#they all connect somehow.?

[vaguely-concerned]

So much of Garak as a person starts to make sense once you know his childhood was a fucking gothic novel. His main playground was a graveyard and he'd play pretend by perfoming improv eulogies to an imagined audience. For a long time his main touchstone for most important figures from recent history is 'oh yeah I know about that guy my dad buried him. great flower arrangements for that one'. He finds out later his 'parents' are actually a brother and sister who had to get married to avoid the utter shame and social devastation of having a child born out of wedlock, and they live in the basement of his biological father's house. (the madwoman in the attic vs. the tiny elim in the basement.) His biological father calls himself his uncle and locks him in a closet whenever he fails to live up to his insane and unpredictable expectations and everyone just has to act like that's normal and expected, and his will hangs over everything at all times, unseen but always felt keener than anything else. The father who actually raised him grows the world's most beautiful (and as it turns out, most poisonous) orchids and keeps the mask of a god hidden in a box in his work shed. Everyone in the house is choking down secrets like it's the only air they know how to breathe anymore.

What I'm saying is that right from the get-go this guy never had the faintest shot at turning out normal, so I'm glad that by middle age he's found a way to get a bit silly with it as he continues to be deeply deeply not normal about anything ever <3

[mollywog]

Not Katniss using the word delicious to describe a feeling connected to Peeta right after comparing her need to kiss him to hunger

[icaruspendragon]

thinking about nick nelson… and how he spent so much time in a hyper masculine environment… but he feels most comfortable around girls… thinking about how “some of the rugby boys are nice” yet imogen is the first person he decides to come out to outside of his family and other queer people (and tao)… thinking about how he didn’t really have close friends until he reconnected with tara… and how tara and darcy were the first friends he made on his own… not because of proximity like the rugby lads or because they were charlie’s friends first… but because he felt safe enough with them to create a meaningful, non-superficial connection… not because that’s what was expected of him… but because he wanted to… thinking about his little smile when darcy says “we’re such meddling gays and i love it”… and what that must have meant to him… thinking about how before charlie… nick’s best friend was seemingly his mum… and how often someone said “nick nelson is the straightest person i’ve ever seen”… and all of that makes me wonder… how many people see him… and think they know exactly who he is… but the first time he’s actually seen is when charlie comes along… many thoughts…

[golden-bean-soup]

Where The Book really is

[iscreamkitty]

Hamato gremlins

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

the Klavier-Edgeworth parallels of I Don't Care How You Feel, the Truth Is the Only Thing That Matters™ are very interesting, but the Klavier-Phoenix parallels of nothing bad has ever affected me in my life idk what you're talking about that didn't mean anything I'm not talking about it I'm not thinking about it I'm not acknowledging it they may not be dead but they're dead to me and that's how I like it I'm never looking at them again because they're dead they're gone they're a ghost and this is a perfectly healthy way to live look at me I'm thriving I'm thriving I'm thriving are also very interesting, do you get what I'm saying.

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

guy who so desperately tries to find god. who wants to have faith in a higher authority to guide him out of the hole he's in. from the weight of guilt from simply existing, as the person he is. but every time he thinks he's answered his higher calling it turns out he's made the Morally Incorrect choice and his path to goodness and holiness was the road to the devil all along

[spaceistheplaceart]

ART FOR DONATIONS

I'm updating my commission rules for this: a donation towards ANY verified congo, sundanese, palestinian, etc fundraiser or organization I will return with art for. Because I haven't seen any art for donation projects open for new artists, I'm doing one on this blog. Although, if you know of any that are open I could apply to: please let me know!

Places to Donate:

You can donate anywhere, but here are a few I have seen that I trust.

anything on OOB

gazafunds.com

helpgazachildren

gazaesims

PalestineAction on twitter is doing great direct action work, and you can donate to legal funds etc here.

Sudan, Congo, and other countries relief fundraiser masterposts (here) and (here) and (here)

This is by no means a comprehensive list and if you see another source you trust, lmk and I'll update this post for others.

Donation Rates:

$3+ = a sketch

$5+ = a sketch + lineart

$10+ = coloured sketch

$15+ = coloured sketch + lineart

To get art, just donate, then send me a screenshot of your donation email confirmation into my askbox. Give me what you want me to draw, and I'll do it once I've verified the donation :)

[ingravinoveritas]

martinsharmony replied to your post “Another tidbit from Rob Wilkins at Ineffable Con…”

!!! I did not know that David would not let go! WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS

@martinsharmony I don't think any of us knew! At least not besides the folks who attended Ineffable Con last year. I don't remember this ever being mentioned after the event, and I'm floored at how it somehow didn't come out until now.

And now I can't help thinking of what else we don't know about the kiss, even though so much of what we do know and have heard has already painted an incredible picture. This new information also has me thinking of Michael's comments on The Assembly with a fresh perspective...

That maybe the reason Michael and David didn't talk about it beforehand was because there was so much emotion involved. Because they both knew exactly what to do to bring what was needed to that kiss, without saying a word. And that the reason they don't talk about it now is because they both already know exactly what it meant, to the characters and to themselves.

For my part, I would've thought for certain that it would be Michael who couldn't let go. But David. David is like the dark horse that no one ever saw coming...and yet somehow this feels so much like him, like what we have seen before with David more often expressing himself through actions than words. David, who very possibly knows too well what it's like to have such powerful feelings pent up for so long, feelings that he could only pour out into one beautiful, sorrowful, perfectly imperfect kiss.

And that also makes me think of something else David said about the kiss, about the most difficult part being other people's awkwardness. The kiss kept going and going, and David wouldn't let go, and maybe that's what others were seeing. The reason why he wouldn't let go. That there was something so deeply intimate happening between him and Michael--beyond the physical--and in that moment, there was no hiding it or disguising it or playing it off as a joke. Maybe David wouldn't let go because somewhere along the way, he stopped acting and started being, just the same way that Michael did five years ago with Aziraphale.

So yes, I am very much blown away by what we've learned today, almost exactly a year after seeing the kiss in GO 2. I can only imagine what we'll continue to find out in the weeks, months, and years ahead...

[willthelies]

Do you know what day August 28th is?

A lot of fictional characters share birthdays, but how many can you think of who share a fake birthday? Probably only two-Snoopy and Will Byers.

On August 28, 1951, Charles Schulz drew this comic strip in celebration of Snoopy's birthday:

Will's birthday, established by his funeral program in Stranger Things' first season, occurred exactly twenty years later, on August 28, 1971.

Or did it?

In season 2, Will's birthday of March 22nd is written into the script pointedly, right before he uses morse code to communicate with his friends and family, in a manner very similar to this scene in Camp Snoopy:

March 22 is now Will's official birthday, celebrated behind the scenes of Stranger Things, even though the characters failed to acknowledge it last season.

Meanwhile, August 10th became Snoopy's official birthday for Peanuts fans, after a second Snoopy birthday comic strip, published in 1968.

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Fjord 🤝 Ashton highly questionable decisions about power because that power is associated with their parents or surrogate parent whom they never truly knew and because they desperately hope that holding this power will grant a connection to those parents, in whose footsteps they unwisely follow at least for a short time (also pretty rock they violently and magically cough back up)

[alwynwitch]

Raglan James or... Marius de Romanus?

Okay, so I still believe for like 80-90% that Raglan James is Marius. Mainly because of two clues:

1) The connection between Marius's painting in the Dubai dining room and Real Rashid

At the end of episode 4, Daniel searches for Marius in the Talamasca art folder. We get a full-screen picture of Marius's painting. This is a hint for the viewers: the vampire Marius (who was properly introduced in this episode as Armand's maker) has a painting that is in Dubai!

Why is this important? In this season, we saw the painting when Real Rashid was introduced in episode 1. This is the first shot of Real Rashid we get:

I'm here to serve, positioned between Marius's painting and Daniel. He is here to serve Daniel... on Marius's orders?

And later on, when Daniel held his speech about disguise and hiding, we see again a close-up of Real Rashid and Marius's painting:

In episode 6 we see that Raglan James and Real Rashid know each other and they seem to be working together. Or better... Real Rashid works for Raglan James? He serves him... like he was telling Daniel he is here to serve with Marius's painting in the background. He is hiding the person he really serves: Marius.

2) Roman Weiss Publishing House

Daniel's memoir was published by Roman Weiss Publishing House:

Sounds like a reference to Marius, the "wise Roman". And Raglan James starts talking about... publishing: "We can help you find a publisher." A publisher? Like Roman Weiss Publishing House? Hmmm.... Suspicious.....

In the books Marius tries to take care of Daniel when he lost his mind. Maybe this is the AMC!Universe version of this plot?

Bonus

This Raglan James guy is just too much. It's almost like he is giving some hysterical imitation of the Talamasca and the body swap comment was also very much in your face and over the top. It could be that Raglan James really is this hysterical, though I would expected him to be more subtle. Or it could be that Marius is giving a parody of him? We know Marius is socially awkward and bad at flirting. He talks not WITH people but TO them. Who knows...

Why would Marius do this?

I'm not sure, but I see some clues for his motivation:

Firstly, he likes to spy on Armand and he loves Daniel. And he meddles sometimes with Armand's life:

For though I had spied upon Amadeo more than once, I saw nothing in him, but the same heartbreaking sadness that I had known in Venice. (Blood and Gold)

"And it's my blood, ancient and powerful, that's filled them to the brim with power so that they can be your worthy companions and not the pale shadow of your soul which Louis always was." (Marius to Armand in The Vampire Armand)

Secondly, Marius is thematically connected to the Talamasca, because his maker co-founded it and he corresponded with them as well (Raymond). So it would not be weird if they introduce him in this context. Maybe they will even give Marius a more active role with the Talamasca in the show?

Thirdly, I sense a certain self-destructiveness in Marius regarding Akasha and Enkil. He played an active role in making the secret of vampires known to the public. He decided to tell Lestat all his secrets. I think he underestimated Lestat, but part of him seems to encourage it:

For one desperate selfish moment, I looked at Akasha and I thought, I shall give you over to Lestat if that is what you wish! Only tell me how to do it. Rise against Enkil with me! (Blood and Gold)

As for the second resurrection, it was Lestat again, but I am as much to blame myself. (Blood and Gold)

Maybe in the AMC show Daniel's book Interview with the Vampire will bring attention to the existence of vampires and stirs the vampire apocalypse/great conversion further which will rise Akasha. And so Marius plays his role in it: in the books by showing Akasha Lestat's rock music videos and in the show by helping Daniel publish his book?

[capcavan]

Parasocial Relationship

[anticosmicist]

i think it's ridiculous that so many of us went through female adolescence thinking that there was something wrong with our female sex organs. i remember being incredibly self conscious about my uneven breasts, not realizing how normal they were. i've had friends confide in me that they believed they had vaginal infections because nobody had explained to them the nitty gritty of things like discharge and the vagina's natural odor. that's absolutely fucking unacceptable. pubescent boys never have any problems learning how their sex organs work, why is it that girls must be kept in the dark about these things? could it be that forcing girls to grow up with the notion that their bodies are inherently wrong is essential to the suppression of female liberation? like why does nobody ever think of these things.

[blazingstar24]

I hope the BH communes with the Wildmother and Dorian calls her ass out for what happened with Opal.

Like get your gentle breeze shit out of here when not 3 days ago, your champion (which she only got by holding Opal’s fate over Fy’ra’s head) was begging you for help and she said sorry the evil lady tearing apart your sister’s soul is my sister so gonna give her a pass.

Dorian should get to ask her what was different about helping Laudna get rid of the evil lady controlling her and helping Opal get rid of the evil lady controlling her? What was so different that she had to go “sorry I can’t help…..unless you choose to give yourself over to me fully”

Ashton can also back Dorian up and prove that he’s right about the Gods playing favorites because funny how when Orym, someone who isn’t even her follower, needs a boon, she shows up. But Fy’ra, a devout follower, begs for help, asks for some other way, she says no, you haven’t done enough for me yet.

Fy’ra herself fully admits that she know that nature isn’t fair but that the Wildmother would never let abominations and aberrations come to pass. And the Wildmother straight up goes…yeah but that’s my sis so free pass for today. Nature isn’t fair or good but Melora had set rules for her followers which she didn’t even uphold.

So I hope they speak with Melora and Dorian and Ashton get to demand they do better. And not just her, the Raven Queen too. The whole Pantheon actually.

[statementlou]

hello :) could you maybe explain a little bit how dan wootton blackmailed louis?

ugh sorry for taking a while to get to this. The problem is I feel like the only two ways to answer this are by spending a week and a half of full time labor sifting through old posts and evidence to get every detail right and lay out an airtight case, or to halfass something very serious, and so I felt a little stuck. So since I can't seem to find a good halfway point, apologies but here is the half assed version, if you want to get into it more I invite you to do your own deep dive or talk to other people, but here's how I remember things. Louis has almost never on video explicitly said things about Larry not being real and/or anything negative about fans and their theories (mostly the opposite), up until the last couple years when he obviously decided to make a major change he didn't talk about Freddie much at all let alone saying he was his kid, honestly not that much about Eleanor even; except for in two major interviews with Dan Wootton, each of which lined up with a serious traumatic Tomlinson family event that they managed to keep out of the tabloids until the very end (Jay's illness and Fizzy's struggles with substance abuse). After the fact of those events a lot of small things that didn't make sense at the time came together to look very much like Louis traded those interviews (and those answers) for having his family's private matters kept private. Story trading of this kind is a publicly known real thing that happens, and there were various clues that suggested he was being leaned on about those stories to lend legitimacy to the idea that it was something that happened in these cases. Given what we know about Dan Wootton and how he operates even before the recent flood of information and even more now, I think it's more than likely that he has been holding the threat of outing Louis (as he has done to many other public figures) over his head for over a decade, and has used his family's tragic struggles to get Louis to dance like a fucking puppet for him and I will REJOICE at his downfall when it comes whether it is now or 20 years from now... because someday it will, he has made too many enemies to stay above it forever