i'll literally never be convinced crystal/kristen was not a figment of misty's imagination, a friend she invented for herself that the others played along with because at least misty was occupied. i know she reads so fake to me just because she was poorly integrated into the rest of the wilderness plot (as in - not at all lol), she's a half-assed attempt at giving context to misty's anxious attachment style, which was almost immediately undermined anyway by her deciding to like walter. crystal/kristen never appears until misty is socially iced out for accidentally poisoning the soup and suddenly there's a second incredibly annoying theatre kid everyone wishes would go away? that dresses in misty's exact color palette? and they've been on the same team this whole time while misty was so ostracized and lonely? nobody even wanted to look for her when she "vanished"! the wilderness even magicked away her body so they'd have to hunt each other! crystal isn't even her name. i'm sorry, but she's about as real as akilah's mouse.
not being able to suspend my disbelief long enough to accept this subplot as real cheapened it a lot for me as it happened, but i have since decided her not being real could be plausibly-canon, and suddenly it's so compelling. misty invented herself the perfect friend that accepted everything about her and daydreamed little playdates and slumber parties, and even so, when she confessed to destroying the black box, her daydream turned on her. misty's own (quite vivid) imagination couldn't stretch enough to allow her a friend who accepted her wholly. she plays out what would happen if she told her closest friend this dark, fucked up secret, and it ends bloody. she convinces herself she'll never be fully accepted and loved, and ultimately it doesn't matter if crystal/kristen was real or not. i'm honestly fine with this theory never being confirmed (again, i don't think they intended it this way, crystal's place in the story was just criminally unearned and underwritten), but i'm much more compelled by a version of events where misty is so lonely and confused and guilt-ridden that her mind (or, if you'd like, the wilderness) gives her the kind of friend she was unlikely to find even under better conditions, and there's still betrayal and death at the end of it. misty's adolescent brain is already self-aware enough to know her hands will be bloodstained and unholdable for the rest of her life.
571 notes
·
View notes
My name is [BRUTUS] and my name means [HEAVY]
so with a [HEAVY] heart I'll guide this dagger
Into the heart of my enemy
Something about having absolutely no choice in who you marry. About being literally forced by the law to spill blood - to accept this stranger as your husband over a man you truly care for or accept the fact that the man you love might die because you put him in danger. Something about risking becoming the wife of a man you've never even seen before a few minutes prior because you know anything would be better than putting your beloved in harm's way. Something about the trust inherent in that decision and in the way she speaks of it after.
Truthfully, T'Pring doesn't know the captain and she doesn't know Spock. Either one of them could have taken her as their wife but she does know Stonn. She knows that Stonn will remain by her side no matter what. They made a plan together. They have an agreement which T'Pring believes will be upheld even though the plan changed with the arrival of Kirk. Stonn will always be there, always, and Stonn will be hers.
Something about the language used around T'Pring: Ownership, subservience, non-personhood. T'Pring is an object that Spock can win. She cannot reject him, she has no say in the matter other than having Stonn 'claim' her instead. Even when Spock leaves after being very clearly rejected by T'Pring he says "Stonn, she is yours." as if despite her clear rejection he still owns her and is must formally 'give' her to Stonn. But the language T'Pring uses around Stonn is a break from that: "There was Stonn who wanted very much to be my consort, and I wanted him."
Stonn who wanted very much to be HER consort and she WANTED him. The language here is very particular - It's not, for example: "Stonn wanted me to be his wife" - he is HERS. And she WANTS him. There's a mutual affection there and a strong trust - a trust which seems to be well founded since Stonn (though silent) stands by her side at the end of the episode. <- That might seem small but if Spock would reject her for 'daring to challenge' (again, the language is not 'because I don't want you' but more of an implied disgust at her having the AUDACITY to reject him) then it's not a stretch to assume that it'd be considered an insult in the TOS Vulcan society to NOT choose Stonn as her champion after a prior agreement.
Anyway T'Pring was a woman in an impossible situation within a society which saw her as more of an object than a person and she wanted Stonn and Stonn wanted to be hers and she trusted that he would understand if she had to publicly pick someone else to ensure his life would be spared and he did understand.
257 notes
·
View notes
it really kills me that we never get to find out cameron’s full backstory in house md. it’s heavily implied that she has some kind of previous trauma or something that led to her being Like This, that existed before the dead husband thing. when she admits that she had a husband who died, house even outright says "that’s not the whole story. it’s a symptom, not your illness" (s1e7), because he has realised that she must have known the guy was dying when she met him and still set herself up for a horrific heartbreak. yet we learn very little of her background in the series and we never get an answer to what causes her to… well… be the way she is! hyper-focused on morality, kind and compassionate to a fault, but alternately extremely cold and unempathetic the second she disagrees with someone, erratic, a romantic, yet also incapable of maintaining a relationship, lovingly devoted but only ever to the wrong people, willing to give everything for nothing in return in the most unhealthy way.
like this scene is so clearly a set up for a future episode about her backstory, and we never get it! we never know! all the info we get about her past is that she was arrested once as a teenager and she has an unnamed older brother who is alluded to one time! why was she even arrested? we don’t know! why did she try to get house off her tail by giving the dead husband story but intentionally leaving out the crucial detail that she knew the guy was dying when she met him? we’ll never find out! if these are all symptoms, as house puts it, what’s her illness? it’s killing me. we’ll never understand her properly.
284 notes
·
View notes
This gif perfectly encapsulates what I love about Tome. All girls have been this gif. Like remember having undiagnosed mental issues and your family makes you go on an outing that should be fun but you’re just pissed off constantly because youre a 14 year old girl? Tome gets it.
Like YOU’RE GOING SOMEWHERE TO DO SOMETHING THAT SPECIFICALLY PERTAINS TO YOUR INTERESTS. But youre a 14 year old girl and nobody will ever take you seriously and you’ve just got this pit of hopelessness in your stomach despite the fact that nothing is technically wrong
so even though youre on an outing planned for you you can’t shake the feeling that everyone is just making fun of you for being so upset over seemingly nothing. These are your friends and family, you deep down they wouldnt do that, but why else would they go out of their way?
They certainly wouldn’t do it for you, right? I mean nothing’s even technically wrong. You’re just being a crybaby and they all must think youre just being a dramatic teenage girl. And you are and you know that you are so why can’t you just get over it and be normal?
And when you finally can’t take the pain that’s screaming in your chest because everything feels wrong wrong and everything is going wrong and everything is wrong wrong wrong you can’t help but cry. And you’re embarrassed and you’re furious and you’re supposed to be mature and you’re supposed to not care but you cry.
Crying feels worse than the growing internal discomfort did because now everyone is looking at you. They’re staring in uncomfortable suprise at what you’re sure is the most unsuprising sight in the world - a 14 year old girl crying. You want to go home but you can’t. You’re 14. You can’t do anything on your own.
You react to the terrifying ordeal of being reacted to the only way you know how - with anger. You monologue through hot tears and sobs and snot how you didn’t even wanna be here and how you just *know* everyone is just doing this to make fun of you and how they should just go on ahead and leave you wherever you are (you know this can’t happen. They wouldn’t leave a 14 year old girl somewhere unfamiliar on her own) and something in you hopes that they’ll yell back, that they’ll treat you like you’re irrational and make you feel justified in your anger.
…But that doesn’t happen. The silence persists but you realize that it’s more contemplative than judgemental. They’re not afraid of you, though you think they should be. Rather than letting them say something sentimental about caring and being concerned or any sappy bullshit that will only serve to make you cry more, you wipe your face on your sleeve continue on your journey.
The day gets better. After everyone gathers that no, you don’t wanna talk about it, it almost feels like nothing happened to begin with- besides the slight exhaustion you feel every time you blink and the intense stress sweat you choose to blame on anything else.
By the time you get home, the day is mentally logged as a good day. You decide - albeit tentatively - that maybe you’re going to be ok. Maybe you won’t be a 14 year old girl forever.
You go to bed and have the best sleep you’ve had in months.
209 notes
·
View notes
I've been stupid busy so y'all get 2 day old Nimona headcanons
I feel like Todd would try really hard to be friends with the trio after everything went down
Bal is an absolute angel who can do no wrong so while he doesn’t forgive Todd he is willing to acknowledge his growth (sike he has the moral backbone of soggy cardboard and the character development of a rock)
Bal makes no attempt to befriend him but he’s also civil whenever he’s around
Nimona and Ambrosius on the other hand they’re not afraid to slam doors in his face and tell him to take a long walk off a short pier
There have been multiple times when they’ve had to hold each other back from beating the absolute shit out of him
And it’s not cause they’re scared of losing or anything
No they’re both confident they could kick his ass in 5 seconds flat
They’re scared he’s gonna try and twist it and figure out a way to make it seem like them harming him led to more of his “character development”
So they settle for mental torment
Before Nimona got comfortable with Ambrosius she gave him the shovel talk with an actual shovel in hand
He wasn’t offended in the slightest
Was he a little scared? absolutely
But offended? No not at all
If anything he was incredibly grateful that there was another person in the kingdom that cares for Bal as much as he does
Maybe a month into them trusting each other Nimona turns around and gives Bal the shovel talk
And he actually started crying
Nimona tried to stop and get him to calm down frantically asking him what’s wrong while shushing him
And Bal encouraged him to continue because this was the moment that he knew Nimona viewed Ambrosius as part of their family
I gave my headcanons in this post about how often I’d think the trio would cry which got me thinking about how they’d comfort each other
Ambrosius was very used to Bal’s constant crying so he’s pretty good at comforting people
So when Bal and Nimona do cry he doesn’t overreact
He’ll quietly console them and wait for them to be done before asking if they want anything
Food water a blanket
Anything they ask for he gets
Bal is a nervous wreck when the duo cries around him
He’s still not used to Ambrosius crying in general
And seeing Nimona cry is about as likely as seeing a double rainbow in a tornado
He tries to damn best to comfort them and most of the time it works (emphasis on most)
Nimona is just awkward around crying people
Because crying is something they don’t do often and they haven’t gotten too close to anyone in a long time comforting doesn’t come naturally to them
Most of the time they try and get the boys to stop crying by making them laugh or distracting them
And they didn’t realize how damaging that was until one day Ambrosius just said “Nim love all I want to do is cry please let me do that”
They started working on their comforting skills after that but it’s very much a work in progress
While Bal and Ambrosius are incredibly sappy dorks I feel like they don’t overdo it with the PDA
Like sure they’ll hold hands and kiss occasionally but it’s so small that most people don’t comment on it
But if someone tries to make a big deal about them kissing or holding hands they will go overboard just cause they’re petty like that
288 notes
·
View notes