#so i'm not sure to what extent either of them know they are being shipped with each other

[theflyingfeeling]

I was wondering what the other boys (or Olli and Aleksi themselves) think about the whole Olli/Aleksi thing (I mean people shipping them) 🤔 as I’m sure they know about it and I was going through a tiktok account who makes edits about them and according to the owner Joel has liked s lot of them 😄

sorry for such a boring answer but tbh I don't think they think much of it 😄 as in it's not something they often acknowledge/think about 🤷‍♀️ if they do, they might think it's funny, and any of them liking edits and such might just be them wanting to be supportive of the fans creating harmless but well-made content :')

but of course we can also imagine a headcanon of the others teasing Olli and Aleksi about it, not really understanding that the reason they always blush is not because it's embarrassing and annoying, but because they actually do (secretly) like each other! 😭

[twoduelsabers]

hiii, i was thinking reader could be vernestra’s current padawan, and when they meet qimir he finds this out. he wants to protect them and train them instead so that they’re safe from vernestra

a new dawn, part one

part two

summary -> you're running from your master, who accused you of turning to the dark side, of failing, when suddenly you bump into a stranger who seems to know your past

content warnings -> canon typical violence

no use of y/n. she/her pronouns

a/n : wait i love this idea omg i have a scenario in mind already...

she rummaged through the crowded market, her heart threatening to jump out of her chest. she knew her master would eventually find her anyways- it was just a matter of time. the pouring rain didn't help, blurring her vision and wetting her robes.

for someone who was force sensitive, it was easy to sense powerful emotions. fear, anger, loss... the extent of them radiating from the small cloaked figure caught qimir's attention. even more so when he saw the lightsaber on her belt.

her chest heavied, as she tried to keep calm. she needed to get as far away as possible from here, now. keeping her head down, she didn't notice a person standing in her way, and she bumped into them.

"oh- sorry! sorry i, uh-"

she fretted, immediately regaining her composure. she took in the man in front on her. black medium-length hair, dark eyes, messy robes...probably a merchant.

"it's alright." he muttered, then tilted his head. "are you...okay?"

she knew it was easy to spot her distress with the way she carried herself, but the question caught her off guard.

"i'm fine. i just- i'm in a hurry."

she replied urgently, wanting to go. her eyes scanned the environment around her.

"you don't look fine." the stranger stated, then his eyes dropped to her belt. he immediately straightened up. "you're a jedi! is someone chasing you? are you on a mission? it must be important! whatever it is i'm sure you could deal with it, but if you seriously need to hide i can-"

he started jabbering, too loud for her liking. but the word 'hide' caught her interest. maybe he could be useful...

"yes, i'm on a mission." she forced the most formal tone she could, trying to hide the desperation. "an important one. and i don't need to hide. i need to get as far away from here as i can. now."

the man seemed excited. "follow me!"

he was quick and swift with moving around the crowd, unlike how he was presenting himself.

"my ship is just minutes away! i can't believe I'm helping a jedi..." he beamed.

she sighed. well, it was certainly a better option that being found by the jedi master that was sent after her, and when he brings her back to master vernestra-

she didn't have time to dwell on that though, as suddenly an invisible force sent her flying. alerted, she immediately grabbed her lightsaber, going in a defensive position. her hands were shaky, and her breath uneven. there was no escape now.

then she saw him- the jedi that was sent to bring her back to vernestra. he called her name, and that alone made her shiver with fear. his next movements were quick. attack, a blow, a kick to the stomach, force push, another blow- and she ended up without her weapon, his lightsaber pointing at her.

"surrender." he demanded, his voice emotionless. "you're going back to the temple. master vernestra wishes to speak with you." no sympathy heard as he spoke. the jedi didn't have sympathy for those who ever dared to question their ways.

and she knew that vernestra wouldn't have it either, even towards her own padawan. she didn't want to think of what is going to happen if the jedi drags her back to her master. she preferred to die here. with some honor left.

"never."

she spat angrily, trying to hide just how terrified she was. the jedi lifted his blade. she shut her eyes, waiting for the final hit.

but it didn't come.

she dared to open her eyes.

and what she saw, froze her in place.

the jedi hung in the air, desperately trying to catch his breath, choking and kicking his legs. then, a crimson blade pierced his chest. she looked, entranced, as his lifeless body fell to her feet.

behind it, stood the man she met on the market, his expression hard. as if he was a completely different person.

he turned off his lightsaber, and his gaze dropped to her, shaken on the muddy ground.

"you're safe now." his voice became softer, when he crouched down in front of her. "i'm not going to let her hurt you."

she looked at him with wide eyes. why would he do that? how did he know about her master?

"who- who are you?"

he tilted his head again.

"i'm qimir."

the simplicity of his answer in such situation baffled her.

"qimir."

she repeated, dumbfounded.

"and you are a jedi, aren't you...?" qimir's voice was almost mocking. "vernestra's padawan. i suppose she saw the 'darkness within you'?" he scoffed.

she furrowed her brows. how could he possibly know that?

"what-? how did you...?"

qimir looked away for a second.

"i suppose that she doesn't talk about her previous pupils... after all, what is there to say if they're dead?"

she hesitated. was she lied to? told that she was her first padawan? master vernestra never mentioned she taught anyone before her...

a hand in front of her chest snapped her back to reality.

"come on, you're going to get soaked. my ship is just right there."

he pointed in the direction of the clearing, and she indeed saw the silver flickering between the trees.

"i don't trust you."

she eyed him up and down. he had a red lightsaber, which could only mean that he was something she never thought she will see. a sith.

"nor should you." he smirked. "but right now, i am your only option."

she chewed on her lip. he was right. if he didn't lie, and he really was vernestra's fallen apprentice... she felt that she needed to know more. she accepted his hand, and he pulled her up to her feet.

she followed qimir to his ship. he was completely unreadable, and she felt so exposed. but at the same time he intrigued her. his power, ability to hide his force signature...

that's what she was looking for. knowledge. knowledge that the jedi said leads to the dark side.

but she was ready to take that step, after everything that happened. and it looked like she had a guide. an anchor.

a promise of a new dawn.

a/n : i actually fw this one heavy lmao

reblog reblog reblog<33

masterlist

[some-pers0n]

I'm gonna be blunt and say that I really don't think a lot of people kinda get these two characters. Sure, yeah, there'll be people like "Psshh no?? Me?? I know exactly who these guys are" and like, yeah maybe you do. Maybe you'll read this while nodding your head and whatnot. Maybe you won't.

Either way, I think there's a decent amount of people who don't...get Qibli and Winter. I mainly see it in shipping stuff. I know it's kinda idiotic to go looking for character stuff in shipping-- you know what?? No. I think it's perfectly sound logic to try and look for meaningful character writing in ship stuff, especially with fanfics. I've got that aroace mindset where I can only comprehend a ship if it has a clear and exact thematical and character-driven purpose.

Anywho, I think there's something to be craved with how Qinter is talked about in the fandom. I think there's something in general to be desired when discussing Qibli and Winter in general (or, hell, most of the characters) or other ships they're in, but I want to discuss Qinter mainly as a means to view them through the lens of a relationship. Some sort of duo and pair. Two young dragonets trying to survive.

Winter and Qibli come from incredibly similar backgrounds. That sounds ridiculous at a first glance, but when you think about it, they do. They both were raised with terrible parents who held them to an unrealistic standard that neither really wanted to be.

Winter was forced to become a child soldier and be the best of the best, despite his best rightfully not being absolutely perfect and having a ton of heart and soul in him. Ironically enough, his sheer loyalty to his friends that he displays later would be commended in the IceWing army, but is only looked down upon because he's showing anything other than pure apathy at existence and disgust when confronted with the other tribes. Winter is a kind soul who was shaped and twisted into becoming somebody far meaner to fit the idea of what his parents wanted him to be. It's a mask he wears to fit in. To be at least be tolerated by the dragons he only wants the approval from.

Qibli was raised in the slums of Scorpion Den. The back alleys and dark, seedy streets that are avoided. He had to fit the build of a thief. A petty pickpocket that lurks around like his family, doing nothing more than swiping whatever goods they could get their hands on. Qibli was kind and sweet, which obviously was a terrible sin in the eyes of his family. Like Winter, this planted a seed of wanting to be loved, although to a significantly larger extent than Winter felt. Qibli became obsessed with the idea of being loved as he hated being seen as nothing. He wanted nothing more than to be praised and admired because of just how neglected he was. So, he pretends to be somebody likable. Somebody who others care about. A mask to conceal the dragon he feels can never be loved.

Because of their backgrounds, they feel at odds when they're introduced to one another. Qibli is the laid-back jokester type while Winter is snarly and angry. Thanks to Moon's powers though, we get a look into them even before their book.

We see that Qibli is paranoid and his brain is constantly trying to predict others. He's always in a state of stress and fear, putting on a performance to try and be liked and see which dragons are the biggest threats to him. He's never gotten used to living outside of the crime-filled Scorpion Den, and the memories of childhood where he had to lay awake thinking that some dragon who his mother stole from will murder them all in their sleep remain. He's scared and afraid.

Winter managed to convince himself that he is this mean and nasty dragon, but really he's not. There's moments of hesitancy in MR from him. He's also just. generally not really that much in the wrong in the book. Sorry my Winter Apologist side is coming out but y'all hate too much on a character who was just kinda mean for some random dragon he only knew for a couple days at most by then doing stuff that was very suspicious. Yeah obviously Moon is the protagonist and we like her and know the full context, but Winter?? He doesn't know anything!

I digress however. They're in. not the best of states. Sure, yeah, Qibli had ran from Vulture and Cobra and was now Thorn's adoptive son of sorts, but he was obsessed with Thorn to the point of almost blind worship. He hailed her as some grand dragon because he had never been loved before. Being loved by somebody felt incomprehensible. He wants to repay it since he feels like he doesn't deserve it.

Winter on the other hand has just gotten away from a terrible situation, where his family more or less just hates him. They hate him so much it's not even funny. Winter had gotten Hailstorm, somebody who Winter loved and admired, was stolen away by the SkyWings and presumed dead for years because of him. He blames himself. He constantly thinks that he should've been the one taken away instead. He doesn't see himself worthy to live, especially not compared to Hailstorm. Hailstorm is charming, smart, strong, and better in every capacity to Winter. How could he ever live up to that?

Their shared flaw is that they feel inadequate. They feel as though there's something inherently flawed with themselves, something that they need to hide away. It was shaped because of their similar backstories, where they were neglected and abused and put down because of them never being able to meet the unreasonable expectations placed on them. Because of this trauma, their personalities in the present are shaped to try and fit in.

It's only by being with the Jade Winglet do they begin to unlearn those habits. I would imagine that, in moments where they chat with each other for the first real time (not fighting or anything), they...notice how alike they are. Like holding up a mirror to themselves. Despite how differing their personalities are, they feel one in the same. The other side of the coin.

It's why I think Qinter really works as something more than a cheap means for comedic relief. They bounce off each other really well and in an interesting way, which makes for their interactions feeling a lot more meaningful when they put away the act and show and are genuine. I honestly think that they would want to help each other out. They see themselves in the other and don't want them to feel like they have to do this, but they can't even save themselves.

It's only with time however. Healing is a process. It's sure as hell hard to do it all alone. It's why I love a lot the themes of friendship and togetherness in arc 2 especially. All of the POVs learn how to be more confident and sure of themselves through their friends. I just wish that Qinter was talked about in a more intellectually stimulating way than "yellow boy laughs at blue boy for being angsty teen"

[darklinaforever]

Just because Emma D'Arcy says Daemyra is grooming doesn't mean that's the case. The actor, in the same interview, was literally wrong about Rhaenyra's age in episode 4.

Emma D'Arcy is an imperfect human being who can say stupid things. Especially today, many people use big words without knowing their real definitions.

I will add that even if Emma was talking about grooming, they did not agree and still did not find the scene where Daemon strangled Rhaenyra coherent, and rightly this time. Emma also said that they reads Daemyra fanfiction. So that basically means that they ship despite the problematic aspect. I wouldn't call it a victory for the antis.

Essentially, Emma D'Arcy seems neutral on Daemyra.

Also, Emma D'Arcy is an actor, paying to say certain things in interviews. Who's to say they's not just following the writers' stupid agenda ?

Then, I have already explained countless times that no, Daemon is not a groomer, notably in these posts, where I have also for some addressed the case of Emma D'Arcy and they grooming statements :

Moreover, even if the writers seem obsessed with a non-existent story of grooming between Daemyra, they do not seem to deny that it is a romance either. These people, and even HBO, obviously still have their ass between two chairs :

I will add that no, Daemon is not a pedophile either. Go to @nrilliree to get the definition because I'm clearly too lazy to explain again :

Especially since if you give me the example of the young prostitutes (which the antis also love to pass off as younger than they probably realistically are, like under 13 years old, just to make it really disgusting) when Daemon was in his 20s, know that they were all maidens.

“Maidens” is a term they use to refer to young unmarried women. In brothels these maidens were most likely between 15 and 17 or higher do to the lack of nutrition of the peasants. A bad nutrition causes someone's period to come later.

So no, they weren't little girls. This was for the time of young women literally according to society's of Westeros marriageable age.

The worst you can say about this case of prostitutes is that Daemon had a fetish for virgin maiden for a period in his younger years. (And even if it's obviously not great, I'm not sure #irony that we can put it on the same level as a groomer, a pedophile and a rapist... Yes I'm making an insituation in Aegon II for the last 2 points. We're getting there...)

Aside from that, Daemon was in a relationship with his then favorite, Mysaria, an adult, he also married Laena later, also an adult, and also married Rhaenyra when she was an adult (all according to our modern standards), although yes, he courted her when she was 14. But I remember that Rhaenyra had reached the age where she could marry and had already been courted by men. It's not surprising in the context that Daemon courted her. Especially since there is no evidence that anything sexual happened between them at that time. (One talking about sex is Mushroom, and we know to what extent he is obsessed with it and therefore that his testimony is almost worthless, and the second is Eustace, pro greens. And I remind you that the greens were already making up bullshit on Rhaenyra's sexuality before Daemon's return)

Basically, Daemon has always slept with maiden, and always of varying ages. (which is completely wrong with the definition of pedophile)

Limit, you can talk about ephebophile, but as @nrilliree already said, there is no evidence on this subject, especially since Daemon has also been with adult women several times (Mysaria for a little more than 1 year, Laena for 5 years, and Rhaenyra for 10 years), and this by our own standards modern.

Also, what makes me laugh is that these same people who will claim that Daemon only likes young girls who are essentially minors according to our time (because obviously they will look at age only according to our time, which is an error given that the historical context of this universe is completely different from ours, but in short), claiming that Daemon only married Rhaenyra for power and striving to say that Laena was 15 / 16 years old like in the HOTD show when he married her, while no, she was 22 in Fire and Blood. Well these same people will come and tell you and claim that Daemon did cheat on Rhaenyra with Mysaria, in addition to Nettles, during the dance.

An event whose veracity we also cannot prove and which seems somewhat strange when we take a closer look (so you will guess that I don't particularly believe in it either). See @horizon-verizon posts for that.

Why do I say it's funny ?

Well because Mysaria is an adult woman, much older than Rhaenyra and Laena.

But tell me... if Daemon is so obsessed with underage girls... why would he have slept with a former lover of his, who was already an adult at the time, and even older at this point there ?

We see that what really interests them is more to say bad things about Daemon whoever he is, rather than having any real consistency in their comments and accusations. (And if anyone dares to say that Daemon was sleeping with Mysaria to ensure he got her on his side... wtf ? Rhaenyra is the queen. She pays Mysaria and assures her safety. Why would sex with Daemon be the only way for Mysaria to ensure her loyalty to the team Blacks ? She literally hasn't seen Daemon in over 20 years I think. What would she care about him sexually or otherwise at this point, except perhaps for personal revenge ? And then, if Daemon really was with Mysaria to ensure her loyalty to his side... Well he's a bit much of an idiot if he really slept with Nettles after that. These people love to say that Daemon is a great master manipulator who places his pawns well in advance, especially when it comes to women, except that... Daemon does not seem to have been very intelligent if we follow this belief that I have already seen among antis, which is once again inconsistent with the speech Daemon was a master manipulator of women... I mean, according to their point of view, Daemon knew how to pretend for 10 years with Rhaenyra. Why couldn't he have lasted longer to play the charade with Mysaria ? Once again, the consistency of their words does not interest the antis. They only care about saying bad things about Daemon !)

And don't come for talk to me about Nettles, because I've already made some rather long posts on the subject, go see them if you want :

As well as I highly recommend the extremely in-depth analyzes of @horizon-verizon.

Basically, the story with Nettles could never be proven, and I personally don't believe it.

On the other hand, Aegon II is a character who could be described as a pedophile (by Westeros standards and ours) in Fire and Blood, having been with a girl (= child for Westeros. There is no adolescence in this society. Only childhood and adulthood. As a girl and not a maiden, a woman having her period and therefore marriageable, the individual with whom Aegon II was therefore indeed a child), and not a maiden, from precisely 11 / 12... And he's being also reported as having several inappropriate behaviors / touching towards women, strongly insinuating that he is a rapist (by the own maesters being on his side). And no, Eustace never denied the girl's age, and continued even though he referred to her as girl and tried to downplay the scandalous event.

And why am I talking about Aegon II fans ?

Because it's systematically them who come to me to tell me the bullshit about Daemon being a groomer and a pedophile while sometimes maintaining that their little favorite is not a rapist, and a potential pedophile.

Which is still pretty damn cheeky...

[spacenintendogs]

httyd hcs abt the gang's relationship to eret bc we were deprived.

eret has a sense of camaraderie with all of them eventually, but it's super rough to get along with anyone besides astrid & hiccup at first

him & astrid get along the best, obv. they spar, they talk shit, they open up abt serious things, they trade information

eret dealing with how quickly he's changed his life & while astrid doesn't fully understand she rmrs how quickly her mind had been changed & getting used to it.

stormfly still plays fetch with eret (with a stick or... with him LMAO but it helps him get used to falling from large heights & trusting he'll be caught by a dragon, either her or skullcrusher)

hiccup immediately trusts eret as much as he trusts anyone he's known for years & eret doesn't know if he deserves it but he strives to make it so he does

eret has HIGH respect for hiccup & understands what he's going through to an extent as the son of a chief (tho hiccup is chief now). hiccup is one of the only ones who know eret was son of a chief.

yea i'm going off of what was said abt fire tides with eret being the son of a chief

eret figures out exactly where toothless likes to be pet & always has to give him a scratch under the chin to say hello

fishlegs enthusiasm for dragons & infodumping is a lot for eret at first, but very quickly fishlegs unabashedly is sweet, gentle, shy, patient, & still has the ability to bite back at ppl (mostly snotlout & the twins) & eret is like okay word

fishlegs helps eret understand skullcrusher more, as he's more than eager to step into the role of teacher (this makes hiccup happy)

fishlegs tells eret abt his family's regatta history & eret is actually invested!! he's interested!!! in turn, eret shows fishlegs his ship!!

eret: (sees meatlug) oh. (gives her a snack) (gives her a snack) (gives her a snack) (gives her a

we know snotlout sees eret as a rival but eret doesn't Care™️ but it'd be funnier i think if eret doesn't Care™️ but also enjoys mildly taking the piss out of snotlout for fun

it's so easy to work snotlout up & after eret's had his fun for a few months he casually brings it up to snotlout & snotlout wants to crawl into a hole & die

they do become good friends & it's weird for ppl outside of the gang bc eret is so dry towards snotlout vs snotlout still getting in eret's face (affectionate)

hookfang just likes to push himself into eret's personal space & cuddle(?) so eret just allowe it LMAO

it's ruffnut's bluntness that has eret finally relax around her.

she defends him in a rather mundane event of eret getting heckled (again) by berkians who don't trust him (this is like, month 5 of him living on berk) by looking at each viking & roasting them calmly from the ground up with information they didn't know she knew

eret tells her thanks & she just... smiles at him. so he gives her a kiss on the cheek & it's a rare moment of ruff getting slightly flushed

tuffnut is actually very easy to get along with. he always checks on eret & makes sure he's doing alright (in his tuffnut way)

tuffnut is so blasé abt things while also being one of the most hyper ppl eret has ever met & it's so intriguing to eret how someone can be a walking contradiction but make it make sense so easily

tuffnut gives eret unprompted pep talks & eret tries to respond in kind instead of fully brushing tuff off & tuff is like :D

barf & belch are as chaotic as their riders & maybe... maybe... eret will enable them on occassion (yes he will. what? it's funny).

eret rlly learns abt everyone & learns to like them for them as they like him for him :)

also they all saw him without a shirt ONE TIME (1) & haven't shut up abt it since

[watanabes-cum-dump]

I will forever think about this now because yeah this applies to an astounding amount of characters in ffxiv whom you could see their friendship with WoL as more of a convenience and how they use WoL as a tool. I think Aymeric is obviously guilty of it (bc of the above image) but I also think to some extent the Crystal Exarch is guilty of this (yeah ik it's not for HIS benefit but he still did kinda use WoL and he would not have taken it well if WoL stopped being a hero)

So many characters that are "friends" with WoL kind of only see them for what they can do. I think to some extent even the Scions are like that. Actually come to think of it, the Scions are the most egregious case of this because WoL is their champion. After we killed Ifrit that solidified WoL as something to be used and thrown at any danger that came at the world.

A lot of characters The Exarch included only know WoL as the hero. For what they can do for everyone else and it makes me insaaaannnneee. Likes yes OBVIOUSLY Exarch/G'raha admires the WoL as a hero and sure he got to know us for a time- but he just thinks that we are the hero from the books. WoL is inspiring; they give people hope and they give people the strength to push on but that's all he knows them for. Listen, I'm still on post Shadowbringers, but so far Exarch has done nothing but sing our praises as hero and yeah I'm sure he has good intentions but it's still a little dehumanizing that to him that's all WoL is. Everyone is free to make their WoL's relationships with the other characters whatever the hell they want ofc, but I kinda read a lot of the characters this way just because it's so easy to water down one person for only cherry picked parts of their whole personality. Celebrities are the best example of this but we also to this to the people around us every single day.

I think Aymeric and WoL's relationship has also sort of been put into question with this moment (for me at least) because now I'm thinking "Oh my god, Aymeric did extend his friendship to WoL for either his own gain or for that of Ishgard's" and it's not a rag on him I love Aymeric but he is a politician. I don't doubt he admires WoL for all they've done for Ishgard, but I also don't think that if Aymeric hadn't pushed us we wouldn't have ended the Dragonsong war. I wouldn't say he manipulated us, but he didn't exactly have any qualms about making us battle on the Steps of Faith for Ishgard- yk, the closed off nation that's pretty hostile to outsiders- despite not knowing us for super long at that point. He thought that we could get it done and was like "Sure. You can fight for my country" and yeah I think Alphinaud's handling of the whole thing was also to blame- but Aymeric being okay with letting an outsider deal with things that should be handled by the Temple Knights is kinda sus to me now lmao. Like you are in charge of Ishgard's military shouldn't YOU have dealt with this???? Okay lol.

Listen, obviously I still love Aymeric and Exarch/G'raha but I think the potential that they only see WoL for their deeds is great and would make for an interesting hurdle to get over in a relationship. Actually, you can literally just slap this onto almost any character you want to ship with your WoL and it will be an interesting point of tension. The possibility that they only love WoL for being the hero and not in spite of it.

Anyways I need to thibk about this more bc I just finished the little Elidibus plot of Shadowbringers which is sort of about how heroes are remembered and how history can easily twisted and/or forgotten so uh yeah. I have lots of thoughts and I am very normal.

[its-short-for-jackalope]

THE SEARCHER IN THE SHADOWS

☆ Thoughts On Part 2 ☆

Time for the unhinged companion to my part 1 post, lol. I love how much these musicals surprise me, I always have such a fun time and oh boy do I have thoughts and feelings about part 2.

Once again I am not going to be able to capture every thought I have about everything because there is... so much. But I can try to express a portion of it, so on with the rambling!

Meanwhile / Sia's Vision

I love part 1 & the new characters we met, but I was definitely missing the rest of the quartet so I was so excited to get to hear them again today. That being said, I was totally unprepared for how I would react to their arrival (heh). I was damn near kicking my feet and I was close to either giggling or crying basically the entire time, but I guess they balanced each other out so I basically just vibrated in my chair instead, lmao.

I'm so happy that Margaret has been to Lincoln Island before? I was a little worried that she didn't even have a chance to see that any of her people had survived before she was sent away and she lost her memories. (However the hell that happened.)

I love how John and Samuel are both like "I can accept this mysterious magical woman saving our lives once, but TWICE? That is a little suspicious. 🤨😑"

SIA'S VISION. It happened years ago, and now we know we're not alone that Sia went straight from 1835 to 1874 just like the quartet, so she must have gotten the vision sometime between 1829 and 1835, proooobably a lot closer to 1829, since she said 'years.' She sees the Antikythera being claimed by the Ellen Austin, and evidence of Margaret's transformation magic as well as her radiance. She also saw John (the scientist) screaming for Rose as she drowns while the Antikythera takes on water, perhaps sinking entirely.

SIA'S PLAN. (MAYBE.) Okay so I very well could be wrong, lol, I'll get that out of the way right now, but I think Margaret had already been sent away when Sia had her vision. Part of this reasoning is simply because it would feel more satisfying to me if the quartet didn't come together entirely because it was forseen, and also because Sia says 'our Margaret returned.' Idk, just the delivery of that makes me feel like she must already be gone at that point. Sia wouldn't have left Margaret somewhere unsafe, so she probably looked around New York to scout it out, and/or maybe she was watching from time to time, to make sure she was okay. So maybe she saw the Stratfords at some point—Samuel says he read about Margaret in The Sun, so maybe she was interviewed in the building and they occupied the same corner of the city at just the right time for Margaret's guardian traveler to see the twins?—and then when Sia has that vision, she recognizes them and that's when she knows they have to keep these people safe. (And maybe she uses a bit of magic to send a certain scientist a certain paper about certain discoveries to ensure he joins the party...?) So in the years before the quartet gathers together, Sia makes plans with her friends. I don't know exactly what these plans are and won't really try to guess, but clearly part of it involved scheming with Addison to make me SO WORRIED about her and the crew leave her ship (and an orrery for Rose) drifting on the Sargasso at the right time and place, AND they must have had enough foresight to be prepared for Sia's 39 years away; we didn't hear her poof back to let her friends know when she was going, and they knew when to expect her return, so it must have been pre-arranged to some extent. So Sia skips ahead, dropping off the quartet in 1874 and returning to Lincoln Island where Rose has already been learning and testing for 9 days, until it's time to meet Margaret again on the Antikythera. And now we're caught up. (Was this whole ramble necessary? Eh, maybe not, but I needed to think about it and it took long enough to type that I'm not deleting all that, are you kidding?)

Arrival, part 2

aw, yay! I'm glad Margaret and the boys all got a similar welcome to Rose! I wasn't sure if there would be any fanfare for Samuel and John, lol.

The twins are reunited! 😭❤ (And Margaret and John get to say hi to Rose too, yes, yes, I was very happy, but this isn't about them right now. TWINS.)

Dakkar and his scanner, lmao. (Going to try and fail to not think about him taking out his trusty tech as a distraction when he witnesses the siblings' reunion. I'm totally fine and normal about this, guys. Trust me.)

Yes, filling everybody in about Kal! I suppose he was the specific threat they were worried about when they were trying to verify Rose's identity in part 1, which would probably make sense if he's Itzal's attack virologist or something. But I have concerns about how the scan went. Addison tells us Kal has a way of tracking people he encounters and the scanner they use to check has a database that doesn't recognize anything on Samuel and the others, but, uh. AFAIK that scanner has been here on Lincoln Island for 45 years, nice and protected. How many updates have they gotten? And what was that Kal said back in TGOA? "Non-lethal fog, my latest brew." ...YEAH. I HAVE CONCERNS.

Not Rose's somber "We must keep looking for the key" after the chorus 😭😭😭 We know Sia's been reassuring her and Ahlaam has been insistent that there's no pressure on her, but uh. There is pressure. And Rose probably feels some degree of guilt for not accomplishing everything these literally magical people hoped she would after they saved her life.

Margaret almost recognizing the people around her, Dakkar echoing/answering the calls we've heard from Margaret since the beginning of the story..... AUGHHHHH 😭

I am very interested in Samuel and Addison's dynamic (to put it lightly) and I want to know what the captain is so curious about bears for.

Magic Ways

I love this song so much. We get to receive lore in an easily digestible way AND the music is amazing???? Move over, Schoolhouse Rock, I only want to learn things from the Travelers and Searchers from now on. (This joke isn't even good but I've wanted to make one about Schoolhouse Rock since the premiere so this is what we get. sorry, lmao.)

SEVEN, SEVEN MAGIC WAYS! Radiance, Perception, Protection, Illusion, Healing, Movement, and Transformation. If I'm understanding correctly, everyone from the Blazing World has the Radiance. (And I assume every descendant born on Lincoln Island does, too? although if they didn't have any magic because they lost their connection to their world that could be interesting... 👀) It seems to be the root/core of it all, if it's the one everyone shares. All the magic connects them, but I think the Radiance is the deepest and strongest connection. I am not going to rattle off about all of the magic ways here because, well, reading my ramblings (delightful as they are) doesn't hold a candle to listening to the actual song, lmao, but I am going to share my ideas for what kinds of magic the different BW characters might have.

SIA — radiance, movement, perception, transformation, possibly more; if she was helping Margaret train her protection magic, then I think it could be reasonable to suspect Sia may also possess it? But that's a maybe for now—Sia could simply know both Margaret & how protection magic functions well enough to be able to coach her.

AHLAAM — radiance, movement, illusion (I believe she was going to cast an illusion spell on Rose during Two Weeks as one of the tests, and she also tells us about illusion magic in the song), possibly more; Ahlaam doesn't specifically say that she only had three magic ways, unlike...

DAKKAR — radiance, healing, protection. He says that "three is more than enough for me" so I think we can safely assume that's it for him, unless he has more magic that he just doesn't use for whatever reason, which could be an interesting idea. No evidence for it tho, I'm just saying words. <3

ADDISON — from what we know so far, she might have only one magic way, the radiance, but I keep thinking about her journal. Margaret had to use transformation magic on it to be able to read it, so does that mean Addison also has that power, or did somebody else (Sia?) transform the journal specifically so Margaret would have to transform it back and use her magic? Or, as some friends have joked, is Addison nerdy enough that she just writes in invisible ink?

MARGARET — in TGMH, we saw her use the radiance for the first time. in TBS, movement. TGOA, transformation. in this episode, she has started using protection magic. Matt has told us that there will be 7 pulps and there are 7 magic ways, so I'm wondering if we'll see her unlock or regain all the magic ways, with one new power returning in each episode. We still have one more part to go for this episode, so we'll see if this theory is disproven real quick or not, lol.

Thank Gravity

hi, what if I exploded?

the only m/f pairings I care about are written by Matt Dahan and this is only a slight exaggeration

JOHN WANTED TO TALK!! HE'S THE ONE WHO INITIATED A FEELINGS CONVERSATION!!! HE FINALLY GOT SOME SENSE!!! I'M SO FUCKIN PROUD???? 🎉

THEY! KISSED!

what if I just, like, perished. would y'all be cool with that.

I am so not normal about how we've gone from them both yearning for 'a place with no laws of gravity' to them both thanking gravity—

have we considered the option of me just walking into the ocean? I think that might be the best course of action here.

oh my god. I love them.

Masterpiece Containing Masterpieces

Jackie's absolutely gorgeous art shows a bit of bright blue sky visible from the bridge of the Nautilus, so I'm guessing everyone got some much needed rest and continued the tours the next day, lol.

godddddd the callback to Margaret's Apartment. Maps of the Earth and sky lavishly hanging from golden frames—I need to bite something. (/pos)

John, if you're asking questions you should at least give people time to finish answering them, lmao

Someone is going to push one of those damn purple buttons and everyone is going to have a bad day, calling it now. If it doesn't happen this episode, it will happen in one of the later ones. And I am going to be glaring at them all mistrustfully until it finally happens. 😑👉🚫🟣‼️

Samuel and his imagination going crazy over the orrery's potential... and the way Addison talked about the Firestone getting burnt out, I wonder if that means it isn't repairable. Maybe Firestones are extremely rare, idk. curious how this orrery is still able to help them with the Gate somehow. WOULD LOVE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THESE GATES, BY THE WAY. JUST SAYING. /lh

EDIT: oops, the orrery on the Nautilus is not the same as the Antiythera's, I don't think. but it still seems like this one can't go back in time, going by the conversation!

Before the Island

yessssssss new solo John song for me to lose my mind about. also a casual reminder that Curt Mega is so gender it's unfair. <3

John, I love this for you. so much. go crazy, run wild, be silly and push buttons—NOT THE PURPLE ONES, FFS 🙏—and be happy with Rose.

John thinking his dad would understand what he's feeling instead of feeling smothered by his father's legacy and afraid of disappointing him......... 🥺😭❤

Ipomoea, part 1

the cover art!!!!!

This song is so goddamn pretty. Natalie and Kim's voices are heavenly together.

the imagery Margaret describes is so gorgeous, I want to draw it.

Margaret is closer than she's ever been to getting her answers!!!

JUST LIKE HOME 😭😭😭😭😭😭

and here we learn another time travel rule, which simultaneously makes me go "oh cool, that will probably make the timeline a little less messy" and "oh poor Sia, you lost 39 years with your besties" and "HEY SIA SO YOU BASICALLY LIED ABOUT BEING ABLE TO HELP ANNA GET OFF THE SATELLITE, HUH? CARE TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF??" (This isn't really even about Travelovers, this is about Anna being LEFT UP THERE and someone needs to give Sia a talking to for this, on mine and Anna's behalf. 😭 John, you've smooched your girl, now go be mad for your bestie, plz.)

hi Dakkar, ilu, please never die

Ipomoea, part 2

JESSE BHAMRAH I ADORE YOUR VOICE

I was a tiny bit worried about where this was going. I expected him to start using magic against Margaret to force her to defend herself, so the way he's like 'yo we should totally have Sia try to attack/kill us both' instead so they could combine their protection power was a really cool and delightful twist

I also love how Sia absolutely knows where this is going

IPOMOEA, SHOW ME YOUR WORTH! STAND WITH ME NOW, OR GET PLUCKED FROM THE EARTH!!!!!!!

Dakkar and Margaret are both so committed to this, & the way they sing together!!!!!!!

THIS SONG, YOU GUYS, I CAN'T. 😭❤

THEY'RE SIBLINGS! I don't currently have the brainpower (or time, tbh) to truly & accurately express how I feel about the reveal. Feel free to read my very smart friend's cool post about Dakkar and Margaret instead, it's very good.

I know I had a little "et cetera" sort of section at the end of my last post with some other thoughts, but honestly I am tapped right now, lol. Matt Dahan packs so much cool stuff in these episodes that there is undoubtedly a bunch of really cool theories and connections I haven't even touched upon in this post, but that's okay, it's long enough as it is. 😂

basically,

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I love pulp so much and I am VERY AFRAID and VERY EXCITED for part 3.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to rewatch part 2 until Mr. Dahan himself pries the video out of my greedly little hands.

[epiphainie]

Kind of crazy to think how Buck & Tommy's relationship could have gone either way. They had the potential to be a pretty toxic relationship had they met back in S1 or the healthy relationship they're in now seven years later. They really met each other exactly at the right time.

Right?! I think about Buck's character journey and he really needed to go through all that rollercoaster and grow into the person he is today to even come close to pursuing this relationship (not just because it's with a man but because it's a relationship Buck himself is being very proactive about). Sure, some bad writing choices could be foregone or condensed and maybe he'd reach this point during the earlier seasons of the show instead of on its second life, but regardless the character journey had to happen. This is not the type of show you can plan in advance but I also find it so incredibly fitting that a character who's defined by how lost and adrift he feels since the beginning finds some sort of answer/enlightenment as to why because he discovers this new aspect of himself. (Certainly a writing choice and reasoning I like better than the dead brother I never knew of thing but that's another topic for another day.) It feels so right and so true to the character.

On the other hand, obviously we haven't seen the journey Tommy has been on, but just by the virtue of looking at him in S2 flashbacks vs now, we know the extent of personal growth he must have gone/undertaken to reach this point. The 118, on paper, could be the best place for him but it feels like he had to leave, find himself, and then find Buck (and subsequently his way back to the 118). I think it all being unplanned but fitting so perfectly for both characters will always have me awed, regardless of where the show takes this relationship. Hell, it being accidental makes it feel even more so meant to be.

Though, I gotta mention, S1/Tommy never left the 118 version of them would be such a brilliant, toxic, and intense case of right person wrong time/conditions and I would eat it up. I'm more of a unhealthy/doomed relationship type of shipper, don't ask me how I ended up here in the wholesome show with the wholesome ship fandom. Maybe me loving BuckTommy was predestined too, regardless of what version lol.

[ybyag-lil]

I just... LOVE Sunshrine as a ship and have my delusions and HC's about it and I needed to put these thoughts out on WHY I like them so much somewhere other than in my fics or else I'm literally going to explode, so—

Annoyed x Annoyance. Need I say more?

I will.

If we're talking purely potential ship dynamics, we have:

Flirty x oblivious, Denial/Dense, Sunshine x Sunshine protector, stoic vs pain in the ass, optimist vs pessimist, "why me?" "why not you?", Insecure vs showers them in love.

Sun and Moon/Day and Night yadda yadda y'know the drill

Complementary colors (orange/blue) that you can correlate with their difference in personality.

But I hate reducing them to basic opposites attract and other dynamics bec they're NOT completely opposite - they actually have a lot in common!

"Two sides of the same coin" is how I'd actually describe them.

They're both trying to find their own way in life, and the paths they're taking are so fundamentally different than what has come before them.

Their voice-lines about it. Love to read into those

("I'll walk a different path this time." "I'll find my own path." "The path shapes you." "That's the path you've found?")

Potential for shared isolation issues and fear of abandonment!!!!

I feel like Kiriko's life suddenly shifting one day when Sojiro was killed and her proceeding to lose a bunch of people she held near and dear (not even counting Kanezaka itself facing major power and societal shifts) is not talked about enough. The only real personal connections she knows she has left are:

Her mom, who is forced into inaction and can't move to help liberate Kanezaka or save-

Her dad, who is currently Hashimoto's leverage/hostage and she doesn't even know for sure is still alive rn bc she hasn't seen him.

and Hanzo, which, there's a load of angst there HC and actually in-game wise for her connection with both him and Genji that would be a while 'nother conversation. I don't know if Kiriko even knows Genji's still alive, actually? More issues!

Illari's pretty self explanatory with that isolation/abandonment point. That girl's riding the, "I don't need anyone else (because I'll only end up hurting them)" train so hard. So much so that she doesn't even really feel comfortable showing any positive emotions to people around her (cheer/hello/chuckle animations anyone?).

Kiriko/Illari are both "chosen".

That one's kinda out there tbh, but my logic behind it is that Illari is already notably special. She's prodigy that was quickly predicted to be the GREATEST fucking Inti warrior of her time, whose power was so great that she turned every single other Inti warrior to ashes unintentionally.

(which, by the way, is insane if we assume the augmentations have to give you some sort of resistance to solar power to be able to wield it in the first place?)

Kiriko is where I start playing fast and loose. I'd argue her having the power of the Kitsune (which is not fucking science idc what lore comes in the future, magic exists in this fucking universe!) to such an extent makes her chosen in her own way. Like I'm assuming the teleporting around, the self healing like, and everything else is not a standard affair but no-one talks about the Shimada FAMILY being able to summon dragons so. Maybe that's just the standard in Japan.

On that note — they also both have a responsibility to their people which sort of parallel each other.

Kiriko has happily taken up the mantle of a vigilante to protect the people of Kanezaka, and, as far as we know, she has no qualms about doing it. Her way of doing things is different to how her family served/protected for generations in the past, but she still upholds the duty like it's second nature.

Pure conjecture, but I don't think Kiriko's ever felt forced to do it either. There was never a, "you must protect the town!" talk or anything like that from her grandmother/mom, she's doing it because it feels right to do.

Illari, conversely was always told she had a responsibility to her people. If you read between the lines of her lore blurb on her OW2 page and listen to what she says in her origin video, you get the sense that it was a sort of... burden? Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that.

I compare it to the "gifted-kid burnout" precisely because of this. Illari has always been molded to follow one path, a rigorous one she didn't really have a choice BUT to follow. You're told at a young age that you are special, that there's no-one else like you, that you will grow to become a legend. How could you even begin to refuse that?

You don't. And when it all starts to fall apart, you start to wonder what's wrong with yourself. Illari has lived a life dedicated to serving, and now there's no-one left but her.

She def has some self worth/esteem issues stemming from having to be this prodigal kid essentially groomed (not that way) her whole childhood to be strong and nothing else. Couple that with an overwhelming feeling of regret for failing to uphold her duty as a protector and you have someone who is just completely lost - direction AND sense of self wise.

And I think Kiriko could help with that. Say what you want about her, but you can't deny that Kiri is strong. Imagine Illari meeting her and realizing that for herself. That despite how careless and foolish Illari thinks Kiriko is, she somehow still manages to protect her people as her duty.

Imagine her realizing that she's been taught a lie her whole life, that she doesn't have to just be Illari, the strongest Inti warrior, she can also just be Illari - the scared 18yr old trying to find a new purpose in life after that choice was stolen from her.

Like Zen says to her, "true strength comes to those who accept their weaknesses". Illari's gotta learn that she can't just be strong, she has to learn to balance these aspects of herself.

and who has played a balancing act between conflicting ideals before? Who has carved her own path out of what she's known? Kiriko.

Ahem, back to a few more hehe haha shipping things

They're both pretty capable as fighters, and both trained since they were kids. They're both probably very disciplined because of it.

(I was going to say "though Kiriko is reckless despite that" but I refuse to believe Illari isn't equally as reckless.)

They're both very petty, check out those revenge voice lines—

("Forgive and forget? Nah..." and, "Forgiveness? Never heard of it." Are two examples LOL)

They're both smart assess. Kiriko is Kiriko so that one's obvious, and I'm looking at your Hanzo/Soldier/Sombra/Ana start up interactions, AND your sassy ass "I didn't do it for you," ally save voice line, Illari.

THEY'RE LITERALLY SPRING - SUN ILLARI, BREEZE/WHATEVER TF ELSE KIRIKO

And the two most important things....

They're just cute. Like seriously look at these little idiots, I love them both dearly.

And it's kind of a funny ship. I'm a firm believer that you don't need a reason to ship two characters, and Kiriko and Illari liking each other can lead into some hilarious ass dynamics, so why not?

Anyways, finished with my brainrot spew. If you've made it this far, check out my AO3 where I will be brainrotting even further in the future. Might post some dumb shitposts here about these two from time to time.

Illari and Kiriko's voice line pages for the things I quote.

(some of this, particularly parts regarding Kiriko, might be incorrect bec I haven't read a single lore comic and am going of things I can vaguely remember hearing about.)

[epickiya722]

Kiya, you're the first person who I follow, who are a Yuuji & Sukuna fan but not shipping them. Like, it's so cool....Most JJK fan that I know are people who love either one of them, hate both of them, or love both of them (and must shipping them romantically)....Do you think in the end, Yuuji is the one who will kill Sukuna for good?

Thanks @epickiya722 for sharing your fanfics and many reviews and analysis (especially for BNHA & JJK). Love reading them 💐🌻🌷

I prefer tumblr then twitter. I sometimes tired to see many negative comments around fandom. You're right, Kiya,.there are many people who love to talk negatively about a certain fandom, like if you hate it that much, why not just stop watching or reading them (yes 'a certain fandom' that I mean are BNHA & JJK)......

Is that rare?! To like both characters and not ship them?

Anyways!!

To that question, I do!! I'll be honest, I think out of all the characters, it would make sense if Yuji is the one to land the final attack and ending Sukuna for good. It honestly frightens me a little that this makes it possible that some of the other characters may be put out commission. But! Let's think about it!

I apologize beforehand because I know this is going to get long!

It makes sense to me that Yuji is the one to kill Sukuna because out of the characters, who annoys Sukuna the most? Who does he view now as his "main dish" because of his unbreakable resolve? Yuji Itadori!

This kinda plays into some thoughts of mine I'm working on.

For one, I think of Yuji and Sukuna's relationship as more twisted version of Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi (to an extent, Ryou and Yami Bakura).

A while back, in this post, I talked a little about how JJK share some similarities to YGO, which apparently Gege likes, I don't know, I read a post. I believe so with the references thrown in there and again, similarities that could be coincidences.

Yuji and Yugi have similar names, spiky multicolored hair (black, pink and blond... Yuji used to be blond), they're high school students who wear blue uniforms, raised by their grandfathers who also happen to look like the spirit possessing them in some way, they stick to their morals, got possessed by a spirit with a "King" title through a cursed objects...

Both stories involve something about souls, Kenjaku rocked the Bandit Keith special, in the anime, you can see Gojo hold a DVD that looks like Bonds Beyond Time (I have a post here showing so)...

That's all I can capture, but thinking about all that I wondered "well, how funny it would be if Yuji turns out to be Sukuna's reincarnation? Like his soul reborn just like Yugi is to Yami/Atem?"

If that's the case, then for sure it would be possible for another similarity to be thrown in.

At the end of YGO, guess what happens to Yami and Yugi? Spoiler, Yugi beats Yami in a duel for Yami to pass onto the afterlife.

In a way, it was like he was putting his past self to rest.

So couldn't it be possible for Yuji to do the same to Sukuna? Put the King of Curses to rest as he should be? Sukuna was reawaken into an era he does not belong to. It's something I don't see talked about a lot. A clash of generations.

Think of Gojo and the Higher-Ups. Gojo doesn't like their ways of handling the Jujutsu world. Another example, Kirara's technique is more "new age" which the HUs don't care for.

With Sukuna, in 248, he's used his opponents being people who fight him to prove something or fearing him. Now? Yuji breaks that mold. He's not someone fighting Sukuna to entertain him or even fears him. He's mad at him, he hates him and doesn't seek for his praise or to please him. He has accepted that he is a Jujutsu sorcerer.

Sukuna was used to his "old" ways, that he didn't account for Yuji to come at him with a different or "new" vibe.

So yeah, Yuji being the one to kill Sukuna would be fitting in my opinion. He was created to be Sukuna's vessel, but who says he couldn't also have been created to be Sukuna's threat? I mean, it is funny that Yuji was able to suppress Sukuna with ease.

Okay, that was long! 😆

**

Seriously, it's like do some of these people ever enjoy anything and want to talk about those things?

I get not enjoying something, but the endless cycle of complaining that "this chapter is too short", "that wasn't how I wanted it go", even "break again"!

Like, damn! Is there anything in the chapter you did like? Oh, now writers and artists can't take breaks? Wonder why we have strikes...

I'm not always optimistic, but I like some enjoyment in my life, too. Post some funny memes, write about why you like a character, ramble about a ship fic you like ans trust me you will feel so much better, folks.

Also, thank you, Anon!! 🌸💜💫

I don't think of myself as a bigtime blog with analysis and theory posts, but just someone who likes to share her many thoughts. I don't except anyone to agree with me or anything. I just have thoughts that I just post.

[crayolacolor]

simon infinitytrain?

send me a character and i'll list the below things about them | accepting!

HELLO ANON. i do not know if you'll ever see this because it took me ten years, but here i am, answering you.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM:

fun fact: simon infinity train is the reason i have a disclaimer about me getting attached to tragic antagonists in my pinned post. so you can probably make an educated guess what i like about him.

he's just. such a well written character. i love how his negative character development was contrasted against grace's positive character development. i love how the writers did a really good job of making him infuriating and sympathetic at the same time.

i'll go more into my thoughts on him in a later section, but yeah, the tl:dr is he really just is my character type hahaha.

he's just a really complex character and imo the writers nailed that.

LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM:

okay well, this answer changes depending on if you mean from a writing perspective or a 'him as a person' perspective. from a writing perspective, 100/10, no notes. i can't think of anything i disliked.

from a PERSON perspective. episode 6 makes me want to murder this man <3 i want to put tape over his mouth every time he speaks in that episode. it's somehow WAY worse than when he's just straightup being an over-dramatic anime villain at the end of the season.

FAVORITE LINE:

oh there are many. i need to rewatch again. but the ones that live in my brain rent free are ALL after his downward spiral begins:

"teamwork begins with two people trusting eachother. but you? you're no person." dramatic effect. extremely traumatizing for everybody who's ever watched this show. 10/10

"i liked what we had, but you made me do it! you betrayed the apex. and you betrayed me." again, dramatic effect. really gives you a feel for what's going on in his head, i think. 10/10

"why would i ever want to change if i'm always right!?" iconic. i think this is the one people remember the most from him, along with the one from ep 5.

BROTP & OTP (combining because my answer is the same for both):

grace. lol. full stop. hopefully i don't have to explain that i am VERY AWARE that their relationship was unhealthy in many, MANY ways. that is what i like about it. i'm a huge fan of messy relationships in fiction. i am a self proclaimed angst fiend.

the tragedy of it all is 100% the appeal of it for me, from either a platonic OR romantic standpoint. i love that. and yes, i do ship them to an extent- but NOT in the "i think they should have gotten together in canon" way. again, the angst is the appeal!!

i admit i do also enjoy aus where they fix their relationship, but not INSTEAD of the canon, more so in ADDITION to the canon. i think it's a fun alternate route to explore, but i deeply adore what the infinity train writers did with them in the show and that will not be changing.

NOTP:

literally any of the protags from the previous seasons. y'all, simon and grace are 18. you can't be shipping them with the 13-14 year olds. please stop. (nobody here! i mostly see this on ao3, honestly.)

RANDOM HEADCANON:

i think simon has been back to the cat multiple times in secret.

i really like the theory that he got some of the apex's tech from her. the main thing i have to support this is this line from the episode where he returns to her cabin in book 3:

"i knew you'd have something. you always do."

particularly i think there's a good chance he got the unmodified gravity boots from her (and likely modified them himself) and possibly also the number tracker.

UNPOPULAR OPINION:

oh i'm sure a lot of what i've already said has been an unpopular opinion, haha. i'm one of those people that's so in the middle in a debate that both sides of it have reasons to disagree with me.

i really like simon. he and grace are my favorite characters in the show. there are parts where i feel really bad for him, and parts where i want to yell at him and hit him over the head with a very large stick.

i see his death as a tragedy in universe, but also a really good writing choice on the part of the infinity train crew.

i don't think they secretly had a scheme to make us dislike him. i think it was written in such a way that it makes sense that some people would have a viscerally negative reaction to him, and others wouldn't. he's a very complex character and that's good writing!!!

i think the tragedy was the point, which is something both people who like him and people who hate him seem to completely overlook in a lot of cases. it's either "woohoo! simon died!" or "killing simon was bad writing he should have been redeemed >:/" not "oh this is really sad but i love it from a story perspective."

i don't think he was "irredeemable", per-say. the fact is, he was faced with a pivotal choice in episode five, and he picked the wrong one. he chose to double-down. i love that. i really do. i love the downward spiral. it's painful in the best way. i would not change the canon show for the world. again, 100/10, no notes.

but i can also see a universe where he made the right choice. i was writing a fic about that, once. (which admittedly has some characterization issues which i would fix if i tried it again.) i think it was possible. and i think that's a fun route to explore too. not a better route from a writing standpoint, but a good one.

i have so many more thoughts but this has already gotten really long, and i have two more questions to go, lol. but if you want to hear anymore you're free to send me another ask about it!

but, for now, moving on.

SONG I ASSOCIATE WITH THEM:

someone else on tumblr pointed out that "the moon will sing" by the crane wives is a good fit for simon @ grace and now i can't unhear it.

and, finally, FAVORITE PICTURE OF THEM:

anime villain simon my beloved.

[raayllum]

So we are sure as anything that is going to be Callum that releases Aaravos at the end of the day (being terrified of being possessed again? Now the gang literally HAVE THE PRISON? Yeah he’s gonna be possessed and forced to open it for SURE! Poor boy what will that do to him..?)

But one thing that hasn’t happened yet is Rayla losing Callum. Callum has lost Rayla once and nearly lost her twice now, but we are yet to see Rayla do something to get Callum back (maybe we can include the ship scene but I don’t feel like it’s quite to the same extent that Callum has nearly lost her, if you get what I mean)… how do you think this is going to happen?! If at all? I LOVED season 5 and can’t wait for what happens next!!

I forget if I thought Callum would free Aaravos post-S3 or S2 (maybe, ever since the Key was introduced)? But definitely post TTM I thought he'd have a role to play there. I've always leaned towards it either 1) not being under possession, but coercion, or 2) if it is under possession, it's because Callum took a risk (and knew what he was risking being possessed by doing it). The writers always like force characters into being aware of the choices they're making / retaining agency even in the terrible choices they're making (i.e. Harrow being aware of and agreeing to Viren's plan to kill Zym in 3x06's flashbacks, rather than being ignorant and therefore blameless in it, which they easily could've done). I don't think Callum can just have a "whoopsie daisie I'm suddenly possessed again through no reaffirmed fault of my own decision making" since that kinda feels like it's letting him off the hook too much for whatever he does, but if they just want to go full throttle on the "no agency" angle, that would be a valid route of its own kind of horrific (even if it may not be the one from a theorizing standpoint I currently prefer but hey, canon could change my mind).

For Rayla and Callum, I think their arcs (intersecting and circling each other as always) are going to be opened and book ended, most likely, by Massive acts of love for each other for arc 2 (up till S6, most likely). Currently for both of them, they've done their initial, unhealthy "going to dark places is an act of love" for one another:

1) Rayla leaving during the timeskip / through the moon

and Callum doing dark magic about a season later to save her life

The fact the choice is something they both cover up and know the other person wouldn't like, the shouldering it alone, the "I have to. I love you too much not to," etc. I don't think it's a coincidence that a few episodes after Rayla reflects on what inspired her to leave — "I left without him because I couldn't bear to put him in danger. I knew I had to be strong alone" — and trying to be what she didn't want to be (a lone assassin) that we see Callum making a similar decision after he was forced back into a path he also didn't want to take (a dark mage), that Finnegrin got his head enough to warp him: "All that talk about how love makes you stronger" and Rayla making him 'weaker.' And, like Rayla, he keeps a secret to try and shoulder it alone, at least at first.

Which is in line of how he and Rayla were already starting to switch in S4, with Rayla acting more like him upon her return and Callum acting more like her because of her absence, and nicely leads up to them both reaffirming that they are each's strength and each other's weakness, eventually. (Good and bad, light and dark, pain and love. Two cakes!)

I always figured Callum would do something ultimately self destructive in order to save her, just because they tend to be very reciprocal (and he tends to hit her plot beats a season after she does, anyway) so it seems, due to the symbolism and framing and patterns, that Callum doing dark magic for her is his Narrative counterbalance for her leaving him in Through the Moon. (This is very in line with their S2 and S3 patterns as well, where Rayla saves him and Ez in a way from Soren and Claudia in S2, and then Callum saves her from Soren and Claudia over the dragon fiasco; as well as in S3, with Rayla risking her life to keep Sol Regem away from him, and then Callum jumping off the Pinnacle to save her, etc).

So what, you ask, is Rayla's big gesture moment - and what could Callum's reciprocal moment be? Well...

2) Rayla breaks Callum free of the brainwashing + identity reconciliation arc

This has been foreshadowed and set up for a variety of reasons — Rayla showing up in a halo of light and always reaffirming Callum's agency in S4; Callum asking her to be the one to kill him in 4x07, and this according quote exchange from the Book One Novelization ('"Wow. So they look identical, but they might kill you or they might save you,” Callum said. "Exactly," Rayla smiled. "Just like me"); Rayla's role being highlighted in the actual possession scene in 4x04 and Aaravos mocking her for being unable to kill; Rayla's epiphany in S5 about being "stronger together" at all. If you want more details on all of this I would heartily recommend this meta I wrote regarding Rayla's duality as Callum's salvation and destruction, written pre-s4, and then updated post-S5. Now moving on...

Book 6 is gonna be stars, and stars are associated with Destiny. So is dark magic with control. Thus, Callum confronting the destiny Aaravos has given him (and being possessed again by proxy) seems the most likely for this season. We also know we're going to learn about Rayla and Stella's history eventually (and given that Stella means star, and is connected to the Star primal) and it would make sense to get that backstory in S6 as well. We know we're learning more about the Key of Aaravos (rune cube) and most likely Leola (and her last wish) next season as well. Last but not least, S5 reveals that Rayla's parents can presumably be saved by using star magic / quasar diamonds, and that Callum is even more dedicated to freeing them to some degree than Rayla is, at least in terms of Prioritizing it.

Okay, but what does this all have to do with anything? Well...

It seems pretty certain that Rayla's Big Moment, as you've indicated, has to happen, and will be her refusing to kill Callum and instead breaking him free of the brainwashing. The strongest evidence is actually things I haven't touched on yet, which is that this dilemma and plot beat would resolve both of their character arcs that S4 set heavily into motion.

For Rayla, she's been struggling for seasons feeling like a failed assassin / that she can't kill someone, and that this is a weakness. The fact that it's Callum's life on the line vs the world ("my heart for Xadia") is just the icing on the cake and is a trolley problem she's faced before ("You let him live, but you killed us all!" / "No, you have two choices: you all die, or just the wretched, evil human dies"). So her not killing Callum, and instead saving him, would resolve her arc in a variety of ways:

Prove that her good soft heart is a strength and not a weakness

Reaffirm her love, devotion, commitment to Callum and promising to Not leave again

Prove to her that she can save people (4x05's "we can't save everyone") and that she won't always inevitably mess things up

Rayla refusing to sacrifice something, for once, for the good of the world

Her path in this is so straightforward there is little doubt in my mind, like, come on. It's not subtle and I love it

This isn't even touching on Rayla's parallels / thematic opposition to the other person vying for control over Callum, Aaravos, which if you're interested in you can read more about here. <3

Alternatively, Callum's side of things is far more complicated / less clear. This is for a few reasons:

There will be a choice, presumably, that leads to him getting brainwashed. The most obvious of these is him doing (dark? Star?) magic to free the Moon fam and Kpp'Ar from the coins, but it could be something else. Being willing to take a chosen risk opens up the door for him to feel responsible if/when he plays his role in Aaravos' plans (bc he presumably Has to, since S6 can't end well under any circumstances).

If he is randomly brainwashed, he will have to make a conscious choice to play into Aaravos' hands after breaking free from the brainwashing. This will probably be under coercion or due to a loved one (either Ezran or Rayla) being in danger or threatened. I've always leaned towards Rayla because they've had primary conflict for longer and her weird associations with the cube and its foreshadowing, and for a few other reasons I'll discuss here briefly below.

What's not in doubt, to me, is Callum - willingly or unwillingly - continuing on his dark path within Aaravos' clutches. Whether this would include breaking him free under coercion (but not brainwashing) is debatable, but we'll see when we get there I suppose (if we get there). What does need to be answered, here, is what Callum's Reciprocal Act of Love would be. It seems that he'll have to save Rayla back in turn from something, after all.

Likewise, there's a few options in no particular order:

He saves Rayla from having to make a terrible choice regarding her parents, either to have a life without them or for her to do dark magic to free them by taking that on himself.

A lot of Callum's identity changes have been because of her absence and subsequent shut down. Rayla reaffirming her identity by saving him is also the process by which Callum reaffirms his own identity by choosing her / being able to be saved. A mutual identity reconciliation happening simultaneously, if you will. And throwing off Aaravos' control certainly would be an act of love!

He frees Aaravos to save her life after she breaks him free of the brainwashing, since choosing Rayla and defying Aaravos could be choices that cannot be reconciled.

I lean towards something beyond the mutual Identity Reconciliation because I think 1) Callum being able to express his feelings for her is also very important to his growth for this arc and they've teased him saying "I love you" again quite a bit thus far and 2) I think Rayla, as a character and her core of sacrifice (what does it matter to her, after all, if she gets majorly injured saving Callum) would really benefit from being literally, reciprocally saved, but these are the various avenues I think are the most likely. But I do think their S6 (or whenever the possession plot line is resolved, maybe it is only in S7, who knows) arc is resolved, it'll be with a Big Act of Love from Callum as well, with Rayla's being saving him from said brainwashing.

Anyway, I hope this answered your question and that said answer wasn't too long! Thanks for asking & for reading <3

[moonlight-tmd]

Been thinking about all the interfacing content of my favorite ships with Bee and not gonna lie... it's kind of old isn't it? I mean, I know we all like it to some extent but honestly, I can see Bee not being the way you write him with these.

Let me take a normal ProwlBee for this- oh and here's the anker post so you know what i'm talking about.

Bee was a flirter to be sure, he knew how to talk to get folks to get along with him. He knew the tricks to make them do what he wanted if it came to it. But the truth was; it was all learned behavior. Things he have seen other bots do on the street back when he was a near-homeless youngling. He had no idea what their true intentions were nor what interfacing was. He ran away from the carequarters long before anyone could explain it to him.

When he got together with Prowl, he was being more "smooth" as they described. He had no idea what he was doing until during one of their make-out sessions, Prowl's chassis split open and the tentacle-like wires slithered out.

"...You do know what interfacing is, right?" Prowl has hesitantly asked after Bee very much freaked out by something Prowl was very common with.

"Yes, defintelly- of course I know what that is!" Bee tried to act confident, putting on a charade like one of the bots he saw on the streets. But Prowl's 'i know you don't' look made him give in and admit. "...No, I don't."

So after a few questions, it became clear Bee didn't even know what those parts were nor what they were used for... nor what all the alluring talk he did was meant to do. Prowl decided it was best to educate Bee on those topics, starting with his own biology and interfacing.

After brief-but-on-point explanation about the struts he got Bee to try interfacing with him.

Bee was uncertain, the feeling of those struts exposed wasn't what Prowl described it felt. Still, he forced himself to follow and let Prowl gently stroke the tentacles. He internally told himself it will feel good, that Prowl knows what he's doing and it will all be great...

He tired to make himself enjoy it, but as soon as one of Prowl's tentacles gently slid against one of his, his mind screamed 'NO' at him. He pushed Prowl away and scooted to the other end of the berth.

"I'm sorry- I-I tried to enjoy it. But i just can't- I'm sorry, I-" Bee tried his best to calm down, he didn't know why he felt like this, he wanted to cry, this- this wasn't supposed to make him cry, right?

"Bee, it's okay... I said you don't have to if you don't want. Nobody is forcing you to do this." Prowl shushed, he gently cupped Bee's faceplate and wiped the incoming tears away. "It's okay if you don't want to do this. Some people don't like to interface and that is okay. You are not any less loved if you don't want it either."

Bee let himself settle in Prowl's hug- Prowl assured him nothing will happen this time. He felt bad, he thought he could do it and meet Prowl's expectations... but Prowl did not let him have any of it, he kept reassuring him that it was okay and that he shouldn't push himself to do what he doesn't want. Interfacing wasn't the most important thing in a relationship after all.

And while Prowl was running fairly warm and the need for contact settled he pushed it down for the sake of Bee's comfort. He could deal with it later.

After that, Bee's flirty talk has reduced. He still did it from time to time cuz old habits die hard but now that he knew what it was associated with he shyed away from it.

Eventually, Prowl found something that could be an alternative to interfacing for them. Light bathing.

"It's a practice where two Sparkmates open their chassis' and let their Spark's light illuminate them- none of Spark Chambers are open, of course." Prowl explained, Bee was sceptical when Prowl started with 'I know you don't feel comfortable interfacing-'

"And then what happens?" His voice had an obvious suspicious undertone.

"Nothing. We just sit there and enjoy each other's presence. It's okay if you don't want to try, it was just a suggestion." Prowl spoke with the kind smile, he wouldn't dare overstep Bee's boudaries. Bee decided that it sounded alright and wanted to try.

They sat in the pile of pillows and plushies in Bee's room at night, doors locked to guarantee them privacy. They had a little count-down to break the nervousness. Both of their chassis' split and revealed their Spark's casings, the light poured thru the little windows in them. Their servos rested in each other, eventually Prowl made their digits intertwine. Bee, in a moment of boldness, decided to lean in and press his forehelm to Prowl's- a common gesture of affection on Cybertron that could be interpreted as human culture's kiss.

They sat there, the quiet thrumming of their Sparks filling the silence, the ghostly emotions flowing on their plating like breeze as the feeling of content and comfort fell over them like morning mist. It wasn't bad at all.

So from then on, sometimes both of them would sit or lay together and enjoy the intimacy. While Prowl still has to take care of himself on rare occasion, they were doing just fine.

Idk, maybe it's me projecting my asexuality on the comfort character but who cares, I wrote him as trans once so I can do whatever I want. Deal with it. If I want smutless fluff then I shall have it.

[devisrina]

What are some of your unpopular opinions when it comes to syd and carmy?

I don't know if these are unpopular or not. But I'm just going to say them.

The Carmy x Therapy narrative is kind of upsetting. He already thinks he's unloveable and incapable of loving back towards a person. Yes, Carmy needs to work on himself a lot after season 2, but that doesn't mean a relationship can't co-exist with therapy. I'm not saying that Carmy should immediately jump into a relationship next season either, I'm just saying that he can work on himself and take the time to unpack his real feelings towards someone (I'm hoping Syd, but regardless of my own bias), then he can see if that person is worth pursuing. Being alone doesn't have to be the end all be all, craving intimacy is a natural feeling and it's a part of being a human.

This is not really on the ship itself but on the fandom, shipping Carmy and Sydney is not immature or defeats the focus of the show. Carmy and Sydney's shippers aren't even rude to people who don't ship them. This is a show that we're all interested in, so why are we attacking each other for different choices of opinion? Shipping Carmy and Sydney doesn't even cloud our opinion of the other characters. We all engage in conversations about everyone else, we care about everyone's growth, therefore, we care about this show and its characters.

I don't think the Carmy and Claire situation would've escalated into a relationship if Carmy asked Sydney to hang out in season 2 episode 1 during the locker scene. I don't doubt that Claire would be in the picture, but I don't think Carmy would've been so open about being with her if he and Syd got past their nervousness of hanging outside of work.

Sydney does understand Carmy's mental state. I don't think she idolises him as much as she did in the first episode of s1. Although she does ask about how it felt to achieve a lot, she has seen him having self-destructive meltdowns, she helped him out of one in episode 10 with the fish. She might not know the extent of it, but she always makes sure to help when she can.

[paradoxcase]

John 19:18

THE TOWER HAS R

Since normal humans can't do anything like this anyway and it doesn't seem like John has at this point in the story actually consumed anyone's soul, I guess by "the old difficult way" he's referring to his power level from before that happened, during the part of the story that we're reading now?

This is a piece of land that John just raised from the bottom of the ocean, but it already has a building and a car on it. I guess some flooding happened when the world ended? Also, I think that car is probably all dead, insert Miracle Max reference here

So, it's not like surprising or a revelation at this point, but here is positive evidence that a body can be physically alive and even healthy, but if it doesn't have a soul in it, it's not really living. I think if BOE had observed Gideon's body to be physically alive in some way but lacking a soul they would have described it differently; Gideon's body probably has some big holes in it because of the fence at this point, or at least it probably did at the time that BOE had it, so it wouldn't have been like Ulysses and Titania here, but it's not clear what the extent of Gideon's immortality is, exactly, if it means inconvenient holes get repaired or if she can be alive in spite of inconvenient holes, or what

Also, here we have that true resurrection doesn't just involve the physical act of repairing someone's body and starting it up again in some way, there has to be some element of retrieving a soul, presumably from the River

So whatever this is, I don't think anyone is using it 10,000 years later. The Nine Houses uses this stele system, which seems to be related to radio somehow, but you can't use it to go somewhere that's far away from a stele and they do know where they wind up. And BOE went out of their way to steal a ship with a stele just so they could use FTL travel, so they obviously don't have another means. I wonder what happened with this idea that caused it to be abandoned? Like, obviously the trillionaires who went off in their FTL ships did survive and I guess maybe became some of these other civilizations that John's fighting against, so it must have at least worked a little bit. But the stuff about "oscillating to a prearranged spectrum" makes me wonder if it isn't actually related to the steles at all? Or Augustine was right and there was no FTL at all

Also, I wonder if John does understand the math now after 10,000 years

This seems like such a weird argument to make? Like, I'm not sure if this interaction is happening in public or not. If it's a public thing, I can see them being like, this guy killed a bunch of poor innocent cows, how can we trust him??? but it sounds like a lot of this was private negotiations between John and the trillionaires, I think in those circumstances they wouldn't be talking about the poor innocent cows and would instead be saying things about how it's not a good investment, I don't think any trillionaires are going to be pretending to care about cows for just John's sake. And I mean, one of those guys is probably Elon Musk, right, can you see Elon Musk making this argument to anyone in any context? I really cannot

So again, it's sort of framed as being about the Earth, specifically, and not about the people and animals living on it... although, if this is Alecto's memory of John telling this story to her maybe he is phrasing everything that way for her benefit? Like obviously the greater injustice was leaving all of the people behind. The only real difference between what the trillionaires did and what John was planning to do was in how many people escaped, right? Like, John wasn't out there fighting oil companies and pollution either. Maybe when someone takes the ships you were planning to use to leave instead it's just easier to say "you abandoned the Earth, you cowards!" instead of "you left us behind, you bastards!" because then it's easier to claim the moral high ground, but I think they already could do that, since they were planning to take everyone and that was the whole point?

[pinksilvace]

Fern guides their mutuals and followers through Cats 1998 as if we're all sitting on the same couch watching it and I'm shouting out stuff (2/?)

MASTERPOST

Character Wiki Pages

This time around, we're getting to some of the character songs!!! Jennyanydots and RTT ahead:

5: The Old Gumbie Cat

Okay, first off, I'm obsessed with the staging here... literally every kitten and kitten-adjacent character is paying attention (Plato and Bill Bailey are in the back upper-left of this shot) and then you've just got. Alonzo and Cassandra. Two characters that famously do not care about some other members of the cast. Why is this so funny

These faces also get me every time... the perfect image of bewilderment and regret

Anyway, this is another example of the kitten characters literally being lower than the others. Coricopat and Tantomile's ages and how they're presented tend to vary wildly from production to production (they kind of do their own thing), but aside from them, I think the only adult cats on the ground are the aforementioned Alonzo (who's there because of Munkustrap), Cassandra (who's there because of Alonzo), and Asparagus, though the camera notably never focuses on any of them. Everybody else is either standing or elevated à la Bombalurina, Demeter, Skimbleshanks, and Jellylorum.

One of my absolute favorite things about Munkustrap across productions is how he moves. He and Skimbleshanks come to mind as the cats with the most distinct affects (aside from examples like Tugger, who has clearly manufactured his mannerisms to an extent). I'm not sure what to call the aesthetic of this motion, but I'm obsessed with it.

And, gosh, Michael Gruber's voice is heavenly.

Skimble's cute little gesturing at her!!! Even when I was little, I was under the impression that these cats would get along. I don't know if it was because of the character acting, the fact they're both ginger tabbies, their similar ways of directing folks around, or what, but I've never seen a version of Skimble and Jenny that I didn't think would get along. It's no wonder they're so commonly shipped.

These are all (female) kitten characters playing the role of the mice, which brings us to one of the biggest questions anybody who gives this show too much thought will ask: what is the Jellicle Ball? Obviously, there's a number named that later on, but is it just a dance number, or is it the entire show?

I tend to see and agree with the interpretation that the Ball takes place over the course of the whole show, as Jellicle cats of every kind are invited and encouraged to attend. If not, then I think it would be a bit surprising to see so many cats with collars - and, we can infer, owners - showing up this early, even if the goal is to be there before Old Deuteronomy.

In that case, we reach the question related to this segment: what does this look like from the cats' side of things? I'd always thought of it as the classic "when there's too much [x] for words, you sing" principle of musical theater, wherein songs are used for emphasis and the things that happen during songs are either not literal or heavily exaggerated, but I know some folks also think of each number in Cats as a rehearsed piece, which is canonically the case for one of them.

Realistically - as much as any of this can be considered realistic - I imagine it as a combination of the two. Jenny and Skimble's numbers might very well be rehearsed. Tugger's probably isn't.

The fact that the mice are all portrayed by female kittens, which is a relatively specific demographic of the characters, makes me think (story-wise, not practicality-wise) they were specifically chosen for the roles of the mice.

The way Skimble copies Jenny's movements here reminds me HEAVILY of how Tugger copies Mistoffelees' movements during his number at the end of the show... alright alright I'm getting on board with this one

A few things with this bit:

1 - Pouncival is reprimanded #1

2 - I love that '98 used actors generally representative of the characters' ages. A lot of casts - post-revival US casts specifically come to mind - tend to have Jennys and Jellys that seem exponentially younger than the ones portrayed here, and with a title like "The Old Gumbie Cat," there's an expectation that Jenny, at least, should have a sense of age about her. This isn't a dig at other casts or anything - those actors still do a phenomenal job - I just really like this presentation.

3 - I've posted about this in short spurts before, but this song/poem might just be my favorite to analyze. I wrote my first-ever college essay about Jennyanydots. Part of what makes me love it so much is how much meaningful exposition it gives, but it's also one of the more prominent examples of Eliot's bigotry seeping into his poetry, and an example of how the staging of Cats actually reduces it.

I'm far from the first to point any of this out and I am far from an expert, but let's dig into some lyrics:

She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice— Their behaviour's not good and their manners not nice; So when she has got them lined up on the matting, She teaches them music, crocheting and tatting.

To address the behavioral issues of the mice, Jenny introduces hobbies to them - namely, music, crocheting, and tatting (another sort of fiber art relating to lace creation). An argument can be made over the practical labor of crocheting and tatting, but music is often associated with leisure - time away from work, or time spent performing for the leisure of other people.

Depending on how one looks at this, this passage could point in two directions. These skills could have been used to familiarize the mice with work commonly associated with being dainty and ladylike, with the hope the mice would become much the same. They could have also been introduced as a way for the mice to perform highly detail-oriented work for somebody of higher standing: Jenny herself. Either way, this passage rings with a mildly classist tone.

As she finds that the mice will not ever keep quiet, She is sure it is due to irregular diet; And believing that nothing is done without trying, She sets right to work with her baking and frying.

This one is a bit more straightforward. The wording "irregular diet" implies, to me, that access to food (and/or "good" food) is the problem here, i.e. lack of access to food prevents the mice from holding a sense of propriety about them. While these lyrics do not make a judgement about that, they do potentially make an association between food insecurity and unruliness, which, again, rings with classism.

She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment To prevent them from idle and wanton destroyment. So she's formed, from that lot of disorderly louts, A troop of well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts, With a purpose in life and a good deed to do— And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.

The first two lines from this verse are extraordinarily direct; I don't think I have to explain how the idea of "going to work and getting a job will prevent unruly tendencies" is rooted in bigotry. What makes this bit even more specific is the last line about the Beetles' Tattoo. For those unfamiliar, I'm fairly certain this is the kind of tattoo this line references:

So, not only does the Jennyanydots of the poem seek out employment opportunities for the cockroaches; she does so with what can be interpreted as militaristic intent, thinking it will give them "a purpose in life."

I don't really feel like going into how all of this connects to ideas irl, but you get the gist. So, how does Cats make all of this better?

It plays everything completely straight.

No, seriously.

The troubling bits of Eliot's original poetry come through, in large part, the use of metaphor; in Cats, the cats are actually cats, the mice are actually mice, and the cockroaches are actually cockroaches. All of these characters are literally different species at different spots on the food chain, but that's not the best part.

The best part is that the mice are portrayed by the female kittens and the cockroaches are represented, principally, by the male kittens. Rather than mice or cockroaches, this performance can be used to represent how Jennyanydots corrects the behavior of unruly little girls and unruly little boys. Combined with other lines from the poems and alternate productions, such as those about her cooking for the mice, she becomes much more of a maternal figure.

What about the Beetles' tattoo?

That's the name of the tap number. That's all.

Yes, many of these implications remain in the lyrics, but it just goes to show how important careful staging is and what a difference it can make. Isn't it just so cool?

First-time viewers may be thrown off by the cuts in this number. The original VHS release couldn't handle a very long runtime, so this is the compromise :(.

I've always loved this little lean Cassandra does.

Pouncival is reprimanded #2

6: The Rum Tum Tugger

YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT THIS MAN IS JOHN PARTRIDGE. YOU NEED TO SEE HOW GREAT HE IS. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT HE PERFORMED IN CATS FROM 1989 TO 2005. AT AGE 18 HE EARNED THE ROLE OF ALONZO, THE DANCE CAPTAIN, IN THE ORIGINAL UK TOUR.

I've never seen another Tugger move quite like him.

I'm pretty sure Pouncival is the one doing the backflip here

AGAIN. I LOVE THAT THIS JENNY HAS SOME AGE TO HER. I LIKE THAT SHE WALKS HUNCHED. I LIKE THAT MUNKUSTRAP IS HELPING HER UP.

For fic reasons, I've previously had to keep track of Pouncival during this song, and if I have to know that he disappears between these shots, so do you.

Also, I'm not adding images for it because I'm running out, but the amount of wingmanning Plato does in this number is unreal.

This is the part where, were I actually sitting on a couch with my non-Cats mutuals watching this, I would look over at all of your faces to see your reactions to somebody treating the Rum Tum Tugger like this. Usually, nobody cares :(

^^^This is my second-favorite bit of choreography in the number. The idea of Tugger intentionally tripping up Pouncival and Tumblebrutus just to mess with them is really funny to me. He's literally playing around with the kids. Why do I never see anybody talk about this

^ This is my favorite bit of choreography in this number because nobody I show this to, whether they enjoy the experience or not, ever forgets it.

They

And the little sequence of looks they do...

Welcome to my favorite character detail in this number. "Is it-" yeah it's alonzo catsthemusical. We're talking about him again. My friends are tired of hearing me point this out every single time but I LOVEEEE that the characters rubbed the wrong way by Tugger are the older cats, who are sitting at the back of the stage, Munkustrap, who is standing in the back because Tugger is his cringe middle schooler brother, and Alonzo, who is as far away from and above the front of the stage as possible without physically falling off the set.

I love when Tugger hates him back. I love when Tugger doesn't acknowledge him whatsoever because he doesn't think about him whatsoever. Bonus points for monochromatic siblings enjoyers, since Alonzo here then gets to take on the perspective of "my bestie's cringe middle schooler brother is dating my middle schooler brother and it sucks." There's no losing here.

These two are literally me. Ignore the crotch. Sometimes I think about getting a cat and then I remember "I'll leap on your lap in the middle of your sewing" and I'm like haha yeah no... no can do sir...

THE THOUGHTFULNESS THIS SHOT GIVES TUGGER!!! I know he'd normally be going through the audience but the fact the director said "hey what if Demeter is having a Moment and this curious cat snaps her out of it" is mwah. Chef's kiss

yeah.

Literally, how did I ever watch this number without paying attention to Pouncival

I no longer have picture privileges but there's also a little detail near the end here where Tumblebrutus nudges Skimble and Asparagus to make sure they're paying attention. These two kittens <3 <3 <3