#seasons? make sense everyone does that . tangible .

[simplyalexeiofficial]

Penelope and Eloise (and Marina!) are such interesting characters who’s interpersonal situations are truly grey and I think that who’s “side” fans tend to lean toward really depends on whether or not they ascribe to the individual or the greater good.

For me, I obviously lean more towards Penelope’s perspective. This is because, as much as understand and sympathize with Eloise’s feelings of hurt and betrayal, I also see so many of her comments and actions as ignorant and willfully naive. She does things without fully thinking through the consequences, putting both herself and her family at risk. !BOOK SPOILER START! In her story, this is literally the cause of her marrying — she decides to run off ALONE to a man’s home whom she’s never actually met without telling her family, leaving herself stuck in the situation where she has to marry him not only to protect her own reputation but also that of her entire family. !BOOK SPOILER END!

Marina was very much the same in season 1. I sympathize with her perspective, and while I don’t think her actions were as naive as Eloise, I think that she was so focused on trying to grasp the best option for herself that she refused to acknowledge that by doing so she would absolutely ruin BOTH the Featherington’s and Bridgerton’s with a scandal much less recoverable for either family than the one penned by Whistledown.

Meanwhile, the reason that I agree more with Penelope over the others is precisely the reason anti-Penelope fans dislike her. She is fully knowledgeable about the potential consequences of her actions. She considers all of the angles and tries to find alternatives, and even her most controversial decisions are made with such tangible regret that we see her sobbing on screen multiple times, but they are decisions that she makes the way she does because they limit the damage to all parties involved as much as possible. Now, could she have done things differently if she thought bringing in someone to her secret was an option? Absolutely! But she didn’t think it was — something that, given what we see of her home environment and how her friendships are largely reliant on her supporting the other individual, makes sense for her character.

Anyway, all that is to say that I think people who tend to view these scenarios from the perspective of the individual also tend to agree with Eloise/Marina, where as those who tend to view from the perspective of the greater good also tend to agree with Penelope.

Philosophically speaking, neither perspective is “wrong”, but I don’t know that everyone contributing to the conversation fully understands that, which is where we get the black and white hot takes that blatantly attack these characters as awful people.

[o-wild-west-wind]

okay, here’s my actual thoughtful post: I get why people are upset about the finale…I really do. but I want to mention that there’s a bigger picture to this story that’s missing if you’re zooming too close onto Izzy as a character, and I’m honestly so grateful that the show stuck to the thematic arc it introduced in season 1 because, as per usual, it’s about the themes 🤌 and this show never skimps on the symbolism!!

so here’s the thing: the primary themes are toxic masculinity (& it’s opposite, queer joy); trauma; love as a healing force for the above; and, title alert—DEATH. because it’s so much more than a cool title!

now, Izzy has always represented something metaphorical about all of these points; most directly, he’s always represented masculinity, and s2 has been an arc of toxicity deconstruction. but crucially, he’s also represented all that for Ed, who is the deuteragonist of this show. because—don’t forget—Stede and Ed are the show.

I’ve always doubted myself for feeling this after seeing how fandom saw Izzy as a third romantic figure (which like by all means have a blast in your fanfics I don’t care it’s about joy at the end of the day and pursue that as you want to), but after hearing something about djenks referring to Izzy as a father figure, it confirms a major point for me—Izzy is also in a lot of ways a parallel to Ed’s dad, and a representation of the trauma and guilt Ed felt from that formative killing. for so long, Izzy was an aggressive shadow in Ed’s life, and a tangible reminder of those daddy issues—someone telling him what to do, keeping him Blackbeard—and the beautiful thing is how that changed this season, how Izzy became a version of masculinity that could love and be beautiful and make good from the hurt, the literal poison into positivity. someone antithetical to his own paternalistic force, healing our daddy issues one drag show at a time. BUT, Izzy is still thematically representative within Ed’s arc—and by also representing the trauma that made Ed “Blackbeard,” it does make smart writing sense as to why Izzy died (NOT saying you can’t be sad about it—stick with me for a moment).

because here’s the thing—as aforementioned, this show is also about DEATH. killing is the root of everyone’s trauma, and reconciling a relationship with death is the ultimate arc Ed and Stede are both on, with the ultimate path of learning to live despite its inevitability. there’s a reason it was such a huge thing that Ed couldn’t personally kill, and then in this episode killed so many people with his bare hands in the name of love—and there’s a reason that was framed as a good thing. and there’s also Ed’s (and arguably Stede’s) active suicidality, which has been a huge force driving this season. these are characters who see death as this all-consuming thing, and they see their own deaths as the only solution. death is the traumatic force driving almost everything about their being for so long—and its reconciliation is everything for them, the greatest sign of growth. so Izzy’s death, and everyone beginning again with love—healing each other with love—is a cap to it all. it’s death as a positive force, for once. it’s death as love, not trauma. it’s death as something that will always happen, but this time not forced by your own hand. it’s a death to everything toxic, to what “Blackbeard” represented, and all the while a sort of rebirth. it’s kind of a death to…death? it’s functionally like the real physical moon replacing the giant romantic imaginary orb: it’s taking the thing that’s been artificially morphed in Stede and Ed’s heads and making it real this time, with all the bittersweet emotions that come with tangible reality.

and honestly, I’m glad that it was tragic and emotional. I didn’t think I’d be so devastated to see Izzy die, but it really did get to me, especially because of everything he said to Ricky and then to Ed. but think of it this way: Izzy and Ed might be romantically compelling because they were toxic and charged (and I hope people still enjoy everything they get from that dynamic in fan work), but imagine if the show had actually gone in that direction—where would it take us thematically? it would kill the thesis; it would be love as chaos and entertainment, but not healing. instead, this show gave us something so much more powerful: a legitimate, fully-fleshed trauma arc.

trauma hurts. Izzy’s death hurts. but that’s okay. that’s great, actually! it means the storytelling was effective—that Izzy’s arc made you feel something. and i know this won’t be every viewer’s experience, but honestly? I’m glad I can have this grieving process in such a beautifully framed light in the safe space ship of this show, because let’s be real—death, real life death, fucks you up. and let me tell you, I could’ve used this show during so many episodes of grief in my life. but here it is now, reminding us that our grief and trauma doesn’t define us—and WHAT a powerful thing for queer love, especially, to be presented as the thing that heals us all. ESPECIALLY when so much grief and death in this community is woven so deeply with the trauma of our identity.

so grieve as you need to, but don’t forget to turn the poison into positivity 💛 because that’s what the show is telling us—choose live, despite!

[randomsmilingpotatoes]

i think season 2 did such a great job at showing an alternative life for all the characters. and i want to talk about what that means for wilhelm and simon.

Simon, of course, is most obvious. The thing with Marcus is, I believe he was written to have manipulative traits so that we would continue to root for Wilhelm. It meant that we didn't care when Simon cheated, because we knew he was better anyway. It also explained why Simon even stayed with him in the first place, since he realised quite early on that he wasn't ready for anything serious and that he was still harbouring feelings for Wille.

But I want to put Marcus' toxicity aside for a moment. He otherwise represents a perfect man for Simon, technically. He's a local, he didn't grow up on money, his dates are chilling eating pizza with the speakers blaring, singing karaoke, and hanging out in his place. He made it clear he was interested in Simon from the start, and didn't have a problem being out, because being out wasn't something that affected his life. Both Simon's friends and his mum support the relationship, and you can tell this is because he fits their ideal of who Simon should be with and who fits better into their lives.

Simon sees this life, he sees the ease of living he could have. But he still knows deep down that his heart lies with Wille, and this is what leads him to pursue Wille back after he begins to lose him. He chose a life with Wilhelm.

Wilhelm actually got a glimpse of multiple alternative lifestyles. Now I don't believe that Wille made a move on Felice because he viewed her as an easier life, however, she has always represented this. Ever since the beginning of the show, Felice existed as a potential love interest, in the eyes of everyone else. But in season one, we relatively ignore this, because we know Wille's feelings lie elsewhere.

But in season 2, the prospect of Wilhelm and Felice being a couple appears more tangible. While we, the viewers, are focused on Wille's relationship with Simon, the other students have all but forgotten about it. While Wilhelm himself is focused on Simon as well, this leads to him spending a lot of alone time with Felice that the other students begin to question.

I'm not sure at what point during that scene in his room that Wilhelm decided to try to replicate his time with Simon, or if it was a conscious decision at the time or if it just happened. But it's interesting that he does do this. Now, this ultimately leads to him realising that he cannot replicate the feelings or connection he has with Simon, and Felice admitting that she partially only liked him because he was a prince. So between the two of them, they know where they stand.

But the Forest Ridge boys' reaction is something else. The way they chanted and celebrated for Wille and Felice was something he never received with Simon. Of course, his relationship was private, but we know that it would not have had the same reaction anyway. Especially since they pushed this whole show about the hookup with Felice, with Simon sitting right there.

Wille is unlabelled, and remains that way. We don't know, if he didn't know Simon, whether he has the potential to have feelings for girls or not. So in a realistic sense, this storyline is irrelevant. But it represents a life that he could choose to lead, if he wanted. And he would have the public support of everyone around him.

Nils played such an important role this season in showing a life Wille could also lead. He shows Wille that there are many queer people in their societal class, who are simply keeping it quiet. He shows that Wille can choose to date guys, that there are other queer guys out there who would be willing to stay publicly closeted with him. Guys that would understand why he denied the video, because they themselves would do the exact same thing. Nils even makes this life attainable, by inviting Wille to come on holiday with him and meet people there. And I think, if Simon had not accepted Wille back, this is probably the way he would have gone. But it's not what he wanted.

Wille never wanted to deny the video. He wanted to not say anything, but then when he did have to speak publicly about it, he wanted to say it was him, because he wanted to be with Simon. But he was manipulated, and also not quite ready to come out.

The Queen also presented a different option for Wilhelm. He could come out, he could even be with Simon, if he wanted. But he had to wait til he was eighteen to be public. This is fairly realistic, and probably could have even been a viable option in Wilhelm's and even Simon's eyes, if the video never happened. If he had gotten to control his story all the way through, instead of being outed and having to deny his sexuality in the process. But he shouldn't have to wait to control his own narrative, when someone else already took that away from him.

The speech at the end of season one is Wille's opportunity for a redo. He can reclaim his own power, and tell the world it was him. He is in love with a boy. And in doing that, he chose a life with Simon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wilhelm and Simon both had the opportunity to lead an easier life. They could still be in queer relationships, but with people that fit into their supposed societal class, people that their friends and family approved of. Throughout this time apart, they were both shown that they could both attain this life.

But they chose not to.

They chose each other. Because they realised that no matter what hurdles they have to go through, that they are worth it for each other. They are a couple worth fighting for.

[geekgirles]

Aurora's Claim: a Chapter 3 Analysis

Okay, so I read the chapter and, as expected, I'm fuming. However, it does give me the perfect chance to mention how, no matter what the Osamodas said, it still doesn't contradict my thoughts on Armand and Aurora's relationship and her lack of agency outside her father's thrall. Thoughts I discussed in length here.

On the contrary, I'd say it actually proves my suspicions right. So let's dive in, shall we? (Spoilers for the chapter under the cut).

First of all, I still don't trust a word that leaves Aurora's mouth, so I refuse to believe Armand knew about the pregnancy and told her to flee until we get more tangible evidence. After all, what good would it have done? If the Sadida and Eliatrope fell, the rest of the world would follow soon. And even if he did, I maintain that he didn't want her to rule his kingdom alone, because he still told Amalia it was up to her to take up the mantle.

(I finally got to take that screenshot)

But see? Not once did Armand mention Aurora or tell Amalia to please help her rule or anything like that. He didn't even take advantage of those precious few seconds he had left to let his sister in on such major news, to tell her she was gonna be an aunt. Nothing. He instead makes it pretty clear his sister is the Sadidas' next queen, not his wife. Which I'm convinced is because he knew all along his in-laws couldn't be trusted.

See, not even after these frames did Armand mention Aurora's supposed state or what it would mean for the kingdom. Not even then did he think she should ascend to the throne if he wasn't there by her side. Armand never wanted Aurora to rule on her own, child or no child.

Again, because he most likely suspected what the Osamodas would try as soon as they got the chance. Their people might have been joined by marriage, but they were never allies.

Which is something that is immediately proven as soon as Aurora reveals she's pregnant. Her family has no intention of honouring Sadida traditions. They don't even mention the very real possibility that the child might end up being an Osamodas and, therefore, unfit to rule the tree people inhabiting the World of Twelve, in which case I'd say her claim on the throne would be void.

No, as soon as they arrive and drop the bomb, Aurora makes it clear she has no intention of allowing Amalia anywhere near power. Just like she makes it clear she is nothing but her father's pawn, seeing as in no point in time she intends to part from him, even if she were to ascend to the throne.

And the Osamodas intentions of controlling Sadida politics become crytal clear from that point forward. Because Aurora never tries to include Amalia in any of this, despite her being the last Sheran Sharm and, thefore, having received training on how to rule (as seen in season 2 when she was busy with her duties and kept sending Yugo and Ad to help) or sharing the strongest connection to the Tree of Life. You know, the very same thing Aurora and her child would be in charge of guarding with their lives should she become queen? With that in mind, it would only make sense to keep Amalia close in order to help her rule.

But what does Aurora do instead?

She insists her father will help her until the baby is born, and from that point onwards, he will still be around to raise the kid. In other words, that child has been doomed to become the Osamodas King's puppet even before they're even born! They intend to raise the next Sadida ruler to have their people's best interests in mind, not the Sadidas'.

And where does Amalia fit in all this?

She doesn't, because Aurora's very last line about how Amalia should do what she does best and travel the world could not be any more of an abvious way to tell her she doesn't want her anywhere near the kingdom, where she could get in the way of her family's scheming.

Before I finish this rant, I feel morally obligated to point out the sheer disrespect everyone seems to feel for Amalia. Yes, she's always been very free-spirited and spent long periods of time away, but if it weren't for her, her people and the World of Twelve would have died three times over (not counting the Nécromes attack because that was during the only time she remained in her kingdom).

Amalia's adventures have allowed her to grow and mature in ways no other ruler has had to go through. It's thanks to her and her friends that her kingdom and the rest of the world are still standing. And no one knows of the sacrifices required to save the world like she does.

She couldn't be there when her father died because she was saving the world from Oropo, for fuck's sake!

But sure, the Osamodas can keep calling her selfish and spoiled. After all, it takes one to know one. Because let's not forget how Aurora being pregnant or not is still no excuse for her father not sending help, meaning they're still very much a bunch of cowards and traitors insteads of the martyrs they're trying to present themselves as.

Literally the only way I can ever see myself coming to like Aurora is if she actually matured and developed beyond being her father's pawn and turned against him, realising Amalia is indeed the rightful ruler.

Until then, I'm going to be cheering for Amalia to wipe the floor with her.

@cocogum @vinillain @onyichii I hope you don't mind another analysis on the same topic.

[biceratops7]

… let’s talk about “Arrival”

So I was fully intending on making a more general but thorough peruse through the new Good Omens title sequence, because my FUCK aren’t those always a gold mine. But then I thought to myself, “hey wait a minute, I can be even more unhinged and on brand.”

Something I’ve seen nobody talk about yet is that the movie that the procession is marching into is The Arrival, which is a 90’s movie that draws a pretty straightforward parallel. But I think if it doubles as a reference to 2016’s Arrival, THAT has some much more interesting implications. Either way this reference is doing some heavy lifting.

For those who haven’t seen the movie (or that one philosophy tube video about it lol), the basic plot is that a group of aliens later named heptopods arrive on earth scattered across the world, and just kind of invite humanity to check them out. Each country hires a team of linguists who are all tasked with figuring out what the visitors are here for. But the thing is, it’s only about aliens on the surface level. This is really about communicating, cooperation, and how language holds the power to alter your very fabric of reality.

Spoilers for the movie:

Two major revelations occur towards the end of the movie. The first is that an element of fluid time is revealed. Throughout the movie, the main American linguist has been having flashbacks to a daughter that passed away of an illness. But since the heptopod language has no regard for chronological order, we learn that these are actually flash-forwards when she becomes nearly fluent. In other words, learning heptopod, having a genuine curiosity and even compassion for these vastly different beings. has given her the ability to perceive reality in ways thought previously impossible.

Even before noticing the Arrival reference, I’ve been side eyeing these “flashbacks”, but this and the image above confirmed it for me. Any instance of the word “becoming” when talking about the past indicates some sort of fluid time nonsense. The past is fixed unless something ✨happens✨. I don’t think these are simply memories, I think something rather cosmic instead is afoot.

But it’s more than just “there’s probably time travel in this” though. Simply having Aziraphale as a companion has changed Crowley. It’s given him an ability that he’s not meant to be capable of as a demon. He already had it in him to be good and have mutual relationships based in trust and kindness, I’m sure all demons can if given the right nurture… but Crowley is experiencing love. In the show, something tangible to the senses and distinctly angelic. I’m very much hoping that that whole element of things is going to somehow be a driving factor in what’s occurring over all, and possibly involved in time going screwy.

The other element of Arrival’s ending that’s of import, is the heavy emphasis on the importance of cooperation. First of all, we learn at some point that not every country has the same message to decipher, they each have one piece of a whole. Some of the countries begin using games to communicate with their heptopods, and this poses a problem because it causes messages to be more easily interpreted as hostile. For example, the phrase “we brought a tool” can be easily misconstrued as “we have a weapon.” Eventually, the world gets impatient and scared, and a war is imminent. What finally leads to everyone putting down arms and cooperating, is the American linguist sending a message to the Chinese linguist saying “in war, there are no victors, only widows.”

Something noteworthy about this particular march is that the procession never splits like it does at the end of the first season’s. Not only are both angelic and demonic figures marching into the light atop a mountain as a United front, but this actually seems to be a theme this season. Heaven and Hell aren’t working together as far as we know, but they are at least working towards the same goal, which for some reason is getting Gabriel’s ass. There is also a heavy emphasis on mending broken relationships, with Crowley and Azirphale trying to fix a (probably) lesbian couple literally being the B plot.

Now this is where we bring in what’s actually on the movie screen, which is that damn box. So at this point we know basically nothing about it accept for it probably being a Mcguffin. But we DO have the imagery of three feathers, a black one, a white one, and a bluish grey one, falling into it… and it sure as fuck looks like a moving box. So back to arrival, what actually was the message? The heptopods told the linguist that they’re here to help humanity (via giving them a tool or new tech I think?) because in 3,000 years, they will need humanity’s help. So with this and the world eventually being inspired to stand down and share their pieces of the message, it’s this over arching theme of setting aside fear of the other and cooperating indefinitely for the benefit of the whole. The black feather, the white feather… and then something that is somehow both yet entirely unique.

I think… somehow, someway, this season may culminate in Heaven and Hell reconciling. Whether it be against a common enemy, for a shared goal, or in love, there seems to be many clues both symbolic and literal that show them learning to be one again. Learning to understand eachother’s language and see new ways of being neither before could fathom.

[ifishouldvanish]

Some Olrox Analysis & Headcanons

Have you seen this man? Now you have! 🥰

I have a lot of thoughts about Olrox Castlevania Nocturne and I'm dumping them here.

DISCLAIMER: We know so little about Olrox's past and I am but a humble stan looking at an expressionist painting and projecting my own deranged nonsense onto it. I'm fully prepared for 90% of this to get jossed in season 2, but for now I'm just letting the worms in my brain wiggle and send me beautiful visions of what could be 🥹

1. Olrox Was a Commoner and Does Not Respect Hierarchies

I've seen people point to his manner of speech and dress as evidence that he must come from a privileged background, but I think he displays too much contempt for the wealthy/nobility to have been one himself. I think these things are just symbols of power he has learned to use to his advantage.

Of course, there's everyone's favorite quote: "I prefer my blood blue." But he also demonstrates virtually no respect for authority or symbols/institutions of power in general:

He refuses the escort sent by the marquis when he arrives in France and insists on staying at the inn because he likes to "keep his ear to the ground". He would rather be around 'the people' than accept anything from the wealthy.

When Drolta is reminiscing about her glory days as a priestess, there's really not any nostalgia or sentimentality when he interrupts and says "and now those temples are half-buried in dust."

For as good as he is at presenting himself as a Gentleman of Status, he cannot bring himself to even pretend to enjoy himself at Erzsebet's lil debutante ball at the chateau.

When Erzsebet insists she is a goddess, his response is "Of course you are, sweetie 🙂"

His whole speech to Mizrak in the morning-after scene is basically a deconstruction of what power means, and how it is only a perceived vs tangible thing, a temporary position vs an immutable one:

"There are petty demon princelings you can haggle with and cheat. There are demon charlatans whose faces you can laugh in, spit in. There are demons who once were gods... And those who still are."

Foucault? In MY anime adaptation of a vampire video game?? It's more likely than u think 🤔

(continued under the cut bc this got long as hell)

2. Olrox was an Adult when Cortés Arrived

(I don't have a relevant screenshot for this point, so here's Olrox being pretty for no reason)

I've seen it float around some places that if we adhere to historical timelines to a 'T', it would make most sense for him to have been a child, but I'm of the opinion that it's more useful to take what the text itself gives us and fill the gaps with bits and pieces of the actual history where it's convenient. At the end of the day, this is a work of fiction/fantasy. So what does the text tell us?

He lived a long time as human and vampire

As of 1783, he'd been a vampire for approximately 250 years

Now, if we want to take this 250 figure literally, that would put the year of his turning at 1533. But I think we can give ourselves +/-15 years leeway because 250 is just the kind of rounded, even number one would use in natural speech in place of "267" or some shit like that. It's just how believable dialogue is written. So what lies in this +/-15 year window? The invasion by the Spanish, 1519-1521.

Now, he tells Mizrak: "Long ago, when I was still human, I watched men wade ashore from ships..."

I think this is another case of how important dialogue is. Because if he was a boy at the time, this line would likely have been written as "Long ago, when I was just a boy..." or something like "One of my earliest memories is of..." instead. "Still human" implies not only was he a human, but that he had been human for quite some time already. That the events he's describing fall in the stretch of time leading up to "still human" no longer being true.

tl;dr: the Spanish arrival and him becoming a vampire happened within a few years of each other, and if turned vampires stop aging, then he would have had to have been an adult at the time.

3. Olrox Became A Vampire Willingly

I assume that vampirism is something that was introduced to the Mexica by the Spanish in the same way it was introduced to Haiti by the French, in Annette's case.

However, rather than vampires creating spawn left and right, the persistent lore (in the show at least) is that to be turned is to be accepted into the sort of elite in-group of vampire society. (Carmilla questioning why Lisa was never turned, the Count never turning slaves, etc). Vampires feed on humans, they don't view them as potential spawn to have in thrall or whatever.

The Spanish weren't going around giving natives The Bite, because vampirism is power. So what I think, is that Olrox recognized that power, and decided to take it for himself. Rather than being the passive 'recipient' of the 'gift' of vampirism, he pried it from some Spanish vampire's cold, undead hands. (i.e., he drank their blood)

Do I have any proof of this? No. It's just what the worms in my brain are telling me 🤷 But!!

Do I think it would be a sexy little inversion of the way Erzsebet drank a god's blood to obtain her power? Yes.

Do I think it would be thematically very appropriate for a morally grey character who seems to have a very... Interesting relationship with power (individual power vs institutional powers, the subverting of power, the weaponization of symbols of power, etc)?? Oh absolutely fuck yes!!1!

[sickos.jpg]

4. Olrox Was a Priest, But Not Like That.

Priesthood in the Mexica empire was largely dominated by the nobility, whose children would be sent to the calmecec to learn how to read and write, speak the noble dialect, perform rituals, etc. But if the circumstances were right, the children of commoners could also get in!

Olrox says he's never been much of a believer, but he's highly intelligent and incredibly good at reading people. Even if he was never a man of faith, the priesthood was still a powerful institution where one could climb the ranks and earn influence over the nobility. No doubt someone as sharp and charismatic as Olrox would be able to take advantage of the opportunity to get a good education and maybe try to undermine the system from within/play a bit of political games while he was at it.

Also... Olrox's weapon of choice is the dagger. Obviously a dagger is an appropriate weapon for a character who's kind of rogue-ish, but also consider: Aztec warriors used a lot of weapons in combat: clubs, spears, arrows, axes—but an obsidian dagger? That's something that would have been used by a priest during rituals.

5. Olrox is a Bitch™ Who Knows Just What to Say to Get Under People's Skin

A common myth is that the Mexica welcomed Cortés at first because they thought he was Quetzalcoatl. But this is a misreading of the way Mexica social conventions/the noble dialect worked, which was kinda ~passive aggressive in a way, such that the more loftily and overly politely you spoke with someone, the more you were actually telling them to go eat shit and die. I think Olrox's dialogue demonstrates this beautifully in the scene where he meets Erzsebet:

"Taker of Souls, Vampire Lioness, She Who Mauls, The Messiah of--" / "Yes, charmed to meet you 😒"

"Her magnificence has heard much about you." / "Flattered. For a god to have heard of me. 🥱"

"I am a goddess!" / "...Of course 🙂"

His words are receptive, respectful, docile, even... but his tone and delivery are completely the opposite. Compare this with the way he speaks with Richter and (in later interactions) Mizrak—which is more informal, open, confrontational. He's more direct with them because he actually respects them.

As far as reading and getting under people's skin with pinpoint precision, I present the following interactions:

When he catches the marquis' severed head in the catacombs, he reads him (and potentially also Drolta) like a book: "This one? He was just an opportunist, following the messiah because she's powerful. But there are those who love her [looks to Drolta]. So I'm told."

When Drolta gives him a verbal slap on the wrist for feeding on the wealthy, he says "mY Ap0LoGiEs, I didn't realize how invested you are in keeping the mortals happy." - To which Drolta goes on to grumble about how their alliance with some of the mortals disgusts her.

When Erzsebet is waxing poetic about how everyone will see her beauty and worship her, he has the balls to—without missing a beat—say "PaRd0n mEe, but you mean to do this through an alliance with a man who will never worship you? 🫢" right to her fcuuckin face mgod I love him so much (this is the point where she whips out the big guns and yells "I am a goddess!!" while threateningly flashing her orb of darkness btw. Like she did NOT like that)

6. Olrox Has an 'Eye for an Eye' View of Justice

A prevalent theme in Aztec religion is the idea that like... ain't nothin' in this world for free. Sacrifices to the gods weren't symbolic gestures of devotion, but an act of paying the gods back for providing humanity with the means to survive.

The idea that everything has a price pervades the dialogue he has with Mizrak in the morning-after scene:

"What was the cost? Who pays it? Just him? Or all of you? Will you? Which demon will claim his price when all this is done?"

And it's also present in the very first scene where we are introduced to Olrox:

"You see, your mama took someone from me I loved, just as much as you loved her. So, she had to die."

What's interesting about this scene is also how... calm he is the whole time—before the fight, after the fight. Yes, he's motivated by the murder of the man he loved, but he brings zero of that passion to this confrontation. It's just an execution, something inevitable that must be done.

That he's fine with confronting a terrified Richter immediately afterwards to explain what just happened (and is completely unapologetic about it) is also telling. It suggests that Olrox views this kind of thing as just 'the way of the world'—a hard truth that Richter will be better off for having learned sooner rather than later.

I think this also helps explain why, years later, Olrox seems to treat Richter with a little more.... Familiarity than we might consider appropriate. He approaches Richter in the catacombs like he's just an old acquaintance, as though Richter should have no reason to be terrified of him. When Drolta mentions the incident later, he seems kind of lightly amused by it. Then, when he drops off the book, he's visibly/audibly frustrated that Richter starts gearing up for a fight. To Olrox, the whole "killed your mom" thing is water under the bridge, nothing personal.

7. Olrox is a Vampire of Prominence in The New World

Obviously, he has to be kind of a big deal to give a Belmont a run for their money. But let's go deeper into the IMPLICATIONS!!

"In 250 years, do you know how many vampire hunters have promised to slice me in two?"

"Her magnificence has heard much about you."

"You will be her guide into America."

He's enough of a big deal that countless hunters have promised to kill him. Enough of a big deal that Erzsebet has not only heard of him, but sees him as a valuable ally who knows enough about America to guide her as she builds her empire across it.

Olrox wasn't just a powerful vampire who got entangled with the politics of colonial Massachusetts and happened to cross paths with a Belmont. He's presumably had a hand in matters across the continent. Erzsebet refers to the colonists as "American upstarts" but for her, this is a conflict between humans vs vampires. The American colonists aren't allies or even rivals to her—because they're not vampires. They're just more pesky humans to be dealt with. (Also??? 'Protestant Vampires' as a concept is just hilarious to me, I'm so sorry)

So.

What the worms in my brain are telling me is—And this is Big!! This is a Steaming Hot Take!!!

(...seriously, tin foil hat tier headcanon incoming)

Olrox has established a network of indigenous vampires who are resisting the colonial threat. He's been turning them (or at least select individuals who are into it), and thereby redistributing the power he took from the Spanish colonizers to wield against the British colonizers.

(Look I have 0.01% faith in this actually being canon or anything. I just think it would be cool as fuck.)

Anyway.

Thanks for coming 2 my Ted talk or whatever. 😘

[bismuth-209]

thoughts on the series 14 finale?

oh man. i loved this season. i really did. and for it to just end like this..

i think there's a good chance the Doctor is lying about some things because not everything adds up

like. Death times Death equals life was corny and i didn't love it but i'm willing to accept that's how it genuinely resolved. i have some doubts about the effectiveness of death by time vortex when that didn't kill him before.

but whatever. keep the option open for Sutekh 3 if you want and otherwise maintain that killed him

sure

BUT RUBY'S MUM?

okay. so. Sutekh pretty much instakilled the whole earth. i'm guessing by the scene on that other planet that it doesn't have to affect a whole planet at once but considering everyone we saw in London died pretty instantly and the tardis has landed in the UK around the 2020s a LOT i . i think Louise Miller dead as a doornail OR he's kept her alive / she managed to not die because people were,, curious about her? and in that case. i feel he would've been able to tell who she was .

they imply Ruby's bio mum is alive right? SO WHY DOESN'T HE KNOW WHO SHE IS . why does he keep the doctor and ruby alive to figure it out

other things that make NO fucking sense if Louise Miller, regular human woman, is Ruby's mum:

her walking straight and upright and all of that when dropping Ruby off as a FIFTEEN year old who probably had zero medical assistance GIVING BIRTH about 10 hours prior

her having a cape instead of like. a regular hoodie or whatever. maybe she was going through a goth phase

the doctor was THERE when she was pointing. they do like a line about "well why was she pointing at you" "she wasn't pointing at me, she was pointing at the sign" okay but like. it's not like he was invisible though

YOU KNOW WHAT WASN'T THERE IN ANY OF THE PREVIOUS SHOTS OF THE SCENE? the fucking sign!! it MATERIALISED when the doctor said it was there

there is, of course, no way for anyone, save for maybe the Doctor, who was there, to know that she "pointed at the sign" to name her baby Ruby. and the Doctor clearly didn't catch on

the snow!! the snow materializing

the song in Ruby's heart thing that the Maestro is confused by

the memory changing

the doctor crying in the opening scene to church on ruby road when he knows who the mum is, but later not crying when he doesn't know who she is

the ambulance being unable to find any relatives for Ruby even though her parents did give DNA samples in 2046 (although maybe the ambulance was looking for currently alive relatives in which case, fair)

other things that make no sense that aren't directly related to Ruby's mum situation

"the one who waits is almost here" says the maestro. yea he's on a street a couple blocks away. kinda just sitting there though

metal becoming rare and precious in a post-death world. like, i would understand if wood and wool and such were deteriorating on account of having been alive or something . but metal? why would it be difficult to find metal?? the scene slapped though

why was the time window only responsive to Ruby, as well as colonel Chidozie only responding to her

the tardis being there at the church a second time but invisible?

Sutekh letting himself be dragged along with the rope

the stuff with Mrs Flood didn't make sense either but that's forgiven on account of they didn't pretend that made sense

i really hope there's more to some of what was "resolved" this episode because this ending felt cheap and kinda like .

so i like the message of "it's actually the unimportant that are important" but it felt kinda insulting to pull that after the whole season has been saying Ruby's bio mum and Ruby were important and unique, not just like. in the minds of the Doctor and Ruby but also tangibly in the world around them, like with the snow.

the reunion scene with Ruby and Louise was adorable though. it almost made me okay with the whole thing

[kae-karo]

I saw your tags on the link click post and I love your theory that this isn't the first time lu guang has saved cxs. Would you happen to have the energy to expand on that? I'd... 👉👈 like to hear your thoughts (only if u want to though)

HELLO THANK U FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPAND ON THIS (for context - x) don't get me wrong i ADORE the sentiment in that post, but i am SO far down the "this isn't the first time lu guang has saved cheng xiaoshi" path that i can't come back lmao

before i say anything else, BUCKLE UP cause i have absolutely zero tangible proof and any canon reasoning for this is a stretch that would make a rubber band look rigid, but i can't stop thinking about it and i'm having fun so here we go

first and foremost: hat guy is a time cop ("cop"). hear me out, i promise this is relevant.

also sorry his name is liu xiao lmao (ignore the moment i thought his name was lu xiao and was about to be like he is the physical manifestation of lu guang and cheng xiaoshi's melding of their powers and/or their lovechild and/or their future combined self and/or- etc u get the idea)

AHEM. okay so. the first number of times we see liu xiao (as a kid and a friend of li tianchen) he seems relatively normal? although he does make a comment that stood out to me when i first watched ep9, where he says "i believe in the near future, you will definitely encounter the opportunity to become a hunter". when tianchen asks if they'll meet again, he says "surely we will" - and then, when they do, he reminds tianchen that he said they'd definitely meet again

he proceeds to comment (when tianchen asks if he has any choice) that "it seems everyone has only one path in their destiny, but in fact, it is made up of countless parallel lines...sometimes we want to change it, but we can't." - this specific phrase is spoken over lu guang's memory of watching cheng xiaoshi get shot.

and of course, we can't forget liu xiao's critical line "i wanna bring all parallel lines together, to turn all uncertainties into certainties." i think that's beyond metaphorical, i think he can not only see (in some sense) the parallel lines of a person's fate/futures/etc, but can manipulate them. or, rather, can corral them all into a single line, a single destiny, a single path for every person

now brief reminder that li tianxi was able to see lu guang's memories when she looked at the pic (revealed in ep12) - and she immediately started crying. i know the implication in that moment (ep10) was that she was experiencing lu guang's pain from the wound, but what if it was more than that? what if she saw his memories, too - in ep12, he implies that he went back to the beginning, presumably the start of the season, effectively, to prevent cheng xiaoshi from dying (hence all his careful planning through the season)

also real quick can we talk about how the passcode to his phone was the time (and date?) he went back to save cheng xiaoshi? THEE moment of "he is worth more than my rules". whether this is the first time or the thousandth, i'm still unwell

OKAY so anyway i think i've established that liu xiao has some fascination with timelines and, more precisely, with paring them down to whatever he's determined to be the Correct or Perfect timeline (ie establishing 'certainty') - this is why i call him a time cop like i don't think he's actually executing on some authority i think he's just decided that he has the power and that he wants the world to operate according to his certainties.

ones that lu guang has fucked up by saving cheng xiaoshi. possibly more than once.

for my next act, lu guang's character sheet:

yeah can we talk about age: ? like excuse me ?????? i'm also intrigued by the unknown blood type, but let's ignore that for now lmao

back to his unknown age - why the hell would this be unknown if he's just a guy? cheng xiaoshi has a normal age in spite of his abilities, right? and lu guang's ability is only to view the 12hr surrounding a photo, right?

WRONG. well, right, but also wrong. BEAR WITH ME OKAY cause we're jumping to qiao ling's experience in ep12 now - the moment she held onto tianxi when she died. where we saw...something travel from her to qiao ling. her memories? or her abilities?

now perhaps u, like me, recall lu guang's solitary moment in ep12 where, while covered in blood, he looked at his phone, his eyes turned cheng-xiaoshi-gold, he clapped, and he zoomied back to the past. because he was holding cheng xiaoshi when he died. and thus inherited his power.

OKAY SO why the fuck does that matter !!!! WELL I'M GLAD U ASKED. because we have no problem with cheng xiaoshi's age, right? he's done this 'jump back in time' thing a bunch!!! for 12hr at a time, and then he's back!

okay, but what happens when lu guang, who acquired cheng xiaoshi's power, jumps back to a time before he had cheng xiaoshi's power? now what? how would he jump back (or even be forced back) to his present body and time if he no longer has that ability? wouldn't he now be forced to re-live the hours, days, years after going back to make a change?

in his words, he went back to the beginning, thus he'd have to relive the whole thing, but now, he can make the Right choices this time to protect cheng xiaoshi

but what's a week (or a couple days or whatever it was) in the grand scheme of things? how would his age be unknown if this is the first and only time he's ever done it?

(critical caveat that 'the beginning' could absolutely refer to something far earlier than just the season's start - it could be the beginning of their relationship, for all we know, but let's start here for the sake of keeping this...i'd say manageable but we're well beyond that i am YAPPING)

if his age is so impossible to define, i think it could very easily fit to suggest that he's done this before - possibly many times. so many times that to suggest he's only as old as his physical body would be utterly ludicrous

okay but what in the world would make him want to change fate so often, for so long, so many times? what would make him go against his own rule (*i don't think this was always a rule for him but bear with me, we'll get to that)? well, we know the answer to that :)

so, i don't think this is the first time he's gone back in time to save cheng xiaoshi. i don't think it's the first time he's held cheng xiaoshi as he dies, because that's the way he would've acquired his ability in order to do this (an argument could be made here that he's hidden some facets of his own ability and that he's always been capable of this, but i don't think it was an accident that we saw qiao ling Acquire tianxi's ability)

in fact (if u thought this was all crack theory up to this point, hold onto ur horses) i think the first time he went back in time to save cheng xiaoshi was (seriously, hold on tight) when cheng xiaoshi died with his parents when he was a kid

that's right i'm going all the way baby. i think cheng xiaoshi was supposed to die when he was a kid. why the hell did his parents leave him all alone? to go on some random trip?? like we all agree this is peculiar right???? how does NOBODY know what happened to them, where they were, etc?

now i could go into possible scenarios (lu guang was a kid, too, and didn't know what he was doing, lu guang knew EXACTLY what he was doing and that it would have consequences, lu guang didn't even know he HAD any abilities til he tried to save cheng xiaoshi, the list goes on) BUT the gist of this being: i think lu guang saved cheng xiaoshi. i think he went back in time (into his own body) and figured out the right choices to make (maybe after many tries) to ensure that cheng xiaoshi didn't go with his parents. that he stayed home, for whatever reason, and survived

now why do i believe this, you may be asking? because it's fun, of course !!! and because we have no idea what happened to his parents yet, so i'll continue to theorize in the meantime lmao

you could also alternatively suggest that the going back in time to save cheng xiaoshi doesn't start until after they meet - i mean, hell, look at the situations they get themselves into just within the span of two seasons, they are RIFE with danger. like, cheng xiaoshi could've died MANY times !!!!

but honestly what really sells me is - going ALL the way back to the post that i linked at the start - lu guang didn't hesitate. not only did he already know, but he had no qualms with immediately (still covered in blood) going back to before and doing this all over again. unlike qiao ling, who does not appear to realize she has tianxi's ability, lu guang seems to immediately understand that he has cheng xiaoshi's. that just smacks of experience

(also, an aside: what photo did he use? how far back did he go? there's another route of course - did he go so far back that he's relived his life to such a notable degree that calling him whatever age of his physical body would be missing a notable number of years? in which case, one could argue that this could be the first time, though his immediate knowledge of acquiring cheng xiaoshi's remains unexplained. ANYWAY i digress)

okay back to the point here - lu guang immediately knowing that he has cheng xiaoshi's ability and using it without hesitation, though he does comment on how he broke his own rule. and it sounds like a first-time thing, but consider...

what if this is the first time he's broken it since making the rule?

enter time cop hat guy (i hear u, i promised this was relevant), aka our boi liu xiao who wants to create 'certainties' by (presumably) eliminating branching possibilities in some regard to create single paths/fates/destinies/etc. for lack of a better way to phrase it, a single timeline where everything can be predicted and accounted for (yeah...i suspect we'll be unpacking some of his trauma in s3)

now, different choices mean different outcomes - different timelines, a long list of uncertainties. i think liu xiao aimed to stop that. i also think that his ability gives him some kind of godlike manipulation over timelines (how else would he speak with such confidence about making this future a reality?) assuming, of course, that he has no interference from others with similar abilities

enter lu guang, who has now - potentially multiple times - messed with liu xiao's perfect timeline, one wherein cheng xiaoshi dies (not necessarily with intentional malice, just by virtue of securing whichever certainties liu xiao wants). this, of course, is a problem for liu xiao

and perhaps he makes lu guang's life a living hell - hey, why not go all the way? perhaps he makes a point of manipulating the timeline to kill cheng xiaoshi in new and horrifying ways, again and again, just to watch lu guang play this pathetic game trying to save him by going back in time. perhaps it's entertaining, for a while, but he grows tired of it eventually

so, he proposes an agreement: he'll stop trying to kill cheng xiaoshi, but lu guang has to agree never to manipulate his perfect timeline again (or something similar, you get the idea - they reach a ceasefire of sorts wherein they both, to an extent, get what they want)

thus, the rule was born - whatever they do, they cannot ever change these critical nodes. so long as lu guang adheres, liu xiao won't try to kill cheng xiaoshi

but then someone else does. someone else succeeds. and lu guang breaks his side of the deal, he changes the timeline. he knows exactly what he's doing, what he may invoke, but he does it anyway (i'm fully writing my own au of this story at this point lmao but hey, hope ur having fun if u made it this far)

and so liu xiao returns from abroad, because he has a score to settle

[don't ask me why s3 is set in london and they look like they're teaming up, i'm all for a 'forced to work together' arc but how that fits in with this wildly out of pocket theory is beyond me lmao]

anyway hope u enjoyed this delve into my silly goofy theory !!!! thank u deeply for the ask LMAO

[mysunandmoon98]

Sending waves to wave to earth as we grow alongside each other across the ocean 🌊

(rambings from a while back, edited to be coherent, please share this time of love with me)

I am someone who often questions things about myself, especially the things I am into and enjoy. I like to figure about exaclty what it is that captivates me. Wave to earth have been on my mind a lot recently with their US tour kicking off. Subsequently I started to wonder a little, what is it about this band that I am so captivated by and feel so connected to? To put it simply, music is art, and I honestly live day to day examening and thinking about art. What draws me into art is typically one of two things: admiration to anothers dedication/view of life or its relatability and how I see myself in that art, how it fits with my daily life and thoughts. Wave to earth's music is one of those gems that fulfils both categories. What captured me was their specific nestling into a blur of genres, and their appreciation and dedication to art, as well as their lyrics about life and love.

The first live performance of theirs that I watched was purple lake. It was just daniel and donkgyu in a little room, I vividly remember the purple glow of the room, and the multi coloured lights dancing across the walls. Dongkyu had a pair of sunglasses hanging from his shirt. Watching that performance, when the camera pans to dongkyu on the drums, it felt like the whole universe had singled into this one person, fulfilling their passion and translating feelings into sound. I had never been so captivated in this way before.

I started getting more into the lyrics too. I had been a fan of Daniel for a little while before I heard wave to earth so was familiar with his voice and lyrical style from the little snippets of what I understood before. I vividly remember one day, sat at the kitchen table listening to seasons, just recently after its release. I sat there with the lyrics in front of me, and I felt my heart warm a little. A delicate hum of pain and nostalgia which stuck with, and resonated with me so strongly. "I'd give you all my life, my seasons" Listening to songs like light, wave, ride and surf made me fall more in love with life. The link of love and life with the sea and nature fit hand in hand so beautifully. It gives a sense of connection, a grounding feeling, whilst also somehow making me feel like i'm floating in the clouds, my mind completely at peace, even in the middle of a hectic day.

Then as the autumn and winter come, I grativiate to songs such as bonfire and bird. A couple years ago, on my journeys back home from college, I would listen to these songs as the sun set. I shut the door on a difficult day listening to music that made life feel beautiful again. "Bird, how does it feel to fly. Hey bird, do you look down or forward?" These lyrics stuck in my mind, as I felt stuck in the sickening routine my life had back then. Do I look down to my heart, do I look to myself, to this moment, or do I look into the future? How is everyone around me living, how do you see? I felt confused, life was a blur of one day to the next. I would listen so intently, every lyric, every chord. One listen for the lyrics, one for Daniel's voice, one for the drums, one for the bass, one for the harmonies, one for it all together. It was moments of peace in during a messy time. From this, I found one of my big happinesses in life: bass guitar. I was drawn into John Cha's bass lines. I always pondered on which was a favourite. For autumn, I like bonfire, the bass gives a rich yet fluttering feeling, like fireflies dancing in the night. There is a certain part in gold which I adore it's like velvet, so smooth, so deep but also powerful. Then in daisy, in this one break- where often the guitar gets centre stage, there is just this epic breakdown, giving that depth, that almost tangible grip on the song, all the desire and the love just bursts out, and I think its incredible. I came to realise how beatiful bass guitar is. I love the melodic charm of John's playing, the variations during live performances too (I remember learning the term 'bass fills' from his youtube, which I know I probably use incorrectly haha, but just that little extra something special, I love it). I'm not too educated on music, I really only write from the heart, but I feel like John's playing, it really feels like another voice, another vocal, another expression of the lyrics. I never understood music in this way before, so deeply, so interconnected, so beautifully.

From this, music became such a bigger part of my life. I started listening to more instrumental songs, and I gained a whole new outlook on music and instruments. Side B of flaws and all... it really is my everything, that lofi jazz sound they have.. it is everything to me, and sparked my love for a new kind of music. I listen to side A when its sunny and bright out, as well as when my gloomy days need some sunshine. "I'm broken, so take me to the evening glow, and lay me down on the sun, the tender sun" This song, their music, is like a warm ray of sunshine.

So I think about this a lot, as time passes and things change. I feel I have changed and grown, and I look and see their success as a band and see how they have changed and grown and I feel immense happiness. I adore how wave to earth craft their music, their performances, their albums covers. It is always a big creative inspiration in my life. So I just wanted to talk about it, I'm a little bit lost for words, but these days I find myself tearing up thinking about these things so I just wanted to try and express how my heart has been feeling :')

[songsofbloodandwater]

Hey, how’re you? 13 and 12 for the asks

Hello! All good here, deeply enjoying the beginning of autumn and the much lower temperatures, how have you been?

12) what do you think your practice would taste like? If one could taste a magico-religious practice

Honestly, blood. Whatever blood can taste like. I've had moments where it's just metallic and asphyxiating, and others when it's pungent but peppery, almost floral.

I really wanted to say something normal, like bread, or milk, or some herbal tea. Or a passed down family recipe. I also thought of water and all that it represents to us. But realistically, it's just blood. I'm sorry if that answer is kind of predictable coming from me!

13) How does your craft feel in the spring vs in the darker months?

In my experience, the most tangible difference comes from the differences between Day Spirits, and Night Spirits. Traditionally, in my family, there's specific workings that we cannot do at night, the lack of sunlight means the Spirits that would be called are not the kind of spirits you'd want to call at all. This type of belief extends to seasons. Seasons stem from the natural changes in daylight hours available on Earth, and we see it as not just the plant life adapting to the colder months, but the spirits associated with the Land also adapting, hibernating, migrating (within this Realm or to other realms), or being in whatever way less available to us. Some, entirely unreachable.

In my opinion it's not that the Day and Night courts are "rotating" and one season or the other belongs entirely to one or the other court. It's simply that in the darker months the tangible presence of the Night Court becomes most prevalent, dominant, due to the absence of most of the Day Court, and viceversa. But they're always coexisting to varying degrees.

In my family that means we begin the warm months in August-September, awakening and feeding the earth and then slowly welcoming back the different allies and relatives of my spirit family throughout the next spring and summer months, as they come and as we get to spend time with them. It reaches a peak in December, with Solar festivities. Then starts to decline again throughout the next months, until we reach the "Lunar" peak, and the weakest moment of the Sun and Day court, in June with the Longest Night of the year. My seasonal calendar isn't just depending on daylight hours, but also on the apparent cycles of certain sacred constellations across the sky, so throughout the year I'm paying attention to Them and working with each as they come and go aswell, for example, the Southern Cross's rotation marks some special dates for me in regards to the fertility of the Land and to the Beloved Dead, or the Pleiades appearing and disappearing, carrying messages and omens, bringing with them certain Spirits and their influence, and taking them away as they go.

It feels like a family reunion that lasts months instead of hours. When people just start arriving, when there's feast and stories and sharing and warmth, and then everyone starts saying their goodbyes again, until next year. Summer is the height of the party. Winter is the only time of the year that reflects what you'd normally imagine from everyday family life, when it's just me and the Spirits that walk with me, that "live with me in that house", so to speak. In practicality, that means more outwards work during the warmer months (in relation to the Land and Spirits that are tied to different kinds of cyclical natures), more inwards work and "housekeeping" of my own courts during the cold dark months. There's still some work to do with perennial spirits during the winter (for example, La Dolorosa and The Wild King, and their respective courts, are mostly unaffected by the seasons) but it's still a smaller workload in general when in comparison to the warm months.

Hope that makes sense! thanks for asking these were fun!

[i-make-fun-of-spn-characters]

I feel like Jack as a character is largely interesting/good, but the way people react to him makes me deeply uncomfortable. Like i guess you could forgive a teenager you never actually agreed to be in charge of for accidentally killing your mom, but i don’t think that should be a societal expectation. Like that’s Dean’s MOM, i don’t think Jack deserves to die obviously but why should Dean HAVE to forgive him? And the common defense that Jack is a literal baby (so he can’t be held responsible for his actions) is so weird bc… no he isn’t??? He literally isn’t a baby. And I’m okay with Dean forgiving him too, but it’s so weird that people act like it’s unreasonable to have any negative emotions about the person who killed your mom. And that’s not even getting into how many people blame Mary for her death when she did absolutely nothing wrong.

Yeah I agree with everything you said.

It is not fair to expect anyone to immediately forgive someone for killing their mom (or really expect that at all...). I would also add to this that the person Dean COULD not and WOULD not forgive...

was NOT Jack!!!!!!!

It was Soulless Jack, who cast the blame for what happened onto Mary and said it was "regrettable". So more disturbing for me than this tendency to treat Jack as a baby who isn't responsible for his actions... is this inability to see the distinction between the REAL Jack and Soulless Jack, when their differences are READILY apparent!! Jack—the real Jack—would NEVER have spoken to Sam and Dean about Mary's death the way Soulless Jack did. He would NEVER have hurt people because Dumah told him to—he would have thrown her into a wall in a fit of righteous rage and said "You're hurting people!" THAT is the REAL Jack!!! We see that we have the real Jack back when he comes back, and one of the first things he does is break down in tears and apologize genuinely for Mary. So when Dean can't forgive and he's full of rage in the aftermath of Mary's death... the person all that anger is directed at ISN'T Jack. It's a thing wearing Jack's face—devoid of the real Jack's strong moral compass and love for others which continuously counterbalanced his naivety and allowed him to parse when he was being manipulated and used by evil forces, tempered his anger, and made him who he was.

I do think part of what makes fans so angry with Dean is the lead up to this and how Dean and Jack interact in general since season 13... and some of that frustration is fair, but some of it also really... is not.

I've said before (in tags) on @dontfeedthestansaftermidnight that a lot of fandom interacts with Dean as a representation of love and belonging within the narrative instead of just as a human being. So it doesn't matter how [insert character] behaved toward him/what they did or how Dean's hurting or what's going on with him. He needs to be actively loving everyone all of the time—unconditionally—or he isn't doing his job. Only Dean's feelings need to be placed under a microscope and analyzed and judged because only his feelings (and how he displays them or doesn't) carry the weight of judgement and what it means to be loved and accepted.

Dean is kind of like... well—he's the doors and walls and windows of the Winchester family house, and he's the hearth, and almost everyone wants a piece of that warmth and that sense of belonging. This is especially apparent in the Carver era, but it ultimately prevails from the very beginning to the bitter end of the series—that Dean's love is kind of... different. It's tangible and transcendent, and it's wrought with some serious trauma that gives it sharp edges, but it's something truly special and even... coveted? What Cas said about Dean in that speech in 15x18 wasn't wrong at all—it was a testament to the power of Dean's love within the narrative.

So yeah—I think the reason we tend to see Dean judged for how he interacts with Jack isn't just because Dean is being a jerk sometimes, but also because of the power of his love specifically within the narrative, and what him specifically "rejecting" someone means to fans.

We all see Jack as a sweet kid, who deserves to be accepted, and Dean—the representation of love and belonging—really struggles to love him? Or at least in the way Jack (and Sam and Cas and most fans) would like—and that's... tough for people to accept. It makes them angry.

I think that Dean loves Jack and I think Dean believes that Jack is a good kid and I think that Dean believes that Jack deserves to be loved... but I also think there is something that makes it really difficult for Dean to give Jack the love everyone (including Dean!) would like Dean to to give Jack.

I personally think maybe Dean feels out of place in terms of how he's expected to love Jack (as a son) versus how he would prefer their relationship to look. Like—Dean taking Jack fishing when Jack is dying... to me it feels more like Dean giving Jack the thing he knows Jack really desires—the relationship he knows Jack really wants to have with Dean. I can't shake the feeling that for Dean, Jack brings up a lot of really traumatic things, and Dean knows that isn't Jack's fault (but that's hard to remember), but it also changes how Dean wants their relationship to be and the boundaries he wants to set. I think it's very significant that just one episode before Jack was born, Dean stood in Mary's dreams and told her that he had to be a mother and a father to his little brother and that that wasn't fair, and in the next episode, he loses Mary and Cas, and is saddled with someone else's child. Sam begins urging him to put aside his grief and accept a parenting role over Jack immediately. Dean's very first response to that is that he doesn't want to be Jack's mother. And I have to wonder... is that so unfair?

I think Dean has an obligation to treat Jack with decency and respect (and sometimes he fails to do this), but despite his place in the narrative and his transcendent love... Dean is actually just a guy—not the actual god of love... so while Dean's love and how it's viewed is really beautiful... it also isn't fair to Dean that these expectations of his feelings (which he can't fully control—only his actions can be controlled) are placed on him? And look—Jack isn't his son. He isn't obligated to be Jack's mother or his father and he isn't obligated to love him as a son. Dean wasn't the one who swore to love and protect Jack—that was Cas. Cas adopted him, and then immediately died, and... I don't even ship destiel, but not because I don't think there's something to it—there's some obvious implications here with what happened with Cas lying (again) to Dean and tricking (read: cheating) him right before all of this happened too—rejecting Dean's gift (the mixtape) and his request for them to work as a team in the process.

So Jack is like... well—he was literally designed by the writers to be a person that Dean would struggle to love. He represents pretty much every defining trauma of Dean's life. He represents Dean's parentification, the loss of his mother (twice), the abandonment of his father, the trauma of losing Cas over and over, Cas's secrets and betrayals, Sam and how he was unfairly and cruelly tainted from birth—slated for an evil purpose—and how Dean had to be the one to deal with that most closely (besides Sam himself). Jack also represents Dean—he is the child forced to grow up too fast, and that is also Dean (and this last one absolutely sets the groundwork for a lot of their interactions and similarities in terms of self-sacrifice and being weaponized).

Mary being blamed for her death is also gross and I don't feel any need to comment any further on that and all the problems in fandom that this relates to.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

VF Lance HCs

It's been a little bit since my last HC list, but I want to write down what I've got on my second favorite blorbo, also because I can't remember if I did one for him already

This got long, so for dash purposes the hcs are under the cut <3

He's an orphan > basically taking from i believe both the comics and V3D, Lance lived on a colony planet. One day a space pirate raid happened and killed everyone in the small village he lived in except for Lance, he did try to get home when he saw it happen but fire errupted and blocked him from getting back. It kinda turned out to be a good thing because any pirates on the ground completely missed him, almost like the fire had protected him

He was in the adoption system until joining the military > Since he was technically an Earth citizen, he was taken back to Earth to be put in the system, he bounced around homes a lot because of the trouble he'd cause or straight up because people thought he was too broken to be a good kid to care for. Eventually, at 16, the GA offered him a place and a way to get revenge for the raid, so he didn't even hesitate on taking up the offer

He's anti-military > Lance isn't stupid, he was in the system for a long time and because he bounced so often he learned to read people well. He knew the GA was taking advantage of him and his grief but he didn't care as long as he got what he wanted. Unrelated to him though he publicly hates the military because of how unnecessary it is most of the time and because the GG itself is a shit organization

He's part alien > Coming from a colony planet, it's no surprise more than just humans were there to settle. Lance doesn't know what species he's a part of but he knows it was far back enough that the family members he knew about didn't look like anything but human. Though he does have his suspisions even though he never says it out loud because his ear shape looks oh so familiar to one of the alien races he is in contact with a lot

He has a sixth sense > Now Lance doesn't really have tangible evidence of it but it's a hell of a coincidence for his gut to tell him something is wrong and be right about it every single time. Even the force (as cadets) didn't believe it at first until it kept happening, he has debated on opening a psychic stall to get easy cash.

He dyed his hair ginger > In my redesign of him I did give him ginger hair but I've decided to change that. Feeling like he had no control in his life during the 5 years working with Wade, he impulsively dyed his hair ginger. Hunk and Pidge laughed at him but it was pay back for laughing at Pidge's new haircut that made him look even shorter than before

He's a wine mom to the cadets > It's no secret he's tired of the cadets pulling stupid stunts, especially the kind of stunts HE did when he was only a few years older than them. Those kids drive him to alcoholism but goddamn does he worry about and love them a lot. He didn't want to bring the cadets into the fight so early but the only consolation he gets is that there's seasoned superiors to help them out compared to his own team being alone and forced to figure it out themselves

He's an alcoholic and nicotine dependent > Lance would rather not talk about when he started smoking, but he got started drink the same way every other teen who grew up to become an alcoholic did, underage drinking at parties. Eventually, he got so tired of the shit the academy would do to him that he drank and smoke as a release, which started him on his addition for both. Now being back on Arus, he still does both but he's been trying to quit smoking at least, mainly because of Pidge and Allura and now including the cadets. He and Keith still drink a lot together though so that isn't going away soon

He flirts for fun > Lance had originally flirted to hopefully start a relationship with someone or just to get lucky tbh, but eventually he got tired of it. Now he just flirts because he likes the reactions but he never intends to make anything seriously go down. The only people he ever actively flirts with are his team (sans cadets obvs) because they know he doesn't mean it and they even flirt back for the hell of it sometimes

He plays piano > this man SUCKS at every other instrument other than piano, he doesn't know what it is that makes him terrible at it but after he learned piano he's made sure not to get too rusty every once in a while. Sometimes he and Pidge do duets on the grand piano that the castle has in one of its rooms, it's one of their ways of bonding since Pidge is the only other person who knows how to play

Lance has a passion for teaching > He absolutely loves to teach, while working in the garrison as a flight instructor it was one of the few things he actualy enjoyed, the paperwork much less. He discovered this when first training Allura to be a pilot and member of the lion force, his nack for noticing the small things helped guide her to being the force of unruly ocean she is today. This is also the reason he's the cadets main mentor, he knows what to get done and even if the paperwork is boring the cirriculum is fitted to work with him as well

He has a slight pyrokinetic power > This only manifested after the pilots had died in their lions during their comet episode in dotu. The lions themselves had revived each of their pilots and with that, they all became forever tied to each other. A side affect of this is access to some mystical abilities, for Lance he accidentally sets things on fire, legitimately he doesn't know how to control it. Plus if he gets worked up about something, the immediate area around him has its temperature spike. He also has more access to the lions magical abilities but that's kinda unrelated as everyone else has that too.

I have a ton more that I both can and can't remember but I'll stop it at this, i'll probably make another and link this one to it

[thestobingirlie]

i'm loving everyone coming out of the woodwork to get their negative ron@ nce confessions off their chest, so i hope you don't mind mine as well: i think removing steve entirely from both of their perspective's is half the point of the ship, because as much as nancy has desperately needed a friend for years, this is one that wound up being much less about her and much more about her love life

robin and nancy's friction in the library was both because robin is socially awkward and nancy has a short fuse, and also because i think nancy was jealous of robin. they get along better once robin has proved her use to nancy, but also after robin made very clear that she and steve aren't dating. once they got closer, they have smaller background moments that show a more comfortable friendship, but all of their actual conversations are about the case or steve. i DO like stancy, and even i found it out of place and wished their friendship could be more about them (honestly i think stancy would be getting so much less hate rn if the duffers weren't such big fans of the matchmaker trope, but they're freaking obsessed with it)

fandom is always gonna ship two hot people together, especially if there's a tangible but nonthreatening amount of tension to their dynamic, but i think when 90% of their dynamic is about SOMEONE ELSE people start spite shipping, to purposefully re-imagine them when the third character is completely irrelevant

because yeah, the ship really does only work if you completely remove steve's personality and relationship with both robin and nancy. "wlw relationships shouldn't be about men" is true, and i agree with it, and that's how i know ron@ nce is never gonna happen unless it's platonic soulmates steve and robin sharing a girlfriend

good points! and yeah, i actually love that everyone is just venting to me about why they hate r//nance lmao

i do think it sucked that robin and nancy’s friendship became solely about stancy (and i hate the matchmaking trope so much, and it is used continuously throughout st). although, i will say that i think outside of their connections to steve and the upside down, they really don’t have much in common. maybe the duffers realised that, and figured the best way to make them friends is to just make every scene about steve lol

nancy does desperately need a friend, which is why i wish this season had focused more on platonic stancy then romantic. honestly, i don’t have anything against stancy, and if it was written well, i wouldn’t mind it being endgame (though to be fair, i never really care about endgame ships, i can just read fanfic, you know?) i just don’t love that we’re seeing these romantic scenes while jonathan and nancy are still together. but anyway, nancy’s arc hinges on the fact that she needs a platonic relationship, and so does steve’s! both nancy and steve will go through development when they learn they don’t need romantic relationships to be happy.

sorry got off track there, but yeah, i just can’t really buy into r//nance, romantic or otherwise because so much of it is about steve.

don’t get me wrong, i understand why people ship nancy and robin, but to me it just feels more like a crack ship, then a real one. and i love a good ship that has no basis in canon, but when people try and argue that this ship is the only one that makes sense, is when i start not liking it.

and, yeah, exactly like you said, there is no real way to separate r//nance from steve, a lot of characterisation has to be ignored in order for the ship to work. and while wlw ships shouldn’t be about men, i think to try and use that to describe r//nance is nonsensical, and feels like a point they’re making just to make r//nance seem progressive, and anyone that’s against it a horrible person.

[detectivemaker]

My Hope for season 3 of good Omens

as everyone knows the ending of the second season was quite a shock, and people have hopes and speculations of what's coming next and here I am to put in my hat

something I like to call " the Metatron gets hit on his stupid giant head with a bottle of celebratory ambrosia"

the about to be newly minted Supreme archangel Aziraphale vibrates in the company of his soon-to-be fellow archangels, hopes that he can make a difference dance like sugar plums in a child's dreams on Christmas

the Metatron says something he can't really hear in his Haze of Hope, and then he's filled with power, holy energy stretches the bounce of his previous Celestial ranking and pushes it quiet up

when he flutters his eyes open from the blast of holy energy into him, he's in a different white void than the random place in heaven his inauguration was in, he can sense around him God's holy light in this place more powerfully than any other place in heaven, "is this place a place in heaven?” he wonders

then all that holy energy seems to be vacuumed into one point that transmogrifice into a woman shaped form, this woman has a very motherly energy around her that mingles with the  still tangible holy energy quite nicely

"Aziraphale" the woman says in a voice he has heard many times in his existence, and has only heard once before speaking directly to him

"you're almightyness" the newly minted Archangel responds quite subservingly," are you here to congratulate me on my promotion, your holiness?" he says when all his great Lord does is smile a pleasant smile

" yes I am, sweet angel, but I'm also here to give you knowledge" his creator says and all that once he's filled was knowledge much like he was filled with holy energy not even a time he doesn't even know anymore ago, he can only gets glimpses of the future, of a greasy teenager that radiates Jesus energy, of the end of this game of his Lord's creation, a nice Cottage  him and Crowley together again, happy and cradling a baby size salamander in Parental Joy

he also gets instinctual knowledge of many things, that everything's going to turn out all right,  that everyone's supposed to win this game, but sadly only one side knows that, and some more unpleasant knowledge,....the metatron's lying to him

and he opens his eyes again and sees some pleased but slightly concerned co-workers and the Metatron, who's just pleased, and Aziraphale...

Well he looks at Metatron and his smiling old man face, and well

he's angry, he's completely and utterly enraged, oh he looks on the small gift table they set up sees a bottle and a wine shape field was ambrosia, he picks it up, gives it a couple testing swings and

bashes it into the Metatron stupid head, the screams of his co-archangels is muffled in a fluffy Haze of knowing what he must do

and he walks quite determinately to the elevator down to earth to talk to his demon about getting him a promotion as the new Prince of gluttony, so you know he can have a talk with God too and know everything's going to be okay,

it's just not fair if only one of them knows, and he will very much like that his demon knows that every single to be okay, and that they should probably buy some lizard parenting books for later

Oh and maybe some human parenting books too, he knows instinctually the little bundle of scaly Joy he sees in his future is going to be people shaped most of the time, and they are quite Rusty on human child care

and when the elevator's door open on Earth he can almost swear he hears Nightingales, but he doesn't dwell on it, he has instructions from God herself and like the good Angel he is he's going to do as he's told, from the only being who can tell him what to do, well one of the only beings,  he thinks with a blush imagining all the naughty punishment he's going to be for being such an impulsive and bad Angel to his darling demon

and so he continues his determined walk as Nightingale sing

[isntthatwrite]

Week of 8/26-9/1

Card for this week: Page of Cups (reversed) - creative block o'clock for many of us this week.... it'll be important this week to re-focus your creative desires to ensure that joy is at the forefront. and yes, everyone has a creative side! you may be a bit stuck in going through the motions, beating yourself up for not pursuing more creative routes, or even missing your childhood joys. your inner self beckons for a play-doh set or whatever random childhood art/craft that you never actually got to do but always wanted to - things of that ilk. do a little project that has no tangible reward besides fun and enjoyment! time spent doing things for fun/things you love is never time wasted. reconnect with the sense of joy that creativity intends to channel and it will really reconnect you to yourself this week.

Transits/Astro forecast: divas. thank goodness these last few weeks are over. we still might have a little rockiness as we close out this mercury retrograde, but absolutely nothing compared to last week. exorcism can be necessary from time to time, but i do think it went like, remarkably hard. as we know- current rxs are mercury (until wednesday afternoon!), chiron, saturn, neptune, pluto. and as one ends, another begins - uranus will join the mix on sunday. i feel like the last few days of a mercury retrograde are prone to throwing a last punch or two for good measure - be prepared for communication mishaps/delays/redirections of any sort.

uranus entering the retrograde pile while pluto also re-enters capricorn for the final time in our lifetimes will definitely bring some past themes that we need to liberate ourselves from. i think the beautiful lover/dreamer energy of this week meeting this uranus/pluto energy makes us able to view change from an optimistic lens. rather than being worn down and exhausted (this energy last week would've taken me out), asking ourselves what we want from a place of love is a joyful invitation to moodboard a life we dream of having.

as for specifics- lots of venus and outer planet interaction this week

tuesday 8/27- venus trine uranus - very much in alignment with this week's tarot card, try something new or something you'd forgotten you loved! you might be able to come back to it now with a renewed enthusiasm. keep an eye out for new and exciting invitations this week, especially in the realm of hobbies and relationships. what can you call in that sets you free?

wednesday 8/28- venus opposite neptune (rx) and mercury stationing direct in leo (mercury retrograde ends)! - a little dose of reality enters the picture between these two. this energy combined with the existing virgo energy does challenge you to balance ecstatic fun with what you can feasibly make happen. don't limit yourself, but take note of any redirections. things will likely still be a little rocky in the following few days post-mercury retrograde, but significantly fewer roadblocks and definitely more of an emphasis on moving forward (as retrogrades tend to be more focused on the past). ask yourself, where would i like to go from here?

thursday 8/29- venus enters libra and venus trine pluto (rx) - kinda loving this duo. venus is very happy to be moving from fall (virgo) to domicile (libra) - libra is one of venus' homes. the energy is shifting from focusing on the practical aspects of love/relationship to the beautification and loving for the sake of loving. it's the shift from rejecting beautiful gifts because they're impractical vs loving beautiful gifts merely because they're beautiful. getting the cost effective coffee vs the coffee that would Be Really Yummy. there is a season for both of these because we need both energies for balance - we need money in our bank account while we also need the joys of life if any of this is to be worthwhile. venus trining pluto asks us to go deep and allow yourself to feel strongly and intensely. depth and yearning has such a place in this narrative, dream of the things you always wanted and never thought you could have! nothing is too much!!!

things pretty chill until sunday sept 1st - uranus goes retrograde, pluto retrogrades back into capricorn for the final time and we are on the cusp of a new moon (that'll be monday's business though. just forewarning). this is kind of the biggest drama of the week. we're snapped back to reflection (suppose it never truly ends), but this time, it's bigger picture. uranus and pluto retrogrades ask you: which institutions of your life no longer belong there? what do you uphold that doesn't uphold you? pluto in capricorn has been a major backdrop in our lives since 2008 - and surely, a LOT has happened since then. pluto is all about longer term transformation and radical change, Ms. Alchemy herself. what chapters might you want to close up from 2008? for many of us, this is a major chunk of our lives, but do you notice anything that started in 2008 that you deeply wish to transform/release from your current narrative? between now and november, you will have the chance to dig into whatever this is for you (more dependent on your specific chart) and release it at last before pluto moves back into aquarius and stays there for the next several years. transformation!!!!

[penumbralwoods]

oooo its me totally anonymous guy you should talk about what makes the ending of gravity falls special oooo

you all know the drill by now. lots of words under here alongside some weird personal biz

i know this was asked specifically about the ending but i'm also going over the whole thing because there are not many things in this life that have had such a tangible impact on me gravity falls is a show i grew up with. i don't remember when i first watched it, which means it's before i was 8-ish. as far as i can guess, one day gravity falls was on (this was in the Cable Days), and i decided to check it out. and it fundamentally changed me as a person. like, i know it's a common thing to say and i joke about it all the time but this was FORMATIVE. i was 9 years old and responding to being called a weirdo with "yeah i am!! it's cool!!" watching this show that CELEBRATED sticking out of the norm as the "weird kid", with undiagnosed autism, having no idea what ADHD actually meant, not even recognizing what i was going through at the time as abuse, Stuck With Me. i'm STILL discovering mannerisms i have that i didn't realize came from gravity falls. a tale of two stans is my favorite episode BY FAR, and it was as a kid too. besides it just being an amazing episode and follow-up to the fucking bomb that was not what he seems, i connect with ford a lot. like. painfully a lot. i was bullied for being a nerd and getting too into things. i was the golden child that was constantly seen as superior to my brother and he hated me for it. i cut my brother off after i reached a breaking point; we haven't spoken for years. i have a love for things generally seen as gross or weird. i have a lot of trouble working with people. i, too, would be content living in the middle of the woods studying weird little critters until i lost it. stanford is also my favorite character in the show because he's like if i was smart enough to compensate for all the other shit i have going on. dipper is me if i was a cis man that's literally the only difference and it's really annoying and the ending. okay. there's a lot going on in somewhere in the woods. for one, it's the one and only time we see dipper and stanford cry on screen. for two, it has a deliberate sense of finality that is part of the reason i will never hope for or believe there will be a season 3. stan doesn't run the mystery shack, soos does. dipper and mabel aren't in town anymore. bill cipher is dead and getting involuntary therapy. everyone is moving on. you see the sign telling you you're leaving gravity falls. it's over, and it's impossible not to feel like it. the piano track that plays is fucking beautiful, and with how much the opening theme is included in dramatic scenes, it's a really good note to end on before the credits. just. it's so well executed and honestly, perfectly gets across the feeling you get going back home after visiting for the summer. you know you'll be back, but you're still leaving. i cannot imagine a better ending for a show that deals so much with changing and growing up and things ending. i would never want a season 3 after that.