#we as the audience dont need to be told everything that happened and what we see after the timeskip tells us what we need to know

[pinkeoni]

I am, of the personal opinion (and you can always disagree with me), that nothing important happened during the two day timeskip and it really was just a way to save time

[sorikufeels]

https://www.tumblr.com/pondrea/748403783611105280/dont-you-recognise-me

amazing art by pondrea (link above!!!) got me feeling things (the art is so good op!!!!!! 💚) and now i need to yap about this scene lol it’s of the moment zexion disguised himself as sora to riku in com.

(i hope it’s ok to post the link here! let me know if not!)

i’m CONVINCED what zexion said to riku as sora this still haunts riku to this day. it wasn’t even sora who said all that, but i’m sure the fear of how it played out in com actually playing out with the real sora scared riku to death. the fear of this happening led to him walking away from sora first, not even giving him the chance just in case there was a repeat scenario. sure, there was a lot of self hatred and feeling like he didn’t deserve to see sora as well, but the look on riku’s face tells you that this scarred him. this was his biggest fear. he rather fade to darkness than go through this again and isn’t even willing to risk that it could go another way.

anyway, this is just context for what i actually want to talk about lmao

so this is probably one of worst moments for riku right? utterly rejected by his best friend and now that friend was willing to kill him for who he is now. and it wasn’t even real.

but you know who that was real for? sora. in hollow bastion. utterly rejected by riku. his only means of defense taken, basically left to die. and then riku fought him tooth and nail until he lost and sora let him run away.

you know who got closure for their version of this scene? riku. he got it when sora fell to the ground on his knees in the world that never was, when he said he looked everywhere for him and told him he was still riku no matter what. sora told him exactly what he needed to hear to reassure him that sora didn’t think any of things riku feared he did. sora telling him specifically that he was still riku no matter what showed riku that sora stills wants him around. even if he looks like their enemy and even if he did some real awful things, he’s still riku and that’s enough. riku as he is is enough for sora. always has been.

you know who never got anything like that? sora. in fact, the conclusion that sora found to get him through is that he’s not enough. his friends are his power. alone, he has no strength. he only made it through by relying on a complete stranger he managed to befriend. if beast wasn’t there or if he refused to go with sora, would he have survived? he had magic but that would run out eventually. would he have even made it to the room he fights riku in?

i don’t think he thinks he would’ve. in kh3, he says alone, he’s worthless. he’s held that sentiment this entire time. no one told him otherwise. (until riku’s sacrifice but it’s murky about whether sora even remembers that at this point. but even if he does, it wasn’t like the scene in the world that never was. sora was able to dictate exactly what riku needed to hear with no imminent threat and riku was not emotionally compromised like sora was in the keyblade graveyard. riku was able to process everything sora said. that is a far cry to sora screaming in agony over all his friends dying, sora believing wholeheartedly that he's nothing without them, and riku just saying he believes in him. sure, thats what sora needed in that moment to save everyone, but it's not a response to his fears and insecurities established in kh1 like how what sora says to riku is a response to his fears and insecurities established in com.)

at this point, i think it’s obvious that sora knows riku’s changed from kh1 and that he doesn’t believe the same things. sora knows he cares based on his actions and how he saved him too and we know as an audience how dedicated he is to him. but it fucks me up to think that riku got that verbal closure while sora never did. that riku got to start healing from that awful moment but sora really never did.

just,,,, please please please please let them talk about what happened in kh1 i am on my knees begging

extra thoughts: didn’t think of this at first so sorry it’s a little disconnected, but maybe the reason riku is so horrified in that moment in com is because he realizes this is what he put sora through. maybe he made this connection himself and feeling what it was like to be on the other side of it, on sora’s side, horrified him. what’s worse, in riku’s mind, is that riku deserves to be in this position and deserves to be rejected due to his past actions. but sora never deserved it. maybe that contributed to why the self loathing spiral got worse after com.

[corporatefrog]

꒦‧₊ ꒷ HEADCANNONS: team craig reacting to yn being in the hospital✧.*

✧.* tags: superhero au, college au ✧.* Characters: tolkien blacl, craig tucker, tweek tweek, clyde donavan, jimmy valmer a/n: I got around to sharing team craig! i'm so happy everyone liked the previous one and I hope you enjoy this one just as much!

masterlist

Craig

He’d act very apathetic about the whole situation when you told him

“I’m going to be in the hospital for the next week, I got into an accident during a villain attack and hit my head pretty bad.”

“Oh wow. That’s a bummer.”

“Yeah, can you grab my homework for me?”

“Eh… I’ve got some things going on tomorrow.”

He doesn’t want to see you hurt 

So he just avoids going

As long as he doesn’t physically SEE you, you can’t really be hurt, right?

Clyde drags him to the hospital to visit you 

After that he’s visiting everyday until you’re discharged 

Then sits with you to pass the time since you can’t look at screens until you’re healed

Definitely shows you his astronomy books

(lowkey very happy to have someone who listens to his interests instead of dealing with south park’s bullshit of the day but he’ll never say it)

Tweek 

Let’s be honest we ALL know what he’d do

And it’s not sit down, have a cup of tea and wait to for you to be discharged

He’s running into the automatic door before he can open

Probably ends up in the hospital WITH you by the time he makes it to your room

“WHAT HAPPENED”

“I literally texted you”

“I tried to read it but my hand wouldn’t stop shaking so I decided to get here as fast as possible but then my bike hit a curb so I had to run all the way over.”

“Jesus fuck dude, you need this bed more than me.”

“NO DONT GET UP YOUR BLOOD WILL GO EVERYWHERE”

“Im literally being discharged rn”

You being hurt means that HE can get hurt

Starts showing up to EVERYTHING covered in bubble wrap

He looks like that kid from home alone except with bubble wrap 

Craig blames you

“Bro my car was literally crushed by the fucking coon how is that my fault”

“You didn’t coon-proof your car and now Tweek’s going to be freaking out for the next month”

Tolkien

Probably the only one with a NORMAL reaction

You send him a text that you were in the hospital and he says he’ll be over once he’s out of class

Real normal stuff

Normal until he gets to the hospital

You can’t tell it’s him through the balloons and flowers and stuffed animals

“Why does the bear have a card that says ‘We’ll beat Cancer together’?”

“I didn’t know what was wrong so I grabbed one of everything.”

You were knocked out when a piece of debris hit your head during a villain attack

You need to go back to work to make money for rent?

Nah he covered your rent for the month. And utilities. And filled your fridge.

What’s the point of being rich if you can’t help your friends when they’re hurt? 

He’d do it for anyone!

(anyone meaning you and butters. Maybe kyle if he’s in a good mood. Only redeemable souls in the whole town)

Clyde

Acting like you’re DYING the moment you tell him

You could literally have a sprained ankle and he’s sobbing like you’ve got a day to live

“I know i wasn’t always the best friend in the world but I care about you so much!”

“That’s great clyde, can we talk about this tomorrow though?”

“You’re so strong. Acting like everything’s okay.”

Watching the area around you like a HAWK for the next month incase there are any dangers

What if you get hurt again??

Wants you to stay home for a month after you get out of the hospital 

Stands in front of your door, holding the doorknob so you can’t open it inward

But the door opens outward

So you send him falling onto his ass and start walking to class with a sobbing clyde crawling across the floor behind you

He means well though

Jimmy

Finally, the perfect audience to try his new hospital set with

He doesn’t really like hospitals since his comedy isn’t usually appreciated 

He’ll call you everyday though! And tell you everything that’s happening with your friends

It’s like having your own personal sitcom that calls you everyday

“And then craig threw his ice cream at cartman’s face and made him the true mint chocolate chip.”

“PFFFT! God i love your commentary”

“What can i say, you’re a great audience!”

“Can you just call me everyday and recap the day?”

“Wow, my mom always told me i’d be famous but this is getting a little wild”

Even if he’s worried, he’s not going to say anything.

He wants to boost your mood since he knows hospitals have rancid vibes

He’s the first one to visit you once you’re back at home and he’s got PAGES of recaps to share with you

[bestworstcase]

hello ive been combing through some of your rwby meta and a thought struck me in regards to this line you wrote when talking about the Maidens:

"the last spring maiden died under circumstances that have left raven emotionally shattered more than a decade later"

ive been thinking a lot about your theory of summer defecting to salem's side, and assuming thats true my thought was: did summer defect during her secret mission with raven and kill the spring maiden, all in front of raven?

raven was presumably close to the maiden based off conversations in v4, and we know that she portaled to Someone in the flashback(?) ruby saw in v9. i thought maybe it could've been qrow but tbh knowing rwby thats seems too easy of an answer, and maybe it couldve been vernal but for some reason I had been thinking vernal came post spring maiden's death.

though if summer DID defect on her own terms, while we dont know the woman and v9's whole thing was that ruby (maybe by extension the audience) had her on this pedestal, outright murdering someone that she once considered "on her side" might seem quite coldhearted for what little we do know. but it may also explain raven's fear of salem and her desire to stay the fuck out of her way, beyond just summer defecting. because if raven was close with summer like it seems like she was in that flashback, either at that point or in past because i'd think the abandoning yang thing would put a damper on good vibes, seeing your friend and teammate turn tail against everything you know and murder a child (?) would be uh, bothersome.

im new to the spinning my own thoughts game but thought i'd take a stab at rambling. cheers!

mumbles in all things must die

yeah i’m as close to 100% certain as it’s possible to be that the person on the other end of that portal was gretchen rainart the last spring maiden; i think the possibility that it might have been qrow on the grounds that we know raven has a link to him is an intentional red herring. (and if it was qrow, it would have had to be a case of raven using him as a fast-travel point without his awareness, a la in V5, because otherwise that would imply he lied through his teeth to ruby when she asked him if he knew anything about summer’s last mission in V7.) (similarly, vernal seems to be around cinder’s age if not younger—she would have been like, ten or eleven at the time.)

based on what summer says in the glimpse (“if i get this right”) and what’s said of the last spring maiden (that she was young and scared), i think the plan was for summer to confront salem alone, with raven and spring at a safe distance on escape duty: kindred link gives raven some way of knowing when her bonds are in danger, so if summer gets into trouble or things go wrong, raven opens a portal with spring there to fireball salem in the face (as cinder did to ruby at haven), hopefully buying enough time for raven to jump through, grab summer, and immediately portal back to spring. neither of them would’ve wanted the spring maiden anywhere near salem, and sending summer in “solo” gives raven’s emergency save the advantage of surprise. yeah?

but what i think happened is summer found salem, and salem—who at the time was not participating in ozpin’s war—intuited that summer wasn’t here under ozpin’s auspices, ergo did not fully trust ozpin and might be open to hearing salem’s side of the story. so instead of fighting back, salem let summer see that she couldn’t be killed and then started talking. and whatever she told summer was convincing enough to make summer want… some sort of proof. something more than the he-said-she-said to tell her who she could trust.

like, oh, say… maybe the relic of knowledge.

conveniently, she’s got raven waiting for her with the spring maiden, who can open the vault to retrieve the lamp.

so she signals raven by whatever means for a portal out, and then either recounts what salem told her honestly or comes up with some lie justifying why they need to get the lamp. (“summer rose, telling lies!” <- hm.)

i don’t buy the common assumption that raven and/or summer used the first question, because a) ozpin never shared jinn’s name with anyone, and b) if summer had learned it somehow prior to joining salem, salem would have already known the “password.”

what seems the most likely to me is that the three of them did sneak into haven academy, opened the vault, and figured out that the lamp had some kind of passphrase. at this point, summer and raven split on what to do. if summer told the truth about what she wanted the lamp for, perhaps she wanted to bring it to salem in exchange for more information and raven thought that was too risky wanted to go confront ozpin instead. if summer lied, maybe implying she needed the lamp to find a counter to some defense salem had against silver eyes, this would have been the moment the truth came out and i’d imagine raven would react badly.

into the mix of this very high-stakes disagreement, add summer’s obvious resentment of raven for leaving and raven’s equally obvious inferiority complex toward summer, and you have the perfect recipe for an emotionally volatile argument to get out of control and come to blows.

and, points at the ozlem girls. points at vernal. i think the spring maiden got caught in the crossfire and was fatally wounded taking a hit meant for raven, and then summer fled and left raven holding the bag. raven either mercy-killed spring to spare her an inevitable but slow and agonizing death, or just couldn’t do anything to save her; the magic passed to her, she sealed the lamp back in the vault, and then ran. i think this was when raven returned to the tribe, because she’d already burned a lot of bridges by leaving her family whereas summer was the ideal, the paragon, the perfect huntress—the good mother—so who the fuck would believe raven if she told them that the spring maiden, her charge, was dead because summer rose betrayed them all for salem and murdered her?

they already blamed raven for tearing team strq apart. if she’d gone back to ozpin with the spring maiden’s blood on her hands, she would have taken the fall for spring’s death—and quite likely summer’s, too, because summer rose was the best of us, the silver-eyed warrior, and what’s easier to believe? that your paragon of virtue and hope joined the enemy, or that the prickly ex-bandit everyone is still mad at for blowing up her relationship with tai and abandoning her daughter is telling an obvious lie to save her own skin?

meanwhile summer also can’t go back home because she did kill the spring maiden and really, catastrophic failed detour to corroborate salem’s story or not, she was salem’s from the minute she chose to listen to what salem had to say.

[aemiron-main]

People who expect every shred of rep to be verbally confirmed/told to them or else it “doesnt count”/“makes the duffers cowards” are the weakest link and will not survive the winter btw.

OPEN YOUR EYES AND EARS!!! WATCH THE FUCKING SHOW!!!!! DONT JUST WAIT FOR THEM TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!!!!! What has HAPPENED where we’ve hit a point where people think that everything has to be Outright Told to them & that SHOWING things doesn’t count. Why!!!!! Why do you guys view media this way!!!!! Why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Using Henry’s autism as an example, it’s not the duffers being cowards” for them to not tell us that he’s autistic/not confirm it. It’s. Showing. Rather than telling, it’s. Making the audience engage with the media instead of spoonfeeding every single thing to them like they’re infants. Even if you disagree about him being autistic, if your only REASON for disagreeing is because “they never confirmed it,” and nothing else, then that’s dumb. And again, them “not confirming,” it isnt “them being cowards,” it’s Them Expecting You To Watch The Fucking Show. Do you need everything confirmed for you??? Do you need verbal confirmation that will has a bowlcut??? Do you need verbal confirmation from the duffers that martin brenner is a creep????? Or can you use your EYES and EARS and ENGAGE WITH THE PIECE OF MEDIA BEFORE YOU and FIGURE THESE THINGS OUT BASED ON THE CONTENT OF THE SHOW & USING YOUR BRAIN!!!!!?!!??!!

I swear to god some people may as well just go read the ST wiki bullet points/follow the writers twt instead of watching the show if they only care about what’s told to them.

This sounds extra bitchy but just picture it more as me being an exasperated sobbing old man who’s just been hit by one too many “acTuAlLy wE nEeD eVerYtHiNg ToLd tO uS” bricks. This isnt rage so much as it is “confused pathetic desperately meowing cat (me) in a wet cardboard box (tumblr) who was thrown into a ditch by people who need everything told to them”.

And this also isnt about people who would Enjoy verbal confirmation of certain things- this is specifically about people who see that sort of confirmation as an Absolute Must & who think it’s cowardice/bad writing to not include it. This isn’t even me asskissing the st writers!!! This is be on my hands and knees begging you guys to not expect every shred of literally everything to be read to you like a bulletpoint list!!!!!!!!! WHY DOES EVERYONE EXPECT CONSTANT LABELS FROM THE AHOW THAT HAS THEMES ABOUT HOW LABELS ARE USED TO FREQUENTLY BOX PEOPLE IN AND HURT THEM???????:?;)5!&&)&5&)’gkg WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’nnnnbdbjrrnfjgkkghkckktktmgkgkgn

[hexhomos]

im curious to know your thoughts on viktor's biography saying jayce was nothing more than an inconvenience. how do you handle him saying they were never friends? was this because of piltoverians superiority or? (correct me if im wrong but i cant remember if you touched on that)

A friend of mine once said a catastrophic breakup has the unforeseen consequence of tainting everything that came before it in the harsh, abrasive light of the fresh argument, and after that initial damage is done it’s hard to pick out how the memories *really* were. No matter how positive. You begin to doubt, re-read and re-write what happened, so the ultimate split "makes sense."

This may not even be a conscious process half of the time! But jokes about crazy-ex-girlfriends exist for a reason, and I believe that reason might be a surplus of unwarranted crazy-ex-girlfriend stories that are told after the dissolution of every messy relationship. You need a clear Right and a clear Wrong. Rationalizing your behavior as “only logical, in the face of irrationality,” is a defense mechanism. It’s not a pretty one, but it boils down to this: avoidance of guilt, rejection of any criticism you may consider too true, the reshaping of your narrative so *you* are the one in control, the winner, the guy who’s closing the debate with the perfect comeback, one thought up in the shower 12 hours after the fact.

Viktor lies a lot. By omission, exaggeration, negligence and a sense of dwindling pride. Jayce is simultaneously unstoppably unjust and a worm-man that could be crushed beneath his heel; an insufferable viktor never chose for himself! Who is, at the same time, somehow, his work partner of years, actively by his side right up until his last project - or until he's had enough. And the dissonance is the point. This is an image that has been warped so much in editing you can see the smudgy click and drag marks in the surroundings. 

I do think Jayce and Viktor were friends, and this is an assertion I make without doubt. Viktor calls jayce his old friend when the plea benefits him, this is corroborated by how positively Jayce's bio speaks about Viktor, even while criticizing his methods.

Jayce is indifferent to nearly everyone he meets, he says so himself, in his opening paragraphs; if he really was so Out There To Get Viktor And Ruin His Life &/Or Reputation- what fucking reason does he have to defend Viktor's honor after he's proved himself to be unstable and aggressive? If their relationship was nonexistent, sour, or predicated exclusively in rivalry or animosity, why does Viktor ask for Jayce to join him in his grand plan, after years of alleged cold war? What reason is there for Jayce to apologize and still extend him an out after Viktor sinks his head in with a giant crystal? What reason is there for him to even disclose doing that? (what reason is there for Jayce to call Viktor petnames after multiple direct attempts on his life???? LOL)

To put it mildly. If we are to take Viktor’s POV by his word (imagine he is being honest,) and see this as a straightforward detached revenge story about prejudice or jayce’s unreasonable hero complex or piltover carelessly wanting to trump over zaun or whatever - why doesn’t Jayce’s side of the story simply call him a cunt and move on? He has all the setup to prop himself as the true hero, but he doesn’t. Like Bon points out here, Jayce’s bio doesn’t even bring up that Viktor is a Zaunite. Not Once. There is no stereotypical city grudge casting him in a bad light. The information is implicit: they talk about Zaun, extensively, but Viktor’s ideas and standing and existence are what you know him by, not some undercity-dwelling boogeyman. If anything, Jayce self-deprecates far more frequently than Viktor does, and makes a sustained effort to poke holes on the audience’s perception of him being a ‘valiant hearted hero’ of any kind. He dont give a fuck. He doesn't want this title. He did not pick it. He is not choosing to represent this city. He has other, better, palpable things to care about. Namely his work, and generally ‘preventing people from being made into fucking zombies’. Jayce doesn’t want you to think that he is right(eous), but that what is happening is wrong.

If I take a step back from text interpretation here and tell you what I personally gather from it, Opinion Wise, it's this: Viktor is concerned with presenting you with a tragic fable because he has an ideology to sell. The revisions and concessions he makes along the way are for the ultimate purpose of crafting a legend. And sometimes that requires humility. He needs the rationalization to make sense of every single bad thing that has ever happened in his life; and in his way there he also tends to mix up one sore spot with the other, like they're all this elaborate multi-step prank destiny sprung on him, like every single other person in his life has been Lowkey Conspiring Against Him, so you can eventually agree to this:

Humans suck, right? We agree humans suck, right, guys? I mean wouldn't we love it if humans didn't suck? Thats Why I Came Up With A Solution!! THE NEURALINK. - Viktor. (note: whenever there's a mention of the student body, swap it with 'Jayce' to see how the motivation builds up. Viktor makes an effort to omit him whenever possible anyway)

He's kind of at the end of his rope. This is his last ditch effort to build himself back up.

Generally speaking, the opposite goes for Jayce. He frontloads his statement with mentions of how he is a huge dipshit, unabashedly so, to get really at the meat of things: He thinks Viktor's preaching is fucking bogus, but the point is that guy used to be his friend. That guy used to be someone he knew! That guy was brilliant at what he did, even, but something went really terribly wrong down the line and it's frankly fucked up that it happened. But nobody really cares nor can they fully understand, because as Jayce previously stated, maybe everyone else is kind of fucking stupid, so he has to fix things on his own. (Jayce doesn't have any 'I stand for justice and righteousness and the american way,' comeback prepared to rebuke Viktor's speeches. That sentence could make him barf. He just has very strong feelings about where the line is drawn, and he’s not going to wait for the worst case scenario before doing something.)

I do think that more than anything else, It’s important (and telling) that both of their bios admit to them being deeply hurt by their falling-out. Jayce calls it ‘growing more insular’, Viktor calls it ‘traumatic’, there are attempts to patch things back up on either side (even if a bit tilted, even if the propositions don’t work) Viktor regrets trusting anyone at all, so he covers it up with detachment. Jayce regrets not having enough faith to communicate anything, when he could have, so he tries his best to own up to every present or imagined failure in his way towards improvement.

Of course Viktor would describe Jayce as inconvenient. Viktor is one of the many perceived past failures Jayce is desperately trying to do damage control for. And if he *can’t* change Viktor’s mind, well. At least Jayce can stand in his way and be really, really annoying.

[ask-serendipity-sky]

My newest thoughts...

I've been doing some intense thinking while I've been away. While watching Jk's lastest live, everything got connected inside my brain.

So back on 7/7, I had some sort of epiphany while answering an ask and I came up with the following theory.

(I deleted the post because damn Dewunkim has gotten on my nerves and I saw her reblog it. So if anyone has this in their reblogs, could you all send it to me? Thaaanks!)

Anyway, this is what I remember thinking:

If Jikook is together, they were told to lay low because they don't want it to be known that Jk is gay. That would ruin his chance to become a superstar.

It wasn't for military enlistment purposes.

Jikook continues to be spotted in Korea but is not seen by international fans.

Jimin is queer but also Jk. Is it possible that the company retaliated because Jimin's album was queer coded and he has been queer coding his stuff since a while back?

I feel like the stuff that's been happening lately has been confirming my theory:

•Portrayal of Jk as a straight male in Seven mv.

Not much happening in that mv. Boring, tbh. No chemistry although I do think that Jk and Sohee are friends now but the romantic chemistry isn't there.

There is that also that disconnect where the more explicit lyrics dont match the mv.

"It's the way that we can ride" and it shows a spaghetti plate? I could have shown...other things.

The song has a funeral scene with Jk being funny in a coffin. Be for real.

With lyrics like that you could have a really sensual and sexual fun mv. Pillowtalk meets Butter. But we got a comedic mv instead.

So maybe Jk is has no problem singing sex songs and pronouns but he draws the line at physical contact?

And for the love of the gods, I can't possibly see a connection between this mv/song and Jimin. That's insulting to me.

A song about a straight guy singing to a girl is for Jimin? Not for me. Never. Don't insult jikook or Jimin like that. Not everything has to be connected.

•Jk's Weverse Interview

He states:

I saw sooo many jikookers saying that the company was imposing this image on Jk and poor Jk blah blah and a few days before his weverse interview, I told a friend "Maybe this is how he wants to be seen. As a het male."

And there is nothing wrong with that! He can be seen as straight cool sexy Jk. Let him be and stop making excuses for normal things.

But the main point to take from this is that he is on his way to being a superstar. Being boyffie to Jimin does not help so they had to hide that. Lay low.

Knowing what we know about Jimin and how private he is, I imagine he was totally on board with laying low for the eyes of international fans. He is also selfless to a fault and he would like to see Jk achieve his dreams. This I strongly believe.

And also, a real couple doesn't need an audience. They are not a spectacle. So laying low is a win win.

•Jk's weverse live on 21/7

Basically telling the fans that he will do as he pleases so get ready because he has grown.

He wants to be the superstar Jk and for people to recognize it. Being baby star candy will not get him the recognition.

I feel like Jk knows quite well of his popularity outside of Korea. Even if the stuff he releases is not liked in Korea, international fans will support it.

International fans need the provocative. They won't judge and scrutinize the way Korean fans do. In fact, he will be embraced and loved the more sex he sells.

He will up the fan service. Y/n rejoice!

And it's obvious that the main focus of his promo was not Korea.

The target is a western market where not being queer is more profitable. Where soft masculinity is laughed at.

He's letting the softies know. Take it as a warning, softies lol

People think that his tattoo doesn't fit with his words now but Jk has always been like this. He just wasn't vocal about it.

While his tattoo says that he rather be dead than cool, I feel Jk hasn't quite found himself yet and tries the things that he thinks will make him look cool while still remaining unbothered about being cool. But we know that's not true.

So for me, all of this also confirms that Jk knows exactly what he is doing. He knows how this looks and how this is playing out.

He knows about the business, even if he stated in his weverse interview that he leaves that to the pros. A guy thats been in this 10 years and he doesn't look into how his promo will play out? Not believable.

That sounded like damage control by the company to meeeeeee....

In terms of jikook: They seem to be fine. Jimin went to NY to support Jk but not Seven. He "forgot" his password. He was also letting the softies know that he won't post.

I cannot for the love of the gods come up with a theory on why Jk is ok with getting all this nice promo while Jimin got nothing.

The whole "he is doing it for both of them" doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe I'll get the answer to this in a dream or while answering a random post.

So obviously, the whole "they are laying low for military enlistment" never made sense to me. Who even came up with that?

And why are we repeating theories with absolutely nothing to back them up like the common taekooker?

Anyways, hope I made sense!

Ah, if you happen to find a blog out there in the wild where it sounds like me, that's because it is me. My thoughts are looser there. Don't say hi if you are going to bother me.

Oh, and hello. I guess I'm back.

[olreid]

'the secret good neverafter that lives in my head' lol i take it you're not enjoying the season? curious to hear why if you feel like sharing

hmm idk that i would say im not enjoying it but yeah i think for me it's just not really like. a successful horror story at least so far. under a cut for length lol

i think the first thing watching neverafter has helped me discover is that i dont think characters in a horror story can know that they are in a horror story, at least initially. OR if they do, they have to be the only person who knows it and no one else can agree with or believe them. for me at least, such a huge element of resonant horror is the split between what the world insists it is and what it actually is, between what you are promised in life and what you actually receive. you have to be being told that the world is logical, good, that there is a way for you to win at life or beat the game or escape the prison, and you have to genuinely believe that, at least at first. so i wish neverafter hadn't started with the premise of 'the world has gotten noticeably Bad and you all noticed it and everyone agrees that this is the case even if they dont know how to fix it.' i wish they had played it straight, starting in the happily ever after of fairy tales and had the characters slowly realizing that actually they're not happy even though they're supposed to be, and having to break out of prisons that don't look like prisons and fight through a world that insists it is helping them at every step even as it constrains and warps them. and i know that's partially at odds with needing to appropriately warn viewers about what they're getting into, but i still think even if they had billed this season as a horror season and started out the first episode with Everything Is Great, that would have been excellent because i would have been just WAITING in agony for the other shoe to drop.

and then i think my other issue besides the framing has more to do with the general format of d20, which i don't think lends itself to horror for several reasons, firstly the at this point predictable shape of a main cast season. again i think a lot of the power of horror comes from unpredictability; you know something bad is going to happen in a horror story, but you don't know exactly when or what shape it will be. the wind gets kind of taken out of the sails if you know that it's going to be an every-other-episode combat situation. i appreciate that brennan's trying to add some new stuff in - red tokens, one shot kills, etc - but i don't think it's enough and even the twist of the tpk alreadys feel like it's been almost fully explained in-world to the point that we now understand how combat works in this setting. again that goes along with the format -- the players have to be able to understand the game in order to play it and be able to effectively help tell the story. but it means that things are pretty predictable, and when you've watched a bunch of d20 seasons you develop an eye for what the next fight will look like and what the overall arc of a season will be. there is of course still room for me to be surprised or proven wrong here! but my hopes are not high.

the other issue is that d20 is first and foremost a comedy. and it's not that i think horror can't be funny, but i think that largely the comedy has to come from audience interpretation -- horror needs to take itself seriously to succeed, at least for me. i think of the 'it's remarkably easy to buy an ax in central london' line from tma -- timeless and hilarious but jon is completely sincere when he says it and jonny's delivery is similarly sincere; he plays it straight, and so we get both the horror of that moment -- jon having been driven to a point where he feels the need to arm himself, which seems a pitiful gesture in the face of the forces at work on him -- and the humor, which comes when we distance ourselves a bit from the text and can appreciate that line out of context. neverafter, on the other hand, as a comedy show, is full of jokes and bits which not only contrast somewhat bizarrely with the more serious horror moments but also serve to lower the stakes of the entire project, as nearly every joke creates distance between player and character, reminding us as the audience that they are just that -- characters, not real people, in a made-up world. for example, in the spider fight where lou is calling the spiders who are attacking him Ladies as he fails to fight them off, it succeeds as a joke -- it did make me laugh -- but fails as horror because if someone was truly prone glued to a spider web with spiders crawling onto their body, i highly doubt they would be joking about it, so it takes me out of the scene and makes the world less real to me. in the other direction, the fact that it's a comedy also primes the players to take what brennan says as comedy first and horror second, eg the mouse in cinderella's old house who is saying something genuinely horrifying about not being in control of his body or actions as the entire table struggles not to break because the voice is funny or whatever. and so i feel like the two main goals of the season are at cross-purposes, because nearly all of the successful comedy makes it feel like less of a horror story, and makes the characters feel less real.

and having said all that it's not that i don't think the d20 table is capable of doing horror well, because i honestly think they already have done so with a crown of candy. acoc doesn't suffer from any of the issues ive outlined above; characters were killed in roleplay episodes to the point that you felt something terrible could happen at any time; the season took itself seriously, perhaps because the premise itself is so inherently comedic that they decided that to seriously embody a character who is a loaf of bread named senator ciabatta is funnier than making a gag out of it. whatever the reason, the stakes of the world are incredibly high -- we know this was also partially because it was a low-magic, high lethality season where brennan put limits on the party's healing abilities and removed most of the plot armor that protected characters in other fantasy seasons. and crucially, the characters did not begin the story thinking that the world was terrible. they were all members of the royal house of rocks, and heavily invested in their world moving according to logical rules and patterns; so much of the horror and tragedy of the season comes with the dawning realization on the part of the characters that the rules they thought would protect them -- those of diplomacy and morality and cause and effect -- don't actually prevent harm, death, grief, or suffering.

similarly, fantasy high sophomore year succeeds at horror, largely because the horror is dream and mirror-based so there is a sense of pervasive unsafety and a feeling that characters cannot even doze off without making themselves vulnerable to possession or violation. so it's not that i think d20 couldn't ever do horror successfully, which would almost be better -- they have done it and i have watched them do it but theyre not doing it now for whatever reason and that is disappointing. i was promised horror!! i want horror!!!

hopefully i don't need to say that this is just one guy's opinion on why it hasn't gripped me -- i know it's working for others because the tag is always full of people posting about how they couldnt sleep after the episode or whatever and truly good for them. but that is not my journey

[plushyuicorn1158]

crowley and trauma

wooooooo boy i relate to him too much anyways heres more good omens brain rot

so crowley. and his psychology and his innate need to do good and how its punished because he just wants to be sure that his plan and what he's carrying out is actually good but the system hes trying to serve doesn't have the space for his nature and so he falls and ultimately the thing that is most precious to him becomes his downfall so he gets all this reassurance that asking questions and being himself is evil bevause hes cast out and he spends the rest of his days trying to swallow his good nature because what he wants must be bad because he was so heavily punished for it when in actuality the problem is the system in which he was trying to work and THAT is what makes aziraphale choice to go back to heaven all the more painful. crowley knows the system is corrupt and he knows that the only way for him and aziraphale to be together without the punishment of their systems is to run away but aziraphale hasn't figured this out yet because he so badly wants this system to be good and he believes that the problem can be fixed and not what crowley believes which is that the institution itself if flawed and should be diamantled. SO for aziraphale to decide to go back to heaven, because Gd knows they dont TALK ABOUT ANYTHING, crowley gets reaffirmed in his thinking the he is broken and needs to be fixed (because thats exactly what metatron wants its the one thing that would make crowley leave aziraphale and he knows that crowly is the only thing tying aziraphale back to earth) INSTEAD OF WHAT AZIRAPHALE IS TRYING TO SAY which is "i believe you are good i see how much good you want to do here is your chance to do good unabashedly and unpunished" BUT BECAUSE THEY WONT FUCKING TALK TO ONE ANOTHER they end up punishing each other and its gutwrenching because we as the audience can see all these different facets of the characters but theyre so hell bent on protecting each other that they end up driving the other away.

crowly wants to do good. its why he has such strong reactions to being called on it (see crowly and aziraphale in the nunnary) because that "good" (in his view) nature is the most vile part of him. he hates that he's good and even more he hates being recognized for it. because he never got that recognition in heaven. no instead he was kicked out. he was told "this is what is wrong with you" and he internalized it so heavily. and he wants so fucking badly for aziraphale to see his point. but aziraphale sees him. he can see his goodness and that is the worst thing that could happen to crowley because he believes that his ultimate flaw is his goodness

and so, azraphales action in choosing heaven is his version of choosing crowley. because his and crowleys whole relationship is based on azraphale being saved. crowley always sweeping in behind him to help. and so by choosing to go back, to bring crowley with him, he believes this to be payback. this action will show crowley "i see you. i'm doing everything i can to give you what i know you want" because he can see crowley and see what he wants, what he yearns to be. and azraphale thinks that by being chief of heaven, by fixing things, he can finally repay crowley for everything.

azraphale thinks that choosing heaven is choosing crowley, saving him even crowley believe that the only way to truly have azraphale is to leave entirely and in turn, they destroy each other. their love is a direct foil to each others greatest weakness

azraphale and crowley both 100% believe they are correct and that is the most painful part. because they truly think they’re helping the other person. and for crowley truly the ultimate betrayal is to be known. because that is why he fell. he let his true nature get the best of him. inquisitive, kind, knowledge seeking. he loves those things. and the only time he dared to show it he was thrown from the most important thing to him. and so he learns that his nature is evil. that who he is, is an evil being. and that’s part of why he won’t talk to azraphale because he loves his goodness. he sees so much of himself in azraphale. he wants azraphale to have everything he couldn’t have. and so he keeps himself at arms length because Gd forbid he corrupts him. Gd only knows he’d rather die than have azraphale fall to be with him. but he also hates the institution of heaven. and he thinks that maybe. maybe azraphale could love him enough to leave for him. he lets himself be vulnerable (as seen by the glasses taken off) and puts it all out there and azraphale just. he can’t see it. he thinks that what he is doing IS the good thing. he wants so badly to fix it because he wants so badly for crowley to be able to be himself. because azraphale loves who crowley is. his good nature, his love of kids, his kindness. all these parts that crowley hates. and it’s because he loves him that he chooses heaven, and he chooses heaven because he want to love crowley the way he deserves. to be himself. but crowley, he hates himself. and he can’t fathom that someone would do something with him in mind. because he’s awful, he’s disgusting, he’s a demon. but to azraphale, he’s just crowley.

and that’s the worst thing he could ever be

you could go as far as to say that the only thing crowley hates about azraphale is the fact that azraphale loves him. because azraphale clearly does. he clearly wants crowley. and he thinks he’s giving him everything. and in a way, he is. he is giving crowley what he wants. a chance to go back, to be good, to do good with no barriers. and as much as crowley wants it, he will not let himself have it. no he can’t have it because having it is what destroyed him. and i’d argue that part of why crowley left, isn’t just because azraphale chose heaven. it’s because the moment that azraphale chose heaven, picked the option that put crowley needs above his own, he realized that azraphale loved him. he saw how truly the angel saw him and his nature. and that. well that’s the most terrifying thing imaginable.

because that nature destroyed him

and he’ll be damned again before he lets azraphale fall

[casualavocados]

talking about ep6 and how much it means to me is...hard actually. sometimes. because there are so many reasons. reasons that feel silly to me on occassion and reasons that have all been said before but i have to say again because it will never not get to me, how rare it is to see any of this. rare in a bl and rare in entertainment in general tbh.

i can’t believe this show is allowed to have lines like “when there are other people around, talking to you feels like a matter of life and death.” / “what can we do? we’re just born this way.” and have the context not be about homophobia. the way pat and pran get to go out to the market and get groceries together like it’s nothing, be told they look cute together in passing without consequences, experiencing those things they missed out on in high school - which alludes to the way queer ppl irl share many of those domestic moments later in life. the way pran comes downstairs when pat rings his doorbell and hangs back and watches their parents confront is explicitly a metaphor for wanting and being drawn to something you know you should not or cannot have, mixed with the feelings of being something “different” than what your parents want for you.

these moments just hit so hard. they are so small. and yet they mean so much. 

then ofc there’s the huge focus on communication this episode - the way pat hurts and struggles and tries over and over to reach out to pran, slowly learning to meet pran where he is, all along respecting pran’s boundaries enough to not cause a scene himself but also not backing down from his own needs. it’s simply something i dont see often enough in romantic relationships in television. so much that’s portrayed to the world focuses on miscommunication and dishonesty rather than how worth it vulnerability can be. 

something that also stands out to me that started in this ep in particular (that’s why im bringing it up), is the way any sexual implications that arise are never used for jokes that play off the fact that pat and pran are a mlm couple. they’re taken seriously instead. like i’m not sure how to say this right, but the sexual tension feels so real because attention isn’t called to it. it’s just something that happens. and a lot of this also has to do with the fact that neither pat nor pran ever devolve into heteronormative, misogynistic gender roles as well (which i could talk about forever especially in the context of bl but i wont here). there are no onlookers pushing their own agendas onto the main characters ever in this series, not romantically, and not sexually. 

(not even korn in ep9 feels that way to me, because he comes across as a goofball who wants the best for his friend(s), an observer rather than someone trying to push his way into business that isn’t his. also imo he’s speedrunning his bi realization in that ep as well so he gets a pass and a pat on the head). 

and because of all that, to my astonishment, i have never once felt any second hand embarrassment watching pat and pran. whether it's a serious scene like the newspaper game in ep6 or a silly scene like the one in pat’s room in ep7 - everything feels like it’s just for them. not catering to the audience. they’re allowed to be goofy, they’re allowed to be serious, they’re allowed to be visibly attracted to each other - without the show making a big deal out of it. and to me, that makes it a big deal. the fact that it is so normal. and ofc so much meta has been written about the casual physical intimacy in this show - the fact how on the other hand, not every touch between them has sexual undertones. that they can just exist in each other’s space and it be normal.

(and i feel like that’s where a lot of disagreement comes from, from a minority of audience members. i’ve seen takes where people thought pat and pran acted more like friends than lovers once their relationship actually became romantic - and i feel like not only does that point to the twisted societal pressure to differentiate between what classifies as “romantic” and “platonic”, but also the stigma that every act between same sex couples is inherently sexual, and therefore “dirty”. so simply put, the people who have those takes just don’t understand what this series has done.)

because for real, any other bl would have shown the physicality of pat and pran’s affection and interest in each other very differently. 

idk it just really gets to me. it’s spread throughout the rest of the show ofc but i specifically remember watching ep6 for the first time and being so shocked by how subtle the difference i saw in this series was - and also shocked by how much it meant to me to see it.

so yeah, this is just a silly romcom. but also no, it’s so much more than that. and episode 5 might be the ep that began that shift, but episode 6, for me at least, is the one that solidified it. and the rest of the show just continued to do the work to prove that.

[demadogs]

Isn’t too late to make Byler in season 5? There are only 8 episodes left and there’s no time for love stories but to fight Vecna. I hate this but i have to be realistic. Also it’s too late to make bi/gay the audience would be confused af.

i see your point completely. thats why i think if they do go through with byler it’ll be pretty halfassed because they should have started s5 with mlvn already broken up. ive seen some people say maybe el breaks up with him for good in like the first or second episode but at that point why didnt they just do it this season? why have the “i love you” scene at all if it genuinely isnt true?

defeating vecna for good, and breaking up mlvn, AND getting byler together is a lot all for the last season. and obviously i love byler so i’ll take whatever i can get but i do think its beyond dumb to not reveal mikes queer until the very last season after having him with el the entire show. it makes everything with el feel so pointless. honestly because of that i think it might make more sense for him to be bi now instead of gay but all the evidence has been way more gay coded than bi.

the thing is the duffers are still plotting all the evidence of it being requited in the form of subtext and we are beyond past the point of subtext!! we need to actually be directly told or shown mikes feelings!! it was fun in s3 and even in volume 1, but now they really gotta directly let us know where theyre going with this because theres not a lot of time left.

this was the season that should have revealed mikes sexuality. they put all their focus on will, a character thats already been pretty clearly queercoded from the beginning. mike was the one they really needed to show more of and i thought they were doing a good job of it in volume one!! with the fight over not being able to say he loves her and then what will said to him about it being scary opening up to people. i thought they were getting there but that monologue just fucking threw the whole thing away? like yeah maybe it didnt look genuine and theyll break up later but it would have been so much better for el to just break up with him this season and then leave byler ambiguous.

that being said, i do still think it’ll happen just because literally nothing makes sense if mike doesnt like him back:

why didnt he let el touch him when they were making out in s3? why did he tell will “its not my fault you dont like girls”?why did they frame him in a closet in s3 when el kissed him? why didnt he hug him at the airport? why did he emphasize “we’re friends!!” so much at the rink? why could he never tell el he love her and have such an important emotional scene of el calling him out on it if he actually does love her? why was mike nice and sweet to will as soon as el was no longer with them? why was he so “psyched out” (finns words) by will telling him its scary to open up to people because what if they dont like the truth? why did mike look so happy when he first opened the painting but when will said it was commissioned from el he drops the smile? why did will have to push him to continue his monologue which is what led him to saying he loved her? WHY DID HE STARE AT HIS LIPS SO OFTEN!!!??

the monologue ruined the pacing of byler completely and now youre right, it does seem like its too late, but i still think its gonna happen because nothing i just listed off was an accident.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i’m not in this fandom like that so I didn’t know rick previously said he wasn’t going to write anymore. but is it you feel like he’s milking it? maybe it’s bc i’m more in anime/manga fandoms, but for example it’s common for mangaka to write light novels to accompany their story to add details to characters backgrounds or answer questions that aren’t in the manga, but I would never the concept of it bad writing or disrespectful….isn’t it just expanding the story? maybe I’m just not getting your point. i agree the audience shouldn’t be spoon fed, but nico still having nightmares & hearing voices & planning on going to tartarus seems too big of a plot point to be ignored. & chalice of the gods - that I agree with the spoon feeding, but it’s just simple fanservice, maybe rick missed writing those characters or maybe it’s money idk but I feel like a lot of the fandom looks forward to reading more about Percy, i dont think majority feel disrespected by it. (please also i’m not trying to berate you for not liking tsats and chalice im just curious!)

My problem isn’t that it feels like Rick is milking the series - though he absolutely is. He explicitly stated on his blog that Disney asked him to publish Chalice of the Gods as Percy promotion for the Disney+ show adaptation - but the fact that the way it’s being gone about feels cheap.

I get what you mean by comparing manga, but manga is ultimately a different media form. Manga and comics in general tend to lean more expositional by nature because that’s what’s required of the medium. This also means there’s a lot more room for those kinds of extra content series because the medium inherently provides space for them. That can also be a thing in novels as well - I was in Warrior Cats fandom. Warriors has tons of extra content books and novellas (and manga!). I read Animorphs, which also has lots of extra content books (and 52 books in the main series). I am very familiar with series that have a lot of books and bonus content and etc. But the thing with those extra content books is a.) it’s really easy for them to be bad in the exact same way i was mentioning, where details feel forcibly spoon-fed to you, and b.) they need to provide something new, otherwise they just feel like cheap additions that you’re better off skipping over, and if you do skip them you don’t loose anything. And this is 100% true for manga too! It’s a really common problem!

The point is these books don’t expand the story. We aren’t learning anything new that we wouldn’t be able to extrapolate anyways, and it is okay that we don’t know everything happening in the series. We don’t need to know the Exact Specifics of how Nico and Will got together, or how Percy did his college applications. And this has been true in the series before! We don’t know what happened on Clarisse’s quest in TTC. We don’t know what happened to Reyna and Hylla between Circe’s Island and Camp Jupiter, or even how they got to Circe’s Island in the first place. We still don’t know what happened in Albania. And all of that is fine. Nothing is lost as a result of us not knowing those answers. Heck, actually a great example - in TLO, Nico tells Percy he’s been exploring California looking for leads on his family. We’re told he has a new lead, and then he never brings it up again. We as the audience can presume this was relating to Hazel, but the important part is: We are never told what exactly Nico was doing. We know he was doing some very important personal stuff in California, and that’s it. Even if we presume it was relating to Hazel, there’s still huge gaps in that we don’t know about, like how Nico brought Hazel to Camp Jupiter, how Nico found out about Camp Jupiter in the first place, or how he discovered the Doors of Death were open at all. We know none of that. And that’s a good thing! Because we don’t need to! It’s completely irrelevant and adds nothing more to the story! We know everything we need to know about that and that’s it.

That’s how the end of TOA should have been. Yes, we get a cliffhanger that Nico has some personal destiny stuff, but we’re also explicitly not told the prophecy. That should have been the end of it, and it was SUPPOSED to be the end of it! We’re not gaining anything new by having Nico go to Tartarus again - we’ve seen a popular ship go to Tartarus already (Percy and Annabeth). We know what’s down there. We know what Nico experienced down there. We already know everything we need to know. There’s no point to this. Especially since there’s so many elements of the already established canon that emphasize that the alleged goal of their quest is pointless to begin with. We know what’s going to happen already. We can extrapolate. We don’t need a whole book or 3-book series to explain it to us - that’s the part that’s disrespectful to the audience. It’s saying that You Need To Be Told Exactly What Happens Because We Do Not Trust You To Be Able To Figure It Out On Your Own.

 You brought up a great word, actually - It feels like fan-service. And that’s a bad thing. Fan-service is not a good thing - it is almost always bad writing with no heart in it, just spoon-feeding the audience, and it’s disrespectful to the readers. TSATS just feels like solangelo fan-service by trying to make it Percabeth 2 and dancing Will and Nico around in front of the audience a bit more. We aren’t gaining anything new, and there’s no reason to bother with TSATS when you can get the exact same thing or more from fanworks. At best, TSATS could have maybe worked as a short story like Sword of Hades, or we could have gotten a Will short story like how The Stolen Chariot gave us more depth on Clarisse. But as it stands currently, it’s just cheap. It just feels like excuses for Rick to explicitly canonize random things because he doesn’t trust us to figure it out as being coded (this teeters dangerously on the JK Rowling approach), or shoehorn in myths he hasn’t used yet, which he was already doing in TOA and that turned out racist at worst and a mess at best.

There are absolutely extra content novellas I would love to see. Everybody’s been asking for a roman series for ages. A Reyna-POV 3 book Roman series would work perfectly and actually provide something for the collective series, because it’d actually give us some reasons to care about the Roman camp and maybe Jason’s backstory and further flesh him out as a character. I mentioned Clarisse’s quest from TTC earlier - do we lose anything by not knowing what happened on her quest? No. But she’s a major side character who’s been around since book one that we know very little about, and if we need more first-series content to promote the show adaptation, that feels like a great avenue, because we can use it to explore things that we don’t know much about! Like rogue demigods and the Titan Army (with Chris), the Ares cabin (quest members), or Clarisse herself and her backstory and fleshing her out more as a character and her relationships with other beloved first-series characters like Silena and Beckendorf. We can’t get that with Will because he only joined camp right before the Battle for Manhattan (and anything saying otherwise would be an outright retcon, which is even more annoying) and nearly his entire cabin immediately died. Everything we saw in TOA is basically all we’d be able to get from Will. And we already got it - we know where he’s from, when he came to camp, who his mom is, and his relationship with both his parents and his siblings and other campers. We saw who he as a character is in TOA. Yeah, it wasn’t much, but he’s only been around since TLO and barely existed in HoO - he’s a minor character, that’s expected. But all we’re gonna get is more of the same.

Tl;dr: My problem isn’t that it feels like beating a dead horse, my problem with TSATS and Chalice of the Gods is that they feel like cheap and pointless plot lines that are inherently insulting to the audience by refusing to allow any interpretation of the intentional free space left by the narrative and at best is a blatant shoehorning-in of more myths and canonizing random things that don’t add any actual merit to the story, they’re just there to be included.

[maschotch]

please never apologize for geekin’ about these nerds! i adore the geekiness!

you’re absolutely right— paget’s acting choices are so particular and yet pass by in a moment that the pacing of the story would have to be snail-like and measured to account for it. and that works for some stories, but not for most. it’s certainly tough and i don’t envy you for having to make that call.

i do think it’s fascinating to see the impact religion has on emily despite her, clearly, not being devout. no one on the team, save for derek and (maybe, early) jj could be classified as such and yet! emily harbors such an immense level of guilt and burden that i’m genuinely surprised we didn’t get more confessions from her. especially through the boston-doyle story line. nevertheless, i found that to be perfectly evocative 👏🏻 well done 👏🏻

and i agree, i think that hotch is another case of an actor making such particular choices about the emotional expressions of his character and it gives such good texture to the dynamics of the show and team! i just made myself a little sad thinking about how a story that delved into all of those characters’ observations of hotch’s level of care could be told… because those stories they’d tell about how they found out the depth of his care would need an audience… 😖 what if, after haley dies, much after the funeral, she visits them all. she’s worried that hotch won’t be emotionally open with jack and she just wants to make sure his friends know. and so, she comes to them in their dreams and she asks, and so they tell her their stories. and when they see the hotchner boys at the bau the next day for a half day with hotch and jack says ‘i saw mommy last night and she told me to tell you all thank you! everything’s going to be okay’ and runs off back to dad’s office, they all look at each other like— wait. did we all have the same dream? (fade to black)

anyway, clearly you are in kind company. feel free to write essays (after exams (that you’ll absolutely succeed on)) of course 💛

- 🦢

i don’t typically acknowledge actors specifically (celebrity culture is weird enough already and i don’t really wanna partake), and i’m extra hesitant with pg/tg specifically… akjsdhlgk i dont wanna be mean but i’ve seen them in some other stuff and they are… not the best actors (even though i’m still obsessed with love and human remains, and pg does AMAZING as sadie doyle). but when they play these two roles specifically… idk something just clicks. i don’t think the characters would be the same—i don’t think the characters would be half as good—with anyone else. emily just has an incredibly lively energy that also feels meticulous, like a carefully crafted persona. authentic but tailored. meanwhile hotch’s entire personality is conveyed through microexpressions that sometimes i think i just hallucinate. he’s sooo reserved but there’s still so much emotion?? idk how he does it 

i love and respect emily and doyle because she only takes everything sexy about christianity (or whatever fucking religion they talk about): insurmountable guilt, sick aesthetics, and demons. derek can go cry about god if he wants idc i just like the guilt aspect.. constantly needing to prove that there’s worth in her existence. she’s kind of like hotch that way, but emily’s is more about repentance and hotch is more about freddie mercury vibe wishing he’d never been born at all which is soooo sexy of him  

that’s definitely a cool story idea! i also like the idea of haley haunting the other bau members? they feel guilty for taking hotch away, wondering if maybe none of this would’ve happened if they just let him leave like she wanted. 

[foxpunk]

hmmm okay i have to say i both agree and disagree with this post about the writer for dawntrail and the werlyt questline

like, i agree with the assessment of the original post that "ew that writer redeemed gaius" is simply untrue and not necessarily a basis for saying he'd handle dawntrail with the mindset of "colonizer sympathizing" or anything

....however i will say that OTHER stuff in the werlyt questline aside from gaius himself indicate that dawntrail--an expansion that i am ALREADY LOOKING AT WITH TREPIDATION AS A LATINO--is just...not gonna be handled well. (there's also PLENTY in the other expacs and questlines that make me feel this way but thats about different writers and is for a different post)

just to give one example, the main gripe i have about the werlyt questline is the premise itself. the story and character beats are 99% fantastic. the premise of "orphaned children get indoctrinated into joining the invading army" is a realistic and grim premise that would have served as an EXTREMELY solid foundation for the entirety of the questline to rest upon and examine. it would have fully backed up everything the post is saying...IF we were, yknow, ever actually Shown the indoctrination part. "why do you want to See that happening" some may ask and i counter with "i dont but thats how making a story is. showing has more weight than telling."

here are some things we are Told by characters in the werlyt questline: gaius adopted these kids, and his beliefs (at the time) got instilled in them, a few scenes of them in the army interacting mostly neutrally with gaius as their superior officer

here are some things we are Shown actually happening: a flashback of the kids gleefully discussing joining the army that--VERY RECENTLY, violently, and traumatically--orphaned them because it Might make gaius proud, gaius telling them to Not do that and trying to actively stop them from doing that, a ton of horrible abuse they all go through under someone else's command, and all of them dying anyways

can you see the issue here. showing does more than telling. when your premise is, allegedly, built on "orphaned children get indoctrinated into joining the invading army" proper time and weight needs to be put into establishing the indoctrination bit, or that weight has to settle into the rest of it which only leaves you with "orphaned children (gLEEFULLY?!) join the invading army" which is batshit insane without further context. regardless of what you Wanted to set up and what your Intentions for the story were, you're left with the horribly paced complete disconnect between being Told these kids were violently orphaned by an expanding imperial force and then Shown them sitting around smiling wanting to join said imperial force. and when another major point is supposed to be "gaius is reaping what he sowed" and you rush through and don't actually SHOW him sowing, then the reaping part is gonna seem more skewed on average to your audience. because the amount of weight you are putting into these narrative points is skewed.

even if they were working with constraints for how much content you can put into one side questline and what major beats needed to be in there, it's still horrible choice of focus. dark as it may be, rather than being Shown the scene of them happily discussing joining the army and Told that gaius and some other horrible shit were a factor in that decision, i would've rather just been Told that they gladly joined of their own "free will" and Shown why that is. actually Show us a scene where gaius probably doesnt even consider what he's doing as indoctrination. after all, at the time he believed he was fully in the right. that he was saving and protecting the people he was invading.

show is the sowing so the reaping hits harder. cause like. if you had literally just changed that one aspect of Where they chose to show and tell it would've really elevated the werlyt questline from "has good story beats and Potential to be good" to "has well done story and character beats and is actually good"

[beantothemax]

“If I died when my mother did, would anything have changed?”

“Probably not. Your brother is another candidate. You’re just more convenient.”

“…Convenient. Is that what people think of me? Just a convenient person to be around? To use?”

“Oh definitely. I mean look at yourself. You certainly look the part.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hikari, you’re a people pleaser for as long as I knew you. Your father was distant from you, Mugen hates you, and your mother is gone. I would include friends but that seems to be fluctuating on a daily basis. You want people to see you and appreciate you. You don’t help people for the sake of helping them, you help them so you can feel better about yourself and so that they can look at you. Anything for the people is just a lie you made up so that you can justify all of this.”

“What about now? I lied low just like you told me to, and here I am tangled up with all of this, helping people without even trying. What should I call that?”

“Circumstance. You were there at the time so they asked for your help and since you have a bleeding heart, you help them. It escalates and now you’re here.”

“…Maybe I am doing this all for a selfish need to be seen. But at least I’m doing something. If I can help people even for a little bit then the world gets a bit better.”

“Hah. It’s a wonder your the Harbinger of the End. With all the optimism you have for the world, no one would really notice that you could end it in an instant.”

“Stop that.”

“I’m just saying the truth.”

“…I don’t want the world to end Kazan. It’s bad right now but we don’t know if it can get better or worse. And I like to think it can get better. Most people are just that. People. Everyone is trying to get by and I like to think that it’s the small kindness that they do that helps it get better.”

“Doesn’t do much against everything else though.”

“That’s a fault of the system, not of themselves. People are flawed. They’ll always be flawed. We just hope they make the right choices and are kind. We try to be kind to each other and try our best. Because what else are we supposed to do?”

“…Wow. I try to get you to kill me so that the world would end and you still believe things can get better?”

“What else am I supposed to do? I can’t die because, as you said, my brother is always an option. I can’t let the world end because my friends are all in it. And I can’t just hide after my brother is taken care of because what kind of existence is that?”

“All good points. You truly are in a harrowing position.”

“You know, when I decided to talk to you, I thought that you would try to turn me to nihilism. Surprised you haven’t done that yet.”

“No use in preaching to an audience that doesn’t listen. You clearly have your own path you want to follow, so. That leads to the big question. What are you going to do about this?”

“…I don’t know. I don’t know how to stop you and the people you work for but I won’t stop fighting for the Dawn. Does that answer satisfy you?”

“I suppose. Honestly I am just waiting for what will happen. If the world ends then I’m proven right. If it doesn’t then I’m proven wrong and, well. I’ll admit, that option sounds much more interesting than the first.”

KIWI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KIWI IM SHAKING YOU FRANTICALLY HOW DO YOU DO THIS EVERY TIME

HIKARI. HIKARI JUST TALKING ABIUT HOW YEAH THE WORLD’S NOT THE BEST VUT WE DONT KNOW IF ITLL GET BETTER OR WORSE UNTIL WE SEE IT……… GAAAAAAAAAAH I KNOW ITS THE SAME MESSAGE BUT IN THIS NEW CONTEXT ITS JUST… EXPERIENCING TOO MANY EMOTIONS

@throne-anguis

[mxtantrights]

The magic-spy and the bird

the best friends brother trope is in my top 5 tropes. but I've also got a thing for angst. So here we areeeee. enjoy! <3

dick Grayson x f!reader

Jason Todd had asked you specifically to ask his brother out. And he did use the word brother, which you made a point to bring up. He shot it down but still decided to push his message towards you. You should ask Dick out. It wasn’t that simple.

“Jay I don’t think you’ve thought this through.” you said.

He chuckled, “Of course I did. I wouldn’t say it out loud if it wasn’t a well-cooked plan.” 

You made a face at him.

“Okay look, all I'm saying is you’ve got nothing to lose. If anything you're way out of his league.” he said and then gulped down the rest of his beer.

You didn’t like beer and so you worked on a Pina colada. You had done the whole beer thing for years now. As a trained spy it was your go-to for missions at bars. Safe to say you were sick of ales, craft beers and everything in between.

“Ah yes, the magic using spy.” you nodded your head.

Jason nodded along with you. 

“Exactly. Bird brains would eat that up.” he said.

“And when would I tell him that I knew about his secret identity? Before I tell him about mine or after?” you asked. 

Jason sighed and raised his hand for another beer. You rolled your eyes at this. Once he had a thought it was very hard for him to let it go. Especially when it included a thought about people he cared for- no matter how much he claimed the opposite. 

“All Im saying is, you never know until you try.” 

“What are you a fortune cookie?” 

“Fuck off. I’m being serious and I do give great advice you can ask Duke.” 

2 DAYS LATER 

You look at Caliban with bated breath. He had just gotten info on a magic-based rebellion. Work was tight when you rolled with the good guys for too long of a time. You blame that on two men on your life, Jason and Constantine. 

“I’ll put in a good word for you.” he says.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. And any-”

Before you can finish telling Caliban that he can call in a favor from you at anytime your surroundings change. In a flash you go from one of the underworld crime bars to a room you’ve never been in before.

You look around and sure enough you see the culprit. Constantine.

“There she is!” he smiles.

Not only did he summon you, he did so in front of an audience. Circled around him is Gotham’s crime fighting family. All of them except Jason, Cass and Duke. All of which know about your secret identity and would’ve stopped Constantine from summoning you. The rest of the family are all looking at you liked you’ve grown a second head.

You look down at what you’re wearing. The long sleeve off the shoulder skin tight black dress was the perfect choice for the club you were supposed to be in. Maybe not so much for a meeting with the Bats and his birds.

You look right ahead at Constantine, “I don’t like being summoned.” 

“Ah, but you’re the best person I know for this job. I had to get you over here.” he says.

You take a quick look at all the other people in the room. Then at the screen behind them. Your information is plastered on it. Well, the information that you’ve decided to let the government think was yours. Your codename was at the top of the screen.

“Constantine says that you’re the best way into the underworld.” Batman says.

You’re confused to say the least. Constantine was Constantine, why would he call you in order to get them into the underworld when he can do it himself? It defeats the purpose of having to call him.

“I’m sorry,” you direct to Batman and then look at your friend, “I need you to state specifically what I’m needed for.” 

Constantine moved from the family over to you. As he did you watched as Nightwing followed him with his own eyes. Now Dick knows you’re not just Jason’s friend from around Gotham. Great.

“Bats got intel that something it going down with this magic group, the-” he starts. “hex mutiny.” you finish.

“You already know about them?” Nightwing says.

“I was just getting someone to put in a good word for me with them before you summoned me here. You’ve got great timing you know that?” you say to Constantine.

He smiles, “Well then it seems like you can be of great service, spygames.”

“And what exactly would I be doing, if I can even get a spot with them?” you throw out the question to the family.

Red Robin crosses his arms, “We need someone on the inside to tell us what they are planning for Gotham.”

“I doubt they’d let a newbie in on their plans.”

“Good thing you won’t be a newbie.” Batman says.

Constantine conjures an amulet in his hand. You want to hit him over the head. He could really be a pain in the ass. You grab it from him.

“With this, you’ll be in the perfect position to get in and get out. Easy.” he says.

You shake your head, “Every time you say that I get a new scar.” 

“I promise sweetheart. No scars this time.” 

“Yeah yeah, you owe me for this.”

EXACTLY ONE WEEK LATER

You knew you would end up wounded. Typically with Constantine it was nothing deadly, or nothing your own magic couldn’t fix. But you knew that your luck had to run out some day. And it wasn't his fault.

After finding out what the group was really up to you couldn’t just let them operate. They weren’t really rebels. No they used that name to paint a narrative. They were fascists.

You held the wound to your waist to stop the bleeding. This would have to be the farthest you could go. There was no way you could run out of this. Not with the blood seeping through the cracks of your fingers.

At least you brunt the members down to the ash. It took a lot out of you. And that’s why you weren’t prepared for a hit that tore right through you. 

“Why aren’t you moving?” Jason, or Redhood, said through the comms.

You leaned against the hallway wall.

At least you’d die someplace pretty. When you first came in you didn't notice how clean and meticulous everything was. There were painting of famous magicians on the walls. Along with some stolen art, a Van Gogh or two. 

You ripped the amulet off your neck and felt the illusion fade. The necklace fell to the floor and you let out a pained breath.

“I think,” you coughed and on the clean wall was not splatters of blood, “this is it.”

You could hear Jason shouting on the other end. He was calling out your name, calling out for Constantine to come and help you. Duke was calling for you too. And you could’ve sworn you heard Cass say your name once. 

With your only free hand you tried to open a portal out of the base. You knew it would be useless as you had a mortal wound and portal magic works best under no stress and panic, or blood loss. The usual light from your hands glowed faintly until it didn’t.

“Constantine can’t summon you?” Dick asked.

At that you let your body drag down the wall until you reached the floor. When you did sit down more blood came out. So you decided to lay down horizontally. 

“Hey hey- I told you I wasn’t gonna let anything happen to you.” you hear Constantine through the comms.

You want to laugh, but it ends out more of a chocked gargle.

“I screwed up the mission. I deserve it.” you said.

“You did good. Better than any of us.” Batman said.

“Constantine you need to call in whatever favors you have to get her out of there. Now!” Jason shouted.

“Dont,” you started.

“No. We’re getting you out of there-”

“Jason, I’m not a saint. I never would’ve imagined going out like this.” you said.

Once you were born you were thrusted in this world. All you knew was to use magic as a weapon. To get ahead, to get power, to get the glory. And that lasted you until you turned 19. 

Then Constantine crossed paths with you. He was the one to show you that magic has other uses. Such as helping and healing. You learned the best stuff from him.  And you took what you learned and began to help in ways you could.

You didn’t go on the straight and narrow. Never did you consider yourself a morally correct person. Sometimes the lines were blurred, or they need to be blurred. And so you took down seedy organizations, went on recon missions all over the world.

It wasn’t justice. But it was close enough that you could sleep at night or the odd hours of the morning for more than four hours.

“Sweetheart I don’t break my promises.” Constantine said finally.

You were just beginning to feel your eyes grow heavy. The pain was starting to be comfortably numb. Then above you appeared someone you weren’t expecting in the slightest. 

“Caliban?” you asked.

“You owe me double.”

4 DAYS LATER

When you woke up you felt battered and weak You weren’t used to these feelings and you weren’t used to being so close to death. Everyday was a new experience when you’re the Priestess of Espionage.

You cracked open one eye to find a couple of deviants at your side. Jason, Duke and Cass. The youngest took the chair next to you while Duke and Jason seemed to take the floor. Since they weren’t in their gear you guessed that you were out for longer than a couple of hours.

“Not my version of hell but I’ll allow it.” you say in a raspy voice.

It wakes everyone up.

Jason and Duke bolt to your bedside.

“Why’d you almost die on me?” and “Are you feeling okay?” come from them both, respectively. It makes you want to laugh but when you feel the ache in your waist you stop yourself.

“I’m alive, so there’s that. Positives.” you answer.

Jason shoots his younger siblings a look and they scurry out the room. You try to sit up to ask what it was for but he puts his hands up for you to stop any movement. So you lay back down.

“He would kill me if you tore your stitches.” 

You shut your eyes, “Jason I don’t think Constantine would kill you per say.”

You hear the door opening so you decide to open your eyes. And sure enough you see Jason leaving the room and someone coming in. Dick Grayson, out of his suit as well. 

As much as you wanted to, you couldn’t read his face. Besides the clear betrayal that was there. He definitely knew that you knew he’s Nightwing.

“Hi.” you say.

His face softens, “Hi.”

“I just want to say that I would’ve told you about who I am. Sooner that you think actually but this mission kinda derailed all of that.” you say.

With his arm crossed over his chest he nods, “How long did you know I was Nightwing?”

You wince.

“For about two years now. Once Jason told me he was Red it was hard to not notice the similarities of the Wayne family and the Bat one.” 

He laughs at that and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. It must be going good if he wants to laugh. 

“And when did he tell you that I like you?” he asks.

“He didn’t explicitly say that.” 

There’s a beat of silence. You’re looking at him and he’s looking at you. But he’s the one who seems to be holding his breath this time. You try to hide the smirk you feel forming on your lips.

“What?” he asks.

“Jason had told me that I should ask you out. He didn’t say anything about you liking me.” you answer him.

The red tint that covered Dick Grayson was absolutely adorable.

He nods his head to himself. Twice.

“I- I’m gonna get Jason for you.” he moved to the door.  And you don’t really know what to say. All your words get jumbled in your brain and you can’t put them together in a way that is smooth enough so you deicide to just try your best.

“If you were to ask me out, I would say yes.” you say.

He looks directly at you. Then his signature smirk appears.

“I’ll bring back some food for later.” he says.

“it’s a date.” you answer.