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90sloverwithinsomnia · 25 days

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Switch Rivals - Chapter 20/21

This is one of many archived fanfics featuring 1st and 2nd generation K-pop acts that I've come across recently. It's all in good fun, and maybe a bit cringeworthy! Just to clarify, I don't post fanfics, so I hope to the people that post and read K-pop fanfics makes sense. Credits go out to the original creator 90s_love.

*Note: Nothing in their post will change (unless necessary), other than being posted here, and the (Link) will be provided to the page that i found it on.

Characters:

Kim Jaeduck, An Seungho (Tony), Moon Heejoon, Jang Woohyuk, Ahn Chilhyun (Kangta), Lee Jaewon (H.O.T.), Eun Jiwon, Lee Jaijin, Kang Sunghoon, Ko Jiyong, Jang Suwon

Summary:

Sechskies has gone too far and Tony can't take it anymore.

Chapter 20: Threats

It's been months since Tony's (actually Jaeduck's) accident. He still hasn't woke up and Tony was starting to get more worried by the second.

"Wake up. Wake up." (Tony)

"Chanting "Wake up" is not going to help." (Heejun)

"Still, it's been months and the reverse potion only works if both of us are conscious." (Tony)

"I know what you mean but the only thing now is to be patient." (Woohyuk)

Tony sighed and looked at the unconscious Jaeduck. The others were also worried about him.

Meanwhile, on Sechskies side...

"Where is he?" (Jiwon)

"I'm not telling." (Suwon)

"And why not?" (Jiwon)

"It's his hiatus and I promised him." (Suwon)

"Hyung. Being mad isn't helping." (Jiyong)

"Suwon. We realized what we were doing. Even Jiwon hyung." (Jaijin)

"And we want to apologize." (Sunghoon)

"Well that's gonna have to wait." (Suwon)

Suwon left them and went to the hospital to check on Jaeduck. The others decided to follow him. The followed him to a hospital but were stopped by one of the attendants.

"I'm sorry. This hallway is restricted except for a few."

"But our friend went in there." (Jaijin)

"He's one of the people who have permission. And you do not."

"Can you tell us who's the patient he's visiting?" (Jiwon)

"That, I can't tell either."

"What is up with people these days?" (Sunghoon)

"Restricted areas? Suwon went in it. Could it be Jaeduck?" (Jiyong)

"I don't think so. The news said that Jaeduck carried Tony An." (Jaijin)

Tony was in the hospital room for days and still nothing happened.

"Mister Kim. I think you should go home."

"Not until he wakes up." (Tony)

"I know you're sad but we can assure you that he's alive."

"Then, I'll come back tomorrow. Thank you, doctor." (Tony)

He went home and saw the merchant reading a magazine.

"So, how is he?" (Merchant)

"He's still unconscious but is still kicking." (Tony)

"That's nice to know." (Merchant)

The merchant looked at Tony as he was looking at a picture of him and Jaeduck together on vacation.

"You miss him, don't you?" (Merchant)

"Yes. All the time." Then, Tony gets a phone call. "Hello?"

"Hyung!" (Suwon)

"Suwon? What is it?" (Tony)

"The others..." (Suwon)

"The others what?" (Tony)

"Their threating me to tell them everything!" (Suwon)

"What?! Where are you?!" (Tony)

"In waiting room 267 in the company building." (Suwon)

"I'm coming! This has gone too far." (Tony)

"I'm coming with you." (Merchant)

"No. It's too dangerous." (Tony)

"I'm the reason for all this. I should be responsible." (Merchant)

"Okay. If you know what you're doing." (Tony)

They rushed to the DSP building and ran to room 267 to see Suwon tied up in the chair with his mouth taped.

"Okay. This is really bad." (Tony)

They freed Suwon and he cried.

"Hey... Don't cry." (Tony)

"I... was so scared." (Suwon)

"You did well. I'm proud of you." (Tony)

"Well, well. Look you showed up." (Jiwon)

"Eun Jiwon. Don't you think you took this a little too far?" (Tony)

"Watch your mouth, Kim. And call me hyung." (Jiwon)

"How can I if you are even treating Suwon like this?" (Tony)

(And also, in reality, we're the same age.) Tony said in his mind.

"Jiwon hyung. Really! We shouldn't do this." (Jaijin)

"You too, Jaijin? What should I do as a leader to get you to do what you're supposed to do?" (Jiwon)

"How about you give us some freedom to let us say our opinions?!" Tony yelled at him.

They others, except Suwon and the Merchant, were surprised that "Jaeduck" had to confidence to yell at them.

"You've been treating me like trash and now you're being nice to me?! What good does that bring?!" (Tony)

"Nevermind that. Who's that guy?" (Sunghoon)

"I'm the merchant responsible for their first accident."

"So, you're the one who sold the death posion?" (Jiyong)

"Luckily, it wasn't the death posion, so no." (Merchant)

"So what was it?!" (Jiwon)

Tony, Suwon and the merchant hesitated for a good while. They looked at each other and feels like they should know the truth.

"It was a switch posion." (Merchant)

"Switch posion?!"

"Like switching places?" (Jaijin)

"Yes. Which means the Jaeduck that has been with you for the past year wasn't really Jaeduck." (Merchant)

"So... who's this right now?" (Jaijin)

The person who was supposed to be Jaeduck took a deep breath in and out until saying, "Tony. Tony An."

"WHAT?!"

#kpop fanfic #old fanfic #1st gen kpop #2000s kpop #kpop #h.o.t #sechskies

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jq37 · 3 years

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The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 5

Through a Glass, Darkly

Welcome back to the Temple of the Earth Defiant where the girls and their magical horses (and one pony!) have found refuge from the strange, twisted, fae creatures that have been chasing them. The statue of Asha Hammerheart that Ost animated last episode is still alive and wrecking house on the remaining harpies and beasts that are foolish enough to keep fighting and the rest soon get the hint and flee.

Ost does some healing (boosted by the ambient Hallow effect of the temple which gives everyone a short rest) and then, seeing the damage to the temple caused by erosion, starts using Mending to fix things up. Her friends help out too with Sam and Yelle being most effective--Sam by repairing water damage and Yelle by creating tree cover and other druid-y tricks. But of course, we can’t overlook Katja’s crucial addition of carving “A Horse is a Home” into one of the walls of this sacred temple.

Anyway, the girls are nesting super hard, the horses are having their scrapbooking reviewing club (an insane thing that was established last episode) and then Sam asks a question. Did y’all mention something about a photo of me going viral? Everyone’s like yeah, but don’t worry, you looked super hot. That’s not the part Sam was worried about. What she’s worried about and what all the girls except Zelda don’t really seem to know is that Sam doesn’t really have a social media presence. So like, 180k and climbing views (as decided by a dice roll) isn’t really what she wants. She scrolls through the comments really quick and sees that they’re not awful but one person is like, “Hey that girl looks a lot like that character from that old show”. Which Sam doesn’t love. She says that she’s fine but also that, even without an Insight check, she’s obviously not.

Sam kind of looks to Zelda to bail her out and Zelda is like, “Hey, I’m gonna delete this video.” The other girls follow suit, even though they don’t quite know what’s happening. When they have to split up to investigate, Sam has Zelda kind of bail her out again and they split up to go check a nest outside--Zelda waving off Danielle when she wants to go with. Ant and Yelle decide to check out a cache of some treasure they saw earlier and Ost and Katja stay with the horses to keep fixing the temple up. Penny initially goes with Ant and Yelle but rushes back to be with Ost and Kat when Ost discovers a hidden lock while she’s fixing a wall.

So, the girls are split up, let’s run all these scenes.

Antiope and Yelle

Ant and Yelle go see the pile of treasure (near the statue of dwarven paladin Yvonna) which they learn is like a “take a penny leave a penny” situation for weapons and items. They were left by adventures who were similarly chased here and you can take what you need as long as you leave something to help others. Like, “Oh no I only have an ice sword and I need flaming arrows.” It doesn’t have to be equivalent exchange, you just need to leave something useful.

In this space, Yelle feels a weird melancholy and like they’re within the watch of something vast and powerful. She tries to check for TK’s presence but rolls low. Antiope leaves her Kalvaxus killing shortsword and takes some really nice, white feather fledged arrows with mirror tips and an ax Kat wants as a present for her dad. Danielle takes a bandolier of potions (3 healing and 2 mystery I believe) and leaves a bunch of mushrooms. Some of them are psychedelic and Ant takes one because this is probably a good time to be high, right?

It’s not messing with her competence obviously though because she rolls a 25 on Primeval Awareness and gets a weird sense, like something is closing in on this place. And like something very powerful is bleeding, which combined with the chaos of the mountains might explain the weird harpies and the cat/dogs. But she’s high so she explains this is a very spacey, stoner way. Probably a good thing she’s with Yelle.

Sam and Zelda

Sam can fly and Zelda can basically walk vertically with her goat legs so they check out the nest. Well, ostensibly that’s what they’re doing. Really they’re just having a heart to heart. Sam thanks Zelda for saving her ass and apologizes profusely for being so short with her. Zelda gives her a huge mid-air hug and says it’s not a big deal because she knows Sam is just lashing out because she’s hurting but Sam says it’s not a good enough excuse and she’s truly sorry. It’s been her coping mechanism for so long but she doesn’t want to be that way. She tells Zelda that the Everpetals are divorcing and that she’s living alone and Zelda says that any one of the girls would be happy to have her stay with them. Sam further explains that this is a big part of the reason she’s been so broken up about the possibility of their group splitting up and Zelda immediately takes out her crystal and texts her “I’m in” in the thread, breaking Sam again.

Since they’re in heart to heart mode, Sam tells her that she talked to her bio-mom and an agent and she’s not sure what to do. Zelda says that she’s gonna be spectacular no matter what she does and she doesn’t have to do any of them but it’s cool doors are opening for her but also Antiope and Penny are gonna be PISSED that she’s out here making side plans after she gave them so much shit for theirs. Lol, well it’s a nice moment in the meantime and we cut to…

Penny, Ost, and Katja

While Penny is lockpicking (and also trying to teach one of the horses to lockpick because sure) Katja and Ost go talk to the statue of Asha Hammerheart. It seems to be animated with at least some level of her true consciousness from beyond the grave and that she can kind of woge into her statue when she wants, which is cool. She’s been there for like 250 years so that’s a lot of history to see.

Ost is maybe the most polite we’ve ever seen her talking to Asha (at least to begin with lol) and they ask her about TK. Asha says she saw TK show up 12 years ago but she never left, at least not through the front door. And then about 2 years ago (right around when they were in the crystals) that’s when the harpy queen showed up. At first they were normal and then they started mutating. Also, recently, Korra (one of the other statues/heroes) saw a woman in the mountains--not TK.

Ost then takes a page from the book of one St. Kristen Applebees and asks, “Hey. What’s the deal with our god? He never talks to us, does he just suck?” Asha--who has never talked to him even though she’s a martyred hero and literally in dwarf heaven makes some excuses for the guy but Katja scoffs at them. “If people wanna take care of you, they do.” Ost then straight up asks if Logran Soulforger is even real which sets Asha off but Ost isn’t mad AT her, she’s mad FOR her. You go and do all this cool shit to the point where you have this cool ass statue, you fully DIE for him and he doesn’t even say hi? With a 21 Persuasion check, Asha admits that yeah, she would have liked some recognition. She decides she’s gonna go do some talking to some people and leaves after getting Ost’s number but before they can ask more about the woman Korra saw (who they think is Charity).

OK, that’s all the small group stuff! Everyone comes back as Penny finishes up with the lock and they go down into this room that’s full of polished, precious stones. This is probably where people who were upkeeping the temple stayed. While everyone else is going down, Sam feels some powerful magical pull--much like her episode 1 Lightning Lure--calling her from the top of the stairs so she goes back up. We’ll get back to her in a bit.

Penny rolls a high check to clock what’s going on down here. First off, she finds flintlock bullets and airship uniform scraps which makes it seem like there was a battle here involving some airship guys from the Baronies. Which is not just the place of origin of Riz’s imaginary Romance Partner. It’s a cluster of nations known for high rates of monarchical turnover and renaissance style intrigue. I’m picturing just a nation of [REDACTED]s from Crown of Candy.

With all of this stuff, Penny finds an emblem of a billionaire airship mogul named Lord Talcidimir Tallbreeze who is a friend of her dad’s. Yelle is immediately like FUCK billionaires which isn’t plot relevant but it’s nice to know she’s always on brand.

Oh also, Penny just casually finds the Legendarium so that’s neat.

To be safe, Ost casts Protection from Energy on Ant (who is the one who knows how to use it) and brings out her Spirit Guardian (who is a combo of her mom, nona, and Asha, with her dad’s rings). Ant checks it out and sees that there are currently no A, B, or C quests in all of Spyre. While Penny cross references the bylaws to see if there’s a way to get around this, Yelle does some druid BS that I still do not understand to use the crystals in the cave to jailbreak this super powerful magical Artifact so they can just have copies on their crystals. While that’s happening, let’s check on Sam.

Sam goes back up the staircase where she sees Ending who doesn’t look menacing at all, just extremely sad. She’s looking out the mouth of the cave and, when she turns, Sam can see she’s crying blood.

“What’s wrong?” asks Sam, the acid-tongued but good-hearted. “Can I help you?”

With a 25 Persuasion check to get her to talk, Ending apologizes for scaring her and her friends before. She didn’t mean to. She sometimes forgets that her very nature can be frightening and dangerous to others. She says that when she escaped, she tried to rejoin her sisters but found their mirrors shattered and them gone. Sam thought they escaped but that doesn’t make sense to Ending. If they had, why wouldn’t they have freed her as well?

Sam asks who her sisters were and we finally get true names for Ending and her sisters:

Chrona, Terra, Pyrria, Nira, Zefira, Anima, and herself, Talura (which is what I’ll be calling her now that we know). Talura is the baby, the youngest. Sam realizes she’s talking about the Eidolons and Talura seems surprised and a bit pleased that Sam recognizes them.

Sam asks if she can hug her and Talura hugs her tightly in a very cold embrace that doesn’t hurt. Downstairs, she hears her friends (Penny specifically) freaking about about the lack of quests but she doesn’t break the hug.

“My own sisters are struggling right now but I’m gonna stay with you because you don’t know where yours are. But maybe we can find them.”

Talura clocks that the way that Sam is being is her true nature, not the bitchiness she often uses as a shield. Then she starts to talk about her history. That she and her sisters were sealed away when the gods were done with them (Sam can relate to being used and set aside) and the only way out was death. Talura has been crying and looking for her sisters to no avail. Her tears of blood leaking seems to be what caused the monsters to mutate which is in line with what Yelle and Ant were sensing.

Talura doesn’t think anything could have destroyed her sisters so she’s very confused. Sam offers Talura her Mirror of the Past because it almost knocked out Sam to get god-tier information but Talura presumably won’t have that problem. Talura offers her a boon in exchange for this great kindness but Sam says she doesn’t need any quid pro quo. “This is just because you’re hurting.”

Talura is supremely touched and still wants to do something for her new...friend? Sam accepts the title and says that what she needs is some help on her GED quest. Once she explains what she means, Talura again recognizes Aguefort and is like, Oh, you need a quest? I can totally help with that! As we learned earlier, these guys are kinda genie connected so it’s not super surprising when Talura very happily goes full your wish is my command.

Downstairs, a Class A quest suddenly appears in Spyre on the screen.

Back upstairs, Talura says that it’s been too long since she got to grant a wish and seems really happy about it. Sam gives her the mirror so she can check what happened to her sisters but when she does, she totally flips out and gets super angry--not at Sam, just at whatever she’s looking at. She can hardly believe it. Sam tries to figure out what’s wrong but she just gets super big and then disappears into a puff of smoke, leaving Sam's mirror on the ground, covered in frost.

Downstairs, the Class A quest expands across the entire globe and then the Legendarium cracks. Ost’s spirit guardian disappears because of alarm bells ringing in the afterlife. And the girls learn that a Class A quest is a quest that affects the whole MULTIVERSE. Yikes!

So anyway, they girls go upstairs to check on Sam (on a bear that Penny makes because sure) and they see that something clearly just happened with Sam. Yelle asks if she’s good and Sam is like yeahhhh I don’t think ANYONE is good right now. Sam seems like she’s about to cry and Antiope instantly forgets all the petty bullshit going on between them and rushes to make sure she’s not hurt.

Sam gives the girls a rundown of what happened and Yelle concretely puts together what I said earlier about Talura’s tears messing with nature.

Sam wants to check her mirror to see what Talura saw and Brennan says she can do it the safe way with risk of failure of the surefire way with risk of personal harm. She, of course, picks door 2 and rolls a 13 on her con save which means she rises into the air like Storm from X-Men, eyes wide, and then instantly passes out and goes into shock. Antiope is there to catch her as she does.

Also, she looks SUPER hot while falling on a 31. Honestly, it’s a shame she doesn’t allow herself a social media presence.

Anyway, we’ll get to what she sees in a bit. Yelle and Ant make sure she’s OK (she is, but the has to be knocked out for this or she won’t be able to handle it).

Penny tells them what she knows about each Eidolon from her earlier research which is what element each goes with:

Chrona: Time (Related to astral and elemental planes)

Terra: Earth

Pyrria: Fire

Nira: Water

Zefira: Air

Anima: Life

Talura: Death

They also talk about TK never leaving via the front door and all this airship stuff being around. Maybe she left out the top of the mountain on an airship? Katja has the hookup with this Tal guy (she’s met him when she was younger) so they decide they need to check it out once Sam is good.

The girls fix the Legendarium and Ost, when she goes to pray for her spells for the night, doesn’t pray to her usual god. She prays to Asha. And not only does she get her spells, she also gets a new one--Commune.

And now let’s get to what Sam is seeing in her Vision Coma.

She was told by Talura that the only way out of the mirrors given to them by the gods was death. And what Talura saw that drove her to do whatever multiverse threatening thing that she did was every one of her sisters walking out of their mirrors and choosing death. I will specifically highlight that the oldest sister leaves almost immediately with a small, “Oh,” of realization and Anima, the closest sister to her seems terrified before coming to a joyful realization and leaving.

And that’s the end of the episode! Join us next week when apparently there is talk of a masquerade ball?????? Brennan, you shouldn’t have!

Superlatives

Sam: Most Likely to Accidently Snag a Brand Deal

Did you guys ever read the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche? Where Psyche was born so hot that it was basically a curse and she was miserable because she was so hot that Aphrodite hated her? That’s Sam. She is incapable of almost dying in a non-aesthetic way. It’s like a Pantene commercial every time. This is my favorite running gag.

Random Thoughts

Man, I have so many feelings about Sam. She’s such a BITCH in so many ways but it’s so obvious that she has a good heart. Every time she has an opportunity to be nice with no gain--helping Lola find her dog, magically turning the pages for the horses during book club, fully refusing a boon from Talura--she does. And I’m glad she gave Zelda such a sincere apology and didn’t let the extenuating circumstances absolve her because she said some pretty uncalled for things. But at her core she’s so kind and I want only good things for her.

Also those of you who know me from my FH recaps know I’m a messy bitch for sister stuff so Talura and Sam both referring to the other maidens as her sister had me dead. You can tell when something in this show is f’ing me up when I just start directly quoting instead of paraphrasing.

Katja being richer than Helio but having no idea what any of the brands Ost is mentioning are is peak comedy.

As is Ant’s response to the take and penny leave a penny translation from Ost, “No, Penny didn’t come with us.”

Ost: I get service in the afterlife.

You could really tell which of the players watched Sophomore Year because the Baronies came up and all of them went into fight or flight immediately.

Very Elsa vibes from Sam during the top of the scene with Talura. (Sam is, of course, a better sister but we simply do not have time to get into my feelings on Frozen 2 right now).

I was wondering why this season was called just “The Seven” when it dropped initially. Like, was it snappier? Did they not want to use the word “maiden”? But they still call themselves the Seven Maidens in the show so it’s probably not that. Now I’m wondering if it’s just to parallel the 7 of them w/ the 7 Eidolons.

So it seems clear based on the reactions of the first and sixth sisters that they didn’t just “go gently into that good night” as Ant would say and ditch Talura. It seems like they figured something out. Also Brennan isn’t really a “and then they all died, the end” kind of DM, you know? Credit to my friend @camwritery for getting here before I did but the gods said the only way out was death and she is death so you know? Those def seem like puzzle pieces that go together.

The only crit rolled this episode is a 1 by Penny which she gets to reroll as a halfling.

#the seven #the seven spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers

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gotmeringinghellsbells · 3 years

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Blue to Purple

Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and depression.

Fandom: Stardew Valley

Characters: Sebastian/Jesse (Oc)

A/N: I’ve fallen into this game so hard. Before work, after work, all day on days off. This is a very addicting game.

Description: During another depression spell, Jesse confides his recent causes of stress in his husband who assures him everything is fine.

Sebastian looked over from the kitchen sink as he heard the door of the house open and close. He was a bit confused to see his husband home so early. Jesse generally would search for him to give him a kiss or hug, if not just a wave whenever he reentered the cottage; but something seemed off.

Behind the gothic farmer, a curious German Shepherd followed slowly before jumping on the bed after staring at it a moment. Putting the soapy sponge down, Sebastian washed his hands before looking to investigate what was happening. He made his way across the living room into the shared bedroom to see Yoshi laying on his side of the bed, being eaten slightly by a blanket monster.

The dog glanced at his new daddy before pressing his snoot back into his first daddy. "No, you stay," Jesse's voice groaned. Sebastian chuckled before walking around to his husband's side of the bed. "Alright, what's going on?" The emo gently rubbed the blanket covered back as he sipped his morning coffee. There was silence before a thumbs up snaked out from under the covers. This, in turn, freed their first son of the farm, as Yoshi ran across Jesse to greet Sebastian happily.

The smaller giggled before gently petting the dog and kissing his head. "Yosh, can you get down?" The dog cocked it's head. This was his bed. Why was he being asked to get down? Sebastian was a bit scared of the dog but respected Jesse's rules about the fur baby. What was Jess' was Yoshi's.

Sebastian sighed before patting his leg. "Come on." Jesse groaned as Yoshi jumped off of him and earned some praising pats. With the dog down, Sebastian moved to lay on top of the lump of seemingly depression. "One of those days," Sebastian asked softly as he gently rubbed the head part of the lump. Jesse shrugged before peeking out carefully as to not make him fall.

Jesse shrugged before moving a hand out to gently rub the face of his lover. They mad eyes contact. Sebastian's purple eyes widened a bit before falling slightly he noticed how bagged, blood shot, and puffy his husband's turquoise one's were. "Were you.... crying?" Jesse paused a moment before turning his head with a small frown. "I'm fine Sebby. Do what you gotta do today, okay? I just want to rest for a few hours."

Sebastian frowned before moving the hand off his cheek. He moved off the lump before setting the coffee on the night stand. "Keeping secrets," Sebastian asked with slight disappointment in his tone. "I'm just tired Seb. Night," Jesse sighed as he curled up in the messy blankets. The emo crossed his arms and nudged the lump of sadness. "You were crying," he accused. "Your eyes always get lighter and brighter when you cry. It's not just tired. What's wrong?"

Specific observation. Jesse shook his head. Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Jesse come on. I can't help if you can't tell me," he reasoned softly. "Hun, I'm aright," Jesse assured sweetly. He looked so tired. Had he been over working himself? Sebastian frowned. "Is there anything I can do while you rest," he asked. "Unless you know how to work the mayonnaise machines," Jesse sighed.

Sebastian frowned. He didn't. "The crops were harvested and watered via sprinklers. Animals petted and fed. Eggs collected and put in the mayonnaise machines, milk gathered and wool gathered. Yoshi's water bowl is filled and that's basically it." Sebastian frowned even more.

"Do you need help around the farm? I could take on some chores. " Jesse shook his head. "No, you work on your coding. I got it baby, promise." Sebastian wasn't convinced. "Are you stressed?" Jesse sighed. "Seb, please let me sleep." Sebastian felt a bit hurt by that and moved to walk around d to his side of the bed. He noticed a bare foot poking out of the blankets and swiped at it on his way over.

Jesse jerked his foot away with a squeak before peeking out from the covers as Sebastian giggled and finished coming around. That was a sign to put his foot back. "Don't, " Jesse pouted. Sebastian frowned again before sighing. Still in his pajamas, he crawled back into bed and scooted so his butt was against the other.

He wanted to be spooned.

Jesse sighed, guilt hitting him for his rather unnecessarily mean behavior. "Sorry," the farmer muttered as he moved up to do his duty. Sebastian shook his head as he took Jesse's arm and held it lovingly around him. "Nothing to apologize for." Jesse grunted in response as he moved to bury his face in the other's hair.

Sebastian made a bit of a face. "Jesse, please," Sebastian pushed. "I heard you muttering last night. What's going on?" The goth nuzzle closer before saying something into the dark locks. "Honey," he sighed, "you need to move out of my hair." "Just a nightmare. Don't worry about it." Sebastian gently kicked at his leg.

"Jesse," Sebastian huffed. The farmer was quiet a moment before sighing. "I keep having bad dreams. The mumbling in my sleep you've been commenting on is a result of stress dreaming." Sebastian huffed. "I knew it. Why don't you give me some chores around the farm? That would be less stressful, right?"

Jesse gently kissed the back of his husband's neck. "Your sweet. But that's not the source. Coming here from the city, from a stable 9 to 5 was a huge toll that I didn't realize until I got off the bus my first day. I left behind help, I left behind stability, and I was left to a sinking ship." Sebastian blinked. He had never heard this before. He heard about the financial struggles during the first two seasons of Jesse's first year in Pelican Town but nothing more in regards to his move.

Jesse started to play with the fingers that held his hand on the other's torso. "Sinking ship?" Jesse hummed in conformation. "Your mom never mentioned it to you? The cottage was old and quite.... well.... wasn't very well taken care of. The farm was over run by rocks, trees, and weeds galore. I was give some old tools and left with 500 gold to my name to make something of the place or risk poverty."

Sebastian was quiet. He didn't know about these things. They talked on a daily, even before dating and marriage. How hadn't he heard this before? "So I've been stressed about money. I have plans but then the resources don't play out and nature isn't always in my favor and things fall apart. But that's the farm g life. You take risks and gamble your income in hopes of a better income." Sebastian was quiet. He gently rolled over and snuggle into the other's chest.

"Why haven't you mentioned this before?" Jesse kissed his head lovingly. "I don't know, honestly. Guess me joking about how broke I was and just wallowing in my now worsened depression with you got me by it. Not like I can really get my meds up here." Sebastian pushed him a bit. "Harvey," he started, but was cut off. "He's very expensive. No, I will be fine."

The smaller pouted before sighing. He reached up to feel the long, black locks of hair. Jesse merely pouted before his eyes watered again. "I'm just scared to loose it all. After all, I bonded with each of those animals. They're like my kids. I couldn't think of having to sell them.

"Yoshi was a stray whodunit found lingering by my farm. I don't know if I could get him off the farm if I were to fail. If I had to move back with my mom, he'd be miserable. Cramped in a small apartment? Yeah right." He paused as he notice Sebastian look a bit confused. "I don't think I could force you into such instability like that Sebastian. I know you didn't feel you know.... at your parents but it would be better than being stuck with Yoshi and I as we fall back at my mom's place."

"No. I wouldn't be leaving you! What the hell Jesse?" He gently slapped at his boyfriend's arm. "What you come up here, then plan to ditch me if you can't stay?" Jesse frowned, he hadn't thought of it that way. "I'd find a job and help us back on our feet. Regardless of how cramped it is and full of people, as long as I'm with you I can handle the city. I can handle wherever we end up." He pressed his face in the built chest as he finished, hugging the other slightly.

Jesse felt tears well in his eyes. "Guess that brings us to issue three then. Finances, farm fears," he sighed. "I.... I feel like I ripped you away from your family." Sebastian froze. "Come again?" He didn't want to look up. "We new each other two seasons before I asked you out. Then we dated for like half of that fall, all of winter, and most of the following year's spring. Then I asked you to marry me.

"Just.... I was so in love with you. I could relate so much to you. Your just so sweet, dorky, nerdy, considerate, just.... your amazing and.... I feel like I rushed it with you. We've only known each other for a year and two season yet.... here we are. I just... I don't know. Between you, our farm, I just feel like I've.... just rushed everything for progress.

"I don't think I've done anything right." Sebastian felt his eyes water before he glanced up. "Are you.... questioning our marriage?" Years of just wallowing in self pity, depression, suicidal thoughts, never fitting in, never feeling like family to his family. This was really hitting hard. "Ah, no, no, no! Sebby no, I'm not.” Jesse panicked as he moved to wipe the tears away and gently kissed each, delicate eye lid. Sebastian blush a bit before being pulled into a tight, loving hug.

"You seem so happy now and I know you love it here. I'm just.... I feel I've messed up as a person is all. I'm so happy with this marriage and I know your in better health now. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have worded it like that. Same with excluding you from moving worst case scenario. Just.... city and three room apartments with two tiny bathrooms.

"I just didn't want you to feel caged in." Sebastian frowned before nuzzling into the other. "I like to feel small. A cage is something that can be used to contain something, but also protects it from the outside world. It's a misrepresented safety." There was a moment of silence before Jesse kissed the purple hair sprouting off his chest.

"I love you. I'm sorry." Sebastian shook his head. "Your an idiot," he sighed before leaning up to steal a true kiss from the other's lips. Jesse kissed back softly before they separated with small smiles. "Are... you good? I mean I said a lot and," Sebastian cut him off. He poked his forehead. "Is the farm failing?" Jesse shook his head. "Are we financially burdened?" Another shake. "Do you love me?" A nod. "You understand we're together through thick and thin?" Jesse paused before nodding.

"I accepted your proposal. I accepted your initial confession of love. I reciprocated it. I was so excited when you proposed, to be with you on you, 'sinking ship’. I love you, don't just brush me off like that next time your thinking of future plans. It really hurts. But if there's anything you need help with, ask me. Even if it's going into town and applying for a job."

Jesse kissed his head again. "I'm sorry," he whimpered. "I didn't mean it like that. Your right." Sebastian sighed before nuzzling into the taller gently. "I love you, I really do." Sebastian sighed. "I know you do, your just dumb," he laughed as he hugged him tighter. He was trying to get the taller to drop the subject. Jesse soon found himself giggling as opposed to whimpering as a finger traced gently down his ribs.

"Shehebby," he squealed as he shifted slightly, still holding the other. "Yes," Sebastian asked as me moved his finger up and down the ribs, scratching now and then. Jesse squirmed, giggling all the while. "Oh gosh it tickles," he snorted out, wiggling his feet. "Ah, it tickle, it tickles!" He was curling and really starting to wiggle his feet as he giggled softly. His stomach filled with butterflies and his chest felt lighter. As he gained muscle, his body had become quite .ore sensitive. What would normally only slightly tickle was now really leaving lingering sensation down his side.

"I'm hardly doing anything," Sebastian teased as gently added another finger. Jesse squeaked, holding him closer as his legs failed about. "Nhahahao! Oh gosh! S-Sebby please! Hehehhe!" Sebastian felt his own face heat up from the reaction. He stopped momentarily to sit on the other's waist; this would then warn a large blush followed by a shy look. "What are you doing," Jesse asked softly as he wiggled his feet a bit in preparation.

Both knew if he really wanted to. He could over power the smaller; but both knee, he would never do that. "I think you need to relax huh? Too mush stress isn't good for you." He was smiling gently, eyes looking over the taller fondly. Jesse felt his heart explode with butterflies from the delicate gaze. "Maybe some.... physical therapy will help?" Sebastian paused before cringing with a snort. "Sorry, I'm not very good at these.... things. Just... too dumb and sappy. Just, I'm going to tickle you." Jesse squealed just from the word. "No, Sebby," he whined before really giggling as fingers gently traced his forming pecs.

"Yes, Sebby. You need to smile more~." Jesse giggled, gently holding the other's arms as a brace. "Oh man, that's really sensitive! Mmmm!" Black hair was strewn about the pillow case as Jesse pressed hard into it. Sebastian giggled, giggled. "I would hope," he replied happily before moving to scratch around the soft forming bumps. "Eek! Hahahahha! Mmmm! Pfff! hehehe!" Jesse was such a gentle giant with him. It made Sebastian's heart swirl as he watched this man who could easily apprehend him just take the gentle, playful torment.

He never used his strength to his advantage or slight height difference. He was always so caring and sweet to Sebastian. Maybe a bit secretive and forceful now and then but never anything bad. When Sebastian was depressed, Jesse would just reply "same" before inviting himself to join the other in bed and cuddle him with a "but your not dying today." He would randomly bring him Jesse and his favorite foods, he was just.... an overall sweet guy.

He was covered in tattoos Sebastian loved to trace and rehear the stories behind, piercings that he'd have to free Jesse from when they'd get stuck in something, and had many scars; each with their own story too. They were similar yet different. But Sebastian was in love.

"Ah! Not the armpit! Eek! Nahaho please!" Jesse started snorting and gasping as he laughed hysterically and rolled around. His husband merely rode the bucking bronco with a smile as he tried to get through clamped arms to the gold spot. "No? Not going to let me in? That's alright, your thighs seem more appealing." Jesse froze as he felt the hands leave him. No. Not the thighs!

He gently took Sebastian's hand and smiled with residual giggles slipping out. He looked so tired yet so happy. "Oh no you don't." He gently moved Sebastian down, now hovering over him. "I made you nearly cry today. What kind of a husband would I be if I didn't cheer you up?" Sebastian blushed before feeling his stomach now flip with butterflies. "No, that's alright," Sebastian giggled out. God the anticipation could be the worst part.

"No, no it isn't. I love you and I need to make this right. I see you smile everyday now, laugh at our animals antics. But the laughter is never long lived. Don't tell me our home is starting to bore you." Sebastian shook his head vigorously.

"Oh no, Jesse please!" Jesse merely snorted before kissing each eye lid softly. "And where was my mercy?" Sebastian squeaked, squirming around slightly now. Jesse knew all of his weak spots having tickled him many times before, this was going to be hell!

"Coochie, coochie, coo," Jesse whispered into Sebastian's ear as fingers started to move gently under the cloth covering his love's torso. Sebastian immediately burst into a giggling fit, unable to suppress his laughter when disgustingly cringe worthy things are whispered into his ear. "H-Hey! Ahahaha! I wen-honey! Hehe he! Too much!" Jesse giggled as he let up, switched to just tracing with a single finger.

Sebastian calmed down significantly, covering his face as a wide smile was forced upon his lips. His feet wiggled as his hips turned from side to side. "Aw, is my darling husband too sensitive for even one, little finger? Is he? Man you are adorable," Jesse squealed out the last part. Sebastian's face was bright red from the teasing, his body going into affection and attention overload.

"Coochie, coochie, coo~! Ah, tickle, tickle, tickle my adorable Sebby~!" Sebastian shrieked from the teasing as he treated from freedom. Jesse paused to lift the pajama shirt up more to repeat the pale torso in all it's glory. Sebastian peeked out through his fingers, eyes watering and face radiating heat from his blush. He merely whimpered from the new child before giggling softly as fingers moved up towards his underarms, before moving back down again.

"Honey," he squealed as he gently tried to catch the intruding hands. Jesse merely giggled before lifting and arm overhead, causing Sebastian to panic. "Wa- wait! No pinning! Honey please, not there!" Sebastian was shyly trying to hide himself away as his husband slowly released his grip. "Really? Because last I knew, you pinned me by sitting on me, and didn't complain when I did the same," Jesse teased as he gently traced the underarm.

Sebastian shrieked before kicking his legs and shaking his head while covering his mouth. "T-This is unfair," he snorted out. "Oh? But I let go of your arm, pumpkin. There shouldn't be any issues now." Pumpkin? Rare as it was it made Sebastian melt. "Your killing me," he whined between giggles in response. "With love," Jesse reminded before slowly taking his arm back and re lowering the arm that was gripping the head boards to keep from closing. After a few moments of recovering, Sebastian noticed the lack of after care..... which meant.... oh no.

He dared to peek up, blushing more as he saw the other looking at him with such loving eyes. God they were both so gross and sappy since marriage. "Honey, what are you doing," Sebastian giggle out nervously. Jesse said nothing, just moved down a bit to sit on Sebastian's thighs. Wait.... why would he- no!

"Ah darling no!" Sebastian shrieked as he launched up to stop the other. Not the knees, please, not the knees, he giggled as he held Jesse's hands. "I... I can't! It's too ticklish!" The taller blushed before giggling a bit. "All the more reason to just gently trace it," was Jesse's reply. "Or fetch that duck feather out of the sell bin and just gently flick it here and there under your sensitive knees. Just dusting, crease cutting, feathering~?" Sebastian was as red as a tomato as he resisted the urge to cover his face. Once he let go. He knew it was game over.

"Or maybe.... we could play that game again? I know how much to enjoy thus~. I could just gently strike at your soles and toes while we play DnD again? A stock punishment? The feather u got today would really have you giggling." Nope, he couldn't do this. "Don't talk about it like that," Sebastian whimpered.

"Why? I like it too. It's relaxing, it's fun, it feels nice." That was really the only bonding he had with his mom that he could remember though. Demetrius never really bothered with him aside from telling him what to do and he was jealous of Maru so that only left his mom. She would tickle him to tears as a boy and young teen.

"Yeah but, you make it sound perverted," Sebastian huffed. "Oh, my bad," Jesse replied as he gently slipped his hand away. "Huh? Wait no! Jesse," Sebastian argued before freezing as a small squeeze was delivered to the under side of his knee. Oh no.

He glanced nervously at the other who smiled lovingly and did it again. A squeak. Sebastian was holding himself now, shaking his head. "Truce," he asked shyly. Jesse paused before sighing and giving a nod. If the other really didn't want to be tickled to death. He wouldn't force him.... at the moment. He moved to hold the smaller who quickly leaned into him. The flustered man quickly gave into the hold and went back to hiding his face in his husband. "Your so mean," he sighed as he started to calm down.

"Rude! I am not," Jesse replied as he gently tickled Sebastian's back. The giggles started up again as Sebastian fell into the other's chest. "Jess, stop it," he squealed. Jesse did before giggling himself and gently kissing his lover's head. "You know what sounds really good?" Sebastian peeked up from his chest like a kitten. "Hm?" "A power nap." Sebastian smiled before nuzzling in close to be held closer. "I love you," he hummed. "I love you too, Sebby."

#stardew valley #stardew valley tickle #sebastian #farmer oc #tickling #ticklish #tickle fight #domestic fluff

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lord-lunatic · 5 years

Text

Ren 2.0

After a midnight bath wit Rens playlist I went back to my old theories (back from December?!) and quickly came to the conclusion that these need some updating.

Here’s your update @vagueenthusiast @d20error

1. Alcatraz:

“Prison is home”

I still think this is about Rens house. We knew it was like a prison for him back then, now we know it was a straight up horror house.

Masses of animals, beasts, celestials, fiends, goblins,... all to break them and to change them.

Ren was a part of a family and he also wasn’t. It takes a while for a child to understand that things like torture are not normal. It takes a while to figure out what your mom is doing behind those closed doors. Ren did not always fight his family and sometimes he couldn’t fight them.

“Bulletproof vest my only clothing”

It seems that Ren at least tries to not let anything too close to him. Within his family taking things even harder than they already were probably would have killed him. His family seems to have been pretty cold hearted and I feel like Ren has some of that coldness well.

Rens family liked dominance over other creatures and breaking them over and over again. Somehow I feel like they broke their children as well. Just a feeling.

2. Between the bars

I feel like Ren spent part of his time in his home in the cages that they normally kept the beasts in. As a punishment or lesson or both I don’t know. But I can imagine Ren talking to the animals and beasts and other beings he sees. Whispering between the bars. Promising himself to one day be free and free everyone and everything from the cages he hated so much.

Drink up with me now and forget all about The pressure of days, do what I say And I'll make you okay and drive them away The images stuck in your head

Drink up, baby, look at the stars I'll kiss you again, between the bars

Honestly I don’t know if I was just completely oblivious the first time I listened to the playlist but I’ve only recently began thinking about D20error’s characters and love. And keeping possible romance in the back of my head while listening to the playlist definitely opened some more doors.

I feel like Ren definitely had some kind of romantic relationship during his time that he still lived in Higash, possibly someone within the cages. We know that his family took in humanoids as well as beasts.

Ren tried to help the hurt humanoids more than anything else, he tried to bring them food and water. But he wasn’t allowed to be caught doing it.

So having a relationship with someone within the cages is probably another thing best to be kept secret.

Honestly I feel like saying anything else than yes and amen probably resulted in some kind of punishment for him.

When the gang went to see the divination lady Ren wanted to know if a specific person, Ember, was still alive/ what they were doing tonight. I can only imagine this being the person Ren loved. Although upon hearing that they in fact were still alive Ren said nothing more than “Oh”

Does that mean Ren thought they were dead, were they in the house when it burned, did he believe them dead even before that.

The one question that always came with Ren for me was why he stayed so lnog with that family that he hated so much and that obviously didn’t have a lot of love for him. I feel like this might be another answer.

There weren’t a lot of people who knew about what was going on in the house of Anga’elin and leaving meant leaving everyone and everything down there to their fate.

3. Dancing in the moonlight

The moon seems to be a reoccurring motive in Ren’s story.

Disobeyed another warning I should have been home by ten I won't get out until Sunday I'll have to say I stayed with friends But it's a habit worth forming If the means justify the ends

Apart from that I can only imagine this song also partly being about the relationship he possibly had.

4. Smother

I want him but we're not right

For my bones have found a place To lie down and sleep Where all my layers can become reeds All my limbs can become trees All my children can become me

Yeah no I must have been completely oblivious.

Another theory of mine actually is that Ren’s family did find out about about his relationship or at least did know about a special connection between him and one of the prisoners (for a lack of a better term I’m gonna use prisoner). They knew he was helping others (Ren said he was being punished if he was caught helping). And Rens s/o disappeared from view and Ren believed them to be dead. I find it hard to believe that Ren would have just left them behind when the house finally burned down.

Also just to say it again Rens family reaaally sucks.

It must be a weird position, being part of that family and being a prisoner part of the time as well. Trying to help while having to fight not be pushed to bring those same wounds and scars to yet another creature.

I love this song a lot.

5. The chain

Still not too sure what to make of this song.

I can still see the chain being the bond between him and his family, the reason he never really could leave.

Lyrics like “damn your love, damn your lies” lead me to believe that it is about them rather than about a possible s/o.

Then again to speak of “love” in any way when talking about Ren’s family seems a bit off.

But I could imagine it being about Ren’s s/o in another way:

(Hang on to your seats this is gonna be a very hypothetical theory)

What if Ren and his s/o knew that they would have to part ways at some point. What if they knew about the fire or at least that the end of the Anga’elin’s was kinda close, maybe even were somehow involved in the planning of that (Ren has Arsonists lullaby in his playlist and I said it before that I think he has something to do with it). What if Ren planned on going down in flames with his family.

The chain being the bond between them that they wouldn’t break no matter what happened and if they ever saw each other again.

Then again I can also see Ren believing his s/o already dead when the fire came.

I’m really unsure about these two theories but yeah, just to have put those thoughts in here.

6. The war

The fire.

Rather than what I said before (it being a song either before or immediately after the fire) I think it’s about the moments when the house burned.

Ren is conflicted. Scared, relieved, confused,...

Here stands a man at the bottom of a hole he's made still sweating from the rush his body tense his hands, they shake oh this, this is a mad boy

I still think he had something to do with the fire so guilt probably mixes in with the rest.

Don't you ever leave me alone my war is over be my shelter from the storm my war is over

Ren has been fighting his family for a loooooong time and suddenly they’re gone and his “war is over” in a way.

Now all he’ll ever do is run.

The last time I said these lines could be about Nora. I still think it’s possible, but at the moment of the fire she was just that librarian girl that happened to save him from a fire (that he possibly didn’t necessarily even want to be saved from). So it still seems a bit off.

Again they could be about the s/o though this seems even more unlikely because Nora saved Ren specifically in the library, meaning he probably was alone in that moment. I don’t think they saw each other again after the fire. So there’s no shelter to be had.

7. Arsonists lullaby

When I was a child, I heard voices Some would sing and some would scream

I mean... his family broke creatures. Ren probably heard A LOT of voices in those rooms.

When I was a child, I'd sit for hours Staring into open flame Something in it had a power Could barely tear my eyes away

All you have is your fire And the place you need to reach Don't you ever tame your demons But always keep 'em on a leash

I feel like Ren wanted to see his family gone for a long time.

But it took some time for it to become true.

When I was a man I thought it ended When I knew love's perfect ache But my peace has always depended On all the ashes in my wake

If Ren found some kind peace in being with his s/o maybe that would have been reason enough to stay with his family for longer than he wanted to. (I imagine he’d probably hang on to that one positive thing he has, running away never really seemed like an option I think knowing that his family had a whole network of people working with them, so he probably would have been found rather quickly). But if that person was gone for whatever reason...

I said it before but I’ll say it again: He wanted his “family” dead and gone in some way.

8. Run

No change of theories here. I know why it’s in here.

9. Leaves, trees, forest

And my heart is a ghost And he drinks and he smokes And he keeps me awake All through the night my heart shakes

But he’s not okay. After being freed from his cage he now is caught in this constant state of running.

Worrying.

Is s/o still alive? Will he ever see them again?

What will happen to him? Are he and Nora gonna survive the next day?

I know there is hope but I can't look for it

Their situation seems hopeless. They can’t run forever, yet they can’t stop running.

Oh out in the woods Out in the field, it's a hard rains fall Rust on the wheels of my ten speed And I ride in the lane And the lane is a wind and it keeps me sane

But as long as they are moving, somethings happening. They escape whoever might be following but also lose their thoughts for a while.

There are leaves in the trees, there are trees in the forest

And that’s about the only thing that stays the same.

I feel like this song could be about something more specific that we don’t know about yet. So I’m just gonna stay tuned.

10. Leaving on a jet plane

I'm standin' here outside your door I hate to wake you up to say goodbye But the dawn is breakin' It's early morn

There's so many times I've let you down So many times I've played around I tell you now, they don't mean a thing

I’m not really changing my theories for this one. I still think it’s about the moment Ren left Nora with nothing but a note to say goodbye.

So kiss me and smile for me Tell me that you'll wait for me Hold me like you'll never let me go

Again it could be about a possible s/o but it feels like it’s a weird place in the order of the playlist to have it that far in the end.

But maybe something happened with them later on and we just don’t know about that yet.

11. In dreams

Always a riddle in the world she says Always a riddle inside my head Always a thing to wonder the way we come to be Oh it's a big old place for me, yeah it's a big old world indeed Everyone is killing me and everything conspires

Everything that happened when Ren was unconscious while being sick was a whisper so I’m not gonna say much. But I think it’s about those dreams and visions.

Oh in dreams I have watched it spin Seen a violent crack of atoms were all that comes in Oh in dreams I saw Aesop's kin Just a carcass of a man, I belong inside his skin

His family.

I live alone, I live a lonely life without you

His s/o?

And I may be troubled but I'm gracious in defeat

12. Meet me in the woods

Another song about the visions?

I took a little journey to the unknown And I come back changed, I can feel it in my bones

I fucked with the forces that our eyes can't see Now the darkness got a hold on me

I mean he literally changed his goals after he saw that lady with the white hair, he wants to go where she told him and I think he listens to her.

I have seen what the darkness does (Say goodbye to who I was) I ain't never been away so long (Don't look back, them days are gone) Follow me into the endless night (I can bring your fears to life) Show me yours and I'll show you mine (Meet me in the woods tonight)

Yeah, the truth is stranger than my own worst dreams

I think he’s also a bit confused, because he doesn’t really know who she is. But she seems to guide him towards something good.

Holy darkness got a hold on me

I just feel like it fits.

13. I’ll be good

I never meant to start a fire I never meant to make you bleed

If he knew about the fire, he’s also in a way responsible for Nora losing her home and probably everything she loved. He never meant to hurt her. He didn’t even know about her at that point. I just don’t think that he ever even thought about anyone actually liking this house that meant pure hell for him.

Grace is just weakness Or so I've been told I've been cold, I've been merciless But the blood on my hands scares me to death Maybe I'm waking up today

As much as Ren tried to fight his family he was a part of them in a way and as I said before I don’t think he was always able to fight them. He caused pain and saw people suffer. A lot.

For all of the light that I shut out For all of the innocent things that I doubt For all of the bruises I've caused and the tears For all of the things that I've done all these years And all Yeah, for all of the sparks that I stomped out For all of the perfect things that I doubt

I'll be good, I'll be good

But he’s trying to be better now.

Trying to learn how to people.

Again Ren’s “He’s a dick but he’s trying” anthem

14. With a little help from my friends

Oh, i get by with a little help from my friends mm, i get high with a little help from my friends mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

He is part of a group now and slowly learning how that works.

And I think that he’s slowly beginning to actually like these people. Though of course he will not admit that.

They’re all helping each other to get through this mess. At least they didn’t die yet.

15. The woods

We're all falling and We need a place to hide A safe place somewhere in the woods We can start the fire

They all have their stories, their secrets but they are writing their own stories now.

And we leave it all behind Can't you see we need some time? And we all sit around the fire We feel a little warmer now

It’s all new and weird but at least they’re not alone anymore.

I still think it’s about TAVRN what can I say.

--------

There are probably some typos in there and parts of this were written at 4 am so excuse my grammar as well.

This was meant to be a small update but somehow ended i me rewatching all the important Ren scenes and crying a little. I love this angsty elf boy.

Can’t wait to find out more about him.

#d20error #I can't believe I spent this much time on the theories again #and didn't do val yet #I'm on it guys I'm on it #Maybe today will be the day #theories #ren #I'll bury a hole now and lay it until the next session and wait to be proved wrong #uploading theories is always mildly terrifying #but hey here we go

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cinema-tv-etc · 5 years

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‘Game Of Thrones’ Built Up Its Female Characters Just To Watch Them Fall

The women we championed for nearly a decade suffered confusing character shifts in the final season.

By Leigh Blickley 05/14/2019

Bells continuously chime as Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), sitting atop her fire-breathing dragon Drogon, stares out at King’s Landing. She’s enraged, having recently watched Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) order the execution of her best friend, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), shortly after her dragon-child Rhaegal was speared to death.

Before facing those losses, Dany fought the army of the dead, held her adviser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) as he took his last breath and discovered that her new love, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), was actually her nephew, the true heir to the Iron Throne. At this particular moment, she’s unhinged. And bells are ringing. And ringing, and ringing.

With the Red Keep in sight, Dany snarls as she decides to forgo everything she’s become in favor of an old Targaryen tactic: “Burn them all.” She goes full villain in the penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones,” scorching enemies and innocents alike as she surrenders to madness.

Yet many viewers saw little forewarning that a character twist of this magnitude was coming, and her erratic change of heart was a punch to the gut. Instead of the satisfying conclusion of a long descent to depravity, Dany suddenly shifts modes, from a woman who graciously earned loyalty over seven seasons to a power-hungry monster who murders thousands of men, women and children.

Sure, she wasn’t always perfect, but the Daenerys Targaryen we knew was the fearless Mother of Dragons. She was Khaleesi, who united the Dothraki after the death of Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), later rallying them to fight for her claim to the Seven Kingdoms. She was Mhysa, who freed the Unsullied and was lifted up by the slaves of Mereen. Dany rose from the ashes to break chains and then risked everything to protect Jon and the North from the Night King’s army.

To see a woman so fully represented over 70 hours of television, especially in a fantasy epic, was groundbreaking. But, with a final season of just six episodes, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss decided that a couple of scenes were enough to turn the unburnt beauty bad ― and essentially muddied her yearslong journey.

The “Game of Thrones” audience had devoted so much time to Dany, and other characters, only to now watch Benioff and Weiss hurry along the ending (and move on to their “Star Wars” trilogy). Why couldn’t they, after spending nearly two years crafting the final season, show us Dany’s slow decline into madness? Why do we have to watch “Inside the Episode” to figure it all out?

Surely George R.R. Martin, who wrote the unfinished “Song of Ice and Fire” book series on which the HBO show is based, told Benioff and Weiss where he wanted the storyline to go: “Mad Queen” Dany destroys King’s Landing, demonstrating that humanity, not necessarily the dead, is the true enemy. The thing is, the showrunners decided to shorten the final two seasons of “Game of Thrones,” to seven and six episodes respectively, and rush through key plot points to reach Martin’s goal. And it’s turned into a bit of a nonsensical mess.

Sure, make Dany evil ― women can be monsters, too. We’ve certainly seen glimpses of her “madness” in the past, whether it be callously watching as her brother Viserys (Harry Lloyd) is killed by Khal Drogo in Season 1 or perhaps prematurely burning alive the father and brother of Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) in Season 7.

But whereas, lately, the show tells us what to think, the books present Dany’s inner monologue. Readers can see how she fights to shake her violent family history as not only her actions but her wide-ranging relationships with siblings, friends and lovers are described.

From “A Storm of Swords”:

“I was alone for a long time, Jorah. All alone but for my brother. I was such a small scared thing. Viserys should have protected me, but instead he hurt me and scared me worse. He shouldn’t have done that. He wasn’t just my brother, he was my king. Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?”

“Some kings make themselves. Robert did.”

“He was no true king,” Dany said scornfully. “He did no justice. Justice ... that’s what kings are for.”

Ser Jorah had no answer. He only smiled, and touched her hair, so lightly. It was enough.

Although “Game of Thrones” used to give us more context around characters and their decision-making, once it passed the books’ timeline in Season 6, the series faltered a bit in terms of depth. It didn’t show us the intricacies of Dany’s small council, her romance with Jon or her friendship with Missandei, who is only a young girl in Martin’s novels. Perhaps if we saw the show’s version of Dany and Missandei have a meaningful conversation about fear or loneliness ― versus men and sex ― we would have understood Dany’s underlying fragility and why Missandei’s murder triggered a rage within her. Instead, we saw the one woman of color become a plot device to turn Dany, as well as her own lover Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson), to the dark side.

That’s all to say that the recent rushed storylines have prevented us from getting that nuance we previously used to connect the dots.

The same flaw also hurts other women on “Game of Thrones,” including Cersei, Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams).

Brienne is one of the strongest warriors in Westeros. She killed Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) and took down the 6-foot-6 Hound (Rory McCann) ― with a few solid punches, might we add. Yet she turned into a puddle of mush when Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) left her for Cersei ― something she would’ve never done three seasons ago. In one sense, it’s wonderful to see a vulnerable woman on screen. But Brienne ― who is rarely shown out of armor ― sobbing in a nightgown came out of left field. (Love makes us do crazy things?)

And Cersei was so shocked and afraid to meet her rubbly end during Episode 5, Season 8, that it’s easy to forget she once told Ned Stark (Sean Bean): “In the game of thrones, you win or you die.” The ruthless Cersei we’ve studied over eight seasons, the most cunning of the cunning, would’ve known to flee the city when she saw dragon fire (especially if she wanted to protect her unborn child). Or she would’ve at least had another plan in case those scorpion artillery weapons didn’t work out.

We’re not watching the most adventurous show in the world for uninventive writing. Yet here we are.

During the most recent episode, The Hound easily convinces Arya to go home and forget about killing Cersei. She hugs him goodbye, gives up on Cersei and tries to make it safely out of King’s Landing.

Eh, what? We’ve watched Arya train for years to become an assassin. She just destroyed the Night King with a stab of a dagger! She doesn’t fear death! She just traveled weeks to get to the capital for one sole purpose: to murder the woman who betrayed her family.

Too-fast, terribly thought-out writing has reduced “Game of Thrones” to a soap opera. We miss the scenes where Dany argues the advice of Ser Barristan Selmy (Ian McElhinney). Or when Arya secretly soaks up intel from Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). Or how about when Sansa Stark feeds her abusive husband Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) to his own hounds?

Now we see a half-baked “Mad Queen” and a woman like Sansa crediting sexual violence, not her own strength, for making her a power player in Westeros.

THE HOUND: None of it would’ve happened if you left King’s Landing with me. No Littlefinger. No Ramsay. None of it.

SANSA: Without Littlefinger and Ramsay, and the rest, I would’ve stayed a little bird all my life.

It’s that bad.

Riddle me this: Why does a show featuring four leading ladies have barely any female writers? (Bonus: Michelle MacLaren was the only female director brought on to helm episodes, the last of which aired in 2014.) Although Gursimran Sandhu is credited as a staff writer for Season 8 on IMDb, only two other women, Jane Espenson and Vanessa Taylor, wrote for the series, with both of their runs ending by 2013. That, my little birds, is the root of a very big, now unfixable problem.

Espenson helped craft scenes like the aforementioned death of Viserys, and Taylor had a say in that memorable lunch between Sansa, Margaery (Natalie Dormer) and Olenna (Diana Rigg) as well as Arya and The Hound’s Brotherhood Without Banners meetup. Those back-and-forths soar in comparison to Season 8’s Sansa-Dany stares or Cersei’s unexplained cowardice.

Clearly, Sandhu couldn’t have singlehandedly saved the final season, but other women’s voices in the writers’ room might have provided more perspective into these characters’ closing motivations.

Still, Martin created these women, and Benioff and Weiss have shown they can write strong dialogue for them on this show. It just feels like the latter two’s desire to be in a galaxy far, far away perhaps trumped their desire to give these ladies what they deserve: earned arcs.

RELATED COVERAGE

‘Game Of Thrones’ Fans Had A Lot Of Feelings About Daenerys’ Fiery Choice

The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 8 Premiere Was Good. But Why Wasn’t It Great?

Why That Daenerys Twist On ‘Game Of Thrones’ Burns So Badly

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/game-of-thrones-women-daenerys-cersei-arya-sansa_n_5cd98811e4b0796a95dfd968

#Game Of Thrones #final season

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fangurk · 7 years

Text

This Time (Paul Lahote x Reader)

Key:

Y//n - Your name Y/l/n - Your last name

y/e/c- your eye color y/h/c - your hair color

Prompt- Based on the song Pork Soda by Glass Animals

Reader Gender - Female (If you want you can imagine it’s not specified if you like)

Summary - Paul and Y/n have always been close friends, ever since he moved to La Push when they were eight. Eventually, unknown to the other, feelings blossomed between the two of them and they got even closer. Until Paul phased. Anything that was previously happening between the two stopped, Paul left his female best friend alone and began following Sam Uley around like, it could not be better described as, a lost puppy. Y/n, who has no clue what is happening to her friend, feels a mix of emotions as she watches the boy she loved and her best friend change for the worst, eventually trying to ignore the fact they were ever friends. One day they meet eyes as Y/n tries to stop a fight and suddenly he’s talking to her again, doing whatever he could to appease her, and never leaving her alone. It’s only a matter of time she starts talking to him and he makes promises he can’t keep; will she find out and forgive him? Or will he blow his last chance?

Warnings: Cursing, angst, mentions of sexual things(I don't know how to word it), small amounts of blood, direct mentions of fighting. Very few things actually happen canonly, most are just for stories sake. I only used some of the lyrics, not all of them.

Word Count-2.2k+ (Not Including Lyrics)

Somewhere in South End when you were fun You took my hand and you made me run Up past the prison to the seafront You climbed the cliff edge and took the plunge Why can’t we laugh now like we did then? How come I see you and ache instead? Let's climb the cliff edge and jump again

There were moments like these where Y/n Y/l/n wished she could have stayed in the past forever. She watched with sullen y/e/c eyes as her, you could say, ex-best friend, roughhoused with a group of boys he had never associated himself with until recently.

Paul Lahote had a long history with the y/h/c haired girl, they had been close since his parents divorced and he moved with his father to La Push when they were eight. She had no clue how their parents knew one another, she just assumed that their fathers were childhood friends and that's why Paul was over at her house every Sunday so their fathers could watch the game and the boy wouldn't be alone.

Something between the two just clicked, that's why the playdates on Sundays turned into them hanging out every day in and after school as they got a little older. One of her fondest memories of their friendship was the first time they went to the beach without adults, she remembered that it was one of possibly five clear days that Washington had all year round and during the summer.

Y/n evoked that she was wearing a cheap one-piece bathing suit that most definitely was a rip off of her favorite Disney character at the time and Paul was wearing some hand-me-down pair of trunks that barely fit him at the time. Back then, Paul was fun and lighthearted, meaning she could joke around with him and not have to worry about having her face crushed in by the new angry Paul. She watched with wide eyes, after he had dragged her all the way up to the shorter cliff jump, as he took a running leap off the cliff and plunged into the cold dark blue waters below.

Considering the fact that he had survived, she followed him and screamed until she hit the water; although she is now very fond of the way he was smiling and laughing, and how she felt when he told her he did it to 'have fun and impress her', she was very very mad at him at the time.

Back then it was all laughs and fuzzy feelings, staying up past midnight with soda and junk food in their rooms, and almost kisses. Now it was all aching feelings, being ignored, and the almost dated awkwardness hung around them so much that they moved to other sides of the classroom. Whatever happened between the two?

Somebody said that I'm a fuckin' slum Don’t know that I belong Maybe you’re fucking dumb Maybe I’m just a bum Maybe you’re fucking scum Don’t you go psycho chum I want you for the world I want you all the time

Eventually, Y/n just tried blocking her best friend from her mind; she put all the pictures, gifts, and cards in boxes and bags in her closet. It wasn't like you could recognize Paul Lahote anyway, recent Paul was completely different physically and personality wise; so much that it scared her. He was taller now, he'd always been fairly short so this was possibly the most minimal of all changes, and had become much more muscular than naturally obtainable; she didn't want to believe that he was doing drugs, she really didn't, but then again, she didn't really know him anymore.

One day Y/n was standing by her locker with a new friend, sorting her books and talking about some random subject that she hadn't entirely been paying attention to because she was spacing out. What brought her out of her haze was a loud noise, similar to body slamming into a locker, and shouts from down the hallway from her.

"Holy Shit! Lahote has Ateara pinned!" Only at this exclamation did Y/n Y/l/n whip her head around quick enough to give someone whiplash, her y/h/c whipping her in the face.

Paul did indeed have the small Ateara boy pinned up against the school's rundown lockers, his face contorted in anger and his entire body was clenched and shaking. Quil had blood trickling from his crooked nose, telling everyone Paul had already broken his nose; Y/n needed to stop this.

"Where are you going!?" Her friend shrieked as the girl broke off into a run towards the two.

As she got closer, Y/n heard almost animalistic growls coming from Paul and she decided that Quil definitely teetered on the line of insane and brave.

"Maybe you're fucking dumb" And with his words, a strong punch that knocked his entire body to the side came.

"Paul Stop!" The girl shouted, her y/e/c eyes blown wide in shock as Paul wailed down upon the fragile boy, getting blood on his clothing and fists.

"Paul Lahote!" She said, mimicking the scolding tone she used that day he jumped off the cliff when they were eleven, "Stop it! You'll kill him!"

Her tone halted the boy in front of her who, with a fairly terrifying look, snapped his head up in her direction; the harsh look in his eyes dying down as he looked into hers. The ache in her heart multiplied by ten but she ignored it, whatever just happened, terrified the ever-loving hell out of her and someone was really injured.

"What the fuck have you done?" She asked in a strained voice and shook her head as Jacob Black and Embry Call moved Quil, who had been freed as Paul had stood up again, "you're fucking insane..."

Those were her parting words as she ran back down the hall after the three boys, leaving a gaping Paul to be dragged from the premises by Jared Cameron. He never thought it'd be her.

Pineapples are in my head (When you were fun) Got nobody 'cause I’m brain dead (You made me run) Pineapples are in my head (To the seafront) Got nobody 'cause I’m brain dead (She took the plunge)

For the next few days, Y/n had to ignore the eyes on her back from Sam Uley's little cult; she had to ignore the conflicted look in Paul's eyes every time she happened to bother sparing him a glance. She had to force herself to stop thinking of the good memories, of how happy that first time at the beach was. About how happy he used to make her but now, now he was just some angry monster who resolved every conflict by throwing blows that could kill someone.

Paul watched the girl he used to be so close to, who he loved, try to avoid him at every cost with a heavy heart; he couldn't blame her. They were best friends since they were eight then one day, eight years later, he started ignoring her for boys he swore he'd never join; he cut his hair and got a tattoo. He even moved seats away from her, trying to make it easier, yet he still couldn't anticipate that the next time she'd look him in the eye after months would be when he was losing control and that he'd imprint on her.

"Paul, you should eat," Emily Young, Sam's imprint, said, shoving the plate the boy had just pushed away from him back towards him with a kind smile.

"I can't Em," He muttered in monotony, his chin on his fists as he stared at the tablecloth, "She took the plunge..."

"What the hell are you on about?" Jared asked, his mouth full of food that he, unlike his brother, had happily taken from the technical pack matriarch.

"She took the plunge..." He whispered to himself again, seeming to have a revelation as he slowly stood, "I jumped in and she followed right after me!"

The rest turned to one another with worried eyes, watching in confusion as he pretty much ran out of the house as fast as he could; heading straight for the girl's house in the pouring rain.

Y/n Y/l/n had just finished her homework and was sitting up restlessly listening to the wind and harsh rain pounding against her windows; for some reason, it calmed her. She had no clue as to why she was awake so late, she had finished her homework and usually, she'd just go to her room, but today was different. She just had a feeling that she should stay in the living room and had no clue why, until there was a knock on her door.

Nervously, they peeked a y/e/c eye through the peek hole only to see the one person she didn't want to see. Paul. He was standing outside her door with a sullen expression, her nerves bundled into knots as she slowly lowered herself out of sight from the hole.

"Y/n, I know you're on the other side of this door," His voice, muffled by the rain and the door, caused her eyes to widen in both fear and surprise, "so I'm just gonna talk...to the door, and you, hopefully."

"Look I know ignoring you was wrong but I, " He continued, taking a deep breath because, she knew, he was going to cry, "I kinda had to."

She couldn't have prevented the loud snort if she tried, she couldn't believe him; no one has a justifiable reason for suddenly dumping their best friend for a gang of druggies.

"I know what you're thinking; I know that pretty little mind of yours," A blush dusted her cheeks at that, she really needed help, "you're mad at me, I saw it in your eyes the other day. But I really do have a reason."

She turned slightly towards the door, the back of her head still pressed against it, with furrowed brows; his tone was sincere, breaking, she knew he couldn't have been lying but that didn't make it feel any better.

"The tribal legends are true, that's why I wasn't allowed to talk to you because otherwise, you’d get hurt; because I love you and you used to do stupid shit with me like that day at the beach-" He cut himself off, his tone defeated and hinting at angry, "Whatever. You're probably not even here, I'm wasting my time...."

She heard her old porch creak and groan as he got up, she could hear his heavy footsteps until he got too far from her door. She thought of his words about the legends, she thought about the changes they went through and how, if you bumped hands with them, their skin was so hot; he wasn't kidding.

Y/n stood as quickly as she could, her y/h/c hair whipping her in the face as she opened the door and ran out after him...

5000 footsteps in your wet dress Back to the house with your arms around my neck We drank pork soda with tangled legs I won’t forget how you looked at me then I know I'm no sweet prince of love

She chased the large outline of Paul in the rain, it seemed like five thousand footsteps in the now sopping wet clothes she was wearing before she got close enough to make the first real physical contact she'd had with him in months. She grabbed his arm and used it to propel herself in front of him, out of instinct she wrapped her arms around his neck. But what she did next, that was out of a completely new and different instinct. She didn't realize what she had done before it was too late, and he was kissing back. Emotions poured out of the both of them and into the kiss, he loved her back. She loved him and he loved her back.

She pulled back for air, "Took you long enough you ass!" She said breathlessly, resting her forehead against his as he held her close to him, "I've waited eight goddamn years to hear that!"

"Yeah yeah," He grumbled, rolling his eyes playfully with a half smile as he looked her in the eyes for a split second.

"How about we take this inside?" She whispered, blushing as he buried his face in her neck, the heat contrasting with the cold making her shudder.

She felt him smirk softly as he lifted her into his arms, making her own retake their position around his neck as he walked over the threshold of her house. Once the door was closed she kissed him again, relishing in every little bit of what she'd been dreaming of for so long. As he moved up the stairs they both knew they'd never forget what was going to happen, nor would they forget the way they were looking at one another...

Let's climb the cliff edge and jump again

Y/n Y/l/n woke up the next morning just in time to begin getting ready for school, naked, in an otherwise empty bed. As she moved she heard a crinkle noise, furrowing her eyebrows she felt around the covers for what was making the noise. Eventually, she found a small note with that very familiar horrible handwriting that belonged to the one she loved.

'Had something to do for Sam, see you later. 7:00 pm on the small jump' she read with a small smile, shaking her head and chuckling when she realized he had snuck out of her window in the middle of the night.

This time, she would see to it that they did the jump together; maybe so that this time he wouldn't get to tease her for being chicken shit the first time around. As she thought of future plans for her life she chuckled at herself, she was getting so far ahead of herself but she was sure that this time she was allowed to. That this time he wouldn't leave and they'd be happy, after all, this time was so much different...

Pineapples are in my head (Pineapples are in my head) Got nobody 'cause I’m brain dead (Got nobody 'cause I’m brain dead) Pineapples are in my head (Pineapples are in my head) Got nobody 'cause I’m brain dead (Got nobody 'cause I’m brain dead)

#paul lahote imagine #paul lahote x reader #Twilight wolf pack #twilight imagine #quileute pack imagine #paul lahote

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thebibliomancer · 7 years

Text

Essential Avengers: Avengers #156: The Private War of Doctor Doom!

February, 1977

So, fun fact: this was used as the title of an episode of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. I knew that the show borrowed its titles from comics but I didn’t realize this was one of them.

It fit the plot of the episode a little better than it fits this issue. But I’m a little biased because I love EMH by a ludicrous amount.

Just so ludicrous.

So last issue ended with Vision ditching the Avengers to go make some manner of deal with Dr. Doom and this cover features Doom trying to murderlize the Avengers with Vision as his left-hand man?

NOT ENTIRELY ACCURATE!

But if nothing else, it probably got people reading.

Last time: Dealing with the mystery of Wonder Man’s resurrection, the Avengers are tossed into a world of hate and war when Attuma has them captured, outfitted with slave collars, and sent to kill Namor. Due to shenanigans, they end up fighting and getting beaten by Dr. Doom instead.

Meanwhile, Attuma heads to a sealab of sorts to steal a science ray with the Bvengers (Wonder Man, Whizzer, and Beast) trying to stop him. And they would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for that meddling Namor who just took Attuma at his word that the Bvengers were his pals and took precious Attuma stopping time punching Namor unconscious. Meanwhile, Beast followed Attuma onto his submarine.

And also that thing I said earlier about Vision going to offer a deal to Dr. Doom.

And that brings us to now, right now, right where we left off, with Doom again endlessly disappointing me by not saying “even an android can die.”

You had two chances, Doom, and blew them both.

Vision starts off his offer to Dr. Doom recapping the previous issues. Basically Tyrak stomping the Avengers and then the collared heroes being sent to hydrobase to fight Namor but getting stomped by Doom instead.

And then he poses a question: if Tyrak was strong enough to beat all the Avengers, why bother sending the Avengers to fight Namor instead of Tyrak?

Obviously, Attuma has a larger game. Using the Avengers would mean that Namor wouldn’t have been immediately clued in that Attuma was behind the attack. Namor would have been out of the way while Attuma moved forward on his plan.

And Vision believes that plan is to create an entire army of warriors like Tyrak, an army full of people that can stomp entire superhero teams. And with power like that, he could put the world under his heel.

Even Doom’s Latveria would eventually fall, even if it held out longest.

And that dog won’t hunt! Nobody puts Latveria in the corner! I’m mixing idioms!

But yeah. Doom grudgingly agrees to work with Vision. And by “work with” of course I mean “boss around.” This is Victor von Doom after all.

But as Vision follows after, he considers that it had to be this way. If he had freed the other Avengers, their squishy human emotions would have led them to try to attack Doom again. And since Vision is in the throes of yet another bout of robo-angst, he insists that he does not have those emotions.

So he also gets sad wondering if he really loves Wanda or just thinks he does.

MEANWHILE, the cause of Vision’s recent robo-angst and puncher of the king of ablantis, Wonder Man. Also, the Whizzer and Namor.

Namor has come to after getting his block knocked by Wonder Man. Which means that instead of pursuing Attuma, they just sat around and waited for Namor to wake up. Although, to be fair, the ocean is enormous and they have no leads. Well, except the homing signal that they seem to have forgotten.

But with Namor up and less fighting mad, he agrees to team up to fight Attuma. And then he gets the most glorious begrudging face of all time when Wonder Man apologizes and offers to shake hands.

Beautiful.

Also, only now does everyone kind of notice that Beast disappeared. Namor reveals that he saw Beast follow Attuma into the water but never surfaced. So I guess he’s dead forever.

Or not. Because when the three get inside the Quinjet, they have Beast waiting on line 1 to speak to them.

He reveals he stowed aboard the submarine and is very coy about how he managed that.

He also tells them to follow the homing signal and Beast will signal them the most propitious moment to attack.

Meanwhile, at Hydrobase, the Avengers finally get to air out their necks as Atlantean scientists under DOOM’s command detach the slave collars.

And Vision is still in full no-emotions robo-angst mode and is now taking it out on Wanda. While snarling. Which seems like it would indicate emotion but what do I know.

Basically, she was worried when he took off and is just so relieved. BUT I’M A PERFECTLY LOGICAL SYNTHEZOID, WANDA. I DO ONLY THE LOGICAL THING FOREVER.

For bonus, Hank Pym Yellowjacket giving Vision a little shit for going through identity problems again. When Hank Pym Yellowjacket Giant-Man Goliath Ant-Man gives you shit, you know you done goofed. Or that he’s a massive hypocrite.

One or the other.

Okay but seriously, Hank understands that the resurrection of Wonder Man is making Vision feel conspicuously artificial.

Elsewhere, some actual work gets done.

Doom reveals that he can follow the ‘psyche-energy’ from Attuma’s vessels going to the slave-collars to find his location. But they’ll need to hurry before Attuma figures out that the Avengers have been freed and cuts off the signal.

MEANWHILE, Attuma’s ship arrives at his cool ocean citadel with domes and a circuitous arch. Also, there’s a sighing fish and I don’t know why.

Inside the ship, Beast discovers that either bright blue is bad for espionage or he just needs more practice at it. Because he’s spotted by some guards and put down with a shark cattle prod.

And Attuma is thrilled that he survived that because that means they can make some sport out of his slow death.

Attuma is kind of terrible.

Elsewhere meanwhile, Namor gets impatient of waiting for Beast’s signal and flies off half-cocked and immediately starts getting his ass kicked by an even swole-er Tyrak, who is being pumped up with the chloro-ray.

Wonder Man, swimming in both a sea of existential quandaries, also goes swimming in the actual ocean because someone has to go babysit Namor.

So he’s there to watch Namor get rekt and also notices an unconscious Beast being unloaded from the submarine.

Namor is tossed like a soggy pile of fish at Attuma’s feet by Tyrak, while Attuma gloats that soon Tyrak will be ready for another dose of the chloro-ray and then another! Soon his power will be unimaginable! And I hope that his loyalty is also unimaginable because you are rapidly growing him beyond your ability to contain!

Wonder Man is still spectating this and reports to Whizzer (left waiting in the Quinjet because somebody has to be). He also confesses that he’s scared. Not that he’ll get hurt or whatever. But afraid he’s going to blow it! He doesn’t know what to do in this situation!

Remember that before he died, Wonder Man had never really done any solo work. Of the fights we see him in, one was staged and the other ended up with him dead. He has no experience or instincts to draw on. He was an inventor and businessman before he got made scientifically buff. He’s out of his depth!

There’s a lot of really good character stuff you could do with Wonder Man but a lot of it tends to get forgotten for the same few beats.

Thankfully, help has arrived. A ship carrying the Avengers and Dr. Doom plunges into the ocean to do some Avenging.

In this case “Avenging” means “flying around blowing up subs.” But the special Atlantean craft, modified by Doom, also heads to the main dome airlock and disgorges some Avengers.

And since the dome houses sensitive electronic equipment, it is air filled. Which gives the Avengers an edge.

And they all kick ass, for a while.

Vision even gets to do that thing I love so much where he just stands stoically and lets his intangibility/density do his fighting for him.

It’s pretty great.

But then Tyrak arrives. Bigger, stronger, and neckline plungier. And he swats the Avengers aside with ease.

But luckily, Wonder Man followed the Avengers to the main dome (and also has been still just spectating instead of doing something) because he thought they might need his help. Or maybe hoped they would. And he jumps out and WHAMs Tyrak right across the jaw.

And with his flow disrupted, the Avengers surge in to keep him off-balance.

Iron Man shoots him in the gob. Scarlet Witch does vague magic to make a big thing CLONG him on the head (I think the writer forgot what her new powers were supposed to be again), Yellowjacket and Wasp zap his ears, and Captain America hits him in the damn eyes with his shield.

And as Tyrak staggers under the onslaught (but not Onslaught), Vision and Wonder Man advance as one and

KA-BLAM

strike as one.

With that Twin Tech, Tyrak is felled. His gas nipples did not avail him this time. And the Avengers go looking for Attuma.

And find him beaten up and reeling.

While the Avengers were beating up Tyrak, Doom found Attuma, kicked his ass off-screen, and stole the chloro-ray.

That scamp!

No-emotions robo-angst Vision instantly loses his temper, takes his cape back from Attuma, and tells him to crawl away like a worm.

A lot of Vision’s robo-angst would be solved by some more self-awareness, really.

But anyway, obviously Doom didn’t take the chloro-ray for benign reasons nor to do the world any good, except under the perception that being ruled by Doom would be good for the world (but he’d just get bored of the job). So the Avengers return to the surface and board the Quinjet to pursue DOOM.

Whizzer already made a good decision and got a radar-lock on Doom the instant he high-tailed it, presumably on the basis that, y’know, its Doom. He’s never not up to no good.

Meanwhile, Attuma attempts to launch missiles at the Avengers because Attuma. But Namor was still down there and he beats the crap out of Attuma because Namor. And because Attuma tried to repay the Avengers’ mercy with death. But also because Namor and Attuma. He’d beat him up either way.

Later, Doom has returned to DoomHydrobase with the chloro-ray, smacks Tamara when she asks him where the Avengers are, and immediately starts contemplating the device.

The scientists who invented it didn’t even realize the potential of its cell-stimulating rays BUT DOOM DO. So he’s going to dismantle the machine, analyze it, and discover its secret.

Except he has a bad infestation of Avengers on his balcony and they immediately get into a scrum. And while Doom is busy dealing with Beast, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, and Iron Man, Vision just do as Vision do.

He intangibles over to the chloro-ray, shoves his hand inside it, and slightly tangibles so the ray will blow up. The machine destroyed so its evil scientific advancement can no longer threaten the world.

Its interesting to me that Vision is probably the heaviest hitter that the Avengers have but he generally finds his greatest success ghosting in from unexpected angles. Like a really buff rogue.

... Maybe I was a bit hasty to criticize the idea of Tyrak when I like Vision so much.

Of course, Doom swears vengeance and flies off. That’s what Doom do. No point fighting when there’s nothing left to fight over and when you can instead fly away shouting about all the ruing other people will do.

So with all the menace temporarily resolved, Scarlet Witch tries to get Vision to talk about what’s bothering him because open and honest communication is the foundation of a healthy marriage.

But Vision wishes to be alone and sternly stands in the middle of the room facing away from everyone.

After all, its not a real Avengers comic unless someone is brooding at the end. Vision is standing on the shoulders of brooding giants like Giant-Man but also Hercules and Captain America.

Also, Wonder Man sort of flirts with Scarlet Witch, setting up a long running sorta love triangle and major source of tension.

Also also, Captain America disappears for three panels to set up his appearance in Super-Villain Team-Up #11 and subsequent issues. Chasing that sweet exposure. And punching Red Skull in the face.

Which I guess means Cap runs off to cameo in several issues of Super-Villain Team-Up but still returns in time for the next issue of Avengers which takes place the next day.

FACING THE MOST UNEXPECTED VILLAIN OF ALL!!

Who is the Ghost of Stone?? Tune in Friday to find out. Or just google it. Both are equally valid choices.

Another equally valid choice is whether or not to follow @essential-avengers. But, hey, consider it.

#Avengers #VICTOR VON DOOM #Wonder Man #the Vision #Attuma #Tyra #Namor #Captain America #Iron Man #Yellowjacket #the Wasp #Scarlet Witch #Beast #the Whizzer #Essential Avengers #Attuma gets off screened because Attuma #i want more Wonder Man Vision combo moves #Scarlet Witch has a remarkably tall forehead

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armaniw95-blog · 7 years

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Game: Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry Developer: Ubisoft Quebec Release Date: December 17, 2013 *Before I start, I want to note that I know that Freedom Cry was first released as a dlc for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag but since it's also a standalone game I won't compare it to Black Flag and look at it as its own game. This will be the same for any other games that are similar to this situation. Now onto the show!* Hello and welcome to episode 5 of My Personal Opinion, the episodic blog where I voice my opinion on a game I recently finished while its fresh on my mind. Today's game? Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry. Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry exceled at keeping me entertained more than anything with the amount of content it has in the small town of Port-au-Prince......fortunately none of that was as fun as the fucking ship battles. Cannons firing back and forth, crew mates yelling with adrenaline fueled excitement and frigates as huge as a building sinking into the sea. Damn I loved every second of it! What impressed me with the ship battles the most was, when a storm was approaching or already there, it made the ship combat soooo much better. I really had to maneuver over huge ass waves to get a more accurate shot against my enemies. In shorter words, I was involved with the world as much as I was with thr A.I, which is a perfect design for a game in my eyes. Since this game heavily deals with Adewale (the guy you play as) freeing slaves, you will spend most of your tine doing that in a variety of ways. One of thpse ways is literally going to a plantation, killing mostly all the guards and telling the now freed slaves to hide til nightfall. I didn't only enjoy this because freeing slaves meant more upgrades but also because it was simply fun as fuck. You can't just run in there expecting to kill them all at once. There's people lives in stake and they WILL kill those people. Trust me I learned from experience! That means you're gonna have to stealth kill all those guards if you want as minimum casualties as possible. Of course you will eventually free enough slaves to acquire some resistance fighters. At that point, go wild 'cause Adewale can for sure do that! What I mean is unlike your resistance fighters or even the enemies you face, Adewale got a massive ass machete. He's not scared of shit, he will butcher somebody! If you don't believe me all you gotta do is look at his animations. There were several times when the word 'Damn' slipped out of my mouth. Thats how savage Adewale fights and I'm glad he's a game character and not a serial killer. I wouldn't want to be near him at that point. Now what are the things that I don't like? First off, I saw npcs phase in from thin air. Why are they rendering 5 feet away from me? I swore I was playing on a Ps4! Since this happened several times, my immersion with the game was torn quite often. Not in a big way but enough for me to be writing about it. Next is the game is quite buggy. One time I was fighting a group of guards and as I was executing an enemy, Adewale glitched and turned into 3 Adewales until the execution was finished. Another time I was climbing a windmill and I noticed as I was riding up, he was floating in mid-air! Like whoa!? Yes, bugs are funny and should be laughed at because it gives gamers a glimpse into the technical side of gaming but besides that I see broken mechanics that were either somehow missed during playtesting or were just ignored. Final thing that really brought the game's overall quality down to me was the one treasure chest locations. I mean what the fuck!!? Those were the biggest wastes of time ever! These served absolutely no purpose at all. What the developers should've done was put all of those treasure chests into one location that was full to explore. But noooooo, somebody who you can tell was being lazy as hell, decided to give us (the players) the illusion of the game being longer than it actually is by spreading these chests across the map! Piece of shit!!! (Sigh) I know it sounds like I dislike this game more than I enjoy it, but its actually the opposite. This game is fun as fuck and I loved every second of it. That's why I'm mad! The negatives are equal to the positives. For every second I spent enjoying this game, I was also constantly being reminded why this game wasn't going to reach the potential I saw it had. Recommend? No Grade: B

#Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry #video games #review

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valhallalullaby · 8 years

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I needed to write about my relationship with women on vikings and especially with Aslaug for weeks.

Firstly, I've seen many posts here talking about how Hirst kills female characters on this show, and the thing I have to say to this is : hell yes, y'all right. I used to love Vikings to the bones for its female characters, Lagertha(s1-2), Helga, Siggy senior, Porunn, Aslaug and Kwentrith, for example. Not mentioning all the loss of potential with all these characters and more. Cough cough- Yidu.

The only proper, and proper is a huge word, death a woman had in this show is actually Siggy senior, dying as she lived, bravely.

We never had the chance to see what Gyda, Thyri and Siggy Bjornsdottir could become. We actually never had the chance to see any female characters growing up in the viking world surrounded by men. Let us be honest, the women are the heart of this show. Fearless, fierce, brave women. Beginning with Aslaug, yeah, well, that's the all point of this post.

Like everyone else who started watching Vikings without any knowledge of the norsemen culture, I disliked her when she showed up. And I think that if you're not that interested in understanding the characters of this show, you'll stay stuck thinking Aslaug is a homewrecker.

The main point I like about Queen Aslaug is Alyssa Sutherland. The amount of hate she gets on social networks for protraying this character is disgusting. Yet, she stays polite and kind-hearted, and she is very protective of Aslaug. I honestly think that we couldn't have dream for a better actress to play the queen Aslaug is.

I recently watched a 40min long interview of her speaking of Aslaug. And you should all listen to it very carefully. Stop pretending Lagertha is a usurped victim. In the first EVER episode of Vikings, Lagertha says to Ragnar not to sleep with too many women in Kattegat. That says a lot about their relationship. Lagertha DECIDED to leave her husband because he humiliated her. And for that, I looked at her with a large amount of respect. Lagertha has been through many shit, so did Aslaug. Ragnar only was to blame for this. HE decided to sleep with another woman, who could bare him sons. What asshole could leave his wife cause she can't give him sons?(Henry VIII, and I think Hirst has a lot of Henry VIII issues to deal with).

Like Alyssa pointed out in this interview, Aslaug grew up alone, as an orphan. She is a volva(not a witch as catholic meant it), she « sees things other cannot ». She knew when she met him that she bound to give Ragnar his sons. And I don't mean she isn't cunning, of course she is. And clever enough to become queen. When she realize that she is pregnant with Ragnar's child, her only concern is for her son not to grow up without knowing his famous father, like she did. Imo, this was not out of ambition, but mainly for her child to be born. Alyssa also said that Aslaug is scared of Lagertha, and that she keeps her in high respect. In series two, Aslaug actually says that she would like to be more like Lagertha. She knows Lagertha is a fierce shield-maiden, with a HUGE pride. And that's why she also left Ragnar to go make her own fame and history. Again, like Katheryn said in an interview to promote season two, « If there is anyone to blame, it should be Ragnar. I don't think Lagertha blames Aslaug for this. »

So what is this 4B bullshit again ? Fanservice.

When Hirst wants us to look for strong women on this show, he makes them shieldmaidens. What about Helga, what about Siggy senior ? What about Kwentrith, Aslaug, Judith, making their own way without being in a shieldwall ?

I mean it like I say it, Aslaug never murdered Ragnar in his sleep for her children. He raped her, yes Ivar is born of a rape, sorry. He beaten her(If s1-2 Lagertha had known this, she would have murdered Ragnar herself, being a victim of an abusive husband too). She had all the reasons to kill him, and imo she never did for her sons. So, thanks to shitty writing, she wasn't the best mother but in the other hand, she cared for her children. She took care of them, raised them when Ragnar felt like he didn't want to be king anymore. Wow, daddy of the year. She rose Kattegat to the title of major trading center, and kept it secure. Of what we saw, the « look what mess she made of my home » was not canon at all. This storyline bares many contradictions it makes me angry. Both for Aslaug and Lagertha.

Hirst tried his best to make her a villain. The saddest part of this is that the one scene when Ragnar comes to apologise to his wife was Travis's idea. Hirst gave so much zero fucks that he didn't have this idea. Cause Ragnar and Lagertha forever. Even I, wouldn't do that with my one true otp.

What of « women should stick together more, and we should rule » ? Lagertha forgave Aslaug, in season two it was water clear. And suddenly, she became power hungry for a place she left willingly twenty years ago ? I rolled my eyes so much I saw my brain. And on what purpose ? It almost looks like she was taking Kattegat back to rule with Ragnar again. Yo, Lagertha deserves better than this shit. That was stupid and out of character.

In one of the latest episodes, Sigurd says « What is a warrior without his honor ? » Well, apparently queen. Since murdering someone with an arrow in his back in acting with honor.

Now back to Aslaug and how she deserved better than to be pregnant 1,5/3 season she was alive. She is the daughter of a dragon slayer and the most famous shieldmaiden to ever live, for Odin sake. We never had a chance to see how she ruled when Ragnar was raiding or being selfish in exile. Everyone just assumed that she ruled badly. Ragnar is allowed to sleep around but not her ? Even if at this point of season three, imo she didn't give anymore fuck about Ragnar. She asks him to come home for his sons, only for them. Bjorn is allowed to give up on his daughter and everyone assumed that Aslaug was responsible for her life and well-being ? It's more easy to blame her than one of the mighty sons of Ragnar, isn't it ? Don't forget that, at this point, Aslaug was completely alone with five children to look after, neglected by her husband who was everything but kind and gentle to her. And that she felt betrayed by a man she cared about, once again.

I don't mean men to be role model fathers but come on, Rollo leaving Gisla on her own in Normandy, not knowing if his nephew would kill him ? Ragnar leaving for almost ten years ? Bjorn not minding his own daughter death ?

Aslaug freed Porunn so she could become what she wanted, a shieldmaiden and be with Bjorn. Aslaug freed Yidu so she could leave if she wanted to. Aslaug took risks to keep Ivar alive, risk even to have her own people hating her, fearing to be cursed by Ivar illness.

I would've liked to see more of Helga/Siggy/Aslaug friendship. But women on this show are only worthy of attention if they can fight in battle, apparently. Proof is that Helga is going mad, Aslaug is dead, Siggy too, Kwentrith too. Judith and Gisla character development ? Destroyed to enlight men's storylines. Honestly, Ubbe saying that he and Hvitserk aren't jealouse cause they are « vikings » ? Rolled my eyes once more. Margrethe deserves better than being a Ragnarssons sex toy. Astrid deserves better than watching her lover lamenting herself over her one true lost love.

Aslaug not teaching her sons to be respectful of women is what made me even more angry with this season. Being neglected herself by their father, whom she loved truly once upon a time, I don't think she would EVER allow them to treat women like things. Even Torvi's development is reduced to ashes now. And I was honestly rooting for her at the end of 4A. She should remind Bjorn that she still have this crossbow she killed her second husband with, sometimes.

I admired Lagertha in the first seasons, but now I can't recognize her anymore. It's hard not to be resentful toward her since 4B started even if it’s all the writer’s fault. Even Katheryn is lost with all this, she doesn’t know on which foot to dance on interviews. Season four actually destroyed more characters than I could mention.

Writing strong female characters isn't writing them acting in a manly way. Female characters are diverse, powerful and brave in many ways, not only in a shieldwall. Stop killing off women Hirst, please. And give Lagertha her mind she seem to have lost.

#vikings #vkwomen #vkaslaug #vklagertha #vkhelga #vkpost #vktorvi #vkastrid #vkkwentrith #vkjudith #vkmargrethe #vksiggy #vkyidu #vkgisla #vkporunn #alyssa sutherland

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cwalshuk · 5 years

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Doctor Who review - Can You Hear Me?

Spoilers! Obviously.

If you haven’t watched the seventh episode of the 2020 series, then go watch it now. Seriously.

This episode is a nightmare. Or, rather, it is about nightmares, fears, anxieties and other mental health issues.

Episode seven of a ten episode series is the equivalent of episode ten of a thirteen episode one. By that I mean that minds start to wonder towards the finale, particularly when the marketing is already building up to it. There's a two-part finale this time, which inevitably takes some of the impetus out of this episode and the next one, relegating them to ‘filler’ stories.

But that doesn't mean that Can You Hear Me? is a dud. Indeed, it is one of the more imaginative and ambitious episodes of Jodie's tenure as The Doctor. It demonstrates that show runner Chris Chibnall has chosen a great writer. Here, he shares credit, billed second to Charlene James. A playwright by trade, James has a couple of TV credits to her name, including for A Discovery Of Witches, increasing that show’s links to Who even more. James’ Wikipedia entry, at time of writing, notes that she is only the second black writer for televised Who, following Malorie Blackman last series. Given the topics her plays have been about so far, it is clear that James was the best choice for this episode.

So, what happens? The Doctor brings the fam back to Sheffield, giving us a chance to see each of them interact with friends and family for the first time since Spyfall.

When the show returned in 2005, then show runner Russell T Davies decided that companions would want to call home, having The Doctor turn their mobiles into super phones, so they could do so wherever, and whenever, the Tardis took them. The problem, as the technology in our phones grew ever more sophisticated, is that they ran the risk of ruining plots. If a character gets lost, why don't they just call The Doctor? If they think they've seen a monster, why not film it on their phone?, etc. As far as I can recall, in the Chibnall era, it has mostly been The Doctor who uses a mobile during episodes not set on contemporary Earth, allowing for lovely little sequences such as the one which brings the fam back together later on in Can You Hear Me?.

Not giving the fam super phones has, however, rather isolated them from their pre-Doctor lives though. They don't have superphones do they? Perhaps they do but they've exercised great self control in not using them?. This episode suggests that they don't, since Yaz is furious that they are 77 minutes late, and asks her sister Sonya a bunch of questions she wouldn't need to if they’d been in constant contact during her Tardis trips. Yaz and Sonia are marking an anniversary with a meal, without their parents. It clearly means a lot to Yaz, but we're kept in the dark as to why, for the moment. I wonder if the choice of Whitby for the parents trip is a nod to Dracula, which would have been in production at the same time, and shared a premiere date with Who? But that's not important. What is important, is that we're given more Yaz backstory!

So, Yaz is back home. Graham is with friends, playing cards. The jury's out on whether these friends pre-date him meeting Grace, but whether they are bus-driving mates or not, they are well aware of both Graham’s cancer status, and the fact he is a widower. Graham himself is cheerful though. I didn't pick up whether this scene takes place at Graham and Grace’s home or not, but it would be interesting to know if not, since Ryan doesn't return there. Instead, he is following up face-to-face with Tibo (Buom Tihngang) his friend, last seen attempting to keep track of Ryan’s long list of reasons why he hadn't been playing basketball, in Spyfall. Tibo has not been doing well, to say the least. He has sent Ryan lots of messages, which Ryan seems only recently to have received. He is alarmingly security conscious, and scared to sleep alone in his flat. He asks Ryan to stay over. Yaz spends the night at home. Graham keeps playing cards.

That covers the humans of Team Tardis, so let's circle back to The Doctor. Somewhat at a loose end, she jumps at the chance to follow a mysterious something which affects the Tardis temporarily. We see a creepy old man, played exquisitely by Ian Gelder, but she doesn't. She tracks the mysterious something to Aleppo, Syria, in 1380, the setting of our cold open.

The Tardis materialises in the same place, just after the attack. The Doctor notes, to no one in particular, that it is a mental health hospital, and that Islamic medicine at that time is well-respected. Surveying the damage, The Doctor finds a terrified Tahira (Aruhan Galieva), but nobody else. Then one of the monsters appears and roars in The Doctor’s face, but leaves after Tahira shouts at it, leaving no sonic-detectable trace.

Now, I’ve heard that some fans don't see why we visit Syria, arguing that Tahira’s role in the plot could be added to Tibo’s. But the point of delving back to 1380, and to an Islamic country too, is to show that humanity, as a whole, has been facing up to the challenges of poor mental health for a long time.

The people of the UK have been more open, and less ashamed about, our mental health challenges in recent years, with awareness campaigns all over the media. Presumably the need for such campaigns was properly identified and measured. What might we be ashamed about? Being thought mad? Being locked up?

I’m suddenly reminded of a scene from The Shakespeare Code, a Tenth Doctor story, where, for plot reasons, we visit an architect locked up in Bedlam, having been bewitched by the Carrionites (?). That would have been 2007 or 2008, right? That can’t have been the last time that Who has visited a mental health hospital, of any kind, can it? In any case, it serves as a useful comparison to the humane treatment in the Aleppo hospital Thirteen talks about in this episode. Would have been useful to have seen how the hospital actually treats patients though.

Anyway, back to Can You Hear Me?. The fam’s in modern day Sheffield, The Doctor’s in 1380 Aleppo. The creepy old guy starts appearing to Ryan and Yaz, and it turns out Tibo’s seen him before. Graham, meanwhile, sees visions of a mysterious woman asking him for help. Worried, the fam each call The Doctor, who, still in ancient Syria, has to merge the calls together to get any sense out of them. Tahira does remarkably well to understand what's going on, and is rewarded by being welcomed onto the Tardis.

Deciding to concentrate on Graham’s vision of the trapped woman, The Doctor hooks him up to the Tardis’ telepathic circuits, leading them to a space station. Stepping out to explore, Yaz does a great job of explaining to Tahira where they now are, and of praising The Doctor’s skill in getting them there. I’d have liked to have seen more fam-Tahira interaction, and perhaps we will in the two-part finale, since she leaves the episode entirely unmindwiped.

Whilst uncovering a little more about the mysterious trapped woman's prison, team Tardis fail to notice that Tahira has wandered off. After The Doctor frees the mysterious woman, she learns that the creepy old man, aka Zellin, has captured Tibo, Tahira, her friend/mental healthcare worker, and the others. We get a nice confrontation/villain exposition sequence, including a charming animation which explains that the mysterious woman, called Rakaya, was supposed to stay trapped. Now back together, Zellin and Rakaya (a fantastic Clare-Hope Ashitey), decide to terrorise Earth by infiltrating humans’ dreams and feeding on their fears. They lock up The Doctor too, before they leave.

On Earth, Zellin and Rakaya waste no time. He appears in a little girl’s bedroom, as she waits in the street to feast. But wait! The Doctor shakes herself out of a dream (?) about the Timeless Child, and out of her shackles too. She appears in Aleppo just after Zellin and Rakaya have arrived, the pair having decided to visit to marvel at the monsters he created to terrorise the hospital. The Doctor isn't alone though, she's freed everyone else who was locked up on the space station, bringing them to Aleppo in the Tardis. The Doctor, her fam, Tahira and Tibo confront Zellin and Rakaya, telling the pair that humanity isn't pathetic because it has fears, but strong because we overcome them everyday. Then Tahira commands one of the monsters to attack Zellin and Rakaya, which she can do since they were born of her nightmares, and The Doctor traps the pair with the monster, so it is they who will feel fear instead. A taste of their own medicine, perhaps?

The day saved, we see that the events he’s witnessed have helped convince Tibo to seek some talking therapy, which Ryan is pleased about.

Yasmin sits and thinks back to the events she and her sister were marking with an anniversary meal at the start of the episode. Three years ago, she ran away from home, due to not-quite-explained issues which might have been bullying at school but could have also been something much worse. I can't decide if there was more in these scenes which was cut, or if they want to keep it vague to reveal more later, but what we are shown is that a police officer convinces Yaz to return home, having been alerted by Sonya that she might be about to do something stupid, and she visits her later to say thanks and catch up.

With the fam back in the Tardis, Graham tries to talk with The Doctor about his fears about his cancer, but she's no help. What Graham really needs is human help, like Tibo got. Ryan wonders with Yaz if this is their life now, on a diverging path from their loved ones, but they are interrupted by The Doctor, who is thinking about Frankenstein…

All in all, this was a good episode. It took different sorts of villains to engage with the issues the writers wanted to raise, and they were well written. It left me wanting to know more about ancient Aleppo, and exactly what happened to Yaz, and it got me intrigued for the next episode, so job done on lots of counts.

The next episode, the last before the big two-part finale, is set during the famous holiday which led Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein, and looks to be a cracker.

I can't wait! And luckily, I don't have to wait much longer!

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