#and we know it's sincere because literally nobody can see him

[scintillatingshortgirl19]

house's little laugh as wilson openly flirts with him through an MRI microphone is Doing Things to me

#they're just. they're #idk they're sure something #house md #hilson #damn it wait i just realized why this moment is getting to me so much #there is just something so *genuine* about it #like it's the tiniest little chuckle but #no one can see house right now #wilson can't see his reaction #he can't even hear house laugh because it's soundless except for the little breath house takes before returning the banter #house is in a ton of pain from his leg and he's self destructive and generally miserable #but just for a second wilson made him happy #and as tiny a moment as it is #there's something so precious about it because it's a rare moment of complete sincerity from house #and we know it's sincere because literally nobody can see him #so yeah as i said. it is Doing Things to me #house s02e13 #house season 2 #videos - house #op

[ineffably-human]

We're going to scream about Nandermo all week, but right now I need to talk about Baron Afanas. Because the Baron's arc, so to speak, always felt like a big part of the series DNA for me - and oh fuck did this episode deliver on why.

I think we can agree: in the show, vampire society is fucked up, right?

Vampires on their own have plenty to deal with that can make them crazy. They have to live by killing. They lose everyone from their old lives. They have to find new reasons to keep going on, forever, so shit can get decadent really fast.

But holy shit, what that's turned into in vampire society? Where you actively put cruelty over mercy, and violence over solving your problems? Death cults and scam artists roam free, but if someone has depression the best thing to do is ignore them. Someone can get their mind wiped or be locked up for centuries, and that's just what you do to your species.

--

So: the Baron's arrival is the first conflict of the whole show. The joke is about an ancient powerful creature of pants-shitting terror, vs three lesser vampires who just want to live their lives and not get murdered for being too lazy to conquer humanity. There's a lot of talk about how to please him: do you keep to the old ways, or pick up some new traditions? Decorate with flayed skin, or with glitter? And the Baron says: who cares, you're all soft and useless. All that matters is getting more control over this world, until people are cattle and we have no reason to hide anymore.

But later he confesses: that shit stopped mattering ages ago. He's not even real nobility, he's literally impotent, and he talks about doing horrible things because he doesn't know what else to say. He's angry and half-crazy from boredom. And admitting that, owning those feelings, means suddenly he has three new friends and a whole new world of things to enjoy.

There's the Baron the rest of the vampire world knows, but for one night we see the ancient, unknowable terror was just a guy. Maybe he's always been just some guy.

That fun puts him in a vulnerable position, and he's killed by the most unwitting vampire slayer in fiction. But Baron Afanas is changed. He sucks dirt for a year and still comes out of it with a new lightness and joy to him. He saves the Sire, another ancient terrifying monster everyone was eager to kill or send away. They adopt the hellhound. They get cozy and give advice. They make popsicle stick houses and go on walks. They live.

And that seemed like the end of the story until last night - when the Baron suddenly felt like the butt of a joke everyone knew but him. Spurred on by someone else who feels lonely and ignored, the Baron felt vulnerable. And he snapped back to how he lived for centuries.

'What the hell are you all doing, enjoying yourselves? We're supposed to be unhappy. We're supposed to live centuries of unhappiness, bringing pain to everyone in our path, and we're definitely not supposed to cheer up our friend who's sad.'

--

Nobody liked the Baron before Guillermo killed him, not even other powerful vampires we meet; they saw the Baron as a crazy far beyond their own crazy. But this is also how vampire society values you. It's how they measure Nandor's worth when they think he's dead, too: how old and powerful you are, how much you've been able to conquer and kill.

Vampire pods are both cliquish and aren't expected to last in the first place. If someone dies, you literally paint them out of your lives and forget. Everything we see discourages feelings, sincerity, or even basic companionship. The only way to earn respect is to be cruel. The more cruel you are, the more powerful you are. The more powerful you are, the more feared you are - the lonelier you are, the crazier you are. It's practically designed to create the Baron, or worse.

But new vampires don't behave that way. And the vampires we follow in the show don't behave that way - because they have each other, because they've been encouraged to have each other, often by Guillermo. (Holy shit, Nadja saying maybe she'd be fine dying, and Nandor immediately asking if she's okay? Nothing changes in this house, except everything does. They're not going to almost lose one of their own ever again.)

The vampires in the heart of vampire culture never seem happy to be like this. It doesn't have to be like this.

--

The Baron doesn't become a tyrannical monster for long. Because he never actually was one - and because he spends two evenings and a fireball to the face, watching Nandor and Nadja fight for Guillermo. Watching them plead and cling and defy, seeing Guillermo's earnest feelings in spite of his bloodline and the mistakes he's made. Seeing Nandor's perfect trust, and then his grief, the way he insists that Guillermo was never 'just' anything. The Baron can't find real fulfillment in hurting someone (because that ship sailed ages ago). He can't deride them for caring, because he's cared for a long time now.

And when the Baron admits that's who he is, when he says it out loud, he only gains more in his life. He finds new depth in the happiness he'd felt for a while now, because he's admitted and allowed himself to be happy. And now he has the children he's always wanted. Living together, the Baron and the Sire are still ancient and powerful - and they're also family, finding real joy together in a world that was ready to dispose of them.

"I suppose with the right company, it can be beautiful, this eternal existence."

--

There's an inherent selfishness to being a vampire, taking from someone else in order to live. But there doesn't have to be inherent cruelty, or lack of love.

They're all ready to admit they care. The Staten vampires have all cared for Guillermo or each other in their own ways this season. And Guillermo doesn't lack for flaws, but loving his monster family has never been one of them. (When he and Nandor work their shit out, they're gonna be insufferable.)

Now they just have to let the Guide in. Because she's absolutely starved for love, and vampires get pretty fucked up when they're on their own.

#fandom: wwdits #what we do in the shadows #wwdits #i am a meta gremlin #baron afanas #tl;dr i am a sucker for choosing love #especially when the world around you says it's stupid or you're not allowed #but love was always in you so it happens anyway

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

Round 5, Match 5

propaganda below the cut! (wall of text warning)

Trent Reznor:

"he is everything. he is all that exists around us. he is the air which we breathe. he performed covered in mud at woodstock 94 and somehow made it work. he's largely responsible for arguably the most influential concept album of the 90s. he is beautiful and sweet and stunning. i want to study him under a microscope. i know closer is about sex as a self-destructive behavior but also have you seen how insanely gorgeous he looks in the music video? in the words of my friend, "he sings like he's in heat". he literally humps and destroys synths (in a variety of ways, including stripping the keys off with his boot) during performances. every single outfit he wears is extremely cunty. on multiple occasions guys have said that even though they're straight they would fuck him. finally, in the words of jude doyle: "to this day, looking at a photograph of trent reznor in the early '90s feels like looking into the sun""

"The live March Of The Pigs (1994) video makes me froth at the mouth I start biting and snapping my teeth and growling. I need to rewatch it five times a week at LEAST to stay sane. Trent Reznor is like if a trophy wife was a man. Also the way he WHISPERS INTO THE MIC AT THE END OF SUCK?????HHFSJBDNDNS???? THE ENTIRETY OF THE BROKEN EP????????? Cleanup on aisle my fucking pants. Is this too insane? Sorry"

"I’m a lesbian but that does not fucking mean anything when confronted with trent reznor"

"It's Trent, man. Even the literal devil wants him. He's just boypretty."

"This man deadass wrote a song with the lyric “My moral standing is lying down" in it"

Keanu Reeves:

"Best role model"

"I have several photos of keanu on my vision board on Pinterest because I need him so desperately"

"The most stunning, the sweetest, humble, funny, sincere, most gorgeous man alive probably. The internets boyfriend for a reason ya know what can you say? His looks do the taking for you. Like rivers edge Keanu? (80s so nvm) okay MOPI Keanu?? Riding that bike like nobody’s business in that hoodie leather jacket combo?????? Effervescent."

"This man screams KINDNESS AND LOYALTY. For that reason, it is enough. He is enough. More than enough."

"Majestic."

"i looked up keanu on pinterest to see what he looked like in the 90s and i ended up spiraling down a rabbit hole for half an hour just admiring his beauty. if that doesn’t prove that he deserves to win then idk what does"

#most attractive 90s musician #poll #polls #90s music #tournament #trent reznor #nine inch nails #keanu reeves #dogstar

[sexhaver]

me n bailey marathoned the first season of this show over the last few days. some thoughts:

Alan Cumming, specifically his accent and wardrobe, are by far the highlights of this show. i sincerely hope someone has made an edit compiling all of his outfits without any of the actual gameplay, because he is consistently serving cunt

like just look at this

that being said i did keep seeing him as Fegan Floop from Spy Kids

oh right there's an actual game/competition component to this

im just gonna get this out of the way: the entire premise of the show is fundamentally flawed. they keep trying to make it sound like the three Traitors in the group are "backstabbing" and "working against" the Faithful (non-Traitors), but, like, everyone on the show (Traitor or Faithful) is competing for the exact same prize pool. it's not like The Mole (or any other social deduction game), where the secret evil team actually has different goals diametrically opposed to those of the good team and has to complete them without having anyone notice. here, the evil team just... votes on someone to "murder" every night. that's it.

to emphasize this point: the literal only thing that can ever give you away as a Traitor is being bad at lying/concealing guilt. there are ZERO gameplay differences between the goals of a Traitor and the goals of a Faithful, which means the arguments over who to vote for banishing are based entirely on "gut feelings"

nobody on the show has ever played a social deduction game before. late into the season, there's a day where all 3 Traitors are alive and it's down to 6 people total (so 3v3). anyone who has played Mafia/Werewolf/ToS/etc knows what this means: barring bullshit last-minute rules from the producers, it is quite literally impossible for the Traitors to lose, because none of them can be voted up. it takes 4 out of 6 votes to exile someone, and there are only 3 Faithful left. if no Traitor votes for another Traitor, then it is, again, literally impossible for a Traitor to be exiled. furthermore, if they all coordinate their votes on one Faithful, all they have to do is convince one of the remaining two Faithfuls to vote with them, and they instantly win $180k (split three ways). and hey, wouldn't you know it, one of the Faithfuls (Kate) was already really suspicious, and another one of the Faithfuls (Quentin) said out loud multiple times that he was voting for her!

so what do you think the Traitors did?

god this part pissed me off so much im having to pause for breathe while typing this. okay. so.

two of the Traitors voted for the third Traitor, who got voted off.

after being voted off, youre supposed to walk up to the Circle of Truth and reveal if you were a Traitor or not. the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was entirely too nice and gracious about it. me n bailey discussed this and came to the conclusion that we would either a) out the other Traitors on the stand and explain, using game theory and math, exactly how fucking stupid they are, completely ruining the game for them, or b) pretend to cry a little while walking up to the Circle of Truth but as soon as you walk behind the first other Traitor's chair you flip it over backwards and elbow drop their nose into their face while screaming "YOU STOLE $60K FROM ME YOU SON OF A BITCH"

also the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was very clearly autistic and Every Single Reason the other traitors gave for not liking him was like straight out of the DSM V diagnostic criteria ("he talks too loud and laughs weird", "he's got way too much energy all the time", "his emotional responses don't make sense")

apparently there's a season 2 but i cannot bring myself to watch it after seeing Christian thrown to the lions (ayyy Sunday school reference)

also at one point a Faithful has to leave because of COVID (this was filmed in 2020) so the producers don't let the Traitors murder anyone that night for balance reasons, but to compensate, they tell them they can like. write down three names that will be publicly revealed to everyone the next morning, and then one of those people dies the next night. so obviously this is mostly a nerf for the Traitors because they miss a night of killing someone, but the intention was clearly to give the Traitors an opportunity to sow confusion by putting one or two of their OWN names onto the list to make them seem like Faithfuls. and they even had an extra objective during that day's game where one of the three people could earn a "shield" to protect them that night, so if a Traitor was on the list, they could basically "steal" the shield from the other 2 (since they obviously weren't getting killed no matter what). but i think the Traitors heard "write down three names" and "kill" and had all the blood rush to their respective dicks because they just wrote three Faithfuls lmao. deeply unserious show

#the traitors

[justanotherhh]

something i haven't seen much of so far is analysis of charlie's journey from the perspective of someone who also needs to change how she engages with others (vaggie too, but that feels more obvious as she's an ex-angel/exorcist and a sinner)

when charlie tries to help angel by confronting valentino it's been built to in the other episodes, because it's made very clear that she doesn't respect sex work -- she's got that "we need to save them from themselves" type attitude you see a lot with people who haven't done critical analysis into their own biases from a position of mildly-to-severe privileged disgust and haven't engaged with the perspectives of sex workers as people who can frame and understand their own experiences (whatever work they engage in and why they do sex work to begin with). same for her opinions on addiction

the scene where angel has to do a reenactment with sir pentious frames addiction as

something to be judged

something pitiable

something predatory

which isn't exactly a great way to bring angel onboard with the programme/make him feel less like shit. meanwhile the anti-sex + weirdly heteronormative attitude is also present in that scene by having sir pentious dress up as a virginal young girl in an anime-type school uniform with a big lollipop (the irony of this being practically indistinguishable from a porn setup feels very intentional), who declares that "she" won't be having sex before marriage as the great crescendo (sidenote, monogamy in the afterlife sounds.... like a long time to be monogamous......... yzma voice: "why do we even have marriage??")

angel, up until his duet with husk, is having it made clear again and again that the people seemingly helping him find the essence of his being inherently gross. he likes sex -- yeah there's the performance/face he has to wear to get through the day, but i think the bdsm club was a sincere suggestion and vaggie literally calls it disgusting/shoots it down without thinking about how to do so respectfully (again, she's an ex-angel/exorcist, she has biases of her own to contend with, but also the implications that nobody in heaven is having fun sex or negotiated kink and bdsm... tragic. do they even have a sex club called consent up there?)

charlie is a fairly conservative person at the beginning of the story. yes, she wants to help, but her framing of what "help" looks like doesn't take into account her own biases; presumably she grew up with the idea that "sinners are bad people" as much as anyone else did, if not more considering lucifer gave up on the sinners and that's been her environment from birth -- cut off from the people she's supposedly in charge of, but "hearing stories." (in both the pilot and happy day in hell she clearly has a fondness for the sinners, but it's as an outsider, someone who does not relate to them, and generally there's that overtone of "royalty doesn't know shit about what anyone is going through" which, charlie being a ruler, i wonder if that will be a focal point or just something to accept, it's not a dealbreaker for me, just something i noticed, esp as helluva boss has poked on power dynamics in hell along those same lines). the yearly murdering of demons is, likewise, something that is simply status quo and so even getting to a place of "hey maybe we shouldn't do that" is big and was inevitably going to create more cracks in the logic of black-and-white heaven-or-hell, so it's cool that that's where we the audience get to first meet her -- right as those threads are about to start unravelling

but at the very beginning, in some ways she echoes elements of characters like adam and lute (who are of course far more in-your-face, being villains) in her original assessment of what makes someone "a bad person" -- it causes her to create a system that doesn't actually work, and then of course the hotel is destroyed, but next time they'll build it to be better! (metaphor *jazz hands*)

why is angel in hell, is the question later asked. is it because he was/is an addict? because he drinks? because he does sex work? because he likes sex? (it may be because he's killed people/was in the mafia, but we don't have all the context yet, for now those are the things people know in the story itself) at the beginning charlie isn't asking the right questions, questions that would need her to go into herself and challenge her own biases, but throughout season 1 she goes from merely proclaiming that "everyone" can be saved, to sincerely challenging the idea of "needing to be saved" from things that shouldn't be judged in the first place. "if angel's can do whatever and remain in the sky." yeah, how are we stipulating what's allowed and what isn't hmmmmmm? stay tuned for s2

(and youknow, apologises to angel for overstepping his boundaries, so it's not like angel doesn't know that she does care for him, s4 gives a lot of development for their relationship as well -- it's the tipping point for a lot of what comes next)

interested to see how that challenging will continue in s2. she's gone from "we have to make you into a good person by cutting out things that make me (and others) uncomfortable from a conservative/purity-based judgemental framework" to "why do we have these systems of judgement in the first place?"

tl;dr angel changed a looot in s1 but so did charlie. she understands better now that the work she's doing is going to look very different from what she'd first anticipated, and poking at her own biases in relation to angel helped that journey and brought her closer to actually understanding and relating to the people around her

(there's another element here about charlie and vaggie as queer women in this particular universe, but it's a slight tangent so... different post)

#charlie morningstar #hazbin hotel #angel dust #vaggie #vaggie hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel meta #first post let's gooooooooooooooooooo #my meta

[daisymylove]

I sincerely don't know if Im alone on this one, so I want to know what yall think. Again, I may get some heat for this, but it’s my honest opinion.

Something I noticed in my reread is that I grew a slight dislike for lucie in chot, and as someone who had always previously rooted for her, I’m currently annoyed at myself.The thing is, Lucie IS a very privileged and sheltered girl.She was born into a wealthy, loving family and, because of her apparent “normalcy”, never suffered the brunt of the shadowhunter prejudice like Tessa and James.

None of this is a problem in itself, but my point here is that there were always other people protecting, thinking and worrying for her, so I think not only she never realized how precarious her family’s position actually was, but also has no true understanding of consequences and how the “real world” works.She knew in some level that what she was doing regarding jesse was dangerous, but was never truly afraid of repercussions, bc unconsciously she knows there will be someone to catch her . And while I do like to see a character become aware of its own privileges along the narrative, there’s no growing here.She finished the book without ever realizing it, because everything was just SO easy and convenient, and that bothers me greatly.

In all fairness, how could she? she does whatever she wants with no consequences.

I feel so conflicted bc while I actually cheered when she brought jesse back in choi, and always shipped them, I find the outcome of her actions to be low-key infuriating.Lucie wasn’t willing to give Jesse up, but also never seriously considered giving up her comfortable life to start over with him somewhere.That ludicrous and set to fail jeremy blackthorn plan wasn’t even her idea, it was the people around her finding a way to fix her “mistakes” to save all of their asses from jail.

Lucie could’ve had her marks stripped, her father could’ve lost the institute, it could’ve costed Tessa’s life.Those guys had been waiting 25 years for the slightest opportunity to pounce on her, does anyone seriously believe they wouldn’t all automatically think the warlock mother was involved? How come there was some major necromancy going on under her roof and she had no idea?  we know she didnt, but still   All of this was severely downplayed and there was little to no conflict regarding it, and anyone can correct me if im wrong, but none of that ever dawned on lucie.She never fully thought about how her family would be implicated, and nobody brought that up to her.Zero confict just chill, I guess this is our life now .Dont get me wrong, I dont want that shitstorm to actually happen,I just wanted her to become AWARE of it

 she literally brought home this complete stranger to them all (we know jesse, the characters dont) that was 8 years her senior (it doesnt matter his body was frozen for 7 years, mentally jesse is 24), Tatiana’s son, and had been dead up until last tuesday, but nobody save perhaps jessamine, and god it pains me to agree with jessamine had a problem with that.Instant acceptance, no resistance, no objections at all.All it would take for that lie to crumble would be ONE trial by the sword at any point of their lives and everybody was as chill as chicken joe from surfs up

Her fight with Cordelia pissed me off too. Lucie meddled on something she had no right and no knowledge of,and demanded things of Cordelia without even being willing to hear her out. ”oh the poor thing is suffering so much bc of you, why can’t you just take him back?” GIRL, FOR ALL SHE KNOWS, UNTIL A WEEK AGO, HOME BOY WAS SWEARING UNDYING LOVE AND BURNING DOWN MANORS FOR GRACE BLACKTHORN. 

WE know poor james was ensorcelled and fighting it, but what was cordelia supposed to think of it? How dare she assume that Cordelia “took advantage of James going to Cornwal to run away with matthew”? 

The demon of secrets in edom scene was plain ridiculous.”yo I had a childhood crush on your brother, sorry for never telling you, I was embarrassed” is not a big deal.The fact that they needed demonic intervention for THAT so late in the book baffles me

While I do think most characters were severely nerfed on this book and behaved ooc on several occasions (swear to god I have some mild ptsd from all the times cordelia ran and did unhinged things) , my conclusion about Lucie’s arc is that she took her good life for granted, endangered her entire family, didnt grow from the experience, but still got everything she wanted with no consequences or sacrifices.She lost a cousin along the way, but who cares about that guy? what was his name again? Its my understanding that Lucie never even faced a trial.Thats unrealistic and bad writing, if you ask me.When I think it over, the word that comes to me is...spoiled.

And dont get me started on the fact that she found out Malcom was planning on doing full blown necromancy and didnt do anything about it.How that had no repercussions AT ALL still blows my mind.

 The worst part for me is that I genuinely believe Lucie deserved better you know? 

If lucie and cordelia hadnt been allowed to become parabatai, and jesse had received some other minor yet life changing punishment, and we had seen a trial scene I would’ve been satisfied, because at least it wouldn’t have been nothing.

#lucie herondale #chain of thorns #chain of thorns spoilers #chain of gold #Chain of Iron #the last hours #tlh #jesse blackthorn #grace blackthorn #cordelia carstairs #james herondale #will herondale #tessa gray #kit lightwood #tessa herondale #Matthew Fairchild #malcom fade #tsc characters #tsc critical #tsc chronicles #tsc

[gnomeniche]

i'm thinking so hard about the dhmis trio's characterizations and how interesting i find all of them. let's start by framing this discussion with a quote from this interview

i want to talk about them in terms of their surface levels and their hidden depths. you can see the roles that they're supposed to play on the in-universe "show world", but then you dig deeper and you find something more real.

...

yellow? plays the role of the innocently stupid one who's always the butt of the joke and can't see that his friends are jerks.

but we find out that he's the one with the most awareness of their situation and that his knowledge was literally taken from him. and he knows full well that his friends are jerks! throughout the show that is made clear. and even after he's functioning at full power and he admits that he thinks his friends are trying to control him, he still loves them enough to bring the book back to them so that they can all escape. he's shown to be genuinely kind, not just unwittingly innocent. and even when he's at low power he displays some memory of their situation, but he just can't express it.

red? plays the role of the chill and laid-back one who's always handy with a sarcastic comment and doesn't care very much.

but we find that he cares quite a bit about many things. he seems to have a rather sensitive heart, is prone to existential dread, and is distressed by the nonsense of their world. he wants so strongly; he wants something better, something more gentle and more sincere and more real than all this. he wants to feel comfortable somewhere but can't quite find that in either this life or any other. he's curious and imaginative but repressing it due to arbitrary standards, whether it's by the show world's rules or social rules (original 6's "real world" and new 3's illusion of a family).

duck? plays the role of the the high-strung, fussy one with an overinflated ego, dramatic emotions, and a sharp tongue.

but we see that, even if he can be cruel, he finds comfort in being with his friends and loves their daily life together. he sees them as a family! he can't just be by himself, and he genuinely doesn't want them to be separated. and pedantic as he is, he seems blind to the inconsistent nature of their reality. it's only when the status quo of their daily life is disrupted that he really freaks out, like when yellow goes off-script in 6 or when red disappears in the original series' 5. but this also makes him grounded in who he is; he just does not assimilate into new roles as well as the other two, and as dramatic as he is, he's often the most stable.

...

and it's their inner traits that lead to their downfalls, when they do occur. yellow's love leads him to go back downstairs and lose his memory over and over and over again. red's curiosity for more strands him outside of his world with no way back in besides intervention from a higher level, in both the original and new series. duck's stability makes him unable to deal with some lessons and thus liable to be violently removed or changed (perhaps this is why he seems to be so often replaced?), in both the original and new series.

and they all have their deeper personalities masked by the roles they must play in this tv-show-world. yellow's is most easy to see, because he is literally forced to lose all memory and return to his role as lovable idiot, but the abrupt shift in demeanor that red and duck experienced in 6 when a ray of stage light came back into the dark is also notable, as was red's sudden reset from desperate in 5 to apathetic in 6, right after the group came too close to knowing what was going on.

and on a level wider than the individual characters... you can see it with the undercutting of any almost-sincere moments by gags. you can see it in how full of holes their memories are. there are moments where their selves beneath the roles shine through anyway, but the status quo is always god. nobody can grow or change or be anything other than what they are supposed to be. and that's the tragedy of it

#dhmis #dhmis red guy #dhmis yellow guy #dhmis duck #dhmis theory #not really this is more of a character analysis. but #it's 'dhmis is a tragedy' hours with am #am.txt #dhmis analysis

[coeluvr]

hi i’ve read chap 3 and sighs. stares at luceris,,, this is becoming a problem, i want his approval like i want my asian parent’s approval which bodes well with absolutely nobody. like he’s never actually going to care or have a deep bond with my mc but i just 😭😭😭 i feel so complicated abt him 😭😭😭 he’s genuinely the worst sometimes but i also?? desperately want him to be proud of my mc???? am i colourblind???why am i latching onto the worst possible option when the character with the blinding “potential father figure” sign is literally right there??? i don’t think i can genuinely pray on his downfall when i read how my mc and him banters in their own insane way 😭😭😭 i want to amuse him 😭😭 i love how we can literally call him old and he’ll just roll his eyes 😭😭 i love how he tries encouraging mc to find love and how it can lead to either an incredibly strange sincere moment, slight concern or just silly banter abt matchmaking. my mc is non-revenge bc i don’t have the heart to do revenge in any story ever (my heart yearns for the healing journey) but ill still make my mc slightly insane just for him, and then in my head they can heal a little and maybe be marginally less insane together even if my mc will never forget and forgive him for the murder thing(im delusional). maybe im projecting onto luceris and my mc which is severely worrying, i predict this becoming an Issue further into the story

anyways sorry that was rlly long. i have very complicated feelings about that man. as you can see i have a tendency to look at the absolute worst options available and go “can they be my parent pretty please” i’m desperate for approval from literally anyone, even insane fictional murderers it seems

I saw the last ask you sent in and was waiting for you to read chapter 3 because I felt it in my bones that you'd like their dynamic lmao 😭

Honestly, I don't think you're odd for seeing Luceris in an almost parental light because I feel that he has some moments that truly do give off parental energy, even more than Lancelot. Maybe it is more insane uncle energy, I don't know.

I think he might also feel more parental or mentor like for MCs that are angrier / on the revenge route because it's like they're almost the same, you know? It's as if MC looked at him and said "I wanna be you" 😭💀

I do have to say it's probably an unhealthy dynamic though 😭 as are basically all of the dynamics with him...

I love long asks like this one so don't worry! I'm happy you're enjoying it (?) despite all of the complicated feelings it brings. And welcome to this little group of ours here! 💗

#coe answers #coaaf if: luceris #coaaf if: mc

[riseofamoonycake]

Hello are you taking request? If yes, can you please make a Poseidon x angel queen reader.

Don’t be Afraid!

👼Pairing: Poseidon x Angel Queen!reader (also Angel Queen!reader x Confucius)

👼Warnings: mention of violence, Poseidon is fooled (just a little) by the reader

👼Notes: I decided to make something a bit humoristic, but don’t be afraid, your favorite Tyrant of the Seas is fine. Maybe. Don’t expect to read of him being gentle and kind, this Poseidon is the proud, cold and cruel god we all saw in the canon. And he will get what is coming for him.

👼 For @midnightymel. Go, catch your baby and cuddle him.

👼

«I think this is a very special evening. Don’t you think… Great Poseidon?»

You are so beautiful, in your spontaneity and sweetness, that despite all his thoughts pointing elsewhere, the god cannot help but be fascinated by you. The Tyrant of the Seas has known so many goddesses, demigods and nymphs in his life, that he soon got tired of them, of their silly pretensions and smiles, of their faces all the same and without any attraction, not to mention their mania for attaching themselves to others: incapable of independence, maturity and seriousness, as well as intelligence…

But you, you are different: you are not a goddess, a demigoddess or a nymph: you are an angel, literally. Indeed, much more: you are their queen, the beloved Lady of the Heavens that legions, processions and entire orders of creatures venerate and acclaim. Your beauty is intense and particular, perhaps because of the small, white and soft wings that sprout from every part of you, enveloping you like a white cloak and opening like a crown around your body; perhaps because when you arrive, the light of the stars glides over your skin and into your large, serene eyes, and the enchantment of the evening is reflected in them as on the calm surface of the sea… or because you are good, genuinely, adorably good, without being weak.

You don’t seek the company of others and you know how to remain alone, you also desire it; and you are so noble in your light, so quiet in your words… Poseidon would never have said it, but that generous, lovable and sincere heart of yours, and that sweetest smile… he wants them all for himself. It is a thought that has followed him since he met you for the first time, during one of the divine councils that also involved the angels; it is a feeling that trapped him as soon as your eyes met and your face lit up, your hand raised to greet him kindly and the soft voice spoke, making him forget the constant muttering of Zeus and the rest of the council. You are a walking spell, the word Blessing has taken flesh in you… you are so intense that it is impossible to imagine, yet you exist.

And after having observed you on various occasions and without you realizing it, Poseidon has come to the conclusion that he doesn’t approve of only one thing about you: your attachment to humans. Why, why do you hear their prayers so fervently? Why are you always ready to help them, to rescue them, and do you love them with all your heart? Their imperfection is even more serious when compared to the glory you emanate… and despite this, you are always there for them, you don’t fail to look after them and stay with them in difficulty. Yes, that is the only thing the god doesn’t accept, and the reason why he is remained distant enough so far not to give hope to those big eyes of yours which, every time he appears, light up with interest and longing; but lately… lately, seeing you, things are changing for him too. And this is why the Tyrant of the Seas thinks of your figure even with subtle anger: you took away from him the perfection of completeness, the ability to feel extremely free and in need of nobody, and now every part of you promises him happiness only if you join. So, you condemned him: and you are still doing it, penetrating his mind like a sting and gnawing at his breath, enjoying tormenting him with a fixed thought of you. And at this point, all he has to do is do the same thing and drag you down from the height of your bliss to pay you back in your own coin: make you unable to think of a life without him.

You don’t know it yet, but soon you will leave your beloved sky to live at the bottom of the sea, where you will be uniquely, totally, his.

«Your beauty is equal only to that of the sea, Great Poseidon. How do you… look so magnificent and regal? Is it some secret lotion? A family gift?»

Obviously, when Poseidon sent you the message where he requested your presence, you immediately accepted; and you have chosen the most beautiful beach in the Mediterranean, its pristine and fragrant islands, to meet and spend some time alone, to get to know you better. The god didn’t bat an eyelid when he learned of your decision and the choice of place, and waited for you as agreed; he stared just for an instant as the evening sky suddenly opened up and all the stars flocked in as soon as the appointed hour came and you appeared like a dream, smiling so much it gave him a single slight shiver, so terribly, cruelly beautiful in your light blue robes, the same color as the deep sea. A single glance was enough to recognize that nothing in the world is as graceful and noble as you… with the exception of himself, or rather, of you two. Together.

As for you… since you arrived, you have done nothing but praise and touch him: arms, chest, chin, you still haven’t been able to keep your hands away from him. This is something new and strange for Poseidon, but in truth it doesn’t bother him much to be touched by you, because it is you; therefore, he doesn’t even comment when you cling to his arm and press your cheek sparkling with stardust against it, and your cloak of white clouds brushes his legs as if to embrace him. Your big eyes are wide open with euphoria and expectation, you can’t even stay still and so you start jumping, risking leaving the reins to the more playful part of you. «Won’t you tell me where you take me, Lord of the Seas? I chose the place, but now… now where do we go?»

He gives you a quick glance, then starts walking, almost dragging you with him. «You’ll see for yourself», he just murmurs, and you barely hold back a smile as you look at him and straighten your back, determined to show yourself at the height of your grace and composure. Poseidon’s little, if not non-existent, aptitude for conversation is known to the entire divine world without any exclusion, so you are not surprised by his silence; and in the end, his presence is enough for you. He is already doing a lot for you… and tonight is the perfect time to tell him. Yes, there is no better moment to let him know how happy you are to be in his company, by his side. You stare at him wide-eyed once more and are about to speak; but he gives you a quick nod, as if to tell you to look ahead, and your words die as soon as you see what awaits you.

«Great Poseidon… but… but this place cannot really exist! I’ve never seen it from the skies… is it under your protection?»

The promontory* on which the god brought you is enormous, yet the temple that stands here is so large that it takes up all of it; he dominates over it like a crown, controlling the deep blue sea and every light that is reflected in those waters, which become more and more with the night, and breaks in two the breeze that blows from the horizon. It is such a suggestive place that you slowly advance towards the tip of the promontory, enchanted and almost afraid to proceed: you do so only because Poseidon guides you towards the point where the ground ends up falling into the embrace of the waters. Behind you, however, there is the city to which the promontory belongs: the splendid Athens, which shines in all its architectural magnificence and together with the voices that manage to reach there, not at all extinguished by the ever-closer night; and obeying the silent wishes that wonder prevents you from expressing aloud, Poseidon satisfies you by taking you on a visit to all the cities that his power touches, making you spend an unforgettable night in their streets.

The god looks at you when he is sure you can’t return his gaze, and only with quick glances: but the vision of your delighted smile and eyes that observe everything with rapture fits well inside him, while a slight grin furrows his face. One day all this will be yours too, since you will be his queen and belong to him; and from that moment, your contacts with humans will only be these visits, because…

«Ah, now I remember! Tonight there will be a beautiful festival in China. It’s early now, but can we go later, Great Poseidon? I’ve always dreamed of seeing the Dragon Boats Regatta up close!**»

The Tyrant of the Seas is interrupted in the flow of his thoughts by your ringing voice and a dark shade of irritation just crosses his face; you don’t notice it, it is so quick, and he doesn’t comment negatively, returning to being the imperturbable mask ever. There is nothing wrong with making you happy tonight, so he doesn’t say anything but he doesn’t even deny you this desire and when the time comes, he lets you guide him along the roads of the world that lead to China, while time and the space cannot resist your stride and merge into one point. All this is fantastic in your eyes: now it is not about spending just one night in the company of Poseidon, but, technically, two, and you don’t miss the opportunity for anything in the world. This is why when you reach your destination and the sea is replaced by the body of the Blue River, already illuminated by endless torches and lanterns, you turn to Poseidon and smile warmly at him, then kiss the back of his hand: to all the effects, the first you give him. «Thank you, Lord of the Seas», you murmur as all the stars gather in your eyes, «thank you so much for all this.»

The god doesn’t answer, but inside his soul boils every slightest gesture and caress you give him, with the obsessive desire to receive more; but for this there will be time, everything he wants.

Walking a few steps away from them, made invisible by the fact that all eyes are pointed away from you, you look more and more at the humans who are gathering to watch the show and you smile openly: you love to see people so serene and happy, and if at least for one night an entire nation can forget the troubles of every day and let them sink into the river, so be it; could it always be, and there was less and less need for you and your comfort… just a little more serenity. For this reason, you giggle and stop when a group of young men suddenly cross the path between you and Poseidon, running like crazy and holding lanterns bigger than them, cackling with joy and enthusiasm. You smile, moved by their laughter, and step back to give them more space; but Poseidon…

It is the cold you suddenly feel next to you that alarms you; and when you move your gaze to the god, you slightly gasp noticing how dark and terrible his gaze has become, his pupils dilated and without light like the bottom of the sea, while he stares at the boys, who still haven’t moved from the road but continue to looking over their shoulder as if they were waiting for someone. You reach out and touch his arm to calm the anger that you feel flowing like a poisoned wave, but he grabs your wrist and squeezes it, then moves your arm away from him, lets you go and advances towards the group.

«Stop, Great Poseidon! Leave them alone, they’re not doing anything―», you chirp, chasing him with a worried look and a halted breath, but not fast enough to prevent the youngs from hearing him and seeing him coming; suddenly everyone fell silent, from first to last, crouching one against the other while the bulk of the god dominates them and his face scrutinizes them terribly. «Get out of the way, scum: you are on the path of a god», Poseidon intimates without moving a step: they are the ones who have to do it, almost crawling, and when you reach them you can do nothing but look for words of apology, without finding any to how much your tongue trembles from the sudden trembling that seized you. Even if he doesn’t want it, you grab Poseidon’s arm and attach yourself to it, forcing him to stay with you: even your wings get closer to him, ready to trap him if he wants to do something violent, and in the end you manage to speak. «Come with me, the way is clear now, let’s go…», you murmur, practically implore, while you drag the god away, still motionless and with his gaze fixed on those unfortunate young people, as if he wanted them to die of fear.

«Stay, stay! And I ask you to forgive me, it’s my fault: I was late… I suppose.»

You and the boys shift your gaze to the figure that has just appeared, and you remain amazed for a moment as you stare at the face with the delicate and sweet features of the man who comes forward, not much older than who was waiting for him but with a completely different posture: he has the aura of a teacher, yet you can also feel the energy and enthusiasm of a young boy, and this instinctively makes you smile. Your wings vibrate, sensing a strong feeling of sympathy, and you give him a gentle nod.

Those who at this point turn out to be his pupils, confirming this with the title with which they address him, give him an alarmed look and point to Poseidon, now staring at the road in front of him; but perhaps the young master does not take the warning given to him and approaches the god in a friendly way, to apologize for all the turmoil. However, you are quicker and stand between them, smiling at the human and spreading your wings to gently push him back and keep him at a safe distance.

In response… in response, he widens his eyes at your beautiful sky-colored feathers and takes your wing to stroke it, his mouth agape as he sees it move in reflex. «But… but these are real wings! Very soft and alive!», he exclaims, and you both giggle and blush as you feel the human’s fingers running over the feathers and touching them one by one. The sensation you experience is so pleasant that you have to make a considerable effort not to fall to the ground and roll around like a cat, completely conquered; and you risk losing control when the human looks at you and you exchange a smile, and he comes closer to you to observe you better, letting the glow emanating from you reveal your features in what becomes silence and contemplation. And as he stares at you with the large eyes full of enchantment, a thought crosses your mind and skin, making you frown for an instant: you have never seen that look in Poseidon’s face. It is true that the god has never looked at you for more than a few seconds, but that light…

«Who are you, my Lady? It is clear that I am faced with the most splendid and wonderful creature I have ever met, yet this face is new to me. Where are you from, and how long are you staying? Why are you so beautiful?»

You hesitate for a moment to answer, overwhelmed by the comments and the many questions: «I… I am…»

«Enough.»

Poseidon’s voice makes both of you jump, and you instinctively turn towards him as, with a jerk, he frees himself from your grip and pulls you away from him, then concentrates on the young and advances towards him. «Great Poseidon, no!», you scream, frightened; but this time not even your wings can stop him, because he grabs them and throws you back without any grace, bending and hurting even some feathers and eliciting moans of pain from you that don’t reflect at all the jabs you just felt in your heart.

Upon seeing this scene, the human looks at you and is about to say something as he snaps at you; but Poseidon’s kick stops him first, reaching him in the stomach and making him fall to the ground. The trident goes off before anyone can even see it, but it soon becomes a reality.

The human curls up on himself against the ground, his neck wedged between the prongs of the weapon and a terrified expression, while Poseidon leans towards him until he doesn’t even leave him room to breathe, his gaze so black like a full night, and sinks the trident even further into the ground as he presses one foot against his victim’s belly, exactly where he struck it. Perhaps not even the gods know what keeps him from screaming in pain, but somehow he manages to remain silent, perhaps anesthetized by fear.

His pupils move and scream, pale as dead, and you too are short of breath, an icy shiver running down your back and all your feathers rising in horror: then you clench your fists and gnash your teeth, feeling a mounting wave of fury and disgust. All of this is absurd, unfair and even unbearable to see. «That’s enough, Great Poseidon. The young man has learned his lesson, now let him go. There’s no need for this violence.» Poseidon doesn’t move a muscle, so you get closer and grab the shaft of the trident with one hand, while you lift the foot of the god with your leg to let the human breathe; then, your gaze is fixed on that of the Tyrant of the Seas. There are no more stars to animate him, only a darkness that can compete with that which lies in his gaze while you study him and the god locks you out of his soul, proud and contemptuous.

You close yours, and some of your light fades. A shadow stretches above you as the wings spread wide open and seem bigger, and greater in number. Flashes furrow your skin like waves, rippling it more by the second, and even your hands seem to change shape. Those close to you step back uneasily, perceiving the anomaly in progress, and their gazes rest on you. It’s happening. It’s happening, now it’s happening, now it’s happening… «Let him go. This is not a prayer, God of the Sea», you repeat, and your voice resembles the breath of the wind announcing a storm, «free the human.»

Poseidon remains motionless for a few more moments. «Disappear.» The trident springs back leaving deep red marks on the young man’s neck who, however, is now free, and the god moves, allowing the pupils to surround their master, lift him and support him while they drag him away as fast as possible, looking at each other shoulders to make sure neither of you follow them.

You watch the whole scene feeling your heart bleed, and when you turn your attention to Poseidon the sweetness of a few hours ago is completely gone. Your skin gives off warmth, it is almost impossible to be next to you; but the god does not feel it, because by now his mind is far from you. It always has been. «Was there really a need, Tyrant of the Seas?», you murmur, to then take a breath and raise your voice: «Answer at least this: did you enjoy yourself? Because otherwise you are such an incomprehensible creature, as well as cruel, that you deserve only solitude.»

Poseidon doesn’t even look at you, but grins slightly. «Unlike you, I know and follow perfection. I am perfection. I am a god, and I don’t need anyone… this is just a pleasure I’m doing you, and I’m even starting to regret it.» A break. «Our evening ends here.»

You shake your head and instinctively raise a fist, your anger now uncontainable. «That’s not how you treat your own creatures! What did you want to achieve? Why did you have to terrorize him?»

Poseidon closes his eyes, his expression disgusted. «My own creatures? Beings as despicable, lowly and hideous as humans cannot be creatures of a divine mind. If they were all to perish, the world would not be affected at all.»

You see the master’s pretty face before you again and shake your head in disagreement, crossing your arms. «Ah, so the gods create humans, abandon them to their fate and then also have the courage to complain about their actions and call them lowly… an intelligent and wise move, I must say.» You sigh, then bow your head and turn your back to the god. «I used to consider you regal and worthy of veneration, Great Poseidon… but now I see how stupid I was; I always am, but I thought I was right with you.»

The God of the Seas pierces you with a terrible look at hearing what you say and also what you don’t say, but he doesn’t comment or stay a moment longer. You wrap and squeeze yourself in your wings, sinking your face into them and listening to the Tyrant of the Seas move away and abandon you in the dark, in the silence. The chill you feel on your skin not even the hottest star could drive it away, nor could anyone appease the tears, the tremors and sobs that slide down your feathers and hover in the air like pitiful prayers.

And you know, when people who are too good get angry, a terrible revenge comes to life in their heart…

 👼

«It’s good to see you so relaxed, Great Poseidon. Do you want something else?»

When you sent the invitation for a new evening, you didn’t expect any response: not after what happened in China, not with the unspoken words and invisible claws you exchanged; yet, the Lord of the Seas accepted and chose to meet you in your own palace, completely deserted for the occasion. Your angels have prepared everything to perfection, taking care of every detail and following your advice: you yourself have worked with them, closely following everything to give a worthy welcome to the god, to then wait alone for the arrival of Poseidon, well erected on the threshold of the celestial palace like a good wife waiting for her adored husband.

Obviously, the god didn’t make a single comment on the beauty of the rooms, on the light that fills them without hurting the eyes, on the care with which they are furnished and on the little stars and fluffy clouds that occasionally cross them to reach higher layers of sky; nor did he even look at your figure for more than an instant, dressed even more elegantly than for the first meeting, your beauty doubled by the knowing smile that furrows the graceful face and by the large crown placed on the hair, raindrops and moonbeams intertwined together to form a design so refined as to take the breath away. No, the Tyrant of the Seas doesn’t comment or observe for a long time, but from his posture and the rare expressive flashes you notice that he is enjoying everything, from the rooms to his guest, and that the events of that turbulent night have not affected him that much.

You are committed to spoiling him in the best possible way, guiding him towards the table and making him find the most exquisite foods and pure angel nectar, personally serving him and satisfying all the requests he has, without renouncing to caress him and pamper him with coaxing, little cuddles and a adoring gaze, even going so far as to bend down at his feet and rest your head on his knees when, after dinner, you lead him into a more secluded room and make him sit down on the splendid bench you have prepared for him, a hundred and more chandeliers with delicate blue light hanging over your head and the softest carpets ready to be walked on. Rubbing your cheek against his legs, you survey the room with a sweet gaze and soft sighs. «All this is done for us, Great Poseidon», you murmur, then roll your big eyes at him, «because you know, don’t you, that the third date will be our wedding?»

He says nothing, yet smiles with a slight expression of satisfaction on his face. You giggle back, then kiss his calf and bite your lips, getting down on your knees and take his hands in yours. «Great Poseidon… by now I know your ways and I accept them, but I want to ask you something; and please answer sincerely. Only to this question, I don’t impose anything else…»

The god remains silent again, however he looks at you tilting his head to the side, as if to tell you to continue.

«Here… you must know that you are the first to have stayed by my side for so long, apart from my angels of course.» You giggle, blushing. «I don’t know why, but I’ve never had much luck in love; you, however, may indeed be the exception. So I wanted to ask…” You thrust your face towards him, and the chandeliers cast their splendid light on you, joining your natural one and making it simply impossible to conceive, «Do you find me beautiful?»

Poseidon stands still for a moment, then caresses your cheek with the back of his hand, slowly. His face welcomes a slight smile, his eyes are all for you; his gestures are worth a thousand words, yet he satisfies you and answers the question: «Yes, you are. You are beautiful, Lady Y/N.»

«Do you really think that? Do you think I’m beautiful?»

The God of the Seas frees himself from your grip, but only to be the one who now takes your hands and pushes you to stand up, then wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you towards him. You gasp as you crash against his chest and instinctively climb into his lap, and he brings his face closer to yours, turning the smile into a grin. This Poseidon is completely different from the one you have known before, and you can’t help but blush a little. Everything is so perfect…

«What’s going on… does my wonderful queen want to play with me? Are you testing me?», the god murmurs to you, squeezing you with greater strength and squinting as your hands begin to caress his sides, belly and chest, slowly rising and enjoying what they encounter, massaging and touching the muscles, stroking the skin again and again. Your wings envelop the whole bench and you two with it, building a soft wall that prevents anyone but you from enjoying everything; at this sight Poseidon takes your face and holds it still as he leans towards you and locks your lips with his in a long kiss, before attacking your neck and shoulders with his teeth as he tries to reach as much exposed skin as he can, with the clear intent of devouring you with kisses and bites.

You jolt and sigh, vibrating in every part of you and not depriving him of the satisfaction of hearing your muffled moans and breath increasing in speed; but greater satisfaction is about to fill you as your eyes become progressively clearer, which Poseidon cannot notice. «You’re making me feel really amazing, Great Poseidon…», you whisper as you claw his chest with energy, «but now the other me wants to feel the same too.»

Poseidon pulls his face away in surprise as your skin becomes so much heated it burns like a living flame, then he pushes you away from him, a sense of uneasiness in his chest as your light gradually increases, leaving intact only the smile, and the god is forced to close his eyes.

«Hmmmm, I didn’t think I’d have this effect on you. Don’t be afraid, Great Poseidon! Come on, look at me!»

Poseidon does so, obeying without really wanting to: the room is now filled with wind and light, everything seems to swirl and yet it is visible: and in its center… in the exact heart of the room, you…

You laugh ruthlessly when you see Poseidon almost leap onto the bench, overturn it and retreat while staring at you with a shocked expression, hit by the whips of air created by your wings: now he cannot escape you, not with more than three hundred eyes staring at him, preventing him from finding a refuge. «So, Tyrant of the Seas, Perfection of the Gods… do you like my true form? Am I not the pinnacle of Beauty?» You have a lot of mouths to speak: somewhere, in the perfect and huge globe of lights, infinite eyes, fire and countless wings that you really always were, they are hidden and laughing and laughing without being able to stop, ruthlessly demolishing the imperturbability of Poseidon. «You do not answer? Has my loveliness hit you to the core? Answer, don’t be so shy!»

The God of the Seas backs up to the wall closest to him, pursued by all your eyes and the voices that call and tease and prod him; and you savor the moment with total enjoyment, basking in the reactions of that arrogant and proud divinity, so blind as to not even notice how, struck by the light, your figure has always projected the shadow of your true form. Luckily you quickly changed your mind about him, yet you couldn’t avoid taking a small, harmless revenge against those who treated badly not only you, but also those you love and protect most. «You know, god, few humans really know the true form of angels: often we have to assume one similar to yours and theirs in order not to scare them to death, and get confused with you. Those who really see it will no longer be the same as before, and this can be a test: to prove their faith and your true nature, how much the promises you make are worth… and desires.» At this point you can’t help laughing again and within an instant you resume the appearance with which Poseidon met you, bringing everything back to how it was before the “surprise”. Your eyes, now two in number, are wide open, fierce and drunk with excitement, your teeth bared as if to attack, and you are no longer the sweet obedient princess that Poseidon wanted to make his own, but the empress that no one must never allow to hurt. «… And let me tell you, the human you despised so much beat you big time.»

Poseidon darkens his face, then grins contemptuously. «You… did you go to that bug?»

«Oh God, from my point of view the bug is another. Anyway, of course I went to him! I have been accompanied all over China for whole nights, by now I know the course of its rivers by heart! I love talking to humans, and Confucius is such an interesting and sweet little fellow!, and he never disrespects me. He didn’t take much offense at what you did to him, he is superior to violence: his words, arrogance and cruelty always come back to hit you harder…»  You pick up the crown that fell to the ground during the revelation, and with an elegant movement you put it back on your head, «and he’s under my protection now, so he’s no longer a matter of concern to you. You should have seen him when I showed up in my true form!» You cover the face with your hands, blushing and giggling like a little girl with her first crush. «My, my, I’ve never been so revered and praised as in that moment, I guess he prefers that form more than this… aaaaah, humans really have something more⁓⁓»

Poseidon does not comment; slowly, his expression becomes stoic as always, even if you can perceive the annoyance that throbs under the skin. Not that it affects you in the slightest, though. «Stay with your human and enjoy him as long as you want», is his bored answer, «the scum go with the scum. I have no need for pity by my side, nor for you.»

You make a fake sad expression when you hear that word trying to hit you ― imperfect ―, then shake your head. «I guess there won’t be a wedding, then… too bad», you mutter, before shrugging and sighing heavily, «I’ll get over it. Happy return to your sea, Great Poseidon… and beware of humans.» Without adding anything more, you stand and watch Poseidon turn his back on you and walk away in disdain, leaving you alone in your palace.

This time, however, you breathe deeply this silence and the darkness that descends as soon as you turn off all the chandeliers and only the stars remain around you, and smile: you are free, serene and imperturbable… and also late for your real appointment. «See you next time, Great Poseidon», you murmur with an enigmatic smile, «I look forward to seeing your face whenever I appear to you in my true form. We’ll have so much fun together⁓»

Congratulations, Poseidon, you traumatized Confucius. Now go in a corner and stay there in punishment until I say otherwise, you bully.

* The promontory referred to is that of Cape Sounion, where there really is what remains of a huge, splendid temple dedicated to Poseidon.

** The festivity really exists, and one of its names is Dragon Boats Festival, with races and regattas of these boats with carved prows (in the shape of a dragon).

#record of ragnarok #shuumatsu no valkyrie #snv #ror #record of ragnarok poseidon #poseidon ror #poseidon record of ragnarok #snv poseidon #ror poseidon #ror confucius #snv confucius

[whattraintracks]

13. Worthless - TMNT 1987

Some thoughts on Raphael, master of disguise.

There's this scene in "Raphael, Turtle of a Thousand Faces" (s05e16) that I think about a lot.

So Raphael is taking a remote class on undercover detective work, and the other turtles make fun of him practicing disguises for an assignment. Splinter checks on him after he storms off, and it's such a short conversation, but I think there's more going on under the surface.

First of all, Splinter's reaction to learning about the class is hilarious. His face is fun to watch and he's so baffled he literally gasps. But then you can tell he tries to be patient and understanding. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Is it, why would you want to be anything other than a ninja? Or maybe, you've never expressed interest in this before, where is this coming from?? If you've ever worked for a while with the same group of kids or adolescents, you may be familiar with this thought.

At first glance, Raphael's response breaks my heart. He tells Splinter he's taking this class to make "more of a contribution to the mean green team! You know, something special." My immediate thought is that he's feeling a little worthless. But then I step back and wonder if I'm reading too far into it. Taking the time to learn a new skill to better support your teammates is a worthwhile endeavor. This is not, on its own, necessarily an indicator of low self-esteem. But what bothers me is that nobody knew he was doing this. Again, not explicitly a bad thing, but it seems weird to me that he wouldn't involve the other turtles or at least let them know about it so they can support him.

So Splinter, of course, immediately reassures him they're all special. Also not sure what to make of how he says this because it sounds some combination of fond and amused but also just conciliatory. What's interesting is what Raphael says next, and how he says it causes me to question that initial assumption again. He agrees, almost genuinely? Like he says "maybe" but not in a "yeah, I guess" choosing-not-to-argue-but-feeling-otherwise kind of way, he sounds sincere. Now, this could be him saying, well, duh, we're special, how many other crime-fighting turtle men do you know? This would line up with stuff he's expressed throughout the series. But he finishes very showy and cheerfully with, "But I'll be the only master of disguise!" So maybe that first impression was wrong. Maybe this is just a teenager branching out and discovering other interests. Maybe the secrecy was because he was worried the guys would make fun of him—which they did. Or maybe, he wants to distinguish himself from the other turtles, wants his own thing. 

And I wonder why he might feel like he needs his own thing or specialty. One of my favorite parts about the team dynamic in this series is that they don't really have designated roles. Leonardo is the leader in that he keeps them rallied and on task, but they all take turns offering plans and solutions, serving as the distraction, playing bait, or, more practically, just driving or flying. But since Leonardo has a defined role as the leader/master ninja, Donatello as the inventor/the one who gets them out of trouble (see one of my favorite Raphael lines at the end of "My Brother, the Bad Guy"), and even Michelangelo as the chef/pizza guy, maybe he's feeling some anxiety over his own ambiguous role.

But I can't get rid of the feeling that he thinks he's not enough and the others are brushing it off. Especially after their weak apologies—"We didn't know you were actually serious about this disguise thing." Especially as he tries so hard to prove his dedication and skill and ends up in a lot of trouble in the rest of this episode. Especially when he gives up private investigation but immediately throws himself into chemistry at the end of the episode, once again on his own and without help.

This happens in one episode, and as far as I remember, they never talk about it again, but he's my little guy, and I worry, okay! I just want him to be happy and know he's loved and valued.

#march for raph #he is my little guy #and sometimes he makes me sad #because i love him so much #raphael turtle of a thousand faces #tmnt 1987 #tmnt #whattrainofthought

[lavoixhumaine]

Before anything else—I don’t know if you will see this but I want to thank everyone who left the kindest and most supportive messages and replies. Thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart.

To @rainedamodred and @bestbuddybobby — I wouldn’t have made it through without you both.

Now…

I’ve been contemplating what to write here for the last twelve hours.

When I say the past two weeks have been the most difficult in my entire life, that is not an exaggeration. It’s been…hell, honestly.

My husband was diagnosed with an arrhythmia over two years ago. Didn’t sound good but it wasn’t uncommon, but he was a special case, as we were told because on top of being unnaturally tall for our people, he apparently also had an unnaturally large heart…literally. We were presented with options that we were told we could delay due to the pandemic and our concerns regarding safety in authorizing a rather complicated operation during what felt like a perilous time…

The pandemic didn’t really end but it eased. We went in for a checkup. They said it was okay so far as long as he wasn’t feeling any different. He said he was fine. I believed him.

So we thought we had time. We thought this year we could get back on track after the hellacious last couple of years. Get back to what passed for normal, start traveling again, see old friends, revisit our favorite places, hit up our old haunts…

We scheduled him for surgery the beginning of next year…but I suppose fate had other plans.

My husband flatlined twice in the last couple of weeks. He was brought back both times but not without cost. They tried different medications. There were heavy discussions on what options were available. The idea of a heart transplant was offered but waiting for a new heart meant…well, you have some idea, yes? There was no way he could travel for treatment. His heart was going insane…hitting over 200 beats per minute, erratically bouncing from 90 to 145 in a blink…it was a mess.

I coped by not coping…I ended up breaking so many things in our home…a table, a glass wall and whatever I could get my hands on. The floors looked like they were littered with glittering diamonds by the time I was through…so much glass everywhere. It was the only way I could pull myself back together and return to the hospital without falling apart and screaming at someone.

And the goddamn crying…it came and went and I kept waiting to run out of tears but I never did.

I had my mothers and aunts calling from all over in different timezones and at first, I answered but then I would cry more because they cared and they kept offering…kindness and comfort. They wanted to come and be there but I couldn’t imagine keeping up a facade to yet another group of people when I’m busy trying not to fall apart and be The Wife.

And listening to them trying to give me comfort…somehow that was enough to trigger disgusting crying jags that helped nobody and just made a mess out of me. I stopped taking calls. I couldn’t keep my shit together when I kept falling apart at the sound of a caring voice.

For the first time in almost ten years, I was alone. In all the time I’ve been with my husband, I have never been alone…that broke something inside me.

He’s the calm voice, he’s the adult in the room, he makes the decisions, he is the one person that can talk me down from whatever insane cliff I’ve driven myself to…and suddenly, there was just silence.

It reached a point where I was the only one left to make decisions because he couldn’t anymore…his doctors all agreed the best option was to perform a cardiac ablation and implant a device that would be connected to his heart—a defibrillator with a pacemaker backing.

At that point, I was too exhausted mentally, emotionally and psychologically…I said yes to whatever they felt was best. They let me pick and choose off a menu which piece of technology to put next to his heart like I was in an Apple launch event. It was all so…fucking surreal.

Wasn’t it only a few days ago we were celebrating his birthday? He’s only fucking forty-one.

Between the harsh reality that I might lose my husband and the unrelenting conflicts that kept intruding upon an already terrible situation by way of his family…I was barely keeping myself together. I couldn’t even go home anymore and break things…I was that close to breaking things in the hospital but then how would that look if word got out?

I was too scared to go home…too scared I’ll leave and he would slip away.

It’s just the kind of thing he would do…leave without telling because he thinks that would hurt me less. Fuck, sometimes he’s also a dumbass but he is my dumbass, okay?

After I was able to make a decision that would alter his life while hopefully saving it…within twenty-four hours, the device was flown in as well as the specialist that would perform the surgery. Almost two weeks of agony and suddenly, an OR was booked, the doctors were lining up and introducing themselves, discussing their roles in the operation, explaining how it was all going to go down, the technician was making a presentation on how the device would save him on a daily basis while I was too punch drunk to process the information, the anesthesiologist was talking about how they expected things to go, critical care was throwing in his two cents, the cardiologist was trying to reassure me that he would be okay within twenty-four hours after the procedure and he will be able to go home just like that…

It happened so fast, it left my head spinning.

He’s home now. It’s not a fun experience and recovery will take time, but he’s alive and that’s really all that fucking matters.

Right now, I’m dealing with residual bullshit with his family…his sister who is a neurotic passive aggressive piece of work and his mother who seems to have no problem showing him how much she hates him right now…his father continues to be the kindest of them.

I loved and adored these people last month.

One of my aunts said I should not stew in my anger and hold resentment in my heart…that I should give all my negative feelings to God and ask Him to help me continue to love and honor them as I have been doing from the beginning. Ask God to help me keep my love for them so I will not be clouded and remember they are my family…

I told her to call me again next week and try again.

Right now, I just want to get my house back in order and help my husband with his recovery. Get our lives back to where it should be. Find some kind of normal that works for this new us.

I’m trying to channel my rage into more useful outlets outside of that and do something good because that seems like a much better idea than giving in to the urge to commit arson. I am trying so hard not to acknowledge the rage that I am not quite ready to let go of…

I stopped breaking things—I think I’m on the right track.

I keep reminding myself…

He’s alive. He’s not dead. He’s here. He’s breathing. He’s alive. He’s speaking. He’s right here. He’s alive. He’s here. He’s right here.

He’s alive.

And the silence has gone.

#lavoixhumaine #mine

[pidgeonline]

Okay but…who GAVE Gabriel the Amnesia?

I would like to preface this theory by saying a few things.

1. This is all a THEORY

2. This is all based off of ~5ish minutes of footage we have gotten of season 2 so far (actually more like based off of a single sentence and a frame of footage)

3. I am going to be saying an awful lot and it’s not all going to make sense because I am a tad stupid.

4. I have never posted on Tumblr before. I usually just lurk on this app so if I broke any posting etiquette or something please forgive me.

5. This post is mostly just for me to reference when I finish watching season 2. It’s not really intended for the masses lol

With all of that being said, i am REACHING with these theories. I am stretching farther than an elastic band. I am probably wrong!! But if I am not then omg. (i’ll post an update after Season 2 comes out to see if i was even SLIGHTLY right lol)

Let me start off laying my groundwork for this theory. I sincerely believe that when Gabriel says to Aziraphale “you know what it’s like when you don’t know anything at all and yet you’re totally certain everything will be better if you are near one particular person” he means Aziraphale.

Why? Because Gabriel HAS NO CLUE who he is, who Aziraphale and Crowley are, or where he is. Something happened to him and his conscience is telling him the only person he can go to that might have ANY clue as to what is happening is Aziraphale. If Gabriel is subconsciously trusting Aziraphale and Crowley- the two people in this universe who he HATES the most- that means he literally has no where else to turn. WHICH MAKES ME THINK that whatever happened to him is someone in Heaven’s doing. 

My money is on Michael. Why? Because in season 1, she went behind Gabriel’s back and spoke with Hell to get some dirt on Aziraphale and Crowley (at that point in the show, Gabriel still had full faith in Aziraphale and stuck up for Aziraphale even after Michael had pulled pictures of Aziraphale and Crowley being with each other from the ‘Earth Observation Files’)

And I DO have proof. I have paraphrased but this is pretty much how the conversation went in episode 4

Michael: *shows pictures of Aziraphale and Crowley talking*

Gabriel: I’m sure there is a perfectly innocent explanation for this

Michael: sure…would you mind if i used backchannels

Gabriel: there are no backchannels,

Michael

Michael: :) *proceeds to use backchannels in an empty stairwell*

Michael is also the angel that went down to hell to personally deliver the holy water.

“Cooperation with our old enemy” -Dagon, Lord of the Files (i’ll come back to these two points late don’t worry)

My question I have is what is Michael’s motivation for trying to get rid of Gabriel? The only thing I could come up with is that she feels as if Gabriel is incompetent in some way. Aziraphale and Crowley are THE reason Armageddon did NOT happen. So Michael’s motivation might be a “we would never be in this situation if I was in charge” sort of thing.

One thing that is in the trailer that makes none of this makes sense, however, is Muriel is shown to be having a briefing with Uriel and Michael about Muriel’s success (or lack thereof) in finding Gabriel on Earth. Why would Michael- who is actively trying to get rid of Gabriel- be trying to find him?

It could be a wild goose chase. I would not put it past Michael to use a naive and people pleasing angel like Muriel to locate Gabriel. Michael is probably assuming that Muriel will fail but knows that as long as there is SOMEONE attempting to look for Gabriel, nobody will suspect that Gabriel’s disappearance was on purpose.

That pretty much concludes my theory as to who I think is responsible for Gabriel “going missing”. But if we are going to ask what’s up with Gabriel, we might as well be asking what’s up with Beezlebub too.

I would like to say that I have significantly LESS evidence towards this next theory and it is even MORE of a stretch in my opinion simply because i lack the reasoning. I just think it’s fun :)

It is very apparent in the trailer and the teaser that Beezlebub looks VERY out of place. Some people have pointed out that their mouth has been sewn shut and they seem to be trapped in some sort of room in Hell.

This means that both of the leaders of Heaven and Hell are out of the picture. For what reason? I do not know. But I might have an idea of who is responsible for Beezlebub’s predicament.

Let’s take a look at this SINGULAR frame of footage from season 2.

Beezlebub appears to be sitting (in my opinion very defeated and fed up) in a room by themselves surrounded by stacks and stacks of paper.

(this is the part where you can SEE i am reaching lol)

You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with anything at all?

I think this is Dagon’s doing.

If we take Dagon’s title (Lord of the Files)VERY literally, it is safe to assume that Dagon probably does the paperwork in hell. (omg look- stacks and stacks of paper in the place Beezlebub is being held prisoner. how convenient) Being doomed to file paperwork for eternity actually sounds like a nightmare lol.

Now what would Dagon’s motivation be for holding Beezlebub captive? I would assume that they feel some kind of animosity towards Beezlebub the same way I assume Michael does towards Gabriel.

I searched, and I could not find any real hard evidence in season 1 though. Another thing is I don’t even know if Dagon WILL be in Season 2. I haven’t payed close attention to the casting. This is where my theory kinda falls apart but whatever. I’m just having fun :)

Now the next question is, are Michael and Dagon working together then?

I DO think that if my theories are true, Michael and Dagon ARE working together! Like i said before, Michael DID go to Hell to deliver the holy water and Dagon DID deliver the “cooperation with our old enemies” line (i told you that would be important later :)) They have obviously worked together before so what is stopping them from consorting in the future? Nothing.

Okay but what is the ‘Big Picture’? What are they trying to accomplish?

I don’t know. That is something we are just going to have to wait and see on. It might have something to do with “The Big One” (Heaven and Hell still want their war after all), what they feel is best for both Heaven and Hell, or simply just for their own personal gain.

That concludes my theories as to WHO is responsible for the situations Gabriel and Beezlebub are in. WHY they are in those predicaments I am ENTIRELY clueless about. If I am right in ANY capacity when Season 2 drops I will be SHOCKED.

I absolutely LOVE Good Omens. It is my favorite show and no matter what Season 2 is about, I know I will love it. More likely then not, I am wrong and that is perfectly okay. I really just wanted to break out the red yarn for a day lol.

Even if I AM wrong, Neil Gaiman DID say he was planting seeds in Season 1 for Season 2 and I can’t wait to go “OHH so that’s what that was”. It’s my absolute favorite feeling when watching TV :)

Here are some memes depicting how I felt while writing this theory. I felt absolutely bonkers.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #neil gaiman #theory #just for fun #it’s not that deep actually #:) #wait and see

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the First Time in Fifteen Years

Hi, Hello, Welcome! The conceit of these posts is pretty self-explanatory. I read the Lord of the Rings for the first time at age 17, in the middle of my parent's divorce (it was messy, we're not going into any details). Needless to say, I remember pretty much nothing about that read, and I would like to give the books a fair shake of a re-read. That's what this is, and there will be spoilers throughout!

I usually do full-book reviews, but if ever I was going to do a chapter-by-chapter re-read, it would be for LotR. The rules are that I'm going in as blind as I possibly can (I have watched the movies and have absorbed like...a reasonable amount of lore from existing on the internet as a millennial) and I'm not doing any research beyond like, defining words for myself as I read. So here we go, and I hope you enjoy rereading with me! Let's talk "A Long-Expected Party."

The first chapter of ANY book has a lot of work to do. The first chapter of THIS book has...rather more to do than most. Which is why I was kind of floored by HOW MUCH of it was dedicated to establishing how godawful the Sackville-Bagginses are. Like, when Tolkien said,

He remained on visiting terms with his relatives (except, of course, the Sackville-Bagginses)

on literally page one of chapter one, I was over here going "relatable, my dude." I also taught The Hobbit for an Intro to Literature class when I was getting my PhD, so I also knew that they had overtaken Bag End and were on the verge of declaring Bilbo dead and taking over his life and estate. I also knew about Lobelia stealing the spoons. I was ON BOARD with the Sackville-Bagginses being the godawful relatives that not only we do not like but also we legally cut out of their inheritance. I was cool with that, it was fine. I got it.

THEN IT KEPT GOING. They get snobby about attending the birthday party. They only showed up because the invitation was inexcusably fancy. They got offended about Bilbo's speech. They talked shit about him on his birthday at his party. They bulled into Bag End to insist on seeing the will, and stole stiff while they were there. They insulted Frodo's parentage and the Brandybuck side of his family IN FRONT OF MERRY, the most famous Brandybuck of the fellowship. And then Lobelia has the sheer goddamn nerve to be offended when Frodo stops her from stealing his shit, calling her on her bullshit, and kicking her out of his house.

Did...did Tolkien have an aunt that he had a massive, lifelong beef with? Because IT SURE SEEMED LIKE IT. Although passively aggressively gifting her the remainder of the set of spoons was just A+ shitty relative management on Bilbo's part, and I deeply appreciated that he can do both sincere and pointed gifting.

So, when I watched Dom Noble's LiA on Fellowship, I was like, "I don't actually know if I agree that the hobbits would vote Republican, Dom." Let this be my public apology for doubting Dom, because HOLY TITS YES, YES THEY WOULD. It literally took a gaggle of hobbits two "Well I heard"s to get to "Primula pushed Drogo out of the boat and he pulled her in after him" like it's a murder gone wrong. And no matter what the Gaffer said, nobody would hear different after "murder" came up.

And speaking of the Gaffer...his name is Ham. Ham Gamgee. Ham and Sam Gamgee. What the Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien was happening with this name, John Ronald??? I demand to know! And no, not even Bilbo calling him Master Hamfast makes "Ham Gamgee" any less ridiculous.

Now, let's talk Gandalf for a sec. I know there are plot reasons that Gandalf doesn't initially know that Bilbo's ring is THE ONE RING, but like...their first conversation weeks before the party tells us that Gandalf has concerns. And yet he still is cool with Bilbo HANDING THE RING OFF TO FRODO??? Even if it's just a weirdly powerful, not inherently evil ring, Frodo is basically an 18-year-old (33 in hobbit years) with no life experience and no sense of how to manage a magic ring. Gandy. Wizard, buddy, friend. This is not like...a great plan. Yes, you get Bilbo off the ring cocaine, but you've just exposed Frodo to it. And this is BEFORE you know it's holding a bit of Sauron's soul. If you taking it is a bad idea, there has to be a secret third option that isn't "Leave it with Frodo." That all said though, Gandalf was SUPER prepared to hand fireworks to LITERAL CHILDREN and hammered hobbits at Bilbo's birthday, so he's clearly not the guy you call for safety or babysitting.

That probably hits all the key things from me for this opening chapter, so other than calling out how cute Merry and Frodo are when Merry has Frodo's back as the Shire descends on Bag End to claim or just straight steal shit, I will sign off for now. Key takeaways were that the Sackville-Bagginses FUCKING SUCK, and Gandalf was super cool with exposing Frodo to basically magical cocaine.

#lord of the rings #the fellowship of the ring #reread #chapter 1 #a long-expected party #lotr #seriously who was the aunt who inspire lobelia sackville-baggins???

[eriexplosion]

Clone Wars - Clone Cadets

DOMINOES DOMINOES DOMINOES.

Bravery, valor, unity, the lifeblood of victory on the battlefield

This is very funny because I think they put this bit over a clip from Hidden Enemy which, no matter how you look at it, is certainly not an episode about unity.

Anyway there's a lot dropped into this opening including that all of the clones teachers were bounty hunters, surely a group of people well known for their patience and gentle handling of children. Also, "Bred to be perfect soldiers, these cadets must first be subjected to intense physical and mental training before heading off to war" is simply a sentence that gives me the heebiest of jeebies.

The different vibes the chronological order gives to the clones existence continues to be blatant though. Like I know I've pointed it out several times in these but like, it really is front loaded with some truly terrible content when it comes to clone mistreatment, and having Slick's episode lead into clones dropping every five seconds in the movie into this episode about their training from birth to almost inevitable battlefield death is just a lot. I CARE A LOT ABOUT CLONES AND I WANT SOMETHING BETTER FOR THEM DAMN IT.

MY CHILDREN ARE HERE THOUGH. And god but baby Echo is so stressed all the time. Nobody is in formation. They don't like their nickname. Everyone is shouting. They insist on calling Fives by his full CT number and it makes thank yous a very intensive process. Don't worry, if you think your team is difficult to keep track of now it won't be long until you find yourself with and even crazier one. The audacity of this simulation being The Citadel though given what happens. AUDACITY.

And 99 ;A; Treasure.

"YOU'VE NEVER EVEN MET A GIRL" remains one of the funniest throwaway lines in the show.

Baby Echo though has one (1) thought and it's WE NEED TO FOLLOW ORDERS, PLEASE DEAR GOD. And instead all they get is punched. Team Cohesion? Never heard of it.

Leave my man alone he's just fucking standing there why you gotta bring him into it? Anyway this line makes me really wonder why we haven't heard ANYTHING about 99 in TBB, like it just seems that in two seasons we should have gotten something about the guy that they're named after in two different ways.

Ma'am, I think that you've been here long enough to have noticed that Lama Su does not care about petty things like 'the rights of living beings.' Shaak Ti is one of my most Complicated Feelings Jedi, though, because she'll say things like this and later talk about Fives as property and kind of treat him like it too. (Permanently thinking about when Fives was trying to see what the hell they were doing to Tup and Shaak Ti closes the shutter on him without a word.)

I do think she sincerely feels empathy for the clone troopers but I'm not convinced that translates into '100% believes they are full human beings" just going by actions through the show. "You Jedi show too much compassion" sure but Lama Su thinks literally anything is too much compassion, it's not a high bar.

Every day I am caught in the conundrum of what's likely just writer inconsistency.

GOD THE ABSOLUTE AWKWARD SILENCE AFTER COLT ASKS HOW THE DOMINO SQUAD IS. RIP BOYS.

Still love that they named that poor bastard Droidbait. Do you think it puts a damper on things when Echo and Fives look back and remember their squad like you can be normal about mourning Hevy and Cutup but you try to memorialize Droidbait and shit gets awkward. You'll never believe what happened to their good friend. Droidbait.

It is interesting that leaving a man behind is an automatic fail only because every other thing we see with the clones is that the mission comes first and individual clones are expendable. But still, not the vibe they were going for with this episode so the rules change accordingly.

Bric is definitely on the list of most unlikable characters for his whole scene with Cutup. Fuck this guy throw him into the ocean. Complete counter to the sweet scene with 99 trying to encourage Hevy.

"Stop calling me that. We're just numbers 99. Just numbers." "Not to me. To me... you've always had a name."

LINES THAT MAKE ME WANT TO FUCKING SOB EVERY TIME. I absolutely adore 99 and we do not get enough time with him.

Do not like that Shaak Ti validates Bric's assholery by letting his actively trying to fuck over the cadets slide. Yes Jedi wisdom or whatever but genuinely fuck this guy.

And of course... the Hevy and 99 scene at the end. "We'll see each other again. How else am I supposed to get this back from you?" Agonizing. AGONIZING.

This is one of the episodes I think works much better in its original order. Watching it chronologically is interesting of course, but can't bring the unmatched brutality of seeing them try so hard for a victory knowing that in almost no time at all three of them are going to be dead anyway and that Hevy is never coming back for that medal. So yeah, not too far in and we've hit at least one that definitely works best as a flashback.

#the clone wars chrono rewatch

[khattikeri]

Mdzs for the shipping grid? 👀👀👀

YESSS here we are! v surprised at how strong my opinions are for this fandom but probably shouldn't be sldkfjlksd

**I COMPLETELY FORGOT THE YI CITY CREW ON THIS BUT I DON"T WANT TO DELETE THE IMAGE AND RE-ADD IT INKLDSFHKLDSJ so

- xue/xiao compels me and is in the middle of the makes sense line - song/xiao is closer to makes sense but compels me a bit less - song/xue/xiao is somewhere in between them.

further explanations of all other pairings under the cut!

quadrant by quadrant bc my explanations are Long for this one

out of the way: wang/xian undoubtedly peak! xuan/li v cute, love em. xi/yao is my favorite of the possible 3zun pairings, they're just too juicy and such good narrative foils to wang/xian...

nie/yao is also fun to me because of how much tension and strife they have.

i like nie/lan the least of all possible 3zun pairings just bc i like the conflict jgy brings to the table LOL

even though zhui/ling is the most popular junior pairing i... am not a huge fan of it? they're not blood relatives at all but both are still family to wwx in ways that make me feel weird about them romancing each other. in no war/wens are good aus i'd be more into it...

jingzhui isn't on the chart but they're also both inner lan clan members. so. weird to me! i like ling/yi best. they banter a lot but still get along well as friends

i can see why people are compelled by wen ning and wwx. i love their fucked up codependency too. i just don't see it romantically

i also see why people might ship cheng/xian, i just sincerely think their relationship is most compelling as siblings or pseudo-family due to the social class tensions.

chang/mian is quite rare just bc both characters are so minor but like... god can you imagine all the jiang cheng & wwx parallels. pointing. those are their dads

sang/cheng is like... most of the time it feels very pair the spares-esque. BUT. they both have a lot of similarities underneath the surface and if people tap into that i do like it. BUT (again) i just really prefer it platonic. jiang cheng is like peak "this man is aroace and does not know what either of those words are" to me. celibacysweep and all that

sang/yao. honorable mention to my favorite fucked up ship that literally nobody ships (including myself!). i can't like em romantically, only enjoy the dynamic, but it's so fun to think about. like spy x spy but worse.

and finally stuff that i don't like

no real reason for sang/yu, i just don't see em that way. i'm too novel-only to like wen qing/jc.

LWJ/anyone else feels too much like blasphemy. similar to shipping hua cheng tgcf with people who aren't xie lian LOL

AND FINALLY. THE MDZS SHIP I LIKE LEAST. <3 </3 xi/.cheng

this is like peak pair the spares to me. they're literally coworkers. they're just two people who lead clans and only talk business with each other. they aren't friends, they don't even make smalltalk. their relationship is the equivalent of sometimes bumping into a linkedin connection at the grocery store. come on. COME ON. they have zero personal ties except for the fact that their brothers are deeply in love and have a torrid romance spanning decades

for lxc especially this just feels like such a weak ship to me bc you have TWO whole other people he has fascinating, actually existing dynamics with (nmj and jgy), and xi/yao especially has so so so many parallels to wang/xian. 3zun ships have so much angst and what-ifs and there's so much more meat to it.

see also my thing about jc just... honestly i cannot see him romantically working out with anyone. nobody. whatsoever. this is a man for whom romance is not the solution, ever

so i can't. it literally drives me crazy. i cannot make sense out of xi/cheng whatsoever it doesn't compel me one bit and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say i hate it when there are other ships right there ahahahghdskljfdslk

#ask #kish-mish #ILU THANK U FOR THIS #my god i am so tilted over these books gkalsdhklfds

[thehooliganhangoutspot]

Responding to the person about Bruno liking the pics of Jessica.

I think, judging from aside people notice this and pay attention to what’s happening on their social media because there’s no other insight into what happened. Jessica obscures clarification because she knows B’s fans (the majority of them) will not care about her if she’s not with him. She is the one with deleting the stupid pictures nobody ever wanted to see. Then liking his posts. Then again deleting pictures, but leaving one to left everyone in blissful ignorance because God forbid we’ll find out something went wrong in her blessed ass world.

About him liking her pics… I know, to us, it seems like something but it’s still nothing more than a double tap. They get million of these likes daily. Also, non celebrities do that all the time too—break up and then orbit on your social media by liking pics/watching stories. It’s not an action that speaks of anything, it’s literally nothing. We all know she’s probably still living off of his money somehow—that could be a bigger thing than liking pictures. We don’t know if he was paying her a monthly allowance during relationship or still sponsors her life), otherwise how does she afford life in LA, acting classes, uber, and all the beauty procedures if she hasn’t had a sustainable work project for this long? Still, if he is doing all of that it means only that Bruno is a good man. After you lived with someone for this long, it’s not normal people’s instinct to pretend it did not happen, delete all the photographs, or unfollow them. It’s normal to acknowledge each other’s existence after a break-up. Also if he unfollowed her, that would humiliate a woman in the eyes of many who pay attention. I know many don’t think that, but maybe he’s just a nice guy who can still maintain respect for his past even if he wants to move on.

Maybe someone still has a hope there and that’s why we’re not sure about the break up yet. On the other hand, Nazanin and Miguel broke up after so many years together, then got back together, and then divorced. After years of relationship, it could happen in waves.

I just hope the fear of the unknown doesn’t lead Bruno to settle. He’s young, full of potential and ambition, and I hope he finds true love in someone more sincere.