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vidavalor · 9 days

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Great Balls of Fire

Ok, I've got a Final 15 theory on the kiss and the elevator and... pie?

This is for-- and in thanks to-- @indigovigilance, @ineffablelunatics and @somehow-a-human, as their metas reminded me of the idea of something in Aziraphale's mouth after the kiss and their talk of ball bearings and The Bullet Catch has eaten my brain alive and so here we are. Thanks also to @kayleefansposts for drawing my attention to 2/3rds of the metas. 🤗

What, exactly, happened in The Final 15? Maybe this...

As observed by many of us and discussed in the metas of the people I mentioned above, Aziraphale visibly has something in his mouth when he pulls back from the kiss. We also see him move the object around in his mouth-- or, we do, if his expression doesn't distract us first.

Because it's on his tongue, this isn't just light being weird or showing a filling or something. This is, clearly, a piece of metallic-colored something in Aziraphale's mouth. @indigovigilance pointed out how aspects of this parallel aspects of The Bullet Catch and I would agree with that. @ineffablelunatics, off of @somehow-a-human's post on the object, said it looked like a ball bearing and that's actually when I realized that I think the show might have subtly told us over the first two seasons what it is. And if it is what I think it is? The object is the reason for Aziraphale's reaction after the kiss-- not the kiss itself.

So, what is it?

To explain that, we have to start with two scenes, one from each season: 1601 and Crowley in Heaven with Muriel in 2.06.

In the 1601 scene, we learned that Crowley & Aziraphale experimented with their powers after they got tired of canceling each other out and that they discovered Heaven's dirty little secret in the process. That secret is that basically the only differences between them are the colors of their feathers and the lack of immunity to hellfire/holy water. Heaven has been telling everyone that some magic was "demonic" and that angels couldn't do it and they also had told everyone that demons no longer possessed angelic powers. Crowley & Aziraphale realized that this was bullshit-- Aziraphale could do temptations and Crowley could still do blessings. It's this discovery that allowed them to start fulfilling each other's assignments. They didn't tell a soul because of the danger of admitting they knew, especially because admitting it would be acknowledging that they had worked together to figure it out. This means that, with the exception of holy water being dangerous to him since he fell, Crowley is effectively still an angel in terms of the power he possesses.

This would mean he can magically make just about anything he could make when he was an angel. It's relevant because Crowley, as we'll see, made the object he slipped into Aziraphale's mouth during the kiss.

When Crowley is in Heaven with Muriel in 2.06, he opens the file on Gabriel's trial, which we are told can only be accessed by "a throne, or a dominion, or above"-- further showing that the truth is that Heaven actually can't strip angels of their power to do miracles. They're just simply telling them that they have done so as a form of social control and casting some to Hell to use them as way to discourage rebellion. This scene also reminds us of Crowley's awareness of this and shows him using his "angelic" powers to get information to help Gabriel.

The same scene with Muriel and Crowley that showed us that Crowley still retains his angelic powers reminds us again of the rank of throne/dominion in Heaven. (I say "throne/dominion" because Muriel's verbal commas and the way the sentence is structured-- along with the scene in S1 when Crowley goes from his throne to dominate his plants lol-- suggests that it is possible to be both ranks of angel at once, which is another topic so we won't go too far into that right now.) Crowley was undoubtedly a throne/dominion-- and it's not even just the fact that he had that hilariously tacky throne in S1. It's relevant here because of ties of throne-related things to what it is that Crowley made and slipped into Aziraphale's mouth.

Thrones are apparently God's chariots. They are concerned with justice and reside in the areas of space "where matter originates"-- which feels very Before the Beginning, right? They are symbolized by big wheels that rotate and by eyes that change color.

Yes, by wheels and eyes that change color... seems very Crowley, no?

The eyes repeat on the symbolic wheels and are in the position of what we on Earth would call ball bearings, apparently looking kind of like this:

...and remember the interconnected, turning wheels in the scroll that Crowley had Aziraphale hold in the moment they met, at the start of 2.01?...

It could be said that Crowley... a throne, a polymath, a scientist, an inventor... a being whose signature thing is the sexiest old car on four wheels... could make ball bearings from his body when he was an angel and, since we know that he still has basically everything but the ability to make holy water from his angel days, it means that he still can make those ball bearings...

...but we also know what else he can make from his body since he's also a demon-- and not just from his hands but from his mouth...

...hellfire.

Yes, I'm saying that it really was a ball bearing in Aziraphale's mouth-- but it was not hollow or empty. Not by a long shot. It was full of hellfire. It wasn't for Aziraphale's memories as Crowley didn't think that Aziraphale had time or opportunity left to extract them.

It was a suicide pill.

The story was calling back to The Original Ineffable Divorce in 1862...

Think about what Crowley saw when he was up in Heaven in S2...

Crowley is the one who put together what happened to Gabriel. He watched the video of Gabriel's sham "trial" and he saw The Metatron basically order Gabriel killed and cast down through the ranks and he knows that Gabriel only evaded Hell because of how it would have diminished the power of the institution of Heaven to send him there. Crowley knows that Aziraphale does not have this same amount of political power. He knows that The Metatron is a shifty motherfucker and that Michael cannot be counted on. He knows how much danger Aziraphale is in.

So, he takes a page from Lord Beezlebub after seeing that they protected Gabriel with the fly... only it's not exactly the same thing.

Beez's fly was given to Gabriel to help save him. It was a place to store his memories to help protect him long enough to keep him safe until they could make sure he was safe and intact. It worked because Beez and Gabriel had time to make a plan together. By the time Crowley is in Heaven watching the video of what happened to Gabriel and then getting back to the bookshop to sort it all out, there's no time for he and Aziraphale to make a plan. They are not alone again until after "The Metatron" has already shown up and, by then, Aziraphale is already on his way to being lost.

Beez is actually the first character we ever see make their signature thing on-screen and when they do? I mean...

Evocative of a kiss, with that big closeup on Beez's mouth. We watch them push the fly gently out of their mouth with their tongue. It foreshadows Crowley making something in his mouth and ties delivery of it to the kiss. We know that Crowley knows that he can make a single object that is of aspects of both Heaven and Hell combined-- like a ball of hellfire tempered, unless consumed, by a ball bearing.

Plus, earlier in the season, there's Gabriel tying The Fly-- which came about as a result of Beez trying to help him manage his depression by helping him to feel safer-- to metaphorical suicide when he spends the scene where the angels show up chasing it around the bookshop, trying to kill it with one of Aziraphale's Bibles, symbolizing just what Heaven is doing to everyone's mental health here...

But this is just where this possibility starts, really... because why else do I think it's a hellfire-full ball bearing suicide capsule that Crowley gave Aziraphale?

Well, for starters, there is all the holy water that is all over this plot at the end of S2... At the end, Crowley stands in Whickber Street outside The Bentley right across from The Dirty Donkey in a nod to-- among other scenes-- the 1967 scene, when Aziraphale brought Crowley the holy water.

Aziraphale knew that Crowley also secretly wanted holy water as a last resort and Aziraphale initially couldn't handle the idea of losing Crowley and reacted badly before eventually coming around to the idea that maybe Crowley needed to have some supernatural cyanide at his disposal in order to feel safer and that he should have that option. Based on the holy water story, Crowley, then, would be the first person to think that Aziraphale needed a suicide pill as an option if he found himself in trouble he couldn't get out of.

In 2.06, Crowley knows how likely it is that Aziraphale could be harmed by the angels and/or sent to Hell-- which is the domain of Crowley's assailant, who is literally Satan, and who hates both of them for, among other things, turning Adam against him. Crowley knows Aziraphale is a good person who wants to believe the best is possible but he also knows how unlikely it is that this is going to go well for Aziraphale. Crowley can't stand the thought of Aziraphale suffering so he gives him a way out as an act of love because Crowley would sooner lose Aziraphale for eternity than see him suffer.

When it becomes clear that Aziraphale is going with "The Metatron" and Crowley is out of ways to convince him not to, he sees Aziraphale look away and start to cry. Crowley goes back and kisses him as a last resort but Aziraphale is initially resistant-- not because this is their first kiss and not even just because they're upset (though that's part of it) but because to kiss Crowley then would be to let him in... (after all of those symbolic doors and "let me in"s happening in the story)... when Aziraphale making the mistake of trying to shut him out.

Aziraphale eventually, though, can't help but let Crowley in a little...

...because, ya know, it's Crowley...

...and, when he does, he opens up a little, and Crowley slips a suicide pill into Aziraphale's mouth.

It's also definitely worth noting that one of the reasons-- the primary reason, even-- why Crowley kisses Aziraphale is because he needs a cover to both make and give the fireball to Aziraphale without being noticed-- and to do so in such a way that Aziraphale would be assured of the ability to have it on his person when he got to Heaven-- even if he lost his clothes in the process, as like what happened to Gabriel when he was cast out. It has to go in Aziraphale's mouth for easy consumption for it to work and kissing him is the only way to do that. What's really worth noting, though?

Crowley's plan hinged on Aziraphale eventually giving in and kissing him back. He couldn't tongue the fireball into Aziraphale's mouth without Aziraphale parting his lips and Crowley knew he would... because he always does. Not that they're regularly trying to kiss while being super miserable lol but mah point is that Crowley knows that Aziraphale can't ever not kiss him. That's not indicative of this being a first kiss-- that's indicative of the complete opposite of that.

Anyway...

Aziraphale knows what Crowley can make and what it is that he just gave him and that's why this is his reaction after the kiss:

The devastation isn't over the kiss itself. It's because Aziraphale trusts Crowley's interpretations of things more than his own sometimes and, by secretly slipping Aziraphale a suicide capsule out of fear and love and delivered in a kiss, it really hits home for Aziraphale that Crowley thinks they are now in a situation where there probably isn't going to be another way out. It's not because it's a first kiss-- it's because it's likely a last one-- and things are so dire that it came with supernatural cyanide.

It's the realization that Crowley really thinks Aziraphale has been fooled and Aziraphale can't bear it because he knows, deep down, that Crowley is probably right and he's embarrassed. 'Pride goeth before a fall' and all that... Aziraphale is lovely-- an absolute poppet-- but he's imperfect, just like us all. One of his worst traits is that he doubles down when he's been embarrassed as a way of trying to save face and retain pride. It's maybe his worse flaw and it gets very dangerous for him here. Crowley is no stranger to trying to stop situations where it could happen, like this paralleling time in 1941:

Some other reasons why it's a fireball suicide pill before we get to what then happened in the elevator...

There's the fact that the show had a scene set in S2 in The Dirty Donkey-- where the elevator is. (As the start of the scene, Crowley & Aziraphale even walk through the door where the elevator will materialize at the end of S2.) Part of their conversation is very possibly Crowley recounting their first kiss-- at minimum, it's about kissing-- and then Aziraphale makes it also about balls, combining the two to, among other things, foreshadow The Final 15:

The wordplay here is already threefold in this scene off of Crowley's joke that follows Aziraphale remembering Jane Austen's balls: balls (testicles), the phrase that x person "has balls" (is badass), and balls (of the cotillion/dancing variety). This continues into the meeting that Aziraphale hosts-- the disaster of a ball that goes straight into the end game of the season. Here's Aziraphale making yet another ball-related wordplay joke-- this one, during The Meeting Ball:

"We're having a ball" as in they're literally having a ball-- a party-- but also the idiom "we're having a ball" meaning "we're having a great time." We are now up to four different meanings of the word 'ball' in S2, stretched across different scenes, emphasizing the importance of it. One of the missing ones still needed here to complete this idea is a literal ball-- and the ball bearing would not only meet this idea but would then make all of the ball-related wordplay have had the purpose of building towards it. We think it's building towards The Meeting Ball-- and it is-- but all of it, including The Meeting Ball, would actually then be building towards the hellfire ball, which is the actual ending of S2.

Then, there's what this all has to do with the eccles cakes...

Yes, eccles cakes lol... Eccles cakes, as a lot of us already know, are popularly referred to as "fly cakes", off of how the currents sometimes look in them, but the significant thing here is that, despite their name, eccles cakes are not actually cakes at all-- they are really pies.

Ball bearings are also used in Good Omens' favorite metaphor of food to weigh down dough when baking pie crust. Pie weights and ball bearings are basically the same things, just put to different use. It means you literally cannot make eccles cakes from scratch without a jar of pie weights... which are just, structurally, the same thing as ball bearings... and Crowley can make them. You also make pie dough by first rolling it into a ball.

Which is likely why this hilarious moment exists:

Please hold The Cake-Pies of Symbolism, my pie (and Pi)-loving dear...

Crowley's face at having to stand there holding some little pies 😂...

The eccles cakes-that-are-really-pies go along with this theory as well because look how the show presented the forthcoming apocalypse to us back in 2.01:

The horse is Crowley, the rider is Aziraphale, and they're headed for Armageddon-like mental health disaster-- all ushered in by the four eccles cakes, representing Gabriel, Beez, Nina (who suggested & gave them the eccles cakes) and Maggie.

Presumably, The Lords of the Flies are the two eccles cakes that are already canoodling on the back of the plate while Maggie and Nina are the two in the foreground who are aligned but not yet together. Crowley's S2 plot is largely working at the behest of these wonderfully rebellious pies. He looks after Gabriel, finds out what happened to him and connects it all to Beez... and this is after he spent the season on his vavoomy Operation Lovebirds to get Maggie and Nina together. He's responsible for the pie crust-- the containers of the eccles cakes-- in a show obsessed with containers. Crowley is, symbolically, a jar of pie weights in being form by way of his actions-- which is suggestive of the fact that he can probably physically make them. (There's also: "Just a few million years to bake," which Crowley said of his stars-- which he made-- in the opening scene of the season.)

"Nina, what do you sell that calms people down?"

Calm is from the Greek kauma, which means the heat of the day. Heat, as in slang for a weapon. Heat, as in hellfire. Heat, as in what's needed to bake. Heat, as in passion. Heat, as in "bringing the heat." The heat of the day-- the sunny daylight of The Final 15. Eccles cakes-- really: pies-- calm people down... they bring them heat, in every possible way, and it sets them on a path down-- to Hell.

Then, there's Agnes Nutter...

When The Witchfinder Army came to kill Agnes, she hid gunpowder (a weapon) and roofing nails (the construction-related metal that enabled it) in her dress. Agnes blew up-- she became a literal. fireball. Crowley wasn't necessarily suggesting that Aziraphale turn himself into an Agnes-like bomb in Heaven when he gave him the capsule but he was giving him a weapon involving fire with which he could kill himself if he had no other way out.

Then, there's the theme of suicide in examples from earlier in the season:

Crowley saving Elspeth (on the night Crowley was dragged to Hell)... The bit when Aziraphale then calls Crowley from Edinburgh in the present and tells him that he's read that Dalrymple left in disgrace and killed himself... "The Bananafish" being a short story about trauma by J.D. Salinger which ends with a traumatized man suddenly killing himself... Crowley setting Gabriel up to jump from the window and then stopping him from doing it...

There's also the fact that the end of S1 was Heaven and Hell forcing Crowley and Aziraphale into forms of suicide (getting into hellfire/holy water) and the "Aziraphale" in the Heaven part of it was Crowley spitting hellfire-- at Gabriel, no less, whose story is what jumpstarts S2.

Then, there's that the song that is The Clue to everything in S2 is "Everyday", the significance of which is that it's a foundational song of American rock 'n roll. Rock 'n roll is a blend of musical styles that actually wouldn't exist without first the big band/swing that Aziraphale loves that came before it-- symbolizing how Crowley & Aziraphale paved the way for Gabriel & Beez. There's another song, though, that, like "Everyday", is from the pivotal rock year of 1957 that is equally influential and is enormously Good Omens-y, in the sense that it cleverly uses wordplay to the effect of barely disguising sexual euphemisms and often through amusingly church-y language:

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain/Too much love drives a man insane/You broke my will/But what a thrill...

Goodness gracious... great balls of fire...

[Also: less part of the theory and more just a possible nod but... "The Metatron" brought Aziraphale a coffee, there's a threat of non-existence, and Aziraphale might have gotten a 'kiss of death' from a being who is, essentially, a cherry pie lol... so, those of you who know that other greatest television show to ever television show might see a bit of a nod to Twin Peaks in here as well.]

Speaking of kisses of death... the film that popularized the word "vavoom"-- and which GO S2 is homaging all over the place-- is called 'Kiss Me Deadly.'..

So, after the kiss, Aziraphale gets the capsule and keeps it tucked into his mouth and he's gone too far with the conversation and doesn't want to admit that maybe he's wrong and Crowley is right. Crowley goes out, "The Metatron" comes back in, and Aziraphale keeps looking at Crowley staying by the car out the window and he's a bit more nervous now ("what about, um, my bookshop?"). Even if he still wants to be right, he's beginning to doubt even more that he is.

He almost tells "The Metatron" to go. He almost goes to Crowley. We see him start to say that he thinks he made a mistake but he doesn't go through with it. He's too embarrassed. Fraulein Maria can't face The Captain and is trying to run back to The Abbey over here.

Aziraphale goes out with "The Metatron" and the significant moment is this revelation: "We call it 'The Second Coming'."

This is the moment that Aziraphale realizes for sure that he's been tricked and there is no Supreme Archangel job for him. The Metatron doesn't want to change Heaven or save anybody-- he wants to destroy the world, same as he always has-- and there's no way that he'd ever trust Aziraphale to carry that out when Aziraphale is who stopped the first round. Heaven will never admit they did wrong by Crowley-- to do so would be to collapse the system because then every demon would want to appeal their own status and demand justice and the Heaven/Hell regime would fall, in the sense that their little supernatural empire would crumble. The Metatron would never allow that and Aziraphale realizes in this moment for sure that he has been played for a sucker.

It's still possible that, at this moment, Aziraphale might still believe that this being who has tempted him with the possibility of the justice he wants for Crowley more than Crowley actually wants for himself-- and with false reassurances that he and Crowley could be together forever-- actually is The Metatron. Or, Aziraphale might be starting to get the sense of what's actually happening but, either way, he now knows that he's been fooled. He knows now that while he and Crowley both got some things wrong (suggesting they run off and proposing suddenly were not great moves on Crowley's part)... about this bit anyway? About being in danger if he believes the being who came to the door? Crowley was right.

So, Aziraphale has a choice: does he go to Crowley or does he get in the elevator, knowing now that to do so is to go to a form of death?

He can't face Crowley. He knows Crowley would forgive him and just wants him to be safe but, in the moment, Aziraphale is too ashamed and too embarrassed to admit that he was fooled and to deal with how awfully he just behaved. He's also exhausted from being hounded by the weight of his halo and Heaven for thousands of years. Negative thought cycles in overdrive-- he's never truly believed that he deserves Crowley and he has convinced himself that maybe Crowley might be better off without him. Maybe they just don't get a happy ending and maybe Aziraphale is so tired and can't run and hide anymore and just wants it to end.

Imagine spending thousands of years in service of an organization that also doubles as family and who abused you and abandoned you and who now wants to kill you... and you so hoped that change was possible that you clung to the idea beyond a point of reason-- to the point of hurting the one you love, with whom you have the only real love you've ever known. And you know he'd forgive you in a heartbeat because he loves you and he just wants you to be safe but you can't face him because you can't yet face yourself... that's Aziraphale deciding between Crowley and the elevator.

Aziraphale can barely glance over at Crowley and when, he does, it's also The Bentley he's looking at because he's telling the car to play Crowley their song. Crowley said "no nightingales" but Aziraphale says, in response: "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." His last moment on Earth and he uses it to basically leave a suicide note for Crowley that says nothing but I'm sorry. I love you.

Their song plays when Crowley starts the engine of The Bentley, which calls back to the first time they met in the Before the Beginning scene that began the season and showed how they started the engine of the universe together.

Aziraphale might be trying to warn Crowley about Armageddon by sending an "engine trouble"-type of message or he might be calling back to when they first met or, as I suspect, he might be doing both but the show, at least, is referencing Before the Beginning here with this, whether or not Aziraphale intentionally is.

So, Aziraphale? He makes his choice. He gets into the elevator...

...and he swallows the fireball. Which we can see him do here:

Or, as this was foreshadowed in S1 by the being whose own fall and subsequent arrival at the bookshop door set all the events in this season into motion:

(The eerieness of the fake grin on Gabriel after seeing how it foreshadows S2 ending with Aziraphale's mad grin...)

Because, when all is said and done, this poor bastard really would have a death-by-swallowing-something story over here, wouldn't he? Can they just hurry up and destroy the Heaven/Hell system so Aziraphale can have food and sex in peace already, please? 😄

Aziraphale knew he'd been played and he didn't want to go through whatever came next. He didn't want to reach the top floor of Heaven because he knows that only forms of death await him there. They'll take his memories. They'll cast him to Hell. Being a demon is no picnic and Aziraphale has seen that in being with Crowley for so long. Satan is not exactly the biggest fan of Aziraphale and Aziraphale, better than most, knows what Satan is capable of. He doesn't want any part of that. He ingested a suicide pill to avoid being captured by the enemy.

Crowley gave him the pill because angels are not immune to hellfire. That's what made it a suicide capsule, right? It was supposed to kill him within seconds. It was supposed to be quick and relatively painless-- a way to escape the horrors that might await him. Even when Aziraphale is at his worst-- as Aziraphale was in their last scene in bookshop-- he is still a pure-of-heart, lovely being to Crowley because Crowley loves Aziraphale as he is-- imperfect. Just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing. It never occurred to Crowley that the capsule might fail. Why? Because Aziraphale is, always and forever, his angel.

Both Crowley and Aziraphale thought the fireball should have protected Aziraphale from pain and suffering by killing him almost instantly once he ingested it.

By that measure, Aziraphale should have burst into flames in the elevator, seconds after he swallowed the pill just after stepping inside.

But he did not.

We watch as the seconds start to tick by... and we see the realization play out on Aziraphale's face as each second that passes is another one where he's still here...

...the look gets more and more unhinged as the elevator keeps climbing until we get the slightly mad dark grin as the last shot of him before a fade to a deathly black... with Aziraphale having spent the final splitscreen since he got into the elevator on the other side of Crowley, symbolizing what's happened.

In the elevator scene, we are watching the dawning realization play out on Aziraphale's face as the fireball doesn't work and there's only one reason why it wouldn't-- because he's no longer an angel.

Aziraphale has been sauntering vaguely downward for the season and maybe for awhile before then. He's been letting the darkness in, more and more, throughout all of S2. We have been watching his fall happen. The 'falling from a great height into a pit of boiling sulphur' part of falling? Ceremonial. An aftermath of sorts-- an additional punishment. It awaits Aziraphale when he gets off the elevator in Heaven but it's something we likely don't really need to see and never have seen in the show yet because that's not actually the main point of a fall. By the time you're literally falling from a great height, you've actually already fallen.

Aziraphale's determined-- but also just really half-mad-- final grim smile in the elevator over his understanding of what's happened is both the pain of thousands of years of religious trauma and abuse-related misery and a bit of completely unhinged I'm gonna burn this place to the fucking ground fury.

Aziraphale swallowing the capsule also parallels Gabriel having to "consume" The Fly to open it. The Fly went through Gabriel's eye and allowed him to "see"-- it give him realization and understanding by returning his memories to him. For Aziraphale, he swallows the fireball and it also gives him a kind of sight-- realization and understanding of what's happened and what's to come... all of this also in the moments before his memories (and, so, his sense of self/his life) will likely be taken from him.

(For a time-- he'll be fine eventually. *mantras* South Downs Cottage, South Downs Cottage...)

"And from his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out." The Job quote on the matchbox. The matchbox contained the fly-- it's the equivalent to the ball bearing containing hellfire. Works now on several different levels but one of them then is: And from his mouth (Crowley's mouth/the kiss/the fireball/Aziraphale swallowing the fireball)...

...go burning lamps (the light that goes out in the bookshop when Aziraphale is in the elevator)...

...and sparks of fire leap out. Several meanings:

Literal sparks-- in that Aziraphale can now spit hellfire, like how Crowley did in his body in Heaven in S1.

Sparks of fire leaping out, in the sense that Aziraphale has made the leap-- he is a demon now.

Lastly, though... sparks of fire leap out... as in, Hell (and Heaven) hath no fury like this very, very, very pissed off Angel of the Eastern Gate whose whole thing is freeing those imprisoned by corrupt systems...

Visually paralleling the elevator with a grey wall behind him and light/darkness alternately striping Aziraphale is the 'Aziraphale and God' scene in 1.03, setting up its sister elevator scene in 2.06, where Aziraphale realizes that he has been tempted by Satan and has fallen. (Ironically, a realization about having fallen that happens while going Up in an elevator.)

God: "Aziraphale. (dryly) Angel of the Eastern Gate. Where is the flaming sword I gave you, Aziraphale?"

Aziraphale, unintentionally foreshadowing the fuck out of the plot:

"...must have put it down here somewhere."

Yeah. 😉 Give 'em hell, Aziraphale.

Bonuses:

The awning of a new age/Dawning of a New Age joke. An understanding/a daybreak that begins a new era...

"Oh, listen, I think it's about to happen-- the 'awning' of a new age." Yes, indeed, Crowley. A dawning of a new age was imminent...

...and, finally, if you substitute 'Aziraphale' for his parallel of 'Job' in these sentences, Bildaddy summarized the season endgame quite nicely in 2.02:

#ineffable husbands #good omens #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #good omens 2 #good omens theory #aziracrow #good omens speculation #good omens clues #good omens analysis #good omens parallels #long post but worth it #tw suicide #tw depression

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armythings-love · 4 months

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I’m gonna cry… I had an entire analysis for this typed out but my wifi is shit so it refused to post😭😭 anyways, this is based off of the @ladybugout-au permanent superhero team. I decided against doing Luka’s Cadmeancio suit because I 1. Didn’t want to draw him in orange and 2. I was already pushing it with making a purple/red Neurofoxin. Only reason I made her purple is because natural coloring obviously doesn’t mean shit to the character designers if Juleka gets to be a purple red tiger. Anyways, here’s my take on their suits!

Hecattack: I wanted to diverge from the furry/bdsm influences Chat’s suit got, so I gave him looser fit pants, a hood and combat boots. His suit was lowkey inspired by Red Hood’s design because, dammit, DC may be super dark, but they know how to design characters well (something MLB could stand to learn from ಠ_ಠ) anyways, along with the hood and paneled top+cargo pants+combat boots, I gave him cat-shaped knee pads, similar to Ivan’s turtle shell knee pads. You will also notice a trend with a lot of my hero suit designs, which is fingerless gloves. Yes, this’ll take away from the cat claw thing Chat had going on, but I’m ok with that. To go with his punk/rock band aesthetic, he got combat boots with the signature cat paw steel toes. His tail is pretty much the same along with the ears. His mask is also different, covering the bottom half of his face. This also takes away from the cat sclera thing the original Chat had, but Luka isn’t a furry so… also, the mask covering his mouth alludes to his calm nature and quiet personality, not feeling the need to play around, especially during a battle,which was where the original Chat erred most often. Luka also has very expressive eyes, so I wanted to push that, like, even if he doesn’t talk much, he’s still a good communicator. Plus, when cats are hunting, they’re quiet! Which the original Chat cannot relate to!

Ladybug: ok, so her suit is still pretty basic, since I wanted to stick with he AU’s canon description of her suit. The main bodice/legs are similar to the season 4 suit after she calls on the lucky charm, but the sleeves are slightly different. I also got rid of the “reverse” polka dots cuz they just look ugly imo. Her gloves are also fingerless, since I feel like that would 1. Lend better to doing yo-yo tricks and 2. They just look better (u_u) anyways, her hair is still the same, as well as her mask. It’s pretty basic but eh…

Neurofoxin: her design is also super simple, but I also wanted to veer away from the gaudy orange normally associated with the fox miraculous. If she can make her tiger suit purple and red, I can make her fox costume reddish purple!! She’s goth, she’s not gonna walk around in *o r a n g e*. And I stand by that. Anyways, like I said her suit is relatively simple, the panels of the suit modeled after Volpina’s actually, because despite how I hate Lila and her stupid sausage link hair, her volpina suit was pretty cute. Instead of giving her a jacket w/coattails or a belt/sash to be her tail, I decided to make it her hair, cuz even in civilian form it’s pretty long. I also decided that instead of a dark grey/black to purple, I’d make the tips the same cream as her “underbelly” panel, as I wanted to incorporate the cream in more than just that singular spot. I also pulled her bang back because even if she’s goth, she still needs to be able to see properly as a superhero. Plus, I like Juleka’s eyes, and I feel like Trixx would like her to show off more. Anyways, besides the morph suit and her hair being a bit longer than normal+a different color, she has a cropped leather jacket,same color as her suit. There’s also paneling on the side/back of her thighs/back that’s a darker red/purple color. Again, to go with her rockstar/alt aesthetic, I gave her combat boots as well, though hers are knee high, plus I forgot to draw the laces, but eh. Fun fact: I headcanon the Couffaine twins as being super tall for their age, but Juleka is taller than her twin for now+her boots are heeled.

Fukiya: for Kagami’s suit, I pulled inspo from someone else’s LBO AU fanart, although I can’t remember who’s it was. Originally, I was gonna go for a suit similar to Kagami’s fencing gear, but decided to go w the suit she has now so it’d be more reminiscent of a bee. I gave her a sleeveless, cropped kimono, the bottom of which has a honeycomb pattern and an ombré going from dark yellow to black. Her obi has two layers, the bottom layer being a bright yellow and the outside layer being black. Her sleeves are similar to Queen Bee’s, but with an added black line. Her legs are completely black with the exception of her knee pads, which are a bright yellow and octogon shaped. I wanted her to look more bee-esque than Queen Bee or Vesperia (her character design is 🤢) so I gave her the yellow torso with black limbs, than made the kimono collar thick to look like a neck ruff or smth. I honestly struggled with her design a bit but it looks ok in the end so I’m happy with it :) also, Kagami is the shortest because I said so!

Heavy Matal: oh, Ivan, you absolute teddy bear of a guy. I adore the Iván of this AU, he’s so sweet, a gentle giant, so I wanted to focus on making him look slightly softer than the rest of the heroes, despite being the turtle holder. I gave him his signature cargoes, although they’re pants instead of shorts when he’s transformed, a sleeveless hoodie, and “turtle”-neck compression-esque undershirt, the sleeves long enough to be, you guessed it, fingerless gloves! The only reason Kagami is the only one with full gloves is because I wanted to giver a more serious/conservative look. Mari’s been ladybug so long she deserves to have cute, fingerless gloves! Anyways, back to Ivan! His hoodie is two toned, like a turtle’s shell, with the front being a light green. It’s patterned to look like a turtle shell underbelly, with a nice big pocket to hold whatever. He wears elbow- and knee-pads, which are shaped like little turtle shells. He wears regular Vans-style tennies, and his mask is similar to Carapace’s, except it cover the majority of the front of his face (think Kid Flash), and is colored/patterned similarly to a box turtle, with red accents along his cheekbones and his little tuft of hair is his usual blond with an ombré to that same red. (Ignore the ear I forgot to color in plz, I don’t feel like editing anymore T-T)

Ok, so that’s it for today’s character designs! I’m working on redesigning pretty much everyone’s civilian and hero costumes. I haven’t mentioned on this blog, but on pretty much every Gabe!Salt fic I’ve read, I will tell you, whoever the hell designed most of the characters in MLB, you deserve to be fired and then arrested. I’m so sorry, but there’s no way ur gonna convince me Fashion Designer™️ Marinette Dupain-Cheng walks out of her house every day, wearing ugly ass ballet flats+”denim” jeggings in that shade of pink. No way. And don’t even get me started on Gabriel’s candy-cane, red pants and duck hair headass, because omg… that man is supposed to be a world renowned Fashion Designer™️, one of the best in Paris. IN. PARIS!! No fucking way. No way. I get, you want ur characters to be simple and easily recognizable, but that doesn’t mean they have to be ugly!! And I get it, Adrien’s supposed to have a model-off-duty look, but wth are those shoes? Plus, why does he never change for his photo shoots? He’s a MODEL! I get it, you can’t even spend money to change the transformation animation to whatever the characters are actually wearing but wtf??? If you were gonna have any kid’s show where we get to see a lot of different clothes/outfits, this would be the show!! Two of the main characters are fashion designers, one of the minor antagonists is the daughter of a fashion magazine owner and your other main character is a model. IN PARIS!! A city known for its fashion and “romance”. And ur telling me you can’t add a few more outfits to the show??? That’s called lazy writing/animation.

Ugh, sorry abt that rant, but the character designs genuinely piss me off. It’s bullshit.

I digress.

I’ll be releasing the main 4 kids’ redesigns probably on the 15th!!

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanart #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #juleka couffaine #kagami tsurugi #ivan bruel #kwami swap #ladybugout AU #fanart #lbo Art

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solargeist · 2 months

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wait wait please elaborate the storyline for if he agreed to become a watcher, PLEASE!! I actually kinda want to dive into that idea.. i hadnt heard of the theory before, why did he agree? when did he? what was it like after? did he know anything about the watchers?

ok but doesnt this also kind of fit his personality more?

oh man, I'll try my best, its been awhile since i've watched Evo, and words are not my friends !

Grian knows about the Watchers, they were a common occurrence in Evo, the portals, the pranks, the traps, and the symbols were normal in his day-to-day.

He was their favourite even, gifting him a diamond, in a chest full of coal, a diamond in the rough, in their many eyes. I'm not sure if he knew this though.

I do think at his core, he has a Watcher's personality. He pranks people, he sets traps, he leaves symbols even of his own face, he makes secret bases under other's bases so he can watch them, he likes spying. They must've taken notice of this.

Its not actual lore, but Taurtis makes fun of Grian multiple times for talking to the Audience, which, fourth wall, is us! But I like the idea of it being story, its the Watchers, already leading him down this path from the beginning, hes so promising ! Taurtis calls them the voices in his head, Grian doesn't argue, "Are the voices in your head telling you that?" "Hm..... No, the voices don't even know, its a secret!" The voices, the audience, the watchers, all the same thing. Grian says he's meant to be the hero of the story.

Anyway, Grian meets the Watchers after the server all teams up and slays the dragon, they reach the End. He is 25 years old.

The portal leads him somewhere different than everyone else, everyone else goes home. He goes beyond the credits, who knows where it spawns him, but it doesn't matter, he's being offered a deal, a chance to ascend.... I don't know the exact reason he'd agree, but I'm leaning towards a selfish reason, he's gotten bored with his limitations, he wants to be better, do better, those updates.. They're enticing and he's envious, in the beginning he was punished for being greedy, but now he's being rewarded.

After ? I guess he just lives with the Watchers, in an End city somewhere ? Learning how to craft portals by hand, update ideas, watching players, pranks, traps, symbols, fun ! its fun ! hes having fun !

He starts growing wings ! Its not really fun anymore !! That was the one thing they didn't tell him about, not directly, he agreed to be a Watcher, he clicked his heels and said I wanna be a watcher, but he didn't understand it meant really becoming one physically, yknow, it could've been a title! a role he's meant to play !

I write two paths from this point. 1) He runs away from the Watchers and ends up in Hermitcraft, still with those brilliant white wings.

2) He just sticks with it, creature mode, he grows wings, it sucks, but things can be fun again, back to it, he grows talons, it hurts, but still, he spends his time digging through servers and player lists, he grows two more eyes and feathers peek through his skin. He's 25 years old, he likes pranks, and traps, and symbols. This is more the bad end friends version LOL that I use for fanart fun.

Thats, all the storyline ? That I draw ? Its nothing crazy, just a tinyyyy bit more than canon . My version, my theory, my boy !!

But at the end of the day, regardless, I do think the Watchers genuinely love him, maybe in the way you love a puppy and give them treats when they sit and be quiet, but they're extremely fond of him.

#ask #when i think abt evo grian i think abt The Witch #evo smp #THIS IS MOSTLY HEADCANONS BUT I DO PULL AS MUCH AS I CAN FROM THE SERIES #i rambled a lot im sry i hope this makes sense and answers u AAAAA #creatureAU #evoAU

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akosijayjay · 2 months

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January and February dump

This is my most recent work of Lloyd, and my most recent work in general. I made this in the computer room at school with a painful high-sensitive mouse. We have these special course thing in our junior high, so every tuesday after class, I get to be in the computer room. For six hours... (My course is Visual Graphics Design. I'm kinda regretting it now since I've been thinking of becoming an architect... I can't change my course now since it's too late. Which is stupid.)

I'll try to draw more there! I really like drawing with a mouse cause I like the challenge. And since I'm not accustomed to a high-sensitive mouse, it'll be a bigger challenge for me!

I made these two in traditional then polished them digitally since I straight up just used a pen. I rarely use a pencil nowadays so I can learn to fix mistakes without erasing it. Usually it ends up looking like chicken scratch but I'm getting better.

My Harumi one is so bad lol.. When I was making it, my classmates around me were messing around and moving the chairs in the process, making me have to draw strokes with shaky lines. It's not that noticeable though since I made the lines thicker.

I was planning to make something for Rebooted's anniversary but I got busy... (And lazy) The PIXAL one was inspired by an animatic I saw.

If you compare the previous Arin portrait, yes, they don't look the same. I'm trying to find a look for Arin, as I do with every character, that I'll be satisfied with.

By the way, I'm kind of basing Arin's hair with my classmate's hair. Which is funny because my other classmates compared this artwork to my classmate, who looked nothing like Arin but have similar hair, commenting they're the same. (I'm not mad because I actually find this a bit humorous)

I was trying to make an animatic and this was going to be the sketch. But then again, I got busy and lazy. (Mostly lazy)

I accidentally changed their facial features a bit by accident on the second page because I forgot to reference the first page. It was tiring flipping pages every 5 seconds, ok! Also, I drew it after 2 days when I drew the first page, and I didn't have a design I liked for them yet. (...I just noticed Jay has different eye colors in both pages...)

I think I'm sticking to these looks for Lloyd. I'll try to make it accurate to this. (I think I did great with the first image of this post. Though, I made him too round for my liking.)

Discard the growing beard post redesign Lloyd has. That beard thing was supposed to be where his chin was until I realized it was too small. And it's still too small.

Child Lloyd is so cute! The eyeshadow wasn't intentional at first, but then it got me thinking, what if Lloyd had an emo phase? And now emo child Lloyd is my headcanon.

Pre redesign Lloyd kind of reminds me of TommyInnit, and I find it quite funny. Maybe it's the facial gesture, I know a lot of TommyInnit fanarts with that silly face.

For Dragons Rising Lloyd however, I want him to have long hair with his post redesign face. I'll try to make full body designs of the 4 Lloyds.

You guys probably don't care, and this is the first time you've seen me because I don't have an exact artstyle and I dont post as much, but I'm going to put descriptions now since this blog is going to be a silly little art dump! And blog posts are supposed to be descriptive. Which I should've done in the beginning and explained my works..

Anyhow

If you liked my art, thank you!

If you saw me before and told me I did well, thank you and I'm sorry!! I know my previous posts have gotten comments and I'm sorry I didn't respond.. I'm not trying to be ungrateful, I just don't know how to express my appreciation for your positive feedback! Or just reply in general... I get nervous even when I'm wearing my mask..

Please don't hate me, I'm just really anxious to show my work to people I don't know to the point where I might think people disliked my artwork when it's the opposite..

(I'll probably copy paste this in future posts now lol. But I AM thankful that some of you guys think my works are great!)

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senqv · 1 year

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FOLK OF THE GREY WAVES.

blue lock ! mermaid au featuring : alexis ness , michael kaiser , kurona ranze x gn! reader

warning(s) : kaiser tries to kill you once purposefully and once accidentally ( what’s new ) , biting , dead fish rip , lmk if there are more !

a/n : can you tell i was an ocean loving child

alexis ness !

prolly a dolphin mercreature … you know how the media portrays dolphins to be cute little angels but actually they are wild. yea

he has a curious nature as a dolphin, but also, as we know, incredibly intelligent

he can’t speak too much, but communicates with little thrills and chirps <3

you learn his name after he draws it out onto the sand, he really likes how you say his name !!

alexis also likes to ‘study’ you, as you say, and he is extremely fond of wrapping his tail around your legs — he doesn’t have them, after all, so he’s really curious on how they work !

he always leaves some gifts for you by rocks for you, like shells and clams with pearls in them <3 sometimes he finds some weird human contraption that was dropped into the sea and brings them to you as well

you bring your own gifts for him too ! he’s quite fond of flowers; especially lavenders, the sweet smell really appeals to him. he’s kinda sad that he can’t bring them underwater though :(

a regular bottlenose dolphin is about 2-4 m ( around 6.7 - 13.1 feet ) in length, so he’s quite big — bigger than you at least.

despite his large size, he’s very gentle with you, brushing his face over your palms and examining your legs with apt fascination. his fingers are nearly floating above your skin, because you’re so small compared to him that he really doesn’t wanna hurt you (*⁰▿⁰*)

he’s always mimicking you smiling. it’s his favourite expression !! it gets a little unsettling sometimes because you can tell that something has angered him but he’s still like :)

and then suddenly some people who have bothered you have develop a fear of the sea and refuse to go near it and you hm

splashes water on you to express his displeasure. and then he nudges you down when you try to tackle him as revenge … and somehow he is surprised you went down so easily ??? like huh have you not seen the size difference

overall really cute 10/10

michael kaiser !

if dolphins are bad this guy is an orca. the worse subspecies of dolphin fr they r such menaces ( but also my favourite ocean species LAWL they r too cute )

probably tried to kill you the first time y’all met ??

orca LOVE to play around with their prey. he definitely tried to flick you into the air but then decided that he was quite fond of you and now you’re his human. like um .ok ?????

really likes shiny things ! tinkers around with the bracelets and rings you wear, it’s cute how his pupils dilate a little when a glass bead reflects against the sunlight just right

he would really like for you to swim with him, but the sea is horrendously cold during the winter …

he doesn’t really understand that concept, so he tried tugging you into the water once, and you could barely submerge half your body you froze up and had to get out :(

kaiser refused to let you go afterwards for a long time, wrapping his arms and tail around you, a grumbling sound from his throat and warm breath against your neck <3

his fins twitching and his huge tail slamming on the deck nervously as he massages your arms to get the blood flowing again

he can’t let his favourite human die too fast yknow :( but the asshole attitude returns after he knows you’re fine. mf

he brings you his catches; huge fish, turtles, sometimes even smaller dolphin species as ? gifts ?? and lowkey gets offended when you explain how you can’t haul all those back to your house

again — he is huge. male killer whales are about 6 - 8 m ( 19.6 - 26.3 ft ) in length !! sits you on his lap as he marvels at how tiny you are compared to him

after thorough observation, he mlems at you face and you can’t tell if the grin he sports is him telling you that you’re going to be his next meal or something else

really likes it when you trace the patterns on his tail <3 he hides his face in his arms so you can’t see his expression but his tail is thrashing really wildly !!

possibly a 10 when he’s not trying to kill you

kurona ranze (黒名蘭世) !

do i even need to say it ??? shark boy <3 i’d say hes a lemon shark mercreature !! omg i love lemon sharks they r the cutest

just putting it out here that lemon sharks are possessive of their humans and get jealous when they give other sharks too much attention LOL

kurona wraps his tail around you when he wants your attention and just in general when you’re near him !!

like ness, he is really curious of your legs. tried biting them once or twice — it doesnt hurt, but the occasional bite marks on your calves and thighs are hard to explain to your friends

his teeth are really cute to look at tho !! very spiky, and he grabs your hand so you can feel the groves of his triangular teeth and his tongue licking at your finger-pads

really likes swimming with you — you don’t even have to tread water cause he’ll just hold you by the waist and swim like that !! strong boy

kurona knows a lot about the ocean (since he practically lives in it ..), he brings you to see tiny glowing jellyfish at night and little bioluminescence plankton in underwater caves !! he gets really happy when he sees you excited over them

his eyes dilate … like a lot. they get huge when he sees you cause he loves you <3

really enjoys getting pets ! he’s not too expressive but you can always hear some gentle purring when you run your fingers through his hair

brings you small coral and pearls as gifts <3 sometimes he feels mischievous and just spits out some kind of fish at your feet just to scare you _:(´ཀ`」 ∠): wtf kurona !!

loves laying his head on your lap to hear you muse about the stars and constellations at night <3

deadass tries to lean his near 3 m ( 11 ft ) self on you like . hello

really likes stars a lot, his tail was practically wagging when you gave him a bracelet strung of star-shaped beads !!

he brought you a really pretty starfish afterwards as thanks

kurona automatically starts licking at your wounds if you have any, and he’s really careful not to get saltwater on them

doesnt like it when you’re hurt in any form :(

10/10 sea puppy bf

now i lowkey wanna sketch mermaid au blue lock adjdjhsjasjsj

#— sen’s works <3 #MERMAID AU MERMAID AU #little me is so happy that i finally get to use that useless ocean knowledge somewhere #orcas and whales are my favourite animals <3 #blue lock #bllk #alexis ness #alexis ness x reader #michael kaiser #michael kaiser x reader #kaiser x reader #kurona ranze #kurona ranze x reader #kurona x reader

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planetyandere · 2 years

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Yandere Naga Izuku Midoriya

Imagine Izuku taking care of a injured mate

"Ah what are you doing!" Your mate rushed to where you were attempting to stand.

"Izuku please I'm already mostly recovered you don't have to-" you didn't get to finish your sentence as you were wrapped in a strong coil.

"Izuku!" You huffed in frustration as you were once again laid in your nest of blankets.

You went to protest again but he gave you a stern look. Well as stern as he could get.

"I told you you need to rest until you're 100 percent better! What if you fall and hurt yourself even more?!"

You crossed your arms, sick of being treated like glass and not being able to do anything for that past 2 weeks.

"But I'm going crazy Izuku! I'm already not allowed to leave the cave and now you're not letting me leave the nest, it's not fair!" You knew you were being brattier than usual but you couldn't help it this time. You threw yourself back and rolled away from his touch.

Izuku was now distressed. He hated when you were upset with him. And even more so when you rejected his touch.

"But I'm just trying to keep you safe, please don't be upset... How about I bring you back some of those berries you like?!"

You remained silent knowing he would hate that too.

"Well what about...oh I know! How about a new blanket for our nest??" He suggested hopeful that would satisfy you.

His heart broke when your next words were a mumbled, "Just leave me alone already, aren't I miserable enough..."

He hated you being sad he really did. But there were just some things he couldn't allow you to do for your own safety. After all you were a human. Humans were always hunted by Nagas for mates and if he didn't keep you hidden away, another might attack.

That was how his parents were and that's how he had to be with you. But he never expected when he took you that you would be so unhappy. Especially when he loved you so much.

"...."

"Would....do you...do you want me to take you outside?"

You jumped up at this, eyeing him for any hint of joking. But all you found in his eyes were concern and worry. But still you couldn't believe what he just said.

"D-don't tease me...I know you're lying.." he had never let you outside since you arrived, claiming that your scent would draw out predators and that it was safer for you hidden away.

"I'm not I promise, and although I don't like the idea...I'll take you out for a little while ok?"

"R-really?" You could have cried, scratch that you already could feel the corners of your eyes burning. How long had it been since you'd seen the sky, and not through the cracks in the high cave ceilings.

"If it'll make you happy yes, but just this once ok! There are so many dangerous creatures I cant risk them knowing you're here".

Quickly you nodded, not really hearing anything he was saying, just hyper at thought of finally getting a taste of the freedom you missed.

Gently Izuku wrapped his tail around you lifting you Into his arms. You held on tightly, no matter how much time had passed you still weren't used to being held like that.

Slowly he slithered toward the cave entrance hidden by large vines and leaves.

"You might want to close your eyes sweetheart" and he was right, soon the light felt piercing sharp. You squinted as your eyes slowly adjusted. It had been a long time since you'd seen such direct light after all.

When you were finally able to open them more you gasped at the view.

Izuku took you to the edge of the cliff where for miles all you could see was a ocean of lush forest. It nearly brought tears to your eyes. Had long had it been since you saw a view like this?

"Huh? Wait why are you crying?! Are you in pain?! I knew we shouldn't have moved you around so much-" you surprised him by placing a kiss on his cheek.

He immediately blushed at the voluntary display of affection.

"Thank you Izuku" you leaned against his body as you gazed across the beautiful land. So close yet so far to someone like you. You knew escape was impossible, so you learned after a while that it was better to please your captor rather than upset him. He'd be more willing to bend every now and then after all. And seeing how he broke one of his firmest rules for you today, you realized you might have more power over him than you thought...

**********

A.n, lemme know what you guys thought! This is a new blog for me:) I'm also taking requests! More info to come💕

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rainbow-neko-artblog · 4 months

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I've seen a couple art pieces and other posts for your polyverse au now and I think it's neat!

I know next to nothing about it but that's OK! I will learn more about it soon

It's okay not to know much about it! The reason you've only seen bits and peices is because polyverse au is actually based on a 3-4 year old roleplay with me and my friends- it started as a regular fnf roleplay but as we added MORE and MOOOORE modded characters it became so convoluted with story that it might as well be an au because it sure ain't like the og game.

The best way to recognize it is by the Bf- obviously! His angel form + jacket and miku inspired look are original to him in this au, as well as a the polyam pin on his hat! I often draw him with his partners- which....are ranging OFBDKDBFND

Fun fact: originally my friends and I called this fnfverse. We still do actually- but I switched to calling it polyverse online because I would primarily post about the fun relationship development between polyverse's Bf and every other character in his polyamory.

Also it was easier to keep apart from other fnf aus when I called it polyverse.

That's not to say that the polyamory is all we talked about- that would be boring. Flat. Nothing like this should focus only on the romance plot-

So there's a lot more going on like Bf being a living weapon made for war by a giant toothpastey biblically accurate angel glob- and how the war is basically a giant CIVIL War because demons and elangels are actually the same race created by the two "gods" who help the computer work.

Or the entire eddsworld/tankman/picoschool/newgrounds subplot with a giant fuck off portal into the internet and everything scary.

Or the ENTIRE lore of garcello we made before it was confirmed how he actually got the cigs- which included whole ass ocs at that point.

It's a time.

At this point explaining a single plot in fnf polyverse au takes me ranting to everyone for 2 hours about the whole thing- taking everyone in the call on an unwilling adventure via my autistic rambles.

#rnanimations #asks and replies #fnf polyverse au

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jell-o101 · 2 months

Note

How dark could you see canon Super Mario Bros getting (either in the movies or the game's plots? The series has had moments where it's not all sunshine and rainbows (but considering the nature of Super Mario, it is sunshine and rainbows much of the time) The most obvious example I can think of is the recent movie where they dialed up the intensity of Bowser where he has a pretty strong bloodlust, a death row chamber, and a Luma who craves death.

Like I really don't see them going down the route of killing off a major character (without reviving them shortly after) but that does create a risk of cheapening death. One way they could do this is by making death reversible, but it still leaves deep seated psychological scars (think Steven Universe or Puss in Boots 2)

I also wonder if they could do a bittersweet ending sort of thing as well. I've seen some animated movies with a young audience in mind do this, but obviously they're not going go down the road of something like Grave of the Fireflies or The Little Matchgirl.

Ok ok so

Hers some random thoughts that the hardcore gamer in me thinks about.

We’re on the verge of a new console for the Switch. And that means a new 3D Mario game should be revealed soon after the new console is announced or released (stay with me, ok?)

In the personal opinion of a couple of people, Super Mario Odyssey was good! But it wasn’t AS GOOD as Super Mario Galaxy, which was a game that wasn’t really that dark, but had some moments that were out of place for an Mario game that had come before and after (not including spin offs, which seems to have the best plot of any Mario game than the mainline games).

If the next 3D Mario game is to be just as good, if not, BETTER than Galaxy, it needs to have an AMAZING story (gameplay is not my concern tbh).

As someone who enjoys a little bit of angst here and there, I had thought of two different ideas that could work for the potential Mario game.

Mario goes to a parallel universe where he lost an important battle and Bowser has taken over. Anyone who sees Mario would DEFINITELY not believe that it’s actually him and probably be enemies. And main characters like Luigi or Peach could be bosses. I imagine Luigi being the first boss completely in denial that Mario is right in front of him (imagine how cruel the realization would be SHJOSJKHSJASNOJ) and Peach could probably be the second to last OR final boss for the same reason. Idk it’s a neat idea in my head.

Another idea could be Mario accidentally being sent to the past. And I mean the FAR past before Bowser’s rein. Heck, before his birth! I see the way Bowser’s castle is themed after in Odyssey and I like to think that’s what Koopa culture looks like. I also just like the idea of Bowser being super formal when not in battle. Like the bowing, the utensil etiquette, etc. Bowser’s father, or grandfather if Nintendo decides to change it, could be the main antagonist and next to the throne could be a small nest of eggs. Mario’s goal is to use Kamek’s wand (or something magic) to get back home without changing the course of history or something. Yada yada yada, Mario learns more about Koopa culture, yada yada yada, he’s get destroyed except one, yada yada yada Mario gets back home,but Kamek catches a glimpse of him, setting up the plot of Yoshi’s Island (idk is that a good idea?) And Mario, after getting back home, just suddenly hugs Bowser and everyone is super confused. Idk I like the super sappy ending.

Idk it wouldn’t be TOO terrible in angst, but the slight change in tone for a Mario game makes the difference to me. Those are some ideas I had come up with (might draw them idk anyone’s allowed to draw this if they liked it so much) They might be terrible and overused plot points but it would be cool to see that in the next Mario game…

….

Did this…answer the question? I feel like I got off track 😅

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sleepytownez · 1 year

Text

Luocha Analysis + Theories

Ok I'm going to actually get my thoughts out about Luocha - who, as a character is incredibly suspicious even without knowledge of HI3

This took a while to compile so I do hope you'll give it a read.

Do take heed: There is a minor beta spoiler for one of Luocha's lightcones, but there is no story spoilers of any sort (even I stay away from those.)

please enjoy!

1. The coffin

Alright, I have a lot to say about this part since it's the main point of Interest surrounding his character so far.

So firstly, I don't believe you can take anything Luocha says as the full truth, he definitely lies in some of his dialogue although it is very subtle.

He says, early on when we meet him, that he was supposed to deliver the coffin or whatever was inside to the Xianzhou, yet he seems and even says that he was intending to leave the Luofu while he still had the coffin. This is really odd as it seemingly contradicts what he said before.

(These could be seen as him scheduling but still having enough time to deliver the coffin - however he was in Cloudford where is where nobody is supposed to be and where people would usually get ready to leave. Also a certain voiceline says that most outsiders call the Luofu the Xianzhou but he could still mean a different Xianzhou ship but as I'll get into later, I think it is a lie or he is going there for a different motive than he lets on.)

The main points we learn about the coffin in 1.0 is that he knows the individual inside the coffin, yet it is not a friend, relative, or sweetheart (This was a fun nod to HI3 tho)

You could say nothing is in the coffin anymore but later when Sushang tries to get some answers out if him about it he speaks as if, yes, there is still something or someone inside.

He says they only met once, and owed someone else a favor that required the "delivery" of the coffin and the thing/person inside to the Luofu. (I'll speak more on what I think of this later)

An interesting point that was brought up and that I do not believe is coincidental is that right after Kafka tells the MC how Aeons can die we cut right to Luocha explaining the same thing. He also stares at the Coffin whilst explaining how even Aeons will eventually die and reach the end of their life. This isn't a coincidence.

It relates to something, though we don't know yet. Sure he could be explaining in relation to death with the thing in the coffin but that seems too unimportant to be drawing so much attention to, mind you?

Whatever is in the coffin is very important and lore relevant, and I don't think there is any way it isn't.

(I'll get onto theories and more info at the end and in his Lightcones section)

2. The way his English voice actor speaks (with small notes from his JP one)

This may seem like a null point but I do think it is worth bringing up.

His English voice actor was given directions on how to act and this is very common with any actor, especially one like Luocha where what he says is important and has more than one way to interpret or say.

Lines like this one (image above) could be said with a flat or informing voice, or a kind and straightforward voice, what's important to note is that the voice actor, doesn't say it like that.

He speaks as if he is weary, he pauses at points that don't make sense when reading it, but gives off the appearance of being careful with what he's saying and is uncomfortable? Or uneasy with the subject at hand.

He also switches from a medium level of speaking to a very low voice, which is actually jarring and seems very odd (you could chalk this up to bad acting but by going thru the story you would see that this isn't the case and he is very talented.)

What important is that he seems to want to move on from the topic as soon as possible and even shortens his answers to simply yes or no, as if he wanted to quickly move the subject along - and when he couldn't he gave an inconclusive answer and forced the subject to be dropped.

(right here he gives the most vague and inconclusive answer he can give to end the conversation, he is ending it without really answering anything.)

(Stops the conversation.)

This is going away from the voice acting but I do think it adds to his unease and him ending the conversation the way he did.

Lastly I would like to talk about his JP voice actor at the end of Myriad Celestia Trailer: History of the Xianzhou.

I've seen a few people say that Luocha seems too happy at the end and that he sounds eerily like HI3 Otto, and I would have to agree, something is definitely up.

Also it is very interesting that he makes an appearance in this trailer and to me only solidifies his lore importance.

Also for who he is talking to it's the scared teacher man (Master Gongshu) and as of right now I can't figure out why Luocha would feel the need to talk to him to learn all this information.

3. Voice Lines From Other Characters

The voice lines are things I don't think many have looked into in a theory lens, but I have and I want to share my findings.

There isn't too much but Tingyun and Jing Yuan have very interesting lines I would love to dive into but first let's get the others outta the way.

Nothing too interesting of note here except the immortality line, there are a couple back ups to support what she is saying but simply not enough for me to consider this thus far.

The weak part is what I focused on and it does make me wonder if Luocha also had the same sickness Otto from HI3 had as a kid? Just things to think about.

Nothing really of note at all in this one but I do think it is funny he thinks Luocha's coffin is a 'sword casket' - though now that I do think about it this lends even more evidence to his words being lies since he was supposed to deliver it - although perhaps the coffin and the body do not come as a package.

ALRIGHT. This one is really fascinating. This proves that he was probably lying about having a meeting with Tingyun, or at least that he had it planned beforehand. Also, he is apparently not on record. The Whistling Flames is a merchant guild and Luocha says he has been to the Luofu many times as a merchant and traveller, this is very very odd. Makes me wonder if he is even a merchant at all.

Not to mention that Tingyun states that she can't remember him and that is weird. This is weird! She lives here and is IN the merchant guild, the fact that she's never seen him lends even more proof that he is also lying about being a merchant or at least being here before!

This is for Jing Yuan, and I honestly think it explains why he is watching Luocha in the Lightcone I'll discuss later

he shares that he doesn't think many merchants would act like him - like they didn't want or were in a hurry to do business at all. Makes it seem like he wasn't here to do business or be a merchant at all. I think Jing Yuan is very suspicious of Luocha and Luocha knows this (hence, lightcone.)

Also this is backed up by what Luocha says about Jing Yuan:

"The general not only knows how to reveal other people's intentions, but also skillfully hides his own and does it spectacularly. When you want to "prove" something, you have to be careful."

Anyway I think I'll touch more on this later, during the theory section but this is wild.

4. Lightcones

First up we have the one currently in the game

The description reads:

"On a bustling street he walks and walks. The sunlight closely follows his footsteps.

He makes a stop and picks up an umbrella to shade himself from the sun …and from that prying gaze."

this is obviously referring to Jing Yuan, who is keeping a close eye on him due to his odd manners. Luocha is aware of Jing Yuan watching him and picks up an umbrella to hide himself. This shows that Luocha probably knows of Jing Yuan's suspicions, however for some reason instead of trying to change Jing Yuan's mind, he simply hides himself from him. Perhaps he wishes to simply avoid him yet we do not know yet.

This one isn't in the game yet, and although it will be soon, this is a minor spoiler warning.

Next we have this one - and oh boy this one does imply a whole lot.

The description reads:

"Under the watch of the white irises, he knocks on the coffin. "Sometimes I feel I underestimated you by proposing this deal."

He receives no response other than a thorny branch piercing through his palm.

Yet he smiles, and tightly grasps the thorn, "Indeed. This is how it is. We wanted to use each other, and both ended up underestimating each other."

This is SO much. This teases so much it is actually insane how much it is trying to imply.

First off, it implies that whatever is in the coffin - is alive.

This also makes it seem like the favor itself maybe was a cover up for this "deal" which he seems to have made with the person in the coffin.

Between Luocha and the entity in the coffin, they both had something they wanted to gain from the other, they both probably wanted to take advantage of the deal and each other - but ended up - as they said, underestimating each other.

The entity in the coffin seems to be able to control these "vines" and is seemingly quite unhappy with Luocha or the situation since he stabs his hand.

It's also interesting to note it seems like this Lightcone takes place in a church. There is a lot of symbolism in this, but I am not knowledgeable to say more on it at this time.

I want to get into this right now - and luckily I can because for the last section I have today is -

5. Theories and Possibilities

Ok so first I want to touch on who could be in the coffin, and I've narrowed it down to only two possibilities.

Void Archives

An Aeon

These are the only things that stay consistent with all information we have thus far.

For Void Archives - he fits the description of being not friend nor family, and it would be very fitting for them to have only met once before this situation came to be.

This explains what happened to Void Archives and it also fits very very well with Luocha's second Lightcone description. It fits well with HI3 Otto and VA , and I do think it matches up too well to be something small or insignificant.

even if VA is not in the coffin I am pretty confident he has something to do with Luocha or WILL have something to do with Luocha in the future - it is simply too much of a story opportunity.

As for it being an Aeon - He looks at the coffin while speaking on how Aeons can die - also he bears the name fool in one of his eidolons and one of his skills. This bears resemblance to someone who apparently majorly injured Nanook...the presumably final boss at this point in time, ...and again bares resemblance to Otto from HI3 (a lot of his skills and eidolons have easter eggs).

However these are not end all be all's and it's way to early in the game to make any substantial theories for this. Especially when it could be someone or something completely new.

No, I do not think Kallen is in the box.

While I do think it is a possibility, it is not likely. The way he speaks to the coffin in the lightcone is not one of love - it is of something more serious and important to him, but seemingly in a more dangerous way than a loving way. There is a small allusion to the thorn seemingly about to pierce his heart but I still think that relates to a different symbolism than "Oh it's just Kallen."

Also while there is more evidence I do think Hoyo wants to do something new with his character, however instead of making him good like more people thought, they are probably doing something else.

Luocha placed or activated the Stellaron

I do believe that Luocha either brought the Stellaron or activated it. However with the timeline of events being the way it is, I suspect he simply brought it but did not activate it.

Kafka said that the person who brought it and the person who activated it have different goals, so this makes sense with the lore presented thus far. None the less he came here for a different reason than trading, and of that I am certain.

Ending Thoughts

All in all Luocha is one of the most intriguing Honkai: Star Rail characters and I am very excited as to where they choose to take their story, there are so many unanswered questions and at this point it would be very odd to not elaborate or for him to just be fully good.

This is only as much I could stand to talk about today, I could write even more about his medical usage, his relation to the abundance, his potential to be an emanator and how Dan Heng and Luocha possibly know each other but I think I'll wait until 1.1 comes out, I hope you enjoyed my crazed ramblings haha.

#honkai star rail #hsr #luocha #void archives #hsr theory #I am perfectly sane #*spent 2 hours writing this*#hsr luocha

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caillousweave · 1 month

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TF2 BAND AU!!!!

Sorta, the band part is more of an extra side thing, it's more of a modern au but they also happen to be in a band.

Me and my tiktok mutual have been working on this au and I've decided to share some of our ideas for it :D I wanna eventually draw something for this au!!

I'm gonna go by character, though keep in mind we are very biased so some characters have a LOT more then others (still this is gonna be a longg post)

But first some general things: their band is called "Team Fortress 2" bc that's the game no way!! They chose to make it 2 bc they thought it was cooler then just Team Fortress. They all go by their canon names (except Spy and Pyro) but I'm gonna continue to refer to them as their classes, even tho they aren't mercenaries in this au and don't have classes but shh ok

Scout

Plays the guitar (can also play drums but insists on being the lead guitarist)

Barely goes to practice, only started going more because Soldier forced him to (they live together)

Practices for performances the day of/a few minutes before performing (or to try impress someone)

Lives in an apartment

Can read, but it takes him really long and he has to sound out ever word (people think he's leaving them on read when really he's just trying to read their message)

Has a motorcycle

Works as a delivery boy for Heavy's family restaurant (more on that later) except the food always arrives cold bc it takes him so long to read the address

Doesn't question the food that "randomly" appears in his fridge, or the raccoon in his apartment (again more on those 2 later)

Has a collection of weirdly shaped guitars (he brings a different one to every practice/performance and it's chaos bc they all sound different)

Streams games on twitch sometimes

He's still scared of Pyro (still)

His room/apartment is a mess, like dirty clothes on the floor kind of messy

Soldier

Plays the trumpet (and most wind instruments, but in the band he plays trumpet. Does it match the rest of the band? No, but he insists on playing trumpet)

Soldier forces Scout to go to practice, like he will physically pick him up ("WE HAVE PRACTICE MAGGOT AND BY GOD WE ARE GOING TO GET THERE ON TIME. NO ONE WAITS FOR YOU IN WAR AND I CERTAINLY WILL NOT WAIT FOR YOU" - Soldier probably)

Changes jobs a lot not because he gets fired but because he just feels like it

Insists he's homeless but he sleeps at Scout's apartment and basically lives there, just sleeps on the couch though he doesn't have a room (Scout offered his spare room but he declined saying he was homeless and not staying there long. He still hasn't left 2 years later)

Brought a stray raccoon he named Lieutenant Bites to Scout's apartment

(Along with Scout) begged Medic to learn how to care for raccoons for Lieutenant Bites

Thinks the food that appears in Scout's fridge is some spirit bringing food for them (he doesn't care, he still eats it)

Pyro

Plays drums

Unemployed, sometimes helps Engie at his workshop

Wears the same thing they do in game, everyone else has a sorta simplified/weapon-free version of their outfit (or the same, depending on the character) but they wear the same thing as in game, gas mask and all

Lives with Engie, their room is super colorful and childish

Has a big cabinet in their room full of lighters (they collect lighters)

Like to paint/draw on the walls of their room, invite people to draw with them but everyone is too scared to enter their room so the only one who really does it is Engie, who isn't scared of them

No one knows where Pyro came from, they showed up to practice one day and killed it on the drums so everyone just accepted them into the band, and then Pyro followed Engie home and just stayed there

No one knows Pyro's name, but they answer to Pyro so everyone just calls them that

Most of the other members can't understand what they say, Engie can

Goes to Medic anytime their stuffed animals are damaged and begs for them to be healed

Makes friendship bracelets for the band but no one wears them at first (they eventually do, after being threatened by Pyro)

Heavy

Main vocals (has the voice of an angel)

Brought his family to New Mexico (from Russia ofc) and his family opened a sandwich restaurant

Their restaurant also doubles as their house so his room is just above the restaurant, his room is pretty clean

Works at the restaurant

Sasha exists we are currently discussing on whether she will stay the same or become like a trombone

Is also scared of Pyro

Demoman

Plays the keytar (and a bagpipe bc he's Scottish but in the band he plays keytar)

Lives in his mansion, it's fairly clean, but his room is messy

Lives with his mom

Works several jobs

Basically just him in the comics tbh didn't change him much

He has a horse though, sometimes he brings it places instead of his car, no one knew he had a horse till they all went outside and saw a horse in a parking spot

Wears Pyro's bracelet before they threaten everyone

Engineer

Tech support for the band

But has his own solo career making country music

Other then that he owns a workshop and takes commissions making things (engineer is one of the only classes that can actually be translated into an actual job)

Loves his daughter-son-child-thing Pyro (he adopted them despite them being a grown adult)

His home is small but he keeps it (mostly) clean, unlike his workshop, which is a mess

Also wears Pyro's bracelet before they threaten everyone

Spy

Plays piano

No one knows like anything about him, he prefers not to interact with the other members much

Married to Scout's mom

Scout's dad

No one knows his real name (except Scout's mom)

Still has his watch and can go invisible

Every week he does Scout's groceries (while invisible) bc he hates him but he does still care about his son (does it invisible so Scout doesn't know it was him)

Medic

Backstage help/helps setting up

Makes German accordion covers of songs

Always has like 5 doves following him around (Disney Princess fr)

Experiments on roadkill (his house smells awful)

Lives in a small house by himself with all his birds

Has a shed for his birds (mostly for the winter when it's cold, other then that they just roam around his garden freely

Crashes weddings to save doves

As well as being a human doctor he also knows how to care for birds (yes he is a doctor)

Doesn't like big lights so his house is lit with candles and lamps, it's very dark

His neighbors hate him (the cops are constantly being called to his house)

Likes to go to abandoned hospitals and research facilities to steal chemicals and stuff

Learned to sew so he can patch up Pyro's stuffed animals

No one wants to go in his house bc they think it's scary (except Pyro they don't care)

Sniper

Plays bass (also does background vocals)

Lives in his camper van, it's fairly messy

Sells "drugs" (doesn't actually, they're just vitamin gummies he says are drugs)

Scavenges for things (definitely dumpster dives)

Hunts for his food

Whenever he has bad luck with hunting he eats leftovers from a chuck e cheese (stole this from a 4chan thread I saw on tiktok)

And that's all for now, let me know if you have any questions or wanna add anything :33

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ndoandou · 8 months

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Ikevamp bois playing modern games part 2

Vincent

Vincent is way into.. gartic phone

Qnd perhaps skribble.io

Like way into it

He would sit down 12 hours in front of the computer and guess what HES BEEN PLAYING GARTIC PHONE AND SKRIBBLE.IO IN A LOBBY OF RANDOMS

12 HRS IN HES STILL NOT DONE WITH BOTH GAMES

Hed obv speedrun a drawing in a short period of time and manage to make it look *chefs kiss*

Imagine if skribble.io had a vc feature tho

No no, like imagine if people were actually toxic in this goofy ahh game

They would yell down vincent down the mic telling him to go play with photoshop

Randoms are salty that vincent can draw and portray even the most ridicilous prompts which results him with the highest score always

Not to mention hes really good at guessing even the shittiest drawimgs from other ppl

"Broer how- that persons drawing looks ridicilous, even arthur's dog could draw that"

"Don't be mean theo! I could guess the drawing from the emotional connection i felt from it"

Jean

Jean has a shitty brick nokia phone

And he really loves playing snake II

No im serious

Well i suppose momte doesnt trust him with any other phones than that

the last time he was given a smartphone he downloaded some hack and slash game

took the word slash literally and then proceeded to cut the phone into two

comte was too stunned to speak

momte didn’t want his kids to miss out on gadgets but he cant have jean destroying his smartphone

BINGO! a nokia 3310 it is!

jean didnt know how to react at first, but he found it easier to navigate and thats when he found out baout snake II

found it a bit pointless at first but despite saying that, he doesnt realize that thats the only thing he does besids fencing

snake II is his pre workout

the only thing he will be doing before his fencing practice

before meals

and before bed

‘‘jean are you sure you haven’t had enough of snake II..?’‘ comte asked causiously as he never know how his son Jean would react

jean looked at comte and stayed silent for a hot minute

‘‘no’‘

Napoleon

OK FLASH BACK TO MY E BOY NAPOLEON FANART FROM 2021

its official

He plays league of legends

Napoleon is deffo a jungle/top main

Jungle preferabbly

Bros actually cracked coz hed turn any non meta champs into an absolute beast

I see him being especially good with pantheon jungle

Hed play league with jean tbh

And jean would be a dedicated top

But i dont see jean being the best player..

No, like imagine napoleon defending jean from "top troll" and getting spammed "?" On his lane

Napo would literally go to that persons lane just to steal their minion last hits

If hes feeling extra hed even use pantheons ult to yeet over to that player to ks all the minions on that person's lane 😭

"Jgl troll gg"

Ok napo is actually not toxic and is rly nice to play with

Hed even supp for you if ur learning a new champ

Hes only toxic to people who are toxic to his buddies

Comte

Ill be honest

Comte looks like someone who would download all games from every ad pop up he gets

And im talking about anything gacha related

He does not care whether the game is explicit or not as long as he can collect pretty characters

Is he interested in the gameplay??? Probably not.

"For what reason did you spend $$$$$$ on xxx game???" Leonardo asked as he scrolled through comte's in game billings, cocking an eyebrow

"Hm? Well i simply wanted to collect all of these lovely looking characters."

"Without leveling up your characters?"

"Non"

"Do you understand how to play this game?"

Comte only looked at him with his unwavering smile

"honestly this is the most ridicilous spending ive witness from you, heh" Leo snorted

"Much appreciated, but i dont recal asking for any input, old friend" comte retorted

Leo looked at him and sighed

"Honestly at this point i shouldn't be surprised"

This took me forever to upload because i coulndn't figure what type of game comte would play then one day i was like AHAAAAA

Also i didn't proof read as always so pls dont chop my head off :"))

#ikevamp #ikemen vampire #ikevamp vincent #ikevamp napoleon #ikevamp jean #ikevamp comte #ikevamp leonardo #ikemen series #cybird #ikevamp headcanons

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creative-caramel-coffee · 8 months

Text

The Bear ch 5

Pairings: Wanda x R

Word count: 3.9K

Summary: You join your uncle tony in the avengers, it wasn’t your original plan but you never planned for your powers either so here you are. Now your at the avengers tower and falling for the girl of your dreams. With a haunting past and interesting abilities can you navigate your way through the challenges of being a hero? After a mission gone wrong and a cruel twist of fate the team starts digging for answers. Can tony keep them from finding out the truth?

TW: none really, canon typical violence (I guess?)

A/n Sorry this took so long im already working on chapters 6 and 7

PART 1 || PART 2 || PART 3 || PART 4 || PART 5 || PART 6 || PART 7

You stood with Nat and Wanda at the front of the meeting room. Eyes downcast you fidgeted with your fingers only stopping when nat took your hand to hold it in order to stop you. Nat begun to explain squeezing your hand as your eyes were trained on your shoes. Wanda and nat carefully studied the face around the table. Taking note of the different reactions for later.

Steve just looked confused. Clint looked happy that he had someone else to sign with. Tony looked proud. Sam looked unbothered. Bruce looked excited about something new to study. Thor looked busy with his pop tarts. Peter smiled at you softly which you didn’t see. He was kind and understanding. Bucky looked sympathetic knowing how it felt to not be able to talk due to his own past with hydra torture. Wanda looked protective and nat just looked slightly exhausted.

After she finished explaining there was a brief silence in which peter shot you a thumbs up which you responded with the same thing still not wanting to talk.

“So is she nonverbal right now?” Steve asked not fully understanding and you nodded. “So how does she communicate then?” He asked and you signed a quick joke about Steve being old and confused to Clint who laughed. “Oh she does the hand thing too?” Steve said having seen Natasha and Clint signing before in the past.

“Yes the ‘hand thing’” Nat said “or sign language is what she uses when she doesn’t want to talk”

“So she doesn’t want to or cant talk?” Steve said.

“Depends.” Nat shrugged.

There were a few more questions mainly from Steve and some from Bruce as he wanted to make sure he had all the medical or mental accomodations he could have there for you if you needed them. Peter was eager to learn sign language now and had already started to bother tony into getting him a tutor. Bucky was now explaining it again to Steve who was still confused and tony and Bruce were now discussing alternate methods for coms now it was more than just Clint that needed a new method. While the team was engaged in their own little conversations about you and the new topic, Wanda noticed you starting to struggle under all the attention. It wasn’t bad but you simply hadn’t expected such a kind reaction and acceptance to come so easily.

When she saw tears gathering in your eyes she assumed the worst. Unable to know how grateful you were. Gently she took your hand and motioned for nat to follow as she broke off her ASL conversation with Clint. Carefully Wanda led you from the room with nat in tow. The two women led you back to the room and Wanda grabbed you sketchbook while you sat on the bed. They knew what you needed and you drew while snuggled in Wanda’s arms. Wanda lifted your chin gently to look at her.

“Are you ok my love? Was that too much?” She asked concerned at the tears still glossing your eyes. Without responding you held up the drawing. It was the team in the meeting room. But instead of seeing anything bad Wanda saw the looked of love on the faces you had drawn.

“Never expected them to be so kind about it.” You whispered and Wanda pulled you into her.

“Always my love. Always. We are your family and we love you.” She kissed the top of your head as she felt your small tears dot her sleeves.

the rest of the day you stayed in your room with Wanda. nat went to go brainstorm with tony how to tell the team about your past.

You were sat on your bed cuddling with Wanda and watching some sit com, but you weren’t really paying much attention. You were curling Wanda’s red hair around your finger and fiddling with the strands, she didn’t mind she quite liked it really. You were laid against Wanda side with your head resting on her chest.

“I love you Wanda.” You said. After a moment you realised what you said. “Shit sorry that just kinda slipped out. I get its a bit early and I-“ you started rambling but Wanda quietened you with a chaste kiss to the lips. She placed a hand on the back of your head and pulled the rest of your body so you were now laid on top of her looking into her eyes with your chin resting in her middle chest.

“I love you too Y/n/n” she said and placed another kiss on your nose which responded with a twitch that was like a bunny. Wanda grinned at the cuteness and proceeded to pepper your face with small kisses. You squealed and buried your face in her neck feeling her chest vibrate with her laughter. Playfully you lightly slapped her arm which one encouraged her laughter you were bright red now when Wanda peeled you away from her neck and cooed at the redness in your cheeks.

“I love you pumpkin.” She said and you squealed when she flipped you over and began tickling your sides.

“I y-yield. I-I yield.” You said through a fit of laughter. Wanda pulled you in and kissed your forehead.

Once more you found yourself in the crook of her arm after you formed a truce and you were dozing lightly in her arms when there was a knock on the door. Wanda frowned as she saw you rub your eyes with your fist.

“Come in.” You said. The door opened and Nat walked in. “Hi Natty.” You smiled and Nat greeted you and Wanda.

“So i spoke to tony.” She said and you groaned.

“Nothing good ever follows the words ‘I spoke to tony’” you whined and Wanda giggled. Nat rolled her eyes.

“Well he wants you to stay in the compound or with someone at all times. He’s worried now hydra knows your alive they’ll attack and try to get you back.” Wanda felt you stiffen against her when Nat said hydra and she hugged you tighter to ground you.

“T-thank you Nat.” You said neither of them missed your nervous stutter. Nat placed a soothing hand on your thigh and used her thumb to rub up and down to calm you.

“It’ll be ok Y/n/n Wanda or I will be with you at all times. Your safe here.” Nat said and you gave them a weak watery smile. “Alright enough sadness who wants to train with me?” Nat asked standing.

“I could use some training.” You said.

“Me too.” Wanda echoed the sentiment.

“Alright I’ll meet you both down there in fifteen.” Nat said smiling and closing the door behind her as she left.

“Are you sure your up for training?” Wanda asked.

“I need to use my powers it’s been a while and I hate not using them regularly especially the shifting. It’s comforting to be able to hide in small places as small animals or feel safe being a bigger thing like a bear.” You admitted and Wanda nodded.

“You know you can take whatever form you want around me or the team we don’t mind.” She said.

“Really?” You asked perking up.

“Of course. Is that why you haven’t been using your powers more? You though we wouldn’t accept you?” Wanda asked mildly concerned.

“A little yeah. Its also force of habit. You know, trying not to draw attention to yourself and all that. Lately I’ve been teleporting more than shifting.”

“Im curious can you teleport while shifted?” Wanda asked.

“Yeah but it takes a lot of concentration to stay as an animal when i teleport. I often end up human again mid jump.”

“We can work on that.” Wanda said. “Right we should probably get up and dressed.”

After changing into active gear you stood by Wanda.

“Hey wands wanna try something?” You grinned.

“Oh god I’m scared. What?” She asked eyeing you.

“Take my hand and find out.” You said extending an arm palm up.

“You better not kill me.” She said and once her hand was in yours you grinned and teleported you both down to the training room surprising Nat.

Wanda stumbled and you held her upright.

“That was cool and all but next time a little warning would be nice.” Wanda said and you shrugged.

“Wheres the fun in that.”

“Nice to see you two made it. Neat trick Y/n/n I imagine you can play some pretty great pranks with that.” Nat smiled and you grinned.

“Could. Have. Same thing.” You said and winked at Wanda.

“Right lets start. First I wanna spar with Y/n to see where your at before we get into some drills.” Nat said stepping into the ring. Wanda stretched and sat on the bench to watch she was also curious of how well you could fight especially against Nat.

“Y/n before we start i want to say this isn’t like hydra training. You can tap out at any time if somethings triggering or too much for you. No maiming or grievous injuries. I’ve seen you fight in Tony’s tapes of your earlier missions.”

“He showed you those?” You asked.

“He did.” Nat nodded.

Wanda stayed silent she also knew about your time doing missions with Tony pre avengers and you had shared your history with her and Nat plus Tony already knew.

After your fight with nat you had impressed both her and Wanda with you. Abilities. You were an avid fighter with good technique and pose. You didn’t rely on your powers to fight but when you used them they bled seamlessly into your tactics.

After a hour of so of training the three of you were hot and sweaty and exhausted. You had been using your powers with Wanda, mainly teleporting which could be draining if used too much. As the three of you left the gym and got in the elevator yo steadied yourself against the wall. Nat shot you a worried look.

“You ok there L/n?” She asked.

“Peachy.” You responded.

“And how are you really?” She asked again.

“Fine just a bit dizzy, sometimes if i use my powers too much this happens. But I’m fine.” You waved off her concern and once the three of you reached you shared floor Wanda steadied you and walked you back to your room.

After a quick shower to get rid of the sweat you and Wanda went back down to the kitchen where you ran into nat who was going through the cupboards like a raccoon.

“Dammit. Friday add peanut butter to the shopping list.” She said sighing and running a hand through her hair.

“I can make you something if you want?” Wanda said and nat spun around looking sheepish.

“Thanks wands.” She said.

“You and Y/n/n go sit at the counter and I’ll whip something up.” Nat and you did as you were told taking seats next to each-other at the bar on the island kitchen counter.

“So Y/n earlier you said you like being shifted and you haven’t had much chance to.” Wanda said as she pulled out some pans. You squirmed in your seat glancing at nat and relaxing as she looked unbothered.

“Yeah.” You said a bit flatly.

“If you want its just us. And I’ll tell you a secret Natty’s a big softy for animals.” She said and nat glared at her with no real heat behind it.

“Really now?” You asked and nat turned to glare at you. A second later you turned into a small black and white ferret and crawled into her lap taking her by surprise. Nat looked down at you in shock before relaxing and cautiously lifting a hand to scratch behind your little ears. You made a happy squeaking noise and nuzzled into her stomach and nat couldn’t hold back her grin. Wanda watched amused and excited to cuddle with you later. Turning back to her cooking nat began to play with your little paws as you curled up and began to doze in her lap. She cooed at how cute you were and tony walked into the kitchen.

“Um have you guys seen Y/n Friday said she was here?” He said looking around and Wanda wordlessly pointed to Nat’s lap. Tony broke out into a grin.

“I love when she does that.” He said and went over to scratch by your ears as you stayed half asleep. You let out a tiny yawn and nat tried hard not to squeal at how cute you were being. Tony chuckled at Nat’s expression and patted your head softly.

“Just tell her for me that me and the team have to go on a mission for a few days. We leave tomorrow. You, her and Wanda are staying here.” Tony said and nat nodded watching him retreat back to his lab.

“She really is adorable like that.” Wanda said and you stretched yawning again. You lifted your paws and placed them on Nat’s chest so you were almost upright and squeaked.

“What do you want y/n/n?” Nat asked and Wanda chuckled.

“I think she wants you to pick her up.” Wanda said before turning and flipping the pancakes.

nat carefully placed each hand under your front legs and lifted you at arms length from her. You cocked you head and she wiggled you side to side chuckling at how your limp body wiggled like it had no bones. After a second your tiny nose twitched and you let out a small sneeze. Wanda cooed and you squirmed and crawled up Nat’s arm and curled around her shoulders and began to doze again. When Wanda finished the pancakes you jumped back to your seat and shifted back.

“You make a very cute ferret like that.” Nat said and you smiled at her.

“Its fun and relaxing.” You said.

“Good you should do it more often I’m sure Nat and I would love to have cuddles with more soft tint creatures.” Wanda said and you blushed slightly and ducked your head to keep eating.

Nat chuckled and the three of you ate together. When you were done Wanda used her magic to clean the kitchen and nat posed the idea of watching a movie together. You hopped up.

“Race you guys.” You said before seamlessly shifting into a wolf cub and bounding around the corner and out of the kitchen. Wanda chuckled.

“That was too cute.” She said and followed you with nat trailing behind. When she entered the lounge she couldn’t see you until her eyes fell on a small prickly ball curled up on a pillow.

“Is that what I think it is?” Nat asked.

“Yep. Y/n/ns a hedgehog.” Wanda laughed. And Nat pouted.

“I wanted something fury.” She said and you squeaked and shifted into a ferret again knowing it was Nat’s favourite based on her reaction earlier. You ran up and down the length of the couch before settling on the pillow. Nat and Wanda came and sat next to you and you got up and crawled over into Wanda’s lap chittering and walking in circles on her thighs before settling into a small puddle.

Wanda ran a hand through your soft fur as nat scrolled through Netflix to find something to watch. You started to doze again and Wanda chuckled.

“She sure does sleep a lot when she’s a ferret.” Wanda said.

“Yeah but its cute though so i’ll allow it.” Nat said and Wanda laughed again.

After picking something and settling down the three of you curled up together and you moved between the two of them over the course of the movie so they could both have turns to pat you. You knew it was therapeutic for them both as much as it was calming to have their hands running through your fur. When the movie finished Wanda picked you up carefully as you were sleeping and told nat she was going to go to be bed so you could take a nap while she read. Nat nodded and began looking for something else to watch. After Wanda left she got into bed and set you down on her chest as she picked up her book and started to read.

It had been maybe half an hour when she began to feel you twitch on her chest. Looking down she felt your breathing speed up as you began panting against her. She carefully ran a hand through your fur and you seemed to still before relaxing. After a moment you settled and sent back to a calm sleep.

Another fifteen minutes later you woke up a and Wanda smiled down at you. You crawled off her and shifted before burning your face in her arm and wrapping your arms around her. She scratched your head and smiled.

“Hey sleepy head how was you nap.” She asked and you yawned making her chuckle. “That good huh?” She grinned and you nodded against her arm.

“Well if you’d like to join me i was about to start making dinner soon my love.” She said and you nodded again. After she helped you off the bed you sleepily followed her to the kitchen where nat was sat drinking hot chocolate. Sensing something off with her Wanda started to cook and you shifted and crawled into her lap. Nat stroked your fur and looked at you with misty eyes and soon you were breathing was slow and rhythmic as you slept again. Nat chuckled.

“Your right wands i think being a ferret makes the little thing tired.” She said and Wanda laughed.

“Yeah she could use the sleep. I think it calms her down to be small and on top of someone it makes her feel safe and protected helps her sleep.” Wanda explained and nat smiled.

“Im glad she feels safe around us.” Nat said Wanda hummed an agreement.

“She loves you very much nat. You make her feel safe.” Wanda said and nat nodded. you let out a small squeaked of agreement in your sleepy state that made nat chuckle and scratch behind your tiny ears.

The next morning you woke and headed to the kitchen to make some coffee. you were in a bad mood. you hadn’t slept much and everything was either to bright or too loud. the sound of the coffee machine made you dig your nails into your palms to ground yourself. the lights seemed to bright over head and you desperately wanted to go back to bed but you knew it wouldn’t do anything. you couldn’t sleep. nightmares plagued every minute you weren’t awake and the only thing that seemed to stop them was being with either Nat or Wanda but you didn’t want to both them when you woke around three to a cold sweat and fast breathing. you only really slept for about two hours and now it was half past four and you needed some coffee.

when it finally was done you drank it quickly needing the kick to wake up. after a small breakfast of cereal it was now fifteen past five and nat wandered into the kitchen looking surprised. she was dressed in active wear obviously heading to the gym.

“Y/n? what are you doing awake?” she asked and began making her workout shake. you grunted and waved a hand dismissively already feeling annoyed without any real reason to be. Nat frowned and went to say something but you stood and left the kitchen. electing not to follow you nat headed off to the gym.

You needed some time alone. desperately. your social battery could only withstand so much and you had been living with the team for almost a week now. Your room seemed to easy, Wanda or Nat would come find you later and coax you out but that wasn’t what you needed right now. You had and idea and grabbed a hoodie from the drawer in your room. throwing it on and shoving your sketchbook and pencils plus some snacks and your phone in the black backpack you had by your desk you slipped down the hall almost silently. Once in the lift you asked Friday your burning question.

“Friday?”

“yes Ms L/n”

“is the treehouse still around?” you asked praying it would be.

“Tony Stark and Ms Y/n L/n’s tree house is still intact. Mr Stark his made improvements over the last few months in anticipation of your return.” Friday said and you grinned. Tony and you had built the tree house deep in the woods near the compound a long time ago and it had since become your safe haven. A place you could hide if you needed some space to yourself.

“what kind of improvements Fri?” you asked.

“Mr Stark has installed Myself into the house as well as a new Tv, Wifi, more snacks, updated lighting and a microwave.”

“um Fri?”

“yes Ms L/n?”

“can you hide my location from Wanda and nat please?” you asked, you wanted to keep this space a secret for as long as possible.

“yes Ms L/n however i cannot hide your location from Mr Stark.”

“thats ok Fri just Wanda and nat are fine for now.”

“ok Ms L/n”

you walked through the foyer and out the back door. Sure Tony had said not to leave without an escort because of HYDRA but this was different he would understand and the treehouse had almost as much if not more security measures as the compound, it was built by tony after all.

after the long walk you climbed the ladder up into the mossy tree. It was old and beautiful with the branches hiding the treehouse nicely. it was large to say the least as the tree was huge. tucked deep into the woods off the beaten path if you weren’t looking for it you would not find it by chance. climbing up into it you typed in a small code and pushed open the trap door and crawled into the space. the lights flickered on and it had defiantly been upgraded. it was a single room with a door to a small bathroom on one side. how tony had managed to get plumbing this far into the woods you didn’t know but you thanked him none the less. the room had a beanbag chair in the corner with a blanket and a pillow. on one wall was a flatscreen Tv. there was a counter that turned into a desk with three shelves above it for storage. a microwave was set into the wall and a cupboard was above it that supposedly held the snacks. the lights in the roof could be dimmed and the colour changed. large glass windows lines the walls looking through the branches into the surrounding woods. large curtains could be drawn and there was a small deck you could sit on with just enough room for about three people to sit on with their legs hanging off the edge.

throwing your backpack on the desk you started by investigating the snacks. tony had bought all your favourites and you mentally thanked him. pulling out some chocolate you dragged your backpack over to the beanbag and clicked on the TV. you put on your comfort show and threw the fluffy blanket over yourself and pulled out your sketchbook and pencils. this was what you needed. exactly what you needed. some off-grid time alone to recharge. A few hours passed and you had watched the sunrise through the windows.

MASTERLIST

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thatturtleleon · 9 months

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TFP Human Hcs Pt. 2

Note: I love this scene, just look at them LMAO, also here's pt.1

Raf

so this is a bit of a newer headcanon i have of him, but i feel like he's transmasc or genderfluid

raf never really cared about gender roles and things like that, but he overheard miko talking about how she didn't mind being called a girl or a boy or whatever people wanted to call her

he asked her about it and she replied saying she knew herself better than anyone else so it didn't matter what other people thought or wanted to label her, she knew who she was and that's the important part

miko then went back to talking about monster trucks or something and raf's just *cue the mind blown emoji*

lol i love them

he definitely went as the Dr Emmett guy from back to the future or as some mad scientist character for halloween

is actually pretty ok at drawing, just doesn't enjoy it as a hobby that much

LOVES learning about cybertron and its history and everything about it

at first ratchet thought all of raf's questions were annoying but grew to appreciate his curiosity

raf prefers asking ratchet any questions he has about cybertron because optimus goes on telling a long memory/story and trails off from the original question (raf's a sweet kid tho, he listens through the whole thing), while ratchet gives more straightforward answers

dog person

Jack

him and miko have "try not to laugh" challenges (raf's the judge) and usually wins

one time however, miko did something unintentionally funny while doing the challenge and jack let out the loudest screeching laugh they've ever heard, like the type of laugh that bubbles up and explodes when you're trying to hold it in

dated sierra for a little while, then sierra came out as lesbian, they still remained good friends though

(leon try not to HC every girl as a lesbian challenge, failed.)

considered going into the medical field like his mom did but decided it wasn't for him later on

in the future he eventually got a job with the government thanks to agent fowler

goes to drive-in theaters with raf and bumblebee but always ends up falling asleep

bought a mini blue motorcycle figurine and carries it in his bag

cat and dog person

favorite song is "roll on (eighteen wheeler)" by Alabama

discovered that he and optimus had similar taste in music (country music ofc) and plays some songs in the base if it's just him

Miko

makes fun of jack for liking country music

cat person (canonly has cats i believe) but she loves dogs too, except for the crusty tiny white dogs that old people have

drew bulkhead and herself together fighting some decepticons and framed the picture for him as a gift

he cried lol

speaking of gifts, she told the bots about birthdays and all of them immediately wanted to know when all the kid's birthdays were

bulkhead and some of the others took her to a monster truck event and she had the time of her life it was amazing

actually got jack into some of the music she likes, and they like going to smaller concerts around town

she bonds with raf by getting into comics and graphic novels, they both enjoy sci-fi ones

definitely doodles all over her desk at school, especially when she's in detention

although she's VERRYY extroverted, whenever she gets a crush on someone or thinks they're pretty, she gets a little quieter/shyer; not a lot but you can tell

jams out to metal music with bulkhead (canon)

i don't remember if this is canon or not, but she has a bag with pins and stuff she's collected over the years

her bookbag has doodle marks all over it, like little stars and swirls and stuff, very much a miko bookbag

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not-she-which-burns-in-it · 2 years

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OFMD and Breathwork Part 2 - The Kiss Scene

Much later than intended but I’m back, as promised, with the part 2 of my breath and voice work thread, this time looking at the kiss scene in Episode 9.

I really thought this was going to be more fun, but turns out it was mostly sad. Oh no. But before we get sad, let's do a part 2 of the basics. If you’re just joining, please read the other thread (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/not-she-which-burns-in-it/686892030208638976?source=share) for info on where breath comes from in your body (in an acting sense) and how it affects the tension of the scene. This time we’re gonna focus on the pace of the scene, and when in your breathing cycle you begin speaking, and how that reflects the acting choices you make.

LET’S DIVE IN!

BREATHING 202 - PACE

Ok, we’re working with my crude drawings this time, I’m so sorry. Here is a line of your breath. Line goes up for breathing in, line goes down for breathing out. Pretty self explanatory.

When you’re awake and talking, the breath cycle isn't really gonna look that smooth. The lower line for instance is more like your deep relaxed breath - breathe in deeply, quick at first and then slowing down as your lungs reach a comfortably full level. Then slowly breathing out in a long tail. As soon as you’re done, you breathe back in, no pause. This really makes more sense when you try it. Try breathing in following the lines, we’re all gonna learn today.

Now here are some simplified spots where you might start speaking in your breath cycle, meaning how much air is in your lungs when you start making words happen. Let’s take a look at them:

So, we put all this together and we get a map of intentions. Especially when we combine this breathwork with the info from part 1, and all the other pieces of acting - micro expressions, body language, non-fluencies (uhms, ahhs, sighs) - we can glean SO MUCH about the acting choices and storytelling. If I ever get around to a Part 3, I’ll do the intro section on Spicy Breath and Vocal Work, I promise. That’s a whole thing. But for now let’s get to the kiss scene. I looked at the whole scene, not just the kiss itself, because the story demanded it.

THE SCENE BEFORE

Ok, in order to talk about this scene we have to go back to where we last saw Stede. Everything starts going wrong right here in this gif. The music that plays at the top of the kiss scene starts 5 minutes earlier in this moment. The second Stede learns that Mary reported him as dead, the smile falls off his face and this delicate piano music comes in (I quit music school to study theater but I can tell you it’s in a minor key).

That leads us into the bunk bed scene - that music is still playing - where he’s wondering aloud whether Mary really thinks he’s dead or just reported him dead out of spite. He’s flashing back to his family, the worry for his children starts creeping in. Mary is still coded like an antagonist at this point, but the phrasing “do they really think I’m dead”, tells us he’s worried about his children mourning his death while he’s off being happy and falling in love. The music cuts out the second Ed appears. Ed clears away Stede’s troubled thoughts. Awww. But oh no, it’s doesn’t last. This conversation with Ed doesn’t make him feel any better, it makes him feel worse. Look at his face when Ed says “It’s time to accept our fate”

Stede is so upset he literally runs away. He darts out of the dormitory out toward the water leaving Ed sitting on his bed. And Ed is not oblivious to this, he’s worried. His mouth is tight, his brow is furrowed, and his eyes are casting down and around as if looking for an explanation. He’s upset, why?

Now, Ed isn’t stupid, he can think of a bunch of reasons why Stede might be upset, they’ve been captured and are losing their freedom. Of course, Ed has missed the key element here, which is Stede’s bottomless pit of worthless self-image. So what does Ed gather from this - Ed is ok with his adventurous life being over, but Stede is not. This is a good theory from Ed’s perspective, he is ready to stop being Blackbeard but Stede just got started as the Gentleman Pirate, it makes sense for him to be not find joy in moving on from that life.

SO. The beach. We start with the same melancholy piano music picking back up. More flashbacks to playing with his children. Look at his body language, he’s curled up staring out at the sea. His knees are pulled up like they were when Ed left him for Calico Jack. His hands are on his knees holding himself together, and his thumbs are gently sweeping back and forth across his kneecaps - trying to sooth himself. Honestly he looks like he’s about to cry, his lips press together and he breathes in deep. There’s no one for him to speak to, he’s alone, the breath is to either tamp down the wave of emotion or let it out. But whatever he’s about to do, Ed immediately derails that plan.

And this takes us into the kiss scene. Stede is wallowing in guilt over his family, and guilt over dragging Edward into all this with him. Ed is looking to convince him to look on the bright side. Now you can “look on the bright side” of loss especially if you’re gaining something else. “Hey you can’t be a fancy pirate, but maybe you can have me” Excellent proposition Ed, well done. Tragically, that’s not the problem. You can’t cheer someone up from guilt and feelings of worthlessness, it will in fact make them feel worse. “Hey you feel bad for being happy while your family is in trouble, what if, we had even more happiness together?”

THE SCENE

“There you are” implying he’s been looking all over for him. And look how close he sits. They don’t appear to be touching, but it’s a couple inches at best between them. Now it’s Ed’s turn to let out a breath. He settles himself with it. It’s not clear whether it’s relaxing, now that he knows Stede is ok, or if it’s a determined breath because he has an idea of how to fix Stede’s sadness and he’s come looking for him to do just that.

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He starts with a joke, but this isn’t his boisterous joking voice, it’s not even his normal speaking voice, it’s soft, gentle, and from the throat (check part 1 for what that means) it’s very similar to the way Stede speaks to Ed in the moonlight, or in the bathtub scene. It’s soothing and intimate. Given the sudden breath in and out before he starts, I’m guessing the intention was to start with a “tell me what’s wrong” sort of approach and he chickened out and went for a joke. But his voice is still in the soft “tell me what’s wrong” tone and volume. Adorable. But Stede brushes it off, “Oh come on, stupid idea”. It’s even softer in vocal quality than Ed. But somehow it’s not increasing the intimacy, it’s creating distance. How? Because the lack of volume and vocal support isn’t to draw Ed closer, it’s because Stede isn’t really talking to him, he’s talking to himself. As soon as he says it, Ed looks down and stops smiling. It’s hard to catch because he’s blurry in the foreground, but you can see the concern immediately rush back in oh this isn’t something easily fixed. Here’s where I get sad already. Stede looks at Ed to gauge his reaction before doubling down on the negative self-talk. By the time Stede looks at Ed, Ed is no longer smiling gently at Stede. All Stede sees is a concerned frown. He’s concerned for Stede, but Stede’s never gonna see it that way. The “Oh shut up” response is so quick, it’s reflexive. I’d bet anything it’s a #1 (Speaking before you breathe in) but I can’t tell where he is in his natural breath cycle to say for sure. But instead of engaging with his own emotions, Stede pivots to Ed’s emotional state instead. This is a recurrence in their relationship where Ed is emotionally vulnerable and Stede provides comfort and support. Stede is much less willing to share his own feelings - so much for his “talk it through as a crew” motto. Ed unfortunately (fortunately?) takes the bait.

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Stede’s at a normal breath placement (either a #2 or #4), but listen to his emphasis “how are you handling this so well” - compared to Stede handling it very poorly. But again, we’re not saying that outloud.

Listen to Edward’s speech here, this is a great example of using breath to pace a speech where your character is discovering each piece of what he’s saying as he’s saying it. He’s taking small breaths in between each new idea. I’ve added tally marks here to visualize it. “I don’t know [///] It’s kinda nice just to take a load off [//] Just to [/] Just to be [/] Edward [//] I don’t know if I wanna go back to the old days [/] just drinking all day and [/] biting the heads off turtles or [/] making some poor bloke eat his own toes as a laugh [//]”

Notice how the word “Edward” is completely isolated by breath. It’s HUGE for him to acknowledge Edward’s desires are different from Blackbeard’s. It’s something Izzy seems to have been aware of from the beginning, but Edward really only realized once Stede came into his life. Stede, bless his refined little heart. Takes a full breath in to not respond to the “eat his own toes” comment. Because he’s polite, and loves Ed, and doesn’t want to derail the emotional sharing by over-reacting. But you can see it in the immediate and deep furrow of his brow.

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When Ed starts speaking again, he’s a little more hurried to get the thought out. The biggest note is the separation of the word “Ed” again, it’s revelatory to not just recognize the parts of him have different desires but that he should prioritize Edward’s desires and needs over Blackbeard’s. And BOY OH BOY does he act on that realization immediately. Because what Ed wants is 1,000% clear to this man.

BUT STEDE MISSES THIS DISTINCTION.

Listen to his emphasis. He matches the structure but he puts the emphasis on happy not on Ed.

“What makes Ed happy” vs “What makes Ed happy?” It’s a subtle difference but extremely important. Because Stede thinks he’s saying

“Pirating has made me happy until now, but I guess, since there is no escape, no way back to that life, I want to be as happy as I can…” But in reality he’s saying “Pirating made Blackbeard happy, but for the first time, I want to focus on what makes Ed happy, because I enjoy being Edward…” But let’s finish that thought and really cry. More breath tally marks, because they’re important.

“[//] These past [/] few weeks [//] have been [//] the most fun I’ve had in ages [/] years [/] maybe ever. [///] so [//] so uh [/] I reckon [/] what makes Ed happy [//] is [///] you.” Again, we’re getting breath in between each new thought, or each moment where he needs to gather strength to get these words out. This time instead of “Ed” being isolated by breath, the word is “you”. Stab me in the heart. Confessing your love for someone is hard, oh wow it’s scary, and Ed needs all the breath support he can get. He’s also not speaking very loud. They’re so close to each other, these breaths are tiny little snatches of air. That last phrase though. “What makes Ed happy is you” Why does it sound so breathless if he’s taking so much time to breathe? Let’s Map It Out! (THIS IS THE GOOD SHIT)

Ed getting that last word out with the last bit of air in his body is EVERYTHING. It’s desperate. It’s vulnerable. It’s so unsure of what happens next or if he should be saying it at all. It’s taking a huge chance because this is the moment things between them go from subtext to text. This isn’t just saying “Hey, let’s bang” it’s saying “I have soft squishy feelings for you, and maybe that makes me weak but I don’t care because you make me happy”. And Stede is FLOORED. The Gnossienne No 5 comes in, and everything is good. His whole face lifts up like the simple act of making another person happy is the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to him. Especially since he started out this scene dwelling on how much he’d disappointed his family, his parents, how he’d made this difficult for his crew and Ed, and everyone in his life. For Ed - glorious, wonderful, legendary Ed - to say that Stede is what makes him happy. Holy Shit. That’s groundbreaking for Stede. This is the first and only real smile we get from him in the whole scene. You can see the worries lift off him for a second. And before he can say something stupid: the kiss.

THE KISS

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Ed reaches around to anchor Stede’s opposite shoulder as he presses in - both to angle him properly and to stop him from startling away. Not in a forced manner, his touch is gentle, moreso he’s aware that Stede’s not experienced at this and he’s guiding the moment. So thoughtful. Also, so soft, my god.

Stede responds to the kiss immediately, he’s not just passively being kissed. Eyes closed and lips pressed forward, he’s about it. And he moves his lips on Ed’s to find a better position. As Ed shifts forward more and brings his left hand up to Stede’s shoulder he’s turning his whole body into the kiss, gently stroking his right hand down Stede’s back. The rustle sound you hear is Ed pulling his leg up in the sand to get better leverage turning to Stede. Stede meanwhile sweeps his arm forward toward Ed. I can’t see where his hand lands, but it looks like it’s going for Ed’s knee.

Ed breathes in before he kisses Stede, (part one call back) but it’s hard to catch because he doesn’t do it until he starts moving. I LOVE this because it implies he didn’t decide to kiss Stede until he was already doing it. It’s a small catch breath, not much air, and certainly not enough for a big romantic kiss. So we hear Ed breath in bigger through his nose as they kiss - breathing is not important enough to stop kissing Stede - right before he starts shifting his body. After he shifts you hear him breathe out, again through his nose because he’s not stopping this kiss for any single reason. But it comes out slow like he’s sighing into the kiss.

They are both pressing forward, despite the shifting bodies and sweeping hands, their lips don’t part. After they reposition their bodies, Ed turns his head to deepen the kiss just a little and we get that tiny tiny whimper noise from Stede and all my braincells explode into gay glitter.

I’m not sure Stede is breathing at all here. He might breathe in a bit when they shift, but I’m not sure. I think it’s just internet start-up noises in there. Which might add to his dazed expression and whispered response post-kiss. When Stede opens his eyes he’s looking at Ed’s lips, briefly, before his glance goes back to Ed’s eyes. This moment is pure joy. Even if the guilt comes rushing back in, this moment is golden.

POST KISS

Stede’s line “You make Stede happy” is in the softest whisper. And they stay at this intimate whispered level until Ed’s plan starts to form. We really hear Ed’s voice come back on “There’s always an escape” while Stede responds in a whisper, not yet bought into this plan.

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It’s not until “China” that things start to go wrong. As soon as Stede says China, his glance skitters away and down. He hedges, “That’s quite far away.” Ed interprets this as “Can we get that far” when really Stede means “Maybe we shouldn’t go that far.” But alas, Ed doubles down on the thing Stede is most worried about “Our old lives will be gone, never were.”

Stede looks down again, to the same spot, and the cut away tells us he’s thinking of Mary. And the clip is significant here. It’s both a refutation of Ed’s point “We can start a new life” vs “We only have one life.” And the bits about “We never would have chosen each other.” relay strongly to themes of found family. Because Stede wouldn’t just be abandoning his family in Barbados by running away to China, he’d also be abandoning his Found Family on the Revenge. I genuinely wonder if we would have gotten this anxious guilt reaction if Ed had simply proposed going back to The Revenge. It would have felt less like an abandonment to Stede, and “now or never” in getting closure with Mary and the kids. But. We’ll never know. SO. We’d looked at Ed’s breath in his decision moment, now let’s look at Stede’s. Right before this cut away to Mary, Ed asks “What do you say?” Stede breathes deeply in and out. We come back from the cut away to see him finishing that exhale as he looks out to the ocean. He doesn’t breathe in. He presses his lips into a thin line. He doesn’t breathe in. He swallows nervously and looks back at Ed. He STILL doesn’t breathe in. “Yeah.”

https://youtu.be/cQC_7HAMza4

He’s 100% speaking with no air. He desperately needs to breathe in and feel steady, get support for his words, and think clearly, but no. The word just escapes him in this desperate whisper. It sounds like somebody punched it out of him. I think Ed misses it because he assumes Stede is nervous for the dangerous escape, or just flustered from the kiss. But folks, if you’re asking someone something really important and they say Yes in that tone, and then make THIS face.

Stop and clarify that they’re ok, and that they actually want whatever it is. Because wow, this is a cry for help. Also, listen to the music at this exact moment, it does this discordant little minor trip that just SOUNDS uneasy. Brilliant music design here folks. It trills up when Ed realizes Stede is saying yes, and then comes jarring back down when Stede makes this face. OUCH.

I love the mirroring of breath between Ed’s “...you” and Stede’s “...yeah” - one is so full of hope while the other is so full of despair and yet they are physically executed in the same way. Brilliant, so painful, thank you David Jenkins. It’s also further proof that Stede’s breakdown was not just from Chauncy, but a crash and burn that he was headed to from the moment they got to the island. Ed’s phrasing here also mirror’s the bathtub scene “I was suppose to kill…. you” as many people have pointed out. But here’s the thing, that scene brings them closer together because Ed is being vulnerable and Stede is providing support. Stede is comfortable with that role, because he doesn’t have to examine any of his own feelings and desires. This scene is the opposite. Despite Ed making the love confession, this scene is about providing Stede emotional support. Stede is ZERO percent ok with openly acknowledging what he wants or needs, which again leads to this face.

I don’t think he was planning on ditching Edward the way he did though. Not based on this physicality. This SCREAMS “maybe if I just keep pushing these bad feelings down they’ll go away.” Thank you Mary Bonnet for shaking that out of him with a well-placed skewer to the ear hole. Therapy for everyone in Season 2!

Part 3??

Someday I’ll make a part 3, I’m not making any promises of when this time - I’ve learned! But I really want to look at Ed’s physicality around Calico Jack vs his physicality around Stede because it’s fucking fascinating. As I said at the top the intro lesson will be on intimacy work because SPICY.

Anyway I’ve written like 3,000 words at this point and I have to stop. Likes and comments really make my day - thank you all for the interaction from part one (which is here if you need it:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/not-she-which-burns-in-it/686892030208638976?source=share

) And come follow me on Twitter @/shewhich that’s where most of my brainrot content lives these days.

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd meta #blackbonnet #kiss scene #This lived in my brain for too long #useless skills from working in theater #watching actors is my day job #Taika waititi and rhys darby live in brain completely rent free #taika waititi #rhys darby #this is a cry for help #shewhich stuff

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