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soartfullydone · 2 years ago

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Did you ever read ACOSF? What did you think of the twilight baby plot?

Everything I know about ACOSF I've learned against my will lol. One of my best friends kept a play-by-play of each chapter in a Google Doc, so she could spare me the reading experience but also so we could make fun of it mercilessly.

In all seriousness, I knew I was never going to subject my eyes to it directly because I hate Nessian with a burning passion. I one-hundred percent believe that Nesta deserves better than everything she got, and she should've been meaner actually. Even when I somewhat liked ACOMAF, I felt utterly indifferent to Cassian. Who is this bland rice cake taking up the space where Lucien should be? No good dialogue or anything out of that guy. And then SJM wrote Nessian into MAF with all the subtlety of a clown show, and it was over. Nesta hates him! Keep him away from her! If she doesn't kill him, I will!

Most baby plots are horrendous in fiction, and I hate them deeply also. They often reduce women to being pure idiots (why do I have morning sickness after unprotected sex? a mystery!) or they reinforce this false idea that women can only achieve ultimate happiness by having their One True Love's baby. Ah, the number of women I know who are stuck in unhappy marriages, their sense of self completely lost because being a Wife and Mother comes first! Can those things be fulfilling? Absolutely. But a lot of folks are selling a romanticized idea of both, and SJM is no exception here.

Because look at what the Twilight baby plot does. It takes away all of Nesta's power, asserts her feelings of worthlessness, and encourages her to be a breeder for Cassian, who never even told her he loved her in their romance book. It puts her firmly and forever under Rhysand's and the Night Court's boot. It confirms that Feyre has also lost all her agency, that the High Lady title is meaningless, that her found family and Court do not respect her, that Rhysand will lie to her and trap her if it serves him to do so. That, ultimately, her body does not belong to her and she doesn't have a choice.

What really gets to me, too, is that these two women have to change their bodies to accommodate their love interests, their supposed fated mates. Methinks if it was fated, if they really were perfect for each other, this kind of change wouldn’t have been necessary 🤔. But also if this really were a fantasy story with all-powerful magical beings, there’s no reason why Feyre’s pregnancy should’ve been so risky to begin with. Barring that, there’s no reason why a C-section couldn’t have been an option. It was drama for the sake of drama, pain for the sake of pain. All filler, no substance.

Everything surrounding the baby plot and Nesta's forced captivity prove ACOMAF for the lie it is, a romanticized idea about overwritten trauma and choosing the Perfect Guy because he can read your mind and tell you the things you want to hear. I mean, how else do we go from Feyre earnestly believing she wants time with her new love, that a child can wait, to a Feyre who can't think of a single gift to give Rhys besides the news of her pregnancy? (Cue him cumming to the sight of their unborn child. I will never forget, and neither will you, dear anon, I'm sorry. But I didn't write it!)

And idk, given how much pregnancy in general squicks me out despite being a woman myself, how much medical care for women generally sucks, how many people are going through such pain with miscarriages, unviable pregnancies, and unclear yet strict abortion laws... This ain't it, fam! If SJM wants to talk real-life application with her trauma bullshit, then let's talk real-life application! Because no one, not a single person, has an I Am Become Death magic sister who can pull a dying mother and their dying baby back from the brink where medicine and the law have failed them. No one can have their premie who can't survive on its own suddenly turned into a healthy six-month-old. Who does this plot serve? Neither the reader nor the characters benefited.

I genuinely can't understand how SJM, as a mother herself, could write something so tone deaf, without even being brave enough to explore this kind of fear and pain with any care whatsoever. If she wanted Feyre and Nesta to actually bond over something... Feyre's pregnancy and what that means as a human-turned-fae and a mother could have been it. That could have been something the sisters discussed and helped each other with, where they could have learned more about each other and their deeper fears as young women in a society that does not truly respect them. Both of them share in family trauma, for fuck's sake! Now here Feyre is starting a new family at great risk while Nesta is still guiltily mourning the one she lost! The dots are there!

But no. Instead, not even Feyre is allowed to learn the truth about her pregnancy until Nesta tells her, and then Nesta is painted as a villain for doing so. Feyre isn't allowed to have any real opinion or lingering fears or doubts about her fate whatsoever. Because none of this stuff really matters, especially not the trauma. It's about the fucking, rutting, animal sex. It's about the smirking males, their dripping seed, and their inability to be anything besides horny at any given moment. It's about the washboard abs. Hey, a sexy story would be just fine with me! I just wish SJM would fully embrace that (and also write it better lmao) and get off her "I'm God's gift to feminism" soap box. Maybe take off the girlboss shades, too, because ain't none of her female characters even living up to the shallowness of a girlboss. The narrative undermines and undervalues them too much.

Actually, I have to clap my hands to SJM for this baby plot. I've never seen one that destroys two main female characters in a single stroke before. That's how powerful Rhysand's dick is.

#thanks for your question and sorry for this too long response! hate fuels my typing speed!#anti acosf #anti sjm #anti acomaf #books

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hellsbellschime · 3 years ago

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I have no intention to defend Criston's actions because ??? I do understand why he acted the way he did, it had been cooking since last episode with that dubcon sex scene, and my heart really felt bad for him, but like, he didn't need to go that feral... Anyway, I've already seen people mocking and calling him delusional because he was there proposing Rhae to go to Essos and marry him. Which, fair. But then Rhaenyra didn't say no because she had a duty to the realm or something, but because she just didn't love him. Which, also fair, BUT, as the heir to the throne, she should have the best interest for the realm in mind. That she refused him is right... That she did it only because she didn't love him and disguised it as duty, not so much. And that's confirmed when later on, in her literal marriage, she seems very open to the idea of fleeing off with Daemon and marry him, and even almost (if not) kisses him in front of all the people. Like, if Criston hadn't killed Joffrey, they could have perfectly dissapeared into the night, or try to. And then what? If she married Daemon she would have stayed heir/queen, since Viserys seems adamant on that, but the Velaryons had already been rejected and felt humilliated before, this would have been worse considering they were on the literal night of the marriage. It could have caused another kind of war, also with dragons, just because Rhaenyra wasn't willing to take the responsability of being heir at heart. I actually don't understand politics, but methinks that, at least if she left with Cole, Viserys could have blamed it on her to appease the Velaryons, Aegon II could have been heir without a civil war and maybe he could have arranged a new pact with them. If she did fly away with Daemon, as she clearly was willing to do, then the Velaryons would have had to see how she remained heir without consequences while they were once more set aside and humilliated. It would have been an even earlier recipe for disaster. Anyway nothing of this happened and is just speculation, of course, but I just don't like Criston being mocked when Rhaenyra clearly doesn't think about duty or responsability when it comes to her desires.

LOL yeah, damn Fabien Frankel for being such a good actor because I couldn't help but feel empathetic towards him even though he bashed a mostly innocent guy's brains in (although why the fuck he thought it was a good idea to open with an allusion to knowing a secret that could get Criston killed and be a huge issue for Rhaenyra is beyond me). I think they portrayed Criston's conflict really well, like he's basically having a mental health crisis and Alicent is the only person who seems to even give a single fuck.

I liked the subtext there as well, obviously Alicent is too pure and innocent for this world, but her dad's warning combined with the realization that Rhaenyra would destroy someone's life for her own wants really gave a solid foundation to her turning on Rhaenyra and fighting for her own kids. She already KNOWS Rhaenyra can't be trusted and that she will choose desire over responsibility, and I imagine with her relationship with Daemon growing closer it's going to be more and more obvious why she has to fight. And ultimately that's what it comes down to in a lot of ways, Rhaenyra should have as much blood right to the throne as any of her siblings, but honestly she wouldn't be a good queen.

#hotd spoilers

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toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account · 4 years ago

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A scene where Jaskier is getting drunk as a skunk when Yennefer shows up by his table. And he decides to confide to her but makes her promise not to tell Yennefer. She agrees to see when he’s going with this and he drunkenly rambles about how great she is. “But don’t tell Yennefer she’ll turn me to a toad. I’m too pretty to be turned into a toad!” Yennefer pats his silly head.

THIS IS SO CUTE! One-shot incoming!

"...And she's just soooo lovely!" Jaskier rambled about one Yennefer of Vengerberg, completely unaware that the beautiful lady he'd been blathering to, leaning drunkenly on her shoulder, was the very same witch he'd been going on about. His not recognizing Yennefer came not from any unusual glamour or shape-shifting - no, Jaskier was just that drunk.

"Oh, is she now?" Yennefer played along, leaning her head to the side as she looked at the far-beyond-tipsy bard. She hadn't expected Jaskier to start blabbering drunkenly about her right to her face, but when he told her not to tell Yennefer about what he was going to say - "Don't tell Yenny. Orrr tell Geralt, 'cuz then he'll tell Yenny! A big mess, that would be." he'd said - Yennefer decided not to make any effort to tell Jaskier who exactly she was talking to. Drunk words are sober thoughts after all, and the mage was curious.

(And quite frankly, she wasn't quite sure if she could convince Jaskier that it was her in front of him, or rather, at his side as he leaned against her shoulder, but this narrator digresses.)

But she expected to hear bardly insults and drunken digs at her that he hadn't said to her face yet, not the praise pouring out of his mouth right now.

"Mhm! Her hair is so smooth and silky, and I just looove when moonlight shines off of it. And her eyes! Oh, the most vibrant of amethyst!" Jaskier said, shaking his head to try to get his hair off his face. He following his praise with a hiccup and a giggle.

"And her voice is sooo nice to listen to! It's even prettier than mine, and that's saying alot!" He continued. Yennefer held back a petty remark - "I don't think it says much at all, really." She might have said. - that might have led him on to realize who he was talking to. She liked listening to him sing her praises. Or rather, blather them drunkenly.

"Is it? Hm?"

"Ooooh, yes it is!" Jaskier said with raised eyebrows, as if it was the most urgent of statements to confirm. "Even when she's being mean, it sounds like heaven! I quite like when she's mean, actually. It's sexy. But when she's sweet..."

He twirled his finger around the rim of his pint, staring at the splash of ale that still remained.

"...I really like that too. It's adooorable. But... methinks she'd curse me if I told her." Jaskier said, sounding more disappointed in how he thought he could never say these things to her than he was scared at the possibility of a curse.

"I don't think so, darling." Yennefer assured him. Jaskier only shrugged with a hum.

"...I wanna marry 'er someday, y'know. But I can't."

Yennefer couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wouldn't have been able to if he was sober, she thought, but hearing it while the bard was drunk off his ass made it all but incredulous.

Still, she smiled, smitten.

"Well, why ever not? I don't know of any laws forbidding the union of mages and bards."

Jaskier, as drunk as he still was, seemed almost shocked by such a question, as if it were incredulous. To the inebriated bard, it apparently was.

"How could I? She's incredible! Glorious! How could I ever get down one knee and ask her for her hand in marriage? To spend the rest of her life with me of all people?"

"Oh, you of all people?" She egged on.

"Yes, ridiculous, isn't it? I'm sitting here, all... drunken-like," He gestured to himself and his pint in a way that was little more than just waving his hand around in front of him. "And she's probably off somewhere doing something amaaazing, like killing a monster, or using some spell to take some dickbag mage's cock off his body, or something. Something phenomenal, just like her."

He laughed softly to himself.

"Sheee's a, sheee's a laaady..." he sang to himself, "and Iiii am juuust a baaard..."

Oh, no. He was drunk-singing now - a clear indicator that it was high time for him to retire.

Yennefer scooted out of the booth, much to Jaskier’s dismay as he lolled to the side.

“I think you’ve had enough, bard.” She gently urged, holding out her hands, “Come on, I’ll take you upstairs.”

“Oooohoohoohoohoooooh!” Jaskier huffed his usual indecorous laugh. “No, no, no, Madame! I will not bed with you! My love belongs to another, did you not hear me just now?”

Yennefer tilted her head, holding back an exasperated huff. Wow, he really was drunk off his ass.

“Not to bed you, to take you to your room. Your Witcher’s been waiting for you since he came back from his hunt.”

Jaskier raised his eyebrows a bit and nodded, seeming to recognize such circumstances.

“Ooooh, right, right, yeah.” He nodded as he put his hands in her outstretched ones. “Your hands... they’re soft like hers.”

Yennefer pulled him to his feet, “I try.”

Jaskier was indeed plenty intoxicated, so she wrapped an arm around his waist and started guiding him upstairs.

“Oooh, handsy!”

“I’m not handsy.” she huffed as she continued to take him up, “Just making sure you don’t fall on your arse.”

“So cold...” Jaskier mumbled as he hung his head, “Just like my darling witch.”

“I’m not surprised.” she told him as she found the room Geralt had rented for himself and Jaskier. He couldn’t think her a stranger for too much longer, could he?

Before she knocked on the door, the drunken bard spoke up again.

“Remember, you can’t tell Yennefer what I said. Nooo, no no!” He reminded her as he brought a finger up.

“Don’t. Tell. Yenny.” He booped her nose with each word.

Yennefer was passive to the pokes to her nose; such must have insured, to the inebriated musician leaning against her, that this stranger could not have been Yennefer, for Yennefer would have cursed his member to a thimble’s size if he’d tried to tap her on the nose like that.

“Otherwise,” his eyes widened, “She might turn me into a toad. I’m too pretty to be a toad!”

Yennefer, still endeared by the bard (he was plenty adorable when he was sober, but he’d been especially amusing in this drunken state), brought up a free hand and pat his head.

What a silly, silly bard he was.

“You won’t have to worry about that.” She assured him.

Jaskier nodded, which was more or less just his head lolling back and forth at this pont.

“Aaalright, if you say so.” He accepted as he started to nod off against her side, using her head more or less like a pillow. Yennefer grunted under the weight as Jaskier, quickly blacking out, started to slip into unconsciousness. She moved her free hand to knock on the door of Geralt’s room.

Melitele’s tits, Jaskier was heavy.

She heard footsteps approach the other side of the door until the room’s current, Witchery inhabitant opened it. Geralt stood there, armor having just been removed, looking at the two with a raised eyebrow.

“Geralt, your bard’s drunk.”

#sorry this is so late!#this was just such a cute ask and I thought it deserved a oneshot #and today I finally 1.) was in the mood 2.) had time #and 3.) remembered this was in my inbox #yennskier #yennefer #jaskier #julian alfred pankratz #yennefer of vengerberg #yennefer x jaskier #the witcher #witcher #my writing #answered #mine

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saintobio · 4 years ago

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Is it just me or do I feel like Gen x Toji would actually/possibly happen? I also feel like Gen's marriage also kinda resembles mc and gojou's. And that reminds me of Toji's answer on naoya's question about mc.

I'm so sad for Satoru, I have a strong feeling that mc wouldn't be heartless enough to push through the divorce after everything that happened, but let's see.

Let's talk about the society's number 1 menace, named Naoya, he's so scheming and manipulative. "Don't mess with toji-kun" my world was suddenly filled with hearts. Wife me up, naoya.

Poor Yuuta, I hope he finds it to himself to do the right thing and not carry the guilt and burden that his mom should.

This chapter was such a roller coaster of emotions and as a final part of my thoughts lemme just list things of what I think would happen next chapter/s.

*caregiver tells mc and momjo about murderous eula and Yuuta will confirm.

*mc would be kind enough to postpone, delay or even cancel the divorce

*Gen was actually the one talking to toji on the phone

*Sera trying to comfort gojou, but fails

*mc's angina attack occuring more often due to stress and probably more revelations

*mc pushing through the divorce after the funeral and all those revelations to save herself

*Satoru trying to heal from all his trauma including Nana's death

*mc trying to have a better lifestyle and healing her heart both emotionally and physically.

I deeply apologize for some grammatical errors, English is not my first language and I kinda suck at writing. This ask is getting so long so let me also apologize for that. This series really deserves to be published, it's so beautifully made and eehehehehehh. Saint, why are you so talented? Would you be kind enough to let me borrow some of your braincells? Anyways take very good care of yourself precious, you're a diamond and a treasure and I love you so much

thank u for writing this, i actually enjoyed reading through it and oooh ur theories are interesting methinks 🤔 also i do not have any braincells left :’( but ilyt you’re so sweeeeet

#saintobio.asks #series: sincerely not #tw.illness #tw.death

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the-overgrowth · 5 years ago

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Retrospective: “Faybane” #1

This is where it all started, on July 8th, 2016. Although probably a bit earlier than that, but this is the earliest thing I can find that’s actually written down, so that’s what counts. And back in the day I didn’t let ideas marinate the way I do now, I just started writing pretty much as soon as I got the idea.

Anyway, the document was created at this point in time according to Google Docs, and was last modified in October 3rd, 2016. It’s only 3 chapters long, plus one incomplete fourth chapter, and the whole thing is about 17k words.

Which is a lot for 3 chapters. I would say something about how I’m less wordy now, but the latest draft is like 107k words long, so, like, I will always struggle with shutting the fuck up, methinks.

Also, the reason this is called “Faybane” is because that was the working title I used, and the name of this document. I thought it’d be the proper title but like. It’s bad lmao.

Anywhomst, let’s get into it!

Some background info for those who are new or need a refresher: this WIP became a thing after I read and was disappointed by A Court of Thorns and Roses by SJM, as well as The Iron King by Julie Kagawa and some book by Holly Black, was it Tithe?

ACOTAR was the biggest culprit. I feel that this is important to keep in mind as we go through this mess.

We open on Sidra in the forest with a bunch of men she calls a hunting party. It’s clear she doesn’t want to be there, but since she’s the only decent hunter among them and it’s her sister’s wedding today, she has to make the kill to feed the people attending said wedding.

This is, as the kids say, big stupid, and seems like a very ill-prepared celebration? I guess it makes some sense for them to want fresh meat, but this fresh? What if they didn’t find anything? What if they didn’t manage to kill anything? Is the whole thing cancelled? Stupid.

We find out they’ve been hunting a boar and that this dude named Liam, our Gaston replacement, previously wounded the animal but didn’t kill it, causing it to flee and force the hunting party to follow. It’s up to Sidra to make the killing blow, which she does with an arrow straight into its head. This was back when Sidra was still YA Heroine Extraordinaire and the time period was Vaguely Medieval, I guess.

They begin taking their quarry back home and Sidra thinks about how she normally doesn’t hunt this close to the “Faewilds” because animals closer to the border are said to be bigger and more violent. There isn’t an actual border, people just had to rely on intuition and not wander too far into the forest.

She also mentions a girl named Wilda, who disappeared fairly recently and everyone suspects it was the fae. This isn’t relevant now, but Wilda will return in later drafts, I think.

Everybody, especially my family, knew that I was one of the best archers in town, whether I used a bow or a crossbow.

Shut up, Not!Feyre. Nobody likes you.

I should mention that at this point I didn’t bother googling how big wild boars get and just assumed they were the size of like, a thick medium dog. Which is, if you know how big boars are, very incorrect. Four men pulling the animal seems realistic enough, but then Liam just lifts it up on his own? Not buying it.

Sidra laments how much she hates Liam and we find out that he apparently tried to assault her and she stabbed him? And apparently she’s not happy about his marriage to Sinéad but can’t do anything about it because “Father’s word is law” and Sinéad herself laughed it off when Sidra tried to warn her?

Yeah, gonna call bullshit on that one. No idea why this was here or what purpose it serves, the reason Liam doesn’t exist in the latest draft is because I never figured out what his purpose was so I axed him entirely.

Current!Sidra would just kill him the moment he showed an interest in Sinéad, and Current!Sinéad would 100% believe her sister about something like that.

Some bloke named Connor strikes up a conversation with Sidra, seemingly worried about being this far away from human civilization. Liam teases him about it and calls the fae “knife-ears”, because I still had brainrot back then and liked Dragon Age and had zero original ideas in my head.

The men make jokes about having sex with fae women and Sidra seems so disturbed by this that she nocks an arrow. This isn’t the first time she makes references to feeling unsafe around these men, I have no idea why I wrote it this way aside from being edgy, I guess.

My village was mostly populated by men, and even though I wasn’t one of the pretty girls there, I knew these men weren’t picky, even with all their talk about beautiful fae women. I’d heard that fae women would kill their men after sleeping with them. I had no way of know it was true, but a part of me hoped it was and that Liam would some day soon get “lucky” and encounter a female fae, so she could end his misery.

Edgy, dude.

They eventually arrive and Sidra goes inside her house, which is a simple cottage with three rooms. I think her family are all farmers? It’s kind of confusing. She goes into her and Sinéad’s bedroom, where Sinéad is preparing for her wedding. Also, she’s blonde.

“Sid! There you are!” she said cheerily. “Killed a boar, huh? Good on Liam for taking all the credit.”

If you know your man is trash, why are you marrying him?

Apparently Liam seduced Sinéad with sweets and baked goods. I mean ... fair enough. Considering how Sidra complains about being hungry and skinny and going without food if she doesn’t kill the boar because this year’s harvest was minimal, I’m assuming y’all are starving.

We find out Sinéad’s mother doesn’t let her do anything around the house or farm, to preserve her “soft and white” hands and pale complexion so she could be married off easily. This makes zero sense, you’d think these medieval men wouldn’t have the same beauty standards as Victorian England, plus having a mouth to feed that doesn’t even help feeding itself is just nuts.

But remember, this isn’t Sidra, this is Not!Feyre. She needs to be sad and put-upon and a victim. She explains how she was never pretty to begin with and thus nobody considered her to be worthy of marrying off, which then meant she was put to work and became even less attractive because now she was so cool and badass that all the men were intimidated by her.

Yeah, in a village that already doesn’t have a lot of young women? I’m not buying this, lmao. But go off, Not!Feyre.

I’d been the one helping around, instead. Hunting, mostly. Sometimes I’d chop wood or work the farm. Marrying out of the house seemed impossible. Marrying up was practically a dream you forgot upon waking. Had I been pretty from the start there would’ve been a foundation to work from, but I was a lost cause even before my skin became tan and my hands grew veined and calloused. I had freckles which people mistook for mud and dull brown eyes, a long nose that had been broken one time too many and a mouth that made it look like I constantly felt a bad smell no matter what facial expression I made. I’d always been of rather short stature and had brown hair and thick eyebrows, which in combination with everything else made my parents call me their “little goblin”. The scar on my face didn’t help me either: men didn’t like it when their women were more battle-hardened than they were.

Oh god please, don’t go off! We don’t care! Stop going off!

Also what fucking parents call their poor kid a goblin? Yikes.

Sinéad convinces Sidra to get prettied up and Sidra is all “oh I bet all the men will just fall over themselves for my favor now huh” which is just the most annoying fucking thing, prompting Sinéad to respond:

“Well, winter is coming and game is scarce. If they want to survive, marrying the best hunter in the village might be a good bet.”

Yeah! This is correct! I refuse to believe people wouldn’t be into Sidra! Not only does everyone apparently know she’s the best hunter in town, but Sidra herself confirmed the men here outnumber the women and aren’t very picky.

This is fucking stupid. I’m glad I axed it. In my defense, I was very much trying to emulate the YA shit I’d read so far.

Sidra’s grandmother enters the stage. She’s very old in this draft, but otherwise unchanged.

She was a short and wrinkled old lady with extremely bad vision and an even worse grasp on reality. Or maybe an extremely acute grasp on reality, depending on whether you believed her stories or not.

Sidra changes out of the dress again to go out and help her father prepare the boar, all while sulking.

I didn’t envy Sinead, nor any other bride. Despite what most people thought of me, I wasn’t some poor ugly girl longing for the love of a man and the security of marriage. Did I enjoy the idea of having somebody care for me? Sure. But it wasn’t on my list of priorities. I was still trying to figure out what actually was on that list. Not that it mattered. The prospects for a poor village girl were very finite.

Womp womp.

We get some confusing and barely related stuff about Sidra possibly becoming a royal hunter for the king and also about where the village is located in relation to the Faewilds. She speculates that maybe the fae aren’t real, but the way she and everyone else talks about them makes it pretty obvious that they are? This was supposed to build mystery, I guess.

We skip forward to the wedding and Sidra is moping again.

“How are you feeling?” Father asked and squeezed my shoulder.

I wasn’t sure why he was doing that. I assumed it had something to do with the wedding and the fact that despite there being fewer women than men here, I was still not asked to dance. Though this didn’t really bother me, so I just shrugged.

“It doesn’t bother me. Anyway I will continue to mope and feel bitter about this thing that doesn’t bother me.” Hunny ...

At least Current!Sidra has the self-awareness to admit she’s sad and lonely.

[Father’s] marriage to Sinead’s mother was never out of love, more out of necessity. It was easier when you had a big family.

Except for when this “big family” is 3 people who work and 2 people who are just being fed, right? See, I knew back then that having a big family helps when you have a farm, but I also needed to make Sidra Special so Sinéad had to sit on her ass to highlight how pretty and feminine she was or whatnot.

Bleh.

They talk a bit about Sidra’s mother, who passed away five years ago, and Sidra reminisces about how she used to tell amazing stories. It’s all very ... whatever, and serves only to make this point for the hundredth time:

I wasn’t like Mother. I wasn’t full of life and spirit like her. I wasn’t loved and respected by the entire village like her. I was just her disappointing child whose existence they’d rather forget except when they wanted something killed.

Right after this there’s a really abrupt scene transition. Nothing about the wedding coming to an end, nothing about her going to bed, it’s just ... some while later?

Sidra’s father comes back home from ??? and tells Sidra he saw a stag somewhere, but it was hours ago so she better get a move on.

I’m not sure what either of them thinks this will accomplish? Like ... what is she gonna do with it when she kills it ... Carry it home? On her little boney ass? Hmm? I guess I didn’t think of that because I had meta knowledge that she wouldn’t get it home either way, so who cares about logic, right?

Sidra kills two rabbits while stalking the deer, and despite telling us earlier that she doesn’t venture far away from human civilization and the boar hunting being the farthest she’d been and that she wouldn’t go this far alone, she has no issue dwelling very deep into the forest this time.

Like. Henlo? Can we have one logic please and thanks you? Granted, she keeps stopping every now and then to Feel Things Out, but this really goes against how careful she was before and at no point do we get an explanation to her sudden boldness. Plot reasons, I guess.

She nearly stumbles into fae territories and finally decides to head back, except when she starts returning, she sees the stag she’s been tracking. It’s abnormally huge and has a “dark brown” coat that she finds odd, but of course she’s too stupid to connect the dots.

She sneaks up on it and honestly? This chapter ending still slaps.

A scream of pain left the creature and I saw it topple. But though my arrow hit a deer, a man fell to the ground.

DUN DUN DUN.

And yeah, the ACOTAR roots rear their ugly heads again. I liked the idea of the protagonist shooting a fae disguised as an animal, but I decided to cut out the middleman and just have her obliterate Val right in chapter one. Don’t worry, he doesn’t die.

#retrospective #my writing

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evilblot · 7 years ago

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Questions for your OCs

Got tagged by @bluenightfire so here it is, starring Oliver Veenstra and Greg Madsen (aka the odd speech mannerism duo):

1. What’s the maximum amount of time you can sit still with nothing to do?

O: Methinks not more than ten minutes then I has't to findeth something to doth, otherwise mine mind starts to wander in places whither it's best not to wend… 《 nervous giggle 》

2. How easy is it for you to laugh?

G: Being a child at heart and walking ticklish spot makes Greg what has been defined as a “Laughter Disaster”.

3. How do you get yourself to sleep at night?

O: It depends on how not restful I am. If 't be true I doth not collapse in sleep chamber at unreasonable times, I usually taketh time to relax by writing music or reading something. Or I masturbate. Or the three of them and not necessarily in that order.

4. How easy is it to earn your trust?

G: Greg tend to trust people easily but Greg ain’t naive about it. Like what they say, fool Greg once shame on you, fool Greg twice shame on Greg, fool Greg three times and congratulation you’re an asshole.

5. What were you told to stop/start doing most often as a child?

O: Mine mother at each moment toldeth me that I hadst to cease trying to completely replace mine father, not because the lady didst not appreciate that I hadst becometh the backbone of the family but rather because she wanted me to giveth priority to myself once in a while...

6. Do you swear? Do you remember your first swear word?

G: Sometimes, but Greg try not to. About Greg’s first swearing it could have been calling one of Greg’s classmates from elementary school an asshat. But in Greg’s defense Greg thought it was just a very silly headgear.

7. How do you cope with confusion?

O: I tryeth to worketh through mine thoughts, like considering mine assumptions and thinking about the consequence to avoid jumping into conclusions. What I still doth since lest I an emotional roller coaster but at least I tryeth.

8. Do you have a system of remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order?

G: Well, mentally placing things on top of each other often helps. Alternatively, sticky-notes strategically placed around the house are a blessing.

9. How do you deal with an itch found in a place you can’t quite reach?

O: Being rather flexible the problem doest not arise. Unless tis in the presence of the right person, in that case I’d shamelessly pretend I can’t reacheth and taketh advantage of ‘t to receiveth a free back rubbeth, if 't be true thee understandeth what I mean… 《 insert sensual brow wiggle here 》

10. What colour do you look best in? (Does he/she actually look best in that colour?)

G: Dunno, it’s not like Greg mind that much… (Surprisingly he looks handsome in pink, especially in rose quartz)

11. What animal do you fear most?

O: Lest I not afraid of any animal in particular, if 't be true I’d rather sayeth that I feeleth an intense disgust for slugs.

12. How do you speak? Is what you say usually thought of on the spot, or do you rehearse it in your mind first?

G: Greg don’t mince words, in fact Greg like to think Greg be a quite plainspoken man.

13. What makes your stomach turn?

O: Senseless violence. Thus having becometh the progenitor of a race of murderers without mine knowledge hath taken quite a toll on me.

14. Are you easily embarrassed?

G: Not really, indeed usually it’s up to Silvia to get embarrassed in Greg’s place lol. (I can confirm)

15. What embarrasses you?

O: Faux pas. And oft coequal myself.

16. What is your favourite number?

G: 8 because it’s shaped like a friend. Like Greg. (he makes me so cheesy wtf 😂)

17. If you were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic love, how would you do so?

O: I suppose I can summarize ‘t in platonic love is ride or kicketh the bucket while romantic love is till death doth thee part.

18. Why do you get up in the morning?

G: Uh….. Do you take hunger for an answer?

O: Valid. 🙌

19. How does jealousy manifest itself in you?

O: At first feelings of insecurity, possessiveness and inadequacy, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thee doth not wanteth to knoweth what kind of monster I becometh at which hour ‘t cometh to matters of the heart...

20. How does envy manifest itself in you?

G: Well, Greg simply ignore the thing but then Greg will inevitably get passive aggressive. Then Greg will imitate the person Greg envy in some way, either by the way they behave or dress. Maybe even do both. It depends on the individual...

21. Is sex something you’re comfortable speaking about?

O: I believeth that the answer lies in the question previously madeth concerning mine methods of sleeping.

22. What are your thoughts on marriage?

G: Greg believe in marriage, actually Greg think tying the knot is one of the biggest milestones of your life. Sure, it takes times and a lot of commitment but in the end it’s totally worth it.

23. What is your preferred mode of transportation?

O: I most like riding on horseback, but I’d not sayeth no to a boat trippeth especially if 't be true it's on longships.

24. What causes you to feel dread?

G: The future.

25. Who do you most regret meeting?

O: I would like to sayeth Zarok but I realize that if 't be true I hadst not hath followed that gent to Gallowmere I would nev'r has't hath met Lord Kardok nor the love of life, so I in earnest would not knoweth.

26. Who are you most glad to have met?

G: Greg’s naughty pie, of course. (Save meee 🙈)

27. Do you have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?

O: Not that I can bethink of ‘t, fear me.

28. Could you be considered lazy?

G: Greg'd rather say Greg be in energy saving mode.

29. Do you actively seek romance, or do you wait for it to fall in your lap?

O: I hath used to beest a very quiver romance seeker but then true love sooth hath fallen into mine lap so I guess that's ‘t. ‘t doesn't matter what thee doth because in the end love wilt findeth a way itself.

30. What memory do you revisit the most often?

G: When Greg met Silvia for the first time because Greg often wonder what Greg life would have been like if Silvia had not ended up mistakenly in the penitentiary where Greg was locked up and had not dragged Greg out of there… 《 shudders 》

31. How easy is it for you to ignore flaws in other people?

O: I mean, I tryeth to since lest I a stout believer that tis well enow not to beest perfect. But, at the same time, methinks thither is at each moment room for improvement so I point ‘t out without offending the person concerned so that maybe we can worketh ‘t out together.

32. How sensitive are you to your own flaws?

G: Incredible to say but Greg is a delicate soul that takes a lot personally. In plain words Greg be very sensitive, please be gentle.

33. How do you feel about children?

O: I love children, being the eldest brother among other 6 children I has't practically grown those folk and I doth not bethink thither is anything better than to beest in their company. Sure, oft those gents art noisy and clingy but at which hour thee cometh home at the end of the day and thee findeth yourself sooth submerged by their exuberant attachment well, then thee understandeth that those gents very much art the most precious thing ever.

34. How badly do you want to reach your end goal?

G: In case you haven’t noticed yet, Greg prefer to take things calmly so Greg can wait.

35. If someone asked you to explain your sexuality, how would you do so?

O: Well, lest I a sir I like women, there's not much else to sayeth methinks..?

Aaand that’s it, thanks for your time. I won’t tag anyone but feel free to do it with your OCs too if you fancy to.

#oc questions #summoned #atrocity #oliver veenstra #greg madsen #sorry it took so long but i'm never ready to do this kind of stuff lmao

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faithfulcat111 · 7 years ago

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The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, Part 8

Part 8 - Hamlet Part 1

Warnings: Death, ghosts, mention of incest, fart joke, hitting with a stick, fake slap, blink and you'll miss it sex joke, spoilers for Harry Potter book 7

Taglist: @thecrimsoncodex @themysteriousinternetentity @triceratop-hat @grumpymoonbird @phlying-squirrel (Let me know if you want to be added or removed!)

Patton entered, wearing his helmet with the curly blonde wig underneath and carrying a large spear that was almost slightly too big. When Virgil entered from the other side carrying his own spear and wearing a baseball cap, Patton called out, “Who’s there?”

“Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself,” Virgil tapped his own spear against Patton’s helmet before dramatically bowing.

“Long live the king!” Patton shouted, lifting his spear into the air.

“Bernardo!” Virgil lifted his spear as well.

“He,” Patton confirmed. “Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Fellatio.”

“Horatio,” Virgil stepped forward, tapping Patton’s helmet again. Patton lifted the front to get a better look, before dropping it as Virgil continued, “For this relief, much thanks.” As Patton started to leave, Virgil suddenly gasped. Roman entered, holding a long stick with a sheet attached to the other end, making spooky ghost noises. “Look where it comes!” Virgil said as both he and Patton tried to lean in for a closer look.

“Mark it, Horatio,” Patton said. “It would be spoke to.”

“What art thou?” Virgil asked, poking at the ghost with his spear. “I pray thee, speak!”

“COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!” Roman suddenly shouted, lifting one of his hands to show he was wearing a rooster sock puppet. He made much quieter clucking noises as he disappeared behind the curtain once again.

Virgil turned back to Patton once Roman exited, “Tis gone.”

“It was about to speak when the sock crew,” Patton turned to look back at where Roman had disappeared too with confusion evident on his face.

“Let us depart,” Virgil suggested. “And by my advice, let us impart what we have seen unto…”

“Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” Patton joined in before both exited the stage.

Roman stepped onto the stage wearing his Shakespearean hat and jacket. He posed in the middle of the stage before starting his monologue, “O that this too, too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew. That it should come to this, but two months dead. So loving to my mother. Frailty, thy name is woman,” Roman suddenly turned and pointed at a guy in the audience. When the audience member confusedly pointed at himself, Roman continued, “Yeah, you! Married with my uncle, my father’s brother. The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. I hate you, Mom!”

Virgil returned to the stage, calling out, “My lord!”

“Horatio!” Both Roman and Virgil dabbed before Roman continued, “Methinks I see my father.”

“Where my lord?” Virgil asked.

“In my mind’s eye, Horatio,” Roman sighed.

Virgil stepped forward, forcing one of Roman’s eyes open as he looked into it before stepping back and saying, “I don’t see him.” Roman stepped back, adjusting his hat as Virgil continued, “My lord, I think I saw him yesternight.”

“You saw who?” Roman asked.

“Your father, the king,” Virgil mimed a crown on his head, trying to get his point across.

“The king my father? But where was this?” Roman looked shocked.

“Upon the platform where we watched,” Virgil said with a smug smile.

“Tis very strange,” Roman admitted. “I will watch tonight. Perchance twill walk again. All is not well. Would the night were come.”

The stage lighting dropped to all blues. Virgil looked up in amazement with a whispered, “Dude!”

Roman started rubbing his arms, “The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold.”

“Look, my lord, it comes!” Virgil pointed off the stage as Patton entered carrying the ghost this time.

“Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” Suddenly a horrible farting sound was heard on stage. Virgil stepped away from Roman, his nose plugged, as Roman muttered, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

Even Patton had backed away, but he finally stepped on the stage, crying out in a ghostly wail, “Mark me!”

“Speak! I am bound to hear it!” Roman cried out, dropping to his knees.

“So art thou to revenge when thou shalt hear,” Patton said, hitting Roman with the stick every other word. Roman fell over and tried to scramble away, but the stage was too small and Patton just caught up to him, continuing, “If ever thou didst thy dear father love, revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” “Murder?” Roman cried out as he continued to scramble.

“Murder!” Virgil shouted to the audience from the other side.

“The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown,” Patton wailed.

“My uncle?” Roman gasped in shock.

“Your uncle!” Virgil shouted, pointing at Roman.

Patton finally let up, allowing Roman to get to his feet, as he continued, “Let not the royal bed of Denmark become a couch for incest!”

“Incest!” Roman shouted, still trying to stay out of reach of Patton.

“A couch!” Virgil shouted, completely ruining the repeating pattern.

“Adieu, Hamlet, remember me!” Patton hit Roman with the stick one last time, before exiting.

“Horatio, that was definitely my father. He hit me,” Roman said, pointing after where Patton had disappeared.

“Remember me!” Patton wailed out from behind the curtains.

Roman turned to where the audience member he was shouting at earlier was sitting and ran off the stage to give them a hug, saying, “I’m sorry, Mom.”

When Roman returned to stage, Virgil said, “My lord, this is strange.”

Roman sighed, putting both hands on Virgil’s shoulders, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. So-” Roman lifted one hand to fake-smack Virgil, “-piss off.”

Virgil gasped at him, one hand covering where the fake-smack would have hit him, “Not cool, dude!” He stomped off the stage.

Roman turned back to his audience, “I shall think meet to put an antic disposition on. The time is out of joint. O cursed spite that ever I was born to exit right!” Roman started to exit one way before stepping back on the stage, heading in the opposite direction, shouting, “Other right! This is a circle!”

There was a brief pause before the sound of a walker being used was heard. Virgil emerged from behind the curtain, moving slowly with the walker, wearing a long coat. When he eventually made it to centre stage, he growled, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be, Millennials.”

Patton burst out from behind the curtain, screaming very high-pitched, wearing an ill-fitting blouse and skirt and his blonde curly wig. He ran around the stage, kicking at the walker in Virgil’s hands a couple of times. He finally stopped, holding his skirt up as Virgil just sighed and asked, “How now, Ophelia. What’s the matter?”

“My lord!” Patton started in his high-pitched voice, circling Virgil. “As I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced-” Patton pulled his shirt forward, undoing the velcro in the back, now having to hold it in place, “-no hat upon his head-” He tossed his wig into the air, ignoring it as it fell to the side of the stage, “-pale as his shirt, both knees knocking together-” Patton lifted his skirt up to knock his own knees together, “-and with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed-” Patton let go of both the skirt and the shirt, causing them to fall and having to gather them both back up, “-out of hell to speak of horrors, he comes before me.”

Virgil sighed and leaned forward to brush the dirt off Patton’s skirt, muttering, “Gonna need to get that dry cleaned.” He stepped back, clearing his throat before asking, “Mad for thy love?”

Patton shrugged, “I know not.”

“Why this is the very ecstasy of love,” Virgil said a strange smile on his face.

“Well then, I’ve been doing it wrong,” Patton said.

Virgil blinked at him for a moment before sighing and stepping away from his walker, “I have found the cause of Hamlet’s lunacy. Since brevity is the soul of wit, I will be brief. He is mad.”

Virgil turned back to Patton to see Patton looking down at the walker and back up at him. “Have you been lying to me this whole time?” Patton asked as Virgil lunged forward to grab the walker again.

Before Virgil could answer, Roman burst out of the curtains, holding a book and screaming at the audience, acting like a strange madman. Virgil patted Patton’s back, urging him to leave as he took another step forward to deal with a still screaming Roman.

“How goes it, my lord?” Virgil tried, but Roman gave one long scream at one audience member, overpowering Virgil’s question. Roman jumped onto the stage and started making gorilla noises at Virgil, who merely tried again, “How goes it, my lord?” “Well, well, well,” Roman says, his voice slightly off to fake a mad man’s voice.

“And what do you read, my lord?” Virgil asked, leaning forward to turn the book that Roman had open upside-down right-side up.

“Words, words, words. Words!” With that last word, Roman slammed the large book shut, almost starring Virgil down.

“Do you know me, my lord?” Virgil asked with a smirk.

“Oh, I know you well. You are a fishmonger!” Roman turned around and hopped down to sit on the side of the stage, staring at one audience member intensely.

Virgil turned to the opposite side, quietly saying, “Though this be madness, there is method in it.” Virgil turned around to see that Roman had gotten back up and was looking between him and the walker like Patton was earlier. Virgil quickly grabbed the walker again.

“Daddy!” Patton shouted from behind the curtain. “The players are here and they want to do a play-within-a-play and I don’t know what that is, so you’d better talk to them right away!”

“My lord,” Virgil said, turning back to Roman with a bow. Roman bowed back before dabbing and practically pushing Virgil off the stage.

As soon as Virgil was out of sight, Roman turned back to the audience and returns to his normal voice, “I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. I’ll have these players play something like the murder of my father before mine uncle. I’ll observe the king’s looks. If he do but blench, I know my course. The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king!” Roman dramatically whips a dagger out of his pants and drops to one knee, holding it in the air. The lights darken to a single spotlight on centre stage, about three feet to Roman’s right. Roman looks down at it and quickly scoots over into the light. Laughter comes from one corner and Roman turns to see Virgil had come out and was laughing on a stool, watching him. “Do you mind?” Roman asks him. “This is a monologue. Very serious.” Virgil nods and makes a go-ahead motion, so Roman turns back into position, shouting as dramatically as he can, “To be, or not to be! That is the question!” Virgil bursts out laughing again, causing some of the audience to start laughing with him. Roman turns back with a look, “Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the laughter of you folk!” More laughing starts up, from the other side of the audience, causing Roman to whip around to look at them, “And by opposing end them.” He stabs himself in the hand with his fake dagger. By this point, practically the entire audience is laughing, “To die! To sleep! Perchance to nap! This is too much!” Roman suddenly throws himself back down into a sitting position, taking off his hat and jacket as violently as he could.

“Lights! Bob, lights please!” Patton and Logan, who had finally returned, ran onto the stage. “What happened? What’s wrong?” Patton asked, kneeling next to him.

“He laughed at me!” Roman cried, pointing at one of the audience members at random.

“No, he’s laughing adjacent to you,” Logan tried to explain.

“This, this is a circle,” Roman swung his arms around to emphasize his point. He turned to lock eyes with the audience member again, “That man right there, he was laughing at me.”

Patton tried to get his attention again, “That’s just Caleb. He’s been going through some things and he’s just stressed and blowing off steam.”

“He laughed at me just like he laughed at Dobby! You monster!” Roman cried out again.

Logan sighed and turned back to the audience, “Audience, this is a heavy-duty emotional speech and frankly, Roman hasn’t been himself lately-”

“Dobby is a free elf!” Roman screamed from the curled up position he had taken.

Patton stood up and crept over to Logan, “Who is Dobby?”

“That creepy little creature from the Harry Potter books-” Logan started.

“Creature!” Roman pushed himself back to his feet and started shouting at Logan, who was leaning back, while Patton quickly shuffled out of the line of fire. “Excuse me! Dobby is a house elf and he is a free elf thanks to the generosity of Harry Potter who freed who from the tyranny of the reign of the Malfoys. Do you know what he had to do day in and day out as a slave? He had to run away to help Harry! He risked everything to help Harry! And you know what Harry did? He went to Hogwarts anyway! Dobby risks his life to warn Harry of the danger he is in, and Harry is just like, ‘Oh, I want to go to Hogwarts. Blah blah blah.’”

“You’ve watched Harry Potter?” Patton finally speaks up as Roman pauses for a breath.

Roman gasps. “I’ve read the books too, you insensitive-” Roman cuts himself off as his voice cracks and he turns away to cover his eyes with his arm.

“Wait, so all that talk about ‘screw media, embrace the bard,’ that was all bs?” Logan asked.

“Well, no-” Roman started.

Patton cut him, a look of betrayal on his face, “Roman, you’re not even a preeminent Shakespearean scholar, are you?” As Roman looked down at the floor, Patton raised his voice as he asks again, “Are you?” Roman let out a defeated sob, “I’m not even post-eminent!” He drops back down to the floor.

Logan steps forward to crouch next to Roman, “But you took that course.”

“I didn’t finish it!” Roman wailed.

“I saw your certificate!” Logan tried.

Roman just looked up at him, tears in his eyes, “Logan, you’re an engineer, not an art major. I made it in Photoshop!”

Logan got back to his feet, taking a couple of steps back, “I don’t even know who you are anymore!”

Roman slowly reached out, grabbing his jacket, holding it to his chest, “I thought Shakespeare would be cool. That is would be full of fast cars and hot guys in codpieces and pink tights. But there’s just Virgil!” Virgil, who had started to stand up, sat back down, looking utterly stung and offended. Roman continued, “It’s just all so cold and lifeless. But in Harry Potter, Dobby is so great and kind. But then he had to go and die! And his stone says: Here lies Dobby, a free elf!” Roman fell to his side, fully crying by now.

Patton turned to where Virgil was sitting, “Well, I hope you’re happy. You broke Roman.” Patton turned back to the audience, “Ladies, Gentle-” Patton is cut off from another loud wail from Roman and turns to see Logan standing next to him, looking utterly perplexed about what to do. “I’m really sorry, but we’re going to have to skip the ‘to be or not to be’ speech,” Patton then turns back to Roman, coaxing him to his feet and helping him off the stage.

#the complete works of william shakespeare abridged #sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #my writing

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360degreesasthecrowflies · 7 years ago

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AndromedaWatch 01 - first reaction to the series

So, it’s been a brief break from my Farscape first watch/reaction series (which you can find entries in HERE or HERE), and during the off period, I’ve decided to do something a little different! By chance, I came across another late 90s-early 2000s sci-fi/space opera show I’d never seen before, Andromeda, so I decided to do a first watch reaction to it as well!

Without further ado, here’s my thoughts on Andromeda 1.01 ‘Under The Night’!

1.01 UNDER THE NIGHT

Spaceships! and a written brief intro. Semi conspicuous CG.

A crew! Lots of people. Red and blue uniforms. Antigravity harnesses. Andromeda is the ship and our lead is the captain, fun.

Everyone running about! But seems like it was a drill.

First leads appear to be two white dudes, one with the look of Buffy's Riley, the other Firefly's Mal. Longer haired dude is getting married. As this is the first episode this is probably going to be horribly wrong.

Also, the ship Andromeda has a female voice.

We are far future or maybe just alien; there's robots and lots of tech. We're leaping STRAIGHT into action too! Great opening.

Right, they're off to rescue a ship from a black hole after a distress call and we're less than 5 minutes in. Hyperspace jumping too, gotta get those tropes in.

Side characters we've seen so far include a black technician guy, feminine robot and a smallish green alien guy. Andromeda has hologram avatar too, an Asian woman.

Captain makes the call to try and save as many as possible, evacuation...but they're firing on them! Andromeda says that it must be a trap!

OPENING CREDITS time. There's a voiceover, and now an instrumental futuristicy theme with credits introducing our characters. There's the lead, male-bob-haired Captain Dylan Hunt, a blonde badass lady, dreadlocked black dude, a purple skinned Chiara-looking expy, and some others. Quite a big cast from the off.

Into the episode; now everyone actually IS running to battlestations, no drill this time. They're under assault right away, imperfect shields. They face 10k ships. Second in command guy suggests deploying extreme destructive bombs, but Captain refuses, aww, he's a good guy. (How long will that last?)

Second in command guy (Starscream?) notes that the attackers are his...race? ethnic group? nationality? so, as a precuation, recommends that he and all others aboard of that trait should be locked up just in case. Seems a little odd tbh.

Captain concurs and a bodyguard looking guy does it.

They aren't doing too well in the battle; outnumbered and can't maneuver. Also next to a black hole, they can't do their hyperspace jump again due to gravity pull.

Well, damnnn. 9 minutes in and the black guy dies. Eep. There was an explosion in Control, hull breach apparently. They're still pinned down for the next ten minutes too.

Captain orders that everyone abandons ship on escape pods. Ah, this will be the cast paring down, good, I hope they don't all die. The green alien elects to stay with the Captain in Control and may be female? Androgynous looking and shamefully I assumed it was not female.

Shot of everyone abandoning ship through some appropriately sci-fi +/ 90s style pods and passageways.

Well daaaang. We cut to Starscream and he kills the guards sent with him; a double-bluff! Ask to be locked up so he can get away from the captain and co, and just after offering his congratulations to the captain on his upcoming marriage too. Utter bastard. That's some Kill Bill shit.

He has a plan. Cutting between him and Control, where a female robot has stayed too. Captain decides to go INTO the black hole, fine, okay.

They're not strong enough to fight their way free, they need to use the black hole's gravity to slingshot themselves free... now, I'm not sure when this aired, but that sounds a LOT like the resolution of the first episode of Farscape. I hope this doesn't turn out to be a straight AU rerun.

Bug lady is the pilot. She does seem to ACTUALLY be an alien bug, and I quite like this. I hope she doesn't die. (She probably will, characters I like rarely last long, RIP PK lady lieutenant in Farscape). She speaks a bit of her langauge which Andromeda translates (her avatar's still here), good touch, saying that she's willing to sacrifice and risk herself for the ship's survival.

Oops Andromeda's frozen, avatar dropping out. Power freezing. Starscream is still doing things, Andromeda has noticed now but he blows out the camera. Andromeda is able to alert the captain to sabotage just as Starscream walks in and... yup, bug lady gets (quite graphically) killed, her chest front explodes out when she's shot (or blasted, didn't get a good look at the weapon). Eesh.

Captain spins around to engage. Starscream reveals his people are designed to be perfect. They all live within a Commonwealth, but Starscream's people want to take it over now. There's an issue with the Magog, who seem to be horrible people, who the Commonwealth have made peace with. Starscream's people want instead, revenge.

FIGHTSCENE. Starscream is a bit of a karate boy, this is more phyisical than I anticiapted, not just a shootout. Captain holds his own too though, flipping off a wall in slow-mo, which is revealed to actually be a time distortion, nice nod to the Matrix surely given the time this was made.

The two run back for their blasters and the Captain is hit first, but returns fire as he falls and may hit his opponent more critically.

He runs over to him, possibly saddened, and there's a 'what have you done' moment. Then they all freeze in time, Starscream possibly already dead on the ground, and we cut to the ship, already on course before its power was cut, dipping straight into the black hole.

Cut away. We open on blonde lady from the credits. We;re on another ship now, presumably. Blondie is a Captain too, Captain Valentine. Her coworkers are a wookie-faced dude and an expy of Wash from Firefly and Oz from Buffy in one character. They've found the Andromeda, but it seems a looong time has passed, years at least.

Seems we might have another Starscream situation here as Mr Wookie already is proud that HE - uh, THEY - have found the ship. Not a happy family, methinks.

More new characters! A scabby faced grumpy dude from the credits and purple lady, something bad might be about to happen to Wookie because I didn't see him in those credits and all these characters will be sticking around. Ms Purple has a tail too, because why not, it was the 90s, we didn't have weaboos yet.

So it seems these guys are salvagers - thieves, essentially. Already I can see this potential clash, immoral guys vs Mr straight and narrow. They were after this ship as a prize haul with big cash value and big rewards for them all.

The guy on Team Valentine is very much A Dude, we get it. He wants to spend his money on slave girls! Lovely. Neither Valentine nor Purple are impressed.

Valentine is apparently pretty strongly in debt, so that's what she'll use her share of the money for.

So, I'm slightly reminded of Alien, the original 1979 film now. These guys all work together, but don't seem to particularly LIKE each other and are just in it for the money. I actually quite like that, coming off watching a few shows where everyone ends up bonding unreasonably fast to an unbelievably close level.

Scabface wants to make amends with his share of the money. "Trying to buy absolution" as he puts it. He plans to build a hospital on a world he - or his forbears - killed many people.

Team Valentine are all technicians, nice, another nod to Alien.

So it reveals that Valentine, despite being the captain, was hired by Wookie. He's come along with them for this salvage mission. The Andromeda is stuck in time still, so Valentine will need to retrieve it without getting HER ship stuck in time too.

Valentine wishes to jettison their existing cargo before beginning the operation so the ship is more maneuvarable, but Wookie objects and has to run down to 'check' something in the cargo hold first; second Starscream confirmed. We don't get to see what he does but music cues are shifty af.

OooOoo seems his 'cargo' was people - some of original Starscream's kind of people, it seems, identifiable by their spiked arms, again, a nice visual cue to save them spelling out expository text the way many shows in early episodes find themselves having to do or resorting to. We get a shot of them emerging from fridge-like coffins (or coffin-like fridges, I guess) with THE MOST ominous music.

Right, operation go. Nice parallel right away to the other ship as Valentine intiates the operation with "okay everybody, just like we practiced", given the Andromeda's crew were practising too before the real thing. Valentine so far seems competent, no-nonsense and determined, with a wry sense of humour and strong sense of duty. I would expect nothing less from the female lead.

The irony as well that the Andromeda went to rescue and is now itself being 'rescued'.

So instead of going in, Valentine is very sensibly hooking it and reeling it in with grappling hooks.

Operation seems to be successful until three of the hooks seem to fail. Wookie immediately advocates cutting the cables and letting the Andromeda go, which Valentine laughs off and turns to Purple and Dude to see what solutions they might have.

Despite some of the cables failing, Valentine with Dude's help (focusing the engines into one blast of energy) is able to retrieve the ship and tow it away tractor-style.

Unfortunately, nothing lasts that long, one of the engines starts to fail off the bat. Dude seems to have it under control though.

RIGHT, cut back to the Andromeda. Andromeda's avatar is checking Captain Hunt too. Andromeda is immediately aware they MAY have experienced severe time dilations.

Annnd there it is. They've been frozen for 300 years. That'll be our main drama between Captain and our new characters, makes sense because I was feeling he and Valentine were actually quite similar despite the devil-angel dichotomy. Also... RIP Hunt's wedding, and I guess everyone he knew. That's gotta suck in the worst way. 10/10 for getting me to feel empathy for this guy in under 30 min, show.

Right, Valentine and co are all off to board the ship, leaving Wookie on board their own ship, presumably. Purple is the newest crewmember, it's revealed.

Donning space hazmat suits, they board. Dude appreciates the ship like an art form.

Cut back to Captain and Andromeda. The acting is good here and the music helps. They are in mid crisis given how much the world will have changed, maybe everything they were fighting for has gone. Andromeda detects Valentine and co, intruders!

Oops, it seems Wookie has boarded too, or are they back? (Ships look a little similar). He insists they have a deadline and need to work faster, while Dude maintains it will take weeks to get the ship going (presumably up to their future standards, too).

Valentine's crew split up (with comms) to search the ship for more clues about it and how it works. This will end well.

INTERESTING. So within Valentine's crew we have humans and the evil - in Hunt's time Magog, though, who can say which one of the aliens that is, Dude and Valentine are probably out. Andromeda has started to snoop on them through cameras and other concealed computers and comms and brings them up for Hunt to see.

So seems the Magog is Scabby. Andromeda also notes that Dude seems to be sick - with an easily-curable disease from their time. She wonders at the implications of that, a kind of reversal of progress perhaps? I should take the time to say that I do like Andromeda, despite her roboticy AI nature she has a charm to her and her competence and intelligence and calm are all positives to humanize such a character.

Hunt decides to engage the new team. He comes upon Dude first and calmly engages, quickly overpowering him without needing to fight, and addressing him measuredly.

Oops. So Dude doesn't seem to even be aware of the Commonwealth, three guesses says they lost then?

Nope, there's no High Guard, no Commonwealth, they lost, and not recently - 300 years ago! Possibly even straight after that battle, oooh we're going to have DIRECT angst then, that's an interesting direction and element to give your (presumably?) lead.

Additionally, having Andromeda here to talk to saves us having monologues, thought intrusions, or (the trope I disliked a lot in early Farscape) the lead, fish out of water, near-immediately latching on to someone he's just met and telling them everything about his feelings, using them as a sounding board and emotional support. Because honestly, who takes that from a stranger?

Andromeda and Hunt decide that they will search for remnants of the Commonwealth, even though its 300 years on. Back with Valentine, they are debating what to do. Purple advocates just asking Hunt to give them the ship. Valentine feels he owes them something anyway for pulling it out of the black hole. Scabby feels they don't deserve anything.

Hunt addresses them over comms; an ultimatum, he will not give it up to be looted, so they can leave, or he will bring force upon them. Valentine and co are still aboard Andromeda. They move to engage, then, Valentine doesn't like to be threatened, but Wookie intercedes. He's brought backup, and it's our dreadlocked Saracen warrior from the opening credits, along with a small army of extras, notably, none with the telltale arm spikes that we saw earlier, so what's his game? Was it a double-bluff? And that's where it ends, on a cliffhanger!

Well, I have to say, that was actually VERY good, by the standards of the time especially. Some obvious flaws due to tropes and what's become standardized over time passing in between this airing and me first seeing it, but in general, a very well written and acted pilot that established world, plot, tensions, potential tensions, character inter-relationships, and, impressively, seven main characters with an eighth just out of focus, a primary antagonist, and possible secondary antagonist, while also worldbuilding TWO timezones and political setups. Not too shabby for 42 minutes!

Other points; great character design and costumes - though I'm 75% sure there'll be a coincidentally justifiable reason why Purple has to be wearing a sports bra and hotpants and nothing else. Interesting spread of lead characters, two white guys, two women, a female AI, a black guy and a non-humanoid alien, just about what you'd expect from the time. The character archetypes are a nod to others in the genre and broadly into fantasy as well, and sketch out broad strokes for where I can see later characters being sourced from, e.g. the characters from the later Firefly and rebooted Battlestar Galaxica, even the Dr Who reboot which came several years after.

Valentine is, predictably (if you’ve been following my other review series), my favourite off the bat. Andromeda second, Hunt probably third - he's a very typical hero archetype, but convincing. The others come together in a bunch right now, Dude seems to be a Chaotic Neutral, Purple probably a Chaotic Good, and Scabby perhaps a Neutral Good, these are good balance for what may be a Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral lead - although Valentine shows potential to veer into True Neutral territory.

All in all, a great opener. I'll give it an 8/10, really starting strong.

What did you think of the show? Should I keep going? Let me know in comments or reblogs ;)

#andromeda #andromeda the series #90s #gene roddenberry #sci fi #reaction #review #text post #first watch #andromedawatch #dylan hunt #captain valentine #d&d alignment #review series #nostalgia #childhood

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aliceviceroy · 7 years ago

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1. Spirituality for dummies.

If your thinking is mired in shame and guilt (with perhaps a twist of drug abuse or suicidal thinking), then subscribing to a religion can help you climb to a higher level of awareness. Your mindset, however, still remains incredibly dysfunctional; you’ve merely swapped one form of erroneous thinking for another.

For reasonably intelligent people who aren’t suffering from major issues with low self-esteem, religion is ridiculously consciousness-lowering. While some religious beliefs can be empowering, on the whole the decision to formally participate in a religion will merely burden your mind with a hefty load of false notions.

When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute nebulous group-think for focused, independent thought.

3. Engineered obedience training.

Religions are authoritarian hierarchies designed to dominate your free will. They’re power structures that aim to convince you to give away your power for the benefit of those who enjoy dominating people. Religions don’t market themselves as such, but this is essentially how they operate.

Religions are very effective at turning human beings into sheep. They’re among the most powerful instruments of social conditioning. They operate by eroding your trust in your own intellect, gradually convincing you to put your trust into some external entity, such as a deity, prominent figure, or great book...Simply by convincing you to give your power away to something outside yourself, religion will condition you to be weaker, more docile, and easier to control. Religions actively promote this weakening process as if it were beneficial, commonly branding it with the word faith. What they’re actually promoting is submission.

Religions strive to fill your head with so much nonsense that your only recourse is to bow your head in submission, often quite literally. Get used to spending a lot of time on your knees because acts of submission such as bowing and kneeling are frequently incorporated into religious practice. Canine obedience training uses similar tactics.

Have you ever wondered why religious teachings are invariably mysterious, confusing, and internally incongruent? This is no accident by the way — it’s quite intentional.

By putting forth confusing and internally conflicting information, your logical mind (i.e. your neocortex) is overwhelmed. You try in vain to integrate such contradictory beliefs, but it can’t be done. The net effect is that your logical mind disengages because it can’t find a pattern of core truth beneath all the nonsense, so without the help of your neocortex, you devolve to a more primitive (i.e. limbic) mode of thinking. You’re taught that this faith-based approach is a more spiritual and conscious way to live, but in reality it’s precisely the opposite. Getting you to distrust your own cerebral cortex actually makes you dumber and easier to manipulate and control. Karl Marx was right when he said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.”

For example, the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Bible frequently contradict each other with various rules of conduct, yet both are quoted during mass. Church leaders also behave in direct violation of the Church’s teachings, such as by covering up criminal and immoral activities by their own priests. Those who try to mentally process such glaring contradictions as coherent truth invariably suffer for it. A highly conscious person would reject membership in such an organization as patently ridiculous. So-called divine mysteries are engineered to be incomprehensible. You aren’t meant to ever make sense of them since that would defeat the whole purpose. When you finally wake up and realize it’s all B.S., you’ve taken the first step towards freedom from this oppressive system.

The truth is that so-called religious authorities don’t know any more about spirituality than you do. However, they know how to manipulate your fear and uncertainty for their own benefit.

Although the most popular religions are very old, L. Ron Hubbard proved the process can be replicated from scratch in modern times. As long as there are large numbers of people who fear the responsibility of their own power, religions will continue to dominate the landscape of human development.

If you want to talk to God, then communicate directly instead of using third-party intermediaries. Surely God has no need of an interpreter.

5. Support your local pedophile.

In addition to being a serious waste of time, religious practice can also be a huge waste of money.

For starters when you donate to a major religion, you support its expansion, which means you’re facilitating the enslavement of your fellow humans. That isn’t very nice, now is it? If you feel the urge to donate money, give it to a real and honorable cause, not a fabricated one.

Religions offer a suite of special services to generate additional income. They’ll spout some gibberish while feeding you a crusty wafer, pronounce you bonded to a fellow human being, snip some of your excess skin, pour water on your head, proclaim your manhood, cast out your demons, pronounce your transgressions forgiven, and so on. When they can’t think of anything else, they make up some drivel like confirming you’re still loyal to them. The bill may read “suggested donation,” but it’s still a bill.

When you donate money to a religious organization, you’re doing much worse than throwing your money away. You’re actively funding evil. If you think that spending a billion dollars to defend pedophiles and rapists is a good use of your hard-earned cash, perhaps you should run for Pope. You could hardly do worse. At least Wall Street is honest about its greed and lust.

One of my Catholic high school teachers was later revealed to be a repeat child molester… written up in the newspaper and everything. I didn’t see any suspicious behavior at the time, and to be totally honest, I actually liked that teacher and was shocked to learn of his extracurricular activities. He was shuffled from one location to another by those who knew about his appetite for young flesh. I’m glad I wasn’t on the menu, but I feel sad for those who were. Methinks God should raise his standards… just a tad.

Why aren’t Catholic priests allowed to marry? This has nothing to do with what’s written in the Bible or with any benefits of celibacy. This rule was invented by the Church to prevent their priests from producing heirs. When the priests died, their property would go back to the Church, thereby enriching the rich even more. Apparently God needed more cash. It was a very effective policy, as the Church is now among the richest and most powerful organizations on earth. It’s hard to fail when you have a loyal force of lifetime indentured servants who work cheaply and then yield their life savings to you when they die.

Lay religious people (i.e. non-clergy), on the other hand, are encouraged to have lots of babies because that means more people are born into the religion, which means more money and a bigger power base. Condoms are a big no-no; they’re bad for business. Marriage is a big yes; it means more brainwashed babies will be made.

Would you seriously consider this sort of structure a “good cause” worthy of your hard-earned cash?

7. Idiocy or hypocrisy – pick one.

When you subscribe to an established religion, you have only two options. You can become an idiot, or you can become a hypocrite. If you’ve already chosen the former, I’ll explain why, and I’ll use small words so that you’re sure to understand.

First, there’s the idiocy route. You can willingly swallow all of the contrived, man-made drivel that’s fed to you. Accept that the earth is only 10,000 years old. Believe stories about dead bodies coming back to life. Learn about various deities and such. Put your trust in someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about. Eat your dogma. Good boy!

Congratulations! You’re a moron believer. You’ll be saved, enlightened, and greeted with tremendous fanfare when you die… unless of course all the stuff you were taught turns out not to be true. Nah… if the guy in the robe says it’s true, it must be true. Ya gotta have faith, right?

Next, we have the hypocrisy option. In this case your neocortex is strong enough to identify various bits of utter nonsense in the religious teachings that others are trying to ram down your throat. You have a working B.S. detector, but it’s slightly damaged. You’re smart enough to realize that earth is probably a lot older than 10,000 years and that pre-marital (or non-marital) sex is a lot of fun, but some B.S. still gets through. You don’t swallow all the bull, but you still identify yourself as a follower of a particular religion, most likely because you were raised in it and never actually chose it to begin with.

To you it’s just a casual pursuit. You’re certainly not a die-hard fundamentalist, but you figure that if you drink the wine and chew the wafer now and then, it’s good enough to get you a free ride into a half-decent afterlife. You belong to the pro-God club. Surely there’s safety in numbers. Two people can’t be wrong… although 4-1/2 billion supposedly can.

In this case you become an apologist for your own religion. You don’t want to be identified with the extreme fanatics, nor do you want to be associated with the non-believers. You figure you can straddle both sides. On earth you’ll basically live as a non-practitioner (or a very sloppy and inconsistent practitioner), but when you eventually die, you’ve still got the membership card to show God.

Do you realize how deluded you are?

Perhaps if you have to throw out so much of the nonsense to make your chosen belief system palatable, you shouldn’t be drinking the Kool Aid in the first place. Free yourself from the mental baggage, stop looking to others for permission to live, and start thinking on your own. If your God exists, he’s smart enough to see through your fake ID.

8. Inherited falsehood.

Is your religion based on the inspired word of God? No more than this article. Just because someone says their text is divinely inspired doesn’t mean it is. Anyone can claim divine inspiration. The top religions are decided by popularity, not by truth.

Even the central figures in major religions didn’t follow the religions that were spawned in their names. If they didn’t swallow the prevailing “wisdom” about gods and spiritual leaders and such, why should you?

9. Compassion in chains.

Religious rules and laws invariably hamper the development of conscience. When you externalize compassion into a set of rules and laws, what you’re left with isn’t compassion at all. True compassion is a matter of conscious choice, and that requires the absence of force-backed rules and laws.

The more we collectively abandon all religion, the better off this planet will be. This doesn’t mean we have to abandon all spiritual pursuits. It just means we must stop turning spirituality into something it isn’t.

10. Faith is fear.

Religion is the systematic marketing of fear.

Blessed are the poor (donate heavily). Blessed are the meek (obey). Blessed are the humble (don’t question authority). Blessed are the hungry (make us rich while you starve). Blessed are the merciful (if you catch us doing something wrong, let it go). Blessed are the pure of heart (switch off your brain). Blessed are the timid, the cowardly, the fearful. Blessed are those who give us their power and become our slaves.

That’s the kind of nonsense religion pushes on people. They train you to turn your back on courage, strength, and conscious living. This is stupidity, not divinity.

Religion will teach you to fear being different, to fear standing up for yourself, and to fear being an independent thinker. It will erode your self-trust by explaining why you’re unable to successfully manage life on your own terms: You are unworthy. You’re a sinner. You’re unclean. You belong to a lesser caste. You are not enlightened. Of course the solution is always the same — submit to the will of an external authority. Believe that you’re inadequate. Give away your power. Follow their rules and procedures. Live in fear for the rest of your life, and hope it will all turn out okay in the end.

When you practice faith instead of conscious living, you live under a cloak of fear. Eventually that cloak becomes so habitual you forget it’s even there. It’s very sad when you reach the point where you can’t even remember what it feels like to wield creative freedom over your own life, independent of what you’ve been conditioned to believe.

Fear in one part of your life invariably spreads to all other parts — you can’t compartmentalize it. If you find yourself frustrated because you’re too afraid to follow your dreams, to talk to members of the opposite sex, to speak up for yourself, etc., then a good place to start is to rid your life of all religious nonsense. Don’t let fear get a foothold in your consciousness.

Stop trying to comfort yourself by swallowing religious rubbish. If you really need something to believe in, then believe in your own potential. Put your trust in your own intellect. Stop giving away your power.

Dump the safety-in-numbers silliness. Just because a lot of people believe stupid stuff doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid. It just means that stupidity is popular on this planet. When people are in a state of fear, they’ll swallow just about anything to comfort themselves, including the bastion of stupidity known as religion.

*slightly edited*

#religion #ex christian #atheism #secular thinking #harsh tone but not untrue

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sheikah · 8 years ago

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Hello lovely, I love you blog so much! This question is not about Jonerys, but I would love to hear your opinion: Who do you see Sansa ending up with? Because so may people are like she'll never get close to a man again nor marry. I think she deserves a bit of love as well Xxx

Hi! Thank you so much :D

About people arguing that she won’t be close with a man again: I actually think there’s some validity to that claim. Sansa has been exploited and abused by men at every turn. And I think it’s made her more self-sufficient and independent.

Her winding up alone could be kind of empowering, I think. Because when Sansa started the series her main goal and focus was finding a handsome man and finding love. She’s changed a lot, so for her to be the Queen in the North or something in her own right would be super cool.

BUT like you I totally think Sansa is deserving of love <3

So in canon I think Sansa is most likely to end up with Tyrion or Sandor/The Hound.

Tyrion first–I think this season was kind of teasing that possibility. Twice at Winterfell it was mentioned in Sansa’s presence that Tyrion was a good man. The first time was when Jon received the letter from him and Sansa immediately and without hesitation assured Jon that Tyrion is trustworthy and was “kind” to her and not like the other Lannisters. Then later when Jon was trying to convince the other Northern lords that he needed to go South, someone teased the possibility of it being a trap and Jon said he knew Tyrion wouldn’t do that.

And then, when Jon does go South, the first thing Tyrion discusses with him is Sansa. This might seem obvious, but as Tyrion said, his marriage to Sansa was a sham, and it’s been years since they saw one another. For him to instantly mention it and then follow up with a genuine compliment, not about Sansa’s appearance but about her intelligence–and this coming from Tyrion who values wit and learning above all–is telling. I think this is possibly hinting at a future for them.

Because what Sansa said about Tyrion is true–he was always kind to her in KL and even though she was physically repulsed by him, I think it’s undeniable that she noticed and appreciated his protection and kindness. She even laughed and joked with him. So I think that now that Sansa has experienced even more hardship and also grown and matured more, Tyrion’s appearance wouldn’t be the issue it was for her as a young girl.

If they meet again, I imagine Sansa will see in Tyrion the man who respected and protected her to the best of his ability in King’s Landing, and the man who has also been loyal and kind to her brother at Dragonstone.

Tyrion will see in Sansa a woman who has only grown stronger and more clever and politically savvy in the years they’ve spent apart. And of course, she’s even more beautiful :)

I could totally see them getting married.

But I also think Sansa and The Hound are a possibility.

I’m not sure if you’ve read the books, but their relationship in the books is a bit more overtly romantic starting when he leaves KL in ACOK and asks Sansa to join him. He’s rough and threatening in this scene but he asks Sansa to sing a song for him and eventually she does it.

Later, when Sansa reflects back on the scene, she remembers him kissing her.

Sandor “had come to Sansa in the darkness as green fire filled the sky. He took a song and a kiss, and left me nothing but a bloody cloak.”

This isn’t what actually happened though. Sandor didn’t actually kiss her. GRRM confirmed this when he said it possibly makes Sansa an unreliable narrator. So to me, this signifies wishful thinking on her part. Sansa wishes Sandor would have kissed her. The thing is, she had this picture in her mind of a handsome, perfect, idealized chivalric knight that she would find in life. When she met Sandor, she hated and feared him and said he was not a “true knight.” But ironically, he is braver and more protective of her than any “true knight” ever was, and I think that was important to her.

In addition to that, Sansa kept his white kingsguard cloak with her even after he left.

I’ve seen others make the argument that music (Sansa singing to him, hence “Little Bird”), a kiss (albeit an imaginary one), and a cloak are elements of a wedding! So�� maybe Sansa and Sandor are going to be married one day.

After all, in 7.06 when The Hound was talking to Tormund, I think his comment about hating “gingers” was a little over the top hehe. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

I think it’s safe to say that at the very least he desires Sansa. When he was trying to anger Arya enough to kill him and put him out of his misery, he thought back on the night he asked Sansa to run away with him and said that he “should have fucked her bloody.” Not exactly what I’d call romantic but I think he meant it when he said he wanted to sleep with her and that he added the brutal details in his attempts to provoke Arya.

There’s probably more evidence for both ships but I’m not very well-versed in them :)

#answered

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choupetit · 8 years ago

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GOT Recap: Dragonstone

Airdate: July 16, 2017

Season 7, Episode 1

Our long national nightmare is over at last! Game of Thrones is back on the air!!! That’s right folks, Winter is Here, it’s Christmas in July and as last night’s episode proved to us…we actually can have nice things. Leading up to this day I kept reading that even though this is a shorter season, things are gonna move crazy fast. I won’t say that was the case for the Season 7 premiere, but “Dragonstone” was still a great episode, and Mama D has the recap for you. So in the words of our favorite dragon queen: Shall we begin?

Appetite for Destruction

We start off with Walder Frey throwing yet another feast for his extended family. Immediately I’m thinking this could be two things: a flashback or Arya doing her favorite face-changing parlor trick. It quickly becomes clear that it’s the latter scenario. Walder gives a toast to his kin and after everybody has taken a good ol’ swig from their cups, he starts to talk about the Red Wedding and his family’s bravery in slaughtering the Starks. Sarcasm and disdain drip from his voice and suddenly the room starts to gag and choke and pretty soon every man in the room is dead. Booyakashah!! Arya strikes again! She pulls off her Frey face and leaves the witnesses with some dope parting words to pass onto anybody who asks what happened. “Tell them the North Remembers. Tell them Winter came for House Frey.” Total badass. Not a totally surprising scene since we already knew it couldn’t be the real Walder, but still thoroughly enjoyable to see Arya avenge her family. Methinks Winter will be heading to King’s Landing soon.

Next we see a barren, frost-covered landscape and from the distance, a snow storm is building. I was really hoping for Queen Elsa to come prancing through yelling “Let it Go!” - mainly because my toddler just discovered “Frozen” for the first time - but nah, it’s just another shot of the army of dead trotting along. They’ve picked up a few decomposing giants along the way and now I have some new nightmare material, so that’s cool. Turns out, this is all a vision Bran is having while Meera pulls him on his sled to the north side of The Wall at Castle Black. She gives a good knock at the gate and Dolerous Edd, whom Jon left in charge, answers. After a quick “How do I know you’re really who you say you are?” check, Edd lets Meera and Bran in.

Sidebar: I gotta wonder at this point - have they just inadvertently allowed Bran to breach the Wall’s magic barrier that keeps the Night King and his Whitewalker posse out? We all know what happened after the Night King touched Bran in a previous vision and suddenly could walk through the magic field that was protecting the Three Eyed Raven’s cave. I mean…is there a time-limit to this sort of thing? Ya know, kinda like when Pac-Man can eat ghosts for a short while. In this case, the Night King is Pac-Man. Obviously, duh. Anyhoo, just a little question that is brewing in the back of my mind. But other than that, yay for Bran! Hopefully now he can get word to Jon and Sansa that he’s alive and that Jon is half Targaryen.

Speaking of, the Stark siblings (that’s what I’m calling them for now, m'kay?) are gathered at Winterfell with all the Northern houses and Jon is putting together a game plan to defeat the Night King. It’s pretty simple: put on your mining gear to stock up on Dragon Glass - and lots of it. Also, he tells Thormund and his gang of Wildlings to head to the Night’s Watch stations which haven’t been properly manned to help defend the Wall from the Night King.

Somewhere in the discussion, House Umber and Carstark are mentioned and Sansa seizes the moment to inform Jon he’s being too soft on traitors to House Stark. Later, in private, Jon tells Sansa not to undermine him by disagreeing with him in front of all his dude pals while he’s being a leader and stuff. Ugh, sisters, amiright? Sansa tells him she thinks he’s a natural leader but doesn’t want him to make stupid mistakes like their father and older brother did - which led to their early demise. Basically, what we are saying here is sometimes you gotta be a stone-cold boss biatch to make others fear and respect you, and Sansa thinks the men in her family have been too merciful in the past. She totally has a point.

A messenger interrupts their disagreement and hands Jon a raven from Cersei which roughly says “Bow down to me or die, Sucka! You ain’t no King in the North!!!” Jon brushes it off like “Whatever! Winter is here and the Lannisters are cold-weather sissies. They’ll never make the trek north. Oh, and btw I’m kinda busy trying to figure out how to save us all from the real threat: Whitewalkers.” Sansa warns him not to ignore the Lannisters and reminds him that when Cersei puts somebody on her sh*tlist, they eventually end up dead.

Field of Schemes

Aaaand…cut to King’s Landing where Cersei has commissioned a jumbo sized map of Westeros to be drawn in the courtyard so she can play Risk: GOT edition. Jaime starts laying down the truth bombs: Daenerys is on her way to kill them and claim the throne, hardly anybody in the seven kingdoms still supports them, oh and P.S. they haven’t even talked about Tommen’s suicide yet. Cersei, narcissist that she is, frames Tommen’s death around how he betrayed her by killing himself and totally leaving her in the lurch. “Jeez, get over it already, Jaime, cause he’s dead and he ain’t coming back.” Damn, Cersei, that was way harsh. And as for all their enemies, guess who’s coming to dinner? Crazy Euron Greyjoy, that’s who. He has a ginormous armada and is looking to raise his station and power by marrying a queen.

We see the throne room of the Red Keep where Euron makes his case to Cersei and proposes marriage. They have so much in common, after all: they’re both as nutty as a Payday bar, they wanna rule the world, and they wanna kill anybody who’s ever crossed them, including a family member or two. Cersei declines his proposal on the grounds that he’s not trustworthy, so Euron vows to return with “a gift” to change her mind. I can only assume he plans to bring back Tyrion’s head on a platter. Or maybe queen Dany’s? Or, perhaps even a boatload of fidget spinners made of the bones of Cersei’s enemies. Either way, pretty sure it’s gonna be a dead person he woos her with. #hejustgetsme

If you’ve been wondering how Samwell Tarly has been getting on, then you’re in luck! We see a nauseating cycle of Sam’s everyday activities which is pretty much working as a custodian and handling lots of nasty bodily fluids. Apparently nobody believes the Whitewalker threat so they aren’t letting Sam near the super secret library of special books that only maesters get to read (Spoiler alert, it’s porn. Just kidding). Undeterred, he sneaks a few tomes out to study on the sly.

We get a brief glimpse back at Winterfell of Petyr Baelish aka Littlefinger being his usual creepy manipulative self, asking Sansa if she feels safe or happy. She tells him to take a hike. Brienne and Thormund have an awkward sexual tension moment - which is really what we all hope/live for in every episode. Brienne asks Sansa why Baelish is still here. When Sansa says she still needs his army, Brienne muses “He wants something”. To which Sansa replies “I know exactly what he wants”. Not much going on in this scene other than the sense that Sansa is playing Littlefinger - or, perhaps she simply thinks she’s playing him. Littlefinger is such a slippery slimeball that you never really know if he can be bested. Time will tell.

The Road Less Traveled

Quick Arya update! She passes though a forest in the Riverlands and comes upon some singing Lannister soldiers. Really, this is just an excuse for Ed Sheeran to sing a medieval version of “Shape of your Body”, and we get confirmation that Arya is on her way to King’s Landing to kill Cersei.

Elsewhere in the Riverlands, the Hound is traveling with Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr and is trying to get his head around what makes Dondarrion so darned special that he keeps getting to cheat death with the help of Thoros’ Fire Priest powers. They are camping at a house where the Hound previously killed the owner and his kid - it was a while ago, but the Hound is acting extra guilt-ridden and ashamed. Thoros builds a fire and tells the Hound to look in the flames and tell him what he sees. The Hound, to his own surprise, sees a vision of the Night King and the army of dead descending upon the Wall. Looks like the God of Fire has a new convert.

Everyday I’m Hustlin’

We’re back to Sam at his home in Old Town, poring over his illegally borrowed Citadel books and he discovers that Dragonstone is sitting atop a mountain of Dragon Glass. Eureka!!! He’s gotta let Jon know, asap. Also…we get a surprise cameo from Ser Jorah in Old Town - or rather, Jorah’s festering arm when Sam is making the rounds in the quarantine area, picking up bedpans and the likes. A hand grabs him and a voice asks if the Dragon Queen has arrived yet.

Which gives us a perfect segue to Queen Daenerys arriving at Dragonstone. As she steps onto Westerosi soil for the first time since her exile, her face displays all the feels - awww, there’s no place like home, even if it’s one you can barely remember. Music swells as she walks up the serpentine path to the entrance of Dragonstone and she walks through the abandoned corridors into the throne room and finally enters the War room with Tyrion. Dany rakes her fingers over the dusty table/map of Westeros and asks “Shall we begin?“

Tell me if I’m alone in this: I was having some serious heart palpitations in that last scene ‘cause I was expecting an assassin to suddenly pop out and savagely kill either the Queen or the Queen’s Hand - especially when they were standing by the window. THAT’S WHAT GAME OF THRONES HAS DONE TO ME!!!! I’m always subconsciously expecting somebody to die. So, if you’ve ever wondered if GOT PTSD is a thing, let me assure you, it is. What a great start to the season, though! I’m curious to see how all the rumors about the fast pace this year are gonna shake out. There are a lot of irons in the fire so I think we’re in for some real treats and there is definitely potential for things to move along quickly. At this point it seems clear there is going to be a major battle at the Wall where Thormund and team are headed. Euron’s gonna do something crazy and, likely, shocking. Dany seems well-positioned to take back the Seven Kingdoms. Arya is gonna have a major clash with Cersei. And mankind, in general, may just stand a fighting chance to defeat the Whitewalkers, assuming Dany is happy to share the Dragon Glass wealth. I’m pretty stoked for next week. Also, I’m not-so-secretly hoping we’re gonna see Gendry sometime soon. Fingers crossed!

#GOTrecaps #dragonstone #gameofthrones #Game of Thrones #season 7 #targaryen #daenerys #Cersei #Greyjoy #homecoming

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getoffthesoapbox · 8 years ago

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[SnB:VS] EP3 - A Wild Love Triangle Appears!

I wasn’t going to speculate per episode but, dagnabbit, the speculation opportunities are calling me.

This series is the highlight of my week, I swear.

Mirroring the Opening

This whole episode set up a scenario quite similar to what we see in the opening theme visuals--Azazel being drawn out by Charioce and Nina on the move to save him. I’m not sure how it will unfold, or if we’ll see more than one variation of this scenario within the first twelve episodes, but I’m definitely looking forward to whatever is coming.

Now that I’m sure we’re not changing the opening every episode to switch to a new character, I feel more confident that Azazel is meant to be the main male protagonist. It’s still weird that Charioce is listed first in the ending credits, but that may just be because Charioce gets top billing as main love interest for Nina. Who knows.

Azazel and Mugaro

Well, I know what ship I’m switching to if Nina decides to be a fool. (When Mugaro is older, of course. Too young right now.)

Azazel is painstakingly tender with Mugaro. He has so much affection for the kid, it’s utterly heartwarming. I do suspect this affection will be tested when he finds out Mugaro isn’t a demon--Azazel probably dislikes angels as much as he dislikes humans. But his life is now going to be filled with humans and angels, in order to help him learn to see past the race and accept the common essence each of them shares.

Regardless, this does prove that Azazel has a good heart when he’s not being a prejudiced turd. This explains a little more the loyalties his fellow demons had to him in the previous series, as well as why he himself was never consumed with ambition. He’s a swell chap at heart; he just needs to overcome his biases against humans (and presumably angels).

I did find it interesting that Mugaro chose Azazel, rather than vice versa. Azazel doesn’t seem to know the extent of Mugaro’s powers, either. Mugaro seems to be hiding things from Azazel. It’s surely not out of malicious intent (I doubt Mugaro has a malicious bone in his body), but it’s likely so Mugaro can stay as close to Azazel as he can for as long as he can.

Azazel’s lucky to be protected by two incredibly powerful beings--Nina and Mugaro. Undoubtedly he’s going to screw up, and those two are strong enough to get him out of whatever tomfoolery he gets himself into. I also love how Azazel relies on Rita--she’s the one he feels he can entrust Mugaro to, and given how fond he is of Mugaro, this shows how highly he esteems Rita.

The Love Triangle Arrives!

The moment I’d been waiting for since the 3rd PV arrived at last! Nina has now met both of her main suitors--Azazel and the “Turbaned Gentleman”, who clearly is none other than our out of control king, Charioce.

Nina clearly has a “type”--tall, toned, and youthful. She can look at huge muscles and square jaws all day without blinking, but the minute some model-magazine quality young man walks by, she’s all blushes. It’s pretty cute. =)

I found the choices the writers took with this pivotal meeting between Nina and Charioce to be quite interesting.

Nina doesn’t get to see Charioce first (Hamsa warns her Charioce is an ikemen, giving her time to place a blindfold over her eyes). On a higher meta implication, this renders her blind to who he is. Maaaaaybe it’s just coincidence, but methinks not, given how careful these writers have been so far. ;) You never want to start off blind in a relationship--bad things come of that.

Usually in these types of stories, the “strong” heroine will lose to her superior male mate. Nina almost loses to Charioce, but it’s mostly due to her being distracted over touching him rather than his particular strength. He is strong, make no mistake, but once she finally digs in and gets serious, she easily overpowers him, sending him flying and taking the table with him. The fact that the story allowed Nina to win the contest could imply several things: she will win him over in the end, she will win against him in the end, or perhaps he’s the wrong choice for her (or any or all of these).

Charioce’s reaction to Nina is one of mild intrigue as well as a bit of posturing. He knows he’s an attractive man, and he knows she’s starstruck by him. He probably sees her as a bit of a country bumpkin. Her strength does impress him, and I expect it will be her strength (and her transformation) that will draw him back to her. What that’s going to ultimately mean, I’m not quite sure yet. The narrative did give him one tiny “humanizing” moment where he stood at the mystery grave stone, so he might have more to him than meets the eye. Will it be enough to wipe away all his evil deeds? I doubt it, but who knows. I’ve seen worse. <cough>Berserk and Vampire Knight</cough>

All in all, Charioce’s and Nina’s first meeting was more underwhelming than I was expecting, given the 3rd PV. Spacing out their encounters like this, instead of really focusing in on it, diffuses the impact (a direct contrast to Amira and Favaro from the prequel). This is very good for those of us on the Azazel train. ;)

Nina herself is clearly starstruck at first sight. However, despite her flailing and fangirling and her heart doing its pre-dragon thing, she never once loses control nor does she actually go “full dragon” for Charioce. Perhaps she will later, but right not Azazel is the only one who’s effected the full transformation from her. I’m not sure what that means, exactly, but it is interesting that they made sure to focus more on general girly reactions to Charioce, rather than the larger narrative implications of her transformation for Azazel. It paints the Charioce reaction in a lighter, more comical perspective. Obviously the regular viewer is going to see this and think “wow, Nina’s in love with Charioce,” which is exactly what the writers want. Tricksy writers. I shall not be fooled!

We have the love triangle confirmed from Rita herself. She asks Nina who she finds more handsome--Azazel or Charioce. The tricksy writers are at it again by not letting Nina answer. She does blink several times before reacting, however, and that implies she can’t immediately choose one over the other, rendering them about equal at this point in the story. This is important in order to keep Azazel as an option, because right now Nina’s not supposed to be pursuing him. She’s supposed to be pursuing Charioce, but we still need the clues leading toward her switching to Azazel later, because no one enjoys asspulls in storytelling. ;)

For now, Nina doesn’t get to interact with Azazel this episode, mostly to allow Charioce to finally “weigh in.” But she does immediately run to Azazel’s rescue despite only having known him for a brief time. =P

Charioce’s Romance/Narrative Trajectory

Despite Azazel having the opening theme dedicated to him, and despite all the cues that Charioce is the narrative’s main villain, he’s still being billed at number 2 in the ending. This implies that he should be either the main love interest or the main male protagonist, second only to Nina. I’m quite baffled, but, hey, I’m willing to trust these writers to give the story a good run.

Right now I see three paths for Charioce’s development, given where he’s starting:

Charioce initially is interested in Nina for her abilities/skills, but gradually falls in love with her. He and she clash over the treatment of the demons, and eventually he realizes the error of his ways through her. {The problem with this is that it basically mirrors Azazel’s Beauty & the Beast trajectory, telling the exact same story. Unless Azazel’s going to become the main villain instead, this isn’t going to work.}

Charioce initially has no interest in Nina at all until he realizes what she is (presumably after seeing her dragon transformation). He then goes about deliberately seducing her, as he already knows she’s starstruck by him. He works on twisting her to his will to do his bidding, holding out the promise of romance as a reward. This puts her into direct conflict with Azazel and Kaisar and co. This leads to several different paths where Nina can fight her friends, or tun on Charioce, or get broken hearted and try to save Charioce, etc. Lots of opportunities with this route that don’t conflict with Azazel’s route.

Charioce is interested in Nina and doesn’t realize who she is. He continues to do his usual evil bad guy stuff, and they have a pivotal moment halfway through where she realizes he’s been this jerk she’s been fighting all along. Nina realizes he’s not the person she loved, and she turns on him. Charioce, meanwhile, actually is in love with Nina and tries to win her back, but he’s committed to his path because he believes he’s righteous. This is a bit more nuanced version of #2 above which allows Charioce to be more complicated than just a nasty schemer. ;D

Honestly, Charioce’s trajectory is where all the fun is. I’m not sure if he’s the final villain or if Bahamut still is or if we’ll get someone else who’s pulling Charioce’s strings later on, but he does bring a variety of opportunities to the table that poor Azazel can’t. ;) Rock on, Charioce! I’m counting on you to make things fun!

{Fun fact: Charioce is why I wanted to watch this show in the first place, lol. And I’m rooting against him, lol. =D}

Rita and Kaisar

My secret OTP from the original series lives!!! OMG Rita calls Rocky Kaisar’s child! It’s his own darn hand, lol! (I adore how nonchalant she is about it. But the implications! She keeps a piece of him with her all the time! Gah!) The marriage implications! Kaisar gets in Rita’s intimate zones! He has eyes only for her! He doesn’t even notice Nina! But he does run after Nina as soon as the wife tells him to get moving! Gah! It’s so great!

I love that Nina asked if Kaisar was Rita’s lover (even though she didn’t know who exactly it was). Please make it so, show! I was so so so so worried they’d shoehorn him with Jeanne after that little short prequel episode they did with him and Jeanne recently, but I should not have feared! Rita’s devotion can’t be defeated!

This also explains why Rita lives at the capital. She must be near her Kaisar! I’m so happy I can’t even express myself properly. Please give me more, show! *ahem*

The Family Protects Its Own

Can I just say how much I love the way Virgin Soul is developing the heroic family? Genesis did the best it could with this given its limited runtime, but Virgin Soul is taking what Genesis began and running with it beautifully.

We’re getting more information about Hamsa and Bacchus, for one thing. For another, the team has really come together around Nina and Azazel. Their reactions to Nina’s mentor (Favaro returns!) are charming and perfectly in character with how they reacted to him during Genesis. It’s easy to see how much they not only love Nina, but love Favaro as well.

The fact that all of them, including Kaisar, are protecting Azazel explains why he’s the only bounty still able to run freely. It also explains why Charioce was suspecting Kaisar in the first place--Kaisar’s probably been letting Azazel get away more often than he should.

Rita trying to stop Nina from going after Azazel was the moment that really got me this episode, though. She’s such a caring, loving person, and she’s only known this girl for a short time, and still she wants to keep her safe so badly she sends her beloved Kaisar after her. The strong bond this group is forming is going to be something to behold by the end, I think.

I have a huge soft spot for stories that continue developing their characters from their earlier seasons, even if they’ve shifted focus to other characters. Being able to explore the original cast in new ways as they react to these new scenarios is one of the joys of a story like this.

I am seriously floored by how much content there is in each episode of Virgin Soul. This series has easily taken the top slot in the season for me, no small feat with Rinne and Shingeki no Kyojin and Berserk in the same season. I hope it continues to be such a complex and compelling ride all the way to the end, a credit to its predecessor even as it forges new territory.

In the meantime, though, where are Jeanne and Lucifer dammut! ;)

Until next week!

#shingeki no bahamut #shingeki no bahamut virgin soul #rage of bahamut #azanin #azanina #shingeki no bahamut: virgin soul #snbvs

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