#happy watchmen day

[fosszilisdinoszauruszhanyas]

[thegoddamnedwatchmen]

Rorschach: love isnt real

Laurie: You’re literally making a Valentine’s Day card for Dan right now.

Rorschach, brandishing a glue gun: on thin fucking ice, Miss Juspeczyk

[chodoyodes]

[whatthehelloh]

[inkorrect-watchmen]

adrian, watching the news: some imbecile fought a giant squid with their bare hands today.

rorschach, covered in more ink than usual: maybe squid had it coming.

[geekwiththegoggles]

Had a good day today and was able to get a bunch done. Got ahead a bit in my school work, laundry taken care of, even got dinner cooked for my mom and me (southwestern stuffed acorn squash and you KNOW you're jealous). Prepped lunch for work, AND I even got to make an experimental small batch of granola which included the seeds from the squash that I roasted.

I do like it when the brain agrees with the meds, ya know? Screw depression, it's so dumb how tired I get without it...

Good luck with the upcoming week, may y'all meet it where you can.

[recursive360]

💀⏳𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖔𝖔𝖒𝖘𝖉𝖆𝖞 𝕮𝖑𝖔𝖈𝖐 ⌛💀

[C'est la guerre]

[that-ari-blogger]

"Do you want to know a secret?" (The Portal)

I think that the rules of writing are overblown.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things you should and shouldn’t do when telling a story, but those are more guidelines than actual rules.

Case and point, She-Ra is a story predicated on repetition, which shouldn’t be as entertaining as it is. The “bad ending” is effectively another season, which is a unique premise, and a threat that the story absolutely delivers on multiple times.

But, to me at least, the story is enthralling, and keeps me coming back to it. It works, not despite its repetition, but because of it.

Although, that isn’t exactly true. I’ve described the story as cyclical before, but it isn’t entirely. It’s a spiral, because the cycle of abuse is an innately unstable dynamic, and will only end in tragedy if it isn’t broken.

If you don’t want to take my word for this, I give you the season 3 finale, The Portal, which spells out the series’ thesis in about as blunt of a way as is possible.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Watchmen, Batman: The Killing Joke, Superman: For The Man Who Has Everything, Justice League Unlimited)

I grew up reading Alan Moore comics, and if you don’t know who that is, I both pity you and envy you. Alan Moore is one of the most misrepresented writers of the modern age, and its entirely his own fault.

Moore is known for writing V For Vendetta, The Killing Joke, and Watchmen, all of which have a distinctly grim tone. He is one of those writers who seems to care more about the story he is telling than how much people enjoy it, and so he usually has a point to make.

Unfortunately, we end up with the Cyber Punk dilemma, in which Alan Moore’s genuinely unrivalled literary talent leads to people really enjoying his stories, which means they unintentionally miss the actual themes of those stories. In the case of Watchmen, this led to people seeing the gore and the violence and the depression and trying to replicate that.

This is where we get The Boys from, shallow sadness and spectacle. If that’s your thing, go for it, but it isn’t mine.

But I bring up Moore in a discussion of She-Ra for a reason, and that is the relentless hope inherent in his writing. In Moore’s stories, hope prevails every single time, with the only exception being extremely subjective. The Killing Joke focuses on the idea that everyone is one bad day away from becoming evil, and that gets proven wrong. Watchmen is about how small humans are and how annihilation changes people, yet the characters are able to find joy and an escape from their trauma, and show kindness to each other even when the sky almost literally falls on their heads.

The Boys isn’t very good as an adaptation of Moore’s themes (In my opinion). If you want one that actually understands the source material, watch The Incredibles, or Justice League Unlimited, or She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

I have praised She-Ra for its animation and pacing, as well as its overarching story, but I think its greatest strength is its humanity. Characters in She-Ra are incredibly fragile, psychologically, and yet they are incredibly resilient.

Catra and Adora’s development gets methodically and efficiently destroyed by Shadow Weaver, and yet Adora becomes a hero and Catra… well, we’ll see how that works out in later seasons.

One of my favourite Moore stories is a superman story from 1985 called For The Man Who Has Everything. This was adapted into an episode of Justice League Unlimited, but I prefer the comic.

The story follows Superman being forced to live out his greatest desire. It doesn’t sound that bad, but the point is that he is kept happy and therefore out of the picture while villains can do villain things. It’s very much a story from its time, and I love it.

Interestingly, however, Superman’s dream takes him back to Krypton, where he isn’t Superman, and he is happy. He has a wife, and a son, and he never lost anything. He can spend time with his parents.

Even with the shenanigans that ensue (because this is a comic), his time in this dream is fun, and relaxing. Until he works out he’s dreaming, and has to let it go. Superman gets the choice of happiness, or duty, and he takes duty.

The scene in which he says goodbye to his “son”, who does not exist and therefore does not matter, is heartbreaking, and if I ever do comic reviews, I’m talking about this one first.

I now turn your gaze to queen Angella, from whose perspective this story is being told.

The episode actually does a bit of a bait and switch with the point of view, convincing its audience that it is about either Glimmer or Bow, and it kind of is, but not entirely.

Angella has everything she could possibly want, her daughter, her husband, her city. There is no war, there is nothing. Everything is perfect.

“This is perfect, my love, but it’s not real. I remember now. I miss you so much, but Glimmer needs my help, and I can’t stay with nothing but memories. Goodbye Micah”

Does this ring any bells?

I want to point out that this is still Catra’s hallucination, the thing that she wants. So why does she want Angella and Glimmer to be happy?

Catra wants Adora, and arguably loves her, but in an extremely dysfunctional way that says "if I can't have her, nobody can". She is petty, and fully the villain in this episode.

So, the way that she gets Adora to be hers is by ensuring that the people who accepted her would have no space for her in their lives. Why would Glimmer want to spend time with Adora? She has her father. Why would Angella accept Adora? She has her family.

What Catra doesn’t understand is that love isn’t transactional, and that these people are genuinely kind and accepting.

There's the idea of "what you are in the dark." The concept of what a person does when there are no consequences. Characters in this episode keep getting moments like this, when they know that they are fading from existence, and are given moments to show their true colours. Entrapta chooses to be grateful, Bow chooses to be reassuring, and Glimmer chooses to be emotional.

The thing that breaks people out of Catra’s reality is the unexpected. Its Catra’s lack of understanding of people that leads to those people being themselves and instinctively breaking free.

Case and point, Angella and Glimmer help Adora, and because this world was completely unprepared for that minour act of kindness, it can’t keep them contained.

Now, I know what scene you are expecting me to talk about, so I’m going to make you wait, and talk about Catra instead.

Catra is the villain of this episode. If it wasn’t for this being set in her mind, she would have zero nuance. By which I mean, everything about her as a character here is done externally, the way she acts makes her seem like a generic, abusive partner.

Because let me be clear about Catra’s actions here. This is abuse, and it is treated as such by the story. The show doesn’t make apologies for her in this episode, or try to justify it here. Subtlety be damned here, Catra is abusive.

And so, I will read her this way, for this episode. We have seen the nuance leading up to this moment, and we will see a redemption arc. But this is Catra at her lowest, and so I will put aside the past and future to examine the present and the present only. Catra is abusive.

There are two ways you could read this drop in subtlety. One, there are parts of this character that you aren’t seeing, left blank. This episode is presenting you with a character and not showing you the whole thing. Or two, this is a character who has been broken by the story, almost as if parts of her have been removed or lost. Catra is now a fragment of her former self.

I wonder if any of this is reflected in her character design.

“If you hadn’t gotten captured, your sword wouldn’t have opened the portal. If you hadn’t gotten the sword and been the world’s worst She-Ra, none of this would have happened. Admit it Adora, the world would still be standing if you had never come through that portal in the first place.”

This hurts Adora because it’s true. Ok that’s unfair, and inaccurate, but it’s not entirely wrong, and that’s the kicker.

Catra isn’t making this up, she’s just leaving out important details. Because of course, if Adora hadn’t been captured, things would have worked out better, but who was it that captured her? Who was it that made the choice to pull the switch? Who was it that destroyed the world out of spite?

Catra blames Adora for her own actions, and that is, once again, abuse. Which is why it’s so satisfying when Adora stands up for herself.

“I didn’t make you pull the switch. I didn’t make you do anything. I didn’t break the world. But I am gonna fix it.”

Hope is relentless.

But I also want to point out the claiming of agency here. Catra was weirdly insightful at the start of her monologue.

“It's always the same with you, Adora. ‘I have to do this. Oh, we have to do that.’”

Adora’s word choice is a flaw. I looked back at the past few seasons and did a word search through the scripts. I don’t think Adora uses the word “want” more than once at all up to this point.

Essentially, Catra sees things, but extrapolates exactly the wrong message from it. It’s almost as if she’s only seeing half of the world, like her vision is impaired or incomplete somehow.

I wonder if that is reflected in her character design.

In any case, Adora frequently says that she “has to” do things. “Need” is also something she says a lot, and this has the effect of making her an extremely passive character in her own story.

Like I said, this is a moment of agency, but the entire story is a story about that agency. The characters are making choices to either get out of or go along with the downward spiral that the tragic form has set out for them. Catra made the choice to follow, but Adora didn’t. Adora’s word choice makes her look like she has made no choice, but a lack of action is still a decision.

So here, when Adora declares she is “gonna fix it", she takes her agency and decides to walk in a different direction.

This reminds me of an earlier episode, that being Promise.

Hey, look at that action. Looks familiar, right?

This is the only episode I found where Adora says she wants something, although her actual wording is “I never wanted to leave you” when talking to Catra. Go figure.

The moment in question was the episode’s namesake.

��It doesn't matter what they do to us, you know? You look out for me, and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other.” “You promise?” “I promise.”

Agency. Adora is making a decision to stay with Catra and protect her. She is knowingly choosing to do something.

It’s telling that the two most prominent times Adora has done this have been to protect people. It’s almost as if she wants to be useful, or helpful, or protective. Almost as if she wants to be wanted. It would seem Adora is just as addicted to the highs of Shadow Weaver’s programming as Catra, she just has a better support group.

Although this isn’t a full victory, she doesn’t want to save the world, she is just going to, – we still don’t know what Adora wants – this is a partial success. Hold onto that idea, it will come back later.

“Do you want to know a secret? I am a coward. I've always been the queen who stays behind. Micah was the brave one. And then Glimmer, oh, Glimmer. So much like her father. And once again I stayed behind, letting her make the hard choices, letting her be brave for me. I told myself I was being responsible, but, Adora, I was just scared. And then I met you. You inspired us. You inspired me. Not because it was your destiny, but because you never let fear stop you. And now I choose to be brave.”

Queen Angella is voiced by Reshma Shetty. She doesn’t get much praise, but for this monologue, I think she deserves so much more than she got.

In my fourth post about She-Ra, I discussed Adora’s ability to inspire and linked her to Batman, something I stand by to this day.

In universe, She-Ra isn’t important because she’s a warrior. She exists as a leader, to protect people and pull them into a greater tomorrow. She shines a light for others to follow.

That is what happens in The Portal, Adora succeeds not by fighting the enemy, but by being herself. She only becomes She-Ra to destroy the portal at the end. To save Etheria, the giant sword lady isn’t important.

I mentioned earlier that humans are fragile and resilient at the same time, and I give you Angella as evidence for that claim. Here is someone who has lost her husband, and makes decisions based on that fear and trauma. But when push comes to shove, the fear is secondary.

Reality falling apart lets directors get away with true nonsense. Micah's staff has no reason to be here, other than the fact that it makes a phenomenal metaphor for Angella's trauma. But that's all you need.

Jon Pertwee was the third doctor, and while he isn’t nearly as iconic or influential as some of his predecessors and successors, he did deliver the line that defined the whole series.

“Courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.”

I started my discussion of this season by claiming that this is the season in which the characters put a dent the tragic cycle, and I have mentioned several times that the cycle of abuse is unstable. So, here is my thesis.

Catra’s arc fails, not in a story sense, but in a personal one. The idea that every character has a single story arc is something is a specific bugbear of mine, and Catra is kind of my case and point for that. She has a redemption arc up to this point, and she ends up as a villain. Then the story continues and she has to start again and decide where to go next. She has no choice but to move in a different direction from here.

But she tasted redemption already. The crimson wastes gave her a taste of what she is missing, and it offered her an out. It gave her a choice, she made one, and consequences were served. I can’t help but imagine that for the entirety of the next season, she is considering running off to the wastes again.

That idea of consequences comes back with Adora, who makes a good decision, and is rewarded for it. Or rather, she makes a decision to actually do something. Adora becomes an active character, and that is what starts to break the cycle. Because now the motion is halted, and the puppets are pulling the strings.

But, this isn’t a complete victory. Angella is lost, Entrapta and Micah are still gone, none of the villains actually get defeated. For an episode with lasting consequences, not much actually happened.

This episode is big on the fact that this is all a dream, which should destroy the engagement. But it doesn’t. In reality, it preserves the status quo physically, but lets all the characters spontaneously experience character development. The victory of this season is that growth, but it came at a cost.

I want to briefly talk about that final shot, before I go, because this is how you introduce a villain. Sure, the voice acting is impeccable, and the cinematography gives an air of mystery and menace to this threat, but the showstopper is the reveal that this villain can destroy a moon with ease.

You see a fleet of ships, there was no battle here, just a villain showing off for nobody but himself. He gets interrupted by the plot, and he’s busy DESTROYING A MOON.

Horde Prime is f***ing terrifying.

This scene is in this episode too. It's meant to show how reality is falling apart, but I actually have a reading of why it's here. I think Catra wanted to preserve who Adora was, hence why she is the source of all the paradoxes. But Catra doesn't understand that Mara's legacy and Razz's teaching are a big part of Adora.

Final Thoughts

I’m going to talk about the implications for later seasons for a moment here, so if you’re avoiding spoilers, now you know.

I think Catra being the villain here makes her redemption so much more compelling, because she actually needs it. There is a difference between this and, for example, Hunter from The Owl House, who doesn’t really need redemption because he hasn’t done anything wrong.

Catra here has very much done wrong and is evil as defined by the show. But the show’s message is that anyone can change, and that the cycle of abuse isn’t set in stone.

So, Catra will redeem herself, and she will struggle, and fall back, and try again. Forgive her or not, the redemption is the effort to be better.

Next week (or whenever the next post is released, I have a terrible work schedule), I will be discussing The Coronation, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[dynared]

As Dreamworks's deal with Netflix for exclusive shows expires (they first signed a deal with Hulu for exclusives and now seem to be given shows to them and Peacock), shows have begun to leave the service en masse. However, due to the nature of staggered contracts, many of these shows will not be leaving Netflix for at least a year, while others may have several years left on the service. What's on Netflix did some calculations based on when the final seasons were added and came up with some removal dates for the shows -

Voltron: Legendary Defender (N Original)December 14, 2018 December 14, 2024

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (N Original)May 15, 2020 April 10, 2026

3Below: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)July 12, 2019 August 7, 2026

Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)August 7, 2020 August 7, 2026

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)May 25, 2018 August 7, 2026

There are plenty of other expiration dates on that list, but these are the big ones I noticed, mostly because they were attempts at franchise creation that fell completely flat. Voltron's big-budget Amazon movie is due for a 2025 release in a best-case scenario (worst-case scenario is more Robotech-style development hell) and with the rollout of a lot of classic Voltron merchandise including the oft-mentioned Voltron beer, the plan to erase VLD from everything come the film release is well underway. Dreamworks doesn't seem to mind, since they're still the video distributor for DOTU on behalf of World Events Productions, their name is on the Voltron beer.

She-Ra is a similar story. The franchise is also with Amazon via Dreamworks, for a live-action show directed by one of the directors of the Watchmen TV show. Hopefully, whoever plays Hordak can chew the scenery as hard as Jeremy Irons did. It probably will air sometime in 2025-2026 best case scenario as well, just in time to see SPOP eliminated from everything (something Mattel is only too happy to facilitate given their release of classic She-Ra figures for their Masterverse brand of toys).

Trollhunters was meant to be a franchise but despite a lot of big names attached to it, it went absolutely nowhere and everyone seems to have disavowed the whole thing after the ending. So it's just getting tossed to one side.

The internet means IP gets recycled and discarded faster and faster these days. And these are three examples of shows set to disappear from the face of the earth, to the glee of the license holders.

[curarems]

Vimes. So, Snuff. Oh god Vimes. My man decided to get training in raising a teenager a few years ahead of having one of his own. Just in case. Vimes sees someone younger than him, asks 'is anyone gonna care for this child' and doesn't wait for an answer.

I love him and Feeney together so much. This kid comes to his house to arrest him and he (sort of) goes along with it, even if he thinks the reason is bullshit. He lets him have some authority, but doesn't hesitate to tell him when he's wrong or do his own thing – but he still gives him the option to choose what he thinks is the right approach, whether he agrees or not. He brings him to the goblin cave, but the second he realises Feeney can't see, he wants to lead him back out and come back inside by himself. He guides him along, but doesn't make decisions for him. He trusts his knowledge on things Vimes doesn't know about (boats. just... boats. what the fuck is up with this man and boats. he is lost). He is so proud this kid respects his mum. When he sees Feeney has things handled, he doesn't jump in to take over. He still helps or takes the lead when needed.

This is not something new, either. Vimes is good at... Well, parenting. He takes Carrot under his wing, screw that Carrot is twice his size and already has parents. He and Angua don't get along at first, but later develop more of a father-daughter relationship. He sees grubby baby Nobby in Night Watch and gives him food and treats him as someone capable of making his own decisions and taking care of himself and as a person, when hardly anyone does. He is protective of Cheery and will fight anyone who insults her with bare hands and teeth.

He doesn't shy away from sharing what he knows. He tells people. He won't hesitate to give a long speech or a short demonstration to teach people better. He'll teach them to walk. He is good at teaching them to walk.

Sammies, too – they are all in contact with him, weeks, months, years after leaving Ankh-Morpork. When he runs into one of his Watchmen abroad, they are happy to see him. He couldn't have that much of a hand in their training, he is a busy man, he hardly recognizes half of his Watchmen these days; but it was still enough for them to like him, even outside of the 'oh my god it's commander vimes he's my hero' thing that starts happening by later books.

All of this, without taking into account Young Sam. Or the dad jokes.

On the note of Sammies, I know Sammies are the Watchmen trained in Ankh-Morpork that go abroad but. Look. Feeney is a Sammy to me.

[quietpagan]

What Goes Around

Summary: Nobby Nobbs knows John Keel's face when it walks through the door, apparently, even if it's been thirty years.

AO3

There was a crime being committed everywhere, Commander Vimes would say. At any point in time you could throw a dart at a map of Ankh-Morpork and find a crime where it pierced, no matter if it were night or day, and if you couldn’t find a crime all you had to do was hold Nobby Nobbs upside down and shake him for a bit.

Commander Vimes spent much of the afternoon in the process of committing several crimes himself, among which were Public Indecency (entirely dependent on the area of the city and who saw you), Breaching the Peace (such as it was), and Running Too Fast For Anybody To Catch Up and Figure Out What Was Going On (a surprisingly common crime).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upon the resolution of the evening’s tumultuous events and subsequent return to the Watch House, there was a brief moment where everything was normal, and then people actually looked at him. From the desk there was a gasp and the sound of breaking ceramic – Nobby had dropped his cocoa mug.

There was also, on the edge of Vimes’s hearing, a very thin, watery whine.

His entrance, splattered with blood and carrying a handcuffed crook, was not unusual in itself, but Vimes supposed that the addition of the eye patch, the absence of one sleeve, and the story of his disappearance à la magick put pause to the usual proceedings. He looked at the desk where Fred and Nobby were and where the whine was originating from, and was steadily growing louder.

To his horror, Nobby had begun to cry.

This also wasn’t unheard of, especially recently. Nobby’s idea of machismo had always been a bit runny, and after his adventures in Klatch it sometimes ran around in a dress and mascara. A stiff upper lip, Nobby figured, wasn’t very useful for a kid who’d made small change by hanging around businesses until someone gave him some money to leave; they gave it even faster if he threatened to get snot on the floor. Nobby was an ugly crier. He’d had a rough enough childhood, and teenhood, and adulthood, that The School For Hard Knocks sounded like a nice bed-and-breakfast in comparison, and out of all the watchmen (Carrot excluded), Vimes figured that Nobby had the least to actually be insecure about. Shedding a tear in front of his coworkers could only bring down peoples’ opinion of Nobby Nobbs if they pulled out a shovel and dug.

But it was rare, and usually angry. This was not. Nobby was looking at Vimes like his shriveled little heart was breaking, and he was crying hard, and the whine was picking up pitch and starting to become true sobs.*

*It really was a very, very ugly cry. If the moving pictures people held an audition for Ugliest Crier, Nobby Nobbs would be forced into a pair of red-and-blue tights and slapped in the face with a three-part film contract before he’d even pulled out his hanky.

Vimes’s hands were beginning to ache, gripping Carcer’s handcuffs as he was; Carrot stepped forward and gently removed Carcer, half-carrying him quickly but quietly toward the cells. Nobby’s eyes followed Carcer’s face for a moment before snapping back to the Commander, and Vimes realized that he was looking at the bandage Mossy had put over his eye on their way to the bank. Vimes had been to the Watch House earlier that day, just to show his face, but neither of the usual suspects at the desk had been in then, and so had missed the brief flurry of congratulations and well-wishes.

Sergeant Colon, feeling enough awkwardness for everybody, patted Corporal Nobbs on the arm.

“Er, it’s alright, Nobby,” he murmured. He tried to move Nobby back but it was like shifting a statue. “Er, er, we’re all happy that Mister Vimes is back, right? Just you calm down a bit and…”

“What the bleedin’ hell!” Nobby sobbed, darting forward and jabbing a finger at Vimes’s bandaged eye. “I thought I was just imaginin’ it! And everybody told me I was being stupid, and to just shut up and keep me head down and not say anythin’ to you cause, cause, it would probably be upsettin’ to the poor kid and all, and you… an’ you…”

There was a brief instant where Vimes realized that Nobby, and probably several others back then, had thought what past-Sam had thought, and believed John Keel-nee-Vimes to be young Vimesy’s father. And apparently nobody had bothered to mention this for thirty years. And now here Vimes was, the feeling of Keel not yet washed from his skin, looking exactly the same as he did thirty years ago, having come back from a brief venture through space and time, and Nobby was quicker on the uptake than people gave him credit for.

Vimes did the only available thing and picked up the smaller man by the armpits, stepping around the broken shards of the cocoa mug to carry them both upstairs and into his office. Nobby really wasn’t much heavier as an adult than he’d been as a child; most of the weight was probably armor, to be honest, for all that the man ate like a starving bear, and usually nicked something of his neighbor’s plate too while he was at it.

He set Nobby down and closed the door, only to realize that Nobby was still clinging to him; somehow, his thin little arms had found themselves around Vimes’s waist, and were making a decidedly ample effort to squeeze him to death.

Vimes rocked for a moment while processing this. He finally bent down and jerkingly returned the hug. The sobs, fortunately, had petered out, but Vimes’s jerkin was starting to get rather damp.

“I’hckd’th’spn’,” muffled Nobby, from the leather at Vimes’s waist. “Ate fr’ near a week at that place, and when the money ran out I hocked the spoon.” Vimes was beginning to get rather uncomfortable; Nobby Nobbs in immediate vicinity was never particularly pleasant, especially if he was covering your breastplate in tears and snot. He patted Nobby anyway.

“Yeah, I know, Nobby, it was me you sold it to, remember? Look, let me get a hanky, at least…”

“Rubbish bastard you are, sir,” wobbled Nobby, blowing magnificently into the hanky and wiping it across his face. “So’s that’s your grave we’ve been tossing eggs at for thirty years, yeah? And you never even ate one!”

“Hell, Nobby, I didn’t…I didn’t really…”

I just filled in the gaps, he thought to himself, knowing it was a lost cause. Quantum. What a bitch. Vimes weighed the option of showing horrible vulnerability toward his younger subordinate with the option of being honest with his friend of thirty years, who still had a rather manky-looking lilac sprig tucked behind his ear.

“I didn’t know, Nobby. It really only happened a few hours ago, for me.”

Nobby shuffled over and sat down in the spare chair.

“The wizards said you’d been shuffled around in time. They didn’t know where or when you was sent, sir. So…so you had to be there twice?  At the same time?” Vimes sat down in his own chair with a groan. He hadn’t slept in how long? He’d last eaten when, exactly? He’d shaved but hadn’t bathed yet, and there was still old blood in his hair and soaked into the crevices of his hands, splattered over with fresh blood from his tussle with Carcer. His eye ached and for that matter, so did his ribs and his hands and everything in between, the few hours of sleep he’d gotten while unconscious on the bedroom carpet only a thin veneer of rest over the deep well of exhaustion that grabbed at him with painful fingers.

But Nobby was watching him with bright eyes, and just a few hours ago Vimes had seen him on the ground, trying not to get hit or stepped on as the melee across the barricade continued, after the boy had run through crowds of soldiers and panicking civilians to warn him about Snapcase. He’d probably been around eight or so, not counting the cynicism. Vimes-as-Keel had given him a few meals and a lack of cuffs around the head, and that was all it had taken, really. Even thirty years later, he still talked about that damn spoon, which young Vimes had bought off of him in pity when the kid came around to the Watch House to try and mump a meal from him a few weeks later.

A brief but sharp knife of grief jabbed Vimes in the chest at the realization that Nobby – and everybody else who could remember – would now only ever remember Vimes-as-Keel, not Keel himself as Vimes had known him. It felt like Keel’s name had been erased from the books of time, written over with a facsimile of the man, and Vimes held the only original copy. How was that fair? How was that just or right when the people who spent every May twenty-fifth remembering Keel now only knew the copy that had been stuffed into his boots? When they spoke his name they would be speaking of Vimes. The thought was cold, and sank into his bones like a lead weight.

Through the open window, the smell of lilacs still stirred in the night.

Vimes went down and got the cocoa himself, before he dragged his chair around the side of the desk and began to talk.

He wasn’t expecting the hanky back, in any case.

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It was nearing eleven o’clock by the time that Vimes dragged himself back to Scoone Avenue, waving off Carrot’s offer of an escort even though he occasionally saw a flash of golden fur in the corner of his eye – the good one, not the right one. That would be permanent, he thought tiredly. A lot of things that had happened in the past few days felt like they were swimming in a sea of then and now, and the thens and nows were all muddled together and swapped places when they felt like having a change of scenery.  Despite the past’s habit of catching up to the present it mostly stayed where it should be, but the scar…

Vimes hadn’t come away with anything permanent the first time, unless you counted the little invisible cuts and bruises that people carried around in their heads. But now, when he’d been thrust back to where he shouldn’t have been (should have been?), he came away with a cut down the right side of his face and an eye that struggled to open when he took the bandage off. Sybil had already fussed over it but had been too exhausted to question why it looked days old, but he knew he’d have to explain, when morning came and Mossy moseyed over to check on her and then redress a laceration he’d last seen thirty years ago. He’d have to explain anyway, because there was no way he would keep this from her. She knew the bits and bobs about the People’s Revolution; he’d told her the outline of it, when they’d first had their understanding and he dragged himself out of the slurry of alcoholic haze to expound the importance of a silly little flower that a very tiny population of people wore on one day a year. She had only been fifteen at the time of the conflict, and well out of it, but she’d heard the twisted politics in hazy smoking rooms, listening with a quiet ear while rich people guffawed and shook their heads. But Sam Vimes as a man wasn’t one for many sentimental gestures, and when one of the few details of his pre-alcoholic life emerged she paid attention.

The detail was bigger now, and had left significantly more visible marks. The horrors of the past now had doubled, viewed from a slightly higher angle, and Vimes still wouldn’t take a single moment back.

Detritus was still looming in the bedroom corridor as Vimes trudged upstairs, nodding to him as he drank heavily from a steaming, oversized thermos. For all that Detritus could look like the city’s most menacing hunk of conglomerates, he had a soft spot toward kids, and Vimes had already caught him cooing over the bassinet.

The room was well-lit despite the late hour, with Sybil snoring on her side of the bed, the lace-encrusted basket close at hand. Vimes nodded to Constable Pediment, keeping watch from the window, and went to soak himself in the tub before he got blood on the pillows again.

He’d have to talk to Fred, too. He’d probably have to talk to Rosie Palm as well, and oh gods, Reg Shoe, and looking Captain Quirke of the Day Watch in the eye promised to be an interesting experience.

But those would be issues for the next day, even as fast as it was approaching, and so as the Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May turned into the more Ho-Hum Twenty-Sixth of May, Sam Vimes – and John Keel – went to rest.

[study-with-aura]

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

I can tell that it is the nearing the end of the study year for me because there is so much work to be done! I nearly feel like I am not going to get to it all, but somehow I manage. I may have to do certain things while on the way or back from dance, and I eat lunch while studying too. No wonder I am so tired of the evening and feel as if I need more breaks than usual. It is partially my own fault as some of these things are supplement, so I have added them on myself, but at the same time, I enjoy doing them, like watching the historical docuseries genre that I have been into for the WWII unit. Tomorrow, I will start one on the Cold War as I will be starting the Cold War unit very soon in World History. I get so much more detail this way, and they are primary sources since there are interviews from veterans and actual footage that was released.

In other news, I don't think I like combinatorics, and I am certain these permutation and combination problems with probability are easy compared to what higher level combinatorics looks like. The formulas are fine as I can calculate them without issue, but figuring out how to take apart the word problem to input it into the formula is where I keep getting discombobulated.

Tasks Completed:

Geometry - Learned about probability with permutations and combinations + practice + honors work

Lit and Comp II - Reviewed Unit 24 vocabulary + read Act 3 Scenes 2-3 of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare + read modern translation of same scenes + wrote a diary entry for one of the characters (I went with one of the Watchmen) + worked on my literary analysis for Emma (due Friday)

Spanish 2 - Reviewed vocabulary + watched lecture video on demonstrative adjectives + practice activity

Bible I - Read 1 Samuel 18-19

World History - Read about the Marshall Plan and MacArthur's Plan for Japan + watched "The United Nations: History and Functions" + answered more WWII review questions

Biology with Lab - Read about vaccine basis + read about how to make different types of vaccines with examples

Foundations - Read more on thriftiness + completed next quiz on Read Theory + watched video on writing introductions for a speech + watched a video on introductions for persuasive speeches + watched a video on writing the conclusion to a persuasive speech

Piano - 60-minute piano lesson + practiced for one hour

Khan Academy - None today

CLEP - Completed Module 12 reading “Europe: 1945 to Present" 14.1-14.2

Streaming - Watched Greatest Events of World War II in Color episode 10

Duolingo - Studied for 15 minutes (Spanish, French, Chinese) + completed daily quests

Reading - Read pages 223-259 of Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Chores - Laundry

Activities of the Day:

Personal Bible Study (2 Timothy 1)

Ballet

Pointe

Journal/Mindfulness

What I’m Grateful for Today:

I am grateful for candy! I certainly do not have it all the time because of all of the sugar (and my parents would not let me do that even if I wanted to), I do let myself enjoy a serving when I want something very sweet!

Quote of the Day:

When you give joy to other people, you get more joy in return. You should give a good thought to the happiness that you can give out.

-Eleanor Roosevelt

🎧Kreisleriana, Op. 16 - 2. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch - Robert Schumann

[cringecannon]

Happy to announce that I now also have Gortash brainrot.

Thought this would be the blog to share this thought on — Gortash fucking you while a Steel Watcher restrains you? Umm, yes please? Could also work the other way, to be honest, he too deserves to be fucked while being held down.

Anywho, being pinned down by a giant machine and forced to take it 👍 Thank you for your attention, everybody

Fuck. Yeah. I heart being manhandled and all that, even better when there’s no chance of fighting back against the thing manhandling you

This is most likely to happen if you’re a physically imposing specimen. He’s a decent sized guy, but even he can’t overpower everyone. Not to say it wouldn’t happen to someone weaker than him. At the end of the day, a show of brute force from his watchmen is a way of exerting power. Even if he doesn’t need to use them, he will just to really force it into your head how fucked you are.

You were being defiant. Maybe explicitly, maybe not. Your temperament doesn’t matter much to him. It’s the fact that you have the audacity to deny him anything. One blink and you’ll miss it hand movement from him and the room echoes with loud metal steps. The watchman is on you faster than you can anticipate, hard steel fingers wrapping around your entire bicep and yanking you back into place. You’re maneuvered and forced to your knees, your arm aching from the strain of being pulled around. Gortash leisurely descends the stone steps until he’s standing right in front of your knelt body. Apologize, dear, and this’ll go much smoother.

The catch of this is whether you apologize or not, the watchman holds tight. Gortash smiles regardless of your answer, and makes another hand motion to the automaton. It quickly obeys, bending your body into position.

If you apologized, it pulls you until your back hits the stone floor, steel hands gripping your wrists and holding them crossed on your chest. Gortash’s hands are gentle as he pulls your legs out from under you, gold claws just barely skimming your thighs as he spreads them and forces himself between them. Such a good pet. You know he’s going to take what he wants regardless. Why fight? Just keep your legs open and stare up at him with those wide, dumb eyes and it’ll be over before you even know it.

If you stayed defiant, the watchman slams you forward until your chest hits the floor, your head hitting the ground with enough force that your ears ring. You can feel the archduke’s boot on your back, pressing your chest down even further. He removes himself to walk behind you. You hear the watchman shift, but it’s firm grip on your shoulders is unyielding. You try to focus on the feeling of the cool stone against your cheek instead of him ripping your clothes. Stupid whore. Can never make things easier on yourself, can you? Fine by him. Makes punishing you all the sweeter.

[cecilebutcher]

Day: 3 Something stolen

Idia x gender neutral reader

I didn’t know how this would go. And I still don’t 😎

Idia didn’t have many friends. No let me rephrase that, Idia BARELY had any friends. You could probably count them on one finger honestly.

So when you came along Ortho was so happy!! His nii-San finally had a friend! You spend a lot of times with the older shroud brother You played any and all games and just vibed.

He liked having you around and you liked having him around. So it was a win win situation, plus Ortho was super happy so hey! Extra points!

Idia also had tons of cool stuff in his room. Super techy too! And oh how comfortable his chair and bed are. The first time you sat on them you fell asleep, he just let you be for a bit tbh…

But as you too got closer he started realizing his feelings for you. You were just, well, you! You were amazing! I mean come on how could he not? Everyone saw how amazing you were!

But he didn’t tell you, no he would never, he couldn’t ruin what you guys already had ok? So he sat on his feelings. Pushed them way WAY deeper down than he should’ve, anything to make sure you stayed with him, friend or lover, he was ok with it.

But the day you confessed to him he was, well, shocked. You? Liked him? Idia Shroud? Watchmen of the isle of woe? Are you sure? Did you hit your head? You must’ve hit your head!

And you kept telling him that no Idia, I didn’t hit my head you stupid blue flame.

So now there you were. Dating the one and only Idia shroud. He was beaming, even Azul noted the difference in his mood. He just brushed it off, but Azul could tell when his club mate was smiling and was actually(sorta) communicating with people!

Lilia was the second to ask him about it and again he brushed it off. But you can’t hide stuff from papa Lilia! Come on Idia you should know that by now! So he ended up telling him about you. Everything he loved. Your face, your smile, your eyes, your hands, the way you laugh, the was you look when you concentrate on something, the way you get happy after winning a game or level you’ve been stuck on. He loved everything. Lilia thought it was adorable and teased him over it for a bit.

But he couldn’t stay in his little safe bubble with only you and Ortho. No no, he had a house warden meeting to attend. And in the first time since ever he was going in person after both Azul AND Vil nagged him into it. So he had to change into his hoodie. The one he always wears. But where oh where could his beloved hoodie be? In fact, where has his headphones gone as well?! And his charger? AND his pillow?!

Ok something was wrong, Ortho get in here right now! Ortho? OH NO THEY TOOK ORTHO!!! Cue sad Idia crying. He immediately calls you, but ends up face timing you instead. When you pick up the phone you look at him confused while eating chips “Hey Idy, everything ok? You look sad” you note while crunching on your salty treat.

“Yuu!! The worse thing happened! Someone stole my hoodie, charger, headphones, pillow. And worse of all, oh worse of all they took my adorable younger brother” he replied with sorrow in his voice.

Your laugh surprised him though, really surprised him “Idy no one stole those stuff!” You exclaimed with a chuckle. He looked at you confused and as to say ‘Tf do you mean Yuu? I’m having a mental breakdown here be so ffr rn’ “Idias babe” you shift your camera as to show all of you.

And there were all the stuff he’s missing. His headphones on top your head, you were wearing his hoodie, the charger next to you as you charged your phone and pillow on your lap. “I’m borrowing them love. Calm down” He store there, silent, stunned, betrayed by the one he loved most.

“Ortho is playing with Grim right now. So calm down everything is ok” He opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a laugh “what?” You asked, also laughing now “nothing nothing, keep them, I have spares” he said as he got out another hoodie, identical to the one you were wearing.

He should’ve guessed you stole it, I mean come on, who would steal from him? It made no sense. Only you were bold enough to do something like that, one of the reasons he loved you.

“But return Ortho! I need

“Aww! I was hoping you forgot!”

This was something to write. Tbh I winged most of it 💃🕺

Hope you enjoyed likes comments and reblogs are very appreciated!

If you wanna get tagged in any and all future twst content plz let me know!!

[misslavenderlady]

I've always been curious as to what your pfp is from 👀 is it a cartoon or something??

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ME ABOUT THIS!!!

Okay so back in 1990 the animation studio Hanna-Barbera released one season of this cartoon called Gravedale High. It was basically a 90s version of the Monster High Franchise. It was about teenaged monsters going to school and getting into shenanigans. One particular class had a human teacher (who was voiced by actor Rick Moranis).

The character in my pfp is Vinnie Stoker, a vampire. His last name comes from Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. He's this cool guy, 50s style greaser vamp who talks like the Fonz from the show Happy Days. Despite being a rebel, he's actually very sweet and loyal to his friends, especially his best friend Reggie, a nerdy werewolf.

I just love vampires, regardless of the media. I even cosplayed as Vinnie one year!

Like I said, there was only one season and I don't think it ever got a release on DVD or Blu-ray. But!!!! The whole show is free on YouTube. It's got the classic VHS look to it. Tumblr is being weird and I can't post the link, but just search for it on YouTube. I highly recommend giving it a watch 💜

Also!! Fun fact! One of the characters is voiced by Jackie Earle Haley. He's best known for his more intense roles like Rorschach in Watchmen or Freddy Krueger in the reboot of Nightmare on Elm Street.

But in this show he's voicing this super laid back, surfer dude version of a swamp monster named Gill. Just totally opposite vibes lol

[hybridempress]

Of course it makes sense that Aziraphale would ask Crowley to go back to Heaven with him.

Of course it makes sense that he believed Crowley would be happy to come back to Heaven with him.

Think about the way that Crowley talks about or views his Fall. Every time he mentions it, he is either super vague or he is extremely sad and remorseful. Either way, he doesn't actually take responsibility for his Fall.

"An Angel who did not Fall so much as saunter vaguely downwards."

"I didn't mean to Fall, I just hung around the wrong people."

"I only ever asked questions. That's all it took to be a demon in the old days."

It is always made very clear that he never wanted to Fall. It was never what he intended. It is something that he regrets. It is something that happened to him, not something that he did. Something that was undeserved. Something that he is extremely distraught over and that he doesn't want to be blamed for or even properly admit that it happened.

Crowley is also fundamentally a good person. He pretends not to be because it gets him in trouble. He refuses to let Aziraphale say that he is a good person, whenever he does something good he comes up with an excuse or an ulterior motive, but his excuses don't even always work. He's been punished before. And yet, over and over again we have seen him put his own life at risk to do the right thing.

He is devastated at the idea that God is going to flood the world and kill all living things. He saves Job's livestock and his children and makes sure their family is saved and reunited. He drinks literal poison and convinces Elspeth not to kill herself and helps her get a head start on a new life so she doesn't have to suffer anymore. He redirects Nazi bombs to kill Nazis. He convinces Aziraphale to form an "Arrangement" with him where they both either do a temptation and a blessing or neither of them do anything at all because it "balances out" and he doesn't actually try to make an effort to do bad things. He mostly leaves the humans alone. All of the "sins" that he has invented have been either inconvenient, frustrating, mildly mischievous, or actually kind of funny and have an equal amount of good effects on humans as they do bad. He's never shot a gun before. The only times we ever see him bring actual harm to something is when he (accidentally) drops some graveyard watchmen down a deep hole, kills Nazis, and (assumedly) throws a potted plant into a wood chipper. He refuses to kill Adam because he's "personally not up for killing kids." He convinces Aziraphale to stop Armageddon with him because he loves the world, he loves humans, he loves life on Earth, and he is fundamentally against the idea that humans should be "tested to destruction." He is a better person than all of the other angels and he is even a better person than Aziraphale in a lot of scenarios.

Of course Aziraphale would think that Crowley would want a chance to go back. And not just to go back to the same system that had hurt them both before, but to go back to a Heaven that Aziraphale was planning on recreating in their own image. A Heaven where both of them could make a difference on a massive scale and be able to protect the Earth and all of the humans in it without having to worry that they would ever be in danger again. A Heaven where Crowley would never be cast out for asking questions or making suggestions. He truly believes this is the best case scenario for both of them, where they can be together without having to hide themselves anymore and they can do things their own way forever, and they can always help people in the process.

So when Crowley says no, it sends him spiraling. He panics. "No, this isn't how this was supposed to happen. You were supposed to be happy about this. That's the only reason I said yes, because I thought it would be what you wanted. I already told them yes, I can't take it back now, you can't just abandon me with this when I did this for you." He means it when he says that he needs Crowley. He is begging Crowley to reconsider. When he says "nothing lasts forever" he doesn't mean that his and Crowley's life on earth can't last forever, he means that he is willing to give it all up if it means that Crowley will be happy, if it means that the two of them can be together unconditionally and that they can make a difference together.

Aziraphale tells the Metatron that he doesn't want to go back to Heaven. He only changes his mind when the Metatron says that Crowley can come with him. And after Crowley leaves him, and the Metatron comes to collect him, he seems now so unsure of himself. He starts to say something along the lines of "I think I--" forgot something? changed my mind? whatever it was, he is hesitant to leave. He doesn't want to anymore. It's just that I don't think he can back out of it now, or at least he thinks that he can't back out of it, he doesn't think he's allowed to change his mind--or maybe he really can't. And for him, Crowley kissing him and then leaving the bookshop feels like an act of manipulation. And it's Crowley leaving because things are hard. Crowley does this a lot. He leaves when things get hard. He usually ends up coming back, but he does always leave. Aziraphale feels like he's being abandoned, and he doesn't know if Crowley can come back this time. He's just hoping that Crowley will.