#in like... a specifically 'the type of dead noah is' kinda way

[color-in-your-hands]

Alas, work got in the way for a bit there and for several days besides but! I am back and I have my Thoughts. The joke Thought is that Blue and Tina Belcher might have a common interest in zombie boys. The serious one ultimately ties into my pet theory that the story plays out in a much more interesting way if Blue's true love is Noah, rather than Gansey, but that's for another day. I'm focusing on Blue being dead-sexual right now.

Being a horny teenager having both conscious and unconscious horny thoughts, I think it perfectly tracks that Blue's desire is sort of tangled up in death, as you said. Unless she knows with absolute certainty a given boy isn't her true love, her kiss is likely to kill anyone her lips come in contact with, so it's best to avoid that altogether. Prior to Chapter 39 when Noah tells Blue why Adam is moving into Monmouth, she's very clearly attracted to Adam, and crucially for the point I'm trying to make here: in TRB, she never sees him without bruises after the night they meet at Nino's, and I'd bet she had some Weird Feelings about those bruises before she understood their origin:

"[...] elegant. It was not the right word for him, but it was close. He was fine boned and a little fragile looking" (chapter 6)

[...] gaunter and older in the distant streetlight" (chapter 8)

"His face was just strange enough that she wanted to keep looking at it." (chapter 8)

[Regarding the obvious bruising on his face] "What it did was make him look more fragile and dirty, somehow, like a teacup unearthed from soil [...]" (chapter 15)

"His bruise was older and more dreadful looking." (chapter 21)

[Responding to Adam telling her he thinks she's pretty] "I think you're pretty, too." (chapter 21)

"Beside her, Adam [...] looked at home here, his hair the same colorless brown as the tips of old grass, and he looked more handsome than Blue remembered." (chapter 23)

She's sort of preoccupied with those bruises, no? The structure of his face under them? In other instances in the text, Blue's also very clearly attracted to Adam and enjoys the attention he gives her throughout TRB. Having once been a teenage girl... she probably spent some time dwelling on that attraction more than is on the page in the inarticulate way of a virgin who's never been kissed. She probably sees Adam as the corpse in her wet dreams initially. He's the first boy she's ever allowed in and the first she's ever entertained, and he's walking around most of the book with his fine-boned face marked by violence, leaning in close enough for her to see the broken blood vessels and yellow-green healing around the edges. On his nose and cheekbone. Noah's smudge is the echo of the injury that killed him: his crushed cheekbone. She notes in TRB Chapter 32 that the "smudge" is simultaneously the skeleton and the boy, overlapping in her mind. Obviously I'm pointing at the bruise and the smudge as a physical resemblance between them in TRB, but Blue notes that they're both quiet, though for different reasons, and she welcomes Noah's affection alongside Adam's. The boy she doesn't know is dead and the living one she's been having dreams about killing, the one whose affection she welcomes freely and the one she's afraid to encourage, one cold ("It was not merely cold, but somehow empty as well, skin without a pulse," Ch32) and one warm ("It was not his fingers twined with hers that affected Blue strongest, it was where his warm wrist pressed against hers," Ch23). Imagine her being doubly horrified when they find out Noah's been dead all along. He's not just the face she can put on the corpses she's dreaming about, he is one already. She doesn't need to be afraid of hurting him. He was already a safe, fairly inert target for her subconscious desires if she was offloading any of them onto him rather than letting them fall on Adam. It says a lot, I think, that Blue is so game to kiss Noah. Between "oh, so this is what I can't have" and "nothing was fair," if she's also battling how her subconscious has conflated lust with death, how do we think it handles being freely allowed to lust after someone who is dead, who she can't hurt, who can actively participate in what she wants rather than just... being there? As a object, rendered as such by her kiss? Can you imagine how freeing it is for her to not have to try to imagine sex without kissing? Because she can kiss Noah, and "there was nothing terrible about kissing Noah Czerny, apart from him being cold." She invites him to hold her hand, despite the cold. She thinks it's "super nice" kissing him, despite the cold. He'd ask her out, if he was alive? It certainly seems like she'd say okay even though he isn't.

maggie's livetweet reread has been going around again, and it got me thinking about Blue being dead-sexual aldkfjgh

it was a joke, obviously, but it got me thinking about how much it could've genuinely fucked Blue up to have love/kissing/intimacy/death all twisted together from such an early age. like, she couldn't even THINK about something like sex without the prerequisite of "your partner is dead before you get that far", can you imagine??

she tries to just put the entire thing from her mind, she resolves to just never kiss anyone, never get close, never have physical intimacy of any kind, in the hopes of avoiding this fated fucking murder of her hypothetical true love.

but that's easier said than done. you're not exactly in control of your thoughts, esp during fucking puberty, and the subconscious finds ways to process shit no matter how hard you try to repress it. dreams are where you face your greatest desires and your darkest fears, and for Blue those are, for all intents and purposes, the same thing.

she's had more sex nightmares than Ronan has, lmao. she's got a libido, no matter how hard she tries to suppress and ignore it, and it bubbles up inside her the way it does all so-inclined teenagers (and many who aren't so inclined, hell, i've had plenty of bizarre sex dreams for someone with no irl desire for sex). there's no controlling the fantasy when she craves it so bad, but there's no denying the reality either, the fear and horror living in the back of her mind, inescapable. so many dreams of touching and being touched and pulling back to find a faceless corpse.

then she meets Gansey, her confirmed true love, the boy who WILL DIE if she ever kisses him. and the problem is that she wants to!!! she wants him, and the corpses in her wet dreams have a face now, and she doesn't want that but also she does and there so many wires crossed and she shouldn't be waking up from these dreams wet and shaking and on the verge, but she is and she can't stop it.

the uncomfortable fact of the matter is that the only times Blue has ever come, she's been thinking of a dead man.

[jesterjaxx]

Halloween AU lore dump!!!

❗️WARNING❗️

so much infodumping world buidling and headcannons

DJ- Robot

Originally built to be a robo cop type deal. But when given free will refused to hurt anyone and got scrapped

Was found and repurposed by "Momma" to be a son

Really fuckin loves animals. Nature in general but mostly animals.

They get spooked by him a lot though

Hes kinda sad about this but gets it.

Momma is a scraper/engineer and outfitted him with everything a "good human boy" would need, like touch receptors and an ability to taste

Nothing to be done about majorly changing how he looks tho

The ability to feel is a bit too much sometimes

Sometimes all he can feel is cold

Goes to Duncan to see if he can do something about helping communicate to animals that he is a friend. Ala magic.

Machinery and Magic don't mix well typically, you gotta be crazy specific, which isn't really Duncan's styel

Duncan likes DJ tho, and proceeds to steal some of Harolds spellbooks

Side plot of them being wayyyy to hard for him to read, in both way too high level and shitty handwritten chickenscratch that fucks with his dyslexia, so he has to ask Harold for help

Maybe they learn to better understand eachother idk

Maybe they kill eachother

Harold and Duncan team up 6 dead 9 injured every single person is fucking baffled

Anyways DJ is like iron giant up in this bitch

His Momma is kinda worried that one day he'll learn enough mechanics to fix himself up and wont need her anymore

Tyler - Harpy

Ok the chicken fear makes sense now

He gets the uncanny valley feeling looking at chickens

I would too

He would fly into a window

Can he fly?

Hes like a turkey

Or a seagull

Wait im an idiot hes a chicken

Duh

Eva - Gargoyle

Her carver loved buff women thank god almighty for that

Punches like a brick wall

Living Stone

lion paws for feet

Did you guys know sound resonates the best through solids??

Her music listening experience is legit i just know it

Noah - The Blob/ slime monster

Oh god that poor guy

Hes gonna get slime all over his books

Harold - Witch

He's the type of witch to have seperate waters for different kinds of spells

A pretty dorky Witch, even by witch standards

Wears proper witch PPE (robes and hat)

Has his sheldon Big Bang Theory style shirts on underneath tho

Uses incantations and written spells in magical languages mainly

Uses the starlight, paper, ink, historical artifacts and an assortment of magical ingredients as fuels

Has a large collection of quality spellbooks for references

Not those shitty amazon spellbooks that are just a list of pre written spells, these ones were written by some old hag 80 years ago and through flowery rambleing language tell you how write spells yourself. They go into spell syntax.

Harolds books for writing incantations and spells are spiral notebooks

If he uses smbols will typically craft a custom sygil for it

Uses alot of number magic and latin

Uses his confidence in his skills with writing spells to harness magic

Is better at doing spells for other people, when doing spells for himself he tends to overcomplicate things

Actually went to magic camps and magic summer schools

"I was trained for this!" and it's Mostly true

Can make the most specific fucking spell work for him

I cannot stress he is good at this type of casting.

Duncan's way of doing magic pisses him off. Both are convinced their way is better

Harold to Duncan ->"What the fuck do you mean you increased your strength with a posca marker, bare knuckles and a dream. How are you not dead yet >:[ "

He has a lot of respect for magic itself, Duncan's almost disrespectful way of using magic makes him mad.

Whats worse is that it works.

How Harold casts a spell

Writes down a goal -> outlines different methods to achieve it (incantations, scrolls, potions) -> writes out the spelleork with alot of detail accounting for almost every outcome -> it takes very long -> outwardly or inwardly recites writes spell to activate it -> profit

Alejandro - Siren

(I give up with organization here no more bullet points)

Mermaids and Sirens are almost identical, with few overt physical differences

Sirens will typically have colored iris', 2 finned gills, longer tounges, boned ears and uniformly sharp teeth

Mermaids have colored scalera, 3 smooth gills, finned ears and sharp canines

This isn't a rule, and in modern times there are few families of sirens or mermaids that havent mixed with other monsters at some point

Both species have shape-shifting abilities.

Mermaids have two forms, and can switch between them at will, though the process takes hours and the mermaid will have to stay in either aquatic or land form for a couple weeks before changing again. though this wait time can be speed up with tailsmen, it's can cause health problems.

Siren can shift their features at will, including shifting from aquatic to non aquatic with no wait time, some families of Siren encourage "good breeding" and fostering shifting abilities to the point of shifting bone structure, hair, colors and gender at will. This level of shifting controll is a very desirable trait, and cannot be learned.

Alejandro is one of these few families who try to stay purely Siren

Hes a 100% Siren, but unlike his brothers he lacks any shape-shifting abilities, a flaw that has brought him great shame (this is just a genetic fluke, it's like a birth defect)

but he has both a very powerful ability to enchant his words and natural charisma. Dangerous combo.

Because of the well known knowledge that Sirens can manipulate people with ease, Alejandro semi pretends that he is a Mermaid, using his long hair to obscure his gills

He more just lets people assume hes a Mermaid and does not correct them rather than actually lying

He lies about many things but outright lying about species is a bit much

Siren Speech doesn't work as good if someone's also using magic at the same time or knows what's up about it

It doesn't work that great on Heather, Duncan or Harold point blank, or Lindsay, Beth Trent and Justin if they're shifting or shifted

Good thing hes manipulative on his own!

Beth - Mermaid

Yeah sure why not

I don't know enough about Beth yet i need a moot whose obsessed with her

Ezekiel - Ghost

Lmao hes invisible

Poor dude probably gets looked over all the time

Hes just clothes and a transparent person

Justin - Werewolf

The twilight girls would go crazy over him i know it

Cody - Puppet

Oh poor dude

Itll look cool tho

Hed make knock on wood jokes all the time

Trent - Werecat

The trustin girls would go crazy over this i know it

But real like hes chillin

Would use claws as a pick

Geoff - Frankenstein

A man of the people

Literally

Looses limbs easily

Wakes up after a party like "wheres my leg lmao"

Heather - Zombie

Oh this is good

Shes vegan

Would insult people like "i can tell you have a brain why the hell don't you use it"

Very concerned over phsyical appearance

Uses so so many products

Pretty alive looking for a zombie cuz of it

It's kinda creepy

Her eyes got no eyeshine tho

Like a shark.

Gwen - Skeleton/Ghost

Ok this was an accidental double Gwen got both Skeleton and ghost

Since Ezekiel is already a ghost i'm Gonna lean into the Skeleton bit more but throw a transparent silhouette over all of her for the ghost bit

Ghost vs Zombie rivalry

She'd do all sorts of cool drawings and markings on her bones

Gwen, drawing a bat on her femur with sharpie: tattoo moment

Her eyeliner is also sharpie

Who the fuck cares about skincare when you don't have skin

Lindsay: you shouldn't put permanent marker on your face! It can hurt you 🥺

Gwen, floating bones:

LeShawna - Chimera

YES I LOVE MONSTER COMBOS

LIKE COMBINATIONS OF MULTIPLE ANIMALS

lets do classic chimera but with one head

Lean into the Lioness bit cuz Leshawna is a boss bitch and Lionesses are so fucking cool

I might give her a scorpion tail

Duncan - Witch

Another double whoops lol

He's a "fuck it we ball" typa witch

lmao he and Harold are beefing like crazy i know it Harold has 12 spellbooks hes memorized with their specific ways of casting and Duncan is writing runes on his knuckles with sharpie

Duncan to Harold ->"Why are you using 2 pages of latin for a fire spell??"

"Because i need only this bit of wood to light on fire a little bit and nothing else and if i dont i could loose control of it or blow it up or it might not even start"

*stares in did finger guns at a branch and cremated it for fun*

Harold to Duncan ->"Why are you writing runes on your nailpolish??"

"i'm tired of being the only scary bitch here without claws"

*stares in once accidentally rubbed spell notes off of his spellbook and onto his face while passed out on his desk and gave himself acid burns for 3 weeks"

They go crazy they go stupid

Hes self taught

The Duncan and Harold bullying arc turned Street smart vs actually Smart but make it witches

Mostly just picking shit up as he goes

"Stole" (it was free) a pamphlet on different types of magical symbols and has managed to make the symbols illustrated in it work for almost every spell he wants

Fueled by raw unrelenting audacity

Real lore tho- magic is created with belief and harnessed with confidence, you can either go the intellectual route and control every variable and have trust in your control of those variables to harness the magic like Harold, or like Duncan, have enough semi-unearned confidence in yourself to harness magic with little need for more than a few variables.

Basically as a general rule, it has as much meaning as you truthfully believe it does

Doesn't explain what hes casting or how hes doing it

"Where'd you learn how to do that?"

"what are you a cop?"

(learned from illustrations, word of mouth, and other witches on the street)

Has a couple stick n poke magical symbols, several other scribbled on symbols that are temporary

Biggest one is a glyph for fire on his hand, he doens most of his spells using it

Has burns around his glyph tattoos from spells backfiring cuz he got distracted

Uses sharpies, spraypaint, eyeliner and the insides of firecrackers for drawing symbols

If he needs a magical material he'll typically substitute whatever he has on him, belief goes a long way.

"Pure Holy Silver?... this earring looks silver enough

This doesn't work for potions cuz potions are only a little left to normal chemistry.

Has alot of talisman he wears

Carries extra ingredients on him ala accessories cuz fuck it it looks cool

Mains his spells with symbols, uses potions or material fuels if he cant make a good connection between what he wants and one of 10 symbols he remembers at any given time

Uses moonlight, bones, rocks, and personal artifacts as fuels

How duncan casts a spell

Draws glyph -> creates a mental connection between what the glyph means and what he wants to do (this is mostly subconscious with Duncan he doenst know what hes doing he just knows he does it well)-> activates glyph physically (ie hitting, tapping, lighting, punching, tracing with finger)

Example: draws fire glyph on Chris's camper -> wants to set it on fire but not the surrounding grass and trees -> smacks the side of the camper that has the glyph on it -> profit

Duncan, to Harold: You make magic math, i make magic my bitch

Bridgette - Alien

Aww she could be so cute

Surfer girl from planet nine

Owen - Plant Monster

This could visually look really cool

Big carnivorous plant

Izzy - Angel

kaleidoscope = biblically accurate form, cuz she "Looks like a kaleidoscope! Duh!"

Lindsay - Selkie

If you steal her coat ill fucking kill you

Sadie - Vampire

Ough thats cute

I'm Gonna make her pigtails batwings

Katie - Zombie

undead girlfriends

Sadie thinks Katie is so pretty it doesn't matter her eye just fell out

Courtney - Demon

Oh this bitch looooves contracts

Is also upset about Duncan but she just doesn't like witches in general

Whats the point of making deals with humans for magical powers of some humans give themselves magical powers

Demon of what?? Pride maybe?? Or envy??

Shes a sweetheart tho

[duncankinnie]

so i ran the TD cast through brantsteele's danganronpa simulator. here's the cast

predetermined roles: leshawna protagonist, harold smart guy deuteragonist, noah antagonist.

big s/o to @tdsierra for help with choosing protag/smart character/antag, justifying each murder, and for also just absolutely slaying in general

below the cut is the full rundown of the specifics!

chapter 1

victims: heather & cody. heather is the "seemingly important" character that becomes the first victim, and cody is basically cannon fodder

killer: izzy. she wants nothing more than to shake up the game and i salute her

chapter 2

victim: harold/duncan. this is where the predetermined plot derails. gives leshawna some development probably. lost lenore type beat. an alternate here could be duncan but this is how the generator decided it. harold victim route sees noah become the new smart guy deuteragonist and alejandro become the new antagonist killer: sierra. distraught over the loss of cody she decides to hit the group where it hurts and kill the smartest one. alternate duncan route is where she notices that courtney and gwen spearheaded the previous trial to focus on heather's murder and so she kills duncan to spite them

chapter 3

victim: courtney. she and gwen's friendship/relationship kinda starts to implode after they start blaming one another for the deaths thus far. gwen blames courtney for cody (and duncan) and courtney potentially blames gwen for duncan's death. leads to tensions that end with courtney dead

killer: gwen. self-defense, after the two start fighting again, courtney brings out a weapon and gwen defends herself, with the culmination being that gwen kills her closest ally. gets rly nervous in the trial and goes under suspicion for a long time due to being friends with leshawna

chapter 4

victim: owen. this one is a straight up accidental murder. lindsay plans on either defending herself from possible attacks or straight out killing someone to escape and owen ends up in her crossfire and she kills him accidentally

killer: lindsay. again, completely accidental. black comedy here tbh, lindsay only incapacitated him at first and then she decided she might as well finish the job and thus she spends an unreal amnt of time trying to figure out how to kill him

chapter 5

victim: noah. again the generator fell off in terms of the predetermined plot but this could be a v good character moment for justin as a sleeper antagonist

killer: justin. in the duncan survivor route where alejandro is the one currently running the gambit on antagonism, justin attempts to one-up him by killing the smartest player in the game. in the harold survivor route justin is jealous of noah's power in the game and decides to try and off him for good. either way it stems from jealousy and his narcissism

survivors

alternate chapter 2 route: alejandro, eva, harold, leshawna, tyler

other key plot points

aletyler canon. chapter 4 has a big tyler moment where he realizes that he's forcing feelings for lindsay and that he really likes alejandro. in either route tyler is his closest ally and best friend, which makes tyler evil-adjacent in the duncan survivor route. alejandro returns the feelings and they make it official not long after

eva/noah alliance. in the harold survivor route that makes eva evil-adjacent. izzy is also let into the alliance but commits murder before they can really solidify as a power trio. escope supremacy real in all timelines

alt route. already mentioned but this gives both replayability and different dynamics. literally bespoke imo

no secret mastermind/traitor, just vibes (and murder). chris is there to try and provoke tensions but other than that there's no real defined Big Bad. while noah/alejandro are definitely the most antagonistic of the group they're just as vulnerable and likely to die as the rest of the group. this provides a lot more tension and suspense and makes the surprise deaths of seemingly important characters all the more interesting and gut-wrenching

anyway uh. i want to write this but i also have no idea how to write this. if someone wants to coauthor hit me up fr fr. gonna be hyperfixating on this forever now thank u <3

[ravenadottir]

i really love your headcanons and i hope this hasn't been asked before but what abt the types of music or even specific artists u think the boys (or girls too!) would listen to? me personally i only have a few ideas but i always see bobby listening to 90s music... and i feel like gary might listen to a lot of rock

hi anon! thank you so much ❤️

now here’s the thing. i don’t know a lot of european music. barely know british artists that aren’t dead, with the exception of arctic monkeys. so if you guys know artists that sound like the ones i’m citing, fantastic, ‘cause i don’t know them  😬 😬 😬

you know, i think about the year they were born, and relevate that about their preferences. and you know, i’m there with you. i think i mentioned a couple of times about bobby and the 90′s hip hop/r&b. so much of that happening on his music collection. i headcanon a poster of tupac on his living room, in his original apartment. girls like lil kim and eve being the women he had crushes, before he had his punk phase and fell for girls like joan jett and lita ford, and was listening to sum 41. maybe even some old 1960′s reggae too. but i don’t see it happening as much as the others. it’s more of a family thing. in his favorite punk bands i included dead kennedys, blink 182, sum 41, bad religion, and i stand by it.

definitely loads of rock for gary, for sure! no doubt in my mind that’s his style and i think he’s still in the “i don’t like anything else” phase. for him, i headcanon arctic monkeys, hard rock like ‘black stone cherry’, ‘halestorm’ and others of that type. when i think about gary i think about hard rock bands from the late 90′s and early 2000′s like blink 182, goofy green day and sum 41. i wanna include 80′s horny rock. you know the ones! every guy flipping their hair to talk about an ass, a girl, sex, or all of them combined has a special place in his playlist. not the bands’ whole discography, but those specific songs, like ‘cherry pie’.

chelsea loves ariana grande. that’s just... there’s pink, high pitch, plumes, 90′s aesthetic, ‘thank u next’. i reckon chelsea goes for pop like ed sheeran, and pop girls like ari and... who else is pop? i’m not quite sure.

lottie might dress in black and be a sorceress, but i don’t think she digs nothing too dark. when i think about her, i see dorothy’s ‘wicked ones’ song. but that’s as heavy as she goes. maybe something like ‘the pretty reckless’, but i reckon that’s her limit. nothing like ariana grande i don’t think, but maybe unexpected pop for sure. lottie looks to me like the kind of girl that listens to “this year’s hits” and is alright about it.

noah is all about the 80′s rock and honestly? when i think about noah vibing to something, ‘ain’t no sunshine’ comes to mind. bill withers really did something with those lyrics, and i know ‘toto’ has a special place in noah’s heart, but that’s the energy i feel belongs to book boy. i’m not the most versed in this field, but ‘ben e. king’, b.b king, luther allison. all that jazz vibe but with lots of heartbreak. anything that sounds like the 80′s romantic rock is also in his playlist. ooh, and ‘queen’. no one changes my mind about noah vibing to queen and even goofing around about it.

kassam. on his story, a year ago, i wrote down metal, among other things. this boys gives me the vibe of lots of heavy music influencing his own. initially i said metallica, and i stand by that, but also, i would love to see kassam casually vibing to ‘papa roach’. and i have to include other dj’s, like nina kraviz, his crush, and others like ‘the chemical brothers’ and ‘daft punk’. older more experiencied dj’s, and some experimental new ones.

carl. a freaking wild card! carl can be the type that listens to heavy death metal or go for smooth jazz all day, every day. if i’m honest, i think he goes for heavy things. it seems he puts out his stress into getting deaf while listening to music, but i could be wrong. he really is a wild card. and if i have to guess something, i would say he’s ecletic. he’s not headbanging in concerts, but he’s listening to heavy stuff while working on something complicated, awkwardly mouthing the lyrics. and when he wants to chill, calm genres are his thing, like blues.

lucas. hard rock from any decade. he has mad respect for those bands from the 80′s but can enjoy a modern version that homages the older ones. highlights include ac/dc, led zepellin, mötley crüe, scorpions, kiss. his revolting times include linkin park (no one can convince me lucas wasn’t the type) and slipknot. he’s kinda over slipknot now, but had a hard time with chester’s death.

henrik. I HATE TO BE THAT PERSON, but he does like reggae. i would like to think he keeps it traditional and not ‘hm hm chaka hm hm chaka”. so bob marley, peter tosh, bunny waiter. henrik might vibe to almost everything that is fun or tranquil. he has a genre for every mood. he’s also a headbanger, DON’T AT ME. he must be. i want him to be! pop is part of the repertoire too. but you know, artists like beyonce and bruno mars.

priya. r&b mainly. lots of 90′s r&b and rap, girls that paved the way to new female rappers and the ones who paved the way back for newsies, like nicki minaj. priya has mad respect for her. and i would like to think she likes horny rap like thee stallion. digs cardi b, that’s canon, and playful ones like doja cat too. has the biggest crush on bruno mars and definitely likes cheeky guys because of him. 

ibrahim. mainly horny r&b from late 90′s and early 2000′s. like every pony, usher, thong and more! i can see ibrahim dancing to a lot of the 90′s hip hop, like run dmc. if he digs dr. dre, busta and lil’ wayne i’ll be falling for him faster than he can say ‘beaver!’.

marisol. latin music. reggaeton before it was mainstream. old ballads like luis miguel, alejandro sanz and julio iglesias. she probably grew up in a house where her mother and aunties loved those men singing romantic songs to the crowd. she started dancing at an young age, so the ballroom songs from the time: 2003. ricky martin, christina aguilera. (don’t quote me on this, but i was doing ballroom dance and there was a lot of those weird remixes involving pop singers, and those were the main ones. don’t tell anyone about it tho).

[mla0]

oughhhhehehehe ok ill give a bit of background knowledge at least

so clockhand children, they're the entities that live inside of the clock. but there's a lot of different types of nonhumans besides them. the classification i've always used is that an entity is a nonhuman that looks like a human, or humanoid at least, whereas a spirate is something that just straight up looks like a monster. there's also things in-between which is where The Man would probably be

anomalies are nonhumans that aren't in any set category and work in weird, fucky ways that can't really be explained or properly "studied" or anything like that. the andersens + the mining town four are anomalies, and this is a part of why they reiterate over and over again

there's also two "planes" or "dimensions", one is ours where humans live and everything, the other is where a lot of nonhumans reside, in their own little pockets on the other side. but a lot of the shit we see in slenderverse is right at the boundary or thermocline (a thermocline is basically right in the middle between 2 temperature states where there's a long gradient between one to the other, at least if marine bio class is being remembered correctly rn). like, the boardwalk that noah maxwell goes to is in the paracline, it's called the threshold (based off of the black and white filter used in collective videos, threshold effect). same goes with the candleverse and things like that. dead past iterations are fully on the other side, usually in a black void where they basically wait to return again. for the andersens, something like the grey in your fanfics could also work. they remember all the memories of all their iterations (and loops in mla0s case, bc time loop is canon here)

in mla0s case, shaun and michael fucking with the clock how they did not only started a timeloop, but it also essentially trapped patrick within michael, when he had more free reign before. back in the day he wouldn't have really cared about humans so much, even though he used to be one, but because he'd been around them for so long he grew to care about and consider michael and shaun to be his family. which is very sweet because he's never had one before. shaun, like the other two, is also an entity but she has no idea. she's sort of repressed it way back and it's been virtually undetectable, but at some point i guess the timeloop had enough and she eventually becomes aware of previous loops too, and she slowly becomes aware of the fact that her entire life and the entire idea of her being a normal human is a delusion, because she never was one, she was just raised by them. this eventually leads to Andersen Bonding though in shared misery and eventually accepting it as the truth

i should probably explain clockhand children too. most started out as humans who lived a very, very long time ago, but humans who are connected to the clock, or have seen it in some way, can end up being pulled right into it after they die. they're not born, they're created. their society used to be a monarchy, with a centralized queen who provided power to those under her (though a lot of her abilities were just based on a lie) as well as 12 (formerly 13) "council members" who are kind of like direct underlings who rule over specific tasks, kinda like lords or princes. it was overthrown many decades before mla0 started though. the OC i ship with patrick, jesse, is the guy who directly murdered the queen in the past. he used to be her servant, basically

there's so much more i could say but i dont even know where to begin LOL

I so badly want you to open the can of OC worms. I want to Know

vibrates so intensely. i mean, it IS a species of nonhumans who literally live inside of a clock, it was totally connected to mlandersen0 in the beginning so it's not exactly not-fitting for the blog or anything.... but oh boy. oh BOY. i've had these little brain bitches for like 7 years and yet it has not gotten any less messy and convoluted to explain. but perhaps......... perhaps i SHALL open the can of worms

[adultswim2021]

Robot Chicken #6: “Gold Dust Gasoline” | March 6, 2005 – 11:30PM | S01E03

It’s time for more Robot Chicken, a show that i hate and hate writing about. Yipee. I need to note this somewhere, but seeing as how I hate this program I need to make one thing clear: I’m not intimately acquainted with these shows and their various versions. I do know for a fact a few episodes have required edits, and have had entire sketches excised because of various complicated rights issues and replaced by repeats of other sketches. I will use a Robot Chicken wiki as a guide here, so hopefully I am not lead astray.

This one has 4 “main” sketches, roughly. The first one is about unicorns (portrayed here by Ren & Stimpy’s Mr. Horse character) not making the maiden voyage of Noah’s Ark, along with other mythical creatures. I can’t think of anyone who has done this particular joke with the exception of Gary Larsen’s The Far Side, Animaniacs, Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, Dan Piraro’s Bizarro, The Goon Show, The Shoebox Greeting Card Company, a Novella by Mark Twain, The cover of an issue of Punch magazine from 1918, me in 5th grade, and basically every single person on planet Earth with the mental capacity to write any type of joke. There’s no laughs, but I kinda smiled when Noah said “god hates freaks”. It’s only funny because it’s true (cuz I’m a freak!!!!)

“That 00′s Show” is a somewhat clever concept, with the actual cast of That 70′s Show doing the same style of show set in the 2000′s, making hindsight style observational jokes about texting and blogs. Topher Grace makes a point that the materialism of one age becomes sitcom fodder of tomorrow, and implores the viewer in a PSA-like fashion to not be a “douchebag", referring to the then-reasonable rage at trend-chasing technology early-adapters (basically: people texting too much). It’s a sentiment that itself has a new meaning with hindsight here in the 2020s, and not a good one. Oh well. A sketch like this focused on the hollowness of mocking fads could have been good, but ironically succumbs to it in a slightly different way. Then there’s an Insufferable one-joke thing where I guess it’s a stop-motion play created by a third-grade class? It’s completely unfunny, and tells the one joke of the limited capabilities of children. That’s it. There’s one actual attempt at a joke joke, and it comes from one of the kids just blurting out that he’s getting molested (not in those words; I forget what the joke was but it implied a “touched by an uncle” kind of thing). I couldn’t stand this one.

The last sketch kinda disturbed me to my core to the point where I needed some light soul-searching afterwards. The final sketch (long for Robot Chicken from what I read) is a Cannonball Run/Wacky Races type race between a bunch of different pop-culture icons. Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise do the voices of J.J. McClure and Victor Prinzim respectively, reprising their old characters here as the guys heading up this race. There’s some tepid jokes about Mario Kart, The Dukes of Hazard, 60s Batman, Speed Racer, Knight Rider, CHiPs (what, did Moltar write this?), and a few others (only a couple I didn’t recognize at all).

Every single one of these listed pop-culture references is actually somewhat meaningful to me. They are all things that I either love, really like, or spent a lot of time with as kitsch I appreciate. And yet, these jokes, often somewhat specific and required a working knowledge of whatever character was on screen, did not make me laugh once. Did I appreciate it that they even mocked the bloopers of Cannonball Run during the credits (using actual audio outtakes)? No, not really. Besides, MTV’s The State did an homage to those in the 90s and I’d rather align myself with that even though they became limp-dick Biden voters.

Okay, wait: I did laugh once. It was the part where the kid from Speed Racer opens up the trunk to the Mach 5 so he can stowaway in it and there’s a dead hooker in the trunk; a gag that is so tiresome that you have to pretend that it’s brilliant anti-humor when Norm does it in Dirty Work. But here it’s funny because of the cartoony reaction the characters do. To be honest, I’ve seen little Speed Racer and it was a long time ago since I watched it, so I am 100% trusting that this is a funny animation reference to the show. It did make me laugh though, so that’s important.

The premise of Cannonball Run but with known pop-culture icons is remarkably close to a premise I wrote in my early 20s, and most of those ideas were written in the same spirit as Robot Chicken’s “patting yourself on the back for weaving together a bunch of references” was. It fills me with dread to reckon with the idea that the stuff I wrote in my 20s, which I thought was special, and precious, was already being done on TV on a show I despised enough to avoid, thus causing me to not already know this until I watched it as part of this blog. Like as Robot Chicken was airing, I was writing shit that was eerily similar to it and maybe even exactly as unfunny. Is there currently a show I’m turning my nose up that is already doing what I think I’m doing? I believe in originality less and less the older I get, and I’m convinced that it’s only an illusion when you’re young. But one thing is clear: I'd probably make a decent writer on Robot Chicken.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast #3: “Elevator” | May 6, 1994 | S01E03

A note about numbering: Space Ghost Coast to Coast episodes at a point started assigning numbers to it’s episodes, displayed at the end of said episode. I always use this number. The first season did not show episode numbers, so things are a little more up to interpretation. I usually number things based on a “preferred” viewing order, or what canonically makes sense. This is, in fact, the first episode of Space Ghost. It was the first produced, but was “held back like a poor student” as one producer remarked in the liner notes of the Space Ghost Coast to Coast “Limited Edition” CD. It appears first on the DVD. I could label this one as episode #1... but I think the fact that “Spanish Translation” is the one to get called back in the final episode canonically cements IT as the true first episode of Space Ghost.

This one is fairly guest-centric, with a yet-to-recur Judy Tenuta, the first-guest-to-die Dr. Timothy Leary, and the first-ever taped interview Ashley Judd. Judy is the funniest. She’s a shticky stand-up comic but I find her genuinely funny. The line “friends are just enemies that don’t have the guts to kill you” which is repeated often is a highlight. She’s almost performing a parody of stand-up, but I’m not sure she actually is.

Timothy Leary is a suitably “adults-only” guest, but they are on a children’s network so they dutifully tip-toe around the topic of explicit drug-use. But if you know, you know. Ashley Judd’s bit is comically short, and her interview set-up seems different from everyone else’s which could be the only reason they chose to use so little of it. The DVD commentary doesn’t seem to indicate that she was difficult or anything; one person asked if she was full of herself and everyone emphatically described her as lovely and sweet. 

I have to single one joke out in this, because for some reason I remember it really vividly and I think about it with a stunning amount of regularity, and it might be my least-favorite Space Ghost joke ever. It’s the part when Zorak claims there’s an episode of Golden Girls where they all eat contaminated Geritol and die. something about it seems extremely first-thought to me; it has the hollow trappings of a clever joke, but you’re reaching for the most obvious associations you could possibly reach for when the topic is Golden Girls and the joke is an evil mantis who gravitates towards the macabre is falsely recalling an episode plot. I almost didn’t mention this in my write-up, but I singled out what I thought was a GOOD joke on Robot Chicken, so I figured the flipside of that is pointing out a bad joke on Space Ghost. I should also note, for some reason, that I occasionally misremember it as being a bad Bobcat Goldthwait joke.

The only non-guest bits in here are a bloopers segment, and a very brief subplot about Moltar and Zorak attempting to escape on an elevator using footage from a Jack Benny movie. The liberal use of old Turner library footage was an early motif on the show that eventually faded away. The bloopers segment has a line I missed from other airings: Space Ghost blows up the directors car, who yells at him. “Sorry, Mr. Landis” Space Ghost says, a hilarious and sneaky reference to future rapist-thug Max Landis.

[salmonthestoryteller]

Tripp Manes & More 47 Flashbacks Speculations

So last episode’s (02x09) reveal was very exciting for me, because I had been speculating Tripp might have secretly aided the aliens for a while now.  I will admit I didn’t expect Tripp and Nora’s relationship, though.  I really hope they let us know more about that! How did they meet again? How long were they together? (A part of me wonders if it wasn’t Tripp’s hand on Nora’s shoulder, but I really hope they got more time together than just the pumpkin festival.)

Jesse’s offhand comment about how Tripp - who we didn’t even know yet - was never the same after running into the aliens really stuck with me through the season. The more of 1947 we saw, though, the less those words made sense.  Tripp wasn’t acting any different in the flashbacks than we’d come to expect of any Manes whose first name was not Alex.  From BTS stuff, it was stated that the flashbacks were occurring from certain POVs.  Sort of “unrelatable narrator” type of situation.  So that got me thinking about Jesse’s comment, and Tripp lowering his gun when he first saw Nora, and how the reports could very well have been filled out the way they were because Tripp was being careful not to say the “wrong” thing.  So I began to speculate that there was more to Tripp’s involvement with the aliens than was being told.

So far no flashback has flat out lied about what happened.  It’s just been filmed in a way that didn’t fully show what happened. Showing Tripp hold Roy at gunpoint, but cutting outside for the sound of the bullet, which in 02x09 we see was shot by Harlan and not by Tripp at all.   Showing Walt being placed inside the crate and the barn burn down, but not showing his escape until after the reveal of Sanders to be Walt. Showing them bring Nora out of the barn, but not showing Louise escape the barn or get shot at first, and then letting us believe she died until the picture of her from a later date is shown. Etc. So I don’t think they’re going to take back what was said about Tripp and Nora, or claim the picture and thank-you note from Louise is fake.  Not because Jesse isn’t capable of that level of manipulation, but because frankly, it doesn’t make much narrative sense.  There’s no real “Ah-ha!” moment in Tripp turning out to be bad.  We’ve spent most of the season figuring he was, so an episode or two of “maybe he wasn’t” but, no, wait, he was, really doesn’t do anything for the story.  The “Ah-ha!” moment was finding out his relationship with Nora and that he’d apparently helped keep Louise safe.

It also doesn’t really make much sense in the story since Jesse has nothing to gain from convincing Alex that Tripp wasn’t anti-alien.  Tripp is dead, whose side he was on doesn’t change what happened because it’s in the past. And Alex was researching everything already, so it really didn’t matter whose side Tripp was on in that regard.  Jesse is telling Alex these things for a reason - but he also has Alex bugged, which means there’s something he wants to know.  So here’s my thoughts.

Jesse claimed Tripp was murdered by an alien.  Then he expanded on it and claimed Nora seduced Tripp in the latest episode.  But Nora would have been in Caulfield when Tripp was murdered, Louise would have been on the reservation, Noah would have still been stuck in the pod, and the Pod Squad weren’t even awake yet. While there is a chance more aliens escaped - I’m almost certain The Stowaway is still on the loose - at the time of Tripp’s death, most would have been in hiding for over 40 years.  One randomly coming out of hiding to kill him seems unlikely - and we know from Nora’s Caulfield paperwork that she was the last one captured. (N39, with N38 being the alien Jesse used to murder Jim.)

I’m torn over whether Louise was the same woman that was referred to in 01x09.  In one way it seems like all the pieces add up, however we have yet to see Louise heal or leave the alien symbol behind her - both of which were specifically mentioned in 01x09.  If she is the same woman, however, we know she didn’t die for another decade after the flashback at the Diner - right around the time the Pod Squad emerged from their pods. So she was never discovered by Project Shepherd, taken to Caulfield, etc.  She was, however shot (again), the night the barn burned down.

Given the picture and the “Thank-you, Tripp” note on the back, I’m guessing Tripp helped her escape and cared for her wound. (Remember, we were told Tripp was a medic.)  I’m also guessing he checked up on Louise a few times over the years.  It’s possible he even took Jesse along with him on one of his trips to the reservation - which might have been where and when Jesse met his wife (Ex-wife?).  That leaves so many questions still.  Did Tripp try to help the aliens at Caulfield?  Did he even know where they were taken after capture?  At that point and time, it wasn’t the Manes in charge - we don’t even know when Project Shepherd was officially formed.  So you’re talking about the government itself taking the aliens - and Nora - away.  There’s a good chance Tripp never knew what happened to her and all he could do was keep Louise safe.

It’s clear Tripp planned to tell Jesse something before his brother interrupted them at the diner. And his last message seemed to be in hopes that his words would prevent Jesse from turning out like Harlan and Jesse’s father (who we still haven’t seen.)  It’s actually kinda sad that Tripp failed in that - Jesse definitely is among the worst of his family.  Harlan seemed very threatening, however, and I think it’s far more likely that Harlan killed Tripp and lied about how he died to Jesse to cement his hatred of aliens.  I think Harlan suspected Tripp since the start, and knew that he had kept secrets from him.  And I think Jesse is using Alex to uncover the secrets Tripp was keeping.

I can’t wait to find out more! The 1947 flashbacks are turning out to be one of my favorite parts of season 2.

[thesportssoundoff]

A Dumb Draft Exercise

It's a Friday night and we're all locked in so I decided to do something a touch different. I took the current NFL draft order and then looked up the last five NFL drafts (2015-2019) to see who was picked at spots. Using the teams as they stand after one long (and it feels it) week of free agency, I picked ONE player selected at that set position to try and do a retro draft. Each team picked ONE player picked over the last five years at that specific spot (so at 1 overall, you could only draft 1st overall). How different would your favorite team look? Welll.....

1. Cincinnati- QB Kyler Murray (2019)

The first round picks of the past five years consist of four QBs (Jameis Winston, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield and Murray) alongside premiere edge rusher Myles Garrett. As is often the case with top pick QBs tasked with saving bad franchises, each becomes less and less attractive as the years go by and they hit the ceiling of "damn good but not quite franchise saver" over and over. I went with Murray because while I think Goff is vastly underrated by most fans, Murray's got the ability and personality to drastically change an organization that feels like it's been hankering for a chance over the past five years. Murray was one of the NFL's brightest stars last year and figures to only improve, especially if you put him under the watchful gaze of an offensive guru (of sorts) in Zac Taylor.

2. Washington- DE Nick Bosa (2019)

Was REALLY torn with Carson Wentz and Nick Bosa for the Redskins. There's a lot of dead-ish weight here with Mitch Trubisky and Marcus Mariota and while Saquon may be the best player in theory, no team needs to take a running back in the top 5 (or in the first round at all). Assuming the Redskins are truly comfortable with Dwayne Haskins then taking Nick Bosa and pairing him up in the front four along with the likes of Montez Sweat, Matt Ionidis and Daron Payne would probably be a formidable ass crew.  Basically the Chase Young strategy.

3. Detroit- DE Joey Bosa (2016)

How about the Bosa Bros going back to back! One would assume tht if the Lions wanted a QB, they're GOING to have their pick of the proverbial litter on the back end. After all after Cincy, they'll have Tua, Herbert and Love at their disposal if taking a QB so amuses them. Instead operating under the belief that the Lions feel comfortable with Stafford for MAYBE one more year, it leaves us to choose from Joey Bosa, Solomon Thomas and Dante Fowler. Bosa is likely on his way to a multiple pro bowl career while Thomas may just grade out as average and Fowler is on his third team now. Easy choice if ya ask me.

4. NY Giants- WR Amari Cooper (2015)

The Giants would be picking from a variety of offensive players; two of which are current Dallas Cowboys. You have Amari Cooper, Zeke Elliott, Leonard Fournette on offense and then Denzel Ward at cornerback as pretty much your only other option. Give me Amari Cooper as he'd immediately step in and make an offense consisting of Daniel Jones, Barkley, Golden Tate and a two tight end threat of Evan Engram and Kaden Smith a pretty damn formidable one.

5. Miami- OLB Bradley Chubb (2018)

This WOULD be easy in theory. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey would've been a FINE choice here but the Dolphins have Xavien Howard and Byron Jones on the back end. With Jalen Ramsey out of the picture, you have an interesting linebacker in Devin White, a superb guard in Brandon Scherff and my selection Bradley Chubb. With so much locked in on the defense, Chubb (if healthy) steps in as an immediate premiere pass rusher. Barely edges out Brandon Scherff. BARELY.

6. LA Chargers- OG Quinton Nelson (2018)

Man! The Chargers would have their glut of talent to choose from if they so desired. Want an elite strong safety? Jamal Adams was picked 6th in 2018. Want a QB to groom and develop? Daniel Jones went here in 2019. If you want a flexible havoc inducing DL piece? Leonard Williams in 2015 went 6th overall. Ronnie Stanley is a pretty damn good tackle as well.  Quinton Nelson is a top 3 guard in just two seasons and figures to continue to improve. It's not a premiere position for a lot of people but Nelson bucks the trend.

7. Carolina- QB Josh Allen (2018)

Funny bit? We have two Josh Allens here as Josh Allen from Wyoming and Josh Allen from Kentucky both went 7th overall. Both would be tremendous picks given the Panthers needs (an elite edge or a QB). Deforest Buckner finally hit on his potential and got paid paid for it as well, fitting in interestingly here as a potential flexible front line piece. The Panthers just paid Teddy Bridgewater relatively big time money but if you have the chance to take a really athletic strong armed QB who has shown strides in two seasons, you should do it. Imagine Allen throwing it to the likes of DJ Moore and Christian McCaffery.

8. Arizona- RB Christian McCaffery (2017)

THIS one was hard given the lack of obvious options. Do you need more receiving options? If so TE TJ Hockenson was picked 8th. Christian McCaffery is probably the best player at this spot but again, running backs and top 10s and etc etc etc. Nuke Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk are on paper a superb trio of WRs and you also have Kenyan Drake at RB. Vic Beasley is a good pass rusher who has sort of lost his way as a player (hence the one year prove it deal). Give me McCaffery I guess. I think he'd do wonders in Kingbsury's offense and I suppose you can make he and Drake work together. That's why head coaches get paid.

9. Jacksonville- OT Mike McGlinchey (2018)

There's not a lot of obvious fits for a tanking team like the Jaguars. DT Ed Oliver would be intriguing but I have no idea how he fits in with the Jaguars defense. The likes of Leonard Floyd (recently released), Ereck Flowers (failed tackle turned kinda failed guard), John Ross (oft injured speedster) are other options. Lastly there's Mike McGlinchey who was starting at right tackle for the Super Bowl 49ers. The Jaguars have spent picks at both tackle spots but McGlinchey is better.

10. Cleveland- QB Patrick Mahomes (2017)

Fuck. Would the Browns even with Baker Mayfield flirt with taking Patrick Mahomes? Who cares. Mayfield can be traded. If you have the chance to grab the best QB in the NFL, you do it. Easy peasy.

11. NY Jets- CB Marshon Lattimore (2016)

This one came down to Lattimore or Minkah Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick can do so much across a secondary and his swiss army knife toolset was amplified in a Pittsburgh secondary that left to his devices where he could roam free and fuck shit up. On the other hand, Marshon Lattimore represents one of the NFL's rare commodities; a star shutdown cornerback. Plus with Marcus Maye and Jamal Adams tie up the safety spots pretty well.

12. Las Vegas- QB Deshaun Watson (2017)

The Raiders are openly flirtatious with moving on from Derek Carr. Deshaun Watson would step in and be a massive upgrade. There's also not much here either given how 90% of the players are DL and the Raiders have plenty of names and faces they like there. Maxx Crosby, Maliek Collins, John Hankins and Clelin Ferrell to name a few.

13. San Francisco f/IND- OG Laremy Tunsil (2016)

Take the 49ers OL with Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey and Laken Tomlinson and then slide in Laremy Tunsil at RG. That's an absurd OL. There also weren't many options to really delve into either depending on how you feel about Da'Ron Payne and Vita Vea.

14. Tampa Bay- DE Marcus Davenport (2018)

Pick 14 over the past five years is a bit of a dry spell unfortunately. The best player on the list is DeVante Parker and the Bucs clearly have a collection of damn good WRs. Shaq Barrett and JPP are in place for 2020 but could the Bucs use Davenport as a third rusher and move him inside on pass rush downs. Not a lot of good ideas here unfortunately.

15. Denver- RB Melvin Gordon (2015)

Easy peasy! I mean Denver just signed him! That's a bit of a cheapie but let's keep with it. Gordon fitshere (and nobody else does).

16. Atlanta- LB Tremaine Edmunds (2018)

Edmunds with Deion Jones? Sign me up! The only other option that makes sense here is Marlon Humphrey at corner which would be an equally fine pick.

17. Dallas- S Derwin James (2018)

Given that Arik Armstead and John Allen would be 3-technique types in this defense, it makes sense we would ONCE again look at the safety market! Yay! The Cowboys scheme in 2018 apparently didn't like Derwin James as much as the media thought they did but this is a brand new scheme and a new way to play. Derwin James would edge out Keanu Neal (who BTW when healthy is an amazing safety) by virtue of being more of the chess piece the Cowboys need.

18. Miami f/PIT- C Ryan Kelly (2017)

Again there's a glut of corners here but the Dolphins have their fair share. As such, turn your attention over to a glut of centers---who they also just signed a guy for. Ryan Kelly is a pro bowl center though and you can make exceptions for that.

19. Las Vegas f/CHI- LB Leighton Vander-Esch (2018)

One of the better linebackers in the NFL prior to his neck injury, LVE was a friggin' elite athlete who could still redefine what NFL linebackers look like. His defensive coordinator is there as well (as the DL coach) and I bet Gruden would love his leadership and his ability as an off ball linebacker. This one is easy enough.

20. Jacksonville f/LAR- TE Noah Fant (2019)

The Jaguars are in the midst of a rebuild of sorts but unfortunately there's no immediate building block pieces at 20. It came down to Frank Ragnow (a versatile OL with upside) or Noah Fant and I opted for tight end Noah Fant since Minshew could use a reliable safety blanket. Assuming Fant can control his drops of course.

21. Philadelphia- WR Will Fuller (2016)

The Eagles could REALLY use some targets for Carson Wentz. Last year in clutch games they were relying on JJ Arceaga-Whiteside and Boston Scott for targets outside of their tight ends. Wouldn't have a problem going with FS Darnell Savage either who also went at 21.

22. Minnesota f/BUF- DE Bud Dupree (2015)

I don't know if the Vikings NEED an edge but even if they don't, there's really no options here. Josh Doctson was a flop in Washington, Charles Harris was a flop in Miami, Rashaan Evans plays the same spot as their glut of damn good linebackers and Andre Dillard is an unproven tackle for Philly to this point. Hit or miss here.

23. New England- Isaiah Wynn (2018)

I mean they drafted him here. Easy enough. Although would they take TE Evan Engram all things being equal?

24. New Orleans- WR DJ Moore (2018)

The Saints did grab Emmanuel Sanders but DJ Moore, Sanders and Michael Thomas is a whole different world of WR depth. There's also pretty much nobody else here worthy of snagging either.

25. Minnesota- WR Marquise Brown (2019)

HOLLYWOOD! The Vikings just traded away Stefon Diggs and could use an infusion of playmaker at their WR spot to help assist their TE room, Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen. Marquise Brown would give Kirk Cousins a souped up version of Jamison Crowder; a WR-3 he relied heavily on in Washington.

26. Miami f/HOU- DE Montez Sweat (2019)

So the Dolphins have signed a lot of DE and we also gave them Bradley Chubb earlier BUT Montez Sweat is going to terrorize the NFL for the next 5-10 years and so he and Chubb combined? That's big time pass rush. Also, again, not much to really select from here either.

27. Seattle- CB Byron Jones (2015)

If you drew up a make and model for a Seahawks DB? It looks like Byron Jones. Byron just got paid big time money by Miami It's Byron vs Tre White and Byron fits the mold a bit better. Could also see Seattle liking Kenny Clark. Lots of good defensive players at 27.

28. Baltimore- OG Laken Tomlinson (2015)

Let Tomlinson battle it out with the interior OL the Ravens have currently. There's really not much here, it's either Tomlinson or DT Jerry Tillery.

29. Tennessee- TE David Njoku (2017)

Funny story, the 2016 1st round pick here was forfeited via deflategate. With just four names to choose from (and not really much to talk about either way), the Titans take David Njoku. Njoku has struggled with his role in Cleveland and the Titans do have some solid tight ends already in place but Njoku would be a pretty nice flier. Most of the guys here at 29 are just not good unless you're a Taven Bryan truther.

30. Green Bay- LB TJ Watt (2017)

And Cowboys fans across the globe shudder in horror. Yes, the Packers have two really good DEs in the Smith brothers. There's nobody else here who comes remotely close to the pure value TJ Watt has. Let him rush from the left side and rack up the sacks. You can figure it out somehow I figure. Let Preston Smith play 3-tech or something!

31. San Francisco- LB Reuben Foster (2017)

On one hand, the less said about Foster the better. On the other, there's really nobody else here who would come close. Unless you're a Germaine Ifedi fan?

32. Kansas City- DT Malcolm Brown (2015)

For any other team in any other league, this is Lamar Jackson. The Chiefs are really set at QB for the next 10-15 years so we'll have to take a pass. Instead Malcolm Brown is pretty much the only other really good value play. Big thumpy 1-tech/nose tackles are usually found later on in the draft but Brown is a good one and the Chiefs truthfully don't need much else either.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 2: The VR Zone Has a Hell Ton of Trees

Alright guys I am regretting the hell out of this teriyaki ramen bowl I just ate, so it’s a better time than ever to go back into this VR arc. Now that the Big 5 have made their speech, all of them quite fat and one with a cane although he doesn’t even have a body anymore, they are ready to send everyone down a series of...plot-shaped holes.

Like they were JUST in some sort of tropic zone, to go back to here and then go somewhere else and so like--this is still VR I think? Like I’m assuming they went VR the moment they entered this room but it is quite vague at what point they were officially in VR. Was it when their vision went fwisssh and everyone split into RGB layers or was it that they got knocked out with gas quite a long time ago and were just unaware that it happened? Probably a bunch of these things.

With this announcement we find out that everyone--and I mean everyone--has to play cards now, although I’m pretty sure half of them have duel disks and the other’s are like...not equipped? I mean it’s VR, so hypothetically no one at all needs a duel disk anymore but you gotta sell toys, so no matter what, Yugi’s going to be lugging this heavy sharp thing on his wrist, even when he knows he will soon be shot down a wacky hole.

The title of last episode, ps was “VR Nightmare,” but like, it’s actually fairly pleasant, compared to the blimp hell we were dealing with just a few episodes back. I mean I guess people are actively trying to kill us here but when are they not?

The audacity of this show. Every state in the US has huge ass fake castles in it leftover from the Rockefeller era. Where else are our Moms supposed to drag us on Day Trips so we can get our history credit for Girl Scouts?

Americans are hella good at creating fake historical sites--all you need is a 50+ year old house and some turret work possibly made by a reasonably well known architect and it’s like “yeah that’s a good enough castle for me! Can we say it’s haunted, too? It’s hella haunted! Come to my castle B+B!”

(read more under the cut)

Tea landed in some concept art that kind of looks like the underside of a mushroom. I dunno how I’d classify this rock structure.

And then Kaiba landed in his worst nightmare which was being in a normal park with one single straight road but somehow still completely lost. At least Mokuba managed to fall into the same hole as his brother to ensure that Seto wouldn't be lost for like the rest of this arc. Which was actually kind of an unintentionally hilarious animation.

*rare shot of the Kaibas actually taking a break*

Man, this is the closest they’ve gotten to a real hug in kind of a while. Like when was the last time these bros hugged? Pegasus’ castle?

Meanwhile, Noah is admiring his work from this throne room and it would be a whole lot more intimidating if he wasn’t in calf-high black socks.

His outfit is like a white school uniform so what gives with the black socks? Like of all the things to complain about on Yugioh (especially since I see Yugi’s hair looking right at me in the next cap) those socks though. Those are pretty inappropriate with this outfit, Noah. Especially matched with this God Throne you’ve got going on. Did not see socks like that matched with a chair like this.

Meanwhile Yugi is all by himself but that doesn’t matter at all because he is 2 (3) people. This strategy to isolate everyone only really worked on Serenity and Joey, TBH, since Tea is also accompanied by slightlylessevil!Marik (who hasn’t really said anything since the VR started).

I knew Bakura would be out for a while, but I didn’t realize it meant everyone else wasn’t even going to once acknowledge it, it is baffling. I mean I get they’re super distracted right now but your friend is DEAD.

Honestly I would not mind if the big 5 succeeded and we had to see some old men try and work with Yugi’s hair and alt rock clothing, deal with Pharaoh sassing them from a brain labyrinth, go to Yugi’s school where people get savagely beat up like every other day, deal with Bakura and Marik trying to body snatch and other magic assholery during class breaks, and through all that watching the Big 5 attempt to take over the world with their megacorp that no longer sells guns but actually sells like...children’s entertainment supplies which include the dueling roombas from S1. How on Earth do they actually think that getting a body would help them at this point? They would be Yugi Muto and that is the last face anyone would ever take seriously.

Pharaoh pops up and is like “I guess we’re doing this right now? Really wish we weren’t doing this right now.”

Anyway, because they don’t physically exist in this digital world, neither do God Cards, or any other card in their deck. So, now they have to make new decks out of a pool. Very convenient for the writing team, bad news for Kaiba’s intense and vaguely romantic relationship with his Blue Eyes. Really glad we spent a full season talking about how much these cards meant to all these people, from the magicians, to Joey’s Red Eyes, and then that one card that was Mako Tsunami’s Dad or something--really glad we learned all of that to just completely erase it this arc.

I sounded sarcastic just now, I actually wasn’t for once, I am so glad to just purge my mind of all those card memories for a little while. Just allow myself to forget. Ah. My mind is already so much clearer. It feels so good. I am very much ok with this soft reset, I kinda needed it.

Since Yugi is supposed to choose a Deck Master from his set of cards for this particular type of duel monsters duel, he goes right for the dark magician--since that’s his MO, but for some reason Kuriboh chose himself? Like this greasy thing just hopped out of the card and played himself.

Anyway Kuriboh is now their new Pikachu and well...this show has done worse cute-character-that-does-literally-nothing-else type things to me, speaking of, lets see what Serenity is up to.

This is a digital hellscape, Serenity.

Serenity, you are going to die here.

Serenity.

So because I just realized just now in Season 3 that Duke’s necklace is a hot, over designed disaster (much like Duke himself) I figured I should like...see what this necklace is supposed to look like. So I typed into Google “duke devlin necklace” and guys, turns out there is a LOT of Yugioh jewelry--and I don’t mean like fanart (which there is also a lot), I mean like officially, a lot of people in this show wear a lot of jewelry and so it was sort of hard to find a good pic of a Duke Devlin specific necklace--especially since it feels like most people just go for the dice earring because that’s way easier.

But what’s interesting about the Duke Devlin necklace, at least from my quick search, is that when we bring it to the real world, it gets a little lost, like a game of telephone.

Cuz I assumed that was a clown on his necklace--and there’s quite a few clown necklaces, but I’m also seeing skulls, I’m seeing gothic crosses, I’m seeing spikes and knives instead of crosses. Bro thought it was a flower for some reason--I kinda blew his mind just now when I pointed out it was a clown. Some people think it’s made of silver, other people think it’s sort of painted? (I assumed the cross was entirely blinged out with rhinestones--my honest assumption) No one can actually agree. Especially since Duke apparently changed his necklace for the movie. I know that because it looks a lot like the Legend of Zelda emblem, and some people had the actual Legend of Zelda emblem mis-tagged as Duke Devlin. Which sucks a whole lot for their SEO, and sucked a whole lot for me in my search to find a real actual Duke Devlin necklace.

Like, feel free to attach a link to a reply -- is there an official physical Duke Devlin necklace that Yugioh inc sells? Like I just want to know--officially--what the hell I’m looking at.

Anyway, back to the show, much like everyone else, these two are hopelessly lost.

Kaiba seems to keep forgetting that his Dad is clearly behind all this and would obviously have his old tech but like...Kaiba forgets so much I can forgive him this.

So, faced with roads that lead no where, Tristan decides to do his tried and true method of solving all of his problems.

And at the other end of the VR zone Tea is getting kidnapped after...being kidnapped by Noah while she was already kidnapped by Marik. This is three levels of kidnap, yes?

OH SHOOT IS THAT A ONCE DOOR. DID SOMEONE DO WHAT I HOPE THEY DID? OH SHOOT.

I will read their fanfiction start to end I swear to you I will do it if it exists and I will report back to you who dates Captain Hook and who is related to Henry Mills.

OMG It didn’t exist.

You have got to be kidding me.

I am beside myself, this is the only property known to man that has not been turned into a OUAT fanfiction.

Incredible.

That or I’m just really bad at searching for fanfics since I haven’t actually read any since my LiveJournal days. Like, when you’re basically immune to shipping, as I am, you just really lose the desire to read about 90% of fanfiction.

Anyway, the closest we have to a OUAT Yugioh fanfiction, to my knowledge, is that cap I made just now right there. Your welcome, Once community.

This is absolutely made of load-bearing drywall. Why do none of the sets of windows line up with each other and how many stories is this? Like 2.5? And you can stand on the roof I guess because it has handrails? It’s super weird.

Anyway, I just made a OUAT joke and maybe it’s because I knew shortly after we were gonna get--that’s right--an orphanage flashback. OUAT was basically 6 seasons of effed up orphan flashbacks so I feel pretty well prepared. Like bro was worried how I’d handle this filler but y’all, I watched the Lily arc in OUAT. I can do anything.

*slaps hands together*

Totes ready for these boys to have been given up for adoption via a magical tree and a memory curse, only to find out their real parents are 3 years younger than them because of a time loop. Make it weird, Yugioh!

Anyway, as always, if you want a link to read these from the beginning in Chrono order and without any comments and all that jazz here’s a link

[yourfeminist]

All of the asks. If you don't want to answer some that's fine, I'd be interested in all of them ☺️

Hell yeah i’m down! Thank you a lot! Have a nice day or evening! 

zinc white; how are you really feeling today? no one-word answers please!

Well I woke up today and I thought I had to work at 8AM but I didn’t need to work so that kinda sucked. But otherwise then that I’m fine! I need to do a few things today so I look forward to do that! Thanks for asking 

lemon; what’s your comfort food?

Chocolate!

hansa yellow; what’s your guilty pleasure song?

Rich Girl by Daryl Hall & John Oates!

yellow ochre; name an artist/band whom you just discovered & can’t get enough of! 

I recently discovered Billie Eilish and she’s pretty cool. But other than her I don’t remember any new album I listened to

naples yellow; where do you feel most at home?

Well my parents are divorced so ngl at my dads I feel more home because there are a lot of other people and I enjoy that. But when I’m at my moms I really love my room and that feels like home too. So I can’t decide :)

raw sienna; with whom do you feel most at home?

My (girl)friendgroup and one friend specifically that always makes me feel like home. When we are at the same party I always feel less awkward or uncomfortable ( I have social anxiety and sometimes it’s really acting up). So I’m really glad that he has that feeling. 

golden ochre; describe the relationship you have with your closest friend.

We can talk about everything but still we don’t always do. We have a great friendship and sure do love each other but we don’t say things like that to each other. We also see each other pretty often. One of my best friends💕

golden deep; what’s your favorite season?

This anwser always changes but atm It’s spring! I really enjoy the weather where you don’t have to wear a jacket just a hoodie because of the sun! Yup really love that. OH AND everything starts to grow again :)

cadmium orange; what do you like to do on your days off?

Watch youtube video’s, watch a few episodes of a show, reading and mostly relax!

orange lake; do you have anyone you can turn to when you’re sad?

yup I do but this girl right here is kinda dumb because I never talk to anyone because I have this feeling that when I do I bother other people. And I know I don’t but still I won’t do it haha. But I’m working on it! So if anyone has the same feeling feel free to come to me or ask me how I’m dealing with that.

titans; do you prefer slow mornings or relaxing evenings?

Both! But I prefer evenings a little more. Because then I see my family and friends more ( i know cliche :p)

shakhnazaryan red; are you currently binge-watching anything?

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE!!!!!!(cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt) And I’m watching Teen Wolf for the second time haha

red ochre; are you more right-brained (creative) or left-brained (analytical)?

Right brained!

burnt sienna; is there a painting that brings you peace when you look at it?

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh! 

english red; what animal do you relate to most?

A CAT!!! LOVE SLEEPING LOVE CUDDLING AND SOMETIMES I LOVE TO BE A GRUMPY FUCK <3 Love cats

vermilion; what’s your favorite accent?

Hard one!! I really like Irish ( @bleubelle249SO YOU BETTER HAVE ONE :PPP) and Scottish! But ngl I reaaaally love Australian accents, so hot.

cadmium red; do you have a “type” when it comes to a significant other?

Nope I don’t mind tbh. But dark hair and dark eyes are plus !

scarlet; describe your current crush/es.

Dark haired, dark eyed 6′2 and his name is Noah Centineo and he doesnt even know I exist :). But other than him I don’t have a crush!

ruby; what does your ideal first date look like?

A walk at a park and maybe picknick and a fun activity and dinner later in the afternoon and for the night a movie! But tbh everything is okay, I’m not that hard to statisfy.

carmine; what does your ideal second date look like?

Anything the other person want to do! 

madder lake red; would you ever kiss someone (or accept a kiss) on a first date?

Yes I would. I would only kiss someone if they want to (CONSENT KIDS, ITS IMPORTANT) and I also would accept one if I’m comfortable. But there needs to be a connection tho. Otherwise a quick  peck on the cheeks.

rose; what’s something really positive going on in your life right now?

That I’m working on myself to become a healthier (mentally) me.  Because it took waaaaaaaaaaaaay to long.

quinacridone rose; what’s something you’re really looking forward to?

My drivers licence! 

violet rose; what does your dream house look like?

A very cozy house. Nice, warm with a library and a lot of plants and flowers! A big garden with both sun and shadow. With a few neighbours. And I would love to live at a dead end next to meadow!

violet; is there any place in particular you’d like to settle down?

Somewhere in England, USA or Australia. Maybe somewhere else in Europe, don’t know.

blue lake; what would you like to do/accomplish before you settle down?

That I finished college. I’m financial stable and that I worked hard for the things that I have. I don’t like doing things the easy way.

cobalt blue spectral; what is the most beautiful place you have ever been to?

Český Krumlov in Czech Republic

ultramarine; when was the last time you were in a good mood? do you know/remember what sparked it?

A week ago. I just felt good. Don’t have a reason for it.

blue; what’s the most recent dream you remember?

That I was dating a collegue who is also a friend. it was a really weird dream but I didnt tell anyone because my friends ship us hahahah

bright blue; what does your dream family look like? any kids or pets? how many of each?

I don’t yet if I want kids (or that my partner does) but if I would have kids I want 3 em. And both a dog and a cat!

blue cobalt; do you like your name? would you give yourself a different name if you could? Yes I like my name (Anouk) and no I will not give myself a different name because I don’t think an other name will fit me.

prussian azure; what’s your favorite scent?

Depends on my mood what it is; like a candle or perfume or deodorant. But probably vanilla, lemongrass and citrus.

azure blue; what’s your favorite type of tea, if any?

Earl grey!

turquoise blue; if you could start a garden, what would you plant?

SUNFLOWERS!!!!!!!!!!! And a few trees and nice flowers that grow each year.

cerulean blue; if you were guaranteed to have a viewership, would you start a youtube vlog?

yes probably. I secretly would love that haha

glauconite; describe your body without using any negative adjectives.

Tall, nice skin, long arms and long legs and my stomach kinda has a sixpack.

yellow green; picture yourself walking in a field. what do you see & hear in this scenario?

Probably something like this. But with more high grass. And I soflty hear the wind and a few birds chirping.

green light; are you in a comfortable place in life? if not, what do you think might make it better?

80% of my life is! What do I think might make it better? Me. But don’t know how yet.

green; name three countries you want to visit; do you have any actual plans in place to visit any of them?

1. Italy2. Australia3. New zealand

Yes! They are all three on my bucket list so I will for sure visit them!

emerald green; do you speak any languages besides english? are there any additional languages you want to learn?

Yes I speak: Dutch, Frisian and a tiny bit of German. And I really want to learn Spanish!

oxide of chromium; what’s your favorite book?

That’s way to hard for me to choose. So i am not going to give you an anwser :p

olive green; are you currently reading anything? how do you like it so far?

I am reading the Game of Thrones books. Currently reading A Clash of Kings (second one) 

mars brown; what’s a movie that always puts a smile on your face/makes you laugh?

Coco!! And all the Harry Potter movies!

burnt umber; what’s something you plan to do before the day is over to take care of yourself?

Nothing haha

umber; have you drank enough water today?

Not yet! But it’s still morning so don’t worry!

voronezhskaya black; what or who is your go-to outlet for when you need to vent? 

I don’t vent a lot. And if I do it’s not a go to person. Probably my dad or anyone else from my family or friends

sepia; name five things that always make you happy.

1. Animals2. When people are happy3. When people are smiling 4. Music!5. Kian and Jc (shout out to them, they are youtubers)

indigo; what’s the best/sweetest compliment you have ever received?

That I’m a very relaxed person to be with. My friends told me that when we had a test I’m made them less nervous. And I really like that.

payne’s gray; describe your aesthetic?

Art

black; post a selfie because you are so beautiful!

I would rather not post one but I’ll guess I will post one

There ya go!

Thanks again!

[sunnyupsidedown]

Thoughts On: The Raven Cycle

(Or more appropriately named, Me screaming about my feelings into the void known as the Internet.)

Note: I never actually finished writing this out and editing it so it would be readable. It’s been in my drafts for years and I’m spring cleaning. Here’s me uncensored and with no direction.

Let’s get this out of the way. So if you haven’t read The Raven Cycle Series by Maggie Stiefvater, this is the part where I tell you to put aside all your misgivings and just read it. That is, if you’re like me and the summary didn’t do it for you. If you’re like me and thought that it’s going to be four books about Blue and her harem of boys crying about the fact that she can’t kiss any of them. Let me tell you, you’re wrong. You’re so far from right, you’re in a different galaxy. The summary does the books zero justice. I tried to summarize it better to my roommate and I couldn’t. These books are books you just have to read.

That aside, the rest is below the cut because it’s basically me ranting about anything and everything from the series because I have a lot of feelings.

Spoilers Below

Individual Books - Romance - Characters - Miscellaneous 

The Raven Boys

This book here was basically me asking myself why I didn't read the series sooner. Like the prologue was eh, but the moment Blue implied that she was an amp, I was in. I love shit like that. And then there was chapter two with Gansey being Gansey and then finding out Adam and Ronan do dumb shit together. Yeah. Well. I was doomed. Yes yes the usual, plot was a little slow paced. I kept wondering "man, when are Gansey and Blue gonna meet?" Or "when are they gonna go King hunting?" When they finally did stuff it was great! But I think it was great because the characters are so well established. But I'll rant on that later.

Anyway, actually yeah, getting to know the characters in this book was wow. God damn it's not a fucking competition on who has the worst backstory. My heart cannot take it. I really want to read a prequel about how they all came together. I need details. Everything is so vague (like mentioned in offhand lines) (i.e. Ronan hating Adam at first or how Adam helped Gansey's car (which is pretty solid but give me more conversation)).

Speaking of vague...NOAH! God. Let me be smug for a bit. I figured out the mystery as soon as Barry mentioned being in his mid-20s.

Hints:

"I've been dead for 7 years."

Noah having a first name when everyone calls each other by their last. 

Barry's friend only having a last name.

Boom yeah. Anyway. Noah, my boy. The true mvp, but that rant will come later. "Don't throw this away.” Gosh. End me.

Again speaking of vague. I love and hate Ms. Maggie's style. I love how pretty it is.

Favorite character in this book kept switching between Gansey, Blue, and Adam. Me while reading was basically, Who’s Ronan?

The Dream Thieves

I love that Ronan’s POV was included in this. I stereotype book characters all the time. It’s natural since it helps establish a certain character without having to spell out every single detail. So yeah. I stereotyped Ronan as a punk (true) that was crude (true), rough (half true), and didn’t care about anything (not true). Getting to know Ronan more in this book killed me.

Kavinski was meh. He was a cool kid. Idk why ppl love him so much? Like he was def a cool character. Maybe I read the books too fast to really appreciate him.

Bragging again, I figured out Ronan’s mom was a dream thing from the prologue (though it wasn’t that hard? idk. Matthew was a surprise).

Adam was winning the favorite character battle but now Ronan’s a strong contestant.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue

RONAN HAS WON. HE IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER. Why? The EpiPens! That sealed it. Nothing will be able to trump that. I seriously had to stop reading at that part. It was too much.

I really don’t know what happened in this book. That’s one of the things about the writing (or maybe it was just me reading things too fast) but it was kinda hard to keep track of time. Things that I though happened weeks apart happened on the same day, or things that I thought happened on the same day actually happened weeks away. So it was kinda hard to keep track of events.

TRC & Romance

Before we get to the last book, I just want to put this rant that I started about two chapters into the 4th book because I just love this series so much and I was wondering why.

So typically I’m like “Fuck Romance! Get out of my books and tv shows!” (well, unless I’m specifically looking for it…) but the romance (or relationships in general) in the raven cycle is SO. GOOD.

And here I was wondering why and why and why and I figured it out.

The thing about Romance in YA novels (I say YA because I mainly read YA), is that it feel like it’s a prize for the Main Character to achieve at the end of the book. Like, you battled a bunch of crazy zombies alongside this hot babe you met maybe a week ago, now make out and live happily ever after! Like the Love Interest is only there for the MC to end up dating in the end. Sure they can be important to the plot too but there’s always a focus on “These two will be together in the end. Period.” And I hate it. I guess it’s because I love slow burns and I find it so unrealistic because Love typically doesn’t happen like that.

Like typically, a guy or girl will not walk up to someone and say “You’re hot go out with me.” Well, not unless they want maybe a drink dumped on them. I don’t like how when the MC meets their LI, they stop knowing how to communicate with other human beings. Like haven’t they ever had a normal conversation with another human? Don’t they have friends.

And that’s where I figured it out. Gansey & Blue and Ronan & Adam, they were FRIENDS first.

Well, Adam did ask Blue out kinda…. I’ll get to that later.

But they became friends! It wasn’t all about mantic pixie dream girls/boys. Or the most popular girl/boy in school. Or some rival from an enemy territory. It was a just a bunch of kids looking for a king together.

(Adam and Blue something about including her with the boys, how when the began to know each other it doesn’t work out. and that’s normal. But they still end up friends because they do like each other. And it’s not all suddenly, we’re dating so we now have no other friends/I can no longer think rationally [cough Graceling cough]) Gansey eyeing their hand holding less because “Omg im in love with this chick” and more like “who is this girl invading our group.”

The way the small love triangle between Blue, Adam, and Gansey was so well handled. Like the friendship between Gansey and Adam didn’t suffer (too much…) because they weren’t gonna let something like that ruin it because it was strong.

And then Gansey’s all like “I gotta think of something clever to tell Blue later” and it’s so fucking dumb and sweet and that’s kinda what I do to my friends and they don’t really like like each other but it slowly grows with the night calls and the driving to nowhere and they still fight with each other and it’s all so normal and real that it hurts and I actually look forward to their interactions, not necessarily romantically, but just hanging out. Like I could read chapters of all of them just playing cards or something, doing mundane shit.

Ronan and Adam. Idk because I haven’t gotten that far but apparently in the beginning god sai- in the beginning Ronan hated Adam because Ronan loved Gansey and not really in the romantic way but in the we are friends and I will now DIE FOR YOU, type of love and he was fucking jealous. But now they’re cool and they go do random shit together (like framing a crazy dude). And it’s not all, I like you and now you will magically start liking me back. There was build up to this, like Ronan going back for Adam from his dad, and Ronan paying for Adam’s rent secretly, like Adam actually saying thank you.

Even Blue and Ronan. Like how he doesn’t even think about saving her from falling down a hole. How he cries on here shoulder because he can do it and not be judged. Because they are friends. Even if they do not interact often.

And then there’s Maura and the Gray Man. idk where this one is going.

tl;dr: The complex relationships and romance between the characters in the Raven Cycle are hella good.

The Raven King

Oh my god. I am dead. My soul has been carved from my body. Gansey. My boy. Fucking Noah. God damn.

Let me just say that Adam’s analogy(? metaphor?) of the summer storm and the kiss was so fucking good. I will remember that forever. Like that is probs my favorite passage from the book.

Ronan is so sweet and pure and needs lots of love.

Writing in General

Weird how it skips around. Like there’s a little view in the scene and then suddenly it jumps to a vague conclusion. I like knowing what happens between. I like the clean up shit. But then again if it happened the pacing of the book would have been very weird.

Characters

Gansey: it’s like watching someone slowly learn negative emotions. He started out all innocent and full of ideals and happiness, he just wanted to find his King, and then he learns fear and anger and worry and death. Real life. He’s definitely very grounding. How he steps back occasionally and thinks “God this is so fucked up. This is not okay. I want everybody to be safe.”

Ronan: God. Ronan. This boy. I like how you don’t really think of him as I guess nice. But he’s probably the most human of all. Like his outward appearance is some tough boy who’ll fuck you up, but he’s actually really soft? His words are crude but his actions are caring.

Adam: 😫

Blue: I love her. She’s so fierce and strong and human. How she just rolls with it. Kinda.

[sunlitlion]

candleverse chronicles | pt 0

so. astral projection. we all do it. 

okay, not all of us, but some of us do. and ya girl is no stranger to it. 

if you know of the slenderverse, specifically the everymanhybrid verse, you know of the candleverse. habit’s playground, the pocket between timelines and dimensions. 

i’m gonna astral project there. and im gonna keep all my notes here. in case anyone is stupid enough to follow my footsteps.

so, for anyone into emh but not witchcraft/astral work... here are some sources. (x), (x), (x) < that last one is a masterpost of resources for research purposes and those looking to astral travel.

a warning: if you want to astral travel, do NOT do what i’m doing. i’m not smart. this isn’t kosher. this isn’t a good idea. even with all of my precautionary measures im still putting my astral body at risk. if you really truly want to, you can PM me about it, and ill share my personal notes but i am NOT a professional. go forward at your own damn risk.

alright, so warnings aside, let’s get into the prologue.

i am lucky enough to have contact with an evan, a habit, and a noah/firebrand. if you believe in kin shit, call it that. if you believe in past lives, call it that. i personally call it a mix of past lives and a system. i am a spiritual person. don’t pm me, send an ask, or @. me about it because i’m not gonna respond.

i asked firebrand and evan about the candleverse and got their specific general advice for what it’s like, precautionary measures, and an escape plan. here’s what i was told, in transcript form:

firebrand || candleverse notes

general

- Mind tricks. Constantly changing. Do not trust your senses, rely only on your intuition, it’ll guide you.

- It looks like Princeton, New Jersey. Evan’s house is the exact centre, and the clearest part. Everything beyond it gets darker and harder to traverse through due to illusions and mindfuckery.

- There is a purple haze that surrounds the Candleverse. It’s safer, but harder to work out. Hide here, but don’t stay in one place for too long.

- The bridge is an OK spot. But don’t fall in the river. You’ll die in the astral.

protective measures

- Do NOT try to play offensively. It won’t work. You’re in Habit’s house.

- Use wards for hiding, and confusing anything that enters the vicinity.

- Use glamours to alter your astral body and make you into a spirit as unassuming as possible. Humans are what he wants.

- Keep your vibrations basic. Too low means you’ll be drained. Too high means you stick out.

- Get a glamour for any guides or thoughtforms you bring. (In my case, Figaro the thoughtform).

escape plan

- bring a power bank or totem that will give you just enough energy to make a door and leave if you need to in a moment’s notice.

evan || candleverse notes

general

- Do NOT interact with the Candle versions of Evan, Vinnie, and ESPECIALLY Jeff/Steph. Just don’t do it. They’re like big fucking beacons.

- Any kind of foliage is good. Trees, bushes. If a rabbit can hide in it, you’re good. A good rule of thumb is “Think like a rabbit.” So, the town is a good place to hide, but it’s also gonna be real confusing. Anywhere out in the open, you’re fucked.

- If your vibrations are high so you can keep up magic, places with moderate lighting are gonna be your best bet, so you’ll blend in. If you’re keeping your vibrations low to hide, keep to the edges and forest-y areas. Whatever makes you feel safest. Either way, you’re playing on the losing side in a game rigged in Habit’s favor.

- If you aren’t panicking, you’re giving off less energy, so you’re safer. Fear will stink you up, and it’ll catch Habit’s attention. Keep calm, you’ll stay safe.

- Cover the tracks of your spirit/thoughtform if they can’t do it themselves, or if they naturally produce magic. For example, my thoughtform Figaro is built to feed off of naturally occuring excess negative energy and build harm-shielding wards for himself and I from it. In the Candleverse, this process needs to be hidden.

- Piggybacking off of that point, a mosquito could fart and Habit would know. Any tiny move you make, any change to the verse, Habit will pick up on it. He might ignore it if it’s insignificant, but he might not. If you do something risky, your best bet is to get away from the mess, hide, and try not to leave a trail.

protective measures

- Only stay in for 15 minutes at first, up to 30 minutes. No longer than an hour. Time is slower in the Candleverse, but you’re gonna get exhausted, and it’s gonna get easier to find you. 

- Do not let Habit know you’re a human. You’re toast.

- Get better at improv. Learn how to play your part. If Habit approaches you, do NOT panic. Know what you’re supposed to be and act like it.

- Use DEFENSIVE wards and magic, not OFFENSIVE. Wards that protect you from harm make it seem like you’re EXPECTING Habit to attack you, and he might just. He’d definitely seek you out for it. Don’t make it seem like you’re ready for a fight.

escape plan

 - Make that power bank as inconspicuous as possible. Remember-- play the part.

- If you’re in a bind, or about to be caught, just make a break for the edge, find a place to hide, and calm down before leaving.

other

if you’re like me, and tend to crack under pressure or panic in the face of danger and make the wrong decision, then you’re gonna wanna practice beforehand.

there are all kinds of candleverses that take place in different areas of the timeline of EMH. start with a dead candleverse, in which there are no more traces of habit. you will know the difference because the energy they give off is pure white rather than dark purple.

live <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> dead

dark purple  |   purple  |   blue purple  | pale purple  |  grey purple  |      white

this is the scale firebrand gave me in reference to this. the closer to white they get, the more dead the candleverse (meaning the less traces of habit, the safer!). 

another look at the scale

white verse - no traces of habit, little to no traps or illusions, dawn/sunrise

grey purple verse - just a hint of habit, slightly more traps and illusions, midday

pale purple verse - a little of habit, a moderate amount of traps and illusions, afternoon

blue purple verse - half habit, slightly more traps and illusions, sunset/evening

true purple verse - mostly habit, many traps and illusions, dusk

dark purple verse - habit is live and present and on the prowl, a fuckton of traps and illusions, dead of night

i was also lucky enough for firebrand to be willing to get in contact with other firebrands, as all noah’s stick together, and they might be able to give me a little extra help. pending.

map

firebrand and evan helped me to draw out this rough sketch of the map, but it will be updated as I explore.

as i said, it’s very rough, but here’s a key.

☆ - safe for hiding purposes

* - unsafe

X - immediate death

``` - light source (the more light, the more unsafe)

🌀 - entrance point

EH - Evan’s House, the center of the Candleverse. UNSAFE.

Town - Just as the name implies. Good for hiding but, very dark and confusing. Take it slow.

B - Buildings. Decrepit, good for hiding.

N.E.H. - Never ending house. If you recall, in Bridge to Nowhere, Noah went up and down this stairwell repeatedly. Unsafe.

Bridge - Bridge to Nowhere. Moderately safe. Don’t stay on for too long.

P.G. - Playground. Moderately unsafe.

Open Space - Not good. No hiding spots.

Forest - Very dark, but good for hiding. Lots of foliage.

River - Runs through the forest and under bridge. Instant death upon touching.

Habit tends to stay around the more lighted areas. Do not by any means go near or enter Evan’s house. Just don’t do it.

protective measures

so, we all decided that lots and lots of defensive magic is your best bet. cover up the fact that you’re human first and foremost. if, like me, your energy is bright and beaming, make an energy mask to cover that. put up wards with multiple layers. put up illusion glamours with multiple layers. run, hide, camouflage. you’re a rabbit here.

here’s what im doing specifically. lemme go over it.

defensive-offensive ward - protects from anything you deem to be harm. it won’t do much for you at that point. if all of your other wards/glamours have failed at this point, you’re fucked anyway. its basically one last line of defense if all else fails.

illusion/energy mask - this is to change your energy. its to cover up your human parts. make it strong. make it powerful. make it work. if habit gets a single SNIFF of your human pussy, your ass if grass and he’s gonna mow it.

appearance glamour - this is to change your appearance and all. make you look not human. idc what you look like, im choosing a hazy kinda shadowy unassuming spirit type thing. look lost, not like a tourist.

camouflage ward -  this is gonna make you blend in to the foliage and shit much better. keep you under the radar. you are a cat in the night. a simple breath in the breeze, you feel. you ARE the dancing queen. 

hidden/hiding illusion - same deal, but this makes it harder to track you if you hide. hide well, don’t fuck this up. its literally your astral body on the line, maybe even your astral life. but don’t worry, as long as you hide your cord and keep it in tact, you can come back. just give it a few moon cycles.

and thats basically all ive got in preperation for this trip. ill keep cc updates coming as they happen. my first trip is tomorrow (Tuesday, March 19, 2019), around 5:00 PM CT.

[gliitchedwitch]

1 - 45; Rowan :3c

you absolute monster. Rowan 1. Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?-he has 12 sister, but only knows about 9 of them. When he was still with his family he was closest to his sisters Aeras and Ibela, his twin sisters that were born a few days after him. 

2.What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?-He grew up with 3 mothers and he loved and respected all of them.

3.What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?-He grew up both respecting, loving and fearing his father. Thinking that his dad could never understand him but not realizing they were more alike than anything. 

4.Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?-He met this couple when he was still a teen and they inspired him so wholly to become a bard and worship Shelyn.

5.On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?-fun facts, he doesn’t have pockets. 

6.Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?-he doesn’t often remember his dreams but a few good ones have the ocean and his boyfriend in them 

7.Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?-anything about his family and all his regrets. 

8.Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?-nop. 

9.Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?-yeah! His family is like impossibly wealthy? So growing up he wanted for nothing. Nowadays he’s just scraping by off the money he makes performing and odd jobs from the pathfinder society with Noah. But that’s fine. He actually likes to earn his keep. 

10.Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?-the less clothing the better. Boi loves to feel that sweet sun on his skin. 

11.In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?-When he was 15. Packing a few essentials in the dead of night hoping not to be caught as he ran away from home. 

12.In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?-Nights spent on the ship with Jasper and the crew, playing soft lilting tunes. Or when he’s with Noah, doing practically anything, like walking around day shopping or just sharing their time together in comfortable silence. 

13.Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?-Nah. It’s kinda just a hazard of his lifestyle really. 

14.Does your character remember names or faces easier?-faces for sure. 

15.Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?-Uhh, money only in the sense that he’s constantly earning it for his own basic needs and also to keep debt collectors off Jasper’s ass

16.Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?-happiness

17.What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?-he had this one stuffed animal that was a beat to hell, red dragon. He loved that thing and carried it around with him for yeaaaaars. He hasn’t thought about it and wouldn’t know it but the thing is still in his old bedroom, exactly where he’d left it. 

18.Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?-ambition! 

19.What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?-He runs from his problems(emotional ones specifically). And oh boi has it. 

20.In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?-Mmm,, he would compare the similarities and differences in himself to others around him and reflect on them. I think it’s a bit of both validation and criticism though. 

21.If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?-He very much blames himself for most if not all of his misfortunes. 

22.What does your character like in other people?-individuality, passion, loyalty and a nice ass doesn’t hurt from time to time. ;) 

23.What does your character dislike in other people?-in this house everyone drinks respecting women juice or they get a face full of Rowan’s fist. 

24.How quick is your character to trust someone else?-It’s not hard to get on this guys good side. Especially if you’re a lady, he would die for you. 

25.How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?-That’s fairly situation and depends on the person in question but typically he’s not really the accusatory type. 

26.How does your character behave around children?-He loves kids. Loves to entertain them with fun songs and play games with them. 

27.How does your character normally deal with confrontation?-if it’s a brawl he already taking his shirt off ready to fuckin  goooooooo. But like emotional confrontation he’s already packing his bag and out the door. 

28.How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?-He definitely tries to charm his way through most situations if he can get away with it but if it has to come down to a fight so be it.

 29.What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?-He used to watch the sailors coming into port nearly every day, having wild fantasies of being a pirate on the open seas. That dream sort of came true, he’s no pirate but is in fact a sailor for a legitimate shipping company and he loves it. 

30.What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?-mushrooms. Affronts against romance and disrespect to women. 

31.Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.-Either sailing or sitting in a tavern playing tune to earn some extra coin. 

32.Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.-almost any situation having to do with his boyfriend’s mom. Or times he’s managed to offend or make someone cry. 

33.In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?-regular ol’ criticism he’s fine with and willing to improve upon himself. (Other than his inability to face his emotional baggage head on. We’re still working on that) 

34.Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?-He might try a solution or method once or twice before moving on to something different. 

35.How does your character behave around people they like?-very buddy buddy, casual and laidback. 

36.How does your character behave around people they dislike?-A little tense, maybe a lil’ clipped in tone with them. If he really hates them he’s like .5 seconds from throwing hands if they start some shit. 

37.Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?-Honor 

38.Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?-depends on the the type of problem/threat. But I’ll go with remove himself for now.

39.Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)?-prolly at some point, but nothing that would have affected him. 

40.How does your character treat people in service jobs?-As nice and charming as he treats anybody else. 

41.Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?-He’s definitely an earn what you want kind of dude. 

42.Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?-YEs! His pseudo adopted dad, Jasper, whom is the captain of his ship! 

43.Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?-lol… that would also be Jasper. Rowan kind of earns all this extra coin so he can work off Jaspers debts for him. He just wants his old man to keep his shins in tact. 

44.How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?-“I love you” is a very serious term for him. His whole religion is about love of all kinds. So if he tells someone he loves them he means it and would never use it to manipulate someone. 

45.What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?-He’s not exactly sure and in some ways the idea does scare him. 

[mcjour]

so the other day was the anniversary of my friend’s death and i realized there was so much i didn’t process there like at all. 

i can barely even remember what our relationship was. he definitely wasn’t a close best friend or anything, at least. but the line between acquaintance and friend is blurred. like, i didn’t exactly hang out with him. but it’s not like i was really hanging out with anyone at that point lol.

so i see his closer friends (also my friends) post something on facebook sometimes and i am like huh am i entitled to that? was i close enough to him or would posting be attention seeking?

i mean there isn’t anything i need to post or anything but thought that was an interesting thought. especially knowing my friends who knew him really wouldn’t even be the type to gatekeep grief anyway but like i said just a thought

gosh i barely even remember him and that’s so awful. like the day i found out he died, we all posted about it and so my memories are only the ones i wrote down in that post. they were nice memories, but i hate that my brain has deleted so much of my life

anyway can’t believe it’s been 5 years!

i think about him a lot, actually. not all the time, but more than i would expect

one thing i thought about this week was how traumatizing finding out was. because we all found out through a mass email to the entire campus. heartbreaking, probably the worst way to find out. i don’t really blame the school for that or anything, it’s not like they have a roster of all your connections or anything lol. but that doesn’t make it any less sucky

i remember i was texting a friend and maybe she was the one to read the email first? but either way i remember us being like, hold on, are we reading this correctly? our friend had a decently common name, so on a large campus, could there have been someone else with his name? but no. he was ours.

i remember i was in the dining hall getting food right before work. i was in shock. i don’t remember if i cried then and there, but i definitely cried at work. i don’t really know why i didn;t just not go to work. probably i didn’t even know who i would talk to about it. besides, what else was i supposed to do? it’s not like there was a guide to how to react when you find out your friend is dead via campus email.

i remember walking to my dorm after my shift. for some reason i worked on the opposite side of campus than i lived lol. i was probably cold and tired and dirty and wet from working in the dish room. i was listening to music as i walked. as i walked up the steep hill (almost home!), the song lifegoeson by noah and the whale came on shuffle. there’s a verse about the singer’s “last night on earth” and having no regrets or something. and wow i think i probably just bawled right then and there knowing that it had literally been my friend’s last night on earth the night or 2 before. 

when you looked at his twitter, that night (or sometime in the days before), he had retweeted a bunch of tweets saying “i could really use a hug right now.” i don’t think i had seen it at the time, like i don’t think i used twitter every day or anything. but to look back at that is so stinging. like, one of those cliche moments wondering if you could go back into the past and change something. like if i had seen that and reached out to him, would he still be alive today? and really who knows. and who knows, maybe other friends DID see, and DID reach out. it’s not really something i spend a lot of time guilting over or anything. but it still is really something to look back at, the cries for help immortalized on the internet. 

his twitter account was later hacked and became like a porn bot account which was also just devastating. luckily i think those tweets got deleted, but the profile picture and the bio still remain. and his old tweets too, like i said. 

there’s also a message he sent me a few months before he died inviting me to a party, which was so kind. and literally the day before he died, he sent me a cat video. or maybe it was the night he died. the link is dead now, so i don’t remember what the video was. there’s no response. i don’t know if i ignored it or if i just didn’t check twitter. 

maybe he was trying to comfort us through his death. in retrospect, i guess i really was a friend if i was one of the people he reached out to in those final hours

his death was right before finals too. which meant we were all totally fucked, i was already tanking a lot of my classes as it already was. i ended up taking an incomplete in one and finishing the next semester. i am sure many of my friends were in similar boats. the friend who passed was actually about to graduate. he was 24. i must’ve been 19 at the time, almost 20. he seemed so much older. i am 24 now, so lol.

the reason i was struggling so much before this was that  my cat had died about a month prior. he was my entire world. 

i couldn’t imagine life without my cat. i can’t remember when i started feeling suicidal myself, but my friend’s death definitely exacerbated that feeling. i think i felt like he beat me to it. and i didn’t want people to think i was a copy cat either. but every time i cut through the fine arts center i’d stand and look over the edge and wonder if it was high enough. i really don’t think it was LOL. but i was in so much pain.

what helped was my advisor slash professor. i had emailed all my professors about the deaths just to give them a heads up if i was missing class or assignments or whatever. and i remember i typed something like sorry, i am just having a really shitty semester. and she replied and was like yeah no that’s an understatement. and she invited me to like hang out and chat and eat donuts and i felt super awkward and anxious about the whole thing but she was so kind and helped me get through some of the professor issues i was having. plus the donut. that ended up really jumpstarting our relationship and she was so important to my college career. 

i knew another person from that same group who also died. i was not as close to her, but was of course still sad to hear of her passing. and it really speaks to how trauma can kill you, i think. most college groups do not lose two people. while they are still in college. there’s a photo of us from a house party and it’s weird that there’s i don’t know 10, 15, 20 people in the photo and 2 of them are dead.

these are things that i haven’t told anybody. because who could i tell?

like i could talk about my friend with our mutual friends, and we did right after he passed and stuff but like at some point that ends. and then i’m not really in close contact with any of them anymore. i would be happy to talk to any of them, don’t get me wrong, but i’m not about to contact these people out of the blue.

and anyone who didn’t know him wouldn’t know

and my cat too. i feel like that’s not as shareable of a grief. like society says that’s just a cat. and it was only a month after losing him that i lost my friend, so i was still grieving my cat when it happened. but now my friends all had their own grief and i didn’t want to divert the focus on my friend to be like hi i also am sad about my cat? that seems weird. the word that came to mind was selfish, and i don’t think that’s the correct word in this context. but it does just feel inappropriate.

then to go home at the end of the semester to an unsupportive household while weighted down by two huge deaths. i think i told my mom i wasn’t going to talk to her about my friend (what could i really say anyway). idk she’s the last place i would go for comfort.

and she made grieving the cat horrible. i don’t remember but i think she made it all about her somehow. like how she found the body and bla bla bla. i don’t remember.

the grief of both of these deaths has been bottled for 5 years.

something else i remembered: they set up group counseling for me and my friends. and so i went. i wasn’t too keen on counseling, but i think i was just in shock still and figured it would be good for me. and good to be with friends, whether for my sake or theirs.

so it was run by this lady. this horrible lady. the lady who sent me to the hospital for no fucking reason. so i was like holy fucking shit!!! but once again i think i was kinda in shock, like wtf was i supposed to do, just walk out and make a scene? so i sat there. and she sucked lol. i smiled at one point. i have no idea why i smiled. it was unconcious. maybe i remembered a happy memory, maybe it was just a nervous response who fucking knows. either way she called me out on it and was like why are you smiling? now i think it is rude in general to just call someone out like that LOL but this just so happened to be a very specific trigger of mine from high school days. so i think i literally ran out of the room. one of my friends followed me and talked with me out in the staircase. i know i didn’t go back, but i can’t remember if my friend went back or not. i think i felt bad having her comfort me over some dumb thing, instead of getting counseling herself, but she was definitely like nah that lady sucks. someone i think said the lady made a comment about me leaving too. idk. anyway she’s an ass.

unrelated, kinda, this lady taught the intro to social work class which i really wanted to take but i was like hell NO. luckily one semester they got someone else to teach it. it sucked in a totally different way LOL. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

7x13: Details

 Okay, just wanted to go over some details in the episode.

1. The number 5. We saw 5 Kingdom-ers at the beginning with the cantaloupe: Richard, Ezekiel, Jerry, and two others. Then when Carol kills walkers in the tree, she kills four with the sign and one more with a knife: 5 total. Probably pointing us back toward S5 for, you know, some odd reason. ;D

2. Candlelight Theme. We saw it with Carol at the beginning when she woke from her nightmare. After Benjamin dies, we see it with Morgan as well. Both are in psychological distress when we see this. Of course, there are Norman’s famous lines about Beth being the light in the dark tunnel for Daryl. Daryl was in serious psychological distress after the prison went down, and Beth helped him heal from that. This kind of lighting almost always signals serious emotional angst.

3. 63 on the wall again. @bluesandbeth told me that in issue 63 of the comic books, Michonne is thought to be dead…but then turns up alive. Hmmm.

4. I wondered if Nabila meant anything specific. It means “Noble or Excellent.” Another thing I didn’t mention on Monday was what she said about burning the garden down. She said the beautiful thing was that, “If you want, it can all grow back. ” They “get to come back,” but it’s always a choice. Carol was making a choice by staying alone in that cabin. She was in a self-imposed Purgatory and wasn’t progressing at all. Now she’s made the choice to move forward and become part of the world (the Kingdom) again. Same with Ezekiel choosing not to fight the Saviors.

5. Benjamin’s girlfriend. Benjamin talked about some girl who helped him with the picture, but wouldn’t tell Morgan anything else about her. A Nonny suggested maybe this was a way of paralleling Benjamin with Zack. He definitely does have a similar, boyish look to Zack. For me, it depends on whether we ever meet this girl or not. If we do, we’ll have to see what role she plays in the show. If not, she’s only symbolic. The thing is, this was more than just a minor detail. Morgan asked Benjamin about her at least twice. They really drew attention to this, so I’ll be interested to see where, if anywhere, it goes.

6. Jerry’s cobbler. Okay, small totally silly note here. I think the cobbler has come to symbolize something good. Maybe happiness, normalcy. We saw it with Carol in 7x02. Only a place like the Kingdom that’s well settled and has a decent food supply could reasonably expect to have or make cobbler. Anyway, Ezekiel told Jerry to leave the cobbler. Yeah, it was a funny–gotta love Jerry’s smile–but also kind of random. I wondered if it was a foreshadow that bad things were afoot. (Yes, that was an extremely lame pun. Someone else also pointed out to me that a “cobbler” is someone who makes shoes. So the cobbler could also be tied to the shoe/foot theory. Just throwing that out there. ;D)

7. The Kingdomers gave the Saviors their guns. We’ve seen this before, as Negan took all the guns from Alexandria. But this made me think of Noah giving up his gun and giving into Dawn at Grady. Not only did that result in disaster where Beth was concerned, but I do think it showed his weakness as a character and led to his death later on. (X) Here, Ezekiel and co give up their guns. Not long after, Benjamin is dead.

8. The Saviors said they were going to “teach them” just like the Claimers. Small detail, but Gavin said, “You have to learn the stakes, so we’re going to teach you.” This not only points us back toward S4 but shows that the “bad guys” in this season are being set up as parallels to earlier things we’ve seen.

9. We again saw the theme of the Saviors killing someone for what someone else did. I thought it was interesting because in this case, it wasn’t supposed to happen. Gavin was surprised when he turned around and Jarod had shot Benjamin. He was supposed to kill Richard, as Gavin originally said. This has become more than just something intentional on Negan’s part.

10. “It’s As or Fs, no Is.” “One, not more not less.” I was a little confused by this part. Assuming these are letter grades with A being the highest and F being “fail,” and I’m assuming I = Incomplete, then it makes sense in the dialogue. They’re saying the drops have to be all or nothing. But I was reminded of shirt Daryl wore at the Sanctuary. It had a red A with what looked like an I super-imposed over it, which doubled as a handle of sorts. Not sure if this is what they’re going for, or even what it all means, but it’s what I thought of.

11. Carol planted tomatoes. We’ve seen tomatoes a lot, especially around Morgan, and most recently at the Kingdom. The thing I noticed was that on this package, it says, “Boston pickling.” I thought it was a pickle reference. @bluesandbeth told me that this company most often does cucumbers, not tomatoes. This may even be an incorrect pairing–something they put together for the show. A double pickle reference and paired with the tomato reference. ***Update: I need to fix the above reference. I misunderstood the information sent to me. Boston Pickling isn't a company. It's a type of cucumber. Im looking into it further but just know for now that we can't find any evidence that there is any such thing as a Boston pickling tomato. That type of plant, from what we've seen, doesn't exist. Just wanted to clarify. Thanx for the correction @bluesandbeth! 💖***

12. Family Doctor sign in background. Lots of people have sent me doctor or ER signs that have been in the background. I guess I’m finally starting to pick them up on my own. This one was behind Morgan, specifically when he found the missing melon. You know, the one that was separated from the others and hidden? As though a doctor or medical institution may have had something to do with that?

13. “Benjamin, get your gun up.” Okay I’m gonna be a total TD geek about this. They called attention to this twice. Richard says it when they first stop at the road block, and then Morgan thinks about it again after Benjamin’s death. It’s what makes him realize that Richard was the culprit. Richard says it just as he secretly separates the hidden melon from the others. I couldn’t help but think of the fact that Dawn’s gun simply wasn’t “up” far enough to have shot Beth. So right when the melon was separated from the others, “Benjamin, get your gun up.” I’m probably really reaching. Meh. Whatevs. It’s what it made me think of.

14. Babies Crying - Richard mentions this several times when telling Morgan about the camp he used to be in. It made me think of episode 5x09 where we not only saw an emphasis on Judith crying from 7x01, but we also heard echoes of it all throughout the episode. Now we had an emphasis on it here.

15. Finally, @sparklepoodles pointed this out to me. It originates in 7x10, when Daryl keeps Richard putting his plan into action that would have gotten Carol killed. Not only did they foreshadow Richard’s death through dialogue. (Richard: I would die for the Kingdom. Daryl: Then why don’t you?) but look at this picture:

Tell me that’s not a foreshadow of Richard’s death and, more specifically, to Morgan strangling him. 

16. The bull rider picture. I wanted to do this one last because it’s the most intriguing to me. I don’t have a specific theory, but I just wanted to share some observations. This is important, not only because it’s exactly the kind of detail they like to hide symbolism but it was also emphasized in the quiz on TTD.

I had to research bull fighting and found that I knew very little about it. Basically, it’s all about a fighter (commonly called a matador) showing off his skill by killing a massive, angry bull. It’s a brutal sport and they do kill the bull by the end. Usually. In the first stage, the bull fighter observes the bull, looking for strengths and weaknesses, and takes steps to weaken it physically, often by stabbing it to cause injury and blood loss. In the second stage, more steps are taken to weaken the bull, including stabbing it with barbed sticks that will remain in order to weaken its strong neck and shoulder muscles. The killing, in which the matador must several the bull’s spinal cord, happens in stage 3. It’s very dangerous for the matador, of course, but almost always fatal for the bull. (There are some special cases where they might let the bull live, but that’s rare.)

I don’t see a whole lot of TD things in this symbol. I’m side-eyeing a few things, but overall, I think this is a very strong Morgan symbol. In fact, it’s probably a very negative sign for Morgan. Morgan is the matador. Benjamin, however, is not the bull. Richard is. How do I know that? Well, for one thing, Morgan didn’t kill Benjamin, but he had to use his strength and skill to kill Richard. Another thing I read? After the bull is finally killed, it’s body is dragged through the arena by a team of mules. Kinda like this:

And then there’s the fact that there is a blue prohibition sign (the circle with the line through it) over the entire picture, as if to warn that this would be a very bad thing for Morgan to do. To me, that just points to his downward spiral even more.

It did occur to me that the three stages of the bull fighting could represent Morgan’s bouts with sanity, but since he’s the matador, I’m not entirely sure that works.

And the things I’m side-eyeing? @bluesandbeth pointed out that how the bulls are killed isn’t so far off how walkers are killed in the show, which I think is a good point. You could, of course, relate this to Beth specifically because they didn’t stab her in the brain. (I had a Nonny point out that Morgan stabbed Richard in the brain despite an obvious head injury, which is a super-interesting observation - X).

The only other thing that caught my attention here is the red cape. It’s the traditional symbol of the matador, which is how you can tell (other than the bull) that this is a picture of a bull fighter. But I immediately went back to the red cape/poncho/whatever-it-was in Beth’s cell. 

I’m not sure how that would tie into this, unless it’s as anti-parallel. Morgan killed Richard, but he might have saved Beth.

And then there’s the fact that the prohibition sign on Morgan’s painting is GREEN. Just saying.

So anyway, like I said, no specific theory. Just observations.

That’s everything I had in my notes. Anyone pick up any other tidbits?