#and the second lines in both even though thematically aren’t the parallel here i love that they even both say feel and line up that way

[ilostyou]

taylor x 5sos parallels - part 10/?

[miss-musings]

TROS Review - after second viewing

I’m glad I knew all the spoilers going into my first viewing. If I hadn’t known Ben died, I would’ve screamed. Although I’m pretty sure I heard someone at my second viewing go “What?!” when he fell over and vanished into the Force.

OK, let’s break this down.

THE GOOD

The movie looks great.

Daisy, Adam and John Williams all FUCKING brought it for this movie.

I actually liked some of the fan-service-y bits like Wedge getting a cameo, Han having a memory chat with Kylo/Ben, and Luke motivating Rey. I also noticed on the second go-around that Kylo flies an old Imperial TIE fighter (one from the Death Star ruins) to Exegol. And I like that shot of the old X-Wing of the Rebellion and the old TIE fighter of the Empire there alongside each other.

Most of all, I loved ALL the Reylo scenes we got in this movie. About 70 percent of the runtime seems to be dedicated to Rey, Kylo/Ben or both. I mean, it’s basically Reylo: The Movie, and I’m totally here for it. (But more on that below.)

I actually liked seeing Kylo in the mask again. I think it makes him look... sexy? Idk what I feel, y’all.

Some of the new creatures and characters were cool, even if we didn’t spend much time with them. (Again, more on that below.)

Loved Leia’s moments and how she had a big part to play in the story even if Carrie is gone. 😢

Those are all the big things; there might be a few small things that I’d remember if I were watching the movie in real time, but I can’t remember them now.

So, let’s get into it:

THE BAD

Oh, boy where do I start?

The pacing in both the very beginning (first 20-30 minutes?) and the very end (last 10) was ridiculous. My dad even agreed that the beginning felt rushed and disjointed.

While I love Kylo/Ben and Rey, the movie spends so much time focusing on them that no one else really gets an arc. Say what you will about TLJ, but Finn and Poe both had arcs in that movie, even if they were small. I felt like Poe did in this movie what he did in that last one: took to heart the words of wisdom of others around him (or at least, regurgitate their lines). He did it with Leia and Holdo in TLJ, and he did it with Zorri and Lando in this one. Finn doesn’t get any arc in this and the fact that he’s supposed to be Force-sensitive is like ... ??? What? I don’t even have time to unpack all that.

Also, Rose and Hux were sidelined majorly. I don’t even like Hux but even I felt his character and end were poorly done in this movie.

Something about both Finn and Rey’s Force abilities that bugged me was that I thought all Force sensitives can intuit or understand what others are saying in any alien/droid language. Remember how Rey could understand Chewie when she first met him but Finn couldn’t? It makes sense why Rey could understand a droid like BB-8 but why a Wookiee? Are there a lot of Wookiees on Jakku? No, she could understand him bc she’s Force sensitive and it’s an ability she has. But, in this one, neither she nor Finn could understand Babu Frick. I know it’s a small detail, and I could be misremembering canon, but it just bugged me both times.

So, Rey being a Palpatine... makes no sense. How and when did Palpatine have a kid? Was Rey’s dad a cloning experiment, or a naturally conceived and born child? This is something I’m morbidly curious about. I liked it better in TLJ when we thought she was no one, and this seems like a GIANT retcon and slap in the face to Rian Johnson. They even had to write a line about how Kylo supposedly never lied to her. Part of me wonders whether the Emperor was lying??? Maybe making Rey think she was his granddaughter would trick her into being obligated to come and end his life herself? But then, why was that Jedi Hunter looking for her parents? Oh well. Anyway, I did want her to be Rey of Jakku and no one else. But I also appreciate the thematic parallels and the yin/yang thing going with her and Kylo/Ben. He’s the embodiment of the Dark Side even though he’s descended from the Light, and Rey is the embodiment of the Light Side even though she’s descended from the Dark. So I’m a bit conflicted, but I hate it more than I love it.

I also HATE that Ben died. BUT, at least he didn’t die from falling into the pit, and at least there’s still a possibility that he’s coming back. The worst of it is that after he disappears, he’s never addressed again at all. Wouldn’t Poe or Finn ask about him? They don’t necessarily know he’s dead, and he would be a major threat if he were still alive. And why wasn’t he a Force-Ghost at the end? I HOPE it’s bc they’re leaving it open for him to come back. Or maybe his energy is living on in Rey whether spiritually (the dyad thing) or physically (maybe pregnant???).

But here’s the deal: in some ways this movie felt like the series finale of beloved TV show. All your favorites come back for little cameos, your main characters go out on a high note, and everything is resolved to a greater extent. Sure, there are more stories to tell, probably, but the Main Conflict has now been resolved. Think Avatar: The Last Airbender TV show or Star Trek: Voyager as examples.

BUT, in other ways, it DOESN’T feel like a finale. It feels like they’ve left doors to open and questions to explore in future properties. Is Finn Force-Sensitive? Is Jannah Lando’s relative? Is Ben Solo really dead? What’s gonna happen to Rey? Etc.

So, the movie needed to pick a lane. Either be The End of an era, or not. You can’t wrap up a story but then tease us with more stories. That’s not how this works. Fuck, even Harry Potter — as much as everyone hates JKR — got this right. Big Bad Guy is dead and instigating conflict is now resolved. Palpatine was the one who started this whole thing, so now that he’s dead, all is well???

Well, here’s my other big complaint about the movie. JJ & Co don’t seem to know how the Force works.

The Force is about a balance between the Light and the Dark. When one side becomes too strong, the other side grows stronger to compensate. When one side wipes out the other, the other responds. There must always be balance. Snoke even pointed this out in TLJ that Rey was Kylo’s Equal in the Light bc he was growing stronger.

And the Sith and the Jedi are religions on their respective sides. Not all Dark side users are Sith; not all Light side users are Jedi. And there are some Force users who use both freely and some who stay in balance.

The Mortis arc of TCW demonstrates this very well.

This is why so many people were pissed that Ben died. Not only are you losing a great character but you’re also losing the potential of what Ben and Rey could’ve been together as Force-users.

Palpatine and all the Sith are dead. Luke, Leia and all the Jedi are dead.

Except for Rey, who is descended of the Sith but trained by Jedi. So, she (and Ben) would have to figure out exactly how to keep the Force in balance. If the last Jedi just destroyed the last Sith, then the Dark Side is going to have to respond. But, if Rey could find other Force-users and teach them how to be in balance and use both Light and Dark in harmony then balance could be restored. There would be no need for these extremes if everyone stays in the middle.

This means Rey would have to end the Jedi. Which is what Luke wanted in the last movie. But then we find out that Leia received Jedi training??? So was Leia a Jedi? Is Rey? I’m so confused.

I like the fact that Rey’s saber has a darker hilt but it’s a yellow/orange blade. It kinda hints that maybe she will stay in balance — using both light and dark, being neither Sith nor Jedi, but something in between — a Skywalker, if you will.

So I guess, that’s a tiny win. The theory that the Skywalker(s) could be a new religion of Force-users in balance with the Force could still happen after that scene of Rey on Tatooine.

But, still, I hate all these retcons and the idea that the Jedi are the end-all, be-all. The Sith definitely aren’t good; but the Jedi weren’t always great either. And I hate that Rey had to fight Palpatine alone when it should’ve been her AND Ben — the balance between the Dark and Light should’ve been stronger than him, but whatever.

Also, one last thing, but why did Rey have BB-8 on Tatooine? Didn’t Poe make a big deal about Rey hurting BB-8 at the beginning? Why wasn’t BB-8 with Poe? Why wasn’t Chewie with Rey on the Falcon? (I guess he might’ve been and just never got off the ship.) Wouldn’t R2 and C3PO have been more appropriate in that final shot? They were in all 9 films. They’re more iconic and thematically appropriate than BB-8 to close out the saga, but oh well.

😪

TL;DR: I have really mixed feelings about this movie. At the end of both showings, I was smiling, so that’s something. I had fun... I think?? But yeah, it’s definitely bittersweet.

[rivalsforlife]

For the fanfic ask: F, K, S, X, Y (whichever ones you feel like answering) <3 Love your work!

Alright, thank you!!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

oh no. Uhhh I’m probably going to think of something else like five seconds after posting it haha, but at the moment one of the dialogue scenes I really like is the dinner scene near the end of chapter 4 of The Catch-Up Game (linked here for easy reference). The... whole thing is pretty long and I like a lot of it, so I’ll just share a (relatively?) short snippet form it here:

“You did more than enough, Edgeworth,” Phoenix insisted. “If it weren’t for the Jurist System — founded upon your research — I would’ve never been able to clear up my scandal. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have gotten my badge back at all.”

“The badge wasn’t all there was to it.”

“... Maybe not,” Phoenix admitted. “It’s not like we can change that. And it’s not like I would’ve wanted you to do more. It was difficult enough to accept help as it was. Besides, you’re — you’re here now, aren’t you?”

“Phoenix,” said Edgeworth.

It’s not like it was unheard of for Edgeworth to say his first name. It just… happened so rarely, Phoenix could count on one hand the times he’s heard it since grade school. Only when it was just the two of them, never when they were in some sort of public place.

But… Phoenix really liked the way Edgeworth said his name. It wasn’t like he pronounced it differently, or anything. There was just a sense of hesitance to it, like it was something precious he was holding in his mouth, and speaking it too forcefully would cause it to shatter. His name was all soft syllables, in Edgeworth’s voice which rarely softened anything, and it made Phoenix feel like he fell back into deep water after he’d just regained his footing.

“So much has changed,” said Edgeworth. “Hasn’t it?”

“Mhm, tell me about it,” said Phoenix, sinking back into his chair, trying to stay afloat. “Maya’s the Master of her village, Pearls is looking into college, Apollo’s running his own firm while Athena’s taking on more cases by herself, Trucy’s off on tour… and you, Chief Prosecutor.” He let out a faint, self-deprecating laugh. “Meanwhile it feels like I’m stuck in place. Still the same attorney I was when I started out.”

“I don’t think that’s true, but even if it were, there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?” Edgeworth asked. “I hastened towards my position, as it was the best vantage point from which to eliminate corruption. I know I’ve made great changes. I don’t regret my choices, and wouldn’t choose differently, if I had the chance to do them over. But…” He gazed at Phoenix for a long time. “There are things I missed,” he continued, barely audible. “In some ways I’m still stuck, as well, and the thought of moving forward… terrifies me.”

“... I think I know what you mean.”

“Do you?”

Phoenix didn’t answer, lowering his gaze to where Edgeworth’s hand rested almost halfway across the table. If he wanted to, he could reach out to hold it. Broad hands that he would trust the world in. But he still didn’t know what it would feel like in his, or what expression would cross Edgeworth’s face if he had the courage to take it.

Edgeworth stared at him with an unreadable expression, almost curious. “Well, you don’t have to say anything,” he said. “What matters most is that I can be here with you now.”

“... Yeah,” said Phoenix. “I agree.”

One of the major difficulties I have in writing, especially writing dialogue, is being Even Remotely Subtle at any given point, because I am an extremely unsubtle person who does not pick up on social cues! This scene though, actually most of this chapter, has to sort of subtly set up the big event at the end of chapter 5, as well as make all of Phoenix’s motivations seem sort of plausible before he actually gives the explanation a little later. Reading it over it wasn’t actually very subtle but for me I think it was a huge step in the right direction haha. 

Mainly: Phoenix fears that Miles is going to leave him again, along with everyone else he loves in his life, since everyone is starting to move on ahead without him. He’s only just gotten Miles in his life in a semi-permanent way and is terrified of losing that. Miles, meanwhile, has been so focused on his career his whole life and is just now starting to realize the other aspects of life he’d been missing out on, namely developing his relationship with Phoenix, which he’s slowly starting to work up the courage to make a move on. And they’re both aware now that they love each other (even if Phoenix can’t fully admit it to himself yet), but scared to actually take that step forward, so they tiptoe around the subject even though they both know they’re discussing it... and end up taking wildly different conclusions away from the conversation as a result, which leads to the disaster at the end of chapter 5.

Also I just kind of like how pretty some of it managed to sound, somehow. The description of how Miles says Phoenix’s name is probably one of my favourite lines in the fic haha. Overall, I feel proud of myself any time I think I can pull off a dialogue scene where people don’t say what they mean haha.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Hmm prooooobably the Iris Wright Ace Attorney AU which is the one where Phoenix ends up killed by Dahlia, and to atone, Iris helps put her in jail and then takes on Phoenix’s path as an attorney... which I haven’t really written much for yet, but talked about here a little while ago. 

It’s fun and angsty because Iris has to deal with a lot of guilt of pretty much being the downfall of the two people she cared about the most, but you’ve also got Miles, who has his realization that maybe what he’s doing isn’t great so much harder and faster because the realization comes with “when you ignored the truth, it set off a chain of events that caused the death of your childhood friend.” 

Phoenix and Miles don’t end up as close in this AU by virtue of Phoenix being dead before they even meet, but Miles learns Phoenix became an attorney to save him -- and was in the courthouse when he met Dahlia because he was studying to become an attorney -- and even though Miles hadn’t spoken to Phoenix in ages, he was still Miles’ first friend and someone he held dear to his heart all those years they were separate (which I do think is true in canon too, but seeing him as an opponent made that less apparent in AA1-Miles), so news of his death indirectly because of Miles hits him pretty badly.

I did write a fic about Miles responding to Phoenix’s letters in this AU during the events of JFA as a way of trying to work through his grief. I was going to post it during the AU day for narumitsu week this year but ended up not doing that since The Catch-Up Game was stressful enough for people haha.

... I can probably come up with angstier stuff if pressed but AA isn’t one of the fandoms I crave a lot of angst for. 

OH WAIT NO I looked through my fic ideas doc and saw one that’s basically a DL-6 But Worse AU where Miles dies instead of Gregory -- kind of like The Illusion of Control, which broke me, but plot-related stuff would probably be different. A key part is them somehow managing to solve DL-6 in seven years, so that there’s the thematic parallel of Gregory then taking in Franziska (and raising her well!)

(S I already answered here!)

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

... Apparently Miles Edgeworth? I don’t necessarily like making him suffer, I just think that you can explore many interesting aspects of his character... through his suffering... and given my fics, he’s the one I make suffer the most, so. Does it count as making him suffer if it’s canon that did it first?

Y: A character you want to protect.

Mostly the kid characters who have suffered so much more than they deserve: namely, Pearl and Trucy. Especially Trucy at the moment considering the repulsive stuff people have been writing about her in the aa ao3 tag recently. 

[morievna]

Parallels between Yuki and Ugetsu and what they tell about past and future

In my earlier posts I alluded to fact that I find similarities between Yuki and Ugetsu – now I want to dig this topic more deeper to show what I exactly mean by this. After all one of reasons why I love Given so much is it how different couples foil each other at many levels. It is almost as we are presented the same struggle in different ways. This struggle is about finding balance in life - between music and love/normal life. Or if to put it in more abstract terms – between spiritual and mundane aspects. In this meta I intend to depict parallels between Ugetsu and Yuki and then use them as base to speculate on the latter’s choices. At the end I will try to predict how it can be handled in Mafuyu’s story-line in the future.

Since it is heavy topic I want to put disclaimer that I am no psychologist and I will look on this mostly how it was presented in narrative. Just keep it in mind that it is my interpretation and feel free to disagree.

Both of look here as they were in their own world, aren’t they?

Warnings: long post, spoilers and mention of suicide

Parallels between Yuki and Ugetsu are mostly indirect and tied to how they are presented in their relationships with respectively Mafuyu and Akihiko. Let’s start then from very beginning of these couples:

As you see both Akihiko and Mafuyu are in dark/shadow place in literal and metaphorical way. Both of them had problems with parents and were not getting enough love from them – Mafuyu had abusive father and Akihiko’s parents were neglectful and caught in their own drama. Their lives changed significantly when they met “light” (both Ugetsu and Yuki are standing in sunlight), who provided them with attention and love. Apart from it there is also motive of mutual understanding  - Yuki empathized with Mafuyu because he had no father, and Ugetsu was first to recognize that Akihiko is delicate/sensitive person deep down. As trivia I want to add that these both encounters took place in summer.

No matter how they turned out later it is important that at first these relationships were positive for both parties and allowed them to find love, belonging and safety in their lives. We are shown Yuki acting very protective around Mafuyu a lot in flashbacks and it was Ugetsu who offered his house to Akihiko when the latter was homeless due to parent’s divorce. After all there is reason why both Akihiko are Mafuyu are having trouble of letting go of past and treasure these memories despite the pain.

Both pairings have strong soulmates vibes:

We are literally told this by Hiiragi and it is emphasized by ginkgo's leaves, which symbolize duality. In Akihiko/Ugetsu case it is shown too in a bit subtler way – they are almost always in black/dark and light/white clothes (something that anime picked up too) and in color illustrations are often used red and blue/green, which are complementary according to color theory. And stands count as well – Yataragasu (symbol for sun) and squirrel (symbol for earth).

By opposites we should take into consideration not only personality traits, but what I mentioned at start – mundane and spiritual (music) aspects. In other Kizu Natsuki’s original works there is similar pattern in couples too – where one person has more down-to-earth attitude and second one is more thinking of ideas in abstract terms. I like how this was put in words in blurb from “Yukimura-sensei to Kei-kun” – as providing spiritual nourishment to another person.

Both Yuki and Ugetsu’s talents are called in similar terms – something special and otherworldly. Unfortunately, this had not only inspirational but negative effect too– Akihiko abandoned his dreams and I assume that Mafuyu probably too felt overwhelmed since he waited for Yuki’s initiative to work together on music instead of actively asking about it.

Both Mafuyu and Akihiko are making strong association between love and instruments played respectively by Yuki and Ugetsu – as if guitar and violin was symbolically token of love. Just think how Akihiko compared explicitly his love to Ugetsu to love for playing violin in chapter 27. In addition to holding guitar all time in beginning Mafuyu’s songs are thematically connected to Yuki – first about pain of losing him and second about acceptance of his death and moving forward. It is a bit fascinating how music can be both positive and destructive. Thanks to music Akihiko and Ugetsu got to understand each other, but it also effected in split when it wasn’t balanced in life like in Mafuyu and Yuki’s case. It is a bit alike a Force in Star Wars.

And just like in Star Wars – without balance everything falls apart:

Though Akihiko is talking about Ugetsu and Mafuyu here, I think the same applied to Yuki. We know that after going to high school Yuki went to job to buy guitar. It was highlighted that it was expensive model, so he must spent a lot of time working to obtain it. And don’t forget that in his house single mother was only source of income, so he probably helped in paying fees and things like that too. To sum it all up he spent considerable amount of time on job to buy guitar and then later probably even more in studio playing  – his life was basically dedicated to music at this point, no wonder that Mafuyu felt out place and strain appeared in their relationship.

And I think I don’t have to point out examples about Ugetsu spending really most of his time on music? Even though he got talent, he is practicing really hard to be at the highest level.

So let’s move from music to normal life.

It has similar vibe, doesn’t it?

Since both Ugetsu and Yuki are very immersed in music their basic needs are taken care by respectively Akihiko and Mafuyu. We have multiple instances in story where Akihiko is worried about Ugetsu’s well-being (like eating properly and so on). With Yuki there is only that one occasion, but I won’t be surprised if there will be more if we get more flashbacks.

Of course remember that both aspect are equally important and it very important to have them covered in life.  According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs we must find every one of the elements needed to seek fulfillment and change through personal growth.

And as you see love is very important too – we see in Given what happens when it is missing – apathy (Mafuyu), self-neglect (Ugetsu) and losing sense of living (Akihiko).

So we have parallels covered. I think that they clearly intentional and can be used as some kind of base to figure out more about Yuki and his mindset and choices. But firstly let’s take closer look on Yuki chapter 11.5

Judging on clothes – winter ones – it seems that it took place shortly before their argument. Even though they are together there is this vibe of being distant from each other. It is bit hard to put into word feeling of this scene, but it seems like some form of goodbye from Yuki like he wanted to make more memories so Mafuyu wouldn’t forget him easily. There is clear implication that he was feeling lonely. It may be a bit of over-interpretation, but I consider it interesting that Yuki got most of piercing in high school – after spending most of his time apart from Mafuyu. In some way it can be interpreted as sign of internal pain, since Akihiko got his piercing after first breakup with Ugetsu. I think it is safe to assume that Yuki felt depressed due to loneliness and separation from Mafuyu – losing his balance in life and music could not sustain him.

Before moving to their argument, firstly let’s take closer look on reasons why Ugetsu broke up with Akihiko. Because it is not simple as love for music was just more important for him.

This decision can be examined on three levels:

Identity / afraid of change – Ugetsu’s home is such great metaphor for him – ascetic, isolated from rest of world and dedicated solely to playing music. To me it feel like he thinks that music should be his priority because he has nothing except for it and it is only thing he is good at. So he thinks that he has to put music as first, because he is nothing without it and nobody would give him attention if he doesn’t play at the highest level. Accepting his feeling to Akihiko as equally important would mean that he has to change the way his was living and identity he build for himself.

Self-guilt –he blames himself for Akihiko abandoning his dream about playing violin as pro.

Loneliness – he has no friends and his family doesn’t seems to be supportive or take active role in his life either.

I want to highlight that it was bad decision, which caused only more pain for them both. Deciding arbitrarily what is good for another person and breaking up without telling reasons is bad. It is even underlined in narrative – Ugetsu thinks of himself as coward and lowest of low. Mafuyu thinks of this as wrong too (and again another parallel):

But saying “right words” would be talking about his insecurities to Akihiko, showing vulnerable side and stopping to run from his feelings – Ugetsu was not ready for this and took “easier” path to stop suffering by pushing away Akihiko. To me it looks as he wanted to turn back to state before knowing him, but obviously it didn’t work since love changes people and shutting out feelings is not something easy.

So keep all above in mind and now let’s take look on argument between Mafuyu and Yuki:

Identity / afraid of change – even though Mafuyu stressing out that music is tearing them apart, Yuki didn’t acknowledge this and simply want Mafuyu to trust him. It all sounds that Mafuyu felt betrayed, but is seems that Yuki didn’t want to change his attitude towards spending so much time on music and acknowledge this as something wrong – so I think that music is as much important to him as to Ugetsu.

Self-guilt – during this argument Yuki had learned how much this is causing hurt, so I am assuming he too thinks that “his existence fundamentally means suffering” for Mafuyu. Like you know thinking that Mafuyu words “Would you die for me then?” meant that Mafuyu would be better or happier without him.

Loneliness – despite having friends and supportive mother Yuki is pretty alone in this – it doesn’t looks that he tried to get help or talking with them. Even though Hiiragi was just observant Yuki didn’t try to talk with him. Just look below –from the way Yuki patted Hiiragi’s arm it looks to me as Yuki tried to pretend that everything was okay.

Unlike Ugetsu he can’t turn back literally before knowing Mafuyu since they meet as kids, so this is out of option. So he decided wrongly that there is another way to permanently “end suffering” for both of them. I want to repeat what I stated earlier – it is just my interpretation and maybe something else affected him too. But looking at major themes of story – how different characters has dilemma between music and life/love I expect Yuki’s story be something similar like that. I hope too that I sounded too judgmental – I am aware from my personal experiences that changing and fixing flaws is not that easy and sometimes reaching for help from others takes a lot of courage too.

God, it was hard to write I got so emotional. Okay I recovered so moving out to:

Just to make things clear – I don’t think that Ugetsu is going to die or something like that. Parallels are often used to emphasize differences in the end. I think that he is going to make amends and seek forgiveness for hurt he caused from Akihiko. His story resembles how redemption arc are usually done, but this is big topic for another time. I firmly believe that he will get happy ending, especially since Akihiko is very forgiving.

Since Yuki isn’t protagonist we will see rest of his story through Mafuyu’s eyes. I think there are two ways:

As mentioned before Mafuyu wanted to write song together with Yuki. I suspect that this wish will be fulfilled in different way. In recent chapter Hiiragi wanted to work on some Yuki’s song together with Ritsuka. Again because Yuki was special when it comes to music I don’t think it would be easy task. It is possible that we would get to see them all together working on this as some kind of collaboration between these two bands. Who knows, maybe even we get to see Mafuyu singing it. The tone and lyrics of this song would give us new information on Yuki too. And it would be interesting to know if this song was meant by him to be gift for Mafuyu. Besides, since Mafuyu seeks often Ugetsu’s advise on music I think he will be involved too. Honesty I think that just writing new song for Given by Mafuyu could feel a bit repetitive, so this way could make things more interesting.

Some alongside this way I anticipate that Mafuyu would open up more and talk about his bottled feelings about Yuki. Probably first to Ugetsu, with whom Mafuyu feels understanding and thus mirroring chapter, where Ugetsu talked about his relationship with Akihiko. Then later with Ritsuka. To be honest I feel like waiting for this so long. Main reason why I want this to happened – I think it would be good for Mafuyu to express it all during normal conversation (not just through music like before) to make final peace with past. And to solve Ritsuka’s issues with jealousy for good. I would also love to see Mafuyu introducing Ritsuka to Yuki’s mom and/or inviting her to LIVE performance.

Secondly, I think that near end of the story we will get dream sequence with Mafuyu and Yuki. To show their final goodbye, which they didn’t have chance to do in real life. It would signify that finally Mafuyu had forgiven himself and Yuki, made peace with past and is ready to embrace wholeheartedly present and future with Ritsuka. Kizu Natsuki pulled out similar thing in her other work “Links” so I think it is quite possible. After all subtitle of Given is - “I cannot say goodbye I am still drifting in your echoes” - I think that showing their final goodbye like this would wrap story really nicely. Because in the end the core themes of story are healing, forgiveness and finding love.

So it is all for today - thanks for reading. To end it on bit lighter tone I will borrow Bob Ross’s words:

[comicteaparty]

March 2nd-March 8th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from March 2nd, 2020 to March 8th, 2020.  The chat focused on VALERIE by Rebecca Reynolds.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on VALERIE by Rebecca Reynolds~! (https://valerie-comic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 8th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've read this comic before and recommend it! I'm gonna go reread it and catch up on the latest pages before I comment, but I wanted to pop in and say that other people should read it too first!

eli [a winged tale]

This is a beautiful comic and I read it all in one go. 1. I thought it was spooky! Great atmosphere and the characters are spunky. Love the dialogue. 2. Favourite moment is Valerie talking about her past. I thought it was very poignant. 3. I love both Gab and Valerie. They both feel so real and relatable. 4. ? 5. I love the colours and lighting! I’ll get a link later :3 6. I love the theme about taking time to find out what you want in life. Especially in the current state life feels like a rush to get to the finish, I think it’s important to take a moment to reorient ourselves. 7. Loved the tone and mood of the overall story. Really polished. 8. The pacing, characters and story were all lovely. I followed the creator on my social media and I can’t wait to see more works from Rebecca.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh, the comic finished since the last time I read it!

So refreshing and satisfying to read a completed, cohesive short story like this

4. Well, Gab and Val were the majority of the comic. So, them. Seeing someone just talk to a ghost like a normal person was very cool. Love that dynamic- a supernatural encounter that's not anything to be scared of.(edited)

5. The backgrounds look structured and solid, which makes the characters stand out because they're drawn so softly. They look 'blobby,' in a good way. They look light and airy.

This page with the glass and the mirrors made me stop for a second and go, 'damn that's cool'

https://valerie-comic.com/post/182899830167

I like how Valerie's outfit looks outdated.

I wonder if Valerie disappearing on that one page means that she passed on in that moment?

On critique is that I found it a bit strange that the font size got smaller when the characters got farther away. I had to keep zooming in and out

RebelVampire

I like the color choices in the beginning of the comic. They provide a great atmospheric backdrop for the conversation. Plus, I kind of like that the story starts off with a transition from day to night, as it kind of gives off that feeling like you know something is about to change and really gives you expectations for something significant is gonna happen to Gab. As for favorite overall moment, I probably like the end where Gab and Valerie have to say good bye. There's just some beautiful emotional expressions in that scene and you can taste Gab's reluctance to leave. And I just love how that scene had the emotional weight that was needed. As for favorite character, probably Valerie. I like how, despite the circumstances, Valerie just kind of accepts them to a degree and makes the most of it in her own way. And I really admire characters who are able to do that since its a good showcase you dont have to let dire circumstances bring you down. In regards to characters interacting, I mean, I think for most it's gonna be Gab and Valerie. They do get the most screentime. And their relationship is pretty beautiful in the sense that even though it's fleeting, you can see how they help each other have a moment of respite and gain insight into themselves.

Something I like about the art is how its simultaneously clean and loose. Like the lines themselves are very clean, perfect for details and just general stylization. And yet, they aren't perfect. Like some lines don't connect, etc. I think it's just a nice style that suits the tone of the comic. I like that the comic explores the idea of finding out what you want to do with your life while also exploring the idea that what we think we want to do sometimes winds up not being that. I think it's kind of something important thing to talk about - that plans change. And that things we like can stop bringing up happiness sometimes and that committing to one thing for your entire life is hard. So I really like that this comic shows this side of things, since I feel contemporary works are pretty saturated with characters who know exactly what they want to do. What I like about the comic's overall story is just kind of the healing aspect of it. Like this is the perfect kind of story to read when feeling lost, cause it shows that sometimes all you need to do is talk to someone. Even if it only helps a little, it still helps. For strengths, I actually think it's the the overall story structure. Short stories can be deceptively hard since you have limited space and time to convey something. But I think the story here is structured perfectly with its simplicity. Interesting, but not overly complicated where you need tons of exposition pages. It's just the right length that it comes off as a tight and strong story that gets its messages in and leaves you with a strong impact since this is the entirety of it, if that makes sense.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i agree with your thought about the comic capturing that feeling of a momentary meaningful interaction with a stranger you'll never see again

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Why do you think Valerie is anchored to the mall and hasn’t passed on (assuming that’s possible)? What do you think will happen to Valerie if and when the mall is torn down?

10. Why do you think Gab of all people was able to see Valerie? How do you think both characters have changed from their brief encounter, if at all?

11. Do you think Gab will pursue photography after meeting Valerie, or will another path call Gab? Overall, what do you think the comic teaches us about career pursuits and how to find what makes us happy?

12. Thematically speaking, what role did Feebs and Casper play in Gab’s story in your opinion? How do you think these characters will be affected by the experience at the mall?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

9. maybe she just needed a chance to tell her story. She felt when she was alive that she wasn't living genuinely, right?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

This was a fun, short read! I'm very interested by the parallels between Gab and Valerie. Like, Valerie was pushed into a career she didn't want to, then ran away and ended up killed. So... what does that tell us about Gab? She was pursuing photography, but ran away. But, it seems like something she was really passionate about and pushed out of, rather something she was dispassionate about and was pushed into. So... what does Gab learn from this experience? It's very interesting.

eli [a winged tale]

I agree with Eightfish. Valerie mentioned only a select few can see her. I think she wanted to share her story and feel like there was a purpose for her being there

RebelVampire

@snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) I really like the differences between Gab and Valerie, as I think you're right. Their experiences with their career are quite a bit different, even if it resulted in the same feeling of being lost.

I think Valeria is anchored to the mall, cause ya know, murder. Most ghost lore holds that it's people with extremely regrets and/or people who met extremely horrific ends. And I'm pretty sure Valerie hits both of those. I'd like to believe Valerie will move on once the mall is torn down, but ghost lore so...she'll probably get to haunt whatever is built on top of it. Hopefully it'll be a starbucks. As for why Gab was able to see Valerie, I think it has to do with the fact they both have similar emotional circumstances of being lost. And I think that emotional connection bridged the afterlife to living gap. Gab might have also just been more open to the experience, as people who tend to be skeptical of the supernatural don't often see it. As for how they changed, I think Gab definitely got some insight into how to continue forward. Whereas I think Valerie was probably given some hope that even as a ghost, there can be purpose. Something like that.

I think Gab will eventually pursue photography, but I also feel like Gab might try other things first. Like take some pottery classes. Cause even if she aims for photography, trying new things helps ppl out of creative ruts which I'm willing to guess Gab is in. As for the overall message here, I think the comic shows that being happy is hard, careers are hard, everyone is lost on the inside, and that as we age, things we used to like we might no longer like.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Can I just say that I really liked the names in this comic

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

"Valerie Williams"

It sounds so rhythmic, like a celebrity's name

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That was a really good read. My takeaway message is, "you're not alone, even if those around you (like the two friends) don't seem to get you." Maybe your friends understand more than they seem, or maybe you'll find your connection in an unexpected time and place like Gab and Valerie did.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

So I needed extra time to consider Feebs and Caspar's role, and I think that thematically that sort of represent a disconnect. Like of coruse Gab still likes them and they're her friends. But sometimes we can't talk to the ppl close to us about certain things. Sometimes because they wouldn't understand, or sometimes just because it's embarassing. However, I think at the same time at the end that they help ground Gab back to reality and give Gab a sort of safe space to continue to work on her new insights. As for how they'll be effected...probably not at all cause I think the point is how they effect Gab. Anyway, all in all this was a well-structured short story with a very tight narrative, very nice art, and just really I have nothing bad to say about it.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about VALERIE this week! Please also give a special thank you to Rebecca Reynolds for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked VALERIE, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://valerie-comic.com/%3E

Rebecca’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/brobexx

Rebecca’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/rebeccareynolds

Rebecca’s Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/brobexx

Rebecca’s Gumborad Page: https://gumroad.com/rebeccareynolds

Rebecca’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/brobexx

[elizabethrobertajones]

14x07 watching notes

In Which It Is Now Completely Apparent Which Of Buck And Leming Are Writing A Scene At Any Given Time

or

A Tale Of Lizbob Being Tormented By Toddlers

Hello it is 3:32am and I am awake from a dream of what the episode might have been (plus side: overt Destiel motel room sharing, downside: Jack accidentally killed Dean) because my tantruming toddler neighbour who just moved into the haunted house next door was screaming, and threw something at our adjoining wall. At 3am. So I'm not exactly well-rested and I'm kinda pissed, which isn't the best combo for a Buckleming episode, but when you wake up with a scream and a thump, you aren't going back to sleep for a lil while :P

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Kudos to the rest of the writing team, we're 7 episodes in and I've thoroughly forgotten Nick exists. I've just been assuming he was caught, featured on a true crime program, and is already gone and locked up for the new murder and likely solving of a cold case.

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Ahahahaaaa the opening of the recap is "when it comes to killing you, I'll be the one to do it" so that's ominous. As you might tell, my psyche is utterly wrapped around this whole Shakespearean tragedy of Jack vs Dean, and perhaps they're not gonna murder each other today but the constant reminders they're living in a murder or get murdered delicate thematic plot balance is exactly the sort of thing that we need to have hanging over their dynamic, as well of course as being the start point of their relationship to show how far they've come and how much they've changed and now love each other and how just last episode Dean got in his "fine i have a son now" episode a season or two later than everyone else and just in time for it to be "so now you bonded with him of course he's caught Doom because you can't have nice things for literally a single episode and this is your fault for bonding with him, Dean"

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This recap is designed to wound me, a Jack fan and lover of how TFW loves their son

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Ew, it's Nick. The first time in my life I've been tempted to skip at least a lil of the recap.

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Imagine how tight it would have been to just do a 10 second "here's Jack" recap and cut to the action

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and the action includes an episode without Nick stealing time from the boy

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You know i spend exactly 0 time speculating on how Eugenie might write her personal fave bits of the episodes but if you had to throw together "nick is now a serial killer ritually murdering priests on a satanic bender" then that would have been a pretty close thing to what I could have come up with as distilled Buckleming essence. (gross)

There's a vague continued overlap of the human!Cas arc with the parallel to the open of 9x03 and the general aesthetic of season 11's Lucifer's satanic rampage bender thrown together but you know what that's more meta than this arc deserves and my boy is sick

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OH NO CAS IS THE ONE WATCHING OVER HIM ABORT ABORT

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His grace looks pathetic. Maybe he's trying not to wake Jack up. Maybe he doesn't have a whole lot left.

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That's not helping, Cas

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ANXIOUS PARENTS OUTSIDE HIS ROOM

I bet Cas sent them away because they were hovering

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Dean this is not what happens to kids, stop trying to kid yourself that this is like having a regular demonic toddler

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Man am I glad I do not have kids right now both because I don't have to worry about them and also because they scream and throw stuff at the walls at 3am

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Dean angry at Cas cuz he's worried about Jack oh no oh no oh no look at these stressed parents. Cas is forced into the doctor role because he magic but he is just as stressed as they are and tensions are high, and then the boy starts convulsing

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Oh my god they snapped, they are actually bringing Jack to an emergency room. This is horrifying and kind of a trip to imagine what they're going to tell any authority figures about who this guy is and what their relationship is to him.

Do they remember that he has barcode fingerprints and probably is gonna be Medically Weird just as default?

(Alex is 29 like me and Misha is early 40s and Jimmy is canonically a year older than Misha for some reason, so at a push Cas could be his dad and have made some very early mistakes but the boy is biologically only like 10 years younger than them on average... JACK looks another half that at times but this is a hospital so idk if "smiles like a toddler" "early teenage adorableness" is a good measure of age)

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(I'm stress-typing)

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"His full name, please"

All 3 dads look at each other baffled.

Sam goes with Jack Kline, which, a season and a bit later, is the first canonical use of it as Jack's surname

They're cautious about using Winchester, understandably, but it's a nice reminder that Kelly is family too and as the dead parent, naming Jack in tribute to her should have been something they were doing all along (like, season 13 all along), especially as he even visited the Klines earlier this season. Sam being the one who thinks to do this is nice because he's the most dad-aligned to Jack in a traditional sense when it's come to raising him (Cas got the pre-birth role as the traditional father role) and Cas obviously had the strongest connection to Kelly before that but this isn't a moment about her so much as these 3 stressed dads.

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LOL Date of birth. Sam wins another point for knowing it, while Dean makes back and forth guesses on '99/2000, making Jack 19 or 20, which would at least mean any one of them could have fathered him and chopping 10 years off Alex's age to compromise between look and feel.

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Given Jack's symptoms the nurse should have been a lil more concerned asking about trips to West Africa or other likely Ebola places lately. (This may be poor timing on the show's part but isn't there a fresh outbreak right now?)

(Oof I googled it and there's "Congo Ebola outbreak 2nd worst in history" articles dated 6 hours ago... Maybe a bad year to write haemorraghic diseases for fun and also how comes no one is talking about this in the news and it's all blah blah brexit... Have we just stopped fearing it now a few outbreaks have shown it mostly stays contained in African countries so now they can just suffer it on their own? I'm making a 4am donation to relief efforts)

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*returns from the doctors without borders website* anyway back to the fictional sick white boy

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And his very stressed dads

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I have no idea how much of this is medically accurate but I feel like this is particularly dramatised to match hospital visits people have experienced which did not involve bringing in a stumbling, feverish, person who is having seizures and coughing blood

it's still objectively sad to see TFW lined up all stressed out and Cas and Dean holding hands while they stare through the giant window

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The doctors aren't wearing masks even though he has been COUGHING BLOOD

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sheesh this entire hospital is in quarantine now

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Nick saying he was "getting hammered" the night of the murder isn't super subtle

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Cas aggressively still trying to watch over Jack even though they won't let him in the room. Dean paces and talks about ghouls in the middle of the hospital to let off stress.

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Cas goes to watch over him in person while Sam and Dean have a personal chat. This is awful D:

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I appreciate the sentiment of busting Jack out before they pay the hospital bills because they're running out of medical options and need to turn to magic ones, a la every dramatic event ever in their lives except that one time Dean broke his leg and Sam was too out of it with the Hallucifers to sell his soul to make it better, but if Jack's in system shutdown wouldn't at least keeping him with state of the art equipment mean things like transfusion and machines that keep him propped up?

Mind you his bloodtype is probably, like, X evil negative or something Bucklemingy

It's in his DNA... He might be cute but he's still  born of their episodes and wacky non con ideas... It was gonna catch up to him eventually D: You can't outrun it forever!!

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I accidentally hit a button and 8x02 started playing on VLC

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"DEEEAN" Cas shoves him through the portal out of purgatory, credits roll, this was officially the weirdest episode ever.

(No I didn't watch the whole thing, I was literally paused on the last shot from where I was about to gif it last night when I fell asleep)

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Sam already called Rowena... Smart cookie

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obligatory yell at Cas shedding the coat to put on Jack so they don't walk him out in a hospital gown

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Oh my god Jack's so sick he's white as a sheet and being carried out by 2 of his dads and he still has a lil well of snark to be like "fine we're leaving" to the doctor.

"There's just no talking to him when he gets like this"

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We're at the promo scene and I'm still not 100% sure after sleeping on it that Rowena definitely did not have the Book of the Damned, and that she hadn't been able to make off with it at the end of season 11, never for it to be seen again, because she was very much in the process of stealing the Black Grimoire in 13x22, but this does, I guess, make sense in regards to which book would serve Jack better, and Mittens tried her best to convince me that Rowena plausibly did not have it because the Winchesters did... I'm still suspicious because I really did just assume that she took it and the implication was we didn't see it because SHE had hidden it, and from a line in a Buckleming episode as well. And either way around her showing up with it makes sense that she had it but I'd have occam's razor'd it that she stole the obvious books at the obvious times and not that 13x22 became a BotD heist on top of everything else :P

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Jack is up and about!!

He's using a more gravelly voice and it's actually a really hot voice and for literally the first time the Alex/Jack divide (gulf) in my head that one is my age and hot and the other is a 12 year old is a bit shaken. I mean Jack's canonically now supposed to be around 19-20? Which explains why he has a "wooo spring break" attitude when we see in the promo he snaps and wants to go to Vegas.

They grow up so fast.

Anyway considering he was in total organ shutdown a lil while ago it seems a night's rest has done him well if he's wandering around the bunker

Can't tell if we swapped writers or what... well, it seems like it's possible given Jack's fluctuating sickness, which of course could just be a plot thing but also a mark of the inconsistencies in Buckleming episodes. It's still odd to me that in the filming process it didn't occur to them that Jack might not at least sway on the spot at little, but he's really standing there like a little trooper, upright and talking confidently.

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And betraying to Rowena that his dads like her and say nice things about her behind her back, which is catastrophic for them. How dare. You're damaging the foundations of their relationship.

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*cough cough*

"Bollocks"

Yep, her heart has softened, Jack won her over in record time, and she's just thinking about that time she adopted a wee Polish lad and loved him as her own because Jack is genetically engineered to be a blank slate son version of a Mary Sue. You take one look at him and he is Your Son in whatever way will most harm you.

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Good grief I wish Crowley was still around to see what HILARIOUS overlap with Gavin we'd have wrung out of Jack's main superpower.

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Cas offering his grace to stabilise Jack on the spot. Halp. It's more important to him that his son lives by miles, that this isn't even an internal debate for him. In a way, obvious that Cas would be like this as a parent, in another, Cas just offered to give up his grace live on TV

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Rowena shoots down the obvious solution (oh and thank god that for once the show actually even references obvious solutions) and starts talking about how we need archangel grace and as soon as she says that I think "oh, Michael" and Dean starts to come over weird with a wooziness that makes me wonder if that was timed for the audience "oh there's one out there right now" and why would DEAN be personally affected right thiiiiiis second..............................

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When they go on spring break together we're getting right to the murderin

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I mean SOMETHING is up and Dean's right now having his own weird moment as Rowena talks about how Jack will now have a fluctuating set of symptoms for the sake of the plot so

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It's possible this is just his internal POV emotional reaction to bad news because this is what happens to me when I hear it but I suspect Dean is a lil more healthy than me in the first place so doesn't verge on passing out whenever a catastrophe happens regularly. And also Sam and Cas aren't similarly struck with physical symptoms at the news their son is dying.

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Ya know, Buckleming, or probably Eugenie specifically which makes it all the worse, writing this woman taking a call in a dark alleyway, then not being terrified to be approached by a weird man and on top of that stopping and turning to invite him to join her in the club... this is the kind of thing where they're writing someone going against all natural instinct that it's bad characterisation for someone we've literally never met before just to put her in danger.

I mean at least they didn't make Nick stab a random woman (and a black woman at that to add to their overall awful stats)

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I like how Jack's just decided Vegas or Tahiti are places you just kinda go to die... I mean I don't know what he's learned about them but it all has to be absorbed through the media in his most innocent way. I feel like there's something very sweet about whatever he thinks you do in these places of reputed sin and blaze of glory live fast die young lifestyles, but also utterly tragic. Consumptive tragic hero but with a twist of the reckless and dangerous later tropes of... It's 5am and I can't think but like. Vegas. Drugs and gambling high life style tropey films and books from the American tradition.

And of course it's Dean (who utterly fits into this trope and even has yearly Vegas trips with Sam since discovering his psychic powers back in season 1 and also lives a blaze of glory mindset) who brings him the deadly glass of milk (film trope about innocence but also like, people dying) and a sandwich loaded with salami. Dean went all out to make that for Jack - a couple of episodes after sending a woman off to "make him a sandwich" and regretting it as he spoke, we see the yank the cloth away reveal of Dean's nurturing side where he is the caregiver who shows affection through food and will go to the trouble of making his boy a delicious sandwich.

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"Nice." See? He's Dean's son and Dean approves his choice of places to die. "You sure this is the best time?"

"Pretty sure it is," Jack says, backpack on, already almost out the door. He's found a brown corduroy jacket which is both unlike his beige jackets and suits from the rest of his life aside from the blue apocalypse world one, and also very very much like Sam's iconic season 1-2 brown corduroy jacket that he mostly stopped wearing although I think was the one Dean wore in 4x01 as one of its sporadic dwindling appearances, if I'm not wrong.

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I probably am but either way, it's a change to darker colours, something Sam-associated to fit the gap of this smol dangerous dying kid Dean has to deal with, and puts Jack in thick earthier tones, thicker clothes to ward against the cold of death, and dressed more like TFW than normal as he usually has quite a distinct child-like version of their clothes.

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Jack's concept of life and mortality is fucked, possibly because he was a functioning being after a day or two of gathering his thoughts and starting to come to terms with asking deep philosophical questions about himself, so in a way discovering he only has a couple more weeks to live is hardly anything. He's a fucking mayfly.

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Ugh it's now solidly 5am and I am clearly not going back to sleep so I give up, I'm finally getting coffee. The rest of the notes will be maybe a wee bit more coherent :P

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Anyway kettle thought: due to Jack and Dean's murder or be murdered relationship (lordy how is this the only way you relate to fatherhood, my guy?) I kinda suspect that Dean's about to abscond with Jack without even telling dad 1 or dad 2, because he is dad 3 and that's totally cool and he's a responsible adult, but,  you know, woozy and doomed while Jack is also consumptive and doomed. BAD COMBO.

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I charge you with grounds of diminished responsibility due to mutual murder narrative doom

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"I'm done being special. Before my life is over, I want to live it"

Okay remember in season 1 episode 14 where Dean was like "LOL WE SHOULD GO TO VEGAS BECAUSE YOU ARE PSYCHIC"? and I referenced that like 5 minutes ago so you should, obviously I've only ever been able to headcanon the reveal of Vegas Week in season 7 (Dabb episode, take a shot) dates back to that and is one of their between episode activities which makes sense that since they only started travelling as adults together in the canon of the show (and Sam 1 year older than drinking age) that it might as well have been when they started the tradition?

Well Jack here is reacting like Dean would have if HE were the one in Sam's shoes in 1x14, and being the fun lil brother who actually would be like fuck it let's go to Vegas and see how psychic I am in the casinos! In the context of season 1 Sam is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too angsty and tragic to do anything other than come across as a stick in the mud who thinks Dean is joking and they're gonna carry on being tragic and hunting monsters instead. Dean in season 2, episode 9, also wanted to fuck off and go have fun when Sam's scary destiny got too much for him to carry, and that was when he was locked in the murder or save him vow from John's last words, which is a similar burden to the narrative bind he's in with Jack.

Jack, all of his fathers' son, finally shows up as the god damn first person to take his doom sensibly and actually want to fuck off to Vegas, and that's demon!Dean levels of fuck it.

Incidentally I half-suspect that Crowley, who has billions of dollars and once bid the moon in an auction (hi I watched 99% of 8x02 yesterday and 1% of it just now) probably was steering demon!Dean waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay carefully around the thought of wait a minute I have an extremely rich and powerful sugar daddy and no responsibilities... VEGAAAAAAAS.

Like, any time Dean started to form the thought, bam, naked triplets show up in their room.

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Anyway Jack's busy being tragic, talking about wanting to get a tan (Beach now linked to something to do before death) or see a hockey game (oh shit we forgot Adam) or get a parking ticket (oh so that's why Dean  murders him)

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"And when it's all over... die."

Dean looks over his shoulder, mind made up to abduct the boy and take him joyriding

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"So that's your plan, huh?"

"I don't want to waste time arguing"

"Did I say I disagree"

jack, this is Fun Dad

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I know, the concept is completely radical and you've never seen Dean be fun but trust me.

Even with your very, very limited options, Sam has literally had 3 episodes about how he's Scrooge, and Cas is... Cas. But Dean is legitimately fun dad when you get him on a good day. Trust me.

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No one's speaking to Rowena??? How wild.

Poor thing is never going to get her mega coven

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Dean (who has rocked up already wearing his jacket) spaces out as Sam starts blahing on about the culturally appropriative shaman Ketch has located.

Same, buddy

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At least Dean isn't lying to them about stealing Jack. Somewhat. Not the whole Vegas plan.

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Jack smiles at Sam and Cas in a kind of way that somehow conveys in its entirety "this may be the last time you see me but I'm cool with you NOT seeing me die of coughing my lungs up and fun dad has this covered and we've always had a weird death cult about our relationship anyway so I'm okay with it and you guys were the best dads but now fun dad is going to take me out back and shoot me where you can't see and I love you bye"

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"Why don't you drive?"

Jack is like ?!?!?!?!? D:

EVEN ON HIS DEATHBED he hadn't figured this would ever happen

It's the make a wish foundation :')

This is, of course, the ultimate sign of Dean loving you and caring for you in Dean's own special way of not telling you he does but showing it with a gesture of absolute confidence and letting you in, and in the vast annuls of the show dates back to the second ever episode where Dean let Sam drive at the end for all of 1 shot (seriously, they've swapped back by the long shot at the end of 1x02 where you can't see them in the car but the prop drivers are definitely doing a generic Sam in the passenger seat Dean driving routine for stock footage :P)

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Anyway Dean loves Jack enough that he's letting a kid who does not know how to drive learn to drive in the Impala, like he and Sam did.

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I can see Alex sweating bullets about being seated next to Jensen in the beloved Impala and having to mess up turning it on... never mind the fact that both Jensen AND Dean will murder him if he harms the car, and being murdered on both levels at once is spiritually unsettling and he will probably end up an unquiet ghost.

And yet, the glee at being behind the wheel of this legendary gal

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TRAGIC NYOOOOOM

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"It's like I'm you! :D"

"No, it's not! :D (but with implied murder)"

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"THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER"

Look if he survives this, you're creating a speed demon who will want his own classic car

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And then you'll have to teach him how to maintain it

oh god

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But yeah, non-toxic parenting in the John Winchester As He Could Have Been style.

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At least as long as Dean is in the Make A Wish mode and not back to tragic murder mode

And that wooziness that he may or may not be associating with no sleep and too much stress suggests this isn't going to last as a Fun Day Trip For The Boy

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"Cas are you sure you want to handle this alone?"

NO HE NEEDS A HUG HIS SON IS DYING

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Sam, go hug him, you need a hug and your son is dying.

Also, of course, you mutually need each other in this instance and Sam is reaching out to Cas with presumably the intent that he wants to be in on it but is asking as if just concerned about Cas

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Cas, being Cas, has somehow deduced that Dean is "taking this particularly hard" despite the fact all three of them are Concerned Dads and CAS WHAT THE FUCK are you doing being selflessly concerned about DEAN and sizing up his emotional state when all three of you are wrecked and your son is dying?

You literally have 3x the sitting at his bedside holding his hand moments of any of them and montaged the heck out of the concern at the start of the episode

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I remember way back someone wankily made a chart of how often people talked to Dean about stuff and other people talked to each other about Dean, and Sam is now crying about Dean beating himself up over being mean to Jack at the start of season 13 and regretting it, so this entire conversation is Sam and Cas man paining at each other about how much man pain Dean is in.

I say with no wank in my heart, just sheer horrified amusement at this data point if they still are hate-watching the show and being horrified about how Sam never gets stuff for himself etc (I mean. He and Cas both have had extended chunks of seasons about them parenting Jack and this is Dean's time to come belatedly to what the two of them already had)

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Cas finally says "son" a season and change after Jack was wandering around calling him "father" and Sam doesn't seem inclined to disagree that this is how it feels for all 3 of them.

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Obviously he's crying about Jack and it was just the context above that made it look like he was crying about Dean and I always knew that, I'm not a monster, I'm just deflecting because owwwwwwwww this hurts

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HUG EACH OTHER YOU DUMB FUCKS SO I FEEL BETTER

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Cas walks off instead and Sam finally after 1000 years discovers how Dean feels when Cas does that when he was angling to come along and they miscommunicated and didn't say what they meant. Except Sam wanted to come out of mutual Dad Angst comfort while Dean normally wants to go with Cas places so he can hold his hand.

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Jack's so proud of himself for being able to drive.

"Born with a wheel in your hand"

He literally stole the Impala from you when he was 7 months in the womb

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Dean is like, we could get you laid? And Jack is like. Nah. I have a better idea.

No idea what right now but he still doesn't wanna bang anyone

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Ugh a Nick scene. Tag yourself I'm the old tyre in the foreground

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Is this the house from Family Remains aka the self-admitted worst episode of the show by Kripke and Carver's explicit design

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I am going to puke Jack wanted to go on a fishing trip with his dad

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There were spoilers about them doing this but I repressed it the fuck down and lied to myself that Jensen was randomly teaching Alex to fish on set because I didn't want to think about Dean doing this with Jack because oh my god someone has taken my heart and gouged it out with a rusty spoon.

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Also: someone design Jack a t-shirt with a witty slogan about fishing rather than hook ups. Like, dude bro fishing culture but in a world where you're as likely to get dumb slogans about not wanting sex as you are for it making you a babe magnet

"I'd rather be fishin" is a thing people get on mugs for the workplace but we could start with this sentiment and play

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ALSO AS I MENTIONED I WATCHED 8x02 IN THE LAST 24 HOURS AND DEAN NEAR RIVERS SUCKS. We also have 10x01 and Daniel the fishing angel (who was the pizza man from Monster Movie, see above: slogans about fishing, pizza man innuendo, we got a thing going here) who was happy on Earth just fishing and enjoying the planet and not wanting to go back to Heaven, in a very heavy metaphor for Cas to deal with, as the angel who once compared free will to teaching poetry to fish. Lots and lots to unpack here, when we turn this into a Dean and Jack father son bonding moment and throw in Dean's peaceful dream of fishing in 4x20 that Cas interrupted. Fishing is about peace and idyll and comes as a temporary respite in this show. Traditionally, also, of course it's a sport of patience, and a classic father son bonding activity as the long stillness allows for both manly silence and sharing beers in peace, but also talk if they want to open up a conversation.

For Jack, it's an overlap of both Cas and Dean parental stuff, Cas's issues with angelic nature, where he wants to be, WHO he wants to be (just OFFERING to give up his grace to save Jack) and then with Dean we have more classic human cultural tropes but none less painful for Jack's nature and relationships. Especially throwing in that this was his choice and Dean is indulging him completely here.

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John may or may not have taught them to fish but I feel like it may have had a "so you are dying in the woods" aspect to it rather than for peace and bonding. BOBBY taught Sam and Dean some basic woodsmanship so he was more likely to be the father figure teaching them to fish if anyone did.

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Okay so obviously I typed that just after clutching my heart at the reveal and hitting pause, as Jack immediately goes on to say that John DID teach Dean how to fish and that it was his happiest memory of him - and it comes as a surprise for the expectations (like, that the above paragraph now stands as what I would expect of canon if I was only taking from it and not as an actual writer of the show being allowed to insert new details in which challenge us about the characters, which is where I find the line between fan fic and original fiction really is when it comes to characterisation... Anything out of left-field and you have to tag it as an AU version or explain why instead of just writing it as taken for granted).

And it's unexpected in the sense that it is such a peaceful thing and above all I think the message is that Jack intuited from whatever Dean said about it that it WAS a happy peaceful memory of John which stood so much at odds with the rest of his life. Filed under as well the thing where Mary started talking about how nice John was to Sam and Sam recoiled in confusion until Mary clarfied it was her John, not theirs. Good memories of a gentle soft John are alarming, and yet perhaps this is a way to really confront and exorcise his ghost more than anything - the sort of funeral servive memorialising of the good with the bad and working through it to come to peace in a different sort of way that lets the wounds heal and the anger leave those scars.

"It was how you said it. I could tell." He's such a smart cookie and I think that often takes Dean by surprise in the sense that Jack has been very shrewdly watching him and learning from him and absorbing anything and everything he does, which unfortunately gives him the ability to cold read Dean like very few people do, seeing past the layers and bluffs and into Dean's core.

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Jack just murdered Dean by saying if he doesn't make it he wouldn't miss Tahiti or the Taj Mahal or implied going to seedy bars and hooking up, he'd miss more time with Dean.

I mean that's not a literal way to kill someone but you should see Dean's face. He's been shot.

And again, it's a metaphor for what you want from life for DEAN to absorb, the prompt that his family is right here and he doesn't need to chase pleasure outside of them, that hook up bar nearby their home base where he never strikes out, that's irrelevant to the family he has built and it's been put in the subtext of what Dean goes after that's empty pleasure when he has this core family unit around him, by the way Jack has also rejected it and is explaining to Dean the real meaning of Christmas.

Of course, this all gets a bit weird unless you account for the fact he has an angel wearing a trenchcoat made of husband material waiting back at the Bunker because the chronic singleton life otherwise probably ought to account for an outlet for Dean like a hook up bar if his happy ending is a platonic family bond so, you know, end the show 10 minutes from now with everyone happy and alive and not dying, and all Dean's learned is they're 3 dads, one son, a mom and her AUBobby, but he still has unused romantic potential and for seasons and seasons they've been trying to close the door on him seeking out random hook ups in the subtext of what Dean WANTS vs what he thinks he can have. This frank conversation about what Jack wants from life before it's all over is once again ignoring fleeting human connection for the family bonds he values above everything.

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"I've had a good life, Dean" the other reason they're having this sentimental conversation by a river is because Jack is a fucking mayfly and I hate this

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@ Dabb please never make me see Cas driving this car ever again

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Why are you irritating Cas like this. First boring holy fire oh it must be thursday followed by the indignity of making him sit on a pouffe? Listen, when Cas gets irritated he gets snarky and then people die because he snarked them to death. I saw it he did it to the Empty. And Lucifer in 13x12. And Kip.

I just feel sorry for Cas. Why can't he go on fishing trips with the boy. Oh no he has to sit on a squishy pouffe that won't let him be intimidating so that he can cure the boy even though Jack's already decided he's gonna die and will probably Ophelia himself into the river at the end of the fishing trip.

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Sergei is basically like "Have you tried turning it off and on again"

Nephilim have a reboot button on the back of their neck, if you get a paperclip and poke it in there.

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At least Sergei is so... whatever he is... I can't even tell who he is supposed to be offensive towards :P I guess with the name, I lean Russian, and then he has world esoterica and occult nonsense in his caravan...

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The real question is how does he know anything about Nephilim and why hasn't Cas asked that already.

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LOL he has a vial of Gabriel grace just lying around. Of course, because Gabriel was just offering it up to everyone.

Considering how he was exploited for it by Asmodeus there's a weird tinge of retconning his own abuse by saying he was going around giving it to everyone before Asmodeus ever bought him and started stealing it on the regular.

Still, it IS awfully tempting a fix to have Uncle Gabriel help Jack out from beyond.

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/distantly: "I'm not dead!"

sometimes I can still hear his voice.

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It's way more likely Shit Goes Down and this is lost but then Cas has learned what to do with archangel grace to fix Jack just so long as they can pin down Michael and grab his instead.

-

But I guess in that circumstance at least once again Gabriel gave them part of the answer from beyond the grave as he did in season 5.

("Still not dead!!")

shush Gabriel. The show wants us to think you're dead and my complete disbelief in that doesn't change anything for now.

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Except that maybe Gabriel came back, is fine, but has been removing his grace and selling it in the here and now while claiming not to be Gabriel and that he just haaaappens to have it and because he has no grace he could just be any old guy who happens to have an endless renewable resource of archangel grace secretly on tap to sell to fund his life of laying low. Sergei even says HE got it as part of keeping Gabriel hidden.

-

I'm kind of assuming Sergei isn't Gabriel unless he offers Cas kielbasa

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I mean unless later I get a bonus cookie for immediately assuming Sergei is Gabriel based on the holy fire he just happened to have prepared and how similar it looked to Gabriel being trapped in 5x08.

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On the other hand this may be the first time this season but pointing at literally everyone and going, that's probably Gabriel, will get old and also dock me cookie points the more wrong guesses I throw out there. Still, this one has pretty strong evidence, from messing with Cas to making him say "Porn stars"

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To, um, having Gabriel's grace

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Okay so Sergei gives Cas all of this out of the goodness of his heart and a "you owe me" and I AM wondering if that's a Buckleming special because remember in 8x19 where they were like hi we need to go to Hell immediately, and Ajay was like sure, I will take you to Hell and this episode is even titled after me so clearly I am an important character who *stab stab reaper dying noises* wow look I guess we don't have a bargain after all despite me saying you owe me but then Crowley just maaaaagically made it so you never had to find out what a reaper would want in exchange for taking you to Hell off the books.

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Also fuck you I never got to finish my pizza

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While I've been typing some random ass justice for Ajay screed, Nick has revealed a flashback to 14x02 where it turns out his neighbour said it was a cop who he saw coming out of the house. I literally went back and checked the episode and that wasn't in it, so perhaps it's a new flashback for here, fleshing out that conversation and revealing more for us, and changing the narrative of what Nick's up to, but honestly who cares enough about all this... I was double zoned out for flashbacks I'd already seen for a side story i don't care about

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Wow, Nick, demons killed ya family. Could have told you that.

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Aw, Dean brought Jack home. No dying out in the wilderness for you, clearly Cas phoned up before Jack could work out his plan to fling himself into the river.

Also Nick has taken up too much of this episode so there's no room for complicated twists and turns, if Buckleming are banned from introducing too many of them.

It's incredible how subdividing them so Eugenie writes all the Nick stuff and Brad writes the rest has elevated the parts of the story we care about to pretty much passable, give or take whatever Sergei was and who he was offensive to aside from the whole concept of calling yourself a shaman because you travelled the world collecting occult stuff in a sort of Aleister Crowley way.

-

'cept you can't namedrop Aleister on this show because both Alastair and Crowley have stolen too much from him.

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So you get a knock off Sergei instead.

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Jack hasn't been having as many of the supposed fainting fits that had everyone dogpiling him as I thought - maybe that's next episode too. Could have had one at the start but that doesn't seem enough to be a repeated annoyance of Alex's life :P

Anyway I was just going to comment on his sweater but that thought hopped in there first wondering if the spell was about to knock him flat, as he's sitting on a chair instead of safely in bed.

All the more dramatic for flinging yourself around if the spell messes you up

(honestly if the spells don't work, and they took him out of the hospital, how much of a bizarre commentary is this on trusting modern medicine and vaccinating your nephilims?)

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It's 7:20 and my neighbours are yelling again

At least being awake since 3 meant I got a bit more peace and quiet than normal. I feel gross but I may go to yoga just to not be stuck in this room with such awful screeching on both sides of me >.>

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Oh I can tell Sergei is Gabriel, he put the grace in a gold container instead of the silver ones

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I'm sorry for the expenses, Zerbe

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I wonder if they use her products on the show and I'm gonna go on my dash and find her beaming about a specially commissioned shiny gold grace that she made for them :P

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"Here, hold this bottle of your uncle's essence"

".... okay I understand how weird that sounded on hindsight"

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I love the idea of Jack's grace now being fuelled by Nice Uncle Gabriel who felt kindly towards him, even if this can't be a permanent fix, it changes his internal make up just a bit so that he symbolically has his grace stolen by his shitty bio father but the power only came from him in the first place and there was all the hoo ha about if Lucifer as his father made him inherently evil. Now whatever happens to Jack, he's had a grace transplant from a suitable donor, very much like a parallel of say he needed a kidney transplant and his 2 viable donors were his shitty deadbeat dad who gave him the kidney condition in the first place and his nice dead uncle who happened to have been an organ donor and was the only other one with the same type (if Lucifer's was X evil negative, then I guess Gabriel's is like X tricksy negative which has enough receptors to be a compatible transfusion, while Cas has like, Z dumbass positive grace and no compatibility)

And Gabriel is a beloved character who proved his kind feeling towards Jack even if they had very little bonding overall, he clearly cared and there was an immediate sort of uncle-y kindness about him in relation to Jack (just the comment alone about identifying that Jack liked shiny things and magic tricks is very much how uncles view small children who they may watch and entertain but not in the end have parental responsibility for), which is hilarious to me because Gabriel deeply reminds me of all 3 of my uncles on my mum's side, who are all 3 different shades of trickster god in their own right, and he always has reminded me of them, and now the show has sort of made Uncle Gabriel his new legacy.

I mean. I love it to bits.

It's not a sacrifice FOR Jack like Cas would have given up his grace, but it's still a part of him passed on to Jack.

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I am very very aware that like me running my mouth about John (ironically the name of one of my uncles) while hitting pause, I've stopped while Jack is looking up with glowing eyes and he's almost certainly about to spew a fountain of blood across the room and fall on the floor. But I like that the grace even interacted with him and lit up his eyes and unless he physically barfs out the grace to I'm sticking by that ramble.

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Cas smiled!! That's the once per season and we already hit it at episode 7, woe betide us

This does look, however, like the scene where they were all looking on from the door so... blood spew in 5 4 3 2 1...

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DOGPILE THE BOY

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Er, I mean, help him

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God I would not want Jared to dogpile me, the man weighs literally as much as an actual moose

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Uhoh Sergei made Cas mad

I mean

he made him sit on a pouffe, this was always coming

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What do you mean Eugenie can't let Lucifer go wow what a shock

-

*kicks a pebble*

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Ah, here's the concerned dads scene. I'm just going to let that be a balm to my soul while Dean laments ever taking Jack out to have fun.

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"You made him happy. You did more for him than any of us"

1 dude you tried, 2 you took him on hunting trips and had fun already this season so he got his Cas Time before he died like he wanted 3 just fucking abduct him wrapped in a duvet and go fishing in the dead of night if you have to, trust me, he'd love it and your family is such a mess he wouldn't even think it's weird.

I mean you've literally absconded illegally with him before, what's a trip up to that beach where he was born and some fishing gear really going to cost you with annoyance from Dean

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"What can we do?" "Watch over him," Rowena says with Cas in the background, and continues to carve me out with a rusty spoon

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"As he dies"

Nah he'll be fine shut up Rowena D:

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*whimper*

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Well that was a very good episode if you act like me and pretend that none of the Nick stuff happened at all.

[utopianparadoxist]

Part #1: Flight of the Movie & Anime References

This section is pretty much setup for the next three essays. There’s a couple sections here that I have a fair bit to say about, but probably just as many where I’ll close out with some minor observations, or reference to someone else’s Good Post(tm).

What I think is important is noting the consistency and similarity with which Homestuck engages in meaningful reference. I just want you to have this list in mind as I flesh out the three truly impactful references I want to talk about in this series. 

So here’s a short list of cases where Homestuck outright leans on other stories to structure itself, with accompanying references:

1) The Game Over Arc - Plot Structure & Dragon Ball Z

We’re starting with Dragon Ball Z because the references here are relatively simple and straightforward, and they largely set up either pretty clear structural parallels, rather than thematic ones. 

The clearest of these examples is the section of the story that begins with the joke Arquius makes above. In case you don’t know, the “over 9000″ meme has its roots in this iconic, hilarious sequence from DBZ:

What’s notable is what follows. From the moment this joke happens, the very structure of Homestuck changes to following the loose structure of some of the most memorable DBZ arcs.

I’m no buff on the series, but the memories it calls up for me most strongly resemble the Namek/Freeza or Buu arcs, and expert DBZ consultant @alotofmomos (who hates me for writing this) confirms these are the arcs that most perform the particular structure Homestuck will now be mimicking. 

And what does that structure consist of? A particular mix of “pacing” choices, cinematography, and sheer scale of spectacle that I find hard to source to anything but DBZ. I can’t even think of other Shonen series that mix all these elements in quite the same way, though again, I’m no expert.

Some of these elements are:

A) Drawn out, massive power-up sequences:

B) Conflicts that carry out on planetary scales, and indeed often destroy the planets hosting them. 

This pretty much speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Do I really have to say some stuff to make it look like I’m doing anything other than pointing out some obvious goddamn parallels that blew my mind because they took me years to notice?

Alright, fine. I’ll say this much: I think it’s quite fitting that Homestuck would borrow from the DBZ playbook for the section of the story that illustrates the sheer mind-boggling scale of power our protagonists have reached. 

There’s very few stories out there that demonstrate this sense of mortals achieving such bonkers dominion over reality through sheer force of will, and the homage certainly hammers home the idea that these kids are Gods with levels of power we’ve barely scratched the surface of. 

But I don’t think there’s a big Narrative Payoff to this particular reference. Instead, I think what Homestuck takes from this is functional in terms of narrative. Because the most interesting things this narrative model adopts are structural.

C) Convenient plot-structure.

Namely, what we end up with is a bunch of characters grouped into disparate conflicts across the same larger “playing field”, separated by considerable amounts of distance--and thus, isolating them into distinct narratives.

As a natural consequence of this, the pacing slows down to an excruciatingly slowness, as we cut from conflict to conflict, each one progressing in small snippets of minutes or even seconds at a time. All of this is par for the course for Dragon Ball Z, particularly in the Namek saga. 

So what this provides us with isn’t a profound, revelatory moment of thematic meaning--but instead, an effective backdrop on which to flesh out that meaning elsewhere. In fact, this very arc does that like twice with two other stories!

So let's move on from this and take a look at a couple of character arcs whose resolutions are telegraphed by way of reference.

2) Terezi as Dorothy 

I don’t have too much to add to this, but it’s useful because in the eyes of much of the fandom, it’s already accepted. Check out madchen’s excellent post on the subject here.

The bottom line is: Terezi janks Jade’s shoes, and adopts the role of Dorothy in Homestuck’s symbol logic. This leads her home--to Vriska and their memories of growing up together, and ultimately to embracing her red feelings for her. 

Terezi’s resolution is one of two relationships resolved in the wake of [S] Game Over. Let’s take a look at the other. 

3) Jake as Buttercup

Don’t have much to say about this one either, cause I already wrote most of it. I will say I don’t think it’s an accident that the arcs to coincide here are Dirkjake’s and Vrisrezi’s, since the two relationships are in many ways direct parallels. But that’s another essay for another time. 

I have received some rightful criticism on my writing on Jake in particular, and this is a good place to clarify my position, however. I do not think it’s particularly “Good” or “Healthy” for Jake to indulge his own desires at the expense of Dirk’s (or Jane’s) feelings. 

My point has never been that Jake’s selfish behavior is inherently good--merely that Jake’s reasons for being in love with Dirk are his own, and not imposed to him from Dirk himself, or anyone around him. 

As with all things in Homestuck, the key is for Jake to grapple with the negatives in himself and come to balance with the tension between his own wants and his relationships with others. This is true of literally everyone in Homestuck.

And there’s an easier way of saying what I am getting at. Because Homestuck literally gives us a guidebook to understanding Jake and Dirk’s relationships to each other, as parsed in Jake’s head--a guidebook that provides context to their entire relationship. 

Just as you can read Terezi as Dorothy, so too can you read Jake as Buttercup. This is the crucial distinction I seek to make. In common readings of Dirk and Jake’s relationship, Jake acquiesces to Dirk’s pushy forcing of the relationship despite Dirk’s control issues. 

In this one, Dirk is a flawed but committed provider and protector, and Jake picks up on and begins internalize a belief that Dirk will always be there for him, prompting him to fall for him. This reflects the fundamental core of their attraction to each other. It does not present a solution to their communication issues. They both have to work through that and be more aware of each other’s needs. 

Now, The Princess Bride is a comedy action-adventure movie, but it’s also a philosophical fairy tale. Buttercup and Westley aren’t just in love, they’re in True Love, and the driving force of the movie is how Westley’s love empowers him to do anything it takes for his beloved. 

What’s more interesting is Buttercup’s relationship to that same love, and how it reflects on Jake. Buttercup has to struggle to learn how to believe in True Love, even when it seems difficult or even impossible. Along the way, Buttercup is even forced into an arranged marriage, and seemingly forsakes her feelings for Westley to avoid the consequences of being honest, a choice she then tortures herself over. 

A big part of her journey is learning to truly commit to not just Westley’s love for her, but her belief in that love as something both true and powerful. Something that can transcend all odds and obstacles. 

Which is. You know. Exactly what Jake does when he’s fully immersed in the power of his own faith. 

Now let’s move on, and note two more movie references that the comic makes outside of the context of this DBZ-mini arc.

4) Tavros as Peter Pan 

There’s not a terrible amount of depth to be drawn here, either. I think most people accept that Tavros is deliberately invoking Peter Pan in his narrative victory here, with the ghosts as his Lost Boys.  I will add, however, that if Peter Pan is the role Tavros is emulating in reaching his full potential, well...

Peter Pan isn’t exactly known for being Selfless, is he? He’s a hero, for sure, but self-centeredness is pretty much his calling card as a hero. To the point that Wikipedia claims that  

“In the play and book, Peter symbolizes the selfishness of childhood, and is portrayed as being forgetful and self-centered.” 

More fuel for the fire as far as my writing on Tavros as inherently self-centered in his building of the Ghost Army goes. Anyway, the fundamental reference is secured, right? I’m not really looking to make a Classpect argument here, I’m just compiling interesting notes. Let’s move on. 

5) Caliborn as Jigsaw

This one isn’t exactly subtle, either. I’ve already written quite a bit about how Lord English defines and dominates everything in the story of Homestuck, as have others.

Understanding Caliborn as a Yaldabaoth is one way to contextualize his power over the reality all the characters preside over, and we’ll definitely touch on that further in the next three sections I’ll be covering.

But one easy way to contextualize Lord English’s power is as...well...Jigsaw.

Like Jigsaw, Lord English builds a massive, highly controlled gauntlet that he exploits and terrorizes his victims through. The only difference is that Lord English’s dungeon is bigger than some creepy gray cellar. 

It is in fact, Literally Everything that occurs within the context of the Alpha Timeline. Every homeworld that every character originates from--except for, arguably, Beforus, which is still under his sway enough to be doomed, but also presented as borderline Eden-like by comparison to Alternia. 

While Yaldabaoth’s control seems very distant and abstract, Jigsaw’s is crystal clear and vicious. Everything the characters of SAW suffer is, ultimately, in the hands of the orchestrator of their misery. Their puppetmaster, so to speak. 

In the same sense, pretty much every single way the characters in Homestuck suffer has Lord English at the root of it--even the thing they do to themselves and each other as a result of cultural memes. 

Troll Violence, heteronormativity, quadrant normativity, and hypermasculinity--all are memetic structures that exist because Lord English himself disseminated them, in the context of Homestuck. They’re thought-traps rather than literal physical torture devices, but they’re torture tools all the same. 

And you can even see Jigsaw as a symbol for Lord English’s influence, since it is, after all, one of the primary differences setting apart Bro and Dirk. Dirk has no interest in the SAW franchise at all, whereas Bro makes a point of mocking Dave with it.  (thanks to @jadedresearcher for pointing this out, by the way!)

So yeah. Not only does SAW tell us a lot about the nature of Caliborn’s effect on our characters through the Alpha Timeline, it also acts as a mark for his influence. That’s...pretty much all there is to say on the matter.

For now.

That wraps up this little introductory round-up. Now I can get to talking about three of the biggest influences on Homestuck as a story: The Neverending Story (the book), Earthbound & Mother 3, and Gnostic Myth. Hope you’ll follow along with us over the next couple of weeks to find out more.

[Master Post]

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