#Because he was left out in a lot of heavy episodes in season 1

[rendellstreet]

"Varian should've been at season 2" at best his reconciliation with Rapunzel in season 3 is moved up and then after maybe a couple of acknowledgements of his existence (i.e. Adira probably going like "oh yeah, Quirin has a kid") he probably would get shoved into the back to focus on Rapunzel and Cassandra's disintegrating relationship

[wenellyb]

9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 4: Was Buck lying when he said he was trying to get Tommy's attention?

I'm a little frustrated about the people who said that Buck was lying when he said he was trying to get Tommy's attention because according to them, he was trying to get Eddie's attention not Tommy's, and the argument they use is the gym scene...

I'm frustrated because I want to ask them: "Have you guys never watched a TV show, ever?"

TV showrunners have different way of structuring their episodes, some episodes are set up to be emotionnal, some are set up to be dramatic or romantic, some are heavy on the action scenes and some are meant to get a surprised reaction by introducing a plot twist the audience didn't see coming. It can be a big plot twist like the finale of the 1st season of the Good Place or it can be a smaller one like in this episode of 911.

And whenever they want to set up a plot twist, the writers will put small hints along the way, that are not obvious right away but will contribute to the "ah" moment when everything clicks into place after the plot twist is finally revealed.

The whole point of the episode was for people to think Buck was trying to get Eddie's attention because he was jealous of his best friend spending time with someone else and BAM, it's revealed that in fact it was the "someone else" Buck had been interested in all along.

And if you look closely, there are clues throughout the episode showing that it was about Tommy all along.

1. Buck asking Tommy for a tour.

At first we think that Buck was just testing the waters and thinking about switching jobs but at the end of the episode Buck reveals it's because he was trying to get Tommy's attention.

Moreover, a lot of people assume Buck was disappointed because Tommy left with Eddie and he was jealous about Eddie. But if you pay attention, Buck's smile drops the moment Tommy turns him down for drinks, and that was even before he saw Eddie in the car.

2. Buck's rant to Maddie

Buck was complaining about Eddie spending time with Tommy and even going to a basketball game with him.

And later when he talked to Maddie after accident accidentally injuring Eddie, he admitted he did it because he felt left out and was trying to get "his" attention.

But in retrospective, he never specified who he was trying to get attention from. He could have meant Eddie or Tommy.

And it's confirmed that he was indeed talking about Tommy when he says this.

3. The gym scene

We all assumed Buck was trying to get Eddie's attention when he was at the gym because he wanted to spend more time with him. But if Buck had wanted to hang out with Eddie, he would have just asked, they're best friends. Buck ordered the basket Ball because he wanted to be invited to the basketball game because Tommy would be there. Same for the karaoke. Buck never had a problem with asking Eddie to hang out, the only differentiating factor here is Tommy.

Why would Buck suddenly be so awkward around Eddie? He was trying to get an invite so he could see and when it didn't work he asked Chimney.

4. The basketball game

Buck admitted that he accidentally hurt Eddie because he was trying to get Tommy's attention.

5. The "big reveal"

Up until the very end of the episode we were made to believe Buck was being jealous of his best friend having a new best friend.

Even Tommy thought so.

It's not until Buck reveals he wanted to get to know Tommy and was trying to get his attention that everything clicks into place for the audience and we understand why Buck was acting like that.

We weren't watching someone being jealous over his best friend spending time with someone else but someone acting like a fool because he had a crush.

TL:DR: Buck was trying to get Tommy's attention all along. The show just set up the episode in a way that would lead to a plot twist, a "big" reveal and a romantic kiss.

What do you guys think? Was Buck trying to get Eddie's attention as well?

[venus-haze]

If I Were You (Yandere!Austin!Elvis x Reader)

Summary: Elvis takes up Priscilla’s offer to go to rehab for Lisa, and decides to take the steps to break from the Colonel personally and professionally. Elvis is referred to you, a Memphis-based therapist who specializes in helping patients work through codependent or otherwise unhealthy relationships. While he ultimately hopes his turning his life around will give him a better chance of reconciliation with Priscilla, the level of emotional intimacy you allow him in the context of your sessions makes him redirect his attention to you.

Note: This is based on an anonymous request. Reader is a cis woman, but no other descriptors are used. I appreciated having an excuse to rewatch some of my favorite Sopranos episodes because I got a lot of inspiration from seasons 1 and 5. It’s more dialogue heavy than my other fics because of the therapy sessions. I’m not a psychiatrist and nothing in this fic should be treated as legitimate advice regarding mental health, please refer to licensed professionals for that. Look at the warnings before deciding whether or not you want to read this fic because it’s extremely dark. Do not interact with my blog or my posts if you are under 18 or post ED/thinpso content.

Word count: 6.5k

Warnings: This is a yandere fic, so expect dark themes such as emotional blackmail, obsessive and manipulative behavior, and abuse of power, which some people may find disturbing or triggering. The therapy session scenes involve discussions of codependency in relation to parenting and relationships as well as self-blame, death, and drug and alcohol abuse. Explicit sexual content which involves force and coercion and brief daddy kink. Elvis’ mommy issues. Do not interact if you are under 18.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 (all other parts by @crash-and-cure)

When you received a phone call from Dr. Wilson, one of your colleagues who worked at a rehabilitation facility in San Diego, asking if you were taking new patients, you hadn’t thought much of it when you answered that you were. He elaborated that while the patient was doing well in rehab, he thought he could benefit from continued therapy sessions, particularly because of your specialization and proximity to the patient’s home in Memphis. He informed you that he’d reveal more information about the patient and provide you with the clinical notes he’d taken throughout rehab once he received the patient’s agreement and approval to begin seeing you.

A few days later, you got the follow up call. The patient was interested in being treated by you and had given Dr. Wilson permission to send you copies of the clinical notes. He finally revealed who your Memphis-based patient would be—Elvis Presley. You nearly dropped the phone when he told you. Him going to rehab made sense, his drug and alcohol-fueled antics on stage frequently made entertainment headlines, but you certainly hadn’t expected that he’d need the specialized therapy that you offered. 

Elvis still had two weeks left in the rehabilitation program, and you’d receive the clinical notes before then to get an idea of what Dr. Wilson had already addressed with him. When you received the packet at your office’s mailbox, marked with a large ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ stamp on it, you almost hesitated. While aware of his career, you weren’t a huge fan of Elvis’, so that wouldn’t pose a conflict of interest, but you wondered if you could truly be impartial and fair toward a man whose existence permeated almost every aspect of American popular culture. 

From what Dr. Wilson had said, Elvis needed help, not as a rockstar but as a man. You were one of less than forty therapists in the country who specialized in helping patients break down codependent relationships. Your office wasn’t far from Graceland at all, ensuring Elvis wouldn’t have to go out of his way for regular therapy sessions. 

Finally opening the packet, you were faced with a manila file folder with Elvis’ full name and birthdate printed on the tab. You grabbed your notebook, preparing to write what was relevant for the sessions, but the more you read, it seemed like everything was relevant. A deceased overbearing mother whom Elvis revered as a saint, a manager who exploited his career for decades, and an ex-wife who was burdened with being the man’s stand-in mother and therapist from an alarmingly young age. 

You sat back in your chair, exhaling deeply to ground yourself. Taking on Elvis Presley as a client would not be easy, that much was obvious. Most of your clients didn’t have webs as intricately woven as he did, as much to unpack and consider as Elvis. Yet, from the notes, he wanted help. He wanted to change. He didn’t want his daughter Lisa to grow up without a father, but he also wanted a career and a life that he could finally be in control of, where he could be sure of who to trust. 

On a Friday afternoon, when you were in between appointments, your phone rang. You answered, resisting the urge to gasp when you heard who was on the other line, despite expecting his call.

“Hello, is Dr. Y/L/N there?” Elvis asked.

“Speaking,” you answered.

“Oh.” He sounded surprised. “Dr. Wilson didn’t mention you were a woman.”

“Is that a problem, Mr. Presley? Because I can refer you to another specialist—“

“No, that’s fine. I just thought you were a secretary or somethin’—no offense.”

“None taken,” you said. 

The two of you discussed what his goals for therapy were, and that he wanted to attend twice a week, which was how often he was seeing Dr. Wilson while he was in rehab. Many people were hesitant about therapy since it had an unwarranted stigma attached to it, but you supposed the group therapy and personal sessions in San Diego had proved its effectiveness to him. You agreed to schedule appointments for Monday and Thursday afternoons at 4:30pm and leave the service door to the building unlocked for him, so he could come in at the end of the work day and not have to worry about passersby and other patients seeing him there and causing unwanted attention. 

The conversation was short yet pleasant, but if you were being honest, you hadn’t been so nervous about taking on a patient since you first opened your own practice. You had tried to reason with yourself, that he was just a man seeking help like all of your other patients. None of your other patients, however, were Elvis Presley. You managed to calm yourself down the day of his first session, focusing on the other patients you had scheduled. 

He arrived fifteen minutes early the day of his first appointment, a non-issue as you had made sure the session before his was wrapped up by four, giving him a window of time to arrive while the office was empty. You took a deep breath before opening the door to the waiting room from your office, and found him staring at a painting on the wall. He turned to you, giving you one of the most dazzling smiles you’d ever seen in your life.

You greeted him with a friendly smile and an outstretched hand. “Good afternoon, Mr. Presley, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Same here, Dr. Y/L/N,” he said, shaking your hand.

“Follow me, and take a seat anywhere you like,” you said, leading him into your office and closing the door behind you.

“Is this some kinda test? You can tell something ‘bout me by which one I pick?” he asked half-jokingly.

You laughed. “No, no, it’s just that we’re going to be sitting for an hour, so I want you to be comfortable.”

He sat in the armchair in front of the bookcase, rather than the one in front of your desk. You grabbed your notebook and sat down across from him. The two chairs were nearly identical anyway, so it didn’t make that big of a difference where either of you sat. Taking a moment to study him, you couldn’t help but acknowledge to yourself how good he looked. You always thought Elvis was a handsome man, but post-rehab, he seemed to be glowing in a way that seemed almost youthful. After allowing yourself to ogle your new patient, you cleared your throat.

“Now, before we begin our first session, I want to establish doctor-patient confidentiality and inform you of your rights as a patient. Is that okay?” you asked. 

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

“Wonderful. I take doctor-patient confidentiality seriously. Anything you say in this room will stay in this room. However, if at any point during our sessions you indicate that you intend to seriously harm yourself or others, I would have to go to the police.”

“Seriously harm?”

“Any intentional action that would result in the hospitalization or death of yourself or another individual,” you elaborated, and he gave you a silent nod to continue. “I may encourage you to dig deeper into your psychological and emotional state, you don’t have to answer any questions that you don’t want to, but keep in mind that I’m trying to guide the conversation in a direction that will help you achieve the breakthroughs you want.”

“You know, my mama used to call you psychologists ‘headshrinkers’. Hell, I even do sometimes,” he said with a laugh.

You smiled at the comment, it certainly wasn’t uncommon for people to be skeptical of mental healthcare, but since he’d already brought up his mother, you didn’t want to lose that momentum.

“I completely understand. When I told my parents I was getting my doctorate in psychology, I might as well have told them that I was going to clown school,” you said. “Some people turn to religion for their psychological guidance. My parents are like that. Were yours?”

“Oh yeah, mama was always quotin’ scripture.”

“And your father?”

“He went to church with us sometimes, but it was usually me and mama. I stopped goin’ to church once my career started takin’ off. Didn’t have the time to, but I still love those old gospel hymns.”

You nodded, taking quick notes as he spoke.

“You writin’ that I’m some religious nut in there?”

“No, just general observations, things you’ve mentioned that have appeared while treating other patients. The more I treat people who’ve struggled with codependency, the more I can help others by recognizing patterns of behavior,” you explained. “I read from your file, which thank you for letting me look at by the way, that you experienced this codependent abuse from your former manager, Tom Parker.”

He exhaled, and you made note of his utilizing the coping method to calm himself down. 

“The Colonel thought he was entitled to half of everything I made, even though I was the one workin’ myself sick. He had that hack doctor put all kinds of junk in me to keep me movin’ like some walkin’ dead man. That cost me my family and half of everything I ever earned. I’m suin’ the son of a bitch, but I can’t let this happen again.”

“Elvis, I’m sorry that happened to you. You were taken advantage of by someone you trusted. You have every right to be upset and angry. I encourage you to express those emotions while we're here,” you said. “I want to challenge you to stop referring to your former manager as ‘The Colonel’. I think that language is detrimental to your progress as it sets him in a place of authority over you, when in reality, he isn’t and never was.”

He scoffed. “What should I call him then? ‘That piece of shit’?”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “If you’d like, yes.”

For the rest of the hour, he spoke about his former manager, and while you had an idea of what went on from the notes your colleague had given you, the extent was just as bad as you’d expected. As a doctor, you were particularly horrified by the so-called ‘Dr. Nick’ who exacerbated Elvis’ addiction to prescription medications in the name of the almighty dollar. Elvis peppered in mentions of his mother throughout the session as well, and you made a note to dig into that in the future. You weren’t the biggest proponent of Freud, but you knew many people went through life subconsciously mirroring the behavior of their parents unless they made a conscious decision not to. 

At the end of the session, you let Elvis know that you admired the progress he’d made so far, both in rehab and his first session with you. He smiled at that, and confessed that even though he wasn’t sure about seeing a woman therapist, as soon as he saw you, he knew there was something different about you, and he already felt comfortable around you. You stayed in your office late to work on the notes for his file while they were still fresh in your mind, and left around a quarter to seven. 

The Monday and Thursday sessions continued consistently for the next few weeks, and you were thrilled with how much progress Elvis had made, both in therapy and in his personal life. He was more involved in Lisa Marie’s life and had her over at Graceland regularly, making sure his days were completely clear whenever she was over so he could focus on spending time with her. His sleep pattern had become more regular, with some bouts of understandable insomnia. You and Dr. Wilson had already agreed that with Elvis’ history of addiction, holistic approaches to any psychological conditions would be best, and prescriptions would only be given as an absolute last resort. When he told you that he felt better than he had in years, physically and emotionally, you considered it a huge success, and encouraged him to acknowledge and celebrate that. 

Understandably, most of your sessions with Elvis were spent discussing his former manager and the influence and control that he had on Elvis’ career and personal life, particularly the strain it caused on his mother. That was a sensitive issue for him, and he tended to deflect when you tried to bring her up or discuss his relationship with her further. About four months into your treating him, however, he mentioned feeling some resentment toward his father for mismanaging Elvis’ finances, making an off-handed comment about how it wouldn’t have happened if his mother were still alive. You saw this as the opportunity to get him to finally elaborate.

“Your mother was the dominating figure in the family unit, then?” you pressed.

“Mama was a good woman, the best woman. She put food on the table when daddy was in jail. She believed in me before anyone else did.”

“I never said your mother wasn’t a good woman,” you observed. “Why did you jump to that conclusion, that I was attacking her?”

The room was silent for a few moments as he considered your question. “Everyone else did. You know, she was right about not trustin’ the Col–Parker. It’s like when I signed that contract with him I was signin’ her death sentence.”

“Do you blame yourself for her death?”

“I know it was the alcohol. I learned that much in rehab, but in her heart, it was me. She died while I was in basic training, doctor.”

“I’m glad you’re talking through this. It’s going to help with our future sessions, but I want to establish that you’re not responsible for your mother's death anymore than you’re responsible for her other actions throughout her life.”

He shook his head. “Me leavin’, that killed her.”

“Why would your leaving kill her? As I understand, you were drafted. You didn’t have a choice.”

“Because I was supposed to take care of her. My daddy wouldn't, so I did.”

“Do you think it’s right for a child to take care of their parents?” you asked.

“It’s not about what was right,” he argued. “I had to do it.”

“How old were you, when you first stepped into this pseudo-parental role?”

“What?”

“How old were you when you began taking up the household responsibilities that belonged to your father?”

“I was real young, when he went to jail and we had to move. I had a good childhood, though. We didn’t have much, but I had friends and I went to church, did alright in school.”

The hour was almost up, but you knew you were close to reaching a pivotal point in his treatment. As soon as you got him to consider that his codependency issues started with his mother, you could work through his relationships with Tom Parker and even Priscilla, but it’d be easier said than done to drag his mother off of the pedestal he put her on. She’d been dead for over a decade, and yet she still had a spectral stranglehold on her son.

Your intention wasn’t for him to walk out of your office hating his mother, but to recognize the unhealthy behaviors he emulated and to work through the grief he clearly never fully dealt with. 

You figured you had time to ask him one more question, and chanced it with, “What do you miss most about your mother?”

“I could tell her anything, and she’d always have something to say. Maybe not what I wanted to hear, but she always meant what she said. I trusted her like no one else. I don’t know if I ever will.”

“It’s hard for you to trust people, with the position that you’re in and how people have taken advantage of you in the past. That can be lonely, and some people engage in self-destructive behavior in an attempt to get the care and attention they yearn for. I believe that you will be able to trust again. Just something to think about as the session ends today,” you said. “You’ve made a lot of progress, and I want to acknowledge that.”

He smiled. “Thank you. You really know your stuff, but I guess that’s what you went to school for.”

“I appreciate that,” you acknowledged. “I hope you have a great rest of your day, Elvis, and I’ll see you at our appointment next week.”

After Elvis left, you worked on your notes from the session to add to his file. You weren’t just paying him lip service before, he had made a good amount of progress, and even despite some of his hesitations, worked through some aspects of the treatment that you expected to be more challenging for him. 

The next few sessions, you pressed him more about his mother, and while he pushed back against your insinuating that some of his codependent tendencies originated with her, he did acknowledge that the pressure of not upsetting her did cost him his participation in his high school’s football team, which he loved for the brief amount of time he spent playing. She had been worried about him getting hurt, a pattern you noticed as Elvis spoke to you about his childhood.

You weren’t expecting to find that the root of her anxiety over Elvis’ well-being came from losing his twin, Jesse at birth. Elvis was born into the world having to be two men instead of one, and when his father fell through as the family’s provider, he had to pick up the slack for three. It was a lot for someone to handle even without the challenges of fame. The more you worked with Elvis, the more convinced you became that he could have benefitted from therapy a decade sooner.

In all honesty, you were glad Elvis’ appointments were at the end of the day, because they began to become almost as draining for you as you figured they were for him. Still, he never missed an appointment and always arrived early. The work you did was always difficult, and you couldn’t help but empathize with your patients, but Elvis seemed to take everything out of you.

One weekend, you had plans to get dinner with Mark, a man around your age who you’d met in grad school and had an on-and-off again relationship for a while, before deciding to stay friends. Out of habit you both referred to whenever you’d get together as ‘dates’, and the one you planned was at a higher end restaurant in Memphis. The two of you had been so busy with work that when he called you to catch up, you hadn’t realized it’d been months since you’d seen him. The restaurant was the type of place where you had to make reservations in advance, and so with this in mind, he made one a few weeks prior.

When you and Mark arrived at the restaurant, there was a crowd of loud and restless people overflowing into the street. The two of you pushed your way through to get inside and waited to speak to the host, who informed you that due to unforeseen circumstances, there’d be a thirty minute wait for your table despite your reservation. 

The two of you considered leaving and going to a different restaurant, but decided against it, since you had the reservation anyway. To your relief, the wait only ended up being less than five minutes, even though you could tell by the reservation list on the host’s podium that several couples were still ahead of you and Mark. 

A waiter led you to your table, and after taking your dinner orders, Mark excused himself to go to the restroom. While waiting for him to return, you could hear people gasp and murmur behind you, until a familiar shadow fell over your table.

“Dr. Y/L/N, funny meeting you here,” Elvis said.

You raised your eyebrows, not expecting to see your high-profile patient of all people in the restaurant. “Mr. Presley, how are you?”

“I’m doin’ just fine.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad.”

“Are you here alone?”

“No, my date is just in the restroom.”

His expression shifted, but he nodded agreeably. “Well, have a good night.”

“You too,” you whispered as he walked away. 

Fuck. He was upset you were there with someone. It wasn’t uncommon for your patients to temporarily redirect their codependent tendencies onto you, considering the level of emotional intimacy that was involved with the therapy. It’d only once escalated to a level where you felt obligated to refer the patient to another therapist, but you hoped that wouldn’t be the case with Elvis. He’d been making great progress with each session.

When Mark had returned to the table, you gave him a strained smile but continued on with the date as usual. About halfway into your meal, the waiter approached with a bottle of wine neither of you had ordered. 

Before you could question anything, the waiter said, “Compliments of Mr. Presley.”

“As in Elvis Presley?” Mark asked.

The waiter nodded and set the bottle on the table. You weakly told him to thank Elvis, and he left to do so. As soon as he was out of earshot, Mark leaned in, “Is Elvis Presley your patient?”

“I won’t answer that, Mark.”

“Holy shit,” he said, opening the bottle of wine. 

You didn’t recognize the label from the wine rack at the supermarket and figured it was some expensive brand that was either old or imported, or both. As Mark poured himself a glass, you contemplated whether or not to drink it. Refusing so would confirm that Elvis was your patient, but drinking it would mean you accepted a gift from a patient, both situations required you violating your own code of ethics. Sighing, you let Mark fill your own glass with the wine.

The rest of the night with Mark was fun as you caught up on your personal lives, and Elvis didn’t make a reappearance at all. When Mark walked you back to your car, the two of you promised not to go as long without seeing each other again, and parted with a quick kiss.

You spent Sunday lazily reading in the comfort of your apartment, adjusting the radio in your living room to different stations every so often. All of them seemed to play at least one of Elvis’ songs at some point, and you wondered if you were only noticing the frequency he was on the radio now that he was your patient. Some artists were just radio mainstays, and he was one of them.

On Monday, you knew you’d have to address the situation with the wine to Elvis, but to your surprise, he beat you to it.

“So, how was the wine?” Elvis asked.

“It was kind of you to go out of your way to have something so nice brought to my table, but I can’t accept gifts from patients,” you said. “I hope you understand.”

He narrowed his eyes, leaning over so his elbows were resting on his knees as he asked, “That guy you were out with, he your husband?”

“No, just a friend.”

“You married?”

“No, but–”

“You ever been married?”

“No,” you repeated, “but while we’re on the subject, let’s discuss your marriage and Priscilla.” 

You noticed him hesitate to answer. “Is that okay?”

“Sure,” he said.

“How did you meet Priscilla?”

“Her daddy and me were both stationed in Germany at the same time. I met her when she came to a party at my house one night.”

“What attracted you to her?”

“She wasn’t like anyone else I’d ever met in my life. She was beautiful and sweet. I just knew there was somethin’ different about her,” he said, quickly adding. “I was respectful, ya know. She put up with a lot from me, but she was there when I needed someone.”

“You mentioned in a previous session that your mother died while you were in basic training, and after the funeral you were sent to Germany, where you met Priscilla. Do you think you incorporated her into your grieving process?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

You kept pressing him for more details, knowing it wasn’t a coincidence that he happened to meet the woman he’d go on to marry after such a devastating loss. The more he elaborated on his relationship, the more you came to understand the codependent nature of it as well. Priscilla became a stand-in for his mother despite her youth, and he began to depend on her the same way. You found it particularly interesting that he encouraged her to dye her hair and gave her the same nickname he had given his mother. 

“I understand you and your ex-wife are still close, and she’s part of the reason you’re here. Can I ask you, when you and Priscilla divorced, what you were feeling?” you asked.

“I–I’m sorry, can we talk about something else?”

You nodded, making a note to revisit that later. For the rest of that session and Thursday’s session, the two of you spoke mundanely about how his day to day life was going, the strides he was making to live a more sustainable lifestyle. He informed you that he wanted to make music and perform again, but wouldn’t tour while his lawsuit with Tom Parker was ongoing. Even then, he planned to take it slow, scheduling dates more spaced out to give himself time to rest. He did mention trying to work something out with his team to do one-off performances in the Memphis area in the meantime, to figure out how this new era of his career would go. 

The following afternoon, when you usually had an hour or so break between sessions to have lunch, you were interrupted by repeated knocking at your office door. You opened it to find a gift basket on the ground, looking back and forth in the hallway to see if the person who left it was still there, you picked it up and brought it over to your desk. The basket was filled with an assortment of goods that you knew must have been expensive from the brand names that you actually did recognize, and all of the gifts were perfectly suited to your taste. For a moment, you thought it was Mark’s doing, but when you read the attached card, you sighed. 

Early on in your career, you had made it a rule to not accept gifts or favors from patients. It helped establish to your patients that you were their doctor, not their friend, as much as you did care for them. You took your ethical responsibility as a therapist seriously, and so you contacted the company where the gift basket had come from, informing them that you’d like them to pick it up and inform the sender that you couldn’t accept it. You’d been expecting the phone call you received about an hour later.

“I tried to get what I thought you’d like,” Elvis said. “Guess I don’t know you as well as I thought.”

“Mr. Presley, I told you in our last session that I don’t accept gifts from patients. I appreciate the gesture, it was extremely thoughtful, but it violates my personal ethics.”

“You drank the wine I sent over to your table,” he argued.

You pursed your lips. You knew letting Mark accept it was a mistake. “That was a completely different scenario. If I had publicly refused, it would have confirmed to my date that you were my patient. I made the decision to respect your privacy.”

From the way he huffed over the phone, he was frustrated. He always did so in sessions when you pressed him to dig deeper into the aspects of the major relationships in his life that he didn’t want to confront. “I understand, doctor. I just wanted to show my appreciation for you, is all. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Have a good night, Mr. Presley. See you on Monday,” you said.

The next few months went on without incident, and you were pleased with the progress you were making with Elvis. He was willing to open up to you much more, and you found yourself revealing some information about yourself to him as well. Sometimes, it unnerved you how he seemed to remember things you had mentioned in passing weeks or even months before, as if he were taking his own notes on you. 

Once in a while, you’d run into him while you were running errands and minding your business in Memphis, having quick and cordial conversations before going your separate ways. Part of you suspected it was deliberate, as a man as famous as him knew he couldn’t step foot anywhere outside of his home without making the news.

On a Friday evening, as you led your last client of the day out of your office, a man you didn’t recognize was standing in the waiting room, looking around at the decor in your office. When you walked out, he looked at you as if he’d seen a ghost. 

Before you could speak, he said, “You look really familiar.”

“I don’t know how that could be. I don’t believe we’ve met before,” you said. “I’m Dr. Y/L/N.”

He hesitated before answering. “I must be seeing things, then. I’m Jerry.”

“Nice to meet you, Jerry. May I ask what brings you to my office?”

“Elvis sent me. He’s doing his first show in over a year next weekend, and he wanted me to bring you this VIP pass. Soundcheck, front row seat, backstage access, the works,” he said, holding out the small plastic card to you. “It’s in town, so he’ll send a car for you.”

You shook your head, feeling like a broken record when you declined. “I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t accept gifts from patients. Please send my regards and tell him thank you anyway.”

Jerry nodded. “Alright, nice to meet you, Doc.”

As soon as he left, you collapsed onto the couch. You were making great progress with Elvis, serious progress, but it was clear that he was shifting his codependent tendencies onto you. As much as you didn’t want to, you had to consider referring him to another therapist. It’d be a hassle for him, as the closest therapist with the same specialization as you was located in Nashville. It wasn’t uncommon for your patients to exhibit similar behavior toward you, especially early on in their treatment, but you’d been working with Elvis for nearing a year. You decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, as his case was far more complex than any of your other clients, past or present. 

While you were in the supermarket checkout later that evening, you glanced at the tabloid magazines that were displayed next to you, and your eyes nearly bulged out of your head when you saw the cover of most of them–various photos of Elvis, out and about in Memphis with different women who all looked almost exactly like you. Suddenly, you felt as though everyone in the store was staring at you, and you abandoned your cart, rushing out of the store and to your car where you had your first panic attack in years. 

As you cried into the steering wheel, attempting to catch your breath, your mind raced at the implications of what you just saw. The women were stand-ins for you, but they weren’t enough for him, they never would be. You knew that if you continued to spurn his advances, they’d only become more elaborate and unavoidable, and by giving him some of the attention he desired, you’d only be encouraging his unhealthy behavior. Your next session with Elvis was that upcoming Monday, and you’d make sure to let him know about your colleague in Nashville and cut all ties with the rockstar. 

By the time Monday morning rolled around, you wanted to cancel all of your other appointments for the day, but your other patients didn’t deserve to have their treatment interrupted because of one patient. The day flew by, to your dismay, and 4:30 arrived far sooner than you were ready when he walked through the door and into your office. He sat down in his usual seat, and you resisted the urge to glare at him. You didn’t appreciate being manipulated for personal gain, and you figured he of all people would have understood that. 

“Mr. Presley,” you began sternly. “I have repeatedly tried to enforce the professional nature of our relationship as doctor and patient, and yet you insist on sabotaging the massive strides you’ve made in your treatment by repeatedly making attempts to violate that. I think that continuing to see me as a therapist would be detrimental to your recovery, so I’m referring you to a colleague of mine with a similar specialization. After this session, I will no longer be your therapist.”

He stared at you incredulously before becoming stone-faced. “Well, since you won’t be my therapist anymore, I guess you can accept all those gifts now.”

Your mouth nearly fell open at his boldness. “Mr. Presley, you’re missing the point entirely.”

“No, I think I get the point loud and clear, Y/N.”

Your chest contracted as his use of your first name. “Mr. Presley, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Now.” 

He stood up from his chair, and instead of walking out the door, crossed the few feet of space between you and caged you into your chair. He stared down at you intensely, silently, for what felt like hours. Too frightened to move, you held his gaze until he cupped your chin in his hand, gently rubbing his thumb against your skin. 

“You’re doin’ this for us, mama,” he whispered, “so we can be together.”

“I’m doing this for my own safety.”

“I knew you felt the same way about me, how much you wanted me too.”

“Elvis, please, let’s just sit back and discuss this. I won’t refer you to another therapist,” you lied, trying to appeal to whatever sense of rationality he may have had.

His other hand drifted to your thigh, inching its way up your skirt. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, you pushed him off of you and hoped that it would disorient him enough for you to run out the door. Instead, he beat you to it, pressing you against the wooden door that stood between your freedom and captivity.

“C’mon, mama, we’ve had this date since the beginning,” he purred in your ear. 

Perhaps you had been too preoccupied with having Elvis Presley as a professional success story than acknowledging the delusional and obsessive tendencies he displayed. Where did you go wrong? You tried to think back through a year’s worth of therapy sessions to figure out when exactly you’d given Elvis the impression that you were interested in him romantically or sexually, but were torn from your thoughts when he kissed you aggressively. He must have mistaken your attempts at protests for moans, because he only deepened the kiss, biting your bottom lip so you’d gasp in pain, giving his tongue access to your mouth.

You put your hands on his shoulders to steady yourself and tried once again to push away, but he was too strong–and determined as he backed you into your desk, the impact from both of your bodies bumping against it sending some of the items to the floor. 

“Elvis, you don’t have to do this,” you pleaded. Why were you still coddling him? 

“You want this, mama,” he groaned, grinding his clothed erection against your exposed leg like a dog in heat. “I know you do.”

He didn’t give you an opportunity to argue, bringing his lips to yours again and hastily unbuttoning your blouse. He rid you of your bra just as quickly, and took one of your breasts in his mouth. Guiding one of your hands to his crotch, he rubbed your hand against it, and you let out an involuntary whimper as his moans vibrated against your sensitive nipple. 

Thrusting against your hand, he pulled away from your breast, muttering something about cumming in his pants if he didn’t do anything about it soon. He shed his shirt, throwing it aside. The reality of the situation hit you as he lifted you back on top of the desk and pulled down your panties. He dragged his ring finger up your slit, and you shivered at the sensation of the cold metal of his rings against it. Apparently satisfied with how wet you were, he wasted no time unzipping his pants and ridding himself of them to reveal he hadn’t been wearing any underwear. You stared wide-eyed at his cock, as he stroked it before positioning it at your weeping cunt.

“Just take it, mama. Be real good for me and take it like I know you can,” he cooed in an attempt to placate you as he slid himself into you. 

You choked on air at the sensation, not expecting how big he’d be, and tears began to run down your face. He kissed them away as he thrust into you, whispering about how good you were being, how perfect you were. Two of his fingers played with your clit, and your felt your vision go hazy at the pleasure that was building up in your core. You’d never felt that good in your life. Maybe you did want it after all.

“Fuck, daddy,” you moaned, nearly throwing your hands over your mouth at the realization of what you had said. 

That seemed to stir something in him, because his thrusts became harsher and more erratic while you berated yourself for actually enjoying it. The moans that came from your throat sounded almost foreign to you. 

“You got no idea how often I thought about this, mama,” he managed to groan. “Come for daddy.”

With a grotesque cry, you came, feeling yourself clench around him as he kept up his ruthless pace. His own orgasm followed soon after yours, and as you felt him cum inside you, you weren’t sure whether you hated him or yourself more. What felt like hours passed before he finally pulled out from you, leaving your inner thighs wet with cum and lightly bruised.

You looked at him through your tears, knowing your mascara was surely tracked down your face. He reached for you, and you flinched back, nearly falling off of your desk until he steadied you, and you broke down into humiliating sobs into his shoulder, your nails purposely digging into his skin. You wanted to hurt him, somehow, make him feel how you felt. Instead, he seemed unfazed, releasing you from his grip when your crying had settled down to hold your face in his hands. 

He looked into your eyes with all of the delusional affection you’d feared and whispered, “You’re my girl, my bestest girl.”

[raayllum]

I just finished Book 5, and do you think that Ezra’s arc will have him learn that words aren’t enough? Some fans do think that he’s the least emphasized of the Dragang

I don't think Ezran is going to learn that words aren't enough (they have been, often times in his life, and trying non violent routes are important) but I do think he's going to be presented with more and more situations where it is, as he acknowledges, "Not that simple" (4x03).

In Arc 1, you had the transformative trio of characters (Callum, Rayla, Soren) who were rapidly changing as people versus the more "circumstances change and drag out certain personality traits either more or less" stagnated trio (Ezran, Viren, Claudia). In Arc 2 thus far, it seems that Soren, Claudia, and Ezran are the 'stagnant' ones and Viren, Callum, and Rayla are the transformative ones. That being said, I do think S5 focused on Ezran as much as S4 focused on Rayla, so it's not surprising there's a bit of a trade off (especially with Janai very much being a Main Character in arc 2) with Callum (always our main Main protagonist) getting a decent amount every season. There's definitely a lack of Ezran in the first four episodes (he gets about one scene a-piece) but I do think it's over quality > quantity, in some ways. (Bow from She-Ra for example is in every single episode of that series, but gets very little by way of arcs or conflict or interiority, y'know?)

That said:

I talked about this a bit more in a podcast review I did for the season / this meta, but I think Soren and Ezran are having slowburn arcs that will come to fruition in S6. Soren, after all, hasn't really changed as a character since the end of S3 - he's on team good guy, he's reaffirming his choices and love for his friends, he still cares for Claudia and still views his father as a cruel villain (which, Viren is/can be).

Ezran, likewise, is dealing with his own well, slowburn of problems. In a lot of ways, Ezran has to hold it together when everyone else is falling apart (Rayla is MIA, Callum is a mess; staying level headed even when they're arguing; being the main negotiator seemingly between the Pentarchy and the dragons of Xadia; and ruling is own kingdom). He takes his duties seriously and wants to broker peace further, if maybe a tad faster than people are ready for. Like Janai says, I think, his priorities have changed since becoming king. His duty first and foremost is to his kingdom/the world. (Not that it wasn't his mindset before, but it wasn't his responsibility before pre-series, y'know?) Which is very Rayla of him, I think ("I let them all down" in 3x04 / "I just feel like I'm letting everybody down" for Ez in 3x03).

And we see how much this weighs on Ezran based on how heavily he takes responsibility for his perceived and or literal mistakes. Whether it's speeding things up too fast / not giving enough room for his people's, or his own anger...

E: I had a speech planned for today. It was about peace and love and hope. But I think I left something out. I ignored something that was true. I denied something that is undeniable.

or in doing the right thing in saving the Baitlings, but putting his friends in danger.

And Soren acknowledges that this isn't really fair for Ezran, either:

Soren: This is all too heavy. It's not fair you have to struggle through this alone. You deserve time to do kid stuff. If you spend all your time doing adult stuff now, you'll grow up weird, like your brother and Rayla.

Now, on the certain level, Ezran is alone because he's like - he's the King, and that's its own unique position. However, if you look at how close Viren and Harrow, and Harrow and Sarai were, in their decision making, they did everything together. In spite of being a single dad, Harrow was never alone in what he did as king (for better or for worse): "I accept that tonight I may pay the price for our mistakes."

So I think it's interesting this emphasis on loneliness/alone in the same season we have Amaya and Rayla's conversation about it too:

A: My big sister Sarai was the smartest, strongest, bravest person I knew. When she died, I felt lost and weak without her.

I hated feeling that way, so I learned to be strong alone. Stoic, strong, and lonely. [...] To have that kind of strength, it is not enough to love someone. You have to trust them to share the burdens you're carrying.

So who does Ezran depend on to carry that burden with him? Because Ezran isn't supposed to be alone as king, and Harrow spelled it out for us:

When I am gone your brother Ezran will become king, and you will be his partner, his defender, and his closest advisor.

So the question is... has Callum really fulfilled his role for his brother? Callum isn't crownguard, so actually protecting Ezran is primarily in Soren and Corvus' hands, exemplified by Soren being the one to get angry over the ruined painting in 4x03, to run to Ezran in 4x09, and for Callum to be absent from the Dragon mission in S5. And when Callum is there to have a duty to fulfil:

Then we see the brothers - not Ezran and Rayla - disagree on how to proceed forward with Aaravos, getting momentarily a little heated before they both turn to Rayla (and remember those Rayla parallels I mentioned earlier?):

Now, it's not surprising that Ezran wants to take the diplomatic / least violent route. He's the one primarily appealing to Akiyu rather than barrelling onwards, and expresses great concern for her (even after she tried to kill them). Claudia thinks she can appeal to him in 5x09 because of his empathy. A more compassionate, reasonable route is what he's always done, trying to reason evenly with Finnegrin and with Rex Igneous, even if it doesn't precisely work out... simply because they, like his brother, don't exactly Value the same things Ezran does.

Alright, so the broyals disagreed once, and Callum is a little flighty as a High Mage. So what? Well: Callum now knows, and has already committed himself, to helping Rayla free her parents from the coins, including Runaan.

And Ezran's short story going into S5 hints that this may not exactly be something he's happy about:

Ezran gripped the arrow tight. The thing in his hands was a terrible letter, the ribbon its message: the king of Katolis was dead. King Harrow. His father. Something cold lurched inside him. He fought against it. He’d fought it before, that same hurt, years ago—when he’d found out what really happened that night in Katolis. Still, it haunted him. He couldn’t help but imagine the scene, all of it playing out like grim theater before him, as though he’d been there, as though he’d stood by and watched it happen. That Moonshadow elf upon the castle ramparts, skulking toward his father’s chambers. 

It stared up at him. Ezran felt a coldness twist its way around his heart. It took his lungs, too, and for a long moment he could not breathe, could not feel anything but an unfamiliar anger so potent it seized the whole of him, inside and out. Ezran stepped towards the arrow— —and stomped down on it as hard as he could. He wished he were bigger, stronger, he wished his boots were made of iron and not something soft. Still, it was enough. When he pulled his foot away, Ezran glared down at the arrow’s hawkish head, flattened and broken. Its ruby eye slipped from its socket, its black metal bent like frayed feathers. He left it there in the dark.

Full short story here.

So Ezran is going to find out, or possibly feel, that Callum and Rayla are keeping a secret from him (again, just like S2, which didn't make him happy then, either). Callum is going to side with Rayla over him if he mandates that Runaan shouldn't or can't be freed, giving into his anger and grief much the same way his father did. He may pull rank - and Callum is going to disregard it. A very similar fallout repeating itself...

Ezran being increasingly isolated (especially if Callum and Rayla are working, or leaving, to find the Starscraper), his disapproval and grief, trying to manage the possible fallout of Zubeia being injured/MIA, feeling undervalued and disregarded by his brother... There's little doubt in my mind that Callum and Ezran (and Rayla) will reconcile and find their way back to one another, healing their hurts, but Ezran has a lot of potential anger and angst to express and a lot on his upcoming plate, steadily added to and set up by the previous seasons.

Which in a lot of ways, makes sense. Ezran as king and Callum as high mage, and as brothers, have to prove they won't fall apart the same way that King Harrow and Viren did, more necessary than ever now that Callum has done dark magic again. Ezran was there to pick up the pieces after Rayla left, but he may still have anger over that and their joint secret keeping from him / feeling like they're treating him 'unfairly' like a child. We've also never really seen Ezran have this type of conflict before, nevermind for the trio as a whole (most of the time it's been Callum and Rayla disagreeing, a couple brief instances of Ez and Rayla, and Callum and Ez a few times in S1 / 5x05) so for Ezran to be what starts falling apart would really rattle all three of him, and seems to be where he's headed, character wise.

And I for one cannot wait to see it.

TLDR; Ezran's slow burn arc, much like Soren's, is being steadily set up and is going to likely be a big focus in the next two seasons, pushing him and other characters in brand new directions and with some really emotional, powerful storytelling to upstage our previously held status quo in all the ways.

[sserpente]

Loki Season 2 – Episode 1 RECAP

HERE WE GO AGAIN! FINALLY! LET’S DO THIS, SHALL WE?

As always, HEAVY SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 BELOW THE CUT!

Also from now on, as usual, in addition to the keep reading tags, I will tag posts that contain spoilers with the hashtag "#loki season 2 spoilers" and "#loki spoilers" so you can filter them from your dashboard until you're ready!

Did I stay up until 3 a.m. to watch the first episode again? Yes. Yes, I did.

We are starting off so damn STRONG. Damn it, I just wanted to hug Loki so bad. He’s been through so much shit and he was so heartbroken and desperate! Imagine you get to cup his face and just tell him to take a deep breath with you! What made it even more painful was the moment he fully realised that Mobius didn’t recognise him—his one friend, the one person who likes him for who he is… and he doesn’t remember him… and then the relief on his face when was in the right place again!

Loki was so panicked about the impending war. For good reason, obviously but it truly shows that Thor: Ragnarok lied. Loki wouldn’t be a bad king, now hear me out—in The Avengers, Thanos had the upper hand. You all remember that one scene where he sort of backtracks and says “It’s too late… it’s too late to stop it…” but can’t join forces with Thor because The Other was watching him? Loki understands the sacrifice for sure and in the first Thor film, when he tried to wipe out Jötunheim, what I believe is that he wanted to prevent the war that Thor himself had started by attacking those Jötuns. Loki’s not about violence and causing pain and destruction, he just got caught in the middle of it several times, and circumstances forced him into choices that were not heroic. We knew that already, of course… but it’s nice to see that reflected in the series. Besides, we don’t need him to be a hero. We just need him to be Loki. 🥰

The jokes were spot-on, not too silly, not out of place, in my opinion, but sprinkled in just right so far. Skin? Also, can we please talk about the warning on the floor that said Spaghettification? Come on! 😂😂😂

Now in that sense, O.B. is indeed brilliant. A lovely and light addition to the serious bureaucracy of the TVA for sure!

I really wasn’t worried about Loki making it back safely, somehow. Let’s face it, they wouldn’t have killed him in the first episode of Season 2. With that being said… I hope for their sake he stays safe at the end too, otherwise, I will hurt a lot of people! 🙂

X5… X5, what are we gonna do with him? I hate him. Of course, I do. He’s got something about him that just makes you want to slap him in the face. 😒

Now there are two questions we immediately ask ourselves, right? Where, or rather, when did Sylvie come from? And who pruned Loki? Was it another Sylvie, or another Loki? Another Mobius? B15? An antagonistic character who realised their wrongs? A new character? A Kang Variant? They’ve definitely left us some loose ends! 🤔

And lastly… it’s absolutely heartbreaking to see how much Loki cares for Sylvie despite what happened at the end of Season 1. She basically betrayed him! For reasons Loki understands, of course, but still… it broke his heart… and hence it broke mine. He was so ready to stop the others from going after her even though he was facing the very gruesome time slipping problem. 😭

If you’ve seen the video I posted earlier, you’ll know that I have already seen Episode 2 as well today. I won’t lose a word about that one until next week though! 😉 All I’m gonna say is that we’re in for a treat. 😏

PS: I want that TVA handbook as a notebook for my writing.

[frangipanilove]

A Certain Lincoln Continental...

At The Crux Of The Three/Tree/Trunk Symbolism

I’ve talked about the three/tree/trunk symbolism since the Trunk Resurrection posts from back in the day (here and here). Many TD’ers, myself included, believe Beth somehow was put in the trunk of a car after TWD 5x8 Coda. Of course we don’t know the specifics yet, but it was foreshadowed in 4x12 Still, and there was a callback to it in 5x11, when Maggie found a female walker trapped in the trunk of a car, and had a very strong emotional reaction to it.

I think specifically, the trunk symbolism at its core is about the actual trunk I believe Beth was put into after coda. Generally speaking, the “trunk” represents a “tomb” or a “grave”, and in the show, we see different variations of what that can mean for different characters.

When TD claims that Beth is a “Christ figure” in the show, we mean that, among other things, she was “resurrected” much like Jesus. A lot of the "Christ" symbolism around her is "resurrection" symbolism.

I recently did a post on Carol’s Ford Mustang from TWDDD 1x6 Coming Home, where I talk about the three cars we've seen, with identical LC6M187 license plates.

Carol’s car in 1x6 had license plates that pointed us towards 5x2, which is the episode when Carol and Daryl left to search for Beth. And they left in a car with the LC6M187 license plate:

The LC6M187 licence plates were also seen in 2x1 What Lies Ahead:

…as well as on the car Merle drove as he was about to sacrifice his life so that his brother and TF could live. Merle was never a saint, but in his final sacrifice you could say he took on the properties of a Christ figure.

In the Trunk Resurrection posts I explained why I believe symbolism around the number “3”, symbolism around “tree trunks” and symbolism around the “trunks of cars” are used interchangeably. I call these types of constellation of symbols “synonymous symbolism”. When I say “three/tree/trunk” symbolism, I mean a certain constellation of symbols tptb use to illuminate the subtext of scenes that on the surface seems to be about something weird and random, like for exemple the blue painted trees from FTWD, but in reality is about resurrection symbolism.

In my opinion, that’s what the weird Coda symbols on the tree trunks we saw around Morgan in 5x8 Coda truly was about (among other things, I’m sure. Symbolism in TWDU is always multilayered). It was more about symbolism than anything tied to the narrative.

There were three of them, and they were symbols on trees, specifically on the tree trunks (three/tree/trunk).

Morgan showed up in the coda of 5x8 Coda, strolling through the woods, admiring the trees with the X/coda symbols, before entereing Father Gabriel’s abandoned church. Once inside, he made a point out of “resurrecting” a cross, in case anyone were missing the heavy theme of “resurrection” permeating the scenes showed directly after Beth was “killed”.

And if you’re opposed to interpret the carved symbols as “coda” symbols because these crosses are on an angle and a coda symbol isn’t (I don’t think that matters though), why don’t you just interpret them as X symbols, which are basically crosses. X = cross. Simple as that. I also talked about the etymology of the word “cross” in the Trunk Resurrection posts, and why in some translations of the Bible the word “cross” became synonymous with the word “three”.

Speaking of the coda symbol, @bethgreeneprevails made a fantastic discovery in TWDDD 1x6 Coming Home. High up on an ornate column inside The Nest, we saw this:

This is a behind-the-scenes photo. I chose it because it's clear, and you can fully see the column with the coda symbol in all its glory.

"The Nest" was always symbolic of “home” in TWDDD season 1. It was heavily tied into the north symbolism which I have discussed many times (here). And once we finally got to see it, it was obvious that it was a kind of "holy place", like a "place of worship", where we saw representations of probably every religion under the sun, be it Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, we saw Jewish symbolism, we saw pre-Christian/pagan symbolism…it was like a home for the soul, independent from boundaries of any specific religion.

In this particular setting, what we in TD will interpret as the coda symbol, could probably also be meant to be a kind of Celtic cross, but like I say all the time, symbolism in TWDU is always multilayered and can (and should) be interpreted in multiple ways. Because just like the coda symbol from 1x6 is similar to a celtic cross, the symbols on the tree trunks from Coda have much in common with a sun cross, or a wheel cross, known from pre-Christian and even pre-historic times. They're symbols widely understood to represent the sun, and Wikipedia says:

“The cross-in-a-circle was interpreted as a solar symbol derived from the interpretation of the disc of the Sun as the wheel of the chariot of the Sun god"

Or basically "three/tree/trunk" symbolism, as I would say. Chariot = car/vehicle. With a coda symbol as the cherry on top!

These different interpretations compliment each other. They are interconnected in theme and origin, and together they form the multilayered symbolism tptb love to use.

The coda symbol on the ornate column (I want to say it's from a Greek-Corinthian tradition but I’m no expert) was like a perfect parallel to the coda symbols on the tree trunks from Coda. And the column with the acanthus design elements appears as a stylized representation of a tree.

Interestingly, we saw a similar type classical design element in 5x13 Alone, the palmette.

A palmette is a decorative element from classical art and architecture, and as the name suggests, it is a reference to a palm three, which is arguably a tree. So again, it's three/tree/trunk symbolism.

And if you think that's a little too random and just a tad too reachy, take a look at this:

This is from the opening scene of 1x1 Days Gone Bye, it's literally among the very first things we see of the entire franchise. I've talked a lot about Rick's Ford Crown Victoria (here).

The sign is a bit blurry, but it says "Cascade Palmetto Hwy". And sure, it's perhaps a bit random, sometimes a street sign is just a street sign. However, we have seen over and over that symbols that may not have had a ton of meaning when they first appear, are brought back in later seasons, and what they point back to gives them new meaning.

And here, in 1x1 Days Gone Bye, we see a reference to a palmetto/palm tree, as we did in Alone. And ultimately, we saw a similar tree reference, in the form of a Greek-Corinthian column with a coda sign in TWDDD 1x6, a callback to the three/tree/trunk symbolism around Beth and Morgan in 5x8 Coda.

And it feels appropriate to bring Rick's blue Crown Victoria back around, because like I suggested initially, this is ultimately another post about car symbolism, namely that of a certain Lincoln Continental.

Yup, this one. The trunk from 4x12 Still.

In the director's commentary of 4x12 Still on the season 4 DVD set, Julius Ramsey confirmed that it was indeed a Lincoln Continental they used for the trunk scene. And my hypothesis is that the LC of the licence plate LC6M187 of the tree cars I mentioned above (the yellow Mustang from 2x1, Merle's car and the car Daryl and Carol drove in 5x2), stands for "Lincoln Continental".

LC!

As in "LC6M187".

As in “Lincoln Continental”.

(full disclosure, some sites list it as a Lincoln Towncar, and they could be correct. However, the Continental and the Towncar are basically the same car, the name change mostly reflects their year of production, as well as some slight modifications in measurements. Director Julius Ramsey described as a Lincoln Continental, and that's what I will do too. Either way, the LC abbreviation still stands, as the Lincoln Towncar is still a Lincoln Car, or LC)

It's also interesting to note that in 4x15 Us, Daryl first approaches a different Lincoln Continental, this one the same shade of yellow as the Mustang from 2x1:

He ends up sleeping on the floor between the yellow Lincoln Continental and a blue Ford with a licence plate identical to the one on the car I believe could be THE car they put beth in, Officer Lichari's Dodge Magnum from Coda:

And the XH6-S781 licence plate is a rabbit hole in its own right, but that's a story for a different day,

I believe the three/tree/trunk symbolism points to the trunk Beth was placed in after Coda. I think there will be a third trunk, completing the "three trunks" story told by:

1) the trunk of the Lincoln Continetal from Still:

2) the trunk of the car Maggie opened in 5x11 Them, where she found a female walker that reminded her of Beth (confirmed in The Talking Dead)

Both of these two examples are tied to the symbolism around the LC6M187 licence plates. The trunk in Still was that of a Lincoln Continental (LC), the one from Them in that Maggie was able to open the trunk using a key with a yellow sea horse attatched to it. A sea horse is a horse reference, and a reference to the yellow Mustang from 2x1 What Lies Ahead. You could also argue that the sea horse key ring is shaped like the number three.

The third trunk will be the one we see when Beth returns. And in my opinion, there's a chance we will see her emerge, alive and well, from Officer Lichari's Dodge Magnum:

I could absolutely be wrong, and we'll find out when we find out. But in the meantime, let's speculate!

[hiveswap]

How do you get into mcyt?? I’ve tried a couple times and I can’t really figure out where everyone’s finding lore? Any tips?

Oh hi. i dont even know where to begin, i've been really out of the loop. But i have recommendations. This is going to be long

DreamSMP

Well, the dsmp has gone to shit for many reasons.

But if you do get into dsmp, blueberrytv on youtube is your best friend, they cut streams down to more digestible episodes so you can follow the story along. Yes it's long. Dear god it's long. Also @relaxxattack has a carrd that updated until fairly recently, i also recommended it many times.

The story was (i never thought i'd have to speak in past tense about it, the fucker seemed to drag through for decades in just 2 years) told through livestreams, quite a few of are lost forever because twitch deletes vods after 2 weeks and no one bothered to back them up. Also ignore everything after the disc war finale except quackity (and tales of the smp)

You can test the waters by watching Wilbur's L'manburg war video to see if you like the vibes. I usually recommend this, though it's not the earliest point in the story. (that would be tommy's disc war, which is also VERY important, but people tend to find him annoying at first, esp. 2020 tommy like jesus christ he was a different beast. Definietly watch it after the L'manburg independence, things will click.)

Sad-ist's animatics are classics that helped shape the story as it was being written. Watch them as you progress through.

Hermitcraft + Adjacent*

*as far as fandom/content creator overlap goes

1. Hermitcraft is more gameplay heavy. If you don't enjoy minecraft you're not gonna like it, but it's pretty straight forward. You find a youtuber and follow their series on youtube. People usually recommend Grian, GoodTimesWithScar, and Mumbo for beginners, (they are the most popular ones) and then you can branch out from there. Hermitcraft recap is a godsent if you want to know what's going on everywhere.

I personally loved season 8, it's also the shortest and the most lore-heavy. Really gives you a taste of what the series is like at its best.

2. The life series! (Third life, Last Life, Double life, Limited Life) again, find any participant want, then branch out if you want to. Lore is easy to find here, people were under pressure to make up stuff quickly because the series is short, and the result is funny, creative, and so so tragic.

3. People watch EvoSMP for grian, pearl and martyn lore but it really doesn't matter to anything that's going on right now. It's a good series, but Watcher (basically evil angel Grian) headcanons are far detached from it nowdays despite originating from it.

4. Yandere highschool! Do not watch Yandere highschool. No detail is worth it. Use adblock if you force yourself through it, no money for the creator he's an asshat and the other members apparently no longer talk to him.

QSMP

Since the last post, Quackity started the QSMP, in which spanish and english speaking youtubers play on the same server. It has roleplay but it's looser and less grimdark than the dsmp thankfully. They are on an island and they adopted little eggs that walk around and act all cute. It's streamed on twitch. Pick a person and look up their vods, if you're interested. Slimecicle is recommended to start with, and some spanish creators use english subtitles/translation mods. There aren't comprehensive sources to find every vod/video yet, since the server isn't that old.

EmpiresSMP

Start from participants' youtube channels, can't tall you more. I never got into it, not my thing. However, a lot of people left guides in the notes!

[weirdlynotspecific]

Studying Hunter from TOH as a person with PTSD

So as you probably gathered this post is going to be a bit heavy. Tw for: narcissists, PTSD, abuse, Belos being Belos, trauma and it's after effects

Also bare in mind that this is just my opinion. I have PTSD caused by someone similar to Belos and noticed a lot of similarities between Hunter and I. However, I am by no means an authority on this topic and this is just my take on the character.

I will probably come back to this and edit it to add more if I think of anything else.

Also spoilers for The Owl House up until Season 3 Episode 1, Thanks to Them.

Hunter's unwillingness to believe Belos is a bad person

This is something many people with PTSD (especially if the person/people causing the trauma is a narcissist) go through when other people realize something is off.

It can look like denial, grief, anger, and the person being abused can be furious with the person who realized something was wrong.

It's really confusing like in Hunter's case when Belos has been put on a pedestal (literally) his entire life

Belos gave Hunter a purpose. This is love bombing. This can appear as: "Wow you're so special" "I love you so so much". Belos straight up tells Hunter: "You're destined for something" (Hunter brings it up in Hollow Mind I think) and makes him the golden guard. It's a common tactic with manipulators so that their victim has a reason to stay with them.

Belos also isolated him. Hunter never knew what a good caregiver looked like. He wouldn't know what abuse looks like because all of this has been normalized. He wasn't even allowed to leave the castle except on missions on the weekends (I believe that's in season 3 episode 1).

Hunter's signs

Hunter's shaking hands seen in Hollow Mind. This can be an underlying physical disorder but in Hunter's case it's most likely because he is in fight or flight and processing a lot of information at once. The mind can take stress out physically on the body and this is one way this can appear.

Hunter's hypervigilance. Hunter is very easily spooked (once again Hollow Mind this episode is just full of Hunter and Belos making it my best point of reference) and is constantly on edge. Even in the newest episode (S3 E1) he is on edge, although in this case he was right.

Hunter's eyebags. So I think this could be one of 2 things; stress appearing physically on the body again, or more likely a lack of sleep. many with PTSD sleep less, have trouble staying asleep, avoid sleep, and are more prone to nightmares.

Cutting his hair when he thought he looked too much like Belos. This scene hit hard for me because I also changed my hair because of my trauma. It's an example of taking control of what you can, which many abuse victims do when they have a space to. It's also avoidance, Hunter doing what he can to be the furthest thing from Belos. it's a scene that even if it's a little detail, it's extremely important to his character.

Not telling his friends he's a grimwalker. Abuse victims don't want to feel alone. In this case when Hunter is in Fight or Flight he chooses another option, Fawn. It's a people-pleasing method to make sure the victim doesn't get hurt again. It can also result in codependency. Hunter is very careful of what he says to his friends because he doesn't want to be left alone and feel that again.

Causes

Physical injury. Hunter has a scar (now several) on his face. Unwanted permanent change to the body ESPECIALLY through force is never healthy and can be extremely traumatic.

Psychological abuse. Belos is a known liar, it's stated over and over again in the series. Living in a relationship like that is breeding grounds for trauma because you can never be sure if what you are hearing is the truth or not. When Hunter finds out he's a grimwalker that is his entire life flipped over. His life, his identity, was made up by Belos. He is now forced to figure out what is actually his and what was made up.

Sources

https://www.dailyom.com/journal/is-it-love-or-is-it-love-bombing-5-red-flags-to-help-you-spot-the-difference/?aff=91&ad=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PerformanceMax&acct=9358138875&campaign_id=16896613381&gclid=CjwKCAiA5Y6eBhAbEiwA_2ZWIdNpOVzzurt7m4MaXkLRwaaejex6WBv4MaCcMSXZMJrbiVJRj7VVHRoCijQQAvD_BwE

https://atlanticcoastrehab.blog/why-your-hands-tremble

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/related/sleep_problems.asp#:~:text=Loss%20of%20sleep%20time.,loss%20can%20affect%20daily%20life.

https://www.modernintimacy.com/fawn-response-trauma-response-reason-for-people-pleasing-behavior/#:~:text=Fawning%20is%20also%20sometimes%20associated,they%20think%20they%20need%20you.

[chirpsythismorning]

Your last post is amazing and I want to share with you that I had a similar journey when it comes to shipping byler.

I first watched the show when season 2 had just come out in 2017, and I was a hardcore milkvan shipper (I was 13 and I didn't know any better and lacked critical thinking skills lmao). While watching season 3 for the first time I noticed Will being gay (I gasped at the rain fight scene), but just like you I assumed milkvan would be endgame. After watching the infamous last milkvan kiss in the last episode, I was left with a weird feeling about it for the next week but I was never able to put my finger on what exactly had felt so wrong in that scene.

Like you, I also have never shipped ships where I didn't notice that there was clear buildup towards endgame (I even watched outer banks for the first time earlier this year and a lot of the fandom swears there has been jiara buildup from the first season, but I know that's not true and the only scene I can identify as true buildup is in the last episode of season 2). However, two years ago I began studying film and how it works, first in highschool and last year in college. I learned a lot about visual storytelling and I also gained an incredible amount of media literacy. Exactly a year ago, a month before vol 1 came out, I was bored and decided to rewatch the whole 3 seasons.

With my older age now and my better understanding of cinematography and narrative, I stopped liking milkvan in the first season because of the born sexy yesterday trope, but I also began to notice how Mike was surrounded by queer coding, both narratively and by the framing of his scenes with Will (the hand hold close up hello). Then I got to the end of season 3, watched that kiss again... and I noticed Mike's eyes were full open and the closet (Wills closet!) door was perfectly dividing Mike and El as if there was a wall between them. That's how, years after, I realized why that scene had felt so wrong to me the first time I watched it. I saw that boy was gay.

However, I was still skeptical precisely because I never fell for queer coding. But I went onto to Tumblr and I decided to read byler theories. I went in with an open mind and I realized that it made perfect sense and it was set up way too perfectly, so it couldn't be a coincidence, either it was queer waiting or true.

I went into vol 1 so excited, I noticed Mike's queer coding on episode 1 alone was SO heavy (I went 🤨 with his bedroom posters and one way sign, the way he looked at Eddie, the people he wanted to ask to be subs in Hellfire...). Then when he dropped the famous "were friends, were friends!" that's when I knew they were going there. And they I saw that he couldn't say I love you to El? That was the moment I smiled widely, and ever since that moment, I've known byler is endgame and I've never had a single doubt ever again. Not even in the aftermath of volume 2. I knew Mike's speech being based on the painting attributed to El when it's actually Wills mimicked the plot of many teenage early 2000s movies (yes I was the girl who wrote you that love letter not her, I'm the one who actually loves you like that... And then boom they always end together). Then, El wasn't speaking to him, and I saw the last shot with the couples standing together. I knew that it was intentional for them to be positioned that way, and at this point I knew it wasn't queerbaiting

YES!

It's so cool to hear other bylers experiences with being introduced to all the evidence and just hearing about similar experiences in general!

I feel like a lot of bylers are just sort of lumped in with this naive stereotype of someone who always falls for queer-bait? Like we kind of just get lumped into it when the circumstances for Byler are completely different than the queer-bait ships that came way before.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a frequent queer-baitee. There literally isn't. Especially bc queer-baiting is referring to instances when a queer non-canon pairing is supported by the fans and the creators sort of humor it while knowing full well it won't happen?

Obviously times are changing at like lightening speed.

For example Stranger Things came out in 2016 and tbh 2016 is a completely different era of representation that 2023. 2016 was like the end of the queer-baiting era almost, give or take a few years. As we got closer to the 2020's, we started to see more queer rep that I feel like wasn't very overtly obviously queer-bait, but often queer characters at the forefront as the main or being more than just another example of the 'bury your gays' trope.

Also I took film classes in high school and I'm now majoring in film studies! So that was also something that no doubt had a massive impact on my perspective of things changing throughout that time from s1 to s4's release as well!

Even despite that I am a little bit slow about catching onto things, and so like it doesn't even matter that I have extra terminology under my belt or something. For example, I have a sister who hates movies, but when I do manage to convince her to watch a movie or show that I think she'll like, she'll notice stuff I didn't notice upon watching for the first time, while I on the other hand didn't notice that detail until like my 3rd rewatch. And it seriously pisses me off so much!!!!! She doesn't even appreciate her gift!

I remember watching s4 with her, and literally having no knowledge of anything outside of half paying attention while watching, she was like, Mike's pocket looks like an arrow... And I just looked at her completely silent and had to look away like seriously fuck you I had to go online and hear hundreds of bylers obsessing over it to think about it that way. But that's also just us as a fandom seeing stuff simultaneously and figuring it out together. Maybe I would've figured out the arrow pocket myself if I had actually not been exposed to the flurry of theories while s4 was promoted and released.

Still, it just goes to show that while yes extra knowledge about film is extremely helpful, like very helpful obviously, someone without any experience can be capable of picking up on things you missed regardless. And I do love that because it's just a reminder that no matter peoples bias' we can work together and figure shit out.

Also why I sometimes still enjoy lurking reddit bc they can be smart, and even a homophobes POV can come in handy bc I feel like they are avoiding the gay subtext at all costs so they're able to focus on things that we might overlook?

I do notice that a lot of people treat bylers like they are pervs and need to stop shipping boys together bc it's just not going to happen and we shouldn't be crying queer-bait, or this or that?

But like, first of all, it's half-canon my friend. One of the characters is, in canon, in love with the other. And there's still one more season left. And the other character has no idea that the other character is in love with them...

That doesn't happen bro. It just doesn't.

And not only that but, we were obviously milkvans at one point... I personally skipped entire episodes for those bitches...

And yet, even despite that, I also noticed something off between them just like 90% of the ga did before even looking up theories or picking up on byler fully.

This isn't a case of a bunch of people shipping two boys for shits and giggles (and even if it was, who fucking cares).

What's happening on Stranger Things is not something that happens, ever. You don't make the main couple become this pairing that the audience is indifferent to in the 3rd and 4th season, practically repeating the same storyline of them being incompatible, only to make their love for each other fail at saving the day... and with unresolved feelings between the main guy and his best friend being unaddressed... It's not a thing.

If more fans realized that this isn't even about shipping and it's just about literally paying attention beyond seeing what you want to see, then they'd understand where we're coming from. I shipped Milkvan but it's clear to me that the story is trying to convey they are not right for each other. I'm not going to hold onto a romantic relationship between two characters who met when they were like 12 and were sort of pressured into being romantic instantly, just bc love at first sight or something? That's stupid. If it was built up more satisfying, and if Will wasn't there being in love with Mike and with Mike clearly holding similar feelings then it wouldn't be what it clearly is. A fucking story that is clearly heading in the direction of a straight-bait/endgame main queer couple.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 01/12/2023

Patched Plains Fusion Collab

Season 2 Featured on: Rips of Christmas Past Also on: SiIvaGunner: Starter Kit & Essentials

Ripped by MtH, dante, turdl3, Charles Ritz, TylerNJazz, toonlink, trivial171, wolfman1405, Chaze the Chat, Princess Sylvysprit, beat_shobon, Can of Nothing

December!! Christmas times!! The holidays!! Wahoo!!

There's of course always a lot of excitement in the air during December, even if its...largely manufactured by big companies. Yet ever since 2016, I've had far more of a personal attachment to the month - the end of SiIvaGunner Season 1, and the beginning of Season 2, was some of the most engrossed I've ever been engrossed with a piece of media - and it was all punctuated with the Patched Plains Fusion Collab.

It may be hard to truly convey to newer SiIva viewers just how suspenseful and strange the month of October was during 2016. For all intents and purposes, the channel appeared to have truly ENDED with Epic Flintstones, and everything that led up to its release just further cemented that. We'd gotten behind-the-scenes reveals of unresolved content, some of the channel's biggest projects and collaborations up to that point, a huge amount of new albums within such a short amount of time...there was very little to suggest that SiIva wouldn't actually be ending. Yet viewers paying attention would be able to connect the dots, these small little hints dropped during the finale, all connected to "Wood Man" - and mind you, this was before he was even established as a character on the channel!

Just a few days after the official ending, as SiIva had gone to sleep and the channel had been avoiding uploads for so long - uploads suddenly returned, as this "Wood Man" character became the new host at the start of November. This wasn't the first time a story event had been happening on SiIva, yet it was one that left us as viewers confused and in the dark of what was truly happening, due to the lack of a proper narrator. After just two weeks and an album release, halfway through the month, uploads suddenly ceased and the channel went dark. So...was the channel actually dead? Was this just a little bonus Halloween thing, to let the team play around with Wood Man as a character in an epilogue to the actual channel?

Turns out, it was all build-up to December - to the Christmas Comeback Crisis. The channel ending, the virus in his computer, the Voice Inside Your Head, Wood Man - it was all revealed to be part of this all new ongoing storyline, presented to us in full-on episodes during the month of December. Like a light switch turned on, the confusion and uncertainty of November turned into full-on celebration of SiIva's seemingly-now-confirmed return to regular uploading. This was the start of Season 2 - and it was, in my eyes, an absolutely perfect premiere.

I really want to go more in-depth on this someday, but I'll circle back to Patched Plains Fusion Collab to round the story out - because really, it was this rip that really cemented Season 2 as having officially begun, halfway through December 2016. It had been a month since Wood Man's sudden leave from the channel, and out of nowhere we're given an animated prologue to this all-new Christmas-themed storyline, directly based on Kirby: Planet Robobot from earlier that year. And after that sudden gut punch, we're treated to an absolute feast for the ears - a red-carpet introduction to the sort of quality we were about to experience. Kirby: Planet Robobot already had a heavy presence on SiIva due to The Reboot, and so starting this big new story event off with another rip from that same game felt like a sort of reassurance - this wasn't a bit, or a side story, or anything of the sort, but the full next step of the SiIvaGunner channel.

As a rip, it's frankly excellent - it has all the quality of the average Fusion Collab on the channel condensed down to just two minutes, covering everything from different genres of music, different games, different time signatures, and everything inbetween - a remix collaboration in the purest sense of the word, and an absolute treat to listen to. A big benefit to fusion collabs of this nature is that you're able to very clearly identify who is responsible for what parts of the rip - Princess Sylvyspirit's involvement is immediately noticeable as soon as the Touhou segment begins, Chaze's affection for MOTHER 3 is expressed through his part in the collaboration, and so on!

Despite the song only having a brief segment on Christmas near the beginning, the spirit is absolutely there throughout all of Patched Plains Fusion Collab - its a celebration of what was to come, a joyous theme that let all of its collaborators truly show their stuff at the start of this new age for the channel. And its a rip that I often come back to just for that sheer nostalgia alone.

[pride-moth]

Preemptive Helluva Boss Season 2 Episode 2 Defense

Okay so obviously I can't tell the future, but I have the sneaking suspicion that some people might take issue with the fact that, in this episode, Blitzo and Stolas are pretty much right back to where they were before the whole date debacle.

And I get that! It can easily be seen as odd! But I have a few things to say about it! (Call copium if you want, but I stand by what I'm gonna say here)

We're still missing an episode.

Viv did say that the final episode of Season 1 isn't super plot-heavy, BUT we still haven't seen it which means that we're not currently privvy to what might have been said in there. With how this episode went, it's easy for me to imagine that Blitzo and Stolas might have spoken to each other and ended Season 1 on a "haha let's just forget about whatever that was haha" kind of thing.

2. They're kind of real for all that tbh

I feel like in my (admittedly short) adult life I've been in multiple situations where I've left things off with a person kind of awkwardly or maybe we were mad at each other or whatever. But then when circumstances forced us back together, we kind of defaulted back to our status quo? That seems to me what's likely to have happened here, too. Blitzo and Stolas haven't really talked since Ozzie's, maybe only business-wise, but then Via goes missing and Blitzo calls him up and they just... Default back to the way they usually are! Stolas is flirty, Blitzo is brash and kind of rude (though he seems to be like??? Way more flustered arund Stolas now, talk about a mood right there, that's what happens to me every time I admit to having a crush on someone to myself) because that's just... Easier than sorting out ALL THAT while also dealing with a whole other problem.

3. Well, you might still wanna have your main characters interact while saving the big confrontation/reconciliation/whatever for later

It's the second episode of the season, so obviously we're not gonna make huge headway with regards to character-development yet. I think it's smart to still have Stolas and Blitzo interact and I think if anything, this episode kind of established that even if things are awkward and lots of feelings go unspoken, they can't really stay away from each other. They can't stop being flirty with each other.

4. Unrelated miscellaneous things I liked

I love how this episode was more about Octavia and Loona (you know, I don't want you to get the impression that I didn't get that via me ranting about Stolitz for too long here, but I did get that and I enjoyed it!) I liked how they bonded over having flawed fathers who, nonetheless, care about them immensely. I thought this episode was unabashedly hilarious in a way the last 2 (S1E7 and S2E2 at the point of posting) weren't. I loved human Stolas, he was so lanky and cute! Also, I love a good massacre, too, we haven't had one of those in a while.

ANYWAY, I really liked this episode and idk maybe everyone else did too and I'm acting prematurely here, but I just thought I should get my thoughts out there okay bye

[orangeoctopi7]

I watched the second half of Dragons Rising while on vacation last weekend so no episode by episode reaction this time.

That being said, I over all enjoyed the new batch of episodes.

Spoilers below

Kai and Wyldfyre were the best part of the new season, they were so funny. They really just took season 1 Kai, turned his flaws up to 11, swapped the gender and made him train her. They are so fun to watch.

I loved Sora's character arc, especially when she told off her parents. You shouldn't have to prove your worth to your parents.

Arin continues to be a delightful stand-in for everyone who grew up watching Ninjago. His and Lloyd's dynamic is very sweet.

So many moments of wanting to hug Zane this season.

Hey Ninjago writers, why is it always Cole who gets turned into weird stuff? First a ghost and now he can turn into a rock monster? At least this time it's at will.

It was really cool to see a djinn character again, and get some new lore for Djinjago, but it would have been nice if Nya had made literally any reference to Skybound. A little hesitation at trusting a djinn, a little acknowledgement of already knowing how wishes work. Just give me something. I know a lot of people don't like that season but it's one of my favorites and I think the writers should at least recognize it happened as a treat.

I cannot believe they did my boy Jay dirty like that. It literally would have been better if they just hadn't had the cameo. At least then it would have left me in suspense. Instead I'm worried for a completely different reason. I can't think of a compelling reason why Jay would be working with these bureaucrats that wouldn't be out of character, so the writers had better have a good explanation. (That being said he absolutely would work hard enough to get into a management position just so he could spend the whole day playing videogames)

All in all, it's hard to judge this season because there is so much that has yet to be resolved. This is hardly the first season of Ninjago to leave a lot of unanswered questions, but this seems particularly set-up heavy, which does drag it down a bit. The main through line that did get resolved, Sora's character arc, was really good though, and Imperium were fun bad guys. I'm glad Beatrix and Raz are clearly being set up to come back. For now, I think it was an enjoyable season, but only time will tell if that holds up.

[slightlyhopefulromantic]

Oooh that's an interesting premise for requests! :] May I perhaps suggest then... Uh honestly kinda feeling Terry/Nicky for this one! Also ehshsjskkwjwke maybe Jodie/Ron??????

silly little fan kid prompts

in a wildly out of character moment for me, i COMPLETELY skimmed over the rodie part of this ask fdhjgbdhb so i will ! do that next and @ you in it! BUT hey. hey. shakes a terrick kid at you

this is cameron, my new baby girl sweet daughter cameron. i like to headcanon that samantha always did terry's hair when he was young, so it was cute to me to imagine that terry would do the same to her :] and of course, nicky has to introduce cameron to all the sick ass movies that glenn showed him, including the ever famous predator handshake.

both the stamplers and the close-foster-etc families have very specific like. through-lines in their families which make this combo interesting for a fan kid? im gonna put my further notes under a cut along with some etc rambling because this is just. exciting to me. i usually make fan kids with a story already in mind, but this exercise is kind of the opposite where i have to figure out the story as i go, and thats really fun to me :D

mild spoilers for the newer episodes of season 2, but i decided to uh. Pay Attention To Biology here since terry jr was revealed to be infertile, and i think thats interesting, so cameron is adopted!! this obviously left my options pretty open, but i decided to still stick with a mixed kid, Black/Chinese, since 1. feels kinda against the point of a fan kid if i just did a random design lol and 2. considering nicky's odd genealogy as well as his severe issues with wanting his dad(s) to be proud of him and the way hes so lopsidedly attached to his family, i figured he would be the type of guy to want his adopted kid to look like him. i dont think terry would care, but he would want nicky to be happy, so it all works out in that regard ! i went back and forth a bit on if i wanted her to have freckles, i thought it could be a cute tie back to jodie, but decided against it.

she does follow the Ron -> Terry -> Ron -> Terry naming scheme, originally i was gonna go for a terry name but i figured a ron one would make more sense lol so her name is cameron! i think she would take a lot of fashion inspiration from her parents, ive always seen them as both very. emo/alternative. terry less so as he grows older, but nicky definitely clings to it, and i think that would rub off on cameron. shes not as dark and edgy as they are - i think she would be a pretty bright and bubbly kid, actually - but i kinda like the idea of her being lowkey scene/scemo. yes im biased because thats one of my favorite sub-cultures, but its CUTE. i didnt really feel like doing full outfit sketches but just know that if i did. she would be scene. and like both of her dads as teens (and nicky still into adulthood), she does dye her hair pretty heavily hehe

the only real unfortunate thing about fan kids for a series thats like. already very heavy with canon kids. is that it kind of leaves everything in a weird place where its like... do cassandra and taylor exist in this? do veronica and scary? and uhhh i dunno ghbfjdgdfhjh up to interpretation, i suppose. its easy enough to just have cassandra and nicky be divorced, but the veronica/terry of it all is murkier ... food for thought, i guess. scary would fuckin hate cameron though i think they would argue LMAO

[starlitangels]

Cataclysm Plot Summary

Welcome to Imperium | Cataclysm

Aka Imperium Season 2: Electric Boogaloo

Aka Apparently Showing Us the Boys in a Messed Up AU Wasn’t Enough Now We Have to Have A Plot™

A while back I did a rundown of the original Imperium series (click the underlined words if you’re new to Tumblr and don’t know that underlines are links) and told it with a messy, sarcastic, lighthearted, chaotic energy in an attempt to reduce the dark tones.

I’m trying to do the same here, but I don’t know how much I succeeded... my last Imperium summary was 2.8k words. This one is 10.0k

Without further ado, let’s get started

Spoiler Alert if you intend to watch Cataclysm (but if you don’t intend to watch Cataclysm and still want to know what happens in it, then you’re on the right post!)

So! As mentioned above, season 1 of the Imperium was really more of a character study with a lot of world lore showing why the characters were as messed up as they were and only a vague overarching story going on in the background

This season threw that out the window in favor of heavy plot

Read the link above if you don’t want to watch the original Imperium series but need a rundown on why the world is so dark and messed up

Alright! So, the first video is basically Echo coming back and being like, “Boo. Guess who? It’s been a while. We’re going back to Imperium where everything is f^&*ed and y’all can’t do anything about it.” And then he punts us through the mirror to the dark side of it and we’re back in the Imperium... yayyyy -_-...

Before I really get into it, I need to add a bit of information I left off of my last rundown because I either A) forgot or B) didn’t think it’d be important back then

Last time, each episode featured, like, 1 or 2 of the main canon characters and was just kind of showing how this AU affected who they were. There was baby bits of plot going on, but it was mostly about the characters. This year, each episode jumped around with a bunch of characters, so I’m going to try to format this a little better to show what happens when. Kinda similar to how I formatted my Inversion reaction post way back XD

The other bit of information I left off last time (I think), is that Mass-Maker vampires give their power to invoke their new turns to the Imperium. Sam mentions in his video last year that with careful wording of an invocation, he can transfer it so someone else holds the power to invoke his progeny. Hence why the Vampire Pyramid Scheme thing is under the Imperium’s governmental control. But even Mass-Makers are still under invocation to not reveal who that person they tied their invocations to is.

With those bits out of the way, let’s do what I promised and have an actual plot summary!

Light the Match

Episode 1 proper. It has been a year in-universe and out since the last time we saw these characters, and things have Progressed. Magic use hasn’t slowed down and, in fact, has gotten worse. The Meridian doesn’t have long left, but the resistance is still fighting to save it.

We open on Milo and Asher. Being dumb and being out in the woods at night (thankfully they’re driving so I guess it could be worse). Milo is telling Asher that this is a bad idea, and Asher agrees, but doesn’t do anything about it, and they continue on their way. They’re talking about going to meet a Freeborn (was never part of the Mass-Maker/Vampire Pyramid Scheme) vampire. Take a wild frickin’ guess who it is

We also learn that the Shaw Pack has properly joined Starlight and Babe’s resistance, and have gotten most of the other packs in Dahlia on board with it too. As many of us guessed they would Yay!

We find out that Asher and Milo are trying to free all the vampires from the Imperium’s control because the Imperium essentially uses them as soldiers/enforcers and there are so many of them that if the resistance tries to tear down the Imperium while the vamps are still under Imperial control, the resistance cannot win.

Milo calls the city a powder keg ready to blow, and says someone just needs to “light the match” roll credits but Asher says they need the info first

Anyway, they get to their destination after a little more arguing, and we jump perspectives a bit.

To the inside of the house they’ve just pulled up to. And it’s... *drumroll* You guessed it! It’s Vincent’s house! Y’know... Vincent... our favorite flirty vampire... who in this universe is a sadistic monster...

Remember in my last Imperium rundown post where I said Vincent still had some humanity in him? I take it back. I was wrong.

And is, when we see him again, feeding off Lovely in the creepy basement of his house. Lovely’s still there after a year of being held essentially captive and... I guess I’ll say they’re essentially kinda... brainwashed? Vincent says something about, “no thoughts in that empty brain, just how I like it” and then tells them to beg for another bite when he asks if they want another one. I assume this is because the pleasure a vampire feels from a bite reflects back on the person and they’re basically addicted to it?

But, before that actually happens, there’s a knock on the door. It’s Asher and Milo! They’re, uh, early for their meeting time with Vincent and we all wonder “who are you and what have you done with perpetually-late-to-everything Asher?” and Vincent’s a little miffed because they interrupted his feeding session with Lovely

There’s a little disagreement over Milo’s presence and Vincent is a total jerk to Milo for being small and honestly we all wanted to see a little action there but I’m not surprised we didn’t. Because Asher told Milo to stand down because they need the information they’ve come to Vincent for

Asher goes inside to talk to Vincent and leaves Milo outside to stand watch, and Milo is not happy about it. Asher basically tells Vincent he’s a jerk and Vincent brushes it off

Then they get started on the information. Vincent knows who the Imperium binds all the invocations to (William knows and Vincent managed at some point to get that information out of him). Asher wants the name/location of said person so they can get that person to release the invocations so the legions of vampires are no longer under Imperium control and the resistance stands a chance at winning

Vincent’s not convinced to give up the information so easily, and pokes and prods at Asher about David’s death, and the fact that David and Asher used to be romantically involved, pissing off Asher in the process

Vincent tells Asher that he’ll give up the coordinates of The Invoker if Asher...

Kills Alexis.

See, William’s only invocation on Vincent was to never be able to kill her himself even though Alexis is fully allowed to try to kill Vincent whenever she wants

Asher protests, saying Alexis is innocent of all this

And then Vincent explains that she’s not innocent of anything and promptly drops a Major Lore Bomb on us:

Alexis and Quinn were involved with each other (the phrase Vincent uses is “shared a bed” and outright says their relationship was at least, sexual, jury’s out on “romantic”) and Alexis was involved in the torturing of Darlin’s unempowered friend that ultimately resulted in the deaths of David and Darlin’—but Alexis wasn’t actually there that night when David and Darlin’ fought Quinn and his two other vampire companions because she was too busy trying (and failing) to kill Vincent

And that’s what gets Asher to agree

One Misery For Another

We turn our sights from the wolves and vampires, to the Imperial Academy of Dahlia.

Yeeeup! We’re back at f^&*ed up D.A.M.N.! Yay???

Aaand... we get Lasko again. President Lasko Moore. Creep-in-chief who Echo’s intro video this go-around taunts some of the audience members for quietly muttering, “NGL Imperium Lasko can kinda Get It...”

Anyway. Freelancer! They show up to his office because he’s apparently taken a special, personal interest in their education and he’s as condescending and creepy as always and my skin won’t stop crawling

Actually they want to ask him a question but the fact remains that he’s creepy

Lasko asks after Freelancer’s education, and then severely talks down on healing magic when Freelancer tells him they’ve been liking their healing classes the most. Because he wants them to be special and powerful and all that and thinks healing magic is useful, but just a tool for people with real power and wants FL to have “real power”

Side note: he outright confirms that our favorite Freelancer is, in fact, a powerful magic user. Which we all pretty much figured probs but it bears mentioning that It Has Been Confirmed™

Then Freelancer asks if they can go see Vindemiator. And Lasko gets Jealous™ Lasko agrees, and is like, “sometime this week, sure.” And Freelancer’s like, “No. Today.” And Lasko’s like, “Why today?” and Freelancer’s like, “Because then I won’t be thinking about it while I study this week and I can actually focus on school” and Lasko’s like, “A’ight. Lemme call the haven peeps and let them know you’re allowed to see him.”

But he only agrees with the condition that Freelancer comes back later that evening to continue their conversation. Fl agrees to be picked up later that evening and finally gets to leave President Creep’s office

And now we get to see Vindemiator! (I was very excited)

And over this past year he and Fl fell in love again! They are Meant to Be in every universe, Your Honor!

But before they can do any romantic lovey-dovey stuff, Fl has to shut the door because Vindemiator’s bedroom cell? in the haven doesn’t have cameras, but the hallways do, and they’re trying to be subtle

Vind is like, “How’d you get him to agree so fast?” and Fl gives the same answer they gave Lasko I guess, and Vindemiator’s like, “Usually he dangles this over your head before caving” and Fl’s just like, “Don’t worry about it, I’m here. I have to go back to talk to him later tonight, but I’m here now”

And Vind is worried about Fl’s comfort meeting up with Lasko after business hours and Fl shrugs it off but Vind pushes a little more. He hates that Fl keeps playing Lasko’s games in order to see Vind as often as they can and Fl, of course, brushes it off as “worth it” and Vind hates that even more because it means Fl has to put up with Lasko being a bigot and, I quote, “tolerate his touching”

Which, if that doesn’t set off warning alarms and raise red flags, I don’t know what would because yikes. There’s a reason I keep calling Lasko a creep in the Imperium universe y’all and this is it. Ew

Vind is feeling sorry for Fl and himself because Fl knowing Gavin essentially traded “one misery for another” roll credits from hiding their powers as a humanborn to putting up with Lasko with their magic out in the open, even Fl insists he saved them and he did from Kody, to be fair, but Vind is sulky

Also there’s lots of desperate kisses in this scene that break my heart and he calls Fl “my love” softly at least once and you can hear my heart shattering like dropped glass somewhere in the distance because they’re trying to be happy together in a world that stomps happiness out with glee

And then we move on to some juicy plot

Apparently Cam has been pretending to feed on a technician *insert eyes emoji here* it’s not Marcus, don’t worry in order to conspire with him to make a program presumably on a flash drive that can hijack the academy and haven’s security feeds

Vindemiator also briefly mentions Vega has a new way of getting through wards but we’ll come back to that I promise because “new way of getting through wards” is literally all Vind has to say, meaning he doesn’t know what that way is

He reveals that the plan has changed. Originally they were gonna scramble the security feeds and then the daemons were going to escape. Run away. GTFO. Leave Dahlia.

Now they intend to take the Academy as a stronghold. Not-D.A.M.N. is the nearest Imperial safehouse for the monarchs so it’s heavily fortified, and is a good home-base for striking out against the Imperium. And the haven is gonna stage a coup and snatch it out from under the Imperium’s nose as subtly as they can.

Avior gets a mention of Vindemiator believing in him and you hear my heart shatter again because canon universe!Avior has been so thoroughly left alone by all the other voiced characters that hearing the other daemons believe in him makes me wanna cry—look at my boy go! If you follow my blog and somehow aren’t aware that I am the biggest sucker for Avior, are you really following my blog? Anyway

And the other daemons in the haven (mostly Avior, who’s In Charge) want Fl to put the feed-scrambling program in Lasko’s computer because Lasko’s got the highest clearance. Vindemiator, of course, does not want Fl to put it in the computer. He doesn’t want Fl to risk it and he didn’t even want to ask them to do it because he knows they’d say yes, damning the risks, because that’s just the kind of compassionate Fl is

Vindemiator just so happens to have the flash drive with him, and Fl takes it, with the promise that if the opportunity to plug it into Lasko’s computer never presents itself, they won’t try again, and they won’t risk themselves too much

Fl promises and confirms that Anton’s not going to blackout the systems immediately before taking the drive

Then blah blah blah Vind laments that Fl has known too many burdens and deserves some peace and he’s entirely correct but doesn’t seem to remember that this is the Imperium, sucker! There is no peace! and promises to find some way to bring FL peace even if it’s just for a “short, precious while”

They kiss—

And we move on to the next segment, which is after Fl’s visit to the haven when our most loathsome Enforcer, Huxley, comes to pick up Fl to go to Lasko’s and is in general being a bigot and a jerk and my heart breaks but I also want to punch him in the face at the same time and he mocks Freelancer for being in love with Vindemiator because he thinks daemons are all just manipulators to get humans to feel whatever emotion they need to survive and in the distance you can hear me shouting “let me at him!”

Anyway he takes Fl to Lasko’s, like, office reception area or whatever and Lasko has already poured some drinks... because that’s not sus at all and we totally weren’t waiting for Fl to get drugged or poisoned or something while Lasko’s saying, “tonight we don’t have to be president and student, we can just be us!” and we’re all side-eyeing each other like, “that’s a red flag!”

And then they do a “Cheers” and the episode ends... Oof.

Luxury of Morality

Aaaaand we’re back to the wolves! Yay! This one came out while I was in an airport so my notes were really hard to read and understand so I redid this from relistening to the episode in full... r.i.p.

Anyway! Asher comes into the pack den or whatever from being outside in the endlessly pouring rain to Baaabe just kinda hanging out waiting for him and he’s like, “Didn’t you have a meeting with your coordinator friend?” (Starlight) And Babe’s like, “Bruh that was ages ago” and Ash groans that he lost track of time meeting with Vincent when he can’t afford to lose track of time

Ash asks how Babe’s meeting with Starlight went and Babe replies that the daemons are days away from being ready and Ash flips because he and the wolves won’t be ready in days—they need more time to get the vampires neutralized and if these two things don’t happen within a short time of each other, it probably won’t work and Ash thinks the daemons are gonna get themselves killed. Babe tells Ash about the program that hijacks the academy security and Ash is skeptical at best because if Anton misses one of the academy’s many check-ins with the Department, it’s going to arouse a lot of suspicion.

Ash points out that daemons are strong but their magic has limits too and there’s such a thing as being outnumbered, and the Imperium has a lot of vampires and complains that Avior needs to wait until they’re ready and Babe tries to be nice but Ash retorts that Avior most likely doesn’t think Asher and the pack can actually get the Invoker to release all the vampires in time—and he doesn’t blame Avior because he’s not sure he can either

He also mentions that daylight won’t be to their advantage because the Imperium can just order Air and Water Elementals to make a stormcloud to block the sun which is simultaneously kinda awesome and Absolutely Terrifying at the same time. The only way to ensure the vampires can’t be set on the academy is to free them, and the only way to find the person is to do Vincent’s favor and then convincing the Invoker to let the vampires go

And Ash has a bit of an existential monologue about he’d rather die trying to save the world than do nothing and let it end, even if he thinks he and the rest of Elegy are already dead

He tells Babe to keep him posted about the haven and tries to leave but Babe insists on him telling them what Vincent’s favor is. Ash tries to sidestep with the “you don’t want to know” BS but Babe pushes no matter how much Ash tries to dodge

So Asher tells them to sit down and reveals the deal he and Vincent made. The info, for killing Alexis.

Then they get into an argument because Babe thinks killing is always wrong and Asher shoots back that in this situation he doesn’t have the “luxury of morality” roll credits because it’s “Alexis dies now, or everyone dies soon”

Asher tells Babe, too, that he didn’t believe Vincent at face value and therefore verified the story and found out a lot about Alexis, before Babe could keep defending a woman they didn’t actually know anything about.

Alexis has a plot of land out beyond Ferris (the town where the Keaton Pack relocated to in the Prime universe) with high concrete walls that’s like an overgrown maze inside where she trucks in unempowered people and hunts them down, particularly families. 

She’s a Mass-Maker so she gets away with all of it because the Imperium says she’s earned it.

And when she can, she likes hunting shifters too. She already killed the entire Keaton Pack. They got on the wrong side of the Imperium and the Imperium essentially handed the pack over to her.

Asher continues to tell Babe that Alexis is partially responsible for Darlin’ and David’s deaths—and if everything else Alexis had done wasn’t enough to get Asher on board with killing her, that alone would be plenty

Asher also reveals what Vincent teased at before—that Asher and David weren’t just romantically involved, they were mates in this universe. Which I freely admit I didn’t see coming because that seems like something that would have come up last year when Asher was berating Christian, blaming him for David’s death, and saying last year that “his alpha” died not “his mate” and that seems like a pretty radical difference to me but it also certainly explains why Ash “over”reacted the way he did last year so meh makes sense

But anyway. We’re not here for my tangents obsessing over word choice. We’re here for plot and drama!

Ash admits that Babe has given him and the pack something to fight for in a world that he didn’t think he’d want to fight for after everything he’s lost, which he’s grateful for, but despite all that Babe has given him in regards to purpose, it isn’t enough to make him consider the immorality of killing Alexis

He doesn’t care if Babe sees him as a monster for it, either.

And he leaves the room.

While the thunderstorm continues in the background

What You Deserve

Swapping back over to the D.A.M.N. side of the story, we open with—

Wait

Vega?

Yeah. So, on my original Imperium summary I kinda brushed past Vega’s BA because I thought the only relevant bit was that humans could, like, volunteer to let daemons feed off of them at the havens in feeding rooms that had cameras in them

But apparently I was wrong. The other relevant bit was that the human from that BA was supposed to be letting Cam feed off of them and accidentally walked into Vega’s room instead due to a clerical error, and ended up locked in. And found Vega wildly attractive and Vega accused them of being a bit of a masochist and... well... it’s an NSFW Bonus Audio so... you can probably guess what happened back then.

A year later, Vega and that same human are pretty much in love. Huh. Vega as a thoughtful partner wasn’t on my Cataclysm Bingo Card but it’s interesting to explore

Vega’s trying to soothe the human listener character (who he calls Pet so that’s what I’m gonna use to simplify) because they’re worried about the plan and want to hold Vega and Vega’s like, “Sure. If that comforts you. Not what I expected but sure.”

He tells Pet that when the fighting starts, they need to stay in the haven. And if the resistance fails, he makes Pet promise him that they’ll tell the humans he was nothing more than a cruel, sadistic monster who held them captive. Because the humans would expect to hear that and it will keep Pet safe

Vega goes on to say Freelancer is going to try to plant the program in Lasko’s computer tonight (this takes place the same night as the last time we saw them, btw) and everything will permanently change either way. Comforting, Vega. 10/10 good job

Pet is a little scared but Vega gives actual comfort over the changes with a complicated river metaphor, but realizes Pet isn’t just worried about the broad, sweeping changes about to happen. They’re worried for Vega.

And I’ll say it right now: Vega is the only character whose canon universe version would be punched in the face by his Imperium version, rather than the other way around like Huxley or Sam

Vega reassures Pet that they don’t need to worry about him because he’s perfectly capable of handling himself and promises he won’t leave Pet the way others have, and tells them their soft heart is safe with him

Moving back to Freelancer in Lasko’s office area! Who, thank the Sovereigns, is not getting drugged or poisoned by whatever drink Lasko gave them. And they’re having a somewhat pleasant chat but also not really because it’s kinda creepy because Lasko is talking about whether or not Fl left behind a partner in their old life and when FL’s like “nope” Lasko doesn’t believe them and makes a quiet comment about how with “that body?” he can’t imagine they didn’t have someone but Fl insists they didn’t

But guess what? Avior, Vega, Vindemiator, and Anton are monitoring Fl from the haven and Vind is like, “They’re super uncomfortable. If this keeps up I’m going in there”

And Avior, over the radio, is like, “Calm down, Vin. Trust them.” (Vin! Vin! A nickname! From Avior! I about lost it because, I mean, c’mon! That at least means they’re somewhat friendly and all I want is Gavin and Avior in the canon universe to be friends toooooo!)

Then we jump back to Freelancer, who asks where the bathroom is. It’s just past Lasko’s office, but when they get up, they go into Lasko’s office instead and start rummaging around to get the flash drive or whatever plugged into the computer

And Lasko comes to the door (which Fl locked when they slipped inside) and is trying to get inside while Fl keeps running the program and he acts at first like he thinks Fl is joking with him and slowly starts getting more and more vocally aggressive when Fl doesn’t respond

And, in the haven, Vindemiator can’t take it anymore, even as Anton announces that Freelancer was successful in getting the drive into the computer, and he takes off at super speed for Lasko’s office. Avior, on the radio, is like, “No!” but Vind doesn’t listen so Vega’s like, “I’ll go with him and put wards up to hide that we’re there.” And also takes off and Avior mutters, “Assuming Vin doesn’t level the building” and then instructs Anton to do what he can.

Back at Lasko’s office, Lasko is mad that Fl still hasn’t opened the door or even said anything

And negates the air in the room in his office (he can do it through a wall with no problem)

Starting to asphyxiate Freelancer, taunting them through the door when they try to get out but can’t think straight because they’re losing oxygen, saying that he’s trying to teach them a lesson, not kill them—

Then Vin to the rescue!

(After Freelancer passes out on the other side of the door)

Lasko tries the same trick, negating the air, but Vin laughs and is like, “Nice try. Daemons don’t need to breathe.” And promptly mutes Lasko’s powers, so now Lasko does have to breathe, and proceeds to use magic to beat Lasko up, and choke him out. Because Air Elementals apparently don’t need to breathe either when they negate the air in a room until their powers are taken from them and Vindemiator is getting his revenge—

When Vega shows up, holding Freelancer. He and Vin talk about how Lasko deserves more than the broken bones Vindemiator just gave him, and Vindemiator wants to be the one to give Lasko what he deserves, but he admits that he still sees Kody’s broken form on the floor from last year when he tries to go to sleep, and he can’t hurt someone like that again so he drops Lasko from the chokehold—and Lasko gets a chance to catch his breath. Until...

Vega’s like, “You can’t. I can.” And when Vindemiator’s like, “Wait what?” Vega grabs Lasko with his powers, holds him down, starts torturing him, and silences him. Vindemiator protests, but Vega boils it down to, “Your heart is soft, Vindemiator. And that’s fine. That’s why I’m here. To do the things you can’t.”

He tells Vindemiator to take Fl and get out, and after a bit of arguing (because Vega used the term “pet” and Vindemiator snapped back that Fl is not his pet and Vega’s like “different words same concept. Go”), Vindemiator does.

Leaving Lasko alone with Vega.

During which Vega reveals that he’s been faking being half-starved and weakened all the time. Because Lasko, and everyone Lasko’s assigned to the haven, are all hateful and cruel—and Vega’s been feeding on that for a long time. He’s more powerful than Lasko could ever conceive of, and it’s all Lasko’s fault. Vega thanks him for that, and promises that he’s going to use the power Lasko’s enforcers gave him to tear the Imperium apart. And if it fails, come and watch as the Meridian collapsing washes Lasko away, so the last thing Lasko ever sees is Vega’s smile

Then Vega Slices Lasko’s Threads!

Which is terrifying and kinda hot but not entirely undeserved on Lasko’s part either

While the thunderstorms continue in the background

Worth Dying For

Alrighty-doe! Back to Asher!

But! We also get Milo...

And our new second-favorite Incubus: Scorpius! Yay! (I’m not kidding when I say it’s always a delight for me to hear GB)

And after Scorpius and Milo give each other so much attitude and sass that I want to hear more of their interactions for the rest of forever, Asher offers Scorpius a deal:

Overclock Asher’s Core, and the wolves will take Scorpius to the safety of the haven

Scorpius is skeptical because he tried to get into the daemon haven before with no luck, and Ash remarks it’s because he tried to go to the front door, and the wolves have a back way in that is guaranteed to work

And Scorpius is like, “yeah okay, but the Imperium banned overclocking ages ago. You realize it’s a bad idea, right?”

Asher’s like, “I know. But the why isn’t part of the deal.”

So, for context now, “overclocking” is when a daemon pours some of their magic into a human’s Core, supercharging their magic for a short while. But it’s ridiculously risky because the only way to get rid of it once it’s in their bodies is to use it all—and the longer the human holds on to the demon magic, the more it burns their Core to a crisp. (Sound familiar? Inversion, anyone?) Basically, the human is very likely to lose their magic if they Overclock their Core.

So why does Asher want Scorpius to do it to him?

We’re getting to that.

Asher argues with Scorpius that because he’s a shifter and magic isn’t just in his Core like most of the other magical races, he’s more confident that he’ll be able to take it in sound familiar?! and potentially not lose his magic permanently

Scorpius reluctantly agrees after a bit more arguing

We move now to Damien and Royal Consul Jett!

Jett informs Damien that not-D.A.M.N. missed a check-in (they were a little late because Anton is doing those, but the Department doesn’t know that yet) and Damien’s all, “Seriously? You’re bugging me for this? One academy being late?” and Jett’s like, “it’s the nearest safehouse for you though.” and Damien’s like, “It’s beneath my concern right now. I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

And Jett’s like, “Sire the public hasn’t seen or heard from you in four months, maybe you should stop isolating yourself in your quarters”

And Damien’s like, “Why do you think they haven’t?”

Jett tries to soften his words by saying it had been four months since “the loss” of Damien’s consort (who, remember, is actually Angel)

Damien practically blows a gasket because “loss” makes it sound like an accident, but Angel was speaking out against the Imperium (releasing documents revealing background information) and no matter how Damien’s attempts to stop them escalated, they wouldn’t stop

So they were executed

Yeah. Angel’s dead. We didn’t even get to see them fight Damien before it happened :-(

Y’all I feel a bad for Sal because every time he’s voicing Jett on Redacted’s channel, Jett’s getting yelled at. First by Milo in the Inversion, now by Damien... I don’t care much for Jett but poor Sal XD

And Damien orders Jett out, and he leaves.

Back to Milo and Ash!

They’re on their way to meet Scorpius. Arden is going to come pick him up once they’re done and take him to the haven—which is great for Avior because they’re gonna need all the magic they can get 

And Milo and Ash get into an argument about Ash not risking the pack for this and going to take her out alone, and the overclocking, during which Asher reveals why he needs Scorpius to do it.

The older a vampire gets, the more resistant to magic they are, and Alexis is fifty and was turned by Old Blood. A lot of magic won’t necessarily work on her well when she’s at full strength. So they have to weaken her. And there’s only one way Asher can think of to do that.

See, vampires can’t feed on daemon blood. It’s essentially poison to them because it’s basically magic made physical that would overload their bodies and destroy them. And Asher knows he can’t trick Alexis into feeding on a daemon, so the next best thing is to overclock his Core. The saturation of magic in his blood should, hopefully, poison her and weaken her long enough to kill her if he can get her to feed on him

Milo, of course, freaks out at how bad of an idea it is and basically begs Asher not to do it, and gives the most emotional speech that I can’t even summarize without crying so I’m skipping it for now, and begs Asher to bring Milo with him to kill Alexis, and Asher actually agrees

They go and meet Scorpius and Scorpius double checks that this is what they wanna do and Milo asks for confirmation that once Scorpius gives Asher his magic, he won’t be able to take it back or transfer it—and won’t have enough to do it again

And Milo goes, “That’s what I thought. In that case... Sorry, Ash” and promptly knocks Ash tf out and tells Scorpius to overclock him instead

Scorpius is like, “Wait my deal was with your alpha.” And Milo’s like, “You’re still getting into the haven. Just do it to me, not him.”

Scorpius agrees, and once he gives Milo some of his magic, Milo radioes Arden and tells her to come get Scorpius to take him to the haven and thanks Scorpius

Anyone else experiencing deja vu or is it just me? *glares at Milo for being a brave, dumb, self-sacrificing idiot again*

Truth Will Out

Alright. This one starts

with Sam?

Yep. See, I didn’t think we’d see Sam this year. I thought that once he got his Mass-Maker title he’d f^&* off to the Solaire Clan wherever they are and enjoy his freedom.

But nah. Why should my predictions ever be right?

Anyway. He and a large crowd of vampires are standing outside not-D.A.M.N. in the storm, shaking the chained gates, and Sam seems to be the spokesperson, saying they know the academy has been taken over by the daemons—and tells the “Children of Aria” to come greet their guests.

So Avior goes out. Alone (10/10 fantastic idea, Avior. Good job *eyeroll*) and is like, “how did you know we took the academy?”

And Sam dodges the question. Multiple times. But he’s got his crowd of vampires—

But that they want to help? What the hell?

They’re Mass-Makers and freeborns (ones who were turned but never under the Imperium’s control), all of them. And they hate the Imperium and want to help tear it down

And no matter how many times Avior asks how they know, Sam dodges or avoids the question—and points out that the longer Avior waits with this massive force of vampires outside the gates, the Department’s gonna start noticing soon.

He tells Avior that he can double check the truth of their story if he wants. Which Avior does want to do. So the vampires get locked up in the haven for temporary holding while Anton verifies their stories

The vampires get escorted to the containment rooms and Avior goes somewhere to be alone

Which is where Starlight finds him. And—it’s important for me to note—he calls them Starlight. Meaning they’re in love in this universe too now! Which is a win for me!

And Avior’s telling Starlight that he didn’t have much other choice but to bring them in, and they’re both worrying that the vampires are suspicious which they should be, but all the vamps are who they say they are—and several of them are on the Imperium’s hit list. So yeah. No love there

But the most worrisome is that none of them will explain how they know the daemons took the haven—there’s a leak somewhere, and they refuse to say where. Avior promises that if the vampires turn on them, the vampires won’t survive the event

He goes over the plan with Starlight—even with these vampires, he’s not confident in their forces yet to attack the Imperium outright. They need to deliver one fatal blow to the Imperium or the resistance can’t survive to make a second strike against the might of the Department

Starlight suggests kicking out the vampires but Avior says he can’t. He doesn’t trust the vampires or the convenience of them showing up, but it would be too suspicious—and one of the vamps might tattle to the Department—and he can’t afford to ignore the extra hands

And Avior reveals why it’s always raining in the background in the Imperium

The world is dying as the Meridian keeps wearing thinner and thinner. The storms and the earthquakes are the world’s death throes (“The final movements or sounds, often erratic, of a living being as it dies”). They haven’t seen the sun in ages because of it.

But McKinley’s daemon havens are on the same page and have taken their havens from Imperial control and are on their way—but it’ll take them a few days to get to Dahlia. Borden’s (another city’s) aren’t ready yet but they’re on their way

Starlight asks if they could use magic to pull the truth from the vampires’ minds. Avior admits it’s possible, but unethical and he’s not willing to do it. He says Vega and a few of the others would be willing, but Avior is the one In Charge (the way he said that—I’m not even gonna lie was pretty hot) and he’s not even going to ask because the vampires, technically, haven’t provoked it yet. So it’s the Absolute Last Resort

And we turn to Vega and Pet—

And Vega and Pet have a sweet conversation where Vega expresses how he’s always surprised at how Pet looks at him and treats him

He tells them to prepare for a quick change as the fight breaks out elsewhere. He promises to come back, but they’re gonna be alone for a bit as he leaves. Pet wants to go with him, but he won’t let them. He can’t keep them safe when the fighting starts. Pet, reluctantly, agrees

And they tell him he “holds their heart” and he gives a soft speech about how his hands are better made for crushing, tearing, breaking—destruction and cruelty, and to be trusted to hold Pet’s soft heart was something he never expected. 

He starts to tell Pet his plan. He doesn’t want them to have to lie to the Department should it fail, but he doesn’t want them to misunderstand him, either— 

And Vega tells Pet that he is the reason the vampires are here. He used his magic—Telepathy, I assume—to reach into the minds of the vampires free of the Imperium and most willing to volunteer for something like this, and suggested they gather for this. Any vampire that he sensed would resist, he ignored, rather than try to take over their minds because it wouldn’t be stable. So he just. Offered. And they agreed. But if any of them betray him, he’ll destroy them.

He says he knew Avior would never agree, so he just did it. Avior is a good leader and a worthy voice for daemonkind, but too reserved to make harder decisions. He says Avior should be the leader, but should stay behind the front lines and needs a general willing to take risks and fight and carry the pain so Avior doesn’t. And Vega took that upon himself because the other daemons would never be able to do it.

And he’s going to take the vampires and the other daemons to the Imperium Spire (the palace/governmental seat, essentially) tonight to lead the strike. To kill Damien and the Ruling Council or die trying. Either way, it’ll be over.

And Pet is worried, of course, because they love him. And he asks that they trust him. He promises he’s not gonna be the one dying. He promises to come back and that he was “born of cruelty, but is more than that” and won’t leave Pet alone in this harsh world

I am mildly in love with Imperium!Vega, not gonna lie. But Canon!Vega can take a hike

We move, now, to Fl and Vindemiator. Fl is awake after being suffocated and Vin is trying to convince them to rest and they won’t. Fl is imagining what their and Vin’s lives could be in a world without the Imperium and Vin desperately wants to give that life to them. They deserve to see their canon counterparts, Your Honor!

Then, Freelancer suggests they leave. Apparently they’re fed up with everything they’ve been put through and they want to find some well-deserved peace—finally

And Vin says he can’t. He protests that he can’t abandon the resistance. That Avior’s gonna need all the demons he can get

But Fl argues that one daemon isn’t going to make or break the fight which I disagree with but this universe had no Inversion to prove that to them but ssshhh

So, after a bit of convincing, Vin and Fl decide to run away together. To just have a few days of peace and happiness, before the end of the world.

They run. They don’t even pack a bag. They. They Just Go.

And we literally never hear from them again for the rest of Cataclysm

Tantum Tyrannus

(Which translates, according to Google Translate, to “Only a Tyrant”)(In case you’re curious. I was)

Well, sh!+

Asher wakes up to Sweetheart (Finally showing up) waking him up. Sweetheart can’t find Milo anywhere gee wonder why and Asher realizes what Milo did. He explains it to Sweetheart and Sweetheart’s like “why did you let him do that?” And Asher’s all, “I wouldn’t have—which is why he knocked me tf out and did it anyway!”

Asher is determined to go after him, and Sweetheart convinces Asher to take them with him no matter how much he resists and he finally caves after Sweetheart asks what Asher would have done to be there, fighting at David’s side, the night David died. Asher tells Sweetheart to stay cloaked as long as possible, but lets them join him

And off they go to save Milo! (Assuming he’s alive)

Then we move to Damien!

And Nate Wexler! (Remember him, from Inversion? The Probably-Freelancer who sounds like he’s about 14?) He’s an adjunct to Consul Jett and Jett was called before the Ruling Council and sent Nate in his place

That or he figured Damien would be less pissy with someone with the voice of An Actual Child™ and made up an excuse but that’s none of my business

Damien’s like, “Fine, what’s your report?”

The weather has been getting worse and the planet is experiencing geological instability and Nate Wexler is trying to encourage Damien to make some sort of statement, to which Damien lashes out that he shouldn’t have to be holding the citizens’ hands

Damien asks Nate Wexler what the Elemental Magistrate is doing about the weather (because it’s evidently their job to handle the weather and stuff) and Nate’s like, “They’re doing everything they can but it’s not working.”

And Damien, being Damien, just snaps that they need to work harder or he’s putting them on Blood Supply

So Damien tells Nate to send some vamps to keep an eye on the Elemental Magistrate—in essence, intimidate them into trying harder—and dismisses him. So off the poor bean goes

Anyway back to Asher and Sweetheart where the fun is

They get to Alexis’ house and it’s... too easy. There are no guards. No wards. Just the house. Asher is Very Suspicious™ as he should be

And as he and Sweetheart approach the house, floodlights turn on and a loudspeaker activates.

It’s Alexis. Taunting Asher (remember Sweetheart’s cloaked and Alexis probably can’t detect their Stealth aura because they can pretty much fully mute it for a while) about Milo and beckoning him inside.

They go inside and Alexis has a beaten-up Milo in her grip.

She and Asher argue and she taunts him for not giving the pack his last name, instead hiding behind David’s, and she clenches Milo’s arm in her fist and breaks it. She threatens to turn Milo into a vamp and invoke him to attack Asher before he even takes his first breath as a vampire

Milo, being Milo, dares her to try

She bites him—

And his poisoned blood fills Alexis’ mouth. She recoils like, “What is that?”

And Sweetheart (I assume) hits her with enough magic to hold her still long enough for Asher to tear her head off

Then they get Milo tf out of there to go get healed ‘cause he kinda passed out. Poor guy

And Asher goes to pay a visit to a certain Vincent Solaire...

He brings Alexis’ head with him and Vincent is actually surprised that Asher pulled it off. When Asher explains how, and that the plan didn’t quite happen the way he’d wanted, Vincent laughs, saying Milo is “small and stupid” and keeps mocking Milo for taking it on himself

Vincent warns Asher that the Invoker has held the invocations for the vampires for as long as the Imperium has existed—meaning the Invoker is in some way immortal because the Imperium has been around for centuries

Asher tells him to “go to Hell” and when Vincent just laughs, Asher insists that Vincent gives up the coordinates on the Invoker. Vincent writes them down and hands them over—

And then Asher shifts and tears his head off too and growls, “Save me a seat”

Which was the most badass one-liner I could ever imagine because Imperium Vincent is a di—

Okay moving on

One Last Wish

Second to last, y’all! You’ve almost made it down this trainwreck of a summary!

We’re back with Milo and Asher. Milo’s in bed, recovering though no word is given on if he actually fully burnt out his Core or not but Asher seems confident when he says it’ll come back after Milo expresses doubt, but Sweetheart went to go make some food for him (probably before coming back to give him the Lecture of the Century™—assuming Marie doesn’t get to it first)

Asher tells Milo what happened with Vincent—that he got the info before ripping Vincent’s head off and liberating multiple people being held captive in the basement including Lovely (who had been there the longest by the sound of it) and getting those people to the healers with Miguel and Christian’s help

They have a heartfelt conversation about how Asher is a good alpha and Milo knows he can’t be as good of one, which was why he couldn’t let Ash burn out his Core

Then Milo asks Ash why he hasn’t given the pack his own last name—that the pack would be proud to be named after Asher and we all hold our breath for a potential Last Name Reveal?

Asher says it’s because he’s not the one that needs to be remembered. That it’s Gabe and David who deserve it and we all sigh because we don’t get the Last Name Reveal

Ash takes some time to cry because he can’t feel the magic in the word mate anymore now that David’s dead and says he keeps the pack called the Shaw Pack because it’s one of very few things he has left of David—David hated having his picture taken so there’s only a few pictures of him but Ash has David’s jacket and old wallet... but very little else

He and Asher have a moment of sobbing together and Milo tells Ash to “come here” and Ash gets closer but is like “Why” and Milo’s like, “if I get off this bed you’ll yell at me but I’ll be damned if I don’t do this” and gives Asher a hug

Asher holds onto Milo and they both cry, and as Asher pulls away, Milo figures out immediately that Asher’s leaving and asks if he can convince Ash to take anyone with him to go after the Invoker and Ash is like “nope”

And Milo tells Ash he loves him and tells him to come home. Ash loves Milo too and then Sweetheart comes in and Asher goes out (they exchange a hug and Asher does a *pat pat* on their back and they are family, Your Honor)

And Asher heads off to go confront the Invoker after steadying himself just outside Milo’s closed door.

On to Avior and Starlight! And Vega.

Starlight rushes into the room and Avior’s like “What’s up?” because Starlight is clearly distressed and Starlight saw Vega doing something sus and Avior’s like, “Crap. C’mon. We gotta catch up to him” and they rush off to Vega and find him heading for the courtyard to lead the vampires and daemons to the Imperium Spire.

They catch up to Vega when he’s alone and Avior’s like “what are you doing?” and Vega gives a literal answer that he’s heading for the courtyard and Avior’s like “Don’t play semantics with me” and they start arguing about logistics

And Vega finally gives up his plan to Avior, telling him that Vega was the one who brought the vampires here. And Avior is shocked and Vega tells him the same thing he told Vin—Vega does what the softer hearts can’t. He also says if any of the vampires think about turning on him, he’ll just take control of them

Avior is, understandably, against the notion

The two argue and Vega says he won’t magically fight Avior, and Avior’s like, “You can’t stop me without a fight!”

And Vega says he’s going to remove Avior—by sending him back to Aria. Avior’s like, “No. Only daemons who serve the Chorus are strong enough to rift” and Vega says, “Nope. It’s not power. It’s knowledge. Knowledge the Chorus didn’t share.”

Because yeah—Vega’s known how to rift this whole gatdang time and never did anything with it. Avior is appalled that he never went home and Vega says, “The Sovereigns deserve their fate. Humanity doesn’t.” Literally Vega’s stayed on Elegy this whole time to help humanity and for some reason I fall a little more in love with this version of him

Starlight tries to protest and get close and Vega warns them off, saying if they get too close, the rift will suck them in too and obviously we know humans can’t survive in Aria

Avior pleads with Vega not to do this, but Vega promises he’ll see Avior soon anyway. Either when they succeed and Vega retrieves him, or if they fail and Aria merges into Elegy and all of daemonkind is reunited

He opens a rift—

And Starlight rushes over to try to stop it and gets pulled in too

Vega laments that it was a needless death but that it won’t be in vain

And heads for the courtyard

Say hello once again to Damien and Nate Wexler!

The Imperium Spire is under attack! The daemons and vampires have stormed it and are making massive headway. The legions Damien commands are scattered, all they have are the normal security at the Spire—who are the best, but not enough, numbers-wise. And also they’ve lost contact with almost every daemon haven in the whole Imperium and Damien’s like, “Pull everyone from Dahlia then I don’t care where they’re stationed, we’re not fleeing the Spire like they want but we have to defend the building!”

And Nate’s like, “yes sir” and scampers off

Back to Avior—

And Starlight?

Yup! Starlight’s not actually dead! Yay!

Because guess what?!

The same thing happened here that did in the canon universe

The gatdang rift collapsed again!

So Avior and Starlight are in some barren, dripping landscape where every atom is made of magic that’s shaking bad and surrounded by voids and are like, “Okay... wtf do we do?” and they try and figure out whether the voids are ways out or not and Avior’s like, “we can’t do the first thing we think of without thinking things through!” and then the landscape shakes harder and Avior’s like, “Okay... maybe we don’t have time to think things through.”

And because they are always a mildly reckless idiot, Starlight shoves their hand (or fully jumps through) one of the voids and is pulled in. Just like in canon

And then there’s a background rhythm beating and you hear two voices. One is Erik’s, one is a woman’s.

“Child...

“Of Land...

“You...

“Are needed...”

What the fu—

We’re back to Asher now!

He’s made it to wherever the Imperium holds the Invoker and he fights off what few guards there are. A handful of vampires already trying to flee.

He doesn’t know the door passcode and goads the Invoker, hoping to get him to open the door

And after a moment, he does.

And it’s

Brachium

WHAT THE FU—

All Cruel Things

Last one. The finale. We made it this far, but this video is 51 and a half minutes long so prepare yourselves

We start at the fight at the Spire. It’s mayhem. Camelopardalis radioes Vega saying that the Ruling Council have evacuated and gives their location. Vega, delighted, and happening to be near Sam (because remember Vega brought all the vampires), tells Sam he has to go attend to something and to give the king his regards

And Sam—taking too much pleasure in that instruction—is like “Yes sir”  before Vega blasts off

He wrecks the truck or whatever that the Ruling Council was in and gives a big fancy speech to the Council about the wrongs they’ve done and how his vengeance is basically that they will become dust and it seems like he uses his magic to quite possibly bury them alive and/or crush them to dust? It’s the same sound effect as Huxley’s big earthquakes

We go, quickly, back to Asher

And Brachium

And Ash is so confused

Because Brachium

Is a daemon!

And I was frickin’ right and I frickin’ called it when I guessed that Deathwalkers were daemons and woohoo! I was so excited

Anyway, Ash is like “Why would they bind the invocations to a daemon?”

Brachium’s like “Daemons are immortal as long as we’re fed and can defend ourselves well because we’re so strong compared to humans so it was safer”

And he reveals that he’s been on Elegy for millennia. He was the first daemon exiled from Aria for speaking out against the treatment of the Sovereigns

And he’s a Serenity Daemon

Ash is confused what Brachium gets out of the arrangement and Brachium answers that the Imperium keeps him safe, alive, and fed—

Because he’s afraid of death. He was the first one trapped on Earth, and he was afraid of dying from the beginning because it’s really only in Elegy that daemons can die

Asher’s like “why aren’t you killing me? why are you telling me this?”

And Brachium says Asher’s strength is waning from overuse, and doesn’t see Ash as a threat and asks if Ash wants to kill him. Ash is like, “I just want the invocations released, however that happens”

Ash says he’s not afraid to die—but Brachium contradicts that statement and after a bit of encouragement, Ash breaks down, admitting he doesn’t believe in an afterlife after everything the world has taken from him. His parents, David, Gabe, Milo’s dad, the Keaton Pack—he doesn’t think they’re waiting for him on the other side. That there is no other side. He thinks once someone’s gone, they’re gone. And Ash sobs at how exhausted he is

Brachium wishes he had the answer of whether there was or not because dramatic irony, but he doesn’t. And only being able to feed on peace and serenity has made him blind and complacent to the harm his role has done on the world because they were the only human feelings he ever experienced. He thought he knew that was why the Imperium did that, and that knowing it would help him resist, but after thousands of years, he wasn’t.

And the only way to release the invocations, is by the death of the holder

And Brachium is no longer afraid of death, after thousands of years of being alive on Elegy

Brachium reveals that he’s already dying because of how long he’s been solely on Elegy and the pain that is constantly flowing across Elegy from the cruelty of the Imperium has torn him apart, and the Imperium has been trying to convince him to bind the invocations to someone else, but he’s been refusing to release them. Ash protests that once the Meridian collapses, Brachium can go home, but Brachium’s form has been so worn down by time in Elegy that he won’t be able to withstand the violent merging of the two realities and will die anyway

So he expends all his magic, sacrificing himself, making me cry and releasing all the invocations, freeing the vampires

Or... so he and Asher think

We return to Sam—and Cam hehe that rhymes—right after Brachium’s sacrifice

And... Brachium was wrong.

His death didn’t free the vampires. Freed them from the Imperium, but not truly free.

It just transferred their invocations back to their Makers.

Sam figures it out first before any of the other Mass-Makers. Every person he’s ever turned as a Mass-Maker who’s still alive, anyway is back under his control.

Camelopardalis is like, “How many vampires is that?”

Sam doesn’t have an exact number but he says “More than enough to win”

And we jump cut up to Damien’s quarters

Where Nate Wexler is opening the door—

Only to get torn asunder and/or drained in seconds by Sam, who is still taking waaay too much pleasure in all this for me to consider sane

Sam reveals to Damien that the vampires have been freed from Imperium control and asks if Damien’s gonna defend himself, and Damien says it’s pointless, and if the Imperium dies, his king should die too

Sam’s like “Cute sentiment.” And attacks him.

Now, finally to Avior, Starlight, and the voices in the Meridian

It’s Elaetum and Min’Ara. They are all that’s left of the Meridian, and have been so worn down that they merged into one being in the middle of an identity crisis over that fact and can barely remember any of that from how much they’ve been reduced

They ask Starlight if they can use Starlight’s body in order to speak to Avior, and Starlight agrees

They explain to Avior that they had to speak through Starlight because Starlight, as a physical being instead of a magical one, is separate enough from their energy and the power of the Meridian to hold Starlight’s form. Avior, as a “starchild” (daemon) would have been consumed in an attempt to bind to him the same way. Elaetum/Min’Ara reveal that they stopped the rift before it reached Aria so they could have this conversation

Avior asks what they want, and they want to live, but their magic is too empty, and the tears can’t heal. They tell Avior to bring them a Sovereign

Avior protests that he has no way to get a Sovereign out of Aria, but—

They tell Avior that if he becomes a conduit for their power, they can take one of the Sovereigns out of Aria, they can use that Sovereign’s power to reinforce the Meridian.

Avior confirms that this will save Elegy and they say that’s true

So Avior agrees to become the conduit

He channels their power—sounding like he probably passed out—and we get a brief soundbite of Aria and then hear Elaetum/Min’Ara say the Sovereigns emphasis on the plural will be as one

And they take all of the Sovereigns from Aria into the Meridian

Avior freaks out because they’re leaving all the daemons in Aria to starve that way but Elaetum/Min’Ara assure him that daemons will be fine if they learn to make both Aria and Elegy their home, living the way Avior has for all these years by feeding on humans, and rift back and forth

Avior tries to protest that Elegy’s in chaos and if daemons start crossing over to feed it’s just going to get worse—but it’s too late

Elaetum/Min’Ara promise the Meridian will never fall, and make a rift for Avior to leave with Starlight—

And Echo appears for just a moment to the audience, saying, “But they’re gonna wish it had!” And cackles

Creepy eyeball motherhugger. Go take a hike

Anyway. Back to Sam.

Who did not kill Damien.

Instead, turned him. Into a vampire

Because he hasn’t earned that release yet

And takes way too much pleasure in invoking him to lick what’s left of Nate Wexler off his boot. Which is gross. Sam fully intends to inflict pain and humiliation and suffering on Damien after everything the Imperium put Sam through.

Then Sam opens the Comms channel

Right as Avior and Starlight run into Asher, back in Elegy

There’s a brief moment of reunion where Ash and Avior get caught up on the Meridian becoming stable—

Just in time to hear Sam announcing that he’s turned Damien into a vampire and the Imperium is over. And that he’s taking Dahlia as his territory as King Samuel Collins, but welcomes the other Mass-Makers to fight for land elsewhere with their progenies as little armies. Informing them that their invocations are back in their hands. 

The man is insane, okay?

And Avior, Starlight, and Ash are horrified. Asher says Brachium died believing he’d freed the vampires... not give them back to the Makers.

The last words are Avior saying, “Oh, my God. What have we done?”

—

Then Echo comes back and is like, “LOL the Meridian’s fine but Elegy and Aria might still tear each other apart. Brachium’s gone so the Mass-Makers are warlords now and Aria’s going crazy now that the daemons all know they can and have to rift to Elegy to survive and everything’s F^&*ED! Tootles!” and cackles himself out

Then credits roll—

And we get a post-credits scene?

Yup!

Sam brings Damien a person to feed on, telling him to clean up after himself when he’s done

And...

It’s Huxley

But Damien has an idea

He turns Huxley, rather than draining him, saying he’s got a better idea for what to do with Huxley

So Huxley goes from being one of the most powerful Earth Elementals in the Imperium, to pretty much the weakest vampire.

Fun.

—

Tag list of people who were waiting for this: @princecharmingfrosting @0o-starboy-o0 @cindertooth @angelicaether @lemonxdebaby​ @zozo-01 

[panini-in-television]

SEASON: 1 EPISODE: 1 PART: 2

SEPTEMBER, 22:00

After few hours the bar keep kicks Drew out.

Drew as a drunk mess tries to get back home but loses the track of the lamps he knew so much and goes to the alleyway to throw up behind a dumpster

?: Looook who is over here boys Drew with confused look, like he knows that voice, tries to get the glimps of who it is but out of nowhere WHAAM! A bat into his face breaking his nose in a instant, falling to the floor screaming. ?: Oh come on guys! Give him at least a chance, let him get up Somebody picks him up by his arm and drags him to the wall letting him get up on his own, when he gets up he whipes his face with his own sleeve and looks at the people that attacked him. He sees the mafia people, the fat guy that probably has them under his arms, 2 normal people and a giant muscle guy, prepared to destroy him in a instance. The mafia boss: Look, we can do this easy or we can do this in the most horrible way possible for you, let us beat the shit out of you or you can whimper and scream as much as you would like Drew tries to talk: Shut up you dumb fuckein din- He falls down with heavy breath and tries to get up again but his legs feel like they were broken, he tries with arms but those feel like they are from paper, nothing he does helps him, nothing...

The mafia boss: Oh come on Drewy, we gave you a chance, boys, i am going to the dinner, deal with him as you like, i dont really care.

As he lays there, in the dark, cold alleyway, trying and trying to get up the 3 mafia CUNTS get closer and closer until one of them kicks him in the guts, making him cough blood, another guy kicks him aswell and so does the third one, they just keep kicking...

Something speaks to him, something dark, something with a lot of... harm in its voice: Drew, i know you want them to stop, i know you want to take their own hands and put it inside their heads, I KNOW YOU WANT TO KILL THEM ALL!! GIVE IN! GIVE ME YOUR HAN-

Out of nowhere there is a voice that was heard by Drew before once: leave him. The big guy: What? who the hell are y-

OUT OF NOWHERE his WHOLE hand has been cut of like piece of bread with laser, he notices and screams out loud but right when hes screams he notices he has a blade in his chest right where his lungs are, that guy standing in front him notices the blade too late and falls to the side and the other guy looks at the man when out of nowhere he is right in front of him.

?: I wont tell you again. He jumps back to the corner and is begging on his knees to not be killed ?: Leave, and if you try to hurt him again, i will find you all and end you myself.

They got up and left with shit in between their legs.

?: Hey, you okay? come on get up, let me help you up, do you have anywhere to go close by? we need to get you somewhere warm! ----------------------------------

TO BE CONTINUE Well i hope you enjoyed this part of the story, next part should be out around April or May Why? Because i got some stuff i gotta do before i can return so this might take so long but if i will have the energy or the will power i will be back soooner.

Until then, see ya all and idk, gimme chocolate i guess?

[burnwater13]

The Mods from The Book of Boba Fett. DataWorks calendar. Scene is from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 3, The Streets of Mos Espa.

Grogu had met a lot of interesting people. People from all parts of the galaxy. People who were extra tall, extra small, had blue, green, pink, fur covered skin. Some were very young and others had been very old. They had one thing in common. They were all at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Which meant that they were Jedi. Padawans. Knights. Younglings. Masters. And that meant one thing. They all wore brown, tan, grey, off white, dull red, and faded blue robes and clothing. 

Jedi were anything but fashion forward. The first priority in ‘Jedi’ fashion was utility. Does the garment have pockets? Are they deep enough? Are there enough of them? Can you reach your lightsaber fast enough? Is your cloak large enough to hide anyone you are protecting? Is your hood deep enough to hide your face? Can you get bloodstains out of it with relative ease?

If it met all of those criteria then a Jedi might comment that it seemed a bit heavy for a desert climate or a bit thin for an ice cube planet. They never asked if it could deflect blaster bolts because that’s why they had a lightsaber. They didn’t really seem to care if it was water proof because Jedi behaved the same way, wet or dry. 

Finally, a Jedi might check to make sure that the cloak wasn’t too long and that was about it for how they viewed fashion. No one in the history of the Order, as far as Grogu could tell, had ever asked if their robes could be prettier, or more colorful, or made from cutting edge materials that would repel bloodstains and blaster bolts. Nope. That was not their way. 

The Mods he met on Tatooine said that their ‘covers’ fulfilled form, fit, and function. But Grogu didn’t buy that. It struck him, when he met them at the Daimyo’s palace, that the Mods mostly focused on form and fit and function were kind of forgotten about. Just a quick glance told him that no one was really protected from the sun, heat, or wind on Tatooine with ‘covers’ like theirs, although they were striking and unique and almost as one of a kind as the individual Mods themselves were.

He liked to the designs. No two were alike. But it was pretty clear that pocket placement, depth, and count were ignored by all of them. None of them wore cloaks. How could you hide your identity if you didn’t wear a cloak? They did have utility belts…sometimes. He didn’t understand the the function of leg covers that looked like fishing nets. That’s not how you caught the few fish you could find in the Pika oasis. 

Confused by their choices, he decided to ask the most fashion forward person he knew what they thought. The problem of course was deciding who the most fashion forward person was. It certainly wasn’t his dad, the Mandalorian. Din Djarin wore the same thing everyday. Armor. Sure his armor was shiny and his vambraces had a little bit of decoration on them, but, as his dad reminded him, that had been done by their prior owner. He’d never bothered to have them changed, updated or really modified, with the exception of adding the ‘whistling birds’ to his left vambrace and that was more like an after market attachment than an integrated part of an overarching design.  

He considered talking to Peli and then he began to laugh. She also wore the same outfit everyday, like Grogu’s dad and Grogu for that matter. Mechanics gear with pockets and loops and belts and the like. It was very practical and, if truth be told, worn and kind of dirty. Grogu supposed that Tatooine made it hard to keep clothing clean and working on speeder and starship repair everyday didn’t do her clothing any favors.

Then, it occurred to Grogu that Fennec Shand was also modified and a snappy dresser. Maybe she could answer his questions. Of course she was wearing the same clothes now as she wore before she ever came to Tatooine. He remembered her commenting to his dad that when you had a good thing you didn’t change just because fashion changed. 

Dank Farrik. 

Grogu was getting nowhere fast with his search for a person who could explain fashion to him. He would have asked Greef Karga, but he was still on Nevarro and Grogu knew his dad wasn’t going to let him take the N-1 there by himself just to ask about fashion design and trends. Nerf herders! 

Maybe if he asked Majordomo? But he didn’t know where he was.

“Din Grogu, what problem is vexing you?”

Ah, the Daimyo. It wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it? Sure, he was another Mandalorian and wore armor a lot, but he was also a Tusken and had learned a lot from his time with them. Maybe he could suggest a person for Grogu to chat with? Grogu asked his question.

“You want to know why the Mods wear such interesting clothing? Well, my young friend, I think it is likely that it represents who they wish others to see them as. When I was younger I did not wear my father’s armor. For one thing it didn’t fit me. For another, it was very much safer for people to not think I was my father. He had made an enemy or two in his time. When I did put it on, I realized that I couldn’t just be him. I needed to be myself.”

Now that made sense to Grogu. He understood wanting to be himself. After all, he didn’t just wear his coverall. Now he had a beskar shirt to wear and a chest plate that would just end up being a small disk on the Mandalorian or the Daimyo. He didn’t just wear Jedi bland any more than the Daimyo just wore his father’s armor. He understood how it was important to be yourself and still reflect where you came from and who you cared about.

Form, fit, and function ended up equaling family and Grogu knew that was the Way.