#so i added little illustrations for you guys to interpret

[active-mind-15]

Finally got around to drawing big bro Oreshi and baby bro Bokushi with goofy grins/laughs as requested by @japeneselunchtimerush some time ago. I'm trying to drag myself out of an art funk so I gave up on making this higher quality, but at least I have created a visual. I'll redraw it when I get better. Enjoy :)

[Art related to my fic, Accidental Siblings.]

[chow0w]

I’d love to see your take on Blue! I love how he looks and think your style would look great with him! I also just really wanna see you fully render a silkwing, so pretty

thanks so much Kai (o´v`o) I hope you enjoy this piece!

Here's my redesign! In my opinion, what Blue really needs is a better name- so I decided to stay as true to his original color scheme as I could. I added more greens to make him look more visibly related to Luna, as well as my own vibrant/bright tones for a little pop. Blue's wing shape and translucent appearance was inspired by the Melanus Blue and Godart's Morpho butterfly species, but the colors and patterns were mostly my own intuition (and attempt to create more harmony in my design.) When it comes to representing Blue's personality through appearance, I didn't want to illustrate the misconception that he is cowardly or weak - but rather a (mostly) calm, considerate dragon. I found that this was best conveyed through the use of curved lines and circle/wave patterns which I often associate with nature, meditation and the assurance Blue has in his identity/core values by the end of the arc. his posture and facial expression helped a lot too, mostly by creating a sense of confidence. There are a few other choices I made, but I'll leave them for you guys to interpret!

Returning readers are probably tired of hearing this, but thank you so much! I love seeing new requests in my askbox, as well as learning more about your favorite characters and why you love them so.

My current character waitlist looks like this: Sunny, Clearsight, Luna, freedom, Bigtail, Cricket, Clay, Blaze, Queen Thorn, Starflight, Darkstalker, Tsunami, Kinkajou, Lady Jewel, Queen Scarlet, Whiteout, Queen Pearl, The Librarian, Listener, and Winter.

Safe to say it might take a while to get around to them! I'm trying not to go through any particular order since sometimes certain characters just call - but if you don't see your favorite or have any other questions, come visit my askbox! I'm more than happy to share my brushes, process or any other resource I can provide to my fellow artists.

See you later |ω･)ﾉ

[sinostras]

plz ramble about queer symbolism in idolish I wanna hear it lol

Though if I get to all the queer symbolism, I will probably exceed the character limit if there even is one... but I'll eventually get to all of it in a google doc if you guys ever want me to release it lol. Even if not necessarily aiming towards the main story, we know that id7 isn't afraid of queer people... lol. one of the biggest queer symbolisms that I will point out is Binary Vampire with Re:Vale...

though i feel like the fandom mostly focuses on "oh dark vampire romance au that's so hot" and sure it's their vampire romance au or whatever but no one realizes like OH MY GOD this is one of the biggest pieces which contains the hidden queer symbolism that i have LONGED for especially with a quite literal couple like Re:Vale... all that in the big ol '24 too. Vampirism has existed as a way to display queer relationships for YEARS. Vampires reflect the secrecy and isolation that queer people have to live through, especially during the victorian era where being queer was obviously stigmatized and frowned upon, & like i said earlier, a lot of vampire literature contained hidden queer symbolism and portrayed the anxieties of queer people. Even now in modern vampire literature and even just within the writing community, it's still a major thing and major alternate universe for a lot of fandoms. Knowing idolish7, it feels like one fanfic at this point, and I really love the hidden symbolism within Binary Vampire for those reasons. Now to move on to the actual Bvamp story (any tls which i state belong to hunieday on twt), the pictures sort of display in a style or rather story form that was pretty common in vampiric illustrations especially again... those of queer people. In the very last sentence, "no one knows whether it is a curse or salvation" is basically equivalent to "are they truly meant to be together forever?" and the fact the man came back to give the vampire blood every night was a rather detail that's seen in most of these little queer novels and shit and I just think a lot of these little things are truly cool to point out, especially with the fact that i7 sometimes will treat their events/aus and stuff like fanfics, and I think it's funny, especially because they really aren't afraid of going out with them and even adding symbolism. Now that I mention re:vale, theyre WALKING queer symbolism, no wonder theyre marked canon on the shipping wiki. Green and Pink are extremely common and compatible colors... and you know what it's common in? Blooming flowers

I love this because blooming flowers also symbolize queer people in ways. Still waiting for Yuki to wear green carnations on one of his costumes or something, but yeah. Re:Vale feel like SUCH a fever dream to me, and it's just... sobs. but yk maybe im just delusional and trying to spread the agenda that re:vale are my favorite and my most fixated couple ever... also if i get anything wrong please please please do tell me or if you want to add on please feel free to but this is all just my own interpretation of it and if you dont agree just scroll lol. "fanservice!" my ass have you seen how they act alone

[cpffd]

NOT TO BE THAT SAME GAL, BUT.

Quick unpopular opinion: I believe that the new interpretation of Max as a guy who is lead by his "gut feeling", and Phoebe as the "logical, go by plan" girl is a bit exaggerated in this new series compared to the show? I think it reflects more the dynamic between Jack Griffo and Kira Kosarin (as stated in many of their interviews) rather than the one between Max and Phoebe Thunderman!

While Phoebe is practically a genius (Guys, they are by definition both geniuses! They have an additional lobe, haha), and is very pragmatic and reliable, in the original series Max was kind of obsessed with planning and complex "schemes". And I do not believe that was only a product of him being a wannabe super villain! He does that because it's FUN for him! (And maybe it's just how he wired his brain to work after years of building gadgets, tbh)

Are you telling me that the guy who was constantly creating elaborate plans to solve the dumbest, most trivial situation, and adding illustrated demonstration of them, is a guy who goes by his gut feeling?

Not only that, but people! This guy is a G E E K! An even greater geek than Phoebe! And overall, his sister seems to have scored more successes by using her gut during the series: like, she managed to prevent Max's lair from exploding with them in it by guessing that she had to smash the MAX-6000 machine with a hammer, haha!

The only way in which these traits have been recognized in this new series is when his love for computers was mentioned, in "From Dust Till Down", but that is done at the expense of Phoebe's characterization! Because how is Phoebe unable to understand Max's comment on that program, when in the original show it was assigned to her a "Phoebe Informatics" personality!

I do realize that this new show is maybe designed to cater to a wider audience, and this means that the target age was lowered a bit: I can see it in the way the new villains are presented, and the overall tone of the series (But I haven't watched the new episodes yet, so that could change).

At the same time, Phoebe and Max are now sharing the spotlight with Chloe, and maybe the writers thought that adding a sharper contrast between their personalities would be more effective.

At the same time I don't like how they are kind of... neglected? They kind of backtracked in terms of character development, especially when talking about their dynamic: Phoebe has already understood that she has to trust Max's decision making skills, in Thunder in Paradise and Come What Mayhem! Max has already went through that arc in which he understood that he had to put effort in what he does... why are we all doing that again! There are crucial aspects of their personalities that have been preserved (Because, yeah, their main difference is that Max is a rule breaker and he is way more direct and comfortable with being rude to other people, while Phoebe is the opposite), but... to be extra honest, where's Max's brain? Where are his inventions?

Phoebe's character suffers a little less in this sense, but STILL!

[girlfailureblog]

i actually think its kinda dumb to criticise a character for being a 'bad person'

like it's not real. it's not real life. you're wilfully ignoring the context of their actions. Context is EVERYTHING

It's not about 'character x killed character y, wahhhh character x is a bad person'

It's more like:

in what context did the murder take place?

is the murder significant or insignificant? a major plot beat or cheap kill?

why is the murder significant/insignificant?

how does the murder contextualise character x's character arc?

what was character x's motivation, if there is any?

why is the motivation significant to the wider story? what is the author trying to achieve?

what are the consequences, if any? are the consequences foreseen or unforeseen?

How do the consequences affect character x?

And if you want to get super deep into it:

what is the author's socio-cultural context?

what previous historical events influence the work?

what are the authors political beliefs?

does the author have a conscious political message?

if so, what are they trying to achieve through this character?

if not, how does the political context of the author affect their work?

How does the author subconciously view morality? how does the description of the murder illustrate these views

Even fictional murders that happen 'because it's cool' illustrate a wider implicit meaning. For example, in American action movies, The faceless bad guys die in cool explosions, not simply because it 'looks cool'.

Instead:

the faceless bad guys are not worth mourning because they are evil. they do not get personalities, they do not get personhood, because they are figures of evil. they exist to be killed, because evil must be eradicated

the good guys are allowed to kill the bad guys without remorse, because they are good, and their inherent goodness means that they are justified in taking the lives of others, who are inherently evil

the cool explosions are utilised to distract from the abject horror of massacre. the coolness factor of the good guys underscores their status as arbiters of moral justice

(i'm being a little facetious but you get the point.)

Characters aren't 'bad people' because they don't have the capacity to be bad people. They are tools utilised to convey meaning and message by the author. This comes with the added side effect of the author unwittingly conveying their interpretation of their socio-cultural context.

Reductivism is silly and dumb and it is not worth stunting your analytical skills to please the morality police. And yeah it takes a bit of practice, and obviously it's not practical to view every single piece of media you consume through a strict analytical lens. But at the same time it's unwise to apply real life morality to fiction.

It's never about the murder. It's about what the murder means.

This post has been brought to you by my English Literature degree

(I can talk more about literature analysis if you guys want)

[scoobydoodean]

in regards to the john abuse post- for sam there's a scene in season 8 where that crazy hunter says something to the effect of 'I KNOW john would've taken you boys out to the woodshed for this' (which is. slang for a specific thing) and sam immediately explodes on the guy and shoves him into the wall. sure he's stressed about dean in that scene but a friend of his dad's mentioning his dad hitting him was clearly what made him snap in the moment. it was clearly something sam was sensitive about. considering the age and demographics of the characters (and writers) I can't help but wonder if maybe the winchesters are the sort of people who think corporal punishment and physical abuse are somehow two different things. like, it makes more sense than not that an ex marine in the 80s and 90s with a drinking problem who's constantly scared about his kids getting killed while also putting them in dangerous situations would probably spank them. so I wonder if the reason sam and dean had such different reactions to max's abuse in season 1 was because as much as he hated what john did there werent like, broken bones or anything involved, and he could justify that its not like john was beating them for no reason, versus dean who had a lot more responsibility placed on him and clearly went out of his way to hide things from sam. it is interesting to me that as sam gets older he sort of forgives john with a 'he tried his best' mindset and seems to remember him more fondly, while dean eventually settles in a place of 'I love him but I can't forgive him for my childhood'. srry for rambling.

Context

That would be Martin in 8.09 "Citizen Fang".

Glad your dad wasn't around to hear that. He'd have a mind to take you both out the woodshed and show you what's what. Half inclined to do it myself.

I can't say I have the same interpretation of that scene or Sam's reaction. Like I said, I don't begrudge anyone building the physically abusive John interpretation, and I think this can easily fit into that list of suggestive moments. I don't necessarily understand Martin's phrasing in the same way. Maybe it's worth it to translate my view of Martin's wording here into a little plainer terms (as a certified U.S. southerner, I feel qualified to do this 🤭):

"Your father would be very disappointed in you if he heard that conversation between the three of us. It would upset him to the extent that he would wish he could punish you as if you were still children instead of grown men. It is as if you have forgotten the simplest lessons—the ones you learned about the world from your father as you grew to adulthood. If you're going to act like uneducated children, perhaps I should treat you as such and become your new father so that I can re-teach these childhood lessons."

We do hear from Dean at the end of 2.03 "Bloodlust", that John had a very dogmatic stance on monsters, and I think this phrasing from Martin makes sense in this context, whether he does or doesn't also mean to imply specific punishments he knew to be carried out when they were young. (I don't personally feel "taken out to the woodshed" has to be so literal, and my google searches seem to agree?) Martin already actually hit Dean--I don't know that he means he actually wants to go back to literally hit Dean some more, though I suppose that's possible.

To be mindful of the context here and exactly how Sam reacts... this is right after Martin knocks Dean unconscious for opposing them about hunting Benny. Sam was immediately on edge when Martin knocked Dean out. Sam went along with it in the aftermath because it got him closer to what he wanted (Benny dead) but he didn't like it. Martin's actions plainly illustrated that he's a loose canon. Sam, having brought Martin into the hunt, is now seeing shit hit the fan as a result of his choice to involve a hunter he knew to be unstable (with the added sting of Dean having called out Martin's instability earlier in the episode—a reflection on Dean being the better judge of character and his lack of trust in Sam's reasoning being warranted—a thing Sam is sensitive about). Martin is not even a little conflicted or uncertain about the completely unhinged thing he just did to Dean, and he's got a clear sense of seniority, believing HE is the leader, and not just Dean—but Sam also is a dumb little kid who should do as Martin says.

If there are two things Sam Winchester hates, they are 1) His unilateral choices having disastrous outcomes that Dean predicted would happen and 2) being treated like a little kid... and Martin goes double or nothing with this line (and mentioning John also in the mix most certainly invokes, at the very least, the origin of Sam's follower/leader false dichotomy).

Sam's response to Martin is telling—a reminder that HE is the leader, and that Martin is under HIS command and better fall in line:

You listen to me. I brought you into this. I can bring you out just as easy. So the only thing you're gonna be inclined to do is shut up and follow my lead.

Basically, I think for me personally, this one can go in the suggestive evidence pile, but I don't find it any more convincing than the other things that have been mentioned. I'm not trying to tell anyone else how to think. I think your interpretation is reasonable. I think there's two reasonable conclusions here.

[heinzpilsner]

About Zuko and his destiny

Remember I said that "pride is a source of shame" speech was supposed to be about self-esteem recently? Well, it was a stupid thing to say! Never believe my words ever without thinking critically! Muhahaha! At least I added "I guess" before it, it's my only consolation.

I mean, inadequately high self-esteem is a potential source of shame, as well as shame is a potential trigger of hiding from reality behind an illusion of your greatness, but Iroh was talking about different things here. Sorry guys, my mind is a mess.

This speech in the context was actually about locus of control* and respect towards destiny (and bigger powers in general).

*I'm not sure this term is used the same in different languages and psychological conceptions, but I explain what exactly I meant by this below

So, to regain my honor, I wanna talk a little bit about Zuko and his locus of control here.

The boy's problem is that he believes himself capable of controlling things he actually has no power over. That's the main reason for "turmoil in his soul" - shame is only a symptom of this (as well as him not thinking things through, but more on this later).

The thing is, you're never going to be angry or ashamed of not achieving something you deem impossible. And controlling destiny is something impossible for a human.

Zuko talks about destiny a lot, but he doesn't really respect it. He thinks he can tell his destiny what it should be, but destiny is a bit like lightning - you can't command it, only to be its humble conductor. (Him yelling at the storm in the "Bitter Work" and not getting his "answer" was a brilliant illustration of this, actually)

And "You can choose your own destiny" is a good thing to believe only as long as you interpret it humbly.

That is, you can choose your goals and ways of achieving them, and thus you can affect the course of your life to a certain extent, but destiny always involves bigger (or just different) powers than a person's own will. And when you don't respect those powers, you're doomed to be constantly angry and frustrated with your life and other people.

Let's look at the later episodes of book 2 from this angle.

Iroh scolded Zuko for not thinking things through when he found him with Appa, but he didn't make an accent on the reason behind it: Zuko believed that his will is stronger than objective circumstances and everything should solve itself somehow just because he wants it.

Still, Zuko wasn't all that hopeless, and he actually managed to get this thing right by himself later during his sickness! (Or at least that is what I believe now). His "magical metamorphosis" insight actually was about him realizing that he couldn't command his destiny and thus finally accepting his circumstances.

And it was a good thing and a very big improvement in itself!

But Zuko's general system of twisted beliefs and values was not something what could be fixed just by Iroh's yelling or Katara's kindness. So, the moment the circumstances changed and the "destiny" he wanted became actually achievable, Zuko took it. And this makes the end of book 2 painfully logical.

(Well, actually, I have another interpretation for Zuko's mysterious transformation here.

You see, when you yell "Think of who you are and what do you want" at someone who loves you in the moment they're about to make a decision you clearly don't approve, it's basically a scream "Please be a person I want you to be".

Then, Zuko's choice of freeing Appa was mostly dictated by his love towards Iroh (and a bit by general "to hell with all this, since I'm already here..." impulse). Zuko didn't choose "good" - he chose to make Iroh happy in the conditions when he couldn't really do much else. Iroh misinterpreted Zuko's behavior here, and it was a set-up for the whole future disaster.

You see, he tried to put in Zuko's head the idea that "his destiny" is not something he really wants. But catching the Avatar (by stealing his bison) was something Zuko wanted. For many different reasons. He was neither pretending nor trying to fulfill someone else's will here.

And you should never treat people like idiots who don't know their own desires - this is what Zuko's betrayal teaches us. That, and what love and respect are two completely different things: Azula, with all her manipulations, actually showed Zuko more respect than his uncle here.)

Something like this. Thanks for your attention again?..

I ignore all notifications.

The next part of 'Overanalyzing Maiko' series is in working.

P. S.: By the way, Iroh had a proverb about self-worth as well! "The best tea tastes delicious whether it comes in a porcelain pot or a tin cup". This man has many wise things to say, he's great! … Except what he didn't make a difference between "best" tea and "unconditionally self-loving" tea clear here. Oh well.

I wonder how many stupid things I said without realizing it this time lol. Whyyy my brain is such a mess?

[rikeijo]

Obviously the 'hidden story' is something that was never confirmed, so it's all just interpretation...✨But it's my favorite thing about YoI.

I absolutely agree with you that Georgi/Anya and Michele/Sara are an anti-parallel of sort to Yuuri/Victor' (and JJ/Isabelle', but I'm sure they were added to the story later) relationship. To be more precise, Georgi is a distorted mirror image of Victor and Michele is a distorted mirror image of Yuuri. (For example, the costumes point to that - both young Victor and Georgi in the show wear male/female-themed costumes, and have skated Sleeping Beauty-themed programs in them. Both Yuuri and Michele have worn European knight-themed costumes (thanks for info, Minami!) They are both extremely loyal to just one special person since forever - Victor and Sara, respectively. Funnily enough, Lohengrin is known as the Knight of the Swan, and who has skated in a swan costume in the past?✨Yuuri... That's so...🥺)

The way I personally see it, is that YoI uses a fairytale-like storytelling (I think, that it was during an event? that Hiramatsu-san said Sayo's desk is full of fairytale illustrations and obviously, fairytale motifs are abundant in the story itself) - that's why imo, the story doesn't expect the characters to grow or change, and they really don't. Yuuri is in the middle of his 'hero's journey', but that's a little bit different thing - more than to really change into a different person, he needs to find a way to be his 'true self' - the Prince turned into a piglet needs to become the Prince once more (helped by True Love™️). A lot of people thought that indeed, like Michele and Sara needed to split up, so must Yuuri and Victor, because it's not a good thing to be so dependent on each other, they need to grow...! The thing is... that is not what happened, though. In ep. 10, Yuuri still very much needs Victor's omajinai to give his best, but they are together in the last scene of the show. And Michele still stalks Sara - nobody has learned anything 😂

So back to the main topic... in fairytales, 'bad' people, actions etc. are punished in the story to show that they are indeed 'bad', and imo, the same thing happens in YoI - Georgi and Anya' relationship, Michele and Sara' relationship are 'doomed' and cannot last, because they are 'not right' - imo, in this case 'not right' means there is something missing there, that breaks those relationships. In short, in my interpretation, Georgi and Anya's relationship is missing the 'true love' bit, but instead is mainly based on lust and sex - all their scenes are pretty erotic (kissing, beds, Anya's o-face and Georgi is a massive creep) - but soon enough, he has a next girlfriend - Anya wasn't that special to him after all. Michele and Sara have the 'true love' bit, the 'you are my special person that cannot be easily replaced by somebody else' bit, but for the obvious reason, their relationship cannot be sexual - and so, Sara is already looking for a boyfriend. (Interestingly, 'the European Knight and his Lady' motif is an obvious reference to courtly love, which also *shouldn't* be sexual...or at least, shouldn't be consummated). Sooo, the YoI fairytale's moral is that for long-lasting and fulfilling relationship you need both 'true love' and the ability to fulfill your sexual desires. If the 'true love' is missing, then there is no reason not to look for somebody who you like more, and if they 'sexual' bit is missing, that leaves you unsatisfied and makes you look for a way to find this satisfaction.

About the music, if you think about it... The funny thing is that the lyrics actually don't match the story of Michele and Sara (Serenade for two is about a guy, who only for a one night can be with his Lady, he has been always watching over, and he wants to be with her, because she makes him strong and he can finally be himself when he touches her - the problem is that he feels unworthy of her love), just as lyrics of A Tales of Sleeping Prince don't match the story of Georgi and Anya (the lyrics are about a 'Princess' left alone in the dark by her Prince, she's now looking for... When she finds her Prince, and he opens up to her, she sees a 'brighter sky' (and isn't it funny that the sky literally gets brighter after Yuuri opens up to Victor in ep. 4 ?😂) - it turns out the Prince is under a 'sleep curse', so she needs to help him, save him and break the curse...) .

Today's translation #641

Go Yuri!!! Go official fanbook, Tominaga Keisuke's comment

Serenade for two

In case of this song, we purposefully made it 'doesn't it actually cross a line if it's about brother and sister?!' risky, by making the music Michele uses for his program a sweet and stylish love song in a style of standards from bygone days or old musicals. The man x woman couple from the lyrics is basically 'normal' though, so it's not that the song itself is in any way doing something that is forbidden (laugh). This song is so high-level and lavish, that it takes first or second place among all Yuri!!! on ICE music, when it comes to technique, time and effort, as well as financial cost it took us to create it. ...but in the show, we only hear it once (laugh). You should definitely give it a one more listen.

(+ Umebayashi Taro's comment) The call out line [I'm sure he means 'You mean the world to me, my lady~'] in the middle part of the song, and the interlude with a change of melody after that, is a part of the song that I'm particularly fond of. We eliminated repeats of melody, and made the rhythm less pronounced to compose a really dazzling song.

(+ Matsushiba Taku's comment) It's one of the best three compositions in the soundtrack, that I'm really proud of.

[Note: Why they put so much effort into a song that's supposed to be played once for quite a minor side character...? ✨✨✨]

[soultronica]

Law’s -ya suffix

“How many people have you killed, Drake-ya?”

About Law's verbal quirk of adding -ya at the end of the names of the people he's addressing -- fairly unique, yeah? Chances are this is something you've never seen before, at least this was the case for me. This post is an attempt at a comprehensive explanation and overview of the way he uses it.

(obligatory blanket warning that my japanese level is around jlpt n2/cecrl c1 - i understand the stuff i research but i'm not a native speaker. i can be mistaken.)

The suffix -ya (屋)

Let's start off by saying that while it's a strange way to address people, the suffix in itself isn't unfamiliar.

The basic meaning of "ya" (屋) is shop, essentially. You add it to a noun to turn it into a profession, especially ones related to shops and traditional trades, though usually with the polite address marker -san, even in third person.

So for example:

pan = bread ⇨ panya-san = baker kutsu = shoes ⇨ kutsuya-san = shoemaker

This includes “invented” occupations that would therefore be instinctively understood as such. For example, an anime I just watched (durarara) has:

joho = information ⇨ johoya(-san) = information broker hakobu = to carry ⇨ hakobiya(-san) = transporter

And then by extension, it became used in nouns to define a person by a trait of theirs:  

ganbaru = to do one's best ⇨ ganbariya-san = someone who always tries their best hazukashii = to be embarrassed  ⇨ hazukashigariya-san = a shy person

This last bit is relevant here because Law's terms of address includes not so much occupations but attributes. So you'd understand "Strawhat-ya" as "Guy with the strawhat" for example.

Where it gets a bit confusing is that Law's terms of address also include just tacking on the suffix to names, which makes less sense intuitively... Which is where Oda's own explanation comes in handy.

Historical background: yago (屋号)

Straight from the source - this is an SBS answer from volume volume 62 (page 84), which was replaced in the official English edition.

Reader: Law-san uses -ya to address people such as in "Strawhat-ya", does that mean that if someone is named Tsuchiya he'd call them Tsuchiyaya? Please tell me Law-san ❤ Oda: Law-san! Someone's asking for you! ... Yeah, he's not coming. I'll answer in his place, shall I? In the past in Japan, maybe around Edo era? There was a thing called "yago". If for example in a village you had two people called Tomekichi, folks would use -ya instead of their names to refer to them (by their trade), such as "Tomekichi the toolshop (doguya)" or "Tomekichi the cooper (okeya)". Have you never heard "Tamaya~!" in the context of fireworks or "Nakamuraya!" in the context of kabuki? It's something like that. Right, Law-san? Law: Yeah.

If you're not familiar with yago at all, maybe the wikipedia article will help (link). I'm sure you can make the link with what I've explained above. The gist is that a commoner would often be addressed by their trade or shop name for differentiation (as in Oda's example) or convenience. And if they made a name for themselves, said name (including the -ya bit, the same "ya" as in "yago") could be used the same way their trade name would be, and they'd pass that name from generation to generation, making the name a yago. The Nakamuraya Oda mentions here is a famous yago of kabuki actors stretching back to the 16th century (link) and the Tamaya are, you guessed it, a hanabi (traditional fireworks) yago from the Edo era (Japanese link).

So there we go! Law's -ya suffix usage is actually pretty traditional.

Law's usage

Law of course does not use the -san polite address marker, because he's a rude little shit. This brings me to what I believe is the first time he uses it, chronologically, which (provided you consider it canon) would be in the Law novel which takes place right after Law runs away from Minion Island where Cora died. He doesn't use -ya at all during his manga flashbacks. In the novel however he's saved by a man, Wolf, who creates mostly worthless inventions. Which leads Law to call him Garakuta-ya, where "garakuta" means junk, rubbish. Implying that his occupation is to create junk. I think this is a pretty good in-context illustration of how the suffix works? And if you consider the novel canon, you get the added characterisation bit of this habit of Law's being originally a kid's thing, which fits nicely.

Regardless of how it started, he clearly got used to addressing people like this. In the manga, these are the addressed characters I'm aware of, including Oda's own compilation from a volume 72 (page 46) SBS answer:

Luffy - Mugiwara-ya (Strawhat-ya) Zoro - Zoro-ya Nami - Nami-ya Usopp - Hana-ya (Nose-ya) (lol) Sanji - Kuroashi-ya (Blackleg-ya) Chopper - Tony-ya Robin - Nico-ya Franky - Robo-ya Brook - Bone-ya Smoker - Hakuryo-ya (White Chase-ya)* Caesar - Caesar-ya* Drake - Drake-ya Kidd - Eustass-ya (* = are also addressed without the -ya)

There's not really a pattern here. For some of these characters he uses an attribute + ya, which again makes instinctual sense when you're used to the regular meaning of -ya. For others he uses surname + ya, which is what originally confused me until I found the SBS yago explanation. Notably this includes characters who aren't usually referred to by their surnames (Chopper, Robin, Kid). But then you've also got Zoro and Nami who are addressed by their first names.

Despite those two I'd still say that it's overall a particularly offhand term of address, and a non-polite one at that (which is why the "Mr" translation that was in Sabaody-era scans for the ones he addresses by surname doesn't really work, but I can't fault a week-by-week translator for having no idea what to do with that, with no characterisation to go on).

It's worth noting that he doesn't use -ya at all for members of his crew: Bepo, Penguin and Shachi are all addressed by just their names.

Signification

So why this particular verbal quirk for Law? It's all up to interpretation of course, but I'd say this leans into his casually rude way of speaking, especially pre-timeskip Law.

Another point that I've seen raised in a Japanese meta, and one that I agree with, is that it serves to make him more Japanese. I know a lot of us have our headcanons about the ethnicities of various OP characters and for me Law is one of the particularly Japanese-coded characters: his Japanese sword, his not eating bread, his use of a traditional suffix as a verbal quirk... (and also just because I've met sooo many japanese guys his age with exactly that terrible facial hair/sideburns combo what's up with that lol)

But of course all this is open to interpretation. I'd love to hear anybody's thoughts about his characterisation! And I hope this helped shed light on some of it.

Bonus

Rule 63!Law does use the -san polite address marker lol.

"How many people have you killed, Drake-ya-san?"

[mitamicah]

Spoilers from both Trollhunters the book and Trollhunters the series!

While reading the book I was really impressed with how many differences there were between the character so I have worked on giving my take on six characters from both media, book vs series, and how they differ from each other :3 

I should mention that while there was illustrations in the book I tried for the challenge not to copy those but follow along the describtions in the book - when possible - to give my own interpretation of the characters ^v^ 

Steve

First up we have Steve. Starting out as the stereotypical bully in both version their paths seperates quickly resulting in two different ending for the musuclar blond Jorgensen-Warner is the book version of Steve. Here's how he is described from our first encounter with him: "He was handsome but in the oddest way- He eyes were too small and his nose piggish: he had a ridiculous amount of hair and a couple of teeth that looked like fangs. Yet somehow in combination these features were sort of mesmerising. His unnatural muscular bulk and odd way of speaking -crisply, politely, as if he were a foreign student who had learned English in class - completed the strange package." page 21-22 For his outfit I went with the description of him on page 224 "[my clothes] ... didn't cast me in the best light when compared to Steve Jorgensen-Warner, who looked rather rakish in blue jeans and a shirt - definitely not a blouse - opened to the third button. He dribbled the ball casually with his left hand." The bold passages is added by me   This Steve is later revealed to be a changeling aka a troll   Before we go on: can any of you explain to me what a "ridiculous amount of hair" even means :'D? I had a lot of trouble with this prompt because isn't this so darn subjective :'D? and the official art look way less ridiculous than I'd figure it'll be :'D x'D Palchuk is the series version of Steve. His facial appearance being way less specific (I'd say he has normal sized eyes, a big roman nose and some more or less normal teeth) and his way of speaking is definitely not polite. Like book Steve, this Steve starts out with pushing smaller guys into lockerrooms yet after that he becomes way less of a terrifying bully and much more of a silly goose who brings a lot of the comic relief in my opinion Douxie says it best in Wizards when he calls Steve the "village idiot" x'D I do not recall seeing Steve being that sporty in the show, he is much more interested in becoming homecoming king  no basketballs around x'D While book Steve is revealed to be the enemy (a troll) series Steve joins the "good guys" creating the creepslayerz with the character Eli Pepperjack

Blinky

Blinky is just called Blinky in the book  Here's a bit of description of him "The third [troll] had scarlet eyes, eight of them on long stems. (...) The thing from my house glided toward me with a surprising grace for something with an indetermined number of legs, all of which were hidden behind a patched kilt scaled with layers of medals, prizes and trophies and award ribbons. An incalculable tangle of tentacles twined around one another as if dying to squeese something to death. As it passed the oven, the firelight revealed olive-green skin, reptilian texture, and lacquer of slime lubricating its undulating appendages Its moth a horizontal gash.. " The bold passages is added by me   So yeah this Blinky is quite something :'D I stopped caring to draw tentacles after a while but overall this was silly but fun to draw  since his teeth later is described as big as traffic cones I believe he must be very tall :'D Also he's close to blind   Has a bit of a dirty mouth but in a very "read" way if it makes sense :'D cannot seem to stop calling Jim dimwitted and tiny and Tobias big :'D Blinky's full name in the series is Blinkus Galadrigal  he has six eyes instead of eight and they are all working just fine, thank you very much x'D His tons of tentacles and legs has been replaced by four arms and two legs and while he is still olive-green he is now made of tone like texture just like the other trolls  the kilt turned into shorts and he is quite a bit smaller now not even as tall as Jim  He still has this very academic way of speaking yet he is way nicer to Jim calling him "Master Jim" instead of "the short one" x'D

ARRRGH!!!

Book ARRGHHH!!!s full name is Johannah Mmmm ARRRGH!!! and she is a pretty big deal warrior among the trolls in the book - she's so badass in fact Blinky has decided to call her by her last name to honor her for her deeds for trollkind   Here's a qoute from the book describing her appearance   "The goliath emerged from the tunnel as comfortably as a dog from a doghouse, coarse black fur pouring into the chamber before I could make out any actual arms or legs (...) Even beneath the fur I could see loops of muscles flexing. (...) ARRRGH!!! was built like a gorilla but three times larger: Two arms, two legs, and, thankfully, just two eyes. Horns, curled like those of a ram (...) The thing's orange eyes cast about with animal perceptiveness, and it used its snout and sniffed. Its jaws fell open to reveal a purple, slavering mouth armed with haphazard daggers of teeth." Page 75-76 The bold passages is added by me   (Also worth mentioning: the qoute is from before the protagonist knows of ARRRGH!!!'s gender which is why he calls her an 'it') At other times in the story we learn that ARRRGH! has quite scarred arms and really wishes for better tooth hygeine; so much so that Tobias actually end up making her a brace out of chicken wire :'D Idk I find it quite adorable :'D Now unto the serie's ARRRGH!!! - first up he is male, his name is Arghaumont and he is famous for another reason than Johannah: he was a general of Gunmar but retreated from the war making him a traitor to his people yet a hero for the good trolls in the series. Series ARRRGH!!! is likewise built like a gorilla but made of stone and having a mane long and green like it is moss  his horns is way smaller and less curvy and his teeth hygeine is never brought up  also his face is way less dog like x'D 

Tobias 

Book Tobias' full name is Tobias M. Dershowitz yet he is going by 'Tubby' or 'Tub'. Here is a describtion of him from the book: "You could call Tobias Dershowitz chubby, if you were being cute, or husky if you were being diplomatic. The fact is he was fat, and that was only the beginning of his problems. His hair was a thick, orange, out-of-control hedge. His face spilled over with the kind of freckles that make kids like Tub look like overgrown toddlers. Worst of all were his braces, marvels of modern torment: whips of stainless steel crisscrossing each tooth seperately and lashed to a dozen silver fasteners. The braces clicked so much when he spoke, you expected sparks. At least he was tall..." page 27 The bold passages is added by me   The outfit I went with is described on page 259 like this: "He stood in the driveway decked out in his best approximation of a ninja: black tennis shoes, black sweatpants, a black hoodie, a belt made from a red curtain sash, and an oversize fanny pack holding his gear (...) It was unfortunate that the fanny pack was lime green..." To describe Tub is a bit difficult because sadly he is not much in the story as I'd liked - mostly he is being quite serious and let us know he is not happy by being sidelined not speaking troll nor being invited on hunts which I completely understand tbh :'D What I do find interesting is how Tub and series Jim has seem to have switched roles a little bit: In the series Jim is the one giving a speech about how he is insecure about his place in life and how he wants more - in the book this is Tub in more than one occassion: "We have to accept who we are. And before you ask, I'll tell you. We're nobody. We have no life. We have nothing to look forward to. We're not special. I just want it to go away. All of it. The stupid being scared. Doesn't it seem we've been scared forever?" page 37 "Jim, you're wrong. We were meant to do this. This is exactly what we've been waiting for. They've chosen us. Of all people! Us! (...) Jesus, Jim, take a look at my life! You know what I'm worth! To anyone? Zero! Nothing! I'm a fat loser and will always be a fat loser. Until this. This is like a present. Full of, man, I don't know. Hope?..." page 196 (talking about trollhunting here btw) Oh yeah and book Tobias gets this badass scene where he uses his dentist's tool to kill trolls I loved that   Now series Tobias is way different :'D first up his name is Tobias Domzalski and his nicknames are Toby and Tobes. He is way shorter and has more neat hair (what is it with the series neating up the hair :'D? x'D). He also seems way cheerier and pretty happy with his place in life more or less  Unlike Tub, Toby is in it from the start being an important player in the story   He doesn't have the same drive to be something more than he is as Tub has instead Toby is going with the flow starting out quite afraid of everything troll and ended up being as brave as the rest of the team *tbh Jim's scared out of his wits too so they mimic each other x'D* Where Tub has dentist tools Toby gets a badass hammer so I'll say its an upgrade  

Claire

First off we have Claire Fontaine, a foreign student from no other than Scotland with a taste for military clothing and liqourice   Here's how she's described in the book   "She tucked her long dark hair behind her ear and left ir with an adorable smudge of white dust. I thought she was beautiful, though she wasn't in the classic sense. The popular girl would say she wasn't skinny enough. They would also point to the fact that she didn't wear makeup or do anything to tame that hair. And her clothes -well, what could be said about her clothes? Her boots were not sexy and knee-high: in fact, they were ankle-high and rubber-soled and looked picked from military surplus racks, an array of pea-green coats and multi-coloured slacks, all of which looked as if they'd been through actual World War II combat. And that beret she wore before and after school wasn't of the look-at-me-I'm Frensh variety: it was more in the style of I'm-going-to-invade-your-country-and-be-your-new-dictator. Only one thing didn't make sense: that bright pink, exceedingly girlish backpack that inexplicably hadn't one anti-establidh patch sewn onto it (...) Oh, I forgot to mention that Claire Fontain came from the UK. That's right- the girl had an accent. I think you are starting to get the picture." page 30-1 The bold passages is added by me It is hinted at that Claire is quite tall and a great deal taller than Jim (more when I get to him) and she is actually a whole year older than Jim since they both have birthday May 2 but Claire is 16 while Jim is 15  Since Trollhunters in this story is not a "protected title" (aka the chosen hero type) Claire ends up being one herself even though nobody even herself didn't know: AND. SHE. KICKS. BUTT! She's even better than the guy that had 40+ years experience so yeah safe to say she's badass :'D Even before that she has a hilarious scene calling out Steve in the wildest shitstorm of Scottish slang I lived for it x'D She's described quite a few times with lots of bracelets, sometimes made of wire so I gave her a bit of both   She's not really a part of the popular group but has her own thing going on   Now onto Claire Nuñez the series' version of this badass   Here Claire is hispanic and pretty much one of the most popular girls seen around  her style is way more ... I've called it punk rock in purple but Idk exactly what to call it x'D she's shorter than Jim and slimmer looking than her book counterpart   She enters the story not as a trollhunter but as a victim of having her brother stolen by changelings and as time progresses she becomes a fastlearning and quite competent sorcerer dealing in shadow magic   Unlike Fontaine, Nuñes is seen wearing make up, shorter hair with dye in it and hair clips instead of bracelets  

Jim 

First up we have book Jim. His full name is James Sturges Jr. and lives with his single parent, his dad, after his mother went away the day before his birthday in start May and never returned. Sturges Sr. had been traumatized loosing his brother to trolls although none of the characters didn't know this yet - only Senior had seen the creatures making him paranoid and in turn making Jim very embarrased about his father. At the same time Jim seems to honestly worry for his father and his behavior too makes Jim very cautious and fearful a character. Book Jim is pretty much a typical teenager for the most part  He is seen to be a tad clumsy and not exactly brave really. And the author's choice of basically not describing him anywhere made my job way harder trying to be book accurate :'D So I've mostly inspired him of the official illustrations in the book   Here's what I could find about our little trollhunter   First off: he's a short fellow  that is first mentioned on page 14; "Sunshine is important for growing boys." (...) "I am not growing" I took after my dad when it came to size and was still waiting for that growth spurt everyone kept raving about. "In fact I think I'm shrinking." This is brought up most of everything Jim through the movie from him not being able to reach a point of a chalkboard (page 32) to people's dissapointing sighs taking meassurements when he is chosen as Romeo (107) and him wearing super high heels for the same reason (224) but also Blinky directly calling him a "little fellow" (page 127) On page 27 we learn that he is getting a bruise on his chin after being slammed into his locker by Steve  Lockers he has been thrown into enough to have learned to open them on the inside :'D He is a skinny fella which Tobias so politely call "lack of muscletone" due to "glandular" at page 120 He is not very good at anything describing his room full of stuff from hobbies he tried and failed at (page 63) The longest describtion about his appearance is probably page 105: "I lowered my eyes and regarded the chewed, dirty fingernails holding my script, thes scuffed shoes on my feet, and realized that these were the symbols of my pityful life: worn-out, insignificant, ready to be thrown beneath Dad's industrial mower" It pretty much says it all when this is the longest quite I could find :'D For the outfit I mostly went by the small describtion on page 89-90: "I tucked the medallion beneath my shirt. After a full day of wearing it, maybe the rest of the suffocating fear would go away too. My plan was to dart into the kitchen, grab my sweatshirt and be out of the house. " I added jeans since he is said to wear jeans on page 283 - the medallion sneak out beneath the sweatshirt/shirt on page 97 which is why I added it on top here as well   Now since there's a bit more to both versions of Jim due to their role as the protagonist I've added in a little extra features here being the medallion in the book vs the amulet in the series and the weaponry given to the characters   For Sturges we have the medallion who's described like this: "It was a bronze medallion conntected to a rusty chain. It was engraved with a foreboding crest: a hideous, snarling face; indecipherable markings of a sevage language, and a magnificent long-sword across the bottom." page 9 The medallion is treated like it is a common artefact if a bit rare in the book - its purpose is to translate trollspeak for the wearer. Jim is giving two swords in the book; a rusty longsword he calls Clairesword (do I need to explain this one?) and a cutlass he calls Cat #6 after the one cat at Tobias' house that liked Jim  x'D For Sturges' personality my feeling about him is that he is a bit more ... passive than his series counterpart. He is not really standing up for himself that much and would rather blend into the background. This qoute from Claire sums him up pretty nicely I believe   "You're a good person, Mr. Sturges. A bit gloomy, but good" page 246 I do like that Jim in this version is a Taurus  (I am a taurus too x'D) born on May 2nd so that's a plus   It is probably also worth mentioning that in this world trollhunters aren't a chosen hero type like in the series: trollhunters or paladin was once a title held by many warriors yet now there's very few left. Sturges was a proud paladin family making Jim a chosen candidate for the honor of becoming a trollhunter but he is not the only one - or even the best - in the book. In fact out of the three trollhunters we learn about I'll say Jim is the weakest (and he is not even the least trained; ouch :'D) Jim doesn't get a nice armour like his series counterpart either but is seen in the illustrations wearing a blue hoodie (like the one in the little doodle)   The full name of Jim in the series is James Lake Jr. He is the child of a single parent and lives with his mother whom Jim "mothers a lot" (Tobias' words in the first episode) This Jim is pretty "tall for his age" (Jim's own words uttered quite a few times across all three series) yet with quite skinny legs (he is called out for this by multiple characters). He is much more competent in life than his book counterpart being an exceptional cook, good at Spanish, seemingly alright in PE and at school he seems to stand pretty good if only holding himself back. Unlike book Jim, series Jim seems much more active and longing to be something more than he is - he is seen to be quite brave and protective of his friends, very kind and selfless. Also even from the start he seems much more nimble than his book counterpart being able to climb the robe (a feat book Jim didn't do before later) and with his training as trollhunter he becomes even more badass   Trollhunter status in the series is way more important since the title is given to only one chosen warrior of Merlin chosen by the amulet of daylight (the medallion in the book). This also makes the amulet way more special and important in the series which probably explains its shine up from rusty bronze thing to silver and blue. While Lake Jr doesn't have named sword he does have a magical armour and sword made of daylight   We do not know the exact birthday of Lake Jr but the creators have replied to a fanquestion saying it would be around fall especially October so by that estimate Jim is probably a scorpio  pretty far from the before mentioned taurus in the book   While Jim Lake Jr isn't seen with long lasting bruises in the original series he does get two more permanent scars in Wizards  

[yuraimi-lee-bunny]

GRAY’S CHARACTER ANALYSIS PART III. AMNESIA AND IT’S FUTURE CONSEQUENCES

Hello! Once again: sorry for the lateness 8'D. My work, some illustrations and personal matters have slowed me down again. The good thing is that there is nothing that can be intervened and this week I will be able to go faster with the writing of my analysis. Thank you very much for the continued support you have given to the previous two parts, and I hope you like this one too!

PS: My analysis will continue as normal, I will not mention anything about the recent interview with the show runner of the series. Perhaps that will be done at the end of the analysis or a separate post, by the time Gray's analysis is complete. Besides that I have already been giving my views on what Duane said about Gray. For the moment I just want my analysis to be about everything that I captured and analyzed before the interview.

Here we go!

Goodbye (for now) to Gray/Crackle, and let's say hi to Graham!

As we know, Crackle had all his VILE-related memories erased, and he’s now a happy civilian at his previous job as an electrician at the Sydney Opera House. On a mission to Australia, Carmen finds him but he doesn't recognize her.

Carmen doesn’t understand how it happened and why VILE did it, but for his sake, she prefers to get away from her, because she doesn’t want to complicate the new beginning that Gray/Graham has now in her life.

To be honest, I don't have much to analyze in depth about Gray in these chapters where he has amnesia, even so, there are several points to highlight about him that speak more about his personality in this episode:

1.- When he taking out Carmen with her phrase "No wristband, no backstage access", I think I can safely say that he’s committed to his job, whatever it is. (as an electrician and also a VILE agent)

2.- He has great self-confidence and temperance for having invited Carmen for a coffee, a girl he barely knew but who shows that he has a slight attraction for her.

3.- Well, let's say that this confirms that he likes to be somewhat "naughty" and daring with his actions.

4.- I may be exaggerating here, but I think that with the previous points that I have said, this can also count: It seems that Gray is a punctual person. He arrived before Carmen. (He’s very punctual or he was very excited about the "date")

Ep.6 S1 served as a small introduction by Gray, or rather now Graham, of how now he has amnesia, he doesn't remember anything about VILE, or Carmen, a whole year "disappeared", as well as the decision of Carmen about being away from Gray so as not to complicate his life. Leaving a slight reminder of "you'll still see him again" for us.

Which did happen, in Ep.7 of S2. In addition to the fact that again there are some data that show about his personality, this time the episode left some clues that it was happening to him and the future that would hold him in the following seasons.

1.- It seems that he was serious that this place is his favorite coffee shop, and it seems that he likes coffee.

2.- That tranquility is to be admired. The girl he invited for coffee who looked like she had dumped him, and there wasn’t a hint of anger/resentment/indignation in him. Again, like when they first met: as if nothing had happened. I love that about him. And he continues to correct Carmen about his name. He is Graham, not Gray (not Crackle). It seems somehow that he cares about being told by his respective name, as if the subject of his "identity" is important to him. We will move on to that later.

3.- Can we look this screenshot for a moment, please? Leaving aside the “Red Crackle” feeling that can emerge at this time for many (myself included), I want to talk about the fact that there continues that communication with only the look that they have always had.

The first two chapters of the series showed you several scenes of how Carmen and Gray just by looking at each other communicated what they thought, they knew they wanted to say to each other. I mention this because to me, these glances between them were purposely done with the following objective: Yes, Gray will have had his VILE memories suppressed, but body memory is another matter, the subconscious is something that NOBODY can handle or manipulate. Gray's body responded to Carmen's glances subconsciously, the body responded because of body memory, because it already has that mechanism in the presence of Carmen.

4.- There is a theory/belief that a few weeks ago they shared which if I can believe it 50/50 because it sounds valid. In summary. Since Gray is an orphan, Carmen knew that by mentioning that she runs an international charity for abandoned children, he would not refuse. Because she knows he's an orphan, and it seems that somehow, Gray has had a mark on it. She left you the link.

5.- Again, maybe I'm exaggerating, b Gray/Graham seems to have very good manners.

6.- He likes Rock. (And before I thought it was a slight preview of Carmen's next cappers, but it was only an idea *sobbing*)

7.- 

This scene causes me a little laugh because of a personal event and because it shows an interesting side of Gray/Graham: 

- Personal event: Several friends and I were watching the episodes of the second season on the day of its premiere, when arriving at this scene, a friend said "Well of course, he will have amnesia but he isn’t stupid" I laughed uncontrollably, and in part, he had a bit of reason.

- This scene in addition to putting tension at the moment because Graham did something that wasn't in Carmen's plans, it shows how Gray/Graham is someone who needs answers/explanations when he something doesn't understand, or when he thinks they lied to him and he just goes to look for them. Because if he were too passive or behaved, he would have stayed to follow orders. Another thing he could do is just make judgments from his perspective, regardless of reality. But no, he stood up, and he couldn't wait another second for the answers. The truth is something that matters to him. And I think he's also somewhat rebellious. He makes sense because throughout the series it's noticed as if he wants/needs something, certainly does what he needs to do. I consider him too independent and confident that he can achieve it.

8.- His peculiar expression of surprise: Crikey.

9.- Another reminder that  his subconscious and unconscious have memories of what he lived in VILE.

10.- Beautiful Red Crackle scenes that in addition to adding feeling, actually matter a lot for Gray / Crackle's empathy in the future, but that will be for part 4 of the analysis.

11.- 

…Seriously Gray? EXCUSE ME Graham. SERIOUSLY? You fell, you could have hit severely or even broken something, Carmen cares about you, and instead of saying "I'm fine" do you say "It's Graham"?! ... Seriously he cares a lot about the name and identity.

As you can see, in this episode there was more about Gray and his personality, but it also hinted that there are still vestiges of memories in the back of his mind of that year in VILE and of having been Crackle. It's very curious about how Graham trusts Carmen so much, I think I know the reasons behind it, the first is because he has an attraction towards Carmen, but the most important are two: the first is because he already knows more about her, because Carmen had the confidence to ask him for help in one of his missions and to tell him in some way what she does. The second reason, again: his subconscious. As I mentioned in the previous analysis parts, Gray appreciated Carmen very much, and although before he could mistake it as "loyalty" and see her as her family, he still appreciated her very much. Her subconscious, her body, her instinct is still there, so I don't hesitate to defend her when she was in trouble with Neel. (His desire to help Carmen was greater than the "great memory and liking" he previously had for Crackle Rod.)

And well, now, let's move on to two last things before ending this episode:

1.- ACME is targeting Gray. Once again, we were told that it would not be the last time we would see him. More events awaited him.

2.-

This phrase left me so thoughtful when I watched it. It left me thinking TOO MUCH.

It left me pondering that phrase so much because I didn't understand why that mattered so much to him. We talked about how Gray/Crackle came into VILE, he agreed to be a villain, he basically agreed to be "bad guy" And now that he has amnesia, he cared about being on the right side. Which I didn't understand because Crackle's memory had been "erased". He had only "eliminated" him the whole year that he lived in VILE, just that. Doing that doesn't change his morale, because Gray had already arrived at the "Vocational School" with his morale of wanting to steal, he was already ambitious before joined to VILE. Which had me very intrigued, believing that something had happened to Graham, in that period of his "normal life" that had made him reconsider his morals and that now he wanted to do something good. I expected everything, whatever, except the change in morals. And so, wild first 5 minutes from S4 comes...

... are you telling me that EVERYTHING Gray thought, did and said in his state of amnesia... WERE LIES!?

I really couldn't believe it and that puts an absolutely huge twist on Gray's arc. Although my boyfriend and I are with a certain difference in perspective to what Maelstrom said:

When he mentioned “suppress the criminal impulse” to me he meant that VILE changed his morale, that they basically took away that “evil impulse” so that he wouldn’t be caught again by the law should it happen at some point. Ensuring that with memory removed and morale changed, VILE was safe.

My boyfriend on the other hand, interpreted it that they only took away the "desire to steal", nothing more. His morals, his beliefs, everything about him remains the same, except wanting to steal or do something criminal. Believing that in reality, Gray is a good person, since before entering VILE.

The perspective of my boyfriend is interesting to me and that is why I want to share it, to know what you think, and also mentioned it because this perspective will be taken up again in part 4 of the analysis.

And here concludes the third part! I hope you liked it. Parts 4 and 5 will be a bit long because it’s the most dense and symbolic part of Gray to analyze, but at the same time, they will come out on time faster, it may be that in the following week both parts are ready and published.  Regards!

Part. I Introdution

Part. II Empathy vs Ambition 

Part. III Amnesia and it’s Future Consequences (HERE)

Part. III.5 Graham Calloway: The Walking Enigma

Part. IV Integrity At a high (and unfair) price

Part. V The final decision and a new beginning

Plus 1. Gray and his strange habit of explaining things

Plus 2. Crossover: Sabrina And Gray: New Beginning

Plus 3. Crossover: Hawk/Eli and Crackle/Gray: Redemption

[omoi-no-hoka]

Hi, guys! Sorry for the rather long hiatus. Work is still...soul-consuming haha. But I wanted to make a post about one of my favorite Japanese artists and this really cool song he released a little bit ago! All of his songs just got added to Spotify finally yesterday!

His name is 米津玄師 Yonezu Kenshi, and he is amazing. He started out making Vocaloid music under the name Hachi, in which he programmed all of the instruments and vocals. Now he mostly does music with his own vocals, and he writes and produces all of it. He also used to do all the illustrations for his music videos, and he does the cover art for his albums! I’m always swept away by his creativity and the poetry in his lyrics.

And you know how big a nerd I am about words, so here’s my English translation of my favorite song from his latest album. The song is called ひまわり Himawari (Sunflower).

This is a bit long, so I’ll put a “Read More” thing here. If you open the whole post, you’ll see my translation, and also a breakdown of my favorite kanji and words he uses. Hope you enjoy!

I hope that everyone studying Japanese can take a look at these lyrics, my notes on them, and see that even just listening actively to music can be a good way to study. 💗

ひまわり　Himawari　Sunflower

悲しくって　蹴飛ばした　地面を強く Kanashikutte kettobashita jimen wo tsuyoku Sorrowful, the ground I had sprung away from 跳ねっ返る　光に指を立てて Hanekkaeru hikari ni yubi wo tatete pulled me back strongly. I raised my finger to the light 愛したくて　噛み付いた　喉笛深く aishitakute kamitsuita nodobue fukaku Longingly, biting down on your lips and whistling deeply その様が　あんまりに美しくてさあ Sono sama ga anmari ni utsukushikute saa That visage is simply too beautiful 舌を打って　曠野の中　風に抗い Shita wo utte, kouya no naka kaze ni aragai Click your tongue, defy the wind of this wasteland 夜もすがら　嗄れた産声で歌う yo mo sugara shagareta ubugoe de utau Sing in the hoarse cries of a newborn through the night 遠く遠く見据えていた　凍て星の先まで tooku tooku misuete ita ite hoshi no saki made Shine the light of your bruised heart 痣だらけの心　輝かせて aza darake no kokoro kagayakasete all the way past that frozen star far, far in the distance その姿をいつだって　僕は追いかけていたんだ sono sugata wo itsudatte boku ha oikakete itan da That silhouette, I had always been chasing it. 転がるように線を貫いて　突き刺していく切っ先を korogaru you ni sen wo tsuranuite tukisashite iku kissaki wo I pierced through those stabbing blades as though I were falling 日陰に咲いたひまわりが　今も夏を待っている hikage ni saita himarwari ga ima mo natsu wo matte iru The sunflower blooming in the shade is still waiting for summer 人いきれを裂いて笑ってくれ　僕の奥でもう一度 hito ikire wo saite waratte kure boku no oku de mou ichido Break through that stifling air and laugh for me, deep within me, once more 消し飛べ　散弾銃をぶち抜け　明日へ keshitobe sandanjuu wo buchinuke ashita he Erase it all and fly, fire the shotgun into tomorrow 吐き出せ　北極星へ舵取れ　その手で hakidase hokkyokusei he kaji tore sono te de Get it all out, take the oar to the North Star into your own hands 傷ついて　静脈を不意に巡るエレキ kizutsuite joumyaku wo fui ni meguru ereki Wounded, electricity flows unexpectedly in the veins 掻き毟って　吹き荒び　鳴る哀歌 kakimusshite fukisusabi naru erejii Rip it away, rage upon it, let this elegy ring out 聴こえているあの時から　少しも絶えぬまま kikoeteiru ano toki kara sukoshi mo todaenu mama It never dies down, not even the slightest, from the time I first could hear it 震えるほど全て　消えないぜ furueru hodo subete kienaize It won’t go away, to the point that I’m trembling その姿がいつだって　僕��映し出していた sono sugata ga itsudatte boku wo utsushidashite ita That silhouette, it was always reflecting me もしも同じ街で生まれたら　君のようになれたかな moshimo onaji machi de umaretara kimi no you ni nareta kana If we had been born in the same town, could I have become like you? 日陰に咲いたひまわりが　今も海を見つめてる hikage ni saita himawari ga ima mo umi wo mitsumeteru The sunflower blooming in the shade is still watching the ocean. 聴こえるなら強く叫んでくれ　僕の名をもう一度 kikoeru nara tsuyoku sakende kure boku no na wo mou ichido If you can hear me, scream my name one more time. 鳴き声　かんかん照りの街路で　佗び戯れ nakigoe kankan teri no kairou de wabizare A cry on a sweltering city street, raise a lonely clamor 解き放て　乱反射して遠くへ　鳴り響け tokihanate ranhansha shite tooku he narihibike Let it out, that bent refraction that echoes far into the distance その姿をいつだって　僕は追いかけていたんだ sono sugata wo itsudatte boku ha oikakete itan da That silhouette, I had always been chasing it. 転がるように線を貫いて　突き刺していく切っ先を korogaru you ni sen wo tsuranuite tukisashite iku kissaki wo I pierced through those stabbing blades as though I were falling 日陰に咲いたひまわりが　今も夏を待っている hikage ni saita himarwari ga ima mo natsu wo matte iru The sunflower blooming in the shade is still waiting for summer 人いきれを裂いて笑ってくれ　僕の奥でもう一度 hito ikire wo saite waratte kure boku no oku de mou ichido Break through that stifling air and laugh for me, deep within me, once more 消し飛べ　散弾銃をぶち抜け　明日へ keshitobe sandanjuu wo buchinuke ashita he Erase it all and fly, fire the shotgun into tomorrow 吐き出せ　北極星へ舵取れ　その手で hakidase hokkyokusei he kaji tore sono te de Get it all out, take the oar to the North Star into your own hands 

A Quick Note on Translating Lyrics

I’ve got to say that it’s really hard to translate song lyrics haha. Sometimes the word order is so different between Japanese and English that I have to swap the lyrics. 

遠く遠く見据えていた　凍て星の先まで tooku tooku misuete ita ite hoshi no saki made Shine the light of your bruised heart 痣だらけの心　輝かせて aza darake no kokoro kagayakasete all the way past that frozen star far, far in the distance

The Japanese is actually in reverse order of the English here. Technically, a very direct translation would be “All the way past that frozen star far, far in the distance, shine the light of your bruised heart.” 

Interesting Words

舌を打って shita wo utte click your tongue

In Japanese culture, doing that “tch!” sound by clicking your tongue is rude. It shows that you are impatient, irritated, or frustrated. Many English speakers click their tongue when they’ve been asked a question and need to think about it. If you are a tongue clicker and you go to Japan, try to curb the habit!

The full lyrics here are: “Click your tongue, defy the wind of this wasteland.”

So this really expresses the pent-up frustration and anger in this person.

嗄れた shagareta, kareta hoarse

What I love about this word is the kanji and its radicals. We have 口 (mouth) and 夏 (summer) put into one kanji. Can you imagine what it would be like if all the heat and dryness of summer was in your mouth and throat, and how hoarse and miserable you would feel? What a cool kanji! (Note: this is a very low frequency kanji.)

切っ先 kissaki point (of a sword, etc.)​; pointed verbal attack

I had a hard time translating this line for a lot of reasons, but in particular I wasn’t sure whether this kissaki was a sword or a verbal attack. I can only assume that because this song talks about crying out and singing so much that it must be the verbal meaning, but Yonezu uses many metaphors so I could also see it being blades. 

人いきれ hito ikire body heat from several people in close quarters; stuffy air

This was a new word for me. Again, I found myself unsure of which meaning to use when I translated it. I went for the “stuffy air” meaning in the end because it was more succinct, but I imagine that Yonezu was probably imagining the former meaning, because he mentions streets and cities, which I imagine to be crowded. He’s also asking a person he’s lost to call out, and perhaps they are lost in a metaphorical sea of people. Then again, summer imagery is strong in this song as well. His word choice is just so GOOD. I wish he’d marry me. 

散弾銃をぶち抜け　明日へ sandanjuu wo buchinuke ashita he fire the shotgun into tomorrow

This evokes much more beautiful imagery in Japanese. The kanji for “shotgun” are 散弾銃 (sandanjuu). 散 means “to scatter” or “to spread,” like fallen cherry blossom petals scatter in a gust of wind. So rather than evoking the image of someone pulling a trigger, it evokes the image of the pellets scattering into the air like fireworks or petals almost. 

北極星へ舵取れ　その手で Hokkyokusei he kaji tore sono te de Take the oar to the North Star into your own hands

Ahhhh this is just so freaking pretty. “Take the oar to to the North Star into your own hands.” In other words, determine your own fate, take charge of your life. I just love the “oar” here.

吹き荒び fukisusabi to blow fiercely; to rage, to play (a flute, etc.) for fun

Again, I wasn’t sure how to interpret this line because of the multiple meanings woven into this word. Japanese is SO. COOL. you guys.

哀歌 aika lament (song); elegy; dirge; sad song

My man Yonezu out here bein tricky. Though the official lyrics use the kanji 哀歌, he actually sings this as エレジー (elegy). And that rhymes with the last word of the previous line, エレキ (ereki). Typically, Japanese songwriters tend not to think too much about rhyming. In fact, in Japanese in general, rhyming isn’t thought of as frequently as it is in English. So the fact that Yonezu used this interesting play on words with 哀歌 was pretty cool to me.

震えるほど全て　消えないぜ furueru hodo subete kienai ze It won’t go away, to the point that I’m trembling

I just didn’t have a way to translate the feelings in the ぜ here. “Ze” is a sentence-ending particle that usually shows a person’s confidence. So for him to use it here as he describes himself trembling, is like he’s putting on a front of confidence when really he’s deeply troubled. 

佗び戯れ wabizare ???????

This was my favorite word in the song, and also the hardest one to translate! It doesn’t appear to be a real word in the dictionary, but it’s an imperative made of two different words: 侘び and 戯れ.

Have you ever heard of the term “wabi” or “wabisabi?” It’s this concept of Japanese culture and aesthetics that focuses on the beauty of impermanence and solitude, and an appreciation for the sorrow that comes with the transience.

To look up the definition of “wabi,” it means “taste for the simple and quiet; rustic simplicity; austere refinement; wabi​,” or “enjoyment of a quiet life.”

But to look up the kanji of wabi (侘), we learn that it means “proud, lonely.”

So this is a very nuanced word! I think that the “wabi” of our word “wabizare” is meant to conjure the meaning of the kanji wabi, “proud, lonely.”

Now, 戯. Zare means “pleasantry; joke; tomfoolery​.” There is also a word 戯言 zaregoto, which means “nonsense” or “wishful thinking bordering on nonsense.” I imagine that when Yonezu created this word  佗び戯れ wabizare, he wanted to combine the “proud and lonely” with “wishful thinking bordering on nonsense.” 

鳴き声　かんかん照りの街路で　佗び戯れ nakigoe kankan teri no kairou de wabizare A cry on a sweltering city street, raise a lonely clamor

In other words, he’s asking this person to call out to him, but he knows that they are far away, too far for him to hear. He wants them to give out a cry, one that will sound as lonely as it does nonsensical because there is no way it will reach him.

Uh... What Does This Song Actually Mean?

Disclaimer: This is entirely my own opinion and it could be totally wrong! I always believe that everyone can interpret any piece of art how they like.

The tricky thing about Japanese is that you can omit subjects, and Yonezu does that a lot. So unless there’s an imperative or a use of pronouns, I’m not sure which line is about whom. 

But basically, I think that there was this beautiful person that the singer came to know, someone that they loved and admired. But that person fell into a very dark, hopeless situation. They are “a sunflower blooming in the shade, waiting for summer,” and the singer wants that person to reach out to him. “If you can hear me, scream my name one more time. A cry on a sweltering city street, raise a lonely clamor.” 

The chorus is all imperatives, telling the person to leap into tomorrow, to get it all out, to take the oars into their own hands and head for the North Star. 

I think that this song is all about the singer wanting to help a person they care deeply for, and imploring that person to take action rather than suffer passively.

The End!

I hope that you guys liked this post and that maybe you learned some new words and even found a new artist you love! 

Would people like to see more lyrics translations? They’re kinda fun!

[ramonaprintmakingtwo]

Project 3: Landscape composition

Due to the current travel restrictions and lock down it didn’t feel appropriate or safe to sketch on location the way I would like to. Reading through the exercise I really wanted to study London’s Southbank. This is my favourite part of London and reminds me of spending days with my family, walking along the river and visiting the Hayward, National Theatre, BFI or The Royal Festival Hall. Although often viewed as ugly I love the brutalist architecture and enjoyed climbing up the various staircases and levels, hiding behind pillars and looking out over the Thames. 

In my last Unit, Illustration Two, I completed a six digital illustrations of some of the iconic buildings on the Southbank. In preparation for that assignment (and about two weeks prior to the last lockdown) I took lots of photos so had some reference material already to work from. 

My Photos

My previous Illustrations

Visual Reference

I also supplemented my visual reference using photographs and videos I sourced online. This allowed me to explore more angles and perspectives that I hadn’t captured previously and the videos in particular helped me to remind myself of the feeling of walking down river. 

London National Theatre (Escuris, n.d.)

Hayward Gallery (Guy, n.d.)

Geometry + Geology: Hayward Gallery (Hewitt, 2011)

London Virtual Walk With Ambient Sounds Roof Bar To Festival (Living Walks, 2018)

360° London - South Bank (Fly Through Films, 2015)

Difficulties in comprehension

I read through the project instructions multiple times but struggled to understand what exactly I was been asked to do. I looked at other printmaking students learning logs to try to gain a better understanding however this didn’t clear it up entirely for me.  I am going to include the instructions and my interpretation of them within this write-up in hopes that my tutor or future assessor will understand my rationale for my work, even if the process I have used isn’t what was asked of me. I have used bold to indicate my thoughts.

Instructions

‘Using a pencil on A3 paper and working to the edge of the page, make a line drawing of a section of built environment. Pay attention to perspective and the main forms and structures avoiding excessive detail. Think where to place the lights and darks. Line drawing to me means just the key shapes, I’m not sure how to indicate tone, light and dark within a line drawing. As a left handed person, excessive pencil mark-making quickly becomes messy. You may well need to do a number of drawings until you find the perfect balance of shapes.

Now draw four boxes on tracing paper 15cm x 10cm. Use these boxes as viewfinders and move them over your drawing trying different angles and compositions looking for what you consider to be balanced composition of lines and shapes. As you make your tracings you can edit any unwanted detail and even make the design more abstract – enjoy the freedom of exploring form to produce an aesthetically pleasing composition.

You will use these tracings (plural) to mark up your piece of lino. (singular) Is the final piece meant to be 15cmx10cm? Are the four tracings meant to be combined to create one piece around A4 measurements (30cm x 20cm)?

The print is going to be black, grey and the colour of the paper. You can start by adding black to one shape and then to another to balance the weight and so on.’

My understanding and steps

Make a pencil line drawing on A3 with little detail of a built environment.

Using  viewfinders, explore the image to find a good composition.

Refine and edit composition (for me this usually means using pen to block out dark areas).

Combine the four sections to make one abstract composition. 

Use a reduction print method using grey and black. 

First Sketches

I completed two very basic sketches of The National Theatre (reference Escuris, n.d.) and the back of The Royal Festival Hall (reference Living Walks 2018).

(Pencil on paper)

I used paper viewfinders on my LED light board to trace selected areas. I put the pieces together in different potential compositions and scanned them. This allowed me to put the compositions next to each other to allow for direct comparison. 

Three different compositions scanned

(Pencil and pen on paper)

Draft composition, taped viewfinders

I then went over this composition again, cleaning up lines and bending others so the image felt less disjointed. To help me remember which bits I needed to cut, the blue in this image represents areas of white. 

Final Composition 

(Pen on paper)

I selected this composition as the contrasting angles meeting in the centre of the design reminded me of a ship, moving forwards through the river. This felt in keeping with the riverside location of the National Theatre. The overall image feels dynamic and dramatic. 

The abstract interpretation of buildings reminded me of the hand coloured etchings of Bronwen Sleigh.

Earlspark Avenue, Pacific Quay, Rue Beaudoin,Hinna  (Sleigh, n.d.)

First Layer test print with ink pad

Printing process

First time using my press

I had difficulty using the press for the first time as my Lino was jumping causing the registration to be off. I ended up completing the run by hand as I being a reduction print I only had a limited number of prints and didn’t want to ruin the entire run and have to start again. Through talking to other printmakers on Facebook I have since learnt that I had the pressure too tight. 

Final Prints

Best Print

I would have never considered creating an image using in the method outlined in the course materials (or my interpretation of them!). The end result is bold and striking and captures my joy for the National Theatre and it’s architecture. 

PLEASE NOTE: These prints have been scanned using the incorrect setting causing the colours and contrast to be inaccurate. I will be re-scanning and updating this post at a later date.

References

Escuris, L., n.d. London National Theatre. [image] Available at: <https://linoescuris.com/london-national-theatre/> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Fly Through Films, 2015. 360° London - South Bank. [video] Available at: <https://youtu.be/WGjCaNTQhVk> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Guy, C., n.d. Hayward Gallery. [image] Available at: <https://gidsey.com/portfolio/hayward-gallery/#> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Hewitt, D., 2011. Geometry + Geology: Hayward Gallery. [Gelatin Photography].

Living Walks, 2018. London Virtual Walk With Ambient Sounds Roof Bar To Festival. [video] Available at: <https://youtu.be/NsD7FbiMMlU> [Accessed 21 December 2020].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Earlspark Avenue. [Hand coloured etching].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Hinna. [Lithograph].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Pacific Quay. [Hand coloured etching].

Sleigh, B., n.d. Rue Beaudoin. [Hand coloured etching].

[cyn-00]

Moreid one shot, 17 - "my hands"

Season 9, episode 3 "Final shot" (this is the one where the team has to catch a sniper: initially they thought the unsub was motivated by racism, and when they discover that the gun was the same used a few months before by "The General" - in prison, ex leader of a white supremacists group - to kill a black councilman - Adrian Clay - AND that in one of the shootings the assistant d.a. prosecuting him for that crime was killed; they decide to interview him. Re-interpretation of the scene where Morgan and JJ hold hands to make uncomfortable "The General" - racist son of a b*tch - during the interrogation... only there's Reid instead of JJ ;)

I believe @amplifreid and @smileythirteen asked me to tag them ❤️

Also, in my imaginary world, Morgan and Reid are a well established couple by season 9, but to illustrate this scene properly I think it was way better to assume they weren't a couple yet. Also with the same intent, the interview to "The General" (Adam Dawson) happens in an interrogation room with the one-way mirror glass and everything. Bear with the divergence from the actual scene - some of Dawson, Morgan and JJ's (=Reid) lines do remain pretty much the same, though

Read it on AO3

-------------

"Look at the change in his posture when Morgan got in..." Blake sighed, staring attentively at the interrogation room on the other side of the one-way glass. "Cocky. This guy's not gonna give us anything useful."

Rossi gave her an agreeing look, silently mimicking her head-shake while his hands slid in the pockets of his jeans.

"We'll have to work with that. Playing the black agent card is our best and only shot." Hotch replied.

"It's also very much obvious..." Blake added half-heartedly.

"He'll be too blinded by hate to even notice." Reid reassured her with a shrug, finally saying something after being glued to the glass for a few minutes with his arms folded on his chest, concentrated on the interrogation.

-

"Mr Dawson," Morgan greeted the convict with a fake polite tone, closing the door behind his back.

He sat in front of him and crossed his hands atop the metallic table. "Do you happen to have wondered why you're here?" he asked, squinting his eyes.

"I have a few guesses, yes." Dawson answered confidently.

Morgan tilted his head, while his brows shot up. He'd already picked up on what type of attitude the guy was planning to pull off on him for the whole duration of the interview. 

"Would you mind naming a couple of those for me?"

Dawson sighed, nodding his head. "I guess we're talking about my past involvement with the Southern Aryans."

"Past?"

"Past. Look, I even got my tattoos removed." he confirmed, not hesitating to show him the laser scar on the inside of his arm with a self-complacent grin, even if constricted in his movements by the cuffs chained to the table top.

Morgan couldn't bring himself to feign praising at the thought the guy once marked his skin with symbols and slogans to proudly remind himself and others that not only he was a racist son of a bitch, but more than that he also acted upon those retrograde and disgusting ideologies of his. So he just nodded, not even bothering to actually look at Dawson's arm.

-

Hotch's phone rang in his pocket, distracting him from the dynamic slowly - very slowly - unfolding in the other room.

"What is it Garcia?"

"My baby is in there with Dawson right?? Not that you aren't my baby too, sir- I MEAN you guys ALL are my babies regardless of our age gap-"

"Garcia." Aaron reprimanded her.

"Yes! I'm- I'm sorry, back to business: I managed to dig deep and dirty into every single detail about the murder of Adrian Clay, and in general every little, petty criminal activity this group of disgusting bigots have committed." she paused, gulping so noisily they could all hear it through the phone.

"They- they have engaged in a series of, quote unquote, 'harassments of any sort', in those areas of the city principally frequented by the lgbtq+ community through these past couple years. And- and Clay himself was rumored to be homosexual, but there's no reliable source for that." she explained in a rush, like she wanted to get it out of her brain as quickly as her breath allowed her to.

"...don't know about you, but I'm not all that surprised the shitheads are also homophobic. Those things don't sound like anything a group of neo-nazis wouldn't do, am I right?" Rossi snorted. "They'll target anything 'impure'." he air-quoted the word.

"Yes, that's what I had imagined too, I just- I just hoped I didn't have to get to the point of reading proof of it with my poor, pretty eyes! Like these guys weren't evil on earth already..."

"Garcia, is there a reason why you're telling us this?" Hotch furrowed his brows. They were running out of time, and Morgan was running out of questions aiming at making Dawson say what they wanted him to say.

"Actually sir, I hoped you'd ask because YES, there is a reason, and I know that this is not part of my job but I was thinking that maybe...you guys could use his homophobia at your advantage?" she kept it vague and stopped for a second to catch a reaction. Anything at all. But the others stayed silent to digest that idea.

"like, one of you boys could go in there and act a lil? Believe me I would sacrifice myself for that role, but you know-"

"Actually, that's not a bad idea at all. As Blake said earlier, Dawson was probably expecting us to use a black agent anyway, but this could actually set him off because it's a part of the group's criminal activity that's been hidden from the media and the general public. We're not supposed to even know about this." Reid spoke his mind out loud, receiving in response complete silence and three - well, four, if you count Garcia - pairs of eyes staring at him.

He stared back at them with his lips parted. "W-what? I'm right, right ?"

"You are." Blake simply said, raising a brow.

With a little delay compared to the others' - which NEVER happened - Spencer's mind started to process what that whole staring contest was supposed to mean.

"No- guys, I'm- I'm too young he won't- he'll never fall for it! If you take in account that I look way younger than I am, the age gap between me and Morgan is too wide, he's not a fool I can't-" he was starting to stutter and flush and almost hyperventilate to the point Hotch had to interrupt him.

"Reid. You know it has to be you." he gave him an apologetic look.

Reid wasn't trying to dodge the situation because he had a problem with fake flirting - he did not have a single problem with doing that. On the contrary: fake flirting for an interrogation or the like was the only way for Spencer to manage to pull off a flirty attitude with someone, covering it up with the fact that he was simply good at acting, since in actuality flirting wasn't exactly his first natural skill - it was Derek's. Problem was: he had to flirt with Derek Morgan, not someone.

On the other hand, Spencer also perfectly knew why it was their best shot to send him in instead of Hotch. Still, it was worth the try to dissuade him.

"You could do it, right?" he asked apprehensively, the tone of his voice lower and less certain than before.

Hotch knew he didn't need to explain it to him, so he didn't bother, keeping his gaze steady. Blake took on that duty for him, though:

"Spencer, you are exactly Dawson and his followers' stereotype of ideal human being. You're young, educated, intelligent, attractive, and more importantly: white." she paused, seeing that Reid had embarrassedly dropped his eyes when she mentioned him being attractive. Guess Morgan wasn't the only one labeling him as 'pretty boy' then.

"The only thing that parts you from being total perfection in his eyes, is your sexual orientation." she concluded.

"The minute we send you in, he'll think you're there to save him from an uncomfortable interview with a black agent. But when you'll start making avancés on Morgan, the guy will freak out." Rossi added, straight up.

Making avancés on Morgan. Dear God - Spencer knew he could do that with a minimum effort, and certainly without Derek making a big deal out of it; however the issue was: he would never get away with the physical reaction the avancés on Derek 's part would certainly trigger in his body, would he?

"THAT's what I meant!" Penelope's squealing voice filled the room all of a sudden, reminding them that she was still on speaker phone.

"Alright, thanks Garcia, that was a good catch." Hotch's firm facial expression never wavered an inch, even when he complimented her.

"Duty, sir."

"We can't call Morgan out, though. It has to be unexpected." he added, now only talking to his teammates in the room.

Without waiting for the others' agreeing - there was no need for that: he was right - Hotch pressed the button that allowed him to talk into Morgan's earpiece.

-

"Morgan. Guy's not only racist, but also homophobic. We're sending Reid in."

Morgan swallowed, trying not to make Dawson notice that he received an unspoken command he wasn't quite sure whether he'd be ready to obey, nor handle - emotionally AND physically.

When the door opened a second after, though, and he glanced over his shoulder at his tall, lean colleague standing behind him, waiting for permission to come in, Derek figured it shouldn't be all that hard to flirt with that.

"Pretty boy! Have a seat, we're having fun here." he gave Spencer his brightest grin, hand gesturing at him to come closer.

The younger agent smiled awkwardly and closed the door, making his way to the chair only 5 inches beside Derek's - who, by the way, was overly aware that their knees would inevitably touch if he didn't pay attention to keeping his legs glued together.

As Spencer got comfortable in his seat, keeping eye contact with him and subtly brushing his tongue in between his pink lips, Derek wondered if that was gonna come naturally to Spencer as it surely was to him. From the look on his face and his body language, Derek was leaning toward yes as an answer to that question.

"Mr Dawson is sick and tired of me." Derek scoffed, leaning back in his chair to stretch an arm on the backrest of Spencer's. "Guessing you came here with a few questions of your own?" he asked him.

"I did." Spencer replied, squinting at Dawson with an inquisitive look. "Mr Dawson, by any chance you've kept in contact with the other members of the Southern Aryans' group?"

"Agent-"

"Doctor." Derek pointed out dryly. "Doctor Spencer Reid." the way he pronounced his name caused Spencer to shift in his seat. Morgan wasn't quite sure why.

"Doctor, then." Dawson snorted, eyebrows raised in surprise as to why the older agent cared that much about specifying the other's title. "As I was saying: I'm in prison. My opportunities to socialize are...somewhat limited." he replied sarcastically. Which was how he'd been doing it at every single question Derek had asked.

The fact that he was managing to keep that cocky attitude was a sign that he wasn't uncomfortable enough. Everyone had imagined he would've got all jittery the second the nickname "pretty boy" would've come out of Morgan's mouth. Apparently so, Derek had to step up his game.

"Spencer, baby," Derek called him so he'd lean back in his chair as well, drawing his face farther away from "The General" and from under the blinding neon light beam illuminating the area of the table.

-

Reid leaned back as Morgan had implicitly asked him to, crossing his arms on his chest. Spencer, baby. The instinctive part of his brain didn't hesitate a second to recognize the combination of pet name + uncommon use of his first name, associated with Derek's deep voice. Probably because he'd imagined his colleague calling him that a thousand times, along with other names - some less appropriate than others - he couldn't keep his mind from drifting to when he heard that voice of his. The other part of his grey matter though, the logical, predominant one, the one used to Morgan only calling him by his last name or "pretty boy" and "kid" at most; sent a tingling sensation from the canal of his ear where the words reached him, all the way down to his arms and hands.

Spencer kept his gaze on the convict sitting across from them, as he realized Derek had inched dangerously closer to his ear. Dawson shifted nervously in his seat, jerking his eyes away from the two of them.

"You think we should kiss at some point? " the man asked mockingly at last, whispering and with a hand half-covering the motions of his mouth: he was acting like he didn't want Dawson to be able to hear, or read his labial - which, on the contrary, was exactly his plan.

Spencer froze. He tried to keep his look on Dawson unchanged. What he could NOT control, though, was the sensation of heat spreading up his neck, 3 inches from Derek's mouth. Dawson, too, was very noticeably trying to contain his sickened reaction, which turned out to be a mere close-eyed sigh and an irritated clench of jaw.

Reid pulled off the most natural chuckle he could, before answering out loud.

"I don't think it'll be necessary." it was true: Derek had asked only as a joke, and Spencer understood that. But he kinda wished in that moment it were appropriate for him to reply "yes, please, tongue me down during an interrogation."

Derek leaned forward again, finally removing his eyes from that spot of Spencer's jawline below his ear that moved as he spoke.

"Anyway. That's not what we heard." he said, pointing at him and Reid with his finger. "Rumor has it that you're in charge. In fact, you're still known as 'The General'."

"Some folks would like to, uh, imbue me with a great deal of power. But it's a mantle I choose not to accept." The General answered, his voice less arrogant than before and maybe even ever-so-slightly hoarse.

"So you COULD call the shots, you just... choose not to...?" Reid asked, unconvinced and a bit concerned about what kind of annoyingly fake-innocent answer the guy would give this time.

"That's what I said. How can I lead when I no longer believe, 'pretty boy' ?" Dawson replied, back at it with his smug tone, air-quoting the nickname.

Spencer had the abrupt - albeit fictitious - feeling that someone was knotting his guts with their bare hands, when he heard the man pronouncing those two words. Sacred, two words, only reserved to Morgan.

"Doctor Spencer Reid, is my name. Thought you were smart enough to understand it the first time." he said ice cold, leaning forward, knuckles white from crossing his hands too tightly over the table top.

"You're not allowed to call him that." Morgan stated, his black eyes piercing through the man in front of them.

"With all due respect, that's what you called him earlier, agent Morgan."

"With all due respect, Spencer is MY boyfriend, not yours." Derek bit back.

The lack of hesitation in pronouncing the words 'Spencer is my boyfriend' and how good they sounded coming out of Morgan's lips, along with the way he untangled Reid's hands to take one of them in his, warmly and comfortingly intertwining their fingers to loosen the tension in his phalanges - all of it, made Spencer's heart speed up, and his lungs hitch as he breathed, and his mouth water, realizing now more than ever how much he actually wished all of that could be real.

-

"Although I bet you wish he was your boyfriend, don't you?" Morgan added, teasing Dawson even more. The man snorted, but his body language was telling them that he was struggling to keep an unbothered attitude.

"Is that why you killed Adrian Clay? Because he was black and probably had a boyfriend, just like agent Morgan here?" Spencer asked.

Derek looked at him with his brows raised, pleased at how well he was keeping up with his game. Though, that sensation managed to ease only partially the slight but sudden feeling of discomfort that hit in his chest, at the news that the councilman that was killed was black AND gay, just like...him? Was he bisexual? The things flashing in Morgan's mind in reaction to the proximity with Reid's body, and that feeling of having his hand melting in his - the feeling that holding Spencer's hand was right - were making Derek doubt even more his already unclear understanding of his own sexual orientation. Doctor Spencer Reid was making him doubt once again his sexual orientation.

Clenching his hands in tight fists, Dawson made an effort to visibly swallow the expectedly offensive comments he bore on the matter - Derek found himself mentally thanking him for that - and shifted his eyes toward the wall at his left, too disgusted by him and Spencer to keep looking at them any longer.

As soon as he did that, Morgan felt Reid's hand slipping out of his, much to his silent disapproval.

"Alright Derek we- we're wasting our time here." Spencer mumbled, turning his back on Derek with his eyes low and placing a palm on the table top, about to stand up from the chair.

Derek had the impression that Spencer's reaction was somewhat genuine, that he really was starting to get triggered by The General's attitude - righteously. But, as selfish as he knew it sounded, he didn't want Reid to leave his side. His hand. Him.

Before he could effectively get up, Morgan wrapped his hand around that spot on Reid's arm, the crook where his forearm met his bicep, a couple inches below his shirt rolled up sleeve; that spot where his exposed skin was sensitive enough that those curling fingers sprung tickling chills everywhere, intense to the point of Spencer freezing in place and turning his head to give Derek worried puppy eyes and sweet, slightly pouty lips that Goddammit can I just KISS them off his face?

"C'mon baby, I just have a few more questions" Derek settled to say, softly, trying to recover from that fucking look of his.

"No seriously, can- can we just g-"

"Hey, hey, hold tight. We haven't even got to the point yet. It'll only take a second and then we don't have to see this son of a bitch's face anymore alright? Promise." Morgan reassured him; pitch black irises staring straight into hazel brown ones.

Spencer sighed and nodded, as Derek loosened the grip. He leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms, annoyed but ready to listen to more of the man's crap.

Dawson snorted. "You must have quite the nerve to come in here and insult me, tell me I'm a racist and a homophobic-"

"Nobody said either of those things, Mr Dawson." Derek tilted his head. "We asked, and you didn't answer. Not verbally anyway. Seems to me that now you are the one saying those words, uh?"

"What do you know about today's events?" Reid cut it short, not even willing to wait for Dawson's reaction at Morgan's insinuation.

"Today's events?"

"You must have heard about the shootings." Derek specified, carelessly leaning on the backrest, and decided it was the moment to do what he had planned on doing since Spencer entered the room.

-

Reid had his eyes fixated on Dawson, to catch every single twitch of his facial muscles, or minute movement of his body.

Suddenly he felt a hot, broad hand wrapping around his inner thigh. He sincerely hoped the only physical reaction to that were his toes curling up inside his shoes, or at worst how his breath got stuck in his throat for a second, and nothing visible on the outside - because on the inside, he could feel his whole abdomen heat up at a concerning rate.

When the man's hand started stroking back and forth, each time his palm went upwards it seemed to Spencer that it was getting closer and closer to that part of his body he wished so bad Derek wasn't aiming for - at least not in that context. Spencer tightened the grip of his hands bracing his arms, thanking God that shirts were made of cotton and not paper that would start flaking off under the squeezing pressure of sweaty fingers.

He couldn't allow himself to take his eyes off Dawson, especially now that he'd seen Morgan's hand on Reid's thigh and had immediately stiffened up; his temples glimmering with sweat under the neon light.

Dawson gulped nervously and looked away from the whole rubbing of skin on fabric, bringing his gaze back to Morgan's smirking face. "Enlighten me."

"The assistant d.a. prosecuting you for the murder of Adrian Clay was killed." Reid condensed the explanation, realizing that if he wanted to look natural he had to say something. He admittedly did a pretty good job at keeping his voice steady, considering Morgan's hand seemed having no intention to find rest any time soon.

A confused scowl crinkled the convict's face.

"Did you order that hit?" Derek asked. To be fair, both him and Spencer were almost 100% sure by then that the guy had no idea what they were talking about.

"I had nothing to do with it." Dawson asserted without hesitation, his voice deep and unfazed.

By that point, Spencer had relaxed into the other's touch, and he didn't know whether it was supposed to be a good sign or not. He didn't know whether the fact that he melted like jelly under Morgan's hands, even being usually uncomfortable with touching in general, was a good sign because it meant that he felt safe within their friendship and trustful of him; or it was a bad sign because it meant that his body was designed to be touched like that by his colleague and him only. He didn't know whether it was good that if he thought of anyone else - his former crush JJ, for instance - touching him in a way that wasn't finalized to be emotionally comforting, he would picture it as uneasy regardless, be it 30 seconds or 30 minutes long; whereas he was almost certain that that very same kind of touch applied upon his body by Morgan's hands would be in equal parts electrifying and soothing each time, all the time.

He wasn't supposed to try and understand any of it, though. Nobody was asking that of him - Derek wasn't asking and would never ask that of him. There was no need for Spencer to spend hours analyzing how that kind of approach would affect him. Because it was an unrealistic scenario that didn't belong in his future, anyway.

A growing wave of self-consciousness and realism woke Reid up from that thought. All of a sudden he realized he couldn't bear staying there any longer than a couple minutes at best. Hence, he speeded things up.

-

"You had nothing to do with it?" Spencer's calm voice echoed in the room that had been silent for a while. Dawson didn't repeat himself.

Derek was ready to throw in the towel - he was frustrated that the case wouldn't come to a solution as easy and logical as a white supremacist targeting the assistant d.a. prosecuting him, but on the other hand he couldn't say he hadn't enjoyed spending time touching Spencer without the commitment of having to admit he would've wanted to do it regardless of the interview.

With the corner of his eye he saw Spencer finally untangling his arms and stretching one of them toward him. He didn't have the time to take a mental guess on what he was planning to do, that he felt his feather-like fingers slightly brushing against his nape.

Derek's palm stopped moving on the other's thigh, immobilized, the moment Spencer's cotton-hand spread to cup the back of his neck; a lukewarm and soft sensation growing on the very surface of his skin as well as deep inside his chest - nothing short of a cheesy metaphor, if you will, of how Spencer's touch had the power of rocking up both his emotions AND his body.

When Spencer's thumb started tracing slow circles on the side of his neck, Derek found himself imperceptibly tilting his head back to sink into his touch; trying not to put pressure or, way worse, squeeze the other man's thigh, who might've taken it as a cue that Morgan was enjoying what he was doing. He most certainly was, by the way.

"And that would be, because you're not racist or homophobic anymore?" Spencer ultimately asked.

God, he was smarter than he gave himself credit for when it came to pushing all the bad guys' buttons. And they couldn't even get mad, with that face that he had. At least, Derek knew he could never - best case scenario, he would limit to sprinkling said face with kisse- ahem, what?

-

"I'm done talking to you." Dawson claimed, having pulled himself together enough to bring back almost entirely that confident attitude he had when Morgan first got in.

"Oh, we are too." Morgan said arching his brows. He stood up on his feet, regretting detaching from Reid's contact immediately after.

"Mr Dawson, I can't tell you how impressed i am with you!" he added dry-wittingly.

Derek leaned forward over the table and grabbed the man's hands in his own, cuffed to the cold, metallic surface. He kept his eyes no more than 7 inches from his, making sure he couldn't escape them.

"So I'd like to shake your hand, and congratulate you for making such a positive change in your life." he said, his voice low and thorough, resonating in The General's ears.

Dawson lost his cool and instinctively tried to snatch his hands away from Morgan's grip, soon realizing it wasn't his grip he couldn't escape, rather the one obliged by the chained handcuffs.

"I'd be really careful." Morgan advised, a stabbing glare in his eyes.

"Because somebody might think you still believe."

Clearly, Derek had long lost any interest in keeping the boyfriend-play going: he looked furious and quite nauseous - and it was his God-given right to feel as such. Nonetheless, that was nothing but the millionth proof that Spencer had no reason to fantasize about their relationship becoming something more, someday.

Morgan stormed out of the room. Reid followed a few seconds after, which he'd spent shooting Dawson one last glance - not nearly as threatening and blood-freezing as his colleague's, but still.

-

When they got on the other side of the glass, Reid felt all eyes on them - especially on him, for some reason. It was like someone slapped him back into reality.

"Sorry guys, I- I kinda snapped." Morgan finally spoke up, a hand on his hip and the other rubbing his face.

"Don't. It was very much understandable." Blake reassured him, waving a hand and shaking her head.

"Well, what can I say?" Rossi changed the topic. "Great job in there." he added with a hint of smirk, arching a brow and shifting his gaze from Spencer to Derek and viceversa several times.

"Pretty boy here did all the work." Derek's tone was lighter now, as he pointed at pretty boy.

Spencer bit the inside of his cheek, unable to even say a due "thank you" - it would've come off as pathetic in that moment, to say the least.

"It- it was kinda useless, though...he had no idea what we were talking about." he said instead, sighing disappointedly and crossing his arms on his chest.

"He didn't even explicitly confess anything about his past crimes that we brought up. We literally only managed to confirm that he's a racist, homophobic piece of shit." Derek scoffed.

"We didn't need to put up a show for that though, did we?" he concluded, as his previous frustration arose again; seconds before splitting his way through his standing teammates to get out of the room.

They followed him with their eyes, and once the door was closed - slammed, almost - behind him, they got back to looking at Reid, who was frowning deeply.

After a long silence, Rossi nodded his head toward the door, like he was giving him permission to go and talk to Morgan.

Reid sighed and followed Morgan's previous steps, trying to hide how his words and tone from earlier had someway offended him. Judging by his demeanor and his glances in the interrogation room, Spencer could've sworn Derek seemed to have almost enjoyed it - he didn't care that it was probably more of a mocking kind of enjoyment, rather than a genuine 'I enjoyed touching you'. It was still something. And, at the end of the day, Derek Morgan had rubbed a hand on his thigh 2 inches from his groin, for Christ's sake, how dare he keep complaining?

He was startled awake from his paranoia by Hotch's hand, placed on his shoulder the second Spencer had grabbed the door handle.

"I hope I didn't push you too much. I'm sorry if I did."

Spencer shook his head. "Not me. I don't know about Morgan, though."

-

"Hey" a soft voice awakened Morgan from his thoughts.

He stopped pacing up and down the hallway and raised his eyes from the floor. He truly wasn't expecting Reid to follow him.

"H- hey, kid."

"Everything alright?"

No. Nothing was alright. From how wrong and dirty Dawson's behavior made him feel, to how right he found himself unwillingly thinking the contact with Spencer's body was: NOTHING was alright.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." he answered anyway.

Spencer nodded, unconvinced. And this time it wasn't because of his capability to read his colleague and best friend like an open book, rather simply because Derek didn't know how to hide his discomfort anymore.

Reid made a few steps forward, supposedly to make the conversation more intimate - though nobody was really around, so that left the other a bit confused. Plus, boy was definitely too close now, if it was Derek's to say.

"Look, I- I'm sorry it had to be me, I tried to convince Hotch to do it at my place but- but he said that I was more suited to be-" Spencer almost hiccuped. "...for the role, because I'm younger and-"

"Hey, hey, it's alright, it's not you." Derek interrupted him, placing a hand on his shoulder, seeing that he was starting to get flustered and even guilty on some measure. He also noticed how he avoided the word 'boyfriend'. He wasn't sure what to think of that, though.

"It's him. How he looked at us- at ME. I just- I don't know, I just can't believe some people out there really think it's not normal to be gay or black or both, that's all." Derek paused. "as if one could help it, right?" he snorted.

Spencer raised his eyes from the floor. "Yeah. I get that." he murmured.

Derek chuckled a little as a thought popped into his head, taking his hand off of Spencer's shoulder and shoving it back in his pocket.

"Honestly I don't know if I could've done it with Hotch. He's my superior, it would've been...weird, lemme tell you."

Reid giggled and...blushed a little? At least that's what it seemed. Morgan didn't take it well, though: he thought he'd made him uncomfortable.

"I mean," he swallowed sheepishly. "I mean, I hope I didn't...mess you up. I know you're not comfortable with touching."

-

Mess him up. That was cute. Derek Morgan had "messed him up" the second he had introduced himself to Spencer on his first day at the BAU. The guy had never known Spencer as not messed up.

"W- what?? No, no absolutely not, it was part of the thing. We- you had to...touch me. Wouldn't have worked otherwise." Spencer replied, furrowing his brows and shaking his head vigorously.

Silence.

"I have to ask you this..." Morgan said, regaining his usual teasing attitude. Reid wasn't sure if he was supposed to be relieved, because it meant the man had relaxed a little; or if he should start worrying about what that attitude would imply. Probably the second.

"Ask what?" Spencer hoped his heart couldn't be heard as loudly from outside as it was inside his ears.

"Was it all...acting?" Derek paused, and Spencer faked a confused expression, because before answering he had to be sure he meant what he thought he meant.

"...cause it looked very natural, if you ask me." Yeah, he did mean what Spencer thought he meant.

Morgan looked around quickly and came even closer. He non-chalantly took Reid's tie in his hands and straightened it - earning a gasp from him - biting his bottom lip like he was really concentrated on the task - which he wasn't. He didn't give a shit if his tie was ok, he was clearly doing it to make Reid's blood pulse out of his veins.

"Was it? Natural?" he repeated, almost murmuring at that point.

Spencer didn't know what to answer: he had stopped the train of thought that would've eventually led to a proper answer to that question when he was in the interrogation room, and he had suddenly realized that Derek would never ask such a thing of him. And there he was: asking it to him.

"I guess, kinda...? I- I'm not sure-" he finally replied, his chin tilted down to follow with his eyes what the man's hands were carefully doing with his tie, taking advantage in the fact that Derek couldn't look at his face in order to do that.

He couldn't stop his mind from drifting to that imaginary place where Morgan's hands would most definitely not stick to adjusting his tie; that place where he was allowed to wonder that if the man was so good at adjusting ties, then what else could those nimble fingers do.

As if that weren't enough already, Derek ran his tongue in between his lips, before speaking up.

"Me neither."

Suddenly, he raised his eyes to look at something that was happening behind Reid's shoulder. He coughed and nodded in that direction, forcing himself to take his hands off Spencer.

Reid turned around and saw it: Hotch, Blake and Rossi were walking their way toward them; luckily chatting instead of looking at Morgan "adjusting his tie" or whatever.

-

"And did you mind? My hands, I mean." Derek whispered in his ear from behind him, making him wince at how those words flowed smoothly in a hot, steamy wave over his neck.

Spencer didn't turn around, nor look at him with the corner of his eye - which he could've easily done. He concentrated on staring forward at their teammates approaching closer, rather than on the inviting heat radiating from the man only a few inches behind him.

"...n- not- not really..." he muttered, not sure what kind of nerve pushed him to give Morgan even the slightest hint that he could've enjoyed it, instead of denying adamantly.

Another breathy, humid whisper tickled his ear.

"Me neither."

[argentdandelion]

Jesse & Lake: Better than Callum x Rayla?

1. Introduction

Infinity Train's second season and The Dragon Prince, despite their very different lengths, have a lot of similarities. The human male lead travels through an unfamiliar and even dangerous land with a female humanoid, the human male lead cares deeply about his little brother(1), there’s an animal companion(s) that can’t talk, and there’s both scary and ligthhearted moments. Even their relationship arcs of their teen leads are similar. The relational character arcs of Callum to Rayla in The Dragon Prince and Jesse Cosay with Lake (initially called M.T.) progress from hostility/aggressive disinterest to chummy behavior of smiling, self-disclosure, and physical affection.

2. Shipping Fuel

The relationships between the shows’ main teen characters are triply inclined to “ships”. Apparently, ships commonly arise when characters have strong emotions with or about each other, whether it’s positive or negative. When the characters have some degree of physical intimacy (e.g., hugging, sleeping next to or on each other), and interpersonal vulnerability (e.g., disclosing their insecurities or backstories to each other), it’s even more likely a “ship” will develop, whether in canon or in fan works. Adding onto it is the long history of media pairing up male and female lead characters by the end, especially if they’re on friendly terms, leading to viewers’ cultural expectations.

(For the sake of brevity, only the strongest or most obvious specific instances of would-be shipping fuel for each series will be covered.)

3. Specific Instances: The Dragon Prince

Initially (“What is Done”, episode 2, season 1) Rayla is hostile to Ezran and Callum, given she is an assassin ordered to kill Prince Ezran who believes Callum to be Ezran. When she learns the egg of the dragon prince wasn’t destroyed (a big part of the reason assassins went to kill Prince Ezran), she loses her motive and hostility. (“Moonrise”, episode 3).For most of the third episode, Callum only sticks with her because his little brother trusts her and he apparently wants to accompany his brother. However, by the episode’s end, he commits to going along with her and Ezran to where the dragon egg came from and returning it to its mother. On their quest, Raylla becomes friendlier, and more overtly physical or outright affectionate with Callum.

In “Breathe” (Season 2, episode 9), Callum must fight off the effects of performing Dark Magic, which resembles being deadly ill. Rayla is hugging him and pleading him to stay with her, and is crying. When Callum suddenly recovers, she sits back and reverses the intensified physical presence, playing it off in a casual (if still definitely chummy) way.

In “The Midnight Desert”, one character suggests Rayla and Callum are a couple, and likely does this just to see them squirm. There’s a sequence in which Callum tries to comfort Rayla in her troubled sleep and sadness. As Callum encourages Rayla out of her funk, the music playing in the background is somehow similar to The Lion King’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”. Callum gets closer to her with several compliments, including on her beauty, and they kiss. Although Rayla aggressively states they must never mention it again, the romance (unfortunately) develops further.

In “The Final Battle”, there’s a dramatic sequence where Rayla tackes a bad guy off a mountain and falls to her death, Callum jumps after her. He initially is unsuccessful casting his arms-to-wings spell, as previously in the episode. Only after a romantic moment and a heartfelt “Rayla, I love you” does he manage to sprout wings and save Rayla, and they kiss.

4. Specific Instances: Infinity Train

When Lake meets Jesse (“The Black Market Car”, episode 1), she shouts at him, destroys his sunglasses, and is repeatedly aggressive, argumentative, and insulting. Even when it's established they're friends with the same superpowered deer, she refuses to be friends by association and tries to leave. When they’re in a situation where fighting with each other would cause them to be trapped by an enormous tree of petty conflict (“The Family Tree Car”, episode 2), they quickly act exaggeratedly friendly, polite, and complimentary towards each other. When they’re no longer in danger, they ride the antlers of the superpowered deer up the tree (necessarily sitting very close to each other) and Lake makes a (half-hearted) apology for yelling at him earlier.

They get much friendlier over time, as Jesse and Lake spend a lot of time physically close to each other and touching, whether it’s a hand on the shoulder, hugging, holding hands while running or just shoving.

He stands up to the Apex when they want to kill Lake in “The Mall Car”, and his number goes down to 0 and he tries bringing Lake back home when his exit appears while they’re chased by the Flecs. However, he is unable to take Lake along, and desperately holds hands with her as his body is sucked away to his destination.

Both Jesse and Callum do something impossible to save the girl in their shows or segments’ final episodes (at time of writing). In “The Number Car”, though Jesse’s number is 0 and he was sent home, he’s still “in processing”. evidently, his sheer emotional distress of leaving without Lake was so great the Train re-appeared to him. When Lake finds out Jesse’s emotional distress or trauma at being forced to leave Lake was so great he got back on the train, she smiles (lovingly, one could say). When Jesse wakes up in a pool of water after his memories are played for everyone to see, they hold hands and hug and smile.

5. Jesse and Lake Don’t End up Together!?

For all the manner, frequency, and intensity of their friendliness and physical affection that could be used to predict they’ll end up romantically paired in the end, it still stays a friendship. Refreshingly, it stays a friendship despite very strong “shipping clues”. For example, while climbing down The Family Tree, Jesse has to grab her by the waist while complimenting her on how shiny she is, and Lake grimaces. (And this is only the second episode they’re together!) Furthermore, when Jesse is laying unconscious in a pool of water and Lake is smiling at him, one might believe the situation is ripe for a Sleeping Beauty-style wakeup with a kiss...and it doesn’t happen. And although the manner in which Lake climbs over Jesse’s torso to wake him up with a painful flick to the forehead in the same episode might be lingered upon as romantic (or...steamy) in other shows, it’s not here. M.T. even blushes around Jesse a few times, and it’s still doesn’t end up a romance!

Even more shockingly, one might think the characters ship the two together. Perry, a body-controlling parasite takes over their deer companion Alan Dracula in one episode, and illustrates how much Alan Dracula loves Lake and Jesse by showing them perched together on Alan Dracula’s antlers with an outline of a heart. It’s easy to take this out of context and suppose either Alan Dracula or the parasite were “shipping” Lake and Jesse.

An antagonist, Mace (a “Flec”: a violent enforcer of mirror law) calls Jesse Lake’s “boyfriend” and believes Lake might want to go to prom; one could assume he thought Lake wanted to go to prom with Jesse. Although Lake answers Mace’s mention of prom by asserting she and Jesse are friends, without explicitly refuting his romantic insinuations in a flustered way people may have used as shipping fuel, shippers might ignore her word choice or simply expect the season to end with a kiss anyway.

Furthermore, the conclusions of one important person who doesn’t ship them, One-One, can be easily waved away. In contrast to Mace, after Jesse wakes up and they’re happy (and physically affectionate) with their reuniting, one character, One-One, says: “This train [the Infinity Train] is for fixing problems, not for hang time with buds." Although One-One characterizes M.T and Jesse as friends, given he is a robot with little understanding of human norms and relationships, it’s easy to disregard him as mistaken and go with romantic interpretations.

6. Why Is Jessie & Lake Better? **

Jesse & Lake is better than Rayllum for two reasons. Firstly, it doesn’t go into a well-trod, cliché turn. For all the “hints” it drops, all the scenarios one might find in a “shippy” fanfiction, and even how some characters seem to portray them in a romantic relationship, it doesn’t turn into a romance. Secondly, it provides representation for male-female friendship, showing it as something valuable in itself and not valuable only as a transitional state for romance. Of the examples from comparable shows the author can recall, such a relationship is hard to find among lead characters, and that Jesse and Lake can be so physically affectionate to each other without it ever becoming a romance makes it especially striking.

So many kids’ cartoons, including ones with comparable tones and styles, end up pairing the lead(s) romantically at some point. It’s almost inevitable: some shows even put undue focus on the romance to the exclusion of what brought people to the show in the first place. Infinity Train choosing something different showcases its bold, creative, polished storywriting and characterization, marking it as exceptional even among the excellent cartoons of the 2010s.

(1) In The Dragon Prince, Ezran is technically his step-half-brother, but the dynamic's equivalent.

[guylty]

I take it you have heard all the good news? UV is apparently in the can and will be shown in cinemas and on the BBC at an undisclosed point in the future. Personally, I am not sure whether the cinema is currently the best place for a filmed piece of theatre. And the BBC is regionally restricted. So neither option really feels particularly accessible to *me*. The only advantage of a BBC transmission is, that there might be fans with access who also have some other technical knowledge… *say no more*. Not to put a dampener onto things – I am thrilled that they have decided to film the play, preserve it for posterity, and that way give the public a (second) chance of seeing this particular interpretation of UV Richard Armitage strutting his stuff. But I am a little baffled that they are not thinking of any streaming options – *in this current situation that the world is in*. Is it because the recording was not organised through the theatre but through the producers? Because other theatres have proven that streamed plays are financially viable. Just a couple of days ago I watched the long-postponed play Three Kings with Andrew Scott in the Old Vic. It was so worth waiting for (after Scott had to cancel the original dates due to some minor but lengthy surgeries), and even though streaming does not even come close to the look and feel of sitting in a theatre, it was still a live performance. And it added some extra value in the sense that a filmed/streamed performance allows the cameras to come up so much closer than you would ever be able to see in a theatre. So it has its reason for being. (And in this case, Andrew Scott was of course absolutely stunning in a 1 hour monologue. A very Irish play, if you ask me, not just because the character is Irish and the actor speaks with his native Irish accent, but because the play was interwoven with moral themes of regret, forgiveness, guilt and love that struck me as particularly Catholic-Irish. The play was, of course, written specifically for Scott by his ex-partner, English actor/playwright Stephen Beresford.) Anyway, I am waffling on. Suffice to say I look forward to watching the play once again. If anything, it will finally provide a level playing field because frankly, it is getting a bit old, having to see the same people tweet their triumphant SD stories and selfies over and over.

Before we get to the round-up, though, I would like to welcome back my first love.

Well, hell-ooooh, Keanu!!! Where have you been all this time? 

My first thought was – Keanu Reeves, ca. 25 years after this photo shoot:

I know. Keanu really was gorgeous. And had some nice flaws that made him look even better, like that massive scar from a ruptured spleen.  Who would’ve thought that such a long middle-parting would come back in fashion? RA really rocks it, and while the thick mop wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I have to say I like this particular style. It looks really turn-of-the-century Russian to me, too, don’t ask me why. Something wild, romantic and full of pathos. I am wondering, though, whether the shrubbery and the hair were temporarily dyed? Looks very dark to me (although the Lo-Fi filter on Instagram tends to work wonders, too, right, Richard? 😉) Anyway, no complaint whatsoever. Perfect combo of early celebrity crush with current. I actually think that the #romanticherohair *needs* the shrubbery because otherwise that look on stubble would mass-destroy ovaries and curb birthrates for decades to come.

But I digress again. Finally, the round-up:

  In case you wanted to know which scent RA has got on his dressing room table, astrovian has the answer

Astrovian is dominating the Richard Armitage tag again, so here is a post with some moving images from MZ

“Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” – um, if Guy asked me that, I’d probably have to confess my undying attraction to him. Gif set by riepu10

And once again, with some bright smile Adam Price, riepu10 again

The ultimate #romanticherohair gif set, compiled by mezzmerizedbyrichard. I can only say, watch at your own peril!

Interesting quote by Richard on his face, illustrated by mezzmerizedbyrichard

Missgraciemae with an audio book review that many of us would probably agree with

LOL, I must try that. Suggestion by buildarocketboys

You know those Getty Images of Richard that turned up last week and that we didn’t particularly like? Well, just in case I am linking here to richardarmitagefanpage who have got the images in larger format (than my mass screenshot) Warning – they don’t get any better just because of larger format… if anything, they get worse

I bet you would love to see Guy of Gisborne taking a bath. Right? Here’s your chance, thanks to mininottingham

And some What a Guy Wants by nfcomics

This cartoon of Thorin really caused some visions of Mr Darcy in me

Sorry, this is grossly outdated (March 2020), but I had to laugh out loud at it. Posted by vengealis. Gives new meaning to the term “King under the Mountain”

Lucky number 13. I’ll go back to staring at Keanu Armitage now.

Have a lovely weekend, all!

Sonja ❤

  2020 Armitage Weekly Round-up #35 I take it you have heard all the good news? UV is apparently in the can and will be shown in cinemas and on the BBC at an undisclosed point in the future.