#without deeper thought

[bananasfosterparent]

In one of the Spawn kisses, Tav makes this face afterwards:

Which, clearly shows that they are meant to be unsure and have no confidence in their relationship with Astarion. It's clear the writers had a specific direction for this and it canonly shows Tav does not trust Astarion or that they feel uneasy to say the least.

I mean since we're analyzing facial expressions for Astarion's kisses, I figured we'd look into this one.

[mychapel-004]

FNAF SPOILERS! SCROLL! TALKING ABOUT THE SPRINGLOCK SCENE!

i’ve seen so many people discussing the springlock scene in both negative and positive ways and i think it brings up really cool points about how matthew played that scene and balanced fan expectations with his own characterisation.

i think the discussions around this movie have rlly exposed the disconnect between fanon and canon in fnaf, especially talking abt the core games in isolation, bc frankly in the game universe (ignoring the books) we get Very Little characterisation for William other than the obvious, but Matthew managed to add so much in the way he talks and his body language.

in the reveal scene, we see afton at arguably his peak. in his first scene, he comes off as somewhat demeaning and judgemental until he recognises mike’s name, at which point he seems to have this nervous energy, rushing to cover it up but stumbling slightly, his reaction to the tables being turned even slightly is massive.

this is a man who committed multiple mrdrs in essentially broad daylight, hid the bodies in the most obvious place, and still got away with it, and then kept the crime scene as a trophy of his actions, and an ongoing prison sentence for his victims. he has been in complete control for decades, and is confident that he can deal with any kind of threat quickly. his confidence in his reveal is palpable

it changes when vanessa shoots him. the whole parallel with vanessa and the animatronics is hugely interesting too- how william refers to the animatronics almost endearingly as “kids” when he wants them to obey, how both vanny and the animatronics have an unearned loyalty to him, almost a pseudo-adoption through what he did to them, taking them from their parents and keeping them under his thumb, forever stuck as naive, forgiving, obedient children. vanessa breaking from that control shakes him, but the mask slips back into place almost immediately.

then, he’s outsmarted by the brother of one of his victims, and the child he planned to end next. his pseudo-children turn on him and he can no longer manipulate his appearance or shed his skin to escape. he explodes on them, and his language is incredibly telling that he is being dishonest.

he calls them small, trying to belittle them into submission, even though they are ten feet tall metal animatronics powered by rage. he is grasping at straws to regain control, and failing miserably.

finally, the springlocks go off. the locks in the movie look more like a ribcage, so the first two likely puncture his lungs. they’re slow, and painful, but he doesn’t scream or beg or sob. he grunts and groans, gritting his teeth and only letting out sounds of pain that sound almost involuntary. there is no way in hell he would visibly let himself show weakness or pain in front of these creatures that he believes he has control over. he isn’t brought to his knees until there are eight metal spikes embedded in his abdomen. he doesn’t let the mask fall for even a second, until he literally PUTS THE ACTUAL MASK ON and finally collapses. even then, he’s fighting for consciousness, twitching and writhing with no control over his body. william afton thrives on control, and his soul will not rest until he gets it back.

it’s why he keeps the pizzeria- he always comes back. he can’t help but return to the scene of the crime, putting on his old costume, continuing his killings. he revels in being a constant threat on the horizon. and now, he knows he is going to die, and he knows the suit will bring him back, and noone will be able to get rid of him then. so he puts the mask back on, and waits.

in terms of the sfx- they’re pretty accurate. with stab wounds, you need to leave the knife in the wound as long as possible for best chance of survival, as it stops the blood from escaping. in terms of the springlocks, there wouldn’t be copious amounts of blood as the locks are keeping the wounds filled- which is good because it means a slower, more painful death.

[lustlovehart]

Oh my goodness??? This is horrifying 😭😭

I would literally pee my pants if I was Idia and Malleus just ominously said that. The way they don’t even show him either is so scary (╥_╥).

The end is coming for Diasmonia, and they’re really building it with this horrifying exchange 😭

Over blot Malleus fic... (a few spelling errors in the tags be warned >.<)

[skotiwolves]

i can’t stop thinking about Luthen’s monologue when he tells Lonni he sacrifices kinship and love bc boy was that a bold faced lie

[dia-viller]

Angela's prophecy to Eragon of his future love seems so forced and really doesn't allow Eragon to make his own choice. He has many times mentioned the other prophecy, that his destiny is to leave Alagaësia but has never talked about his future epic romance (I don't think that he would that easily forget about this prophecy).

Eragon expects that he will eventually have the "greatest" love, that his partner will be powerful, wise, and beautiful.

Eragon was literally just 15/16 years old boy, who was just a farmer boy, and now he was told that his future love would be "strong enough to outlast empires." Of course, he would subconsciously think that Arya is his destiny, especially since he had visions of her. (he didn't know that it was because of Eldunari)

And since other's Angela's prophecies ended up being true, Eragon is even more sure that this prophecy will come true

He doesn't even try to think of being with someone else. Yes, Arya is immortal. She is also a rider now, but Eragon hasn't even thought that with more new dragons, there will be more riders. (And more possibilities to be with someone else)

[son-of-avraham]

As I've gotten deeper in conversion, I have increasingly imagined jewish life throughout time. And what I mean by that is...

So when I looked at the Western Wall before this (maybe a few years ago), I just saw a wall. It held no deeper meaning than that. I imagined nothing when I saw that.

But now when I look at the wall or even when I'm praying idly, I'm imagining myself in the temple when it stood there. It's bright outside - a summer day so bright, I think the temple will blind me. A soft wind surrounds me. I'm stood in the middle of a huge crowd of people, simply observing. Women pass by me in small crowds, laughing and talking. Some of these women are wrangling their small children who keep running away, laughing like it's a game. And men walk by smelling of spices. The air is light, the city around bustling with people living fulfilling, meaningful jewish life. The wall now symbolizes that jewish life, and even though it's not just about the temple when I imagine it, it means something to me.

I think that's the result of seeing myself in judaism, turning the "you" into a "we," and I feel about this what I must imagine a married couple feels.

[lyxchen]

You know I really love how Squid Game pushes it's scenes so far that it makes you feel that sense of urgency and distress that the characters feel. It can easily happen that if a scene goes on for too long for the purpose of keeping you in suspense that it then gets boring or annoying. But that never happens in Squid Game. Some scenes are incredibly long, especially the games, I know I got so stressed out watching Dalgona for the first time because the scene just would not end. But that's exactly what the length of that scene is supposed to do for you. Often when you are feeling a lot of anxiety or are in a moment of intense stress everything around you can feel slower. Like time takes longer to pass. Especially when you have a time limit and still need to concentrate and not make any mistakes. And in my opinion Squid Game conveys that perfectly. The games, they drag on even though a game itself is often not that long. Red Light, Green Light has a timelimit of 5 minutes. That's so little!! But they make you feel every damn second of it while watching. I'm not sure if the actual scene was longer than 5 minutes, but it probably was. But they don't cut out stuff. Often when things happen over a span of time in shows and movies they don't add in parts where not much happens and just cut to the part that's interesting again. But in Squid Game because it is life or death and because of how anxiety can make you feel like time is passing slower every moment for the players feels so long and every moment is important. And that's what I really love in how they made the show. Because yes scenes may be going on for a long time. But they're showing you in the most realistic way possible how the players experience these moments. Add to that that there's almost no added in music like pop songs and in general there's not that much background music either. Because it would just take you out of the intensity of the scene, seperate you from the character's point of view. So a lot of scenes are very quiet in the way that every sound you hear is also a sound that a character inside the show is hearing too. Squid Game, just in the way it's made and filmed and in how long scenes take, is made to be so realistic and wants you to feel as closely as possible to what the characters themselves are feeling too. I really love this way of making a show

Btw I made this post because I realized that this doesn't just happen in the games but also outside of them. When Gi-hun is searching for the recruiter we get a montage of all of them searching, the days passing and Gi-hun ripping off pages from his calendar, but even here that montage takes longer than a montage to show the passage of time usually takes. Because it is long. They can't show us every day of Gi-hun just searching again and again but they can sure make us feel like we've just watched that. And you start out watching it thinking "oh they're gonna show us them finding him in like the next 30 second" but they don't. And there's one point where you think the montage is over but then it isn't. And you get frustrated watching it because "why can't they find the recruiter already?? This is taking so long" and that's Exactly how Gi-hun is feeling in that moment. They drag it out, they show you so much of everybody just searching and days passing and they Want you to be annoyed, because then you're really getting it. You're really getting how fucking long it took to find the Recruiter and what a painfully and annoyingly slow and exhausting process it was. And that's just another way that this show is so damn amazing!!! Because it's so fucking good at making you feel exactly what a character is feeling!! They're not just telling you "oh yeah this took long but they did it", no. They're Showing you exactly how long it took.

And suddenly we've arrived at one of my favorite story telling rules which is "show, don't tell" and I think Squid Game applies this rule really really well

(I have more rambly thoughts under the cut that have a little bit to do with this post but focus on another part of it. Also if the structure of this post feels weird that's probably because I had many different thoughts and just kinda put them where I felt they fit in best so idk, I have a hard time rereading stuff I've written so sorry if the flow of it feels off)

Tbh I think it might also be a little bit why the show appeals to so many people and why so many people go and participate in Squid Game the Challenge or that Mr Beast shit. With the way Squid Game is made and filmed to be so immersive it has the power to give the viewer that same rush of adrenaline that the players inside the show feel. But us viewers sit at home and we know we are safe and so we want more of that adrenaline. It's maybe kind of like Bungee Jumping. You get that rush, that thrill of "holy shit I'm Falling", but you know you're safe. You're doing something you would otherwise only experience right before death. And obviously that is what Squid Game the Challenge is like, because being in it you know if this was real, as in real the way it is real in the show, then you'd be very close to death at any given moment. But you're not. Because you don't die if you fail. But you still get that thrill because of that association with death without actually having to be afraid of it. And that's when it gets fun. And while I don't think that this was intended the show is partly also as popular as it is, Because just by watching it you get a little bit of that adrenaline that's fun for you because you know you're safe

Also another thought about the 'show, don't tell' point of it all. There's not that much talking happening in Squid Game. Like people obviously speak to each other but often there are also long periods of time where nobody is speaking at all. But that doesn't matter because this show is so good at showing us everything that is important without much words needed. I'm pretty sure you could watch it without sound or subtitles and still get most of the plot of it. And that's really impressive

[modelxis]

Tbh, i guess it's...too stupid? To assume certain culture/language would completely disappeared due to the Elf war

Idk, like, the Elf war is after X era

So, like, there could be 2 scenarios for this.

Hopeful: scientist, historians all agree and able to perserve all knowledges and languages from various cultures, save them in multiples servers which you can acess through cyberworld. Like, it's X era, you can assume every countries has their own team of engineer, programmer to helps storing all the data of their people.

So like, despite the horrofic result of the Elf war, you can still find all the old datas.

Again, cyberspace is still a vague concept in megaman.

Cynical: Goverments only focus on the "important" and more "universal" languages, they try to perserve all cultures, but there is clearly biases. Not every countries, and like, hidden tribes would have strong technology to aid them.

But doesn't mean traces of their lives would gone, it hidden throught out the earth, historians would try to find them and study them "again".

[tarmac-rat]

The Man Who Killed Jason Foreman

[bottombaron]

there really does need to be a queer person in the writers' room on every show with queer characters, if only to explain how to better describe 'profound' relationships.

bc this happens all the time with showrunners fumbling for ways to describe a not-necessarily-sexually-prioritized relationship between same-sex characters

it's like somewhere in our evolution 'straight' men forgot that you can express your Profound Emotions with sex or other physical ways just to experience closeness and love.

like sexual attraction can evolve from profound emotions. they aren't inherently mutually exclusive. you can have two people who aren't initially attracted to each other and then over the course of knowing each other attraction blooms from simply caring for that person.

it's wild that ppl don't get that. is it a straight person thing? Do you have to be horny for a person from the go or it doesn't count?

like i'm absolutely serious, there needs to be studies on this phenomenon. there's something here in the miscommunication of what love can look like that is fucking fascinating.

[fandom-geek]

so i've been catching up on call the midwife and finally watched the latest episode (s14e4), and this line caught my eye:

"We journey in faith. We must permit all doubt, for it is only through doubt that we can find its opposite."

which naturally made me think of conclave, since that also talks a lot about doubt and faith/certainty - namely two particular quotes:

"Let me tell you there is one sin I have come to fear above all others. Certainty. Certainty is the great enemy of unity. Certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance. [...] Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore no need for faith."

and obviously CTM has this quote coming from sister julienne, an anglican nun, whereas conclave is catholic. but i'm just kinda fascinated by how they're two diametrically opposed quotes despite their similarities. cardinal lawrence views doubt as the foundation for faith and thus the two are the same, whereas sister julienne sees it as a way to find faith (but not the same). it's especially interesting since conclave is dealing with a church that is torn btwn change and stasis, whereas call the midwife's nuns are dealing with a changing world that is increasingly uncomfortable (and rightly so) about the role of religion in healthcare.

idk if sister julienne's view is typical to anglicanism, but as an atheist who was raised catholic, i've gotta say that i prefer cardinal lawrence's view of faith and doubt. it just seems... so much more accepting of human psychology.

[vaniliens]

Im not even sticking around for the drama that stuff gives me heart diseases im just here to see where this guys gonna lead us and to make fun of him if it ends up bad and ignore it if it was good

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Long-Running Story Ideas That I Very Much Wish I Could Actually Write

Original Fiction

Shadowstruck

Lily Between Worlds

Cardinal's Map

Paper Wings

A Beautiful Tomorrow

Henry and Mouse

Starfall

The Dust That Falls from Passing Stars

Cinderella retelling

Starfall novel

Arateph

The Princess and the Pea

Rapunzel

Snow White

Cinderella

Half-baked ideas for Little Red Riding Hood, The Goose Girl, and the romance of Auren's parents

Other Fairy Tale Retellings

The Tattercoats Retelling

Traditional East of the Sun, West of the Moon retelling

Political Goose Girl retelling

The Servant's Crown

Twelve Huntsmen retelling

[mirchloe]

the intern program to me is fascinating from a business standpoint in comparison to the camp. with whispering rock, parents have to pay high fees for the chance for their child to attend, and pay they will, especially if they have a child with a volatile power, such as how phoebe is taught techniques how to control her flare-ups, along with presumably being provided her block by the psychonauts, or if they have a child they want to dump for the summer based on their own anti-psychic sentiments or other familial reasons, such as the issues with clem and his father and milka with her mother. it's expensive to send their child to a secret government facility, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe there are payment plans with parents who can't afford the immediate fees upfront.

at the camps, there is a clear recruitment in mind for eligible psychonauts. i like to imagine the motherlobe sends out agents to directly recruit cadets with the promise of a fun summer camp to hone their powers and an occupation. the location of whispering rock seems intended to remain a secret from how sasha calls it a "remote government training facility," and it's purpose is to educate young minds, mold them, train them, even if classes don't seem to be mandatory for the higher ranking cadets. that way, the psychonauts can also keep an eye on the psi cadets, even if they choose not to pursue higher education in the intern program.

but the intern program differentiates as a place of true recruitment, along with true experience. tim went on to discuss the interns as, basically, the best of the best. to paraphrase, he said they were like the heroes of their own stories, similar to raz. it's clear they're extremely talented, and the intern program is leagues above whispering rock in terms of strictness. the interns have to follow proper protocols, check in with mentors, make visible progress, etc, while at the camps, it's more easygoing with the kids having free game to come and go as they please.

for me, how the intern program works is based on the personal application of the intern's abilities. how promising will they be as a psychonaut? what are their goals? what do they want to learn, and how will they apply themselves? it's all about education and the pursuit of a career in the agency, something that raz strives for without fully realizing the impact of what it meant to be an intern. he might have saved the world, in a manner of speaking, but he's a fresh-faced kid compared to the other interns, who, seemingly, have much more experience - they just believe they're being held back. (on the other hand, i think the psychonauts can reject applicants if they don't meet specific requirements, but they're free to apply next summer and could be accepted at that later date.)

what's also interesting is how familial lineage and wealth could play a role into who gets accepted. sam gets in because not only is she highly specialized as a zoolinguist, but her grandfather is a founding member of the psychonauts. the natividads come from wealthy parents, and norma even leverages them in the lady luctopus fight, as if they could have any sway over hollis. the last thing the psychonauts need is a lawsuit, after all.

separately, i don't think they would mix in adults with the teens because adults clearly need a different level of attention. augustus is just trying out his powers, barely learning the fundamentals of pyrokinesis, while norma is simply masterful in comparison. he needs specialized training, and honestly, i think the psychonauts would charge for their services. the aquatos are clearly an exception to that rule, especially since the psychonauts are now harboring nona for her own protection against a world that would otherwise want her punished. but for other adults just discovering their powers, i think there would be discounted lessons, similar in the vein to a whispering rock class, like pyro for beginners, etc. the intern program is for teens who have already shown their psychic skills, their prowess and promise, so lumping in adults just wouldn't make sense to me, even if the adult is someone who has had clear experience with their abilities.

[neckromancy]

I honestly feel like this is the only place where I can say I am getting an f/o related tattoo without getting judged. It's my first tattoo and I am super nervous, it's not super on-the-nose as it's an icon of an achievement directly related to him, but still.

Either way... more info on April 9.

[basslinegrave]

sometimes i think im not fully masc and i rather fall into the nonbinary area, something truly neutral, and that a full transition to male isnt for me so if its unattainable because of this country/gov, i will live, but its always because im too comfortable. everytime im faced with being deadnamed, especially in situations where it couldve been prevented, or forced to present as a woman or more feminine in public for any reason (legal in most cases), i always realize how fucking dreadful it is. it also made me understand it a bit more when transmascs and trans men sometimes end up dressing more stereotypically feminine, its definitely the freedom and comfort, at least for me now. (not to mention the whole thing about it being "progressive" when cis men do it..) it feels like once i legally transition i wouldnt mind to be caught in such situations as theres something backing it (aka i can confidently say my name etc), and with dressing up a certain way too (even though now im aiming for a more masc look, i still dress like an emo fag which is "girly" in peoples eyes lmao) but the whole thing about not feeling super set on 100% masculinity comes from the fact that im comfy enough and people closest to me see and address me as such (or at least pretend well enough lol) so i dont have to force anything or try too hard to achieve something, prove myself to them etc. in a way, now that i work from home and mostly talk to ppl online, it created a "bubble" for me, which feels safer but isnt reality. but yeah my ultimate end goal rn is get thru the legal changes finally, present male locally and legally, but more masc/nb online and with the people that get it