Been thinking about The Two Live Crew Job again, specifically about Sophie and Eliot with the bomb, and... y'know, it's interesting to me, how Sophie looks to Eliot while they're trying to figure out what to do with the bomb. He's not the expert in the room, not really—that’s Parker and Hardison, truth be told, though Eliot’s got more field experience with explosives, and we see that in how they're the ones providing feedback. Heck, Parker's the one that comes up with the solution with the instant pudding. Nate takes the natural leader position, and he and Sophie are... Nate and Sophie. But it's Eliot that we see Sophie consistently coming back to, who she locks eyes with.
That could be for plenty of reasons. He does seem to have the steadiest control of the situation, likely because he's the best at dealing with high-stakes life-threatening issues (the hitter with extensive military experience is, of course, going to be better under that kind of pressure than the ones who are technically civilians). But I think maybe there's another layer there: he's the one she can trust to be blunt.
See, Eliot's not going to try to soften this. He's a tactful person as a general rule, but he also knows when to be honest. Sophie doesn't want this to be softened. I suspect that's because it introduces a layer of instability; if she only hears optimistic viewpoints, there's an uncertainty in what could go wrong, a fear about what might really happen. But Parker and Hardison and Nate don't necessarily get that—in fact, they themselves won't want to stare down the flat truth, and they may take the optimistic standpoint simply to keep themselves comfortable, even without realizing it.
Conversely, Eliot's not (and never has been) the type to try to look only on the bright side. You don't get to do that in his line of work. He knows how to look at all possible outcomes and take the scene in as-is, and he understands that some people don't want platitudes. Sophie's one of them. She knows, then, that she can trust him to tell her exactly what's happening and what the stakes are, no sugar-coating, no shaky voice, just steady truth.
And she knows, too, that he knows when something is a lost cause—and he understands when to cut his losses. Eliot can be impartial in the moment, no matter how much he beats himself up about it later, and he can weigh the odds and decide, coldly, when to abandon her.
The others can't do that. Parker, even here, even now, two years before The Long Way Down Job, could never choose survival over Sophie in that way. Hardison and Nate? They'd stay, no matter how bad the odds, no matter if it was sure that they wouldn't make it. But Eliot can. More importantly, he's the one who can drag the other three out of there.
He's the one Sophie can depend on to keep them alive. Even if it means she dies alone, even if it means she loses that slim, tiny chance she could live—he'll get them out, and they'll live. She won't let them stay behind, and she even shouts that at them, yells at them to get out, and she knows even as she does so that Nate and Parker and Hardison might not listen. But Eliot will. No matter what, Eliot will, and he'll listen to her and follow her orders.
It's Eliot that she watches, and it's him that she keeps steady with, because he'll be honest with her, and he'll be honest with them, and he'll keep them safe, the same way she "[makes] sure we’re all okay," as Hardison so poignantly puts it.
And do you know what else? In spite of all of it, though, in spite of being the one to be blunt, he still manages to be gentle. He's reassuring, holds her gaze and speaks soft and even and gentle, calming, steady, sure. He's the one who hates explosives, who knows exactly how bad this could be, and he stays steady for her.
This is their second year working together. It's mere months after she apologized for lying to them, point-blank, in The Second David Job. Yet there's still this trust, this holding anchored balance, that they'll keep the crew safe together.
But here's the other thing. It's not just that they trust one another with the rest of the crew. It's that Sophie trusts him to keep her safe, and Eliot trusts her to keep him safe, even if "safe" doesn't mean physically. Because sometimes "safe" isn't about that. Sometimes it's safety in reassurance, even when everything is going to go horribly wrong. Sometimes it's safety in keeping secrets, or listening to each other without judgement.
And sometimes, it's about safety in knowing the truth, no matter how vulnerable and terrible it may be.
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to me, the question of whether hera would want a body is first and foremost a question of autonomy and ability. she has an internal self-image, i think it's meaningful that the most pivotal moments in her character arc take place in spaces where she can be perceived the way she perceives herself and interact with others in a (relatively) equal and physical capacity, and that's worth considering. but i don't think it's about how she looks, or even who she is - and i think she's the same person either way; she's equally human without a body, and having a body wouldn't make her lived experience as an AI magically disappear - so much as it's about how she would want to live.
like most things with hera, i'm looking at this through a dual lens of disability and transness, both perspectives from which the body - and particularly disconnect from the body - is a concern. the body as the mechanism by which she's able to interact with the world; understanding her physical isolation as a product of her disability, the body as a disability aid. the body as it relates to disability, in constant negotiation. the body as an expression of medical transition, of self-determination, of choice. as a statement of how she wants to be seen, how she wants to navigate the world, and at the same time reckoning with the inevitable gap between an idealized self-image and a lived reality, especially after a long time spent believing that self-image could never be visible to anyone else.
it's critical to me that it should never imply hera's disability is 'fixed' by having a body, only that it enables her to interact with the world in ways she otherwise couldn't. her fears about returning to earth are about safety and ability; the form she exists in dictates the life she's allowed to lead and has allowed people to invade her privacy and make choices for her. dysphoria and disability both contribute to disembodiment - in an increasingly digitized world, the type of alienation that feels like your life can only exist in a virtual space... maybe there's something about the concept of AI embodiment, in particular as it relates to hera, that appeals to me because of what it challenges about what makes a 'real woman.' when it's about perception, about how others see her and how she might observe / be impacted by how she's treated differently, even subconsciously. it's about feeling more present in her life and interfacing with the world. but it's not in itself a becoming; it doesn't change how she's been shaped by her history or who she is as a person.
i think it comes back to the 'big picture' as a central antagonistic force in wolf 359, and how - in that context, in this story - it adds a weight to this hypothetical choice. hera is everywhere, and she's never really anywhere. she's got access to more knowledge than most people could imagine, but it's all theoretical or highly situational; she doesn't have the same life experiences as her peers. she has the capacity to understand that 'big picture' better than most people, but whatever greater portion of the universe she understands is nothing next to infinity and meaningless without connection and context. it's interesting to me that hera is one of the most self-focused and introspective people on the show. her loyalties and decisions are absolute, personal, emotionally driven. she's lonely; she always feels physically away from the others. she misremembers herself sitting at the table with the rest of the crew. she imagines what the ocean is like. there's nothing to say that hera having a body is the only solution for that, but i like what it represents, and i honestly believe it'd make her happier than the alternatives. if there's something to a symbolically narrowed focus that allows for a more solid sense of self... that maybe the way to make something of such a big, big universe is to find a tiny portion of it that's yours and hold onto it tight.
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...just heard about the upcoming perk changes...hmm...yeah. the only good one definitely is the adrenaline nerf. I've wanted them to take away healing off hook forever.
the other perk changes are ass.
ultimate weapon is still outrageously unfair, even if you take away the screaming! to me, it feels like they just saw the uptick in people using calm spirit following the addition of ultimate weapon, and decided "hm, the way to deal with this is to remove the screaming." no! this perks needs to be reworked differently! given a longer cooldown, something! it does way too much for just one perk!
DS buff isn't going to stop tunnelling. strong killers don't care if you stun them, and weaker survivors likely won't even have DS because it's licensed...waste of a buff. just as they should do with off the record, they need to spread out these important anti-tunnel strategies to general perks. it's so unfair that something this important be gated behind a DLC. and no one perk should ever be too strong!
also, I saw otz's commentary on the changes. I could not agree more that certain killers should be nerfed directly, rather than trying to just balance perks generally. not all killers interact with different perks the same... nurse, wesker, huntress, blight, etc do not care about a stun, even if it's increased in length. you need to change them & how their powers work in relation to stuns, so survivors have a chance to get away from them, rather than buffing the perk so that old man ghostface has an even worse time in this dogshit meta lmao.
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I really dislike the inherent main plots of TSATS and Chalice of the Gods as they’re being explained to us currently, mostly just cause I feel like they take away from already established lore of the series and other plot points.
There is no way TSATS can go that doesn’t make either Tartarus feel cheap and/or the entire book just feel like Percabeth In Mark Of Athena: 2 Electric Boogaloo. Unless the twist is that they don’t go to Tartarus it is physically impossible. Because either they go to Tartarus and breeze through it, which makes Tartarus as a setting feel cheap and ruins all prior instances of it being used as a landscape of suffering, or they suffer Lots and Lots and it just feels like we’re rehashing the same exact plot over again purely for the sake of treating solangelo the same as percabeth, which doesn’t work because they’re vastly different character dynamics and putting them in the same situation has nowhere near the same emotional weights. Also it makes Nico’s original foray into Tartarus feel null because it makes it feel like his trauma doesn’t have any actual meaning, because why would he jump right back into it? Even with Nico’s character being extremely self-sacrificial, we’re at a point where we’re being told he’s improving on that and this is possibly the one circumstance he would think twice about. AND it makes Tartarus feel overused - Nico surviving Tartarus once? Okay, makes sense, he’s the son of Hades, and it’s cool that he’s the first mortal to ever survive it. Percabeth too? Getting iffy (especially since we see their trip in detail and that inherently means it’s lost a lot of potential oomph, because when you’re going for horrifying a lot of the time less is more) but okay, sure, Nico probably gave Percy some Tartarus Tips after being rescued and they had a literal dues ex machina or two helping them out, and they fell in accidentally so it’s not like how Nico waltzed in there. Third time? And it being Nico AGAIN and Will Solace (who as far as we know has little to no quest experience and most of his experience is being a battlefield medic) and then purposefully going there? Nope. It’s just a poor set-up. Plus “the major gay couple goes on vacation to superhell” is a... questionable plot set-up to begin with, especially when it’s been heavily implied it will be traumatizing for them, and we have already been told explicitly that references are being made to things like Call Me By Your Name so there is a self-awareness about the themes there (also that alone raises questions about how we’re going to be taking the tone of things - again, there’s two ways it can go and both would be extremely difficult to get right). If Mark Oshiro were not co-authoring this I’d be a little horrified. I’m very glad Mark Oshiro is co-authoring this. I don’t believe it can’t be done tastefully, and yeah it’s a situation ripe for symbolism, but it is definitely the kind of subject that would be difficult for a non-queer author to handle appropriately.
As for Chalice of the Gods, we know two things: A.) It takes place prior to TOA, and B.) The chalice Percy has to retrieve has the power to make anyone who drinks from it immortal.
..... so basically, without the book even being out, we are told “If Percy had waited like 20 minutes, all of TOA would be null.” Admittedly, this does give justification for Percy specifically to be doing this quest outside of “college” reasons, and in my opinion, “The gods asked Percy specifically because they have verified he adamantly does NOT want to be immortal” is hilarious. However, adding yet another universe mechanic to the repertoire that nullifies death is annoying as hell, because death as a consequence in the series has been completely ruined since HoO. The more avoiding death options there are, the more every death scene feels completely pointless and avoidable.
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