#and also just thinking about how like...and this is a separate post

[unloneliest]

i tried leaving this in the tags but like half of what i had to say got cut off so i hope you don't mind me adding earnest meta to your post.

(pre post disclaimer: i treat redemption as a separate canon that's inspired by and in most ways congruent with original run leverage, but when i'm writing meta, it's exclusively about what's canon in the original series)

the thing is. eliot IS telling the truth. he might have allies he might have friends but when it comes to work he's been working alone because that's how he feels safe after moreau. eliot works alone because to him, it's both safer for himself and others that way.

like. no matter what you think happened. eliot at the very least trusted moreau enough to start working for him and then could not get out of that situation until well past when he would've wanted to due to the power dynamics. ever since then? eliot does not trust himself as an accurate judge of character. he doesn't trust himself to trust and work with someone else.

i really think the fact that he is the leverage team's medic (at least at the start of the series, though we don't really see anyone else ever demonstrate the kind of medical skills he has) says a lot about that too.

like. we see eliot at the end of the bank shot job is the one who's taking care of nate's injury. and that just verifies the completeness of his aloneness and lack of trust in others for the years between moreau and the team. he's been taking care of his own injuries.

he clearly wants companionship, wants a team he can trust. eliot cares so deeply and quickly. but he views himself as the problem. he views the part of himself that connects like that as the problem because of how it fed into his dynamic with moreau! he knows he is loyal and works well with others. he just also knows he's willing to do anything for the people or person he's loyal to. and he knows that that's not necessarily a good thing.

i don't actually think eliot likes nate very much at many points in the show. i don't think he necessarily even has the highest opinion of nate much of the time. but he trusts nate to be exactly who he is. and who he is is someone with a strict moral code that is very obvious and that eliot won't be surprised by, even with nate's inconsistancies. i think eliot really understands the exact kind of man nate is in both good and bad ways and that feels SAFE to eliot.

because if nate is who he's choosing to trust and be loyal to, he knows exactly what he's signing up for. he won't be taken advantage of again for violent and selfish purposes. it won't happen the way it did with moreau. that's a choice eliot consciously makes.

like! as much as nate knows a lot about eliot and parker and hardison and sophie at the start of the show. they all know him too. and it's shown many times in season 1 that eliot does know about nate. he's the one who mentions nate's son to him in the pilot. he's the one who often pushes to find where nate's limits are and at what point nate will become volatile & lash out (see: the snow job).

and knowing that the original run heavily implies that eliot was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father after the death of his mother, and that he had siblings—being able to infer that he is good with kids because he had younger siblings, and that the very first protector role he took was as their protector.

that makes it... extremely clear that it is not an accident that after sophie, eliot is the person who most frequently manages nate and acts as a buffer between him and the rest of the team. in many ways eliot's the person on the team who absorbs the most of nate's bullshit. and that's something that eliot is voluntarily and at least somewhat knowingly doing. it's a repeating relational pattern.

and. what's happening here with nate is still better than what he was experiencing with moreau.

it makes sense why eliot did not and could not trust others for such a long time. it makes sense why it takes him through most of season 5 before he willingly lets down his guard about something (past almost engagement in s1 had to be talked about because she was a client; moreau backstory is something he did not choose to share. he only opens up about his dad four episodes before the series finale).

so. THIS. is the point. at which. i first was going to wrap up. but then i remembered. that eliot isn't even the person who decided he works best alone.

we hear it straight from moreau's mouth in the big bang job: "you work alone". multiple times in conversation with eliot in this episode, moreau asserts that he still knows him and can speak for him ("he prefers beer"). that his opinion holds weight in eliot's life ("the white hat doesn't really suit you, but i love the hair").

(commentary specifically on eliot's hair is insane and awful. based on timelines and eliot's ability to clock specificities of people's past based on their appearance and mannerisms, it's very likely that he kept the short hair from while he was in the military through his time with moreau, which would've been after/likely somewhat overlapping with the end of his time in the military. so growing his hair out once he got out of the situation with moreau was likely as much about obfuscating his personal history from being easily clockable and was about autonomy after abuse.

moreau commenting on it is so cruel. asserts ownership over eliot's physical form again by granting his approval like it's needed or wanted.

he loves eliot's hair. it's not untouched by moreau anymore.)

ANYWAYS. moreau is the person. who decided eliot works best alone. isolation is a part of abuse. it's absolutely a part of how eliot was controlled by moreau. how much did moreau treat eliot like he was inherently dangerous, an attack dog, a weapon? how much did eliot internalize that?

as an abuse survivor: even if you know what the person abusing you believes about you is wrong, that shit is insidious and being repeatedly exposed to it changes your perspective on yourself. even if you're aware and trying to fight against it.

i don't think eliot was aware and fighting against it. i'm pretty sure eliot internalized it significantly. i'm not sure how much he's even been able to unpack the ways he was victimized by moreau since eliot was also complicit in atrocities.

(it's a tricky knot to untangle, it's not like he can see a therapist about it, and it's pretty clear that the connections he forms with the leverage team are the most intimate and trusting relationships he has had since before moreau. and again. the first time we see him voluntarily open up about anything. it's the low low price job. episode 73 out of 77 in total).

so on some level eliot considers himself inherently dangerous and avoids working with others' for their sake. on some level he does not trust his ability to identify who's safe to trust and works alone for his own safety after what he experienced with moreau.

and on some level, he likely considers himself a weapon that, once he starts working with/for someone, can be used in extremely destructive ways. and believes that the main way to avoid that happening is to not be in the position of someone using him, because once he starts working with/for someone, he knows he likely won't walk away before it's too late.

but if he's been dehumanized so much he even views himself in that manner, it makes sense that when incorporating himself with a team, part of that is choosing who will use his skills. part of that is not fully escaping the repeating relational patterns that have been hurting him for most of his life.

that got a little heavy. i can talk about eliot spencer and trust and team dynamics and abuse for hours. i have before and i will again.

pivoting slightly. the first time we see someone claim eliot works alone is when nate is claiming as much about him, parker and hardison in the pilot: an observation based on years of interacting with all three of them in his role as an insurance investigator.

(based on the rashomon job, we can assume that eliot's been being hired to work alone for maybe two? two and a half? years pre-canon, and that his time with moreau predates that. eliot's pre-canon flashback to belgrade in s1 is 3 years before canon, and moreau was familiar enough with that job to be reminded of it by their poolside interaction in the big bang job. meaning eliot either still worked for him three years pre-canon or moreau's been keeping a close, close eye on him through the years even when he got out. this is news to me. i feel sick).

when we see eliot claim he works alone in the pilot. that's a response to hardison teasingly giving him shit about the safety of the comms. and it reads as gruff, and grumpy, and eliot reinforcing that he genuinely prefers to work alone.

but eliot's misdirection about who he is as a person is constant, and it's way more reliable to trust what he does over what he says about himself, and the very next thing he says after telling hardison "you're precisely why i work alone"?

well. he defends the three of them to nate with a "hey, relax, we know what we're doing". he's the first person to call the team a we.

so "you're precisely why i work alone" feels less like a statement of genuine dislike and annoyance and more like a. you're precisely why i work alone because you're already getting under my defences. you're precisely why i work alone because you're reminding me all of the reasons i don't want to. you're precisely why i work alone. you would be way too easy to love. and my love isn't safe.

which makes the fact that. when eliot does open up about any piece of his past for the first time, it's to hardison. just. so much more overwhelming. oh my god.

shifting just slightly one last time. eliot's extreme reluctance to trust and difficulty opening himself up to work with others again, season one being less than three years after he escaped his situation with moreau? that makes it make perfect, painful sense that eliot takes sophie's deception in the first david job so damn hard.

a betrayal of trust right when he was starting to feel comfortable trusting. from a member of the team that's the first context in which he's been able to start healing in a meaningful way. after everything he's been through. and he accepts sophie's apology right away.

well. where does that leave us. if we're trusting eliot's actions over his words, it leaves us with this: eliot works alone because he thinks he has to. and that has nothing to do with whether he wants to.

it's the same dichotomy as his final exchange in the show: being told he never needed anything, but finally being in a place where he can deny that claim. to state that he did, but now that he's found parker and hardison, that need has been fulfilled.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Eliot Spencer: I work alone

Also Eliot Spencer:

Meet my Scottish buddy, Donnie. He'll do an Indian accent for our con, no questions asked.

Meet General Flores. I tried to kill him once, and then saved his life twice after that.

Meet Shelley. We used to assassinate terrorists together.

Meet my mentor, Toby. He taught me how to cook.

Meet Vance. We were in the service together doing covert government ops.

Meet Paul. He saved my life when we were in the military, and you already saw me almost cry when I thought he was dead.

[champagnetommy]

saudade

- fic, 3.1k words, post 8x16

[ soh-dahd; Portuguese soh-dah-juh ]

noun:

1. (in Portuguese folk culture) a deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent

see also: “the love that remains”

It’s midnight, the night before their wedding and Buck is feeling restless. He’s double and triple-checked all of his preparation lists and everything is accounted for. He even had Maddie look it over. And yet. He has the distinct feeling that something is missing.

In a bone-deep feeling kind of way.

And sure, he could attribute it to wedding jitters, but marrying Tommy is the thing he’s been the most sure of. He’s not nervous, there are zero doubts in his mind or heart. Now, he wishes he hadn’t made them sleep in separate places, it was a silly superstition anyway, and he could really use Tommy here to ground him. There’s nothing that says he can’t call him, though.

Tommy picks up on the first ring. “Well, this is a nice surprise.” Buck can hear the fond smile through the phone. “You weren’t asleep, were you?”

“Nah, I was just thinking about my future husband, actually. I think you might know him?”

Buck laughs, his heart full of love for this man, grateful for the way Tommy can instantly put him at ease, even with just his voice. “I might,” Buck says, a wide grin spreads across his face.

Tommy chuckles on the other end. “Everything okay?”

“Y-” Buck falters for a second. “Yes, of course, everything’s good. Can’t I just want to talk to my hot fiance?”

“Evan.” Tommy waits.

“Yeah, okay,” Buck exhales a nervous breath. “I- I don’t know. Nothing’s wrong, really. I just… feel like something’s missing? I’ve checked all our lists and- and everything’s in order, all our guests accounted for. But I can’t shake the feeling and I can’t sleep, or stop thinking about it.”

Tommy’s quiet for a moment, probably trying to come up with the right words to sooth Buck’s anxious thoughts.

“It’s silly, I know, I told you it was noth–”

“– Sweetheart, I don’t think it’s silly,” Tommy says. “If that’s how you feel, then it matters to me. You matter to me.”

Buck’s eyes water, touched at the way in which Tommy cares about him, cares for him. He’s stitched his love in every fiber of his being, deep into his marrow, and tucked his own heart in his ribcage, beside his own. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Evan.” Buck hears the sound of keys jingling and a door closing. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m coming to you.”

Read more on ao3

[karaaaak]

More specter infodumping‼️🔥

Firstt, I wanna talk about my favorite specter design, Ada’s

(Random but I love the added detail that the border information thingy is different for each character)

I don’t have to much to say about it so I’m just gonna go ahead and list some things, some are speculation, some are just things I noticed

CW for some of these

Due to the fact that her limbs are separated in her specter (along with a couple other things I won’t go into) I pretty highly believe that Ada was dismembered after her murder. Mostly liking leaving her body unfound (either because it was unrecognizable or simply because nobody came looking for her

The fact that one of her abilities is her scream also ties in with the way she was murdered. It was planned. She was taken out to the woods/forest specifically, so it highly unlikely that anybody would or could hear her if she did or tried to scream for help

Her specters body seems to be growing moss which relates to the place she died, the forest. Same thing goes for the animal bones.

She seems to be able to summon her specter quickly when ordered too. I’m not to sure why this is. It could just be because without her specter she is “useless”, her specter makes her powerful, makes her wanted, something she isn’t used to being.

Going along with the previous one she quickly untransforms when asked to be someone she wants to appear as neat/good infront of, first Annabel, and later Morella. should be noted that she detansforms quicker when asked to my Morella, and was hypnotized at the time. This is most likely because of her fear of being seen as unladylike, unattractive, and/or disorganized.

Im not to sure what to add to that, I feel like Im forgetting some things but idk.

Next, I wanted to originally talk about Morella after Ada (totally not because I ship them and wanted to put them in the same post..) but I can’t find much on her specter, so unfortunately I’m doing Monty

Monty, is a Dybbuk, more specifically, a Son of Belial. Which is “a term occurring in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament which later became personified as the devil”

The Name itself comes from Hebrew and means multiple things depending of how it is translated. Some include “worthless, yokeless, may be have no rising, or never to rise”

In the Bible, Proverbs 16:27-29 (I think) to be more specific, read as follows:

“A man of Belial plots evil, and on their lips it is like a scorching fire. A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. A violent person entices their neighbor and leads them down a path that is not good”.

According to google “In the context of the Bible, "Belial" refers to wickedness, worthlessness, or something that is of no value. A "man of Belial" is someone who is evil and morally corrupt.”

Uhm, I’m not to sure what else to add, since I don’t pay too much attention to Monty’s specter in particular. I would encourage you to do some more on you own, since I can’t provide to much on him :P

If you have any feedback, tips, yada yada, pleaseee comment then, reblog, idc. 😭

[cheruv-ii]

Ben Pincus:How he and his paranoia are portayed in Chaos Theory, from the viewpoint of someone with paranoia.

Ben and his paranoia has both pros and cons in CC/CT, in this I will be focusing more on CT, but I will be comparing it TO how it was handled in CC to highlight certain points. I'm going to try to separate this into specific points so I don't ramble but also, it's me, I'm gonna ramble, lmao.

So to split this up, little table of contents:

-The PROS of Ben's paranoia

-Ben's paranoia in CC vs CT

-The Class Clown-ism of Ben's paranoia

-Ben's Trauma and how it affects his Paranoia

-How other Characters treat Ben's paranoia

(Those last three are all gonna overlap lmao)

Okay so to start, just so this doesn't feel like a total Hater™️ post, I will give the pros of Ben's paranoia in CT. As someone who does have major paranoia, I do appreciate seeing rep in media, it's pretty few and far between when it comes to characters who actually HAVE paranoia vs characters who just experience paranoia once or twice, so I appreciate when it is done. The basis of CT literally stems from Ben's paranoia, if it weren't for him deep diving DJR and getting those messages, the camp fam would be Atrocikibble, and CT wouldn't have happened. His paranoia plays a major part in the show no matter how you look at it, and I do appreciate that it's done in a way that you really cannot erase his paranoia, sure, you could say he was right and therefore “it's not paranoia” but also, no you cannot, lmao. Yes he was correct in the long run, but that doesn't negate the fact that all of his fears STEMMED from his paranoia, the way he handles things STEMS from paranoia, Ben very clearly HAS PARANOIA and has since day one. One moment in CT I really appreciate is in s1 ep2, specifically the scene where he and Darius have that conversation about his fears and how he immediately assumed Mo was after them. The line “Don't you think I want to? But I can't!” Really got me in a slash pos way, having paranoia is a lot of knowing the things you're afraid of aren't worth the fear, it's wanting to stay calm, whether the situation you're in is GENUINELY dangerous or just a manifestation of your paranoia, but being unable to control it because no matter how times you or anyone around you tells you that you're okay or what you're afraid of isn't real, your brain will STILL be convinced that YOU ARE IN GRAVE DANGER or SOMETHING is going to go wrong, and I appreciate how that was shown in that scene.

Now, the unfortunate part of this, the cons, which is what most of this post will be.

To start, let's compare how it was handled in CC vs CT. Imo, CC Ben's paranoia was taken SO much more seriously, not even in the sense of the class clown-isms, which I will get into later, but in the way it was actually written. In CC, yes, Ben's paranoia is poked at, especially by Kenji lbr, but it's realistic, it's other teenage kids being shitty, and that happens irl, a lot. HOWEVER. As the camp fam gets closer, as they experience these traumas together, they learn to take his paranoia more seriously, as does the actual plot. The dude went from heavily sheltered to being thrown into an INCREDIBLY dangerous situation, got torn out of a moving monorail which lead to him nearly FALLING TO HIS DEATH, and then on top of all that, had to survive assumably around a month alone as someone with, lbr, next to no survival skills. When he came back, yes he was different, he was “tough” and not that paranoid little dude from s1, HOWEVER AGAIN, you do see multiple moments where his paranoia shines through, the entire plotline of him wanting to stay on the island was a major part of that, to him, the island was—ironically—a safe place, not only because he found himself there, found a way to escape his paranoia, but because he wasn't being constantly invalidated for having those fears. Ben was ALLOWED to be afraid on the island, and while I could be reading into it too hard, that feels like one of the reasons Nublar specifically was a safe space, aside from the typical self exploration plotline. Then in s4, you have the plotline on MC, where Ben's masking starts to falter, because that's what the Jungle Boy™️ personality is/was, a mask, that paranoia comes back now that he's been taken from his safe space, he doesn't know how this island works, he's not knowledgeable on it the way he was with Nublar, he's lost the control he had on Nublar, and that allows the paranoia to take that control back. The other's see that, clearly, esp Darius (which I will get into, once again) and they take it seriously, they help him, they don't belittle him for it, because they understand. His paranoia is handled through the entirety of the show, it shows itself both in large bouts and little trickles throughout the plotline, which is realistic to paranoia, it doesn't ALWAYS show itself but it's always there. Plus, CC takes it seriously, yes they crack a few jokes here and there, but its a kids show, they've gotta, fuck they crack jokes about Kenji's abusive father nothings going without a crack being made, but even with the cracks, it's not made out to be a joke.

That leads into the Class Clown-isms of CT Ben's paranoia. While there are parts of CT that takes Ben's paranoia seriously, like in ep2, so many scenes that involve Ben's paranoia are turned into the butt of the joke. The entirety of s1 leans off the “We're being hunted!” Gag, which sure, in itself is funny, but when its repeated over and over again, and even being played as a joke after they know they are. Quite literally. Being hunted. Kinda feels off to me. One part in s1 that stands out to me is the “Your favourite” line, yes on surface level, it is just a haha funny dark joke between friends, but at the same time its one of the lines that really shows to me just how— unseriously? They take Ben and his trauma. We need to remember, Ben wasn't just flocked by pteranodons at some point where he got a lil scratch or something like that, after finally being brave and facing his paranoia, he was RIPPED OUT of a MOVING MONORAIL that was multiple metres off the ground, TOSSED AROUND by those pteranodons, in which he thought he was about to become their FOOD, before being dropped, where he probably thought he was going to fall to his death, mind you, HE NEARLY FELL TO HIS DEATH. Not to trauma olympics the camp fan, but arguably, that event in itself puts Ben pretty far near the top for most traumatized in the group, and that's not even taking the month he spent alone on murder lizard island into consideration. From the looks of things, Yaz is the only one who really got therapy, yes Ben helped Mae on MC, but that doesn't count as actual therapy. So let's take this dude, with major trauma, on top of already there major paranoia, with zero therapy, and suddenly he's just— totally unphased? It'd be one thing if it was just that one off joke, but they do it again in s3, when he gets dragged by the Dimorphodon. No he wasn't getting flung around like in CC, but you mean to tell me that wouldn't be a little triggering? I mean, in CC he has the tablet run in with the pteranodons and the way his panic attack is handled and shown is SO well done to me, down to the little details like the way his hand trembles when he hears them calling, but in CT he's just gonna make a little joke to Davi like “haha yeah man getting dragged by carnivorous flying reptiles amirite?” WHAT. They make SO many cracks at the monorail incident but NEVER address it in a serious manor, even the joke about the pteranodon stealing a freshmans backpack was a crack at it. While the other characters’ traumas are taken seriously, Yaz’ ptsd, Sammy's family issues, Kenji's— life, Brooklynn's arm and near death experience, and Darius finding Brooklynn, well what was left of her, Ben's traumas are always played down to a joke. Any time Ben experiences negative emotions it's played down to a joke. Look at the panic attack in s2, my guys was very clearly tweaking out, but the only one who noticed anything was legitimately wrong was Yaz, while the others made.. potty jokes? Okay.

On that note, the way the characters treat Ben's paranoia is another things that's changed so heavily since CC in an UNBELIEVABLE way. Sure, you could say “oh 6 years dif!” time doesn't change that your supposed best friend has a debilitating mental illness that should be taken seriously, but okay. Imo, a lot of the character writing and relationships were.. fumbled, in CT, but that's another rant for another day, this is SPECIFICALLY about Ben. The characters treat him like he's a comedic punching bag, from the whole we're being hunted thing, down to him having a gf, so much of it is just— cruel and ooc? Darius used to match Ben's freak hard and you're telling me he's gonna sit there and mock him for every little thing he does? The girls, who BEN HELPED GET TGT, and used to be so supportive of him, even made jokes. I will say the way the lead up was written added to it, because wdym Ben hadn't told anyone from probably at least a year that he had a gf, and then when he DID, he gave them the most sus “She lives in… europe?” And called it a day, it was yet another thing that was inserted despite it making zero sense just to fuel an unnecessary plotline, but I digress.

Now Gia, oh Gia. Listen, I don't want this to come off as a “Let's shit on Gia!” Thing, because that's not what it is, as I've stated before, Gia's writing definitely leaves things to be desired (Like yk, a character outside of being “Ben's girlfriend”, but that's neither here nor there), but I don't think she deserves hate. Character criticisms and hate are very different things, especially when it comes to women in the media. However, let's talk about her and her relationship to Ben and his paranoia rq.

Tl;dr, it doesn't. Fucking. Work.

The WORST thing to do when it comes to a person and their paranoia, is to reinforce those fears, it's one thing to reassure people that what they're feeling is valid, but to outright tell them that “yeah so everyone is after you and you're in constant danger” IS BAD. Starting out their relationship with them making a silly little quip about phones and being traceable does not sit right with me, at all. All that scene tells me is that their relationship is based off fuelling that paranoia, reinforcing unhealthy habits, and just— terrible writing decisions. Which is so funny considering how ignore Ben's paranoia is in s3. To put it simply, imagine your partner having a paranoia induced hallucination, are you going to a)reassure them that it's not real and they are safe or b)start screaming and going “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?”. If you chose b, maybe cozying up with someone who suffers from any sort of psychosis is not for you.

To give a rundown of all this, yes, I am glad paranoia is being represented in the media, and no, not all of the writing surrounding Ben's paranoia is bad; However, a lot of the writing, specifically in CT, runs off ableist stereotypes surrounding paranoia and utilizes them to make Ben, a character who DID have incredible character writing in CC, the butt of the joke. So much of Ben's character in CT is dumbed down to be comedic relief, whereas the others are taken so much more seriously, yes, there are jokes made with them, but it's not their. Entire. Goddamn. Character. It's clear that the writers of CT can write trauma and fear and take it seriously, but they missed the mark with Ben, hard, which sucks because CC Ben is genuinely one of my favourite instances of paranoia represented in media.

I really hope at least some of this is addressed in s4, but I don't have high hopes, for now I will simply run with canon CC and the canon CT I have created in my head 🙏

[missduskdawn]

i simplified the post on purpose for the sake of teasing you :D

but also! the very first post op made, i'll copy paste it here, and bold the part you apparently didn't read, since you loveeee to say i'm the one pissing on the poor here

'pro-tip: don't ever use the sentence "thousands of years" in your worldbuilding unless you really know what a thousand years is like'

don't ever

so yes, OP did very clearly say to never do x :DDD they opened the entire discussion by making an absolute statement :DDD

anyway, nothing i said was incorrect

ancient egypt is believed to have been unified around 3100 bce, x, and in 332 bce fell under the rule of alexander the great when he invaded it, x

the pandyan empire did start around 6th century bce, x and ended around 1350, (a bit earlier as 1323 is when sri lanka declared independency and that took out the last traces of it, it fell in stages as most empires do)

the roman empire and the byzantine empire are very related i just listed them as separate examples for readability sake, but they're not really separate concepts, did start around 27 bce, x, specifically that marks the roman empire under augustus, after the fall of the roman republic, and fall in 1453 with the fall of constaninople, x

the xia dynasty is considered to be the first chinese dynasty, even predating the shang dynasty, but this does depend on historiography ofc x and it ended in 1912 CE when over two millennia of imperial rule ended the republic of china began, x

the zhou dynasty did in fact rule for 790 years, starting in 1046 bce and ending in 256 bce, x

and lastly the silla kingdom, did in fact roughly exist for 992 years, though the starting point is debated whether or not its 57 bce, some historians prefer a later date when referring to it as a single political entity so that could be less, x

i didn't make up dates out of my ass, and to the best of my understanding the sources i've just cited you are reputable sources (if they're not and they're all wrong, then the joke is on me)

now as to the definition of dynasty, it's defined as 'a succession of rulers from the same family or line'

this isn't applicable to everything i listed, mostly just silla as the silla dynasty ruled for several centuries as a unified kingdom of silla, and zhou dynasties, as well as the pandyan dynasty that ruled the pandyan empire for a period of its existence, whereas others were just long lived empires, but i don't think this disproves anything i said about how it's silly to insinuate that you should never create a millennia or multiple millennia long empire in your fiction, or a dynasty of rulers going back that far

pro-tip: don't ever use the sentence "thousands of years" in your worldbuilding unless you really know what a thousand years is like

[furiouslysleeping]

Hello esteemed mutual. If you are reading this, then that means my propaganda is working. But you might still have questions, so I am here to answer them.

What is Spatort?

Spatort, aka that show about the Sad Gay German Cops, aka Tatort Saarbrücken, aka 90% of my blog over the past month, is a German detective show. It's about the latest Saarbrücken team within the tv show Tatort and can be watched completely separately from the other Tatort teams. It features a team of four homocide detectives (Leo Hölzer, Adam Schürk, Esther Baumann and Pia Heinrich) who solve murders amidst all their personal drama in the city of Saarbrücken in the South-West of Germany. It's a murder of the week style show, but with personal drama of the protagonists as an overarching plot line.

Our dream team posing with a very dead girl and Rechtsmedizinerin Henny Wenzel.

Why should I watch this?

Because it's gay. There are a few canonically gay side characters, but the real meat is the relationship between Leo and Adam. They are childhood best friends who went through some rough shit together and are reunited after having spent 15 years apart. They like to have sleepovers, stare deeply into each others eyes, have dramatic break-ups and tell each other how much they mean to each other in convoluted ways. They are two co-dependent wrecks and I love them with all my heart. Will they ever become canon? We don't know. The canonically bisexual Tatort Berlin protagonist Robert Karow was allowed a gay sex scene on primetime German television though, so there is hope.

Because it's gay 2: ESTHER! As soon as she gets more than two lines of exposition (Episode 3), she starts flirting with every living woman in sight. I love her.

Apart from that, it's also just a good show. Speaking as someone who isn't overly fond of detectives, I think it has a good balance between murder mystery and character drama. The actors have great chemistry and are just so much fun to watch. There has been some criticism claiming that too much time is spent on the lives of the protagonists instead of on the murder cases, but that's exactly what makes me like this series.

This series made me fall back in love with the German language again and I heard multiple people saying the same thing.

Why is it called Spatort?

Because "Die letzte Reihe von Tatort Saarbrücken" takes too long to say and there's this shovel (in German: Spaten) that plays an important role in the first episode. (And Spaten + Tatort = Spatort).

Are there any content warnings?

Murder, violence, some episodes get pretty bloody (not quite gore but @yuespropagandablog don't watch it), abusive parents, intravenous drug use (one shot in episode Der Fluch des Geldes), overdose, and of course they're all cops.

Are there German characters in this German show set in Germany?

Yes :D

Do they all speak German?

Yep, the show is in German but there are a few scenes where some French is spoken.

But Furious, I don't speak German. How on Earth am I supposed to watch it if I can't understand it?

THEN LEARN The lovely Tumblr user @nerd-on-duty made subtitles for the first 5 episodes. You can DM them (or @krukel or me) for a link.

If I know German well enough to watch German television with German subtitles or no subtitles at all, where can I watch it?

At the moment of writing this, the ARD Mediathek has most of the episodes with German subtitles, but these are only available for a period of time. You can pay for ARD Plus for access to all Tatort episodes ever made, or you can put on your pirate hat and scourge the internet. (All the episodes are on the Internet Archive as well.)

I'm not fully convinced yet, but I do like men's tits. Is there anything you can show me to convince me to watch it?

You're in luck! This is our protagonist Leo Hölzer:

(GIF credits to @thisfeebleheart, more in this post. Also thanks to @krukel for helping this lesbian select these tits for this propaganda post.)

I'm still not convinced by the men tits. I do like pathetic blond men being put in Situations though.

You're in luck! Meet Adam Schürk:

(GIF credits from right to left, top to bottom: @thisfeebleheart, @leoholzer, @vaschbaer, @a-way-we-go.)

Okay. I've started it. Why does this intro look like it's from the 70s?

Because it is. Tatort started airing in 1970 and they just. Never changed the intro. Don't worry though, the rest of the show does reflect the time the episodes were made in.

I watched it and I love it! I need to know what happens next! When will the next episode air?

At the moment of making this post, the next episode is set to air January 2026. The one after that in 2027. Yes, you read that right, there is one episode per year.

PER YEAR????

YES. JOIN US IN OUR SUFFERING.

[ludolka]

Tumblr’s fucking up some of my asks, not letting me answer them, so I’m answering like this ^^ also hello new anon ! <3 also I’m off work early and I most likely have the rest of the week off, so yay me

Thank you, I’m glad you like this AU <33

I like how you’re thinking. I see the vision, them doing collabs with PT uploading videos and TIGS posting podcast episodes

I’d imagine they’d get in smaller groups rather than having all 5 of them on at once because 1) it’d be kinda difficult to have everyone involved and not get constantly distracted and redirect the topic with that many people and 2) they all have regular jobs with different schedules, so it’d be kinda difficult to find a time they are all available

I think Jim, Oli, Lizzie and even Joel would be okay with coming on, even alone or being grouped with anyone else. Grian’s the only one who is adamant on only being on with Joel also present. It raises eyebrows of course, doesn’t help the dating rumors neither does it help TIGS’ assumption that Joel is in on whatever’s going on with Grian. But truth is Grian’s just really fucking anxious around TIGS and he trusts Joel the most to help him out without making things worse or saying too much. Joel picks up the best on Grian being uncomfortable with something and him being able to redirect without being too obvious about it

I imagine whenever Lizzie, Jim and Oli are on, whether together, separately or with anyone else, it’s fun and chill. It’s like that too with Joel on with any of the other members, though there’s a small amount of tenseness. With Grian on, it’s tense and Joel does most of the talking, often about something unrelated to the question or topic at hand

But I don’t think Grian and Joel would have the same dynamic on the podcast as in videos or in private, Grian would be really cautious and in full on PR-mode, so I doubt he’d let loose enough to joke around like he usually does when he feels comfortable enough to

[falling-through-a-trapdoor]

hi hello love the Sol posting, I’ve been thinking abt a canon divergence scenario and it’s an itch on my brain now.

I feel like the general understanding of why Tozer succumbed to mutiny was, broadly: a growing distrust of the leaders (in ability and withholding info), concern for the Marines (constantly put in danger, even frivolously) and the overall headfuck of trauma (Heather, Carnivale, discovering Fairholme’s party)- witnessing Collins’ death just finished him off. he was susceptible and hickey was opportunistic.

with all that being said, the scenes of Tozer caring for comatose Heather and talking w/ him VS hickey prodding at Heather’s exposed brain like a kid pulling the wings off a butterfly are stuck in a rotating door in my head. I can’t stop wondering how the events would’ve gone had Tozer seen that, or had some knowledge of it.

although it wouldn’t restore his faith in the crew, he definitely wouldn’t be recruited by hickey. the idea of a separate mutiny isn’t impossible, but maybe just the marines? would his opposition to hickey facilitate his re-alliance with Crozier (for diplomatic purposes, if not personal) sooner? Idk and can’t settle on a most likely scenario😭 Would love to hear yours thoughts?

(Also sorry this is so much more text than I intended)

That is a really interesting point! I do think that if Sol knew about or saw Hickey poking Heather’s brain there would be no mutiny full stop cause Sol would have immediately put Hickey through the fuckin bulkhead tbh. And since by that point Crozier already hated Hickey I’m not sure Sol would have been hung for murder or not… especially since it would have been pretty justified.

The concept of a separate mutiny by just the marines is also a really interesting idea, since from the beginning they all seem to think of themselves as separate, I do think it’s interesting though that in canon not all of the marines join the mutiny and I wonder who their loyalties were to if not Tozer. I don’t know if Tozer would have been able to orchestrate a mutiny all on his own. I think he lacks the manipulative streak and he definitely lacks the subtlety (ex. The scene where he basically asks crozier to give Hickey a gun, obvious much?) I do think the anger and distrust definitely there… much to think about, thank you!!

[justicharge]

thought i wouldn't do this again, but i need to. let's talk about lando and mclaren.

I noticed the fact that lately, the first picture of every single post on social media is oscar and lando second. it hurts and bothers me so much that lando is being treated like a second driver or even like he isn't part of the team. even though it's difficult to talk about the topic of 1st and 2nd driver, if we ain't having that, not giving anyone special treatment, at least they should be treated equally.

the pic that they used on twitter and then posted on Instagram too of oscar actually covering lando even though there was another one where lando appeared it's ridiculous. how can you, as a TEAM, who needs to show support for both drivers to that to someone. honestly, I can't comprehend it.

I think that mclaren forgets who was there all along and made them get back to the top. remember how in 2022 daniel and lando where fighting for being on the top 15, not even the first positions nor the top 10. remember seeing them at 17 or 18 position and feeling so frustrated for them. then they kicked daniel out to replace him with oscar, and there was just lando there, still working for making that shit car work.

I now how much of a good driver oscar it's and he does deserve winning and to do good, but how they are treating lando after everything he has done for them is crazy.

every single time they fuck him up all I can think about is how grateful they should be. lando could have left them, went to other team, start fighting with a team that could really make him win or give him something better that them, but he stayed. he stayed loyal to them and kept working for having the car that they have today.

I'm tired of this situation and I'm not even lando. can't imagine how he must feel. even after a fucked up race he gets out of the car and has a smile on his face. tries to be calm and to have a good relationship with everyone, which shows how capable he is of separating on and off track things.

after each race, there are more and more hate comments towards lando, saying how he is weak, how he isn't as good as his teammate and even more bullshit. honestly, everyone can have their own opinion, I know that, but mclaren just don't seem to even care to put a stop to that forced hate towards lando.

he is so open about mental health and how he feels that is surprisingly nice but also makes me feel so bad. it's nice that he shares with everyone how he feels, shows he is a real human, but also worries me, like how can someone be treated so bad by people who doesn't know him and even people who DO know him. it's insane.

I know not everyone will agree to this, but wanted to share how I felt and my opinion.

[ckret2]

I just wanted to say that I have been loving the Akuposting that has been happening as of late. The vibes that evil tree gives off are immaculate and so are the considerations you give his character. Consider this an open invitation to share any more random bits you might want to on him and Scaramouche/Mojo/the PPGs/anybody else you like!

I got this ask while I was working on the big art post for the kage and hikaru au, but saved this for a separate post just so i could post even more, different headcanons lmao.

I'll fling out several headcanons but I'm gonna put them all in separate posts so that it's not one super long post on a dozen topics again. because i crave peer validation and maybe if they're several shorter posts more people will comment lmao. The others will be posted not long after this one.

for this post I'm giving you some thoughts about scaramouche's & aku's musical tastes. I'm sticking it under a read more but first, ✨a request for help from y'all✨:

Are any of y'all fans of free jazz/avant garde jazz/experimental jazz? Do you have any recommendations for a newbie just stepping into the genre? Preferably ones that highlight the flute? Thanks gang.

Okay so Scaramouche's flute playing & singing is pure improv; if he's got any specific musical style, it's some kind of jazz. But we never hear him performing, like... normal music.

Two possibilities: either his magic to works by hitting certain notes or intervals, so he's just trying to make the necessary sounds, not play "music"; or, you need to be so far down on the jazz music iceberg you can't even see sunlight through the water before you hit the kind of avant garde shit Scaramouche is into.

Logically, I think the first option makes a little more sense; but personally, I like making in-character "what would they like to listen to" music playlists, which means I need to have a canon basis for the character's musical tastes; so I'm rolling with "he's into experimental jazz."

(The problem is I've dug into jazz for a prior character, but it was pre-WW2 jazz & swing. Like, "We'll Meet Again is way too late for the kind of jazz we're talking about" jazz. For Scaramouche I need "We'll Meet Again is way too early for the kind of jazz we're talking about" jazz. Whiiiiich is why I'm asking for recommendations lmao.)

The group of bots Scaramouche has jam sessions with are playing jazz so free that if a recognizable melody ever dared walked into the club, they would shoot it dead on sight. Their jazz is so avant garde that should the uninitiated ever hear them play, they'd think "oh wow that's what happens when you hand robots instruments, they don't understand music at all." No. Those robots understand music better than you or I ever will. The most elite of jazz snobs walks into that club, hears them play, and begins weeping at the beauty. It's exquisite. If you're into that kind of thing.

"Okay but the ask was for headcanons about Aku, how is that relevant to Aku?" It's relevant for this reason:

Aku thinks that shit sucks balls.

Scaramouche keeps inviting Aku to listen to his band play (the band does NOT know this and would be TERRIFIED if their boss showed up), and Aku keeps turning him down, because He Does Not Want To Listen To That.

Scaramouche thinks Aku's taste in music also sucks but he's willing to give it a shot. Aku doesn't care about his opinion.

I already did a headcanon about Aku's music tastes but I'm expanding on it: we've established that he's into techno music; I asked around on reddit about what kind of genre they think the mind control rave music is, and their suggestion is psytrance, maybe forestpsy or darkpsy, so that's what I'm going with until I can really dig into the nitty-gritty on the different genres in that area.

I think he'd also be into traditional music, like, "so old the only two people on the planet who still remembers these songs are Aku and Jack" traditional music. Before I can give specifics on that I need to do some research on traditional Japanese music.

Did you know your brain is trained to understand/hear certain music as musical? If you haven't been trained on a kind of music (just,, listen to it a lot), it doesn't hit. It doesn't sound "good" because your brain doesn't know how to listen to it. It might not even sound like music to you. Anyway—all that is to say that my brain has been trained on Western music, which means I'm anticipating a lot of musical brain training & historical research before I can give any sort of nuanced opinions on traditional Japanese music beyond "that sure is traditional and Japanese all right." So I'm gonna leave that part of his tastes vague for now.

But one extra detail: I think Aku was born already knowing some songs, including some from hundreds or thousands of years before he was born. They were songs sung by mourners at the edge of the pit of hate whose loved ones had been consumed.

[utilitycaster]

Talking as players outside the game is an incredibly important part of having good PC/PC D&D relationships, and obviously the characters involved in the relationship talking to each other in meaningful ways is crucial, but I think the importance of talking in-game in depth to other people is really underrated, in that it not only tells the other player what your character is feeling without having to reveal it in-game to them, but also serves to engage other characters in the story and deepen those platonic bonds to the point where they might even serve as confidants or wingmen. To give a bunch of examples and what they achieved:

Vax telling Gilmore he didn't want to string him along made it clear out of game that his feelings towards Keyleth were his priority, even though it happened where the other characters were not able to hear.

Similarly, Vex giving her blessing eventually after her initial resistance signaled to Liam that this would not be a major break between the twins.

Vax asking Vex what she intended to do about her feelings for Percy served not only as an opportunity for her to voice them to someone; it also serves as a big green light for Taliesin as Percy to kiss Vex later that episode (which he had already from Vex's resurrection ritual, but it underscores it).

Pike talking about Scanlan with Keyleth and Vex allows her to make it clear that she does ultimately like a lot of things about him despite sometimes being annoyed, and her talking to him through her earring while Scanlan is very much not there but Sam is at the table also serves as this kind of green light.

Jester asking Veth about kissing in relationship to Fjord lets Travis know where Jester is at and invests Veth in-game in the relationship.

Caleb asking Jester if she's "sweet on [Fjord]" lets her openly reassess her feelings after an intense arc and also indicates in-game that Caleb has noticed.

Beau waiting to hear the sound of thunder signals to Ashley (who was not at the table but who was presumably staying updated on events) that Beau has feelings for Yasha; it also allows those playing Yasha (often Matt for pure RP and Travis in combat) to return that flirting, since the baseline was already established.

Possibly the most obvious example, but Beau and Fjord's conversation on Rumblecusp not only clarifies to the whole table where everyone is (opening the door, for example, for the scenes in the beer garden a few episodes later of Caleb having Fjord and Jester dance together and Caduceus encouraging Yasha to pursue Beau) but very much serves as a green light to Ashley and Laura respectively. This is then mirrored by them talking after Beau has asked Yasha on a date and Fjord and Jester have kissed, and everyone involved can "debrief" with their partners not present in-game.

As mentioned, this is mostly about PC/PC relationships because PC/NPC is an inherently different dynamic mechanically though still should be a conversation, but Veth describing Yeza and Jester asking Caleb about his feelings about Essek both give Matt clues for playing these NPCs and how things might be received.

FRIDA mentioning their crush on FCG to Deanna means it's not a complete surprise to Sam, since it is a very sudden relationship, and lets him prepare and decide how FCG would feel in the moment, and also establishes how Deanna will feel about it.

Similarly in the C3 Uthodurn arc, Fearne going to Chetney about Deanna is an incredibly good move from Ashley (to the point that talking about this is what led me to write this whole post). It lets Travis play out where Chetney is. It lets Aabria therefore hear not only where Chetney is, but also know that Fearne is potentially interested. It establishes a ton of the dynamics for a relationship that out of game everyone knows will not have a full campaign to play out since one of the characters involved is a guest. And finally, it signals to Christian as FRIDA what the situation is in case Deanna confides in them.

[juniemunie]

[Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.]

Hitting a lil' too close to home?

[writing-is-hard-af]

Helena and Ramon both acting like they know Chris best, like they know what's best for him, but not only consistently treating him like he's still a little kid that can't do things himself, also guilting him into agreeing with them on their decisions and opinions. Contrasted with Eddie respecting Chris's boundaries, his decisions, and his independence, and actually treating him like the teenager he is by actually communicating with him instead of talking at him. The way he so clearly learned from his parents' mistakes and decided he wouldn't be like them, because he knows how it felt to have them as parents. And how he got Chris out of their house the second he realized they really were doing the same things to Chris they were doing to him. Just. Something about breaking cycles of abuse and generational trauma and the way you either learn to not be or become your parents. And Eddie chose not to be like them because he loves Chris so much and can finally see that he deserved better too, that he couldn't let Chris go through that. Because that's his kid.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

There's nothing he can't do. Yet.

(Thank you to everyone who participated in the poll!)

[waitineedaname]

not romantic or platonic but a secret third thing (bonded pair)

[sieglinde-freud]

let it be known that i love prince inigo with my whole soul. however sometimes it is SO much fun to think about owain and his two most loyal-est knights you ever seen: worst guy in the world #1 and worst guy in the world #2. i love retainer inigo and severa so much. retainers who bully you and make fun of you and trash on you but they’d leave behind everyone and everything they ever knew to follow you and protect you in a whole new universe. they love you so much that they’d swear allegiance to total strangers but that loyalty pales in comparison to what they’d do for you. and they were all lovers!!!!!!!