#to be clear: of course there is randomness and choice in both elements of these

[mokagachas]

the narrative gameplay design of is3 vs is4 is really good

i really like it. its driving me insane.

we've all played is3 right. here's the gist of is3: the ocean is treacherous and cruel and ever-changing. there is something with you in the water and you can not see it, you can't even sense it properly- you see flashes of what it is and it is so, so much more incomprehensible than you.

you can stock up well in is3. hell, you can stock up REALLY well- you can get dozens of collectibles and hit all the right operators and you might roll 1s the entire way down.

because is3 is based on helplessness.

is3 is a scenario where your fate is determined by the roll of a die. you will grit your teeth and sigh as you get hit with the worst random debuff available and be like well. nothing i could do there! certainly there are choices that can be made, strategic advances and whatnot, but the ocean is what decides this for you. you are helpless to the ocean's whims.

in fact- there is certainly something comforting in helplessness! it makes the terrifying a little less terrifying. the yoke of responsibility is lifted from you!

is4 is not that.

is4 there is something with you in the mountains and it is just out of view. is4 it is gritty and unchanging and uncompromising. is4 says: here is what is in front of you. there is no chance here.

is4 gives you the terror of choice.

is4 says hey. there's the boss on this floor but you have 1 life point remaining and there's an emergency node up next, do you spend a foldartal now to get a buff or risk the wait? there's a trader node right below you but if you spend it your equipment will be damaged and maybe you'll need that down the line? either way you are making a choice.

you can see what is in here with you. you can grab it by the scruff of the neck and you can say Screw You You Are Going To Have 50% Less HP In This Node And I Will Have +50 ASPD Whether You Like It Or Not.

but it can do the same. you're not in a lush, terrifying ecosystem of the ocean, you are in a barren and frozen mountain. you are getting less collectibles you're getting less hope you've got less resources and more enemies and is4 says okay, yeah, you can shoot me.

but you only have one bullet. and you need to choose to pull the trigger.

[holmsister]

As for Shuro/Toshiro... lemme see if I can put this coherently. The long and short of it is, this is Ryoko Kui doing the thing she does in which she uses the dungeon as a neutral background in which characters with different ideas can clash and come to terms with each other. We're not supposed to side with Toshiro, but we are not supposed to side with Laios, really, mostly because there is no "right" and "wrong" here.

A character who is heavily coded as autistic and comes from a northern europe coded culture (low-context - information is supposed to be conveyed in the most straightforward and clear way possible, even when said way is considered rude) meets another character who is extremely shy and comes from a japan coded culture (high context - info is supposed to be inferred by a mix of behaviour and conversational allusion, maintaining peaceful interpersonal relationships takes precedent over efficiency).

Neither of them are inherently wrong in the way they approach the other. Yes, Toshiro shouldve said something, but he doesn't know how. He was not taught how to handle someone like Laios. Conversely, Laios was not taught how to read between the lines and understand what a person is trying to convey if they are not speaking directly.

Since Laios is the main protagonist and we see most of the story from his POV, and also since most people on this website are American (low context culture), its easy for people to assume we are supposed to side with him. But I don't think that's the author's intention at all. Remember - Kui is Japanese writing for a primarily Japanese audience. From THEIR POV Toshiro's behaviour is perfectly understandable. It's also worth noting that there is a lot of extra material that gives further context to the Toshiro/Laios relationship.

One of the main points, for example, is how Laios gets Toshiro's name wrong. When they first met, Toshiro is immediately an object of curiosity to Laios BECAUSE he is a foreigner from a faraway land. Laios immediately invites himself to become his friend and starts asking question after question. When he finally remembers he's supposed to ask for Toshiro's name, he misunderstands it as Shuro, and Toshiro is too shy to correct him. "Renaming" the foreign side character for the benefit of the Western main character is an extremely loaded symbolic choice from Robinson Crusoe's Friday onward. I am not aware of the particular history of this trope in Japanese literature, but other elements of Toshiro's story suggest that renaming in his culture is something that is often done to slaves. Ryoko Kui is generally very deliberate about details like these. I highly doubt this is a random choice.

Of course Laios does not do it on purpose and Toshiro understands this and decides to let it slide, but its still something hurtful that Laios does to another person without even realising that hes doing it. This is a type of mistake he does often and he will do again across the story.

Again. Not saying Toshiro is perfectly right either, but there is a reason why they finish the meeting on relatively decent terms - because they BOTH recognise how they went wrong.

Toshiro realises that he needs to be more direct and determined about what he wants, but this is a reality check for Laios as well. He has been able to coast by so far in the dungeon without giving much thought to other people's wants and needs, thanks to the help of friends who care for him and are willing to follow him, but the story is changing pace and scale. Soon he might have to make some difficult decisions that involve the life and death of others. He needs to learn to listen.

This is why the Toshiro confrontation happens in the same span where we see Chimera!Falin going on a rampage, and Kabru trying to establish a friendship with Laios to assess what kind of person he is. Several narrative threads are coming to a head - the conflict with Toshiro is the tangible result of the tensions we saw around Laios' uncaring attitude from the beginning.

[magicstar16]

Thinking about Mike Deltarune

What if Mike was just as desperate as Spamton?

Mike Rofone is Microphone darkner who runs a tv studio in the dark world. However, the business starts failing in the 90s, as tv starts to become less popular and Lightners start flocking to this newfangled "internet" thing that he can't make heads or tails of. Tenna, his protege and poster child, as much as he likes them, the tv darkner just isn't bringing in new customers anymore. The studio's on the verge of bankruptcy, but he can't give up now! He just needs a miracle! He just needs something flashy! He just needs something new!

He just needs a little help!

And it comes to him

Through a ring on an old telephone.

He picks it up

And through the garbage noise, Mike hears a voice.

The voice tells him he can help Mike. The voice tells Mike that the internet, even though it's still in it's infancy, is also a dark world. That the internet also has addisons. That there's a particular addison there who's as desperate as Mike. His name is Spamton G. Addison. He's failing, but he's got potential, and if Mike plays his cards right, he will make life better for the both of them.

Mike is skeptical at first of course. He's been in business for years at this point, he knows every deal has it's angle. A shiny solution to all his problems served on a silver platter? And that solution happens to come from the main thing that's putting him out of business? It seemed to good to be true... but if there was even a slight chance of saving the studio, he had no choice but to take the gamble right? Plus he's familiar with addisons. Perhaps this internet addison was out of their element, maybe they'd be better suited for tv commercials than advertisements on the internet. Maybe if Mike took them under his wing, he'd have a real big shot on his hands, after all, Tenna was struggling a lot before Mike scouted him. Sure, yeah, he could work with this.

He takes the deal.

The voice sounds pleased.

The voice tells him that tomorrow, the addison would call him. Mike thanks the voice, but its already distorted back into a mass of garbage noise, and hangs up.

Mike tells his secretary to cancel every meeting and hold every call he has tomorrow, he has a special client he's expecting.

The next day Mike paces in his office, the old phone now resting on his desk. He's been waiting for hours starting to have second thoughts. Why did he trust a random stranger on the phone? Why did he take the gamble? Why did he cancel every meeting and call that had more financial potential than whatever lies the voice from the phone promised? He's been in show biz for decades, he should know better than to take a suspicious deal! He's dreading whatever scam he's got himself into. He's gonna go bankrupt for sure now... What's he gonna tell his employees? His coworkers? Oh gosh, what was he gonna tell Tenna? StupidstupidstupidstupidSTUPIDSTUPIDSTUPID-

*Ring Ring*

Mike's spiral is interrupted by the ringing of an old rotary phone. The one he placed on his desk. The sound he's been waiting to hear all day. He picks it up

and to his surprise, someone answers.

"H-hello, am I {Speaking clearly} to a Mr. Mike Rofone? I was told to {Call Now!} you."

The voice is timid, glitchy, a complete opposite to the voice from the call from yesterday. Perhaps this is the "Spamton" the voice was talking about? Mike clears his throat and speaks, trying to mask the disbelief in his voice

"Yes, the one and only Mike Rofone! You're Spamton g. Addison right?"

"{Affirmative}"

Mike and Spamton talk for a bit, with spamton growing much energetic and passionate the more they spoke. Mike is oddly charmed by the Addison. Spamton's got ideas, new, flashy ideas that Mike could only imagine the chaotic new invention of the internet could inspire (Calling a car a "cungadero", whatever a "Pipis" is, what would they think of next?). Though Mike can tell that the ideas aren't quite there, plus Spamton's still has noticeable uncertainty and a lack of confidence in his voice, not to mention the glitchiness. Mike could see why Spamton would be having trouble picking up customers, but it was nothing that a little patented Mike Magic™ can't fix. He'd just have to refine Spamton's ideas, give him a little more confidence, and get a hold on those glitches (Though from what Mike could tell, Spamton probably couldn't control it, but Mike would be lying if he hadn't had a feedback errors in his time, it happens to the best of us! Worst case scenario, they'd just edit the audio).

Mike hires Spamton. Mike promises to Spamton he was gonna make Spamton a big shot! and through the phone he can hear Spamton's barely contained excitement

"I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T LET YOU I WON'T LET YOU- I won't let you down sir!"

Mike and Spamton say goodbye to eachother and hang up. Mike chuckles, which turns into a laugh! Sweet signals above! this was actually happening! He had a bright new poster boy on his hands!

But a thought wormed his way into his mind. How was he gonna tell Tenna? Mike couldn't let go of Tenna even if he wanted to (which he didn't, admittedly) Tenna may not have had the star power he used to have, but he was still talented! He couldn't just let that go! He helped Tenna become the star he knew he could be! Maybe he'd just let her keep acting and getting gigs on her own. Yeah, that was probably the best way to go, Tenna was a star after all! Tenna didn't really need Mike's guidance anymore, there was a new little sponge who needed to soak up Mike's expertise. Yeah, yeah that was probably the best way to go about it!

[aardvaark]

only murders in the building s3e9 spoilers below the cut! thoughts & theories

so. all my thoughts from last week proved eerily correct (poisoned cookies, donna as murderer, paper being review, etc), which makes me think that i’m very, very wrong in some important way lol.

considering donna said that one line from the review word-for-word stop sitzprobe, it seems like she did read the review. however, now i’m guessing one of 3 things: 1. she read it and disliked it but didn’t do much about it, 2. she read it and disliked it and destroyed it in KT’s office shredder that night but didn’t kill ben, or 3. she read it, disliked it, destroyed it, and poisoned ben, but didn’t push him down the elevator shaft. ie, she’s the perpetrator of the first murder, but not the second.

so why don’t i just immediately assume that the third is true? because of oliver’s dip-cake. charles says that the only dip he has in the fridge is norwegian red herring. yk, like the trope of a red herring… a clue that is an intentional misdirect in a story. i think that the dip flavour is not at all a random choice. and since the only major clue we get in that scene is the review, then that review is probably a red herring (trope, not dip).

another thought about donna: last episode, we saw her throwing up in the bathrooms (which she blames on stress) and adjusting her hair. someone on one of my posts told me that she appeared to be wearing a wig (/edit/ thank you to @kimbearablykute for that comment!). obviously, wearing a wig could be because of a massive number of things, from having alopecia, to being a married orthodox jewish woman, to simply liking wigs. however, for the purposes of this theory, im gonna assume that it’s another symptom alongside the vomiting… and hair loss + vomiting makes me think chemotherapy. the reason she was "in and out of the party all night" as our podcasters say, could be because she was throwing up or otherwise feeling tired and ill all night.

i honestly don’t know yet what her possible chemo (and therefore, cancer) will have to do with everything else. just a musing at this point. maybe it will be a driving reason as to why she would commit murder for her son’s sake? cause she’s already dying so she can sacrifice herself, plus she has little time left to get him his success? or perhaps it will be the reason she’s innocent? maybe being sick from chemo is why she was frequently absent from the party, and surveillance footage can prove she was just going to the bathrooms to throw up? maybe it will prove that she wouldn’t have the strength to fight ben and push him down the elevator? although, with the element of surprise on your side, i don’t think it would be too hard to push someone down the elevator shaft.

perhaps she is the poisoner, and the review is just a red herring because that’s not her real motive. her real motive… is… um… okay im stuck.

tobert was conveniently right outside ben’s dressing room, just after the cookie had been delivered. if donna didn’t do that part, then it’s possible that he did. he’s also still on the possible suspects list for the second murder, and that list is getting increasingly narrower. he now has a motive for the second murder at least - being fired by ben on opening night. he got fired too late to have poisoned the cookies of course, so i think he might be in the clear for the first one.

i’ll be annoyed if it’s someone obscure, like bobo. or some already very established background character, like howard or uma or sazz pitazz. that would make it feel like the writers have just pulled it out their asses. like "deus ex machina" meets "the butler did it". is there a word for that?

anyway, moving on.

i think it’s very possible that cliff had something to do with the first or second (or both) murder attempts. same motive as donna, really: upset that the play wasn’t going to plan, not wanting to let it ruin his reputation before it had even begun, and therefore killing the lead (shitty) actor to prevent the play from ever being seen. donna might give herself in for him, much like meryl streep has confessed for dickie’s sake. i feel that cliff could definitely have been the second murderer, either wanting to protect his mother if she committed the first attempt on ben’s life, or simply fighting/assaulting him near the elevators and possibly accidentally pushing him over the ledge. something like that. or maybe for the same reasons we suspect donna, or maybe because he realised how much better off he was when ben was believed to be dead.

lowkey what if cinda actually did do this one? i mean, she’s always put forth as a possible suspect and is always the wrong choice, so it’s unlikely. but maybe she really wants to get back to podcasting, so she killed a famous guy. idk.

who else can i even suspect… maxine (the reviewer)? well she’s only been around a little bit, and if the review is a red herring, then that seems to count her out. the guy who lives in the attic at the theatre? seems like he was introduced too late and too briefly.

the doctor feeding ben drugs? actually i guess that’s possible, and he may even be the attic guy since they dress the same… i think the killer had to have been behind some of the sandbag and light shenanigans in Ghost Light (s3e6), and attic guy would have had access. doctor would have motive if he was trying to prevent ben from exposing the fact that he’s just giving out drugs.

speaking of people with access to the sandbags and lights: the paper shredder was in KT’s office… is she too obscure to have been the murderer? we don’t see much of her though. but she has been noted to have some anger issues in this latest ep, her office was suspiciously locked on opening night, and actually she could have the same motive of donna or cliff, to keep the shitty show from premiering.

just to keep track, i think that joy, kimber, ty, loretta, dickie and jonathan have been clearly discounted as suspects.

uh so yeah i’m super tired and that’s all my thoughts for tonight! thanks folks! i might update this when i get up, but it’s 2am and i have stuff to do tomorrow so i need some sleep now lol.

[overfedvenison]

I doubt it'll mean anything, but Castle Town's initial structures are arrow-shaped

Although the Chaos Star is much more famous, the symbol of Order is an upwards-pointing arrow. The Order and Chaos symbols were created by author Michael Moorcock... Chaos represents possibilities which extend in all directions (and which is ultimately aimless and moves at random,) while law represents a single path forward (Without outward possibilities.) Now... I don't think this is going to be a motif. That would be sort of weird for this game. But whenever I see the unaltered Castle Town, with it's clear arrow motif, I kind of wonder if that actually is the meaning. Like, why the arrow theme?

Like... - Ralsei's Castle also has an Angel theme - it's covered in angel wings. You can tell they are Angel Wings because one of the doors has six of them. Angels are likewise often used as a symbol of law or order, or otherwise an enactor of a divine plan, in a lot of RPGs. And notably, in Megami Tensei - which iirc was noted to have at least partially inspired Undertale's famous Act system, but don't quote me on that - they are probably the most iconic Law-aligned monsters - The only straight arrow is RIGHT on that fountain of darkness, which seems notable - The game has a much-discussed themed of "Your Choices Don't Matter." It has a much discussed theme of the linearity of games. The secret bosses are aware of their role in the story, and struggle to break out of that. They seem to drop items which offer alternative builds (Ralsei's weapon destroys his healing ability, while Susie's boosts her magic and reduces costs on Rude Buster) and generally seem to have a theme of struggling against your plotted course. This could very well be a Law vs Chaos thing - Your two main companions, Ralsei and Susie, seem to correspond to lawful and chaotic archetypes. Ralsei wants you to follow the prophecy, Susie is just going along because of you and is outright hostile to it at first. Ralsei guides you along the narrative, but Susie often undermines his plans. Etc. - The game actually brings up alignment, albeit as a joke. This does not mean anything, except how you are expected to be familiar enough with RPGs to get the Law/Chaos/Neutral alignment joke.

(It's also worth noting that Noelle is the one listed as Neutral - Rather than Susie or Ralsei. Noelle is very much neutral, and will stick with you even as you force her to act against her desires) - More than that, alignment is actually brought up in more meaningful ways. Tasque Manager and Jevil both bear explicit alignments in both their recruitment screen and in their lines. Other recruits have alignment listed in their elements: Ponman and Ambu-Lance are Order, in addition to Tasque Manager. Since Jevil is dummied out, that means there's no Chaos recruits yet. So that all brings me to like... I dunno. Is alignment going to be important? Is this game more like Order/Neutral/Chaos than Undertale's Pacifist/Neutral/Genocide? Well, this one is barking up weird trees even for me, haha

[llycaons]

this book is full of concept art and costume details, so I took pics of my favorites. many pics. with commentary

pt 1: intro and general stuff

starting off with all the sect and their seals, very nice. each sect has such a strong aesthetic - associated animals, certain types of terrain, an element such as fire or water. we know some of their mottos. it continues to delight me that this could have been the setup for a one-dimensional action/adventure in which watchers could sort themselves into fun little categories based on their personality traits but instead it's a violent and deeply tragic narrative where the sects as a whole turn into antagonists in their own right. the story explores individuality and nonconformity within the sects though characters like nhs and jc, prompting discussion about the roles of debt and obligation vs. individual desires in a highly hierarchical society. there's room for nuance. members of every sect have both committed and been victims of atrocious acts of violence. it's a story for adults, or maybe adolescents. what the watcher expects as a simplistic fantasy-adventure is turned on its head and the villains and the heroes aren't so clear-cut as all that. it's not perfect and it does cast certain sects as inherently better than others, and other subsections of sects as helpless victims, but it's got a lot to say. even if we ignore the romance (which I do love), this concept is absolutely enthralling to me

in other news, stop reading harry potter lmao

this is so pretty and there's tiny lwj at the bottom

this seems like kind of a random choice. wwx is in his student robes but jc isn't? wen ning is just sitting on the side? no jyl or wen qing of course ig it's CR school arc but that jc is really throwing me off

oh! a map!

and this is...a demonstration of how the transport talisman works? neat

much like the donghua I do not love their faces, but the atmosphere, architecture, and nature parts are stunning

holy shit look at those massive swords. wwx is channeling guts berserk over here

this rules. artistically

sunshot wx!!!!

I fucking love physical book companions to shows. behind the scene shots, details of sets and props, interviews, fun facts....it's so cool

[divinetheatre]

um random but i hate when people are like "hannibal ruined will's happy family life >:(" ok sure but will chose to go back, knowing the consequences and hannibal warned him saying darkness awaits if he chose to go back, will even says he knew what he was doing going back. it robs all choice from will to just see it as hannibal destroying will's attempts at a life outside of him, the point is that will chose hannibal despite experiencing life without him

hi, i agree with you! will's choice is one of the most important things about his character development in twotl! it’s a very clear parallel to mizumono in which will chose the fbi and life on the right side of the law over hannibal. of course hannibal did his best to disrupt will’s marriage. this is hannibal we’re talking about, but hannibal didn’t make will start imagining molly as dolarhyde’s victim or himself as the dragon killing her. hannibal didn’t make will set up chilton to take the fall for the things he said in the tattlecrime article. hannibal did not give will his capacity or violence (obv that’s a whole other post but there’s also very clear differences between hannibal’s and will’s pov on killing and violence). what hannibal did was remind will that these things are inside him and that they are always going to be inside him, and will understood in the moment that molly tells him that it hard to hold onto anything good that eventually it will come out of him again, and molly will likely get hurt -- more hurt than she has already been. as always with will, his choices are both selfish and self-sacrificial. choosing hannibal at the end of twotl and killing them both frees the people that will cares about from ever being hurt by them again, but choosing hannibal also finally gives will the peace that he always wanted. will’s character will always be about being torn between the self that you are and the self that you feel you have to be. ignoring these very intricate elements of will’s character development for a basic reading of hannibal is the “bad” guy and will is the “good” guy getting his life ruined is just..... missing the entire point. 

[mayihavethisdanse]

“What is this, the Dark Ages?”

Or, Arthurian themes and allusions in the Brotherhood of Steel mythos as seen in Fallout 4. (But that’s a lot of words.)

Yep. We're doing this. 

First, some obligatory caveats: there is no single Arthurian canon, just 1500 years of assorted fanfic based on the whims of whoever was writing at the time. For this extremely highbrow Tumblr meta, I have ignored most of it and drawn on my favorites. Also Wikipedia.

Also, I am not an expert in Arthurian literature (or Fallout lore, come to that), and I preemptively beg the pardon of anyone who is.

Finally, in no way am I claiming that all these parallels and thematic echoes are deliberate or even significant. In fact, I'd break it down into:

Clearly deliberate allusions, whether in or out of universe;

Probably coincidence, but could be someone deliberately capitalizing on a coincidental similarity;

Almost certainly coincidence, but fun to speculate about; annnnd

Blatant Monty Python references. (Because of course there are.)

I'll start with the big one.

Arthur Maxson, boy king and unifier

(source)

So across all the retellings and variations of King Arthur’s life story, there are a few consistent elements, particularly in his early life and rise to power. Some of these threads are echoed in the Fallout universe, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the person of Arthur Maxson.

Both the legendary King Arthur and Arthur Maxson were born with a claim to power lying in their ancestry, both were fostered away from their families, and both proved themselves in combat at a young age. 

King Arthur united the warring kingdoms of Britain into a single entity, making them stronger against outsiders and receiving general admiration and acclaim. Arthur Maxson united the divided factions of the BoS after the events of Fallout 3 and is held in similarly high regard by his men.

The name Prydwen is a reference to the ship of the original King Arthur. Presumably, Arthur Maxson (or someone in the BoS who anticipated his promotion) christened the airship in a deliberate homage to the Arthurian myth.

King Arthur is associated with his legendary sword. I think it’s notable that Maxson’s legend is associated with a bladed weapon, too. ("He killed a DEATHCLAW with a COMBAT KNIFE!”)

Probably coincidence, but fun: the historical emperor Magnus Maximus, who pops up a lot in early Arthurian legend, was known in Welsh as... Macsen. (⌐■_■)

Round Table, but make it dieselpunk

(Continued under the cut.)

Moving away from obvious allusions and into some looser parallels:

Like the Round Table, the Brotherhood is an exclusive knightly order with its leader being the one able to open it up to his chosen few.

Like the Round Table, the BoS sees itself as defending human civilization against forces of chaos. (I’ll touch on their tech-hoarding tendencies when I get to the Grail stuff.) This idea of civilization in the face of chaos goes back to the BoS’s founding, even though the level of isolationism we see in most of the Fallout franchise is not exactly what founder Roger Maxson had in mind: “Notably, Maxson's ultimate intention was to establish the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers.” (source) In a lot of ways, Arthur Maxson represents a return to his ancestor’s original ideals.

Renegade knights? Internal politics? Traitors within? We gotchu.

In both the medieval legends and in all chapters of the BoS we’ve seen, there’s a big focus on bloodlines (ew). Ironically, it’s probably Arthur Maxson’s unquestionable ancestry that allows him to be more progressive than either of his East Coast predecessors when it comes to boosting Brotherhood numbers by recruitment (even though you can still see a clear division between “born Brotherhood” and recruited soldiers, but that’s a topic for another day). Maxson sees himself as an Elder who "cares for the people"—however misguided and patronizing that attitude might be—and whatever else you might say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't believe he has a duty. Which brings us to…

Know Your Enemy: Danse as Gawain

Before I start this section, an acknowledgement of authorial bias:

Gawain, as portrayed in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is my very favorite of King Arthur’s knights. (Other stories aren't always as flattering, but like I said at the outset: I'm sticking to the ones I like.)

That poem is my very favorite piece of medieval Arthurian literature. In this section, I'll refer to the modern English translation by Simon Armitage.

...that’s it, I have no other biases to disclose. 

What? 👀

(Art: Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

All right. So in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, you’ve got this himbo loyal knight of Arthur’s who finds himself caught up in... you know what, let me just paste in the Wikipedia summary. (The Toast, RIP, also did a pretty entertaining and more-or-less accurate recap.)

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

Don’t worry too much about the plot details, though; for this post, I’m more interested in the thematic parallels. The Green Knight story is full of contrasts: order vs. chaos, civilization vs. wilderness, mortal man vs. Other... but let’s start with Gawain himself. 

Some stuff to know about Gawain:

He was "as good as the purest gold, devoid of vices but virtuous and loyal". Gawain took his principles more seriously even than the rest of Arthur’s knights, not out of pride but out of humility: "I would rather drop dead than default from duty," he says. 

He’s faithful and honorable and never even tempted to betray an oath, even when offered every variety of seduction and riches, except for a single moment of weakness in a desperate desire not to be executed for random shit by powerful forces for reasons he doesn't understand.  

Even though he doesn’t really understand why he needs to die, he sticks to his oath. Gawain's one weakness is a moment of desperate, private, human desire for survival. He'll submit to the headsman’s axe if he has to, but he'd still rather live. 

Above all, Gawain is the ideal of a human man: he might be the bravest and loyal man there is, but he’s still fundamentally human.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

A few more fun facts about Gawain that resonate with Paladin Danse’s story:

He’s got a bunch of really shitty brothers. (No comment.)

Gawain (SPOILERS!) doesn't actually end up beheaded, but he does willingly kneel for his execution and gets a cut on the throat as a reminder of his sin. And, uh, Danse can also get his throat cut! It doesn’t end as nicely but it’s, you know, a thing that can happen.

Gawain might be a really good guy, and he tries really hard to be one, but in the end he’s nothing more than that: there’s nothing supernatural about him, he has no special powers beyond his own principles and devotion. He’s just a dude doing his Best. 

Wait, why not Danselot?

Oh, that guy? Here’s the thing.

Lancelot personifies the continental ideals of courtly love that became popular in the High Middle Ages. Central to his story is the prioritization of personal relationships and romantic feelings in a way that you don’t really see in Gawain's, at least in the Green Knight tale. (Later stories hook Gawain up with an extremely delightful lady, but even that is a different flavor of romance than Lancelot's and has more to do with Gawain honoring his word and his egalitarian treatment of women (hell yeah). In the poem, Gawain is impressed by Bertilak's wife but resists her temptation; in fact, the biggest risk is not that he'll yield to her advances but that he'll be discourteous to her, i.e., violate his principles and cause dishonor to his king and his host.)

Lancelot is driven by passions over principles in a way that Gawain never really is (at least in the stories I’m talking about; later writers have committed character assassination to various degrees). Yes, you could argue that both Gawain and Lancelot betray their oaths, but Lancelot’s betrayal is never, um, blind. He knows what he’s doing and makes a deliberate choice to prioritize his love for the queen over his love for the king. It doesn’t make him a bad guy—he too is an ideal knight with one fatal flaw—but his character isn’t as comparable to Paladin Danse. 

Yeah, Gawain is (in most stories) a prince and a kinsman of Arthur’s, but he’s ultimately a native boy who doesn’t break the mold of a Knight of the Round Table. Likewise, Danse is portrayed as competent and valuable to the BoS, but not exceptional or breaking the mold of what a BoS soldier should be: he simply represents the ideal. Meanwhile, Lancelot is a foreign prince who was marked from childhood as special and fancy, and his storyline goes alllll over the place. (Much like this post.)

For example, Lancelot goes to absolutely absurd extremes to prove his devotion for no other reason than to prove it. (“I’ll do any useless humiliating thing you want. I’ll betray every oath except the one I made to you. That’s what love is!”) Gawain would never. Danse would never.

Ultimately, Gawain's tests are of his character and not of his love. And like Gawain, Danse’s devotion is to service and his principles, not to another person—even Arthur Maxson.

All that said, there are some similarities: both are beloved by Arthur, both are held up as the ideal of what a knight should be. And even if their fatal flaws are different, both make the point that no matter how good and brave and loyal they might be, no human being can be perfect. 

(Except Galahad. Who is, as a result, very boring.) 

I’ll conclude this section with a quote from someone else’s take on the Greek Knight poem:

I like Gawain. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying his best which is all any of us can do. He’s not like the other knights in the Arthurian legends who occasionally ‘accidentally’ kill women on their little adventures and then feel hard done by when they have to deal with the consequences of that. Gawain holds himself to a high standard – higher, it seems, than Arthur and his knights hold him to considering how hard they laugh when Gawain tells them how bad he feels about the whole thing.

I think Gawain is very relatable in this story. We all want to be better than we actually are.

And that, more than anything else, is Danse.

The Grail myth

What’s that? Lost relics of power? Better send some large armed men after ‘em!

The parallels to the BoS’s tech-hoarding ways are obvious enough that the games themselves lampshade them (albeit by way of Monty Python). But it also ties into the larger themes of “purity” versus “corruption” and the BoS’s self-image as a bastion between civilization and chaos. (See Maxson's line in response to the Sole Survivor’s quip about the Dark Ages: “Judging from the state of the world, it wouldn't be a stretch to say we're living in that era again.”)

But the ultimate futility of the Grail mission is also worthy of note. The BoS might want the power of prewar tech on their side, but they’re no more to be trusted with it than any other group of human beings. No matter how they try, the “corruption” of humanity can’t be overcome as long as they’re striving to harness power for their own ends. You can only achieve power by surrendering control of it.

The death of Arthur

The nature of gameplay being what it is, it's not guaranteed that the Arthur figure will be fatally betrayed, bringing Camelot down with him—but it's not unlikely, either.

Awkward.

Some final spitballing:

Outside the Brotherhood, there are some fun parallels of the Arthur myth with the rest of Fallout 4. Betrayal by one’s own son, for example.

The key difference between the BoS and the legendary Round Table: King Arthur’s knights, for all their flaws and human weaknesses, are usually presented as unambiguous Good Guys. The BoS is... a little more ambiguous...

...but damn if they don’t think they're the good guys. 

A-ad victoriam, fellas!

[thran-duils]

My Perfect Pet

Title: My Perfect Pet Summary: Fem!Reader x Dark!Boss Tony Stark. Reader disobeys Mr. Stark’s order to work in his office and learns her lesson for disobeying when he tells her to do something. Words: 2,303 Warnings (for the fic in entirety): Dom/sub, fingering, shameless smut, boss/employee relationship, punishment, office sex Author’s Note: I had a dream, alright? I got distracted from the other fics because of it.

Masterpost (mobile)

You walked into one of the old filing rooms where one of the old assistants was already working to scan old documents in. A whole archive had been discovered recently and they needed all of the papers uploaded onto the Stark database.

Aeisha looked up when you walked in and cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, I thought Abby was going to be down here with me.”

“She really wanted to be around and in Mr. Stark’s office.”

When you had arrived this morning, the head security told you where you were supposed to be. Mr. Stark gave orders at the beginning of the day where all of you were supposed to be and he had wanted you assisting him today. But Abby had complained to you, pouting. You figured it was not a big deal and told her you would take her job down in the filing room instead. She had been ecstatic.

The other girl snorted and said, “Of course she does. She’s been trying to get him to fuck her for months.”

You stammered, “W-what?”

“He has his favorites. She wants to be one of them.” She held up her phone, the newest version, and smirked, “He gives good gifts to keep us away from HR. Not that I would ever consider that.”

“You… have sex with him?”

Aeisha shrugged, “When he wants. It’s not often. In between the ladies at his parties and some other girls in the building, there’s time in between.” She saw the look on your face and gave a hearty laugh. “He’s good in bed. Don’t worry. When I said I wouldn’t consider going to HR, I mean it. That man knows how to work my pussy.”

‘That’s not what I’m worried about,” you muttered, opening one of the boxes. ‘I didn’t know I was gonna have to potentially fuck my boss if he ever gets a wild hair. Wasn’t in the job description. Sure, he’s extremely attractive – sexy – but, Jesus. That’s asking for issues if you ever wanna be in a relationship with someone and he’s still expecting it. Maybe I should be thanking Abby for taking his office today.”

Aeisha closed the scanner and shot you a curious look. “Wait… did you clear that switch with him?”

You shook your head and she rose her eyebrows, looking concerned.

“What?”’ you asked worriedly. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal. We are both gonna do the same thing no matter where we are at.”

“He wanted to see you in there, Y/N. He’s very specific about his instructions.”

Your stomach did a flip flop and you asked worriedly, “Am I going to get in trouble?”

Aeisha shrugged, “Who knows? If he hasn’t sent Abby back down here in the next twenty minutes, maybe it’ll just slide.”

You did not want to lose this job; it was well paying, especially for NYC.

“I guess I’ll just… go up there if she gets put back down here,” you said slowly, thumbing through the files.

You picked some of the papers up and asked Aeisha where she was filing the paperwork before going to your own scanner. You kept tensing whenever you heard someone walk by, thinking it was Abby coming down to fetch you and make you go upstairs where Mr. Stark wanted to see you. It was customary for you to wear pencil line skirts and low-cut shirts with heels, something that had been encouraged by the hiring manager. And you learned quickly it was just the norm with all of the assistants. Thankfully, you had already had a good enough collection started with going out wear that was easily masked as office wear. Such as the bodycon dress you were wearing today, the long zipper up the back that you had had to have your roommate help you with. But now you wondered if maybe you should cut back on it a little bit, knowing what you did now.

Shaking your head, you pushed the thoughts of your mind, focusing on your work.

<><><>

It was almost 9:00pm when you were walking back from the filing room. You told your immediate supervisor that you would take a few more hours today to be able to get off early tomorrow for your appointment tomorrow afternoon a few weeks ago.

You stopped though outside Mr. Stark’s office, hearing noises coming from within. You furrowed your brow confused considering how late it was. You put your hand on the door, your ear coming closer. Someone yelped loudly inside and you threw the door open in alarm, thinking someone was getting hurt.

Upon seeing Mr. Stark being straddled by a naked woman and another kissing him beside them on the couch, you almost vomited in embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark. I thought—goodnight!” you stammered, closing the door clumsily and rushing off.

<><><>

You were not surprised in the slightest when you arrived the next morning that Mr. Stark wanted you in his office. Reluctantly, you walked to the door and knocked. He called from inside and you took a deep breath, your heart hammering. All you could see was them on the couch last night and feel your mortification that had kept you up half the night.

He was working off to the side of his desk with a hologram table, his back to you. He was wearing a three-piece suit as usual, sans the jacket, all black.

You did not know what to say – if you should say anything too – so you just stood there awkwardly until he sensed the awkwardness too and turned around. You did not miss the slight smirk that graced his lips at the sight of you.

“Mhm, Y/N. Good morning,” he greeted you, closing the hologram and turning around to stride back to his desk.

“Good morning, Mr. Stark,” you managed to say.

He sat on the edge of the desk, running his eyes over you. You had chosen a mid-thigh dress, still showing leg but the top was long sleeved, no cleavage.

You blurted becoming uncomfortable with the silence, “I really am sorry.”

“For?” he questioned.

That caught you off guard and you stammered, “U-uh. Last night?”

“Oh, that,” Tony chuckled. “I didn’t know anyone was still on the floor. Quite a surprise to see you. Did throw the vibe off a bit, took me out of my element, really.” He cleared his throat and said, “As a matter of fact, thank you for apologizing because the sex really wasn’t as great as it was going to be if I hadn’t of seen you. Because it just reminded me of earlier in the day when I was expecting to see you when I came in the morning and I was severely annoyed when it wasn’t you. So, I was just a little irked during the whole threesome.”

He snickered seeing you at loss for words. “Well, I figure you can make it up to me. We can break in the couch. Just you and me.”

A strangled noise left your throat. “What?”

“Did I stammer? You disobeyed what I asked yesterday. I was gonna let it slide and give you a chance to make it right next time – aka this morning when I requested you again to be in here. I like my assistants in the building to follow directions specifically how I ask them. But then, you came in and interrupted when I was about to plow two of the hottest models on the market right now and threw off my vibe.”

That sounded so ridiculous, you said before you could stop yourself, “You still had sex with them.”

His eyes crinkled with his dangerous smile. “That’s cheeky. You are very determined to get me even more riled up, aren’t you? I didn’t mark you as bratty. Everyone’s got their surprises though...”

He stood up from the desk and you fought to stand your ground, your hands still folded in front of you. His eyes were searching hungrily, eyeing you up like a piece of meat.

“You’re definitely not a top rider like Vivian or Aeisha. They love sitting in my lap… reverse cowgirl…” Heat came to your cheeks as he ran his eyes over you again, lingering on your legs. A wicked smirk came to his face as he met your gaze again. “No. That’s not you. Not at all. You’re a perfect candidate for training.”

Training…?

“In fact, we can have your first lesson now. Lock the door.”

“Mr. Stark—”

He sat on the couch and said, “Do you remember me just saying that I like my assistants to listen? And follow directions just as they’re told? This is your chance to do that. So, impress me, sweetheart. Or leave the building and don’t come back. I’ll have someone mail your check or direct deposit. Whatever the hell you have set up.”

You stared at him in bewilderment, and he was staring back, a hard look in his eyes. He was not messing around. Swallowing sharply, you turned on your heel and went to the door, sliding the lock into place. You turned around, your heart thumping.

“Take your dress off. Put this blindfold on,” he ordered, reaching for the piece of cloth on the table. You had failed to notice it sitting there before; he had already had this on his mind before you had come in apparently. “And get over my knee.”

Mortified, you took a step back towards the door and his eyes flashed at the movement.

“What’s it gonna be, sweetheart?”

You had a choice, really you did. You could find other work, but you did not want to. Sucking down a deep breath, you walked over towards him. He reached forward again and grabbed a small remote, clicking it. The large TV turned on at the end of the office and he turned on a random show, turning the volume up.

Your dress fell to your ankles and you stepped out of it. There was a fire sparked seeing the way he was looking at you, drinking you in. But it made you extremely nervous too; what if this went sideways and you lost the job anyway?

The blindfold was waiting on his thigh and you reached for it, putting it on and laid across his lap. You could feel his length through his dress pants, causing heat to come to your core already as well. You squirmed with the anticipation.

He smacked your ass hard and you gasped loudly with the sting. His hand caressed at your ass, squeezing. “Look at that nice jiggle you had just there. You’re gonna tell me you’re sorry when this is all done and take this like an obedient girl. Right?”

“Right.”

“’Right, sir’,” Tony corrected you.

“Right, sir,” you squeaked in repeat back to him.

He hummed in approval before he smacked you again, harder this time. He yanked your underwear down and ordered you to kick them off. He helped getting them around your heels and you felt him toss them. His hand was back on your ass, squeezing and admiring. Another smack landed and then another, drawing a low groan from you.

Tony’s fingers delved past your wet folds, running up and down your sex. A finger slipped in as his thumb massaged your clit, causing you to pant in need.

“Look at you, you little wanton harlot,” Tony husked, adding another finger.

He pulled his hand away and laid another hard smack across your cheeks, leaving wetness from you.

“Spread your legs,” he ordered.

You did what he told you and you squealed when he slapped your pussy, instinctively clenching and driving your hips forward.

“Keep them open!”

Hesitantly, you did what he said, and you cried out softly when he smacked your pussy again, repeatedly. The contact was reverberating, stimulating. He was driving you insane, loving the contact on your clit from each hit. You heard him spit and his other hand came to rub at your tight ring, wet from his spit, while the other found your nub again, circling faster now. He was working you too well, it was too much pressure. You did not want to come all over him, and you clenched again, trying to stop him from touching you.

He laid a rough smack across your ass and growled, “I told you to keep your legs open!”

Whimpering, you opened your legs again to him and he praised, “Good girl. Now, are you, sorry, pet?” You nodded and he squeezed at your nub causing you to whine sharply. “Tell me!”

“I’m sorry, sir!”

“Mhm, you’re a fast learner. Such a good girl. But what are you sorry for?” he asked, his fingers picking up speed.

“Not listening to you! For interrupting you!” you panted, gripping at the couch fabric.

“Yeah, that was really naughty of you,” Tony agreed, his knuckles brushing your sex as he hit your g spot. “Very naughty.” Your breath was quick and short, and he cooed, “Sweetheart, do you need to come?”

“Yes, sir! Please!” you begged, embarrassed simultaneously how easily you had come unraveled. How easy it was for you to fall into this role.

Tony hit your spot again and you moaned pathetically. “You can let go. Come for me.”

You cried out, shaking, coming undone around his fingers. His other hand came to your throat, holding tight as he continued to stroke you, slower now as you shook with your release. He squeezed in slightly and that only added a cherry on top to your orgasm.

Empty of him, you heard him salaciously sucking on his fingers, his other hand still flexing gently on your throat, and he hummed in approval again. “I think with some more lessons, you can shape up to my perfect pet.”

~~~

Forever tags: @coconutqueen21 @undecidedsworld

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 3

Let’s Split Up and Look for Clues! 

Welcome back to the Seven and the Museum of Adventuring. My previous pronouncement of combat was a little premature but hold tight, we’ll get there. For now, we’re back with Antiope who just saw a glimpse of the Ending of Things (aka, Ending) and is freaking out a bit. She tells the others and they all do various checks to see what they can find out.

Ostentatia casts Commune With City and clocks that there is some kind of abjuration shield magic on the government buildings in town, stopping them from being spied on. She also clocks some lingering undead-ish magic and a weird divination effect on Antiope, specifically on the Aguefort logo of her jacket, like someone scryed on her and just got that she had something to do with Aguefort. At this, Penny reminds her that the only true piece of info they gave Ending when they broke her out is that they were from Aguefort.

Sam with a 19 Insight still feels the connection she and Ant have with Ending because of their spells turned against them in the initial encounter. Yelle does a Perception check (27) and once again doesn’t really get bad, dreadful, menacing vibes. But also, she recognizes that she’s chill with a lot of things most people don’t love. 

Antiope reiterates that she texted Charity that she’s interested in the internship so she can learn more info--even better now that they know the buildings are safe from scrying. Yelle remembers Aguefort’s warning about people watching them and Sam asks Zelda if her “weird boyfriend” (“he’s actually really cool”) is friends with the elven oracle. Zelda says yeah, they’re both friends with Adaine, she can ask about any weird divination stuff. Sam makes sure to specify she should look into TK but NOT Ending, no doubt remembering what happened when she tried to do a spell on her. 

It’s been a big day as Zelda says so they all go to the TGIF-esque Slappy McFinnigans to celebrate (which Sam has problems with--the fact that they’re celebrating I mean, but she’s mainly ignored). They’re quickly kicked out because Katja can’t help herself from trying to brush the mane of their centaur server and they reconvene at the more their speed SlamBurger, where a horse can fully destroy a soda machine to absolutely zero reaction.  Zelda says that Ostentatia was right in that they should all do the quest because it doesn’t close any doors and they have the 2 weeks to figure things out. They all seem a bit more on the same page (though Sam is still pretty frosty towards Ant) and start making plans.

Before they leave, Yelle pulls aside Ant and Sam and says hey, first of all, you two are still linked to Ending from before. Second of all, I know y’all are Going Through It right now and you don’t have to talk about it or make up right away but you need to get your heads in the game and you need to know that you’re both loved and still family. 

Penny, Zelda, Katja, and Ostentatia go back to the museum to try and get more information for their quest. Katja goes to the information desk (horse in tow, of course) and just starts asking information about TK. She’s told that she’s one of the museum’s benefactors and has been missing for years, and hey, do you understand that a museum’s info desk is about where the water fountains and exhibits are, not just random information about the world?

Ostentatia bails her out by calling her over so she can do her plan which is just to walk into the back area like she owns the place. Now, Aguefort students do have a certain level of clearance to be back there and she does have her school ID. But instead of explaining that, she tried to use her Earrings of Diamond Charm to charm the employee she runs into which fails. And then she does a pretty good tag-team lie with Katja about how they NEED to pass a class but that doesn’t fly. Then Ostentatia tries flirting which ALSO doesn’t work. Zelda at this point steps in and just headbuts the dude so they can book it away. I personally would have gone with, “Do you know who we are? We killed the dragon that’s your current main exhibit,” but you know. No backseat adventuring. 

While this is happening, Penny is stealthing like a pro, looking for anything Arcana related. Ostentatia and Katja also did checks (O getting a nat 20) and we’ll go through all their info gathered now. 

Katja basically gets info on TK we kind of already knew. She was a benefactor of the museum. She’s centuries old like Aguefort. She was concerned with consciousness and divinity and specifically how will and divine will manifested, as well as elemental magic.  

Ostentatia gets a lot of info with her Nat 20. She gets a full map to the temple where TK went which is called the Temple of Earth Defiant. The point of the temple is that it’s up in the open air and harsh winds--wind being a symbol of chaos and unpredictability to dwarves--but they still use it as a place to honor their heroes and they rebuild and upkeep it despite the erosion and how hard it is to get there. It’s hallowed from evil and lots of stories about it involve heroes racing there for sanctuary. It was made by dwarves but it’s a pilgrimage site for other primordial beings like goliaths and earth genasi (which is what TK is). There are 3 heroes who have big statues here: Asha Hammerheart (a SUPER dope name I must say), Yvonna of the Sundering Hills , and Kora Ironbrow.

Penny finds that, amongst Kalvaxus’s hoard there were 7 unrecovered artifacts--the Mirrors of the Eidolons (which are the smashed mirrors they found it seems). Eidelons are kind of like the elemental plane version of angels/celestials. They’re primordial (remember Katja saw primordial language on the wall of the dragon cave) and kind of aligned with things like titans and genies. Raw element with no agenda (unlike celestials and demons and such which have a clear alignment which makes up the D&D religious system). It is said by wizards--who look at these things in more of a nuts and bolts way than say clerics who take the fuzzier religions view--that Eidolons are the hands of the gods because gods are beings of spirit--how could they form the physical world. Will of the divine manifested by elemental beings? Sounds right up TK’s alley.

Sam decides she’s desperate enough for information that she calls her mom who she is understandably snippy with. Her mom gives her a contact to talk to when she asks about TK but Sam stonewalls her on show business talk. She tries to play the “mother knows best, you’ll thank me later,” in a kind of Gothel-y way while acting like anything in the past never happened and says Sam is attacking her but when Sam accuses her of neglect, she proves her right by hanging up the phone.

Sam then calls the number and it turns out to be Lola Embers (Fig’s agent) who has been waiting for Sam’s call for ages and wants to talk to her, even though she’s currently chasing her dog across the park. She says she met TK once at a genasi woman networking thing and also says she once saw Charity get into an argument with TK over government funding or not getting a grant or something similar. She then says she’s in a lake trying to get her dog and Sam, being a water genasi who can breathe underwater and also a fundamentally good person even though she’s currently being aggro as hell, goes to the park to help her. Lola assures her that if she’s ready, she’ll help her get new acting gigs and that the world is ready for the new her. 

Yelle meanwhile casts Speak With Plants on some trees near TK’s office and, after a super stoner to stoner conversation, gets a magical footprint trail of where she ran off to when she absconded 12 years ago. 

Antiope (who is in a sports bra because she destroyed her top with the Aguefort logo since that’s what was pinged, revealing in a wild, nat-1 fueled retcon that she got a tramp stamp reading “Leader” in the Red Waste) goes to see Charity to fill out some paperwork, ingratiate herself, and perhaps get some info. Charity has her hot, young, assistant (who Antiope is instantly crushing on) give Ant his shirt (and Charity’s lack of surprise at seeing his 4 horses pulling a chariot tattoo makes the group think they’re def banging). She kind of explains what the Ministry does and Antiope boils it down a bit to snitching on other adventurers. Charity says it’s more of a who watches the watchmen situation and visibly twitches when she has to say the word “snitch”. 

When she takes a second to call Antiope’s dad, she accidentally leaves a tab open on her computer which has TK’s file open (probably up from when the Maidens asked about her earlier). Antiope sneaks a peek and learns that the artifact that TK stole is called the Legendarium Extrodia and it tracks quests. It seems that at some point TK must have had top level access to get her hands on it. It also shows that TK was marked for assassination (which seems like a pretty good reason to get the heck out of dodge). Brennan also says she’s learned enough that she can use the L.E. if she finds it. 

At this point, Yelle tells everyone to come back ASAP so they can follow the magic footsteps. Antiope wants to come but doesn’t want to burn bridges with Charity (or chances with Preston--equally important) so she, at Katja’s suggestion--pretends to have diarrhea and is Nat 20 convincing. Interesting choice for the end of the first meeting with a person you’re crushing on. But Preston is actually pretty supportive as she races out the door as fast as possible.

The Seven follow the footsteps out of Solace and it becomes clear that TK was headed to the dwarven temple Ostentatia learned about. This is a multi-day journey so Cinnamon sings a glorious, magical, horse song and summons mounts for everyone which I will now name because this is obviously the most important part of the episode:

Snowfire - Danielle

Taffodill - Sam

Alagonia - Antiope

Candyheart - Penny

Starforge - Ostentatia 

Strawberry Dancer - Zelda 

Crucial info. 

As they travel, Antiope casts Primeval Awareness and gets that there is something ancient in the mountain. They travel through Pilgrim’s Pass (a village area most travelers to the temple pass through) but find it completely razed to the ground. They investigate. 

With an 18 Survival check, Antiope finds tracks that seem halfway between dog and cat. There are more than 4 legs and it’s hard to tell how old they are because there’s not a lot of rain in the area. They could have been left long ago and been undisturbed. Regardless, these are clearly from monstrosities. On a 26 History Check, Katja knows that this area used to be protected by Blink Dogs (teleporting dogs) but they seem to be all gone now. On a 22 Nature check, Yelle sees a weird feather made out of plant material. It seems like fae stuff but bad vibes. On an 18 Insight check, Sam knows this was a purposeful slaughter.

And on Penny’s 30 Arcana check, oh boy. Penny finds broken common scrawled on the wall in human blood talking about a queen of the mountain who rules the skies. That only the queen may see and none may see themselves. And that the people were told to destroy the seeing glass and did not obey. In from of that message is a bear hide covering something magic. Penny lifts it with reckless abandon and sees tons of mirror shards.

Friendship bracelets! She thinks.

Gotcha bitch, the thing in the mirror says.

Uh-oh.   

Penny calls over her friends to let them knows she may have made a tiny mistake. The group is pretty split between, “Understandable,” and “Girl, WHAT?” In her defense, she did try to cast Friends on the person on the other side of the mirror shards but that’s not enough to stop an entire pack of 50-60 Displacer Beast (magic tentacle cats)/Blink Dog hybrid monstrosities along with the Harpy Queen (voice from the mirror) and her plant feathered harpy minions to start rapidly making their way to their location. 

It is at this point that Ostentatia remembers that abominations and monstrosities cannot step into the temple which means it’s time to RUN. 

And NOW it’s combat time. 

The premise of this fight is that the girls are on their horses, moving towards the center of the temple as fast as they can while fending off the closest enemies. I won’t give an exact play by play but the two highlights are as follows:

Yelle conjures up a bunch of geese with raptor stats (...so normal geese) to swarm the head cat/dog abomination and has to do a truly stunning amount of math for which she is rewarded with SEVENTY POINTS OF DAMAGE. 

Antiope does some insane arrow trickery and gets the Queen Harpy in the wing (which Ostentatia helpfully gets on video so she can show Preston later) and then forces her to take damage as she falls. If not for an extremely lucky Box of Doom nat 20, she may have been down for the count. Antiope still comes away with more than FIFTY points of damage on her though. 

And we end the episode mid-combat! We will catch up on our girls next time!

Superlatives 

Penny: Most Likely to Make Friends During a Hostage Situation 

As a companion to Danielle’s superlative last episode, Penny gets this award for reading or misreading every situation as an opportunity to make friends or make friendship bracelets for the ones she already has. 

Random Thoughts

Did you guys notice that with Katja having Cinnamon and Charity’s assistant being Preston, that’s two of the main pet NPCs from A Crown of Candy?

Antiope’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Rail against the dying of the light! Why are you OK with this?

Penny’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Entropy is TERRIBLE! Everything needs order!

The greasy cashier’s response to Ostentatia’s flirty, “Come here often?” is “To my job? Honestly no.” Brennan? Chef’s kiss. 

My other fave line this episode is from Sam. “I believe Cinnamon fucks.”

It’s very cute that Penny is like, “I gotta text Riz about this Eidelon stuff!” Not because she wants help. Just so they can geek out together. 

The joke that Brennan didn’t think about the birds is so funny considering all the bird facts in Misfits.

Also re Birds attacking: “They made a movie about this Brennan!” 

Good on Ant for refusing an Aguefort sweatshirt from Charity when offered after the little scrying incident before. Remembering things like this saves lives. 

It has been brought up several times that Ending isn’t necessarily Bad just Ancient and Powerful and I trust Yelle’s vibe check but also, like, a forest fire doesn’t have malice behind it but it can still devastate a city while it clears out dead trees that need to be cleared, you know? Not ready to start wild speculation yet but I am curious. And am similarly curious about the sisters Ending has mentioned. Oh and the parallels of 7 Maidens, 7 mirrors. It’s all there, we just need a little more info. 

Honestly, get you a man who will see you rushing out of a building, loudly claiming to have diarrhea, and instead of being grosses out will just supportively confess his own stomach issues. I wish he was just a little younger cause I want that for Ant. 

I do like that D20 has been playing a little more fast and loose with the RP ep/combat ep format. I think it really helps with story flow. 

In this episode Antiope and Brennan as various non-Zelda NPCs rolled 2 Nat 20s. O rolled one. Ant rolled 1 Nat 1--which was on a self imposed roll to see how she responded to Sephie’s tramp stamp improv. And O may have rolled one for initiative also but I wasn’t sure. 

[agent-cupcake]

just curious, what’s your favorite and least favorite character design? my least fav for sure has got to be female byleth for reasons i don’t want to get in to yep ok have a good day 😁

IOops this accidentally became a rant, sorry

Okay so, to preface this all, I’m not a character designer and I’m actually pretty bad at it, but my rule of thumb with really unappealing or fan-service outfits is whether or not it makes sense character-wise and how much it tells the player about the character. For example, I think we can all agree that there’s quite a bit of fan-service elements in Hilda’s design. Boob window. However, it’s not unrealistic to imagine Hilda picking out those clothes for herself. Her costume tells you almost everything you need to know about her character on a visual level. She’s confident, pretty, attention-grabbing, and high maintenance while the gloves and laced girdle give a nod to her Viking-maiden roots.

Taking it to female Byleth, I don’t think that her outfit works on either front. Her design is definitely my least favorite and it’s not helped by the fact that you have to look at her at all times. Whatever. The huge, solid mass of boobs, the buttoned bib, the big eyes, the feather hair, the bellybutton, the ripped tights, the booty shorts. She’s a merc out in life and death situations with an accessible, pale, tacky 2000′s “stab me” stomach cut out and a wedgie. Which could be excusable if, like Hilda, there was reason to believe that that her costume was character choice. But she doesn’t really have much character, and what there is gives the impression of a very stoic, dry, blunt person. I have no idea why they’d have gone that route when the sexual appeal of more “utilitarian” costuming (aka, form fitting armor that at least pretends to be functional) for characters like her is scientifically proven AND would say more about the singular personality trait she possesses. Okay, well, I know why they didn’t do that and I think it’s lame. This dysfunction of “character designer wanted a sexy girl but it’s kinda random and just shoved in the game without any thought” actually reminds me a lot of Xenoblade 2′s leading ladies, Hikari and Pyra. Although considering that their bad designs led to a lot of people hating the game for superficial reasons while accepting female Byleth’s design, I guess I’m just bitter. Jumping to a different comparison, then, look at 2B from Nier Automata. Her design is fine as hell which is kinda hypocritical of me considering that it's explicitly fan-service, but I think it also shows the most damning thing for female Byleth. Her whole look, despite having a dozen different element thrown in, is boring. Maybe it’s the colors (dressing her in all black and white would have been really interesting considering the colors of the three lords are so heavily emphasized as a part of their characters) or maybe it’s just the way the desperate elements come together. But, like I said, I'm not even slightly knowledgeable about character design and I know that despite Three Houses being mostly separate, they had to appeal to a larger aesthetic brand to which I have little experience with. And, ultimately, a lot of people find her cute or sexy which...To each their own, I suppose. I don’t pretend that fan-service doesn’t work on me (2B... Cloud’s arms in the remake... Seph's shirtless Smash skin...) but when it’s this obviously inserted in by the character designers rather than feeling organic in any way AND looks bad I'm just not super interested.

The other worst designs for me would be all four of the Ashen Wolves post timeskip. I don't think it's controversial to say that they didn't try with the clothes, even if I love their designs from the neck up (Yes, even Balthus. He looks like the type of guy that would let you sit on his shoulders at a rock concert so you could see the stage). While there are other designs I think are unappealing, those are for purely aesthetic reasons and so I can't maintain the opinion that they're actively bad or that I even truly dislike them.

As for favorite looks... I actually have a few so sorry you're getting all of them because despite the shit I'm talking, I actually really really love the character designs in Three Houses. 

Ferdinand's post timeskip is one of my favorite designs, if not my favorite. The hair, the coat, the armor, the spurs, the colors. You know exactly who Ferdinand von Aegir is just by looking at him. He’s wealthy, handsome, confident in his appearance, a hero, a princely type character, his battle form is mounted combat which is traditionally aesthetically reserved for nobility and leaders... I love it. The only reason I cannot say he IS my favorite is because of the three Lords. But before them, my honorable mentions include post timeskip Hilda, Dorothea, Lorenz, Felix, and Hubert. Granted, I could make a case for why I like almost all of the student’s post timeskip looks.

For the Lords, I obviously have to start with colors because, weirdly enough, Persona didn’t invent primary colors but are actually used as shorthand. Blue is the color of honor, loyalty, sincerity, sadness, and depression. Something I’ve always found very interesting is that blue is very rarely found in nature. To me, that’s always made it seem more lonely which, at least in this case, is thematically relevant. People call Dimitri boring pre timeskip and while I won’t defend his hairstyle (okay, actually, I probably would because he tucks it behind his ears and idk why but that’s one of the cutest things ever) I really like how unassuming he is. Bland. He’s supposed to be the plain shortbread cookie to caramel deLite Claude and strawberry meringue Edelgard. It is not in his character to draw attention to himself or stand out. To me, he kinda looks like an old Barbie prince, like he should have been named Dominic. Also I love the blue eyes/blonde hair thing and his more angular features. It really helps to sell him as the fakeout chivalrous prince type. Post timeskip, Dimitri's black armor is amazing. I love the fact that it’s a lot more intricate up-close with the different little shell-like pieces and the fact that his boots are furry. I love the big cape and the black and white fur around his shoulders. It’s really cool how they used his costume to change the shape of his in-game model to match the bodily proportions of the character art. It’s easier to see when you change his costume into the DLC ones, but the fur and cape build up his shoulders and chest look more broad while keeping that tiny little waist. The choice to give Dimitri an eyepatch is probably my favorite thing about this design. It’s genuinely inspired. Such a simple detail yet it tells the player everything they need to know about adult Dimitri when they see him post timeskip, in one frame the player can begin to understand the extent of his loss over the past five years. The subtle shadow under his eye in the first few Azure Moon chapters and the messy long-ish hair really help to sell the feral prince aesthetic as well, as it’s from those small cues the player gets that he’s exhausted (in more ways than one) and doesn’t maintain himself. None of these things are intentional choices by Dimtiri, they’re the result of what his character has been through.

Yellow is an intense, energetic color. Mostly, people think of it as being warm and inviting, the color of the sun and positivity. That intensity can be overwhelming, though, too visually demanding when compared to its primary counterparts. Don’t stare at the sun too long. Buuuut, it’s okay to stare at Claude. Claude not wanting to wear tight pants in either of his costumes is not only a mood, it is iconic. Pre timeskip, the softer lines of his silhouette makes him look kinda slouchy, kinda lazy. Like he’s not too concerned with appearances. But those adorably messy curls, the little braid, the clearly tended eyebrows, and earring make it clear that he DOES care about appearances and is very aware of his allure. And that’s before he even starts winking. It is honestly so in character that as many people picked him first on the basis of being thirsty, that feels like an intentionally Claude thing even if it was inserted by the designers. The contrast of his complexion with his seagreen eyes is gorgeous and instantly adds a kind of mystery and intrigue to him considering the setting... but it’s sf funny that nobody looked at bronze god Claude among a sea of white faces and thought something was up. Post timeskip, they used the same trick like they did with Dimitri to change Claude’s in-game model to match his canon appearance. The way they designed his uniform makes him not look as twink-ish, like he’s actually muscular and imposing and has the strength he’d need to shoot a war bow with a 120lbs draw weight. Also like Dimitri, you can instantly tell what Claude’s been up to. Like, he was very pretty pre timeskip but when he shows up in the Goddess Tower after those five years in all that gold, he demands your attention. Like a gentleman general with the excessive aesthetic ideals of the Alliance and details to imply his heritage. The quilted pants are amazing from both an aesthetic and practical standpoint. He’s a mounted unit riding a creature with scales, of course he’d want something on his legs for protection. And the chinstrap. I love that so much, it definitely makes him look more adult. He’s got such a cute soft baby face, it’s fun imagining him experimenting with different styles during the five years to get the most desired physical reaction to him as a leader. 

Frenchfries, meet forehead. No, actually, Edelgard’s design is really fantastic. Claude and Dimitri both have realistically colored eyes and hair and then there’s Edelgard. Dimitri shrugs off attention physically and Claude shirks it with a wink but Edelgard commands the players attention from the very start. Although I’m sure there’s a lot of things to associate with white hair and purple eyes, my first thought was Daenerys from Game of Thrones. Otherworldly beautiful by with an edge. Red, of course, is The power color. Strong emotions, love and hate. Red is also associated strongly with blood, which is very important to Edelgard’s plot. Granted, I think the red and black association is even more powerful than JUST red and red is the cheapest play to make in regards to displaying villainy (I mean, there are some pretty universally recognized associations with red and black and it led to people making some unfair comparisons between Edelgard and a famous dictator) but I think it was effective and well used and I genuinely enjoy its use in her case. Anyway, if I had a major complaint about her design it would be the weird ashy color of her hair whereas Lysithea’s hair is pure white. Which doesn’t even matter with the AMAZING hair horns. Ram horns can actually symbolize quite a few things, but their association with power and strength is pretty universal I think. They’re also used in demonic imagery. I love that THIS was her alternative to a crown. Edelgard views herself as a force of war and power before she thinks of herself as royalty. She also mentions that she isn’t super vain, but she loves to do her hair, so the hair being the most elaborate part of her look is entirely in-character. Edelgard’s ensemble is, like Claude, very militaristic. I love that they kept her in a dress that embraces femininity without showing skin as that wouldn’t really suit her Also, again, Edelgard demands your attention. She’s dressed all in bright bright red waving around a giant axe. She is a symbol as much as she is a combatant, someone to follow. I didn’t really mention their secondary lord costumes, but a girl in sexy armor is literally everything and I love that they had the balls to put their main sexy waifu girl in full body armor.

Okay I’m sorry I realize this was excessive and probably didn’t need explaining and I’m not sure I even articulated my thoughts properly but anyway I love their designs so here is the positivity I’ll put into the world.

[trainsinanime]

Hawkeye E1+2

(Spoilers)

I really liked this.

It’s been clear from the marketing for a while now that while they like to crib the elements and style of the Fraction/Aja Hawkeye comics run, still one of the best ever, this is really just intended as a fun pre-christmas romp. That’s not necessarily my dream adaptation of that comic, but they do a really good job of it.

I think it’s a particularly great idea to center it all around Kate and give many of Clint’s character beats to her (Lucky is her dog now, for example), which means it can fit both Clint as the husband and father of three and all the “trying to figure things out” parts of the comic together. The end result is never going to be as deep or have as difficult and interesting a relationship between Clint and Kate as the original, but it’s not trying to either, and the relationship they do have is executed beautifully.

Hailee Steinfeld as Kate is an absolutely amazing choice. She delivers the sass, the chaos and the uncertainty that is her comics counterpart beautifully. It’s a joy to watch her every time she’s on screen. Jeremy Renner does the same thing he’s always done as Hawkeye, and there are some great scenes, like the epic sword fight of sorts that he finds himself in. Of course, the real MVPs are the Tracksuit Mafia, aka the famous “Bro” guys. I’m not entirely sold on everyone else; e.g. Kate’s stepfather (yeah they changed her family around a lot for this one) goes for “fun silly cartoonishly evil” and seems to overshoot a bit at times into “just annoying” at times.

Random notes (even more random):

I think the Youtube channels that review movie fights will have a lot of fun with this one, because even I, who understands nothing of this, can see how they show both Kate and Clint’s character through the fight choreography here. They’re both superhumanly good, but Clint has the experience to be essentially perfect, while Kate frequently has to scramble, rethink her plans, and will only take out the guy on the second or third try.

The fandom seems to be very divided about “Rogers! The Musical”. Personally, I think it’s kind of bad but in a realistic way; very “Hunch!” from “The Critic” (and yes that is a reference I only know of from Lindsay Ellis videos). The lyrics are way too on the nose and don’t really work. And I think that this matches perfectly with what the musical is supposed to be in the show. I had fun with this.

Come on, the clock tower wouldn’t crumble like that.

Little Kate has a Blåhaj! This is objectively the best show ever.

I love, love, love the intros inspired by David Aja’s work on the iconic comic. I don’t love that Disney won’t pay David Aja for this. As a number of people on Twitter (including David Aja) have pointed out, we should all buy his independent comic “The Seeds” written by Ann Nocenti to support him. I haven’t yet, but I think I’ll go down to our town’s comic store later or tomorrow.

As for speculation:

Kate’s stepdad feels like a red herring; I’m sure her mother knows more than she lets on. I’ve seen some people think Kate’s mom might turn out to be Madame Masque, and honestly, yeah, I could see that.

I have no idea who that woman at the end of season 2 is supposed to be. Was she in Black Widow? I think not, right?

No points for saying that Grills will be back, that’s too obvious. He fully went, “by the way I’m a new character and my name is one that comics fans will recognise, see you later.”

I feel like this show will end with Kate sitting together with the Bartons at christmas dinner. That’s just entirely the vibe that this show is going for.

I really want both of Kate and Clint to use the name Hawkeye, like in the comics, but given how lose the MCU plays with superhero names, I’m not sure that’ll happen. (Kind of hilarious that they made both of them Ronin, though).

[lilmissbacon]

Why Jelsa is Ridiculously Stupid

Let me start off by saying that the idea of this ship was cute at first, I have nothing against it. In fact I have a few ships myself that have nothing to back them up. I am not making this to convince people to be anti, stop the ship itself, or spread any form of hate what so ever.

But this Jelsa fandom has gone too far. And when I say "jelsa shippers," of course I don't mean ALL of them, just about 80% of them.

In fact, I'm very appreciative of the few jelsa shippers who don't go around harassing others because "jelsa is life."

Also, allow me to correct you in saying that I'm not a jelsa hater, I'm a jelsa loather. There's a difference. Most jelsa haters, hate jelsa for the sake of hating it.

I genuinely hate it.

And don't go commenting about, "how do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it?" Because you see, that's where you're wrong. I did used to ship it, when I was 11. I was a child, I was new to the internet, I didn't know better. But I do now!

I am writing this so that some who may not know, will now understand why jelsa is bad and because I need to get all of this out of my system. I am slowly dieing inside.

First; I'm gonna go into how all the excuses to ship this are pointless. Next, I'll talk about just how these two would never work out as a couple. Then, will be what the toxicity has done to not just to the ship itself, but to the big four as well. And finally, I'll go into how uncreative the shippers are and just what horrible/stupid things they've done and are still doing.

1) Excuses are Pointless

Excuse #1: They have the same powers.

...Yeah, that's like saying you ship Lavagirl (Sharboy and Lavagirl) and Bolin (LoK) because they can both control lava. That's not a valid reason to ship anyone. There needs to be actual substance and I'll only say that once because that sentence applies to every excuse here.

Excuse #2: They look alike

🤦🤦🤦 First of all: that's also like saying you ship Tiana (Princess and the Frog) and Frozone (The Incredibles) because they're both black. Second of all: no they don't. It may be because I'm an artist so I notice small details, but here's how it is; Jack's hair is white, Elsa's is platinum blonde. Jack has a square chin, Elsa has a round face. Jack is much paler! THEIR EYES AREN'T EVEN THE SAME SHADE OF BLUE!!! Your excuse is null and void. Even so, if characters do look alike, then they're most likely to be related. Especially in animation.

Excuse #3: Jack can teach Elsa to have fun and Elsa can teach Jack to be serious

This clearly proves the point that jelsa shippers don't know these characters. The job of teaching Elsa how to be social and have fun is already taken by Anna. So if anything, Elsa will see Jack as a younger brother. And Jack wouldn't have been chosen to take on such a responsibility of guardianship if he didn't know when to quit. I don't know what it is about playful characters that make people think they're obnoxious. Jack is an immortal teenager with the heart of a child, that's what makes him a good guardian. But he's been alive for over 300 years, he bound to have the mind capacity of an adult and he does know better. He doesn't play when he's in battle, he's dead serious.

Excuse #4: They understand each other because they were both isolated for a long time

I don't know where you come from but people don't really "bond" over their trauma. Infact, if anything, that would make the relationship more unstable. Plus, Elsa isolated herself for 13 years because she was afraid of her powers. Jack was forced into isolation for 300 years! He has never been afraid of his powers and Elsa could still be seen throughout the day by parents and servants. They would never be able understand what the other went through.

Excuse #5: They both have a sister they love

SO WHAT?! At least half of the population have sisters. Simple as that. It's a horrible excuse.

Excuse #6: They both have an enemy in fear

Bruh, almost every fictional character has to deal with their fears, literal or mental. It's not at all unique to these two.

Excuse #7: Jack can teach Elsa to control her powers

She already has control of them by the end of the movie. And even if you mean prier to that, the reason she couldn't control them was because she feared them. I doubt that even if she could see him and if he showed her his powers, she's be irrational, believing that their powers were different.

Excuse #8: William Joyce says he ships it

Really, you're going to base the possibility of a ship because the writer of the 'books' that "inspired" rotg says he likes it. First: the books and movie are not the same worlds. Two: he most likely stated this in order for jelsa shippers to shut up to him about it. And three: his own canon with the books is a mess as it is. With him adding a bunch on random/unnecessary details on twitter that have no relevance or reference in the books. Even if he does ship it, everything that's going on with Jack's character in the books is weird enough as it is. Plus he's physically 14 in the books. I know age doesn't really matter but Elsa would definitely feel weird about dating someone who looks so young when she's currently 24 by the second movie.

Excuse #9: They could've met before the events of rotg

Not a reason to ship them but whatever 🙄 Even if their stories were based in the same world (which it isn't), Elsa never would've believed in fairy tales. Having to grow up so soon and all. She believes in magic, of course, but you need to believe in the individuals themselves in order to see them. Plus it is very clear in rotg that Jamie is Jack's first believer.

Excuse #10: Now that Frozen 2 is out, they are both spirits who followed the memories of their loved ones. They can live forever together!

Once AGAIN, how does this factor to them being a good couple? Plus the title of spirit is different in the Frozen-verse than the Guardian-verse. Guardian-verse; they are un-aging beings who keep the entire world in balance. Frozen-verse; never confirmed to be immortal (especially since 3 out of 5 spirits are inanimate objects), magical things that keep a single forest secure. The only reason the elements needed a fifth spirit was most likely because the one before Elsa died of old age. Plus the idea of Elsa outliving Anna goes against the theme of sisterly love that both movies strive on. This can be changed in fanfiction but I hate how people lie about her mortality for an excuse to ship.

Excuse #11: They're both single

So what? People ship characters who aren't single with other characters all the time. That's not a reason to ship them. Especially since your statement is false because Tooth is Jack's canon love interest.

It is true that jelsa haters will give reasons to not ship that I necessarily don't agree with.

•Like the age gap — Jack has the mental capacity of an adult, as I've said before. He's smart enough to make his own choices.

•Elsa not being immortal — that doesn't mean they can't still date, even if he outlives her. Plus you can change that in fanfiction.

•They come from different studios and will never be canon — Again, this is fanfiction, we can do whatever we want.

•Elsa is independent and shipping her with someone takes her independence away — for one: most of the world is bound to find love at some point in time. I would imagine that Elsa would want to find love like her sister. Two: Mulan, Pocahontas and Jasmine are very independent and they all still ended up with men. Three: she's not that independent to begin with. Independence isn't relationship status, it's your ability to make it on your own and Elsa is clearly, very dependant on Anna and her safety. Which is actually what pushes her to being a bad sister in Frozen 2. In fact it is because they made her more 'independant' in the sequel that Elsa clearly, no longer loves Anna as much as Anna loves her (you can check out Watso Videos' video on YouTube about how Elsa is a bad sister bc I'm not gonna go into it here).

My god that was ALL just part one. This is gonna take forever 😰

2) How they would never work out

For Elsa, she needs someone who is calm and collected. A rock for her to stand on when she's being irrational. Possibly even someone who is very stoic and straight to the point but with enough sense of humor to lighten the mood. And now that I'm thinking about it, Honeymaren fits that description to a tee. I'm not one to push LGBT+ in anyone's face, but I'm not gonna judge ships on characters assumed sexualities either. Even though Honeymaren didn't have much screen time, her personality still showed through and Elsamaren could very well work.

Jack on the other hand needs someone who would be able to keep up with his playful nature as well as be a rock for him to stand on when he's emotional. Tooth is a good suitor even though I don't really ship it myself. Hiccup, Merida and Rapunzel could also fit in this description.

They don't have the ability to be each other's rocks. They can't be stable if they both need someone to keep them so. If they were to date, the relationship would crumble before it even began.

Plus Jack has to be a guardian and there are a lot of fanfics that go into this idea of Jack being the king of Arendalle? First off: I'm fairly certain that you can't marry into royalty to become king. At least in the real world. Second: Jack wouldn't be able to handle that responsibility with him already being a guardian. And he can't just leave guardianship either, it was what he always was and was ment to be. And Elsa has the responsibility of keeping a magical forest in check, she can't leave to become a guardian.

3) The Toxicity

Oh my God! The fanfiction! As I usually say, you can do whatever you want in fanfiction. But if you have to butcher all the characters so much in EVERY fanfic in order to make the ship work, then there's clearly something wrong here! In every fanfic I've ever seen, the characters are so out of character it's insane. Not just Jack and Elsa, every character.

Olaf for example, is practically in love with Jack first meeting, in every fanfic. If he were to actually meet Jack, he would be apprehensive of him.

It's horrifying in not only that, but jelsa shippers will add Rapunzel a lot, just in spite of Jackunzel. They turn Rapunzel into a needy ex-girlfriend of Jack's when in reality, she's a very sweet and kind soul. Even if she and Jack had dated, they would've split on good terms and stayed friends after. There have also been cases where they do the same but with Tooth. Sometimes even both and it's honestly sick.

And let's talk about the sexism as well HAHA! I swear to God, they will rewrite Frozen but where Jack will save Elsa instead of Anna. They write Elsa as a hormonal teenage girl who falls in love with Jack within seconds.

This is from an actual jelsa shipper, my dude. WTF!!! They make Jack super dominant as well as a douche who cheats on Elsa half the time. Jack is not that dominant, he's a very emotional guy. And he'd be the most faithful boyfriend on the planet. He was alone for 300 years! If anything, he'd be clingy but not too clingy because he also understands personal space.

And if you like angsty fanfiction where a character cheats on the other, there are literally no fanfics where Elsa cheats on Jack. As if a woman couldn't possibly cheat. This is very sexist towards men and women and is toxic as hell.

If anything, Elsa would cheat on Jack, she's not exactly trustworthy in keeping promises or being loyal.

I swear, half of the jelsa shippers has never even seen rotg and just go by what they read in others fanfiction.

Jelsa shippers have gotten so bad about this ship that they've low-key harassed people for not shipping it, as well as start shipping wars within the big four fandom. That's the reason the fandom truly shrunk after 2013. I've seen posts about people admitting to leaving the fandom because it got so bad.

4) The Shippers

Jelsa shippers have literally threatened lives, not just to other fans but even to the creators of the movies. Literally threatening them into making the ship canon. They've made patitions to make it canon as if that would work. They've even harassed a lot of recent shippers to Elsamaren because "jelsa is canon."

Oh look at that, they're homophobic too...

...

...

...

... That's great 🙃

Isn't it a bigger sin to love a celestial being though? Therefore the fact that you –as a toxic christian– ship Elsa with a spirit it worse.

THEY'RE DELUSIONAL!!! So many of them have shipped jelsa so long that legit think it's canon!

Not only all that mess but there are literally more jelsa games on the internet then there are Merida games. I'm specifying this for personal reasons (aka Merida is my fave Disney princess)

And let's continue on with what really aggravates me as an artist. Jelsa shippers, stealing artwork, mostly from Jackunzel. This is not just a rumor, it's very much real.

And it doesn't help when all of their actual original fanart is just them taking scenes from Frozen and adding Jack. Then to add more salt on the wound is that almost all the fanfiction is the same, whether it'd be based during Frozen, rotg or in a highschool au.

There's literally nothing original about or going on with this ship, even after Frozen 2 came out, the shippers and fanfiction haven't changed. If anything it made the shippers spike up again.

The only thing that could say is original about jelsa is the frost daughter fanon. Oh boy! What we have to unpack here.

This is something that I recently heard about...

...

I am mortified.

Frost daughters is this little thing that jelsa shippers came up with, believing Jack and Elsa (if they could get pregnant) would have nothing but girls. What's scary about it is they're designs. Like they're trying to be original... But it's not really going great.

Most of them are just young!Elsa copies, some are edits of Elsa with Jack's hair color.

For example:

This is fine, this follows genetrical rules. I'm fine with this.

But what has me low-key petrified are some of the other designs.

Like... WTF IS ALL OF THIS!!! Where are this colors coming from?!! I don't understand 😭 You can see in the screen shots that these are literally titled as daughters of jelsa.

The white haired ones are fine. The ginger is understandable. Got it from Elsa's dad's genes. That's okay. A few are wearing pink? They can wear what ever they want. But wtf I'd going on with Nevada? Why is she black? Jack and Elsa the pastiest of white! And you cannot tell me that she got it from Elsa's mom because this was made BEFORE Frozen 2 and her mother is still white as an adult.

Where tf does the blue and pink hair come from? None of these make sense!

I want to kill myself, just looking at these!

That's gonna be the end of this rant

Now I'll say it again, I really have nothing against the ship itself. I too have casual ships that make no sense. But with ALL the fanfiction and fanart being so unoriginal and most jelsa shippers low-key being dangerous, it's hard for me respect people's opinions about it.

I try, trust me, I do! But it's become so murky in my brain that I can't tell the difference anymore and I'm also just not a fan of Elsa's character in general. And I like ships that actually make sense.

And being that I'm an equalist... it's really hard for me to look at this stuff and not get pissed off. I'm sorry if all of this comes off as aggressive because it kinda is.

I'm just very passionate, okay?

I hope you understand where I'm coming from. None of the pictures I used are mine. And I hope you have a good day?

[zenith-impact]

Embers - Part 4

Catch up on AO3 here!

 You felt bad for eating without Diluc in his own place for a second time, and if he hadn’t already agreed to help, you might have thought he was avoiding you. Lumine and Paimon seemed content, and you were surprised at how much the little floating girl could inhale in a short amount of time. But you weren’t very hungry, your mind consumed by staring at your new catalyst. Lisa and the blacksmith had done a good job, and while it had been nerve-wracking to give your feather up to the alchemist, they’d taken good care of it. Now, it was forged into something your father never would have considered. Your family was sword wielders, but you… you were different. But the catalyst felt more natural. More a part of you than the sword had.

And there was still a lot you didn’t know. Your weaknesses were becoming more obvious the more you tried to pretend they didn’t exist. You’d had this vision for years, yet you’d never managed to get the hang of it.

Could Master Diluc really help you?

“Paimon thinks you’re thinking too hard again.”

You looked up from your catalyst before sending it away. “What can you tell me about Master Diluc?”

“He’s a nice guy under all that bad boy stuff,” Paimon said.

Lumine nearly choked on her food. “Where did you hear that from?”

“Miss Lisa.”

Lumine rolled her eyes and sat her fork down. “What she means is he has good intentions under all that stoicism. If he said he’d help you, then I guarantee he’ll find a way.”

“He is the Darknight Hero after all,” Paimon said proudly.

Lumine groaned. “It’s not much of a secret if you keep spouting it out at random.”

“She’s trustworthy, right?” Paimon looked to you expectantly.

“Darknight Hero?” You said.

“That’s right!” Paimon said. “Master Diluc protects Mondstadt from the shadows.” She waved her hand as her voice dropped to a dramatic pitch. Lumine shook her head, but Paimon quickly returned to her grinning self. “He doesn’t trust the Knights very much, so he works on his own. And Paimon thinks he does a good job of it.”

“How about we practice a bit more until Diluc comes back?” Lumine said. “We could work on improving your aim at the very least.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course,” Lumine said with a smile. “I know what it’s like to learn something new.”

“Lumine’s perfected both anemo and geo without a vision,” Paimon said. “She can learn anything.”

You scooped up another portion of noodles. “Two elements at once. I’ve never heard of that.”

“I told you Lumine is special!” Paimon said.

“I know, I know,” You said with a smile. “And I’ll be happy to learn from you.”

Lumine nodded. “After dinner, though. Paimon hasn’t even touched the hash browns.”

Paimon gasped. “Hash browns!?”

Lumine chuckled as she returned to her food, and you had a feeling you were going to be here for much longer than you thought.

------------

As much as Diluc hated the Knights of Favonius, he hated the idea that he needed information from them even more. Of course, he’d never ask any of them outright, but sneaking in required a certain finesse that he could manage. He knew everything about their headquarters after all. As much as he couldn’t walk through the front door, he could hop n through a window and found himself in the library in no time. Thankfully, Lisa had left for the night, so he didn’t have to sneak around to find what he wanted.

He had a mild idea of what he was looking for, but it would take some searching. And Lisa would most certainly notice a stolen book in the morning, so he’d have to just accept the loss and send it back anonymously on another day. Whatever the case, he didn’t want to stick around too long, or he’d risk a random knight wandering in on guard duty, if they cared enough.

After a few minutes, he found it. A book titled “Pyro and Catalysts”. Stupid title, but it got the job done. He found the second one in the series and a third one that focused entirely on what pyro users could do. Three was more than enough. He’d already had a hard enough time getting out of Mondstadt without anyone questioning him. Maybe he should only take one and come back another night…

“Well, well, well. Here for some late-night reading?”

Diluc froze, then scowled as he glanced at Kaeya blocking the doorway. Not that he had planned to leave that way, but he was still a nuisance. “Something like that,” Diluc said.

“I can go get the librarian if you’d like,” Kaeya said with his usual, annoying smirk as he crossed his arms. “I don’t think she would approve of your late-night antics.”

“Stay out of it,” Diluc said.

“This is for her, isn’t it.”

“That’s not important.”

Kaeya raised an eyebrow. “I doubt you’d be holding “Pyro for Beginners” if it was your choice.”

“Stay out of it, Kaeya.”

Kaeya shrugged as he leaned against the doorway. “I’m not doing anything, Diluc. Though I’d be happy to help with the training if you should need it.”

“I don’t need it,” Diluc said. “But thanks for the offer.” He knew his voice was spiteful, but it was always that way around Kaeya. The man just had to exist in a certain radius of Diluc and they’d be butting heads. But he hated the idea of relying on him for something as simple as training. And after your run-in with the Cryo Mage, he had a feeling you wouldn’t be to happy being taught by another cryo user; one that could easily freeze you with simple touch if he wanted to. Not that he would – not without Diluc killing him – but who knew how you’d react.

Though you had already met Kaeya so… what did Diluc know?

“This will be good for you,” Kaeya said. His smirk hadn’t left his face, but he seemed… quieter. That put Diluc on edge, but he tried not to show it. “Teaching someone else. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“… What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” Kaeya said. “Just do it right.”

Then, he walked away, leaving Diluc confused before he remembered where he was, and quickly hopped out of the window and disappeared into the darkness.

-------------

You were exhausted when Diluc returned, run ragged by Paimon and Lumine’s training. Your aim had improved somewhat, but Adelinde had gotten on to you when you accidentally set one of the vines on fire, forcing half the staff to put it out with buckets of water. You don’t even know how your flames ended up there as you hadn’t been facing that direction when you threw them. But you and Lumine learned your lesson and went even further from the winery than previously planned.

And that’s where Diluc found you, throwing flames at Hilichurl barricades after Lumine had helped clear the rest out. “Improving, I hope,” He said with three books tucked under his arm.

“She’s getting better!” Lumine said. “Just needs more practice.”

Diluc glanced up the road and frowned. “You set part of the vineyard on fire.”

You chuckled awkwardly. “Well… maybe.” He scowled and you took a long step back. “It was an accident. Promise.”

Paimon flew behind you. “Master Diluc is scary when he’s mad.”

Diluc sighed, shaking his head. “I can replace a few plants.” He walked up to you and practically dropped the books into your arms. “Read these tonight.”

“All three of them?”

“Yes.”

You glanced down at the books. They weren’t exactly long, but you did worry you wouldn’t have enough energy. But before you could protest, he was already walking away, shouting orders about having the plants replaced. You glanced at Lumine who just shrugged again. “Welcome to Master Diluc,” She said. “An enigma in his own right.”

“We can read with you,” Paimon said. “Then you’ll get it all done in time for bed!”

“I would appreciate that,” You said as you all wandered back up to the winery. “Maybe you’ll learn something new too.”

--------------

Diluc found you three hours later, curled up in front of the fireplace with a book in your lap and flames crawling over your fingertips. He leaned against the wall for a moment, uncertain if he should disturb you. He hadn’t slept in a few days, so that was certainly on his mind. And you seemed to have things under control. But then Kaeya’s face popped into his mind. Do it right. What had he meant by that? Did he think Diluc incompetent?

“Master Diluc?” You said.

“Just Diluc,” He said without thinking, adjusting his gloves for no particular reason.

You smiled and nodded as you closed your book. The flames on your hands disappeared, as did the catalyst he hadn’t noticed in your lap. “I think I’ve got the basics down,” you said. “Or something like that.” You blushed as you looked back down at the book. “Lumine and Paimon fell asleep, so I figured I’d come out here and not risk lighting their hair on fire.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

You shrugged. “My fire can be unpredictable at times. Best I try to handle it where it's safe.”

“And you think you’re safe in here?”

Your blush deepened. “I have a bucket of water, just in case.” You nodded to the bucket beside you as you sat the book down. “But why are you still awake?”

“Plenty to do,” Diluc said. That was mostly the truth. He always had plenty to do, even though Adelinde had scolded him more than once now for not just “letting them handle things”. And it wasn’t that he hadn’t taken her words to heart or didn’t trust his workers. He didn’t like it when his mind was idle for too long. And while he had a lot to think about, having nothing to do bothered him. He should at least be out there roaming the outskirts of Mondstadt if he was going to stay awake like this.

Instead, he was here, talking to you.

Do it right.

“Have I upset you in some way?”

Diluc tilted his head ever so slightly. “What do you mean?”

“You’re just kind of… frowning at me.”

He rolled his shoulders, trying to relax. He didn’t blame you for thinking something was wrong. Every muscle in his body was tenser than they should have been given the circumstances. He moved closer to your side, arms crossed. “So what have you learned?”

“Small things,” You said as you held your hand out to the fireplace flames. A small circle of flames darted out, landing on your finger. You watched it for a moment, rolling it between your knuckles before resting it in your palm and snuffing it out. “I’d never really just played with my powers before. Father always said it was only for battle and nothing else.”

“If you never learn to control it, then fighting with it is useless.” Diluc knelt beside you, reaching his hand out for the flames It instantly consumed his hand, but he kept it from burning into his gloves. Your eyes widened, watching as he ran it up along his coat’s sleeve and back down to his hand before tossing it into the fireplace in the blink of an eye. “And as easy as it would be to replace the winery, I’d rather you not burn it down.”

“I won’t,” you said. “Promise.”

Silence fell between you for a moment as your gaze shifted to the flames. He almost retired to his study with a quiet plan to find you back in the morning. But his mind kept drifting to what you’d said before. “You said you didn’t want to go back,” He said. “Home, I assume?”

You nodded. “Home is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, where almost everyone is related and they all know every detail of everyone’s lives.” You grimaced. “Dad is an excellent pyro user, and he passed down his sword when he retired but… I didn’t take good care of it.”

“The Abyss Mage…”

“It probably broke it,” You admitted. “But still. Swordsmanship is part of my family. The idea that it might not be for me is… unfortunate.” You shrugged. “Besides… I’ve never been away from home this long, and it's about time I strike out on my own. It's what my father would want… I think.”

Diluc raised an eyebrow. “You think?”

You were silent for a moment, then sighed. “We had an argument over the Abyss Mage. He blamed me for losing the feather, and I was upset with him because he let the thing into our town to begin with. But then he called me useless… and...” You frowned. “That’s why I left to find it myself. To prove to him that I could. But now that I’m here… I don’t want to go back. Not this soon. Not before I can prove myself.” You summoned your catalyst, staring back at the feather. “But I don’t know what he’ll say.”

Diluc frowned but was careful to look back at the flames before he did. “How long have you really had your vision?”

“Since I was 15.”

“Which is…?”

“Seven years now.”

“And you’ve never properly trained?”

“Sword fighting, remember?” You said. “That’s all my father taught me. Bend the fire around the sword and you can do anything .”

“That’s not entirely false.”

You chuckled. “That’s what you do, right?”

“More or less.”

“But that bird.” You said, your eyes shimmering with excitement as you looked up at him. “It was amazing. I can’t imagine doing anything like that.”

Diluc shrugged. “I’ve been training for a long time.”

“But creating something like that from fire.” You shook your head. “After Dad made me this feather, I was able to summon them, but I never did so in front of him. It didn’t fit the whole sword motif.”

“But now that you have a catalyst.”

“I’m still struggling to control it,” You said. “I’m not sure why but… They seem to jump in random directions, like that one that hit the vines this afternoon. I wasn’t even looking that way yet off the fire went.”

“Pyro is complicated,” Diluc said. “Some people think it's simple, but if you’d never learned how to channel it, then it's likely to go wild.”

“But I could channel it over a sword.”

“Using a conduit is much different than controlling it outright. You were slowing your own progress by relying on it.” He tapped your catalyst. “And you’ve relied a bit too much on the feather, but at least now it’s doing something more than just cycling your own pyro magic.”

You stared down at it. “My father said that was the only way I could control myself.”

“Well, he was wrong.”

He didn’t know why you smiled at that. “I can’t imagine what he’d say if he heard you.”

“I don’t care.”

That time, you laughed. “That must be nice.”

“Not caring?”

You nodded. “I guess when you’re this well off, it gets a bit easier, huh.”

Diluc paused. How much should he tell you? Not too much. “Something like that.”

“So why do people call you the Darknight Hero?”

He blinked. Once. Twice. Then, his eyes narrowed as he glanced up at the room Paimon and Lumine were in. “Which one told you?”

“You can probably guess.”

He sighed. “The people of Mondstadt aren’t very original.”

You laughed again and, for whatever reason, that brought a small smile to his face.

[sepublic]

Eda learning to be Luz’s teacher

           You know what? I have to wonder if the reason why Eda was initially so hesitant about teaching Luz magic, and constantly procrastinated on this fact… Was because she already knew that humans couldn’t do magic, and didn’t want to break the girl’s heart by being upfront about this fact? When Episode 2 starts, basically right after Eda sort of agrees to teach Luz without taking it too seriously, she’s in no rush. Eda even laughs off Luz’s dreams of being a chosen one, because she didn’t realize it meant that much to the kid! But then Eda sees how her cold rejection and mockery of Luz’s dreams led her to fall for Adegast’s trickery…

          And after reassuring Luz with ideas of determining one’s fate, Eda realized that learning magic really DID mean a lot to Luz; And after the Adegast incident which she feels responsible for, Eda doesn’t want to disappoint Luz again, especially after initially being so harshly dismissive of Luz’s dreams. Eda was a kid who was very disappointed that she couldn’t learn all nine forms of magic, and she’s someone who’s determined not to put others through the same experiences that she had to suffer, first-hand and without guidance. I can see Eda wanting to avoid being the ‘Bump’ in this situation with Luz (especially since she kind of was), not wanting to trample on Luz’s dreams by being upfront that she can’t learn magic…

           And considering how fond of Luz she is… I have to wonder if Eda deliberately procrastinated on the truth, because she also wanted to keep her around? This could parallel how Luz lied about knowing two spells to Amity in Adventures in the Elements… Eda could’ve also lied under the impression that Luz would no longer want to hang around with her anymore, because Eda might think that Luz is interested in Eda only for her ability to teach magic. If Eda can’t teach Luz magic, then what reason does Luz have to stick around, especially given Eda’s liability as a criminal… And later on as revealed in The Intruder, someone who can transform into a dangerous beast.

           Eda’s used to being rejected by others because of her curse, because of her views on magic, etc. She’s used to rejection, so it’s what she naturally assumes that Luz is inclined towards… That she’s only hanging around Eda because she has no other choice. It’d recontextualize Eda’s grief upon seeing Luz seemingly enroll at Hexside in Episode 3, only to have some relief and even triumph when Luz is banned. Obviously Eda doesn’t want Luz to be indoctrinated, but I wonder if there’s some selfishness about wanting to keep Luz close, or at least a fear that Luz would show disinterest in Eda in favor of a more ‘traditional’ institution.

           Which, again ties into how Luz was afraid that Amity wouldn’t be impressed by her lack of spells, and her assumption that Amity is only interested in Luz because of her unique skills as a witch… Because like Eda, Luz is undervaluing her own personal worth, and how THAT’s what draws people to her, not necessarily her skill in Magic! Luz and Eda could both have an issue with assuming their someone’s last choice, and not their deliberate first one… After all, it’s not exactly wrong of Eda to assume that whatever’s back home for Luz isn’t all too good, given how she chooses a random stranger who’s a criminal over it. To Eda, she could’ve assumed that Luz was driven more by a desire to avoid her home, than a desire to hang around Eda… And Eda doesn’t want to make Luz leave the Owl House, if Luz is apprehensive towards her home that much- Eda wants the best for the kid!

           And while avoiding the Reality Camp was definitely PART of the reason, there was also Luz being genuinely enamored by Eda’s care for King, and her sentiments on weirdoes sticking together! Luz really wanted in on that dynamic! It’s another reason why Eda is so dazzled by Luz after she sticks around… Because even after knowing that there are different schools to learn magic traditionally, even after knowing that Eda’s criminal status could endanger her… Even after knowing that Eda couldn’t even teach her magic, and that Eda was a potential threat because of her curse- Luz still sticks around, because she likes Eda that much.

           In Agony of a Witch, Eda makes a point of how she wants to pay back Luz for all of her kindness by giving her the Witch’s Wool Cloak. I think that after The Intruder, Eda legitimately invested time, effort, and research into Glyphs… Because not only did Luz show her that they existed and they were possible, thus kindling a hope in Eda’s heart to actually teach Luz magic; But I think Eda felt indebted towards the girl. That she really wanted to prove herself to Luz, and be the role model that Luz thinks she is… Like the Good Witch Azura, ironically- Despite Eda’s apprehension towards the saccharine sweetness of those books, she’ll gladly be Azura for Luz, if it makes the girl happy.

           And, this realization of her bond with Luz, could’ve played a part in Eda getting over her apprehension towards Hexside, swallowing her pride to enroll Luz in. Because by the end of the day, Eda recognizes that she just wants the best for Luz, that she doesn’t want to selfishly keep the girl to herself, and inhibit Luz in the process (which could be antithetical to how Lilith felt about Eda but I digress). It’s that “If you love me let me go” meme, except it’s Eda feeling like Luz is better off without her, to an extent… And while she IS right about her own shortcomings as a teacher, or at least that Luz deserves to learn from more than one source- I think there’s still that lingering insecurity that Eda has to live up to what Luz wants her to be, that cool, powerful witch.

           That makes it sweet when Luz makes it clear to Eda, mutually, during the Season Finale –when the two reunite at the Conformatorium- that she really loves Eda for who she is, and would give up everything for her… And Eda sees that Luz’s love for her has become unconditional. And similarly, Eda reassures Luz that she loves the girl, that Luz doesn’t have to feel like she owes her anything… Just being with one another, or at least seeing the other be happy, is enough. When Eda tells Luz to save herself, it’s not a rejection of their companionship as Luz fears; It’s Eda prioritizing Luz. Regardless, both Luz and Eda learn that while they want the best for the other, they shouldn’t disregard how much they meant to their loved one either- That maybe their loved one isn’t better off without them, because they DO care…! Eda may prioritize Luz, but she should also value her relationship with the girl as well, because Luz appreciates it too. Even if Luz’s safety comes above her companionship with Eda, who’s to say Eda has to choose between Luz’s safety, and being with the girl- Why can’t she have both, as Luz would defiantly ask?

          There’s nothing to worry about, you’re not parasitically dragging down your loved one with your connection to them, you don’t have to worry about being good enough for them, or being on their level… What you’ve got going on, is good enough just as it is! You’re not holding them back from a better choice, you ARE that loved one’s choice, first and foremost, and you should remember that they had agency when they decided to stick with you! Don’t undersell yourself, and trust in your loved one’s judgment if they decided to hang around with you after all- They have good taste too, believe it or not. Luz is special to Eda, because she validates Eda by seeing her as someone to look up to and emulate, and that encourages Eda to be a true role model in her own right, and live up to those expectations. It gives Eda a purpose in life, when up until then there was that lingering regret that her existence had been wasted. Of course with Luz, she encourages Eda to be the best she can be, but doesn’t necessarily hold it against her if she isn’t…

           So when Luz discovers glyphs and does the impossible, Eda is inspired to do the same- If this kid can do it, so can she! Eda CAN learn to teach magic to this human, after all… So she does her research off-screen. It’s worth noting that Covention happens immediately after The Intruder, as a follow-up to Eda’s change of heart as she decides to be truly serious about teaching Luz magic… And how Luz and Amity are set up to duel one another as representatives of their teachers’ own skills. Eda’s pride comes into play when Lilith assumes that Luz is a terrible Witch, and it also comes into play when Luz mentions how Eda’s apprentice not knowing two spells is a bad look for Eda herself…

           But at the end of Covention, Luz asks Eda if she’ll ever be a great witch. And we see here that while Eda may have her pride play a little into making Luz learn magic… In the end, she doesn’t expect Luz to be a great witch, just for Eda’s pride. She’s not going to be disappointed in Luz, nor herself. She tells Luz that she’s not beholden to anyone else’s definition of a witch, and that Eda doesn’t truly expect Luz to win on her behalf, for the sake of making Eda look good. Luz can fail all she wants, do her progress at her own pace- It’s why Eda reassures Luz about being a quitter in The First Day, or how she tells Luz that it’s okay that she wasn’t able to take on Grom singlehandedly like she thought she could! It IS also worth noting that Luz wouldn’t be allowed to do magic at all if she lost the Covention duel, so Eda could’ve had that altruistic reasoning behind making Luz cheat- She doesn’t want Luz to lose her chance at magic, after having just discovered it!

           Regardless, it contrasts with Lilith, who DOES have that expectation for Amity to do well, to live up to Lilith’s image and pride… And how Lilith cares so much more for maintaining her own reputation as a teacher, that she makes Amity cheat without her knowledge nor consent, instead of being genuinely interested in gauging Amity’s current skill and progress, and working with that. Lilith was more interested in how she looked to Eda and others as a teacher, than Amity’s actual ability at magic. The possibility of Amity losing is inexcusable for Lilith, that she really goes out of her way to attach the Power Glyph even though her victory should be guaranteed, amidst Lilith rightfully suspecting Eda would cheat of course.

          And that, of course, tells Amity that she is not allowed to lose, that failure is no option… And it just contributes to the pressure and expectations on her, and how she’s not allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, and when she DOES make mistakes, Amity thinks it’s the end of the world and that there’s nothing to salvage from the situation, whatsoever. It conditions Amity to see everything she does as a reflection and extension of others and not her own skills and belief in herself, and that she can’t just enjoy things for the sake of only her happiness. And Amity really undervalues how it’s a lot of her own skill that got her where she is, and not JUST the guidance of a great teacher.

          Lilith was showing a disrespectful lack of confidence in Amity, that she doesn’t really trust the girl, not enough to do something that should be so easy and simple, and it hurts because to Amity it means she’s never good enough, and that maybe there’s something wrong with her that sparks this kind of distrust in her ability; To the point where Lilith can’t even be upfront about her lack of faith in Amity and the application of the Power Glyph, because she doesn’t think the girl can take criticism. That will just make Amity question if people ever really mean it when they praise her; And in turn, lead her to assume that people are secretly lying whenever they tell her that she did good, or at least didn’t do wrong.

           But, I digress. Eda reiterates to Luz at the end of Covention that she doesn’t really care if Luz would’ve won or not (unless it meant Luz losing her chance at magic), which connects to how Luz and Amity’s duel had no definitive winner and was a tie, and a total mess of a match. In contrast to Lilith, who neither reassures Amity, nor does anything to actually check up on the girl afterwards, instead focusing on Eda… Which, Eda IS her sister and she misses her a lot, and Lilith doesn’t get to see Eda often so she’ll milk every last moment with her, but still.

           Either way, Eda considers how she just wants Luz to learn magic for Luz’s own sake, not for Eda’s expectations of her- And while there is the joke of Luz playing into Eda’s pride by getting her to take her to the knee, it’s worth noting that Eda clearly had done her research well before this was brought up, and also that Luz actually needs to know two spells so she can avoid the Baby Class, and learn Magic as she’d like to. And Eda, Eda is a very tsundere character when it comes to affection- So I can see her passing off bringing Luz to the knee as just wanting to look good as a teacher, when in reality it’s because Luz really cares about this and Eda wants to provide.

          I could also get into potential insecurity on Eda’s behalf on failing Luz as a teacher, so she tries to avoid teaching lessons to begin with… You get the idea. Like I said, Luz brings up Eda’s pride because she’s using every reason to learn a second spell because of how desperate she is, as well as the fact that she still has insecurities over paying back Eda for her kindness, through being a great student and thus a reflection of Eda’s skill as a teacher, until Eda reassures Luz once and for all that her love is unconditional in the Season Finale.

           Which, connects us to the idea of Eda not being able to be the conventional, magical teacher that Luz wanted… But she’s still an incredibly potent mentor in her own way, in the important life-lessons she instills Luz with. Amidst Luz proving her own worth as a self-taught learner, making her progress with magic all the more difficult and painstaking to further the disability metaphor, and the idea of Luz and Eda mutually teaching and learning from one another, because they respect one another. It’s all tied up in the final moments of the Season Finale, when Eda can no longer be the teacher she wanted to be for Luz, and is now just a student alongside her- Frequently learning FROM Luz, in fact!

          And Luz… not only does Luz love Eda regardless of magic, but the two of them mutually look forward to the lessons they could have, together. Eda doesn’t have to be the magical teacher that Luz wanted- That frees her up to express vulnerability by being a Magic Student like Luz, acknowledging her shortcomings so Eda can get Luz the best teachers she can… And Luz recognizing Eda’s value as a teacher in a different sense. Luz and Eda both show, teach, and illuminate one another- Individually great on their own, but when combined, Luz and Eda make an unstoppable pair! Before losing her magic, Eda was already learning about glyphs with her research; Now she gets to do it alongside Luz, and has a reason to for both of them.

[cogentranting]

The flashbacks in Prodigal Son 2x03 were, in my opinion, a major puzzle piece of Malcolm’s past that we didn’t even know we were missing. I think they were hugely significant. Or they should be. 

Malcolm being attacked in that way is potentially one of the most overtly traumatic experiences we’ve seen in Malcolm’s childhood. It really stands out among the things we’ve seen and heard about from his childhood. Up until this point Malcolm’s trauma has all been a bit more abstract. The grooming from his father. The fallout from his father’s crimes being revealed, and the way that changed how Malcolm was viewed. His own fears pertaining to his how he might be like Martin, and fear of Martin directly. Finding the body. Even being chloroformed by Martin fits more in this general category.  But this incident is distinctly different. First of all, this is the most significant trauma not directly from Martin; Martin is indirectly the cause, but there is a much more present, much more direct perpetrator, and that’s unique. Secondly, this is the first trauma that directly, and maliciously targets Malcolm. Most of what Malcolm has dealt with is the result of just being within the fallout zone from Martin’s actions. Even the ones that are more focused on him-- Martin’s grooming and the chloroform-- have a different character because there’s no explicit malice (they certainly did harm Malcolm, but that was not Martin’s mindset in doing them). Third, there’s a greater degree of specific fear in the particular moment. Most of the flashbacks we’ve seen with the child actor don’t necessarily show Malcolm being afraid (even though fear is a big thing for Malcolm). With a lot of those aspects, it seems like it was more a creeping fear after the fact, as he realized more and more about who his father was and what had been going on with him and around him. So it wasn’t concentrated in one moment but was spread out over everything, sort of a spreading infection that worked its way into every aspect of his life over time. And that fear is somewhat abstract or even existential a lot of the time. (this point might have the exception of the moment when he find the girl in the box). Which is quite different from the experience in the 2x03 flashback, where there is a present intense fear for his life. Fourth, this is the only one which caused Malcolm physical harm (the chloroform had the potential to, but the main way it seems to have affected Malcolm was through the role it played in gaslighting him, and through the realization during season 1 of how Martin treated him and what that meant for the relationship). This one however, physically trapped Malcolm and led to him being denied food and water for three days.  (Note: I’ve excluded the events with Watkins at the cabin from this discussion, primarily because Malcolm had so thoroughly repressed those memories) None of this is to say that the closet incident was worse than what Martin did, or that it affected Malcolm more, just that this incident has a very different character, so it can’t be written off as just another episode in a long run. 

But I do think there’s a strong argument to be made that this event did have a major effect on Malcolm. It is so different and so extreme that I don’t see how it could not. According to this episode, we do know that this is the origin of his hand tremor (I know this conflicts with an earlier flashback, but I’m going to accept the retcon). However, the way the episode was framed it almost felt like  they were treating this as just some random bit of backstory. So I really hope that they do revisit this idea and incorporate it more into our understanding of Malcolm and why he is who he is. 

There’s already one more conclusion that I think can be reasonably drawn. While this incident stands out really starkly against Malcolm’s childhood trauma, it doesn’t stand out against his adult trauma. In the present, things of this nature-- Malcolm being targeted, Malcolm being hurt, Malcolm’s life being in danger-- are very common. Very common. Practically a weekly occurrence. 

And it’s very clear that Malcolm’s response to these weekly brushes with death is not appropriately scaled. The end of 2x03 even demonstrated this. Malcolm risks his life. Malcolm gets hurt. And Malcolm shrugs it off and tries to disregard it. 

Maybe the root of that lies in this high school experience. The timeframe isn’t clear but it appears as if Malcolm is back at the school (WITH the student who did this) within the week. That could be Jessica pushing him to maintain appearances, that could be the school’s doing, or that could be a choice made by Malcolm himself, but regardless, that is hardly any time given for him to recover either physically or emotionally. Which becomes characteristic of Malcolm. Furthermore, when Malcolm retaliates (and of course I am not condoning his little foray into attempted murder) he is the one who is punished. Malcolm is expelled, but we are not told that the same happened to the student who locked him in the closet in the first place. It could be that Malcolm refused to identify who trapped him (because he wanted to take action himself) and that’s the reason we don’t hear about him facing consequences. It could be that for whatever reason, there were no significant consequences for that boy. Or it could be that he did get expelled (or face other consequences) and the narrative, framed as a component of Malcolm’s memory, did not include that detail. 

With any of these explanations, a pattern is established that frames Malcolm’s perception. Malcolm is hurt. Malcolm’s actions to protect or avenge himself are bad and punishable. Malcolm’s attacker either faces no consequences, or those consequences are deemed unimportant. 

Now, again, of course it would not be right for Malcolm to murder the student who trapped him. But I think the extremity of that reaction informs why this pattern seems to have held. Malcolm is so afraid of his capability to be like Martin-- to kill-- that he struggles to draw a distinction between justified self defense/reaction and vengeful retaliation. He fears the latter so he hesitates to pursue the former. 

So it seems that this particular incident in high school is what began to unduly acclimatize Malcolm to violence against himself and fear of death. And it at least planted the idea in his mind (or watered it) that he should be extremely distrustful of any of his own attempts to protect himself, and that it doesn’t matter whether his attacker faces repercussions or not. 

Whether he expressed it and understood it explicitly or not, Malcolm’s takeaway from the experience seems to have been that there is some element of his father in him and that others will innately recognize it and try to punish it (attributing this to both the headmaster and the other student) and that as much as he might hate them for it, he feels limited in how much he can actually blame them for it. Because on some level he sees them as justified in whatever they do to him. In fact, the only one he feels he can consistently blame for actions against himself, is Martin, because while others are punishing him for the “evil” he inherited from Martin, Martin is the one to blame ultimately for it being there.