#obviously everyone interprets things in their own way

[mintedwitcher]

Okay so people keep talking about Buck's coming out scene with Eddie, and I just want to talk about this part right here:

Buck: Is that weird?

Eddie: No. Absolutely not.

Because. Because! The look on Eddie's face. The tilt of his head, the steady eye contact and the immediate reassurance... Buck needed that. He's just come out. He's just done something brand new, out of his depth, and kind of terrifying. And no matter how well you know someone, there's always that fear in the back of your mind. That horrible little voice that whispers, what if they hate me for this?

And for someone like Buck, that voice doesn't just whisper, it screams. It's been screaming since he was a child. But Eddie. Eddie doesn't give it a second to get a word in.

Buck asks, "Is that weird?" And Eddie immediately and firmly replies, "No. Absolutely not." And then he follows it up with another reassurance, almost immediately:

"This doesn't change a thing between us."

Now I'm seeing a lot of people say that Buck looked disappointed at this, but I say he looked relieved. Because Eddie is his best friend. Eddie is the person whose opinions matter the most to Buck, even above the opinions of his sister. (Hell, I think the only person that Buck will be more concerned about coming out to will be Christopher.) But I think there was still a moment, a split second of doubt where Buck really thought that him coming out to Eddie would damage their friendship.

For Buck, one of the things he is most afraid of is being left behind. Being abandoned. Seeing the people he loves give up on him. Eddie knows this, he knows Buck. Whether you view it as romantic or not, Buck and Eddie do love each other. They're family. So having Eddie double down and say, "No, none of this is weird, and I'm not going anywhere, we're rock solid," is SO important. Buck isn't disappointed that nothing will change. He's relieved. He's free.

And Eddie responds in exactly the way Buck needs him to in that moment. Reassurance, some slight teasing, and encouragement for Buck to go after Tommy. To go after the guy he can't stop thinking about. He doesn't make it this big, heavy, burdensome thing. He doesn't get overly emotional or confrontational like some cishet people tend to do when their friends come out. Eddie has Buck's back with this as much as he does with everything else.

I think it's the best coming out scene we could've gotten with these two, and I'm beyond obsessed with it.

[kris-py-president]

I like "Dean is a repressed bisexual"

I like "Dean knows he's gay and just doesn't want to talk about it"

I like "Castiel was dean's gay awakening and he didn't have any experience with liking men beforehand"

I like "Dean has always liked men and women"

I like Dean so much, and I like all of you creative people, and you should all interpret media the way you wish to babes ♥️

[pomefioredove]

only one bed room

summary: it's the sdc and everyone's staying over at ramshackle but, oh no! you're one room and one bed short. being the generous (or gullible) soul that you are, you agree to share characters: all sdc competitors, separate additional info: fair warning I have no replayed book 5 in a while, reader is yuu, reader is gender neutral, rook is rook, most scenarios end in cuddles. can be interpreted as romantic or platonic (nix vil and rook's part)

Deuce Spade

"I don't mind sleeping on the floor!"

it's a big fat no from Vil. waking up sore and tired is unacceptable, and will affect his performance during practice. he will use the bed, end of story.

you offer to take the floor or one of the many stiff and uncomfortable couches in Ramshackle, but he refuses

what kind of aspiring honor student would he be if he kicked you out of your own room?

so, yes, you end up sharing the bed

he's a perfect gentleman about it

he insists on sleeping on the complete opposite end of the bed

to give you your space, of course

not because he's nervous

obviously it doesn't pan out- he's kind of a messy sleeper, and on the first night you wake up with him sprawled on top of you

you decide not to wake him up

you'd been thinking about saving for a weighted blanket, anyway

Ace Trappola

"you better not hog the blankets,"

takes it like a champ, though he might be screaming internally

he already sleeps in a dorm with three other guys- this can't be any different, right?

it totally is

sharing a bed with someone? someone he likes, who he isn't just forced to live with for convenience?

he's not sure how to tease you about this one without coming off as nervous himself

so he just shuts his trap about it (for once) and accepts his fate

in the end, it's no big deal for a player like him

he ends up hogging the blankets, though. hypocrite.

Kalim al-Asim

"YAYYY SLEEPOVER!"

he means exactly what he says

not a care in the world

all he's thinking about is how fun this is going to be! just him and his favorite Ramshackle prefect (Grim heard the news and will be staying in deuce's room to avoid any cracker mishaps)

Kalim, admittedly, is not a creature of great thought. he tends to be dictated by his feelings, and he can be a little selfish sometimes

so when Jamil pulled him aside and asked him to just buy another bed for ramshackle, he ignored him entirely

why would he do that? the situation is resolved, and everyone's happy!

well... not everyone, but Kalim's happy!

he stocks up on Vil-approved snacks, insists you two braid each other's hair and stay up late into the night talking with no one to remind you to go to sleep

(he tried to invite Jamil and got the door slammed in his face)

this arrangement lasts approximately one night

when Vil sees the dark circles under your eyes, it's over

you are confined to the couch, and Kalim is forced to sleep alone

Jamil Viper

"okay,"

really. he's totally fine with it.

besides the fact that he doesn't want to cause any more trouble, he's shared beds with his siblings before. no big deal

he just wasn't expecting to wake up with you snuggled against him

but this is fine

totally fine

he's barely conscious and it's early morning, still dark, the time he's used to getting up at

Vil has things covered, right? he can stay here for a little while longer. it would be awkward trying to get up without waking you

it feels nice having something all to himself for once

he smirks, imagining how jealous everyone else would be:

the beautiful, kind, intelligent ramshackle prefect in his arms? oh, the looks on their faces would almost make this whole thing worth it!

but in the end, he decides to say nothing

he wants to keep you all to himself, after all

for just a little while longer

Epel Felmier

"ain't no way I'm sharing!"

that's what he says in his head, anyway. but it's late and he's worn out from practice (and being shouted at) so he just sighs and accepts his fate

of course Vil would make him do it. it's probably because he's the smallest, isn't it?

you can tell he's unhappy with the arrangement (not that he's making much of a secret of it- he's grumbling under his breath all evening)

he starts coming around to the idea when he wakes up holding something warm

his heart jumpstarts and he nearly panics before remembering where he is

and then he realizes the thing he's holding is... you. somehow the two of you had ended up spooning during the night

but, more importantly... he's the big spoon!

he's almost tempted to wake you to announce that he, in all his manly glory, had naturally assumed the most masculine cuddling position!

(yes he sounds ridiculous. just let him have this one)

he lets you sleep, though. just a little more won't hurt anyone, right?

he's okay with the arrangement after that

Rook Hunt

"I will do it!"

Vil isn't even able to finish his sentence before the vice housewarden is practically jumping up and down

pretty much everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief; a volunteer! thank the sevens. otherwise, this could get awkward...

of course, he quite intentionally ends up with you in his arms

but not for any nefarious purpose, he insists!

he's a light sleeper, and can be stirred by any sudden noise or movement

you appeared to be having some kind of nightmare

it reminds him of a small animal caught in a trap, struggling for its life. he can't bear to see it- it's cruel to let a poor creature go on suffering before you can make the kill

of course, instead of killing you (thank the sevens), he decides to comfort you

he presses your head against his chest so you can hear his heartbeat, and he runs his fingers through your hair until you calm down.

then he keeps you there, just to be sure you don't have another bad dream

if you gave him permission, he would gladly be all over you in seconds. kissing up and down your shoulders, caressing every perfect inch of your body, whispering words of admiration

but he's perfectly content just cradling you for now

hopefully, you will continue to have these nightmares and give him excuses to do this again

Vil Schoenheit

"don't argue with me,"

initially, you just gave him the bed

maybe you were afraid of him; maybe you like him; maybe you just wanted to avoid a conflict altogether

either way, you spent the first night on the terribly uncomfortable floor, and trudged through Ramshackle like a zombie the next morning

Vil was feeling guilty watching you

what? he's not a monster

and he's a leader, which means he has a responsibility. and you had so graciously invited them all into your home...

fine! he'll share. he insists, even

when you try to argue, he shuts you down, repeating all that stuff about responsibility and hospitality, blah blah

and he doesn't want the team manager dead on their feet

arguing with him is pointless, so you just agree

he wakes up with you against him, sleeping peacefully

now, if it were you clinging to him- he might have had a good chuckle. can't keep your hands to yourself, prefect? I'm just that irresistible?

but the way he's holding you, the way his arms are so tightly wrapped around your waist, the way he's so clearly pressing you against him...

he hates to admit it, but you're an elegant sleeper. it's almost cute

the tension is relieved from your face, your breathing graceful and steady, and your perfect lips open just a sliver...

he is a perfect gentleman, and would never dream of doing anything without your explicit permission, but for one shameful second he thinks about how easy it would be to kiss you

... and then he quickly puts those thoughts aside and tries to get back to sleep

he doesn't want any dark circles, after all

[drownedbycoffee]

THEY AREN'T THE FEARS ANYMORE!! THEY'RE DESIRES

(SPOILERS for TMA, and all of TMAGP episodes so far)

Okay, here me out

Tmagp1: Darla wants to hear Arthur's voice again. She even says: "I just couldn’t face the thought of the rest of my life never hearing him again, I had to try" and later on she even says: "But I had to know, so I went to the cemetery."

Tmagp1: RedCanary wants to know about the Magnus Institute. They want to know why it's listed under 'cleared' when there's no evidence of it. Hence why they go and explore it.

Tmagp2: Daria wants that absolute perfection. She wants to change who she is and get out of that dark place. When she talks about the thing that she felt was missing, she says, "... and that’s when I decide I need a tattoo. I had a couple already – just little things on my shin and my wrist – but I decided I needed something big. Something that really changed my look." She also mentions when talking about Ink5oul that "they just kept pressing me about my life, about why I wanted the ink" instead of asking what design she wanted. And when she got the tattoo she describes herself as now being, "Someone I wanted to know more about." Afterwards she even says how "For the first time ever [she] wanted to attempt a self-portrait. Something real and physical, [she] wanted to feel the brushes in my hands and the oil on [her] fingertips." I think a lot of her statement is about her desire and impulsive need for that perfection and that wholeness that she has been aspiring to for her whole life.

Tmagp3: Samuel wants to stay hidden. He wants and he "need[s] to get up, get out of here for treatment." He wants to get better and most of his delirious thoughts are the things that he wants, or feels like he needs. E.g. "I so much want to see it [the sun] again. This night seems endless. I want to be warm again. I am terribly afraid. Thank god for Maddie. I need to treat her better."; "I just need to rest."; "I need to be careful or we’ll drift apart." And then obviously as the narrative continues, Samuel wants to grow and 'put down roots'.

Tmagp4: The narrator wants to be revered and accepted into the Royal Court Orchestra of the Palatinate. He wants to show off and impress. The violin "was a creature with needs and purpose of its own. The needs were simple enough. Blood. Flesh." It has these needs and desires.

So far, I'm interpreting it to be that everything so far can be interpreted as a desire of sorts, varying in the strength and intensity of it. Obviously, fear is still a big part of it all, because if you want something so badly, aren't you afraid of it being stolen from you? Of it being out of your grasp? Of it being unachievable or impossible in some capacity? Of it being a lie?

Even Sam wants to find out more. He wants to know the why and the reason for things. Gwen wants Lena's job. Collin wants to fix all these bugs and keep Freddie running. Alice wants to just get on with it because she found out that wanting to know the 'why' of things is dangerous.

I think that somehow when the Web took all the Fears into a different universe, they morphed into something else. Or they changed to fit what was the most prevalent thing in that universe, because after all, everyone wants something, even if it's something small and inconsequential. Life and aspects of it has always been characterised by that desire for something. Like people wanting food, shelter, safety, love, warmth, happiness, etc. And I think since the Web was so intwined with Jon and Martin, it absorbed some of their emotions when it found its way into this new world, because after all Jon and Martin wanted to stop Jonah/Elias, to stop the apocalypse, to destroy the Panopticon, to be safe, and they wanted each other. I think the wanting and fear of things are really entwined in it all, though this could be absolute bullshit haha

[bloobydabloob]

Holy shit I love your Dirk interpretations, it's so true and I could talk about this shit forever. I feel like another part of his character that people seem to forget (along with Roxy for some reason) is that he's from the future in solitude in an apocalyptic wasteland. I just see that part of his character always removed which is disappointing because I feel like that's a pretty big part, especially regarding his themes around technology, his brother's theme of Time, his own isolation, and how he plays in the vastness of the universe and spacetime.

Art I drew related to the subject because I like to respond to asks with art.

But absolutely. I certainly understand where the lack of discussion over his isolation + upbringing comes from, considering a majority of the fanbase that I have seen builds their ideas based on their own version of postcanon. I’m not entirely sure how that would be fixed, but certainly even in the somewhat recent past I would see a lot more content regarding his upbringing both literally and symbolically. I don’t have much to add regarding the things you’ve mentioned, because they just are what they are. Dirk being confined to a singular room left to him by a father figure he never met, in a future where the only other person left on the planet is someone he cannot pursue a relationship of because of himself, with purely 3 robots to keep him companion, one being an exact replica of his own brain who is *also* trapped inside a pair of glasses, is about as literal as it gets to me.

The contrast to me involving the flooded, organic world in comparison to the little speckle of Dirk’s apartment packed with the dude and his technics is not only a representation of his isolation and entrapment within himself, but also of his lack of control. I think his obsession with & themes of control are a direct product in the case of Dirk specifically *of* this kind of upbringing. His themes of technology are also related to his themes around control. So much of his character is actually revolved around this to me like so much. Dirk is so deeply disconnected from humanity in every way and so much of his character + symbolism is based around that.

It doesn’t even have to be about the symbolism or anything though. It’s just pretty *interesting* in the literal sense that he lives in the middle of the ocean in the future. There’s not only a lot to theorise on to do with his young life there, but on how it might affect him in the way he acts for the rest of his life. The latter part is probably what I see mentioned the most by people talking about Dirk regarding this, I’m surprised I don’t see more discussion on the former too though. I really ought to actually talk more about Homestuck stuff on here. I will do it myself.

Roxy & Dirk’s relationship is largely ignored though because there is a narrative a certain demographic spreads that Dirk resented and blamed Roxy for her interest in him, and thus too many people believe that their relationship was or would continue to be an abusive one. Realistically, I believe it’s important to acknowledge that the way Roxy treated Dirk regarding his homosexuality wasn’t right while still acknowledging the obvious amount of respect and admiration Dirk had for Roxy. I mean we have a huge piece of dialogue from their post trickster mode conversations on the quest beds from Dirk purely stating how he feels about Roxy that people completely ignore somehow. I think this usually happens to characters that are women though. I know everyone says it, but it is true. Jane gets the exact same treatment of boiling her down to solely her negative aspects. The things I see completely mischaracterising both of them are horrific.

I mean how much more explicit can it get that their relationship is obviously very important to Dirk? But I digress. I think the best or I should say “most interesting” interpretations of their relationship usually come from DirkRoxy shippers actually.

I would be interested to hear about Dirk’s relation to his brother’s theme of time though. I don’t have any thoughts on this and I don’t recall ever hearing anyone talk about it before. If you or anyone else would be willing to enlighten me I’d be thrilled.

[ellecdc]

Nsfw!

Moonwater is a bit new pairing for me and i love it too much but i always wonder how the dynamic are in the bedroom, i really dont think both men are anything other than rough.

I mean when needed the boys would be gentle but most of the time i dont think so? Remus, maybe? could be gentler but during full moon he’s an animal but regulus tho, i dont see him as the gentle type.

What do you think?

oooou ok ok I like it, I like it; let's discuss below

CW: discussing sex and dynamics, NSFW, mdni 18+

So, this first part is going to be my own personal opinion based off of who I am as a person, and my views may not be shared within the fandom. I personally struggle with super abrasive dom/sub dynamics where a male character is very overbearing, controlling, etc. THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T LIKE ANY DOM/SUB DYNAMICS, just that fics where a male character is being super aggressive and demeaning and such really aren't my vibe, if that makes sense?

I personally struggle imagining our sweet, sad boy Remus as being super mean in bed? Doesn't mean I don't think he's in charge, especially in poly!scenarios because when there's that many people in bed, someone has to run the show lol, but I don't see him as super bossy and assertive.

Now, keeping in mind that this is my interpretation on a character who literally doesn't exist (which is so sad wtf), my version of 'dom!remus' looks more like a very assured, confident guy in bed; he knows what he's doing, he's good at it, and he knows how to get everyone where they're trying to go (i.e., orgasm city, obviously). He takes care of everyone in bed, and (in the case of poly!marauders or poly!wolfstar) he certainly redirects anyone's naughty (bratty) behaviour (read: sirius), but I think he'd also be super communicative and understanding that it's a dance, not a battle which adds to his assuredness and confidence in bed because people feel safe with him - they know that he knows what he's doing and can let go because they trust him with their safety and their pleasure - and he's in bed with his partner's, not his adversaries.

I've often imagined his love language (how he shows love) to be acts of service and physical touch, which I think goes hand in hand with how he is in bed; when he's in a relationship with these ships, he's making love, not just fucking

HOWEVER.....

I think you're right...some things definitely change around the full moon. I think leading up to the moon (depending on if it was a manic moon or if he was moonsick) there'd be a very noticeable change in him. For manic moons - he'd be a little more desperate, a little rougher (while still being our sweet guy as mentioned above lol), and I think there would be way more sex. He'd be insatiable and obsessed with you; "come on dovey, one more for me, yeah? you're so good, so good for me; i know you can do one more". Good luck trying to pry him from between your legs.

if he was riddled with moonsickness (immediately after every moon or leading up to a bad moon where he is sore and such), i think he might be a bit of a switch? He'd want to be held and cherished and taken care of - he'd nearly cry in awe every time you got on your knees to give him a lazy, gentle blowjob, or if you were in the mood, he'd lay back and let you ride him (he actually loved it - thought you looked beautiful up there)

Now for Regulus lolololololol

No one who grew up in the dynamics Regulus did is vanilla in bed, I'm sorry. (and I come from a place of authority in this - I relate a little too well to Sirius [though not as violent, obviously]). Honestly? I could see Regulus being mean. And not in a super demeaning way that makes you feel small or embarrassed (again, this is my preference), but he takes pleasure in surprising you by suddenly flipping you over and taking you from a different angle. By suddenly and without warning changing the rhythm of his thrusts from soft and slow to deep and punishing. He'd love marking you up - possessive af and making sure everyone and anyone knew that not only were you taken, but you were his. In the same vain, I picture him as a bit of a sadist/masochist but again, not in a super violent or demeaning way. He'd like for the fuck to be a little rough, a little hard; he loves the mixture of pleasure and pain - wants to be bit so hard he bleeds and wouldn't mind doing the same to you if you asked for it. I also think he'd be willing to try a lot of new things in bed, and some of his favourite sex is when you fuck him with a strap [if you're fem or afab].

Together?

I think Rem is still in charge - again, he's confident and assured in the bedroom and everyone trusts his authority and trusts him to keep them safe and satisfied. He would keep Reg from getting too rough or going too hard and would constantly check in to make sure you were still good with everything going on. He'd also be able to satiate any need in Reg regarding his masochistic tendencies. I believe Reg would bottom in the dynamic, but again, I think sometimes depending on the moon and how Rem is feeling mentally - he'd experiment more fluidly with Reg.

I've also mentioned before that I believe Purebloods have a breeding kink and with Remus' animalistic side due to his lycanthropy, that he would too. So I think there would be a lot of using cum as lube, taking turns filling you up with their cum, maybe some snowballing??? jesus christ I'm a sick fuck lmfao. anything to do with cum would send those boys spiralling, "no no babygirl, don't waste it" Rem would coo as he used his fingers to push cum back into your hole. or "whose do you want next, amour? Mine or Rem's?"

And I think you're right, when the time called for it, these boys would be so fucking good at making you feel nothing short of fucking worshipped. The soft, hungry gazes, the lingering and soothing touches, the praises falling from their lips as they gave you everything they got. I'd cry I think; they'd reduce me to tears for sure.

[trianglesimpfordpines]

you see the thing about ford is that he doesn't necessarily believe he is better than everyone. he believes he has to be better than everyone. and the fact that he holds himself to such a ridiculously high standard is arrogant in the sense that obviously he wouldn't be holding himself to a higher standard if he didn't see himself as more capable, but it gets realized more often as self-loathing than self-aggrandizing.

notice how when ford pushes people away, his reasoning is almost always doubt that they genuinely want him around. he starts with "there's no way this person is actually just being nice and enjoying my company, they must want something, they must have ulterior motives," and then moves on to "they'll just drag me down anyway, i don't need them, i don't need anyone."

and how he makes excuses to spend time with his family. the cycloptopus. fixing the light. the apprenticeship. bill's funeral. clearing up the aftermath of weirdmageddon. if ford isolates himself because he thinks other people aren't worth his time, why does his behavior suggest it's the other way around? shouldn't he be prancing around like the other pineses should be grateful for his presence? why would someone who isolates himself out of a (real) belief in his own superiority feel the need to overcompensate like that?

it's like that post where it's like....he would fucking say that but he would say it as part of a façade that he obviously doesn't actually believe and you guys are interpreting it way too unironic and genuine. ford thinks the only options are that he's isolated either because he's above society Or he's isolated because he's unworthy to be included in society so of course he'd rather tell himself it's the first one.

[unikhroma]

i got the idea to make a bingo thing for spamton fan designs after my friend showed me some bingos for other deltarune fan stuff :] basically i gathered a bunch of canon-divergent/not confirmed/otherwise notable* design aspects i've noticed in spamton fan art these past years and put them in. feel free to fill it out if you want!

addendum: this is mostly intended for your interpretation of spamton during or post ch2, which is why some things like "not even a puppet" are in there (it's p heavily implied that he wasn't a puppet at some point but is now)

*under the read more cause i'm trying to keep this section brief

filled out card + a lot of rambling below:

*obviously there's nothing wrong with being canon-divergent and putting your own spin/interpretation on a character, i draw spamton buff and with huge tits it's fine lol. i may have my opinions but it's whatever; i'm not an authority i'm just some guy. also i put in trans/gq in as a design thing since that often does factor into a person's presentation/looks

----

also here's my filled out card:

(i guess i should've put some images of him at first whoopsie)

----

did i rig it so i can win? technically yes but technically no

i wanted to arrange the card to have common traits that i saw together in bingo-winning lines, but i soon realized that it was impossible to get everything to fit together that way. especially with contradictory squares like tall and microscopic or puppet-exclusive features being in a line with the "not even a puppet" square

i couldn't fit in everything i thought of either. i actually wanted to have "100% canon compliant" on here cause i thought it would be fun. i think the people who stick really close to his canon design are just as interesting as everyone who does their own spin

idk i think this is all interesting! the deltarune fandom is unique in that everyone has to interpret character designs from a small size, so people almost Have to diverge from whatever may have been intended for a character, and that results in a lot of different interpretations. it's definitely helped me strengthen my own sense of character design as someone who used to be kind of a hardass about fan art accuracy

[imbecominggayer]

How To Write Cuddling

This my third part to my series where I get specific requests from people about what advice they want. Here we have @12-cluh to explain what about cuddling is getting them confused:

"Idk how to really describe what I'm going after. I'd say I'm more confused on how to describe the way the bodies are laying together? That sounds weird but you get it-"

Perfect, so our key problem is how to establish a character's positioning in the cuddling!

First: How Are These People Cuddling?

Here is some great writing advice for all manners of situations: try to physically establish where the characters are

Heck, you could draw a nice stickman cuddling session in order to get everything down.

This is mostly to prevent a type of "I gently wrapped my arms around her in an unending hug as I let my free hand grasp onto her colder fingers." situation. If you didn't notice, human character grew a third hand and certainly didn't tell me.

And obviously, reread your material out loud so your pesky brain wont perform it's own autocorrect

Next, there are tons of different cuddling positions that evoke different types of atmospheres from the sultry to the affectionate to the hilarious.

Based on what I googled, there are many different names and Shingles is the weirdest thing to name a cuddling style.

Since this cuddling is taking place between "a couple who finally get a day off. (featuring her tracing his scars! :3" I'm guess that @12-cluh is probably going for affectionate.

I probably would recommend "Sweetheart's Cradle" or "The Honeymoon Hug" if you are going for an ultra-affectionate cuddle.

If you are looking for something more casual yet still affectionate then "The Spoon" and, uhh, "Shingles" . The "Sweetheart's Cradle" could still work here but that's up to your interpretation of what Romance On The Go is talking about.

2. Actual Description

Quote: "...how to describe the way the bodies are laying together?

Obviously, it's hard for me to give specific details on how to describe the scene since it's feelings which change the world and influence how it arrives to the audience.

If this is a somber affair, based on the scar tracing, then that's obviously going to influence the atmosphere. If it's a highly affectionate get-together then that's the diction.

However, in general, you don't need proper "he laid down on her" type of weirdly phrased descriptions.

You just need to get the emotion across.

For example, "He lowers them onto the bed once again, the back of his hand brushing against her cheek. She latches onto him and refuses to let go for the rest of the night. She refuses to let go for forever, actually. She prayes that she wasn't alone. That this isn't just another dream or mistake. When the sunlight glimmers through the curtain, she will thank the gods for this blessed union."

I hoped I communicated the deep love and desperation between these characters :3 God, I am such a bad writer.

Anyway, as you can see there wasn't a lot of detail focused on where my female character was latching onto. All the detail you need is for the movements that display emotion such as the caressing

Here is a more comedic example for more proof: "What nobody told him about cuddling is how f*cking uncomfortable it was. What should've been a delicate and affectionate affair was instead a mess of limbs and sweat as his boyfriend's ability to light up his life was far more literal then he wanted. But even if his hand may never function again as this brick shithouse of a man has lovingly passed out on it, the feeling of just being together in this shitty cot makes his soul tremble in the sweetest, strangest way. "

I regret writing examples of this. I am going to get destroyed in the comments for my shitty writing ability :`(

Anyway, there is little set-up for what limbs are where and what everyone is specifically doing.

There are other things you can do to show the audience where your characters are. "Our breath mixed together". Or "I could hear his heartbeat".

And now I need to ask you "doth that satisfy thou my liege?" I tried to do this advice right since it's you and for some reason I care about you more then I should, darling.

So please give me my validation and feel free to ask me for more writing advice. I am forever at your beck and call.

[yusiyomogi]

this is the last time i'm gonna interact with this discourse, i promise. i just wanna tell a few things that i've been meaning to tell anyway.

yes, the larger connection you can make between elves and real world imperialism is interesting, canaries are obviously modeled after military forces of imperialistic countries. even if their goals aren't nefarious, they withhold information from local governments, ignore borders and ensure the global power of their own country. the way they deal with the threat also often disregards actual safety of local people, despite their original goals.

but when we're talking about this theme, which is important and interesting, we have to discuss other significant implications of this allegory. like, for example, people from that military force are systematically treated as completely disposable. story itself doesn't shy away from this, even their nickname "canaries" represents how ridiculously deadly their job is - they're expected to die, basically. practice of recruiting convicted criminals to the army because they are desperate and disposable is something that is actually happening in the world right now. recruiting noble kids to the army as an "honorable tradition" to ensure their loyalty and investment in country's politics is another practice that was common in real world. wealthy people are the most dangerous to their government, after all.

if we actually wanna analyze this, we need to take it seriously, not to use it to prove that some characters are "bad" because of it. kui for sure didn't do this, she specifically humanized canaries in her story and showed how participant of the system can be abused by that system (that doesn't absolve them of their wrongdoings though). just how she decided to show racism as something everyone participates in, instead of making some one-note villain characters who are racists. you can have your own feelings about it, but that's how she did it.

the other thing is, if we actually try to analyze it, we can only take it as interesting thought experiment. we can call it "reading through certain lenses". because we're still dealing with fantasy world here. functionally canaries can be seen more as international disaster response, since they don't participate in actual wars. their primary goal is to control and destroy dungeons, which can be seen as analogy to natural or technological disasters. they don't influence local politics, they don't mass murder people, they don't aim to establish their own bases on the territory of the country (at least not at the point we are in the story). so, they are an amalgamation of these two ideas rather than only one of them. we can't have a real analogy to our world, since we don't have the demon that can destroy us all just because some people have tasty desires. that's why working with allegories to real life is a limiting way of looking at the work. it's fine to do it, but it's only one way to interpret it and it's not "the only correct" way. in fact, most authors prefer when their worldbuilding is judged on its own merits.

mithrun does participate in military force voluntarily and it's an important part of his story. it's also important to analyze why he's doing it: he thinks that he's doing a good thing by enlisting to the unit, because he believes that he's the one who can change things. according to adventurer's bible, his main motivation for recovery was what happened in utaya: mithrun could see how incompetent canaries were when they were dealing with the dungeon and the demon, so his thought was literally "if only i was there...", one of the most common army movie tropes.

and he does change things, surprisingly, because we can see that he focuses on efficiency much more than any other elf. he correctly assumes that the faster they deal with the threat, the less casualties there will be. he speedruns the dungeon in 15 minutes, while utaya's investigation took 1 year before it all collapsed horribly, killing a bunch of civilians and soldiers. mithrun does it so efficiently in fact, that even kabru for a second doubts his decision to stop the canaries. mithrun believes that no secrecy is important when the world is at stake, that's why he tells kabru literally everything he knows. mithrun believes that he can change things. he is wrong though.

mithrun is wrong, because he still serves for elven government and they have not at any point demonstrated that they're interested in actually solving the problem for good (for many reasons probably, they're likely still considering that they'll need the demon's power). mithrun realized it in the end, when he decided to let laios do what he wants instead, basically giving up on his loyalty to the elves. much more obvious agent of elven imperialism in the story is flamela, because she stays loyal to the government and her queen, even when situation got desperate. mithrun also eventually left his country to live under short-lived races' rule.

so, it's kinda weird and suspicious why some people in the fandom decided to focus on mithrun as "the main agent of imperialism" when they talk about those things. yes, it's interesting to look at him from this point of view, especially if you wanna discuss how he changes through the story, but... do you really care about him as a character or are you looking for a bad guy? because i've seen both.

it's not fans' fault that they care too much about his personal character arc instead of looking at his background and role of antagonist. blame kui for it, because that's what she also decided to focus on in her story. some people just don’t wanna discuss such things, because it seems disrespectful to real life, the other believe that looking at everything in the story through allegory is limiting. i’ve seen people who mentions problematic elements, while respecting the other facets of the story that we all enjoy, and it’s amazing and i wish i could do it as gracefully.

but a lot of people noticed the tendency in this fandom to turn some characters into villains and people have right to be tired of it. the story doesn't do it, so if you don't like it... i'd advise you to look for another story, but you really can do what you want.

[theshadowrealmitself]

So you know there’s people who think Batman has Gotham completely fooled with his Bruce Wayne persona, and there’s people who think the people of Gotham can tell he’s Batman and he’s not fooling anyone in the slightest?

Well my headcanon is that Batman thinks he crafted this specific persona that’s fooled everyone, and it does keep people from guessing his secret identity, but,,, no one actually thinks of him as “party boy Bruce Wayne,” nah, his persona gets interpreted in a different light

See, everyone knows the heartbreaking story of this guy losing his parents young, but also, there’s a ton of people who know that his parents were involved in some shady stuff that Bruce is actively not a part of, a good majority of Gothamites probably work at some place he owns and will see him at some point taking an active interest in his company to make sure he’s not cutting corners and that no one who works under him is cutting corners, and he actually donates to a ton of good causes without it being some shady tax evasion thing

Combine that with the fact this dude keeps adopting children, his best friend became a villain, Jason died (he was such a sweet kid when he was Robin you cannot tell me he wasn’t a media darling), and the guy keeps pumping money into mental health services just for it to not do help much because the whole place is actually legit cursed

I think a majority of Gothamites see Bruce as someone who’s genuinely trying to be a good person, but he clearly keeps jumping from mania (“partying” visibly) to deep depression (hiding from the press to hide his obvious wounds from being Batman), and what’s he gonna do? Get help with his mental health in Gotham?? The guy obviously tried to make stuff better for Harvey, but Gotham is still the worst place for mental health services

That’s why I think his cover is never blown when it’s obvious he’s not actually partying or stuff, Gothamites try to return the good he’s put out by making sure he’s safe, like “distracting” him from hard drugs (they don’t know he actually has no intention of taking any), anyone finds out he’s not actually drinking alcohol? clearly another person switched his drink out so the poor guy doesn’t drink himself into a coma, he doesn’t actually have sex with any of the models he hangs around? everyone knows because everyone is already aware the models are mostly there to make sure he doesn’t put himself into a coma with all his partying and could never take advantage of the guy when he’s obviously not in his right mind

Just,,, Bruce Wayne still being seen by Gotham the same way he was when he was a sweet kid cause that can tell he’s a sweet adult

[n3xii]

POV: Underpaid customer service employee gives you messages from the universe (PAC reading)

Close your eyes andfocus on your intention, then carefuly select your employee; you have kenny, leroy, and phil.

Kenny's message

cards: ''boundaries'' ''knight of swords''

ok listen, i get that you're afraid of being harsh or mean but sometimes you have to lay the line down. you have the opportunity to tell others how they get to treat you, and sometimes you have to do it in a clear straight forward way. you can't dance around what you want to say espeically when it comes to people who benefit from you being afraid to piss them off. people work in stupid ways. they feel disrespected when people treat them with the same energy they show you but fuck them. i literally have to set boundaries everyday, you are capable of doing the same.

leroy's message

cards: ''ace of pentacles reversed'' ''creation''

you may be loosing out on possibilities and opportunities due to the fact that you're not willing to create them. sometimes things dont happen out of thin air, you have to create opportunities yourself, and that might look different for many people. for example, instead of waiting for a job to be given to you, you can have mine.

everyone is creative, creativity doesnt always mean arts and crafts, it can be a person who knows how to solve problems by thinking outside of the box. I dont know you well but you give the impression that you have alot of problems. i think you are in a situation where you feel stagnant, loss or hopeless, and my message to you is to get creative. think outside of the box and learn how to create opportunities for yourself. the current framework you're used to solving problems with obviously is NOT working.

phils message

cards: "7 of cups reversed" ''balance''

i dont know how to tell you this but you have alot of opportunities in front of you, but your own outlook and perception is clouding how you interpret them. also not to be crude or blunt but you aren't grounded, you're in a situation right now where you're not willing to face the realities of life and you need to integrate more moderation and balance into your life. basically what im trying to tell you is to get focused, get anchored to the world around you. stop getting lost in imagination unless you're visualizing your goals. but then again, visualization is useless unless you truly believe in your visions. i think you're trying to find escape from the horrors of the industrial corporate world that makes you feel dead inside, but that only gets you so far in life. Manifest with intention, stope escaping.

[qqueenofhades]

Good Omens Season 2: Some Thoughts (and also Screaming)

First, /screams

Second, obligatory disclaimer that this meta contains MAJOR SPOILERS for all six episodes. If you somehow have managed to remain virginally unspoiled, look away now, scroll past, or add "good omens s2" and "good omens spoilers" to your block list, as those are the tags I have been using for all posts and reblogs.

Third, /screams more

Okay okay okay. Deep breaths.

Anyway, so, uh, how about all that, huh? First, the good thing about the tone of the season overall was that it felt considerably darker and more adult, in a good way. We didn't have the precocious kiddies, the kitsch and literally-comphet Anathema and Newt, the so-clever narration, etc. All that was gone, which makes sense when you consider that a) the end of last season saw them reboot into an entirely new universe, and b) the fact that God has gone silent is, in fact, a major plot point for the season. We don't have Her slyly telling us the story, or indeed anything, and everyone is left to make their own judgments and take their own actions. Which, obviously, gets them into a lot of trouble, especially when Metatron (the Voice of God, aka someone acting in the belief that they're speaking for God and therefore doing terrible harm) swoops in with the ultimate buzzkill at the end of episode 6. But we'll get to that.

The downside was that the main, present-day plot (hiding Gabriel in the bookshop and trying to get Nina and Maggie to fall in love) was fairly thin, felt stretched out and at times weirdly paced, and otherwise existed mostly to get us to That Ending and the setup for season 3. But the ending was so damn good (if obviously, very painful) that I can't be TOO mad, not least because we spent six episodes with them just making absolutely no pretense about the whole thing being as incredibly homosexual as possible. I'll be honest: I did not think they were going to actually, explicitly go there. Neil Gaiman has been so consistent about "your interpretations are valid and you're welcome to read it however you want, but the only canon is what's on screen," which I think is frankly a good thing (not least since the Neil GAYman Cinematic Universe is consistently very, very good to us queers), that I just... didn't quite think they'd pull the trigger. Sir Terry is dead and can't have active input, this is based on a book published 30 years ago, maybe they didn't want to make it LIKE THAT... etc. I certainly hoped, but I didn't really think they would.

Uh. Well.

As I said in my various semi-coherent liveblog posts, I honestly don't think there was a single straight person in the entire season, among both major and background characters. Aziraphale/Crowley and Maggie/Nina are the obvious paralleling couples, but Beelzebub (using "they" pronouns and addressed as "Lord" despite presenting as femme/femme-adjacent) is clearly nonbinary and therefore also queer, and the countless gay/queer side characters were just /chefs kiss. From Job's son making a sassy pass at Aziraphale, to the random Scottish goon with Grindr on his phone (which he then gives to Aziraphale, because what is subtlety), to the interracial couple with the trans spouse at the Pride and Prejudice ball, there was just a lot of casual, unremarked, non-story-critical queer representation visible at every turn. It's like the NGCU saw the bigots wailing about Sandman season 1 being extremely gay and went CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, LET'S MAKE GOOD OMENS 2 EVEN MORE GAY.

God bless.

Obviously, Jon Hamm as Amnesia!Gabriel stole the show (he was SO fucking funny) and it was also incredibly fun to watch Miranda Richardson repurposed as a scheming demon. Nina Sosanya also reappeared as Nina the coffee shop owner, which leads us into the Maggie-and-Nina subplot. They're obviously, wildly, incredibly clearly an analogue for Aziraphale and Crowley themselves, but they're also each, crucially, a mix of both. On the surface, Maggie is Aziraphale: the plump, blonde, earnest, sweet-natured one owning a slightly dated book music shop and somewhat clueless about emotional nuances, while Nina is (also on the surface) Crowley, the hard-edged dark loner who doesn't want to open herself up to people or be spotted caring. But emotionally, Maggie is Crowley: the one openly pining, clearly besotted, only wanting to hang around their crush and do whatever they can to make themselves useful, while Nina is Aziraphale. Interested but reticent, attracted but conflicted, trapped in an abusive relationship with a demanding offscreen "lover" (Lindsay/Heaven) who tries to constantly control and shame them without ever offering much, if anything in return. By the end, they bring themselves around to what Maggie/Crowley are offering, but by then, well. We've got a lot more problems on our hands.

As I also said in my earlier posts, this entire thing has always been a metaphor for religion, queerness, and what religion -- especially abusive, fundamentalist, organized religion -- does to queer people, but they really cranked the FUCK out of that metaphor this season. Aziraphale is guilt-tripped, controlled, and shamed for his attraction to Crowley at every turn. He is torn between his imagined duty to Heaven, in all its ignorant, uncaring, bureaucratic, gratuitously cruel system that he still insists on seeing the best in because he can't bear the alternative, and the chaotic and sometimes grey but genuinely more good morality that Crowley offers him. (Can I just say, we were explicitly shown that the two of them together doing "just a little miracle" are more powerful than Heaven AND Hell combined.) And at the end, he's told that the only way he can be with Crowley -- what Metatron explicitly blackmails him with -- is if they both go back to heaven, submit themselves to the cruel system again and give up everything that has made them who they are: their home in London, their human friends, their reliance on each other, their independence, their own ways of doing things. You can be queer in this (religious) framework, but only the limited, watered-down, controlled, controllable, constantly-under-supervision kind of queer, which relies on both you and your lover "converting" back to the true faith. And if you don't cooperate, they will literally kidnap you, lie to you, manipulate you, take you from your soulmate, and force you right back into doing the one thing (destroying the world) that you never, ever wanted to do in the first place, because in their minds, that is still better than this. It's for your own good.

Ouch.

And the thing is: that's why the ending a) hits so hard and b) is so fucking painful, because of course Aziraphale agrees. He has no conception of being able to defy Heaven on his own; he has always, always needed Crowley for that. In the flashbacks, when Aziraphale is faced with an order from Heaven that he desperately does not want to carry out (such as letting all Job's children get killed), he still relies completely on Crowley to "outsmart the rules" and find a better way. Crowley is A Crafty Demon; that's what he does, and so Aziraphale rationalizes it to himself that therefore that must be fine. Even in season 1, when he really didn't want the Apocalypse to happen but initially thought it was his duty as a good Heaven footsoldier, he relied on Crowley to talk him out of it and allow him to do what he really wants instead. That's their whole dynamic in a nutshell, as exemplified in that scene in episode 2, where Crowley tempts Aziraphale with the "pleasures of the flesh" while sprawled on his back in Ravish Me mode like the giant walking gay disaster that he is. (Sorry, buddy. That beard. Can't do it.) Everything that Aziraphale's existence is, that makes him who he is, that he loves and cherishes the most (in this case, food and wine) comes from Crowley. Everything else is just background noise.

Throughout the season, what we see is Aziraphale increasingly coming around to the fantasy of being with Crowley. He's coy and flirty; he talks about "our car" and expects Crowley will let him (which he does); he wants to have a Jane Austen ball and for them to dance together (oh my heart); he even thinks, at the crucial moment, that the best way for them to be together is to go back to heaven just like they were in the beginning, once more perfect angels, as if those entire six thousand years of struggle and grief and pining and separation and falling didn't happen. And Crowley -- poor, poor, brave, devoted, heartbroken Crowley -- has just heard for the first time in said six thousand years that actually telling the person you love how you feel is an option. Maggie and Nina tell them point-blank that their whole stupid plan failed because people aren't chess pieces who can be moved and automatically achieve the desired result. And of course this gobsmacks the dearest and dumbest Ineffable Husbands, because they can't conceive of anything else. People are chess pieces in the Great War of Heaven and Hell; Aziraphale and Crowley themselves are chess pieces who have been desperately trying to get out of being moved by external forces, but that doesn't change the fact that that's what they are. They don't have volition or agency aside from that which they can sneak for themselves in brief and stolen moments. That's it.

Until, well. It's not it. They discover that this whole would-be war is actually an elaborate ruse to cover up another angel-demon romance, that of Gabriel and Beelzebub. (I'll be honest, I'm 99% sure they did this storyline because they saw the fans crackshipping them, but I appreciate a fictional narrative that values and incorporates its fans' input, rather than trying to constantly "trick" or "outsmart" them or "do what they don't expect.") And Gabriel and Beelzebub get to be together, but only by leaving their world forever. They have to desert their homes, their structures, even their own identities, and never return. And Crowley and Aziraphale are so rooted in their "precious, perfect, fragile" life in their little corner of Soho, with their bookshop and their Bentley and their dining at the Ritz (which they didn't get to do in the end because METATRON /shakes fist), that that just doesn't work. Neither of them can conceive of doing that. So Aziraphale thinks "go back to heaven and try to make the terrible system do some good and take what we can in terms of being together" and Crowley just... pours out his heart. He's ready to fucking propose. He barely stops himself from saying something to the effect of "I want to spend eternity with you." He begs, he pleads with Aziraphale to go away not in the literal sense, but the emotional/metaphysical: to finally break this toxic dependence on Heaven and tell them once and for all where to stick it. And because he is desperate to make Aziraphale understand, he finally throws all caution to the winds and recklessly, desperately, adoringly kisses him, the one thing he's wanted to do for ages and...

Gets. Shot. Down.

Ugghhhhh. I'm suffering all over again. Aziraphale wants him, hungers for it, for them, and yet he's been so abused and so conditioned by Heaven (he's still blithely repeating to Crowley's face that "Hell are the bad guys!") that he just cannot accept that kind of desperate, blind, limitless, lawless affection. He even forgives Crowley for this "transgression," just to really twist the knife, and Crowley just can't take it, can't face up to how terribly this has all gone up in flames, after he went to heaven trying to find the answer for Gabriel's situation. Gabriel, who he fucking hates. Gabriel, who tried to kill the angelic being he loves (and for which Crowley has transparently never forgiven him). And yet at one pouty puppy-eyed look from Aziraphale and a warning that whoever is harboring Gabriel might be in danger, Crowley leaps headlong into the Bentley again and rushes to the rescue while "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" is blaring. He stoutly protects Gabriel; he does a miracle to disguise him; he lets him have hot chocolate and stay in the bookshop; he guards him from the literal demonic horde outside. All because of Aziraphale. That's it. And then, it still doesn't work. Not only that, Gabriel's absence and decision to forego Armageddon gives Heaven the one tool they finally need to take Aziraphale away from him.

I repeat: Ugghhhhhhhh.

(In a good way. Ngl, I love this angst. This is the kind of angst my brain Thrives on, the Thematic Parallel Romantic Character Arc kind. Nom nom nom. But also: AGONY.)

I also need to talk about Aziraphale driving the Bentley, aside from the obvious metaphor of him being in Crowley's home while Crowley is in his. Last season, we had the "you go too fast for me, Crowley" scene with them sitting in said Bentley, which was Aziraphale saying he's not ready for a relationship. In this season, as noted above, we see Aziraphale increasingly embracing the potential fantasy of being with Crowley. But here's the catch: when he's in the Bentley this time, driving it, setting the pace, acclimating to the idea, he's driving his own idea of what the Bentley/his relationship with Crowley is. It's not the real thing. He plays classical music; he supplies himself sweets; he turns it yellow; he drives too slow. Crowley calls him in another old-married-couple snitfit to complain that Aziraphale's messed it up, but what Aziraphale has actually messed up (or will, by the end of the season) is far more consequential than just a car. He's changed the entire shape of their relationship to the one he thinks can make it work, and it just doesn't. It has to be them -- "we could have been... Us" -- or it's not even close to the truth. It's not worth their time.

I repeat: Ouch.

Speaking of the writers validating fan theories, I know we all picked up and screamed about on Crowley's idea of Peak Romance Guaranteed To Fall In Love being sheltering from rain and gazing into each other's eyes, which confirms that that poor bastard was indeed ass-over-teakettle gone as soon as he met Aziraphale (again) in Eden. I also need to talk about the 1941 redux, because wow. This time, the danger comes from Hell, which we see being its usual self: gleefully, pointlessly cruel, pettily backbiting, dirty, sniping, tedious, endless, determined to mindlessly destroy because They're The Bad Guys and they like it. So they blackmail, spy on, miracle-block, illicitly photograph, and try to prove that Aziraphale and Crowley are secretly a couple, right after Aziraphale himself has just had the Light From Heaven realization that he's in love (which we all also picked up on in s1). They're forcibly outing them (to speak of more Religious Queer Trauma) in order to break them up/get them into trouble with their authorities/families. Aziraphale and Crowley manage to escape it mostly by dumb luck, but Crowley having an altogether freakout, hands shaking, barely able to actually point the gun at Aziraphale even in the knowledge that it's supposed to be fake, is just... wow. He can't even fathom the idea of ever trying to destroy him in earnest, especially when he knows on some level that Aziraphale also finally just realized his own feelings. So I just need to --

/screams

Anyway, Aziraphale's entire arc this season is doing what he thinks is the right thing and then inadvertently causing harm and damage as a result. In the Edinburgh flashbacks (live slug reaction of me: SEAN BIGGERSTAFF???!!) he tries to stop Elspeth from stealing bodies and gets Morag killed and Crowley drinking the laudanum to save him (though that part with David Tennant just riffing left and right, using his natural Scottish accent, and being Tiny Crowley/Huge Crowley was hilarious). He invites his neighbors to a Pride and Prejudice ball and makes them all the target for demonic attack. And of course the Job episode: Aziraphale, horrified at Heaven's callous cruelty, desperate not to get Job's children killed, willing to go along with Crowley's tricks to save them somehow, tempted by Crowley to do the fucknasty with their angel bits eat some food and decide that he likes it. As mentioned, the whole thing about God being silent this season is a major thematic choice. The only time we see/hear God is Her communing with Job from afar. Aziraphale enviously imagines the answers he must be getting (he's not, he's baffled and perplexed), while Crowley longs beyond words to even have the opportunity to ask the question: why? Why do this? Why is this your plan?

And of course, this absence culminates in the Metatron, the Voice of God, the person arrogantly claiming that they're speaking for God and know exactly what Heaven wants, being able to seize Aziraphale by the short hairs and absolutely fuck him over. Gabriel is gone/decommissioned/eloping with Beelzebub, so Heaven needs a Supreme Leader (God apparently is no longer a factor in the equation). And what this Supreme Leader needs to do is finally unleash the Apocalypse that Gabriel decided to pass on (the Second Coming). Aziraphale needs to be punished, taken away from Crowley's influence/love, and put back under Heaven's explicit control, so Metatron spots a great opportunity to do all three at once. It's not an accident that the exact tool he uses to get Aziraphale to agree is "now you can actually be with Crowley!" Aziraphale and Crowley have been trying so hard to hide out from their respective Head Offices, but now all at once, there's this seemingly miraculous opportunity for them not to have to do that anymore! They can be together! They can be sanctioned by Heaven! They can give up all this hiding and sneaking around and lying! Isn't that better?

... As long as, of course, they give up absolutely everything that makes them who they are. No big deal. Minor catch. Probably nothing.

Metatron doesn't let Aziraphale have time to escape, or think it over, or reflect, or anything. He pressures Aziraphale to come with him immediately, or be once more subject to Heaven's implicit wrath/destruction/judgment. Believe me, Aziraphale already KNOWS he's made a huge mistake, as soon as he hears what Metatron really wants: bringing him back to unleash the Apocalypse that Aziraphale and Crowley have given up literally everything to prevent. He doesn't need time to reflect. By the time my man is in that elevator, he's well aware of what a catastrophic misjudgment he's made, and yet --

Aziraphale needs this. He has, as noted, literally always relied on Crowley outsmarting Heaven's cruel orders in order to prevent himself from having to do them. He's relied on Crowley rescuing him ("rescuing me makes him so happy," WELL BUB, IT'S BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS NEED IT). He admits to Crowley's face that "I need you!" He hates Heaven's sadistic meanness, but he has absolutely no framework, in and of himself, to defy it. When the rubber hits the road, he will crumple and try to go along with it, and now he's been put in a position where he's going to have to stand up, defy Heaven, and make the break once and for all BY HIMSELF. He doesn't have Crowley around to do it for him, he has no support, he is going to arrive in Heaven and be shuttled straight off to the Apocalypse 2.0 War Room. The only way he gets out of this is if he actively stands up, if he chooses himself and Crowley and their life, and he has to.

The thing is:

Aziraphale has lived his entire eternal existence Looking Up. Up is the direction of Goodness and Heaven. Up is where Angels go. Up is where Aziraphale comes from and where Demons and Hell are not. But now he's going Up, in a position to take over the whole shebang, and it's the last thing he wants.

So he's going to have to come back Down.

He's going to have to Fall. He's going to have to get back Below at all costs. He's going to have to finally, once and for all, understand what led Crowley to make the choice to leave Heaven and never come back. It's only then that they can possibly be together on any kind of conscious, equal, deliberate footing, claim their own agency, reject Heaven AND Hell, and try to really earn that South Downs cottage and that happy-ever-after, and it's gonna hurt so good.

Now if you will excuse me, /screams

[cowgirlcasanova]

the interpretation of arthur morgan is so special to me.

It’s incredible how arthur can be so many things just simply by the way you decide to play. There is this overall structure that arthur has that was specifically created by the developers, but then there’s so much freedom that you have.

He can be a man who tried to be good all the way from the beginning but keeps getting put in these situations. He can be a man who started out cruel and bettered himself (which is obviously the closest to his created character structure but there’s still so much room for your own actions and interpretations) He can be a man who helps strangers every chance he gets or someone that leaves them stranded on the road. He can be a bad man the whole way through, he can try to be better but eventually give back into being cruel.

I just think it’s so beautiful how every small action that you have him do develops the idea of his character to you

maybe there are certain cutscene you never had that another person did so they have this slightly different idea of arthur because of it!!! he can be anyone and different for everyone.

even small silly things makes everyones idea of him just a little different. when you roam as him, what saloon he likes best, which town he frequents the most, what outfit he wears. there’s just so much freedom to arthur morgan

i know it’s just a simple thought but i was just thinking about how special he is. <3

[sillyunknownkitkat]

Undertale, Underswap, and underfell brothers react to a reader (platonic or not) that is hyper sexual

Mind that you're responsible for your own consumption, vague nsfw under the cut and sentive topics

No dni banner because there's nothing really explicit but it's implied

Undertale :

Sans

He noticed slight changes in your attitude before your crisis started. You were getting more and more bold, which is quite unusual for you.

Sans was worried for the few day you disappeared but understood that you may not want him to know about your problems. It didn't make him any less curious though.

It was a week after your first "symptoms" that he really got worried. So he went to your hiding place to confront you about it.

"Knock knock" Sans said, standing right in front of the bedroom's door.

"Sans?" You asked surprised and a bit panicked.

"S'not how the joke goes, kid. Knock knock." His tone wasn't particularly harsh, but he made it clear that he wasn't leaving. He used a tone that you had learned to interpret since knowing him.

"Who's there?" You said recluantly, you didn't want anyone to know about your bad habits

"Will." You thought for a bit, trying to guess the end of the joke but couldn't figure it out with your head still full of what's currently going on

"Will who?" Sans smiles a bit. Even in bad times, he still likes his jokes. It helps him relax a little.

"Will you open the door so we can talk face to face?"

So after putting on a sweatshirt and pyjama's pants, you get up and open the door.

"Hey.." You look down at his slippers.

"Hey, how 'bout we sit down and talk a bit, mh? M'not upset with you, just worried."

After you both settle down on the bed, you bring your knees to your chest and wait for him to start talking.

"Soooo, what's up, kiddo?"

Yeah... This is awkward for the both of you

So after you explained the things you were doing and how you felt while he patiently listened, he just asked you one thing.

"Is it because of a traumatic event you've been through?"

Now I let you decide what happened or not because everyone is different, but let's just say that if a person did something to make you feel that way, they're going to have a not so friendly chat with Sans.

Papyrus

Now, this cutie definitely didn't wait to ask you what was going on. I imagine him being autistic

So, while our pretty boy is definitely not stupid, I like to think he still struggles a bit with social clues. This means that he did ask you as soon as he noticed, but it might have taken quite a while.

Now, we all now Sans almost canonically struggles with depression so Paps can definitely help you a bit.

So, since no one can resist that cool face, you explained what was going on and let me tell you... That man was upset! Not at you but at the fact that you felt that way and he couldn't do anything about it. Not that it was his fault, but yk (*￣∇￣)ノ

Now he spent days telling you how amazing you were, how he loved you (platonically or not *wink wink*), and trying to get you attention on something else than your problem so you'd feel better.

Because you do. Not "maybe", you do 😭🔫😾

The cat is me, obviously 🙄

Underswap :

Blue (sans)

Might get hate on this one, but I think he struggles with hypersexuality too. I don't remember who's Au's it is, but there is one where he's popular on Instagram and where he's close friend with Viper (sf sans from that au which I use). So he knew what was going on before you told him.

Bb explained that he was like that, too, so you guys took care of each other :3

Like getting in comfy clothes, cooking a bit, cuddling, watching a movie, ... whatever you want!

And like spa treatments to echother too!

I'll probably write a part two for him in the future because, like this scenario + him, it's just ✨️perfect✨️

Stretch (us papyrus)

Even tho he's younger than blue, he still took care of his brother and therefore knew what was going on too. So when he sees you, he just picks you up with his magic, drags you to the couch, and pretty much instantly falls asleep on you. Well, he's not really sleeping, but you don't know that.

After a while, you start to cry silently because you feel kind of disgusting. Stretch cling to you a tiny bit harder and starts to purr "in his sleep" to try and console you.

Yes, skeletons purr, don't ask me why or how.

Anyway, after a while of being soothed, you fall asleep, and Stretch is smiling like an idiot because he managed to help you even the tiniest bit.

After both of you wake up, he goes to ask Blue what he can do to help you and apply with the wtv he tells him.

Blue might even join to talk to you a bit :)

Underfell :

Red (uf sans)

He knew what was going on but didn't want to bother you with it. The man already knows how hard it is when you're going through tough times.

So he kinda let you be but sometimes he comes buy and offer you to do some things.

It's not in a really nice way but not rude either, just a bit rough, I guess

He was like, "How 'bout you do something instead of just lying there, huh?"

He is not an asshole. He just grew up in a difficult world and therefore kinda has a stick stuck up in his non-existent ass.

If you don't move, he'll literally drag you out of bed and sit you on the couch with a movie already picked paused on the TV.

If you talk about it, he'll listen and suggest things that might help you, but if you don't, he'll do whatever he can while being "subtle."

Edge (uf papyrus)

He catched you crying when he opened the door of your bedroom to ask you to come downstairs since dinner was ready. Now Edge is by no means a cruel person, but he had to do things to survive in the underground. I like to think that when they all got out, he and Red cut links with most of the other monsters.

So now he got quite a lot softer, but it's still Edge, so don't expect too much.

He sat down next to you and brung a hand to your back (a bit awkwardly, but the man is learning people)

"I'M HERE IF YOU NEED TO TALK." he told you in the softest voice he could manage to get out (it wasn't soft, but since you know him and how he talked you understood that he was trying)

Same as his brother, if you talk, he'll listen, but he might be a bit more insistant with his advice. Again, not in a rude way, just in his way of saying thing.

If you don't, he'll probably get a little offended that you don't trust him even after he tried his best to be soft but still understands why you may not want to talk about your problems.

Not verified afterwards, sorry ;^;

So this is it :) it's a bit shitty ngl but I tried my best.

Kinda self indulge, honestly, but I'm better now so dw

If you have a similar problem or even another one, my dm's are opened, don't stay alone in your misery.

I might not answer right away (I live in Western Europe), but I will as soon as I can

Have a good day/night, and be safe, everyone. <3

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️Reveling in Richonne - TOWL

#24: The Helplessly Devoted  (1.03)

gif cred: @clonecaptains

Even when they have conflict, Rick and Michonne are still so hopelessly devoted to one another. And in the following events, Pearl will be none the wiser that she has just sandwiched herself in the middle of a whole marital fight between a 'helpless' husband and his wife 😋...

So Michonne is back on her consignee shift when Pearl calls her, saying, “Bethune.” The way Michonne had ditched being Dana I’m almost surprised Michonne turned around when Pearl called for Bethune lol. But in the following scenes, Michonne is willing to play along with the CRM a little bit longer as she remains devoted to getting her and Rick back home.

When Michonne does turn around she sees Rick standing by Pearl and Michonne looks right at her husband as she approaches the two at her own pace.

gif cred: @perryabbott

Pearl formally introduces herself and then says, “You know Sergeant Major Grimes, obviously.” And Michonne knows that man in every way possible and better than he knows himself, so yes. 😋

Michonne looks over at the father of her children and says, “I do.” And I’m chuckling during this whole exchange cuz each one of them is giving comedy to me. 🤭

Pearl tries to posture as intimidating when she asks Michonne if she enjoyed orientation and her first trip to the city. Thorne is way out of her depths trying to throw her weight around with Michonne.

gif cred: @perryabbott

Michonne is just like, “Yeah. I saw some…interesting artwork.” as she shoots a not-so-subtle frustrated look at Rick. It's funny how the way she says this here you’d never guess her scene with Benjiro was as heartfelt as it was lol.

But hey, she and Rick are in front of outside company and still in a fight technically so I guess that's why she gives Rick that look and doesn't let on to how touched she actually was by her exchange with the portraitist.

gif cred: @perryabbott

Also, the way Rick looks at her and then looks down. I wonder what he’s thinking learning Michonne met Benjiro, the one person in the Civic Republic that he seemed to willingly talk about his girls with. 

Pearl picks up on Michonne’s energy here and says, “Not so enthusiastic, eh? Is that life not for you?” Nope. And then Michonne shows no traces of Dana when she asks, “Do I have a choice?” I love that she wanted to push back a little bit especially when it comes to 'choice' cuz the CRM stayed thinking everyone has choices when they really don’t here.

Like I feel like Michonne is speaking on behalf of her and her husband cuz she’s like y’all don’t actually give people choices for real which is why Rick is here in a a CRM uniform and not home with our kids. 😒

But I love seeing Rick’s face when he hears Michonne ask this. He shoots a subtle look over at Michonne like ‘hey now that’s a little too A-ish.’ 😂 And he definitely looks like he's thinking, 'there my wife goes showing who she is again.' #DirectQuoteFromHisMind 😋

gif cred: @andy-clutterbuck

But uh, Rick, doesn’t this all look familiar? Breaking the kill record, giving attitude to high-ranking officials, A-ing it up - Michonne is just like him for real when he was a consignee. And again, Michonne has been an A since day one so really he had to know it was bound to go like this.

Pearl tells Michonne to come with them and as they head to the car. Michonne has a moment of just smiling to herself and I had to think for a sec about what I interpret that smile to be about. She almost just seems unfazed by all this because she knows any person, place, or thing that needs you to be docile for them to be powerful isn’t really about that life and is definitely not like her.

So she’s simply unmoved by all things CRM after assessing them enough to know they're not like Richonne. And she's right once again.

So then Pearl and Rick take Michonne to the rundown arena where Okafor had taken them to reveal his plans. It’s interesting now seeing Michonne in the very place where Rick was first presented with the idea of giving his life toward Okafor’s mission. 

Michonne asks, “What is the place?” similar to what Rick asked when Okafor brought him here. Pearl says, “It’s what the city would have become if it wasn’t for one man.”

Michonne says, “It was bombed?” and Pearl is ready to get to more personal matters as she says, “Yeah. Now I don’t know much about you. You emerged from the woods and saved someone very important” and as she speaks Michonne looks so pretty with the moonlight lighting. 🤗🌙 That really is another TOWL blessing - the much-improved lighting. 🙌🏽

gif cred: @nerd4music

I like hearing Rick referred to as 'someone very important' because little does Pearl know she’s talking to the person who Rick is most important to. Like that’s the funny thing about this arena scene - two separate conversations are going on. A married couple is in the middle of a fight and communicating with their eyes and then secondary is Pearl’s whole deal.

I also love how in this scene, the one who feels most in control is the one without the weapon. Just saying. 💁🏽‍♀️ Chonne’s that girl. Because just standing there she has Pearl seeming a bit intimidated by her and trying to posture to overcompensate, and she has Rick ready to act up if Pearl tries anything. 

As Rick stands behind Pearl and watches with bated breath for how his wife will respond to all this, Michonne stands there smiling at Pearl. Pearl says, “Sergeant Major Grimes saved my life once. I would call him a friend but friendship seems like something that doesn’t exist out here. It’s too light. Too soft.”

It’s interesting seeing Michonne get to hear about Rick from someone else - someone he’s spent the last 7 years around too. And especially interesting when she has to listen to Pearl say, “He’s my family now. My only family.” Pearl, if only you knew who you were talking to. 🙃

Plus, I was like Pearl, girl, your 'family member' has been inhaling Dana recently so plz be calm cuz you don't know your relative like you think you do. 🙂

Michonne blinks and tries to maintain her smile hearing this as she looks over at Rick, and I feel like there are layers to what Michonne may be thinking and feeling right now. One of those feelings seems to be a shade of sadness and hurt because she’s had to go without her husband for years while this other lady gets to talk about him as her family.

gif cred: @perryabbott

I think in her look there’s also an element of 'well ma’am, you’re going to be losing your only family very soon once I pluck him up out of this place.' When she looks at Rick too hearing this I know she’s just like 'oh I didn’t know I was meeting my husband’s family tonight' lol.

Rick looks at Michonne and sways a little bit because he just seems very anxious over this whole moment. I'm positive Michonne doesn’t doubt at all which family member in this arena Rick prioritizes and has the most loyalty to, but Rick’s look at Michonne almost feels like he wants to assure her that 'I know how this all sounds, but I promise I'm still not with them.'

gif cred: @nat111love

Pearl says, “My question is who are you?” And Michonne says, “Just Dana” which I always am like doesn’t saying 'just Dana' sound a little more suspicious than simply saying Dana? lol 🤔 But Michonne is aware of where Pearl is going with this so she’s like let me just nip whatever you're insinuating in the bud now and let you know I really am just Dana.

Pearl says, “This is not the moment for humility, Dana.” So then Michonne answers unfazed saying, “I’m a survivor.” Gospel. She’s one of the best survivors there is. Pearl pushes back saying, “A survivor wouldn’t have run out of the woods to save a man who was about to have his throat cut.” It’s funny hearing Pearl say this when she’s talking to the very person who was about to cut Rick's throat. 

Michonne says, “Well, I did. And I survived” and her tone is again giving unfazed like 'my story is pretty straightforward forward so...

Pearl asks, “Why did you save him?” and Michonne knows the angle she's supposed to take so she says, “I was looking for people. It’s safer with people.” And she’s not lying. She was looking for a person and she found him and it happens to be the person she feels safest with. 👌🏽

gif cred: @nat111love

Plus, I do think on her TWD journey from lone wolf to family woman and community leader, Michonne really has built a real appreciation for the value of being with people.

Pearl wants to know specifically, “Why did you save *him*?” And the list of reasons why is longer than Pearl could ever know. But the true answer that she can't say right now can pretty much be summed up as - she saved him because he is the love of her life. She’d do anything for him, including save him time and time again.

I like hearing this question for how it almost serves as a moment of reflection of not just Michonne’s most recent way of saving Rick but how she saved him in so many ways in TWD. 

Michonne pauses for a brief moment and then looks from Pearl to Rick likely thinking 'how do I say something other than because I’m madly in love with my husband and have been even for the last seven years apart?'

gif cred: @nat111love

And when she looks at Rick, he also looks at her again nervous about how she’ll respond.

Michonne says, “It didn’t seem…” and Pearl cuts her off saying, “It didn’t seem what?” Which…don’t be interrupting Michonne now. Like she was about to finish her sentence girl, dang. Pearl tried it a little bit with that.

But Michonne maintains her composure as she's very good at doing and says, “It didn’t seem right. He was on the ground helpless...”

gif cred: @nat111love

And then this is where Pearl tried it a lot a bit because she starts condescendingly laughing when Michonne says this. Which, Pearl...

Pearl was low-key giving me secondhand embarrassment by unknowingly approaching Rick's wife like this. Like over here snickering while talking to the woman who Rick has the deepest relationship with on the planet. 🥴

And while yes some lies are being told to Pearl right now, Rick being on the ground helpless ain’t one of them. He was about ready to accept his fate and bid this world goodbye when he had that katana to his neck.

But Pearl thinks she knows Rick so well as she says, “Him?” And then turns around to look at Rick with some kiki energy as if she and Rick would both would find this amusing.

Meanwhile, Rick is standing there just trying not to appear as stressed as he really feels by this whole thing lol.

gif cred: @perryabbott

Pearl tells Michonne, “I can’t imagine him ever being helpless” and that right there is another indicator that she doesn’t know Rick like she thinks she does.

Rick is an admirably strong man but he has absolutely had some moments of helplessness. He’s resilient so he always bounces back from the moments of helplessness, but Michonne has seen firsthand Rick be that way several times before, and she’s often been the one to help him.

I’m sure Rick is like 'Pearl, I appreciate you thinking I could never be helpless but I have been and 'Dana' has seen it all so...

I feel like too this goes to show how Rick and Michonne know each other so much more vulnerably than others know them. Like so many perceive Rick and Michonne as just strong and having it together, but the two of them know a far more human side of each other.

Also, it’s funny how Rick does not move a muscle during this particular moment between these two ladies. 🤭 #Skressed

Michonne seems to remember that she and Rick are supposed to be strangers more than Pearl does so she has to remind Pearl, “Well, I don’t know him.”

The way she says it, she’s not feeling Pearl's energy clearly. Plus she’s showing a lot of restraint with Pearl laughing in her face and acting like she and Rick are so close when Michonne is the reason Rick has one hand right now.

gif cred: @nat111love

Michonne’s line saying she doesn’t know him has some real weight to it because one; she knows Rick very well and as intimately as one can know another person, but also two; she is also in a space currently where she’s trying to figure out who the Rick before her is now.

She knows her Rick deeply but this Sergeant Major Grimes is someone she doesn’t know fully as she’s still looking for the Rick she once knew. It feels like it makes her sad to know that there actually is a little truth in that line when she says she doesn’t know him. 

Then Michonne looks right at Rick as she actually starts dropping some truths about the situation, stating, “But he was about to die…if I wasn’t there.” The way her face gets serious when she looks at him and says that - she and Rick both know how Michonne would have packed him up in those woods had he been anyone else.

gif cred: @nat111love

Rick again is doing the mannequin challenge as he stands completely still and stares at her. I’d love to know exactly the thoughts that are supposed to be going through his head right now. I know one of them is ‘Michonne looks super pretty under this moonlight’ but I wonder what his other thoughts are regarding this situation too lol. Probably 'yeah that’s the truth I was about to meet my maker in those woods.'

gif cred: @nat111love

Then Michonne turns back to Pearl and I always love her delivery of this next line because it’s said like such a mom. Almost like this is how she’d talk to Judith and RJ when trying to help them learn a useful life lesson or something. She says, “I don’t want to see anyone get killed. Especially anyone that seems *helpless.*” I love how she’s doubling down on the fact that 'helpless' was very much the right word to use for their circumstances.

And I like how Michonne also likely feels that even beyond that day they reunited in the forest, Rick still seems helpless here with the CRM. I mean he straight-up told her he asked for help and didn’t get it. And so in that sense, it’s also like she wants Rick to hear her saying 'I don’t want you to die here. And you clearly need help to get away from all this which is why I won’t leave you behind.'

gif cred: @nat111love

Pearl decides to let Michonne in on a secret. She tells Michonne that she’s here because of her since people like Michonne are not normally let in. She says, “You’re a leader, what we call an ‘A’” and Michonne even listens to this like an A when they cut to her. 🤭

Pearl says if Michonne were allowed to live in the city she wouldn’t just keep her head down and do everyday things, instead she’d “look for answers.” When Pearl says this she puts her hands on the knife behind her back and again I was like Pearl, that puts you in more danger than it’ll ever put Michonne in.

gif cred: @nerd4music

And why? Because of that man Rick Grimes. 😋

The second Pearl touches that knife, Rick grabs his gun from out of the holster.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Pearl is right in saying that Michonne would “ask what happened here and why and to whom” She’s been a good investigator of places since Woodbury. Pearl continues, “and you’ll seek justice based on a feeling in your gut, a feeling you can’t name” and I love how Michonne’s standing there listening with a baddest-chick-in-the-game stance. 👑

gif cred: @nerd4music

And then Michonne gives Pearl this interesting look, almost like she’s trying to let Pearl know 'honey, whatever you got going on behind your back you’re going to want to think twice about.' Like Pearl is actually the most helpless one in this arena because one wrong move and she's getting taken out. And it won't be by Michonne... it'll be by Pearl's 'family member' behind her.

Michonne knows if Pearl attacks her, Rick’s gonna rightfully take her out so it’s almost like Michonne’s look is saying 'Pearl, chill for your own sake.' She doesn't want to see anyone get killed tonight, and seeing Rick with his gun out she knows that's very much on the table rn for Pearl.

Also I like how part of why Michonne feels so unthreatened here is because of how safe she always feels with Rick. She knows he's not letting anything happen to her.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Pearl asks if Michonne would take the chance to have access to the secrets and answers of this place to get the whole picture. Michonne asks, “You would give me the answers?” Pearl says, “A chance very few get. Very few in the entirety of this force. Very few in the world”

And then they cut to Rick looking extra stressed rn. He raises his gun a bit and puts his finger on the trigger which always stands out to me. Because when Rick had to put a gun on Michonne in ep 2 he didn’t even want to play around with putting his finger on the trigger. But here, despite being a gunslinger who could have probably whipped out his gun in no time had Pearl charged at Michonne, Rick doesn’t want to take any chances. So he has the gun raised and ready to go if need be.

gif cred: @nerd4music

And that’s sweet that he’s so ready to protect Michonne in this moment regardless of their current conflict. Had he taken out a Command Sergeant Major like Thorne right now it would have had him in very hot water and made such a mess of things, but he’s willing to make that mess if it means ensuring Pearl doesn’t so much as scrape Michonne with a weapon.

Michonne plays along as she says, “I would say…yes.” (You know we always love a little 'say yes' moment. 😋) And I know Michonne can see Rick with concern on his face and his gun all the way out and so I personally feel like that’s why she looks at Pearl again with this smile like don’t do anything stupid now Ms. Thorne cuz she knows Rick won’t hesitate.

gif cred: @nerd4music

Pearl puts down the knife behind her back and speaks to Rick to inform him that Michonne will be joining them for “clearing operations at Cascadia Base.” Pearl tells Rick to ensure Michonne is properly equipped with provisional BDU and Rick says his first line of the scene as he asks. “Weapons?”

Then Pearl looks Michonne up and down and says, “Killstick only” before letting Consignee Bethune know she can return to the vehicle. I feel like it’s clear Michonne intimidates Pearl which seems to bother Pearl since she’s the one supposed to be doing the intimidating. 

Then in a moment that contrasts the sweetness of Richonne's passing by moment earlier in the ep, this time Michonne walks by Rick and lets him know this marital fight is still going when she sideyes him before walking away.

gif cred: @perryabbott

The way she’s just strolling out of there at her own pace and then gives that look down before looking right at him - it makes me giggle every time. 😋

She said 'and scene' on 'Just Dana' and let Rick know he's still dealing with Michonne Grimes. 🤭🎭

Michonne really can communicate so much without saying a word. She’s too through with all this CRM stuff and she wants Rick to be too through with it too.

Rick reacts knowing his wife is still mad but before he can sit with that, he’s having to ensure Pearl stays on their side. 

Pearl looks like she’s more shook than Michonne ever was after their encounter and Rick approaches saying, “That was good. You’re good at this.” But the way Michonne felt in control the whole time I feel like he’s lying saying Pearl was good at this lol.

Pearl immediately grasped that Rick’s wife is a force to be reckoned with as she says, “Yeah she’s strong Rick, and I’m not Okafor. We don’t mess with security. For all I know she could be sprinting toward the river.”

Pearl also reveals she noticed how obvious Rick was with his gun when she says, “You drew your sidearm” and Rick stays having to be Quick On His Feet McGee as he tells another lie and says, “You drew your knife, I was ready to back you up.” When really he was ready to pack you up, Thorne.

gif cred: @coolpartytimefan

Then Rick makes a passionate case for Michonne as he says “And she’s not running for the river you can bring her along.” I know Rick is probably thinking 'trust me, I know from first-hand experience that Dana is not running for the river cuz I already tried to get her to do that and she said no.' 😂  

Pearl says she’s not going to be responsible for a vulnerability and she thinks she knows it all now and sees why they're out here doing this. And then she again reminds Rick, “I’m not Okafor” which is true because she is not an A. I’m convinced.

Rick is left standing alone as he realizes the CRM seems to have converted Pearl, and quickly too, so now he has no more inside allies. But he does have Michonne, he just needs to start realizing that.

In a way, Rick and Michonne being so devoted to each other is making them take different approaches to how to save each other. But even when on different pages, we soon see in one of my favorite TOWL scenes behind a boneless tree that Richonne still can’t resist each other. 😏👌🏽