#I wouldn't call this an analysis though it's more of a personal opinion piece

[prowerprojects]

It's interesting to see that people think that Amy had given up on Sonic, or even stopped having such strong feelings for for Sonic at all, but I actually have a completely opposite view on this. (Especially since rewatching that Sonic Station Live bit with Amy and after seeing something that made me recontextualize her (Japanese) arc in Frontiers. And I have to stress that it's about the way her arc plays out, not the way she and Sonic interact)

I actually think nowadays Amy acts as if she and Sonic are already together. She's more chill not because she's given up, but because she's already got what she wanted, and now she's content. (Maybe what she wanted changed overtime though, I'll give that) There's always been this bit of mystery in Sonic and Amy's relationship – does Sonic like Amy back? It's always written deliberately in a way that Sonic doesn't give a straight answer when confronted with it outright, to keep this mystery going. And now it also has a bit of a "What are they already together or something?" on top of it.

I actually enjoy this kind of dynamic a lot. And I think it's especially interesting with Sonic and Amy being (in canon) a mlw couple. Because usually this type of dynamic I associate with same gender relationships that are only coded as romantic, and the writers wanted to write them this way (romantically, I mean), but couldn't due to censorship.

Though I will admit it's not like this dynamic doesn't exist in mlw relationships (and it's probably more prominent in shonen too), but it is more likely that they will eventually end up together and go full romo with all the kisses and dates and possible plans for a white picket fence, and lose their interesting dynamic to "well they're dating now". And even with a same gender relationship you know writers would make them outright romantic if they only could. (Which is great, it's always nice to have more open and undeniable representation) But also it lowkey makes me feel weird for enjoying this type of dynamic with those, because I know this is not the kind of relationship the writers wanted to portray, they just didn't have a lot of alternatives.

Which is why I really like the fact that Sonic and Amy's relationship is written this way deliberately, this tethering on the verge of romantic and non-romantic is very appealing to me.

[literalizzy]

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: The Review

Hi, there! Look who, once again, just finished another semester in Uni and remembered their Tumblr login?

This time, as I said before, I've just finished reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (which I'll be calling TILAL by now, since it's a huge a title). Therefore, I wanted to share my opinion with whoever feel interested in it.

4.8/5.0 (with spoilers)

Okay, in first place I believe there's something I should let pretty clear for everyone: I hate non-progressive storylines. It's a personal taste thing, but I'm basic, you know? Keep it classic and it never goes wrong. And our dearest book here being reviewed it's a chaotic mess of time lapses between POV's.

Don't get me wrong, though. By the end of the book, the author's choice to write this kind of storyline showed itself as being brilliant. Not really having this regular knowledge of every happening in Addie's life was key point to all the plot twists, making things way harder for us to predict the end.

However, as brilliant as it could be, it was not perfect. For the first 200 hundred pages the story was just so slow and dense, with so many new informations at the same time as nothing really important happened, that it was just... boring? Personally, I felt like I was making too much effort trying to get the pieces together for a past plot line that could have been much easier to understand if just written as usual.

Because of that I've taken at least a month for achieving that one sweet spot in books where we fall in love with it and just can't stop reading. In TILAL I believe this sweet spot was when Luc (I'll talk about our naughty boy later) is named Luc by Addie. Just then I could feel a real kind of connection with the story and actually felt excited with the reading (and I mean it, I've read the whole last part in three days).

As I said, it's probably a personal taste problem. This is not the first book I've read that gave me this kind of weird feeling because of the storyline, but it seems like I'm not the only one who feels like it. Anyway, V.E. was still able to handle it beautifully and gave us this amazing end where Addie shows itself as being one of the most smart and patient characters I've ever read about.

Moving on to the story: it warmed up the fantasy stan in me that was asleep since Shadow and Bones.

The whole dark academia aesthetic it brings, full of analysis over humanity, religion and love it's just beautiful. It got through all my expectations, mainly with Henry's plot. He, out of the three main characters, was the most humanized, of course, and with the most relatable problems and decisions.

Addie is amazing, smart, beautiful, strong in mind and body, but she's more of an ideal then an relatable characters in most parts of the story. Honestly, who would go through half her 300 years of life experiences and would not give up? More than that, would still find the strength to keep on fighting for as many years as needed since she could get its freedom? I know I wouldn't, I would have given up on the first month easily.

Henry, on the other hand, is human, is relatable. He's seen as boring for a lot of people but he's human, and Addie was able to understand it. He got lost, he wanted love and didn't know how to get it, he had people who loved him and opportunities in life and still felt like things were messed up. Because that's what being human is about, the feeling that we have so little time for so much expectations. His frustrations and wish for achieving things easier is completely comprehensive.

And finally, our bad god Luc. What to say about this man? I mean, I'm in love but I feel like i shouldn't, what just shows once again why I can't fit Addie's shoes. Honestly, I believe that he did love her at his way. I'm not saying it was a healthy love, neither am I saying it was good for any of them, but it was love.

The same goes for Addie. I believe she loved both: Henry and Luc. Love is not the same, it never is. Some say love should be about comfort and calmness, others believe it should be about passion or even jealousy. We can't really define what is indeed loving, but we can decide what is healthy for us or not, and so did Addie. She knew that, whatever Luc felt for her was obsessive, toxic at a certain way, and she was cold enough to understand and sacrifice herself in believe that it wasn't the kind of feeling that could maintain itself if she could stop it.

That all being said, this book is simply amazing. It was my first V.E. Schwab's book and may I say but I have some huge expectations over her now. She may, with a lot of regards in this affirmation, change my mind over storytellings. Who knows? I may try reading other books with this chaotic time lapses.

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 159

Chapter Summary - Tom and Danielle tell Luke their news before it is declared to the world.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

Copyright for the photo is the owners, not mine. All image rights belong to their owners

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe @wolfsmom1 @black-ninja-blade

Luke stretched his neck and cursed falling asleep sitting up the night before. Tabloids had caught wind of Tom being at Wimbledon and every last one to see it made note that Danielle was not there with him and assumed they had been the first to realise that she had left him or him her without any shred of proof or indication of such. It was hardly the most taxing or bothersome of stories but it covered more of the internet than Tom's recent outings so he had to keep an eye on it all the same. He found himself rolling his eyes at the analysis of some people declaring that Tom was depressed looking, or elated to be rid of Danielle, depending on their own personal thoughts of her. To be honest, Luke could never understand what would make a woman willing to endure the sheer madness of Tom's life outside of genuine love of him.

He looked at his watch and noted that Tom would be arriving at his office supposedly in the next fifteen minutes. He shook his head. Tom tried to be punctual, he really did, but he would get caught talking to someone or get overly interested in a book and genuinely be too polite to excuse himself or forget the time before being delayed and turning up late and apologising profusely. He was unsure why Tom asked to see him with no situation that he could think of to warrant an official enough meeting between them. He knew of Tom and Danielle's trip to the seaside with his family, he worried that perhaps something had gone awry there and the pair had seen fit to part ways, but his tone on the phone was pleasant, something he knew with confidence that Tom would not be inclined to be should his friend and his partner had broken up.

Only five minutes later, he received a call from his secretary informing him that his clients were waiting outside. He chuckled and he gave his assistant the go-ahead to let them in before waiting to see what it was he was dealing with, the plural giving him an indication it was not an impending breakup.

Tom and Danielle came in smiling, Tom embracing his friend and Danielle giving him a small peck on the cheek as they entered. “Hello, I was worried about this meeting at first, I see that was a terrible assumption on my behalf.” He indicated for them to sit across from him at his desk. “I assume that this is an official visit?” Tom smirked and handed a sheet of paper to his friend. Luke looked at him sceptically before taking the piece of paper and opening it. For a moment, he looked at the paper before looking up at the pair across from him. “Really?”

Tom smirk turned and lifted Danielle's hand, showing her ring to him. “Mum is having it put in tomorrow's paper because Danielle is working in London for a fortnight and she will be spotted wearing it, so we thought it best to inform you so to prepare for whatever madness arises.”

Luke reread the piece again before smiling brightly. “Well, after the claims from yesterday, this will be hilarious, congratulations to you both,” he looked at Danielle's hand. “Antique and classy, as though I could expect anything else.”

“What's this of yesterday's claims?” Tom asked worriedly.

“You, going to the tennis final by yourself is somehow a declaration that you two have gone your separate ways.” Luke informed them. “Danielle’s absence is nothing short of a formal break up announcement in their opinion.”

'Wow, this will be awkward for them,” Danielle scoffed. “Are we allowed any time apart? I dare say it is tiring being attached to one's significant other all the time. I was too busy stealing our niece for a few hours to boil myself in the unusually warm weather.”

“Yes, I cannot believe it had lasted this long.” Luke looked to the air conditioning vent in his office. “If that fails, I will be relocating to a freezer.” Tom and Danielle gave a laugh. “So, this is official? When are you thinking about a wedding? There's nothing rushing this is there?”

“No, nothing of the sort, we are talking about next summer, most likely. Nothing is planned yet, though Mum very much has plans to change that soon for fear we delay.” Tom informed him.

“Well, I appreciate the consideration. We can ensure everything is covered on this side of things,” Luke smiled before chuckling. “For a time, I genuinely never thought I'd see the day. You finding someone and settling down. Danielle, you made him see sense.”

“And this is my penance apparently,” she joked in return. “I’m sorry for the bother that this will cause you.”

Luke shook his head slightly. “Please, this is what I do as my living, I am just grateful that this is a good and pleasant situation to be overseeing as opposed to what others have to deal with. I will have this place ready for it, all I can say is like with the announcement that you two are together, there will be positive and negative reactions.”

“We know.” Tom gently rubbed Danielle's hand. “As Elle said, you will have to bear the brunt of this, so long as Elle stays offline,” he gave her a small pleading look.

“What, some people are ridiculous and hilarious?” She shrugged.

“And cruel and spiteful and some outright sick in the head,” Luke added, which Tom nodded to.

“They're the minority and the immature. People with odd notions of somehow finding Prince Charming and him ignoring obvious issues such as age, geography and other aspects and running away with them to live happily ever after into the sunset together. And I will admit, I enjoy their tantrums when I'm in the right mood.”

Tom shook his head and sighed. “You are mad.”

“You knew this anyway.” She laughed with a slight shrug as they all rose from their chairs.

“Elle, I need to speak to Tom for a moment, if that's alright?” Luke requested.

Danielle did not even blink before smiling brightly. “Of course.” She stepped out of the room and went to sit on one of the comfortable chairs outside Luke's office.

“A little warning?” Luke chuckled. “I know you said soon but you never mentioned it being this swift.”

“The last time I tried to plan around her, she overheard part of the conversation and thought there was something to worry about. I hadn't a time and place planned, I just went with what felt right and thankfully, she said yes.”

“Against her better judgement, no doubt.” Luke joked. “I am thrilled for you, Tom, I really am. How was your family's reaction?”

“You need to ask?” Tom beamed. “Mum is anxious to start planning.”

“So, it really is going to be a long engagement, as they do?”

“I don't think you could force her forward. Apparently, her cousin is getting married in the Spring of next year, which is already being noted as being too soon and to go ahead of that is a social faux-pas like nothing before by Irish standards.”

“I'll take your word for it. But being honest Tom, I am not sure Elle should allow herself read what some people are going to say, this will get a vitriolic reaction from some, in the same way Ben Cumberbatch and his wife suffered. I am not joking when I say that there may be reason to alert the authorities should they threaten her physically.”

Tom's eyes widened slightly. “They are just vocal online because of anonymity, they surely wouldn't….”

“They don't tend to, no but considering the abuse I physically witnessed her receive the time it was revealed she and Emma were friends before you began seeing one another, people seem to forget that they cannot say and do what they like without consequence. You too have noted how things have changed, Elle's safety from fanatics, and indeed yours is paramount. I think some may not take this well and get angered at you also.”

Tom studied Luke's expression. “What do you not tell me about what you see online with regards me and Elle?”

“You would lose sleep if I told you everything,” Luke confessed. “But with even YouTube stars being shot dead by supposed fans these days, no PR person can take any threat too lightly.”

“Alright, we'll be smart,” Tom swore, not certain as to whether or not he would say too much to Danielle for fear of scaring her when it was more than likely not necessary.

Luke made towards the door and opened it. When they stepped out, Danielle was looking astutely at her phone. She did not notice the two men standing beside her as she focused on the work plan in front of her.

“More changes?” Tom asked, knowing that she had been given two altered sets already.

She looked up at them and put her phone on standby. “No, just studying the street plan to see where are dangerous positions for large machinery.” She explained as she sighed. “I really should do more on my laptop or invest in a tablet, I am going bleary-eyed from looking at a small screen.”

“Business expenses, it's a great excuse,” Luke suggested with a grin. “I will alert everyone here to the imminent news so don't worry about that. You two have a pleasant day before your faces hit every celebrity news site and no doubt a tonne of papers and don't allow it to bother you.” He shook Tom's hand but Tom pulled him in for a hug. “You did better than you should have.” Luke jested.

“There's no need to tell me I am punching above my weight.” Tom acknowledged.

“Elle, congratulations, or commiserations, I'm not sure which is more suitable, it's debatable.” He moved forward and embraced her.

Danielle laughed at his words. “Well, you've had to endure him for enough of a period of time to know the truth in that.” She gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you for this and I really am sorry for any bother this creates for you.”

“If I did not wish to deal with public relations, I think it is safe to say I am in the wrong job.” He laughed as they walked to the office door. “I will be contactable if either or both of you want me and of course, I will be keeping you both posted on everything here.” After giving their thanks, Tom and Danielle left. Luke smiled at his friend's news and happiness as they did so before looking to the piece of paper in his hand and turning to his secretary. “Could you call everyone to my office please?” He requested, causing his secretary to go and do as requested. “We're in for a busy day tomorrow.”

*

The engagement is announced between Tom, only son of Dr James Hiddleston, of Oxford and Mrs Diana Hiddleston, of Aldeburgh and Danielle, the only child of the late Dr Matthew Hughes and the late Mrs Bridget Hughes, of Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland.

The next morning, The Telegraph declared to the world in its engagement section that Tom and Elle were engaged. To them, bar the texts of congratulations from those they had not told by text themselves, nothing was any different. Tom kept Danielle offline by strategically requesting that she assist him with a long overdue clearing of his wardrobe, as it was becoming cluttered. Before he said anything, she had a black bag readied, her sleeves rolled up, and a terrifying look of determination on her face, Tom felt allowing her online would be less painful at that moment.

“I don't want to dump anything.”

“There are clothes here with holes that are not supposed to have holes,” she pointed specifically to a pair of socks that Tom was certain he wore training for the London marathon over a decade previous with large holes in any seam it had. “Do you need these?”

“No.” A moment later, they were in the bag. She then held up a t-shirt with a hole in the armpit. “No, not that,” he pleaded.

“Have you worn it in the last year?”

“I haven't worn it in over a decade.”

“Then why keep it?”

“It means a lot to me, I have a lot of fond memories in this.” He smiled at the t-shirt before taking it from her. “In RADA, I always wore this before a performance that mattered, for grades and such.” He watched as she took it from him and folded it neatly and placed it on the bed with a loving smile before holding up something else. “Don't bother dumping that, burn it,” he declared, physically wincing at the shirt she was holding up. “What the fuck was I thinking?”

Danielle assessed the shirt and shook her head. “I think it's safe to say you weren't thinking. I take it you bought this when you were shitfaced someday and thought it a good idea?”

“No.” Tom growled before looking at her sheepishly. “I was hungover and my shirt was covered in...well not pleasant things and my lift back from Cambridge was due and there was no way I would be allowed in the car otherwise and it was the best of a bad lot.” Danielle laughed. “So burn it.”

She glanced over the shirt. “It hasn't been worn since has it?”

Tom shook his head. “I'm still trying to figure out how it got here, I'm fairly sure I dumped it years ago before moving here.” He watched as Danielle placed it in a smaller empty bag she took out. “What are you doing?”

“Donating it. That could be something someone else needs.” She smiled.

Tom could only smile at her, elated at the knowledge that the world would now know she saw him as worthy of something she held in such high regard like marriage.

[supertransural]

My Bloody Valentine, what the hell

Okay. I know I'm probably not writing a hot take with this one, but I just needed to get all my tangled up thoughts out in the form of coherent strings of words ("coherent" is debatable as you'll probably find out if you read this entire thing).

So here I was, watching a random commentary video, and this scene from 5x14 My Bloody Valentine was included in it:

Now that. That's a bi flag. We know how much care set designers put into the details of the scenes we see. This is an episode centered around love. The cupid here talks about "Love", as in, the broad term. The "all-encompassing" term, if you will. He also says he "loves love", which I personally interpret as "in all its shapes and forms", and I don't believe that interpretation of what the cupid is saying is that far-fetched, after all, he kind of is Love (with a capital L). So what does that scene mean?

Let's find out.

First of all, I just feel like I should mention that I think pansexuality would be a better way to "represent" that sort of sentiment around what Love is, but if I'm not mistaken, the pansexual flag was created after this episode aired, and even if the word "pansexual" has existed for a pretty long time in various studies and areas (usually in psychology, if I understand correctly?), and has been used in LGBTQ+ spaces for a while too, it's still not as "commonly known" in the day-to-day life of cishet people, at least not in the same way that being bi is.

That being said, here's one more little nugget before I do a quick analysis of the scene. The idea of being bi is probably the closest thing that any not-very-informed-but-supportive-ish cishet person could think of if they wanted to relate the concept of "love for the sheer sake of love, having love for anyone, love of the masses" to actual characters and how they're able to love their peers (or more accurately, which peers). It's not so surprising to me that this would be the flag chosen by set designers when trying to pass on the message of "this interaction is about love as a general concept, this cupid is love, this cupid loves everyone, and will bless any couple, and yeah in that scene two out of the three characters (other than the cupid himself) stand in front of that light, no reason haha". It makes sense.

Now, onto the actual substance of this.

First of all, because it's funny, Dean why are you literally staring at this cupid's dick, honestly, what the fuck, Sam is averting his eyes (good call), Cas looks like he's only interested in analyzing the cupid's face (more on that later) and nothing else, why are you staring downwards why why why and why (hello, jacting choices). Second of all, because it's funny too, why do you look slightly flustered, in an oh-god-this-is-not-a-drill-shit-oh-god-fuck-embarrassed way? I mean Sam looks like he's been to hell and back, but not flustered.

It's also specifically interesting to see both Cas and Dean being the ones standing together in front of that light. It happens just a little while before, right here:

They're. Staring at a cupid, whose job it is to bless couples, who's Love incarnate, he hugged these two idiots first before getting to Sam, which means something and I'm not exactly sure what but, if you still have braincells (unlike me) please tell me what you conclude of those facts compiled together.

In this particular scene, I don't think the flag is actually a pointer to specific characters being bi, I think it's more of a broad "yeah these guys love a little different" kind of thing. For example, we see Cas in front of that light a lot.

This is season 5, he's barely starting to understand what emotions are, but he's already faithful to Dean and his cause, he's beginning to get what liking things, what caring means. He doesn't figure it all out until way later (in my personal opinion, that is. And I mean... 15x18 anyone?) no, at that point he's driven by things like want, need, yeah, I'll say it, lust, or simple candid curiosity. But that ties into the idea that right now, in that episode, Cas' understanding of "Love" is very broad. He doesn't understand details yet, the only detail he knows is Dean vs the World, and all he gets about that is "the world matters to Dean, there's probably a reason for that, if I follow him around enough I'll probably discover it, and I trust him enough to lead me there". He's still an angel, fairly through and through. He's curious, though.

Refer back to that previous gif, Cas is watching with acute interest what that cupid is doing. Prior to this scene, he's known the "mission" that cupids uphold for thousands of years, but I doubt he's ever really looked at it with the help of the lens of actual humans (read: Dean). He's interested, this cupid's job is to create love, and that seems to be something inherently tied to what makes his charge... himself. That much he knows. Again, probably not in detail, probably not that precisely, but he's got a sense that this cupid represents something he doesn't know and hasn't felt before, yet something Dean and Sam are accustomed to, and driven by. So yeah, he's curious.

Now here's the thing. We see Dean standing in front of that light, both alone, with the cupid, and with Cas. On several occasions.

(something something something bi flag in the background something something something character centered around love something something something the word "dick" something something something what the fuck CW)

We see the cupid standing in front of the light (scroll back up), and we see Cas in front of the light, with the cupid, alone, and with Dean. What about Sam?

...Yeah, no. I replayed that scene several times and I didn't find one instance where we see Sam even remotely lighted by that flag. And when I say remotely, I mean like this:

The light being somewhat noticeable in the background. Even when we see Sam after he moves a bit, like so:

The light is nowhere to be seen. That's after the cupid's left too, so it makes sense the flag wouldn't be relevant anymore: the entity that it represents isn't there to give it meaning anymore. I mean, during that entire scene Sam's a bit (gross understatement, I know) of a background character, but that's simply because he's not the main focus of what the cupid and the flag mean.

Dean though. Dean's a focus alright. No one can ever convince me otherwise, he's bi. That's just a fact at this point. But that's not all the flag and the cupid mean when relating to him here. He's beginning to form a type of bond with Cas, albeit small. He's starting to open up a door that he's never really noticed before: the one that lets people other than blood relatives (or close runner-ups like Bobby) in. And he's facing that head on, like how he's facing the cupid. Both he and Cas do that actually, in their own way. They're looking straight into the eyes of the unknown (Cas literally looks into the eyes of the cupid): for Cas it's this strange foreign thing called emotion, and for Dean it's letting a known emotion be directed at someone new. They're the ones that talk to the cupid, not Sam, because they have things to be curious or apprehensive about, in the context of love (or different love).

They stand in the highlight of that flag, because they're the ones discovering new things (hello, 10x16 speech, yes I'm relating a random scene with a funny light to a speech 5 seasons later, leave me be, I'm insane) and not Sam, who's for one: human, so he already knows what love is, and two: way more in touch with his feelings than his brother. Basically, the concept of Love being something strange, unknown, new, different, scary, worth punching it in the face for, deserving of focused study, take your pick, doesn't really apply to him.

How could I relate this to destiel you ask? Very easily, I say. This, theydies and gentlethems, is a representation of the first step both Cas and Dean take towards each other. A toe in the waters of a frightening and captivating new thing. And again, they face it in a really direct manner.

That is... Right up until the cupid mentions John and Mary. That's when it goes downhill and we understand that whatever Dean and Cas have going on is about to take years of work and a million steps still need to be taken.

Exhibit a:

Look at Cas' face, when the cupid mentions the Big Plan. He starts by studying the cupid (again, curiosity), then looks at Dean, then Dean briefly looks back (perhaps back at Cas but that's debatable), and that's when Cas looks down, embarrassed. I read that as: "Ah yes, as interesting of a concept this cupid is, as fascinating as these two humans' perspective on his mission is, it's still dictated by Heaven, and they're not going to like that. I'm still dictated by Heaven (as I should (???)) and... He's not going to like that. (???)".

Annnnd then Dean punches the cupid in the face, which... Good point, Cas, he indeed doesn't "like that".

So what are those steps highlighted by the ending of that scene? Well, Cas is an angel. Dean is clueless about so many things. He doesn't have faith. Cas isn't exactly free. It's just always about the plan and the mission, whatever comes up in their tumultuous adventures together, it always brings them right back to the core of why there's still such a long way to go: who they are.

All in all, that scene is just. Imagery there, imagery here, reference after reference, big red arrows (yes, I'm using "arrows" in the context of a cupid episode, I fully intend this sentence to have a double meaning) pointing at Dean and at Cas and at them both together. It's not necessarily a direct reference at either of them being bi, although for obvious reasons that's not exactly off the table either, it's sort of a piece of foreshadowing for what's to come, both in that season itself, and the rest of their relationship (here I use "relationship" as a term meaning something like "friendship-that-evolves-into-something-more-later-on").

In short, I'd like to conclude (you can use that as a TL;DR) by quoting my brain when I first saw that flag and connected a couple dots:

"lol bi".