#obviously the dynamics would change in a very very sad way if he died

[heavencasteel420]

Honestly the implications for the Byers family dynamics if Jonathan gets taken to the UD instead of Will are staggering.

[moonshynecybin]

Your takes on Marc always feel so accurate so I’d like to hear more of what you think in reference to that ask

i thinkkkkk this ask was about the pre argentina post sepang period where marc is like. attempting to mend his relationship to valentino by pure force of will and also being very sweet but vale is a lil reticent if sometimes polite... estranged but still hanging on to that lethal chemistry. death would be kinder if your name is marc marquez. but im going to take a HARD turn into omegaverse land here so sorry to god and his motorcycle racers

SO i think marc obviously like. doesnt really want to believe its over. hes soooo in love here (and as a canonical late bloomer i dont think hes EVER had a heat without vale?? and he is discovering that he is in fact quite bad at dealing with them by himself?) and i really do think that, as hurt as he was by the sepang fallout, he really thinks vale will get over it with time ! and that eventually theyll be able to be as close as they were previously! as soon as he unblocks me the wedding is back on ! truly cannot imagine doing a heat with anyone else he feels literally cold down to his bones thinking about it. and its not even just the dynamic stuff... he misses the grabby hands on cooldown laps and the hugs in parc ferme and the way vale used to put his long fingers in marc's hair to put him where he wants him when they were fucking and the soft skin of his neck and how when vale would touch him everything in marc's brain could just go quiet. truly he feels it in his TEETH like the longing is LETHAL the longing is PHYSICAL the longing has marc IGNORING HIS BODY'S BASIC NEEDS and refusing to go out and find someone to spend a heat with that would actual resolve the hormonal part of his biology reaching for vale (and break that mf bond). so the heat never quite fully resolves! and he feels antsy and feverish and smells literally crazy for weeks at a time. every alpha in the paddock bristling when the wind changes direction... vale staring at the sky with his nails digging into his palms

so marc's already shaky self control is pushed to the limit by his body's insane hormonal situation (motogp doctor is like. technically he can ride !) and so for a few years he decides to kind of. wage this tentative little campaign to see if he can get vale to smile at him or literally touch him at all and relieve a little of the tension swimming around in his body. ANY relief. so he says hi to him every day. goes up to him in parc ferme. small little touches on the podium. just making vale smell like him a little bit. hind brain rejecting the reality where they havent really touched skin on skin in months. waiting for vale to take off his glove before he shakes his hand. BUT because this is omegaverse and i love DRAMA, what marc doesnt realize is that he is sort of. fortifying the beginning stages of a bond that they had started to form when they were fucking. a bond that WOULD have just died if he left it alone or found someone else, but he canttttt because hes oblivious and in love... AND THEN he gets another heat, and its SO much worse... like the effects are compounding, and he can barely see straight and he's feverish and shaking with big eye bags all pale and sad... and eventually alex notices and pulls the plug. says you will NOT get on a bike like this and marc gets permission to stop and basically COLLAPSES

but meanwhile vale is being driven INSANE this entire time because the bond wont DIE but its also not COMPLETED, and marc keeps TOUCHING HIMMMM and smelling insaneeee like hes in heat literally constantly and vale doesnt know what the ISSUE is.... and hes caught up in soooo much resentment but theres literally a base part of his body that cannot physically ignore marc whatsoever. so its an escalating arms race of horny frustration until marc suddenly pulls out of the race one weekend (the official line is for "dynamic reasons" which vale stares at for full minute wondering. is anyone taking care of marc like he would. caught between wanting him to be okay and feeling SICK thinking about another alpha helping him through any of it...) and then theres a knock at his motorhome door. and its alex marquez, looking tired and a little nervous. and he just says. i need your help. its marc.

[e-lisss]

Positive and negative things about Alice in Borderland Season 2.

Well let's start with the positive things.

I really liked how Arisu and Usagi soften as time goes by and how they both care for each other, I really liked that dynamic a lot.

God I can't complain about the K of clubs, I literally liked the dynamic between the actors who play citizens, I really liked Kyuma and his way of thinking. You really feel that they are true friends. I also really liked the dynamics of the game and how things turned out.

Let's talk about the J of hearts, I thought that the fact that Chishiya was there was going to ruin it, but let's not put that aside, I really liked the participants of this game and especially Urumi, how he was killing everyone and how he died, obviously also Sunato and Yaba were great.

I liked the Q of spades (although I still believe that this game is a bit unnecessary) I liked it for one thing and it was for the queen of this game, the dynamics were good and I liked that Usagi defended her man. Arisu was fine for the fact that she went looking for Usagi after parting ways.

Akane and Aguni's dynamic was good, it's nice that she cared for him and he cared for her too. I don't know about the fans but I see a father-daughter dynamic in my opinion that's cute. Akane's introduction was very good for me and having her show her first game was valuable since I thought she wasn't going to be shown.

The K of diamonds was what I expected the most, the deaths were brutal and I would have liked to have seen more of this game. The fact that it included the scene of Momoka and Kuzuryu's past I thought they weren't going to include it.

Arisu's flashbacks with Karube and Chota were special and deepened their friendship more, that's nice, they made up for the magan scenes.

I liked the friendship between Kuina and Ann a lot, that is, the time together and playing games. That makes up for the manga.

Speaking of Kuina, I liked the dynamic between Arisu and Usagi, I liked that they showed a little the J of swords if I'm not mistaken and she was rude in the final battle, they did her justice by showing more of her than what was shown in the manga.

Speaking of Ann, I really liked her that they showed her more and that they did justice to her just like Kuina, that she took Yuuji's place and that she played the game with Kuina was very epic.

Speaking of the battle against the K of swords, it was brutal in my opinion, both the K and Kuina, Aguni, Ann, Usagi and Akane looked good and made a good dynamic in my opinion.

Let's talk about Look god how I love that woman, she's really smart, pretty and very bitchy (it had to be said and it was said) I definitely can't hate her she's very interesting, I just love her and her game.

Let's talk about the ending, it's just that the manga is very beautiful in my opinion and it was a perfect ending, the way they handled things was very fair.

Let's move on to the negative things or things that don't convince me at all.

One of the things I didn't like during Tatta's death was Arisu's reaction, in the manga his reaction is more heartbreaking and more convincing, even Kuina and Usagi's reaction to his death is also very sad but apparently They didn't give it enough importance.

Speaking of the J of hearts, it was really weird to see Chishiya there, but well, you can't change things anymore.

Let's talk about the Q of spades, the queen was fine, her death was very epic but the fact that she wanted Arisu saying "he's my type" is kind of unnecessary for me.

Let's talk about the K of diamonds, god needed more of this game and the dynamics of Kuzuryu and Chishiya.

Speaking of Chishiya god the writers of the show changed everything about him, I still can't get over how they showed him, they literally changed everything about his past and his personality, wait you just left him as a sarcastic good guy, they didn't give him the development they gave him in the manga. Ok, I'll tell you what they changed, firstly, the patient's scene, in the manga it's very different since the patient turns out to be a man with cancer, to which he asks Chishiya to give a letter to his family to which he is He accepts but ends up throwing it away since he did not have a good relationship with his father. I'll get back to Chishiya later.

Let's talk about the cards shown which is the J of diamonds, J of clubs and the K of hearts that were really unnecessary to show them in my opinion would have shown more of the Q of clubs play that Ann and Kuina played I really wish they would They would have shown them more.

Speaking of Kuina, I have a little problem with her and Chishisya and that is that in the manga after Chishiya betrays Arisu and Usagi she confronts him and asks for an explanation of why she did what she did, but in the show she still does. continue, that is, let's say that if someone betrays my friends I stay away from him, but well, in the program it is not the case.

The scene of Chishiya, Niragi and Arisu in this scene I was hoping it would show up well in the show, but it didn't and I'll tell you why. It is supposed that in the manga Niragi makes the reflection that the three of them look alike since they only care about themselves, that therefore makes Arisu reflect and makes him want to change his way of being saying "this surely not always I was egotistical" makes his speech about wanting to change and this prompts Chishiya to want to do the same and reflects on himself, but this in the program seems nonsense since they omitted certain scenes that were important and even dialogues. That really leaves me more to be desired.

Chishiya, the fact of not showing the scene of the relationship with his father and the Monalisa theory, pisses off the character. My explanation is the following and it is that in the manga he says that there was no sense of upbringing on the part of his father or a sense of love, to which this makes him question why he had it, this makes him say about his father " perhaps to pretend to be a normal person, as the director of the hospital" to which he also says "the funny thing is that I am following the same path" reflecting on it. In the manga he mentions the Monna Lisa saying that it was probably Da Vinci himself, to which he says "everyone wants to be seen as he is" to what he wanted to be seen as he was and that is why he says the following "I used to see humans as foolish beings, I despise the sincere, I can't help but reprimand those who put all their effort, I couldn't stop the psychological abuse, I couldn't live without hurting someone, I couldn't avoid the good will and intentions of people …. well he was probably jealous, they were things I didn't have." In the show they omitted this dialogue and left Chishiya without proper character development, I am literally not complaining about the decision to put him in the J of hearts but I am complaining about this because I love the character.

Talking about Kuzuryu they omitted the part where he tells Chishiya "There is still a new unknown world waiting" since that also makes Chishiya change in some way "the possibility of changing to see the future ahead".

They also omitted the part of Mira and Kuzuryu's talk where he wanted a law that would unify Borderland.

I also miss Doudou, that's my only complaint with the K of spades.

Well without further ado Merry Christmas I hope you have a good time, I know this post was a bit long and I am seriously sorry English is not my first language so please excuse my grammatical and spelling errors.

[verdemoun]

did the gang find out about macsummers in modern or canon times?

i have given up on answering asks in order i answer asks in order of the giggles they give me

the girlies of the gang all knew in canon era. karen, mary-beth, jenny, and tilly were all actively shipping them and directly responsible for sean realizing lenny was actually flirting with him. god knows if sean would have ever connected the dots in either era without them (to be fair lenny was flirting in that 19th century 'could be murdered in the street if he was outed' and spending adolescence in reform school did not help sean in learning how to understand subtext and contextual clues)

also please imagine lenny 19th century educated man flirting. thinking he's so smooth laying it on maybe a little too thick teaching sean to read starting with the happy prince, sean mentions it offhandedly to mary-beth who proceeds to choke on her coffee because She Knows

lenny and sean being together was such a core part of the quartet's dynamic that when lenny found jenny in modern era and said 'and sean's here too' jenny let out a sigh of relief because she was not putting up with lenny's lenny-ness on her own before going 'no oops that sounded fucked i'm super sad he died but also yay sean's here'

hosea is just side-eyeing them suspiciously for a few weeks because "HMM they seem awful co-dependent in a way i had not noticed in canon era. maybe it's trauma bonding? maybe they're clinging to their friendship more than they did in canon era to cope with oh god damn us all they're fucking aren't they"

bessie just tilts her head slightly in confusion "darling i know you were slightly distracted at the time but did you not see the way they embraced when they saw each other? i am almost certain this is not a new occurrence"

also shoutout to bessie who despite being a 50+ year old history lecturer who no one would expect to be in the know she very politely sat the boys (and her husband) down powerpoint presentation style to explain modern era queer lexicon like for the love of all that is holy please do not use the terms sodomite or pederast they have CHANGED MEANING (the term homosexuality wasn't considered popularized in america until 1906 like she would have had to explain... so much)

arthur was very confused because look he's a little behind the 8 ball at times and just assumed karen and sean + lenny and jenny would become things, moreso than actually taking issue with anyone's sexuality. they obviously all suffer from heteronormativity

and of course how much identities and terminology changed from 1999 to 2011 (when most of the gang got there) lenny spent a good two years unironically identifying as moronsexual

sean's dyslexic ass having to learn the acronyms he thought BLTs were gay sandwiches for weeks pray for him (he still calls them gay sandwiches in private and they are a staple of the macsummers household)

it took so long to get used to gay meaning queer instead of happy. still slip up and say they're feeling gay when someone asks how they're going then backpedaling wait no well yes but you didn't need to know that i Was in a great mood

most of the gang didn't really react - they ALL knew about hosea and dutch 'reading' in canon era so if it was going to be an issue it would have come up then. just 'oh cool good for you guys what the hell is with miniature moving picture box in the house are we rich'

bill was the only one who even questioned it? looking at all these same-sex couples discreetly wondering aloud if in the future it was the norm ('without' a hint of optimism in his voice) because i, the author, accidentally made them all very not cishet

maeve at the tender age of 4 looked this bear of a man in the eyes and called him a faggot (she picked it up from the gang using it affectionately)

bill had no idea what that meant but he did know it was something at his expense

[sapphiredhearts-a]

let's talk early life

Jacob had a very happy childhood . His parents were childhood sweethearts & for his memory he did not recall a time where there was any strain on their marriage . of course his twin sisters were able to recall a particular argument involving a pregnant woman in La Push once upon a time - but it seemed to go nowhere & they never spoke on it .

For the most part - Billy Black worked & Sarah Black stayed home with the children . Sarah was a beautiful woman with a sunny disposition that made anyone love her within moments . She cared about everyone & would lend a helping hand to whomever needed it . She had gone to school to be a teacher but had decided to stay home with the three children as she felt her calling was truly to be a mother .

Jacob was probably the closest to his mother , always choosing to toddle along behind her or begging her to take him wherever she went . He enjoyed time with his father but in the beginning they were not very close - only bonding over sports or cars which Jacob took a liking to very young .

Around the time Jacob was seven , his home life began to change . His mother started to become withdrawn - sad even . He was not sure what happened but overheard his sisters talking about some baby . They always quieted when he came into the room so he never learned the true story . In time it would come to be a habit - secrets were something the Black family did well .

Over the next few years Sarah would stay in bed more often than not & when she was out she often wandered to the beach alone - either walking the shore or staring off into the distance as she sat on the sand - a blank expression in her eyes . Jacob was terrified & did all he could to try to bring her back to life . Nothing worked as it was beyond his capability but he tried anyway - even going so far as to quit baseball at school and come home to try & do things for his mother . People whispered , of course , but he paid no mind to them .

Age 9 is when tragedy struck . Nobody knows what happened on the rainy night that his parents got into the car crash . Some say Billy was driving back home from the Clearwater's annual summer BBQ . Some say it was Sarah who hadn't wanted to attend in the first place . What everyone did know is that it changed the Black's family dynamic forever . Sarah died on impact & Billy was left paralyzed from the waist down - having to be put into a wheelchair for the rest of his life .

Jacob's sisters very obviously blamed Billy . Rebecca was the first to want out - staying away from the house at all hours & talking nonstop about how she would find a way from this "hell" of a town . She and Jacob had never been particularly close but this drove an even bigger wedge between the two . It took awhile but when she was in her senior year of high school - Rebecca met a tourist on vacation from Hawaii . Jacob figured she would have married him for the plane ticket alone but she seemed to truly love Solomon & left as soon as the wedding vows were said . Afterwards , she never visited .

Rachel , for the most part , tried to help out . But anybody could see that it was wearing on her . She was not made for domestic life & although she did her part in raising Jacob it was apparent that she loathed having to help Billy & had unresolved anger towards the man . When she was accepted to college she left too , leaving Jacob at home with Billy at the age of 14 .

Jacob rose to the occasion as he knew his mother would want him to do . He did well in school & even found time for his friends Quil & Embry - although they mostly hung out in his garage in case Billy needed him . Unlike his sisters , the accident had driven Billy & Jacob closer together . Sometimes he thinks it is because he was scared to lose both parents - but otherwise he tries not to think too hard on anything surrounding those years right after his mother's death . He prefers to stay optimistic .

Jacob was popular in school & certainly had his pick of girls from not only his school but in Forks . But he mostly stayed away from forming deep bonds with anyone outside of his two friends . It was too difficult to juggle anything more & he figured eventually he'd have time for himself . He never asked questions about anything about their past & it seemed that this pleased Billy . Although he did find his father's increased ramblings on the tribe's legends & history to be annoying . Jacob did not believe in anything out of the ordinary until he had to .

[evilbeanieman]

Do you do song asks? Are there any songs you feel fit Shin?

if you're asking about songs that remind me of Shin, then this one absolutely. here's why:

"I got boulders on my shoulders, Collar bones begin to crack, There is very little left of me and it's never coming back."

I take this as him during his first trial, being shown the percentages and coming to the realization he has absolutely no chance of survival. The weight of death on his shoulders, the gravity of the situation, the way his personality and mentality is challenged and "begins to crack." This is where he broke. He became Sou Hiyori. Whatever was left of Shin Tsukimi after this event is practically gone, and will probably never come back.

"But you're a killer, and I'm your best friend. Think it's unfair, your situation. You say I'm changing, I'm sorry I didn't know I had to stay the same. Can we talk about this later? Your voice is driving me, driving me insane."

That first main game man. I interpret these lyrics kind of loosely. The killer line is obviously a jab at Sara, with the whole Alice hearing a gunshot and Shin trying to frame her with this. It also calls to mind how Shin is a killer in this trial, as he practically assigned Joe his death. Additionally, the "I'm your best friend," line reminds me of how friendly and nice Shin initially tried to be during the beginning of the game. The change of him being this unassuming guy to a terrifying presence during the first main game and how Sara wishes for him not to act like this. How this trial sets up their rivalry for the rest of the game.

"You're a flashlight in a dark room or the loneliest blackout...I'm turning you on in a dark room right before we both pass out, I'll turn you on when I need you, but the batteries ran out."

The first line reminds me a lot of that one line Keiji said about Sara. The whole "Will you be our goddess of victory or angel of death?" thing. Though rather than the implications of life and death, I think this line is more about hope. It gives a lot less pressure, and gives some kind of sadness. Like Sara sure is a light in their path, but she is still a teenager. She has her own trauma and problems, and I think Shin recognizes that. The following lines I feel are a lot more tied to the second main game and the logic route. Shin is begging Sara to make an incredibly tough decision, he just plead for his life and is now pleading for Sara to save Kanna instead. This is basically the one time he is relying on her to be that light of hope, the one time he absolutely needs her. But she doesn't vote for Shin. Her batteries ran out.

"But you're a werewolf, and I'm a full moon, And all your very worst enemies will be gone soon. I think you're changing, Don't worry, you don't gotta stay the same. Can we talk about this later? Your voice is driving me, driving me insane."

I feel like this first line is a reference again to the dynamic of Shin and Sara. Because if you think about it, Shin's actions inadvertently caused Sara to become like this. If Joe hadn't died, the relationship between her and Shin wouldn't be so complex. I imagine they would both still try to get Shin to work with everyone, and the whole game would have a bit more of a positive outlook. Plus Shin literally has moon in his name and a moon motif, that's just too obvious. The "All your very worst enemies will be gone soon," line just again reminds me of how Shin thinks of her as so antagonistic. That she's secretly out to get everyone and is picking them off one by one. Then the changing line is more of a reference to chapter 3, and how she changes to become more selfish and open to killing others (The scene with Ranmaru comes to mind).

i think the whole song fits him really. hope this helped explain it.

[ssreeder]

*taps mic*

*screeching synth noise*

hem hem

first of all

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

now that we have That out of the way

SREEDIE YOU’RE SO SPEEDY (that’s an awful rhyme I’m so sorry) ARE YOU READY TO HEAR MY EVERY THOUGH WHILE READING THIS CHAPTER (once again I’m so sorry But not sorry enough to spare you bc I’ve gotta keep being annoying to remind you why we got divorced)

yikes it really must be lowkey terrifying on katara’s end rn… like it’s pretty much the whole They Died And Came Back Wrong trope except sokka only died in theory and yet came back wrong anyway. I feel so bad for her :((

SLAY TOPH keep an eye on iroh please

not katara suspending her disbelief regarding jet being heroic T-T

this is actually a really interesting dynamic change for katara and sokka bc even though katara was always caring for everyone else in the show, sokka was always the one person who was always looking out for katara, so to have him be the sibling that needs taking care of is like… damn yk

okay maybe this means absolutely nothing BUT I feel like jet losing his arm and therefore his ability to wield dual blades has the potential to cause even more tension with zuko bc jet will not only hate him for being fire nation but now they won’t even be evenly matched in a fight and he’s gonna resent the fact that zuko still has both arms. and that’s ASIDE from the fact that it’s gonna be a gruelling healing process before jet even gets the chance to Think about picking up a blade again

jet: is literally on his deathbed

suki: I’m looking respectfully-

“how did sokka handle that” well katara isn’t that the money question, and unfortunately the answer is always Not Very Well

oh katara sokka has also stabbed a man to death with a stick so uh,, yeah while amputating jet’s arm was unideal, alas it is far from the most gory shit sokka has done

perfect girl but sokka wants a boyyyyyyyy~ (these bitches gay)

yes sokka let’s try to keep the house hacking to a minimum shall we

okay definitely nothing has been solved but crying on the bathroom floor is actually very therapeutic not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything haha HOWEVER I do think sokka needs to cry for longer for the catharsis to work properly. so that’s my note sreedie. MAKE HIM CRY MORE

fuck dude there’s just.. Nothing like sibling relationships. like obviously katara and sokka are (were?) really close siblings but even when siblings are estranged to whatever extent it’s still just so different from any other kind of relationship you have with other people so it’s like… if Anyone would be able to help sokka it would be katara. idk how to express it but not even zuko would be able to help sokka the way katara (though he would Understand it more) bc sokka needs to know that he has people that have enduring love for him and the only person he’ll be able to trust to give him that initially would be katara and I just AHHHHH

YAY MORE CRYING YOU LISTENED TO ME

ugh sokka stop LYING you LIAR

zuko IS an asshole and I love that about him <3

not katara’s bluffing about yue- absolutely appalling effort folks, katara this is the funniest thing you have ever done

sorry I know it was a very intense and somber situation but I just find it hilarious that the solution to zuko being stubborn and refusing to cooperate (however much that is understandable given the circumstances) is just to straight up knock him out. like night night kiddo

ah shit I wish iroh weren’t the one undressing zuko. actually I wish nobody was undressing zuko this is just shit

ZUKO PLEASE YOU’RE DYING WHY ARE YOU STILL AWAKE

speech impediment zuko my beloved <3

ZUKO WHY ARE YOU A MENACE literally first thing out of his mouth that’s not defensive in an attempt to protect himself is to fucking insult jee I can’t T-T

JEE YOU SAVAGE ily

zuko bit jee I forgot omfg this is hilarious (even though it’s actually very sad but shhh we’re ignoring that)

jee the emotional support bestie reporting for duty bc he is the only emotionally stable adult in this household

iroh: is indescribably furious about the fact that zuko has been tortured

also iroh: my this boy has a mighty strange haircut going on

ah fuck here we go. it’s SA discovery time >:/

sreedie did jee break something accidentally bc he was in shock or did he smash something out of rage

rasu fashion icon <3

dragon of the west popping off with the murder plans

when a blind girl and a human disaster are left alone in the kitchen-

oh okay so he Did break a table. slay.

jee in dad mode <3

SOKKA JUST FUCKING TELL PEOPLE PLEASE THIS IS FRUSTRATING AND SAD AT THE SAME TIME WTF

I’m sorry but not jee thinking sokka is a bigger pain in the ass than zuko. alas, he does have a point

OHIHOHOHHEHEHEHE ITS CHANG BITCHES AND HE’S IN HIS GIRLBOSS ERA

nvm chang is in his struggle era actually

lots of layers LIKE AN ONION-

OH SHIT REHO RECOGNISES CHANG

“little wet-noodle” PLEASE I adore chang

for once in her life, slay ara, now the story is finally fucking getting a move on (no shade to you sreedie <33)

lmao bato is so right both about sokka AND about teasing hakoda despite being in the midst of a very tense wartime situation

omg in relation to you an: pls let zuko fuck up all of sokka’s lies accidentally bc this boy cannot lie for shit LET ALONE when he doesn’t realise he even needs to lie and is also high as fuck from iroh drugging him so that he doesn’t bite people

OR sokka is gonna see zuko on his sickbed and immediately his whole world is gonna narrow down to just zuko (understandably) and everyone else in the room is gonna figure out what’s going on pretty quick and effectively sokka just exposes HIMSELF à la love for zuko spewing out of him alongside guilt and regret and fear and relief (essentially the full emotional gambit)

in review: sokka needs to cry more, zuko should bite more people, zukka needs to reunite, I love jee, I love chang, hakoda is gonna need a head massage after all the mental gymnastics he’s gonna be subjected to next chapter. THE END.

love you So much TOODLES *mwah*

LEEEEEEKI BELOVED!!!!

I’m sure you’re like wtf ex lover why aren’t you answering my ask & I’m innocently over here cherishing every word and sniffing it until it loses your smell….

Yes, I’m weirdo. But you keep coming back for me so HA…. ;)

I know some people in the comments were like “I can’t believe Sokka just DID THAT!! no way!!”

& it’s like what’s worse? Stabbing someone in the neck 30 times with a jagged stick you found on the ground while pretend shitting or cutting off your kind of enemy kind of whatever guys arm to save his life??

(There was also the warden situation too… so idk I think Sokka is pretty desensitized at this point and is so emotionally constipated that he doesn’t know HOW to feel about ANYTHING right now ((except Zuko))))

Jee: Zuko is the most difficult person

Jee meets Sokka: I stand corrected

Haha I enjoy your reviews, & I can’t wait to see you soon!!

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 111 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: putting up a new fence

I think this actually might be my absolute favorite episode... Also, I always considered this episode to be a "Schlüssel Episode" because it unlocks (heh) so many mysteries, answers so many questions! It took me way too long to make the connection... Schlüssel means key. Keay... (I wonder if this was intentional and planned, or a very happy coincidence. Having graduated from an art high school I know these coincidences actually happen a lot!)

Yeah, le me, who couldn't pay attention to the statement in MAG 4 or MAG 62 in detail still had no idea what was happening when Jon and the Hunters talked about the book. It only clicked when I heard Jon read Gerry's death.

JON: "She was there sometimes, the one he had followed around the world. There was almost sadness in her eyes." Not even Gertrude was immune to Gerry's charm :) God, why is he so perfect...

Okay, so some thoughts on Gerry's appearance! I know there is a discussion about him potentially looking like he did when he died, so in a hospital gown, possibly with a shaven head, no piercings etc. While that would be a look that fits the tragedy theme of TMA, I don't think that is the case. I think it works like in The Matrix. "Residual self-image". The appearance of the summoned dead will look like the mental projection of their ghost self. Now why do I come to this conclusion. Simple. MAG 154. Gertrude did not notice anything when she spoke with book!Eric. She did not suspect that he blinded himself. His mental projection probably looked like he did, when he worked for Gertrude - without damaged eyes. Why did Mary look so different though? Gerry says in this episode, that the ritual of binding herself to the book was only half finished and left her damaged. Probably that's why she has Sanskrit all over her. There's a novel by the German author Cornelia Funke, Inkheart. In this book the protagonist (and a few others) can bring book characters to life by reading them. When such a person wasn't skilled enough at reading them to life, the characters came to life damaged. In the film version they had this effect, that these characters will still have residual text all over their body.

I love the ghostly echo!

Why did Gerry ask Jon for a cigarette? Is he just the typical goth who smokes and asks everyone and eventually he'll find one or did Jon have a package somehow sticking out of a pocket? Either way... The Web's addiction got them to talk.

GERRY: "Nice lighter. You a spider freak, then?" JON: "What? Oh! Er, no. I-I never really, uh… I never really thought of it." That slippery little thing...

GERRY: "Good. Don’t think she would have wanted that. God, I can’t imagine her dying in bed." The way he says that makes me believe he did care for her.

GERRY: "Yeah, the world changes in horrible ways. For you. I’m a book." JON: "You can’t be serious." GERRY: "I’m dead serious." Such. A. Mood.

JON: "Just one. How do I stop the Unknowing?” GERRY: [Casually] "Nah, I don’t know." JON: [Incensed] "What?!" Lmao! Also their dynamic is sooo good!

The voice actor is so perfect. That audible edginess!

GERRY: "Huh. Do you like it*?" JON: "I-I don’t know. I never really thought about it. Yes, I… I suppose I do." (*the compulsion ability) That's why he's the perfect candidate. Tbf it seems like quite a handy ability...

GERRY: "Not when I was with her. She travelled light. Left things behind." Saying: Left me behind and I didn't think she would do that...

GERRY: "Thing is, it’s harder than it looks. What’s out there… doesn’t care about blood." JON: "Well, I-I mean, except for the vampires…" GERRY: "Yeah, obviously except for the vampires." Pffft...

GERRY: "But they care about your choices, your fears, not your parents. Families are just useful ‘cause they can push you in the right direction. And the Lukases are very good at that." This sentence means so much in regards to Jon and Martin. It's about the choices... I mean we absolutely know that a lot about Jon's story was about choices. But that bit about the Lukases being good at pushing people in the right direction? Just think about Peter and Martin...

JON: "And I imagine they’re not… reluctant to remove any members that might put that legacy at risk." Throwback to MAG 13...

JON: "Er… Statement of Gerard Keay, deceased, regarding the death of his mother, Mary Keay." He does it there, the Knowing of what the statement will be about. Gerry did not specify, that it would be about her death...

GERRY: "I never knew my dad. Not really. He worked in the Archives like you, but quit once I was born." ADFHDFKLFHG!!!! Worked in the Archives?! QUIT?! I didn't catch that when I was first listening, but when I listened to this episode again, it struck me! This was the reason why I looked up the discussion thread of MAG 111 in the TMA sub (like I said in the last episode). I wanted to know what people said about this when the episode came out, what theories people would weave. Turns out... nothing! I couldn't find a single comment talking about this! WTF?

GERRY: "so she killed him in his sleep to practice her bookbinding. I guess she failed. I always thought he was in here, but when I eventually got hold of it, there wasn’t a page in there." I wonder if Gertrude ever thought about telling him. I mean, in the end it made no difference. She had burned the page years ago.

You know what? Writing down that last bullet point made me think. The characters in TMA have so much depth. They are exceptionally well written and perfectly portrayed by their voice actors. They feel so real. It's kind of daft to wonder "Oh, did that character ever think about blabla" because they are not real people! Of course they didn't, they don't exist. But because they have so much depth, they feel like actual people and that's why these questions pop into my mind.

GERRY: " The best you could hope for from them, would be that they don’t spot you, and instead my mum chased after them, obsessed with others who had tried to stare at them without being blinded: y’know, Flamsteed, Smirke, Leitner." Second time the name Flamsteed was casually thrown around...

GERRY: "Idiots who destroyed themselves chasing a secret that wasn’t worth knowing. And the worst thing was, she marked me as a part of that, without my understanding. Or consent." Is this meant to be about Mary bringing him into these circles who were close to horrible things or him being Eye-aligned?

GERRY: "I think… I think I finally understand why she brought me back. I just don’t understand why she left me behind." I heard the idea of Gertrude's intention, that she thought binding him would prevent Gerry from rising as an Avatar. But is being a book so much better?

The famous color analogy! It works so perfectly though, some colors being similar, some clashing with each other... But all part of the spectrum.

GERRY: "I mean, you could see them all as just one thing," Ah yes, the thing Leitner and Gerry have in common. Foreshadowing of the Fears being one thing after all!

GERRY: "No. There aren’t any god-like powers of hope, or love, or indigestion, or whatever. At least not that I’ve seen. Just fear. I don’t know why." And still they work to use them to escape. Thinking of a beloved person will ground you, make you feel less fear and the Fears will leave you alone, when they are not getting anything out of you. Same with hope, that statement-giver in MAG 66, seeing a small shimmer of light or the ability to slightly move as hope and not to give up on it instead of surrendering themself to the despair of never quite reaching an escape.

GERRY: "Some say, or well, they guess, that it could bring other entities through with them." Again, foreshadowing!

JON: "And if one of the rituals succeeds?" GERRY: "The world becomes a factory farm." And that is why I wear a Fear Factory bandshirt for my Gerry cosplay.

JON: "Why would anyone want that? I-I mean, there are people, or they used to be people, who are trying to do this. Why?" Capitalism analogy? A handful of people are alright with dooming the world just for more money, more power...

GERRY: "Uh, the Rite of the Watcher’s Crown. It’s what she called the ritual for the Eye. She didn’t tell me much about that one, just that she knew how to take care of it." This kinda sounds like the Watcher's Crown is the upcoming ritual of the Eye. But isn't there a discussion, that the Watcher's Crown was Jonah's prison ritual? I mean, Jonah talks about being a king of a ruined world in MAG 160. So the crown symbolism would fit.

I love how the whole fandom immediately went with Gerry's wish and just calls him by his nickname.

@a-mag-a-day

[ripclaudia]

laura tell us your predictions on s4!!!

hello gabi!! i'll gladly share my thoughts and completely seriously too for once <3

first of all i think that the failchildren are going to stick together, or at least kendall, shiv and roman are. we've seen them each be daddy's number one candy baby but s3 finale changed the dynamic between the kids and logan so irreversibly that i can't really see any of them going back to him. except maybe connor, but that would require this to be connor's season and sadly he already has a failmarriage brewing and a campaign to run. and we all know who's the candy baby of the season... it's tom time, everyone!

logan is obviously going to try to stop the kids from trying anything and to be fair, i don't think the kids have much chances on their own. they are nepotism babies after all, so they'll need someone's help – i think they'll try to sway mattson somehow or then do the shareholders recruiting thing through stewy, maybe both. though i think they won't be able to convince stewy, which makes kendall sad :( and you know i am very interested in gerri's position here because it is sort of flexible. she's not going to sacrifice her career to help the kids but i don't think she's going to be completely detached from the efforts. that's mostly based on me putting all my hope in the writers going with j's perception of gerri's situation especially with roman, so it's really wishful thinking more than anything else.

the tomshiv faildivorce is another thing that's going to be very interesting. i think they'll be separated but not divorced and they're both incredibly miserable about it while pretending not to be. tom is living his best life at waystar but goes home to mondale and cries. greg barely notices because he is too busy being evil. i do think tomgreg is going to stick together during s4.

i also think someone's going to die and the frontrunners in my mind are currently logan and connor. logan is the obvious choice and the tragedy of it would be interesting, but removing logan from the game definitely makes the show lose some of its shine. connor's death would be tragic but in a way that could drive the plot forward? idk, let's just hope no one dies.

another thing that'll be interesting is the election, especially with the time jump. we'll definitely see more of mencken and i am very curious to see how they'll integrate the politics with the mattson storyline! i don't have that many solid thoughts about that but i'm sure that'll change soon hehe

but anyways i am also fairly sure that s4 won't be the last one based on everything jesse armstrong has said and the fact they didn't announce it when dropping the teaser since that would've been the perfect moment. of course i could be wrong but honestly i think they would have started milking the hype early if season 4 really was the last one.

[kyurilin]

To finish off my writing posts for the end of the year, here's just a post about my other writing projects I have going on!

Obviously Stray, the erasercloudmic story from my pinned post is being worked on albeit slowly. I have maybe a third of it written (which is still 27k words) and it's done very similarly to Mic's Bullshit Life although it does switch characters up. @shabby-blog can attest that it's a fun read as they've read what I have and are currently my biggest cheerleader in actually getting it done one day

I have. Two entire alternate versions of Crumbled Rooftops. You can blame shabby for these entirely but also me. I feed off of angst and well. These are angst. One of them (called Everything Crumbles) is Crumbled Rooftops but Hizashi dies and Nemuri lives, which after the anime made Shouta almost watch Hizashi get hit by decay became infinitely sadder. It changes the entire dynamic of Oboro coming back by like, a huge degree but hey it's great for when I wanna be REAL sad. The other is All That's Left, and in this one Shouta dies so it's just Hizashi and Oboro having to pick up the pieces. This one was an excuse to push Hizashi to his breaking point and make people scared of his power tbh. Neither of these are likely to be posted and both of them are currently VERY early stages but hey if you ever want to read them and cry hit me up

Also Crumbled Rooftops adjacent, my doc aptly titled Here Be Crumbled Rooftops Angst Snippets which is literally what the title says. Basically it was a place to dump all the little side stuff before the story that lived in my head rent free so I could get it out of my head and somewhere else.

I have a document that STILL is just called AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Which is appropriate for the fact that it's an Erasercloudmic story where Shouta realizes he has a crush on both his friends and doesn't know how to cope, Nemuri teaches him about polyamory, canonly Oboro and Hizashi make out when they're bored and AREN'T dating yet and then try to compete for Shouta's affections only for Shouta to get so flustered he tells them he likes them both. Very early stages but I have IDEAS guys it's gonna be cute and I may keep the screaming title lmao. This one (when I randomly get the desire to start it) will be posted I promise I just have to write it.

I have an entire finished story I wrote this year that won't get posted, I wrote an urban explorers rooftop gang polycule story that is absolutely the dumbest thing I could have written, it reads more like an outline than a story, but I binge watched a bunch of urbex videos in a row and knocked it out in four days. It's lovingly called I Found My Heart in the Abandoned Roller Disco and no. You cannot read it. It's staying in my Google docs. You are allowed to know that Shouta and Oboro have a moment in an abandoned roller skating rink that is the cutest shit. But unless I ever get the urge to rewrite it the way I did the original doc for matching tattoos, urbex rooftop gang polycule is staying buried.

Oh. And one last one. Shouta's adventures through joining the hero course, trying his best to ignore the two loudest idiots on the planet (and failing), becoming friends with the two loudest idiots on the planet (and the class president and an upper class student), losing one of his friends, pushing the rest away, getting tough love from Nemuri Kayama, being occasional jogging buddies with Tensei Iida, and eventually running into Hizashi Yamada again. Lovingly being called Get in the Van Shouta, There's Cats in Here based on a playlist that me and Shabby joked Hizashi would make for Shouta in high school if he and Oboro kidnapped him to give him a better life, this is the prequel to Mic's Bullshit Life from Shouta's perspective. And yes this one is started, yes it will take me a long time to write, but there's so many little Shouta stories I've wanted to write that all have to do with my rooftop gang headcanons and I've been in my feels about Mic's Bullshit Life, so I figured what better way to tie it together by taking the mentioned high school stories from Mic's Bullshit Life and adding them to these other stories I would otherwise write as one-offs.

Anyways yeah I've not written as much as I did last year and I've still yet to start a few ideas I had last year, but at least I've been writing!!!! Can't say I haven't lol.

[angstics]

I have many thoughts about les mis live, and they are all beautiful and complex.

to get it out of the way, things that sucked: the face spotlights were RIDICULOUSLY distracting and ugly use wide spots. the context tidbits are so useless lmao everything is explained in the main songs. it kind of made eponine irritating because she would always appear in these ugly sounding tidbits just to yearn. The surprise is kind of the point. The video effects were kinda distracting BUT also really good which i will expand on later. The tempo was so off, at least to how im used to it. I really dislike how they elongated the notes (though it was impressive tbf). I dislike the weird pauses that were obviously not mistakes. I HATE the line changes. They removed my favorite part of paris look down when the ppl go “whens it gonna end somethings gotta happen now somethings gotta give itll come itll come” then the FANTASTIC fanfare. GOD. Watching it live, i felt act 1 was so rushed — i do think it had abnormally fast tempo… this one’s silly bc it depends on actor intuition but i wish they laughed at the points the characters laugh in the 2010 recording (theres like 3 points that just so perfectly punctuate the sadness). Noticeably awkward staging during rain will help flowers grow. I wish grantaire fell with enjolras SORRY.

Also i wish everyone who talked went to hell, everyone who coughed endlessly took some PILLS, everyone who went up and down the stairs pissed in their seat -_- the worst was when the idiots in front of me (WHO WERE TALKING THE WHOLE SHOOOOOW they were shushed by the usher Three times I need them to be tried for this) were whispering during To love another person is to see the face of god and i wanted to STRANGLE them

anyway, onto the good. And be sure it far outweighs the bad. Great casting, great singing, SUCH a good band, good lighting (spots otherwise). There were no obvious acting missteps that i hear in recordings which was a nice surprise

The set was SOOOOOOOO dynamic and fluid and lighting was used in a simple but CRAZY effective way to morph and splinter the setting. Augh. When the set pushed in during paris, i fell to my kneeeeessss (in my brain). The gate, the barricade, the houses were GORGEOUS

Lighting during the final battle. I wanted to die it was so good. I didnt know or forgot grantaire dies last. I remembered it was voluntary but not like that. Jesus god

There were a lot of surprises in staging acting etc that had me genuinely jump in my seat from shock and delight. I have never acted like that in a theatre, much less for a show ive seen and listened to a MILLION times. Some moments like this: enjolras falling over in the cart and being Dragged out, heart full of love starting so reluctantly (i was DELIGHTED by this it was a nice surprise laugh), the wigs (love), the staging during one day more (god when enjolras is dead center stage haloed by light).... there are so many other moments that had me shook i cant recall rn...

gavroche was so Present in the set, which you really miss in the audio. His little added dialogue bit was my favorite of those. His relationship w grantaire was particularly pronounced, which kinda shifted the source of grantaire’s sacrifice. Ofc there are many reasons he chose to die for the cause, but i hadnt thought one being grantaire seeing the police state for the robbing force it was. Hard yes, but evil. He didnt know it was *evil*. I think that realization was pushed by Gavroche’s killing and something so interesting in the discussion of how sheltered these kids were (or not). Rich boy’s game to play… what did enjloras know…

On the same line, i felt the “message” very strongly seeing it sung at me. Is there a world you long to see… i also felt the faith themes distinctly. Vaguely christian ending lol ill lead you to salvation, the only survivors being a couple. Wait the thenadiers are also a couple. Lol?

On that lot, they were fun and good lol. They changed one of his beggar at the feast lines and it was kind of silly. “this one’s a queer but what can you do” to “this one’s a queer, i might try it too” ????? I dont know if we want to wokeify this guy in particular

There was a part duringggg i think drink with me before grantaire’s verse where both he and enjolras are in the shadows on literal opposite sides of the stage (e is high right upstage, g is low left downstage) and grantaire is staring Right at enjolras. And enjolras turns to him through the first verse. I was watching this going crazy that they actually fanfictionified them i didnt think they would more than ive already seen. There is one movement in particular ive never seen and would have Definitely been in the compilations i watched (lol). This will have its own seperate joke post

Speaking of, watching it live made me realize how Present enjolras and grantaire’s relationship is. Besides the lovey dovey achilles-and-patroclus slash thing, i loooovveeeee their ideological conflict SOOOO much. It is so genuis. So i love that it was center stage when it isnt really in the lyrics (or 2012 film or other adaptations)

And they were both blond. Which was crazy

Javert at the end made me so crazy. Again, the staging — mourning Gavroche, seeing valjean carry marius — shifted how i thought of his suicide as well. I think maybe he had the same awakening as grantaire

Hey guys maybe the police state and prison complex is bad lmfao

The candlesticks at the end ❤️ (this is a bit of hater moment but i was watching the ramin 14 boot and the moment the bishop walks away from him at the end he does the same thing fredric march does where there is a pause and jean is kneeling infront of the bishop and he holds the bishop’s hands to his head in silence and. It is so vulnerable and meaningful and i adore it. And i wish theyd kept that staging)

I always found it weird that eponine is for some reason fantine’s right hand man in heaven. If we’re being haters i still dont like the caricatured costumes and behaviours of “the poor” and “whores” companies. AND they shouldve really tried harder on boy eponine. cut her hair at the very least and mirror her further w fantine -_- well that makes make me like heaven more

This also really made me think about how valjean saw javert as Just A Man, while javert saw himself as The Law. Which they literally say but seeing how they acted around each other cemented it. Javert was so very humanized by his sadness and anger and all that emotion Destroyed him because there is no compassion in the law lol. Maybe there is something wrong with our governments Lol

for a bit that kinda meanders and strays from the main action, they made "heart full of love" et al. really really wonderful. the staging was so great, like marius actually climbing the gate and throwing rocks at her window, cosette running to him, marius and eponine hiding along the gate in times i didnt think they were listing. the thenadier climbs the house set it's so fun

i love that eponine is consistently black. it adds. so much. and i will always judge a production if their eponine is white. this one had a great black actor play her -- her voice was nicely different from the recordings

i liked the video sets, especially when it emphasized character mvmt. sometimes it was bright and looked kind of bad, so the darker the better lol. there was a moment when we dip in the sewers where thenadier enters from upstage center from the darkness of the sewer in the backdrop and it was AWESOME.

OH MY GOD turning -> empty chairs. GOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. turning is such an underrated song and they just so beautifully staged it. the all female cast who communicated such different perspectives on the massacre that was a nice change from a monolithic company. and the lights. when i saw theyd set them down, i knew what was coming. and then it came. God. empty chairs. so good. So good.

the choreo during the wedding was great

Enjolras had the red vest. W

god i feel im missing so much. hope i get another cheapo ticket. Eek. im so glad i get to see it at all. limit hit <3

[heavencasteel420]

Not trying to be mean or catty, but I know it will come off as such so I’m tagging accordingly. The two ways I can realistically* see St*ncy playing out at this point are:

Jonathan dies and Steve gets a repressed bisexual Cat on a Hot Tin Roof thing going with Nancy (aka the Sad Stoncy scenario) (this might actually work eventually if they talk about their feelings).

Nancy gets with Steve because things are too complicated with Jonathan, who has his own issues to deal with and moves away from Hawkins. Only it turns out Steve has some of the very same issues re: not knowing what to do with his life. They’re not all tangled up in complicated family dynamics and ACEs, which should make things simpler, but they’re also harder to address because Steve is just fundamentally not that invested in deriving a lot of meaning from a career/education at this point in his life. He was kind of hoping that being with Nancy would change that, too, so he’s pretty frustrated himself! She tries to encourage him to go to community college or find something to do near Emerson, but he keeps putting it off. Worse case scenario, he gets it into his head that the solution to everything is to get back into his dad’s good graces and take a position at the…business factory? Which is obviously way worse to Nancy than her 20yo boyfriend goofing off for a while. They break up during the summer after her first year at Emerson after having an argument prompted by the movie St. Elmo’s Fire. It’s a relief to both of them at that point.

*Realistically to me personally. I don’t expect the show to share my vision.

[weirdo-twins]

How Vol 2 Should have Ended

A re-write of the st4 finale, to address the narrative issues and especially the rampant homophobia, racism, and sexism. There’s a lot here so, as the kids say, buckle up and obviously spoilers below. 

Surfer Boys + El (part 1)

First of all, let’s put the cali gang actually in or near Hawkins. El could still do the piggyback because short of her actually getting into the Upsidedown, that seems like the best strategy anyway, but the four of them careening into a situation they don’t fully understand without anyone else knowing they’re on the board now too would have added a lot of tension and raised the stakes for that group to be on level with the other groups. It’s an easy enough timeline or location fix. (We could also nix that weird stoner POC motif?)

Next, this is subtle, but important. During the Pineapple pizza scene, El should be struggling to find the words to end her and Mike’s romantic relationship. It would be best if we got some hints during her time away that she was beginning to realize their relationship was unhealthy. But anyway, we should see in her facial expression, tone, body language, that while she did miss Mike, she is not planning on ‘making up’ with him and is trying to figure out how to let him down.

Mike should pick up on this vibe and panic. This should be due to his intense compulsory heteronormativity. Instead of framing him fumbling with the ILY as Mike attempting to overcome his own insecurities, we should see it more obviously as a last-ditch attempt to stop the impending end. Again, subtle, maybe no actual scripted changes, but a change in body language, tone, framing.

The Sinclairs

We’ll come back to them, but now we need to delete that whole scene with Jason and his cronies attacking the Sinclairs because the racial/power dynamic is very fucked up. Jason may still need to walk in on Lucas and Max and step on the walkman, and it would be nice to get Lucas rejecting everything Jason stands for, but we don’t need a young black kid being threatened at gun point like that. 

Instead of Erica getting caught and pinned down, she escapes and runs to get help. I don’t think the murder house is supposed to be right next to the trailer park, but we’re going to say that it is, so that Erica can reach Dustin and Eddie or they can hear her yelling. Which brings us to...

Eddie + Jason

We do need a death this season. We get one every season, and Eddie is, unfortunately, the red shirt. But it should be done much differently. It shouldn’t just be a red shirt death for the sake of keeping the tension alive, it should allow Eddie his real hero moment and mean something. (And yes, the outcast dying is sad, but most of these characters are outcasts in one way or another, it’s their Thing, so I don’t think Eddie dying sends the message that outcasts don’t get happy endings if the rest of the outcasts are ok)

So, the bat scene goes as it does in canon. But Eddie follows Dustin through the gate instead of - I don’t even know what he thought he would accomplish exactly. Enter Erica - Eddie and Dustin rejoin the Murder House group and Eddie and Jason get their destined meet-up. Jason’s been looking for him all season, here we go. 

Eddie gets his hero moment facing off against Jason. He doesn’t run from him anymore. And he dies directly saving either Lucas or Dustin’s life. Maybe by getting Jason away from all of them. Dustin still has his dramatic scene with him as he’s dying. He gets to be a real hero whose actions had bigger impacts than killing a few bats out of thousands. 

Plus, with our main emotional death happening outside the Upsidedown, caused by an angry white kid with a gun and not a supernatural monster, we get the commentary that ordinary violence is as real and terrifying as these scary monsters. (Ala Buffy season 6 anyone?) Also Jason’s villain arc comes to a head. I think it’s also important to show how dangerous guns are in a show like this and that they’re not just cool monster fighting toys.

Jason does not simply die quietly off in the background. We frame him as the dangerous monster that he is and give Eddie some vindication by having him arrested (maybe even blamed for the other murders as well, thereby clearing Eddie’s name). The is revealed later via the news reel. In the moment, either they manage to subdue him or he just runs after the reality of killing someone sets in. 

Mad Max

Ok, now about Max. We are not turning her story into one where she loses to the monster (depression) just as she is starting to heal and get help. This doesn’t work specifically because Max’s ending in canon really undercuts the powerful scene in episode 4 where she chooses to fight for her own life and wins because her friends love her. It undercuts all the progress she’s made coming back from that trauma and it sends a pretty shitty message about mental health and to anyone who identifies with her. 

Instead, we amp up her fight scene a little so that her happy memories are actually used in a way that explores her character and continues her arc of healing. As she runs and distracts Vecna, we see her coming back to her true self, remembering who she is and what she has to live for. 

It still gets pretty dicey. El shows up and we proceed as in canon for awhile. Max has found her core and puts up a good fight, but the music, her doorway out, is gone. She levitates, Lucas (and us) are terrified, her arm breaks, we’re all freaking out here. 

But Max is stronger now and she holds onto that core of who she is and keeps pushing him away. She has El and Lucas and Erica and she’s not an easy target. 

Surfer Boys + El (part 2) 

Meanwhile, while El is struggling, it is not just hearing her boyfriend’s voice that gives her strength. Instead of just telling Mike to monologue, Will starts talking to El himself. It’s a clambering combination of Mike and Will and Jonathan (and even Argyle) telling her to fight, telling her she’s strong with and without her powers, telling her they’re with her. Maybe we even get a Jonathan Byers pep talk for El, a little window into how he’s adjusted to being her big brother too these last few months. It’s all of them together that help El fight, help her find her own inner strength.

And Mike still says he loves her. He gets caught up in the moment, rambling, doing his best to hang on to their relationship because he wants to be straight and he wants to be in love with her and he doesn’t want to lose her. And he still says that Thing about how his life started the day they found her. And this all gets Vecna’s attention. 

He can hear them. And he recognizes Will. He can sense him now, a radiating presence in Hawkins, right by El, rife with pain and doubt and isolation. Someone Vecna already knows inside and out, has a bond with. And this is his opening. He gives up on Max and switches to Will. 

In the restaurant (maybe Benny’s), Will has gone still and quiet. They don’t notice right away because they’re focused on El. But Will hears the chiming of the clock, and suddenly Will is there, in the ruins of the house with Max and El, and Vecna starts in on him. 

Max, no longer in his thrall, wakes up in Lucas’s arms. She has a broken arm, but otherwise is ok. But she tells him she thinks Will is in real trouble. 

Meanwhile, Vecna overwhelms Will. It’s easy. He plays Will’s own words about being a mistake back to him. El tries to help him. She tells him to think of something happy. She blasts Vecna. In the restaurant, she’s screaming Will’s name, and they’ve noticed. Jonathan is frantically trying to wake Will up (parallel to Joyce in S2)

Will

Will thinks about his friends, but Vecna corrupts that with memories of his friends ignoring him, his own isolation. He thinks about Jonathan. The words Jonathan just said to him. But Vecna drowns it out, with all the fears and doubts a gay kid in the 80′s would have. That a lot of gay kids today still have. And then he plays Mike’s line back to him. He tells him Mike will never love him. No one will ever love him. He shows him every painful scene Will and Mike have ever had. Will levitates to the restaurant ceiling. His bones start snapping. 

El does her best to stop him. They fight. She says something like HE IS MY BROTHER. NO. Eventually, as in cannon, they stop him. The combined efforts of the Russia crew and the monster fighters in the Upsidedown take him out. 

Will falls. Jonathan breaks his fall, has him in his arms. El comes out of her trance and she and Mike crowd in close. Will is like Max in canon. Not completely vecnaed, but in very bad shape. Paralleling Joyce in season one, Jonathan is holding him and telling him to breathe and that he loves him and he’s going to be okay. (The song that played in s1 when Will was ‘dying’ and also played while Max was dying plays over Will again) 

The bell tolls, the earthquake happens. Max and her group know Will or El must have died. El has the same reaction, saying that Will cannot die and pumps his heart for him with her powers while Argyle is getting an ambulance there. Will has Max’s fate of being comatose. 

Why this works for Will when it didn’t for Max: Will’s arc has been entirely repressing and hiding his trauma. All of it, not just the gay stuff. He hasn’t confronted or processed anything, so this is round one that will force him to confront it. He hasn’t started healing and then gone backwards. There’s a more concrete promise that this is not the end.

It also plays into sooooo many parallels that Max’s situation doesn’t. One of Will’s central functions is being missing. Him being physically present but mentally gone is a nice symmetrical flip to what we had in s1 and will bring up old tensions in a new way. Joyce was gone when this happened. Jonathan was in charge when this happened, etc. S1 ends with Will in the hospital waking up and everyone being happy. S4 ending with him in the hospital and not waking up drives home that point that ‘this time it won’t all work out’ with even more poignancy than Max’s. 

This also gives new meaning to ‘running up that hill’ as Will has essentially swapped places with Max. And it serves as a plot twist right when we need one. We were worried about Max, but she’s not the one we should’ve been worrying about. 

It sets up s5 so well. Joyce will be back on her ‘my son is not dead’ juice, which is peak Joyce. Fighting to save her kids’ lives. Insisting on things that sound crazy (although hopefully they all just believe her this time when she’s like I can hear him etc.) It will give Mike the time, space, and motivation to sort out his own feelings as he remembers what losing Will felt like and how much he needs him in his life. He’ll probably feel a lot of guilt for pushing Will away and saying that thing he said. He and Max could bond over those feelings. It will also set us up for an entire season of Will fighting his demons and then finally finally gaining the agency he has never had in this show from day one. 

The show started with his vanishing. It would be poetic to end on his reappearance. On him beating the thing that has haunted him. Bring things full circle.   

Anyway, this is how I would’ve done it and no I’m not taking notes. 

[wishing-well-writing]

!ZHONGLI X DRAGON!READER HCs!

Written by: 🍡

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Character(s): Zhongli

Warnings: N/A aside from canon typical violence, also me bending canon just a bit to fit the scenario lol

What if YOU were a big lizard

And Zhongli and you were also in love

But before we get into all that: exposition

You are the (formerly) falcon of the west from Mondstadt, one of the four winds, but you’ve more or less retired to a cottage and a human form to vibe until erosion or something claims you lol

The people of Mondstadt know and more or less treat you like one of the knights and the kind of respect reserved for like elders

While you were technically not a actual falcon, being a feathered amphiptere was more or less close enough (plus you shared the title with the knights and/or Vannessa soooo-)

anyways

Enough exposition

You and Zhongli met during the Archon War, and then again during the Cataclysm

At first you two were vary wary of each other, which is honestly fair because war + dragon territorial instincts or smth lol

Especially since Zhongli at that time was still, well, war god and fuckin idiot brute Morax

But eventually you two would come to a begrudging respect (with and/or without Dvalin calling you two idiots despite being the middle child in terms of ages compared to you two-)

Morax/Zhongli and you at this point are more or less sparring partners, once the archon war dies down and y’all can just Vibe

Enemies to rivals to friendly rivals to friends to lovers 500k slowburn fic dynamic

Flash forward to years later to well, present/game canon day

You and Morax have been corresponding less and less, until the news of his death reached you at your cottage and you’re, pretty distraught yeah

Sudden death + unresolved romantic feelings = so so so much stress

You start losing/tearing out your feathers and shutting yourself in your cottage for a while :( iridescent scales losing their luster b/c you’re in mourning and too sad to take care of yourself

A couple weeks later of grieving and general five stages of grief and all, you’re more or less ready to continue living how Morax Would Probably Want You To

Until you get a knock on the door

And lo and behold, it’s a fucking sheepish as hell Zhongli

Fun fact! While birds don’t have that great of a sense of smell, snakes have a GREAT sense of smell

And even with his disguise you can tell Zhongli is Morax

[insert sitcom laugh track here while you chew out zhongli about not informing you because goddammit old man I CARE about you and I’m also retired and would understand that you want to retire too]

Anyways

You two (re)bond over tea after the chewing out lol

Soon enough inbetween vibing as a mortal in Liyue, Zhongli makes the time to visit you in Mondstadt whenever he can :)

Tending to your gardens, entertaining your neighborhood village kids, the works

Very cute and domestic

You also teach Zhongli how to manage his finances better GDJDBDKNDKD

Either way, while it isn’t explicitly said, you two were in a weird gray area of: “are we dating already? Married? Courting???”

Bit of a mess yeah

But you’re the one who makes the first step, setting off on a trip to Liyue (leaving a note for Zhongli and everyone else ofc) to find the most beautiful and shining cor lapis, as well as a radiant black opal

A courting gift of sorts, dragon courting rituals or smth I’ll elaborate it on a different post if I feel like it

Zhongli is absolutely touched ofc, who wouldn’t be, since you went out of the way to get your gifts from his former-ish nation

Obviously he accepts, and a few days later he gives you his reciprocal courting gift, a bouquet of windwheel asters, peonies, orchids, and carnations

You both commemorate the courting via sharing each other’s scales, one golden for you and one iridescent for he :)

The scales were probably made into some form of jewelry or something lmao

Anyways afterwards nothing really changes about your relationship together other than y’all get SO much more obvious your relationship together AVSJXBKXNX

No thoughts head full of cute domestic nonsense <3

Lots of gift-giving as a love language because haha “here’s a thing you like that I found!!” + dragon hoard instinct lol

[castielcommunism]

How would u describe s12 dean? The little of it ive seen he seemed like a wimp which was great, like his sails had holes in them. I loved that. Sad dean is more palatable for me??? And the amara stuff right? Almost like he needed something sexy to lean on without burying himself out of a shame hole, im on s10 atm(stopped before jack was born when it was airing)

Amara is s11! But yes. For me the most compelling thing about season 12 Dean is that, because of Mary’s return, he’s a lot more aware of his behaviour than he generally seems to be in previous seasons. He apologises to people for lashing out, he actively tries to establish boundaries (in uhhhh I think 12x04 he texts Mary and asks her if it’s ok to call her mom or if he should call her Mary instead, stuff like that), and he has this relationship that’s very important to him that he wants to fight for. A lot of the entrenched tfw dynamic is still there in s12 (s12 is not a good Cas season for this reason imo) and like he doesn’t fundamentally change the way he relates to Sam or Cas, but it demonstrates that A) Dean is fully capable of taking responsibility for his behaviour and B) is aware of the way he comes across, even if he’s still abrasive and temperamental. You can see the outline of a better show where characters want to recover and be better people to each other and to themselves.

Like that to me is a good narrative response to a lot of deancrit, especially late seasons deancrit. Dean isn’t this oblivious abusive asshole who just sucks. He has emotional problems and he’s a high maintenance person, but he’s not like demonically evil or whatever. It also just demonstrates to me that the writers can write him a lot gentler and more emotionally aware than he is in, say, most of Carver Era (or s13 onwards lol but that’s another topic). Like s12 Dean hits the sweet spot for me because he obviously wants to work on himself emotionally and socially because the relationships in his life are worth it to him. Like in Regarding Dean (12x11) the way he relates to his own life and memories is via the people he loves and the relationships he has with them. In 12x22 he and Sam and Mary explicitly say that they want to try to be a family and love each other and move forward together emotionally. They make an actual on screen commitment to each other to heal.

It’s not a perfect season by any means, but the broad strokes of like, emotional recovery are present in a way that I don’t really see with most other seasons of spn. Which is why I generally ignore everything 12x23 onwards because it negates all of that (Cas dies, Mary gets taken, Dean completely gives up trying at all).

[leporellian]

THOUGHTS ON SEEING FIGARO LAST NIGHT BELOW THE CUT goooood morning everybodyyyy

- first off this is i thiiink the first time i’ve ever seen the director get applauded onstage also? but that’s because the director is nathan gunn probably

- really it seems he does everything here. realized somewhere in act 4 that i could call this place the Gunnderdome

- ok that aside. actual opera.

- i really like the character dynamics here.... figaro and susanna were good and in love, figaro was sort of an older brother figure for cherubino (AND NOT MEAN THANK GOD but definitely like... wary in the way one is around 13 y/os LOL), almavivas were having proper divorce moments, hell marcellina and bartolo Definitely felt like exes

- also one thing i thought interesting was that all the characters spoke italian.... except for figaro and susanna, who were bilingual and spoke both english and italian. it really worked honestly i like the idea but it was a little understated at times. something something figaro and susanna only honestly communicate with one another...

- marcellina this time around was played by a male mezzo which i thought was interesting! character herself was still female. i think this production definitely played her rather too buffoony for my taste (definitely like. a crash course in stage chewing LOL) but marcy was also the audience favorite from the vibes i got there so... morally correct in that case

- they put marcellina up in front of the curtain any time they were changing sets also so more blorba from the shows is always a W

- also she and bartolo were dressed like house of gucci for some reason

- actually the costumes in this were just crazy like. the time period was “whenever” so you had figaro and susanna in like, vaguely 17th century wear, but then marcellina and bartolo were done up in house of gucci ass clothing and cherubino was done up like timothee chalamet and count almaviva. god (not negative or positive but just sort of impressed by the sheer... Taste). i’ll get to the count in a separate paragraph

- TIMOTHEE CHALAMET CHERUBINO WAS SO FUNNY bc i read the program compare cherubino to timothee chalamet and i was like getting ready for it to take the character in a weird direction but no. cherubino was as “this is clearly a 13 year old“ as ever. but they just happened to be wearing timothee chalamet clothing. absolutely fucking hilarious direction

- they did the chair double take well also that means i can finally talk about the count bc like... man. in this iteration he was so Character

- like... first off. the outfits. mf literally comes in in like... leather skintight trousers (with a. well. purposely obvious. i mean. it’s skintight. use your imagination) and a leopard fur coat and then in act 2 he’s also wearing a cableknit sweater?? and then in act 3 he’s got a full military general outfit? and then in act 4 he’s running around in a white bedsheet looking thing and khakis. like... i’m genuinely amazed not even negatively this is SUCH a choice

- anyway they made him this spindly little thing that you like... almost felt bad for bc he just looked so pathetic. he looked kinda anemic (not the singer, the character) and just had like a naturally sad face AND HE WAS A TWINK. also he was super light for a baritone, like the sort of “tenor with some low notes” range i’d assign don giovanni. ironically it reminded me less of count almaviva and moreso count di luna from trovatore; idk if a lighter voice would work for a verdi baritone but i would still love to see this guy take on di luna regardless bc this was 100% the sort of way i imagine di luna

- basilio was a beatnik. and heterosexual i think. thaaaaaank god. he was very loud i noticed compared to the other singers but he was good so it’s fine

- love non piu andrais where figaro obviously cares abt cherubino

- act twoooo the countess was sung really well but the characterization didn’t like... stick out to me. i think they made her like too nice to susanna and figaro when i see her as far more reserved

- absolutely loved the way they dress up cherubino here

- when cherubino jumped out the window susanna didn’t run to check on them like she usually does she just went “well. guess they’re dead now” WHICH WAS SO FUNNY????

- also the count comes in to open the closet with a crowbar AND A GUN? the countess then takes the gun and hands it to whoever is in the closet (which she still thought was cherubino), which, HELP WAS THE COUNTESS GENUINELY READY FOR A 13 YEAR OLD TO SHOOT HER HUSBAND???? I LOVE DIVORCE <333333

- then susanna came out and started threatening the count with the gun HELP HELP HELP. (susanna voice) I Want That Twink Obliterated

- i wish they fought more during the final septet they were all just kinda standing there. count was pretty hammy tho

- act 3 opens and the count is just lying on the floor in a heap. genuinely obsessed

- they played the judge as just being, like, absolutely Tired and Done (and not the like... simpering corrupt snake i see from other prods) which was fun

- i wish they made figaro finding his parents warmer and more genuine than they did here but that’s bc i’m a “marcellina is a serious character actually” truther. (she is rather silly. but aren’t we all?) ive read the plays and i‘m writing a novella about her and i know literally everything. they made it more of a comic scene than like... one of the most genuine (if absolutely absurd in theory) moments in the opera

- side note if you can see marriage of figaro with a friend that doesn’t know the plot twist of marcellina being figaro’s mom, and keep it hidden from them, absolutely do this. the SHOCK. the REVELATION. watching this unfold with my friend was genuinely one of the best moments i’ve had in a theatre LMFAOOO

- susanna did not actually slap figaro it was a stage slap :(

- i noticed they trimmed down a lot of stuff in act 3, most notably removing any reference to marcellina and bartolo also getting married (altho it did seem to be implied in the staging) but there were other things. i think part of this was bc there wasn’t an onstage chorus or supers. no music was cut tho it was all recitative etc. mostly it was fine but it did make the latter half of act 3 especially feel clunky

- why was the judge at the wedding

- they made act 4’s set look like... a bit toooo vague and a bit too bright to be understood as an outdoor night garden i think but the other sets were really good

- marcellina fussing over figaro between acts was kinda cute i think (although he didn’t seem to be fully enjoying it LOL)

- they did the bit where cherubino tries to kiss the count and then the count punches figaro. W

- they made figaro and susanna really cute here when they made up i thought. more stage slaps tho

- however i will say. the position figaro and susanna assumed when she was slapping him here. that entire part really. well. it certainly reaffirms my suspicion that susanna tops.

- THEY HAD A TURNTABLE BUT THEY ONLY USED IT TWICE, once when barbarina was searching for the pin and once at the very end. hilarious honestly. very loud turntable however

- on the note of barb though. definitely NOT a fan of how the program described barbarina tho if you insinuate she and lolita are similar you should be in like. bad take jail or smth

- in my mind she and the count were never actually a thing she just sorta just lies and bc the count sees so many women he genuinely can’t tell who she even is Lmfao

- ok anywayyyy back to the end THE COUNT AND FIGARO WERE HUGGING OUT THEIR DIFFERENCES LIKE HELLO??? everyone cornering the count was funny af i think

- everyone was just kinda running tf around. noticed that they seemed to playing it more as the count genuinely changing and not the sorta melancholy implication you get from more prods that he’ll just be quieter about it

- had an absolutely fantastic time with my friend ♥️ so glad she got me tickets here. still obsessed with whatever the count was doing. he might have been wearing eyeliner even, i dunno i couldnt see that clearly. what a show. good times/10