#names similar to kane

[namesetc]

Masc names similar to Kane?

ale

adam

aaron

aiden

blade

blain / blaine

cole

connor

caleb

callan

callum

cal

callahan

conan

daven

donavan

dash

earnest

fawke

finian / finnian

holt

harve

harvey

jack

jake

kylan

khronos

kyle

kian

kyler

kade

kaden

koda

kaolin

killian

luke

mason

nevin

orin

odran

pierce

rune

reece

ryan

regan

russ

russel

shane

stirling / sterling

plenty more here

[skylarbee]

milex and 'white nights' by dostoevsky

if you love milex do not, for the love of god and the well-being of your mental health, read 'white nights' - i am crushed and utterly inconsolable, and the fact that this whole story fits so well with the lyrics of 'killing the joke' and 'the meeting place' and the la cigale performance has me wanting to cry until tomorrow, and i can't keep all these thoughts to myself.

for those that don't know, it is the story of a man who meets a girl and falls in love with her; unfortunately, the girl is in love with someone else and is waiting for him to come back to her; and in the end, she returns to her lover, but wants to remain friends with our nameless character.

the two characters meet during the night, always in the same place - 'but I want to see you tonight'

the man can't sleep, he is too excited about their next night when they'll meet again; he even goes back to their meeting place on his own: - 'he struggles to sleep at night and during the day/he's worried she's waiting in his dreams/to drag him back to the meeting place/his love had left him there' - 'he's crying out from the meeting place/he's stranded himself there'

things taking a wrong turn is indicated by grey and gloomy weather, rain and dark clouds - 'cause the clocks count down and we're in for bad weather'

the man confesses his love to the girl, despite knowing that she can't love him, knowing that what he is going to say "is all nonsense, all impossible, all stupid! I know that this can never be, but I cannot be silent" - 'why do I always have to go killing the joke?'

the man has been lonely all his life and has been unsuccessful with women, but despite his loneliness and despair, he manages to make the girl laugh multiple times - 'but I, I live a lonely life / but I, I know I'm a funny guy'

at the end, she writes him a letter, asking him to forgive her for leaving him - 'her voice still echoes/ I'm sorry I met you, darling, I'm sorry I've left you'

nastenka's lover has been away for a year, but before he went, he promised her that when he comes back, he'll marry her. but when he does comes back, he doesn't go to her and the girl begins to doubt his love for her - this is when how our character finds her. in her misery, she wants our narrator to come live with her and tells him that she will love him; but after discussing their plans, her lover turns up - and tell me that this does not remind you of la cigale:

"Come along! Look at the sky, Nastenka. Look! To-morrow it will be a lovely day; what a blue sky, what a moon! Look; that yellow cloud is covering it now, look, look! No, it has passed by. Look, look!"

But Nastenka did not look at the cloud; she stood mute as though turned to stone; a minute later she huddled timidly close up to me. Her hand trembled in my hand; I looked at her. She pressed still more closely to me.

At that moment a young man passed by us. He suddenly stopped, looked at us intently, and then again took a few steps on. My heart began throbbing.

"Who is it, Nastenka?" I said in an undertone.

"It's he," she answered in a whisper, huddling up to me, still more closely, still more tremulously.... I could hardly stand on my feet.

"Nastenka, Nastenka! It's you!" I heard a voice behind us and at the same moment the young man took several steps towards us.

My God, how she cried out! How she started! How she tore herself out of my arms and rushed to meet him! I stood and looked at them, utterly crushed. But she had hardly given him her hand, had hardly flung herself into his arms, when she turned to me again, was beside me again in a flash, and before I knew where I was she threw both arms round my neck and gave me a warm, tender kiss. Then, without saying a word to me, she rushed back to him again, took his hand, and drew him after her.

I stood a long time looking after them. At last the two vanished from my sight."

and despite all this, the man is not angry with her; the last thing he'd do is hurt her in any way; he wishes her to be happy - and realises, that all his life, he's only been truly happy during these nights with her:

"my god, a whole moment of happiness! is that too little for the whole of a man's life?"

which hits even harder if we read the epigraph of the story:

"Or was his destiny from the start

To be but just one moment

Near your heart?" (Ivan Turgenev)

[fallindomino]

read some posts abt the new pjo book which ofc got me thinking abt smth completely different ahshdjdj

say what u want abt uncle rick but he’s never written the same romance twice. like think abt it:

slow burn rivals to friends to lovers who kinda go crazy when the other is taken / goes missing and it develops to the point where the boy would rather fall into the deepest pit of hell (and do quests to ask gods for rec letters for college) than be without her (iconic, showstopping, never the same, absolutely one of a kind)

guy falls in love with girl only to find out he fell in love with an enchanted pottery version of her, which promptly is destroyed. upon finding the real her, she hates him before she begrudgingly begins to like him and then they get tgt at the end of the series.

girl likes guy, except due to his bloodline he’s cursed to die within a few months but she kinda wants to be tgt anyways. but wait! at the same time she also has a crush on this 4000 year old egyptian god bc his human form is cute (a form only she can see btw). she’s torn between them until in the last book they merge into one person??? and she starts dating him/them/idek???

amnesiac boy wakes up on a bus next to his girlfriend, only to find out later that a goddess implanted memories of them dating into both of their heads and they actually don’t know each other at all. over the course of a quest they develop some real feelings and decide to keep their relationship going. i think they break up later but i stopped reading the books before then so

boy and genderfluid person meet in the afterlife and trade snarky banter until eventually he accidentally confesses by using the power of his crush to shrink a god to the size of a perfume bottle

boy develops crush on girl who everyone else is wary of / doesn’t like bc she is the daughter of the god of the underworld. eventually he finds out that she died like 80 years ago and her brother brought her back to life bc the god of death was chained but he accepts her past and likes her no matter what.

boy is magically transported to the cursed island of a millennia old titaness who was promised freedom and is bitter that she never received it (although it’s theorized that she was granted it but all the gods forgot to tell her) and while he’s trying to get off the island they fall in love and he gets back to her by faking his death and using a magic compass to get him back to the island and gets her off of it. i think they also break up at one point but i again i stopped reading the books by then so

sunshine healer boy encounters emo death boy being all emo and pushing people away and goes fuck that and gets close to him and all the while the emo boy is like “a person likes me ??? for who i am??? sounds fake” and then they eventually start dating

[kitkatabasis]

Gilded Serpents

In an alternate England governed by mage dynasties, the impending death of a family head means a competition among their heirs. The prize? A ritual taking of the head’s life, and with it, their title, and the combined magic—and souls—of all their dynasty’s previous leaders. The competition, is, predictably, fierce.

And it’s never fiercer than when it’s for the crown.

The eighty-year-old King of England is dying, and the whole country knows the competition will begin any day now. None know it better than his three daughters:

Gunnel, 24, ruthlessly practical and constantly overworked, who tried—and failed—to fill the space the absent Queen left behind, and hides her longing for a life ruled by herself alone

Aikaterine, 22, easily personable and subtly manipulative, who resents her status as the forgettable middle child just as much as she uses it to her advantage, and secretly has no idea who she is by herself

Calla—her father’s unabashed favorite—16, prodigiously powerful and incredibly principled (and autistic), who memorized every subtle rule of behavior to survive, but now is adrift as her father grows unpredictable

As the days pass, the King’s behavior gets ever more erratic, the competition approaches, and a certain bastard’s resentment of his family grows, it becomes clear that this will be a competition to remember.

Let the games begin. 

[bi-octavius]

seeing my deadname show up on old posts that ppl have liked/reblogged is such a wild experience for me like. i want to raise my hackles and hiss and foam at the mouth like i’m some feral gremlin creature that needs to be beaten back with a stick jngjfnfjfndjfnfhf /hj /lh

[elvenmoans]

I'm doing a good Durge rn I made specifically for bg3, but my evil Durge is going to be the father of the MC of the book I'm writing. MCs parents were serial killer blood mages and if the dad also had dark urges he'd be absolutely deranged

[elodee]

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 9

Skizzleman x Archer

Skizzleman, Skizzleman! Skizzleman, it's the Skizzleman...in the style of Archer! I picked this one for Skizz because I, for one, agree with Scar; Skizzleman is a secret agent spy man. I also wanted to pick an adult cartoon for him and Archer is an adult cartoon about a spy so that fits just right!

Note: Archer is, as I said, an adult cartoon with a lot of racy jokes, inappropriate scenarios, and (humorous) violence. I love the show but it is definitely only for adults.

To learn more about Archer and see my style references, keep reading below the cut! (Fundraiser fundraiser Gamers Outreach fundraiser~)

Archer is a cartoon that follows the exploits of a secret agent named Sterling Archer and his coworkers. Archer is a very handsome, very immature moron who is only good at his job when it's funny.

The characters in the show are not exactly likeable, but fun to watch because they're all kind of terrible and so it is funny when terrible things happen to them. The show feels like a mix of Always Sunny in Philidelphia, The Office, and James Bond if Bond was drunk and stupid.

Skizz, of course, is very likeable, so he would not be part of the main cast.

Style references:

Some of the Archer characters - from left to right is Lana Kane, an actually competent spy, Archer, the main character, and Dr. Kreiger, the token German mad scientist (Archer heavily lampoons common American action/spy movie tropes).

Full body reference image of Archer that I looked at for Skizz's pose

A screencap of the Archer opening animation - the opening of the show uses a lot of colorful rectangles and silhouettes (it is a James Bond reference) so I included some similar colored rectangles in the background behind Skizz.

[powerpolyculeshowdown]

Do you have recommendations for shows/books/whatever with canon/basically canon polyamory?

ok the only media w officially canon polyam i personally consumed are Iron Widow and Hades.

Iron Widow is a mecha scifi/chinese fantasy book, it has pacific rim mechanics, so it takes 2 ppl to pilot the mecha but its more dystopian in that the pilot (male) usually drains the life force of his concubine (female). the mc has a guy shes interested in from the start but she pushes him aside to seek her goals to become a concubine pilot (theres a very good reason for this but i dont wanna give too much away) ends up being forced to work w the most dangerous pilot (spoilers hes actually a misunderstood sweetheart and i love him), her first love somehow finds his way back into her life so he can be their ally and its very clear from the first time he meets the other guy that this bitch is bi af. At one point he literslly saves their lives and i wont elaborate on that cause again spoilers but someone mentioned it in a propaganda ask. They canonically fall in live w each other and start dating. Please look up the trigger warnings first cause theres some heavy subjects addressed in this book. The book itself has trigger warnings listed at the start so if u find it at a book store u can check them this was too.

Hades is a roguelike videogame w dating sim mechanics (ish) -you give gifts to characters to learn more about them, and theres two romance options but you can romance both at once, they're both aware of and okay with it, hinting that they mightve had a past even before zagreus was born (its greek gods one is death incarnate the other is one of the furies, they've basically existed since forever)

From the submissions I got:

ive been told Leverage is like the korrasami of polyam, as in they were as polyam as they could be in a show from 2010, so it sounds like its canon but not explicit because they couldnt get away with that.

The girls from Amphibia are apparently in a similar situation, heavily implied canon, someone told me it was confirmed by people who worked on the show, but i dont think its explicitly stated.

The Kane Chronicles apparently also has canon polyam, although its 2 bodies, cause I think one of them has a god in him or something? I never read the books, but I was told Sadie (i think thats her name? The girl) is in love w both of them, and kinda dating both too i think?

I dont know if Singing in the Rain is canon but theres that kiss gif that got prrtty popular on tumblr where kathy kisses one of the guys then the other, so it looks canon? or at least implied canon?

Sense8 as some people have mentioned has 1 officially confirmed to be canon throuple, 1 that has a lot of hints to confirm but a lot of ppl see it as a gay couple w a very supportive friend ig and someone else said in general because of the plot u could kind of see the 8 of them as a big polycule, although that one isnt canon

HoneyWorks/Heroine Tarumono is one of those songs turned novel turned anime. i dont think its confirmed canon but theres a lot of stuff pointing to the possibility, you mightve see @non-fantasy telling me about them in a few asks. im obsessed and ive yet to watch anything

Penumbra Podcast: Second Citadel has Rilla/Sir Damien/Lord Arum, i also haven't listened to this one but a lot of people told me rilla and damien were in a pre-established relstionship, both got crushed on lord arum separately, talked about it and worked things out to now be a canon polycule

im She-Ra (netflix) theres a trio that is implied to be a polycule at the end, a lot of ppl called them canon in the notes but i dont personally ember it being confirmed? i am very forgetful tho. It's Rogelio/Kyle/Lonnie, unfortunately they lost the prelim round

I believe people submitted some others that were canon but im very forgetful so i cant remember right now

[brucewaynehater101]

So, just a thought

Janet is Kate Kane's half sister, Janet's mom had a fling with Kate's dad, or both of Kate's parents, and oops! Kate has a half sister that she doesn't know about. The half sister married Jack. Either Janet's maiden name is Drake and she forced Jack to take her name or she didn't mind giving up her name for Drake because the Drake name is less of a hassle than whatever her maiden name is and some distance from Kane and those connections was prudent.

Tim is Bruce's second cousin, he is family but also distant family by blood thanks to this affair.

That or Bruce is literally Gotham's favorite son and Gotham stands outside of petty things like time. Because it is outside of time, Gotham knew that it's favorite son would one day need something to keep him from going too far, Gotham created Tim. Gotham raised Tim to be as feral and independent as itself and to care for its favorite son as one would a little brother or a nephew.

I absolutely love cryptid batfam AUs. The second part of this isn't necessarily cryptid, but it has similar vibes. Also, the angst of Tim finding out that his whole life has just been preparation to take care of Bruce? Yikes. Poor kid went through it to be in charge of a grown adult. That's hilarious and I love it.

As far as the first part, being second cousins would be hella confusing for their relationship dynamics. Are they father and son? Coworkers? Cousins? Related people who don't acknowledge they are related?

I'd also love to see how them being cousins affects how Damian treats Tim

[damn-daemon]

It's come to my attention that there is someone anonymously stating that another creator has plagiarized my work. It takes roughly two seconds of looking at the work by @moireia to realize it is nothing like AVWH. An apology is owed to her.

My story concept was by no means original when I first started writing, and my use of Adelaide Kane as a Stark is not groundbreaking casting. Every story involving Game of Thrones OCs will have similar beats over time, especially during the content of season/book one. Overlap is inevitable. This doesn't mean plagiarism is involved. It's just the coincidence of writing in a popular fandom.

Please do not use my name or my works to bully individuals on this site. If you sincerely believe there is an issue, bring it to me directly.

Thank you.

[toasts-httyd-hyperfixation]

Since the PJO show came out ive been thinking of who the Trio+ is most like so have this

Some of these are open to suggestions, because i am not 100% on them and others you Cannot Argue with me on

Hiccup is one im not completely sold on

Like theres some aspects of everyone that fit but the problem is hiccup is Quiet and Polite, whereas most PJO characters... Not so much

Also im only including the main line so Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, and Trials of Apollo

If it was everything, i think id have picked Carter Kane and possibly Hearth but they're not here so we got Jason and Ella, with some Hestia in there too

Fishlegs is Grover

No one can argue with me and if you try, you are wrong

They would get each other so well, they are going to compose poetry, play the lyre and worry about their besties

Cami's was also slightly difficult, in that theres a lot of people i could have picked, but i couldn't put everyone there lol

Anyways she'd get along great with the Stolls, Meg is a trash Gremlin, and Leo is Leo, so i think yall get where im coming from

Thalia is only a little bit, not so much in personality as in vibes

Also cami would have the Biggest Crush on her and you cannot convince me otherwise

Snotlout is Luke and Clarisse

Once again, you cannot argue, you know this to be true

Me thinking of the similarities between Alvin and Octavian were what started this whole thing, which again, you cannot argue with me about

Also Nero

Nero and Octavian are the closest, but Caligula is there somewhat, especially towards later books, but Caligula is Extremely Smart, and good at fighting and being scary, so while theyre both cruel sadistic assholes Alvins just too pathetic to be fully similar

They're the only ones i did, tho i have some thoughts for a few other people

Windwalker and Mrs O Leary have similar vibes

For Toothless the characters that spring to mind are Blackjack and Megs lil leaf demon whose name i can't remember

Anyway thats it

(Also for anyone curious, Of Course i have a PJO AU and crossovers, who do you think i am? Ill talk about it when i get that AU list finished)

[downtofragglerock]

Alright, since we're still on the mammal train, let's talk ungulates

In our world, ungulates are a group of mammals that make up most larger scale herbivorous mammals worldwide, much like the carnivorans, they also have quite a lot of variation among the subgroups

Having counted, there are only 6, maybe 7, ungulate analogue rahi

First there's Bovidae, a subgroup that includes Bovinae (bovines), and Aegodontia (antelopes, sheep, goats, basically every two horned herbivorous mammal that isn't a deer or a pronghorn)

For Aegodontia, we the Mahi, a goat that, despite seemingly being the only member present in the mu, at least seems pretty common, and much like goats in our world are domesticated

For Bovinae, we have quite a few: the Kane-Ra, the Artahka Bull, the Fader bull, and the Mata Nui Cow. Most of these seem to be fully wild, but the Mata Nui Cow seems to be the exception to that.

The only other ungulate group seen are the Rhinos, namely, the Vako

But then that "maybe 7" comes in, since the Kikanalo seem pretty rhino-like. But they also are pretty kangaroo-like as well. They're a full on hybrid. So the question is, do they count? are they a rhino that has a body plan similar to a kangaroo? Or are they a marsupial that happens to have cosmetic similarities to a rhino? These are now questions I must live with.

But that's it ungulate-wise, which leaves a lot of groups completely out of the picture, as far as we know, the matoran universe doesn't have deer, giraffes, pigs, hippos, tapirs, or most notably, horses.

Equines, a type of animal that is a quintessential beast of burden for us, just don't seem to exist in the mu.

But there is a rahi that fills their niche, at least culturally.

A rahi that is a common beast of burden, but is also ridden, to traverse long distances, to race, and are used as calvary units.

The Ussal crabs aren't just the dogs of the mu, they're also the horses.

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

The anon talking about the inuis names reminded me of something not so wholesome maybe

Because I noticed the Japanese word for money sounded very similar to "Kane"

Like...

Akane

Hm...

No oh that makes it even sadder, it's interesting to point out and know but damn.

[reverieaudios]

I fully adore Kane's newest audio I don't think you understand it is everything omgggg I keep going back to the part where Kane's speaking in his native language over and over because it sounds so cool!!! I don't know how to describe it but it sounds like a real language?? I know it's not actually a real language but it just sounds so natural coming from him?? Did you actually create a whole language or is it just random made up words? Either way it turned out wonderful!!

Thank you so much, I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun with that part lol

I haven't made an entire language for him and Dion yet (knowing myself it probably will happen someday lmao) but I've had some general grammar/pronunciation rules ever since I started naming various things from their reality

Like they don't have 2nd person pronouns in their dialect, so the "you" is either implied or they use someone's name or title to address them. There's some common prefixes/suffixes for things too. There's also a lot of th's and z's and sh's because that sounds like fire and I thought it'd be fun lol

As for what he says in the video, I didn't make direct translations of everything he says, but there's some words that I kind of singled out and gave a purpose lol. Like "sortem" means "do you understand?" While "sem" is a shortened/more informal version, similar to saying "got it?" (There's a full translation in the pinned comment of that video if you haven't seen it)

[basicrese]

oh my gods i could cry right now, i really could.

so here's my reactions to the first two episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians (long post ahead):

Episode 1

To start, I know we've seen and heard this from the trailer and sneak peeks already but hearing the line for real from the first episode, oh I almost lost it right then and there. This has been YEARS in the making.

Baby percy already embodying the snark and sass from facial expressions and internal monologue alone, i love him

In a similar regard, I know we've already seen it from sneak peeks but the possible Blackjack cameo made me so happy 🥹

The portrayal of the mist is everything I wanted and more actually

Sally being a Medusa ally, i know that's right!!!!!

"appointment to see Mr. Kane?????" "at D'angelo's??????" They're making me go crazy because all these subtle name drops and I have no idea if they're just tiny easter eggs or if they mean something in the long run 😩😩

the design for Mrs. Dodds as a fury?????? absolutely amazing and I love how they carried that entire scene out; how she was there one moment and gone the next and that Percy didn't suddenly turn into this invincible warrior. It perfectly set up the suspiciousness of what just happened because it all happened so fast and there was no room for Percy to process what actually happened because suddenly no one even knows who she is. BUT YET there's a momentary flicker of guilt and hesitation in Grover's face and curiosity in Mr. Brunner's (just as it was written!). You can almost hear Percy's inner monologue doubting their words because it didn't add up to their body language but simultaneously doubting his narrative too because everyone is proving what he saw otherwise.

"I'm all wet now" as Sally, dripping wet because she had just been basking in the rain, goes to hug him. there is little to none seriousness in this child's body

"You fell in love with God? Like Jesus?" unseriousness.

the very intentional lighting during the goodbye scene in the way it only cast golden on half of Percy and Sally's faces

the depiction of Sally being crushed like ofc we know she's being held captive in the Underworld BUT PERCY DOESN'T AND HE THINKS HE JUST WATCHED HIS MOTHER DIE IN SUCH A BRUTAL WAY RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS EYES I COULD SOB LIKE THE WAY HE FOUGHT? THAT WAS ALL RAGE AND DESPAIR.

ngl Percy just dropping names left and right made me so anxious with the whole "names have power thing" HJGKLDSBSG had me going "don't say his name out loud!!" during the car scene

oh that end-credits was gorgeous. and the way it depicts the entire story even ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

the sneak peek of camp after the credits, we're about to eat!!!

i did not realize rick even cameoed until i saw it on twitter help

Episode 2

"You drool when you sleep." SCENE EVERYBODY CHEERED

Mr. D passed out while holding a can of coke is the only way he could have been introduced actually (and the first Peter Johnson!)

The Big House is so pretty???

The vulnerability in Percy's voice when he was asking for help to find his dad i can't do this 🧎🏻‍♀️

THE. CAMP. IT'S SO VAST AND BEAUTIFUL I COULD ONLY DREAM OF TIMES LIKE THESE IN THE PAST. also the way i'm taking it right now is that the cabins are already so gorgeous so when annabeth revamps the place by tlo? they are going to go crazier with the set design i fear

the supposed red herring on the scoring that makes you think luke is gonna bully percy but he's actually a good guy that'll be a mentor figure to him WHEN THAT IN FACT IS THE REAL RED HERRING LIKE IT'S THE GENIUS OVER GENIUS FOR ME

i was kinda lost on who the other guy with luke and percy was at first until i realized it was chris. he doesn't know what'll happen to him when the fourth season rolls around like laugh while u still can chris

percy already advocating for the unclaimed, he has always been a real one!!!

grover you sweet little satyr i need to give him a hug. the protector also needs to be protected 🥹

the way i could tell there would be an answer to the god of disappointment joke help; like they're quips to you percy but they will actually have answers to every rhetorical question you throw their way 😭😭

"ignoring me is one thing, but he doesn't get to ignore you." one thing about percy, his mother always comes first 🙏

i can't get enough over the gorgeous cinematography I CAN'T

dior embodies clarisse's pride and cruelty with such accuracy but she's so pretty i wanna forget how mean she is LMAO

the percabeth dynamics already going so strong i could cry, like that first interaction???

i love ms. annabeth chase so much she is everything to me, the poise! the confidence! the leadership!

the capture the flag sequences oh it was everything

"I am Sally Jackson's son!" EXACTLYYYY

overall, i am going through the motions and it has been absolutely beautiful so far and everything down to the cast, crew, production, set design, costume design, scoring, cinematography has been done immensely well. i can't believe we're actually here 🥹💙

[reikunrei]

"...the most scared out of all of us."

Several months ago, when I first started playing around with Doctor Who analysis as it pertained to Stranger Things, I decided to watch one of my favorite episodes for fun:

Season 4, Episode 11: Midnight

I posted some screenshots of it because some of the lines/ideas presented in it are very.... y'know. And while I didn't go into the episode with any memory of similarities to st, I found myself surprised by the number of shared details between the two shows. So, I figured... why not make a little postie about it?

So, the episode stars the Doctor and his companion, Donna, visiting a crystalline planet named Midnight. Donna stays behind for a spa day at the so-called "Leisure Palace" that's been erected as a tourist spot while the Doctor goes on a many-hours-long shuttle tour to a sapphire waterfall. The planet itself is extremely dangerous with an entirely uninhabitable atmosphere - there is absolutely no life on the planet, aside from visitors who are in highly equipped buildings and vehicles that stave off the literally vaporizing planet exterior.

Thus, with Donna staying behind, the Doctor is now alone with a bus full of strangers, who tuck in for their long trek to the crystal falls.

Just to get the other characters out of the way for clarity's sake, we have the hostess, a lone passenger named Sky, husband and wife Biff and Val Kane and their son Jethro, and Professor Hobbes and his assistant Dee Dee. There's also a driver and a mechanic on board who are in the cockpit.

The driver explains to them all that they're taking a slight detour, as part of the usual path has been obstructed by debris, and they begin their venture into totally uncharted territory.

While normally the bus has myriad entertainment for the long trip, the Doctor, using his Sonic Screwdriver, shuts down the overwhelming number of devices, which results in all of the passengers talking and getting to know each other better. We get several short scenes of everyone talking and laughing, sharing stories and such. Most notably, the Doctor sits with Sky over lunch and they chat about why they're there. The Doctor explains he didn't come here alone, he's with Donna, but she didn't want to come along the tour. Sky explains that she's recently become single because "she (her partner) needed her own space" and is still getting used to traveling alone.

Prof. Hobbes even gives a brief presentation on the planet Midnight. It's his specialty, and he's been on this exact tour to the falls 14 times now.

This is emphasized a lot through the episode: there's no life on the planet, no one has ever set foot on it or touched it in any actual way, and they really don't know what's out there, aside from the general agreement that there shouldn't be any life that can exist on its surface. As I said earlier, they've even taken a path different from the normal route, so they wind up in places that literally no one has ever been before.

While it's confirmed that both the UD and Dimension X contain forms of life in the shape of the democreatures and the Shadow, the sentiment reminded me a lot of Vecna's whole "unspoiled by mankind" thing; and Henry's exclamation in the VR game that "there's life" in the UD, as if it's a surprise.

Then, suddenly, the bus stops. It shudders, the lights flicker briefly, and they come to a halt for seemingly no reason. Everyone is immediately concerned, especially Sky, who snaps that there's "no point in denying it" when Prof. Hobbes explains that the buses never stop on these tours.

The Doctor weasels his way into the cockpit to talk to the driver and mechanic to see what's up, and they all confirm that nothing is actually wrong, they've simply stopped. As they're stopped, the Doctor goads the driver into lifting the screens on the windows (as seen in the last screenshots) just to get a glimpse of the planet in the few minutes of safety they have behind the glass. However, the mechanic spots something strange.

No further comment necessary.

When the Doctor returns to the other passengers, Sky is still agitated. Dee Dee probes him on his explanation that the engines are "just stabilizing" because they're "micropetrol" engines that don't stabilize. When Prof. Hobbes further asks what's wrong, the Doctor gives a non-answer. Someone throws out the question of how much air they have; Val and Biff overhear and ask, frantic, what they just said. Even the hostess gives a non-answer when asked if they're running out of air, what's going on, etc. etc., until everyone, frightened, begins yelling over one another. The Doctor quiets everyone down and Dee Dee explains that these buses are designed to filter air so they won't run out, shutting down that fear. However, they still don't know why they've stopped.

Then, something bangs on the outside of the bus - two knocks. Prof. Hobbes and Dee Dee try to explain it away with the metal of the bus cooling/settling or rocks falling on the sides. However, the banging happens again and again, moving down the length of the bus. Again, it's (allegedly) impossible for anyone to be outside. The knocking even moves to the back emergency exit, where it begins trying to rattle with the door handle.

"It" is what "Henry" calls the Shadow in TFS rather than "he."

The banging moves to the roof of the bus before trying the main entrance. Biff knocks on the door three times, and the mystery knocking returns the three knocks. The Doctor knocks four times, and it returns four times. Now it's confirmed that it's something sentient. Sky is especially freaked out by this.

When the bus finally settles again, Jethro notices that Sky is sitting, crouched, on the floor at the front of the bus with her hands on her head. The seats around her have been ripped off the floor, as if by some unnatural strength. The Doctor approaches her to comfort her, telling her they're alright and the wall of the bus is still intact, though horribly dented inward.

The hostess can't get ahold of the driver, and thus tries the door to the cockpit, only to find that it's been entirely ripped off of the front of the bus. They slam the door shut before anyone can get sucked out. Thankfully, a distress signal and their location had already been sent out, but the driver and mechanic are dead, "reduced to dust." Like they were...... dematerialized......

The Doctor re-approaches Sky in an attempt to get her to come out of hiding. Jethro comments that the knocking has stopped, but what if that means it's now inside? "It was heading for her," he says as he nods toward Sky, who the Doctor is finally pulling out of hiding. However, when she turns to look at them all, she's unnatural. Her gaze flicks rapidly between everyone as she stares, wide-eyed and blank, like she's studying them. The Doctor cocks his head at her, and she cocks hers back. He asks her name, and she repeats it back to him.

He begins asking if she's hurt, etc., and she repeats the same questions and phrases right back to him. When the others start speaking, she whips her head toward them and echoes their words as well.

Again, no further comment necessary, aside from a quick link to Em's post about doppelgangers and making a special highlight of "when One kills, he consumes."

This continues to frighten everyone, who begin talking over each other and yelling at Sky to stop copying them when she, obviously, continues. Jethro gleefully begins shouting silly things to get her to repeat, specifically yelling "666." Ah, Victor Creel, emo kid Colin Morgan would've believed you when you said it was a demon.

Only when the backup power system kicks on does everyone get startled out of their panic, but as the hostess is telling everyone to calm down, they find that Sky's condition has progressed...

Here I also want to point out the growing change in Sky's physical demeanor. At first, as seen in the previous set of screenshots, her expression is fairly blank. However, as seen above, she starts to appear almost smug. And this continues through the episode; even the cadence of her voice is almost sing-song-y and smarmy. This isn't actually pointed out in the show, nor is there any clear explanation offered, but in my opinion it's likely due to the entity feeding off of/finding glee in the fear its behavior instills in the passengers, and likely beginning to pull from the actual personalities of the people on board to form something other than a blank slab repeating words.

The Doctor speaks with to her directly again, asking if it's really Sky, asking how she's doing this, and pondering what the "next stage" is. When someone asks if it's not Sky anymore, the Doctor says he doesn't think so and ushers everyone to the back of the bus, as far away from Sky as possible (though this doesn't stop her from echoing them).

The Doctor urges them to not even look at Sky, and Dee Dee quotes Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," specifically the lines, "We must not look at goblin men, we must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed Their hungry thirsty roots." I don't quite have the bandwidth to delve deeper into this whole poem, as it's quite long, but shout out to the word "roots."

Another shout out to the word "sick" here, especially when we were told earlier in the episode that Sky is queer. Thank you Stav for your words in the words show analysis.

Much like how the Shadow was confirmed in TFS to feed off of fear/is triggered by fear, this entity clearly sought out the fear in Sky and found her a suitable target. It's never outright confirmed or explained, but this is a fairly easy assumption to reach based off of how frantic Sky was, more so than anyone else on board. As for "monster" getting struck down in favor of her just being a woman... well, no further comment necessary, once again.

The Doctor speaks to everyone about how while there's a consciousness inside of Sky, she might still be in there and they have to help her. However, everyone is too afraid to get near her, to the point that the hostess suggests they throw her out instead. Val cries about how she can't even look at Sky's eyes (a sentiment that's been stated already and comes up again; they're frightened by how she's looking at them, which reminds me of the weirdness with eyes and eye-color changing in ST that James and Em have spoken about).

There's a lot of back and forth, with most people hesitantly then enthusiastically agreeing that they should throw her out, because maybe if they kill the physical body, it'll remove the threat, but the Doctor pleads with them not to kill anyone. He asks if they really want to meet this new life form and show they're just a bunch of murderers, or will they decide they're better than that?

Ultimately, all fearful, they, one by one, agree that they could, in fact, throw her out with no remorse.

So much good st2 language, mwah tasty.

When people still don't back down, the Doctor says they'll have to go through him first if they want to throw out Sky, and everyone sorta just goes "...okay." The Doctor asks, again, if any of them could really grab hold of someone and chuck them out the door. His insistence begins making them suspicious, and they all start to turn on him. The Doctor insists he's frightened and confused just like them; he isn't in on this, he's not "working with" Sky, but he, trying to hide his identity and being naturally fascinated by this never-before-seen lifeform, only makes them more wary of him. Val even says that "his eyes are the same as hers... It's a symptom!" and he's accused of lying from the very start of their trip. They all begin to believe that he's somehow involved with what's going on with Sky and threaten to throw him out with her.

Then, Jethro, again, notices a change.

She's latched onto the Doctor alone, likely because of his heightened fear due to having his life threatened. Val once again uses this as evidence that they're working together, but the Doctor ignores her and crouches in front of Sky. He asks her why she's "captured" his speech. He wonders if the entity has picked up that he's the smartest one there as a Time Lord rather than a human, and maybe it's chosen him because he's the only one who can help, whether it be giving the entity "life or form or consciousness or voice," and insists she doesn't have to "steal" it. However, he also sees the look in her eyes, and gets the feelings it's not help the entity wants.

He promises to help her, asking "Do we have a deal?" But the words come out of Sky's mouth first.

When the others ask the Doctor what's happening, Sky answers first, saying, "I think it's moved. I think it's letting me go." As they speak to Sky, they all come to the conclusion that this entity has moved from her and into the Doctor instead. Dee Dee, however, seems unconvinced. She's ignored, though, in favor of listening to Sky as she expresses that she's "coming back to life."

When they get Sky back onto her feet, this conversation ensues:

It's a lot of similar language to stuff about the UD and the flayings, especially irt Will in st2 and Henry listed as being "possessed" in the Weekly Watcher and possibly having an exorcism. I continue to be shocked by how so many episodes in Doctor Who revolve around concepts that are so akin to the Shadow.

Sigh. Once again, no additional comment necessary, aside from another Stav post about blood.

I want to emphasize the change in pronoun use. Throughout ST, most often the Mind Flayer/Shadow and Vecna have had "he" used for both of them, as they've become conflated. However, in TFS, "it" is solely used to refer to the Shadow. Throughout this dw episode, "it" and "she" were used quite interchangeably when speaking about Sky, and same here, we get this use of "it" and "he" for the Doctor, starting out separate with "it went into him" until he just becomes one whole entity under "he." It's conflating things, narrowing it down to be "easier to understand."

Dee Dee shouts that it's not the Doctor who's doing it, he's "just repeating." However, that's what it did the first time, so it's the same this time, right? Dee Dee disagrees, saying that this seems like the progression the Doctor talked about earlier; this is the next stage, not the entity having moved to a new host.

Val, frustrated, insists that she saw it move from her to him, despite none of them having seen such a thing, simply assuming it instead. Even Jethro is hesitant to agree with his mom, but ultimately does so when she pushes him. Everyone begins arguing as Dee Dee continues to say that it's not inside the Doctor, and Sky smugly says that, "That's how he does it. He makes you fight. Creeps into your head... and whispers... inside." It's all very “Henry” being goaded into killing animals by the Shadow in TFS, and the Shadow and Shadow Brenner talking to and taunting Henry in the VR game.

Being egged on and having their assumptions confirmed by Sky, Biff grabs the Doctor and begins dragging him toward the door to throw him out. The Doctor, now frozen due to being controlled/taken over by the entity, cannot fight back and simply continues repeating what Sky says.

However, Sky begins saying things that, through the episode, were established as being things the Doctor specifically says (the phrases "molto bene" and "allons-y" being common catchphrases in this episode and through David Tennant's three seasons). The hostess takes immediate notice of this, since she was present for the times he used these phrases, and she finally really realizes that Sky has taken his voice. Under the clamor, Sky is saying that, "The starlight waits! The emptiness. The Midnight sky."

Acting fast, the hostess rushes Sky and grabs her, hits the button to the emergency exit door, and throws out herself and Sky. The door automatically shuts behind them before anyone else can be affected by the atmosphere, instantly cutting off the Doctor from the entity, and he falls to the floor, muttering that, "It's gone, it's gone..."

Golly, did I say this post would be little? Sorry, I am incapable of making these posts without listing out the entire plot of the episodes so you guys have full context! Anyway.

What I really wanted to talk about irt this episode was the immense focus on fear, and specifically fear of the unknown and how that makes people behave in illogical, dangerous ways. It's a lot of knee-jerk reactions and wanting to swiftly remove the threat before fully understanding what the threat actually is. We don't even know if Sky could have actually been saved! She very well may have still been alive underneath the entity, but in the mess of everything, they couldn't take the time to figure it out and actually try to save her.

Obviously, all of that made me think of things with the Shadow, and especially of Will in st2 when he fully changes as a person/seems to be entirely taken over with everyone else being hard-pressed to break through to him.

However, more specifically, everything else about it just screams the situation around Henward, and specifically what we see in TFS.

"Henry" is dealing with something unknown having taken over his mind and body, feeling urges that do not belong to him that he's being pushed into anyway. But what drives the mess deeper and deeper is the fact that people (Virginia, Patty, etc.) are frightened of him. They think it's him and not something else making him do these awful things. They refuse to actually help him, or even listen to him to figure out what would actually best help him, thus condemning him... essentially to death, just like Sky, all because they simply don't understand and are scared of that.

They listen to their own fear instead of understanding that Henry is scared too. This is also an issue with the fandom at large, but we won’t get into that rn.

Similarly, the Party and the rest of our main cast are, understandably, scared of Vecna. However, it’s clouded their judgement. We all know I’m a huge proponent of the “there’s more than one guy” theory, and thus this issue of conflating people and things leads to poor decisions when it comes to trying to fix the issue, ultimately resulting in a worse outcome.

In Midnight, the rest of the passengers, terrified and frazzled, believe the first and simplest solution presented to them: the entity has left Sky and instead entered the Doctor. Therefore, if they throw the Doctor out of the bus, the problem will be solved; they'll be safe. However, obviously, this isn't the case, and due to their misunderstanding, they would turn a completely innocent man to dust and still have the entity residing among them.

Similarly, in st4, we're presented with a "new" villain: Vecna. Our team has discovered that the source behind everything that's happened to them is this one guy locked in another dimension, hidden in (more or less) plain sight. He is wreaking havoc and boasting about it, but it feels like a very big, flashy way to cover up another, more long-existing villain that's been present since the start of the show: HNL and, specifically, Brenner.

Take a victim -> Push him into unsavory acts -> Mold him into a villain, whether in real life or in retellings (lies) of his existence -> Hide in his shadow and fall out of focus.

It all feels a little too planned, y'know? Because the beginning of everything can always be traced back to the lab, but suddenly it's like everyone has forgotten the roots of the tree and decided to chop off one of the branches and call it good.

Which leads me into a brief thought I had about NINA when I was watching this dw episode, which was spurred by the characters claiming their voices were "stolen" or "captured" by Sky. Especially once Sky fully captured the Doctor's voice and was speaking "on her own." She uses his voice to goad the others into killing him, which, presumably, would have given the entity full control/absorption of his voice.

I've said it already, but the goading feels very akin to TFS Brenner saying things to Henry like "you liked it" irt killing animals, putting words in his mouth and conflating Henry's personal feelings with the desires of the Shadow. Or even of the Shadow and Shadow Brenner taunting Henry in the VR game, telling him that he always loved snapping bones and killing things, but we never actually hear Henry confirm this. The Shadow and Brenner are often "stealing" Henry's voice by way of putting words in his mouth and thoughts in his head that he wouldn't have on his own.

But circling back to NINA specifically, it makes me think of Henward being used as a puppet for Brenner's meddling. Brenner has stolen Henward's voice, his looks, his mannerisms, in order to say and do things that Henward may never have said or done on his own in order to paint a specific picture for El.

And, again, because El is scared, because she doesn't understand what's going on or have the resources to even try, she simply lashes out. Remove the threat and she'll be safe. No matter if this is the real threat; he's an immediate threat in her eyes, therefore he's her target. Killing him is the closest answer she has to "solving" everything.

It's high-stakes situations, fear of the unknown, and mob mentality that results in the passengers on Midnight and our Hawkins gang having their knees knocked out from under them. Without taking the time to think, to stay calm, to mull over their options, they will always come to the wrong conclusions and not fix things like they hoped.

In st4, they're scared and on a time crunch, and with only some of the necessary information at their disposal, they're going to work with what they've got, even if they'd find contradictions if they looked just a little bit harder. They have their immediate threat, someone they can point at and see harm happening because of them, so why see if there's someone else hiding in his shadow? Why waste their, quite literally, precious time when they can, theoretically, still do good with what they have?