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landhoehoehoe · 2 years

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blur the line - Logan Sargeant

Wow, when I started writing this in August I never would have thought that this story would torture me so much but it's finally here! (At least Part 1 of 3 lol) but dw, Part 2 is pretty much finished already and Part 3 just needs a little more fixing :)

Posting this today in honor of Logan's FP1 outing 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

Song rec for this fic: Electric Love by BØRNS

Warnings: none, this part of the story is cute fluff with only a little bit of spice

Logan Sargeant x reader; As an F2 rookie you quickly get along with a specific American driver

“Y/n! Y/n, look here!”,

You were followed closely by the countless photographers as you made your way to the grid on the first race day of a new season.

But today wasn’t just the first race day of the season, it was also your very first race day in Formula 2 as Prema had signed you for this season, making you the only female driver in F2 currently.

Of course your excitement was over the roof, but you’d already prepared yourself for the scrutiny you’d be under.

It would be crucial where you’d finish, not only for the team but for your own mentality as well.

You wanted to show everyone out there that you were the best, that you deserved your seat in F2.

So naturally next to the excitement there was also a certain nervousness flowing through you as you walked over to your car for the first feature race of the season.

“Y/n!”, someone suddenly called out behind you. You turned around to see Logan Sargeant running towards you, his helmet already on his head.

You didn’t particularly know the Carlin driver that well, but he had been one of the first to welcome you to F2, introducing you to all the new faces you didn’t know.

“Good luck out there, you’re going to crush it.”, he smiled reassuringly, making you smile, too.

Something about his tone made you believe that he wasn’t just saying the words to make you feel better.

You just knew that he actually meant what he’d said and you immediately felt better. Because if Logan believed in you, that was one more person rooting for you.

“Thanks, good luck to you, too.”, you grinned, reaching out for his hand to give him a handshake.

As he walked away, you shouted after him:

“I’ll see you when I overtake you!”

He laughed, winking at you before turning around again.

“We’ll see about that!”

The interaction left you with a comfortable, warm feeling in your stomach.

Somehow Logan had managed to take away half your nerves and half your fears that something bad might happen.

You could climb into your car with more confidence now, the excitement and thrill of racing taking over as your hands gripped the wheel.

Leaving the pits, your teammate Dennis sent you another reassuring smile and soon enough your car stood lined up at P12. Not a bad qualifying result for your first time in F2, yet still not good enough to be able to play in the big leagues.

———

“Shut up, Fred! You try remembering that night first!”, Dennis laughed as he retold the hilarious events of a wild party night.

You sat next to Dennis, opposite Logan and Frederik.

The three of them had asked you to join their little Prema reunion dinner before the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix.

Even though you had only signed with Prema this year you’d immediately felt the strong bond between the boys so you had decided to go out with them.

However you were still glad that you could sit next to Dennis because you knew him the best out of all of them since he was your teammate.

Sometimes you could become rather shy, especially around such extroverted people like Dennis and Fred, who argued and laughed about everything.

When Dennis started describing Fred’s karaoke performance from one of their drunk nights, all of you laughed at Fred’s frown, him being the only one who couldn’t laugh about the story.

“You know I’ve actually once heard that-”, you started, but got cut off quickly by an annoyed Fred who reached out to slap Dennis’ head.

“Shut up, Dennis! Or do you want me to tell them about your bathroom incident?”, apparently Fred hadn’t heard you saying anything because his whole focus laid on Dennis, who crossed his arms in a challenging way now.

You shut your mouth again, unsure about whether to keep talking and boring them with your story.

“If you want to go there, please do. But then I can’t promise to keep your street-sign-stealing incident a secret anymore!”, Dennis shot right back at Fred with a wicked grin on his face.

The two of them were so caught up in their argument that you decided to look elsewhere, until suddenly you noticed Logan’s gaze resting on you.

When your eyes met he sent you a shy smile.

“Keep talking, y/n. I’m listening.”, he encouraged softly, completely ignoring the other two drivers at your table.

A smile crept onto your face. Logan had listened to you.

Once again it evoked a sudden warm, comforting feeling in you.

You leaned forward towards him so that he could actually hear you over the other’s bickering and he did the same, leaning in on his elbows.

His eyes were curious, showing you genuine interest, which made you stupidly happy for some odd reason.

“Well um.. I was saying that I’ve heard that when you’re drunk, your hidden talents come out.. so maybe Fred’s is singing karaoke.”

Logan’s smile grew wider until he broke out in a laugh, his soft eyes still fixated on you.

“But do you really believe that? I mean… I’ve heard Fred sing before and… it’s not pretty.”

Now you had to laugh, too, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear.

Logan watched your movement carefully, his eyes following your hand.

“You’ve never heard him singing when he was drunk though, right?”, you retorted, making him frown in contemplation.

He thought about it for a second. The two brawlers next to you were now completely ignored by the both of you.

“That’s a good point. So what would you say is your drunk talent?”, he asked, leaning forward again.

Now it was your turn to think.

As your eyes wandered to the ceiling to think, you could feel his gaze resting on you, making you shift in your seat nervously.

“Definitely not dancing.”, you laughed as one specific incident came to your mind.

“Maybe cooking?”

Logan tilted his head as he gave you an intrigued look.

“I can make the best grilled cheese sandwiches when I’m drunk, I swear.”, you explained, pulling a laugh from him yet again.

“But not when you’re sober?”, he asked, still smiling.

“Hell no, keep me away from the kitchen for your own safety!”, you immediately replied, letting out another laugh.

“But if you ever need a grilled cheese at 3am, call me.”

Logan nodded, something inexplainable now lying in his eyes.

“I might have to take you up on that offer soon.”, he winked, smiling at you.

Your smile also grew wider, feeling as comfortable as ever around Logan.

Only then did you notice that Dennis and Fred had seemingly forgotten about their fight again, the two of them listening to you intently.

“What do you want?”, you asked Fred, an amused expression on your face.

“Nothing, I’m just observing you two love birds.”, Fred immediately grinned, wiggling with his eyebrows suggestively while Dennis joined in on his laughter.

You rolled your eyes, exchanging a shy glance with Logan who couldn’t help but smile.

“At least he listens to me when I talk.”, you replied with an accusatory look towards Dennis.

———

Come the next races, Logan and you grew more and more comfortable around each other, always magically finding each other in the paddock before races, which resulted in the pair of you becoming a beloved duo amongst the photographers.

“Hey, shorty, how are you doing on this fine day?”, Logan approached you from the side as you were walking through the paddock at the Austrian Grand Prix.

He was wearing a fancy pair of sunglasses and a blue Carlin shirt.

Of course, he looked as attractive as ever.

Immediately your face lit up at the sight of him.

No matter how nervous you were before a race, Logan somehow had the magical ability to take all the nerves away.

“Not everyone can be as tall as you, Slender Man. And I’m doing fine, what about you?”

Logan laughed at your remark and casually laid an arm around your shoulder to walk besides you. It caused a sudden electric wave to surge through your body.

“I’m really looking forward to this track. Spielberg will be my race, I guarantee you.”, he replied, angling his face towards the sun to enjoy the warmth with a confident grin on his face.

“Not if I overtake you.”, you were quick to respond, making him face you again, his arm still resting around your shoulders.

Just as he was about to reply, however, he saw something behind you and his whole body stiffed up instantly.

His arm fell from your shoulder as he cursed lowly under his breath.

Confused, you turned around to see the reason for Logan’s mood change: Photographers had spotted the two of you. Not again…

You sighed as you saw the Prema garage a few steps away.

“Well, good luck out there.”, you smiled at him softly.

“Thanks. You, too.”, he returned your smile, then started walking towards the Carlin garage before the photographers reached you.

Before you could enter your garage though, you heard your name being called.

“Y/n!”

You turned to where the voice had come from, only to see Logan standing in front of his own garage, already looking at you.

“I’ll see you when I overtake you!”, he shouted over the buzzing of the paddock with a cheeky smile on his face.

You couldn’t help but smile widely.

He’d used the tagline you usually used when you saw him.

“We’ll see about that!”, you shouted back, making both of you grin like little children.

The Austrian Grand Prix had been good. Very good.

So good that you almost couldn’t believe it was real when your race engineer shouted “P3!” into your ear over the radio.

This was your first time on the podium in F2.

As soon as you stepped out of the car, someone called your name.

“Y/n!”, you recognized his voice immediately.

Before you could even run to your team, Logan had already gained your full attention.

Simply by calling out your name he’d evoked the strong urge to hug him inside of you.

So you let the emotions overcome you and ran towards him.

He gripped you tightly when you fell into his arms and lifted you off the ground to spin you around.

You squealed, ecstatic laughter escaping your lips.

“That was a mega mega drive, y/n, holy shit!”, Logan exclaimed, his excitement levelling your own.

You sighed heavily when he put you back down after squeezing your waist once. A comforting warm feeling spread from where his hands had been touching you.

Only slowly did the realization sink in that you’d just driven into the Top 3.

The moment felt so unreal, you were almost certain you had to be dreaming.

“Thanks, you didn’t do so bad yourself, Sargeant.”, you winked at him, to which he replied with a confident smirk.

“Next time I’ll be overtaking you for P1, though.”, you added teasingly, earning yourself an amused eye roll from him.

“You wish…Still got a lot to learn, little one.”, he gracefully dodged your punch to the shoulder and excused himself to celebrate with his team, so you also went to where your team was waiting for you, with the biggest smile on your face.

Every interaction with Logan was just so comfortable and easy.

Later on the podium you couldn’t stop smiling.

The grin literally couldn’t be wiped off your face during the whole ceremony, but the part you were most looking forward to was still ahead of you: The champagne spraying.

Once the time had come, everyone on the podium steps popped their bottles open and tried spraying each other without getting too wet themselves.

“This is for calling me little!”, you shouted, taking joy in aiming the champagne right at Logan’s face.

Logan screwed his eyes shut and blindly sprayed his champagne everywhere.

“Oh you are so done.”, his voice sounded threatening, which made you gulp before you decided it would be the smarter move to make a run for it.

You squealed hysterically when he started chasing you around the podium, but couldn’t hold back your laughter at the same time.

The people standing below the podium simply enjoyed watching the wild goose chase.

Once again, you forgot about all the people watching the two of you, because all that mattered in this moment was Logan:

Logan, whose messy hair always fell right into his eyes.

Logan, whose beautiful green eyes got you lost so easily.

Logan, who made you laugh effortlessly to the point where you could forget about the rest of the world momentarily.

When he’d almost caught up to you, you saw the others leaving the podium from the corner of your eye and it gave you an idea.

Surely he wouldn’t dare spray the champagne if you were behind the podium where many other innocent people were around.

Quickly you bolted off the podium and already stopped running because you thought you’d be safe, but there was not a single soul behind the podium.

You heard Logan’s heavy breathing behind you.

“Got you, little one.”, he smirked while he came closer, holding his champagne bottle high in the air over your head.

“Where is everyone?”, you panted, still not believing that your plan hadn’t worked.

The corners of Logan’s mouth twitched.

“Right. I forgot this is your first podium. It’s normal that everyone leaves because otherwise they risk getting sprayed.”, he explained, a devilish grin on his face as he explained.

Your shoulders slumped. So much for your genius plan.

“Are you ready for the shower of your life?”, Logan stepped even closer to you, hovering the bottle above your head.

You looked from Logan to the bottle and back to Logan, before you finally accepted your fate with a shrug.

“Do it.”, you kept the eye contact with him as you said so.

That’s when you saw something else flare up in Logan’s eyes: a sudden change of heart perhaps?

His eyes got darker, causing you to gulp, not able to get another word out.

When had the atmosphere changed so drastically?

“Open your mouth.”, he ordered in a low voice, his eyes falling to your lips.

Confused, you furrowed your brows.

“What?”

“You heard me.”, his voice was raspy when he lowered the champagne bottle so that it no longer hovered above you.

Instead, it was now at the height of your mouth.

With one last look at him you hesitantly opened your mouth.

Keeping eye contact with you, one of Logan’s hands came up to tilt your chin slightly upwards.

Then he poured the champagne into your mouth and you swallowed it immediately.

You could basically feel his eyes burning into you and you felt slightly uncomfortable under his intense stare, but it also made him so incredibly attractive.

His hand under your chin, his eyes switching between your lips and your eyes.

God, you have never wanted to kiss a person so badly.

Logan softly pulled your chin towards him, making you fear you might faint right then and there.

Your heart was beating out of your chest so loudly by now that you were sure Logan could hear it, too.

Once you were close enough to feel his hot breath on your skin you didn’t dare breathe, a tingling feeling building in your stomach in anticipation.

“Finally! There you are! We wanna go celebrate, come on guys!”, Fred called out from behind you, ultimately destroying the moment.

Immediately Logan and you drove apart.

You almost wanted to sigh in disappointment when he quickly pulled his hand away from your chin as if he’d burned himself.

“We’re coming, we’re coming, relax!”, Logan shouted back, waving his friend off.

Then he returned his attention back to you, who was still processing what had just happened between the two of you.

In complete contrast to how he’d just devoured you with his eyes, he now gave you a shy smile.

“I’ll see you at the club, then?”, one of his hands nervously came up to the back of his neck while he tilted his head at you.

You could only nod.

“Sure. See you later.”, with a fogged up mind you walked away from Logan, who was trying to catch up to Fred.

“Since when is it important for you to be on time?”, you heard him ask the Danish driver.

“Since we all got points and Y/n got her first podium and you won another race?!”, Fred replied in a matter-of-fact tone before they disappeared out of your sight.

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grapesodatozier · 2 years

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okay but nancy’s reaction to robin at the library front desk makes so much sense for her character. karen is affectionate with her, and tries her best, but we saw in season 1 that she really struggled to communicate with nancy and only really got to openly communicating with her about her feelings by season 3. and karen and ted clearly haven’t been a very good example of communicating how you’re actually feeling and what you’re actually thinking. so nancy is really not good at communicating (we see this with mike too). nancy didn’t really open up about her feelings about all of the events of season 1 until she got blackout drunk a year later. and we can tell she’s still not super accustomed to heart-to-hearts in season 3 when she says “I don’t need a jonathan byers pep talk right now, I need to be on time,” which shows how much more used to having emotional conversations jonathan is, bc he’s always having them with joyce and will, whereas nancy rarely talks about her feelings with karen and pretty much never with mike.

so imagine being that unfamiliar with open emotional communication, being so used to passive aggression and keeping personal stuff to yourself, and then within the first ten minutes of meeting robin she just starts being like “hi I feel like you’re annoyed here are my insecurities and anxieties and where they come from and how my mother reinforces them” like nancy probably feels like she got hit by a bus in that moment, like she’s SO out of her depth. and it’s played for laughs but it’s kinda sad that robins like “here is plain open communication immediately” and nancy’s just like “what the fuck is that what is happening” like she is so bewildered by someone being clear and open so quickly bc she’s so personally closed off. and it is v painful a a viewer to watch her be rude to robin when robins trying her best to understand what’s happening, but even though it’s not the kind response I think its the in character response and it makes sense that nancy’s immediate response is a little passive aggressive bc there’s a lot of passive aggression in her house.

and like lbr robin probably did hurt nancy’s feelings a little by calling her idea a shot in the dark bc nancy’s intelligence is very important to her so she probably feels like robin was calling her dumb which probably hurt her and her response is to be a little bitchy bc that’s what she’s learned! (and mike does it too throughout the whole show, which also shows how it’s learned from the environment they both grew up in). so it’s so cool to see that scene bc yes it’s played for laughs but also it’s a really concise look into how nancy and robin each respond differently to their feelings being hurt. when nancy feels insulted she gets snippy and when robin feels like nancy’s being a little rude she’s like “let’s talk about why!” and nancy has no idea what to do with that. anyway I just appreciated that point of consistency in nancy’s character and think it’s really interesting how you can see how each character’s upbringing affects them (especially nancy and mike and how similar their communication skills—or lack thereof—are).

also makes it very sweet to see the slow progress. like nancy still being snippy even as she opens up to robin more: “so maybe I did flinch or wince or something!” but then she does eventually get soft and vulnerable too when she says “does that make us… friends? like, officially?” like she seems so hesitant and nervous to put that out there openly but robins been so open with her that she goes for it! and then when robin takes her hand she looks surprised but then eases into it and is able to be open and comfort her and responds well to robins vulnerability by the end of the season!! UGH their relationship is so important to me. okay sorry this was just supposed to be about nancy not ronance but here we are anyway lol okay have a good day thanks if you read all this lmao

#listen nancy is getting there okay lol #also:#would love to know more about robins upbringing and home life #nancy wheeler #ronance #alcohol cw #alcohol mention #angst cw #st4

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luckstergal · 7 days

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Yandere Elliott Mod is funny as hell (to me)

Disclaimer: None of this is meant to be taken seriously, this is me rambling into the void and to my friends.

I cannot believe I'm reviewing a mod, lol. Is it a review? I don't know anymore, just giving my take on it.

It's been like 2 weeks since I gave the Yandere Elliott mod a try and honestly I find it more unintentionally hilarious than off-putting in most places.

I felt that some of the moments could be interpreted as genuinely wholesome and sweet if you isolated them (but that's just how context works in a nutshell I suppose. Look, I genuinely thought the insomnia scene and the post-moonlight-jellies scene with adorable, alright?).

The fact that I have to go out of my way to play very different than I ever would have certainly modifies my overall perspective. If I played normally, the only really unsettling thing would be his unhinged letters. Well, one in particular at least. Most of the letters were campy and funny, knowing how melodramatic this character is naturally. Only 1 letter made me and 2 other people I showed it to go "Oh GOD". Everything else? Unintentionally hilarious, or wholesome if you take the obsession letters out. His stalker-schedule was funny as hell. What do I mean by that? How is the "stalker schedule" funny? The mod alters his schedule after 1 heart, so he'll periodically go spy on you on the farm. This was scary only twice for me because I didn't expect it, and there was a long gap between the first time and the second time. Once summer hit, however, it got funny. He was showing up every single day at 6:30 on the dot, except for Friday and Sunday. He was so punctual that I'd look at the clock, see he's about to show up, and prepare myself for my daily convo with him/gift giving if it's Monday and Tuesday. Man was so consistent it was hilarious.

Even better: when he's standing there for so long, his pathfinding kinda... glitches? He'll act like there's something in front of him preventing his movement (like when a player character standing in an NPC's pathing) and suddenly just... book it across the map into the void. Practically died laughing (though I did freak out the first time it happened because I thought "WAIT THIS MOD LETS HIM CHASE YOU?" only for him to run passed and into nothingness)

It actually got a bit lonely in autumn when he stopped showing up and opted to camp outside the mines instead all day. (Elli, sweetie, Ignatius is not going there most of the time because autumn 1 is a busy season for him, come back!) The fact that I have to fully romance all the other bachelors in order to activate one of the legitimately most unhinged aspects of the mod is what throws me off. I know they're fictional characters, but I've always felt icky at multi-dating personally. Just not for me. I pick one and I stick with my decision. Reading the text in the content file is one thing, but I wanted to see the event play out for myself.

After the event, it got hilarious again completely on accident.

Cue Elli not letting Ignatius leave the farm because of his jealousy. It was winter when this happened. The Obsession Cage-Loop event is designed to where Pierre will send you 50 of a random seed packet every day to make up for the fact that you cannot leave.

Crops don't grow in winter.

The mod makes up for this fact by Pierre sending you ANCIENT FRUIT SEEDS. I had over 300 seeds by the time spring hit. Elli straight up SCAMMING Pierre during the Cage-Loop completely on accident. I'm just sitting here thinking "Dang, had I known this would have happened, I'd have activated this sooner AND kept Elli's heart-level low just to get more bang for my buck. Endless supply of Ancient Fruit Seeds just because you're jealous? Yes please!".

After the cage-loop is over, that's pretty much it. Elli apologizes, wants to do better so you feel safe around him, is willing to just be tormented by his jealousy; etc. and things just kinda go... normal??? After that. He still has his eye-brow raising marriage lines afterwards but after everything has passed, he's not too unsettling.

He's just a weirdo who doesn't know how to handle his love.

Other than ONE letter, and the fact that I had to go OUT OF MY WAY to deliberately activate the Cage-Loop event?

This mod vanilla as fuck, lol.

And no, I didn't do the divorce event. I have a history relating to such dark thoughts and even just reading the dialogue in the content file made me uncomfortable.

Overall 10/10 good way to have spent my week between my 2.0 vtuber model work.

It also do not help at all that what makes this mod hilarious in my head is that I play as an inhuman farmer who absolutely towers over Elli in every way. Ignatius is not threatened by this obsessive weirdo in the least bit.

#Blog OP #SDV Elliott #Yandere Elliott #Shitposting #For all intent and purposes this is a shitpost don't take me seriously

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lewishamil10n · 10 months

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went through your chores choreman tag, and it opened my eyes to the possibilities. in the past, I mostly focused on hilson and huddy and whatever wilson and cuddy are called but never the fellows. you have correct opinions on valewis and middle-aged men being not normal about each other, so you are definitely right about choreman. tell me more about choreman, please, bc your taste? impeccable.

hi! so first of all

you have correct opinions on valewis and middle-aged men being not normal about each other

is the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me, thank you :')

ok coming round to your ask — i feel you because one my first watch i didn't care abt choreman much, all my focus was on hilson and huddy as well. hell, i didn't even like chase till midway through s3 lol even though foreman was my favorite since episode 1.

second watch though, is usually when i notice the smaller details, and the funny thing about choreman is that i am damn sure all of it is entirely unintended. which is fine! the writers paid more attention to hilson/huddy, chameron got some attention (though not a lot), and then foreteen became a thing too. but if you're paying attention only to chase and foreman, it's a RIDE. which i am putting under a readmore to be considerate lol

so season 1 starts off with foreman being the newest member of the team. it's clear they get on fine in the beginning — we see them having lunches together, chase answers foreman's questions about house's insanity, etc. but by the time the vogler arc starts, it becomes clear that foreman, in all his judgy glory, doesn't actually hold a very high opinion of chase; he obviously thinks chase is a spoiled selfish nepo baby who doesn't care about his job. when vogler wants them to fire someone, foreman's vote is for chase. and then he's sort of proven right when chase goes behind their backs to help vogler. from that point onwards the lunches together and jokes become snark and derision, and it's obvious they're not friends.

season 2 is more of the same, pretty much — until euphoria. i can't emphasize enough how meaningful that moment is, with chase and foreman's dad in the chapel. it's really such a small moment, especially at first glance. foreman's dad doesn't know how to talk to him; he's religious, he's got a spiritual perspective on everything (including his wife's alzheimer's) and foreman doesn't. on top of that foreman clearly doesn't visit his family much. he's not very religious, and this seems to be a bone of contention between them. it's clear rodney cares about his son a lot; he just doesn't quite know how to express it. he finds chase in the chapel (as we know from s1, chase is religious too, to put it simply). chase, who has recently lost his own father, who has been watching rodney do his best with his son while his own dad never bothered, has very simple advice. "tell him you love him." barebones, straightforward, and that's exactly what rodney does. when foreman is at his worst, his father holds his hand and says "i don't want to miss you" and that is what gets through to foreman. and it's such a little moment! but it means a lot for foreman and his dad, and it goes a long way to show that chase does understand foreman better than anyone thinks he does.

season 3. things begin to change. it turns out chase is working in the NICU as well, because apparently his shithead of a dad cut him out of his will for reasons we never find out. the tritter arc happens. tritter plays chase, and everyone easily accuses him of betraying them. unsurprising due to the events of s1 but sad because it's obvious chase has changed. chase's frustration and exhaustion at being singled out is clearly visible. none of them are friends, but chase especially tends to be singled out; he's the butt of most of house's jokes, cameron finds her daddy issues jabs hilarious, and foreman mostly ignores him. chase and cameron start an fwb arrangement. foreman loses a patient and begins considering leaving ppth. house sabotages him. chase, who understands people better than anyone thinks he does, figures it out. tries to talk about it with foreman, except foreman — who is ashamed — cuts him off and tells him "i don't like you. i never have, and i never will" which obviously takes chase aback. he refuses to write foreman a recommendation letter. house bullies foreman more than usual. chase stands up for him and gets himself fired for the trouble. foreman leaves. cameron quits.

season 4. foreman has no choice but to return to ppth. surprise, chase and cameron never left either. initially foreman seems annoyed to see chase, especially since chase is betting against him, but chase doesn't give a fuck and continues hanging around foreman. foreman sort of lets it happen because sometimes in life you just have to pick your battles and he's already dealing with house and the fellowship hunger games. the infamous exchange between house and wilson happens ("foreman seems protected. maybe he's gay." "does he become an idiot around chase?") which honestly sums up their entire relationship development pretty well. but we'll get to that. s4 is quite short due to the writer's strike that was going on at the time, and ends with a whopper of a double episode that still makes me cry like a little bitch. at the very end, when everyone is dealing with the aftermath of amber's death, we see foreman sitting alone in a diner booth — until someone places a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. he looks up, smiles, and moves aside to make place. it's chase. he and cameron join foreman for dinner. just like old times, eh?

but something's changed.

season 5. house and wilson are temporarily broken up, which house deals with very normally. as in he hires a PI to stalk wilson and also be his substitute bff. the PI digs up dirt on everyone — except foreman, who is squeaky clean. this should be a good thing. to foreman, it is not. everyone calls him boring so he goes off to find chase like AM I BORING???? and chase is like. um. yeah? though you're not so much boring as intensely repressed. then again you do have a tattoo so what do i know. foreman's rationale for asking chase is that chase doesn't care about him enough to lie to him. still, Means Something that when he wants an honest opinion, he goes to the one guy he claims not to like at all. foreman gets offered a clinical trial. thirteen is in it. she's on the placebo. foreman, who's begun dating her, is in a Dilemma. who does he go to for advice first? you guessed it; the guy he claims he'll never like. they have lunch together, and chase tells him not to be an idiot. foreman, establishing a precedent he will continue to act upon for the rest of the show, is an idiot. more stuff happens which i will not elaborate upon. suffice to say they're clearly friends now, despite whatever foreman says because, as established, he's an idiot. also, many scenes of chase and foreman having lunch together. as people that hate each other do.

chase gets engaged with great difficulty and a very Healthy ignorance of the dynamics of his own relationship. foreman "kidnaps" him and gets drunk at his bachelor party, chase gets drunk too, and foreman wraps his arms around him from behind and convinces him to have one more shot. chase is holding a stuffed kangaroo and leaning into foreman. it's all very ... you know. colleagues. yes. then chase licks a stripper and goes into anaphylactic shock, because that's just how his life is. when chase is being wheeled into the hospital, he begins to tell cameron about the party, and foreman, who claims not to give a shit about him, quickly puts his oxygen mask up to shut him up and save him from cameron's wrath. fun times. s5 failmarriage bachelor party you will always be famous.

and then. whoo boy. season 6. s6 my absolute beloved. chase kills a genocidal dictator. or, if we're being pedantic, commits actions that directly lead to his painful death. foreman finds out, confronts him. he's the head of department because house doesn't want to be. this is a high profile case. it's his ass on the line. chase tells him why he did what he did, and asks that if foreman wants to call the cops, at least let him know so he can tell cameron first. foreman considers this, goes "naw" and, acting upon the previously established precedent, covers up the murder. in s5 he was at risk of losing his license; here he's straight up at risk of jail. it's all gucci though. friendly reminder of his insistence he doesn't give a fuck about chase. anyway. chase suffers from obvious ptsd and confides in foreman as they examine some dude's long decomposed remains. foreman covers for him when cameron begins getting suspicious. chase tells cameron and she, while previously a-ok with murdering the dictator, is now all GASP. HOW DARE. HOUSE HAS CORRUPTED YOU. DIVORCE! DIVORCE FOR YOU FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS! chase is understandably upset. foreman is like "i get you dude i just had a breakup too ://" and chase is like be SO for real right now. s6 goes on; chase fits in well with 13 and taub, and it's clear this team is actually friends. including foreman and chase.

also. the karaoke scene. wilson pays house's team to take him out with them so he can stop thirdwheeling him and sam. everyone does so individually; chase and foreman do it as a pair. foreman even negotiates a higher fee; presumably to split with chase. they do karaoke together. looks very much like house is thirdwheeling yet another couple. they have fun, though.

season 7 is the season of the famed chastity belt episode. episode 1 itself starts off with shenanigans, as these two along with taub and 13 try to acquire a neurosurgeon. cuddy wants them to hire a female doc to replace 13. chase hires a hot woman whose resume he fundamentally misunderstands. foreman bullies her because he's mad house didn't ask him. chase is like "can you like, not?" and foreman is like. "shit. you right. ok, i will not" and sticks up for her. doesn't matter, she gets fired anyway. the takeaway is that when foreman is power tripping and chase calls him out, he actually listens. as in, pays attention and values chase's opinion and then corrects himself based on it. they've come a long way. they have a lot of fun moments, like playing rock-paper-scissors to see who has to babysit masters; chase being the world's worst wingman to foreman at a wedding; chase whining to foreman that he didn't get put on a billboard and foreman calling him a pretty boy and a swimsuit model. as one does.

stuff happens. huddy break up. 13 comes back. she's real sad because her honestly? her life kinda sucks i can't lie. masters leaves. they get a patient who won a lottery. chase and foreman get into a discussion where chase is like "well you're worried what it means for the hospital that cuddy's mom is suing house and cuddy, so obviously this means you're repressed as fuck." foreman is like "you're HORNY" and chase is like "am not! i am Going To Wait For True Love now." it's a bet. chase has to try to get a rise out of foreman. no one knows what's at stake here, since they don't discuss money, favors, or anything else changing hands. foreman does say, out loud, in front of God and house and country, that if he wins he gets to put chase in a chastity belt. no one is fazed by this. no one is weirded out by this. no one finds it strange. probably it's a given to them all that foreman constantly wants to dom chase. he does it enough in the workplace anyway. nothing new there.

(they both lose the bet, by the way.)

more stuff happens. huddy break up some more. house gives her living room a nonconsensual renovation. house becomes a temporary part of the US prison industrial complex.

season 8 starts off with many changes — foreman is now dean of medicine, and there's no diagnostic department. taub has fucked off to new york, and chase is off surfing somewhere. 13 has found herself a girlfriend. good for her! but then chase and taub come back. two new fellows join the team. foreman tries to boss house around. it goes as well as you'd expect. chase tells him off for being too restrictive and bureaucratic now. foreman is like "shit, you right" and lets them do whatever they want to the patient. chase gets the right diagnosis. the day is saved. this is their first case back.

more little moments. chase and foreman hang out at taub's house while foreman ruminates on the ethics of his relationship. chase plays peekaboo with babies while taub stews in his own jealousy. it's cute, honestly.

then chase gets stabbed, and foreman, for lack of a better word, panics a little. in that he literally can't figure out whose fault this is, so the obvious solution is to get someone else to make that call. he calls in his old mentor. he knows that if it's his fault, he will be fired. he blames himself a bit, wondering if he should've reined house in more. it's ruled to be nobody's fault. chase, reacting in a Normal and healthy manner, starts sleeping around again, then falls in intense Like with a nun. foreman disapproves. the nun ditches him after a religious experience on the surgical table. chase is sad until house yells some common sense into him, and he returns to the team. they get a case with a little girl. chase finds out the little girl's mum is experimenting on her. next scene is literally foreman interrogating the mum while chase stands behind him like they're some medical crime fighting duo. that'd be a fun spin off actually.

treiber, a pathologist who's got beef with chase, gets sick. house and wilson have fucked off to have a grand adventure. everyone panics. foreman tells chase to stop fucking up the case, but also doesn't take him off it. chase puts his entire pussy into solving the case, and decides to leave the team. foreman tells him "about time", indicating he's thought for quite a while that chase has outgrown the department, and is capable of running his own. they hug while a soft romantic song plays in the background. their scenes are cut with those of house and wilson. not sure who the romantic song applies to; probably both pairings if the lyrics are any indication. listen to it here.

more stuff happens. house fakes his death to drive off into the sunset with wilson. foreman is like, i know JUST the guy to replace him!! and hires chase back, the natural conclusion to chase's arc as a doctor. this is a job that foreman has failed at before, and he is trusting it to chase. they've come SUCH a long way. by the end of the show, not only do they respect each other immensely as colleagues, they are close friends who give each other's opinions a lot of weight, and also they are literally parallels to house/cuddy by the end.

also foreman wants to put chase in a chastity belt. there's that, too. may he one day realize his dream. amen.

#SORRY THIS GOT SO LONG #UH. enjoy the ship manifesto ig?#asks #marchlione #choreman #house md #ty for the ask btw i did have fun writing this asdfsdf #foremanchase #<- blog tag #choreman ship manifesto

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exilepurify · 1 year

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The first OVA for MP100 has really interesting connotations in terms of what Reigen actually knows about Mob’s experiences. Reigen’s the one who’s narrating the recap, so we can assume the perspective and the things he mentions are solely based on his own understanding of the situation.

Obviously the nature of a recap episode is that not every detail can be included, and I recognize that I might be applying meaning to what may just be limitations of the form, but it’s fun to speculate about the meeting of meaning and execution, so why not, right?

When Reigen is describing the events of season 1, he completely skips over Teruki strangling Mob. If it’s meant to be a recap for the audience, the strangling was maybe the most important thing to happen in the whole fight other than the ???% explosion. It’s where Teruki’s worldview starts to break down, it’s a moment where Teruki’s desperation causes him to betray his own moral boundaries (“What am I doing???”), and it’s where we first learn about Mob hurting Ritsu—the inciting incident for quite literally every single thing that happens in the entire plot of Mob Psycho 100. But not only does Reigen not mention those at all, they also don’t show any footage of it happening. It skips directly from the knives to Mob’s ???% explosion.

In the scene that happens in S1E6, where Mob asks Reigen about what qualifies as self defense, Mob mentions balding Teruki, shredding his clothes, destroying his school, and throwing him up in the air, but he doesn’t mention Teruki strangling him to Reigen. Ever.

Mob also never tells Reigen about the incident where he hurt his brother with his ???% explosion as kids. He mentions to Reigen that his powers are dangerous and that he’s scared of hurting people, but his guilt compels him to never mention the specifics of the event to anyone but Ritsu. And directly because of Reigen never knowing the severity of Mob’s concerns, he underestimates Mob’s internal struggles and even trivializes them sometimes, which is why he has the whole “I didn’t know!!!!” moment in the finale. If he knew that guilt was eating Mob alive like that, he would’ve handled it better than he did, obviously.

Instead, Mob writes in that part himself, sitting alone in his bedroom, rather than transcribing what Reigen is narrating. And even when he does write about it, he chooses to say very little in detail. The audience sees the whole scene play out to fulfill the purpose of the recap, but Mob’s internal dialogue—which is reading out in his head what he’s currently writing—says (in the dub bc it’s the one I currently have downloaded for amvs lol), “When my brother, Ritsu, was little, he would get really happy whenever I showed him my powers. But, because I hadn’t learned how to control them, I ended up hurting the brother I loved so much. Because of me, Ritsu…” And from here it transitions immediately to the alley scene. He really doesn’t even say much. When a kid says they hurt their brother, the first things that come to your mind usually aren’t all that serious. It’s pretty common for siblings to hit and bite (sorry to my older sister—I was a biter 😬) and stuff sometimes, especially when young. No one would assume he was talking about pretty serious head trauma from just that.

He does, apparently, know about Mob and Teru torturing Terada via waterboarding. I’m assuming Teru told him that part. It certainly wasn’t Terada. He seems to think the torture is hilarious, though. “*in a laughing, smug voice* This poor soul was tortured and embarrassed. He was in way over his head—literally.” It kinda was, tbf.

Obviously the integrity of the story starts going straight off the rails at this point, with Reigen poorly photoshopping himself into every scene to fulfill his chuunibyou complex. I’m just going to blanket assume that everything Reigen knows about Mob’s actions in the claw division before he arrived there himself comes from a mixture of Mob’s bare-bones reporting and Teruki bragging about the details of power level and technique and stuff.

When it comes to Mob’s 100% rejection and defeating Muto, Reigen openly admits to only knowing of his existence through hearsay and that Mob doesn’t remember how he defeated him. However, for the sake of recap, the audience is shown the full scene of Mob hitting the ceiling on his counter and freaking out, so that’s another interesting dichotomy between Reigen’s understanding of the story vs. what we are shown as the audience in the recap.

And then everything after this point was witnessed by Reigen firsthand, so it’s not so much about his understanding of the situation than it is about the way he’s framing it (which is poorly).

Anyway, it’s super clear that even back in season 1, Reigen had no idea what was actually going on with Mob. And if he did, he didn’t know the ways it was affecting him, or the most heartbreaking details had been fully excluded.

#mp100 #mob psycho 100 #mp100 spoilers #reigen arataka #shigeo kageyama #mp100 ova #mp100 analysis #mp100 meta

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meowzilla93 · 5 months

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The people need little known facts about Baxter! Just like random headcannons, like what's his favorite holiday and why, etc. etc. Basically please just tell me more about this silly little man :)

*cracks knuckles*

me? talk about my favourite love interest in OL:BA?

Thought you'd never ask :P

favourite holiday? we already know his favourite season is fall cause nostalgia, and I almost wanna think that eventually Thanksgiving is his holiday

you absolutely know why but if i must elaborate

he is just so damn thankful for being able to reconnect with people he truly cared for, and that those people didnt give up on him; if MC romanced him, all the more thankful he has someone he can trust and rely on for the rest of his life, and that he can provide that back

but it wasnt always and only after Step 4; he needs to reconnect first for this to eventuate

and you just know that he will love hosting and cooking; any excuse to learn new recipes and show off his skills

before step 4 though? i dont think he had one, and thats his parents fault

any sort of events like these he had to attend with his family and be the 'expected perfect son' which he loathed

i do believe this is canon (pls correct if wrong) but i truly do believe he did not have any friends at his private school, and actively hated going

rebel Baxter? he sure was in his own way

spare periods between classes; he wandered off grounds to a spot where he could avoid the pompous populace

talk back to teachers? you can guarantee that; just more in that incheek way where they couldnt really punish him for what he said

can see him being the type to screw around in class and just be a bit of a bother to the teachers and students, but he was an A+ student all the way

guarantee that when asked to answer questions in class, if he was in the right sort of mood, straight up makeup facts just for the lols

(his parents might have put a stop to that real quick though)

mans was a brat we know this, and it was making the OLNF friends that made him question his life and his upbringing more

this is a touch more sad, but i think early on, he didnt really understand his parents position on things like the LBGTQIA+ community and such until he saw people he cared about be treated poorly by them, or heard what they had to say behind closed doors

i think this truly broke him and is what started the rifts in his friendships as he didnt know how to approach this (he is a kid, we cant expect him to know)

but what he did know, he NEVER wanted to be like his parents, and this is when he started his plan on moving to Virginia for uni

ahem, lets get back to some light hearted sweet stuff

i recon he went full platinum white once - pure white hair (you cannot take this away from me) but the upkeep of that was more insane than just handling black

favourite flower! rose. come on. even Cove said it in Step 1: Fancy!

though if we must choose a second option, Lupine

it has that really pretty purple colour (his second favourite colour after black and white) and its symbolism is very much on par with what he truly wants from life

google that shit, and tell me im wrong

100% reads smut; Im talking like Victorian era smut (Johanna Linsday, Amanda Quick type stuff)

October is his favourite month - the world around him was covered in that beautiful auburn colour

He loves pumpkin spiced lattes (with oat milk of course)

PRESENTS! oh oh when its Christmas time, this is the hardest thing for him because he doesnt just wanna buy something random, it needs to have meaning

You wanted to go see a museum? here are some tickets

Missed this movie when it was screening? Here is the Extended Release with all the additions DVD

You have a favourite flower or plant that you can never really have cause it doesnt grow in the climate you live in? In a frame you received a pressed and dried version of it, so you can always have it with you

.....i need to stop otherwise ill just keep going

(pls dont stop asking me though, ill talk about Baxter till death and will make a million more posts)

#our life beginnings and always #baxter ward #olba #olba baxter #olba mc #our life #our life headcannons #headcannons #i will never get sick of talking about baxter

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melverie · 2 months

Text

⸺ LESSON 2 ⸺

Solomon

Barbatos

Solomon & Barbatos

demons & angels (& humans)

strange feelings & soup

misc

- lesson 1 || lesson 3 || all posts so far -

Please share your thoughts (if you want to lol)!! General spoiler warning for all of Obey Me Nightbringer, as well as for the original Obey Me

⸺ SOLOMON ⸺

Solomon essentially is the reason Leviathan got tot keep Henry 1.0 since Solomon is the one who shrunk him [2-1]

he's also the one who--completely unprompted--brought up Cerberus' existence and that taming him would grant you the title of 'Ruler of the Underworld' [2-1; pic below], which we know the brothers to hold by the time of the OG -> interesting how Solomon basically sets up the events in a way that allows them to eventually play out like they did in the future tho. Iirc we see it happen a few more times throughout the story

happened in 1-12 as well, but Solomon once again talks about the people around you not remembering who you are and how that hurts [2-3]. Not sure if this is him empathizing with MC or if this is alluding to something else... -> he also hopes that MC and the brothers will grow closer again soon [2-3]

Solomon switches to his human world look [2-9 + lesson 2 hard mode]

⸺ BARBATOS ⸺

Barbatos doesn't seem to know who MC is upon their first meeting [2-13]

he also seems surprised when he learns that MC is Solomon's apprentice [2-13], though I'm probably reading too much into this

he gives MC and Mammon the job at the castle regardless if they get any of the questions right or not [2-15]. Tbh it's probably just to keep the plot moving, but I'm slightly suspicious of him regardless...

⸺ DEMONS & ANGELS (& HUMANS) ⸺

more instances mentioned of the brothers being cast out because they are fallen angels [2-6]

Cerberus is also known in the Celestial Realm [2-8; pic below]

Mammon gives us a few insights into how being a guardian angels as well as forging pacts works [2-9; pic below]

Few things I want to point out here:

1. "To a demon, makin' a pact is like handing over control of your life to someone else, right?" Not entirely true. While the demon does give up a certain amount of control over themself to the human they've forged a pact with, there are certain limitations, such as:

you use a substantial amount of magical power while controlling several demons at once, so by that logic you probably also need some when commanding just one demon. Additionally, you might mot be able to command one in the first place if you have little to no magical power in the first place

you need to keep a clear head when giving a command, otherwise the demon can just break free from its hold. We see this at the end of season 2 when Lucifer is not affected by the 'stay' command because MC isn't thinking clearly

demons aren't forced to act out commands that go against their pact(s). Beel explains this back in the OG's season 1 when Luke accidentally gets ahold of the brothers' grimoire

2. "It's pretty much the same as when an angel decides to be a guardian to a human." Does that imply angels hand over control over themselves when becoming a guardian angel? Interesting 3. "An angel's only gonna pick one person to protect, and that's it. Just one, for all time." MC's just keeping all the guardian angels for themself then since Luke and Simeon have both expressed the desire to be MC's guardian angels, and I'm pretty sure Raphael is eventually going to follow suit lol

⸺ SOLOMON & BARBATOS ⸺

the second Solomon is mentioned Barbatos makes it very clear that he is absolutely not fond of him. Mammon points out that he finds Barbatos reaction a little strange since they have a pact and whatnot, but Barbatos dismisses it [2-13] -> side note but I just remembered how surprised Diavolo was when he heard MC was Solomon's apprentice. Then there's also that one throwaway line in the OG of Solomon's apprentice betraying him. I really hope those things don't have anything to do with each other tho...

⸺ STRANGE FEELINGS & SOUP ⸺

Solomon points out that the bonds MC shares with the others extend across time [2-3]. All hail the Time Soup!

Mammon already has feelings for MC [2-9] but we also know how fast he fell for MC in the OG, so it's not really all that unusal

this has happened in 1-12 as well [first pic below], but the word 'present' is once again written in quotation marks [lesson 2 hard mode; second pic below]. Might be because of the entire time soup thing, but it's weird nonetheless

⸺ MISC ⸺

Levi would love you if you were a worm 💖 [2-1]

the brothers' qualities as Avatars are starting to manifest more and more [2-A]. Not sure if this is meant to say that it took this long to happen/it took MC to show up, or if they just took this long to realize it happening

Mammon explains that demons can't forge pacts with other demons [2-9], so Solomon offically beat the demon allegations!! -> ......or did he. Because Mammon then goes on to say this [2-9; pic below]. Though to be fair this was probably just meant as a plot device to built tension since MC would have to reveal they are human before they could forge any pacts with the bros. Could also have been a small nod at Mephisto's powers later on

Mammon never was a guardian angel to anyone [2-11]

while shopping MC spots a book that they think might be precious, but Solomon claims that it isn't a grimoire since you wouldn't find a demon's lifeline in a place like this [lesson 2 hard mode]. Weird that it was brought up at all, but I'm guessing it was meant as a setup for later in the season

#hi can you tell that i was at one point planning to make a post about the differences between pacts and grimoires :)#mel's descend into madness #obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me spoilers #obey me nightbringer spoilers

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rgr-pop · 2 months

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okay international working womens weekend daytime luncheon in my home for maybe 7-10 people, one week from today

nobody i really need to impress. if anyone confirms gluten free or dairy free i’ll fine tune, otherwise everything is always baseline meat free and nut free (with the option for me to throw in some tinned fish from my pantry)

snacky/salads vibe, maybe dips

for sure doing:

lemon poppy seed loaf. i REALLY want to do sally’s new lemon poppy seed muffins but i’d need to get a new muffin tin and we’re 📢 not doing too much

cardamom strawberry jam bars (craving cardamom stuff all the time)

pretty sure i can do both of the above without buying anything; although i’d have to make the jam from frozen strawberries (i want to pan anyway)

really want to do MOCKTAILS. i wouldn’t mind investing in a few staples for myself anyway. i think i for sure will get orange juice and and a sparkling juice— PLEASE RECOMMEND ! what would be a good second mocktail or some ingredients to buy? especially because i have several interesting bitters, including chocolate. and i could put out tart cherry juice i have, and i’ll make a pitcher of iced tea. oh maybe i should make iced chai from scratch 🤔 in any case this is where i’ll spend most money

central offering will be a bean dish, either a bean salad (WHATS THE BEST ONE YOUVE HAD?) OR (hot dish) the bean ziti smitten kitchen posted which… i want to do this. is it 📢 doing too much? yes. But. she said.. if i did i’d have to do bread with it, which makes me nervous (i don’t have good bread instincts)

if i go with SK i’ll have extra basil for a veg salad. it seems too early for the typical basil salad uses so i’d have to brainstorm. my go-to would be a carrot salad and a smashed cucumber salad, both of which are options but wouldn’t go that well. this would be a good time to try doing the viral salad seasoning pasta salad - should i…

i will for sure make japanese potato salad because i have a ton of kewpie to use up. in fact i may need to make a second kewpie salad

if i were going the dips route i’d the lauren toyota’s vegan nacho cheese but i’m just not inspired

a typical go-to spread for me might be the spicy sour cold spaghetti noodles from woks of life with carrot salad and cucumber salad and maybe marinated tofu but it doesn’t feel like the vibe

eta you know what, i have dates and am craving goat cheese dates, i should add those to the menu. i was going to avoid any fussy assembly but these would be worth it

i reaaally need to actually budget this because even though it’s arguably chapter business i can’t get chapter money (which i expected). the plan was to make asking for financial support (maybe $35 in food) for the women’s section a progressed structure test, but leadership failed structure test one (being willing to speak to us or respond to our communication when we told them we were organizing a womens day event) so i’m back to structure test negative one (them not murdering us)

so my plan is to have three dishes plus 2 sweet ones and all but 1 should be make ahead, and some chips maybe or something like that

however as you know i have a habit of doing too much for this sort of thing lol

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imgoingtocrash · 6 months

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Hello there! It's your Rebelcaptain Secret Santa :) Hope you had a wonderfull week and that you have something great planned for the weekend. I'm probably around 1/3 into writing your gift, and I was just wondering: is there anything you absolutely DON'T want to see, any tropes that give you the ick, any characters you avoid? Also, on a completely different note: if you were to choose your top 3 favourite rebelcaptain fics, what would those be?

Oh hello!!! It's been a busy work week but that means money sooo we're going with it lol.

As for anything I don't want to see, I don't think there's anything?? I feel like my prompts were pretty vanilla so I can't imagine anything particularly shocking or appalling that you could do that would make me not want to read something. (And I love angst, so anything darker there is always encouraged rather than discouraged lmaooo)

Now asking me for my favorite fics on the other hand...I'm notorious for making detailed fic rec lists. That's dangerous.

For now, I'll do 3 all time favorites of MANY more, and 3 more recent reads (though some of them are older, because I'm back in the tag rn)

Top 3 All Time Favorites:

cassian andor nonsense + assorted nonsense timestamps by theputterer

I love this series. It's Cassian centric at first, and then it's about their relationship in the context of their pasts and I am just!!! Overflowed with love for it all of the time. I binged it when I first read it, and there are some oneshots in the verse that I come back to and re-read when I'm in a mood. (Blood Brothers, where Jyn gets to meet Cassian's Imperial brother, is a weird favorite, but I think I've re-read it like 4 times. I love that sort of 3rd person POV on a ship I just DO.)

only fools rush in by andromeda3116

I re-read this fic almost every holiday season, that's how much I love it. Fake dating trope, holiday vibes, bickering but well-meaning family that learns to come together. It's catnip to me.

Color My Cheeks by Copper_Nails (Her_Madjesty)

Another older but beloved favorite that I've re-read multiple times. One of the first fics I ever read in the fandom, and I think one of the first sex pollen fics I'd ever read. It's not just trope-y sexy fun, but the fact that it goes into the AFTER of a sex pollen event and what that means for them emotionally feels so unique and interesting. Now I'm thinking about re-reading it again. Sigh.

Definitely could give you more all-time favorite recs, but here are some more recent fics I've read:

Lost and Found by mosylu

As of today, just completed, and WOW what a journey! I left rambling, crazy comments on this fic almost every week for good reason. It was sweet, it was angsty, it was just!!!! Amazing. I'm probably going to come back to this one again down the road for sure.

Delivery Week by SleepyKalena

I've read quite a few Film/Production based fanfics over the years, but this one is for us post girlies!!! An edit bay meet-cute, bitching about color correcting/matching--truly this fic has it all and feels tailor-made to me as an editor, even if it's at an animation studio rather than live action.

spy games by skitzofreak

I'm basically reading through all of their star wars fics right now, so highly highly recommend this author as a whole. (The fact that I've apparently left kudos on some of them before and don't remember it at all is...funny.) This one is just a great, cute starter where Cassian and Jyn have an entire silent conversation in front of a bunch of recruits. So good.

Your asks remind me to send asks to MY giftee, so I'm so happy to hear from you each week! Have a wonderful week and good vibes to your writing progress! 💖

#rebelcaptain #star wars #fic recs #cassian x jyn #i have like. 5 years worth of fanfic recs for them and i'm in like 2018 in the tag for jollies rn i LOVE them and everyone writing for them #asks #anon

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boygurphone · 3 months

Text

Honestly. I feel like Infodumping about my mtl oc and it's be a good opportunity too since, no one really knows about her besides me and my friends SOOOOOO infodump time :3

This is "Truck Baumgardner" (his actual name is confidential. No one knows what her name is except for Truck). Truck serves as the music video director and cinematographer of Dethklok, having been with them since almost the beginning. He uses he/she pronouns

(the first reference I did of them) (this is the outfit they actually wear) (I'll make a proper ref soon)

[more info below the cut]

I'm still a little stuck on his voice claim but I'm mostly leaning to either Debbie Harry or Jen from Downtown (Tammy Lang). As of now, Jen has been a place holder voice claim.

She's very much a stoner lol (her and pickles are best friends and likes to do drugs together. They like to get drunk and high)

Speaking of Pickles and Truck, these two loved going to concerts together, mostly punk shows (Trucks favorite genre is Punk btw). The two don't do it often now since Dethklok is one of the biggest bands but they love going to bars and drinking. They're very close.

As of Fertilityklok (Season 3 episode), Truck and Toki are dating. They've been having a situationship

since probably season 1. The two do love each other, they just never said it until after the events in Fertilityklok which did make Truck a lil upset (the events in the episode I mean)

should I mention that Truck has died plenty of times in the past here too? Yeah she's immortal and has always been immortal since she was 15 after being burned alive by her father. He also knows Lucifer and likes to call him Lucy, mostly just to make him upset. She thinks it's funny.

The band all acknowledges the fact that Truck is immortal and they never talk about it. Ever since Murderface learned of this fact, Truck became this dummy for him to experiment with all of the weapons he has. The first time Toki saw Truck die, it was pretty traumatic for him since he didn't know about it. So often whenever Truck is alive, he just listens to her heartbeat to make sure he's alive.

Trucks death lore is a lil complex, if you would even call it that, it has rules. Okay, depending on the injury, Truck can be dead for at least a couple hours or for even an entire day. Though her body always rejuvenates or heals the injury in 24 hours/couple hours. It happens in real time too. I have no idea if that made any sense lol

Getting away from all the death stuff, Trucks relationship with the other band members follows as this; Truck sees Nathan as a Father figure, the only father figure in her life as her own father often neglected her. She sees Murderface as an annoying brother and the two often bicker. She has no hard feelings towards Murderface killing her because she doesn't remember it happening. Her and Skwissgaar I'm working on because I don't know, the two had a quiet falling out to say the least. They just don't talk to each other as much as they did back then.

Her relationship with Charles is professional, they do work together after all. Often Truck tells Charles the music video she has in mind for a Dethklok song/single. Dick Knubbler and Abigail still needs work but I know that Truck loves Abigail more than Knubbler and they love talking to eachother. Her and Magnus used to date but never worked out because they often fought and argued. I think of their relationship like Marceline and Ash from Adventure Time.

That's all I have in me. If you read this far, I appreciate that ! Thank u and I hope you love him just as much as I do :3

#metalocalypse oc #metalocalypse #mtl oc

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cowgurrrl · 11 months

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Hello, first time doing this I hope I put the right emoji English is my second language 🦋 How do they celebrate birthdays, especially the girls or Sammy. Thank you for writing beautiful stories 😊

You did great! That’s the right emoji!! I added the girls in too since they weren’t announced when this was sent in lol!

How the Millers celebrate birthdays

When it was just Joel and Sarah, Joel would make a homemade birthday cake (mostly because they couldn’t afford a store bought cake) and take her to the park/movies/whatever because it’s summer and she already doesn’t get to celebrate with classmates (oh the woes of being a Leo)

Even after Joel gets famous, he still makes her birthday cake every year but they do get a little lavish with her birthday (pizza AND ice cream?!)

Joel tries not to spoil the kids but it’s hard when he and Sarah had nothing for so long. You agree on one (1) big present each birthday and then let them get showered with other presents from relatives, family friends, classmates, etc.,

When Ellie comes into their lives, she’s a little more hesitant to express any want to do anything for her birthday but once she’s settled, they go to art museums, the beach, or a nice dinner pretty much anywhere Ellie wants to go and do anything she wants to do

He still makes the cake though

Sam very quickly becomes a Sports Person so for his birthday, you either have a baseball themed birthday party or you find a local game and go. Poor guy was born in the off season so he doesn’t get to go to any Major League games until later but he does get to go!!

The girls have joint birthday parties for the first few years of their lives before they decide they want individual events. Still, on their actual birthday, you guys spend the day as a family. Sarah and Ellie come in from wherever they are in the world and for a week, your family is all under one roof again

And the older girls help make the birthday cakes for the little kids 🥹

#one for the money two for the show headcanons #rockstar!joel miller #dad!joel miller #June’s milestone celebration

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nicks-disks · 4 months

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** CHRISTMAS SPECIAL SPOILERS!!! **

honestly, I lowkey liked the ending of Ghosts. But like, lowkey, y'know? I do sort of mourn that we lost the chance to have an open ending, as I think it's under-utilised in shows and such a heartwarming, comforting and undramatic end for a series, but I definitely don't hate what we got given.

Is it perfect? No not really. Is it good? I mean yeah I think it is, I enjoyed it.

I see it as more of a showcase to display how much all the characters have grown, as they all act in ways that would be insanely out of character and unbelievable if they had done so in season one.

My main gripes with it are really kind of petty and very subjective and based on personal opinion, so literally, genuinely take them with a grain of salt.

It was a bit too dramatic for me, Ghosts has always been one for realistic dramatics, the type of stuff that's not a huge display but so immeasurably important and I feel like this Christmas special deviates a little from that. I was hoping for something more standard and something that felt a bit less, like, "the end" y'know? But also I think that stems from me not wanting the show to end while also not being too fond of the "found family splits" trope, so it doesn't quite hold up lol

I thought the semi-B-plot with Mikes's mum felt a bit off for some reason, a bit shoehorned in at times. I do like Mike's mum, and I thought her thinking the house was haunted and bringing in a priest was funny as shit, but it did drag slightly. This with the more dramatic, somber tone made it feel like a bit of a downer not really the pacing you want for a finale. Again though, this is exactly how Mike and Alison were feeling, so it deffo helped me empathise and understand why they chose to move out, it's very smart filmmaking just not what I personally prefer for the finale.

However, I actually do like the whole idea of the Christmas special. I think it's very mature, I think it's pretty realistic, and also I think it's kind of for the better for Alison and Mike. They have their daughter, Mia, and fortunately and unfortunately she will need to be the most important thing in their lives as she grows up. They just can't afford to live in Button house, both figuratively and literally.

But I think the best way to have fully realised this idea and plot would be to have made it another season!!! It feels a bit rushed and underbaked just being one episode, but imagine it being fully explored and developed over let's say 5 episodes, a miniseries. For example, a very vague overview that I'm gonna pull out of my ass on the spot,

Episode 1: Essentially the Christmas special. Mia is brought home, Mike's mum is being a bit overbearing, and everyone is kind of miserable. All of the same events play out, the Ghosts are all in a funny mood because of the new edition and Alison has to tell Mike's mum she needs to take a step back, yada yada. Then, like the Christmas special, the Ghosts make the speech that Alison needs to leave and she agrees, it's heartfelt and meaningful. However, something that's said is that Mike and Alison can handle taking care of Mia all on their own, and that they'll be absolutely great parents.

Episode 2: The Ghosts begin regretting their decision. They start to fear their afterlives will return back to how it was before Alison came into the picture, and while they want to beg her to stay like they have so many times in the past, they also try to convince themselves that Alison, Mike and Mia's wellbeing is the most important thing, and that they shouldn't get in the way. The episode ends with the Ghosts understanding that they're allowed to be upset at Alison leaving, they're allowed to say that they're going to miss her, and they have permission to mourn the loss of this live they've grown to love. However, it's also okay to let these feelings sit and experience them while also letting Alison go. It's a miracle that as Ghosts, they can feel at all, and honestly the fact they have Alison to miss is better than decades of boredom.

Episode 3: After having briefly contacted the contractors off-screen, it fully sets in for Alison what it means to the ghosts that she's leaving Button House. As a way to subside her guilt while also trying to ensure they continue to have the best possible afterlife with her out of Button House, she says that she'll try and get it so the golf hotel thing will have a request from each of the ghosts. They all put in their wants, like Pat wants a movie night and some clubs, Robin wants a pilates class, the plague ghosts want the basement revamped (the idea of a sauna would eventually be put forward by the contractors), so on and so forth. However, Alison promises this before the possibility is even finalised, so she spends the whole episode running around and nagging the contractors to allow her to add these things, in the end basically saying "you might be buying this land and house off me, but it's mine. It has stayed in my family for decades, and I've housed so many friends and memories. I would like to have a say in what happens to it, even after I leave it behind." and after a bit of debate, it's allowed.

Episode 4: Over the course of these episodes, Alison and Mike have been trying their absolute best with trying to take care of Mia between the ghosts, dealing with contractors and selling Button house, but it is so so, so difficult. The plot in this episode is putting that as the centre, with Alison and Mike struggling to keep up with all the demands of being a parent. As Alison runs around, she pushes the ghosts aside and gets annoyed at them, and while the ghosts have come to terms with her leaving, they still want to spend as much time as possible with her before it's too late. However, them being so insistent makes Alison even more irritated, and this episode ends with Alison snapping at the ghosts due to her exhaustion and frustration. That's it. This episode ends on a bummer.

Episode 5: This episode is a continuation of being a bit of a joykill. The ghosts try to completely stay out of Alison's way, not wanting to further add to her stress again, and Alison feels incredibly guilty. Eventually she voices her fears to Mike, wondering if they'd be good enough parents to raise Mia (mirroring the parental freak out Mike had in series 5, honestly all parents go through it and it's so valid). Alison confesses that if they leave Button House and still can't take care of Mia, what would it be for? Would it be a mistake? How can they be so responsible when they're really, truly not? Mike tries to comfort her, but he's having the dame doubts and fears too. Remember how in episode 1 they said they'd be able to raise Mia without any help? Yeah that's bullshit, all parents need and deserve help to raise a kid because it's such an immensely fucking gigantic task and no two people should feel they have to tackle it alone. While they're both scared that asking Mike's mum will result in her being overbearing again, they give her a call and she comes over. She gives them both a heartfelt pep talk and remembers to not be too pushy, but her assistance allows Alison and Mike to have the first good sleep they've had in months. The ghosts, also having heard Mike's Mum soothing Alisons fears, give her the lecture on confidence she needs, saying that both her and Mike will be incredible parents, they already are in Button House and they might even get better once they leave (*cue snarky yet fond smiles*). Then, cue the end of the original Christmas special where Mike and Alison drive off, saying goodbye to the ghosts while they follow the car. And also the final scene when Alison and Mike are old and grey, and they check into the golf-hotel thing and it's all so so sweet and lovely.

And that's it, that's the end! I tried to basically make it how I'd see the team expand the story, keeping in all story beats and ideas that I'm personally not fond of but still think they're interesting and worth keeping in. But like, isn't it kind of better now that all the ideas presented get expanded on?? I feel like the awkward pacing in the Christmas Special was just because they had so much to say and no time to say it.

I'm so sorry for the absolute goliath of a post and I'm sorry if it's all over the place, I wrote this on the spot so it's sort of just rambling but I hope it sort of explains why while I do have some complaints, overall I did like the Christmas special, I just think it would've been better fully realised as multiple episodes instead of one

If you have any thoughts or ideas I'd lovveeee to hear them! I know the Christmas special is CRAZY divisive and I completely understand why but I'd like to hear your reasons too <3 let's just try and be respectful to the Ghosts team while we air our opinions though, at the end of the day this is their show and it honestly probably means more to them than it does to us.

Plus bfr I know we're all hurting, but it's honestly not that bad. It's not the way we wanted or expected it to go, but it's a great piece of television and it's their piece of television

Edit: Also I'm stupid but a bit of closure for the ghosts and Alison between them leaving and the final geriatric scene would be nice, but I guess it's not necessary. Like how it's stated before that the ghosts would have been miserable with Button House being a hotel, please show why it's perhaps less miserable than anticipated. The plague ghosts were a great example, but the upstairs ghosts probably get the brunt of the hotel life so seeing how they'd grow accustomed to it would be super interesting. Honestly, the only thing us fans want is to see the ghosts happy because it makes us happy, and admittedly it's a bit parasitic but we have grown to care for their wellbeing. Plus, showing a few cute hijinks would be, well, cute. Perhaps instead of a full episode where it intrudes on the pacing, it could be done as a separate short.

People say Alison would be miserable because she can't find a house without ghosts but that's not true, there's newer houses with less history with no ghosts, she just didn't like it because it was too quiet. Now I don't actually think this is a bad thing, it's just something that she has to adjust too. Also it's probably going to be less quiet now with Mia, so that issue is half solved. Honestly, now they have the money to chose a piece of land that has no ghosts and build their perfect dream house, so finding a suitable property probably isn't going to be that hard.

Of course she's gonna miss the ghosts and vice versa, but just because an ending is bittersweet and has some changes that everyone has to get used to doesn't mean it's a miserable disaster.

#bbc ghosts #bbc ghosts spoilers #bbc ghosts christmas special #bbc ghosts finale

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lesbiangummybearmafia · 11 months

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Spoilers season 1 Finale

My thoughts under the cut...

I have to say I really enjoyed the season 1 finale. I finally was able to sit down and watch it, from beginning to end it was fantastic. After last week's I was feeling rough with everything that happened but the finale definitely bought it altogether in a seamless way that flowed really well from one scene to the next. Which I have say some episodes do feel disjointed this one didn't. Where to start I did like Jane and Susan kinda working together again. The way they did the race was brilliant, I like the location of unused race tracks. I know it's meant to be California but it feels more tropical to me like maybe the coast of Georgia or Florida. But what I really love is that it's Jane and Susan that end up driving in the race. It was such a surprising chance of events however I was super excited about. I was literally yelling at my phone for Jane to win. 😁 I did so love that Olivia came even though she stayed out of sight.

Oh I like the T-birds and Pink Ladies "borrowing" parts from the Principles car and Ms. McGee just pretending like she doesn't see a thing, just too good lol.

I love Cynthia being up Nancy's butt about how she's treating Potato. I also love when Nancy comes to check on Cynthia to see why she hasn't been herself lately. And Cynthia tells Nancy about her feelings for Lydia. That was such a great scene. I was in tears, because I personally know how that feels. Not just basically coming out to a friend, which back than a million times scarier but also telling them you have feelings for someone. It was really brave of Cynthia to put herself out there like that. Then Nancy was super supportive and open hearted to be there for her friend. Just love it.

Hazel waking up Jane to talk her about her boy problems. That was such a sweet scene bewteen them. Jane all being I don't have clue really. That scene flowing smoothly into them all being at the Frosty Palace discussing not being friends with Olivia anymore, Hazel being you can still be friends with ever if she gets married. Of the Pink Ladies stopping the wedding well you all can guess how I feel about that! If not I was so overjoyed, ever Olivia's mom over there going we shouldn't of said yes. Than Jane making that heartfelt speak to Olivia, Olivia understanding that she does have Jane and the other Pink Ladies even with her brother gone that she isn't alone. She has four ride or die friends. Oh my favorite part of that scene I swear Nancy was channeling my emotions when she turned back around, ran up on Mr. Daniels slapping him across the face and reminded him Olivia is just a child. So so so fucking good!! I'm a little embarrassed how many times I rewatched that but it was just so satisfying cause there's so many times I want to slap that bastard.

Olivia did look pretty in her dress, I liked her and Jane at the Carnival together, they were so cute.

I love Cynthia and Lydia in mirror house together, Cynthia singing to her omg so romantic. Just love that scene. When Nancy came in at the end awww. 😍

I am a bit curious what's going to happen with Buddy now that he's not going to live with his father? He is a good kid and deserves better than a power hunger father!

I was so hoping for awhile now they'd make Hazel a Pink Ladies. So when that scene came up I was like are they really going to do!?! The whole musical scene was great that went along with it. I just love we have a new Pink Lady!

I almost forgot getting to see Frenchy and Rizzo again is just too cute. I rewatched the original Grease a couple of days ago. It's remarkable how much Madison Elizabeth Lagarestha that plays Frenchy now sounds like Didi Conn that played Frenchy in the original movie. I also wondered while watching the movie who made the Pink Ladies jackets now? After Nancy goes away to college or what have you who takes over making them? 🤔 Strange little things my mind thinks about.

Of course the cliff hanger... so is that Danny's brother, Frankie Zuko? Truthfully do we need another boy thrown at Jane?

I'm really hoping they get renewed for a 2nd season, I definitely think the series deserves it. It's because one my personal favorites. I really like the characters I don't want to see them go away anytime soon!!

#grease rise of pink ladies #season 1 finale #spoilers #my thoughts #really loved this one #rotpl #grease rise of the pink ladies #pink ladies #olivia valdovinos #jane facciano #nancy nakagawa #cythia zdunowski #hazel robertson #t birds #rydell high #marisa davila #cheyenne isabel wells #ari notartomaso #tricia fukuhara

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zimithrus1 · 4 months

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Kotetsu and Barnaby for the character ask pls? 💚💚💚

Ohoho the boys! The lads! The bickering buds themselves! 💗 Don't mind if I do~! Thank you so much for the ask @isleofair! 🌟 (Ask list for the curious ❤)

I will start with the wildest of tigers 🐯💚 And since there's two, I'll put this under a read more cut so I don't flood anyone else's dash XD

Kotetsu

Sexuality HC: I'm leaning towards Bi with Demi tendencies for him

Gender HC: Himbo lmao XD

A Ship I Have With Said Character: Obviously Taibani - though a close second is Kotetsu/Tomoe because 🥺😭💗 He loved her so much, gah!

BROTP: Kotetsu and Antonio, like, they already go way back, to high school if I remember correctly. They always go out for drinks together and they always just seem to have a good chill time together 🌟

NOTP: Karina and Kotetsu. Like, I can see the appeal but i just do not vibe with it lol Like she's 16 in the beginning of season 1, and Kotetsu is like, 35? Like he is almost/practically old enough to be her dad. It's not the age gap I have a problem with really, it's mainly more that I kind of think of my dad when I see Kotetsu? Like, my dad and him share the same birthday and they both act goofy, aren't always around for their kid but try their best? I can't help but kind of think of my dad sometimes when I think of Kotetsu so, thinking of Karina x Kotetsu it's like 'that would be like if I dated my dad fjdbfkdjb' just can't do it man 😂 Sorry for the ramble there! 😂

Random HC: One of mine I like to ruminate on is Kotetsu accidentally hurting his family members when he was a kid and first developed his NEXT powers. Like, that scene in season 1, during the flashback of the bank robbery? In the sub, the dialogue reads 'I'm not supposed to touch anyone when I'm shining like this', compared to the dub that simply says 'don't come near me' - like, the sub implying he was told to not be near people, to not touch them, and that got my brain going: What if he was told he wasn't allowed to touch anyone because he might have accidentally really hurt a friend/classmate/family member before he had total control? 👀 cough cough Kotetsu's dad perhaps?? cough cough 👀

General Opinion: I love him. He's dorky, funny, earnest, tries too hard, fucks stuff up, but never gives up. Despite his past and hardships he is still a positive person and always sees things through to the end. A type of person I wanna be. 💚 Less formal version: I want to put him in a blender and drink him 😂

Next up, the bun! 🐰❤

Barnaby

Sexuality HC: He gives me Ace/Demi vibes 💜

Gender HC: Pretty boy but not a twink - he can still kick your ass into next week lmao 😆

A Ship I Have With Said Character: Taibani once again - no contender for me XD

BROTP: Barnaby and Mattia - the childhood friends. They catch up and talk about their work and even vent with each other, springing for dinner every now and again. I love the side of Barnaby we get to see when Mattia is around, he seems almost carefree, it's nice. They vibe well together ❤

NOTP: Oh man, I haven't really though of a NOTP for him?? 😅 I guess I wouldn't want to see him put with Maverick, because like, not only did he orchestrate the most traumatic events of Barnaby's life he was also a father figure for him before that. Otherwise, I dunno 😆

Random HC: Speaking of Maverick, I HC that he wiped/altered a lot more of Barnaby's memories than we were shown. Like, thanks to the comic anthology I saw one chapter that kind of made a little point at that and it's stuck with me ever since. Like, if Barnaby ever started to rebel at a younger age then Maverick would alter his memory. Got too close to discovering the truth? Nope, no he didn't, silly boy that was just a bad dream. So much to the point where Barnaby has trouble remembering his past at all and can't help but feel like even his memories aren't his own. Good angsty potential - and potential me and a friend discuss frequently 👌

General Opinion: At first I was like 'okay we got a cocky pretty boy, alright, he seems alright, let's see what he can do' and then the more I watched the show the more I really loved his character. How he always seemed so poised and suave and haughty - like he's confident definitely and he knows it, but also that sensitivity, that raw emotion and anger he displays - it is so incredibly human and realistic what drives him to do what he does and act the way he does. Slowly learning over time that his life has room for more than just revenge. Now I like him just as much as Kotetsu ❤

Wow, I really went deep into some of these answers my goodness! I think I've spent over an hour thinking all these thoughts out!😅 But anyways, thank you so much for the ask isle, I had a blast answering these questions - and even better, you gave me two characters! Double the fun! Thank you so much!! 💗💚💗

#zimianswerz #ask game #headcanons #tiger & bunny #thank you again isle!!!

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butterflydm · 2 years

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wot reread: crossroads of twilight (chap 21 - end)

spoilers through crossroads of twilight

Current book ranking (strongest to weakest): The Fires of Heaven; Lord of Chaos; The Shadow Rising; The Dragon Reborn; The Path of Daggers; Winter’s Heart (standalone); A Crown of Swords; The Great Hunt; the Eye of the World; Winter’s Heart (series); Crossroads of Twilight.

This really is the book of Everyone Reacts To One Scene From Winter’s Heart. It’s easy to see how so much of this could get cut away for the TV show. Honestly, Jordan could have used the prologue for four quick scenes of Our Mains reacting to what Rand and Nynaeve did, and then moved on to the next story beat. Even Elayne’s chapters, which I enjoyed, didn’t have much plot movement in them. She visits one of her loyal lords, has a couple of meetings, and gets a prenatal exam. Could easily happen in a handful of scenes in a single episode of the show. Perrin and Mat’s storylines are even worse. Nothing happens in Mat’s early run of chapters - he has a conversation with Egeanin, endures a temper tantrum from Tuon, and then talks to the Aes Sedai but nothing happens. Perrin at least learns where Faile is in his early chapters. Egwene is really the only person who moves the story forward at all the first two-thirds of this book and even she takes a few chapters of dithering before she acts.

It’s funny, when S1 of WoT aired, I was like, oh, yeah EotW is definitely the weakest of the books. And now I’m just... no. I was so wrong. What a fool I was. Anyway, on to Knife of Dreams (my current plan is to read New Spring after KoD). Let’s see if KoD can make it above EotW. Though I am, by this point, pretty certain that none of the remaining books are going to get anywhere near my beloved TFoH-LoC-TSR trilogy. That was a good run. I hope we spend an entire season on each of those books, I really do.

1. Okay, we are over in the White Tower with Alviarin. Alviarin notes that the Black Ajah has been part of the White Tower “since it’s founding”. Yikes. Apparently, Alviarin was off to visit Tremalking. It is really starting to get on Alviarin’s nerves, being Mesaana’s errand girl. I wonder if Lanfear will get Mesaana’s plot-bits in the show. Because I don’t believe it looked like she made the cut of the 8 Forsaken who made it into the show -- four men and four women and we saw Lanfear, Moghedien, Graendal AND Semirhage all there, I think, so yeah, I think she’s been cut. So Lanfear makes the most sense and she does pop into the Tower briefly in TDR.

3. “With the Chosen, grovel and obey was the only way to survive.” I really do feel like you could say the exact same thing about Seanchan society, just with ‘Blood’ subbed in for ‘Chosen’. Why did Jordan choose to make them so similar? I hate that I will never know the answer to this question lol. Anyway, Alviarin is a Darkfriend because she wants to live forever.

4. As she heads back through the Tower proper, Alviarin notes how silent it all is, even more than she would expect. And when she walks into Elaida’s offices to find information out of her, she is shocked to see that Elaida is meeting with more than half of the Sitters in the Hall, as she had believed that she had Elaida thoroughly cowed. Elaida then orders her to stand in the corner until there’s time to talk to her. Alviarin obeys, worrying that Elaida has figured out that Alviarin is Black Ajah and is about to reveal it.

5. And so Alviarin learns that the rebel army is at their very doorstep and the Sitters in the Hall are considering the offer of negotiation. Elaida’s terms are just as all-or-nothing as Egwene’s - the Blue Ajah is forever disbanded and everyone who followed Egwene must serve a penance before any can be re-admitted to an Ajah.Then the Sitters are dismissed and Elaida lets Alviarin know that she was removed as Keeper in her absence, as she should have been present during such important events as this. Alviarin has officially lost her place of power behind Elaida for good.

6. In an aside, I think this is the first time we hear about the “standing flows” that existed in the Age of Legends, that were a way for even non-channelers to use ter’angreal. Alviarin can’t imagine why anyone would bother doing that, because she is very selfish. Anyway, she uses a ter’angreal gifted to her by Mesaana to call for a meeting of great urgency. Mesaana doesn’t take Alviarin’s warning seriously even though Alviarin has managed to come up with the correct conclusion (there is a Black Ajah hunt happening) with the wrong input (she thinks Elaida believes she is Black Ajah rather than a PERSONAL traitor). She’s about to punish Alviarin when Tall Fade shows up.

7. Oh, Hand of the Shadow is pissed off at Mesaana for not showing up at the cleansing fight. He touches Alviarin’s forehead and ‘marks’ her as his, telling her she will get no punishment from Mesaana. Then he orders Alviarin to figure out who is hunting the Black Ajah in the White Tower, and she leaves as Mesaana is ‘punished’ for not showing up at the battle in WH.

8. Hopping over sideways in the White Tower, we now move to Pevara. She’s having a talk with Tarna (who is the person who was sent to Salidar to talk to them, way back in... LoC, I think?). Tarna is the one who was raised to be Elaida’s new Keeper, now that Alviarin has been ousted. Pevara, of course, is worrying over whether or not she’s Black Ajah. This is a very interesting conversation. And we get a little more background on some of Pevara’s family that was murdered by Darkfriends at least a century ago. I like the way Pevara’s thoughts on her past are written here.

9. On Tarna’s journey back to the White Tower from Salidar, she happened to be in a village that was visited by an Asha’man recruiting party (this makes her wonder how far the Dragon’s ta’veren reach goes). Tarna tells Pevara that she believes that the Red Ajah should take Asha’man as Warders. There are too many of them to gentle them and their reach spreads too far, due to Traveling. The reason that she came to Pevara is because Pevara has been known to support the idea that Reds should have Warders. Pevara reveals to Tarna that she was sent a missive from Toveine (implied: revealing that she was bonded by Logain), which Pevara says will change the world.

10. We are now finally checking in with Rand’s storyline again, but we are in Cadsuane’s PoV and she still constantly thinks of him as ‘the boy’. It would be easier for me to believe that she really wanted to help him if she could think of him using his name more often! They are in an estate in Tear, a day’s ride from the Spine of the World. As Verin is talking to Cadsuane, Min bursts in, apparently having been listening at the door. Note that when Rand does something that Cadsuane feels is rude, she gives him open set-downs and tells him to be more polite but when it’s Min, Cadsuane is just passive-aggressive instead. I guess Min is her spy on Rand, so it behooves her to be a little bit nicer to her. She asks if Min has had any viewings she wants to tell Cadsuane about but Min is actually here as Rand’s errand girl, to let Cadsuane that he is asking to see her.

11. Cadsuane ponders how annoying it is that she has to actually, ugh, GIVE ADVICE to the person that she agreed to advise. The person that she has told us that she wants to teach ‘laughter and tears’ to. Verin acts like she is going to follow Cadsuane to Rand, but then Nesune shows up and draws Verin off for conversation. Cadsuane ponders how odd it is to see people who are on opposite sides of the White Tower split chat peacefully now that they’re both oathsworn to Rand. Lan is here in the estate, which means that Nynaeve likely is too, though she hasn’t been mentioned yet. Ah, she’s mentioned three pages later as watching Lan at his sparring. Cadsuane certainly is taking her sweet time going to see Rand. She also takes her time to (internally) diss Nynaeve for still having passionate reactions to things and not being a model of Aes Sedai calm.

12. Oh, wow, Rand awarded Narishma his Dragon pin and Merise took it away from him. So Narishma is upset and frustrated at her for shitting on his accomplishments and acting like he doesn’t count as an equal. I think she’s also the one who snapped her fingers at her Warder/Asha’man to make him go stand in a corner? “Jahar, he is still at the stage where he has to learn to accept only what I say he can.” Wow wow wow. Hate this. So Merise believes that bonding Narishma as her Warder means he’s not allowed ANY kind of separate life or accomplishments outside of what is given by her hand. I’m pretty sure that when she asked Narishma to become her Warder she did NOT make all this clear. He didn’t go through the Warder training! This was not informed consent! He obviously didn’t realise he was giving up everything else in his life by saying ‘yes’ to her! Cadsuane finds it worrying that Merise is actually considering giving Narishma BACK the pin because “Aes Sedai order and Warders obey”. I will be Keeping An Eye on developments here, but I’m not super-happy with how Merise is treating Narishma.

13. Alivia has appointed herself Rand’s new guard and is sitting outside his chambers. No matter how hard Rand tries, he literally cannot escape the fact that women are people and can make the choice to willingly risk their lives for a cause, the same as men. Cadsuane notes that Min dislikes Alivia but that she doesn’t think it’s jealousy, exactly. Cadsuane has seen Alivia and Rand exchanging glances, with determination on Alivia’s side and hope on Rand’s, but this is one secret that she had not been able to get out of Min (probably because Min is worried Cadsuane might be on Rand’s side lol). The other person guarding Rand right now is Elza (we know she’s a Darkfriend but Cadsuane & everyone else does not).

14. Cadsuane notes that Min has “finely honed instincts” of jealousy that make her snarl at anyone she thinks is horning in on her territory with Rand. Despite being the person in Rand’s bed, despite the bond, Min remains so completely insecure about her place in his life. I feel like that’s probably related to how much this version of her is a facade -- SHE knows that she’s faking almost everything about herself in order to appeal to Rand and part of her is worried that he will see past her dolled-up appearance and her desire to please and see the real her and reject that person in favor of someone who is ‘naturally feminine’ in the ways that Min does not believe that she personally is. Especially since she is aware that Rand is attracted to and in love with other women, even as he shares her bed. Because Min is pretty obviously just as monogamous as Perrin is and is easily driven to jealousy and insecurity and this relationship doesn’t make her feel satisfied and secure. And again, one of the tragedies in all this is that Rand was already attracted to Min before she changed herself for him. And one of the biggest ironies is that Min is only sharing him by her own active choice, even though it makes her miserable (because Rand was totally planning to come and go from Caemlyn without talking to Elayne or Aviendha at all). So all of Min’s unhappiness is something that she caused herself. Which has a lot of narrative irony but I feel like the narrative never actually... notices this?

15. Cadsuane notices that Rand is staggering a bit as if injured and... sort of worries about it? In her way. We are reminded in the narration that Min also let Cadsuane know that Rand believes that he needs her to teach him something. Rand is worrying over the Seanchan. They’ve been fighting among each other for a thousand years and it has honed their instincts for battle (similarly to how the Three-Fold Land honed the Aiel, I imagine Rand is thinking). We also learn that Rand has been talking a lot with Alivia about the Seanchan. I’d have MUCH rather gotten Rand and Alivia’s conversations about the Seanchan than that fawning chapter we got about baby!Tuon.

16. Before Rand can get to the part where he wanted Cadsuane’s advice, their meeting is interrupted. Maybe Cadsuane should have gone directly to see Rand when he asked her to visit instead of wandering around the manor idk. Anyway, some of his oathsworn Sisters have come to tell him that their Warders are abruptly a LOT closer than they used to be.

17. Later, Rand is lying on his bed with his boots on the covers. Moiraine did that in the show. <3 lol

18. Min punches Rand in the ribs again. I hate this relationship. She’s always ‘gentle’ with his unhealable wounds but apparently the rest of him is fair game at all times.

19. lol, Rand thinks about how Min is “good at reading his mind” and it just makes me think of pages and pages of her being absolute SHIT at having any idea of what he was thinking. She doesn’t have a clue how his mind works. Rand really does think that Min knows him so much better than she actually appears to, when we’re in her PoV chapters. Also, I note that Rand is still doing everything he can to hide his vulnerability/pain from Min. As much as I liked the bonding in Winter’s Heart, I’m frustrated at how little it seemed to actually affect Rand or his storyline at all.

20. The people who brought the Warders are Logain & his group (Asha’man and bonded Aes Sedai), plus Bashere & some of his soldiers.

21. Min currently appears to be actively TRYING to stoke Rand’s paranoia? No wonder I assumed it was SUPPOSED to be a bad sign that Rand was resting all his emotional support on her, back when I first read the books. She’s so bad for him! This is a bad relationship! Yet... yet I’m not sure whether or not Jordan was aware of that. Anyway, Min is panicking about Logain’s aura of glory and wondering if that means he’s going to try to displace Rand; she’s worried about seeing something ‘dark’ around Bashere, and fretting about rumors that Lord Dobraine might die. Luckily Rand actually seems to be better at shrugging off her panic than he was back in Lord of Chaos. I think maybe the Alivia viewing was the turning point there -- Min wants him to cut Alivia out of his life entirely because of the viewing and he refuses, because he thinks being ‘helped to die’ is a good thing and, besides, Min’s viewings are inevitable, so no point in fighting them. He basically tells her just that. “If you’ve seen it, then it’s going to happen.”

22. Yikes. When Min finds out Loial has arrived, we get this. “I could have killed Rand for letting you get off to your room before I saw you.” The bond said she did not mean it. Not exactly. Um. Yikes? I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be more ‘lol women, amIright?’ nonsense but... yikes.

23. I’m also trying to remember the history of the Loial and Min relationship, because they seem very close here. Loial did come to Caemlyn with Perrin, so Min would have met him at that point, but I do not remember the text making a big out of them becoming friends before Loial went off again with Karldin. Eh, it won’t be the last time Min is magically friends with someone, I guess.

24. Yeah, Rand still tries to avoid having anyone (including Min) see him grab hold of saidin, due to the dizziness. So that hasn’t changed as a result of the bond. He still doesn’t want to actually be vulnerable in front of anyone, including the people he loves and trusts. But, yeah, at this point, Rand is just trying to make himself last long enough to die at the Last Battle.

25. Rand notes that he keeps thinking in Lews Therin’s turns of phrase and not his own, and tries to remind himself how he needs to think about things in his own head. I wish he felt like he could talk to someone about this. I really wish. I wish he had someone with him who was actually trying to help him in a way that didn’t seem to be about trying to make him MORE paranoid and worried. *sigh*

26. LOIAL notices immediately that Rand looks tired and Min is instantly defensive about it and saying that Rand IS resting, which Rand takes as her being protective of him. I, uh, don’t have as charitable as an interpretation as Rand does, unfortunately. I’ve noticed in other PoVs that Min doesn’t really seem to notice when Rand is tired or dizzy, etc. even when other characters do, so I think she’s feeling defensive because she didn’t NOTICE that Rand was tired and so Loial pointing it out makes her feel inadequate.

27. Rand is too tired to sit and too tired to sleep. :-(

28. Only some of the stedding agreed to watch the Waygates, which is naturally worrisome. But Loial did his best. He also lets us know that there’s a grand meeting of all the Elders, The Great Stump, but Loial doesn’t know what the meeting is about because he is too young for people to be willing to tell him. So nine Waygates have been left unguarded.

29. I do want to note here that Rand thinks - “Rand knew he was feeling his way in the dark when it came to women, even Min -- maybe especially Min” - which is a far cry from how he USED to think about her as the one non-confusing woman in the world.

30. We cut to Cadsuane being the one to react to finding out that the Asha’man bonding the Aes Sedai who had been sent to the White Tower to gentle them. We also learn that Cadsuane IS capable of being nice to someone when she knows for certain that “the stick” absolutely won’t work with them, but it’s also clear that the stick is her first instinct and she’ll only move to being encouraging if she’s absolutely convinced that harshness won’t do the job.

31. Ah-HA. Rand IS upset about the Black Tower people bonding the Aes Sedai, though he feels like he can’t ask them to undo it at this point, given how the Aes Sedai reacted when he asked them to release their bonds on the Asha’man. I knew he would be upset. Anyway, Rand and Logain’s relationship is not getting off to the best of starts here. Rand is swearing so much here that it really makes me miss Mat. Real Mat, not CoT!Mat.

32. Logain lets Rand know that Taim is giving out a LOT of orders that he is letting people believe are coming straight from Rand and he is, honestly, all but begging Rand to take the Black Tower in hand. And there really isn’t a good reason why Rand is refusing (except that Jordan didn’t want him to handle it yet for Plot Reasons). I really am feeling the creaky hands of the Plot Strings SO much harder in these recent books than I felt them in the earlier ones. People keep doing things for no good reason other than The Plot Needed It or refusing to do things for no good reason because It’s Not Time For That Plot Yet. Logain even tells Rand that Taim’s put the three Asha’man who travel with Rand on his deserters’ list. “No matter what you’ve done, it’s time to turn your eyes to the Black Tower before Taim splits it worse than the White Tower is.”

33. Rand’s philosophical musings are turning very pessimistic, fatalistic, and grim. Anyway, he tells Logain that Taim has to wait but doesn’t actually give a reason why. Literally, there’s nothing keeping Rand from going and dealing with this? His next plan is to send people off to try to set up a meeting with Seanchan for him, so, in other words, he’s just gonna wait around and do nothing for a while. He absolutely had time to go try to at least scout out the Black Tower and feel its vibes for himself.

34. Three chapters of Perrin. The summary:

Faile has now been gone for 32 days, so it’s been a week (ten days) since his last set of chapters.

Berelain deserves to be Rand’s Steward in Cairhien! Not trapped in this plotline! #BerelainDeservedBetter

I also wish Sulin were over in Rand’s plotline instead of Perrin’s. We literally never got an in-story reason for why the Maiden who was most closely bonded to Rand was the one who left with Perrin.

Aram has grown so touchy and easy to set off that Perrin is leaving him behind. Perrin is such a bad leader who never pays any attention to the people following him; I don’t know why the narrative keeps telling me he’s a natural ruler.

I can’t believe that Perrin is STILL (internally) being a dick about Wil al’Seen being a pretty man who is attractive to women. He’s been a soldier under your command for SEVEN BOOKS, please get over your youthful envy of him omg he literally follows your every order.

I’ve talked about this with @markantonys but Perrin’s thing about hating when men smile is SO WEIRD. Let men smile, Perrin! Not everyone is a gloomy gus. I honestly have to wonder what Perrin’s opinion of Mat would be if they met up again, because he kinda seems to hate men who behave similarly to Mat. Mat is 100% a charmer who likes to smile.

A sighting of a raken in the distance freaks out everyone but Perrin, who is dismissive of the Seanchan because they aren’t Faile.

Perrin’s people try to resupply in Sto Habor but all the grain is infested with weevils. There are ghosts in this town too, like Elayne had at the start of her storyline. The Aes Sedai ask him to leave one of them behind to help the town but he refuses, because Sto Harbor isn’t Faile.

Perrin reminds himself that he would do anything to get Faile back, chops off a man’s hand and threatens him to prove it to himself and then decides to make a deal with the Seanchan. “Yes, that would be like taking the Dark One’s help,” he thinks, and then he asks Tallanvor to tell him more.

Tallanvor (who brought the news of the Seanchan) also says he would be cool making a deal with the Dark One to get Morgase (’Maighdin’) back. Yeah, my first guess was wrong and Perrin is DEFINITELY the left hand that strays from the opening quote. Mat is on thin ice, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not yet in ‘would be willing to make a deal with the Dark One if he offered’ territory. Now would have been the perfect time for one of the Forsaken to go after Perrin. He absolutely was ripe to be turned to the Shadow at this moment in time. He’s thought both about how he would forsake Rand and the Last Battle for Faile in this book and now he’s thinking about trying to make a deal with someone he considers as bad as the Dark One.

35. Back to Mat. In his earlier chapters, the themes that Winter’s Heart told us would matter: the sul’dam secret, Seanchan characters questioning the empire, and Tuon being a dormant marath’damane, all had yet to come up in any way in the narrative. Instead we just focused on Mat navel-gazing about his marriage prophecy and not caring about slavery as much as he had the previous week. So, hopefully something actually relevant will happen in this upcoming Mat stuff.

36. They finally leave the outskirts of the city and it’s a rainy hellscape and Mat is glumly miserable. We get a montage of Mat ‘courting’ Tuon. It is painful even to skim through. Mat is making himself so pathetic for her and for no good reason. He is really Min 2: Electric Boogaloo, forcing himself into love with someone that he knows nothing about and has nothing in common with Because Destiny Says So. At least Min forces herself to fall in love with an actual good person and not a slaver. She doesn’t seem to actually APPRECIATE any of Rand’s good qualities (except the physical ones) but at least he actually HAS them. And the dice in Mat’s head have been getting so overused since Tuon showed up. I’m just... either annoyed or bored during most of Mat’s PoV this book and it makes me sad. Reading Mat’s PoVs used to be a delight and now they’re a chore.

37. On the plus side, Tuon is SUCH an incredibly petty asshole to Egeanin here for absolutely no reason that it looks like it may have reactivated at least part of Egeanin’s spine. Tuon literally renamed her because she felt like flexing her power and being a jerk to someone. Egeanin is the only character in this entire storyline who has gotten interesting character development so far this book.

38. Mat does still consider marrying Tuon to essentially be a terrible doomed fate (”when you knew you were going to hang, the only thing to do was grin at the noose” is very similar to a Birgitte quote). Yet he’s staying anyway. *sigh*

39. Oh thank fuck something relevant actually happened in Mat’s storyline. I mean, Egeanin got stabbed, so that sucks, but something actually happened that wasn’t just Mat deciding to roll over for a slaver.

40. We learn from Domon that Renna stabbed Egeanin in the back and then took off running. Teslyn heals Egeanin and absolutely no one says ‘thank you’ to her (#TeslynDeservedBetter). And Egeanin shares the secret about the sul’dam, that Renna, Seta, and Bethamin had all been leashed once, that she suspects any sul’dam is capable of channeling. Teslyn, Selucia, and Tuon all overhear. My eyes roll as Mat has a chance to leave Tuon behind but decides to keep the slaver around because she has ~mysterious eyes~. This is worse than when Jordan had Rand ignoring every red flag about ‘Selene’ back in TGH.

41. Anyway, we finally leave the circus, unfortunately still saddled with the slaver and her devoted slave, to chase after Renna before she can alert the Seanchan as they are worried that she might. They spot her before she reaches the garrison. She’s too far to catch but not too far to shoot with a crossbow, so Mat gives the order. And, annoyingly, just like with Rand, women are ~special~ and Mat swears that he’ll never let a woman die because of him again after this. Honestly, I suspect this is part of why Jordan turned towards the idea of making allies out of the Seanchan -- a. because they are an enemy that is predominately female in the 'known characters' due to the ‘character casting’ choices he made and he has SUCH a hard time killing female villains compared to male villains. and b. He would much rather enslave his female characters than kill them and in order for him to keep doing that, Jordan needs the Seanchan to continue to exist as a slaver culture, so that there’s a place to put the Bad Women.

42. ...and we’re back at the circus, at least for now, except now Tuon is openly placing the circus under her protection as ~High Lady Tuon~ so she will probably be even more insufferable and even more of an asshole next book. Well, that felt pointless. Mat also feels like everything was pointless, but he’s at the hysterical laughter stage of his “walking to my own doom” storyline. It’s so sad that I’m actually relieved that Mat’s plotline for the book is done and I can read someone else’s PoV.

43. As we end Mat’s section, slavery check-in.

Characters who were previously strongly anti-slavery in WH:

Mat, Setalle Anan, Juilin, Noal, Teslyn, Joline, Edesina, Thom, Beslan

Characters who inexplicably softened their anti-slavery stance in CoT:

Mat (knows sul’dam secret)

Setalle Anan

Noal

Anti-Slavery characters who haven’t changed their stance as far as we know:

Juilin (gold star for Juilin tbh)

Teslyn (knows sul’dam secret)

Joline

Edesina

Thom

Characters who are focused really only on their own personal freedom and not anyone else’s:

Renna, Seta & Bethamin (slaves if the Truth Were Known)

Domon (wants to be free to marry Egeanin)

We started strong with the sul’dam in WH, where they were questioning pretty much everything about what they knew about themselves and the empire, and now they’re just kinda... average horrible sul’dam again. Mat should have left them in Ebou Dar.

Characters who show signs of growth and change:

Egeanin (knows sul’dam secret)

Her breaking off the necklace and throwing it away? Wow! Literally the only worthwhile thing that happened in chapter 28. Her parts of chapter 29 were pretty much the only interesting things in that chapter as well.

These characters remain strongly pro-slavery:

Tuon (dormant marath’damane & now knows sul’dam secret)

Tuon questions literally nothing about herself and any of her assumptions about the world; this entire book has been a waste of time with regards to her character. The ending does set up the ~possibility~ that maybe we’ll see some character growth next book but so far Tuon is all hat, no cattle. Winter’s Heart ALSO implied that there would be character growth ~next book~ but it didn’t happen.

Characters in this storyline that I currently care about:

Egeanin, Joline, Edesina, Teslyn, Juilin, Thera. Maybe Thom.

44. We don’t have much of the book left, but we are back with Egwene! We learn that there has been another saidin-based murder of another Blue sister (Aran’gar’s work). This time, the person who was killed was one of the people Egwene was planning to use for Her Plan. We also learn that Nicola ran away four days ago, but her fellow novices covered up for her... because they disliked her and were afraid she’d be found and brought back.

45. Oh! We learn that Egwene DID share one of her prophetic dreams with people -- she told the sisters about the Seanchan attack she’d dreamed about (I can’t tell from context if this means all of the Aes Sedai with her or just her oathsworn sisters). I think it’s all the Aes Sedai Sisters. Hilariously, no one is taking it seriously because no one believes that she’s a Dreamer, possibly because of how she has never shared a prophetic dream before. This really is the opposite of Min’s storyline re: prophecy.

46. Hey, we finally learn the name of one of Egwene’s friends from back home (who, per TGH, were ‘allowed’ to dance with Rand because they wouldn’t try to steal him, and I was trying so hard to think of who on earth that would even be) - Larine Ayellin. It only took us 10 books, but we’ve got the name of one of Egwene’s childhood friends!

47. After talking over the issues that had been brought up earlier in the book with various Sitters, Egwene comes to a decision and sneaks out in the night, riding Bela rather than her own Daishar, with only Siuan aware that she’s left. She goes to where Bode has been set out on her secret mission and takes over for her (and I believe Leane is the other one on the secret mission). Anyway, we finally learn The Plan, which is turning the big harbor chains into cuendillar at night while they’re down, thus blockading the harbor without needing to bring in boats. She succeeds at her half of it... and then is caught, obviously betrayed by someone. I’m gonna guess by Nicola because... I mean, it fits her MO and she did just recently run away.

48. We end on a super-short epilogue. All of the major wounds that Rand has received still hurt, we learn. Not just the unhealable wounds in his side but the heron brands in his palms too. Oh, honey. Bashere has returned and tells Rand that the Seanchan are willing to meet with him -- but it needs to be in person and he will be meeting with a member of the royal family, the Daughter of the Nine Moons (and, of course, we know she’s too busy being an asshole in Mat’s storyline to actually be the person Rand will meet next book).

49. Mostly what reading CoT made me think about were several ways it could be improved. This was... a frustrating book. Honestly, I don’t think it’s out of character for Perrin to go seek out help from the slavers -- he’s pre-established as being ‘anything for Faile’ so he didn’t feel out of character. But so much of the book felt... pointless. And it essentially killed off one of my favorite characters, because CoT!Mat is NOT pre-CoT!Mat. I don’t know this guy and I don’t like this guy. Elayne and Egwene do all they can to hold up the book, but so much of it really is a miserable slog. I hope KoD is better but honestly, I suspect it will be Elayne and Egwene holding up the entire book again, and Perrin and Mat being miserable slogs again. But we’ll see. And after KoD, I’ll reread New Spring, and that one should be genuinely enjoyable at least.

Mat is mentioned by:

Rand x1

Unnecessary scenes in this section:

Perrin’s side quest (shaido): 1 (14 pages), 1 (17 pages), 1 (21 pages)

Mat’s side quest (tuon): 1 (31 pages), 1 (12 pages)

Tuon appears in 15 pages in chapter 28 and 23 in chapter 29.

Toy used:

8x in chapter 29

4x in chapter 29 (she doesn’t talk much in this one)

Tuon is a spoiled brat who is allowed to get away with anything she wants:

Forcibly renames Egeanin just to be an asshole.

When Mat gives her a gift, she gives it away in a manner calculated to be an asshole.

Mocks and humiliates Egeanin for no apparent reason other than to be an asshole (and I guess to push the limits and see what Mat will let her get away with, probably)

Demands that Mat take her shopping

Loads Mat up with all her purchases that she made on Mat’s gold

Tuon is now officially being feted and honored at Luca’s circus since they know she’s An Important Seanchan now

Tuon reminds us she’s a slaver:

Selucia, her slave, is still shadowing her everywhere

she talks about Mat needing to be trained in manners

is able to forcibly rename Egeanin because she has the power to do that in their culture due to being the Top Slaver

Egeanin is forced to kneel, kiss the floor, and beg leave to be permitted to withdraw

Tuon refuses to even speak to Egeanin directly, having Selucia (her slave) do it instead

She refuses to speak to Mat in the same scene, having Selucia speak for her. Since Selucia is speaking ‘for’ Tuon here, I am counting this usage of ‘Toy’ against Tuon

Threatens again to turn Mat into a slave

forbids Mat to mourn Renna because Mat is her hoped-for possession and not allowed his own feelings. I don’t want him to mourn Renna either but step off, lady.

Something from previous books is undermined (this is kinda my ranting section so skip if that doesn’t appeal):

Mat continues to treat both the Aes Sedai & the sul’dam as if they are ‘equally irritating’ and have ‘equally petty’ reasons for ‘annoying’ him, contributing to the idea that being a slaver isn’t a big deal. It’s even the SUL’DAM that Mat is giving apologetic looks to, even after they talk about how they want to leash the Aes Sedai again? WTF WTF WTF

Mat acts like he’s baffled when Joline, Edesina, & Teslyn glare at him and not the sul’dam - yeah, they’re pissed that you’re treating slavers and their targets the same because you weren’t doing that LAST BOOK. I’d be pissed off too if the person who saved me was suddenly acting like he didn’t see any difference between me and the people who want to enslave me. They don’t expect the sul’dam not to act like trash but they expected better of you, Mat, because you were better last book.

Mat thinks of the a’dam and sul’dam as a lever to use against the Aes Sedai. Wow! Disgusting behavior! He thinks “Not that he really thought about putting those collars on the sisters again. Not often, anyway.” WTF? I kinda hate CoT!Mat. I adored this character only LAST BOOK and just hated that he was trapped in a trauma plotline. How did Jordan manage to completely ruin Mat in a single book?

Mat seems annoyed that Domon isn’t behaving like a good slave and sleeping on the floor, instead insisting that he and Mat trade off for the bed. Again! WTF!

Mat worries about the ‘bad habits’ that Olver might pick up from the Redarms or Thom, but has no qualms about him hanging out with slavers. He even approves of Olver bowing and making much of Tuon. Slavery is a pretty bad fucking habit, Mat.

Mat abruptly starts ‘courting’ Tuon in earnest, despite her giving him absolutely no reason to like her as a person and being open about her desire to potentially enslave him at some point. He lets her get away with being a jerk over and over and over again, despite being harsh with the Aes Sedai for much lesser irritations.

Setalle Anan is absolutely fine with Tuon acting like a slaver asshole in front of her and even is all “oh you silly man” in Mat’s direction when he’s baffled by Tuon’s behavior.

Somehow the entire Mean Girls (tm) event where Tuon and Selucia mock and humiliate Egeanin for absolutely no reason doesn’t make Mat decide not to court Tuon? wtf

Setalle Anan is now literally bodyguard to a slaver, willing to use her knife against people to threaten them to leave Tuon’s presence. What a massive comedown for this character, who was so strongly anti-slavery in Winter’s Heart.

When Mat finds out that Tuon has trained damane, he doesn’t think at all about how sickening he found the way that damane were treated in Winter’s Heart to be but instead treats it as a neutral statement about her hobbies; it makes him find her intimidating but he’s not disgusted by it like he would have been in Winter’s Heart. It has not been THAT LONG and yet Mat already barely cares about slavery, despite caring a LOT in Winter’s Heart.

Mat still appears to be in denial that Selucia is a slave, constantly calling her a “ladies’ maid”. This is kinda the one point where any kind of massaging Mat back into some semblance of actually being in character would hang, actually. Because he KNOWS that she’s a slave but persistently refuses to think of her as one, like if he just closes his eyes and pretends hard enough that Tuon isn’t a slaver, she’ll magically stop being one.

Despite very reasonably NOT considering an oath under duress to be binding in Winter’s Heart, Mat apparently considers accidental wedding vows to be binding??? You are not Seanchan; you have no reason to consider yourself bound by their customs unless you CHOOSE to be. Weddings! Aren’t! Magic! Spells! Why do I say this so often in these books!

Literally there is no point for the narrative to have removed Tuon from her power base in Ebou Dar because everyone still treats her like she’s in charge anyway. What is the point of this entire arc if it doesn’t actually impact Tuon’s character? ALL the circus arc has done so far is completely destroy Mat as a character. What the FUCK happened to Jordan in-between writing Winter’s Heart and writing Crossroads of Twilight? Seriously, even if that is when he decided to punt off all Seanchan-related development to the outriggers, there was no reason to assassinate Mat’s character this way. I’m so pissed off. It’s like being a slaver doesn’t even register as a negative to Mat anymore - he doesn’t even mention Tuon BEING A SLAVER in his list of things about her that he dislikes? wtf. Instead it’s all “oh dear, I might marry a noble” aka the kinds of worries that would make sense if he were fated to marry someone like ELAYNE, not someone like Tuon, who has much greater flaws than being a NOBLE.

When Tuon threatens again to turn MAT into a slave, he gets nervous about the idea but it doesn’t seem to impact his opinion of Tuon as a person??? She’s genuinely horrific (to him and others) in this entire section of the story and it doesn’t seem to impact his desire to ~win her over~ in any possible way? Like, dude, just fucking take a horse and abandon the circus. Take Olver with you and just leave.

And he’s just bafflingly all “oh women are so strange” about her threatening to enslave him. Mat, this has NOTHING to do with her being a woman. It’s because she’s a SLAVER. Also, absolutely mind-bogglingly, Mat thinks about how he needs to trust her. Literally right after she’s threatened to turn him into a slave. ???? We do get that echo of his ancient memories reminding him that trust is the sound of death but it doesn’t go anywhere, so whatever.

You would think that after one of the sul’dam stabs Egeanin and tries to run away, Mat might rethink some of his weird “oh the Aes Sedai and the sul’dam are both just equally annoying sets of people” trains of thought but this does not appear to happen.

When Mat learns that sul’dam can channel, all his focus is on “oh no my future wife can channel” and his tactical military mind seems to have taken a vacation? The fact that the sul’dam can potentially channel is a huge deal with regards to the Seanchan empire, yet this barely seems to cross Mat’s mind?

And, honestly, I don’t even feel like the whole “the prophecy threatens his life if he doesn’t marry Tuon” is a valid reason because Mat HAS risked his life before for other people, quite frequently! So him rolling over for the prophecy and doing his best to fawn and manipulate his way into Tuon’s good graces feels so excruciatingly out of character. Him giving her flowers and trying to court her all while doing his best to just ignore that she’s a horrific person who enslaves and tortures other people for fun is... it’s just out of character. I don’t care that Jordan wrote it. This isn’t the same Mat that we had in Winter’s Heart or the previous books. This is a different character. Mat is the guy who runs back into the burning house to save people, even while complaining the whole time (as Siuan described him in book 3), but this guy is marrying the fucking arsonist instead and just watching as she sets more fires. He comes across as weak and self-serving, which are not words I would associate with pre-CoT Mat. I remember accurately how awful Tuon is as a person and a character but, wow, Mat is shitty too in this book.

I just... I think back to the start of TSR and THAT should have been the energy that Mat had in this book -- he fucking hates the nobles in the start of that book, yet he doesn’t show it at all to their faces because he’s fleecing them for money, but even though he never actively thinks “I fucking hate these people” it becomes very obvious within about 2-3 pages. THAT is what we should have been getting from the Mat-Tuon scenes, but we would actually need to see MAT trying to subtly win concessions from TUON in order for that to be the subtext, rather than just barely keep his head above the water, you know? Because Mat focuses WAY TOO MUCH on Tuon being Prophesied Wife rather than Prophesied Wife being the FUTURE EMPRESS OF THE SLAVER EMPIRE THAT HAS RECENTLY INVADED THE WESTLANDS. Which is a MILITARY concern. Yet we never see Mat treating trying to get Tuon to fall in love with him as if it were a military concern; it’s just treated as a personal thing and THAT is why it makes all this feel like a pointless subplot rather than something that’s actually important. And it sucks because it felt like Winter’s Heart actually set up a good storyline for this plotline really well and then CoT has just completely ignored the bigger picture related to a Mat-Tuon marriage and has made it all about Fated Romance (which is something that Jordan has ALREADY done in other plotlines, so he’s not even bringing anything new to the table). It’s just so frustrating because this COULD have been compelling story (though I would have felt bad for Mat even so) but instead it’s a limp nothingplot that ruins a good character.

Ironically, Mat being a shitty person isn’t even related to Tuon? Tuon is only in 52 pages of Mat’s chapters, but he’s a shitty person in the majority of his screen time, even before he starts courting her in earnest. I’m so disappointed (in Jordan, not in Mat. This is so clearly NOT pre-CoT Mat that I can’t even hold it against him; pre-CoT Mat is still one of my faves. CoT!Mat can go pound sand. Jordan had to absolutely obliterate Mat as a character in order to make him ‘fit’ with Tuon and it’s so depressing).

I hate everything about this plotline.

Plot-threads that started in CoT or were carried over from WH:

Elayne: Become queen of Caemlyn (second book of task) - NOT completed.

Mat: Escape Ebou Dar and return to the Band of the Red Hand and Rand (second book of task) - NOT completed.

Perrin: Gather up Masema and his Dragonsworn and bring them to Rand (fourth book of task) - NOT completed.

Egwene: Go to the White Tower with her army, confront Elaida, and heal the Tower (fifth book of task) - NOT completed.

Rand: Make a truce with the Seanchan (first book of task) - NOT completed.

Nynaeve: The only thing she does this entire book is watch Lan spar.

Plot-threads carrying over to Knife of Dreams:

Elayne: Become queen of Caemlyn (3/?)

Mat: Escape Ebou Dar and return to the Band of the Red Hand and Rand (3/?)

Perrin: Gather up Masema and his Dragonsworn and bring them to Rand (5/?)

Egwene: Go to the White Tower with her army, confront Elaida, and heal the Tower (6/?)

Rand: Make a truce with the Seanchan (2/?)

Nynaeve: ???

Unnecessary scenes (whole book):

young Sitters ‘mystery’: 3 (9 pages)

too many random PoVs: 5 (63 pages)

Mat’s side quest (tuon): 6 (134 pages)

Perrin’s side quest (shaido): 8 (175 pages)

Being Weird about Elayne’s pregnancy: 3 (5 pages)

Atha’an Miere nonsense: 2 (12 pages)

Egwene waits around for her plot to start: 2 (29 pages)

So that was a total of 427 pages. My copy of Crossroads of Twilight has 823 pages, so that is 51.9%. Honestly, I was expecting it to be worse. Thank goodness for Elayne and Egwene.

Tuon-related annoyances: (whole book; 52 pages)

refuses to use Mat’s name x25

acts like a spoiled brat x9

reminds us that she’s a slaver x11

People that Mat thinks about: (whole book):

Rand x3

Perrin x1

Mat is mentioned by (whole book):

Elayne x1

Egwene x6 (prophetic dream)

Rand x1

Mat is so disconnected from the rest of the cast in this book; it’s like he’s in his own, separate, and more poorly-written novella (which I guess is a ‘romance’ of some kind but one of those romances where you feel like the author only put 5% of their effort into the story).

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #crossroads of twilight #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #slaver empress tuon #seanchan warning #trust me when i say that i also wish that this book weren't making me so miserable lol #i want mat back!#this is not mat!#i thoroughly disagree with the opinion that sanderson ruined mat #because jordan ruined him first #mat cauthon #the wheel of time

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