#don't get confused i don't associate with season 7

[saveme-storybrooke-potc]

Emma: It seems like it was just yesterday Hope was so nice cute little smile, little blonde curls.

Alice: I have blonde curls.

Killian: Yeah, you do, Ma. You do.

[monratarot]

Who will be your future spouse?

Pick a card reading🍄🦋🌸💗

Hello guys! Moni here! 🧚🏼‍♀️

It's almost the half of the month so I was thinking that this would be a good opportunity for those who are single and searching for love.

Here is a free reading about your future spouse. Pick the pile that you are most drawn to and scroll down to read about your future partner. Keep in mind that gender can be reversed.

Takes what resonate with you because remember that this is just a general reading and it might not apply for everyone.

Don't forget to like/reblog/comment and follow me! I would really appreciate it because it will help my blog grow!

So let's get started! Enjoy!💟

Moni🧚🏻‍♀️

𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒Your feedback is highly appreciated

𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒Like and reblog to claim your pile

Pile 1 🍄☁️🌸 Pile 2 🍄☁️🌸Pile 3

└─── °∘💮∘° ───┘ └─── °∘💮∘° ───┘ └─── °∘💮∘° ───┘

Pile 1 (🌸◠∀◠)(◠ᵕ◠🌸)

MR CREATIVE - control over emotions, diplomatic, compassionate ↓manipulative, a master of emotions with selfish intentions

When you can meet them – Libra season or 7 weeks/7 months, on a Sunday

He is charming and confident but comfortable to be around.

Astrological associations - Libra and Scorpio

Men or women over the age of 40

emotionally passionate

a person with auburn, red, or medium colored hair

solid love

someone dynamic, active, and radiate confidence;

creative man, the poet, the man who dreams deeply

they can be sometimes wishy-washy but always with the flow of things even if he can be frustratingly laid back at the time

vitality, passion, and appetite for life, deeply sensual and not ashamed of his pleasure or his body

in their negative they becomes the addicted or the impotent lover(he becomes posses and lost, living only for the pleasure at the moment

nurture, guide, and support others; act socially responsible; let yourself be touched and moved; listen to others with sympathy and understanding; use intuition in decision-making

Key meaning of the relationship:

a compassionate and somewhat emotional person

a warm and gentle guy, liked by many for his easy nature

warmhearted, charismatic person

they follow their intuition in their work

they are sociable, but sensitive and need to choose their friends wisely

ideal romantic partner

motivated to help others through direct action and cooperation, serene, calm

subtle, friendly, sympathetic, caring, compassionate, affectionate

avoids conflicts and problems, willing to help, co-dependent

hypersensitive to indifference and criticism, difficulty in saying “no”

pessimistic, gloomy, doesn't want to offend or disappoint anyone

nostalgic, unstable, easily seduced, duplicity, rigid control of or hides emotions, manipulation

telling others what they want to hear, can be overwhelming by another's pain

Oracle Message: Support others by supporting yourself first.

Your day may also feel confused, changeable, and with many different things that seem to require your attention from upset teenagers to misunderstandings with others that arise from unchecked emotions.

Time for you to consider finding your own support from this type of person.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ .:☆. ────── ･ ｡☆: .☽ .:☆. ────── ･ ｡☆: .☽ .:☆. ───

a sexy or sensual feel to your love life; a focus on primal urges, sexuality, and dominance; beginnings of a romance that is very physical but sometimes lacking on more substantial levels; the attraction in a new relationship will be based on appearances rather than things in common

Possible job:

entrepreneurs

inventors

goal setters and go-getters

mystics and spiritual leaders

sports coach

fitness instructor

motivational speaker

life coach

army soldiers

coach

┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °

Pile 2 (🌸◠∀◠)(◠ᵕ◠🌸)

I KNOW I'M A DREAMER - romance, adventurism, an invitation ↓moodiness, someone who is too charming, heated emotions/temper

When you can meet them – Pisces season, 12 weeks/12 months, on a Saturday

They are a dedicated, motivated, emotional, tender, sensitive, and loving person

Element - the fire of the suits of water - Aquaris + Pisces

romance, relationships

dreamy, charming, romantic

being focused on love

man or women under the age of 40

dark hair and eyes

faithfulness

this knight’s quest is love

romantic person, a love interest & also yourself in the throes of full-on love

tendency to be manic by nature(one moment you are the love of his life and the next one you are the thorn in their ass)

tendency to be jealous by nature

stalker

Key meaning of the relationship

prosperity, property and beginnings

the beginning stages of something tangible

growth

material abundance

new enterprise

finances or wealth; a solid fruitful foundation

a promotion

good luck

unexpected money

Oracle Message: Act with love, express yourself, be creative.

Allow yourself the time to write poetry, prepare a sumptuous meal, plan that secret date for your partner.

Do something special for your lover today – flowers, chocolates, that date – but something unusual like ice skating, or a quiet out-of-town dinner, something that is intimate and full of togetherness.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ .:☆. ────── ･ ｡☆: .☽ .:☆. ────── ･ ｡☆: .☽ .:☆. ───

love is around the corner and sparks are already flying; great opportunities for growth and positive natural change in romance; speak up and act out in order to get what you want; new relationship, go with the flow; time to pursue new love, to feel silly with someone or just to fall unconditionally in love with you(embrace your inner fool and trust that falling into this phase is the point)

Possible job:

entrepreneurs

inventors

creators

pioneers and adventurers

mystics and spiritual leaders

sports coach

fitness instructor

motivational speaker

life coach

┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °

Pile 3 (🌸◠∀◠)(◠ᵕ◠🌸)

Mr PRACTICAL - abundance, security, financial success ↓greed, temptation, infinite desire for more things

When you can meet them – in Capricorn season, 10 weeks/10 months, on a Tuesday

They are thoughtful and wise, not rushing decisions nor being swayed to conform to modernity

Element - the air of the suit of earth

Astrological association - Aries and Taurus

a generous person

man or women over the age of 40

dark hair and eyes

finding happiness

seeing failures as winds

natural business person

great sense of humor

seeing failures as wins

being positive, being thankful

honest soul

naive for love

educated

emotional

person who demonstrates how resources are gained and used

they are always there

common-sense, apparent, reliable, accomplished, solid, steady, calm, wealthy, supportive

the user of secret knowledge, the knower, and the master of the technology

in their negative - they becomes the manipulator or the denying “innocent” one; taking advantage of others through specialized knowledge(leads to false superiority, isolation, and loneliness)

Oracle Message: This is a day for holding court & solving issues.

People see you as someone trustworthy, authoritative, level-headed, and great in a crisis.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ .:☆. ────── ･ ｡☆: .☽ .:☆. ────── ･ ｡☆: .☽ .:☆. ───

you no longer have the tolerance for the drama that a younger kind of love would offer, what you want is to be with someone who understands what life is really about; you will be successful in your endeavors - have faith

Possible job:

estate agent/developers

businessman/manager

director

master craftsman

banker

stock broker

teacher/educator

merchants

businessman

bodybuilder

bodyguard

professional athlete

entrepreneur

lawyer

banker

consultant

gardener

doctor

electrician

[asleepinawell]

since i tempted a decent handful of my followers into fallen london i decided as recompense to make a guide/hints/tips thing to a few early on things that might not be as easy to pick up on. the first couple may be a little more obvious but some of the later ones are more obscure. enjoy, delicious friends!

1) Use Plans!!!! That little bookmark icon on the top right of an action will save it to your plans page so you can easily reference if you can't complete it now. great for remembering what you were doing and how many items you need. extremely good for ambitions

2) Use Your Opportunity Deck. It's easy to get caught up in the making your name stuff, but there's a lot of good and important things in your opportunity deck you can miss out on. Bronze cards often help open little stories even if it's not immediately obvious. You get a ten free actions card once a week in there too

3) Look Through the Social Activities. There's a lot of stuff buried in social activities, some of it not in the most logical places. You can resign from your current profession under send a message to a contact. If a friend sent you a letter to let you boost a skill you have to use it under epistolary matters -> sort through incoming mail. And more.

4) Training Professions. Enquirer, Minor Poet, Pickpocket, Tough. You don't have to do anything with these, they just give you a weekly boost in the associated stat when time the healer rolls around. Once you hit 70 on a stat the profession will no longer boost it and you can resign and pick up a new one for free. After you are a person of some importance you can look into getting a fancier job with more perks.

5) Favourable Circumstances. You may have noticed you get something called favourable circumstances every week with time the healer. This is an item in your inventory under curiosity. Its primary use is to force draw a specific opportunity card. When you're just starting out the best use may be to arrange a meeting with your contacts, which lets you draw a connected card of your choice (like urchins, hell, etc). This lets you get a favor right away so it's good to use it every week.

6) DON'T GO TO POLYTHREME. Look, I know the option is right there in the docks but it is a very confusing area and not that useful at low levels. I got stuck there once early on and may be slightly traumatized. Definitely go there later, maybe when you have your own ship and get the map for it.

7) Mrs Chapmans Boarding House. This is in Spite. The options there all give you a few of a resource that's often a pain in the ass to grind other ways. The amount scales with your base watchful. It is just a nice little free way to get some resources. The items available change every week on a four week rotation. See the season in soup guide on the wiki for more info.

8) Mr Chimes Grand Clearing Out Activities. This was an event that happened in the past but left behind a few activities that are unparalleled ways to gain some resources. These are: Descend to the Underclay Quarter in Spite, The Spider Symposium (head into the cellars) in the Singing Mandrake, Seeking Documents in the Sunken Embassy in Moloch Street, Hunt Bees in the University, Brawl with Dockers in the Blind Helmsman (not sure if the was part of mr chimes but the mechanics are similar), and LB Industries in the Blind Helmsman. They all work by gathering a certain amount of some item through the storylets and then handing it in for a resource reward. You generally get one nice reward and the rest is paid out in a low level resource, making it a decent grind for echoes as well (i use moloch st for that).

9) Expedition Supplies for your base camp. Descend to the Underclay Quarter mentioned in the point above is a fast way to get strong backed labor to cash in for supplies during your watchful making your name (and after). Go there, work with unfinished men, get 50 convincing falsehoods (the second option gives you 25 a pop) and send an unfinished man to spite for labor x3. This makes watchful myk so so much easier.

10) Buy Gear. All resources have a use so don't go spending them all like crazy, but it really is worth spending some to buy gear, yes, even +2 gear because if you have +2 in every slot that is a nice boost at a low level. Holiday events are also a great way to get a ton of very good free gear.

11) CP. Change points, basically XP. You need as much CP as the next level to reach that level. So you need 3CP to get to level 3, 4CP for level 4, etc (this caps at 70). You get more CP for succeeding in things that you have a lower chance of success for. 60-90% chances are a nice range to aim for. Also! You get CP for failing which also scales with your percentage chance of success. So if you have a 0% chance of success you may get way more CP than succeeding on something you had a high chance of success for (example: a 90% success gives you 2CP, a 0% failure gives you 4CP... this is why the weasel of woe is good).

12) What are the Bizarre/Dreaded/Respectable stats on gear used for? So you may have noticed that you sometimes get points of Making Waves. Once you become a person of some importance you have the ability to cash in making waves to get a stat called Notability. Notability can be used for getting advanced professions, upgraded lodgings, and more. BDR gear lowers the amount of making waves you need per level of notability. They're also used in checks later on much the way your base stats are and they have uses at the bone market when you get there. Basically, grab gear with them if you can but don't worry too much about how it all works now. It will make more sense when you get there.

13) Cross-Conversion Carousel. This is a slightly more advanced thing that you don't need to know about yet but can be very very useful even at low levels. You know how you can click on most resources in your inventory and combine a lot of low level ones into a few high level ones? There's a bunch you can also cross convert, meaning convert to a different category of item of the same level. These are: brilliant souls, tales of terror, compromising documents, memories of light, zee ztories, strangling willow absinthe, whisper-satin scrap, journal of infamy, correspondence plaques, mysteries of the elder continent, incendiary gossip, and memories of distant shores. You need 50 of one to convert it and you get 51 of the item you convert it to.

What this means is if you have 50 of ANY of these, you can turn it into 50 of any other by converting it around the loop until you get the one you need. This often saves you from having to grind items that can be annoying to get (mrs chapman gives several of these too to help you get the initial amount). ALSO if you notice some of the conversions give making waves which can be a decent way to grind them. See the wiki page here for more info.

14) Last but definitely not least: the wiki is your best friend. It has guides for everything. It tells you what every single action does. It tells you where to find resources. It has terrifying math graphs. Use it. Love it.

And there is also the fifth city wiki which has lore on it. It contains MASSIVE spoilers, but the lore of fallen london is obscure and spread out across multiple games now so sometimes you just wanna know wtf everyone is talking about.

15) Don't Look In Wells!!!!!!! Just. Do not. (Hunters Keep well is an exception. It is a very nice well).

[lemotmo]

Okay, I basically stalked that blog, sorry not sorry. The other answers you shared were nice but this is the answer. EVERYONE READ THIS ANSWER. You won't need a question synopsis, it will be very clear what they were asked. Also I got the sense from their blog that they're more of a fan of the show as a whole than a hard core shipper. They do clearly like Tommy but they're a Buck lover through and through if you scroll their blog. READ THIS ANSWER!

A. Hi anon, I have been very clear from the beginning that I will support whatever ship the show decides to go with. I have worked very hard at trying to maintain realistic expectations. The problem with your argument is that the show hasn't shown us anything you presented in your ask. The show hasn't indicated in any way that this is a long-term serious relationship for either of them. In fact I would argue that most of the dialogue Tommy has been given would actually indicate the opposite, at least where he's concerned. He has been given very little actual dialogue so I promise you they're being particular with the dialogue they are giving him. And I'm sorry, but no, the show absolutely did not tell us or insinuate in any way that Buck told Tommy to only call him Evan. Lou himself said in one of his cameos that the show won't 'allow' him to call him Buck. If you've been around for longer than season 7 not calling him Buck is usually a bad sign. All his previous partners called him Evan. It's an established pattern of indicating they don't really know him. So far, from the little we've been shown, they're sticking to that pattern. We do however have numerous canon scenes of Buck explaining why he doesn't associate with the name Evan. Going by Buck is a well established CHOICE for him. At this point, Tommy is being written as a plot device. The show hasn't given us anything more than that. Can that change? Sure, but I don't think it will change much. Tim himself said it was a nice introductory relationship for Buck and he didn't want anything heavy (I'm paraphrasing). Oliver said Buck was going to have to work for his next relationship. He said this having already filmed the beginning of Buck and Tommy (and at that point Tommy was only supposed to last 4 episodes but they got renewed and the storyline was slowed down) so I don't think Tommy is the relationship Oliver was referring to. I will once again stress, that's okay. Tommy can be important without being his forever. It doesn't make Tommy meaningless. But it is why, in the end, the cameo videos were a mistake. It's lovely that Lou wanted to talk with people, and I understand why he wanted to do them, but many of those fans have taken those headcanon conversations and tried to argue them as canon fact, like your ask did, and they simply aren't based on anything canon. I hope that doesn't sound mean because I get wanting them to be canon, but, at present time, they're not.

The last part of your ask is confusing to me, I won't lie. You just said yourself that making Eddie canonically queer wouldn't necessarily be a leap, but then you said, in the same sentence, that Ryan shouldn't refer to Eddie as ambiguous. Both of those things cannot be true at the same time. And I'm sorry but at no point, ever has Buck and Eddie's relationship been written as traditionally bro, as you put it. There are countless, professional articles as well as interviews by the actors and creators themselves stating how unique and special their relationship is. The audience knows that as well. It's why they're popular. You can't watch the show and honestly describe them as bros. If they make Eddie canon queer it is not a matter of if they'll put him with Buck. At that point it simply becomes a matter of when. And no, Josh will not be a realistic option. I adore Josh, lots of people do, but a romance between Josh and Eddie is not what anyone wants. Also I'm pretty sure Oliver would commit a crime if they gave Eddie to Josh instead of Buck, lol.

Love, love, love.

Another thoughtful and insightful answer from the anonymous blog.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention Nonny! :)

Once again I ask everyone to stay civil in comments or reblogs. No hate towards this person please. Thank you.

[circeyoru]

Circe Circe look at this Alastor theory

https://www.tumblr.com/delightfulsweettragedy/751199425866694657/guys-hear-me-the-fuck-out?source=share

This might be the first time someone tells me to do theory reads. So before we get into it, definitely mention the writer and contributor of this theory @delightfulsweettragedy (sorry, if this is sudden). I mean no ill will or disrespect, I'm merely commenting my thoughts and understanding to the Hazbin world. You guys are free to agree or disagree or just okay this.

This theory basically names who could possibly own Alastor's soul. Please read that before this. Thanks! It's good to support the original poster.

Okie~ Let's go~!

Naturally, forgetting the fanfics and unintentional inserting of theories into the various stories all around fandom, Alastor's soul is owned by someone, and the owner could be someone already introduced, subtly appeared, or not at all.

I'm aware of the various theories that name Lilith or Eve or the Root of Evil (an unconfirmed character) or Zestial or even Niffty as the possible owner of Alastor's soul. But I don't go with any cause Season 1 of Hazbin Hotel is just too short and rushed for any concrete information and backstory to be revealed in detail. They are interesting and sometimes convincing theories, but at the end of the day, it's all theories and not canon.

With this one, it's a bit far-fetch and with some loopholes. I'm still on the side of reading and knowing, but not believing.

(1) Eyes.

I'm assuming the eye theory is the one about how red means owning souls? So like making deals? Similar to Overlords and Sinners basically. But here's the thing. This is Hell and red is quite a common colour. I think it matches the association with intimidation too?? Well, let's look at the Overlords who are the prime example for owning souls.

We don't have much background lore on them and I'm seriously wondering about Rosie cause some say she never died and stuff. Off track. Okay, so not all of them have red eyes. I'll list who does; Alastor, Vox, Valentino, Velvette, and Carmilla. Who doesn't? Rosie, Zestial, Zeezi, and the flaming skull with two hook-like antlers. BUT, they are all Overlords and own souls.

So? Red eyes doesn't exactly mean the ability to own souls.

(2) Who can own souls? And how?

Hellborns are supposedly soulless, so when they die, they just die. Unlike Sinners who would respawn with time. Unless it's angelic steel then game over, again. But hey, check back to Episode 7, who did Charlie say when Alastor was making a deal with her?

[Charlie: "You want my soul?"]

Surely, Charlie's a hellborn, but she has a soul? Maybe Charlie was in Lilith and growing before turning into a demon and being thrown into Hell. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Lucifer was a fallen angel. Maybe Lucifer and Lilith were the exceptions. We don't know. All we do is that Charlie has a soul.

Overlords deal with souls, we know that it's be contracts signed between individuals. But that might not be the only way. What if, an Overlord can forcefully take a soul?

I took this from Hazbin's wiki on Overlords. [In "Hello Rosie!", it was implied that an Overlord could own a soul by taking them without a deal or contract if they choose to do so. This was implied based on Vaggie's reaction...] Continue to read on the site.

This is a pageturner because if Overlords, as a higher rank of Sinners, can take souls, who's to say even more powerful ones can't? Sinners are restricted to the Pride Ring, not hellborns. So what if a powerful hellborn travels to Pride and attempts to take a weaker soul? Overlords, like Alastor, would think of them as no one but a foolish challenge cause they are more powerful than Sinners. Idk, cause Overlords might or might not have info on hellborns.

So this theory might be right, even when he doesn't have a soul, he could take and own one.

(3) Alastor's actions

It's confusing to say the least about Alastor's motivation and reason for his helpfulness. In the pilot, he says he's here cause of the entertainment and we do see him taking interest when Charlie was on the air with her hotel pitch. Later on in Season 1, we see Alastor's composure being threatened by the mere mention that was on a leash and it turns out to be a right at the end of the season.

Whether or not Alastor's there cause of the/a plan or his own amusement or trying to get a safe haven or something else, we don't know or we're not sure enough to say so. At least, it is for me when you think about it deeply.

All in all, theories are fun to think and debate on. But still, it's not canon until proven. You know, like Vaggie being a fallen angel? And who knows, maybe this theory is pointing us in a direction.

[ballet-symphonie]

Hello, First your blog is amazing and I am happy that you are back as much as you have time! I wanted to ask if you have seen the NZ 7 grade Vaganova Academy exam class that is posted in Vaganova's youtube channel? If so or if you have time at some point to watch it, I would love to hear your opinion about it. Would be also interesting to hear if some dancer / student specially caught your attention and why? I wish you all the best rest of your season!

Hey Ale, have you watched the Vaganova Exam made by Nikolai Ziskaridse? If so, I would love to hear your thoughts about it! In my opinion his dancers are beautiful and modern, but not "Vaganova" anymore. They look way more athletic (not that this is a bad thing) and have other qualities like quick jumps and turns but lack precision in the extensions and the in-between-steps. Also there was no real Adagio, which was for me always the main part in a Vaganova-Exam. When I watch these girls, I can see them in Europe and the US, but not so much in Russia.

Do you think the other teachers will adapt to this style or might it be just this one class?

Two questions about the latest VBA exam, I'll bundle them together.

I honestly wasn't very impressed, but I haven't been impressed by Tsiskaridze's ventures as a pedagogue with boys. The girls are talented, especially the girl who is the 'point' of the pyramid section. They are all clearly strong and can get through some grueling and sometimes nonsensical combinations but they seem to lack the finish, extra stretch and generous epaulment. The precision and polish that Vaganova is so often championed for is just a little bit lacking, most notably in the shape and turnout of the passe, the super stretched lines and the plasticity of the spine. This exam looked less polished than the majority of others I have seen, there were numerous issues of musicality and just some moments of sloppiness that normally get ironed out.

I also think some of the little details were neglected in favor of flashy combinations and harder elements. In the coda combinations at the end, the much harder pirouettes sans pose are better executed than the simple stuff like the tour pique and saut de chat. There are also a lot of little things, girls not walking to their places with perfectly stretched feet, exists from the room looking a bit haphazard...you won't see this in Kovaleva's exams.

Now onto the structure. I felt like the combinations of the exam were poorly designed, confusing and without cohesion. It's hard for me to tell the goal of each combination. There are 4 or 5 pseudo adagio combinations but intermixed with some jumps here and there, and then there are the multiple mini pointe work ballets that just don't feel like exam material. Some parts of the exam are so overly choreographed with formations that it's difficult to really see the skills of all the girls. Especially at the end, certain girls are dancing much much more than others, the exam is about allowing the panel of judges to asses all of their skills and grade them....hard to do that when girls are offstage and not dancing all the combinations.

Yet the content is challenging for sure, consecutive grand degage, hops on pointe with double ronde, and all at a blistering pace, which is another big change. Gone are the luxurious and dreamy adagios that seem to go on for forever, executed with mindblowing control.

Seperately, there is a huge conglomeration of different port de bras, lots of more stylized arm positions that are associated with different ballets. Stylized port de bras has normally been reserved for character exams or for the acting exam, also the mix of so many different styles (Spanish, Hungarian, 'eastern') in the same combination at times feels strange and quite out of place? Like what is the point/benefit of that choice?

The music selection doesn't help either. Each piece of music combination kinda blends together, but it kinda feels messy and lost? And sometimes the movement seems choreographed over the music rather than to it. Where does one start and the next begin? And why is almost everything at such a quick pace? I wish there was more emphasis on finesse and detail, rather than speed, especially when they're still in school.

What is mostly absent, curiously, are the inclusions of famous passages from the classical heritage. I think I saw only two brief ones, and one at nearly double time. The most famous professors of VBA (Kovalava, Vaseileva, Udalenkova, etc) often interweave sections of variations or famous choreography seamlessly into the exams. Professionals will catch these references instantly, which I always thought was an excellent way of showing the students' level of preparedness for the stage.

TLDR: I haven't liked what I have seen from Tsiskaridze's past classes of boys, and I don't think the choices he made in structuring this exam are beneficial to the development of the girls.

[so-long-soldier28]

if you could omit a storyline from the tvd show. which one would it be and why???

okay to complete this ask, i had to recall the main storylines from each season. this is what i produced. i will stick that below along with my decisions and thought processes.

also, i say it in the notes, but if this form of answering asks is too chaotic, i can switch back to the neat paragraph format i used in the avengers x kai post. i can cut out my gibberish and actually capitalize my sentences again 😅 just let me know which you prefer!

no tw except for spoilers all the way to season 8

the seasons & their storylines

1 - damon + kath / tomb

2 - stefan being a dick (+ wolves)

3 - mikaelsons

4 - shane + cure

5 - silas + travelers

6 - kai + geminis

7 - heretics + rayna cruz

8 - fucking sirens + stupid donovan family reunion

now... to judge them all and remove one...

alright… tbh, it took me way too long to remember the second villian of s7, because post-lily, my mind went blank

then it went, ah, yes, that stupid hunter storyline

and then i immediately selected that one bc i hated watching bonnie get abused again

this storyline was so stupid; the seven year time jump was so confusing

we were also given NO CONTEXT and MINOR HISTORY into bonnie and enzo's THREE YEAR RELATIONSHIP

like i love both these characters, but them together came out of nowhere

also… damon caring so little for enzo and vice versa in seasons 7 & 8 after all the history they had together PISSED ME OFF SO BAD, like they don't care for each other at all?? not even romantically, just platonic care / trauma bond, NOTHING?

anyway that's aside the point

i loved early season 7

nora, val, and mary louise were funny; matt being angry all the time was funny; bonnie and damon coming back from europe and immediately killing a heretic was funny

bonnie had so much sass in this season

but then plec had to drive her underground again with the magic pills & nearly killing her & all that shit

and i liked rayna, to some extent; she was pretty cool

but there was no reason to drag bonnie in the mix and make her kill her friends just because she took some stupid pills, just because some relative of enzo wanted her to open a vault

that st. john stuff was insanity; i still don't understand it

i don't think the characters did either; probably not the actors, either

i also don't like that the rayna storyline killed off nora and ML, like, let the lesbian heretics live, fuck off julie plec

and bonnie and nora should've had a fling but that's a different story

so yeah… the 7 years into the future storyline + hunters is the storyline i would erase

also… i don't know why caroline kept showing up with blood on her face and ranting about stefan, like, i was genuinely confused

it kept reminding me of season 2 when damon dated that newscaster but then stefan killed her.. or whatever happened...

anyway, let's take a look at a close contender… season 8 - donovans

why… the fuck… did the donovans have to have a family reunion?

i do not care about his dad, i do not care about his mom, i do not care about vicki, i don't care about matt, and i certainly don't care to see them all in one place

matt only survived bc zach and julie plec were hooking up i stg

this man and his whole family are weak links

the sirens didn't bother me all that much, compared to the donovans fucking existence

i actually liked seline, ish

[unless i just liked the actress bc she's in that containment series so i associate her with chris 💀]

but i liked that she was playing games with alaric

i think she and kai would get along well… fucking with alaric, nearly killing twins… plus his comment about wanting to fuck hot cannibals…

this post isn't about kai moving on

the sirens were hella annoying at first and i hated them, but as soon as they released damon & enzo, i started to like them

then they died

speaking of death, stefan's death was so stupid

i have a lot to say about that but that's for a different time

kelly ruining steroline wedding was so stupid

gtfo woman

another contender… the stupid travelers of season 5

what tf was happening bc i genuinely don't know

i have no idea what happened when tyler was possessed

i don't even know what to say bc i was so lost the entire time

but i wouldn't omit the storyline bc the spell that eradicated them is what kai sucked up later

and then he became all hot & dangerous

but where did they go after the spell kept them out??

where did they come from, where did they go??

i liked liv & luke, they were both grumpy & slightly dickish

the travelers shit introduced them so that's cool... bc they had to stop the dopplegangers or something, i have no idea

liv has a vendetta against life for no reason. she's just so angry

she doesn't even remember the Great Sibling Slaughter of 1994, she was 4. why are you so bitter, liv?

we'll never know ig

idk tho living with joshua parker post-1994 doesn't seem fun. doesn't seem fun pre-1994, but i feel he'd be even 10x angrier after, so maybe it's just the childhood trauma. sorry, liv

also i might've shipped her with bonnie just a little bit… just a smidge… thought bon would be real cute with another witch

aside the point

stefan's dopplegangers were great… i like both of them more than i like stefan

but the kill the dopplegangers thing was confusing and if not for early s5 with silas & quetsiyah + blonde twins in later parts, i would hate s5

other seasons' notes

season 4... i hated shane bc he was creepy, but i found it funny that bonnie was so into him. damon was so perturbed at this

oH! not a storyline, but omit them killing kol bc fuck elena. that's my other man

but i know why they did it

and i adored davina bringing him back

so ig not omit, but fuck them for killing him, especially for their own personal gain

kol died so that jeremy could dramatically yell while ripping off his shirt

season 2... so i just remembered that s2 was more than just a precursor to klaus / middle part elijah; it also had wolves

i forgot about them initially, bc i don't care about most the wolves

tyler, i have so many mixed emotions; hayley, hated in tvd, liked in s1-2 of the orginals, didn't care for her later on; mason, nice to look at, don't care about him; jewel, or jade, idk, blonde girl that was looking for mason and found tyler, hated her; the random apperance of stephen amell… gtfo off my screen

wouldn't omit the wolves bc they had a point (ish) and grew the show, but i just don't care

not to say i don't like werewolves bc i fucking love the werewolves (cough twilight cough) but i don't care for the tvd wolves - the originals included, fuck off jackson

that was mean… he was a good man, good husband… i just don't care, i'm sorry

oliver was way worse, let's focus on him instead. he can fuck off; jackson can stay

so yeah, the hunter curse thing in s7 needs to go

unless you're kai and there's sexual tension involved & you're mutually causing each other pain, don't hurt bonnie

the magic pills were confusing, don't hurt my lesbian heretics, either

st. john stuff made no sense; probably just an introduction to the armory so alaric could feel important again

one final note

i hate that the beautiful salvatore mansion was turned into a school for weasel-y children to destroy

children are messy, that thing's an antique

i hate alaric

oh, i know i also made a post about wishing kai didn't kill jo so that alaric wouldn't have feelings for caroline, but i don't know if i fully stand by that post

as much as i wanted kai to have a redemption arc, him being a heretic was fun (while it lasted)

if they were dedicated towards keeping kai alive (therefore omiting his death storyline), he'd be a great time

i can see him and damon becoming buddies & being absolute menaces together

damon fights it sooo hard at first, but can't help wanting to dive into kai's bad influence

he makes vampirism feel like vampirism again… raising hell and not being afraid to be the bad guy

while simultaneously getting bad looks from all his friends and promising he's trying to be kai's good influence, but we all know he's not trying that hard

jo would survive and raise her twins with her creepy husband

she'd live in fear of kai coming after her kids any given day, but would try to ignore the thought

maybe they move away & free us from ric for good

but while this sounds really fun, i don't know where the story would go from there

kai would definitely get stuck under lily's control with the rest of the heretics & he'd have a big fucking fit about it

if enzo got with bonnie with kai still alive, that would be ugly

he would totally fuck a siren… and then help them kill the twins

but…

him killing jo & raising absolute hell was very fun & i loved it

his sudden return in s8, effectively pissing off damon & ric was hilarious

loved that he got back & immediately killed a grill employee

just like old times

i really wished they didn't kill him off, but i did like his pop-up later on

so… the storyline I would omit:

hunters. as explained.

back-up omissions:

kai death

stupid legacies

[beepboop358]

"S4 Sneak Peek" Teaser - SECOND PART

This is my second post about the st4 sneak peek teaser, regarding the second half of the st4 sneak peek teaser, which contains the new images for s4.

(the first part of this s4 sneak peek discussion regarding the first half of the teaser can be found here.)

The California group; Will, Mike, Argyle, Jonathan (and El for part of the season), are not shown in the s4 footage, neither is Joyce, who we also know is in California for at least part of the season. There are several possible reasons why they aren’t included, one being that they are waiting to release any content surrounding Joyce and Will’s storyline until both of their individual teasers are released, or that their storyline contains major spoilers too sensitive to reveal at this time.

Now getting into the images…

The Grandfather Clock:

It is striking midnight, which could be a reference to the doomsday clock, or just time running out until something catastrophic happens.

This clock has been seen several times in promos:

My running theory is the clocks represent memories, which will be re-visited through the powers of the upside down/the void, essentially “time travel flashbacks". If you want to read more about this theory it's in my post here. I think the grandfather clock being positioned in the upside down, further supports this theory.

A clock was also seen in the "Eleven are you listening?" teaser, striking 3 a.m., aka "the witching hour".

Eleven in s4:

In the first image, Eleven looks like Joyce. She has the same hairstyle with the bangs. Whether she is mimicking Joyce after getting closer and more attached to her, or Joyce gave her this haircut, she undeniably looks like Joyce. She is wearing Hopper's flannel, but her clothing style also looks similar to Joyce's, just like her hair.

Eleven has obviously been kidnapped by the “bad men”, probably government agents for Hawkins Lab. From her facial expression and lack of movement, she isn't struggling or trying to get away from their grip on her, and that the black van behind her has its doors open and she is facing away from it, which means they probably just took her out of the van. Her facial expression indicates she is looking at something, full of disbelief and confusion. The tan ground and blue sky tell us this is obviously California. It was confirmed by leaked set pics of Joyce and Jonathan's cars license plates that the Byers move to Cali. I have a theory Dr. Owens/the gov. paid to re-locate the Byers to keep a low profile for Eleven, or at least gave them some money to use to re-locate to a place far away from Hawkins, because Joyce can not afford the kind of house they are living in there in Cali by herself with the kind of job she previously worked.

The second image of Eleven in the lab could be a memory/"time travel flashback", or it may not even be El, it could be another test subject that just looks like her, since they all did have shaved heads, but I feel like the person has very similar facial features to Millie, so it is probably Eleven.

The Hawkins group:

We have Nancy, Steve, Robin, Max, Lucas, Dustin and Erica left in Hawkins to investigate what is going on there. They are in the Claremont house, rumored to be "Vecna's lair" (the rumored new monster in s4)

The group appears to be looking at the grandfather clock, but we don't know for sure.

Usually all the couples are visually paired together in shots (which is especially prominent in s3) but here in this shot Max and Lucas are not standing next to each other, and in the bike riding shot they aren’t riding next to each other either. Max and Lucas are always breaking up and then getting back together in s3, so I wonder if them not standing together and not riding next to each other indicates a more permanent break up between the two.

Max is also at the center of the formation, and everyone stands around and behind her. I have a theory Max will be more central to the plot this year in discovering whats going on in Hawkins. Steve also appears to be looking directly at Max, as if he is reacting to or going to respond to what she is saying or has been saying.

Max, Dustin, Lucas and Erica riding their bikes could be them running away from something, rushing to get somewhere to deliver news/show up to something that's about to happen, etc, we really don't know.

The Dice:

The number 7 can be seen as one of the prominent numbers in the middle of a dice roll during a D&D game with the hellfire club. The number 7 is associated with Will and Mike, but also could allude to the "Eleven are you listening?" teaser where a puck was dropped on the number 7. 3 and 5 are also prominent numbers here.

I think the hands with the ring is Eddie or another new character. Neither Mike or Dustin's hands look like that. The person sitting next to him could be anyone. This person is seen wearing a hellfire club shirt, and we have seen everyone we know to be confirmed members of the club - Eddie, Mike, Dustin, wear this shirt in bts pics.

Hopper:

This shot is most likely of Hopper in the Russian prison, using a flame thrower as a weapon for his escape, or to defend himself from someone/something.

The car on fire:

If you slow the teaser down to 0.25x speed, you can see the mysterious figure is walking towards the flaming car, approaching it. This means this person was most likely not in the wreck. Although it would make sense for it to be Joyce's car because she drives a Ford Pinto which was an extremely flammable car due to design flaws Ford neglected, the back of the Ford Pinto is rounded, and this car does not seem to have a rounded back. During the scene in the woods in s3 after Joyce and Hopper kidnapped Alexei and Hopper's car won't start, it blows up. Joyce makes comments about how she could have died in the car explosion, which could be possible foreshadowing.

The mysterious figure appears to be a man, I'm guessing a young adult/teenager based on the stripes on the sleeve of their shirt - it just feels like something a teenager would wear, not a middle aged adult. My bet is that this figure is either Will, Jonathan, or maybe Mike - just based off of the body shape of the figure and that they would fit the age group.

The one thing we know for sure from this picture is that the car explosion happens in Hawkins. The skinny, tall trees that can be seen on the side of the road, only grow in certain places, mainly in the southeast of the US, and the Hawkins portion of ST is filmed in Atlanta, GA where these trees grow. These kinds of trees can’t grow in New Mexico where the California portion is being filmed, and definitely not in Lithuania, where the Russia portion is being filmed. In the show these trees only appear in Hawkins, Indiana. These trees are seen during Hopper's letter - when the Byers drive past the "Leaving Hawkins" sign. The slight curve in the road right where the skinny trees can be seen is very suspiciously similar.

Chrissy:

Described as the most popular girl in school hiding a dark secret, Chrissy's death/disappearance will probably be what sparks the suspicion, action, mystery, of the Hawkins storyline. It will be the event that triggers the Hawkins group to investigate what's really going on, and if the upside down is back again in Hawkins.

Steve under water:

He seems to be looking for something, it's unclear what, why, or exactly when in the season this scene will occur. Water has an underlying significance in the show, and last year the stranger writers account kept tweeting reminding everyone to drink water, and tweeted that Steve wasn't drinking enough water. There's definitely something going on here with the water references. That tweet about Steve not drinking enough water could allude to his possible death/serious injury. Steve is a popular contender to die this season, but I wonder if/when Steve dies, Dustin will also die because of the comment he makes in s3 to Steve saying, "If you die, I die."

[the-army-brat-and-the-nerd]

Favorite Smallville(clois/non clois) funny scenes?

Ooh..Interesting!! There are a lot of memorable ones I love- I just hope I'd be able to recollect all those now. Lois Lane and Oliver Queen were my favorite funniest characters on the show, but- I'll die for Clark's expressions throughout the series, they're too amusing and comical (thankyou Tom Welling!).

Without much ado :

CLOIS

Exposed (5 x 06)

You know the one I'm talking about! Yup-Lois Lane at Windgate in that Stars and stripes outfit. Don't ever get me started on how much I loved and enjoyed seeing Clark Kent cringe like that. It was so freaking hilarious, the way he tried to pretend he wasn't interested at all, the way his face turned to one of absolute horror when Lois caught his gaze, and she, in turn: looking like Christmas came early that year. And the events which followed, especially: "What are you doing here?"

HONORABLE MENTIONS

These might not seem extremely funny and all- so I'll just associate the word 'Entertaining' with them (I re-read this and understood I've nearly listed out almost every Clois scene here)

1. The whole sequence of events in Committed, from her getting obnoxiously drunk to the picture we get to ponder upon once she was taken back to Kent farm, the "Clark Kent will you marry me?", the ridiculously cute nicknames in the jeweler's shop, them stumbling upon Ollie, and him dismissively laughing off the "We're getting married!". Also the banter in Odyssey.('He wishes he didn't know me', 'You disappear for a month and come back with a sense of humor?' and 'It's only your kneecap!'). Rooftop scene of Hex.

2. The whole of Krypto, I adored their bickering so much in the episode, especially the "Clarkie" scenario('He's annoying and I can't get within ten feet of him without being sick. I think we should call him Clarkie!'). The way Clark patiently deals with her is so cute ('Is it the 'ie' part that you don't like? Coz we can always make it 'Clark, and that would be too confusing. You can be Skipper!') and I also enjoyed the ending, where she took the effort to bath Shelby, and her "Maybe I'm allergic to you!"

3. I loved Echo, where Clark got to literally hear Lois' thoughts, especially the elevator scene following "You know what the general always says, on certain days....." -yeah you get it, people! His smile is so priceless, and also that stare. Also enjoyed Crossfire and auditioning for 'Good Morning Metropolis', the 'I've got a really annoying ringing in my ear' and 'Congratulations Clark, you're dating Mother Teresa in six inch heels'

4. Whenever their parents caught them : In gone and in Ambush. I loved the opening scene in Gone when they had to face the 20 questions from Martha and Jonathan, and her backing out after the 'This is a family matter, so, I'm leaving.' just after 'The chopper landed face-first in the middle of the field'. Clark looks so adorably annoyed in that one. (Seriously, someone give him an award for his various expressions!). Oh- and I really don't have to say about Ambush- both of them looking kinda drunk (on love) and having to face a solemn looking Sam Lane straight away, who definitely didn't seem one bit impressed.

5. Nearly every Clois scene is season 4, special mention to "Lois can sleep in the barn"(Lucy), "Is that a promise or a threat"(Devoted), and the opening scene of the finale: 'Try to keep your tears to a minimum.' Oh- also 'My perfect job would be a radio disk jockey' and the 'You talk enough there won't be any dead air' among countless others. I also liked that interaction with Sam Lane and 'Lo, you failed last semester.' and Clark going hysterics after that.

6. Crimson-'Were we just set up?, 'the hot fudge and halibut' Lois and "big, strong arms"(and slow dancing), the tattoo, the Whitesnake CD, the "Lois is into me!" and everything else. Also Hydro (lol) were she just slaps him across the face, and him removing the Green Arrow mask to reveal that big smitten face of his.

7. Clark dealing with the after effects of Lois' legendary cooking : Persuasion (Even Shelby couldn't bite into her 'pot roast') and Lucy ('If you were any nicer, we'd starve!'). It's truly realistic. (I'd like to add-It's too good to see that Clark takes over the kitchen, in their future domestic life though, and we all know it is half out of the terrifying thought of Lois setting the place on fire lol). Lois-making fun of his sense of fashion, and still 'borrowing' his plaid & flannel.

8. These are not exactly funny- but the arm punches, Lois stealing all his food at the DP, Clark Kent singing in the shower (Escape) and Lois Lane dancing to 'Boomerang' (Persuasion)

NON CLOIS

Spell(4 x 08)

As much as I hated the plot of the episode, and as much as this particular one moment isn't even close to anything which Clark Kent represents-kid or not-it somehow manages to crack me up every time. The first time I saw that guy from Princeton come into the barn looking utterly mortified and then, the perfect cherry on top being Clark going like: "Hey, come on in-and join the party!", I doubled up with laughter, so hard- my stomach hurt.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1. Oliver rescuing Clark in Russia (Odyssey)- and the 'Is my presence here bothering you?' and 'Starting to'

2. The whole of Fortune. That one from start to end was a blessing: with every single one of them going insane. Clark Kent: the Kleptomaniac, Lois fighting for her wedding ring, Chloe in a bride's dress holding one half of a marriage certificate, Tess and Emil's crazy concert, and above everything- Oliver Queen dressed up as a fortune showgirl. It was too funny for words. (especially the way Chloe recognizes Lois and him)

3. The unintentional double date in Escape, where everyone was indirectly teasing Clark. ('That wasn't Lois' Brochure, Clark..That was mine' and Oliver's knowing smile which follows). Also liked the later awkward conversation ('I stopped a bank robbery.')

4. Oliver somersaulting out the window in Ambush('What are we, 16?'), Tess laughing at Cat's 'Lois is the Blur', Emil in Persuasion, Lois and Jimmy('Excuse me, did I get a lecture from Jimmy Olsen?') Clark and Chloe in Sneeze and the ending of Bloodline, (I think) where Oliver arrives unannounced into the Clark's house.

Thankyou so much for the question!

[theoneforgameofthrones]

Daenerys Targareyan: The Path Towards Madness.

Okay let's begin.

Intro: I read book 1. And then, I binge watched seasons 1-6 after season 6 finale. By that time, I knew all the major theories like L+R=J, dark!dany, targ!tyrion etc.

So, I was paying extra attention and these are some of the obvious moments where I felt they showed Dany's mad side show. Some points, you may find valid. Some points you may find silly and over-reaching. In any case, this is what *I* felt.

Feel free to have discussions. Appreciate positive critisism. However, just yelling/abusing will not be tolerated.

1. Lack of Empathy

Her obvious lack of empathy when her brother was killed.

I did not expect her to save him. I did not expect her to mourn him. I did not even expect her to cry for him. I did, however, expect a reaction, any sort of reaction, when someone close (despite him being an abusive asshole) dies that suddenly and that violently.

2. Her facial expression during Drogo's speech.

"I will kill the men in iron suits and tear down their stone houses! I will rape their women, take their children as slaves and bring their broken gods back to Vaes Dothrak!"

3. During her Breaker of Chains phase, she conviniently seemed to forget that she used to practice not only slavery, but also pillaging while she was with her khalesar.

Master Illeryoi owned slaves. Her brother owned slaves. She was gifted slaves to teach her how to please the Khal.

Her husband was a war-lord and her khalesar constantly raided and pillaged villages. They killed men. They raped women. Remaining alive women were taken as sex slaves and later sold. That was their way of life. She saved Mirri Maz Duur and several other women from the fate of gang rape and murder but they were still dragged along side the khalasar as slaves. In books, the reason MMD was not sold was so that she can assist Dany during childbirth.

4. The burning of Mirri Maz Duur (MMD)

This is going to make sense to a lot of people. But confuse the fuck out of many. But let's see.

In colonized countries, we have a term called "Savior's Complex". It is where a colonizer raids a country, steal its riches, impose extreme taxing, destory most of its heritage and then expect praise for bringing something (could be education, technology, architecture).

Dany takes the complex another step above. She not only expects gratitude from an enslaved MMD while dragging her along with her khalesar with sole purpose of assistance with childbirth, she also expects her to save the life of her husband. The war-lord whose khalesar raided her home, pillaged her village, killed her countrymen, raped/killed her countrywomen, dragged remaining alive women along with the khalesar to be sold later. Despite all this, Dany expects gratitude from MMD for her life. This flawed logic however is thrown back in her face.

"So, tell me again exactly what it was that you saved?"

"Your life."

"Why don't you take a look at your Khal? Then you will see exactly what life is worth, when all the rest has gone."

This is an old age tale of revenge. Khal raided her village. She took revenge on them for destroying her temple. Dany burned her for it.

What completely bamboozled me in this fandom was how much people hated MMD for what she did while completely making Dany the victim in this scenario while forgetting that MMD was the orginal victim who was not only an enslaved prisoner of war, but also gang-raped victim of her khalesar's doing.

5. Ser Barriston's words.

Ser Barriston in Mereen, tells her to treat injustice with mercy. She replies that she will treat injustice with justice.

Another quote by Ser Barriston: "He gave people the people the justice he thought they deserved."

Justice and what people in power percieve as justice is often very different.

6. Daenerys' justice for the crucified slave children

She did that by choosing 163 random Great Masters and crucifying them to avenge the 163 slave children. This seems like justice. But is it, really? They never recieved trial. They were never proven guilty. Like Hizdahr Loraq said, some of the masters were not in favor of crucifying children and tried very hard to stop it. Who knows how many other good masters she crucified?

This is a direct parallel to Ser Barriston's words about Mad King Aerys: "He gave people the people the justice he thought they deserved."

7. She stopped slavery only when it benefitted her.

Some of you, while reading point 6, may have thought, "They were SLAVERS! So what?!".

Well, while choosing 163 masters, Dany decided that all Masters are her enemies. She decided that all of them deserved punishment. She decided that they were guilty just for engaging in slavery while conviniently forgetting that if that were the case, she should be the one in the first cross.

8. She burnt Great Masters without even investigating who were behind the Sons of Harpy's attack.

After Ser Barriston's death, we again get to see more of her twisted sense of justice. By her own words, "Who is innocent? Maybe all of you are, maybe none of you are. Maybe, I should let the dragons decide."

It is not supposed to be called justice if you punish (and a cruel punishment, at that) without even caring whether they are innocent or not.

9. "You are a conquerer. Not a ruler."

Time and time again Dany proves this to be true. She conquered Yunkai and left immeidetely. The slavers took back the city in no time. She closed off the fighting pits and refused to open them despite being told that participants will be free men who enter willingly. This is where ruling comes in. Any place she conquered and freed, she failed to put something else to keep up the economy. She collapsed the economy so bad that slaves were selling themselves again.

10. Wrongful imprisonment.

Dany finds that Drogon has harmed children. The correct response is to either train or punish the dragons. She, however, imprisons the two dragons who werent at fault while Drogon ran free. Does that mean she is not responsible for whatever terror or death Drogon caused to wherever he flew off to? What exactly does imprisoning Rhaegar and Viseryion get her?

What kind of justice is it where the accused is free while the innocent get prisoned for association. Again, feeds into the twisted justice train.

11. Twisted Justice. Hipocrisy. Again.

While many men were fed to dragons, Hizdahr Loraq was imporisoned. He begged for mercy in terror.She also decides that she will show her respect for Meereen by marrying a member of one of its great families. For a woman who was forced into marriage and "sold like a broodmare", she sure didn't feel any moral dilemma in making a terrifed man betroth her. His death though, proved that he was not at all involved with Sons of Harpy and he was imprisoned for nothing.

12. Burning POW's

Burning Tarly's (father and son) was a direct paralell to her father burning Ned's father and brother alive. You cannot hide behind "It was a war. She gave them a choice." No matter what defenses one can attempt to give her, killing (forget burning) POW is a war crime. So is forcing prisoners against their own side of war.

13. Defending cruelty in path of justice

She killed Tarly's and defended that decision, by saying that was necessary.

When Hizdahr asks her how many men will have died to achieve her goal, she says "They would have died for a greater cause." She is talking about destroying cities and sure, that must be for a greater purpose.

When Tyrion reminds her that about what her father planned to do when she said she wnated to burn Mereen to the ground.. her response was "This is different,". How, exactly?

"The easiest way to defend cruelty is to say that it is part of the destiny."

14. The insinct to burn down cities.

By s8e01, she has wanted to burn down cities thrice. Meereen - once. King's Landing - twice. Both times, she had to be talked out of it by her advisors. The fact that her first instinct when her plans were failing was to burn down cities. Direct parallel to Aerys wanting to destroy king's landing because he thought there were traitors everywhere. The fact is that a person can surrond themselves with good counsel. But it is not necessary that the counsel is always heeded. Which is what happened to Aerys. He was going incresingly mad for months and his counsel members hid the fact from the outside world because they thought they could control the madness. We all know what happened in the end.

Since s7, Dany has been becoming increasingly paranoid about Tyrion's loyalty and increasingly more frustrated with every loss. How long before she decides not to listen to them anymore?

15. The entire collonialist/white savior imagary presented in Essos.

It is amazing how most of the fandom either ignores it or is just unaware of it.

Though this point doesnt parallel anything to the show, i just found it extremely cringy. I am sure members of most colonized countries would. I cant even beging to describe how cringy that mysha scene was.

16. The typical white priviledge mentality.

She wants to inherit her ancestor's throne and power. But she doesnt want to repent for her ansestor's sins and betrayal.

17. Wrong sense of entitlement

She truly believes that she is entitled to the North's fealty. She asks Jon Snow not to judge her based on her ancestors and in the same breath asks him to hold up the vows of his ancestors.

But, whatever vow the Starks made to the Targareans was broken the moment Aerys decided to burn the Starks. The fealty was made on promise of protection. Technically, any member of the houses that Aerys burnt, is no longer accountable to the vow.

Still, she expects everyone to uphold their fealty but refusing to accpet that her father broke that fealty when he decided to burn the vassels (whom he promised to protect) alive.

18. Savior Complex

Some parts of Dany reminds me of how missionaries work.

"Will your God punish me for not praying to him if I did not know about him?"

"No."

"Then why did you tell me about him?"

I believe one thing about Daenerys Targareyan. That she truly wants to help people. That she truly wants to save people. But her problem is, she wants to be the one to save people. She doesnt seem to understand that some people dont require saving.

She talks about freeing the world of tyrants and in the same breath refuses to give North the independence that they demand in solidarity. How is that not the definition of tyranny?

This is Westeros. I am not expecting a democracy and free elections. If she wants to be a conquerer, then she can be one. If she wants to bring to bring together the 7k, she can. What she cannot do is talk about destiny, talk about a wheel, talk about breaking the wheel, and and then do the exact same thing her ansestors did years go by spinning the wheel so that she is on top.

19. She was smiling when she saw that her dragons terrified people of Winterfell.

20. "They eat whatever they want"

Is that really the correct way to respond to people are already scared/cowering over the arrival of dragons? To people who have never seen such beasts before? Did she forget that few seasons ago "whatever they want" that Drogon ate were children?

21. Jaime's trial

She made Jaime stand trial and was heavily leaning towards punish him despite the fact that she knew what her father had planned and what Jaime Lannister had done. She openly spoke in favor of the Mad King in front of Northern Lords. When Tyrion intervened, she publically breated him and questioned his loyalty. Further adds to the Mad King's paranoia and unwillingness to listen to counsel.

22. Jaime Lannister

Not only has he tried to kill her, he has also questioned her intentions twice. The only living person who knows about Mad King more than anyone is perhaps Jaime Lannister. When he questions Tyrion, "Is she really different? Are you sure?" in a sceptical tone. If he doesnt trust her or thinks she had the Targ madness, then I am willing to bet that she probably does.

23. Her decling human connections

the show seems adament in making her seem alone. Like a stranger in her own home land. In an episode full of emotional reconnections, tenderness, friendships and relationships, she is shown all alone. In later episodes, she is incresingly shown alientated: Theon coming to fight for the starks despite being her bannerman, death of the Jorah, Tyrion's withdrawal.

24. jorah was her mercy.

She had shown jorah mercy despite his betrayal. She cared for him and most importantly, completely trusted and listened to him. When she felt no remorse about berating Tyrion and strongarming Sansa, jorah urges her to forgive tyrion and to try and make amends with LAdy of Winterfell. And, she listened to him. He is the only advisor she fully trusts and listens to without having to worry about wavering loyalties. And jorah's death is going to be the acorn in Ice Age that started the avalanche.

<<2 episodes left. will add more after next one airs.>>

This is not to say that she was an evil character. She was a good person with good intentions and bad execution with a twisted sense of justice and destiny. But, the journey to hell is paved with good intensions. Dany was a character who had the potential to be great. But she was always headed to doom. She is a good person whose downfall will be due to pride, ambition and obsession with destiny. She will chose her fate with a sound mind but a flawed personality. Her story will not be heroic, but tragic. Not because of what she was, but because of how she could have been.

[diamond-song42]

Pone Reviews 109: What Lies Beneath

Happy Autumn to you (because I don't know what day you are reading this on) and welcome back to Pone Reviews! I'm back, baby! There's been a lot going on in my life and I've needed a bit of a break. I'm hoping to nail down a new writing schedule soon. Nevertheless, I am ready to share my thoughts on this episode. What happens when the Young Six find a strange floor grate in the library? We'll find out in "What Lies Beneath!"

Let's start with the moral. "Any creature has friendship in their nature." Sweet sentiment. It's nice to think that a creature of any race, gender, sexuality, national origin, disability, and more can be buddies. But it ends up feeling like one of those morals that I think falls a bit flat on the relatable side. This doesn’t have the same anti-racism overtones as the moral in “School Daze," and that's where I think it's faulted. It's not implying a majority race can be friends with a minority race - it's suggesting more interspecies relationships. Today's kids know that races different from theirs are still humans just like them! So does that mean interspecies friendships are a good thing? With a dog, cat, or fish, maybe... but not an alligator or a lion! A friendship with an alligator or a lion can only happen in a Disney movie! The episode was entertaining, don’t get me wrong, but this just leaves me so... confused.

Onto the plot. As the Young Six are studying for a History of Equestria exam, Cozy Glow puts doubts into their minds that friendship is in their respective natures! Will their minds be changed when they discover an underground part of the School seemingly no one knows about? Here we are, another Young Six-themed episode. And a cute one at that! We know they have insecurities about things, but they're finally explored here. Sandbar is suffering from a classic case of hero worship. Silverstream is terrified that the Storm King isn't entirely gone. Yona is freaked out by spiders. Gallus hates being in enclosed spaces. Smolder doesn't want to admit she can be cute. And Ocellus is ashamed of her past and fears she'll revert back to it. And yet they are only concerned about their friends when they get past their respective challenges. The friendship lessons have made an impact! I adore the bond these six creatures have formed. It feels different from the Mane 6's bond since they're all different species with different backgrounds. A pony used to the simple life in Ponyville (save the occasional bugbear). A hippogriff that spent years underwater so as to not be threatened by the Storm King. A yak with a rich, prideful culture. A griffon who grew up in arguably the least kind land in Equestria. A dragon with nerves of steel who wasn't ready to embrace pony culture. And a changeling who fed off love for most of her life and has only recently learned that there's so much more to experience. Friendship brought these six together and it has been such a great thing for the show. Oh, and as for Cozy Glow? Something is... definitely up with that filly. Can't say why. I just know it.

Here are some more strong points in this episode:

*If anything, my favorite part of them all is when Smolder and Gallus - the characters most stubborn and resistant to friendship - admit they aren't like others of their race and genuinely want to help their friends. They've come a long way.

*I also really appreciate how Sandbar looks up to the professors - all women. Our society won't allow boys to like playing with Barbies or Disney Princess dolls. It's refreshing to see a boy with a real appreciation and admiration for his female elders.

*Whoa, the Tree of Harmony can become sentient?! Awesome! It took over 1,000 years for it to do that, so now I'm curious how long it took to gain its other powers (especially that one where it MELTED CHRYSALIS'S CLONES).

*Holy cow Sandbar's face when "Rainbow Dash" and "Rarity" tell him they need him is SO ADORABLE!

*This is gonna sound weird, but it’s a bit of a relief that Smolder actually likes traditionally cute things like dresses and tea parties. This show likes to stress that the “macho” characters (Rainbow Dash, for example) can’t be associated with cute things when we all know that is a damn lie.

*It's actually pretty interesting that Yona's fear is spiders because you wouldn't think there'd be many spiders in a cold habitat like Yakyakistan. Or... MAYBE THAT'S WHY THE YAKS MOVED TO YAKYAKISTAN IN THE FIRST PLACE! TO GET AWAY FROM THE SPIDERS!

*eeeeevil. Eeeeevil. EEEEEVIL. (You know who I'm talking about.)

And here are some weaker points from this episode:

*Let's be real here: How do the Mane 6 (or at the very least, Twilight) NOT know about that floor grate? It's not like it's very hidden. You'd think somepony as meticulous as Twilight would comb every inch of the school to make sure it was perfect before opening. Or... maybe Twilight did know about the grate and didn't tell the students on purpose knowing something like this would happen?

*I have to ask, what's the timeline here? The Young Six are exhausted after exiting the cave in the early morning. But they seemed to be in the cave for... a few hours, at most? Let me deconstruct this: Cozy said she'd give the Young Six her notes and mentions she returned with the notes to find the students gone (notes she does visibly have when the Young Six return). The transition between Cozy's words and the Young Six studying irritably can't be more than a few minutes long. Considering each of the Six must have been going through their trials relatively simultaneously, it realistically must have not been a 7-8 hour period as we're led to believe. (Yes, I do have problems with weird timelines. Remember my complaints about "A Health of Information?")

*Aww sweet more Chrysalisoh it's just Ocellus. (Not that I'm complaining - Ocellus is my sweet little cupcake - but damn I miss Chryssy.)

*As cute as Silverstream's love for plumbing is, it's making me ask questions about hippogriff/seapony plumbing that I didn't want to ask.

*Cozy Glow climbs a ladder when she can very well fly. (And her wings can carry her weight, unlike Scootaloo!)

*The Storm King and Storm Guard rock formations are a lot scarier than the actual Storm King and Storm Guards. :/

*Okay, I’m officially starting to question some of Twilight’s curriculum. She’s teaching her students about the Tree of Harmony and its history. Yet she told the CMCs that they couldn’t attend the school because they’ve practically aced the curriculum and they need Cheerilee’s lessons. Does the Tree of Harmony’s history not count as a needed lesson? It was planted 1000 years ago and has certainly done a bunch for Equestria in nine seasons.

In short: An adventurous episode with a really flat moral and friendship is zzzzzzzz. EEEEEVVVVVIIIIIILLLLL! 4 out of 5 rainbows 🌈🌈🌈🌈

It feels good to be back. Thank you for reading. I'm gonna nail down a new schedule for myself soon and I hope you guys will bear with me. Let's just say that the next review will cover my favorite episode of the season! Diamond out!

[sillygardenduckpanda]

You Were Always Mine (Part 7)

Summary: Karma Artemis Sauveterre finds herself moving from Wizarding Britain to Beacon Hills after tragedy strikes her family. Let's see how she fits into this completely new environment while dealing with heartache, losses and gains.

Warning: This series contains smut, angst and teenage pregnancy. I'll probably place another reminder if I don't forget. I'm very forgetful. Also it was written by me and my dominant language is not English, I think that can classify as a warning because a lot of people are very particular about grammar and spelling. Mistakes are my own and I apologize in advance.

Pairing: Stiles x Artemis (Female OC)

A/N: My OC comes from the Harry Potter Universe, but HP characters will not star in this story. Only the spells and potions. And the schools. No people. This is going to be based in Teen Wolf and will follow their storyline, but not always very accurately. I did my best. I have only written until Season 2. I haven't watched Season 3 and up. I will try to start watching again and see if I can continue the story because I do want to include Void Stiles in this story. Thank you.

This is just a back story that I want to get out of the way. I'm not very good with "past tense and present" so I try to avoid writing memories and skipping from past to present. We will only start seeing more of Stiles and the gang once she has officially moved to Beacon Hills because the story starts with her childhood in Wizarding Britain.

"What did you want to speak about, daughter?" her father asked after they started eating. He looked more like himself after he had cleaned up and shaved his face. The dark circles were still visible but it's nothing a good sleep won't fix.

Artemis chewed and swallowed her bite before replying. "Kieran and Landon are graduating this year, as you know." at her father's nod, she continued. "Things have been getting worse at school, father. I fear that my peers might start openly attacking me once I don't have them to protect me." she said, voicing her concerns that she shared with Kieran and Landon.

Her father clenched his hands around his utensils in anger and shame. He has been drowning his sorrow in firewhiskey and forgot all about his daughter who must have had it just as hard as him, if not worse.

He knew all about her peers bullying her, especially the ones who were from the families who were once associated with her grandfather, Theseus Selwyn. He had no idea that they amped up the bullying since her mother's death. He felt like the worse kind of father.

He cleared his throat. "So what are you suggesting, daughter?"

Artemis hesitated before continuing. "I would like to finish my 7th year remotely, father."

Her father started at that. "Why would you want to finish it remotely? Why not go to Ilvermorny instead?"

Artemis sighed. She didn't want to join yet another school that's associated with houses. The division is what started the animosity in the first place and she didn't want to be classed due to house affiliation yet again. "No more magical schools, father. I'd rather go to a Muggle school." she said dryly, meant as a joke.

Her father just sat quietly and took everything in before he nodded his head. "Okay, I'll sort that out." he looked at her. "We would probably have to relocate, you know."

She looked at him confused. "And why would that be, father?"

"Well, for starters, Hogwarts wouldn't be able to cater to you. Unfortunately, their curriculum isn't fit for studying remotely. Ilvermorny would be a much better choice. But....they wouldn't cater to you while you are still registered at Hogwarts. And if you want to register at Ilvermorny, you have to be on American soil." her father finished apologetically.

She sighed. "What about Kieran and Landon. And this Manor? Won't the protection fail without me here?" she asked in worry.

Her father just chuckled. "They could easily visit you via portkey or floo, sweetheart." he looked at her in amusement while taking a sip of his wine. "And the protections won't fail if you don't live here. It would fail if the last person with Selwyn blood dies. So as long as you are alive and give birth to an heir one day, the Manor is protected. You can just add to the protection every year."

Artemis considered this then nodded. "I think it would do us good if we got away from here. I don't like it here anymore." she gave a sad sigh.

Her father nodded slowly. "I only stayed in Britain because of your mother. Now that she's not here anymore...." he trailed off. But she agreed, there's no use staying anymore.

They sat in silence for a few moments, just savouring their food when Artemis spoke again.

"You won't go back to the bottle after this, will you father?" she asked, trying to sound casual but her father could hear the hurt in her voice. It made him feel even worse. For these past months, she hadn't lost one parent - she had lost two. His foolish decisions made sure of it.

He set down his utensils and took her hands in his. "I vow that I'll try to be better. For you, my dear girl." she had noticed that her father won't call her his little dove anymore. She missed hearing the pet name from her parents but she didn't dwell on it.

"Besides" her father continued, "Now that we're starting a new phase of our lives, I have a lot to do. I need to register you at your new institutions and deregister you at Hogwarts. I have to tie up all our business on this end and get us settled in the US." her father said with a small smile that still looked too brittle for her taste. But at this point, they are both still a bit broken. Hopefully this new venture will give them the space they need to heal. Britain holds way too many memories for them and if they stayed, it might just break their family apart even more.

The rest of the year passed much of the same and Artemis was even more glad that they were leaving.

Landon and Kieran were sad that she was leaving the continent entirely but with magic, they could get to her in less than 5 minutes so they were fine with it at the end.

Soon it was June and the exams were finished, which gave the trio some time to spend together before they had to embark the journey home to go their separate ways.

Kieran had invited them to his graduation ball on June 30th and Landon was invited as well, as a fellow classmate. This was the only time the Pucey's would allow anyone less than pureblood to enter their manor and they were not happy about it.

Landon applied at Gringotts as a cursebreaker and was due to start as soon as he received his NEWT results. Professor Flitwick gave him a glowing reference and the Goblins didn't think twice about snatching up the bright Ravenclaw. Such talent could not waste away in the Ministry's dull offices.

Kieran was joining the family business where his older brother, Adrian, already worked himself up as CEO. It was a designing company which catered to businesses around the world from clothing to shoes. His family was hoping that Kieran will work his way up as a COO.

Artemis was due to leave on the 1st of August since everything was already at the Sauveterre Mansion in California, including her clothes, accessories and other niknaks.

The evening of the graduation ball had finally arrived and Artemis went all out to get dressed. This was officially her last event in Wizarding Britain and her unofficial goodbye.

She placed her demure smile on her face as soon as she entered the mansion.

"Thank you for welcoming me into your manor, Lord and Lady Pucey." She curtsied politely. "Your home looks absolutely splendid." she smiled to Lady Pucey.

"Thank you, my dear girl." Lady Pucey said with a small smile. "Go on in and find Kieran. He's been waiting for you." She winked at Artemis.

Artemis sighed internally but she had a polite smile on her countenance when she gave the hostess a slight nod in thanks. Lady Pucey had this habit of thinking that she will end up with Kieran just because they were best friends. She didn't want to be present the day she found out that her son is into men.

She soon saw Landon and Kieran after navigating her way through the crowd. They were having a moment and looking at each other adoringly, clearly forgetting that they were in a ballroom full of people.

"Good evening, gentlemen." she greeted and gave each of them a gentle kiss on their cheeks.

"Hey, love. We've been waiting for you to arrive." Landon told her with a smile.

She gave a delicate shrug and tossed her hair back. "You know I love being fashionably late." she joked with a small grin. "You two need to remember yourselves." she told them seriously. "I could see how in love you were from across the room." she said softly, pureblood mask back in place.

Kieran almost choked on air but caught himself before he could draw attention to them. "Uh...we'll remember that. I was just glad to finally have Landon here with us."

Artemis nodded while subtlely looking around to see who was all in attendance. "Of course." she said mildly, "Hopefully one day you'll have him here permanently. But to make that happen, you can't have anyone finding out about you now." she said seriously but both guys could see the amusement shining in her eyes. "Now off you go, Kieran. I'll keep your love company. You need to go welcome the rest of your guests." she dismissed him with a wave of her hand. Landon laughed at Kieran who walked off with a long suffering sigh and rolling his eyes good-natured.

The rest of their evening went extremely well and their goodbyes were heartfelt. That night was the last time they'll be seeing each other while getting settled into their new lives. That evening Artemis went home and cried herself to sleep, overwhelmed by all the changes happening in her life. On one end, she felt excited about the new direction her life was going in. Still, her whole life was spent in Britain and a huge part of her will feel this loss very deeply.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: Today Was a Fairytale (18x07)

...Link and Jo? No.

Cons:

I want Link and Jo to be like Alex and Meredith. In each other's lives, friends forever, no hint of romance whatsoever. I do not want this to go there. It makes me cringe just thinking about it. That end scene was embarrassing to watch. While I find Kai and Amelia cute and promising, I also just think Amelia and Link's whole romantic travail this season is pointless and weird. They were good together. Amelia was fun without all the excessive angst. Just settle her with whoever you're going to settle her with, and stop messing with her. I'm exhausted, y'all.

I continue to be unimpressed with Nick and Meredith as a romance. He's bland as fuck and I don't understand their connection even a little bit.

The recruitment fair had some good moments, but I was super irritated that Grey Sloan Memorial had such a shoddy operation. They should have had an amazing visual setup with professional poster boards and a backdrop, etc. so they looked like a going concern, and lots of people would come by, but then get lured off by the free food and swag elsewhere. That would have been a better way of making the point. As it was, I was just embarrassed for Bailey, and confused, not in a good way, at how they could have dropped the ball so, so hard on making a professional display.

Pros:

As I said, I do like Kai and Amelia. Kai is a hella relatable character, they work too hard and they only go home to hang out with their cat. I also like the spark of attraction between Kai and Amelia, the way they're getting to know each other in connection with this super important research, and how Kai is appreciating Amelia on her own merits, not because of her family name or any of her associated drama. A clean slate for Amelia might be what's needed, even if I wish all this contrived drama with Link wasn't a thing that was happening.

Maggie's back! I missed her, she's gorgeous, she and Winston had lots of reunion sex and totally bailed on Bailey's recruitment fair. Understandable, tbh. Not much to say there, I'm just happy they're happy!

While I am cringing hard at the idea of Link and Jo, I did like their time together with the kids, going to see the show, giving medical care in the field... Jo has such good instincts as a mom, I love watching her with Luna and I love seeing her save lives. I liked the part where another person in the audience referred to Link as Jo's "husband" and she just said "ew, no." Like... that's the sibling energy I crave. I even like Link's confession that he had a crush on Jo when they first met, and then he got past it and they're such good friends. We should be normalizing this! Not every relationship between a straight guy and a straight girl needs to go in the romance direction. Let's knock it off, alright??

The recruitment fair stuff did give us a chance to continue talking about the Webber Method, and seeing how Grey Sloan is trying to offer something new and fresh. We didn't get a ton of this plot thread here, but I liked seeing it continued. We're also seeing the continued conflict of Meredith's hectic career. She's in Minnesota just to get yelled at by her boss-slash-patient, which means she's missing stuff back in Seattle. Nobody's happy, and Meredith is stretched pretty thin between these two halves of her life. I appreciate that the drama is a little more muted for her than it might have been in seasons' past, but it still seems clear that she'll have to deal with this soon!

And that's all I've got for this one. I'm very anti Link/Jo, I must say, but we'll have to see where they take it all.

7/10

[julie-dorange]

Apple pie

It was about time I posted my one-shots here.

Takes place in the future.

The events of season 3 (and MoonCass) are ignored.

Varian is an adult, he is married to Rose (OC) and has two children.

Quirin was freed a few years ago but he was already dead.

What is written between quote marks are the Varian's thoughts.

~~~~~☆☆☆~~~~~

Attracted by a delicious smell, Varian walked to the kitchen. There was a fresh-baked apple pie on the table.

Apple pie. A wave of sadness washed over him. His father used to bake to best apple pies in the world (very objectively).

- Daddy ? Why are you sad ?

Varian looked down to see his 4-year-old son looking at him, visibly worried. He bent down to pick up his little boy and placed a kiss on his head, making him giggle.

- I'm not sad, don't worry.

He forced himself to smile, then put down his son, watching him run to the living room to play with his sister. Varian's gaze fell on the pie again.

*FLASHBACK*

A 7-year-old Varian ran to the kitchen, smelling something awesome.

- An apple pie ! He said happily, seeing a beautiful, delicious apple pie in the oven.

Quirin arrived in the kitchen to see his son in awe in front of the oven.

- How did you smell it from your lab ? The door was closed.

- I can always smell apple pie ! answered Varian with a big smile.

Quirin smiled. The surprise was ruined but seeing Varian like that was worth it. Speaking of Varian, he rushed into in dad's arms as a "thank you".

*ANOTHER FLASHBACK*

A twelve-year-old Varian was walking in the forest, gathering some things for his experiments. Before he realized it, it had gotten really dark. When he noticed, he decided to go home. But... it was dark... the paths looked different than during the day... and maybe he had gone a bit too deep in the forest. "Oh no... Oh no, no, no ! I'm lost ! No. No, calm down, Varian. I just have to walk and I'll find my way back. Yeah. It'll be fine !"

And Varian walked... 10 minutes... 20... 30... an hour... He was cold, he was tired, he was scared. "Maybe I can rest for a moment..." He sat against a tree, shivering. It became even colder and Varian couldn't move. He stayed curled up on himself for what seemed like an eternity, thinking he was going to freeze to death. Until he heard a distant voice.

- Varian ! Varian, where are you ?!

"Dad !" Varian tried to get up but he fell back.

- DAD ! He screamed as loud as possible, his voice breaking.

- Varian !

A few minutes later, his dad arrived and rushed to him.

- Are you okay ? Are you hurt ?

Varian shook his head, still shaking. Quirin took off his coat and wrapped his son in it before scooping him up, holding him tightly.

- Don't worry, son, we're going home. It'll be okay.

Varian snuggled against his dad.

- I'm sorry... he whispered, I didn't realize it was so late and I got lost and...

- It's okay, answered Quirin, I'm not mad.

About twenty minutes later, Varian was wrapped in a blanket on the couch, leaning against his father, a slice of apple pie in his hand.

- Are you sure you're okay ? You're not hurt ? asked Quirin again.

- I'm fine. Varian answered, biting in his pie.

He would always be fine because his dad was here.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

- Varian ?

He jumped and looked to his right. Rose had a hand on his shoulder. She looked very worried.

- What's wrong ?

He suddenly realized there were tears rolling down his cheeks. He wiped them quickly.

- I... it's nothing...

- Varian...

- It's... the apple pie.

- The apple pie ? repeated Rose, confused.

Varian looked down, embarrassed.

- It reminded me some memories... My father used to bake apple pies because he knew I loved them and... I guess I associated the pies with him.

- Oh...

Rose took him in her arms, strocking his hair. They stayed like that for a moment before Varian pulled out of the hug.

- What do you say we eat this pie with the children ? To make new pie memories ? suggested Rose with a little smile.

- Sounds good to me. answered Varian, smiling too.

The end !

I'm going to post another (much darker) OS soon.

I hope you liked this one ^^

[aomorikat]

Movie Biz - The Collection

Hey I'm still here. Doing things. Talking about a thing. Anyways this will contain spoilers for The Collector and the titular The Collection so if you give a damn, maybe stop now. The Collection is on Netflix atm so...scoot. 

Also writing this on mobile so fuck off till I edit it later.

So I recently saw The Collector for the first time and while it was way too long which I felt overall hurt the film, it was an effective production. I'll get into its strengths below, but it is one of the more solid home-invasion films I've seen.

Now, its sequel is on Netflix. This is problem number 1 (not Netflix). Sequels aren't always bad. They can be effective continuations leading into a saga (The Two Towers), a new adventure (Temple of Doom), better than the original to the point of replacing it (Ouija Origins), or being on par with the first (John Wick 2). Then there's... the rest of the sequels. I'm sure you can name 1 or 7 bad sequels off the top of your head but let me remind you of the cancer that is Quarantine 2, the movie that is proof that my brain blocks out trauma because I keep forgetting it exists and watch it again and hate myse-... so. There are pleanty of times when sequels are beyond unnecessary. This is sadly most prevalent in the horror genre.

See, a really great part of horror is the lack of control you have. The lack of understanding. A tactic to get over a phobia is often to learn more about the thing that scares you. We don't know how the Creeper in Jeepers Creepers came to be or what the fuck is even going on. We don't know whats under Jason's mask. We don't know who built The Cube. We don't know what the everloving fuck Jigsaw was really doing, outside of teaching people to appreciate life and buying HUNDREDS OF CASSETTE TAPES IN THE MID 2000s. And in The Collector, we don't know what this monster wants. And then what happened? We got sequels that took away all that mystery. Oftentimes it makes the monster out to be silly, or confuses the plot, or creates a billion plot holes. Tell me, whats creepier? A stranger for no rhyme or reason sneaks into a home and silently rigs the home to be a deathtrap and slowly tortures a family, or a masked notorious serial killer with a Hostel lair filled with traps who cuts up his victims to make weird sculptures? All the mystery is gone. Hes not just doing it to family homes. Hes gotten himself a name in the media. We know what hes doing with his victims. We see his lair. We see him in his environment instead of him invading what isn't his. He's in a place he belongs and is no longer the "other". This kinda leads in to my next point.

Well, here's problem number 2. Why does the first movie scare us? It's a home invasion movie. Our homes are our safe place. It's full of our possessions and where we have full control. We put things where we want, we lock people out or let them in, and we spend approx 8 hours unconscious there every night. Home invasion films play on the concept of our space and sanctuary being violated. Tainted. You'll now associate it with fear and pain. In The Collector, we go from seeing a beautiful home with a happy family to seeing it becoming a cold deathtrap in a matter of hours. Bedrooms. Kitchens. Dining rooms. Their memories and pasts are overridden with a wave of blood and choked groans of agony. How'd he get in there and do all that? Do you know there's not someone under your bed right now? Sitting in the closet? Did you leave your door unlocked for a moment when you went to get the mail, and your back was turned? 

So naturally, The Collection starts at a rave. And by starts I mean the traps and killings start at a rave filled with hundreds of people. This already eliminates the initial idea of the first. A rave isn't a safe place. It's pretty much open season for injury, theft, and roofies. The next setting is the Collectors lair. This is a strange place. The "hero" chooses to fucking go inside. Any emotional connection to the situation is severed. You chose this! Here are my top 10 ways to avoid this situation: 1-10- dont go inside. We've now entered the movie Hostel...

Third problem... gore. "But Kt," you state, "you like gore." Yeah but I also like lemon cake, it doesn't matter. The first film wasn't gore heavy. It was tension based. Silence. Holding your breathe. Staying silent as you get sliced up while hiding. It makes you the viewer hold your breath too and you become too aware of every unintentional sound your body makes and wonder if it woukd give you away. This movie starts with a farming reaper descending from the rave ceiling and mowing down the dancers in a 25 second blood bath. Its followed by hallways full of blades and a cage that slowly crushes the rest of the rave goers. In 3 minutes, we have more carnage than the first film. The rest of the film is screaming and crying and talking and exposition up the ass. No silence. No tension. Its a recon mission. No no wait. Its an escort mission. Everyone's favourite part of every videogame, after the water level. Fuck. FUCK. NO. 

The Collection is a completely different genre than the first. We've gone from home invasion to an action body-horror film. Everything that made the original so effective has been modernified. I made that up. Modernised? Yeah. See, by the time this move was released, 3 Hostel films and maybe 4-5 Saw films were released. Paranormal Activity was on the rise, with its 4th installment to compete with The Collection. It was too atmosphere based for the climate at the time, and didn't have anything for the paranormal craze. Action and slaughter were still getting their budgets back so...

It had one redeeming factor. It didnt overstay its welcome like the first. But, to be honest, I had started playing Animal Crossing on my phone by then so I really can't be sure.