#because she literally exited the narrative

[even-disco-baby]

YOU — “No. There is still a chance.”

DOLORES DEI — “You think so?” Her voice is weary.

EMPATHY — Everything about her is weary. She is the Innocence of weariness, of heroically borne suffering.

CONCEPTUALIZATION — That is the picture you have painted for yourself, at any rate.

YOU — “You looked back. That’s the memory, the moment, that I can’t stop returning to. You looked back. I had a chance, for just that moment…”

DOLORES DEI — She meets your eye, gaze still forever cast back over her shoulder. Time stops. The stars are stilled, the ocean silent. There is *nothing* beyond this memory. Nothing at all. All of infinity is contained in this single moment when anything and everything was possible.

“Oh, Harry…” She sighs, soft as eiderdown. “We never had any chance.”

And just like that, the wave of time collapses under its own weight, obliterating everything. This moment was six years ago. She is gone from here. Gone, gone…

PAIN THRESHOLD — You cannot leave. There was nothing outside of this moment, and now there is nothing at all. It’s all gone. There is no point. I’m sorry. I can’t do this any longer.

VOLITION — Please, don’t say that…

“Okay. Well, fuck me, then.”

“How would *you* know?! You gave up! You didn’t even try!”

“We *must* have had a chance, at some point… Doesn’t everyone get a chance, if nothing more?”

“How could you say that…?”

DOLORES DEI — “Because it’s true,” she says, matter-of-fact. “There is no moment in time that you can turn back to, no branching paths, no infinity. There is only what happened. I looked back… and then away.” She closes her eyes, turning her back to you.

“The moment ended. *We* ended. That is all.”

SHIVERS — A wave crashes against an unseen shore, ocean spray tickling the back of your neck. You shiver, but no one shivers with you. You are alone in this intersection. Why are you here?

“Why can’t *I* end?! Why can’t this all just stop? Please, make it stop…”

“Ended? I’ve barely even started! I got a chance to start completely over as somebody new! I don’t need you anymore! You’re just dead weight to me now.”

“No. That wasn’t the real ending. We’re a part of something so much bigger than this intersection, telling a story that encapsulates all of history! There’s *more* to this, it *means* something.”

“Then… What am I supposed to do now…?”

DOLORES DEI — “No, Harry.” She turns back to you again now, and she looks… sad.

“We were not metaphors. We were people. Our narrative was not intelligently designed. It simply followed the patterns of history, because those are the only patterns we *know.* We tried to create something new, but we failed. There is no narrative reward for our failure, no satisfactory ending. There is only the immutable past and the unknowable future.”

RHETORIC — There is no assurance of what is good or deserved or what may bring relief. There is no assurance of punishment, either. There is no assurance of anything. Not even of a future. I don’t know what to say to make this bearable.

VOLITION — Even so… As long as you live, *something* is promised. Can you live with that?

I can’t, I just can’t do this anymore…

I can. It’s enough.

I don’t know. I just don’t know.

I can at least try for a little longer…

VOLITION — That’s all I ask. That’s enough.

#disco elysium #harry du bois #dolores dei #suicide tw #ummmmm haha *twirls hair* #sorry this isn’t more of the dolores saga im really trying to get back into the swing of things 😭 #this is smth that won’t make it into the saga but that i was thinking about nonetheless #im not too fond of the whole ‘’dora is literally dolores dei’’ thing tbh #i feel that the mundanity is what makes their story impactful #and also just. makes it feel like somebody is kinda going overboard on projecting onto their proxy ex. lmao 😭 #idk like the metaphor gets a little TOO metaphorical for me. but that’s just my onion. im an rgu fan so who am i to judge #anyway this is more my take on the harry/dora story #which is that dora was Just Some Guy and ultimately we have to live w the fact that we’ll never get the full story #because she literally exited the narrative #we can speculate about what her and harry’s relationship was like and how much of the blame is on each of them #dora’s lack of class consciousness vs harry’s violent misogyny etc etc #and like. it’s not that there’s no value in examining those things bc there definitely is value in it #in examining what patterns you DO see repeating in your life and in the world around you #that is what politics is really… examining the system and all its moving parts #but ultimately the past is immutable… our perception of it changes as we gain new context and understanding but what’s past is past #and there is no way of knowing with any certainty what the future holds #that’s where the overlap of all of these political and personal conflicts is for me #and why it comes back to harry questioning whether it’s worth it to even live #it’s about whether or not you can live with the grief of the past and the uncertainty of the future #i want to learn to live with it… to work toward building a future that i want to live in #anyway. coughs

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I feel the need to remind everyone that Check pattern theory has never once failed me so Eddie being in Check when he called Marisol to set up a date (coupled with the fact that Eddie literally said dating people you met on a call never works out well and then the show literally re-enforcing that by having her remind him that they met on one of his calls) is the reason for my nonchalance over Marisol still being around.

So, whilst I'd rather we didn't have a transphobe on the show, I'm not going to expend any energy on her - she'll serve her purpose and leave, she's a plot device and she isn't meant to stick around past her use of getting Eddie (and Chris) to where the writers need them to be.

#This isn't even going into all the other things the show has done to show that she won't be around for too long #they're literally using every narrative device at their disposal to tell you she'll be gone #basically all this to say stop filling my inbox whining about Marisol and begging me to tell you the costumes she is wearing mean she'll be #gone soon #I literally don't have to do that because they already told me with Eddies costume back in s6! #Her costumes will serve the current narrative and her place in it #not her exit from the show!!! #Check theory has literally never ever been wrong #911 spoilers #eddie diaz #marisol nolastname #911 abc #costume things #911 costume things

[weekend-conspiracy-theorist]

rereading network effect this time with the foreknowledge that fugitive telemetry is not a sequel to it (and having actually read them chronologically rather than in publishing order), I am forced to conclude that it is actually a fairly satisfactory/hopeful conclusion to murderbot's character arc, so although I so desperately want to see its adventures with ART and its crew, it won't be the end of the world if martha wells never writes a sequel. I'd just be extremely disappointed instead of absolutely heartbroken

#it may be why she found it easier to jump backward in the timeline than write a straight sequel #when she wrote fugitive telemetry #but that's pure speculation. and I have no info saying one way or the other #if she's planning to write more #desperately hope she does but 🤷‍♀️ #she hit one ending (exit strategy) already and kept writing so 🤞 #she so clearly gave herself a narrative thread to pick up that I have to assume she's at least considered it #but murderbot finally having an idea of what it wants to do in life is also a pretty good end point #all its interpersonal stuff except with ART's crew has been pretty much resolved #arguably its stuff with mensah's fam on the whole is still unresolved but having thiago and amena on its side should clear that up #even three seems to fill a narrative niche of ''what about the rest of the secunits'' since it y'know. likes them. #may plot a construct revolution. ykwim. #anyway book good; reread bits immediately after finishing it #because watching ART want to destroy a literal world for murderbot is exquisitely good #for me. personally. #I love friendships where they will murder for each other and that's this entire book

[ao719]

Best Kept Secrets

Best Kept Secrets - Maybe We’ll Get It Right (Chapter 18)

Characters belong to Pixelberry.

Summary: An unforeseen encounter with the past proves that even the best-kept secrets eventually make their way into the light. 

Title inspiration: Hold On Tight - Forest Blakk

Book/Pairing: TRR; Liam x F!OC

A/N: Thank you to @burnsoslow for prereading most of this. Please excuse any errors. 

Rating: M • Warning: This series will contain NSFW material. If you read, you acknowledge you are 18+

Catch up here

Standing in her bedroom inside the north wing, Amara stared at her reflection in the floor-length mirror. She scanned over her outfit before meeting her own anxious gaze; she took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to settle her nerves. 

Today would be Amara’s and Liam’s first public outing with Sophia since the statement had been given. It would be the first time the press would not only catch a glimpse of the heir but see the three of them together … as a family. She knew that the purpose behind the outing was to show the public that their King had moved beyond her betrayal and that they were putting the past behind them for the sake of their child. It was all in hopes of shifting the negative attention she was receiving and showing her in a more favorable light. 

Amara was nervous, however. One would think she would find this to be fairly simple; working the press to change public perception was literally her job, but it was much different being the one whose image you’re trying to change their perception of. She wouldn’t be working her PR magic behind the scenes because she was the one under the microscope. She knew her every move was going to be picked apart, questioned, and, at times, manipulated to fit whatever narrative they were attempting to paint of her. Whatever they felt was going to sell a story was what they were going to try and sell, truth or not. 

Despite knowing this was something they needed to try, Amara had second-guessed the decision since Daniel suggested it; they’d given themselves an extra week behind the palace walls to prepare, but she felt anything but because she couldn’t get out of her own head. She didn’t want her presence during these planned outings to make things even more difficult for Liam than she’d already made them. 

However, when Amara subtly brought up the concern, Liam didn’t seem all too phased. They planned to spend the day on the private beach, and he reminded her that while, yes, the press was sure to be camped out nearby, they would still be far enough away so they’d be able to enjoy their day together with Sophia and that he was looking forward to spending the day out … with both of them. He seemed to be treating it as both a casual and normal outing and not one that was planned with a purpose.

Amara wasn’t reading too much into what he’d said, however, seeing his words for exactly what they were. She knew it was nothing more than his way of trying to make her feel more relaxed because he could sense that she was on edge about it. To think he meant anything beyond that was pointless. Despite her feelings for him, she’d forced herself to face reality over the last month and a half, a reality where she knew that any chance she might have had at continuing to rekindle things between them was long gone. After what she’d done, he’d never give her a second chance, and she didn’t deserve one. Her feelings for him didn’t matter and didn’t mean anything to anyone but her, so she shoved them into a box and pushed any notion of them being anything more than co-parents as far down as she could. It hurt, of course, but it was the consequences of her actions. And she’d suffer in silence because she wasn’t going to let those feelings get in the way of his and Sophia’s relationship. 

A knock on the door pulled Amara’s attention, and she gave herself one last glance in the mirror before turning and exiting her bedroom. When she opened the door, she smiled at Sophia, who was giving her signature toothy grin.

“Mama!”

“Hi, baby,” Amara chuckled as she took her from Liam’s arms when she leaned over to her. She kissed her cheek as she ran her hand over her head of blonde hair. 

“Morning,” Liam said. 

Amara offered him a tentative smile. “Morning.” She stepped aside to let him in, closing the door behind her. “I have her stuff ready. I’ll just go get her changed real quick.” 

Liam nodded and watched the two of them disappear down the hall, listening to Sophia babble and Amara laugh, smiling as he sat down in the living area to wait. He drummed his fingers against his thighs, wondering what the day was going to bring.

They would be spending the day at the private beach, and while he knew it would be accessible to the press, it would keep them far enough away so they wouldn’t be too overbearing. They couldn’t go out in public and make it obvious that they were putting on a show for the cameras. 

Truthfully … it wasn’t about the cameras for Liam nor was it a show. Yes, he was doing this as a way to hopefully shift the narrative surrounding Amara, and he was looking forward to finally taking Sophia beyond the palace walls, but it was more than that for him. He wanted to spend the day out with Amara, too. 

Over the last month and a half since everything had happened, one of the things he struggled with most was his feelings for Amara. At first, those feelings were suffocated by anger and resentment, but once he forced himself to let go of those emotions for the sake of moving forward, they came back tenfold. Now that he’d been spending every day with her the past two weeks, practically playing house inside the palace with her and Sophia … the three of them, together, as a family … everything he felt before seemed amplified. His feelings began to consume him, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to continue to shove them aside. And maybe he shouldn’t. He’d been trying to do what was best for Sophia, but perhaps what was best for her was the very thing he’d been trying to ignore. 

Liam had a couple of reservations, however, and they seemed to be the one thing holding him back. 

The first reservation was trust. No matter which way Liam looked at the situation, he’d been betrayed. Did he now understand the place in which Amara was coming from? A little. He’d allowed himself to see things from her perspective, and he understood her headspace at the time. It didn’t change the fact that he was still lied to and kept in the dark about something as important as the existence of his child. Were there other secrets she was keeping? He didn’t know. And he didn’t know if he could trust her to not keep more in the future. 

The second reservation was fear. Twice now Liam had tried to make things work between them, and he was left broken both times. They say the third time’s the charm, but this was something that now went beyond just him. If they tried again and they failed a third time, not only would it affect him but Sophia as well. He and Amara had a knack for being unable to get their stars to align. Could he really risk Sophia being collateral damage in a game he wasn’t sure he would ever win?

“Dada!” 

Sophia’s squeal pulled Liam from his thoughts. He glanced over and a laugh bubbled out of him at the sight of her toddling towards him in a white cover-up that concealed her bright pink bathing suit, tiny aviators, and a floppy white sun hat. “Look at you looking like a little beachy princess,” he chuckled as he scooped her into his arms. “Are you ready for our day at the beach?” Sophia nodded with a clap of her hands. “Is mommy ready?”

They both looked at Amara at the same time, and she forced a smile. “I’m ready.”

****

When Bastien pulled into the private parking lot of the beach, Amara turned her face away from the window, shielding her eyes from the flashes of the cameras. The press had been camped outside of the gate when they left the palace and had followed them. Having spent so much time tracking the royal family’s movements, it didn’t take them long to realize where they were headed; they raced ahead so they were there waiting when they arrived. 

When Liam exited the vehicle, the press, who were contained behind another gate where two more guards stood to ensure they didn’t cross, began shouting his name. He turned and tossed his hand up in a wave as they snapped photos before turning back toward the vehicle. 

Liam met Amara’s gaze as she finished unbuckling Sophia from her car seat. “Here we go …” 

Liam lifted Sophia from her seat and into the safety of his arms, and when he pulled her from the vehicle, the frenzy ensued. The press shouted louder as the shutters from their cameras went off. Sophia turned her head toward the clamor as her grip on his shirt tightened. “It’s ok, little love,” he whispered. 

Occupied by their first glimpses of the princess, the press almost missed the moment Amara came into view. Almost. The moment they noticed her, more shouts ensued as their cameras continued to snap photos. 

“Why is she with you, King Liam?”

“Anything to say about your betrayal to the King, Ms. Onasis?”

“Will she be leaving Cordonia soon?”

“Will the Princess be staying?”

Amara turned so her back was toward them and inhaled a deep breath. She felt Liam’s hand on her shoulder a moment later and looked up at him; he gestured toward the path that led to the beach and she nodded before starting toward it. 

Once down on the beach, Amara set the bag she’d packed beside one of the chairs that were set up beneath an umbrella. She glanced around, taking in the silence, feeling a little more at ease, but only for a moment before she saw the press hurrying toward the edge of the barrier. The guards were already in place, ensuring they stayed on the other side, and they were far enough away where they wouldn’t be a bother, but just knowing they were there at all had her right back on edge. 

“Did you hear me?”

Amara snapped her gaze to Liam. “No. I’m sorry … what did you say?”

“Sunscreen?” Liam pointed to Sophia.

“Yeah.” Amara shook her head and crouched down next to the bag, pulling out the sunscreen she’d packed for her.

Liam set Sophia down on the chair, and Amara removed her tiny cover-up before smothering her in sunscreen. Once she was finished, she stood and turned to see a now shirtless Liam setting up the toys he’d brought on the massive beach blanket that was laid out for them; he’d slipped inside the tent just behind their chairs to change. She turned away from him and closed her eyes; between the press and him, her mind was jumbled.

“Ready?” Liam’s voice sounded from behind her, and she turned, but he was speaking to Sophia. He scooped her up and set her on the edge of the blanket so she could reach the sand before laying on his side next to her. 

Amara stood and stared at the two of them as they played. Then her gaze flickered to the edge of the beach where the press remained, continuing to snap photos. She couldn’t help but wonder what story they were going to try and spin from this. 

“Are you going to join us?” Liam asked.

Amara looked back at him. “Uh … yeah.” She kicked off her flip-flops before reaching down and grabbing the hem of her cover-up to remove it but froze as her eyes lifted to the press again. She casually brushed her hand against the fabric of the cover-up as she moved toward the blanket and sat down on the other side of Sophia. 

Liam looked up at her, squinting against the bright sun. “Did you not bring a suit?” he asked, gesturing to her cover-up that was still on. 

“I’m … I’m fine right now,” Amara lied as she looked out at the water. She wasn’t fine. 

Under the heat of the Mediterranean sun and the watchful eyes of the press, Amara was hot and flustered … but she didn’t want to take off the cover-up, afraid of what story the press would spin from it. Would they say she was trying to seduce him into forgiveness by flouncing around in a bikini? Would they criticize her for said bikini because she was the mother of the heir and not setting the example they thought she should? Hell, she was afraid to even look at Liam for a second too long, knowing what type of story one photo of that could paint. 

Liam stared at Amara as she gazed out at the water. He knew something was bothering her and he didn’t have to ask what it was. She’d been on edge the past week since they planned this first outing, and when he saw her this morning, he knew she hadn’t eased up. It was easy for him to ignore the presence of the press because he’d grown up with it and learned to drown them out a long time ago. Amara, however, wasn’t used to being on this side of things. On top of that, she was consumed by how her presence would rub off on him and Sophia and worried what stories would be in the papers the next morning. Because of that, she was being careful. Too careful, considering she wouldn’t even remove her cover-up. 

“Amara,” Liam said, and she glanced at him. “Relax.”

“I am relaxed.”

Liam snorted. “No, you’re not.” She dropped his gaze and bit her lip self-consciously. “Hey, look at me,” he whispered, but she shook her head. “Look at me.” She hesitated another moment before glancing up. “Don’t pay them any mind. It’s just you and me here, ok? Just us.”

Amara held his gaze. He knew exactly what was running through her mind without her having to say a word. And she felt the sincerity behind his words from the way he looked at her. But she needed to defuse the situation before her stupid heart took any of it to mean something more than it really did. “And Soph,” she quipped. 

“Yes,” Liam shook his head with a small smile. “But you know what I meant.” With Sophia occupied with filling her bucket full of sand one small scoop at a time, he laid on his back, tucking his arms under his head as he closed his eyes. “Take off the damn cover-up and enjoy yourself.” 

Liam heard her let out a quiet chuckle, and after another beat of silence, he could hear the quiet shift of the fabric against her skin. He opened one eye and inconspicuously slid it in her direction; his chest tightened at the sight of her body in the navy blue bikini before he quickly snapped the eye shut. 

****

That night, Liam and Amara put Sophia to bed inside her room in the north wing. They’d spent the entire day at the beach, playing in the water and lounging on the shore. Once they returned to the palace, she’d taken a bath, and barely made it through dinner before she passed out in Liam’s arms. 

The press had watched them the entire day, but Amara took Liam’s advice and ignored them as best as she could. She knew she had to come to terms with the fact that they were going to write what they wanted and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it except suck it up and deal with it. 

They quietly shut Sophia’s door behind them before creeping down the hall, stopping in front of the living area. “She racked out,” Liam quietly chuckled. 

Amara smiled as she leaned against the entryway, crossing her arms and tucking her hands beneath them. “She had fun today.”

“Minus the evil wave,” Liam quietly laughed. 

Amara jutted her lip out in a pout before bowing her head and covering her mouth with her hand to contain her laugh at the memory of the wave that washed away the sandcastle they’d helped Sophia build. She was not happy, and her extreme meltdown over the loss was when they knew it was probably time to pack it up and leave. 

“I thought she was going to try and kick that wave’s ass,” Liam chuckled. 

Amara snorted against her palm before looking back up at him, and when she did, a strand of her hair caught on her eyelashes. Instinctively, Liam reached up to brush it away. 

The air suddenly felt very thick as they stared at each other and both their smiles slowly faded. 

Snapping from his momentary daze, Liam quickly dropped his hand. “Uh … sorry. You had — your hair, I mean … it was …” He trailed off and blew out a breath. 

Amara continued to stare at him, feeling a bit bemused as her heart and mind argued over what just happened and what it meant. Nothing, she told herself. It was nothing. “Yeah … uh, thanks.”

“Well … I should probably …” Liam gestured over his shoulder to the door. “I have sand in places where there shouldn’t be sand and need to shower,” he chuckled, earning a laugh from her. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I’ll let you know when she’s up so we can meet for breakfast.” 

“Sounds good.” 

Liam leaned down and kissed her cheek, letting it linger a heartbeat longer than normal before he drew back; he met her gaze for a split second before he turned and opened the door, quickly disappearing into the hall.

*******

Sitting inside his study, Liam read over an article from Trend magazine, detailing his and Amara’s outing over the past weekend in Applewood; he was needed there to go over a proposal to expand the orchids and invited Amara to bring Sophia. The article had several photos printed beside it, each one from a distance; a few of him and Sophia as they walked through the orchids, some of just her, and a few of the three of them together.

It had been nearly a month since that first outing at the beach, and the many they had after seemed to be doing the job they were intended to do. Most of the press — Trend being one — had done exactly what Daniel had said and followed his lead, looking beyond the past and focusing on the here and now. A few remained skeptical, however, questioning Amara’s motives for remaining in Cordonia and her intentions going forward. They didn’t know that she’d already decided to stay because he had yet to make a public statement. He knew he would need to make one soon, though; he’d spoken to Daniel, who told him the next step would be for the people to hear directly from him since they hadn’t at all since Sophia’s existence had been made public nearly two months ago. 

Liam was happy to know that things with the press were starting to settle down. What wasn’t settling down were his feelings for Amara. Each night after they would put Sophia to bed, the length of time they lingered behind got longer. They went from a few moments of simple conversation to now talking over drinks or a late-night snack about their day and making plans for the next. They had gotten closer and had fallen back into a place where things didn’t feel so tense. 

It was comfortable. 

It was familiar. 

Every day they spent together chipped away at those reservations Liam had and drew out his feelings even more. And every day he came closer and closer to throwing caution to the wind and taking that leap. 

Hearing a knock on his study door, Liam called for them to enter; when it opened, he lifted his gaze from the magazine article just as Amara stepped inside with Sophia. 

“Dada!” 

“Hi, little love,” Liam grinned as he stood and walked around his desk; he crouched down as she toddled toward him and he scooped her into his arms, smothering a mix of playful kisses and raspberries against her cheeks as she giggled.

“Hope we’re not interrupting anything,” Amara said.

Liam situated Sophia on his hip. “Not at all,” he replied before leaning forward to kiss her cheek; his hand brushed down the length of her arm as he drew back. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” 

“I wanted to come talk to you.”

“About?”

“I’m going to have to make a trip to New York.” 

Liam looked at her. “Oh?”

“My lease is up at the end of the month,” Amara explained. “I’ve been putting it off, hoping to have found a place beforehand, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

Despite the surprise her words gave him, Liam kept his expression impassive. “I hadn’t realized you’d been looking.” 

“Well, I haven’t … not really, I mean. I’ve perused some listings, but I’m still weighing my options between renting or buying and haven’t made a decision yet. But I can’t put off packing up my apartment any longer since I only have a couple of weeks. And I’ll have to clear out my office space as well.” 

Liam nodded. “Ok. Are you thinking this weekend, or …?”

“I wanted to check with you first,” Amara said. “I didn’t know if you had anything going on, and I figured you’d want Soph to stay here with you.” 

Liam thought for a moment as he glanced at Sophia; he scrunched his nose with a smile when she offered him one of her toothy grins. “How about we go together?” 

Amara’s brows rose in surprise. “You … you want to go?”

“Sure,” Liam shrugged as he looked back at her. “Let Imogen know, and we can leave Friday and take the weekend … get it all done in one shot so you don’t have to worry about going back for anything. There’s plenty of room on the jet to store whatever you need to bring back with you.”

Amara stared at him for a moment. “If you’re sure …” 

“I am,” Liam smiled. “I’ll have Bastien make arrangements.” 

*******

A few mornings later, the SUV pulled up on the tarmac, stopping alongside the waiting jet. Liam glanced out the window at the press that were huddled together on the other side of a barrier.

“How did they know we would be here?” Amara asked.

Liam sighed with a shrug. “They always manage to find things out one way or another.” He looked over to where she sat on the other side of Sophia’s car seat. “Get her on the jet. I’ll handle them.” 

Amara nodded and unbuckled Sophia’s straps before lifting her out of the seat. A guard opened the door and she and Imogen slid out; she ignored the volley of shouted questions from the press as she carried Sophia up the stairs and disappeared inside the jet. 

“Sir?” Bastien said from the driver’s seat.

Liam looked up, meeting his gaze in the rearview mirror as the other two guards took their luggage and Sophia’s car seat to the jet. “I’ll talk to them.” 

Bastien nodded before getting out and opening Liam’s door. When the King came into view, the press shouted at him; he was a picture of calm as he buttoned his suit jacket and made his way toward the crowd. 

“King Liam, where are you headed?” Donnie Brine from the CBC asked as Liam neared. 

“I’ll be in New York for a few days,” Liam answered.

Another slew of shouted questions ensued, and they were all asking the same thing in various ways: is Amara leaving with Sophia? Thinking back on his several conversations with Daniel over the past couple of weeks, and knowing he could use this as an opportunity to put any more doubts about her intentions to rest, he decided to be transparent. 

Liam held up his hand to quiet them, and once he had their attention, he cleared his throat. “We’re headed to New York for the weekend to pack up Ms. Onasis’ belongings as she will be staying in Cordonia permanently so that I may continue to maintain a relationship with our daughter.”

More questions were immediately volleyed, but one in particular had caught his attention.

“Are you concerned she’ll try to leave again with the princess?”

Liam sighed, knowing they were referring to what was mentioned in Daniel’s statement. “The circumstances surrounding Ms. Onasis trying to leave in the past were entirely different.”

“Can you elaborate?” a reporter asked, holding their recorder out in front of him.

Transparency, he reminded himself. “Ms. Onasis had been spooked by the betrothal aspect of the alliance that Auvernal had been pushing for. When she learned of the blackmail threat, she became frightened of what that meant for our daughter, and in a moment of panic, yes, she tried to leave. But as a mother, she was trying to protect her child … and that’s not something I can or will fault her for. As for the move … she’s uprooting her entire life to ensure that the princess and I stay together, and I’m extremely grateful that she’s so willing to do that.” 

The reporters stared at Liam in a bout of awed silence, and a heartbeat later, they were shouting more questions.

“Will they be staying with you at the palace?”

“What’s the status of your relationship with Ms. Onasis?” 

“Are you rekindling your romance?” 

They’d changed their tune so fast, it gave Liam whiplash. He let out a breath, feeling a bit lighter, but decided he wasn’t answering any more questions. He didn’t really have the answers at the moment anyway. He threw his hand up in a wave before turning and heading towards the jet. 

****

After the long flight and traffic-jammed ride from the airport, Liam and Amara arrived at their hotel in New York that afternoon; they’d planned to arrive early enough to leave them time for Sophia to hopefully nap off the jet lag. 

Once Sophia was asleep in the guest room of the suite, Liam sent Imogen to her own room that was situated across the hall to rest. He plopped onto the sofa in the living area while Amara stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, taking in the view. 

“Have you missed it?” Liam asked. 

Amara shrugged. “Certain things, like pizza and breakfast bagels, yes,” she chuckled. “But other than that … not particularly, no.” 

Liam stood and came next to her. “Where’s your apartment from here?”

“About 15 minutes that way,” Amara pointed. “It’s in Tribeca.” They were at the Millennium in lower Manhattan. “And my office is only a block from there.” 

“Have you made any decisions regarding your company and what you plan to do?”

“Not yet,” Amara shook her head. “We’re on a bit of a pause at the moment until I figure things out. Daniel hasn’t decided whether he’s staying yet, but with both Riley and I now there and him not having anything tying him down here …” She shrugged. “But I could still run the company from there and set up an office … or I could sell it …”

“You’d really consider selling it?” 

“If that’s what needs to be done … yes,” Amara answered. And I know a couple of competitors that would probably be more than willing to take it off my hands.”

Liam leaned against the window frame as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. “You seem pretty content for someone giving up so much of themself on a whim.” 

Amara looked back out the window. “I wouldn’t say it’s on a whim.” 

Liam’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean …” Amara paused, taking in a breath and slowly letting it out. “I mean that all of this was stuff I’ve thought about from the moment I found out I was pregnant.” She tucked her hands beneath her arms as she fought against the urge to look at him. “I always thought about the what-ifs … and I planned out all these different scenarios in my head for the day I finally drummed up enough courage to … to tell you. And in all of those scenarios, the outcome was the same … I was leaving New York, and either running the company from where I was or selling it. Now that I think about it … it was never really a what-if, but more of a when.” 

Liam remained silent for a moment before speaking. “I just … I don’t want this move to be something you come to regret later on.” 

“It’s for you and Sophia.” Amara looked up at him again. “I would never regret it.” 

Liam stared at her, not having realized until that moment how close they’d shifted to one another, and he saw the moment she realized it, too. Her gaze was both hesitant and questioning, but then she looked away from him and took a step back. 

“Um … I think I’m going to nap while Sophia is.” 

“Yeah.” Liam cleared his throat as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh … I’m actually not that tired, so I can listen for her if you want to go lay down in the master.” He’d already offered for her to take the bigger of the two rooms. 

“Ok,” Amara nodded.

Liam watched Amara turn and heard her let out a breath as she disappeared inside the room. 

*******

The following morning, Liam and Amara headed over to her apartment while Imogen stayed with Sophia at the hotel. Liam had arranged for a moving company to meet them there to take the boxes she would be bringing back and load them on the jet. From what she’d told him, most of it would consist of her and Sophia’s clothes. Anything she didn’t need, she planned to throw out or donate. 

When they pulled up outside of the tall brick building, Liam slid out before turning to help Amara out. They greeted the staff of the moving company that was already there waiting before heading inside. 

After riding the elevator up to the seventh floor, they stepped out, and Liam followed Amara down the hall. She paused in front of a door and unlocked it, and when she pushed it open and stepped inside, he followed. 

Liam glanced around as he moved further inside. He’d never seen her apartment, but it was exactly what he pictured her having. Casual with a touch of modern sophistication. “This is nice.”

Amara looked around fondly; she’d always loved her apartment. “Thanks.” 

“Where should we start, Miss?” a voice spoke from the doorway. 

Amara turned to the movers lingering in the hall. “Uh …” She glanced around. “Living room and kitchen.” She then looked at Liam. “We can get started on Sophia’s room and then mine.”

“Lead the way,” Liam gestured. 

****

Within a couple of hours, most of the apartment had been boxed up. While the movers carried boxes from the kitchen, living room, and Sophia’s room down to the truck, Liam and Amara finished up in her room. 

“I’m going to take this out,” Amara said when she finished taping the last box of her shoes shut. 

Liam nodded. “I’ll bring the nightstand out for you.”

“Thank you,” Amara replied before pushing the box out the door and down the hall.

Turning to the nightstand next to the bed, Liam reached down and hooked his fingers under the lip of the top. He lifted it, and when he realized it was heavier than he anticipated, he tilted it to adjust his hold; the movement caused the drawer to slide out of it and crash to the floor. 

“Shit.” 

Liam set the nightstand back down before kneeling to pick up the contents from the drawer now scattered on the floor. As he scooped up the items, something caught his eye, and he froze as he stared at it. A photo. He reached down and grabbed it, bringing it closer, only to notice another beneath it. And they weren’t just any photos, but ones of him and Amara. He remembered the night the one he held in his hand was taken. They were watching a movie in his quarters and were on the sofa; she was resting back against his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around her and his face was playfully nuzzling her neck with a grin as she smiled. He picked up the other from the floor. It was of them in the maze; she was on his back with her arms looped around his neck, both of them laughing. 

At that moment, at the sight of those photos, at the realization that she’d kept them all this time, Liam felt the last of the reservations he’d been holding onto crumble. He wanted to be the two people in those photos again. 

Two people who could make each other laugh and smile.

Two people who were better when they were together. 

Two people who were happy and in love.

“Liam?” Amara’s voice carried down the hall. 

Liam snapped from his daze and cleared his throat. “Coming.” He placed the rest of the items back in the drawer but slipped the photos into his back pocket before standing and carrying the nightstand out. 

****

That night, Amara stood out on the balcony of the hotel suite while Liam put Sophia into bed. She stared out at the view of the city she’d called home all her life, but she couldn’t say she’d miss it all that much. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Liam said behind her.

Amara glanced over her shoulder, and her eyes followed him as he came to stand beside her. “Nothing,” she said, “just … taking in the view. Did she go down ok?”

“Yeah,” Liam nodded as he leaned against the railing. “Out like a light.” He glanced out at the view, staying quiet for a moment before looking over at her. “Are you going to miss it?”

“No … not really,” Amara answered. “I think … I think I’m ready to start over somewhere else.” 

Liam stared at her for a moment before taking her answer for the opening it was. “Speaking of starting over …” He stood upright and reached back, pulling the two photos from his back pocket. “When we were packing … these fell out of your nightstand drawer.” 

Amara focused on the photos in his hand, fighting against looking at him as she blinked away the sting in her eyes. “Yeah …” 

“I didn’t realize you had them.” 

“I …” Amara let out a soft breath and cast her gaze to the ground.

Liam’s thumb slid under her chin and he lifted her eyes to his. “No more secrets.” 

Amara swallowed. “I would look at them … in hopes I could convince myself to reach out to you … to tell you about Sophia.” She fell quiet for a moment before speaking again, her next words coming out just above a whisper. “And on days when I missed you … which was all the time … I’d look at them to remind myself of what it felt like to be whole … because that’s what being with you made me feel. Whole and complete … and happy.”

Liam searched her eyes for a moment, and in the next, he leaned down, capturing her lips in his. Amara stiffened in surprise, needing to rest her hands against his chest to keep herself upright, but when his arm curled around her waist and pulled her closer, she went more than willingly. When her lips parted against his, she felt his tongue softly curl against hers, so slowly at first it was as if he were trying to savor the moment, but then he deepened the kiss, and she gripped his shirt to steady herself.

Forcing himself not to get too caught up, Liam drew back. It took her a moment to open her eyes, and they stared at each other in silence for a few heartbeats before she looked away from him. He could see the self-consciousness fill her expression and realized it was because she determined that he must have thought what just happened was a mistake … but she was wrong. 

“I want to go back to being the two people in these photos. I want this again.” Liam held up the pictures. When she looked at him again, he saw the surprise in her eyes, like she couldn’t believe what he was saying. “I want this … I want us. But I want to slow down because I want us to be sure when we go in, if not for our sakes, then for Sophia’s.” 

At his words, a tear trickled down Amara’s cheek, and he reached up, brushing it away with his thumb. “I didn’t think … after what I’d done—”

“When I told you I was leaving the past in the past, I meant it, Amara,” Liam interrupted. “I just need to know if you want the same … that you’re willing to try.”

Amara took in a shuddered breath as her tear-filled eyes searched his. And then she nodded. “I want the same,” she whispered. 

Liam dropped his hand from her face and curled his fingers around hers. “Then we take it day by day once we get back home … and we’ll see how things go.” 

***************************************

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#the royal romance #trr #choices trr #choices the royal romance #liam rys #king liam rys #king liam #trr liam #liam x oc #trr liam x oc #choices liam x oc #king liam x oc #trr fanfic #trr fanfiction #trr fan fic #trr au #trr au fanfic #cfwc fics of the week

[sarucane]

OFMD Spiral Parallels 52: Weddings

Intro: What I love most about how season 2 builds on season 1 of OFMD is the spiral narrative structure. Ground is repeatedly and explicitly re-trod from season 1 to season 2, but in season 2 everything goes deeper than season 1. Meanings are shuffled, emotions are stronger and truer, and transformation is showcased above everything. The first season plucks certain notes, then the second season plucks the same ones--but louder, and then it weaves them together to create a symphony.

---

The first wedding on OFMD is a death sentence. Literally: the wedding gift is tombstones. The bride and groom are being forced to fixate in place, forever. They're being told what they will be, forever.

Neither Mary nor Stede want this. Neither see a way out. Both have been thoroughly beaten down by their families--but not beaten. Because even though both agree, even though Mary grabs Stede's hand at the wedding and she tried, even more than him, they're not broken by their wedding and the married life that proceeded from it. They aren't going to be buried under those tombstones.

But the reason Mary and Stede aren't forever trapped with each other isn't just that they weren't beaten by their wedding. They managed to go one better: they decided to set each other free. They used their wedding--and their resulting unwanted lives--to give each other access to the lives they wanted. Mary gained permanent security in her independence, right down to the finances when Stede gave up his wealth; Stede gained the freedom to live the life he wanted, with the people he wanted. A wedding is a symbol: a marriage can be what the individuals in it want it to be.

The next wedding we get is in episode 2. The bride and groom here are nameless. The only speakers at the wedding are Ed and the priest.

The S2 priest, like the priest in season 1 (he even looks similar), seeks to determine the meaning of marriage. It is something that "elevates," something that proves certain people are better than others.

And then Ed introduces himself as the devil. On the surface, this looks like a repudiation of this idea of some people as better than others, that (heterosexual) marriage and this high-class world are "better."

But while Ed is rejecting the significance of the wedding by raiding it, he's also validating the worldview behind it. He interrupts the ceremony at the appropriate place. He doesn't truly disagree with the priest that he's "demonic," he says the priest is just underestimating how evil he is.

Ed and gang proving that violence and darkness is more powerful than this false "light," in a zero-sum game where the winner gets to live. And Ed's caught in the middle with no will to shift: he's not participating in the violence, and he's not attending the wedding either. He's just looking at it, barely even here.

It's a trap, just like Stede's wedding to Mary last year. It is a trap with an exit--just not one Ed thinks he can take. He thinks he'll innately never be worthy of love or happiness.

For the next two episodes, Ed's longing for Stede, for a life he feels is worth living, is represented by his fixation on the groom figurine.

This detritus of a wedding that was meant to "elevate" is almost a replacement for the silk cloth he let fly away. It symbolizes a desire to be part of something else, something better than this base and vile life--and something more real than a life soaring above everything.

The wedding figurines are symbols that work similarly to Ed's silk in season 1, but they are somehow both less and more full realizations of that symbolic idea of being "a certain kind of person." On the one hand, they're more because they're two full bodies, one of which Ed modifies to reflect himself. To create a version of himself that could be loved. But on the other hand, they're also less because they're bits plaster made to look like people. Ed's silk endured unchanged for years, but within one episode the paint tones on the figurines are changing--hinting at the pure despair Ed is heading for, as even symbols of hope fall out of reach.

These wedding figurines show Ed's desire to be able to live with himself again, to find a version of himself he doesn't hate through Stede. He's half-trapped, and half wishing he were the kind of person who gets trapped. And when he's giving up on life ever getting better for him again, he throws the figurines into the sea. 'Cause all marrisges end in death; all love dies.

And then there's the last wedding of OFMD S2. It's technically not a wedding: it's a mateology, a semi-equivalent of gay marriage that was really practiced by pirates for a few decades.

This wedding is basically the same as the previous two straight weddings on the show: two people stand and listen to vows. But it's also completely and in every way different.

These are two people who have chosen each other, who have lost and found each other. There's no priest, instead three of their friends ask them questions.

There's no suggestion of something "higher" happening, or some sort of trap: the questions are about love for one another, what they'll promise for each other, what they'll choose to be to each other in life and in death.

And from the beginning to the end, it's individualized. Unlike in the other weddings, the "bride" and groom aren't silent here.

They don't say "I do" simultaneously as in most wedding scenes on TV. They give responses that reflect their characters. And though Lucius and Pete technically give different answers to several questions, their answers are also both in essence the same.

They're not trying to be something they think they should be, and fear they'll never be. They're not making a statement about society, or longing to escape a "base" life. They're not trapped. They've decided that this is the shape their lives will take.

Two weddings, and a marriage.

#ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd #ofmd s2 #our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #ofmd meta #ed teach #stede bonnet #blackbonnet

[thekatebridgerton]

A little venting post about the changes made to the show.

Sometimes I miss the era where book adaptations were true to their source material. Lord of the rings, Harry Potter, pride and prejudice, Twilight, The Hunger Games. Books with adaptations that literally had the power to change whole generations. Create such a cultural impact that we'll still be defining facets of our personalities by their influence for years to come.

And I think that those books had so much success as adaptations because the people who made them understood that watching the movie had to be an interactive experience between a person and their book. Not just their screen. People would finish watching the movie, go home, read the book and feel connected to a story where they knew the ending. So giddy and excited to know something they thought other movie goers didn't know. This made the experience exciting! It made it interactive enough to cause an impact.

I recently watched Lord of the Rings (yes the whole 24 hrs of it) and I realized how much I miss that excitement. That same warm blanket of knowing the ending that I experienced when I watched The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Bridgerton showrunners are so obsessed with delivering something with a 'plot twist' or 'different from the books' that they completely miss the point of how big franchises managed to make their adaptations impactful. So focused on curating the source material to make it more 'original' and new. So focused on driving up buzzfeed articles that read ' 100 ways Bridgerton season 2 was different from the books' that they alienate the interactive experience that exists in a viewer who enjoys reading.

Call me a book purist or maybe I felt sad today because I saw yet another article titled ' 10 reasons why Eloise storyline shouldn't follow the books' but it sucks to have creators spit on the books you love. It sucks to watch an adaptation that looks like fanfiction because it's all the media is currently offering. And you just wanted to see Kate bite Anthony's ankle and laugh. But you have to put up with all the changes of season 2 because complaining is met with an ' oh we wanted to do something different from the book, we wanted to surprise viewers'

Excuse me showrunners, I liked that book, what's wrong with liking that book? What was so offensive about it you had to turn it into something so far away from the source material the Author herself had to come out and say ' the books are the books and the show is the show' basically drawing a line between her creation and the show she authorized to adapt said work.

Netflix If the books I loved were so bad you felt they needed to be changed so much for an adaptation, then why adapt them at all? Why not find some kind nice very much in need of their big break author who has written a story that looks like the narrative you've got in mind.

As a reader I loved all the storylines as they stood. To me it would have been a giddy and exiting experience to be able to follow the show along with the source material. And I'm so sick and tired of show viewers and basically all the sensationalist media like buzzfeed and screenrant implying and outright saying that there is something wrong... with people like me. Who simply liked the books as they were. Because that's how they treat us, and that's what they think and it makes me sad.

And as I wait for season 3 I I sit and wait to see how many ' 100 ways the show is better than Romancing Mr Bridgerton because of how much the showrunners decided to change ' articles start poping up on my feed as soon as it's released. Because it will happen and as a reader you feel so powerless and confused, because all the media kees saying is that you're not allowed to feel angry, because even getting an adaptation is supposed to be a good thing, so don't start being a Debbie downer about the changes made for the screen. The book you loved was outdated anyway, the book you loved was boring anyway, the book you loved needed more excitement anyway.... And the message you keep getting is that The things you loved needed to stop looking like the things you loved, to be worthy of the masses attention

So what does that say about you?

Tomorrow, maybe I'll be back to being my usual positive self. Tomorrow I'll look at the bright side and feel ever so grateful that Julia Quinn's work is on screen. But for today, just for today. I needed to get that off my chest.

#bridgerton #bridgerton season 1 #Bridgerton season 2 #Bridgerton season 3 #the viscount who loved me #romancing mr. bridgerton

[unlikelyjapan]

s2e6 rewatch notes - part 1

I'm breaking this up over two days (for length, clarity, and my own mental health) - I pause and scribble my way through scenes as I go, so there may be a few repeats here and there.

Natalie's bereft face in the opening, attempting to disassociate but failing miserably because that's not her coping style. She obviously doesn't even smoke by the way she's holding the cigarette, she just does it because - much like working inside a commercial kitchen - it's the only legitimate excuse for a break from the chaos. Both she and Mikey act like they've just exited the fog of war (because they have) and - unlike Carmy - they've never had the emotional or material means to escape it.

Sugar's "No one can make anyone else act a certain way" comment to Mikey - it's very clear that they perceive mental illness from very different angles. Mikey admonishes Natalie for her check-ins as an attempt to blunt/control Donna's outbursts, and Sugar's skepticism of Mikey's strategy of just riding the lightning/ignoring the outburst (while acknowledging that he and Carmy have more success, but she attributes most of that to being the female middle child of a grievously ill female narcissist).

Carmy coming out = a hot mess of family dynamics. He asks Mikey (innocently enough) to come in and handle the crowd by being "fun cool guy" and Mikey assures him that he will, but with a vacant look in his eye (no wonder this man was on drugs, what other choices was he afforded?). Fak is literally yelling indistinctly inside, upping the chaos, as Richie bursts outdoors amidst the three siblings to ask if "there's any family shit going on that he should know about".

Along with just trying to be ok themselves, these three adult Berzattos are a magnet for every other wayward adult-child who needs a home to reckon with their own trauma, and their inclusion becomes their problem as well and only ups the frequency of the despair. Mikey literally makes space for the three of them by dismissing Richie "for a minute", and you can tell that's not normal protocol.

"Would it kill you to pick up the phone?" - Carmy is already wounded by Mikey more than 4 years before his death. You can immediately tell by Mikey's earnest response (along with his previous discussion with Sugar) that he was just keeping Carmy at arms length to ensure he never returned, to spare just one of them from a life of hardship. In spite of everything else we see about Mikey and how poorly he manages his trauma in this episode, he is an inherently good brother who started early in inciting loathing in the person he loves above all others just to save him.

I wanted to peek behind the "Our Mother of Victory, Pray for Us" bit, as you know damn well it wasn't selected by Storer by accident. The whole idea is that Mary, the Mother of Victory "pleads our cause with a mother’s heart and concern with whatever we bring her. Confident that Our Lady’s prayers are always heard we pray"

I may be reading too much into this, but that's a whole fuckton of power projected onto Donna. Even though it's said in jest, its maternal compassion and mercy that was never extended to the Berzatto kids. It could also be seen as "only Donna's prayers are heard and answered" (through the placating and emotional gymnastics performed by her children) so they utter this little prayer to her as much as they do to God - for control, for relative calm, for the day to simply be ok. They know better than to expect much more than that.

What is the actual point of Fak and Ted? I mean this narratively. I know that the Ricky actor who plays Ted originally worked on the set of The Bear in S1. Did the producers think they had an awesome "boys club" vibe and just plop them in as chauvinistic comic relief? Or is this part of a long-con? Do Fak and Teddy embezzle all of The Bear's money and retreat to Hawaii or something? Right now it's giving "Matty Matheson needs to sell more cookware" and I need a reason for this set-up, as the rest of the players offer more than enough relevant chaos to the episode.

Also, when they ask "Mrs. B, are our skateboards in here? Can we sleep over?" as Donna is cycling in the kitchen - Matty Matheson is in his 40's, so he time-traveled back to a rough-looking 35 to freeload off of his fake-besties Mom and aid in her spiral? I don't get the age timelines/ideas on what arrested development in this show are anymore....

"Say the fucking words" - ooof. I feel like a lot of ink has already been spilled on what the word "love" means in the Berzatto realm, but no wonder Carmy can't comprehend it even when it's right in front of him. Love to him is sacrifice and struggle, panic attacks, pacifying meltdowns, idealization and inevitable betrayal (hello other shoe!), and just saying the word because it diffuses an argument - not unlike rubbing one's chest.

So....what's the likelihood that the abusive chef at EMP is just a projection of Donna living rent-free in Carmy's head at this point? The way she lobs the ball at Carmy with all of the elements that need to be swapped when the timer goes off, the practical matters of running a high-pressure kitchen trailed with jests and insults and total emasculation. Yeah...I think it's pretty high up there.

The second Richie and Carmy trade off the homemade Sprite (before Carmy can grab the prosciutto and mortadella that his mom asked for 2 seconds ago) is just enough silence for Donna to feel abandoned and start unravelling again/start screaming about moving the pot. I can't quite place my finger on the weird amalgam of mental illnesses they gave this woman (hit me up, psych majors) but if its not over-scripted/acted, its a lot.....

Richie and Mikeys "Just take a break from being a mopey little fuck" - phew, these dudes really think that a high-school chick will be Carmy's salvation.

"I don't have a love of my life?" Carmy doesn't even flinch or show recognition of who they're talking about at first, and then it dawns on him that they've probably embarrassed him and he wants to crawl in a hole and die (which is the most honest feeling expressed this episode to date).

And wow. Donna intercepts the whole thing by throwing a spoon at Stevie and screaming "Richard, bring her the fucking pop!" - a.k.a the title of the previous episode with the house party. Those words ended the gang's harassment re: Claire, but then future Carmy willingly waded right back into the abyss of thoughtless conversations, bullying, projections, others' expectations, and the terrible Christmas.

Ok, that's it for now - I'll be back on my bullshit tomorrow.

#the bear fx #the bear season 2 #the bear spoilers #the bear #carmen berzatto #carmy x sydney #carmy berzatto #mikey berzatto #sugar berzatto #the bear fishes #syd x carmy

[spoofymcgee]

Rating Various Companion Exits in Terms of How Objectively Sad They Are

because if we do my personal opinions it'll just be donna donna donna bill rose jack everyone else

Least: Martha

i don't think it's an unpopular opinion that martha's exit was the least sad. like, she retires to take care of her mental health and for her family's sake, gets her doctorate, continues being an absolute badass who is also in touch with her emotions and super nice. she finds a partner who sees her for how incredible she really is and appreciates her.

personally i do believe that she and the doctor clear the air at some point–though i don't think martha holds anything against him still–and she'll just call up the TARDIS when she's having a bad day and one of various doctors will come do a girls night with her and paint their nails and talk about the wild shit they've each been up to lately.

(i don't think martha ever stops being in love with the doctor a little bit. but it's not a tragic kind of love–it's a comfortable one, the kind of love you can have once you understand that love will never be perfectly symmetrical and it can be nice without being reciprocated. in the same way that the doctor loves their companions in a way that they can never fully return for how vast and unending and universe-ending it is, martha can love the doctor in a small and quiet and steady way that never fully goes away even when she does hate them.)

(and if you keep to canon with mickey as her husband you get some fun angst about that! okay, martha digression over.)

Second-Least: Rose

look. i know this is an unpopular opinion. i know the doctor is haunted by rose leaving and the narrative is haunted by rose leaving and everyone and their grandma is haunted by rose leaving.

but. girl got sucked into a parallel universe. she got to say goodbye to the doctor, even if he had a stick high enough up his ass that it kept him from saying he loved her. she moves to a different world to retire in a mansion with her mom and her dream guy and has a baby and spends the rest of her life being awesome and cool and saving the world.

yes it is sad that she left. but her method of leaving itself is not sad. she gets a happy ending and the doctor knows about it and no one dies! so i think maybe that's my hot take. first of a few.

Third-Least: Clara

idk how unpopular this is but i'm not entirely certain it's correct because.

look. clara does technically die. the doctor watches her die and spends four billion years smashing diamonds with his fists to save her. as pissed i am that those two episodes basically made her retroactively superfluous before getting rid of her, i can admit that that's a pretty epically tragic way to go out.

but the thing is, she spends the rest of time running around the galaxy with me in a TARDIS, and the doctor only forgets her for, like, seventy years and then he's fine with it again.

so her exit is sad but it's undercut by the fact that she gets at least a bittersweet ending and also that she should have left a season before she did and also the episode after she dies establishes that the doctor hasn't needed her for a while.

so worse than martha and rose who have a happy end and don't die, but better than everyone else.

Third-Most: Amy and Rory

this is why i wasn't sure where to put clara, and i'm sure this is not a popular opinion but. i don't think amy and rory's exit was so sad.

like, i can acknowledge that the course their story was going to take was amy having to choose rory over the doctor. i get that now. i understand that.

and their exit is sad! it is! it is mathematically engineered to be sad. but. and i don't want to go cinema sins about this. is there a really the doctor couldn't have picked them up and brought them home a year later? like, the year is the problem, yes?

and maybe if i didn't have spoilers and also had no media literally or ability to understand foreshadowing i might have been more affected by the real death right after the fake-out death, and the doctor running across the bridge to the book is a nice scene and the bit with river is excellent but.

i just think it's missing something. i think it feels like it's designed to put them in an impenetrable plot prison in a way that was totally unnecessary because they want to leave anyway. it feels like it wants me to be sad–and then move on right away.

Second-Most: Bill

first off! bill dies! because if you really think about it. nearly none of the nuwho companions do? and bill technically becomes space oil yes but

a) the entire downslope of world enough and time and the doctor falls is so fucking sad. she dies and she wakes back up and she has to live in a body that is clunky and awkward and painful and doesn't fully feel like hers and is slowly failing her and that everyone treats as not having a chance despite the fact that its doing its best. and eventually even that gets taken away from her and she is being slowly deconstructed, everything that makes her who she is sawed off piece by piece until she can't even get angry because it's too dangerous, and everyone is scared of her, and she is clinging to the edge of herself because the only thing worse than being a walking rotting weapon is hurting her friends.

b) the doctor only like, 50% knows that she survives as space oil. the glass people don't fully know, so he might not trust them and from his perspective she's dead and he got her killed.

c) no other companion's death affects the doctor's next regeneration so deeply. thirteen throws herself between people and guns, she drops the monologues and the arrogance because her overconfidence is the reason why bill died. what the fuck is that. insane.

anyway bill is so high up and it's been weeks since i watched world enough and time and i'm not over it. bill potts my beloved you made me so happy and then crushed my heart to bits.

Most: Donna

i mean this is just canon. what can i say here that has not already been said.

the doctor has to take donna in his arms, donna who is finally seeing how brilliant she is, who saved his life and her life and the universe, who is brilliant and ruthless and burning.

her takes her in his arms and he kills her while she's begging him not to, begging him to let her go because she'd rather die as herself than die knowing that (from her perspective) the shallows cruel, self-hating voice in her head will replace her and talk like her and look like her only she'll be dead and that will be all that's left.

donna knows who and what she is without the doctor, without her memories, and it is her worst nightmare. and the doctor sends her back to that because he can't bear to lose her, because she is donna even if she doesn't show it, because he thinks that she will figure out how to do so again–and it's so easy for him to make excuses for the fact that he cannot stand by and let her die in his arms when he can do something about it.

god.

#that's a wrap folx #doctor who #rose tyler #martha jones #amy pond #rory williams #clara oswald #bill potts #donna noble #honorable mention to jack harkness because i did cry when he died bit i haven't watched most of martha's season #so i think i can't really talk about him yet

[stranger-rants]

I see comments like this one all the time, and it just drives me crazy because this is the damage the last season did. This is it! Anything that garnered him any kind of care or concern was pissed on, and not because the narrative revealed to us anything so horrifying we have to change how we perceive Billy. In fact, we learned nothing new about Billy. Nothing. Just Max saying he made her life "a living hell" with absolutely no evidence of what that looked like beyond what we've already seen, and Vecna using his dead likeness to hunt down Max because she felt guilty about him dying.

People who didn't even like Billy went from season three thinking that maybe Billy didn't deserve to die like that and that he deserved better to... This. This ridiculous opinion that a few words on a piece of paper are more meaningful than Billy's own words. Billy's own trauma being put on display. Eleven having an important, meaningful connection to him and being the first person to ever truly show any kind of empathy towards him. Max sitting in solitude on his bed. Us knowing his father was beating him to his father just all of a sudden fighting with Susan and leaving.

This is the damage the structure of the last season did to what they've already built up and it's something I've seen repeatedly done to actors and characters who have exited the show - straight up defamation and practical "gaslighting" for lack of a better term of the fanbase to act like things were realized that weren't and we're the problem if we recognize the incongruencies.

This attitude that because he was "portrayed negatively" (see: Vecna used his image to haunt Max and Max wrote a scathing letter about Billy to draw Vecna out) so Billy's death wasn't meant to "redeem" him just... y'all don't get it.

I don't personally think he needed to be "redeemed" and certainly not like that, but dying was all he could do narratively and apologizing was all he could say before he died. There was no other option because they had written Billy, an abused teenager who no one was going to help, into a corner. However, in ending it that way they showed with one single act that he wasn't The Big Evil Human Villain y'all so badly want him to be, even if it contradicts what The Duffers had envisioned for him. Again, I say again and again, that vision wasn't realized.

The fact that The Duffers double down on him being their "human villain" when Billy was tortured and possessed and killed in one of the most cinematic yet violent scenes wherein he actively fought the thing that was going to kill everyone, is a very poor reflection on them as writers and not on us for empathizing with Billy's situation.

Vecna is not Billy. His portrayal of Billy is not Billy. Max is an unreliable narrator in her second letter because it is literally used as a set up. The fact that you need The Duffers and/or their characters to tell you that you should hate Billy is a problem when all it takes is one simple critical look at what happened to him to realize that's bullshit.

Please, fucking think for yourselves and look at context before using poor writing choices and bad faith scenes as an excuse to ignore what happened to a character. There's actually a difference between what is portrayed and what is intended, and what they intended re: "human villain" blatantly ignores all the suffering they actually portrayed this character going through.

#billy hargrove #fandom critical #st critical #fandom wank #fuck the duffers

[my-ghost-monument]

thinking about rtd v chibs today, in terms of growth. when I realised that chibs had wrote my most upsetting torchwood ep, the finale to s2 where he brutally kills two characters, I was nervous for his dw conclusion. especially considering that in torchwood, tosh's death narratively serves only two purposes: to further the comparison for Owen, dying unfairly while she who had long pined for him dies too, like oh how tragic, these loves parted; and for shock value. Much like most of Tosh's character, she's often side-lined for others and never given as much depth as she should, and I always felt this extended to her death, which unlike Owen's felt cheap.

But in his dw finale, I felt like he had understood how to bring across great heart wrenching pain which served both of the characters perfectly. First, while the Doctor is killed technically, there's no brutal wow! shock! to it, and the same goes for Yaz's exit. Yaz is given agency in her ending, if not priority as her end was less 'guaranteed' (as in we always know the doctor will die, it's the whole point). The Doctor too is given time and respect to face the unfairness, and is allowed her own agency in how she meets it.

To compare to rtd: in a word, Donna. Donna's ending is honestly whip-lash, and there were so many ways to make it an actual tragedy, and not just shock value ending. Donna had to lose her memories, fine! But why reduce her back to what she feared the most, which is a cruel bitter taste for the audience. There could have been an idea where she could keep her growth, thinking she'd gone into volunteering and ending up helping people - oods could become refugees in her mind, the shadow proclamation becoming police or something. Something that would still be so sad and devastating, seeing a woman who was so bright unable to ever stand upon the universe again and declare it safe, but something where she would still get to be the person she'd become. This or something similar would be satisfying, whereas the reduction? it's cruel. It's a creator making a journey and then smushing it because it makes the doctor more upset.

I feel like this is the thing. Chibnall has grown as a writer across the years, but so far, what's been released for rtd's new era? he's literally going back, with the same doctor; the same companion; the same initials, look and age for his newer companion. even now, to the same series number. It doesn't give me faith in his ability to grow and change at all.

#anti rtd #chibnall era #anna.txt #this whole rtd thing got me reevaluating his earlier writing #and like no one's perfect but chibs really did surprise me in a good way #even how he grew from s11 onwards

[leather-field]

extremely vague spoilers for pathologic 1 and 2 endings‼️‼️‼️

So. You know how Pathologic 2 Haruspex route is pretty clearly portrayed as, on some level, a play being staged in the Theater? I mean, you start the game backstage after a failed production, and in the (implicitly canon) Diurnal ending you end the game by exiting into the wings. Plenty of characters refer to you very literally as an actor, including your own “replacement” on day 11 (who you even meet on a stage!), and the events of the Deal & Late endings (and all your deaths) serve to further cement this fact. Plus, on a more metaphorical level, the Haruspex is portrayed as a character who is not entirely opposed to the idea of having a prewritten fate. Like, he understands that he is not in control of the story, but ultimately he doesn’t need to be as long as he’s in control of his own actions? He just needs to know his Lines (hee hee hoo hoo). There’s also the fact that the Haruspex is connected to the Town (seeing as how saving the Town is his ultimate goal) and the Theater is also representative of the Town. The Theater is the Town in microcosm; any event which takes place in the Town takes place on the stage, and vice versa. The backdrop of the stage is literally the Town itself flanked by the two Mistresses. 

We know the Haruspex is an actor in the Theater. That’s the context in which his story is framed. But—hear me out—it’s not how the other two healers will be portrayed. They’re going to have different meta explanations, for Character Reasons, and also because the Haruspex route doesn’t have either of the secret endings from Pathologic Classic (which made me suspicious).

I think the Bachelor’s route will be the one to utilize the angle about the Powers that Be. First of all, it’s intrinsically connected to the Polyhedron, which is in keeping with both his canon ending and his parallel to the Haruspex. Second of all, it’s just a way bigger slap in the face for him—he’s the one who wants to overcome inevitability, so discovering that he was never in control of his actions at all would of course be the worst epiphany ever. In the Haruspex’s storyline, the Bachelor might be an actor, but in his own storyline he is a puppet for a child as they play a meaningless game with his life. Also, it would make sense for his prologue to start in (or maybe at the base of) the Polyhedron, and for Measly and Thrush to take the place of Mark Immortell (so they can berate him for doing a terrible job at stopping the plague). In his canon ending he could also end in the Polyhedron (where Measly and Thrush could “dismiss” him in the same way), ‘cause the Polyhedron is the most significant location for him and it’s also…basically the only thing left in his ending. The same applies to all his deaths and whatnot. It’s mechanically similar to the Haruspex’s route, but narratively it fits the Bachelor much better to have his route framed in a way that emphasizes the futility of his actions. 

As for the Changeling route’s framing device… Well, she’s always been the one who was most aware of Pathologic’s meta, right? So, yeah, she’s gonna be in a video game. Canonically. She’s gonna get death penalties and pro/epilogue explanations from the Tragedian and Executor who represent the developers. It fits, okay?? She’s connected to the game’s world as a whole rather than any specific part, she’s often alluded to as a vessel of some higher power who is incomprehensible to any of the characters, uh…there are…two of her…? I don’t know. It made so much sense in my head and I got so excited about this idea. I’m too tired to explain every little detail in a coherent manner, so just, like…fill in the gaps, I guess? You can do it. I believe in you.

Anyway, yeah, that’s my Pathologic 2 prediction. I’m sort of…half-expecting this to actually happen, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if it didn’t. I just think it would be cool, y’know? 

#pathologic #pathologic spoilers #but thats just a theory… a GAME THEORY #not art #if anyone has other ideas or additions to this idea i would be very interested to know. please talk about pathologic with me. please #i cant tell if this is a normal post or if i sound like “omg… what if blorbo bingles 2 has skippy mcdippy in it…” #if it is a stupid post: oops. im just a silly little guy… just a silly little guy and it’s my birthday… #you wouldn’t bash the game theory of a silly little birthday boy would ya? cmon

[thexfridax]

How A League of Their Own Is Changing the Game for Queer and Black Women

Stars Abbi Jacobson and Chanté Adams and original player Maybelle Blair chat with The Advocate for our digital cover story about making the gayest, most inclusive League yet.

By Tracy E. Gilchrist, August 12 2022

Partway into the pilot of the hotly anticipated Prime Video series A League of Their Own, Max Chapman — a ringer of a pitcher — arrives at the field where tryouts for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League are under way. On that Midwestern field in the 1940s, the women are literally hitting it out of the park, sliding into home, and catching pop-up balls behind their backs with ease. There’s a sense of joy among them, some housewives, others young women just out of school, for whom ballplaying was purely avocational, something they couldn’t take seriously if there were a meal to cook, laundry to fold, dishes to wash — that is, until the major leagues were gutted during World War II. With the male players off to war, they finally got their chance.

While players like Abbi Jacobson’s Carson and D’Arcy Carden’s Greta revel in the hope of becoming among the first women to play ball professionally, Max is turned away without a shot because she’s Black. Before exiting without a tryout, she fires a ball a few hundred yards over the heads of the women, umpires, and executives trying to make a buck off “girls’ baseball.” (“Who was that?” Carson exclaims.)

It’s the first scene in the series from creators Jacobson and Will Graham and queer executive producers Desta Tedros Reff and Jamie Babbit (who also directs) that signals to the audience that this is not your mother’s A League of Their Own. The 1992 Penny Marshall film that starred Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Rosie O’Donnell, and Madonna is a beloved piece of nostalgia that did much to tell the story of the forgotten women who played professional ball for a time. But the series goes deeper than that slice of all-American apple pie and hands back narratives to Black women who were barred from the AAGPBL, Latinx women who were a part of the league but not amplified, and queer women who found an abiding community with one another, whose stories were just under the surface in the film (O’Donnell confirmed to The Advocate in 2020 that she considered her character Doris to be gay, even if it wasn’t explicitly said).

Light spoilers ahead...

“I haven’t put anything out into the world that felt like I put so much of myself into it in a number of years. I’m feeling all the things and very excited because I feel really proud of it,” says Jacobson, whose married Carson falls for Greta while her husband is away at war. Jacobson — perhaps best known as one half of the hilarious, charming duo of best friends in Broad City (along with Ilana Glazer) who smoked weed, got into shenanigans, and loved each other deeply above all — says she’s nervous about League dropping because she cares so much about the show that’s been in the works since before the pandemic.

“This one is about a lot of big, important things — stories [that are] inspired by real people. And there’s a responsibility behind that,” she says.

“It’s also, you know, a reimagining of people’s favorite movie,” she adds with a knowing laugh.

For Jacobson, who first spoke publicly about being bisexual in 2018, the queer series is personal. It features queer femmes, butches, Black queer characters, trans folks, and several characters on a gender spectrum like the players and friends Jess (Kelly MacCormack) and Lupe (Vida and Fun Home’s Roberta Colindrez), one character representing Latinx players denied their stories.

Jacobson was just a kid when the film came out, but she remembers it fondly. It was the first time she felt validated in movies or TV as a girl who was into sports. For fans of the movie who may have trepidation about a “remake,” Jacobson assures the series isn’t that and it’s so much more.

“This movie does not need to be remade, but the stories of this generation of women who not only dreamed of playing baseball but were fucking good at it were not fully told in the film, right? The real estate of a two-hour film versus [that] of a television show to really show those marginalized stories and the stories that the film overlooked [makes a difference],” Jacobson says. “Some of the aspects of that league that were overlooked in the film, we thought were really important. I don’t think of it as a remake…the movie will be right over here whenever you want to watch it. And ours, hopefully, can exist right next to it. [The series] is expanding the lens a little bit to show more stories of athletes at the time.”

For Chanté Adams, who plays Max, a church-raised young woman who works at her mother’s hair salon while dreaming of the big leagues (and has a fling with the preacher’s wife on the side), A League of Their Own is part of her mission to share untold stories.

“When I envision my perfect career, this is the type of work that I want to continue to keep on doing,” Adams says about playing a character who pays homage to three Black women ballplayers in the Negro Leagues who never got their due — Toni Stone, Connie Morgan, and Mamie “Peanut” Johnson.

“Through this story, I feel like I’m honoring my family. I feel like I’m honoring my ancestors. I’m from Detroit. I’m a Midwestern girl. My dad is a historian, our family historian, and so [our story] involves the great migration and moving up from the South to find a better life in these factories,” Adams says.

Max is also queer and later discovers that her mother’s sibling was ostracized by the family for being trans — a story that resonates with Adams.

“When we [Adams, Jacobson, Graham] sat down and talked, I told them about…an uncle that was estranged from the family because he was gay. And he was Black. And it was the ’40s,” Adams says. “He ended up moving to San Francisco. I don’t know much about him; all I know [is] that his name was accurate. And I’ve been trying to research and find as much information on him as I can these past couple of years. [The creators] so graciously allowed the father of my character to be named Edgar in honor of my uncle, who passed away back in the ’80s.”

Max’s uncle represents an LGBTQ+ person of a silent generation making their own community, while the queer women of the central team, the Rockford Peaches, discover one another through friendship and romance. The love story that unfolds between Carson and Greta is sure to become a fan favorite. A queer femme, Greta, along with a friend and chosen family member, team slugger Jo (Melanie Field), has found a code to survive in a time when being queer could land a person in jail and ostracized from society. But others are queer too, including Lupe and Jess. And O’Donnell turns up halfway through the series playing someone who is queer and finally gets to say it, unlike her 1992 character.

Adams, who starred in the Laverne Cox vehicle Bad Hair, isn’t surprised by the nuanced storytelling, given the care taken behind the scenes to ensure as many voices as possible were represented. She recalls meeting the folks in the writers’ room over Zoom. “I got choked up…. There were Black women, queer people, trans people. It was exactly how it should be when doing a show of this caliber and in doing a show that is going to be representing so many different groups of people,” she says, adding that the makeup of the writers’ room is also reflected across the set.

“I’ve never been on a show that had this many queer people and this many people of color,” she adds.

If the fact that several Peaches in the series and many women from the other teams are queer (many of whom Lupe and Jess get to know intimately) seems like an outsized number, AAGPBL player Maybelle Blair, who came out publicly at 95 at a screening of the series at Tribeca in June, begs to differ.

“Out of 650 [players], I bet you 400 was gay,” Blair, who was dubbed “all the way May” for her prowess on the diamond, said at a panel for the series at the Frameline Film Festival a week after coming out.

“It was wonderful.… So many of the girls came in from the farms and they came in from all over the United States. And a lot of them thought they were alone too. And we had quite a time. There were so many gays in the league. It was amazing. Oh, but you know…let’s face it, we’re good athletes,” she said.

The series leans into a lot of joy — of playing ball, of finding love, and friendship. But it’s not naïve about the real threat of being found out as a queer person, a line that the charismatic and flirty Greta cautiously straddles.

“Those days…you wouldn’t dare be caught being gay. You have no idea how fearful it was. A lot of the girls that were in the service would come and visit us as our friends,” Blair says in a phone interview. “I had a lot of friends [who were] kicked out of the service on account of being gay. We had to be very careful.”

A League of Their Own has been in the works for about five years, and Jacobson met Blair in 2018. Between the time Blair came on board as a consultant — she’s now an integral part of the show’s press and screening tour — the documentary A Secret Love, about AAGPBL player Terry Donahue and her wife, Pat Henschel, wowed viewers on Netflix. Donahue, who died in 2019, was a friend of Blair’s. The relationship that developed between Blair and the show’s creative team became a critical piece of the series and a living example of the power of storytelling.

“We were developing the show and we sort of told her about our own lives. And she shared with us. It was important because she had not come out publicly until Tribeca,” Jacobson says. “I felt so privileged that she did that with us and felt that trust between us.”

While the series touches on difficult issues of race, gender presentation, queerness, and women’s rights, she sees it ultimately as one of joy in our current times when conservative politicians are seeking to shove queer people back into the shadows with anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

“I feel honored to tell those stories that were kept a secret,” Jacobson says. “And hope that that they might inspire people to feel like they’re not alone, wherever they are, if it is a place that is not accepting.”

---

This story is part of The Advocate’s 2022 History issue, which is out on newsstands August 30. To get your own copy directly, support queer media and subscribe — or download yours for Amazon, Kindle, Nook, or Apple News.

Source: https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2022/8/12/how-league-their-own-changing-game-queer-black-women

#The Advocate #August 2022 #Full article #A League Of Their Own #ALOTO spoilers #Chanté Adams #Abbi Jacobson #Maybelle Blair #Max x Carson #Black History #LGBTQ+

[anxiouspotatorants]

I did a rewatch, here are a bunch of smaller things I feel like can be important in the future (cancellation? what cancellation?):

Ada’s ghost ship story. It’s about how the sea gets so angry when the passengers and crew of a ship kill a whale that it sends a storm their way and turns it into an actual ghost ship. Could be an allegory for what the passengers do to Elliot and the simulation subsequently killing them afterwards, or it could be part of an even larger narrative.

Franz has been part of Eyk’s crew for as long as Maura and Daniel have been married.

Several important characters have scarring and wounds on their faces or arms, and some of Franz’ are fresher even before we see him physically fight.

Anker literally means anchor. It’s probably just a characterisation detail for Anker but still an interesting name choice.

«Die Gedanken sin frei» is a song celebrating freedom of thought.

When Maura wakes up the first time it’s Henry’s voice telling her to do so but afterwards and for everyone else it’s Maura’s voice.

When Ramiro and Angel hook up in 1.02 the scene ends with a shot of a painting of a wolf and a sheep.

While the earth symbol is everywhere, only Ling Yi, Virginia Wilson and Clémence seem to have it on their clothes or accessories. It might be a stretch, but I also think the embroidered flower on Clémence’s collar looks like a bug.

Tove describes Iben’s religious conviction and the fact that she hears voices as creating her own world that the people around her have decided to follow. This could be a parallel to Maura creating the simulation and pulling everyone into it.

In 1.05 Maura tells Eyk that she remembers being a doctor and that her father must have changed her memory to make her a patient. This is probably her doing because of the Elliot reveal, but she also says she thinks she managed to remember the purpose of what was happening and was made to forget. Is this her projecting her deeds onto her father again, or did she actually manage to remember one time and get forced back into forgetting by someone else?

After exiting her first flashback into the shooting scene, Tove sees that she stands in front of room 2102. There’s a big visual focus on room numbers in general too.

Speaking of numbers, Maura’s room in the ship and the room in the mental hospital are both numbered 1011.

Virginia Wilson is confirmed to speak and understand English, French and Cantonese so far.

There are multiple closeups of Eyk’s family photo.

All of the photos on Daniel and Maura’s nightstand seem to be from the same day. One of the photos shows Elliot holding the bug, indicating that this day is the same as Elliot’s flashback. Also Maura and Elliot’s clothing in the photos seem similar to if not identical to their simulation outfits.

When Maura and Daniel kiss we see flashes of them together, the mental hospital, the wooden cross from the tomb, a brain and Maura walking down a corridor with a hammer.

Daniel says that if Maura doesn’t wake up, there will be nothing left to wake up for.

Elliot and Daniel’s simulation flashbacks both end with either of them holding Maura’s frock in the middle of the same faulty simulation that Henry is in.

Henry says Maura has fooled «all of us».

Ángel’s song (a version of La Tarara) mentions a finger that can’t be healed and a white dress. The finger could be Virginia and the white dress could be Maura in her hospital gown. The white dress verse claims La Tarara only wears it on Maundy Thursday, and the finger verse says no surgeon can cure it.

#I have collected the dots (probably just some of them) now it's time to connect them #1899 theories #1899 speculation #1899 #1899 netflix #save 1899 #renew 1899 #maura franklin #virginia wilson #anker 1899 #franz 1899 #elliot 1899 #daniel solace #ángel 1899 #eyk larsen #henry singleton #clémence 1899

[psychic-refugee]

This is another misleading antis tactic. They take a snip of something out of context and try to portray it as fact and fit their narrative.

This SS is from an OPINION piece from Screenrant. The writer, Michelle Boyar, does not work for Netflix, nor for anyone close to the situation.

Boyar has no actual idea of what the writers or producers have planned for Season 2. The headline includes the word "tease" to indicate they don't have anything definitive.

She is SPECULATING based on nothing but her own interpretation of an interview done by Variety. She’s not a real reporter, she’s just a freelance blogger for an entertainment gossip mill. She has a clear bias as she unfairly describes the character as toxic and blames Bianca’s jealousy and competitiveness with Wednesday on him.

She also references the rumours without the context of Somebody’s suspicious behaviour and actions. This is clearly a biased and not well researched opinion piece.

She also presents Xavier as nothing but a romantic interest.

“However, Ortega's comments seem to suggest that Xavier's part in Wednesday season 2 will be reduced.” (Bolding added) (Boyar, supra)

She totally disregards any possibility that he could be written as Wednesday’s friend if they do indeed eschew literally all romantic plots. Please also note Boyar uses purposefully vague language to allude that the character “may” be cut, not decisive language that says he will be cut.

She can’t because she has no actual idea.

“We’re ditching any romantic love interest for Wednesday, which is really great.” https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/jenna-ortega-wednesday-season-2-drop-love-interest-horror-1235635497/ (last visited 17 June 2023)

Also, Ortega had specified they were ditching romance for Wednesday. That leaves it open for Xavier to have romantic interests with others. Maybe he gets back with Bianca or perhaps there will be new characters.

Literally nothing about what Oretega has said indicates Xavier’s character will be cut or diminished. There is no “evidence” of Xavier’s departure, it’s pure wishful thinking of a toxic fan.

Here is the article in full: https://screenrant.com/wednesday-season-2-story-tease-xavier-exit-evidence/ (last visited 17 June 2023)

#percy hynes white #I stand with percy

[deep-spaghetti]

i don’t want to annoy OP because i’m sure they’ve got a million smug idiots like me in their notes so i’m going to just subtweet them but if i was orpheus i absolutely simply wouldn’t turn around. not in the sense of like “what an idiot” but like as a magic gotcha contract through the lens of a world with thousands of years of fiction about magic gotcha contracts. like you quadruple check hades’ terms and conditions for any loopholes the magical entity could use to get one over on you. that’s just what you do. in a situation like that where he’s got your wife hostage anyways, the worst tricks he can pull are just not going through with it or taking your soul too. you take the deal and you hammer the rules, out loud, into your stupid tiny head for every second you spend getting out of there. yes, there are emotions at play at the thought of resurrecting your dead wife and a desperation to see her face, but your entire fucking life right now has to be the rules by even the most pedantic interpretation. you aren’t relieved and turning around unthinking once you’re outside of the cave but she isn’t, you made a deal with the fucking devil, assuming he even makes good on it in the first place you have to be so fucking careful that you’re doing exactly what he told you to. like the narrative is hsually that this is a euphoric moment of relief for orpheus, so overwhelmed by anticipation and emotion that he ruins everything. for me, this is like the farthest thing from a moment of relief, this is the fucking scary part this is the big moment where if you fuck it up now you look like a bumbling idiot. you become the guy remembered for just completely fumbling this bag on the one deity condoned respawn ever. even barring the idea of a legacy of a tragic 3 stooges level of blunder, for me this is a fucking paranoid, anxious moment, this is the moment where you go over your mental checklist a thousand times, hoping to be absolutely certain you’ve satisfied the literally single step of “don’t turn around until you’re both outside.” this is the moment where you stop dead in your tracks and try to cook up a counter-scheme, because SURELY hades is going to pull some shit. you find some place to stand where you physically could not have line of sight to the exit until she was completely out. you then spend like 30 minutes still not turning around, having a self-escalating mental breakdown, “what if he just fucking lied. what if hades (the place) got da janky ass hitbox and the minecraft pvp factions claim extends infinitely into the sky and we’re still above it. what if like a hair fell off still inside and that counts as her not being fully outside.” and this whole time you’re walking away from hades trying to make sure you’re as far from “technically not outside” as possible until you go “FUCK IT easy come easy go this is fucking bonus anyways she already died” and then you turn around and your wife doesn’t disappear and then you go home and fuck nasty happily ever after

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 7 - Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone

Okay, once again trying to get back on the horse of keeping up with these reviews. So, I’m generally a massive fan of Gladstone’s stuff, and having finished this I have now read every book he’s published that isn’t part of some massive series (which, sorry, but no). Also, it’s quite literally about a lesbian in space and there are lots of atrocities, so it’s so incredibly on-theme for this blog I was basically obligated to read it at some point.

Honestly, I was kind of disappointed? Not that the book was bad – it really was an enjoyable read, I promise – but it really didn’t live up to the rest of Gladstone’s stuff? Now, maybe I’d have appreciated it more if I was more familiar with Journey to the West, but still. A big part of it was the characters, I think – compared to Gladstone’s other work they’re just so obviously narrative devices and not people. The plot is fine, though the big second reveal was so obvious that I didn’t realize it was suppossed to be surprising, and the overall pacing was really poorly suited to the medium. The descriptions and general High Space Opera aesthetic/vibes was sublime though, I’m such a sucker for stuff that’s basically just chrome-accented magic thrown around with wild abandon.

Now, the book is clearly a very, very, very loose (like ‘in the same way Dragonball is’) take on Journey to the West. I, knowing almost nothing about Journey except the general synopsis and third-order cultural references and influences, am almost certainly not in a position to properly appreciate this, but as a general rule I think it’s fun and cute when people do shit like this, in the same way that my favourite modern day Shakespeare adaptation is She’s The Man. But also I kind of think it’s the reason the book’s pacing is so weird?

Which is to say, the book has a very episodic structure, with the heroine and her crazy powerful space-pirate demigod magically-bound-slave/travelling companion and all the other weird and wonderful friends they pick up along the way going from place to place and meeting people and having personal growth and getting into misadventures. These are without question the best part of the book, but quite a few of them are also unfortunately compressed by the tyranny of page count, without the character beats getting the space to breathe they deserve. (The actual plot has this problem even worse – the entire final confrontation and denouncement got like 20 pages?) This is not a story that should have been told in a single book – it should have been told in a luxuriously animated incredibly over-the-top two season adventure serial made of 2-3 episode mini-arcs. Tell me I’m wrong.

The characters themselves are – look, they’re fun. They’re so much fun. The actual heroine far less than the rest of the supporting cast, but even her. But they’re just very...archtypal? They’re clearly and obviously characters, bundles of tropes and narratives roles and aesthetics, with only the barest performance of being people? Which is honestly pretty surprising, because I’m coming to this from Last Exit which, say whatever you want about them, that was full of fucking specific people with incredible attention paid to their particular psychologies and damage. Whereas everyone in this just felt kind of broadly written.

(Also, much like how Last Exit screamed that it was written during the Trump Administration with every word, this is very clearly a book conceived and written while Obama was president)

All this sounds very negative, because I’m a naturally miserable person, but I really should say that I did enjoy reading this book. Gladstone is up there with Valente and Miller as my favourite authors writing in terms of sentence-to-sentence prose, and the gloriously self-indulgent semi-mythical space opera landscapes and creatures and battles were an absolute joy to read. The Mirrorfaith and Pride and Orn and all the rest are all just very vividly realized and I want to see concept art of them for a triple A video game or something.

For all that the cast was pretty broadly written, I did enjoy spending time in all of their heads – though it might not say great things about the book overall that the single most affecting and beautiful set-piece by far was the one that Vivian wasn’t a part of.

Anyways, overall it was a fun book, would have been a better anime. Also, unrelated to everything above – Vivian and Zanji’s dynamic and relationship would have been textbook 101 inarguable queerbaiting if Vivian didn’t also get a (different) girlfriend she fucked on screen. I just find this kind of funny to think about.

#Book Review #Empress of Forever #Max Gladstone #sff