisohn was deeply disliked by George Harrison, who lobbied to get him kicked him off the Anthology project. He was fired from Paul’s fan club magazine, and yet no one seems to think he might hold a grudge about that, too? Lewisohn so distorted John and Paul’s relationship in Tune In that he believes he is the target of the lyrics in Paul’s song “Early Days.“ And he either thinks that’s flattering or funny, because Lewisohn seems to truly believe he knows John Lennon better than Paul McCartney does. We find it almost tragic that Paul is so bothered by the way his experience and relationship is being portrayed by authors (perhaps Lewisohn) that he wrote a song about it. In it, he conveys his frustration and heartache about how everything is misconstrued and we find it absolutely outrageous that Lewisohn would not take this to heart. Perhaps Lewisohn thinks Paul should listen to him for a change? And if he doesn’t like it, then tough, because Lewisohn knows better? We think Lewisohn should do some serious soul-searching about “Early Days” because if one of his main subjects is saying, “you are getting it wrong and it is breaking my heart”….maybe, just maybe, he should listen and rethink things. Maybe apply a little creativity, out-of-the-box thinking and empathy. This is what his heroes did.
Meanwhile, Jean Jackets are SO BUSY complaining that Paul McCartney doesn’t like Lewisohn because he “tells the truth!” that they fail to notice that Lewisohn has become a mouthpiece for Yoko Ono. He has already started white-washing John Lennon’s history, promoting John and Yoko as the true and only geniuses versus Paul as the craven, small-minded Lennon disciple who (through no virtue of his own) was born with the ability to write some nice tunes. Lewisohn’s version of John, on the other hand, is ALWAYS a sexy, visionary genius on the right side of every issue. He even went out of his way to recently trash Paul’s early 70’s albums, which -in addition to being obnoxious and we believe wrong (since we love them)- is totally outside his purview.
Lastly, to address your original point, Lewisohn’s claim that Klein may be viewed as the “hero” of his Beatles History reveals that he hasn’t shown sufficient empathy or interest in Paul’s experience. This claim at best ignores and at worst condones the fact that Klein was an abusive monster to one of the two founding members of the Beatles. As we discussed in Episode 4, Klein was a criminal who bullied Paul in his creative workspace, disrespected Paul in his own office in front of his own employees and actively pitted Lennon against McCartney for years. It’s hard to imagine ANYONE who inflicted more damage on the Beatles and Lennon/McCartney than Allen Klein. In addition to the wildly inappropriate “reluctant virgin” nickname, he verbally threatened to “own Paul’s ass” (to which Paul responded “he never got anywhere near my ass”). Klein was so disrespectful to Paul and Linda’s marriage he pitched the idea of procuring “a blonde with big tits” to parade in front of Paul to lure him away from Linda and destroy their relationship. Let’s also never forget that Klein contributed lyrics to the song “How Do You Sleep.” Allen Klein literally gave Paul nightmares. Anyone who so much as pretends to care about Paul’s break-up era depression (including his alcohol abuse, his inability to get out of bed and his terrifying sleep paralysis) would not champion Allen Klein.
Yes, Klein is a human being and therefore has his own POV, same as anyone else. But a Beatles biographer is beholden to four points of view only: John, Paul, George and Ringo. And when an outsider is openly hostile to one of the Beatles and damaging long-term to all of the Beatles, it is beyond inappropriate to portray him as a hero. This type of comment, made publicly to an audience of Beatles fans, invalidates and seeks to erase the real trauma inflicted on Paul McCartney by Allen Klein, and we think Lewisohn should apologize for his comments.
Instead, Lewisohn’s current buddy is Peter Brown, whose book, The Love You Make so offended and angered Paul and Linda that they literally burned their copy (and photographed it burning for good measure). This information doesn’t appear to bother Lewisohn in the least. Why not?
George referred to Norman’s Shout as “Shit.” But Lewisohn thinks it’s a great book. Why?
How any Beatles or Paul or even George fans tolerate Lewisohn is baffling to us; we don’t recognize a real human being in his version of Paul, and his version of John is a superhero rather than a man. We suspect that fans have come to accept the traditional story and at least appreciate some properly-documented facts.
But as we are constantly trying to demonstrate on our show, just because the story has always been told one way, doesn’t mean it’s right. Because in the end, Mark Lewisohn has no special insight. He wasn’t there. He is a guy who bought into a narrative during the Shout era, and is cherry picking his findings to support it.You can find a discussion of Lewisohn here
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Mommy's Secret BlackingPacking
Women are shit.
It was a term I heard in some way, shape, or form nearly every day now from the people I spent my time with. Well, not really like that. They were people online, people who I didn’t know, but people I could complain about. I had tons to complain about. I was romantically hopeless. I’ve never had a girlfriend, never even kissed a girl. They never seemed interested in me. Maybe I was too skinny, too thin-wristed, too round-faced, too wide-eyed. A short guy with a baby face.
That’s what I complained about around half the time I was online. The other half I spent jacking my meager 3 inch pin penis until I shot my load into the trash or the toilet. I was getting into increasingly demeaning fetishes. Mostly with dominant women and pathetic little cuckold men. I was afraid that I’d have to be in a relationship like that. I loved jacking to it, but after I came? I was always disgusted with myself.
I hated girls more though.
I hated all of them. They always fucked and dated the worst guys, and made fun of guys like me. Called me pin-dick. Made fun of me for being short and hairless. I tried to be nice to them but they wouldn’t care either way.
They always dated loud, obnoxious apes who were fighting and bragging in public all the time. Almost always these guys were black. I jerked off to blacked a ton. It was like my addiction. I tugged it to blacked and blackedraw and especially cuckold sessions. My favorite part was how white guys always got their little dicks humiliated by snow bunnies who just had to take the biggest cock available. My least favorite part was how I hated myself after I busted a nut. How I had to convince myself that BBC was a myth. How I wanted to cry and chop my dick off.
Of course women would want the biggest dick they could get. They were shallow and stupid and only cared about getting the best train run on them but some nigger with a 2 foot cock. Why should I even bother? Even the nerdiest girl in my school could probably get some black asshole to fuck her if she acted slutty enough. I was sure every girl I ever liked thought I was a loser just because my dick was a bit below average. I didn’t trust women and I didn’t like them.
The one exception I always thought was true was my own mother. She was tall, busty, beautiful, and always the nicest person in my life. I felt bad when I occasionally jerked off to a certain outfit she wore. How she’d occasionally show off enough skin for me to get turned on. Rubbing out a load into my hand still felt wrong, but it felt more normal. Plenty of guys said stuff like ‘I fucked your mom’. It couldn’t have been worse than me gooning to interracial porn I hated.
One night I was doing just that. I was bored and my balls had been wanting to be drained all day after a good edging session last night. My homework was tossed around the floor while I was on the computer. My feet were spread on my desk with the keyboard and mouse on my stomach. I was slouched way down, and my pants were at my ankles while I played with myself. My little dick was rock hard as I watched Kendra Sutherland stare at a chocolate monster that was the size of her whole neck and head. Even hotter was the fact that a girl posted it.
I wanted to edge because post but clarity hit hard. I watched an amateur POV video of the viewers girlfriend explaining why big black cock was superior. How it was bigger and thicker and more filling and how it hit all her spots and whenever it came in her it flooded her womb and pussy until there was literally nothing left. She said she’d spoken to ‘your’ mom and sister and all your exes and they all take black cock on the regular. They all will never go back to white boys and all know you’re a tiny dicked loser who can’t satisfy a girl to save his life. But I at least got the change to be taught how to eat a creampie and was threatened with chastity if I came even once before she did. I had to let go of my dicklet then because I knew a light breeze would all it would take to cum.
I wanted to get a chastity belt so I could stop spending every night gooning to blacked. I hated women and I hated these pornstars who bragged about how little they thought of guys like me. I never asked to be white or tiny dicked. I hoped I would find the rare loving girl like my mom. But I’ve heard of popular, smart jocks at my school being dumped because they didn’t measure up to girls standards. White jocks at least.
And I didn’t wanna date an ugly girl, or some fat weirdo. But honestly I came to the fact that that’s all a teeny white nerd like me could get.
I really wanted that chastity cage. It’s been embarrassing in the gym locker rooms but black guys already bullied the small cocks of white guys everyday so I wouldn’t feel much difference. The girls might be meaner but at least I’d get their attention.
I thought of mom again. I’d seen my dad in the shower before. He was, like me, a short, unimpressive white man, and it turned out he had a totally tiny penis too. It might have even been smaller than mine. 3 inches was technically fine, but dad had a straight up micropenis. And if mom loved him with that, I was sure I had a chance.
So tonight, I was jerking off yet again, but this time it was to more wholesome content. Instead of women getting brutally fucked by gigantic black dicks or POVs of women talking about how much better their horse cocks are. Today I was just watching a calm jerk off encouragement video with a calm, quiet girl who acted all loving and romantic. It still got my little shaft full of blood, so I was happy tugging to her.
I started hearing something weird though. There was a loud moaning in the background. There was always loud moaning when I watched porn, but this jerk off session didn’t have that kind of video. I checked all my other tabs, but there wasn’t any hardcore porn anywhere. Then I took of my headphones. To my horror, I found it was aloud, but my headphones were still plugged in. Meaning…
It had to be coming from somewhere else in the house!
I live in my house with my parents and older sister, who was out with her friends touring a college a city away. My dad wasn’t home either, only my mom. So sure enough, when I followed the sound, it came from the end of the hallway her room. What was mom doing…
I cracked open the door just a tiny bit- and there I saw it. She was laying down on the bed with her legs spread wide and her toes curled in what had to be pleasure because she was begging for more. What was worse was what was in between her legs. It was a black man, huge, tall, and muscular. The kind of- of nigger I hated! Fucking my own mom?
“I’m cumming! Fuck I’m cumming on your big, huge black dick again!” He thin arms flopped to the side of her as she became like a ragdoll. Orgasm shot through her with loud moans. Orgasm!?
I had spoken to a lot of girls online and even sexted. They told me they enjoyed sex, but never orgasmed. They said girls didn’t, so I shouldn’t feel bad if I couldn’t make one. But my mom obviously just had one.
“Yeah, three times a night bitch!?” yelled the manly black bull she fucked. I was in shock. Three times a night? “And I haven’t even cum yet!”
“Lets see- if you can last another half hour then!”
A half an hour? How long had they been doing this for? Weren’t guys supposed to last for 2 minutes in real sex? No way that blacked garbage was REAL?!
“I’m close babe,” he said, “but you gotta beg for it?” Beg? He was gonna make my mom-
“Fuck yes, give it to me babe, give it to me, you know how much I love your cum, pull that huge fucking dick out stud, shoot your perfect hot thick fucking black cum all over me!”
Unbelievable. I was seething- how could she do this?
I was still coping though. No way MY mom was really there. It couldn’t be. And the things she was saying? Just dirty talk, right?
“FUCK yes,” she let out. She breathed heavily. “Fuck you’re gonna make me fucking cum again before you do! Your dick’s better in every fucking way than my husbands!”
I gulped. She HAD to just be saying this to turn him on. It was a nice thing. She’d probably been faking orgsms! There’s no way she could really love this nigger more than my dad, right?
“Mmmmm, babe, scream again- I fuckin LIKE that!”
“I can’t- we’re already being to loud- my son will hear!”
“You told me you didn’t give a shit about him, babe, you just want my dick.”
“Fuck… you’re right.” What the hell? “Give it to me! Yeah, yeah fucking give it to me!”
“Ahhh fuck yeah babe, I’m fuckin cumming, I’m gonna cum raw in your tight little cunt!”
“Pull out! Pull out pull out! I’m not on the pill!”
“AH FUCK!!” He yelled, pulling back to rip his dick out of the pussy I was born from. I was hoping I’d be proven right about black dicks, that they were average, like any other dick. Maybe above average, if it felt especially good. I expected- no, I hoped to see a penis about 5 or 6 inches in length, seven at the most.
“FUCK YEAH!” he yelled.
That monster had to be a foot long.
He slammed it down onto my mom’s toned stomach that she worked so hard on. She was proud of it. Now I could only think of how this huge, 12 inch dicked nigger slammed his huge cock on it and started cumming like a firehose. He shot thick ropes onto her tits, her face, even the pillows she shared with dad.
And I was getting off to it.
As they both breathed heavily in their afterglow, I snuck off before they noticed me peeping, and ran to the bathroom. I shut the door behind me a little too loud. Hopefully they wouldn’t be suspicious of that. Hell, hopefully it was a dream. I couldn’t believe it. Any of it!
I washed my face with cold water and I hoped to wake up. I was already awake. I looked at my face. The face of the only son of a man and woman who really loved each other, right? I hated myself, but at least I could say that.
Now I couldn’t. My mom was a whore, just like every other woman on earth.
I pulled my pants down. My small dick, a quarter his size, was still rock hard. I couldn’t believe it. What the hell was wrong with white women? What the hell was wrong with white dicks?? What the fucking hell was wrong… with me.
I started jerking off.
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Godzilla Gang Revised: COMPLETE Titans of the Atomic Ice Age
I know what you’re thinking: didn’t you already see these guys? Well, yes, mostly. BUT - while looking up unmade Godzilla kaiju to find a name for a monster that’s going to show up later down the line in this project, I ended up on a Wikizilla rabbit hole and found out that some of my favorite unmade kaiju from Kong: Skull Island ended up in the tie-in comics, which is canon enough for me to include them in the Godzilla gang. Add to this the fact that my dumb ass self forgot to include Behemoth initially and, well, it just felt like I should redo this post to include the four monsters that weren’t in the original one. So here’s the unabridged, expanded, complete set of the Titans of the Atomic Ice Age!
King Kong: a bipedal ape almost as large as Godzilla himself, Kong’s kind flourished during the Atomic Ice Age, ruling their ecosystem with a mix of brain, brawn, and electro-static shocks from their fingertips. The end of the nuclear winter led to their decline, however, and now they are reduced to a single specimen. However, while King Kong may be the last of his kind, he won’t go down without a fight, and continues to rule Skull Island despite multiple coup attempts from his kaiju neighbors.
Yetrigar: also known as the Great Watchuka, Yetrigar is an aberrant mutation of the (not-so-great) watchukas, a species of white-furred apes that inspired the myth of the yeti. While the average watchuka stands twenty feet tall, Yetrigar is far larger, and has protected his people from many threats for thousands of years. (Based on both Yetrigar from the Marvel Godzilla comics and the Great Watchuka from The Godzilla Power Hour.)
Skauroch: Plants suffered greatly during the Atomic Ice Age, and thus evolved many aggressive tendencies to survive. Near the equator, it was common to find many species of plant that developed a symbiotic or even parasitic relationship with fauna. Such is the case with the Skaurochs, a species of enormous water buffalos whose backs are a considered fertile ground by various species of swamp grass. Luckily, the Skauroch is capable of producing enough energy and nutrients to keep both itself and its floral parasite sated. (Based on the Sker Buffalo from the Monsterverse.)
Mother Longlegs: an enormous arachnid, Mother Longlegs benefits from a strange sort of natural camouflage, as its legs allow it to blend in with the bamboos forests it calls home. Of course, it was specifically adapted for the enormous breeds of bamboo that grew near the equator during the Atomic Ice Age, and found its habitat dwindling as the age came to a close and bamboo stopped growing quite so large.
Rhinosaurus: Enormous and heavily armored, Rhinosaurus has the thickest skin of any mammalian kaiju, making it one of the most durable giants to roam the earth. Despite the vast weight of its heavily armored frame, it can still run at impressive speeds, striking enemies with tremendous force.
Vagnosaurus: Infected by some hideous parasite, Vagnosaurus is a heavily mutated prehistoric whale with a nasty temperament. While it suffers from its infection, the parasite does have some benefits, as it will lash out with its tendrils at anything that threatens its host.
Spormantis: A colossal insect whose hide resembles a rotting tree, Spormantis has some of the most perfect camouflage of any Atomic Ice Age kaiju. Had the radioactivity it needed to maintain such large size not subsided during the end of the Atomic Ice Age, Spormantises would still populate the globe, instead of being stuck on their current sanctuary of Skull Island. (Based on the Spore Mantis from the Monsterverse.)
Oodako: also known as the Mire Squid (despite being an octopus), Oodakos are massive cephalopods that could survive in both fresh and saltwater environments, and were even hardy enough to live on land for several days before drying out. Believed to be the source of the kraken myth (as well as other many-tentacled monster legends), Oodako are far more aggressive than other large cephalopods, and appear to enjoy eating human beings.
Deserpentis: a colossal sea snake, Deserpentis is not the most impressive kaiju from the Atomic Ice Age, though it does possess a very powerful venom. (Based on the Giant Sea Snake from King Kong Escapes.)
Psychovulture: Despite a superficial resemblance to pterosaurs, bats, and the flying reptiles of the Atomic Era, Psychovulture is actually a flying lizard, with a wing structure unique to itself. Its name comes from its manic attitude, which in turn is caused by the omnivorous reptile’s addiction to Skull Island’s intoxicating soma berries. (Based on the Psychovulture from the Monsterverse, as well as various flying monsters that fought King Kong over the years.)
Sirenjaw: An enormous and ancient crocodilian, Sirenjaw is camouflaged by a variety of plant species that are specifically adapted to grow in between the reptile’s armored scales. Swamp-weeds, algae, and even trees grow from the reptile’s flesh, giving it the appearance of an island when idly floating on the surface of the water. The tricky carnivore lies in wait of smaller creatures that try to rest on its reedy back, gobbling them up just when they think they’ve reached safety.
Tortigneus: This tortoise kaiju is one of the few species that actively seeks out minerals to eat, which its specialized digestive system then processes into molten hot slag that can be spewed from pores on its back as a defensive weapon. Excess slag will also seep onto its shell and cool, providing the reptile with a carapace that is both exceedingly durable AND fertile for various plant life. Palm trees have been known to grow on the creature when it lies dormant, disguising the beast through its centuries-long torpor. (Based on the Magma Turtle from the Kong: Skull Island tie-in comics.)
Stagrida: An aquatic insect, Stagrida the “swamp locust” could be considered the water-dwelling counterpart to Mother Longlegs, as its spindly limbs disguise it as sunk trees and marsh plants while it lurks in search of prey. (Based on the swamp Locust from the Kong: Skull Island tie-in comics.)
Isabora: Enormous rodents, the Isabora is a burrowing creature that adapted to bore through ice-encrusted landscapes. It does so by superheating a strange bulging organ on its head, which in turn melts through the ice above it. (Based on the Ice Borers from Godzilla: The Series.)
Behemotus: as enigmatic as he is colossal, the enormous Behemotus is one of the more peaceful kaiju to walk the earth, preferring to live alone in quiet solitude rather than seeking out other monsters to battle with. The giant is particularly tender towards plant life, nurturing vast forests with its life-giving radiation - which may in part stem from the monster’s rough years in the Atomic Ice Age, where plant life was scarce and vulnerable to the elements.
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Bumbleby/Beauty and the Beast parallels masterpost
So by this point it goes without saying that bumbleby is heavily based on beauty and the beast. Volume 6 made it extremely explicit with the Adam fight, but the parallels extend well beyond it.
This masterpost is basically a list of all bumbleby/batb parallels that were woven into Blake and Yang’s story as individuals and together. Undercut because it’s long.
1. Eyes as windows to the soul...no really
Corny section title aside, one of the parallels that I haven’t seen being talked abt as much is how eyes/looking each other in the eye and recognizing the other/seeing the truth laid out there is a recurring and focal theme for both BatB and the bees.
In BatB one of the first things Belle gets a glimpse of before Beast fully reveals himself is his eyes:
And afterwards, when she sneaks into the west wing, not knowing those were his quarters, she finds a torn portrait of him pre-curse:
And we get this significant pause where Belle has this moment of almost recognition. You can tell she’s trying to place why what’s left of the portrait, a.k.a the eyes depicted there, already feel familiar to her:
After the curse is lifted and the Beast transforms back into a human, Belle doesn’t immediately trust that this is indeed him. That is, until she sees his eyes:
We get a pause and a whole close-up because this is a significant beat in the story. Belle knows this is her person because the truth of him is laid out in his eyes and that’s what seals the deal.
The bees have the same thing going on. There are two major instances, which are also incidentally major narrative beats in general and moments in their relationship in particular, of them looking each other in the eye and just. seeing each other, knowing the truth and essence of each other.
The first is the aftermath of the Mercury fight where Blake recognizes that Yang isn’t another Adam waiting to happen:
I’ve talked about this here a bit but this is essentially the moment that seals Blake’s faith in Yang once and for all. And it takes Yang looking her in the eye, laying out the truth before her and letting her choose to believe her.
The second instance is this:
Which, I don’t know for you but it looks a whole lot like this:
And it’s after Blake, completely undertaken by the wave of conflicting emotions born out of being forced into killing her lifelong abuser, still feels the pull of his abuse and is absolutely terrified of having Yang take his final words to heart. She’s desperate to have Yang believe her - and Yang, being the emotionally intelligent individual she is, spots it right away and immediately reassures her that she does. Of course she does, Yang knows her, she knows Blake, and no amount of truth twisting and manipulation can change that.
Yang takes the time to pull back and look her in the eyes; it’s this “I see you, I know you” moment that effectively signals the end of the Adam chapter in their story as well as the mending of their relationship.
I really like how the Adam subplot, as it ties in with the development of the bumbleby relationship, is bookended by these two instances of the bees literally seeing each other eye to eye and mirroring each other: Blake sees and believes Yang about the Mercury fight, Yang sees and believes Blake is the person she herself had started to believe she wasn’t because of Adam.
I also really love how this whole coding of eyes=truth comes in clear contrast to Adam always hiding his eyes and how it was made blatantly indicative of how he’s been deceiving people around him and hiding his true identity (“you’re hiding more than your eyes” in Nevermore is really just the icing on top; they couldn’t have made the symbolism more obvious if they tried). Blake never got to know him, the real him; the moment he takes off the blindfold is when he finally sheds the last of the façade that started crumbling post V3. That’s when everyone, the audience included, gets to see him with utmost clarity.
2. Thematic parallel
This ties in with the thematic parallel between bumbleby and batb as romances at large; boiled down to their bare bones, both these love stories are about two individuals who, at first glance, are diametrically opposed, but deep down are more of kindred spirits than they’d first believed.
Both Belle and Yang assert that they crave adventure:
But that’s not what they want, what they really want.
Both Belle and Yang want someone to see them; really see and accept them for who they are.
Beast and Blake want someone that’ll see beyond what they are and see who they are and love them for it.
Beast and Yang both want someone who’ll finally stay after taking in everything that they are.
When you dissect BatB, it’s really about two deeply lonely individuals, isolated because of how different they are from the rest, who crave one genuine connection and find it in each other.
And when you boil it down, bumbleby is about two deeply wounded, lonely girls finally being seen for who they are and fitting together.
Deep down it really is about this:
3. Narrative beats
Beyond general themes, batb and bumbleby share a good number of narrative beats that really nicely parallel each other, sometimes even visually to a T:
- Beast/Yang sinks in despondency after Belle/Blake leaves:
- Belle/Blake leaves to reunite with her family and gets unsolicited but not unneeded help:
Both Chip and Sun surreptitiously follow Belle and Blake respectively (Sun sneaking into the ship after he followed Blake mirrors Chip sneaking into her bag as Belle leaves, Belle literally calls Chip a stowaway when he reveals himself). Both are well-meaning but have… creative ways of helping but their help still proves vital.
Also both ask THE question (and have mistaken assumptions about its actual answer):
I think my favorite thing about the roles Sun and Blake play in each other’s respective fairy tales/myths is that they’re deeply platonic/familial bonds. Sun is the Chip to Blake’s Belle, who grow to be basically family to each other during Belle’s stay in the castle, and Blake is the Tang Sanzang to Sun’s...Sun Wukong, who are portrayed to have a mentor/disciple relationship. They were always meant to be a friendship in the same way bumbleby has always been a romance.
- Gaston/Adam comes up with a ploy to hurt Belle/Blake’s family when she comes back to get to her:
- The Fight:
I think multiple people have pointed out all the visual parallels between the bumbleby vs Adam fight and the final Beast vs Gaston confrontation (you can find one most extensive video of it here courtesy of @dumbgaypower). It’s incredible how every beat of both fights match other.
Still a parallel masterpost wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t point out a few:
Gaston/Adam getting impatient with the Beast/Yang’s lack of aggressivity which is so in line with the toxic masculinity he’s meant to embody:
Adam/Gaston kicking down Yang/Beast and her keeping an eye/being aware of Blake/Belle’s presence:
And this bad boy right here:
TL;DR: the bees are based on the most romantically focused fairytale; they match said fairytale beat for beat; they were always meant to be a love story; they’re gay and in love and crwby personally gave me my rights.
#rwby#bumbleby#rwby meta#my meta#this was supposed to be out before v7 but eeeeeh#this post is really just an excuse for me to go apeshit with my extensive knowledge of the batb movie#that's my favorite disney movie and y'all WILL know#also hope v7 gives me the ball parallel I crave so we can truly have every single iconic batb scene paralleled
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