#Hooboy this was a long one

[neversetyoufree]

Lord I cannot believe it took me this long to realize this, but. Vnc's refrain of Noé trying to grab Vanitas's hand is a metaphor.

This whole time I've been reading the constant references to "Noé grabs Vanitas and saves him from falling, but one day he'll fail" as very literal foreshadowing for a day when Vanitas is going to fall and get hurt (or die?) and Noé will fail to catch him. And I still think there's a good chance that's true! However, it's also really obvious symbolism for the idea of salvation in general.

I've beaten this drum to death, but Vanitas is more or less the ultimate example of a character doomed by the narrative. He is going to die; the entire story is the buildup to his death. And one of the main conflicts is that Noé wants desperately to save him (and wants it more and more as they grow closer), but by nature of the story, we know he can't.

At least by Noé's definition of salvation, Vanitas is unsaveable. His death and suffering cannot be prevented, and despite Noé's best efforts, he is going to die by Noé's hand.

Enter the falling metaphor.

The absolute certainty of Vanitas's death works like the force of gravity. He is constantly being pulled down and down toward his doom like an endless free fall. But then Noé steps in and tries to save him, and in little ways he even succeeds! In all the little less important ways, he grabs Vanitas's hand time after time.

When Vanitas goes toppling off the ledge in Gévaudan, Noé catches him and shortens his fall. When Vanitas sinks into despair in Moreau's lab, Noé snaps him out of it. And when Vanitas gets lost in his own trauma and self-hypnosis at the amusement park, Noé brings him back to reality. For all of the little free falls, both literal and metaphorical, Noé is there for Vanitas before he hits the ground. The beating heart of their relationship is Noé's constant attempts to catch him.

However, Noé is haunted by the fear that he is going to fail someday. When Faustina reverts back to Naenia and dissipates in Gévaudan, he's shown a vision of Charlatan(?) telling him his hand cannot reach Vanitas. Naenia preys on people's worst fears and weaknesses, and this is one of Noé's. He fears that his hand will not reach the one he's grasping towards, and he will fail to save those that matter to him. The very broad line "you persist in reaching out for them" in the middle of Noé trying to literally catch someone more or less tells us outright that the falling and catching is a metaphor for salvation.

And when he speaks from the future, Noé confirms that this exact fear has come true. Noé in his narration is haunted by the regrets of "that day when I didn't grab your hand." His grand attempt at Vanitas's salvation has ultimately failed, and he didn't catch him when it mattered most.

The night that he first meets Vanitas, Noé throws himself out of an airship in the attempt to catch and save him. And from that point onward, he tries to catch him over and over again. Their relationship is one long straining outstretched hand as Noé attempts to pull Vanitas from his endless plummet downward. He is the one person deeply focused on Vanitas's salvation. However, Noé cannot ultimately stop the forces of tragedy and gravity and doom, and in the way that matters most, he can never quite reach Vanitas's hand.

There is going to be a day when Noé will be unable to catch him, and that day is the day that the entire rest of their relationship (and the entire rest of the metaphor) is building to. Noé is constantly reaching out, but he cannot save a man that is already dead, no matter how passionate the outstretched hand.

[tvlandofficial]

☀️ Hello? Is anyone home?

☁️ Knock knock! Who’s there? It’s been too long!

☀️ Our forecasts say we’re in a bosslady drought!

☁️ (Not to mention the ratings…)

🖤 Oh, um, hello, Stratos and Cirros! It's nice to see you, um… again.

☀️ Prince Ralsei!

☁️ You know the script by now!

☀️☁️ C’mon! You gotta let us in to check on TENNA!

🖤 Sorry, but… she's busy, remember? Um, it's great that you're so concerned, but-

☀️ Concerned doesn’t begin to cover it, kid!

☁️ Can’t have TVLand without our humble host! Otherwise, it’d just be Land!

🖤 I understand, but-

☀️ She’s as devout as all get-out, but…

☁️ … C’mon! Even TENNA can’t pray as much as you’ve told us!

☀️ Especially when the Light’s still left us in the dust! What’s really going on?

☁️ Really, really going on?

🖤 …

🖤 …I'll tell her you came by, okay? She'll be happy to hear about how much you care. And, um, if she has any messages for you, I'll tell you…

☀️ Wrong-o! That isn’t an answer!

☁️ Not to what we asked!

☀️ Let’s try again!

☁️ Once more, with feeling!

🖤 …Aunt Tenna isn't taking visitors, you know. You should leave her be.

☀️ Sorry, kid! The visitors have other plans!

☁️ We don’t wanna cause a scuffle, but you’ve gotta scoot!

🖤 You can't - hey!

☀️ Now let’s see, where to first…

☁️ It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

☀️ That is why we’re here!

☁️ Right, right!

🖤 W-wait! Come back! You can't be here!

☀️ You’re gonna have to catch up!

☁️ Or catch us!

📺 WELL WELL WELL…

[ TENNA PICKS UP BOTH OF THE WEATHERS BY THE SCRUFFS OF THEIR CLOUDY NECKS! ]

📺 WHADDA WE GOT HERE? SOME KINDA TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES?

☀️ Yipe!

☁️ TENNA!

☀️☁️ It’s…

☀️☁️ …been way too long! We miss you!

📺 EASY NOW. WHAT’S ALL THIS TROUBLE ABOUT, HUH? YOU PICKING ON THE KID?

☀️ No, no! It’s just…

☁️ … you don’t look so good! Less good than the last time we saw you!

🖤 …They - they, um, wanted to speak to you, Aunt Tenna.

📺 THAT RIGHT? WELL, NOT MUCH TO SPEAK ABOUT.

📺 SAME AS EVER, YEAH? LIL’ BIT WORSE FOR WEAR, BUT I’M STILL THE SAME AUNT TENNA YOU’VE ALWAYS KNOWN.

☀️ Are you sure?

☁️ Sure you’re sure?

📺 SURE I’M SURE! IT’S TAKING ME A WHILE, BUT…

📺 … WELL, I’LL BE BACK UP THERE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT. YOU KNOW ME, DON’TCHA? YOU TWO GOT TO RUB ELBOWS N’ EVERYTHING!

☀️ It’s not just us!

☁️ First, you were talking to those weird otherworldly beings…

☀️ And then… then you went off the air!

☁️ The kid says you’re praying all the time, but nothing’s happening…

☀️ We can hardly keep our heads on straight without you around!

📺 IS THAT RIGHT..?

📺 …

☀️ We’re starting to worry…

☁️ … if the LIGHT has forsaken us entirely…!

🖤 Of course it hasn't.

📺 …

🖤 The lights have always come on again before, haven't they? This time might just be taking, um, longer than usual. Out there, in the Light W- in heaven, I mean - I just know that the Lightners are still there. And soon…

🖤 Well, they'll realize they need you, haha. One way or another. It's too early for you to give up. You can be patient, can't you? Because very soon… all your worries won't matter.

🖤 Right, Aunt Tenna?

📺 …RIGHT! YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT!

📺 AND I’LL BE BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT BEFORE YOU KNOW IT! YOU KNOW ME, YEAH?

📺 THINGS’RE JUST TAKING A SECOND OR TWO. HAPPENS IN SHOW BIZ ALL THE TIME.

📺 ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, YOU’LL ALL SEE MY UGLY MUG AGAIN SOON.

[ TENNA SETS THE WEATHERS BACK DOWN AND FOLDS HER ARMS. ]

📺 NOW WHADDYA HANGING AROUND HERE FOR? YOU’RE GROWN DARKNERS!

☀️ Yep! We are!

☁️ Let’s split!

[ IN A CLOUD OF CARTOON DUST, THE WEATHERS MAKE LIKE A BANANA AND DO JUST THAT! ]

🖤 I'm sorry, Aunt Tenna. I tried to tell them to leave you alone…

📺 AND YOU DID YOUR BEST! NO SHAME IN IT!

🖤 I could have done better.

📺 COULD’VE, SURE. BUT NEITHER OF US HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE PAST, YEAH?

📺 … YOU WANNA POP BACK IN AND CHAT A LITTLE?

🖤 …Yes, let's. You look like you have a lot to say, haha.

[ TO BE CONTINUED…]

[herri-writes]

Herri, Please Don't Lose Your Fan series has finally begun and made a comeback.

[hisui-dreamer]

Hihi Rinna! Saw the cool event and I would like to request a bouquet ⁠\⁠(⁠･⁠◡⁠･⁠)⁠/ daffodils, rhododendrons and a few cherry blossoms, please send it to Lilia, Jamil and Jade!

everlasting mementos

Characters: Lilia, Jamil and Jade

Synopsis: you've left twisted wonderland, leaving behind a simple bouquet of flowers for him as a parting gift

Tags: heavy angst (disco wants suffering y'all), no happy endings, bad vibes all around, farewells

Word count: 976

Notes: hooboy this one was depressing ヘ⁠（⁠。⁠□⁠°⁠）⁠ヘ hope you enjoy the pain!!

Masterlist

flowers of choice:

daffodils: please don't forget me

rhododendrons: red ones symbolise tremendous grief

cherry blossoms: scattering, fleeting moments

Lilia casts a spell on your flowers to make them everlasting, keeping them by his bedside table his gaze is always drawn to it every time he walks into his room, and he’s reminded of all the memories you’ve shared together

he’s become used to saying farewells, having gone through the pain of losing his dearest friends and countless comrades in the war

he’s long learned that life will always move on, and whether or not you move along with it isn't a choice you get to choose

tries to act as normal, but everyone can tell he’s not energetic as usual

silver and malleus offer to spend more time with him so he won’t feel too lonely, and sebek even watches his mouth to not accidentally upset him

he’s incredibly grateful to everyone for being so considerate, but there’s no stopping the dull ache in his heart

every time he’s in the kitchen, he hears your panicking voice echoing in his ears, scolding him for another misdemeanour

or your squeals of surprise when he pops down from the ceiling to give you a kiss

you've really left a mark on this old fae...

Lilia tenderly caressed the flowers, tears welled in his eyes, tracing silent paths down his cheeks. He knew his time with you was limited, that you would always go back to your world and never return. He knew that nothing would last forever, but he just hoped he could have spent a little more time without you.

"How foolish am I...," he murmured softly, his voice tinged with sorrow. "To dare to hope for a different ending. One without goodbyes."

Amidst the flickering candlelight, he found himself enveloped in memories of your presence. "The world feels so much dimmer without you," he confessed, his words laden with longing and regret.

Jamil wanted to throw out the flowers but he couldn't bear parting with the last thing you left behind for him

he ends up turning them into pressed flowers, making a tiny pendant with them so he can keep you close always

Jamil, like he's done most of his life, decides to bottle up his feelings and go about his day as usual

but everyone in scarabia can tell he's snappier and a lot more tense than usual

even kalim, who's been trying his best not to upset or trouble jamil

on late nights, when he's all alone with his thoughts, he pulls up your old voice recordings, unable to fight the urge to hear your voice

he replays them tirelessly until every sentence is etched into his memory

the comfort they once provided now only serves to amplify his frustration, a mere reminder of your absence

he had resigned himself to a life in the shadows, but then you came into his life and for the first time in forever he let himself hope for a brighter future but now...

he wants to be mad at you for giving him this false hope, but he can't even stand the thought of being mad at you, he's just mad that he let himself hope again

still, he doesn't regret a single second he spent with you

The sound of your voice from the recording dwindled into the hushed night, and with it, the floodgates of his emotions burst open, and he collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming down his face.

"It's not enough," he whispered between sobs, clutching the device tightly in his trembling hands. "Just hearing your voice... it's not enough."

He yearned to see your smile, to feel your warmth beside him once again. "You gave me so much hope," he choked out, his voice breaking with emotion. "That maybe, just maybe, we could have been happy."

Jade keeps the bouquet of flowers you gave him, propagating them so they'll always thrive by his side, making sure to care for them so he'll always have the last gift you give him

each time he tends to them, he talks to them as if they're you, telling them about his day, what shenanigans floyd has gotten into, how well his mushrooms have been growing...

he never leaves without wishing for your happiness, because that thought eases the ache in his heart slightly

on the outside, he acts unaffected and you really wouldn't be able to tell he's upset at all

but floyd and azul can tell, it's clear as day to them just how devastated he is

azul lets him have more free time, cutting his shifts shorter so he can go on hikes or take care of his terrariums, any activities to cheer him up

but even those activities fail to lighten his mood, because he's constantly reminded of his memories with you

him taking care of your wound after you'd tripped and injured your knee, you excited to show him the new mushroom dish you've been working on, the subtle stares and smiles the two of you exchanged at school...

there are traces of you littering every corner of his heart...

As Jade passed by a familiar hiking spot, the very place where countless moments were shared between the two of you, bittersweet memories flooded his mind. He sank to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks as he struggled to catch his breath.

How was it possible that you were only in his life for a short period, yet your absence felt unbearable? How had you managed to leave such a profound impact on him, with every little thing now serving as a painful reminder of your absence?

"I just... wish to see you again..." he whispered to the empty trail, his voice choked with sorrow. "What can I do... to make this feeling go away?"

Masterlist

if you liked this post, don't forget to reblog!

[jellazticious]

bing bong bootleg SS au

very long ramble under the C

stuff are subjected to change

The working title isn't solidified but I'm leaning on either Candy Castle or Pastry Castle

Tho I think I'm gonna go for pastry cuz it has the same amount of letters as castle much like pizza and tower have the same number too

The tower is a gingerbread castle. According to a friend of mine (It's Beefy, it's always Beefy go follow him) that Hispanics love their bakeries and yeah, I guess that makes sense. Not only do I have a theme based on the protag's culture but also the theme gets narrowed down to just baked sweets. Candy in general is too broad, I would die figuring out how to put every kind of sweet in it, and if I did it's gonna be really cluttered hooboy

Noise is called Theo because that's Peppino's name formula. Peppino is a nickname for Giuseppe so I thought I'd give Noise's swap a nickname to Theodore as the main name

Hazel Nutt is pretty self explanatory cuz Noisette means hazelnut in French

Their outfits are pretty simple to mirror Peppino and Gustavo's with just coloured shirts and aprons

Hazel doesn't get a mount because she would have Theo's prototype rocket skates. Just like Gus, she would have different stages of getting used to the skates per floor. First she gets blasted from end to end cuz she can't control the thrust. Second, she manages to turn it off but she's trying to keep balance on it. Third, she catches her breath now that she could stand still without moving or slipping. Next she would make a card castle, in reference to the very castle they're inside. and lastly she'd be holding a box of sweets without giving a shit about the scary floor.

To parallel the og Noisette, Hazel would smile bigger when Theo faces her direction.

Hazel is also Theo's delivery gal to match and switch with how Peppino WAS Gustavo's delivery guy

The "kick the rat" function would be Hazel swinging one of the skates and the cops grabbing Brick would instead hold a weapon detector that also functions as a magnet

Unlike Peppino, Theo is more aggressive than anxious. Imagine an injured cat defending itself from what it thinks is a threat

the name of Pizzaface's swap is Pieface for obvious reasons 😭

but HEAR ME OUT

both pizzaface and pieface are used as insults. pizza face is used for people with so much acne and pie face is used for someone with a flat face or dull expression. It isn't just a pun on what food the characters are made of. Pieface is also a reference to the trope where people headshot other people with pies. With the mech floating towards the protag, it would look like a pie is being thrown and targeted at Theo

Honestly drawing what food makes his face is so fun. Did you know that before the croissant smile it was supposed to be syrup shaped to a smile? The nose was a long whip of cream before turning into a cut strawberry for the mustache effect

Pizzahead's candy version would be called Gingerhead because of how ridiculous it sounds.

Gingerhead is based on Willy Wonka much like how Pizzahead is based on Ronald McDonald which is why he has more of a showman look than a clown look

okay side note, it just occured to me how ironic PH being based on Ronald is considering McDo's isn't a pizza place

actually Wonka doesn't even sell cakes and shit so, I guess it's fair game

Theo has the nickname Muffinman to reference the rhyme. but this time, it's the gingerbreadman chasing the baker

Next up is Mr S, who would be Peppino but he becomes rich. Mr S is the stage name he uses. He is a known celebrity much as Noise is but he is more of a boxer than a host. Like Dwayne Johnson or something. His name is partially a reference to ResEvil's Mr X, another absolute unit of a guy

also the reason why he doesn't wear a shirt. He's committing to the bit. If he needs to cover himself when he isn't playing a role, then there's his robe. He doesn't take out his mask most of the time tho

Mr S's mask is based on the Chef Raider design but also part of the scrapped superhero design much like Pizzano. Actually speaking of Pizzano, S is characterized so similarly to him cuz Pizzano is the only SS character who was actually written well to my standards. To be fair we've seen too much of Peppino to flunk characterizing him sksksk

Since this is Peppino that Mr S is based on, he's not as tech savvy or as self centered as Noise so he doesn't have robots that look like himself. Instead he has ants for a crew

the ants swap the place of rats. the rats in PT reference the new york pizza rat while ants just generally eat your food especially if it's sweet when left alone for five minutes

the ants come from Mr G, who would be Gustavo's swap with Noisette. He's Mr S's lawyer. at the end of S's bossfight, G would snatch him away with Click (the ant) because S would make a foul and embarrassing move on live camera

I can't seperate Gustavo and Brick so Click stays with Mr G instead of assisting Hazel

inside what would be Noisette cafe, instead of Mr G and Click being behind the counter, they would be sitting as customers next to Caraman. the barista isn't seen anywhere

Honestly when I'm writing everyone, my logic of swapping them isn't "make them switch places AND personalities" but more of "write every single one of them with the og personality because giving them a different lifestyle/role would drastically change their motives and how they behave"

I'm practically just swapping each character's place of birth

I mentioned this because it's kinda funny with Noisette and Gus since they play the exact same role of assisting Peppino/Noise so swapping them won't change much in how they act. They also have the same cheery and welcoming personality by default so Hazel and Mr G would act REALLY similar to their og

The only difference is that Gustavo can be threatening whenever Peppino fucks up. It fits right in with being a lawyer for the same goon

Now we got Mel Caraman who would become this au's Vigi. Lemme just say off the bat that Caraman is just as delusional as Vigi. He gets hired as a guard for floor 2 and took it way too seriously that he thinks he's some sort of sentinel. Hired as a guard but thinks he's an ancient guardian or something

his name vaguely references James Bond because you also VAGUELY get "caramel" out of "Caraman, Mel Caraman"

Caraman is a caramel apple but he's half glazed to form an eyemask. he's also got a stick poking out his head that stretches his chorro hat. the big hat makes him look cooler anyways. Bro I was so ready to settle for a shitty wild west mayor hat and I owe Beefy one for suggesting a new hat. I was gonna make him look like Doug Dimmadome with the short brimmed tall hat😭😭😭

but yeah Caraman doesn't have the same dignity as Vigi does. He can fight crime decently on normal circumstances and badass when he's full serious. But like day in day out he's so obnoxious about looking for crime that people get tired of him nor would they take him seriously

he would also be mistaken for a pepper

Next to last, Cam M. Bert or just Bert who would take place of Pepperman. he's an artist who appreciates the world instead of himself, a freelancer also. There was only a bossfight because he was coincidentally commissioned to make a mural for the castle the same time Theo busts in. He didn't like how Theo ruined some of his works with his rush to open the door

Bert is a cream cheese instead of a cheese slime. his beret is actually a little cherry to distinguish him from the other creams.

Bert is really chill and humble, He's like Bob Ross, whenever he can, he'd try to talk about how every beauty in the world should be immortalized through a canvas

In parallel to Vigi's delusion of thinking he's a human, Bert thinks he's actually a living painting (which is completely possible for someone to be in the PT world since Pepperman was able to do it with his own art)

instead of a :{ face that Vigilante has, Bert has a :3 face

the naming formula is taken directly from Vigi

Vig E. Lantte

Cam M. Bert

There is a type of sweet cheese that's really creamy called camembert which his name is a direct reference from. Here is a picture of a camembert since it's hella cute

Camembert cheese was also suggested by Beefy, brother thank you for not allowing me to name this cunt Creamlad

Mr Lardo would be in place of Mr Stick but his motive is that he's collecting Theo's money on BEHALF of Mr Stick. They're probably the only ones who completely stay intact because there's not much canon info of Stick WITHIN the game itself I also feel he's a crossover character from his own "series" with how long McPig has him prior to PT so I just swap the character who makes the "cameo"

The toppins are still called toppins because they'd be used to decorate a cake or pie. They would be

Strawberry - Mushroom

Cream - Cheese

Cookie - Tomato

Icing (in a piping bag) - Sausage

actually I dont know yet for the pineapple but I'll get to it. I've only been figuring out this au since four days ago....

Lastly (of the characters), the Faker in this would be mechanical to match the original Noise's familiarity in robots

Fake Theo (temp name) would be engineered to be "Theo but way better" while actually being succesful with it. Faker would also sort of look like a mini figure of a ballerina. Referencing The Nutcracker

Opposite to Fake Peppino, Fake Theo is more graceful than terrifying but it's so uncanny how unnaturally pretty it is

and now some misc stuff

Title of the final level is When The Cookie Crumbles

the pepper pizza will be replaced with an extremely sweet pie and the immunity is caused by the sugar rush from it

Pizza Time is called Crunch Time

Pillar John would be a giant graham cracker since the walls are made of cookies instead of bricks. Gerome however, is a solidified bar of brownies. like a shittily made brownie that it just turned into a construction brick

Snotty is a pure white cream cheese and that's cuz he's actually made of glue. His name is Sticky

Pigs would either be bears or rabbits with how many times those two animals represented sweets

I'm gonna be clear with everyone here. I literally made this au cuz I'm going insane trying to make swap stuff with Pascal/Stefano when the au itself is so empty. sure it's colourful but it's so empty like I can't draw SS characters outside of poses

I tried like doing fanon modifications as I always do then there's so much I "modified" that at this point it's not Sugary Spire anymore. Just straight up a completely different au. The only similarity is that it's a swap au with sweets

it is what it is yknow. this is my life now. I said fuck it and went with the flow and boom, new personal au that I poured too much into

basically I blame Pascal for this

[the-s1lly-corner]

Playing with johnathans hair pre collider plsplspls kissing it maybe his knuckles, calling him pretty kissing his Beauty marks plsplspls pls

Showering Jonathan Ohnn in affection!

Rubs my hands

God I love prompts like this, especially with characters like jon/spot

Even when he was still Jonathan, he still didnt have the best self image

He didnt think of himself as horribly as he does in present day, but hes... hooboy

He doesn't think he's ugly by any means, but no way does he think he's the prettiest person

He doesnt like his... everything, really

His birthmarks, his body, the way his hands are built, his nose, and so on

And then you came along

You weren't his first partner, I like to think he's managed to get some bitches(/j) in like

College

Now were those relationships anything meaningful? Did they last?

...no..

Did that leave a dent on him?

Maaaaybe just a little

So he was both ecstatic and nervous of being in a relationship again

But oh,

You melted his walls down right away, letting him know exactly how you felt about him and actually. Listened to him

Jonathan, being an overworked socially awkward scientist, doesn't get much physical touch; so he's starving

It's small at first; but even small touches can have him unraveling

Locking pinkies while you walk together, standing a lil close to one another, and so on

And dont get him started on verbal compliments

So imagine the day you decide to go a lil deeper and just

Pull his hands to your mouth, the same hands that are covered in nicks and cuts from years of work, and gently kissing his knuckles

The hands that he thinks are spindly and weird; being kissed

You may as well just marry him right then and there

But it keeps on going as time progresses

You kiss the small scars littered on his hands

Imagine seeing him scowling at the mirror while glaring at the feature of his face he doesnt like and just

You walk over to him and cup his face and just

Cover him with kisses

Specifically placed kisses, exactly where he was just glaring at

A lot of the times when you're sleeping together hes the big spoon since hes tall, but on the off chance hes little spoon? Hooboy

Absolutely refuses to get up, scoots himself closer to you, and hes almost falling asleep until

You start playing with his hair; that snaps him awake. Whether or not you have concept art Jonathan in mind or movie accurate; hes got the same reaction. He stiffens and kinda just. Freezes. Like a deer in headlights. Does he pretend to be asleep? Does he thank you? Does?? Bro short circuits

Off topic but I like to think that concept art of Jonathan going around is just. Canon movie Jonathan, but before he got a haircut. Like imagine he JUST got a haircut before the collider thing and now hes bald 😭

OOO OOOO imagine you're wearing lipstick and leave marks all over him

He will refuse to wash it off, for as long as possible

Dumbest most goofiest smile plastered on his face while you spoil him

Now I've gone on and on about you pampering him, but dont think he wouldnt try to return the favor!

He leaves quick and sloppy kisses on your cheek

Like just.. he wraps his long arms around you and lazily drapes himself over you during cuddles and. Goes to town on your face

You're both a giggly mess by the end of it

Makes you forget about the outside world; it's just you and Jonathan

Loves getting you loads of gifts; store bought and homemade! You'll probably have to tell him to slow down since you're losing space in your house <\3

As I mentioned in a previous Jonathan post (the coworker one) he drops the most foul, most cheesiest, most cliche, horrible pick up lines

Dude probably looks at wikihow stuff on like "how to impress my crush" or something like that

He absolutely LIGHTS UP whenever you indulge in his antics

Overall you two are just so sweet to each other SOBS

[openworldadventurer]

I lived in Malmö for six years, so when I heard Eurovision was coming to my old neighborhood, I planned a visit to see friends and watch the festivities in my old park, which was being turned into the “Eurovillage”. Of course, that was before the Oct 7th attacks, Israel’s brutal escalation, and Eurovision’s refusal to hold them to the same standards as Russia.

So while I’ve been in town, I’ve been spending at least as much time checking in with friends and covering the protests as I’ve spent walking around the festivities. And hooboy, the changes to this sleepy little town have been pretty intense.

While the actual arena and filming is being done at Malmö Arena in the commercial suburb of Hyllie, the center of events in the city itself is Folketspark, a lovely old park and event center in the heart of the Möllan neighborhood. And right along one side of the park is a long graffiti wall that runs along a rondel, a cherished centerpiece of public art and protest in the city.

It’s been one of the centerpieces of protest all week, but far from the only one:

Despite the neighborhood being hit hard by gentrification over the last decade, Möllan is still predominantly foreign-born Swedes and immigrants (like me, when I was here). It’s predominantly middle-eastern folks, both immigrants and refugees, including one of the largest Palestinian populations in Europe. It’s also one of the most progressive cities in Sweden, home to the leftist Vänsterpartiet and fairly active queer and antifascist groups. And all of these groups have been uniting for the protests

So as you can expect, the protests around the park and the city have been pretty constant. Entirely peaceful, to everyone’s credit, but absolutely constant. And you can’t go anywhere near the event without seeing Palestinian flags flown from windows and shopfronts in solidarity, or protest graffiti on Eurovision posters.

Meanwhile, the security presence around the Eurovillage has been absolutely wild. In a city where police rarely even carried pistols, there are now approximately ten times as many police, many bearing automatic rifles. When protests threaten to get too close to the park, they shut off entrances and surround protesters with police vans. Helicopters and drones buzz in the skies above, to the annoyance of locals. And local Swedes look at the armored police vehicle like an unwelcome alien from another planet (or worse, like an unwelcome trend from America).

Thankfully, I haven’t seen any particular abuse out here in Malmö, although I know there have been lots of arrests at protests around the arena proper. I’m hoping it stays that way for the finals tonight.

But just know that for every picture you see of the Eurovision events, there’s countless scenes of protest from the local residents, often just on the other side of the camera.

[amuseoffyre]

@triflesandparsnips made a rather spiffy observation on my post about Ed and face-touching:

It may be worthwhile, considering how much face/mouth violence Ed is sensitive to -- and when we see or hear about it -- to do a review of how much of that face sensitivity is also associated with food and eating.

And hooboy, I ended up down a rabbithole thinking about Ed and food and it got so long, it earned itself its own little post.

These are all the food/eating related moments that tie in directly to Ed having strong emotional responses. I didn't limit it to just the face-touching because there's a lot of emotional mess going on as well.

When Stede wakes him for brekkie in 1x04, he recoils immediately as he wakes, until he realises who's beside him (especially pertinent since Ed wakes in 2x03 and asks if anything was done to him while he was unconscious - he even anticipates harm while sleeping).

in 1x05, when he's being taught the intricacies of dining and the French captain slaps on his big red trauma button while he's sitting at a dining table and already feeling out of his depth with all the tablewear.

Cut to the flashback in 1x05 which has him and his mum talking quietly in one part of the room, but his father is there, slumped and drunk on the family dining table, setting the domestic sphere as a place of constant present threat.

Later in 1x05, when he's alone at the party, he's freaking out over not knowing how to deal with this kind of fancy-folk dining and then someone touches his face - double-whammy of the emotional stuff and the physical.

1x06 gives us the main flashback to his childhood and his father's violent reaction to 'slop' and 1x07 has stressed, out-of-his-comfort-zone hangry Ed, trying desperately to keep up the Blackbeard appearance ("Blackbeard can't be seen treasure hunting!") and again, something touches his body/head unexpectedly and he lashes out defensively.

There is so much going on in the brekkie scene that I can't even get into it here. Ed trying to code-switch between the way he interacts with Stede and Jack respectively, but most significantly, when Jack talks over him and ignores him trying to change the subject about violence he's done in the past, Ed shrinks down in the chair, doing the small-and-quiet thing he does when he's unhappy (one day I will yell about Ed taking refuge surrounding himself with gold/yellow things - blankets, chairs, robes, pillowforts. His version of the battle jacket).

1x10 has several moments. First is the marmalade - there's something child-like about the blanket fort and eating sweet sticky things with his fingers, taking comfort in food and hiding.

The second is something that is viscerally explained in S2 - when he forcefeeds Izzy his own toe. The contrast of the brutality and the very paternal "now don't forget to chew" like an adult talking to a child gave me chills the first time I watched it.

The last thing in 1x10 isn't necessarily food, but hooooboy there is something in the way he sets himself up at what was Stede's brekkie table, putting on the worst of personas possible, that is very much reminding me of his dad at the table in a bare, empty home, lit by a single candle, in that first flashback.

And now, into S2, and our man starts things in a totally healthy and normal way - eating the cake with his weapon. And, more importantly, "did everybody get cake?" Again, we have the juxtaposition of implicitly care-taking language against the surrounding violence and brutality.

The gravy basket tells us so much as well - he wakes up to the horror of being vulnerable, trapped by his own body and force-fed by someone who we learn had a habit of forcefeeding live crabs to people and who had threatened to flay Ed's skin off and feed it to him. He's rightfully afraid that anything Hornigold feeds him might be poisoned.

Once again, we have the parental energy of "open up for the cargo ship" tangled up with the fear of threat and violence and horror - poisoning, flaying and force-feeding.

Ed's fear has the two utterly bound up together, inescapably so. His father shaped his childhood and Hornigold stepped into that role when Ed became an outlaw.

But even in this messy and horrifying confrontation with his own psyche and layered up with the horrors he's lived through as a boy, some part of Ed still desperately wants the comfort and security of food and home, especially when the food his subconscious is gathering for him are the ingredients for Māori boil-up, something his mother would very likely have made for them.

It speaks measures that the three things he wants to live for include good food and warmth and orgasms. No fame. No glory. No reputation. Just to be loved and safe and warm and fed.

Jump forward to 2x04 and dinner with Bonny and Read. Ed is unsurprised by the degree of violence happening throughout, but does hesitate when poison comes into the equation - "I got the present you left for me in my glass" - Ed immediately sets down his glass, staring at it warily. Again, calling back to the Gravy Basket and his fear that anything given to him might be poisoned.

He's already on edge and off-balance - "not sure what's real and what's the basket" and there may or may not be poison and knives and the person he trusted may or may not betray him again and he's already spinning out when Anne - who had already declared her intention to provoke Ed and Mary - cheerfully lands the bombshell of why Stede left him.

No small wonder he storms out of the room, but it does lead to them having a much-needed conversation and he and Stede are on a much steadier footing after.

And then, of course, we have the breakfast of 2x07. This one is especially significant because Ed makes the brekkie then disposes of his leathers. He's actively trying to step from one mode of life to another, from the Blackbeard-and-Piracy into the domestic, softer life he's been quietly craving his entire life.

Only, as he says himself, "I don't think I've ever made regular breakfast for anyone before". He's trying, but it's something new and unfamiliar to him and it's "my way of saying thank you".

And lastly, we have the scene with the fisherman and his son where Ed has shoe-horned himself into what he thinks is the solution to all his problems and also includes a father-son dynamic, because our man can't do anything without his daddy issues rearing their ugly head.

Once again, Ed is out of his depth, but at the opposite end of the scale from the party ship. This is a place he thinks he should fit but he doesn't. This is the domesticity he craved, but without understanding or appreciating the real work that is needed to get there.

And once again, over a meal, he has an angry father expressing violence. "Control your pop-pop!" he tells the boy who is around the same age as he was when he killed his father. But he doesn't fight back, he doesn't strike out at Pop-pop, and the son steps between them and pulls his dad back several times.

And it's this father-figure's words that ring in Ed's ears when he realises Stede may be in danger. "If you were ever good at anything, do that". And if there's one thing Ed Teach is good at, it's fighting for the people he loves.

In conclusion our Mr. Teach wants a safe and comfortable home-life, with food and warmth (and orgasms), but he has no real experience of what that is really like or how to get it. His entire life has been a succession of threats and danger and men who would do harm to people in their charge, especially when they were unarmed, defenceless and vulnerable.

He doesn't know how to be safe yet, because he's never experienced it. All he's known until this point is a life of violence and danger and while he tried to move away from that, the violence and danger was still there - as Stede put it, there's no escaping it in their line of work.

But now, at the end of S2, for the first time in his life, he is actually able to say "No, I need to be away from piracy" because his whole journey through both seasons has been him trying and trying to step away from the life that has him by the throat.

And now, he's finally been able to do it and he's not alone. He has someone he's safe with and who is willing to do the work with him to help him figure things out. And give him good food, warmth and, of course, orgasms.

[featherlumina]

Genesis Headcanons: His Wing

Hooboy, I have so many thoughts and feelings about this boy's extra feathery limb. Here we go!

His wing is huge. I did measurements once but the thing is like, at least twice as long as he is tall, which makes it near 4 metres / 13 feet (welp, this is more of a fact than a headcanon, but there ya go.)

Instead of preen oil, he has powder down feathers (like cockatoos or pigeons), that he needs to consistently apply. Gen's a dusty boy.

He does a full feather moult once a year and is always impressed at how freaking huge his primary feathers are, despite how he might otherwise feel about his wing.

When his wing first bursts from his back, he is able to both hide and manifest it at will. However, each time he does, it becomes increasingly painful, and it becomes permanently part of him after Modeoheim. Clothing modifications become a must after that.

Once he's healed he regains control over manifesting it, but the longer he leaves it hidden, the more uncomfortable it becomes - like a deep, burning ache mixed with itchiness. My post-DoC headcanon is that he ends up leaving it out nearly all the time, as a way of openly accepting who he is and what he's done.

The little feathers at the top of his wing are extremely soft and velvety and I want to pet them oh my god-

Preening and maintaining his wing takes up a lot of time. His relationship with it might be fraught but he can't make the most of it with it in poor condition. It becomes something of a calming, grounding ritual as the years of degrading wear on. Also, his copies help. If he's feeling charitable or in a good mood, he helps them too sometimes.

If Genesis is in good health and his wing is properly maintained, his feathers are gorgeous. Mind you, they really start to show stress bars, break in odd places and disintegrate far more easily the worse the degradation gets.

He definitely uses it as a blanket or shield from the world when he wants privacy.

At the place where his wing merges into his shoulder, the feathers also sprout towards his spine, down his back and over his shoulder. There's a sort of radius or gradient of feathers that get smaller the further you get from the wing itself.

Early on, he refined his flying skills by studying monsters, especially griffins.

He's a bit miffed that his wing doesn't have any interesting patterns or colours like those of hawks or owls (he especially wishes it looked a bit flashier like Phoenix) but he's always had a fascination with ravens, so he can't really complain.

His favourite time of day to fly is night, as he's far more inconspicuous and blends in to the sky - and his night vision is excellent, given he's a SOLDIER.

At one stage, he fashions one of his feathers into a basic quill. He uses it specifically for writing LOVELESS notes.

I probably have more, but this post is already rather long. XD Hope you enjoyed!

[yeahiwasintheshit]

so i watched john cassavetes' 'a woman under the influence' the other night, and hooboy was that an intense movie. with an amazing performance by gena rowlands as mabel. and peter falk is great in it too. but boy is this a hard watch. you just feel bad for all these people, especially mabel. shes clearly a person in distress and she just doesnt have the people in her life that can help. not only cant help, but make her situation worse. what adds to the intensity is the way its shot, it almost feels like a documentary of this family. natural light, natural performances, natural dialogue. rowlands and falk really become these people. the thing is you also really like them. falk's character nicky really does some horrible horrible shit, and you end up feeling like hes the one mentally worse off by the end, because almost every decision he makes is wrong. but he clearly loves his wife, who is a very sick person, he just doesnt know what the right thing to do is. theres no excuse for his abuse, its bad, and hes a lousy father, but falk is such a charismatic and sorta lovable presence, you dont necessarily forgive him, there just arent any villains in the movie.

theyre just this sad family who are dealing with this mental illness, that they dont really understand, nor does the society around them. when she goes to the hospital for 6 months, and the day she comes back and nicky invites a house full of people to celebrate, you just want to strangle the guy, but its coming from a pure place of wanting to make a normal house, but its so hard to watch. plus the doctor who commits her seems to have encouraged the party, so thats another part of it, but what a bad decision. then theyre at the table and hes yelling that he wants her to have a normal conversation, and this poor woman is locked and stuck. she doesnt know what to do. the gif above is so heart wrenching. shes saying this to her father, and ooof it knocks it right out of you. that whole final third of the movie is notched up to a level 11, which is like watching a horror movie. everyone does the wrong thing for this suffering woman, and she reacts accordingly. its also hard to watch it from a 2024 perspective cause you know she could prob live a better life today with the right meds, and the right medical information for her and nicky to deal with her illness.

anyway ive been sitting on writing a review of it cause i almost didnt know what to say, cause its a lot. and maybe thats part of the problem. there are parts of the movie that are at an 11 for so long you almost shaking watching it. its a good movie with an amazing, and shocking and almost too real performance by gena rowlands (who is still alive today. shes 93) in parts it really does feel like a horror movie youre watching between your fingers. but it is really good. worth watching for her performance alone

john cassavetes is considered the father of independent movies, and i think this may be considered his best movie. he was nominated for best director and rowlands was nominated for best actress that year. so im glad i watched it, but dont have any plans rewatching anytime soon at least.

[epersonae]

You've made me mad with power. Director's Cut of "I Spit On Your Grave", please.

Obviously I wanted -- no, needed -- to write a fic where Stede finds out what actually happened with Izzy while he was gone.

It is a key aspect of my Bad Ending fic in case I never make it through to where you are that Stede does NOT know, because I think otherwise he would have actually killed Izzy in that fic. I had a lovely long conversation with my therapist about that, both that fic generally and this question of knowing what was done to someone you love who is gone. Because HOOBOY did s2 kick up all my feelings about Ryn's parents, especially their mother; there was a piece of information that I found out after Ryn died that made me so angry I did seriously have a full-blown panic attack about it.

So yeah, I was always going to write something, but part of my writing process especially with shorter works is that I need a hook, something to get me into it -- an image or a sentence, something concrete to pull together whatever messy ideas have been spinning around in the blender.

And of course, I might have written it sooner (and it would have been a different fic) but I did break my leg right before Christmas, and that basically took me out not just physically but also mentally for about two months. I actually started making some notes in late January but I didn't have any stamina to do the writing until late February.

I knew the hook was going to be a bit back from the actual harm -- I've been fascinated by this question of how Izzy never says that "his captain" is actually Blackbeard since way back in my first watches of the show, and then there's kind of a running joke around here about how Stede always leads describing the meet-cute with "so I'd been gut-stabbed" like babygirl what. And the phrase "just happened upon our ship" or whatever that is, when MY DUDE HE'S BEEN FOLLOWING YOU THIS WHOLE TIME. The whole thing has this mix of Izzy having been lying through his teeth and Stede being hilariously oblivious that cries out for something to dig into.

And then I saw this post by @iamadequate1, and OH OKAY. Because weaponized therapy language and isolation in emotional abuse is something that, well. Yeah. Plus it had all the relevant bits of dialogue in one post! Plus I'd been thinking about Izzy as an unreliable narrator for almost two years, and I'd been thinking specifically about people with uhhhhhh a "flexible relationship with the truth" (to use a line from the fic), and a tendency to say different things to different people in order to evade responsibility.

So I made some notes, according to the document history at the end of January, and then probably either went back to sleep or back to watching Perry Mason. Came back to it in late February, and the first two-thirds or so came together pretty quickly and then I got stuck. I knew I wanted something with Stede yelling at the grave, but I'd sort of written myself into a corner where that didn't seem to be happening. (Basically, got to the point where he holds Ed while Ed is crying.)

And then I saw THIS post by @celluloidbroomcloset, and something clicked together about "doggie heaven" and the parallel with Ned Low, and somehow that was the rug that tied the room together. Probably because also they're both dead, Izzy and Ned, and that leads to this question of the impossibility of revenge, and that so much of the time there's just nothing you can do, really, and that also hurts. Even if they're not dead; there's just no point, like what the fuck are you gonna do, exactly? Which is sort of where the Mary parallel comes in, I think, and also not giving Izzy credit for bringing them together, because that's all them.

All in all this is a really special fic for me, trying to find this balancing point where things are pretty good for them, actually, but they still need to work through their respective hurts and be properly seen -- fill in all the blanks so they can move forward.

[messier-47]

A study on Ethan Winters because Resident Evil's got me in a chokehold and bruh he's so fucked? I love him?

But also this is MAJOR "taking liberty" of a fictional character cause no chill. Warning: this is....long post, a character study

RE7, RE8

So admittingly I was tempted to write RE fanfic cause brain go brrrrrr at thought of spookiness but ultimately didn't however if I don't bleed out these thoughts and feelings about RE and Ethan Winters it's gonna fester.

First off, does anyone else think RE7 and RE8 have two different versions of Ethan? Which...could be excusable seeing as how there's a three year time gap and emotional stage difference, or it could be just "Ethan was always a [blank-slate] character and thus prime for storyline manipulation". RE8 we're given the desperate father ripping apart the world to get to his daughter, scrambling for a handhold against monsters and completely out of his league of bullshit. Whereas RE7 Ethan is so much more fascinating.

RE7 Ethan is my favorite.

Okay, so I watched RE7 gameplay with the intention of taking notes about his character and personality traits and HOOBOY is he an interesting character! So in the beginning we get so much context if you really stop to think about it. First, Mia's ID is a Texas one which means by the time she went missing 3 years ago, she was registered as a Texas resident and probably alongside her husband Ethan. (which i know about the "he's a systems engineer from LA" databook thing but he could both be a systems engineer from LA and be a Texas resident)

Now this bit i think is a little more...take with a grain of salt cause it's not verified but also; Ethan has always been "the ordinary man". so what would an ordinary man do when his wife goes missing around the same time there's a fucking HURRICANE in the gulf of mexico? He'd report it! Missing person's report! cause he's not a psycho with something to hide! His wife is missing! she was babysitting some rich brat along the coastline and he'd lost all contact after the Hurricane hit Louisiana! if her body were to wash up, the boat she was found, anything having to do with her disappearance, there'd already be a papertrail of proper protocol without the question "Why didn't you report her missing?"

So Texas may be different? idk, I think I heard something somewhere "after two years, a missing person's case is closed and legally declared dead" or something. maybe that's why ETHAN WINTERS GOES TO LOUISIANA ALONE TO FIND HIS PRESUMINGLY DEAD WIFE.

the "maybe this is all a prank" comment I'm willfully ignoring cause wtf Ethan what about the relationship with your wife made it okay to disappear for three years all for an elaborate ruse? Except somehow the "it's just a prank" is probably what pushed him beyond the limits of rationality. Abandoned van outside the house with "accept her gift"? obvious a mystery treasure hunt. Weird carcass effigy? gross and wow this prank is getting fancy. dilapidated house full of rot and rank? nice movie set bro, where are the cameras? especially with all the "fabricated" evidence of twenty people having gone missing around here and oh wow a convenient VHS about "paranormal investigators" to show where the secret chambers are. but goddamn his mental fortitude is strong to be able to jump in putrid basement water to go find his wife. dead corpse rising out of the waters and he just presses on, probably thinking it was fake or something.

Okay so then we meet Mia and Ethan's slow realization that this is totally NOT A PRANK cause of evil possession or whatever (honestly RE7 in Ethan's POV is hilarious cause he probably isn't thinking how this all ties in with bioweapons, legit thinking demons are the answer) but Ethan gets more talkative in a very interesting way; upon finding Mia, he is immediately interrogative. He's not the overly worried dad friend trying to make sure Mia is fine and that they should escape, no it's Mia who takes the lead in trying to escape cause Ethan is already "you've been missing for three years what the hell is going on?"

And...when Mia claims that she doesn't remember shit (telling the truth) Ethan doesn't believe her. He pulls away to investigate the next room over. and honestly it's understandable in his POV, even if he stops believing this is all a prank; his wife has been missing for 3 years and claims to not remember why she'd ended up here (also there's a history of Mia having lied about some pretty important details in the past?)

As we go on through the story, Ethan...personal opinion here, but he reads as pretty calloused. I know the fandom jokes/remarks about Ethan's "fuck this especially" meter throughout the games but goddamn in the beginning of RE7 his meter was already damn high. He's...bitter? prickly? i don't have the word for it, but he's definitely a man who'd gone to Louisiana to finally get some fucking answers from his wife.

You know what I found super interesting? His interaction with the sheriff. So policeman shows up in front of house Ethan is trapped in and like a regular person he goes "hey there's some crazy people here you gotta help me" and sheriff is understandably wary of the whole situation. But Ethan Winters takes a risk in manipulating the policeman to get what he wants "do you want to read about me in tomorrow's obituary or do you want to be the hero?" which is so interesting to me. Why would he use this tactic? and this is something Ethan decided to do, there's no game mechanic where the player chooses his response, this is Ethan Winters using the cop's ego to try to get immediate help.

Throughout the game, Ethan is shown to be...honestly he's damn quiet. Yeah, sure he talks and shows his personality but he keeps his cards close to the chest. All his talks with Zoe make it pretty clear that he is motivated on a singular goal and he isn't persuaded by this "we" talk Zoe keeps bringing up. Looking at fandom, I honestly thought Ethan was going to be a little more chatty and while he does have some one-liners and quips, they are not at the same level as...let's say Leon Kennedy. Also, his humor is different from Leon's. I watched RE2 and 4 and whereas Leon has a love for ironic+witty humor (also can't shut up), Ethan has more of a dry wit.

Watches older woman crawling down tunnel on four legs like a bug, "That's special."

Figures out shadow operated puzzle doors "Who builds this shit?"

manages to clear out bioweapon cesspit by himself and the professionals arrive "What took you so long?"

Hmmm, and I know fandom loves to rib about his IT guy attire throughout RE7 but have y'all noticed his fucking shoes? ankle cowboy boots. Understated, completely speaks about where he's coming from, but also fits with the "i'm modern and know software engineering" typecast. And his car? A 1971 Dodge Challenger (could be a Vanishing Point reference but honestly if it's not ment to be-) it's a retro muscle car. A classic. Our boy loves his cars and did you see how nice it was in the beginning? spic-and-span paint job with the nice interior finish, it looks like it was well taken care of and Ethan was confident enough to actually drive it out to cross-state roadtrip.

Another interesting thing that only adds to what we've already seen of him was when Zoe makes two serums, she offers both probably just to show Ethan that they were made and he takes both. Why? ...I'm not sure. If he was only grabbing for Mia, he'd just taken one and let Zoe have her own syringe. But he took both. thoughtlessness? or was it an added show of his character in COMBINATION of whatever the fuck was going on during his interaction with the sheriff? In actuality, it was probably just the videogame needing Ethan to have the two so that he can use one on Jack and he'd have the "hard" choice of choosing between Mia and Zoe. It's still a pretty interesting detail if someone would want to further look into it.

then there's the "Thanks Ethan for choosing me" "Who the hell else could I choose?" "Ethan!" which only solidifies Ethan's character for me; He's a jaded man in a desperate search of answers, not really doing all this for the heroics. makes me wonder if there had been a 3rd choice, would he have made a different one. (but i digress because that's stepping into potential shipping territory)

Ethan once again tries to get answers from Mia and when she isn't able to give anything more concrete, he just lets the silence hang. Admittingly, the silence could've been the videogame setting up for the epic reveal of the boat and mold tentacles but this is also repeated behavior. Ethan asks Mia questions twice, once in the beginning and the second time right now and when Mia claims to not remember anything/have told him everything, he distances himself. No, wait, I'm dumb, Ethan pushes for Mia to try to start remembering. Which...idk maybe I'm reading too far into this, was kinda sardonic? "I honestly don't remember." "Try." and then the silence happens...before the boat comes into view.

Sardonic isn't the right word. In my opinion, Ethan is a "quiet" man, not as outspoken as the rest of the RE cast, so it's really hard to read tone when i ain't given much to compare/contrast to. All his dialogue have a different weight because he talks so little. Compare his dialogue with Chris, Leon, Jill, anyone else within the franchise and his character is immediately drowned out by the titans of other personalities. But get him by himself? reflect on his circumstances, context, and what he does say? He's a deeply complex character, alot of his reasoning and background is hidden and left to be inferred.

He's not a "heroic" character. He's not doing all of this to defeat evil or get justice or make the world a better place. Of course he's a survivor but...he's got a "get 'er done" personality. Ethan goes to Louisiana for answers. The truth as he told Mia multiple times. If he has to go fight a family with a bad case of swamp fever to get those answers then so be it.

Headcanon time: I honestly think Ethan is a born and bred Texan. He might have gone to LA to get his degree and a job as a systems engineer (which may explain how he knew how to build a flamethrower) but there is something about Ethan that is more than just "he now lives in Texas so he wears cowboy ankle boots and drives a muscle car". it's the "get 'er done" attitude. Maybe part of the reason why he's so mentally resilient when faced with horror is because of this cultural mental state of "get 'er done". Also explains how he's so adept with a wide range of guns.

And...wow this has grown awefully long and I haven't even gotten started on RE8 Ethan Winters character study yet so lemme make a second post.

[khalemchurstcomics]

TRIGGERED - Page 223

Hooboy. I have been really, really worried about telling this part of the story. It is extremely difficult to share stories when it involves people who are close to you, and especially difficult when it maybe shows people (like your parents) in an unfavourable light. 

The following pages are about my second session of EMDR. They are about a trauma. They are about developmental issues that were no one’s fault. They are also about the roles parents should have played, and children that should have been protected from being put in situations that they did not have the maturity to cope with. 

Most of all, I have to state this: these pages are about children. Myself, as a child, my brother, also a child, and an unfair situation that we ended up in because my parents (while doing their best), should have intervened to protect us.

I have thought long and hard about whether to draw comics about this chapter. As with all my comics, I always change names, appearances and details of my characters. I try to give a lot of thought to how I portray other people in my comics, so as not to inflict harm with my stories. 

Ultimately, I am choosing to share this chapter because I believe it gives important context to the rest of the narrative - my feelings of shame, the fears instilled in me by the church, my relationship to my body and my feelings that being born into a female body was a sin. I am asking you as an audience to understand that while sharing this makes me feel extremely vulnerable, I am doing my best to continue to be honest, and to tell this story respectfully and safely. 

I am one small person. My story is not everyone’s story. I can only tell my own, in a way that I hope people can receive without incurring damage themselves. This is what happened to me, and I need to talk about it, because hiding it away my whole life only concentrated the shame I felt. I need to let this see the light of day so that I can process it, and start to accept the truth that this was not my fault - it was an unfair situation, and whilst I wish the adults in my life had done better, everyone was doing their best from the capacity they had. 

Thanks for understanding - I am sure a lot of the above doesn’t make sense with only this first page to go from, but I hope it will make sense as the story continues. 

TRIGGERED is supported by my generous Patrons. To become a patron and gain access to hundreds of additional comic pages, head on over here.

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[bornforastorm]

ok hannah, explain the saw thing to me (curious, not combative)

hooboy ben, good luck to me!!

first off, I think the appeal of Saw (and it's nine sequels lol) is partially and simply the appeal of all horror: it allows us to watch horrible things and think about horrible things from a safe, distanced place. It allows us to feel repulsion and horror and terror without any real risk. It's fiction, so however nasty it is, it's fake so it's fine, but the outlet for yuck and yikes still remains and can be cathartic. I think this is especially true in long running horror franchises, where after the first couple you know what you're getting into and can just enjoy the ride.

Now, for Saw in particular, yes there's the catharsis of the Scare and the Ick, the shiver and the shudder and then the laugh to release tension. Now, I understand not being into the Ick. I am not particularly into the Ick. I initially stopped watching the franchise after 3 because it was too icky for me! Eventually I went back and watched them all, but it took a long time and even now as someone less sensitive to Ick, I still look away from some parts. When I rewatch them, I tend to scrub through the ickiest parts (which makes each of these 90 minute movies only about 50 minutes long, natch).

So if not the traps and the Ick (which is the main appeal for some and certainly what my mother thinks the appeal is and is why she is therefore worried for me), what is the appeal? What makes Saw so compelling? What about these movies has driven me to madness? I can't speak for everyone, but for me--

(this may get long and it may not make any sense at all)

partially it's that I saw the first one when I was 14 and it changed me, and I'll always love it for that, and by extension I love what it spawned. It gave me the gift of horror movies! I had no idea a movie could do what Saw (2004) does, and suddenly the word of horror opened up for me. If a horror movie could be that, what else could horror be? That first movie made me insane. I watched it non-stop for months. It's a good little thriller starring Cary Elwes and a cute boy I had never seen before but was captivated by, and I was obsessed by this cheap little picture that's mostly playing in the sandbox of interpersonal dynamics against a backdrop of the Worst Day Of Your Life. "What would I do in this situation" is part of the fun mental game the audience plays when watching a Saw movie, and that first one engages with that question in such a small scale, almost sweet way and I love it. What would you do if you woke up in a crusty bathroom, chained to the wall, and your only instruction was to kill the other guy in the room with you? Well, you'd talk to him for eight hours and in the end you would hold his face and tell him everything was going to be okay. Love!!

After Saw 1, the movies get campier and goofier and, yes, ickier. 2 and 3 are pretty good! Icky! Then 4-7 are pure melodrama and camp and I looove the melodrama and camp. I recently bemoaned to dear friend Emily boasamishipper that it's a shame it's essentially impossible to watch these movies and experience the silly melodrama if you can't handle gore. So many good melodrama/plot scenes take place in locations where, like, there's a rotting corpse in the background. If you skip the gore completely, you will miss key information. It's unavoidable. And the traps are nasty. They're gross. I get it. It's undeniable.

BUT if you can handle gore enough to at least to close your eyes while it's happening, then tune back in, what you get is a really bonkers series with an insanely complicated timeline and even more complicated lore, populated by characters who are both complicated and complex and sometimes embarrassingly simple. Which is fun as hell. To me.

Mr Jigsaw himself is a very old man. He has 14 motivations that are constantly changing depending on what the movie feels would be most useful. Literally his motivations for doing torture crimes are: he has cancer, no wait and he's divorced, no wait and he and his wife lost a baby (the creepy doll was FOR the baby), no wait and he got denied health insurance coverage, no wait and he resents liars, no wait and-- and it just keeps going. He DIES in Saw 3, but they keep doing flashbacks so he can keep being in the movies, which complicates his history So much. These movies are dropping new Jigsaw lore constantly. This man claims to have never committed a murder, and in fact says he hates murderers, when he is personally responsible for dozens and dozens of gnarly deaths. Hypocrite king of all time. He's a civil engineer so he obviously knows how to design and build torture machines. Of course.

His main apprentice is a feral nightmare woman who also dies in 3 and largely appears in flashbacks after that. She's insane. We all love her. Mr Jigsaw keeps putting her in traps. She hates the other apprentices because she is daddy's favorite. It's the interpersonal dynamics, babyyy.

In 4, we're given another guy (Mark Hoffman! lame man of all time!) and are told he has always been in on the crimes, he was there the whole time we promise, and, oh right, he's a cop AND while on paper his backstory and motivation is pretty interesting, in practice he's weirdly boring AND he's honestly pretty bad at being the Jigsaw killer and other cops keep telling him that to his face. By movie 7 he's totally given up on the Jigsaw Killer thing and is just stabbing people. It's very funny. (and he's my favorite guy and I love him and he's in a total of 6 of these movies even though 99% of audience members can't stand him) (also when I say what in these movies drove me to madness? the true answer is this man's burly chest and bad acting)

Cops come and go and the movies can't decide how much cop drama they want to engage in. Luke Danes from Gilmore Girls is in 2 of these as the bitchiest cop I've ever seen. He weeps, he screams, he threatens witnesses, he's angry and suspicious and annoyed the entire time. He is part of two of the series' best traps. If the series brought him back tomorrow, I would cheer. Would it make sense? I don't care.

Characters who appeared in one scene two movies ago are now the main character because the other main characters keep getting Saw trapped. Sometimes characters essentially come back from the dead because they ran out of characters and needed someone to fill a certain kind of role in the story.

We never check in with Cary Elwes again, not even obliquely, until movie 7, and then we don't learn almost anything about what he's been up to.

Some people get put in traps for smoking or being depressed or engaging in light insurance fraud. Some people get put in traps for being rapists or murderers or Neo Nazis. Their crimes are in no way related to the severity of their traps. Does a private health insurance ceo who denies coverage sometimes (his job!) deserve to be melted in half by acid? Saw trap! Does a judge who shortened a manslaughter sentence deserve to drown in pig guts? Feels extreme! Saw trap! also there's a pig motif and nobody knows why! What's up with the pigs!!?? we may never truly know and that's part of the fun.

Movies 3 and 4 take place concurrently and that's a twist!! Movies 4-7 are so full of flashbacks it's sometimes hard to keep track of where in time you're supposed to be, and the question of "when did this series altering event actually occur?" can be hard to decipher. Movies fold in on each other at an alarming rate. Trying to explain the timeline of the Saw franchise is so bugnuts insane that my rl friend and podcast co-host made a game for me that was "Which Saw Event Happens First?" and honestly, it was hard!

So!!! I really love the goofy characters and the goofy plot machinations and the goofy lore-- and the movies take all these things so seriously, as they should. Any wink would ruin the magic, and how seriously 8 movies treat Mr Jigsaw and his very fucked up concept of morality and fairness is vital and delightful (I say 8 to mean 1-7+10, bc movies 8 and 9 are a little coy and smug about the whole thing in ways that rubbed me the wrong way. But then 10 is so We're Back Baby)

Then there's the general vibe and look of these things. The first one was made on one location with a budget of 1 million dollars. It's cheap as shit. It's so cheap they couldn't afford gore. Because the first one set the visual style for the series, they're all cheap as shit and they look it. They all look like shit. That's very comforting to me as a lover of the first one. It feels a little like being 14 again. The blue/green color timing, the frenetic editing, the grimy nasty sets (literally when a Saw movie has a true outdoor scene, it feels wrong), the at best c-list actors giving truly c-list performances, the goofy reveals set to a remix of the same song over and over again-- it all feels familiar and cozy, like cuddling up in bed during a thunderstorm.

It's a little bit nostalgia and a little bit the movie viewer I've become with age. I like to have fun. I like to be scared, but not too much. I like silliness. Saw is silly to me. I love it dearly. I love it's cast of nobody, not great, not that hot actors. These aren't hot teens getting murdered! I love it's heightened world where the cops never clean up a crime scene so if you want to revisit a trap from three movies ago, you can. It's outlandish and absurd and great.

I get why it isn't for everyone. It either clicks for you or it doesn't, you can either handle the gore or you can't, you either vibe with the silliness or you don't. Most people I know who like them, like them for that silly, camp quality and the ever increasing intricacy of the world, which one simply has to grin and bear and go, "yeah sure, this might as well be true." None of them are objectively five star films. Not even close. Their badness is beloved to me, their silliness, even their gross out traps and goops of gore. I've become someone who likes all that.

So in conclusion: It's silly!!!! it's so dang silly. If you can giggle and laugh at an icky movie, the Saw movies will make you giggle and laugh. There's much to laugh at. They're a roller-coaster ride of silly plot and gooey gore and weird characters and confusing, beautiful lore. It's the rules!!

The Saw Thing, for me, is that they're good, silly fun soaked in globs of corn syrup blood 🙏 they're all 93 minutes long 🙏 they're really fun to goof on with your friends 🙏 they gave me a crush for 14 year old me (leigh whannell, cutie) and a crush for 33 year old me (costas mandylor, burly brickhouse) 🙏 they gave me horror movies 🙏 they're the gift that keeps on giving and I can't explain it any more than that

[abysscronica]

I LOVE your characterization of the crew so much. You ruined me (in a good way) for reading any other Kid Pirates fic. You set standards!

I love himbo Kid ngl but your Kid is in tune with canon more imo. Cuz tbh when he was first introduced, I got the sly vicious vibe from Kid, like a true pirate who is ruthless AND cunning. I kinda like his pre-timeskip design more bc of the coat and vibe. Now he's a beefcake (which I love) but now he falls into the "beef and dumb" trope easily. We usually associate muscular man with "muscle for brain" which is not entirely true for Kid. He's reckless but he ain't dumb. You highlight it in your fic. He's still violent, straightforward and sometimes silly in a way but you show how he could pick up sth without having Killer spell it out for him.

Speaking of Killer, hooboi, he finally got moments in wano. I don't care how canonly he's ugly HE IS HOT. And his relationship with Kid ahhhhhh.

We don't know much about the rest of the crew. But fandom collectively agree that Heat is best boi. YOUR HEAT MADE ME SQUEAL HOW IS A ZOMBIE SO CUTE. He's just?? soft brute yeah. How did you do this to me (cut scene to canon Heat calling Sanji pathetic. I- I refuse canon.)

And everyone agrees once again that Wire is freaky IT'S THE FISHNET. Lately I notice tho that he's not that brooding and silent in canon? Several panels show him smiling and even crying. He emotes quite a lot for brooding type. I start to think that he has resting "meh" face but when he emotes he's cute.

What an AMAZING message, thank you so much!! 😭❤️ And sorry it took me so long to reply.

Honestly, I couldn't agree more with your reflection on pre-timeskip vs. post-timeskip Kid. I'm not a fan of the dumbing down Oda pulled on his character. One example is the "pick your battle" change: in Sabaody, Kid openly says that he doesn't want to stick around to meet an Admiral and tries to get away before Kizaru arrives. After the timeskip, he suddenly thinks he can take on one (or even two) Emperor(s) by himself? He charges against Shanks + allies head on? Uuuhh, okay...

Thank you for saying it, KILLER IS HOT. 🔥 I don't think he's meant to be ugly in canon either - canonically beautiful character are often represented with the slanted droopy eye (ex. Hyori).

As for Heat, I gave my interpretation of him as the secretly soft one in the crew (well, up to a point), and I think somehow it got popular, probably not only thanks to Captive, but simply because the character gives off those vibes. I don't refuse canon, Heat is still one of the highest ranking members of the Kid Pirates, and if there's something that they value is strength, although they are often too blind to recognize it in certain forms. Sanji shouting for Robin is an example of it in canon, birdie is another in my stories. But they learn. Because you see that, despite the absurd value they give to strength and pride, Heat immediately bends the knee and begs for Kid's life when it's his crew being on the line.

Yes, Wire actually seems more open than I thought, or than what we were shown pre-timeskip at least. But that's okay, I'm going to incorporate it in Bonds.

[sieglinde-freud]

1,3,5,6 and 15! I love women <3

hi faye!! 🩷 i already know this gonna be long hooboy

1. One of your favorite female characters?

frederica aesfrost triangle strategy. that is my GIRL. i dont know how many of you guys have played triangle strategy but me personally it changed my life. not gonna say too much because i dont wanna spoil it, but shes such a great female lead. shes basically fighting for the liberation of her people, the roselle, who the society of the game has basically condemned for no reason so if you go through her arc, you see how she deals with the pressure of having to free them, how hard it hurts to witness them in the state that theyre in, and the sacrifices she has to make to get what she wants and GOD. its so good. shes so good. also she cant fucking cook. me too girl.

3. What’s a female character you look up to?

ema skye ace attorney, specifically in aa4-6. ive never seen a character that made me go ‘GOD shes just like me fr’ like her (and apollo justice. but this isnt about him). i feel like it’s rare to see main characters like her really love something, and then FAIL pathetically at it. over and over. not that i enjoy seeing her not getting her forensic license, but it just feels so real. sometimes you love something and you’re so passionate about it but you just dont get it. and how does she react? is she still the bubbly ema you see in rfta with a “we’ll get em next time!” attitude? no!! no she’s not, she’s bitter, grumpy, snarky, dealing with the most annoying prosecutor of all time, and she’s so fucking real. be frustrated! be angry! life hands you shit cards you can be mad about how you have to play it! it’s nice seeing characters who pick themselves back up so easily, but most people arent like that and im certainly not, and seeing a character who’s just so honest about that is really refreshing. of course, she finally gets her dream in aa6, but that doesnt come without years and years of trying. in a universe where people are becoming lawyers at 18, it’s nice to see someone realistic. (im also trying to step foot into the forensic field eventually sooo… the fact that shes on the same path as me just kinda makes it hit harder, you know?)

5. A female villain you love?

pissing off both sides of the argument by calling her a villain and saying i love her but edelgard von hresvelg. before anyone says anything my favorite lord is yuri leclerc and the rest of them are equal in my heart <3 but edelgard clearly takes on more of a villain role in every route except her own, and even then she’s not entirely morally correct (duh). but i dont know. i wont say too much on your ask faye cuz i know you havent finished the other routes yet, but even when i played azure moon i couldnt bring myself to dislike her. her past with dimitri, the way she kept the dagger, and everything she reveals to you on her own path and how her past shaped her into who she is and what she wants and how she will stop at nothing to get it. i dont agree with the ends justifying the means, but i love characters who believe in that because it’s just so interesting. you want this thing so bad, nothing will stop you? your friends, your family, knowing you’re doing wrong because you think it’ll turn out right? what if it goes wrong. what if it blows up in your face? what if history remembers you as the villain forever? you’re already too deep in it i guess, so just keep going. shes so… ggrarghj. edelgard 🥹

6. A female character who got done dirty by the narrative?

athena cykes ace attorney. you’re telling me the entirety of aa5 is revolves around HER story, HER past, HER relationships, and it’s called “Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies”? the dual, by the way, refers to apollo. and you dont even play as athena during the climax of the game, you play as phoenix and shes just WATCHING. will they redeem her in aa6? you mean “Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice?” you mean the game where she gets ONE case on her own and it’s a FILLER CASE? admittedly a pretty good filler case but still. god. what the hell. i get phoenix sells but if you’re make new lawyers to take on his legacy, maybe? let them do that???

15. Female character you would defend with your life?

as usual there are so many to pick from. but i think this time i’m gonna pick nyx fire emblem. now, dont get me wrong. i will not defend her design. fates’ female dark mage design is pretty bad, especially since its used on ophelia and nyx. as much as i sincerely dont think nyx looks like a child as opposed to just a pretty short young woman, it’s…. blerghh. but aside from that? i cant STAND when people say shes just generic loli bait that acts like a child. because where? WHERE? point to where in her supports she acts like a child seriously. i know in her supports with charlotte she attempts to try it, but the point is that its unnatural and uncomfortable for her to do so. she is just. not like that. she doesnt try to play around like nowi or myrrh. shes not a child in dragon years or anything. shes just an older woman stuck in the body of a younger one, and if you would just READ one support, literally any of them, you would know that. but fates haters dont read, do they? clearly not. and its just a huge disservice to the rest of her character, which i think is incredibly beautifully written. shes such a standout in fates and i cant stand people ignoring that because “waaah nowi clone!” fuck you.