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n7punk · 9 months

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“By the Sea (Drown Me Already)” Fic Notes

By the Sea is done! It took a longer than I was expecting with everything that happened in my life, but it’s also longer than I was originally intending so that's to be expected lol.

Playlist:

This AU was purely vibes for a while, and thus the playlist was mostly vibe-based at first, but a few of these are very good fits.

GOOD GIRL ERA (SIDE A) — UPSAHL. FBL (SIDE B) — UPSAHL. WEEKEND — Betty Who. Silk Chiffon — MUNA (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) Bed — Niko Rubio. Love Seasons — Nina Nesbitt. Yellow — XANA. bad idea right? — Olivia Rodrigo. Casual — Chappell Roan. HOT TO GO! — Chappell Roan. Shy — K.Flay. Naked In Manhatten — Chappell Roan. Borderline — Sigrid. Minute — Kim Petras.

Epilogue Life:

I did more of a traditional epilogue than I usually do, so there’s not too much to say here, but they date working through their issues for six months before Catra officially moves in with Adora and not long after Scorpia, Entrapta, and Perfuma move in together. Catra does stay at the marina for a lot longer than she ever thought she would before eventually getting too fed up with the waves and getting an opportunity to work for one of the resorts instead.

Chapter 1:

⦁ This AU is heavily based on an area I used to visit as a kid, which sucked so much you can bet there was not a single resort there, but it was the basis of my beach experiences, so it inspired certain parts of this set up. I wanted to do a resort-type AU, but there are also some moral issues when it comes to resorts so I focused on the general vacation town angle.

⦁ I made a lot of jokes about not knowing jackshit about what I was writing, which is partially true, but I actually have Some experience related to the water parts of this fic, it’s just rather removed, and I don’t know the first thing about diving. I haven’t even been to a beach in seven years, but I dated a girl with a boat once and I leaned heavily on that experience lmao.

⦁ “Hot surfer chicks coming to the marina might make it a bit more bearable.” Catra, honey, you have Got to stop jinxing yourself.

⦁ Entrapta was right about Perfuma being anxious. She has so much experience trying to decipher emotions that are easily evident to others and picked up on the body language.

⦁ My POV for fics is always somewhat reactionary. If I do a fic that is primarily from one perspective (Adora POV in Roses & Thorns) it’s almost inevitable that the next fic (Catra POV in By The Sea) will swing the other way to balance it out. That’s not planned at all, it just happens a lot. My brain misses whatever girl it got to spend less time with lol.

Chapter 2:

⦁ Mermista’s dad owned the marina for several decades before he sold it to Netossa when he retired because Mermista wasn’t interested in running it and also in middle school. They get a free boat spot for life.

⦁ I mentioned this in a comment but couldn’t expand on it at the time: Adora and Catra’s relationship is very inspired by the setting. It’s a surprise reunion in an unexpected place, which works well with the vacation town vibes, but they’re both also worried about losing it, which matches with the transience of such a place.

Chapter 3:

⦁ Adora’s small talk was actually really important stuff for diving, that just didn’t have any relevance to the rest of the office, nor did Frosta care, and to Catra it just sounded like weather small talk.

Chapter 4:

⦁ Catra kept up most of their photos from high school. There’s one or two she had said something too glowing about Adora in the caption and thus deleted in a fit of spitefulness, but for the most part she couldn’t stand to lose them. Except that one. That one hurt so much every time she read it because it just seemed like lies, and when she was feeling generous enough to not view it was that, it was the ramblings of a best friend who only felt friendly. It was either lies, a goodbye, or a consolation prize to being “friendzoned.” She wiped it from her account and then quickly regretted it.

⦁ On Adora’s part, you can guess, but she wiped her social media in a low fit after her shoulder. The last thing she had posted was a photo taken by the training pool, gushing about how excited she was for the scouting. It hurt too much. Every photo from college did, and every photo from high school had for a while, but those were at least good memories. Now everything from college was tinged with regret and failure. She saved a lot of the old photos — mostly from high school — and even screenshotted some captions or comments — Catra-related, or even left by Catra herself — and then stuck all of that on her harddrive and pretended none of it existed. After she found a life again, she found herself occasionally going back to look at those high school photos, but she rarely revisited the few she saved from college. It took her months to feel like she could post again. It wasn’t until the next summer, when she hoped enough of her college friends had moved on or forgotten either her or what happened, that she felt comfortable doing it, and when she did she went public on her account, trying to open back up her life. Being public also felt like it gave her a layer of separation from those old high school/college followers even if all it really did was add more strangers to the pool.

⦁ I went back and forth on how to describe the age of the account and the timing of the incident, because they’re kind of halfway. Adora’s shoulder got injured at the end of sophomore year, and her social media existence started many months later, after healing time, so her account got remade roughly two-two and a half years ago and she got injured around three.

⦁ The post of Adora getting fancy dinner after the surfboard post was because her friends saw her anxiety and her overworking herself to get the money to get it fixed and knew she would never let them just pay for the repairs, so they took her to dinner instead and didn’t let her pay for the check. She needed a good time with her friends, and the free meal couldn’t hurt.

⦁ The line about crutches in Adora’s caption is actually something I said to my friend once when they were feeling ashamed of their aid. When you need them, you need them, and something being a “crutch” doesn’t mean it’s bad or unnecessary.

⦁ Adora’s injury was her “breaking the sword” moment in this universe.

⦁ It got cut because it was awkwardly shoehorned in the dinner conversation, but Adora’s Serenia bio says she has four years of experience because she actually tried diving while at college, but it was basically just some fun lessons she did that she never expected to go beyond that. It’s part of why Mara took her under her wing so hard, though. She recognized Adora’s trauma with water, but also how it was so tied to her identity and left her feeling like a shell after “failing” at swimming, so she found new ways for Adora to use those talents and find fun in them. And honestly she needed another hand with the town’s growth.

⦁ I’ll be honest: my knowledge of torn ligaments comes not from sports, but from my dog tearing her knee. I remember the vet told us some wild statistic like half of all dogs will have torn their other leg within a year of the first injury but we made all the lifestyle changes recommended while healing from surgery to mitigate risk factors and she never had any more problems! That was like six years ago now and she’s still super peppy. You’d have no idea she’s a senior dog with a knee surgery under her belt. Oh anyway that’s why I mention the injury lingering because yeah it can affect dogs at least so bad they fuck up their other leg the same way from compensation within months.

⦁ Adora talking about being happy in Bright Moon making her realize how much she missed Catra actually was a pretty big revelation for her. College was just hard the whole way through and Adora was distracting herself from her pain (emotional and physical when she overworked herself) by… overworking herself more. Taking a full load, spending too much energy at practice, working a part-time job after school, she had absolutely no room to breathe and honestly the only surprising thing is that it took her that long to get injured. She never had room to look up and see what was missing because she was explicitly avoiding doing that and pretty much everything was a pain point. Once she was healed and happy, the loss of Catra reared its head again and refused to be pushed aside, even if she was more prepared to process it. It was a lot less painful, but still present.

Chapter 5:

⦁ I think Bow 100% is the kind of guy who would enjoy being made into a sand castle but sand is so unpleasant in a lot of places and to get it out of your binder you’d have to take it off and then put it back on, which is kind of difficult on the go.

Chapter 6:

⦁ Okay so the “armor” from the title is Catra’s bravado combined with the emotional armor of making her wants and Adora’s lingering eyes all about desire instead of acknowledging the enormity of her feelings. Adora is doing a similar thing in her head, but she’s also trying to deny her desire too, so her head is a full on shitshow.

⦁ Originally the grocery store scene was going to be later in the fic when they were “Maybes” because I love the casual intimacy of grocery shopping together (romantically or platonically! It’s just fun), but I needed an Adora scene in this chapter to give a little more of a read on where she was at (denial) and the chapter was really short without it, so I decided to write it now.

⦁ I have actually seen a guy “rescue” a grocery store lobster and keep it as a pet for years on youtube. The transformation she went through under his care is insane.

⦁ Apparently cats and dogs aren’t really suppose to have nuts because it’s a big risk to them, but for the most part it has nothing to do with toxins and is just because they’re a choking hazard or at risk of being a blockage since cats and dogs don’t usually chew things up a lot. Anyway there are a few that are actual problems and that’s specifically raw cashews.

Chapter 7:

⦁ I actually wrote the scene with Mara talking about Adora surfing before chapter five, but it was too early in the fic for that and they needed to build more before something that important. The entire point of putting it early was Catra being surprised by how quickly Mara was willing to accept her and thus wondering what Adora had said about her in the past, but 1) it’s honestly still like that even being pushed back, and it’s more reasonable in that regard, 2) it was both too assuring and too insecure for the vibes I wanted.

⦁ Everything from chapter 8 was originally in chapter 7, but then all the swimming/hook up stuff got so long I had to separate them out, so CH7 ended up being mostly transition. I tell myself transitions are important when I just want to write angsty trash make outs lol.

Chapter 8:

⦁ The make out against the pool deck is like The Scene Lite™️ for this fic. It’s one of like two points I was building to early.

⦁ The original idea for the fic was that Adora would live in a house on Mara’s big property out of town, but when I went to write this scene Adora just said some stuff about living twenty-five minutes away and that got abandoned.

Chapter 9:

⦁ Honestly you can take your pick on whether Bow couldn’t arm wrestle Sea Hawk because it would make his arm too sore to drive or the losing penalty was taking shots. Both were ideas.

⦁ The closet scene is The Scene™️ for this fic. I think I wrote it before the first hookup scene in the first outline when things were more antagonistic (more on that later).

⦁ It’s so not relevant to the fic so I’m sticking it here, but Adora’s old swim coach was almost as bad as Weaver, but that actually worked out for her when it came to scouting. The swim coach wanted Adora to go pro for the glory to her team, and she knew Weaver wanted her to go to a local college, so when scouting started, the coach worked with Adora behind Weaver’s back to help her get seen and apply. This made it even easier to hide, and without it she probably would have needed Catra’s help to pull that off, thus assuring Catra actually knew about it and wasn’t totally blindsided. Adora’s coach actually helped her out and drove her to the airport for her flight out since Adora had a total blow-up with Weaver when she found out. It was something Adora needed, but it was still self-serving.

Chapter 10:

⦁ Their whole conversation here was supposed to be a quick joke and then it became the entire chapter somehow and that’s just the story of all my fics tbh. I really wanted it to be quick since I didn’t want people to think I was making light of IRL racial fetishes but I truly do think all of that would function very differently in any world with multiple species, especially the more diverse the species get and thus the less alike. It starts becoming increasingly harder for a human to be wired to find them attractive, and obviously the species in SPOP aren’t that different, but it’s a topic that always intrigued me in Mass Effect/sci-fi fic that there really is nothing like in our reality, so I was interested in at least brushing up against it and that’s how the joke happened. I’ve made some jokes about it before but they were always the quick jokes I meant for this one to be and obviously that didn’t end up happening here.

Chapter 11:

⦁ A lot of people clocked it but the musical song was Dead Girl Walking (not the reprise) from the Heathers musical (which is infinitely better than the movie, god, don’t watch that thing).

⦁ I went back and forth on if Catra would like the Ferris wheel, because on one hand, they have their secret place really high up and she doesn’t seem to be afraid of falling off the railing, but on the other hand, cats getting stuck in trees. Lol no but it is very different when you’re in something that feels as precarious as a dangling basket versus a solid building seemingly made from steel.

⦁ Okay so Bow’s whole thing here was actually written before I had the idea for Adora to ask Catra if she’s aromantic and I ended up turning this scene into that Seed Of Doubt instead of the single mention. It was another thing I meant to be a quick joke (well, Catra to be the joke where she managed to act unbothered so well — to Adora at least — that she screwed herself) but it ended up expanding into a full plot point. Also I should probably mention here I’m greyaro for the people who don’t follow me on Tumblr usually.

Chapter 12:

⦁ Let’s just say that Catra’s work day here is incredibly realistic.

⦁ I know I’ve mentioned this fic spiraling a few times, but the title “Surfboard at Midnight (I Just Might Swim)” was originally on… chapter 5. Okay, okay, it wasn’t that bad because I came up with the name before the chapter contents, but yeah, I was constantly kicking it back. The title belonged to chapter 5, and then 6, and then 8, and then like 10, and then 11, and 12, just constantly kicking it down the road as things leading up to the skinny dipping moment spiraled.

Chapter 13:

⦁ I originally said the POV for this fic was whoever because I wanted to leave the door open for having a scene from Scorfumtrapta’s perspective, but that was back when the fic didn’t have plot, and as the lesbians got increasingly dramatic, the focus on their relationship fell into the background. The main scene I was thinking of was what ended up being turned into the dinner scene. At the time, I just thought it was funny for Scorpia to realize months late that she was in a three-way relationship, but in the fic it turned into this thing about Catra feeling adrift and alone even with her friends, which wouldn’t have come through if I had used Scorpia’s perspective or something.

⦁ This chapter has a Secret Theme. So sometimes — quite often — I’ll write scenes in my head for a fic that I know have no place in it. Maybe it conflicts with the overall tone (in the fic, or just that portion of it) that I’m going for, sometimes it doesn’t super make sense, etc. Some of these things end up repurposed or I do find a way to integrate them, and that’s what this entire chapter is. When I was outlining Catra turning up at Adora’s in the middle of night for sleep cuddles, I wasn’t actually planning to put it in the fic, but then it was really sweet and I realized fit with the transition of their relationship, so it became an unofficial part of the outline before being promoted to part of the story.

⦁ I did say this entire chapter was from scenes that weren’t supposed to be used, though, so what about the boat scenes? Well, the boat scenes were originally outlined… for Roses & Thorns. Yes, okay, I know. Let me explain. That fic wasn’t supposed to be nearly as horny as this one, but when I was writing the very end of it I had this vision of a scene with the two of them messing around backstage (being vague to avoid spoilers if you haven’t read it). It included some of the dialogue that ended up in the make out scene on the boat, but I knew it wouldn’t fit with the rest of the fic to suddenly have them getting hot and heavy on screen, so I just kind of saved the dialogue with the plan to implement it somewhere else down the line. As I was outlining this fic I had the idea for them to hook up in the storage room at the docks at one point, but I ended up moving it to the boat because that would have necessitated luring Netossa away first if they wanted to get away with it, which was less likely after the summer rush faded.

⦁ So I don’t know how all phones work but on iPhone you can set certain people to break through Do Not Disturb and Adora put Catra on that list because sometimes they would text past when hers activated for the night.

Chapter 14:

⦁ Kinds of chocolate according to Catra: White Dark Super Dark Baking Semi-sweet Sweet Milk Orange (wildcard)

⦁ The “there’s other ways to get these endorphins” thing really goes to show how little Adora understands what Catra is doing. Those kisses are “I love you”s and bids for assurance that Adora just isn’t getting and thus isn’t giving back because she’s so focused on not taking advantage of Catra and the such.

⦁ I’ll be honest I tried to get them together here and it didn’t work. Catra reacted too strongly, too fast. When I first outlined this scene I was thinking about another possible get together (that didn’t end up happening) and wondered how I would even get out of this scene without them getting together and then when it came time and the plan had changed I couldn’t MAKE them talk.

Chapter 15:

⦁ Samantha is dressed like a butch prince and I think that’s great. Also I pulled the name Samantha out of my ass because I didn’t feel like coming up with a reference like a week ago- psyche nevermind the song it's from literally just came on shuffle as I was posting this so it's actually from a Leah Kate song and I just forgot why I picked it.

⦁ This chapter easily could/should be split into two, but I like the flow of it all being together.

Original Outline:

So, this AU didn’t have an outline. It was pure vibes when I started it, with plot just taking vague shape in the back of my mind as I wrote. Pretty quickly I had a few big scenes — the make out at the pool, the closet scene — but I was building the rails as I drove at first. As such, I kept having ideas that pushed the few ideas I started with further out in a spiral.

When this AU was extremely nebulous, there were some different ideas for the concept where maybe Catra worked for the resort so she and Adora were closer to being coworkers, and then others where they all worked totally unrelated jobs on the pier but were hooking up in the “offices” when others weren’t looking, which is closer to what the final thing became, but these were all fleeting ideas before I really started writing. Originally the AU featured more antagonism between them at first too, with Catra denying even being her friend at first, but again, things just happened as I wrote and that didn’t materialize at all.

There was a draft with a very different final chapter/get together, but I honestly might use it in another AU where it fits a lot better (there’s a reason it was kicked) so I don’t want to say what it was lmao. Aside from that, this AU was something I wrote as the ideas came to me, which is fun to do sometimes.

Upcoming:

I’ve got a couple of one shots in the works and then we’ll see what AU takes me, but for now I’m playing around in canon universe (mostly).

#btsdma #ficmeta #fic notes #new share link will go up later

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fukia · 1 year

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Fionna & Cake final thoughts , opinions and nitpicks lol

This will be unorganized and random and stinky, sorry

• great pacing first 2 eps

• good ideas

• ignoring multiverse saturation, is p decently done here!

• I miss Neil Patrick’s take on Gary/gumball- he sounded so freakin princely :(

• marshall sounded kinda less mischievous than he used to? Like vocally more down or something- I’m super glad he had the same actor tho lol Donaldddd

• I miss old Prismo voice too but I know why these didn’t work out

• Hunter’s voice either could’ve gone for a deep gravely stoicism or could’ve just been w/ the same actor as Huntress Wizard

• Scarab is ehhh- decent design but feels kinda out of place for adventure time- voice is similarly the same offness too, reminded me of kinda bad anime dub voices, it doesn’t feel intentional to the right extent —- either make a more surreal villain or a funnier one, his presence was rather generic

• the spooky faces and scurrying beetle of scarab was kinda funny

• lemongrab. Why justnonce roiland.

• I will end my life a million aeons over for Orbo - bluey’s dad: “say goodbye to your legs!”

• mmmarceline dress

• bubblegum mmmmilitary

• I wish we saw the fucking MOON vampire

• MOON vs STAR (super cool naming if the uh tarot thing is carried on here I legit don’t know if star is an actual tarot card lemme check)

• ORGALORG WHYYYYYY

• marshall n Gary was sweet- but I really wished they played up the bitter exes part before they did just the fluffy dating, bring a bit of parallel consistency

• fionna was good acting! The crying bit made my heart ouches- Character herself was a tad frustrating at times admittedly

• cake is great still - cake and vampire king hilarious

• why no “the star”’s actual dad :(

• BETH SHERMY GIBBON YES YES YES- back to old adventure time: I love the intro theme for Beth and shermy, it’s so melancholic and desolate, cold, with backgrounds that make this so fascinatingly depressing a turn for the land of oo (happy endings impermanent- life goes on kinda deal, so cool, so consistent with adventure time’s own concepts & “everything stays”)

• Simon and Betty made me emotional

• uhh how old was Betty when she starting dating simon? Just offhand lol I’m sure it was fine

• Golbetty had beautiful scenes

• way better simon and Golbetty than that weird adventure time published comic I’m sure some of you read

• the animation is great on some places, other times while well made, feels out of place for adventure time; like it’s trying too hard to be pretty (not the Ice Prince song, stuff like that made sense for adventure time)

• like some bits reminded me of Steven universe’s inconsistencies (same bits that made me really really dislike some of adventure time distant lands’ execution)

• [funny nitpick incoming] like there were points where the characters had really big eyes even tho they r supposed to be dots (not when exaggerating certain emotions cartoonishly, I meant prolonged); adventure time’s deal is keeping them small and kinda hard to decipher

• some bits were just a tinnny too anime that it bothered me, just some! Anime is cool!!!

• I was really expecting or hoping for a Korra styled multi-season just with lesser episodes

• the resolution was… kinda haphazardly handled

• same with some of the final themes, like w/ simon n betty

• adventure time is kinda known for being almost ambiguously optimistic so the whole super happy thing was kinda strange to me

• I know like it shouldn’t have to be the same as adventure time obviously, but that was the general identity of adventure time; the cosmic ambiguity with absurd humor delivered nonchalantly

• like I think of patience st pim’s ice domain during elements and the melancholic quietness of it - also PATIENCE ST PIM WHYYYYY I LOVED YOU (patiencevstheempresscough)

• ORGALORG COME BACK TO MEEEE

• yes it was a great thing to have this miniseries I enjoyed many parts

• the music was fucking fire!!!

• where was the dr two brains reference ? -3-

#adventure time #fionna campbell #simon x fionna #fionna and cake #golb #golbetty #orgalorg #Beth and shermy #marshall lee #fionna the human #adventure time fionna and cake #opinions

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randomestfandoms-ocs · 3 months

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Potential Riverdale Recasts

Been debating recasting some Riverdale ocs but not sure what direction I want to go in, any thoughts would be super appreciated!

(some of these faces are also ones that if I don't use as recasts, I'll probably use for future ocs, which makes it harder for me to decide because "well who would I rather have in Riverdale" doesn't make the decision for me)

1 – Astoria Topaz: Toni's twin sister; currently China Anne McClain (bottom), new options Samantha Logan (middle) or Zendaya (top)

Astoria Topaz was a Serpent by blood, and by choice. She joined with her twin sister and their two best friends, Fangs and Sweet Pea, when they were all thirteen, and had quickly risen in the ranks among teenagers. She never expected to be a leader though, until FP Jones got arrested. Suddenly there was a hole that needed to be filled, and apparently Astoria would have to fill it. That’s fine, she’s a born Serpent and knows how to keep her family together–or she did, until Jughead Jones walks into the Wyrm, suddenly ready to take on his legacy. But still, Astoria was born a Serpent, and she’ll die a Serpent, she’ll live as a Serpent come hell or high water.

2 – Barbie Booth (tbd if going to recast): currently Candice King (middle), other options Sydney Sweeney (left) or Ginny Gardner (right)

By fifteen, Barbie Booth already had her eye on the prize: early admission to Tisch for musical theatre, followed by an upper east side apartment with her best friend Veronica Lodge - who would be studying business at Columbia, and then starring as Elle Woods in a revival of Legally Blonde The Musical. But her plan didn’t include Veronica’s dad getting arrested, and her other half moving to some bumfuck town called Riverdale, leaving her alone for her sophomore year at Spence. And it definitely didn’t account for her parents up and moving them to Riverdale, for reasons that they refused to explain. But at least she’d be with Ronnie again, and at least Ronnie told her that Riverdale High wasn’t as bad as they’d imagined. But then they get to Riverdale, and her plans really go to shit -not only did her parents not research the town that they were moving to, but they bought a house on the south side of the town, dooming her to the rundown school on the wrong side of the tracks, riddled with gangs, murder investigations and, worst of all, no musical theatre program.

3 – Fallon Parris Jones (tbd if going to recast): Jughead's twin: currently Brenna D'Amico (bottom), other options Ella Purnell (middle) or Odeya Rush (top)

Fallon Parris Jones, FP to her friends, was taken to Toledo against her will when her parents separated. She would have stayed, for Jellybean, except her dad called her and told her that her twin had just been hauled in and questioned for murder. Fallon may play at obedience, but her twin’s wellbeing is always the most important thing in the world, so she hops on the next bus to Riverdale with no intention of leaving him ever again. It isn’t until she arrives that she finds out just how deep her family is in this mess, and clearly no one else can be counted on to fix everything. Armed with nothing but her well-worn Serpent jacket, a switchblade, and an unstoppable determination to protect her brother, Riverdale is about to find out that they messed with the wrong family.

4 – Francesca Jones: Betty's twin but adopted by FP: currently Lili Reinhart, new options Peyton List (top), Zoey Deutch (middle), or Sophie Thatcher (bottom)

Francesca Paige Jones grew up on the Southside with her brother Jughead and their miracle sister Jellybean, although she chose to stay on the Southside and not interact with the other side of town, despite knowing that she had a twin sister and biological parents somewhere across the tracks, despite knowing that Jughead was even friends with her twin. But then Gladys and Jellybean move to Toledo, Jughead leaves home, FP helps dispose of Jason Blossom’s body, and suddenly the Northside is paying attention to them. She would have been perfectly happy to fly under the radar, to continue to pretend that she had no ties to the Northside, had she not come face to face with Betty Cooper.

5 – Jac Daniels (tbd if going to recast): currently Alycia Debnam-Carey, other option Zoey Deutch

Despite being a Southside Serpent, Jacqueline Daniels was one of the last truly good people in the town of Riverdale. Despite being surrounded by darkness, she wore her heart on her sleeve and always kept her heart open for more strays. Of course the majority of it was taken up by her three best friends and fellow Serpents, but when Jughead Jones transferred to Southside High, she knew there would be a place for him too. And there was, and Jughead found himself with a new tour guide slash bodyguard slash friend, whose open heart and pure soul were rivalled only by her fierce loyalty and protective nature. But even the brightest light in Riverdale has a breaking point, and when Northside drama starts to endanger her friends, her family, Jac may just discover her own.

6 – Jewel Cooper (tbd if going to recast): FP & Alice's daughter, Betty & Jughead's younger sister: currently Grace Phipps (right), other options Katie Douglas (top), Ella Purnell (bottom), or Zoey Deutch (left)

Opal Cooper, the youngest of the Cooper sisters, had always known that she was different. How could she not? Her dark hair made her the literal black sheep of her perfectly blonde family. Sure, her mom always claimed that she inherited it from her grandfather, but Opal knew that something was different. So, in the summer before she started high school, she did some digging. She wasn’t surprised at all to find she wasn’t a Cooper, but she was more than a little shocked to learn her biological father was none other than FP Jones. A simple desire to build a relationship with her real dad started Opal down a road that she never expected; a road of gangs and murder and nicknames. Starting high school armed with a switchblade and the truth about what happened to Jason Blossom, the newly nicknamed Jewel Cooper was nothing like the Opal anyone remembered.

7 – Tanya Conway: daughter of Joseph Svenson/Conway: currently Nicola Peltz (middle), new options Olivia Cooke (left) or Olivia Scott Welch (right)

Identity was fickle, as far as Tanya was concerned. To some she was Tanya Trent, a first generation serpent whose mother was the principal of Southside High, until the Black Hood killed her. To others she was Tanya Svenson, a Southside punk whose father was the janitor at Riverdale High, until he was killed for being the Black Hood. To herself she was Tanya Conway, a teenage girl who knew that the Cooper family had killed her dad’s family; who knew that, even after they divorced, her dad loved her mom; who knew that, no matter what anyone said, her dad wasn’t the Black Hood. And now she’s just Tanya, a scared but stubborn girl with no sense of identity who’s just been sent to Riverdale High with her fellow Serpents, armed with nothing but the snake tattooed on her back and the need to clear her father’s name.

8 – Vine Verona (tbd if going to recast): currently Emily Rudd (middle), other options Milly Alcock (left) or Zoey Deutch (right)

If there was one thing that Ivy Verona was good at, it was lying. She lied to the Northsiders; she said she was Northside pure, that her guardian was an accountant, that she’d never even heard of the Whyte Wyrm. She lied to the Southside too; she said she was flunking all her major classes, said cheerleading was only a front, said she planned to stay in Riverdale the rest of her life. And then there was the lie that she told the entire town - that she had no idea what might’ve happened to Jason Blossom. Only her uncle FP and best friend Joaquin knew the truth. She’d been Jason’s dealer; she’d brought him to the Wyrm; she’d watched him die, and then washed away his blood; she dumped his body in the river and pretended it never happened. But the biggest lie she told was to herself - that Jason Blossom’s death was not her fault.

#maddie talks #riverdale oc #send help i can't make decisions

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mickeys-malarkey · 2 years

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BATDR Analysis/Post-Playthrough Theory Revision Pt. 4/4: Guess what? I found some more highly suspicious songs…

So, let's add some nice, juicy lyric/film analysis to our dish (sorry, Betty, I couldn't resist the joke rofl… Speaking of Betty's comment, “all those juicy, lovely books gone to waste. Only Keepers go in there these days, and they'll tear you apart limb from limb if Wilson isn't with you…” sure sounds like the fandom simultaneously lamenting that all the Bendy books are supposedly “no longer canon” after the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr.'s so-called “retcons” and, in a few cases I've seen, getting downright vicious towards anyone who tries to dig back into them)!! I'm very excited about how perfectly these wound up matching my theories, I had all but the first one in a playlist to watch/listen to later, and when I did and re-watched/re-listened to the first after writing Parts Two and Three? Wowzah… 👀

Before we start, summaries in case you haven't read/recaps because it's been a while since I posted the other parts.

(Sorry again that this part took so much longer to repost than expected… I live in shame.)

Part One: Wilson and Audrey have been trapped in their time loop for at least a year of real-world time, the game is actually taking place sometime between 1974 and 1992, and the beginning of BATDR is just a replay of June 18, 1973 like how the ending of BATIM is just a replay of August 1963 (there's also still all the evidence in my original analysis/theory that suggests BATIM and BATDR are both taking place sometime between 1978 and 1991, so do with that what you will). Also, there's definitely only ever been one studio and timeline, it's just that multiple entities have been editing everything beyond recognition (mostly Nathan Sr., whose alteration of the Ink Dimension is definitely symbolic of gaslighting, which I continue touching on throughout, but especially in the next part, which is my personal favorite).

Part Two: Wilson told us his entire life story and explained how his dad always was and still is the true villain to us in riddle format (which The Mug and the Maiden is the key to starting deciphering). Information he divulges includes but certainly is not limited to:

Arch Familial Dysfunction (Understatement of the Century): Wilson is the younger half-brother of Nathan Jr. from an affair that Nathan Sr. had with their housekeeper in 1926 (yes, the year before Joey reunited with him at the Sparkle Unicorn in 1927 and he was looking for girls to dance with there; dude's a serial adulterer). It's heavily implied that Nathan Sr. was not just emotionally but also physically abusive of him, that he was the cause of those big honking scars of his.

Power Dynamics: while Nathan Sr. was never officially involved in JDS, he was always pulling strings behind the curtain, to the point that it's accurate to describe him as one of the Three Kings of JDS (the other two obviously being Henry and Joey); we're given intimate details of how manipulative he is, including that it was under his influence that Joey claimed responsibility for horrible things that he didn't actually do.

The Truth About TLO: Joey and Allison were in Atlantic City schmoozing Bill's dad in order to get out from under Nathan Sr.'s thumb after the events of and since DCTL knocked sense into them, but Nathan Sr. retaliated by orchestrating all of the events that lead to Bill's “death” so that Mr. Chambers would instead put a price on Joey's head and they'd have no choice but to come crawling back to him for protection from he who they thought would be their way out.

Wilson's Corruption Arc: Wilson spent his youth watching his dad's machinations from the shadows and warning people through riddles so that Nathan Sr. wouldn't realize what he was doing; when Joey created the hivemind, he connected to it in order to do this more easily. This is how he was actually involved in the events/writing of TLO and DCTL. Unfortunately, his dad caught him by the end of TLO because he'd done a little orchestration of his own to lure a wildcard – Brant Morris – into the mix in hopes of exposing Nathan Sr. to the world and he was punished, starting him on a decades-long journey to Murder Puppet/Decoy Villain status that eventually involved Nathan Sr. ordering his mom (again, the housekeeper, not Tessa Arch) to put him through some sort of obedience test and then drug him so that he would be there when the crate containing the Ink Machine “accidentally” broke. He wrote The Mug and the Maiden to Audrey (like Buddy wrote DCTL to Dot and, as I previously theorized, Joey wrote TIOL to Henry) under the unsubtle pen name of “Wilton,” taking inspiration from her childhood memories of a toy (the Cracked Mug) that reminded her of her dad (like how he took inspiration from Bill's memories of Alice in Wonderland for the riddles he sent to him, Constance, and Brant) as a last, desperate cry for help before his own dad finally finished turning him into a Murder Puppet (like how TIOL was a cry for Henry to come save Joey from Nathan Sr. before he did the same to him and DCTL was a cry for Dot to stop Joey and save everyone else before his mind was overtaken by Boris's).

True Identities: the Memory of Joey is actually either a puppet created and controlled by Nathan Sr. or just straight-up Nathan Sr. in disguise; he symbolizes the image of Joey that Nathan Sr. has carefully curated and ingrained into the public's memory. Meanwhile, Bendy is actually the real Joey Drew, forced back into the Murder Puppet/Decoy Villain role by Nathan Sr. postmortem but most definitely not the real monster; Dapper Bendy symbolizes the side of him that did his best to heal from what Nathan Sr. did to him and be a good uncle/father and friend and that Nathan Sr. brainwashed him into hating and suppressing, Freaky Teeth Bendy symbolizes the habitual remnants of his maladaptive coping mechanisms formed by decades of being manipulated and abused by the man in question which he doesn't want to be, anymore.

Signs To Watch Out For: does something about the story make no sense (e.g., facts like dates and how the heck the ink actually works aren't matching up, an event gets called out as as weird/odd/strange only to have questions about it brushed aside, characters seem to have very different thoughts/feelings/motivations in one game/book than in another, an event gets written off as accident/coincidence/fate, etc.)? Great news /s! That's a sign of Nathan Sr.'s interference. Also, if a character seemingly randomly says something weird/odd/strange, that's a sign that Wilson's sending us a warning riddle through them (especially if it gets directly called out as weird/odd/strange).

Part Three: Henry and Allison's so-called “story retcons” are actually blatant lies made up by Nathan Sr. to keep Bendy/Real Joey trapped and at odds with his two real best friends postmortem (and put icing on the torment cake by allowing those friends to still be friends with each other but not him); the truth appears to be that Joey did call Henry for help but Nathan Sr. had him murdered, and then Allison tried to switch sides for good and help Joey through recovery as a fellow reformed abuse-victim-turned-abuser, so of course Nathan Sr. also had her and Tom murdered. Audrey is neither a soulless ink creature nor a sacrificed human but instead has her own, completely new soul created from pieces of Henry and Joey's via the same ghostly soul-combination process that creates all “children of the darkness/Machine” (many of whom seem to be hiding messages in their audio logs/memos in order to rat Nathan Sr. out on their parents' behalves), making her Henry and Joey's daughter (Henry, Bendy/Real Joey, the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr., Wilson, and Audrey also appear to be the most powerful beings in the Ink Dimension because all souls are combinations of pieces of one's parents' souls in the Bendyverse, so all five of them have Royal Souls). Porter and Heidi are not Audrey's siblings, they were given their powers by the Memory of Joey in order to push us towards thinking that Joey was a cruel uncle/father who discarded the failed Audreys when he got sick of taking care of them (when, in reality, Joey was a very loving father who cherished every second with his baby girl and fought for her to have a better life than he did even though he made mistakes due to decades of being trapped in survival mode [e.g., having Audrey call him “uncle” in her previous reincarnations in order to cope with the grief of her dying over and over due to only having a partial soul] and it's actually Nathan Sr. who was the irredeemably evil dad, straight-up celebrating when they found Wilson's dead body on the floor of his JDS museum); Gent CEO Alan/Allen Gray/Grey appears to also be a child of the darkness/Machine, the son of Tom and possibly either Allison, Bertrum, or Nathan Sr. (who's definitely rewriting history to include Mr. Gray/Grey as one of his many Decoy Villains, regardless of whether he's his other parent or not), Grace the daughter of Norman and possibly Shawn, Heidi the daughter of Allison and Susie, and Steve the son of Wally and Tom. Bendy/Real Joey being the center of the hivemind and anyone infected with the right kind of ink becoming a personification of part of his psyche has confirmation out the wazoo, except it seems that Norman, specifically, may have become a personification of part of Wilson's psyche just because he's very powerful, himself, as another JDS Royal. “Cyclebreaker” doesn't seem to truly mean “person who can reset the loop,” but instead “person capable of breaking the cycle of trauma/abuse,” and Wilson's Keepers seem to be called that because Nathan Sr. gave them orders to ensure that his son continues obeying and remove anyone who might help him recover from what he did to him from the picture.

Both Parts Two & Three: many scenes appear to be heavily symbolic of or just straight-up Audrey leaning on/being tempted to lean on Joey's maladaptive coping mechanisms generational trauma-style and having a choice between cruelty and compassion. There's also quite a bit of evidence pointing towards Joey having intended the Ink Dimension to be a heavenly paradise for the salvation of suffering people (especially his fellow victims-of-Nathan-Sr. and people that Nathan Sr. used him and his studio to hurt/disappear), but Nathan Sr. having sadistically hijacked it and created the End Reel in the process of twisting it into a hellish prison to continue torturing his victims in postmortem (especially Joey).

Real quick, some thoughts I had while working on fanarts:

The cheese store man (from The Mug and the Maiden) may symbolize Porter and Steve McGregor in addition to all observers of the Joey-and-Nathan Sr. situation (a giant man with bits of cheese stuck in his beard? Sounds like Big Steve with all those bits of metal and whatnot that he eats stuck in his body. An old man with a long beard and ropes around him? Sounds like Porter, who got stuck in a pipe just like how Brant/Mr. Darble Mouse got stuck under the secret door in the warehouse basement/Governor's cellar… And the cheese store man knows the widow's real name but she calls him by the wrong one? Porter's definitely Brant Morris using a different name and he may have actually spied on the Memory of Joey in order to tattle on him, I love him even more now. Also… Brant/Porter is totally a personification of Wilson's sense of humor in addition to Joey's shame. Brant's the funniest character in TLO, Porter's downright mirthful about everything, Wilson/Wilton wrote the funniest fairytale I've ever read in my life… they also both apparently dealt with early hair thinning, interestingly), trying to push us towards investigating them in order to expose Nathan Sr.'s Fake Siblings plot.

The Decoy Villain and their Keeper dynamic is actually something we see repeatedly across Nathan Sr.'s victims, especially when the torch is about to be passed from one Decoy Villain to another… Arthur was Isabel's Keeper when it was time for her to kill Walter, Allison was Joey's Keeper when it was time for him to turn his employees into ink creatures (turning several into fellow Decoy Villains in the process), mayhaps we could even say that whoever figured out how to create the Slugs was Chef Buck's Keeper when it was time for him to start his “recycling” spree… and Heidi is Mr. Gray/Grey's Keeper now that it's time for him to take over from Wilson? 👀👀

“We're in the final days here. I can tell. People are packing things into boxes. Tools are going missing. You can smell the panic in the air around the studio. But us Gent boys, we're just watching from the shadows. We lock the doors, and keep our research going. Mister Gray already gave us a little wink. All is well. When one ship sinks, another one leaves the dock. I just need to keep my Ink Machine safe in the chaos. It's the key to so many discoveries.” ~ Thomas Connor, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Business as Usual” memo (emphasis added)

“It's a funny thing. How so much can fall apart so fast. We never really had control at the studio. Either you were in someone's pocket, or you were putting someone else into yours. I just wanted what was promised to me. I just wanted to be beautiful! Surely you can understand that. Henry… Why are you here? We're all dying to find out. Do you just enjoy the terror of the drop into hell? Because if that's the case… Hang on tight. I've got a surprise…” ~ Twisted Alice, Bendy and the Ink Machine, ch. 4

Wilson's BATDS audio log was 100% about him wanting to pass on his secrets before his dad could silence him completely and forever in death as he did to so many others, just like how Joey managed to leave clues about the reality of the whole situation behind despite everything.

“It's important to seize an opportunity, before it slides through your wrenched fingers. The past so often dies without passing on its bountiful secrets. But oh… Mister Joey Drew. The secrets you've left behind. How very interesting, such… knowledge, such… opportunity. The time draws near… For a dark revival to come at last!” ~ Wilson Arch, Boris and the Dark Survival (emphasis added)

…Welp, now that that's out of the way, on with the show!

I believe that this one, released back in July (close to when you would've expected the Bendy Twitter to release a third teaser image), is supposed to have been written by Wilson:

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*Dapper Bendy bounce-dances in what looks to be part of BATIM Chapter 1 as it looked when the Memory of Joey brought Audrey there* “Under foot, have you looked, where the light don't shine no more? Here's a hook, what it took, to break their spirits and yours” *Dapper Bendy rests against a pipe in what looks to be the sewers in BATDR but with the contraband display case from outside the Pit in the Cyclebreaker prison* “Didja make, give or take, a bigger difference away? Didja break, didja quake, when you saw what's really at play?”

This sounds like the singer's asking us if we've read the Bendy books and looked for clues in the other games – all of which the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr. is distracting us from with his erasure of Allison's existence, writing Mr. Gray/Grey into the story, etc. – and directing us to read The Mug and the Maiden for the explanations of events that we need. They then seem to be giving us confirmation that Wilson, Joey, and eventually Allison were trying to make things better from the inside and asking them if they broke when A: Buddy's death at the end of DCTL made Joey realize how Nathan Sr. was going to keep on using him to hurt people despite his best efforts, B: Allison experienced whatever it was that woke her up from Nathan Sr.'s trance in-between DCTL and TLO, and C: Wilson was punished at the end of TLO for learning too much and being a good boy, all while also D: acknowledging Audrey's ghostly origins and generational trauma??

*Dapper Bendy bounce-dances in what looks to be another part of BATIM Chapter 1 as it looked when the Memory of Joey brought Audrey there* “When it started, this commotion, this great disaster, what a brilliant revelation, what he's really after”

This sounds like Wilson realizing why his dad was doing what he was doing to Bill, Constance, and Brant by the time TLO ended!! “For it was the death of Mr. Darble Mouse that started all the trouble.”

*Dapper Bendy sits on a table in what looks to be the Little Devil Lounge, behind him is a buffet sign with graffiti that reads “Fetty was here,” which could be “Betty” with part of the “B” smudged off??* “It's a daily shift of churning, burning down the candle, it's more than we can handle”

Did you just confirm that Wilson's mom indeed drugged him as part of Nathan Sr.'s plot to punish him for warning people about his machinations and turn him into a Murder Puppet with your environment design, and then that everything was more than Joey, Allison, and finally Wilson could handle with your lyrics?? Which, y'know, now I think about it, honestly gives whole new meaning to TLO's epilogue…

“Swirling blackness wrapped so tightly, at first like a hug and then it squeezes, it crushes, it smothers . . . A quiet buzz, then louder, like a thousand voices talking at once. Screaming at once. Outside and inside. Our thoughts are not our own thoughts. Whose thoughts are these? How many of us are there? How many more will join us? We are all screaming. We are all waiting. We are all… lost. The light appears in sudden bursts. Too bright, it pierces at you, tears you apart even as you reach for it. What is there to reach for? Why hurt yourself? Just sink back. Sink back in with your friends. . . . We sink back and back and back. We understand now. We see how all this time we were wrong. We understand the joke now. Knock knock. Who's there? We can't fix the machine. We never could. Knock knock. Who's there? Who is there? Out there? Out here? We're all here. We understand now. It's the punchline to the joke: You can't fix what isn't broken.” ~ The Ink Machine('s Hivemind), Bendy: The Lost Ones, pg. 290-291 (emphasis added)

I think that this was the hivemind poetically describing what happened to Joey, Allison, and Wilson at the end of TLO, and to who knows how many more puppets and other victims Nathan Sr. collected over the previous and following decades: This man, who seems perfectly friendly on the surface, turns out to be an abuser once you're caught in his vice-like grip. His victims seek freedom, salvation, genuine love, even try to provide it to each other, but are punished for doing so, often alongside those who they tried to reach out to (e.g., Bill and his dad, Henry, etc). Eventually, they're trained to see potential help/etc. as something painful that they shouldn't even bother with, and learn to think that they should just allow themselves to sink back into obedience, because at least that hurts a little less. They understand, now, that they can't fix the Ink Machine, because just like every other thing they, themselves, intended to be good, Nathan Sr. intended it to only hurt them more. And he thoroughly enjoys watching them struggle, only to finally give in to him… Terrible. Dreadful. I'm sad, again. *Sniffs* Back to the music.

*Dapper Bendy is falling, possible reference to both the “falling down the rabbit hole” message Constance received from Wilson and Audrey's falling down the elevator shaft to where she meets the Memory of Joey and is set back on the path of meeting Wilson in his ink mansion* “So come on a ride! Further down below! And learn the prophesy of the hypocrisy that runs this broken show!”

“Come find me, Audrey. Come find me and I'll show you your purpose. I'll show you… the truth. And now… we die,” and learn the prophesy of Nathan Sr.'s puppeteering hypocrisy through Wilson/Wilton's twisted riddles??

“There's nowhere to hide! There's nowhere to go! You brought the hallway to a standstill, now the desolation grows”

This sounds like it's referencing Nathan Sr.'s not allowing anyone to escape and reality/memory alteration??

*Audrey wielding a pipe appears. Behind her, in the top right corner, “Jose[scribble],” presumably Joey's legal name “Joseph” scribbled out, is written in black ink; underneath that, written in the golden invisible ink, is the word “Life” with a halo, a dotted line like on a cartoon pirate treasure map that leads to an anarchy symbol that could also be being used as a certain family's last initial (Arch), and the letter “D,” presumably beginning “Death,” with devil horns. On the far left, in the same golden ink, is drawn a key* “Well it took, just a look, to see it wasn't the same, wrote the book, then he took, all the fortune and all the fame” *Audrey's now somewhere kinda nondescript other than signs pointing to the Art Department and a “Devil Cafe,” possibly a work-in-progress placeholder for the Little Devil Lounge* “Broke a tie, let it die, the love that made him a king, tell me now, can you find, the end to pull on this string?”

“Open your eyes and look around you! None of this ‘makes sense,’” yeah, I think I know exactly where the end of this (shall we say “puppet?”) string is: right there in Nathan Sr.'s hand!! This looks and sounds like confirmation that the version of Joey's story that everyone knows, the one that makes no sense because nothing matches up, was written by the Great Puppet Master, the Second of the Three Kings of JDS, Nathan Sr., as Wilson explained in that rant I just quoted!!! While also confirming that Nathan Sr. has forced Joey back into the Decoy Villain role postmortem as Bendy?!

*Audrey's now somewhere littered with toon carcasses like what Henry and Boris encounter all over Twisted Alice's territory in BATIM and BATDS* “Something in you brought you back here into your history, it's no mystery why your feelings seem so contradictory”

This sounds like it's acknowledging both Joey's seeming emotional/motivational contradictions under Nathan Sr.'s influence and Audrey's emotional conflicts being caused by the pieces of the First and Third Kings of JDS's souls that make up her own???

*Slow zoom on a door with a Gent pipe lock* “It was love that built this testament to artistry, warped by hate and trickery!”

Confirmation that the Ink Dimension was indeed created for Joey's regret and corrupted for Nathan Sr.'s revenge?!

*Chorus repeats with Audrey in an elevator until after the prophesy line* “Why have you arrived? Is there something you know?”

Confirmation of Nathan Sr.'s mafia-style disappearing of potential info leaks?? Perhaps even of the Insane Reader Ending being Audrey getting disappeared for knowing too much???

“Will hope or desolation be the seeds that you will sow?”

I think y'all will see why this line is fascinating in the analysis/theory conclusion… 👀

*Shot of Sammy, Boris, and a boatload of Lost Ones huddled around a flaming barrel like we see the Butcher Gang huddle around in BATIM Chapter 4* “Hello again, my dearest friend, *shot of the chasm in BATIM* don't look so down, it's not the end, let's play the same old little game, *shot of Joey's office door in BATIM* to back out now would be a shame, now step in time, follow the lines, I've saved your seat right next to mine, *Dapper Bendy and Audrey stare at a wall of what looks like graffiti mixed with notes on employee and cash numbers as well as pieces of paper* like an oiled machine, rhythm and key, we'll make you fit in our harmony, your eyes can lie, you're doing fine, it's just a chill run down your spine”

*Unintelligible noises* 👀👀👀 There?? Are?? So?? Many?? Layers?? To this?? This sounds like it could just be Wilson singing to Audrey, but also like it transitions from Joey and Henry singing to each other to Nathan Sr. singing to everyone, then the original Three Kings all singing to their kids, back to Nathan Sr. (with an implication that we should be searching the whole series for clues and a hint at most of the Children of the Machine never having actually lived in the real world as Nathan Sr. wants us to think they did), back to all Three Kings, Wilson singing to everyone, and back to Nathan Sr. again!!

“Don't be afraid, you're not alone, *Audrey and Dapper Bendy turn around to see Freaky Teeth Bendy with one eye X'd out* he's always watching”

“Shh, don't fret. We're going home,” Wilson and Bendy/Real Joey are always watching in similar hivemind-y ways?!

*Shot of Freaky Teeth running through inky darkness* “There's teeth in the night, a life as dark as coal, and in the prophesy, he's just the mockery of your own heart and soul”

This sounds like confirmation that A: the Cheshire cat reference in TLO was indeed one of Wilson's riddles, telling us that the smiling face that everyone's so afraid of isn't the real danger, it's the unseen claws who won't allow anyone to escape nor to look at anything but the smiling face, and B: the literal and figurative Memory of Joey as well as Henry being a copy created to be tortured are blatant lies meant to keep the First and Third Kings of JDS at odds even beyond the grave as well as torment and mock the both of them?!?!

“There's fear in your eyes, so where now can you go? Can you own what you have made here, or will terror take control?” *Chorus repeats over shots of the Ink Machine being raised on chains like it was in BATIM, then of Archgate Studios, and a couple of empty hallways*

More that I think y'all will find extra fascinating in the concluding section… 👀👀 Also, If you're somehow still questioning the books' canonicity, at this point, I dunno what to tell you. Before we move on to the next song, I wanna bring up… I'd noticed, way back when it was first posted, that if you turned off the audio and just focused on what the final BATDR teaser audio log is actually saying before we hear Wilson's voice for the first time, there seemed to actually be a coherent thought being communicated…

“So what can you expect in the coming months? You never know! He's always watching me… I saw Mister Drew the other day, meeting with that Connor fellow, holding some papers. I think they saw me looking though. Just too many secrets being cooked up in the kitchen! If I didn't know better, I'd say there was magic there. Well calculated understanding between creation… -big things are coming!- …and creator. Massive things! That smile… You just learn to go with it. He's always watching me… You just watch! I've got a good feeling something great is going to happen.” ~ Unknown, Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser audio log dated April 14th, [YEAR REDACTED]

At first, I thought that this plus the fact that they'd released seven audio logs but only six shorts at the time of the seventh meant Bendy was alive as a cartoon, he'd been watching events from inside the drawings and was splicing audio logs together to express that he thought Joey realized he was alive and he was excited about the idea of having a real body… But who do we know, now, communicates like this? Through hints dropped all over the place via the thoughts, mouths and pens of many different people? Wilson and Joey, communicating with us through the hivemind, right? With this new perspective… it actually sounds like this is two people talking…

Joey and Wilson, talking about the events of TIOL, DCTL, and TLO… Joey saying he's excited about creating his paradise for the lost, even if he's nervous about being caught by Nathan Sr… and Wilson saying he's excited about what he knows so far that the Ink Machine can do – watch people and get messages out more discreetly through the hivemind, not even having to be physically near anyone and risk getting caught to do either thing – and that he can tell Joey has good intentions, but he knows better than to get his hopes up for this whole thing to go well because his dad is involved in the situation, with his smile that masks the monster underneath with its Santa Claus Vibes and you just have to learn to play along with or else, because he's got spies everywhere… I love how they can make that same statement of “he's always watching” go from creepy in all instances to kind of comforting when it's referring to Wilson and Bendy/Real Joey and positively gut-wrenching when it's referring to Nathan Sr., once you dig deeper… *Shudders again* Anyways. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

This next one, by one of the very same artists who previously released songs containing canon info, had its preview dropped the same day as the BATDR trailer:

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*Obvious Joey shadow puppet appears* “Pictures in my head contained all, *Bendy cutout puppets appear* to make standing out art, *cutout puppets are replaced by an Ink Machine puppet* we need to take big steps not small, *Ink Machine puppet is replaced by a mannequin puppet* draw animate your part, *mannequin puppet disappears* trying to impress *Lost One puppets appear* in this mess, *Joey puppet looks around to find himself alone* you were trying your best, it wasn't close to the success, *obvious Bendy smile materializes behind the Joey puppet* you'll stay in this nest” *Bendy smile consumes the Joey puppet*

First of all, I'm frightened by the fact that he's telling us this story with literal puppets, considering how many times the only way I personally could think to accurately describe the relationship between Nathan Sr. and his victims was with “puppet-and-puppet-master” imagery (by the way, I saw someone point out that Betty's mask looks an awful lot like the marionette faces in Showdown Bandit did… Sounds like another layer to Wilson's intentional symbolism for his mom's involvement in his dad's machinations, if you ask me. Remember how the marionettes had such a big thing about how they shouldn't look up at whoever or whatever was controlling them that many of them literally plucked out their own eyes to avoid it? Sounds an awful lot like the symbolism I proposed for Wilson's posters). Second of all, this sounds like Joey was the one who was singing for exactly one line, then somebody took the microphone away from him to sing to/with/about him rather than letting him sing about himself. The mannequin puppet seems to imply that, while we may think Joey's the one pulling the strings, it's not actually any of his employees who's being spoken to in that “draw animate your part” line. And everything from “trying to impress in this mess” onward seems like it's confirming that Joey was trying his best to create a paradise to rescue his fellow victims-of-Nathan-Sr. in without tripping the man in question's alarms, but he failed at both that and obeying Nathan Sr.'s orders to satisfaction in general and was both A: isolated and villainized in the real world, and B: finally merged with the soulless Bendy body in the Ink Dimension when his human one died, all partly to punish him??

(Speaking of mannequins, anyone notice these ones sitting right across from each other in Twisted Alice's part of Wilson's mansion that seem to imply that both Susie and Joey were just puppets in the whole “creating Twisted Alice” situation?! The Joey one even has distracting eyebrows drawn on, further correlating him to Bernard the Ugly Lizard Man Who Wears a Blue Cloak in The Mug and the Maiden!!)

Sepiatone: I gave you all that I had, frames are showing new way, the apathy that's so sad, you lead my name away Grayscale: Calling it phantasmagoria*, when you're seeing more than them, means not knowing what's euphoria**, now I can live it through again

*A sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream.

**A feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness.

Holy… guacamole… He just crammed so much information into the space of only two freaking verses!!

The first one sounds like it has two meanings, using the “frames are showing new way” line to transition from A: confirmation that Sammy Lawrence became a personification of part of Joey's psyche (his desire to be protected/saved by and feelings of betrayal/abandonment at the hands of Henry and Nathan Sr.) when he was infected by the ink and that Nathan Sr. caused Henry leaving but manipulated the narrative so that the only options anyone was allowed to believe were “it was Joey's fault” (when, in reality, he genuinely tried to make things work) and “it was Henry's fault” (when, in reality, he also genuinely tried), to B: confirmation that Henry's being gaslit into believing he was never human and, as a result, using Joey's Illusion of Living coping mechanism to try and forget his human life and become apathetic so that his imprisonment in the Ink Dimension will hurt less and that The Mug and the Maiden, King Widow, and Lord Amok pretty overtly point towards the Memory of Joey being Joey's name and image stolen by Nathan Sr. (the context implied by the previous two lines being: “in order to rewrite history”).

The second sounds like confirmation of A: the symbolism behind Wilson's blacked-out eyes and lack of damage until you see him colored in in his posters being that, if we allow Nathan Sr. to gaslight us into ignoring the evidence of his crimes, then we're blind to the truth (and adding that, consequently, we'll either not realize that the default ending isn't the happiest possible one [as most of the YouTubers I've watched play the game seem to think it is] or find the story – especially the ending – utterly nonsensical and/or unfulfilling [as even I did, at first. I'll explain why I was wrong in the analysis/theory conclusion]), and B: specifically because we didn't know the truth, the time loop cycle is continuing (she showed Bendy the End Reel, remember? And they literally showed her walking through the same door in Joey's apartment to get back into her own studio as Henry did to get back into Ink Dimension JDS. Audrey reset the time loop cycle, she didn't break it. Probably the only reason it was daylight is because her and Wilson's loop is larger than Henry and Joey's was). Hot dang, y'all good at cramming several layers of meaning into lyrics.

Now, I'd like everyone to notice that there seem to be two Joeys singing the chorus!! One speaks in sepia text and seems friendlier until you pay attention to what he's actually saying, the other speaks in gray text using a deep, growly, stereotypical villain voice and seems to enjoy this role until you pay attention to what he's actually saying…!! 👀

Sepia Joey: Hey, can you hear me now? Gray Joey: Even if you don't like it you'll die in ink Sepia Joey: You'll breathe when I allow Gray Joey: You will die so make it easier, just sink Sepia Joey: I left for you my legacy Gray Joey: All consumed by fear, inky atmosphere Sepia Joey: Take my hand, that's the destiny, let's spin the last gear, we are back my dear

Sepia Joey is actually scarily controlling (honestly, that “you'll breathe when I allow” reeks of Nathan Sr.'s mafia-style disappearing of anyone who becomes a liability or he grows bored of, just like the first paragraph of the “Next in Line” memo did) and the fact that he says that taking his hand (as Audrey refused to do when the Memory of Joey was telling her the obvious lies about Allison and Henry and half-truth about her origins, only to decide that taking Bendy's hand when he came to save her was wrong and she needs to reset the time loop partly to resurrect the Memory of Joey), spinning the last gear (sounds awfully similar to playing the End Reel), and returning with him+ (to the beginning of the time loop?) is our destiny (a synonym for “fate”), all sounds like further confirmation that the Memory of Joey is either a puppet controlled by or straight-up Nathan Sr. and the End Reel and its endless “cartoon cycle of torment” was his creation and plan. Meanwhile, Gray Joey actually sounds… downright despairing… and, I probably don't need to reiterate, at this point, but uh…

“…I remember this night well. Though I remember it being at the Bee Room, gold and black, not [the] silver [that Joey describes] as the main design aesthetic. Doesn’t really make much of a difference though, I suppose.” ~ Nathan Arch Sr., The Illusion of Living, pg. 44 (emphasis added)

…confirmation that Bendy is Real Joey alert (it makes a whole heckuva lotta difference, Nathan Sr. Shut the heck up)!! Also— did anyone notice that the visual effects for transitioning out of Bendy Is Chasing You Grayscale is freakishly similar to the visual effects for transitioning in and out of Henry's visions in BATIM?

Further evidence that Audrey is Henry and Bendy/Real Joey's daughter alert!!! Possibly also further implying that we need to be looking at more than just what the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr. wants us to, and that Henry, Bendy/Real Joey, and Audrey are three of the five most powerful beings in the Ink Dimension— even without the Seeing Tool, they all seem able to see things that other ink creatures seem unable to…!

*Obvious Joey shadow puppet reappears* “Disappearance in the big silence, *Lost One puppets reappear, who the Joey puppet looks around at like he's panicking* world turning upside-down, *Lost One puppets disappear, leaving the Joey puppet alone again* everyone needed a new guidance *new Lost One puppets who seem to be kneeling in worship of the Joey puppet appear, only to disappear again, replaced by an obvious Henry shadow puppet, who the Joey puppet turns away from* one had but he has drowned.”

This looks and sounds like confirmation that Joey went into hiding to escape Nathan Sr. after JDS shut down and indeed contacted Henry for help fixing his mistakes but Nathan Sr. had Henry murdered and made it look like Joey either lured him to his death or created a sentient clone to torture in his place, both of which options make Joey look irredeemably evil?! And that, when Sammy's cult were worshiping the soulless Bendy back in BATIM, they were worshiping Joey's future image?!?! Y'know… it occurs to me, what if Joey wasn't the one who removed Henry from the ending of Tombstone Picnic?? 👀👀

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Bendy (Joey) runs away from a skeleton (Nathan Sr.'s machinations?) and stops to catch his breath, Henry's shadow looms, Bendy looks up at him and smiles, only for the film to suddenly, inexplicably be cut short… Could this have been a clue that Nathan Sr. had Henry murdered when Joey called him for help all along??

Forgive me, I'm about to go on a bunny trail, cause I just remembered, as well, that I thought it was weird that the thumbnails for all of the shorts are sepiatoned, but the animation is black-and-white… A hint that these are the versions that Nathan Sr. has altered, we're only getting a peek at Joey's truth? *Stares at my notes on Joey having to jump through hoops to get Nathan Sr.'s permission to publish TIOL and then Nathan Sr. further editing it postmortem via his excessive, creepy notes* (While I'm on the topic: I wonder if Audrey colorizing Tombstone Picnic at the beginning of BATDR could be a hint at the further story detail we get through The Mug and the Maiden, Audrey herself, etc… Wilson does import color into the Ink Dimension, after all…) My bestie pointed out once, as well, that it's weird that Bendy's literally known for his iconic grin, but… all of the shorts (excepting Tombstone picnic) seem to end with him scared, frustrated, or sad… *Stares at my notes on Bill, Constance and Brant being personifications of Joey's fear, anger, and shame* and also how it's weird that Boris is supposed to be his best pal, but he's actually really mean to him… *Stares at my notes on Nathan Sr. isolating and villainizing Joey, turning all of his friends against him* and also how it's weird that none of them (excepting Tasty Trio Troubles) really… have any music to speak of… aside from the beginning ditty… when BATIM made such a big deal about it (like, an “every single one was fully orchestrated” kind of “big deal”)… Now I've read TIOL, where Joey literally titled a chapter “Without Music, Life Would Be a Mistake…” and, in the BATDR teasers, there's those audio logs from Sammy and Jack…

“Every time I turn around there’s more work to do. Four cartoons almost complete and all of them need a tune by tomorrow. Typical Joey planning. I’m working so much I’m starting to see Bendy in my sleep. That smile... He’s always watching me. Few more months of this, I wouldn’t be surprised if that grinning demon drove me completely insane. That smile… something’s just wrong with that smile. Can’t put my finger on it. Shake it off, Sammy. Best get back to your songs. Someone has to keep the little devil happy…” ~ Sammy Lawrence, Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser audio log dated June 16th, 1935 (emphasis added)

(Could this be a hint that Sammy figured out that Joey, a terrible planner, was not the one in charge?? And the reason behind his unsettling smiles that get read as malicious but are actually dissociative???)

“Okay, the smell is kinda starting to get to me now. Ever since they started putting in more pipes, it’s really begun to flow a lot more down here. The good news is that it’s helped me to work on things a lot faster. Definitely been some of my best lyrics lately. Sammy and I even won an award for one of our songs last month… I was told. Of course it had Mister Drew’s name on the award, but it’s the thought that counts. Speaking of which, I saw Mister Drew the other day… was meeting with that Connor fellow, holding some papers. Why they’d want to meet down here is beyond me. Something stinks.” ~ Jack Fain, Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser audio log dated November 18th, 1943 (emphasis added)

(This already suggests that Jack learned something he shouldn't, but could it be that we were completely wrong about the circumstances and information? Could he and Sammy have put what they each learned together…?)

…And then, in the actual game, there's that memo from Telly Wester we find on a desk right after climbing a ladder that's had rungs removed for some unknown reason next to the first two “Wilson Knows” posters we see, and a memo from Sammy shortly after which is under the third poster… and Jack has mysteriously changed his tune about the sewers…

“Geez! You'd think I was drowning kittens the way these people are lookin' at me! I've never seen such disappointment in a person's eyes. But this is the way of things, if management can't pay their bills, then the bank takes the goodies back. Still, it does break me a bit knowing how much I loved them old cartoons this place used to make. Oh well! Times change. Life moves on.” ~ Telly Wester, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Hard Times” memo (emphasis added)

“Joey, Jack and I have been wondering if you could meet with us considering the current situation? We have been with you for many years and we feel we have contributed to the success of Bendy in the past. Our interest is purely in keeping this company strong. We just want to help however we can. Let's talk.” ~ Sammy Lawrence, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Let's Talk” memo (emphasis added)

(When I first read this, I thought “ouch, poor Joey. Someone finally offered help and they made a big deal about how it's only for the company's sake? That must've stung…”)

“You gotta follow your inspirations when you're a musician. Stick to what you know works. But when they built the new studio buildings, they all but filled in my office down in the old sewers. Turns out, I've gotten so accustomed to working in those disgusting conditions, that now if my office doesn't stink, the lyrics I write do. So when Gent started digging their massive utility shaft between their place and ours, I knew it would be just the right spot for me to move in. Now, I've got a song in my heart, and a creative stench up my nose.” ~ Jack Fain, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Sewer Songs” memo (emphasis added)

What… what “goodies” was Telly talking about? What would cause people to look at him like that? Why this suspicious placement of items in a room that Wilson obviously had set up to welcome Audrey home…? I just remembered reading an old comment of mine… but I'd noticed that Tom, in his first BATIM audio log, talks about the ink pipes like he wasn't the one who put them in like his BATDR teaser one implies he was by placing him in the studio in 1943, just six days before Jack's audio log…

“It's dark and it's cold and it's stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees! Whoever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don't, or he's some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this… are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs. Make no mistake, this place… this… machine… heck, this whole darn thing… it just isn't natural. You can bet, I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew.” ~ Thomas Connor, Bendy and the Ink Machine, ch. 1 (emphasis added)

I'd originally thought this meant BATDR was taking place in an alternate timeline/universe, not the same one as BATIM, but is this actually another case of Wilson and a child of the Machine trying to explain how past events have been edited and hint at what really happened? Is… is this saying that A: Jack figuring things out happened long before Tom arrived, perhaps it wasn't even Tom who he saw Joey meeting with at all (it would actually make his confusion at seeing them meet in the sewers make more sense if perhaps it was not just his boss, but also a fricking steel tycoon… All Nathan Sr. would need to do here to incriminate Tom instead of himself is edit the dates and a name), and B: Nathan Sr. orchestrated the events of DCTL to look like either Tom's incompetence or Joey's poor planning was the reason the pipe burst and infected Sammy, but, in actuality, Nathan Sr. sabotaged the pipes like he sabotaged the things he did in TLO, in order to disappear Sammy – start and supply his ink addiction – for trying to help Joey (both obviously also providing further evidence that Nathan Sr. editing Mr. Gray/Grey and all those other extra Gent employees into history)?? And… did Jack just sink into obedience because he didn't wanna get disappeared, too (in which case, the tune change is similar to Tom's between DCTL and TLO), or did Joey tell him he should go into hiding to protect him (in which case, the tune change is him leaning on Joey's Illusion of Living coping mechanism to make the fact he needs to stay in the sewers more bearable)???

“[Sammy] stared at me longer this time. Then he started to laugh this laugh that was all breath and no sound. Almost like wheezing. ‘Art Department. Okay. Okay, gofer for the Art Department, answer me this: Why are you guys storing ink in my sheet music closet? And why is JOEY running a pipe through my closet that's apparently filled with ink?’ A pipe? With ink? That definitely didn't sound normal, but then again, I had no idea what was normal for an animation studio. ‘I don't know.’” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 48 (emphasis added)

(The comments on seeming “innocuous strangeness” and theme of brushing questions aside return… Also, whose voice do we know by its distinctive wheezing? 👀👀 Wilson literally just commandeered Sammy's mouth, didn't he?!)

“I want to tell about Sammy. About when he disappeared. I want to get to that part of the story. But the thing is, we only notice someone is gone when time has passed… . . . Three days after that, when enough time had passed, but not so much that people really noticed it, Toby from accounting mentioned that Sammy hadn't come in for his paycheck. Again, us workers only knew anything about this because Mister Drew himself was storming around the building, angrily muttering about it. Interrogating folks he met as he went. I didn't feel like the rage matched the situation, but then I figured maybe he had something more on his mind than just a missing music director. . . . But then things took a turn. I remember coming to work and the police were outside and the studio was shut down. I remember being told by Richie that someone had broken in and messed the place up. That they were looking into a possible burglary. I remember Mister Drew rushing from his car and shouting in the detective's face something about sabotage. How seeing him shout like that was worse than seeing Mr. Schwartz lose his temper. Than seeing even Sammy lose his temper. It was jarring and a little scary. Especially compared to how he usually seemed.” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 193-194, 194-195, and 196 (emphasis added)

(Wilson seems to be highlighting an important part of Buddy's story for him, again…! 👀👀👀)

Was Joey so seemingly excessively upset by Sammy's disappearance because he was worried that Nathan Sr. might've taken another friend who was genuinely trying to help him away from him, changing the narrative around the situation, just like he did with the Henry leaving situation?! Was he not shouting about the “burglary” being sabotage, at all, but exploding because he now had confirmation that the whole weird situation was his “good friend” Nathan Sr.'s handiwork (honestly… why would he assume sabotage straight out of his car and what would this “burglary” even actually be sabotaging? How does this make sense as a response to the situation outside of the context I'm proposing? It… doesn't… Making him explode like this in front of many people even fits Nathan Sr.'s Classic Abuser Villainizing Their Victim M.O.)?! Could the lack of music in the shorts have been a hint at both how Nathan Sr. edits the Ink Dimension to be joyless and torture Joey in particular and how he punishes anyone who reaches out to/for help all along?!?! And… could Nathan Sr. have straight-up orchestrated Buddy's death, as well, besides forcing Joey to make up a story about how it was his own plan the whole time, because he realized Joey liked him?! Was the incident where Joey tricked Buddy into paying for a fancy dinner to make Nathan Sr. think he only saw him as a pawn when he started suspecting he'd done something to Sammy, but it didn't work?! Why was Buddy sat where he was (at… Henry's desk… which was being kept somewhere nobody wanted to sit, like Joey didn't want anyone going near it…) and Bendy locked up somewhere that this kid who people knew tended to stay late after work (just like Henry…) would hear him (recognizing, because he was under the pipes all the time, that this was a new and unnatural noise), let him out, and be blamed for unleashing the Ink Demon?

“It was because of the pipes. I know that now. My little corner of the Art Department that no one wanted to sit in… . . . So the pipes making the odd noise as I sat and worked in my corner that night really didn't even make me blink. Didn't make me look up. Until they did. . . . I stood up instinctively. This wasn't the furnace feeling frustrated. This was something else. What it was, though, I had no idea. Well, the thing I did know was that it was none of my business. So I sat back down and focused on my paper. That's when the moaning started.” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 139-140 (emphasis added)

Nathan Sr. took Joey's goodies away… drowned his kittens in ink because he kept disobeying/failing to obey to satisfaction… I get the feeling that, when Joey confronted him about Sammy being disappeared, Nathan Sr. said something like: “don't give me that look. This is just what happens when you don't behave, you know that. I felt a little bad doing it, I did enjoy his music… Oh well! Life goes on…” and it seems like he made sure the soulless Bendy took Buddy out extra poetically, because he could see Henry in him just as much as Joey could… so, he knew that death would hurt his “good friend” the most…

“[Mister Drew] grabbed me under my chin and held my head still. I tried to shake him off, but his grip was like a vise. He brought up his other hand and held me tighter. He came even closer and looked at me hard in the eyes. His scent was powerful. I'd never really noticed that before. But now for some reason I could smell him clearly. It wasn't just cigar smoke and pomade. I could smell his hors d'oeuvres from the party. I could smell whiskey and champagne. I could smell the city air and the heat of the day. His sweat. His madness. . . . Just because something is unbelievable doesn't make it not true. Remember that, Dot. Oh, please, above all things, remember that. . . . ‘The soul. But how do I get a soul? Sammy lured those people down here… I thought I could use them, but the ink had infected them for days. There was no soul left in there. I needed someone real. Someone good. I never thought I'd be so lucky as to have you, Buddy. But this was meant to be. This was the plan all along. That's why you were sent to me. When I came here, when I saw you—in the clutches of that beast—I understood your purpose.’ No. That's not my purpose. I felt anger rise in me, and I pushed his hand off my shoulder finally. I stayed where I was, white-hot rage now energizing me, making me almost afraid to stand up. Of what I might do. ‘I saved your soul, Buddy. And you saved me. You’re going to save Bendy.’ I didn't do that. My purpose was saving Dot and the others. That was my purpose. He couldn't and wouldn't take that away from me. My purpose now and always would be to protect the world from this beast. This machine.” ~ Daniel “Buddy” Lewek, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 287, 293, 294, and 295 (emphasis added)

Was Joey literally trying to tell Buddy that Nathan Sr. had plotted his demise because he knew he cared about him?! And was that comment about unbelievability a message from Wilson about the whole Nathan Sr.-and-his-puppets situation?!?! Which makes me think of… Okay, these next couple thoughts may be more of a headcanon than a legitimate theory, but I've had this weird, nagging feeling ever since I first read DCTL that I'd just totally discredited when I first heard Nathan Sr.'s voice, and I'm wondering if I shouldn't have… cause this line in The Mug and The Maiden, “two characters have died already, surely a third wouldn't hurt anything? Are you perhaps just reading this story because you want to see who will get the axe next? You're a little warped, do you know that?” is most definitely speaking of/to Nathan Sr… Any of y'all remember that scene in the elevator as Buddy was arriving at Joey's party? I wonder if my initial, gut reaction that the man with the southern accent who tried to get Buddy to join him in making fun of Joey (honestly, it seemed like laughing at the poor man was the one-and-only reason he was even there) and his wife who seemed done with his B.S. – both of whom mysteriously vanish after being introduced in a similar manner to Allison, like they might be important later – were actually Nathan Sr. and Tessa, except they were in disguise so that Joey wouldn't realize Nathan Sr. had come to watch his dominoes fall… until it was too late. Susie and Sammy already died (or “died”), surely another of his toys dying (or “dying”) tonight wouldn't hurt anything… but oh, goody-goody gumdrops, whichever will get the axe next? 👀 I also had this weird feeling when I first read TLO, before Andrew told Constance his name, that he was was going to be Nathan Jr… and I still felt like he might somehow be involved with Nathan Sr. – maybe a spy or something – until he just sort of got unceremoniously kicked from the story and nothing really came of him except adding more fuel to the raging inferno that was Constance's anger… I wonder if Nathan Sr. enlisted his neglected Favorite Son™ as Constance's Keeper? 👀👀 Back to things I'm more sure about, hm… that scene I just quoted sounds an awful lot like a certain scene at the end of BATDR…

Wilson: …All of the factors must be perfect. *Machine chamber rotates from the one containing the painting of Shipahoy Dudley to an empty one* The right design, the right science, and… *saw blades pop out of the chamber walls* the right soul. Audrey: What? Wilson: At last your purpose is revealed, Audrey. This is why you're here! With your soul inside him, my creation will live forever. Audrey: Stay away from me! You're insane! Wilson: Come now, Audrey! Part of you knew this was your path. Leave yourself behind… and ascend! Audrey: I thought you said we needed to save your father! I thought you had a plan to send me home! To make everything right! Wilson: I lied… My father is beyond hope. Perhaps you know him: Nathan Arch, owner of ArchGate! Industrial genius. Business tycoon. For years I've lived in his reaching shadow. He always had time for the grand creatives of the world, the “doers” as he called them! He knew only the best! The biggest thinkers! How could his lowly son ever hope to compete with that? But now, thanks to you, I can. Audrey: *Clenches fist* *tries to use her banishing powers on him* Wilson: *Catches her hand before she can* No need to struggle. My signal prevents you from using those devilish powers of yours… and more importantly, *catches her other hand before she can hit him with the Gent pipe* keeps the Ink Demon from getting in. It's time to die, Audrey… *starts dragging her towards the machine* and live again… as a god! Audrey: *Hits him with her pipe, continues struggling, and gets her right hand free* No! Not this time! ERRGH! *Hits him much harder, frees herself from his grip and pushes him into the saw blades*

More evidence that both Joey and Wilson's evil plans were actually Nathan Sr.'s all along?? He's done this before, to Susie, Sammy, Buddy, Henry, Allison, Grant, and who knows how many others through Joey (and, I mean, y'know, he's probably why Joey tried to sacrifice himself at all… I wonder if the reason his soul failed to merge with Bendy, the reason it was purportedly Joey's fault Bendy was soulless, was because he came to his senses at the last second and fought back like Audrey did), now he's trying to do it to both Audrey through Wilson and to Wilson through Audrey… This series is so filled to the brim with narrative parallels, it's astounding… And my. Gosh. I. Hate. Nathan Sr. More. And. More. The more I think about it all… Anyways, honestly, the whole Sammy and Jack situation would explain:

Joey's comments on Sammy and Jack seeming to secretly hate each other in TIOL: maybe he added that in so that, if one of his friends was caught by Nathan Sr., then maybe the other wouldn't be (clearly it didn't work, unfortunately)?!

Joey describing Jack as an attention-hogging showman when all of his audio logs show he was very introverted, didn't much care about getting credit, etc: maybe he wanted to create this image of him so that Nathan Sr. wouldn't notice him if and when he went into hiding?!

Why Joey put a pump switch in Sammy's office: maybe he realized Nathan Sr. was catching on and wanted to make him think he didn't care about him while also getting Sammy to start hiding like Jack?!

Why Sammy made the comment he did to the (sepia!!) newspaper in the Employee Handbook that most people interpreted as meaning he was always a villain and on Joey's side in a bad way when he, himself, clearly didn't like being ordered around and under a tight schedule: maybe he, himself, was also trying to throw Nathan Sr. off the scent of rebellion (also, this means we have even more evidence of Nathan Sr. A: letting rumors spread to punish Joey, and B: creating Decoy Villains through manipulation/etc. all the freaking time)?!

Now that we're all chewing on that food for thought, back to the music. 😝

Sepiatone: You were all my gold that has been never sold, giving life for art is going to be told, with a new name but an old soul, playing the old remastered roll, backing to tracks forgotten, all is fresh not rotten Grayscale: But there was just one creation, couldn't ever imagine, it brought my needed retaliation, for the artistic salvation *Two-Joey chorus repeats* Grayscale: Never-ending cycle started the suffering revival, the offspring has survived, angels and demons darkly revived, the vision brought a very costly decision, *obvious Joey silhouette appears* how great it is to feel the artistic *Joey silhouette flickers out of existence* catharsis, thaaa— Sepiatone: —aaat feels like I'm living, Sepia Joey: losing what I've been dreaming is what I'm fearing, but the true god of conceptions know, when from the spotlight he should go Grayscale: Anyone know? I'm! Still! Here!

*Wheezes* Did you just further confirm all my theories on how the version of Joey's story that everyone knows was written by Nathan Sr. (while simultaneously nudging us towards the idea that the Memory of Joey is straight-up Nathan Sr. in disguise and reinforcing that the End Reel is his creation and the resets are part of his plan to torture everyone), there was only ever one studio it's just that reality and people's memories have been modified and re-modified beyond recognition, Joey intended for the Ink Dimension to be salvation for those who've suffered in life and the victims of Nathan Sr.'s machinations but Nathan Sr. hijacked his creation, twisting it from a heavenly paradise into the hellish prison he, himself, now relishes and doesn't want to lose control of and consequently it was a good thing for Bendy to crush the Memory of Joey?? And possibly also drop a hint about the explanation of the events of TLO provided by The Mug and The Maiden before definitely reinforcing that the real Joey (who mused about ascending to godhood in TIOL and, if he's really Bendy now, has been described as a “deity” by Wilson, and has definitely been described as a “Dreamer” throughout the whole series, therefore “the true god of conceptions”) has been pushed outta the spotlight by the Memory of Joey and using Bertrum's line to simultaneously confirm that Bertrum also became a personification of part of Joey's psyche (his desires for the respect of others and praise for his work, hatred for anyone who belittles him and desire to upstage them in retaliation) and that Real Joey's soul is indeed still here inside Bendy???

Sepia Joey: Hey, do you hear me now? Gray Joey: After all these years, vision's still in the minds Sepia Joey: You'll breathe when I allow Gray Joey: Even dried-out ink is still drawing new lines Sepia Joey: I left for you my legacy Gray Joey: All consumed by fear, inky atmosphere Sepia Joey: Take my hand, that's the destiny, let's spin the last gear, I'll miss you my dear

Did you just also confirm that even the long-dead are still modifying the Ink Dimension for various purposes, simultaneously confirming that many of the new audio logs/memos/side stories may indeed have been made up by the souls of the series' scapegoats/etc. in attempt to call our attention to the discrepancies and reveal the truths and that Nathan Sr. – as the person who seems to be doing most of the reality/memory modification – might indeed already be dead, which would mean his soul would indeed be the true “new evil” in the Ink Dimension?! I'm vibrating again, omigosh…

The rest of the lyrics were all lines from the artist's previous Bendy songs ending on a lineup of posters of each one, which I'm thinking is probably further confirmation of theMeatly's repeated statements that all established lore is still 100% canon, and then did you notice… that while all the other posters only include drawings of cartoon characters, the poster for Legacy is a drawing of Bendy and human Joey as he looks in Archgate's documentary banners, haircut and all, and we see the Joey shadow puppet's shadow looming over it before the shot fades to black??? 👀 He's practically screaming in our faces that the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr. is not supposed to be here and is the real villain!!

Whilst we're talking about there being two Joeys, one of whom is clearly heavily connected to Nathan Sr. for history rewriting purposes… Did anyone notice that, in his letter at the beginning of BATIM, Joey says that he “needs” to show Henry something… Then, in the monologue in his apartment at the end of BATIM, the subtitles (which are what I transcribed the quote from in my original analysis/theory, by the way. In case anyone was wondering. I have auditory processing issues, sue me) say he “needs” to show him something while the voice actor says he “wants” to show him… And then, when the Memory of Joey tells the version of Henry's story that's definitely, 100%, undeniably a blatant Nathan Sr. lie, at this point, he says both verbally and in the subtitles that he “wants” to show Audrey something… 👀👀 “Need” suggests there was a genuine need, and therefore that the “Joey called Henry for help” option would be correct, whereas “want” suggests he wanted to show off something he was proud of or something, and therefore that either the “Joey lured Henry in to murder him” or “Joey created Fake Henry to be tortured” options would be correct… Sounding like the subtitle mismatch was not a mistake, but actually a hint at the transition from Joey's Truth to Nathan Sr.'s Lie, to anyone else? Like maybe Henry remembered that his old friend was supposed to have said “need,” and he was confused as to why he was saying “want,” now?? 👀👀👀

This song was illustrated by someone kept anonymous in the video description, who I think we all know is the same person who did the visuals for that first highly suspicious song, despite him saying that Desolate Hallway would be his last project (if you couldn't already tell just by looking at the style, the crucial hint in the comments returns):

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First things first, it's suspicious that this song is titled “Black and White,” considering Joey and Freaky Teeth Bendy's heavy ties to grayscale. I think this song is straight-up Bendy/Real Joey explaining his side of the story to us.

Grayscale: Ooh you're outta luck! Somebody's pulled the rug, and everything you've known has bid farewell, now demons run amok, this land from which you're stuck, the heavens pray this fresh hell treats you well, oh no… Sepiatone: *Whisper that shakes the screen like it frightened the singer* No

Frick, that was Joey despairing that his baby girl's been dragged back into the Ink Dimension and praying for her to be safe and Nathan Sr. interrupting him to say that she won't be, wasn't it?

Grayscale (w/ sepia drawing of Audrey): One moment drew with ink, the next I feel it coursing through my veins, I look around to see, reanimated dreams, that festered into frights that never drained Sepiatone (drawing of Audrey): This portal to the past, has morals I could pass, these monsters justify the wrong, in hopes to find their song, knowing it's already gone Grayscale (w/ sepia drawing of Audrey): Catch you in the credits, captivation to this black and white, just don't feel right, yeah, when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an *highlights with a golden glow* enlightened eye, *back to grayscale* to see that I don't belong

This could be Audrey singing about getting sacrificed to the ink machine… or it could also be… Joey describing the day his human body died and he woke up in his cartoon world that was warped from paradise into prison by Nathan Sr. and he was never able to fix… He's also describing how Nathan Sr.'s manipulation and abuse fudges up his victims' consciences, using empathy to make them believe they'll be relieving suffering, creating great art, and/or achieving greatness, so that they think they're in the right committing atrocities… and how he didn't want to continue the cycle of abuse/trauma with his daughter… He even seems to be pointing us to the drawing at the end of the credits – which I'll come back to at the end of this analysis – saying it's unfair that he's the only one who can see his truth in the grayscale, and asking us to look at his story through a new lens…

Grayscale (drawing of Dapper Bendy): Oh can't stop for breath, in a world that leaks with death, I stick out like a stain that won't wash out, creatives always said, work can't go to your head, but never said that they'd go for your throat

He's literally confirming that Nathan Sr. sees him as one of the “stains ready to be cleansed away” *cough liabilities in need of disappearing mafia-style cough* in Wilson's “none of this ‘makes sense’” rant, confirming that this rant was indeed a riddle trying to tell Audrey about Nathan Sr.?? And then seems to be quoting something Henry and others might've said to him when he/they noticed that the studio chapter of their lives seemed to be changing him, and then explaining what it felt like when Nathan Sr. started villainizing him, causing people who he thought cared to turn against him…?

Grayscale (camera pans over to show a drawing of Freaky Teeth Bendy in a mirror behind Dapper): A cartoon made to dance, had finally got a chance, to never be erased again, now I have been condemned, to the marks from my own pen, catch you in the credits, captivation to this black and white, just don't feel right, when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an *highlights with a golden glow* enlightened eye, *back to grayscale* to see that I don't belong

He's confirming that he thought he'd escaped Nathan Sr.'s clutches only to find himself trapped in them again by his own creation?? And then back to pointing us to the credits of BATDR, saying it's unfair that nobody else can see his truth, and asking us to look at his story through a new lens…

Sepiatone: Passion amassed all our pass time distractions, to fight for their rations and live a tortured life, but the reels just repeat, lost the chance to redeem, when corruption’s defeated, remembrance always dies, yet even when memories fade, your legacy carries your fate, the devil may reach for my heart, *highlights with a golden glow* but I don’t belong to the dark

This sounds like he's describing what Nathan Sr. did to all his victims now trapped in what should've been their salvation, again… Confirming again that the End Reel and the Memory of Joey are evil and it was good for the Memory of Joey to be crushed and bad for the loop to restart… And then we seem to have Nathan Sr. bragging about the fact he's turned Joey's baby girl against him, so he won't win even if he kills him??? But then what seems to be Audrey providing her much more positive side of the story, that she's trying not to lean on her dad's maladaptive coping mechanisms… I'm coming back to that, I'm coming back to that. I'll wait.

Grayscale (w/ sepia drawing of Audrey): Catch ya in the credits, captivation to this black and white, just don’t feel right, when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an *highlights with a golden glow* enlightened eye, *back to grayscale* to see that I don’t belong Sepiatone (drawing of the Bendy): (Oh no), to see that I don’t belong, (black and white, it don’t feel right), to see that I don’t belong

Let's do some more examination on the fully animated version, which seems to provide further insight:

youtube

The beginning seems to be confirming that it's Bendy singing for the majority of the song, though it tries to make it look like the “no” is coming from Bendy… highlighted by a switch to sepia, as if we're only seeing it that way because our perception has been altered. Then it seems suggested that it is Audrey who's singing the “one moment drew with ink, the next I feel it coursing through my veins,” except… “I look around to see, reanimated dreams” is accompanied by what looks like footage of BATIM Chapter 2… which is weird… and suggests that maybe we're seeing Henry and/or Joey's memories… *Stares at my notes on Audrey's parentage* Then, “that festered into frights that never drained” is accompanied by all four Butcher Gang members appearing around Audrey… *Stares at my notes on reality editing and children of the Machine* And then “this portal to the past” is accompanied by a shot of the “again & again, around & around” hidden message from BATIM, “has morals I could pass” a Bendy statue from BATIM, “these monsters justify the wrong” a Searcher wrenching a door open to attack, “in hopes to find their song” a Lost One throwing herself against a wall and looking sad, “knowing it's already gone” Dapper Bendy looking at the toy train in his lap all alone…

The first chorus, “catch ya in the credits” is accompanied by Audrey and Dapper Bendy doing a handshake like they're already best pals and teammates, “captivation to this black and white, just don't feel right” the pair walking together to the library in BATIM where Henry saw his first vision that wasn't triggered by passing out from a magic-induced headache or doing something you don't do in a normal playthrough (which suggests that this might've been a point where the script was changed), “when the shadows grimace, all it takes is an enlightened eye to see that I don't belong” Audrey looking at a copy of TIOL (I probably don't have to reiterate, but I'm gonna: the biggest source of info on Nathan Sr.'s abusiveness towards Joey), then Bendy narrowing his eyes and looking over at a projection of the hidden messages from Henry's cell in Allison and Tom's hideout, *stares at my notes on these being evidence that Henry and Allison's story retcons are blatant lies* followed by shots of Carley the fourth Butcher Gang member, several Lost Ones who seem to be sitting at school desks in front of the ink messages Grant scrawled all over the walls of his office in BATIM, *stares at my notes on how the children of the Machine seem to be tryna tell us that Mr. Gray/Grey is being written into the story as a decoy villain partially through highlighting how Nathan Sr. changed Grant's story to fit this pretend history* Porter (one of the most critical parts of arousing suspicion that he and Heidi aren't Audrey's siblings, the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr.'s just tryna make Real Joey look bad), an empty music studio, and Wilson with the invisible ink messages “who is the man behind the monster?” and “you bring death” behind him, which suggests that… maybe a large number of the secret messages we found in BATIM, even ones we thought were just jokes (as many assumed The Mug and the Maiden was), were… being used as riddles by him… Omigosh, guys, read these in the (general) order we encounter them with the idea that – no matter who actually wrote them – Wilson could be using these to talk to us/himself, tell stories, etc. in mind (there's actually way more that sound very, very him, but Tumblr's image limit, so I'm only putting highlights from the beginning and ending here):

This feels like a description of the events of DCTL (especially considering the fact that Wilson used the widow – a “she” – in The Mug and the Maiden to symbolize Nathan Sr. Secret messages relating to Twisted Alice could very well be being used to talk about him… I wonder if Twisted Alice's line “I see you there. A new fly in my endless web” in BATIM was a reference to Nathan Sr., as well? Seeing as Wilson used the King Widow and Lord Amok to tell us that the Memory of Joey is either Nathan Sr.'s puppet or Nathan Sr. himself)…

And then a description of Joey's guilt spiral and calling Henry for help only for his dearest friend to be murdered by Nathan Sr., then Allison trying to be there for him and also getting murdered by Nathan Sr., but Joey being blamed for both incidents just like every puppet always gets blamed for everything that Nathan Sr. orchestrates… Y'know, all that stuff with Sammy and now with Henry's secret messages would explain why it was specifically Henry's axe and seeing tool and a record in the contraband display case, wouldn't it—? Did the Keepers put them there under the Memory of Joey/Nathan Sr.'s orders, or was this another of Wilson's attempts to call our attention to what he was trying to say (“guys please I'm trying so hard but my effing dad keeps silencing me, I'm literally begging you to look into Sammy and Henry for the love of all things good”)…?? Mm! I'm vibrating, again. Anyways, “a cartoon made to dance, had finally got a chance, to never be erased again, now I have been condemned, to the marks from my own pen” is accompanied by a shot of Dapper Bendy gripping his head and looking at Audrey in distress as he melts, then reemerges from the puddle as Freaky Teeth Bendy, the hidden message depicting the soulless Bendy's monster horns and claws that should be around the Bendy clock in Boris's hideout in BATIM behind him…

“*Panting* When you animate, it's so much more than just motion. It's a way of life, an art, a passion. *Crazed giggle* Each tiny movement is an *growly* emotional trigger to the audience. Get it wrong, and you will lose them. You must live the characters to draw them. You must feel the motions in your mind. *Pitch raises to be like the giggle again* Act them out around your room. Today, I'm a clock, a dancing timekeeper. *Giggles again* Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. *Giggles* Watch my movements. *Growly* See my frames of animation! I have so many characters to animate yet. Thousands of frames to go. *Giggles again, but sounding on the verge of tears* But for now, I'm just a clock. *Giggle, sniffle* Tick tock. *Giggle, sniffle* Tick tock. *Sniffly gasp, leading into a crazed laugh that almost sounds like sobbing* Hahahhaha!” ~ Bill Danton, Bendy and the Dark Revival, “Dancing Clock” audio log

Oh, honey… Danton (sorry, sweetie, I gotta refer to you with your surname to avoid confusion) is a personification of the part of Bendy/Real Joey that's in agony playing the villain again postmortem, unable to free himself from Nathan Sr.'s sadistic script even now and, worse, made the key to the resets, isn't he…? Oof… Then, the second “all it takes is an enlightened eye to see that I don't belong” is accompanied by a shot of Wilson and Betty followed by shots of the Memory of Joey in red lighting, Henry in green lighting, Twisted Alice, a Keeper, and the Bendys in black-and-white before they're swallowed by sepia lighting.

“But the reels just repeat, lost the chance to redeem” is interestingly a cut from Bendy saving Audrey from bleeding out on the floor after killing Shipahoy Wilson for ripping her legs off to… the Memory of Joey (I checked, that’s definitely his watch and pinstriped suit) standing looking at Norman’s projector head that we use to reset the loop… *Stares at my notes on the Memory of Joey wanting the cycle to continue being a very bad sign* Ouch, the “when corruption’s defeated, remembrance always dies” line being accompanied by Henry and Audrey-in-Bendy’s-body nodding at each other before resetting the loop hurts so bad… Y’know… now that this brings it up… the parallels to the soulless Bendy saving Henry from the Projectionist only for him to go after the End Reel… which Bendy stole from the vault and hid in his Throne Room… Is this saying that Real Joey was trying to break the cycle through Bendy by making him steal the stupid reel (which might suggest that the reason Henry had a vision when Bendy saved him was because Norman wasn't supposed to be able to see him and Joey briefly connected to Bendy to rescue his friend, now that I think about it), the audio log that came with it was basically the Memory of Joey before Nathan Sr. died and was able to physically manifest in the Ink Dimension…

“It's simply awe-inspiring what one can accomplish with their own hands! A lump of clay can turn to meaning… if you strangle it with enough enthusiasm. Look what we've built! We created life itself, Henry! Not just on the silver screen, but in the hearts of those we've entertained with our fancy moving pictures! But… when the tickets stopped selling, when the next big thing came along, only the monsters remained. Shadows of the past. But you can save them, Henry! You can peel it all away! You see, there's only one thing Bendy has never known: He was there for his beginning, but he's never seen… The End.” ~ (The Memory of??) Joey Drew, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Chapter 5

…created in order to push Henry to reset the loop while making Bendy look like the villain (and indirectly confessing to orchestrating the deaths of so many – Henry included – under his true identity [Nathan Sr.] and what he was planning on the Ink Dimension coverup for Henry's death being?? Please tell me everyone's seeing that line's similarity to Wilson's “None of This ‘Makes Sense’” riddle, the epilogue of TLO, the “Wilson Trying to Make Audrey Into Shipahoy Dudley” scene, and the “Joey's False Confession to Buddy” scene), just like how he did to Audrey coming in with his love-bombing her and making Bendy look like the bad guy for crushing him?? I— holy— woah… oh my…

Audrey: I'm scared. I don't know what's happening. The Memory of Joey: The past doesn't define you, nor the present! In the end, all those years ago, Joey Drew finally succeeded! He created… life. But Audrey, you're so much more than that. You were his family, his daughter. My daughter… and I love you so very much. The Ink Demon: Be quiet. The wretch is mine! The Memory of Joey: Remember who you are, Audrey. Remember! The Ink Demon: Your words are wasted! The failure of Joey Drew dies here! . . . The Ink Demon: *Crushes MoJ with their right hand* Audrey: Noooo! The Ink Demon: *Throws MoJ in the ink* The future is sealed. *Puts their right hand on the floor and does nothing else, as if he just wants to rest* Audrey: *Turns their head to look at the End Reel* The Ink Demon: What do you think you're doing? Audrey: *Picks the End Reel up with their left hand* I'm starting over. The Ink Demon: What? Audrey: This… is the end.

This scene was literally Real Joey fighting to claim his daughter as his effing daughter and break the time loop cycle while Nathan Sr. sneakily directed her attention and affection towards himself to save both his own skin and the accursed cycle!! 🤯 Nathan Sr. has fricking manipulated the script so much— this makes Danton's audio log twenty times more upsetting…!

The “your legacy carries your fate” line is interestingly accompanied by a shot of Audrey and Shipahoy Wilson, possibly alluding that they could fight against Nathan Sr.'s machinations together? And then Audrey says the “but I don't belong to the dark” line back in her office, and the door behind her opens to reveal Dapper Bendy in a grayscale version of it before we're pulled back into the sepia where we see a shot of the soulless Bendy from BATIM for the “catch ya in the credits” and Freaky Teeth looking around like something's wrong for the “captivation to this black-and-white just don't feel right” lines.

“When the shadows grimace” comes with a shot of Shipahoy Wilson, “all it takes is an enlightened eye to see that I don't belong” a shot of Tom pointing behind us where we turn to see Allison Angel and then Henry. Then, that final “to see that I don’t belong, (black and white, it don’t feel right), to see that I don’t belong” line is accompanied by shots of Audrey falling down the elevator shaft like a rabbit hole, Freaky Teeth touching her shoulder and head, and, finally, a shot of Audrey in front of the cork board from Joey's apartment with the items from it that correlated to the ones used to turn on the Ink Machine (including another copy of TIOL!!) floating around her…

Anyone notice that this drawing from the credits of Daddy and Daughter drawing together in their apartment is the only one that's in black-and-white? I dunno about y'all, but this all feels a little too on-the-nose to just be a coincidence…!! 👀

And, finally, everyone probably already knew about this one, but I think it's important to look at this official BATDR song through a new lens:

youtube

“Come what may, I'm watching over you, when darkness comes closing in, I'll turn that black sky to blue, I'll always guide you, protect you, I'll never forsake you, you know my heart is always true, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you, lost in the shadows, I'll be your light, shining your whole life through, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you

I'll always guide you, protect you, I'll never forsake you, you know my heart is always true, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you, lost in the shadows, I'll be your light, shining your whole life through, so no matter the odds, what lies between us, I'll always be here for you”

…Fudge nuggets, y'all got me crying, again. 🥲 This is supposed to be a song that our potential Cyclebreakers can sing to each other, including Allison and Tom as pictured in most of the video, Joey and his baby girl as that Bendy-and-Audrey drawing in the middle might be implying, and so on, isn't it? 😭💕 *Deep breath* Anyways…

In conclusion: I do think BATDR is the end of the original story.

I feel like future games will probably focus on what on Earth happens when the children of the Machine move on, what with Gent's return teased in the post-credits scene. But at any rate, while maybe the final story might not have been quite what they originally planned and has changed a few times while BATDR was in development limbo, I wholeheartedly believe that Nathan Sr. is still very much the true villain of the entire Bendy series so far. He's just sticking to what he's good at and staying the heck behind his beloved curtain, pulling everyone else's strings… And I know I said in my initial reaction that the default ending didn't feel like the true one due to all the things that didn't make sense, but now that I've put all my other thoughts into words and mulled things over more, I wanna leave you with this thought:

“We’re ALWAYS free to choose. To believe what we want to believe. But when you step back, when you really look at where you've been, and the things you've done, your past will come… to devour you. *Bendy's growl echoes in the backround, as if another memory*” ~ Audrey Drew, Bendy and the Dark Revival, intro (emphasis added)

“You must be really lost to be asking me for help.” ~ Henry Stein, Bendy and the Dark Revival, Chapter 4

Audrey: Dead end! Now what? Henry: Need some help? Audrey: Henry! You came! Henry: Some battles are worth fighting for… Even a million times. Come on! I found a projector up ahead! Run for it! The Ink Demon: This realm is mine… and the cycle will continue! Audrey: Well then, we'll just have to do better next time.

“My father once told me, that just because we’re born of darkness… doesn’t mean we belong to it. We’re always free to choose. And here, at the very beginning, there’s a choice to make. My father’s cartoon world was now mine. To rule, to watch over, and to protect. I can make the cycle more bearable for my friends inside. But as for me, I’m the first of my kind. Born of ink, but living in flesh. Joey’s world is escaping into ours. So, what’s next? Who can really say?” ~ Audrey Drew, Bendy and the Dark Revival, outro (emphasis added)

I… don't think the default ending is about all the other ink creatures literally escaping into the actual real world with Audrey— except for her fellow children of the Machine, who already exist in-between the two worlds, belonging to both and neither, thanks to their ghostly origins, and consequently can cross over just fine if they so desire. I think it's much more about her choosing to A: acknowledge and accept the Joseph Dempsey (aka Dapper Bendy) part of her dad's story – that while he made mistakes, he did in fact love her and was trying his best to make sure she'd have a better life than he did – remember the memories that she'd suppressed through her dad's Illusion of Living coping mechanism and allow herself to grieve for him and embrace what's left of him, B: possibly get the truth of what Nathan Sr. did to Joey, Wilson, and everyone else out into the world?? That's another copy of TIOL that she's holding!! And C: reject (or “banish away,” as Bendy/Real Joey said in his “The Beginning” and “Something Familiar” memos) what she, like her father, thought was her only option for survival – becoming a monster – after seeing the creature she became torture and eventually kill a being with the face and voice of her loved one (making her realize that this was just as bad a road for herself as it was for him), and to break the cycle of trauma/abuse by taking control of, especially, the real-world memory part of her father's creation (mayhaps it's actually another of those “many wires” mentioned in A Theory about Spaces? It's not quite the real world, but it's also not truly the Ink Dimension…) to make the fact that they're all still trapped in the loop more bearable. Even if they still have to relive many of the events we've seen, maybe she can eventually figure out how to do things like let Henry visit Memory Linda (yes, she gets the honor of dropping the “the” and “of” in the moniker), who may still exist within the Real-World Memory Space, and so on. Maybe she'll even be able to get through to Wilson, someday, and they can rule the Ink Dimension together?

It's not perfect, they're all gonna be affected by what happened to them forever, like trauma survivors in real life. But they're gonna manage. Those who are willing are gonna do what they can and make the most of what they have, do their best to heal and move on. Honestly, even if there isn't a secret Grayscale Ending (which I do still really hope there is— Wilson and Joey deserve better than they got in the default ending and I want so badly to make Nathan Sr. face more-permanent justice)… I think that's a pretty beautiful way to have handled it.

To Read the Original Analysis/Theory: Part One • Part Two • Part Three • Unexpected Part Four

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girlsloveamystery · 2 years

Text

I posted 1,709 times in 2022

640 posts created (37%)

1,069 posts reblogged (63%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

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I tagged 81 of my posts in 2022

#bughead - 43 posts

#also on ao3 - 41 posts

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Longest Tag: 28 characters

#sweet pea and betty siblings

My Top Posts in 2022:

. “Thanks for coming to the planetarium with us, Betts.” The shortening of her name had started the week prior, when they went out for another coffee run and he accidentally slipped up and called her that. He hadn’t been sure how she’d take it but when all she did was blush faintly and smile, he knew he had done the right thing.

She nodded her head, green irises shining happily. “Thanks for not scheduling it on a day I go into the office. I’m happy to help in anyway I can.” Her voice was sincere and he knew her words rang true as they came as she smiled brightly at him. He shrugged a shoulder.

“It was for me as much as it was for you,” he assured her quietly. “I need all the help I can get on field trips like these.”

Betty smiled kindly, patting his hand the next moment. “You’re doing a lovely job, Jughead. The kids adore you.”

It was Jughead’s turn to blush at the praise. He had always hoped he’d make a good teacher; wanting the kids to know that they could rely on him whenever they needed him most. He was relieved to know that the majority of them seemed to at least know that. “Thanks Betty.” He smiled shyly, feeling very much like a schoolboy with his first crush. He knew it would be inevitable that he would ask her out on a date.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39206100/chapters/98347287

23 notes - Posted May 29, 2022

Have the writers stopped fucking with Jughead and Betty yet or?

24 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

“Betty Cooper, you are a sight for sore eyes,” Jughead grinned at her, taking in her appearance and she wished she had thought to touchup her makeup but she had been busy with the pie.

She pulled a face. “I look like I’ve been in the kitchen all evening. Probably smell like it too.”

Jughead bent his head down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, hopefully the first of many that night, and shook his head. “You smell like chocolate, an utterly divine scent if you ask me.”

Betty melted into the next kiss he placed on her lips.

“Yuck!”

Pulling back, they turned and faced Charlotte, who was staring at them from the hallway. “Charlotte, didn’t I tell you to wait in the kitchen?” Betty quirked an eyebrow at her daughter.

“Yes, but it was taking you a while at the door and I wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Charlotte said. “I didn’t expect you to be sucking face with Mr. Jones.”

Sucking face? Where did she even learn that phrase from? Jughead laughed. “Hey, Charlotte. Sorry you saw me, uh, kissing your mother.”

“I don’t care Mr. Jones,” Charlotte shrugged a shoulder, smiling good-naturedly the next moment. “I mean, it’s better than my dad.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39206100/chapters/99005949

26 notes - Posted June 10, 2022

Just then, he heard her retching again and cut off the stove, running towards her the next moment and gathering up all of her hair as she was violently sick into the bowl he spent the day cleaning out periodically. "You're all right, baby, you're all right." His tone was low and soothing for her, hoping to encourage her to stay as calm as possible. No one liked throwing up repeatedly but the silver bullet had done a number on her. Betty slumped back into the pillows a moment later, finished for the time being.

"I'm sorry," she croaked in a raspy voice and Jughead winced when she did, knowing her throat had to be feeling like an inferno by now. He pushed her sweaty hair off her forehead and rubbed soothing circles into her skin there as he helped her take a sip of the room-temperature water that was resting on the nightstand.

"Its okay, baby," he assured her softly, letting her know he was in no way upset about taking care of her. He wasn't – not in the slightest. He rubbed her back slowly as he encouraged her to drink slowly, lest it upset her stomach once more and when she had her fill, he pulled back the glass from her lips, removing it from her trembling hold altogether. "Better?" His question was laced in gentleness; only the tone his mate could pull from him as he nudged a lock of hair behind her ear.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34715074/chapters/90315982

29 notes - Posted January 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

“Yes, he was nice,” Charlotte said softly, tucking herself behind her mother’s body and Betty led her into the building and down the halls to where her classroom was. Walking inside, she spotted a young man – not much older than her – with raven locks and a genuine smile as he greeted each new student. She led Charlotte – who was still tucked into her side – up to him and waited for their turn. Mr. Jones turned to them after the current kid scampered away and smiled at Betty and Charlotte. Oh my ovaries.

“I’m Jughead Jones,” Jughead said, holding his hand out to her. Betty smiled sweetly, flushing slightly as she shook his hand.

“Betty Cooper, Charlotte Cooper’s mother,” she replied, running her hand down her daughter’s hair.

“Oh yes, she had Michelle, the babysitter take her to back-to-school night, right?” Jughead asked with a smile.

Betty felt her cheeks redden more as she looked down, feeling ashamed of not being able to do more for her daughter. “Yes. I – uh, am sorry. I would have been here but I had to go into work last minute. Out of my control.”

Jughead smiled sympathetically at her. “Not judging you, Ms. Cooper. I understand the importance of a job.” Then he directed his eyes to the little girl, smiling brightly at her. “You ready for a fun day, Charlotte?”

Charlotte stayed close to her mother’s side, hugging her leg as she stared up at Jughead shyly. “Yes, Mr. Jones.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39206100/chapters/98093973

31 notes - Posted May 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

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themultifandomgal · 2 years

Text

FP Jones- Gladys Jones

The day FP told me that he and Gladys we're going to have another go at married life, was the worst day of mine

Flash Back

"I'm sorry I'm confused. Your throwing away our 3 year relationship, for a failed marriage?" I look at FP more confused than I had ever been. We’re currently sat at Pops where FP is telling me he's leaving me for his ex wife

"I know it's not ideal"

"Ideal?" I almost yell "FP she's the one who drove you to drink. I'm the one who helped you overcome that. I'm the one who's stood by you through everything. I'm the one who helped to nurse Jughead back to health after you decided to rumble with the Ghoulies"

"Fangs was shot, they wanted war"

"They didn't shoot Fangs FP!"

"YN I know that this is hard to understand" I scoff

"Understatement of the year"

"But she's the mother of my kids"

"What if I was pregnant FP or what if we had kids? would that be the only reason you were with me?"

"What? are you pregnant?"

"No but you didn't answer my question"

"I don't know what you want me to say"

"Neither do I. Just leave FP. Go pretend to play families somewhere else, but don't come running back to me when she breaks your heart again"

"YN don't be like that" FP places his hand on mine. I snatch it away

"Go, please" FP sighs and gets up from his seat

Current day

"Hey Pop, can I just get a burger and fries to go"

"Of course" Pop smiles at me before walking into the kitchen. I sit on a stool waiting when someone sits next to me. I turn my head to see FP

"You were right"

"I don't know what your on about. I'm right about a lot of things so be specific"

"Come on YN don't..." FP sighs "Gladys left" this makes me chuckle

"I can't believe I'm hearing this... actually you know what I can"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"Broken up with me? because you did and now you are suffering"

"YN I didn't know.." I now look in FP's eyes

"Yes you did. You knew that leaving me for her was a risk that you were willing to take. You also knew that I wouldn't and will not take you back. What I've not understood for the last 6 months is why you left me, a woman who loved you and would have given you the world, for a woman who had always been in it for herself. Hell, her kids, JB and Jughead haven't truly had a mother in 11 years maybe more, but you thought she changed right? you thought she was the woman you married when you were 22 but you were living a fantasy FP" FP now has tears in his eyes

"I'm so sorry. I fucked up I know I did. I don’t expect you to suddenly jump into my arms and love me again or ever. But I need you in my life. Even if that’s just as a friend” Pops comes over with my food in a bag

“I don’t know FP. I’m sorry” I pay for my food and leave. Jughead sat on his bike outside

“You know he’s a wreak without you”

“Should have though about that before moving into Betty’s house with your mother”

“YN just because they were living under the same roof doesn’t mean he slept in her bed. He slept downstairs on the couch, he didn’t kiss or even touch her. He only stayed with her to keep JB safe, not that it worked out. Kurtz…”

“I heard. And I’m sorry for what happened. I warned you both about that stupid game, I warned FP about that woman and no one ever believes me. I may not be a Serpent, but I liked to think I was family. I like to think you and your sister both saw me as a mother figure. I haven’t got my own kids and I though that maybe you could have been them, or maybe your father and I… I’m now 30 years old and single”

“You don’t have to be, well single can’t help with the age. My dad messed up, just give him another chance” I start to let the tears I have been holding in start to flow

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Maybe if it had only been a month, but it’s been 6 Jug. He’d still be with her if she hadn’t of left. I’m sorry Jug but I can’t be the fool who forgives what happened. Even if I did take him back, I’d worry about him leaving me again. That’s not fair on any one. This is for the best. Goodbye Jug”

#fp jones #fp jones x reader #FP Jones x oc #FP Jones x Y/N #riverdale imagines #riverdale

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thorniest-rose · 3 years

Note

I looked up Sal Mineo, and not only does he look like Ralph, but he's a breakout child star, known mainly from one movie who got typecast playing kids then had a dryspell when he got older. His biopic would've been perfect for Ralph, its almost meta lol. Speaking of, did Ralph ever talk about his dryspell? he just dropped off in the early 90s but idk if that was just him taking a break and being with family, or if he actually just stopped getting offered roles.

Hi, thanks so much for this, I love that you read about Sal Mineo after hearing about the possible biopic! I completely agree that Ralph would have been perfect, for sure because of the physical similarities but also because of how passionate he was about it being made! From what I've read it seems like it was a passion project of his for awhile, he really wanted it to be made, and he really, really wanted to play Sal Mineo. It's such a shame, and I'm not sure how much of it was a reality and how much of it is just a dream of Ralph's (like I'm not sure if it really went beyond having some initial talks with Francis Ford Coppola, who directed him in The Outsiders) but I do wish it had been made, I think even beyond the physical likeness, he would have captured how sensitive and intelligent Sal Mineo was.

As far as Ralph's long dryspell goes, I think there were a number of reasons that his career fell by the wayside tbh. Ralph openly hated Hollywood and the LA lifestyle, and always shied away from being called a celebrity, and I get the impression he only ever stayed in LA for as long as he had to. He never lived there to pursue a career, for example. In addition to that, he really loved being at home in Long Island and loved his family and his girlfriend, and I honestly think despite how much he loved acting, he loved his ordinary down-to-earth life back home even more, which was always going to clash with an acting career where you have to spend so much time away. He also never really transitioned into more adult roles in the 80s. In TKK he's playing a 16yo when he's 22 and even in the late 80s when he was well into his late 20s, he was still playing a teenager, and I don't think people saw the potential for range in him, or saw him as a leading man. He got typecast as the Karate Kid and as a teenager and that was kinda it. And again I'm not sure how much Ralph fought this because he was at home all the time! Maybe he expected roles to come to him after he was in a couple of hit movies, but I've never really heard stories of him auditioning for other roles.

Then I think there were myriad other things. Ralph gained weight in the late 80s too, at a time when actors were always expected to have gym-perfect bodies (I mean, they still are most of the time) and I think on the set of TKK3 he was reported to be difficult because he didn't want to do the film. Even looking back now, Ralph has said he could be dour and prickly, and I think he was shy too which may have come across as aloof? Not that these were reasons he wasn't getting roles, but they're just things I've read. Then he was hitting his 30s, and starting to age out of the teen roles, but still hadn't proven he could do more grown-up roles (a combination I think of not pursuing them but also not being given the chance) and his career kind of fizzled out apart from doing a couple of films like My Cousin Vinny in the early 90s. Then he had a daughter with his wife in like 1992 I think and I get the impression he became a lot more focused on his family and being a dad. He did spots of acting here and there like a recurring role on Ugly Betty in the mid noughties and appearing on Dancing with the Stars, but nothing that was a big attention-grabbing role until CK began.

So that's Ralph Macchio!!! And like I'm happy for him, because he obviously knew from an early age what he wanted, and that was to have a family, and it's sweet that was more important to him than acting. And it's also great that he saw the celebrity lifestyle as vapid so it's something he never pursued. I think it takes a lot of intelligence and fortitude not to be sucked into that, especially at such a young age. So I'm glad he lived the life he wanted!!! But I also really think there could have been an alternate history where Ralph was given more chances and did do films like the Sal Mineo biopic, and could have had a much more successful career. Like there's a reason these oscar-winning directors like Coppola and Avildsen were casting him, it's because he had talent, he had this really tantalising mix of east coast toughness and vulnerability, and that obviously resonated with them and with audiences. I just feel like Ralph had more to offer, and while I'm so happy we have the handful of great things he's in, I can't help but wish we had more and that Ralph had been given more chances to prove what an amazing actor he can be!

#asks #ralph macchiato #why did i write so much

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dimitrescus-bitch · 4 years

Text

New York City Standard (Veronica Lodge x Reader)

“Hermione, thank you so much for inviting to come and stay with you. Riverdale is an absolutely charming little town,” you thanked your exgirlfriend’s mother. Technically, you and Veronica had never broken up when she left New York, but she had essentially stopped talking to you. You understand that it was hard for her, but now that her father was out of the picture once again, things should have been easier for the two of you to rekindle what you had before.

“The pleasure is mine. It’s been far too long dear. How have you been?” Hermione asked you. She had always liked you. Hiram, on the other hand, hated you and the fact that your ambitions didn’t necessarily benefit your family’s business. You were your own person and you’d definitely influenced Veronica a bit to seek out her own path, which he hated.

“Very well. I’ve been accepted into Columbia for a pre-law program and if all goes well with that, I’ll have my choice at a number of ivy leagues for an official law program,” you told her. “Has Veronica mentioned college?”

“She has been a bit reluctant to speak with me lately. I’m hoping that you will remind her of a better time.” Hermione led you through their home and knocked on a door. “Mija, you have a visitor.”

“Okay, just a second!” Veronica called back. Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice, a sense of nostalgia taking over. You smiled a little as Hermione walked away and you were left standing in front of Veronica’s door. She opened it up and paused for a moment, almost as if she couldn’t believe that you were standing in front of her. “Y/n?”

“Hello Veronica, may I come in?” you asked and Veronica stepped aside. You noticed two people sitting in her bed, a boy on her bed and a girl sitting hunched over a book.

“Um, guys this is Y/n Y/l/n, she was my best friend in New York. Y/n, this is Betty and my boyfriend, Archie,” Veronica introduced you. You offered both of them smiles, even as they both eyed you suspiciously. “She’s nothing like Nick. In fact, she probably hates him more than anyone else.”

“Veronica, I see that you’re busy, but when you’re free, I’d love to go to dinner. It’s been far too long since we’ve had quality time, lovely.” You leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the corner of Veronica’s mouth. “It was nice to meet the two of you. Hopefully, we will become better acquainted during my visit.”

“How long are you staying?” Veronica asked you and you shrugged.

“I don’t really know yet, but hopefully by the time I leave, we’ll have arrangements for you to come into the city with me. It’s been horribly boring without you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You know, Archie is suspicious of your intentions being here,” Veronica said as the two of you sat in her living room having some drinks. “He thinks you’re here to steal me away from him.”

“Technically, he’s the thief. We never really broke up, you just stopped answering,” you pointed out. Veronica looked down, guilt evident on her face. “I’m not mad though, that was a whole shit show of a situation. I also didn’t really expect for you to be that into me.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was always like your little show pony. The progressive streak to distract from the fact that everybody assumed your family was corrupt. They don’t care about embezzling whenever the golden daughter is dating the troubled black sheep from the business rival family. It’s a miracle that your dad didn’t try to have me whacked or something after he caught us kissing.”

“Too obvious, and he wasn’t the only one who saw that,” Veronica told you. You sighed as you took a sip of your drink before setting it down on the table. “Besides, where is your evidence I didn’t beg him not to kill you? I meant it when I told you that I love you Y/n.”

“Yeah, but if you said it again, would you still mean it?” you asked her. Veronica sighed and you laughed at her.

“What’s funny?” Veronica asked you.

“The golden boy found the golden girl. You’re just golden by New York City Standards. He’d crumble against the concrete if you weren’t behind him.”

“And let me guess, you’d soar from building top to building top?”

“Damn right Lodge.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why is she still here?” Archie asked as you walked into Pop’s. “Veronica, you said she went back to the city Friday.”

“She did, I watched her plane take off,” Veronica promised him. She was puzzled as to why you were there, but the second she saw the familiar mauve box in your hands, she knew what was going on. “You’re a character, you know.”

“I’ve been told, but you wouldn’t refuse the best pastry in New York City, would you?” You held the box out towards Veronica. She took it from you and nodded at the empty spot in the booth across from her and Archie. “Afternoon Andrews.”

“We’re sort of on a date here, if you don’t mind,” Archie said, his voice sounding agitated.

“Oh no, I don’t mind one bit,” you laughed melodically. Archie muttered something under his breath and Veronica smiled as she saw the heart shaped scone. “I would have brought you coffee, but it would have gone cold. I dropped grounds off at your house though on my way here.”

“Of course you did,” Archie scoffed. “You know that you can’t win her by buying her love. Maybe you could have before, but not anymore.”

“I am not trying to buy her love Andrews. I’m giving a gift to my best friend. She doesn’t get to the city very often and I know that this place is her favorite. I’m sure if you were moved away from your home, you’d want someone to bring you Pop’s?”

“Let’s go Veronica.” Archie got out of the booth and you set the money for his order on the table.

“It’s on me, sorry for ruining your meal. Veronica, I assure you it’s not what I mean to do,” you promised her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You really are an asshole,” Veronica said as she caught you coming out of your hotel. “Archie is nice and I was happy before you showed up.”

“Veronica, I’m sorry. I really am,” you told her. She grabbed your arm and tugged you away from your cab. “I’ve got a plane to catch.”

“Is there room for one more?” Veronica asked you. “I want to go with you to the city. Even if it’s just for a little bit, I miss it. This place has made me soft. I’m not up to standard.”

“Maybe you were always a bit soft and that’s why I liked you,” you suggested. “Maybe you could make me soft and that’s why I fell in love with you.”

“Then, let me come with you for your sake,” Veronica offered. You nodded and opened the car door for her.

“About your boyfriend?” you asked Veronica as you turned your head to look at her.

“He hasn’t been my boyfriend since you crashed our date. Jughead is dealing with that aftermath and Betty’s just telling me not to screw this up too badly a second time,” Veronica said and you smiled a little. “I think she liked you too.”

“So, when you find yourself coming back here, I’m allowed to call and visit you?” you asked and Veronica nodded. “Good.”

Taglist: @storiesofsvu @xixxiixx

#Veronica Lodge #veronica lodge x reader #veronica lodge imagine #veronica lodge imagines #riverdale imagine #riverdale imagines #riverdale x reader #riverdale

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the-bau-quinjet · 3 years

Text

the evolution of breaking up

Peter x Stark!reader

Summary: Snippets of you moving on from a bad breakup, frequently turning to your best friend, Peter.

Warnings: it's sad Taylor Swift hours, some choice words,

Word Count: 3252

a/n: inspired by a playlist called the evolution of breaking up that only has TS songs on it lol. Bold is direct or paraphrased lyrics

Masterlist

Peter is 90% sure he fell in love with you the day he met you.

He's 100% sure he fell in love with you within a week of knowing you.

Hell, he's so sure about it, he would tell you if not for one glaringly obvious problem: Jared.

Your boyfriend.

Your started dating Jared a few weeks before you met Peter. That is to say, a few weeks before Tony recruited Peter to join the Avengers.

Peter didn't have any problems with Jared, and he would never wish for you to get your heart broken, but he was definitely jealous.

It wasn't hard for him to love you. The two of you became fast friends. You always worked in the lab together, improving upon tech Tony already had or developing all new creations.

You also patrolled together. Peter had always enjoyed patrolling, but now that you went with him, time seemed to fly.

It was currently about 10:30 on a Friday about two and a half years after you and Peter met. You and Peter were supposed to patrol, but Tony said to take the night off for once.

You took the impromptu free time as the perfect opportunity to surprise Jared.

You left the tower around 5:30 and Peter hasn't heard from you since. Not that he expected to since you were going on a date. He was bored though.

Tony refused to let him tinker around in the lab, saying he needed a better work/life balance. He would've found the statement funny if it didn't feel so true.

He tried calling Ned, but he was out with Betty. MJ was busy with Brad, the two going to some horror movie marathon.

The only other person he really hung out with was you, and you were also on a date.

He wondered the various floors of the tower, looking for anything to do that would take his mind of you.

Eventually, he just set up camp in the shared living area, putting Star Wars on the massive TV and eating more popcorn than should be legal.

He was nearly asleep during Episode V when the ding of the elevator jolted him awake. Someone ran through the halls, quickly opening and closing the door to their room.

He sat up, intrigued by the behavior. As he walked down the hallway, he listened for any indication of someone else being there. Obviously whoever it was didn't want to talk, but that didn't mean he wasn't concerned.

He stopped outside your door, bringing his hand up to knock when he heard music softly playing through the door.

You told me you loved me, so why did you go away?

He froze with his fist raised, uneasy with the why you would put on such a sad song. His hand fell back to his side when he heard you sing along to the chorus.

"Never thought we'd have a last kiss. Never imagined we'd end like this."

The sound of you crying grew louder than the music, urging Peter to knock. He just wanted to make sure you knew he was there for you.

Hyping himself up, he knocked lightly. A few seconds later the music stopped. He listened as you shuffled toward the door, slowly pulling it open.

His heart broke at the sight of your puffy cheeks, red and tear stained.

"Hey Pete." You managed a small smile, happy to see your friend despite the less than stellar evening you had.

"Hey, I... you probably don't want to talk about it right now, but I'm here for when you do." He matched your small smile, trying not to make you feel any worse.

Apparently, he said the right thing because you pulled him into a bone crushing hug, burying your head in his chest as you cried.

He spent the next half hour rubbing your back as you cried, having moved to sit on the bed rather than stand in the doorway.

When your tears ended, he risked talking to you again.

"Did you want to talk about it tonight?" Peter was clearly unsure of himself in this situation.

You shook your head, wiping your face with the sleeves of your sweatshirt.

"No, I... He just..." Tears pooled again, but you blinked them away. "He said forever and always, but I guess he didn't mean it."

Peter held you as you cried again, eventually falling asleep. He tucked you into your bed, placing a water bottle on your nightstand and shutting off the lights as he left.

The next few days, you spent mostly holed up in your room. You had a playlist of sad Taylor Swift songs on repeat, letting yourself wallow.

Peter was worried. Tony was worried. Nat, Steve, Sam, Bucky, Wanda, Pepper, and Vision were worried.

"What'd she say when you talked to her?" The group questioned, all wanting nothing more than to cheer you up.

Peter sighed, wishing he had more information. "She just cried for like, 2 hours. Somewhere in the middle I asked if she wanted to talk, she said something about him not really meaning forever, and then she cried again."

They were all contemplating what to do when you walked in the room. Every pair of eyes were on you in an instant.

You sighed heavily, kind of glad you could address everyone at once. They've been like a family to you since you were born, so it only makes sense they would all be worried.

"Jared and I broke up." You felt like it was 2 and a half years wasted. You could feel the tightness in your throat threatening more tears, but you refused to cry over this boy any longer. "I'll be okay, I just... I remember it all too well right now."

You turned to your dad, eyes welling up again. "I'm sorry I ignored when you said to run as fast as I can from all the boys I ever met." You chuckled, trying to relieve the tension.

Tony pulled you into a tight hug. "You'll be okay again, princess." You nodded, leaning into the hug. Everyone ended up piling on, offering you words of comfort through the group hug.

A couple weeks later, and you honestly felt better. Not all the way, but enough to want to go out with friends again. You went roller skating with Peter, MJ, and Ned.

It was the next logical step, going out with friends. It made sense. It was working.

Until you saw him. Jared was there with some other girl, skating without a care in the world. Of course, he saw you. He had the audacity to smile and wave, as if he didn't just break your heart.

When he walked up to you, you knew you had enough.

"Don't you smile at me and ask me how I've been. Don't you say you've missed me if you don't want me again." You spit the words at him, trying to hide how much it hurt. You turned away from him, nearly running from the rink before you even put the skates on.

You friends followed you out, profusely denying the need for your abundant apologies.

Ned and MJ hugged you before leaving, figuring less people would be better for you. Peter took you back to the tower, trying to help soothe the lingering ache.

"I just don't understand." You whispered from the passenger side of the car. "Why would he want to break a perfectly good heart?"

Peter struggled to come up with an answer, knowing nothing he said would really fix it.

"You'll find someone else. Someone who won't break your heart." He settled on a vague nod toward the future, knowing anything else could lead to him potentially ruining your friendship.

Unbeknownst to Peter, his words broke your heart just a little more. You always had a soft spot for Peter, and the few weeks you've been broken up from Jared have made you see him in a new light.

Of course, you wouldn't make a move though. Not yet. You didn't want him to think he was just a rebound. He's your best friend. It's too important to mess up with feelings.

You woke up the next morning with a slew of messages from Jared.

This is me swallowing my pride... telling you I'm sorry for that night.

I go back to December all the time.

It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you.

I'm wishing I realized what I had when you were mine.

You deleted them immediately, not wanting to fall back into his trap. Ultimately though, you decided to respond. You wanted to lay it all out that he missed his chance. You were over him, even if it still hurt.

I've lived, and I've learned. Had you, got burned. I'm over it, Jared. Leave me alone.

Then you deleted his contact and blocked the number. He couldn't just say those hurtful things to you and then pretend like it was a mistake. He meant every word he said that night, even if he doesn't believe it now.

Another week went by without incident. You were all smiles all the time, really moving on from him and the pain he put you through.

Then you got a letter. It looked like a card, so you figured it was an early Valentine's card.

Opening it up proved it to be just that.

The inside read:

"I don't wanna miss you like this. I don't wanna need you this way. Come back. Be here."

Signed from Jared with hearts.

Of course you chose to open the card as soon as you got it, with everyone watching.

Your expression fell as the words sank in, knowing he was still trying did weird things to your heart. It made you question everything. Did he really care about you? Was he just bored?

You stared at the card for what felt like an eternity before ripping it up and rolling your eyes.

Of course he doesn't care. Nobody who says to your face that they never loved you cares.

"What was that?" Wanda asked, curious about the mixture of emotions present on your face.

"A load of utter horse shit." You huffed a laugh as you threw away the pieces.

"Language!" Tony called, always taking the opportunity to tease Steve.

"Well it was!" You defended, eager to move on from the conversation. They all stared at you expectantly, clearly waiting for an explanation. "It was from Jared." You were glad Peter was sitting next to you. Just the mention of his name had him rubbing your back, trying to make it easier for you.

"You know, now that I'm sitting here thinking it through. I've never been anywhere cold as him."

You felt another group hug coming on, so you quickly excused yourself to shower, reassuring everyone that you were fine.

You were laying on the floor, feet up against the wall, just staring at the ceiling when Bucky and Peter walked into the gym to train with you.

"Hey, Y/N." Bucky called, a questioning look in his eyes.

"What's going on in your head?" Peter added, spelling out the question for you.

"I knew he was trouble when I met him." You answered him honestly. "And yet, I still said yes when he asked me out." You shook your head, still staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, hindsight is 20/20. Don't beat yourself up about it." Bucky chimed in, knowing how it feels to blame yourself for things that weren't your fault.

"Are you offering then?" You stood up, accepting Peter's hand to aid you. You brushed any lingering dirt from your clothes, laughing at Bucky's confused expression. "For me to beat you up instead?"

The three of you had a good laugh before you got to work training.

Three months post breakup and you're feeling great. At least, you're feeling great most of the time.

"Hey Y/N! What are you doing tonight?" Peter questioned as he walked up beside you in the lab, pulling out the tools he'll need.

"I don't know, nothing specific I guess." You try to remember any plans you had, but nothing comes to mind.

"Perfect. MJ, Ned, and I are going to go roller skating again. I thought maybe you'd wanna come?" He's clearly nervous, unsure if this would help or hinder your progress.

You nod your head, thinking it over. "You know what, I'm in." The determination in your voice catches Peter off guard.

"Cool, um, great. I guess you're doing better then?" He's still nervous, but eager to finally get you to fully open up to someone about everything.

"Yep. Anytime I get sad, I think of something shitty he did to remind me I'm better off." You smile, knowing he was going to ask for examples.

"Really? Like what?" You can't help but laugh lightly, enjoying how well you know Peter.

"Some vague things, like how he would look at me when he was annoyed. Like those eyes add insult to injury, you know?" He nods, but doesn't really understand.

"Or more specific examples, like that birthday party where you all kept asking me about him, and I made excuses, but truth is he just blew me off. That one honestly should've been the moment I knew."

"He did what?" Peter was livid, but trying to contain the rage to that of a concerned friend rather than jealous crush.

"Eh, I'm over it. It's pretty easy to focus on the bad aspects of the relationship when it ended so badly." You shrug, turning back to the circuit board you were working on.

"How, um, how exactly did it end?" He wondered aloud, knowing you hadn't fully told anyone yet. He watched as you tensed slightly before shaking it off.

"That's a story for another time Pete." You managed a tight smile, not wanting to delve into that conversation just yet.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." You mumbled under your breath.

You had been skating with Peter, Ned, and MJ for about an hour when he walked in.

Peter followed your line of sight, trying to understand your mumbling. When his eyes caught sight of Jared, he panicked.

"Y/N, I'm so sorry! I really thought this would help you this time." He rubbed his hands down his face, silently cursing himself for putting you in this position again.

"Don't worry about it Pete. I'm more prepared to handle it this time around." You laughed, watching out of the corner of your eye as Jared approached you.

"Y/N... I, uh, I've been trying to talk to you." He started boldy, not really caring that you weren't even looking at him.

You did your best to ignore him, but he grabbed your arm to stop you from skating away.

"Y/N, come on-"

"No." You spit at him, not letting him get under your skin. "People like you always want back the love they pushed aside, but people like me are gone forever when you say goodbye."

You yanked your arm out of his hand, turning back to your friends. "Let's keep skating. I have no reason to run away."

Peter watched, bewildered as you confidently skated across the rink.

The morning of what would be your three year anniversary with Jared felt weird. You weren't upset anymore, but the lingering nostalgia of celebrating an anniversary clung to you.

You deleted the email reminding you of the plans you were supposed to have that evening.

You sighed heavily as you walked into the kitchen, still trying to clear your head.

"You good?" Peter questioned, easily spotting that something was off.

"Yeah, it's just... I don't miss him. At all. I'm over it, but today would've been our anniversary..."

Peter nodded, trying to understand what you were feeling.

"It's strange to think the songs we used to sing, the smiles, the flowers, everything... is gone." You told him the truth, trying not to hide your feelings.

Maybe you should be over it by now, but you spent the majority of your high school career with that guy. It sucks to think it was all a waste.

He pulled you into a hug, rubbing your back to comfort you.

"I mean, not to state the obvious, but I didn't get my perfect fantasy with Jared." You huffed, rolling your eyes.

"You'll find your perfect someone." He smiled, unaware of the fluttering in your stomach telling you that maybe you already had.

"Yeah, someone who won't say to my face that he never really loved me." You muttered, feeling the rage burn inside you again.

"He's an ass." You hugged him tighter, enjoyed the feeling of being in his arms.

Peter slowed as he walked past your door, listening as the songs changed. He recognized the intro as a song from folklore, but he wasn't sure exactly which one.

"I'm doing good. I'm on some new shit." You sang loudly unaware of listening ears outside the door.

Peter smiled, walking away so as not to interrupt your healing process again.

Meanwhile, you floated around your room, nearly screaming the along to the breakup songs as you finally rid yourself of any lingering items relating to Jared.

"But it's wonderful to see that it never phased you!" You grinned as you threw it all away, ready to fully move on.

When the elevator doors opened, Peter was assaulted with the blaring sounds of none other than Taylor Swift.

Apparently, you moved your dance party from your room to the living room, thinking you had the space to yourself for a little while.

He watched as you danced around the room, singing and smiling to your heart's content.

"So he calls me up, and he's like 'I still love you' and I'm like, "I'm just, this is exhausting you know, like..." You caught Peter's smile out of the corner of your eye, fully turning to look at him as you belted out the next line. "We are never getting back together. Like ever. Noooo."

You grab his hands, forcing him to dance and twirl around with you as the song comes to an end.

"I take it your really feeling better." Peter smiles, overjoyed to see you looking so exuberant.

"I am." You nod, keeping it simple.

"No more thoughts about Jared?" He questioned, smiling when you didn't even flinch at his name.

"Nope. I forgot that he existed." You smiled cheekily, still dancing although you turned the music down.

"That's good, then." Peter smiled, suddenly nervous. If you truly had moved on, maybe now was his chance.

"Hey Pete?" You questioned, smiling shyly.

"Yeah?" He stood in front of you, unsure of where this was going.

"I realized something this morning." You whispered, nervous for his response, but dying to tell him the truth.

"Yeah?" He waited, eager to know what you were hiding.

You pressed a quick kiss to his lips before pulling back, watching as he slowly grinned.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked, stunned but grinning like an idiot.

"'Cause, I like you," you smiled, but quickly added 'but I know that it's delicate."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that." He stated, wrapping his arms around your waist.

"No?" You leaned into his touch, feeling like you were on cloud nine.

"Nope. Cause I like you too."

He pulled you in for a deeper kiss, celebrating the beginning of this new stage of your relationship.

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