#does she die and get resurrected? not die at all? presumed dead but just missing? up to you!

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

au where Zelda’s mom doesn't die under mysterious circumstances and instead of letting Zelda and Link (still kids) face the calamity, she just borrows the master sword and beats it up herself

[thefirstknife]

Sorry for the long ask, but as somebody who's recently been enjoying the tries revamp and the accessibility it gives to middling pvp players, I've been getting into the lore on the trials gear, and there's a lot of entries so I'm having trouble keeping track. I've mostly been interested in Sola, who only seems to come up a few times? She ends up torturing a guardian in the trials, looking for 'something inside them like in her.' It's interesting though, because the power she wields, (and seemingly seeks when Aunor catches her tracking an anomaly in arrivals) isn't described as darkness or stasis, but some kind of corrupted void light? I can't find mention of anything else like this, and I feel like there's lore entries I'm missing?

Anyways, Trestin, another trials guardian, gets killed unnecessarily viciously by Sola (I think, that lore entry mentions they're competing against Crimiq-5, who is on Sola's fire time, so this seems right) and later goes on to become obsessed with stasis, torture house salvation refugees as well as her own fireteam, and gets put down by Aunor as well. Is this a coincidence? Does Sola do what she does to Trestin because she sees the same temptation towards corruption? Or is it more direct? It almost seems like she passes it on, virulently, and I'm mainly wondering if that's something that has any other evidence when it comes to corrupted guardians. I figure you might know, I'm having trouble searching since some of it is trials gear, some isn't, and they don't all mention everyone's name

Took me a while to get the full info on this because I wanted to put all of the lore entries in order and they're kinda scattered around!

Okay, so, this story is told on Trials weapons lore. First batch was released in Season of the Worthy and then the sort of conclusion in Season of the Chosen. There's a minor update in Season of Arrivals on non-Trials gear (Temptation's Hook). The first batch of lore details a single Trials match between two fireteams.

One fireteam consists of Trestin, Yara and Sadhij. The other fireteam is Sola, Crimiq-5 and Katake. Roughly in some semblance of order, the lore on items is as follows:

The Summoner - This seems to be the start as it shows Trestin meeting up with her fireteam and going into the match. The one important thing to note here is that Trestin was apparently deeply affected by what happened on the Moon (during Shadowkeep and the discovery of the Pyramid) and seems to be resigned that the end is coming and that there's nothing anyone can do about it. It appears she was somewhat influenced by the Pyramid into despair and losing hope.

Astral Horizon - This is somewhere at the start of the match. Sadhij tells his teammates Trestin and Yara that he's going for one of the enemies (Katake). He charges with a shotgun and uses Thundercrash which completely obliterates Katake. No surprise there. However, at the end, there is a rifle shot and then silence.

Exile's Curse - This details the start of the match from the other team's perspective. We see the same event of Katake being Thundercrashed by Sadhij from the eyes of his teammate Crimiq-5 who warns Katake about being out of line of sight. Crimiq-5 witnesses Katake being obliterated.

Eye of Sol - Again from Crimiq's POV, he is standing in the back with a sniper rifle and he watches Sola attacking Trestin. He seems to be very distraught about this:

Sola had ripped through their previous opponents with off-putting ferocity, and Crimiq was ready for this to be their last match of the day. He looked over her through his scope. Sola's silhouette marinated in an eerie shimmer that distorted the air as she moved.

He shoots a warning shot at her position to keep the third opponent (Yara) in cover. Then he hears Katake's cry for help against the Thundercrash and aims there, killing Sadhij. That's the rifle shot at the end of Astral Horizon lore.

The Scholar - This moves us to Sola's POV, where it's described that she's torturing Trestin and telling her that she can feel "it" in her too. I assume that both Sola and Trestin were deeply affected by the Lunar Pyramid and were both in the early stages of corruption by it. Sola felt it in Trestin.

"So…" Sola's intent bit deeper, malleable claws that flexed against her prey's Light. They probed through blood and muscle to an umbral center. "…it's within you too."

After the torture incident, Saint steps in to end the match and reprimand Sola. He also reprimands Crimiq, but Crimiq says he doesn't want anything to do with Sola. This further angers Sola and she leaves, telling everyone they're "as good as dead anyway." Note the same kind of despair and loss of hope that Trestin exhibited even before she was attacked by Sola.

Tomorrow's Answer - This brings us a bit back to the final person who has a POV which is Yara who witnesses what Sola did to Trestin:

A violet shockwave pushed away the dust. Trestin knelt a few paces away, beaten. The Warlock bent her glowing hand into Trestin's chest plate, lodging a vortex grenade into her armor. Yara met her eyes and saw the Void overtake her. She did not hear the scream, or the splitting armor. She only saw flickers of Trestin break apart and scatter as the vortex ate away at her.

Sola lodged an entire vortex grenade into Trestin. Horrible way to die. Yara yells at Sola about Trestin not deserving that and Sola snaps back:

"None of us 'deserve.' It's about what you can get." The Warlock smiled and raised a hand of gnarled Void. "Brace yourself."

This shows how far gone Sola was. Definitely far more corrupted than Trestin. Presumably, Sola also finished off Yara in the match before it ended.

In Season of Arrivals, there's an update about this on Temptation's Hook. It's shown that Sola has been captured by the Praxic Order. The Praxics lead by Aunor know that Sola took another Guardian "to the outer system" and that they did not return with Sola.

I assume "the outer system" means Europa, but that's only because now we have additional information from Season of the Chosen. Since this is from Season of the Worthy, it could also mean that Sola and Trestin went out further into the outer system and met with the Black Fleet (the Black Fleet lurking at the edges of the system is mentioned in this lore). Sola also says some strange things:

"I learned the secret. The one your hounds have hidden away in that quaint little vault." Sola smiles red through split lips. "You're on the losing side."

"Do you think you have nothing to lose, or that I wouldn't take it from you? You're sorely, and soon to be regretfully, mistaken."

Sola spits in Aunor's face. "You have limits. You have masters." A twisted Light shimmers in Sola's hand as she moves to attack. "Enjoy hanging to death in your strings!"

This is probably referring to the presence of Darkness on Europa to which Sola and Trestin were either directly exposed OR they may have been told about it during their visit to the Black Fleet (depending on where they went exactly). It appears her Ghost was also exposed. Both Sola and her Ghost are contained by the Praxic Order: Sola killed and her Ghost disabled from resurrecting her.

The next, roughly chronologically would be The Messenger. Some time has passed. Aunor meets with Ikora about the problem of another corrupted Guardian who tortured Eliksni civilians, asking them about Eramis and how she accessed Darkness, as well as torturing her own teammates. It's revealed that the Guardian in question is still located on Europa and trying to access Darkness as well as that the Guardian's name is Trestin.

That leaves us with the final entry which is Sola's Scar. In it, we follow Trestin on Europa as she's nearing the Darkness obelisk, eager to get its power. She details how she betrayed her fireteam and what was driving her:

Over the radio, Lord Saladin's voice grew staticky: "Cabal incursion… Vex… up ahead." Without a word, Trestin's Ghost switched it off. There were others nearby to carry out the Iron Lord's orders. He wouldn't miss them.

She doubted anyone would—her ex-teammates least of all. She had betrayed them, or so Sadhij had screamed: "We're supposed to be the thin line drawn before the Darkness, you traitor!"

|| Thin indeed. So why not step over it? ||

Because they didn't have it in them. She checked. Cracked them both open and dug deep, just to be extra sure. But it wasn't there. That hunger, immense and buried, like the ocean under Europa's glacial crust. A riptide, undetectable from the surface, yet unrelenting in its pull. She never meant to betray anyone. She just wanted release.

|| Soon, you will have it. Soon, you will be freed. ||

She has brief memories of her fireteam, namely one of Yara's jokes. Darkness makes sure to tell her that such attachment is weakness. Just before Trestin reaches the obelisk, Aunor catches up to her and asks her to come quietly. Trestin disobeys and Aunor strikes her down with a sword.

I assume the name of the weapon where this lore is written, Sola's Scar, refers to the "scar" that Sola left in Trestin when she tortured her during the Trials match. Both Sola and Trestin seem to have been deeply affected by the Lunar Pyramid and it drove them to extremes which eventually led to both of them becoming corrupted and betraying the Light. It's interesting that in Sola's case, there's no Stasis involved: her Light was corrupted. Specifically her Void.

Not sure about Trestin and if she ever got Stasis and which other power and/or knowledge she was seeking from the Darkness, but either way the corruption of both of these Guardians came from the same source, entwined them together and eventually led to both of them being taken down by Aunor.

It's a really tragic story and the reason why I really like this type of lore about just some other Guardians and how they're experiencing the events we go through with in the game. Especially how it highlights just how much of an outlier the Young Wolf is and how things we do are really difficult or downright impossible for other Guardians to deal with. Both Sola and Trestin were victims of powers they could not handle.

[the-signs-of-two]

Do you think there are still hopes for season 5? A lot of articles claim that there is no future for sherlock holmes and that we should give up our hopes of season 5. Thoughts?

Ouf.

Tough one. And a long one to answer. But I want to be truthful and thorough.

Based purely on advertising and how keen people are to keep audiences invested, I don’t think they’re allowing us much hope. It’s been almost four years and they’ve done very little to maintain any kind of hype or interest, perhaps with the exception of keeping the escape room going. The sad truth of it is that a show will rarely get picked up for a new series if the majority of viewers have moved on. And they’ve done very little to keep their viewers excited about the prospect of a series 5.

Then, of course, there’s the elephant in the room, whether you’re a hardcore TJLC’er or a casual viewer: the fact that series 4, on a surface level, was just... not very good. It looks and feels disjointed and very different from the previous series and casual viewers don’t want to spend hours and hours trying to figure out if it was actually better than its surface narrative. That sort of thing - taking a long hiatus, hyping a new series by saying it’ll be television history and then delivering a somewhat lukewarm product - drives viewers away. And like I said, if most viewers no longer care, chances are it won’t be picked up for a new series.

That’s one way to look at it. But what about the actual story?

The show is called Sherlock. And I think, putting my Johnlock-glasses to the side, you could actually argue that Sherlock does come full circle. In series 1, Sherlock is driven almost entirely by his logic. He’s arrogant, cocky and he makes a show of being disdainful and unfeeling, even if you get small glimpses showing that that isn’t actually who he is. With every series, Sherlock has moved further away from that and become a softer, more emphatic version of himself - a version of himself who cares more about making his close ones happy than about making himself look cool and mysterious. Series 4 does seem to complete that narrative. They made Eurus into the synthesis of everything Sherlock was and tried to be in the beginning of the show and turned that against Sherlock - and I actually really like that. I think it works. When Sherlock says that they’re “experiencing science from the perspective of lab rats”, we’re reminded of the time when he would do something similar: when he would pretend to be Ian Monkford’s friend to get information from his wife, when he would scare/traumatise the already traumatised headmistress to get information on two missing children, when he would compliment Molly’s hair to convince her to show him two bodies. In each instance, it was to do good, to get ahead in a case, but it was also a coldly calculated piece of manipulation, one which Sherlock showed zero regret for. The way he acted in first couple of series hurt other people - sometimes you wouldn’t feel any remorse for them, but sometimes it was Sherlock’s closest. Let’s take the most obvious example: locking John in a lab after (as far as he knew) drugging him, then providing him with sound effects and watching what would happen on the monitors. Don’t you think John experienced science from the perspective of a lab rat then? Sherlock is a different person now, but TFP also forces him to come to terms with the consequences of his previous behaviour. He has to confront logical problems - kill one man or three men, kill one man or two people will die, save Molly’s life etc. - but he has to face the emotional consequences of those logical decisions. He can’t just look away as he used to do. Seen in that way, I actually think TFP does provide a poignant culmination of Sherlock’s character arc. When Lestrade says that Sherlock is now a good man rather than a great man, it does feel earned.

However. Then there’s... well, everyone else. I’m pretty sure I could tell you what John’s character arc was all about in HLV. If this is the end, I no longer know what his character arc was. John makes horrible decision upon horrible decision in series 4. A cynical reading would be that he’s “stupid for the plot”. They needed to drive a wedge between Sherlock and John for TLD, so they didn’t care that John’s decision to blame Sherlock for Mary’s death in TST makes absolutely no sense. Then there’s the morgue scene, which... To be fair, it has actually been foreshadowed that John is a violent person. That he has very bad aggression issues and that he deals with a lot of anger in a physical manner. Sherlock isn’t perfect, but John certainly isn’t either. And I actually think the morgue scene could work in that light. Hear me out. Sherlock has done bad things to John, he really has, and all those things have been in line with his character and a reflection of his flaws. John beating Sherlock up could work in the same way. But it HAS TO BE ADDRESSED. When Sherlock does something morally reprehensible and psychologically scarring, it’s not presented as acceptable. When Sherlock locks John in the lab, you FEEL that what he did was unacceptable. John calls him out for it and it’s discussed. And this happens a number of times and each time, Sherlock shows more and more regret for his actions. He begins to apologise. He begins to try to change. If the morgue scene is going to work as a low point in John’s morality which prompts him to feel regret and try to change, it needs to be presented that way. It needs to be presented as bad (it is), it needs to be presented as a low point (it is), but it also needs to be presented as unjustified, unacceptable and inexcusable. No matter how you feel, beating up your best friend is never okay. Just as no matter how badly you need to solve a case, experimenting on your best friend by subjecting him to a terror-indusing drug and locking him up to examine the effects is never okay. But John isn’t called out for this and it’s never discussed. That leaves John with no incentive to change, no moment of remorse and regret, no need to make amends. So, in a way, the series leaves him at his absolute lowest. Which isn’t a character arc, friends.

Then there’s Molly. After the most heartbreaking betrayal of all time, the series just... ends. Like, she’s there at the end and it’s all fine. The part where the man she loved told her to tell him that she loved him FOR AN EXPERIMENT and then she took the opportunity to make him say it in return, clinging on to those three words like her life depended on it... yeah, that happened, but he presumably told her that he had to do it and it was all fine. No lasting emotional damage or mistrust there.

You could argue that Mycroft does come full circle too. In TAB, he decides to relinquish control over Sherlock and instead tells John to take care of him in his place. In TFP, he goes all the way and decides to die to let John live. In doing so, he acknowledges that Sherlock needs John more than he needs Mycroft, but also that John is better for Sherlock than Mycroft ever was. After a lifetime of controlling and watching over Sherlock against his will, he finally decides to let Sherlock go live his own life and make his own decisions. And he proves his love by being prepared to die to give Sherlock happiness with John.

So... yeah. I think some character arcs did actually come full circle, while others definitely didn’t. I just took the most obvious examples here.

As a background story for the Holmes family, I don’t really think it works. To me, it doesn’t explain why Sherlock and Mycroft are the way they are - and it certainly is weird that their parents seem so normal and unconcerned about the whole thing. Buried trauma is definitely a thing, but there doesn’t seem to be any obvious correlation between what happened with Eurus and who Sherlock was at the beginning of the series. As for Mycroft... I honestly don’t know how he feels about Eurus, apart from the fact that he’s scared of her.

Then there’s the part where John flat out tells Sherlock that a romantic relationship would complete him as a human being. This goes completely unresolved. Are we meant to assume that Sherlock called Irene after this conversation and they got together? 1) Why should we assume this? And 2) effing straight culture, let him be gay, because he is.

To summarise... I don’t think TFP works as a conclusion. Some things are resolved, some are not. I think there’s so much story and plot left unresolved that a series 5 would definitely have story points to work with. Also, once you’ve said that a character needs a romantic relationship, you need to go through with that or it turns into a major hole in said character arc.

Getting a little more tinfoil hat-y, I think the television history, gut-punch moment could be a recreation of the circumstances around The Final Problem. The Final Problem seemingly finished the Sherlock Holmes stories by having Sherlock die. People were outraged and deeply upset. It took ten years for ACD to undo it and reveal that Sherlock had actually survived. Trying to recreate the atmosphere surrounding a beloved piece of literature in 1893 - that sort of thing has never been attempted before and would be television history. And in that light, it would make sense that they aren’t encouraging the rumours surrounding series 5. They need to make people think that Sherlock is “dead” if they are going to resurrect him. That’s the tinfoil hat speaking, but I can’t help but find it an intriguing idea. And I would be DOWN.

Still, they didn’t need to make series 4 bad for this to work. They could have just made it end sadly. Series 4 being bad and difficult to understand lost them a lot of viewers. And sadly, viewers are what make shows happen. In that sense, I think it could backfire very severely if that is their plan.

So there you have it. I haven’t lost hope. I think there’s still story and plot and characters that would make series 5 worth making. And of course I’ve only discussed surface narratives in this post. If some of the theories proposed by us (EMP) should turn out to be correct, it could fix a lot of the problems with series 4 and make for a fantastic gut-punch moment in series 5. But I will admit that I’m concerned it won’t be greenlit because people have lost interest. If it’s no longer likely to have a large audience because series 4 was bad, they may not be able to make it even if that was their original intent. Or they may need to really amp up the hype when and if they make series 5.

I hope this long ramble answered your question.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWB 1x09/1x10: A Template for the Daryl/Carol Spinoff and a Bethyl Reunion

So, what did everyone think of TWB finale? I really enjoyed it. As I’ve been teasing, I had a HUGE lightbulb moment about this series and what it points to symbolically.  I know many in the fandom are asking what the point of this series is if we don’t see Rick. Well, I think I know. As I’ve said in Asks, I think plot-wise, we may still see Rick (or even Beth) in S2. The characters aren’t actually inside the CRM yet, but at least Hope and Silas are going there, so there will be more opportunity for them to run into Rick or Beth next season.

***As always, spoilers abound below for TWB 1x09 and 1x10. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

So, what was my big lightbulb moment? Here it is:

Symbolically, this is foreshadowing what will happen with the Daryl/Carol spinoff, Rick, and how Daryl and Beth will reunite. The good news is, I’m more convinced than ever that she’s close. You’ll see why as we go along. The bad news is, we really probably won’t get a Bethyl reunion until the spinoff, which will come after S11. That’s a ways off. I was just praying we’d see her either in the flagship series or in TWB or FTWD before then, and then the news broke that she’ll be in the bonus episodes in flashbacks. I know that doesn’t prove she’s alive, but it was still kind of an answer to a prayer for me. Okay, so here goes.

This will be long, as I have a LOT of things to talk about here. Let’s establish names, first of all, as I’ll be referencing all these people. Iris and Hope’s dad is Leo. The woman with him (the same female scientist we’ve seen in the codas) is Lyla Belshaw. Felix’s boyfriend’s name is Will.

So, we finally met Will in ep 9. We see him in flashbacks. We see when he and Felix first met (which incidentally was when he first met Huck; that’s important). Then there’s a bedroom scene where they’ve obviously been in a relationship for a time. We see Felix talking to Will about how he really wants to go with Leo, but Leo has asked him to stay behind with Iris and Hope. Then we see Felix find out Will was going with Leo instead (which kinda crushed him) and then we see them all say goodbye.

This is a funny thing to say, but it was the bedroom scene that made it all click for me. Lol. It was because of the sleeve Felix wears on one arm. My fellow theorists tell me that they talked about this earlier in the season, but I either completely missed it, or it went in one ear and out the other. Hey, I’m human, too. ;D  

It reminded me of the plaid sleeve on Daryl’s coat when they went to Oceanside in 7x15 to take their guns. Remember that? 

At first, I thought he was missing the sleeve of his jacket. But then someone told me it was actually just that a different sleeve was sewn onto the jacket. As though someone had put it together piecemeal. Well, same thing, only this was black rather than plaid. Now, we’ve seen parallels between Felix and Daryl before, especially in the beginning. He talked about how he had a not-so-happy family background and specifically how his dad (like Daryl’s) was just not cool. He’s also like Daryl in that he’s kind of the badass protector of the group, right? So when I first noticed the sleeve, I went, “Okay, another Daryl parallel. Hmm.”

Then Will had an interesting line. As they got up, he said, “I’ll make pancakes if you made dinner later.” I went, “pancakes!” 

Cue first lightbulb moment. (Reminder: pancakes/Bisquik is a Beth/resurrection symbol.) Felix = Daryl; Will = Beth. That’s what these symbols are pointing to. And it actually makes perfect sense in a way I hadn’t really thought of before. Think about it: at the beginning of this series, we had Felix who was once in a romantic relationship with Will, but the two of them are separated. Felix hasn’t talked to, seen, or heard from Will in a long time, right? So, it’s a separation thing. You could even argue (and I think I did back in ep 1) that Felix keeping and wearing Will’s coat lines up with Daryl having Beth’s knife. At the end of ep 10, Felix runs into Will and they have a huge reunion. I’ll come back to that in more detail in a minute.

So here’s the thing: the more I thought about this, the more lightbulb moments I had. What do we know about Felix’s backstory, especially where Leo (Iris and Hope’s dad) is concerned? We know Felix and Leo became friends, Leo kind of adopted him, and Felix became part of the family, right? Well, that’s pretty much exactly what happened with Rick and Daryl. If Felix = Daryl and Will = Beth, Leo = Rick. Think about that. Leo left to join the CRM/helicopter group. Felix was left behind to protect his children. The biggest difference in TWD is that Rick didn’t go voluntarily, where Leo did. But other than that, same situation. Rick was taken into the CRM, and Daryl is now raising and protecting his children.

My next lightbulb moment came later in the episode. Felix gets hurt. He can’t walk very well. Huck says she has to leave him behind. Everyone is upset and saying goodbye and Felix hugs Huck and tells her he loves her. And of course this isn’t romantic love because, well, he’s gay. And THAT’S when it hit me.

From a Daryl standpoint, who is a woman Daryl loves, but not romantically? Carol. Gals, if Felix is Daryl and Will is Beth and Leo is Rick, then Huck is Carol. And think about it: if you set Iris and Hope and the boys aside for a minute, this entire story line is about the Daryl character (Felix) and the Carol character (Huck) taking off together to look for Leo. (Otherwise known as the Rick character.)

Boom. This entire thing is a foreshadow and parallel/proxy of the Carol/Daryl spinoff storyline. I guess you could say that my official theory now is that it’s new of Rick that will pull Daryl and Carol away from the community. They’ll go to find him. That’s why they’ll leave together after S11. But what happens here for Felix? On his journey to find Leo, he runs into Will, his love interest, who represents Beth.

So, Daryl will leave to find Rick, and somewhere along the way, he’ll finally find Beth and they’ll have their reunion.

Couple of thoughts/details here, just for clarification:

1) I’m not sure Huck’s exact arc here will be Carol’s. She’s a member of the CRM, which Carol is clearly not. And she really betrays Felix with all this. In the finale, the two of them get into full-on hand-to-hand combat, which I REALLY don’t see being the case with Daryl and Carol. But we also know Carol has betrayed TF in various ways over the years (Karen/David, letting Negan out of his cell, Connie) so it may be more about the type of character than about the exact arc.

2) I’m not sure how the kids fit in. Even though we’ve always thought Iris and Hope might be proxies to Beth and Maggie (and I still think that’s true) overall, I think they MORE represent Judith and RJ. Only because of Leo = Rick and they’re his kids. Now, obviously Iris and Hope are much older than Rick’s kids, and Judith and RJ aren’t going to take off to find Rick. So I don’t know if they’ll figure into this or not. It’s hard to say because in this show, Leo’s kids are with Felix. So will it be a matter of Judith and RJ being taken, or will he leave them behind? I honestly don’t know.

What I said above about Felix meeting Huck and Will at the same time? It just struck me as yet another parallel. Even though Daryl knew Carol before Beth (because S1), S2 was only days after s1. So really, he met them around the same time. And while he became besties with Carol, the romance lies with Beth. Same with Felix. Besties with Huck. In love with Will. Just saying.

Oh, and something @frangipanilove​ reminded me of: Tom Sawyer Theory. There have been tons of Mark Twain/Widow Douglas/Tom Sawyer references around Carol. Now this character’s name is Huck, and it’s a nickname that comes from Huckleberry Finn because she was found on a raft.

Okay, moving on. Um…let’s talk Percy for a minute.

Remember that I said last week he was a major Beth proxy, because he seems to have staggered off, wounded, and everyone assumes he’s dead, but there was no body.

In this episode, Elton finds him and guess what? He’s been shot. So in keeping with the Beth parallel (no body, staggered away, presumed dead) he was also shot, not stabbed. Not in the head, of course, but in the chest/shoulder. But it was important for Elton to find that because it made him realize Silas didn’t do it. Silas didn’t have a gun. 

Another thing I found interesting is that Elton was sure Percy would die. His hallucination of Percy kept saying, “you know I’m going to die, right? I’m not going to survive.” And things like that. But low and behold, Percy actually lives. So, yet another way to round out the Beth parallel. Got shot. Staggered away. No one correctly understood what actually happened there. But he runs into someone who helps him and saves him. And, he lives.

So then Elton and Percy find Silas. And this was super cool from a TD standpoint as well. Silas accidentally starts a fire. The smoke from it, while less, looks EXACTLY like the smoke from the moonshine shack in Still. (Ah foreshadows.) Elton sees the smoke and follows it, hoping to find Silas, which he does.

And here’s where, again, it gets interesting. They have a small but sweet reunion. Elton runs up and hugs Silas really tight and says that he found him and also that he brought Silas’s bag and that he found his walkman and headphones in the road. 

It was the way he said that that caught my attention. He found them in the road. Last week, we totally compared the headphones to the music box, but I didn’t think about the fact that he dropped them in the middle of the road. I didn’t think to compare them to Daryl finding the green jasper in the middle of the road. But Elton found Silas’s MUSICAL DEVICE in the middle of the road and brought it back to him. Also, Rock in the Road story/theory. And @wdway​ pointed out Daryl’s line to Beth in Alone: “Go up the road a ways; I’ll meet you there.”

So, think about this. We have this rock-in-the-road reference, and a reunion between Elton and Silas. In the same episode, we see Felix, out on the road, walking through the woods, stumble onto his romantic partner, who he hasn’t seen in a LONG time. They hug, have a reunion, both are crying, and Will cries out, “I thought you were dead.” 

Let’s talk about Leo, Iris and Hope’s dad. In terms of the plot, I actually have a lot of questions, but I suppose that’s the point. In ep 10, we have lots of scenes of Iris and Hope’s dad. The woman from the codas, Lyla is in them, too. She and Leo are in a romantic relationship. But it’s obvious that she’s a plant by the CRM and that she’s feeding them information. I wasn’t sure if these scenes were meant to be present day, or flashbacks. I THINK they’re present day. So, he’s actually fine and not really in any danger.

We were right in thinking that Hope is the asset. In this episode, they say they just want her for her smarts, to help her father in his research. To some extent, it’s like she’s Eugene for this show (except for real, lol). Her dad says of her at one point, “maybe she’ll save the world.” Which feels like a foreshadowing. So maybe she really will find the cure or something. We’re also wondering if there’s something more they aren’t telling us. Like some sort of immunity thing. But they haven’t said anything like that in this episode.

The other reason I’m not sure about what Hope’s role will be is that she is obviously a proxy for Beth on her own. (In one flashback, everyone is eating dinner together and she says, “I made the carrots.” So yeah, self-proclaimed Beth proxy.) Carrot Theory Here.

So maybe she’ll find the cure and save the world. Or maybe all these characters will die at the end and she’s just functioning as a Beth proxy. Beth isn’t the super-smart Eugene type that will save the world in that way, but I do think the fact that Hope is the “asset” and the CRM wants her is probably a proxy for Beth in some way. Just not sure how it will play out.

So, back to the dad. In these Leo scenes, it’s obvious that he’s suspicious about things having to do with the CRM. He says that he recognizes they do good things, but he’s suspicious about the military. He says that Will’s scouting mission should have been back days ago. (Yes, Felix’s Will.) But he’s not. And Lyla just passes it off as “lots of things can happen that might have delayed him.”

So, I wasn’t sure if Will’s group, which we only see for a few seconds at the end, is part of the CRM and has just been delayed in returning, or if they’re purposely not returning because they know what the CRM did to the people at the university and have become a rebel group. My first impression was that they were rebels, hanging out in the forest, but they honestly don’t tell us much, here.

Well, that was because, the first time through, I missed the coda at the end of episode 9. You guys gotta see this shot! What happens is basically that we see Will running. He trips and falls by this walker, stares at it a moment, and then jumps up to run again. We see CRM soldiers running after him. So, that confirms that he’s now a rebel. Hiding from and rebelling against the CRM because he saw what they did at the University.

And the only reason that even matters is that we’ve conjectured that Beth might be leading a rebel group against the CRM. This is a confirmation of that theory (because Will = Beth).

But look at this shot:

It’s a blond walker who’s literally rising from her grave. If that’s not confirmation that Will = Beth, I don’t know what is.

Oh, let’s go back to Silas for a minute. I said last week that he might be headed toward Beth, right? Yeah, I still think he might be. So, after Elton, Percy, and Silas reunite, Silas is happy to know that he didn’t kill Tony or hurt Percy. Huck did. But he and Elton want to go find the girls and tell them about Huck. Before they can, the CRM soldiers arrive. They probably followed Silas’s smoke, and also at one point Percy talked to Huck, very briefly on the walkie on an open channel. 

So, the CRM knows they’re around and is looking for them. They try to sneak away, and come to a chain-lined fence with a locked gate. They unlock it to go through, but Percy is still bleeding a lot from his GSW. He tells them to leave him behind because he’s slowing them down and the dripping blood will be a trail right to them.

Silas makes a choice to save his friends. He pushes them through the gate and turns himself into the CRM, even cutting his hand to account for the dripping blood. He locks it so they can’t come back in and says, “go save Iris.” The CRM does take him into custody and Elton and Percy get away. So again, if Rick and Beth are inside the organization somewhere, he really could run into them.

What this really reminded me of was Sasha and Rosita. Major parallel there. Which, sadly, makes me wonder if Silas will die next season. A proxy, just as Sasha was. I thought it was interesting that Silas cut his hand across the palm. It’s a Christic wound and he sacrificed himself for his friends. But he’s also inside the CRM now, which means he could potentially run into Rick or Beth next season.

I wrote down other, smaller symbols. Things we always talk about like dialogue and background symbols. There’s a part where Elton kills some walkers and a bright red leaf flies across the screen. One of our red objects, I think. And that’s while he’s saving Percy, who should have died, but lived. Percy calls Elton Corduroy at one point, which is a bear reference.

Oh! Here’s an interesting one, though it’s not directly related to Beth. At one point, when Felix gets hurt, he and the ladies (Hope, Iris, Huck) go to a particular building. I believe it used to be a retirement home, though it honestly doesn’t look medical at all. More like a manor house. Like Hilltop, only in major disrepair. When they go in, Iris says, “This place feels haunted.” And Hope says, “the whole world is haunted.” 

That’s a shockingly exact echo of Tyreese saying that to Carol in 4x14. He said, “the whole world is haunted now.” It’s so lovely and sad, it was always one of my favorite lines. So, I sat and thought about what the parallel is supposed to be. 

I think it may be about the truth coming out. Because the biggest thing about 4x14 was Lizzie and Mica’s deaths, but nothing happened in this episode to really mirror that. No one died. But Carol also told Ty the truth about her and how she’d killed Karen. And remember that Huck is the Carol character. Here, they all find out who Huck really is and what she’s doing. It’s like, deceptions fall away and the truth is revealed. So yeah, not really a TD thing, but I thought that was super interesting.

One other thing: at one point, Hope and Huck run into walkers on the road and have to fight them. Hope has Felix’s gun, but she drops it. They’re standing on a bridge (Bridge Theory) but it’s not a huge bridge or an overpass. It’s one of those little wooden bridges over a pathetic little stream. Like, literally four feet down and they could jump off the bridge without being hurt, right? Well, when Hope dropped the gun (because she’s fighting a walker) and it slid down off the bridge and into the stream.

Visually, it reminded me a lot of when Beth kicked the gun down the elevator shaft in Coda. So I watched closely to see if they would retrieve it. They didn’t. Huck even said something like “well, the pistol is gone, so let’s just keep going.” And I had to laugh at that. Not realistic at all. The pistol isn’t gone. It’s right there. They just had to jump down and get it. No way the little bit of water would have been enough to carry a metal gun away. So yeah, I feel like that was a purposeful parallel to Beth at Grady.

That’s most of the big stuff. My overall theory, following the template TWB is laying out for us is this: Daryl and Carol will take off together after S11, either because they have word of Rick or something to do with the kids. Just as Will is inside the CRM with Leo, Beth is inside the CRM with Rick. Somewhere on that journey, Daryl will run into Beth on the road. What happens next season in TWB will give us a better idea of what will happen where Rick is concerned in the story. But this is definitely a foreshadow of the spinoff and how Daryl and Beth will reunite.

And now, with word of Emily being in the bonus episodes, even if they’re just flashbacks, it makes me think we’ll see her in the second season of TWB. The flashbacks are priming the audience for her true return. I literally wrote the above to @wdway​ and @frangipanilove​ on Friday morning. Friday afternoon, news of Emily being in the bonus episodes broke. For me, it was just everything falling perfectly into place.

Thoughts?

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 12:  Fusion Reborn (3/6)

So Janemba’s messing with King Yemma, cutting off his authority over the boundary between the living and dead.  Yemma knew this would have dire consequences for the universe, and we see that manifest on Earth, where dead people are suddenly back from the grave.   For example, this family is at a cemetary to visit their grandfather’s grave, only to find him alive and well in his burial clothes no less.    He’s not a ghost or any other sort of apparition either; he has feet and everything.

Elsewhere, an older man named Romeo has a similar experience at the grave of his deceased lover, Juliano.   Or Julianne?    I don’t know.    You’d think they would have called her “Juliet” to play in with Romeo, except in the play they both died young.    Here, Romeo survived, and he’s and old man.

But Julianne hasn’t aged at all in the past sixty years since her death.   It kind of makes for an awkward reunion.   

Incidentally, Romeo has a crucifix, so this marks the first official appearance of Jesus Christ in Dragon Ball.  We’ve seen crosses and the name “Jesus Christ”, but this is an actual image of the Son of God Himself.    “But Lord, why are there no footprints in the sand during the most difficult parts of the journey?”  “Because that was when I Instant Transmissioned you, lol.”

Speaking of crosses, here’s Dracula, and I guess he was dead, until he came back today.   But he still has a wooden stake in his heart, which... okay why does he want it removed if it’s not killing him?  Why can’t he just take it out himself? Also, if Janemba’s powers are causing dead people to come back to life, shouldn’t Dracula turn back into a human?   

Meanwhile, some horde of invaders on horseback marches through traffic.    I think these are supposed to be Mongols, but I dunno.

They kind of get their thunder stolen when a second army of tanks shows up, let by Adolf Hitler.  I mean, it’s not quite Hitler.  His uniform is bright purple, and the real Hitler wouldn’t be leading a battalion of tanks into action.  But this movie never bothers to give him a satirical name, like “Dunkoff Shitler” or “Adenoid Hynkel” or whatever.   So I just refer to this guy as Hitler.   Same as that vampire from a minute ago.  

In any event, this guy’s obvious resemblance to Hitler is why his scenes were edited out in several countries, which have laws against depicting Nazi imagery.  For what it’s worth, the movie doesn’t really lose much with these scenes taken out.

Also, there’s just straight up zombies running around, which I don’t really understand, since Hitler and Julianne are fully alive.  But that’s the chaos of Janemba for you.  He’s not purposely doing any of this.   This is just the result of him cutting off King Yemma’s power to regulate the dead.

But don’t worry, folks, Gohan’s here and he’ll save the day, right after he finishes eating.

Goku may be dead, but his legacy lives on in his sons, Gohan and Goten.   Chi-Chi doesn’t mind doing all the dishes from the boys’ meals, but she does miss her husband at times like these.

So Videl offers to help with the dishes, but Chi-Chi’s like, no way, you’re a guest in this house.

But somehow we end up with Videl doing the dishes in the next scene.   This is one of my favorite animations in this movie.   With the sound effects, I could watch a loop of this all day. 

Chi-Chi is impressed, so she tells Videl that she’ll make a fine wife.  

And Videl’s all “Marriage?  Gawrsh!”   This is adorable.  She’s so worked up that she drops a dish.

But Chi-Chi doesn’t mind, because she still thinks Videl is cut out for married life.  In the manga, Chi-Chi wants Videl to marry Gohan so she can get a chunk of that sweet, sweet Mr. Satan fortune, but in this movie, I almost feel like she’s proposing to marry Videl herself.   “Marry me, Videl, so I may never have to wash a dish again!”  “Wh-what about Gohan?”  “What about Gohan?”

Then Videl breaks more dishes, but before she can clean them up, she gets a call from the Satan City Police, who inform her that the dead have risen and are overrunning the town.   Also, they ask her to contact Great Saiyaman.  Videl’s like “No problem, I’m at his house now.   I think his mom is coming on to me.”

“Stay away from my mom, Videl.”

Meanwhile, in Otherworld, Goku and Pikkon’s championship match is interrupted when a giant crystal sprouts out of the ring.

The Grand Kai believes the disturbance is coming from King Yemma’s domain, and he sends Pikkon to investigate.   But Goku doesn’t want him to go, since that would mean he’d win the tournament by forfeit.   So the Grand Kai orders Goku to go with Pikkon, and that works out, since Goku can teleport there.

When they arrive, they find everything all messed up.

Yemma somehow contacts them from within the barrier around his domain, and he points out Janemba on the roof.

Pikkon tries to ask Janemba to cut the shit, but Janemba either won’t cooperarte or he can’t understand him.   When Pikkon loses his patience, Big J flicks him into one of those floating jellybeans he made.

This catches Goku’s interest, and now he’s happy that they left the tournament for this, since Janemba seems like an even greater challenge.

Janemba seems to agree to tangling with Goku, so he suggests that Pikkon see to Yemma while Goku lures Janemba to hell, where he’ll be out of the way.

I’m not sure if there were already jellybeans in hell, or if Janemba brought a bunch down with him.  

Otherwise, Hell has experienced its own bizarre changes.  I’m not entirely sure what’s changed, since we only saw it twice in the entire run of the anime up until now, but I’m pretty sure all those humanoid-looking figures weren’t there before.

Janemba grabs a few and turns them into mini-clones of himself.

Goku thinks they look cute until they all start ganging up on him.

Fortunately, Goku can just beat them away with a few roundhouse kicks, and they all vanish.   The bad news is that the big Janemba won’t be that easy.

Back on Earth, Gohan’s having tons of fun clobbering zombies. 

Videl’s doing pretty well against them too, but the real question is: Why is this happening, and how do they stop it?   Gohan isn’t sure, but he’s confident that it’ll all work out with the two of them together. 

Videl’s charmed by his answer, but then--

Some jagoff intrudes on their moment.

Oh look, it’s this asshole.   Yeah, Frieza’s back and he’s in this movie too, along with Dracula, Hitler, and Jesus.  For those of you keeping score, that means Steel Ball Run, Hellsing, and Resurrection F were all inspired by this movie.

Frieza is surprised that anyone on Earth knows him by name, so Gohan unmasks to reveal that he was the kid with the bowl-haircut on Namek.        

Videl’s completely smitten here.   “Wow, he’s wayyy dreamier than his mom!”

So Frieza’s decided to kill Gohan as revenge for Goku defeating him.   You’d think he’d be mad about Future Trunks killing him, but he was friends with Gohan too, so it still works.   The part that doesn’t work is this punk-ass bitch running around in Movie 12 like it’s still Movie 3. 

So Frieza sics a surprise army of henchmen on Gohan to soften him up.  Of course, it makes perfect sense that all the top Frieza soldiers would be here, and that they’d still be loyal to Frieza, but there’s also a lot of Movie 1-5 henchmen too, and most of them don’t even know Frieza.  Still it’s not hard to believe that they could be persuaded to join his side.

But Bojack seems pretty hard to swallow.   Out of everyone in this scene, he’s definitely stronger than Frieza ever was, so why isn’t he calling the shots here?

Anyway, waves of henchmen, Frieza’s invincible, what will Gohan do now? 

FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA

Hadou ooana GALAXY Yudan wana PARASITE

FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA

Obienaku wa warera min

DIE!DIE!DIE!

So yeah, everyone sees Gohan END Frieza with one fraggin’ punch, and they all turn chickenshit and run away.  Even Bjoack, I guess, which only makes sense, because Gohan punched a hole through him in Movie 9. 

Videl’s like “Wow, it’s kind of weird how all of these dead people came back to life, and presumably we can’t kill them again because they’d just come back, and yet Frieza was the only jerk in this whole movie who got exploded and stayed dead from all of this.”

Then Gohan does his victory poses, and Videl swoons off-screen.  In the dub, they changed the ending dialogue to suggest that Gohan and Videl made out shortly after this scene, and Goten and Trunks saw it.   It’s not in the Japanese script, but come on.  How was Videl not al over this dude after this?  We know it happened.  

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan is punching zombies someplace else, and he’s pretty pleased with how well he’s doing, except there’s no one around to watch him in action, so he moves on to find his grateful public.

Fortunately, he won’t run out of zombies anytime soon.  

Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks are helping out by gathering the Dragon Balls,   They find the seventh one on a golf course.

But Goten gets hit with a golf ball while he’s there.   Irritated, he decides to hide the ball to get payback on whoever sent it his way.

But he hides it in the hole, so the golfer thinks he made a hole-in-one and he’s sobbing with joy.   This doesn’t have much to do with the movie, but what’s great about Fusion Reborn is that you can expand on almost any scene and make it part of the wider story.   Maybe this guy’s a dead Frieza Soldier who got the call to mobilize and he said “Fuck that, if I’m alive, I’m gonna hit the links one last time.”  Or maybe he’s just a regular dude, but the lady there is his dead wife, who’s come back to tell him that the accident wasn’t his fault, and it’s okay for him to move on with his life.    Or they’re both alive, but the golf course gets destroyed by Cell during his epic battle with Tiencha.

Back at Capsule Corp.  Gohan summons Shenron.  For some reason,  in the dub, she tells him he’s “the only one who can,” and I’ve never understood that.   Maybe she means that Gohan’s the only one who understands the crisis well enough to make the right wish to Shenron, but she could still call the Dragon.   She’s done it before several times.

It’s funny how this is the first time Goten and Trunks have seen Shenron, even though the plot of Movie 10 was them gathering Dragon Balls specifically to see Shenron.  That’s how big a disappointment Movie 10 was.  Meanwhile, Movie 12 is so awesome that it pays off ideas from other movies.    

Videl might have wished for a handsome BMF with cool shades...

But Shenron can’t grant a wish that’s already come true.  Let’s just pause here to drink in this majestic shot of Casual Friday Great Saiyaman.   

...

...

...

Nice.

I’m just gonna put it here again.  It’s great.   

So Gohan explains the situation to Shenron and asks him to put all the dead people back where they belong, which Shenron says is a simple task. 

But then he says he can’t do it after all.  Goten complains, and Trunks silences him before Shenron can take offense.

Now, in the dub, Shenron gives a more thorough explanation.   He can move the dead back where they belong, but with King Yemma out of commission, there’s nothing to stop them from simply coming back.  I think that logic is strongly implied in the subtitles, but it’s not quite so clear.    In any case, this is beyond Shenron’s power.  It wouldn’t be if Yemma were on the board, but if that were the case, there’d be no need to involve Shenron in the first place.   

So that leaves everyone feeling pretty dejected.   The problem lies in Otherworld, and if Shenron and Gohan can’t fix it, then they’re out of options.  

And while they ponder what to do next...

...Shenron awkwardly asks if there’s anything else he could do for them while he’s here.

[moonlightinx]

I just watched episode 7.  𝓲 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝓵𝓸𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓼 and 𝓲 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓴 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶 so here’s my 2 cents.

ps spoilers head !!

first of all i loved the episode per se and how we explored along with Sweeney his real story. Pablo Schreiber is amazing, he’s so so so talented!

I loved all the madwife moments, all the talk about love, Sweeney drinking his heartbreak away and him seeing Laura in his flashbacks. 

But for the tragic ending. I knew what was coming and I still was not ready. However I too have some tinfoil theories. The first being the one I fear the most which is the show seriously killing him for good just to give this season a BIG shock moment.  I’m liking the season so far but I don’t think it reached s1 greatness imho - Fuller’s touch is missing and it shows. That’s why I fear they might pull stuff like this just to give the season something remarkable kind of? Like they do on Got where fans favourite die and those eps are the most popular and talked about. But I hope AG knows better than that (I’m thinking about how Gomorra did this and I’m still salty and bitter - rip salvatore conte) bc it’s just stupid story wise for Sweeney. 

I don’t think it makes sense to build Sweeney up so much just to kill him when his storyline is just getting started?? I know he dies in the book but the show gave him such a big space it would be silly not to evolve his arc into something bigger and then, just then, kill him. Because I’m very salty about how he’s gone. We just learn that he really is a God king and the potential that alone that could have on the story buffles me. He comes to the realization that he doensn’t have to be Wednsday’s bitch and demand respect from him - he’s a God too and that alone should make a whole of a difference.  And -  bc of the bad luck I assume - he accidentally gets hit with the spear?? by a clueless Shadow who then murmurs a “I’m sorry”???  outrageous truly, honestly. Not here for this. 

I loved that he took the spear and flipped Wednsday off like that tho. Loved it. But I also think that they went to such trouble for this spear that it would be in Wednsday’s best interest too to have Sweeney alive and retrive it. But idk. 

SO my very optimistic speculation on episode 08 is for Laura to arrive at the house moments later that that happens (I mean, we see her arrive in Cairo at night) and see Sweeney dead and witness some interesting since she’s still processing what happened in New Orleans and I guess she had time to figure out what she wants and what she’s going to do. 

Also since there’s this scene of her carrying Sweeney I really really hope is her trying to resurrect him. She still has the Baron’s potion and there’s literally a lake of Sweeney’s blood presumably soaked in love lol but then why is she carrying him? Where is she taking him?? 

I read someone talking about how Laura could give him his coin back but then she would lose her strenght and with Kali telling her her power comes from destroying or something like that I’m more inclined on the idea of her saving him with the potion. And they could team up for real since they both have a goal in common, more or less, which is get revenge on Wendsday!! 

I don’t know if that’s going to happen in the finale or if they are saving it for season 3 or if it won’t happen at all. But I really hope for the show that it does, considering Sweeney is one of the most loved and charismatic characters of the show it just sounds like bad business to me lol 

I fear if I won’t be invested enough to keep watching the show since his arc was one of the most interesting and of course madwife feels sigh

now I’m done

and i'll probably delete this

[opalai-pixel-witch]

Hi, yo!

“I’ll be sure to do that when I have time ^_^”

-- Yay! :D

  “Yeah, maybe something like that o: I was thinking that we don’t really know if anyone else has the power to make people sick, so if some entity out there was like that they might do that and try to interfere with her work somehow and she’d just be all “no STOP that you idiot” and undo it or something :P It’s kinda hard for me to describe, but it’s something like that? Of course her job is the exact opposite of healing others so she probably wouldn’t use it all that often >_>”

-- I think there isn't another entity able to sick, at least, not in that hell.

In the comics there was Anubis, the egyptian god of the dead, and there is the Annual Death Dinner, maybe is the same with the others horsemen, there we would already have to study the entities from other cultures :)

For that reason I think it would only work as a threat, and I don't know how difficult it's to make someone sick, she didn't do anything to Fafnir, she just yelled at him ...

  “Yeah, those theories sound about right :o I think that all the horsemen are capable of killing (and also resurrecting as we’ve seen with Death and Pesto), but they’re only allowed to do it when the job requires them to and they risk being penalized somehow—usually with Hell Jail—if they do that of their own accord. I feel like it was a rather desperate situation in Hell when Odin went on his rampage, and Satan didn’t have enough time or patience to instruct Famine on how he could handle it. And so, Famine being his usual cringy and edgy self, took it to extremes and get Ramsey killed…so I think we can chalk that incident up to recklessness and a lack of preparation.”

-- Maybe everyone in hell or anyone who has a Shred of life can resurrect; as far as I know, only Life and Anubis are able to resurrect without Shreds,they also have to know how to use them, if we compare Death and Pesto we can understand why Bjorn is immortal (XD) and Sam and Salmon Guy are going to have a normal life

That would explain why Pesto didn't make Fafnir sick ;v She didn't want problems with Satan; meanwhile Fam does the opposite :D

And if he can reverse the hunger ... I think he would never use it :)

  The interesting thing is Death has 2 people to regulate him and yet he does what he wants:

♦ Life: apparently she is very patient and cool;

♦ Satan: King of hell, very big and something tells me he's very aggressive, I say this simply because Death and Pesto fear him a lot

And with my headcanon about horsemen can recover from an injury, we can intuit Satan can seriously injure them if they make him angry enough, because none of them can die, only be out of service for a while

  This reminded me of a thought I had when I started obsessing over MS:

- One day Satan surprised Death making deals with millionaire souls again, this time Satan was in a bad mood and his first reaction was to grab him and start beating him. War seeing Satan hitting him on the ground, tried to interfere, but he gave her a head butt, pushed her away and took her weapon to finish hitting Death. After a while (endless for Death and War), Satan left, threw War's weapon, now broken, around there, leaving Death badly wounded on the ground. War still stunned by the blow, approached Death who was missing half of his skull, he apologized for having broken his weapon, War just stood there with him without saying anything

  Yup ... I have very happy thoughts :)

  “Hmmm, I may have to check those out! I would like to get in the habit of trying new things but my comfort zone is just so…comfy >o>”

-- I saw Clinic of Horrors, it's good, my only problem is it's only in English and I'm very lazy to translate ^^;

  “THE OTP IS BACK! ^o^ Protective War is so cool—and we all know Death would do the same for her >u> And that drawing of Death and Lil Foxbro is so adorable!! And it’s also super cool to see Sam, Bjørn and Cassiel hanging out together ^_^ My poor son though ;-;”

-- Of course, in fact, there are times this is a problem, sometimes Death wants to protect War without being prepared and it ends badly :)

Bjorn will be fine :) I would worry about Sam XD

  “You know, that first scene with him where he’s spying did make me wonder…he had his tracker-thing in one hand and a coffee in the other, and then he somehow takes his goggles off at the end?? Maybe he does have limitless pockets… (making secret plans to steal Milky’s coat later)”

-- He has a tracker, a coffee, some glasses, a gun, sugar and cream in his pockets, among other things XD

  “That makes sense to me :o But I wonder why Milky didn’t have a weapon—even if he’s going to Helheim, a presumably peaceful afterlife, these are still the horsemen he’s dealing with…there’s definitely some infinite pocket action going on >_>”

-- Now I imagine the scene in the Mask where they search his pockets but with Milky X,D

--------

Hello hello! ^___^

Yeah I wasn’t really thinking of another entity in Hell specifically, I just meant like another entity outside the physical realm :P But you’re right, that proves that there are other Deaths out there along with seeing Bear Death in Helheim Hassle—though now that I think about it, I don’t think we’ve seen any horsemen in Valhalla or Helheim…maybe Norse mythology works differently somehow? I’m the farthest thing away from an expert you can get when it comes to these things so I have no clue |D

I think, concerning the Fafnir situation, she was still holding herself back at that point. From what we’ve seen, Pesto is someone who loves to talk, especially going on looping rants and tangents. I think she also has some really bad anxiety and is pretty pessimistic, so she probably jumps to the worst case scenario pretty frequently >_> Plus, the boss fight with her seems like proof enough to me of what she’s capable of, but afterwards she demands that Hugin and Munin not tell anyone because she “doesn’t have a permit here”—I feel like it all comes back to the instructions and rules Satan might set for the horsemen when he assigns them a task, and deep down despite her saying things like “throw me in Hell Jail, I don’t care!” and “I ain’t afraid of that, Bjoharn! It’ll be totally worth it!”, she was actually scared of getting in trouble and knew that it wouldn’t actually be worth whatever punishment Satan would give. (which…can’t possibly be Hell Jail, right? Hell Jail’s not the worst punishment Hell has to offer, right?? You get cupcakes and cookies and cozy movies with demons!! Where’s the punishment??? Hell is weird…)

I don’t know about Anubis, but Life reviving people without Shreds makes sense to me o: I think that Pesto might have seen or heard rumors about Death doing that, but she doesn’t know everything about how to do it so she’s just like “you throw the Shred at the dead person and they come to life, done” :P Not to mention the fact that while Death is doing the spell on peoples’ souls, Pesto did it on Bjørn’s body, so I bet that has to factor in somehow too >o> Death’s probably been making these “deals” for a long time so he must have gotten the hang of it by now |D

That’s what I’ve been thinking too—then again, in the gerbil comic Death says “I be too young to die!” which sort of implies that it may still be a danger for them??? Some mysterious circumstances that not even the immortal know about >o>

Oh nooooo!! Poor Death, and poor War ;;A;; Satan must have been in a really bad mood to do that to them…while I think that Death and Pesto are completely justified in their fear of him, I don’t think that he would be downright abusive o.o;; Then again, he is Satan, he had to have done something to get the reputation of the root of all evil >A>

As the queen of laziness, I totally understand :P

Yeah, I can picture it now—a fight or something’s broken out in Hell and as War is getting her weapons ready Death jumps in front of her and he’s all “YOU GOTTA GET THROUGH ME FIRST IF YOU WANNA HURT HER, YO!” only for whatever’s threatening them to just toss him aside and War’s just like “Death…let me handle this stuff, okay?” |D

I know, Bjørn is always fine, but as his mom it’s my job to worry about him ^__^ Yeah, Sam is just going through trauma after trauma…

He’s got an entire house in there >o> This puts a whole new spin on the term “pocket dimension”

[dfroza]

they wanted to seize and arrest our Creator and King

with their false accusations.

but what caused temporal harm led to a sacred act of eternal rebirth.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 11th chapter of the book of John:

In the village of Bethany there was a man named Lazarus, and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary was the one who would anoint Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and dry his feet with her long hair. One day Lazarus became very sick to the point of death. So his sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, our brother Lazarus, the one you love, is very sick. Please come!”

When he heard this, he said, “This sickness will not end in death for Lazarus, but will bring glory and praise to God. This will reveal the greatness of the Son of God by what takes place.”

Now even though Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, he remained where he was for two more days. Finally, on the third day, he said to his disciples, “Come. It’s time to go to Bethany.”

“But Teacher,” they said to him, “do you really want to go back there? It was just a short time ago the people of Judea were going to stone you!”

Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight in every day? You can go through a day without the fear of stumbling when you walk in the One who gives light to the world. But you will stumble when the light is not in you, for you’ll be walking in the dark.”

Then Jesus added, “Lazarus, our friend, has just fallen asleep. It’s time that I go and awaken him.”

When they heard this, the disciples replied, “Lord, if he has just fallen asleep, then he’ll get better.” Jesus was speaking about Lazarus’ death, but the disciples presumed he was talking about natural sleep.

Then Jesus made it plain to them, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I’m glad I wasn’t there, because now you have another opportunity to see who I am so that you will learn to trust in me. Come, let’s go and see him.”

So Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, remarked to the other disciples, “Let’s go so that we can die with him.”

Now when they arrived at Bethany, which was only about two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Many friends of Mary and Martha had come from the region to console them over the loss of their brother. And when Martha heard that Jesus was approaching the village, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.

Martha said to Jesus, “My Lord, if only you had come sooner, my brother wouldn’t have died. But I know that if you were to ask God for anything, he would do it for you.”

Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise and live.”

She replied, “Yes, I know he will rise with everyone else on resurrection day.”

“Martha,” Jesus said, “You don’t have to wait until then. I am the Resurrection, and I am Life Eternal. Anyone who clings to me in faith, even though he dies, will live forever. And the one who lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Then Martha replied, “Yes, Lord, I do! I’ve always believed that you are the Anointed One, the Son of God who has come into the world for us!” Then she left and hurried off to her sister, Mary, and called her aside from all the mourners and whispered to her, “The Master is here and he’s asking for you.”

So when Mary heard this, she quickly went off to find him, for Jesus was lingering outside the village at the same spot where Martha met him. Now when Mary’s friends who were comforting her noticed how quickly she ran out of the house, they followed her, assuming she was going to the tomb of her brother to mourn.

When Mary finally found Jesus outside the village, she fell at his feet in tears and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus looked at Mary and saw her weeping at his feet, and all her friends who were with her grieving, he shuddered with emotion and was deeply moved with tenderness and compassion. He said to them, “Where did you bury him?”

“Lord, come with us and we’ll show you,” they replied.

Then tears streamed down Jesus’ face.

Seeing Jesus weep caused many of the mourners to say, “Look how much he loved Lazarus.” Yet others said, “Isn’t this the One who opens blind eyes? Why didn’t he do something to keep Lazarus from dying?”

Then Jesus, with intense emotions, came to the tomb—a cave with a stone placed over its entrance. Jesus told them, “Roll away the stone.”

Then Martha said, “But Lord, it’s been four days since he died—by now his body is already decomposing!”

Jesus looked at her and said, “Didn’t I tell you that if you will believe in me, you will see God unveil his power?”

So they rolled away the heavy stone. Jesus gazed into heaven and said, “Father, thank you that you have heard my prayer, for you listen to every word I speak. Now, so that these who stand here with me will believe that you have sent me to the earth as your messenger, I will use the power you have given me.” Then with a loud voice Jesus shouted with authority: “Lazarus! Come out of the tomb!”

Then in front of everyone, Lazarus, who had died four days earlier, slowly hobbled out—he still had grave clothes tightly wrapped around his hands and feet and covering his face! Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.”

From that day forward many of those who had come to visit Mary believed in him, for they had seen with their own eyes this amazing miracle! But a few went back to inform the Pharisees about what Jesus had done.

So the Pharisees and the chief priests called a special meeting of the High Council and said, “So what are we going to do about this man? Look at all the great miracles he’s performing! If we allow him to continue like this, everyone will believe in him. And the Romans will take action and destroy both our country and our people!”

Now Caiaphas, the high priest that year, spoke up and said, “You don’t understand a thing! Don’t you realize we’d be much better off if this one man were to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish?”

(This prophecy that Jesus was destined to die for the Jewish people didn’t come from Caiaphas himself, but he was moved by God to prophesy as the chief priest. And Jesus’ death would not be for the Jewish people only, but to gather together God’s children scattered around the world and unite them as one.) So from that day on, they were committed to killing Jesus.

For this reason Jesus no longer went out in public among the Jews. But he went in the wilderness to a village called Ephraim, where he secluded himself with his disciples.

Now the time came for the Passover preparations, and many from the countryside went to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the feast began. And all the people kept looking out for Jesus, expecting him to come to the city. They said to themselves while they waited in the temple courts, “Do you think that he will dare come to the feast?” For the leading priests and the Pharisees had given orders that they be informed immediately if anyone saw Jesus, so they could seize and arrest him.

The Book of John, Chapter 11 (The Passion Translation)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 1st chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes:

These are the words of the teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Teacher: Life is fleeting, like a passing mist.

It is like trying to catch hold of a breath;

All vanishes like a vapor; everything is a great vanity.

What good does it do anyone to work so hard again and again,

sun up to sundown? All his labor to gain but a little?

One generation comes, another goes;

but the earth continues to remain.

The sun rises and the sun sets,

laboring to come up quickly to its place again and again.

The wind in its travels blows toward the south,

then swings back around to the north.

Back and forth,

returning in its circuit again and again.

All rivers flow to the sea,

but the sea is never full.

To the place where the rivers flow,

there the water returns to flow once again.

Words, words, words! So many words! They are wearisome things;

and yet people cannot refrain from speaking.

No eye has ever surveyed the world and said, “I have seen enough”;

no ear has ever listened to creation and said, “I have heard enough.”

What has been, that will be;

what has been done, that will be done.

Nothing is new under the sun;

the future only repeats the past.

One person may say of some idea,

“Pay attention to this; it’s original!”

But that same idea has already been expressed;

it’s been with us through the ages.

We do not remember those people and events of long ago,

as future generations will not remember what is yet to come.

I, the teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I decided to seek out and study the wisdom of the ages, of all that had been done under the heavens. I soon discovered the harsh realities of the work God has given us that keeps us so busy. I have witnessed all that is done under the sun, and indeed, all is fleeting, like trying to embrace the wind. There is an old saying:

Something crooked cannot be made straight,

and something missing cannot be counted.

I mused over it all and thought to myself, “I have done great things, and I have gained more wisdom than anyone who reigned over Jerusalem before me. I have contemplated great wisdom and knowledge.” I decided to study wisdom and instead acquainted myself with madness and folly. It, too, seemed like trying to pursue the wind, for as my wisdom increased, so did my vexation. As my knowledge grew, so did my pain.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 1 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Thursday, may 20 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about the True nature of prayer:

Yeshua taught us to be focused and to refrain from using "vain repetitions" (i.e., βατταλογέω - “babbling words”) in our prayers, since our Father knows what we need before we ask Him (Matt. 6:7-8). What He wants is “us” - all our heart and hunger for life - not some formula or recipe of words to appeal to him. Don't worry about the verbiage of your prayers, then, but attend to the inner groan of your heart (Rom. 8:26). "When you pray, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart" (John Bunyan). Ultimately prayer is a kind of teshuvah (תְּשׁוּבָה), a word often translated as "repentance," though it's more accurately understood as turning (shuv) to God in response to His call. Sometimes you just come and present yourself in God's presence, without words, without requests... You just sigh, or let your heart groan in silence. The point, of course, is that you come to the Lord to do real business with Him, not to play games or to offer "lip service." Are we really "showing up" when we pray? [Hebrew for Christians]

5.19.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

May 20, 2021

Growing in Faith

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.” (Hebrews 11:13)

All believers should hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering. A believer faces many challenges, but two seem particularly difficult to handle. First, our eternal destination cannot be seen with our physical eyes. Without something material to see or hold, our human nature is not satisfied and on occasion raises questions in our mind: “Is heaven really there?” “Am I missing out on something here on Earth?” The writer to the Hebrew Christians was aware that questions could lead to doubt, then to discouragement, and even cause some to “draw back” (Hebrews 10:38-39).

Though we cannot literally see heaven, we can “see [it] afar off” by faith. This is only done by implicitly believing the Word of the Lord. Paul said there is a special power in God’s Word enabling believers to grow “from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). The fact that faith itself is the fuel to energize even greater faith is illustrated in our text verse. Noah, Abraham, and others had “seen” the promises by faith, which led them to even stronger belief until they were deeply “persuaded of them.” The promises eventually were so real to these saints that they “embraced them” like a fellow companion in their daily walk with the Lord. Only by faith do His promises become an integral part of our lives, able to guide our daily activities and long-range plans.

The second challenge we face is fear of the world’s reprisal, directed to anyone daring to not conform to its practices. This fear has stopped many believers from “confessing” their faith and is why the final step to “dying in faith” may be so difficult. Like nothing else can, being willing to publicly proclaim your belief in God’s Word builds faith and truly honors Him. RJG

[fireteam-ballsack]

When It Starts

I could hear Mai snoring lightly when I woke up. Looking over, her skin was glowing a bit in the sunlight. It reminded me of the first time we went to a bar together, in casual clothes.

“Ghost?” I called out softly, trying to avoid waking Mai. “Get me today's forecast.”

I heard him rise from his resting place, a spot on the shelf next to Mai's ghost. He came over and looked out the window. “Currently overcast..will storm later. May be harsh, I suggest keeping indoors or under cover. So no downtown strolling.” He came over next to me. “You could always stay here and clean your place finally.” I sat up and shrugged.

Mai rolled over to face me and opened her eyes. “He's got a point,” she said, “your place is a bit cluttered. I'll help.”

I leaned over to her and kissed her softly. “Yes, but then I might actually look like I care about myself.”

She laughed and sat up. I pulled the blankets off of me and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. “Let me get breakfast before we decide. Do we wanna go out or make food here?”

“Hm...it's nice out, let's go ahead and go out for breakfast. There's that one cafe I've been wanting to try.”

I got up and went over to my dresser. I could have worn armor, but it usually brings attention to us, and it was my day off. I pulled out some casual clothes and tossed them onto the bed. Pulling my current clothes off, I watched Mai smile at me.

“God, you're beautiful,” she whispered.

“I'm a beautiful mess,” I laughed as I started getting dressed again. “Fucking messing up missions for the hell of it. You know I do that.”

“Yeah, Zavala complains about it all the time.” She got up and went to her stash of clothes. “Also, we do laundry tomorrow. If you work, I'll do it. I'm not letting you re-wear the same thing ten times before washing.”

I threw my dirty shirt at her. “Fine, you can be the cute housewife. I'll be the one who does all the work.” I dodged as she threw the shirt back at me. “I mean, what's the worst that can happen? I die? Oh no, what a tragedy! Three seconds of nothing!”

My ghost came up to me. “Sara, Cayde wants you in the hall after you get back. Nothing urgent, just some updating he wants to do in-person.”

I looked at Mai. “Let's go on out, then. You can start on the apartment while I go see what's up.” I held my hand out to her. “Shall we, m'lady?”

She laughed and took my hand. “Of course, madame. Let us stroll through the city in search of some breakfast.” We headed out, locking the apartment behind us. It would be a few more days until Mai went back to her post on Mars, I wanted to get as much time as I could with her. I could still talk to her while she was out, but just talking wasn't enough.

We walked down the hall to the elevator. There was the option of going up and taking the shuttle down, but the shuttle was usually crowded in the morning because of people going to and from work. The elevator wasn't as bad, and was quieter overall.

“Hey, Sara?” Mai had a hint of concern in her voice. “I've got a bad feeling about today. I'm just hoping it's nothing or maybe something small, like the cafe is closed.”

I looked at her. “Trust me, anything happens, I'll kick ass to make up for it. Alright?”

She laughed. “You'll do that anyways. And I'm the one getting you out of trouble. Just...be careful, okay?”

“I will. I promise.” Her tone did worry me. Was something going to happen? It had been awhile since a major conflict, but there were no warnings or unusual activity anywhere we checked. Maybe it was nothing. The elevator doors opened, and I saw a titan standing, looking at his scroll.

“Hey, Rein.”

He looked up and gave a small wave. “Hey, you two. Headed down?”

We both nodded and got in. Mai went to press the ground floor button but it was already lit. “Headed into the city?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “gonna grab food. Zav's stuck me watching the satellites today, don't wanna be bored to tears on an empty stomach. Same thing for you two?”

“There's a cafe somewhere Mai's been wanting to try. Wanna join?”

Rein closed his scroll and watched the floors tick down. “Sure, why not? Beats eating alone. Though, I'm worried about Sara's behavior.” He gave me a knowing look. “Miss banned from training anybody.”

I shrugged and stuck my hands in my pockets. “Only because of the one incident. Completely not my fault.”

Mai leaned against the wall of the elevator. “I mean...you did throw at least two off the tower. And convince one you had made Oryx your personal bitch. And spread a rumor that Cayde took orders from you.”

“Hey,” I said, “Cayde found that one funny. And nobody stayed dead, I'm not that reckless.”

“Whatever you say, Sara. You're still banned from training.”

The elevator finally hit the ground floor. The three of us stepped out once the doors opened, with Mai taking me by the hand and leading the way. Our ghosts trailed a few feet behind, and Rein stayed close behind them.

“Where exactly is this cafe?”

Mai looked back at him. “Not too far. It's a little hole in the wall place.” She slowed down a bit to walk next to me. “You should carry me.”

I looked at her. “If you want. You gotta pay for breakfast, though.”

“Deal.”

I stopped and stooped down, and Mai climbed onto my back. I stood back up as she held on, and Rein waited for me to adjust a bit.

“You two make me jealous. You're just so...casual.”

My girlfriend snorted. “More like I know how to be lazy.”

All three of us laughed and went back to walking. It was still early enough there wasn't much traffic, but a few people were wandering about. It was calm, so serene and peaceful. Made me wish I had been born during this era, instead of dying in another and being resurrected to fight for this.

“Turn left at the end of the block.”

Mai rested her head on mine, still holding on tight. We turned the corner and headed down that street. Rein's scroll started ringing, and he opened it.

“It's Rein.”

I heard Zavala's voice come through. “Are you near Miss Saradin?”

“I'm here, Zavvy. What's up?”

He sounded surprised. “Cayde wants you here in full armor when you arrive. He was also aware you don't answer calls when you're in the city and requests that you fix that.”

“Cool,” I said. “Request denied. I'll see you later.”

Rein closed his scroll and pocketed it again. “You probably should, things are a bit too calm right now. Biggest conflict we've had recently is a pack of fallen trying to nest up in the wall. It's like everything is waiting for something to happen.”

I nodded. “Yeah. There's almost always something, and right now there's not.” Mai held on a bit tighter. “Don't worry, maybe we're just in a quiet time. It can happen, you know.”

“Yeah but...can't shake this bad feeling. Maybe food will help. It's a few doors down, by the way.”

Sure enough, we saw a sign painted with 'Morning Sun Cafe'. I let Mai jump off of my back, and all three of us went in. A few people were scattered around tables, sipping coffee or talking quietly. A couple nodded at us coming in, then returned to their business. The barista smiled as we went to the counter.

“What can I get you wonderful guardians?”

Mai stared up at the menu. “Uh, large black and a cheese omelet. I'm also paying for her,” she said, pointing at me.

“Small iced latte, and another omelet.”

As Mai was getting rung up, I went and found a table. It was a four-top near the front windows, a bit away from everyone. I stared out the windows at the skyline. Something told me today wasn't gonna end how I'd like it to. That sort of feeling that nothing was wrong yet, but it was gonna go so very wrong.

“Sara?”

Mai was standing next to me with two cups in her hand. She handed one to me and took the seat next to me. “You're staring off again.”

I took a sip. “I'm alright. Just...think I'm feeling what you're feeling.” I sighed. “Let's hope it's something small and stupid. Food coming to the table?”

She nodded. “Said it should only be a few minutes.”

Rein came over with a blended drink in his hand. “I'm just sticking with a drink. At least for now. Maybe I'll steal some of Sara's food.”

I took another sip. “Maybe I'll steal your girlfriend, motherfucker.”

“Language.” Mai glared at me for a second. “We're not in the Tower.”

“Mai, you're not okay with me dropping an f-bomb, but you're cool with me having another girlfriend.”

Rein laughed. “Yeah, my non-existent girlfriend. Hey, there's your food now.”

The barista came over with two plates. She set one in front of Mai and me and stepped back. “Anything else I can get you guys? Sugar? Creamer?”

Mai smiled. “No, ma'am, thank you.”

“Well,” I piped up, “you can get me out of cleaning my apartment.”

The barista laughed. “Don't think I can quite do that. You can ask your friend,” she nodded towards Mai, “to help.”

I wanted until the barista was back behind the counter. “Hey, you've been demoted. You're no longer my girlfriend. Just friend.”

Mai buried her face in her hands. “Sara...just eat. I'm gonna strangle you.”

After breakfast, the three of us headed back to the tower. By now, there was a bit more activity. Some kids were playing tag in the street, with a couple parents watching carefully. Some other people were walking presumably to work. It was starting to become overcast, so I made a mental note to hurry to Cayde once I was suited up.

“Hey Sara,” Rein started, “I'm gonna come to your apartment with you. It's on the way up and we're headed to the same place anyways.”

“Cool,” I said. “You can tell Mai that it's not that messy.”

Mai shot me a dirty look. “You know damn well it needs cleaned.”

We stopped at the elevator and leaned against the wall. “You know damn well it doesn't. It can get so much worse.”

“It shouldn't get worse. I'll get Ikora on you about it.”

I let out an exaggerated whine. “Fiiiiine. But I still say it's not as bad as you're making it sound.” I looked at Mai and laughed. “How about you just move in permanently? That way you can keep it clean.”

She sighed. “You know I want to, but Zavala needs me out there. It took fighting to get him to give me time here.”

I heard the elevator doors open, so the three of us went in. Rein pressed the button for my floor and stood back. “Maybe something exciting will happen today. Keep me on my toes.” He stared at the floor indicator. “God knows I'll need it. It's gonna be hours of just boring nothing.”

I leaned on the back railing. “I'll swap with you. You clean my apartment, I'll pretend to be paying attention to a radar.”

“Sara, you're not getting out of this.” Mai crossed her arms at me. “You're gonna clean your place after you hear what Cayde wants to say.”

“Fine, fine. I'm not gonna enjoy it.”

We rode the rest of the way up in silence. I considered telling Cayde no, the feeling was getting worse. But I figured at the least, I'd hear him out and split as soon as I could. As soon as we got to my floor, we all got out and headed towards my apartment.

“I'll be quick,” I said. “Don't like the idea of being out of my place for long.”

We got to my door, and I unlocked it. I could see to the bedroom window, and 'overcast had become 'dark clouds covering the whole sky'. I let Mai and Rein in and shut the door, then went into the bedroom. The other two started talking as I closed that door. I just wanted to get up and get out. I got out of my casual clothes and started getting on my armor, right as I heard rain start falling against the window. I picked up my cloak and looked at it in my hands. My ghost came over next to me and stared at it too.

“Still the one I got for you, Sara. Some things don't change.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Some things.” I put it on and reached for my helmet. I heard my scroll ringing, so I picked it off of the bed and opened it.

“Saradin?” Cayde sounded worried. “I'm gonna need you up here soon. There's...some stuff going on.”

“I'm headed up there now. Just got armor on.”

“You might need it. I'm waiting.”

I closed my scroll. If Cayde was worried, nothing good could come of it. He wasn't this worried when Oryx came knocking. I opened the bedroom door and nodded to Rein.

“We gotta go. Cayde needs me up as soon as possible.”

He nodded in agreement and went to the front door. I gave Mai a quick hug and kiss. “I'll be back as soon as I can. Check your armor, please. I don't wanna risk anything.”

She looked at me with wide eyes. “Sara, don't be reckless.”

“I won't.” I went back into the hallway and closed the door behind Rein. “He didn't sound excited. I don't think it's gonna end well.”

“I don't think so either. We'll stick together.”

We went back to the elevator. Luckily, it was still on our floor. I hurriedly pressed the top floor and started pacing.

“Sara, you'll be fine. So will Mai.”

I glared at him. “Cayde has faced shit that's utterly terrifying and never sounded like he did. I'm not optimistic.”

When we hit the top floor, I practically ran across the main plaza to the vanguard hall. It was pouring now, and between not wanting to be wet and not wanting to be in the dark, I didn't wanna hang around. Rein kept up with me, only slowing when I did. As soon as I was in the vanguard hall, I could tell things weren't good. Zavala was looking out the window, looking for something. I didn't know what and didn't care to know.

“Cayde, I-”

My greeting was interrupted by Zavala yelling.

“BATTLESTATIONS!”

I could feel my face pale. I pushed my helmet on and grabbed a gun laying on a table. Before I could even realize what was going on, I heard a ward pop up. I grabbed Rein and pushed him into it, right as the explosions started. I threw myself in and held the gun tight. This was the bad feeling. This was what I was fearing.

It felt like forever we were waiting. Just holding onto our fear. My mind raced. Was Mai okay? Would we be okay? I could make out the outline of a ship between explosions. Cabal. They were here..but why?

“Rein! We need to get out!”

He looked at me. “Are you insane?! We're gonna die!”

I grabbed his arm. “We need to start evacuating!” I pulled him out of the ward and back out of the hall. All I could see was fire. I heard yelling, but my ears were still ringing. Things were very, very bad.

“Be ready!”

We both raced towards the stairs. My priority was Mai. She had to be okay. She was resilient. She could survive this. I practically flew down the stairs. I needed her to be okay.

“Sara!”

I stopped. There weren't any stairs. The whole hall was gone. It was a gaping hole in the tower.

“Rein, what floor are we on?”

He looked at me. “Sara, we need to leave.”

“Rein. What floor?”

“Sara...this is your floor. It's gone.”

Everything stopped. My apartment was gone. Everything was gone. My legs felt weak.

“No....”

He sighed. “Sara, we need to go. We can't sit here or we'll be next.”

My blood boiled. “I'm gonna fucking murder them.” I ran back up. I didn't feel my feet hit the floor, or hear the explosions. I needed to find whoever did this.

“There's a ship bigger than the rest. I'm gonna take a guess and assume that's who's started all of this.”

I kept going. “Get me there.”

“You're not going by yourself.”

I stopped and stood an inch from Rein. “You fucking tell me I'm not. You tell me I can't go in there and make sure Mai doesn't just die and be forgotten. You tell me I'm supposed to stay here and cry and just do nothing when everything I've stood for is fucking gone because of these...these assholes. You tell me I'm gonna just watch this happen.”

“Sara, I'm not stopping you. I'm going with you. She was my friend. And I'm gonna make sure you get back safely.”

I paused, then started back up the stairs. My ship was probably gone. Maybe I could hijack another. Assuming the hangar was still there. I got back up to the top floor and started looking across the sky. The main ship had to be up there.

“There.”

There it was. Sitting there like a motherfucker. I wanted to just go punch whoever was flying that thing.

“Get me a ship.”

Rein nodded and went towards the hangar. I kept glaring at that stupid fucking shit in the sky. I hated it. I hated the cabal. I hated everything leading up to this.

After some angry mental thoughts, I saw a familiar ship fly around and wait next to the edge of the tower. I ran towards it and my ghost transmatted me in.

“Sara, we only have this one shot. This ship goes, we have to run.”

“Then let's take the shot. I'm not doing nothing.”

He started up towards the shit ship. My anger was only growing as we got closer. As soon as we got close enough, Rein started the transmat.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

He pressed a button, and I was suddenly on a completely different ship. I checked my gun, then ran forwards. My mind was focused on finding the head honcho. Anything that moved, I shot. Rein stayed far enough behind that he wasn't a target.

Room after room, I killed whatever I could. It seemed like it was full of cabal, but nobody in charge. I didn't care. I'd kill every last cabal if I had to.

“Sara.”

I finally threw down my gun. “What?!”

Rein looked at me. “Nobody's here. We need to get out.”

I wanted to argue. I wanted to burn the ship and watch it fall. But I knew it wouldn't do anything. “Fine. Let's go.”

We walked towards the back of the ship. There was the loading ramp, which should be open. I still wanted to find whoever had been on the ship. I couldn't stand by and watch everything burn.

“My ship's gone. We'll have to try and jump.”

I stared out as we got to the exit. Everything was burning, or already in pieces. The traveler was...being taken. I forced myself not to scream.

“Come on, we don't have much time.”

I took a step forward, and my blood ran cold. Something was behind me. I turned, only to get smacked away. I slid towards the edge and felt my legs go over. Right before I fell, I grabbed onto the ship.

“REIN!”

He turned. I could see my assailant now: the biggest, ugliest cabal I've ever seen. I gave him the nastiest look I could muster.

“You are nothing. You are weak and useless without your light.”

“You're a piece of shit.”

Rein ran over and grabbed my arm. Big Ugly stepped forward as I was pulled up. He missed a second swing, only managing to grab Rein's ghost.

“Hey, fatass!”

He looked at me. “You will die, as will your companions.” I watched in horror as he crushed Rein's ghost. Rein collapsed to the ground and cried out in pain.

“I'm going to fucking murder you.”

Big Ugly looked at me and raised his fist. I charged at him, but with a stomp of his foot, blasted me back away. I braced myself so I wouldn't fall off.

“The Traveler was meant to be ours. It has made a mistake in choosing you.”

He picked up Rein. I froze as he went to the edge, then looked at me.

“You will fall. All guardians will fall.”

Time slowed down. Rein looked at me in pure horror as he slid out of Big Ugly's hand. I could only watch as he started downwards, falling past any place I could safely get him.

“No...”

He kept falling. I watched him go lower and lower until I couldn't see him for the smoke. I didn't wanna believe it. This wasn't happening. Any of it.

“Now, you will fall.”

Still frozen, I was throws off as well. I held onto my ghost to protect him as I plummeted. I couldn't lose him. I had lost everything else.

The last thing I saw before I hit the ground was the ship starting away from the city.

I woke up after. I didn't know how long I had been out. Seconds? Minutes? Hours? I smelled smoke and things burning. I heard screaming and yelling. As soon as I moved, my ghost started flying around me.

“Sara! Sara, you gotta get up!”

I could barely get to my knees, I was so weak. I tried figuring out where I was, but nothing was familiar. I managed to get standing, only barely.

“Ghost...where do we go?”

He scanned something on the ground. “I'll try and find some other guardians. That's about all we can do for now.”

I looked over and nearly collapsed again. On a pile of rubble was Rein. His body was impaled on what used to be a wall, support rods sticking through him. I slowly managed over. He was still, no breathing or crying for help. I could see some blood dripping out from him, but very little. I pulled his helmet off to see his face. It was twisted into a look of pure horror. I wanted to cry. We had just had breakfast together. Everything was going fine. It started as a great day. And here he was.

“Sara, we can't stay here.”

I looked at my ghost. “I can't leave him.”

“We can't take him with us. There's no point. We need to go.”

I looked back at Rein. I wanted him to move, to give a sign of life. But I knew it wouldn't happen.

“I'm taking his helmet.”

“If you don't wanna end up like him we need to go.”

We started walking. I held his helmet tightly, scared to lose it. It was all I had left at this point. It and my ghost. The apartment was gone. Mai was gone. Rein was gone. My ship was gone. The city was in flames and rubble. All I could do was follow my ghost and pray that there were others.

“Sara?”

I ignored my ghost. I just wanted him to lead me.

“Sara.”

“What?” I looked over at my ghost. He had a empathetic look on his face. Or what would be considered his face.

“I'm picking up some small chatter. It's our only real hope so far.”

I stared off across the burning skyline. “Lead me.”

We kept walking. My feet shuffled through the ash and dirt that had built up. I wanted to give up and throw myself into the blaze. What was there left to fight for? Everything that motivated me before was just...gone.

I heard distant talking. I looked up to see less smoke and burning. It was a park, the trees had been destroyed but there was still life. I could see people walking around, some sitting, and some laying on the ground. I moved faster, maybe they knew more than I did. My ghost stayed close.

When I was close enough, two figured noticed me and waved me over. I felt a tiny bit of hope that maybe all wasn't lost.

“Guardian!”

I slowed down when I could see them better. There was another hunter and a warlock, both with helmets off. I stopped a few feet from them.

“Do you have any supplies?”

I shook my head. “What's going on?”

The hunter looked back at the park. “The cabal invaded. Took the Traveler. They're led by this guy named Gaul, we're not sure what he wants with it or us-”

“I do.” I looked down at Rein's helmet. “He thinks the Traveler made a mistake with coming to us.”

The warlock nodded. “Well...he's got a decent motive. We've rounded up survivors, not sure if there's anyone else gathered in other places. We're hoping there are.” He looked at the helmet in my hands. “I'm...gonna assume something happened with that.”

I looked at the two other guardians. “Rei. We ended up fighting Gaul. He...lost his ghost. Found him on the ground after.”

The hunter sighed. “We've seen enough already. Rei helped around the tower a lot. We'll take up his place to honor him.” She looked back at the people behind her. “Go ahead and sit. Or something. We're gonna try and get as many as we can before moving.”

I walked past them. A lot of civilians watched me as I walked by. I didn't feel high and mighty like I used to. I felt useless. A failure. I couldn't protect the city. I could hear kids crying. Adults crying, too. I couldn't bear to look at anyone.

“You're okay.”

I could hear Mai reassuring me. I tried shutting it out, my mind was playing tricks again.

“You're gonna be okay. We made it through.”

It was so faint. Was I already forgetting about her? I could still see her face, her smile from this morning. This morning seemed like it happened eons ago.

“We'll find your mommy, I promise.”

Wait, what? She had never said that to me. I couldn't be imagining. She had to be here.

“Mai?” I called. I scanned the crowd of people. “Mai!”

“Sara!”

I turned from where the voice came from. I saw her, sitting by a bench. A small boy was clinging to her arm. My heart raced. She was alive. She was okay.

“Oh my god, Sara!” She got up and ran to me, holding me tightly. I dropped Rein's helmet and held her close. “Oh god...you're safe...”

“Mai...I saw the apartment...”

She looked up at me. “I had my armor on, as soon as I heard the blast I got out. Barely made it. I was helping evacuate the city, they said the vanguard hall was just about destroyed...I thought the worst...oh my god...Sara...”

I was crying now. I pulled my helmet off and held her tighter. “Zavala cast a ward of dawn before it hit. I got out and tried finding you...but the apartment was just...gone.”

She looked back at the little boy. “I'm okay. You're okay.” She let go and stepped back. “Where's Rein?”

I picked his helmet off the ground. “Mai....we tired fighting Gaul. He...his ghost was destroyed.”

Mai stared at me. “Sara....”

“We were both thrown off. He...was killed. I'm sorry.”

She looked at the helmet. “I....we gotta keep going. For him.”

“We will. Let's sit.”

We went over to the bench. The boy went back to holding onto Mai tightly. She smiled at him and pulled an arm around him.

“Thomas, this is Sara. She's a hunter. A really good one.”

He looked at me. His eyes were filled with fear and pain. “Hi Sara...”

Mai looked at me. “He got lost after the attack. We can't find his parents, but they're probably with another group. We'll find them.”

I looked across the crowd of people. If this was the city's last hope, I had my doubts.

[scorpio-karma]

A. Bradley

So since the show ended I’ve been re-watching the early seasons. Right now I’m only on Season 2 Episode 12 and for reason I won’t mention that have nothing to do with this post I will not be going past that episode for a while.  Anyways I noticed that the writers weren’t the most creative when they were coming up with background character names because in season 1 episode 19 there is a character Amber Bradley (left pic) and in season 2 episode 3-5 there is a different character Aimee Bradley (right pic). 

In general one would presume that they’re related, but a) it’s never eluded to not even a little bit and b) they look vastly different (which isn’t to say it’s impossible for them to be related just unlikely). So I would have generally just left it at the writers being un-creative, which is true, but I kept getting the names mixed up in my head which made me take a closer look at how the characters were treated. 

Now I’m well aware that both of these characters are very minor characters, if even, and were meant to only be plot devices, but I couldn’t help but think about what kind of plot devices they served.

Let’s start with Amber since she’s the first Bradley to show up in the series.

Her one and only appearance was in the episode Miss Mystic Falls. She was one of the candidates and according to Caroline she was only there to make it so that no one would think the pageant was only for Founding Families. So to start with she was already a character who was meant to be disregarded and seen as unimportant – there just to make it seem like the world doesn’t actually revolve around the Mystic Falls Gang when in reality it does. 

As the episode goes on you learn that she suffers from stage fright and is in the middle of an anxiety attack when Elena walks in on her. This adds a bit more complexity to a flat character (who’s meant to be flat). She goes outside to get some air and unfortunately runs into Stefan who is having control issues. This sets up what kind of plot device she’s supposed to be – who’s character development she’s there for, Stefan. He takes, her feeds on her, and compels her meanwhile having a crisis of morality on whether or not to kill her. She ends up a literal prop as he compels her not to be scared and she says anything to make him, for lack of a better word, happy. She’s actively trying not to die even when she doesn’t have the ability to make such decisions. When he decides to kill her and nearly drains her Elena and Damon come to her aid, but actually Stefan’s. They’re there to protect Stefan from having to deal with the guilt of killing her, not actually to save her at all since they were both willing to stand there and watch him kill her until Bonnie comes in and saves he day.  It drives me insane how little regard these characters (and a lot of the audience) have for the victims, including Caroline, one of the MFG’s. Bonnie for the majority of the series seemed to be the only one that cared and got called “Judgy” for it.

Anyways, she gets saved which is a rarity on this show for a character of her type – expendable. She was meant to be a throw away character who’s life ultimately didn’t matter, she was just there to further Stefan’s plot and to illustrate Stefan’s control issues with blood because up until then we were only told of them. And then she lives and presumably is still alive and even mentioned in Season 8 to refer back to this episode. But actually an even bigger rarity is the fact that someone came to her aid, usually the expendable ones die and maybe used in guilt trip for other characters – no one actually does anything to prevent these people’s deaths, but she did which in its own way makes her special.

Next, on to Aimee.

She appeared at the beginning of Season 2 for all of three episodes. The first episode she appears in is Bad Moon Rising in which she’s a guest at Tyler’s party in the woods. Tyler shows interest in her, but she has a crush on Mat who is dating Caroline at the time. She serves as the driving force in dividing Matt and Caroline as she openly flirts with him making Caroline jealous and Matt accuses her of being insecure. Newly turned Caroline compels her to flirt with someone who doesn’t have a boyfriend which results in her later going and hooking up with Tyler down in the Lockwood Estate (slave quarters). When she’s down there, even though she’s compelled, she somehow gets her wits about her enough to be able to voice that this is not what she wants – her agency is not completely stripped away. In this scene she she inadvertently shows character development in Tyler because he is not someone who likes to be told no – last time with Vicki it took Jeremy shoving him off of her to get him to stop, all Aimee has to do is tell him she’s not into him and he doesn’t even hesitate. While I don’t condone what he did with Vicki at all I can appreciate his want to change and his ability to do so.

After that she continues to flirt with Matt which is either a plot hole in the continuity of compulsion or says something about young vampires ability to compel, but either way it’s never addressed and instead Caroline uses it as a way to breakup with Matt and thus protect him from her, concluding Aimee’s function as a diving force between then and concluding Aimee’s crush on Matt because she doesn’t even mention or go near him after that. In fact her use as a plot device pretty much ends after that and she’s killed off brutally in a death that literally has no meaning – the only thing you can say about it is that it was memorable.

While that did help in establishing Katherine’s place as a badass, in the grand scheme of the show it meant nothing kind of making her threat to kill more people mean nothing because their deaths as well would mean nothing. No one really cares that she died because there were other deaths and near deaths that held more weight to the plot. The only mention of her is in the next episode in a missing poster in reference to how well Damon his the body.

Beyond that post I don’t think anybody even looked for her which I find a little weird in a small town because a missing 16 year-old is definitely something that would be noticed and a priority. It reminds me of that joke people always make about the police only putting effort in looking for a missing kid if they’re white. After this it’s as though she never existed which again is not surprising since her character only existed to be killed – Kevin Williamson said so himself. However that’s the problem, if you kill characters left and right and their deaths hold no weight (her friend doesn’t count as holding weight since it only mattered in reference to triggering Tyler’s werewolf gene), death has no meaning. People talk about how resurrecting every dead character as the cause of this, but it’s been occurring since the beginning and was a problem well before this character’s death. Death is a plot device that should serve a source of tension, but once they got rid of the weight behind it the tension dissipated as well.

But anyways back to her treatment – this all brings me back to the TVD’s flippant nature to kill off character’s of color and always with deaths that don’t mean anything. It’s not even brought up later like Amber’s near death. But what it makes me realize most is that TVD has always been problematic it just got more blatant over time. 

TLDR; Amber and Aimee Bradley were both expendable minor characters and only one of them lived and kept her relevance as a plot device over time (no matter how bad season 8 was) and given this show’s track record it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which one it is. This is pretty much a minute spec in the list of problems in the series, but it caught my eye in the re-watch.  

[journeysintowebcomics]

Homestuck Liveblog #172

UPDATE 172: Breezing Through

Last time Vriska had slammed around her ghost version, all while having absolutely zero self-awareness. It’d have been impressive in some twisted way if it didn’t frustrate me so much. Let’s continue.

Well Meenah isn’t happy about leaving, but she’s going. There’s a ghost army to round up, after all. Without Aranea’s psychic powers helping, how are they going to gather all the ghosts, I wonder...unless maybe I was wrong and Aranea is going to appear again. I remember that Vriska once said Aranea was doing most of the work regarding the mind control, without her this is bound to be much more difficult. But that’s for later or maybe off-screen stuff, because the story continues.

...another one of these?

Let's try this choice thing again, one more time. This time only with two choices, nice and easy. Hey, works like a charm. Two sweet simple choices for two sweet simple kids. There you go, one last gluttonous chomp at the free will pie before you all say goodbye. Don't say this website never did anything for you. DON'T YOU DARE.

Okay, Hussie, I’m really hoping this is the last one, because the pacing of Homestuck is pretty much dead right now. The planning scene had set up the fight and all, but all these different conversations killed any momentum that had created. Things looked like they were going to get quick, but instead it’s pretty much reduced to snail crawl now. That’s some...bad storytelling. It doesn’t help that while I suppose the one for Jane will be talking to Nannasprite, the one for Jake...well I don’t see what it could be. The only possibility I can think is talking with Tavrosprite, which is something I’m completely uninterested in. But alright, let’s just get done with this.

Must be weird to talk to a version of yourself that’s decades older – even more when it’s blue, ghostly and dressed like a clown. Not that Jane minds, she digs the clown costume! But...

JANE: I couldn't call you by my name. It would feel wrong and flippant to treat you like my equal. 

I’m sure Jane would be pleased to hear about how another version of her spent her life. A prank store is a fun venture she’d wholeheartedly endorse, a loving husband, a family...it’s what a lot of people would ask for. It’s better than being forced a mind-control tiara, at least.

NANNASPRITE: You see, I grew up in dangerous circumstances. I knew how cruel the woman who raised me could be, and what she might do to me or the people I loved if I made waves, or demonstrated any sense of defiance. 

Ah, true, the other Jake and Jake grew under the Condesce’s thumb! Well, Grandpa left, but he didn’t actively defy her like Jade did. Nanna...hm, she didn’t inherit anything. Hey, if I remember correctly, the Condesce disappeared at some point, didn’t she? Guess that explains a few things.

Nannasprite is more than happy that there’s a version of her that’s empowered and prepared to make a change in the world, unlike her – in her opinion. It’s all encouragement for the fight to come. Fully expecting you to make a difference, Jane!

JANE: I think John was really lucky to have you as a sprite. Not to mention, a grandmother, of course.  JANE: It's no wonder he appears to have his act together.  JANE: Maybe I would have been better off if I had someone like you to advise me from the start of all this. 

Huh, things may have gone a bit better if her grandfather had been her sprite. Then again, it’d also involve fighting enemies that looked like an old John, and also everyone would die because it was a doomed timeline, but it’d be nice while it lasted. Could there be a dead ghost from a timeline where that happened?

Nannasprite is joining the fight too, being on healing duty. Great! I haven’t forgotten that Nanna saved John at least once, that should be useful. And then, in classic Nannasprite way, she throws a curveball of the joking variety. Seriously...

...I think I may have missed something somewhere. Could it be...that when John brought his planet and all, he also brought another Nannasprite? No wonder she has offered to be Jane’s sprite, one of them can stay with John. Still, I didn’t see this coming! The conversation comes to a sudden end, changing to Jake and Tavrisprite. Alright, let’s see...looks like at some point they got away to Jake’s planet, and are preparing for the fight. He has life fifteen people to defeat, after all.

Okay, that was a pretty pointless conversation. Maybe my fatigue with Homestuck has affected me way more than I expected, because there was nothing of interest to me in that conversation. Sure, it lasted just one page, but still...pretty much the only thing I got out of it is that Tavrosprite is still allergic to cats. That’s it. Okay, the main story continues.

Somehow there’s a placebo effect at work, Tavrosprite ate a button and his allergies are gone. I’m pretty sure placebos don’t work like that! Now that the allergies are out of the way, it’s time to prototype Jake’s kernelsprite. Everything is ready for the resurrection, Jasprosesprite has brought Nepeta’s head.

I didn’t need to see Rose with cat traits kissing a head that has been dead for three years. Thankfully, that doesn’t last long, into the kernelsprite goes the head!

She’s back in eye-blinding green color. I admit I’m actually kinda stoked to see Nepeta again! Compared to most of the trolls, she was remarkably nice, yet was able to be as savage as needed.

The placebo effect is gone immediately. Okay, stay away from Nepetasprite, I don’t think Homestuck needs another 2x sprite. I don’t think they’d be as opposite as to explode, but it’d still be kinda unpleasant, wouldn’t it be?

Now I’m sure: I’m very fatigued. I just passed by ten pages without a thing to say. I’ll try to summarize: Vriska calls Jake and manages to bring GCat into scene. Now Tavrosprite must grab the cat, it’s critical for the mission. Really? Huh, we getting another powerful being like Jadesprite? I don’t know, unless the allergies are gone and Tavrosprite isn’t allergic to himself, all this’ll be good for is to keep GCat away – this doesn’t prevent the Condesce from controlling GCat. In fact, I think this could mean it’s...doubly vulnerable or so. Tavros was never known for outstanding mental resistance to mind control.

Looks like he’s now allergic to himself. Hmmm...you know, Nepeta would have loved to fuse with a godly cat. Maybe that would have worked better! Actually no, because then Vriska puts the new sprite to sleep, taking advantage that he’s now even more vulnerable than before. He’s supposed to stay asleep until everything is over.

Wow, Vriska, you didn’t stay bearable for long, did you? She pretty much tries to say that everything she does for Tavros goes unappreciated, complaint all of us have seen many times already. She’s still in middle of planning with Meenah what’s going to happen, the problem is, like I supposed, that they don’t have a way to mindcontrol everyone. Good to know there’s an obstacle!

About the house juju, it’s not known yet what it does – in terms of being a weapon. There are theories, of course:

VRISKA: All we have to go on is a 8unch of vague stories we heard along the way through dream 8u88les.  VRISKA: Some presume it's something o8vious like sort of charm that releases an extremely powerful attack.  VRISKA: Other sources allude to a more specific consequence.  VRISKA: That the weapon actually contains the souls of some incredi8ly powerful warriors of legend who came close to 8eating him once, so he trapped them inside the charm and 8anished it into the void.  VRISKA: And if that's the case, then... I guess the weapon just releases them so they can finish the jo8? 

Four souls of brave warriors! Hah, I wonder how exactly such rumor got spread around? Looks like the exact identities of these warriors are unknown, because I’m sure Vriska would have much more of a reaction if she knew John was inside that juju. That’s going to be a surprise once it’s activated! Can’t wait to see the juju in action at that moment, the ending to Homestuck has been pretty much set now!

The discussion is cut short when something is seen in the distance. No, it isn’t Hussie about to pounce on Vriska.

...looks like an army, most likely of ghosts. What are they all doing here? Are they here because of their own will? That’s for next time, I guess.

Sorry for the mediocre update, everyone. Looks like I’m getting really tired of Homestuck by now, and given that the other two liveblogs I did weren’t rushed during the last few updates, I have the feeling I’m not tired and rushing because the end is on sight. I’m very sorry. Still, I’m committed to read Homestuck to the end, I’ll do it.

Next update: five updates

[jaysonblaze]

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Ep 24

Ok before I jump into Ex-Aid just like to quickly mention about the Kyuranger part of the crossover, It was a standard episode of quality with Ex-Aid randomly showing up. Not much to say about it except its pretty clear Ex-Aid was grabbed from another universe because otherwise it wouldnt make sense at all. So this episode was pretty good but I honestly dont have much to say about it honestly, it was a lot less gripping than the other episodes until the last ten minutes or so. They got the Kyuranger crossover out the way pretty much as quickly as they could which makes sense since Ex-Aid is pretty much is entering a new probably even darker ark than before so they had to kick the funny stuff out the way pretty quickly. We got to meet the new CEO of Genm corp a Mister Ren Amagasaki who has big shoes to fill if he wants to take Dan’s spot but honestly with the glowing blue eyes and his hit on every girl he can attitude the guy is most likely a Bugster from the Dating Sim genre and yeah I dont like him personally cause he seems kinda lame, he wont be getting his own entry in my little character run downs at all. Good news though Poppy will since her plot importance has kicked up finally. Also Nico will get one as well later on thanks to new scans today.

Emu continues to be way to high on the whole work together and fight the bugsters and that he considers Taiga, Hiiro and Poppi his friends is super touching it’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to Poppi turning on him.

Taiga didnt do terrible too much in this episode and yeah nothing worth talking about here.

Hiiro is finally starting to see the fact he is lagging behind and he is gonna have to find a new power or end up sitting fights out. NOW to the people who say he is going to die next episode I paused the scene from the preview and the gashat next to the driver was pink not blue so its probably why Emu is on the ground in next scene. The game over is some poor JOB squad member aka Rider Player or Ride Player.

Pallad was playing us the entire time! He even fooled Genm (as far as we know) that Graphite could come back! It’s good to see him back as well cause he is a good villain and probably number 1 choice to be Kamen Rider Chronicle now. More on Pallad’s plan next episode.

Poppi is now an agent of the Bugster, brainwashed by Ren with his hypnotic blue eyes next episode she transforms into Kamen Rider Poppi and most likely is totally gonna kick the shit outta Ex-Aid and its likely she’s gonna be the one who kills a bunch of Ride Players. Her level is confirmed to be level X so looks like Genm’s still got his hand in it all despite being utterly dead (For now).

One last thing, Ex-Aid is reusing suits for the monsters just like Ghost did but the reason I dont have a problem with it this time? Ex-Aid utterly justifies it because 1. they are video game characters and thus can be resurrected multiple times and 2. real life video games do that all the time as well. Ghost didnt justify it other than it seemed more convenient and Ex-Aid does have a few new suits on the way and even gives us female riders and a final boss that wont be just a stupid movie suit reused.

So thats all this episode as usual if you think im wrong, missed something or want to talk more just shoot me a message and I will get back to you soon as you can.

Next episode we have the beginning of Kamen Rider Chronicle, Kamen Rider Poppi pops onto the scene, the Ride Players (The Job squad) show up and presumably get wrecked and we apparently get a brand new opening and opening song! Wait Ex-Aid has an opening?

See you next game!

[sunlitroom]

Gotham s3e19 - The Gentle Art of Making Enemies

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham.

Warehouse. It's really you, Jerome!  Isabella dies. Ed wants to destroy Oswald. The cultists were promised Jerome!   They don't work for Oswald no more, and Nygma is going to die.  Jerome and Lee have a chit-chat.  Oswald receives a fake kidnapping phone call.  Jerome sends the city a message.  The power plant explodes.

As always, long post will be long - reaaally long.  There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot may appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)).  There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism.  Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

Jerome's followers create havoc at GCPD, brawling with cops. Jim grabs one by the throat and starts starts to punch him – demanding to know where Jerome is.

Look around - he's everywhere

Amidst all the mayhem, a fire breaks out.  The cultist laughs and yells.

Tonight Gotham is awakened.

God - I hate these guys

Oswald is walking into a trap with two henchmen, telling them ensuring Ed's safety is all that matters

(Oswald - darling - where are your brains?)

Ed walks out from the shadows.  Oswald is overcome with relief, and hugs him, asking if he’s alright.  Ed tells him he’s fine.  Oswald gushes that of course he is and asks where they are, the people who dared to think they could lay their hands on him.  Ed watches him calmly, and tells him that he’s alone.

Ha!  Oswald exclaims.  He thinks Ed escaped, and calls him a scamp. Ed coolly asks if he brought anyone else.  Oswald replies that he didn’t, and Ed promptly shoots his henchmen, before pointing the gun at Oswald.  Oswald blinks in confusion.

I don't understand

Ed smirks.  

I know.  That’s half the fun

Oswald is still confused as Ed hauls him forward, towards the wreckage of Isabella’s car.

Oswald stares, open-mouthed and starts to lie

Whatever you've heard...

Ed hits him in a fit of temper, knocking him to the floor.

Isabella was my everything, and you took her.  And now I’ve taken everything from you.  Well, almost everything.  Not your life.  That ends tonight.

Revenge Ed also seems to be trying out a Batman voice.

Gotham is burning while the Court of Owls (Katherine and Jim’s shadowy uncle) watch.  If it worsens, they’ll be forced to step in. There’s an explosion.  How much worse do these guys need it to be? Shadowy uncle says the city will bend before it breaks, and that they should give GCPD a chance.  Katherine tells him his faith in him (presumably Jim) is touching, and possibly dangerous.

Back at GCPD, Jim is hearing reports about rioting, and issues orders.  There’s still no sign of Jerome, and Harvey says there’ll be no lights until tomorrow.  Jim says that this is ordinary citizens rioting, not just the cult.  Harvey says that no-one is in charge at City Hall, and that Oswald is MIA.  He’s been missing in action virtually all season, Harvey – this isn’t news.  Jim wonders aloud what it is Jerome wants – and then remembers that Lee was the last to talk to him.

Oswald is tied to Isabella’s car.  He’s still – seemingly – reeling with confusion.

My father appeared to me - I saw him

Ed tells him that was Clayface, and then snarls at him that ghosts aren’t real.  (I wonder if a resurrected Oswald will get revenge for that one later)

Oswald is aghast when he realises what happened:

You stole my father’s remains from his grave?

Ed tells him not to worry – Elijah’s at rest now: Ed left his body in a dumpster.

(An aside – this is one of the points that makes what happens later simply implausible to me. I think Oswald could forgive a lot – but his love for his parents has been repeatedly emphasised as absolutely defining for his character.  I would argue that this would be unforgiveable in his eyes)

Oswald sobs.  He says he understands that Ed is angry – but he forgives him

Ed loses his temper and tells him to just admit.  Oswald does.

Fine - I had her killed.  You should thank me

Oswald tells Ed that they both know what would have happened.  Ed protests.  He knows what could have happened.  Could have lived a happy, normal life.  Oswald shakes his head, face twisted, insisting that Ed would have killed her like he killed Kristin and then hated himself.

(An aside – and again, what? If we’ve seen anything it’s that Oswald doesn’t really understand Ed’s pathology.  He didn’t get why he’d kept Kristin’s glasses, he blithely signed him out of Arkham, he’s never seen Ed in one of his overtly ‘split’ moments, and he sure as hell wasn’t listening when Ed was spilling his guts about his fear of hurting Isabella.  But he suddenly has a fine grasp of his psychology?  Nope.)

Ed interrupts. They’ll never know now.

Oswald pipes up, his voice small, saying that he did it for love

Ed rounds on him angrily, telling him to shut up - love is about sacrifice, about putting someone else first – but Oswald would sacrifice anyone to save his own neck, even Ed.  He then outlines a stupidly elaborate acid/rope/ice trick.

Oswald pleads that he can change – the fact he loves Ed proves it. Ed has no time for this, saying that a man facing death will say anything to save his own skin.  He claims Oswald won’t change, because he can’t.

Leaving, he essentially tells Oswald to go to hell, as Oswald yells after him.  If I hear Oswald plaintively yell ‘Ed’ one more time this season, I’m joining the rioting cultists.

GCPD, where Lee is treating the wounded while being sullenly sarcastic with Jim.  She’s multi-tasking!  When he refuses to respond to this treatment, she has a moment of realisation, and begins to act professionally again.  She remembers that Jerome talked about killing Bruce.  She calls Wayne Manor as Jim leaves.

Wayne Manor, where Bruce and Alfred light candles.  The phone rings, but they wait too long to pick up.  In the meantime, Jerome and his followers silently appear in the room. Alfred is hit in the face and drops to the ground.  Bruce kneels to see that he’s OK, and as he does, Jerome leans in:

My my.  Look how big you've gotten.

Jerome struts around, cracking jokes

Nice place you got here.  You rent?

Bruce has no time for him. Jerome bemoans his attitude

Teenagers - am I right?  I remember those days – all those exciting new ideas about killing everyone you see.

He spots the glass owl. Bruce spins a tale to save it – but Jerome smashes it anyway.

Bruce asks what he wants to do.  Jerome says killing him is the last thing he remembers wanting to do.  He wants to slit Bruce’s pretty pink throat.  Bruce plays for time, buttering up Jerome’s ego about his showmanship that night.  He then says it makes killing him here pretty disappointing.  All that build-up – the lights, the resurrection – all his flair, style, panache – for this?

He tells Jerome that he’s Bruce Wayne….

I am the ruling elite.  My company keeps Gotham running.  Killing me should mean something.

Jerome catches on.  

You're saying I need an audience.  I know you’re just buying time to make an escape – but the point’s still valid

Jerome says it’s time to get the show on the road – but Alfred can stay here and be killed.  Bruce remonstrates, but Alfred tells him to go.  Bruce tells him fiercely that he’ll see him again. Alfred tells him

Carry on, son, carry on

Jerome pulls a face at this exchange.

Strangely intimate

As he leaves, he tells his skivvies to try not to get blood on couch, he might come back for that.

Oswald screams for help. A less than bright security guard frees him while Oswald loses his temper.  It’s not the most engaging scene.  Anyway, Oswald gets away due to Ed’s weakness for Pinterest murder scenes.

Wayne Manor, where the cultists are destroying things before killing Alfred. Alfred spots Jim in the background, and starts insulting the thugs as a way of giving away their positions to Jim.  He taunts the last one in such a wonderfully British way I had to quote it:

Come on then sunshine - don't be shy - your mother wasn’t.

Jim and Alfred take them all out and head off to find Bruce.

We see a distorted and hazy circus before Jerome pulls a hood from Bruce’s head.  He watches as Bruce looks around, his face twisted in disgust at the citizens being tortured as sideshows.  Jerome says that they’ll have some fun before the main event.

GCPD – Jim tells Alfred Harvey is trying to track Bruce.  Alfred tells him how Bruce bought himself time, and remarks that Gotham has given way to bedlam again.  Harvey lists places they could be – and Jim decides on the circus.

The circus, where Bruce is being made-up as a clown.  Jerome doesn’t find him funny enough, but rectifies that by stabbing the clown painting Bruce’s face, digging his finger in the wound, and painting Bruce’s mouth with blood.

Oswald is back home, looking for Gabe to kill Ed.

Butch and Tabitha appear, and Tabitha wraps her whip around Oswald’s throat. He demands to know what they’re doing there.

(An aside - I thought it was made pretty clear that Oswald knew Ed was going after Butch as revenge for Isabella.  Butch shows up hale and hearty and Oswald still doesn’t catch on?)

Tabitha says that they’re doing whatever they want at Oswald’s house – that he’s finished. Butch wants to know where Ed is. Tabitha reminds him that Babs doesn’t want Ed dead, at which Butch snaps that he doesn’t work for Barbara Kean.

Oswald’s personality emerges for a moment as he snickers at this.  He taunts Butch, telling him to stop pretending that he’s anything but muscle. He used to be something, but those days are past.

Tabitha approaches, and helpfully reminds everyone how repugnant she is by reminiscing about how she murdered Oswald’s elderly mother, and at how all Oswald could do was hold her as she cried and bled out – and that Oswald didn’t do anything to Tabitha in retaliation.

Yet – snarls Oswald

Tabitha sneers – telling him that he had his chance.  Butch smirks in the background

(An aside – has Butch forgotten that Oswald refrained from killing Tabitha solely out of deference to his feelings?  And is he seriously OK with Tabitha’s complete unconcern for killing Gertrud – even though her death weighed on his own conscience at the time?)

Tabitha tells Oswald to stop turning them against each other.  Oswald says he won’t go anywhere with them.  Butch knocks him out, and Tabitha complains that they’ll have to carry him now.

Circus with Bruce and Jerome.  Bruce asks what the plan is behind this.  Jerome says there is none. People just want an excuse.  The mother who wants to strangle her child.  The husband who wants to stab his wife.  They can do it. 

It doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t.

(An aside - I really liked this moment.  Jerome’s voice is very quiet and calm here, and it’s more chilling than a lot of the noisier stuff.  It’s also a neat way of showing the essential divide between Bruce and Jerome - idealism vs moral nihilism)

Bruce tells him he won't get away with it.  A few dozen brainwashed idiots can’t hold the city forever.  Jerome says he knows that.  Bruce asks again what the point is.  Jerome says the normal people he sees everyday – who clean his car, make his coffee, take away the trash  - they show their true colours when the lights go out.  They all want to open his rich boy veins and bathe in his blue blood.

(An aside – I do like the theme of Gotham’s fairly maligned citizens rising up.  It was played with with the Indian Hill escapees – the notion that the way the City treated its outsiders and dispossessed would come back to haunt it, but they abandoned it early on)

Bruce says there arre good people in Gotham.  But Jerome mocks him – they’re sheep and cowards.

Face it- Gotham has no heroes

Bruce makes a meaningful face.

As Jerome takes a turn on another torture sideshow, Bruce shoves him and tells him to get on with killing him.  Jerome is outraged at his cheating, and calls him a bore.  He takes a moment to staple his face on.  Bruce asks mockingly if it hurts.  Jerome staples his wrist in response.  Bruce manages not to flinch for two – which rattles Jerome – but breaks on the third.

Jerome laughs and moves on to the  main event

Jim and co pull up at the circus.  They’re going to go in before back-up arrives.

Jerome plays ringmaster. Bruce is wheeled out – tied to a pole. Jerome is going to fire a cannon at him, tousling his hair before getting started.

Bruce glances at his handcuffs, and pulls a staple from his wrist to pick the lock

Jim and Alfred are inside. Jim fires his gun.

Detective Gordon!  Just in time for the big finish!

The strike force arrives. Brawls break out.  Jerome still lights the fuse and runs.

Bruce picks one lock, drops the staple, and has to pull another.  He manages to pick the lock, and escapes.

Oswald is at Sirens with Babs, who is gloating.  He says he underestimated her, which she attributes to her great beauty.  He says that she used Isabella’s death to turn Ed against him.  Babs tells him it wasn’t too hard.  Oswald says the plan was to destroy everything and kill him.  Babs confirms this.  Oswald says that he hopes she’ll be happy in charge.  Babs comments that most of the families are dead., and says that they don’t need Ed anymore.  Oswald says it didn’t take them long to turn on each other.  Babs said it was a limited partnership.  If Oswald helps them find Ed, then things will be better for him.  If not, they’ll simply kill him.  He seems tired and resigned.

(An aside – I don’t really know why Oswald even humours this – he knows how the underworld works. There’s no honour here – and especially not with the likes of Tabitha, who seems to live for cruelty.  He would simply be dead either way)

Jerome hunts Bruce in a hall of mirrors- saying he won't hurt him.  It is a very striking scene, and works particularly well.

You ruined my show Bruce.  Hiding’s just gonna make things worse.  

But Bruce didn't come here to hide.  He wanted Jerome to follow him.  He’s going to pay for what he’s done.

Sirens, where there’s a phone in front of Oswald.  Babs wants him to call Ed and lure him here.  It’s Babs, Tabitha’s and Butch’s time to shine.  Although who’s left to see it is anyone’s guess.

Oswald replies that he feels impelled to refuse.  Butch threatens to beat up the small man with the bad leg like it would be some big achievement.  He’d get the information in five minutes.  Tabitha claims she could do it in three.  Butch whines at her interjections, and Barbara tells them to shut up.

She tells Oswald to reconsider.  He can live to love another day.

Oswald says he’s had a realisation.  Barbara tells him that he loved Ed and he betrayed him.  Oswald says he’s not sure now that he did.  He thought he loved him because Ed had loved him like no-one had since his mother (Oswald apparently still can’t see how Ed used his mother’s memory).  But Oswald killed Isabella nonetheless.   He wasn’t capable of self-sacrifice.  He says he is now, though, and refuses to call Ed.  Barbara asks if he’d rather die.  Oswald says he would, and isn’t that crazy?

It is crazy

Ed steps out from the shadows.  Oswald realises that they’ve all been in it together all along.  Somewhere, Fish is facepalming and planning several motherly lectures.  Oswald asks Ed why?  Ed says he didn’t want to just take everything.  He wanted to take Oswald’s belief.  He wanted Oswald to betray him at the last, so Oswald would die knowing he was incapable of loving another person.

(An aside - Which is…. really just irredeemably ugly.  And given that Ed was still referring to Kristin as Miss Kringle even after being a romantic relationship with her, and got his jollies cutting up her corpse – I don’t really think he’s the authority on who’s capable of love.)

Oswald protests.  He is capable of self-sacrifice.  He showed he could change.  He smiles desperately, frantically asking if this means he passed Ed’s test.  Ed, never at his best when he’s cocked up one of his schemes and realised that he doesn’t know everything, says that he doesn’t know what this means.

(An aside – what is this nonsense?  A fourteen episode arc to tell me that Oswald has magically learned to love after some sustained gaslighting from Ed?  This is not a new facet of Oswald’s personality.  He was willing to jeopardise his position as kingpin and dance to Theo’s tune to save Gertrud’s life.  He was willing to take the fall for Theo’s murder to spare Jim Gordon’s reputation.  He was willing to live as a servant out of love for his father, who wanted him to stay with his step-family.  He was willing to be demeaned by them while still entertaining the hope that they could be a loving family.  He spared Fish’s life when she affirmed their connection. He even spared Tabitha’s life because killing her would have hurt Butch.  Oswald is plenty capable of love and self-sacrifice.

But I’m to forget the entirety of his storyline to this point and believe that Oswald is only magically capable of unselfish love now?  Fourteen episodes that stranded two of the strongest characters in a frankly silly storyline for something that wasn’t even character development. What’s the next arc going to reveal? That Jim has a bit of a temper? That Victor’s quite keen on guns?  Christ on a cracker.)

Back to the hall of mirrors. Jerome’s having more fun than he expected.  He tells Bruce they make a good team.  Bruce spits that Jerome killed Alfred.  Jerome asks if all rich kids are this close with their butlers?

When Bruce doesn’t respond, Jerome tries another tack.  He says that if Bruce wants to be a hero – then he’ll give him a fighting chance.  Man on man.  He slides a gun across the floor for Bruce, but we see a flick blade in his other hand. Jerome tries to taunt him out again – but Bruce tackles him from behind.  

They box.  Bruce wins.  He pins Jerome on the floor, punching him repeatedly. Jerome laughs and tells him to let it out.  He grabs a shard of glass from a broken mirror and is ready to plunge it into Jerome’s throat - when he catches sight of himself in the mirror.  Jerome tells him to do it.  Bruce screams in his face (just like Jim with Eduardo Flamingo) – but walks away, refusing to dance to Jerome’s tune.

Leaving the hall, he spots Alfred – still punching random cultists.  They hug, and Bruce says brokenly that he thought Alfred was dead. Jim slowly approaches, clearly relieved and moved to see Bruce is safe.

Jerome also approaches. Jim literally punches his face off. Jerome collapses.  Everyone loses their appetite for about the next month.

GCPD – Jim and Harvey say that word of Jerome's arrest is spreading.  He’ll be sent to Arkham.  Jim wonders if he should have shot him.  At the door, Lee stares for a bit then leaves.  Jim stares back.  Harvey congratulates him for having punched a man's face off, and offers to buy him breakfast.

Wayne Manor – where Alfred is cleaning up a shell-shocked Bruce’s wounds. He talks to him gently, and doesn’t push for Bruce to tell him what happened. He tells Bruce he was very proud of how he behaved, and the man he’s become.  

Bruce confesses that he wanted to kill Jerome for a moment, not out of rage alone, but because for a moment it felt like justice.  Alfred acknowledges this without judging him, and points out that Bruce didn’t kill him.  Bruce observes that there’s a fine line between justice and vengeance. Alfred says he knew where that was and didn’t cross it – and that’s the first rule.  They talk about what the training is for – which they don’t know yet. but whatever happens – he’ll need rules. Bruce states absolutely that he will not kill.  Alfred makes him repeat it.  They go to work.

Court of Owls.  Katherine is speaking.  Tonight was close.  They could have lost Gotham for good.  They will act soon, and you will be called upon.  The camera turns, and we see clone Bruce, who says he’s prepared.  Katherine asks Shady Uncle if he’s sure, and that he knows that must happen if he (presumably Jim) refuses.  He tells her that no-one refuses the court.

Jim's at his apartment, having a glass of whiskey, when Uncle Evil Guy shows up at his door. Long time, no see.

Oswald and Ed at docks (Yay – I called this!  Oswald would wind up at the docks again.  But while Jim showed him mercy, and offered him another chance – Ed will show none. I had thought initially that it might play as Ed putting him out of his misery, but it really didn’t come across like that.  It was pure vengeance and punishment.)

Oswald is begging.  He tells Ed he loves him, and he can believe that now.  He warns him that killing like this will change him.  This isn’t like any of his previous murders – passion or self-preservation.

(An aside – I don’t think Mr Leonard was either, Oswald.  And neither passion or self-preservation quite cover what Ed does afterwards in keeping trophies, or demonstrating control over the corpses.  It’s hard to tell whether I’m just supposed to believe what Oswald’s saying, or think that he is genuinely deluded in his view of how well he knows him)

Oswald says this would be the cold-blooded killing of someone he loves.  Ed reiterates that he doesn’t love Oswald.  Oswald claims that they need each other, but really – while Oswald was made very reliant on Ed, this was not the case on Ed’s part. Oswald gave him a powerful job and a fancy home – but Ed’s not emotionally dependent in the same way, although he does care to an extent.

Ed’s enraged.  He snarls that Oswald killed Isabella. Oswald tries to interrupt – but Ed talks over him.  He wants Oswald to suffer like he suffered.  Oswald will now die for killing her.

Oswald then launches into a remix of the speech Fish gave him.  I do love when we see her influence on him.  He says that he created Ed Nygma.  Ed was a nervous, jittery loser – but he sees him as he is.  Who he can still become.  He can’t do this.  Ed is impassive.  Oswald sobs and wails, asking him if he’s listening, and begging him to say something. Ed finally speaks.  When he does, there’s hurt and exhaustion alongside rage.

I loved her Oswald.  And you killed her

Ed shoots Oswald in the chest.  Oswald stares, disbelieving.  Ed pushes him into the water and watches him sink – eyes still staring, hand outstretched and pleading.

Ed looks down.  There’s satisfaction at vengeance, and perhaps some horror at the fact that he has just killed his only friend.

General Observations

Oswald/Ed/Babs/Tabitha/Butch

I’ve commented throughout on this, but some additional thoughts.

Oswald’s Fish gambit falls flat because – well – Oswald didn’t make Ed.  Ed was a work long in progress before Oswald’s appearance.  His murder of Kristen, his subsequent breakdown, and other murders had nothing to do with Oswald.  Even after their first prolonged time in each other’s company at Ed’s apartment, it’s Ed who tries – unsuccessfully – to change and mould Oswald with his ‘love makes you weak’ philosophy.  

Ed rejects Oswald on his release from Arkham.  It’s Ed who provides Oswald with moral support after Fish spares him.  When he goes to work for Oswald - it’s Ed who pulls the strings, repeatedly playing on Oswald’s grief and loneliness to make him reliant, and it’s Ed who runs all his affairs.

So this idea that Ed looked up to Oswald has just never manifested in the script for me.  They kept saying it – but I never saw evidence of how or why.  They’ve really had very little influence on each other until 3, and then again – none of that was indicative of Oswald moulding Ed.  In fact, it had become confusing that Ed still talked at all about learning from Oswald, since we never saw it, and what we did see of their behaviour didn’t reflect it.

Last I checked, Tabitha and Butch definitely wanted Ed dead.  They just let him leave the Club with Oswald and drive to the docks?  

I was expecting a lot more Machiavellian backstabbing in the Ed/Babs/Tabitha/Butch plan, which never really manifested.   I was hoping Butch might turn completely, or that Babs might try to ditch him.  Maybe we’ll get more on this when they return – but it fizzled a little here.  I have residual interest in Babs – and want to see where she goes.  I don’t give even the tiniest of fucks about Tabitha and Butch.

Jim/Jerome/Bruce

Probably the strongest part of the episode.  Jerome is endlessly entertaining, and the back and forth between him and Bruce was excellent: Bruce is all principles, whereas Jerome has none.

Jim played second fiddle to Bruce tonight – but still came off well.  He managed the deployment of officers calmly, didn’t rise to Lee’s bait, rescued Alfred, and then punched Jerome’s face off.  I’m assuming the arrival of shady uncle will see him start to address the galloping father issues we saw in his hallucination.

Thoughts? 

[letmewritemylife]

Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend

All’s just a dream in the end…                                                                                                 - Evanescence

A/N I think that we can all agree on the fact that Hayward is a dick. Also, just as a side note, Oreish is actually the demon from Home Is Where You Are Not, I was supposed to reveal his identity at some point but then writer’s block occured

TRIGGER WARNINGS Demons, references to Thanos’ snap, blood, minor characters’ death, referenced major characters’ death, depression

Heavy fog covers New York, drowning the city and rendering it a melancholic, grey mess. The mail person stopped working weeks before, when even those annoying bills that for some reason have to be sent by mail stopped being sent. The only exception is the flyers of a shawarma restaurant down the street, which were still found all around Bleecker Street every weekend. How and why it happened are still a mystery to Lara, since the owner of the shop was thought to have been snapped away. “Maybe some very dedicated employee,” she thought. Dedication, or more likely denial of what had happened. 

Whatever the case, the feeling wasn’t characteristic of that unknown messenger, but rather common among new yorkers and, presumably, people all around the world. Lara herself had kept her old habit of driving past Brad’s now closed bar, as if one day the man would be magically brought back and decided, of all the things a resurrected person may want to do, to open his bar again and start making drinks for a bunch of depressed fellow citizens. 

However, now that the weather is so bad, Lara doesn’t feel like leaving the Sanctum. Not that inside is much warmer than outside. Heat bills stopped being paid long ago, because what’s even the point of keeping a few dozen relics warm? She collapses on a dusty armchair, a drop of watered-down coffee bouncing from the surface of the mug she’s holding and landing on Lara’s shirt. She doesn’t mind it, it’s not like she’s washed it in the past week anyway.

The TV remote control broke down yesterday and the television is now stuck on some Armenian news channel that Lara is even surprised exists in the US. She stares blankly at the screen, a sleepy man reading a bunch of news from a crumpled piece of paper in a language that she doesn’t understand. At some point he stands up, screams something at someone to his left, then walks away from his desk, muttering what seem to be curses and moving like a drunken man.

But even now that she’s looking at an empty desk, Lara doesn’t move. Bringing her knees to her chest, she lets her head collapse forward, breathing out heavily. Forcing herself to look back up, she tries to imagine that presenter’s reaction if he found out she is the reason for his despair. Or maybe he does know that. Maybe everyone does. Maybe the moment she steps out of that empty building, someone will shoot her for killing their family. They’d have every right to do that, wouldn’t they?

Someone knocks on the door. She gets up from her armchair, abandoning on the close shelf the coffee that she would have probably not drunk anyway.

“Director Tyler Hayward. We are here to confiscate this building and everything it contains.” The man standing in front of Lara doesn’t waste time, briefly showing his badge and immediately pushing Lara away.

But she doesn’t hesitate either. Running after him and his men, she begins screaming at him with newfound energy. “You have no right to do this! Get out!”

Hayward blocks her way, keeping her out of the library where some agents are stocking away books. “The USA government will not allow any more dangerous sorcery on its territory. I’m sorry, miss.”

She clenches her fists to keep herself from punching him in the face. “Well, guess what? This place isn’t yours to take. If you have a problem with that, go tell Kamar-Taj.”

“If you wanted this place for yourself, you should have thought about that before letting half the universe die.”

Those words come out of Hayward’s mouth smoothly, leaving Lara in shock. As she stands there, not moving, Hayward walks back to his agents, gesturing to them what to move and where. “Letting half the universe die,” she repeats it in her head. Yes, maybe he is right. If only she had not been on Titan that day, all of that wouldn’t have happened. Everyone knows it. “There was no other way.” Of course there was not, because that stupid idiot couldn’t let her die. Such a good idea, that now she was standing still like a statue while a bunch of agents took ancient manuals and relics away.

She clenches her fists harder, nails digged deep in her hands, and she walks up to Hayward. Wrapping her fingers around his wrist, she forces him to turn to face her. “Get out of here now. All of you.”

He looks down at her, as if she were just some annoying child, and before Lara can even register it, he pushes her backwards as hard as he possibly could.

Lara’s back hits violently against a mirror, shattering the glass. A thick smoke invades the room, making every agent cough loudly. But when Lara looks up, she realizes with horror that all those people are not simply coughing. Blood is running down their mouths and they are slowly and painfully choking with it.

She gets up as fast as her weakened limbs allow her to and notices how Hayward has run away. As the smoke fades away, she kneels in front of a young man, not more than thirty years old, sprawled on the floor. A red manuscript in his hands, he lies down with his mouth and eyes wide open, blood covering his face and clothes.

“So young and stupid. Such a shame.” The voice coming from behind Lara is deep and mysterious, unlike any that she's heard before.

She turns around, holding back a scream when she finds herself face to face with a black figure, tall and large, staring at her with the lightest yet deepest eyes she's ever seen.

“Who are you?” she asks, voice trembling ever so slightly.

He smiles maliciously at her and walks towards her. She steps back, but she soon finds herself pressed between the demon and the bookshelves. “I have a lot of names, little witch,” he says. “Some call me ‘the devil’s best warrior’, others prefer ‘the cunning death,’ but you can call me Oreish.”

She nods, her breath heavy and her mind filled with questions. What is he doing here? What does he want? Why was he locked up in a mirror? Who is he? Why did he kill those agents? Why didn’t he kill her?

He smirks, as if he had heard all her thoughts. “Pretty face, your curiosity surprises me. But trust me, you'll know everything soon.”

And in the blink of an eye, Lara is no more inside the Sanctum. She’s in a street, empty and lonely, and a cold breeze blows on her skin. The place is completely anonymous, covered in thin fog. The puddles on the ground smell of sewer, a stench only intensified by the trash bags abandoned everywhere. Dried bushes separate tiny, detached houses that could have once given a more liveable feeling to the town. Some dog barks in the distance. The only characteristic element is a small, probably polluted lake. There, old and insignificant, Lara can distinguish a grave.

“Not even two hundred people. And you let almost all of them die,” the demon whispers in Lara’s ear, taking advantage of their height difference to lean against her and hold her in place by the shoulders.

She shakes her head, struggling to be calm. “I didn’t want this.”

“Of course you didn’t. Who would ever want to do something like this?” His sarcastic tone makes anger grow inside of Lara. But there is something else. Something stronger, more venomous. “But you killed them all anyway.”

She fights his grip, freeing herself, and she takes a few, slow steps forward. “I’m sorry,” she mumbles as tears begin to collect in her eyes.

“Look around yourself, Lara,” Oreish continues. “This is the one thing you always do.” She shakes her head obsessively, trying to keep her shaking body at bay. “You live and everyone you love dies.”

Lara continues shaking her head nervously, struggling to hold back tears as they fill her eyes. “No, please,” she begs, straining herself to be calm. “Calm and composed, Lara. Stop being so dramatic,” she repeats to herself.

Oreish grins, still lurking behind her back. “Do it,” he whispers into her ear.

His voice sends shivers down her neck. The last time she heard such a command, she was in Frank’s basement trying to resist the urge to destroy everything around her. But now, what else could she destroy? Billions and billions of people all around the universe are dead because of her, because some sorcerer thought that her stupid, useless life was worth more than everyone else’s. And now she’s in an empty street, letting tears stream down her face as she recalls all the sweet memories of her life, those few and brief islands of peace in a tumultuous flood of fights and deaths.

Maybe this demon is right, maybe all she can do is kill, voluntarily or not. Maybe she’s nothing more than a parasite, living because others die for her. Yes, she’s definitely a parasite and Stephen, Wong, Brad, they are all nothing but lousy dogs keeping her alive. But now that they are all gone? Now that her curse - as Alex used to call it - has brought them to the grave, how can she survive without any source of nourishment? Easy. She won’t.

With a scream, she falls to her knees, letting all her pain and grief flood out of her, drown her, spill over everything around her. Her magic may be strong, but her emotions are stronger. And as an uncommonly strong energy, a force that she has never felt in her whole life, tears her apart, something happens around her. She’s not sure what, she has no control over it after all. 

She only knows that, when her own magic pushes her back to her feet, in front of her stands Stephen, safe and alive, smiling at her in his medical robes. “Welcome back, love.”

Maybe she would not survive without nutriment. But she won’t have to worry about it.

For now.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

8x15: First Thoughts

How did everyone like last night's episode? I thought it was fantastic. As usual, I’ll talk about the biggest things that jumped out to me, and then do a details post tomorrow.

***Spoilers abound for 8x15. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***

Carl's letter was really beautiful. Lots of dialogue callbacks, which I’ll talk about tomorrow. Same with the letter he wrote to Negan.

There were tons of double and triple dealings going on this episode. Dwight thought he was pulling a fast one on Negan and warn TF but, as many of us suspected, it was Laura Negan picked up, so here he knew Dwight was a traitor.

Dwight played a double, triple and quadruple agent, because he was really on TF’s side, but pretended to be on Negan’s side, and also Simon’s. Obviously it all backfired. So Negan set a trap for TF and, honestly, it looks like they're all going to die. That won't happen, but I’m thinking someone needs to show up and save them. Yes, it will probably be Aaron and the Oceansiders, but it may be someone else as well.

As for Aaron, I’ll go into this a little more tomorrow, but there were a lot of Beth callbacks around him. The part where he stands up to fight the walkers reminded me a lot of the scene in Still where Beth hid behind a tree. 

Also in Inmates, there’s the part where she’s with and could hear the walker coming but couldn't tell where from. Aaron did the same thing here. Pulled out a knife the same way and looked around for the walkers. Just like Beth, on of them came up behind him.

When he fell on the ground and dragged himself, and the walker had his leg, that was a major call back to Bob in 4x01 at the Big Spot. I felt like they're trying to remind us of earlier things.

One of the biggest things that jumped out at me was the whole Eugene thing. This is another bait and switch arc, I think. It seems like Eugene has gone completely over to Negan. But he used the phrase "ginger" and said what Rosita said: that he was going to make something of his pathetic life. So, pretty sure whatever he's doing, he sees it as a tribute to Abraham. Chances are he's not doing what they want the audience to think he's doing.

What really jumped out at me was the sequence when Daryl and Rosita went and got Eugene. He was the prisoner, complete with handcuffs, and then he got away. I really think this was meant to be a callback to Coda, guys. Eugene represents Evil Officer Bob, who got away from Rick. When Rosita and Daryl chase Eugene, she said if Daryl saw him, he should blow his head off. That's a callback to Rick shooting Officer Lambson in the head. And then what did we see? Somebody (Eugene) rising from the ashes. That would be Beth.

This is pretty huge, guys. It’s the second example we've seen of a Phoenix this season, the first being the burning Phoenix sign in 8x08 with Carl. I gotta say, I think she's very close. I mean, if they're going back to Coda in this way and showing us the Phoenix AGAIN, she has to be right around the corner.

A replay of Coda and a phoenix rising from the ashes? So what should we see next? Exactly!

We could also see them as a callback to 6x06, Always Accountable. Where Daryl first met Dwight in the burnt out forest. There was a crap-ton of Beth symbolism in that episode, and we’re pretty sure it’s where Daryl lost the final scrap of hope Beth had given him. So that suggests Daryl’s hopelessness is about to come to an end. (Yea!)

We also had a dialogue callback to Not Tomorrow Yet (6x12) which was when Beth’s knife went missing. So again, loss of hope, but it’s coming back around and someone is rising from the ashes.

And another thing, we had a very subtle example of a resurrection in this episode. It’s what I’ve said the past few episodes about Negan/Beth parallels. While the audience never thought Negan was dead, Dwight and Simon kinda did. Or at least hoped he was. We noticed that when Negan finally revealed himself to Simon, he came around a dumpster. Just like when Glenn (who also had many parallels to Beth in his death fake out) came from (beneath) a dumpster. So we had someone rising from the ashes, and another character previous presumed dead, who revealed himself as alive. Just saying.

Simon died, which a lot of us figured given that we knew Steven Ogg would be on TTD. It was really interesting to learn that he killed all the Oceanside men. That’s interesting for two reasons: 

1) Negan might actually be interested in making peace with Oceanside. He doesn’t kill across the board like Negan does. It hardly matters at this point, but interesting to know that Simon led that, rather than Negan. 

2) There’s a prevailing theory that the people who attacked Terminus (Crazy Tattoo Guy) were Saviors from before Negan took over. This doesn’t prove that theory, but it lends credence to it. Simon’s never been portrayed as a rapist, but I doubt he would have cared enough to rein anyone in in the same way Negan does. Just interesting.

I was confused when Negan seemed to forgive Simon. I figured it had to be one of two things: either Simon would do something later to piss Negan off and get himself killed (which technically he did; not that it mattered by then) or else Negan was lying. As it turned, scenario #2 was the winner. Laura was out of sight and Negan was lying. Of course, that was more about Dwight, but I think he always planned to use Simon to smoke out Dwight’s betrayal, which means that even as he “forgave” Simon, he was already planning to kill him later on.

Why is that important? It’s part of the theme we saw last week with Rick: Negan’s word is no longer worth anything. He’s lying right and left and his word can’t be trusted. It’s another way in which he and Rick are being paralleled. Both are still approaching the war in identical, terrible ways, and that’s not good.

We even saw a change in Negan’s tactics this week. Up until now, he’s always said he doesn’t want to eradicate TF. Just kill a few (presumably the King, the Widow, and Rick) to make the others fall into line. Now he’s changed his tune. He plans to slaughter everyone, even if he has to besiege them for months and pick them off one by one with snipers. Yeah, needless to say, this war is definitely escalating.

I also think it’s interesting that Dwight will be wearing Daryl’s dingy, A-jump suit next week. That’s actually really cool. I mean, it’s sort of getting justice for Daryl, for all the things Dwight did to him. Dwight was still being a douche back then (hadn’t come over to TF yet) and now he’s doing penance for his sins. That penance might lead to his death. Or it could lead to his redemption. Maybe Sherry will return or something.

It’s just another way in which Daryl and Dwight are being paralleled. It’s coming full circle with them practically being two sides of the same character. That alone makes me think Dwight will die. It just wouldn’t make sense to keep two Daryl characters, and we all know they’ll keep Daryl over Dwight, even though by now most people are kind of routing for Dwight’s success. So even if he survives the season, I doubt he’ll be around very far beyond AOW. Of course we’ll just have to wait and see.

And, I’m sorry, but does he have a cut on his forehead. Okay, it’s the wrong side. (Right instead of left) but there’s even a round mark at the top that looks like a bullet wound. Hmmm.

I think both Eugene and Dwight could die in next week's episode. We don’t know for sure, of course, but I think it's a possibility. Can't wait to see what happens next episode and how it all plays out. I think it's going to be super intense. So I think that’s all I’ll say for today. I never have much time for this first post. But I do details post tomorrow to show you all the dialogue, parallels and callbacks.

What did everyone think of this week's episode?