#and making the ending more palatable

[maranull]

girl get down from there, we're having our stabbing-our-saviour-in-the-heart moment

[novelconcepts]

In watching more interviews with Liv about Van and the escalation of Van's pragmatism to such dark degrees, I find myself genuinely baffled that anyone could ever think Van the bad guy. I mean, I'm perplexed at finding ANY of these girls The Bad Guy. The bad guy is the situation. It's being lost. It's freezing. It's starving. It's being scraped down to the barest bone of being alive. They make choices that might be snippy, or cruel, or hard-headed, sure--Shauna refusing to just hash it out with Jackie; Jackie being too stubborn to come inside; Taissa refusing to discuss her situation plainly; etc--but by the time we reach the end of season 2, it doesn't even matter. Petty bullshit doesn't matter. Jealousy doesn't matter. Those things are still going to be present and complicated, because--for all their choices, for all the distancing they're trying to do--these kids ARE still human beings. But it isn't the point.

The point is survival. Plain, simple, straightforward. Van's pragmatism is survival. It is the difference between living another day with blood on your teeth or dying pretty. It is the difference between fighting forward through the fire and the snow and the hell of it all, and laying down to die. Van knowing, in watching the ritual violence of Shauna beating Lottie nearly the death, that they will be killing and eating one another soon. Van coming up with the cards for the hunt. Van not blinking when the moment comes, Van choosing a weapon that doubles as a tool to bring the body back, Van refusing to apologize for staying alive--it's not evil. It's not Bad Guy behavior. It's purely about survival, because there is nothing else left to her--or to any of them. They can play the pretty little Sweet Angel Girl game and die, or they can get dirty, bloody, horrific and fight. Van chooses the fight. Van chooses to fight for herself, for her lover, for her team, even knowing not everyone is going to make it out...because the alternate path there is that no one makes it out. Van knew the baby wouldn't live. Van knows the rest of them won't, either. Not unless they start making the hard choices.

And, honestly, the fact that Van sees this narrative coming. Comes up with this plan. Brings out the cards. To me, that is the opposite of Bad Behavior. That is as close to justice as anyone can find in the wilderness. If someone else came up with an idea, maybe it would have come down to voting--but that would have had such a human element to it, with bitterness or hostility or whatever ultimately petty shit always comes of humans selecting who to Other. The cards don't leave room for that. It isn't fair, because the situation isn't fair, because Man vs. Nature isn't fair, but it's as close to a just system as they could possibly find. It's the kindest solution to an unwinnable game. Not to bring it back to American Gods again, but all I can think is "it's easy, there's a trick to it: you do it, or you die." Van gave them that.

[louisdelac]

it's like. louis attempted to tell this story to daniel the first time, broke down, and attacked him before he could finish it.

and then decades later he's convinced himself that it was leaving the story unresolved that's holding him back from living his life fully now. so he invites daniel back again. and louis is sitting poised and put together, confident in his ability to recite his history in a pretty, poignant, neat little narrative that will resolve all the guilt and yearning and emptiness inside of him. that if he can just tell a compelling, satisfying story, maybe it will actually be that, and not the life he lived through, with all the pitfalls of his own failures lurking inside.

and then season 1 ends with him once again being forced to confront that the story he wants to imagine and the life he actually lived aren't the same thing. the boundaries around his narrative are shredded and he's left exposed, and subsequently able to face his past for the first time since that original interview. and you think, you think, "well this is it. they've crossed the event horizon. there's no use hiding the truth anymore, not after it's come flooding out into the open like this"

and then season 2 opens. not only is it back to the original, practiced distance, we now have armand literally enforcing that distance. a man sitting at the table who's interjections must be disregarded, an intentional interruption to the flow of the story. he doesn't exist to aid or add detail, he exists to distract louis when he gets too deep in the story. the only time we do get louis allowing any deep truth to come out is when armand leaves the room.

it's like. louis wants a story that's true, and the truth is what he's convinced will leave him satisfied. armand wants a story that will satisfy louis, to the extent louis will accept it's true.

[kaythefloppa]

Enough time has passed to where I think we can openly admit how WK has gone through seasonal rot within its previous 2 seasons and how the hype of Season 7 along with the generally positive reception is a really green flag for the show's quality.

[raifuujin]

Anyone else feel like Kaito is almost becoming a secondary character in his own manga due to the heists slowly becoming DC clones of figuring out the tricks going on instead of just letting the heist happen and staying within Kaito's perspective.

[godsfavoritescientist]

Biting the bars of my enclosure about autistic ford tonight. There's something about him using vocabulary and turns of phrase that seem "outdated" or "pretentious" that feels so painfully genuine to me. When people say he talks like that just to "try to sound smart" I wish I could explain what it's like to be so ostracized from your peers growing up that you spend all your time reading instead, to the point where you pick up your way of speaking from books instead of from people. And then what it's like for people to call you out for "talking weird" over and over again, not able to wrap their heads around why the fuck you would choose more archaic or technical or formal words than the simpler ones that surely come to everyone's minds first. What it's like to have to dedicate a sizable chunk of attention to filtering through every single word you say out loud in real time before you say it, to make absolutely sure that it isn't a word people will judge you for using or make fun of you for using, just so you'll have a chance of being taken seriously. Learning through trial and error how to filter out the words that other people don't think are normal or casual enough for the conversation, even though for you, the word choice that's "natural-sounding" enough for them is the third or fourth word you came up with when searching for the right way to phrase something in your head. I wish I could explain just how long it takes to say fucking anything after spending a lifetime doing that during every single conversation, and how repetitive and long-winded you end up being when you spend so long coming up with alternative ways of saying every little thing you ever think. And I wish people realized that, at the very least for autistic people and autistic-coded characters, speech that's seen as pretentious is really just the way they talk when they're not putting in the extra effort to filter through every word they say just so others will take the time to listen.

[lilaccatholic]

how do i do it though. how do i let go of the bitterness and the hardness when they kept me "okay" for so long? does it come when i finally leave? can it ever?

[sparrowposting]

I need to be weirder. I need to hang out/talk with more intensely weird and deeply genuine people, and more frequently

[remnants]

franklin armstrong walked for 56 years and is only just now getting his flowers. 56 years. the fact that y'all would sooner let the same thing happen to duke thomas than respect the characterization he's already been given is sick. It's laid out in ink and color for all to see and you still avert your eyes. that you would demote him to straightman for the sake of white comfort is shameful. franklin armstrong walked for 56 years, and you would have duke do the same?

[feroluce]

No ok but I love pokemas for making it clear how much Emmet adores and idolizes Ingo and looks up to him, and so I bet that's a pretty damn rude awakening when his cool strong big brother goes missing, and obviously because something happened to him.

Like Emmet gets bitch slapped with that sudden realization a lot of people get when a loved one dies, that oh, bad things really do just happen sometimes. So I feel like post-isekai, he gets his first bout of actual, deep, real anxiety. Because a foundation in his daily life was that Ingo was strong and seemed unstoppable, but now there's this sudden crushing proof that even with all that, something can still happen at any time.

He's maybe not suddenly a nervous wreck 24/7 or anything, but there is a definite, palpable shift within him. And even after reuniting with Ingo, that's something that stays, and that Emmet has to learn to deal with. Because Ingo being back now doesn't erase the fact that he disappeared in the first place, or all the years he was gone, and the thought that something could happen again remains, as an ever-present anxiety.

And it's not just separation anxiety with Ingo, it's like. Everything. Emmet heard there's a storm brewing in the icelands, is Irida prepared for it, will she be ok? Ingo tells Emmet about how Irida is so used to the icelands and its weather that she once literally passed up a dip in the hot springs with him because it was "way too hot out" for that. It was snowing at the time. Emmet is still fidgety until Ingo takes him to the icelands as soon as the storm passes to see that Irida is ok.

Melli leaves Mt. Coronet to settle some diamond clan business in the mirelands, it's a long trip and he won't be back until after dark, is that safe? Melli has lived out there a long time, but it's still a mountain! With cliffs and boulders and sheer drops at great heights! Ingo ends up standing in front of Melli's hut with a lantern, nearly falling asleep standing up, waiting with Emmet for Melli to come home.

Akari sees them every few days, either on Mt. Coronet while she's on a survey, or in Jubilife when she's off work. If one of her surveys goes longer than it should, or if they go more than a few days without checking in with her, Emmet starts to get antsy, and has to talk himself down from going out to look for her because he knows that odds are, he'll see her sooner by waiting for her return rather than trying to find her in a place as big as Hisui.

He just gets nervous and anxious when he doesn't see someone for a while, or doesn't know if they're safe or not, and will remain keyed up in that state until he does know for sure. It's the Anxiety ☆

...Which is also why Emmet loves it when Ingo gets rough in bed and doms him within an inch of his life because it's a reminder that Ingo is very take charge and commanding and it makes Emmet feel like nothing could tear them apart again because Ingo would fight it and win thank you for coming to my TED Talk everyone annnnnnnd send

[rmorde]

I try to be as objective and unbiased as possible while watching stans go at each other in the fan war that is Gojover vs Fraudkuna. However, there is one camp that is just a different kind of breed.

[oldtestleper]

had some “potted meat” for lunch today and can i be honest. there is no way that tastes worse than wet cat food

[hylialeia]

still thinking about it and I’m increasingly more convinced that the changes GOT made to Shae were ultimately only compelling by accident (well, by accident and by Sibil Kekilli’s performance) because they ultimately stemmed from a misunderstanding of Tyrion’s storyline and a desire to give him a tragic love story, to the detriment of both his AND Shae’s show characters

[frillyfacefins]

In retrospect it's kinda funny that my porny MST3K-style Lucifer/Lilith/Paimon fic has them making fun of not just an A24 production, but the appearance of the A24 logo leads to this little exchange:

He took a first sip of what turned out to be a vodka-and-coke as a silent black-and-white logo for something called „A24“ came on, followed by some more artsy-fartsy logos and then white text on a black background.

„Oh damnation, don‘t tell me this is one of those arthouse movies…“ Paimon groaned into his chalice. „Hush, dear boy,“ Lucifer said, patting his knee. „You are sure to like this one.“ He rolled his eyes, then he read the text. Old lady, bla bla bla, beloved wife, devoted mother, cherished grandmother, funeral, burial, whatever. While the text was just hanging on a black background for way too long, a weird loud noise began to sound from the background, only to be immediately silenced when the image changed to a tree house. „I swear, if you are making me sit through some Canne bullshit, I am going to be exceedingly pissed, my King…“ he grumbled, earning himself a little pinch to his thigh. They were in something like an atelier for doll houses - obviously the abode of a complete psychopath - and soon the camera stopped at one of them and slowly, slowly, slowly started to zoom in. Paimon was about to bitch some more about how he did not want to sit through whatever piece of crap Sundance had shit out that year, when the doll house room suddenly became a real room with a teenage boy sleeping inside of it.

[kienium]

i have such a hard time with tone indicators still because i don't know what the fuck i mean either. how am i supposed to fake it until i make it in these conditions

[terryfuckingturniptruck]

Okay someone is going to be offended but whatever like fine if you find yourself as a lesbian thinking someone is hot and find out later they're a man and not a butch but like the way y'all are openly just pushing the idea that lesbians like men sometimes as if that's totally fine and that the man you thought was a butch is still okay to fuck knowing they're a man.