#(( tfw you stab and man and then Laugh About It ))

[not-bcring]

✩   「   @from-across-the-stars​​   」   ✩   -   Continued from ★

「 ☆ 」   Bracing himself for a blow, breath is abruptly knocked from him… but not in the way he expected. Glare shattered into confusion at the sudden interruption— the leader of the group crying out in pain as something heavy hits him square in the back —it’s soon replaced with utter horror. Unable to hide the distress that paints his already pale face a ghostly-shade, wide eyes take in a scenario he wished to only witness in nightmares. Silhouetted against the moonlight that dares stream into the darkened alley, as if fate is shining a spotlight down upon the scene Kokichi has caused, stands two of the LAST people he wants around right now.

The fucking idiots…

Before he can say as much, chaos has already erupted. Unceremoniously dropped to the ground, Kokichi watches his should-be captor rush into the fray. Foolishly believing in his chances against the newcomers, the brute is quickly proven wrong. Struggling to stand, knees weak from more than just fatigue, Kokichi can’t feel any air entering his lungs. Sounds muffled, as if his head was being forced underwater, Kokichi’s heart is the only thing he can clearly feel. Each beat sharp in his chest, like a nail being driven further in. A thunderous, racing roar of retribution, screaming to Kokichi that he’s still alive. And look what good it’s causing.

Trembling like a dog left out in the rain, he rests against the wall, broken blemishes digging into his back as a constant reminder of where he is. Most might not need it, but it’s the only thing keeping Kokichi clinging to reality as long as he has. Pained screams around him echoing with those of the past, vision flickering between the fight and horrifically vivid images of a warehouse, dark and damp and dripping with blood… A figure tied in a chair beside him. Slumped over and silent. But he hadn’t always been. No, he had been talking. Smiling. Reassuring Kitaro Kokichi that it would be okay. The walls had felt like they shook that night. Weakening from the wailing they fought to keep held within. Begging, crying, SCREAMING for them to stop.

He hadn’t pleaded once… but Kokichi had.

Until his throat was raw.

Kokichi doesn’t realize tears are silently sliding down his face until a flash of pink eyes are aimed at him. Shell-shocked gaze snapping back to the present with dizzying speed, Kokichi is only able to utter a frantic,  ❝  Shit.  ❞  when Kazuichi is grabbed thanks to the lapse in judgement. Thanks to him. Pushing himself away from the wall, he falls forward onto his knees, hissing as they are freshly bloodied. Looking back into the fray, stomach sinks at the sound Kazuichi makes as he hits the ground in tandem, unable to find any relief at the mechanic standing once again. All that means is he’s back in the fight…

❛  No. No, no, no, no, NO-  ❜  Scrambling to his feet, chest heaving and head swimming, he tries to gather his distorted thoughts.  ❛  Think. Fucking think. You BETTER fucking think of something right NOW.  ❜  Silently screaming at himself, head hastily surveys the scene. Just in time to see Gundham return a hit that had him reeling to the ground, Kokichi’s chest burning with a sickening fury amongst the fear. He needs to stop this. He WILL stop this. There has to be a way to, and quickly… Forced to trust that Kazuichi and Gundham can handle things for the time being ( they may have gotten hurt, but they are far from helpless.. especially when working together ) he turns his attention towards the leader of the group. Sticking to the outskirts, as expected of the obviously overwhelmed guy.

Kokichi had pegged him as a coward, only ever striking when someone else was holding the little leader down. Now with two larger threats in the mix, he seems to be leaving it to his lackeys. Back pressed against the wall, the man keeps his distance as much as possible. Easing his way around the scuffle so that he can have a clearer escape route if need be. Despite his clear precautions, it’s obvious that he’s too prideful to leave while his group still has a chance. None of his followers seem eager to be labeled the true coward amongst them, everyone fighting senselessly like cornered animals. But Kokichi has no doubt that all it’ll take for them to fall apart is an opening. An excuse to flee without appearing too quick to.

… Cut off the head of the snake, and the body will die.

With attention diverted to the chaotic fight, Kokichi makes his way towards the opposing leader on quiet feet. Limping thanks to his injuries, demeanor doesn’t give away the pain he’s in. Face is still as stone, a deceptive carving of calm and calculated hatred. Internally, Kokichi is anything but composed. A turbulent storm, having killed his target a dozen times in his mind as he silently slips his weapon from its hidden place in his clothes. A butterfly knife, which isn’t the best for combat but serves its purpose perfectly fine. Thumb absentmindedly rubs the handle, surface smooth in an unwavering grip. Eyes sharp as his blade, small body is low to the ground, like a predator stalking its prey. Foolishly oblivious to his surroundings, the target doesn’t realize how close he is to potential death.

It’d be easy to kill him… It’s much harder to miss the vital points that Kokichi picks out as if they were glowing. Against every instinct he has, Kokichi rushes at his target, clinging to the larger male as he jabs the knife into their side. It’s a grisly looking wound, the scream it creates even more-so. But he’ll survive. People have made it through far worse. Fire-filled eyes focused on the blood seeping into the man’s shirt, Kokichi twists the knife before roughly yanking it out, biting his tongue to stifle his pained yelp when he’s thrown aside. Kokichi refusing to scream because of HIM.

Collapsed on the ground, knife clattering a few feet away, Kokichi shakily lifts himself up onto his forearms. Fresh blood on his face and limbs, he doesn’t even seem to notice. Expression nothing but maliciously joyful, he watches the panicked man firmly press his hands to his side. Laughter bubbles from a bloodstained grin, Kokichi spitting some out thanks to his mauled tongue, breathless but utterly delighted as it echoes through the alley. Reveling in the sight of the assailants’ leader running away as best he can, stumbling and frantic to find help. Kokichi doesn’t know if he’s made things better or worse for himself in the long run… but he does know one thing.

Either he’s given the other attackers a reason to follow, or he’s given Kazuichi and Gundham an opportunity to decisively grab the advantage. With horrified looks aimed towards the retreating back of their should-be leader and a few uneasily glancing at the still-cackling Kokichi, his ribs feeling like they’re splitting with each wheezing breath… the mood of the group has certainly been changed by this unforeseen distraction.

Kokichi has always been good at surprising people.   「 ☆ 」

[pinkiepiebones]

Renfield’s Suit, part 1

*cracks knuckles* *cracks wrists* *cracks corn* Alright, I learned how to play mt BluRay at 0.1x speed, so I took... about 100 screencaps from the first half hour or so of the movie for suit references. You’re WELCOME @ninjathrowingstork​ and everyone else who wanted this!!! heart emoji

So first I think it’s important to start with this Behind the Scenes shot of Proper Normal Lawyer Guy Renfield. I don’t know shit about suits. Does this look like the tattered thing he was wearing in the movie? Is it the same, um, lapels?

This is such a quick shot in the flashback but it’s important because 1) suspenders and B) it confirms! Renfield spent time in the asylum after being found in the cargo hold of the Vesta (it was the Vesta, right? Or was he on the Demeter as well? In the 1931 movie it was the Vesta...). This particular shot is from when Van Helsing and Seward heard Renfield laughing because he was eavesdropping on them :3

Anyway. Hoo boy, Current Year Renfield. I took this shot to highlight the fraying on his left shoulder as well as the visible mend at the, I dunno, sleeve seam? His sleeve (maybe his arm too?) was ripped off at some point and he had to stitch it back on- and we know he mended shit himself because 1) the costume designer told us and 2) sewing supplies box. (thanks eternally to @dreamcast0 for pointing out it was a sewing box and not a weird printer as I had thought!)

The back of his suit is gross, man. Like, permanently sweat stained. Surprisingly no mending that I could see- guess any attacks that damaged his suit came from the front (psspsspss whump writers)

As has been previously pointed out, I think, Renfield unbuttons his vest when hunting. Makes sense, I suppose, gives a little more freedom of movement. Also check out that stain on the left side of his chest. Hmm. Stabbed in the heart? I never got a clearer shot so I can’t confirm if that’s from an injury and he just didn’t treat the stain in time and it set in, or his fountain pen leaked (psspss)

TFW Apache Joe is not, in fact, all out of knives. Again, left sleeve, and the lapel thingies of his suit are fraying.

As Renfield was panicking about his intestines trying to become OUTtestines (I’m very funny), I realised how... badly his suit fits now. Like, it all just kinda hangs on him instead of being worn by him, you know? Poor guy was slender already, and a century of working for Dracula made him gaunt.

[carveredlunds]

inspired by this post and this post (and probably others i’ve seen over the years but can’t remember! if you’ve talked about this idea before, chime in!) and the fact that i’ve just watched “the man who would be king”. but why didn’t season 15 have more meta episodes? 

we had “atomic monsters”, where becky called out chuck’s bad writing, which was kind of meta, and we had “the heroes’ journey”, a send-up of sam and dean’s plot armour that ground the dramatic tension of the season to a screeching halt and was played for laughs. i guess we had chuck watching tv screens in “galaxy brain”, and several references to chuck ‘cancelling shows’, but the meta was shockingly light for a season where god is your final antagonist.

why didn’t we have sam and dean look directly into the camera, like castiel does in “the man who would be king”? they could have looked directly at the camera, begging the audience to let them go (because what was the ‘point’ of season 15 if not to be a commentary on how it had become a shambling and zombified version of its former self, with the characters desperately fighting for freedom?)

instead of whatever the heck “the heroes’ journey” was, why not go the opposite way with it, and go full existential horror with the idea of plot armour? instead of having sam and dean lose their plot armour, why not increase it? have sam and dean on a regular hunt, and sam gets stabbed, but he doesn’t die, because chuck doesn’t want him to go out this way. or dean gets horrifically injured, but it just heals by itself, in front of his very eyes, because chuck doesn’t want his favourite toy to be broken. 

why not have them become aware that they’re in a tv show? have them say they’re going somewhere one scene, and then suddenly, the scene changes and they’re there, but maybe sam says to dean “what just happened?” because they insta-travelled. they didn’t drive or walk. (side note: an episode of “doctor who” called “forest of the dead” did this, and it was so creepy.) or how about the brothers become aware of background music? suddenly, the music goes all tense and scary, and tfw look around wildly for where it’s coming from, before a monster of the week shows up.

and, to take that further, imagine having chuck interact directly with the scenes themselves? imagine something absolutely wild happening. like in “proverbs 17:3”, we open on one of chuck’s planned endings. sam is dressed all in white, clearly possessed by lucifer, and dean shoots him in the head, only for him to sit back up again. the scene freezeframes, and chuck steps into the shot and says “nah, too old school” or something like that, and rotates his finger, and the scene rewinds like an old video tape, and another ending plays out. the big thing here? this isn’t alternate universe sam and dean, but our sam and dean, playing out endings for a while until chuck gets bored and leaves or something.

sam and dean did talk about free will and destiny and yada yada yada, but they never truly acknowledged the cosmic horror of being two very special bugs in a jar that god has personally kept alive and suffering for his own entertainment. the season 14 finale set up such an interesting and self-aware situation that season 15 never followed through with. the penultimate episode was literally what was left of tfw, alone on a dying planet, the only characters on an empty stage, and the absolute mind fuckery of that was never really talked about.

for a show as meta as “supernatural” that had iconic episodes like “the french mistake”, lines like crowley’s ‘castiel, haven’t seen you all season’ in “caged heat”, and so many directly paralleled shots to past episodes, season 15 could have really gone full meta, but they were cowards.

[diagonal-queen]

thungo thursday: how the hell did we get here so fast

'dad never even came to pick me up' SAME AYA LMAOO

they really did make the right choice for bram's va. i don't remember his name but all i know is that he's a seasoned anime va, but it like REALLY fits him fr

i'll never get over how much i love this intro you guys like it's so chaotic and colourful and dark and granrodeo is so good and this song especially is so epic and kishow supremacy

OH MY GOD watching chuuya struggle to breathe is like stressing me out so much that i need to pause and take deep breaths of my own lmao

AYO WHY DOES DAZAI LOOK LIKE A CRYPTID LMAOOOO

also i'm so jealous of him being able to cup sigma's cheek while I cannot

dazai and sigma are so weird to me as a ship because most of the ships i like are '[character that is just like me] + [character who i would have a crush on if i knew them]' but i kin both dazai and sigma so it's like watching the two opposite sides of me frolick around and it's so chaotic

sigma, literally drowning: 😰😰😰😰😰 dazai, also drowning: •-•

if i had a nickel for every time dazai stood on sigma's back/shoulders while they were breaking out of prison i'd have two nickels. which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

(yes i know i use that meme format a lot NO I WON'T STOP)

WET CAT SIGMA (and no i didn't replay the sounds of him gasping for air, why on earth would you think that)

we have both now <3333333333 thumbs up dazai best dazai

imagine someone asks atsushi how he knew to do things or how he had the mind to move forward and he replies 'the voices' but like he's deadly serious and it actually was the voices

wait dazai literally did that to sigma in prison didn't he shfkjhdhgjkhsk

wait so in the manga sigma can read russian, but in the anime he can't? is bones actively bimbo-ifying characters??? how are we letting this slide

akutagawa doing some goku type shit is the funniest thing ever bro actually said 'SHIAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH'

bones you don't need to remind us all about how much you fucked up akutagawa's death scene ok. his dub va literally predicted that his death would be done poorly and he was RIGHT ABOUT IT

(who would win. gonta and monokuma vs dazai and akutagawa)

if dazai's got a broken leg and losing blood very quickly then why is he grunting and moaning like that huh what's that all about

YEAH GET FUCKED FYODOR LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO

fyodor: because of dazai you realised something about yourself sigma...[describes me, dia, in disturbingly accurate detail]

i'm sorry but the gay agenda has warped me into viewing a man putting a gun to the head of a man on his knees not as a serious and threatening crime but as foreplay. this is what the gays are doing to today's youth. way cup america

brams life must suck. imagine life exactly the same except you can't frolick in the sun, smell roses, wear silver jewellery, finger gun yourself in the mirror or eat garlic bread. also the 'lacking a body and personal autonomy' thing but who needs those amirite

OH MY GOD THE GIRL **WAS** BRAM'S DAUGHTER!!!!! IT WAS HIS KID THE WHOLE TIME!!!!! YOU GUYS OH MY GOD/??????!!??!!???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i don't even feel bad for laughing when fyodor started having his mental breakdown like bro what is that face. is this what nikolai sees every night??? man no wonder he went insane

tfw they fisheye atsushi from afar while he's being stabbed in his vitals

i hope they have a stash of strepsils for atsushi's va in the recording studio

BRO WHY IS FYODOR MOANING TF

yknow that episode when teruko aged tachihara down to a child and he looked rounder and stuff? thats fyodor right now

no but actually imagine being pulled so hard that your leg and arm come off OUCHIES what is it with people and taking atsushi's body parts and like stroking them or whatever. if it were me, the only body part of atsushi's i'd be stroking is his di

fyodor you're a great character but i can't help but notice that you just stabbed my husband and then kicked him in the face. unfortunately you have no choice but for me to ruthlessly kill you dead

so much is happening rn i feel bad for the anime onlys who have to process all this shit within one episode whereas we got several chapters to soak it into our skull sponges

yeah, me too sigma. me too

LMAO DAZAI CALLED CHUUYA A BITCH????? THEY LITERALLY BICKER EVERY TIME THEY INTERACT WHY IS THIS PARTICULAR THING SO FUNNY TO ME

maybe its just cus like 'bitch' is a funny word especially. they can call each other 'ass' and 'bastard' and 'dick' all they want but nothing tops a good 'bitch!!'

hold on bones no. NO. you can't do that. dazai was shot once in the head by chuuya, then he smiles and laments before the scene ends and it's left ambiguous if he dies or not. YOU CAN'T JUST HAVE CHUUYA USING HIS CORPSE AS TARGET PRACTICE

asagiri: i wonder how i should design one order flowey from undertale: asagiri: amazing. brilliant. this will be perfect

well, fuck. im terrified for next week!!

[thefriendlyfrog]

Too many thoughts on SPN 15x17, “Unity”

Welp, I don’t usually do this, but this episode was so great and packed with so many good parallels and callbacks I couldn’t help it! Meredith Glynn is such a great writer. So, let’s begin. Lots of spoilers under the cut.

The first scene opens up to Amara living life to the fullest in an Icelandic hot spring (I’ve been to some in Iceland and would 10/10 recommend – don’t bother with the Blue Lagoon, though). My eyes were immediately drawn to the super recognizable cover of Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood”. Now, I haven’t read this book since, like, high school (now realizing that was a DECADE ago), but I do remember the general plot and themes of the story (I should really reread that again, it’s a good book). Basically, the story is recalled by our narrator and protagonist Watanabe at a later point in his life as he is reminded of a time of life when the Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood” plays. I don’t want to spoil the whole book, but basically it is a coming of age story that is steeped in themes of regret, sex, love, and death (among others, it really is a literary treasure trove!). Skip the next paragraph if you don’t want “Norwegian Wood” spoilers.

In short: Watanabe’s best friend from high school commits suicide which haunts him and his friend’s girlfriend, Naoki, for the rest of their lives. Watanabe and Naoki become close and romantically involved, but she leaves for a sanitorium. Watanabe wants to be with Naoki despite her telling him that she doesn’t think she can love anymore (she described herself and her high school boyfriend as soulmates). Watanabe later meets Naoki’s opposite, Midori, a lively girl who Watanabe grows close to and is also interested in. Watanabe essentially doesn’t move forward as he is waiting on Naoki while having Midori waiting on him. At the end of the story, it is revealed that it has always been Midori and he realizes he wants to be with her.

I thought that this was an EXCELLENT pick for Amara to be reading. It really sums of a lot of surface and not-so-surface level themes in Supernatural. Wondering if there is a parallel between Dean and Watanabe about sort of idealizing a life (with someone) that isn’t meant to be while ignoring love in front of you? Would love to hear all of your thoughts.

Moving on (I’m skipping through parts of the episode to just focus on some key observations)! Amara tries to convince Chuck to fight on behalf of this world and wants to show him some of his creations. So, she brings him to Heaven to see his ‘first children’ (i.e., angels). She also refers to angels as having prefect angelic devotion which immediately made me laugh because our fave angel Cas is really devoted to Dean humanity and not Chuck. Ahh! This whole episode just kept pointing out how special Cas is.

And then, callback after callback began. Amara brings Chuck to the bunker so Chuck says, “Is this a trap?” which made me think of episode 9 (“The Trap” by Berens). This was almost immediately followed by another callback when Chuck says, “You can’t hold me here forever,” to which Amara replies, “I can hold you long enough.” Um, Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets (12x10, Yockey), anyone?

Ishim: “You can’t hold me here forever.” … Lily’s powers are wearing off as Ishim approaches her until Cas stabs Ishim in the back with his angel blade. Cas: “You held him for long enough.”

Like, COME ON! Almost verbatim.

Skipping forward to Dean and Jack’s adventure to visit my favorite hippies, Adam and Serafina (like seriously, they were fantastic characters!). Adam refers to himself as, “…first dude off of the assembly line,” which is similar language that has been used to referring to angels in the past (again, invoking Castiel?)

Then Dean assumes the woman is Eve but they both just shake their heads and chuckle, “I’m Serafina,” I’m definitely not the first one to point this out but… the First Man being in a near-lifelong romantic relationship with an angel named Seraph Serafina?! Uh, yeah, ‘nuff said.

Serafina also mentions that she saw Jack when she and Adam were, “…sipping mushroom tea on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” which made me wonder if there was some sort of connection with Glynn’s season 14 episode, “Byzantium” (14x08), which is the episode Cas makes his deal with the Empty. Babylon was a fortress of the Byzantine empire (not going to lie, my historical knowledge about the Byzantine empire is preeeeetty limited).  

I also loved the whole speech by Serafina to Dean: “I mean, just think of everything that has had to happen to get Jack to this place, to this moment. Baby, it was meant to be,” Dean, of course, is upset by this because he is probably thinking that this was all basically predestined, and he has had no free will. However, he just needs to wait a little while longer until Chuck tells him to his face that he has never been able to control Cas since he laid his hand on Dean saving him from Hell.

Serafina also heals Adam’s wound and it is, of course, super reminiscent of Cas healing Dean (although, even Serafina doesn’t directly touch Adam when healing him – it’s, once again, unique to Castiel). Obligatory hand squeal: HANDS!!!! Wow, they are not even trying to be subtle about the whole hands thing. It is so IN YOUR FACE begging for the audience to notice it.

Adam then mentions how much power is in his rib: “But this puppy? Is packing enough punch to create LIFE. Or, in your case, destroy God.” Well, at this point I think we can all be pretty certain that in the end it will NOT be used to destroy God, so will it instead be used for creation? Excited to see how they defuse Jack’s supernova bomb next episode.

Rounding off Dean’s vignette is a heartbreaking scene with him and Jack in the Impala. Dean says, “I don’t know how to explain it. When I learned about Chuck, it was like – it’s like I wasn’t alive. Not really. You know, like, my whole life I’ve never been free. But like, really free. But now, me and Sam, we got a shot at living a life…But now we have a chance. And that’s because of you.” Again, this is before Dean learns that Cas’ actions were made of his own free will, and from the sounds of it, Dean’s connection to Amara as well. I also immediately wondered if Jack bringing Dean some sense of freedom was what Cas saw when Jack showed him “paradise”.

Moving on to Sam’s vignette: Sam remembers that Sergei mentioned the Key of Death was in the bunker (how did he remember this, wasn’t he unconscious at the time? A little disappointed Cas didn’t get to provide that little fact but I’m also glad that Sam actually served a purpose this episode and was a bit more front and center). They find the Key of Death and there is an inscription in Latin on the box:

Viator mortalis, cave, quoniam scias Clavem Mortis pensare graviter. Il tamen desideres ut introeas illum abyssum obscurissimum artis opus est tibi porta.

Okay, fair warning: I took Latin for 4 years but it has been awhile so my translation is super not perfect, but I figured I would take a stab at it because the subtitles were wrong at times and Google translate is not perfect. I translated it as something like this:

Mortal traveler, beware, because you know the Key of Death should be considered seriously. However, if you want to enter the darkest abyss, this work of art is the gate/door.

Honestly, there were a few words that I couldn’t find the right conjugations to and I know this isn’t 100% accurate, but it gives you the gist.

Sam then visits Death’s library and finds the Empty there, killing people (?) to get in touch with Death, whom they hasn’t been trusting as of late. We learn that Death’s plan is to assume the role of New God and restore the world back to order, bring back rules. The Empty is wary because they don’t know if they can trust the promise of being able to go back to sleep. Trust issues, the Empty says, because of “your busted-ass friend in the trench coat,” another subtle-not-so-subtle mention of Cas. But why, exactly, did Cas give the Empty ‘trust issues’? Was it because he woke up in the first place? Because he has ‘traipsed in and out’ of the Empty without dying?

We also learn that only Billie can read Chuck’s Death book, and, this may be a crack idea but… maybe Cas should be able to read the book because he was the one that killed Billie and made her Death in the first place? Seems like Cas might have a connection to Billie. It would be cool if Cas were the one to read Chuck’s book.

Finally, we learn a bit more about the Empty, and how they can’t go to Earth unless summoned. Hmm…

Flash forward to Amara and Chuck in the bunker. Amara tells Chuck, “It’s not too late, brother,” and, if you’re like me, you finished that sentence with “it’s never too late (to start all over again)”. So many great Destiel songs out there, but “Never Too Late” takes the cake for me.

Amara and Chuck decide to become one, become ultimate balance. Chuck extends his hand and Amara grasps it as she is absorbed into Chuck. I don’t even know if I really need to say this, but… HANDS! (Destiel is already canon to me but if the show is going to make it more explicitly canon for the audience, it’s going to be through hands as I know people have been shouting about for several seasons now).  

To finish, let’s talk about that kick-ass scene with TFW 2.0 at the end of the episode. We find out that Chuck’s real ending is to have Dean regress and give in to rage and kill everything he loves, probably ultimately leading to his own death. Woof, what a tragic ending (tragedy ≠ good ending). So, we’ve got to subvert that which Dean does after a heartfelt plea from Sam (“You would trade me?”). I enjoyed how much Dean looked back at Cas during this exchange, especially after Sam tells Dean that Eileen will die again. The parallels, the connection.

Honestly, I’m not sure why Cas and Jack were in that scene other than to have some meaningful glances exchanged between Cas and Dean and because TFW2.0 is together in the next scene. But… whatever, more Cas so I liked it.

And finally, the scene that had me shaking with VINDICATION.

Cas to Chuck: “What, you consumed your sister?” Chuck: “We came to an understanding, so spare me your contempt Castiel, the self-hating angel of Thursday. You know what every other version of you did after ‘gripping him tight and raising him from perdition’? They did what they were told. But not you. Not the ‘one off the line with a crack in his chassis’” (Cas looks back at Dean after a moment)

Okay, so let’s break this exchange down. So much satisfaction with just a few sentences. Bravo, Ms. Glynn.

“We came to an understanding.” Didn’t Michael and Adam say the same thing after they decided to share equally in their bond and vessel? Callback #1.

“…self-hating angel of Thursday.” Ahh, it’s been so long since we got mention that Cas is the angel of Thursday. The last time was, what, when Crowley says it to Cas back in season 6? By the way, it was totally meant to be that Supernatural will finish off the series on a Thursday. Callback #2 (ish).

“You know what every other version of you did after ‘gripping him tight and raising him from perdition’?” This is the second time the show has repeated Cas’ first line to Dean near-verbatim in two seasons. You know, just in case the audience forgot Dean and Cas’ infamous first meeting (which I am like 99% sure we are going to get hella callbacks to next episode). Callback #3.

“They did what they were told. But not you. Not the ‘one off the line with a crack in his chassis.’” Again, Chuck is closely paraphrasing what Naomi said about Cas in season 8:

8x21 “The Great Escapist” – Naomi: “You're the famous spanner in the works. Honestly, I think you came off the line with a crack in your chassis. You have never done what you were told. Not completely. You don't even die right, do you?”

Callback #4. Seriously, Glynn packed four callbacks into such a short time period. Wizard.

My only *criticism* of this final scene is that Dean and Cas didn’t seem to react too much to Chuck’s news about Cas always having free will (although, I think Cas already knew this, but it is news and confirmation to Dean!). I highly suspect that will come next week, though. I’m SO excited (and also terrified) for next week. We are definitely going to be getting a lot of Cas next episode. Misha, in an interview, mentioned that we would get Cas’ ‘chapter’ in 18, and I’m wondering if this will be the true Cas-centric episode? I don’t know, maybe the Cas-centric episode was “Gimme Shelter” but I was expecting more of a “The Man Who Would Be King” kind of Cas-centric episode.  

All in all, 10/10. I keep reading and seeing things that are galaxy braining me, so it has been super fun reading all the meta and reactions to this episode.

Three episodes left. Get your tissues ready for Cas’ death (oops, is this even a spoiler at this point?) next episode. And remember, “Nothing ever really ends,” and “The end has no end,”

[destieldisaster]

10x09 - The Things We Left Behind

MotW: bunch of extremely shitty (but human) dudes

Any Cas? Yesssss

CLAIRE. Oh god, here we go 🥺

Cas came to find her 😭

This is so raw, jesus

"Now you look like a dad" 🥺

Pitching his voice up to pretend to be Jimmy!

"I fight certain deadly threats to humanity." "He's an exterminator." "I'm an exterminator."

The bedbugs! And the WINK!

That's quite the tonal shift, but it sure is good to see Dean laugh like that

Oh, so he breaks her out of there? Isn't that basically kidnapping?

"Ketchup's a vegetable"

Oh, this whole conversation 🥺

Of course Dean stays behind with Cas, he knows he needs him. Knows he needs to talk 🥺

"Is ketchup a vegetable?" "Hell, yes"

Fuck fuck fuck, this whole conversation

"That's not true" 😭

"No, you're not" 😭

Dean asking Cas to kill him if he goes darkside again. Saying not to let Sam stop him, like Cas wouldn't be fighting tooth and nail for Dean's life himself..

God, this whole scene. Just the way they're looking at each other..

"I was worth five pigs at least" Crowley :')

Wow I hate this guy. Claire, please get away from him asap.

Cas just fucking chokes the dude right there on the sidewalk to get him to talk. And Dean clearly doesn't mind.

Oh thank god Cas stopped her. She didn't want to do this

"Eat me, Hasselhoff"

He heard her prayers. He's so torn apart over this. And she's so incredibly messed up. This hurts like hell.

"Of course, you had a father. You were just conceived during a winter solstice orgy and it's not like I was taking names." ROWENA

Oh sure, Rowena would never stab Crowley in the back! God, I adore their interactions.

Oh jesus, tfw talking about fathers

Yeah no, it's been proven again and again that J*hn wasn't there when they needed him

The CBGB story. Jesus. Dean has to hype himself up to tell it as a positive/funny story. He was literally roofied. It's fucking insane.

No Dean, he did not raise you right. Jesus fucking christ every time Dean praises J*hn something inside me breaks

He's literally selling Claire, I'm begging someone to set this man on fire and have him burn forever

"I'll be back in a flash" daaaaamn Rowena

KICK HIM TO A FUCKING PULP CLAIRE

Oh god, Claire holding onto Cas for comfort 🥺

Well, shit, Dean. That's pretty fucking bad.

[shirtlesssammy]

10x14: The Executioner's Song

A guard checks the halls of a death row prison. Tommy, a prisoner, taunts him, while another guard watches the exchange on a monitor. The guard walks away to get coffee. The lights in the prison hall flicker, and a man walks towards Tommy’s cell.

The first guard makes it back to their monitoring station to see the man approach Tommy’s cell. The lights go dark, and then flash back on to an empty hallway.

The man is inside Tommy’s cell though —and it’s CAIN! He taunts him, and then stabs him through the abdomen. They disappear.

While driving to the prison, Dean quizzes Sam about his ridiculously good knowledge of serial killers. Oh Sam, never change. Sam then fills Dean in on the killer that went missing. A supernatural serial killer is Sam’s jam!

They check out the prison cell and talk with the warden.

The warden shows them the security footage, and through the magic of television, they zoom in  enough for Dean to recognize Cain’s profile.

Cas is busy interrogating a demon for the whereabouts of Cain. He’s been seen but low-level demons keep their distance.

For Interrogation Science:

Getting all he can from the demon, Cas stabs him dead.

Crowley, meanwhile, is bored with the bureaucratic hell he created for himself. Rowena is still poking the bear with her own little machinations.

Sam discovers that Tommy’s dad disappeared about a week prior. Dean gets a call from Cas revealing that Tommy is dead.

Dean asks where Cas is, but Cas senses something and tells him he’ll call back. Cain appears.

Cain tells Cas that he had to kill again with Abandon gunning for him. He liked how it felt, and now he’s on a mission to kill all his children.

Cain asks after Dean, and just by looking at Cas’s worried face, knows that Dean isn’t well. Cain tells Cas not to worry. “I’ll get to him in due time.” Lol, Cas draws his angel blade SO FAST, but Cain disappears.

Rowena asks her favor for Crowley to find Olivette, the leader of the Grand Coven, and Crowley realizes that Rowena was playing a long con to get in his good graces. Rowena laughs and tells him that they could have fun together —away from the doldrums of Hell. Crowley walks away.

For Profile Science:

TFW meet back at the bunker. Sam confirms that Cain is wiping out whole families —and Tommy had a son. Dean’s ready to hit the road and find the boy —to find Cain.

And when he finds him, he’ll kill him. He’s the only one that can do it. Sam worries that wielding the First Blade against Cain will destroy Dean. Dean knows.

Rowena shows Crowley her plans for abducting Olivette. Dean interrupts though and tells Crowley he needs to bring them the Blade. Cain has a kill list and Crowley is on it. Rowena continues to chortle over her revenge plans, but Crowley puts the kibosh on it, grabbing the First Blade out of a laughably easily accessed “secret” storage compartment. Rowena shames Crowley for what she sees as an utterly stupid choice: handing the blade over to Dean is surely a death sentence. 

At a farm, Team Free Will locates Cain’s next target. They go over the plan: hang out and wait until Cain arrives, and then Dean kills him! Easy peasy. Crowley appears and immediately voices his concern about the “risk to us.” 

“There is no us,” Dean retorts. GOOD lord, show. Crowley decrees that he’s going to stick around and hold onto the blade until Cain’s trapped...so it’s one big happy PARTY! 

Cut to Sam and Dean failing to watch over the basketball-playing kid while they talk about emotions. Dean’s afraid.

Cain appears at the farm ready to kill the kid, when Cas intervenes. Cas orders the kid to run while he takes on Cain. Cas gets all glowy!

But barely a lock of Cain’s magnificent hair can be budged by Cas. Chucking Cas to the side with a little bit of demon mojo, Cain heads after the kid. Sam tries to hold the barn doors closed, but Cain skips doors altogether and zaps in right next to the kid. He stabs him, but instead of a horrible death the kid explodes into purple magic. An illusion! 

Cain’s unimpressed. “The rune of amaranth,” he guesses, and Crowley confirms it. (Now, you just need to learn that, Sammy, and you can also be a witch!) Cain traces the boundaries of his devil’s trap cage, while Sam, Cas, and Crowley worriedly arm Dean with the blade. Dean implores them to take him down if he comes out shooting metaphorical black lasers out of his eyes. 

For MMHMMM Cas Science:

The staging of the actors says it all about Dean’s dark path. Also, breakups can be weird, y’all.

Dean powers up, blade in hand, and then smiles. We’re...so comforted? He heads up to confront Cain, who continues to prowl the devil’s trap. Cain insists that killing off his descendants is the best service he can do for the world. He asks Dean how it feels to hold the blade again. “It feels like a means to an end,” Dean totally lies. Dean walks into the devil’s trap and they start to fight. 

It’s not looking so good for our Dean Bean, and Cain’s disappointed. He thinks Dean’s been holding back, like that might save him from fully deep-diving into the Mark. Even as he rips the blade away, Cain identifies Dean’s biggest weakness as his bravado. (Uh, I’d say it’s his hair-trigger temper or perhaps his endless self-loathing.) Cain drinks in the power of the blade, and hurls Dean to the ground.

“Have you ever mused on the fact that you’re living my life in reverse?” Cain asks. He predicts that Dean’s story will end in his brother’s death. “First, you'd kill Crowley. There'd be some strange mixed feelings on that one, but you'd have your reason. You'd get it done, no remorse. And then you'd kill the angel, Castiel. Now, that one… That I suspect would hurt something awful. And then would come the murder you'd never survive, the one that would finally turn you into as much of a savage as it did me.” Cain starts to bring the first blade down on Dean, when Dean pulls a Darth Vader and slices off Cain’s hand. 

Dean grabs up the First Blade and looks upon Cain, seeing his sorry future. “Tell me I don’t have to do this. Tell me that you’ll stop.” Cain can promise no such thing, so Dean swallows and passes judgment on Cain...and on himself. He brings up the blade over a kneeling Cain and brings it down with an anguished cry. JENSEN ACKLES YOUR FACE IS KILLING ME. Dean walks the blade back down to his waiting friends, looking utterly lost. 

For Quit Your Damn Face Science:

After a long hesitation, Dean hands the blade to....Castiel. 

Dean reveals that he played Crowley - the demon was never on Cain’s list. Dean gets a Sam hug, and we all feel GREAT and not broken at ALL.

Crowley returns to Hell, greeted by despondent piano music and Rowena. She’s packed her bags! She tells him she was devastated to learn of his mortal death, and that she was wildly proud to find him King of Hell. She tells him that now he’s nothing but a “sad, bored wee boy on the throne” and she can’t bear to stay longer.  

Back at the bunker, Dean drinks coffee and broods. Sam tries to look on the bright side - Dean’s drinking coffee and not murdering anyone! Yay! Cas returns, revealing that he stowed the blade “somewhere safe.” WHERE, CAS? WHERE IS THE BLADE? Must I go past the series’ end and never know where your secret treasure cave is??? (Side note: That’s what Dean said.)

Dean leaves the kitchen, and bro-pats Cas on the shoulder.

Cas asks how Sam is doing and the answer is….NOT GREAT. “Dean’s in trouble,” Sam says, and we fade to black.

Mother Always Said You Would Quote My Heart:

It's called true crime, Dean. It's a hobby

Consorting with hunters!

Have you never mused upon the fact that you're living my life in reverse? My story began when I killed my brother, and that's where your story inevitably will end

[soysaucecas]

oooh for the ask game 24, 30, and 44!

MAGPIE MY BELOVED HELLO

24. What are your favorite episodes?

The only episodes I've really watched are TMWWBK (which is my favorite episode and I'm certain would still be my favorite if I watched every single one because it has the only SPN character and the only SPN line), The French Mistake (which was funny enough but honestly in the Just Okay category for me, which makes me pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy actually watching SPN if this is one of the funniest/highest-rated eps), and Reading Is Fundamental (my best friend was watching it and asked me if I wanted to hop on Discord, I thought it might be fun to see Kevin's first introduction but instead this ep found the two of us taking like 90 minutes to get through it bc we kept pausing and screaming (derogatory) as the model minority stereotype jokes piled up and up and up... Unfortunately not a favorite even if we got Meg AND the "pull my finger" joke AND the "Sorry" shot). Other than TMWWBK, from clipping and transcript-reading, I like Wayward Sisters (who doesn't?), The Things We Left Behind (Claire!!!! Cas trying to be a dad! The diner scene aka my favorite destiel scene of all time bc being in love just looks so good on Cas! Also the parallels between Claire and Randy and teen Dean and the adults at that club in his story... woof.), Golden Time (Eileen gets to be HERE and be sad and loved and fight people with ghost powers and Cas gets to do a cool speech and a stabbing and do the Asian community a favor), and Lucifer Rising (just immensely sexy on all counts for Ruby, Sam, Cas, and myself). Also I am SO fond of Steve!Cas so I'll add Heaven Can't Wait even if I barely know anything about it.

30. What is an unpopular opinion or headcanon you have about the show?

Ooh okay hm I think. So I adore confession scene, but I don't think the "I cared about the whole world because of you" is like. The Objective Truth the way that most bloggers seem to take it. Cas was lobotomized tons of times before he met Dean, he was described as coming off the line with a crack in his chassis, he's always been the weird little angel who likes humanity too much! I don't think Dean came first, and although gay love was part of what helped Cas invent free will, he *Ruby voice* didn't need the feather to fly, Dumbo! I do think Cas believes what he says in the moment, but I also think he sorta... made himself believe it? This is probably just me deciding that cas-coding should go both ways, but like. I very much crush as a coping mechanism and I very much overascribe my actions to love because it simply seems more noble/poetic to do so. Being miserable because school is hard is cringefail but being miserable because of unrequited love is Good Shit. And I have been in unrequited love with my best friend for at least 7 years (probably 9 but I didn't realize it earlier) and if you asked I would 100% say that she taught me love and defined love for me and that she will be my first and last, but I also know that that is not entirely true; it's just the narrative that I like for myself. And I think that being in an Empty deal contingent on whether or not he LETS himself feel happy would lead Cas to do plenty of mental maneuvering, which I think involved intentional self-poor-little-meow-meow-ification via overascribing his choices and happiness to Dean (and I also think he'd already been doing that for a while just because of personal self-worth issues and because it's a nice narrative). I know as Cas's last Moment on the show it was probably written to be The Objective Truth, but I am perceiving him and I say no.

44. If you could write an episode of Supernatural, what would happen?

Oh scream okay! This is a fun one! I am going to start out with two ideas from other people:

1. Months ago Nate from the pocnatural discord had the idea of an episode from the "monster"'s perspective where the Winchesters are just clearly the antagonists while not doing anything different than they usually do. I think the idea was that all these supernatural beings live in a self-regulating community together and we have one Very Likable pov character who's a member of this community, but one of the newer members messes up one day and kills someone and the Winchesters come on a case and wreak havoc on this Very Much Functioning (there was going to be a whole rehab and reparations thing for the new member who messed up!) system and kill pov character and in the end you just HATE Sam and Dean for it.

2. It's hard to adapt anything from bad moon rising (aka my favorite spn fic) very well because the point of an Arab Winchesters season 1 rewrite is that it doesn't really work with the white characters we have now, but I think I could see a version of chapter 2 adapted as long as Haley (an Ojibwe hunter who lives in the area affected by what Sam and Dean are hunting) takes the lead. I'd especially like to see this section:

Dean laughs, a little disbelievingly. The question has never crossed his mind. “Do you like it?”

This gives Haley no pause at all. “Yeah,” she says. “I mean, it’s not really about killing monsters, though, for me. Or, it’s not always about killing monsters. It’s about community. Not violence. It’s a spiritual thing to build a home, you know?”

“Oh,” Dean says. He can’t think of anything else to say. It has never crossed his mind before that hunting could be compatible with a community.

I don't have any original episode ideas to add to the hunting discourse, so we're on to my ideas about character-driven eps. I think I would like to see a version of my sastiel possession fic (ty again for beta-ing that! you're a real one) as an ep around the time of 9.11 because Sam deserves to work through their trauma, but idk what the Dean plot should be for that. Another thing I would like very much is TFW drunk history storytime (so like. Tall Tales bass boosted), where for some reason they all need to go over what they were doing during Stanford era but each of them is telling someone else's story. It's gonna be either Sam->Dean->Cas->Sam or Dean->Sam->Cas->Dean. It starts out very funny (they all have terrible wigs and makeup in the flashbacks. Cas is Jimmy wearing a giant mask with googly eyes on it.) but as it goes on it gets increasingly sad how much these three don't really know each other.

In the Sam->Dean->Cas->Sam episode, Sam's telling of Dean's past veers wildly between "crushing pussy and killing things" and "feels like absolute shit all the time" and it's funny but Not Right and afterwards Dean goes "I didn't know you thought of me that way" and Sam says "... I am basically reading off the voicemails you left me back then" and Dean has to sit there and contend with the mythology he himself wrote for Sam to believe in. Dean->Cas provides the comedic beats for the episode as Dean awkwardly narrates Cas's Life As A Weird Little Guy who watches trees grow and heals babies and in the end Dean goes "so how did I do" and Cas is like "well actually I was either getting lobotomized or murdering people so like 3/10?" The moral of this plot line is that Dean is bi. Cas gives a fairly faithful retelling of Sam living her trans little life at Stanford and veering between trying to be Normal and being a total weirdgirl and feeling guilty and angry and happy and free. It becomes clear that Cas admires Sam a lot (but also feels like. guilt and some self-recrimination for not being that) for rebelling from their dad and exploring their queerness during a time Cas was still to his knowledge in total soldier mode, and Sam is having an a_good_soldier's Thesis 5 moment about how she failed the kid she used to be and how very sorry they are about all the things that happened to them, and Dean hates that this is the first he's hearing about so much of this but is also quite emo about the parts where Sam is struggling. The ep ends with them all in the same room not looking at each other and not knowing if they want to group hug or never talk again.

Dean->Sam->Cas episode is similar but the storytelling dissolves a lot faster as it becomes clearer way faster how much their own emotions are getting in the way. Dean is upset that Sam could leave their family so easily and probably swing a normal life, Sam keeps wondering what it would be like to live millennia just KNOWING that you were right and good and clean, and Cas is gay and veering between fitting Dean's life into a larger Righteous Man narrative and just being very tender (and sad and angry) about Dean's pain. Episode ends in a rather cathartic shouting match where they all end up apologizing to each other for many things.

Oh also I would like to see Cassie again but I don't have an episode in mind there. Also would love to see Kaia adjusting to life in Sioux Falls and befriending the others and dealing with Bad Place trauma.

tysm for the questions sorry for taking so long!

(ask game)

[wednesdaysxreaders]

saving brett: part one

lowercase is a stylistic choice

tfw these next two posts are long cuz i can’t remove any more scenes

summary: dallas has to put aside her hatred to prevent a death.

word count: 1473

the stadium lights came on, flooding the field; dallas flinched as she went to find liam and mason.

she passed the devenford prep players on her search and had to resist the urge to “accidentally” throw brett into the bleachers.

finally, she found her friends, sneaking up beside mason and grabbing his side with a ragh!

“there you are!” he exclaimed once he came down from his brief heart attack. “where were you?”

“took a walk to get some coffee,” she answered, holding up her starbucks cup to prove it. “why are we watching brett get dressed?”

mason looked at liam, and the look on his face answered her question.

“ah.” she took a sip of her coffee.

“i don’t care if he’s a foot taller than me,” liam said. “i think i can take him.”

dallas raised her brow at him. “honey, you so could, but we can’t risk getting distracted.”

“yeah. . .” mason said after a moment’s pause, more to liam rather than her.

liam look from mason to brett, and she saw the lightbulb go off above his head as he looked back at mason. “what do you think you’re doing?”

“what? me?”

dallas sipped her coffee, almost choking at the i’m onto you look on liam’s face.

mason made a tsch sound. “agreeing with you. i’m being agreeable.”

“you think he’s hot, don’t you?”

“no! no. not at all. no way!” mason looked at brett, who had finally put a damn shirt on and was snapping his shoulder pads on. “maybe. yeah, maybe a little.”

“hot? yes.” liam looked at her, almost looking offended. “but he’s too damn cocky to be attractive.”

as if he knew they were talking about him, brett looked up at them.

“he wants to destroy me,” liam said.

“i think you could definitely take him,” mason said, and dallas nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

liam nodded, comforted by his friends' words, looking back at brett.

“and then give him to me,” mason added, making liam and dallas laugh. “no, just go out there and kick their smug prep school asses, man.”

liam smiled, fistbumping mason. “alright.”

“good luck, honey,” dallas told him, kissing his cheek like a mother would. “bring me a tooth as a souvenir.”

“you’re so weird,” liam said, pulling on his helmet and going to join the team.

mason and dallas went to get a seat in the bleachers.

“hey, liam! think fast!”

she looked up just in time to see brett shoot the ball at liam and liam catch it easily.

it took everything in her not to jump over the people in front of her and tackle the prep school douchebag.

the whistle blew and everyone got on the field.

“this is gonna end badly, isn't it?” mason asked.

“i hope not. . .” she said. “you got this, liam!”

 the game was a disaster.

brett was good, she couldn’t deny, but devenford prep's aggressive targeting of liam made her see red.

after being slammed to the ground by two of devenford prep's players, liam threw off his helmet and gloves and tried to lunge at them, only to be stopped by scott and stiles.

“come on, liam. . .” she muttered, chewing nervously on her thumb.

at some point, stiles miraculously got hold of the ball and passed it to kira, who froze before obeying everyone’s yelling to run. she dodged the opposing players effortlessly, and dallas heard coach yelling for her to pass, but she took her own shot.

dallas cheered loudly, clapping the best she could with her coffee in her hand. “go, kira!”

coach wasn’t so impressed, though, and he called her over and benched her for the rest of the game.

seriously?

on the next play, things were going fine until garrett caused a collision between himself, liam, and brett. the whole crowd gasped in horror.

dallas passed her coffee to mason and hurried from the bleachers as liam was pulled up by stiles and scott; she stood at the edge of the field, waiting for the moment.

“how hard did you hit him?” she heard scott ask.

“i didn’t,” liam said. “he hit me.”

she caught the scent of blood and looked to see brett still laying on the field. something must have been broken in the collision.

the field paramedics pulled him up and dragged him off the field toward the school.

“are you cut? did garrett cut you?”

she wanted to hear liam's answer, but something told her to follow brett.

a few minutes later, a text from lydia confirmed her feeling.

the next chunk of the dead pool, and on it was a familiar name.

brett talbot.

she lost track of them when she stopped to read the text, but it didn’t take a genius to know to check the locker room.

when she got there, though, she found the paramedics unconscious and heard quite a commotion inside.

she stepped over the bodies to find garrett’s girlfriend violet standing over brett with her necklace—glowing?—around his neck.

“am i interrupting something?”

violet looked back at her. “two for one, huh? not what i was looking for, but i’ll take it.”

“are you gonna fight me, violet?” dallas asked. “or do i have my work cut out for me?”

violet removed her necklace from around brett's neck, turning and facing dallas full on. “you'd think something as rare as you would be worth more.”

dallas shrugged. “shame you’re worth nothing. guess all i get out of this is satisfaction.”

violet sneered at her, snapping her necklace at her like a whip.

“kinky, but i’m not into that.”

violet lunged and dallas let her get her hands around her throat, using the momentum to throw her into the lockers. she hit the ground and dallas kicked her swiftly in the side.

“you need to weaken them to stand a chance?” kick. “pathetic.”

violet yelled in anger, pushing herself up and swinging her legs to knock dallas’s right out from under her.

she hit her head on a bench as she fell, shaking off the daze. “ooh, bitch.”

violet came to her, moving the get her necklace around her neck; dallas blocked it, but she wrapped the necklace around her wrist and pulled her arm over her own neck.

“at least take me to dinner first. . .” dallas headbutted violet and scrambled to her feet when the necklace was off her wrist. “you know, it’s no fun carrying the banter on my own. no? fine.”

she crouched and pulled something out of her boot, flipping it open to reveal a silver-coated butterfly knife.

“impressive,” violet said as she and dallas started to circle each other.

dallas took a fighting stance. “i don’t want to kill you, violet, but i will if i have to.”

violet abandoned her necklace, lunging at dallas, but this time, she was prepared, using dallas’s own tactic against her. she slammed the redhead on the floor, wrestling her knife from her and stabbing it into her shoulder.

she cried out, but it turned into laughter. “none of their weaknesses. . .”

“but i know you don't heal like they do.” violet smirked, pulling the knife from her shoulder and slashing her throat.

they heard footsteps in the hall, and violet ducked into hiding as scott entered the locker room.

“dallas?!”

“tr. . . trap. . .”

“what?”

suddenly, violet appeared behind him and got her necklace around his neck, tightening it as it began to glow.

“he said we shouldn’t try,” she said. “but now i got you. i got an alpha.”

dallas couldn’t move her head to look, but she knew violet had just made a big mistake. she heard the struggle as her focus began to blur.

blood. . . need blood. . .

no. . .

“i think you better call your dad,” scott said.

stiles?

“holy shit!” stiles exclaimed, coming to her side. “dallas?!”

scott came up beside him. “she needs blood to heal. . .”

“n-no. . .”

“we're not gonna let you die, dallas. . .” stiles said, picking up her knife and using it to cut his wrist.

she tried to resist as he put his bleeding wrist over her mouth, but the second she tasted the blood, she couldn’t fight her instinct. she felt her wounds healing and her strength coming back as she drank, but she knew she had to stop. her human side mustered up all of its strength and pushed stiles away before she could lose control.

she sat up, gasping, and wiped the blood from her mouth. “brett—”

[mittensmorgul]

You killed my father, prepare to die

So I’ve been thinking of Dean’s facial cuts from 15.05 since we first saw them (I think in the SPPT promo) as the Inigo Montoya cuts. I think pretty much everyone gets that reference. At least, I hope they do.

For anyone who hasn’t seen The Princess Bride, you should stop reading this and immediately go watch it. I’ll wait. Seriously, I actually mean that. Please go watch it now. Not knowing that movie is culturally identical to not knowing Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s... please, join the rest of us in civilized society and just go watch it already.

If you engage with any American media at all, ever, you should know The Princess Bride, because it’s one of those movies that’s pretty much known by EVERYONE who works in the media industry, and you can GUARANTEE that everyone in the media industry will reference it at some point. Because this is how stories work.

(and Princess Bride is also a story with a metanarrative layer literally deconstructing and critiquing the actual story of the film, as well as the transition from a written novel to an on-screen telling of the story AS THE CONCEIT OF THE ENTIRE FILM, which seems highly thematically relevant to s15)

Okay, now we have that problem solved, let’s look at those cuts, and why they’re ridiculously meta here.

Inigo Montoya received those scars on his cheek as a child, when the evil Count Rugen-- the Six Fingered Man-- refused to pay for the sword he’d commissioned Inigo’s father to make for him. Count Rugen murdered Inigo’s father and tried to take the sword, but little Inigo picked it up and challenged Rugen for it. Rugen laughed, proved the child would lose completely by the INSULT of those two wounds to his face-- visually practically identical to the cuts on Dean’s face:

and which, when he finally meets Count Rugen again as an adult, after a lifetime of learning to fight, mastering the sword with the singular purpose of getting revenge for his father’s murder, what does he do to Rugen?

He holds Rugen at the point of his sword, and basically tells him to beg, to offer Inigo riches and power, between slices to his cheeks. All of which Inigo dismisses, because “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.” And the he kills him.

And these were not the only “eye for an eye” cuts delivered in this fight. (if you want to see it, it’s right here) When they first begin dueling, Rugen runs away. It looks cowardly, but Inigo catches up to him (with the help of Fezzik, who breaks down a locked door so Inigo can pursue him). But at the bottom of the stairs, Rugen ambushes Inigo, throwing a knife across the room into Inigo’s stomach. Rugen already thinks he’s won. But... Inigo pulls out the knife and forces himself to his feet. Rugen says, “Good heavens, are you still trying to win?”

He gives his Evil Villain Monologue and casually saunters over to deliver the killing blow, but Inigo continues to fight, even weakened. He deflects the blows, and instead is stabbed in the left shoulder and right arm. Finally face to face with Rugen, the more Rugen tries to kill him, the more Inigo fights back, finding a power inside himself to push through everything to win.

The first two cuts Inigo lands on Rugen match his shoulder and arm wounds, and then he moves on to deliver those cuts to his face, before finally delivering the stab to his stomach. Inigo survived his, Rugen... doesn’t.

Now let’s compare that to what we saw from Lilith in this 15.05.

Lilith was a self-aware proxy for Chuck. She had a mission she couldn’t veer from, because of the limitations that Chuck had inserted her into the story with. She had a purpose-- to fetch the Equalizer and destroy it for Chuck, because for whatever reason, he either couldn’t do it (he couldn’t just snap his fingers and make it disappear from afar), or he wasn’t about to try to do it himself, because he’s genre-savvy enough to know he didn’t want to make *himself* into Count Rugen here.

Only for Dean, the revenge over this weapon isn’t about the death of his father, but the death of his “son.” Of Jack. So instead Lilith, aware of Chuck’s storytelling after having to listen to his “writing philosophy,” plays her role, and delivers the blows exactly as Chuck would’ve if he’d been playing Count Rugen himself. Because this isn’t the final revenge fight scene, this is the origin story. This is the bit Inigo tells us about when explaining his long-healed scars, before he finally gets his revenge. Before he can do that, he has to tell his story, because it’s literally the words, the mantra which guided his life, which gives him the power to free himself from his personal villain.

But Chuck melted the “sword” here, so the parallel breaks at this point. But when TFW finally does face Chuck, like for Inigo, the real weapon will be their words.

At one point in their fight, as Inigo repeats over and over again, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die,” Count Rugen begins backing away and yells STOP SAYING THAT! And this is where the fate of the duel is sealed. Rugen has already admitted that the words themselves have dealt him the first blow. The rest is just window dressing, or a wedding feast. Either way. :’D

[astro-b-o-y-d]

Daniel is a Dumbass: A Masterpost

Since I spent the most of yesterday talking about how much I adored the new episode (and since I did promise I’d do this), here’s a full master post of every demeaning, dumbass, and humiliating moment for Daniel from Arrival of the Torso Takers!

Some screencaps provided by @kuzann​

(Readmore because, heh, there’s so many moments. Also please feel free to tell me if I missed anything. I’d like this to be thorough. Also please don’t mistake this as some kind of character hate post. I love this dumbass man more than ever and this is how I show my appreciation; by relentlessly mocking him for the idiot boy he is)

Being unable to keep up his David facade just because he wanted to mess with Max a little bit, thereby making it obvious to EVERYONE (well...the audience) that something’s up with him

“What did you do with Space Kid?” “Oh, he’s....gone.” Really? You couldn’t come up with a better excuse or just TELL Max where he’d gone to keep Max from getting suspicious? Idiot.

Come on, Daniel. You trapped everyone in the Mess Hall and gave them snacks but didn’t poison them? I realize Max is your target at the moment, but....two birds with one stone, man. Two birds.

I’d add ‘Putting Space Kid in charge of glass objects that he could easily hurt himself with’ but for him, it’s actually not so dumb. Unless we consider the Descension AU. Don’t put the little space man in charge of dangerous stuff.

“BUMP BUMP BUUUUUM” Not really a dumbass moment, but he fucking does his own sound effects. What a huge loser.

“What? You’re not scared? But that was my big reveal!” TFW you finally return to the show and your ten-year-old nemesis ruins your cool reveal.

“You’re a DOWNGRADE, to say the least.” DRAG ! HIS ! ASS !

“I think I’m PRETTY resistant to Kool-Aid poisoning at this point.” HE’S DRANK HIS OWN KOOL-AID BEFORE. THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT.

“You know what that’s LIKE, MAX? NO ICE CREAM?” HE SOUNDS LIKE A SPOILED FIVE-YEAR-OLD.

Also mentioning your weakness to your nemesis. Come on, Daniel, that’s a rookie mistake.

Livestreaming Max’s death to David at a camp with shitty Wi-Fi means David probably wouldn’t get to see any of the... ‘important’ parts had Daniel succeeded in his plans, further undermining him.

“I’m not gonna fall for that. I’m not DAVID!” -After being compared to David- “I CAN DO IT BETTER THAN HIM, FUCK YOU!” (Sidenote: this only furthers my headcanon that the two of them are twins or siblings in general. That’s such a sibling thing to do. I’d say younger sibling thing most likely. Also furthering my headcanon that he’s the baby brother.)

I could not properly write out that little ‘OhohohooooohooOOOOOO’ moment if I tried, I’d be laughing too hard. What WAS that, Daniel?!

“Why’d you have to hit me so hard, Max? Now I have guitar splinter all over my FACE!” He’s such a fucking loser.

“HAHA! I WIN!” God, he really is a younger sibling.

“Is it the bomb shelter?” He hid David in a place that Max KNEW ABOUT AND HAD BEEN TO JUST YESTERDAY. WHY NOT HIDE HIM SOMEWHERE ELSE, IDIOT?

HE MISSED GRABBING A CHILD THAT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. DAVID WAS ABLE TO DO THAT BACK IN SEASON ONE. ...For the most part, anyway.

JUMPSCARE (god, he’s so fucking extra)

“But now you’ve given me no other choice but to stab you. Like some ~COMMONER~.” 

THE SCREAM WHEN DAVID ATTACKS HIM

Also this screencap, which is still a personal favorite:

LOOK AT HIS FUCKING FACES DURING THE SLAPFIGHT.

That’s attractive

“AAAAUUGUGHUH NOT DAIRY! OH, GOD, IT’S GETTING IN MY MOUTH!” 

This whole scene is the funniest goddamn thing because I’ve been there. Over and over because I refuse to stop eating dairy just because my body is a weak bitch. I WILL SUFFER FOR CHEESE GOD DAMN IT.

(Sidenote: that cocoa looks kinda like dried blood)

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS MAAAAAAAAAAAX!”

(Another sidenote: This is a cool shot)

And finally:

Also his ‘OW!’ sounded kinda like one of the platypus’s noises and that makes me laugh so hard. What a fucking loser.

[polygon-streams]

April 23, 2019 - Mortal Kombat 11 Story Time

Pat played Mortal Kombat 11 on his channel, major content warnings for blood, gore, graphic violence.

Link to VOD, starts at 00:09:45.

He’s got cyberpunk lighting, oh shit he’s HACKED IN [Watch Clip]

Thanks his new subs at the beginning of the stream (including Faith)

Has not played game beforehand, runs tutorial at beginning

One beverage of the night is a watermelon ale

“One small step for scorpion, giant leap for gamer-kind”

Pat says it’s the third game in mortal Kombat series, starts w #9; everyone was in a fighting ring and it went so bad someone time traveled and reset it

He got 1000 coin $$

Has played Mortal kombat X (second one); says game is relatively similar

He brutally stabbed a guy in the tutorial and said “oops”

He says that thick blood is “thick jelly” for the game

Plays multiple rounds in the tutorial to be more familiar with the game

Got more coins after his second round $$$. Capital Pat $

Fiddles w the setting before going back into gameplay

Says game requires people to memorize combo functions to play and if they don’t get it right, they can get punished (like Dragon Ball Z)

Gets hit with a massive combo and goes “mmMM IM FINE”

“This is some Looney Tunes shit”

Chooses to stay in tutorial; hears about “fatal blow”– which the cpu gave him last round

Requires more timing for fatal blows than previous mortal kombat; used to be able to hold down a button and give a fatality, apparently

“It was an accident; it was fucking cool tho”

Pat uses a character whose main weapon is a chain they can use to grapple on the enemy; is still figuring out the mechanics of the character

He referred to his stream as the pizza party

He entered the customize menu babey

Every menu option MUST start w a K instead of a C in the spirit of the game

Chat feels good about input controls

Chat plays caught and compromised when the boss of the game is revealed [Watch Clip]

Piss clip interrupts dramatic intro scene

Content warning: “everything in the game is NASTY”

BIG kw on this one (stands for “kontent warning”)

Military girl gets promoted to commander bc nepotism, but still needs to duel person promoting her: “I need to kick YOUR ass ma'am”

“My mom kicked my ass”

Looks up special moves bc he can’t beat his mom (also the mom is Sonya, which I think is a char from a previous MK game??)

Mom continues to kick his ass

“RIP mommy” (i detest this man)

“Damn, mom with the MIX UPS”

Finally beats the mom after three or so tries

Kung Lao can do hat decapitations

Pat wants to direct mortal kombat

An intense laser went off in the story and someone played the piss clip at the same time [Watch Clip]

Gives more shoutouts

Thinks the notion of guns in mortal kombat is funny bc guns are never used in the fights

Pat says memeshart should run the streams

*Pat, mocking the storyline* “The BONE temple”

Faith is responsible for many of the piss button presses in this stream

Wants to play as Jackie in the game; doesn’t want to play as Cassie (probably bc she’s not in previous games?)

Hour mark goes by, chat presses h to hydrate

Character says “fuck you!” after a long battle; Pat agrees

Mom is buried by some rocks, Pat: “she could get out if she were a little boulder” (chat proceeds to yell at Pat)

LincolnCarpenter used all of their piss bucks 😔

After the dad realized his wife had died, someone in the chat played the Donkey Kong has Died music; Pat erupts in laughter, “I’m sweaty” [Watch Clip]

Prisoner has a colosseum fight. Pat: “this is so fuckin stupid”

Characters (and Pat) react to time travel element of the plot. Pat remembers some, but not all of the characters. Chat (and Pat) makes memes about characters seeing different versions of themselves

Some of the gore freaked out Pat

Gets new fighting avatar, checks out moves, butchers one of them: “huEHhe”

“I’m just gonna mash the buttons”

Roleplays as his new avatar to himself

I think this game calculates points in decimal?? Why

An assassin appeared out of a cloud of blood from a previously killed enemy. Pat called her his “blood wife,” then sipped on some ale

He has a brief cowboy noise discussion; “they all sound like McCree” (character from Overwatch)

Calls the blood of his enemies “gamer fuel” while still fighting the cowboy

Calls a character “our anti-imperialist bae” (eat the rich)

(sing-song voice) “Gamer fuuuueeeeeeel in my mouth”

“D’vorah” apparently means “da fuq” in mortal kombat (to Pat, during his entrance)

Questioned how Raiden is pronounced (Raid-en in MK, Ry-den in Metal Gear)

Game: “There are two eras” Pat: “Aaaah yes that’s how time works”

Doubts the game’s explanation of how immortals don’t have duplicates, but mortals do. Laughs at plot holes

Tfw you accidentally call your general mom, “General Mommy” [Watch Clip]

Pat has to fight a baby scorpion (the character)

A character the chat calls Hat Man invented dabbing (bc game takes place 20 yrs before dabbing was a thing)

Plays as the Hat Man during a fight, spends first couple seconds figuring out how to throw the hat

“I’m dead. He’s gonna rip my spine out of my ass”

He did a cool combo and said “Good.” with so much authority

Poses question to the chat: “if you and your best friend are on a mystical quest and run into evil, double versions of yourself, do you fight your evil double, or your friend’s evil double?”

Chat is making Christmas Carol memes bc the time travel discussion

Hat Man runs into his evil double “Same hat”

Characters made decision to fight their own evil doubles

Pat remembers cyber machines

Pat smiles in a :D way and does a little dance [Watch Clip]

Sub-Zero is introduced, “Hey Boy” soundbit plays

Pat mocks robot death bc no feelings “my dreeeeams” [Watch Clip]

Characters walk by heads floating in tanks, dismembered body pieces, “NASTY, this game is gross”

character gets sawed in half; pat makes a loud, grossed-out noise

“God damn you Cipher!” sound bit plays while an evil ice lady is revealing plans

Pat fights a character named “Noob Saibot” (chat reacts as you’d expect)

“Caught and compromised” soundbit plays again

Stream wraps up, Pat is sleeby and does a Big Yawn, thanks the mods

Raids Thomas “Strawbiery” Biery

[vaguely-concerned]

empire of ivory here we go!

previous temeraire let’s read here

- um excuuuuse me I have waited two books for us to come back home to britain to see everyone again and now everything is awful and shitty and scary and my fave is leaving and nothing’s how it should be??? no??? this is unfair??????

- tharkay NO please don’t go everything provably goes to hell whenever you leave D:D:D:

(to be fair to him I guess it’s understandable to want some time alone to process the absolute outrageous bullshit he just pulled for a guy he’s known for like four months)

he used his page time well tho; instantly convincing roland of his worth and making her laugh... giving laurence his cup of tea b/c he looked like he needed it more... telling laurence that he’s leaving because he promised to do that much at least... truly the best boy, off to fetch more dragons apparently because it wasn’t quite crazy enough the first time

- god I love jane roland, I’m so glad my two faves got along instantly, between them they could... maybe protect laurence from himself? at least a little??? I can but dream

- I think this is the most emotionally invested I’ve been in a piece of media since that time I spent a few months completely incoherent over uncharted, and naughty dog very kindly held my heart in their hands and chose to be gentle with it in the end but I am not so sure that is how it’s going to be for this series and I am Not Prepared for the suffering

- I love whenever laurence thinks uncomfortably about one of the various and sundry atrocities committed by the government he’s still pledged all his loyalty to. yes william maybe the british empire... is in fact not good and has enough blood on their hands to dye the ocean red. I can’t wait until he connects the dots here (and presumably has a pretty intense crisis if faith about it because it seems like one of the loadbearing structures of his character... actually no wait I’m not ready to see this D:D:D:)

- the little details like the fact that he just calls bb!roland ‘emily’ and harcourt becomes ‘catherine’ so easily in his narration now are so so sweet  

- lord allendale is one of those dudes who have good politics but is a shitheel to his family and I want to smack him

laurence being the mortified poster boy of this party, though? priceless, imagine coming up with a protagonist this effortlessly involuntarily hilarious, it’s the mark of true genius

- I don’t usually quibble over things like this, but I think the edit for this fourth book specifically is a bit lacking? I’ve come across a lot of mistakes even my dumb ass can pick up on already, and I’m only a hundred pages or so in

- caught between crying and cackling at this part b/c like laurence I’m  d e v a s t a t e d  at the thought of temeraire getting sick but also temeraire is just like cheerfully getting laid the whole time

also how did none of the aviators think to give laurence The Talk about giving his dragon The Talk, you all know what he’s like

- oh thank god

- I have spent half of today crying about dragons coughing, how are you this fine evening good reader

- btw this series fills a hole in my soul left by jkr giving me all those tantalizing hints of different types of dragons in ‘fantastic beasts’ and never following up on it

- tharkay may not be here but laurence just mentioned him like once in his narration so let’s take the excuse to reminisce about the good old days (when tharkay was here)... remember that time when the one of his own jokes he laughed openly at was about lawyers and laurence frankly should have responded better b/c it was kind of funny and sadly temeraire doesn’t have the worldly experience to know it yet.... aaah precious, he truly is a sardonic blessing to my heart and deserves the world

okay back to our regularly scheduled content   

- riley why u gotta b such a bitch about this

(I love how laurence is constantly doubting himself over this tho, as if he’s done something wrong in this situation... like honey baby if there’s one thing worth breaking a friendship over it’s probably them being cool with slavery lol. it shows how much laurence has grown, considering that this disagreement has always existed between them but he used to be willing to just overlook it... I’m so proud of you laurence)

also lol @ berkely coming in to tell them everyone can hear them, I have a desperately soft spot for him and maximus. just the image of both of them turning to him ‘united in appalled indignation’ like ‘excuse you???’ and him giving exactly zero fucks... *chef kiss emoji*

- most important information revealed in this book: a) dragons are not widely considered to have committed original sin, thank you reverend erasmus and b) laurence has taken time out of his day at some point to worry about it b/c he’s a dork

(this is the sort of world building I am hopelessly weak to lol)

- gong su tricking temeraire into eating in the most melodramatic way possible... god bless you chef

- fkjhsadkjfhsdkjalhfaskjldhf laurence judging chenery for what he’s wearing while going out into the jungle in full uniform hat included himself... I caaaaan’t

- demane has only appeared on three pages so far but if anything happens to him I’ll kill everyone in this book and then myself

- ‘average dragon speaks one million languages’ factoid actualy statistical error. Temeraire Linguist Georg, who wants a pavilion thank you very much & learns over 10,000 languages each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted <3<3<3

(I love that temeraire is like... a nerd dragon with a hopelessly jock captain)

- laurence effortlessly rating the relative hotness of the other male aviators to try to suss out who harcourt has slept with fjsaldfhsdkljafh do you ever hear yourself think william

like this is the thing about him it’s so easy to headcanon him as bi b/c he can be so mindbogglingly oblivious it’s entirely possible he literally wouldn’t even have noticed until someone smacked him over the head with it

- see I’m very happy they found the cure but I don’t fucking trust it b/c the pattern of these books tends to be to give you one moment of ‘oh phew everything is going to be okay’ about 2/3 into the story and THEN everything goes to hell and fifty pages later laurence is dissociating and napoleon has conquered prussia 

- THERE WE GO RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

temeraire is never going to let laurence go anywhere without him again and rightly so

- hasn’t mrs erasmus been through enough. can’t she just be allowed to chill 

- this is really cool world building but I’m too stressed out to appreciate it

really enjoy the description of architecture tho this sounds so awesome

- sfahdfklsahdfksjda laurence making sure his clothes are as washed and presentable as possible... I can’t with you you beautiful idiot

- TEMERAIRE OH MY GOD IS HE HERE IS LAURENCE HALLUCINATING PLS SAY HE’S ACTUALLY HERE

- ...well I mean if anyone has a freudian excuse for being kind of dickish I guess it would be these guys? it’s actually pretty chill of them to only flog one of them (laurence, because he just can’t play it any way but stupid lawful good at every turn) and not just killing them all I guess, they kept them fed and stuff

- oh thank god

- temeraire you are the most darling dragon boy and I love you

I was really really worried for a moment there that the reference to the Colosseum was a not-so-subtle hint they would have to gladiator fight to the death but thankfully they were basically just calling in a parliament

- DID THIS MOTHERFUCKER JUST STAB A CHILD IN THE STOMACH?? I HOPE HE ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS HIMSELF IN THE DICK AND DIES pls say demane is going to be okay

- aw okay finally something good for mrs erasmus I will take it

- laurence you useless fool of a narrator is demane okay?? 

- god roland is just so cool naomi novik really gave us a jovial butch silver fox aviator lady huh... she did that for us and I for one am full of gratitude

- oh thank GOD (hm I sense a running theme here lol) the kid is going to be okay I can breathe again

- iskierka the pirate captain + temeraire’s reaction... perfect

- ;____________; I would lay down my life for temeraire and also that’s a gutpunch of a moodswing... the perfect hilarity of ‘that is an ugly hill’ immediately followed by That... jesus

- awww every time volly shows up again is a joy (temrer!!!)

- laurence... laurence you need to stop asking people to marry you because you never actually really fucking mean it!!!!! have you learned nothing about yourself since book 1, trust your goddamn instincts for once in your life you and roland have been doing perfectly okay thus far as like... affectionate fuckbuddies right? 

(her reaction was priceless tho god bless)

- aaaah there we go the british government is looking more like itself... welcome to the world of realpolitik laurence I’m really sorry :(

- “It is only dragons, you know” JANE ROLAND WTF DID YOU JUST SAY

- “This government is not of my party; my king is ill and mad; but still I am his subject. You have sworn no oath, but I have.” He paused. “I have given my word.”

:) this is... fine

(like. I know this is necessary character growth and he’s basically been a waste of a good man in service to a government like this the whole time and the writing’s been on the wall since book 1 but I don’t want this to be happening to hiiiiim)

- tfw... ur dragon boi is so good... that being anything less than good for him in turn is unthinkable...................... b o i

- ...jane doesn’t really know him very well if she didn’t see this coming from a mile off tho does she

I mean I guess she has other stuff to think about but this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone

- remember when he thought the entire corps was weird and now he’s finally at home there... and has to leave it behind :):):) super extra fine is what this is

- yeah okay laurence definitely has a crush on ol’ bonaparte noting that down lol he’s all but blushing after that kiss on the cheek 

also... if you just overlook the dictator thing for a moment is napoleon wrong about what he’s saying tho. (no and not even laurence is prepared to say so he’s just going to go back there and get murdered anyway b/c idk lawful good is dumb as fuck sometimes I guess)

It’s really cool how the author shows that napoleon has a better handle on laurence’s psychology after barely meeting him than a lot of people he’s known for years now, though, really adds to his menace and appeal as a character

- wow uh that’s one way to end a book... it’s actually tipped over from tragedy into a strange sort of hilarity for me now: he literally got sued out of his life’s earnings for being a decent human being, committed treason for the same reason and is about to be hanged for thinking genocide might have been a step too far -- in the span of thirty pages. I believe ‘that escalated quickly’ is not too much of an exaggeration here

- SIPHO IS GONNA WRITE BOOKS ONE DAY YOU GUYS!!!! I PROUDLY WELCOME OUR SECOND NERD TO THE CREW

 - I think this one might be my least favorite so far? not that I disliked it, it’s just the one that’s hit the worst by the fact that there’s not always that much time spent with the cultures central to the book; tswana seems really interesting but because of the way the plot played out and our limited perspective though laurence it just didn’t work for me? the cool shit comes in sipho’s book at the end, like how thoroughly they kicked the europeans out of the coast of africa, which is very cathartic (I will say that most of the second book being set on the ship and then only a sliver of it is actually in china annoyed me too haha) 

I have the distinct feeling this book is setting up for some Misery and breaking of the pattern a bit in the next one though, which will be interesting! ONWARDS TO MORE PAIN AND LAURENCE IS ALREADY PASSIVELY SUICIDAL FROM THE OUTSET SO LIKE... I’M SURE THIS WILL BE REAL FUN :)

maybe my boy will be back tho? silver linings silver linings clinging to some silver linings

[hayleydirectium]

Daniel is a Dumbass: A Masterpost (Remade~!)

Yep, this post is back thanks to an archived version of the original that made copy+pasting it into a new post easy~! No readmore this time, I’d rather not lose it again, so you might have to scroll a bit (sorry~!).

Since I spent the most of yesterday talking about how much I adored the new episode (and since I did promise I’d do this), here’s a full master post of every demeaning, dumbass, and humiliating moment for Daniel from Arrival of the Torso Takers!

Some screencaps provided by @kuzann​

Also please feel free to tell me if I missed anything. I’d like this to be thorough. Also please don’t mistake this as some kind of character hate post. I love this dumbass man more than ever and this is how I show my appreciation; by relentlessly mocking him for the idiot boy he is:

Being unable to keep up his David facade just because he wanted to mess with Max a little bit, thereby making it obvious to EVERYONE (well…the audience) that something’s up with him

“What did you do with Space Kid?” “Oh, he’s….gone.” Really? You couldn’t come up with a better excuse or just TELL Max where he’d gone to keep Max from getting suspicious? Idiot.

Come on, Daniel. You trapped everyone in the Mess Hall and gave them snacks but didn’t poison them? I realize Max is your target at the moment, but….two birds with one stone, man. Two birds.

I’d add ‘Putting Space Kid in charge of glass objects that he could easily hurt himself with’ but for him, it’s actually not so dumb. Unless we consider the Descension AU. Don’t put the little space man in charge of dangerous stuff.

“BUMP BUMP BUUUUUM” Not really a dumbass moment, but he fucking does his own sound effects. What a huge loser.

“What? You’re not scared? But that was my big reveal!” TFW you finally return to the show and your ten-year-old nemesis ruins your cool reveal.

“You’re a DOWNGRADE, to say the least.” DRAG ! HIS ! ASS !

“I think I’m PRETTY resistant to Kool-Aid poisoning at this point.” HE’S DRANK HIS OWN KOOL-AID BEFORE. THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT.

“You know what that’s LIKE, MAX? NO ICE CREAM?” HE SOUNDS LIKE A SPOILED FIVE-YEAR-OLD.

Livestreaming Max’s death to David at a camp with shitty Wi-Fi means David probably wouldn’t get to see any of the… ‘important’ parts had Daniel succeeded in his plans, further undermining him.

“I’m not gonna fall for that. I’m not DAVID!” -After being compared to David- “I CAN DO IT BETTER THAN HIM, FUCK YOU!” (Sidenote: this only furthers my headcanon that the two of them are twins or siblings in general. That’s such a sibling thing to do. I’d say younger sibling thing most likely. Also furthering my headcanon that he’s the baby brother.)

I could not properly write out that little ‘OhohohooooohooOOOOOO’ moment if I tried, I’d be laughing too hard. What WAS that, Daniel?!

“Why’d you have to hit me so hard, Max? Now I have guitar splinter all over my FACE!” He’s such a fucking loser.

“HAHA! I WIN!” God, he really is a younger sibling.

“Is it the bomb shelter?”

HE MISSED GRABBING A CHILD THAT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. DAVID WAS ABLE TO DO THAT BACK IN SEASON ONE. …For the most part, anyway.

JUMPSCARE (god, he’s so fucking extra)

“But now you’ve given me no other choice but to stab you. Like some ~COMMONER~.”

THE SCREAM WHEN DAVID ATTACKS HIM

Also this screencap, which is still a personal favorite:

LOOK AT HIS FUCKING FACES DURING THE SLAPFIGHT.

That’s attractive

“AAAAUUGUGHUH NOT DAIRY! OH, GOD, IT’S GETTING IN MY MOUTH!”

This whole scene is the funniest goddamn thing because I’ve been there. Over and over because I refuse to stop eating dairy just because my body is a weak bitch. I WILL SUFFER FOR CHEESE GOD DAMN IT.

(Sidenote: that cocoa looks kinda like dried blood)

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS MAAAAAAAAAAAX!”

(Another sidenote: This is a cool shot)

And finally:

Also his ‘OW!’ sounded kinda like one of the platypus’s noises and that makes me laugh so hard. What a fucking loser.

[tumblunni]

I hate that oddly specific feeling of like you wanna complain about a transphobic bad thing but then it's like hard to do it without sounding like you're defending a genuinely reprehensible character?

It's just that..like...

Excellus is a BAD PERSON

But the game does not want you to hate them because they're a BAD PERSON

It wants you to hate them because they're a trans woman/gay man/non-binary person/ambigiuos melting pot of every single queer stereotype simultaneously somehow

The game is constantly fuckin going on and onnnnn about how repulsive and ugly and Not Gender Correct this person is, and somehow this is a more important factor in wanting to stab them than the fact they killed a main character's brother

Also the whole fact that they have such a horrid personality with NO humanity or even a MOTIVE for what they're doing = kinda also part of the trans stereotype. This character only exists to be a lazy shorthand for "instantly hateable", you're meant to just accept all this bullshit simply because they're "hideous and wrong"

Also seriously I can't believe the dub made it EVEN WORSE! Cos Excellus (Excelli in Japanese) originally just speaks with a feminine speech pattern and adds lil hearts and ~ symbols in their speech boxes and stuff to indicate "hey I am a stereotype of someone DMAB who is somewhere on the queer spectrum and this is supposed to be bad". Similar to the (ugh) creepy incest gay brothers in that one sidequest. But in the dub they kinda added a goddamn flourish of this character talking like a friggin sex criminal! And even MORE mentions of "hey he is totally a man and can never be anything but a man, let's all talk way too much about how repugnant it is to be non gender conforming". While also friggin attempting to canonize that this character actually IS a cis straight man and (some fucking how) only acts trans because he's a eunuch????? Getting genital surgery changes your fuckin personality now????? Also seriously why did you have to have an invasive conversation about a dead person's testicles and why was it played as somehow a funny joke.

None of that was in Japanese but honestly with the rest of Japanese Excellus's general portrayal it seems INCREDIBLY likely that she was intended to be a trans woman. I kinda laughed at how the Tokyo Mirage Sessions version of Excellus straight up has giant plastic robot boobies yet the dub is still like We Will Just Say Man And Deny All Trans, While Also Simultaneously Saying Trans Is Bad, Somehow.

So yeah all of that just makes me hate Aversa even more for saying that shit, cos if that line actually existed in the Japanese version the context would seem more like.. well, trans woman who had the closest medieval equivelant of transition surgery and is being mocked for it. At least the knowledge that the Single Worst Moment Of The Whole Thing wasn't canon to the original makes me hate her a little less. Though I still hate her because she acts EXACTLY AS FLIRTY AS EXCELLUS and commits EVEN MORE CRIMES, yet she doesnt get nearly as much hate and even gets a redemption just because she acts like a sex criminal while being cis and conventionally attractive...

Auuugh I don't wanna hate the redeemed lady and be sympathetic to the asshole! But just the context of the game's writing and attitudes surrounding them really taints the characters...

Also I'm sad that there was brief hope that Loki in Heroes might actually be a respectful portrayal of a trans or genderfluid character, but nah it's just one of those boring overly-cisnormative-ideas-of-gender type "genderflip" things for mythological characters. Which is depressing cos mythological Loki literally ACTUALLY WAS a genderfluid pansexual shapeshifter who could be both god and goddess. Something that's so often censored in modern adaptations, and god it's so weird to have that happen again even though this adaptation is literally using the female Loki?? Just wiping off the whole "and also this character can be a man too" aspect... Nah just incredibly lazy fanservice cis woman time, I guess...

I mean cmon man, Fates made tiny tiny baby steps towards more LGBT representation, can we please step it up a little... Awakening already started with being behind the times, and all they changed was literally adding ONE gay character per game so you had to buy a certain version to date a gay man or lesbian woman...and it STILL contained homophobia at the same time... God just fuckin...TRY A LITTLE, PLEASE...

So uhh yeah that's what all the new news about the Three Houses game made me remember, and I'm trying to not get my hopes up. If it does have a big change to more inclusive writing then I'd be pleasantly surprised! But honestly I'm not gonna buy it unless I'm 100% sure I'm not gonna trip and fall into an eternal quicksand of self hate again

Tfw I literally look like Excellus in real life... (minus the comically overdetailed caricature face, of course...well, at least I hope so...)

Also can I just give another shout-out to Tabitha from Pokémon ORAS, a game I played in the same year that rekindled my faith in people like me being actually non hideous and genuinely liked by the fanbase. Srsly him and Excellus are just the same character drawn in bigoted and non bigoted art styles, I swear!

All of that heck happened back when I was first coming to terms with my gender identity so I'm glad that bloody fire emblem didn't kick me down back into the closet

[pherryt]

For the Ship + Sentence game: Destiel (or gen!TFW) “I picked the wrong week to quit drinking...”

Okay, i was actually out for a walk when i got this and then i had the most difficult time getting this going but once I did, well, 1556 words later, here ya go… 

canon divergent, bunker fic, confessions, possibly spell related, Destiel with Sam rolling his eyes on the sidelines

it’s long so i used a read more

“Ipicked the wrong week to quit drinking…” Dean groaned, slumping down in his chair and cradling his head inhis hands.

“Dean? What’s wrong?” Castiel sat beside him,concern present in his voice though Dean refused to look at him.

“Pretty sure my life just imploded. I need adrink, Cas,” Dean whined.

“Don’t listen to him, Cas,” Sam said, slamminga book down on the table and Dean whimpered.

“You’re so mean,Sammy!”

“Would someone please enlighten me as to what’sgoing on?” Castiel asked. Dean blushed and looked away, clamming up. “Dean? Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”

Sam laughed and Dean dropped his head to the table with another groan.

“Why don’t you just tell him, Dean?”

“Screw you, Sam,” Dean grumbled.

“Oh, I see…” Castiel stood, his voice hurt. “I’ll go makemyself useful in the library then.”

Dean jumped up and grabbed Cas’s arm. “Don’t do that! Forthe love of…of…just… trust me, you do notwant to do that.”

Cas pulled his arm out of Dean’s grasp. “It’s clear you don’twant to talk about whatever’s bothering you, though your brother seems to know,so I think I’ll decide for myself what I do and do not want.”

Dean let out a strangled sound and scrambled after Cas ashe walked out of the kitchen, through the map room and straight for thelibrary. He could hear Sam laughing his ass off behind them and Dean hopedhe really did laugh his ass off. It would serve his pain in the butt brotherright.

“Cas, I’m serious – you don’t want to go in there!” Dean shouteddesperately after the disappearing angel. He tripped over the steps on his wayup and missed another swipe at Cas’s elbow.

Slippery angel.

He knew as soon as Cas saw it, for the angel had frozen inthe door of the library. Dean wanted to slink off with his tail between hislegs, if he had one, that was.

Tentatively, he forced himself forward instead and stoodbeside Cas in the doorway, keeping his head down. He didn’t need to see thelibrary, he already knew what was in there. 

Talk about wearing his heart on hissleeve.

Gulping, Dean said quietly, “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t wantto burden you with my shit. And I can’t seem to get rid of it. I think we – or I- tripped some sort of spell or something.”

“Dean, you thought… I’d be mad about this?” Castiel said. Somethingin his tone had Dean raising his head some and looking up and over at theangel.

“Uh… yes?” he said uncertainly.

Cas didn’t look back, just continued to stare into thelibrary. Dean could see his eyes flicking over every inch. He knew what he’dsee. It was the worst kind of sappy, Valentine’s day shit he could even thinkof.

Which was actually because he had.

Every last bit of it had come from him, from his mind. Thingshe’d maybe imagined once or twice before burying in the deep dark recesses ofhis mind, slapped in a box which he then locked and buried with the word ‘unattainable’written on the stone marking the spot.

He’d even thrown away the virtual key.

It never really stopped him from imagining a future withhim and Cas in it, if their lives had been different. It didn’t keep him fromthe daydreams of domesticity, from having wet dreams and waking up hard. It didn’tkeep him from longing for things he couldn’t have, or didn’t deserve.

For Cas.

Fuck his life. He wanteda drink so bad. After Cas walked away, confirming all of Dean’s worst fears, hedidn’t think he’d be able to make it through the rest of the day withoutgetting so black out drunk he couldn’t remember the pain of Cas’s rejection.

At least, before heknew, there was always that inkling of hope that maybe Cas wouldn’t. But Deanknew, in his heart, that there wasn’t any hope, not for someone like him.

“I’m sorry,” Deansaid again, helplessly, his eyes burning with tears he refused to shed.

And then Castielturned, the most beautific smile on his face that it stole Dean’s breath away. “Whyare you sorry, Dean? This… this is a dream come true. A dream I had not daredto allow myself.”

“W-what?” Dean blinked.What had Cas just said?

“Dean, I love you,”Castiel said earnestly, those blue eyes boring into Dean. Dean could drown in thoseeyes, he was almost certain of it. “I’ve always loved you. There is no place I’drather be than at your side.”

“But, Cas, you’realways leaving. I thought – that was a pretty clear indication that –"Dean fumbled.

“I only left becauseI felt I should. For so many reasons. Because I thought, however erroneously,that I wasn’t truly wanted outside of the things I could help with, because therewere things I needed to do, and because…” Castiel paused and turned to faceDean completely. “Because I thought I would not give in to the ill-advised temptationto kiss you, when I was certain it would just result in you hurting your handon my face once more.”

“So… Cas… what areyou saying?” Dean edged closer, licking his lips hopefully.

“I’m saying that I havewanted to kiss you, you infuriating human, almost since the moment I raised youfrom perdition, and that desire has only gotten stronger the longer I’ve known you.”

“Even when I stabbedyour ass?” Dean couldn’t resist asking.

“You did not stab mein the ass, you stabbed me in the chest,” Cas deadpanned but Dean could see thetwinkle in his eyes.

“You jackass,” Deanlaughed. Castiel’s face broke into one of his rare, gummy smiles, the one thatset Deans heart twitterpating.

“Will the two of youkiss already so I can call Rowena to fix this? The overabundance of pink, redand white is literally killing my eyes. The declarations of Dean’s love for Casis a lovely sentiment but overly… annoying since it’s morphed all the bookspines to read only that. And did you know what I found when I opened one of those books?” Sam saidfrom behind them, causing Dean to startle and step back, almost falling downthe stairs backwards if Cas hadn’t caught him like some sort of damsel in distress.

“Dammit, Sammy!”Dean yelled.

“I’m scarred forlife, Dean. Just so you know. There are some parts of you I have seen that I neverwanted to see and never want to see again. Same goes for you, Cas. I’m happyfor both of you, keep me out of your sex life.” Sam shoved a book at Dean. “So,fix this so I can get back to doing some research.”

He disappeared,leaving Dean and Cas to blink after him. Dean looked down at the book. He lookedup at the room, then down at the book. How much worse could it be?

Taking a breath,Dean opened the book and then choked.

Cas leaned over topeer into its pages with him. “Is it an instruction manual on copulation? Iassure you, my hands-on experience may be limited but I am fully aware of how to havesex, no matter the genders of the parties involved.”

Dean choked againand slammed the book shut on its… terribly suggestive images of him and Cas.

No wonder Sam waspissed. Through no fault of his own, Dean had somehow defiled Sam’s happyplace.

If someone had redecoratedthe Dean Cave in a similar fashion involving Sam, Dean was quite certain hemight throw up.

He creaked the bookopen again and stared, flipping a few pages to see the different positions it suggested. Deancleared his throat and looked at Castiel biting his lip thoughtfully.

“So uh, do you thinka kiss is good enough, or do we have to follow the ways of the Dee-sti-el Kama Sutrato make the library go back to normal?”

“Deestiel?” Cas tiltedhis head.

“Oh uh, just… just somethingSam and I picked up on a case, once. Don’t worry about it.” Dean blushed,remembering the girls and their musical. It hadn’t actually been that bad, butit had been a little wrenching, especially seeing the fake!Dean and fake!Cas andfinding out they were a couple.

Something he thoughthe would never have.

Apparently, he’d beenwrong.

“I’m not opposed togoing further,” Castiel said evenly. Deans mind did a record scratch. He wasalmost certain he actually heard the needle scratching. “But just a kiss wouldalso be fine, if you’re amenable.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,”Dean said breathlessly, eyes wide.

He couldn’t believe thiswas happening, that this was real. He stared at Cas until the angel rolled hiseyes, grabbed Dean gently by the shoulders and slotted their mouths together.

Dean melted into thekiss with a moan, grabbing onto Cas’s accursed (beloved) trenchcoat to keep onhis feet.

Worst week ever toquite drinking? Dean may have been wrong about that, but he was happilychanging his mind right now.

Dean’s been to Hell,Heaven and points in between and kissing Cas had all those places beat.