#vice versa colour theories

[jgracie]

dating percy jackson headcanons

main masterlist | rules

percy jackson x gender neutral reader warnings mention of a scary quest in which percy almost dies

. . . or the one in which he pauses and says, “you’re my best friend”

Dating Percy is like dating your biggest fan, because he is. You are dating your biggest fan

It takes him a while to realise he likes you and that all the things he’d do for you aren’t just because you’re his friend, but once it finally clicks, it's all he can think about 

From that moment, he becomes the ultimate loverboy

scenario one: colour theory

“Percy, what are you doing?” Annabeth asked, watching as Percy frantically sifted through his many blue t-shirts. Acknowledging her presence, Percy breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled two of them out of his closet and held them up next to his face.

“Gods, Annabeth, I’m so glad you’re here! Now, I’m about to go see Y/N at the beach and I need you to tell me which looks better with my eyes: the teal or the aqua.”

(They are one hex letter apart)

It's very endearing and he doesn’t even try to hide it! But of course, you’re the only person who doesn’t notice, thinking he just really wants to be your friend. Percy's this nice and friendly towards everyone, after all :)

He follows you around everywhere trying to find out more about you so he can plan the perfect first date

You’re an Apollo kid who works in the infirmary? Percy’s first in line for Will’s first aid summer course. You harvest strawberries with the Demeter and Dionysus kids? Percy’s there before everyone else with three wicker baskets on each arm

Eventually, you do end up becoming really good friends because he’s just always there and really fun to talk to and super nice and good with kids and maybe he’s a little cute, so what? You’re allowed to have cute friends! 

You would’ve been teetering the thin line between friends and dating for ages if it wasn’t for Annabeth, who devises a plan to get you alone and somehow managed to get the whole camp in on it

scenario two: tell them or i will

That’s how you both ended up at the beach: you with your hair styled in a way that makes Percy so flustered even the fish start to notice, and Percy with a note in his jean pocket that read, “tell them or I will - A” 

Turning to you, the corners of Percy’s mouth couldn’t help but lift as he watched you admire the way the waves lapped over the shore. That moment would be ingrained in his memory forever, because it was the moment he fully understood he had to have you

His nerves betray him

When you ask, “what’d you wanna tell me?” Instead of saying some heartfelt confession that’d make you swoon, Percy states a simple fact: “You’re my best friend.”

You looked up at him, confused before you saw the look on Percy's face. You knew what it was - he was in love, and so were you.

Once you start dating, you are practically attached at the hip. People didn't think you and Percy could physically get any closer than you were before, but they were wrong. Wherever you go, so does Percy and vice versa

Dating Percy means truly getting the best of both worlds because not only is he your boyfriend, he is also your best friend and someone you can lean on when needed

Loyalty is his fatal flaw so expect a concerning amount of loyalty. He would find ways to justify you murdering a whole family if he had to

However, what comes with loyalty is protectiveness and jealousy. He doesn’t get that jealous because he knows that you two were written in the stars by Aphrodite herself (his words, not mine), but he still can’t help but get a little jealous when he sees you with some other guy

Just kiss him a little and maybe stay the night at Cabin 3 and never speak to that guy again... and he’ll be fine

He inherited motherly traits from Sally. Percy's always checking you for cuts and scrapes after capture the flag, making you a lunchbox before quests and then insisting he goes with you to make you more food when needed and definitely not because he’s worried you won’t come back alive!

He knows you can handle yourself and all but he can’t help it. Out of everyone at camp, Percy’s your number one guy when it comes to dangerous quests

One of his biggest fears that kind of kept him distancing himself from you when he was crushing on you was that he didn’t want you sucked into all the dangers he goes through on a daily basis. He’d rather watch you date someone ‘safe’ from afar than put you in harm’s way 24/7

You’d choose him over a literal God though, so he has no choice but to be stuck with you

scenario three: stuck forever by the glue (oh, and you)

After a really bad quest, one where he almost died, Percy sat you down at his cabin for a talk. Part of him didn’t want to tell you what happened, but he knew it’d be unfair to you if you were left in the dark

“Look, I understand if you don’t want to stay with me. If it weren’t for Grover’s quick thinking, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me, and it’s not right for you to be stuck with a guy who’s basically friends with death. You deserve someone more sta–”

You shut him up with a heartfelt kiss. Eventually letting go, you replied, “Percy, when I agreed to date you, I didn’t just agree to all the good things, I agreed to the uglier parts of your life too. Sure, I was really worried while you were gone, but that’s just part of being a demigod, and it's a price I’m willing to pay for all the amazing moments we have together, so don’t even think about me leaving you.”

He introduces you to Sally and Paul as soon as humanly possible. They already know a strange amount about you considering you guys never met, but that’s just because Percy would rant to them about his crush on you on a daily basis

He's so incredibly happy watching you get along with his family. Seeing all of his favourite people gathered in one room makes Percy very emotional (he once full on ugly cried while trying to deliver a speech before Christmas dinner)

He also loves to see you interact with Estelle! Percy is a huge fan of kids so he can’t help but stare as you play peekaboo with his younger half-sister

Percy introduces you to the ocean and everything about it. You liked it before, as it was beautiful and reminded you of camp, but Percy painted it in a whole new light

He’d constantly take you on trips under the sea, using his Poseidon kid powers to allow you to be able to see and breathe underwater like he does

This also means lots of making out underwater. After that one time you two got caught kissing by the Stolls and suffered major consequences, he hasn’t been able to risk it

(The only downside to this is that sea animals gossip and gossip travels fast between them. Lets just say it didn't take long for you to meet none other than Poseidon himself)

Overall, dating Percy is very fun and your relationship never ever gets boring

[piratefern]

Okay I know this ask was completely satire and im cackling at whatever the hell this is LMAO

But it also actually inspired me to finish my genderswap au concepts of my plaguemask au TADA!!!!

I thought if they were sapphics in a genderswap au then some things would change about their designs and perhaps aspects of the story :3 Also ignore the picnic basket, they aren’t canibals I realised it looked that way too late 😭

With Dyo, I looked into what his original name meant and I found stuff like “two sides” I think, but since I didn’t make that a core part of his character im giving the genderswap au a slight name change LMAO so I called her Dya, (pronounced Dia perchance)

I also shortened her hair as opposed to just making it longer, because that just felt a bit lazy and inaccurate, plus the short hair is silly >:3 Since they met at the theatre, I wanted to give Dya shorter hair so she could fit in to the male cast, and she likely would have hid her chest with something like bandages (obviously dont do that, its like 1601 this is happening) since back then women weren’t allowed to perform, so it speaks to her more rebellious nature :3

I based Hasel’s swap off of a plague nurse as opposed to a plague doctor and changed her name to Hazel (original is said Hassle in my head) and I know this takes place before the existence of plague nurses and plague doctors however I like the theory that plague doctors were based off of 049 rather than the other way around so ill be having that methinks

so in this sense her outfit radiates purity due to the colour and the more coveted clothing sense, however the dark aspects of her character that aren’t her clothes, such as her hair, indicate a hidden side beneath her politeness and court attitude, alluding to her monster form and dark past :3

Her form in general is pretty much the same as the original, the only difference really is her face shape being pointy as opposed to curved, and her little hair tuft I added at the top of her head

When she leave’s Dya at WW1, Dya’s hair starts to look similar to hers just like the original au and vice versa, Dya also would have started wearing a cloak similar to hers and a turtleneck sweater reflecting the undergarments she used to wear :3

After a while Hazel would have started to lose the garments but im not sure to what extent, a similar cloak level to original au Hasel probably with just a cloak with the hood down, or perhaps she rolls up her sleeves and sews the dress into pants? She might look like a principal though, so maybe she loses everything but the veil and sews it into a poncho yeah HELLS YEAH I like that one better, original au callback to Dyo’s ponch too, silly

Another thing to note is that if Hasel and Dyo are the only characters gender swapped in the gender swap au, then Hazel would have been in a sapphic relationship with her wife and would have adopted their daughter (however she would likely just call her her “partner” until she finds out Dya is queer too due to social constraints at the time as it would have been illegal for them to legally marry but I like to think they ignored that hehe)

So having said that it would eliminate a part from the original au where Hasel realises he’s queer, since in the genderswap au Hazel would have known all along given she already had a wife in the past, it would change some things about how the characters act, mainly Dya, I feel she would be more open to attempt to court Hazel given that she knows she’s queer which would speed up the slow burn of my original au LMAO

[stagefoureddiediaz]

We’ve been looking at this all wrong the entire time...

So my brain is a weird place that I don’t fully understand, but sometimes it connects dots and I figure something out that has been staring us in the face the entire time! Lets just say it explains so many things - right down to the very pointed use of tommy calling Buck Evan!

This all stemmed from me looking at colour theory and costuming for Buck and Eddie (and by extension Tommy) season 7 again, because I was going to try write the buddie costume metas for episodes 9 and 10 that I never managed to get done before we started season 8 I will hopefully get to those posts, but this post - while technically about Tommy and his costumes (yes me ant Tommy person writing a post on him I know!) it does also look at the costuming for Buck and to a lesser extent Eddie more widely across the season and what the colours used actually mean - getting some distance and some time on the season has been a blessing!

Im not going to go into it in detail, but, broadly speaking the show has given each character a signature colour - this doesn’t mean they wear it all of the time - but they do wear it a lot of the time and especially in key scenes - characters can have more than one key/ signature colour, and it can change and develop over time. We can ignore season 1 because it was a pilot season and very often shows won’t choose to establish a signature colour for a character (911 s1 is all over the place from a costuming perspective - because they had several designers working across the 10 episodes but since s2 we’ve had much more continuity with Alayna Bell-Price at the helm for most of it). So for example Athena’s signature colour is mostly black with white and khaki green also in the mix. She’s moved away from that subsequently - wearing less black and more white/creams but both colours are still staples of her wardrobe.

Eddie we all know mirrors Athena from a costuming perspective - his signature colours are also black and khaki green with some white/cream as well. The khaki green was much more dominant than the black to begin with - which played into his military past -  that had evened out on the black and khaki front whilst the cream had stayed fairly steady, but now we’re also starting to see a little bit more of it as well as some darker blues. this mirrors Athenas own journey t healing - the more she heals the less Khaki we see and the more white/cream - Eddie is starting to follow the same path from a costume perspective. 

Bucks signature colour has always been blue, but he also wears a fair amount of yellow and grey, so those are his three colours. He obviously wears a lot of other colours, especially white, but white has its own specific use in Bucks costumes that sits separately from his signature colours. 

We all know about yellow/ blue and green blue colour theory - I’ve gone on about it enough (especially yellow blue colour theory and its queer coding) and others such as @lover-of-mine have as well. Well both yellow/blue and green/blue continued to play out in season 7, I’m not going to go into them in too much detail - there are posts on my pinned post that cover that much better and I want to get to the good stuff (and I know you all do too!) 

We do need to remember that Buck and Eddie very very rarely wear blue and green in scenes together - if Eddie is in green Buck won’t be in blue, and vice versa - this is because of the ties to blue/green being Buck and Eddies break up colours - the colours they wear opposite their respective girlfriends when the relationships are ending. This is a little less set for Eddie - who actually wears white/cream much more when he’s ending relationships than blue or green - but the one time he has actively done the breaking up he was in green.

As I was starting to do a bit of work on the 7x9 and 7x10 metas, I ended up going back and looking over the Buck and Eddie costumes for the season as a whole, and how Tommy fit into all of that as well - as we’ve all been billing him as Eddie lite.

While I do still think there is an element of Tommy being Eddie lite, I don’t actually think that is what the show has been doing -that concept is a bit of a red herring. I’m sorry that this is likely to get a bit convoluted and wordy - but my brain is  still reeling and incoherent so bear with me - I hope it all makes sense.

Right this post is super long so the rest is going below the cut! I hope you enjoy!

Because I was looking for Eddie and Tommy parallels in the costuming for the season, I had been looking at the choice to put Eddie in red/black for his dinner date with Kim and Buck being in green for the scene at Bucks loft, and the fact that back in 7x04 Tommy had been dressed in the same colours - a red henley which was shot with black giving it a red/black colour way. I naturally started looking at the other Eddie - Tommy costume parallels - and there are plenty - lots of the khaki green we see Eddie in - playing into Tommys own military background.

These are Tommy’s scenes - where he wasn’t in uniform of some description (which is a good chunk of his scenes to be fair) 

7x04 

at the hangar - white tee, greenish stone coloured shirt and a tan jacket with stonewash jeans

at the court - light grey marl cut off hoodie and bright blue shorts

at Bucks loft - red/black short sleeve henley and stone wash jeans

7x05

at the restaurant -dark khaki green shirt (I would also like to point out the blue green colour theory here with the addition of tommy having a blue phone case - which is relevant later I promise!)

coffee meet up - light grey henley and navy blue hoodie with mid wash jeans

7x06

karaoke club - navy blue short sleeved henley

7x10

light grey marl tee and greenish denim shirt 

So what you can see from this is that besides the use of henley’s, the only time we get actually get direct reference to Eddies costuming is through the use of khaki green and his first outfit at the hangar. There is of course the direct parallel of the red/black colour way I spoke of before, but, beyond that if you look you’ll see that Tommys outfits actually parallel Bucks far far more. I would even argue the Henley’s are more similar to Buck than Eddie - because they are short sleeved and Eddies are invariably long sleeved.

Bucks colours are blue and grey - and so are Tommy’s - particularly in scenes that are 1-1 with Buck. What I’m trying to get at and will explain is that this has never ever been about Tommy being Eddie lite - this is all about Tommy being Buck - Buck’s subconscious if you will. (I know you all this I’m completely mad at this point - but stick with me!) I have a lot to say about all of this which will explain the why of it all and how we ended up here so we’re going to go through it Tommy costume by Tommy costume!

Lets start with the hangar scene - the most Eddie like Tommy looks throughout the entire season. this is very much intentional - this is about the red herring of it all, but it is also about Eddie (I’m not discrediting anything we’ve talked about regarding Tommy being Eddie lite etc - it is all relevant - but that’s what makes it such a good red herring!) and about Buck being an unreliable narrator. This is in part why we also still see Buck in his too short trousers and his white sneakers. This is his journey (the sneakers), but he’s still trapped in his old self at this moment in time - but aware that he doesn’t fit his skin anymore (as an aside I will be writing a post about Bucks trousers and their changing fit throughout the seasons at some point soon!)

Script wise the key lines are plentiful - the entire scene is full of double meaning. We get Buck stating that he is ‘happy where he’s at’ and Tommy’s response of ‘you’re thinking of changing things up’. viewed through the idea that Tommy is a version of Buck, this then plays out as an internal conflict - a battle about wanting what you already have - being happy with what you have, but also wanting to change things.

Eddie saying ‘you aren’t thinking of leaving us are you’ and Bucks response ‘I’m keeping my options fluid.’ Eddie needing reassurance that what they have isn’t going to change, while Bucks reply is about him not really being sure of himself - of who he is - keeping his options open because he’s figuring out if he wants to change - the line is said to and directed at Eddie so its about Buck keeping his options open about possibly changing their dynamic - becoming something more, even in the face of Eddie not wanting things to be different.  Tommy stating in this scene that Buck doesn’t need to leave the 118 to get certified to fly - that its something he could do for fun on his days off - becomes even more loaded through the internal monologue lens - Buck considering how he can stay at the 118 and have the joy, fun and benefits of ‘flying’ when he isn’t at work - that he could fly with Eddie (Eddie going flying with Tommy to do something fun and date like is a very literal visual metaphor for Bucks internal monologue - showing him what it could be like if he changed things up). There not being three tickets - only two is also important - its again a metaphor this time about how if Buck and Eddies relationship changes - it would only change for the two of them - it would become a relationship that doesn’t have room for another in it. When I say that’s about Chris not being involved it sounds really harsh, but the reality is Chris cannot be a a part of Buddie - he cannot be a part of something romantic. it isn’t saying Chris isn’t important or central to Buck and Eddie - simply that he cannot be a factor in a romantic relationship - that has to be just between Buck and Eddie alone - its kind of about Eddie (and also to a certain extent the same is true for Buck) not being able to hide behind Chris anymore when it comes to Buck.

Fundamentally its all tied back to his death in season 6 (we even get the being struck by lightening reference from Buck just to bring that aspect home) and subsequent resurrection and rebirth  (post linked on my pinned post if anyone wants to read it!). we have to keep at the front of our minds that Buck has died and that is still playing on his mind - its still influencing who he is and who he is becoming and it was all throughout season 7 - even if it wasn’t obvious or stated.

The basketball costume is actually the one that has always stood out for me - Its the most Buck outfit of all Tommys outfits. The bright blue shorts especially. 

So in that scene, which we know is supposed to read as being from Bucks view point, not only are we getting golden haloed super happy bouncy Eddie - Eddie the way Buck sees him -  but Buck is also projecting and seeing Tommy in the place he (Buck) has always existed in. It’s a visual representation of what Buck talked about with Maddie and Tommy replacing him in Eddies life.  Its unreliable narrator buck in visuals he’s seeing Eddie replacing him with Tommy - occupying the same places Buck has and more - from the calendar to the basketball court.

But that’s actually wonderful, because not only does it give us information on how Buck views himself (as expendable/replaceable) and how he thinks others view him - because if he thinks he’s similar to Tommy (which for a purely visual stand point he is - Lou looks more like Oliver than Ryan) but it also gives us information about the reality of how much Buck is actually intwined in Eddies (and Christophers) life - its telling us that Buck is in fact on Eddies calendar (and therefore fridge - fridge magnet theory for the win!) and how much space and conversation he occupies in the Diaz’s everyday life.

So he isn’t actually seeing Eddie in Tommy at all - he’s actually seeing the version of himself he doesn’t think he is but wants to be in Tommy. The version of himself that takes Eddie to vegas etc - that’s the Buck that Buck wants to be - the one openly flirting with Eddie and taking him on dates etc. That’s why the vegas fight is so seemingly ott (especially when you think about the fact Tommy and Eddie have known each other a week or so at most by this point) its the grand gesture Buck wishes he could be making.

All of this also makes Bucks ‘attack on Eddie’ more telling (it’s still the boy pulling the girl he likes pig tails in the playground concept) because Eddie is being receptive to all of these advances by Tommy - adding further weight to the Buck being jealous of and threatened by Tommy. 

Tommy is this version of Buck swooping in and doing all this stuff that Buck wants to be doing (subconsciously still at this point - willful ignorance be winning) but either didn’t know how to or didn’t know Eddie if would be receptive to. Remembering that this is all Bucks viewpoint of things its essentially Bucks brain showing him what dating Eddie would be like and Buck being Buck misunderstands what his brain is telling him (forever misunderstanding the assignment).

There is a second aspect to this and it ties into Tim’s comments about the hamster wheel Buck has a been stuck on and it being time he got off it - the hamster wheel is actually multifaceted and has more than one meaning. The most important is that the hamster wheel hasn’t ever been about his relationships or about the women he’s dating (or men now). The hamster wheel he’s stuck on is actually the fact that he’s built this strong relationship and family with Eddie and Chris - (you don’t find it son you make it) and its something safe and stable and predictable in his life. Getting off that hamster wheel is about being brave and moving that relationship - that family dynamic onto the next level - removing the platonic aspect of their family and making it a fully formed family for real - romantic love and all - so the ‘platonic’ family is the hamster wheel he actually needs to get off of. 

The other aspect of Tommy actually being Buck and the hamster wheel of it all is that hamster wheels are solitary pursuits - the implication is that Buck is the one standing in his own way - and coming back to the basketball game we see that played out in the moment where Buck tries to literally run through Tommy - only you can’t act out at yourself, and Tommy is a literal solid unmoving barrier and Buck won’t get past himself by just trying to bulldoze his way through.

This all then plays into the final Buck and Tommy scene of the episode - in bucks loft. I already spoke above about the red/black of it all, but now with the added concept of Tommy being A version of Buck things start to become more interesting. The red/black of it all is a warning (and the poker date red/black velvet suit and eddies red and black suit from s6 actually play into this as well!) - its dark romance - ‘forbidden’ dangerous romance or love. So for Eddie and his date with Kim that meaning is very self explanatory. The two season 6 suits are also fairly self explanatory - for Eddie again its the dangers of looking for romance that isn’t on your own terms and for Buck at the poker game its about the danger of falling in love with the person you are when you aren’t being truly yourself. Tommy being a version of Buck and this concept is a little more murky - essentially is about a similar thing to his poker suit - with a twist - its about the danger of seeing more value and loving a version of yourself that ‘used to exist’ as well as a version of yourself that you think will make you more attractive to others.

We do also need to Talk about Bucks costume here as well - the fact that it fits him almost perfectly - he’s in well fitted if slightly loose jeans and a navy shirt that isn’t tight with buttons not clinging on for dear life (to the same extent). The colouring is still on the dark side - so its not entirely positive - much in the same way that other scenes with buck in a dark navy shirt are moments where things go a bit askew for Buck (think the  taylor ‘I kinda love you for it’ scene from s5 as an example). The implication is that - before Tommy comes along Buck is at his most content with who he is - he’s fitting into his skin better than he has in a long while but it’s not perfect. This is key, firstly because of how the scene unfolds and secondly, because of how he is then costumed from here on out for the rest of the season.

I do also want to mention the yellow blue colour coding in this scene and that is mostly done through the lighting - Buck is in blue and the light behind him is always yellow - he is surrounded by yellow light. In contrast - Tommy is barely touched by the yellow light - not until Buck starts to figure things out - then we get him briefly touched by the yellow light - the rest of the time he is lit very cooly - which is in contrast to the warmth of the loft - and further plays into the idea of Tommy being a stand in for Evan - Evan who isn't loved and accepted in the same way Buck is - Evan who Buck needs to learn to love.

If we look at the script for this scene, it also fits in perfectly with the idea of Bucks internal monologue.  Tommy and Eddie being ‘buddie’s’ making perfect sense is a literal aside to the audience telling them that Buddie makes perfect sense - but it is more than that. This is where I have to bring up the ‘Evan’ of it all. I know a lot of us shudder with horror because of the fact Tommy only ever calls Buck ‘Evan’ and how both jarring and rude it is. How it shows how little Tommy knows Buck. We’ve always known it was being done intentionally. Well, if we view the use of Evan through the lens of Tommy being a version of Buck and things become clearer.  Because Tommy is basically the old version of Buck - the Buck who existed before he knew Eddie - before he joined the 118. And this is where the choice to bring back Tommy specifically for this role becomes a really smart one - because ‘Evan call me Buck Buckley’ was Tommys replacement at the 118. Tommy who has a problematic past that has never been dealt with on screen. This isn’t about the nature of the problematic past. This is the show playing on the idea of Buck’s software upgrades - before Buck 1.0 there was Evan, and using who Buck replaced at the 118 as a plot device to actually dig into Evan more so that Buck can deal with, accept and move on from Evan and become who Buck is meant to be.

Tommy saying he couldn’t replace Buck furthers this - because Buck cannot go back to being Evan - Evan can never replace Buck. invoking Christopher adds weight to this - because Chris never knew Evan - he’s only ever known Buck and Buck is ‘his Buck’ and irreplaceable. Tommy then stating his jealousy is about Evan feeling the lack of family that he grew up with - the recognition that as Buck he has made a family for himself - Bucks assertion that Tommy (Evan) was a part of it is valid - because without Evan Buck couldn’t build the family he has. The entirety of this conversation is about Buck choosing to ‘get to know’ his past (remember this is coming of the back of Buck crossing out the ‘LEY’ on his nameplate in s6 and his struggles with his parents acceptance in that season before the lightening strike), choosing to learn about Evan and embrace him as a part of Buck.  

Bucks assertion that he was ‘trying to get [Tommys] attention and it being exhausting’ is part of that as is the confusion Tommy expresses. The choice for Buck to use the word ‘exhausting’ - it’s Bucks subconscious trying to get his own attention - its his subconscious telling Buck that he’s exhausting himself by not listening to what his inner voice is saying. It’s of course a play on Buck being called exhausting by other people (and is perhaps why he doesn’t have the confidence to listen to that inner voice) and that also plays into the Evan of it all and how Buck views himself. Tommys confusion also plays into that - bucks own mind is confused - it was getting ready to ‘pursue’ Eddie but now we’re pivoting into what is essentially self love.

The continued bringing up of Eddie also makes sense with the contact of Tommy being alt Buck - because Eddie Eddie Eddie fills Bucks heart and mind - Both Evan and Buck recognise Eddies importance if not his full relevance in this moment. The resulting kiss then becomes less about Bucks bi awakening (I am not diminishing the importance of that in any way shape or form - its a vital aspect of Bucks journey) and more about Bucks decision to pursue loving himself - this ties into his statement ‘it wasn’t about me wanting to leave the 118 - it was about wanting to get to know you’ - its about Buck wanting to get to know himself - on the other side of his death and resurrection. It’s a continuation of his comments about Natalia ‘seeing him perhaps better than he sees himself’ - it’s about Buck starting to see himself better now he’s died and essentially been reborn and bout Buck now being in a place where he feels ready to confront that idea of being reborn and becoming someone new.

At the restaurant in 7x05 we have Tommy in an Eddie colour, but in a shirt that is much more Bucks style. There is also the green/blue colour play with Tommy stating Buck isn’t ready and Tommys ‘mismatched’ clothing bears that up - the play is on Bucks lingering confusion and uncertainty about what he wants - is it the Eddie side of things we’re pursuing the self love of Evan aspect we’re looking to explore? The entire scene is not just about Bucks first ‘date with a dude’ its also about Bucks fumbled attempts at self love - at not getting it right - its why Bucks outfit doesn’t fit him- why they’re now too big and baggy (I wrote about this in my costume meta for that episode - which like all the other costume posts can be found linked on my pinned post).  The innuendo about closets and Buck going into masculine bro mode is as much about his nervousness about being on a date with Tommy and being seen as it is about the fact that a man practicing self love is still taboo and so often met with derision - hiding that you are pursuing that is a kin to hiding queerness - at the start - until you get to a good place with it.

We side step into the Buck and Eddie loft scene briefly to look at Bucks confession to Eddie - I could write a whole thing on Eddies acceptance of Buck and its importance - but that is for a different post that isn’t already a million words long! what I want to mention in this scene is the why Buck can’t stop thinking about Tommy of it all - how it is essentially establishing the idea that Buck is starting to listen to himself.  He can’t stop thinking about Tommy because it isn’t Tommy he can’t stop thinking about it’s actually himself - Evan - in a learning to love himself and embrace who he is and was kind of way - all being done through a bi lens. it is essentially about Buck doing the thing he needs to do to be ready for a forever relationship with Eddie - which is love and accept himself - all of himself and acknowledging that to Eddie.

Buck switches back to better fitting clothes for the coffee date - and tommy is now dressed back in Buck colours and no trace of anything resembling Eddie in sight - making it clear that Buck has chosen to pursue himself. To get himself to the place he needs and wants to be first - the line about not knowing what it is he’s ready for but being ready for something is key - its a very self love line, but it also puts a very clear time frame on things - it makes it clear that Tommy is not endgame - because Bucks choosing self love and embracing and understanding ‘Evan’ isn’t his end game but a part of his bigger journey - a part of becoming who he needs to be to achieve what he actually wants - to get him to his endgame.

Then we have the Karaoke - brief scene(s). There isn’t really a huge amount in these scenes. But I do want to point out two things - the awkwardness of Buck and Tommys hug - and how that plays into the tentative nature of Bucks self love journey - and also Eddies behaviour towards Tommy - and the way it was very very clearly a lot cooler than we saw in 7x04.

We all jumped on the Petty Eddie train - and I agree there is an element of that. But - there is also the fact we are not seeing that scene through Bucks eyes - its through external eyes and we are therefore seeing the actual reality of Eddie and Tommys friendship - in that it isn’t this heightened date like - flirty new love type relationship - its simply two people who are loosely friends. Its remarkably normal and no threatening - only furthering the entire purpose of 7x04 being from Bucks viewpoint and Tommy being an alt Buck rather than an alt Eddie. It also therefore serves to further establish the Buddie of it all (but we all already knew that!). Tommy is still in Buck colours and the short sleeved henley is still something I would put more into the Buck costume camp than the Eddie one - especially in this season! 

The final Tommy scene and costume is the date at Bucks loft and the conversation about daddy kink. I still don’t like this scene (which has a lot more to do with execution and the script than the actual daddy kink of it all) but I am much more sanguine about it now that I understand what it is setting up.

Bear with me here I probably won’t make sense, but with the knowledge that Tommy is actually buck lite - a less good and developed version buck (Evan and in part the version of Buck that Buck himself thinks he is) the daddy kink scene actually becomes about setting up Buck addressing his past and his actual real daddy issues - because bucks past self sees his worth in those issues and without them it means both Evan and Buck have no worth. Buck confronting and dealing with them and choosing to forgive and move on means the end of Buck and Tommy because Tommy is no longer needed - he has served his purpose and Buck would be ready to start his future - Evan stays in the past and Buck completes his rebirth and closes his lightening strike arc.

Onto Bucks season 8 journey - Bringing Gerrard in to Bucks arc rather than the others who have far more connection to Gerrard now begins to make much more sense. Tommys past under Gerrard actually echoes Bucks past - in different ways and to vastly different degrees, but the parallel is there.  S1 Buck being a play boy and sleeping around and not treating women especially well (objectifying them etc) because of his own hang ups - is a pale echo of Tommy being closeted and racist sexist and homophobic under Gerrard. Like I said before - Buck is a pale imitation to Tommy here and that’s intentional (more in a sec) because once Tommy is under the wing of Bobby when he takes over the 118 we see him begin to grow and change. Buck follows the same pattern - Bobbys guidance pulls him away from his destructive behaviours and sets him onto the right path (Bobby is arguably the birther of Buck - Look I could write a whole thing off the back of my death and resurrection of Buck post about Bobbys role as God - the heavenly father - in Bucks life and how that is the overarching theme of Bobby and the show but I don’t have the time tbh!) to ‘redemption’.

Bucks behaviour is very intentionally not as bad as Tommys behaviour, because if Tommy is the plot device meant to essentially represent Bucks subconscious and how he views himself, then the reason we haven’t been shown Tommy atoning for any of his past sins and behaviours is because Buck hasn’t forgiven himself for his own. Buck is his own worst critic and will self flagellate to a ridiculous degree - and again with him being an unreliable narrator - he views his past indiscretions as being the equivalent of Tommys - therefore in his mind he hasn’t yet done enough to deserve absolution (Buck and Bobby being father and son in this as well!). 

Which brings me to s8 and the return of Gerrard and what Bucks arc is going to be (this is slightly incoherent and not fully formed - I’m still percolating!). Gerrard being central to Bucks arc - and Bucks push back is imo going to be about Buck taking a good look at himself and recognising/ facing up to and accepting his past. And that actually does come down to the daddy issues of it all. Because if Bobby is as good as Bucks dad - and allowed him (and his subconscious in the form of Tommy) to develop and grow - then Gerrard is Phillip Buckley (obviously a heightened more terrible version of reality in the same way Tommy is a much worse version of Buck) who parented Evan through apathy and taking the easy route - we saw Evan pushing back against Phillip in Buck Begins and being rewarded for it and thus establishing Bucks self destructive and self sacrificing pattern of behaviour. Acting out and getting hurt got him attention - so Buck acting out against Gerrard is this reduced and will ultimately have the same results just in an essentially more destructive way.  This is is a good thing - because this is about Buck recognising that he is worth and acting out etc is detrimental to him progressing as a person - its going to actively prevent his self love journey to flourish (and this is why in part I maintain my belief that Tommy is going to, if not encourage Bucks behaviour, then at least tell him to go along with Gerrard demands - for an easy life and also part of why I don’t think we’ll see a huge amount of Tommy - at least to begin with - until we get to a point where Buck is really motoring on the self love journey and getting to the point where he needs to do some pre break up face to face conversations that move him forward!).  It’s about forgiving and accepting his father for how Evan was raised - Bucks arc is going to be about forgiving himself and allowing himself to be happy, and he cannot do that if he doesn’t go through the Gerrard stuff - which is essentially a type of therapy. That’s also where I think the golf comes into it - it’s a metaphor for Buck building bridges, gaining understanding and accepting his past with his father - the metaphor of the driving range being the idea of standing side by side and performing the same thing, but landing in different places. There is also the concept of improving ones self and choosing to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

It also means the thing Tim said about Buck and Tommy becoming more comfortable with one another makes much more sense, and why he’d flip the question to talk about Eddie and about Eddie feeling a bit left out in the cold but not out in the cold! Buck is becoming more comfortable with himself and while he’s doing that and learning to be happy etc as I described above. Eddie is going to feel left out - because this is about Buck not Eddie - because it’s about Buck being ready for forever with Eddie - and Eddie ultimately cannot be a part of that journey - Buck has to do it for himself in the same way that Buck cannot help or be there while Eddie goes through his reckoning with the Catholic Church, and faiths place in his life and also dealing with the ghost of Shannon and his mother issues(because he has those and they are all set up to go in s8 - Chris being in Texas really sets that up nicely!

Bahaha Tim I’ve finally figured out your question answering methods and how they tell us all we need to know!! 

All this to say - Tommy is actually alt Buck - not Eddie lite (I mean he is still also that but it’s a bit of a red herring) he is a plot device for the biggest thing about Buck as a character and it all means Buddie here we come!

Thank you so so much if you have read this epic piece of waffle - I hope you enjoyed and I truly look forward to hearing all your thoughts on this and to you being as insane about it as I am!

Tagging some people who asked (and some who didn’t but might be interested anyway!)

@spotsandsocks @exhuastedpigeon @lover-of-mine @fruityfirehose @leothil

@bewitchedbewilderedbisexual @theladyyavilee @livingwherethesidewalkends @craigyxo

@izzysbeans @buddiediaz118 @inell @hotshotsxyz @winterskydragonx

[everythingisamazing]

I was thinking about the anomaly and why things associated with it look the way they do. Especially the scene inside Warwicks mind has a really organic, almost fleshy feel to it. So I crafted a little theory of how the arcane, and by proxy Viktor represents the organic/chaos and Jayce represents the artificial/order (and vice versa, cause they always mirror eachother anyways) This theme mostly shown visually throughout the show and I believe, one time hinted at when Viktor mentions "The sublime intersection between order and chaos." Let's start with THE visual metaphor for order in the show, which is, of course the gear. Why? Because a gear is by default something that does not occur in nature - it's man made, a symbol for tech, machines, and progress. It most prominently appears here:

So when Jinx shoots the cannon into the council chamber, she literally smashes the "order", represented by the gear of the council table, which is later repaired with gold, showing how things can be fixed, but are forever changed by said chaos. I also found it really interesting, that when Viktor and Jayce are floating, Jayce is the one that playfully pushes a gear through the magic - which, at this point, does not corrupt it, showing how the artificial and the organic are in harmony at that moment. Later, Viktor remembers Jayce by the gear, that has by then become corrupted, and when he gets shot, rolls out of his hand, symbolizing the loss of the last remaining piece of this fusion. On the other hand, the corruption of the anomaly has by this point literally become a piece of jayce - and his hammer, formerly artificial and orderly, has been changed into what resembles a butterfly (again, chaos & nature)

Which brings me to the visual representation in their physical appearance: Jayce starts out quite clean looking. His hair, his white coat, the almost geometric lines - everything is perfectly orderly. I also think his proficiency as a tool maker plays into associating him with artificiality and order - literally bending things into shape by force. The gear also appears behind him on the men of progress mug.

Viktor on the other hand is physically impacted by the (cruel) chaos of the natural world - his body is twisted, asymmetrical and also, dying. I think his whole arc in Season 1 has many moments showing how death is inseparable from the natural world - it is, as Singed points out, part of his subjects. I think the colour palette is also important - the hexcore is purple and black, representing death, while the anomaly is very colourful, representing life or maybe even chaos. Both are linked together by this web like structure, that ties in the organic aspect.

Arcane wouldn't be Arcane if things didn't get mixed up at some point. I think chaos, while not manifesting physically in the beginning, was always part of Jayces mind, while Viktor in his, always wished for order/control over his own body. Commune Viktor sort of exists in an in between state - all the imagery surrounding him is very organic - while his body has become hardened and artificial (by Jayces hand no less). The further he gets in the glorious evolution, the more machine like his body becomes - while Mage Viktor seems to have again embraced the organic, as can be seen by the landscapes that surround him.

Overall, I think it's really interesting how the show visually plays with those two elements and making a point of fusing them together many times, in a way that sometimes appears harmonious (aka the commune) but ultimately is doomed to fall apart.

I think even more than chaos and order, it also represents science and nature - how one tries to shape the other, but can ultimately only go so far. If Hextech is the attempt to fuse them, then real Magic transcends them - just like Viktor and Jayce visually fuse together in pieces throughout the show, but then finally transcend together. Updated: I just found another interesting example of this, in this shot. On the left you can see Skys notebook (containing plans to clean the Undercitys air using plants) - contrasted with the plans for hextech weapons and again, the man of progress mug on the right.

[offtorivendell]

Truth-Teller, Gwydion and Illyrian Runes... or are they actually Wyrdmarks?

This post was written for @azrielappreciationweek Day 7 - Free

Disclaimer: as always, this is just a theory that I think is fun and it makes no claim of being canon. It's definitely entering crack theory territory. This post also isn't Azriel specific - it's more about the dagger he has used for centuries and how it may tie into the Maasverse, or Prythian's plot, as a whole than Azriel himself. I know it's Azriel Appreciation Week, but this is his dagger, at least currently, so I feel like it's okay. It also rambles a bit, sorry.

Spoilers: there are big, huge, massive Maasverse spoilers ahead, so please beware.

Other posts about Azriel and/or Truth-Teller you might find relevant:

Why is Azriel so different? On Dusk, Hel and the Valg

What if Azriel - or his Shadows - are Made Beings?

Azriel could be Koschei’s heir; a crack theory

Shadows, siphons and fog; has something happened in Velaris?

Powerful Heirlooms and the Four Treasures of the Tuatha de Danann

Does Truth-Teller portend a future relationship between Azriel and Elain Archeron? Especially the first section, about Fragarach inspiring TT.

The possible significance of Azriel and Elain Archeron, the Embrace of Solas and Cthona, the paired blades Gwydion and Truth-Teller, and thin places; a theory - in particular the section about the two Made blades.

Love it or hate it - though personally, I love it for many reasons - we all know about the "Truth-Teller scene" in ACOWAR. While I do think it will end up being incredibly crucial and symbolic for Azriel and Elain Archeron as a couple (you may disagree of course), I also think there is a good chance that its importance to the overall plot was intentionally highlighted by its inclusion in the ACOTAR colouring book, which is what I hope to discuss here (plot, not romance, though as this is romantasy I do think the couple will be reflected in the plot/vice versa).

Here is the passage again, to refresh your memory:

Viviane stepped in, offering a Winter Court fashion that was far less scandalous: leather pants, but paired with a thigh-length blue surcoat, white fur trimming the collar. In the heat, it’d be miserable, but Elain was thankful enough that she didn’t complain when we again emerged from the covered wagon and found our companions waiting. She refused the knife Cassian handed her, though. Went white as death at the sight of it. Azriel, still limping, merely nudged aside Cassian and extended another option. “This is Truth-Teller,” he told her softly. “I won’t be using it today—so I want you to.” His wings had healed—though long, thin scars now raked down them. Still not strong enough, Madja had warned him, to fly today. The argument with Rhys this morning had been swift and brutal: Azriel insisted he could fly—fight with the legions, as they’d planned. Rhys refused. Cassian refused. Azriel threatened to slip into shadow and fight anyway. Rhys merely said that if he so much as tried, he’d chain Azriel to a tree. And Azriel … It was only when Mor had entered the tent and begged him—begged him with tears in her eyes—that he relented. Agreed to be eyes and ears and nothing else. And now, standing amongst the sighing meadow grasses in his Illyrian armor, all seven Siphons gleaming … Elain’s eyes widened at the obsidian-hilted blade in Azriel’s scarred hand. The runes on the dark scabbard. “It has never failed me once,” the shadowsinger said, the midday sun devoured by the dark blade. “Some people say it is magic and will always strike true.” He gently took her hand and pressed the hilt of the legendary blade into it. “It will serve you well.” “I—I don’t know how to use it—” “I’ll make sure you don’t have to,” I said, grass crunching as I stepped closer. Elain weighed my words … and slowly closed her fingers around the blade. Cassian gawked at Azriel, and I wondered how often Azriel had lent out that blade— Never, Rhys said from where he finished buckling on his own weapons against the side of the wagon. I have never once seen Azriel let another person touch that knife. Elain looked up at Azriel, their eyes meeting, his hand still lingering on the hilt of the blade. I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection … that knife. Paint that when we get home. Busybody. - ACOWAR, chapter 69

I have previously theorised that Truth-Teller may have pierced the veil of Prythian's world in order to let Elain shadow walk through the murky realm/void to save Nesta and Cassian at the end of ACOWAR - which of course parallels Azriel's threat to "slip into shadow and fight anyway" - but it also ties into the power that Truth-Teller and Gwydion/the Starsword can activate together: instead of opening a portal to somewhere, as a few of us had previously theorised about Truth-Teller alone, we learnt in HOFAS that the dagger and sword will open a portal to nowhere.

A black hole... or a Void?

@wingedblooms has previously suggested that the woman on the cover of HOFAS, who had runes - or were they really Wyrdmarks? - down her arms, may be Wyrd, and I agree. We would both especially love it if Wyrd was the secret language of the universe - the language spoken by shadow, wind and stone, or even what Singers used to cast spells - because how much would that make sense? It would also tie TOG in with a tidy bow, given the importance of Wyrd, Wyrdmarks, Wyrdkeys and Wyrdgates to Aelin's story.

But it could get wrapped up even tidier. I hope.

The markings on Truth-Teller's sheath

Take a much closer look at the "Illyrian runes" on Truth-Teller's scabbard, the runes that SJM made sure existed in print, in May 2017 (the colouring book was published the same day that ACOWAR came out, on the 2nd of May).

But back to the runes.

Do you see what I see?!

They are so similar to the runes on HOFAS' cover that it cannot be coincidental? I acknowledge that they're not identical, but they pass the vibe check.

A. I've previously discussed the possibility of the first rune on the HOFAS cover being derived from the Embrace of Solas and Cthona, and that it might have been indicating the two Made blades, Gwydion and Truth-Teller, coming together to create a portal to nowhere. @wingedblooms has also brilliantly suggested that it could be depicting the three mountains of the Night Court, or even the three sister peaks. But do you see the similarity with the top rune(s) on Truth-Teller's scabbard? The dot and two ^ type markings come together differently, but imo the components are still there.

B. This portion is the weakest link for sure, not least because there are more runes on the woman's arm than Truth-Teller's sheath - and I'm no artist so my opinion definitely comes with a huge heaping of salt (if anyone wants to weigh in then please do!) - but I can see similarities in the elements of certain runes. If I put my clown hat on then the spiral could be referring to a vortex/portal, and the marking half hidden by the O could be depicting a ship... you know, like those names after the Archeron sisters.

C. The two opposing triangles on Truth-Teller could be referencing the diamond on the woman's forearm and the crescent moon shape half hidden by Azriel's thumb could potentially be linked with the crescent moon shape above the diamond. Could the diamond on each of her forearms be suggesting siphons, like those worn by Azriel and Cassian? And is the crescent moon referring to the Mother, or Wyrd? SJM paralleled siphons and invoking stones were in ACOSF, was she hinting that the Illyrians and the priestesses all serve Wyrd in the end?

If I'm correct - a big "if" - the difference in runes, or Wyrdmarks, could be down to one of a few potential reasons (though the following list is not exhaustive):

It was always intentional so we wouldn't piece it together too easily.

The almost seven year gap between ACOWAR and the colouring book coming out in 2017, and HOFAS in 2024. Things change.

The in-universe time difference between Wyrd's birth/creation and Truth-Teller's forging. Did the wyrdmarks "evolve," so to speak?

The Wyrdmarks are not actually identical; perhaps they only look similar because they have similar or even complementary meanings?

I'm actually completely wrong and need to remove my clown makeup right now. 🤡

It would make sense that Truth-Teller's wyrdmarks were not identical to those we would see on Wyrd (assuming it is actually Her on HOFAS' cover). One of those things is a goddess, a force who created their entire universe, and the other is a dagger that can help open a portal to the Void and ferry the bearer through. Truth-Teller's scabbard might tell a story, it might hold a warning, or even contain a spell or the instructions for activating its magic etc; are they a spell to contain the power of the blade, as Bryce hinted at in HOFAS, or something else?

As if their sheaths had kept their power contained, the naked metal now throbbed against her palm, up her arms, tugging toward each other so violently it took all her strength to keep them apart. - HOFAS, chapter 48

It's just a pity that - unless I missed it - we weren't told about any markings on the Starsword, though that's assuming that its scabbard¹ was the original (or that Truth-Teller's is the original, of course - maybe it was given a new sheath, one with a very specific message, after Silene returned to Prythian). All we know is that both blades were Made by the Cauldron, with their obsidian² (wyrdstone?) hilts and black Iridium blades that can devour light (though Gwydion's blade can sparkle) and appear muted in darkness, I assume because there is no sunlight to charge their magic.

¹ @ladynightcourt3 has previously suggested that Truth-Teller may have been blessed by the God of Truth, who also blessed Damaris - the Sword of Truth, first wielded by Gavin Havilliard and currently claimed by Dorian Havilliard - which also has Wyrdmarks on its scabbard and was used in the Valg king Erawan's death. She's also reminded me that the Asterion blades in TOG also have markings, and are described as being made of a dark metal imbued with starlight... sounds familiar!

² @emmitaaa4 reminded me that wyrdstone can cause headaches in those who carry it - and who is known to rub his temples so much that Elain gifted him headache powder? Azriel.

I have spoken before about the possibility of the obsidian hilts either being possessed by some sort of Void based being, or that the material may help the Made blades attract a prince of Hel by design (here and here). Imagine if the Iridium³ blades come from a meteorite originating in Hel. Could the Made blades be secret wyrdkeys thanks to their hilts?

³ The element iridium's name is derived from "Iris," which means rainbow. Could this be where the meteorite that went into forging Gwydion and Truth-Teller have fallen... in the Rainbow of Velaris? What does this mean for Velaris' history, or the future of the Made blades? Will Feyre, the protector of the Rainbow, become involved?

What might this mean for Prythian?

Let's revisit the Truth-Teller scene, and pay close attention to Elain's clothes: Winter Court attire. Too warm, but Elain didn't complain... is that because she suspected she may have to brave the cold, harsh environment in the space between before the day was done? My next suggestion is unlikely, but could her face have turned crimson because she didn't know how to ask for warmer clothes without explaining that she'd Seen that she'd need them, especially if she knew that she was going to be sent away and she'd have to work from the shadows, as uaual? This could even tie in with my theory that the Archeron sisters will "sail" (for lack of a better term, sorry I know it's silly) the bat brothers by Singing them across the Void, possibly to Hel, as Nesta wanted insulated leathers in ACOSF. @elrieldreamer and I have previously discussed the fact that the serpents (dragons?) on HOFAS' cover look like they could be passing through Wyrdgates, which could also circle into the "sailing through the void" idea I mentioned in my post about The Weaver's Song, because Illyrian armour is known to feature scales. So isn't it handy that Emerie can source fleece-lined leathers!

“I was about to write to you before Bellius interrupted me. I asked about making leathers with fleece inside.” Emerie leaned her forearms on the immaculate counter. “It can be done, but it’s not cheap.” “Then it’s beyond my means, but thank you for finding out anyway.” “I could order it and let you pay it off as you’re able.” - ACOSF, chapter 25

Then there's the blade-like object that appears to be pointing down onto the eight-pointed star above the woman's head; could it be indicating Truth-Teller or Gwydion, or even Damaris - the Sword of Truth - from TOG?

The eight-pointed star obviously holds relevance to Nesta, given the tattoos that she and Cassian shared for much of ACOSF and Bryce's parting remarks in HOFAS, and we know the Starborn used it as their symbol, but why? Many don't realise that it may also have been the symbol on 'The Elain' ship that Papa Archeron commissioned among the three named for each of his daughters. Could it be a seafaring compass rose/rose of the winds, as Wingedblooms has previously discussed? Is it also related to Ishtar, another amazing theory shared by @wingedblooms' and @merymoonbeam? Or could it actually be the Chaos⁴ star, and truly be a symbol of Wyrd as Chaos, the Mother - or dam - to all?

⁴ I hope to post this theory soon.

I cannot move past the fact that, in addition to The Elain flying an eight-pointed star with nothing on either side (referencing the Void?), The Nesta was flying a dragon with two suns, and The Feyre was flying two crescent moons and diamonds. It has to mean something, right?

I still find it really interesting that one of the eyes of the woman on HOFAS' cover - which seems to be all about depicting gate travel and world walking - appears to be bleeding, when Gwyn remarked in ACOSF that reading Merrill's theories about multiple worlds made her eyes bleed.

Gwyn frowned. “Lots of things. Merrill’s brilliant. Horrible, but brilliant. When she first came here, she was obsessed with theories regarding the existence of different realms—different worlds. Living on top of each other without even knowing it. Whether there is merely one existence, our existence, or if it might be possible for worlds to overlap, occupying the same space but separated by time and a whole bunch of other things I can’t even begin to explain to you because I barely understand them myself.” Nesta’s brows rose. “Really?” “Some philosophers believe there are eleven worlds like that. And some believe there are as many as twenty-six, the last one being Time itself, which …” Gwyn’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Honestly, I looked at some of her early research and my eyes bled just reading her theorizing and formulas.” Nesta chuckled. “I can imagine. But she’s researching something else now?” “Yes, thank the Cauldron. She’s writing a comprehensive history of the Valkyries.” - ACOSF, chapter 13

Now, Gwyn was obviously being flippant while attempting to demonstrate the extent of Merrill's brilliance, but who do we know who has peered across one world so far, who may be set up as a worldwalker with a strong affinity to any thin places? Elain Archeron, the sister whose ship flew the eight pointed star sail for all to see. A Seer. Will the Seer's eyes bleed when she looks too far, or past wards of "mist and shadow" designed to keep her out?

“Firebird by day,” Rhys mused, “woman by night … So she’s held captive by this sorcerer-lord?” Elain shook her head. “I don’t know. I hear her—her screaming. With rage. Utter rage …” She shuddered. Mor leaned forward. “Do you know why the other queens cursed her—sold her to him?” Elain studied the table. “No. No—that is all mist and shadow.” Rhys blew out a breath. “Can you sense where she is?” “There is … a lake. Deep in—in the continent, I think. Hidden amongst mountains and ancient forests.” Elain’s throat bobbed. “He keeps them all at the lake.” “Other women like her?” “Yes—and no. Their feathers are white as snow. They glide across the water—while she rages through the skies above it.” - ACOWAR, chapter 33

Its over-large teeth clacked faintly. “Thrice now, we have met. Thrice now, you have hunted for me. This time, you sent the trembling fawn to find me. I did not expect to see those doe-eyes peering at me from across the world.” - ACOWAR, chapter 58

Alpha and omega. Ask and answer (and Azriel told Elain that Truth-Teller would "serve" - a synonym to "answer" - her well). Made (or Make) and Unmade (or Unmake). Matter and antimatter. Gwydion can kill the unkillable, while Truth-Teller slew an almost unstoppable king. They Sing⁵ to each other - is it a spell, or are they communicating in Wyrd, the secret language of the universe > Chaos > eight pointed star? - and to those who bear enough Starborn magic to hear it. Azriel learnt that he can charge a Starborn fae like Bryce in HOFAS, there are three Archeron sisters who share significant parallels with Bryce and Theia... and wouldn't you know it, Azriel has two brothers. I could always be wrong, but this all seems fated to me.

⁵ I know I'm not alone in speculating whether Elain heard Truth-Teller Singing to her like kin, as @wingedblooms, @emmitaaa4, @psychologynerd and @ladynightcourt3 all share this theory at least (I've also wondered if she can hear Azriel's siphons singing, but that's another theory). Is this why Elain's eyes widened when Azriel offered Truth-Teller? Did it Sing to her? Is she a Singer, as @silverlinedeyes, @wingedblooms and I suspect? Was this in addition to (or instead of) her Seeing herself using it to kill the king? If true, this could parallel the scene earlier on in HOFAS where Elain's eyes widened at "the shadowsinger's display" just before Azriel winnowed her to Windhaven; was Elain listening to his shadows and/or Truth-Teller such that she could activate the blades (or her own) hypothetical shadow walking magic later on?

Anyway, sorry for rambling on a fair bit there, if you made it this far thank you for reading my nonsense! I am so excited to learn what SJM has been planning, because just like Koschei I think she's been playing the long game and setting all of these pieces up for years, even if it was just in case.

[zelkams-art]

hello!! what are some general colouring tips that you'd like to share :3

Hii!!

Ahh gosh, let me think:

Something that I recommend doing is picking one main color to be the focus of the picture, and then working around it with picking other colors that compliment it, but don't compete with it. It simplifies the image and puts focus on what you want to show. For example, in all of those drawings I put red as the main point of the image to serve as the center of attention, while all the other colors are much darker and simpler

Use contrast between your objects vs your backgrounds with colors and with shading. If the objects are dark, the background should be bright and vice versa. It helps to show the silhouette better:

Color your lineart - it makes such a difference in making the drawing look finished:

For shading faces, it makes a big difference to use references to help yourself! I recommend this head lighting model!

If you need ideas to come up with color palettes, there are a lot of fun resources you can use for inspiration, such as cinema palettes or filmgrab!!

And yeah, that would be it hah

If you are more interested in specific color stuff, I would honestly recommend just going on youtube and watching some videos about color theory in art, since they are much better at explaining it than me 😅 For example this one or this one!

[tonydaddingham]

timeline rundown

tbh this is mainly just for my reference and i will probably come back to it at a later date; a lot of other much cleverer people are spotting some scenes that appear to be out of order, and before deep-diving into scrutinising each scene and frame, i decided to (for the first run, anyway - im sure others have gotten much further ahead, but i personally like to do my own research) just go with a surface-level, basic approach of looking for time indicators.

edit 02/01: additions!!!✨

couple of notes:

this is initially going with the assumption that no fuckery is going on, and only highlights where things appear to be consistent or inconsistent

on the clockhands, and which way round to read them, this caused me no end of headache. for example, reading the ornate hand as the hour makes ep6 sensical, but then makes ep1 gibberish (and vice versa). so, im doing both! and colour coding them!

blue: ornate hand is the hour, other hand is the minute

orange: ornate hand is the minute, other hand is the hour

green: a timestamp that isn't shown by the clock, or has been surmised/hypothesised.

you can make your own conclusion as to which reads make the most sense, but i'll be adding commentary anyway!!!✨

episode 1:

aziraphale gets maggie's letter: the only thing we know is that the bookshop is closed which, given aziraphale's stunning opening hours policy, doesn't mean a whole lot but for the most part, he seems on average to open the shop between 9.30-10am, and close at 3.30pm

shostakovich: aziraphale gets the records and heads off to listen to them, saying that he will be doing so for the next 21 minutes. i know there have been theories out there stemming from mismatched serial number on the record - but for my money, the explanation is a bit more watsonian than that; that aziraphale has a certain amount of free time to chill out to some music before something else happens (ie., to me, before crowley arrives to the shop). therefore, i would say that it logically follows that the previous scene, and this one, is late afternoon after the shop closes.

crowley in st james' park: as the camera sweeps past buckingham palace, you can hear bell chimes in the background, likely posed as coming from big ben. it starts with the cambridge chimes melody, falls silent, and then rings the number of tolls for the hour. when the agent joins crowley on the bench, i can hear a count of five tolls, for 5pm. example of the 5pm toll here.

gabriel/jim arrives: when aziraphale pauses the record, it appears to be 4.20pm.

when jim is handed the hot chocolate, the main bookshop clock reads as 5.20pm, or 4.25pm. seems odd that there would be such a gap for the former, (albeit plausible given that aziraphale gets jim settled and fitted with a blanket etc.), but the latter is more likely.

- capture of the two preceding timestamps

shax and crowley again: crowley's phone reads as 10.35am which, needless to say, does not fit in the above and below timeline at all.

jim and aziraphale conversation continues: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.20pm, or 4.30pm. again, given that aziraphale immediately looks in the box after retrieving it from outside, makes the latter more likely. it also makes sense taking into account the following hypothesised timestamps.

aziraphale calls crowley: not time-stamped, but crowley notes that he is 'two minutes' away when aziraphale calls. jim doesn't appear to have moved, so presumably the call is made soon after the last scene, and when they are both in the café, it still seems to be fully open and running. if we accept that the start of ep1 is most likely around 4pm, and the aziraphale/jim conversation wraps up around 4.30pm-ish, this would make sense - that crowley arrives to the café around 4.40pm. they then obviously leave, and it cuts to:

maggie gives nina the record: same as the above; maggie remarks that she wants a little something "for the end of the day", and nina says she has to finish closing up. nina has cleared away the dishes from the boys' table, the café is has just emptied, and nina's colleague is getting ready to leave. if we treat this scene as concurrent with the "ah! gabriel!" scene, probably around 4.45pm.

crowley lightning strike: maggie is chucking away her tea bag, and nina is upending chairs. if we say that the "ah! gabriel!" and "so did i!" scenes together take maybe 5-10 minutes in-universe, could hazard that the lightning strike is around 4.50pm - 4.55pm.

interlude, where we then return to crowley getting back to his bentley, and it's nighttime. then gets abducted by beelzebub, before squealing off at 110mph+ back to the bookshop. there isn't a timestamp until:

from @katalina27ua (thank you!), crowley restores power: nina's phone reads as 9:02. this would suggest the morning, but i would suggest that given phones can be set to either the 12- or 24-hour clock, and coupled with darkness and emptiness outside, it's 9:02pm.

the dance: the main bookshop clock reads 1.45am, or 9.05pm.

episode 2:

"what comes after 'K'?": when aziraphale gets startled by jim, the main bookshop clock reads as around 6.53am, or 10.35am.

archangels arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as 09.55am, or 11.45am.

aziraphale starts playing the record: as has been pointed out by @canarybell, this scene is so clearly cut in half from the muriel-arrival scene* in ep3. possibly for timing issues, but still out of sequence of the above; im very tentatively putting the time of the main bookshop clock as somewhere around 11.40am or 8am... only the former could work in the ep2 timeline, but again, it is reasonably certain that this is cut from the beginning of ep3 where, in the context of that scene, it is most likely 8am*, and this scene's place in ep2 is just a continuity issue/post-filming to make up timings.

dirty donkey: no time-stamp, but going on face value of how packed the pub is, seems to be at least mid-late afternoon, or post-lunch weekend. im erring towards the former - that people have come in post-work, and it's somewhere around 3.30pm onwards.

jim remembers: the above makes sense with this scene in context, as the main bookshop clock reads 5.20pm or 4.28pm.

post-job flashback: when we return to aziraphale in modern day, and he calls for crowley, the main bookshop clock reads as 6.30pm.

crowley/nina conversation: the record store is still be open in this scene, which would be odd for 6.30pm onwards, albeit not impossible. the café is definitely closed (it's empty and you can see chairs on tables), and nina is only just leaving/finishing up the close. in which case, it makes sense that aziraphale dozed off for a couple of hours, crowley to have wandered off, and nina to have closed up (if her café closing time is, say, 6pm). so, im going with this being around 6.30pm also.

episode 3:

note: i miss out a fair few scenes in this episode and ep4, because a lot is so flimsy in the speculation. with scenes in the bookshop, we can help gauge time with the shops/crowds around it etc, but in ep3 - eg. when aziraphale is in the bentley - i don't think i have enough surrounding data to make a reliable estimate on when it is... so essentially, im just going on what timestamps we do have.

returning to *the muriel arrival scene from ep2: if we accept that this is meant to be joined with the ep2 scene, the main bookshop clock reads as, most likely, 8am (but reminder: could also be 11.40am) when he sits down to start going through the articles and drawn gabriel, which seems to take some time (given the next timestamp):

however, when muriel turns up at the door, and aziraphale pauses the record, the clock reads as what i think is 7.50am or 9.35am (quality is such that i can't quite tell which hand is which, but i think it's this way round). i think, however, given the continuation of the scene, the latter is the most likely:

cupperty: when aziraphale enters the main room with the teacups, the main bookshop clocks reads as 9.50am.

crowley enters: clock still reading as 9.50am.

- capture of all three preceding timestamps

a hefty jump forward to the gravity conversation: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.17pm, or 3.30pm.

another jump forward, when aziraphale gets to the graveyard, and borrows the phone: clock on the phone reads as 5.30pm.

crowley picks up the call: the main bookshop clock shows as around 5.25pm - 5.28pm - so a couple of minutes' difference, but still fairly reliable.

episode 4:

frankly this episode is anyone's guess, given that there's only two main scenes in modern day. but to start, aziraphale is obviously driving back during the night, so possibly late evening/very early morning. he says that he is late, and so presumably he was meant to get back to london before nightfall/at least, before its very late in the evening.

aziraphale parks up: nina's phone in the café reads as 6.47am. this is supported by the background crashing sounds; with lots of restaurants around, likely bin lorries emptying the bottlebanks/bins.

episode 5:

the opening, when aziraphale leaves to go invite the other shopkeepers, shows that the bookshop is closed but the café and marguerite's is open; the former doesn't really mean jack shit, but i reckon marguerite's is likely to be a lunch/dinner joint. so, with that in mind, likely to be sometime in the afternoon.

crowley has his 'oh' moment, and whistles aziraphale over: we obviously don't know how long crowley has been sat there, but long enough that the patrons have swapped over - so let's say maybe an hour, and again still likely afternoon.

crowley then leaves to go confront gabriel, and aziraphale presumably follows up behind him shortly after. when crowley returns downstairs, and aziraphale is sprucing up the shop: quality is once again dogshite so i can't be sure which way round the hands are, but fairly certain the main bookshop clock reads as 12.30pm or 6pm. the latter seems the most likely, given the following scenes/dialogue:

aziraphale sends out crowley to find nina and maggie, and make sure "they are on their way" - it indicates that the party, set to start at 6.30pm, is soon. rightly enough, crowley pops round to the record store and it's closed, but maggie is inside - and nina has closed up the café and set to leave also.

mrs sandwich and then mr brown arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as around 6.20pm - 6.30pm, but we then don't get a clear shot of the clock for the rest of the episode. we know it suddenly gets really dark as soon as nina flies into the bookshop, but given the demon raid going on outside it's not really a reliable indicator of time.

so up until now, ive been pretty certain that the orange timestamps are the more correct, as they seem to flow the most with the general in-universe happenings of the story, and correlate most with the external green timestamps of the eps. however, ep6 goes very screwy in this respect, and it seems that the blue timestamps suddenly become the more accurate.

episode 6:

demons enter, attack, and the bookcase falls/maggie and nina hold them off with fire extinguishers: the main bookshop clock reads as 2.30am or 6.12am.

crowley comes back from heaven, and the demons arrive: the main bookshop clock reads as 6.02am or 12.30am/pm.

just before the gabriel/beelzebub flashbacks: the clock still reads as just gone past 6am or 12.30am/pm.

gabriel returns: the main bookshop clock, over maggie's shoulder, is out of focus so i can't quite see which way round the hands are, but i think reads as either 7am or 8am, or 11.37am, just before they're ushered out by crowley. either one of the two blue timestamps seems the most likely.

crowley drops off nina and maggie: nina remarks that she should have been open "half an hour ago", which if she normally turns up to open up the shop anywhere between 6.30am - 7am (as per her phone from the end of ep4 - 6.47am), makes 8am more likely - that she turns up at around 6.45am, ready to open at 7.30am.

angels and demons arguing: the main bookshop clock reads, just behind dagon's head, as approximately 08.25am or 4.40am/pm.

michael threatens aziraphale, and metatron arrives: the main bookshop clocks reads as 8am (9am?) or 12.43pm.

"extremely alcoholic breakfast at the ritz": reliably informs, for the avoidance of any doubt, that this scene is in the morning. indeed, when crowley gets out of the armchair, the clock shows again that its around 09.02am, or 12.45pm.

crowley tidies up the bookshop: the main bookshop clocks reads as 09.23am, or 4.47am/pm.

"id better start talking": the main bookshop clock reads as 09.25am or 5.45am/pm. it remains this time for the whole first half of the feral domestic, right up until the kiss.

crowley leaves, and metatron returns: the main bookshop clock now reads as approximately 09.40am or 8.47am. we are shown the scene in pretty close, tight-knit order, with no conceivable gaps in the scene where 20 minutes could have gone missing.

aziraphale leaves the bookshop: the clock remains at 09.40am or 08.47am

again from @katalina27ua! crowley at the bentley: the time on his watch reads as, at least (from what i can tell at the quality i have), within the ninth hour. however, the linked promo shot shows clearer - if we accept this to be taken directly from live filming etc - that the clockface reads ~09:15am. edit 03/01: however, there is a different promo photo where it appears that the minute hand is pointing just between the 4-5, reading at 09:25am (i have hit the photo limit but will add to the rb!)

so. couple of things to talk about here.

for the most part between eps 1-5, the clock has been pretty consistent with not only keeping track of time as scenes have developed etc., but also matching up with other instances of where a timestamp is given to us outside of the bookshop. with that in mind, it is highly likely that the clock is a reliable source of marking the in-narrative time of the story. this, for me, is evident with the orange timestamps - where the ornate hand is the minute hand, and other marks minutes.

however, when we hit ep6, it goes to shit. the orange timestamps (providing that ive tracked this all correctly - but error on my part is a very high possibility, i couldn't be bothered to go get pen and paper) suddenly go screwy, and it's the blue ones that make more sense.

we'll revisit that second point in a minute, but returning to the first point - this tells me a crucial thing (imo). first, that the clock can be accepted as the constant in the equation upon which to compare the variables. therefore, for example, crowley's bell tolls in st james' park, and his phone clock, are immediately apparent as 'out of sequence'. the same goes for the part in ep2 where aziraphale starts drawing gabriel - this of course could just be down to a non/extra-diegetic we-need-to-cut-ep3-but-plump-out-ep2 reason (and i think that's probably the case), but crowley's phone is so purposefully and blatantly (and arguably needlessly - could have just answered straightaway and achieved the same result) displayed with the 'wrong' time, that it doesn't feel accidental.

so if the timeline more likely follows the orange, why does it go completely bonkers in ep6, and instead start to follow the blue? god knows, i really don't have much of an answer beyond the "freaky-deaky time shit is going on", and maybe "the demon incursion/crowley going to heaven/the angel and demon stand-off/unreliable narratorship all round might be something to do with it." but to my mind, it is the blue timeline that suddenly makes narrative sense - it's likely morning, crowley supports this with "breakfast at the ritz", etc.

similarly, what is interesting to note is that despite neil's answer that the 20-minute skip during the kiss was a continuity error (and i will say, full disclaimer - perfectly prepared to still accept this as the truth), the crew/team seem to have been fairly hot on keeping the clock otherwise within continuity for the whole show. for a scene of this magnitude, where they know it's going to be emotionally upheaving for fans, leaving them gasping for an Explanation for how it all went down, and therefore scrutinise it for every little detail? sorry, im personally not buying that it wasn't deliberate... will probably end up eating my words, but there we are.

my brain has melted out of my ears trying to wrap my head around this, but i'll probably come back to it at some point with, no doubt, some corrections - and some further thoughts✨

[quitealotofsodapop]

Been watching videos by Unnatural History Channel on the biology of Monster Hunter creatures and I want to share a theory about the Rathian and Rathalos variants/deviants since I first started playing in MH4U;

The Rath variants are actually examples of Intersex/Gynandromorphic animals - a where a member of a sexually dimorphic species presents with one or more traits of the sexes. This is a trait most assiociated with creatures with distinct sexual dimorphism like butterflies, but has been seen in reptilian and bird lineages too. It's not a far reach for reptiles like the Raths to also display these traits.

Most often it a side-effect of Chimerism - where two fertilized eggs fuse into one, resulting in an individual who presents two DNA sets. If the eggs are carrying different sex chromosomes it leads to the individual being born/hatched intersex. Most often this is presented as a mutation called; Bilateral Gynandromorphism where the individual's traits are "split" down the middle.

In the case of the Raths; Male Rathalos have red scales and smaller bodies. Whilst, Female Rathian have olive-green scales and are larger.

It's not a far reach for sexually dimorphic reptiles like the Raths to also display intersex traits. The lore of Monster Hunter specifically describes Pink/Azure variants as genetic mutations. The different coloured variants also aren't very accepted by their more common counterparts - making it likely that there is a deeper difference than colouration.

Pink Rathian could very well be an intersex female whose body is producing the red pigmentation of a male Rathalos. Pink Rathian is more agile than it's usual Green counterpart because it lacks the size dimorphism of the female. She could also be more aggressive due to having the territorial nesting behaviour of Rathalos.

The vice versa being; Azure Rathalos is an intersex male with insufficient testosterone to produce the red pigment. He could be more aggressive than Red Rathalos due to being seen as same-sex competition by Rathian rather than a potential mating partner.

The regular Raths are violent towards them because they see them as same-sex competition rather than potential mating partners.

On the flipside;

The Silver and Gold variants however, could be individuals who've undergone a full dimorphic sex change - not unlike a Lioness who grows a mane and takes on the role of a male lion in a pride, or a male Clownfish who changes it's sex to become the dominant egg-laying female. The difference in scale-colours could be caused by sudden hormonal shifts in the body eliminating previous red/green producing pigment cells - leading to xanthochromism/leucism in the individual.

Basically they're transgender Raths.

They can only breed with each other simply because their bodies do not match the dimorphism of more common Raths. Though I can imagine there is at least one regular/variant Rath couple out there who fell in love, and don''t care a single bit that they don't seem to lay eggs together - instead adopting eggs left orphaned by hunters.

[loganslowdown4]

Did you guys see the Yours music video yet??

well I got a little emotional to say the least lol 🥲🥲🥲 I adored it

I actually was thinking about it today and realized something… so here is my theory on colours used in the video—

(please note this is just my interpretation and you can decide for yourself the meanings within the video!)

💚🤍💙

Second thing I wanted to bring up was the CINEMATIC PARALLELS 😍😍😍

Almost everything you see c!Thomas do in this is mirrored by c!Terrence or vice versa. Showing they both have the same mindset without knowing the other feels the same way. 😭

💙🤍💚

Oh and lastly I just wanted to point out Calypso gave this dress to this dancer and it was the same dress from 13 Going On 30 which made me so happy lolol

💙🤍💚

(Also the pinky touch KILLED ME DEAD 😭😭😭)👆👆👆

What did you think of the video/song?

[ikykwklk-ash]

"How did you meet?"

Pairing: Kim Seungmin x fem!reader

W/c: 1180

Synopsis: A normal history and philosophy lesson with Professor Kim Seungmin and the topic "do opposites attract?" and the story of how y/n and seungmin met.

A/N: Hope you like it!! ♡

<<Professor I still do not understand why opposites attract! It does not make sense! We call them opposites, but they could also be equal in theory! >>

It was the twentieth time the poor professor had heard that question. Of course, if we talk about chemistry and physics, it is all different...but in love things are more complicated.

That was how that working day had started, a simple statement from the professor and millions of objections from his pupils.

<<Professor, tell us know what you think! We pupils are always talking, and you keep quiet as if you were in detention.>> One of the boys in the class had spoken only to say that sentence.

Seungmin looked up at him, adjusting his glasses that had almost fallen to the tip of his nose.

<<In my opinion: opposites attract.>> he replied simply, nothing more, nothing less.

<<Come on, teacher, which is not fair! Give us more motivation.>> This time one of the girls said.

What was supposed to be one hour of History and one hour of Philosophy had turned into two hours of debate without even meaning to.

<<I think: it is true that opposites attract, we can say that from many points of view, can't we? You did it in science. The north pole of one magnet attracts the south pole of another and vice versa. We could summarise this in the practicalities of life as 'despite being different from you it attracts you' right? Do you agree? >>

The class had his undivided attention.

<<But if we apply this idea to life, it is not so because there are people who like people of the same sex and people who like people of a different sex.>>

<<Rightful observation, but surely the concept of 'opposite' should not be attributed to the physical but to character. However similar two people may be physically; they will never be equal in character. Consequently, opposites, understood in character, attract.>>

Of course, it was easy for him to attract attention with those words; teaching philosophy had served more than just teaching the subject.

<<Are any of you here engaged?> a third of the class raised their hands.

<<And you professor? He never told us anything about you.>> Cleverly someone took advantage of the moment to ask that question, which elicited a laugh from the professor.

<<I am engaged, but that is all you need to know.>> The pupils, obviously curious as they were, started asking a thousand questions.

<<Oh, come on professor, at least tell us if you are older than that!>> and the professor denied it.

<<Could you tell us whether your hair is curly or straight? And the colour? Does she wear glasses?>> They were flooding him with questions it was difficult to please everyone, Seungmin knew that in their own way they were building up a sketch of his girlfriend to see if she was someone from the school or from outside.

<<Hm let us see, dark curly hair, wears glasses yes, dark eyes, bigger than me by a little but I am taller. She is from Busan while I am from Seoul...>> and so on.

Paradoxically, he had just revealed that they were opposites.

<<And what does her girlfriend do? >> Someone asked in the middle of the crowd of guys who were no longer even sitting in their seats.

<<She is currently working in a bar to pay for his last year of university.>> They looked at him curiously.

<<But if she was older, she should have finished university like you! Prof do not make fun of us.>> He laughed with gusto at that sentence.

<<I graduated earlier than expected and the principal at once provided me with a job here at the school. What, you are not happy to have a young prof? >> he pretended to be offended.

<<Of course we did, but once in a while he could dress in a way that he didn't look like the usual forty-year-old father with three children prof.>> he laughed, maybe he did dress that way, but he liked it, and so did his partner, so he would continue to dress that way.

<<Prof tell us how you and your boyfriend met, come on! >>

He began to tell the long story.

Our two protagonists have known each other for a lot of years, by pure chance they met in the third year of high school following an educational trip to Seoul for the one in Busan and a simple field trip for the one in Seoul.

The teachers from both schools knew each other they had organised that 'field trip' together and so they spent the entire day together.

From small and quick glances, they went on to sit next to each other during lunch, talking and talking to no end, until they exchanged numbers. The two best friends of the little boy with the discoloured fringes soon found out about this and began to make plans to try and get them together. Somehow, they even succeeded.

<<Wait, so you have known each other since you were 16, and if he is 26 now...oh my gosh you have been together for 10 years? Congratulations teacher, I did not expect that to be honest! >> The last few minutes passed quickly amidst the chatter of the students until the bell rang and everyone started getting ready to change classes.

<<For tomorrow I want to bring in a little essay on what you think of the phrase "opposites attract" and I want some good reasons.>>

<<Of course, though, a boy from Seoul and one from Busan who are now in Japan... that is a beautiful story. I wish I had one like theirs.>> There were only two girls left in the class and without knowing it, they made Seungmin smile as he continued to correct the previous week's tests.

With his school day over, he could finally go to his favourite café to relax and spend time with the companion he had fallen in love with ten years earlier.

<<In what sense do your pupils know me?>> Y/n asked as he put the usual things, he always took in front of him: peppermint tea and handmade almond biscuits. <<In the sense that they practically interrogated me about you, honey. They are kids are more curious than Scooby-Doo was.>> he replied, drinking the tea, and making the other laugh.

<<You have biscuit crumbs on your chin love. Also... I understand you are the students' favourite. Where did the subject of us being engaged come from? >>

After wiping himself with a handkerchief he replied: <<From a simple sentence. "Opposites attract". I had intended to lecture but they didn't, so some sort of debate ensued and from there the topic "prof but are you engaged?">>

<<And I guess you did not hesitate to tell the whole story to lend credence to your thesis that opposites do indeed attract. Right? >> the boy sitting at the table smiled, also making the waiter smile, who kissed him lightly shortly afterwards.

[peachjagiya]

Why do taekook share phone?

I don't think it's completely confirmed they do but it does look like it sometimes. I do tend to think the gunmetal grey colour can reflect light to look lighter and vice versa but some of the close ups look convincingly different.

If Tae is holding a different colour phone at various times, the only theory I have is that they're together at the times those pictures are taken and just using each others phone. I do that sometimes with Mrs Peach. Like film something for them then take a stupid selfie or whatever.

I'm intrigued to know which of them had the photo strip from Golden Party in their case though 😂

[heresthestorymorningglory]

Enough

Summary: We're tired of running.

A/N: Listen y'all this NSFW 18+ should be par for the course at this point. So like���.just don’t okay?

As always, the inspo is thanks to the Goosecord and my beautiful partner in crime @ken-dom who continues to inspire the Gosling drabbles daily.

Bless you my new found chosen sister for putting up with my antics! (Yes I copy pasted, yes it’s still valid don’t come for me)

This is a continuation of what I’ve affectionately titled the Nurse Series, read previous parts  here.

This particular part comes inspired by one of my favourite movies. "Enough" If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend but read a summary first. It can be triggering for some <3

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate <3

Enjoy my loves! <3

You woke with a start, your heart slamming against your ribcage, covered in a cold sweat. You nearly jumped out of your skin when you felt a hand on your shoulder; relaxing only after you realized it was Six and you were home in bed. 

“Hey, hey” he whispered, his voice thick with sleep as he pulled you against him “It was just a nightmare, you’re safe” 

You wrapped yourself around his overheated frame, as he laid back down, pulling you against him

“But it wasn’t” you spoke softly, staring into the dark. “It was real, it happened” 

“Shhh” he soothed, pulling you tighter against him as his hand rubbed your arm gently. 

You just sighed, draping an arm across his middle as you watched the moon make shadows on the wall.

The room was quiet, the steady thump of Six’s heart in his chest calmed you considerably, but every time you closed your eyes you saw Lloyd’s face, his sick maniacal laugh echoing in your ears, the sickening crunch of your bones giving way under his hand. 

The not so empty threats of your impending death at that hand; you squeezed around Court’s middle a little harder, recalling one threat in particular.

He would come; Lloyd had said, for you, of course he would; you both knew he would. He wouldn’t even get the chance to save you Lloyd had said, his breath hot and putrid against your neck as he spoke. 

He wouldn’t get the chance because as soon as his boot crossed the threshold Lloyd threatened to shoot you point blank. 

Court had said it had been a scare tactic, that he had never actually planned to shoot you, just wanted to get in your head.

You had a different theory, you had passed out almost immediately. Lloyd liked to play with his food, it wasn’t any fun if you were already dead. 

It had been almost six weeks since Court had finally let you come home, and almost nightly you were plagued with a vivid recount of Lloyd’s torture, or some twisted version of events where Lloyd had gotten the upper hand on Court and murdered him in various colourful ways while you were forced to helplessly sit and watch. 

You had spent hours in the backyard every day with Court learning technique after technique; running drill after drill until you were too exhausted to stand. 

You were convinced you could take apart a gun and put it back together again with one arm tied behind your back and blindfolded; but that didn’t stop Court from sitting you down at the kitchen table every day with the gun either assembled or vice versa making you complete the reverse while he watched you with an intensity that came from a place of the fiercest protection. 

***

You stood facing Court in the backyard; your eyes were closed, focusing on the sound of his boots swishing in the grass as he circled around you, your hands held up in front of you; ready.

“Relax,” he spoke evenly as you sensed him coming to a stop in front of you; he slapped both hands, causing you to sway on your feet, but you didn’t fall. It was a very calculated game of pattycake as he pushed you back again with the force of his hands “Breathe”

This time you shoved back, keeping your feet planted “Good” 

Again, he slapped your hands repeatedly, trying to knock you off your feet. You stayed stationary. 

Your left arm immediately swinging up to block his attack. You opened your eyes then fixing your gaze on him. 

“So if he hits you…” 

You immediately shook your head “No” 

“Tell me” 

“It takes twice as much energy to swing and miss as to swing and hit” 

A hard shove to your shoulder with the sparring pad and you punched hard, repeatedly until Court yelled stop. 

Your chest heaved with effort as you dropped your head not paying him any mind. 

“He’s going to get in your head” He whispered 

“No, he’s not” you shook your head, still focused on your shoes. 

“Tell you you’re weak, and small…a woman” he continued “He’s bigger than you” 

“He is bigger” you agreed, taking in a deep breath through your nose 

“Stronger than you” 

“Yes” 

He circled around you as he continued “Can he hurt you?” 

You hesitated long enough for Court to repeat himself. 

“Can. He. Hurt. You?” he asked again. 

“No”

“And why not?” he asked, “He’s done it before”

“I wasn’t ready before” 

“And you are now?” 

“Yes” you stared straight ahead as he walked back into your field of vision. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes” You repeated 

“Why?” 

“Because he’s a coward” 

Your breath caught in your throat as out of the corner of your eye you caught the movement of his fist; your dominant hand flying up to catch his closed fist in your hand, a loud smack as his knuckles made contact with your palm. 

He didn’t relent, his fist pushing hard against your hand as you pushed back, your elbow bent slightly as your entire arm shook with the effort of keeping his fist from moving closer.

He pushed harder, forcing you to adjust your stance as you locked eyes with him. He didn’t speak, the challenge in his eyes was all the motivation you needed; squeezing your eyes shut you pushed all your strength against his fist; the yell of effort unintentional as you dropped your head again using the weight of your body to push back before he relaxed sending you reeling forward against his chest. 

You let yourself collapse against him as he wrapped you in his arms kissing the top of your head. 

You didn’t speak, but your mind was running a mile a minute. You were done running, you were done hiding, you were done being afraid, done waiting for Lloyd to find you. 

You were going to find Lloyd. You were going to end this. Now. 

***

“Absolutely fucking not” 

He shook his head and you scoffed with a laugh 

“I’m not giving you a say” You said simply as you brushed by him through the doorway into the living room and he grabbed your wrist. 

You stopped turning to face him, your wrist still in his grip “No” 

“I’m done running from that bastard; I’m tired of sleeping with one eye open” 

“Then you don’t, I’ll do it”  You glared at him and he dropped your wrist “You’re not doing this” 

“Funny, I swear I said I’m not giving you a say”  you turned to walk upstairs to the bedroom and collect the bag you’d already had packed from the closet; Court was hot on your heels “If you won’t let me do this, what was all that training for?” 

This time he scoffed “Not so you could go on a goddamn suicide mission” he huffed “It was to protect yourself; defend yourself” 

“Right,” you nodded slinging the backpack over your shoulder and turning to head back out “Self defense isn’t murder” 

“It is when you seek it out” he nearly shrieked exasperated before grabbing you by the arm forcing you to turn back around “Hey, stop for a second” 

You sighed, dropping your shoulders as you turned around to face him “What?” 

“Will you stop and just think about this for a second?” he pleaded, hoping he could talk some sense into your stubbornness. 

“You didn’t” you said simply with a raised eyebrow “You found out where Lloyd was and flew out of here faster than you could kiss me goodbye” 

“Hey,” he pouted, pulling the backpack off your shoulder and dropping it on the floor at your feet before pulling you against him “I kissed you goodbye plenty” 

You laughed lightly with a small smile. “Is that what you want, a kiss goodbye?” 

“No,” he shook his head before leaning his forehead against yours “I want you to leave Lloyd alone” 

“No” 

He sighed, his hands holding your waist firmly “What if I said please?” 

“No” 

“Pretty please?” 

“Court-” 

You didn’t get a chance to finish as he claimed your lips in a heated, but desperate attempt to keep you here. His hand cupped your cheek as he deepened your kiss. You let yourself relax against him, returning his eagerness before he pulled back, his eyes searching your face before he spoke again. 

“Stay” 

You smiled closing your eyes as you leaned your forehead back against his “I don’t care how good you kiss me, I’m going” 

He went to speak and you pressed your fingers to his lips; your eyes looking up into his “Either tell me you love me, or pack a bag and let’s go” 

He blinked as you dropped your hand “What?” 

“If you don’t think I can handle myself, then shut up and pack a bag and come with me” 

“I don’t think-” 

“Then shut up,” you cut him off “And let’s go” 

Again, he went to speak and you cut him off 

“WIth or without you babe, I’m going” 

He threw his head back like a dramatic teenager and sighed loudly toward the ceiling “FIne” 

You watched as he pulled his own go bag out from under the bed and again you raised your eyebrow 

“What?” he asked walking toward the door to head back downstairs “This,” he gestured “This is my job” 

Before you could say anything more he gave you an aggressive kiss, nearly knocking you off your feet in the process before he disappeared down the stairs, leaving you standing in your bedroom. 

“Kiss Lloyd like that and we won’t have a problem” you muttered picking up your bag off the floor where Court had dropped it. 

“Lloyd doesn’t deserve to be kissed like that” he called back up the stairs “If we’re going to go deal with this piece of human garbage, get the lead out and let’s go”

“First off,” you said following after him down the stairs “You’re not the boss of me,” you rounded the corner and he was looking at you with a smirk “Up there,” you pointed “Yes, down here, with this, shut up” 

“Yes, ma’am” he saluted

You just rolled your eyes “You’re an idiot” 

“And you’re sexy when you’re determined” 

You felt your cheeks flush as you dropped your head with a small smile. “Yeah well,” you cleared your throat “Almost dying will do that I guess” 

“There’s no talking you out of this is there?” He asked, a more serious tone to his voice 

“What do you think?” You asked, pulling your backpack on your shoulders

“I think Lloyd is fucked” he muttered 

“Fucking right he is” You agreed pulling the front door open and walking down the front steps. 

He followed pulling the door shut behind him watching you stalk up the street with a determination that was a stark contrast to the woman who had woken up screaming in terror every night for weeks. “You’re a dead man walking, Hansen” 

Despite everything in him telling him to just grab you and drag you kicking and screaming back inside the house and deal with the Lloyd problem himself, he also had to admit he admired your courage. Once you had set your mind on something, there was no changing it, no matter how hard he insisted you reconsider.

[empyrean-dot-gov]

Fourth Wing First Impressions: Chapters 5-10

Part 1 here

So far I've been having a good time with the book. There's a lot of stuff that just Keeps Happening so it feels quick. It's engaging. There's a lot to focus on and keep in mind (sometimes to the book's detriment) but overall I'm enjoying it. I am here for the ride.

So let's just carry on with the next set of chapters.

Chapter 6

Picking up where we last set off, I get to see a bit more into Dain and Violet's... friendship I guess. It's clear he cares for her, but it's also becoming abundantly clear early on that Dain's overprotective nature is hindering Violet's ability to grow as a person and sort of prove to herself that she can do this.

(I could go more into the sort of failed love triangle of it all in this book. There's potential in Dain to be an interesting if conflicted character, but we're still early on yet.)

We get a bit more of Violet's backstory. I love the idea of healer's and menders and how there's some sort of rudimentary surgery happening as well. All I can hope is that they have a fantasy version of germ theory around here.

Violet's self-loathing even at herself becomes abundantly clear in this chapter and hopefully she learns to be kinder to herself. Because doing the things that she's doing, at the rate at which she's doing it all, she will burn out sooner than later.

This is also when Brennan's journal is revealed. An interesting detail even though I do think it fucks around a bit with the internal worldbuilding of burning someone's belongings after they die, but I'll come back to this later.

Chapter 7

Here we get to learn about the Marked Ones and Xaden's sort of daddy issues lmao.

I like this concept a lot. It's extremely dystopian and a great way of rooting out dissent. Punishing the children for the sins of their parents. It's a classic trope.

Xaden gets to show off more of his leadership potential AND his signet of shadow powers when he discovers Violet out and about and snooping in on the super secret super illegal conversation among the Marked Ones.

It's nice that we finally get a proper conversation between these two and Violet gets to see there's more to Xaden than meets the eye and probably vice versa. It also shows what sort of alignment Violet has which is likely Chaotic Good lol. She ain't telling anyone SHIT about this meeting.

Chapter 8

We finally get a bit more information about dragons!! Yay!! I think this is a very interesting set up of colour + tail type. Easy breezy beautiful Covergirl if you ask me. But most of the kids in this class come off as pompous and immature. Too high and might if you ask me lmao.

This chapter then ends out with Violet poisoning all of her sparring partners which is fine on its own. It's an admittance that Violet needs to work by other means in order to make headway. Which is good in the short term. However, this could be a part of a flaw for her. That she only thinks in the short term and not the long term. Because you're not always going to have time beforehand to poison your enemy in advance of a fight.

And then she gets to fight Xaden. Right on lmao.

Chapter 9

This fight does a good job at showing their current dynamic and potentially their future. We finally get to compare and contrast Dain and Violet's relationship to Xaden and Violet. Here Xaden pushes Violet to be better because that's what she wants whereas Dain always restrains her.

Did I ever feel like Xaden was ever actually a threat to Violet? No not at all lmao. I think it's just a bit too obvious that he's the main love interest. He was never going to be a true threat to her.

This chapter ends out with Dain being overbearing. There's nothing new to his character at this point and it kinda drags on with this supposed love triangle. I do not feel any sort of affection Violet has for Dain and this could've been done better for sure.

Chapter 10

We get introduced to the Gauntlet here which was a bit difficult to piece out in my mind, but I think I got the gist of it. I think it's designed well for its intended purposes. It's all about the strength and agility needed to mount and ride a dragon.

We get more camaraderie between the cadets which is great. I want to give Rhiannon more credit because I like her as a friend for Violet, but I need to read a bit more before I get a full post together.

Violet watches another cadet die. Sad. Moving on lol.

Violet gets another tough love conversation from Xaden which is likely what she needs more at this point.

All these chapters provide a lot of character building and plot building to what we're all waiting for. Threshing lol. So some of these chapters read a lot quicker than the others because it's a song and dance we've heard before.

I also wouldn't mind exploring Dain a bit more in a separate post. Something that goes a bit more into him being a stickler for the rules. In all honesty I think it would've been better for him as a character to be more cold and rule oriented instead of immediately friendly with Violet like 2 buds reconnecting. Like let him just commit to the bit. And that would've matched the tone a bit better of Violet feeling isolated and alone and struggling to keep up and where Xaden's tough love approach would've fit in better.

Anyway.... I'll carry on those thoughts another day lol.

[agnoscoveteris-vestigiaflammae]

Now that I'm all caught up with Doctor Who, here is an update on my (extremely long) Doctor Who Theory Masterpost I made last week !! As I am writing this, there are mere minutes to go before the premiere of the series finale, though I won't be seeing it until it's on BBC in 19 hours lol so hopefully no spoilers !!

So I'm still a firm believer that the *Colour* *Weekday* (or vice versa) or just *Shade of Red* naming convention for several characters was intentional, even if it's just a red herring. If you don't know what I mean, here are some examples

Ruby Sunday

Mundi Flynn (Monday Red) in episode 3

Marti Bridges (Tuesday Red) (Also a direct reference to Mars, ie. Pyramids of Mars, Sutekh, Osirans, etc.) in episode 4

Cooper Mercy (Red Wednesday) in episode 5

Rogue (anagram of Rouge = Red) in episode 6

Poppy in episode 1

Rose in episode 7

Cherry Sunday

While I still think that these names and their associations with ancient deities add to the theme of ‘The Pantheon' and all-powerful beings, and that this kind of repetitive naming convention is reminiscent of a dream-like logic or storytelling convention centred around Ruby, which could play into everyone’s TV show/fairytale/dream theories, I now also think with hindsight that the Red aspect of the names could just be a sneaky reference to Mars as the Red Planet and its associations with Sutekh.

I mentioned how due to her surname, Ruby would be aligned with the Roman God Sol Invictus, but now knowing that we're working with Egyptian mythology, it's more likely that she is aligned with the sun god Ra or the god of the sky, sun, and light, Horus. While both are plausible, my bets are on the latter for a few main reasons.

Horus' was the child of Isis, the goddess of love, magic, fertility, and healing, and the god Osiris, who was killed by Seth (Sutekh), the god of death and darkness, and then resurrected by Isis to conceive Horus. While pregnant with Horus, Isis fled to the marshes of the Nile Delta where she hid her child from Seth because she knew he wanted to kill him to maintain his place on the throne. Horus' birth is commonly accepted to have occurred on the 25th of December. Is this story starting to sound familiar? Could baby Ruby have been left in that snowy churchyard in the early hours of Christmas day because her mother was trying to hide her away amongst humanity and protect her from Sutekh?

In Pyramids of Mars, it is Horus, Sutekh's brother, who attempts to put a stop to Sutekh's evil plan with the Eye of Horus, could this also be related to the object that the Doctor and Ruby have to obtain from the nameless planet?

While Sutekh is the god of death and darkness, Horus is the god of light. Could Ruby be a messiah-like figure created in direct opposition to Sutekh with the sole purpose of destroying him when the time comes?

Isis is commonly associated with the Egyptian FLOOD myth which tells that when Osiris was killed, the Nile spilled over with the tears of Isis's grief. Now, we are aware that Mrs Flood is a widow, that she's always hiding herself away and that she is aware of Sutekh and his power... Could she be Isis in disguise secretly watching over her own child, waiting for the moment they can come together to try to defeat him?

One reason I think these theories are unlikely is that after being revealed as a god or at least some kind of god-human hybrid, I don't think it's likely that Ruby would continue to travel with the doctor, as she is speculated to do in series 15/2. but who knows! that sure would make things interesting.

In regards to the Trickster theory, I was Delighted to even get a trickster as ‘the god of traps’ mention last episode, but with all the talk about traps in UNIT HQ and the references I mentioned in my previous post, I wouldn’t be surprised if he does make a little cameo in this episode, or if he returns in S15/2. Also still not letting go of the Trickster being trapped in the ocean x ‘The War between the Land and the Sea’ x Mrs FLOOD theories idc idc. 

Okay finally here’s some more quickfire bananas theories I’m throwing at the red string board

Susan cameo 

Ruby has a perception filter that conceals either her true form or something that has attached itself to her but it cuts out at 73 Yards and that’s why everyone ran from her

The Doctor uses Rogue’s ring in defeating Sutekh

Mrs Flood (Mrs F) is Susan

Jenny is Ruby’s mother/Ruby is Susan’s mother/Kate is Ruby’s mother/Ruby is her own mother (i really dont wanna believe this one cause its boring)

Mrs Flood is connected to The Flood from The Waters of Mars

Rogue is Horus - ship shaped like a falcon

Finishing this with seven hours to go until I see the finale!! Still haven’t seen any spoilers but from the official teasers I saw and the fact that the episode is only 50 minutes, I highly doubt anything this lore-heavy could happen lol. thank u for reading and indulging me doctor who besties <3 see u on the other side

[4denthusiast]

Aristotle: How are my theories of physics faring here in the future? Completely correct and forming the foundation of your society, right?

Physicist: Well, matter can be broken down into more fundamental parts, and those parts themselves broken down and so on, and there's a limit at which you reach things that are always preserved.

Aristotle: Yes, yes. The prima materia, I'm aware.

Physicist: There are four of them, not just one. Well, four scalars.

Aristotle: So each element is its own prima materia? How curious.

Physicits: The four things are energy, electric charge, baryon minus lepton number, and colour charge.

Aristotle: What?

Physicist: Of these, ordinary matter never contains any colour charge, you can get pure energy without any of the others but not vice versa, and B-L alone technically can be destroyed, but only by black holes.

Aristotle: ...

[nikethestatue]

do you think Az and Mor could be mates? Since he wanted to invoke the blood duel against Eris.

I've been asked this many times and my answer always remained a firm 'no'.

I think generally, this is a theory that is heavily anti Elriel coloured, because antis like to point out that Mor would always be the number one choice and Elain is just a rebound and if Azriel had his way he'd be with Mor.

So I am not into this idea in general, but I think that conceptually, it makes no sense.

I don't see how a gay person could be mated with a straight person, and vice versa. Even with an imperfect Cauldron and the potential for 'strong babies' it's still very icky and I don't think SJM would go there.

It's like giving Thesan a female mate, while his captain, lover and companion is standing on the side, looking on. That just doesn't work.

By definition, a mate bond is a highly sexual thing--to go into a frenzy, they might commit crimes in order to get to their mate. So say Azriel would be a less controlled man--then what, he's be raping Mor? Because she is not willing to have ongoing sex with him? That makes no sense.

I think the mystery there is around Eris and Mor, not Mor and Azriel. And I think that there are people who know about Mor's sexuality--among them Amren, for sure, and Feyre, obviously, and probably some people in Rita's. Andromache knew. But I also think that Eris knows. And that's why Mor is so freaked out around him--I think she is scared that he is going to reveal her secret. And frankly, I think Azriel also knows, but he keeps it on the DL and doesn't show it.

If Eris is potentially a bloodhound, he might have scented something in her. Something, that she might not have realized herself yet. But he left her there, and she still doesn't or didn't know back then that he knew her secret. He might have known even before she fully understood.

But no, I don't think that Az and Mor are mates. I think BD is just an Autumn tradition. But not exclusive to mates.