#i just love how wilhelm is someone who most likely had training on how to speak with people or whatever as a prince

[leojfitz]

I mean that almost no one else is going to be here then. If I were to stay here would you like to keep me company? Just you and me.

[reunionatdawn]

My Analysis of the Best Paired Endings in 3H (Part 2: Dimitri/Byleth)

Despite the popularity of some of Dimitri's M/M ships, he seemed to be a typical heterosexual man to me. However, his straightness was actually part of what made his character so interesting, ironically. He spent his youth absorbed in masculine activities like hunting, training, and practicing with the sword.

He was willing to TRY and take Sylvain's advice to pick up girls. But he was very inexperienced with women. Chivalry definitely promotes homoromantic social bonding among men. And perhaps because of that very male-dominated culture he grew up in, he deeply yearned for a relationship with a woman.

The tagline for the game was, "Sweet memories twisted by time's cruel hand". Dimitri's feelings for his stepsister may have been only puppy love, but it was his first time emotionally connecting with a girl. It was one of his sweetest memories. That was why Edelgard's betrayal hurt him so deeply. The emotional core of AM is Byleth taking the spot in Dimitri's heart that Edelgard once held.

The developers did not want to write an entirely different script just to accommodate male Byleth. So, they just took out the Goddess Tower scene, S-Support, and paired ending. The loss of which are a huge detriment to the integrity of the story. Dimileth is just as "canon" as its counterpart Edeleth. I don't even think AM's story or Dimitri's redemption make sense unless there was a romantic connection between those two. Dimitri's Goddess Tower event even foreshadows that specific scene, proving that the moment Byleth reached out her hand was written with romantic undertones.

Byleth being female is an integral part of the story of AM. If Byleth represented the divine masculine in CF, then it follows that she represented the divine feminine in AM. She was a vessel for the soul of the goddess, but more importantly she was a human who could directly intervene in the world and support people with her own flesh and blood.

Dimileth is often criticized for being a simple "fixing the bad boy" straight girl fantasy. But it's less cliche than people give it credit for. Byleth and Dimitri are an interesting blend of masculine and feminine qualities. Byleth is a silent protagonist, but I could tell that Dimitri enjoyed her dry sarcastic sense of humor. She was not a typical healer or pegasus knight like most FE love interests, but a deadly mercenary. She was meant to be similar to Glenn, which is why Felix sees her as his rival.

She serves the role of being Dimitri's sword and shield and stood at his side and protected him during the final battle, filling the knightly role Glenn would have if he had survived (and the role Felix serves in Hopes). She was the Seiros to his Wilhelm. Dimitri is one of the very few male characters that Byleth will give her mother's ring to when she proposes. Yes, it is a woman's ring that Dimitri wears. In fact, Dimitri's whole character arc is about rediscovering and embracing the softer feminine qualities he had as a young boy.

The Professor taught Dimitri how to live. In AG, Dimitri told Shez that from the moment he was born, he never felt like his life belonged to himself. He overworked himself because it was the only way he knew how to live. After Duscur he lost everyone, including his best friend, and his life belonged to their ghosts. The only time he could imagine being happy was upon his death, having devoted his life to forming a peaceful kingdom full of joyful citizens. He yearned for someone to stand by his side and give him a reason to live for himself.

I've seen many people online criticize Dimileth because they say Dimitri already had plenty of people that he was close to in his life and his non-Byleth relationships should have played the biggest role in his redemption. But I disagree. The story made it quite clear that Dimitri's support system was totally inadequate for his emotional needs and could not have pulled him from the abyss.

He was not actually all that close to his childhood friends, even before the Tragedy of Duscur, and he did not confide in them about what he was feeling. He said Rodrigue was the only person outside the castle he was close to. Rodrigue obviously cared for him, but he had not seen Dimitri in two years prior to the academy. Dimitri and Dedue shared a very powerful bond. Losing Dedue was the cause of Dimitri’s initial descent into savagery. But Dedue still insisted on being his vassal instead of his friend and equal.

Felix was obligated to fill the role due to his bloodline, but he did not WANT to be the person Dimitri unburdened his heart to. He was constantly irritable and losing his patience in Azure Gleam. Glenn was one of the ghosts who shadowed Dimitri's every move. And Felix said that since Glenn's death, "his memory has followed me around like a shadow." He hated acting as his brother's replacement. In their AG A-Support, it seemed like he was pretending to like the idea of being the right-hand man because of how dependent Dimitri was on him. We see a direct parallel of that scene in AM where Dimitri is hallucinating in the chapel. While Felix certainly felt compassion for him, he was very eager to foist the role of confidant onto Byleth.

Without anyone to lean on, Dimitri acts pretty monstrous. For five years, he tortured and killed people brutally, as if they were not even human. He threatened to kill Randolph's friends and remove his eyeballs before killing him and we can probably assume that he actually did that sort of thing to his other victims. I related so well with Felix because I felt the exact same mix of disgust and pity towards him.

I didn't ship Dimileth because I self-inserted onto Byleth and I wanted to marry him. I just wanted Byleth to accept him. And I don't find it difficult to believe that she would. Because before she was the stand-in for the goddess, she was the Ashen Demon who cut people down with no emotion. She only began to smile when she started teaching his class. He offered his shoulder to lean on when she lost Jeralt, something the other two house leaders didn't do.

The main ideological conflict between Edelgard and Dimitri was how much they are willing to compromise and accept the unacceptable. Dimitri seemed to understand that Edelgard had legitimate issues with the Church of Seiros as well as the existing world order. But he thought that total destruction of that system would require too much sacrifice. It was an interesting moral quandary.

And honestly, there was no easy answer. In an ideal world, there would be no false religion and no such thing as nobility, period. Even most of the nobles in the cast would have been happier to just be regular people. AM certainly doesn't end in a utopia or anything (although it's less status quo than AG). It was about the characters compromising and making concessions with an inherently unjust system because perhaps taking innocent human life is wrong even if it's for a just cause.

The Crest of Blaiddyd is associated with Strength. The Strength Tarot card is the Major Arcana of inner strength. It represents mastering raw emotions in order to bring calm to yourself or a situation. Dimitri was born on the winter solstice making him a Sagittarius, which is a masculine fire sign symbolized by a centaur. The horse portion of the Sagittarius symbol is unruly, relentless, beastly, and strong. The human portion is wisdom-seeking and rational. Dimitri's character arc was about overcoming his anger and hatred and becoming the wise "Savior King" who could reach out his hand to his mortal enemy.

Byleth & Dimitri The marriage of the newly appointed Archbishop, Byleth, and Dimitri, who officially ascended to the throne of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, further delighted the people amidst the celebrations of the end of the war. Continuously seeking a better future for Fódlan, they pursued their ideals, gradually reforming the traditional political systems and the structure of the Church. They upheld their roles as leaders of the Church and the state, engaging in intense debates at times. However, when they went on long rides or hunting trips alone together, they wore not the faces of the Archbishop and the King, but those of an ordinary, loving couple.

JRPGs are known for "killing god". AM ends not with you destroying the church but becoming its leader. The people of Fódlan paid lip service to the goddess, but they actually revered Nemesis and the 10 Elites. So much so that Rhea had no choice but to refer to them as heroes and Crests as gifts from the goddess. Fódlan is a patriarchal land. Faerghus especially so.

With Fódlan unified under Faerghus, Byleth acts as the divine feminine force who will change that society from the inside out, just as she did her husband. Is rulership by a benevolent monarch and a matriarchal pope a good enough ending? Well, that's for the player to decide. But I found it to be the best ending, both for Fódlan and for Dimitri and Byleth themselves.

[allthefakepeople]

I posted 1,156 times in 2022

That's 1,021 more posts than 2021!

200 posts created (17%)

956 posts reblogged (83%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@daylightsimon

@books-books-smolderinglooks

@altruistic-meme

@grizviser

@purplehoodiesimon

I tagged 960 of my posts in 2022

Only 17% of my posts had no tags

#young royals - 763 posts

#wilmon - 527 posts

#young royals s2 - 271 posts

#yr s2 spoilers - 171 posts

#young royals fanart - 150 posts

#young royals s2 spoilers - 114 posts

#asks - 101 posts

#young royals fanfiction - 72 posts

#prince wilhelm - 72 posts

#miels answers - 69 posts

Longest Tag: 132 characters

#i still think it’s some kind of crime that we didn’t get to see simon putting wille’s hands on his waist but i’ll let it go… for now

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

the only scene in s2 where simon is wearing purple and it’s completely unobstructed (it’s also the purple hoodie) is during the book scene after wille says he’d give up the crown for him and THAT right there is poetry 

248 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

#4

can’t really explain it

but tell me why i feel like wille is the “love” “darling” “älskling” type 

while simon is the “baby” “gorgeous” “cariño” type

272 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

#3

there has to be some element of artistic parallels and something poetic about how wille is the one who teaches simon how to play the school song, and that’s the song that simon uses to express his affections for wille through

293 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

#2

i think it’s so interesting that Marcus says this line when simon is ending things between them in ep 6

“But that’s not enough, is it? Not compared to a prince at least.”

because it has nothing to do with wille being a Prince and everything to do with it just being wille. like we know for a fact that simon could not give less of a shit about wille being Kron Prince Wilhelm and it’s everything to do with the fact that he’s Wille. like if marcus thought the reason he didn’t compare to wille was because he wasn’t a Prince, he clearly didn’t know simon very well. like Marcus didn’t really stand a chance whether wille was a Prince or not

anyways, i just thought that little line was so interesting

324 notes - Posted November 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

wait ok ok

everybody come with me on this

i don’t have the physical evidence of this BUT i noticed something about certain simon/wilmon scenes this season that added a different meaning regarding costuming (also i have no idea if someone else has already noticed/mentioned this, but if you have i am sorry)

i wish i could provide the evidence but for now you’ll just have to trust me and go back and rewatch s2 hahah and it’ll probably get a bit long so i’m sorry about that

as we know, the costume department had simon wearing purple in scenes where simon’s feelings for wille were growing, while orange kind of represented when they felt further away but but but

there were multiple scenes this season where simon was wearing orange OVER something purple (and there were a few scenes where he was noticeably wearing purple) which was super interesting for me

the most notable one was when simon goes to marcus’ to hook up with him that first time. he’s wearing orange but you can see a hint of a purple shirt under it which could represent how even though simon is trying to move on with marcus (the orange) his love for wille will always be an undercurrent in their relationship/scenes together (the purple)

another one i can think of is when first assigned they’re book and wille is talking to simon about marcus and simon admits that they’re hanging out but not together. yet again he’s wearing a hint of purple underneath something orange which hints at the fact that he’s feeling conflicted because he still loves wille but he feels super far away from him

another scene is when wille is thought to be leaving hillerska. the scene where they come to take wille, simon is wearing a purple shirt over his yellow/orange one

follow this scene by when he goes to train with rosh, where he’s wearing the Purple Hoodie™️ for the first time all season and he literally says to rosh “i don’t know why i can’t fall in love with [marcus]”. the purple hoodie being a focal point in this scene is almost declaring the reason why he can’t fall in love with marcus is his love for wille

another important Purple Hoodie™️ moment this season (let it be known that i’m pretty sure he only wears that hoodie like 2 times this season) was during the iconic book project scene where they’re essentially confessing to each other through it.

ALSO the fact that maroon is shade of purple and simon was wearing his school uniform (which is kind of a redish purple) when him and wille kiss for the first time

i’m sure there’s more scenes but these were just the initial ones i noticed on my rewatch (if someone wants to somehow provide the evidence that would be so wonderful but i promise i’m not going insane) 

ANYWAYS this post was just thought up to prove that despite how fractured and far away wilmon seemed at some points throughout this season, simon was still feeling that love for wille throughout even if it wasn’t outwardly showing at times

thanks for coming to my tedtalk

470 notes - Posted November 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mariasversion]

my thoughts on young royals, a sequel (there are gonna be many annoying and pointless sequels): episode 2

YOUNG ROYALS’ SPOILERS AHEAD !!

• i’m glad to announce i now know my future wife’s name, madison mccoy. she’s so funny though and her outfits are so cool.

• oof when august and the other guys kept pushing wilhelm to stand on the chair and admit he’d hooked up with someone in the party and he started nervously laughing i felt kinda bad for him bc what was he supposed to say?

‘oh, no august. i didn’t hook up with anyone. i was too busy drunkenly and longingly staring at my crush who is very much a man and who i might be very much attracted to’?

it would’ve been funny though.

• that outfit in the intro. yeah, you know which one i’m talking about. i need more of that. i need more of those little stupid sunglasses. and how he stood up with his books and all.

• when felice left her friends to walk with wil to their next class and her friends just went ‘i mean we have the same next class bestie but go off i guess’ i lost it

• okay hear me out because their classrooms are so cute. they’re so mall and aesthetic and they just look so comfy? what is up with that

but the fact they have to stand up every time the teacher comes in just seems too strange to me. it’s just bc we’d never do that where i live but i couldn’t keep a straight face doing that. and bro, if i just sat down i’m sure as hell not getting back up because you came in.

• oh my god when sara took some pictures of felice with her horse and felice just thanked her looking all soft and shit, i ate that shit up (i adore their friendship and how it develops as the show goes on and i’d love it if they got together in a second season)

• i also loved when they’re finishing the rowing training (i think that was what it was) and wil starts giving simon some advice about it bc wilhelm went ‘oh, yea. flirting is not about pick-up lines anymore. it’s about unasked advice about rowing. thats what i call romance’. and honestly? good for him.

• plus wil not wanting to go to morning training but straight up sprinting to go when he saw simon was there? we love to see it. and how they just kept looking at each other the whole time (doing the planks and stuff)? that was everything.

it’s all about the looks. im telling you.

• and then when all the girls are studying/doing homework together and so are wilhelm and simon was so cute. plus i liked the background song.

and once again it was the little looks between them. those little glances wil was giving simon.

(yes i’m going to keep ignoring august’s whole relevance in most scenes bc i just don’t like him and he’s a little bitch)

but i will say it was very nice when my wife madison said ‘fuck you, august’. it was music to my ears.

• when wil messaged simon and immediately put the phone away bc he didn’t want to look, that was very much relatable. yes, i do that.

• it’s really nice how they actually feel like teenagers, in the way they act and talk. it feels very awkward and very relatable. for example when wilhelm and simon meet to go to the match and they just look at each other silently and then they both go ‘how are you?’

• and when ayub teases simon because he likes wilhelm and it’s so obvious to him, that was so sweet. plus when they’re all cheering for rosh,,, too wholesome

• one of my favorite scenes is definitely that scene where they’re all riding the motorbikes and wilhelm and simon keep trying to hold hands or just brush hands bc it’s so sweet and pure and fun. 10/10 loved it would do it again would watch it on repeat forever

• simon going back home after hanging out with wil and his friends all giddy and excited and telling sara about it melted my heart

• also this might be random but i really like the format(?) they use to show the messages on screen bc sometimes in many shows it’s just cringey but i liked it in this one

• i like the aesthetic of the library in the school. it’s a really pretty shade of green

• august: *giving a weird speech about simon and kissing his forehead*

wilhelm: oh, man. i don’t know what’s going on but you’re one crazy ass bitch

it was very much random and i loved how wil just lost it and how he and simon were looking at each other like ‘is this shit really happening? are you seeing what i’m seeing?’. august is an asshole but he’s so extra and it’s funny sometimes

• their pinkies touching during the film, the looks, the shyly holding hands had me screaming. that’s romance.

• but when wil leaves the room bc sara caught them holding hands and he’s doing his nervous tic (chewing on his thumb or biting it) and he looks at that plaque (?) that says they’re responsible for the legacy of the school or some shit like that it felt very ironic. bc i feel like what wil struggles with is the fact that if he’s with a man then he can’t have biological children and all that stuff about not being able to carry on the legacy.

and maybe i’m just reaching or misunderstanding the scene but then when you can see his anxiety is getting worse and he’s rubbing his chest i just felt like ‘yea, buddy. it’s rough, isn’t it?’ bc i think that sometimes it’s more difficult realizing you’re not attracted to the opposite gender than it is admitting you’re attracted to the same one (bc if you’re still attracted to the opposite one then you could have a “straight” relationship and stuff yk)

well that got deep huh

• once again i’m back on my bullshit, the looks in the first kiss scene. i live for the looks (though wil really looked ready to run for his life).

i just realized simon was wearing a looney tunes t-shirt in that scene. i love his graphic t-shirts.

okay it really isn’t my fault these are getting so long, each episode lasts 40-50 min and that’s a lot

[zwiezraczek]

Hi I'd like to ask you if you could write something with Four/Billy where the reader is skilled with knives and stuff like that, also they secretly stay together and she trains him but one day after a bad mission she is mad at him and during the training she humiliates him in front of the rest of the team. Be free to add whatever you like if you have any other idea. Thanks✌️

Think About It [Blurb]

Note: I don't know if I got the idea well, but I hope I did... ^^' In any case I really enjoyed writing this one, maybe there is less romance but it was nice to write it! And if you have any ideato continue it maybe, why not! I hope you'll enjoy it! 💕

~~~~

“You missed the bull's eye Wilhelm, and the target,” you shouted at him as he just groaned while he saw your mocking smile.

“Listen here y/n, we'll be talking when you'll be able to jump off a roof as I am,” he sharply said with a small victorious smile.

“I'm much closer to do so than you to throw the knife right in the middle, love” you wittily replied while pointing your knife at him.

He couldn't complain too much as you were absolutely right. He had wanted to learn how to throw knives, you were there to provide. As he was there for your parkour. All of this was absolutely illegal, even if your little Ghosts Squad.

You had joined the squad two years ago, One chased you down while you were working in circus by day and by night, coincidentally, some jewels in the city you were in began to disappear and nobody could suspect you, not with all the prejudices around women. No one caught you, except One. And his ultimatum was pretty simple: either you joined the squad or he was about to send you happily to prison because he had evidence, some great evidence. You were cornered by One, Two and Three apparently – they had later admitted that they had worked together to get you there, int their group and all in all you were pretty happy about faking your own death with knives and then joining the squad. And from all of them, Two was your role model. A woman you followed for everything and enjoyed working with her as much as possible, even praying to be paired up with her during missions because she was effective – and even more than with Three according to One, who perfectly knew that Three couldn't keep his hands to himself sometimes.

But from time to time you had to work with Billy, or Wilhelm as you liked to call him, and working with Billy meant a lot of things. Your characters weren't the same, and somehow you had to fight to know who was doing what during the mission and how this would work out. Ultimately, you agreed on the fact that if you were about to work together, you might as well know a little bit of each other's skills. Well, Billy thought it would be funny to see you do some freerun, but you enjoyed seeing him struggle with knives even more than he did when you failed to jump from time to time. But everything had to be done without One knowing anything, because everyone had to have their own ability, to master it and to perfect it everyday, during every free moment – besides the ones you all used to cheat and sneak out to do fun things together, well these moments you also shared with One – and God forbid involving someone else in your specialty. Especially into Billy's one, and yours. You thought a lot about this, and figured out that this rule was established not a long time before you joining the team, and you suspected Blaine and Billy to be the cause of this sudden new rule. Because when you joined, Blaine had a problem with his right foot, and One gave him several mad looks that you couldn't really identify, and with time you absolutely got why. Billy was a crazy instructor, and you were a crazy one too but Billy was way above you and he knew it while he watched you right in the eye and told you to jump from one platform to another on your first day of illegal training.

And now was your revenge, while he was struggling with the knives you gave him.

“It's because you belong to the circus,” Billy replied after he threw another knife on the target, not missing it this time. It was an improvement.

“Yeah, a fact that you forgot when you tried me with your parkour thing.”

“See,” he insisted pointing at the target, “I'm improving, it's getting better and better by day.”

“Until the day you shoot me right in the eye and I'll go blind and One will kill both of us for doing this without him knowing,” you replied sarcastically.

“Not a big deal...”

“Yeah, me being blinded isn't a big deal, but I don't want to end like Blaine did while he was training with you before I joined the team!”

“He told you? The snitch,” he muttered.

“Never heard a word from him,” you admitted, “but nice to know that I wasn't totally wrong.” You smiled and he rolled his eyes before rolling up his sleeves.

“Okay, now it's time to get real with the knives thing, might as well hurt somebody else than you while parkouring,” he joked as you handed him another knife.

“Yeah, of course you genius.”

~~~~

This mission was a true disaster. You were shaking in the car as Three was driving like a crazy man, and you didn't even had the idea to complain about his driving.

Everything was great, everything was fucking great. Until Billy showed up and tried to play it cool, and even cooler than he expected. You asked One if Two could be your partner during this one, because you knew that during big cleaning missions you were the most effective duo but no, he had to pair you up with Four the hothead. Four the parkour expert, the Skywalker. Yeah, probably as effective as Luke during the first few movies, you thought. You were absolutely delighted to know that Four wasn't in the same car as you, and that only Two and Five could witness your silent anger as you began to punch the seat next to you. You wanted to scream at his stupid heroic behavior, at him attempting to throw a knife, which caught you off guard and threw you off your balance resulting into you missing one of the guys and allowing him to shoot on your shoulder, it only brushed against your skin but hurt like hell on earth. Amelia was sweet enough to take you in charge as soon as you got out the place, and the trio sitting in the car remained silent because they had probably seen or heard what Four had done. You were absolutely furious. And you had to show it, especially to him.

And that was what you did on that very night, while you had another appointment for his knife training. He came, with a smile on his face and some knives and your face seemed colder than ever but he didn't seem to mind it, having his heroic act on his mind and how he had changed the whole mission today. You ignored him, telling him only to shoot his shot with the knife. And you knew the would come as you asked them to, not precising why. Because you needed that boiling rage out of your veins, because your shoulder hurt and because your own ego was deeply wounded. Four didn't stick to the plan, putting your life and his in jeopardy and not even acknowledging the fact that you might have died if not your quickness.

And as he was about to throw another knife, the squad came. The blood in your veins boiled red, and you could feel a weird satisfaction giving you shivers. You knew One wouldn't miss an opportunity to destroy both of you for this, but this was worth the shot.

“How did they,” Four began and you smiled.

“I fucking invited them over so they could see how pathetic you fucking are,” you replied with a wide smile and his jaw dropped.

“You did what?!”

“I did what I said, okay? You fucking almost killed me earlier and not even a little 'sorry y/n I shouldn't have done this' or a simple apologize,” you said and perfectly knew that the group was around, looking at you and him.

“Y/n that's unfair, that's public shaming here,” he replied before throwing another knife on the target, shaking a bit and trying to avoid your eyes.

“You know what's unfair Wilhelm? That my shoulder fucking hurts because of your heroism, your fucking Try Bolton syndrome to not stick to the stuff you know and were told to do.”

“Listen, Eight, I just,” he started and you could see anger and sadness in his eyes.

“Y/n,” Amelia almost whispered behind you.

“What,” you blurted against your will.

“We were trying... With Blaine to... Like,” she started and looked at Blaine for some support.

“Help Billy in order to impress you?” Blaine's tone was unsure, and your eyes wide open.

You screwed things up. Absolutely.

[thinkofduty]

soror diu amissa

The sun is high and bright and warm and fooling absolutely no one.

Twice today has it rained already. The first time was just before dawn, the sound of heavy droplets waking Halgyth and refusing to let her go back to sleep. The stone roof was enough to shelter her from the worst of it, but it was still loud enough to keep her up until she had no choice but to rise. The dust had turned to mud in its wake and the people of Ala Gannha had woken with sour moods. This close to the river, the humidity is bad enough that no one wants it to rain, even in the midst of summer.

The second time had been just over a bell ago. Halgyth had been sat cross-legged with a circle of children sat around her, and the clouds had come on and fled so quickly that the patches of earth they sat on are still light in colour.

Determined not to let something so insignificant as rain ruin her day, she'd tried to continue the lesson, but she'd slipped in the mud and gone painfully to one knee when trying to rise. A simple spell fixed the worst of it, but she aches nonetheless, and her ego is bruised as bad as her flesh.

It might be miserable in fits and starts, but she still sits outside now. Being cooped up when the whole world is there is dreary, even when the wind is moist and the sun oppressively hot, and in the late afternoon of her life now she has zero desire to be indoors more than necessary.

What few children remain in the village are happy to let her teach them from time to time, but none of them show any particular love for the healing arts beyond the basics. Were there any young adults remaining she would try to find amongst them an inclination instead, but asides from the infirm and unsound, they have long since disappeared to serve the Empire or the Resistance. Two different names for the same kind of death, thinks Halgyth, and contents herself with the next generation instead. They still must needs learn.

Sometimes the days grow so long and uniform that even the elders come to sit by and listen, but they are as useless as their grandchildren to her, if not worse. They might as well be carved from the marble they'd once mined for how stuck in their ways they are: having known a few Peaksmen in her time, Halgyth wonders if it is a natural affliction of the land itself. They already know how to dress wounds and care for the ill; what need have they for a wandering shamanka?

Prone to forgetting details if not written down, she no longer recalls how long it's been since the Resistance swept through the state and threw off the heavy shackles of oppression. Not that it matters. Very little has changed for those who live off the land, asides from the colour of flags that now flutter from the village gates. Oh, to be sure, there are less beatings and less rapes, less men uncomfortable in steel wandering where they please with accents unfamiliar to her... but less is not none. Beneath the blanket of other, the Garleans are not all that different from her countrymen, something she is quick to remind those that lust for the good old days. At least Garlemald does not hunt shadows and string up the innocent in the name of justice, unlike other recent history she could name.

But that bears thinking about not at all: both of those pasts are firmly behind them now, and she must live in the present, as she always has done. And as for right now, the clouds are beginning to edge once more into view as though seeing how long they can get before being discovered, like children playing at Sly Fox or Sneaky Bear or whatever the newest name for the game is.

"I'm not moving," she tells them firmly, and someone laughs.

"You tell 'em, gramma."

In her sixties, Halgyth considers it a point of pride to have found and covered up every grey hair that sprouts from her scalp. The aging flesh she cannot help, not after a life so well-lived outdoors, but it is unblemished for the most part, and she does not yet stoop unlike the washers and menders that live in every place from here to the palace. Dyes, at least, are easy to come by, and cheap enough to make if she does not want to spend the gil.

"Excuse me?"

She doesn't recognise the man, but his manner marks him as one of Einar's boys. She'll have to have words with him the next time she sees him: it's quite one thing to have her brother's junior sass her from time to time, but this firmly steps across the line and shits in the face of her good humour. Thankfully, he seems to recognise that, and quicker than the last who'd been overeager to share jokes with her like mead with friends. He straightens and gives what might pass as a nervous salute to an untrained eye. to her, it looks like a nervous fumble.

"Er, Bayan Beygarz. Miss. Ma'am. S'cuse me. That is you, ain't it?"

Unspeaking, Halgyth watches him for a long moment. A natural teacher, she has perfected the art of waiting silently until the guilty party squirms and admits to their role in whatever mischief they've done.

"Uh... I'm here on behalf o' the Spray. He said I'd find a woman here, wi' pink in her hair. That... you... I thought..."

It takes all her willpower not to roll her eyes. Einar's ridiculous nicknames are no longer as necessary as he seems to think they are - though he at least has assured her that they'd once been more elaborate than the ones he currently wears like fancy coats in the middle of summer. Needless.

The man before her fidgets some more, eyes trained on the patch of pink she'd thought stylish only a few weeks before. "Is or ain't it you?" he asks. "The description was thorough..."

"I'm sure it was," she says. "Come inside."

*

"Where're we headed, anyroad?"

Thankfully, the rain hasn't made it too difficult to travel. Chocobos would have complained the whole way and any cart they could have hired would have gotten stuck in the mud. All six of them have no problems picking their way across quick-flowing streams until they get to the red earth that was once Ala Mera. Orella spares it barely a glance: the landslide that had taken her home village off the map had been so long before, and everyone had gotten out, besides. It had been rain much like the one they'd walked through that had done it: years and years of water built up and swelling the cliffs until the earth could take it no more.

Honestly, a village on the edge of a cliff was a stupid place to build in the first place.

The Peaks have changed a little, but not so much she doesn't recognise the distant mountains. "We're still going east," she says confidently, and Wilhelm nods agreement.

"Ala Gannha," he says. Gisfrid harrumphs. "Better than any other place round here to ask questions, unless you want to put one o' them chapuli to the question instead."

Berend snorts. "For all we know, they'll squeal sweeter than any Mhigan will. Folles isn't stupid, he'll be hidden away nice and safe if he has any sense at all."

"Tell you what," says Orella, "Fifty gil says he's burrowed down in one of them antlion nests. You know, the ones we-"

"Could you not," Ingvald grumbles, and she laughs. He still has a scar somewhere by his ankle - faint, but white and rigid all the same - from the day after his induction to the Kingsguard had been formalised. "Be serious."

Orella shrugs. Likely he wants to forget that time of his life, and the anger he'd once borne his brother; she can't fault him for that, not when they seem to be getting along so well. "Suit yourself," she tells him. "There's no reason we're going there, then? Other than looking for any scrap of information?" When Wilhelm nods, she scowls. "You don't have anything to go on? Nothing at all? No dossiers, no eyes on him, not even an idea of where to start?"

Both Bloodhound brothers open their mouths at the same time, but it's Berend who beats them to the punch. "What, you think he's the only one the Resistance ever kept eyes on? We aren't perfect, Steelhand, and undermanned anyway - well, we were when it mattered most. You can't fault us for one man slipping through the cracks."

"Oh, it's we now, huh?" she shoots back, unwilling to let the truth silence her.

Beside her, Ingvald sighs. "Orella."

"Weren't you with the Garleans long enough yourself?" Berend snaps, and she clenches her hand into a fist. "What's your excuse?"

A pregnant pause settles across the shoulders of everyone present. Ahead of the rest of the group, Gisfrid and Milleuda have stopped to watch.

"I'm sorry?" Orella asks, so sweetly.

If Berend can hear the obvious warning, he heeds it not. "I said," and his own hands mirror hers, "Weren't you one of them for long enough?"

The brothers move in tandem before any blood can be spilled. Ingvald grabs Orella's wrists and wrestles his arms around her chest to stop her from leaping across the mountain pass and tearing him limb from limb. Wilhelm takes Berend by the shoulder, and then the face, and says something low and serious to him. Gisfrid's laugh is a backing track to the whole affair, infuriating Orella further. "Cram it, bastard, I'll do for you too-"

"My, my."

Perhaps it is the unfamiliarity of the voice, however soft, that silences them all. Still tense, Orella struggles to push Ingvald aside to see the newcomer; he holds her tighter.

"Aren't you all grown? You ought to be ashamed."

The woman is dressed in the local style, suited for forays along the mountain paths, with actual boots rather than the rags poor men sometimes wear. A Roegadyn, a few inches taller than Orella, with bright eyes that study them as though they are simply misbehaving students. A shock of pink in her hair stands out against her dark skin, though otherwise she's as plain as can be.

She sighs. "Oh, dear. Are you going to say I'm not welcome?" Her gaze flits between each of them in turn; she doesn't seem bothered by their suspicious gazes. "Tell me the road is free to all and you can act as you please? Tsk. Which one of you breaks arms?"

No one moves, and she tuts again. "Come now, 'tis not a difficult question."

"That... would be me," says Berend, taking a hesitant step forward. He hasn't bothered to make to unsling the spear across his back, but he could have it out and pointed at her in seconds if he chose. The woman is either very brave or very stupid. "Who-?"

"The Spray bid me pass this on to you," she says, and reaches into a deep pocket to pull out a folded paper and hold it out to him. "I trust you know who that is? No," she adds with exasperation. "By your face you don't. Take the damn paper, boy, I'm done playing the messenger."

He reaches for it warily and takes it quick enough that her eyebrows raise at his bad manners, but skimming it does nothing for his frown.

"I don't get it," he says, and passes it to Wilhelm, who has to shake the hair out of his eyes to read it. "Who are you? Who's the Spray?"

Orella, now relaxed enough that Ingvald lets her go, raises one eyebrow and then the other. "Wait. The... The Eastern Spray? About yay tall?"

She gestures, and the woman nods, and then her expression smooths over. "Ah," she says, matter of factly. "You must be Orella. Which would make this gentleman Ingvald," she says with a glance at him, and then moves between them, mouthing their names in turn - all of them but Milleuda. "You don't look quite like I imagined you to. His tales never did you justice."

"What the fuck has Einar been saying about me?"

There's mutterings from the others at the mention of their once-comrade; the stranger tuts. "Language, if you please. Not Ser Einar, though I'm glad you know our mutual friend. No - my brother."

"Your brother?"

When Halgyth Beygarz smiles, she looks weary, the lines at her eyes creasing the same way her brother's had once down.

"Why, Zartosht, of course."

[inkstaineddove]

For Convenience Sake

Ship: PruHun

Characters: Prussia, Hungary

Summary: Erzsébet and Gilbert have been relying each other for emotional support, with their intimacy increasing as the Cold War heats up. How does the purely physical interact with their repressed longing for each other?

This was a relationship of convenience. Well, for Erzsébet it was. Gilbert tried to force himself to feel differently, but it was impossible. He'd been in love for so long, yearning for her, how could he try to deny his feelings once he finally had her? But he had to deny. This was no time for romance. They were comrades - although they both loathed the term since coming under their Russian captor - in arms, fighting against an oppressive system that felt all-consuming. This was their act of rebellion in a society that punished love and compassion. Still, Gilbert hoped. He was hoping then, watching Erzsébet sleep, her naked back rising and falling as she breathed. He lightly ran his fingers down her sides, enjoying the tenderness of the action. Like this, when she looked so soft and vulnerable, he could almost forget what a fierce warrior she was. There were women like her in myths. The Valkyries in Norse stories, those women who fiercely chose who lived and died in battle. Or the Amazons of the Greeks, the whole race of fighting women chosen by the Gods. That was more like it. "My Amazonian goddess," Gilbert mumbled.

"Wha-?" Erzsébet yawned and rolled over, blinking sleep out of her eyes. She smiled gently at her Prussian companion. "You're still here." He shrugged, trying to make it seem as if he hadn't thought over the act extensively. "I was tired, it was easier than catching a train." He stood up. "Breakfast? I make a mean omelet."   She nodded and he left. The Hungarian snuggled up under the blankets, annoyed at the cool that now settled in. It was the first time he had stayed the night. They'd never had a spoken rule about leaving, but it had become custom. Easier to ignore the strangeness of everything if you were on your own in the morning. Easier not to think about things. She sighed, choosing to accept his given excuse. Besides, it didn't really matter. It was better, Erzsébet thought. She knew he didn't like being on his own as much. Things haunted him, especially if he drank too much. This way she could keep an eye on him, make sure she prevented hearing from him in a panic the next day. Seeing him like that, it almost made her forget that he had once been one of the finest warriors in Europe. One of the sharpest military minds, able to take on any foe and triumph. Who would recklessly rush into battle against any opponent, even if the odds were against him. She chuckled and found renewed pride in all the times she'd beaten him on the field. "Ah, well I did say he was one of the best, not the best." She rose from the bed and wrapped her robe around herself. She shuffled into the kitchen, following the smell of fresh eggs. "I didn't know you were capable of cooking." Her tone was teasing, but didn't quite hide the amazement of seeing such a formerly feral man doing such a mundane task. "I had to feed Ludwig and myself somehow. Especially when my servants left with Wilhelm." He handed Erzsébet her plate and smiled. "You oughta give me more credit. I'm not a total barbarian." She rolled her eyes and bumped him with her elbow. They sat down and ate in peaceable silence. Erzsébet looked over the letters from yesterday while Gilbert scanned the newspaper. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her shift from Erzsébet to Hungary. "Something happened?" Hungary huffed. "When doesn't something happen. We haven't been receiving adequate bread rations for the last three months so I've been kicking up a fuss to get some. Those shipments are going to be delayed by another month and even then there's no guarantee of it all being there. Not only that, but we're not getting enough oil from Moscow because of some bullshit Ivan's trying to pretend is all sunshine and roses. That son of a bitch, I should really cut out his tongue and break his fingers to make it harder for him to lie." Gilbert watched her, knowing it was better for her to run her mouth off. No point in trying to calm her down, especially when he understood her frustrations. Not like they weren't experiencing similar problems in East Germany. But he didn't want to think about that. Not now, not when the bullshit of bureaucracy already occupied so much of his thoughts. "Try not to let it eat you alive. No point when it's always the same shit, different day." "Like you don't worry about your own people." "I try not to since Germany would be better off if I worried about it less. It doesn't seem to thrive anymore when I get involved." Hungary didn't know how to take that, but he laughed. "I'm not so fragile, geeze. Don't make me feel like fine China." Prussia smiled a toothy grin. "You've been helping me deal with this shit for all this time, you should know I can take a joke." She rolled her eyes. "Please, I'm not the only person you could talk to. You had Roderich as well. Which was weird, by the way. Seeing you two get along is uncomfortable." "Yeah, but he doesn't really count. That was just for convenience sake." Erzsébet scoffed. "And this isn't?" Gilbert couldn't hide his wince. She frowned. "I didn't mean it quite like that. We've always been friends...of some kind. It came out wrong." He had already hardened up though. "No, it's fine. We've always been a convenient thing. This is an alliance with an expiration date. I get it." His hurt was annoying her. What did he want from this, from them? What did he expect? That they were going to bloom into a loving couple, one full of tenderness and soft moments carried out without a second thought? That wasn't in their nature. She had given up on that dream sold to little girls long ago, long when she had first gotten married to Roderich and realized her place in his life wasn't as an equal and beloved partner. As for him, she could never recall a time when Gilbert ever believed in that stuff. He had always been so anti-marriage, against getting too emotionally invested in one person that it became a liability. Why would that change now, in a time when relationships were more costly than ever? "You can't tell me you actually wanted a real relationship. Like, with dates and all that mushy crap. I thought you liked this. I thought this was what was best for us both!" She was getting frantic now, not wanting to hear anything to the contrary from him. She did not want to suddenly see him in this new light. There was so much changing, how could her Gilbert change as well? He exhaled loudly through his nose. "Really? Do you not remember how pissed I was when you married Roddy? Do you think that was all completely selfless? All me not wanting you to be with a total square? Shit, Erzsi, I've been pining for you since we were kids! You know how relieved I was when I found out you were a girl? I thought I was going to hell!" A stupid smile spread across his face. "And now, I'm with you. Yeah, it's not the way I'd always hoped, but it's got it's perks. But I can't give up that childish dream of something more. Something where we both might actually be happy again after so fucking long." Erzsébet shot up. She began pacing. She couldn't deny there was something there between them, that there always had been. But why now? Why now, why couldn't it wait for a better time? When there was balance restored in the world and they could be free? She didn't want there to be a chance for this to be used against them. There always was blackmail potential, always a way of threatening to make you break. This would just be another liability. And their relationship and her friendship with Feliks was already so risky. Why add to it? Why enhance the risk? The reckless part of her, the part of her who grew up believing in those fairy tales of daring romance and dashing knights wanted to give it a chance. The world sucked. Their position was incredibly bleak, but what was the point in them denying such a simple pleasure? Finding some joy out of life, hadn't she missed that? It was so hard to be positive, to find the beauty in the world around her. It had been so long since she'd been able to do that. Maybe this would rekindle something in her. Maybe it would do the same for him, with his eyes looking so heavy and fearful of what he'd seen. Other people couldn't fix your problems, she understood that, but you could heal alongside someone. And that would be the most beautiful thing of all. Erzsébet hugged her robe tighter to her. There was still one nagging fear. "What if we lose each other?" Gilbert got up and gently kissed her cheek. "We've lost each other before, but somehow we always find each other again. We're hotheads, shit'll happen. We just gotta try, make things work and make each other smile." He sighed. "God, have I missed your smile." Slowly she turned around and took his hand. Gilbert brought it up to his lips, kissing it softly. "Promise me that this will be fine." Erzsébet's voice was barely above a whisper. "I promise you, everything will be fine. I won't let it work out any other way." For a second, they both believed it.

[bookdragonlibrary]

Fourth Friday YJ appreciation

1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26

—————————— Exceptional Human Beings

- Is this... Batman works with Oracle. It’s the same tech than Nightwing! 

- Yes! These is Katana and Metamorpho! I already love Metamorpho facial expressions! The scene from the trailer! Santa Prisca, Bane’s island! They’re so efficient! (Yeah, I have in mind the first time of the Team on the Island...) 

- Is it thanks to Jade’s intel? So they will save Tara? :D

- Victor Stone? So this is Dr Silas Stone! I saw the movie, I know Dr Stone wont have time to go... Oh! The Reach tech is back!

- And it’s Steel or John Irons. (Why every person choosing a English name comes with John?)

- Did... did Metamorpho just turn himself into a fart? Seriously? Katana in the background and the indignated face of Metamorpho xD

- Sex implied, definitely mature content... Is it really the time to talk about Dick? You know what I mean... Wait, was that a joke? Like a subtext joke? 

- Training Time! Forager’s sounds are so funny! 

- Violet fell because she was blushing and Brion uses his powers because he was blushing. They’re cute! :3 

- Nightwing definitely knows Batman is on Santa Prisca already and knows Brion will likely get himself killed with his actual combat skills...

- Deathstroke in the place. Oh she’s Cassandra, Savage’s daughter (yeah a lot of Cassandra this season!) 

- She knows Tara! Now she’s is used by Granny Goodness... And Cassandra seems to... like her? She is a different character than Scandal (who is lesbian) right? Because I don’t want our first rep to be a pedophilic rapist, thank you very much... We already had Slade for that in Judas Contract... 

- “I have observed that.” Definitely thinking about her sister Olympia :(

-  Victor’s team! “I would ask Wonder Woman out!” “Me Black Canary” *Vctor rolls his eyes* Are we wasting screentime for straight idiots? (and I mean it in both ways) Just a question: do you think Victor could be gay with his reactions to the “straights comments”?

- “Cisco, a superhero?!” Well, Francisco Ramon will be a superhero one day (but I don’t know his powers yet.) Don’t worry my dear, a lot of people love Zatanna! He’s a Spanish speaker, from where? 

- Victor don’t appreciate the bullying but not interfere :( But he’s so above their shit! 

- Boo-yah is back! I can’t believe they also gave this easter egg! 

- Batman or how burn someone with only words! xD

- “I always hated that name too!” Why don’t you change for you mother name, Arty? :( 

- Violet Harper, I love how the writers connect the dots between the comics and what happens on the show! 

- JADE! I love how she’s smiling, like she considerates it. We know she would love that. Why could hold her back? How could she think they don’t need her? Because of her father? Football... er I mean soccer is just a lame excuse! She’s crying! She definitely loves them! :’(

- Katana VS Lady Shiva! OMG Katana also uses a wakizashi (a short saber) with her katana like a samouraï :o 

- “Bulletproof. That’s annoying” We already know that line but still funny xD So Metamorpho isn’t fireproof? That’s his true form! 

- Oracle time! 

- “No, no my guns!” Seriously Bane? Metamorpho just blows them a kiss xD

- Booyah! Someone is still using the goggles... Poor Vic :( “I see great things in your future” while showing a FatherBox. I don’t like it... I know the story but still don’t like it...

- Brucely! (Or Bruce Lee?) Such a good boy!

By the way, Katana never talks. She took a vow of silence after her sensei dies.

—————————— Another Freak 

- First, I don’t like the title. I dislike even more the wiring from the Reach tech... 

- There’s a bad father/son relationship (I mean with fights) each season, isn’t there? “Scene/seen. Now you’re boying me?” I love the dialogue! I know I could hate the wiring... The “dad” at the end broke my heart :’(

- “But Brion Markov’s attitude will soon change! :D” Forager knows what’s going on between those two. Forager is a Haloforce shipper! Human Forager is so cute!! “Be careful on the boys! They only have one thing on their mind!” “What one thing?” *embarassed Brion* “If we arrive with the councelor and the principal, all the other kids will love us!” My poor summer child... “No flying at school!” xD

- After gory Halo, here’s gory Victor :( And here comes the Fatherbox so bad news?

- “I’m so happy to be here it makes me sick” Violet is still dealing with human emotions. Stay whelmed! Or could it be the Fatherbox? 

- Is that Terra with blue hair?? And... freckles? (she has the same character design that in the animated movie) Oh she’s Harper Row. My bad. The whole conversation was hilarious and cute!

- Victor’s still alive!

- Of course, access denied. Nightwing knows he would do it. He did it as Robin first! And of course Nightwing appears! And now they’re fighting...but with it Brion could speak his heart out.

- “How they could know us if they don’t interact with us?” I know Forager. Most human are most judgmental at first sight... 

- “Are Violet and Fred freaks?” Oh no sweetie don’t think that :( “But Fred must look like a freak...” He refers to his human form. It’s logical. Would you feel like yourself in an alien form? “Freak is cool.” Exactly! “Two hands only” xD

- Victor is freaking out. Naturally. So... he goes... violet when the fatherbox takes control? Like he calls to be heal.  So the violet color has a reverse meaning for a fatherbow than for a motherbox, logical as they are the two faces of the same coin.

- Harper is so sweet! 

- Whoa new aura: indigo (between blue and violet). So we still don’t know what blue aura does (and black aura, but I’m not sure it exists). What does it do? She opened a Boom tube? 

- “I’m not an abomination. I’m a freak.” That’s the spirit. That’s my girl! 

- Pleasedon’tmurderhalo! pleasedon’tmurderhalo! Yes! She’s okay! 

- She’s healing him! Poor Vic, he’s so confused. “My work here is done.” Violet is so cute! 

- Silas trying to find a common thing with Vic is sweet but yeah.. Vic would feel like a rat lab, ask Ed. “Can I go with you?” His voice was so heartbreaking :( Victor prefers to leave to not hurt his father again :( Yeah he’s angry, it’s understanding. At least, he’s alive right? 

- Kind of ironic they boomed tube in a football field...

- Brion is finally moving forward! :D 

- Lobo’s finger begins to morph. Slobo on the way!

—————————— Nightmare Monkeys

- Tork from Mars, seriously? xD M’Comm should be so pissed... 

Was that the Wilhelm scream? 

- “I have practice” My heart :( 

- it’s Paul who played Conner in Hello Megan! What time had done to you? Gar’s look when they talked about Marie :( Paul is his godfather! And Rita his godmother. Steven is his stepfather? That means he was with Rita, right? He’s Mento? “Thanks God.” I think they both don’t like the situation but still try to play their part... 

- I don’t know if this seashell alien is real or just a costume...

- We were right! Halo IS a Motherbox! What happen to the script? Now we can predict things :( She’s... the reincarnation of the dead Motherbox Doctor X and Psimon studied. So Queen Bee works with Vertigo, since Psimon works for Quee Bee. So Gabrielle Daou consciousness died, murdered by Bedlam’s minions and the Motherbox soul regenerates/resurected in her body because she needed a vessel. But Violet still has some of Gabrielle’s memories via the brain, but maybe not her thoughts or emotions?

- I love the Emerald Crown teasing! Was Gar talking about his mother(s) when he said queen? That needle doesn’t seem good...

- “And now he tells you to be patient...” xD 

Sphere, stay whelmed! And... the Fatherbow is awake again... And... Conner is shirtless again... Halo has clearly no idea what she’s doing. So cute she calms Sphere down :)

- So that doesn”t sound good... Encino, what/where that could be? 

- “He’s dead, Tom.” What that the voice of... WALLY??? And all the dead heroes in the grotto... I mean Watchtower garden.

- Great! Supermartian know how to communicate now :) “Alone time” Weren’t you have a “intimate” time in a bathroom two episodes ago? “Date night/Secret base” Yeah Wolf me too. They got the communication, not the understanding...

- “The Reach... I mean the Klamulons” seriously? 

- Tula, Ted Kord, Jason, was that the chronological order? I thought Ted was the last one. That’s why in season Tim went to Jason’s hologramme. Ted Kord died during the Summer break and they were in February. So Tim was a really young Robin! 

- Wally speaks to casually about their death. “Who’s next? Guess it’s me.” Does that mean he’s not dead yet? But could soon be? Wally’s death scene reminds me how good the previous style was... RIP too! “Cancel the show already?” I heard the 4th wall break down.

- DOOM PATROL GO! WHAT’S THE HECK?The 4th wall is collapsing in a firy explosion. 

- Garfield also collapsed. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! 

Rita Aka Elasticgirl with Starfire’s voice. Chief with Robin’s voice. Robotman with Cyborg’s voice (more like Cyborg’s father xD), Negative Woman with Raven’s voice. 

- Steve Dayton is indeed Rita’s husband; So Rita adopted Garfield when Marie died? She did! 

- “Sorry your mom(s?) died!” The song. “Just say goodbye to your second mom!” Rita and Marie were together? Was Rita bi/pan? “Let’s die!” 

- Of course M’gann save the day, back with her season 1 appearance. The whole Mento’s speech is how Gar sees the situation right? Not the truth right? “I was 14.” Wait, all of this (except Marie’s death) only happen last year? 

- M’gann is there to save her brother!

“Sure you’re even born yet?” This joke could also work with Bart. Man, if Bart was in that episode... 

- “Queen Bee wants her honey back!” That was a lesbian joke right? The first rep of this season would be Queen Bee? Being Bi? (Why in English bi is pronounced like by and not bee? Do you see the missed joke here?) 

- “Let’s watch the episode you were in.” Season 2. The pieces of the 4th wall break again. 

- “Shut it down.” “I can’t hear a heartbeat.” He meant the channel, not the heart, Wally. Wait, was it a death wish because Gar can’t handle with all the mourning happening in a few minutes? 

- Reminder: Beast Boy’s metagene was activated by Martian transfusion and a bite from a green monkey. 

- Mass conservation? Is it a clue for Wally’s return? Like his mass was conserved somewhere when he was desintegrated? A place where he can save Garfield from the Goggles? How can Gar remember Wally’s death if he wasn’t even there?! But he appears as the green monkey to show a parallel? Between the monkey and blood transfusion saving him and Wally saving him now? 

- Come back as a hero my boy! 

- “Are you real or is this all in my head?” Ask Dumbledore, kid.

- M’gann is in the place! White but with a green aura. 

- Yes, I think it was a distraction to cope with all the trauma. 

- “Ready to get back to reality. Ready to get back to the life.” hero life? It was both litteral and metaphorical. 

- Perdita who don’t understand the Team’s slang :) Gar, did you teach anything to her? 

- Garfield finally understand that Gretchen is a bad guy. But it feels off as we already know it. The Evolution episode should have happen after this I think? 

- Emerald Crown is so cute! Their kiss was ok, but why M’gann are you doing the same in front of your brother?

- Haloforce kiss! After we finally understand who Violet is! But I would like to see the moment which brings to the kiss :(

- Sphere!

- Of course Wally won’t come back until part b or even the end of the season, will he?

—————————— True Heroes

- It’s Halloween! Halo and Forager are adorable as usual. 

- Poor Vic :( Halloween cancel and Violet can’t come :( Forager drives bioship xD (Such a weird sentence...) 

- Tara is 15, same age than Bart and Gar.

- Dr Jace had a little girl. who was taken from her. Was she meta? It’s thay why she started to work with Bedlam? To have intel to find her? Or did Bedlam blackmail her to make her work for him? That’s why she’s is so overprotecting with the kids? 

- “You’re be my little girl for tonight.” That sounds creepy, right? 

- “I know I said pretend I’m not here but I’m.” Yeah, Dr Jace, maybe not the best way to explain where the teenager hormones lead to... 

- “Vulnerable” weaks the Fatherbox up. Great. And it’s because she is vulnerable, Dr Jace tries to be closer?

- Cameron (Icycle Jr) and the Terror Twins grew up so much... And not in a good way. I miss the Twins’ design in season 1. They get uglier each season, bad guy cliche. But Tommy could be the Bad Blue Beetle from Bart’s future, they have quite the same morphology and Queen Bee sold Chimmer to the Reach, why not him too? 

- Holocaust?

- Wolf attacking the Fatherrbox. 

Dr Jace just took a violet ray and if they’re like Halo’s yellow one she should be badly injured... Not just inconscious. 

- Emotions turn off Halo’s powers? They just activated them! 

- Earth VS FIre. Terra lost :( 

- Stay Whelmed, Brion! 

- Psimon out! Wait, did just Devastation called him baby? 

- Tara is free!

- And Holocaust is with a Queen Bee’s minions. 

- Family reunion!

- YJ is now a scary movie. Maybe it’s just panic which shut down Halo’s powers? Fight Vic! “The problem is I had too much.” So it was panic. Now save him!

- Yeah, go save the other kids! 

- The conversation between Junior and SB is so chill (no pun intended) and funny. “She was my girl.” “But I was into her.” Dudes, it’s not a competition or a race, just let the girl decide maybe? 

- “Maybe that means there’s hope for me too!” Redeem arc foreshadowing? 

- “Ow.” Junior plays dead. 

- Can we appreciate SB’s combat style? 

- Princess speech! 

- The Black girl speaks French? Who they could be? Anita?

- League and Team squads were successful” I wish we could have seen them :( 

- Dr Jace activated Tara’s metagene on the blackmailing to kill her :o 

- Princess speech! :D 

- Violet cry of joy is so cute! :) 

- “M’gann’s gonna kill me.” xD 

- Wait, why is Dr Jace taking Violet’s, hair? 

- “They’re ready for the Team!” We’re gonna go our children back! But maybe give Tara some rest?

- “I’m in.” So we go for the Judas Contract storyline? Or that is a mislead?

- Wolf in the Bioship!

5 months to wait now :( 

[conways]

Humberfloob Real Estate. How can we make your dreams come true? What do you mean, you're leaving? You're a babysitter. Babysitters don't leave. They sit. Baby-leavers leave. I'm sorry. I really gotta go, Miss Walden. Well, I need to come home right away. All right. Thank you, Amy. Sorry. Attention, everyone! It's 9:02. Staff meeting! Staff meeting! Look alive, everyone! First I'd like to welcome aboard... our newest member of the Humberfloob family, Jim McFlinnagan! - Mr. Humberfloob, I wanted to thank you... Fired. I beg your pardon? Fired. B-But l... Fired! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10! As you know, tonight is our bimonthly meet and greet" party. Tonight's host is... Joan Walden. This is where people can meet our real estate agents... in an informal, yet hygienic setting. Mr. Humberfloob, I have to get home to my kids. Ah, yes. Your children. Joan, let me make this perfectly clear. If your house is as messy as last time, you're fired! That's pretty clear, Mr. Humberfloob. Don't worry. I promise. My kids'll be on their best behavior. Great. Humberfloob Real Estate. How can we make your dreams come true? Please hold. If you leave Humberfloob's and turn left onto Main, three miles down you'll find Lipplapper Lane, a pleasant-enough street in a pleasant-enough way... where a neighbor greeted neighbor with a neighborly "Hey!" Hey! Hey! Here the hedges were hedged, the weeds were all weeded, and lawns were mowed daily, twice daily if needed. And at the end of this street, in a house like any other, something magical would happen... to a sister and her brother. Shh! Nevins! Stealth mode. Today's to-do list. Number one: Make to-do list. Number two: Practice coloring. Number three: Research graduate schools. Number four: Be spontaneous. Number five: Create lasting childhood memories. And number six: Amend will. What is he doing? Number 10: Make tomorrow's to-do list. Ladies and gentlemen! Nevins, your attention, please. You are about to witness the third most spectacular stunt... ever performed under this roof! Do you know how hard it's getting to tell people that we're related? Relax. I'll put everything back. And now, for the indoor stair luge! Indoor stair luge? I'll have to add this one to my list. Go have no fun somewhere else. It... is... showtime! Whoa! - Aah! - Yeah! - Oh, my word! Nevins! Nevins, come back! Hey, Mom. What's up? You are so lucky you didn't ruin this dress. Mom, I know you're angry, but there's something you need to know. This was all Sally's fault. Oh, really? And how, exactly, was it Sally's fault? Give me a minute. I'm workin' on it. Save it, Conrad. Why today? Why did you have to pick today to destroy the house? You know what's happening today. I tried to tell him, Mom. "Mom's throwing a very important party," I said. "All other important clients will be here." But he went right ahead and wrecked the house and let Nevins get away. Now, again, I hope you're going to ground him. Yes, Sally, for a week, but that's none of your business. A week? Come on. Two days. I asked you to do one thing today, Conrad... keep the house clean. Do you know how frustrating it is that you're always doing the exact opposite of what I say? Knock, knock, knock. Someone lose a dog? I found him next door... in my yard... again. You are a saint. And here I thought you were only dating me for my good looks. Lucky us. Larry Quinn is here. Hey-a, sport. Call me Lawrence. Okay? You rescued Nevins! Thanks, Lawrence! It was my pleasure, Sally. Anything for my little princess. Oh, I don't wanna be a princess. In a constitutional monarchy parliament has all the real power. I see. Okay, that's great. Uh, look, pal, be a sport. Why don't you go tidy up the living room. Okay...dude? I don't have to listen to you, Larry. Conrad, do what Lawrence says. Have you given some thought about the Wilhelm Academy? You mean the Colonel Wilhelm Military Academy for Troubled Youth? That's the one, Joan. I'm not sure it's right for Conrad. Oh, Joan, Joan. Joan, Joan, Joan. I have so much respect for you, Joan. Single mother, career woman, raising two children on your own, and still finding time to be the best darned real estate agent in town. I know how hard it is, Joan. It is hard. Oh... I know. And I know how hard you're trying. This is a once-in-a-lifetime proposition, and you must act now. The Colonel Wilhelm Military Academy for Troubled Youth... is what we call in the sales game a win-win scenario. A top-flight military school, and it's only... eight hours away. Oh, the phone. I heard what you said. I'm not going to military school, Larry. Look, buddy, I know I'm not your dad... and this is probably really strange for you... your neighbor's dating your mom. But here's the thing, son. Come here. I don't like you either. But I'm gonna marry your mom. And if it was up to me, you'd be at military school today. I'm not going to military school. Ohh! I think you're gonna love it. It's just like summer camp, except with brutal forced marches... and soul-crushing discipline. And one more thing... It's Lawrence, you snot-nosed son of a... wonderful woman who I'm absolutely crazy about! Oww! Gosh, I love children! Oh, Joan, I didn't see you there. Would you be a doll and help me bring up chairs from the basement? Nothing would give me more pleasure, Joan, but I do have to run. I have a very important sales conference downtown. Oh. Okay. - Well, I'll see you at the party tonight. - Sure. Mom, that guy's a total phony. You can't let Larry... It's Lawrence, Conrad. Kate's Catering. I'm here to do your party tonight. Oh, hi. Where's Kate? I'm Kate. Oh. Okay. Right this way, Kate. Mom, you've gotta listen to me... Quiet! Two weeks ago you said you would... I "specialed" it. See? Quiet! Nevins! I said quiet! Joan Walden Real Estate. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Joan. This is Mr. Humberfloob. - Oh, hi, Mr. Humberfloob. - Joan, I need you to come back to the office. - Today? - Yes, Joan. - No problem? - No problem at all. Great! - What's going on, Mommy? Mommy has to go back to the office. Oh! I hope Mrs. Kwan can baby-sit. - Not Mrs. Kwan! Oh! Hi, Mrs. Kwan. Hi. I'm running late. Thanks for babysitting on such short notice. Mmm, yeah. Okay, Mrs. Kwan. Oh-oh-oh! I'll be back in a couple of hours. Hi. Conrad's grounded, so no video games. Sally? Last chance. If you wanna make cupcakes, I can take you to your friend Ginny's house. - Ginny's not my friend anymore. Last time we made cupcakes she wanted to be the head chef. I'm the head chef. What about Denise, then? She talked back to me, so I ordered her not to speak to me anymore. - And you don't like bossy? - I won't tolerate it. Right. Well, if you're both staying, remember the rules. Conrad: No playing ball in the house, no fighting, no answering the phone, "City morgue." Mommy, can't I have some rules? No chewing tobacco. Thanks, Mom. You have my word. And absolutely no one sets foot in the living room, or else. Or else what? You're gonna do what Larry said and send me to military school? Maybe if you'd just behave, I wouldn't have to consider military school. I wish I could trust you. I wish I had a different mom. Well, sometimes I wish the same thing. Mmm. Good luck with your meeting. Children, would you like to watch television with me? - We don't have to tell your mother. Taiwanese parliament. You tell them, Kwi-Chang! No more big government! Rip his heart out! Hit me! So they slumped in their chairs, too glum to complain, and to make matters worse, it started to rain. They sat in the house... on that cold, cold, wet day... with no fun to have... and no games to play. They could just stare out the window... or perhaps get a nap in, and hope that something, anything might happen. Quit bothering the fish. I know. Quit bothering the fish. Spit hand! Oh, gross! Get that away from me! Get it away! Then something went bump. - What was that? How that bump made them jump. I think it came from the closet. Conrad? Conrad. Come on, Conrad. You shouldn't scare people. You should've seen the look on your face. It was like you saw a monster... A monster? Where? That could've gone better. What was that? I don't know. Looked like a humongous cat. "Humongous"? I prefer the term "big-boned" or jolly." Now, what are we hiding from? That was a giant cat. But that's impossible, isn't it? It's entirely impossible. You know, I like this hiding place a lot better. They'll never find us here. Scream and run. And there they go. Who are you? Who? Me? Why, I'm the Cat in the Hat. There's no doubt about that. I'm a "super-fun-diferous" feline... who's here to make sure that you're... Meeline? Key lime? Turpentine? I got nothin'. I'm not so good with the rhyming. Not really, no. Look, I'm a cat that can talk. That should be enough for you people! I can talk! I'm a cat! Yes! Where did you come from? Hmm, how do I put this? When a mommy cat and a daddy cat love each other very much, they decide that... Oh, no, no, no, no. Where did you come from? My place! Where do you think? No, how did you get here? I drove! Look, I've been here two whole minutes, and no one has offered me a drink. Harrumph! - Sorry, Mr. Cat. Would you like some milk? - Milk? Ecch! No! Lactose intolerant. Gums up the works. Oy. You'll thank me later. Wipeout! - Hello! @@Yeah! Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Yee-hee-hee! Nice spread you got here. Homina-homina-homina-homina! Who is this? Ohh! That's my mom. Awkward, yeah. Yes, this place will do quite nicely, actually. Yeah. Although those drapes are a train wreck. And this is the lumpiest couch I ever sat on. Who is this dreadfully uncomfortable woman? Get off her. That's our babysitter. What the... Babysitter? You don't need one of those, do ya? Let me get this straight. You pay this woman... to sit on babies? That's disgusting! I'd do it for nothing! Hmm! Now, let's see what the old "phunometer" has to say. - "Phunometer"? - Yeah. It measures how fun you are. Hi. Huh? Ohh. Ah. Control freak. Yeah. Now you. Hi. How are ya? - Whoa! Oh. Tap it. Listen, kid, you can tap it with a hammer, it ain't gonna change. Just as I suspected. You guys are both out of whack. You're a control freak, and you're a rule-breaker. That'll be $700. Who's your insurance carrier? - So, what do we do? - Well, there are two treatments I'd recommend. One is a series of painful shots injected into your abdomen and kneecap. And the other... involves a musical number! @ Me-Me-Me-Meow @ How many shots? "How many shots?" Aren't you precious? Maestro! @ I know it is wet @ @ And the sun is not sunny @ @ But we can have lots of good fun that is funny @ @ It's fun to have fun @ @ But you got to know how @ Hair ball. @ I know lots of good tricks and I'll... @ Stop this right now! Huh? - Who said that? - Me! Remember? The fish? Came home in a Baggie, loved me for two weeks, and then nothing! - The fish is talking! - Well, sure, he can talk. But is he saying anything? No, not really. No. Hey, Socks, can it! This cat should not be here. He should not be about. He should not be here when your mother is out. Come on, kids! You gonna listen to him? He drinks where he pees! @There was this cat I knew back home where I was bred @ @ He never listened to a single thing his mother said @ @He never used the litter box He made a mess in the hall @ @That's why they sent him to a vet @ @To cut off both his ba... @ ba... ba... @ Boy, that wasn't fun, fun, fun @ @ He never learns You can have fun, fun, fun @ But less is more! @They may ship you off to school so rein it in a little @ @ We can't spell "fun" without "U" in the middle @ Human, this cat is currently in violation of... 17 of your mother's rules! City morgue! - Eighteen! - Ol! Ooh! @ You can juggle work and play but you have to know the way @ @ You can keep afloat a wish like the way I do this fish @ @ You can be a happy fella Someone throw me that umbrella @ @ And that rake, that cake Life's what you make it @ @ So have fun, fun, fun @ @ Go insane and have some fun, fun, fun @ @Just look at me Fun, fun, fun @ @ No more rain Look, it's the sun, sun, sun @ @ So can't you see I'm as happy as a clam I'm as fit as a fiddle @ @ Yeah, the dogs may bark about you @ @ And the purebred chaps may doubt you @ Getting motion sickness! Milk? Big mistake. @ But remember this You can't have fun without "U" @ I can't breathe! Ohh! Whoa! I knew that milk would come back to haunt me. Help! Help! @"U" in the middle @@ - Bravo, Cat. - Huh? These children are smart enough not to fall for your MTV-style flash... at the expense of content and moral values. That was wicked cool! Do it again! I'd love to, but Shamu is right... I really should be going. - No, don't go! - No, I should go. I should let you and the fish have all your fun conjugating verbs, cleaning your room, doing long division. No, you have to stay! All right, I'll stay. Oh, yeah! Yeah! But if I'm gonna stay, there's something I wanna show you. Something magical... and full of wonder. - It's called a contract. - You want us to sign this? - Just a formality, really. Yeah. - Who are they? Magical time-traveling elves. Yeah. Magic. Okay, they're my lawyers. Liability issues, litigious society, frivolous lawsuits. You understand. Basically, this contract guarantees you can have all the fun you want... and nothing beds ever gonna happen. - All the fun we want? - Uh-yeah! - Nothing bad will happen? - Uh-no! Come on, Sal, for once in your life try something spontaneous. It goes against my better instincts, but... fine. Beautiful. Initial here. And here. And here. Not here! Turn it over. This is nothing. Scratch this. Smell that! Terrific. Yadee-yadee-yadee. Sign the bottom. You're it! Okay, gimme five! Four. Let's get this party started! Uh-huh! Hey, check out this room! What now? Mom says we're not allowed in the living room today, or else. She's worried we'll mess up the couches by jumpin' on 'em or somethin' And she's right. You can't jump on these. Not like this. They need some adjustment. Yee-haw! Let's take a look under the hood. Yeah. Just doin' my job. Sorry. What have we got here? Whew. Here we go. It's oversized. That's unusual. Here it is. Down, Simba! Down, Simba! Get outta here! Spray me, would ya? You... - Thanks for the help. Back in a second. Who's your couch mechanic? You oughta call Mr. Catwrench. Oww! My fur! My fur! My fur! That oughta do it. Whoo! Come on, kids. I could use a little company. What about Mom's party? What about it? We signed the contract. Wha-hoo! Yeah! One cushion left, Sally. She'll never do it. She doesn't know how to have fun. Fun? Sally, you're better than fun. Fun is beneath you. Remember what your mother told you... No one sets foot in the living room... You know what? Let's just watch some flashbacks. Absolutely no one sets foot in the living room, or else. You're fired... fired... fired... fired... fired... fired... Fired... fired... fired... fired... And that's why... Oww! This is where they buried my brother! Yeah! Yippee! Oh, yeah! This is amazing! Like being in the circus! Yeah, but without those tortured animals... or drunken clowns that have hepatitis. See, kids, I told you we could have fun! The best thing is, no one will ever... know. Judas Priest! I can't believe what I'm seeing! Oh, Mr. Quinn, I was just telling Conrad to get off the couch. Bad, Conrad! Bad! Sally, baby, angel, princess, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, okay? Nobody likes a suck-up! Where's the cat? I don't know. Ohh! Good bread. What are you two lookin' at? Is there a cat in here? I'm gonna... You're gonna... I have to... Get out of here. See, kids, I told you. Stick with me, it'll all work out. Oh, no! Ohh! Little-known fact... cats always land on their tushy. - I thought they always landed on their feet. - Oh, sure, now you tell me. Harrumph! - So, kiddo, what do you want to do for fun? - I wanna make cupcakes! Cupcakes? Oh, yeah! To the kitchen! Live from the kitchen, the following is a paid commercial announcement for Astounding Products. Hi! Welcome to Astounding Products. I'm your host, the guy in the sweater who asks all the obvious questions. Now, here to tell us about his astounding product for making cupcakes, all the way from Cheshire, England, please welcome... Me! Hello! Now... Hello! I'm so excited! Do you love making cupcakes, but hate all the hard cupcake work? I know I do! Well, forget everything you know about making cupcakes... and say hello... to the amazing Kupkake-inator. - I'm so excited! Cupcake-a-what? Kupkake-inator! Oh, this amazing device can instantly make cupcakes... out of anything that you have in the kitchen. - Wait a minute. Did you say anything"? - Anything. Anything? Yes, anything. Anything? Anything. - Anything? - I'll get you, and it'll look like a bloody accident. - Anything. Now, take off the lid. You can put in, I don't know, a carton of eggs. What? How about a pack of hot dogs? That's incredible! Why not some ketchup? Yeah, why not? How about... I know what you're thinkin'. Even a fire extinguisher. There we go. Hmm? Now, close the lid and Bob's your flippin' uncle! What an astounding product! Oh, yeah! Open the drawer, Fill the patented Kupkake-inator tray, - Close the drawer, Then place it in a conventional oven. Delicious cupcakes are just minutes away. Did you just say "minutes away"? That's impossible! You're not just wrong, you're stupid. Now, wait just a minute... And you're ugly, just like your mum. Did you just call my mother ugly? Shut up! I mean it! I will end you! Um, Cat. Your tail. What about it? Oh, I see! I've chopped it off. That's interesting, because... Son of a bi... Look, I'm not saying we're going to sue. I'm just saying we have a case. We'll talk later. Ixnay, ixnay. Hi. Cat, is the oven supposed to be making that sound? Huh? Of course. That means they're almost done, Conrack. - Conrad. - That's what I said, Condor. - Cat! - Now, that's my name! Yep! They're done! Oh, man! There's nothing to worry about. I'm sure they still taste fine. Yecch! They're horrible! Who wants some? Come on, come on! Oh... my... cod. Ohh! Aah! Cat, you need to clean this mess up pronto. We have a contract. All right, I'll try. You don't try. You do. Yes, ma'am. Right away, ma'am. I'll be right back. Whoa! Hi. How are ya? Okay. Look. I'm a girl. Stop! That's... Mom's dress! This filthy thing? She was gonna wear that tonight, and you ruined it. Honey, it was ruined when she bought it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I told you all this would happen! - But no one listens to a fish! - Oy. A dog goes "woof-woof" and everybody knows that little Timmy's trapped under a log. But a fish speaks in plain English... All right, everyone, let's just take a deep breath and calm down. You know who's gonna solve it? Me. I am. I will personally take care of everything. And I know just the guys to do it. In this box are two Things. I will show them to you. Two Things, and I call them Thing One and Thing Two. These Things will not bite you. They want to have fun. So without further ado, meet Thing Two and Thing One! @Ta-da @ Oh, yeah! Thing One, Conrad, Sally. Conrad, Sally, Thing One. Thing Two, Conrad, Sally. Conrad, Sally, Thing Two. Thing One, Thing Two. Thing Two, Thing One. Conrad, Sally. Sally, Conrad. I am the Cat. Don't belittle me. Ah, yes, of course. Thing Two would like to clarify that just because he wears the number two... does not imply in any way that he's inferior to Thing One. And all of the above. He says you may feel free to call him Thing "A," if you like. He will also accept Super Thing, Thing King, Kid Dynamite, Chocolate Thun-Da... or Ben. Ben! Thing One says he's Thing One for a reason, and some people should just get used to it. It's a Thing thing. You wouldn't understand. Okay, enough! You are quickly turning into one of my least favorite Things. Listen, Convex, you probably don't wanna do that. Why not? It's just a crate. This isn't just any old crate. It's the Trans-dimensional Transportolator. It's kinda like a doorway which leads from this world to my world. But it says, "Made in the Philippines." Yes, but not this Philippines. Look, now, I'm not usually a rules guy, but this is a biggie. No opening the crate. No lookee, no touchee. Got it? Mekka-dekka we should settle our differences. Things, front and center! Cool. All right, Things, I'm not paying you to stand around and look pretty. Here's Mom's dress. Oh! Mommy's dress! - What about the couch? - Which couch? The clean one, or the horribly stained one? Ho! Mekka-dekka don't worry! Incoming! Cat, they're wrecking the whole house! - Conrad, help! - Help yourself! Look at me! Come and get it! Whoa! Ooh, yeah! Whoa! That tickles! Geronimo! Mine, mine, mine! Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine! Ride 'em, cowboy! Yee-hee-hee! Ho-ho-ho! Whee! If this were my house, I'd be furious. Hey! Klondike! Do you have any idea what happened to the lock on this crate? - It's on Nevins's collar. - Nevins? Nevins? Nevins! Put the dog down! I said, put the dog down! Why won't they listen to me? Oh. I don't know if this helps, but the Things always do the opposite of what you say. Why do they always do the opposite? That's so annoying! Remind you of anyone, Conrad? Zinga! Zinga! Zinga! Blue! 41! Set! Hut! Hut! Hut! Hut! Hey, Thing, don't let go of that dog! Let go! Catch him... I mean, don't catch him! Well, this is just great, Conrad. The whole house is destroyed, the party is ruined, and now Nevins is gone. Sally, Kojak, that's nothing compared to what's gonna happen if we don't lock this crate. Take a look. It's already leaking. - It won't stay shut. - Not without the lock. Look, if we don't get that lock off of Nevins and put it back on this crate, we're gonna be staring down the business end of the mother of all messes. We've gotta go out and find Nevins. Impossible! Sally! There's only four hours till the party. The Fish is right. We should call Mom and tell her what happened. Look at this house! There's no way we could explain this to Mom. We gotta get Nevins back and lock the crate! We're staying and calling Mom. We're going and getting the dog. There is a third option. There is? Yes. It involves... murder! - That's your option? - No. But you guys both had options. I just wanted to have one too. Or did I? - Cat, you're not helping! - Come on. Let's go get that dog. Now, we just need a heavy, inanimate object to weigh down this crate. There. That oughta buy us some time. Come on, kids! Let's go, go, go! Identical sister Mitzy... That's right. - Yeah! What do you want now? Repo. You're repossessing my TV? I'm sure I made a payment. If it's about that bounced check, let me give you a credit card. That one's expired. Huh? Oh, come on! With the lock on his collar, Nevins kept running, unaware of his part... in the evil Quinn's cunning. Joan Walden Real Estate. Be it ever so humble, there's no... Oh, hi, Joan. The kids let the dog out again. You're kidding. Don't worry. I'll go get him, then we'll have a conversation vis-a-vis military school. I don't know. Conrad's like you, Lawrence. He's very... sensitive. Uh-huh. But I suppose it's something I should consider. I'll get the dog. I'll be right over. Okay, there's Nevins. Stay out of sight. I thought the moment needed something. Oh, what will become of us? Your mother will lose her job, and we'll have to... live on the street! I can't! Don't make me go... I don't know this world! It's dry! It's like... I can't... It's too... Fish! It's too much! Would you like to go back in the toilet? On second thought, it's such a beautiful day. Why spend it indoors? - Thank you! Okay, kids. Get out of my way. This fence is no match for my cat-like grace and reflexes. Here we go. Ow. Okay. Watch me fly, kids. Ow! I don't think the little girl's even trying. What about your cat-like... reflexes? What about showing a little effort, shrimp boat? Now, push! Whaa! All right, Nevins. Time to die. - Cat, you scared him away! Dirty hoe. I'm sorry, baby. I love you. Hmm. Come on, Cat! There he is! Happy birthday, Denise. Denise? Everyone I know is there. There's Ginny and Alan. How come Denise didn't invite me to her birthday? Don't worry. Lets just get Nevins and go. Okay, kids. Everyone outside! Aaah! Nevins. Cat, get down! They're gonna see you! Hide! Piata! Piata! Piata! Piata! Piata! Piata! Piata! - Everybody join in! It's breaking! Step out of my way. This cannot end well. - Piata! Piata! @I'm easy @ @Ah, ah, ah, ah @ @I'm easy like Sunday morning @@ Oh-ho-ho! Whoo! - Oh! Whoo-hoo! - I got an idea. Candy! Candy! No! Get back! Cat! I'll get you! I'd love to buy some. Hello, Mrs. Kwan. Its Joan Walden. I just called to check on the kids. Are they okay? Those aren't children. They're little angels. That's sweet. Well, all right, Mrs. Kwan. I'll be home as soon as I can. Bye-bye. Bye. All right, soldier. Our bogey is in range. Commence search and destroy. - What? - Search and rescue. I meant search and rescue. Come on! I can't believe I wasn't invited to that party. Hey! You're a lone wolf. Live alone, die alone. Yeah. - Can we please get the dog? Can we please get the dog? Can we please get the dog? Boo! Oh, no! Oh, man! Hello, Nevins. Good-bye, Conrad. Not so tough now, are you? We're dead. We're never gonna get that crate shut. And I'm getting shipped off to Colonel Von Kronk's School for Wayward Boys! Why don't we take my car? You have a car? Yeah, sure. Wow. That is so cool. That's just the dust cover. Here she is, the Super Luxurious Omnidirectional Whatchamajigger. Or S.L.O.W. For short. S.L.O.W.? Yeah, SLOW. It's better than the last name we had. Super Hydraulic Instantaneous Transporter. - Oh, you mean... - Ohh! Quick, to the SLOW. Buckle up, kids. We're on a mission to get that dog, and we will not rest until we find and destroy it. Rescue it! Rescue it! Of course I meant rescue it. Whatever. Remember, kids, there's nothing faster than SLOW. That's backwards! It makes no sense. Look at you! Argh! Okay, here we go. G.P. S... check. DVD, CD... check. Someone from Czechoslovakia is a... Czech. Siren! What are you... What... Siren? Let's go! Whoo-whoa-ho-ho! Hi there! How are you? Yeah! @ I'm sending Conrad away @ - Oh! Oh! Oh! I can't believe you whizzed on my taco! Wait till Joan gets a load of you! - There they are! - Red light, red light, red light, red light! Red light! - Someone else should drive. - All right. You win. Concrete, you drive. Are you serious? I don't know. A little voice inside of me is saying, "This is a bad idea," but I can barely hear that little voice... because an even louder little voice is screaming, "Let the 12-year-old drive!" Now, punch it! This is awesome! - I want to drive. - I think that's a great idea. Wait! Two people can't drive at the same time. You're right. We should all drive. - Cat! Where are the brakes? - I'll get them. I think there's something wrong with your brakes. When's the last time you had them checked? Bad brake! One-way street, one-way street, one-way street, one-way street! Hey, Rhode Island license plate. You never see those. Om. Om. Air bag. Standard. I think... I wet... my jar. Can we do that again? Hey, there he is! Oh, no! He's going into Mom's office! Come on, Cat! You know, Nevins, when Joan finds out you've escaped again, Conrad will be moving out, and I'll be moving in. We've gotta get Nevins and that lock back. What are we gonna do? Don't worry. I have three plans. Plan "A": "Mess up a perfectly clean house." Done that. Plan "B": "Cut your losses and ditch the kids." - That could work. - What about that one? Plan "C": "Trick Mom's boyfriend into handing over dog and lock." I don't know. I still like Plan "B." - Cat! - Okay, okay. Plan "C." Look at you. Argh! Excuse me, sir. I'd like you to sign my petition. Yeah. Get out of my way, you hippie freak. Are you aware of the senseless, wholesale slaughter... of the flatulating, acid-spitting Zumzizeroo? What will it take to get you out of my face? Just sign my petition... with this large, oversized pen that requires two hands. I see. - Will you hold my dog? - Yes! Okay, I have a problem with the word "dog." I don't use the "D" word per se 'cause I think it's really, really wrong. Yeah. But I will happily hold your Canine-American. - I'm more comfortable with that really, yeah. @ How much is that Canine-American in the window @ Cat! Come on! - Hey, what the... Go, go, go! Come back here! I'm on to you kids! - Nothing to see here. Keep moving! Go! Come on! Let's go. Ah, get in, get in! Come on, let's go. Get in! Hi, hi. Get in! Get in! Look out below! Oh! Sorry. Over there. Hey! Hey, hey! Hey, hey! Ohh! Oh! I got you! Here he comes! Cat! - Where's my hat? Oh! Go! Go, go! Go! Let's go! My tail, my tail. Come on, Cat! I'm walking here! Joan. Joan! - I think we lost him. - Not the pocket. Not the pocket! - We got the lock back. Now let's get home. - Relax, kid. I'm all over it. Hey. What's wrong? This. This is not my hat. I must have picked up the wrong hat back there. - So? - So... without my hat, I'm just your garden-variety six-foot-tall talking cat. Joan, your children are running around town like complete maniacs. Yes, they are. With some weird, hairy man in a big hat. Uh-huh. You're gonna believe everything I'm telling you once we get to your house, okay? Come on. We're doomed! We're dead. This is all my fault. I'm such an idiot. Why do I always have to do the opposite of what I'm supposed to? Wait a second. That's it! The opposite! Hey, Things! Don't help us! Do not show up and help us get home right now! - We're goin' on a road trip! - Larry's car? How'd you get so smart? So the race was on to get back home first. Hang on! We gotta beat Mom and Quinn home! But back at their home, things were just getting worse. There's Mom and Larry! Step on it, Joan. Go, go, go, go, go. Oh, Things, do not do anything to slow down my mom. Slow down Mom! Look, Joan, they don't beat them every day. Oh, great. I'm sorry, Off

[mentalcurls]

8. Lo sanno tutti a scuola

Episode 8! Thing are not great for Eva right now. It’s fun that I always start the episodes and think I don’t have that much to say about them, then I always end up writing at least 3 pages of ramblings. This time the topics that came up were Giovanni’s maturity, my headcanons about Edoardo and romance novels. And of course at the end of the post there are the results ot the Bechdel test!

that shot with the sky, Eva and the house with the gradient geometric shapes behind her is gorgeous, jeez

also, the song that mimics Eva’s heartbeat skipping while she looks for Gio

ok, so, did Gio send Marti out or was he leaving on his own?

Marti sure loves his dramatic pauses

and like, Gio was dealing with this in a pretty mature way? Not talking to Eva but not asking anyone else (Marti) to ostracize her, asking her for space and telling her he’ll contact her; except then there’s the “you made everything go to shit”

MARTI FEELS SO FUCKING GUILTY! Look at him, he avoids looking at Eva for too long, his eyes are basically soulless, he’s staring into nothing and hating himself

“Stai tranquilla” says Marti and then again Eleonora, a few minutes later: guys, I get you don’t really know what to say to make Eva feel better, to tell her you’re there for her but “Stai tranquilla” doesn’t help! She feels guilty and ashamed and isolated, she need reassurance she’ll get through this with you!

that scene with “Million reasons” playing 💔 Gio glancing at the back of Eva’s head then turning away 💔 the fact that I can’t see Gio’s eyes properly to gauge how shitty Gio feels, how much he cried, how little he slept 💔

the boys all turning back to look at Eva 💔 Marti lingering 💔 Elia turning Gio’s head 💔 (but also threading his fingers through Gio’s hair 💖)

and it’s so significant that Ele and Silvia get to Eva’s class walking upstream, against the current of people going outside (who are represnt the sheep mentality of high schoolers blaming Eva for Fede cheating because they listen to gossip)

and Eva takes a breath when she sees the girls and she must be so relieved, it must feel like it’s the first time she’s able to breathe properly since Alice slapped her

Silvia keeps looking at Eleonora while she talks, as if looking for reassurance, and I’m so curious! I wanna know if Ele’s looking back, if they’re pulling a full on Elia-and-Giovanni-parenting-Martino!

ohhh, the showdown between Ele and Silvia and Laura and Sara (also, notice how both couples of girls are blonde+brunette?)

that last look between Ele and Silvia before the second group hug! They’re totally concerned moms parenting Eva

that second hug is so soft I’m 💖

oh, poor Eva! As if her week wasn’t bad enough she has to get her period, poor babe

not to mention the misogynistic insults written in the bathroom stall about her

oh God, I know what Eva’s feeling when her mom confronts her: I bet she genuinely hasn’t thought of the fight in a while, more concerned with Gio and the looks and insults and general hostility (on top of school of course) so she’s honestly caught off guard (it happened to me with a professor who took me aside cause he found out I’d let a classmate copy a translation during a test, and I’d completely forgotten about it, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about when he asked me if there was something I wanted to tell him… it was horrible)

Paola is obviously concerned already but I don’t think she’s let herself fully appreciate the kind of situation Eva is in and she only gets a glimpse when she sits her daughter down and listens to her rant, but her expression changes immediately

except them she brings up Giovanni! As if that is the most important thing! Her daughter told her she’s stressed, she doesn’t sleep at night and she latches onto Gio?? WTF

and that sigh at the end, that’s Paola realizing just how much she is in fact out of the loop of Eva’s life, just like Eva told her a minute earlier, cause probably they haven’t talked about Eva’s boyfriend since the failed dinner! She let weeks pass without asking who he is again? Cause Eva would’ve told her if she’d asked around ep. 6, let’s say right after the park scene with Gio

ok, but Eva is slightly stalking Giovanni: they’re in the same class, fine; she went to look for him at his house immediately after the fight, understandable; but when she’s on the steps with Ele?? Girl, he asked you for some space!

Silvia is making good choices as far as fashion consultant go in this season (in S2 however she asks Marti to go shopping with her,so…….)

“You don’t have to wait for his permission, just go there and talk to him” and Eleonora Sava lets me down here. If someone asks you for space, you give ‘em space, love

Eleonora is kind of OOC here: since when is she so concerned with what other people think that she polices what kind of music she listens to and feels like she has to justify herself because of it’s a silly, catchy, pop song?

anyways, this whole scene screams Evanora to me, with pining!Ele trying to distract Eva from Gio and at the same time show her that she’s there, available, look at me Eva, I make you smile!! Men are trash, but there’s *drumroll* girls! Like me! I’m a girl! 

and then Edoardo gets there, interrupts their moment and proves men are trash: he creeps up on them from behind, insinuates himself in a conversation he has no business being involved in and mocks Ele both for her singing, her musical choices and her justifying herself. Primary school level pigtail pulling.

and then he just stares at her! Like a dumbass! Like he hopes she’ll get lost in the bottomless pits of his eyes or something! Like he’s out of a clichè romance novel or a bodice ripper!

new headcanon: Edoardo secretly reads tons of Harmony paperbacks (similar to Harlequin novels, for those of you who aren’t Italian) and all of his ideas and opinions on love and romance come from the books. So far, he’s been the typical rich, popular, brooding hero who loves and leaves with Silvia and now he’s the man who pursues the woman who tells him no with Eleonora so the shoe fits perfectly. Let’s see how it evolves

he offers her a ride home! The only thing missing is a white horse and the slain of some attacker who wanted to hurt Ele

the “Eduardo” thing is so stupid! They could have gone the Eberardo/Everardo route much easily and it would have been much funnier cause it’s an uncommon, pretentious name! Or they could have gone for something completely different like that still started with E, there’s a lot of pretty weird-sounding names like Evaristo, Eusebio, Ermenegildo that start with E (in the og Noora calls William Wilhelm which is pretty different, so I think they would have worked well)

Edo is smart here: Ele tries to shove back in his face the not-knowing-your-name thing he did to Silvia, but he neatly sidesteps her and the only comeback she has is insulting him directly: Edoardo 1 - Eleonora 0 tbh, this is a struggle of wit and she went vulgar

Eleonora is badass, but I can’t help but feel she’s very 16 years old

ok, the following conversation is a bit weird: Eva’s question is pretty clear, yet Ele asks for clarification, then when Eva says she did it on purpose Ele denies, then say the thing about manipulation

the real thing that should worry Eva is that Eleonora has mind categories for the people she knows such as “adversaries” tbh

Eva shaming Ele for listening to Baby K (along with Ele asking for a vow of secrecy and justifying himself for the song she sung) throws me back to ep. 3 when Eva talks to Gio about her classmates enjoying k-pop and manga: girls, who on earth made you believe that liking silly, catchy, fun, pop stuff that is marketed specifically for you, that tries to cater to your interests, that exists and is successful thanks to you, is wrong and something to be ashamed of? Why being passionate about something feminine or light, that doesn’t require a huge effort to understand it, or again frivolous is such a bad thing? You’re allowed to like whatever you want, you’re allowed to spend hours and hours on it and you’re allowed to share your interest with other people like you who enjoy those things! Let the others say it’s trashy or stupid stuff, they don’t know shit about what it means to you!

aaaand we’re back to Eva not giving Gio space, going to his place again then having Marti tell him where he is

and she’s even wearing an oversized denim jacket that’s quite reminiscent of Gio’s!

blue Eva, blue train, blue pool

red Gio! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gio not wear blue or grey, even in this season?!

this angry Gio is not exactly the same hurt, disappointed boy from 5.6 Quante cazzate in S2, because with Marti it’s been a slow boil, things bubbling up a little bit at a time plus there’s the extenuating circumstance of his home situation; with Eva, there some foreshadowing, something wrong, but it was a sudden stab, a fundamentally unexpected betrayal; so where in S2 there’s a lot of sadness too, in this situation it’s pure anger

and Eva does the right thing, she tells the truth… except she doesn’t, the very first thing she says is a lie she tells both Gio and herself, because it’s not true she isn’t attracted to Federico

AND AGAIN WITH THE SEXIST LANGUAGE GIOVANNI, you asshole, did you really have to go for “hysterical”?? A very gendered term?

and thank God Eva is given a chance to throw it back to his face, all the gaslighting and manipulation he put her through; except then she goes for “victim” blaming

aaaand Giovanni confirms the rumor Eleonora heard, the thing Silvia confronted Edoardo about, is true! In case anyone had any doubts after Edo’s convincing performance of pretending it isn’t a thing

Gio sees right through the lie, he knows Eva likes Federico, if not for the person he is then for the things he represents: Eva is in full on Silvia mindset

I think this is the episode where we meet S2 Gio: except for a few moments, caused by hurt and anger, he handles this whole mess in a mature, contained way that we see again and again in S2, like when he takes Marti aside to tell him off for using him as a cover with his mom without telling him, like when Marti comes back to school after the “hiatus” week or when he comes out; whereas up until now, I’ve seen a younger, dumber Gio, who lied and didn’t give much thought to people’s feeling (like when he teases Federica with Marti in ep.3) and who manipulated people to get his way (the gaslighting, the fight at the park with Eva in ep.6)

the bus being cancelled without warning or being so late it’s as if it’s canceled is such Italian culture

Edo is smart: he doesn’t even know Eleonora’s name, but he kept Eva’s face in mind and he’s found the perfect opportunity to exploit his, albeit limited, knowledge and to appear kinder with at least one of Ele’s friends, since he botched things with Silvia

on the other hand, hello again saviour complex straight out of a bodice ripper

this scene is so Twilight: the expensive, fast car, actually going to school by car at all, Eva being late and in “trouble”, Edo acting like a gentleman and stopping the car for her

Eva is a great friend! She hesitates! Despite having a super important test that could determine if she passes or fails a class! And then she pretends she doesn’t know he’s talking about Ele ad she refuses to give Edo her number!

“Then I save your life for real this morning” what did I say about a saviour complex? Also, way to fish for gratitude and compliments, asshole, let her study!

“I’ll find her on Instagram anyways” arrogance is not the same thing as confidence, Edoardo, and you’re an exemplary display of the first here

Bechdel test: this episode passes the Bechdel test, thanks to Eva’s conversation with her mom Paola and to Eva and Eleonora talking on the steps (except for a very brief mention of Edoardo that I decided to overlook).

This post is part of my complete series of meta about Skam Italia season 1.  If you’d like to read more of my thoughts about the other episodes, you can find the mastepost linked in the top bar on my blog under SKAMIT: EVA. Cheers!

[brawltogethernow]

Neutral Element - I Am Well

Installment Masterlist/what am I looking at here || Relationships: FINALLY; Characters: Tarvek and Gil, Agatha; Length: 2k; Content notes: Just when including this section was starting to feel overly precious - Medical stuff! Dissociation! Flashbacks! Body horror? Aaronev Wilhelm leaving sticky residue on things that persists after his death. All conveyed through experimental formatting. This segment was fun. Readmores are still broken on mobile and I’m still sorry.

Tarveka and Gil maintain a careful balance of, ‘Well, it would upset Agatha if something happened to you,’ and not addressing that they can feel each other’s lies of omission.

 *

“We’ve got to put her in a different head,” Agatha declares, staring into the dead eyes of Tarveka’s empty chassis with an air of diagnosis and tsking quietly. “This one’s no good.”

“We can maybe fix up some other things for her, while we’re in there....” adds Gil, pressing close to Agatha to look too.

I will not stand by while you — came the impression of Tarveka in her head, only to pause. Gil was reminded of a finicky bumacat deciding whether to put her paw down after sticking it outside her cave. Hm, that is a good idea. Zengil feels Tarveka shuffling through the half-formed ideas for improvements floating at the top of her mind, which manifests as them rising to precedence without her input. To someone with pretty strong mental control, it’s unusual and somewhat disorienting. Hm, I like that one. Oh, now that is lovely.

Gil wants to tease her for being as vain as a cat too, in this moment where she won’t have to explain the reference and Tarveka will understand and not be able to deny she’s joking, but Tarveka’s appreciation is more that of an enthusiastic connoisseur. Even Tarveka’s interest in clothing that Gil has noted  has surprisingly little of the covetous impulse that Ooh, that would look lovely on me. And Tarveka would know she knew that, and know she knew she knew, and...

Ack.

“Told you,” Gil settles on.

You’re such a mess, impresses Tarveka, plainly referring to the entire train of thought.

 *

I’ll have to commission a whole new wardrobe, of course,” Tarveka coughs. Being able to edit herself to fit clothes could certainly be convenient. The taste alerts her that blood is dripping from her mouth.

Soon she won’t be bothered by concerns like —

Zengil yanks herself out of the blood-red flash of recollection, reeling. Half of her scrambles to place when that happened to her, before it settles in that it never did.

I didn’t see anything?? she thinks at Tarveka, desperate and sheepish.

Tarveka, sick and sulky, doesn’t send more than a mild sense of irritation at Gil, but Zengil still retreats, embarrassed at having accidentally intruded on something so profoundly personal, to lurk sheepishly in the corner of her own head.

 *

Asking me to ride along like this... Tarveka begins eventually, out of the blue and awkward. I would think you of all people...

Gil, for once, is sure of what Tarveka is getting at. She’s kind of cheating right now. “You aren’t like Lucrezia, okay? I invited you in. So stop fretting.”

Gil, mercifully for the both of them, cannot actually see most of Tarveka’s thoughts, but she doesn’t need to to put together stories about Lucrezia with Tarveka’s own manner of conducting herself and see why the clank girl might be uncomfortable, snagged by hooks of misplaced guilt.

Tarveka’s presence retreats into a sulky, defensive ball, trying to shrink into itself and lash out defensively at the same time.

“Of course,” says Gil, voice growing irritated, “you could always just try being a better person instead of a manipulative sneak —”

Oh, don’t you start with me, you brutish, pathetic excuse for a diplomat! You wouldn’t know subtlety if it struck you in the face!

“That wouldn’t be very subtle of it, would it?”

 *

Tarveka considers her body, cracked open on a lab table, for the second time in her existence.

(At this point she isn’t sure she dares call it her life. It almost feels like she’ll jinx herself.)

For the first time, she’s doing so through another’s eyes. The optics of her clank were hers from the start, of course. And the eyes she saw it through were her very own, the originals, slightly myopic and a dull brown color she needs only look at Anevke to see these days, but still somewhat misses.

Her clank body’s first face didn’t move. She just didn’t have the skill or the time, and she would have needed at least one.

Tarveka had already studied the art of dollmaking before she sent her brother for the Muse, and applied those arts when she couldn’t replicate the incredible lifelike quality of Tinka, fighting her own body and racing to beat its inevitable shutdown, damn her father. She made the clank’s face so its expression could seem to change with a tilt of the head, or through association with subtle posture or a tone of voice.

Tinka’s help was invaluable with the more critical problems, before Tarveka’s father broke her too. Aaronev left the world scattered with broken women.

She is staring down at her own corpse and thinking, I don’t want to believe that I am dead, but what if —

Gil yanks them away from the memory with increasingly thoughtless ease — more of a nudge than a yank now, really, a gentle redirect — and tries not to mull on how she now knows Tarveka snuck her own body into her family castle’s medical waste.

She wasn’t bragging about knowing mental disciplines, so instead of letting herself start thinking about how she shouldn’t be thinking about things she shouldn’t be thinking about, inevitably defeating the purpose of the whole thing, she starts teaching Tarveka the Skiff alphabet. Then she moves on to their measuring system.

Base 9? thinks Tarveka. Really?

The number was sacred to an ancient simek—

Waͪrͤrͬiͦorˢᵖᵃʳᵏ, conveys the helpful impression Tarveka gets.

— so it’s sort of a thing. Don’t start. You count time by twenty-four. Twenty-four and sixty.

Yes, but that’s...

Normal here? Gil interrupts sarcastically.

Alright, touché.

 *

Gil is stripped open and vulnerable too, like this. There’s a kind of balance to it that settles the part of Tarveka that wants to be defensive. She’s shocked by the open, raw care the other woman feels, and the soft thread of doubt and hurt she put there.

 *

Tubing twists from the palanquin’s molded container like organs spilling from a fresh Coptic jar and isn’t it isn’t she dead so much to do trapped in this castle trapped —

They emerge with a gasp and Gil forces their attention back to the present project, which is strikingly reminiscent but not the same. It’s not you, you’re with me, please, Tarveka. If we don’t focus you will die.

We will die, corrects Tarveka. Suicidal idiot.

 *

Tarveka is getting better at taking the reins from Gil, remembering how to be flesh. Given all the factors, this is probably a bad thing.

 *

Gil fancies that Agatha is like one of her goddessess — a war queen who built herself wings of iron and sunlight, flew to the realm of the gods, and situated herself among them.

That is the best thing I’ve ever seen, says Tarveka. Really? Do you mind if I use that comparison? I’ve thought of her as like the sun before, you know, but we don’t have any sun goddesses.

She was reading associations out of Gil’s mind, then. Sometimes the queen was associated with Ishana, the punishing burning bringer of life.

Do you think —

That the legend could refer to some solar-powered vehicle? finishes Gil. Yes. I’ve incorporated that idea into some of my designs —

It says iron, but —

It must be from some old word that just means metal, I think.

Ah, like the “apple” of knowledge.

The what?

Now, fͭoͪuͤr of the sͫeͦvͬeͤnᶠᵒʳʷᵃʳᵈ ᵗʰᶤᶰᵏᶤᶰᵍ  popes disagree about this strongly, but...

 *

She grips her right hand with her right hand and feels for a pulse and this is the part where her heartrate should kick up but that’s the entire problem isn’t i —

“You two are spacing out again, aren’t you,” says Agatha, grabbing Gil by the chin and forcing them to look her in the eyes.

Focusing on Agatha is easy. “I’m not going to die on you, I — I  promise,” Gil reassures her. Or one of them does.

“Don’t you dare,” Agatha says, uses her grip to tilt Gil’s head, then leans forward and kisses them softly.

Then she bustles back to work. There’s still ever so much of it.

 *

Tarveka resents the ways the project of building a clank to puppet got away from her.

Tarveka has always placed a high value on her control over her own person. It is a representation of her personal strength which she feels, paradoxically, is both a testament to her indomitable will and an absolute lowest-bar basic achievement everyone should be expected to adhere to. After all, she does.

Tarveka administered as close to total control over her body as possible through the teachings of the Way of the Smoke. She controlled her own reactions. She controlled others’ perceptions of her.

But the incident of losing her body was a mad dash wresting control back from where the void devoured it from the very start, and she did not emerge entirely victorious|took heavy losses in her victory. Yes, she built her new body from its gears up, and it’s a masterwork, certainly, but she didn’t make it her new body on purpose. She didn’t mean to give that much to her father in her first move.

Overplayed her hand.

This single error is representative of a veritable cascade of them. She’s different, now, in ways she’s still only cataloguing. She was never as comfortable around biomatter as some sparks, but she finds she’s less fussed about it now. It took her months to connect that to a new aversive reaction to gutted machines and rust on old wires it takes a light fugue to push away.

Like many things, it’s nothing she ever constructed, not something she programmed. She’d very much like to put on airs and compare herself to Van Rijn with his famous bafflement at his own marvelous creations, but she would be more comfortable with this if she hadn’t created herself.

Is she even still herself?

“Did you know the fundamental components of an organic body experience a massive turnover rate?” says Gil.

“What?” snaps Tarveka, grabbing control of Gil’s own mouth to do it, which is becoming easier the longer she has to grow used to not being in a clank. She isn’t in the mood for a biology lesson.

“You know, the primary building components, uh, they’re round in animals and square in plants —”

“I know what cells are, Zengil.”

Instead of acting called out for being a patronizing know-it-all, Gil snaps her fingers and says, “Right, that’s what it is. Like little rooms. Thank you. I haven’t had reason to brush up on all the basic terminology in the local language. Didn’t usually have anyone to talk to about it, for one thing. Anyway, hundreds of millions —” She picks a flitting thought from Tarveka carelessly “— billions, thank you — of cells die off in a healthy person every day. On purpose! It’s great, really.” She finishes with a bit of the telltale distraction of a spark espousing on their specialty.

“...They do not,” says Tarveka.

“Well,” says Gil, “only some of them.” Tarveka gets a ghost impression, a diagram of the human body forged through in-depth understanding picked out in hot and cold spots. “We’re never the same for long, even if we’re sitting still. We’re not supposed to be. That’s what being alive is!”

Tarveka thinks about this. “Are you talking about necrosis?”

“I’m talking about apoptosis, you morbid little tit.”

“Seriously? You forgot ‘cell’, but you know that word?”

Gil mutters, but the impression Tarveka gets — a stack of secondhand books, at once familiar and foreign and exciting, stacked on a rock in an empty waste — is much more indicative than the actual words, which include “dare defy me”, “show them all”, and “then they’ll see, they’ll all see”, in an impressive but pat three-for-three.

Tarveka chews on a response. “If this is a clumsy attempt to make me feel better —”

“Who, me?” says Zengil. “Be nice to you? Never.”

“— Then it’s working,” finishes Tarveka. “But only a little. ...Shut up, don’t —” stare at me like that? No, that’s not right. This is getting very confusing. “Stop — stop having feelings at me, get back to work.”

“You’re not actually the boss of me, Sturm —”

“If you don’t connect that octave coupler it’s going to catch fire.”

“Ack!”

 *

“Do they realize how weird that looks?” asks Violetta, watching what appears to be Zengil talking to herself while they wait for someone madder than they are to hand them another task.

“They’re sparks,” says Moloch, shrugging. “Do they care?”

*

For a week Tarveka maintains the frequency of checking on her body she had when she’d thought something was wrong. (She’d been right.) She doesn’t have the opportunity to miss her heart pounding and her breath coming fast as she carries on the deception, because her gears whir and grind, and her vision shifts too amber, then too blue.

She goes through the motions of her normal routines, paring them down slowly. She doesn’t really know why she’s bothering when her audience is mostly the palanquin’s bearers. (Pallbearers.) She could order them away for maintenance and only seem like a snappish spark — she could bite, It’s a spark thing, get lost! when she doesn’t open the container, when she drops off the frequency of all her biological maintenance to a dead stop. But they avert their eyes and she doesn’t ever need to.

 *

Agatha grips them by the chin again but this time she just stares them in the eyes, whips out a flashlight and stares more, then says, “You’re integrating too strongly. You two can’t even be trusted to stay fighting?” She tsks. “Incredible.” Then she wanders off and begins writing out papers. They will only find out what’s on them later.

Si vales valeo is an abbreviation of si vales bene est ego valeo, which means “If you are well, I am well.”

[callmevangogh]

Commander Otto Tanaka.

As the omnic jets dived down, dropping bombs down mere feet away from me. Otto held his head down, crouching behind a wall screaming at the top of his lungs. Though from all the gunfire and sounds of explosions, he doubted anyone could hear him.

The omnics has been ruthless today, as they had always been. His entire squad had been wiped out by a single bastion turret. Leaving only him breathing and running for his life.

He scrambled to the pocket on his long jacket, under damp equipment he pulled out a photograph and stared at the dirt covered photo. Rin’s face was smiling at the camera as they took a picture together at the bar where they first met. He could see his entire life stretch before his eyes like a recording.

He stared at the picture, the sounds of death and destruction becoming echos and everything around him going numb… as if he was in a void, yet the ringing in his ears remained. The memories so clear he could touch them… hold her one more time...the smells of beer, he swore he knew what song was playing, the taste of beer on his tongue.

As soon as Otto had laid eyes on her from the bar in Amsterdam, he knew that he would be eternally fallen for the women. He bought her a drink, she wasn’t like other girls in the slightest. She was stubborn, she wasn’t as feminine as the other girls and most of all she looked like someone that you’d share a beer with.

Otto was a ranking special operations commander in the Royal Dutch army. He served 3 tours in different countries and fought to protect his country and others.

Turns out, she was a law university student that immigrated to the Nederlands from Japan. Her name was Rin Tanaka, she was 29 years old, a scar on her neck and eyes that looked like they had seen things that she didn’t want to see. He didn’t force her to tell him anything if she wasn’t comfortable.

She was always the one with the trousers on, independent, confident, proud and strong. She paid the bill on their first date, they went back to Rin’s place that night, she took charge and it was incredible for him. Who knew being the one with the dress on was so relaxing, not to mention enjoyable.

He still remembered what she smelt like...cherry blossoms and foreign herbs he didn’t know and hadn’t smelt before. But it was undeniable to say that they weren’t bad.

She was even proposed to him when the time came, the ceremony was a mix between Christian and Shinto somehow. Or the same themes, Otto had agreed to taking on Rin’s surname since it sounded better. Tanaka sounded much better than Bakker. Not to mention is would give his fiends an excuse to say that he was culturally enriched.

They’d done it in the countryside in Holland where Otto had grown up, on the Holland sand at a beach town as the vows were shared. The smell of the countryside that he'd never forget… the smell of her hair…

He remembers taking her on a walk afterwards along the beach he’d grown up at, the smell of salt in the North Sea, the sound of the waves crashing. Rin had to take off her sandals and they both had to wear wellies instead. Even the priest. The sun was setting at the time, casting a glorious orange sky.

He remembers Rin coming home one day from work feeling unwell, a few weeks after their wedding. Then she said that her period was late. He suggested a test, just in case and she obliged.

As soon as it came out positive, Otto felt his love for her only grow as she kissed her with joy. The preceding months had been stressful to deal with the maternity leave and all the work she was putting down for now. With their jobs how could they support a child? In this political abyss that she was facing with obscure rumours of the apocalypse. With Rin goon on to be a full blown politician it would’ve been difficult.

Rin gave birth in hospital in 2036, Otto’s knee was bouncing as he waited outside. Anxiety gripping his every thought. Until the nurse had called him in and she practically leapt to her bedside. The birth had a complication in it, the babies lungs were a little too weak and couldn’t process oxygen well enough, it wasn’t risking its life but it was slightly uncomfortable for the baby.

After a night of healing the baby, it had been a small girl, with the lighter complexion of Rin, the eyes, hair and freckles of Otto. Yet the fixed gaze of Rin. They had named her Hazel, for her brilliant brown hair and the tree green eyes.

When she was four, it was clear she wasn’t feminine whatsoever in anyway. Hazel preferred the boys section and fiercely enjoyed playing with her toy dragon. What was funny was that she liked to run and jump around the furniture around the house, pretending to be a superhero from a movie. Rin found it infuriating and wanted to shout at her sometimes but she couldn't resist her puppy eyes, neither could Otto. He got that from his father.

His little Spider-Man...

They gave in and decided to let her get whatever she wanted… it was funny. Watching Rin reading Hazel a bed time story, even though she was busy being a politician with rising tensions among other countries. They both knew a happiness he never thought was possible before they met, he didn’t know he could be that happy in his life.

Then.

The omnics had bombed parts of Germany and the Dutch army was sent to assist. He was sent away to fight and remember his role as a military officer. Leaving Rin and Hazel behind, Hazel had forced Otto to bring one of her smaller toy dragons with him when he went. He knew it would be unheard of but he brought it anyway.

The toy...in his pocket. He picked through his pockets again, the void still clinging around him as he brought out a bright purple dragon that was broken around the seams...Hazel loved this dragon…

He felt tears stream down his face, knowing what was coming next… he wasn’t going to see them again… his family that he was sworn to protect and he left them. He held the picture of Rin close to his chest as he kissed her face on the picture.

“My love, I still have so much I still want to say to you. To Hazel… I love you two so much.”

Then holding the toy close to his cheek, blood from his wound seeping into the fabric of the toy.

“I love you two so much…”

“I don’t know how to say goodbye”

With that, he heard the loud mechanical whirr of a Bastion unit behind him. He turned around immediately but it was too late. It’s large gun was already trained on his head. There was no time to react.

I didn’t say goodbye!

Hazel, Rin; forgive me.

I will see you again, my loves-

Then all sensations, memories, everything. Had turned to nothing at all.

No fuss.

No tears.

No pain.

———-

Special Operations Commander Otto Tanaka died in Eichenwalde Germany at 1437 hours on November 12th, 2046. He was killed instantly by Bastion turret fire point blank along with the rest of his squadron. My deepest condolences, he was a good man.

-Reinhardt Wilhelm, Crusader.

[unfurledwings]

7, 8, 9, 11, 45, 46, 47 for the current love of your life

You say that like they aren’t all the current loves of my life, Anna!

(Even Wilhelm is, the pretentious, sadistic bastard.)

But you know what? Armaros has been on my mind a lot (which is half because of you), so I’ll have him be the focus of all these questions! :3

7. would they hate-fuck if they were mad at one another? if they had a falling out?

No, for better or worse. If Armaros and I were really pissed at each other for some reason, neither of us would probably be in the mood to rub one out, nevermind doing it with each other.

If we had a falling out for some reason, one of us would need to apologize to the other. Or, at the very least, we’d need to have a good, long talk about what happened and why exactly we feel pissed until we came to some sort of semi-cathartic understanding, even if we couldn’t forgive each other. Then we might feel like having sex again.

8. do they hold grudges? is it hard for them to let go/forgive each other?

It would depend upon the severity of the grievance we were holding a grudge over, since neither Armaros or I hold grudges lightly. You eat a snack we were looking forward to? Big deal. I might be a little miffed, and Armaros, not so miffed, might just ask the person to ask before they stole their food, but we’d get over it within five minutes. It wouldn’t affect the rest of our day.

Leaving one of us in the Darkness to rot, though? Cheating? Breaking down either one of our emotional support structures so that we feel like we’re drowning in our own negative thoughts and feelings, with nothing to cling to? That’ll earn you a grudge from me, and I may not ever forgive the person either, depending upon how far I think they went, even if they eventually realize how badly they fucked up and try to make amends.

Armaros, on the other hand, is slower to hold grudges. He doesn’t really like the feeling of anger, but depending upon how far someone went, he would never trust or fully like them again, especially depending upon how much they hurt someone he cares about. He may be quicker and easier to forgive someone than I am, but that trust would never completely return.

Luckily, we’ve never hurt each other to the point where one of us holds a grudge or has lost trust in them, so Armaros and I are still on steady ground. :3

9. is there something big that could potentially tear them apart if it was revealed?

There are a lot of things that have (and will) ripped at Armaros, once I told him about them.

The fact that the Tower really was just a throat for Belial. That, in the order of events as I know them, Enoch won’t decide to join him, and if he leaps into the Darkness to save Enoch, Lucifel will just abandon him there. All of that has surprised and hurt him, but those things also have solutions that we can both work towards. The damage can’t be undone, but we can at least work together to make sure no more comes to pass in the Tower.

Once (I’ll have to tell him someday, I can’t go around it forever) I tell him that, in the version of events I know, that if Enoch goes with Lucifel and joins his rebellion against God, his soul will shatter into seventy-two pieces, the world will be remade, and God will wipe our memories of him as best we can, that will rip him apart. That’ll make him break down crying, even if there’s a possible solution to this, and while I’ll hold him and try to comfort him as best I can, I’ll be crying with him.

Not just because it’s always hard to watch someone you love cry, but because I’ll have just told him that the other man I love here might have his soul shattered, that my own memories might be wiped, and I won’t be able to separate one of the people I love the most from a stranger across the street.

11. what’s their favorite pass time when they’re upset?

It depends upon the kind of upset we are. If I’m upset and angry, I’ll be sitting somewhere, writing poetry about it until my feelings have leveled off somewhat. This usually does not require Armaros to step in. Heck, he enjoys reading and hearing me read the creative fruits of my anger afterwards and gives whatever useful critique he can.

When I’m upset and sad, no activity interests me. I become more lethargic and disinterested in things than a sloth, and this sometimes does require Armaros to come and dislodge me. He’ll usually try to get me to dance with him, and when physical activity doesn’t make me feel a bit better, he’ll drag me around the Tower and try to make me feel better by looking at all the different sights and places it has to offer, for better or worse.

When Armaros is mad and upset, he’ll try to creatively express his emotions via dance so that he can both utilize it and work through it. I don’t have any knowledge about dancing, but I’d watch him, encourage him, and tell him that I enjoyed watching him, even if I pointed out one or two things that I thought could use improvement (”Honey, you didn’t have to dump a whole bucket of red paint on yourself. I think just a few smudges will do, and they’ll be easier to wash later.”).

When he’s upset and sad, he’d..try to go about his daily activities, but he’d be completely listless, like a balloon that a five-year-old just pricked with a pin. Thankfully, he’d want to talk about his troubles with someone else, so the moment I asked him about it, he’d pour his heart out to me, and I’d console him and try to help him, if he needed it, or if it was an issue that called for action rather than just emotional healing (which is always important!).

45. who would be more likely to save who?

It depends upon the situation, honestly! If it involves dealing with people who are threatening our lives or a clumsy misstep that could really injure one of us, Armaros would be more likely to save our hides than me.

But, if it involves avoiding tragedies I know about in the timeline, either with or without sudden leaps of faith, I’d probably be more likely to save our bacon. I’m not as strong as Armaros, but I have enough knowledge of this story to try and alter it so that we get the happy endings we fucking deserve.

46. who stays up at night brooding?

I do! It’s one of the ways Armaros knows I’m upset-if I’m up way too late, looking like I’m in the dumps about something or out of it, he knows that it’s probably because the Depression Train and the current state of things has whipped me into a sad frenzy again, he’d try to soothe me by giving me a warm hug, carrying me to bed, and cuddling me until I fell asleep, giving me reassuring coos and rocking me if I started bawling for some reason.

Armaros, on the other hand, does not. He doesn’t brood that much, but he’s long figured out that a good night’s sleep and more people around usually helps fix whatever problem or issue he was brooding about in the first place. Plus, with all his performances, he can’t afford to miss out on his beauty sleep. He can brood in between practicing, he needs rest, thank you.

47. who has more dreams/nightmares about the other?

Armaros would, after the Tower fell and we were trying to live in peace and quiet with Enoch and Ishtar. Not that either of us would have many dreams or nightmares about each other (I wouldn’t have any), but occasionally, he’d dream that something had gone horribly wrong, that either Enoch or I or the both of us had become nothing more than food or servants for Belial, and he’d wake up with a pretty loud whimper.

Thankfully, he’d wake up whomever he was sleeping with and around, too, so not only would he be able to see that Enoch and I were both still around and okay as he calmed down, the both of us, knowing what this was about after awhile, would calm him down and reassure him that we were both here, that everything was okay, that Belial couldn’t touch us anymore.

[theabominableblogger]

Rewatching “Revenge of the Sith”

Ohhhh yeahhh, I’m going there.

My apologies in advance because this post is so long...

*silently boogies out to 20th Century Fox jingle and ends up throwing popcorn everywhere*

*mouths along to opening theme*

WAR!

“Evil is everywhere.”  Dude, this is Star Wars we’re talking about...

Just a heads up, I am so freaking glad that we have The Clone Wars because honestly, it has a lot more flowing character development when it comes from jumping from “Attack of the Clones” to this movie, especially Anakin.

Lens flare!

Holy snot how many Republic ships are there?!?  Did the Separatists come with every single ship imaginable?  Is that why?

Aaaaand that’s a dead body.

The hell are those things?

“Nothing too fancy.”  Says the man [Obi-Wan] who dramatically drops his robes whenever possible.

*imitates the buzz droids*

“IN THE NAME OF-”  Finish the sentence, Obi-Wan!

R2′s taser thingy looks like the Twelfth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.

What if they didn’t notice the shield in time?

Boom!  End of saga.  Cue end credits music.

Ohhhh this asshole.

WHAAAATTT’SS THE SITUATION, CAPTAINNNN???

*imitates the droids saying “Roger roger”*

How come Anakin and Obi-Wan aren’t getting jostled around when the elevator car first stops?

*quotes the entire “No loose wire jokes” conversation in the elevator*

Is that the same freaking chair that’s gonna pop up in “Return of the Jedi?”

Anakin and Obi-Wan fight Dooku but every time their lightsabers clash, it’s Obi-Wan going “Hello there”

Did Dooku just backwards kick Anakin away?  Oh my God...

DEW IT

 *Anakin kills Count Dooku*  Well done, prequels.  You done didn’t use your Christopher Lee effectively enough.

ALL BATTERIES FIRE, FIRE!

Wilhelm Scream!

*imitates droid saying “Reversing stabilizers...”*

Holy crap, you can actually see Grievous’s face kind of twitching with anger when he commands the droids to level out the ship.  Dang.

Freaking Obi-Wan’s little yell of horror when he wakes up...

*ugly cackles*

*quotes the entire ray shields scene*

I cannot freaking believe that the TV show took the time to make freaking sure that Anakin never met Grievous until this movie.

Actually, yes I can.  They have a goddamn script continuity department.

How come one of them didn’t take one of the electrostaffs?

The Separatist flagship just tore in half when it entered the atmosphere and yet I remain completely unfazed.

“8 plus 16...”  Pfftt, what the heck does that mean?

Guys, I think I found the origin for the Dramatic Hair Flop of Angst in TCW

Pretty sure that’s the Millenium Falcon at the bottom hangar

“Oh, I’m not brave enough for politics.”  *cough cough*

Obi-Wan gets a whole freaking bus to himself.  Chaos will ensue.

How has no one noticed Padme just hanging out next to one of the pillars?

“There were whispers... that you [Anakin] had been killed...”  Really?

Anakin’s reaction to Padme telling him that she’s pregnant is actually really good.

Wasn’t there like a deleted interaction where Anakin first accused Padme of sleeping with someone else while he was gone but then they decided that was not that great of an idea?

The music that plays when Grievous exits the shuttle is pretty sweet

*imitates Grievous saying “Yes, Lord Sidious?”*

*claps with each word*  This is not how you write romance, [George] Lucas!

Oh I didn’t realize that you could actually hear Anakin’s robotic arm move when he puts his face in his hands

“How long is it gonna take before we start being honest with each other?”  You [Padme] should have asked that before you two got hitched in the first place.

Ladies and gentlemen, the absolute worst therapy lesson in the history of Star Wars:  Yoda telling Anakin to basically get over himself and accept the sudden, incoming death of the people he loves.

“What must I do, Master Yoda?”  MOTHEREFFING IGNORE HIM!

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”  NOOO, OH MY GOD...

There’s actually a whole video by Pop Culture Detective that went into detail how terrible the Jedi Council were when it came to giving Anakin emotional support.

“Be careful of your friend Palpatine.”  And your pal, Friend-patine.

I just noticed that there are less chairs in the Jedi Council room

“The Council doesn’t like it when he [Palpatine] interferes with Jedi affairs.”  Then why the heck don’t they confront Palpatine about it?

Holy crap, I just realized that this movie came out 13 years ago.

“Hold me, like you did by the lake on Naboo...” Was that really “holding” though?

Anakin’s delivery of “At last!” sounds like Darth Maul when he said “At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi” in the first movie.

This entire opera scene should be a dead give away to Anakin learning about Palpatine being the Sith Lord.  The minute Palpatine even said the word “Sith” should have raised a few red flags...

This entire Darth Plaguesis explanation is so good and ominous.  Just the minute Palpatine finishes the story and tells Anakin that there are other ways to gain that sort of power, you can just gradually feel the dread setting in for the rest of the movie.  You just know something bad is gonna happen (besides Anakin becoming Darth Vader)...

Look at the way Obi-Wan’s sitting in his chair!

Oh my God... the Wookies just did a Tarzan yell...

Headcanon:  he’s [Anakin] checking for updates about the Siege of Mandalore

OK, everyone craps on the Utapau storyline with the fight scene between Obi-Wan and Grievous but I actually think this is one of the best parts in the movie.

I love the design for the Pau’ans

GUYSSS I LOVE BOGA SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!

Someone get me a plush animal of her on my desk pronto!

HELLO THERE!

GENERAL KENOBIII... YOU ARE A BOLD ONE...

That pose though!

That spinning helicopter move Grievous does while stalking toward Obi-Wan was always really cool to me.  A little extra, but still cool.

ARMY OR NOT... YOU MUST REALIZE... YOU ARE DOOMED!

Oh I don’t think so!

*imitates Obi-Wan using the Force to throw Grievous*

Wait, so how many times has Cody had to hold onto Obi-Wan’s lightsaber when Obi-Wan freaking drops it?

Death Star plans?

Big question:  so how old is Anakin here?  He’s 19/20 in “Attack of the Clones” and there’s at least a one or two year time jump in S3 of TCW.

Yo, that means he was like late 30s/early 40s when he died in “Return of the Jedi.”  Well shoot, man...

Yeah, Obi-Wan, let’s freaking kick the crazy homicidal cyborg.  Great idea.

Is Grievous just covered in gasoline or something because he just went up in flames *snaps* just like that.

Ohhhh this scene with Anakin and Padme looking at the windows of their respective places is really good...

Look at freaking Anakin here! 

George Lucas deserves any and all sins for the bad dialogue for Anakin because Hayden Christensen can really act when he’s not given any dialogue and he’s just told to react. 

So, with that, henceforth, there shall be no dissing Hayden Christensen on my blog.

I AM THE SENATE!

Dramatic window break!

Palpatine’s lightsaber just freaking deactivated as soon as Windu kicked it out the window

Wowwww... the prosthetics on Palpatine look.. bad....

UNLIMITED.... POOWEEERRRRR!!!

I just realized that Anakin kind of walks over to Palpatine on his knees before he pledges himself to Palpatine

Why Darth “Vader” though?  Is there any special reasoning for that?

AN:  Holy crap, there’s an hour left and Anakin has just turned to the Dark Side...

Pfftttt....

THESE SHOTS THOUGH

Man, I need to download more tracks from this soundtrack...

You can tell that that’s green screen behind Cody

*in best Palpatine impression*  Execute Order 66!

Nooooooooooooo, Boga!

Aaaaand everyone dies and it sucks now!

Ughh, Aayla Secura...

NOOOOOOOOOO PLO KOONN!

What planet is that?

Here’s my question:  in Rebels, how the heck did Thrawn get Gree’s helmet?  Was there an imperial campaign out on Kashyyyk and he found it somewhere?

That small matte painting shot of the Jedi Temple burning is actually really pretty now that I see it again

Yooooo can we talk about this padawan though?

Kashyyyk has twin moons...

So what happens to Chewie after this and before the Han Solo movie?

Heeeyyyyyyy I know that kind of ship!

“Have faith, my love [Padme]...”  Uhhhh... Padme should have picked up on how... off that line was

How has NO ONE in the Senate (besides Organa and probably Mon Mothma) picked up on Padme’s pregnancy?

*imitates Palpatine*  Mustafaaarrrrr....

“Could be a trap.”  It’s Star Wars.  There’s always a trap.

What’s that planet right next to Mustafar?

Random xylophone scales!

Yoda is taking no prisoners!

Where are the lightsaber/balster holes in the younglings?  Yoda said that they were probably killed by lightsaber so where are the marks on their bodies?

Yellow eyes...

“So this is how liberty dies:  with thunderous applause.”  Best.  line.  Ever.  Someone send flowers and chocolates to Natalie Portman.

“I've recalibrated the code, warning all surviving Jedi to stay away.”  Aaaagghh and we see it in Rebels and in the Last Padawan comic!

Don’t mind me casually dying

I just noticed that gradually throughout this movie, you can see Obi-Wan get grey hairs in his sideburns

*Obi-Wan sneaks onto Padme’s ship to Mustafar*  Where did he come from?!?

“You [Darth Vader] have restored peace and balance to the galaxy.”  *in best Anakin voice*  OK... now what?

“And together, you [Padme] and I [Anakin] can rule the galaxy! We can make things the way we want them to be!”  Wow, “The Last Jedi” is just smackin’ me in the face right now

Anakin... you’re breaking my heart!

That is just extremely bad timing on Obi-Wan’s part

YOU HAVE DONE THAT YOURSELF!

Your new Empire?!?

DEMOCRACY!

“Only a Sith deals in absolutes.”  A what?

That’s a pretty nasty lisp you have there.  Might wanna do something about that.

You know how this Yoda vs. Palpatine fight could be more amazing?  Just add helium

Honestly, for the BIG DEAL fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan, it just goes on for a little bit too long.

Plus when it’s intercut with the Yoda vs. Palpatine, the latter is way more entertaining (hello, two most powerful peope going head to head with actual Force lightning being involved?)

Are they [Anakin and Obi-Wan] just kicking each other with the Force now?  Wow...

NOT EVEN HITTING EACH OTHER!

Seriously, they’re just banging their lightsabers together and calling that a fight.  C’mon... actually try to hit the opponent!

Duel of the Fates!

*Palpatine throws the Senate chairs at Yoda with the Force* So I threw the Senate at him!

Honestly, you could cut out this whole balance thing on the sinking balcony and mining buildings/walkways

Commander Fox?

ExPLOsions...

Noooo... cut this out...

“Into exile, I [Yoda] must go.  Failed, I have.”  And yet people complain about Luke doing the exact same thing in the sequel trilogy

You’re not even trying to hit each other!

FROM MY POINT OF VIEW, THE JEDI ARE EVIL!

IT’S OVER, ANAKIN!  I HAVE THE HIGH GROUND!

YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!

“You were my brother, Anakin.  I loved you.”  Uuuggghhhh....

I actually read somewhere that Ewan McGregor actually asked George Lucas to change the line to past tense instead of the original present tense.  Which is sad, so thanks Ewan.

Can’t you just put out the fire with the Force?

How did 3PO and R2 get an unconscious Padme on board?

Where is this?

*Palpatine’s shuttle lands in Coruscant*  It was a dark and stormy night...

Y’know, at this point, me comparing Anakin being repaired and transformed into Darth Vader and the creation of Frakenstein’s monster is almost inevitable at this point...

Stupid question, but what’s the significance of the names “Luke” and “Leia” concerning the themes present in the movies?  Or is that up to people like me who enjoy the meta to find that out?

He [Darth Vader] just killed that medical droid next to him...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Do not want....

“...[Qui Gon] learned the path to immortality...” In the TV show!

I like how the last line in this freaking movie is “Oh no!” and it’s from 3PO...

Triceratops rams!

The design for Padme’s funeral garb is actually Iain McCaig’s favorite concept art

How did they develop TIE fighters so quickly?

Oh my God, the dude they got to play Tarkin... oh God...

Definitely not Peter Cushing

*gasp*  Leia’s theme!

Random eopie noise!

Oh my God, “Binary Suns”...

Obi-Wan’s like “Great, now I gotta help a pair of random, separate Force-sensitive teenagers and their astromechs in the near future...”

Wait, they put Ewan McGregor in top billing?

“With Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu”  Thamuel El Jackthson!

Holy crap, I forgot Joel Edgerton plays young Uncle Owen

[subterraniabot]

The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

     The Boy at the Top of the Mountain is a book by John Boyne, who had previously written the bestseller, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Much like the previous book, this book takes place during World War II, after the Holocaust. You enter the perspective of a 7 year-old German boy known as Pierrot Fischer, whose father is a Nazi and mother is a French housewife. Living directly below them are a family of Jews known as the Bronstein(s). Anshel, the son of the Bronsteins, is Pierrot’s best friend who writes stories despite being deaf. While the book takes time to build up its setting and characters, most of the story takes place in Hitler’s retreat on top of a mountain. You’ll slowly see that Pierrot’s innocence is corrupted by Hitler, which in turn makes him turn into an irritable, prideful, insensitive teenager bent on impressing Hitler and looking down on other people. 

     The story begins in France, where the main characters are introduced. Pierrot and Anshel are together in a small room where Pierrot reads Anshel’s stories and offers criticism. The main problem in the beginning is Pierrot’s father, Wilhelm; a Nazi who had taken part in the Holocaust which haunts him in night terrors. This leads to conflicts in Pierrot’s home, where his mother, Emilie contemplates leaving. Ultimately, the terrors prove to be too much for Wilhelm, so he commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. A few years after Wilhelm passes, Emilie catches tuberculosis and also passes. Now alone, Pierrot is sent to an orphanage where he meets the Durand sisters, Simone and Adele. He progressively makes friends with them but is shortly taken away by his aunt, Beatrix. She brings Pierrot away to a mountain retreat, where a certain German leader resides. Little does Pierrot know, that this German leader was no other than Hitler himself, and that his values and character would be forever changed under Hitler’s influence.

     The years go by and Pierrot (now known as Peter for Hitler’s sake) grows up to be a hateful and unruly teenager. The kind boy from the beginning of the story was now a Jew-hating, power-tripping, megalomaniac bent on impressing Hitler.  This takes a turn for the worse when Peter uses his influence to ruin a family business and force himself onto the daughter of a shopkeeper. Later, history plays itself out, and Hitler is soon found to be dead. With no motivation left and no reason to keep going, Peter keeps to himself for many more years. Time passes by, and he is wracked with guilt for his actions: getting his aunt killed, forcing himself on the girl, and many more undesirables. He meets the girl again, only to have been grown up. Due to his guilt, he can’t even look her in the eye. He makes his way to a library where he meets his old friend: Anshel. He had become an esteemed writer in the time that Peter was away. The two interact like how they used to as children, and head inside a library where they talk. Peter says he has a story to tell Anshel, and the book ends with Anshel saying: “Let’s begin.”

         One thing I’ve noticed while I was reading the book is that Pierrot simply sought affection from parental figures. This is made apparent when he loses both of his parents and tries to get along with the sisters from the orphanage. Eventually, however, he becomes jaded towards people he used to love. This brings me to the point that when someone is wracked with grief, they are more prone to show (or hide) more emotion and even act a completely different way to compensate for their loss. In Pierrot’s case, he craved a father figure because he had lost his at such a young age. Now, the problem with this is that Pierrot’s dad, Wilhelm, was a very… passionate Nazi. Under that kind of influence, meeting Hitler (who was the epitome of Wilhelm’s ideals) had simply compelled him to try and prove himself to him. When I first made this realization, I only felt empathy towards Peter. He had lost two of his parents at an age where he had needed them most, and with no one else to turn to, he had clung to the one thing that reminded him of them.  

     This led me to some realizations that involved the ability to empathize and sympathize with people. People suffer through grief everyday, and the smallest things could affect them in big ways. It led me to believe that the act of understanding someone’s situation goes a long way, which I wish people would be more inclined to do so instead of being self-centered. The book goes a long way to justify everyone’s actions, showing their perspectives and their pasts in order to fully understand why they act that way. While we can’t look at people’s lives like a book can, we CAN put ourselves in the perspective of others. By simply asking yourself what it would be like to be in the situation they are in, it becomes easier to forgive people for things that they do. 

     This book is a must read. It explores such an interesting idea and executes it in a way that makes you want to keep reading. Despite it being a textbook, it “shows” much more than it “tells.” The details are never too much, yet they’re just enough for you to create a vivid idea in your head. The author also has the ability to bring these characters to life, despite not having lived in that time. The story unfolds in a way that isn’t jarring, and it doesn’t force any large amounts of information on the reader. All in all, you should read this book. It’ll open your eyes and give you a better perspective on how to interact with people.

[silver-spider-art]

Borderlands Head Canons

Okay so I have horrible depression writer's block rn and have been replaying all the borderlands games while also daydreaming all the stories I want to tell with these characters. So I’m just going to write out my head canons for shits and giggles cuz I have a lot of thoughts.

Handsome Jack:

Jack is such a wild card. He’s an overgrown toddler and an impatient genius. Also sexy as hell and a problematic fave. I spend so much time playing the game sassing and back talking him (like he can fucking hear me) but I still adore him. And relistening to some of the dialog lines I’ve built up a variety of head canon and AU ideas for him. 

So canon vs fanon is a little squishy in my head but Moxxi claims his face is plastic surgery and I’m taking that to be more than the mask. He’s definitely ADHD and neurodivergent. Plus a good helping of PTSD and paranoia thanks to Grandma and trauma from his ex-wives. Those are all his starting points but he breaks into 3 categories based on Angel. Bad Dad, Okay Dad, and Good Dad.

Bad Dad is canon and tips the point of no return for Jack’s mental instability when Angel brutally (but accidentally) murders his wife/her mom. Afraid of his own daughter and horribly betrayed and without “the one good force” in his life, he starts down the path of ultimate Sheakspearian self-destruction. All relationships end tragically and he’s his own greatest enemy. As far as the wife goes, I’m 100% that she is on a pedestal in his head and while he can think no ill of her, the relationship wasn’t all roses. 

Okay Dad, in AUs this would be where however his wife died or was lost it didn’t result in his fearing Angel (I normally leave this idea for modern!AUs without Siren powers). He is still overprotective and “doing it for your own good” but without the torture or horrific manipulation. Because of this, while Angel might still resent or hate him, he still has something to live for and is capable of somewhat decent relationships. Still, he rather sucks at it and more often than not is self-destructive. (my fave for writing and reading)

Good Dad, this is a strange and mysterious creature that is nearly unheard of. So often this feels so out of place. So much would have to change to create a catalyst in his life for him to turn out healthy. I mostly see this as a redemption arch thing. Where he might be able to turn it around and make amends given the right people around him. 

The other thing I’ve been growing ever found of is trans!jack. He wears a ridiculous number of layers of clothing which is definitely hiding his soft gut, but I’m very fond of the idea that much of his bragging and defensiveness is overcompensation for his fear and trauma both from childhood abuse and gender. There is quite a bit in game dialog on the Jack vs John thing. For the trans!jack I’m actually loving the idea that when he came out and remade his life, he chose John and was hired in at Hyperion with them only knowing him as John. But as he got more comfortable with his new life (and Tassiter made him start hating his new name) he wanted to reclaim his birth name. That he’s always gone by the nickname Jack (born Jacqueline) and was now confident enough in presenting male (and helped by Nisha) that he would even let friends call him Jackie without feeling less masculine. (super self-indulgent reasonings for this)

Other random head canons, Jack is polysexual and pansexual. He prefers women romantically but usually has longer last relationships with men yet rarely thinks of them in the same light. He’s mostly into women powerful enough to crush him and while he is aggressive and into being on top, he’d make a shit dom. He’s impatient and easily losses himself to pleasure. He is, however, a very good sub but it takes a huge amount of trust for him to allow that. (this is also why he is so angry at his attraction to Rhys. Rhys is a soft nerd who can’t even fire a gun, the exact opposite of Jack’s type and he falls for him anyway.) Jack’s vanity knows no bound and he spends way too much time of his look every morning to look perfectly disheveled and like he doesn’t care. Also extremely attached to his favorite things with huge possessiveness (partially caused by aforementioned childhood trauma). Jack actually likes cats but hates being around then cuz old childhood pain. Jack is also complete and utter crap at taking about his feelings or opening up to people.

Timothy Lawrence: 

So for dear Tim, my beloved favorite, I have 2 main categories, canon doppelganger or au brother. 

Doppelganger: needing money he took a job as Jack’s body double and had plastic surgery to look like Jack. Depending on Jack (Bad/Okay/Good) his relationship turns out drastically different. 

Bad ending poor Tim gets branded and has to fell his possessive and deranged boss and spends his life masked on Pandora as a mercenary. Always hiding his face for fear of those who want revenge on the man whose face he wears. 

Okay fate, he and Jack are lovers. They fight a lot and Tim’s most often catchphrase is “damn it, Jack” but in the end, Jack is his asshole. Their relationship is polyamorous and stable. But Tim is often in the shadows and overlooked, partially by choice. 

Good end? This is so rare I have no idea.

Twin/Brother: having grown up together they get Jack’s asshole and abusing Grandmother and Tim’s “laughs at your death” mother. Having one family member and someone he can always fall back on to help him and someone to be a hero for, Jack never goes full Bad ending. Despite all their fighting and issues, they balance each other out. Always falls in the Okay category of Jack’s relationship to Angel. 

But I’ve been working out the redemption arch to lead to a Good Dad ending. Jack actually being self-sacrificing for once and giving up something he wants for his brother's happiness. One idea is that both he and Tim are both pursuing Rhys but after some inciting incidents, Jack comes to realize that his family and friends are happier with Rhys in their lives and Jack knows that he’ll just ruin it like he’d started to do. I can see this beautiful scene of Jack seeing Tim and Rhys talk at a party and seeing Angel come up to join them. His heart aches because he wants that to be himself in Tim’s place but knows it would never happen. That in the end, he’s poison. So he chooses to give up. To let that peaceful scene be reality. That he can accept his claim on Rhys just being as family and not as lover. And that moment of clarity and change of focus helps get him on the path to repairing his relationship with Angel and his brother. Never a smooth ride and he fails a lot, but it does get better.

But back to Tim. 

Tim/Rhys is life. I love these two together like nothing else. Jack/Tim and Jack/Rhys is always unstable and huge potential for unhealthy. But Tim/Rhys is heaven and precious and good.

Tim loves cats and sweaters. He wants to write an epic fantasy story but has no faith in his abilities. He’s anxious and terrified of heights but he will be it anyway even while white with fear. He has a huge cybernetic kink he doesn’t want to admit to. Tim dated Wilhelm until the end and still deeply cares for the huge quiet man. While Tim dislikes blood and guts, he found he was actually really good and fighting. After he started the body double gig he got swoll and has stayed in shape since (his own vanity showing). He’s covered in freckles and tans dark in the sun. His voice can be very awkward and scratchy but confidence and vocal training helps that in the non-canon or modern!au settings. Tim is a much better fighter than Jack and can handle any weapon thrown into his hands (I mean just look at his skill tree in game) but he always holds himself back outside of combat and thinks of himself as weak. Despite his skill, he lacks confidence and in the bad endings always believes Jack is actually stronger than him.

Rhys:

My boy. Rhys is trans and autistic. He works very hard to make sure it doesn’t show. He volunteered to get the eye and experimental echo port in order to help compensate for his mental limitations and further enhance his positive skills. His cybernetic arm was also technically voluntary and for badass points he always claims so, but he wasn’t giving up a “perfectly good arm” but a barely functioning arm that always caused him chronic pain due to a poorly healed childhood injury. He stared in Data Mining and while he refused to act in violence to advance, Rhys has very gray morals and had done plenty of shady things to advance in Hyperion. He never had a problem with killing in the vague sense, just not wanting to get his hands dirty directly. This does change slowly, but he still hates guns. They are just very hard for him. When he must fight, melee is the way he goes. Rhys got his chest tattoos after his top surgery to disguise the scars. like his flashy cybernetics, his main goals are “if I have to stand out I want them looking at me because I’m too pretty to look away from”. He tries to fake it till he makes it with confidence even when he has no idea what’s happening. 

He always looks everything up on the EchoNet and panics when his connection to it is cut off. It’s his safety net/blanket in many ways. The more the situation is out of control and not following his plan, the more his anxieties act up and leave him vulnerable. This is how Jack easily manipulates him when everything is going to hell. He needs more time to think through things then the chaos of Pandora allowed. Once he’s used to the wasteland and it’s people, this is less of an issue. (Hyperion Rhys vs Atlas Rhys)

His special interests are colorful socks, Handsome Jack (he regrets that deeply after meeting the man), and his new interest is A.I.s. Though Rhys is very into his cybernetics and has moded them some, he can’t build them. His skills are haking, programming, and coding. His old goals where to get a job in digital security or programming once he could get out of data mining. Now as Atlas CEO his pet project has been building and refining A.I.

Random: Rhys is bisexual and leans a bit poly. He is sex positive but doesn’t have to have it in a relationship. He will follow along with most all his partner's kinks as it’s most important for him that they are having fun together. Soft fluff and cuddles are what he lives for though. (everything about this is super self-indulgent)

Angel:

Angel is autistic. It puts her in an especially dangerous/vulnerable position with her powers and Bad Dad Jack doesn’t know what to do with her without his wife to help. He loves his baby girl dearly, but he’s lost and doesn’t know how to help her. In the end, he uses her to fuel his own obsessions and the veneer of childhood is stripped from her eyes as resentment sets in. She lost her father long ago and now only wants release. Like Tim, she could have tried to kill him herself, but while she can and does betray him, he’s still her father in the end.

Okay Dad Jack, (mostly modern!aus) struggles with how to raise Angel but genuinely tries his best. His second marriage was entirely to have a mom for her, knowing he was a shit parent. That wasn’t a good marriage and Angel still didn’t get a mom out of it. Angel goes up angry and resentful of her dad and often refuses to call him anything but Jack. She’s angry that he still treats her like a child. She can’t live on her own and needs assistance in common tasks due to her limitations, but can’t stand being treated childishly like his always buying her unicorn themed things and his insistence on not swearing. She struggles to understand that Jack needs these things for himself too and they both just suck at communicating to each other. They circle around each other, in a strange dance, more like roommates than family. Angel works for Jack as his security expert and hacker/spy. She was instrumental in him taking over Hyperion.

Good Dad... like beforementioned, this is hardly a thing. The good times are mostly in her early youth.

Angel is a lesbian and in okay or good settings falls for Gaige. Jack is very not okay with his daughter dating an openly Anarchist Anti-Cooperate Terrorist who has built death machines. They met online and spend nearly every night having hour long conversations. Gaige makes her feel more normal and nonbroken than anything else in her life ever has.

Random:

Tiny Tina is trans. I read this in a fic and it’s just canon now.

Zer0 is a nonbinary cyborg. They have had most of their body replaced and generally don’t want to be human, so they took matters into hand to make that happen. They feel kinship for Rhys because of this and are growing fond of the awkward man and proud of his bravery foolishness for going into battle despite having no skill. Zer0 and Tim fight well side by side but they do NOT get along outside of combat.

Nisha is aromantic and pansexual and only doms. Her whip very much is used in the bedroom. She and Jack are always off again on again.

Maya is aro/ace and a total badass.

Sasha and Rhys date for a while but end it mutually finding they fit better as friends than lovers.

Gaige helps Rhys make his new cybernetics and he has to argue with her to not install more than one weapon in the new arm or lasers in his eye.

Wilhelm was always going to die of Bone Waste and the surgeries and cybernetics were just delaying the inevitable. Jack set him up to die, but it was willingly on Wil’s part because he didn’t want to die in a hospital but in a huge and epic fight that would be the stuff of legends. 

Vaughn is aromantic and sex nonpulsed and he and Rhys are platonic bros for life. Rhys is 100% okay with this and anyone else in his life has to accept his deep love for his bro.

(I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot, but this is long enough for now, oops)