#because at this point being lonely feels like a given and i've mostly come to terms w/ that

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

EYYYYYYYYY I have returned with more ideas

Legacy being unable to talk in that form + an s/o who knows Sign Language.

No no, hear me out.

He's only mimicking his s/o at first, not knowing their hand motions are signs, for communication. I have this fluffy image in mind of his s/o laughing when they notice him signing back without knowing the meaning. You know, mirroring as a love language. Like cats do – it's more of an instinct thing. And now you just have to teach him, because a. him signing with big claws is adorable, b. you want him to understand what you're signing and c. you wanna give him the chance to communicate back too!!!

Now I am very curious WHAT Legacy would "verbalise" when given the proper way to communicate.

Would it be just concepts and feelings at first? Like, absentmindedly signing "love love love" while cuddling half asleep? With proper practice, would he be able to clumsily string together sentences...? Like, excitedly hijacking Childe just to say hi and to recount how their day has been?

Would he fiddle with troublesome signs? Would he sign your name when he's away and missing you??????

Augggggghhhhhhhhhh there's moreeee

I personally imagine memories are difficult to be shared between both Legacy and Childe, but muscle memory definitely is (you know, because fighting and survival instincts and stuff, I think it makes sense). So it would be very very funny if Childe ever surprises himself with accidentally signing a response instead of saying it and pretty much going "??????".

Pfff– realising you've only ever taught Legacy and not Childe but he still ended up learning it too is going to be so stupidly hilarious when it hits.

OH MY MOON AND STARS DID YOU READ MY MIND? i've loved the thought of Foul Legacy learning sign language for years ehhhehehehhe

your fluffy Abyss monster doesn't know what your signing means, not at first, but he still admires how fluidly and quickly your hands move! sometimes you'll greet him with both words and sign language, either to practice or out of instinct, and before long he begins mimicking the motions back to you. he doesn't know what they signify, but your face absolutely lights up whenever he signs to you, and your smile means more than almost anything to Legacy. when you start teaching him it's by holding his claws with your hands and guiding them into the correct positions, hearing his purrs all the while- the first word he intentionally signs to you is "snuggles?", with a tilted head and pleading look in his pretty blue eye. he'll sign the word "love" and then point at you, bumping his forehead against your cheek and hooking his claws on your sleeves until you understand and sign it back to him

Foul Legacy practices signing when you're away at work!! it's mostly idle conversations to himself or single words when he sees something he likes... but some days he's lonely. some days he misses you so much that his heart feels like it's being stabbed and all he wants to do is cuddle with you underneath several blankets. but you're not here right now, so he just signs "miss you, miss you, miss you" until you finally come home and he darts over to scoop you into his arms. only when he's curled around you does he nudge your cheek, slowly signing "miss you" with a quiet whine before giving your hand a gentle nibble, and your heart just shatters- you're definitely working from home tomorrow

oh Childe DEFINITELY ends up randomly signing words that he doesn't even understand, and while it's all fine and dandy with you, since you CAN understand them, it's less fine when he accidentally does it in response to his subordinates. most of them just stare at him awkwardly before clearing their throats, asking if he heard them- but occasionally whoever he's talking to will be fluent in sign language like you are and excitedly ask if he knows it as well. honestly Childe feels really guilty about having to say no, so next time he visits you he takes your hands and firmly requests that you teach him sign language as well. if anything, it's a good communication tool to have- he is a Harbinger, after all!

also because he KNOWS you and Foul Legacy have been talking about him teasingly in sign language with each other and he wants in

#genshin impact #childe #tartaglia #foul legacy #foul legacy childe #genshin tartagalia #genshin childe #genshin tartaglia #chit chat #darling mutuals #ohh but imagine you're away from home and foul legacy is staying with zhongli and he's in distress and wants you #and zhongli asks him what's wrong and all legacy can do is cry and sign your name #and zhongli can understand but he can't do anything because you're away right now #and when you come back foul legacy clings to you and signs 'don't go don't leave stay here' repeatedly #you have to stay by his side for a few days #short scenario #other's stuff #good evening :) #FAVE

[crudetautology]

Some thoughts apart from just everyone should listen to this episode of the podcast because it's just that good (And if you haven't got the time just read this quote posted by wreathedwith from it or listen to this compilation by eccentricthornback.):

- As someone who really, really liked both the book and the film (and reading about both, ie adaptation choices, interviews etc) listening to this finally inspired me to try watching the tv show again. - Ben's analysis of the way the school system in England works for a certain class of people was both incredibly fascinating (just his inside view of it, the perspective he brought to it) and also genuinely heartbreaking. The feeling of abandonment that's by design to breed a certain sensibility in boys is really horrific and I'm glad both him and Joel Morris (the host) really drove this point home. - And the idea that the games that these spies are playing is really just an extension of the games and group divisions in school (both at public school, but also apparently at university) was so interesting. - Once they mentioned the way the other characters ask "How's Ann?" to Smiley I couldn't stop noticing it and the way the actors lean into that line. So good. - What did make me laugh though was the bit where they (well pretty much just Justin) discuss the characters that unlike Smiley and the sterile spy-world do have some sensuality or that have sex or are sexual (Ricki, Connie & Ann mostly) and I just sat there going. Is- are they not going to mention Haydon and Prideaux and their whole deal or what? Especially given the Captain. But I imagine they didn't have the time. Still, Haydon, at least, definitely fits into the same category as Ricki, Connie and Ann when it comes to characters who are presented in a certain way in the episodes I've watched of the show so far. Can't really remember if anyone ever registered as a sexual being to me in the book though, to be honest. - Also the show has so far convinced me that there is no version of this movie, book or show where I don't find Jim Prideaux to be the most interesting of the lot. - Prideaux's relationship with Bill Roach, which on it's own is really interesting and a bit sad (he's just so lonely), is added with an other dimension of sadness after this, for me, I think. Ben reads a bit from Roach's perspective in the book and again it's- yeah, heartbreaking is the only word for it really. - That quote from a non-fiction book about the teacher who in the sixties couldn't even phantom the idea that the Beatles could have written their own songs and thought they simply must have hired someone from Cambridge or whatever to do it, says it all really about the prevailing mindset of those type of people. Everything said about class and class distinctions and the idea that there is a certain type of people in Britain that inherently are entitled and best suited to rule and how that utterly idiotic idea is exposed in this story (and in the real life case) and the mindset of "if we can't trust the correct type of people to behave in a certain way then the whole system falls down" (which it should!) is also great and interesting and makes me a bit sad that the movie doesn't hit that quite as hard as maybe the book and show does. - The show's Karla flashback (with surprise Patrick Stewart!) was so close to the same scene in the book that even I, who haven't read the book in some time, still thought "Wow, this is so like the book!" - The way that they kept weaving into the conversation the real double agent Kim Philby (which made me want to read up on the Cambridge Five even more than I did the first time I read the book) was really interesting as well. Again I refer to that quote that wreathedwith posted that is stellar. In conclusion a great, insightful, heartbreaking and fascinating podcast episode that has unfortunately gotten me back on my Tinker, Tailor, Bullshit-train again. Damn you Willbond! And also, also that quote that Ben is quoting from Connie Sachs sums up the view of the episode in such a neat way.

#Ben Willbond #Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy #Comfort Blanket Podcast #this podcast episode really could have gone on for an additional 3 hours for me #I just wanted more and more and more #Le Carré #text.

[sassykattery]

The Royal Standard, Pt. 1

Welcome to Season 2 of "Love, Eternal," Chapter 6: The Royal Standard.

I hope you all enjoyed the Prologue chapters, but it is time to return to the present and see what happens to our favorite trio.

CW: MC is afab, uses she/her pronouns. MC is a demon and in a polyamorous relationship with two demons. Intense arguing. Mostly storyline.

Themes: MCxDiavolo. MCxLucifer. Relationships.

Characters: Diavolo and Lucifer. Mention MC.

Minors and ageless blogs DNI

18+ only

Masterlist

Enjoy.

And remember, not everyone has honest intentions.

"I planned on proposing tomorrow night," Diavolo stated.

-

His words echoed in Lucifer's mind, and the pressure was still building in his skull from the headache that was forming.

"Diavolo," was all he could say, his voice was low with a warning tone.

"Yes?" Diavolo said back, equally warning.

Lucifer's fists balled up and he gave Diavolo an icy glare. "Isn't it too soon?"

"As I said, I've given this great consideration, and I know what I want," Diavolo explained.

"What if she says no?" Lucifer asked.

"That is her right. I won't force her into anything she doesn't want to do, I respect her wishes," Diavolo replied calmly.

It took all Lucifer had to not go berserk on the prince. "She doesn't even know what that would mean for her," he replied, his voice tense.

"I anticipate her having questions, and I will be sure to answer them all honestly."

Losing all composure, Lucifer shot to his feet and slammed his hands on the desk, leaning over it. "Why? Why are you doing this?" he snapped.

Now Diavolo was getting irritated, so he stood to his feet slowly and leaned in to get into Lucifer's face, slowly letting his demon form materialize. "I think you are forgetting your place, Morningstar."

He couldn't let it go, "Why? Answer me," he barked, Lucifer's own demon form flashing into existence.

"Because I love her, and she is all I will ever want. I want her to be by my side and rule with me. I can't imagine anyone else for the role, nor will I ever want anyone else," Diavolo retorted.

"You haven't thought this through. She can't give you want you want," Lucifer growled, leaning forward, inches from the Demon Lord's face.

Diavolo's anger rose, and he inched closer to Lucifer with eyes locked in on the Avatar and all muscles flexed and ready to pounce. "Excuse me? What gives you the right–"

"She won't give you an heir," Lucifer hissed.

"What?" the prince barked.

Lucifer looked as though he could pop a blood vessel. "Have you even bothered to ask if that's what she wants? Because I have, and you would surely be mistaken to go through something like this without even considering that rather important aspect of marrying royalty."

Diavolo stopped and considered Lucifer's words, leaning back slightly. It was true, that he hadn't even asked you about such things, but he had assumed it would come up as one of your questions about certain aspects of a marriage with him.

"I won't explain it to you, because you need to ask her yourself," Lucifer said in disgust.

"I... I don't care. If she doesn't want that, then I won't force the issue. I want her and only her. If I can't marry her, then I simply won't marry at all, and then there's no point in an heir anyway." Diavolo turned his head away.

Lucifer's jaw fell agape. "You can't be serious," he said.

The prince looked back at the Avatar, emotions bubbling in his golden gaze with his brows furrowed. "Put yourself in my shoes, Lucifer. I've finally found someone like MC, and I love her as much as a demon can love anybody. I won't let her go, not over something like that. And she doesn't love me for my title or the benefits that come with being with me, she loves me for me. I've lived an incredibly lonely life, and for the first time in it I don't feel alone when she's around. I cannot lose her," Diavolo explained.

Now it was Lucifer's turn to listen and consider his lord's words. It's true, by having six brothers, he never experienced loneliness in the way Diavolo had. And if Diavolo even felt a fraction of what Lucifer feels toward you, and Lucifer was certain the Demon Lord did, he could understand why you were more important than the royal succession.

However, it would be naïve to think this wouldn't create problems in the future.

Diavolo's voice softened, sat back in his chair in his regular form, and he continued, "I asked you to meet with me to also discuss the nature of our relationships should she say yes."

Lucifer looked up through his lashes, reeling from the intense anger he felt about it all. "Go on," he said through his teeth.

"Nothing should change very much, but I will require more of her time for political and social events. I plan to offer her to move into the castle permanently, but I'm also open to other arrangements if she so desires. I don't expect her to end things with you for the sake of the marriage, so you two are welcome to continue seeing each other," Diavolo stated.

Lucifer didn't often find himself gob smacked, but in this instance, he was at a loss for words. However, this only drove his suspicion higher. He sat back in his chair and asked, "Why would you allow that?"

"I promised that she would never want for anything and to always do my best to keep her happy. I intend to keep those promises," Diavolo replied.

A thought struck Lucifer. It had occurred to him once upon a time that he too wanted to possibly marry you, however, he never quite had the opportunity or the courage to see it through. He was already on a rocky start with you, he didn't want to upset you with the idea of commitment on that level. He also understood that if you did indeed say yes to the Demon Lord, then the dynamics of the relationships would change. Surely, having a spouse would be more important than a romantic partner, and Diavolo already explained he would need more of your time, so what would be left for himself?

"Let's hear it, Lucifer," Diavolo ordered, seeing how deep in thought Lucifer was.

"And what if I wanted to marry her?" Lucifer quipped.

"I obviously couldn't stop you, though–" Diavolo started to say.

"You absolutely could stop me, and you know it," Lucifer hissed back.

Diavolo was struggling to keep his temper under control, which was rare for him. He ordinarily wouldn't get so heated in any argument, but for some reason when it was about you, he was falling victim to his temper that he worked so hard to keep tightly wrapped.

"Not if it's what she wanted. If she wanted you over me, I would simply have to let you do it," Diavolo replied in resignation.

"Then, you do understand that by her choosing to marry one of us, that leaves the other out of her life, just through logistics and priorities alone," Lucifer explained, his voice becoming quiet again. He finally reverted back to his regular form.

They were both silent, thinking about that prospect. Neither of them were ready for such a change in dynamics within their relationships with you, at least in the way of possibly losing out on their position in your life.

"She's made it work with us this far, she could surprise us, you know," Diavolo thought aloud.

Lucifer thought the same, but his stream of ideas had a different course in mind, "What if there was another way?"

"I'm listening."

"There are multiple options here. One, would it be possible for her to marry both of us?" Lucifer mused.

"Though that's not something that's necessarily illegal here, it does make for messy paperwork. There's no reason as to why she couldn't, but I just don't know about the legal logistics of it," Diavolo replied, sounding uncertain.

"Then, two, if you are wanting her to have all the power of ruling next to you, and for the sake of argument she didn't want to marry either of us, would it be possible to give her the title without a marriage contract?"

Diavolo continued his thoughts out loud, "Technically, yes. I think I would probably find myself answering to very angry aristocrats, but in theory, I suppose that's an option too. Similar to how I would have to name a successor eventually, I could just give her the title, and that would be it."

"So... what if you did that instead?" Lucifer asked cautiously.

The Demon Lord stared at the black box on his desk. "You don't think you'd miss the idea of one day making her your bride?" he asked aloud, but it was uncertain if he was talking to Lucifer, or maybe asking himself.

Lucifer scoffed. "Truthfully, when I thought about how my life would go after the fall, I wouldn't have guessed that I'd be in a romantic relationship with a human who is also in a romantic relationship with my boss, and then that human decides to give up her soul to be with us for eternity, and that I'd want to marry said human-now-turned-demon. At this point, I'm open to whatever is thrown my way."

Diavolo raised his eyebrows, not having considered that himself.

"Then, I suppose, my proposal will be slightly different than I originally imagined, but a proposal nonetheless."

----

Thank you for reading~ <3

Tags:

@delphi-dreamin @leavesandflowers @the-ghost-of-panda @ariamichel @itsmeninerz @obeymediasimp @flammingbamse @frozengoldie

#obey me #obey me shall we date #sassystories #obey me fanfic #sassywrites #obey me lucifer #love-eternal #obey me diavolo #the girls are fighting #diavolo x femreader #lucifer x female reader

[moonlightpaladin]

Since your character is so new, are there any tropes/scenarios, etc. that you're hoping to explore with them over the course of ffxiv's story? Are they the sort of person who adapts well to hardship and strife?

This is such a good question I had to take a couple days to think on it, and still am not sure how to sound coherent about it, so I figured I'd just go ahead and answer haha

So many!!

His story is obviously a massive work in progress but, the reason Dal is in Eorzea is because his tribe was affected by Dalamud's descent and Bahamut's escape. His tribe worshiped Dalamud before the fall but in a peaceful manner. As it fell, however, they gradually became more fervent and even violent--presumably becoming what he would later come to know as Tempered.

Dalamus, himself, was inexplicably immune to the changes for reasons he did not know, but what he would eventually assume to be due to the Echo. But he could not calm his family nor stop their increasingly violent actions. He had to leave. Maybe he could find a way to help them. Or at the very least, he could find a way to help prevent others from suffering the same fate.

Eventually, I want to write out the slow descent into near-madness that his tribe experienced, and Dal's thought processes as he watched it happen and what was the breaking point that made him decide to leave. I also want to write about the moment where he's told by Thancred that Tempering is permanent, and there's no cure, and what that means for the future of his family.

I want to write him making friends, definitely. He's quite the stoic fellow, and after leaving the tribe he withdrew a lot. A lot of Xaela tribes are extremely close-knit at the exclusion of everyone else, and Dalamus' tribe was similar. Perhaps because of that, lone Xaela tend to draw glances and stir whispers, but he's learned to ignore that and keep to himself. But I think that would make friends more valuable; having other perspectives, more knowledge, sounding boards for ideas, and having people to rely on and who rely on him would help him feel closer to home again. I'm a sucker for Found Family.

It'd be fun to write him in a moment of weakness, when he's normally stoic and quiet. I love when a strong, silent type is forced to--or even better, finally decides to--open up to someone in order to heal.

I'd love to write his potential reunion with his younger sister who was thankfully too young at the time of Dalamud's decent to be strongly affected.

He draws a lot, something he was taught by his father, an herbalist, to help keep notes on plant life that's useful (or harmful), as well as the occasional wildlife or landscape. I've toyed with the idea of him drawing people he's met or those who stuck out to him in one way or another, and keeping "notes" on them in that way, too, haha. He preserves tons memories in a single portable book this way.

He's never shown anyone the sketchbook, and never really had a reason to, but I think it'd be funny if someone caught him drawing them.

With him being so stoic and quiet, I like the idea of him eventually having a group of friends who make a bet on who can make him smile and/or laugh first. It takes a while. Dal is mostly oblivious to it, though, which I think makes it even funnier.

In general I think Dalamus adapts well to hardship. His tribe was largely practical and he's very much a "It is what it is. So what do I do about it now?" kind of person. But in a way, I think it's also bad for him, because the strife is still there, he just shoves it down to deal with it later and then "forgets" to deal with it later. Maybe that's why he enjoys combat a little bit too much? It's a way to offload feelings in a non-obvious manner, or the adrenaline supersedes anything else. I'd have to think about it more

I know the FFXIV world is full of strife and Dal's backstory has already given him a head start on grief, so I just think it'll be nice for him to find people he can be soft around, or at the very least provide him a soft place to land :)

#ough i rambled so much #i try to avoid/ignore spoilers so this will likely be tweaked as time goes by but. yeah :3 #thanks so much for letting me ramble!! #ask #answered #gatheredfates #missy rambles #ooc #missy writing #misc

[wildflowerswildhorses]

Rewatching S22, I think I can see how Carisi ended up dating Nicole between 22x04-22x10. The first few episodes, Carisi and the squad are disagreeing a lot in their cases, lots of that is due to the stress of covid quarantine and BLM issues with the police department in the country. Liv, Fin, and Kat at odds with Carisi with how he's handling cases to the point where they decide to bring in Barba and even help him against Carisi. His feelings for Rollins and the constant back-and-forth between them, deciding it was now time to move on after seeing where he is right now in his life. Living in a broom closet during all of this 😵....

Some point in the first half of 2021 he meets Nicole, another lawyer. Given how much she doesn't like the police, it's possible Carisi expressed his stress of how his former squad is lately to her somewhere (as Rollins stated in S20, people go to bars to tell things to strangers they wouldn't tell the people they love) and Nicole might have found that intriguing, a cop turned lawyer expressing his stress working with the police. Leading to a few more meet ups and eventually start dating. He did seem very alone and kind of distance with the squad after 22x04, that could be when it was starting to happen. At least how I see it that is.

Given how Warren tweeted Nicole wasn't that into Carisi, it can also be possible she too was lonely during the whole pandemic and was slowly getting back to dating and planned for Carisi to be a short-term relationship. (Lots of people after the pandemic) For Carisi at the time, it's possible he enjoyed spending time with her because it was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't know him on a deeper level and was trying to get over his feelings for Rollins with Nicole as a test to see if he could. In a way, to me, that reminds me of Will and Nina's relationship on Chicago Med. Will was dating Nina to get over his feelings for Natalie, but he couldn't.

Overall, Carisi was going through a lot and most of the squad didn't realize it. (Cause the show never care about Carisi and his problems) They had their own problems and issues at the time to see it. Rollins saw it with the Barba case, but Carisi couldn't really go to her much cause he was holding back his feelings for her and was easier to talk to a third party. This is just my speculation on how I see the relationship being formed. Covid really changed and messed everyone's lives. Carisi-Nicole relationship was just the outcome from that terrible year.

Srry for this long analysis, I started typing what came to mind and it became a like a short essay... 😅

Tell me, what are your thoughts on the whole Carisi-Nicole relationship?

Honestly I've never really thought about it past the 2.5 seconds of screen time we got. And well, I've barely paid attention to the season that much in any of my rewatches.

But I can see with the tension from the squad, his feelings for Amanda that he's been trying to shove down because he thinks they're not reciprocated all doubled with the stress of the pandemic and constantly going home to an empty apartment? Only seeing his family over zoom calls? When he was probably going out to Staten Island regularly at that point? Cause like Fin was seeing Pheobe, Liv had Noah to go home to, Amanda had two under five for most of the pandemic and a dog, and Carisi, well had no one. So was probably definitely lonely.

And here comes some stranger that has no connection to his job or the squad and maybe he's going to try to give it a shot and seeing if he can get over Amanda. Cause like a party of me wonders if Carisi, well obviously didn't assume because he never would, but wondered if Amanda had an ulterior motives at inviting him over for New Years. And then well nothing happened, so he probably started consciously trying to shove the feelings down.

But it was also just doomed from the start - mostly because Carisi was already so far gone for Amanda and just because Carisi and Nicole clearly wanted very different things out of life and under different circumstances, I don't think they ever would have been a thing.

#answered asks #svu talk

[gobbluthbutagirl]

might fuck around and spend the entire rest of my life wishing i had gone to college

#it's so funny bc the fact that i didn't never bothered me until like. literally 11 months ago #now to be fair for like the entire four years leading up to that moment my whole thing was 'i wish i had gone to high school' #and for the entire four years leading up to THAT it was 'i wish i did not exist' #which is still kind of my thing but it's taken a back seat to the other one #it's just like....you never miss it in the moment. only when you're looking back and there's a huge gaping hole in your life #also like 'you can still go to college!' i know. like i get that. on a fundamental level i understand #but my main thing isn't even that i want an education(although i would love to have had one) it's the social part #like just being around peers. meeting people. forming social connections #i'm 23 years old and so isolated i know absolutely nobody #like i have zero friends or even people that i talk to outside of my immediate family #i literally don't even interact with people online. all i do is come on this website and make posts and then leave #i just feel like if i had been in a more social environment at any point in my life i would be so much better off now #i mean i'm a functional adult. i have a full-time job. i can drive. #but my life is just so soooo EMPTY #and of course there's the whole thing with the ptsd where i have myself convinced i literally cannot make friends or even have a decent life #while living in my hometown in south carolina #and that my only option is to drive myself across the country to la in the middle of a pandemic just so i can go be lonely somewhere else #because at this point being lonely feels like a given and i've mostly come to terms w/ that #but that little 'what if...' voice never goes away and it's like #shut up about what your life could have been! shut up about what your life could have been!

[butt-watch]

Deltarune Chapter 2 Theory

DELTARUNE SPOILERS AHEAD

I'll put under a read more, but just in case it doesn't work. Here's your warning to block "#delatrune spoilers" or scroll really fast.

Spoilers for end game and bonus boss, and a long ass dump of all the ideas I have in my head before I forget them. So, sorry if I got anything wrong or it's a mess.

I've seen a lot of theories flying around, but haven't seen this one yet. (Sorry if it is already out there and I just haven't seen it, I'm sure somebody will already have put it together better than me.) This is just some funky ideas I've been throwing around, because I'll be honest here, I love the main 3 so much, and would be sad to see any of them turn out to be evil like so many theories are suggesting.

Maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic, maybe it's the weird nb kid deep inside me latching onto a kindred spirit, maybe I'm on to something.

So here's the thing. I don't believe Kris is the knight.

I know, I know, but stay with me here.

There's no denying that at the end of the chapter, Kris created a new fountain, and with it, likely a new dark world. But I'd like to argue, this is the first one they've created. My evidence is shaky, but I think there's something there that could blossom.

I'll start off with the simple fact that multiple characters who have met the knight, Spades King especially, didn't recognise Kris at all, and you would have thought they'd recognise the person who's been feeding them so much information. You do also have a couple of dialogue options with the king this time, and definitely with the Queen, so it seems strange that neither of them recognise the voice of their Knight in shining armour.

This is where stuff starts to get a bit flaky, but also, a lot more intriguing.

At the end of the chapter Kris opened a fountain, and the night before, we saw Kris remove the soul inside them and brandish their knife. Assuming that Kris spent that time without the soul creating a fountain is a fair assumption to make, and I think it's possible that was Kris's intention, perhaps they have some connection to the knight, and knew how the fountains could be opened. But, they were missing one important ingredient.

In Chapter 2 we get an explanation from the Queen about how dark fountains are created, and with it a word that has largely been missing from Deltarune.

That's right, good old Determination.

Fountains are created when a determined Lightner plunges a sharp object into the ground. And here's where the theory comes in. I believe prior to the end of chapter 2, Kris didn't have Determination. Throughout the game, they've been filled with various sources of power, from Fluffy Boys and Mean Girls, to Cat signs. But at every save point we've been missing the signature Determination.

The closest we get is at the end of Chapter 2, just before the fight against the queen, when "a certain power" is alluded to.

And that lack of Determination, would have made opening the fountain impossible for them, after all, Queen spent the whole game building Noelle's determination high enough to open a new fountain. A smidge of determination doesn't seem to cut it.

So how did Kris get the determination?

Through the good old power of Friendship. Through the trials with their new friends, Kris has gained determination, even without the soul inhabiting them. And even though that started as half a joke (only half), whilst writing this post and trying to find screencaps, for the next section, I realised it's actually more likely than I suspected.

And that brings me to everyone's new favourite:

Spamton. During his dialogue and initial boss fight he offers a deal, rewarding Kris with [[Hyperlink Blocked]] if they accept. As far as I'm aware you're forced to accept the deal. (If anyone else tolerated more than a few minutes of smashing no deal like I did and managed to get a different outcome, kudos to your perseverance.)

What is [[Hyperlink Blocked]]? Well I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this. I believe it may well be Determination or something similar.

During the initial confrontation, Spamton refers to the players Soul as [[HeartShapedObject]].

But prior to the boss fight against Spamton NEO, he has no qualms about saying SOUL.

I've seen a lot of people theorising Spamton is being censored, and I agree that definitely seems to be the case. From a meta standpoint though I think it's interesting that the [[Hyperlink Blocked]] he mentioned so much in his first encounter doesn't seem to be mentioned at all, now the he has slightly more freedom of speech. I personally believe it's because revealing whatever Spamton was offering would have given too much away.

So how does this come back to the power of friendship? Well, upon defeating Spamton, whether through ACTing or beating the crap out of him, he realises the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.

He suggests that together, the three of them could "break their own strings"

Following the fight, there's a moment, where Susie notices that Kris is acting out of sorts. Whichever option you choose, it's obvious that Kris is shaken by the event, even going as far as to yell the answer if you let them admit how they're feeling.

The similarity to Kris's own situation, being puppeted by the player is a valid reason for the response. Whatever shook them did so with enough effect that the fear showed despite the players control. Either that, or Kris has something they didn't have, more control. More... Determination to overcome the soul.

That last part is reaching a little, which is saying something, given the amount of shaky evidence presented in this post, so I want to wrap this up mostly with something slightly unrelated, but still a Kris theory.

Why do they open the fountain?

There are a lot of theories, about being a pawn for Gaster, being an asshole, etc.

I'd like to think Kris is just a weird kid who's gotten caught up in a mess they don't really understand. They created a scenario where Susie would be forced to stay the night, and opened up a new dark world, that Susie, their friend, expressed a want for before they left the dark world.

A place where they could get away from their lives for a little while and have more adventures together. And I can understand the reasoning, opening a new fountain isn't bad, I mean, as long as they close it at the end, nobody gets hurt and they have more memories. Where's the harm in that? Right?

As much as Kris obviously wishes to be free of the soul's control, that very soul has helped them make real friends. It's taken them on adventures and well.

Somebody had to let it out before the morning.

So to summarise, the strongest power known to man is a group of lonely teenagers, if you run through a peaceful game murdering everything and then blame a video game character for the decision you made, I'll kick your ass, and I guess I'm a Kris stan now, oh god.

#deltarune #deltarune spoilers #kris deltarune #kris dreemurr #The amount of people I've seen jumping on this weird kid and calling them a murder makes me feel... uneasy #Kris sweetie I got your back #and I pray to Toby that he shows mercy and doesn't do you dirty

[lee-scribbles-and-doodles]

My Top Ten Overlooked Movies With Female Leads In No Particular Order

Note: When you see this emoji (⚠️) I will be talking about things people may find triggering, which are spoilery more often then not. I mention things that I think may count as triggers so that people with them will be aware before going in to watch any of these.

Edited: 3/16/21

Hanna (2011)

So, before I get into why you should watch this movie, I just want to take a moment to say why it's near and dear to my heart. Growing up as a queer kid in the early 2000s, seeing portrayals of people like or similar to myself on anything was rare at best. It was mostly in more "adult" movies or shows that my parents would occasionally let me watch with them that I'd see any lgbtq+ rep at all. Often times they were either walking stereotypes, designed to be buried, evil, or all three.

Then here comes this PG-13 action thriller with a wonderfully written main female lead who, at the time, was close to my age, and who got to kiss another girl (her very first friend, Sophie) on screen in an extremely tender and heartwarming scene. To say the least, it was a life changing moment for me personally.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, Hanna is a suspenseful movie about a child super-soldier named, you guessed it, Hanna (played by Saoirse Ronan) and her adoptive (?) father Erik Heller (played by Eric Bana) exiting the snowy and isolated wilderness of their home and taking on the shadowy CIA operative, Marissa Wiegler (played by Cate Blanchette) who wants Erik dead and Hanna for herself for mysterious reasons.

It also has an amazing soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers, great action scenes, and it has an over arching fairytale motif, which I'm always a sucker for.

⚠️ Mild blood effects, some painful looking strikes, various character deaths, and child endangerment all feature in this film. However, given its PG-13 rating, a majority of viewers are presumably able to handle this one. Still, be aware of these going in.

Sidenote: It's recently gotten a TV adaptation on Amazon TV, although I have not watched it, and do not know if Hanna and Sophie's romantic/semi-romantic relationship has transferred over.

A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor is a "black-comedy mystery thriller" centered entirely around the relationship between two mothers, the reclusive, rich, mysterious, and regal Emily (played by Blake Lively), and the local recently widowed but plucky mommy blogger, Stephanie (played by Anna Kendrick). When Emily suddenly goes missing, Stephanie takes it upon herself to find out what happened to her new best friend.

It's a fantastic and entertaining movie throughout, with fun, flawed and interesting characters. The relationship between the two female leads is also implied to be at least somewhat romantic in nature, and they even share a kiss.

⚠️ The only major warnings I can think of is that the movie contains an instance of incest and one of the main plotlines revolves around child abuse, although both of these potentially triggering topics are not connected to each other, so there is thankfully no csa going on.

Edit: I legitimately forgot there was drug use in this movie until now. So, yeah, if that's a trigger, be careful of that.

I Am Mother

I became mildly obsessed with this movie when it came out. I Am Mother is a sci-fi film that centers entirely around a cast of two woman, and a female-adjacent robot who is brought to life on screen with absolutely amazing practical effects.

The plot is such, after an extinction-level event, a lone robot known only as Mother tasks herself with replenishing the human race via artifical means. She begins with the film's main protagonist, Daughter. Years go by as Mother raises her human child and the two prepare for Daughter's first sibling (a brother) to be born. However, on Daughter's 16th birthday, the arrival of an outsider known only as Woman shakes Daughter's entire world view. She begins to question Mother's very nature, as well as what's really going on outside the bunker she and her caretaker call home.

⚠️ This movie features child endangerment and reference to child death.

Lilo and Stitch

When I decided to add a single Disney film to this list I initially thought it was going to be hard but almost immediately my brain went to Lilo and Stitch, and specifically about the relationship between Lilo and Nani.

On the surface, this film is about a lonely little girl accidentally adopting a fugitive alien creature as a "dog," but underneath that the story is also about two orphaned sisters and the older sister's attempts to not let social services tear them apart by stepping up as the younger sister's primary guardian. Despite its seemingly goofy premise, Lilo and Stitch has a very emotional and thoughtful center. It's little wonder how this movie managed to spawn an entire franchise.

Despite the franchise it spawned (or possibly because of it), I often find that Lilo and Stitch is overlooked and many people only remember it for the "little girl adopts an alien as a pet" portion of its plot, and I very rarely see it on people's top 10 Disney lists.

⚠️ This movie could be potentially triggering to people who were separated from their siblings or other family members due to social service intervention. There's also a bit of child endangerment, including a scene where Lilo and Stitch both almost drown.

Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind

Unlike the above entry, I did struggle a little bit with picking a single Studio Ghibli film. Most media of the Ghibli catalogue have strong, well-written, unique, and interesting female leads so selecting just one seemed like quite the task.

However, I eventually settled on this particular film. In recent months, Princess Nausicaä has become my absolute favorite Ghibli protagonist and I'm absolutely enchanted by the world she lives in.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world overun by giant insects and under threat of a toxic forest and its poisoness spores, Nausicaä must try to protect the Valley of the Wind from invaders as she also tries to understand the science behind the toxic forest and attempts to bridge the gap between the insects and the humans.

For those who have never seen the film, I think Nausicaä's personality can best be described as being similar to OT Luke Skywalker. Both are caring, compassionate, and gentle souls who are able to see the best in nearly anyone or anything. She's an absolutely enthralling protagonist and after rewatching the film again for the first time in well over a decade she has easily become one of my all time favorite protagonists.

Whenever I see people talk about Ghibli films, they rarely mention this one, and when they do mention it, it's often in passing. In my opinion it's a must watch.

⚠️ This movie contains some blood, and the folks who either don't like insects or who have entomophobia may not appreciate the giant bugs running about throughout the movie. (Although most insects do not directly relate to real life bugs, and are fantasy creatures).

A Silent Voice

A Silent Voice is an animated movie adaptation of a manga of the same name. While I've never had the pleasure to read the manga, the movie is phenomenal. It covers topics such a bullying, living in the world with a disability, the desire for atonement, social anxiety, and depression in a well thought out manner that ties itself together through the progression of the relationship between its two leads, Shoya and Shouko. It's also beautifully animated. Although very popular among anime viewers, I've noticed that it's often overlooked by people who watch little to no anime. So I suppose this is me urging non-anime viewers to give this film a chance.

⚠️ As mentioned above, the movie deals with bullying, anxiety, and depression (with this last one including suicidal thoughts and behaviour). If discussion of those topics are triggering to you, than you may want to proceed with caution or skip this movie all together.

In This Corner of The World

Another manga adaptation, this one taking place during WWII-era Japan. In This Corner of The World follows the life of a civilian Japanese woman, Suzu Urano, as she navigates simply living and her new marriage as the wartime invades nearly all aspects of everyday life. I think this movie is a good representation of what it must be like to be living as civilian in a country at war where the fight is sometimes fought on one's own soil. It was also an interesting look into pre-50s Japanese culture in my opinion. It's also beautifully animated featuring an art style I don't see often.

Despite it being well known among anime fans, I never really see it be brought up, even among said anime fans themselves.

Side note: I've seen many WWII dramas centering around civilians but they've almost always been about American or UK civilians. This was the first movie I'd seen that features the perspective of a Japanese civilain.

⚠️ Features the death of a child and limb loss. There's also a disturbing scene featuring a victim of one of the atomic bombs near the end.

Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki

This film follows Hana, a Japan-native woman who fell in love with a magical shape-shifting wolf-man, and her trials with raising their children, who can also magically shape-shift into wolves, on her own. It's a very heartfelt movie about a mother's love and the struggles of doing right by your children when you have limited resources to actively guide and care for them. All the characters feel unique and alive in my opinion. Also, the animation is so good that my sister and I initially mistook it for a Ghibli film.

Again, like the previous two anime entries, I don't see it ever brought up outside of anime circles.

⚠️ There's some child endangerment present in the film, although none of it is the fault of Hana as far as I can remember.

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday is about the fictional Princess Ann (played by Audrey Hepburn), who while on a whirlwind tour of Europe, finally reaches her breaking point over having her entire life be one big schedule and all her words and actions being rehearsed. In the spur of the moment, she runs away in hopes of experiencing what life is like for other women. Unfortunately, she was previously given a sedative, meaning she doesn't get too far before it takes effect. Fortunately, she is found by the kind reporter Joe Bradley (played by Gregory Peck). Believing her to be drunk and unable to get an address from her (because she has none) he ends up taking her home for safety's sake and allows her to sleep off her suppose drunken stupor. The next day, he realizes who she is, and decides to take her on a fun sight seeing trip across Rome in hopes of getting the big scoop. Along the way, they begin to fall for each other.

This is my favorite black and white, old romance film. I think the relationship between the main characters is absolutely beautiful and I have a lot of fun watching it.

⚠️ I'm not entirely sure what kind of warning this film would need. However, it was released in 1953, so values dissonance will probably be at play for many viewers to at least some extent. For example, early in the film Ann is given sedation drugs by her doctor for her behavior, something that is very unlikely to happen today. Also, Mr Bradley deciding to take Ann home to keep her safe rather than call the police or an ambulance is a very pre-90s decision in my opinion.

#hanna 2011 #a simple favor #i am mother #lilo and stitch #nausicaä of the valley of the wind #a silent voice #in this corner of the world #wolf chilren ame and yuki #wolf children #roman holiday #black and white film #anime #disney #studio ghibli #movie recs #top 10

[petrichorpetals]

So from the evidence I've collected, I'm very sure my Yeosang came here from another timeline/world theory is correct.

This mostly stems from what we learned from fever part 3 and the deja vu mv but honestly the Yeosang being sus about this had already been foreshadowed in his diary entry of fever part 2. (You'll have to forgive my terrible pictures I have fever part 3 in front of me and I'm too lazy to grab fever part 2 to take better pics)

Basically our setup to this was how at the end of the diary film we switched dimensions into the world of fireworks which I'm fairly sure is called Strictland. Everyone basically says how much the new world feels like their old one but different. The first time I read this I wasn't sure what he meant by "Everyone says this is a new world but somehow, I'm familiar with the scenery here. " line and just took it at face value to be metaphor. But given his repetition of staring down the camera to say "I remember" in Deja Vu, it would make a lot more sense if we take it quite literally too mean I remember this place because I'm from here. There's also a lot of talk about the word world in "wanting to escape the world I've lived in, the world I've been trapped in" as well as "the friends who have willingly invited me to their world". Basically the tldr of the matter is that yeosang escaped from the world of Fireworks into the world of school!Ateez using a chromer that breaks. (IMO we see this exact moment where it breaks at the end of Deja Vu) I say it's likely a chromer since Yeosang shows an at least approximate knowledge of what would happen if he breaks one when he breaks the one the black pirates/halateez gave to hongjoong while the android guardian/white mask holds him hostage.

Yeosang seems to have an approximate knowledge here of what would happen if the Chromer broke, to the point where he doesn't even call it the Chromer when he's thinking about what they know about the object, he specifically calls it a sandglass when any other mention of it has been the Chromer.

There's also the matter of him going out of the way of saying "My friends would not have been all scattered if I had not met them at first". This could very well be talking about where they lost Yeosang and scattered in the hallway but given his wording of at first, I'm putting this as evidence that Yeosang was a newcomer to their world when he got here with the chromer and wasn't a part of their friend group originally.

This theory gets backed up by the ending bit of Not Too Late playing at the end of Deja Vu and if you do a quick look into the lyrics, Not Too Late comes across very much as the beginning of school Ateez where they're all lamenting about being lonely before they all get together to make friends.

Except for two things.

One of which is Wooyoung and Yeosang talking about not being able to get out or escape (Which lines up for Yeosang if he's trapped in this new timeline and adds some interesting implications for Wooyoung I'll get into on a post about him later).

The second of which is Mingi's part. Mingi brings up killing and saving, both things that happen and we see happening during Inception and Thanxx in Fever Part 1 when Hongjoong keeps resetting the timeline using the chromer. There's two implications here: one, Mingi is aware of the timeline resetting (something that I already suspected but is now confirmed) and two, while this might seem like a song from the very beginning of school Ateez, Mingi gives us the added context that it is very much not. (It's also interesting that Yeosang's the one that pulled out Mingi's headphones to make him past attention to the world around him in diary film but like Wooyoung, I'll get into Mingi later in another post)

Since we're assumedly several timeline cycles in, why is this song playing over Yeosang breaking the Chromer? I posit that instead of this being the moment where Yeosang breaks the Chromer while escaping the white Android, this is instead either the moment Yeosang crash lands into school Ateez's world via his own "sandglass" for the first time or this still is that moment, but due to time shenanigans, the Yeosang that escaped just so happens to have escaped back to when he first got to their world making him trapped not only in school Ateez's world, but in an endless cycle of breaking the Chromer to get there in the first place.

We see that Yeosang doesn't go back to their original world and warehouse with them afterwards. Likely because he wasn't a part of their world to begin with to return back with them.

There's other bits of evidence that say that Yeosang with the broken Chromer at the end of Deja Vu is going to school Ateez like the hand that reached for Yeosang had a sleeve similar to their school uniform in Inception.

(Interestingly enough, Yeosang has an emblem that isn't like anyone else's on his uniform and Wooyoung has several emblems. Not necessarily relevant to my current point but food for thought.)

I'm not one of those people that obsess over hands, so idk whose hand that is exactly, but I do have suspicions.

If we're looking at the rings and at how one hand kind of mirrors the other, we can come to the conclusion that it might be the same person. We can go so far as to think that maybe, that hand might even belong to another version of Yeosang. Potentially even the hala!Yeosang that we catch a glimpse of in the diary film giving Hongjoong the chromer. (Side note: I only just realized that it was actually hala!yeosang that gave hongjoong the chromer and not hala!hongjoong like I thought going in. Yeosang really does just have a longstanding history with the Chromer huh.)

Edit: it's now basically been confirmed by the making of deja vu mv that the hand is Hongjoong's so basically depicting the moment Hongjoong reached out for yeosang when the timelines reset. I still standby the rest of my theory. Here's the screenshot I grabbed off the alternate hand angle in the mv making video:

For me personally, a lot of things start to click into place when we consider the possibility that Yeosang is actually from another world. Even his like a bird in a cage stuff makes sense when viewed in this light. He has the freedom of song and dance that he didn't have in Strictland, which banned any form of music or dance thinking it would lead to human emotion, but is stuck in this new world with no other option but to potentially repeat the cycle of when he got here.

#ateez more like aquila shut up #aquila shut up no one cares #ateez theories #ateez #Casper was the one that told me hongjoong got the chromer from himself back when I was first getting into ateez #and I didn't know the members enough when I watched diary film the first time to know any different #like yea hongjoong stole the chromer in the beginning but yeosang gave it to school hongjoong #the stuff I've seen researching into this just further proves my point and doesn't refute it #stuff like the girl in the beginning of diary film saying this is how the story of how we get split into eight pieces again #emphasis on the again part #sorry if this is rambly I'm just excited that I'm pretty sure I'm right since everything points towards it

[who-am-i-no-one]

Emma. (2020)

I watched this movie in late January. After multiple viewings and re-reading the book, I have a lot of thoughts about this adaptation.

It seems rather strange, given that Emma is part of my holy trinity of Austen novels, that I didn't watched the most recent adaptation earlier. I think it was mostly due to my initial impression that Anya Taylor-Joy's otherworldly looks didn't quite match what I had in mind for the titular character. I decided to give this version a try after watching Queen's Gambit. Not sure that Anya's looks will ever grow on me, but she did impress me as a young actress who seemed to have a maturity beyond her years.

Long story short: really wished I had seen this movie earlier! It is absurd and heartfelt at the same time, imo, the version that best imbues Austen's humor. It is now my favorite adaption, with the possible exception of Clueless, and I'm not quite sure how much of that is just nostalgia.

From the casting to the direction to the script to the costumes to the set to the soundtrack, I could tell the creative team really put a lot of love into this project. It's always a joy to watch something that's made with love and made well.

Direction

Autumn de Wilde's directing is quite good. I would never have thought this was her first feature. She certainly has a unique and colorful style, which is probably to be expected for such a famous photographer.

Funnily, while watching the movie I kept thinking it reminded me of early Hollywood romantic comedies like Bringing Up Baby (incidentally one of my favorites) or The Philadelphia Story, and then reading interviews and seeing that she had tried to bring in some of that style of humor made me feel rather validated. Also the servants' reactions were awesome!

Absolutely loved the fact that they decided to show that Knightley and Emma were in love with each other very early on in the story, with Knightley more aware of it. I've read some people complaining about the surprise of Emma's being in love being ruined. But come on, did anyone reading two chapters into the book think it wasn't going to be the two of them together in the end?

Loved how much of Knightley's point of view we got in this movie. This is one repressed pinning man. I can totally see this Knightley riding ventre a terre from London in the rain because he thought Emma was heartbroken.

The only gripe I had was the lack of Frank and Jane's subplot. As it seems they shot some scenes for that, I assume it was the director's discretion to take them out. I remember thinking while watching the movie that they must have expected the audience to be familiar with the story because some things just didn't really get explained or extrapolated on a lot. If you hadn't read the book it'd be 30 minutes or more into the movie before you put two and two together and figured out why Mr. Knightley is always at Hartfield.

Script

The script takes most of the dialogue directly from the book, which is awesome. I love Austen's writing because there is a certain musicality to it and retaining that in large part for the movie really made it better for me. The deftness with which Eleanor Catton moved dialogue from one scene in the book to a totally different one in the movie was quite brilliant. Everything flowed so well.

The scenes that differed from the book were also excellent - namely, I really loved the Jane/Knightley duet, the infamous nosebleed and first kiss scenes. 💖 I thought the screenwriter used those changes to quickly establish plot points and character arcs well.

Costume/Hair

Not a Recency expert so can't say much about the costumes and hair as far as period correctness but from reading other reviews it seemed like they were very true to the period. Obviously appreciated them taking the time to show the audience how men got dressed in that time (purely for research purposes obviously 😜).

Emma's dresses were all quite beautiful. I especially loved the black evening dress, the pink one with the roses and the proposal dress. Also loved the little pop of red shoes that went with the proposal dress. As someone who wore red shoes with her wedding gown I heartily approve.

Absolutely loved how Emma's curls unwound as her life unravels. Similarly think they must have done the same for Knightley to a lesser extent. His hair during the card playing scene at the Westons was quite terrible.

Set

I! Loved! Hartfield! It looked just like a doll house. Really most of the sets looked good enough to eat. So much pastel. Reminded me of French macarons.

I liked how everything in Donwell Abbey was shrouded in Holland covers. Makes a good point that Knightley barely lives there at all, that his home has been with the Woodhouses for quite a while now. Which, of course, makes his sacrifice at the end just a little bit less of a sacrifice?

Soundtrack

Isabella Waller-Bridge's music really meshed well with the tone of the entire film. The male and female opera singers, sometimes sounding as if they are bickering with each other and other times seeming to be in duet, was a brilliant touch. The folk music was a little jarring at first but really grew on me.

Johnny Flynn's end credits song "Queen Bee" is amazing. I love that we get Knightley's perspective at the end with a song written and sung by Knightley. It's a lovely coda to the movie. And now, if the next Austen hero doesn't write one for his SO I'm going to think him a very poor sort of lover.

Cast

Anya's Emma was really great. I'm glad they allowed Emma to be her bitchy self. Lol. I haven't watched the 1996 and 2009 versions in a while but I distinctly remember them making Emma too nice. I recall writing after watching the Garai version that Emma was actually mean and they should have let her be mean! If she's not a brat in the beginning, how will we see her change for the better later on? I love what a snob and how manipulative this Emma was and so assured of her place in her little society but still had the vulnerability of almost an imposter's syndrome which I feel most people can relate to.

Her chemistry with Johnny Flynn's Knightley was off the charts. Pretty much every scene they had together I half expected them to reenact the library scene from Atonement lol.

Mia Goth was a wonderful Harriet. She really captured Harriet's inexperience, naivete and diffidence. The orgasmic sounds she was making during the gypsies attack scene were awesome. Although, I could probably have forgone a few of Harriet's scenes for more Frank and Jane.

Not sure why they made Mia go brunette since the book specifically mentioned Harriet was fair? Perhaps having all three leads as blondes was just a bit too much. I'm also not sure if I liked Harriet's ending as I really don't think Emma, even in her most contrite mood, would invite further friendship from a tradesman's daughter and soon-to-be her husband's tenant farmer's wife. This seems a piece of modern day wishful thinking on the part of the creative team.

Bill Nighy was so good as Mr. Woodhouse. He made it so believable why everyone would do everything in their power to accommodate his whims. The gag with the screens was too funny. He was able to sketch out a lonely quirky old man who is afraid to lose those close to him in very limited screen time. Absolutely loved the scene where Emma was heaping blame on herself and he just sat with her in sympathetic silence.

Miranda Hart's Miss Bates was excellent as well. She has long been one of my favorite British comedic actresses but she can also do drama well. Her reaction to Emma's teasing on Box Hill and her forgiveness of Emma later brought me to tears.

Josh O'Connor's Mr. Elton was deliciously creepy. The carriage proposal scene was at once a little scary and hilarious. I actually liked the portrait scenes a little less because I found the acting there slightly affected and veering into 1995 Mr. Collins territory. But as Austen described Elton as having "a sort of parade in his speeches", this was much more forgivable. Really loved Mr. Elton's determination to eat cake during the Eltons' visit to Hartfield.

Tanya Reynolds was an excellent Mrs. Elton and in very little screen time was able to bring to life this meddlesome nouveau riche. Adored her little shimmy during the ball.

Amber Anderson's Jane really looked as if she were in a decline. Callum Turner did a good job as a slightly restless, mischievous and immature Frank Churchill. I did feel his looks were a bit too modern but that's just my personal view.

Given how many scenes they had I thought they used the time they had pretty well with furtive glances and sly smiles at each other to establish the relationship.

Connor Swindells was such a love sick puppy as Robert Martin. Did this role ever get cast in other adaptations? I don't seem to recall at all.

Special shoutout to Oliver Chris's John Knightley. Absolutely had me in stitches.

And last but never the least, Johnny Flynn's Mr. Knightley:

To preface, I will never not fall for Mr. Knightley in any version that I watch. And really, get yourself a good looking enough actor with good enough chemistry with Emma and good enough acting chops and you should have a fairly successful Knightley.

I judge all my Knightleys by the Box Hill scene. And up to that point in the movie, I really liked Johnny Flynn's Knightley. He was playful and sexy and jealous and slightly bitchy as well. The duet scene was lovely because I always appreciate a man who can play instruments and sing well. The sexiness and chemistry of the dance scene was off the charts. That's all well and good. And like I said before, given any well cast actor, I probably would have liked them in those scenes as well, just as I've liked Northam's and Miller's Knightleys.

But, the Box Hill scene absolutely blew me away. To make sure I was not just biased towards the last Knightley I saw on screen, I did go back and compare each version's Box Hill scene and I am, actually, even more blown away. Some of it is a credit to the directing and script, but a large part of it is Johnny Flynn's acting in that scene.

As far a script and directing, the set up to the fight scene was fantastic. Loved Anya's expression changes after she makes the joke. Loved Miranda Hart's Miss Bates as she realizes what Emma meant. The silence that followed. Knightley's shocked face and how sympathetic he was to Miss Bates. Can probably write a whole thing just about this scene alone.

I loved the fact that Knightley had an internal struggle as to whether or not to approach Emma and reproach her for her behavior. I know the book has him tell Emma about his struggle but that just doesn't work as well for me on screen.

During the scene you can just tell how frustrated and disappointed in her he is even though he tries to keep his voice low. But the way he reprimands her does not at all feel lecture-y and I feel like part of it is because it seems like he starts to lose control a little bit as well. His voice starts to crescendo as she stubbornly refuses to admit she was in the wrong and culminates in "badly done, indeed!" with actual fingerpointing. Yikes.

Then he losses steam and looked regretful, almost devastatingly so, at his own outburst and perhaps felt that he was losing her by giving this speech and looked as if he would have said something more - an apology or some words of comfort to soften the blow? - but didn't.

This remorse and the struggle at the beginning really bookended the scene for me.

Absolutely loved his Knightley, and, really, him as an actor after that.

The proposal scene as well was very good. His delivery was just really good. The way he said "If I loved you less then I might be able to talk about it more." with some regret and then closing his eyes as if he can't believe what he just said. Soooo good. Also, he cries very pretty, lol.

The delivery of the three "yes" during the kiss scene as Emma asked for confirmation that he really was ok with giving up his house to come live with them was also brilliant. It just kept getting softer and softer but he never breaks eye contact. Absolute chef's kiss. His closed eyed little smile of content after Emma kisses him just made me melt into a puddle.

Yup, overall I'd say I rather liked his interpretation of Mr. George Knightley. 😜

I did wish they hadn't giving him such sideburns but after watching some Emma interviews I can totally understand. If he didn't have the sideburns there'd be more complaints about how young this Knightley was. He's got such a baby face.

...I seemed to have written an entire essay on this movie...yeah, I just have a lot of feelings and thoughts about this version...

#Emma #emma 2020 #jane austen #movie review #austen adaptations

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Okay so you've obviously read the comics (which I have not sorry), what's your interpretation of Stevan's aversion to physical touch in the movies? Like the most glaring example, when the mom of that guy that Stevan saved who had the bullet in his head came up to hug him, Stevan turned away from her to try and get out of the hug then uncomfortably returned it when he couldn't get out of it.

I've seen people say that's a sign of child abuse/trauma but we obviously don't get anything about that in the movies. I personally just took it as a sign/symptom of his lack of social skills and emotion tolerance. Anyway, I was just curious if there was anything about that in the comics and what you thought. - 🐍 Anon

Oh no honey, I haven't read the comics either. I'm just a Strange fangirl so I have done some online research about Stephen, his family and his life because even though I absolutely adore the first movie they didn't exactly address much of his personal stuff.

As far as I know they changed a few things in one comic issue where Stephen's father was shown to be abusive towards him...

... but I think that was mostly just a retcon that basically came out of nowhere and nowadays is not even talked about anymore.

Now, whether we can extrapolate this to the movies is hard to say. I just think Stephen is not high on physical contact or close relationships or letting anyone get too close to him. In fact the only one who comes close is Christine in the first movie and well... that didn't turn out well, did it.

Unless they give us more background on his upbringing in MoM it's anybody's guess. That scene you mention I interpret it as him being interested in the challenge of facing an obstacle and finding a way to overcome it (he invented many surgical practices that would be used for years to come), in the thrill of saving a life and knowing he and only him had been the one to do so, but he doesn't need any kind of approval from anyone else.

So at that point he doesn't really care too much if the mother of the patient is crying or not, or if she wants to hug him or whatever nice words she might throw his way because he doesn't hold her opinion or her thoughts in high regard - he just wanted to prove to himself that he could do it. And he was delighted that he had been successful.

But yeah, thinking about it he doesn't have any scenes where he's sharing any kind of physical contact with someone else. It could be a nod to the many times he's suffered from depression, perhaps. I still believe that his first few scenes in NWH had the purpose of showing just how lonely he feels sometimes, but again this is all over-analyzing gestures and words since Marvel have not really given us much to work with.

Personally I don't want the MCU to give him an abusive past. We have enough of those and the death of Donna was painful enough, he doesn't need an abusive father or a drinking problem.

#Doctor Strange #Stephen Strange

[bregee13]

I've waited long enough. Time to share some Rudolph angst! Yaaaay!

As much as this special is stuffed with a ton of angst material, I'm gonna go out of my way to share something I've never really heard before.

Basically, this entire thing I'm about to share is centered around Fireball. Yes. That's right. A character we only see for a few scenes and never see again.

So why am I slightly obsessed with this fella? Well, mostly because I really wish we got to see more of him. Ok, but why would I want that? Well... Let me start from the beginning.

Rudolph, donning a fake nose, nervously joins in with his peers in an attempt to be social and fit in. It's pretty clear Rudolph has kinda lived in isolation up until now, so he doesn't really know how to interact with anybody.

Fireball, possibly noticing this, eagerly introduces himself and makes Rudolph his buddy. Now this seemingly unremarkable moment has a few potential implications. For one, all the other reindeer are already paired up with their friends. But we don't really see Fireball grouped with anybody else except Rudolph. So either he left his group to take Rudolph under his wing, OR (the option I prefer) Fireball is a lonely kid himself. So when he meets Rudolph, Fireball finally feels like he has a friend.

Either way, Fireball is being a very nice and friendly guy to Rudolph. And he really does make good pals with him! Sure, maybe Rudolph is a little odd and talks kinda funny, but who cares? A friend is a friend! Heck, Fireball is even the one that points out Clarice to Rudolph. He didn't have to do that, but he did it anyway! Because he cared enough for a reindeer he barely knew.

Now I'm painting Fireball as a nice kid because I think it's important to his character and I don't want that aspect of him to get lost in what happens next.

We all know what happens. Rudolph meets Clarice, she calls him cute, he turns out to be a good flier. And after play fighting with Fireball, Rudolph's false nose comes off. And then everything goes wrong from there.

But how does this all go down in Fireball's perspective? Well, I'm gonna be honest here, Fireball does a bunch of not cool stuff at this point. But why would such a nice guy do such things? Well, let's figure out what happened.

Say you befriended someone (who you don't suspect is different in any way) and while playing with them, their nose falls off and reveals a glowing red one underneath. Now this is kinda hard to imagine because there isn't really a human equivalent to this. The closest thing I can think of is if someone's prosthetic comes off.

Now, while he didn't exactly have a nice reaction, Fireball didn't expect his friend's nose to come off like that. Nor did he expect it to glow in his face. And he wasn't really given an explanation either. So when he saw something he never saw before in his life after playing a bit too rough, I can see why his initial reaction to Rudolph's nose was fear. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Fireball at some point thought he personally broke Rudolph's face.

And then Rudolph, noticing Fireball being scared, approaches him. Which unfortunately makes Fireball even more scared. And it isn't until Coach Comet gets startled by Rudolph's nose and everyone gasps and laughs that Fireball regains his composure.

Now I'm not sure how known this is, and I may be mistaken, but from what I've seen Fireball is actually the one that starts making fun of Rudolph. And if I matched up the voice correctly, he's even the one that coined "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

So why exactly is Fireball making fun of Rudolph here? I can't say for certain, but I have an idea.

I'm going to be honest, the characters in this special overall have a tendency to be mean and not nice for some reason. This isn't solely the reason I came up with for Fireball's sudden cruelness, but it's definitely a big part of it so I gotta mention it.

Basically what I think happened is that when Fireball got snapped out of his fear by the laughter, he became embarrassed and turned everyone against Rudolph so nobody would be cruel to him instead. And it worked. Nobody was mean to Fireball because he was afraid. Not Comet, not his peers, not the girls that were watching, not Santa who was there, NOBODY. And doing that cost Fireball his friendship with Rudolph.

And after that, Rudolph runs off and is never seen again until his return when he's grown up.

When Rudolph runs into his old peers (which don't include Fireball for some reason... hmm. mystery), they say they thought Rudolph was "gone for good". D...Did everyone assume Rudolph died????

Can you imagine making a friend as a kid, breaking their face by accident, throwing them under the bus for personal gain, and then they run away because of that event and are assumed dead?!? I would feel so bad if I were Fireball! I wouldn't be surprised if Fireball thought he killed Rudolph in a way... And seeing Fireball is nowhere to be found when Rudolph returns, I can't help but wonder if something happened to him.

But what would Fireball and Rudolph do if they reunited? I can't help but wonder. Would Rudolph have hard feelings? How'd Fireball feel about meeting the guy he thought he killed? Would they become friends again? Who knows...

#rankin bass #rudolph the red nosed reindeer #rudolph #rambling #christmas #long post #I need more fireball content immediately #nostalgic rambles

[hats-paradox]

Aa! Thank you for explaining, everything's a lot more clear now, I've looked through your tags before, but was slightly confused on the general storylines, if you don't mind, could you go into more depth on the Gear in Time AU? That was one if them that caught my eye. -EclipsesEnd

Sure! In order to do that I should clarify that some things are still kind of iffy and the story sort of.. stops at a certain point? As in it doesn't really have an end, and it could branch off to several different things- I'll touch on that later.

Anywho Hat lives with her uncle and cousin, Tim & Timmy, and several robots. (Conductor, Grooves, CC, Snatcher, and Rumbi) Tim is a mechanic (with a robotic third eye) who has a miserable soft spot for machines which is how he ended up with so many (most of which don't really serve a purpose, and it's pretty uncommon to have a robot if it's not actively doing something for you) He and Thor had a pretty successful business, but they're retired now, though Thor still runs an old shop, mostly for older robots so that they aren't immediately thrown out should they happen to break.

The main story of it centers around Moon, though. He was, like I said earlier, the Prince. Vanessa shenanigans happen and she basically damn near killed him (she thought she did, he just happened to live long enough to upload his consciousness into two convenient bodies. Also speaking of, he kind of 'broke' mentally when Vanessa attacked his, causing a bit of a split in his personality, hence how we got Snatcher & Moon.)

Moon happened to get his body up and functioning before Snatcher (assuming that he died) and basically booked it away from there, managing to stumble upon the Facility which he quickly started to call home. Snatcher, while having to sit in a miserable stasis in a broken down shed for far longer than he would have liked, was eventually found by Tim & Thor. Long story short, Hat convinced Tim to let her keep him and although he was pretty aggressive at first, the two quickly created a bond and Snatcher was cemented as a part of their family.

While Snatcher was busy getting adopted, Moon got the wonderful opportunity to sit in all of his feelings, feeling pretty scared, but mostly vengeful and incredibly angry and confused. After being left by himself with only his thoughts to keep himself company (and the lovely trauma that Vanessa had given him) he quickly went off the deepend and started doing experiments. During this, he started to get considerably good at mechanics, having to repair himself several times with other robot's parts. He eventually started to kidnap/attack Mafia members (who just work around the junkyard) and after a while started to find out how to make them into robots without killing them. Being around them certainly didn't help his mentality, if anything it just made it a lot worse. He kept experimenting with it until he felt he had a great understanding of it, and decided to go after Vanessa, who seemed to be doing just fine without him. (Side note that really doesn't affect the plot, Badge Seller was one of the first people he worked on! They're only a cyborg, but unfortunately, being one of the first people Moon worked on means that they have several issues, and Moon may or may not have severally damaged their brain.)

He catches Vanessa, finds it incredibly liberating to feel like he's in control, and finds it just a little too fun to take his anger out on her. Deciding that he doesn't want that feeling to go away, he decides to never push her far enough to actually kill her, even going as far as to actively repair her at times. That basically becomes a pastime for him, whenever he's not doing other things, or should he get angry, he'll take his feelings out on her. It usually leaves him feeling a little odd and maybe a bit angry afterwards, but it's never enough to stop him from doing it again.

This continues for quite a while until Hat (who was exploring around the Junkyard, which is relatively close to her home) accidently falls into Moon's facility. She's initially freaked out by him, but lucky for her, she's young and that's enough to get Moon to not immediately try to kill her. She, being raised by Tim, offers her friendship to Moon. Moon, who hasn't had a positive experiance with anyone in who knows how long, almost immediatley latches onto that. At first he thinks she might be tricking him, but he quickly comes around to the idea that Hat genuinely wants to be his friend. (She of course, has no idea who he is or what he's done)

Things go well for a little while, though Moon quickly grows to be extremely clingy, insisting that she stays longer, even trying to get her to just sleep there a few times. That weirds her out for sure, but she still tries to see him, figuring that it's just because he's lonely. She's tried to get him to go up to the surface with her, but he refuses, claiming that he'll be hurt again if he tries to. She figures that he just has some trauma and that it'll take time to ease him into the family. Unfortunately, she isn't given enough time for that. Moon quickly starts to develop the idea that he's never meant a genuinely good human before Hat, and thus all humans are evil, and that she really isn't supposed to be one. He goes out of his way to convince himself of that, coming up with any excuse he can to justify it (like that she'd physically be sturdier as a robot) (funny how the same thing he did to hurt Vanessa is the thing he wants to do to 'Help' Hat)

He quickly grows to be dangerous for her to be around, and he damn near succeeds in making her a robot, except for the fact that she had been talking about him at home, so Snatcher's been watching her more closely, and that it was one of the few times he had convinced her to sleep there, so Hat's family were already trying to find her.

It basically stops there, really. Moon tries to break in and take her, etc. Etc. Effectively traumatizing Hat and her family, and that's where the story branches off a lot. Really, I imagine that they'd just.. move away. It's not safe there and Tim has the money to back it up, so no point in staying. There are also other possibilities like Hat being turned into a robot, Moon being killed, several things where Vanessa gets more involved (she's hellbent on murdering Moon, should she have the chance) etc. I don't imagine it'd just go with them trying to live with Moon doing all of this to them.

Anyways, sorry for the ramble- hope this helps!

#a gear in time #ask to tag #tw kidnapping #tw torture #tw murder #long post

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Throwback Thursday [1/6]

Hi!

I've been testing out my very very VERY mediocre editing skills just for fun but I thought I'd share what I made anyway.

For the following six weeks, starting today, I'll be sharing the small videos I've made, filled with all the greatest hits of the past by my favourite K-pop girl groups!

These groups are very important to me because, through their music, they've kept me company on countless bus and train rides as well as when I'm feeling down or lonely or just bored. Ideally I'd love to make them a proper tribute video but for now that's as far as I go lol.

I hope you enjoy these little throwbacks as much as I did!

[WARNING] The video and audio quality is mostly... Bad, so if you wanna retain your hearing, don't watch this with your headphones too loud!

1. Tell Me - Wonder Girls - 2007

Tell Me is so addictive and fun! I love every part of it. Sunmi's husky verses, Sohee's "OMONA", Yeeun and Sunye giving it their all in the chorus and, of course, Yubin's rap. Oh Yubin's rap! The styling is scary but the song is too good that makes me ignore the hair and outfit (and makeup...) choices... Wonder Woman Sohee saving the day is iconic though.

2. L.O.V.E. - Brown Eyed Girls - 2008

Brown Eyed Girls are rarely praised for their softer, less powerful songs but L.O.V.E. basically put them on the map so it deserves credit! I'd still choose bold and dark BEG any time of course but still.

3. So Hot - Wonder Girls - 2008

Leave it to the Wonder Girls to release a song parodying their immense success! They were still the top girl group at the time so releasing this after the massive hit that Tell Me was was honestly pure genius! Again, the styling is questionable but Sunye looks great with that hairstyle!

4. How - Brown Eyed Girls - 2008

Brown Eyed Girls were still trying to find a balance between being extremely talented and releasing public-friendly songs and How was definitely a step in the right direction! I love Miryo's raps in this very much. She's also rocking that short haircut as well!

5. Nobody - Wonder Girls - 2008

Full disclosure but I prefer Tell Me over Nobody. In any case, it's Wonder Girls' greatest hit and for a very good reason too! I included the English re-release because I feel like Wonder Girls are not given the credit they deserve nowadays for literally putting K-pop on the map...

6. Gee - Girls' Generation - 2009

Gee is iterally that bitch. Love it or hate it, it not only skyrocketed Girls' Generation to the top of girl groups but also set the golden standard for what a successful top boss bitch girl group looks and sounds like. Gee is literally the reason every single girl group has cutesy concepts nowadays and Girls' Generation is the reason every single company creates nine-membered girl groups. It is also the very first K-pop girl group song I ever listened to!

7. Honey - KARA - 2009

I'm probably one of the very few people that actually enjoyed KARA's "Fin.K.L. ripoff" debut but seeing them do a 180° in 2008 and then further establishing their girl-next-door image with Honey in 2009 and finding success was just as satisfying! Nicole's rap is the highlight for me.

8. Fire - 2NE1 - 2009

What a great way to debut! Fire is a classic because it immediately sets itself apart from any other K-pop girl group hit song released up until that point. And what's even more satisfying is that the girls feel believable. They're not faking it or trying too hard to look badass, they simply are. 2NE1 had unbelievable charisma that seriously can not be replicated. Ever since they disbanded it's been really hard for me to listen to their songs because it really hurts knowing that there will never be more. They were my favourite group after all..

9. Hot Issue - 4Minute - 2009

Oh my god, 2009's batch of new girl groups was so powerful? Like 2NE1, they also presented themselves in a very powerful but not forced way except they always felt a little more... I don't know, more traditionally feminine? More sexy maybe? Hot Issue is a good example of that.

10. Tell Me Your Wish (Genie) - Girls Generation - 2009

Genie is that song I think I mostly asociate with Girls' Generation, despite Gee being their magnum opus. Maybe it's because it's "that song that came after THE song" but instead of replicating Gee it does every single thing Gee did for me but even better! I think that may be the reason they chose Genie as their Japanese debut over Gee. I think they come across a lot more bold in this too, and not because of the suits. They feel and look and sound confident. Like "Yeah bitch, we're literally the best girls ever." Remarkable!

Okay so that's it for this week!

Thank you for reading~

#Girls' Generation #2NE1 #4Minute #Wonder Girls #KARA #Brown Eyed Girls #Kpop #Girl Groups

[deniigi]

Confused anon and I found it!! I can now definitively say that one conversation is the 45th time MJ is typed and then the second conversation is typings 46-48. And now that I've found that, what thoughts/musings do you have/want to share about how Peter met Matt and when their meeting falls with respect to Pete and MJ. That was also a confusing question, sorry. But I love your writing!!

AHA.

I know what you’re talking about now. ITSV Matt and Peter’s relationship! (I was tripped up by trying to figure out which verse you were talking about, but I got it now!)

Right, so ITSV Matt (Little Red) is around 18 months older than Blondie, so they’re much closer in terms of age than other Matts and Peters, but they have reversed starting points.

Blondie became Spiderman way before Little Red became DD, so basically, Little Red starts out around 24ish as DD and runs into Blondie who’s been doing the vigilante thing for like, around 8 years by that point and so Blondie sees this new guy on the scene who’s kind of feral and very skittish and decides that they’re gonna be friends. Blondie sees Little Red, at first, as kind of a pet project–like trying to gain the trust of a stray cat. And about six months or so into this gradual trust exercise, Blondie and MJ break up after a rough patch. And that lasts about 2 years. So in that time in between, Blondie and Little Red grow pretty close, as people/friends, and start fooling around. It’s not serious until it is and about when Little Red works up the courage to ask for something a little more committed is when MJ comes back into the picture for Blondie. He makes the decision to go be with MJ and Little Red is hurt by that, like, really hurt, but does the typical Matt thing with smiling and saying, ‘no, no. that really is for the best. You absolutely should do that.’

Blondie feels really really bad about the whole thing and makes an effort to show Little Red that he is absolutely not being cut out of his life because of his and MJ’s marriage; his and Little Red’s relationship is on the mend when he gets tanked.

In Into the Multiverse, after Blondie comes back, he and Little Red kind of struggle to re-find their place with each other, trying to make a Team Red among themselves and Miles without being weird about it.

But straight up? Blondie still has major feelings there. And Little Red is still very hurt–relieved that Blondie is okay and totally willing to work with him, but hurt. Little Red has finally decided to try to move on by attempting to seduce his Foggy (I am actually calling this Foggy ‘Blue’ in my head atm, it is very cute) and Blue is starting to reciprocate and be charmed. He and Little Red have just started dancing around something a little more committed/stable around the time Blondie comes back, which is why MJ (all four, MJ, Blondie, Little Red, and Blue are friends, more or less) freaks out when she learns that Little Red is DD.

Anyways, I wrote a practice piece a while back, trying to sort through what ITSV Wade is gonna look like and in that, there is a lot of that tension between the many bodies involved here, so here’s a bit of that, below the cut.

I am very interested in this version of team red and the relationships here right now so this was great timing anon!

—-

Matt was pissed at him for havingmade him say words about emotions the day before and so refused to answer anyof Peter’s texts. But Peter had the day off and zero shame. He caught the trainto Hell’s Kitchen and opened the office door.

The place was the zoo it usuallywas, although this time, Karen the Blonde was sitting at the desk in the centerof it, directing people to chairs in front of offices.

Karen was unspeakably beautiful.Too beautiful. Peter smiled at her and said he was there to see Matt Murdockand she didn’t know his face and so told him to take a seat. Foggy came out afew minutes later to fetch his next client and his face went wide on seeingPeter.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked.

Karen behind him went stiff inrealization that she’d made a mistake.

“Not much, just waiting for ourfavorite problem child to have a minute to chat,” Peter said.

Foggy frowned at him.

“He’s not in,” he said, “Took ahalf day, said he wasn’t feeling well.”

Yeah, sure. Of course he was.

Karen apologized for themisunderstanding and Peter waved her off with a smile and a dull throb in thebottom of his heart. She didn’t mean to be upsetting Matt. And given that Fogsdidn’t seem too worried about anything, he certainly hadn’t talked to him aboutanything yet.

“Right, well. I’ll go see if he’sat home, then,” Peter said. He left.

Foggy caught him in the hallwaybefore he could hit the stairs.

“You okay, Peter?” he asked.

“Hmm? What, no, I’m fine. Why?”

“No, it’s just. Uh. Listen, I’msorry for going off on you the other day.”

Aw.

“It’s no problem, man,” he said,“Boundaries and all that.” Foggy’s smile flickered a little. Peter made surethat he saw him notice it.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“What? Oh, sure. Ah, you know.The usual. Matty’s been spending a lot of time out the last few weeks and I’mjust—well, you know.”

He did know.

“Has he been with you?”

Nope, but Peter had a feeling heknew who he was with now.

“I’ll go see if I can find him,”he said. Foggy was relieved, his forehead smoothed out a bit.

“Thank you.”

Uh-huh. Don’t mention it.

 –

Matt wasn’t back where thesniper’s nest had been, so Peter went and checked the other Wade’s junk-foodpoint. No one was there either. He then searched out the favorite haunts of theother versions of Murdock he’d encountered. It was getting dark when he finallypuffed out his cheeks and headed down south to Brooklyn to meet Miles. Twoheads, he thought. They needed two heads.

 —

Miles got on with Matt with acasual ease which Peter kind of envied. To be fair, those two spent more timetogether than he and Matt did these days. Matt was very concerned about Miles’sabysmal lack of fighting form and practice. He dragged the kid to half of theabandoned gyms in the city on the regular and put him through some thoroughlyunnecessary routines.

Miles, for his part, seemed toenjoy them. He also like to take the piss out of Matt when he could and Peterwas pleased to find that Matt accepted this more easily than he’d originallyaccepted Peter’s presence. They’d gotten there but it had taken some work.

Miles made a perfect sad facewhen Peter told him what was up. Then he declared that he’d find Matt, noproblem.

“I don’t doubt it,” Peter said.Miles squinted at him in suspicion.

 –

Two hours in and Peter was tryingto believe his own words.

“Maybe he went home?” Milesasked.

Maybe.

They headed south to check.

 –

No dice.

 –

Maybe Peter was fixating on this.Maybe Peter was more worried about this than necessary. Maybe Peter was stillfeeling a couple of feelings towards Matt.

He couldn’t help it, they werejust there.

“Why’re you so sad?” Miles asked.“Matt’s a ninja, he’ll be okay.”

Mmm. Okay was relative.

“You’re married, Peter.”

Fuck this kid. Peter didn’t needgremlin interference in his head. He already had anxiety interference in hishead.

“We’re just friends,” he said.

“Kay, so why’re you mad aboutKaren then?”

Dude, what? Who said he was madabout Karen?

“You keep making this face whenher name comes up.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do. Are you jealous?”

Aigh. It always came back tothis, didn’t it.

“I’m not jealous,” he said. “I’mjust, I dunno, protective. Matt’s one of my people, now. I don’t like anyonewho hurts him. He’s already got enough people hurting him.”

Miles cocked his head and lookedout at the twinkling lights of the city.

“Maybe that’s why he likes DP,”he said. “He doesn’t worry about him. Probably makes him feel less guilty.”

That was.

Remarkably insightful.

He waited a second and then gaveMiles a playful shove.

“You’re a smart cookie, you knowthat?” he asked.

Miles shoved him back.

“Duh.”

 –

“Matthew.”

“Jesus, Pete. Wear a bell orsomething.”

He shouldn’t have to. Matt wassupposed to have superhearing.

“MJ’s out for a thing tonight.I’m lonely. Come eat garbage with me.”

Matt laughed and shrugged on hisjacket. Loosened his tie.

“Sorry, man. I’m booked.”

Peter made sure to put on hissour-puss face.

“Fogs?” he said.

“Nah.”

“Wade?”

Matt paused and then turned hishead in his direction and cocked it.

“What’s the matter with you?” heasked.

“Nothing. I’m just being nosy.”

“Why don’t you like DP? He hasn’tdone anything to you.”

“Oooooh, well. You know. He’s amurderer, for one. And—yeah, no. Mostly because he’s a murderer.”

Matt’s face was smooth while heconsidered him. Then he finished pulling on his coat.

“Not all of us are so squeakyclean, Pete,” he said.

“You guys fucking?”

“Peter.”

“I’m just askin’, man. I thoughtyou and Fogs—”

“Can we not?”

Peter was taken aback by thetone. He recoiled without meaning to and caught himself doing it. Made himselfstand up straight.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Whatever,” Matt grumbled. “I’mheaded out. I’ll catch you around.”

Peter watched him go. When thedoor closed and locked, he ducked back out of the window and clicked it shutfrom the outside. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like quiet Wade. He didn’tlike sad Matt. The only thing going for them right now was Miles’s seeminglyendless enthusiasm.

Shit was giving him heartburn.

#fic #into the multiverse #into the spiderverse #there is a lot happening here I get that #but we gotta make miles a team red! we gotta! #also his wade is super interesting I don't want to spoil anything but yeah. #ficlet

[shortmania]

Thank you for answering my last two asks! I really appreciate how detailed your responses are. You have a real understanding of these characters. I've been wanting to ask you more questions, but you strike me as a very busy person. Another question of mine: Would you say that Olga has strong intuition? I feel like she has more understanding of her life than we realize. I'm actually incredibly interested in Olga, even though a lot of people hate her.

Aw, thank you for understanding! I have been sorta busy, but tbh one of the main reasons it takes me so long to answer questions is because I… really don’t remember what my opinions are sometimes, lmao. I have to routinely rewatch episodes and squint into the nether to formulate responses to these things. I’ve loved HA! for ten years and it’s still my baby, make no mistake, but I don’t think about it a whole lot anymore. So that’s my terrible truth. I’m glad you like what I have to say anyway. I really be trying, lol.

As for Olga, mmm… No, I don’t think she’s especially intuitive, specifically. She may have a functional equivalent that masquerades itself as intuition, but intuition itself is like… animal instinct, pattern recognition, almost mystical-like, an innate muscle that starts out sturdy in those lucky enough to possess it (Arnold, Helga) and grows stronger with practice. I don’t think Olga was born with strong intuition, if she has any, and I also don’t think she’s had much room to develop it (I don’t think she got out much as a kid). But then maybe she’s just too self-absorbed to recognize things, or too idealistic. Maybe if she was a little healthier, psychologically, it’d be revealed she is fairly intuitive, but as it is, I haven’t seen a lot of evidence to support that. Doug was really… something.

That said, I agree! I do think she understands how fucky her life is a bit better than most people want to acknowledge. But you have to be careful with this understanding of her. I’ve seen people watching “Olga Comes Home” and getting very angry, because it does reveal this deeper side to Olga that says things like, “You’re lucky they ignore you” and “I feel like a windup doll,” and if Olga understands what her presence does to Helga – how miserable and lonely she is – why does she continue to act like that? Why doesn’t she try to fix things? And I never know how to respond, because it’s like… they’re her parents, too. Which situation would you rather be in? The one where your parents are nice to you sometimes but mostly neglect you, or the one where your parents bathe you in praise but their affection hinges entirely upon how hard you work getting perfect grades at a prestigious university, winning awards, and doing extra extra credit even though you don’t need it, and even then, with all that, they still ignore you sometimes? 

The thing that’s always amazed me about this interaction is that Olga almost seems to envy Helga. Like she’s thought about which scenario is better before, and more than once, she’s decided she’d rather they didn’t know she existed. That’s incredible. She knows Helga resents her, but Helga has a lot of things Olga never had–room to breathe, freedom to choose, friends and hobbies outside of school and state-wide competitions. It’s easy to feel bad for Helga because we’re given her perspective all the time. We only ever get snippets of Olga’s, so it’s a little more difficult to empathize with her, but the pieces are there for those of us who care enough to put them together. 

I don’t want to defend Olga too much. My argument has always been that Olga isn’t perfect–she’s human. She’s self-centered and dense and depressed and childish and obnoxiously loving and awful and precious. That’s why I like her so much. There’s something very honest about her, in that she’s so bad at being dishonest. She sees how their parents affect Helga and makes a point of aiming extra attention at her when she comes over. She crouches down to her level and tells her she’s a beautiful young lady and kisses her cheeks. She gives her things to do on holidays so she feels included. She transferred from the illustrious Wellington College in England to Bennington in Vermont to be closer to Helga. She tries to make up for their parents where she can, and she doesn’t try to get their parents to pick up the slack because she doesn’t think their parents paying more attention to Helga would necessarily be a good thing, because look what it’s done to her. It’s a bit narrow of her, all of it, but it is well-meaning.

So I rambled a bit there, but tldr; Olga is a very interesting and intelligent character and eVERYONE SHOULD  L O V E  HER, but I wouldn’t necessarily call her intuitive. I don’t think she was socialized enough to develop those kinds of instincts. If they exist in any capacity, they’re shriveled up raisins buried deep in her subconscious. You can tell from episodes like “Little Sis” and “Student Teacher,” Olga’s fine when she’s interacting with teachers and kids, but with people outside of those two very specific categories, she’s downright… God, she’s just plain bashful? And it’s so funny? Because Lila’s there like “Oooh, adults are being super nice to me? Of course adults are being super nice to me, adults always are because I’m a cute little girl!” but Olga’s floundering. She’s not used to getting something for nothing and it’s so funny and sad to watch. She just scrunches in on herself and looks so confused and out of sorts. I hate it. I hate everything. End my life.

You might point out that Olga goes to fraternity mixers and dates multiple guys simultaneously, but I think those are things that came waaay later in life, and if “Olga Gets Engaged” is any indication, she doesn’t really have any close friends. Dumbass taste in men, no bridesmaids, gets calls from women with pretentious bitch names like “Price LaBlanc” with messages about how they found her “unforgettable” (interesting word choice). Look, I don’t wanna say Olga’s a loser and an idiot, but… Olga’s a loser and an idiot and I would die for her, goodnight.

Idk if this was helpful at all, I don’t feel like I answered your question very well, but I gave what I had. I hope you got something out of it. Have a good. 

#Anonymous #asks #hey arnold #HEY ARNOLD! #olga #jazzing #ldnglgnd hodbgdogb kgfgn lgnldn kdgnl #olga pataki #lawful dumbass #tw cursing #i am....... tired