#PLOT;; FlashBacks...

[caemidraws]

Things kept quiet

[bloodymarymorstan]

So yesterday I watched all the historical scenes of Crowley and Aziraphale in chronological order and then feverishly came up with a new interpretation of the "you go too fast for me Crowley scene" so here it is:

Ok so now we know from season 2 that the Dirty Donkey pub where Crowley holds his heist-planning meeting is right across the street from Aziraphale's bookshop. This means that when Aziraphale goes to meet Crowley in his car he literally just walks across the street, but it also means that when Crowley offers to drive Aziraphale somewhere he isn't offering to take him home. The previous implication of that interaction was that Crowley was going to drive Aziraphale back to his bookshop, but Crowley knows that the bookshop is only a 30 second walk away so that's obviously not the case. In fact, Crowley doesn't actually ask Aziraphale if he wants to be driven home, what he actually says is "can I drop you anywhere?" and then "I'll give you a lift, anywhere you want to go".

So now we know that Crowley isn't trying to drive Aziraphale home, the conclusion we have to draw is that he's asking him if he wants to go somewhere else with Crowley. This is kind of a covert way of wording things, but Crowley is still testing the waters at this point in their relationship. He pulled this same tactic in 1941 when he said he would give Aziraphale a "lift home" and then ended up taking him somewhere else which led to them spending the entire evening together. "I'll give you a lift" has essentially become code for "let's hang out". This also explains why Crowley looks genuinely disappointed and upset when Aziraphale turns down his offer (and why Aziraphale acts apologetic about it).

But, considering that we know Aziraphale has fallen for Crowley by now AND that they went out together in 1941, why the "you go too fast for me Crowley" line? My explanation is this: in 1941, Crowley nearly got in big trouble with Hell simply for having been seen with Aziraphale, and not only did he not seem that bothered by it but he is now asking Aziraphale if he wants to go out again even though they've both been directly confronted with the risk this poses for him. I think it scares Aziraphale that Crowley is willing to risk so much just to spend time with him - he's not ready to confront the truth of what that means yet, and he's also not yet at the point where he'd be willing to take the same risk with Heaven. As usual, Crowley is a step ahead of him in terms of his commitment to their relationship, hence "you go too fast for me". Keep in mind that Aziraphale was very caught up in the moment in 1941 and has had a lot of time to reflect since then about the potential consequences of a relationship with Crowley, and he's just not ready yet even if he definitely wants it.

As a side note, I think it makes a lot of sense that this is the point when Aziraphale agrees to give Crowley the holy water (and why Crowley is more determinedly seeking it in the first place), because now both he and Crowley more fully understand the the danger Crowley will be in if Hell finds out what the two of them have been up to.

[iamhereinthebg]

Let's talk about the clock keepers boundary!

(warning: spoilers until chapter 124!!)

I've had some guess on where they could be from so let's look at what we have in the manga for now. I will keep things on surface level for the most part but it's just some things I noticed!

The first mention of the town is in chapter 111, where we finally have a view on their boundary.

A lot of fans already guessed from their clothes that they were not from Japan, this panel definitely confirms it and even points more precizely to a European country, mostly Western Europe. And also a country where Winter with snow exist.

It's also not an English speaking country, since Akane cannot understand the language and we know he has english classes at school.

Now there are several things we can look at to have more clues!

First, the architecture.

This type of house is called Timbered framed houses. It’s important to note that the roofs on those houses are really really sharp here. Which means theywere built for snow, so it can slide off the roofs more easily. The trees are also pines, something that can be found in a lot of Europe. (wood was needed to be able to create houses made of wood/with visible Framework( Little note: I know Italy was a guess for a lot of person because of the link to Pinocchio, but Italy main material for houses is stone not wood. And it is also not known for its winter.)

Here we can also see bricks which is something more associated to countries like Germany, Belgium or the Nertherlands, we don't have the colors so we can't guess from which minerals it was made for now.

But we have even more informations when we look at chapter 124!

The bridge and tower may be inspired by a fortified city, something that you could find A LOT in Western Europe during the middle age, not a lot of cities still have their entire walls but you can still see it if you go into old medieval towns. We can also see something that looks like a Belfry on several panels. Towers used mostly to indicate each passing hour of the day (may be a campanile or a bell tower (the difference is wether it's linked to religion or not basically)

Second! Let's do a little bit of clock making history!

I won't go into details, but there are some countries to point for this. England, The Netherlands and Germany. We already took out England before and we can easily erase Nertherlands from the list with the next step (my favorite one).

The food! I already had my suspicions confirmed with this bonus art from volume 22.

First of all, they have tea which is not something that was in Europe before the XVII century. But let's look at the sweets they have here.

Chocolates which look close to Belgian chocolate ( I say Belgian but other countries' chocolate is pretty close to it) , Christstollen Cake, and Spiztbuden.

We have even more to look at with the new chapter! And they confirm that it's indeed a stollen cake.

With all these foods it's now pretty obvious which area the clock keepers are inspired from.

Stollen cakes are German cakes, ginger cookies are from Germany too. I will also add that there is a chance the crescent moon cookies are VanilleKipferl. We have another panel showing Sausages and bread. Only the Almond is something not typical from Germany but which clearly was all over Western Europe with trades.

Their city already looked like the 'perfect christmas city' you can see in movies, inspired by German culture. And they also mention Mulled Wine which is THE beverage to take in any chritmas market in Europe.

Chritmas markets are inspired and coming from Germany first, but I wanna point something more.

My main guess was, Nuremberg, the city where the ancestor of the pocket watch was created, the Nuremberg Egg. It's also a Fortified city and it has forests around it. It's also known for its Ginger cookies!

So Germany would be a great pic, but the more I think about it the more I can also see the link to another region: Alsace.

Alsace is a region from France right now BUT it's a mixt of german and french culture (I will not make a history lesson but it is a place that always switched between France and Germany basically, now it's French).

All the food mentionned before are also made in the Alsace region!

It's situated in the Vosges, a chain of mountains known to have a lot of forets of pines and which is known to have villages like this:

Which were also the main inspirations for movies like Howl's moving castle for example. You can see the similarities between the artchitectures

The first ever Chritmas Market was in Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, when it was German and it spread accross Europe after.

I will now look at something I usually don't do because I exclude Aus from canon but it's just a funny thing to point out.

This au shows a snow town inspired by ginger bread houses. I just find it funny because Aoi is shown as a baker, with bread (which are not baguette I think, it's way larger here) but with some croissant on her table (disclaimer: Croissant are not french at first, this form here is, but it's from Austria otherwise) And Kako clearly has something similar to a Wine bottle in his hands. This au is the only one featuring them, was given with their volumes and the vibes are really similar to their boundary.

I would say no matter what it's definitely closer to German culture but I wanted to point out this region which is known for it's Christmas season and its typical houses.

I will mostly say that it's an inspiration from this region of Europe, I don't know if a real country is the reference for it since we don't even know where tbhk takes place, but it's always funny to look at those things :DD

Little bonus:

In a more messy note, the clothes. I put them at the end because besides their hats, I had no idea how to describe it, since it seems pretty typical of what people could wear in winter.

I did the research in the other way, to look for German and Alsacian clothing to see if it match and it kinda does but I don't think it's speficific to this region. The girls wear classic white Charlotte and big clothes with layers for Winter.

The clock keepers clothes are different, it looks like a mixt of Japanese and western European clothing (especially from england).

Their main outfits for Akane and Kako really just look like a typical waistcoast/costume you can find in the XIXth century in Europe and Mirai's seems more inspired by a mixt of a Kimono with several layers(she also has sandals and frills) and a coat? The little knots Kako and Akane have on their coats look like something inspired from Mizuhiki knots too (I actually saw a costume with those exact same knots in a museum but I didn't take a picture rip)

So I would say they probably changed slowly their attire when they arrived in Japan, we don't know since how many times they are here, but we know that what is happening in the deeper place of the boundary is linked to memories previous to their arrival. According to their origin I think we can say that it's pretty sure they arrived after the Meiji/during the Meiji Era in Japan (1868/1912), since it's a this time Japan mostly imported Western culture (for clothing here, the first contact was before this. And note: it was mostly rich people who dressed like this). And If we look at some others dates like the things they are eating, used to have or even their clothes, I would say it's more probably the Meiji Era and not in the XVs.

Another note is that their clocks have the numbers written in japanese on it (in the og version but it maye just be so it's readable for the japanese readers? idk if it's a choice or not).

I haven't searched much on their clothes but it was still something I wanted to note here ^^

[solar-bean]

Little Mokuba & Kaiba bros sketches

[lightgamble]

DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN | 1.04

How 'bout that friend of yours? You save his life? You lost him, didn't you, Red?

[powermove102]

if I had a nickel for every time Sawyer had intense beef with a wild animal in the jungle that just does what the animal does but it shakes Sawyer to the very core of his being that it consumes his life and he can't do anything else but wildly trudge into the jungle to look for it

I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice

[bobsayshallo]

Its funny how black sails could only get away with one mlm kiss and no sex at all, but oh my god they made that one kiss count for the plot.

[the-way-astray]

the fact that alvar hating sophitz while there’s little to no conceivable way he could know about sophitz having happened at all is one of kotlc’s lesser plot holes is astounding to me

[stellar-collective]

Ollie didn’t have high enough security clearance to have access to a single detail about what had happened to Phoenix and Mr. Crane.

Later in the day, another memo was issued assuring the EOD that the board had every hope of getting their top agent and their handler back, along with orders to keep every eye and ear open and immediately report any signs of them.

It quickly became clear that no other details were to follow.

Ollie wasn’t sure if the first part was just to quell panic over the star of the Agency getting burned or not, but it sure didn’t make him feel better. Phoenix was out there somewhere, almost certainly in trouble, and no one at the Agency was allowed to help them. He had no idea if Mr. Crane was even still alive.

…No one had even bothered to tell him in person that his friends weren’t coming home.

first ~ prev ~ next

*pounding my fists on the table* angst angst angst angst

i’ve decided that i’m going to set a very soft schedule of a new part every Thursday, but i’m making no promises lol

[gnorkel]

Favourite long-running LOST joke between me and nami is the idea that charlie once found a gay mag in sawyers stash and is now (homophobically) convinced sawyers gay because of it + his effeminate habits and is now trying to convince everyone else

[canisthelupus]

really dont care for the way some of you guys treat armand (and louis, for that matter) in favour of lestat. i like lestat as much as the next guy but there's a very clear dissonance in fan content between characters. oh and don't even get me started on the way some of you woobify claudia as if the whole point of her arc isnt the fact she hates being infantilized!!!!

[still-breathing-au-p3r]

Mitsuru perches on one of the cushioned stools in the command room with her hands clasped primly together on her knees. Shinjiro and Akihiko sit across from her on the couch.

Earlier she had sent them each a message requesting that they meet her here after classes were finished for the day. It would be best to talk about what had happened in Kyoto sooner rather than later, after all.

They had arrived promptly, but thus far none of them have said a word.

Mitsuru is hardly surprised to find herself so tongue-tied. She has been all day– truth be told, she’d had the invitation carefully composed before the first bell had rung, but it was well past midday before she could work up the nerve to send it.

Her initial instinct is to scold herself for her hesitation– why should she be so anxious over the idea of having a conversation with her first and oldest friends? That self-critical impulse is irrational, she knows this. She is well aware of how much is at stake for all of them.

Based on how, and how strongly, Akihiko and Shinjiro had reacted to Mochizuki’s speculation, it’s undeniably clear that there’s something here, between the three of them. They wouldn’t have looked so embarrassed if there wasn’t a grain of truth to it. But to actually name the beast–

It is an… intimidating prospect, to say the very least. It shouldn’t be, not after everything she’s faced, or that they’ve faced together.

The catalogue of things they have faced together, however, rather notably does not include matters of the heart. She’s at a loss at how to even begin.

All she can say for certain, is that her approach thus far has been agonizingly incorrect. The atmosphere she’s created feels more like a particularly grim business meeting than a frank and open discussion of emotions between friends.

She entertains the thought of retreat. They could limit this conversation to merely acknowledging the elephant in the room, and then agree to decide what they actually wish to do with it at a later date. Rarely, if ever, has she been so tempted to indulge in cowardice. Perhaps her future self will be braver…

Shinjiro, with a barely discernible grimace, rolls and adjusts one shoulder– his bad one. The one bearing record of the wound that had come so close to killing him.

It is far, far too late for that, but–

Shinjiro laughs once, very softly. Mitsuru is too bewildered to be even slightly offended.

He nudges Akihiko with his elbow, perhaps a tad more forcefully than necessary. Normally this would serve as a thrown-down gauntlet and lead directly into a fight, but today Akihiko merely laughs.

Akihiko rubs sheepishly at his bicep, looking down at his other hand as it fidgets in his lap.

Mitsuru delicately clears her throat. Even though the situation hadn’t been allowed to become entirely unchaste, and even if Akihiko had relayed it in a minimally lurid manner– the thought of him speaking of it aloud makes heat sting under her skin. The fact that he had only disclosed it to Shinjiro does nothing to make her feel less embarrassed– indeed, it may actually heighten her mortification.

…She does recall that Akihiko had shown a particular uptick in enthusiasm for his morning jogs– and afternoon jogs, and evening logs– throughout the month of July. She also remembers the behavior's occasional brief resurgences in August and– as a matter of fact– early September, right after Shinjiro had returned to the team. How foolish of her to not make the connection.

Then again, her own state of mind immediately after the incident had also been rather… preoccupied. Perhaps it’s no surprise at all, in that light.

Shinjiro slides his gaze over the meet hers momentarily. Despite her simmering nerves, Mitsuru cannot help but smile.

Akihiko actually looks a little taken aback. She may not know exactly what Shinjiro is referring to, but it’s certainly having an effect on the intended target.

[compress1repress]

writing what was meant to be a short smut piece but then I got carried away and now there's random backstory 🤦 baby let's just focus on getting this man pegged ok ❤️ no more tangents... and no we don't need to be bringing up his relationship with his father we haven't even got to the fingering yet

[lunartonehana]

anybody else feel a vibe shift in horizon’s writing department post-timeskip or is it just me

[carlyraejepsans]

I'm gonna need falin to come back and do some wild yuri shit with marcille as soon as possible because laios and marcille's dynamic is written specifically to make me insane

[mxtxfanatic]

Hello. What do you think of Wen Qing and Wen Ning? Their relationship with Wei Ying? I adore the Yiling siblings and don't understand why they are ignored in the fandom. I truly believe that it is Wen Ning who is Wei Ying's brother, but people attribute that role to Jiang Cheng🤧

I, too, am a Yiling siblings believer! I think the fandom ignores them because Yunmeng trio bullshit in favor of Jiang Cheng (because fuck “Jiang Yanli’s importance to Wei Wuxian outside of soup” seems to be the common sentiment in mainstream fandom) is so popular. Some of the adaptations also have a nasty habit of downplaying the significance of the Burial Mounds settlement era and the importance of the Wen remnants and the siblings to Wei Wuxian, specifically, so some people might just not know if they’re coming to the fandom from, say, the donghua.

On that note, while we see more of the Wen Ning/Wei Wuxian brotherhood due to the fact that Wen Ning is still, you know, alive (so to speak), I think a very under-discussed theme of the Yiling siblings is that Wen Qing taught Wei Wuxian that thank you’s and apologies don’t have to be about acknowledging debt. While the Wen siblings’ sacrifice certainly was partially inspired by their indebtedness to Wei Wuxian for rescuing and protecting their family, they were also motivated by the fact that they genuinely cared about him. Therefore, Wen Qing’s final words to him are not just a clearing of the debt bonds between them, but also an earnest display of gratitude and regret that they could not see it through to the end together. It’s what Wei Wuxian goes on to teach Jin Ling after rescuing him from the Nie graveyard and why he felt it important to thank Lan Wangji post-bathtub scene—which unfortunately led to their misunderstanding.

Just like with his mother’s words, he carries Wen Qing with him in his actions and worldview, and I just love that for them.