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twdmusicboxmystery · 3 years

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The Orange Backpack Symbol

So, we’ve been batting around the symbol of the orange backpack for a LONG time. We first saw it on a hitch hiker in 3x10, Clear, when Rick and Michonne went and found Morgan. We’ve seen it and things like it many times since. We still aren’t entirely sure what it means, but these are some ideas we’re batting around.

(Not my edit but just thought it was funny. It shows the fandom picks up on these symbols, even if they often don’t know what to do with them. 😊) I’ll give you my fellow theorist’s observations, first. They are excellent and most likely correct, even if we can’t say for sure, yet. Then I’ll chime in with a few of my own.

@frangipanilove:

I’m still uncertain about the Orange backpack symbolism versus regular backpacks. It sort of depends on the Dutch angles from Coda. If the term “Dutch angles” was something that came from TPTB, then I can make a strong case about Orange being tied to Beth. If it didn’t come from the horse’s mouth then it’s a much weaker connection. It could still be a thing, but it’s just not a case I can argue very convincingly.

@twdmusicboxmystery: For the record, though we haven’t heard tptb specifically mention “dutch angles” in any particular interview that we know of, I do believe we can safely say this came from them. It was talked about in the fandom a LOT and I believe the writers themselves leaked the first idea for it. It’s also part of the “on screen notes” in the Amazon digital version of the episode. Amazon has no involvement in the show other than carrying it and wouldn’t know what to put in the on-screen notes. Which means they come from the production itself. So I DO believe the “dutch angles” idea can be seen as something confirmed by the writers. Back to @frangipanilove:

@frangipanilove: But either way, I believe the “back” in backpack is a reference to “come back” or “return”, “resurrection”, Sirius symbolism. Same with “back pocket”, as well as the torsos we’ve seen sometimes. My reasoning behind that is from season 3 when Merle returned to the show, and Michonne wrote a “biter gram” where she used a walker’s back to symbolize “go back” to Merle.

The original Orange backpack in 3x10, Clear, can be tied to return symbolism in many ways. They initially ignored the guy, then later saw him dead. They passed him, but returned to grab the backpack.

And we’ve seen the backpack numerous times since, and it’s easy to tie it to reunions and returns to one’s family etc. We saw it in Michonne’s trippy vision with Virgil as well. Basically, it’s more return symbolism, because she’s going after Rick. She’ll find him, but even if she doesn’t, the return symbolism has already happened in that she found his boots and the iPhone (apple symbol) with the etching. That’s return symbolism.

(To her, Rick is dead, but these told her he might still be alive, so he’s just been resurrected in her mind.)

So, I view the backpack symbolism as return symbolism, and then the question is if Orange is a symbol that adds something different to the symbolism, or if it just enhances the return symbolism.

@wdway:

It's funny that we're having a discussion about the brownish orange or rust color backpack because I wanted us to discuss it, haha. I've been thinking of it quite a bit in the last few weeks and I agree with you to a certain point, @Frangi, about it possibly being a reunions symbol.

I guess the difference for me is that I believe it also represents a journey. Some journeys are shorter than others, but a journey that reunites you to a person you have not seen for a long time, or even possibly thought were dead. In my head, that's for the rusty orange color.

In the Clear episode, team Rick passes the guy with the backpack, they journey to his hometown where he reunited with Morgan, someone who he was not expecting to see and may even believed was dead. The difference is, he picks up the backpack on his return home.

With Glenn, his rusty orange backpack journey was longer, but he ultimately reunited with Maggie who he hoped was alive but was not certain.

Daryl wore the rusty colored backpack when he, Rosita, and Denise took a short journey to a nearby community. On their way back home, they encounter Dwight. It was a reunion, but not a good one. And although Dwight was alive, the last Daryl had seen him, I'm sure Daryl hoped Dwight was dead.

It occurred to me while I was doing my research about the red rag that Daryl is wearing a rusty orange with brown legging on his right leg when he is on a journey to find/reunite the body of Rick. I need to go back and check but at the D.C. capital, there was a banner of an eye that we believe to be Emily's/Beth's. I believe that banner was a rusty orange, which would mean that there would be a reunion with someone that would require a journey to be reunited with someone believed to be dead.

I believe a regular or bright orange could possibly also be a journey color, but not necessarily a reunion with someone the person believed to be dead. Virgil had a bright or regular orange backpack when he found Connie. And yes, Connie was believed to possibly be dead but we are not led to believe that Virgil knew Connie, so the reunions part of it does not apply. Only the journey he had taken from his Island.

I do not know if tptb actually mentioned Dutch angles but I have seen several interviews of movie directors over the years that have used Dutch angle and have commented that it is something taught in film school that could represent something being somewhat out of tilt, something that is not quite right. I do want to mention that in the episode Stalker that has Daryl and Alpha in the garage there was Dutch angles around Alpha which ties it to the episode, Coda.

I think there were better images of the eye in the promo pictures for that season. The second shot is in the entry hall where they showed all of the different exhibits, banners in different colors, etc. What I want to point out is that chevron at the bottom. The banner looks like it reads, “Natural History,” and maybe the word “Living.”

@frangipanilove:

Regarding the Orange cover on Daryl’s leg, I interpret it as boot symbolism (it covers his leg = boot = trunk), which is synonymous with trunk symbolism IMO. That’s also what we see after Michonne has had her hallucination, including the orange backpack; she finds Rick’s boots in the boat. Boots = trunk and boat = vessel = vehicle.

So, I interpret in a way that ultimately points to the story of survival by way of trunk (three/tree/trunk symbolism). In Michonne’s case, it points towards Rick’s survival story, but because of the blue heron painting (among other things) we know that Rick’s story and Beth’s story are two versions of the same story.

So, when I interpret the symbolism around Michonne in that episode as pointing towards a reunion with Rick (or return to Rick), it means I also interpret the same symbolism as pointing towards Beth’s survival.

The banner in the museum in 9x1 IMO is eye = Sirius symbolism. This is because of Sirius as the “heavenly dog with a star in its eye” from the Robert Frost poem, and therefore also a reference to the one-eyed dog from Alone, among other things.

And in 9x1, the eye banner is orange, and Daryl’s leg wrap is orange. Which ties orange symbolism, eye symbolism and boot (Daryl’s leg) symbolism into Sirius symbolism. The orange backpack = return/resurrection. Daryl’s leg wrapping = boot = trunk = return/resurrection. The orange eye banner = Sirius = return/resurrection.

Also, I don’t think they will ever comment on whose eye it is on the banner, but you cannot convince me that it’s not Emily’s eye unless they specifically deny it.

This is a very short explanation of the symbolism pathway that leads me to think back = return. It’s a way to explain it that fits into my system. But basically, I believe what you say about a journey is just a different aspect of it. They’re slightly different ways of ending up at more or less the same spot. But in order to have a return, there kind of has to be a journey involved, otherwise it’s not much of a return, right?

Actually, I don’t know where you guys stand on this now, but I remember when the Michonne episode aired, @twdmusicboxmystery interpreted the apple symbolism as “separation.” I interpreted it as kind of the opposite: apples as a symbol of “bringing your family back, as Virgil said after poisoning Michonne. She said it took her family away from her, but I believe tptb use the apple symbolism as pointing towards reunion/return/resurrection.

My point is, we’re both right because they are two sides to the same story. There can’t be reunion unless there has been some sort of separation first. So, it could seem like I interpret the apple symbolism opposite to what @twdmusicboxmystery said after the episode, but I actually don’t think about it that way. I think we’re both picking up on what’s important about the apple symbolism, and then we use slightly different word to describe it.

I focus on the return/resurrection part, but in order to have that, there has to be some kind of separation or journey preceding it. You can’t reunite with someone you haven’t been separated from, and most likely, there’s a journey involved. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make much sense, right?

We first saw the eye banner when spoiler pictures from filming 9x1 emerged. They made no attempt to prevent the spoiler pics from coming out, they actually made quite the spectacle of it instead. I actually find that very interesting, because if it really is Emily’s eye, which I’m fully convinced it is, then it was a very loud announcement to TD about Beth, the eye/Sirius symbolism and also the orange symbolism.

We first saw Daryl’s leg wrapping in Stradivarius, right? We see the orange leg wrapping (IMO a boot/trunk reference) in Stradivarius, which is kind of the first we see of Daryl after the time skip, if you don’t count the small clip from the opening minutes of 9x6, which is an interesting clip. But you actually don’t see the orange leg wrapping there.

Which, if you don’t count the clip from 9x6 is kind of the first chronological appearance by Daryl after FM. You see him transitioning into the orange leg wrapping in FM, but chronologically that’s set in the time between 9x5 and 9x7. I love the little clip from 9x6, so packed with symbolism. But I do find it interesting that it doesn’t show the orange leg wrapping. It’s like they went out of their way to NOT show it. No idea if that’s significant or not, but certainly interesting.

@wdway:

You're right Frangi at the core we pretty much all believe the same thing. I agree totally with the eye banner being symbolism of Sirius the one-eyed dog but I also was very excited about seeing the Chevron symbol at the end of the entry hall banners, all in colors that can be tied to Beth. To me it speaks that there will be some type of military tie between the Sirius symbol (Beth) and the Chevron symbol (Commonwealth/CRM)

@frangipanilove: Yeah, agree on the chevron. They really like to pile on the symbols, don’t they. It’s symbolism on top of symbolism.

@wdway: We did actually see a quick glimpse of Daryl's orange legging in Who Are You Now, immediately following the reveal of the X on Michonne's back.

@frangipanilove: That’s awesome. Because that means that when we see it in Find Me, it’s the first time in the chronology he wears it. Assuming he had the orange leg cover during the entirety of 9x6, it means the very first time we see Daryl wearing it is when he’s standing waist-deep in the water spear fishing. Obviously, we don’t see it, but I’m going to assume we’re meant to believe he’s wearing it in the water while spear fishing.

Spear fishing is something we saw with both Leah and Carol in FM. He threw a fish at the front door with the X. In 9x6 we saw him catch a fish on the spear, then immediately a walker emerges from the water. All very strong symbols. Michonne has a very poignant voiceover, lots of symbolism there as well. He sees a walker representing himself grown into the tree trunks (three I believe). It reaches out for him, or something. Then the blue bird comes, grabs the ear worm, we see the nest, the bird babies. More poignant monologue from Michonne, tiny beacons of light etc.

@twdmusicboxmystery

What actually kicked off this conversation not long after Fear, 6x12, In Dreams aired, was that I noticed in Grace’s dream, when she met her daughter Athena, Athena was wearing an orange backpack. Not THE orange backpack, but another one.

I don’t have tons to add except to say that I totally agree with these two ladies. Another, slightly different (though not really) way you could look at it is that backpack always appears before someone dies, but there’s always a return as on the horizon as well.

In Clear, as @wdway mentioned, Morgan qualifies as a resurrection and return, but the hitchhiker carrying the backpack also died. In this case, Morgan also disappeared again, not to reappear until 5x01. So it was also the beginning of another separation between Rick and Morgan.

I seem to remember Carl having the backpack in 3x16, just before TF finally kicked the Governor’s butt. I’ve often wondered if it was a death omen for Carl. And it may have been, given that this is the episode where Gimple took over and probably planned Carl’s arc. But that wouldn’t come for a long time.

It’s more likely that it meant other things. Many of the Gov’s people actually did die, but that also kicked off the Gov’s arc where he disappeared and didn’t return until 4x08 when he bulldozed the prison. And there were HEAVY Beth parallels during those two episodes (4x06-07) about him. There were also smaller returns here, such as Karen returning to Tyreese at Woodbury, and them finding Andrea. Though she, too, actually died.

Michonne’s vision with Virgil has been covered pretty well here. Clearly it’s leading toward her finding Rick (reunion) but also kicks off her separation from her kids, Daryl and the rest of TF. We didn’t see obvious death around her, but I’m sure there will be some in her coming arc. The fact that she keeps ending up with Negan’s bat in her hands is proof enough of that.

I’m sure you can also see how the orange backpack ties into the left/right/back pocket symbolism as well.

So yeah. I think you get the idea. It’s a fascinating symbol, isn’t it? And one we’ll definitely keep an eye on moving forward. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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keeptheotherone · 3 years

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Mecation: Day 1

Thursday

I once read social media described as an indulgence of the fantasy that others are interested in the details of our lives. I’m indulging in that fantasy this week by blogging about my Mecation under the guise of travel blogging ;)

If you follow me in even the most casual way, you know I’m a nurse. While I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of my 23 years as such, I don’t recommend it during a pandemic. The last 18 months have been the second-worst mental health period of my life, demoted to that position not because of the mildness of my symptoms but simply because at 15 I didn’t have the experience or perspective to realize my life was not, in fact, ruined forever.

COVID increased my personal vulnerability as a high-risk patient and made my job immensely more difficult in countless ways both small and large, but the worst part of the pandemic for me (so far) is it took away all my coping mechanisms precisely when I needed them most. Massage, pedicures, dinner out with friends, travel ... all gone practically overnight. Pre-COVID I travelled all the time--home to my parents’, long weekends by myself (Mecation!), annual visits to BFFs, conferences, tourism, the beach, my birthday, writing trips, international trips ... I always had at least one trip in the works, usually one booked and one (or more!) in the planning stages.

When COVID started, all my close friends and family except for two lived out of state. One of those two was out of town but close enough to get together, but the other was a few hours’ drive away. I’m single and live alone; it was the most isolated I’ve ever been in my whole life.

With my bestest friends over 500 miles away, I still feel that way sometimes. I haven’t seen them in a year. If it weren’t for COVID, it would only be 7 or 8 months (I’ve gone every January or February since ... forever). Then again, if it weren’t for COVID, I wouldn’t have been there last September; one had been hospitalized and I needed to see she was all right with my own two eyeballs. I expect it will be at least another 7 or 8 months before we get together again, bringing the total to about 20 months. One year we saw each other 5 times in 9 months, our personal best since college.

I was alone on Christmas. Oh, I’ve spent December 25th on my own before; I’m a nurse. I’ve worked the night of the 24th or the 25th (or both), or whatever combination that didn’t leave enough time off to drive home. But I’ve never spent the Christmas season without my parents. Sometimes the week before, sometimes the week after, sometimes at my place instead of home, but always together. But last Christmas COVID was raging, the vaccines had just come out but were only available to first responders (I got mine on the 23rd), and my elderly parents didn’t feel safe to travel. So I spent Christmas without family.

Travel was not just a break from my daily routine and the stress of nursing; in many ways, the biggest benefit travel made to my mental and emotional health was giving me something to look forward to. Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” and ohhh, I was so heartsick last year! Not being able to travel meant I couldn’t visit my best friends of almost 25 years (more than half my life!). Not being able to travel meant I couldn’t lean on my dad or be hugged by my mom. Not being able to travel--and not knowing when I could travel--left this gaping hole in my future, and I had nothing to fill it with.

I tell you this not to throw a pity party but to explain the significance of the trip I’m on right now. It is only my third this year: my dad and I spent a week in the mountains in February (my depression and anxiety was so bad then that was treatment, not vacation), I took a friend to the beach over my birthday, and now I’m a couple hours from home at a nice spa hotel. (I’m not counting my nephew’s graduation, which was emotionally challenging for multiple reasons, or helping a friend move from Florida. Moving is never fun.)

I started planning this trip in the spring ... May, maybe? You know, after the vaccine rolled out to everyone and case counts were dropping and it looked like we were gonna lick this thing and have a quasi-normal summer by the Fourth of July (yes, I’m American. That date is a proper noun here.). I had switched jobs in November (don’t ask) and gone on mental health leave December 29th, so I felt I owed it to my unit to put in about six months of work before taking any significant time off, especially since I came back at 24 hours instead of 36. That meant September.

I knew what I wanted to do: 4 or 5 days at an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. I’d been before and loved the freedom of not worrying about every little expenditure (what can I say, I’m cheap), and a few days of Vitamin Sea sounded perfect.

Then came Delta.

All right, maybe going out of the country isn’t the best idea, I thought. Don’t want to end up with expensive reservations and then your destination closes to Americans, or you make it to your chosen island but can’t get back home. But I didn’t want to fly (ugh, airports!), I didn’t want to drive (rest stops and restaurants and gas stations), and while I thought about taking the train, it didn’t seem much of an improvement (and maybe a downgrade) on flying.

Then a friend mentioned a sleeper car, and I thought yes! That could work! I’ve never been to New England, I want to go to Boston, that area of the country has low case rates and the highest vaccination rates, this has potential!

Then I looked at the CDC map. There were only four states that didn’t have high transmission at that time (early August, I think; I’d had to wait for confirmation that my time off had been approved): Michigan, Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire. All four had substantial rates of transmission. Hardly ideal, but one thing I’ve learned this year is sometimes you have to make compromises to protect your mental health. It is true it doesn’t matter if you’re happy if you’re dead; it is also true it doesn’t matter if you’re safe if you want to kill yourself. (I’m not suicidal, I am receiving treatment, don’t anybody panic.)

So, now I’ve settled on Maine or New Hampshire by train via sleeper car (Michigan is too far for a 4-5 day trip and RI--meh). Well, as I got deeper into planning, turned out Maine or NH were awfully far too. Far enough I would have to overnight in a major city, which pretty much defeated the purpose of isolating in a sleeper car. Then I found out there were no sleeper cars on either train route.

So, now vacation is 5 weeks away and I’m back at square one. The Deep South, Texas, and Florida are imploding. Pediatric cases are rising--kids are sicker and make up a higher percentage of cases than they did last year. Scuttlebutt from my ICU colleagues is it’s bad--17/30 MICU beds are COVID and they’re all vented. SICU is being nicknamed “the ECMO unit.” The hospital has 18(!) ECMO machines and 12 are in use; the float nurse who tells us that didn’t even know we had 12 because she’s never seen that many in use at one time. Hospital-wide our numbers are equivalent to early February (we peaked in January). There were six--SIX--pediatric rapid responses in one day.

And I’m going to travel.

It’s a big deal ... a big accomplishment, really, because of what it says about how I’m successfully managing my anxiety. April 1 was the first time I’d been inside a grocery store in more than a year ... and that wasn’t my idea. It was late April or May before I was comfortable eating in restaurants, even with the falling case count at the time. I’m still not sure if I’m managing my anxiety or reacting to the pressure by going to the opposite extreme (I have a history of that), but I know I’m less stressed, less anxious, have fewer obsessive thoughts, fewer physical symptoms, and am learning to live with this disease.

So, here I sit at a marble-topped 5-foot-wide desk in my queen/queen hotel room at the end of a productive and enjoyable day. I slept in, completed the big goal of this weekend’s to-do list that I honestly thought would take several days, unpacked and organized my room (I arrived yesterday evening), reorganized my Favorites Bar and Bookmarks on my Mac, had an 80-minute aromatherapy massage, enjoyed a shower in the spa afterwards and even blow-dried my hair(!) before wandering around for a while to get the lay of the land and get some steps in (this place is huge!). Then I changed clothes and took myself out to dinner for my favorite food, Italian.

That’s me in the picture up top, all dressed up :) Actually, I probably look pretty normal to y’all; like most people with depression, my personal hygiene sunk to new lows in the last year and a half, and as a low-maintenance person to begin with, that’s saying a lot. I bought that necklace as a bridesmaid and am not sure I’ve worn it since; this spring was her 10th anniversary. Yesterday I took out the cat-shaped earrings Dad gave me for Christmas. (Yes, they were gross. Yes, I cleaned them. Yes, I’m wearing them again now.) Just wearing a nice top, fixing my hair (no ponytail or claw-clip bun, my staples), and adding jewelry was a big deal ... especially since “no one” was going to see me. I did it just for me, to make myself feel good. And I did. (That’s another small pleasure COVID took away from me--lip gloss. If I wore any makeup at all, it was lipstick or gloss. Utterly pointless when you’re masked whenever you’re in public.)

I took my laptop to dinner and edited a couple chapters of my new Charlie/Amy fic (previewed during #ktoo turns 10), ran a couple errands, and headed back to the hotel since I don’t like to be out late by myself in an unfamiliar city. Forgot I put my receipt envelope in the backseat pocket and reorganized the glove compartment looking for it, then gathered a bunch of returns into a bag in the trunk. Hung out writing in the lobby until my Mac threatened to die, came upstairs and tidied up, put on my jammies, and talked to you guys :)

#ktoo travels #covid coping #mental health #about ktoo #ktoo nurses #herself

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ohdaim · 3 years

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april fool's day oneshot

hi guys, i wrote this today in one sitting, and it's lazily edited:) i'm recovering from an oral surgery and on strong medication, so i hope this makes as much sense as i think it does.

Ship: Ignis Scientia/female reader Summary: You are a Citadel valet working the night shift, frequently attending to Ignis' car. You have no idea how to talk to him. He has no idea how to ask for your number. Words: 1849 idk if this is considered fluff or just mutual pining but with like,, idiots

Stir together bread crumbs, garlic, parsley…

You scanned the rest of the newest recipe on your favorite cooking blog, Feeding The Fussy. As always, it looked delicious. As always, you rated it five stars and typed out a comment.

I followed the recipe exactly, but I left out the bread crumbs and cheese. I used shrimp and bacon grease instead. Terrible recipe. Won’t make again.

Putting your phone away, you came to attention when someone stepped out of a Citadel elevator across the lobby. You worked night shift as a palace valet and hardly saw anyone but for a few regular night owls. One of them approached now, and gods, you were nervous all of a sudden.

Ignis was your favorite regular. He was polite, tipped well, and made small talk so you wouldn't have to. You didn’t know what he did in the Citadel or why he so often left at four in the morning. You just knew you had a big crush on him and, for that reason, could never carry a full conversation without getting sweaty palms.

“Good morning.” He greeted you first. “Quiet night?”

You nodded, entering the info you needed to check his vehicle out of the system. You wanted to say something, anything. Nerves got the best of you, and you excused yourself into the back room to get his car keys. On your way out, you held them up. “I’ll have your car here momentarily.”

Ignis didn’t respond. He wasn’t even looking at you. His attention was on his phone, a corner of his mouth curled upward.

You paused, taking in the smirk with shy curiosity. That was a new look. What was he smirking at? When he seemed to remember himself, he schooled the look and met your eyes. Startling, you repeated yourself quietly and went through the doors leading to the parking garage.

Ignis’ car consistently smelled like coffee wrapped in leather. Your phone vibrated in your pocket as you buckled in. Because you wanted to linger in the nice scent--was this extremely weird? Yes, of course--you checked to see what the buzzing was about.

An email. You’d gotten a reply from the Feeding The Fussy chef. They’d liked your comments in the past but hadn’t addressed your obvious jokes. You stared at the subject line for a beat, then opened the message.

Thank you for the review. Almost as insightful as last week’s eight hundred word description of your current diet and how my recipes conflict. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve this one?

Your nervousness grew so heavy, it burst in bright red over your face, a flame in your chest. The chef was talking to you. You’d chalked it up to luck that they understood your sense of humor and the intent of your comments. Never had you thought they’d give more than a like. You typed a response before getting back to work.

Pro tip: Using a microwave is faster than the oven. Also, I’ve begun a new diet (details to follow), so is there any way to make this recipe without the ingredients?

Ignis’ car was fancy but less so than most others in the garage. You always felt a pinch of regret when pulling it up to the lobby entrance. Driving a car like his just to see how fast it could go, it wasn’t something you’d ever get to do. You didn’t own one yourself, and truthfully, you'd only gotten a driving license to be qualified for this job. Getting out, you waved at Ignis and extended an arm toward the open driver’s seat.

Tip passing from his hand to your own, you bowed and tucked the money into a pocket. He thanked you, getting into his car. You waited for him to drive away, likely the last person you’d see this shift.

“Ah, pardon me,” Ignis startled you by climbing back out, the car door hanging open. He held something out to you. “I believe you dropped this.”

You looked at your phone in his hand, your eyes wide, nervousness becoming embarrassment. Quickly grabbing it, you bowed again. “Sorry.”

Ignis chuckled. “It’s quite alright. Good thing I noticed when I did.”

Nodding emphatically, you wished he’d just go before you humiliated yourself further.

Clearly not reading your mind, he lingered a moment longer. “In truth, I--”

“Have a good day, sir.” You didn’t mean to interrupt him and hadn’t expected him to say more.

He cleared his throat and smiled. “Same to you.” Thanking you again, by name this time, he left.

Back in the quiet lobby, you put his tip with the rest you’d made that night. You sat behind the desk and buried your face in your hands. The sting of feeling stupid in front of Ignis was abated by the underlying excitement that came from talking to the chef you admired.

They specialized in meals for picky eaters, which you were. They used clear directions, so they could be followed by an amateur chef, which you really were. They sometimes added personal anecdotes spiced with sarcasm and dry jokes to the recipe’s background, which made you feel safe to comment. You refrained from checking your inbox, content to wait until you were home to see if they’d replied yet.

Two attendants arrived for the day shift, and as you hitched the strap of your bag over a shoulder, readying to leave, one of them told you to wait.

“You should pick up a new nametag before your next shift.”

Glancing down at your uniform, you remembered you’d lost yours several days ago. “Oh, right. I will.”

You stepped into an elevator, pressing the button for the metro station level. New nametag. Dumb. You had your work badge but still required a tag. How else would the Citadel inhabitants know who to thank for fetching their expensive cars? You rolled your eyes at the thought, already annoyed. You’d have to come to work early to pick it up. Was it too soon to quit and attend culinary school? You needed to make a bit more money first. Ignis tipped large bills, but still, it’d take years of picking his car up every morning before you could afford tuition.

Grinning to yourself, you weaved through the incoming morning crowds and boarded a train home. It had felt nice, hearing Ignis say your name on his way out. He was the only person who ever addressed you, so maybe getting a new tag was worth it for that alone. Ignis was just-- He truly-- You really liked when he came down, that was all.

It didn’t strike you for another several hours, as you filled out the online request for a new Citadel employee nametag, that Ignis must’ve remembered your name. You supposed a great memory was probably just another part of his polite demeanor. That’s what you told yourself, at least, to keep your crush from growing. You didn’t even know the man.

You attempted the chef’s latest recipe, and as it cooled, you--very casually and not nervously at all--checked to see if they’d replied.

I’ll keep that tip in mind. As for your question, I recommend the following replacement recipe: brew a cup of coffee or tea, sit somewhere comfortable, and enjoy the beverage knowing your comments haunt me whenever I cook.

You read and reread the message, then laughed into a hand. Worth the wait. You ate a bite directly from the dish on your counter, huffing through the fresh heat with mild regret. They deserved a genuine review after such honesty, but it seemed you were doing little more than burning the roof of your mouth. So you took a picture of the food, offering a thumbs up with one hand in frame, and sent it as a reply.

The next night you worked, Ignis arrived much earlier than expected--before midnight, no less. He was coming in rather than going out. Another man was with him, someone blonde and unfamiliar. Ignis opened the back to retrieve something, turning you down when you offered to get it for him. The blonde man, his smile sincere but awkward, complimented your shoes.

“Thanks.” You didn’t really know what to say. People chatting with you was uncommon.

“They match your uniform’s tie… thing.” The blonde man was red in the face. Someone needed to tell him he didn’t have to make small talk. You were just a valet. He persisted, his smile broad. “It’s nice, y’know. You’re, like, coordinated and stuff.”

“Prompto.” Ignis closed the back and proffered a piece of luggage toward the other man. “Leave her be.” When the man took the bag from him, Ignis gave you the car keys. “I apologize for my friend. He can’t contain himself around beautiful women. Add inebriation, and he’s a lost cause.”

You gripped the keys tightly, taking in everything with a slow nod. Yes, of course, right. All of that made sense. Ignis was bringing a drunk friend into the palace. Normal Ignis stuff.

“Do you think Cor’s gonna be mad at me?” the blonde asked Ignis, walking backwards from the car toward the lobby doors. “Iggy, what if Cor gets mad at me?”

Ignis rolled his eyes, a hand checking his inner jacket. “A tad late to worry about that. Go directly to the barracks and try to sleep it off.”

“Where are the barracks again?”

Ignis’ chest broadened with a sigh, and he left the guy hanging. Withdrawing a money clip, he held it out to you. “For your trouble.”

You hesitated taking it. The outer bill appeared to be 1,000 yen, and it was several notes thick… More than the usual tip. You took it slowly, fingertips brushing his leather covered palm, and murmured a quiet thanks.

Ignis remained, his hand lifting to brush loose strands of hair out of his face. He wasn’t as put together as you were used to. Your eyes trailed downward, now noticing the unbuttoned collar of his shirt. Huh.

He cleared his throat and began, “There’s something I--”

“C’mon, Iggy!” The blonde man held one of the entrance doors wide open. “If I knew Cor was gonna be mad anyway, I would’ve stayed at Noct’s.”

Ignis gave you a hasty farewell, already walking away to push the blonde man through the door. They disappeared inside, leaving an awkward wake of silence. You settled into Ignis’ coffee-and-leather scented car, a realization hitting you late, as they tended to do. Had Ignis implied you were beautiful? You didn’t entertain the thought for long. Ignis was a professional, royal something-or-other. He would never. You were reading too much into it. Surely.

On the walk from Ignis’ parking spot back to the lobby, you checked for the latest message from the chef. You’d boldly given them your number in a DM when the comment thread became unbearably long. You hadn’t held out hope of receiving a message and read their initial text at least ten times in disbelief before responding and saving the number.

Was this a new friendship? You hoped so.

#ignis scientia/reader #ignis scientia #ffxv fanfiction #daim writes #lmao do recipe sites even have direct messaging idk #this thing doesn't have a title #it was supposed to be about a prank but i am in fact the fool #anyway i love you guys please take this #i'm going to rest now aaaaaaaaaaaa

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bywordofaphrodite · 3 years

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Book Reviews 1 & 2: The Enchanted Wood and Adventures of the Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton

This review’s theme is magical children’s fiction ! Audience age range: early childhood !

Fun fact about me: I have fairy tales running through my head most hours of the day.

Magical lands and whimsical characters run freely through my mind any minute I have to spare, or even the ones I don’t. It has always been this way for me, whether in school, university or at work- when I am meant to be working on assignments or attending to patients in the hospital I work at- and Enid Blyton’s stories played a part in this, so it seems fitting I discuss her writing for my first post.

When faced with choosing a project for myself this semester, it was actually the memory of Enid Blyton’s novels that prompted me to decide to write book reviews of childhood favourites. I’d forgotten her name at first, and all that remained was an illustration of blue jelly and a boy with silver hair… and the name of the artist who illustrated my copies of the series: Georgina Hargreaves. One google search was all it took to remember it all! Then I ordered all three Magic Faraway Tree books and the Wishing Chair ones in the exact editions I had as a child, because I have no impulse control whatsoever.

Nostalgic review

Rating: ★★★★★

For my nostalgic review- otherwise known as my thoughts on these novels purely as I remember them from childhood- I’m giving five stars. They meant everything to me as a kid, and I reread them more than any other books I owned. I would choose a chapter before bed and travel into the magic lands at the top of the tree along with the main characters, exploring whatever good, evil or downright silliness happened to be up there at the time (and then stay there for a good few hours past my bedtime using the light under my door to squint at the pages and destroy my already dreadful vision just a little more for good measure. Sleep schedule who?)

I easily favoured the Magic Faraway Tree books over the Wishing Chair ones, though I loved them both dearly. I’m going to assume the reason behind this was because I preferred the tree to the chair, as- aside from Jo- I don’t recall ever having an affinity for any particular child amongst the main characters. I do also remember a great deal more of the goings on in the lands above the tree than I can the adventures in the chair, so it seems fair to say I read one a lot more than the other.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, these books cemented who I wanted to be when I grew up: a writer- a published author, to be specific- and an artist. Not just these two series, but anything Blyton wrote- her teen detective and boarding school series being notable favourites of mine. As detrimental as this dream has been to my family’s wish for me to become a lawyer, I must insist that everyone blame Enid Blyton for this and not me!

The Enchanted Wood Review

Post-read: ★★★

Synopsis: three children move from the city to a small country house with a forest out the back which they later come to know as the Enchanted Wood. There they come across a giant magical tree known as the Faraway Tree, where they befriend the many magical creatures living inside the tree, and explore the lands that settle above the tree every day.

Okay so! First up, I finished it so quickly. I’ve always been a very fast reader but even so I expected it would take several hours to read… it took roughly an hour despite minor interruptions by my siblings, so it’s very simplistic and easy to read. However… this level of simplistic is not, in this case, a good thing, at least in my opinion. I’ll elaborate on this further toward the end of this post, but the best word I can think of to describe the writing is ‘stunted’.

I read a few articles to see others’ thoughts on the novels, and one review stood out as being critical in multiple ways, some of which I agree and some I don’t really care about. I’ll link it here.

This review reflected a lot of the same points I considered upon rereading the books. Charming points: google buns and the Land of Birthdays; weak points: repetitive and a bit too holier than thou in the attempt to teach ‘lessons’. In terms of Flood’s (the review author) criticism, the renaming of the children from Jo, Bessie and Fanny to Joe, Beth and Frannie in new copies does not really bother me, although my own editions have the original names (the change of the children’s cousin from Dick to Rick was a wise choice, though Rick is an ugly name as well, but I digress). As with many modern changes to old novels, older generations criticise ‘politically correct’ motives, and Flood does exactly so here- miffed at the decision to rename one of the recurring Faraway Tree villains from ‘Dame Slap’ to ‘Dame Snap’. Flood likens the character’s previous habit of slapping naughty children to the witch in Hansel and Gretel locking children in cages, (I would think the cannibal element of this tale would reinforce the comparison more but maybe that’s just me???) asking why, if that fairy-tale hasn’t been changed, should Dame Slap have to adhere to modern discipline? Personally I’m mostly unconcerned with this either way, though Flood makes an interesting point. The woman is a villain either way, so a little clip over the ears is likely to properly drive the point home in my opinion, anyway.

And before I move on from this review, Flood’s hot take on the Saucepan Man is 100% on the ball- why was a grown, non-magical man walking around strung up with pots and pans all over himself and hanging out with a group of children? To be sure, he was not in his right mind, so I’ll shift the question to the parents here, who were fully aware that their children were spending time in the woods with this man. Very odd business indeed.

Characters who aged well: Most of the main characters remained likable to me. Jo was always my favourite as a kid, and he remains so- his impatience provides some comedic quotes and he never leaves his younger sisters behind on adventures, unlike many male characters in Blyton’s novels (I am looking DIRECTLY at you, Famous Five boys). He also doesn’t belittle his sisters at any point, even when they’re frightened, which is another thing that irked me about many of Blyton’s male characters. Using only the first book of the series for this review means that it’s possible that Bessie and Fanny are more prominent characters in the other books, but in this one it felt very much centred around Jo than I remembered- they are likable but don’t really do too much aside from Fanny’s banger of a birthday party which I’m rather jealous of. Upon rereading I like Moonface a lot more, but that’s probably because I resented my grandmother calling me ‘Moonface’ (I’m aware I have a round face, I do not need to be reminded of my eternal struggles on the daily). Silky is still a queen in my eyes- pretty, feminine, funny, kind and best of all a fairy. No flaws at all, I love her. In retrospect, Silky is equally my favourite alongside Jo.

Characters who aged badly (to me): as aforementioned… the Saucepan Man. To be fair, I never cared for him in the first place, and the same goes for his best friend Mr. Watzisname because he was downright maddening. Also, Dame Washalot can drown in her own washing. She managed to annoy me more than Dame Slap… at least Dame Slap was entertaining.

Favourite scene/quote: “‘Fishing!’ said Jo, in disgust. ‘Who wants to go fishing in the middle of a birthday party? Let’s get back at once.’”

This quote sounds so mundane but in context I just find his tone very amusing- Jo is always exasperated and impatient so his perpetual annoyance with everyone’s nonsense is relatable and funny. Furthermore, he says this during my favourite scene in the final chapter where they all travel to the Land of Birthdays for Bessie’s birthday. Bessie invites everyone living in the Faraway Tree to her party, which is essentially formed up in the land above the tree. Upon arrival, everyone can go into a small house with fancy dress costumes and choose anything they like, and then choose a table in the middle of a field. The table is set with cutlery and plates, and from there you must ‘wish your own tea’, as Silky says, which fills the table with jellies, lemonade, chocolate blancmange and other party food. Best of all is the birthday cake- also known as wishing cake- which grants a wish to anyone who eats it. Unfortunately, the Saucepan Man’s poor hearing ends up turning ‘wish’ to ‘fish’, and Fanny has to waste her own wish to get them back to the party, hence Jo’s vexation. The ending is very sweet though, with Moonface gifting his wish to Fanny and all of them happily going home. It was a lovely way to end the first book in the series.

Adventures of the Wishing Chair Review

Post-read: ★★

Synopsis: two children discover a magical chair with wings in an antique shop that leads to a host of new adventures and a new pixie friend they rescue along the way.

Like I said earlier, I preferred the Faraway Tree series to the Wishing Chair and that remains the same. The concept of lands coming to the top of a tree- and choosing whether to go up there or not- is more my style, and if the weather is bad you can just stay home, while the chair you just have to go with it. The Faraway Tree itself is also really wonderful, with all the interesting houses and shops inside it, and especially Moonface’s slippery-slip. On the contrary, the main location for the Wishing Chair series is the children’s playing room, and the chair itself is an utter menace. The villains are more irritating in this series- which is their job, I get it- but the children themselves aren’t quite as likable as Jo, Bessie and Fanny either. Mollie and Peter argue plenty and can be very selfish and silly at times, which is realistic, sure, but that doesn’t make them any less meh. The other main character is a pixie called Chinky (yes, I’ll get to this soon) who they rescue from slavery in a giant’s castle, and my opinion on him varies between chapters. There are some really cool places they go to and the illustrations make reading this more enjoyable despite the hasty writing and relatively flat characters.

Characters who aged well: ???? I mean… Mollie and Peter aren’t exactly my favourite children ever but they’re not too bad. My main criticism would have to be that there isn’t really anything defining about their personalities; to a degree I would say they are just a whinier version of Jo, Bessie and Fanny. I don’t think Enid bothered too much about changing base character traits in her stories, to be honest. There are a few characters like Witch Snippit and the Windy Wizard who help Mollie and Peter when troubles arise, but as the adventures always begin with the chair in the children’s playroom there aren’t really many magical recurring characters to properly consider.

Characters who aged badly: the children’s MOTHER. She is beyond irritating in certain chapters- like when she decides to take the wishing chair to her own lounge room simply because she likes it, even though the children themselves bought it and expressed how much they love it. Plenty of parents do this in real life and it is just as annoying in fiction. Secondly, the wishing-chair. Magical chair that grows wings and can fly to magical lands is cool, yes? Sure, except when it has mood swings and randomly decides to fly through storms or simply land in the sea for no reason I can think of. This is a very petty chair… yet I know I would keep it anyway so I can’t complain too much. I’m going to add Chinky here too, and not because he got saddled with a slur for a name- he gets fired up about minor things way too quickly and causes drama for no good reason, though perhaps I should cut him some slack after his time spent in forced servitude. Also, he makes a few sexist comments to Mollie so maybe the giant had a point after all.

Favourite scene/quote: ‘One rabbit turned upside down and danced on its ears, and that made Peter laugh so much that he had to get out his handkerchief to wipe his tears of laughter away.’

Peter being this happy just made me happy. This quote is from my favourite scene, when the children fly with some elves to attend a magician’s party. There is no villain to be seen, and the room is filled with classic Blyton details of top tier food like cream buns and blancmange, and beautiful birds that sing sweetly before flying freely. The magician has dancing cats appear, and ‘six plump rabbits’ that dance while the cats play violin. Finally, the magician gifts everybody a tiny egg he tells them will hatch later. When they arrive home, Peter’s hatches to reveal a tiny silver watch and Mollie gets a necklace of beads that look ‘exactly like bubbles’. This always sounded so pretty to me, and I had a necklace from my mum that looked exactly as Mollie’s was described, so I’ve always remembered this scene very well.

Overall verdict:

I’m torn. I love parts of these books so much, I love the nostalgia surrounding them, and yet I must admit that without a childhood connection it would difficult for a new reader to enjoy, and probably not the first choice in a bed time story to read to children nowadays. I think for me, I like having these books back on my shelf again, and I like knowing I can go back to read my favourite chapters whenever I want, despite the criticisms I have. In a way, I like knowing I am capable of recognising the books’ faults while still appreciating the good parts of them. I do not regret buying these books again- in fact looking at the artwork and reading the words has inspired me to get to work on my own plan to write a book of fairy tales (with the representation I would’ve loved to see alongside the magic as a child, and minus the problematic details).

With this in mind:

- Blyton’s writing skills… are sorely lacking. Her sentences are stunted and sometimes she changes locations so hastily within one small paragraph that if you so much as skim over one sentence you’ll find yourself in another land entirely (haha). I am wholly aware these books are intended for children but I have read other novels for that age group that have been well-written, so my criticism stands.

- I should just rewrite the books myself. I don’t care if this sounds arrogant, I know I could make the stories more compelling with a few tweaks to, say, writing skills, story structure, making better use of the amazing concepts, fleshing out the characters more, etc. (again I’m aware they’re children’s books)

- Enid Blyton herself was not a very nice person, and her own daughter criticised her writing for being emotionally immature and seeing things as ‘black and white’. Anyone who has read her other novels knows that she was very racist- ‘gypsies’ managing to be the villain in most of her teen detective stories, amongst other issues, so Chinky the pixie is not exactly a surprise appearance. It was Chinky, in fact, who first alerted me to racial slurs. As someone with partially Asian heritage at an almost completely white school, it took me asking my (rightfully) concerned father what ‘chink’ meant when some kids started calling me by the word in school… I then connected this to Blyton’s pixie and to this day am morbidly entertained by this unfortunate memory. I’ll link the article here, in case of any further curiosity about Blyton.

In the Faraway Tree series review I linked earlier, the writer said of the books, ‘it’s an odd feeling, finding the classics of your childhood don’t really stack up’. In many ways, I feel the same. Is it all nostalgia, after all? Yes and no. Having such a balanced opinion on an old favourite is likely healthier than clinging to past memories, anyway. With all of these thoughts jumbling through my mind, it’s possible that my rating of these novels changes depending on my mood- and more importantly, which chapters I read. Perhaps the fact that my favourite chapters are all devoid of confrontation is something a therapist would suggest looking into, but you know what? It’s fiction. If I have to get my happy endings in books alone then so be it!

#book review #book rating #enid blyton #the faraway tree #the wishing chair #british books #children’s book #fiction #magic books #university project #nostalgia

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leakinghate · 5 years

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Chasing the Ghosts of Season 8

Let’s skip the flowery intros and get to the point, because this is important.

Lotor’s vindication and reunion with Allura were originally part of VLD s8 and I can prove it. Most animation relating to this plot was excised, while other clips were re-purposed to make it look like he was dead all along: but some are still in there.

The removal of this plot line was one of the major factors in completely messing up season 8, and it was a change that was made very recently; no earlier than August in fact. There is a significant, non-zero chance that an unedited version of Season 8 exists in its entirety; completely finished.

The evidence is below the cut.

Trigger Warnings: Gore - that image and discussion of it, body horror, sexism, and major character death.

There’s something rotten in the house of Voltron, and by that I mean Dreamworks animation, because for reasons yet unknown the season 8 we got was not the one the writers had planned to give us.

The people involved likely can't talk about it due to NDAs, but I follow *most* of the cast and crew on social media, and from the way many of them were talking prior to the drop it’s obvious that whatever they'd recorded had led them to expect a very different season.

The almost total radio silence afterward is also telling.

So far as I can tell, AJ (Lotor’s VA) is the only one actively posting about it, and his posts have been expressing his distress over what happened to Lotor - a stark contrast to his excitement about the season prior to its airing. It’s very apparent that he thought Lotor would have a very different fate than he appears to. At the moment of the season drop he tweeted out “Lotor was framed”, and later didn’t seem to realize that ‘Allura’ was trending because she’d died.

Some of the other VA’s scarce posts lead me to believe that they’re having similar reactions: a now deleted post from Bex (Pidge’s VA) about having watched up to episode 6 consisted of an image of DOTU Lance captioned with “[internal screaming]”. Bex has since removed all references to VLD from her bio.

I’m certain that the VLD s8 we got was NOT the s8 that was originally planned. Or the one the writers and VAs had been alluding to in various interviews up until recently.

We know there were some very last minute changes to season 8. I guarantee you that Ezor was actually dead before the backlash over Adam in August, and you're kidding yourselves if you think that epilogue existed before then either.

Kihyun Ryu's 'last Shiro' tweet - that we now know to be from the wedding epilogue - was posted on September 13th, 2018. Less than two months ago these changes were still in progress. Less than a month before the first trailer premiered at NYCC these changes were still being made.

And those was absolutely not the only things which were changed. It was hinted we should pay attention to the s7 episode "the Feud" to spot some foreshadowing. Well? I've seen both that episode and s8 and I sure as heck can't find it.

This was beyond last minute.

JDS and LM were still talking in ways that would lead us to expect Lotor’s redemption roughly up to s7 in August; so whatever happened, it went down between August and November. Which is probably why s8 is so shitty; with such a terribly compressed timeline to make edits.

And edits they were, because with those time frames season 8 was either completely finished or very near to it when someone decided that things had to change.

I can prove it.

Do you know how?

Because the animation was recycled and altered to fit the new story, with only small parts made new for it. And because it was something else first, it’s still possible to partially reconstruct the original Season 8 from it.

Lets start with the big one, the one I’m sure you’re here to read: Lotor’s redemption and reunion with Allura.

One of the most frustrating things about season 8 is that it leaves the colony unexplained. The big question, the thing that results in Lotor’s murder at the hands of people he calls friends, and leads to a power vacuum that causes the deaths of untold billions of people. What was Lotor doing at the colony?

It’s never addressed or given an answer.

At least in the version of season 8 that we got.

Or is it?

Because they might have removed the conclusion to that plot thread, but they couldn’t get rid of it entirely.

In e8 ‘Clear Day’. Allura's suffers from several nightmares/dream sequences. They don't make any sense in context, and it’s never explained what caused them. Except, they make perfect sense, if you watch them as the first step towards understanding The Colony.

Allura sees herself standing in a Juniberry field on Altea. Her mother greets her and proclaims that Allura has arrived just in time, and that only she can save them, “Only you can protect us.”

A Galra fleet passes over head, raining down laser fire.

Allura suddenly finds herself the pilot of one of the white mechs. She plunges her spear into the ground, draining the quintessence, and then fires on the fleet; obliterating it.

But as she grins in victory she realizes that the quintessence she siphoned from the planet has turned her immediate landscape to ash, including her mother. Allura is horrified, but as her mother crumbles away her voice echoes, telling Allura she is so proud of her.

In case me describing it wasn’t clear enough: what just happened to her was that Allura was literally put in Lotor’s position, operating one of his mechs. The places and the people were those that Allura cherished deeply, so that she could understand how terrible Lotor felt about what he had to do. It literally puts Allura in Lotor's place: having to take the responsibility of destroying parts of something she loves in order to protect the whole.

And her mother? The Altean who was ‘sacrificed’ in this scenario? Praised her for taking the actions she did, because Allura was the only one able to do it. And the only choice was to save most of Altea, or none of it.

When Allura eventually does take the entity into herself we see the lights of Honerva’s mech’s faceplate lighting, then flash to a scene of Lotor in Sincline. He’s laughing, grinning as he did during s6′s finale, and as the camera zooms in on his face he shouts “Follow me!”

Briefly we see Voltron in front of the planets of Earth’s solar system, which is drowned out by a peculiar scene transition: an intense white light that appears to obliterate everything as though in an explosion.

None of these scenes are ever explained, but it’s reasonably comparable to the flash of images that Haggar sees in season 3 when she is first confronted with Zarkon’s memories. We’re left with the impression that we’re about to be enlightened, and the end of the episode reveals that Allura has passed out on the floor unconscious.

In this version of season 8, we never are told what exactly caused Allura to experience those visions. We can guess: was it perhaps the entity tempting her with its dark magic? Honerva attempting to place her under a spell?

But is the entity really dark magic? It’s different from the types of magic we’re used to, and the colors of it are certainly dark, but it in itself never actually causes Allura harm. Any harm she suffers after taking it into herself is caused by Honerva exploiting it.

Could it be a spell by Honerva? Unlikely. It took her almost two whole episodes of the paladins fooling around inside her mind for her to notice they were even there. If Allura had never taken the entity none of Honerva’s plans would have ever been found out. Yes, she did steal all the energy from the Atlas’ crystal, but she did that primarily to combat the Atlas and disable it. She didn’t need to get it from there, the energy her Komars were able to provide was all she needed.

So what caused those visions?

Lotor did.

Once he was free of the rift he was able to connect with Allura somehow and reach out to her. That was really him. Where he is now, trapped under Haggar’s control, he has no means to combat the witch. But Allura does. Everything he says to her? Is true.

The next episode, s8e9 “Knights of Light: Part 1″ begins with Allura awaking, Coran and Lance by her bedside. She’s been asleep for two quintants (days). She has apparently come up with a plan to infiltrate Honerva’s mind, but from whence she gets this plan is never explained. That’s because we’re missing an entire episode between these two. This is where Lotor’s redemption happens, where he and Allura finally reunite. God knows what else was in that episode, what else was happening while the paladins were waiting for Allura to wake. Lotor bids Allura to follow him, to finally allow him to tell his side of the story, and for some reason we weren’t allowed to hear it.

But from what we did get to see? It all but confirms @crystal-rebellion‘s Colony Theory. Albeit, the white mechs were built by Honerva, but Lotor was attempting to keep the colony safe in the only way he knew how. The Alteans who died did so willingly; to preserve the lives of all the others.

There’s a repeated narrative that the only person who encourages Allura to take action, to strive and push forward, is Lotor. Sometimes others accept it, but they never encourage her. Everyone else seems to consider her too fragile, or not capable of making her own decisions. They want to protect her and coddle her, don’t believe she should be taking any risks. They are supportive emotionally, but want to limit her physically. They care about her, but don’t truly trust her judgement or want her to be making her own choices.

With Lotor though, it’s different. He truly sees her as an equal, respects her judgement in her areas of expertise. This plot line revolving around the entity is a prime example. Lotor provides Allura with the information, that she has everything she needs to take down Honerva right in front of her; she just needs to utilize it. But from the moment Allura wakes the people closest to her doubt her decisions and choices.

And yes, those choices lead to painful consequences, but in the end they are proven to be the right ones, to have been necessary. Allura took a calculated risk, and it pays off - if she hadn’t they’d have never caught Honerva in time to stop her from destroying everything. They wouldn’t even have discovered her plan in the first place.

If Allura hadn’t made the choice to listen to and trust Lotor, by her own judgement, reality itself would have ceased to exist.

Both Coran and Alfor are given specific scenes this season where they judge and approve of Lance in his pursuit of Allura. But key, neither of them ever ask - or even mention - Allura’s feelings on the matter. The s8 we got, rather disgustingly, portrays this as the right thing. I believe the original s8 was meant to subvert this. Because Lance is everyone else’s choice for Allura, but when Allura was allowed to make her own choice? She chose Lotor.

Allura once again ends s8e10 ‘Knights of Light: Part 2′ unconscious. I firmly believe we are missing more moments - if not an entire episode - with Lotor here, in s8e11 ‘Uncharted Regions’ - probably explaining somewhere along the way how exactly he is able to contact her in this manner.

Which, uh... as to my personal theory on how that is, well... what did Lotor and Allura do together that might have crafted a unique spiritual bond between them?

What did you two experience in the quintessence field Lotor?

But, those were happier times...

I also think this is the episode, this missing one, that that particular image properly belongs to. We now see it in the previous episode, as one of Honerva’s memories. But the reason we see it is that the paladins apparently see it too. The only problem is, they don’t react to it at all. They literally have a stronger reaction to finding out they can see Honerva’s memories in the first place. There’s no possible way that Allura saw the melted corpse of the man she loved and had no discernible reaction. We see her reactions to Lotor’s presence multiple times over the course of s7 and s8, and they’re always intensely emotional ones.

But speaking of that image, since we’re on the topic. That’s a very detailed image.

There’s details there you don’t immediately spot, because you’re too distracted by the horrific imagery of the corpse of a main character. A character who’s tragic, abusive childhood was the focus of almost an entire episode earlier in the season.

Details such as the motes of light floating up from his body.

Motes of light we’ve seen in exactly two instances before: from Zarkon and Honerva’s eyes immediately after they were restored back to life by the rift.

And from Zarkon’s body: vanishing after he died.

Yeah guys, I’m about to make that image much worse.

That’s not Lotor’s corpse, because he’s not dead.

He’s still in there, in that state, and he’s been in there for over three years.

Melded, physically and mentally, with Sincline by his time spent in the quintessence field.

What. The. Fuck.

As the season progresses it becomes much more difficult to tell what was supposed to be happening because of how badly it’s been chopped up, re-arranged, and edited.

But there is a very distinct difference between Sincline’s two appearances in action - that is, it’s only in the first one that it actually is in action.

The last time we see Sincline move of it’s own accord is e6 ‘Genesis’. From the moment he reappears Lotor is on the attack; he is stopped only two times, once of his own accord and once by Haggar’s mind control.

And that one time he stops himself? Is when he takes aim at Allura. She’s running across the ground, about to strike Honerva with her bayard, when he raises his right arm and takes aim. We see her in his sights, through his eyes. And the view zooms in on Allura’s face.

Lance sees what’s happening and dives in Red to stop him, but is blocked by one of the white mechs.

Yet. He lowers his arm and doesn’t take the shot.

Lotor never fires.

But immediately afterwards the white mech lingers too close and Sincline impales it with it’s tail. It’s not an aversion to killing that stayed his hand.

It’s that it was Allura.

This scene unambiguously shows that Lotor is both alive inside that mech and somewhat aware of himself. He’s become a robeast.

Yet after that episode the mech never moves again. It hangs lifeless in space during the battle at the pyramid; the white mechs having to do the fighting. The lights on it’s chest have gone out, only relighting when it is charged with quintessence from the Komar. For all intents and purposes, Sincline is empty.

Oh, and speaking of Sincline, up until s8e9 it’s only ever referred to as “Lotor’s mech,” but suddenly, in e11 ‘Uncharted Regions’ they’ve learned its name and Allura calls it “Lotor’s Sincline”.

I think that at some point between ‘Knights of Light’ and the second half of e11 ‘Uncharted Regions’ Lotor was to have been rescued. 'Uncharted Regions’ is one of the worst episodes this season for flow: it’s extremely choppy and hard to follow - flicking back and forth between scenes without anything really happening in them.

But the most telling thing?

‘Uncharted Regions’ begins with Honerva in her haloed mech searching Alternate realities for her ‘perfect’ one. We see several clips of her doing this, the mech floating in front of the pyramid, alone, with the spinning disk of its wings as a viewport.

Suddenly, almost exactly halfway through the episode, we get an image of Honerva kneeling inside the pyramid, in her Altean commander uniform, one uniformed Altean to either side. She says “The princess has awakened,” and then the scene changes.

When next we see Honerva she’s floating above the pyramid, the silent and immobile Sincline by her side.

The entire time this is happening there is combat going on around the pyramid, first with the coalition fighters and then with the Atlas itself. This sequence appears in episode as though it all happens successively in a very short period of time. But it doesn’t make sense like that. Why should Honerva stop what she’s doing, and exit her mech just to check if Allura is awake?

In this scenario why does Honerva even care if Allura is awake? By this point she’s apparently found her perfect reality and is prepared to move on to it? She doesn’t need Allura for anything, none of her plans require Allura. Why should she even bother to announce that Allura is awake, as though this is something she’s been waiting for?

This entire episode, including the fight scenes, has been chopped into little pieces and rearranged. Other scenes have had edits to their animation, or were re-done entirely. What we have in ‘Uncharted Regions’ is a frankenstein’s monster of an episode constructed of the tiny remnants of of at least two, possibly three, original episodes.

If you watch this episode carefully you’ll notice that there’s a clip out of order. The lights on Sincline’s chest are dark until it’s charged with the quintessence from the Alteans on the Atlas. But. The close up shot of Sincline the paladins see immediately upon exiting the wormhole in front of the pyramid has the lights lit up. This clip clearly is part of the sequence we see later in the episode just before the mechs combine. So when the crew on the bridge of the Atlas is shown reacting in horror, whatever they’re actually reacting to has been cut out.

These original missing episodes would have contained what I’m fairly certain was our big Alchemist vs Alchemist reprisal fight between Honerva and Allura; something we’ve been waiting for since season 2′s finale.

Why was such an anticipated fight removed?

I think it’s because the fight was over Lotor, and ultimately Allura would have rescued him.

Every time Allura uses the powers she obtained in Oriande it’s mentioned where she got them, and often that she has them because of Lotor.

She’s shown again and again restoring life and health.

What happened, what we’re missing, is her using the abilities she has thanks to Lotor, to save him.

Allura is supposed to storm that pyramid, infiltrate it, and rescue Lotor from the evil witch holding him captive. She’s supposed to find him in that horrible state we saw him in, and she’s going to heal him. She’s going to fight for him, to protect him, when no one else in his life ever has.

There’s also a clear switch. When Sincline is active and alight Honerva several times refers to it as ‘my son’ but afterwards, she stops and uses Sincline as a tool for her to reach an Alternate Reality and obtain a ‘new’ version of Lotor. With the exception of one shot, where, since we can’t actually see her speaking it seems that the audio and animation are sourced from different original scenes, Honerva ceases treating Sincline as Lotor after the lights go out.

The line that causes Honerva to snap s8e12 ‘The Zenith’ is when the little alt Lotor says “My mother is dead”. It’s framed like a deliberate callback, like it should be echoing something. But it’s a line we’ve never heard. I’d hazard that this final rejection, this line was spoken by *our* Lotor as Allura is rescuing him.

Lotor was not dead in there, he was alive, and he was saved.

There is a really good theory going around, my friend @tsunemori told me about it. I don't know who first came up with it, but I fully support it, because I noticed the scene in question was really off too.

But the theory is that that hospital bed scene? Was originally Lotor in the bed after they rescued him, and Allura was in Lance's place. Which makes total sense, because after that scene, when Lance takes Allura to the bridge? His height is all wrong, and he is hanging onto her for support instead of the other way around: it should be Lotor there.

Do I have any concrete proof of this one? No. But there is something off about that scene. It just doesn’t feel right.

So yeah, if I ask myself, “Is this a scene that might have been re-animated, the characters traced over and re-drawn as different ones?” I can absolutely see that. When looking for places where actual edits to the animation have been made you have to factor in several things: the complexity of the animation - how many characters, how many settings, how much movement, who is the focus/moving/talking.

This is both a pivotal scene, and an incredibly easy one to alter, comparatively. Two characters, one laying still in a bed and only getting a single one-syllable line - the other character’s name, which might have been taken from anywhere. Lance has a long string of dialogue, but he’s sitting beside the bed the entire time, and he moves very little.

I strongly believe this scene was either altered significantly or created whole-cloth for this edited version of s8.

Things that are much harder to alter, because they’d be much more expensive, are the fight scenes. It’s where I started looking once I suspected what had happened with season 8, and it’s where I started finding things.

S8e12 ‘The Zenith’ is one of the best episodes in terms of flow, and I believe that’s because it suffers some of the least editing.

We are however missing at least two scenes: a farewell between Allura and Coran - presumably as Allura boards the Blue Lion - and an explanation as to how Voltron followed Honerva into her destination reality after the rift closed on them. I believe both of these scenes were edited out because Lotor was key in them; several scenes in the following episode s8e13 ‘The End is the Beginning’ lead me to believe that he spent the final battle in the Blue Lion with Allura.

Two scenes during the fight stand out to me: the first, a split screen where Keith is mysteriously given a double width section as compared to the others. It’s especially noticeable, because he’s not even centrally placed and he’s scaled to a different size than his fellow paladins. In the entirety of the series we have never before seen a split screen cut among an even number of characters where one of them is given odd prominence like this. The screen is arranged so the characters appear in a color gradient, Keith is red-black and immediately to his left is Allura who is blue. If there was a missing section here, the color space would correspond to indigo/purple - and those are Lotor’s colors.

The second is a moment when Allura is speaking facing forwards and very clearly looks to the side and makes eye contact with someone. Now, VLD does have moments when the paladins will react in their own lions as though they can see each other, but this isn’t like that. It’s the way her eyes move, and look, she’s talking to someone who’s point of view we’re seeing her from. And that person is Lotor.

There’s also a peculiar moment in this episode where the same split screen is used twice; another thing which has never before happened in the series. It appears first about a quarter of the way through the episode as the paladins enter the stage for the final showdown and then again as they push Honerva into the glowing whiteness at its center. I believe that the second one of these is its proper place, and that the one that originally went in the first instance had Lotor included in it.

Finally, and this is going to take several images, so be warned. When the paladins appear before Honerva in the heart of it all, fading into view, they’re spaced very strangely.

There’s six of them, so you’d expect they’d be spaced something like this:

But they’re actually spaced like this:

(yes, I know Honerva would be blocking someone there. She moves. I just picked this cap so you could see all the shadows; there’s no point showing you the empty space)

It rather looks like there’s someone missing.

The last half of the final episode is so heavily manipulated that it’s difficult to say what actually happened. But we have two very strong clues from which we can reconstruct it.

Remember the leaks?

Now that we know the leaks were real, it begs the question, why was this scene one of them. Unlike the others, which were all from the epilogue, this scene is from roughly halfway through the episode.

Well, I believe we have the answer now: whoever leaked them chose those because they were the scenes they had on hand. These were the scenes that were not originally part of VLD s8, and were added only in the last minute edit.

This one in particular is another where I think it’s taken an actual scene and traced over it to make it into something else. Lance is far too tall here, and doesn’t look like himself hardly at all.

It’s also very clear from the framing of the shot where Allura is going down the line of paladins and hugging them that Lance should be getting a send off in sequence to the others, not apart like this.

No, I think Lance was animated over Lotor here, and the audio was spliced in parts from Lance’s actual goodbye scene and Allura’s “I will always love you” comes from somewhere else. That portion of the line is said in a distinctly different tone of voice than Lance’s name beforehand. There’s different emotions to it than the rest of their conversation, and I’d guarantee we’re hearing it out of it’s original context.

I don’t know what else changes in the ending, but I’m very certain that it was not supposed to be read as Allura dying.

The reason we now read it that way is that Allura and Honerva are seen greeting the spirits of people we know that are dead. I’m fairly certain this scene is either new, or it was only Honerva going to meet them, and of course, that Lotor wasn’t among them.

And I think it was Allura and Lotor who stayed behind to do the work of restoring all realities. My proof of this is one of the very best and strongest among my evidence: the very last closing shot of Voltron: Legendary Defender, after the credits.

The lions of Voltron take off to rejoin their new Cosmic Entities; Allura and Lotor. Whoever was responsible for editing Lotor out of this picture only actually slightly blurred him.

Thanks to @articianne for the outline!

If you play around with the image contrast and brightness it’s even more obvious that the both of them are there, back to back.

It only looks like Allura dies because the spirits but without them there? It looks like they ascended to a higher plane of existence or something.

They haven’t died at all. They’ve become, of all things, like Bob, the gameshow host from s7e4 ‘The Feud’. An ‘all-powerful, all-knowing interdimensional being’.

And y’know? Bob was perfectly able to interact with the paladins no problem.

I don’t understand why these changes were made. To me? This looks like a perfectly happy ending.

What else was cut I don’t know. But I found all this evidence by looking for the things that weren’t there, that a competently structured plot would lead me to expect would be. Chasing ghosts, as it were.

A short list of additional things I strongly suspect were cut?

Several scenes between Keith and Shiro.

A pivotal scene between Allura and Coran.

A follow up event with Pidge referencing her sacrificing her videogame to get Allura a dress.

A scene between Lance and Pidge, possibly referencing said videogame.

A resolution to Lance and Pidge competing to get Allura the best present.

A conclusion to Axca’s sub plot.

A Hunk and Shay scene, to explain how and why the Balmeras all show up in s8e12 ‘The Zenith’.

An additional scene with the blade for the same reasons.

Actually, y’know what? I’m not just going to leave this, because I have a strong suspicion what one of the other cut subplots was about.

You see, the other half of ‘Clear Day’ isn’t entirely filler - it’s specifically a callback to the season 2 episode ‘Space Mall’, and it’s not the only one in this season. The little shopping trip from s8e1 ‘Launch Date’ is also one. Specifically they’re part of a plot for Pidge about her feelings for Lance.

In ‘Space Mall’ Pidge and Lance spend their time scrounging up change to buy a videogame console. The game that they purchase is part of a series that Pidge later trades the only copy of the latest version of to get Allura a dress. During ‘Clear Day’ Pidge and Lance both spend their time trying to get the best present for Allura (hint hint, Pidge is the one who actually got the ‘”something sparkly”).

Now, as I’ve already covered, there’s missing content between ‘Clear Day’ and the next episode. Part of that content should have been what the other paladins were doing while Allura was unconscious. And in series, we never actually see Allura receive either of those presents that were bought for her. So where did they go?

I think Pidge and Lance spent the time waiting for Allura to wake up together, and they got to talking about how Lance has once again failed to acquire the sparkly thing Allura would like. Perhaps Pidge trades her mining helmet for Lance’s signed Blue Lion, and then it comes up how both times Lance went to get a present for Allura he ended up getting one for Pidge.

And that first time was the video game wasn’t it? A perfect place for Lance to find out what happened with the video game in s8e1.

So why did Pidge trade that game? To make Allura happy, yes, but also to make Lance happy. Because Lance likes Allura and Pidge wants them to have a good time, because Pidge likes Lance. Like, check e1 when Allura tells her she's going on a date with Lance, Pidge's reaction... isn't really a happy one.

I think this should have been the turning point for Lance, where he learns the difference between infatuation and sincere affection. I think very soon after this his relationship with Allura would end, and he would naturally progress into a different sort of relationship with Pidge.

As much as I love s8e7 ‘Day Forty-Seven’ I don’t think it was originally part of season 8. I also get the feeling that s7e2 ‘Shadows’ may be composed of scenes we were supposed to have gotten throughout the later half of season seven - though I expect that this change was made in a much earlier spate of edits, likely when s7 was re-done. It’s been confirmed that this happened, and that s7e4 ‘The Feud’ was made to ease the pressure on the exhausted animators who’d been working overtime to get the other episodes done in time. It’s never been confirmed what exactly was changed about season 7 or why, but I highly suspect it was to include more content with the MFE fighters, who the higher ups at Dreamworks might have been hoping to spin off into a sequel.

I suspect that the episodes were shifted forwards, because the first half of the season has no 'event' episode. s8e6 ‘Genesis’ should have been that, and what we're missing is the mid-season event. Which was where they would have saved Lotor. They excised an entire climactic fight between Allura and Honerva, reprising their battle from season 2. The alchemist vs alchemist fight that was repeatedly alluded to being inevitable, yet we never got.

It was animated and voiced to be Lotura and Lotor's vindication.

But someone wanted that changed.

We know when and why ‘The Feud’ was created, and because we were teased in several interviews to pay attention to it so that we might spot some foreshadowing, we can definitively say that the mucking around that was done to season 8 happened at a much later date.

In fact, the animation portion was likely completed all the way back in June. These are two bumper images that were used to advertise Season 6, which released on June 15th.

We haven’t yet seen this image of Lotor appear in the show (for what it matters, the full color one is the correct way around; Lotor’s hair always curls up over his right shoulder, the left can go either way), we have scoured every frame of him to find it, but it’s just not there (yes I know it looks like it should be from s5e4 ‘Kral Zera’, but trust me it’s not). Every other image that’s ever been used in these promotional bumpers has been from somewhere in the show, but this one is so far absent. Therefore it’s from a piece of animation yet to appear, and one which was made by the time these images showed up in June.

Now that we know what the truth is, I am sure we will get the full story eventually. It's only a matter of time before it filters out.

But right now is the key time if we want to convince Dreamworks to release the original season 8. Tweet at them, email them, snail mail if you have the time! Sign that petition!

The fandom response now will determine if we find out what really happened sooner rather than later - and later could mean years.

We are the only people who can make this happen. The cast and crew are all bound by NDAs, and publicly reacting negatively towards a show you worked on is practically career suicide.

It has historically been fans who’ve made a difference when companies interfere with their favorite shows. Fans have been able to effect change in the past, and they will again in the future; lets make sure this is one of those times. We need to fight to get the VLD we should have gotten in the first place.

Just remember to apply your energies in the right places. JDS and LM aren’t perfect people (no one is!), but this isn’t their doing. This is someone above them responsible for the mess that was s8. Dreamworks Animation is the culprit. There is a very real chance that the original season 8 is completely finished and able to be released, and we just might get it if we’re persistent enough.

Be polite, be reasonable, but be firm. Take this proof and use it. Show them that we know they changed things and that they can give us the original if they so choose.

The messages they inadvertently pushed with this slap-dash edit are vile and toxic, and people far more knowledgeable than I in those areas are speaking out about them. This needs to be fixed.

They need to say something. They need to tell us why they changed it. They need to give us the original Season 8.

Click here for Part 2: Seek Truth in Darkness

I, and any of you who enjoyed this meta, owe @nomadicism a huge thank you. She reminded me of that strange "Follow me!" scene, which prompted me to crack open 'Clear Day' for another watch... and I realized that Allura's dreams weren't nonsensical at all.

As always, thank you to my many friends in the Lotura Discord. You give me the strength and encouragement to keep going. I couldn’t have done this without you.

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a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan · 5 years

Text

LinkedUniverse Fanfic Ch. 10: Noontime Nightmares (pt. 1)

Stop! You’ve Violated the Law!

So, you’ve stumbled upon this original post for my Linked Universe fanfiction. That’s okay, it happens to everyone. As of March 2021, I’ve uploaded the entirety of this fanfic to my Archive of Our Own page. Along with finally giving the story a name–Oops! All Links: A Linked Universe Story–I made substantial edits to some of the chapters. These range from minor stylistic revisions to fixing a gaping plot hole that kinda completely broke the character conflict in the earlier chapters. I also renamed and renumbered (but not reordered) the chapters. Specifically, this is now Chapter 12: Noontime Nightmares.

The AO3 iterations of these chapters are the definitive versions. So, if you would like to read this fanfiction, please do so on AO3, right here. With this embedded link. Hehe. Geddit? Link?

Note: My screen name on AO3 is FrancisDuFresne. Yes, that is me. I am not plagiarizing myself.

Anyway, for posterity’s sake, the rest of the original post is below the cut.

That dark forest the Links entered last chapter of my @linkeduniverse fan narrative? Yeah, it’s pretty dark. Part 1 of 2. Word Count: 2418

Nearly all light was blocked by the forest’s dense tree canopy. The heroes were glad they decided to light their lanterns, but even they seemed to not be able to pierce more than a few yards into the darkness. Wild was reminded of a similar forest north of his Hyrule Castle. He hoped they would not encounter the monsters he did there here, too.

The Links spent two uneasy hours walking through the woods. Twilight hadn’t sensed anything strange in his wolf form, but that didn’t sate their feeling they were being watched. Wild still had two arrows nocked on his bow; Warrior instructed him to fire at Twilight’s signal. Warrior was determined to neither get ambushed nor be defeated in one.

“I don’t like this,” Hyrule whispered. Holding his lantern at arm’s length, he still could barely see Legend ahead of him.

“None of us do,” Legend replied. “Unless one of us does. Does anyone like this?”

Time smiled. At least one of them was trying to keep the mood light. “No, I can’t say I’m very fond of this.”

Wind, used to sunny days on the high seas and night sky starlight playing off the water, agreed. “Yeah, not the biggest fan.”

Twilight was put on edge by the suffocating darkness. His heightened senses as a wolf could barely pierce it. It brought to mind the dark cloud that sent the group out of the illusory world of the burning village. That thought unnerved him even more. There was nothing except the faint scent of his friends behind him and darkness ahead.

Three more hours of this? He thought. I almost want something to happen… Wait.

A new scent appeared. It was familiar. The stench of rot and death, a few yards ahead and to the right. Looks like I jinxed it.

The Wolf barked and pointed his head in the direction. With no hesitation, Wild loosed his arrows. The THWIP of the them hitting a target bounced and echoed off the trees. Now fully alert, the others clipped their lanterns of their belts and drew their weapons. Wild nocked two more arrows as Sky moved ahead of him and Twilight.

They walked slowly towards what may be a slain monster. The light of their lanterns fell upon a stag pinned to a tree. It was dead. Two arrows stuck out of its neck; that they expected. What they didn’t anticipate was a massive spear skewering the poor animal through its side. The weapon was long as Time would be tall with Twilight standing on his shoulders, and nearly as thick as a small birch tree. From what was exposed of the head, it seemed to be a jagged, razor sharp rock of some kind. It was shoddily tied together with old ropes.

The stag, pinned to the tree by the spear, seemed to have been dead for a week at least. Flies buzzed around it, and it reeked horribly. Hesitantly approaching it, Sky’s lantern showed it was missing its hind legs. He gagged. He turned back to the group and shook his head as if to say, this isn’t good.

“What the…” Hyrule said as he inched toward the carrion. “What could have done this?”

Wild’s thoughts raced. “Something big. Hinox, maybe?”

“Hinox aren’t that big,” Four said. “Only ten feet, max.”

“Yours, maybe,” Wild replied. “Mine are giants. Five times my height, easy.”

“Oh.”

“What’s a Hinox?” Wind asked. He said it almost as if not wanting an answer.

“Big, muscle-y creatures,” Legend explained. “One-eyed, love bombs…”

“Love bombs?” Wild scoffed. “What kind of Hinox are you guys used to?”

“Something more explosive than yours, apparently.”

Time didn’t like this one bit. “Cut the chatter. We need to be on guard. This thing probably likes prey that stand around and talk.”

“And something tells me we’re the perfect prey,” Hyrule muttered.

Suddenly, Twilight barked again. Following the wolf’s snout, Wild pulled his bow’s string and let two arrows fly. Another THWIP. The heroes warily followed the sound. Their lanterns’ light fell upon a what looked like a fox, again affixed to a tree. The entire font half of its body seemed to have been torn off. This time, a man-sized halberd held it in place. Time pulled it free. He shook off the fox and held the weapon out to the others.

It was finely made, with smooth curves, a polished head, and stained wood. The blacksmith who made it was clearly a skilled one. The materials looked expensive. “This is no traveler’s spear,” Four observed. “This belonged to a knight.”

“So,” Wind ventured, “where’s the knight?”

Warrior looked down at him with one eyebrow raised. “Do you really have to ask?”

“Not really.”

“Figured. Well, it looks like whatever thing is, it’s several yards tall, can use weapons, and has a taste for raw meat.”

“Hm…” Wild put all these pieces together in his head. “I’m definitely thinking a hinox like the ones I’ve seen. Funny, I had to fight one in a forest like this.”

“At least you’ll have experience, then,” Hyrule said. “Plus, you have us now.”

Twilight was still transformed. He was trying to pick up any other scents. As his companions were talking, he picked something faint up. What’s more, he felt a soft rumbling under his paws. Almost like multiple sets of footsteps… He tried to pinpoint where it was coming from, but it was all around them. He looked to the others. They hadn’t noticed any of it. He transformed back.

“Guys, we have company,” he said. “From all directions. Sounds like footsteps and smells… not good. Worse than this carrion.”

“Yep,” Wild confirmed. “Hinox.”

“Is that plural?” Legend asked Twilight.

“Yes.”

“Great.”

Warrior looked to the resident amnesiac. “What can we expect?”

“Five times our size, fat, dim, sometimes armored around the legs. I usually used spears because it’s not safe to get too close to them. They’ll create shockwaves by beating the ground with their hands, and like jumping and crushing people under their rears. Time, pass me that halberd.”

Time handed it over. He was better with a sword anyway. Wild took it and tossed it between his hands, as if checking its balance. He readied it in both hands and took a stab into the darkness. Then he twirled it into one hand, then the next, then back. The hero nodded, evidently pleased with the quality of the weapon. It also gave him an excuse not to use his shield, which he stole from a Stalfos and wasn’t comfortable at all.

“Twilight?” Warrior asked. “How many did you sense?”

“I couldn’t tell for sure. Four or more.”

“Then I’m not sure if we should split up.”

“I should be able to take one myself,” Wild pointed out.

“Right. Pairs for the rest of us, then?”

Before anyone could respond, the footsteps Twilight heard began to become audible to them. A few seconds later, the stench hit them too. Twilight was right, it was coming from all directions. “We’re being surrounded,” Sky said. “We might want to get creative with our weapons.”

“I agree,” Time assented. “If swords aren’t working, don’t hesitate to use anything you need.”

Now the footsteps were growing louder. In a few seconds, the monsters would be upon them. The heroes’ lanterns were infuriatingly dim in the oppressing darkness. Warrior pulled out his Fire Rod. “I can’t take these shadows, we’re sitting ducks!”

He held the Fire Rod aloft and ignited the tip with a layer of flame. The firelight illuminated not four, not five, but nine Hinox less than ten yards away. Wild’s description of them was accurate, the others silently confirmed. The reek of the monsters filled the heroes’ nostrils, forcing them to hold back gags. They readied their weapons. Swords and shields glinted from the fire. “New plan,” Warrior whispered. “One-on-one. Got it? Break.”

In a flash, Wild stowed his halberd and drew his bow. He nocked three arrows and fired them straight into the nearest Hinox’s single eye. The giant monster recoiled with a deafening roar, reached up to its face, and tore the arrows out of its eye. Blood splattered the ground, but the injury didn’t seem to bother the Hinox. It kept moving forward. Wild gaped at it. That usually did some serious damage. Only nine arrows left... Wild thought. Got to conserve them.

The others saw this and stared at the monster. Not many creatures can take three arrows in the eye and keep going. Wild slung his bow over his shoulder and drew his new halberd. He rushed at the Hinox. It stared down at this tiny man sprinting at it, confused by the sight. Most things ran from it. Undeterred, it raised its hand to squish the puny thing. As it was about to bring the three-fingered hand down, Wild jumped to the side. He readied the spear.

The young hero’s feet skidded on the leafy forest floor. Taking a half-second to ground his feet, he stared down his target. Aiming straight at the Hinox’s fat gut, he let loose a flurry of stabs. Again and again, the finely-crafted halberd pierced the monster’s tough skin, sending blood into the air. Wild felt flecks hit his face as he attacked. He worked his fingers furiously, turning the spear slightly with each stab, the axe-like head digging in and tearing flesh as it exited.

The monster roared in either fury or agony, Wild didn’t care. Its entrails torn, it stumbled onto its back with a deafening THUD. Wild ran around to its side and jammed the halberd between the Hinox’s ribs. He used the spear’s handle to vault onto the monster, pounded his boot into its chin, and leapt upward. He twirled the weapon above his hand, secured his grip on it, and spiraled downward.

The halberd’s head bored straight into the Hinox’s eye. After three rotations, Wild righted himself, dug his boot into the monster’s forehead, and jumped to the ground. The roaring stopped. The felled monster ceased its writhing and went limp. Wild cast a look at it to ensure it was dead. Satisfied with his work, he went on to help his friends.

…

By now, Sky was working on his own Hinox. He drew his Beetle and shot it to the side. The flying weapon distracted the brute. It swiped its hands through the air, trying to swat it down. The hero saw a moment to strike. He rushed to the monster’s leg, hoping to cripple it. He raised the Master Sword and made an inward slash. The blade struck the wooden guard the Hinox wore on its leg. It was stuck.

Sky yanked on the handle to free the blade from the wood. One tug didn’t work. Two. Three. The blade came free and Sky stumbled backward. By now, the monster remembered its prey. It turned back around to face Sky. Spotting the puny Hylian, it crouched down. It was preparing to jump. Sky remembered Wild’s words and turned tail.

He was several yards away by the time the Hinox’s enormous behind slammed into the ground. The shockwave still threw him forward. Narrowly dodging a faceplant, Sky managed to get back on his feet. The Hinox was coming for him again. Sky’s eyes darted around the monster, trying to find a weak point. There! he thought. Found one!

The young swordsman spotted what he was looking for. The wooden guards the Hinox was wearing were held in place by some frayed ropes. That was something Sky could work with. He drew his scattershot and filled the its pocket with pellets. He pulled back, aimed for the eye, and let go. He knew it wouldn’t do much to stop the brute, but it would distract it. With the monster blinking away the tiny ammunition, Sky made his move.

Taking off at a sprint, he replaced the scattershot with his sword and ran underneath the Hinox. At just the right moment, he made two deft swipes. The ropes sliced apart and their load fell to the ground. The Hinox was still trying to figure out what was happening when Sky ran back the way he came. He held the Master Sword aloft and charged a skyward strike. Lowering it to his side, he ran under the Hinox and spun on his heel. The charged spin attack sliced clean through the monster’s legs. Sky ran clear before it collapsed in a heap on the ground. It wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

…

The world froze. Wind was holding the Phantom Sword aloft, using its time-stop ability. All sound and breeze stopped as he dashed around the Hinox. He had to make the most of this moment. He took his hookshot out mid-step, held it in his right hand, and readied it. He aimed up and chose his target.

With a squeeze of the trigger, the chained weapon fired out into the stagnant air. It dug itself into the side of the monster’s head. Wind knew it wouldn’t dig deep enough to do any serious damage, but he wasn’t planning on it. He picked up more speed as he sprinted. By now he was directly behind the Hinox.

The hero kicked his feet off the ground into a high leap. At the apex of his jump, he squeezed the trigger on the hookshot again. The chain retracted, shooting Wind into the air. Using the momentum of his leap, he rushed up to the monster’s neck. He raised his sword. A split second from hitting the Hinox, he swung the Phantom Sword.

SWISH! The blade cut straight through the nape of monster’s neck, severing its spinal cord. Wind felt time begin to restart. He planted his feet on the slowly collapsing Hinox’s neck and pushed off into a backflip. He landed on the ground and was just retracting the hookshot’s tip as time resumed fully. The titan collapsed on forest floor. In quite literally no time, the young hero had felled the giant.

The Phantom Sword was exhausting to use without the fairy Ciela’s help, so Wind took a moment to recover his strength. He looked up at the rest of the fight. The others were still working on their Hinox. He could just barely see them through the darkness. He smiled at the sight. The Hinox looked tough, but his friends seemed to be having an easy enough time fighting them. Nice, he thought. Gimme a sec, boys. I’ll be right there.

#linkeduniverse fanfiction #linkeduniverse #my own #my writing #fanfic #Noontime Nightmares

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royallyprincesslilly · 6 years

Text

Title: Animal (10)

Chadwick Boseman X Black Reader

Chapter Warning: Cursing, mentions of abortion, talk of pregnancy, fluff

Word Count: 7.2k

Note: This chapter is a little long.

***Interactive Chapter***

***Loosely edited/proofread***

Thank you guys for reading. I hope you enjoy.

If you do please LIKE and REBLOG. ️ ️ <><><><<><><><><><><>

-Chadwick-

“Fuck!”

Chadwick threw the brush he was using clear across the room. It clattered into the wall splattering red pain across the taupe colored wall. The clenched tension in his jaw was becoming painful but it was a constant thing with him. It had been 8 days. 8 days since what he foresaw as an amazing afternoon and showed every sign of shaping up to be that way but drastically came crashing down around him. By the time he saw the tears in her eyes in his heart he knew he’d fucked up. Watching her walk away was more painful than he anticipated. It felt like trying to catch your breath after running for a long time in 15 degree weather. By the time he made it home his chest literally hurt. It was a pain he’d never felt before so he couldn’t pin point it’s exact meaning but he could speculate.

“Damn it!” Chadwick rubbed his face and steepled his paint covered fingers under his chin, against his beard.

He zoomed through the still fresh memory again taking notice of every little detail trying not to miss anything, not a lip smirk or a shifting glance. He analyzed hoping for something. When he approached her he could senses something was off, she was acting distant, awkward. No it wasn’t any different than their other interactions, she always came off distant, as if she enjoyed the attention he paid to her but really couldn’t care less either way. She gave the impression he was an option in a sea of candidates. He didn’t doubt she had other admirers and his suspicions were confirmed seeing the man from the restaurant, then the club.

Chadwick groaned when the thought entered his mind that you didn’t want him, not really. He stood when the thought crept into his mind that all he was to you was sex. Chadwick walked to the wall to collect the brush he threw along with the various other items he’d thrown in the last few hours. When he walked back to the easel he stared at the incomplete painting. This one was different than those from the previous weeks. Those were calm, serene, lite even; these though were chaotic, disturbing and heavy. He scanned the reds, blacks and blues on the canvas. He didn’t have anything in mind with this paining, instead he just allowed his hands to do as they willed.

It matched his chaotic emotions, matched his anger, his confusion, his disbelief. A baby. A fucking baby. Not a dog, or a cat, a baby. A whole human being. Chadwick closed his eyes and walked out his art room and through the halls of his home. A home he shared with no one, a home that was rarely filled with laughter, except his own. A home that felt lacking, he’d always thought so but he worked enough to push the thoughts to the side. Once he got to his bedroom he stripped off his paint covered clothes and walked to the bathroom.

Chadwick glanced as his reflection in the mirror. A reflection that had changed in the 8 days he’s locked himself inside. The bags under his eyes were more accentuated perhaps it was due to the dark circles and his red veined streaked scerela. He looked tired, rightfully so, he hadn’t slept in days. Every time he tried he tossed and turned and ended up remaining awake the entire night. His facial hair was also longer, his beard was thicker, his mustache which was once a thin lining to connect his goatee was now fully encompassing the space above his top lip. He looked unkempt.

The only saving grace was his body, he’d added a few pounds more in muscle thanks to his insomnia and needing to burn angry energy at several points through his day. He focused in on his eyes and tried to find some sort of connection, but there was none. It was as if he wasn’t himself. He sighed and finally stepped into the shower and stood underneath the stream of hot water hoping it would melt the stress within his body.

“I’m pregnant.”

Pregnant. She was pregnant. In all his life he was the most careful man he’d ever known. Even among his friends he was the only one who never thought to have sex with a woman without a condom of his own. He brought his own and never used theirs. As his fame slowly rose so did his precautions, he brought his own and left with the contents disposing of it once he was in his house and even then he disposed of it down the toilet. He took no chances. He’d heard plenty of stories in the industry of men being played and trapped by women after fame, status, money, the life.

When he met Simone his precautions didn’t stop. It’s not tat he didn’t trust her, but he didn’t trust her. After the one slip up where the condom broke with her, the 3 weeks of waiting was the worst thing he’d ever felt but he had to conceal it. The more he played it cool the more her excitement bubbled. She wanted it, she wanted to be pregnant. They’d been together for barley 2 years and she was ready for kids. He wasn’t, at least not with her. When the results came back negative, he was relieved but she was distraught. That was when they had the discussion about her getting on birth control so this “accident” wouldn’t happen again.

Chadwick thought back to the night he met Sianna, the night on the beach in Jamaica. She’d had quite a bit to drink, they both had. He remembered his instant attraction to her, remembered watching her like a perv, thinking the whole time how beautiful she was, but there was something else, something his inebriated brain could not put together. He knew he wanted her then and there.

Chadwick groaned loudly remembering that he had not one thought of a condom, not once. Not while his head was between her thighs, or when her lips were wrapped tightly around his length trying to take him all in. He didn’t think about it once he felt the first touch of her slick heat, not even once he finally sunk into her depths. A condom was the furthest thing from his mind. It surely didn’t cross his mind when he pumped spurt after spurt deep inside her. His senses should have returned the next morning but what came the next morning were feelings of wanting to see her again.

Chadwick turned his back to the tiled shower wall and stared into the stream of he water and remembered Barbados. He didn’t expect to see her again, but he wanted to so when he did his excitement couldn’t be contained, neither could his need for her.

“It was Barbados.” He said to himself.

That night all they did was have sex, drink, shower, have more sex, take cat naps that lasted no longer than 15 minutes before one of our roaming hands reignited the flame that was never extinguished. The entire night he was buried within her, the entire night he had her in every position imaginable, on every crevice of the room; bed, chair, dresser, table, balcony, against the sliding doors, the actual door, shower, sink, god damn he nearly pulled her down on his hardness while he was sitting on the toilet watching her shower. Every coupling there was one thing missing; a condom.

“Jesus Chad.” He rubbed the back of his neck forward over his curls and shook his head.

He slowly began to wash his skin with his organic and vegan shea butter and bergamot scented body wash. All the while his mind never stopped it’s travel through the events that led to this moment. Barbados was incredible, the connection he felt to her was strong and intense, so intense neither of them had to speak a word to tell the other what they wanted, it was known, he anticipated it all. Seeing her at the club his instinct of ownership rose, he had to claim her and again it was without protection. Chadwick almost laughed loudly in the shower, he would have if it wasn’t a serious situation.

“We shouldn’t have done this.”

It hadn’t even been 5 minutes after and she was already pulling away. He had the hardest time reading her, the hardest time deciphering if what she said she meant or was it a cover for so deep hidden feelings. It frustrated him, he shouldn’t have to dig and search, he wasn’t a fucking archeologists. He was a grown ass man, a grown man who was in touch with his feelings, and his wants, he had no time for games but she seemed to like the cat and mouse chase. It was never his favorite game. He preferred the straightforward route, the route where he expressed interest and the other reciprocated and things progressed.

With Sianna that route was never in play. Yes he’d expressed interest, several times more times than he was comfortable with, each admission was met with cool aloofness. An aloofness that came across as teasing but also as disinterest. She’d known the entire time. The entire time we kept having sex, the entire time I expressed my interest. She said nothing, not a hint, it was hard for him not to take that action as a ploy. Chadwick washed the shampoo out of his curled coils.

“She has a successful fashion line you idiot!” He balled his fists.

That fact escaped him at the time, that important fact was irrelevant at the time. She wasn’t after his money, or his fame, she was garnering her own at this point. He kept up with news about her and the interest in her designs was raising by leaps everyday.

“Shit!”

He rinsed his skin off once more and turned off the water. He took a towel and once overed his skin an walked to the fogged mirror. Clearing the fog he stared at himself. It was time to snap the hell out of this. He prepared his clippers and began grooming himself. Yes he could afford to use some celebrity barber but he chose not to, he was particular about his facial hair. One slip up and he’d look like his weird cousin Pat, he didn’t want that. He slowly took the time to expertly clip the excess hair on his face and even gave himself a minor shape up. The entire time Sianna stayed on his mind.

When he emerged from the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist firmly he reached for his phone to check any messages from the last 8 days. As he scrolled there he saw tens of messages from his agent/manager Kwame, and others from friends and family and a message from her dated 7 days ago. His finger hovered over her name. He was afraid to check the message, afraid to know what she was going to say. He’d come to the realization he fucked up with the things he said, but he was still angry the weeks it took her to tell me something as important as him becoming a father.

A father. Chadwick mauled the idea around in his head. Father. Dad. Man responsible for rearing and teaching a child that possessed his DNA and features to be a productive part of society, a vocal part, a part that stood up for others and never allowed anyone to belittle them. A protector. A father. His heart was beating erratically. He wanted a family, God knew he did.

In fact the thought and want had been weighing heavily on his mind more frequently. He wanted a family, a wife, and some children running around driving him crazy. He wanted the life his parents had, he wanted all of that partnership, that love, that devotion and dedication to building a life, a home and a family with one person for the rest of his life. Albeit it would be a little different because of the career path he’d chosen but everything else he would not compromise.

“I’m pregnant.”

Sianna’s words again echoed in his head. 8 days ago those words scared the shit out of him, and filled him with doubt and confusion, but now this very second those words didn’t evoke any of those feelings. He felt still. He wouldn’t have planned it this way, he wouldn’t have thought to even consider this possibility. He expected to meet someone he connected with, someone who affected him like no one ever had, then they’d date for a few years and that connection would intensify into a certainty he couldn’t go the rest of his life without her, then he’s propose and continue the traditional route with a wedding in North Carolina away from Hollywood, and a few months later a babu would be brought into the mix. This, this was not his initial plan.

“The best laid plans of mice and men, often go astray honey, remember plans are fine and dandy but don’t block a blessing when it comes without a plan.”

His mother’s words rang in his head now. Words she often told him because she knew of his structured planning, she knew that if it didn’t fit his plans he would say it wasn’t for him. Chadwick took a deep breath and held it.

He’d met a woman he connected with, a woman who affected him like no one ever had, on levels no one ever came close to. She affected him deeply and it went past sexual, there was something about her. Was God intentionally throwing a wrench in his plans.

“He will show you his power baby, he will show you that no matter what you think it good for you he knows better. God has a plan for all of us.”

Chadwick scoffed and smiled at his mothers words. He released the stressed breath and tapped the message. Once it opened the words he read sunk his heart.

MSG Sianna: It’s taken care of, you don’t have to worry about it ever again. Delete my number.

Chadwick stared at the message for longer than he should have. He thought of her meaning but he knew her meaning.

“Fuck you Chadwick. Thank god I’m getting that abortion tomorrow. Stay the fuck away from me!”

She did it.

Chadwick slumped down onto his bed and sat there staring at her message. He didn’t feel happiness, he didn’t feel relief, no; instead he felt shame, regret and a strange feeling of loss.

“Fuck, what’d I do?” He asked putting his head in his hands.

-Sianna-

“Thank you, I’m looking forward to this partnership Ms. Rose.” Albert Swindelston expressed with a wide smile on his face.

“Yes, I am as well.” You shook his outstretched hand firmly to show him you could hold your own.

“My assistant will be in touch with yours.” He finished.

You nodded and followed him to the doors of the conference room. Once you emerged from inside Carolina stood gathering the materials hat sat next to her on the empty seat.

“Have a safe flight back to LaLa land.” Albert said before he walked off.

Carolina looked excitedly at your face waiting impatiently for the verdict. You smiled subtly and nodded your head to her signaling we were leaving. You gathered the shawl around your shoulders tightly and walked through the downtown Miami office building. This was where fashion designers dreamed of having a meeting. They dreamed that one day Albert Swindelston would call them, invite them to Miami and discuss a partnership where their pieces would be showcased in his high end luxury stores but also in his equally high end luxury editorial magazine.

He wanted to showcase not just one line but all of your line each component in his stores but also wanted to do an editorial piece on you. He wanted the world to know your story. You were excited to say the least. Once you and Carolina got into the waiting car to take you back to the hotel that Albert Swindelston set you up in you kicked off your heels and stared out to the beautiful Miami scenery.

Miami was another favorite city of yours, after the fiasco that happened in New York, you spent some time here and enjoyed every minute of it. The car rolled to a slow stop at a red light and you saw a shirtless man walk by on the sidewalk. He had every right to be shirtless with a body like that. He looked your way and smiled. You smirked but looked away. Miami was truly the land of skin and beautiful people. You never knew how anyone got any work accomplished here. You wanted to spend your time on the beach the majority of the time.

“Is that acceptable?” Carolina asked. You looked to her unsure what she’d said. Hell you didn’t even know she was talking.

“I’m sorry what?”

“Were you listening?”

“No, I’m sorry. I must have been wrapped up in my thoughts and this scenery.” You apologized.

“You zone out a lot, is everything okay?” Carolina inquired, with a genuine look of concern etched on her face. You smiled softly and gently laid a reassuring hand on hers.

“I’m fine Carolina, everything is fine. Please repeat what you said.”

“I was just confirming the dates and times of the other meetings. The one in New York on Monday, and then the one back in LA on Tuesday. Are those still acceptable?”

“Of course, yes.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t fly out tonight, maybe you should stay the weekend and meet me in New York, I’ll have everything prepared.” Carolina suggested.

“What? Why would I stay?”

“To relax, you say you’re fine but you look so wound up. Go to the beach, enjoy the food, the clubs, the men.” She said with a wide smile.

“Excuse me.”

“Come on, you’re only human and you have needs. The best stress reliever is sex with a hot guy.” You snorted, rolled your eyes and looked back out the window.

“Okay if not for the sex, then the relaxation. It can only benefit you and recharge you for the next round of these meetings.”

You considered all she was saying. You were tired, you were feeling drained, emotionally and physically. Maybe she was right.

When the car pulled up to the hotel you both beelined it to the elevator to ride up to your separate rooms. As you walked to yours and she to hers you paused.

“I’ll be staying Carolina, you’re right.”

“Good. Then I’ll fly out tonight. Relax.” She said before disappearing in her room.

I did the same and pressed my back to the door. I dropped my heels and walked to the bay windows and stared out to the ocean view. It was beautiful no doubt. The way the water stretched so far it just disappeared was amazing and the fact the brain knew it didn’t just stop, it continued was fascinating. The room phone rang and you tore yourself away to answer it.

“Yes. This is she. Yes I’ll be staying a little while longer. Check out will be Sunday. Yes, thank you. Also I’d like to book a spa visit for tomorrow morning. I’d like everything on the menu. Thank you.”

You sat on the bed, sighed out. Today was Thursday, so that gave you 2 days of relaxation and you decided to start with a long hot bath.

<><><><>

By the time 7 o’clock came around, you were starving. You decided on a cute maxi dress and a pair of strappy sandals and decided to enjoy your night. While walking down the street among the 20 something year olds, partiers, couples, and those who were in Miami for a good time your mind slipped back to your time in Barbados doing this very thing. Then it inevitably went to him. Inevitably went to all the time you spent together. You almost laughed out loud when you realized that the first time the two of you really spoke of anything deep was the day in the park, the day it all went to hell.

“You have arrived.”

Your phone announced, shaking you out of your thoughts. You stopped and looked up at the restaurant. Crazy about you. Interesting name you thought as you walked through the doors.

“Welcome to Crazy About You, I’m Selena. Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes, it should be under Sianna.”

She checked her computer for a few moments and smiled at you once she found you.

“Rose is your last name?”

“Yes.”

“All right, welcome, welcome, welcome. Follow me I’ll get you a table.”

She walked ahead, you followed through the restaurant. She walked out to the outside dining area and directed you to a seat close to the glass backed railing.

“All right, how is this?” Selena the hostess asked.

“This is perfect, thank you.”

She nodded and walked off as you took your seat. You looked out to the water and the lights of the high rising glistening in the water and leaned back into the seat and enjoyed the calm you felt. A waiter approached shortly after to take your drink and meal order. The evening was a calm one and calm was what you needed after the last few days. You took 2 days to cry and get your emotions in order and under control. You thought 2 days was enough time and refused to cry any longer than that. Truth be told you couldn’t remember the last time you cried over a man. Shit you almost slapped your damn self but you knew it was the hormones coursing through you making you act like a completely different person. You hated it.

After those 2 days you kept it moving and got back to business. You didn’t work your ass off for years to dwell on the fact that the man you had sex with on several occasions decided you were some thirsty industry thot capable of trapping him for money and lifestyle. Nope. You got back to work, closed deals and oversaw distribution of your line to all corners of the US. You would not be stopped. No one would ever get in your way again. You would not rely on anyone, not even the first man to give you butterflies in your stomach.

The food was delicious, the stellar reviews were all warranted. You throughly enjoyed the food and the ambience of the restaurant. So much so that before you knew it, it was almost closing time. After leaving you decided a walk on the beach was what you needed. It had been forever since you slowed down enough to smell the roses, no pun intended or even slow down enough to dig your toes into the sand.

As a child you loved the beach and usually spent your time there just playing in the sand. So that is what you did. You planted your toes deep into the sand, as deep as you could sink them and closed your eyes to enjoy the gentle breeze. You didn’t know how long you stood there, you didn’t really even care.

‘Sianna?” Your eyes snapped open and peered into the brown ones of the man in front of you.

“I thought that was you. Wow, what are the chances?” Amanchino said.

You looked around and noticed it was pretty much just the two of you there. Where did he comes from?

“Yeah, what are the chances.” You repeated.

“Are you all right? Are you hurt?” He genuinely asked. You smiled to yourself at his concern.

“No I’m not hurt, i’m fine.”

“What’re you doing in Miami?” He asked.

“Oh, work.”

“Ah me too, I had a medical conference this yesterday and this morning I had to speak at.”

“Oh really. What did you speak about?”

“The need for more ingenuity within brain surgery and the Beni fits to the patient a well as the profession. I mainly wanted to raise the question of what robotics could offer the field.” Chino explained.

Attractive and smart, you thought to yourself.

“Wow, sounds complex.” You admitted.

“Nah, I can explain it to you if you’d like. I’m an excellent teacher.” You smiled and nodded.

“I don’t doubt you are.”

He smiled and you admired his teeth. My mother always said if a man’s teeth are white, straight and in alignment then he took pride in his appearance but would also pay attention to detail which may very well translate to relationships. Your mother said a lot of things.

“What happened to you after the night in the club?” He asked.

You stopped smiling as you remembered what happened in that club. You cleared your throat and shook away the memory.

“Uh, nothing. I just got really busy. I’m sorry.” You only half lied.

“I can understand that. The life of Sianna Rose it girl in fashion is blowing up.” Chino teased. You smiled and nodded.

“It is picking up.”

“Congratulations, many blessings.” You smiled and nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Sianna, will you have dinner with me? A date, you and me alone.”

You froze in shock and looked down feeling embarrassed.

“I know you’re probably thinking it’s because you’re blowing up but it’s not. Before I knew who you were I’ve been interested.”

“Chino…,”

“I won’t take no for an answer. I know you feel this between us. There is something here. Am I imagining it?”

You stared into his eyes thinking about if he was right. Yes he was attractive, and accomplished, he was a doctor for heaven’s sake, and he dressed well, but that didn’t equate to him being a good man.

“I’m a good man, raised by both my parents, never cheated on a woman, never disrespected a woman, and I don’t intend to.” He further argued his case . You smiled, amused with his antics.

“Another point that should get bonus points, I do not have a baby mother, or any children or messy situationships. Just a single black man looking for his queen.”

That sentenced brought your ass back. You looked down and sighed. He could very well be a good guy, could very well be the perfect guy but it was never that easy.

“What? What is it? I’m not your type? I’m too light skin? Too dark skin? Not tall enough? Too tall? Just please don’t say you think I’m ugly, I don’t think my ego could take that blow.”

You snorted and laughed.

“There’s that beautiful smile and laugh.” You sighed and shook your head.

“You’re not too light skin or too dark skin, skin complexion doesn’t matter to me. You’re plenty tall and I doubt anyone in your life has ever called you ugly. So lets just stop that.”

Chino laughed and revealed 2 cute dimples that made you smile in return.

“I just, I just can’t.”

“Why?”

You had to bite the bullet.

“Because of this.”

You pulled the maxi dress to your body so it revealed the shape of your burgeoning stomach. Chino looked to your stomach and any humor from before disappeared. You nodded. Feeling awkward you did the only thing you could think of, cracked a joke.

“Don’t worry it’s not yours.” He looked to you but did not look amused.

“Yeah, so this would be pointless to peruse, it wouldn’t work and honestly you wouldn’t want any part of what’s going on here.” You said motioning to your entire body.

“Sianna…,” Chino began before you cut him off.

“Don’t say anything, it’s not needed. Just…good night.” You said before turning to hurry away across the sand toward the sidewalk.

You didn’t look back, you didn’t need to. This was something you should prepare for moving forward. This was your reality.

<><><><><>

The next morning you made it to your spa appointment and relished the complete treatment. You cleared your mind an enjoyed the massages, the mud bath, the gold wrap, the pedicure and manicure and even prayed to the hair goddess that allowing these people to touch your hair it didn’t fall out. By the end of the 6 hour spa date you felt so much more relaxed. It was like floating on a cloud walking from the spa.

“I’m looking for a guest, I hope she’s here. Her name is Sianna Rose.”

You turned your head in the direction your name came from and saw Chino talking to the lobby attendant. You stopped in your tracks confused. He looked over to you as you were going to turn and scurry away.

“Sianna.” He said as he approached you. You looked yourself over and pulled the white spa robe closer.

“Chino, what’re you doing here? How did you know where I was staying?”

“I didn’t. I’ve actually checked all along this strip. Did you know there are over 20 hotels on this strip of Miami Beach.” He asked nonchalantly.

He was crazy you thought, crazy and a stalker. The look on your face must have echoed those sentiments because as you were backing away he took one of your hands.

“I’m not crazy I promise, and I’m not a stalker. I just feel like we’ve been missing each other on several occasions and it’s mainly because I didn’t take the assertive role and let my intentions be known. I like you Sianna, yes I don’t know much about you but the conversations we’ve had I’ve enjoyed and would like to know you more.”

You didn’t know what to say.

“Chino, I told you, I’m…,”

“Pregnant, yes I understood that. I understand that but that does not change how I’m beginning to feel about you, or my intentions with you.”

“There is a whole baby, actually 2 babies. Twins, and they’re…,”

“I don’t care.” Chino finalized. You closed your mouth and just stared at him unsure what to say, even more unsure how to act.

“I want to date you, I want to get to know you. Will you let me?”

Several moments of silence passed between you. You didn’t know what to think.

“Will you have dinner with me tonight?” You couldn’t trust your voice so you nodded. He smiled and gently squeezed your hand.

“Good. Good. Is it okay if I come for you here?” Again you nodded.

“Okay, see you tonight.”

Chino backed away slowly before he turned and walked toward the door. You watched him stunned at what just happened.

<><><><><>

“You can’t go out with him Sianna, you can’t. You’re pregnant with another man’s babies. A man who thinks you got an abortion. This is messy.” You said to yourself while staring in the mirror examining the dress and heels you wore for the night.

Dressing this baby bump was getting trickier and trickier with each passing week. The dress you wore didn’t accentuate your bump but it did a pretty decent job of concealing it a little. The black color helped make you look slimmer while the layers help to conceal.

“You can’t go out with him Sianna. Don’t!”

The room phone rang, you walked to it and answered. It was the lobby attendant informing you he was downstairs waiting. You thanked them and looked yourself over again. Deciding that you couldn’t stand him up you took up your clutch and walked out. The entire ride down in the elevator you debated with yourself on if this was a good idea. Yes, he was attractive but were you really ready to entertain another man after Chadwick, especially while pregnant. Before you’d made any decisions the elevator opened and before you knew it you were standing in front of Chino.

He wore a well tailored black suit sans the tie and a crisp white button down underneath that had 3 of the buttons unbuttoned, he looked good. He smiled widely.

“Wow, you look….” He paused as if he were trying to find the right word.

“Incredible.” You smiled.

“Thank you, you don’t look too bad yourself.”

Chino reached inside his suit jacket and held out a red rose.

“For you.” You took the cliché but beautiful flower, smelled it’s fragrant aroma and smiled.

“Thank you, it’s beautiful.”

“Shall we?” Chino held out his arm and you looped yours within it as he escorted you out the front doors of the hotel to the waiting black car.

“Mr. Benitez, your keys.”

The valet held them out, chino took them opened the passenger side for you and assisted you getting in. As you thanked him he walked around the front of the car giving you the full view in the brightened headlights. The suit fit him well, it hugged him in all the right places, shoulders, back, thighs, ass. He climbed into the drivers side and drove off.

The drive was not an uncomfortable one, he asked about my business in Miami and if I was successful in what I came for, after explaining I was very successful I asked him about the medical conference. He explained the conference from the first day which was mainly about surgeons and brain surgery in general, new techniques and things of that such. The way he spoke was beautiful he sounded passionate about what he did, he also spoke often with his hands to emphasis his meaning, you liked that. An expressive man while speaking was an expressive man during other aspects of life. Another thing your mother said.

Before you could ask about the second day of the conference you’d arrived at the restaurant. Again he helped you out the car and into the restaurant, never looking away from your face or placing his hands anywhere disrespectful. It was as if he was completely ignoring the elephant between you.

“So, Sianna how long have you lived in LA?”

“Not long actually, I lived in New York prior but decided to open a store here to take advantage of the weather which I thought would be a wise decision as a designer. So it’s been maybe a few months.”

“Do you like it so far?”

“It’s okay, if I can survive New York traffic then I can survive anywhere.” You joked. He laughed and it made you smile.

“Have you lived in LA long?”

“All my life, born and raised. I was born in San Jose, grew up there. Got a scholarship out to UCLA for medicine and jumped on it.”

“That’s impressive. Why medicine?”

“When I was in middle school they had career day and a doctor from the local hospital came to school, presented and everything. A neighborhood gang who had beef with one of the kid’s older brothers came and decided to shoot the kid to get to his older brother. The doctor there leapt into action, used regular things like paper clips, the hands in a clock, straws, and things like that to save his life. After that I was fascinated and went to the hospital, talked to the same doctor and I was lucky enough he took me under his wing in sort of an unofficial big brother thing. It’s to him I credit with keeping me off the streets and away from the gangs and my head in the books. He helped me a lot, made it possible for me to be able to get that scholarship.”

You studied him, he looked emotional but also humbled.

“Wow Chino, that’s amazing. Sounds like one of the good guys. Are you still close?”

“Yes, he is still my mentor, we now work at the same hospital, he left the hood. We’re very close.” You nodded.

“What about you? Are you close to anyone? Siblings, parents, fiends?”

“Yeah we’re all close, I have 2 brothers, we’re close. I also have friends, we’re very close.”

Chino nodded, the waiter approached and you watched his mouth as he spoke to put his order in. It was something about the way his lips moved to form words, something you couldn’t put your finger on, it was nice. You placed your order as well and the conversation continued effortlessly. In the beginning he did most the talking asking about you, which branched into him relating it to something he experienced, it was pleasant and it made me realize it had been a long time since I was on a date.

While eating your meals the questions got more personal.

“So how far along are you?” Chino inquired.

You swirled your spoon around in your creamy tomato soup and licked your lips.

“Um, roughly 15, 16ish weeks.” He nodded.

“I didn’t know when we met.” You blurted out.

“It’s okay if you did. You are under no obligation to tell me anything. Thank you for telling me though.”

You nodded.

“Is the father…,”

“No.” You interrupted. “No, he isn’t in the picture.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Babies are a blessing, and you’re expecting 2 of them. How are you handling it?”

“Ha, I’m losing my fucking mind.”

Chino laughed loudly making you laugh too. Soon the entire restaurant was looking your way quizzically.

“I can imagine.” Chino empathized.

“Why isn’t this a deal breaker for you?”

He took a deep breath in and released it slowly.

“I know things happen in life, things that are unexpected and unplanned. I was one of those things for my mother. She thought she was done God said no. Here I am. Faulting you for your situation would be like faulting my mother. Things happen. My only concern is if you can allow yourself to get to know me and in turn allow me to get to know you. Will this be a deal breaker for you?” Chino turned around to you.

You stared at him thinking over his question. This was all new to you. You didn’t have a manual of what to do and what not to do. Hell a week ago you were warming to the idea of getting back on the dating horse with another man and this week here you were on a date with a whole different one. It was safe to say you were all over the place. Making any permanent decisions was probably not a smart thing.

“I want to be real with you Chino. I have no idea what I’m doing. This is all new to me. I’ve been single for quite a while and I’m afraid I am out of practice with this whole thing. Now throw in the fact of this pregnancy, it’s a little weird for me. With that being said I enjoy the time we spend together. I enjoy your conversation, I think you’re a decent man and I wouldn’t oppose getting to know you better, but again this is new.” You explained.

“I understand. How about we take it slow. Nothing concrete. I am here for you no matter what you need. We’ll take it day by day. If at any time you feel we’re moving too fast then we will pump the breaks and reassess. I’m not in a rush Sianna. Yes I’ve come to the point in my life where running around with a different woman every month isn’t appealing and what’s appealing is a solid relationship, and eventually a family. I want to take the time to establish something with you, at your pace.”

You breathed out in relief. You were grateful he didn’t take offense and because he didn’t it made you warm to him even more.

The rest of the evening passed comfortably, Chino took you to a sultry underground club that housed many different singing acts. It was different, but the singing was beautiful. You felt his eyes on you on more than one occasion. Sometimes it made you uncomfortable other times you didn’t mind it, but he stayed respectful. It was refreshing. After the underground club you walked along the beach and continued talking. He was easy to talk to, but his life was also interesting so it was entertaining to listen to him speak.

When you made it back to the hotel it was nearing 2 o’clock in the morning. He kissed your hand and said goodnight without trying to weasel himself upstairs or even in for a hug or kiss.

When you went up to your room your morning was taken up by thoughts of Chino and Chadwick and your current situation. Yes, you knew you shouldn’t have lied or alluded to getting an abortion, but it was clear he didn’t want the babies, it was clear he thought you were a whore so why the hell would you want him anywhere near this pregnancy or these babies. You did your part, he fucked up. It was time to resign yourself to being a single mother and gather the balls to tell your family.

<><><><>

The remainder of the time you were in Miami it was spent with Chino. He took you to breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between. You explored the museums in Miami, the beach (which you wore shorts and a T-shirt to.) You even went into the water wearing them, Chino didn’t seem to mind. You rode bikes through a park together, went on a boat tour, and even saw a play. It was an eventful few days, but you enjoyed them.

The more time you spent with Chino you slowly became more comfortable. He never asked more than he should, or overstepped his bounds in any way. Part of you felt maybe he was one of those guys who had a pregnant woman fetish and really just wanted to have sex. You tried to get away from the thoughts but sometimes they were too strong to overcome.

On the day you were to leave Miami to go back to LA, you had breakfast and his hand accidentally brushed yours while you both were reaching for the syrup but he didn’t pull back instead he softly caressed your fingers in a quick move, but it did not go unnoticed. That was the extent of any touching; he was staying true to his word on taking it slow.

“If you’re feeling up for it tonight would you like to have dinner with me?” You smiled.

“2 nights in a row already, don’t you think after 3 you will have gotten tired of me?” You teased.

He smiled, took one step to you and took your hand. You looked to your hands and watched him weave his fingers with yours. His hands were big. “Tired of you? Are you tired of me?”

“Well Dr. Benitez, that is privileged information.” He smiled wider as did you.

“Oh, secrets already. Okay. Keep your secrets.” You laughed. He raised your hand to his lips and kissed your fingers.

“I’m not tired of you. Not even close.” You stared in his eyes and saw nothing but warmth in them.

“Good to know.” He nodded.

“Last call for flight 326 to Los Angeles boarding at gate G4.”

You smirked. “That’s me.” You announced.

“All right, have a safe flight. Call me when you land so I know you’re okay.” Chino requested. You smiled at his protectiveness.

“You too.”

He allowed your hand to fall to your side, and you walked away to the nearby gate. You peeped back and saw him watching, but you caught his eyes on your ass. You smiled to yourself before he realized you were watching. The embarrassment on his face was too funny not to laugh at as you walked down the corridor to board the plane.

“Jesus Sianna, what are you doing?”

To Be Continued….

NOTE: Painting used in this fic is an original artwork by Roseline Al Oumami titled “Eclat”. Artwork does not belong to me.

Tags: @kumkaniudaku @brianabreeze @sarahboseman @texasbama @heyauntieeee @airis-paris14 @thiccdaddy-mbaku @wakandas-vibranium @wakanda-inspired @theunsweetenedtruth @ashanti-notthesinger @reignsxjackson @halfrican-heat @ambthegamer @simplyyamberr @dramaqueenamby @muse-of-mbaku @sisterwifeudaku @mejustme06 @stressedgyal @ilcb7 @leahnicole1219 @destinio1 @maliadestiny @drsunshine97 @blowmymbackout @purplehairgawdess @thehuntoyobun @wakandamama @wakandawinning @profilia @zxddy-panther @h-challa @babygirlofwakanda @misswakanda2018 @challaxkillmonger @ororowrites @hutchj @myfavemarvelfanfics @lavitabella87 @afraiddreamingandloving @autumn242 @purple-apricots @skysynclair19 @hersheyskissesss @blue-ishx @blublubleu @90sinspiredgirl @tchallaswife @tchallamakesmeh0lla @turn-thy-paige @blackchickfics @blackpantherismyish @inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove @naturally-bri @flawlesslybeautiful14 @qweentbh @lunaerly @theoutereffect @twilight-sapphire-lover @pupyluv247 @stark-red19 @cockyboysandsugarism @maverickabull @madbadsiren @aykanna @myaw731 @ruruly20 @mixedmelanin @brittyevans @bezzywazhere @laketaj24 @taint3dvirgin @soulsparker @theresnomoregoodones @syreanne @loveandcigarillos @heyauntieeee @heybriheyyy @wakanda-bcth @uhlxis @maliadestiny @dadinhas-heat @yaachtynoboat711 @geeksareunique @bultalongthewayside @ajspencer1892 @captiansaveasmut @imaginewhoever @terrablaze514 @starsshines-blog @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @darkandlovely94 @sithlordslut @wavyyc @naturalistamisslyn @nigarachi15 @madamslayy @blackandfair @kreolemami @mylastnameisthe-fish @kaykay0829 @chaneajoyyy @tequilajay27 @blacklotus-of-the-black-kingdom @slimmiyagi @im5ftbutmythroat66 @jaeee-http @madhatterhelsing @sunflowerpsalms @wakanda-shit-is-that @deliciousstreetkidcroissant @jecourt @vebner37 @disneysdarlingdiva @melaninmarvel @alanastormborn @dolphinpink310 @wonderbell @ohleucothea @queentearra @bitchbetterhavemydinner @fentybabyy @kaykay4454fan @priya212 @kitkit1690 @chrismarcs @beautycomesindifferentformsworld @blackpantherimagines @ovohanna24 @sweetpeachjones @kslo000 @nubian-queen18 @omgsuperstarg @airis-paris14 @sisterwifeudaku @mejustme06 @ilcb7 @leahnicole1219 @destinio1 @drsunshine97 @blue-ishx @inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove @prettyprincessushio @treeondrea @ursapharoh05 @blackpinup22 @kaytauru @big3gocandykahn @kissingpineapples @ilcb7 @wildaboutchrisevans @dadinhas-heat @fitfineandstayingalive @misspooh @michele-onel @gorjiss @blacklotus-of-the-black-kingdom @muva-milaje @limbo-limbo-limbo @awkwardlyabstract @blxck-brxndie @chrismarcs @meeky-imagines @inlovewith3 @metalarmlover @mellowjellow6 @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @sweettea-and-honeybutter @thatrandomhetaliachick @missdeerstalker15 @ursapharoh05 @treeondrea @ovohanna24 @marvelheaux @romanceoftheeveryday @mufasathatniggatho @cltex84 @sweetbearcolorgarden @msincognito67 @blackpantherimagines @mosagram @lunaerly @mar-ta-3 @ljstraightnochaser @lewatigress @akimi-youngblood @beezywazhere @bekahdean87 @teechallas-blog @jasmindaughteroftheworld @cocooned-butterfly @emoniclark22 @chereedrop619 @theblulife @niggarachi15 @drsunshine97 @ursapharoh05 @msincognito67 @missdeerstalker15 @wakandamama @great-neckpectations @stressedgyal @avenger-marvel-fan

#animal fic #chadwick boseman #chadwick x you #chadwick x reader #chadwick boseman smut #chadwick boseman fanfiction #black fanfiction #angst #fluff fanfic #slow burn

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skammovistarplus · 5 years

Text

Culture and Translation - S01 E06

This is a bit of a weird episode, in that it feels like not much happened. Because Skam España switched a few things around, it seems like episode 6 shouldn’t be the episode in which to hang out with the characters for a while before shit goes down. But one thing that got me hooked to Skam almost straight away was the way you got to “hang out” with the characters even in small, drama-free moments, and this episode has a couple of clips I really like.

CLIP 1: Monday blues

Es que le metiste un corte (You were razor sharp with him): “Meter un corte” is really hard to translate. It basically means to be really cutting with someone when they aren’t expecting it, in a way that shuts the conversation for good. Which Amira did, over and over, but the dude wasn’t getting the hint.

I do think Nora feels a little bad for the guy, but only because Nora is extremely empathetic with everyone in the world, to the point where it’s surprising when she’s not empathetic.

Viri is a great liar. We will come to find out much of what she says in this scene is a lie, but she has no tells. This is why I think the Selena Gomez shoe line thing was Viri teasing the girls, because she broke character almost immediately. If Viri wanted the girls to believe it, we can see here that she would’ve managed.

Nora’s shirt says, “No means no.” ‘No es no’ was first a slogan for an awareness campaign, promoted by several Spanish city halls, which aimed to curtail sexual abuse and rape during local festivals, such as Sanfermines. There’s also an Axel, Soledad song. And it has of course been slapped on all sorts of merchandise. Like shirts!

The sides of the mirror are tagged with graffiti, by the way.

And also, Eva and Nora are late for first period! They end up skipping it entirely.

CLIP 2: Lucas has feels; Eva’s are stronger

Eva and Lucas are listening to Molly Svrcina’s Fallen Angel. I think the point of the song was lost in how incredibly random the song is. This is a song Lucas recommends Eva listen to. It’s about Lucas, not Eva. Lucas is trying to give a hint to Eva about himself, but Eva’s too focused on the Jorge drama.

While this clip dropped during recess, Eva skipped school. Not sure if Lucas did as well, though.

It’s Viri who shares a birthday with Paris Jackson, as I already wrote in the post for last episode.

Alejandro Reina does a nice bit of acting with his eyes at the 5:22 mark. Lol, Lucas is so fucking tired of the Eva/Jorge drama carousel.

Y tú me caes de puta madre (“And I think you’re fucking great”): Lucas is not just saying that he thinks Eva’s great. He’s saying he really fucking likes Eva (as a friend, that is!).

Es que sigo enfadada (“‘Cause I’m still upset”): This is a sentiment that will be expressed often this week by Eva, Jorge and Lucas. I’ve seen subs that translate it “enfadada” as “angry” and it’s not wrong, but I feel Eva and Jorge are both more upset than angry during this week. Your mileage may vary, though!

CLIP 3: Ship wars

Cullera: Cullera is a beach city in the Valencia region that has been taken over by tourists (or guiris, if you will!). There are some nice sights, but people visit for the beaches. Many Spanish familes own some sort of apartment by the beach, but Cullera is a step up from the usual, which is Torremolinos. A hint about Inés’ parents’ economic status! Cullera means “spoon” in Valencian language, by the way.

Easter break: The 2019 Easter break runs from the 12th of April to the 22th. Coincidentally, there are some rumors that s2 will premiere after Easter break 2019.

Tú no te líes, que el viaje importante es el de Mallorca, ¿eh? (Okay, but don’t lose sight of the important trip, the Majorca trip, huh?): A closer translation would be: “Don’t get sidetracked, the important trip is the Majorca trip, okay?” Which is actually a shorter line, so we should maybe change that, lol.

Que parezcamos ahí dos lapas como estas parejitas que están por ahí (For us to look like two barnacles like those couples you see everywhere): The literal translation would be, “for us to look like two barnacles like those couples that are around,” but that sounded like shade towards Eva and Jorge, who are also broken up this week. It’s not meant as shade, and in fact Eva has no reaction to it, so I reworked it.

Viri’s economic background is hinted through her confusion with job titles. In Spanish, she doesn’t remember if Alejandro’s father is a “director” (which could be translated as director, manager, and even principal, but also CEO) and “directivo” (executive or CEO). I settled for initials salad.

There is a bit of dialogue at the end that was cut from the episode version. The girls present their final arguments in the Viriandro vs Aleviri debate… which ironically, foreshadowed the Norandro vs Alenora shipname wars. It appears as if most of the fandom has settled on Norandro, at last.

Viri: It’s that, it’s like a Greek god.

Cris: What are you, Voldemort or something?

Viri: It’s like, it’s funny because it’s like a Greek god, like Viriandro is a Greek god sort of name. Yeah, it’s super neat.

Cris: It’s a gladiator name, dude!

Almost totally off topic linguistics note: The girls use the English loanword “ship” in the fandom sense. The verb had obviously crossed language lines in fandom spaces years ago, but it became part of mainstream Spanish culture (yes, really) when Operación Triunfo became big last year, and everyone was shipping couples from the show. The interesting part is that Spanish speakers came up with two declensions for the Spanish form of the verb: “yo lo shippeo” (I ship it) and “yo lo shippo” (again, I ship it). People who had been in fandom longer leaned towards “shippeo” (and so do I!), so I find it aesthetically pleasing that the girls favor that declension.

CLIP 4: Eva shoots his shot. It doesn’t go well.

I was certain Jorge’s secret would have to do with one or both his parents being unemployed, so at the time I made note of the fact that one of the apartments he walks by is up for sale. It’s the reddish orange sign at the 10:06 mark.

The song that plays at the end of the clip is Zahara’s El Frío, but it has been edited. These are the lyrics that have made it to the clip: “I didn’t expect that the one who started all the fires would also be the one to put them out. How did you let the cold inside you, it has destroyed everything.”

CLIP 5: Speederman

This has to be a change from my high school years. I did the Cooper test in 3º ESO (the equivalent of 9th grade in the US) and never had to do it again through high school.

More info on the Cooper test, in case you care. Not only was I not tested on a standard 400 m tartan track, but we were also not trained to perform it properly. Ah, high school PE!

Venom premiered in Spain the 5th of October. This clip dropped the 19th of October.

Yes, that is actually how we pronounce Spiderman in Spain.

I love that Nora is into Viri saying she loves anything that has to do with saving the world. Nora is so earnest, lol.

¿O qué vas a hacer, tía? ¿Quedarte en casa llorando? (“Or what do you have in mind, dude? Staying at home, crying?”): Another translation could be, “Or what are you going to do, dude? Stay at home and cry?” but I went with the line in the subs because I thought it flowed better.

Cómo jode que te dejen, ¿eh? (It sucks to be dumped, doesn’t it?): “Sucks” is a lot less charged than “joder,” which is the word Inés actually uses. I guess you’d have to say “fucking sucks” to get the intensity across. You’ll have to make do with Inés’ line delivery.

CLIP 6: Ride of the Valkyries

As it turns out, Alba Planas is also a fan of og Skam, so I’m going to pretend Eva’s string of sorries is also an homage to Tarjei’s delivery.

This scene was shot right outside of Cine Paz.

Pero no me seáis pavas (“But don’t be silly”): Viri says “pavas,” which is hard to translate. Essentially, Viri’s afraid the girls are going to embarrass her in front of Alejandro, either unintentionally or (not unlikely given this group) intentionally. I.e. they’re not going to behave maturely in front of him.

Madre mía (Good heavens): Okay, so I already talked in the post for episode 5 about the way Amira uses interjections that aren’t swear words, and this is an example of it. “Madre mía” literally means “mother of mine” and it’s basically meaningless as an interjection. What matters is the tone you add to it. In this case, Amira’s impatient that the girls are getting distracted chatting about whatever, instead of going into the theater. I don’t love “good heavens” as it has Christian connotations. On the other hand, “geez” feels too short for how impatient Amira sounds.

It took me a while to realize this, but this clip actually has an og equivalent. This would be the clip where Vilde notices William and Sara hooking up, and looks devastated. Skam España chooses to go about it in a totally different way, with the girls backing Viri up as they walk in.

CLIP 7: Tout le monde veut devenir un cat

Sí, hija, sí (“Yeah, girl, yeah”): Jorge actually calls Eva “daughter,” lol. Much like with tío and tía, we might call anyone “son” or “daughter.” I’ve even caught myself using it on my own parents! If I have the right info, this is also common in Latin American countries, except they use “mijo” and “mija,” instead. “Hijo” or “hija” is more affectionate than “tío” or “tía,” although, much like with “madre mía,” it’s used to express a variety of emotions. Here, Jorge is dismayed that his chocolate romance went awry.

Pretty sure those are knockoff peanut M&Ms. Most likely from the Spanish grocery chain Mercadona.

The song that plays at the end of the clip and through the credits is Bely Basarte’s Mariposas. You can find a translation here.

Tomás Aguilera, who plays Jorge, has managed to be almost impossible to find online. However, his instagram bio makes reference to the French version of the Aristocats song Everybody wants to be a cat. It’s adorable.

Social media:

The girls talk about the Zaorejas random again, Cris notes that he looked young enough as to be in ESO, or MSE, Mandatory Secondary Education. MSE runs through the equivalents of 7th to 10th grade in the US.

#culture and translation #skam españa #skam spain #skames #skamesp

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oneunicornaway · 6 years

Note

pleasbe pblease blease the cooking fire alarm one wirth. jon and martin pls also you KNOW jons the shitty cool in this situation

Yooo

Heres the corrected version my lovely friend

General spoileriness for the way Jon and Martin evolve up until the middle of season 3, so um, know that :)

EDIT: forgot to mention, the working title for this was a sorry excuse for a pun:Burning Love

Second EDIT: Now available on AO3

It couldn’t be that complicated - hadthought Jon as he had bought the eggs and the muffins at the store - to makeegg benedict.

Martin’s new flat was tiny, and his waterdidn’t have enough pressure in the shower, but it had wide windows pouring lightinto the tiny kitchen corner, and Martin had confessed to having a lot lessnightmares since he had let his colleagues convince him to move out.And well, if the large windows gave ample opportunity to feel as though theywere being constantly watched, neither Jon nor Martin had mentioned it.

Jon starred uselessly at the egg containerhe had bravely put down in front of him. Automatically, his eyes began tofollow the lines of text, absentmindedly drinking in all of the information aboutfair trade, good alimentation, and low prices.

Putting the bacon in a pan, and the muffinin the toaster was the easy part, and once Jon had done that he could concentrateon his real challenge.

In theory, Jon knew how to makepoached eggs. His grandmother had known how to make them and, whenever he wouldloiter in the kitchen out of boredom, she would explain to him, in that clippedtone of hers, the why and how of what she was doing.He remembered her explanations, her movements, and he figured imitating themwouldn’t be too much of a hassle. She had made it seem almost easy.

Despite all of this, it probably wasn’t surprisingthat by the time a suspicious smell started to spread throughout the kitchen,Jon had barely made any headway, and didn’t react to the outwards sign ofoncoming disaster.

Jon barely suppressed a shriek when thefire alarm started beeping loudly right over his head. Finally distracted fromthe eggs, he saw then that the bacon had shriveled in the pan, taking on anunsettling charred appearance, and that it was beginning to fume heavily. Jonremoved the pan from the stove hastily to put it under the faucet. Steamimmediately erupted out of the pan, blinding him for an instant, and emitting aloud hissing sound.

The bedroom door creaked open, and Jonturned to see a bleary-eyed Martin stumbling into the kitchen.

“Jon? What are you doing?” he mumbled.

One of his hand was on his left ear and hiseyes were still mostly closed as he reached in the little closet he had putagainst the fridge to retrieve a broom handle. After a bit of fumbling, hemanaged to hit the alarm so that the insistent beeping noise died down.

“I’m sorry…” began to say Jon.

Martin interrupted him by putting a handover his mouth. Jon was surprised enough that he didn’t think to protest as thetaller man brushed passed him.

“Oh! You made eggs! That’s nice” Martinsounded a tad more awake as he peered at the slightly less failed prototype Jonhad managed to produce before almost burning down his new home.

“I…”

Once again, Jon was interrupted, by theshock of Martin putting a featherlight kiss to the corner of his mouth beforestarting to organize the mess he had made of his kitchen.

He couldn’t respond to Martin’s lightteasing either, as the man took control of the cooking tools. For once, Jon couldn’tparse the meaning of the words, as panic slowly began to seep in.

Martin was beginning to scrub at theslightly charred pan when he seemed to notice Jon wasn’t reacting.

“Oh I’m sorry, was that not… okay…?”

Martin’s words slowly died down as he spoke.As if he couldn’t help but ask, desperate for an answer that he was already dreading.Jon knew the feeling very well.

“Martin…” Jon began, slow and wary, himselfunsure of what he was about to say. “What… did you think this was?”

Martin’s eyes widened minutely, but thechange was obvious to Jon’s avid eyes. It was slightly different than whateverembarrassed expression Martin usually wore…

“What did I think… ? Jon what do you mean?What did you think this was?”

There was a touch of anger there, somethingthat made Martin’s expression look somewhat bitter.

“I… I would assume not whatever youthought.”

Even to his own ears, this sounded haughtyand mean, but the flash of hurt in Martin’s eyes quickly hardened again.

“Jon. Listen. Can you… I…” Martin madehimself pause, obviously composing himself, and when he spoke again, his tonewas precise and clipped.

“Last week, we went out together fordrinks, right? And you proposed to accompany me home, right?”

“I…”

“Jon.”

“Well yes, I did, why is that…”

“Wednesday,”Martin went on forcefully, bypassing Jon’s fumbled protests. “You treated me tolunch.”

“You’d forgotten yours…”

“And bought me a book the next day,that I had talked about.”

“Well I…”

“Yesterday, you offered to walk me backhome, and this morning you tried to bake me breakfast, even though, Iknow for a fact that you are, frankly, a terrible cook” - at this,Martin shot a pointed look at his charred pan, which Jon felt was a bit unfair.

“I was just trying to…”

“Jon you slept, with me, in my bed. Whatthe hell am I supposed to think?” each word felt like Martin had pushedthem out with a kick to the butt.

Jon’s mouth opened, and closed.

It did seem rather misleading exposed likethat.

“But I… I didn’t…”

“Jon, come on. I know you’re asexual. Iwouldn’t expect you to jump on me and I wasn’t about to push any boundaries.”

Martin sounded tired, now, dejected.

“I’m sorry I… didn’t mean… I…”

“It’s okay… I just…”

Martin dropped the pan he was still holdingin front of me in the sink and went to sit on the couch, pointedly facing awayfrom Jon.

Jon stayed frozen on the spot for severalseconds. There was nothing he could think to say that wouldn’t make thingsworse, but he couldn’t really leave Martin like this, could he?

“Jon?”

Martin’s voice was soft and sad, and Jonhad never before felt quite that guilty.

“Yes?”

“Do you think… now that you know that wekind of, you know… now that you know; do you think we could still… goout sometimes?”

Jon’s immediate, knee-jerk reaction was tosay no. He didn’t have the time, didn’t have the emotional ability, he wasn’tinterested, and they were probably all going to die soon anyways. Even if hehad wanted, it would have felt like punching at a brick wall.

But… the thought of leaving Martin, lettinghim to shoulder all of this alone… it felt unfair somehow. And those last fewdays, it wasn’t as though Jon hadn’t liked spending time with the younger man.If he refused, would Martin stop spending time with him, would he stop talkingto him? Jon knew he wouldn’t, but… if anything, he wanted to knit himselfdeeper in the… friendship? relationship? he had with Martin. If they reallyonly had weeks, months to live, he would rather die in the arms of a friendrather than alone. Besides, he now had numerous examples of why pushing peopleaway for whatever reason was a bad decision.

Martin chuckled sadly from the sofa.

“I can almost hear you thinking overthere. It’s okay, you know? You don’t have t…”

“I’d like to, actually. I think.”

Martin’s head snapped around.

“Spend more time together, I mean.”

“I… really?”

Jon shrugged and sat himself besides Martinon the couch, just close enough that his legs barely touched the man’s foldedform.

“I don’tknow about the uh… romance stuff?I’ve never been good with that part. But I also don’t want not to? I guess? AndI would like to spend some more time with you.”

Martin stared, he looked as though he wasabout to cry. From sadness, anger or joy, Jon was in no emotional capacity totell.

“Is that… Is that okay?”

God, he was getting as bad as Martin,stuttering all over the place.Jon couldn’t find it in himself to really mind, though.

“I… Yes, that’s fine.” Martin didn’t soundquite sure, but Jon would take what he could get.

An uneasy silence fell over the both ofthem. For once, Jon’s mind was completely blank, free of all the swarminginformation that usually crowding his mind, and he couldn’t forget the factthat his link with Martin - this thin thread he could feel and wasn’t sure wasentirely natural – was very close to a breaking point.

“Jon?” Martin said after a bit.

“Yes?”

“Can I uh… Can I hug you? Please?”

“What? I mean… yes.”

Jon opened his arms awkwardly, and beforehe could wonder about angles and being comfortable, Martin dived into hischest, pushing him backwards against the couch cushions.Martin’s face was pressed against his shoulder, and if Jon believed the smallsounds the man couldn’t suppress, his shirt wouldn’t get out dry of thisencounter. Despite all this, Martin’s body against his own felt warm, andseemed to ward away some of the constant fear Jon had become used toexperience.

They wouldn’t be fine, he knew. Theywouldn’t be okay, and Jon at least was sure he wouldn’t get to see the end ofthis. But maybe, for now, they could take whatever comfort they had to offereach other.

Jon closed his arms around Martin, and lethimself, just this once, relax.

There was a prickling at the back of hisneck, the sensation of watching, approving eyes, that opened as soon as Jonclosed his.

#me #my writing #tma #tma spoilers #jon x martin #is there even a ship name??#Jonathan Sims #the character #this keeps being somewhat confusing #Martin Blackwood #powers mentionned #is martin with the web #who knows #(i dont think he is but whatevs)#I know there was something else I wanted to say but of course #i cant remember it now

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fly-pow-bye · 6 years

Text

DuckTales 2017 - “The Ballad of Duke Baloney!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Colleen Evanson

Storyboarded by: Jean-Sebastien Duclos, Mike Morris, Sam King

Directed by: Jason Zurek

Not full of balogna.

Here’s an interesting way to start this "ballad": begin with a scene from the season finale that didn't really have a conclusion. I just saw as a good way to include a beloved villain in a montage filled with cameos from previous episodes. There was clearly more to this story, but it wasn't important compared to the whole "sorceress just took over the entire town" plot.

In particular, Glomgold’s shadow ends up throwing him into the ocean. As he shouts “curse you, me”, he ends up nearly drowning, only to be saved by some fishers.

Specifically, he wakes up to find himself caught in a net. Glomgold reacts as well as one would expect, telling these fishermen to get their hands off of him. Turns out, that's not the right word to say.

Lady: Whoa, fisherperson?

The "gag" with her is that she wants everything to be more socially conscious, though I'm not sure if this is supposed to be one. Their names, from left to right, are Fisher and Mann, something Fisher point out almost immediately to defend this stranger's wrong word. Glomgold isn't having it, and asks them if they knows who he is. They don't, as they're simple fisherpeople. He tries to exclaim in a dramatic way, until he realizes...

...even he doesn’t know. Yes, this episode starts with that cliche where someone loses all of his memories after a bump in the head, or a bunch of water going through it in this case. However, they use this as an excuse.

After the theme song, we cut to a report showing what exactly happened between Glomgold’s disappearance and now. A new CEO just barged into Glomgold’s absence, as she literally pushes away his silhouette to reveal herself. Her name is Zan Owlson. I swear, I misheard it as Van Owlsing, and that still made sense. Glomgold is practically a vampire compared to her.

Even the newsreporter decides to tell the viewers that this new CEO is not insane. We get a small bio of her past: she was the top of her class, and she ran a charity called Change for Chicks! No, Johnny Bravo, she means literal chicks. Unlike her predecessor, she cuts a lot of funding dedicated to revenge and sharks. Even moreso unlike her predecessor, she is completely open to make deals with long-time rival company McDuck Enterprises, as we see her shake hands with its CEO.

In other words, she’s exactly the opposite of Glomgold in every way, as enhanced by the news cutting to a Simpsons-esque file photo gag of him eating shrimp in an unflattering manner at a charity auction. Maybe the one from The Golden Lagoon from Agony Plains?

It’s also shown by the old Glomgold logo being replaced by a treasure chest filled with a bunch of people. She doesn’t even include herself in this, definitely not something Glomgold would do.

Zan Owlson: At Glomgold Industries, our community is the greatest treasure of all.

She even makes an outright reference to the Glomgold motto that Glomgold just made up to get those henchmen he hired to like him in Woo-oo. What happened to those guys?

We cut from the newsreport, which we barely get back to, to a fisherperson's wharf, where Louie and Webby are planning on going fishing. While it’s a day in the limelight episode for Glomgold, that doesn’t mean we don’t get to see the nephews and honorary niece.

Webby is all about hunting fish in a more barbaric way with a stick, while Louie just wants to fish with a fishing rod. Louie is more of the straight man here, though they seem to swap back and forth between scenes depending on one's viewpoint. They do realize that they forgot one thing that would help them immensely, and there happens to be someone with a South African accent.

While his beard was dyed by several unfortunate squid ink-related accidents and his accent has changed, it’s clearly the duck that attempted to kill them and their uncle several times over. They react very similarly to Bart and Lisa Simpson reacting to Sideshow Bob, but this bearded guy has no idea who this Glomgold guy is.

He rechristened himself “Duke Baloney”, just like the humble sandwich meat, in his words. This does not go well with Louie, who already makes the obvious quip about his name. Webby has to take him aside to talk about this.

Webby and Louie get into their conflict, though for Webby, it's a little less defined and more just "she doesn't agree with Louie's idea". Louie thinks this is all just an act, and he even says he should know because it takes a con artist to know one. Webby, on the other hand, thinks that he really is suffering from this and needs to go back to his old self. Either that, or maybe this is Glomgold turning into a good person like a reverse werewolf, her reasoning changes throughout the episode.

They do humor the idea that maybe this guy is just a different person altogether, but then he gets caught in his own rope trap.

Duke Baloney: Curse you, rope!

Louie & Webby: It’s him.

This is a slight hint that this will probably not be permanent. That would be an odd way to write off a huge arch-nemesis!

Glomgold invites them over to what I now realize is the closest TV-Y7-FV equivalent to a bar, offering them a bucket of fish heads, to Louie's disapproval. I’m sure real ducks eat a lot worse than that.

Webby tries to show off a Missing poster with Glomgold on it that also seems to function as a wanted poster due to tax evasion! Oh, how unrealistic, everyone knows rich people always get away with that. Unfortunately, all this gets is scorn from Baloney’s fellow crewmates for even suggesting he’s related to that tyrant. This is a "bully-free zone" according to that one fisherperson, after all. That's pretty much it for the socially conscious aspect of her character.

Even Louie joins in on this chants along with everyone else. Sure, he was totally against the guy, but the boy just wants his free Pep! However, Webby notices the money happens to have a very fancy money clip. They decide to stay back to investigate this from afar.

A general theme that pops up in this episode is that Duke Baloney may have amnesia, but his inner Glomgold continues to show more and more. This especially comes in once we see a McDuck Enterprise company get involved. While this doesn't entirely revive his memory, he does get a sudden dislike for "that boat."

This is especially shown with disagreements with his fellow crewmembers. The crewmembers are okay with being #2, However, considering #1 is owned the richest duck in the world, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to fight a battle they can't win. Duke Baloney, on the other hand, doesn't see that as impossible.

One clever bit is that he does the cliche “look at me, I’m a pretty lady and not a trap” gag, and realizes he could get more fish if he did something for the ladies, too. He never does realize that, if this plan did work, he would get some really messy fish guts. All in all, aside from the dynamite, he just seems like this misunderstood guy who’s down on his luck.

At least, that's what Webby thinks. Louie accuses her of being naive about this, as that’s what she assumed when she was a humble deliveryman and a humble pastry chef. Yeah, Louie, you invited him to a party, if I remember correctly.

While looking at Baloney trying to convince his fellow co-fisherpeople to do a plan that is oddly similar to that Scottish guy. Webby & Louie, continuing to spy on this kind fellow to confirm their different suspicions. Louie says that he's going to be thrown in a pit full of sharks with bombs strapped on to them. Webby says that's ridiculous...

...and we immediately cut to Duke Baloney's plan to get fish, which just happened to get to the part involving sharks with bombs strapped onto them. They don't have womp womp music, they're not that blatant most of the time.

This whole scene is funny, though; it's just like that scene from The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks where Glomgold details his plan with similar drawing. Speaking of plots that weren't resolved in the episode that could use a continuation...that one. Louie and Webby still can't see what any of this could prove, so Webby has an idea that Louie is not a big fan of: record investigation!

Granted, Louie getting hit in the face probably didn't help in any way. I like how the next scene shows Louie walking into Webby’s investigation room. See, anything can have a consequence, even slight gags like that one.

She gets out her board, with a drawing of the moneyclip, a picture of Glomgold, and a picture of Duke Baloney, and...nothing else. She couldn't find anything. Not only is there no record of Duke Baloney, there’s no record of Flintheart Glomgold before he came to America.

In order to find more information and possibly either reveal Glomgold's evil plan or bring Glomgold back to normal, they decide to do a plan involving a certain rich duck. If one can ask why would they want to bring Glomgold back to his former self to terrorize the McDucks, just wait.

Meanwhile, in Duke Baloney’s dreams, we see a bizarre sequence full of odd imagery. Some of it is obviously referencing what will happen in the future, some of which possibly not even in this episode. One of the big ones that isn’t addressed again is that shot on the bottom left. Everyone knows Glomgold is evil, but…is there a more spiritual reason we don’t know about?

That’s not the only unanswered question, either. The shortest description I could say is that he constantly gets a message from what looks like his younger self that the boiler room is out, who slowly turns into Zan Owlson. No connection is made to how Glomgold would be familiar enough with the new CEO to have her appear in his dreams, since all of this happened after he got amnesia.

While most of this dream sequence's symbolism is subtle, there is one line that just whacks you right in the head.

Duke Baloney: This GOLD! It’s GLOOMING onto me!

Yeah, that’s pretty forced. It's at the end of the dream sequence, they may have felt that they needed something blatant at the end to make him wake up.

He wakes up, and his final reaction to all of this? To essentially tell himself to "never mind all that." Hey, it’s not like those dreams mean anything, anyway!

While Duke Baloney is getting welcomed into the family of fisherpeople and telling himself that nothing can possibly ruin this day, in comes Scrooge McDuck. He was invited by Webby and Louie the to talk it out to see what's really going on.

We don't get to hear their conversations, and neither do Louie and Webby, so Webby tries to read their lips. Of course, she does it in a way that makes it seem like she was right all along, even making them say "oh, that Webby was correct all along, huh? I wish I was his housekeeper's granddaughter!" However, while she may be able to read lips, the next move shocks both her and Louie. They look like they're going to fight...

...and then they hug it out. After all the time of Webby seemingly succeeding at everything she does throughout Season 1, it’s a little refreshing to see her actually be wrong for a change. Nobody’s perfect...I learned that with the last episode. Scrooge tells them he's far happier this way, and they should just let him be Duke Baloney.

Webby and Louie accept this, and decide to go back to their initial plan of fishing. However, a storm is brewing.

Duke Baloney, who somehow has that missing/wanted poster, decides that even if he was this Glomgold fellow, he wants his life at the sea. He throws the paper, but it hits him right in the face, symbolically proving that any kind of face turn with him is ultimately futile.

The storm starts happening, and Baloney sees Webby and Louie in trouble. Being the hero that he is now, he tries to. However, he gets hit by, and ends up nearly drowning in the same way he did in the beginning of the episode.

We get another scene from Baloney’s subconscious, but this time we get an outright memory rather than symbolism. In particular: this one is right from one of Baloney’s repressed memories. I decided that outright spoiling it wouldn’t add anything to the review, but the best hint I could give is that I really do mean Baloney’s repressed memories. That shot from the dream I had on the top right is a pretty good hint of foreshadowing this, too.

I will say this: the first thing I did after watching this episode was look up whether or not any of this had any basis in the original comics. The simple answer is not really. While Scrooge first meets Glomgold in South Africa, Glomgold was already grown-up and clearly evil from day one. This flashback adds another dimension to that entirely.

There is one important-to-the-plot takeaway from this, a literal one, I might add, but I’ll talk about it later.

Everyone’s cheering him on to save the kids, and it appears that maybe, just maybe...no, of course not. What did you think was going to happen? No, he made his decision. He says it in such an epic way, that I decided to make this a GIF. A really small GIF to fit Tumblr's restrictions, but I had to keep that animation as smooth as it was.

Duke, er, Flintheart Glomgold: (in his usual Scottish accent) Because I'm Flintheart Glomgold...and I always will be! Ha ha ha ha ha!

I know I implied that I didn't want to spoil, but this scene is just so amazing. It's a lot smoother, they needed to animate it on the ones. It's an impressive sight seeing him laugh with all that lightning behind him.

I did give him a little bit of a That seems to work in his favor, as he happened to have his a spare grey beard in this pocket this whole time. It makes more sense when you watch the episode, trust me.

We somehow fade to him being surrounded by his crewmembers and their friends under very calm weather. This is the one scene transition that doesn't really add up to me. Was the storm in his head the whole time? These former crewmembers only accuse Glomgold of stealing from children rather than attempted murder, which seems to go with that theory.

One thing's for sure: Duke Baloney has left the building, and now it’s Glomgold’s time forever. He starts a Glomgold chant that even he expects no one will join in, as he dives into the water.

This chant continues with him going into his formerly owned organization, where Scrooge was talking with Zan Owlson about how using nickels would save more money than dimes.

Scrooge and Glomgold making a big deal, mostly due to Glomgold still having an all-important money clip, referenced. Yeah, Scrooge treats it like it’s this big deal, suggesting there’s something more to it than just gold. Honestly, considering the Number One Dime twist in The Shadow war, it could be anything at this point.

Also, I am so glad they apparently didn’t decide to push the reset button to prevent any potential plots with Van Owlson, since she barely did anything in this episode other than show her apparent benevolence. Quite a few plot points to this new story arc...at least, I hope it’s a new story arc. I have no reason to believe it’s not.

Oh yeah, and no Dewey in the episode for the first time ever. Not even a mention. How weird!

How does it stack up?

Despite only having an A plot, it is indeed an A plot this time. I can’t wait to see what happens next with this future plot this time. There's some very interesting twists to the classic Glomgold character, and I’d say it could pay off in the future. No bologna here, that’s for sure.

Next, America may not be getting their cartoon, but they will be getting their DuckTales 2017 appearance!

← The Depths of Cousin Fethry! 🦆 The Town Where Everyone Was Nice! →

#fpb dt 2017 #ducktales 2017 #fpb reviews #ducktales #disney

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