#elinor like.............this is suspicious

[earlgreyandanime]

Willoughby: Please, Ms. Dashwood, just let me explain! Maybe then you'll hate me a little less. You see, when I first met your sister, she fed my vanity, and so I kept paying attention to her for my sake and didn't care about her own feelings at all.

Me:... In what universe is this little speech meant to help you?

Willoughby:... and I never had a lot of money, but that didn't stop me from behaving like I did and surrounding myself with rich friends I could take advantage of. I knew I had to marry someone with money to support the lifestyle I wanted, and I also knew that your sister was far too poor to provide that kind of money for me.

Me: Seriously, why are you still talking?

Willoughby:... Then I realized I actually cared about your sister! And I was going to tell her, but then my one rich relative, who I'm supposed to inherit from, found out I seduced, impregnated, and abandoned a young woman. She threatened to take me out of her will unless I married the woman, but I couldn't possibly do that! And since that meant I would be denied my inheritance, I would have to marry someone rich because I like expensive things. So, I broke up with your sister and prayed I would never have to see her again.

Me: I would love nothing more than to jump into this book and strangle you.

Willoughby:... I remember the day I left your sister. I saw her heart break, and I hated myself for it! I was tortured!

Me: You deserve to be tortured.

Willoughby:... When I found out you were both in town and that she still cared about me, I realized I still cared about her, but by then, I was engaged. So, I decided to avoid you, but I also followed you around the city quite a bit, and I'm so lucky neither of you ever noticed me watching!

Me:.... I have no response to this....

Willoughby:... How miserable I was during that time! In love with your sister but engaged to another! And when we met at the party, your sister, so beautiful, wanting an explanation and my fiance jealous. What agony I was in!

Me: You did this to yourself!

Willoughby:... Your sister wrote me a letter. Remember? Well, my fiance saw it and was suspicious, so she told me what to write as a reply. I hated to do that to your sister but I was already engaged and I needed her money! Don't feel bad for her, though. She knew I didn't love her when we married. So, Ms. Dashwood, have I made you hate me a little less? Do you see that I actually did love your sister and suffer for all the pain I caused her?

Elinor: Yes, you've redeemed yourself a tiny bit.

Me: Elinor, you are a better woman than I.

Willoughby: Well, it's time for me to go and continue my miserable life. I will never be happy in my marriage, but it's nice to know you wish me well. Marianne is completely lost to me, isn't she? Even if I were to ever become free of my marriage-

Me: Are you serious right now?!

Willoughby: Alright then, I will return to my own life and continue in dreadful suspension, waiting for the day that Marianne marries another. Goodbye.

Me: Again, you did this to yourself.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Sense and Sensibility (2024, Hallmark) a review

I had expectations for this movie. They were not surpassed. It didn't perform below them either.

Spoilers under the cut.

So, this is a short movie (1.24hr long) a tv movie, a hallmark movie. You must keep that in mind as a frame of reference for what I'm about to say. You cannot really compare this with theatrical movies on equal footing.

Where to start. Costumes and sets. It is Bridgerton's world and we live in it. Everything is VERY colorful and shiny and not very real looking; that was to be expected. I think that sort of semi-fantasy aspect didn't hurt at all, and it was consistent. If you are not going to stick to the time period, at least go ham and show me something really interesting. I'm looking at you, Netflix Persuasion. There are some dresses that are pretty, and some others that... aren't. Considering that apparently the costume designer had to make something like 60 pieces in a month, it's kind of impressive that it came out as it did.

One funny bit, though, in this respect, is that they complain about how small the cottage is like some actual estate houses aren't the same size IRL XD Allenham we only get to see from afar, and it is rather disappointing.

Music: nothing to write home about, to be expected. Yes, we got one of those Vitamin String Quartet modern-song-played-by-strings. IDK. They were a bit dorky in their heyday, I don't know why they are so sought after in these pieces lately. I digress.

The acting. Deborah Ayorinde was a really good Elinor. She definitely deserved better writing and direction. The rest of the cast was good enough; I feel some roles really benefited from their characters being a bit hammy already in the source material (Lucy, Mrs Jennings, Anne, Fanny, Robert), others were really struggling because of being given very poor dialogue (Mrs Dashwood), and others were just... not good (Willoughby and Brandon, sadly). Edward was... a very special case. I can only describe it as the actor having two expressions: one, an attempt at reaching Hugh Grant's adorkableness AND Dan Stevens' ease at the same time, and two [SCREAMING INTERNALLY], but I guess those two were indeed enough to make it work just fine!

Which leads me to the writing. We all knew this adaptation was going to live or die in the writing, and most likely die.

The thing is that most of it is written around repeating 95' and 08's greatest hits, while attempting to compress the narrative into an hour and a half. And that goes as well as you can expect it to. Some scenes are painfully rushed -Brandon's backstory was extremely awkward to get through- some things are over before you have any time to assess their real weight -Marianne's illness, and many others end up being... incongruous.

Let me stop a little on those. The movie keeps Margaret, and gives her the whole play acting as a pirate with Edward from 95', but then removes the only real plot relevant thing she does in the book. So why keep the character at all? (Willoughby asks for Marianne's handkerchief in exchange for Queen Maab, instead of cutting a lock of her hair).

Because 2008 makes Brandon suspicious of Willoughby from the get go, this one makes it so that they know each other and implies that Brandon knows dirt on Willoughby, but then plays the rest of the story straight, which makes it... pretty inconsistent.

Speaking of Brandon, we have reached adaptation #5 that cuts out the fact that he tried to elope with Eliza sr. This time the backstory is that his father promised to let him marry Eliza if he proved himself as a soldier, but when he came back, he found his father has kicked her out of the house. Yeah, that was utter nonsense.

The adaptation makes a clumsy attempt at including the dinner at Mrs Ferrars... but Brandon isn't there to see Marianne defend Elinor.

We needed to have a "Brandon rescues Marianne in the rain" scene, but in this case, she's not faint or anything, he just grabs her because she's sad XD

And the list goes on and on and on. It was to be expected that the shadow of both 95 and 08 would be large over this one, but it truly is to the point that the references and contrivances are almost constant. Which is a pity because I think most of the original choices were interesting.

For example, Marianne twists her ankle running after Margaret, to try and stop her from asking something embarrassing, which is a good choice in terms of showing that Marianne is passionate, but she has more sense than Margaret.

On his deathbed, Mr Dashwood makes Elinor promise that she will take care of her mom and sisters and keep the family together. That added pressure on Elinor works really well in the context of the adaptation, and ads a new layer of interest.

John Dashwood is written mostly as a hapless but not malicious idiot. This is similar to what From Prada to Nada did (though there it made more sense because of the father having two families simultaneously), but I'm not sure where was that going. They did cut the Palmers, so I suppose the choice was so that they could go to Norland instead on their way to Barton (it is never established that Norland is so far away as it is in the book, so I guess one could give it a pass), but in that case, I feel the most cost effective shortcut is... have them go to Barton? Because we do get to see Barton (Marianne goes alone with Brandon to see it close to the end, and they get engaged before Edward returns, don't think much about it, manners and such are... for this movie... loose guidelines. But it isn't super offensive most of the time).

Anne Steele is decent fun as she's supposed to be, but Lucy really suffers the flattening. The mastermind has been flanderized into just a mean girl, and that's a pity.

Oh, Edward is sassy at times! And the sassy jokes land! I have to say it is not my preferred way of doing the character, but he does show some sass at the end of the novel, so, you know, I'll allow it I suppose XD

Edward's return and proposal started pretty good, but it overstayed its welcome. I cannot emphasize enough that, when writing this kind of proposal, you must avoid the word love if you can, and if you must use it, use it once, and with great reluctance.

The movie chooses to dedicate quite a time to the reveal of Edward and Lucy's relationship, and it's honestly... decent? For a scene made out of whole cloth it stands on its own feet reasonably well. But there's no Fanny freakout. This is probably the most shocking plot twist in the adaptation. This very on-the-nose Hallmark adaptation decided to cut the Fanny freakout of all things. Impressive restraint.

One thing, however, that was sadly cut out was Elinor and Marianne's conversation about Willoughby at Barton. It is instead replaced by an unsubtle comparison between Willoughby and Edward, and an exchange between Brandon and Marianne. It is one of the several points where the storytelling relies on previous knowledge of the work.

These are my main, disordered thoughts. I leave you with this choice from the ending, that I cannot form a thought about:

At Elinor and Edward's wedding, on the first pew are in attendance, from center to side: Mrs Dashwood, Margaret, Marianne, colonel Brandon... and Eliza Williams with her baby in her arms.

As a summary, I'd say Elinor and Edward's story was good enough, the relationship between the sisters was sweet, there were some odd choices, some interesting choices, and overall the writing was severely downgraded by attempting so much to stick to the choices of previous famous adaptations.

[bethanydelleman]

Maria Bertram’s Guilt in Mansfield Park

Jane Austen often lays out guilt very exactly, and when it comes to Maria and Henry Crawford, the blame lies on both sides. Henry did not ruin Maria, she very much ruined herself, or at least was an equal partner in her ruination. This post will focus on Maria’s side of the guilt.

When the Bertrams met the Crawfords, Maria is already engaged, and yet:

“He was, in fact, the most agreeable young man the sisters had ever known, and they were equally delighted with him. Miss Bertram’s engagement made him in equity the property of Julia, of which Julia was fully aware; and before he had been at Mansfield a week, she was quite ready to be fallen in love with.

Maria’s notions on the subject were more confused and indistinct. She did not want to see or understand.” 

Maria knows that she should leave Henry to Julia, but she doesn’t. She allows herself to be pleased by him. She is jealous when Julia gets attention, like riding on the barouch box to Sotherton, you know, where her fiance lives.

Then Henry leaves for two weeks, and we are told, “a fortnight of such dullness to the Miss Bertrams as ought to have put them both on their guard, and made even Julia admit, in her jealousy of her sister, the absolute necessity of distrusting his attentions, and wishing him not to return” But they both enjoy the attention too much, such that, Henry “was welcomed thither quite as gladly by those whom he came to trifle with further.”

I find this passage interesting, because the Bertram sisters have been sheltered, especially compared to Mary Crawford, but I think the point is that their rivalry has made them vulnerable. Henry could not have played Jane and Elizabeth Bennet or Elinor and Marianne Dashwood off each other, those sisters would have dismissed him entirely or surrendered claim to the other. It is because Maria will not let Julia have what is rightfully hers (not that Henry was ever going to marry either of them), that allows the flirtation to progress as far as it does.

Then the play happens and Julia comes to her senses: “The influence of his voice was felt. Julia wavered; but was he only trying to soothe and pacify her, and make her overlook the previous affront? She distrusted him. The slight had been most determined. He was, perhaps, but at treacherous play with her. She looked suspiciously at her sister; Maria’s countenance was to decide it: if she were vexed and alarmed—but Maria looked all serenity and satisfaction, and Julia well knew that on this ground Maria could not be happy but at her expense.”

Maria, engaged, with a single sister, is rejoicing in having Henry prefer her as Agatha. It’s bad. When Edmund reflects on this time later, he says, “I am shocked whenever I think that Maria could be capable of it” 

Then we get to the all important meeting in London. Maria is cold at first, which was intelligent, but when Henry starts to flirt with her again, she seems to entirely forget the past. He has played with her before and left her before, but unlike Julia, who assiduously avoids Henry, Maria flings herself right back at him. And that leads to her ruin.

To quote Edmund, “Maria was wrong, Crawford was wrong, we were all wrong together”

One last question: would Maria have been happy in her marriage if she hadn’t met Henry Crawford?

I doubt it! Rushworth is stupid and she doesn’t actually like him. The marriage was entirely mercenary, which we only see turn out well once in Jane Austen’s works. Maria Bertram is no Charlotte Lucas, who is kind and respectful to her husband despite disliking him. Maria isn’t invited to dinner and spends the entire evening moping. Maria was straying while engaged and flirting with someone else in front of her intended, I find it very unlikely that she will become more loyal when married. I suspect that in Brighton or London she would have met another man she loved and would have a flirtation or affair with him. Because the Crawfords exposed the cracks in the Bertram family, they didn’t create them.

[hauntedselves]

I've tried to find info on what covert npd looks like without running into narc abuse bullshit. do you have any insight on some of the subtler ways npd can present?

here's what elinor greenberg says on covert NPD

this article lists "10 signs of covert NPD" but i'm not sure how medically accurate/trusted this website/author is. also leads directly into an anti-npd article at the end so...

so i hit the academic journals. this is long & jargon-y, lmk if anything needs clarification

Kenneth N. Levy, ‘Subtypes, Dimensions, Levels, and Mental States in Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder’, Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session (2012), pp. 886-897.

“... the covert type is hypersensitive to others’ evaluations, inhibited, manifestly distressed, and outwardly modest. Gabbard (1989) described these individuals as shy and “quietly grandiose,” with an “extreme sensitivity to slight,” which “leads to an assiduous avoidance of the spotlight” (p. 527). The covert type can also express grandiosity through an overidentification with suffering and distress (e.g., they suffer more than anyone else).”

“… Bursten (1973) proposed four types of narcissistic personalities: (a) craving individuals, who are clinging, demanding, and needy; (b) paranoid individuals, who are critical and suspicious; (c) manipulative individuals, who derive satisfaction from conscious and deliberate deception of others; and (d) the phallic narcissist who is aggressive, exhibitionistic, reckless, and daring. These distinctions seem overly broad and include characteristics of individuals with other disorders, but generally correspond to the overt-covert distinction (e.g., paranoid and phallic correspond to the grandiose type and craving corresponds to the vulnerable type).”

“Kohut and Wolf (1978) described three subtypes based on interpersonal relationships: (a) merger-hungry individuals who must continually attach and define themselves through others; (b) contact shunning individuals who avoid social contact because of fear that their behaviors will not be admired or accepted; and (c) mirror-hungry individuals who tend to display themselves in front of others. Implicit in each of these subtypes is a condensation between overt and covert dynamics. For example, contact shunning individuals believe they should be admired, tend to be dismissive of others, and may not show observable anxiety, yet they can be very anxious for others’ acceptance.”

“[Millon] conceptualized NPD as a prototype and distinguished among five subtypes: (a) an amorous subtype that shows prominent histrionic features and is exhibitionistic; (b) an unprincipled type that is exploitive and shows antisocial features; (c) a compensatory type that shows elevations in avoidant and/or passive-aggressive traits; (d) an elitist type that tends toward self-promotion and has an inflated self-concept; and (e) a fanatic type that is characterized by paranoid features and omnipotence. These subtypes tend to emphasize the overt/grandiose aspects of NPD.”

“... Wink (1991) identified two orthogonal dimensions of narcissism: vulnerable-sensitive and grandiose-exhibitionist. And, in a 20-year longitudinal study, Wink (1992) identified three patterns of narcissism—hypersensitive (vulnerable), willful (grandiose), and autonomous (or healthy)—that showed quite distinct patterns of personality change during the transition from college to midlife. In their early 40s, hypersensitive narcissists showed a course of steady decline relative to how they had been functioning in their early 20s. Willful narcissists showed little change at 43 years of age relative to 21 years of age, after showing some growth in their late 20s. Autonomous, or healthy, narcissists, following conflict in their late 20s, experienced a surge of personality development by their early 40s, as indicated by satisfying intimate interpersonal relationships and career satisfaction and successes. Wink found that his group of hypersensitive (or covert) narcissists described their parental relationships as generally lacking warmth and reported feeling insecure in their relationship with their mothers. His willful (or overt) narcissists reported an attitude of dislike toward their mothers with concurrent pride in their fathers.”

“Russ, Shedler, Bradley, and Westen (2008) also found three subtypes among patients meeting criteria for NPD: (a) grandiose/malignant; (b) fragile; and (c) high functioning/exhibitionistic. Grandiose narcissists were described as angry, interpersonally manipulative, and lacking empathy and remorse; their grandiosity was seen as neither defensive nor compensatory. Fragile narcissists demonstrated grandiosity under threat (defensive grandiosity) and experienced feelings of inadequacy and anxiety, indicating that they vacillate between superiority and inferiority. High functioning narcissists were grandiose, competitive, attention seeking, and sexually provocative; they tended to show adaptive functioning and utilize their narcissistic traits to succeed.”

“Rather than distinguishing between overt and covert types as discrete forms of narcissism, Kernberg (1992) noted that the overt and covert expressions of narcissism may reflect different clinical manifestations of the disorder, with some traits being overt and others covert. He contended that narcissistic individuals hold contradictory views of the self that vacillate between the clinical expression of overt and covert symptoms. Thus, the overtly narcissistic individual most frequently presents with grandiosity, exhibitionism, and entitlement but, in the face of failure or loss, these individuals may become depressed, depleted, and feel painfully inferior. The covertly narcissistic individual will often present as shy, timid, and inhibited, but upon closer contact, reveal exhibitionistic and grandiose fantasies.”

Besser, Avi & Priel, Beatrice, ‘Emotional Responses to a Romantic Partner's Imaginary Rejection: The Roles of Attachment Anxiety, Covert Narcissism, and Self-Evaluation’, Journal of Personality (2009), pp. 287-325.

Covert narcissism is characterised “by self-focused attention (i.e., hypersensitivity to other people’s evaluation of oneself”.

“A few recent studies compared attachment anxiety and narcissistic personality structures. The anxiety dimension of attachment has been found to include strong narcissistic elements, such as the need to idealize the partner (Feeney & Noller, 1990; Hazan & Shaver, 1987), hypervigilance to cues of separation, and greater distress over separation (Mikulincer, Kedem, & Paz, 1990). Strategies related to attachment anxiety seem to mainly serve the needs of a depleted self and not those of the relationship (see also Mikulincer, Paz, & Kedem, 1990). Dickinson and Pincus (2003) have reported a strong link between covert narcissism and anxious (or fearful) styles of adult attachment, as well as a weaker link with attachment avoidance. Smolewska and Dion (2005) report compelling evidence on the association between covert narcissism and the anxiety dimension of romantic attachment; these authors assume a close association between feelings of self-unworthiness and attachment anxiety.”

Bele, Sabina, ‘Narcisizem in obrambni mehanizmi pri ženskah’, Psihološka obzorja (2014), pp. 11-20.

“… women with higher levels of covert narcissism as a personality trait use defense mechanisms, especially regression on earlier developmental stage, compensation deficits on other areas, projection unwanted or unacceptable aspects, reaction formation, and dissociation (absorption, depersonalization and derealization) more often than women with higher levels of overt narcissism. The later use more compensation as a way of dealing with loss, intellectualization as a rational response instead of emotional one, and regression.”

Zondag, Hessel J., & van Uden, Marinus H. F., ‘I Just Believe in Me: Narcissism and Religious Coping’, Archiv für Religionspsychologie (2010), pp. 69-85.

“Covert narcissism has the other [person] as its starting point: it is an inwardly directed comparison with others. The person is sensitive to other people’s opinions and is easily hurt or embarrassed.”

“In the covert dimension the person feels immediately subject to the judgement of others, and people with strongly overt traits also need others in order to feel that they are somebody significant. The difference is that in overt dependence the self dominates the other, whereas in covert dependence the other dominates the self. In both types of narcissism, moreover, the person’s own needs predominate over those of other people and the person has fantasies of grandeur and excellence, although in the covert type these are less openly displayed than in the overt type.”

“Covert narcissism is generally believed to be dysfunctional, and overt narcissism to be productive and constructive. Covert narcissism is often coupled with an absence of meaning in life, depression, emptiness and boredom, whereas the occurrence of the overt dimension generally appears to coincide with a sense of leading a meaningful life and the absence of emptiness, depression and boredom.”

“Covert narcissism is characterized by a relational pattern in which people allow others to influence them. In contact with others, they see themselves as passive and others as active.”

[west1rosi]

HOUSE TYRE.LL DURING THE MAIN SONG OF ICE AND FIRE.

house   tyrell   aspires   to   rise   into   power   once   the   targaryens   are   out   of   the   door   and   robert   baratheon   knocks   on   their   door.   margaery,   renly's   former   wife,   is   set   to   marry   joffrey   and   later   king   tommen.   willas   tyrell   is   the   heir   of   highgarden   and   a   former   knight   himself   before   an   injury,   still   seen   as   a   high   bachelor   due   to   the   wealth   of   the   tyrells.   garlan   married   lady   leonette   fossoway   who   was   margaery's   main   lady   until   the   lady   had   suspicious   of   a   pregnancy   and   was   moved   to   highgarden.   elinor   tyrell,   margaery's   cousin   and   the   eldest   of   her   young   ladies,   is   bethroded   although   very   openly   flirty   and   open   with   her   affections   at   court.

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[fictionadventurer]

Her Feet Beneath Her Petticoat, romance

Her Feet Beneath Her Petticoat by Angela Acker

In her first London season, Elinor Carstairs enchanted the Earl of Ashby, but her father's death forced her to leave town before any intentions could be declared, leaving the Earl nothing to remember her by except one lost shoe.

When Elinor becomes a ward of her aunt, she is treated like a servant, forced to serve as a maid to her nearly identical cousin, Isabella. Elinor remains hidden away while Isabella goes into society, and her cousin attracts the attention of none other than the Earl of Ashby--who believes her to be Elinor. Isabella will do anything to continue the deception, and Elinor is forced to keep her true identity hidden as her cousin romances the man she loves. But as the Earl grows more suspicious, Elinor's lost shoe may be the key to unraveling this question of identity.

[girl4music]

Calliope Burns: Identity VS Spirit. Emotionally guarded in effort to protect her heart.

So I said I would write a post about how emotionally guarded Calliope is to protect her heart. First of all, what you have to understand about this before I go into it is that what I mean about the “heart” isn’t just in a “love” way. Yeah, she’s protecting herself from falling in love or from being hurt through her love for Juliette but it goes much deeper and the only way I can think to explain it is using the Legacy Atwood decree with Elinor, Margot and Davina that’s expressed in episode 3: “The centre of all strength, the home of all desire is the heart. Emerald Malkia willed it so”. What does this mean exactly? Well, I have no idea what it means in canon but I can interpret what it means for explaining Calliope’s behaviour pattern of lying to not just Juliette but pretty much everyone she interacts with. Calliope protects her will. That is to say that she safeguards what she most desires or what she is most familiar with. What is most precious to her or what she covets the most. And that is her “self” in regards to how she’s always known herself to be in her heart and what she thinks she must continue to be with the only outside or external influence on her being her family of monster hunters and Juliette. Her identity or what she believes to be her identity is something she wants to safeguard the same way the Legacy vampire Keeper has to safeguard the Emerald Malkia. Has to protect it. I only refer to it as the “heart” rather than identity because I don’t necessarily believe in identity. That’s a very fickle concept to me as someone who always puts spirit first. But Calliope’s purpose is not a fickle one. It’s not something that’s there one day and then changed the next. It is something that she absolutely grounds her “self” in and always has. It is so ingrained into her psyche that she knows it like she knows her blood. And this doesn’t fluctuate until Juliette comes into her life because what is revealed is that she confuses who she actually is with who she believes she should be or who she’s expected to be - by herself more than anyone else. Self-expectation is Calliope’s greatest flaw or drawback. While it’s not wrong to want to expect things for yourself and it’s not wrong to want to prove yourself to yourself and your family,… what it tends to do is make you ignore your own wants and needs in the moment. What makes you happy. So what Calliope is trying to protect is not who she is and it’s not going to make her happy. What she’s protecting is a flawed understanding of her “self” and of her purpose and that’s evident when it’s not in line with what her spirit guides her to do in the moment. Thus one of her behaviour patterns is that she often lies to people a lot to not make them suspicious of her because her heart is telling her to look out for her will. What she believes is her desire, purpose and identity.

Going back to episode 3’s main theme: Instinct. Essentially what will always happen is Calliope will second guess herself and that can have detrimental effects to the way she navigates in her every day life because she’s always going to react before she acts. And with her wanting to be a warrior - which I do think is the correct path for her, just not necessarily a “monster hunter” - that’s not good. As a warrior your gut has to guide you in situations where you don’t have the time to choose between fight or flight, kill or show mercy, leave or stay,… these are split second moments that cannot be thought out or processed so better to know exactly who you are and exactly what you want before coming to face such hard decisions because you don’t have the time to decide on it. Cal’s gut doesn’t guide her because she doesn’t allow it to. She doesn’t allow it to because she’s got her own expectations of her ‘self’ and what she must achieve overruling her gut instincts. The very thing that should drive her forward is exactly what’s holding her back. Self-expectation and self-gratification. She’s always out to prove something to herself and then when she finally achieves what she thinks she has to, she doesn’t feel fully satisfied with it. It’s a fleeting moment of triumph for her and then it’s back to scrambling to appease her own sense of fulfilment. She’s a very nuanced character and therefore very compelling for me to watch. I know exactly how it feels to be so emotionally guarded in that same way. It will be interesting to see where they go in her character representation and development going forward. If we actually get a Season 2 continuation that is. I’m not holding out much hope to be honest.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Random comic issues from the local antique store: an overview, part 2/5

Batman #436, August 1989. Part of a series called Batman Year 3, part one of four. I don't have the other three parts, but I was glad to find this one (even if it's quite tattered and water-damaged) because of its very significant flashback.

It's sunset, and Batman overlooks the harbor, waiting. "It will be another hour," the narration tells us, "before the Batman feels more at home." He's there to prevent another killing after a recent series of hits on mob bosses, but despite his efforts, he's too late, and he stalks away, bedraggled and self-critical.

Meanwhile, at the courthouse, a committee discusses the possible parole of Tony Zucco, murderer of John and Mary Grayson. Some think that Zucco has paid his debt to society and is ready to be released, and there's reluctance to hear from a mysterious person who apparently argues against releasing him every year, but the committee lets this person in.

Also meanwhile, Dick Grayson has returned to Wayne Manor to speak to Bruce, who obviously isn't home at that time of night. It's been two years since Dick left, and he isn't finding the place quite as he remembered.

He finds no evidence in the Batcave or Bruce's room that Jason, who has been dead only a few weeks, ever even lived there. And he's getting concerned.

Back at the courthouse, the mysterious man relates Zucco's backstory, an upbringing of violence and abuse, culminating in tragedy and choosing the wrong path. The committee cuts the story short, saying they know all this, but the mysterious man urges them to think of Zucco's victims, specifically "not the ones he killed...but the one who lived. The boy. Richard Grayson. I want you to think about him."

Flashback time! Haly's Circus. Oh, look, a random couple and their little dark-haired son. Probably not important to this narrative, of course.

Anyway, young Dick is your typical all-American child acrobat. He practices handstands with his mom. He makes plans to go see a movie with one of the clowns after tonight's show (to get out of doing his homework!). Everyone at the circus is fond of him, even Elinore the elephant. And his dad has managed to get them tickets to the World Series! Things couldn't be better. After a family visiting the circus wants to get a picture taken with the Graysons (surely that's not going to be important later)...

Mary Grayson takes her son aside and asks if he's happy where they are. "We're not leaving, are we?" he asks. "I never want to leave." She speculates a moment about "what it would be like to stay in one place like a real family" (and I, who grew up in a very real military family that moved a lot, would probably ask her to rephrase that statement), but she dismisses the thought and tells Dick she loves him.

And then Dick overhears a conversation between Mr. Haly and someone called Zucco, which sounds suspicious, but the Graysons' act is on, and there's no time to talk.

The little boy who's at the circus with his parents is fascinated by Dick's "incredible, impossible quadruple flip of doom." His mom suggests that he could someday do that too, but his dad isn't too fond of that idea. This probably isn't foreshadowing for anything, I'm sure.

And...well, you know how the Flying Graysons' last act turns out. Both Dick and the little boy (whose mom covered her own eyes, not his) witness the death. They're horrified.

And that's when Batman shows up, in full view of the crowd. He points out that the rope didn't fray, it was cut, and a distraught Dick tells him about Zucco and begs him to kill his parents' murderer. He's ready to do it himself if Batman won't.

He doesn't, of course.

The mysterious man draws a comparison between the young Zucco and Dick and the differences in their responses to parental death and the desire for revenge. He stresses his point that Zucco should not be free to harm others, and the committee dismisses him while they deliberate.

This man is, of course, Alfred, and his final request is that they "please decide justly. I fear for the sanity of the boy who may have lost too much."

The narrative returns to Dick, still in the Batcave alone, and pondering how out of hand things have gotten:

(The dramatic reveal of that regrettable suit kind of kills this serious moment, but such was the 80s :P )

And then a final cliffhanger of Batman in a fix and that's that. A very efficient backstory of not one but two Robins, although the original audience wouldn't have known it yet. An older Tim would debut several issues later and recount his side of what happened that night at the circus.

Bonus: The "Bat-Signals" page of letters from readers includes such things as

someone complaining about a lack of Batman in a recent issue: "You already killed Robin. If you eliminate Batman then we're stuck with 'The Adventures of Alfred, the Lone Butler!'"

someone apologizing for a "harsh" letter he wrote in response to an earlier issue, acknowledging that he afterward "gave stronger thought to a different perspective about Batman's actions. I think you are right. Batman does not cross that last line nor should he. He must show himself as an example to the people and make sure that he keeps their trust. But if Batman does not cross that line, why did he want to kill the Joker after Robin's death? Does he still feel that way?" The editor replies, "Probably Batman does not feel that way any longer. Wounds heal and scar over and Batman is human." Already some Discourse on the handling of Jason's death!

someone who had read the comic for twenty years noting that "inconsistent characterization of Batman has followed economic and social cycles." Darker interpretations and plotlines came at times of war or economic hardship, while better times aligned with a lighter take on the character. The reader says he prefers the Batman of the 50s/60s, when he "operate[d] during daylight hours" and "the Batman family [was] better represented." He points out that after the death of Robin, "when Batman becomes a crazed loner, the entire supporting cast suffers. Is there no room for a lighter side in a man driven to fight crime because of the murder of his parents?"

and someone else (whom I suspect was young) writing rather poignantly, "I love Batman comics, but why did you kill Robin? I liked Jason a lot. I got all his comics. I found out in a magazine that Robin was going to die. I miss him. But why did you kill him?"

...the editor makes no comment.

Next time: fast forward a few years to early in Tim's career as Robin.

[margoshansons]

How does Otto and Elinor's relationship change once she's pregnant, and when she has a son?

OH MAN. SO MUCH CHANGES.

I'll start with when Elinor gets pregnant.

When she tells him the truth, he is immediately wary, because all of their previous attempts have been unsuccessful (for a gd reason but anyway) and he assumes that she is lying to him and trying pass off a bastard as a Hightower.

However, once he realizes (I think Alicent probably says something that gives him that eureka moment) that this child is his, he is elated. He is more affectionate and loving with her than he has ever been, although he is admittedly a little suspicious.

Otto is still a misogynist so he doesn't give Elinor too much free reign until he knows whether it's a boy or not, but he involves her in the politics of the realm, the ideas looming in his head, and even though Elinor isn't allowed to go on daily rides or walk about the keep without an escort, she finds herself excelling at politics and Otto actually heeding her ideas for once.

(it's just a shame this happens like the day before the events of 1x04)

And as for when they finally have a son...idk if this is in character and it's def subject to change, but this is what I have in mind cause I got to give the guy some redeeming qualities.

Because here's the thing, Otto already has two kids, he already has a son, but he's also seen childbirth take many lives, especially the lives of previously hale and healthy women (Aemma among them).

He's heard of the fertility of the Tully women, but when he actually sees Elinor give birth to their son, it reaffirms his conviction of remarrying, which he had originally questioned when he first married Elinor.

It reinforces the belief that this was the correct choice, and Otto...is now putty in Elinor's hands.

It's actually kind of sad, because while Alicent is on the throne and Gwayne is Commander of the city watch, Otto sees his son with Elinor as the first child he can truly raise without pushing any expectations or ambitions on him. Most of his ambitions have been realized at this point, so he starts treating his son like an actual child.

And Elinor is finally starting to be taken seriously in the household as Lady Hightower instead of the young girl she used to be. Otto is giving her more tasks to handle, trusting her to play politics and be the guiding hand for House Hightower while he raises the son.

It's very strange because the gender dynamics almost shift, and Elinor gains more power.

As their son gets older, obviously Otto tries to place more of his ambitions on his shoulders (particularly with consolidating power in the reach) but he's honestly truly grateful to Elinor for allowing him to be just a father for a brief moment of his life.

[withfireandbl00d]

Maegor I Targaryen, also known as Maegor the Cruel, was the third Targaryen king to sit the Iron Throne. He was the son of King Aegon I Targaryen and his elder sister-wife, Queen Visenya Targaryen. He had an older half-brother, Aenys I Targaryen.

The polygamous Maegor had six wives: Ceryse Hightower, Alys Harroway, Tyanna of the Tower, Elinor Costayne, Jeyne Westerling, and his niece Rhaena Targaryen, the last three of whom are known as the Black Brides.

Appearance and Character :

Maegor was a tall, broad, and fearsomely strong man, larger than his father, Aegon I Targaryen. He was bull-like, with heavy shoulders, a thick neck, and huge arms. Though he was on the heavy side, he was not fat, but more massive and square. He kept his hair short and his beard trimmed to his jawline. He had angry-looking, suspicious eyes, and a scowling mouth.

Maegor was a born warrior whose skill with weapons was unmatched. He lived for war, tourneys, and battle, and rose to become one of the youngest and finest knights of his time. However, he was also a hard and brutal man who craved violence, death, and absolute mastery over all he deemed his. His savagery in the field and his harshness toward defeated enemies was frequently remarked upon.

Maegor was quarrelsome, quick to take offense, slow to forgive, and fearsome in his wroth. He was a rigid man, unyielding, and unbending. He preferred fire and steel over settling issues through discussion, and showed cruel tendencies early in his childhood. Although he had many companions throughout his youth, he had no true friends, and even as an adult Maegor trusted no one.

Maegor wore his father's Valyrian steel-and-ruby crown. His armor, however, was more elaborate than Aegon's. Instead of a shirt of scale, Maegor wore a breastplate, covered by a surcoat that displayed the Targaryen three-headed dragon, red on black.

What demon possessed him none could say. Even today, some give thanks that his tyranny was a short one, for who knows how many noble houses might have vanished forever simply to state his desire. —writings of Yandel

Maegor, the First of His Name, came to the throne after the sudden death of his brother, King Aenys, in the year 42 AC. He is better remembered as Maegor the Cruel, and it was a well-earned sobriquet, for no crueler king ever sat the Iron Throne. His reign began with blood and ended in blood as well. —writings of Yandel

Maegor, the First of His Name, came to the throne after the sudden death of his brother, King Aenys, in the year 42 AC. He is better remembered as Maegor the Cruel, and it was a well-earned sobriquet, for no crueler king ever sat the Iron Throne. His reign began with blood and ended in blood as well. —thoughts of Catelyn Stark

King Maegor wanted no rats in his own walls, if you take my meaning. He did require a means of secret egress, should he ever be trapped by his enemies, but that door does not connect with any other passages. —Varys to Tyrion Lannister

Reign : 42–48 AC

Coronation : 42 AC Dragonstone

Full name : Maegor of House Targaryen, the First of His Name

Titles :

Prince

Ser

Hand of the King

King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men

Lord of the Seven Kingdoms

Protector of the Realm

Predecessor : King Aenys I Targaryen

Heirs :

Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen (disinherited)

Princess Aerea Targaryen

Successor : King Jaehaerys I Targaryen

Aliases :

The Prince of Dragonstone

Maegor the Cruel

The Abomination on the Iron Throne

Born : 12 AC Dragonstone

Died : 48 AC King's Landing

Buried : 48 AC Dragonstone

Race : Valyrian

Culture : Crownlander

Dynasty : Targaryen

Queens :

Ceryse Hightower (42–45 AC)

Alys Harroway (42–44 AC)

Tyanna of the Tower (42–48 AC)

Elinor Costayne (47–48 AC)

Rhaena Targaryen (47–48 AC)

Jeyne Westerling (47–48 AC)

Issue : Three stillborn children A bastardman-at-arms(allegedly)

Father : King Aegon I Targaryen

Mother : Queen Visenya Targaryen

Books :

The World of Ice & Fire (mentioned)

Fire & Blood (mentioned)

The Rise of the Dragon (mentioned)

The Sons of the Dragon (mentioned)

The Rogue Prince (mentioned)

The Princess and the Queen (mentioned)

The Sworn Sword (mentioned)

A Game of Thrones (mentioned)

A Clash of Kings (mentioned)

A Storm of Swords (mentioned)

A Feast for Crows (mentioned)

A Dance with Dragons (mentioned)

Fancast(s) : Peter Franzén / Alexander Ludwig

[drollonamusicbox]

The Batman

If I’m being entirely honest, I didn’t used to give a shit about Batman.

Sure, I’d gladly turn on LEGO Batman for the kids and chuckle along with Will Arnett’s tax-avoidance jokes, but it was just another cartoon. Or perhaps I’d watch one of the Nolan Batman movies and hide my face during the spooky bits, while primarily investing for the popcorn and inevitable, choreographed-to-perfection-bad-guy-ass-kickings. It was just a franchise, just a movie, just a name. And then some psycho strangled a lady in front of me and my kids at the park.

I should explain.

Sunday evening, December 12th. We were at the park across the street from our home; my then-husband, me, our two daughters. My ex had the weekend off, and it was our last few hours together before we rinsed and repeated the week. We’d been at this park a hundred times before, and on evenings just like this. December in Tucson actually isn’t too infernal–it was about 75 degrees, and the sun was beginning to dip in the sky. I had just taken a picture of Elinor, then 11 months old, as she worked her hardest to evade us around the play structures. That was when I noticed the woman.

She was walking fast. Really fast, and she was wearing what looked like pajamas, but with a thin coat over the top. I noticed the boy. He was thin, and it looked as if he was struggling a bit to keep up with the woman’s (spoiler alert–it’s his mom) pace. There was something about the pair that kept pulling my focus as I was chasing my Houdini baby. It wasn’t until I saw the man that I became suspicious.

The mom had climbed up the nearest play structure with her son (a tad unusual for a child his age–he looked circa seven to eight years old), but it quickly became clear that her proximity to him was deliberate.

The man was tall. Taller than my ex (keeping in mind that at 5″1 literally everyone above my height looks tall), and bulky. He was white with a trimmed, red beard. He had a baseball cap on, and he was also walking quickly. He did not look pursued.

And that fucker immediately pissed me off because he was smoking. I know adults are gonna do what adults are gonna do, but I will _always_ be annoyed when folks smoke around kids/kid-designated-spaces. And I feel really good about that hill being one of my “Oh-no-no’s.”

He followed her up the play structure. That was weird. Even run-of-the-mill dudes/dads/male-adult-humans at the park don’t typically do that. What’s more, the kid might as well have been invisible–that man was up there to talk to her. He kept putting his hands on her, leaning in, whispering, and every time he did I saw her focus on her son, gently untangle herself from his hands, and move herself and her son deeper into the park.

At this point I tagged in my ex. I wanted him to see what I was seeing, and I told him that I didn’t think she was safe with that man. I told him I was going to follow at a distance and watch them because I was worried. We split at that point–I took the baby and he had Marlowe. Truthfully, I doubt he shared my concern initially. I even wondered if perhaps they were a couple having a Rough Partnership Day™. Maybe I was the one overreacting?

Alas.

I was not.

There are three primary play structures at this park: a slide structure, a climbing structure, and a merry-go-round. As I watched, the man followed the woman, repeating his possessive body language at each new structure, while she continued engaging only with her son and eventually extricating herself from his reach. The park wasn’t empty by any means–there were easily two dozen people around during this entire thing. But this man was…persistent.

The woman’s only visible belongings were a plastic water bottle and a small purse. There were already about ten people at the merry-go-round, and her son wanted to join them. She kept her purse on her shoulder, but set her (mostly empty) plastic water bottle down to help push the merry-go-round once her son was on. It was such a sweet, ordinary, normal-mom-and-kid-moment. He reacted by nimmediately and aggressively crushing her water bottle in one decisive step.

And he saw me see him do it.

I made eye contact with him after he crushed the bottle, and for a moment he looked sheepish. Maybe even embarrassed. He picked the it up, and dutifully put it in a nearby garbage can. But that Turd had Showed His Ass™, and I told myself I wasn’t going to be surprised when he did it again.

I was wrong though. He did surprise me.

He recovered quickly, and in spite of the multiple adults and children around, he began repeating his behavior from before–coming close to the woman, whispering angrily in her ear, hand around her shoulders before she’d excuse herself to spin the merry-go-round again. I was deeply concerned at this point. I had previously been trailing behind Elinor, but now I picked her up and moved closer. I was perhaps 6-8 feet away, and I decided now was the time for some awkward small talk . I said something like “isn’t it fun how this thing never gets old–I loved it as a kid and it’s still so fun!” I am known to make very awkward small talk when I’m uncomfortable. She responded though. Agreed with me, and even said, “you know–I might just climb on myself! I haven’t been on one of these in a long time.”

It was such an innocent movement–play with her child, almost as if she was a kid herself again. Onlg problem--as she sat down on the merry-go-round, facing inward toward her son, the man walked up behind her and started squeezing her neck.

It was like that scene in the Marvel movie with Quicksilver–I was moving, everything else in slow-motion. I saw the her face. Her tongue was sticking out of her mouth. I could hear her gasping and choking. I don’t remember walking. I don’t even remember the weight of Elinor in my arm. What I do remember is that I started hitting a fucking stranger at the park. And that wasn’t even the wildest thing about it.

The really mindblowing thing to me was that it didn’t work. At least not at first. I hit that man with my free hand (slapping him, really) on the only part of his body I could reach–his right arm. His tattoo sleeve on his bicep was red. I remember noticing it as I hit and hissed at him to “stop it…stop!”

After several seconds he finally did stop (my smacks must’ve finally registered), but he surprised me yet again. He let go of the woman, and then turned to me, flicking his eyes to my baby, when he leaned in and said with dead, icy eyes, “I didn’t do nothin,” and he walked the fuck away like it was nbd.

At this point all the other adults activated. A Detroit-style mom who was nearby started screaming at the dude’s retreating figure, one dad called 911, and my ex heard me shouting, “I SAW YOU! I SAW WHAT YOU DID,” which prompted him to run over with Marlowe. It was…chaos. But the first thing the woman said was, “Please don’t call the police. He’s not usually like this.” Upon closer inspection, she had a painfully visible black eye. She eventually took her coat off, revealing more bruising, in various stages of healing, on her shoulders, neck, and arms. The poor thing. So determined to defend her bruiser.

And her boy. Her son. When all of this happened, I looked to gauge if he was okay. And he just held onto the merry-go-round, eyes closed, hidden inside. I have loved a few folks who disassociate to survive, and I think that’s how he survives too. He was far away. And all I could hope was that he wasn’t hurting too badly inside. During all the chaos it became clear she had retreated to park with her son that night to celebrate his birthday. He had turned eight that day.

Spoiler alert: the police never came.

I am not one to call the police out of habit, but I won’t lie–I expected something. But no one came. It was dark, and as we spoke with the woman it became clear that her Strangler was also her romantic partner and roommate.

I called three shelters that night, but it didn’t ultimately matter–she didn’t want to go to any. Shelters often (out of necessity) prioritize women–and they don’t typically take kids. She had to choose between having a safe place to land, or being with her son on his birthday and potentially beyond. Separation for her (understandably so) was intolerable. She had a non-drivable car where she told me she and her son could stay while she figured out her next step. And she emphatically communicated her unwillingness to make a police report. Brian, the name of TurdBucket, had all of her sons toys/belongings, as well as hers. Apparently he had retaliated to some previous offense by dumping all of their things in the dumpsters behind their complex (which coincidentally is also across the street from the park, less than five hundred yards away from my mailbox). She could not risk losing (including her laptop/phone) all of her resources that were still in his possession.

We bought a pizza to share with her and her son. We sang the happy birthday song.

The police never came.

We got a few missed phone calls between the hours of 11PM and 12AM, but understandably slept through both. We heard nothing more from law enforcement. This surprised me. I am not an expert or anything, but I assumed that the message “a man strangled a lady at the park–send help” would justify more than a follow-up phone call without even a voicemail.

So, the following morning I went to the police department myself.

I have never reported a crime before. And, I suppose technically I still haven’t, because they turned me away. Or rather, one officer turned me away.

I explained what had happened, explained the timeline, explained that I knew his name, where he lived, the company he worked for, I had his physical description, a picture of his license plate, phone numbers and statements from two other witnesses–and the officer only shook his head and told me that because I was not the victim that there was nothing I could do and to have a nice day.

I couldn’t believe it. And I said as much. Did he _really_ mean to tell me that a man could literally strangle a woman in front of dozens of adults and kids, and that in spite of everything, nothing would come of it unless the woman whose’ neck he specifically _squeezed_ decided to do something about it??

And he said, “yes ma-am–no victim, no crime.”

I felt defeated. I climbed into my dinged up Prius, and thought to myself, “damn. I wish that asshole HAD hit me so I could have done something about this.”

And then I did something I hadn’t done before: I took to social media. Tapping into local, communal knowledge proved valuable.

Turns out that officer WAS supposed to take my report. But I guess he just didn’t fucking feel like it.

Long story short, I barked up trees until an auditor who works for the city manager noticed. This ultimately culminated in the officer being reprimanded and “offered additional training,” and Brian (The Strangler/Plumber of Columbus Street) ended up spending a whopping three days in jail. Apparently he’s been a Very Good Boy™ up until now, so he got a lil’ hand slap, 3 counts misdemeanor (no felon charges), and he has to take an anger management class, as well as a domestic violence class. He is being prosecuted for assault, but since he has an otherwise spotless record (at least locally) it appears this is the best the system can do.

Ya’ll.

I’m a white lady, at the time married to a white surgeon, in America. And with all my resources, time, and education, THIS was the pittance law enforcement could offer me. In fact, if she hadn’t been with her son and if I hadn’t consequently involved CPS, I sincerely doubt my evidence would have even made it to someone’s desk.

I am painfully familiar with the poison of domestic abuse. I have been intimately aware of the dangerous cocktail of love and violence, and for a long time I have looked on and felt only helpless rage.

And then I watched The Batman.

And instead of seeing what I expected, I saw someone who reminded me a of myself. I saw someone who, through no fault of their own, was walking along, minding their own goddamn business when some psycho shattered the illusion that you were ever even safe in the first place.

And what’s more–I saw someone take all their pain, helplessness, and rage and turn it into hope. I saw someone who helped others believe that maybe, just maybe, someone who wants to help make the world better/safer/kinder will come along and do everything they can to make things just.

I saw The Batman. But what I really saw was me, and a version of me that I could inspire myself with.

So, basically this whole post is a movie review, and if you haven’t seen The Batman, you should

[nyc-uws]

Science Says Gossiping Is Good For You

Apparently, your social networking could seriously be improving your health

by Elinore Court 08 06 2015

Good news for all you gossipers! Ignore everyone that tells you that having a good old natter/ rant/ bitch fest is bad and to keep it all in because it turns out that it’s good for you. And there’s (sort of) science to prove it.

According to Robin Dunbar who is a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, ‘the size of your social network will have a bigger impact on your survival than anything the doctors can throw at you.’ At last! Confirmation that all our socialising and spending more hours on our phone/hanging out with mates instead of being a productive human will pay off and we will live longer.

Basically, gossiping releases endorphins that make you feel great and more of a part of something, which is good for your mind, body and soul. If you still need proof that Robin is on to something, he went on to say in his speech at the Cheltenham Science Festival that ‘you can drink as much as you like, take as little exercise as you like, take as few pills as you like and it won’t make any difference… the most important thing that will prevent you dying is the size of your social network.’So gossiping is what makes us human and helps us engage with the people around us so don’t be afraid of a bit of gossip-mongering because it will actually make people like and trust you more. Dr Jennifer Cole, from the Department of Psychology at Manchester University, has written about the short-term effects of gossiping on self-esteem and believes that ‘we know we are violating someone else’s privacy and it breaks social rules about politeness. But if people don’t gossip at all we don’t like them, we’re suspicious.’So now you are armed with all this factual evidence to throw back at gossip-haters, go forth and gossip. Thank us when your endorphins kick in and you feel super healthy.Like this? You might also be interested in:In Defence Of Being On Social Media. All Day, Every Day How To Make Friends When You're Socially Awkward And Everyone Seems To Have Mates Except You Science Says Rats Love Their Friends More Than Food. Do You? This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us

https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/science-says-gossiping-good/

Science Proves That Gossiping Is Good For You

by Adam on Jan 17, 2017

To anyone who’s ever felt too proud to gossip about someone, get your head out of the clouds. Join us. It’s actually good for you!!

Research is suggesting that venting about your feelings to others increases your health and happiness, and this includes gossiping.

Mark from Uproxx shares, “Broadly reports that the new data, out of the University of Pavia, shows that when we drop the pretenses and start speaking in earnest about others — and not even in a polite way — oxytocin levels start increasing, producing lots of nice feelings and making us feel closer to the person with whom we are sharing the most private details of our mutual friends’ failing marriage, recent unemployment, or stint in rehab-which-no-one-was-supposed-to-know-about-but-which-another-friend-told-you-and-it’s-not-like-you-can-just-keep-it-in, you know?”

Psychiatrist and author Dr. Natascia Brondino explained, “I noticed that every time my colleagues and I gossiped, we felt closer together. I started to wonder whether there was a biochemical cause for this feeling of closeness.” Dr. Brondino assembles 22 female university students, and split them into two groups. “The first group—prompted by an actress who steered the conversation—gossiped about a recent unplanned pregnancy on campus. The second, non-gossip group heard an actress tell an emotional personal story about how a sporting injury meant she might never be able to play sports again.”

Dr. Brondino discovered that the group who took part in the gossip experienced a significant increase in oxytocin, a hormone that’s been dubbed the ‘love hormone’ and the ‘bliss hormone’. Not only did that group feel better by the time they were done with the exercise, but they formed a stronger bond with their fellow group members!

Don’t say gossip never helped you!!

https://www.kiss925.com/2017/01/17/science-proves-gossiping-good/

[takahero]

in honour of finishing inkspell, here are some basta observations I picked up along the way. also, inkspell spoilers warning! i also have MANY MANY thoughts so i’d love to hear what you guys think to some of the questions raised

“He hadn’t changed: the same thin face, the same way of narrowing his eyes, and there was an amulet dangling around his neck to ward off the bad luck that Basta thought lurked under every ladder, behind every bush.” — pg.138

“Basta’s left hand was bandaged, Elinor noticed when he took his fingers away from her mouth.” — pg.139

“‘I’d have been here much sooner, believe you me, but they put me in jail for a while on account of something that happened years ago. No sooner was Capricorn gone than all the people who’d been too scared to open their mouths suddenly felt very brave.’” — pg.140 (see they never tell us WHY he was in prison, do they? the possibilities are endless. we know he committed atrocious things, like arson, but imagine if he got put in jail for something completely different…LOL)

“‘You wouldn’t believe how often I’ve told him there’s nothing to be ashamed of in going to jail, particularly when your prisons here are so much more comfortable than our dungeons at home.’” — pg.140 (OHHHTMGOD MEME IDEA)

“Basta flung his arm so roughly round Orpheus’ neck that his glasses slipped down his nose.” — pg.141

“‘Hold your tongue, Basta!’ Mortola interrupted him abruptly. ‘You’ve always liked the sound of your own voice.’” — pg.141

“‘Well, Silvertongue, I’m sorry it’s taken some time,’ he said in his soft, cat-like voice.” — pg.180

“‘My son always said revenge was a dish best eaten cold,’ observed Mortola.” — pg.181 (question. did basta find out about mortola’s true identity between inkheart & inkspell? do u think he realised it when mortola cried when capricorn died?)

“Basta passed a finger over his throat and winked at him.” — pg.186 (wink 2 LMAO)

“Basta bent down and picked up a rusty helmet lying at his feet. ‘What do you expect me to say?’ he growled, throwing the helmet back into the grass with a gloomy expression, and giving it a kick that sent it clattering against the wall. ‘Of course it’s our castle. Didn’t you see the figure of the goat on the wall there? Even the carved devils are still standing, though they wear ivy crowns now — and look, there’s one of the eyes that Slasher liked to paint on the stones.’” — pg.190

“‘So Basta was right after all. He’s dead, here and in the other world too.’” — pg.191 (interesting….so Basta knew Mortola’s plan wouldn’t work? he just wanted a ride home?)

“‘I’d really like to know what happened!’ he muttered. ‘I always said Capricorn wasn’t here, but what about the others?…What are we going to do if they’re all gone?’ Basta sounded like a boy afraid of the dark. ‘Do you want us to live in a cave like brownies until the wolves find us? Have you forgotten the wolves? And the Night-Mares, the fire-elves, all the other creatures crawling around the place…I for one haven’t forgotten them, but you would come back to this accursed spot where there are ghosts lurking behind every tree!’ He reached for the amulet dangling around his neck, but Mortola did not deign to look at him.

“‘Oh, be quiet!’ she said, so sharply that Basta flinched.” — pg.192

“‘You’re going to leave them here?’ That was Basta’s voice.” — pg.193 (at first I was like oh so he has a heart….but then he was mean to resa straight after this 🙄)

“‘Sorry, but he must have overlooked me, shut up in that cage as I was,’ purred Basta in his catlike voice.” — pg.377

“‘Wasn’t it Mortola who had you put in the cage to be fed to the Shadow?’ Basta just shrugged his shoulders and flung back his silver-grey cloak. Of course, he had his knife. A brand new one, it seemed, finer than any he’d ever had in the other world, and undoubtedly just as sharp.

“‘Yes, not very nice of her,’ he said as his fingers caressed the handle of the knife. ‘But she’s really sorry.’” — pg.377 (okay so it SOUNDS like he threatened/made some kind of bargain with his knife, but I strongly doubt that considering how afraid he seems of her?? i know he’s technically working for the adderhead but even by the end of the book, it seems he is far closer to mortola than adderhead. what is their relationship? or does he sincerely think she’s sorry/has deluded himself into believing such? UGH SO MANY QUESTIONS)

“Basta had always liked describing his own and other people’s abominable deeds in detail.” — pg.378

“‘But we’re not going to shoot you.’ Basta came a little closer to Fenoglio, his face as intent as that of a stalking cat.” — pg.378 …. living for all the cat references tbh

“‘He wants you to crawl on your belly to him, that’s what our noble lord and master likes. But never mind, he pays well!’” — pg.378 (yes basta all abt getting that bread LMAOOOO)

“He slowly drew the knife from his belt. Its blade was long and slightly curved.” — pg.379

“‘Hey Basta, I know you like the sound of your own voice.’” — pg.379 (AHAHAHAHA HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE CALLED OUT BASTA ON THIS NOW? IVE LOST TRACK)

“With a regretful sigh, Basta put the knife back in his belt. ‘Yes, very well, you’re right,’ he said in surly tones. ‘I need to take my time with this sort of thing. Questioning people is an art, a real art.’” — pg.380 (LMAOOOOOOO HE IS SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN)

“Basta. The same thin face, the same twisted smile. Only the clothes were different. Basta was no longer wearing his white shirt and black suit with the flower in his buttonhole. No, Basta now wore the Adderhead’s silvery grey, and he had a sword at his side. With a knife in his belt too, of course. But he was holding a dead chicken in his left hand.” — pg. 455

“‘Yes, they are!’ purred Basta. ‘The little witch, and the fire-eater into the bargain. It was well worth the wait. Even though I’ll probably never get that damned flour out of my lungs again.’” — pg.455 (ok….so who’s gonna draw basta sitting amongst the flour AAHHAHA)

“‘Servant? Who’s a servant here? Just listen to him. As bold as if he’d never felt my knife! Have you forgotten how you screamed when it cut your face?’” — pg.457 … don’t call basta a servant…..noted

“‘Oh, don’t look so disbelieving, little witch, I still can’t read and I don’t intend to learn, but there are enough fools around the place who can, even in this world.’” —pg. 457 (i wonder how much capricorn influenced basta’s views on reading. because capricorn said that he learnt how to read from a maid, right? so basta certainly wouldn’t have trash-talked reading in front of him. and even after living in OUR world for nine years, I’m still surprised that he never attempted to learn, given how dependent we are on it. anyway my headcanon is that he secretly wants to, but doesn’t want to give others the satisfaction of knowing they have something he doesn’t. also nobody he knows would be willing to teach him (unless he threatened them) bc of his obviously violent and short-tempered nature…and learning requires so much patience. still, though, would love a fic of basta being taught how to read in secret and having some kind of positive interaction)

“‘You’re even more talkative than you used to be, Basta.’ Dustfinger’s voice sounded as if he found this tedious.” — pg.458 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH IM DYING. honestly the animosity between them was just. A+++

“Basta was in an even worse state. He was sitting close to Mortola, his face so red and swollen that Meggie almost failed to recognise him. But he had escaped death once again. Perhaps the good-luck charms he always wore worked after all.” — pg.526

“The sunlight falling into the room made Basta’s face look like a boiled lobster.” — pg.575 

“Basta put his hand to the amulet hanging around his neck. It was not a rabbit’s paw, as he had worn in Capricorn’s service, but something that looked suspiciously like a human finger-bone.” — pg.581 (THIS STILL IRKS ME SO MUCH)

“The Piper straightened his back, as ready to attack as the viper on his master’s coat of arms…He was a good head taller than Basta.” — pg.582 WHY DO I KEEP FORGETTING HES NOT TALL LMFAO

“The two men were standing so close that the blade of Basta’s knife wouldn’t have fitted between them.” — pg.582 HAHAHAJAHAAJAHAHHAAHAHAHAH PKESJENE I LOVE THIS SO MUCH … IMAGINE BASTA SQUARING UP W HIS NOSE JUST SMACK BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF PIPER’S CHEST OR SOMETHING

“The Piper struck Basta in the face so hard that his head hit the door frame. Blood ran down his burned cheek in a trail of red. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. ‘Take care to avoid dark corridors, Piper!’ he whispered. ‘You don’t have a nose any more, but one can always find something else to cut off.’” — pg.582-583 THIS SCENE WAS SIMPLY……CHEF’S KISS

are you serious is he dead??? WHAT. okay I knew dustfinger’s love for farid would be the end of him and basta being the instrument to rip that away from him was totally heartrending. i WISH it had been more climactic? like dustfinger unleashing his fury and fighting basta, blind with anger and grief. THE DIALOGUE POTENTIAL BETWEEN THEM AS THEY FINALLY TALK ONE-ON-ONE, and then some revisiting of the scene where dustfinger has the opportunity to kill basta but AGAIN withholds because killing is not in his nature….THEN MO IN SHINING ARMOUR SWOOPS IN TO DO THE JOB

now, off to inkdeath!

[blue-rose-soul]

Rotbtd, Castlevania AU?

Okay, so I’ve never played the games - tragic, I know - but I have seen the Netflix series and enjoyed it quite a lot so that’s what I’m mainly using as the basis for these headcanons.

Also, mainly gonna focus on the Big Four and enemies here, unless I get some ideas for other characters.

Hiccup:

Hiccup’s from an entire tribe of Viking-like vampire hunters. However, he has a special ability that sets him apart from the others in his village; he’s a Forgemaster, trained under Gothi. Although he uses his skills in the service of humanity to hunt down vampires and enemy Night Creatures, he’s still somewhat of an outcast as the rest of his village fears his abilities. They use the weapons he makes and fight alongside him in battle, but Hiccup himself is the subject of a lot of gossip and conjecture, so when word came to their village of a powerful vampire amassing his armies on the mainland, Hiccup volunteered to go alone to investigate.

Although Hiccup mainly uses his skills to create weapons, he has made Night Creatures. Instead of reviving the recently deceased or pulling souls out of Hell, Hiccup creates them through wisps of conjured matter that gain intelligence. Most of his Night Creatures have dragon-like appearances and animalistic behavior. The only exception is Toothless, his favored Night Creature. Although Toothless looks and acts as animal as most of the others, Hiccup is certain that he has at least human-level intelligence. The two are fiercely protective of one another in battle.

When Hiccup and Toothless reach the mainland, they immediately get on the wrong foot with the Church who brand Hiccup a criminal and heretic upon seeing Toothless. This forces them to travel in hiding as Hiccup searches for information on the vampire warlord and allies in the fight. He finds his first ally in a princess of a vampire hunting clan.

Merida:

Like Hiccup, vampire hunting runs in Merida’s blood. Although she doesn’t have any supernatural abilities of her own, she is a fearsome sword fighter and archer. Her arrows are tipped with blessed silver and she has a sacred inscription on her sword that make both deadly to devil-kind. At first, Merida is suspicious of the strange Forgemaster and his Night Creature, but she is at least willing to give Hiccup a chance. When he explains his reason for coming to the mainland, Merida jumps at the chance to go with him to hunt down Kozmotis Pitchiner, aka Pitch Black.

Although vampire hunting is her family profession, it is usually the men in the DunBroch clan who do the fighting, while the women are more often expected to learn magic and offer support from a distance, if at all. Merida has been training to fight with her father all her life, but her mother wants her to remain within the keep and out of danger. Elinor wants her younger brothers to be the ones who take on their vampire hunting tradition, once they grow old enough. This frustrates Merida to no end and is why she is so eager to leave with Hiccup to hunt down Pitch. At first Hiccup wants nothing to do with this plan. He’d rather have the cooperation of the whole DunBroch clan than just one hunter, so he refuses and decides to try to find another way to talk with her parents. However, shortly after the keep is attacked by one of Pitch’s generals; Mor’Du.

Merida is a ruthless fighter. She does have a habit of rushing in and is quick to anger, but she offers more than a strong sword arm. Because she’s grown up in the area where Pitch is most active, she has an understanding of his movements and activities that help Hiccup figure out the vampires’ plans. She is also very knowledgeable about vampires and Night Creatures in general; their weaknesses anyway. 

Rapunzel:

The next ally Hiccup and Merida meet is the speaker magician Rapunzel. She was born to a royal family, but one of Pitch’s generals wiped them out, leaving Rapunzel as the sole survivor. Her parents gave the head of their guard a sack of gold and their baby and told him to run. He did, and eventually found the Speakers who took them both in. Rapunzel knows what became of her birth family, but considers the Speakers her real family just as much as them.

Rapunzel flourishes under the tutelage of the Speakers, wanting to learn anything and everything there was to learn. She is trained in the art of medicine but is equally a capable fighter. Her focus is on fire and lightning magic, using light to chase away the darkness. As she grows older she finds herself wanting to do more to help people who are plagued by vampires and Night Creatures. However, the Speakers are mistrusted and constantly find themselves at odds with the Church, so with villages frequently turning them away she grows frustrated with her inability to do more. So when Hiccup and Merida appear and protect her and her people from an angry mob, she thinks she’s found the solution to her problems.

Because of her study of ancient myths and lore, Rapunzel knows about a mythical hero said to be sleeping in the catacombs beneath the city. Although Hiccup is skeptical, Merida assures him that Speakers can be trusted and agrees to escort Rapunzel through the catacombs. Both are pleased and surprised to find Rapunzel doesn’t need an escort so much as backup.

Rapunzel is fascinated by Hiccup’s history; while the clan DunBroch is well known to her because her people have been traveling the area for a while, not much is known about the people of Berk on the mainland. Toothless fascinates as much as frightens her and she is curious if his existence proves that Night Creatures aren’t inherently evil after all.

Jack:

Three hundred years before Hiccup came to the mainland, Jack was a shepherd boy living peacefully with his family in a small village. Back then the church wasn’t quite so powerful and his village in particular had a strong appreciation for magic. So when Jack expressed an interest, he was allowed to study it. Fire and lightning spells escape him, for reasons he can’t quite figure out, but he is a prodigy when it comes to ice magic. By the time he was a teenager he could use powerful ice magic with very little effort. However, he didn’t have much interest in using it to fight. Sure, he used it to scare off the occasional bandit or wild animals that came to mess with the sheep, but for the most part Jack used his magic to paint patterns on the windows or create chandeliers of ice that hung from the trees, or build the perfect snow ramps for sledding. For Jack, magic was a way to add beauty and fun to the world.

Then Pitch Black came. At the time Kozmotis Pitchiner was known as a reclusive aristocrat, hiding his vampiric nature and biding his time. As he rode through the village one foggy afternoon, Jack caught his eye, as much for his unusual appearance - Jack’s albinism set him apart from the villagers - as for the ease with which he used his magic. At first, Pitch offered a sum of gold to Jack’s parents in exchange for him. When they refused he had them killed, and was about to kill Jack’s younger sister when Jack offered himself up willingly if he would just leave her alone.

Pitch turned Jack into a vampire against his will, then had him trained in combat magic. He wanted a loyal vampire who could turn one of the Church’s tools - holy water - against rival vampires who would not bow to him. However, he was not as successful at instilling loyalty in Jack as he thought.

Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel find Jack sealed in a tomb beneath the city where he has been imprisoned ever since inciting a rebellion against Pitch one hundred years ago; a rebellion consisting of humans and vampires. At first Jack is hostile, thinking that the presence of a Forgemaster means that Pitch has sent someone to kill him for good. He calms once he sees Merida and Rapunzel. When he learns that they intend to stop Pitch he agrees to join them in their quest.

Mor’Du:

Mor’Du is a warrior-wizard vampire who can take the shape of a gigantic demon bear in combat. He is tasked with eliminating with one of the biggest threats to Pitch’s plans; the DunBroch clan. He launches an assault on the fortress with the intention of slaughtering the clan, and is held off by Fergus the Bear King. Despite the clan’s defenses, Mor’Du manages to breach the fortress and bring the battle within the castle walls where his attacking force meets with the might of not just the DunBroch clan, but the Dingwall, MacGuffin, and Macintosh clans as well, all of whom are gathered together to stand against Pitch. Seeing as he won’t be able to defeat all four clans with his significantly smaller force, Mor’Du orders his men to take hostages and retreat. Hamish, Hubert, and Harris manage to hide safely in the walls of the palace, and Merida is safely with Hiccup in secrecy, but Mor’Du manages to take Elinor poisoner before retreating. With Elinor as his hostage, Mor’Du forces Fergus to stand down, but Merida vows to save her mother and slay Mor’Du herself.

Gothel:

As a vampire, Gothel has already attained her most important goal; everlasting youth and beauty. Although she doesn’t like risking her life, she joins Pitch’s plan in order to have an easy supply of humans to feed from forever, and he finds her skills in magic and alchemy useful. She was responsible for the death of Rapunzel’s family; not as part of Pitch’s plan, but because she was thirsty. She takes personal offense to Rapunzel’s survival and wants to kill her for no other reason than sheer pettiness. Gothel also has a dhampir child she neglects, who was involved in the rebellion against Pitch one hundred years prior. She has no idea her daughter is still alive and plotting against her and Pitch.

Drago:

Drago is Pitch’s military commander, and a Forgemaster of no small skill. He’s created a massive army of Night Creatures to aid Pitch in his plans to take over the world. He has also created a single, titanic Night Creature which the others in their army flock to. Drago claims to despise Night Creatures and vampires, but he respects Pitch nonetheless; or so it appears on the surface. Drago has every intention of betraying Pitch and seizing the world for himself. He’s not as subtle as he thinks. Pitch is aware of his plans but he needs his army of Night Creatures so he leaves Drago be for now.

Sergy Lermantoff:

Lermantoff is Pitch’s second Forgemaster. He loves Pitch deeply and is undyingly loyal to him. He wishes to become a vampire, but since only humans can be Forgemasters he is willing to wait until after the world has been successfully conquered. Most of his Night Creatures have serpentine features. He despises having to work with Drago and wishes to kill him, only holding back due to Pitch’s orders. He does keep an eye on Drago and report his actions to Pitch.

Grimmel:

Grimmel is the Bishop of the church in the first city Hiccup and Merida come to after the attack on clan DunBroch. He’s heard rumors of a Devil Forgemaster travelling with a black dragon and is suspicious of Hiccup immediately. Fortunately, Merida’s presence prevents him from having Hiccup arrested and executed right away, as the local people think of the DunBrochs as heroes and would side with her over the church. He has also been harassing the Speakers for some time, blaming them for the nightly assaults by Pitch’s forces. When Hiccup, Merida, and Rapunzel descend into the tomb to find Jack, he and his men are waiting at the entrance to ambush them. He tries to execute all of them for being ‘heretics and monsters’ but is ultimately stopped when the townsfolk rally around Merida.

Pitch Black:

The leader of the vampire armies, also known as the King of Nightmares. He was once a human aristocrat with a loving family. He became a vampire hunter after his wife and daughter were slaughtered by vampires, slaughtering thousands of vampires until the Church, growing fearful of his power and reputation, betrayed him. He was left for dead, and only survived when he was transformed into a vampire himself. Despite the Church’s actions, he attempted to return to his people, assuring them that he was still loyal to them and would still serve as a vampire hunter, but he was shunned. Pitch began to hate humanity just as much as the vampires he once hunted. He slaughtered the people of his city, demolished the Church, and rebuilt it as a city for vampires.

Eventually Pitch began to expand his ambitions towards the rest of the country; if it was his fate to be a vampire, he wouldn’t be like any of the vermin scuttling about in the dark. He would become the king of all vampires. He started gathering allies and useful tools. His goal is to set up an aristocracy of vampires openly ruling the world, with him at the top and all humans serving as food or slaves.

Other notes:

Rapunzel has short, brown hair in this AU. Like Sypha, she disguises herself as a man while traveling, although her disguise isn’t very convincing.

Hiccup’s Night Creatures are technically Innocent Devils (game exclusive, I believe). Most of them are stationed as statues around his island to serve as defense in case of a large scale vampire assault.

He hides Toothless in towns by altering his shape; making him small enough to hide in a pocket or bag, or by disguising him as a dog or other large animal. Toothless hates this.

The Guardians are all vampires, magicians, and warriors who were part of the rebellion against Pitch 100 years ago. Sandy was killed and the others are in hiding.

Cassandra is a dhampir who has been wandering from one small town to the next protecting people from Night Creature raids. She leads the human fighters when the Big Four make their final assault on Pitch’s castle.

Sometimes Merida, Rapunzel, and Jack forget that Toothless is a Night Creature because he acts so sweet and friendly with them. Then they see him in battle.

During the daytime, Jack curls up inside a wooden chest and is carried on Toothless’s back. He makes sure to give Toothless lots of pets and affection in thanks.

Although she has the Speakers’ account of clan DunBroch history, Rapunzel loves hearing about it directly from Merida. She is shocked and concerned by how much doesn’t line up with what she’s been taught, and it makes her question her people’s philosophy of never writing anything down.

Jack won’t drink from anyone without permission and never bites. Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup make small cuts on their bodies to allow him to sip from. Jack drinks from Hiccup most often because he says it’s less awkward than drinking from one of the girls. Hiccup doesn’t find it any less awkward, but allows it anyway.

Once Pitch is defeated, Hiccup and Jack decide to continue traveling together to try to find a cure for his vampirism.

Clan DunBroch offers their protection to the Speakers, but Rapunzel and Merida themselves continue adventuring together hunting down the remaining hostile vampires and Night Creatures, and helping the survivors of Pitch’s conquest rebuild.

[dobsmoneylake]

Oxventurers touch an orb and **poof** they're in Elinore's Largely Legal Antiques staring at a surprised crew. What do?

AN: Thank you so much for the prompt! I am so sorry that this took so long, and I hope that it is worth the wait! Thanks to the Historian for beta-ing this. I own nothing.

The atmosphere at Eleanor’s Largely Legal Antiques was the same as it always was these days. It had lost some of its homey nature (as well as the smell of fish) since they had moved into the townhouse, but it retained the level of comfort that the crew had come to associate with their favorite HQ. It had also gained some level of repute, considering that it now functioned as a store-- helped, no doubt, by the removal of the fish smell.

In fact, Edvard, Lilith, and Zillah were currently in said shop, attempting to sell antiques. (Well, Zillah and Lilith were, Edvard was attempting to subtly determine if there was anything that could be of use in his innoventing before it was sold.) It was while they were there, standing behind the counter, that a sudden flash of light went off, starting our adventure.

When the light dimmed, they found that they were joined by a group of rather unusual people. For one thing, they were all dressed in clothes not seen in centuries. For another, they were arguing amongst themselves. Finally, one of them was red and the other was green. And one was Egbert.

The three crew members exchanged glances, debating with their eyes who would take the lead in the conversation. Finally, rolling her eyes, Zillah stepped forward. “Excuse me,” she said politely, “But who are you and how did you get here?”

The figure with the eyepatch scoffed. “What do you mean how did we get here? It’s not like ‘here’ is a particularly daring place to be. And how dare you not recognize the greatest pirate ever!” He struck a pose. “It is I, Corazón De Balleña, at your service,” he ended on a bow.

“Never heard of you, mate.” Lilith told him, “And I hate to break it to you, but we don’t have pirates anymore.”

Corazón scoffed. “That’s obviously because I’ve scared them all off. Honestly, use your head.” He looked around the shop. “So, where is ‘here’?”

“You’re in Volisport,” Zillah told him.

“Never heard of it,” he said dismissively. “Right, well we’ll just teleport ourselves out of your hair.”

The three crew members exchanged concerned looks. “What do you mean, you’ll teleport?” Edvard demanded. “Magic doesn’t exist.”

Corazón snorted, flicking his hand. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, mumbling the incantation for dancing lights.

Nothing happened.

Corazón narrowed his eyes and tried it again with the same result.

“I’m sorry,” Zillah said, “But is something supposed to be happening?”

At the same time, Prudence started laughing. “You’re right,” she said, “It is funny when it isn’t happening to you.”

“I told you,” Edvard said, “There’s no such thing as magic.”

Corazón took a deep breath before turning to the half-orc who was trying to hide behind an elf. “Dob,” he said calmly, “I’m going to kill you.”

*********

When Kas walked in a few minutes later, utter pandemonium had enveloped the shop. Corazón was chasing Dob around Merilwen, yelling about ‘not touching strange orbs, we’ve had this conversation before!’ Meanwhile, Lilith had struck up a conversation with Prudence about demon heritage, and Egbert was not-so-subtly leaving pamphlets for the crew to read.

Kas sighed and rubbed his eyes. At least his majesty wasn’t here. “What seems to be going on?” He asked, causing everyone in the room to freeze (this was especially impressive because he hadn’t even needed to raise his voice).

“Um, sorry,” Merilwen said from where she was sandwiched between Corazón (who was in the process of attempting to strangle Dob) and Dob (who had decided to cling to her back to avoid being strangled). “Oxventurers, can we have a huddle?”

The two groups exchanged glances before in one movement, the Oxventurers moved into a group circle. Speaking at normal volumes but still somehow going unheard, they conversed.

“What is going on? Who are these people?” Merilwen asked.

“Whoever they are, they are clearly not as cool and awesome as us,” Corazón replied, “I think we can take them.”

“We don’t even know if we need to take them,” Merilwen replied.

“Yeah! That one with the snake hair seemed nice,” Prudence said. At their blank stares, she rolled her eyes. “Besides, Corazón, can you even take them without your magic?”

“I don’t need magic to overthrow every enemy I face,” He declared, “Plus, you don’t have yours either!”

Prudence smiled, a sight that sent chills down the backs of more than one member of each group. “Yes, but I do have my rage.”

“Why do we have to fight them?” Egbert asked. “Can’t we just see if they can help us?”

“Do they look like they know how to help us? This is a job only we can solve!” Corazón declared.

“It can’t hurt to ask them,” Dob said.

“Shut up, Dob, this is all your fault!”

“Hey! That seems uncalled for.”

“No, Corazón is right,” Merilwen said, “You’re the one who touched the orb.”

“I told you, the orb wanted me to touch it,” Dob replied.

“Yeah, but now we’re here, Dob,” Egbert said, “And here isn’t the place I want to be.”

“I think we should ask them for help,” Prudence broke up the rekindling argument. “And since I have my rage and you don’t have your magic, I think you should listen to me.”

The rest of the group made eye contact and had a quick nonverbal conversation that resulted in Merilwen stepping forward. “Look, we’re sorry about this,” She said, “But my friend here touched a glowing orb that just screamed ‘do not touch’ and then we were teleported here. And now we just want to go home.”

The crew was silent as they looked at each other.

The awkward silent standoff ended as the door opened and Barnaby walked in. Upon seeing their guests, he did a double take before looking down at the open bottle of bourbon in his hand. “I say chaps,” he said, “I can usually hold my drink, but this stuff might be stronger than I thought.”

Brightening up, Egbert stepped forward. “I know someone who can help with that-- here, take a pamphlet.”

Luckily, they were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

A few moments later, everyone turned to look at Barnaby, who was standing right next to the door. “Aren’t you going to get that?” Edvard asked.

Barnaby scoffed. “I may have drank enough to hallucinate people in the shop, but I know enough to remember that I don’t open doors.”

“Absolutely ridiculous,” Edvard muttered not-quite-under his breath, opening the door.

Unlike the hammer and vase set up that usually introduced a job for them, there was only a plain box. Upon opening the box, they found that it contained only a black orb-- a black orb that seemed very familiar to the Oxventurers. Along with the box came a note. “Instead of making you work for this one, I figured it would be best if we just got your friends out of here before any unsavory people noticed.”

“Does this seem too easy to anyone else?” Lilith piped up, “A complication has to come from this.”

“Nah, this seems about normal,” Dob said, “Something happens, we argue, a solution comes, everyone goes home nice and safe.” He paused for a second. “Why, does it not happen that way for you?”

“No, usually we try something, then something else goes wrong, then we solve that, then something else happens, then Zillah chokes someone out,” Lilith responded.

“Sometimes with her thighs,” Edvard added admiringly.

“Hey! I told you I’m working on finding a different panic response!” Zillah argued.

“Choking people out with your thighs? Can you teach me how to do that?” Prudence asked.

The other Oxventurers exchanged a concerned glance. “Ok, well it was lovely to meet you guys, goodbye,” Corazón said, quickly touching the orb.

The group disappeared with a flash of light and appeared in their own world where they had left it, with Dob just about to touch the orb.

“Dob, do not touch that,” Merilwen said.

“Oh I see how it is. I touch an orb and it’s all ‘Dob you idiot’, Corazón touches an orb and it’s all ‘well that’s fine!’” Dob threw his hands up in the air and walked off before he could realize that the orb was still glowing.

The rest of them looked at each other. “Motion that we never speak of this again?” Egbert asked.

The others agreed and walked off to join their chaotic bard.

*********

Back in the shop, the others looked at each other suspiciously. “That seemed too easy, didn’t it?” Kas asked, looking at the orb.

Miles away in the Dimmer Mansion, Kelly watched as the long dormant magical artifacts started emitting light hums. “It appears our plan has worked,” she said to Allie and Hallie. “Tell the members around the world to come home-- the Orbpacalypse has begun.”

[lonelier-version-of-you]

So... that was a tense two episodes of Casualty, wasn’t it?!

Okay, thoughts on ‘Blinded’ first (I’m so glad the episodes have titles again now lol):

This episode alone did SO MUCH to humanise Stevie. After several months of just wandering around doing panto villain glares at people, Elinor Lawless finally got given some meaty material tonight, and she absolutely smashed it. I didn’t realise just how talented she is until now.

Stevie just completely breaking down and freaking out because she didn’t know how to comprehend the fact that she’d made the same mistake as Ethan, that anyone could make that mistake, was just a BRILLIANT bit of writing. If we’d gotten more stuff like that sooner and less of the bizarre “idk Stevie is evil and wants revenge and we don’t know what else to do with her” stuff, maybe this storyline would have been better.

I did have to laugh at Stevie being like “Ethan is incompetent and I’m going to go to Hanssen about it” though lol. Going to an incompetent CEO, who has a history of covering up for incompetent doctors (which is why he’s an incompetent CEO in the first place - well, part of why, another part is the whole “hiring a man who turned out to be a literal murderer and ignoring any warnings about him being up to no good, all because he fancied him” stuff), to deal with an incompetent doctor... I don’t think that would accomplish as much as you think it would, pal.

Jacob’s stepped down from being Clinical Nurse Manager. End of an era. I say “era”, he wasn’t even CNM for that long, but I don’t care. I hope this is the beginning of a longer journey for him, and they don’t just do some aftermath for a couple of weeks then drop it - that would do a disservice to the subject matter. (I think they might be going the PTSD route? ...Is there a single character on Casualty who doesn’t have PTSD at this point? Not that it’s unrealistic, considering the stuff the characters on this show go through...) Charles Venn was absolutely excellent in his scenes, too, as per usual.

(Also, it was blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, but I loved that moment with Dylan trying to be supportive of Jacob. I think he probably handled things best when it came to being sympathetic and careful without ending up being patronising. I still want to know if Casualty are putting enough continuity effort in as to be writing Dylan’s reactions to Jacob’s trauma the way they have on purpose, i.e. taking into account that Dylan himself is an abuse survivor and grew up witnessing the domestic violence from his dad to his mum. At the very least, you can see Dylan’s backstory has been informing William Beck’s portrayal of those scenes.)

Paul The Suspicious Receptionist is back. Does anyone care about him? I seriously already forgot he was back until I was in the middle of typing this. I don’t even remember his last name. Does he have a last name, have they even told us his last name? I wouldn’t know, he’s just that bland. Go away, Paul The Suspicious Receptionist.

Edit: there was so much going on in tonight’s episodes that I only just realised I didn’t mention the patient storyline. It was very powerful and sad material in theory, but kind of ruined by the whole “the good cop vs. the bad cop” drama. That was unnecessary; I felt it kind of took away from the tragedy of the young man’s death when the scenes started becoming all about how “brave” and “courageous” the old white cop was for getting the other cop in trouble for it.

And now for my thoughts on ‘Two Minutes’:

This was a tense episode indeed, even if I wish Casualty would stop doing the thing where they have mentally ill patients get violent with the staff. It’s not like it’s a thing that never happens, of course. But if we’re going to have patients attacking staff on a semi-regular basis (seriously, why does it seem to happen so much on this show), surely some of them are just going to be violent because they’re violent?

Anyway, speaking of mental illness, tonight made me think Stevie isn’t all that well herself. They certainly seemed to be implying that. Who knows if they’ll actually address it in future though.

I assume Ethan is gonna survive. George Rainsford has still been hanging about Cardiff, isn’t he? Which implies he’s still filming.

Anyway, speaking of George Rainsford... I’m afraid I have to say he didn’t pull these scenes off very well. The quality of his acting varies, and this was one night I thought he wasn’t that great. He tried, but I don’t think those sort of... big, dramatic, shouty scenes are his thing? He tends to do much better in quieter scenes, I feel.

Also, Ethan talking Stevie down by just recapping the shit life the writers have given him was unintentionally funny.

And Stevie did indeed debate whether to save Ethan then decide she had to. Congrats to everyone who predicted that lmao.

I presume this means the revenge storyline is gonna just be over soon. What on Earth was the point of it, then? Why introduce Stevie with a storyline like this? It’s not exactly going to make viewers warm to her, is it?

Elsewhere, poor Rash is getting into more and more trouble with the gang. I just want to wrap him up in a blanket and protect him from the world. He’s so nice and lovely and compassionate and it’s being used against him and it breaks my heart. (Even if I have to admit I couldn’t take it very seriously when the gang members threatened Rash’s dad with... a twig.)

And Dylan is an environmental activist now, I guess, lol. Honestly, I kind of enjoyed those scenes. The climate change/recycling stuff was much less preachy than Holby’s episode this week was, and it gave us some good laughs, first with David overthinking recycling bins, then with Robyn’s posters.

Although I’m not a fan of how Faith suddenly seems to be showing interest in Dylan again. He deserves so much better.

(Also, I have a Twitter mutual who keeps joking about Dylan not being able to stand properly, and tonight you could really see what they meant lol. God I love this man and his awkward body language.)