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couldeatthatgirlforlunch · 11 months ago

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I really loved your scenario of The Justice League AND The Ill reader,Lmao, poor reader they only need a rest.

Anyway, ever since I read the first part I was thinking about the kids, you know, the League Sidekicks, obviously The Reader knows them, due to work (I can really imagine Batman introducing His kids to the Reader to force a bond , And obviously The rest of The League does the same) So I had the headcanon that the reader really likes the children, they talk to them after missions, sometimes they buy them some gifts for their birthdays, they listen to them when they complain about their father figures (Therapist Reader), etc. But at the same time I can imagine The Reader being totally uncomfortable with his parents, so I can't help but think of a scenario in which The Reader is talking to the League kids in a good mood, but the League members walk in. to the room (They obviously saw the Happy Reader, so they want to gain some advantage) And The Reader just turns off, goes into business mode and is curt as always with the league, and when he finishes talking to the league, he goes back to talking to the children and their mood is happy again. Man I would love to see the league's reaction to the obvious reader favoritism

PD:I really love your work, you are amazing

Pd2:If The kids are yandere, ITS UP to you

A Week in Life: Take Your Kid to Work Day

Synopsis: A week in your life where you get a lot of new little friends, even if you know something’s sketchy about it.

Pairing: Yandere!Justice League X Assistant!Gn!Reader; Platonic!Yanderes! Robin (Dick), Superboy (Konner), Miss Martian, Kid Flash (Wally) and Aqualad (Kaldur'ahm)

Tw: A single implication about Hal’s past dub/non con incidente (blink and you miss it); Implied emotional manipulation, I guess? Justice League using kids as a manipulation tactic; A little angst, I think we all hate how Superman treated Conner, so I added that, so technically not a healthy relationship between them here, could be interpreted as Superman manipulating him or Superboy trying too hard to make his bio-dad like him; The kid’s ages are definitely not accurate canon wise, but what is canon anyway? I mixed their personalities and origins from Young Justice (along with their age gap) and for Superboy it was mainly the animated movie Reign of the Supermen; English is not my 1st language.

Word count: 3,3k

Requested? More than once.

Extra notes: Dick is 10, Kaldur'ahm, Conner, Megan and Wally are 13. I wish I knew more about the Wonder Girls to write about one of them, I felt bad for not adding them, but I would’ve felt worse writing for a character I have no idea how to write.

General masterlist | A Day in Life - Series masterlist

— I wasn't aware that there was a Take Your Kid to Work Day on schedule... — You said in a surprised, maybe taken aback, tone, if not a little strangled and sarcastic, even if a little happy. You rubbed your forehead, you knew your hunch was right…

Monday…

You’ve heard the rumors Gotham media was spreading for months now, you even asked Batman if you should prepare the marketing team in case of an emergency, he denied everything.

So why was it that now you were staring at a 10 year old dressed as a traffic light?

— Miss/Mister/Mx (Y/N)... I’m hungry… — Worst of all? The kid was cute.

You smile in a friendly manner.

— Okay, okay. Just give me a second, buddy, I need to talk to your… Dad…?! — You just now realized you didn't know their actual relationship. Batman only told you his name was Robin, that he was his partner, and that he was in the watchtower to observe. You didn't know superheroes accepted 10 year old interns, but whatever. The kid just stared blankly at you, not giving an actual answer to if you got your assumption right.

— Can I go with you? — Robin fiddled with his fingers. So cute. You nodded with a small smile. The kid jumped off his too big chair and ran towards you, surprising you by taking your hand. He had small hands. So cute.

You walked slowly, to accommodate to his height, in the direction of the door to the briefing room, where Batman was talking to John Stewart. This other Green Lantern was a breath of fresh air. The other one (the one who shouldn't be named) was away, working on another district of the universe since that whole… Less-than-consensual situation. You were happy and surprised when the League didn't just brush it off, and even compensated you for it, alongside making him go away. He either agreed to that, or caused the 3rd World War against the Justice League. It was a temporary predicament, but happier nonetheless, since John wasn't obsessed with you, unlike the rest of them, and easy to work with.

You cleared your throat so they would turn to you.

— Does Robin have any restrictions? He said he's hungry so I'm gonna take him to the kitchen. — You said politely. Batman shook his head.

— Just don't give him sugar. He needs to sleep before patrol tonight. — You raised your eyebrows in surprise and nodded your head. Batman looked at the boy. — Behave, chum. — You blinked, Robin nodded solemnly.

As you walked in the direction of the kitchen, the kid showed to be very happy and talkative. You were surprised, considering who his dad was, but it warmed your heart. At least it seemed he wasn't mistreated.

At some point, he let your hand go and started cartwheeling and doing acrobatics all the way there to show off his abilities to you. You gasped and clapped, praising his talent along with other workers from the crew who were passing the hall. You were slightly worried that he would fall and get hurt, but the kid was really confident in what he was doing (but they always are, until they fall).

When you got there, you were impressed that he wasn't even the slightest out of breath.

— Do you have games on your phone? — He asked, sitting down on a table while you rummaged the fridge for some sandwiches or any healthy snack, since you didn't know how his home diet was, but guessing by his build, which was a lot more athletic than kids his age are, he was probably pretty healthy. Son of the Bat.

— Hmm, I have Dress to Impress, Pou and Candy Crush.

— What is Pou? — Your heart panged and you sighed, feeling old.

— When were you born? 2010? — You walked towards him and settled a plate with a sandwich in front of him, before pouring a cup of juice.

— 2014. — Your mouth dropped, speechless. — Wait, so not even Stardew Valley? — You cleared your throat and shook your head, sitting beside him, while he started eating.

— Wait, can I even let you play? Does Batman let you have screen time? — He nodded.

— I have a phone. I just couldn't bring it with me today… He said he would show me around the tower, but he got busy with work… — He deflated a little at the end of the sentence, your heart broke. — Anyway… He told me I could distract myself. I just need your permission. — You bite your lip.

— Okay. How about we go to the recreational room and you can play some videogames while I work from the computer. — Robin nodded eagerly.

— Damn, you can't even play with me? Working sucks. That must be why adults are so boring. — You took a napkin and cleaned some food from his cheek.

— It's not that bad… You can do whatever you want. — He perked up.

— I guess so… — He looked you up and down. You prepared yourself for one of those moments where kids are so blunt that they don't know they could offend someone. — But you're not boring, (Y/N), you're cool. Must be why daddy likes you so much. And he doesn't like no one.

Tuesday…

Wow, what a weird coincidence. Just yesterday Batman brought his kid, and now Martian Manhunter brought his niece.

Miss Martian looked older than Robin, but again, she was a martian, her appearance was shifted to whatever she wanted to look like. All you knew was that she was young and new on Earth.

Right now, she looked very human. She had freckles and auburn hair. The only thing that made her stand out was the green of her skin.

When she presented herself to you, you got startled by her voice in your head, but you and Martian Manhunter softly explained to her that on Earth people didn't communicate through their minds, and it was kinda like an invasion of privacy. Kinda funny hearing him say that, but whatever.

Like Batman the day prior, Martian trusted the girl in your hands. So many coincidences, right?!

— So, honey, how old are you?

— Oh, on my home planet I should be about 39. But converting to Earth years, I’m 13. — She said with a shy but friendly smile, you smiled back.

— You’re pretty young then. How are you settling on Earth? Planning to go to school maybe? — She nodded.

— I just started the school year… I wasn't too sure about that, but my uncle said it would be good to learn human behaviors. — You nodded.

— American school is nice, I recommend you should take part in clubs. And don't feel pressured to make a billion friends. It's better to have one good friend, instead of 10 people you know but can't rely on. — She nodded, biting her lip.

— I already know some of the other sidekicks, I just don't have any civilian friends… I was thinking about joining the cheerleading team. — You gasped, excited.

— Oh, that's really good! I always wanted to join, but was never the sporty type. You’re sweet, I think that already gives you some points. — Her green cheeks got darker.

— You think so?! — Her voice got louder with excitement.

— Of course! Now let me give you some tips about the jocks, honey…

Wednesday…

Today, Flash brought Kid Flash. You haven't met him until now. The sequence of days the older heroes brought in their sidekicks was starting to look weird… But not that weird. Batman said he would give Robin a tour but became unavailable. Manhunter wanted Miss Martian to meet civilian people and have a good role model — you don't know why he decided that that role model should be you, but it made sense, so… —. Flash Said they would spend the day using the lab to experiment some more on Kid Flash’s still recently acquired powers. So. Coincidences, right?

The boy was 13 too, he had messy red hair and green eyes. Flash didn't specify their relationship, but their personalities definitely matched a little. Both a little hyperiperactive and smiley. Although that could be more of a speedster thing, especially the first part.

Like promised, they spent half that day on the lab, occasionally calling you for snack breaks. However, at some point, Flash gave an excuse and left you with the kid.

Huh.

— Sooo, what do you do around here? — Kid Flash asked, spinning around in a chair he found somewhere and rolled to the middle of your office in the blink of an eye. You half-smiled. It was nice not being crowded by those weirdos and being around fresh and youthful people, but it was starting to feel weird.

— I plan schedule appointments, organize team meetings, prepare agendas and itineraries, book meals and travel arrangements, handle record keeping and documentation, and make sure a project stays on budget. — The ginger blinked and stopped spinning.

— Uhh, you went to college for that? — You blinked.

— I did, why? — He chuckled slightly.

— Nothing, it's cool, sounds boring, though. — You nodded.

— What do you want to work with? — He looked to the side, thoughtful for a moment.

— I think I want to be a scientist.

— Oh really?

— Yeah, I like physics, mechanics and a little bit of chemistry. — You smirked.

— Chemistry? Sounds boring. — Kidflash froze for a second, wide-eyed, then relaxed and started laughing loudly. His chuckling prompted you to chuckle alongside him.

He used his feet to push the chair around your table and stopped at your side.

— Hey, can I see how much people get paid here? If I'm gonna be a member of the League one day, might as well optimize time and just work here. — You slapped his hands away when he reached for your computer, he pouted.

— Wouldn't that make it difficult to keep your secret identity hidden?! — Kid Flash stretched his arm, then draped it across your shoulders, you lifted an eyebrow.

— Babe. I'm a superhero. I could change clothes really fast right now and you wouldn't even notice. — You scoffed and lightly pushed him and his chair away.

— A phone booth would be more appropriate for that.

— What's a phone booth?

Thursday…

Superman brought Superboy.

Why the fuck are they doing that, bro?

You didn't even know they were close! Sure, Superboy is Superman and Lex Luthor’s clone, the whole world knew that, and that Superboy took to Superman's side. But they were never seen together, unlike Flash and Kid Flash, or Batman and Robin, for example.

Worst of all? It looked like the mood between them was… Weary. Especially on Superman’s part. Did he not trust Superboy? You could understand that… But look at his puppy sad face!

And not even five minutes later, Superman just flew away, saying something about a hurricane in Texas, AND SUPERBOY STAYED!

The silence was awkward for a few seconds. You thought back to the personality he showed when he was first announced by LexCorp, when Superman was considered dead. He was all over the media (Lex’s marketing team was good) with his charisma and flirty personality. Although he kept the leather jacket, his quietness surprised you.

You cleared your throat.

Superman brought Superboy.

Why the fuck are they doing that, bro?

Worst of all? It looked like the mood between them was… Weary. Especially on Superman’s part. Did he not trust Superboy? You could understand that… But look at his puppy sad face!

And not even five minutes later, Superman just flew away, saying something about a hurricane in Texas, AND SUPERBOY STAYED!

You cleared your throat.

— So… Are you hungry? Wanna play videogames? — You grimaced slightly. He looked at you again, a little hesitant.

— Uh… I think so? — He blinked. — You guys have videogames here?! — He exclaimed, surprised. You chuckled.

— Oh yeah, for such a serious and stern guy, Batman really invested in the work environment. — You chuckled together, walking towards the recreational area.

You were curious about the earlier weird vibe, but didn't want to prod.

At first, you just let the boy play by himself, just sitting beside him and working while talking, that was until he paused the game between missions and stretched, then looked at you.

— Are you guys involved? — You looked at him with your eyebrows raised.

— You guys…? — He pursed his lips.

— You and Superman. — You grimaced slightly.

— Oh no, he's my boss, and not my type at all. — He nodded, looking pensive.

— He likes you. — You kept a blank expression, waiting for him to continue. — I like you too, so I can imagine why he likes you. — You stared at him, exasperated. He widened his eyes. — Not like that! — He raised his hands to deny. — It's just- I feel comfortable with you. I felt comfortable with some of his friends before, I didn't even know why, but I think it's because half of me is from him. Like I have some things from Lex since I was… Born… — He looked to the ground for a second, pouting lightly. — That's why Superman doesn't like me. — You widened your eyes.

— I'm sure he likes you! — Superboy looked at you like he didn't believe you.

— No, it's okay… He's polite, I guess. And took me in as his family, just not… As his son… More like a brother, or… A cousin… I mean, I can understand, I'm basically a hate baby, created by his biggest enemy to outdo and destroy him… — You shook your head.

You didn't know what to say, since you didn't know how their dynamic was like.

— H-He brought you here to spend time with you, didn't he? He just had an emergency to take care of… — He looked to the ground and then at you again. He didn't have the heart to tell you that's the first time they ever “hung out”, and that his genius brain clocked hours ago that Superman's plan was to create a connection between you both by orchestrating a connection with you and him. He also didn't want to bad mouth Clark. A part of him always would have hope that Superman would want to be closer to him one day.

Superboy looked at the clock and then at you.

— Don't you have a break? I can hear your stomach, I'm hungry too.

Friday…

This madness has to stop now.

— Nice to meet you, Aqualad. — You nodded at the boy with a small smile. You were a little mesmerized by his exotic appearance. He had brown skin, blonde hair in braids (where are his roots?) and blue eyes. His arms were also covered in tattoos that you knew had something to do with his abilities.

— I was showing him around the Watchtower, but now I have a meeting with Wonder Woman, why don't you two hang out for a while? — Aquaman, always the most obnoxious one. Their intentions were 100% clear now.

Aquaman didn't let you say anything else and left the room with said hero. You heard her murmur something about having to find her own apprentice to bring to the watchtower as soon as possible.

You looked at the boy, not knowing what to say.

— Have you ever been to Atlantis? — He surprised you by speaking first, his tone was gentle, if not a little monotonous, but he looked at you with interest.

— Uhhh, no? I’m not that good of a swimmer and I can't breathe underwater. — Aqualad smirked lightly.

— You wouldn't need to worry about breathing, there are multiple ways for humans to do that, from magic to technology. As for swimming… I'm sure we can find some sort of solution for that, also. And I doubt my king would be opposed to the idea of teaching you. — You nodded slowly. So much for subtly.

— … My vitamin D is low enough as it is, I’d rather stay on land, no offense. — The atlantean opened his mouth to speak but you beat him to it. — Aqualad! Do you like the food here? I've always been curious about your culture’s cuisine…

You kept talking for hours, eventually, Aqualad and you ended up in the training room, he offered to show you a little of his control over water bodies, and you, still a little fascinated over the convivence with superheroes, and this being the second time you met someone from Atlantis, accepted eagerly.

— This is just like H2O… — Kauldur’ahm blinked.

— It is water… — The boy confirmed, hesitantly. You laughed.

— No, no, not water. It's a TV show, it's about mermaids. I guess it isn't exactly accurate, but they can control water, just like you! — He nodded, slowly, contemplating. You looked at your watch, noticing your lunch time was due. You looked at him, shyly. — If you're up for it, we could watch it now… — That seemed to make him perk up a little and he nodded quickly.

— I would like to.

Monday…

There they were, in the meeting room, all seated around the big roundtable, almost double the number of people who usually sit there.

Now, the food order they made, made sense.

You pushed the food cart forward, one for Flash. You came back and pushed another one, this one for Kid Flash, you ruffled his hair. Then, you walked back and pushed the 3rd food cart around the table, delivering each meal for each hero.

— Steak for Green Lantern. One black coffee for Batman. One meat sandwich and chocolate milk for Robin. — You squeezed his cheek. He smiled brightly at you. — Toast for Martian Manhunter and a slice of strawberry cake for Missy Miss Martian. — As you put the plate in front of her, you whispered that you wanted to know how the cheerleading team was going. She nodded happily. — A burger with fries for Aquaman, a smoothie and salad for Aqualad. Oh, did you change your hair? I like it! — You smiled brightly at the boy and his cheeks burned, he nodded. — Ice cream for Wonder Woman. Another burger and fries for Superman and another for Superboy. I see you followed my advice, your style really matches with those piercings. Tell me how you did it later. — You laughed carelessly and went to the door. — Need me for something more? — Your bosses shook their heads, stunned. You left and closed the door.

— Can't believe you guys actually did it… — John shook his head, disappointed at his teammates.

— I knew it would work. — Batman said, sipping from his drink.

— That's why we stole your idea when we knew about it. — Aquaman chuckled.

— I really need to find a sidekick. — Diana huffed.

Batman turned to Robin.

— You did a good job, chum. — Dick chuckled.

— Yeah, I even asked for a sandwich without the crust. Now (Y/N) think I'm the cutest here. — He smirked smugly. Wally scoffed.

— Yeah, right. She totally doesn't think you're an annoying kid. — The duo stared at each other. — I, for example, made them laugh. — The redhead puffed his chest proudly.

— Are you sure it wasn’t a pity laugh?! — Superboy snorted at Robin’s retort.

— Although Robin might be physically more adorable, and Kid Flash, in his words, made them laugh. (Y/N) and I started a TV show together, my king. — Aquaman nodded at his apprentice’s words.

— You did a good job.

— But (Y/N) actually said they wanted to talk to me later! That usually oficializes human’s friendships! — Megan said, softly.

— They said the same to me, the other day. That I could talk to them whenever I wanted… — Superman looked at Superboy, surprised. He felt awkward praising him, so he just nodded his head and looked away. Superboy pouted slightly.

— Because you told them your sob story, now they think you're a loser. — Conner glared at Dick. — Their physical language showed that they loved me, B! I honestly deserve an Oscar after that performance! They're gonna be ours before you suckers know it!

As a screaming match raised inside the room, the adult heroes looked at each other, lost for words, not only had the kids gotten you roped a bazillion times faster then they could ever dream, but also you were so amazing that they were enamored with you too.

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calvin-reads-problem-sleuth · 3 months ago

Text

Doctor Who Season 2 Theory: The Davies Masterplan

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Doctor Who "Season 2" / Series 15 / Season 41. If you haven't seen it yet, go do it, because A) it's really damn good and B) this post will make literally zero sense if you haven't seen it.

So I haven't used my blog in a long time, but I feel like I need to in order to share this deranged theory, partly so I can point and scream at it if I get it right and partly to get this madness out of my head. I came up with this idea a few days ago while spitballing theories with one of my friends, and while part of it was originally floated as a joke, the more I listened the more I realized how much actual evidence there actually was for at least parts of it.

Right now, as far as I've observed, there are two big mysteries going on in the season: the identity and plans of Mrs. Flood; and the nature of the weirdness going on with Belinda. Well, in this theory, I'm going to do my best to lay out my IMO fairly plausible guesses as to both of those things, as well as my absolutely unhinged speculation as to how these two might dovetail together into possibly the wildest plot twist this series has ever seen.

PART 1: The Case of Mrs. Flood

Right off the bad, Mrs. Flood is the most obvious mystery of the new RTD era as a whole. She's been present since "The Church on Ruby Road", reoccurred occasionally in Season 1, and now is an every-episode occurrence in Season 2. She also feels... weird in a way that most of the other antagonists in the era- even the more surreal ones like the Pantheon members- don't. She's REPEATEDLY addressed the audience directly, and while the first couple of those could be interpreted as happening in dubiously-canon stingers, the most recent one happens mid-episode, implying her ability to break the fourth wall is in some way a canon ability for her.

So what the hell do we make of her?

I think the most obvious thing we can say is that she almost has to be someone we know. The show isn't going to spend two seasons plus change building up the identity of this mystery character if it's ultimately someone or something we've never heard of. We also know for a fact that RTD loves to bring back antagonists from the Classic Series as big reveals. The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Master, Davros, the Toymaker, and most recently Sutekh... while many of them had their return spoiled by marketing, all of them have been used by RTD as a major plot twist, mostly in a season finale. I would bet actual money this is a returning foe.

We also know that she's almost certainly a time traveler. Her moving next door to Belinda could maybe have been shrugged off with mundane means, but her presence in "Lux" and "The Well" basically rules that out. I guess technically speaking this could be another Clara or Susan Triad situation where there are a bunch of different Mrs. Floods scattered wherever the Doctor goes, but I don't think that's going to be the case; whatever your thoughts on RTD, he's not dumb enough to use the EXACT same plot twist two seasons in a row. She has to be following them- or at least traveling widely within the same range as them- meaning she has a TARDIS or similar method of space-time travel stashed away somewhere.

Most peculiar, though, is the sheer amount she knows about the Doctor. It's not just that she's researched him; she almost seems to know minute details about the activities he is doing right now. When she goes to free Conrad in "Lucky Day", she not only knows that the Doctor just had a conversation with him, but seems to imply she knows what was said. When she shows up in "Lux", she makes a nod to the same May 24th anomaly that the Doctor discovered mere hours earlier, before she could possibly have overheard him. She also ends Season 1 by making a bold declaration about the "end" of the Doctor's story, implying outright foreknowledge. But perhaps most damning, however, is the fact that she knows the device Fifteen is using to get Belinda home is called a Vindicator, a name the Doctor literally came up with on the spot. All this leaves us with a person who doesn't just know the Doctor's past, but also his present AND- to some extent- his future.

So, what does this add up to?

When I first tried to speculate about her identity, for a while I tried to pin her down as the Rani. After all, she's probably the most famous Classic Series villain who has yet to make any appearance in the New Series. And admittedly, I was kind of feeling it when she made her speech about storming the gates of heaven in the Season 1 finale. But... it just doesn't seem to fit, especially after the last couple episodes. The Rani is the prototypical mad scientist character, obsessed with logic and knowledge, ready to throw ethics to the winds in pursuit of discovery. By contrast, there's something... ethereal- almost darkly whimsical in a way- about Mrs. Flood, this kindly-looking old lady who talks directly to the audience while giving ominous warnings about the future. As much as I wanted to jump on the Rani hype train once again, I just don't see that being the answer. Plus, on a meta level, the Rani's stories aren't exactly the most well-remembered in retrospect, and it feels like it would be quite risky to bring her back when by all accounts the executives are already looking for an eject button.

Who does that leave? The Master? Well, I guess we can't rule it out; they do have a habit of turning up where we least expect them, and we did get his return teased in "The Giggle". But it just doesn't feel right; it doesn't answer most of the questions around her, mainly the fourth wall issues and her knowledge of the Doctor's near future. But I think we're on the right track suspecting a Time Lord; after all, Gallifrey may be gone again now, but there was a major gap between its return at the end of Series 9 and its newest destruction at the start of Series 12, and anyone could have snuck off it then. Notably, the subtitles for "Lucky Day" notably capitalize her line claiming to be "the Governor", so I guess it's also technically possible she's just an entirely new renegade Time Lord we've never seen before.

But that got me thinking: aside from the Rani, who is the other most famous antagonist from the Classic Series who has yet to make even a single appearance in the New Series? One who would have every reason to know about the Doctor's future in detail, and one who we know is more than willing to dedicate an inordinate amount of time and resources to hunting him down?

The Valeyard. It may seem out of nowhere, but it would neatly explain everything.

Why does she seem intent on opposing the Doctor? Self-explanatory if she's the Doctor's vengeful dark side.

Why does she know so much about the Doctor's present and future? Because she might well have already lived it; we still don't really know for sure how far in the future the Valeyard originated from. In particular, this would explain why she knows about the Doctor's speech to Conrad, because it was a moment where he engaged in his darker impulses (as much as Conrad absolutely deserved it, telling someone the age at which they're going to die alone in prison is still objectively kinda fucked up).

How is she traveling through time? Either the Doctor's own TARDIS at a different point in its timeline or another one the Valeyard used after escaping at the end of "The Ultimate Foe". (Yes, I know that Big Finish made a canon sequel that ends with him defeated for good, but this would hardly be the first time the TV show contradicted parts of Big Finish.)

It would also explain why she was wearing what looks like Romana I's coat- a coat that would presumably still be in the TARDIS- in the ending of "Empire of Death".

And hell, it would be awfully appropriate for the Valeyard's dramatic return to TV to be A) right as the show is seemingly facing the looming threat of potential cancellation again and B) against the Doctor that was born from bigeneration.

"But wait!" I hear you exclaim. "What about the fourth wall breaks??" And yes, that is definitely the weak link. But consider this: as far as I am aware, there are only two sets of characters on this show who have repeatedly broken the fourth wall in the past. One is the Pantheon (and I will revisit that idea later), but the other is the Doctor themself. It's most obvious with his "I thought that was non-diegetic!" comment back in "The Devil's Chord", but that's not the only time: "Lux" not only reveals that he apparently recognizes episode names like "Blink", but also has him shout "Cut!" and then wonder to the audience who he's talking to. And while it may be a stretch- and few people alive today have seen it in person- "The Dalek's Master Plan" famously has an episode end with the First Doctor turning to the audience and wishing them a happy Christmas. What I am saying is, there is precedent for the Doctor breaking the fourth wall... and thus, presumably, the same could potentially be true of the Valeyard.

So that's my first theory: Mrs. Flood is a new incarnation of the Valeyard, and she's involved in an elaborate revenge plan on the Doctor. And buckle up, because the theories are only going to get wilder from here.

PART 2: The Case of Belinda Chandra

Alright, here we have the part of this theory that made me decide I needed to make this post. I might very well be jumping at shadows, but on the off chance I'm right, I want the receipts to point to the fact that I called it.

So, Belinda Chandra. The big mystery surrounding her is, of course, what is preventing the Doctor from getting her back to May 24th, 2025, and why Earth and the human race appear to have ceased to exist on that day. But that's not the only weird thing about Belinda's circumstances; even though it's not as obvious as with Clara or even Ruby, there's something odd about her situation. Though the Doctor agreed to drop the subject, it's still VERY weird that Belinda's descendant 3000 years removed is so suspiciously identical to her as to be played by the same actress; if they had just shrugged it off as "Hey, you look like her" I could have assumed it didn't mean anything, but the fact that they specifically had the Doctor highlight how unusual it is makes me raise an eyebrow. And while I'm definitely not the only one to point this out, it's worth reiterating that Belinda refers to the Doctor's ship as "the TARDIS" before he ever calls it that on-screen in her earshot. Could he have told her off-screen? Yes, absolutely. But that's a weird detail to leave out, considering how much the series loves to show a new companion getting introduced to the TARDIS.

Now, there's no easy way to ramp into what I'm going to say next. So I think I'm just going to get right into the realization I had the other night that blew my mind so hard that the entire rest of this theory materialized almost fully-formed in my head.

Take a look at our new companion's name: "Belinda Chandra". Now rearrange it with the last name first, like you might see in a database or on some kind of form: "Chandra, Belinda". Do you see anything yet? If not, here's a visual aid:

The first six letters of "HARBINGER", not just all together, but in the right order. All it would take would be her middle name being "Georgina" or "Geraldine" or something else with the letters "GER" in that order- or hell, even having her name be said in a context like "Chandra, Belinda, danger"- and you have the full word.

Am I being paranoid? Almost definitely. But in my defense, I am paranoid by design. So far RTD has snuck "Harbinger" past me twice: once with Harriet (which was admittedly kind of cheating because we never knew her last name), and once with the movie sign. I'm not letting it slip by me again. I am laser-focused for anything that could be shortened to "HARBINGER". And I do not think it is a coincidence that Belinda just so happens to have those letters in her name.

To be clear, I do not think that Belinda knows she's a Harbinger. I think everything she has said to the Doctor is the complete truth, and that she has full memories of her life as a human. If anything, I think she's more like the Susan Triad copies: full individuals who have lived whole lives until the moment their deity needed them. (Yes, I know Susan Triad wasn't technically a Harbinger, but she served more or less the same role as one, so I'm counting her.) I think Belinda is a sleeper agent who will be activated as soon as the Pantheon deity who created her needs her. Maybe Mundy was another version of the same Harbinger who never got that chance, or maybe she really is just a descendant of Belinda and the weird genetic stuff is because of her being a sort of divine creation.

So that's the other theory I think is actually semi-plausible: Belinda is unknowingly the Harbinger of an unspecified Pantheon member.

But now that we have both of these building blocks, we can dive headfirst into the TRUE madness that's kept me up at night the last two days, the theory that will be either the most unhinged, off-base thing I've ever said or the most buckwild called shot in my years of theorizing about pop culture.

PART 3: The Case of the Doctor

The more I thought about the fourth wall issue, the more my mind drifted back to the Pantheon. Aside from the Doctor, they're the only characters in my memory to have this sort of relationship with the fourth wall, and it tends to be WAY stronger with them. With the exception of Sutekh, almost all of the Pantheon members since RTD took back over have had some kind of interaction with the fourth wall: Maestro played the theme song; Lux created mostly-accurate representations of the fandom, implying he knows the actual fandom; and while not seen in the episode itself, the novelization of "The Giggle" has the Toymaker get into a whole conversation about the BBC's rights to the Spice Girls song he sings.

Why is it only these two groups? Why only the Doctor and the Pantheon? If it was just one or the other I could almost shrug it off as a recurring gag, but what is the connective tissue there? Why does the Doctor know the names of real-life episodes? How can he hear the background music? Why does he seem to know where the cameras are to say "Cut" to? Why can he do this thing that only members of the Pantheon can do?

Unless... maybe... just maybe... the Doctor is a Pantheon member, without even realizing it.

I know, I know. This feels like an even crazier version of the Timeless Child reveal, the one that ripped the fandom asunder with furious arguments over its handling. But by the same token... that's kind of what makes this possible. Like it or not, the Timeless Child reveal is still canon; the discussion of it in "Wild Blue Yonder" and "The Church on Ruby Road" confirms that beyond doubt. And now we have a great big mystery left hanging from it: where did the Timeless Child come from? What was on the other side of that portal? Sure, Tecteun said during Flux that they came from the other universe she was trying to move the Division to, but she could easily have been lying, or else merely assuming that to be the case. We have no earthly idea where the Child came from, and the EU has already started dropping some wild ideas (like that one novel which implied that they may or may not have been a Great Vampire). If the show is really in such danger, why not go one step further?

This is where we start to get into the realm where my deranged theories are fueled less by evidence and more by pure vibes. It just feels right, like it's what the last couple seasons- hell, last SEVERAL seasons if we count Chibnall's arc- have been building up to. It would explain the fourth wall commonality. It would explain how the Doctor was able to summon the Pantheon into the universe with a simple invocation of a superstition: he's on the same level as them. It would explain how he's apparently able to set rules for the entire Pantheon. Hell, the name "The Doctor" fulfills the same pattern of "The [X]" used by every Pantheon member except Maestro and Lux (even Sutekh spent most of the season under the given name of "The One Who Waits").

And going off of the previous theory about Belinda, it would tie directly into her role in all this. She's not just a Harbinger, she's the Doctor's Harbinger, thrust into his path right as he's about to rediscover who they really are. Hell, an argument could be made that all of the Doctor's companions, on top of their previously established relationships, have unknowingly also served as pseudo-Harbingers, assigned- either subconsciously by him or by the universe as a whole- into the role of a figure who should be there but isn't. They often serve as go-betweens for humanity to interact more comfortably with this effectively all-knowing ancient being.

Of course, that raises the question, what would the Doctor be the god of? That's where we enter realms of speculation where even I don't venture. But if I had to guess, I would say the God of Time. Aside from the obvious connections, we know that the Time Lords reverse-engineered regeneration from the Timeless Child, and regeneration in general feels like a sort of mirror to history itself: the Doctor changes form and personality while remaining the same fundamental person, just like how history rarely repeats exactly but constantly returns to certain recurring patterns, recycling ideas over and over again. And for that matter, it feels a bit odd that Sutekh- a being who we know for a FACT was not originally a member of the Pantheon- is somehow considered their leader and progenitor. Almost as if he stole a seat intended for someone else...

And for those who are still shaking their heads and scoffing at my admittedly insane theory, allow me to make one last Hail Mary pass at convincing you. See, most of the Pantheon members of the last few seasons have been accompanied by a certain sound: that seven-note pattern, rising and falling, rising and falling. The Toymaker had it, Maestro had it, Lux had it... at this point it's safe to say that it's a hallmark of the Pantheon as a whole.

And the thing is, the Doctor has been accompanied by a certain sound from the very beginning. A sound that rises and falls in a rhythmic pattern, just like the Giggle.

Just imagine it. The reveal happens. The Doctor is confronted with the truth of their origins. And as Fifteen and the audience process it, we hear the sound of the TARDIS's engines... except stretched out into seven segments. A rise and a fall. An arpeggio. A song. A laugh.

"Ha-ha-HA-HA-HA-ha-ha!"

That, right there, is my big, bold swing: the Timeless Child was, and the Doctor is by extension, the God of Time. The finale will involve Fifteen being made aware of this, briefly regaining that power, and then sealing it away again because he prefers to just be who the Doctor has always believed themselves to be: a simple traveler in time and space, passing through, helping out.

I'll be honest, that was originally where I was going to end the post. This has already gotten insanely long and taken several hours to write, and quite frankly there is more than enough here to serve as my receipts for if I'm right (and evidence to have me committed if I'm wrong). But while I was working on this theory, I somehow stumbled ass-backwards into another one, and it's too goddamn good an idea for me to let go of now. So what the hell, let's move on to the ACTUAL final section...

PART 4: The Case of May 24th

Okay, so we have a theory outlined for who all the individual major players are. The Doctor is the God of Time, Belinda is his Harbinger, and Mrs. Flood is the Valeyard, which technically makes her part of the Pantheon as well (and thus neatly explains her own ability to break the fourth wall). But I can't help but feel like we've forgotten something. We've failed to address the single biggest, most obvious driving question of the season: why can't the Doctor take Belinda home? What mysterious force is preventing the TARDIS from landing on May 24th, 2025? What has wiped Earth and the human race out of the timeline in the future? What, ultimately, is Mrs. Flood planning- or, if she's not responsible, what does she know?

I'll be honest: what I am about to say is maybe the most unhinged sentence in this post, and I say that in full knowledge of the fact that I just a few paragraphs earlier suggested that the Doctor is a literal deity. Normally even I wouldn't dare suggest something this absurdly out-there, but the more I stare at the evidence, the more plausible it seems. So here goes:

I believe that the event which is preventing Belinda and the Doctor from getting back to Earth is, in-universe, the cancellation of Doctor Who.

At this point I have almost certainly (and quite frankly rightly) lost the suspension of disbelief of anyone who, by some miracle, is still reading this post. I know, it's a buckwild concept. This would be EASILY the most surreal, bizarre thing the series has ever done, maybe in any medium, and certainly in the TV show. But pretending for just a moment that someone is still with me, allow me to lay out my evidence:

The date of "Wish World" airing being the same date the Earth is seemingly destroyed seems significant. They could have picked the same date the premier aired- that way it would make sense as the day Belinda left from- but no, they chose to set the episode about two months in the future just to have the date line up with the penultimate episode. Yes, I know Moffat did that too in Series 5 and it didn't lead to any meta shenanigans, but the amount of direct fourth wall breaks makes this alignment feel... different, somehow.

On that front, this would be the perfect culmination of the fourth wall breaking shenanigans that the Pantheon have been involved in. We've gone from the Maestro playing the theme song (something Twelve also did, by the way, in case you needed any more parallels to the Pantheon) to Lux straight-up trapping the Doctor in a room with Doctor Who fans. The Pantheon are straight-up metafictional entities; the Doctor even describes them as "forces beyond this universe" that "look down" on reality, which is the perfect way to describe individuals operating on a higher layer of narrative than the Whoniverse. What better way could there be to top this off than with the Doctor fighting against the very forces of executive disapproval that are threatening to erase his universe's future?

And speaking of Mrs. Flood, she practically spells this out in "Lux". When the Doctor and Belinda disappear in the TARDIS, she warns one of the onlookers that the show has a "limited run" and ends on May 24th. Yes, in context she's doing wordplay about the theatrical setting of the episode and the fact that the Earth apparently gets destroyed on that date, but Mrs. Flood is also a character who is aware of the audience; she would know the potential double meaning there. If a character like her starts saying shit like "the show's ending soon", I start looking for a meta angle.

The erasure of humanity also feels like something very, very odd for the Whoniverse. It's made clear numerous times that humans are practically ubiquitous in the far future. They're by far the most populous of the remaining sapient species by the end of time. They spread out across the cosmos and never stop. Them being erased from history without the Doctor noticing the change simply makes no sense. Sure, we've seen alternate timelines where humanity gets wiped out (Pyramids of Mars), and we've seen incidents where the Doctor arrives only after time has already been changed (The Long Game), but both at the same time?? And such a MASSIVE alteration that would no doubt prevent countless fixed points in time from ever coming to pass?? No, whatever did this is FAR beyond anything we've ever seen.

And finally, this feels like the most fitting possible conflict for the season finale's title: "The Reality War". As in, a war against "reality". A conflict not against an in-universe foe, but against forces within the real world: the forces of executive meddling and fan negativity that threaten to pull the plug on the show just like in 1989. In fact, this is the kind of story that could ONLY be told right here, right now: when the presence of the Pantheon allows the series to tell more fantastical stories than ever before, and when the rumors of cancellation are swirling faster than usual. And hey, if the show is already treading water with the executives, why not go out with the biggest bang imaginable?

And thus, we arrive at the end of my theories. I'm taking a gamble, and I'm calling my shot. If I'm wrong, I will sit with pride upon my throne of shame. But if somehow I am right- if I somehow manage to guess the biggest, most insane twist in the history of the show- then I want you all to remember that you fucking heard it here first.

The season finale will involve the Valeyard, in the form of Mrs. Flood, attempting to get Doctor Who cancelled in order to spite the Doctor, only for the day to be saved by the Doctor, God of Time, with the aid of his Harbinger, Belinda Geraldine(?) Chandra.

And with that, I can no longer justify dragging this post out any longer. Thank you all for coming to my TARDIS Talk.

#doctor who #doctor who series 15 #doctor who season 2 #dw season 2 #dw series 15 #dw spoilers #doctor who spoilers #doctor who theory #dw theory #mrs flood #the doctor #dw

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monsterlets · 1 year ago

Text

conversation tip for autistic people, from an autistic linguist

if you've ever run into this dilemma:

you are telling someone a story or informing them about something. there is a piece of information that you are not sure if they already know or not, but they need to know it in order for the rest of what you're saying to make sense. you are now trying to guess based on nothing. if you tell them and they already knew, they might think you're insulting their intelligence (or just that it was weird that you thought they wouldn't know). if you don't tell them and they didn't already know, then they'll feel lost

you can get around this with presuppositions

a presupposition is a piece of information in a sentence that is not the main point of the sentence, but that must be true in order for the sentence as a whole to be true. this is very dependent on where in the sentence the information is

for example:

you're telling someone a story about a mutual friend. the only way this story makes sense is if the listener knows that the friend's dad used to be a doctor. you don't know if they know that

this is a direct statement: "her dad used to be a doctor"

the main point of this sentence is "her dad used to be a doctor", but more importantly it's obviously the main point of the sentence. if they think you should assume they already knew that, that is now at the front of their mind. and they might think you're implying that they're not close to your mutual friend

here is a sentence with a presupposition: "when her dad was a doctor, he saw this really weird thing"

the main point of this sentence is "he saw this really weird thing". "her dad was a doctor" is just background information. not only that, but including information as a presupposition implies that you thought they already knew it

if they did in fact already know, they might not even register the fact that you mentioned it again, or if they do it wouldn't seem out of place. they just breeze right past it and on to the rest of the sentence

if they didn't know, they likely won't think that much about it since you didn't call much attention to it, and even if they take note of it they'll at least think you assumed the best of them. at this point one of three things is likely to happen (from most to least likely):

they just quickly assimilate the information into their worldview and move on to interpreting the rest of the sentence

it blows their mind so much that they ask you to explain. which is a great outcome imo

it threatens their worldview so strongly that they cannot move past it. at this point they may get mad at you, but it's not because of what you implied they knew or didn't know - it's because they just strongly disagree with you, and they were gonna get mad regardless of how you said it. this will rarely come up unless you're talking about a particularly polarizing/emotionally charged topic

note: as I said, where you put the information in the sentence matters a lot. coordinating conjunctions connect two main ideas. the sentence "her dad used to be a doctor, and he saw this really weird thing" has two main ideas. and one of them is the one that you wanted to not be a main idea

if you want more examples of the forms presuppositions can take with more technical descriptions, wikipedia has a pretty good list

also note, this is a guideline, not a rule. it's hard to go wrong with it, but if you know what you're doing you can break it

for instance, if I am not talking about anything personal, just telling someone about a special interest, I'll do different things depending on how niche the information is

if I know something is common knowledge (ex: t rex was a predator) then I'll either not mention it, or if I think it's something they need to not only know but be actively thinking about for the rest of it to make sense, then I will remind them with a presupposition

if I know something is not entirely common knowledge, but I have at some point seen people who are not deep into the topic talking about it ("dimetrodon was more closely related to mammals than dinosaurs") then I might just straight up ask them if they know that, since it doesn't say anything about them as a person other than what random information they happened to come across

if it's something you almost certainly wouldn't know about without being deep into the topic, I just say it. if they do happen to know about it it's because they randomly heard it and they probably wouldn't think it's weird that I assumed they didn't know (note: in this situation do not say anything along the lines of "you probably wouldn't know this" "this is so niche". just say the information)

you might have noticed that I haven't been following the guideline in this post either. this is for a couple reasons

I'm not talking to specific people, I'm writing for a broad audience. generally when you say things people already knew in that context they're like "well I didn't need that spelled out for me, but I guess somebody does"

I am not aiming this at neurotypicals, and I assume that you'll appreciate me being as explicit as I can regardless of how much you already knew

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shaibonbon · 3 months ago

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Well tell us about the graduation then

Sure! As the names implies, it's when Bonbon graduates from school, and she gets sad. See how sad she is in the drawing, what's the mystery? :0

Ok jokes aside, big lore dump warning bellow (if you haven't read the previous post, I highly recommend it):

Graduating school (or for Americans I guess it's highschool). It's the end of a chapter of your life and a beginning of a new one. It isn't any different for Bonbon, but considering I already said it's the final piece of how we got nowadays Bonbon...

There are a few things you need to keep in mind to understand Bonbon situation. First, you may recall Bonbon is almost friendless, having just 1 friend, Cinnamon. Bonbon literally maintained friendship with just 1 person all the way up graduation, she is logically heavily depended on that friendship. So much so the moment they got distant for a period, bonbon went into downhill spiral. Graduation means you stop seeing your classmates (by extension friends) daily, slowly and steady you start talking less too. You probably see where I'm going with this. It is a ticking time bomb before the course of life separates them..

The second thing you need to know, is related to how Bonbon graduated. Sure, she finished school and did the final exams, but didn't end up with the best grades, especially on that "easy year", where everyone else managed to get better grades than normal. See, the bomb now explodes. Bonbon ends up to failing to enter any university. Needless to say, this was emotionally devastating for her. And while she had a easier time coping by distracting herself, she was far from okay mentally.

What happens is, Bonbon would spend the next year in a special school to improve some of her grades, so she could try and enter university again. Yes, a new school even further away. The bonus, the classes were at night! Lovely arriving home at 23:30. Who needs a good sleep schedule when you can sleep all morning am right? More time to lazy around. Cinnamon on the other hand entered uni in another city, so far away she had to move there due to atrocious travel times. There was now a curious problem, both were super far apart and on different schedules of free time. Talking with one another suddenly became super hard, and they ended up talking only on weekends. Cinamon adapted the same way as before, by just talking with her other friends. Bonbon on the other hand, for what should be no surprise, made 0 attempts to make friends on the new school, never speaking to anybody unless she was spoken to. There was only 1 time someone tried to befriend her by introducing themselves, bonbon ended up forgetting their names and face 10 minutes later. Interpret that however you want.

As time passes, those weekends talks delude to just few monthly talks, as Cinnamon would extend the time with the friends on weekends too. For her it wasn't a matter of choosing, she just invites bonbon to the conversations with her group of friends. Sadly, it just made the bunny feel worse. Put yourself in her perspective, being in a group of people you don't get along, where everyone is in university talking about their successful life's are, while you are at the button, hits hard doesn't it? Well, it made her feel like a failure. I'm unsure if I made it obvious, but ever since Bonbon fails to enter university, she just gets slowly worse and worse across that year. An extremely bad sleep schedule for a year makes anyone way grumpier, add in a heavy dose of sarcasm for a bad mood to handle others into the mix, she feels constantly demotivated to study or try things, is extremely lazy, horrible low self-esteem... I could go on but the word 'depressed' probably describes it all symptoms well. Also, from this point forward, you will rarely see her smile. The result by the end up the year is nowadays Bonbon. She is technically at her worse during the year, she does improve a bit afterwards.

Welp, thats it! Graduation is probably the most WIP chapter, there are parts here that need more detailing or changes. But the general core idea is that Bonbon fails to enter university and she basically loses her best friend. I haven't mentioned, but they both never see each other again. (at least, for the part of the lore I have layed out)

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spirkkock · 11 months ago

Text

Queer Text/Subtext in Shallow Grave (1994)

CW: BLOOD, STABBING, MURDER, NON-SEXUAL NUDITY, DRUG USE

I guess I wrote a rough essay... about the queer subtext in Shallow Grave... Here... have the rough draft if you'd like...

Overt references to queerness:

When we look at contemporary movies, we often have a knee-jerk reaction to dismiss any “funny” references to queerness or sexuality to be taken as jokes and nothing further than that. Unfortunately, this has become all too common, and does a disservice to the films we watch. So I will be taking every moment of referenced or implied queerness as serious, even if it is delivered in a humorous way. Especially because this movie is not meant to be a comedy (despite some humorous moments).

Furthermore, references to queerness in movies should be taken seriously because they establish not only the existence of queerness (in universe, as one might say), but can also demonstrate the character’s attitudes towards queerness. Its important to notice that at no point in this movie are any references to queerness played for a laugh – they might be humorous, but we are not meant to laugh at the character for being queer, which indicates that queerness is taken seriously within the universe of the movie (or at least between the characters).

The first overt reference to queerness is when Juliet asks an interviewee if he is having an affair with a man or a woman and the man is not given screen time to answer. This same man bursts into tears after Alex, a man, says, “When did anyone last say to you these exact words, ‘you are the sunshine of my life’?” (this is a reference to the Stevie Wonder song of the same name). While it is technically (according to the script) said by Alex to a different interviewee, the arrangement of the shots does not indicate that, as it cuts directly from Alex asking the question to the man crying. This could imply a number of things.

The second overt reference to queerness comes at the charity ball, where a Scotsman says, “ladies and gentlemen, and those of you who are neither or both,” which is then met with a drumroll. Alex immediately responds, offended, “where did they dig him up?” implying that Alex finds the joke to be outdated and, perhaps, distasteful.

The third overt reference is when Alex dresses in drag. He also appears in the same scene, on the tape recording wearing some rather flamboyant costumes. The fact that Alex is in drag is not addressed by any of the other characters, nor by Alex, indicates that this is either a usual occurrence, or, for some reason, entirely unremarkable to the characters. Specifically, it is interesting that David does not comment on it, as he walks into the scene unsuspecting.

The fourth, and final, overt reference to queerness is when, upon being told of Juliet and David’s relationship, Alex says to Juliet, “I’d do exactly the same thing except I don’t think I’m his type.” If the line is interpreted sarcastically (which I think most viewers will) then we can assume that he is jealous of David for being with Juliet. If it is interpreted as earnest, then we can assume that he is jealous of Juliet for being with David. It also could be an ambiguous combination of both.

Queer Subtext:

Now let us dig into the subtext, which I actually find to be much juicier....

The Squash Scene and the Car

Directly after the interviews have concluded, we are given a scene which helps frame the relationship between the three characters as one built on dynamics of domination and submission and gives us a baseline to understand each of the character’s roles within this dynamic. This scene takes place on the Squash court.

There is a deviation here between the script and the film, as several lines have been cut, but I will include them as they add some context to the scene.

In the above text, Alex indicates that he sees this game of squash as a struggle for dominance. In this case, the game between Alex and David is won by Alex, who then, despite having called David a “bad loser,” demonstrates that he is a sore winner when he gloats over David by saying, “defeat, defeat, defeat – sporting, personal, financial, professional, sexual, and everything.”

David is clearly annoyed by this and storms off. This scene sets up the ongoing power dynamic between Alex and David in which Alex is the dominant one in the relationship. It also is the first time that we see David being emasculated by Alex, which will continue occurring for the first half of the movie.

Immediately after David leaves the court, Juliet takes his place to play a match against Alex. In this scene she is wearing a rather masculine outfit which is similar to that of the two male characters. She also sports short hair throughout the movie, but this is the scene in which she appears the most “boyish.” When she enters the court to play, Alex begins to make the same statement (“Did you know squash is-”) that he made (in the script) earlier, to David. Thus he is using this exercise as a way to exert dominance, not only over David, his male sexual rival, but also over Juliet, thus implying that she is on equal footing – therefore also a sexual rival. However, Juliet cuts him off and tells him, “Alex, just serve.”

The action of cutting off Alex denies him domination in that moment, thus establishing that the two of them are on much more equal footing, or possibly that Juliet is in fact the dominant one between the two of them. This scene serves to establish that typical gendered dynamics are somewhat blurred between these three individuals, and that David, instead of Juliet, takes on the most feminine/passive role in the group.

The next scene once again highlights the complicated gender and power dynamics within the group. Juliet drives the car (masculine) while Alex and David bicker with one another from the back seat and passenger seat, respectively.

In this scene, addressing Alex’s win, David says, “Victory is the same as defeat – it’s giving into destructive competitive urges,” which distances him from competition, and could be interpreted as him rejecting the masculine urge to dominate. Alex, in return, emasculates him by belittling his reliance on a “discussion group,” (implied to be therapy). During this scene, Alex and David are looking at one another, however, the rear-view mirror blocks both of their eyes. This symbolizes their unwillingness to see “eye-to-eye and perhaps a certain level of repression between the two of them. Also in this scene, Juliet physically dominates Alex by elbowing him in the chest, and attempts to emasculate him verbally by implying that a woman that he is interested in hates him. She does this specifically in response to Alex’s emasculation of David, thus establishing that while Alex might be dominant over David, she is dominant over him. During this exchange, however, in her attempt to protect David from Alex, David is further emasculated because he relies on someone else to defend him.

Discovering the Body / Three Friends, Three Bodies

When the trio discovers Hugo’s body we see some more of this interesting dynamic.

David stands by shocked while Alex ransacks the room searching for paraphernalia, while Juliet (the doctor among them) attends to the body.

Hugo’s nude corpse in this scene represents male vulnerability. He is prone and exposed on the bed, having overdosed on heroin, and can do nothing while his privacy is violated (by the dominant, Alex). The injection of drugs into the body, in this case, could also be said to symbolize emasculation - the breaking of the body barrier through penetration of a syringe (phallus). This exemplifies a significant cultural fear at the time – death of the male body via penetration, which had become a major concern due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. (If I was writing this essay for real, this is where I would insert articles that demonstrate horror’s preoccupation with AIDS and gay stuff during the 80s and 90s, but this is just for fun)

David, of course, is enamored by this display of the fragility of the male body. I would suggest that he identifies with Hugo’s vulnerability in death, and that the treatment of Hugo’s body by Alex and Juliet mirrors the way that they treat David. While Alex takes advantage of Hugo’s vulnerability in death by violating his privacy (thus dominating it), Juliet emasculates Hugo’s corpse by tending to it. In one shot, we also see Juliet’s fingers dangerously close to penetrating Hugo’s mouth.

We can also expand upon this by recognizing that the two male characters that are pursuing Hugo and the trio in search of the money, are parallels to Juliet and David. The two men are able to dominate Juliet and Alex through violence, only then to be killed by David. Thus, the three bodies that the trio end up burying are parallels to the trio themselves.

David Overcomes Emasculation, Alex Becomes Emasculated.

Alex’s emasculation of David continues throughout the first half of the movie, culminating in David being forced to dismember Hugo’s body (the very body that he identifies with). When this occurs, he becomes the violator/aggressor/dominator.

This occurrence proceeds the change in the group dynamic. Around the midpoint of the movie (during the charity ball) we see David transition into a dominant role in the trio, while Alex becomes submissive.

This is demonstrated first by Juliet dominating Alex while they dance. Alex falls to the floor, drunk, and Juliet takes that moment to step on Alex’s mouth, forcing him to lick the bottom of her shoe. He then willingly kisses her ankle, meeting her eye contact submissively. It is made clear through his facial expressions and laughter, that he finds joy in this act, thus embracing the emasculation (whereas David had always responded poorly, rejecting it).

Alex then attempts to re-exert control over David by forcing him to toast when he doesn’t want to. David eventually concedes after Alex yells at him, demanding that he toast to “love and happiness forever.” (Alex also humiliates and emasculates Cameron in this scene).

David finally exerts control when Brian McKenly (a man keen on pursuing Juliet) interrupts their conversation. David responds by standing on level with Brian and stating, “If you want to talk to my girlfriend, you talk to me first. If you want to dance with her, you apply in writing three weeks in advance or you end up inside of a fucking bin bag. You didn’t apply – so you don’t dance!”

While David shrinks a bit afterwards, admitting that he found the interaction stressful, both Juliet and Alex embrace him, in high spirits (one might say… aroused…). Alex exclaims, “He [David] was really good – fucking bin bag – I really liked that. You really explored your maleness to the full there! You were magnificent.” This statement indicates that Alex, who has rarely had an encouraging word for David over the course of the movie, is invigorated upon seeing that David has stepped into a dominant role, exerting his masculinity onto others. Immediately following this, Alex is assaulted in the bathroom by Cameron (who he had emasculated twice prior) and two other men, who beat him quite badly, thus emasculating Alex.

The following day, Alex’s emasculation is made complete when he dresses in drag and spends the day in debauchery with Juliet. The framing of his and Juliet’s bodies during this scene is also worth noting, as they are often visually indistinguishable from one another – with Alex being noticeably more feminine than Juliet in several shots due to his makeup, jewelry, dress, and rather delicate shoulders.

(Notably, during the entirety of the ball scene and much of the drag/video scene, Alex is often pictured smoking a cigar instead of his usual cigarette, which could be said to stand in for a phallus.)

From this point on, David is almost always dominant over Alex. (One notable exception is one moment where Alex leans in close to David during dinner and orders, “now swallow,” while making very intense eye contact. David regains control by reminding Alex that David was the one who dismembered Hugo’s body.)

After this point it is clear that David is undergoing some extreme psychological stress, and has become paranoid and aggressive. His shift in demeanor is most clearly symbolized by this shot, where he calls out of work so that he can begin making plans to protect the cash.

The Wickerman

During one scene, an injured Alex lays on the couch and watches the final scene of The Wickerman (1973).

The Wickerman tells the tale of a conservative Christian police officer who goes to a Scottish isle to investigate the disappearance of a girl, only to discover that the locals are practicing a form of paganism that involves human sacrifice. The police officer discovers that he is in fact the sacrifice. It is implied that he is the sacrifice because he is a virgin and a heterosexual, and he is unwilling to have sex with Christopher Lee’s character. Christopher Lee was most well known at the time for playing the lead in Dracula (1958) – another movie with extremely well documented queer subtext. The audience of The Wickerman would have been aware of this.

During this scene, the drumbeats of the pagan ritual, where the police officer is being marched to his execution/sacrifice, synchronizes with David’s steps overhead, a sound that the characters and the audience come to associate with surveillance and dread.

Honestly this scene has me a bit stumped. Who does Alex identify with in this situation? The heterosexual victim? – is the ending subverted because his submission culminates in… the penetration of Alex's body… thus making him queer? Idk it's been a long day.

Surveillance

During the second half of the movie, David moves into the Attic and rarely comes down when his housemates are home. He is protecting the money, both from his housemates and from the men who eventually come looking for it. While Alex and Juliet are brutalized by the men, David is the one who has set a trap for them, and is able to kill them. He also leads the trio to dispose of the bodies, and drives the van (whereas Alex had driven the van the first time they disposed of the bodies, when he had been the dominant one in the relationship).

During his time in the attic, David drills holes in the ceiling so that he can spy on his housemates. He is literally in a dominant position over them, looking down on them while they go about their daily tasks. In one scene, he spies on Alex and Juliet while they are sleeping. In this scene, he is shown first to be watching Alex. David is also in a state of undress that we have not seen before, implying a certain sensuality to the observation. We do not get to see Alex in a state of undress, but the scene finishes with Alex putting his shoes on, the camera looking down from above, implying David’s Point of view, and that he had watched the whole time. After Alex leaves, David moves to watch Juliet, in a scene that is much longer and more explicitly inappropriate and sexualized, especially because we come to understand that David’s temporary attic bed is located directly over her bed. However, before she begins undressing, he looks away and holds his head in his hands.

This scene simultaneously offers us a leveling effect between the two objects of David’s gaze (Alex and Juliet), while simultaneously prioritizing the heterosexual coupling. However, the implication that there is shame associated with the heterosexual gaze, complicates the situation.

Penetration with the Drill (Phallus)

When Alex goes into the attic to look for the money (and finds it in the water tank), he climbs back down the ladder only to be confronted by David, who is holding a drill (phallus) as a weapon. Alex’s hands are wet from the water, and he frantically wipes them on the seat of his pants, behind his back, visually placing his hands as a barrier to his anus. The Drill makes contact with Alex's head and breaks the skin in an act of penetration (the body barrier is broken). This is the first scene in which David directly engages in domination (and penetration) of Alex.

David’s Glasses and Alex’s Photo

Lenses, mirrors, and portals/doorways are deeply significant visual aids in this movie, but I want to highlight the one that stood out to me the most. When Juliet and David have (implied) sex, at which point they solidify their status as a couple, David removes his glasses, and places them on Juliet’s bedside table. Underneath the glasses is a photo of Alex in costume, a cigar in his mouth, framed through the lens of the glasses. The photo was taken on the day in which we see Alex at his most feminine, at a point where he had been thoroughly emasculated (beaten in a bathroom by a man that he had emasculated multiple times). The framing of the photo, through the lens of David’s glasses implies that this is how David sees Alex – costumed, emasculated, and with a phallus in his mouth.

This photo is also shown once more in the film; David holds the photo of Alex as he lies in his attic bed, and he pins it above his head so he can look at it. The scene cuts to Alex, also in bed, who then gets up. It once again cuts back to David, who also gets up, and we see that Juliet lies asleep next to him. This follows a pattern of shots that we’ve seen before in the film (see the Surveillance section), where we see David watching Alex in what could be interpreted as a sexual or romantic way, before the camera reveals Juliet and lingers significantly. The implication is that whatever there is between David and Alex always gives way to the relationship between David and Juliet.

Returning to the glasses - the final time that we see them is during the climax of the movie. The three characters are struggling against one another, and David’s head is forced into the refrigerator so that Alex can try and smash him with the door. He manages to throw Alex off, but not before his glasses are caught on the shelf of the refrigerator, thus knocking them off his face. Having David’s glasses be knocked off would not typically be significant in a fight scene such as this, however the camera goes out of its way to linger on this shot, indicating that the symbolism here is important. The other time that we have seen David remove his glasses has been before he has (implied) sex with Juliet. In this case, the removal of the glasses occurs just before David pins Alex in his final act of domination, which then culminates in the ultimate symbolic act of sexual penetration – David stabbing Alex with a knife (phallus).

NOTE: David is also pictured without glasses at the beginning of the film, where he is lying on his back, and halfway through the film, after he has dismembered Hugo in a symbolic act of violence against his own vulnerability. In the first scene we hear his monologue; “I’m not ashamed, I’ve known love, I’ve known rejection. I’m not afraid to declare my feelings. Take trust for instance, or friendship. These are the important things in life. These are the things that matter, that help you on your way. If you can’t trust your friends well, then what then? What then? This could have been any city, but all the same.” It is unclear until the end, but it seems that the first time that we see David, right at the beginning, we are actually seeing him postmortem in the morgue. Meaning that the monologue is a lament on his life... (You're not ashamed of what, David? Being a bit gay, perhaps?)

Penetration with the Knife (Phallus)

At the climax of the movie, after David’s glasses have been removed, we arrive at David’s final act of domination over Alex. David pins Alex to the floor by sitting on his stomach, with Alex’s legs pinned underneath his knees in a position that could be interpreted as sexual. He then holds Alex by the throat, and stabs him in the shoulder, slicing clean through and penetrating the floor. The act of stabbing (penetrating) a victim with a knife (phallus) is one often noted in analysis of horror films, as having sexual implications (again – I’d find some article about it here if I was a serious writer lol).

Before David can stab Alex again with a second knife, David is stabbed with a knife through the throat from behind by Juliet. Thus Juliet, who has been a dominant character throughout the movie, is symbolically penetrating David with a phallus. Furthermore, the location of the stabbing in the throat and from behind, implies that David has now suffered, once again, an emasculation, just as he had just preformed on Alex.

David collapses and dies, just as Hugo did, from emasculation through the body barrier being broken from penetration. Thus, David’s identification with Hugo’s corpse and the vulnerability that it represented, is complete in this moment.

Juliet then kneels over Alex, taking up the same position that David had just occupied, and places her hand on the knife in Alex’s shoulder, pressing on it, thus taking David’s place as the one to dominate Alex. She then removes her shoe, and in an act that mirrors the scene from the charity ball in which she dominated Alex by having him lick her shoe/foot, she uses her shoe to hit the knife three times, driving it deeper into his shoulder, further penetrating him. Thus, in her final interaction with both David, and Alex, she has penetrated them.

As she puts her shoe back on, we can see inside of the refrigerator, where we once again see David’s glasses, recalling once again that this scene is coded as sexual in nature through the movie's visual language.

As the movie closes, we discover that Alex is alive (probably), and that he has hidden the money underneath the floorboard. In the ultimate irony of the movie, the character that spent the second half of the movie being coded as the submissive (homosexual receiving) partner, has come out on top, despite the other two character’s attempt to dominate (and kill) him.

Uhhh the credits roll, and they're all shown as they were in the first scene of the movie, smiling, laughing, and the love song "Happy Heart" plays...

#shallow grave #ewan mcgregor #i can't believe i wrote 7 pages of this #lmfao #this is for you loycspotting #cw: blood #CW: stabbing #cw: nudity #cw: murder

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9misorai · 2 months ago

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it is implied that Mob knows Reigen's nonexistent supernatural ability at the end of separation arc, and I also thought that it was also implied Reigen knew that Mob knew.

Mob's answer to Reigen's "So, do you know? About what I really am." is "I've known from the start. That my master is a good person." — so I thought this was Mob trying to say that he didn't care whether Reigen had supernatural ability or not, because the reason why Mob followed and made him his master was because he saw Reigen as a good person, not because he was a good psychic. Mob thought Reigen was a good teacher for becoming a good person.

And I always thought Reigen understood what Mob was trying to say. I mean, Reigen had been shown that he was gifted with social skills and understanding others, so he should be able to read between the lines, especially from a kid he had known and being close to for 3 years. So, yeah, I thought Reigen knew that Mob knew that he didn't have any power.

And I was even more convinced because in the first episode of season 3, after Reigen asked Serizawa to exorcise the doll (?) Reigen asked Mob about it Mob answered, and ... nothing between them happened afterwards.

I mean, I imagined their usual dynamic would be like Mob asked "but Master didn't you see it as well?" and Reigen gave his usual excuse to Mob.

So with Reigen actually asks Mob without having to lie, and with Mob just answers without questioning Reigen's supernatural ability that he supposed to have, those made me thought "oh, okay, so Reigen's lack of power is not a secret between them anymore."

But then the last arc happens.

To be honest, though, I still think Reigen already knows that Mob knows. He says it outloud not because he thinks Mob doesn't know. Parts of it is because he wants to show Mob that he also has accepted the part of him that he hates the most by saying the truth with his own mouth.

It's not about letting Mob knows, it's about accepting yourself wholly, it's about being honest. Because eventhough Mob knows, and eventhough Reigen knows that Mob knows, as long as Reigen hasn't said it explicitly, Mob has no reason to think Reigen is being genuine. Mob, or ???%, is justified to think that even then everything Reigen has done for him is because Mob is useful for his job.

And Reigen knows that. He knows that he's still technically lying by not saying the truth explicitly. The keyword here is the explicitly, not the saying the truth. Because Mob knows. And Reigen knows.

So he used this moment to allow him to show that all he wants to do is to help Mob to accept his other side just like Reigen does at that moment. He wants to be responsible as Mob's "mentor".

And it worked.

This getting longer than I planned it to be.

But the point is, since I thought that Reigen also knew, I got surprised that I'm probably the minority who think that because from what I saw a lot of people actually think Reigen still didn't know that Mob knew?

Well, at least in the anime, a lot of things are only implied, so I guess it's up to interpretation? I haven't read the manga fully, but I think the manga is more detailed on the characters' thought. So maybe I was wrong about it.

#I didnt plan to write this much uh oh this is supposed to be one or two paragraphs #mp100 #reigen arataka #kageyama shigeo #I initially didnt want to tag the characters but yeah

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sprite-and-the-bunnydragons · 1 month ago

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Zelink, ranked by how canon I think they are

(Important note: these are all just my opinions! I tried to go off of what we know for sure in canon and what we could infer from canon, but they’re obviously just my thoughts and interpretations. Okay, housekeeping done, enjoy my little thoughts!)

SS: Duh. Literally the only thing that could make this Zelink more canon would be someone outright stating “Link and Zelda are in love!” They even have a song together called Romantic Flight. They’re in love, your honor. And they’re one of my favorite OTPs (you can have more than one, right?🤣😅).

LoZ/AoL: Haven’t played these games (yet), but I’m pretty sure this Link kisses/is implied to kiss one of his Zeldas?

ST: Also all but canon. They’re canonically best friends who might turn into a romantic relationship when they get older. They hold hands, hug, support each other no matter what, and Link blushes/gets embarrassed around her.

BotW/TotK: We know for a fact this Zelda is canonically in love with her Link. Personally, I think Link reciprocates that, especially by the time of TotK. There’s a unique kind of desperation from him to find her in that game that seems to point to a romantic relationship imo.

MC: Don’t know much about this game, but it seems like this Zelink could easily happen from what I know.

WW: One of my favorite Zelinks (technically Telink)! They’re perfect together imo. They would rank higher if the ones above in this list didn’t seem to have super solid reasons they could be canon.

ALBW: It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve played this game, but I don’t remember much in the way of hinted romance between this Link and Zelda. I do think they’d be cute together, though. (Sidebar for gushing over how much I LOVE Hildavio—the dark princess willing to do anything to save her people and the cowardly hero willing to do anything to save her. I love their dynamic. They, uh, would probably need individual and/or couple’s therapy before they got together, though.😅)

ALttPOoS/OoA/LA: Would rank MUCH higher on this list if LA/Marin hadn’t happened. I think this Link would need some serious time and effort before he’d feel ready to try anything romantic again after Marin. But if he did, I do think he’d go for his Zelda. Unless that theory about them being siblings is true, ofc.

FSA: Know next to nothing about this game(games? Is there another FS game?), so I’m putting it sort of in the middle/back.

OoT/MM: Don’t get me wrong, I love this Zelink pairing. I just like Malink better and feel like Malink fits the future events in TP/the Child Timeline. And I feel like this Link would struggle coming to terms with the fact that he doesn’t have the same history with this Zelda than the one he left behind in the Adult Timeline. However their relationship is, I love these two.

HW (yes, I’m including the Warriors games, they’re canon in my heart): I think this Zelink pairing has a shot at being just as awesome as Adult Timeline OoT Zelink. HW Zelink could be incredibly close and trusting and adorable with each other. But I think after everything with Cia, this Link would be hesitant on anything romantic for a while. I think he’d probably have trust issues, too, which would get in the way of this relationship from happening. But I think they’d eventually get together. (Sidebar: this list isn’t about LU, but that one LU comic about the first time Warriors saw Artemis gave me the happy flutteries. They’re so good together imo.)

TP: This Zelink … could happen, I guess? But I think he’s more likely to wind up with Ilia or go searching for Midna. TP Zelink just doesn’t have much interaction with each other, and their personalities seem different enough, I don’t see them working out. (Sidebar: @ovegakart’s comics about TP Zelink are AMAZING and single-handedly convinced me to ship them in some circumstances. The dowry comic still makes me howl with laughter—get it? Howl? Because wolf?😁)

AoC: I’m pretty sure this Zelda is in love with this Link like she is in BotW/TotK, but I don’t think AoC Link would reciprocate it. Personally, I think he’d go with Mipha. One of my favorite things to note is that AoC Link is VERY different than BotW Link, even though they’re (technically) the same person. Different experiences, different memories, different wants and needs, different personalities, even. I honestly don’t know if BotW Link would have gone with Mipha if everything in his game had stayed the same except that she survived. There’s a lot there to consider and unpack.

#going through all of these was so fun #I didn’t realize how much I love all Zelink ships until now #these aren’t in the order of my personal preference #If so WW Zelink would be MUCH higher #loz #zelink #the legend of zelda #sprite’s scribbles #miphlink #midlink #ilink #malink

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askablindperson · 2 months ago

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/Question: I tend to use several languages, (several non-Latin alphabet languages), and i was wondering how screen readers work with them (like what happens if it meets a Chinese/Japanese character? What about a heavy diacritic language like Vietnamese? What if it meets French, will it read it like its English etc;)

If making image descriptions and my intentions are "I'm going to use my own language in this piece of art, and my viewers aren't supposed to know what I drew here", how should I go about doing it, so that I don't have to translate it into English while still being accessible?

Hi! These are great questions. Thank you for asking.

So most screen readers have a setting that can be toggled called “automatic language detection“ or similar. As the name implies, turning the setting on will mean that your screen reader will do its best to automatically detect language changes and read them in that language.

However, this happens with varying degrees of success. With other languages that use the Roman alphabet, this is quite tricky, and whether it will get the language right can be hit or miss. I once was taking a psychology exam in college where the screen reader insisted that segments of the document were supposed to be read in French when they were very much in English. Most of the time though, because guessing the language in the Roman alphabet can be dicey, the screen reader will usually default to reading it in whatever language the user currently has the screen reader set to. So most of the time when I encounter Spanish or French online, my screen reader will generally try to pronounce it like English because I have mindset to English.

For this reason, most of the time if a blind person is intentionally trying to read a different language in the Roman alphabet, they will switch voice profiles to one specifically designed for the second language They are switching to and toggle back-and-forth as needed. A number of bilingual blind people will have shortcuts set up for this so they can switch quickly and easily. There are ways to make it more seamless with Roman alphabet based languages, but usually this involves marking up/tagging for the language, which is something you can do in a document but not so easily on social media. I don’t know too much about how that process works though since I don’t personally read any other Roman alphabet based languages and I am also admittedly not that knowledgeable about the technical weeds.

However, for character based languages or languages that use a different alphabet in general, automatic language detection is usually much more successful. On my iPhone using voiceover, I tend to keep this feature turned on, because it does a pretty good job of Never switching when it’s not supposed to with the Roman alphabet And switching pretty seamlessly when encountering languages that do not use the Roman alphabet. Most of the time, I can read one sentence in English and the next sentence in Japanese without much issue.

Although, with Japanese in particular, it can be hit or miss whether the screen reader will interpret a kanji as Chinese or Japanese, so if I’m deliberately trying to read Japanese specifically or I encounter Japanese text online that I want to read better, I will switch to the Japanese voice profile to manually flip it over to full Japanese. I have my preferred Japanese voice profile set up as a shortcut so I can easily switch quickly when I want to without going all the way into settings.

As for how you should handle these image descriptions, the best practice for this is usually the same best practice for captions: if a non-disabled person who knows the language would be able to read it, then the disabled person who knows the language should also be able to read it, so your image description should include the text in the language that it is written in the image. If the text on the image isn’t also translated into English, then the text in the image description shouldn’t be translated into English either. This means that only blind people who also know the language in the image will be able to read it, just like how only sighted people who know the language will be able to read it in the image.

And, if a blind person reading that image description does know that language, if their screen reader doesn’t do a good job of automatically language switching to pronounce the words correctly, then they as the user can change their voice profile to the language in question, so I wouldn’t worry too much about whether it’ll be readable. As long as it is still in plane text, a blind person who knows that language should be able to read it if they want to.

I hope this helps! That is a very great question.

#screen readers #image descriptions #accessibility

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edutainer2022 · 10 months ago

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The convoluted dynamics between the Mechanic and Scott keeps fascinating me, as they're antagonistic/contrasting characters, but also mirrors. This is a bit of a darker spin on the issues that drive them and inform mutual (explosive) reactions. I left the ending open to interpretation (hopefully!). Maybe there's hope for a road to a working relationship. Maybe there's more than one. Maybe it's a dead-end, or a clean slate.

Many thanks to @janetm74, as always, for bearing with the twilight of my mind.

CW: mention of implied past assault and mental torture. Nothing graphic.

MEANINGS

The way that day started, he would never have guessed how it would end. Yet there he was. There they were.

The morning met a round up of a grueling overnight rescue. For the first time since the neurolink to the Hood had been severed, they tried out several of his customized mechas on a rescue for difficult to reach places. The Illustrious Commander was, of course, vocally against the field test. Or granting him any more access to their systems beyond what was necessary for the T-drive. No surprise there. But Brains was excited, and with a helfty support from the orbit, the Commander was outvoted and outgunned. In the end, the rescue nearly cost the Commander's life anyway, when the idiot ventured further beyond where his mechas would go. Beyond what was prudent, humanly possible, or sane. The Mechanic had long got his own suspicions, but that night - he saw red.

Technically, it was the next morning, when he stormed the locker room showers in the hangars. Thunderbird One was the last one back to the island, held back on site by reporting to the local authorities. Or maybe delaying the inevitable. He suspected the other Tracies were giving their Intrepid Leader a wider berth before the debrief. The Mechanic had no such qualms.

He yanked the stall door so hard - the hinges keened. Paying no heed to the scalding water blasting from the showertop, he slammed the younger man face first against the wall, an effective chokehold immobilizing his any attempt to wrestle free or fight back. The Mechanic saw Scott spar with Kayo or with his brothers in the island gym, on occasion. More often he would pummel the equipment, working through whatever demons haunted him. The Mechanic was certain he was at least one of those. Scott was good in a scrap. Very good. But with at least five inches and fifty pounds on him, Scott was currently no match to the Mechanic's FURY. He was so angry his voice went hoarse:

"Listen up! You wanna get yourself killed - that's between you and whatever the heck you believe in. But don't you DARE use me as a TOOL to punish yourself EVER AGAIN! I won't be your flagelation puppet! You pull another stint like that - you can build your own damn T-drive!"

He was panting, the blinding ire had winded him. It took a moment to realize Scott wasn't struggling against his firm grip. In fact, the man was completely still, each muscle and sinue stiff, thrumming with tension like a live wire. Frozen. He was expecting a lashing out. A showdown. He'd have welcomed it, in fact. The tension building for weeks from the very bowels of the dormant volcano got him antsy. He was ready to erupt. And so was the Tracy Commander. But from the vantage point of his height the Mechanic could see blue eyes squeeze shut. The hiss came out stifled, like Scott's airways were closing up:

"Go ahead... Get it over with..."

Only then it occurred to the Mechanic how dubious the situation was. The realization rippled a chill through his veins, despite the heat of the running shower, rapping over his back. He looked up Scott Tracy's GDF file way back in the Hood's thrall. The classified parts and the ones Tracy Sr. made sure were stricken from the record altogether. The Mechanic knew firsthand what it felt like to have no control over one's own body. Over one's own mind. And now he was nearly perpetrating the same brand of violence. Or so Scott's triggered instincts read into his intent. His hands let go of the other man's body almost automatically and took a step back. Horrified. Through the fog of the scalding water he could see the rigid body start shaking, leaning against the wall. That particular clash was far from over, he understood as much. But they didn't exactly do apologies, so without another word he stalked out.

***

He expected nothing less than a throw of hands when Scott Tracy next showed up in his workshop. Technically, it was a portion of Hiram's labs, allocated to him, complete with sleeping quarters and even a bathroom of his own. He WAS cordially offered guest rooms on the upper levels of the villa, but he knew better than to accept. His current status didn't bode well with broad daylight out in the open. Besides, he preferred not to stray far away from the T-drive specs and test simulations. In case inspiration struck at odd hours, which it frequently did.

Surprisingly enough, Scott Tracy was not seeking a fight. Or immediate termination of his arrangement. Or a lawsuit for aggravated assault. Which would be a moot point anyway, since the Mechanic was technically a fugitive. His jailer, Rigby, definitely reported he didn't exactly comply to being released into the Tracies' custody before the Hex exploded.

He wasn't quite sure either if Scott Tracy was seeking oblivion or offering a truce, when he stepped into the workshop at a small enough hour of the night, brandishing a bottle of scotch. The Mechanic wasn't a conossieur of top shelf alcohol, but he knew enough to recognize the Macallan 1926 single malt that could easily pay for most of Zero-XL deep space supplies. It took several minutes of comically shuffling among the battery of cups, amassed through long hours of agonising over failed T-drive tests, but they finally poured two fingers each. They were drinking a century and a half old scotch out of chipped, coffee-stained novelty mugs. In complete silence. The Mechanic didn't feel like pursuing a fight after the incident in the showers. Or a more recent one, in the hangars. He gave Scott the space to speak first. Or not. A flash of blue finally turned to him.

"I'm sorry."

That was new. Apparently, they WERE doing apologies. But the Mechanic needed a bit more context to go on, so he took another sip in carefully crafted quiet.

"I'm sorry I made you feel like a tool. Again. I didn't think... it would hurt you thus."

Hurt was a word he didn't expect. But couldn't but appreciate. Hurt rarely featured in any conversation around his previous gig as Hood's henchman, if it were not the hurt he inflicted. There was definitely no shortage of the latter. He raised the cup in acknowledgement and the tension in the blue eyes eased up a faint bit. He took an extra minute to consider his own words.

"I'm sorry for lashing out. You scared me."

Maybe it was the second helping of scotch talking. He was almost befuddled to pinpoint the truth of it. His inventions had never been heretofore used to save. Only to destroy. And on the first try they failed. He could hardly ever imagine regretting not saving Scott Tracy, of all people, yet there they were.

A mirthless bark of a laugh broke through his impromptu reverie.

"You're new here. You'll get used to it!"

Maybe it was scotch talking too. Maybe Scott Tracy was so accustomed to his own self-destruction mode, he didn't see the points of no return anymore. Didn't see the point anymore. The Mechanic could certainly drink to that. But his newfound freedom, newfound lease on life, and with it - newfound PURPOSE, made him hyperaware of such all too familiar mindset. He wasn't Scott Tracy's sibling, or friend, or mentor. He wouldn't roll over and let the man martyr himself on the altar of his perceived failures. Several days ago he probably wouldn't believe himself ever thinking that. Definitely the scotch talking. Yet there they were.

***

They could certainly attribute the rest of the night to the rest of the scotch. It didn't come to words between them beyond that, but it did come to a showdown. His split and swollen lip and a bruise blooming on the edge of Scott's jaw would tell a story, come dawn. Definitely scotch talking.

The eruption was inevitable, as they probably both knew - tension cackling in the space between resentment and recognition. Speaking of live wires. He maybe should have been aware Scott was still chasing retribution for himself. He might have been aware he was still on a mission to reclaim control by all means. For a brief, cathartic while it didn't matter. So there they were. Back to square one.

#thunderbirds are go #scott tracy #the mechanic #scott tracy needs a cuff up his head #scott tracy needs therapy but noone ever brings it up #the mechanic is not amused #words have more than one meaning #so do actions #methinks i have astronomy #my fic

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yarrowleef · 1 month ago

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once again thinking about my various pepe-sylvia-red-string-board StarClan theories trying to come up with a canon compliant way to interpret them.

I'm getting on this because StormClan's Folly is going to come out soon, and i'm sure it will imply StarClan """sent""" that storm as punishment for their transgressions (the same way they """"sent"""" one in "The Raging Storm." and when this inevitably happens I WILL be calling their bluff again.)

Look, all i'm saying is every time we have seen a starclan POV they are never controlling things on that scale. they are usually sitting around fretfully looking at visions.

anyway, recently I came across this passage in yellowfang's secret's prologue that i've been thinking about because....what the hell is this.

So....Here we have StarClan cats. fearing divine punishment on behalf of the clans.....

punishment from who?????

not from StarClan, apparently! not with how it's phrased here! This is not a threat that StarClan is making, it's a warning they're trying to decipher. It's coming from somewhere else, and it's not some other spirit in starclan or else Molepelt and Hollowbelly would be able to ask them. These dipshits don't know anything about it.

maybe I shouldn't say that StarClan cats are lying per se when they let the clans believe that all disasters are punishments. i think StarClan also believes it, that the world is controlled by some predetermined force of fate and everything that happens must happen for a reason. a reason that will ultimately favor them in the end so long as they follow The Rules.

it's just insane how this supposed great inevitable punishment for driving out SkyClan took ages and ages to happen, and it's been insinuated that everything from Brokenstar to Tigerstar to the dark forest to the twolegs destroying the territory (which they were already doing, hence what caused SkyClan to leave in the first place??) to Darktail to the stupid storm that ended that arc ties back to this one crime. Every bad thing that happened in a decade+ time span is blamed on this long-time-coming punishment over there not being the divinely mandated 5 clans. It took a long time for the self-fulfilling paranoia to justify itself, but I guess they technically got there eventually! fascinating.

if the reason doesn't make sense, StarClan will invent an interpretation and pass it on to the medicine cat as truth. It's not like, a choice in the typical sense, it's a religious belief.

Let me clarify that I am not advocating that a god or god equivalent exists in this world. I hope desperately that they never try to have real deities, it would suck so bad. If Erin Hunter ever introduces the god of the stars as some fuck ass discount-bargain-bin Aslan Lion who appears in ProtaginistPelt's dream one night like "be not afraid, it is I, Starmane, god of all prophecy and creator of StarClan" rest assured I will be VERY UPSET.

dont get me wrong, I like pantheons and fictional deities as much as the next guy, I even like them in wc fanfic! but as far as canon warrior cats goes, it is too late to introduce gods in this world and i'm confident they would make it worse.

I'm just saying that StarClan acts as if there is one, and that they must answer to it Or Else. not in the form of a being, but at least in the form of some divine ineffable will. StarClan is a lot easier to make sense of when you stop viewing them like gods, and start viewing them as worshippers of their own religion. i cant view them as a separate being from the clans, they ARE the clans. they interpret the world the same as when they were alive. i wish I could find more starclan-villain fanfics that approached them like that (more paranoid then in control) rather than as a powerful outside oppressive force (aka framing them as something akin to like...old testament Christian god. i get it, it's cathartic! it's fine, but I don't think it always works in this setting, at least not in an exact 1-to-1 way.)

StarClans actions make no sense because they also don't know why things need to happen a certain way. They are just higher ranking messengers passing on interpretations of what they see, fully believing they need to follow the will of "fate" the same way the clans believe they need to follow StarClan. And tbh I like this interpretation of the world. i LIKE the idea of StarClan trying to make divine sense out of bullshit. It's the only way to make sense of their pointlessly cryptic actions.

this is why trying to introduce deities would be a bad idea. Because you just can't put a conscious "wisdom" behind when they claim they can and cannot meddle with the living world's politics. Sometimes they can reject a chosen leader, sometimes they apparently have no choice but to let tyrants do what they want unchallenged, sometimes they send passive aggressive omens, sometimes they yell at you directly in your dreams or straight up appear in the living world, sometimes (like last arc) they opt for complete radio silence for moons and moons for no reason!

why does starclan choose to intervene here and not there? because they aren't choosing. they are waiting for something they could interpret as permission. When StarClan feels that Fate(tm) is bidding them to directly intervene with the living is as inconsistent and irrational as say....random violent weather patterns.

#i always feel like i have already written a post like this but i can never find it again soooo w/e #it would be stretching outside of canon #because there are some Definitively Real old prophecies canonically. granted that doesn't mean there is a consciousness behind them #but it would be funny if there were no real prophecies save for the self fulfilling kind #''prophecy'' is just flickers of the future rippling randomly across the stars. no intent.#just events.#starclan could still be the ones putting lyrics and intention to the random noise when they pass the dream along to the living #the only threat is the monster they made out of their own shadows on the wall #that probably doesn't quite slot into canon but sometimes it feels that way #warrior cats #starclan #yarrow speaks #yellowfang's secret

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kiragecko · 8 months ago

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So, it's the early 2000s. I'm hanging out with the first friend I've managed to make in half a decade, my now-husband. We're both trying to make good impressions, because friendship is hard! Now-Husband does this through the evergreen autistic method of 'let's share my special interest'.

(I would later do the exact same thing, slightly more successfully, with the Discworld books. This can be a good method!)

He does have enough social awareness to realize that sticking me in front of the Final Fantasy VII video game will not work. But, Advent Children is a MOVIE! He can share THAT with me!

Now, a more social aware person might ask themselves (and maybe even me) some questions first. Questions like:

Has Gecko ever played a video game?

(Answer: Yes, I have played parts of Super Mario World and two Donkey Kong Countries! Also, a snakey Tetris clone?)

Has Gecko ever watched an anime?

(Answer: No.)

Has Gecko ever had ANY interaction with Japanese bullshit, and it's differences from English bullshit?

(Answer: I have read one manga at this point, W Juliet.)

Does Gecko even know what an RPG IS?

(Answer: No. If the acronym was expanded I would think you were talking about D&D.)

Can Gecko watch things with subtitles?

(Answer: Unknown, but I'm about to find out!)

Does Gecko actually enjoy movies?

(Answer: At the time, I would have said yes. I had been taught to ignore a lot of pain back then, and didn't realize they were sensory nightmares.)

Is this movie a good fic for newcomers to the franchise?

(Answer: Unhinged laughter.)

We watched Advent Children.

The saving grace of this experience was that Now-Husband LIKES explaining stuff! He got to explain a LOT of stuff. And it was VERY interesting to watch someone try to figure out how to explain,

"Your guess might technically be correct for this movie, but it wasn't that way in the game! ... I don't think. And it's not what I think they're trying to imply! ... It might actually be a plot hole. Or maybe we just missed something with the bad lighting? But also, I'm realizing, in real time, how many of my interpretations are actually fanon and I'm questioning everything!"

And there was a pseudo-vampire. I will never get over Vincent. Every moment of Vincent was overdramatic, trying-to-hard-to-be-cool BULLSHIT. I loved it! Vincent was very easy to understand!

The plot of Advent Children, according to Gecko:

The main(?) characters are in a flower church and Aerith glows and rises into the air in a clear death metaphor. Or maybe actually dies? (I was mostly scared all the stained glass would break.)

Cloud and his Large Sword fights the One Winged Angel Music Guy multiple times. Reasons unclear.

FAKE VAMPIRE SHOWS UP AND THINKS HE'S SO COOL! HA HA! I LOVE THE DUMB FAKE VAMPIRE. LOOK AT HIM POSE!

I definitely saw Tifa and Barrett at some point, but I don't even have memories of thinking, "Oh, he is a DADDY! THERE IS A CUTE KID!" So they failed big time, there.

The End.

#final fantasy vii #video games #advent children #love my husband so much you guys

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pawfulofwaffles · 6 days ago

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Hot take maybe, but I never really liked 10 Minutes To Doom.

There are multiple reasons why I don't like this episode, but to start with the actually logical ones, I feel like it's really nonsensical and confusing? I'm not talking about 'nonsensical' in the iconic Invader Zim-esque humor sense, I mean what it's plot revolves around just doesn't add up to me. So according to Dib, the PAK is Zim, but Zim is still operating his own body to get the PAK back. I understand this is kind of a "downloaded memories/personality" type of deal, but it just feels confusing when they're supposed to be connected(as one entity) but one can still exist dependently without the other. And also Zim's fear of "I'll die without my PAK" in the episode doesn't feel nearly as worrisome when you consider that-- if he is his PAK as Dib says-- he technically doesn't actually need his body. Also, if he is his PAK, why does he(as the PAK) not work to get back to his body? Why connect to Dib instead? I guess the one thing I can think of making sense is that organic Zim is the original real Zim and PAK Zim is the just-in-case backup Zim, and original Zim doesn't want to lose his PAK in spite of the backed-up personality because his body still will die without it, even if it can carry on being him.

Pushing logic aside, I have some personal bias with this episode as well. It rubbed me the wrong way the first time I watched it, specifically the part where it gets connected to Dib and Zim's personality starts infecting Dib.

I don't like the idea of 'Zim' as we know him being his PAK instead of his organic brain. I don't exactly know why? This sounds bad to say, but I feel like I mentally register him as less of a person if his conciousness is located in his PAK. When Zim's personality in the PAK messes with Dib's brain and he starts acting like Zim, I feel like it implies that Zim's personality in his PAK influences the host, but any experiences the host goes through have no influence in the personality. And why would it? If Zim's personality is downloaded into the PAK, it has no reason to change. It's technology, it doesn't grow and change like an actual brain. I feel like the fact that Zim is essentially running on a downloaded personality makes it so he's stuck and unable to learn and develop as a person. He feels like a shallow mockery of a person, just a device with a reference for an erratic personality manning a body and responding how its backed-up personality tells it to. The fact that Dib's own experiences, knowledge, and growth in his brain as himself were unable to trump/affect Zim's personality in his PAK makes me think that Zim is incapable of change, because even if he went through experiences, gained knowledge, and had the potential to grow, the unchangable personality set in his PAK would influence him and nothing would change. I don't like that.

Oh yeah I was about to finish this but then I remembered there's one other reason, this one's kinda stupid but hey I said it was biased for a reason-- it makes Zim feel too invincible. I need him to be killable, I need him to have vulnerabilities. If his body gets killed but his PAK can just attach to something else, suddenly Zim is like an immortal machine. And I don't fw that.

I've chosen to ignore some lore in that episode(as I've done with a lot of things in this fandom lmao) and instead the way I interpret it, Zim's PAK holds a backup of all of the irken's memories, but that's all for personality. It can't exist as it's own entity, it needs its host and if the host dies that's lights out for that irken's existence. Idk I think I just hate when characters don't have mortality, it makes them feel so less relatable to me.

But hey it's 1 am, this is just my opinion, and there's a good chance none of this makes sense or there's something here that I'm not getting. Also a weird bug bit me in the arm then I freaked out and now it's somewhere in my sheets so needless to say I'm going to torch my bed then sleep elsewhere

#keep in mind i didn't even bother to rewatch it before writing this #im just going off of what i remember and how i knew i felt #watch me regret posting this in the morning and delete it #invader zim #invader zim fandom #iz #iz fandom #zim #zim my beloved #invader zim zim #zim invader zim #iz zim #zim iz #character analysis #i think?#10 minutes to doom #ten minutes to doom #ramblingoverwaffles

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quincyhorst · 23 days ago

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I really like the hc you create on Gojou Masaru hopefully i don’t request too much for you all the time by the way i hope your always in good health!!

I don’t know why but i really want to challenge you on a character who technically has no info but at the same time technically not completely irrelevant which is Gouenji Masato. The on info i have on him is that he possibly is a fake blonde and he sees Gouenji his cousin as his rival.

I don’t remember ever seeing him talk to be honest!! Again this is more of a request if your busy please just ignore this i don’t want to be a bother especially with how often i request!!

Heyyyy ~~~ Due to my classes I had to postpone answering this ask (Sorry for that), but now I'm finally able to!

Regarding Masato... I'll admit, he IS challenging to work with 😅 But I can't deny it was fun to think and write down stuff for him; specially since he's related to a main character. Just one note though: Whenever I talk about the Gouenji we all know about, I'll refer to him with his actual name instead (Shuuya). Same thing with his father; I'll use Katsuya to refer to him.

I find interesting that his school year is actually unknown, because it leads to two interesting posibilities knowing the cousin rivarly: He could be a 1st year and hence younger than Shuuya, making the rivarly stem out more of him feeling less experienced in soccer than he is. On the opposite side, there's the possibility of him being a third year and thus older; which in turn makes the rivarly be interpreted as jealously upon a younger cousin that got popular unlike him. If you were to ask me, I'd choose either this scenario or even see him as a 2nd year. I don't think he fits as a 1st year imo.

Another vague thing that always intrigued me is his relationship to the Gouenji family. All we know is that he's a cousin to Shuuya and Yuuka, and bc of his surname it means he's the child of a sibling of Katsuya. Most likely a *brother* given the logic with japanese surnames (As in, the father's surname is given priority when marrying and passing it on to children). But then again the series gives us cases where the rule is broken (Endou's dad adopts the surname of his wife instead of the other way around)... So I guess that's up to interpretation.

I can't deny it, but I easily picture Masato and his family being rather distant. As in, they live in the other side in the country and thus have their own stuff to worry about. Both branches of the Gouenji family meet every so often, that's for sure, but I like the HC that Masato's image of Shuuya mostly comes from the media (TV, news, etc) than anything. The two aren't close enough for him to know all the dobuts and worries caused after his aunt's death :(

On IE2 you get to recruit him on Hokkaido, just like his counterpart Endou Kanon. Don't know if that where he would live, but hey, it explains the distance.

(Now that we mention Kanon, I'll always find interesting how the two are put as counterparts, even though the latter is from the future. I get what ties them together is that the two are related in a way or another to both Mamoru and Shuuya... But I wouldn't be surprised if Masato was a discarded design for Inazuma Eleven Future)

Another odd fact from the games, but Hijikata is somehow on Masato's exclusive team. I dobut this could have any significance when it comes to HCs, and I feel like Raiden was just added there bc of his friendship with Shuuya.

There's only one last in-game thing I wanna mention, and is his moveset: In IE2, ALL of his moves are ones Shuuya did before, which could imply he'd struggle on finding something on his own? In IE3 he does learn some unique stuff, though one is done by Gooshu... Who technically is Shuuya but from Cotarl :'D (I'm not couting the IEGO movesets for obvious reasons)

Okay, now onto personal speculations... But I like the idea that even if he's rivals with Shuuya, Masato gets decently with Yuuka. In fact, on the time that happened between her accident and the plot of IE starting, whenever his family came to Inazuma Town, visiting Yuuka was a priority. I don't picture him having a proper meeting with Shuuya until the FFI is over.

When they finally get to meet, I feel like things might be rough at first. No shit, imagine being Masato and seeing that your younger/older cousin won both national AND the international tournaments + defended Japan from "aliens", while you were stuck on literally nowhere trying to make a name of yourself. His english profile calls his personality "tempestuous", someone who can be passionate and emotional but in a very harsh way. And I feel like that's how he would try to be with Shuuya, trying to find any way possible to make his own skills look better than his.

However, holding grudges isn't very healthy at all. Be it because of talking it out or realizing it the hard way, Masato eventually comes to terms with the differences on his skills vs Shuuya's. And before the other Gouenjis go back to their hometown, Masato promises Shuuya that he'll keep carving his own way.

I'd like to end this ask regarding his GO future, because I've thought of two possible scenarios. The first one is that he kept playing soccer till he got on the professional leagues, and once again unlike his cousin he didn't leave them bc external causes. I picture him playing for the German league and any of its famous teams. Nothing much to add here 🤷

However, there's another idea I had for him, and it is linked with a particular line from Shuuya's father himself: "

Basically, Katsuya believes that just because Shuuya is his son, then it means he will automatically be just as good as him. Obviously this statement is false, knowing how all the things that Shuuya will do in the future regarding soccer. But, what if it became true in a different way?

Masato and Katsuya still share some DNA in a way, and even though his father has a job entirely separate from the field of medicine, he would become the new medic in training of the Gouenji family instead. I still picture Masato liking soccer, don't get me wrong, but I think he'd focus on something else for his future. And yeah, maybe after High School he goes to Germany to study LMFAO

...Regardless of his future outcome, I NEED to see him react to the events of GO at a distance. Imagine him watching a Fifth Sector broadcast while he's chilling at Dusseldorf or something, and as he sees the leader he's like: "...Wait, that face is familiar...."

Also, his relationship with the other members of the Gouenji family has improved ever since. He and Yuuka keep in contact via social media, and they probably discuss about the whole Ishido ordeal.

Thank you very much for your ask! ♥ And as always, sorry for taking so long 🙏

#inazuma eleven #HC:ina11 #gouenji masato #gouenji shuuya #I REALLYYYY wanted to add a reference to Brockenborg on the Future section #But idk if Masato is going to ever meet any of them 🤷#When it comes to his doctor career; I COULD picture him visiting Peter's bookshop in search of texts for his studies :D #But that's about it #And as for why Dusseldorf out of all german cities......... It's bc of this anime called Monster (?#I genuinely couldn't stop thinking about it as I was writing the last part of the post sadkjds #(It's very dark but I recommend it 100%)

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wobster109 · 1 year ago

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What are Aventurine and Dr. Ratio to each other, anyway?

Spoilers be ahead!

There are a handful of clues in their first on-screen interaction:

Ratio: Without that Aventurine stone, you're nothing more than a doomed Sigonian thrall sentenced to die by the IPC. Or is that serial number on your neck a cherished memento from the Amber Lord? Aventurine: Hah, you're funny. I'll give you that! It appears our erudite friend has done his homework.

A couple things to note. First, Ratio has dug up some info on Aventurine's background, and Aventurine was not the one who told him ("done his homework"). It seems to be their first time working closely together. Ratio has "done his homework" now and not sooner, and he has a fastidious nature: if they'd worked together before, he would've looked into Aventurine's background then. I would guess that they have met, but have not worked closely before.

And yet, they seem to speak rather familiarly with each other. Aventurine tells Ratio to look into Acheron almost casually, not like his interactions with Himeko or Trailblazer where he lays the groundwork for a debt owed, and trades on that for assistance. For his part, Ratio is his usual blunt, insulting self. "Peacock-esque". "Some idiot". I don't know what a "thrall" is but it can't be anything good. (But that's consistent for him. It's not too different from how he talks to Trailblazer.)

If this is one of their first meetings, then where—and when—does this come from?

"You don't believe me?" / "Life is a grand gamble, and I'll always be the final victor."

One thing that's always puzzled me about this image, story, whole situation: if that really is Ratio holding the gun, why does he give in? It's implied in the light cone that whatever Aventurine's asking for here, he gets his way. But isn't that odd for a fellow like Ratio, who tells you not to ask questions if you don't need the answer?

Imagine, devoid of context, that someone has tried to convince Ratio by shooting themselves 3 times. Wouldn't Ratio be unmoved and unimpressed? Wouldn't he simply say "You fool!" and walk out?

And for his part, Aventurine is no fool. One doesn't become P45 in the IPC by sheer luck. He's said to have "won a gamble against fate itself", and that doesn't happen by luck alone. He wouldn't risk his life for nothing. Either what he stood to gain (Ratio's cooperation) was worth that much. . . or he had nothing to lose. And how can losing his life be considered "nothing"?

I believe that the light cone shows when he convinced Ratio to be his technical consultant on Penacony. It goes back to "doomed Sigonian thrall sentenced to die". All along, I've been interpreting that light cone as "Look how fortune favors me". . . but that's not it at all.

It's "Without your help, I'm as good as dead." Both literally and metaphorically— "My life is in your hands."

The light cone story begins with "You don't believe me?" That's why Ratio agrees. I believe you now.

#honkai star rail #spoilers #dr. ratio #aventurine #hsr aventurine

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homestuckreplay · 1 year ago

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Mommy Issues: The Flash Game

(p.388-390)

Page 388 is our first interactive Rose page! I guess p.138 could technically count, but it's the first where we can see her! It's also an iteration on p.90, where John Strifes with his dad. I've been looking at these pages side by side (yes, with the music layered on top of each other), and the animation in Rose's page is both longer and more complex. Even the idle animation - what's happening when you don't click any buttons - has more going on, with Rose doing two separate youth rolls and Rose's mom reacting to attacks, interestingly even when Rose isn't doing anything. Perhaps she is very used to this

We then have four options to choose, compared to John's two. They follow a pattern - the more attack-based moves (shown in Sburb green) begin with AG (Aggress and Aggrieve) - the new one, Aggrieve, is also the name of Rose's theme music that she plays on the violin (p.222) and gets featured here. The more defensive moves (shown in blue) begin with AB (Abjure and Abstain). These are actually Latin word roots, with 'ag-' meaning 'to' or 'towards', and 'ab-' meaning 'away' or 'from'. In the internet age where it's very easy to look up definitions and origins of words, I love that Homestuck is linguistically dense like this, and it doesn't stop it from being accessible to people who are younger or don't have advanced educations.

brief discussion of each of the four options below the cut!

So, these options! 'Aggrieve' is Rose's attack with knitting needles (her kind abstrata) just like John's 'Aggrieve' was a hammer attack - and in both cases, the opponent parries with their own weapon. John's dad almost certainly uses cakekind, while Rose's mom uses... boozekind? beveragekind? martinikind? which gives her incredible possibility for molotov cocktails if she was ever facing down a more formidable foe. It's again a more complex animation than John's, which I think speaks both to Hussie gaining confidence with the flash medium, and to Rose being more experienced with using the knitting needles and with fighting her mom - we learn on the next page that this is a 'daily quota' for Rose's mom.

'Aggress' appropriately becomes 'Passive-Aggress' when we try to select this option. Rose sticks her knitting needles into the broken power socket above the bronzed vacuum cleaner and attempts an 'empty suicide threat' which is some very strong imagery, and honestly a way more manipulative gesture than just passive aggression. We don't see a reaction from Mom, which implies again that this is a daily occurrence, and emphasizes more than anything else so far (in my opinion) just how unhealthy this relationship is. If your kid is making suicide threats, even if what they're trying wouldn't work, even if you think it's "for attention," you should get them some help. What I'm saying is that Rose needs a tentacle therapist of her own.

'Abjure' results in a Guardian Rubric, which for John's dad was 'coddlebrand'. This is from 'coddle' - 'to treat indulgently,' and 'brand' - 'to burn a mark upon with a hot iron', which is really evocative of how John reacts to his dad's coddling, and I think shows us that we're still seeing the fight from John's perspective, even though his dad is the primary actor. In the same way, Mom's Guardian Rubric is 'ironic indulgence', because Rose interprets all her mom's actions as ironic, whether or not that's her mom's intent.

Rose's mom gives her a beautiful pony. Like. For no reason. She brings a living animal into the house, one that requires a lot of skilled care and attention. And it's just a gift she gives her daughter on a whim on a random Monday. I think this shows Mom as a negligent parent far more clearly than any of Rose's words do. If Mom has bought a pony presumably without setting up a stable or learning how to take care of one, it's easy to believe she did the same with Rose - deciding to have or keep a child without understanding how much work went into that, or being willing to learn.

Rose is as resistant to the pony as John was to the cake, but in both cases, they eventually accept the gift. John does this reluctantly because he sees this as the only way to end the strife, while Rose does this after the strife is already over. She creates an illusion of reluctance, but the heart above her head on p.390 suggests that she actually likes this creature. I think Rose is an animal lover in general, someone who'd describe herself as liking animals but not people. She obviously loved her childhood cat a lot and likes this pony too, but overall finds it much easier to acknowledge liking a creature if it's not something typically thought of as 'cute', such as Fluthlu.

Ponies are most commonly an interest of young girls, and the addition of a pink heart and bow make this a very traditionally feminine gift. The same is true of the Pretty Princess Doll on the couch. I think Rose knitting the princess doll an eldritch head and arms is very queer coded, as she twists typical femininity into something less societally approved. I can't wait to see if she does something similar with the pony, maybe swapping out her pink ribbon for something darker and spookier.

The final option is 'Abstain,' another Guardian Rubric. This one is 'ironic negligence,' where Rose's mom offers her the martini to drink and Rose parries with a bottle of water, and as discussed above I don't think it is ironic. I was wrong in an earlier post where I guessed that alcohol was off limits to Rose. It looks like she's been offered alcohol, maybe often, and has responded by being Extremely Straightedge. Maybe she only drinks water and won't even touch kid-appropriate drinks like juice and soda. I think it's not uncommon for children of heavy drinkers to make an effort to not fall into those same patterns, and I also think that Rose intentionally tries to have opposite opinions and behaviors to her mom (even while she's not always successful) and the combination of these two things easily lend themselves to a hardcore water drinker.

Just like in John's Strife, we get to choose which options to click, in what order, and how many times, but we can't win the fight for them. John as the main character had to do that for himself (with some help from the player). In Rose's case, there's no win condition at all and no real goal for either of them. They fight for a while, and then it ends, and they return to their previous activities - Mom doing very real and unironic housework, and Rose leaving the house angrily. John and his dad had conflicting goals they were trying to achieve, but Rose and her mom were fighting for sport because this is a primary way they know how to interact - something to keep in mind for both relationships.

I like seeing the animation get more advanced in Rose's strife - it gets me really excited for something similar with Dave and GG - but honestly nothing in this page beats the sick ass moment where Dad clicks on the lighter and then the music starts playing at the moment all the candles catch fire.

#homestuck #reaction #sometimes i try to keep the reactions short bc its a lot to ask people to read a super long reaction post #but sometimes. There Is Just A Lot To Say #chrono

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