#from the last time i posted from this episode

[aeternallis]

Colin's "entrapment" line was hard to listen to, but it was most definitely a sign of how unhinged he really is for Penelope.

Ok but for reals, I'm not sure how everyone else reacted when Colin said his now infamous "entrapment" line, but I just love how if one looks at this line a little more closely, it was definitely some semblance of an underhanded (and also a bit silly, lol) attempt to actually keep Penelope entrapped. Haha, the irony of it all. Idk, at least that was my read on it!

Like, it was definitely said in anger as well; he's hurting, and he’s hurting badly, so of course he wants to hit back in some way, however he can. Luke Newton absolutely meant it when he said that Colin reacts to the reveal in the worst way possible, alas.

My very first reaction to that scene: //pauses the screen to yell at Colin at 4am in the morning, “Entrapment????! If you feel trapped, then why the hell are you still going along with it, ya dumb ass!!!

Because really, think about it: Colin was definitely within his rights to call off the wedding, especially when he'd mentioned that Violet had noticed that he and Penelope had not seen each other for some time. It would have been the perfect time to reveal Penelope's secret to his mother, if indeed he felt entrapped by the LW of it all. Violet is family; if he wanted to still protect Penelope but no longer wanted to marry her, he would have been able to count on Violet's discretion. I'm sure she and Lady Danbury would have come up with some sort of plan to deal with the aftermath regarding the Bridgertons’ reputation, as we'd seen with Anthony and Edwina's botched wedding.

Furthermore, it would have probably been the better option to reveal it to her, since the existence of LW does put his family in danger; Penelope herself knows this. Every decision she makes post-LW reveal to Colin is due to the Bridgertons being in danger. Lady Danbury makes a point of this when she said in the last episode, “There is only one other person who loves the Bridgertons more than I.”

Eloise was able to keep the secret with no real consequences because although Penelope was her ex-bff, El still loves her, and besides that, nothing legal binds them as Colin's marriage to Penelope would.

Even when he was getting ready to talk to Benedict about getting funds to fulfill Cressida’s demands, he insisted on making up a lie to shield Penelope’s identity as LW. He knows more than anything that fulfilling a demand like this, all for the sake of his wife and at the cost of using a substantial amount of Bridgertons’ financial assets, may not put his marriage in the best light within his family. He doesn’t want to be forced to have to choose between his wife and his family, so he’s keen on keeping the lie going.

So for all intents and purposes, he doesn't tell his mother, or any of his other siblings (besides Eloise, who already knew); this in and of itself is hella fucking risky. The fact that Colin is willing to take this risk of withholding Penelope's secret identity from his family, the fact that he doesn't think to jeopardize this potentially risky betrothal—already goes to show the measure in regards to how much he wants Pen for his wife. We the audience know this because he waits until the very last minute to tell Violet, and even then, it's not Colin who chose to reveal it to her, but Penelope herself.

Another point: arguably, we can also say that Colin has a lot more wiggle room with his engagement to Penelope to call off the wedding, much more than he ever did with his engagement to Marina.

"A man of honor"? Exactly what "honor" are we talking about here? Colin claimed that he would have married Marina had she just told him the truth, yet when push came to shove and the truth of her pregnancy was revealed for all the world to know, he still chose to take the out Penelope gave him through LW. It’s easier to make a declaration like that when it’s all said and done. Lol Sure, he regretted it and apologized for his behavior later on, but he had made his choice regardless. Y’all can just feel Marina and Lady Danbury judging this dumb ass (affectionate) for dwelling in the past. Silly young man! XD What's stopping him this time around?

"We had been...intimate." Are you talking about the mirror scene, sir? Because let me assure you, you and Penelope have long been "intimate" way before you decided to buy a love nest and take her V-card the very next day you proposed to her. In fact, this is where the significance of their first kiss in 3.02 rings so, SO importantly and WHY it was vital that it was Penelope who asked and said that it would not have to mean anything. Colin knows Penelope would never use their first time together and/or the heated moment in the carriage as a way to entrap him. That first kiss alone should have already warranted that they get married, but Penelope makes it clear that it’s simply a favor, nothing more.

Oddly enough, I’m surprised Colin doesn’t bring up the idea of a long engagement (yknow, as he initially wanted with Marina, but who’s keeping track at this point), considering that would have potentially benefitted their situation. 🤔 His dumb ass (affectionate) was more than willing to stick to the wedding schedule…huh.

Besides all that, I don’t think it’s the showrunners’ intent to “taint” those special moments between them by changing the context through Colin’s (very biased) POV; to believe that to be the case would be, imo, just a bad faith argument. The genre is romance, y’all; these intimacy scenes are on an entirely different pedestal.

Because remember, that “entrapment” line of Colin’s only came about due to Penelope starting the conversation with, “Are you going to call off the wedding?”

Didn’t it almost seem like an afterthought, that he just came up with it on the spot? Hahaha.

I can bet y’all Cressida’s fake ass €20,000 blackmail money that before they’d met up to discuss wedding breakfast plans with their mamas, it had probably never even occurred to Colin to cancel their wedding. Angry and furious as he was, it was never a question of whether or not he still wanted Penelope for a wife.

The fact that it’s Penelope who begins that conversation and opens that Pandora’s box possibility is so, so damn important. Because not only does it show how much Penelope truly loves him in that she would never trap him, it also shows her maturity, in that she’s willing to face the consequences of her actions. She’s willing to give Colin the choice to back out, heartbreaking as it would be to face it, even if she herself would not be the one to pursue that choice.

She gives him the choice a good number of times: the wedding breakfast plan scene, the wedding day itself when she hesitates on the aisle, and the annulment offer after the butterfly scene.

Penelope defends herself softly, but truthfully: she never meant to entrap him, because she really didn’t. And Colin knows this; he would not still love her and want her if he honestly believed she wanted to entrap him. Hell, even if she did, the audience knows it’s a desire that comes from a good place: she loves him, so of course she doesn’t want to lose him. She wants to marry him, because she loves him. That’s all there is to it.

But despite knowing this (imo, anyway), we can also say that this conversation may have contributed to Colin’s downward spiral during the majority of episode 7 and 8, and why he becomes hella fucking desperate to be “useful” to her.

Because unlike himself, Penelope has now begun to entertain the idea of living a life that doesn’t include him—at least, not as her husband. Penelope is brave and strong enough to let him go due to the pain she caused him for her lies and her actions as LW, and as for Colin…well…

(I love it, it’s the same conundrum that Anthony faced in S2: Kate is strong enough to leave him behind and return to India, but Anthony…well…)

TL;DR, Colin’s entrapment line was literally an excuse he gave himself to keep his betrothal to Penelope intact. It’s a line that works in two ways simultaneously: it’s a painful, childish, underhanded thing to say in order to hurt Penelope’s feelings, to get back at her for the anguish he’s suffered. Yet at the same time, it’s also another excuse he gives himself in order to push through with the marriage, to tie Penelope to himself forever.

Because unlike Penelope, the very idea of living without her as his wife, of not having her in his life, is and always will be an impossible notion for Colin to ever entertain.

[yournightmary]

Roommate!Ellie HCs

content warning:: fem!reader, modern!AU, mentions of weed, being drunk and creepy men

AN:: Hi! I’m really glad (surprised) you all liked my last one:) I’m taking requests, only smaller things though:( still trying to get a hang of the whole writing thing.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who was so desperate to save some money that she posted a roommate ad online. First 10 people were total creeps, then there were like 5 different guys that thought it was some kind of a sexual offer. But then you reached out.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who at first was really nervous to meet you, a little scared about you actually being a 40 year old white man.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who hid most of her nerdy stuff because she was afraid you would make fun of her or find her weird. Stuffed all of her funko pops into her closet and shoved her posters under her bed :(

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who for the first like 2 months wouldn’t be found dead in the same room as you. And if by some miracle she was, she would be so painfully awkward. She was scared that she’ll make you uncomfortable somehow, but you were just like ??? you thought she was really nice and cute??

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who spent most of her time at Jesse’s babbling about how funny and cool and beautiful you are. She felt a little bad about it, you were just her roommate after all. A roommate she was crushing on like a middle schooler.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who stopped laughing at the ‘and they were roommates’ jokes, instead she would get embarrassed and immediately think about you.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who finally got the balls to befriend you when one time Dina and Jesse paid her an unexpected visit.

“Do you uh-… you wanna hang out with us?” She asked you awkwardly, fiddling nervously with her fingers. Her heart was racing and her hands were so clammy… god what was happening to her?

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who absolutely loves watching dumb tv shows with you. I’m talking Love Island, Kitchen nightmares, Big Brother- all that crap. One time she watched a new episode of your favorite show without you and felt so bad about it… and about faking her reactions while rewatching it with you.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who doesn’t really care about skincare but always watches you do your routine. She just uses a cheap face wash and a plain moisturizer and somehow her skin is clear like glass. Whenever you ask her to let you do her skincare she’ll act like she doesn’t want it, but inside she’s literally giggling and kicking her feet.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who always looks at you walking around the apartment with heart shaped eyes. No matter if you just woke up and your hair is a mess or if you just got back from a party and are stumbling drunkenly into every corner. She thinks you’re effortlessly beautiful, end of story.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who is naturally messy, but not in a bad way? She just has a lot of clutter around, little trinkets and doohickeys she found god knows where.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who breaks at least one mug a week. She’s really clumsy and the fact that you’re all that she can think about doesn’t help.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who felt like a teenager that got caught smoking cigarettes when you found out she smokes weed. She was already high by the time you came back from work and almost got a panik attack. You had to babysit her until she got better.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ roommate!Ellie who loves when you call your small shared apartment ‘home’. It just stirs something deep inside her and puts a grin on her face.

I’ll probably make a part 2 when I get more ideas:3

[thoughtsthatgounnoticed]

Swept up in Expectations

As an anxious and curious person, I couldn’t help but check every now and then to see what the vibe was for P2 before watching it myself. After all the excitement during the wait between P1 and 2, nothing could have prepared me for the whiplash I felt reading disappointed and equally ecstatic posts from reactions to Eps 5 to 8.

Now that I’ve seen the episodes myself I’m trying to make sense of how I felt so I’m putting the figurative pen to paper and hope anyone as confused as I am can ruminate with me.

To put simply - I think we were all swept up in the excitement of Nic and Luke’s press tour (a whole other can of worms for some) and the many spoilers, speculations, and info from cast interviews during the wait between P1 and 2 that appeared to have been Polin positive. This energy then ballooned our expectations. I personally forgot that although Bridgerton is endearing and fun, it’s ultimately not a BBC or HBO production (I love Bridgerton but it’s no Pulitzer Prize winner in writing). So I think we expected more and are crashing from our collective highs.

Then there’s Polin and Penelope. As someone who didn’t personally enjoy S1 and 2 stories, S3 was going to be one I could truly enjoy and romanticize, and experience that Bridgerton brainrot everyone keeps taking about. Admittedly, it took me listening to some discourse and a second watch to truly appreciate P1. I’ve come away with so much love for Polin and their unfolding love story as well as Pen’s journey. The friends to lovers trope is beautiful, sweet, endearing, romantic, with a lot of history between two people. It had me singing along at the top of my lungs to Taylor Swift in the car even though it’s not my usual type of music. I was swooned and romanced.

But Part 2 was…. rough…. (Ramblings below)

At least after episode 5. It felt like I wasn’t watching the same season. I knew the weight of LW was going to put Penelope through the wringer before we can ultimately move on in peace. I expected the angst, it didn’t bother me, even if it meant seeing the worst of Colin’s anger temporarily.

I think what bothers me is the wasted potential of Polin’s season brought on by unnecessary side plots that could have given more time to Colin, Penelope and Eloise’s complex relationship and individual feelings. It was a season that absolutely needed to flesh out these characters alongside LW’s plot. Instead we got lengthy scenes of side characters with no payoff or stories that could have waited to be told next season. Polin felt like side characters in their own stories, their scenes so cruelly cut between other people’s dramas - I was swooning one second to wondering why we’ve jumped to sideplot A and B, then back to swooning over Polin again (their wedding dance for example 😭).

Then there’s the question of intimacy and how we would have loved to see more - probably brought on by a rumored missing montage. Instead after all the pain, the culmination of intimacy between Polin was the 5 second scene towards the end that looked like one of Anthony or Ben’s random brothel end-of-episode montage scenes in S1. I didn’t need plenty of intimacy scenes, I just wanted there to be growth in their intimacy evolving beyond what they had in Ep 5 and after all that drama.

Part 2 should have focused on how Colin, Penelope and Eloise came to terms with the LW revelation and the aching healing process it took to overcome that because the love they have for one another was stronger. I found myself thinking how in hell they could resolve all of this and it became progressively clear that the resolution was going to feel underwhelming and rushed. Especially, when the last episode alone had another wedding, Colin and Penelope still not communicating, and like 4-5 scenes of Ben and his mistress and their lover. We sat there in complete shock at how we kept going back to those scenes when the season had bigger fish to fry.

Although the show attempted to delve into Colin’s journey post revelation, the process of overcoming his sadness/jealousy was not fleshed out satisfactorily. I’m not saying it isn’t there (the very quick scenes of him looking through Penelope’s letters, listening to her speech at the end, his speech to Cressida, interactions with Kanthony/Eloise etc) but it lacked…something. Maybe it needed just a beat longer, a few more words, a bit more time. I don’t need it to drag, I just needed more within the depth of the scenes. Funnily, some of the side plot scenes lasted longer, which was so evil. Colin deserved a concise arc like Penelope’s. I hope Luke Newton’s back wasn’t hurting from carrying all the weight of Colin’s journey through his delivery and face acting because the writers were not giving him much to work with.

And so, the ending of the season felt odd. On one hand I was happy Polin got their happy ending and in theory their progression made sense, but on the other I felt like the show did a disservice by not taking us carefully and deliberately on that progression journey we wonderfully started in S1 and 2. I will always have ep 1-5 to look back on fondly and I was teary eyed when Colin delivered his ep 8 love speech to Pen. It felt like a glimpse of what we could’ve had and what they did have in P1. However, there’s this feeling of anti-climax that is so palpable given how impactful the press tour was. Am I still walking away from this season loving Polin and enjoying the scenes we did get of them? YES. Am I satisfied with it? NO.

This is 70% an emotional rant that may subside once the excitement dies down. I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s input and analysis and may have just been swept up in expectations.

[linus-lucy]

You know what - I will "set myself up for disappointment." Because only two things will make me stop wanting a queer Eddie storyline.

1) It happens - no more hoping needed!

2) 9-1-1 has its final episode.

There are many great posts about Eddie’s queer coding, how he is (once again) in a good position for a coming out arc (and one was very close to happening!) so I’m not going to rehash that.

But some of the arguments against a queer Eddie are the exact reasons they should do it. “They won’t let two 'straight' friends both having coming out arcs.” Why not? Why shouldn't we ask for that?They have set it up perfectly. It's so close and it would be so beautiful to see - why shouldn't I want that? Eddie is some flavor of queer and I want to see it!

We’re allowed to want more from our media! Yes, at the end of the day it’s meant to entertain us, but that doesn’t mean we have to roll over and say "this what they gave us so just be happy with it."

And if I do get disappointed - well, its not the first time a show left me unsatisfied and won't be the last. And I’ll complain about it on this very blog. Because I'm allowed to do that, too. Filter, block, etc, etc

And because I feel I need the disclaimer: yes, I ship buddie. But this has nothing to do with them. It's about getting Eddie Diaz out of his goddamn closet like he deserves.

(Brought to you by my for you page showing me something that was definitely not For Me.)

[arandomnerd810]

personal TADC character analysis

uh warning this is long lol

autism time let’s go (/not in a negative way i have autism) stretches hands * I’ll go in order of the character episodes cause why not we have it (see below) i’ll put periods but it will just be to make it more readable not to be intimidating lolll

btw im completely open to interpretations of characters changing throughout the series this is just for fun

Gooseworx has said this series is mostly focused on characters rather than lore, and from what we know, i truly believe it. I don’t think any of the current characters will abstract because of this.

(I put a version of this in the glitch inn discord theory thing so if you recognize it that’s why)

Pomni: we already know her deal pretty well, as we’ve already had her episode. uuuh if anyone’s going to do something important lore wise it will probably be her as she’s the main character but can’t rlly tell what that may be. to review ep 2 though she’s an outcast who has felt like she was nothing and is a logical thinker.

(Kinger and Zooble will there their focus episode but i put it in order of who was revealed to be the ep 3 focus first)

Zooble: From their design (the entire motif is it can be changed at any time) and the fact she doesn’t know his gender, we’re dealing with some pretty clear identity issues. Friends with Gangle seems cool excited for next episode to learn more about them!

Kinger: One of the most interesting characters so far. I feel like we will get to learn more about abstraction though Queenie, the X-ed out door that looks like a female version of him. If i had to guess, since Gooseworx said they were not siblings, they were a couple. (Also judging by his age and the fact he could have been married, he may have been a father yeowch imagine that) I can see the common theory of the insect collection implying he was a coder before getting trapped, but i could also see him being some random guy who just likes bugs lol. He seems like really sweet guy behind his constant anxiety and disassociating.

 Gangle: (My faveorite human rn) Her mask design can be interpreted in a lot of ways but it’s clear that the happy mask isn’t her real personality. My take on it rn is she doesn’t wana bother people with her stuff so she pretends she’s happy? She seems easily embarrassed and def has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell. What’s interesting though is she’s willing to stand up for herself from time to time, even though she’s easily shot down after.

Ragatha: Waaaay too nice for her own good. Also probably has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell and bases her self worth of others approval.  Though she’s been here the second longest, she seems a lot more normal than Kinger. Makes me question how long apart their introductions have been. Probably copes via escapism.

Jax: I can see why everyone is very interested in him cause me too. He seems like the only fourth wall breaky guy (unless you count Caine cause of his intro at the pilot)which is rlly interesting how did he figure out more than everyone else? what’s with the keys? i have no clue lmao. He’s an asshole who makes the best of his situation by torturing everyone else. At the end of the day though, he’s a human and was sad at kaufmo’s abstraction but he probably isolates himself so it would probably be the same for anyone

but waAitTt a moment

that’s 6 humans but Gooseworx said we would look into 7 (cause of the “other” part) in her twitter post talking about the character focus timeline so we know our fav character won’t be left behind ⁉️⁉️⁉️ I hear you not asking well my dear hypothetical person, who better to fill the 7th character than Caine?

Why you did not ask? Too bad i’m info dumping. First, he’s the main antagonist and alongside Pomni, the commercial face (or lack their of haha teeth and eye joke) of the series. he’s an important character and loved by many. (and hated equally if not more aside the point lmaooo)

Yes, gooseworx can lie about stuff but I think she’s smarter than to lead this heavy into Caine depth/ angst territory if there wasn’t going to be anything On top of that, the entire purpose of the timeline post was so we know our faveorite characters weren’t getting treated poorly. It’s unlike for a character based show to suddenly drop such a major character for some random other guy were introduced to later or smth. i mean cmon there’s three episodes after all the humans at least one of them has to be focused on my boy.

Caine: I believe he really does have good intentions and wants to help but just does not understand people at all. This means he’s like an anxiety disorder; it wants to help, solves some issues but creates 500 more. Judging by the Tumblr post, loneliness may play a big part in what’s to come? I’ve always had a feeling his front was extremely fake and his VA saying “breaks keyfable” (an act that pretends it’s true) supports that theory. Episode two gives some insecurity vibes when Zooble didn’t want to go on the adventure. I find that pretty interesting cause he didn’t care at all if people went on the gloink adventure or not. Maybe he puts some adventures over others and he could have been proud of the candy adventure cause more time and care was put into it and he made a new AI. Why did he blue screen? i feel like he could have some blockages on what he can say built in though im not sure why he was blocked then if he even was. one of the biggest questions i have ab him currently tbh. what’s with him grabbing his cane like that in ep 2? if i had to guess simply be nervous = that? His VA also knows some depth to him even though his focus episode is likely going to be at least one of the last 3 episodes, which they have not gotten to recording yet. You know what this means Caine angst solidarity club? Sad Caine so more fan angst appetizers before the main cannon feast let’s friccin go‼️‼️⁉️⁉️

(try to guess my fav impossible /j)

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

June 15th

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1. Hi! Long time no see. Need help with finding two fics:

A. The AU where wwx and lwj can do some cultivation technique that combines them into one huge cultivator. There are like three or four levels and lwj is hesitant about the last level because the other person can see what you desire most in the world and he was afraid for wwx to see. I recall them practicing this technique in private while studying together and then doing it in front of lqr’s class.

B. Lxc has his own pediatric office and his nurse is on leave because she’s pregnant (i think it’s mianmian or wq) and they recommend wwx. Wwx is hired as a nurse under lxc. During the story, he gets with lwj and they all find out wwx took the blame and went to jail for something jc did and lxc was upset because of how wwx portrayed himself to him when he was really innocent. I remember wwx had some heart problem and had an episode in the office. I remember xue yang was also in this fic as an abuser to his wife and kid

Thanks for all your help in advance! @jikcf

1A)

FOUND? ❤️ Gentians in bloom by teawater (M, 251k, WangXian, XiQing, XuanLi, Canon Divergence, Political Marriage, Dysfunctional Family, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, LQR bashing (not really), POV Multiple, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Eventual Happy Ending, BAMF WWX, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, madam yu bashing (again not completely), MXY Deserves Better)

1B)

FOUND? Nursery Rhymes by manaika (M, 96k, WangXian, NieLan, Modern AU, Inexperienced WWX, Experienced LWJ, Reconciliation, Budding Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Unreliable Narrator, Medical Inaccuracies, Slow Burn, Past Character Death, Childhood Trauma, Found Family, Past Injury, Nurse! WWX, Doctor! LXC, Teacher! LWJ, Character With A Heart Condition (Major), Past Incarceration (Major Character), Underage Character With Leukemia (Minor))

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2. Hi, I'm looking for a modern au that starts with everyone finding out that WWX had been wrongly accused of stealing and selling the Lans' secrets to their competitor. He lives in a separate flat now and has a found family with XY and WQ. But, LWJ goes to him when the news comes cuz he's some sort of cyber security expert, ig. Also, JYL is in a wheelchair as she tries to get evidence to prove WWX's innocence and gets injured in the process @thatindiangirllll

FOUND? Visitations by Vir_Abelasan (M, 18k, WangXian, LSZ & WWX & LWJ, WIP, Modern, Corporate Espionage, Post-Divorce, Reconciliation, Father-Son Relationship, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Everyone is kinda sad and needs a hug in this, But hey they get better I promise, Found Family, Custody Arrangements, Not a revenge fic, Past Abuse)

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3. Hiiii it's been a while and I'm happy to inform some of may fav fic I found here. So I remember someone asked about this but I can' t find it it's about lwj leaving lan sect and storing money little by little and by the end lxc ask for bunnies because all of lwj bunny vanished from gusu( courtesy of nhs) I hope you can help me thank you!!!!

FOUND? 🔒 Unpack Your Heart by Terri Botta (Isilwath) (T, 22k, wangxian, Romance, Everybody Lives, Canon Divergence, LWJ Has Feelings, Protective LWJ, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, Burial Mounds Ensemble as Family, Wangxian in Love, YLLZ WWX, Lan Clan Elders are Assholes, Minor Transgender Character, Qiongqi Path Divergence, LWJ loves his bunnies)

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4. Hello! In search of a fic I read recently but can't seem to find again! It was definitely on ao3. It was a canon-era fic where for some reason Wangji was cranky with Xichen and so Wangji purposefully misbrewed some of Xichen's favorite tea and gave him the stank eye while he poured. I think it was in Cloud Recesses Study arc, so it was teenJi being sassy in his polite snubbing kind of way.

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5. Hi, hope your well! Im desperately trying to find a fic. So I vaguely remember it starting with lwj and wwx post cannon, wwx passes away, and he makes a ritual/ way for lan wangji to go to an alternate universe where he’s still alive. Lan wangji wakes up in the body of his younger self (it’s implied the original version died because he was trained too hard I think) his father is still alive and is abusive. I remember Wei wuxian and lan wangji meet because they go to visit the Yiling Wei sect. Eventually lan wangji volunteers to go to what I think was their equivalent of the lan lectures which no longer exist in this universe because the lan are kinda sorta evil ish under his abusive father’s rule. I remember that eventually they plan to fight back against the lans and lan wangji ends up getting captured by his father and whipped/tortured. It has a happy ending where lwj tells Wei ying about his original time line etc. I have been trying to find this one forever! Please help me! @808bisexualbitch

FOUND? 🔒 Song Unwritten by Kytrin & ShotsOfSunshine (E, 94k, WangXian, Temporary Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Fix-It of Sorts, cql meets mdzs, Transmigration, Parallel Universes, YLLZ WWX, Yílíng Wèi Sect, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, References to Depression)

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6. Hi! For ficfinder I'm looking for a fic which is a genderbend modern au where Wei Ying is dared to give Lan Zhan a lapdance. Halfway through he feels really bad as she realises that Lan Zhan is the butt of the joke and she stops and later tries to apologise and befriend Lan Zhan

FOUND? make me whole, make me new by occultings (microcomets) (E, 24k, WangXian, F/F, Rule 63, Cisswap, Modern, College/University, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Misunderstandings, (briefly), Pining, Jealousy, Compulsory Heterosexuality, Light Humiliation, Bathing/Washing, Bath Sex, as is the wangxian way, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Sex, Getting Together, First Time, gentle on the comphet for this one, there are dubcon vibes for the lap dance but it's not actually dubcon, some uhauling via cats)

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7. For the next fic finder - I've been desperately trying to relocate a fic where everyone (including the juniors) all sort of think WangXian are in an abusive relationship. It's set post canon. I believe its left ambiguous or is implied that everyone is just sort of misinterpreting what's going on. One scene in particular I think has Lan Jingyi spying on WX while they're having sex in the jingshi? TIA 💕

FOUND? We Covet What We See by Dangereuse (E, 6k, WangXian, OneSided LJY/WWX, Wangxian's Canonical Kinks, Consent Play, Voyeurism, Bondage, Overstimulation, Possessive LWJ, Breeding Kink, Dark LWJ, Perv LJY, LWJ's Fucked Up Family Backstory, Biting, Unreliable Narrator, Cloud Recesses can be Problematic, Rimming, oversensitization, POV LJY, LWJ's Canonical Liquor Intolerence, Excessive Husbands upon Request)

~*~

8. Helloo im new to asking for fics (i hope i am doing this right haha) i am looking for two fics

A) one where wangxian were college sweethearts and got married but divorced, then wei wuxian got into an accident and he lost his memories but lan wangji was still with him when he woke up in the hospital and even brought him his medicine.

B) The second one is Modern wei ying wanted to adopt wen yuan but in order to do that he has to be married and stable in life so he reconnects with lan zhan to ask for help which of course he does.

Thankyou!

8A)

FOUND? no balance by silverclaw (G, 20k, WangXian, Modern, Post-Divorce, Angst with a Happy Ending, Getting Back Together, Netflix Show Host WWX, Concept Artist LWJ, the give LWJ friends agenda, WWX is a sweetheart and i WILL hug him, That’s a threat, Temporary Amnesia)

FOUND? but the days, they will blur by TheGirlWithTheKite (E, 60k, WangXian, Temporary Amnesia, Hospitalization, Car Accidents, College/University, Flashbacks, Repressed Memories, Recovered Memories, Modern, jyl and jzx die in this fic, LWJ's magical healing cock, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Butt Plugs, sex to regain memories, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, A-Yuan is baby, a-ling is baby, Established Relationship, But also getting together, Pining, all WWX does is pout gasp and pine, Angst with a Happy Ending, Miscommunication, Distrust, Insecurity)

8B)

FOUND? the subtle art of reconnecting with your childhood crush by Flxffyfxck (E, 76k, WangXian, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fake Marriage, Friends to Lovers, Modern, rich LWJ, Poor WWX, Orphans, Orphanage, Foster homes are scary sometimes, Eventual Smut, Idiots in Love, Intentional Child Acquisition, LSZ Needs a Hug, LWJ Has OCD, First Time, Anal Sex, safe sex saves lives!, Possessive Sex, Possessive LWJ, Slice of Life, Sad boi hours, Fluff and Angst, Panic Attacks, Whipped Cream, Blow Jobs)

~*~

9. Hi, for the next fic finder, I’m looking for a time travel fix it where LXC is the one who goes back in time. That’s pretty much all I remember, sorry. @villeinagefanstuff

FOUND? 🔒 The blame game by apathyinreverie (T, 13k, WangXian, LXC & LWJ, LXC & WWX, LSZ & WWX, WWX & WQ, Fix-It, Time Travel, LXC time travels, Canon Divergence, Possessive LWJ, Oblivious WWX, Fluff, Siblings, Romance, Golden Core Reveal, kind of, Golden Core Fix-It, crack-y idea taking itself far too seriously)

~*~

10. Hey there I'm looking for a fic where wei wuxian went back in time in his yiling laozu body. I remember he was called wei yuanji or something like that. And no this is not the one where the wei yuanji is married to wen rouhan

I remember some details that madam yu is slightly nicer towards this time traveler wei, and how wei ying jiang cheng and jiang yanli all like him as a big brother. Sect leader jiang and madam yu kinda fix their relationship too from traveler wei's quiet comment i think. Time traveler wei is also depressed and sometimes speaks in riddles or nonsense that has connections to the future. Thank you for your help

FOUND? remind me of MingYu by Fino_Al_Cielo (T, 89k, WWX & LWJ, WIP, YLLZ WWX, yunmeng siblings, Fix-It of Sorts, Time Travel, Canon Divergence, Not Everyone Dies, PTSD, References to Depression, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Trauma, there are 2 WWXs, 1 from the future, the other from the normal canon timelines, Pining, WWX just doesn't knows it yet, chapter 23 - implied rape, chapter 23 - graphic torture, chapter 23 - trigger warnings!) but WWX's name is different

~*~

11. Hi im looking for this fic i read awhile ago and cant seem to find! i forgot why wwx and lwj were on the runbut they hid with wen qing with the wens. wwx gave birth to an oc baby and wen yuan was wen qings cousins baby. wwx and lwj have to leave so they leave their kid with the wens but then their kid gets taken by the jins along with ayuan and put into the wen camps where ayuans mom dies. And then the next part i remember is that lwj and wwx confront jin zixun about the heir of gusulan and stuff being in the camps infront of everyone and they save the wens @yesibest

FOUND? 🧡 Don’t Wanna Fall by nekojita (M, 111k, WangXian, Mpreg, A/B/O, Fix-it, Lots of pining, Angst with a happy ending, Canon Divergence, Child thief WN)

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12. Reddit has directed me to you oh great ones 🧎‍♀️. Essentially, I read a time travel fic a while ago that was amazing and after scouring tags and even my history (I’ve only been bookmarking for a month like a dummy) I haven’t found it. The fic is wwx getting dumped back into his body in the lectures arch immediately after dying. He has some insane PTSD (like genuinely doesn’t want to live anymore but also feels guilty about how he ruined things the first time) and I distinctly remember him throwing up meat of all kinds and the Jiang siblings not understanding but LWJ just rolls with it from what I remember. The final piece which I’m only 90% sure was part of this fic is the plot twist. After everything’s said and done we find out NHS and NMJ are the culprits behind the time travel bc NHS had them both tattooed with WWXs time travel talismans that he made in his first life and he was terrified of losing his brother (pretty positive he had figured out JGY was poisoning him)

Anywhosies, thank you in advance if you are able to find this masterpiece. @xxxnpcxxx

FOUND? Wish me luck by starlight1395 (Not Rated, 164k, WangXian, JC/NHS, JYL/JZX, Fix It, Time Travel, Angst, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Nightmares, Slight fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Lots of tears, canon levels of blood/violence, Minor Character Death, secondary character death, Sibling Bonding, JC curses alot, battle scenes with appropriate levels of violence and blood, semi mild smut, it's emotional and soft smut tho so it's okay, mild Self-harm)

~*~

13. hello! i’m looking for a post first-siege fic but i don’t remember too much about it. it’s set after LWJ is injured with his 33 lashes, and WWX sneaks(?)/deliriously stumbles into the jingshi after news of his death has already permeated the jianghu (i’m pretty sure). LWJ is woken up by WWX(?) or wakes up to WWX kinda slumped beside him. some feels are definitely had between them but i don’t remember the details.

LXC discovers WWX embarrassingly quickly, and in this fic i’m pretty sure this LXC leans on the “WWX was your only mistake” kind of LXC, but ultimately doesn’t care that he’s in CR for the sake of LWJ—like he’s incredibly wary of WWX and his intentions but throughout the fic you can see LXC realizing he’s more than just the yiling patriarch or the man who broke his brother’s heart.

now there are two scenes i remember from this fic, but i’m not sure which one goes first, and for all i know i might be mistaking two different fics lol. but i distinctly remember WWX coming down with a severe illness. like LWJ and LXC come back to the jingshi at some point and discover that something is really wrong with him, and i think him being sick leads to a golden core reveal? not sure tho.

the scene that i remember that is definitely part of the fic i’m looking for is when LWJ and LXC (i think maybe for a medical check up for LWJ?) leave the jingshi for some reason, and WWX just chills for a little bit. after a while a servant comes into the jingshi to clean some things up, and WWX has to scramble to find a hiding place because no one else in the lan sect is supposed to know he’s there. he ends up hiding behind the far side of LWJ’s bed(?) OR behind a privacy screen(?), and he just sits there, cramped and uncomfortable for who knows how long, before LWJ comes back.

LWJ doesn’t see him at first and you can tell that he’s afraid WWX left, but WWX calls out for him and LWJ discovers his hiding spot, where i’m pretty sure WWX is cultivating some nasty illness.

i just realized i don’t know where a-yuan fits in here since WWX is still alive—i THINK lxc goes to save him himself, if WWX doesn’t already have him. please disregard this if this muddles up your search 🙏 i think paragraphs 1, 2, and 4 are the most accurate to what i’m looking for. sorry if this is too long 😭 and thank you for your hard work!!! @shenguangjun

FOUND? Unbreakable Heaven, Luminous Earth by carolyncaves (M, 96k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Secret Identity, almost to the point of uncomfortable identity theft, Sharing a Bed, Literal Sleeping Together, Mutual Pining, Getting Together, Suicidal Thoughts, that's for WWX after Nightless City and is not pervasive throughout the fic, Blood and Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Caretaking, Sexual Content, Domestic Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Power Imbalance, mainly between WWX and JGY in an entirely nonsexual manner, this isn't really a kid fic but the kids are there, as are some yunmeng sibling feelings, JYL lives, Not Everyone Dies, some COVID parallels, this is not a quarantine fic, but thematically WWX deals w things like face-covering for safety and loss of control, also assume all canon warnings, this AU is gentler than canon but isn't a complete fix-it) this fic has a similar scene at the beginning, with WWX hiding from the servants?

~*~

14. Tw: miscarriage. Hi! I think I might have imagined reading this but I’m looking for a fic where WWX was pregnant and Lans punished him for some reason and he lost the baby. Lan Wangji didn’t do anything to protect him.

~*~

15. I’m looking for a fic where Wei Ying gets mad at Lan Zhan. The fic starts off when Lan Zhan has sex with Wei Ying and Wei Ying decides to run away. Wei Ying puts on Lan Zhan’s robes and runs around Cloud Recesses in the middle of the night. Lan Zhan catches him and drags him back to their room and starts to punish him which causes him to yell and scream. The juniors knock on their door and Wei Ying slaps Lan Zhan across the face. They later make up when Lan Zhan gives Wei Ying something. @monochrome012

~*~

16. Hello dear, I am looking for a wangxian fic where wei wuxian was expelled from study in cloud receses and write letter to everyone except lan wangji. after lecture lan wangji and lan xichen visit yunmeng, but wei wuxian ignore lan wangji.

~*~

17. For the next fic finder I was wondering if anyone has read this fic in which wwx is an omega but everyone thinks he's an alpha so when he is smelling Nie Huaisang he gets scolded by Lan Qiren and MAYBE Lan Wangji? It was during the Cloud Recesses Arc

FOUND? We Should Have Realized by BINGHESCURLS (T, 2k, WangXian, NHS & WWX, JC & WWX, Canon Divergence, A/B/O, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV Outsider, Feelings Realization, Nesting, Scenting, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Alpha JC, Omega NHS, POV NHS, JC is a Good Brother, LQR Being an Asshole, Crying, Apologies, Mating Cycles/In Heat)

~*~

18. Hi amazing people!!! Asking for help again!! I wonder if you could help me find two fics!! A) One is where people can transform into animals, and they have ears of the animal they transform to all the time!! I remember Lan Zhan had fox ears I think and Wei Ying had round ears, really cute, I remember an image of the two of them!! B) Another one where Wei Ying is adopted by a courtesan and does that and cultivation, he helps in the Sunshot Campaign!! Great stories both!! Help me please!! Be well!! @monicaop21

18A)

FOUND? 🔒 Letters along a River by Ilona22 (M, 19k, WangXian, JYL/LXC, Nighthunting, Letters, Animal Traits, Mystery, Prejudice against Prey Shifters)

18B)

FOUND? 🔒 Flowers Blooming by Ilona22 (M, 35k, WangXian, Alternate Universe, Adoption, Prostitution, Family Fluff, Family Drama, Growing Up, War and what it does to the lives of normal people)

~*~

19. Hey! Long shot, might be hard to find, but for the next fic finder — was there a fic where Wangxian were both pornstars? AFAIK, bottom Wei Ying, and he falls in love with Lan Wangji during the many scenes they have to perform together. Cant remember any more details but they were like, professional pornstars. Thank you all! Much love :)

FOUND? Afterglow by Court_on_Fire (E, 4k, WangXian, Wangxian/others implied, Pornstar WWX, Pornstar LWJ, Pining while fucking, Friends to Lovers, Porn With Plot, Porn AU, Confessions, Anal Sex)

FOUND? Wei Wuxian makes a porno by andreanna (E, 8k, WangXian, Modern, Porn AU, camboy, Power Dynamics, Attempt at Humor, Multimedia, LWJ's canonical big dick, Deepthroating, Voyeurism)

~*~

20. I’m not sure if this ao3 fanfic is deleted because it’s been a couple years, but I’m desperately looking for this wwx x lwj fanfic. from what i remember

wwx has been a god for a really long time (i think yunmeng god, but i’m not entirely sure. and i believe a lot of people stopped worshipping him and he kind of became forgotten?)

he stumbles across young lwj in cloud recesses and takes interest in him, visits lwj every night

i think wwx disappears for some time because he meddled in during the wen clan war/sunshot campaign, which gods were not supposed to

and that’s about all the details i can remember, apart from the fact that it’s EXTREMELY well-written. if anyone has any inkling or possibilities please send them my way! (i couldn’t find it under the deity wwx tag)

FOUND? reminded me of Red Flower Fortress by Tysis (T, 4k, WangXian, Immortals, Immortality, WWX is a GOD, Fix-It of Sorts, Everyone Lives, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, They will get together but not until LWJ ascends, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, Unreliable Narrator, Two of them) Where WWX slept under Gusu Mountain, only occasionally waking up until the Wens attack and he does something

~*~

[t0ast-ghost]

Hmmm mmmmmm I have so many boys thoughts and since I’m not sleeping tonight I guess I’ll write them down:

(Spoilers for the Boys season 4. Don’t cry over spoiled milk show! Go watch it for yourself)

- Truthfully I didn’t like Hughie in the second episode they just made him (super forcefully) bring up his mom. I did really like all his other bits though especially the stuff we’re getting into with a-train (really hope they actually go through with giving him plot, since he’s supposed to be the main character and all that or whatever)

- every time a character got close to another I legitimately asked if they were gonna kiss

- butcher is my wet cat sad puppy murdering babygirl, he’s slaying this season by actually communicating and I hope it stays that way

- This is the second time I’ve seen Jeffrey Dean Morgan play a horrible person willing to weaponize children for their cause… and he’s good at playing that part (I feel they gave his character a lot of what Butcher was in the comics)

- I really do like what they’re doing with A-Train

- I really do hate what they’re doing with Annie and Firecracker, I get they have to have personal conflict but this feels shallow and although it’s believable that this grudge would last I think there should have been more thought put into the stakes of their relationship (Curry and Moriaty’s acting was so good for the bit where Firecracker threatens her but the stakes are so low and the hatred in the writing doesn’t feel built up enough for her to have that big of a reaction to the threat)

- Going back to Hughie and his mom, I think Quaid’s acting for the bits with his mom were phenomenal, I could relate to his frustration and his sadness was palpable. I think a lot of their moments didn’t feel great and I couldn’t put my finger on it but the conversation about how her depression lead to her leaving felt like the truth finally came out and now it’s hopefully going to feel a bit more like things are moving forward for them

- I’m a little surprised they actually had a character like splinter. Simply because he felt straight out of the comics, and I know how much they’ve veered away from the comics. I really liked the scene where Butcher got to take out a bunch of them simply cause he got to be good ‘ol Billy Butcher

- Homelander has me on a roller coaster because I was going to write a post while watching about how they write him really well in a mindfuck kind of way because you slowly start realizing you’re relating to his character and you can understand his actions, and right before I wrote that post he told the deep to suck off a train and I stopped dead in my tracks. I was legitimately scared in that moment because that also felt like something out of the comics but the difference is that the tv show wouldn’t or at least didn’t go through with it

- Homelander this season is even more brilliantly acted, and seeing him with Sage is a new interesting experience. I was trying to figure out Sage’s motivations and I thought I knew but really I didn’t know because I was trying to say she was fighting for a cause. That is wrong. She is constantly manipulating the people around her but it is solely to benefit herself and her happiness. Yes, she helps Homelander and is honest with him because that is the best way to keep herself happy and alive. She’s smart enough to know that manipulating him or trying to agree with everything he says will be a dead end. She’s still trying to please him and is ultimately playing by his rules but she’s the smartest player because she knows being inauthentic will only end up losing you power, and if you’re on the end of two hot glowing red orbs anyway, why not at least have an actual say

- The gore is going well so far. I’ve appreciated it. Especially the beetlejuice-esque scene where Kimiko has her face torn off and you only see the back of her head and the reactions

- Ryan has so many good scenes. His scenes with Homelander are punctuated by quiet, you can hear every thought screaming through, but what would saying any of it actually accomplish? His scenes with Butcher are so heartfelt, I’m glad they’re finally able to talk. But Ryan still dealing with his grief and guilt is heartbreaking. And on top of that him thinking that the closest person to his mom seemingly hates him and would never want him adds so much to the emotional confusion that he’s experiencing. He obviously needs to leave Homelander, but he still doesn’t want to leave his dad which makes sense because this is currently the only source of love he has from anyone and it was promised unconditionally (even though it is very conditional)

- Frechie’s gotta tell that guy that he killed his family but I was really glad they gave him a boyfriend. I forgot that him and Kimiko weren’t a thing so I got really excited that Frenchie was getting to be awesome and polyamorous. I am glad that Kimiko has asserted that they are friends tho

- I am so intrigued by the brain worm

Thoughts upon second rewatch:

- Opening could’ve been bloodier or more horrific. They toned it down :( but the flesh and blood melting off that guys face was pretty good. And the Todd scene is pretty horrific.

- The way Ryan and Homelander speak in unison about people being ants is so telling, and makes sense with the later context of Homelander wanting Ryan to be an exact replica of himself

- The way that Ryan in this season is so focussed on fear, because he is scared but the people around him won’t admit to that, so when Butcher finally communicates with him and tells him that he’s most afraid of dying without making amends I think that finally gains Ryan’s trust back

- They really are changing Butcher’s character, he’s not just ‘do thing to get thing and it’s justified by the end result’ he’s finally thinking about the people around him and considering them even if the results aren’t fast. He doesn’t give the info to Vick, he doesn’t drug Ryan, and he’s really trying to help even if he is still being a shit about it

- The talk between Vick and Homelander in the opening is sooooo good cause of HL’s little voice crack, he’s losing it

- KIMIKO PAINTS HER NAILS!!! they’re blue :)

- I feel like Hughie’s hatred towards Vicky is forced upon him. Like I guess he hates that she lied to him (but if he thought about it he’d realize that it’s reasonable for her to want to hide her powers especially since she’s been shamed about them for most of her life) and I get they have very different views with her under vought’s thumb and all. But since they’re recruiting A-Train I’m wondering if there’ll ever be a bit of a redemption for her cause I feel like wanting supes to be allowed to live like normal people is not a bad thing, it’s just that she’s working with people who view supes as superior

- “He killed that poor cunt in broad daylight, and they fucking cheered.” Alongside Homelanders “I save people, they cheer. I fucking kill people, they cheer.” is like, they both understand this fact. Homelander will get what he wants no matter what and Billy wants to take him down a notch. Same as always and yet so many changes.

- I missed that the acid that Hughie threw on Vick was Frenchie’s creation the first time around. Also missed Hughie’s failed pep talk, I love that loser. I didn’t miss that no one else is able to understand Kimiko, which sucks

- I want Karl Urban and Simon Pegg to be in the same room again but that’s just my star trek fan talking

- Is that the first time Hughie and Butcher properly hug in the series?

- There’s a weird obsession with phones this season. Especially with hanging up on people. Also an obsession with “no/yes, sirs” which I think is them upping the show of power dynamics

- I thought that octopus sounded familiar. It’s Tilda Fucking Swinton.

- “He always knew he was destined for greatness, because he came from greatness.” Good job guys. I see your little joke

- I did not notice that all the guys setting up Firecracker’s stage were splinter who is played by Rob Benedict (Chuck in Supernatural)

- One of the background noises at the Truthcon mentions an “Alex Jones look alike contest”

- When Ryan throws Koi against the wall in other shows that would be his turning point. The point in which there’s no going back for him. So I’m really glad that it’s just the point in which he needs to talk to someone, that it really does upset him. Unfortunately he goes from one horribly emotionally repressed man to a slightly less emotionally repressed man who is dying

- I hope whoever that person that Kimiko knows turns into a new found family member

- M. M slowly realizing why Butcher was such a bitch to everyone on the team. And it’s because no one listens. Ever. Unless you’re actively threatening them in one way or another

- I don’t know what that bloody metal rod in Sage’s room means even after a rewatch. So I guess I’ll find out.

- Closing thoughts; bring in more A-Train and Hughie moments (also get people to call him Reggie so I don’t have to write A-Train every time)

Hughie has weed in his desk

If y’all wanna talk about this with me (especially after reading all that) feel free to do so

[lover-of-mine]

I have realized what is making my head explode when a BT post accidentally goes through my tags!!!! They are completely ignoring Buck is bi. They are acting like my aunt in the early 2000s. I may not have been fond of all the LUs but they were valid relationships. If Taylor had not fucked up who knows where that relationship would have gone. I mean clearly nowhere once Eddie was out because once Eddie broke up with him he spiraled and kissed Lucy. But they are still valid relationships and at this point in time I don't see how Tommy is better than any of them. To be honest he has the worst traits of Abby and Taylor but the screen time of Ally. So frustrating.

Well, when have people ever been normal about bisexuality? But here's the thing, every relationship Buck had so far had his own set of issues that somehow have been reduced to the way he was dating women, which is fucked in so many ways and the amount of times I have to stop myself from picking a fight because of bucktaylor it's actually hysterical to me because we're seriously at a point where I need to defend the validity of Taylor's place in Buck's life. Like, how did we get here? Because here's the thing, do I think Buck and Taylor were meant to be? No. Do I think Buck would've clung to her until he literally couldn't anymore if her actions hadn't hurt his family? Absolutely. I see Buck going as far as panic proposing to her if that particular situation hadn't happened, just to have someone. Because they had chemistry and Buck kept trying to force that to become love. Taylor was wrong for Buck for a multitude of reasons, but none of those reasons were because she's a woman and Buck is gay. And the relationship with Tommy is not gonna magically last forever just because Tommy is a man. Tommy is this weird amalgamation of all of Buck's love interests with Ali/Ana levels of screentime and he doesn't magically have a fighting chance just because he has a dick and people can't seem to see this. And I think that's crazy. Because Tommy was given to us in an episode that had the theme of not recognizing people, while actively making us think it was about someone else and then they did the Kim storyline and I want to scream because people can't see the parallels. And the more I look at it the more insane I get because he's all of Buck's love interests smashed into someone who's Eddie two steps to the left with none of the things we love about him. But somehow he's perfect because he's not a woman. The only thing Tommy has going for him is not being a woman. You turn him into one and none of the things he did would fly. Letting Buck get away with physically hurting Eddie? Leaving him in the curb? Not dressing up? Making a kink joke after someone Buck loves almost died? Picture those scenes with Lucy and tell me anyone in the fandom would be shipping them. Let alone fighting for them the way people are right now. But he's a man so he gets a pass and that's so fucking weird. Evan Buckley is bisexual but getting dicked down isn't going to magically make everything perfect. Jesus.

Also, since you mentioned Eddie coming out, something that I've been thinking about since we found out it was supposed to be Eddie, a Buck who thinks he's straight finding out Eddie has a boyfriend would shortcircuit. I legit think they could not find a way to write Buck's reaction to Eddie being queer that didn't end with him figuring his feelings out so they switched things up, so Buck would for sure would've gotten there once Eddie got there because he would've had big feelings about it and Buck is not the repressed one.

[justfandomwritings]

An essay on why I won’t be watching next season.

1. Obviously actors have to promote their shows and hype them up. But the interactions between Nicola and Luke during the press tour were, in retrospect, clearly also acting performances, and it is rare to see acting within the press tour to the degree that those two put on while grossly exaggerating things like how sexy this season would be or how much Polin we would get. I don’t blame them. It’s clearly what they were told to do. And it’s fine to hype a show, but I think a lot of people felt genuinely lied to with the WAY this season was hyped.

2. The casting has been color conscious and inclusive in a way I greatly admire. But they have not been inclusive in other ways. And that’s not to say they should have to be. One show shouldn’t bear the responsibility of being inclusive to everyone and making up for an industries worth of exclusion. But we have exactly one size inclusive character in this whole show, and I’m not even demanding more, but to butcher the season of the only size inclusive person in this show this badly and in these ways sends me a clear message of what the writers thought they could get away with with a curvy actress and how they saw her.

3. The wait times for this season and next season are just too long. The hype dies down too much between seasons such that we care less and less each time we get a new one, especially when you only give eight episodes, regardless of their length. You know who also gave us a season in 2022 and then an eight episode season this year? house of the dragon. And they have to CGI a fuck ton of dragons. Yall were sitting on this season being done filming for over a year and for what? What did you do in post? A bee? And then to have the audacity to do it in two parts? Fuck off.

4. Add to that. The costumes and new sets looked so much cheaper this season than previous seasons. Where did the budget go.

5. The plot is too crowded. Maybe you thought a curvy girl couldn’t carry a season. Maybe it was bad writing. Obviously you needed Cressida and Eloise to have decent amounts of screen time but you also did half of Francesca’s story and set one up for Violet and Benedict that collectively took the majority of the screen time and left us with very little Pen and Colin. Which was a disservice you never gave Anthony or Daphne’s seasons and was why they were good. We got enough crumbs of the others to tell us what was happening but not enough to make them feel like main characters or to make it feel like an ensemble show. There were leads in season 1 and 2. This season it was an ensemble with too many moving parts. But everyone’s said that. It’s not surprising.

6. My biggest problem is the tone. The blame. Admittedly I’m a woman who relates strongly to Penelope so I’m not impartial here. But for a character who spends her entire life being abused by every single person in this show, who is pushed to her absolute breaking point before finally giving her mother and the tonne a taste of their own medicine. For that character to receive no grace, no understanding, no respect, for the vast majority of the season hurt. To not only have zero understanding of her situation but to frame the entire plot of the show around the fact that SHE alone should be sorry. To have minimal to no groveling from Colin over what he said last season, to have no acknowledgment of how he treated her as a safety net, to humanize Cressida who made her life hell with minimal acknowledgment of that fact, to have Eloise get ONE comment from Cressida of all people about her friendship with Penelope but no real reflection from Eloise or acknowledgment on her part or apologies for what a truly SHIT friend she was for DECADES. That hurt. Because the message is that sure, they can push you to your fucking limit, you can break after years of being bullied for your weight and your looks and your status. Your own mother and sisters hands can be filthy with insults and abuse. Your friends can treat you like utter garbage for years. They can befriend your bullies. Your soon to be husband can, very recently, insult you to his friends behind your back. But you owe them the apology for breaking after years of abuse. It’s not that the tonne couldn’t be angry or that they all should’ve fallen at Pen’s feet. It’s that those arguments never happen at all because once again, just like when she was being used and abused by everyone, everything was put on Penelope. And the cycle continues.

7. Colin should’ve groveled more. I know I said that in the previous point but it really ruined things for me so I want to emphasize it. I wanted that man on his knees the whole season, and I should’ve known I wasn’t gonna get that when y’all dropped the list of songs and there wasn’t any of the A List Yearners on the list. But I’m still mad.

8. Actually that’s a good point. Did anyone else think the songs didn’t go as hard this year? Except Pitbull were we excited about any of them?

9. You did the Pride and Prejudice ballroom trick with the dancing alone thing and you didn’t nail it. If you’re gonna do that trick it has to fucking HIT. (And it has to be enemies to lovers.) And you did it half assed. You should be ashamed.

10. There was a two second window there when Cressida asked the maid for help where I thought they were gonna swap lives and the maid would go with her aunt and Cressida would become a maid and I was like “holy fuck is Cressida gonna become Bennys love interest?” and that would’ve been better than what y’all did I think. And it would’ve justified her excessive screen time.

11. I love gender swapping Michaela and making Francesca bi. We love it. But why was Francesca immediately interested. Once again the writers don’t understand pining. Michaela is PINING for Francesca and can do nothing but love her from afar. Francesca loved John completely and whole heartedly. Michaela was a beautiful love story for her but was also a second chance. She loved John completely. She would never have an emotional affair on him. How did you immediately ruin such a beautiful second chance romance?

12. Where was Pen’s friendship with Anthony or Lady Danbury? Why wasn’t Colin proud of Pen the way he was in the book? To make her even more alone? To emphasize that she was alone and at fault and helpless? Fuck off.

I just don’t have it in me to watch this show deteriorate further.

[clustermuck]

ugh...I'm still very upset about how part 2 handled Colin & Pen's characters post-LW reveal, ESPECIALLY if they weren't going to give us a lot of Happy!Polin married bliss after their reconciliation in ep 8. If you're gonna have a boat-load of angst in a story like this, you need to have a balance of resolution and happiness, otherwise there's, like, narrative whiplash (which is basically how I felt about the epilogue...)

HOWEVER — as right as I think I am that they could have made better narrative choices with writing and editing this season, I'm also starting to be like,

"are angst-driven stories just not for me?"

I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm down bad for the enemies-to-lovers/bickering couple trope and I always appreciate a quality slow-burn, so I'm hardly against angst in any form. That is, until that angst is prolonged longer than the plot or the characters organically would or should suffer with it.

So, maybe this is me just not understanding what it means to watch a Shondaland show?...I've never been a Grey's or Scandal person and I dropped out of HTGAWM pretty quickly. So maybe Shonda's approach to romance isn't for me and I need to recognize that in the show to enjoy it (or try to)? Perhaps I'm asking the show to be something it's not...it's like going into a Subway and asking for an ice cream cone—I don't know.

I guess my hill I die on when it comes to stories of any kind that feature romance is: don't confuse angst with conflict. They aren't necessarily the same thing. There is so much Polin angst in those last two episodes that could have resolved without resolving the conflict of the Queen/Cressida vs. LW (or even between Penelope and Colin! There could have still been tons of conflict there, it just should have manifested in them being on the same side of the conflict...more Polin vs. The Problem rather than Pen vs. Colin and The Problem.) I guess I mean having Colin be stonewalled against Penelope for so long (narratively speaking, I get that it was only 2 episodes) didn't feel honest to me. I understand where all of his feelings of anger, betrayal, and doubts were coming from and he's totally entitled to them! I'm not trying to take that very real, honest response away from him. But by the time it was, like, mid-episode 8 and Colin was still acting almost cruel towards Penelope, it started to feel like angst for angst sake, not for the betterment of the story. And whether or not angst-ridden stories are your "type" of show or not, you can tell poor choices from good ones and I do believe that even for fans of Shondaland's approach to storytelling, there was much to be desired. We all deserved a bit better than what we got.

[butt0nzz66]

okay I got some sleep my thoughts have changed slightly.

So after a little spiral of sadness yesterday and grieving the incredible love and softness we got in first 6 episodes. I got some sleep and watched it again with the bf who in respect to my obsession has watched all the seasons with me to understanding what I’m yapping about.

I actually am beginning to like it more and can’t lie I really enjoy episode 7 I love the angst, Mr fingerton of worldwide and the wedding. I think this did a great job of demonstrating Colin’s internal struggle between loving and wanting pen but not been able to reconcile both sides of her and the wedding was a happy one until big QC rocked up. I even didn’t mind the entrapment comment because as one other poster pointed out he’s lashing out in anger because he knows he basically ran to the carriage and didn’t give her a min to breath after lol.

However I am still struggling with a few points and I have laid out what I think they could have done to improve it with a few short scenes.

The ending of episode 7 e.g. lack of a wedding night. I personally think the queen thing could have happened after, so we get a sweet wedding night where things aren’t perfect but they are moving towards understanding eachother, this gives us as the viewers a min to breath and then next episode is the queen/cressida drama and then this new wave of struggles for him(yes even with the couch sleeping) or them against the world kind of approach.

Another thing I found is while I do think they actually portrayed quite well him talking to various people to reconcile his feelings in the last episode e.g. Cressida, Eloise, there was a lack of communication of his growth to Penelope and while yes he’s a sulker that isn’t a heathly representation of marriage like you need to talk. I think this could have been improved with a very simple “I’m trying to get to that, but it’s just going to take me time” kind of line in the study love confession.

I also would have LOVED to have seen the conversation between Colin and Violet following the letter Penelope sent, to see her go from shocked to impressed and to see Colin realise maybe I am a lil jealous and dragging it out a bit. She was so insightful with him in episode 4 I think we could have all benefitted from her wisdom and maybe pointing out that while LW didn’t always do things in the right way she has always tried to save the Bridgertons because she loves them more than anyone.

Finally if we could have added a short scene of them after the ball going home and her being like “no more on the couch?” or them running to the bedroom laughing not even sex just fluff then that last sex scene wouldn’t feel quite so plonked in. Like don’t get me wrong I’ll take any crumb I can get but would have been nice to have an intro to it.

I think if we sacrificed a few sub plot scenes for that then it would be a 10/10 despite the angst being dragged on a bit. But maybe that’s just me having too much drama in my own life I don’t want it in my escapism show.

Also the end of season 1&2 was pretty similar in a lot of miscommunication and drama right up until the last second so it was silly of me to hope for something more.

So big shout out to the BF who watched it and gave his perspective of colins feelings which I think helped me get out of my own way.

And I’ve seen a few posts saying why is everyone so critical and quite frankly um because that’s how I feel? Like overall I loved the season definitely my favourite of the 3 and all the actors did a brilliant job however I will point out where I think things could be better. Which is why I’ve tried to word things in a more cohesive way now I’ve had time to reflect. Forums like this are built from discussion if you don’t like what someone is saying scroll on past, to be honest reading your positive analysis gave me a new perspective and improved my thoughts of it so that’s great and thank you, but if you don’t like what I have to say please let me know your thoughts, mute me or scroll on by and stay in your happy bubble because honestly it was a great show overall.

sorry for my rambling but the comedown is worse than any drug and I miss them already 😢

[youkaiyume]

Alright, I have finally gotten through the rest of Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 (twice) now, and I do have some thoughts. I am going to be splitting what I liked and what I didn't into different posts.

This one will be all the things I did not love.

Spoilers below.

--

Overally I'm not quite sure how to feel? While I'm happy with where they ended, I thought how they got there was extremely rough. And it's not as if I don't like a bit of drama, but the amount of stress and heartbreak in between was too much. Perhaps I should have kept away from the Bridgerton interviews because they really set my expectations high, for certain things.

From the delirious high of Episode 5 that really gave us everything, to the lows of the Whistledown reveal hanging over us in the rest of the season, I truly was befuddled on my couch at 2 AM. I expected Colin to be angry with Pen about Whistledown, but I truly did not expect for them to go into their wedding and then well into their marriage not having hashed out these wounds or accepting one another fully.

When Colin accused her of entrapment it was truly crushing, especially when he had so passionately denied to her mother before of this very accusation. Only now to throw it in her face and confirm all of her deepest fears and regrets. Even if he could not have reconciled her alter ego with Penelope I had hoped that he would assure her that he still loved her so that she could go into the chapel the next morning without feeling that he was only there out of obligation. When he said these things I was surprised that Penelope did not offer to withdraw from the engagement. Not only if he was so clearly unhappy but also I couldn't believe that she would marry him knowing this is what he thought of her. This would have been great for the official reveal when she is up on stage making her speech to the ton, where he was standing by her side to speak. Not literally, I understand the importance of wanting her to step into her power by herself in the spotlight, but it would have been nice to see her doing it knowing she had the full support and love of her husband.

Instead, she went up there believing that he would want to annul the marriage, and that she had done this in a way to secure her and her family's future without him--because she--and WE have been told this entire season that a woman has to look out for herself. How wonderful it would have been to be proven wrong--that she is not alone.

Don't get me wrong, I did feel in the way he looked at her during the wedding and when they danced that there is a clear longing and love for her despite their rift. And when he said their vows I genuinely felt that he meant them and wanted nothing more to be hers. It's clear despite everything, deep down he still wants that happy ending with her, but the show sure spent the entire time having them not talk about their feelings.

Again, I had fully thought that by the time they were married he accepted her, and the the entire plot revolving Cressida's blackmail would be him fully trying to protect and support his wife because he loved all of her and feared for her safety. Instead, it came off like he was protecting Penelope because she was a Bridgerton now and he didn't want this to sully their good name. Not even the line about him being mad about someone blackmailing his wife was enough for me. I will temper this once again with it was clear that of course he still loved and was beginning to understand her, especially when he made his plea to Cressida to spare Penelope.

Don't get me wrong, I love angst but I did not think it would drag on until the last moments of the series. And it's the kind of marriage that I also did not like for Season 1, where Daphne and Simon spent most of their time married apart. My stomach really dropped when I realized 'oh, we're doing this again...' And yes we did get a brief "honeymoon" period tho this is misleading when the actors promoted it because it took place during their engagement before the reveal. But even then we could not fully enjoy the moments when they were blissfully happy because Penelope's secret hung so heavily over them.

It is certainly complex all of the feels he's having--loving her, angry and betrayed by her, feeling deep sympathy for her while also envying her success. Penelope feeling like he can't love all these parts of her even if they're not perfect, her constant regret, not wanting to give up her voice--it's all too much for them and it was clear they did not have time to unpack all of this in the time they had. I feel like we needed at least one extra episode or two.

And to add insult to injury, we took up so much time panning back to Benedict's sexcapades. And look, don't get me wrong I was giggling like a schoolgirl when we got confirmed bi-benedict. But also I felt like the times we flashed back to him in the bedroom was too much. In fact I was slightly confused because the way it was shot/the same location made me think they were just returning to the same sex scene over and over again. As if the entire plot was happening over days and Ben hasn't been able to take off his shirt yet! Trapped forever in an endless night instead of it reading like 'this is several trysts that he's had.' I don't need these many scenes to understand that he's enjoying his newfound sexuality. Especially by comparison we got so little of Polin in their own season--both as a couple and promised spicy moments--they spent so much of it apart!

And then!! There is Eloise!! There's a lot I can say about Eloise, but the main one for right now is just how much her self absorption continues to shine through. The way she just treats her supposed friends like convenient audiences to talk to, and immediately ignores them when they have problems of their own. They way she cannot be bothered to truly learn or care about a single thing about them unless it affects her in some way.

Truly my flabber was gasted when she told Pen it was a good thing Cressida should take the fall, only to turn around and deny Cressida any help in her fake Whistledown paper when it would have solved all of their problems. Like, you know Cress is lying! Just help her out, you know she's desperate to save herself and it would also save Pen! Even if Cress took the mantle briefly and then retired by saying she quit because she is now unmasked that would have been ideal.

Instead she walked away and is now shocked when Cressida decides to talk shit about everyone including the Bridgerton family. Prompting Pen to come out of hiding (at your behest!!!) to save your ass AGAIN with Whistledown--which by the way Eloise was so very pleased and grateful for the next morning. And then truly said thanks for that sis, sorry that blew up your engagement tho lol sorry I won't try to help out with that or support you at all. Like. WTF. I could write essays on how Eloise continues to disappoint me despite my best hopes for her but you can tell I get a little ranty about her.

A little minor thing I am not sure how to feel now also is how Polin's son is now the Featherington heir. Like I know that's overall a good thing and I am pleased she won the baby race--it means Pen and Colin can now move into Featherington house and just live across the square and she's saved her mother and family. but also Pen knows that is a fortune she is claiming to be from her Whistledown earnings is actually stolen money--A crime that her now husband tried in Season 2 to return to the rightful members of the ton. I can't imagine he'd feel completely okay with that... unless this is another secret she is keeping from him? I dunno, it's very messy. But also! I would have liked for Colin and Pen to have spent some time actually traveling child free together on an actual honeymoon. (Did they even get to honeymoon????) But Colin immediately knocked her up their first time together he's too powerful I guess.

Anyway, I have good things to say too, I'll probably post about them later.

[bekkachaos]

BRIDGERTON THOUGHTS PRT 2 !

Send help it's literally more Polin I can't help it!

Once again, spoilers ahead for S3 part 2 so keep scrolling if you don't want em! This is my part 1.

It might be an unpopular opinion, but there was too much angst for me. Colin was too angsty for too long, and I know it was only really an episode and a half, But I felt like we got too much of book Colin's bad side and not enough understanding. Like I very much get it and he had a very valid reason for being hurt, but it was dragged almost to the very end of the last episode and I just wish there would have been a little less.

The constant asking if she was going to give up Whistledown kind of annoyed me and how cold he was every time they had that conversation just broke my heart a little bit for Penelope.

I know so much has been changed from books to show, but it's strange that in the book he knows about Whistledown before anything really happens, I mean they have that first kiss where she asks him to but everything else happens after he already knows. So for him to be so cold. Just made me feel sad. I understand it in the context of the show but still.

And something I really disliked was when they're in the room where they're going to have their wedding breakfast and Penelope asks something along the lines of "if you still want to marry me" and he says "I'm a man of honour and we were intimate", I really hate that it came to suggesting he would marry her out of obligation, It just really rubbed me the wrong way. And I wish it had been something along the lines of. "I love you Penelope and I want to marry you. I just don't know if I can forgive you for this", which he'd already said, but I would way rather that have been put out there than to ever even imply that he could marry her out of obligation. I know he was mad and betrayed and jealous, But that one line really bothers me. I've made a whole post basically saying this word for word but that's how strongly I feel about it! Like I get it from Colin's perspective and how he's grappling with it, I do, I just didn't like it.

Also, Colin never actually said sorry? For treating her like shit after he found out. Like I do think his feelings were valid and that he deserved to be upset, but he never said sorry for some of the stuff he said and for being cold even though Penelope apologised so many times.

Luke's emotion though when Colin found out and in the conversations after was incredible, when the tear fell at the end of ep 6 my heart stopped and then broke into tiny pieces!

Something about their pairing that I really like though is that they both feel inherently unlovable for one reason or another (Penelope has always felt completely unloved and overlooked, and Colin has always felt people showed him affections for shallow reasons and not actually for who he is), but both of them prove to each other over and over again how much they love the other and know the other and see them in a way no-one else does.

HOWEVER, I'm not sure they did a good enough job portraying Colin's side of this (I'll update on my rewatch send help). Not sure his coldness and hesitation was addressed enough as jealousy as it could have been. The scene where Penelope says "just love me and hold me and kiss me, what holds you back" and he says "I don't know" like was that just a little abrupt or was that just me? Because from the book I could follow that it's the jealousy of how accomplished she is but not sure the general audience picks up on that.

AND ANOTHER THING, there was absolutely not enough making up after everything was resolved with Whistledown, I needed more love and kisses and softness after the ball!

I know there were things being added to set up for the next season, but damn it was already 70 minutes long, what's 5 more of sweet and in love Polin??

Gotta say though, all of them with their babies in the end was adorable, and you can't deny the last shot kissing in the sunlight of the drawing room (where Penelope spent so much time staring out the window pining after Colin) was so fucking romantic! And the shot with their little baby boy, love!

One last thing, did they spend an exorbitant amount of time dancing or is that just me? Almost as much time as they all spent drinking lemonade in eps 1-4

Overall I loved their story, it's been my favourite pairing so far. Not sure any of the others will top it for me, but time will tell! Episodes 4-5 were definitely my favourites by a long shot!

Okay okay imma do part 3 with my thoughts on everything else 😂

[cptapathy]

hey! what are you favorite ttrpgs?

Dice tumble

Pen scratch

A held breath

A promised climax

We sit around our table/

At our desk/in a circle on the floor

And together we laugh

And smile and more

We love these creations in our heads

As they dance and fight and flee

And as the night draws close to us

We hold them warm and tightly

These people we conjure are dear to me

For they are the crystal through which I look

To see the life I share with you

And the love we have for each other

Okay so my favourite ttrpg changes as I play them but right now it's A.N.I.M's EURKEA!

I have always been a fan of murder mysteries from Agatha Christie, to pie in the sky, Midsomer Murders, Rosemary and Thyme and everything in between.

I had run several murder mysteries in different ttrpgs and even a couple of murder mystery larps (including a spectacular zombie one) but I'd never found a system that truely captured what murder mysteries feel like.

Then I discovered Eureka and the Eureka mechanic and it all clicked. You could say it was a eureka moment.

I'm going to discuss in some detail the mechanic and give an example but before that everyone should go and

a. Follow A.N.I.M. on tumblr

@anim-ttrpgs

b. Join their patreon so we can get the gorgan playable investigator. Go look at all the cool stuff!

https://www.patreon.com/TheAgencyofNarrativeIntrigueandMysteryPatreon/posts

Essentially A.N.I.M have separated dice rolls into two categories

1. Investigation rolls

2. Non-investigation rolls

Investigation rolls are when an investigator is trying to uncover information or clues to progress the investigation. (Pretty clear definition) non-investigation rolls are all other rolls (combat, hiding secrets, getting out of dodge etc.)

Whenever an investigator makes an investigation roll there are 3 possible outcomes

1 Failure - they do not success and/or complications arise - they gain 3 Eureka points

2 partial success/mixed success - they get part of a clue or a clue and a complication - they gain 2 Eureka points

3 full success - they gain the clue without issue - they gain one Eureka point

When the investigators have a full eureka bar they can use a EUREKA!

This allows them to roll a check with 3d6 and take the highest instead of 2d6 or (my favourite option) gain clues from previous failed rolls.

So to take the most iconic episode of Midsomer Murders as an example - "The Killings At Badgers Drift"

Spoilers and CW for references to incest.

DCI Barnerby arrests the foppish artist on suspicion of murder, during the arrest the artist's sister arrives and the artist crys out "I've been framed" and makes a sign of a square with his fingers.

The DCI Makes an investigation roll but biffs it, snake eyes, complete failure, no hope of discovering that clue.

Later on The DCI is talking to a woman at a call centre who was the last known person to speak to the victim. Apparently the victim said "just like poor annabella" before hanging up. Again the DCI makes an investigation roll this time getting a partial success, there is someone related who has a name similar to annabella who died from an "accident" and the DCI decides to investigate this accident as well now, thinking (correctly) that it might not be so accidental.

But now the DCI has a full eureka bar and so the player shouts out eureka to gain the clue from the failed check earlier. And so, that night, the DCI has a dream of all the relevant clues and realises the clue missed when the artist made the symbol and said "I've been framed" it was a code, to tell his sister that the evidence of their affair (the nude painting he did of her) was in the attic and could prove that they were working together to keep their affair secret. This new vital clue allows the DCI to search for, and find, the painting helping to solve the mystery.

And so that is one reason I love eureka, along with the approach to disability and monster characters. It's currently got a free demo and stuff, go support them they're great.

[illiana-mystery]

Aye, aye, Captain Edelweiss!

[morii-moth]

"this is me on day one of NO rendog !!"