#which i watched in one day and then rewatched. and everyone else did too. and it wasn’t even considered bingeing

[livvyofthelake]

actually i think watching merlin with tee has kept me relatively sane (RELATIVELY. RELATIVELY) in the sense that i won’t watch too many episodes in a row because i need to wait for them to catch up <3

[cstads-blog]

10 ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ ɪ ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ | ʟᴇᴡɪꜱ ʜᴀᴍɪʟᴛᴏɴ 44

masterlist

summary: in which you and lewis broke up, and things that you once loved are now things you hate

a/n: this is my first fic so be nice plz, but leave some thoughts. ummm and i also have rewatched 10 things i hate about you like 285903925 this week so thats where i got this idea from the poem. and i love lewis, but i lowkey felt he was perfect for this sort of thing

————————————

i hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair

lewis always had a soft voice. he never once yelled at you, always calm and cordial. even when you would fight, he would never raise his voice. it angered you. it was strange. you wanted him to yell at you. just to experience it. no one ever wanted their partner to yell at them, and they were jealous of you and lewis in this aspect of your relationship.

when you asked lewis why he never yelled at you, his answer was simple. he loved you. you don’t yell at people you love he would say. and then he would kiss you. the soft kiss he always placed on your lips when it was just the two of you. it was calming, comforting and it made you forget the battle you were having inside of yourself.

-

lewis had had his fair share of different hairstyles over the time you had known him and been together. some you favored more then others. he’d had a buzz, natural, braids. you loved when he left it natural, playing with the curls in between your fingers. which is why when he came home one day with braids you were a bit upset. its not that you didn’t like the braids, he looked amazing as usual, but you much preferred his natural curls.

as you laid in your bed beside him you started rubbing your hand up and down his neck, feeling the braids hit your hand whenever you moved up his neck. they were soft. you played with the ends of them, twirling them around your finger. lewis loved it. he loved when you touched his hair, it comforted him. he never wanted to lose moments like these.

i hate the way you drive my car, i hate it when you stare

lewis’s job was to drive cars, and to drive them fast. he’d been doing it practically his whole life. so naturally he was a bit reckless driving a normal car, on a normal road, surrounded by normal people. one night when you took your car out to dinner he was pushing the limits. trying to see how far he could go without breaking the law. it scared you. not for your safety or his, but for your car. your car was the first purchase you made of your own, with your own money. it was yours, you rarely let others drive it, but lewis was an exception.

“lewis you’re going to hurt the car” he would often hear you say when he was driving.

“don’t worry darling, its going to be fine. trust me” and you trusted him. you did. you knew he would never hurt your car. or you.

-

lewis had a habit of watching your every move. it wasn’t strange or weird to you, you loved it. lewis had that affect on you. every small action was one that you loved. everyone around always saw it too. when you would come to races and were in the garage talking to friends and family, he would watch you. how you interacted with people you were close with and even those you weren’t. that was another thing he loved about you. how you could get on with anyone. it didn’t matter if you knew them for fifteen years or fifteen minutes.

as he watched you, the smile on his face grew, only snapping out of his daze when someone came up behind him, touching his shoulder and pulling him away for a meeting.

i hate your big dumb combat boots, and the way you read my mind

lewis had impeccable fashion taste. his outfits never failed to impress you and everyone else. except once, when he came out of the closet with a pair of of combat boots. you couldn’t help but laugh at his choice of footwear, expecting him to chose something more expensive and high end. but no, lewis was wearing combat boots.

seeing your reaction to his shoes made him smile as well and even though he was feeling content with his outfit, he went and changed into something different. he never got rid of the combat boots though. they sat in his closet and you never let him forget about it.

-

lewis had an incredible talent of reading your mind. he always knew what you wanted or needed without even having to say it. you often wondered how he did it. it took you at least five tries to even remember what his order was at the restaurant but he knew what you wanted before you did. part of you was angry with his little trick, but the other part loved that he knew so much about you and he could remember even the little things.

i hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme

you didn’t deal with anger or stress well. you often got sick when you were feeling either emotion. while lewis was practically the definition of a perfect boyfriend, he could still bring these two emotions out of you. when you would feel stressed with lewis’ actions he would often forget the petty argument or trivial thing he did and run immediately to you, to help you, to calm you down. it showed you just how willing he was to help you when you needed him the most.

i hate the way you’re always right, i hate it when you lie

lewis was never wrong. ever. no matter how many times you tried to prove him wrong, you couldn’t. he knew so many things about so many people and places, it was often hard to find a topic he wasn’t fluent in. when you would play trivia games out of boredom in your living room he would always get every question right, while you struggled to even come up with an answer.

-

lewis rarely ever lied to you, but when he did you couldn’t stand it. you’d been in unfaithful relationships in the past. lewis knew this, which was why he rarely lied. his only lies ever came after drunken nights out with his friends and he’d forgotten certain details, but small things like that made you nervous, not wanting to escalate to anything else.

i hate it when you make me laugh, even more when you make me cry

lewis was a very funny person. he made you laugh even without trying. that was what initially attracted you to him. he could make you laugh when you were happy, upset, scared, angry. he made you laugh about simple things he did. he often wasn’t trying to make you laugh, but seeing the smile grow on your face was enough to make him keep trying.

all he wanted was time see you smile, to see you happy.

-

you never cried tears of sadness around lewis, only happiness. they usually came when he did something great in racing or when you graduated university. you often cried when you saw lewis up on the podium, seeing the smile on his face, making you think about all of the hard work he had put into getting there. you would always admire him for that. his hard work, his dedication.

i hate it when you’re not around, and the fact you didn’t call

lewis was often away for work so you spent quite a bit of time alone. yes, you had his dog roscoe to keep you company but it wasn’t quite the same. the house was loud with silence, every small action making a seemingly larger noise then usual. it annoyed you. you missed lewis and you just wanted to be in his arms, with him, in whatever country he was in this weekend. but it wasn’t that easy. you had to work as well, you couldn’t just drop everything to go travel the world with him, even if you would like to.

-

lewis couldn’t always call you when he was away. with his busy schedule and a time difference, usually a quick text every few hours would have to suffice. you hated not hearing his voice for days. you just wanted to hear his soft voice, like a melody in your ears. he left you voice mails when he did call, but you couldn’t answer. you listened to them on repeat, trying to soak up his voice, capture it in your head until you could see him again. it would be sweeter to hear in person then over the phone so you had to wait.

and that’s what you kept telling yourself. it would be sweeter in person. thats how you dealt with the distance. you just waited for the time he was back in your arms.

but mostly i hate the way i don’t hate you, not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all

and that is how you end up here. standing in the corner of the crowded party you had gotten invited to by one of the other drivers you still kept in contact with after the split from lewis. you weren’t trying to be a downer, but seeing lewis again after so long had all of the memories flooding back, all of the thoughts and hopes and dreams you had together. he looked so happy. having fun and drinking with his friends. you remembered the times when you were right next to him at an event just like this. wrapped in his arms, the comfort they brought you. but then the bad came back, the end. you hated lewis, at least that’s what you told people. but you knew it wasn’t true. you had known it all along, just in denial you never admitted that fact.

but here, standing in the corner of this crowded room, is when you could finally admit it. you didn’t hate lewis hamilton, not even close. not even a little bit, not even at all.

[retrieve-the-kraken]

So after taking some time to clear my head, and letting the wave of relief and closure wash over me, and feeling like someone literally unclogged my brain, I rewatched season 3 of Young Royals, but only finished just the night before I was going away for Easter weekend, so I didn’t have time to write anything.

But now I can finally say this: I liked it much better the second time.

And it wasn’t just the trepidation and anxiety that i had for finding out what happened in the end that kept me from completely enjoying it the first time. It was also that annoying week-long gap that we had to endure before watching the finale.

(I get that they did it for promotional purposes, and it was a lovely thing to be able to have that event for the final chapter, which obviously could only be one chapter, imagine having everyone there for the entire season, everyone watching for nearly six hours… no good.)

That gap, I feel, made it feel like we just landed randomly on an episode that was meant to tie up all the storylines. And of course it is, and of course it still feels that way in regards to some storylines, but wow, what a difference it makes to watch the whole thing as a whole, the way I’ve enjoyed the previous seasons.

I definitely could process it much better the second time around, watching calmly and carefully, and once I jumped straight from episode 5 into episode 6, it definitely felt more cohesive. It felt like it followed the same pattern as the previous seasons, the conflict at the end of episode 5 is very similar in every season, and it felt right.

And the final episode of each season seems to follow a very similar pattern too, except that it shifts a little each time as Wille gains autonomy. In Season 1, the climax was that Wille had to do what the crown said, on the crown’s terms (deny the video, keep August’s betrayal secret, lose Simon), because he didn’t know what else to do, he didn’t have a choice, sad ending. In season 2, he has to do what the crown says (do the speech, play the part of the Crown Prince), BUT he’s doing it on his own terms (telling the truth about the video, being with Simon, even if it means keeping August’s secret), he has somewhat of a choice, bittersweet ending. In season 3… well, it looks like he’s doing what the crown says still… and then he finally realizes that he does have a choice. Sad ending? Nej! He finally gets his happy ending. He has come to terms that the can have a choice.

The second time around, just when we thought we were getting yet another sad ending or bittersweet ending like the previous seasons, it shifted. Plot twist, he’s getting out of the car. Of course there is a lot up in the air (was your first thought also literally “but Wille, you left your bag in the car! You don’t have a toothbrush! You don’t have a phone charger! You don’t have clean underwear!” or are you normal? I am not normal, I have anxiety about things like that), there are many things that will still need to be resolved after the credits roll, but… it felt right.

And of course there are things that got tied up and still felt a bit quick, and things that felt annoyingly left up in the air, but that was precisely what happened each season, things that felt like maybe would get properly addressed the next season, but that’s not how life works. Not everything gets resolved. And it feels a little sadder or more bitter because we’re not getting another season.

But we are. It’s playing in our heads right now. People are writing fanfiction about it. And I can’t wait to absorb it all.

I’m definitely watching the whole season again, and doing a play-by-play analysis like I did for season 2, because I love hyperanalyzing every detail of this show.

Can I just preliminarily warn that I will be gushing about Edvin and Omar, and Nikita and Frida and Malte, so so much? Because the second time watching season 3, I was in awe, true awe, of how good they have all gotten. I mean, they’ve all been incredible from day one, but I feel like there were nuances to their characters this season that highlighted so much how incredible they all are. Particularly my babies, Edvin and Omar, deserve all the awards. Can’t wait to see everything they do.

I will miss them with all my soul. But I don’t have to let go of them yet.

[scimitar-and-longsword]

I love your headcanons. What's your favorite one about Nicky ? And/or your favorite character trait of him?

Oh my goodness, thank you!

Nicky Nicky Nicky 💕💕💕

My FAVORITE??? That's a tall order cause there are so many things I love about him. Luca did such a stellar job of taking this character who doesn't have as much screentime as some of the other characters and bringing him to life in the most subtle ways. (I have an entire meta about subtle face acting from him and Marwan lol which side note, is flagged for sexual content, and I was sitting here reading it like "what why?? This is just about facial expressions?" And then I got halfway through and went "oop- that'll do it 😅")

I wrote a meta about this back in the old days, but I think about it every time I rewatch the movie so I'm saying it again: I love that Nicky is fiercely physical with his love.

We certainly get to see Joe be more vocal about is love, (and it's a violent movie they all are physical lol) but every bit of Nicky's physicality and fight chreo is about protecting people.

He is constantly protecting those around him with his body (and to be fair, they all do this at some point. Perks of being immortal is that you can use your body as a shield) but Nicky just KEEPS doing it.

There's a subtle moment after Joe gets stabbed by Merrick where TO ME it looks like he's trying to get between Joe and Merrick. The guy holding back Nicky is like GRIPPING his shoulder.

Nicky is constantly going from the front of the group to the rear and back again. Like he needs to be the first line of defense against wherever the most unknowns are.

He does it when they first exit the lab they were being held in. He's second out of the door, following Nile's lead, but then immediately covers the rear (after executing a completely unnecessary slide move that you can only see in behind the scenes footage and always makes me laugh.) to then turn around and cover everyone else as they exit.

Then again when he takes the bullet for Andy, he's at the rear of the group with Joe, takes the bullet, and then runs through the ENTIRE group, while healing from said bullet, past the door they are going to go into (and presumably check that it's clear) to cover the other end of the hall. And look at that he's at the rear of the group again... Over the course of not even half a minute. Ping pong ball Nicky over here.

When Joe and Nicky are fighting Keane after the explosion Nicky is fucking reckless with how he fights, and mostly cause Joe is kind of getting his ass kicked. 😅 He throws himself onto Keane not once but twice! Both times when Joe is about to get absolutely bodied.

In a similar fashion, Nicky often acts like a battering ram, taking people down for Joe to take out just after him. (If you go back up to that behind the scenes gif of Nicky sliding you can see he does this there too. Shoots a guy in the knee who Joe then shoots in the head.)

Idk if this was at all coherent because I'm writing this on my phone while watching a Tinkerbell movie with my daughter 😂 so I'm sure I'm missing so many more examples of it. But Nicky is often quiet with his words, but he is not quite with his actions and I love that about him!!

[aromanticbuck]

Tommy was nowhere to be found when Buck was in the gym though. That was 100% about Eddie. As was the Christopher thing because he didn't want to be replaced in Eddie and Christophers lives by anyone, for any length of time. The only time I really felt him trying to get Tommy's attention was their first scene together. But that was purposeful by the writers. They wanted to have it both ways and needed Buck to want both of their attention but have no idea why.

I've sat here for almost a full day wondering how to respond to this, and honestly, I very nearly deleted it without responding because... I barely go here. I just shifted over to 911 as my main fandom. I was a One Chicago blog a little over a week ago and yeah, one well timed rewatch might put me back on that train.

I just came over here because I watched the show, enjoyed it, and wanted to have fun with other fans. My posts are my opinion and my observations, and are obviously not meant to speak for all of canon or even any faction of the fandom besides myself (and maybe Kit, but our opinions vary sometimes too, and we live together). I just pointed out what I noticed, and the trends that I picked up on, and how I thought they were intending to establish Buck wanting Tommy's attention - which, in my opinion, they did really well.

So, I'm just gonna put a screenshot of the post this is referring to right here:

Here's the thing. If you watch every single episode of the show looking for Buddie moments whenever Buck or Eddie is on screen (and I saw a lot of that after last night's episode to the point that I'm getting exhausted and annoyed), then that's all you're going to see, even if that's not what they're trying to show us.

It's been especially bad since 7x04 and the BuckTommy kiss. Everyone is looking at his canon queerness through a Buddie lens and ignoring everything else around it. They're making his coming out to Maddie about Buddie, and they're making his attraction to Tommy about Buddie, they're making episodes we haven't even seen about Buddie.

In reality, none of that is about Buddie or confirming future Buddie or anything of the sort. He and Maddie mentioned Eddie in that scene because the conversation started when he said he felt like he was lying to Eddie and he didn't like it. Yes, Eddie and Tommy are similar, and I understand joking about Buck having A Type, but that doesn't make his attraction to Tommy any less genuine. And we don't know anything about 7x06 yet, but everyone is talking about Buddie getting drunk and sleeping together, or Tommy seeing them interact - as he's already seen because the three of them have had scenes together and he's canonically spent time with Chris - and immediately stepping back from the relationship because there might be something there.

Buck is going to his sister's wedding with Tommy. Buck told Maddie and Eddie about Tommy. Buck wants to dance at the wedding with Tommy. He wants to try for something with Tommy. Eddie encouraged him to go call Tommy and work things out. Buck is going to be out to everyone at the Madney wedding because he wants to be there with Tommy as his date.

I don't know. It's just frustrating to see this really good queer relationship tossed to the side because it's not the Popular Ship. Just because you don't ship it or you aren't looking at it directly, it doesn't mean it's not still there.

[aritsukemo]

Chihiro and Kokichi with a crush on someone who acts like Kyoko Kirigiri

Warnings: Major spoilers to Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony! You have been warned!

A/N: Been rewatching playthroughs of the games while I was sick and got the itch to write something! There was so much more I wanted to do with Chihiro's part, but kind of backed myself into a corner when I decided to write this taking place during the killing game. No worries though, I plan to write a bunch more Chihiro x reader content in the future! ( Can you tell I love Chihiro? Lmao- )

↪ Off rip, Chihiro was very intimidated by you. Your stone cold exterior and the general vibe you gave off was kinda scary to him.

↪ He didn't talk to you at all during the first couple of days, simply watching and observing you whenever you made your presence known/whenever you spoke.

↪ During the first class trial, you absolutely owned it. You constantly kept everyone on track and gave them clues to help them figure out the mystery themselves and diverted them from anything that led them to the incorrect truth. You helped everyone crack the case without flat out giving them the answers and he found that really cool of you.

↪ When Leon's execution came, Chihiro felt a swarm of negative emotions to the point he couldn't contain his tears. It was terrible, all of it was. Even if Leon killed Sayaka and even though Sayaka attempted to muder Leon, he couldn't help but feel bad for the both of them..

↪ That following day or two, he was in a rather gloomy mood. Everyone was. After the events of what happened, he couldn't really stomach much food. It was a small thing and Chihiro thought no one had cared to notice his lack of appetite, but he was surprised that someone did; you did. One morning, he was presented with a large portion of a simple meal by none other than the stone cold mystery themselves.

↪ "Eat it if you'd like. If you don't trust it, that's fine too," Was all you said to him, but it made his heart do a backflip regardless. He didn't understand it, but the scene kept playing in his mind the rest of the morning which kept him red in the face the entire time..

↪ After that, Chihiro started observing you even more and he started picking up on the small things about you. How, although most of the others misinterpret your intentions, you truly don't mean harm to anyone and just want to find the way out like everyone else. You're actually really sweet but your tight-lipped and mysterious nature just throws everyone in the wrong direction, he thinks.

↪ The more he watched you and the more he interacted with you, ( although interactions with you didn't happen often ) the more his heart fluttered until it eventually evolved into something bigger. At first, he thought what he was feeling for you was simply admiration until one of the others pointed it out to him one day. The way he speaks about you with such passion, the way he sometimes stares at you like a puppy wanting attention, the amount of times he's caught staring at you.. To them, it was painfully obvious that he was crushing on you!

↪ Even with the knowledge of his crush on you, Chihiro made no attempt to act on it. For one, you two are in a killing game and you're probably way more worried about figuring out the mastermind and getting out of here than getting a partner and two, he was too embarrassed to. The last thing he wanted was for you to laugh or berate or be disgusted by him for pretending to be a girl because of how weak and sensitive he was.. ( The last thing he wants is to confess under the rouse of a girl anyway. )

↪ This ( along with the embarrassing secret motive ) ultimately boosted his motivation to achieve his goal; to get stronger. Once he's strong enough to protect you and his friends from any danger, then he'll tell you how he feels!

↪ He was determined, and unfortunately, that determination ultimately led to his untimely demise. It was ironic, especially with that conversation you had with him that afternoon prior..

↪ "I've decided! I have no other choice but to get stronger. I'll try my hardest and..! And when I do, I would like to talk to you about something very important, okay?" He had told you, eyes burning with uncharacteristic fire. It was..certainly a look for him. ( One that may or may not have made your heart do a few tricks without your permission.. ) And you remembered briefly mutter something to him about staying safe and not overdoing it..

↪ If only you had offered to join him. Maybe things would've went differently..

↪ Huh, how odd. It's not like you to be sentimental like this. Actually, as of late, a lot of things you've been doing have been out of character for you.. Honestly, what has gotten into you lately?

↪ Well, there's no time to dawdle on it right now. You have to seek justice for Chihiro. With the clues you've gathered, you already have a sneaking suspicion of who the culprit is..

↪ You immediately spiked Kokichi's interest. The fact that you didn't give him any information about yourself intrigued him. It was as if you had something to hide..

↪ When it came out that everyone would be participating in a killing game, Kokichi was surprised by how well you kept it together. Unlike everyone else who were in denial, you wholeheartedly believed the kubs and kept a levelhead about the whole ordeal. It was as if it didn't affect you at all..

↪ "You seem oddly calm about this. Don't tell me you're actually some psycho and was waiting on something like this." He said to you only to get silence in return as you outright ignored him.

↪ For the first day or two he observed you, but he quickly decided to take a more upfront approach and was all in your face. He was always trying to poke and prod and tease information out of you, but you never caved. He couldn't get under your skin at all.

↪ But he did, at least, get your name.

↪ When the first murder finally happened, you again, didn't panic. While everyone else were screaming their heads off, you talked to Monokuma, verifying things about the upcoming class trial before immediately starting your investigation.

↪ When the trial came about, you kept calm. As if you had done this a million times, you helped guide everyone. You gave hints and helped paint a clear picture of what happened. When everyone began to deny the truth, you, along with Kaede, helped everyone come to grips with reality.

↪ And then, when the killer was executed, you didn't freak out. He also noticed you saying something to Shuichi before swiftly leaving to go god knows where.

↪ And just like that his interest in you hit it's peak.

↪ He began speculating. What could you possibly be hiding? Why are you the way you are? How many times has something like this happened to you? Do you hold the key of getting out of here?

↪ Could you be the mastermind behind this? It's definitely a possibility..

↪ After the trial, Kokichi officially set his sights on you. He began to bug you even more.

↪ He would drag you around places and rope you into his shenanigans. To everyone else, it may have just looked like Kokichi was just doing it for the fun of it or to annoy you, but in actuality, he was doing it in an attempt to get a feel for your personality. He wanted to know what made you tick and what didn't. But alas, you were harder to crack than he expected.

↪ So, he began stalking you.

↪ Everytime you distanced yourself from the others and disappeared for long periods of time, he would try to follow after you, however..

↪ "Kokichi. I know you're there."

↪ ..he never got far before he was found out.

↪ Then the second murder rolled around and the cycle repeated. The body discovery announcement played, you gave no reaction to it, disappeared to start your own investigation, and carried the class trial.

↪ After the trial and execution, ( and after you saved his butt from Maki's wrath after he exposed a certain secret of hers ) he approached you with the supposed intention of wanting to be your friend. ( Although he worded it more as him wanting you to be his sidekick ) He didn't give you ang room to deny his friendship and before you knew it, he was shamelessly latched to you like some annoying pest.

↪ Almost everywhere you went, he attempted to tag along. Of course, if you were going on one of your little side investigations, you gave him the slip and he wouldn't be able to find you for a while.

↪ Other than that, you humored him. He talks your ear off and the conversations between you two are more or less one sided but he can tell you're listening to every little word he said and didn't mind his presence. Although he doesn't know much about you, he's gotten to know you enough to know that when you don't want to talk to someone, you'll make it very clear to them that you don't want to talk to them.

↪ And then something most bewildering happened. Shuichi gave you a gift.

↪ "How did you know I liked this?" Kokichi heard you say before you accepted the gift, "Uh..lucky guess? I honestly had no idea. It just seemed like something you'd like." He heard him say..

↪ "I see.. Well, thank you."

↪ Like the stalker he is, he watched the whole interaction and to Kokichi's surprise, he felt..odd watching you two interact. Although it wasn't the most intense feeling, it certainly wasn't a pleasant one..

↪ Anyways, the third murder rolls around and shortly after it happened, he stepped on a faulty floor board and..yeah y'all know what happened to him.

↪ When you and Shuichi found him, he was laid out on the floor and bleeding profusely from the head. Shuichi was startled at first, thinking he was dead, but upon him sitting up, the detective slowly stopped caring.

↪ Chuckling to himself, ( and feeling the very, very strong urge to vomit ) Kokichi stumbled to his feet. However, as soon as he did, you grabbed him by the arm..

↪ "You shouldn't move around so much. You likely have a concussion."

↪ "What..are you talking about? I'm..fine! Just..eheh.. Just peachy.." Another obvious lie. Honestly, what does he expect to gain from acting like this?

↪ After he let that ridiculous statement tumble from his lips, you forced him onto your back with ease. ( As expected, he's very light ) After telling Shuichi to continue his investigation, you left with Kokichi riding on your back.

↪ "Heyyyy, where are we going.. Do you plan to..to take me out while I'm like this..how..cruel, nishi..hi..heh.."

↪ You ended up taking him all the way back to your dorm because you remembered that you had some medical supplies lying around that you found while out on one of your side investigations. They weren't the best, but it was enough to make sure Kokichi wouldn't bleed out and die.

↪ With quick and kinda rough movements, you bandages up his head and the entire time you were supposed to spend investigating ended being spent in your room. After you finished bandaging his head, you dimmed the lights and applied a makeshift cold compress ( which you made by stuffing some ice in a bag and wrapping the bag in a thin towel ) to his head.

↪ Your eyes were completely on him the entire time and something about that made the displeasing feeling he felt before swell into something lighter and fluffier in his chest and around his heart. He didn't know what it was, but he's certain that he loved hated the feeling with a passion and hoped to never feel it again. Oh the lies he tells even himself

↪ The trial rolls around, and although you were kind of in the backseat for some time, you still managed to crack the case wide open. Well, with some help from Shuichi that is.

↪ Speaking of which, after the trial and execution, Kokichi began to notice the most bewildering thing; little Shuichi was getting oddly close to you.

↪ Like, a day or two after the trial, he saw you outside with Shuichi, Maki, and Kaito. You seemed to be working out with them but he took note of how you seemed the most responsive with Shuichi.

↪ An uncomfortable feeling bubbled in his chest, but even so, Kokichi, who had begun to slowly come to grips and realize his attraction towards you, pretended like he was fine. So what if you're hanging out with Shuichi? Lately, the detective has started to peak his interest and he plans to befriend him just like he did with you. Once he achieves that, he'll have you back and he'll have Shuichi to himself too!

↪ But alas, things didn't go as planned. Shuichi, untrusting of him, didn't want to be his friend. How sad..

↪ But he's not one to give up so easily. He'll find a way to rope him into this little game of his..one way or another.

↪ Fourth trial comes and the truth is revealed that Kokichi had a part in Miu's murder. Upon revealing the truth to everyone and completely ruining all the fun of the mystery, you seemed to be the one person to initially believe him. ( Although he noticed you seemed uncharacteristically bothered about the whole ordeal )

↪ Then Shuichi helped you further reveal what happened, forcing everyone to believe what really happened was the truth and that Gonta was the blackened. ( Gosh, it was agitating how in sync you two were )

↪ After the trial ended, things escalated. Kaito and Kokichi got into it and Kaito ended up lunging at Kokichi. However, it seemed the ultimate supreme leader was stronger than he let on ( or maybe something else is at play here.. ) and he ended up throwing his own punch which sent Kaito flying to the ground.

↪ That's when the others finally intervened.

↪ Shuichi, angered by everything that had happened, screamed at Kokichi. He yelled and fussed about how he was horrible and had no friends and how he had no one to turn to because he was horrible and blah blah blah.

↪ Kokichi didn't care much for his speech, ( it was nothing he hasn't been told already ) but his eyes seemed to drift to you. Unlike everyone else, you hadn't jumped to Kaito's defense nor were you screaming at him. In fact, you just stood in the back, watching with that iron expression of yours. How..like you..it was to do that, he thought.

↪ When he left, you followed after him.

↪ "That was quite the show you put on back there. Tell me, Kokichi. What are you planning?" You had asked him.

↪ "Heh, wellll since it's you I feel the sudden urge to spill everything, nishi~! ..Hm, fine then. I'll tell you for a kiss right here on the cheek, nishishishi~!" And then he saw it. For only a split second, he saw the surprise flash across your face. He saw your brows twitch and your eyes widen. He saw your cheeks flush.

↪ He finally saw you truly caught off guard and it was the cutest thing he's ever been able to witness. It's disgusting how much he's grown to like you, he thought. Not really.

↪ You didn't see him for a few days after the trial. You had no idea where he went, but you didn't bother wasting your time searching for him. Not that you could, with Kaito breathing down your neck wanting you to hang out with him, Shuichi, and Maki, you never found the reason or necessary time to go and look for him. ( But for some odd reason, you couldn't stop thinking about him. )

↪ And then he showed his face at last and when he did, he had weapons in tow.

↪ He claimed that he wanted to help end the killing game but of course no one believed him. Maki, who was at her wits end with the male, jumped to attack him and you, of course, jumped to his rescue.

↪ "Why do you always protect him? Are you two working together?" She questioned, her fiery crimson hues staring into you like sharpened blades.

↪ "..." Your silence gave nothing away as you stared back at her with your own icy gaze, gripping her by the arm as you awaited for her to release Kokichi.

↪ She let him go eventually.

↪ Kokichi then went on to explain what the weapons he persuaded Miu to make did ( the "electrohammers" as he put it ) before saying he'll no longer intervene with the others and their plans and leaving.

↪ And without a second thought, you followed after him which automatically labeled you a traitor in certain peoples' eyes. ( Cough cough Maki and Himiko cough cough )

↪ Alas, you quickly lost sight of him despite your tailing. But you couldn't give up now. He knows something and you're determined to find out what that something was.

↪ But all your efforts got you nowhere. You looked everywhere but couldn't find him, however when you finally reconvened with the others they all seemed oddly..depressed about something.

↪ You questioned each of them but only Shuichi would explain what happened while you were gone. Apparently, they used the electrohammers to cross that Death Road and found a large hatch that led outside. They got it opened but what they saw was simply despair-inducing..

↪ Everything was destroyed, there wasn't even air to breath out there. To put it simply, it was the end of the world.

↪ And the supposed mastermind behind the killing game had finally shown themselves and it was none other than the Ultimate Supreme Leader himself; Kokichi Ouma.

↪ But the whole story seemed..odd to you. Something about it simply didn't sit right ( especially with the evidence you had gathered while secretly investigating this place ) and in the end you incurred that at least some part of what went down was a lie. ( And you had a sneaking suspicion of which part it was )

↪ You ended up disappearing after that to do some more investigating. You spent the entire evening, night, and following morning digging up what you could. It was a shame it was cut short in one of the worst ways possible..

↪ "A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time that you can spend however you'd like, the class trial will begin!" You certainly wasn't expecting that. And at a time like this..

↪ You make it to the crime scene soon after that and waste no time investigating. Everyone is certain that Kaito was the one who was murdered, but until you gather the clues and come to a collective verdict at the class trial, nothing is certain. ( Although, there's this sense of dread that's beginning to bubble at the pit of your stomach. You're hoping—praying—that it's not because of what you think it is.. )

↪ And then the class trial comes and for the first time, you were uncertain. You had a possibility or two, but with the clues presented, you weren't sure of anything..

↪ And after a long time of going back forth and around in circles, Kokichi's plan was finally revealed. His true goal was to end the killing game by making an unsolvable case where you aren't able to figure out who was murdered and who was the culprit.

↪ But then new evidence came about. Maki's confession and the video tape along with Shuichi's deductions helped you make a vital connection and that connection helped crack the entire case wide open. ( Because of you, Kokichi's final efforts were in vain.. )

↪ After the trial, no one was happy. I mean, how could they be? The blackened was Kaito. Aside from that, for some reason, you just seemed a little too upset. Something about the entire situation, about Kokichi's entire plan to kill himself for the chance to end this killing game, to stop the suffering, it made your heart sting. It effected you more than you would've liked and Kaito seemed to notice that.

↪ "I know you really liked him, Y/n," He told you, "He really liked you too. He never outright admitted it, but I could tell.. He wouldn't stop talking about ya'! Even..even in his final moments.."

↪ Was that supposed to make you feel better? Because it didn't. All it did was make things worse. You wish he would've just kept that to himself. Kokichi was thinking of you until the very end? What was the point of putting that painful thought into your head? It was unnecessary.

↪ And so, as soon as Kaito's execution was over. You fled the scene, silently but hurriedly. You knew why, but you didn't want to accept it. To accept that you left in such a rush because you couldn't keep your emotions in check..

↪ Ugh, that damn Kokichi! Could he have been anymore selfish? Forcing his way into your life, making you feel such wonderful inconvenient emotions, only to snatch all of it away and leaving you with the miserable feeling of anguish..

↪ He was truly the worst, you thought.

Dividers were made by me, pictures used are from Pinterest, post formatting is inspired by @xxsabitoxx

[littlemisssquiggles]

The Missed Potential of WISH

It’s funny.

Last year, I really wanted to watch the new Wish animated film from Disney.

While everyone else were hating on the art and animation style, I actually kind of liked it and was genuinely looking forward to possibly viewing it on the big screen.

Then the reviews came in. Needless to say, I didn’t watch Wish.

I remember a time when people used to complain about Disney making “too many love stories”. Then Disney stopped making love stories leading to films like Moana, Coco, Encanto and even Turning Red, which weren't bad.

Following the failure of Wish, the biggest complaint I’ve heard for that film is that “it probably would’ve been more successful if it were a love story”.

The last romance Disney had we’re the protagonist was a “black girl” was Tiana from The Princess and the Frog which was technically their last 2D animated feature film.

And don’t get me wrong, til this day, The Princess and the Frog still tracks. Second to Tangled, I still very much love TPATF and it's one of Disney's classics that definitely have the rewatchability.

That being said, Wish is the first Disney film I've seen where the missed potential of what its story was originally supposed to be (herego a love story between a human girl and shape-shifting star boy) versus what we actually got is more popular.

Aww Disney, what were you thinking?! How could you think a film where the main character, who is a PoC, the first "black girl" (well technically I think Asha is meant to be mixed) female lead/love interest that you've had since Tiana in The Princess and the Frog in 14 YEARS where she is actually human for all of the movie and gets to share a love story with a handsome "star boy" who can literally make all of her dreams come and think that that's NOT gonna make you money!

I haven't even watched Wish yet I've seen more artwork and fan-made animatics of Asha and Star Boy than anything from the actual film.

At this point, Disney should just take all of the original ideas they left on the chopping block for Wish and revise them into a future title which is an actual love story they could market from.

Or…as an audience, we can just wait for one of their competitors, like Dreamworks to smell the blood in the water like the sharks they are and capitalize on Disney’s latest flop by taking the ideas they didn’t use and coming up with something that could potentially usurp the popularity of Wish’s failure.

In the case of Dreamworks, they don’t even need to make a new star boy since, technically, they already have potential “star boy” they can use.

Remember Rise of the Guardians?

Hahaaaaa OF COURSE you do, since it gave us the original immortal boy internet heart throb (also ironically voiced by Chris Pine who played King Magnifico in Wish) ---Jack Frost.

I find it hilarious that another reason why folks are hating on Wish so much is because Disney could've given us another potential immortal boy heart throb "Star Boy" to finally usurp the chokehold that Jack Frost has had on our generation of weebs and artists for the past 12 years since RoTG first dropped.

We could've had it all.

But as I mentioned Rise of the Guardians, did you know that there is character in the original series it was based off of called Nightlight?

While technically not a “star boy”, Nightlight is the closest thing to one in an already established universe from a Dreamworks property and since this squiggle meister never misses a beat to push for continuation of Rise of Guardians, hear me out:

Imagine a Rise of the Guardian prequel-sequel about the character Nightlight and make it a love story.

(Because apparently there's a girl that Nightlight grows close to in his story called Katherine. It's just a friendship but needless to say, there is potential there).

I know it’s been 12 years since Rise of Guardians first dropped and I know I've be hollering for a sequel since 2012.

But c'mon, if there was ever a time for Dreamworks to capitalize on an RoTG sequel, it's now.

As Wish has proven, the internet is hungry for another handsome immortal boy with magical powers.

Dreamworks set the ball rolling with Jack Frost.

If Dreamworks were to revisit RoTG again, take Nightlight's story. Take his design and give him the "Jack Frost" treatment and make it a love story on top of that.

I'm not saying it will happen. Not even saying it could happen.

But if somehow thought becomes reality and something like this does actually happen, whoever does it will be rolling in dough.

This is just a longwinded way of me to say that somebody needs to bank on the concept of a star falling in love with a human and do it now since as the internet has shown, it's what the people want and what Wish failed to give.

~LMS (2024)

[the-s1lly-corner]

I was rewatching the Mulan films to get that childhood nostalgia, and I remembered how much I love Mushu...

So I thought "what would the cast of TADC x reader be like, who is practically a copy of Mushu's personality", I imagine that in appearance he would be a Chinese dragon humanoid but with his personality

TADC cast x mushu type! reader !

im finally back on my computer, woohoo! ill probably answer a few requests, since i wanna draw stuff today </3 i dont really like leaving my wips unfinished for more than a few days TToTT side note i gotta rewatch mulan, used to be one of my favorite movies as a kid (though i barely watched movies back then so uh uh its not like there were many contenders </3) relying on the good ol character wiki to help me through this because its been so long since ive watched the movie

CAINE:

i think caine would actually really enjoy you, a lot! in a weird way caine gives off similar energy, with the confidence and such you know? so you two probably bounce right off each other and build one another up... though sometimes this leads to more insane IHAs because you insist to caine that youre more capable than you actually are... as mean as that sounds... the only reason that things dont get too too chaotic is because caine, in my opinion, does hold some significant level of care for the circus members (at least as it stands for the pilot)

like would he die for them? probably not.. but he cares enough to keep the circus (mostly) safe and bothers with keeping them mentally stimulated and entertained; he doesnt even watch the IHAs himself so its likely that its not for his own entertainment

ponders

im getting off topic, though, point is i think you two would be friends !

POMNI:

honestly i struggle a lot with writing pomni, but i think the two of you would be friendly with one another ! i think she might be a little taken aback by your confidence, but hey, its not like its to anyones detriment, right? well... IHAs can get interesting, with you either insisting to run in, leroy jenkins style, into the conflict; or trying to push someone else to do (oftentimes ragatha, who i feel would be the most likely to do the most in IHAs if theres nothing pulling her away from it (cough cough checking on kaufmo cough cough)

honestly my brains a little fuzzy trying to remember mulan, but i feel like you and pomni would have a similar dynamic to mulan and mushu as well

JAX:

i think jax would try to push you more than he does the others since oftentimes your reactions are more... out there, youre so desperate to prove yourself as this big strong individual that you kind of make an ass out of yourself. and jax revels in your humiliation everytime someone manages to humble you.. in terms of the other stuff, i think he would tease and make fun of any abilities you have.. assuming you also have (some) fire abilities like mushu, jax would just call you names like "matchstick" and "lighter boy", making fun of your weak fire powers

RAGATHA:

as mentioned in pomnis part, you and ragatha have... an interesting dynamic... but i can also see you two having a similar dynamic to mushu and cri-kee . with you being bold and ragatha keeping you grounded. often you two end up together during IHAs with either ragatha seeking you out or someone pushing you to her

not much to be said, i think ! very similar dynamic, ragatha keeps you in check, though i think she would occasionally scold you if you did something particularly reckless

KINGER:

ooo this ones a hard one, but i think it would be similar to my personal take on what his and caines dynamic would be but with you as a fellow circus member rather than the ring master... has respect for you (though i think kinger would have respect for just about everyone who has come and gone to the circus, he doesnt strike me as the type to just diss others unless theres a reason he doesnt like the person... and even then he would mind his own business, i think) which... honestly, i can see this either making your ego more intense or actually mean something to have someone actually respect you.. ponders... character degradation(?) or character growth.. both are fun routes, i think! ill leave this one up to you...

slides my favorite kinger thing

you guys tell each other stories about your adventures, both of you hyping them up way more than they need to be

ZOOBLE:

writing zoobles part first because i think that they may be the hardest, but in the kindest way possible i dont think they would be able to stand your personality... maybe youre a little loud and out there, or maybe they just dont like your humor or often times self centered nature... i think they would tolerate you just enough to get through IHA but forming a friendship with zooble is going to be tough... though, they do find it amusing when you and jax butt heads

GANGLE:

very similar to pomnis part, i think... but like, gangle is shy whereas pomni is nervous so things are a little different... i think gangle would just along with most stuff you decide to do, that you rope her into, because she doesnt have a backbone to say no or suggest something else.. well she doesnt have bones in general but... you know? honestly she kind of envies you in a weird way, she wishes she had the confidence you have so sometimes she probably approaches you for advice.. how this ends up is up to you !

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Random thoughts in a boring meeting, armor edition:

I spent a lot of time on planes last week and United has LOTR as an in-flight entertainment option so I just rewatched everything again, and I am more convinced than ever—if we’re on Middle Earth fit watch, absolutely no one has battle armor that looks better than this:

I mean, it’s just impeccable. The gleam of the metallics on the chest and vambraces. The intricate design on the breastplate. The contrasting leather plackart. The shine on the scale armor that almost looks like a coat of tiny silver coins. The richness of the red of the cloak, with its own silver brooch fastener. The subtle little leather archer’s glove. My guy is absolute perfection, and that’s just the clothes, not even the elf inside them!

It takes a LOT for me to pick something over Eomer’s armor, which (of course) I also deeply love. The rust red leather with the cut-outs to see the metal underneath is so cool with its balance of art and function, and the horse tail helmet is distinctively bad ass—you can’t miss him in a crowd. (Théoden and Théodred have similar leather-covered armor with metallic decorative details, so the royal armorer in Rohan is apparently just an absolute beast.) Plus, though they don’t always wear them, Éomer and the other Rohirrim soldiers have those gorgeous green cloaks, too, which look so great flowing in the wind when they ride. (And again, we’re not giving points for face or bod, because COME ON!)

It’s a truly amazing look. But I’m still giving the slightest edge to the marchwarden here. Haldir’s armor makes him looks otherworldly in a way, like he really did just walk out of some glorious legend of the elder days in order to come save your mortal ass. Tolkien said elves shine with a special light about them, and Haldir is absolutely glowing in this armor!

Now, is it a coincidence that these two also happen to be the hottest guys in the films (to my own personal tastes, of course)? Actually, yes! I really did consider everyone else! Gimli’s helmet has really cool detail along the cheekbones and across the brow, but nothing else he wears stands out to me. Legolas hardly wears any traditional armor pieces, and Gandalf is free-balling it in his robes with no armor. The Gondorian battle armor is surprisingly plain—the tree device is pretty but subtle, and it could use more color and/or metals that have more of a shine to them. The orcs and uruks are just gross (by design). The Witch King’s armor is cool, I will give you that. But other than the articulated iron joints, it doesn’t have as much specific detail. And there are some unique and eye-catching elements to the armor of some of the Easterlings and Haradrim, but we don’t get great views of all of it and there’s the whole complicated issue of the sourcing of many of the visual characterizations in the Sauron-aligned men that is way beyond the scope of just what I’m looking at here.

So, yeah. Haldir and Éomer. I feel good about my choices!

[dramadramallama]

Love Supremacy - brain rot part 1

So I have a problem. I enjoyed the first half of Love for Love's Sake without knowing I would get absolutely bowled over by the second half. I have so much to say holy fuck, I'm all over the place.

Unfortunately for everyone, my brain has been love supremacied, and I'm unable to move on. The show has a high rewatch value. It’s full of details; big, important ones, and small, insignificant ones, but they all add a lot of weight to the story. I need to exorcise my thoughts for my own sake. I guess if I have to intellectualize it somewhat, I really liked the show cause it’s perfectly balanced in terms of structure, and its themes. Judging from the amount of notes I have made on this show on my second watch, it’s safe to say it’s got some substance. It cleverly uses a mise en abyme, “a story within a story (within a story)” to really stack all those layers, and answer an age-old, quite difficult question: “what’s crucial to a happy life?” Dialogues, scenes, characters, and motifs all echo, mirror, and circle back to one another, giving the story enough dimension to avoid banalities.

Simply put, the thesis of the show is surprisingly philosophical, with universal themes. It posits that life is neither fate nor chance, and the answers are in mundane details of life. "Happiness is hidden somewhere in each of our days."

It’s obviously about love; a double love story even. Myung-ha learns to love someone else, and himself too. It's about life, and it's about death, new beginnings, and everything in between. The show made me feel like this, and like this, and like this, and...

▶️1. Mirrors/Symmetry

2. Fate, Free Will, and Happiness

3. Game/Reality

The story structure is very symmetrical. Circular almost. I LOVE IT, I EAT IT UP LIKE A HUNGRY, GRUBBY GOBLIN. Things begin where they end, elements keep repeating themselves like a series of mirrors.

By going through the game, Myung-ha finds himself on the other side of the mirror: he is supposed to find his own happiness, and will to live.

Yeo-woon is introduced to the audience as a sad side character in someone else’s story, victim of his “fate.” He almost perfectly mirrors Myung-ha: his background is eerily similar to his. He was raised by his (recently deceased) grandma, with an absent mother and a dead-beat dad. He’s lonely, unhappy.

When Myung-ha first meets him, Yeo-woon is resolutely standing on top of a building, about to fall or jump, which directly parallels Myung-ha's own suicide. In this new iteration of life, in this “game,” he saves Yeo-woon from hurting himself, which is the start of his own salvation. Saving Yeo-woon, the poor guy who didn’t get his happy ending, is saving himself. Yeo-woon is like a version of him right before he lost control of his life, after his grandma died, and he felt abandoned by all. It’s the core of the game, and the core of the drama, but Myung-ha (and we, the audience) can’t understand it right away.

Several details, in retrospect, show that he is the driving force behind this "game", and that it’s, by lack of a better term, both a test (as in, an exercise, a learning mechanism) and a Test (as in, an exam you don't wanna fail.) Myung-ha’s main, most important mission is to “make Yeo-woon happy.” Which he happily and enthusiastically tackles. He does what we all do: he takes a liking to the character most relatable to him. Time and time again, the way he reacts when presented with someone who struggles the same way he did is very telling.

He provides comfort. The comfort he lacked in his own life. (distant sounds of my heart shattering.)

But Yeo-woon isn’t the only one mirroring elements of Myung-ha’s life. Sang-won is a careless, tough-looking student, who seems slightly directionless. He picks fights easily and has a reputation at school for being “crazy.” He also smokes and rides a motorcycle (both illegal lol). His mom having abandoned Myung-ha, it’s also relevant to note Sang-won doesn’t seem to have a very good relationship with his own mother, and craves her attention. Although, he is your typical badboy, he is overall nice, sensitive, and has good intentions.

Myung-ha himelf appears to have been quite the turbulent student, with his own “mad dog” nickname. He, just like Sang-won, knows a thing or two about school fights, also drives a bike (lmao 100% sure he didn’t wait to have a license to drive though). Although he berates Sang-won for his rebellious side, with the patronizing tone of someone who’s done it all before, he shows genuine care.

Finally, Kyung-hoon. To me, he’s like another facet of Myung-ha’s personality. An absolute sweetheart, without friends, but always ready to help, and open to be befriended. While Myung-ha seems nonchalant about speaking badly of himself, he cannot stand it from others. He makes him his friend on the spot.

Once again, he provides like-minded friends the safe space he probably would have liked as a troubled, most certainly depressed teenager. Of course, it turns out Yeo-woon hates himself the most too (and by extension, dislikes everyone else.) It's the first clue for Myung-ha to realize some self-love might be the answer.

As it will become increasingly clear, Myung-ha has no issues protecting, providing for, and loving others, but fails to realize he should do the same for himself to achieve balance, and maybe, a little bit of happiness. The journey to get there makes him care for someone else the way he should care for himself, love someone else, like he should love himself. 

The last episode does a wonderful job of confirming what seemed to be threaded through the whole show, and explaining very clearly, in no uncertain terms, what it was all about.

However, the interesting aspect of this “mirror world," is that all of them, and Yeo-woon in particular, flip the script, in more ways than one. They all are a reflection of Myung-ha's life, but transcend their condition of “fictional character.” They’re not virtual. Yeo-woon is not made of something unreal, and he’s not a messed up copy of someone else. He has his own needs, desires, and quirks.

I don't think I can name them all here, but one of my favorite circular storytelling moment happens when Yeo-woon parallels Myung-ha by running to "find his fave." That moment in ep 8 counterbalances the one in ep 1.

Nothing is written in stone, and both of them set off to build their own happiness, against fate.

[zoe-oneesama]

ONE MORE EPISODE LEFT TO WRITE! CONGRATULATIONS!! 🎉🎊 Based on everything we’ve seen up to this point in-show, what are your thoughts on Nathalie, her Catalyst akuma and Mayura villain persona, and the Heroes’ Day Season 2 two-parter after your fresh rewatch of the episodes?

I'll be watching both parts at once, but since I'll probably have to rewatch part 2: "Mayura" when I finish my own part 1, I'll mostly focus on Part 1: "Catalyst", with some bleed in from Part 2. I'll be taking a linear critique of the episode in a stream of consciousness way.

To start, "Heroes' Day" is not a real French holiday, yet Marinette's parents say it's come again "just like every year", implying that this has been going on for multiple years? Implying that a Hero Day based off your local superheroes have been happening for YEARS while Marinette and Adrien are in the same class, in the same school year....make it make sense.

Of course, this could be a totally in universe regular holiday that USED to be about just doing good deeds for a day that they adopted to theme around their superheroes, what do I know.

About those good deeds...Marinette deserves slack here. She does good deeds for her friends all the freaking time, but the first part of the two episodes puts a lot of pressure for her to not only do a Good Deed but a Good Enough Good Deed, which to me defeats the purpose of a good deed. You're supposed to do good deeds for the sake of being kind and improving the world, not for...recognition. Or maybe they're being graded...

This feels like a dropped plot line, which is a shame because this was actually a decent lesson for Marinette for once about taking on too much and pressuring herself. Except for Chloe, Marinette is the only person demanding Marinette do a Good Enough Deed, to the point of making a promise she couldn't keep. (Though it's dumb she feels pressured thanks to CHLOE of all people, when all the richest girl in Paris is offering is her own autographs). Yet they only go part way and nearly completely drop this plot line in the second half.

You know, instead of that scene of Adrien meeting Marinette on the steps and assuming he's not invited, they could've used that time for Marinette to admit to Adrien that she panicked and is struggling to keep to her word. Marinette could've actually confided in Adrien, showing their friendship by allowing her to be vulnerable with him about how she was feeling inadequate compared to everyone else and how these feelings spurred her into trouble. This also would've been a great lead in for the end of the two parter:

In Part 2, the picnic/taste testing that Marinette promised but had no time for? It still happens. How? According to Adrien at the end of his speech, the class "jumped at the chance to help". Would've been nice to see any of that, or see any REAL conclusion to Marinette's issue in these episodes, which was putting too much pressure on herself and not telling the truth when it became overwhelming. Even her mom tells her that bravely admitting when you've messed up is heroic, but...Marinette never tells anyone.

On screen anyway.

By having Marinette tell Adrien, Adrien could've rounded up the class to make the picnic happen. And Marinette should've been distraught - this was supposed to be HER good deed yet THEY did all the work! She failed! And then the class disagrees. She does good deeds all the time! Checking in on Ivan after he was an akuma! Breaking Juleka's picture curse! Bringing Marc and Nathaniel together! A single day can't compare to the number of things she's done for everyone here! And now it's their turn to do something for her!

And then she's brought to tears and kisses his cheek in thanks blah blah blah you've seen canon. Instead it's treated as a "oh yeah, we did that thing with Marinette in the first part, uhhh, that's resolved now, okay?" What a waste.

Actually I'm sure this is a completely dropped plot line because Adrien says "Like Rose said earlier" when she didn't say anything.

Where were we? Oh right, Lila's first sighting in a whole season.

Alya here says Marinette is jealous of Lila for trying to hit on Adrien (or in the French, "seduce"~ lol). I'd just like Alya to remember that for later when she actually believes Lila when she says she doesn't have feelings for Adrien, but we all know continuity doesn't live here.

Speaking of, I'm not surprised how many salt fics paint Lila's (first) mom as an idiot. Right after Lila tells her mom that Principal Damocles is also stuck as an akuma thanks to Ladybug's "incompetence", a giant floating balloon of Ladybug floats past her bedroom window.

Woman, how you gonna believe that Paris' heroes are incompetent on the word of your daughter while Paris throws a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in her honor? (I also assume this woman doesn't talk to anyone other than Lila despite apparently being out of the house so often that they don't even share breakfast together. Sure ZAG.) But at least I get to enjoy Gabriel deliberately poking the bear by bringing up Volpina when she was completely and utterly irrelevant. That did in fact make me laugh.

Oh, this is something that I only just put together, but Alya says her good deed was going to the Mayor and getting him to sign off on making the school accessible for disabled students, and we see in this episode on-wards that the school has a ramp. I HAD noticed the ramp in Season 3, but I had completely forgotten that Alya talked about it here at the end of Season 2. So, wow! Good continuity detail, Zag! You get one gold star. ⭐

(though that ramp is hella steep)

I was about to also praise the continuity of Gabriel bringing up financing a Ladybug movie, since that seemed to be setting up "Animaestro"...but then he says it's playing that day (on EVERY tv channel?!). But..."Animaestro" was the movie's premiere...So I guess there's another in universe Ladybug movie ( funded by a fashion director?) that we'll never see. U_U

Damn, I was gonna point out the nepotism of hiring your primary sponsor's son to voice act the male lead, but I guess I can't anymore, bummer 😗

I do make a mental note of the things Lila is calling Ladybug as she's cycling through news coverage. "Liar. Traitor. Coward." Just...interesting. Where did Ladybug lie? Where did Ladybug betray Lila? Where did she run and hide? Interesting, interesting, interesting.

And betrayals only happen when there's trust between you, in order for Ladybug to "betray" Lila she would've had to have Lila's trust or loyalty to begin with.

Even here she didn't accept the akuma as willingly as she did in "Chameleon", but she still greeted Hawkmoth like an old friend, and is DELIGHTED to ruin everyone's Heroes' Day and traumatize them with her illusion for a chance to help Hawkmoth succeed, just to get back at Ladybug. Yikes.

Lmao, not the unfinished png photoshop background on the flute. Great quality check, guys.

I do think this is the first time I actually thought Hawkmoth did something smart. After putting all his eggs in the Audrey/Style Queen basket and then handing the basket to Chloe/Queen Wasp, I wasn't too impressed with him, but this plan was actually good. (I mean it should've PARTIALLY fallen apart once people saw both the Unakumatized Ladybug AND Chat Noir now that we know people can reject their akumas, but sure. We didn't know it at THIS point, so it seems smart.)

But all this energy could've just been channeled into making the ultimate doctor akuma. I mean, you literally made a Miraculous Holder Power Booster with Catalyst, so I'm just saying what we've all been saying~

"I know, it wouldn't be very heroic to use my powers on my personal business" - GIRL at this point YOU'VE EARNED IT, SCREW what Tikki says!

This does make it the second time someone's told Marinette to just come clean to her friends. Why did they drop this plot line after pushing it so hard?!?!?!

"You don't have enough cake for me, do you?" Sir, did you pull a muscle with that leap?! I guess the intention of this scene was that Marinette was ABOUT to come clean to her friends but Adrien's excitement put the pressure for her to pull off the picnic back on. Again, there is no solid conclusion for this part of the story, Marinette just festers on it until there's akuma stuff to deal with. Wait, maybe the mass akuma outbreak is how she really got out of it... "Sorry guys I TOTALLY had this whole thing planned, but, you know. Akumas. Lots of them. Couldn't do it."

How satisfying. 🙃

"Heroes' Day is now...meaningless!" This is like in Christmas movies when people say Christmas is RUINED because a tree caught fire or Santa didn't come. Did the Whos in Whoville teach you nothing, that's the not the true meaning of Christmas and Superheroes are not the true meaning of Heroes Day when you set it up as a reoccurring holiday where people go the extra mile to be kind to one another!

Sorry, this is nit picky, like really nit picky, but don't create a fictional holiday that's about joy and kindness and then "ruin" it by something only tangentially related. I know it's totally just to get the plot going forward, but I'm too old and have seen this too many times (mostly in Christmas media) and it starts to grate on you. Just make the holiday a new one in tribute TO the heroes, then it can be ruined by the heroes turning bad, otherwise you're killing your message about the Everyday Heroes doing Good Deeds to Keep the World a Kind and Happy Place by putting all the weight on the SUPERNATURAL EXTRAORDINARY FIGURES THAT NORMAL HUMANS COULD NEVER COMPARE TO!

*huff huff*

So...Sabrina should know what's up with Lila at least a little, right? Since Ladybug firmly believes Volpina was involved, right? Well, based off some spoilers, MAYBE (strong maybe, this is speculation entirely), Sabrina might finally be using this knowledge. You know, 3 Seasons later. Maybe. They've been doing pretty decent at pulling stuff from earlier seasons, even if it DOES feel too little too late, so it's possible that Sabrina will FINALLY remember this moment with Ladybug.

"You're Rena Rouge and you didn't tell me?!" You didn't tell her you were Carapace either, but I see this is where it freaking starts with you young man. I remember this being a funny moment but hindsight has ruined it, so, thanks for that "Rocketear". 🙃

See, THESE are the Adrien/Chloe moments that I wanted: annoying sibling energy 100%. But alas, this is ALSO ruined. Chloe is calling it her Miraculous, give me MY Miraculous, putting down Chat Noir as Ladybug's "underling". This was never going to work.

Wow, Nora totally nailed it: "If he's talking to Ladybug, then Ladybug and Mr. Whiskers are still on the good side!" I thought she was supposed to be the dumb one?

Anyway, that's part 1 (or at least most of what I have to say about it). As a stand alone, this feels like a huge lead up, which I think gets mostly paid off on the akuma side of things...and definitely not on the Marinette side of things. Wah wah.

I don't have many feelings on Nathalie, Catalyst, or Mayura since they're barely in the first part (or not in it lol) and when she is in it she feels very OOC - smiling a lot, shy glances to the side, all in to go full Team Rocket with Hawkmoth. Up until now she's been so peripheral that seeing her main stage (though again, just barely) is so jarring.

Well, we'll see her "shine" in the next part I guess.

[the-somwthing]

Welcome to my little meta analysis essay called

Why do we misremember Flower Husbands as being “nicer” than it was?

Disclaimer: I’m not here to talk about whether or not FH is “toxic” or anything like that. It’s just a fact that many old fans rewatching FH POV and new fans who are watching it for the first time after seeing fan content tend to be surprised at how they actually behaved in the series compared to how everyone remembered them being back in the day. This will NOT go over whether or not I think FH is unhealthy or whatever and instead just discuss why I believe this phenomenon has happened.

So, if I try to make this a fancy well written essay, I’ll be here all day, so I’ll just get to the point. 3rd Life came out during the DSMP era of mcyt. MCRP has been around for ages, but the DSMP style of RP (which I’ll be calling “smp rp”) was pretty much popularized by DSMP, mostly towards the end of 2020. For reference, 3rd Life started early 2021, so there’s about a half a year between these two events, and DSMP kept going for years so 3rd Life was absolutely happening during the golden era of DSMP.

But what does DSMP have to do with this? Well, it sort of created this idea of “lore” and only specific things being “canon”. You can make fun of me for the way I worded that, but you know what I mean, DSMP was weird about that stuff. I don’t really blame them as it was kind of a new style of RP they accidentally spawned, but still, it was a confusing time for SMPs.

3rd Life was actually less like DSMP and more like the modern SMP RPs, where there’s no (known, lol) scripted events and the fandom itself deciphers what is or isn’t “canon” rather than it being told to them, with mostly everything being considered canon. HOWEVER, I do believe that DSMP’s style did still affect the fandom, specifically with the topic of this essay, Flower Husbands.

But why would it only really affect Flower Husbands? Now we get into a rough topic: shipping discourse. Back in those days, shipping in the mcyt fandom was heavily frowned upon. Moreso than it is today (I know it’s still around, but it was a lot worse the earlier we go lol). I’ve even seen old relics of ppl saying flower husbands should only be portrayed as platonic cuz it’s wrong to ship them, despite their team name literally being husbands. But more importantly, for A LOT of people, flower husbands was the One Ship people felt “allowed” to ship, BECAUSE it was canon. So they would allow FH and shun every other ship.

My point isn’t actually that, with it being the only “acceptable” ship everyone tried to make it more wholesome, though I suppose that could be a contributor. But my ACTUAL point is where all the things I laid out finally close in on each other:

Ships were a Dangerous territory in mcyt fandom, and ships being “canon” was something a lot of people weren’t prepared to deal with. People don’t want to get too close to RPF territory, but back in the day their ideas of c! vs cc! wasn’t as great, so they default to the DSMP Rule of “if it’s stated to be roleplay, then it’s canon to the characters, if not, it’s noncanon and just the CCs hanging out”.

You see where I’m going with this? When trying to follow this rule for a character relationship where they don’t explicitly state what is or isn’t RP, they hear “we’re married” and instantly mark that as canon to the characters since it clearly isn’t true to the CCs, and tend to block out anything else, otherwise you’re risking it not actually being true to the characters. Especially when it’s things like Scott saying something mean about Jimmy; that directly contradicts the “these characters are in love” thing, so it must not be canon, right?

But wouldn’t people still remember that these things happened, or did they actually straight up not process any of it? My answer to that is: of course everyone was paying attention, but with the context that it’s the CCs playing a video game, all of the teasing and other behavior seems WAY less serious. It just looks like average friends playing a hunger games smp together. And as I explained earlier, the fandom was ONLY processing this as a CC thing, so Scott’s treatment of Jimmy never stood out because that’s just how it is playing games.

Back to DSMP, I’m not active in that fandom anymore but I’ll see snippets sometimes, and I’ve seen the claim that beeduo was actually boring in canon and the fandom was the one that made it interesting. I feel like this is exactly what happened with FH. Nobody was actually expecting anyone to go hard into romantic roleplay, so the fans just take whichever pair says they’re getting married and fill in the blanks themselves. And that was normal back then, it wasn’t fans making stuff up for no reason, it was kind of expected of us.

So yeah, I personally believe that this whole confusion about FH is a result of its time. Whether you want to finally look at the actual substance of the relationship rather than following weird rules about what is or isn’t “canon”, or you believe that since FH was from a time where romantic RP was confusing and weird it would make the most sense to take into account the time period it came from and ignore the less appealing bits in favor of the fanon, I don’t really care honestly. But man isn’t this an interesting situation.

[alitherandom]

Bad Batch is almost over so I'm going to ramble. If anyone can relate, please reply or reblog. Share what this show has meant to you, share your thoughts, share theories, tag people. Let's give it a send off.

Star Wars has been a massive part of my life for years.

I loved everything about the Clone Wars, the world building, the character development for the jedi, but most of all the clones. As someone who finds it hard to read faces, it was fun getting to know each of the clones as individuals with their own personalities and I actually never had any issues telling them apart. It hits hard, I think that's what makes their stories even more tragic.

Echo and Fives are my favourite Star Wars characters so I was really happy when Echo came back in Clone Wars season 7. That was why I decided to watch the Bad Batch- it then became my favourite series.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do when this show ends. I think the hardest part is not knowing what the galaxy has in store for the batch and where it could go from here. Whatever happens I’ll always be grateful for the experiences I've had as part of this community over the last few years.

I think that's what's great about being part of a fandom. Seeing all the different ideas and projects that get put out there every day as well as knowing everyone else is in just as much suspense as I am. I haven't interacted on here that much until the last few months, but I check the tags a lot and all the fanart has been immaculate. The writers and artists are crazy talented and work so hard, I admire the level of dedication and aspire to be like that. 😂

I'm also really grateful for the three seasons we got with Clone Force 99.

Seeing Echo go from a shiny in the Clone Wars to becoming who he is now. (I could talk about that for ages, but I'll save that for another post.)

Seeing Crosshair regain his trust in the batch and get to change.

Seeing Hunter step up for his brothers and Omega.

Seeing more sides to Wrecker's strength.

Seeing Omega go from that kid who'd never seen dirt before to learning from her brothers and proving how brave she is.

And lastly, seeing Tech make the choice he did back in season 2. It wasn't easy to watch, because he deserved more time and there was definitely a massive hole in season 3 without him.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to any of them.

My favourite episodes in season 1 were the last few, when Kamino fell. It was the end of an era as well as a new beginning.

My favourite episode in season 2 was episode 8. I was really proud of Echo, plus he got a hug from Omega which I have admittedly rewatched far too many times.

My favourite episodes in season 3 were episodes 13 and 14. The stakes have been so high and it's been great seeing Echo's ARC skills in action again. (Plus the dialogue with Rampart was top tier. Hate that guy, but it was hilarious.)

I'm well aware of all the theories for the finale. I'm choosing to ignore most of them, but I’d like to present my own.

I hope Echo gets to finish what Fives started and the clones can finally be free, including Tech if he's CX2. I hope the batch gets to burn Tantiss to the ground and fly off into the sunset with Omega and the kids from the vault, and then I hope they continue a lifetime of bullying Rampart. I also hope Emerie gets to whack Hemlock with a steel chair, and then the Zillo beast can eat him.

…After all, Star Wars is based on hope, right?

If anyone actually ended up reading this to the end you're a real one- have a great final Bad Batch eve, and may the force be with you.

[1moreff-creator]

DRDT - Milgram AU: T1 "Voice Reveal" Lines

Hey there! Back at it with this AU. I figured if I'm going to commit to the bit, I might as well commit fully. At the start of every Trial, Milgram gives a sneak peak at some of the lines which will appear in the VDs, combined with "glitchy" lines which relate to their murder. So I'm doing that too! Keep in mind this is not professional in the slightest, so exact wording might change between now and when I actually post the VDs. Especially since it's been a while since I rewatched DRDT so the wording could feel a bit off. Anyways, here we go!

Implied DRDT spoilers and heavy themes. Again not affiliated with either of the series

Btw I'm using crossed out text for aesthetics but there will be a transcript at the bottom if you have trouble reading that.

01- "Levi Fontana, a pleasure"

"Yes, I am a murderer"

"I can't bring myself to pretend to be sorry for what I did"

"I suppose I should watch the other prisoners to learn how normal murderers should handle themselves"

...

I know you didn't want this, but it had to be done

02- "Arturo Giles"

"Ugh. Do I really have to be judged by someone this ugly?"

"I'll have you know, I've never murdered anyone"

[Whispering] "I mean, there is... no, no, that wasn't my fault"

...

How was I meant to know?! Even if she's dead because of what I did, it's not my fault!

03- "My name is David Chiem"

"It seems there's been a mistake. But don't worry! I won't hold it against you"

"Mistakes can be corrected. It's not difficult to change, as long as you're willing to!"

"I try to be as positive as I can, since I know there's a lot of people that don't get the privilege"

...

AGH! CAN YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT, YOU PIECE OF HUMAN GARBAGE?!

04- "Yo! Whit Young, nice to meet you!

"Are you really sure everyone here is a murderer?"

"That's wack"

"I don't remember doing anything suspicious! Yesterday was normal, the day before that was normal, the day before that... the day before that..."

...

My mom's really amazing! I love her a lot. I would do anything for her

05- "Tch. Ace Markey"

"You wanna fight?! Wait, fuck, you probably have weapons, don't you?! Shit, don't get any closer!"

"You think I'm a murderer?! Horseshit!"

"Get off your fucking high horse!"

...

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, shit shit shit, FUCK!

06- "Uhm... Nico... Hakobyan"

"I'm- I'm really sorry!"

"You're pretty weird"

"Ah! I'm sorry! Don't get mad at me!"

...

Why should I own up for the mistakes that someone else made?!

07- "J Moreno"

"What do you people really want? Ransom money? There's no way you're doing this just because you want to 'judge our sins' or whatever bullshit you're saying"

"Don't make me laugh. Find evidence I killed anyone, and then we can talk about murder"

"Do you really think you're going to understand everything I've been through, just with a silly little song? How arrogant are you?!"

...

What happened to her was nothing short of a tragedy. Sorry, but I will make no further comment

08- "Mmmm... Rose Lacroix"

"zzzzz"

"Ah, yeah. I killed someone"

"This really isn't that bad. At least I can paint here"

...

I wonder if I can be happy now

09- "H-Hu Jing"

"I know what I did was unforgivable..."

"I really am selfish... I'm scared of receiving the punishment I deserve"

"Please Forgive me!"

...

Wake up! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

10- "My name is Veronika Grebenshchikova!"

"If you don't mind, can you choose not to Forgive me?"

"Death sounds boring. I'd rather stay alive if you don't mind!"

"To Forgive what I did... it would be denying everything I believe about my life..."

...

[Cackling laughter, which trails off with a wheeze] I really am a monster...

11- "Arei Naegishi!"

"Pfft! God, you're pathetic!"

"Why the hell are we even here? How could anyone be stupid enough to do anything but Forgive me?"

"Are you really that much of an idiot?!"

...

WHO'S THE WEAK ONE NOW, HUH?!

12- "Uhm... Eden Tobisa..."

"Even when things are looking down, we just have to try our best, and trust each other!"

"I... I never wanted anyone to die!"

"Es... why are you doing this?"

...

Wh- What have you done?!

13- "Min Jeung"

"This is ludicrous. How are we meant to expect a fair judgement when your 'justice' is determind by one person's whims and biases?"

"When an institution is non-functional, it is highly illogical to indiscriminately tear it down. Improving the basis already in place is by far the most constructive way to conduct progress"

"There is no country in the world where I would be judged a murderer. To say one single prison has the authority to decide that I am is a flagrant display of vanity"

...

The condition has been met. There is no need for further intervention

14- "Alexander Matthews. Just call me Xander"

"Don't you see how broken this entire system is?! What makes you think you hold a monopoly over morality, huh?! What gives you the right to Forgive or Not Forgive?!"

"When something is rotten, you throw it away. It's the same with this twisted place!"

"...Warden?"

...

Ah... haha... I did it... You all can finally rest

15- "Charles Cuevas"

"I was hoping the Warden would be competent, at least, but clearly I was a fool to think that could ever be the case"

"Are you stupid?!"

"Warden... Es... I have a request"

...

Hgk...- Ack! ... Kch[sharp inhale]

16- "Teruko Tawaki"

"Are you okay?"

"You don't need to know anything about my crimes. I'm unforgivable. That's all you need, right?"

"If you can find a way to do it... Just kill me"

...

... [sigh] Why did I ever get my hopes up?

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

And there we go! Hope they weren't too ooc! Keep in mind different backstories could lead to slightly different personalities; this AU is canon-adjacent, not really canon-compliant. Levi's first trial is coming soon! Hope you enjoyed!

Huh? Secret message? Whatever are you talking about?

Here's the transcript of the glitchy lines:

01 - Levi: I know you didn't want this, but it had to be done

02 - Arturo: How was I meant to know?! Even if she's dead because of what I did, it's not my fault!

03 - David: AGH! CAN YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT, YOU PIECE OF HUMAN GARBAGE?!

04 - Whit: My mom's really amazing! I love her a lot. I would do anything for her

05 - Ace: Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, shit shit shit, FUCK!

06 - Nico: Why should I own up for the mistakes that someone else made?!

(Yes it's just the secret quote on their page sue me it's a cool line)

07 - J: What happened to her was nothing short of a tragedy. Sorry, but I will make no further comment

08 - Rose: I wonder if I can be happy now

09 - Hu: Wake up! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

10 - Veronika: [Cackling laughter, which trails off with a wheeze] I really am a monster...

11 - Arei: WHO'S THE WEAK ONE NOW, HUH?!

12 - Eden: Wh- What have you done?!

13 - Min: The condition has been met. There is no need for further intervention

14 - Xander: Ah... haha... I did it... You all can finally rest...

15 - Charles: Hgk... Ack! ... Kch[sharp inhale]

16 - Teruko: ... [sigh] Why did I ever get my hopes up?

[floralseokjin]

⤑ 9 months to fall in love 22.

It seems like everyone around you is either already in love, or in the process of falling, and while normally you couldn’t give a damn, finding out the co-worker you’ve had a teensy crush on is dating someone else at the office seems to sucker punch you right in the gut. It’s stupid, and you’re irritated at yourself, but you can’t seem to shake out of the funk you’ve fallen face first in.

Feeling lonely and heartsore, and mad for no reason, during drinks with your best friend you spot a man at the bar. Tequila confident, you make your way over to the stranger, and successfully one thing leads to another. The next morning you leave before he’s woken up, feeling satisfied in one way, but still as discontented as ever. Telling yourself it was an inebriated mistake, you quickly try to forget about it.

Only, three weeks later that night comes back to haunt you – in a very unescapable way…

pairing; kim seokjin x f reader au/genre; unplanned pregnancy, strangers to lovers, slow burn, romance (dare I say romcom in places), smut, angst, (melo)drama, dual pov words; 5,057

warnings/includes (!) IT’S TIME! GLOB IS COMING!!!! 

⟶ ao3 link

*inspired by the manhwa ‘Positively Yours.’

note; The Astronaut is 1000% playing while they have their little slow dance during the party 🤧 Also, for visuals: here is the inspo for the photoshoot outfit and here’s inspo for the tux! 

↪︎ series index

SEASON THREE ⇤ previous | next ⇥

The next few weeks flew by. 

It took a while for you to stop feeling so shaken up by the accident, and even now, you still felt slightly nervous being inside a car. You knew you couldn’t let the irrational fear consume you, especially with your life soon to take on a new importance, so you tried hard to work past it, talking it through with your therapist during the online sessions you were still having. The collision had purely been an accident, a split-second mistake made by the other driver, a lapse in his judgment. You couldn’t give it the chance to control you. You were stronger than that. Plus, you had so many better things to concentrate on. Seokjin, your friends, your bettering relationship with your family. Your daughter. 

At first, being on maternity leave was jarring. You’d worked fulltime ever since you’d graduated university, so having countless days and days to yourself took some getting used to. Seokjin joked that you needed to make the most of it, because once Sarang got here you both wouldn’t know peace again. It was a strange thought, but not disagreeable. She might have been the surprise you’d never known you wanted, but you’d been practically ready and eager from the start. Seokjin, too. 

You busied yourself with some more decorating of the house at first. Minor decorating. You couldn’t do much, but dotting a few art pieces or photos around, placing a vase on an end table, and laying out a few rugs here and there didn’t use much energy. Until it did. It felt like you were getting heavier and heavier by the day, the weight of Glob weighing you down and warping your axis of balance. You tried your best to keep active, going into the centre of the city a couple of times, and when you couldn’t manage that – not that you managed it well pre-pregnancy – you settled on small walks around your new neighbourhood. Seokjin joined you in the evenings sometimes, but mostly on the weekend. He was still working himself silly ready for his paternity leave, which meant that you were both in bed by 9pm most nights. 

In fact, as well as going to bed early, you liked a nap in the middle of the day too, falling asleep on the couch, where you spent most of the day watching boxset upon boxset. You’d already completed a rewatch of one of your favourite shows, finding it even funnier than the first time a couple of years ago. Now, you were starting something new. A sitcom. You found laughing was the way to go in these trying times, but it also weakened your bladder even more. You’d also started playing BT21 – your bump was a great rest for the handheld console. You’d never been into gaming, but you were becoming mildly addicted slash emotionally unstable, crying at how cute all the animal characters were. 

On the weekends, you and Seokjin bulk cooked meals to freeze. What started off as a fun domesticated activity soon turned into a bind. The good news was that you now had enough food to last at least three months and had stocked up on enough dried goods to avoid starving during a zombie apocalypse. But hopefully that didn’t happen now that you were so close to giving birth. 

The nursery was complete, the beautiful crib the main feature. You kept finding any old excuse to step inside and gaze around – not that you needed an excuse. You spent quite a few hours organising and reorganising Sarang’s chest of drawers, folding and refolding all her little onesies and cute outfits. You made sure to dust and wipe down surfaces often, wanting everything to be squeaky clean for her arrival. Your hospital bag had long been packed, on countdown inside your bedroom. Before long, there wasn’t very long to wait at all! 

One of the worst things to deal with, now that you were in such a late stage of pregnancy, were the nights. Maybe that’s why you were napping so much in the day. No position was comfortable – and positions were limited in the first place. Your bump had reached its limits, you couldn’t go any bigger you were certain. You tried to help yourself by wedging pillows under your bump and between your legs to ease the pressure. It worked to a certain extent, but then leg cramps would set in and you had to move around, trying to get comfy all over again. Then you needed to pee, so it was back and forth to the bathroom. Then Sarang decided she wanted to wiggle. 

It was no wonder you were a little irritable these days, all things considered. Tonight, you and Seokjin had gone to bed not talking to one another after you’d snapped at him over making dinner. He’d come home later than usual to find you in the kitchen, instantly ordering you out. When you’d refused, the exasperated look on his face made you see red. You didn’t expect him to come home after a long day of work and start dinner immediately. You were pregnant, not decrepit, and making a simple stir fry wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility. 

You’d made the stupid stir fry in the end, and then the both of you had eaten in stony silence across from one another. You rarely argued, but you were both fans of the silent treatment when you did. Both stubborn too, it was impossible to know who would break first. As it were, Seokjin was the one to fold tonight. 

“____, what’s wrong?” he asked into the darkness, voice thick with sleep but prickled with concern. 

It wasn’t a surprise that you’d managed to wake him up. You’d already been to the bathroom twice, readjusted your pillows five times, and thrown your head back in frustration maybe ten. 

“Nothing,” you mumbled. Which was a lie. As well as being horrifically uncomfortable, you felt guilty for earlier, which was only marginally overshadowing your annoyance over Seokjin being able to sleep soundly while you tossed and turned. 

Seokjin shifted onto his side, one hand reaching for you and grazing your hip. “Can’t get to sleep?” 

“No.” Mortified, the word sobbed from you, and just like that you were crying. 

“Hey,” he said softly, gathering you in his arms as best he could. You were still uncomfortable but feeling him hold you made it better. “You’re okay.” He rubbed your back soothingly. 

“I’m being stupid,” you sniffed into his chest, getting his pyjama shirt wet. 

Moving your hair off your forehead, he kissed a spot he could reach. “You’re not. You’re tired and uncomfortable.” His palm felt really good stroking between your shoulder blades. “Close your eyes and think of something relaxing.”  

“All I have to think about is the impending horrors of childbirth.” 

Seokjin didn’t reply, probably realising there was nothing he could say to that. He’d seen the videos too. 

“I’m sorry about earlier,” you added.

“I’m sorry too,” he sighed softly. “I had a stressful day.” You hated that he was working so hard while simultaneously knowing you would be beyond happy and grateful once your daughter was born. You were ready to tag team Sarang’s first month in this world. 

“If you can’t sleep, neither will I,” Seokjin announced a few moments later. 

“Now you’re the one being stupid.” 

He barked a laugh, loud in the middle of the night. Then, fondly, “I love you.” 

You smiled against him. You would never get sick of hearing that. It was just three small words, but you knew Seokjin meant them deeply every time. And so did you. “I love you, too.”

A couple of weeks ago, Seokjin got the front page on one of the most well-known business magazines. You didn’t know who had been more excited, you or everyone else who adored him. Definitely not him anyway. Seokjin handled it with his usual Seokjin modesty, as if it wasn’t a big deal at all. You had a copy on your nightstand and another on the coffee table in the best living room. Yeonja even bought a copy for her coffee table, and Mari too! She messaged you a picture on the day it came out. Seokjin had a lot of fans. It was no wonder when you saw his photoshoot. Fashionable in his beige turtleneck and grey suit, he looked objectively handsome. There was no issue of being biased, your man seriously was that good looking! And wonderful. You’d read the part where they mentioned you and Sarang (not by name) in his interview at least a dozen times, and it never failed to put a massive grin on your face (and shed a tear or two.) Plus, reading the interviewer praise him made you inexplicably happy. 

Having taken up most of his twenties and half of his thirties, Alpaca Gaming Studios has been his life, but it’s time to concentrate on more personal matters. After falling in love earlier this year, there’s a baby on the way, and Seokjin is ready to gradually take a step back from work. “She’s the most amazing person I know,” he says about his partner, sounding smitten. “I want to spend as much time with my family as possible. I can’t wait to become a father.” He’s unable to fight the grin on his face. 

Staunchly private, he won’t reveal much about his relationship, but his beaming face is proof of how in love he is. His company still means the world to him, but he is very aware that it could shine just as hard without him – his words, not mine! I am inclined to disagree. AGS has obviously become what it is because of the man sat in front of me. Politely spoken and painfully modest, it seems almost impossible that he is CEO of one of the world’s most popular video game companies. Not to mention, Kim is quite unnervingly handsome. It’s practically unfair. He laughs when I tell him this, turning red. 

“Nothing like that,” he’s quick to correct, when I ask him if he plans on stepping down. Then jokes, “I’ll give everyone I know a heart attack if they read this. I can’t see myself stepping down any time soon.”  

It’s another one of his charms. To be serious and subsequently dilute it with a joke. Not everyone could pull it off, and Seokjin does so numerous times during this interview. His charisma is something else! 

“We’re a team at AGS, a family” he continues, “and they are way more talented than I could ever be.” He chuckles self-deprecatingly, somehow making it attractive. “I have no doubt that if I ever did decide to retire, they’d do just fine without me. There’s my second in command, after all.” 

He’s mentioned his secretary slash best friend Jung Hoseok numerous times throughout this interview and insists he wouldn’t be here now without him. In fact, he wouldn’t be here now without a number of people. It’s obvious that he genuinely believes that. There is nothing false about Kim Seokjin. His gratitude and humility are two more admirable qualities that make this man hard to judge or criticise. 

The mention of Seokjin stepping down from CEO one day had shocked you at first. Making plans for his month-long paternity leave was one thing, but to talk about gradually distancing himself from his role was something he’d never even mentioned. He was quick to reassure you that he wasn’t seriously thinking any of that, his mouth just had a habit of running away from him during nerve-wracking situations like a global magazine interview. It was true that he wanted to take more time for you and Sarang, not work such long hours, and to have stress-free weekends, but he wasn’t ready to leave everything he still loved so much. At least not right now. Who knows what the future holds, he told you. Maybe five years from now we’ll have Glob No.2 and I won’t want to step into the office ever again.

You liked thinking of the future these days. Of your future with him and Sarang…and Glob No.2. (But no No.3 like he’d also suggested!) Before the future never used to cross your mind, but you had so many new things to look forward to now. Your relationship, your baby, Yuna and Jimin’s wedding! Life was exciting and constantly changing, filled with things that had never crossed your mind this time last year. It was a great feeling, even when you struggled to stand on your feet for more than ten minutes right now…

As Seokjin’s 35th birthday was going to be overshadowed by Sarang’s arrival into this world, his parents insisted on celebrating early. It was a multitude of celebrations to tell the truth: Jin’s birthday, his interview, Sarang’s imminent arrival, the last hoorah before said arrival. 

Seokjin knew about it of course, he didn’t very much like surprises, and Mikyung had kept you updated every step of the way because you were too exhausted to help organise a thing. In fact, you were probably too exhausted to even attend the party. You were 39 weeks pregnant and hadn’t done much movement in over a week. You moved from the bedroom to the sofa, to the kitchen, to the sofa, to the bedroom again at the end of the day. It wasn’t a very fun existence, so with cutthroat determination, you were attending your man’s birthday party. Even if you sat down for most of the night and begged to go home by 8pm. 

Yuna did your hair and make-up, and even your nails. If the last few weeks of pregnancy had taught you anything, it was that you could get used to the kind of life where people did everything for you. You were due for a harsh reality check in ten days’ time, because your role was going to be well and truly reversed. You’d folded yourself into a grey velvet wrap dress, complete with chunky socks, before sliding your swollen feet into a trusty pair of Crocs – black this time. Fashion was the last thing on your mind at the moment, which was heart-breaking for the likes of you, but if you were being honest, it had taken a backseat a long time ago. 

The venue was stunning. Mikyung really had pulled out all the stops for her Seokjinie, the theme winter wonderland-esque in gold and creams. There was even an outdoor area decorated much the same, with the gazebo draped in string lights that twinkled in the dark. You wouldn’t be caught outside in mid-November weather, but each to their own. While the party was in the development stages, it had been a toss-up between a three-course meal or a buffet. In the end, down to a committee vote, buffet had won, which you were ecstatic about because you loved a good ol’ buffet. Jungkook was chuffed too and sat next to you munching on two plates piled high with every option available. 

The guest list wasn’t excessive, but it did include a few family members and friends you hadn’t met yet, and Seokjin introduced you to them with a very loving “this is my ____.” It made you beam and feel almost drunk, which you were most definitely not. Somewhere along the line you lost him, but you were in no condition to go and find him. Instead, you sat down at the corner table you’d nabbed for your own, and watched everyone having fun, amused and quietly laughing to yourself. It made you happy that there were so many people here celebrating Seokjin. 

Your brother was poking around what was left of the buffet, and your father and Yeonja were slow dancing together in the middle of the dancefloor. When the song changed abruptly, you watched them break apart awkwardly, unsure of how to continue. Your sister was sat on the opposite side of the room, on her phone, but occasionally you caught her glancing up and watching Hoseok who was now busting out some moves while Kang struggled to keep up. (Fun fact: Hoseok was a trained street dancer. You’d found out tonight.) Ah, not only was he way too old for her, but he was also gay. Maybe she’d realise both on her own, if not you’d let her down gently later. Jungkook was dancing with Haram. She was laughing as he spun her around. They both looked like they were having fun, which was nice to witness. It was a far cry from their behaviour at your dinner party all those weeks ago. 

Seokjin’s brother and wife were dancing with Taeoh and Jiu. His parents must be outside – crazy people. Namjoon and Yeeun were sat on a table; he whispered in her ear and made her giggle. Mari walked over, unintentionally interrupting them. Yuna and Jimin were nowhere to be seen. 

While deep in concentration, a figure suddenly leaned over you, blocking your view, and you looked up to see a joyful looking Seokjin. His face was flushed and his eyes shiny, but he wasn’t drunk. Now that you were close to the end, he refused to touch even a drop of alcohol. Just in case. 

He held out his hand. “Care to dance with me, my beautiful lady?” 

“How about a shuffle?” 

He chuckled. “I would want nothing more than to shuffle with you.” 

With a grin, you took his hand, and he helped your stiff body up. You needed to dance at least once, or just get on the dancefloor. Thankfully, the song changed as you got there, something slow and meaningful again. You looped your arms around his neck as he wrapped his around your waist and started to sway slowly. He looked hot in a tux. If you had the energy, you’d rough it up later tonight. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the case. 

“Happy early birthday,” you said, kissing him. 

One of Seokjin’s palms slid to your bump as he smiled against your mouth. He pulled back slightly. “I’m looking forward to my early gift.” 

“I love you, you know that, don’t you?” You didn’t know what it was, possibly the lyrics in the song you were dancing to, but the love you felt for him seemed to want to burst out of you. 

“I do know that,” he replied, his smile turning into a cheeky grin. “I love you more, though.” 

Laughing at how ridiculous he was, you gazed into one another’s eyes and continued to slow dance, Sarang in the middle. Even when the song shifted. Neither of you cared that you weren’t in time to the music. But before long, Yuna appeared at your side, tugging your arm. 

“I’m stealing your woman,” she told Seokjin, who knew not to put up too much of a fight. She dragged you into the centre of the room. “I’ve been waiting for you to get on the floor all night!” 

Well, she best make the most of it because she had exactly three more minutes before you gave out. You weren’t even moving your feet as she held your hands and moved your arms up and down, but you were both having fun, laughing and making noise. You span her around at one point, then felt a throb in your lower back. That was it. 

“Yuna, I can’t do anymore,” you shouted over the music, one hand clutching the offending area. 

“Party pooper!” she yelled, but she was grinning as she said it, kissing your cheek before you hobbled off, your feet killing you. 

You made your way back to your corner, flopping down on the chair with a groan. Seokjin had disappeared again, but you didn’t mind. You needed five. Unless your bladder decided it wanted to be emptied again. You’d spent enough of your time in the restroom already. As you were sending a silent prayer to your bladder, you felt a twinge low in your stomach. You didn’t think much of it as you’d been experiencing similar things for a few days anyway. At your last doctor’s appointment, it had been confirmed that your bump had dropped, and Dr. Choi had said you might start experiencing some aches and twinges here and there as labour drew closer. 

However, that twinge did feel a lot stronger, and your back was burning, but maybe it was because you’d been more active tonight than you had been for days – weeks even. As you shifted uncomfortably in your seat, your lower back continued to throb. Your pain was interrupted by Kang coming over. He was breathing hard and sweat was beading from his hairline. The chair scraped across the floor as he threw himself down. “Not feeling it either?” you asked through gritted teeth. 

“Hoseok doesn’t even know I’m gone,” he laughed weakly, then furrowed his brow when he took you in. “You okay?” 

“I think I’ve hit my limit tonight,” you admitted, rubbing the underside of your bump. Maybe you should go find Seokjin and tell him you were going home. He could stay here, you didn’t mind, and you didn’t want to ruin his night. You were sure your dad could take you back, he hadn’t been drinking either because he had to drive back to the hotel he, Yeonja and your siblings were staying at for the night. 

“Should I ask one of the waiting staff for some water?” Kang asked, sounding concerned. 

You shook your head. “I’m fine.” Then belatedly remembered your manners. “Thank you.” 

Kang didn’t look like he believed you. 

“THERE YOU ARE!” Hoseok’s screech of a voice made you both jump, and you winced. Shit, your back felt as if it was on fire. “Don’t think you can sneak away from me, lover,” he told Kang, pulling at his hands. “Come dance again!” He noticed you then. “Hey, ____!” Then noticed your expression, instantly worried. “What’s wrong?” 

You sucked in a breath. “Nothing.” 

“It’s not nothing,” Kang said. He leaned over, brows knitted together. “Are you sure you’re all right? You look like you’re in pain.” 

You felt another—something. “I just—it’s just twinges.” They both saw your grimace. This wasn’t just a twinge. It was going on for a little longer, something inside you clenching. Stomach muscles maybe, or something else… “I should find Seokjin.” You jumped up with a buoyancy you didn’t know you had anymore, panic and pain driving your body. 

“Maybe he stepped outside. Let me—” 

Kang stopped abruptly when the sound of liquid splashed on the floor. There wasn’t much of it, and it was a similar sound to when you had a mug of tea filled too full and some slid over the brim and onto the floor as you walked. Only it was coming from between your legs, so it wasn’t tea. And you weren’t holding a mug. 

“Is that…?” The colour drained from Hoseok’s face, which did nothing for your nerves. You stared wide-eyed at Kang. You needed him right now. He was a nurse. He could make sense of the situation. Had you peed yourself? It wouldn’t be the first time. 

“____, don’t panic,” Kang began calmly, “but I think you might be in labour.” 

“I can’t be.” You shook your head, adamant. Or maybe it was because you couldn’t be going into labour here. Surrounded by your family and friends and even some people you didn’t know. “I’m not due yet. My doctor said I might feel some—things but I—” 

“____, your waters have broken,” Kang interrupted. Firmer this time. 

“Oh God, not here.” You crumbled, heart starting to race ninety to the dozen.

“Sit back down,” he ordered softly, getting you back down into the chair. You felt damp between your legs and your socks felt slightly wet and gross. “Hoseok, go and find Jin – as discreetly as possible,” he added, looking around. 

Good. The last thing you wanted to do was gain attention. But for how long that would be possible, you had no idea. You were in labour in the middle of a party. 

“On it,” Hoseok nodded purposefully and disappearing. 

No sooner had he gone, Jungkook was appearing in his place. “What’s going on here?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “ ____, wanna dance?” 

“I don’t think she’s up to it right now,” Kang replied, his hand on your back. 

Jungkook’s eyes widened as he took you in, and got wider when he noticed the floor. “Oh shit. Are you having the baby?” 

“She’s in labour, yes,” Kang answered for you. 

“Where’s Jin?” 

“Hobi went to find him.” He tugged on Jungkook’s suit jacket. “Come here, crowd a little so people don’t realise what’s going on.” 

Obliging, he hid you from view, the front of his shoe in your amniotic fluid! You made a strangled noise, but he didn’t seem to care. “Are you okay?” he asked, and he sounded panicked. 

“Sort of,” you winced, moving a little because of your back. “I’m a little mortified if anything.” 

In truth, you couldn’t quite believe it was happening. Surely you would have realised earlier? And surely you should be in more pain? You mean, yes, you were in pain right now, but shouldn’t it be worse? Or maybe it just hadn’t kicked in properly yet. Oh God, the thought made you nervous. Your hand was shaking as you brought it over your mouth, breathing out slowly. 

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Jungkook insisted. “I guess Sarang wanted to be a part of the fun too.” 

You managed a smile, grateful he was trying to make a joke. “Fuck, I really hope she won’t be born right here right now.” 

“You have a good few hours yet,” Kang reassured, still rubbing your back. “Don’t worry—” 

“____!” Seokjin exclaimed, racing towards you, shoes skidding on the floor. There was nothing discreet about the father of your baby. Not that you cared right now, you just wanted him. 

You reached out for him in panic, gripping his hand as he got closer. “Seokjin, she’s coming!” 

Kang moved so Seokjin could take his seat. “This suddenly?” he asked, taking over rubbing your back. You knew what he was thinking. He’d only seen you twenty minutes ago. His eyes were wide, his breathing coming out in loud puffs. 

“My back’s been aching more than usual today,” you started babbling. “I didn’t realise at first, I just thought it was—” You stopped when you felt another tightening sensation and looked up at Kang. “Are these contractions?” 

He nodded. “You’ve probably been in latent labour for a few hours.” 

Seokjin let out a shaky sigh. “We need to get to the birthing centre.” 

“Call first,” Kang advised. “You might get there just to be sent home otherwise.” 

“But she’s in labour!” Jungkook cried, then immediately clamped is jaw shut. Kang looked around but there was no one near your corner. Most people were on the dancefloor or outside. 

“Let’s go somewhere quieter at least,” Seokjin said, stroking some of your hair. “Yeah?” he murmured, kissing your cheek. 

You nodded, thankful. You didn’t want to be inside here one second longer. “Where are our parents?” 

“They’re all sat in the gazebo. Jiu’s running around like Road Runner out there. She’s even tiring Taeoh out.” 

Despite the situation, that got a laugh out of you. Jiu was getting confident on her tiny, little feet now. She was turning into a terror. 

“I’ll go let them know. You go,” Hoseok said. 

Seokjin smiled. “Thanks, Hobi.” He helped you up carefully. “Come on, let’s get you in the car. I’ll call the centre from there.” Leaning on him, he kissed your temple. “You’re okay,” he murmured.

“I’m okay,” you confirmed, psyching yourself up more than anything. You could do this. You had this. 

Kang stayed behind to wait for Hoseok while Jungkook followed you both as you tried to make a quick and undiscovered exit. You made it out the room successfully before you remembered something – no wait, someone. You clutched Seokjin’s arm. “Wait, where’s Yuna? I need her.” You needed your best friend. 

Jungkook looked back into the party. “I’ll go find her.” 

It was cold outside, but it was nice. You felt as if you’d been boiling up inside. You sat in the passenger’s seat of Seokjin’s car with the door open as he crouched in front of you, stroking up and down your thighs. 

“____! Oh my God,” Yuna cried, bursting out of the building, Jimin and Kang at her heels. The latter had your coat. 

“Yuna, a bit quieter,” Seokjin hissed, standing up. 

“Sorry,” she panted, her handbag gripped in her fingers. “Oh my God.” She got down low on the floor, replacing Seokjin. “Glob is coming!”

“I’m aware.” You felt another twinge—no, contraction—and held yourself rigid. 

She fussed over you a minute while Seokjin paced behind her. Jimin and Kang were talking quietly among themselves. “Did your waters break?” she asked. They didn’t for some, and you’d both been wondering if it would happen for you. 

“Yes. Oh shit, the floor!” Your neck snapped up and you stared over at Kang. 

“Jungkook asked someone for a mop and bucket, don’t worry. He said it was champagne.” 

Before you could squawk in horror – although, you had to admit that was very sweet of him to do that for you to avoid mortification – Seokjin’s phone started ringing. As he moved closer to you, you heard his mom’s frantic voice, but couldn’t make anything out. 

“It’s fine, mom. Everything’s fine,” Seokjin told her evenly, shooting calmness through your veins. If he could stay in one piece, so could you. Maybe. 

“I’m going to call the centre to see if we can check in. I’ll call you when I know more, all right?” His mother responded with something and he chuckled. “I will, don’t worry… Tell Minsoo and Yeonja she’s doing okay, please… Thank you. I better go. Bye.” 

Seokjin immediately got up the contact for the birth centre but made sure to check on you before he hit call, even as Yuna buzzed between you both. You squeezed his hand, trying to stay calm despite everything. The time had finally come, you were going to have your baby.  

Written 2022 - 2023. Please refrain from posting my work elsewhere. No translations allowed. © floralseokjin 2023

[brotherdusk]

it's time again for my favourite genre of post: tumblr user bee brotherdusk theorises wildly during the Foundation midseason!

on the menu this time is Poly and Constant's Imperial Vacation From Hell, or "oh god, I just wanted to make sure one of my favourite guys was going to be okay, but somehow I ended up sending over two dozen increasingly frantic messages to the discord while everyone else was asleep, pepe silvia-style"

(today I learned that grandpa joe shows up when you type "pepe silvia" into the gif search. deserved)

I'm gonna stick this under a readmore as it gets pretty long and image heavy, and potentially contains big spoilers for upcoming episodes, and I know some people want to watch the show completely unspoiled. all theories are based on official promotional videos already released by apple. no leaks or insider book knowledge here!

so I sort of stumbled into this theory in three stages, and I'm going to stick to that template as I talk through my analysis here, starting with:

Part 1 - I'm Genre Aware Now And Everything Hurts

let's be real, nobody saw Hari's (apparent) death coming in the last episode. death is far less of a concern in this show than in others, as the narrative all but guarantees the long-term survival of its core characters. Hari (apparently) dying so quickly after having his body restored was a massive shock, and jolted us out of the complacency that the show had lulled us into.

when the title and description of next week's episode dropped, fan concern quickly turned to Poly, who @gaal-dornick and @aquitainequeen noted has started to exhibit the classic symptoms of Tragic Mentor Figure Disease:

also, there's, y'know, The Guillotine Situation as shown in Trailer 1:

Poly's death seemed so likely that I was beginning to dread the coming episodes, but something was nagging at me; I had a vague memory of seeing a trailer where he was on Terminus and in a situation that we haven't yet seen him in. maybe he does survive his brush with Brother Day, then? I started rewatching all of the trailers, teasers, and character spotlight videos that Apple released in the run-up to season two, and came across something way wilder than I'd expected:

Part 2 - Star Bridge 2: Council Boogaloo

I found another camera shot of Poly and Constant's apparent execution in the Brother Dawn character spotlight video - note the pillars in front of the crowd, the flags in the back, and Dawn, Sareth, Demerzel, Dusk, and Rue standing on the platform behind Day and the prisoners.

note also the onlookers in the maroon robes, who are also visible in the guillotine closeup I posted above...

...hey, it's the Galactic Council as seen in 2.06, with their GILF-y leader at the front in both scenes!

remember how terrified Cleon XII was of their judgement in the season one finale? we still don't know what their exact deal is, but they're clearly big cheeses politically if XII of all people is afraid of them:

here's yet another angle of the execution from Trailer 2 - same setup, same arrangement of Empire on the podium:

let's see what happens in that shot, will we? ..... oh

... did an explosion just go off in the heart of Trantor and potentially take out the entire galaxy's government in one go???? (I mean, Empire are probably fine with their auras and nanobots and backups, but I'm not feeling too good about the Council's chances right now...)

wait - the pulse and shape that appear on the horizon bear a striking resemblance to the new Foundation whisper ships - especially Poly and Constant's ship, Spirit Rising, which is currently in the hands of Hober Mallow...

why did he take their ship, again?

holy fucking shit Hari Seldon you insane rat bastard (admiring, horrified, impressed). what have you DONE. a blade in case the religious hand of friendship doesn't work out, you say??

(sidenote: this was literally the Anacreon plan for the Invictus in the first season - the scale of the destruction would have been magnitudes worse due to the Invictus' size, but same concept)

honestly, I kind of hope the entire Council perishes in the Mallowpocalypse, if only because it would make this exchange in 2.06 deliciously ironic:

the worst detectives in the world finally found their shared braincell and made a deduction! I'm proud of them!

also, Glawen literally saw this coming in 2.04 and Bel brushed him off. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ sad!

regarding casualties - I think this shot from Trailer 1 is the aftermath of the blast. Day was standing much closer to the explosion than the rest of Empire and Dominion, and so would have taken more damage, aura or not. I also see Sareth, Rue (?), and Dawn - jury's out on whether being dead is the latest item added to Dusk's rapidly expanding list of problems?

a direct attack on Trantor would also explain why Day goes on a personal tour of the Outer Reach and ends up on Terminus, screaming for an audience with Hari Seldon (Trailer 1 again):

and hey, Poly's right behind him! he's Empire's best chance of getting a personal audience with the Prophet, after all. Poly also pops up in Day's character spotlight video, in what I'm guessing is the execution scene again, judging from the collar and the guard restraining him. it might even be the aftermath of the blast, since the shot is pretty chaotic and dusty looking. what's got him so upset?

... and it was at this moment that I realised that while Poly is present in the later Terminus scenes with Day, Brother Constant is not, and I started to worry that I'd been focusing on the wrong person the whole time, leading to...

Part 3 - What About Constant?

oh no. the question of Constant's safety has been hanging over both Poly and the viewer since 2.02. oh no

I thought I might have caught a glimpse of her in the Teaser 1 video - being restrained in the background as Day does his infamously-giffed-to-hell Big Steppy on Hober's throat - but I still wanted more concrete proof of her wellbeing.

and finally I found her in the Pillars of Foundation video, alive and well, but -

HER NECK!! HER NECK!!!

if Constant's life is just barely saved by Hober showing up in the nick of time to prevent her decapitation by an insane tyrant I will literally never be normal again. romance. that's romance. (also incredibly shitty of Vault!Hari to take her blind faith and turn her into a pawn for the Empire to slaughter, but I guess that's expected behaviour from him by now.)

... I was literally about to hit post on this theory, but I just realised; that scene in Teaser 1 where Day is facing down a bishop's claw... we all assumed he was being attacked by a wild beast in the Outer Reach - but what if he's lying in the ruins of the podium on Trantor, and the bishop's claw is a freed Beki going on a rampage? god I hope this happens. imagine being Emperor of the Galaxy, about to perform some casual executions before dinner, and suddenly you're flat on your ass with a Hell Dinosaur about to bite your face off. incredible scenes

and that's all I've got! TLDR; Hari knew that the emperors and Galactic Council would become increasingly paranoid and aggressive as the Empire contracted, and would jump at the chance to publicly end an attempted religious takeover by the "barbarian" Outer Reach. That mass gathering at the execution would be the perfect time to strike with a whisper ship, a technology which the Empire has no idea even exists. This enrages Day into visiting Terminus to deal with the Foundation in person, and potentially destabilises the Empire further if the Council have been wiped out. Empire's structure and dignity are decimated without a single shot being fired - and if there is going to be an eventual, physical war, the Foundation is now in a much better position to fight it.

again, this is just me making a theory and connecting everything together with red string etc etc. I haven't attempted to explain everything, such as the Spacers' or Riose's involvement, and have doubtless got some details wrong - but I'm really excited by how things are connecting and can't wait for next week's episode :}