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toomanystoriessolittletime · 4 months

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Summary: You had been signed up with Joel and two other people to patrol to the radio tower in Cody. After getting there you offer to take first watch, leaving Joel coming up with a... creative idea to test how good of a sharpshooter you really are.

Pairing: Joel Miller x fem. reader

Wordcount: 2.7k

Rating: E

Warnings: established relationship, teasing, flirting, kissing, smut (Oral f receiving; unprotected sex; cream pie), 2 ass slaps, some biting, guns, shooting

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The ride to the radio tower in Cody was not something you looked forward to when you read your name on the patrol rotation board.

You did not particularly enjoy sitting on horseback for a longer amount of time ever since you injured your tailbone just before you got to Jackson almost four years ago. The injury had fully healed of course, but certain movements still made you sore.

But you were never one to complain and saw the bright parts of such a journey.

Spending one on one time with Joel Miller for example.

Not that you didn’t spend time with him anyway ever since he moved into your home almost two years ago. But there was something exciting knowing you and him would be almost alone for miles and miles. Well except for the two other people who were also on patrol which would be Eugene and one of the newer residents of Jackson a young woman named Katy.

„I could talk to Maria, tell her you’re sick,“ Joel offered, his chin resting on your shoulder as he stood behind you his chest against your back, his arms caging you against the counter where you prepared a big to go cup (thanks to a Starbucks raid earlier this year) with Coffee for him and a fresh mint tea for you.

„That’s awfully nice of you, but I finally convinced myself to pretend it’s like a little 3 day vacation.“

„Oh yeah?“ He asked and you nodded, smiling as you felt his nose against your neck, breathing you in.

„Jup. You know, five star accommodation in a… abandoned farmhouse, food and drinks all inclusive, spa treatments….“ You listed.

„Oh yeah I can see it. Rustic survival experience package included,“ he hummed and you chuckled.

„See? The amount of money you’d have to pay for that like twenty years ago,“ you put the lid on both of the travel cups and turned around, tilting your head up to look up at him. His hair was still wet, combed back. He had shaved a little, leaving his beard a little shorter than usual. There were tiny wrinkles around his eyes as he looked at you, a small smile on his lips, his brown eyes soft and… happy.

It was a completely different version from the Joel you met three years ago when he and Ellie first got here.

It took a lot of time and patience to get to know this version of Joel, the version he only showed to the people he loved.

You got on your tiptoes, kissing him softly on his plush lips.

„Come on, we gonna be late,“ you whispered and he pecked your lips again, sighing as he parted from you and picked up both of your already packed backpacks, leaving you to carry the cups and sandwiches you had prepared for the journey.

With your rifle over your shoulder, your backpack and a bag with some food strapped to your horse, Ellie let you borrow Shimmer, you were riding next to Joel behind Eugene and Katy who were currently playing a game of car (yeah, hilarious, they already saw one in the last three hours).

You had another hour to go and you were already looking forward to taking a nap first thing you got there. You had volunteered to take the first watch during the night, giving you perks of not having to set up camp and clearing the area of infected.

„You okay?" Joel asked and you turned your head to look at him, giving him a small smile.

„I’m fine,“ you said as he looked at you and he sighed, not believing a word.

„Want me to give you a massage later?“ He asked, riding a little closer so only you could hear him.

„I don’t know, if I can afford a spa treatment. Money is a little low,“ you teased him and he sucked his bottom lip in, shaking his head, fighting a smile.

„We’ll find a way for you to pay, don’t you worry,“ he hummed and you couldn’t help but smile at him for a moment longer before your eyes drifted away from him to watch your surroundings.

It was almost dark when you got to the radio tower in Cody. The four of you made quick work of checking the building, before you spend some time talking and eating together. You took a thirty minute nap, Joel waking you up so you could start first watch.

You were looking forward to stretching your muscles while on the watch of threats, stretching your body after riding all day. Not that something had ever happened here before when you were out on this trip.

It was getting colder, winter fast approaching.

Joel had given you his winter jacket to keep warm before he laid down into this sleeping bag, reminding you to wake him up in four hours so he could take over second watch.

You still couldn’t get used to how dark the night made the world around you ever since the outbreak. There was no twinkling light of a city in the far distance, no noise of a far away high way.

You were on the roof of the tower, the whole landscape surrounding you.

It was dark and quiet. The only light source the half moon, the only noise an owl somewhere in the woods beside the house.

You saw some deer while watching out through the scope of your rifle but you decided against taking one down.

You did not have the right tools to put it apart and take back to Jackson so you watched them while they were running around.

A noise behind you let you jump, your rifle still in your hand. Turning around you watched Joel as he walked up to you, completely dressed apart form his coat you were wearing, watching you with a little amused smile.

„Could have shot you,“ you sighed, taking a deep breath to calm down your rapidly beating heart.

„What a way to go,“ he joked and you rolled your eyes. You turned away from him, your eyes back on the landscape in front of you.

„What are you doing up?“ You asked.

„Couldn’t sleep,“ he hummed and you felt him getting closer until his arms came to rest on the railing in front of you, his body caging you in. You felt his warmth even through the layers you were already wearing, wondering if he was getting cold, only wearing his undershirt and Flannel.

„You should try anyway. It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow,“ you said and he hummed.

You stood there in silence for a while before you felt his lips on your jaw. One of his hands left the railing, pulling a little on the coat you were wearing until he could access more of your neck, his lips wandering down.

„What are you doing?“ You asked quietly, your head tilting to give him more access.

„Nothin’…“ he hummed, sucking on your skin. His hand slowly unzipped your coat, grunting when he found another coat beneath it.

„How many goddamn layers are you wearing?“ He asked irritated and you grinned to yourself.

„Enough to stay warm all night,“ you said and he made a disapproving noise, pulling the zipper of your second coat down. His beard scratched over your skin when he finally found a sliver of your skin with his fingers, his lips humming against your neck.

„Joel…“ you warned, the rifle still in your hands, propped over the railing, ready to be used immediately in the case of an emergency.

„Just keep watch baby. Don’t mind me,“ he said, his fingers now running down your stomach, his fingertips slipping under the waistband of your jeans all while his lips kept kissing your neck.

You took a deep breath before you relaxed your shoulders. You felt him smile against your skin, before his other hand let go of the railing and he opened the button of your jeans.

„I want you to focus on keeping watch, baby. Can you do that for me?“ He asked, his lips against your ear while his fingers pulled at the waistband of your jeans. Your breath hitched, you head nodding.

„I need words,“ he said and you whimpered.

„I do. I can, Joel,“ you mumbled.

„Good girl,“ he whispered and your knees buckled at his low praise.

The rifle was by now slumped in front of you, only held up by the string over your shoulder. Joel slipped your jeans and panties down to your knees before his warmth left your back.

„I want you to keep your hands on the railing. You gonna want to hold on to something,“ he said and your hand shot out, gripping the railing, fighting a whimper.

You had no idea what got into him, but you weren’t about to question him.

His fingers brushed up the back of your thighs, making you sigh.

“Gotta be quiet. Sound travels from up here. Don’t want Eugene knowing what we’re up to here, huh?“ he said before you felt his tongue lick through your folds from behind, front to back.

„Fuck,“ you gasped, letting your hand fall in between your shoulders, your eyes slipping closed.

„Nuh uh. Keep that eyes on you surroundings. Want you to keep watch while I eat this pussy,“ he said and you bit into your bottom lip before you tilted your head up, your eyes focused on the dark landscape in front of you.

Joel licked you slowly, humming against you, both of his hands pulling your asscheeks apart, exposing you fully to him. You moaned quietly as he ate you out, his tongue slipping inside of you, fucking you with it slowly.

„Shit,“ you whined, wiggling in his grasp. He slapped your ass.

„Stay still. Tell me what you see,“ he hummed, you felt his breath on your ass.

„Wha..at?“ You asked.

„Tell me,“ he licked, „what you see. Got a job to do. Don’t let me stop you from it,“ you could hear the grin in his voice, before he slapped your ass again. Harder this time.

„Fuck. Fuck okay,“ you said. You blinked your eyes a couple of times, your gaze wandering around as you felt Joel’s tongue flick over your clit.

„There’s… There’s a family of deer not far from here,“ you started. He hummed, his lips closing around your clit, sucking slowly.

„It’s two big deer and five smaller ones. They… Fuck the younger ones are jumping around,“ you whimpered, your knuckles starting to hurt form how hard you were gripping the railing.

„What else?“ Joel asked and you groaned. You took a deep breath, trying to find something else.

„Ho-ORSES, fuck right there,“ you moaned and you felt him chuckle as he focused his tongue on your clit while two of his fingers entered you without any resistance, angling them inside of you, his fingertips brushing over the spot only he seemed to be able to find immediately.

„Joel please,“ you mumbled out of breath.

He played your body like he played his guitar, with strong hands an nimble fingers, pushing you closer and closer to your orgasm, your insides clenching. You could feel it deep in your bones, your muscles tensing. And just before you could fall over the edge Joel stopped. His fingers pulling out.

You whined in disappointment and Joel bit into your left ass cheek.

It’s then that you both heard it. The unmistakable noise of infected.

You tensed, your hands gripping the riffle, pulling yourself in position.

Joel held on to your hip as he got back up, the weight of him behind you keeping you focused.

„How far away?“

„Far,“ you whispered, your finger now hovering over the trigger. With one eye closed you kept an eye on them through the scope. It were six or seven, you could not say for sure due to the darkness.

„Think you can take them out from here?“ Joel asked and you heard him unbuckle his belt, fighting the urge to turn around to watch what he was doing.

„What are you doing?“ You asked, your eyes still fixed on the slowly approaching danger.

„Nothin’. Shoot them baby. I know you can. Best fucking shot we have in Jackson,“ he hummed. You were now leaning over the railing, the gun sitting over it, pointed towards your target. You steadied yourself, fading out everything around you, your eyes finding your first target.

It looked like it had been a young man before it got infected. You breathed in, pulling the trigger as you breathed out, a shot ringing out and that was when Joel chose to thrust into you hard, making you stumbled minimally forward, gasping out. Joel’s arm came around you, reloading the gun for you, his cock deep inside of you.

„Next,“ he hummed against your ear. You clenched around his cock, making him choke out as you took back control of the gun.

„A little warning would have been great,“ you turned your head to look at him. He just kissed you once.

„Where would be the fun in that? Go on, lemme check how good of a shot you are while you’re fucked,“ he said and you couldn’t stop a low moan from your throat as he rolled his hips.

„Someone woke up horny,“ you mumbled to yourself and you heard him chuckle. You leaned back forward, your eye searching for your next target through the scope. When you found it, you didn’t think, you just pulled the trigger, watching it fall down, while Joel bottomed out and thrust back into you hard.

„So fucking wet,“ Joel groaned, slowly fucking into you.

You reloaded the gun, lining up the next shot, trying to steady yourself as you took the shot, Joel thrusting into you hard again.

„Fuck,“ you whimpered.

„Gonna make you cum so hard once you took them all out,“ Joel promised and you gasped as you reloaded the gun again.

Every time you pulled the trigger he thrusted into you so hard you had to push back against him to not stumble forward.

It was after eight shots more (you only missed one) that you secured the weapon and put it down.

„My good girl,“ Joel praised you, his arm pulling you up against him. You wiggled yourself out of his coat, wanting to feel him closer. One of his arm wrapped around you, his hand gripping one of your tits over your shirt.

„Please make me cum. I’m so fucking close,“ you whimpered, bringing your hands up to hold on to his arm wrapped around your chest. He fucked up into you deeply, his other hand coming down in between your legs, finding your clit. He circled his fingers over it while he continued to fuck you.

„I’m… Fuck I’m gonna cum,“ you moaned, meeting his thrusts as best as you could.

„Shit, keep squeezing my cock like that,“ he grunted against you ear.

It was within the next few second that you exploded around him, your lips parted in a silent scream, shaking around him.

„Fuck baby. Can I cum inside you?“ He asked and you nodded.

„Last period ended three days ago. Should be fine,“ you whimpered.

„Fuck, you sure?“

„Joel please come inside of me,“ you whined and he groaned, thrusting a handful more times before you felt him twitch inside of you, fucking his cum inside of you.

His head came to rest on the back of yours, you both out of breath.

„What was that all about? Not that I’m complaining,“ you asked and he huffed a laugh.

„Woke up horny for you,“ he said and you both chuckled. He slowly pulled out of you and you hissed a little.

He pulled up your jeans for you after he tucked himself back in and you turned around in his arms. He had pulled his coat on and you put your arms under it, hugging him close.

„You took them all out?“ He asked, looking down at you.

„Sure did.“

„That’s my girl,“ he smiled and kissed you.

#my fic #Joel Miller #Joel Miller x fem. reader #Fanfiction #Fanfic #fan fiction #Pedro Pascal #joel miller fanfiction

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lulu2992 · 8 months

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From the Inquisitor to the Baptist: The Evolution of John Seed

From the early stages of the development of a video game to the day it gets released, its gameplay, story, and characters usually go through many modifications. Far Cry 5 is no exception to this rule, and thanks to promotional images, trailers, interviews, official side material, and even deleted content still available in the game’s files, we can get a glimpse of what Hope County and its residents used to be like. John Seed, in particular, seems to have undergone quite a few alterations, both physical and moral.

In these posts, I will be listing and discussing all the changes I noticed in John and explaining why the man who used to be known as “The Inquisitor” isn’t identical to “The Baptist” we met in Far Cry 5.

All the sources and references indicated by the superscript numbers will be given in the last post.

Part 1: Physical appearance, clothes, and tattoos (concept art, promotional content, and side material)

What seems to be the earliest portrait of the Seed family is a piece of concept art that Lead Graphic Production Artist Nick Arnett shared on Instagram¹:

As you can see, many things look different from what we are used to, from the Eden’s Gate cross (behind Joseph’s head) and logo (on the pulpit, with an eagle) to the Seed siblings’ outfits. The man on the right seems to be John, and he’s sporting a two-tone blue shirt that resembles the one he will end up wearing in the game, but he doesn’t have a vest. Instead of a belt, he has suspenders, and his pants and shoes look darker and more formal than his usual jeans and boots. He already has a beard and, while his hair is slicked back, as it is in the game, it’s a little longer. He doesn’t have any visible tattoos, but if you look closely, you’ll notice that he does have something on his hand: blood, running from his knuckles.

In May 2017, nine months before Far Cry 5 came out, the game was officially announced and a few promotional pictures were released, notably these two²:

But before that, we can see what John looked like at an even earlier stage of the game’s development, during the making of those two aforementioned pictures, thanks to early sketches and visuals shared by AmCo Studio³ and Fire Without Smoke⁴:

John’s iconic vest and sunglasses have appeared, and while his shirt became white, it’s now partially unbuttoned and the sleeves are rolled up, which is how he wears it in the game. As for his hair, it’s shorter than it was in the first family portrait and looks more similar to his final design. We still don’t see any tattoos on his arms, but he has a watch.

In the final version of what I would call the “Last-Supper-like” images, John looks even more like himself, but there are still a few differences:

Although they are not strictly identical to the ones he has in the game, he’s wearing sunglasses with blue lenses on his head. His shirt became blue again, his vest is striped, and he now has his “EG” (Eden’s Gate) earring and belt buckle, grey jeans, and bunker key around his neck. He’s also wearing a coat, but while, at first glance, it looks like the one we all know, the pattern isn’t the same; instead of planes, there are “EG” symbols on it. The buttons, however, are already golden and decorated with scales.

In the pictures, especially the first one, the siblings are associated with symbols: a crown for Joseph (on his jacket and napkin), a sword for Jacob (on his music box), a pair of scales for John (on his coat’s buttons and in the bread/cake), and intoxicating Bliss flowers for Faith, a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine, and Death, respectively, who. In John’s case, the scales could also be a nod to the fact he’s a lawyer. Indeed, scales are commonly used to symbolize justice.

This time, he finally has tattoos, and while some of them are the ones he will have in Far Cry 5, others are different. He already has small symbols on his fingers: an eye, a tongue, a hand with a drop of blood on it, a heart, a foot, a keyhole, and waves. The meaning of these symbols used to be a mystery to me, but it turns out they were inspired by Bible verses, specifically Proverbs 6:16-19⁵:

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

The flames on his right wrist will be in the game as well, but here, they are smaller. This tattoo seems to have been taken directly from this illustration:

It’s from a French (Breton, to be precise) collection of “Taolennoù Ar Mission” (literally “mission paintings” in Breton) by François-Marie Balanant, who was a priest, and it depicts a human soul being afflicted by the seven deadly sins⁶. “Taolennoù” were created in Brittany in the sixteenth century by the Catholic clergy in an effort to make religion more accessible to the faithful, some of whom were illiterate, with the help of drawings.

This particular image can be found on the Wikipedia page dedicated to the seven deadly sins⁷, which seems to have been the primary source of information and inspiration for several of John’s tattoos.

Clearly, the angelic figure with the dove, on his right hand, also directly comes from the drawing (upper left corner). This tattoo will later be redesigned and decorate the inner face of his left forearm.

As explained on Wikipedia, there used to be eight mortal sins, and their Latin names were:

Gula (Gluttony)

Luxuria (Lust)

Avaritia (Greed)

Tristitia (Sorrow)

Ira (Wrath)

Acedia (Sloth)

Vanagloria (Vainglory)

Superbia (Pride)

Tristitia and Acedia would later be combined, as well as Vanagloria and Superbia.

In the two promotional pictures, John has seven of these sins (except Acedia) tattooed on his left hand, as he does in Far Cry 5.

John also has letters on his fingers, but while, in the game, they spell “E-D-E-N” and “G-A-T-E”, here, we see G, G, S, E, W, P, and L, most likely the first letter of each deadly sin in English.

On his chest, instead of a scar and the mutilated word “SLOTH”, he has a tattoo. We see two crossed rifles, the number seven in tally marks (probably yet another reference to the deadly sins), what seems to be the words “Bros & Sis” above the design, and what probably is “Til Death” under it. It looks like an infantry tattoo, very similar to the example included below (center) by tattoo artist Garrett Tankersley, known as tat2garrett on Instagram⁸:

Finally, in one of the images, John is holding a tattoo machine. In the other, he’s holding a revolver. In the game, however, this weapon is nowhere to be seen.

Even though he will never use it in Far Cry 5, John was represented by this gun again on one of the game’s old official websites⁹:

At the time, as you can see, his title was also “The Inquisitor” instead of “The Baptist”.

On the PlayAsia blog, on a page dedicated to Far Cry 5, short information sheets about a few of the game’s characters were posted¹⁰. They look official, but since I have only ever seen them on this website, which was not created by Ubisoft, their origin and therefore the accuracy of the information they give are uncertain.

While most of what the picture says is either true (blue eyes, brown hair) or plausible (his height), John mathematically can’t be only 32 years old because he was already working as a lawyer about ten years before the events of the game, which is set in 2018. According to my research, it takes 7 years after graduating high school to become a licensed lawyer in the United States. In 2008, John couldn’t be younger than 18+7=25 years old, so it’s impossible for him to have been born after 1983. He could have skipped grades, but since this is never mentioned anywhere, I assume he didn’t and that he’s in fact older than 32 in Far Cry 5.

It’s possible, however, that he really was supposed to be 32 years old when the picture was made but that his backstory (and consequently his age) was then modified.

In the novel Far Cry Absolution, a few details are given about John’s appearance. For example, on page 6:

He was ten years older than [Mary May] and near six foot with brown hair and a beard that covered the lower half of his face.

Mary May is 29 (almost 30) in the novel, which makes John approximately 39 or 40 years old in the book. This age is more plausible, I think.

Then, on page 31:

John Seed, the younger brother of The Father, slighter in build, but cut from the same cloth. Both bearded and tattooed, and both with those all-seeing eyes that seemed to search through the dark with a kind of nocturnal prowess.

This isn’t the only time in the novel that John’s gaze is described as intense. The word “predatory” is even used on page 145.

Interestingly, and despite the fact it’s absent from Far Cry 5, the gun seen in his hand in one of the promotional pictures is mentioned in Absolution as well. It’s described as “a large revolver” on page 31 and as a “big magnum revolver” on page 57. He also uses a rifle “with a wood stock and bolt-action lever” (page 48) at one point, but this weapon isn’t in the game either.

Overall, aside from this detail, his physical description in the book is rather consistent with what we see in the game. And in this official picture posted in January 2018 to promote the book¹¹, he apparently looks the same as he does in Far Cry 5.

In the live-action short film Inside Eden’s Gate¹², Joseph is the only member of the Seed family who is played by the actor who also plays him in Far Cry 5, Greg Bryk. In the game, while John is played by Seamus Dever, in the movie, it’s another actor named Rob Evors who was cast in the role. His voice and face obviously don’t sound and look exactly like John’s, so these differences are not significant.

His outfit, however, has gone through several changes. I don’t know if the design was deliberately altered or if the clothes Rob Evors has in the film simply are the closest real-life equivalent to the ones John is wearing in the promotional pictures that the movie’s costume designers could get their hands on. Like in the development sketches for the “Last-Supper-like” images, his shirt is light-colored (but still blue, apparently) and he’s wearing his sunglasses normally, not on his head. They don’t seem to have blue lenses, but again, maybe the team could only find “regular” sunglasses. He has his Eden’s Gage belt buckle and earring, but instead of being grey, his coat, vest, pants, and shoes are brown/beige. The coat is decorated with “EG” logos, exactly like the one John is wearing in the promotional pictures, but lighter in color.

As for his tattoos, they are identical to the “old” ones we’ve seen so far, but two more are visible: the pair of scales on the side of his thumb and the snake (from the Taolennoù Ar Mission again, but uncoiled), which represents Envy, around his left wrist. These two new tattoos will be part of John’s final design in the game.

There’s another one between the snake and his watch, but it’s simply one of Rob Evors’¹³.

In the film, John’s tattoos were actually hand-painted¹⁴. Here’s a better look a them, from Makeup Artist Casey Lynn Stuckey’s Instagram account:

His sleeves are never rolled up in Inside Eden’s Gate, but it’s most likely because that would have meant covering up the actor’s actual tattoos and possibly painting more, so I suppose they thought it was more convenient to just hide them.

The last notable change regarding John’s appearance in the short film is that, for the first and seemingly only time, he’s wearing a shoulder holster, but his gun is not the revolver we’ve seen for far. Instead, it looks like a semi-automatic pistol, maybe a 1911. Since, in Inside Eden’s Gate, Joseph also has this type of gun and not the revolver he carries in Far Cry 5 (albeit rarely, and he never uses it), it’s possible that, once again, the team couldn’t find the right weapons for the movie and used the available props.

In the live-action TV spot “Anything Can Happen, Everything Will”¹⁵, John is this time played by model and actor Jon Oswald, who jokingly described the character as “the asshole in the Gucci trench coat” when he shared the video on his Instagram account¹⁶.

John’s outfit looks identical to Rob Evors’ in Inside Eden’s Gate (except the shoes and the holster, it seems), so it’s likely that they just reused the same clothes. Like in the film, John’s sunglasses (which are not blue) aren’t on his head; he’s wearing them. His hair is a bit different, but it’s probably simply because Jon Oswald’s hairstyle looked close enough to John’s and they thought it didn’t need to be modified, so I don’t think this “change” is significant.

Thanks to the pictures that Mackenzie Lawrén Johnson (better known as Kenz Lawrén), who plays Faith Seed in the short film and the TV spot, posted on Instagram¹⁷, we can have a better look at him and his tattoos.

They haven’t changed much compared to the previous ones, but we can now see a goat (a symbol for Lust, also directly from the Taolennoù Ar Mission) next to the snake on his left arm. In the game, the goat will disappear from his hand, be redesigned, and end up on his right forearm. We see two other tattoos in the picture, but they simply are Jon Oswald’s¹⁸.

In the image below, drawn by Anthony Winn, who made storyboards for the TV spot¹⁹, the character on the far right (who is not Joseph), wearing a vest and sunglasses, and standing next to a woman who is probably Faith, appears to be an early version of John. This time, he’s holding a rifle, different from the one described in Absolution, and not a handgun. For once, his sister is armed as well.

In The Book of Joseph²⁰, John, as a child, is described as “the best looking, the least odd” of the Seed brothers, which is why the narrator, Joseph himself, believes he was adopted first after they were sent to an orphanage. When they meet again as adults, Joseph says his younger brother is “strikingly handsome, elegant”, wears “tailored suits” and very expensive shoes, has gleaming hair, shiny teeth, and manicured hands. He also writes that, as John Duncan (the name of his adoptive parents), “physically, he was society’s very model of success”. Psychologically, however, it was another story… but this will be discussed later. Although the John Seed we meet in the game isn’t exactly the same person as John Duncan was anymore, he’s still “elegant” and seems to take care of his appearance. Joseph doesn’t mention tattoos, but it’s likely that John got them later, after the Project was created.

An official guide for Far Cry 5, by Prima Games, was released alongside it. In the book, which was written in 2017, we get to see what John looked like when the game was still in development.

This design is very close to the final one, but for some reason, his sunglasses, bunker key, earring, and tattoos are all (temporarily) gone. However, the “SLOTH” scar has now appeared on his chest instead of the tattoo he previously had, even though it’s a bit closer to his collarbone than it will be in the game. His outfit and facial features look slightly different, but this is also true for many other characters in the guide.

On IGN’s YouTube channel, a video titled “Far Cry 5: Why John Seed Is Your Charmingly Deadly Enemy” was uploaded in February 2018²¹. In it, we get a glimpse of an early version of the “You have been Marked” TV broadcast²², and although the setting looks different, John’s appearance is very close to his final one.

By the way, if you look at the noticeboard behind the TV, you’ll see that the Testicle Festival was supposed to take place in 2017 instead of 2018. When this early in-game footage was recorded, Far Cry 5 was probably still scheduled to come out in September 2017 (which is what the first rumors said and could also explain why all the calendars in the game suggest we are in September).

In the thumbnail of the YouTube video, John looks exactly like himself:

He does too in the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” artwork²³, this promotional screenshot²⁴, and this poster²⁵:

And in a trailer posted by Ubisoft three weeks before the release of Far Cry 5, a “character spotlight”²⁶, John has his final design as well. The only difference is that, although the game was about to come out, they still called him “The Inquisitor” instead of “The Baptist”.

Then, on March 27, 2018, Far Cry 5 was released.

To be continued…

#far cry 5 #john seed #joseph seed #jacob seed #faith seed #far cry absolution #mary may fairgrave #the book of joseph #inside eden’s gate #rob evors #jon oswald

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taeiris · 10 months

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okay guys here’s my crazy unsupported st5 theory that is mostly just me projecting my need for madwheeler bonding and drama and angst also byler duh

disclaimers: i never make theories so this is extremely messy probably, i know jack dookie abt writing shows i think of this as my own little version of what i would think would be very cool to happen, if this has loop holes dont ask me anything bc idk either

OKAY LETS GET ON IT

so first things first here is what i am taking into consideration for the theory to happen:

• mike pov, self reflection and introspection (he is gay and in love with will byers okay)

• madwheeler bonding, theyre both complex n misunderstood

• the upside down isnt just one dimension, i came up with this bc of how different the ud looks now

compared to when henry arrived.

to me theres like an umbrella dimension (yellow one) and others under it (blue one/hawkins ud, the void, etc)

this is also lowkey supported by the silly boobie diagram the writers posted abt

OKAY PREPARE FOR THE WORD VOMIT

in this silly theory of mine, a new dimension variant of the ud will be revealed in season 5, serving as a parallel to the void. this is where max is

OKAY another thing is this is also heavily based on those “leaks” that were going around twitter (for me at least) earlier when the strike first started. i remember a few of them claiming that we would get a deeper insight into mike and his own things, so this is my interpretation

this would serve as another vanishing, not really bc its shorter, but this time mike will be getting stuck in this other dimension, eventually finding max BOOM madwheeler serve

i mean look at them. the potential is insane

ANYWAYS

this dimension is like a combo of all the other ones, picture it like the hawkins ud, with the void’s wet floor maybe

lets go back to the fact max is here, this is her coma nightmare, its like this purgatory dimension vecna put her soul in

in this dimension inhabit your ghosts

this overwhelming, haunting, tormenting realm in your mind where you are constantly confronting all your bad memories, maybe this is kind of how vecna keeps max under his grasp, no happy memories allowed

okay so, mike gets there. how? when? i dont fucking know this is honestly just word vomit fanfiction to me

at first hes confused, scared but mostly confused, picture him screaming for wills name (the parallels) at first it’s empty and eerily quiet, but as he accepts it, the ghosts start coming in.

he gets BOMBARDED with these bad memories, some of them he cant even remember because come on, bro is always neglecting his internalized feelings/monologue in fear of what they say about him

this is where we get his pov on the whole will and eleven situation, amongst other things (like the way he’s constantly stressed thinking about the safety of the people he loves)

for a moment we see him break, bc these ghosts are LOUD and MANY

but it stops

max is here, she’s like “MIKE?”

“MAX?”

shes been here for a fat minute, she knows how to handle these ghosts in fact shes been going thru them one by one ever since, because shes done hiding. and she suspects that the only way to get out is by confronting them.

max saves mike from his ghosts, explains that this place is seemingly a purgatory with levels of memories and ghosts to overcome

this is how we get our madwheeler bonding we so graciously need, as they are part of eachother ghosts since theyre so similar it makes the other mad

this is how our complex misunderstood characters are broken down, explained to the audience, while also discovering the mystery that is this new dimension where at the finish line they might just figure out how to defeat vecna.

because they will

after overcoming the ghosts they find the place that vecna didnt think they would reach as he was so sure they would break and collapse on their own madness

think of it as how el found the source in season 3

or how max found vecnas lair after running away in dear billy

except this place is vecnas actual mind, they can see hear and feel what vecna is thinking, his plans and everything

mike wonders how will feels being able to feel this all the time

will feels this all the time

will is always connected to this piece of vecnas mind, to this source

he can always hear vecna

until he suddenly hears max… and mike and theyre calling for help

theyve figured out key clues on how to defeat vecna, and they have an idea on how to get out. this is how will’s connection comes in handy

mind walkie-talkie

maybe thats what this theory should be called, idk

so thats how we get our byler confirmation, madwheeler bonding like never before, mike focus, and the key to defeat vecna

at least in my head

i know this was messy and all over the place but it was very fun to explain and drop all my thoughts ive been vomiting on the gc for months now

let me know what you think, what you would add, if theres anything you think will support this theory?

its all just a theory, for fun! pls keep that in mind

thank you if you’ve read this far🫶

#mind walkie-talkie gate #stranger things theory #st5 #st5 theory #st5 headcanon #stranger things 5 #stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #max mayfield #madwheeler #will and the mind flayer #byler #< target audience #taeiris word vomiting theories #mind walkie-talkie

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matan4il · 9 months

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So Mile and Apo first met at a modeling gig on Jul 24, 2013. Roughly two weeks earlier than we previously thought. Mile did say once that he thought they met at more than one event, but I wasn't sure if he's remembering correctly. Now we know he did. Never question that man's memory when it comes to Apo, even if 7 years had gone by.

(this is the FULL 5 min vid, there are shorter versions out there. Credit to PDOGP on Weibo)

I'm gonna add this to my timeline. If you wanna find it, it's among my Kinnporsche/Mileapo posts.

#mileapo #mkp #mile phakphum #mile phakphum romsaithong #phakphum romsaithong #apo nattawin #apo nattawin wattanagitiphat #nattawin wattanagitiphat #man suang #man suang cast #kinnporsche #kinnporsche cast #kinnporsche the cast #kpts cast #kpts the cast #kinnporschedaily #mileapodaily

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notmaplemable · 2 months

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Mable's RWBY Redo: Volume 1 + Trailers

Hello hello, and welcome to my own version of FRWBY, but hopefully without the controversy. But I wouldn't really call this a "fix it" fic or anything. More just a writing exercise where RWBY was more planned out than it actually was/is.

Since it does seem to me that RWBY was written quite a bit by the seat of CRWBY's pants, at least in the earlier volumes. How much that changed, I don't claim to know. But there are a few things in RWBY that probably would've more impactful if they were setup earlier. So, I'm going to try to do that.

I will be keeping most of the major concepts of RWBY the same. Dust, Grimm, impractical but flashy weaponry, the White Fang and that whole thing, Salem, etc. But just because I'm keeping the concept, doesn't mean there won't be changes in execution.

There are also a few things that where the plan seems to have shifted at some point. Like the Raven plotline for example, it seems like Monty was the only one who really knew what he planned to do with that. So I might be willing to go a bit more "off the rails" with that specifically and a few other things.

I'm also going to try to keep in mind the resources RT would've had at the time of each volume. So I won't be immediately changing things to 22 minute episodes with 16 episodes a season or something like that.

I am, mostly, going to be taking an episode by episode approach to this. Though I don't really have any experience with screen writing or what you can fit into a certain amount of runtime. So I'm not going to write out all the dialogue and things for most scenes. Just giving summaries and a few scenes of particular importance.

Though I think here would be a good time to respond to a few comments something like this might get.

No, I don't think I could've done better than CRWBY. No, I don't hate RWBY, I rather love it. No, I'm not going to sideline RWBY for a bunch of "straight white male" characters. No, I'm not going to erase all the LGBT representation. Yada yada yada. If you don't want to read something like this, you are more than welcome to block me or whitelist the tag. This is more or less just a fun writing exercise for me.

I'm doing the ships I want though.

So with that said, let's hop right in.

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Trailers

The red and yellow trailers will be completely unchanged.

The white and black trailers will be unchanged as far as what happens in each trailer.

For the white trailer, the change won't really be to the trailer itself, but more so something that changes things post fall of beacon. The arma gigas fight didn't actually happen and that's not how Weiss got her scar. Why? One fan fic had her get the scar a different way and I like it more than the canon way.

That's really it.

For the black trailer, Blake's design is the only thing that's changing. Now, it's not going to be a complete redesign. Mostly because introducing the rest of RWBY but Blake with their canon outfits would kind of be weird and require a good bit of extra work. I'd imagine at least.

So I'm just going to have her not wear the bow, and with shorter hair. Not quite what she had in Atlas though, probably something closer to Kali's actually. And add some white fluff to her inner cat ears to make them a bit less... flat.

Now, that does remove the dramatic reveal that she's a faunus for the audience. But I think the dramatic irony of only the audience knowing that can make up for it. And the hair can be a bit of a rough signifier of how long between the black trailer and her appearance in V1 was.

And just for the in universe logic of Blake not looking exactly the same if she thinks Adam is going to be coming after her. It's not much of a change, but it is a change.

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Volume 1

I'm not going episode by episode in V1, since there really isn't that much I want to change. But I will be shortening to the volume to 10 episodes instead of 16. With the volume ending after "Players and Pieces" with 2 more episodes added to initiation. Which I imagine will mostly just be added action and maybe some conversation.

The first major change is going to be that Jaune still doesn't have his aura unlocked, but he knows what aura is. Or, at least the 5 minutes of research on Remnant's version of google's version of what aura is. He's gonna be looking for a way to have it unlocked. Maybe add in a throwaway like where he wonders to himself if he should ask Ruby to do it.

The second major change is actually something we aren't going to see. The reason why Blake decided to make Yang her partner, since she does seem to purposely seek Yang out in canon but we never really hear the reason. But honestly I can't think of a good enough reason at the moment besides Yang knowing Blake's secret. So we'll just save that for a flashback later and have it implied there was a deeper reason for now.

Everything else pre-initiation should be the same.

Once we get to the cliffs before everything starts, CRDL will not be there. Since we aren't doing jaunedice yet there's no reason to have them yet. We'll also have it stated that there are multiple launch sites and have Ozpin say something along the lines of "of the 200 of you that will go into the forest today, only 50 of you will pass," to give us more of an idea of the size of the class. Though the numbers can be changed to whatever.

Then things get started, everyone partners up, Ren doesnt kill a king taijitu because power scaling. We see Ruby and maybe a few others cutting through the unarmored beowolves, adolescent beowolves to be precise, with relative ease and start to struggle once the armored ones start showing up. To help with the power scaling a bit.

Jaune convinces Pyrrha to help "boost" his aura so he can heal faster. Pyrrha knows that's not how that works but goes along with it anyways. With her having some suspicions of Jaune, but not confronting him about it since... you know.

Everything else in initiation should be pretty much the same. Maybe with an extra fight scene or two. Ruby and Jaune are still named leaders. But we do get a small scene afterwards with both teams heading to their dorms which are of course, right across the hall from each other.

So, a bit after sundown the two teams go into their dorms, with Ruby and Jaune deciding to stay out for a second for a quick chat.

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The two new leaders stand in front of their dorms, neither of them saying a word for a moment before Jaune decided to speak.

Jaune: You running up that that cliffside to kill that giant bird grimm was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Ruby: You mean the Evermore? *Jaune nods* Well, it was nothing really... I just saw an opportunity and took it. You know?

Jaune: I guess.

Ruby: But your team took down the Deathstalker, right? I bet that was super cool too.

Jaune: Everyone else did all the work. I kind of just stood there hiding behind my shield.

Ruby: But Pyrrha said you were the one who figured out how to take it down.

Jaune: Yeah, but-

Ruby: No buts! Besides, a good plan can be the difference between life and death sometimes. At least that's what my Uncle Qrow says.

Ruby: That's probably why Professor Ozpin made you a leader.

Jaune: *Rub the back of his head* Yeah... Heh, maybe he made you a leader since you're so good a pep talks.

Ruby: I guess...

JR: ...

Ruby: ...We've been training most of our lives to fight Grimm and bad guys. Maybe learning how to be leaders won't be so hard, right?

Jaune: ...Right.

*RWBY's dorm door opens*

Yang: Hey, Rubes, what are you still doing out here?

Ruby: Just talking to Jaune.

Yang: *Looks at Jaune* Vomit Boy.

Jaune: Can you please not call me that?

Yang: Not until you unruin my boots. *Turns back to Ruby* Now come on, we need our leader, and my favorite little sister, to pick who gets the bed closest to the bathroom.

Ruby: Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow Jaune.

Jaune: *smiles* Have a good night, Ruby.

Ruby: *Goes into her dorm with Yang*

Jaune: *Soon after Ruby shuts her dorm door Jaune's smile turns into a look of pure guilt as he stands silent in the dimly lit hallway*

Roll credits

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And that's the end of volume 1. Not sure when I'll get to the next volume, but it'll be sometime soon. V2 should be more detailed, and will probably end up being longer than one post.

So yeah, tell me what you think and I'll see you next time.

#rwby #mable's rwby redo #rwby au #jaune arc #ruby rose #yang xiao long

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verdantmeadows · 6 months

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Settling the (Non-existent) Debate—Gary Prince is Taller Than Marshall Lee!

In the new Adventure Time Series, Fionna and Cake, we are introduced to many new characters that come from the original Fionna and Cake series within Adventure Time. With that, we are introduced to both Gary Prince, the human version of Prince Gumball, and Marshall Lee, who shares his name pretty much exactly with Marshall Lee the Vampire King.

However, with them, they brought a new debate.

Who's taller?

At first, most viewers assumed it to be Gary.

After all, you can see him here in episode 6, clearly above Marshall Lee in height. But wait! You might say. Marshall Lee is doing that weird little stance! It's making him shorter! Maybe he's slouching in all the times we see him close to Gary!

Perhaps you could argue that. However, we can even see Gary slouch right here.

And he's still above Marshall Lee's height! Maybe Marshall Lee's legs are giving him a LOT of height.

Although I somehow doubt that, if he is slouching here, which he was slightly before straightening his back, it's hard to imagine he'd manage to make up for the height difference between them by standing up even straighter.

Regardless, let's move onto their next episode, episode 7.

This episode makes things...confusing, as well. Marshall Lee is visibly slouching here, which seems to be putting him at the same height as Gary.

Standing up pretty straight here, they both seem to again be at the same height. But! Something important to notice. Gary's legs seem to be significantly longer than Marshall Lee's! They don't stop until much higher on his body.

Now, onto episode 9.

What...what is happening here? Marshall Lee is clearly taller than Gary in this.

Marshall Lee seems taller again here, but Gary is slouching a little...

From this positioning, Gary seems to be taller...again...

But then, towards the end of the episode, we get this!!! This shot of them gives us a LOT to go off of! Both of them are sitting at about the same position on the bed, but Gary's legs are hanging off a significant amount more. Even though Marshall Lee is shown slouching, Gary is a bit too, and, if he slouched more, he would almost definitely still be taller. This also makes it more obvious that his proportions are, overall, generally longer than Marshall Lee's. And, considering that Marshall Lee isn't wearing shoes, but Gary is, and they were out on their date earlier...we can infer that Marshall Lee being closer to Gary's height came from his shoes!

So! Who is taller?

Well, in all honestly, despite episode 6, I initially thought Marshall Lee was taller, due to their height on their date in episode 9. In fact, I believe on an earlier post about their height, I hesitantly proclaimed that Marshall Lee was taller than Gary.

Before I say more, I'd like to say that regardless of what's canon, any headcanons on their height are completely valid. Even if they conflict canon! I personally have many height-based headcanons in other series that conflict with canon. I just want this post to clear things up for their canon designs.

So far, we've had evidence for both sides of the debate, although it seems to be leaning in Gary's favor. And at the end of this post...I'd like to solidify that, with evidence that isn't shown on-screen!

Gary's concept art!

Although this is clearly not what he looks like in show, and he definitely isn't this tall in show, thanks to the "conspicuously tall" note and his conceptual height next to Fionna, we can deduce that the most likely intention is for Gary to be tall. Not just taller than Marshall Lee, but generally speaking. His various positioning next to Marshall Lee solidify this, and any discrepancies can clearly be connected to the additional height of shoes (which we then see Marshall Lee shorter without). Gary's concept art is the icing on the cake, proving that he has always been and likely is still intended to be a tall character.

So, to conclude...

Gary Prince is taller! And tall in general! (Although if your headcanons are different, that's of course valid!)

Thank you for reading!

#fionna and cake #gary prince #marshall lee abadeer #marshall lee #gumlee #garylee #I allowed myself to talk in a cringe manner while writing this. it was fun #book of kells

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mybrainproblems · 4 months

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hello, i'm finales georg...

i don't want to further clutter up the notes on this post while responding to the tags below but the persistence of the "finale is short/scenes are missing/extra ad break” conspiracies drives me absolutely bananas when i've watched the finale ten times and have posted about this A LOT trying to clear things up. (disclaimer that yes, i'm a goddamn destiel shipper but i care about Facts above all.)

ok but this is weird because i'd swear the episode was shorter (11 missing scenes!) but okay. maybe we all mandela effected ourselves into #beleving that. because it felt shorter. but i will die on the hill that it had another ad break. i understand this person has the thing #recorded with ads so i am thinking maybe different ad breaks in different idk time zones??? #because the finale did air an hour earlier in canada so maybe idk i am reaching here but maybe different states or whatever had different #ad breaks??? as for the last minute changes - wasn't the cover band asked for permission to use their version of carry on like a week before #the thing aired??? so even if the episode was 42 minutes and had no additional ad break - which i am side eying but lets say all was normal #i will always say they were changing thing until the absolute last minute (carry on my wayward son X 2 #the crew on the bridge which is not only giant 4th wall breaking but also wow they really got all those people in one place in times of #covid???) #anyway. tinfoil hat stays on sorry guys :/ (via @officialmisha)

short and snarky: there are plenty of real and sourced examples of network homophobia and scripted/directed destiel scenes being cut to point to. we don’t need to make this stuff up just bc the finale wasn’t what we wanted. so it’s not the mandela effect — it’s ppl repeating a conspiracy/rumor bc it supports their narrative and it’s easier and more fun to repeat something that supports a narrative they already believe (misha or something destiel was cut) vs the boring act of fact checking.

longer circumspect answer with links bc like many ppl i am in my debunking era and i rewatched "roblox_oof" last night.

like i said. i've watched the finale ten times. i’ve gone over the episode with a fine toothed comb and posted a detailed breakdown of timing marks on my blog. it’s actually extremely obvious where the ad breaks are once you know roughly where to look for them (they have a longer fade to black instead of a quick cut scene change). there’s no room for extra ad breaks and i think this conspiracy/rumor persists in part bc the episode feels so sparse in terms of cast and the fact that the episode’s momentum hits a barn post (and rebar) less than 20min into an hour-long programming block.

also i’m begging ppl to actually look at that timing mark post. it’s very straightforward and i spent a lot of time on it. i don’t care if ppl plagiarize it at this point if it means this conspiracy stops. i've got almost every second accounted for.

the "eleven missing scenes" that you're thinking of are probably from the finale script of questionable authenticity that @spnscripthunt acquired back in 2021 which can be found here. it's dated as the “final draft” from 11 sep 2020 and filming on 15x20 wrapped on 10 sep 2020. as noted at the bottom of this superwiki page "[the] script came from someone claiming to have been the person who did the closed captions for the show in Russia. There are some indications that it possibly may not be authentic, but this has not been confirmed."

if we go with the possibility that this was a transcript meant for subtitles, the "omitted" scenes were probably written but never filmed since it's the "final draft" and not a color revision (blue, green, yellow, etc). unfortunately, i’ve lost track of where i read it and a preliminary duckduckgo search isn’t bringing it up bc there's a program for script writing called final draft, but iirc the “final draft” version of a script is a transcript of what was filmed (e.g. there are parts of that 15x20 script that ended up being deleted scenes on the DVD). spnscripthunt also has an example of a confirmed final draft for 09x02 (funnily enough, also a dabb-penned ep). if anyone can confirm with a source that i have the purpose of the “final draft” version designation wrong, please let me know! i love being proven wrong with Facts.

i do want to acknowledge that the two “final drafts” do look different from each other and the 15x20 one doesn't look like a “real” final draft script since it lacks the revision/versioning dates that a script would normally have on the cover page. it could be that it was intended for subtitles; there's the chance it's been re-typed to anonymize it if there was anything indicating who the "owner" was, tho that seems a wee bit cloak and dagger to me. and again: it's considered of questionable authenticity. there are some things that don't quite line up but oh dear god i don't want to get even further out into the weeds than i already am.

i won't disagree that it's weird as hell that neoni only got asked about using their cover seven days prior to the episode airing (tiktok here). my personal theory is that they were hoping to get a more expensive song (maybe a zepp song, idk) and didn't manage to secure the rights in the end. again: this is pure conjecture on my part! but i could absolutely see someone working on the show hearing neoni’s cover and liking it and then maybe they were using it as a placeholder until it got down to the wire and they had to make a call/send the ep to networks. because yes, it is baffling they played a song and then a cover of it with only a 40 second break between. (i do actually really like the neoni cover! the placement is just weird and i think it could have worked if they had the kansas version at the beginning and closed with neoni's full cover.)

as to the 4th wall break COVID stuff: robert singer talked with variety magazine about filming the last two episodes and the logistics of filming during a pandemic. whether they should have been filming during a pandemic is a separate discussion but their use of office vs set pods, strict quarantining and daily testing meant that they had zero positive tests in the month they were filming (18 aug to 10 sep). so given all that, i personally don’t think it’s totally out of pocket to have everyone standing outdoors on a bridge for maybe an hour to get a drone shot of them together. (i won’t get into incubation periods and viral load, but if everyone tested negative that day and every day for a month prior, it was a fairly low risk scene to film outdoors and for all we know everyone was masked until the last possible second. there were plenty of outdoor masked protests in 2020 that weren't superspreader events.)

and before anyone brings up “but misha was in vancouver!” i know someone who looked into it and they said no dice, nothing matched up between the backgrounds in those pics and places in vancouver. his statements about “us” going back to set over the summer were pretty generic in hindsight and “we”/"us" could be him or the spn crew generally. unfortunately i’m not able to find those tweets but the use of “we” was likely so as not to give away he wouldn’t be returning to set. (bc we were absolutely casbaited!) and bc it comes up a lot: the "onion field pic" was from when they were filming 15x17 and was not taken while filming 15x19 and 15x20.

besides, it would be ridiculous to go through the financial and logistical headaches of bringing someone into the country to film during a pandemic, only to cut their scenes in the end! honestly, the script is pretty tight when the scenes are given so much breathing room! the only thing i could see being further cut down is The Monologue and even then, i don’t think there was any intent to cut it down given it was filmed in fairly long takes.

i’ve said it many times before, but i believe the finale was fucked long before they returned to set. walker got the green light in sep 2019 and it was being marketed heavily as a “follow on” show to spn given jared’s involvement. the demo they were courting for walker has little to no overlap with the demo for destiel fans — why would they want a finale that catered to a demo they weren't interested in courting? we just went through a historic double strike that exposed so much of the rot of business interests overriding creative vision. this isn't completely unfounded conjecture.

i will not apologize for the length of this bc i wanted to be thorough, but i do want to give context that i think the reason these conspiracies and rumors grind my gears so much is because anyone can fact check all of this. the truth is out there and absolutely none of it is that hard to find. the most time consuming/difficult part of this was finding someone who had a DVR’d copy of the finale from when it aired live and they actually found me themselves after i’d been low key asking around for a year!

and like. i get it. conspiracies are fun. but there are so many sourced instances of network homophobia and destiel being cut that it's like. why is this something folks are hanging onto? the cw is notorious for having upper level meddling with finales bc there's a follow-on show they want to shuffle fans along to and spn is no exception.

#this is my personal bugbear / debunking hill to die on #it's so easy to disprove and has been disproved for so long at this point and it just keeps. on. getting. repeated.#finales georg #destiel #spn #unfortch most destiel folks don't venture outside the ship harbor and this has been LONG debunked by w/incest blogs #as in like. days after the rumor first started circulating in nov/dec 2020. (and it takes next to nothing!)#i'm a more recent arrival to the fandom (feb 2021) which i think gives me a bit more distance being able to watch the finale 10 times lol #but like. it is RIGHT THERE. folks don't even have to watch the ep. just pull it up on netflix/DVD/whatever to see the runtime.#the 'new post' button is right there. screencap my post and dismiss the effort i've put in somewhere i don't have to see it.#fandom debunking #i heard tommy tallarico was the first american hired to work on supernatural (his mother is very proud)

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aemiron-main · 1 month

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do you think the multiple timeline plot is a plot point that’s more introduced in S4/for the HenVecWard TM plot specifically?

Like is there anything from earlier seasons/not related to Henry you would consider as proof that we’ve been seeing multiple timelines the whole time?

I think it would be kinda odd if multiple timelines are so important to the plot but there’s only real proof of it in S4 so that’s why I’m asking

I LIKE COMPLETELY 100% BELIEVE IT BUT IM REWATCHING RN AND I WANNA SEE IF THERES ANYTHING I SHOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR

OOHOHOHOH SO!! THERE IS A LOTTTTTT OF ALTERNATE TIMELINE STUFF IN PREVIOUS SEASONS!!!

I totally agree that it would be odd if there was only proof of it in S4- thankfully, there’s evidence across all seasons!

So, let’s get into it!

Evidence of Multiple Timelines/Timeline Weirdness Prior To Season 4

So, one of the main things re: multiple timelines pre-S4 is Will’s vanishing. I touched on this in the Edward video too, but I also have a bunch of posts on it!

Basically, we saw two different Wills back in S1, each possibly from a different timeline.

I made this post, this post, and this post about Warm Will versus Cool Will, but TLDR, we see two different Wills on the night he vanished, one with longer, shaggier hair, who looks older & more exhausted & has cooler colour grading (hence why he’s Cool Will) and one with shorter, neater hair who looks younger & less tired & has warmer colour grading (hence why he’s Warm Will):

And there’s also the two different versions of the Byers’ phone- both versions of the Byers’ phone have “AREA CODE 501” written on the white part, but one version has nothing else underneath “AREA CODE 501” whereas the other version has some extra, unreadable line of text under it:

Which, not only is “501” the wrong area code for Hawkins, but “area 501” also connects to NINA (and all of the NINA timeline weirdness as a result), because the NINA coordinates from S4 lead to area 51.

And then there’s also the two different Wills in Castle Byers- the Will that El sees in Castle Byers in the void is different than the Will that the audience saw singing in Castle Byers (see this post and this post).

How are they different? Well, the Will that El sees in the void is more exhausted, barely able to move or speak- whereas the Will that the audience saw singing in Castle Byers has enough energy to sing and shiver.

And each of them also has a different version of Castle Byers- the Will that El sees in the void has drawings on the wall that are a.) in colour and b.) noticeably wet, wheres the Will that was singing and shivering has drawings on the wall that a.) have no colour and b.) are dry:

And one of the BIGGEST pieces of evidence of multiple timelines in the whole show actually comes from the end of S1 & then ties into the beginning of S2- the newspapers.

I talked about this in this post, this post, and this post, but the article we see at the end of S1 about Will’s vanishing has a TON of alternate timeline stuff.

It’s the article that mentions Richard Brenner, who’s likely Martin’s timeline counterpart or something along those lines (ie if Martin was Henry’s Brenner, Richard was likely Edward’s Brenner, especially considering the connections between Eddie Munson and Reefer Rick versus the subtext there re: Edward Creel and Richard Brenner, especially with Reefer Rick being a drug dealer versus Richard Brenner being the head of narcotics at HNL) (see posts like this post and this post and a bunch of other posts LMAO)

Not to mention all of the weirdness with Joyce in this article, and the fact that according to this article, Joyce claims that she found Will as a test subject at HNL, with no mention of the upside down:

Which ties into something I’ve talked about re: how it’s weird that the lab let will go to a normal hopsital- they were ready to straight up KILL HOPPER to prevent any info about the UD/lab getting leaked, and yet, they supposedly just let will go to a normal hospital instead of keeping him at the lab?

Plus, we never actually SAW joyce and jim leave the UD or the lab with Will- if they somehow escaped the lab & got will to a regular hospital after escaping the lab, how did they get through all of those guarded and locked doors that they had to go through to get to the mothergate?

Especially without a keycard and being vastly outnumbered + carrying a dying kid?

So, I wonder if that scene of Will at the hospital might be a different timeline where Will was found in one of the rooms at HNL, rather than in the UD, and if Joyce and Hopper broke in & got a keycard the way Hopper did earlier in S1/were able to get in and out of the lab & to a normal hospital more easily because Will was in one of the upper rooms & not down through all of those extra guarded doors/quaratine rooms that they had to go through to get to the mothergate.

Especially since that newspaper where Joyce seemingly claimed that Will was found as a HNL test subject also says that Will was currently at Hawkins General Hospital- which is where we see him at the end of S1, so it would make sense for those scenes to be the same timeline as that newspaper clipping (and therefore also in the same timeline as Richard Brenner):

And also, that S1 article is also DIFFERENT from the S2 article about Will’s vanishing despite the two of them seemingly being the SAME ARTICLE, with the same title, the same picture, and the same author (Benjamin Buck), but with different content- they seem to be alternate timeline versions of the same article.

There’s also the matter of Will’s poster and eye colour- the S1 poster says that his eyes are brown, but the Will we see in S2 has greenish-greyish eyes. So, yet again, we seem to have two different Wills, especially since they make a point of showing us what Will would look like with brown eyes when flayed, so they arent just calling his green eyes “brown” as a catch-all term.

Which, speaking of Flayed Will’s eyes, why did Will’s eyes turn brown when he was flayed but Billy’s eyes didn’t?

Why did Billy’s eyes stay blue (although sometimes becoming a more saturated shade of blue much like 1979 massacre Henward’s eyes) whereas Will’s turned brown?

I personally wonder if Will’s eyes changing colour is connected to all of the twinner/timeline stuff, especially with the scene in TFS where Alice asks “Henry” where Henry is and “Henry” responds with “he’s right here,” as if he himself isn’t Henry- does flaying somehow combine the two versions of people from alternate timelines?

And as a result, did we get Edward and Henry in the same body/connected mentally somehow/combined (therefore explaining that Alice scene), and were the two Wills combined, therefore explaining the eye colour change if the other Will has brown eyes?

I feel like there’s something here re: flaying & the idea of the hivemind being active across timelines (ie if two people are flayed, but theyre both in different timelines, would they be able to communicate with eachother via the hivemind/would they be connected to the same hivemind?)

Is that why Billy’s eyes didn’t turn brown? Because Billy’s alternate timeline self also has blue eyes? Anyway!

S1 is also the season where Mr Clarke brings up the idea of parallel universes/infinite alternate timelines:

And Connie Frazier from S1 is likely Alice Creel- but not Henry’s sister, Alice- Edward’s mother, Alice (see: this post ), hence how she’s still alive after 1959- she’s not the Alice that we saw laying dead on the floor, this Alice was an adult in 1959 & is Edward’s mother, not his sister, and is Victor’s wife, not his daughter, as according to the Edward paper/Indianapolis Gazette, Edward’s mother was named Alice and his sister was named Virginia, his mother and sister are swapped compared to Henry.

And then, in S2, we have my beloved 8:15gate, which, TLDR, there’s footage on Bob’s JVC on Halloween when Will was using it to record that a.) has timestamps that change when they shouldnt (ie, when Will was supposedly recording the footage, it says 8:04, but when Joyce watches that EXACT same clip back, it suddenly says 8:15) and b.) has footage that shouldnt even exist, because some of the scenes that he supposedly recorded are scenes where he HAD THE CAMERA DOWN AND WAS NOT RECORDING! That footage shouldnt even exist! And yet, it’s there, with a messed up timestamp.

Not to mention all of the stuff in S2 that directly contradicts TFS & reinforces the idea of multiple timelines (for example, in S2, Bob talks about how Joyce didnt even know his name in highschool- whereas in TFS, not only do the two know eachother well in highschool, but Bob also claims to have known Joyce since first grade).

And in S3, there’s a bunch of stuff (including the idea that S3 is its own weird timeline), but one example is what I talked about in this post re: the reference to temporal displacement in S3 and there’s a bunch more in S3/I’m just keeping this relatively brief LMAO!

And that’s not even all of it across the seasons! Not by a LONG shot, these are just a few little examples! The multiple timeline weirdness stretches all across ST, through every season and affects every character- although Henward is more overtly tied to it than the other characters, ALL of them are still tied to it, and there’s evidence of multiple timelines in every season- hell, like I said, some of the best evidence comes from S1, because that’s where we find out about Richard!

#stranger things #theres sm more here but i was slow to teply to this and just wanted to get the reply out #but theres SO MUCH MORE out there across the seasons

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theveryfires · 10 months

Text

10 things i hate about you | eddie munson x reader

an: hi there lovelies! Apologies that i have taken such a long break from writing. I have recently finished university and with my dissertation and essays i ended up having no time to actually write anything worth while! for those that have stuck around, thank you for your patience and for those that are new, hi! This is essentially the full version of my earlier piece titles 'crush' that i posted months ago! i hope you enjoy and as always if there is anything i can do better please dont be shy to let me know!

“What’s got you all riled up this time, Munson?”

Gareth’s voice felt distant, drowned out by the sound that had been distracting Eddie since he stepped foot into the cafeteria. His eyes were fixed on the table a few feet away from his own domain. Populated by the slightly more socially acceptable nerds, they would probably be cool in college. All dressed in the same thick knit jumpers, deep blue denim flares, wild hair. He squinted, almost wincing as the sound seemed to grow to a crescendo. There you were, one hand clutching your stomach, close to tumbling out of your chair, the other hand covering your mouth and completely useless at muffling your laughter. it almost bubbled, tinkling and pouring, coating the rest of the usual lunchtime white noise in a thick syrup like blanket. The air had almost turned to honey, and nobody else seemed to notice. Tears were sliding down your face, glasses seconds away from falling off your nose. Eddie’s chest felt cramped, his face growing hotter when your eyes met his for a brief second.

“Not what, dear Gareth. But who.”

Eddie’s rivalry with you was well known throughout the Hellfire club. Although his reasonings were not as widely known, not even to Eddie. There was no definitive motive, no moment in time that started all this distaste. He simply didn’t like you. You had been aware of one another throughout your time at Hawkins middle and high school. Something about you had always given him a headache, made his palms itch, his overall being sweaty. All of this coming to a head when you accidentally walked in on a extremely important Hellfire meeting. You had cut your hair, it was shorter and your glasses had glowed in the low candlelight. He remembered distinctly the way you tripped over your words as you apologised, the glimmer in your eyes as you mentioned something about fire regulations. Your voice was teasing, pulling him out of his seat when he abruptly stood up. It had kept him awake at night, plaguing his dreams for weeks on end. Of course you occasionally caught his deathly glare, but it always softened slightly. The usual cold brown some how warming. You had just figured he was glaring at the jocks that sat a two table’s over. Of course you were unaware of your rivalry with the infamous dungeon master. Totally clueless.

“Is this about Temple of Doom again man? I don’t get why you don’t just bring it up with Keith.”

Eddie couldn’t quite believe that you worked at Family Video. For so long it had been a place of safety and comfort, until he had walked in to find you sorting through the horror section and chatting away to Robin. You were chewing on gum, from the looks of the lurid pink it was watermelon flavour, his favourite. He had never seen you with your hair tied back, little strands falling about your face and practically begging to be pushed back behind your ears. Robin and Steve had actually got a bit worried when they didn’t see him every afternoon like usual, quickly picking up on the fact he only came in when you weren’t working. Eddie had been going in virtually everyday asking after the new Indiana Jones movie. He was convinced you had somehow figured out he wanted it, and cooked up some plan to keep it from him. But Steve told him the actual truth, that you had booked it for three weeks specially for Dustin’s birthday. “Personally i couldnt watch a film that many times but…well you know Henderson.” Eddie had nodded absentmindedly, his eyes glazed over with a strange look. “How does she know Dustin?” His voice had sounded strained, piquing Steve’s interest as he raised an eyebrow. “She’s his babysitter, his actual official babysitter. Has been since I’ve known the kid.” Eddie had only known Dustin a month or so at that point, but it did something to his chest knowing that you cared that much. He continued to complain to Gareth about you, of course…to keep up appearances. But something was different.

“What? Oh no that…thats sorted now.”

That was another thing that he hated, you were always doing stupidly kind things for people for no apparent reason. A week or so after mentioning the whole Temple of Doom saga to Harrington, Eddie had been, as he described it, accosted in the student carpark. He had just pulled up, giving himself five minutes before dragging himself to English where you would surely be already waiting. On top of everything you shared quite a few classes with Eddie, meaning he didn’t really ever get a chance of not being around you. He always knew when you were coming, the telltale smell of coffee that had too much cinnamon and not enough sugar intermingling with your vanilla perfume seemed to surround you. Drifting down the halls, clinging to your locker, english books, pens. He knew this because you often let him borrow a pen and a spare book when he forgot them. But that morning he was surrounded before he had chance to prepare himself. A blush had attacked his face, tinging his ears that luckily were hidden under his mop of curls when you appeared suddenly in front of him. Eddie had watched you eye the cigarette in his hand, caught in the way you inhaled a little deeper, breathed out a little slower. He was left illiterate, only managing to just keep his cool whilst he raised a ever bored eyebrow in your general direction. He had smirked when you sighed, rolling your eyes and shoving the box towards him. “Steve mentioned you were ‘hankering’ for this. Technically i still have it for another four days but…i think if Dusty watches it one more time the tape will break. It’s all yours.” You hadn’t even waited for a thank you, already turning on your heel and walking away. Leaving Eddie with his mouth open, cig caught on his lip and smoke tumbling out of his mouth. He hated the way you left him feeling, all red in the face, heart racing, like an idiot.

“So, what’s the problem?”

Eddie was certain he hated you, was completely convinced of the fact that there was a high chance of you hating him too. But after the past few months, after being forced to actually spend more than the usual minimal amount of time with you, hate didn’t feel like the right word. You treated Dustin like a little brother, actually all the kids clearly looked up to you. You were always on time for picking him up, but never complained about staying a little later. Eddie found himself loving those sessions more than anything, sneaking glances at you as you watched wide eyed at the world of Hellfire. But he had hated you, all through school he had found every inch of you irritating. From the little crop tops you wore in summer to the grandpa jumpers that appeared in the winter. He had hated you for the way you made him feel. Setting him alight every time you were near, making his stomach twist and churn when you caught his eye, god help him if you ever spoke to him properly. And yet…and yet all that was changing. He hadn’t even realised it until Erica had made a pointed comment after catching Eddie drooling over you during one of the later Hellfire meetings. “Are you just gonna sit there all goo-goo eyed over Dustin’s babysitter or are we actually gonna play, I’m missing a key episode of MLP for this yknow?”

“It’s…complicated.”

A few days prior, Eddie had passed you on your walk home from work. He had been driving back from a gig at the hideout, his headlights illuminating the downpour as he slowly made his way back through Hawkins when he spotted you. You were drenched, hair sticking to you face, clothes practically moulded to your body, shoes sodden and squelching on the pavement. At first he had just drove past, only making it a few feet up the street before he reversed back down the road. Robin and Steve had taken the afternoon off to take Dustin to some science fair with Mike and Lucas. Leaving just you and Keith to lock up. Usually you were fine with that, but it left you with no ride home as on that particular day your own car was at the garage. A perfect storm, resulting in you having to brave the autumn downpour on the thirty minute walk home. “Are you crazy?!” Eddie’s voice had scared you, nearly making you slip as you turned to see him staring at you wide eyed from the safety of his van. Eddie watched you turned your face towards the sky, a soft smile taking over the weak frown on his face as you basked in the downpour. “Possibly!” You grinned as you yelled back, an awkward moment growing with you only getting wetter as Eddie struggled to find the words. “Are you offering me a ride or not Munson? Not that it isn’t lovely to chat but uh…” He barely nodded but it was enough for you to run round and jump into the passenger seat. Eddie had glanced at you, frozen and suddenly unaware as to what to even say never mind do. He worried he had forgotten how to drive under your stare. “Theres…theres a spare t-shirt in the back if you…want a dry one?” You had forgotten all about your wet clothes after getting into the warmth of Eddie’s van. The shock of realising just how see through your white crop top had gone making you laugh as you happily accepted a new shirt.

“How could it possibly be more complicated?”

The whole drive back to your house Eddie had felt..strained. He could feel your eyes on him, the gentle burning of them making the van feel uncomfortably warm. Every few seconds he let himself look at you, his breathe quickly being stolen as the sight of you wearing his shirt. A ‘Corroded Coffin’ shirt to be exact. He felt like his head was going to explode, and then you started talking and that only made everything worse. You were trying to fill the silence, not able to bare the awkward quiet. You were rambling, a habit you and Robin seemed to share. Going on about work, looking after Dustin, the latest project for English, whatever film you and your friends were going to see at the weekend. Eddie was drumming his fingers, scrunching his nose and dragging a hand through his hair as he forced himself to focus on the road. A frown on his face that he had perfected for when he was alone with you. “Sorry, am i annoying you Munson?” You had noticed more and more that not only was Eddie not listening but he purposefully was ignoring you. He had done this a few times in the past, but never so blatantly. Eddie was weird, but you had also seen the caring and lovable side of him over the weeks he had spent with Dustin. So why did you get the cold shoulder? For a second those hardened brown eyes melted to chocolate buttons, glancing over at you as if finally caught in the headlights. “You were rambling, and I’m…im trying to focus on the road so we don’t crash. I dont really want to die with you in the car, princess.”

“It’s just…theres…we uh…there uh…”

The lunch that had been sat in front of Eddie continued to grow cold. Gareths stare only hardening as he noticed a strange glazed look coat Munsons usual death cold glare. Eddie replayed the night in his head. The silence that followed his use of ‘princess’ , the painful wince that had flooded his system as he realised what he had said. The look on your face when he had finally worked up the courage to face you. Your face was hard to read, blank almost whilst trying to process what had just happened. Eddie Munson. Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson had just referred to you as princess, whilst he was giving you a ride home, wearing his bands shirt and from the smell of it, it had been worn by Eddie a few times over. The rest of the journey was haunted by a heated silence that came to a grateful end when the van came to a stop outside your home. Eddie remembered you’re stutter, committed it to damn memory as if one day it would save his life. “Thanks for the ride Munson, I uh, well i guess i owe you one.” There was a cheeky tinge to your words, only made clear by the small smile you sent his way. “I’m keeping this shirt by the way…until next time sugar.” Eddie had watched you walk into your house, his hands gripping the wheel with the might of Thor. He could practically hear his heart in his chest, feel the blood rushing around his body. He couldnt sleep that night, or the night after. He couldnt even focus on DnD. All he could think about was that little smile, the way you fitted his shirt like it already belonged to you, how normal it felt to have you by his side.

“Theres been a disturbance in the force of something man.”

Gareth dropped the sandwich he had been happily enjoying whilst Eddie stared off into the distance. He knew all too well what that meant for Munson. The freak was in some dangerous waters. And if the stolen glances you had ben sneaking over at Eddie meant anything, so were you.

#stranger things #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #joseph quinn #dustin henderson #steve harrington #fluff #angst #robin buckley

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hoshigray · 10 months

Note

HEYYY🤪who ever requested y/n bratting off to toji is a blessing fr.🙏🏼 Can you also do the same thing but fluff edition. If the post is gone, dont worry about it. Love your writing!!

No worries, noonie, bc I made sure to save the fluff version as a Word doc if needed, lol. But here ya go, hope ya enjoy and tysm!!:)

Reminder: This is a sfw/fluff version of this thirst!

Cw: Toji x reader - fluff!! - pet names (baby, kid/kiddo) - implied that reader is shorter than Toji - first, the reader is sour, but then they're sweet :) - Toji calls you a 'bitch' but not in a belittling way, just frustrated with your antics - lots of humor bc we love making this man suffer, lol - the reader gives him a scare hiding from him (again, make him suffer! but he's hella worried about you so </3) - angst(?) - reader being a brat and Toji being a grumpy bf = a perfect couple ♡ Wc: 2.4k

It's late in the night, WAY past the midnight hour. The streets are quiet, people are home sleeping, and the air is curtained in a cool mist from rain not too long ago.

And yet here you are, in an open grocery store skimming through the fruits section. You pick up a bag of apples and examine them before placing them back down, moving on to the next aisle.

Behind you, the squeaky wheels of the shopping cart follow your every step, driven by your boyfriend — Toji.

The two of you had left a movie theater to see a movie you'd been anticipating seeing, which only had seating at the last showing of its week — 12:30 a.m. The runtime was two hours and thirty minutes, so it wasn't to your surprise that the plaza was utterly empty by the time it ended. Although you're happy you got to see the movie, you made a mental note to get tickets earlier next time.

Suddenly, you realize you forgot to grocery shop, and most nearby stores are closed. But after many trips around the neighborhood, you've finally found a store open for twenty-four hours.

So here you are, scoping around the aisles to pick up things and check them off your list. Now all there's left is the toilet paper, which would be right on the top shelf...that you can't reach.

You turn to your side to see your boyfriend looking down at his phone. Well, he's no help. With a sigh, you place your phone inside your pocket and try to carefully reach for the toilet paper, stepping on the lower shelves and being mindful not to step on any of the items below.

Toji notices something up when he glances up at you trying to climb up to get something from the top shelf. Putting his phone in his jean jacket, he comes around and hovers over you while grabbing for the toilet paper. You watch, and you shake your head at him. Damn, tall people...Hold on. An idea pops inside your head, and a grin molds onto your lips.

"Hey!" You call out to the man before he puts the item at the bottom of the cart. "I was getting that."

"I know, but y'r lil legs and arms weren't getting you any far, baby." He sends you a sly smirk, causing you to take offense to his comment.

Oh, two can play this game, Mister..."Put it back."

His brows crease together. "What?"

"Put it back up there," you repeat yourself to the man and point at the top shelf. His confused expression is still present when he hesitantly does what you instruct him. "And then pick me up to get it."

He looks at you like you're crazy. "What kind of shit are you on?"

You giggle. "Oh, come on, Toji. I was trying to get it, so I wanna do it."

"You could barely touch it."

"Not unless I have my trusty, tall boyfriend to help me, so pick me up!" You lift your arms for your waist to be open for grabs, and Toji just stares at you. With a heavy sigh and a scrunched expression, he lifts you up effortlessly, and you happily take the toilet paper he just put back up.

You beam at him once you're put down, and the older man has never rolled his eyes so fast. "Actin' like a damn kid."

Your tone is matter-of-fact as you put the item under the cart: "You call me a kid all the time, so I gotta uphold the title. Okay, that should be everything from my list, so let's get the other stuff."

"Other stuff?"

"Yeah, like sandwich meat, chips, and juice for Tsumiki and Megumi. They're going swimming with their friends tomorrow, and they need lunch to take with them."

Toji crosses his arms, examining you walk past him with the cart. "I suppose you're the one paying for all that."

"I'm absolutely...not," you don't have to turn around to know the man behind you has his jaw dropped. "I'm paying for the things on my list, and you pay for the other stuff."

"And what makes you think I'd pay? I already paid for the dinner and the tickets for the damn movie."

"Yes, indeed you did. But guess what, I'm using my money for my things. So, Toji dearest, it's only right that you pay for the things for your children." You peek behind you to see your boyfriend throw daggers at you with emerald eyes. Your smile only grows. "What kind of father would you be if you don't care for those angels?"

Toji just groans and mumbles curses under his breath. "They're only angels when you're around, ya damn brat..."

The two of you head to the snack aisle, the right side harboring a massive assortment of chips. You stop the cart when you spot a brand of chips you remember is a favorite in the Fushiguro household. The only problem is that the flavor you're looking for — which is on the bottom shelf — is nearly empty, meaning the last few are further in the back.

"Hey, Toji," The named man comes from behind, resting his chin on your head. "Those chips down there, ya think there could still be some in the far back?"

"Mmm," His broad chest vibrates against your back from his gruff hum. "Probably."

"Mind getting them for me."

"....Why can't you get it?"

"Because I told you to get it. Besides," you bring up your hands with two fingers up to air quote your following sentence. "I don't think my 'lil arms and legs' will get me far."

Toji's quiet for a few moments, and you bite your lip to not laugh. But it's no use when he flicks your ear before leaving your side, giggles fake cries of pain exiting your lips. "Fuckin' bitch."

"I heard that!"

"Good." You blow a raspberry at him as he groans, kneeling to the floor, and crouches to put his head under the shelf. The image of your brawny man squeezing through the racks is a rarity, and you can't laugh because you know he'll kill you once he gets back up. So, with silent quickness, you grab your smartphone, take a picture, and swiftly put it back in your pocket. You chuckle to yourself in accomplishment. That's for calling me a bitch, you bastard.

The man comes up with a bag of chips in hand, the exact flavor you were looking for. However, "Woah, woah, woah, that's not the right size."

"What are you on about this time?"

"I always get the family-size. That's just the regular one."

"Yeah, so?"

"So?" The older man is visibly vexed that you repeat after him, yet you continue. "Toji, I know you're gonna snack on those later, but I'm gonna use it to pack lunch for the kids. And judging by how small the packaging is, that's not gonna last for the entire week — let alone three days. Miki and Megs aren't gonna like you for that. Go get the family-size pack."

"They don't have it down here; it's just this!"

"Well, what are you gonna do? Buy three more bags...Oh."

Toji notices you spot something that puts your thoughts aside, so he follows your line of sight to the top shelf. As you described earlier, family-sized chips were stationed at the very top, unlike at the bottom stand where they usually are.

All you can do is smile sheepishly at Toji when you two glance at each other, the older man giving you the heaviest glare you've ever received. "If you ask me to pick you up again, I'm throwin' ya up there and leavin' you til next time."

"Don't bother. I'm going to get the sandwich meats." You turn away from him and the cart to hide your laughs and head to the deli aisle. "You stay right there. I'll be right back."

"Hmph, whatever." The man grabs the right size of chips and chucks them into the cart. And then he leans against the shelves, waiting for your arrival so you two can finally leave the store.

One minute pasts. Then two...Three....Four.....Five—What the fuck!?

There's no way the store is that big for you to find the deli aisle. It's nearly been six minutes, and you have yet to return to the snack aisle! Toji can only wonder what it is that's taking you so damn long. They probably saw somethin' cute and will ask me to get it for 'em. Hmph, like hell. Or maybe they don't have the sandwich meats they're lookin' for and are tryin' to find something else to substitute. Or they could be lost, who knows.

But the more he thinks, his thoughts delve into darker reflections. And if they're lost, would they run into someone for help? What if that person doesn't work here, talking to a damn stranger. What if that bastard is making them uncomfortable? Taking advantage of them. Or worse: a kidnapping.

Dread corrupts all of Toji's senses when his mind wanders to the worst scenarios, but he can't help it when you haven't returned to him. There's already one person he's lost in his life, and he wouldn't want to lose you too. That's why he straightens himself up and ditches the cart full of your stuff to find you for himself. Because if you aren't in this store right now, things will start to get ugly.

He storms out of the aisle, looking around to assess the parameter. Deep breaths don't seem to calm him down, as the dry bob in his throat makes it difficult to swallow. He looks up to see the signs for every aisle. Deli...Where the hell is—

That thought grinds to a halt when he hears footsteps approach from behind. So Toji turns around with haste, grabbing the pocket knife always kept in his jean pocket.

However, he doesn't pull the defensive weapon out. Instead, his tense physique relaxes, and a wave of relief soothes him down back to Earth. Because the footsteps belonged to you. You were okay.

"Damn, you and your freaky senses! I was hiding behind that bread rack over there and waiting for you to turn around so I could surprise you. Hehe, but I can see you must've—Ow, ow, ouch!!!"

Unlike before, genuine cries of pain fly out your mouth when Toji pinches your cheeks, twisting them so hard that you scream louder the tighter the grip. He doesn't let go until you step on his foot, and even then, the hurtful wails are replaced with laughter.

"You absolute fucking brat." You try to cover your giggles with your hands, but the irritated expression on Toji's face makes it difficult to keep your composure. "Over here tryin' to scare me and shit when I'm wondering what the hell's takin' you so damn long. Not even my own damn kids give me this much trouble."

"Oh shit, pfffthaha. At lea-At least I—wheeze," You're trying so hard to look your boyfriend in the eye, but God was you in hysterics. Tears prickle, and you slowly reveal some packaged items in your hands. "At least I got the sandwich meat."

Toji swiftly snatches the deli products off your grasp, causing you to laugh even harder to the point of your stomach hurting and your eyes forced shut. But that doesn't stop the man from pulling you to the unattended cart by the back of your neck, caging you between him and the handlebar.

But no matter, because you still laugh walking down the aisle with him. You still laugh at the self-checkout. And you still laugh when putting the groceries in the trunk of Toji's car and placing the cart in the corral.

Even when you sit in the passenger seat, chuckles fill the silence and one-sided tension. You peer to Toji's side to see him harbor a scowl while facing the windshield, downright avoiding you. "Oh, come on, Toji, it was just a little prank. You gotta admit it was kinda funny!"

He shakes his head, eyes still honed in front of him.

"What? Oh, so you're not gonna talk to me?"

Nothing.

"Are you serious? Toji, it wasn't even that big of a deal. Were you worried about me for real—"

"Yeah, kid." Now he looks at you; his forest-green orbs capture yours as if luring you to listen to what he's saying. "I was fuckin' worried about you. Thought somethin' bad happened or...whatever, forget it." Toji lets a heavy sigh exit his system, resting his head on his hand.

And you just watch him, not bothering to say a word back. It doesn't take long for you to understand where he's coming from because you're already beating yourself about it with the uneasy silence between you two.

You know about Toji's loss — his late wife, Megumi's mother. You don't know too much about her passing. However, you're enormously aware of how significant a toll the loss took on Toji. It took him a long time to even consider dating again and putting a label on your relationship.

So now that he's with you, it's easy to understand that he doesn't want you getting hurt and anything dreadful happening on your end.

And yet, acting like a child isn't making things any better.

You silently exhale and hesitantly set a hand on the one lying still on his thigh. You notice his head turn in your direction from the sudden contact, but you don't address it, just leaning on him with your head on his shoulder. Toji lets you do so.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry like that." You say to him, your eyes on your hand rubbing on the back of his. "Just wanted to act silly with you, is all. Didn't want to scare you."

"Who told you to act silly?"

"Uhh, me? 'Cause it's like 3 a.m., just the two of us. And it's the weekend."

You can feel the rise and fall of his shoulder following the sigh he lets out through his nose. Toji then removes his hand from you and puts it on your shoulder to keep you close. "You can be a pain in the ass, ya know that, kiddo?"

"Yeah, yeah. But I know you love me for it~." You move to happily kiss him on the cheek.

"Yeah, sure." He kisses your temple and rests his head on yours. The two of you indulge in the comfortable silence of the car for a few minutes, relinquishing each other's presence before driving home. "Just be a lil' more careful, 'kay, baby?"

"Mmm, promise."

...

But you're still gonna make that picture you took of Toji your wallpaper. It's a true gem. Plus, it's what you get for calling me a bitch.

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sherlokiness · 7 months

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Isn't RLJ a false marriage? Won't jon still be a bastard then?

Elia and Rhaegar had healthy children, legit kids so won't Ned respect that marriage like any northern one? Also elia's marriage was not under any coercion or dubious consent like Lyanna's supposed one was. And valyrian polygamy was outlawed for years, so ned should never see it as a real marriage.

(thanks for ur earlier answer by the way)

Hi, anon. Thanks for the ask! It was no biggie.

I would like you to read the comment from Ygrain in this thread. The biggest proof of RLJ marriage is the presence of the Kingsguard at the ToJ. I'll post a shorter version of it down below.

"I looked for you on the Trident,” Ned said to them.

“We were not there,” Ser Gerold answered.

“Woe to the Usurper if we had been,” said Ser Oswell.

The KG consider Robert a usurper.

When King's Landing fell, Ser Jaime slew your king with a golden sword, and I wondered where you were.”

“Far away,” Ser Gerold said, “or Aerys would yet sit the Iron Throne, and our false brother would burn in seven hells.”

So the KG knew that Aerys is dead and denounces Jaime as a KG. We could also infer that they weren't with Aerys when Jaime killed his king.

“I came down on Storm's End to lift the siege,” Ned told them, and the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne dipped their banners, and all their knights bent the knee to pledge us fealty. I was certain you would be among them.”

Ned tells them the remaining Targ forces have bent the knees and was surprised they weren't there.

“Our knees do not bend easily,” said Ser Arthur Dayne.

To which Arthur replied that their knees do not bend easily yet when Ned approached earlier, Oswell Whent was on his knee. Taken together, it's a clue that they have already bent the knee to someone.

“Ser Willem Darry is fled to Dragonstone, with your queen and Prince Viserys. I thought you might have sailed with him.”

Why aren't the KG with Viserys the supposed king if they're really so honorable? Their duties would demand them to get him to safety.

“Ser Willem is a good man and true,” said Ser Oswell.

They've ignored the insult of Viserys being called a prince and admits he doesn't have a KG.

“But not of the Kingsguard,” Ser Gerold pointed out. “The Kingsguard does not flee.”

So Willem is a good man and it's okay to be with the prince but not them because they're the KG. And what is the primary duty of the KG? To protect and defend the King.

“Then or now,” said Ser Arthur. He donned his helm.

So the KG does not flee and they would have defended the king then(Aerys) and that's what they're doing now(Jon).

“We swore a vow,” explained old Ser Gerold.

Below are the exact points from the thread:

The Lord Commander is citing the Kingsguard’s vow as the reason that they must stay. He has decided that all three would remain, and we must presume that the reason is to protect the king. Several things contribute to this conclusion:

The White Bull, as Ser Gerold is known, is quite the stickler when it comes to the comport of Kingsguard duties.

Ser Gerold does not have a friendship with Rhaegar that would favor this decision.

Ser Gerold has already stated that he would slay Jaime to protect Aerys.

Ser Gerold’s decision to keep Arthur and Oswell with him only protects the king (the primary purpose of the Kingsguard) if the king is present at the tower.

Ned knows that these men were honoring their Kingsguard vow. There is no other vow that Ned is ever aware of. He thinks of these three as the epitome of honor and skill. A shining example for the world.

Also, all the jokes about bastards and princes GRRM does with Joffrey and Jon won't work if they're both bastards.

#sherlokiness ask #I'm sorry but this thread was so brilliant #no way jon is a bastard

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rhymeswithchronic · 5 months

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Art by my sister-in-law and one of my best friends, plebianplant! I realized that, while I post a lot of art and chapter updates for this story, I never actually explained what What This World Has to Offer was! So, here's an introduction post for it! I'd like to do it for some of my other fanfics, too, but we'll have to see :3

“The Reign of Giants will come and go Shipwrecked will he, we'll never know When finally, the end of lives Begins with the fall of five”

A world fraying apart from the seams would do anything to save itself. If that means damning innocent souls to a neverending Hell, then so be it. The Host, The Young Heir, The Martyr, The Sister, and The One True Heir. The Host of Their Master The Young Heir to a Throne of Shadows The Martyr Who Gave Up Everything The Sister of the Monster in the Dark The One True Heir to a Kingdom of Bones Don't be afraid. This is what is meant to happen. This is what you're meant to be. After all, it's all happened before, and it will all happen again.

Part 1 - Reign of Giants: Chapter 1-50 Part 2 - The One True Heir: Chapter 51-67 Part 3 - The King’s Gambit: Chapter 68-? Part 4 - ?

What This World Has to Offer is posted by Pokemaniac5000, Moonweaver50, or Pokemaniac7000 depending on which site you read it on. It is a Don't Starve longfic with an estimated 109 chapters in all. At this point in time, 90 of these chapters have been written and posted, totaling roughly 294k words. Each part in this story has a different set of plotlines, but all follow the same characters, the same timeline, and the same story. Part 1 - Reign of Giants is largely episodic, focusing on events that only span a few chapters at a time instead of anything that requires longer sections of writing to cover. In this part, you can expect a lot more of the game elements to be explored such as sanity, seasonal changes, and of course, as the name implies, the Giants! This section also features the least content warnings, although the later chapters lean much closer to the darker subjects of the later chapters. Expect to see a whole lot of Webber, Wilson, and WX-78, and just a little bit of Winona at the tail end. Part 2 - The One True Heir features Webber and Wilbur almost exclusively and explores a bit of Shipwrecked and the Archipelago. This is when many of the content warnings lean towards mental health issues. This is the shortest part in the entire fic. Part 3 - The King's Gambit introduces and explores Adventure Mode, with a twist to the formula to make it unique from your own playthrough of it. While this is the darkest part of the story, this section also focuses a lot on concepts like love, friendship, and found family. Expect to see the worst angst but the lightest fluff. Part 4 - Dust, The Void, and Them is the current arc. Details I can reveal are sparce as I have just begun posting it :3 The original story was written back in 2015 and finished in 2016 by a plucky 13-year-old with no concept of story or character growth, so many may recognize it from its original version. The rewriting process started in 2017, and as such, earlier chapters tend to be shorter with less descriptive writing. I expect to finish the rewrite by the end of 2024, although it might be earlier than that if my intense excitement for the story continues the way it has. If you are new to WTWHTO, welcome and I hope you enjoy! It is certainly a bit of a commitment, but I hope you find it worth your time nonetheless. Expect lots of random art, a writer who is so scared of drawing humans that she avoids drawing them like the plague half the time, and a story filled with angst, hurt/comfort, and found family. If you are one of the poor souls who read the original version back in 2015, welcome back! I assure you, much of this story has changed in the past several years and there is so much more for you to explore as you reread. Also, uh, yeah, Winona's in this now! Enjoy! My inbox is always open for any questions or comments you may have! Read on Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction.net, or the Don't Starve Forums! Archive of Our Own Fanfiction.net Don't Starve Forums

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aniron48 · 6 months

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It's WIP Wednesday!

Friends. I haven't done one of these in AGES--haven't done writing in ages--for a whole host of reasons that are better left for a different post. But I needed some light, this week, and so I'm sharing this excerpt from the fic I'm writing for the wonderful human @anyawen, who was my highest bidder at the Fandom Trumps Hate auction earlier this year! So here, have a bit from this Benoit Blanc fic. Final version to include antiquities trafficking, Phillip playing in an orchestra, outrageous Southern accents, and a mysterious ex named Ben--but whose ex is he? 👀 Excerpt below the cut:

Benoit Blanc, gentleman detective, had done enough speaking engagements by now to know that when people asked him about his favorite mystery, they were usually angling for a story about a case he’d solved, preferably one with false leads, or surprise endings, or narrow escapes. The more philosophically-minded members of the audience might have accepted the semantic argument that “mysteries” were not necessarily synonymous with “cases”—not always, and maybe even not often. But by and large, Benoit answered the questions as they were intended, rather than as he wanted to, if he’d had his druthers. After all, most audiences would only be disappointed if he told them the truth—that his favorite mysteries were those contained within the human heart.

Take his husband, for example. After four years together, there were still surprises, still small acts of trust, of confidences shared, that opened up whole worlds inside Phillip that Benoit hadn’t known were there. He suspected that he could happily spend his whole life deciphering what made him tick, what made Phillip Phillip. It had been, in no small part, one of the reasons he’d married him.

And even those people whose lives coincided with his for a shorter time, who were destined to pass in and out of his orbit while remaining largely a cipher to him—well, those mysteries left an impression, too, fleeting as they were.

Especially when it seemed that one of them had never deleted his phone number.

cc: @mi6-cafe

#wip wednesday #mi6 cafe wip wednesday #my fic #fth 2023 #benoit blanc #benoit blanc/phillip #glass onion #knives out

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sonkitty · 1 month

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Crowley S2 Hair Post #10

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 1, The Arrival, storming out

Due to how this part of the episode is structured, this post requires a different format than usual to start.

I am going to start with a specific sequence but cover several things after that sequence in the rest of the post.

This sequence is very important and very special. It is going to demonstrate several game mechanics to the audience in a tutorial.

I strongly believe in my guesses that there are at least 2 fake Crowleys in this sequence. There could be up to 3.

Crowley is going to walk from the threshold of his private meeting room with Aziraphale, into the main bookshop first floor area, through the bookshop's overall threshold, and into the street, stopping specifically at the center of the street.

Let's begin.

When leaving the room, Crowley's sideburns have become longer than being in the room but not as long as when he encountered Gabriel. I strongly suspect this fake is Gabriel.

Then there is a cut.

This fake Crowley—who is probably Aziraphale—stiffly walks his way past a cardboard box with visibly long sideburns that are likely to be the same length as when Presumably Actual Crowley encountered Gabriel as shown earlier in the episode.

Then there is another cut.

Now we have a Blurry Possibly Fake Crowley. This version does not show us enough to guess the sideburn length. Instead, the sequence focuses on an avoided plate of Eccles cakes while a right hand picks up Crowley's sunglasses.

Then there is another cut.

A human walks past Now Presumably Actual Crowley. His sideburns are shorter than the Aziraphale-Crowley but not as short as when he initially entered the bookshop. He has passed the bookshop's threshold.

Then there is another cut.

Now Crowley's left profile view almost looks like it matches his left profile view before he entered the bookshop with the left sideburn. It seems to be a little longer still.

If the sideburns had not fully shortened in the preceding cut, they have here when Crowley is going to tighten his face in anger. I'll go over this part in more detail in the Earthly Objects section, along with the complex window scene that follows it.

...

Sideburns Check

Okay, so this storming out sequence told us the story was blatantly lying to us but not because the sideburns changed in length. It's other things detailed in the Earthly Objects section.

When first trying to figure out the sideburns, I saw this sequence, made a post about it, thought it over, and grew exasperated. How else am I supposed to figure out how the sideburns work if I know the story is so blatantly lying on things that are not the sideburns? That's the trick to it right there. The answer is in the question. There is no other way to know. If I want to keep playing the sideburns game—because I sincerely think someone or something in the story wants me to find their meaning, I have to believe there was a hidden message within the lie that was true. This sequence just told me some important things about how the sideburns work. It was a sideburns tutorial.

Proximity to Gabriel will make the sideburns longer. Proximity to humans, or a private space with Aziraphale, will make the sideburns shorter. There can be a length in between the two types with distance involving the thresholds of the bookshop.

Playing the game without that assumption makes the game much, much harder.

Reaching that conclusion took several days of just plain thinking, trying to make more posts, and otherwise living my life. I had to go back and thoroughly update my initial post.

The longer sideburns in the lie are also a clue that Gabriel was there after all, in whatever really happened.

Here is what it takes playing the whole game of season 2 to understand even more. There is an invisible supernatural border between Aziraphale's bookshop and Crowley's car when the car is parked across the street. The bookshop is Aziraphale's home. The car is Crowley's home.

Because this border exists as a human-dominant space, Crowley's sideburns will shorten to the length they usually are around humans once he has reached the proper distance—currently the center of the street—between these two special, supernatural places.

This border will disappear—or expand as a radius—at the end of episode 4 when Crowley visibly crosses the bookshop threshold and walks with Aziraphale all the way to his car while they both hold cardboard boxes of Crowley's plants. As noted in my main sideburns post, I think that's from the shared loan of the homes to form a special connection. After all I have been through with my limited progress in the Rainbow Connection for The Pocket Trick, I am all the more convinced. At my best guesses going over my archive here on Tumblr, I came up with the word "connection" in my main sideburns post a little over a month before I found The Pocket Trick, then took another few weeks to find the Rainbow Connection in The Pocket Trick's Pocket Chain existed.

After the border expands, Crowley has to drive far enough away and give the sideburns enough time to shorten to the desired length for being read as human in the street again.

The story demonstrates such an action with episode 5 showing him arriving back from a drive. A player has to give into the admittedly questionable chronology of the story for that conclusion as well.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

For Gabriel-Crowley starting off the sequence, I cannot find the brighter red streak of hair.

For Aziraphale-Crowley, there is something lighter in shade compared to the rest of the hair above the center of his left eye, but that's not the same thing as being more saturated in red.

For Crowley exiting the bookshop, it is mostly gone. It is only when he is about to stop in the street that I can finally see something that looks like more saturated red in the same general area I found it before he entered the bookshop. That is the only thing that might be the streak, and it is small. The above image is not brightened. When I tried to brighten an image to check, that part looked even less plausible to be the streak.

After that, I cannot find it.

...

Hairstyle Changes

The hair changes quite a bit during the whole thing.

For Gabriel-Crowley, the middle area of the front goes up and to his right some. There's something like a curl behind it on the top of the head.

For Aziraphale-Crowley, the style is more tidy. The front top swoops up and back.

For Actual Crowley, the style looks similar to before he entered but darker and with the tendrils on top positioned a little differently. I like this one too. It is very distracting in trying to make this post because I like it so much.

When Crowley's face tightens in anger, the cut ensures not being able to see if the brighter red streak is there.

After that, his hair looks to be losing its stronger red saturation before the lightning itself is actually released. It looks more relaxed too.

From what can be seen, the hair is getting darker.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects | Earthly Objects Study - Windows Part 1 | Earthly Objects Study - Crowley's Sunglasses)

Whoa, there is a lot happening with Earthly Objects here.

So, the way I interpret the storming out sequence to right before a human passes by Crowley past the bookshop's threshold is that is basic rule-breaking in Earthly Objects on purpose.

It might not be, but that's how I like to think of it in the way I play the game as an audience member. Plus, I can name a place where I think the rule-breaking ends and the rule-following starts.

Aziraphale—or Crowley as Aziraphale—is in the chair. Gabriel-Crowley touches the door on the push plate, and somebody picks up those sunglasses. So, there are touches.

However, the main earthly objects meant to be noticed are the cardboard box and the plate of Eccles cakes because they were both left untouched with the box also being unquestioned. Dialogue is lacking when the fakes are on screen.

As I said in my main first post about Crowley and Muriel, Actual Crowley is a top tier player in Earthly Objects who is incredibly deliberate in what he touches, especially with his hands. He's also someone who tends to ask questions.

This part is not the Metatron editing the Book of Life. This part is Crowley, Aziraphale, and Gabriel collectively working together for their edit in the story through breaking the rules of the game, Earthly Objects. That rule-breaking then informs the audience of the lie.

When Crowley is leaving the bookshop, two fingers are touching the sunglasses. That is not enough to earn credit for touching them as an accessory yet. That is the end of the rule-breaking.

A human passes by, and then he is touching the sunglasses with at least three fingers. So, rule-following has started. The rule-breaking edit ended, and we have entered the main draft of the story.

By hiding the thumb, that helped put the sunglasses into Accessory Mode too and earning a point for that touch.

Crowley angrily mutters, "Just breathe, that's what humans do...then they count to ten before they do anything stupid!" The number "ten" is a dialogue point. That is Crowley's second point in this solo set.

Now here's where things get even more weird and tricky, but thanks to the annoying, difficult pocket mechanics that are so silly and emphasize a human presence in The Pocket Trick, I have a stronger belief in this ridiculous theory.

Crowley is creating a very specific context to allow him to earn a point by touching the sunglasses with his face.

Once he reaches the center of the street and stopped, the sideburns are shortened to the desired length for human spaces. He is being read as human. Humans use sunglasses as accessories. While pockets are what tend to use lighting as clues, in the cut where he is stopping, there is extra light on his left sunglasses lens that could very well be a clue about the sideburns, this incoming touch, and a couple of pockets of hair shown by toward the end of the cut. There is a lightning imprint visible on the forehead yet again.

Crowley tightens his face in anger. The cut itself focuses on the act, and the subtitles note he grunts. The eyebrows lower for an active touch on the top of the rims of his sunglasses and the cheeks rise for an active touch on the bottom of the rims of his sunglasses.

When Nina sees Crowley, she refers to him as "that bloke," so there is even further confirmation that yes, here is a human looking at Crowley and seeing him as human after he has done that particular touch.

So, a benefit to the short sideburns is that it allows him a face touch on the sunglasses in this special context. That doesn't seem like much, but it's valuable to Crowley because, if this theory is right, he does it two more times during Good Omens 2. That would make 3 face touches in a game with a Rule of Three.

He plays this game like it is a competition. He is likely the top tier player because he makes choices like this one: short sideburns for a slight advantage in earning 3 special accessory points across the game during the entire season.

...

Moving on, it is time for the story's first complex window scene!

These scenes have three steps, and this part is the game's initial tutorial on those steps.

The steps are:

Step 1: The looker looks.

Step 2: The window sees.

Step 3: The looker is seen clearly behind the window pane with at least some of the window frame visible.

When Nina gets Maggie to look, there is a shared blur between the two. That blur is the main one that made me think they mean pass or share in the game. When Maggie looks, she is known to have been attending to her tea, but if she is touching an earthly object, the touch itself is not on screen. She is at the threshold of the window touch with this particular look.

There will be more complex window scenes that will do the same thing to help further confirm this threshold component. For instance, in the next one, Maggie is doing a self-touch with her hand in her mouth and then actually removes the touch during the look. This threshold component is important because of figuring out the steps Crowley is following in The Window Trick without knowing whatever further advanced pocket mechanics might be involved.

For the window seeing, that would be the cut with Maggie and Nina shown from the back while Crowley is seen through the window. Generally, these parts make sure a window frame is somewhere in the cut.

Maggie is seen behind the window pane when the lightning shoots out. While it is a little blurry because of the lightning, that blur is not the same type as what the game uses for the passes and shares, so I think she is still considered to be seen clearly enough to earn the point for looking. The reflection of Crowley's lower body is in the window pane with his lightning.

While Maggie and Nina are looking, Crowley is still busy earning his own solo points, which the game focuses on when not focusing on Maggie and Nina.

I think it goes that one set is the hopping on the ground is point #1 as a touch. Shouting the number "Ten!" is point #2 through dialogue. The lightning actually hitting the coffee shop twice is point #3 as a touch.

The lightning earns its own 3 points with 3 different touches on the door. I eventually took that sequence as a clue about the Rule of Three in Earthly Objects.

For Crowley's next set, his lightning is channeling out of his own neck and striking him. There are actually three specific points on his body where the lightning is channeling out from him, like little nodes. I'm hoping I'm not supposed to count how many are doing what where because I won't do that, and it's mainly communicating the lightning is striking him for a point here.

Maggie will remind the audience in the dialogue that lightning striking someone or something is what lightning does on Earth. Hence, that is how Crowley earns that point.

With Maggie finally forced to see Crowley, the surrounding Soho people react oddly, almost in tune with her. They were moving when she first saw Crowley, but in the next cut, almost everyone is stopped and looking at Crowley. They see him release the lightning. Maggie says she thinks he was struck by lightning—which technically he was because of his own lightning striking him. As if in response, everyone in the street moves on as if nothing happened.

Another theoretical point for Crowley is bringing his teeth together in a chomp. The rules for supernatural beings and self-touches are very confusing because they look like they don't exist for various reasons, but Crowley's play especially suggests there is something like requiring an earthly object touch in several instances for him. This chomp would be one such time. Crowley can do it because of the lightning striking him. The chomp is so fast, I can only ever see it going frame by frame, but I don't think he gets a second point any other way, even with whatever he is doing with pockets.

The third point would then be Crowley letting the smoke hit him as he grunts.

Additionally, it is in this movement where I think the Tied Hands are finally officially re-tied because it's the closest thing resembling one of the clasps possibly striking an edge on the lapel to the jacket. It's hard to tell through the smoke, but I assume it's acceptable because of that and something found I'll describe further down.

Regarding whatever else is going on with pockets, Gabriel-Crowley has pockets existing while visually in the door frame before leaving. After he closes the door and starts walking, the tie strands switch though as they switch, only one of the clasps is visible. As he keeps moving and does another two switches, both clasps are not visible.

Aziraphale-Crowley makes a few pockets with his arms as he walks.

Whoever is the blurry Crowley makes a pocket with the left arm, then more pockets with the legs, waist, and dark horse statue holding the sunglasses. The left hand does end up in a pocket between the body and dark horse statue as the sunglasses are grabbed, creating even more pockets within.

When Crowley is exiting the bookshop, the tie strands are visibly off his chest before pulling back in as his arm obscures them. They looked about to switch, but he hides confirmation of if that happened with his right hand and blurred movement.

After that, the pocket mechanics finally let up a little bit to give the face touch on the sunglasses and the complex window scene the focus they deserve for what they are.

Crowley creates a pocket with his legs after he is done hopping and the lightning is shooting out from him. In his angered grunt of letting the smoke hit him, his right hand aligns with the jacket, so that an actual thumb joint is at an edge before re-tying of the Tied Hands is done.

Usually, when I refer to a thumb joint, I am specifically referring to the carpometacarpal joint (CMC joint)—which is connected to the wrist, but in this case, the thumb joint would actually be the metacarpophalangeal joint—which is within the thumb itself. I had to look up this thumb stuff. I don't magically know these things.

Further into the movement, the left thumb is visually over the assumed lapel area and avoiding a visual touch on the actual tie strands.

The pocket made with his legs opens to reveal little bit of reflected red light from the road. The CMC joint of the thumb is visually touching a different reflection of red light.

The Belt Head is partly visible between the smoke and likely has a tassel tip near it.

Yet another pocket is formed in the process with the left arm and torso of the jacket. As Crowley's position changes, that pocket opens. The left thumb tip is carefully managed to visually touch the edge of the jacket torso while a pocket is created using the left thumb, left arm, and torso. This pocket includes a red light that is not a reflection found on the road.

There is another red light by the right arm. So, this one is not reflected from the road, but these two red lights by the arms exist as a visual mirror to the camera. A human helps separate the red lights of the car by the right arm by being pocketed between those red lights and having their foot visually touch behind part of Crowley's arm.

I'm assuming these are all factors that help get the job done for retying: "smoke and mirrors".

So, given how much pocket care is being done, yes, I do believe the Tied Hands needed retying after all and required considerable effort to get it done.

I'll go over Muriel later where the phrase "earthly object" is at last uttered in the story after these tutorials the game is giving.

...

Story Commentary

For the record, I am going to use the phrase "appearance swap" and not "body swap" because I actually do believe Neil Gaiman on saying so here.

Unfortunately, I did not save a lot of valuable posts I skimmed or just read when I was first trying to understand what was happening in Good Omens 2 and not knowing I would eventually be making posts of my own. I'm not the first person to think that Crowley was Gabriel leaving the room, but I have long since lost the link and took a long time to come around to that idea.

Likewise, I don't have another link where someone speculated Aziraphale is later trying to grab Gabriel's hand as if about to do an appearance swap when about to do the little miracle to hide Gabriel. So, I at least had those things in the back of my mind when eventually figuring this sequence must indeed include some fake Crowleys involving appearance swaps.

The main reason I eventually accepted the idea of the fake Aziraphale was comparing the stiff walk he does in this episode compared to the stiff walk he does at the end of season 1:

They were close enough for me because the shoulders don't move as much compared to Crowley's usual walk. Gabriel-Crowley emphasized the shoulder movement for contrast in the preceding cut. This particular Tumblr post and a couple of comments for it helped point out the stiffness in season 1: Crowley's signature swagger walk.

I suspect that cardboard box was touched and questioned. Somebody might have even eaten some Eccles cakes. Crowley was willing to help Gabriel sooner with understanding the situation better through whatever he learned about the box. I don't know if Muriel was literally on Earth, but they seem to have had a big role in whatever happened because I sincerely believe Crowley has a deep trust in Muriel. I assume Muriel earned it. Beelzebub may have a had a role in things as well.

As I have said in another post, I theorize the original draft had a Big Miracle where the Book of Life was put in the matchbox. It might be more elaborate than that because of so many other things that happened after, but I suspect at least that much.

Still, such things are not in this draft. Whatever really happened has been hidden from the audience for now and replaced with this obvious lie.

Recognizing the fake Crowleys—especially Aziraphale—is crucial because it is extremely important to understand that Aziraphale knows about the sideburns even if Aziraphale never explicitly comments on their changing length. Without believing Aziraphale knows, the sideburns game is, again, much harder.

The lightning itself might be a cover for whatever really happened or part of an elaborate set up for what is going to happen.

It shot out multiple times. Generally, it went upward, spread somewhat in the back and to Crowley's left to do its thing to the coffee shop. It most assuredly did not strike toward the bookshop.

Regardless of its intention, this type of thing is what I love to see in fiction with my favorite characters. I love the anger and the release of actual lightning power. I live for that stuff.

Among the many weird things happening is something involving the car.

The car is very obviously black in its exterior and parked in front of the coffee shop when the lightning shoots out.

In the cut after Crowley starts to walk way with his head conveniently not shown, there is a blurry figure who looks like yet another possible fake Crowley. It is hard to tell with the blur, but it looks like they are wearing dark clothing and have dark red hair.

Later, we'll see that Crowley lost a lot of the red in his hair.

The figure's blurry left hand passes along where the car should be.

The little exterior visible looks more like a dark blue. Nina realizes she and Maggie are locked in, then moves to further confirm this oddity. So, is it the car or is it a fake car now too? Aziraphale-Crowley's attire looked more dark blue compared to the other versions of Crowley. Whatever the car is, Crowley does not get in it and is not seen driving it away. However, Crowley will be seen getting in his black car later at night.

...

Muriel

(For reference: Bookend Buddies - Crowley and Muriel (Part 2))

Well, now that we've had tutorials, it's time to learn the name of the game—the Big One that is. I don't think the word "sideburns" is ever said in Good Omens 2. I just made up "Sideburns Scheme" after awhile but given the word play for pocket mechanics, it might be a name I was supposed to find too. But back to the one I initially meant, Uriel will eventually say "earthly object".

After Nina and Maggie realize their phones are dead, the story cuts to Heaven. The scene starts with Michael and Uriel, leading to the arrival of Saraqael and Muriel.

As noted in other posts, thumb tips are relevant to Door Mode. It is my guess that given how the game works—especially with Crowley's sunglasses in The Sunglasses Trick and pockets in The Pocket Trick, a thumb tip could be like a password to activate whatever is in the matchbox.

Saraqael is even giving a clue to an audience member playing Earthly Objects that's possible by actively adjusting their hands to hide their own right thumb before Muriel reveals the matchbox. Thanks Saraqael!

Muriel brings out the matchbox from behind a folder. A thumb tip is visible, but there is a little shadow added to it, I assume to help cast doubt given how the rest of the scene goes. Muriel seems to be a hidden pocket expert and is making a pocket with their legs, among other things happening in the framing, so that likely contributes too.

At first, Uriel uses the phrase "material object" to describe the matchbox Muriel shows to all of them. Well, I assume it's Uriel. The subtitles technically say "Saraqael", but it sounds more like Uriel to me.

Muriel is holding the matchbox with their index, middle, and ring fingers. The touch is avoiding the palm and the pinky. The thumb is nearby and keeping the thumb tip off the matchbox.

When the matchbox is set down, the thumb is touching a corner, ensuring the thumb tip is not actually touching the matchbox. Meanwhile, the pinky tip is touching the side with the quote from the Book of Job. The subtitles do not inform the audience of the following. In my opinion, the sound that object makes is that of a disguised magical book, possibly a heavy one at that.

Another interesting thing I'm noticing as I type this post is that Muriel avoids having their digits touch their reflections. By this point in the story, Crowley has actually shown his index finger touch its reflection on his phone and a thumb tip touching its reflection during The Perfect Entrance Trick.

Still, the sound effect is part of why I think the Book of Life is in that matchbox. I also suspect Muriel's methodical touch is why that sound is heard with Muriel's touch but not what will happen with Michael's various touches.

Someone or something turns that matchbox around without us seeing it because the Job quote side was facing away from Michael when Muriel set the matchbox down. It is facing toward Michael when Michael touches it.

Michael touches the matchbox at the top with their index finger. The object does not react.

Michael nervously uses both index fingers, so that the left one holds the object from the top and the right shoves the inner box to Michael's left. Michael's thumb tip is actually visible and even touched by Michael's hand at one point within a pocket formed between the matchbox and Michael's hands. That's still not enough. The object does not react.

Michael nervously does another touch looking similar in reverse but not quite the same. The right index finger holds the matchbox from the top as the left index finger pushes the inner box to Michael's right. The pocket formed between hands and matchbox have the left thumb tip notably away from the touch and the right thumb generally hidden with maybe a right thumb joint visible. The object does not react.

With another last nervous effort, both index fingers work together to shove the inner box back into the outer box. The thumb is shown to be clearly aligned off the matchbox and by the bottom of the index finger in a cut. In the next cut, the right thumb might be visually over the matchbox, but it is understood to be not touching the matchbox because of its previously shown position. The object does not react.

As the whole affair concludes, we at last hear Uriel say, "That's definitely an earthly object." That is our key phrase, merely missing its plural form. The name of the game we've been watching at play in this story is Earthly Objects. All of that touching was a clue that Earthly Objects is a game based on touching. The matchbox was touched properly to remain an "earthly object" and theoretically not touched properly for Door Mode to fully activate and reveal whatever supernatural object it is actually hiding.

The scene in Heaven ends shortly thereafter with Uriel remarking they think "he" went to Earth. One would guess Uriel means Gabriel, but it is Crowley shown on Earth in the next cut.

That transition allows this Muriel scene to act as a front bookend to another Crowley scene. In fact, the next Crowley will scene will have the next touch of The Sunglasses Trick, so it is yet another bookend connection to the Threshold Tricks overall.

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That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

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Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

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Past version of this post:

Post #10 (angry lightning)

#crowley #good omens 2 #good omens #good omens s2 #david tennant #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #crowley sideburns #crowley s2 hair project #muriel #maggie #nina #michael #uriel #gabriel #aziraphale

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