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ginnsbaker · 11 months

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In Losing Grip On Sinking Ships (3/?)

Chapter summary: Wanda finds you again after months of estrangement.

Chapter word count: 5.5k

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader, Yelena Belova x Fem!Reader

Chapter Warnings: None

Author’s Note: Decided to post this early in celebration of Love & Death's final episode.

AO3 | Masterlist

Next Chapter: Four

Three

At two in the morning, Wanda’s insomnia is at its worst.

Sleep doesn’t come despite doubling her usual dosage of sleeping pills, and she considers taking another, just so she can stop thinking about what Pietro said–about you moving on with someone new. Because despite her confidence in your love for her, her faith is waning with each passing day that you continue to leave her messages seen and her calls unanswered.

She wonders how love–a resilient but tainted one–can survive in the dark. If it can survive at all.

Wanda remembers reading somewhere on the internet that the human epidermis continually makes new cells every second, so that in just 30 days, one’s skin is entirely new. In months of being apart, it meant that there’s no longer an inch of her that has ever touched you. All that remains of her in you are memories. And what a fragile thing they are, when people are always forgetting.

Wanda doesn’t want to be forgotten. Least of all by you.

She knows it’s within your rights to fall in love again, and she’s adamant for it to be with her. Her stubborn nature makes her cling to your wedding vow: that if you don’t end up with her, then you end up with no one. Maybe she’s delirious to still believe that you’d fulfill those promises, especially with how hard it is to reconcile those promises with dead silence.

Nevertheless, Wanda tries. She continues to send you mundane messages like a restaurant discovery or what she had for lunch, or a comment on the weather, telling you how nice it’d be to go outside for a walk.

Tonight, she sends you a text about Sparky’s visit to the vet, hoping it provokes a reaction from you. It immediately gets read. Wanda’s breath hitches when she sees three dots appear right after her message. However, they soon disappear, leaving Wanda to stare at another unanswered text.

Tomorrow, then. And if not, the day after. Wanda won’t let you forget about her.

Agatha helps her with the finishing touches on her café, which happens to be unsold paintings donated by her colleagues from the gallery itself that Agatha manages. She’s informed Wanda that she’s considering early retirement to find something else to do, and when Wanda mentioned that she’s opening up a business, Agatha suggested she’d volunteer to help out on weekends in exchange for free coffee and dessert any day of the week. Wanda didn’t think twice to accept the proposal, and they shook on it.

“You have an eye for design, Wanda. You can make a career out of it once your cafe takes off and can hire someone to manage instead of doing it all by yourself.” Agatha says, dusting the final frame they hanged on the wall.

“Thanks. It’s just not me though. I had a lot of help from friends in NYU.” Wanda says, going behind the counter to make sure everything’s set for the big day, two days from now.

“Are you worried about the opening?” Agatha asks.

“A bit, yes.” Wanda admits with a sigh.

“Don’t be. Your pastries alone will keep this adorable thing afloat.” Agatha assures her, admiring the aforementioned pastries currently cooking in the oven.

Wanda smiles graciously, a little unsure if she’d take it as a compliment. With her former boss, it’s hard to tell sometimes. Agatha has the tendency to toe the line between maternal and condescending.

“That’s what I keep telling her.” Pietro, who Wanda didn’t notice entering the shop just now, chimes in. Her brother taps Agatha on the shoulder, making the older woman turn her head in an unnecessarily coquettish manner. Wanda lifts an eyebrow as she observes the two.

“I don’t believe we’ve met.” Pietro says, before running a hand through his hair and letting his textured, angular fringe fall dramatically back over his bleached eyebrows. “I’m Pietro, Wanda’s twin.”

“It’s nice to meet you, dear. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Agatha says evenly with a smile, turning around to face him fully.

Pietro stands unnecessarily closer to her and says, “Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”

Wanda’s never heard Agatha giggle like a schoolgirl, and shoots him a murderous look. Her oblivious brother merely carries on staring at Agatha like he could see through her clothes.

Squeezing into the narrow space between the two, she starts pushing her brother away from his prey. She can already sense him scheming, and she’s not going to let him potentially ward off the free help she’s gonna get on weekends.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Wanda hisses at him under her breath as soon as she’s positive Agatha’s no longer within earshot.

He raises his hands in front of him in defense. “I was being friendly.”

“No, you weren’t. You were literally eyefucking my ex-boss back there.”

Pietro shrugs. “Maybe she was eyefucking me.”

“I swear, you’re going to–”

“Excuse me?” Agatha interrupts, and they both whip their head towards her–Wanda with a stricken look, and Pietro with a cheshire grin. Agatha can’t help but think how they’re both very attractive.

She addresses Wanda first. “I’m sorry but I have to go. Call me if you need anything, sweetie.”

“Thanks again, Agatha.” Wanda says.

And then she turns to Pietro and winks at him. “I’ll see you around, handsome.”

“Oh, you will.” Pietro answers in a sultry voice that has Wanda harshly digging her nails into his forearm.

He only reacts to the pain after Agatha stepped outside. “Ow! Let go of me!”

“She’s off limits you pig.” Wanda chastises, landing some weak strikes on his arm.

“Fine!” Pietro throws his hands up in surrender.

Wanda lets him go with a triumphant smile. “What are you doing here anyway? I thought I’d see you on Monday.” she says.

“My friend invited me to this club tonight, and I want you to come with.” Pietro says.

“I’m not really in the mood to party.”

“You really have changed since you’ve been married to Y/N.”

“Thanks.” Wanda says curtly, and it’s not even sarcastic. If there were changes about her that were of your influence, then they could only mean the good kind. Wanda has long ago learned that she likes herself best when she’s with you.

“Don’t you at least feel like celebrating this?” Pietro gestures at the tiny confines of the cafe.

“My idea of celebration is just steaks and wine,” she replies, shrugging her shoulders. “Lots of wine.”

“Wands, you can’t keep punishing yourself. You deserve to have a good time once in a while.”

Wanda scoffs. “Punishing myself? Believe me, I haven’t started.”

“Wanda, come on,” Pietro pleads earnestly. “The thing is, I’m planning to bump into this real estate dude, and having my sister to make me look like a decent guy is going to help my chances in my investment pitch, okay?”

Wanda considers the new information. “Why didn’t you start with that in the first place?”

“Because I didn’t want to flat-out ask my heartbroken sister for help. Cause I know you’re… You’re half the person you used to be. You’re not whole, and here I am, needing your help when there’s nothing I can do to help you back.”

It’s the most vulnerable she’s seen her brother, and it makes Wanda want to gather him in his arms and be children again.

“Piet..”

Pietro assumes back a sturdy posture. “I’m sorry. I just need you. But if–”

“I’ll be there. Just text me where and what time you need me.” Wanda assures him.

“I’ll owe you one, sis.”

“Try twenty.”

Pietro deserts her as soon as she serves her purpose, and he gets invited to the VIP floor of his prospective investor. Wanda doesn’t hold it against him, seeing how important this deal is to him. Besides, thirty minutes of blaring techno (it’s a crime to call it music, Wanda muses) and seizure-inducing lights are too much for Wanda to bear. She just happens to have four drinks in front of her (bought by different strangers), and there’s just no way she can let perfectly crafted Negronis go to waste. Really, she’s left with no choice but to stay and savor her prized cocktails.

At least two men–and one woman–have taken up the courage to approach her by the bar, and Wanda only has to show them the ring she still wears on her left hand for them to leave her alone with a polite apology.

On her own (and despite you being unaware of it) she wants the world to know she’s still yours.

Heaving a deep sigh, Wanda finishes her drink. One down, three to go. She’s already swimming in a pleasant buzz, and when her eyes drift to the center of the dance floor, she sees the last person she thought of seeing tonight.

It’s true what they say about experiencing everything around you slowing down to a stop when your life flashes through your eyes. It’s closest to how she’d describe seeing you in the flesh after a long stretch of only seeing you in her dreams. For a split second, she thinks she might be mistaken, but it’s definitely you when you start doing that dorky mannequin move that never fails to send her into fits of laughter. And that’s exactly what Wanda does; she half-laughs and half-sobs into her drink as you stiffly move your limbs, wearing a blissful smile of your own.

You seem…okay. Happy, even. Against her will, a deep sense of insecurity settles heavily on her chest.

And then, as if on cue, a blonde girl mirrors your dance moves, stepping into your space too close for Wanda’s liking. She looks much younger than you and Wanda are, and she recognizes the captivated look on her face. It’s the same look Wanda is giving you right now, the same look you used to give her everyday for more than ten years. Wanda helplessly watches you take her hand and spin her around goofily. And when the girl stops and loses her balance, she leans on your side for support. You let her, putting an arm around her shoulder as both of you continue to laugh at the silliness of it all.

Wanda feels her heart fall and crash into pieces. And the guilt of falling apart at seeing you happy like you deserve to be, comes to her in rolling waves.

She downs the rest of her drink–all three of them–and then weaves through the crowded club, bumping against sweaty bodies to find her way out.

Wanda ends up waiting for you from across the street. She wraps her jacket tighter around her body and fights off the cold by blowing her breath into her hands and rubbing them together. It does little to keep her warm, but she’s too enthralled to see your face again to care. She couldn’t simply walk away and wait for another opportunity like this to come.

Eventually–after nearly two hours of waiting–you come out of the building. You’re not accompanied by anyone, and you’re peering down at your phone. In the distance, she can clearly see how unfocused your movements are, which makes her wonder why you’re all by yourself.

She’s about to cross the empty street, when you unexpectedly look up and Wanda’s eyes lock with yours.

Her eyes glisten at the sight of you: somber eyes and flushed cheeks and the beginnings of a dazed smile at the corner of your lips. You were always a doe when there’s alcohol in your system, and Wanda could take advantage of that.

She could. But she won’t, even as you seem transfixed as she is.

Wanda tests the waters by taking a small step in your direction. You don’t move an inch from where you’re standing, but Wanda still holds her breath with each step. She keeps her eyes trained on your figure in case this is a hallucination–in case this is all just a result of standing for hours in the cold. But you gaze back at her, equally awestruck, and she thinks perhaps you’re also figuring out the same thing: if all of this is real.

Wanda takes another careful step while you shift your weight, working out the best way to keep your balance. And then another, until you’re within reach and she can hear your shallow breaths, can smell your scent mixed with your favorite perfume, can see your baby hairs sticking to your forehead. Until she can look into those eyes that always held kindness she doesn’t deserve.

Until finally, she’s standing right in front of you.

It’s been too long, the words keep repeating itself in her head.

Without thinking, Wanda stretches out her arm to cup your face, but–despite your semi-drunken state–you backpedal on instinct. Dispirited, she drops her hand to her side and chews on her lower lip to stop it from trembling. You must have sensed her dismay, because you force a smile, before her name falls from your lips.

“Wanda.”

There's no doubt that you can break her if you want to just by saying her name.

“Y/N,” she whispers your name back, greedily drinking you in an openly brazen manner.

“H-Hi…”

“You… uh,” you fumble with your sentence, trying to come up with something to say, before settling on what you really just wanted to know. “What are you doing here?”

Wanda actually considers lying, until she remembers that it’s what destroyed everything in the first place.

“I was at the same bar and I saw you. I thought about going home, but I couldn’t leave knowing you were just there.” she says.

“Oh,” is all you manage to reply as you assess how you feel about your ex-wife waiting for you outside and possibly catching a cold in the process. Inclined to blame it on the alcohol later, you don’t think you hate the idea that she stood there for hours just to talk to you. It’s so disparate from the time when you two were together, and you were often the one to wait.

But the truth is, it mostly just hurts. After all this time, it’s the same wound that just refuses to heal. Only now there’s more guilt on your part for ignoring her for months even though you know you shouldn’t feel bad for trying to move on the way you have to.

“It’s good to see you.” Wanda says after a beat. “I’ve missed y–”

Suddenly, your head is filled with images going down on a stranger at the gym. You shake your head harshly in a feeble attempt to shake off the memory.

Wanda is quick to assume that you don’t want to hear any semblance of how much she aches for you.

“I don’t feel–”

You feel violently sick, but you fail to say that out loud because the next second, you hear Wanda shriek in shock and you find yourself bent over your stomach, emptying its contents next to her stilettos. Wanda hovers above you as she gently pulls back your hair on one hand and rubs soothing circles on your back with the other.

Your throat burns and you grimace as you stagger back on your feet.

“Wanda, I’m so–”

“Shhh… you need to sober up,” Wanda explains softly. You don’t know you’ve been leaning onto her for support until you saw her left hand wrapped tightly around your arm.

Her left hand, that is anything but bare.

“Why are you still wearing it?” The question abruptly falls out of your mouth, losing the ability to filter the thoughts that you would rather stay in your head if you weren’t in such an inebriated state.

Wanda tenses up at the question, surprised that you still noticed.

“You know why.” she mumbles, struggling to keep you upright. She doesn’t say more, just silently directs you to the pavement where you both sit next to each other.

“Your hair. It’s too brown.” you speak in a slow drawl, still having enough cognitive function to change the topic. Wanda grimaces at the comment, despising her new hairdo more than usual.

For a while you and Wanda just sit there, basking in awkward silence.

“I need to call an Uber but my phone is dead.” you whisper into your knees, talking to no one in particular. You look and sound so small, so far from when you were dancing earlier. Wanda tries not to think that maybe she’s the reason for it. She worries at her lip, contemplating if she should call a ride for you. But with your current state, she’d be on the edge all night wondering if you got home safe. And knowing you probably won’t update her, she’s probably going to lose her mind over it.

Rising to her feet, Wanda makes a decision and offers a hand for you to take.

“Hey. I’ve got an idea.”

Wanda watches you dip a fry into a plain sundae and pop it into your mouth. Her cheeks redden a little when you moan in appreciation, eyes closed as if you were sampling a gourmet dish. She’d never understand your weird taste for putting together two of the things that should never be put together.

“Feel better?” she asks, disinterestedly picking at her nuggets.

“Much.” you say, licking your thumb with gusto. At this point, Wanda makes the right decision to look away before her thoughts become anything but innocent. You’re starting to recover from your intoxication, and she’s careful not to make you feel the slightest discomfort.

“How’s Sparky?” you ask all of a sudden, remembering Wanda’s text the other night about a visit to the vet.

Wanda takes a sip of her coffee, then says, “Something about a low platelet count. They just prescribed him some meds. He’s doing better, I think.”

“That’s good to hear.” you say.

Both of you fall back into another period of quiet.

Wanda’s head is sifting through the many topics that she had mentally filed in advance for this moment, but all she wants is to ask about you and your dance partner. The way she fell into you and the way you caught her with ease wasn’t at all friendly. The girl was obviously smitten, and Wanda can’t blame her. She can’t blame anyone but herself.

She peeks at you through her lashes, taking in your solemn expression as you suck on the plastic spoon.

Are you dating her?

Have you already slept together?

Has she been replaced?

Instead, Wanda says, “He misses you though”, because she couldn’t risk saying the wrong thing.

“I miss him too.” you say, and Wanda detects a hint of softness in your tone for the first time tonight.

It’s pathetic how she’s internally begging for you to say the same thing about her.

(How she’s envious of her own dog for it.)

“You should see him some time.” Wanda says, and at the skeptical look in your eye, she adds, “I don’t mean you visit him at my place. I can bring him to you. Maybe he can stay at yours for a weekend.”

You nod like you understand what she’s trying to do– what information she’s trying to get out of you. She expects you to dismiss the idea, but you surprise her by saying, “That can be arranged.”

“Great! We’ll–”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“Right.”

The stillness and lack of words return for the third time. Not that Wanda is counting. But it doesn’t last as long as the other two, when you surprise her again by offering her what’s left of your sundae. “Want some?”

Wanda smiles at the gesture and scoops some with her own spoon. She misses the little things, like sharing food and killing time in a place as mundane as Mcdonald’s.

“Are you still using your old number?” Wanda asks, a subtle tremor in her voice.

You wince, aware of what she’s actually asking. You let it slip that your old number is active when you asked about Sparky.

“Not as much as my current one.”

“Oh, that explains it.”

Something about her reply rubs you off the wrong way.

“Explain what?”

Wanda is taken aback by your snippy tone. She used to be able to read you so easily, and now she can’t pinpoint exactly what set you off.

“What I mean is,” Wanda starts as gently as she could. “I’ve been trying to reach you for months. And you weren’t entertaining any of my attempts to communicate.”

“Well. Imagine that.”

“Did I say something wrong?” Wanda asks, voice thick with unshed tears. “Whatever it is, I’m sorry.”

You heave a sigh, and Wanda frowns at that. In such a short time, she’s managed to exasperate you without even trying.

You pause to gather your thoughts, and then regard her with an apologetic look.

“Sorry…For being a bitch to you, not for avoiding you.” you say.

Wanda wipes a single tear that has escaped her eye with a finger. “You did say goodbye. I’m just too delusional to accept it.”

“You’re not.”

Wanda lets out a hollow chuckle in response.

“I’m delusional for thinking that I can erase you if I pretend long enough you don’t exist.” you say.

She knows it’s what you’ve been doing, but it still hurts for you to lay it out in the open.

“Did it work?” she asks, picking at the skin around her nail until it bleeds.

“No,” you answer truthfully. You don’t elaborate on it and give her the satisfaction of knowing that you’re still miserable without her.

For Wanda, those two letters give her first, real taste of hope since the night you confronted her about Vision. She knows better than to jump at the earliest sign that things may start turning around, but she couldn’t help herself from speaking the words that are most important for you to hear.

“I love you,” she feels every syllable of them in her tongue, and she cries further when you shake your head.

“We can think we’re in love, when we’re really just in pain.” you say to her with a mournful smile.

“I don’t believe that. Sometimes they go together, because it’s just how it is. Love’s supposed to hurt.”

“I don’t want to talk about this with you. This is something we have to resolve individually, exclusive of each other.”

A look of resignation registers on Wanda’s face. It’s the most meaningful conversation you’ve had since separating, and she’ll willingly let go of the things you don’t want to discuss any further.

“What happens now?” she asks, placing the decision in your hands once again.

“I don’t know,” you say more with your shoulders than anything else. You steer the topic away from Wanda’s persevering feelings for you, and continue with, “I just want to enjoy this meal with… a friend.”

Wanda’s breath hitches at the apparent rejection.

“You want us to be friends?”

“Honestly, I don’t know yet.”

“Friends....” Wanda trails off. It’s better than nothing, right? Being friends again is a good start. Friends fall in love all the time, don't they?

“I can do ‘friends’.” she says with newfound determination.

“I need to think about it.” you say because in spite of everything, you’re never one to make promises you can’t keep.

Wanda nods meekly. You stare at each other for a few moments, having reached an impasse, before Wanda remembers a major detail in her life she hasn’t shared with you over a text.

“I have news. I’m opening a café in Queens on Monday. It’s, uh, where most of the alimony went.”

Your face considerably brightens, as if the past several minutes didn’t happen at all. Wanda falls in love with you just a little harder at your organic reaction to her accomplishment.

“That’s amazing, Wanda. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” she says and blushes at the way you look so proud of her.

“Wanda Maximoff, Cafe Owner.” you state her new title wistfully. “You make the best coffee though, so I’m not surprised by that…”

Wanda is no longer listening as a sense of déjà vu creeps underneath her skin, recalling how you had said something similar when she accepted a teaching position at Westview Institute.

Wanda Maximoff, Professor.

And when she got that job at the gallery.

Wanda Maximoff, Art Curator.

And after sharing your first kiss as wife and wife.

Wanda Maximoff, my wife.

Wanda comes to, just before you’re done speaking.

“…Is there anything you can’t do?” you say, good-naturedly.

Love you properly. Wanda broods over her regrets.

She gathers all her verve, only to come up with a paper-thin smile. “You forget I’m a terrible dancer.”

You laugh. “Oh, yeah, that.”

“And I’m also terrible at self-control because,” Wanda admits before she loses the courage for what she’s about to say next. “Because I want to invite you to come to my opening.”

The laughter dies in your throat but the corner of your lips stay upturned.

“I haven’t even gotten my head around ‘friends’ yet.” you remind her softly. “But… I’ll make sure to drop by.”

Wanda exhales in relief. At least she knows when she’ll get to see you again.

“Now, about that Uber?” you say.

“I got it.”

Today’s forecast promised clear, blue skies–and yet, the feeling of dread wouldn’t leave Wanda.

She’s never been a fan of boats (and all sorts of transportation for bodies of water), but she couldn’t come up with any other meeting spot where she wouldn’t accidentally run into you. It’s ironic because for weeks, she’s scoured the places you’d normally be for a chance encounter.

Not this time.

Not when she’s with this person.

Wanda boarded the ferry from Astoria, and it made a quick stop in Roosevelt where Vision was waiting to board the same vessel.

“Thanks for meeting me.” he says as he approaches Wanda who’s standing in the rear viewing deck. The amount of people onboard and the noises of the drafty wind should give them both enough privacy. Wanda doesn’t look up to acknowledge him. She merely continues to observe how the water churns and foams as the ferry picks up speed to leave its dock.

“Threatening to put Y/N in jail if I don’t, didn’t exactly leave me a choice.” Wanda says after a long time.

“You didn’t leave me a choice either. It’s the only way you’d see me,” he argues, and not for the first time, Wanda sees him for what he really is; a mere school boy whom she dragged into her bed, and indirectly scarred for life. “Plus, you know I wouldn’t do that to her. Not because she doesn’t deserve it, but because I made a promise to you.”

Wanda finally forces herself to look at him. His appearance isn’t that of a healthy person. His gaunt cheeks clearly signifies how much weight he’s lost. There’s an ugly scar that runs from the left side of where his hairline starts, all the way down to his nape. And because of the wound, his previously vibrant blonde is all gone, leaving a dull, sandy color of a shaved head.

“What do you want, Vision?” Wanda whispers, feeling more sorry for him than anything.

“You.” Vision states obviously. “I know you’re no longer married.”

“I told you it’s over,” Wanda says mutely. “Back when I was still married. Nothing has changed.”

“When this thing between us started, you knew the worst that could happen. You took the risk. That can’t be for nothing.” Vision’s impassioned plea makes her want to throw up. Wanda wants to deny each of his points, but she’d only be fooling herself.

She did know that there’s a chance you’d discover the affair on your own, and yet she did it anyway. And that’s something she’ll never forgive herself for.

Wanda studies Vision for a moment. She can’t fathom how she ever made the mistake of using him to fill a gap that she couldn’t put a name to–a gap that is deeper and larger in the aftermath of her extramarital affair.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am for doing this to you. I’m the worst thing to happen to you and Y/N. I’m sorry for this,” Wanda allows herself to lightly trace the wound on his head as a gesture of sympathy. “Don’t blame her, please. I put her through unimaginable pain for her to have done this.”

Wanda allows him to remove her hand from his face and clasps them in his. It’s the one last thing she can do for him.

“You’re so beautiful.” Vision murmurs, trying to keep his emotions at bay. “I don’t mind having my skull smashed a thousand times if it means I could have you all over again.”

Wanda gasps and promptly backs away, effectively freeing her hand from Vision’s hold.

“Don’t say that. You could’ve died!”

Vision smirks and Wanda sees a flash of arrogance he held when he was still her student.

“It’s not so different from what you’re doing to me right now.” he says, and Wanda resists the urge to purse her lips.

“You don’t want me, Vision. You’re young and you have so much to offer–”

“–so much potential, so much capable of great things. Yes, Wanda, I know because you made me see it. You believed in me when no one else would. You saved me from being… worthless.” Vision slides down to the deck, leaning against the railing. He groans in pain, massaging his temples, as if rubbing it hard enough would make all of his problems go away.

Wanda crouches beside him, and then says, “I didn’t save you. I used you. And for that, I’m sorry.”

Vision keeps his eyes closed in an effort to avoid the tears threatening to spill. “Are you… are you back together?”

“No.”

A flicker of hope flashes in his eyes. It glows brighter than the sun as he asks, “Did you ever love me?”

Wanda dares to meet his gaze, and there’s no hesitation in the way she says, “No.”

Vision swallows hard and firms his jaw; a showcase of blind resolution that Wanda doesn’t know how to extinguish.

“I don’t believe you.”

Wanda says nothing. She merely stands up and puts more distance between them.

“You don’t fuck someone like you’ve fucked me and not have feelings.” Vision insists, clinging to the memories of intimately knowing the woman in front of him.

It’s then that Wanda loses her patience.

“You’re a kid,” Wanda snaps, her fingers tightening around the metal rod she’s holding onto. “People lie all the time: with their words, their actions, their bodies. You’re naive to assume you know anything just because you had the best fuck of your life.”

Vision is drawing heavy breaths the second she’s done speaking, as if the weight of Wanda’s words were enough to sink him to the bottom of the sea, desperate for air. Wanda, on the other hand, is equally shocked and simultaneously disgusted at her cruelty towards someone who’s begging for love–begging like she is for yours. What she did to you warranted a punishment that’s ten times greater than he had gotten, and yet you never spoke ill of her, never tried to hurt her as sharply as she did Vision.

Vision–this charming, brilliant, handsome young man who didn’t do anything wrong but succumbed to his boyish desires. Who she just maimed with her words.

The ferry arrives in Long Island. People start gathering their belongings before they head towards the exit. Wanda glances at her wristwatch. She’s late for her first staff session with Agatha.

“Vis,” Wanda croaks. “I wish I could give you what you want, but I can’t. I just can’t, okay? She’s everything to me.”

Vision is quiet, gazing at the sea with a faraway expression.

“It’s more than presumptuous of me to ask you this, but I’m going to ask anyway: forgive Y/N. Please don’t come after her for what happened. I’ll… I’ll pay for the damages.”

Vision lets out a humorless laugh, and then, without looking at her, says, “Just go, Ms. Maximoff.”

Monday

It’s nine-thirty in the evening, and Wanda ushers out the last of the customers to grace her opening day.

You didn’t show up.

“Thank you so much, please come again!” she brightly exclaims with just a hint of tiredness from being all over the place for hours. It wasn’t a blockbuster where the lines would reach the next block, but it didn’t fall flat either. Her pastries were all sold out, and she hadn’t expected the need to place orders to her suppliers so soon.

For all that, as she flips the door sign from ‘Hi, We’re Open’ to ‘Sorry, We’re Closed’, the rush of today’s triumphs also leaves her.

And then she sits alone in one of the barstools facing the window and patiently waits.

The gap widens some more.

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff x you #ifiss 2 #ilgoss #wanda maximoff #marvel #unbetad #yelena belova #yelena belova x reader #my writing #my fic #angst

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prince-kallisto · 8 months

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Ramshackle Gravestones

Ramshackle Dorm has a fascinating connection to ghosts and the undead: from the haunted mansion look, three ghosts, and two gravestones…wait, gravestones? I just recently discovered the two gravestones at Ramshackle Dorm- I’m the type of person who misses obvious details like that haha. I heard other people say that maybe it was a Halloween decor choice, or something made by the ghosts to scare people off. After all, there’s a shovel right in front of the Ramshackle gates.

But look at Ramshackle dorm when it turns into the “Dazzingly Dapper dorm.” All renovated and shiny- the gate and stairways are all replaced with more elegant designs. However, the two gravestones still remain, are REPLACED with new stones, are given a more formal and respectful placing. The gravestones even have a separate path leading to them. And as we know, Ramshackle was under renovation for quite some time after Book 6 shenanigans, and Vil was definitely part of the designing process.

So why give such a prominent spot to *fake* gravestones? I personally think that these gravestones are the real deal. But not only because of this evidence, but because Ramshackle attracts the undead. Think of the three ghosts and Eliza from the Phantom Bride event- there must be an underlying reason that the dead are attracted to Ramshackle. But that’s where the bigger question lies: Who did these graves belong to?

Of course, that would be nearly impossible to deduct. There’s likely a whole slew of characters we haven’t been introduced to yet, especially now that we’re beginning to learn about Fae backstories. But I want to debate as many possible options to hopefully spark some ideas ^_^ Spoiler alert: none of these options feel convincing enough, but I think there’s a reason for that (more on that later)

-The Ghost trio: The immediate answer would be these guys, but why have only two gravestones instead of three, especially since the gravestones were replaced? I talked A LOT more about the ghost trio in my previous theory post, but all three died in their old age, none of them died as students.

-Eliza: Nope. Haha a little harsh, but she just didn’t meet any of the criteria for this one

-Portraits: In Ramshackle dorm, there are portraits of a woman, but I’m still not convinced that she has any relevancy other than just being a reference.

-Past NRC students: This seems like a possibility AT FIRST, but now we have to confront the main problem with these gravestones.

Look at the shovel, the haphazard placements of the gravestones, the unkempt the yard. Hell, just consider the fact that Ramshackle is ABANDONED. If it were past students, or meant to be a memorial for ANYBODY, why give them such disrespect? If a student ever died due to an Overblot tragedy or any other incident, there’s no way their graves would have become this disregarded- it’s highly unlikely that student bodies (no pun intended) would be buried on school ground in the first place!

Hm. Back to square one- or so I thought. Looking at both gravestones again, they seem to be unmarked. It would’ve been very easy to draw in a few squiggles or lines. If they’re not meant to be read, so be it, but why leave the graves unmarked?

After all, as we can see from the Halloween events, or even just the statues of the Great Seven, the graves are MARKED, despite being event background props

Graves were (and are left) unmarked throughout history for various reasons: Too many victims of disease, too poor to afford a proper memorial, or suggest that the person burying ISN’T worthy or memorial and respect.

Interesting 👀 We may be making some progress with that last point- and it may be the reason why Ramshackle was abandoned. Again, I talked more about it in my previous theory post, but the ghosts were definitely not the reason why Ramshackle was abandoned. If anything, it was a coverup for something big. After all, at least a hundred student have had to have been displaced, and new rituals would have been required.

Thinking more about the shovel and the crooked gravestones is interesting. It’s almost like the placement of these gravestones were rushed. And with Ramshackle being abandoned, no one would have to think about these gravestones. I feel confident that the graves were placed after the abandonment of Ramshackle dorm, because although the dorm has a very haunted look to it, it must have been completely different in its prime. No dorm would have a shovel lying in front of the gates!

Still, it’s bothering me that these gravestones were made on school grounds in the first place- unless the graves were related to someone from the school. Someone who wasn’t worth remembering- or perhaps their identity is kept secret for another reason entirely.

But there’s even more things that are bothering me. Let’s look at the graves once more: They’re different sizes. The one of the left is larger, the one of the right is smaller. And even with these renovations, the different sizes remain the same.

Is it perhaps implying that the one of the left was older, and the one of the right was younger? Like a child and an adult?

(*heaves in Revan/Crowley theories because what if it represents Mallenoa and Malleus because notice how the long is RIGHT NEXT TO THE GRAVESTONES in the Halloween event*)

Anyway, I still can’t think of the two possible victims, and they likely are people we haven’t met yet in the main game or are involved with the fall of Ramshackle. But I have one last desperate suggestion: What if the gravestones represent two people that haven’t died…yet? If the time loop theory is relevant, what if two key characters ended up dying from the monster in the prologue?

Edit: A comment or mentioned what if the gravestones were for MC and Grim 👀 the different sizing of the gravestones would make so much sense

AS USUAL I have no clue 🤩 At the moment, so much is kept in the dark, and literally all I can do is speculate and obsessively analyze everything. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about Ramshackle with these posts, even if we technically aren’t any closer to discovering the truth 🤣 I’d love to hear any suggestions and ideas, because I’m so lost haha

#twst #twst theory #twst ramshackle #twst ghosts #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland theory #twst book 7 spoilers #ramshackle dorm #KallistoPost

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chronurgy · 2 months

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I made a post earlier talking about three directions I thought wyll's quest might take in at the end of act 1/early act 2 and I wanted to elaborate on it a little bit. The three directions I considered were a focus on monster hunting and what that meant, a focus on his disdain for politics, and a focus on his relationship with his father. I didn't particularly consider any one more likely than the other, they all just sort of arose out of what I saw as "points of tension" in wyll's character. I'm also not trying to say that these are the only options or the best options, I'm just laying out what I personally thought might happen and how it was going to work.

Focusing on the monster hunter thing - was karlach the first innocent person he had been sent to hunt? What does it mean to be a monster hunter in a world where many monsters have human intelligence? Especially because of what happened with Karlach, I thought this might become a throughline in his quest and tie further into the ways devils twist words and contracts to use and manipulate people. What they call a "bloodthirsty rampaging monster" might have understandable reasons for attacking a village that had, say, stolen its eggs to sell as spell ingredients. Or even if they didn't have such a sympathetic reason, it's absolutely possible that they could be reasoned with and asked to stop. With wyll's already existing sympathy for karlach and astarion, I thought that creating sympathy for less human looking "monsters" might be the next step.

I actually still think this would have been a pretty interesting questline. His act two quest could have centered around a monster he'd been sent to kill at the edge of the shadow-cursed lands, returning to that area and meeting there a mate, sibling, or child that had possibly changed its ways (great durge parallel here!). There could be a lot of questions about whether or not someone can change their nature, about what redemption means, about who is afforded second chances, all of that. I think by nature Wyll would lean towards letting them live, but a player character could push him down a darker path (a la Shadowheart). This would also feed well into Wyll making choices about his pact with mizora - if he kills the mate or sibling, leaning into the monster hunter and no hope of redemption thing then he would choose to keep his pact, saying that it gives him the power to protect people from monsters while perhaps also believing that there's no way for him to be saved, but if he chooses to let them live and broadens his mind and understanding he would choose to break his pact with mizora, citing the fact that she's lied to him repeatedly and how he doesn't want to bring more harm on innocents.

Focusing on the politics thing - wyll's comment about how "a Duke shakes hands with more monsters than he slays" is really fascinating because Duke is a political job and the "monsters" he's talking about are people. He was the son of a grand duke and was intended to follow in his footsteps, but this is the view he has of politics? That's kinda wild to me! I assumed we'd get some sort of politically involved quest once we got to the city where Wyll would have to get over his distaste for politics and challenge his view of other people as monsters and overall examine what it means to run a city or something along those lines.

Like I said, I assumed any quest line would focus on a situation where Wyll would either overcome his distaste for politics and learn to appreciate the difficulties of running a city when your opponents are people you can't just kill when they get in your way or have a "bad end" where he decided that he didn't care and was happy to use force on political opponents. (interestingly I think you can see some potential remnants of this in his speech about becoming grand duke where he says something along the lines of "no one could stand against him")

Focusing on his father - I felt like there was obviously a lot going on in that relationship and that it had to come back up! Wyll acted so sanguine and understanding about the whole banishment thing even though it seemed obvious (to me at least) that he was deeply hurt by it and in denial about it. I thought for sure that would come to a confrontation where Wyll would accept that he was actually hurt by this and that his father had done him wrong. This was further reinforced through act 1 and 2 by the repeated references to how terrible the flaming fist were and how they weren't what they used to be. Since Ulder was their commamder, I assumed that this was also meant to be a reflection on him and that he wasn't the perfect and heroic man Wyll idealized him as. Act 3 actually reinforced this for me with its constant examples of just how corrupt and incompetent the fist were. I really thought we were going to see some emotional payoff and reckoning here right up until we actually rescued ulder and it didn't happen.

I wasn't really sure what form this quest would take but I was very convinced it would happen. Like I said, all the comments about the fist in acts 1 and 2 had me convinced! There's so clearly tension there, with ulder having been unwilling to show any sense of understanding to his 17 year old son. I assumed that the quest might involve puncturing the "myth" of Ulder for Wyll and him starting to see his father as a human with flaws instead of idolizing him. I also really thought that there would be a dramatic confrontation!

So there we have it - places I thought Wyll's quest might go based on what I'd seen in act 1 and early act 2. I was very wrong indeed - two of the three things I thought might be main drivers never came up at all, and one of them ended up being straight up ignored. Ah well!

#wyll ravengard #bg3 #It's interesting to look back and consider what you thought would happen #Lae'zel I thought would stay in faerun #Shadowheart's parents were a total surprise

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 1 year

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Is every boy in NRC canonically handsome? I don't mean designed to be handsome to us consumers but in story line? I know that people always refer to Vil and Leona in story as extremely attractive but has anyone else had that type of comment?

I believe that (of the main 22 NRC boys), only Vil, Leona, and Silver have been consistently described by their peers as “handsome/beautiful” in-universe. (It’s not that the others look bad, but those three just stand way above average.) I guess Epel could count too, but in his case it’s more like he’s being called cute or traditionally feminine looking rather than handsome or beautiful... so let’s leave him at a special mention rather than with an official spot 😅 (I’m also not counting Malleus here, because off the top of my head I only ever recall Sebek calling Malleus handsome, and well... Sebek is an extremely biased perspective. He also calls Lilia handsome, and Lilia self-identifies as cute—but again, biased perspectives here.)

Vil is, of course, considered conventionally beautiful, as he is a very popular celebrity and takes great pains to maintain his looks. Leona is also noted to be handsome, mostly in a “wild” kind of way; it’s a different sort of beauty than Vil’s (something which Vil himself comments on, often saying it’s a shame that Leona has such an attitude paired with his good looks). As for Silver, people with good aesthetic tastes (like Vil) have commented that he is prince-like in demeanor and has a pretty face to match.

I believe that Jamil is called handsome by Azul in episode 4, but I don’t know if I would consider this one since it was said in an over-the-top cheeky and flattering kind of way. This is meant to mirror Jasmine pretending to compliment Jafar to distract him once he has usurped the throne from her father. TWST subverts this by having the boys use it to announce their return to challenge OB Jamil for the throne and the dorm he has stolen.

I think the one character that the boys can agree looks generally “unattractive” is Idia. In Ghost Marriage, a lot of them express surprise when Eliza chooses Idia, of all people, to be her destined groom, especially considering her high physical standards and other dubious requirements for one. However, I don’t think Idia is actually “unattractive”, but that he just doesn’t put effort into his appearance and has low self-confidence, which gives of the vibes that he’s unattractive.

Speaking of Eliza, she doesn’t particularly remark on most of other students looking handsome or not (and you’d think that someone as picky as her would judge them out loud about it if they were all as handsome as we perceive them to be in the real world). I do think she comments on some of their looks, but not to the point as to imply that every NRC boy is considered super attractive in their world.

ADDENDUM: Please keep in mind that TWST has a LOT of content out right now (especially in the Japanese version of the game), so it’s possible that there are one-off lines or remarks on the boys’ physical appearances that I may be overlooking. The characters I specifically mentioned in this post are the ones who have their physical appearances most often commented on or are most often praised as being explicitly good looking or beautiful by the people in their own world.

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blackswaneuroparedux · 9 months

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Anonymous ask: What do you think of the new Indiana Jones movie? And of Phoebe Waller-Bridge?

In a nutshell: From start to finish ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is watching Indiana Jones being a broken-down shell of a once great legacy character who has to be saved by the perfect younger and snarky but stereotypical ’Strong Independent Woman’ that passes for women characters in popcorn movies today.

I went in to this film with conflicted feelings. On the one hand I was genuinely excited to see this new Indiana Jones movie because it’s Indiana Jones. Period. Yet, on the other hand I feared how badly Lucasfilm, under Kathleen Kennedy’s insipid woke inspired CEO studio direction, was going to further tarnish not just a screen legend but the legacy of both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The cultural damage she has done to such a beloved franchise as the Star Wars universe in the name of progressive woke ideology is criminal. The troubled production history behind this film and its massive $300 million budget (by some estimates) meant Disney had a lot riding on it, especially with the future of Kathleen Kennedy on the line too as she was hands on with this film.

To me the Indiana Jones movies (well, the first three anyway, the less we say about ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ the better) were an important part of my childhood. I fell in love with the character instantly. Watching ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (first on DVD in my boarding school dorm with other giggly girls and later on the big screen at a local arts cinema retrospective on Harrison Ford’s stellar career) just blew me away.

As a girl I wanted to be an archaeologist and have high falutin’ adventures; I even volunteered in digs in Pakistan and India (the Indus civilisation) as well as museum work in China as a teen growing up in those countries and discovering the methodical and patient but back breaking reality of what archaeology really was. But that didn’t dampen my spirit. Just once I wanted to echo Dr. Jones, ‘This belongs in a museum!’ But I happily settled for studying Classics instead and enjoyed studying classical archaeology on the side.

I couldn’t quite make sense why Indiana Jones resonated with me more than any other action hero on the screen until much later in life. Looking like Harrison Ford certainly helps. But it’s more than that. I’ve written this elsewhere but it’s worth repeating here.

‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ is considered an inspiration for so many action films yet there’s a very odd aspect to the film that’s rather unique and rarely noticed by its critics and fans. It’s an element that, once spotted, is difficult to forget, and is perhaps inspiring for times like the one in which we currently live, when there are so many challenges to get through. Typically in action films, the hero faces an array of obstacles and setbacks, but largely solves one problem after another, completes one quest after another, defeats one villain after another, and enjoys one victory after another.

The structure of ‘Raiders’ is different. A quick reminder:

- In the opening sequence, Indiana Jones obtains the temple idol only to lose it to his rival René Belloq (Paul Freeman). - In the streets of Cairo, Indy fails to protect his love, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), from being captured (killed, he assumes). - In the desert, he finds the long-lost Ark of the Covenant, only to have it taken away by Belloq. - Indy then recovers the ark only to have it stolen a second time by Belloq, this time at sea. - On an island, Indy tries to bluff Belloq into thinking he’ll blow up the ark. His bluff fails. Indy is captured. - The climax of the film literally has its hero tied to a post the entire time. He’s completely ineffectual and helpless at a point in the movie where every other action hero is having their greatest moment of struggle and, typically, triumph.

If Indiana Jones had done absolutely nothing, if the famed archeologist had simply stayed home, the Nazis would have met the same fate - losing their lives to ark’s wrath because they opened it. It’s pretty rare in action films for the evil arch-villains to have the same outcome as if the hero had done nothing at all.

Indy does succeed in getting the ark back to America, of course, which is crucial. But then Indy loses the ark, once again, when government agents send it to a warehouse and refuse to let him study the object he chased the whole film. In other words: Indiana Jones spends ‘Raiders’ failing, getting beat up, and losing every artefact that he risks his life to acquire. And yet, Indiana Jones is considered a great hero.

The reason Indiana Jones is a hero isn’t because he wins. It’s because he never stops trying. I think this is the core of Indiana Jones’ character.

Critics will go on about something called agency as in being active or pro-active. But agency can be reactive and still be kinetic to propel the story along. It’s something that has progressively got lost as the series went on. With the latest Indiana Jones film I felt that Indiana Jones character had no agency and ends up being a relatively passive character. Sadly Indiana Jones ends up being a grouchy, broken, and beat up passenger in his own movie.

Released in 1981, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ remains one of the most influential blockbusters of all time. Exciting action, exotic adventure, just the right amount of romance, good-natured humour, cutting-edge special effects: it was all there, perfectly balanced. Since then, attempts have been made to reproduce this winning recipe in different narrative contexts, sometimes successfully (’Temple of Doom’ and ‘the Last Crusade’), usually in vain (’Crystal Skull’).

What are the key ingredients of an Indiana Jones movie? There are only four core elements - leaving aside aspects of story such as the villain or the goal - that you need in place before anything else. They are: the wry, world-weary but sexy masculine performance of Harrison Ford; the story telling genius of George Lucas steeped in the lore of Saturday morning action hero television shows of the 1950s; the deft visual story telling and old school action direction of Steven Spielberg; and the sublime and sweeping music of the great John Williams. This what made the first three films really work.

In the latest Indiana Jones film, you only have one. Neither Lucas and Spielberg are there and arguably neither is Harrison Ford. John Williams’ music score remains imperious as ever. His music does a lot of heavy lifting in the film and let’s face it, his sublime music can polish any turd.

This isn’t to say the ‘Dial of Destiny’ is a turd. I won’t go that far, and to be honest some of the critical reaction has been over-hysterical. Instead I found it enjoyable but also immensely frustrating more than anything else. It had potential to be a great swan song film for Indy because it had an exciting collection of talent behind it.

In the absence of Spielberg, one couldn’t do worse than to pick James Mangold as next best to direct this film. Mangold is a great director. I am a fan of his body of work. After ‘Copland’, ‘Walk the Line’, ‘Logan’ and ‘Le Mans 66’ (or ‘Ford vs Ferrari’), James Mangold has been putting together a fine career shaped by his ability to deliver stories that rediscover a certain old-fashioned charm without abusing the historical figures - real or fictional - he tackles. And after Johnny Cash, Wolverine and Ken Miles, among others, I had high hopes he would keep the flame alive when it came to Indiana Jones. Mangold grew up as a fanboy of Spielberg’s work and you can clearly see that in his approach to directing film.

But in this film his direction lacks vitality. Mangold, while regularly really good, drags his feet a little here because he’s caught between putting his own stamp on the film and yet also lovingly pay homage to his hero, Spielberg. It’s as if he didn't dare give himself away completely, the director seems too modest to really take the saga by the scruff of the neck, and inevitably ends up suffering from the inevitable comparison with Steven Spielberg.

Mangold tries to recreate the nostalgic wonder of the originals, but doesn't quite succeed, while succumbing to an overkill of visual effects that make several passages seem artificial. The action set pieces range from pedestrian to barely satisfying. The prologue sequence was vaguely reminiscent of past films but it was still a little too reliant on CGI. The much talked about de-ageing of Harrison Ford on screen was impressive (and one suspects a lot of the film budget was sunk right there). But Indiana’s lifeless digitally de-aged avatar fighting on a computer-generated train, made the whole sequence feel like the Nazi Polar Express. Because it didn’t look real, there was no sense of danger and therefore no emotional investment from the audience. You know Tom Cruise would have done it for real and it would have looked properly cinematic and spectacular.

The tuk tuk chase through the narrow streets of Tangiers was again an exciting echo of past films, especially ‘Raiders’, but goes on a tad too long, but the exploration of the ship wreck (and a criminally underused cameo by Antonio Banderas) was disappointing and way too short.

The main problem here is the lack of creativity in the conception of truly epic scenes, because these are not dependent on Ford's age. Indeed, the film could very well have offered exhilarating action sequences worthy of the archaeologist with the whip, without relying solely on the physicality of its leading man. You don't need a Tom Cruise to orchestrate great moments but you could do worse than to follow his example.

Mangold uses various means of locomotion to move the character - train, tuk tuk, motorbike, horse - and offers a few images that wouldn't necessarily be seen elsewhere (notably the shot of Jones riding a horse in the middle of the underground), but in the end shows himself to be rather uninspired, when the first three films in the saga conceived some of the most inventive sequences in the genre and left their mark on cinema history. There are no really long shots, no iconic compositions, no complex shots that last and enrich a sequence, which makes the film look too smooth and prevents it from giving heft to an adventure that absolutely needs it.

And so now to the divisive figure of Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

It’s important here to separate the person from the character. I like Phoebe Waller-Bridge and I loved her in her ‘Fleabag’ series. She excels in a very British setting. I think she is funny, irreverent, and a whip smart talented writer and performer. I also think she has a particular frigid English beauty and poise about her. When I say poise I don’t mean the elegant poise of a Parisienne or a Milanese woman, but someone who is cute and comfortable in her own skin. You would think she would be more suited to ‘Downton Abbey’ setting than all out Hollywood action film. But I think she almost pulls it off here.

In truth over the years Phoebe Waller-Bridge, known for her comedy, has been collecting franchises where she is able to inflict her saucy humour into a hyper-masculine space. I don’t think her talent was properly showcased here.

Hollywood has this talent for plucking talented writers and actors who are exceptional in what they do and then hire them do something entirely different by either miscasting them or making them write in a different genre. I think Phoebe Waller-Bridge is exceptional and she might just rise if she is served by a better script.

In the end I think she does a decent stab at playing an intriguing character in Helena Shaw, Indy’s long lost and estranged god daughter and a sort of amoral rare artefacts hustler. Phoebe Waller-Bridge brings enthusiasm, charm and mischief to the role, making her a breath of fresh air. She seems to be the only member of the on-screen cast that looks to be enjoying themselves.

To be fair her I thought Waller-Bridge was a more memorable and interesting female character than either Kate Capshaw (’Temple of Doom’, 1984) and Alison Doody (’Last Crusade’, 1989). She certainly is a marked improvement on the modern woke inspired insipid female action leads such as Brie Larson (’Captain Marvel’), or any women in the Marvel universe for that matter, or Katherine Waterson (’Alien Covenant’). Waller-Bridge could have been reminiscent of Kathleen Turner (’Romancing the Stone’) and more recently Eva Green, actresses who command attention on screen and are as captivating, if not more so, than the male protagonists they play opposite.

To be sure there have been strong female leads before the woke infested itself into Hollywood story telling but they never made it central to their identity. Sigourney Weaver in ‘Alien’ and Linda Hamilton in the ‘Terminator’ franchise somehow conveyed strength of character with grit and perseverance through their suffering, while also being vulnerable and confident to pull through and succeed. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character isn’t quite that. She doesn’t get into fist fights or overpowers big hulking men but she uses cheek and charm to wriggle out of tight spots. She’s gently bad ass rather the dull ‘strong independent woman’ cardboard caricatures that Marvel is determined to ram down every girl’s throat. If Waller-Bridge’s character was better written she might well have been able to revive memories of the great ladies of Hollywood's golden age who had the fantasy and the confidence that men quaked at their feet.

What lets her character down is the snark. She doesn’t pepper her snark but she drowns in it. All of it directed at poor Indy and mocking him for his creaking bones and his entire legacy. It’s a real eyesore and it is a real let down as it drags the story down and clogs up the wheels that power the kinetic energy that an adventure with Indiana Jones needs. ‘The grumpy old man and the young woman with the wicked repartee set off across the vast world’ schtick is all well and good, but it does grate and by the end it makes you angry that Indy has put up with this crap. I can understand why many are turned off by Waller-Bridge’s character. As a female friend of mine put it, we get the talented Phoebe Waller Bridge’s bitter and unlikable Helena acting like a bitter and unlikable man. But it could be worse, it could be as dumb as Shia LaBeouf‘s bad Fonzie impersonation in 'Crystal Skull’.

I would say there is a difference between snark and sass. Waller-Bridge’s character is all snark. If the original whispers are true the original script had her way more snarkier towards Indy until Ford threatened to leave the project unless there were re-writes, then it shows how far removed the producers and writers were from treating Indy Jones with the proper respect a beloved legacy character deserves. It’s also lazy story telling.

Karen Black gave us real sass with Marion Ravenwood in ‘Raiders’. Her character was sassy, strong, but also vulnerable and romantic. She plays it pitch perfect. Of all the women in Indy’s life she was good foil for Indy.

Spielberg is so underrated for his mise-en-scène. We first meet Marion running a ramshackle but rowdy tavern in Tibet (she’s a survivor). She plays and wins a drinking game (she’s a tough one), she sees Indy again and punches him (she’s angry and hurt for her abandoning her and thus revealing her vulnerability). She has the medallion and becomes a partner (she’s all business). She evades and fights off the Nazis and their goons, she even uses a frying pan (she’s resourceful but not stupid). She tries on dresses (she’s re-discovers her femininity). Indy saves her but she picks him up at the end of the film by going for a drink (she’s healing and there’s a chance of a new start for both of them). This is a character arc worth investing in because it speaks to truth and to our reality.

The problem with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character is that she is constantly full on with the snark. Indy and Helena gripe and moan at each other the entire film. Indy hasn’t seen her in years, and she felt abandoned after her father passed, so there’s a lot of bitterness. It’s not unwarranted, but it also isn’t entertaining. It’s never entertaining if the snark makes the character too temperamental and unsympathetic for the audience to be emotionally invested in her.

I think overall the film is let down by the script. Again this is a shame. The writing talent was there. Jez and John-Henry Butterworth worked with James Mangold on ‘Ford v. Ferrari’ and co-wrote ‘Edge of Tomorrow‘ while David Koepp co-wrote the first ‘Mission: Impossible’ (but he also penned Indiana Jones and the ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’, and the 2017 version of ‘The Mummy’ that simultaneously started and destroyed Universal’s plans for their Dark Universe). I love the work of Jez Butterworth who is one of England’s finest modern playwrights and he seemed to have transitioned fine over to Hollywood. But as anyone knows a Hollywood script has always too many cooks in the kitchen. There are so many fingerprints of other people - studio execs and directors and even stars - that a modern Hollywood script somehow resembles a sort of Ship of Theseus. It’s the writer’s name on the script but it doesn’t always mean they wrote or re-wrote every word.

Inevitably things fall between the cracks and you end up filming from the hip and hoping you can stitch together a coherent narrative in post-production editing. Clearly this film suffered from studio interference and many re-writes. And it shows because there is no narrative fluidity at work in the film.

Mads Mikkelsen’s Nazi scientist is a case in point. I love Mikkelsen especially in his arthouse films but I understand why he takes the bucks for the Hollywood films too. But in this film he is phoning in his performance. Mads Mikkelsen does what he can with limited screen time to make an impact but this character feels so recycled from other blockbusters. Here the CIA and US Government are evil and willing to let innocent Americans be murdered in order to let their pet Nazi rocket scientist pursue what they believe to be a hobby. But to be fair the villains in the Indy movies have never truly been memorable with perhaps Belloq, the French archaeologist and nemesis of Indy in ‘Raiders’, the only real exception. It’s just been generic bad guys - The Nazis! The Thugee death cult! The Nazis (again)! The Commies! Now we’re back to Nazis again which is not only safer ground for the Indy franchise but something we can all get behind.

However Mads Mikkelsen’s Dr. Voller, is the blandest and most generic Nazi villain in movie history. At the end of World War II, Voller was recruited by the US Government to aid them in rocket technology. Now that he’s completed his task and man has walked on the moon, he’s turning his genius to his ultimate purpose, the recovery of the ‘Dial of Destiny’ built by Archimedes. Should he find both pieces of the ancient treasure, he plans to return to 1930s Nazi Germany, usurp Hitler, and use his advanced knowledge of rocket propulsion to win the war. In a sense then he was channeling his inner Heidegger who felt Hitler had let down Nazism and worse betrayed Heidegger himself.

So there is a character juxtaposition between Voller and Indy in the sense both men feel more comfortable in the past than the present. But neither is given face time together to explore this intriguing premise that could have anchored the whole narrative of the film. It’s a missed opportunity and instead becomes a failure of character and story telling.

Then there are the one liners which seemed shoe horned in to make the studio execs or the writers feel smug about themselves. There are several woke one lines peppered throughout the film but are either tone deaf or just stupid.

“You trigger happy cracker”- it’s uttered without any self-awareness by a black CIA agent who is chaperoning the Nazi villain. Just because white people think it’s dumb and aren’t bothered by it doesn’t make it any less a racial slur. If you want authenticity then why not use the ’N’ word then as it would historically appropriate in 1969? The hypocrisy is what’s offensive.

“You stole it. He stole it. I stole it. It’s called capitalism.” - capitalism 101 for economic illiterate social justice warriors.

“[I’m] daring, beautiful, and self-sufficient” - uttered by Helena Shaw as a snarky reminder that she’s a strong independent woman, just in case you forgot.

“It’s not what you believe but how hard you believe.” - Indiana Jones has literally stood before the awesome power of God when the Ark of the Covenant was opened up by the Nazis, and they paid the price for it by having their faces melted off. Indy has drunk from the authentic cup of Christ, given to him by a knight who’s lived for centuries, that gave him eternal life and heal his father from a fatal bullet wound. So he’s figuratively seen the face of God (sure, he closed his eyes) and His holy wrath, and has witnessed the divine healing power of Christ first hand. And yet his spews out this drivel. It’s empty of any meaning and is a silly nod to our current fad that it’s all about the truth of our feelings, not observable facts or truth.

For me though the absolute worse was what they did to Indiana Jones as a character. Once the pinnacle of masculinity, a brave and daring man’s man whose zest for life was only matched by his brilliance, Henry Jones Jr. is now a broken, sad, and lonely old man. Indiana Jones is mired in the past. Not in the archaeological past, but in his own personal past. He's asleep at the wheel, losing interest in his own life. He's lost his son, he's losing his wife. He's been trying to pass on his passion, his understanding to disinterested people. They're not so interested in looking at the past. He remains a man turned towards the past, and then he finds himself confronted by Helena, who embodies the future. This nostalgia, this historical anchoring, becomes the main thread of the story.The film tries to deconstructs Indiana Jones on the cusp of retirement from academia and confronts him with a world he no longer understands. That’s an interesting premise and could have made for a great film.

It’s clear that the filmmakers’ intention was for a lost and broken Indiana to recapture his spirit by the film’s end. However, its horrible pacing and meandering and underdeveloped plot, along with Harrison Ford’s miserably sad demeanour in nearly every scene, make for a deeply depressing movie with an empty and unearned resolution.

By this I mean at the very end of the film. It’s meant to be daring and it is. There’s something giddy about appearing during the middle of siege of Syracuse by blood thirsty Romans and then coming face to face with Archimedes himself. The film seems to want to justify the legendary, exceptional aura and character of Indy himself by including him in History. Hitherto wounded deep down inside, and now also physically wounded, Indy the archaeologist tells Helena that he wants to stay here and be part of history.

It's a lovely and even moving moment, and you wonder if the film isn't going to pull a ‘Dying Can Wait’ by having its hero die in order to strengthen its legend. But in a moment that is too brutal from a rhythmic point of view, Helena refuses, knocks out her godfather and takes him back to the waiting plane and back to 1969. The next thing Indy sees he’s woken up back in his shabby apartment in New York.

I felt cheated. I’m sure Indy did too.

After all it was his choice. But Helena robbed him of the freedom to make his own decisions. She’s the one to decide what’s best. In effect she robbed him of agency. Even if it was the wrong decision to stay back in time, it’s so important from a narrative and character arc perspective that Indy should have had his own epiphany and make the choice to come back by himself because there is something worth living for in the future present - and that was reconciling with Marion his estranged wife. But damn it, he had to come to that decision for himself, and not have someone else force it upon him. That’s why the ending feelings so unearned and why the story falls flat as a soufflé when you piss on it.

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ feels like the type of sequel that aimed to capture the magic of its predecessors, had worthwhile intentions, and a talented cast, but it just never properly materialised. In a movie whose pedigree, both in front and behind the camera, is virtually unassailable, it’s inexcusable that this team of filmmakers couldn’t achieve greater heights.

The film was a missed opportunity to give a proper send off to a cinematic legend. Harrison Ford proving that whatever gruff genre appeal he possessed in his heyday has aged better than Indy’s knees. He may be 80, but Ford carries the weight of the film, which, for all its gargantuan expense, feels a bit like those throwaway serials that first inspired Lucas - fun while it lasts, but wholly forgettable on exit.

I wouldn’t rate ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ as the worst film in the franchise - that dubious honour still lies with ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. Indeed the best I can say is that I would rate this film at the benchmark of “not quite as bad as Crystal Skull”.But it’s definitely time to retire and hang up the fedora and the bull whip.

For what’s worth I always thought the ending of ‘Last Crusade’ where Indy, his father Henry Jones Snr., and his two most faithful companions, Sallah and Marcus Brody, ride off into the sunset was the most fitting way to say goodbye to a beloved character.

Instead we have in ‘Dial of Destiny’ the very last scene which is meant to be this perfect ending: Indiana Jones in his scruffy pyjamas and his shabby apartment. Sure, the exchange between a reconciling Indy and Marion is sincere and touching. But that only works because it explicitly recalls ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’. That's what Nietzsche would call “an eternal return”.

I shall eternally return to watch the first three movies to delight in the adventures of the swashbuckling archaeologist with the fedora and a bull whip. The last two dire films will be thrown into the black abyss. Something even Nietzsche would have approved of.

Thanks for your question.

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mayiwritesomething · 1 month

Text

Love Is an Unfamiliar Name (Pt. 4)

Wordcount: 3,4k

A/N: What do you do when the line begins to blur? A bit longer chapter that got quite a cheesy 80s vibe (sorry haha), as the reader finally stops holding her back 🥹

Warnings: a very brief teasing moment but no big deal.

PART THREE

————

…That is Jupiter

After five months of nonstop work, the sound department finally received a much-needed week-long break. Considering your team has been working even during periods without shooting, everything was running smoothly. With the change in location, your strategic planning, and most of all: teamwork, you were all able to take a well-deserved rest. Timmy had joined the set this month to provide assistance, adding to the familiar faces of Jenny and your as you call; new best friend, Pedro. You were pleased to see that Tim and Pedro got along.

Excitement bubbled within you for the upcoming weekend. With Timmy staying over, Amy planned to visit while her mother looked after the kids. Maria couldn't make it, as she was in Paris, living her second love story over the past five months. Despite her absence, you were not mad at her, as this time, you genuinely believed things would work out, especially since her new girlfriend seemed like a good person.

There was one person more excited than you—Jenny, the queen of event organization. In addition to assisting you, she had managed to arrange a Saturday night out, discovering a small pub in a neighboring city hosting an '80s/New Wave night. Jenny ensured that the entire group would attend, including Pedro, who then persuaded May and Lauren to join. What started as a casual night out for four people quickly escalated into an event that overwhelmed you, causing you to abandon checking the group chat upon seeing over ten people confirming their attendance at Jenny's Mad Night.

"Jenny, what the fuck?" You exclaimed, slightly irritated. "I thought we were going for a low-key night out, not this big event shit. Come on, I'm too old for this; I just want... you know... Sit down, sing, drink a little bit, and relax." You sank back into the sofa.

"Come oooon, the 30s are the new 20s," Jenny retorted, still typing away. You noticed she had mentioned you in the group chat and posted a picture of you lounging on the sofa like melted ice cream, with the caption, "Night at the retirement house."

"Stop being so grumpy! Even Pedro, who always finds an excuse to skip our outings, confirmed he is going," she paused, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. "Quite coincidentally, right after I mentioned that you were going too."

Rolling your eyes, you heard the group chat notification sound. Jenny giggled in anticipation. "There she goes," you muttered. Another message popped up, this time from Pedro: “Sounds great, may I join in?”. You blushed and responded with the sleepy emoji.

"Poor guy," Jenny mused to herself before turning back to you. "Why did you do that? Sending a sleepy emoji? You just left the poor guy hanging in a group chat with like ten people."

Another message from Pedro appeared—a broken heart emoji. Panicking, you attempted to explain to Jenny, "No! I meant the sleepy emoji, like I was actually sleeping. You said it was a retirement house, so I thought...

Another notification chimed, this time from Jenny: "Pedro, there's always space for you. We can kick her out, you're much nicer."

One more notification, a private message from Timmy: "Are you kidding me?"

Amy's message then appeared: "What's your problem?”

Suddenly, a message popped up in your girls' group chat. Jenny had sent a screenshot of your response to Pedro, captioned "no mercy for the wicked." Maria's reaction was a simple "OMG," while Amy expressed confusion with an "I wish I could understand."

Feeling foolish, you decided to send him a private message. "Hey, you don't have to ask to join, as my friend, you can always drop by," you wrote. His response was a simple, "Ok, buddy, got it."

Part of you struggled with the realization that the line of your friendship was starting to blur, and you were hesitant to accept it, fearing it could ruin the amazing relationship you shared. Yet, another part of you felt that shit already went down, and you actually wanted him to be by your side on the same sofa where you now lay. After checking your phone repeatedly, there were no notifications. Five minutes passed with still no word.

"Shit!" you cursed as Jenny retreated to her room, leaving you alone.

As Saturday night approached, you hadn't seen Pedro yet, but Lauren informed you that he and the girls would meet you at the pub, as you all needed to arrive early to secure the reservations. "He won't go," you thought to yourself. "He's too stubborn not to," you added. Either way, what are you going to do about it?

Sending a blurry road picture to the group chat with the message "On our way," you actually intended it for Pedro alone, as you both shared a habit of exchanging random daily situation pictures.

“Still waiting for Princess May.” Lauren said.

“We’ll be leaving in 30 minutes.“ Jeff, one of your crew members, sent.

However, there was still no sign of Pedro.

You were feeling yourself this night, wearing a black long-sleeve short dress paired with fancy combat boots and a windbreaker. Your hair was left loose, you wanted to feel comfortable singing along to all the Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode songs that would be played. But you couldn’t stop thinking about the fucking crying emoji.

Upon arriving at the pub, you, Jenny, and Amy raised your glasses in a toast to your friendship, Maria’s new lover and Amy's rare day off from the chaos of motherhood. Jenny, the beer nerd, was deep in her hops, while Amy preferred the smoothness of gin. Despite not being a regular drinker, you opted for an old-fashioned that you knew wouldn't last long in your hand. Minutes later, the rest of your crew arrived, but Pedro and the girls were still nowhere to be seen, fueling the anxiety coursing through your veins. However, the mood shifted as the cover band kicked off their set with Alice Cooper.

Jenny had chosen the perfect spot, where you could blend in without drawing attention. On the other hand, Timmy was stopped twice by fans, but he handled it with ease. The music ignited something within you—a primal urge to scream along with the chorus, the whiskey fueling your veins as you felt Alice was talking to you through the lyrics. Amy joined in, screaming with you:

“I wanna love you but I better not touch (don't touch)

I wanna to hold you, but my senses tell me to stop

I wanna to kiss you but I want it too much (too much)

I wanna taste you but your lips are venomous poison “

You were headbanging to the music, caught up in the moment, and instinctively hugged Jenny as she joined in.

"I should hug you more often, Jen," you felt the need to say.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a laugh. "You've had like two drinks and turned into a lovey-dovey girl... What's going on?" sensing your disappointment.

"Physically, I'm feeling great. Emotionally... well... it hurts, Jen," you admitted, drawing closer as she struggled to suppress her laugh, knowing you were being sincere. The alcohol had a way of making you more vulnerable. "I can feel he won't show up."

"If he doesn't come, that's his loss. Tonight is about us," she reassured you, pulling you into a comforting hug. "May said they were coming," she observed, studying your expression. "You know, you don't always have to keep up this icy facade. It's okay to show your true feelings. It's better than self-sabotaging. If he does show up, talk to him."

"He ignored me, Jen," you confessed, feeling a bit lightheaded.

"Let's not forget who dumped him in a group chat," she reminded you.

"I didn't mean it that way. I texted him, and he just brushed everything off with an 'huh okay, got it buddy,'" you imitated him.

"Then talk to him. It's not like you'll lose a limb or something. It could be good for both of you," Jenny suggested.

"You don't know how it feels, Jen," you said, now looking at your hands and gesturing. "One part of me wants to express my feelings, even if I can't understand them, and see where it leads. The other part doesn't want to risk losing what little I have now as being his friend" Tears welled up in your eyes. "It hurts too much, you know, the thought of losing it," you concluded as you took a sip of the remaining whiskey, now watered down with melted ice. "Gosh, I'm so stupid," you chuckled, a nervous laugh escaping your lips.

"You're just scared. We do silly things when we're terrified," Jenny reassured you, pulling you into another hug, her only desire to see you at peace.

Pedro and the girls arrived a few minutes after your heart-to-heart with Jenny. May seemed to need this night out as much as you did, and she wasted no time joining your group. Pedro, on the other hand, greeted everyone, including you, before heading over to the table with your crewmates.

As the night progressed, you and your friends belted out the lyrics to new wave classics, losing yourselves in the music. Determined to be responsible for your actions, you decided to go without any more drinks and opted for regular Coke to boost the sugar in your blood. Jenny's words about it being ”Girls night" echoed in your mind.

However, you couldn't resist peeking over at the table from time to time. It seemed like Pedro was having a great time without you, and you couldn't help but feel a hint of disappointment. Deciding to take one last look, you noticed "Blue Monday" playing in the background. The universe has a twisted sense of humor.

“How does it feel, to treat me like you do?”

To your surprise, he was also glancing in your direction. You raised your glass, offering a smile, but his response was a cold raise of his own glass. So fucking stupid.

“Are you happy now?” Amy teased, breaking the tension.

“Well, kind of,” you replied, chuckling as you turned back to your friends.

“Hey! Look, now's your chance,” Jenny urged you on as if she were coaching you for a competition.

“What for?” You were puzzled.

“He just went outside, stupid! Probably for a smoke. Go after him!” Jenny insisted. “I just saw it! Go.” She was more observant than you.

“I don’t want to smoke, didn't even bring anything.” You hesitated, feeling nervous.

“That's not a problem,” Jenny assured you, effortlessly securing a cigarette from a nearby guy. "Now, go!" She handed you the cigarette, taking on the role of a matchmaker. You felt like a teenager.

Despite your initial hesitance, you summoned a false sense of confidence and left the circle of girls to follow him outside. In that moment, you momentarily forgot about his public persona as you sought him out in a quiet corner, where he stood gazing up at the sky. Approaching him slowly, you finally stood by his side and nervously asked, "Got fire?"

At first, he appeared annoyed, but as he recognized you, a wide smile lit up his face. "Here you go," he offered you the lighter.

"Oh, I don't need it," you declined, gesturing with your hand. "I just wanted an excuse to talk to you, silly," you admitted, mustering up the most confident expression you could manage.

"As my friend, you can always come by," he replied with a chuckle, returning his gaze to the sky. You felt the ironic tone. "The sky here is out of this world,” he said. “You can see every single star."

"And some planets too," you added. "I can see Mars," you said, focused on the night sky. "Jupiter... and Venus, I believe."

"Really?" He seemed genuinely surprised. "Can you show me?" One thing you admired about him was his curiosity for learning from others, a trait you initially misjudged as mere flattery. But over time, you came to realize his genuine interest in people.

"Yes!" Your excitement was visible, as the night sky was your passion. “Excuse me,” you said, moving quite closer and extending your arm by his side. "Look,” you pointed. “Just follow my finger. Do you see that one of those stars seems to be red? That’s Mars, near Sagittarius. And that bright light is Venus," you explained, his attention fixed on you. "Jupiter is a bit trickier, but see that spot right after the moon?" Turning to face him, you noticed his mesmerized expression at you. "Well… uhm… That... that is Jupiter," you concluded, your eyes turning back to the sky.

"Wow," he said, genuinely impressed. "You're like a fucking walking encyclopedia. Is there anything you don't know?"

"Aparently, to make you understand me," you whispered, looking down. "I know I can be messy and mix things up. I understand if you want to... or if you don't..." Your words seemed to falter, as if you had forgotten how to speak coherently.

"No, I'm sorry if I... I mean... that..." he struggled to find the right words, mirroring your own confusion. In your mind, you feared he was trying to gently dump you.

Taking a deep breath to gather your thoughts, you finally spoke. "I like... you know… being your friend. I don't want to ruin it,". Finally, a confession.

"I guess we already have," he replied, looking deeply into your eyes. With a shy smile and a lingering gaze, he added, "I mean... ruin it… It's been a while already." What the hell?

So at this very moment, your heart raced so rapidly that you could feel your face flush. Little did you know, he was experiencing the same feeling, as both of you remained locked in a silent, intense gaze. The desire between you was palpable, yet mingled with apprehension—were you risking it all?

Your body rebelled against your mind's caution, yielding to impulsive impulses. Taking a step forward, you found him still fixed on you, his gaze flickering to your lips briefly, yet he made no move. "Fuck it," you cursed internally as your hand gently landed on his shoulder, met once again with no response.

"Forget it," you murmured, getting closer and closing your eyes as your lips brushed his tenderly. Upon opening your eyes, you saw his were still shut. Sensing his gentle hand on your back, bringing you closer, you felt a smile grace his face. "Forget it," he echoed, cupping your neck and leaning in to reciprocate the kiss. This time, his embrace tightened, and you instinctively wound your arms around his neck, surrendering to the sensations—the touches, the gazes, the escalating intensity of the kiss. Starting leisurely, it soon ignited into a fervent exchange, each moment feeling both like the first and the last, punctuated by shared gasps for air and tender interludes between fervid kisses.

In that transcendent moment, you both lost yourselves in each other, oblivious to your surroundings and the passage of time. What ensued felt far more enduring and profound than a mere shared smoke break.

“Is this a dream?” He said, giggling between kisses, “You have no idea how long I’m expecting this,” his hands playing around your back.

"Pedro, you don’t have to play this ‘I always had a crush on you’ role,” you said, trying to maintain sanity. “I don’t believe a word.” You pretended to be mad, but you couldn’t stop smiling.

"Oh, I forgot you're the cold one,” he said as his hands went a little further down your back, giving you goosebumps. “You almost got me gaving up you know. Lucky for me, I didn’t…” You could feel his heat on your core.

“And I forgot you are aaalways the charmer.” You moved your hips into him, teasing back as he kissed you again.

Lost in the moment, a sparkle of apprehension appeared. “Pedro!” you stopped.

“Whatever you want,” he murmured.

“Let’s keep this between us, right?” You asked aprehensively, “At least for now.”

“As you wish,” he was in ecstasy by the situation, so you were sure he didn’t understand a word.

"Pedro,” you said, stepping back. “I’m real! Just imagine if people find this out while we're still filming; I’ll be the one they'll talk about—It took me a while to be taken seriously, and I don’t wanna mess this up.”

"Babe,” he said, dragging you back to him. “Why do you rationalize everything?” He kissed your neck as you were melting in his arms. “Could you just enjoy the moment?” You could feel his smile as he whispered to your ear, “Do you want to go somewhere else?”

You turned to face him again. “I don’t rationalize. I just…” You couldn't resist the puppy eyes waiting for your answer, so you kissed him back again, but this time you heard your name. Amy. Fuck.

"Oh my fucking god, Timmy!" she exclaimed, as she and Timmy were frozen in place.

"I told you, baby! I knew it!" Tim seemed as if he had just won the lottery.

"Guys, look..." you began, trying to explain as you adjusted your hair. "This is not what you're thinking. We were just… talking, that's all."

"Babe, they are not blind," Pedro said, looking a bit dazed as his hands rested on your waist. Sensing his touch, you took a step back, away from him. He chuckled.

"Did he just call you babe? No way." Amy was still processing the situation. Tim laughed at your sudden movement.

"We definitely are not blind, and no one takes a 40-minute cigar break kiddo... and I see no cigarettes here," Timmy remarked, taking a sip of his beer.

"40 minutes?" You were taken aback. You glanced at Pedro, who simply shrugged and tried to draw you back into his arms. "Wait," you told him firmly, and although he seemed a bit out of it, he respected your request.

"40 damn minutes since you left, then Timmy suggested that maybe you both were here making out, so we came to check," Amy said with a giggle.

"But relax, guys. This was just between us. We didn't say anything to the others," Tim reassured, his tone serious.

"Damn," you muttered quietly. Pedro's gaze lingered on your body as if he could see right through your clothes. "Hey, look at me!" you demanded, now feeling annoyed.

"Sorry," he turned to face you, smiling, his head spinning.

"Well, guys, if you want to continue your make-out session, you should finish at the hotel," Amy suggested. "It will seem weird if both of you just disappear."

"Yeah, Pedro here waited six months; he won't die waiting a few more hours," Timmy added, patting Pedro's shoulder. They both laughed, and you felt yourself blushing. Wait! How did he knew that?

"You see how mean she can be, man? The day didn’t even got to an end and I already got dropped in a group chat, and now I'll be left here," Pedro teased, looking at you.

"Here he comes," you said, rolling your eyes. "He needs to provoke me, or his day isn't complete."

"Because I love to see you getting angry," Pedro said, hugging you. "It's soooo easy to get under your skin," he whispered in your ear.

"Get a room, you two," Amy joked, glancing at the door to see if anyone was coming outside. Spotting Jenny and Jeff leaving together, you and Amy received a message in the girls' group chat. "Leaving with Jeff, loved the night, see you tomorrow ;)"

Feeling the need to leave, you decided to go back inside as if nothing had happened. The pub was buzzing with excitement as Depeche Mode blared through the speakers. You and Amy rejoined the girls, while Pedro followed Timmy and sat back at the table. You both chose to keep your distance as the night progressed.

As the evening continued, all of you enjoyed the rest of the night at the small pub. The staff eventually approached you, kindly asking you to leave as they needed to close up.

You left with Amy and Timmy as everyone made their way home, including Pedro, May, and Lauren. In the car, you felt your phone vibrating. It was a message from Pedro: "My room or your room? We have unfinished business." Considering the location of your rooms, his seemed like the better option in case there was any noise, as he was on a way better side of the hotel. "Yours. I'll drop by when I arrive. Friend," you replied, holding back the urge to express how much you already missed his touch, choosing to convey it in person instead.

“You don't have to dream it all, just live a day

Don't say a prayer for me now

Save it 'til the morning after”

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal imagine #pedro pascal x f!reader #pedro pascal x female reader #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x you #pedrohub #pedro x reader #pedro pascal fanfiction

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nodutra19 · 4 months

Text

Snowgrave Inspirations?

So we all know the Snowgrave route was inspired, or at least has the texture of being as such, by creepypastas in the sense a game is being broken and has an almost gestalt intelligence in its reaction to being so. Beyond specific references and such, what do y'all think specifically inspired it? I imagine shit like Ben Drowned and Godzilla NES factor in, but I want to provide a unique addition:

Persona 1, or more specifically, Revelations: Persona.

Some set dressing for the uninitiated: Persona 1 has two routes:

The main story is the SEBEC Route, which centers around the demon invasion and transformation of Mikage-cho as a result of the machinations and experiments of the shady SEBEC ("Saeki Electronics & Biological & Energy Corporation") and how one Maki Sonomura stands at the center of all this.

That's the story most experience, but there's a harder alternate route called the Snow Queen Quest, or SQQ for short. This route centers around the titular play which was performed at St. Hermelin High, the school of the game, and how the Snow Queen Mask came to be possessed with a vengeful spirit. But in order to activate this quest, you have to take a number of steps after leaving the school to visit Maki but before activating the SEBEC route, which most people do because of the natural flow of the story; while not the most cryptic or elaborate thing I've experienced, you definitely have to go out of your way in order to experience this part of the game.

While the SQQ is similarly hiemal as Snowgrave since the Queen freezes the school over and attempts to sacrifice a pivotal teacher to bring back the "Eternal Night," the main thing I want to talk about is:

The fact that in the original American release of the game, retitled Revelations: Persona, cut this alternate route out. Now, there's a lot to be said about this release of the game and P1 as a whole. For that, I highly recommend Snickety Slice's videos on it from his Compendium series of essays.

As Snickety Slice says in the SQQ portion of video 3A, which focuses on the American localization of the time, no one really knows why it was cut, by which is meant there is no definitive answer. The most popular theory, as he posits, is that this was done to meet the Christmas deadline, which is a tad ironic considering the atmosphere and setting of SQQ. However, you can actually access a tiny bit of it: if you return to the school, you'll see it's disappeared and when you enter it, an FMV of the school surrounded by three towers and a peak plays. Snickety remarks how confusing this must have been for American players at the time since the actual steps to activate the quest were cut out.

With cheats you can access it, but it's a glitchy, nonsensical mess. I mention all this because of the glitchy theme in Deltarune so far, especially as a result of Noelle's seeming magnetism for the unnerving and dark as revealed in the Spamton sweepstakes and Noelle's posts. I think the details of SQQ and Snowgrave are too disprate to draw real parallels so far, but I get the feeling Toby is drawing from its atmosphere, especially the disconcerting aura of the original American release and the stray FMV. As for the glitchiness, I get the feeling it was all concentrated into Spamton, especially given Spamton's role in the game so far.

I haven't gone through P1 in a very long time, so this is where my rambling ends, but perhaps someone else can draw deeper parallels.

The only real problem is I have no idea how much of Megami Tensei Toby Fox has played. He's a weeb of high caliber, so I imagine he's gone through most of it by now, maybe even early Persona, given how UT's and DT's Talk systems were inspired by MegaTen's demon negotiation, which was present in P1 and the P2 duology, which certainly lines up with his age and background. After all, he gave the Earthbound: Halloween Hack that "Shin Megami Tensei Bullshit."

Also everyone here should check out the PSX OST. It has the best leitmotif.

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yukidragon · 3 months

Note

I always wonder about the time-line in mafia au with Bo and Jack

I know in aphrodesia they have cellphones but what about the mafia au?

What year do you think it is?

I think the year itself is meant to be ambiguous for Aprhodesia, as well as the other series by SnaccPop Studios. That's likely why we don't get exact ages for the male leads in their bios, and only Jack is given a birth year due to the year of his death playing an important part of the story.

I'll admit I don't know a lot about the lore of Aphrodesia yet, but I do know it definitely takes place in an alternate version of Earth. There's a lot of fantastical and sci-fi elements, including robots and angels becoming crime bosses in the city of St. Valen's. I don't think it's meant to really reflect our Earth's timeline, but instead be its own thing based off aesthetics, kind of like fantasy worlds tend to be based off of medieval aesthetics.

In that spirit, I don't bother trying to give the Mafia AU an actual year. This is an alternate Earth, with alternate events that mean the timeline as we know it on our world no longer really applies.

I mean, the clothing that Bo and Jack wear in the original piece of art Sauce made that started this AU is pretty timeless, in my opinion.

Isn't it so nifty? Full credit to Sauce as always for their stunning art and being cool with me using them in my rambles. In the spirit of supporting them and the rest of the team who makes such awesome visuals and ideas for us to play with, why not consider joining the SnaccPop Studios patreon? There's a whole bunch of artwork there that you can only see by joining.

Remember, don't share anything privately posted on the patreon. Doing that only hurts the team. Instead, just encourage others to sign up as well, or just spread word about these fun games and audio dramas they're making.

Anyway, this picture, as I recall, was inspired by this comic drawn by Rain over on twitter. As you can see, it's a different sort of crossover, but it has the same vibe of the Mafia AU.

Sauce then did something of a genre swap with their characters. Here we have Jack and Bo as a crime boss and wise guy respectively in an Aphrodesia-esque setting. This picture's sister image was Jambee wearing a kids-show appropriate thief costume, complete with a black and white striped shirt and domino mask, as if he was an antagonist character to the SunnyTime Crew.

While this AU is a crossover between Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack, DachaBo, and Aphrodesia, I don't worry too much about sticking close to whatever timeline any of the three actually have, or their original continuities. This crossover is about being inspired by some stylish art and letting whatever urge feels fun to me when it comes to pulpy mafia crime drama indulgence, with a nice splash of sci-fi and fantasy elements thrown on top.

As such, the timeline itself isn't all that set in stone yet. Even the original ramble's timeline of events when it comes to Alice's influence on the world isn't completely solid, as expanding the King family's lore changed some things in this follow up post. This universe, as well as its timeline, is very much a work in progress.

Also it's an excuse to have Jack be touch starved and need to have very intimate (and especially spicy) contact with his sunshine as often as possible.

In essence, the year is modern day, only modern day in this world isn't the same as our world. We have cell phones, computers, and the internet, but also some classy retro-style aesthetics for clubs and the like. Or at least that's how it is in my version of this AU. Others might take it a different way.

On that note, why don't I give a shout out to some of my fellow artists who have also played with this particular crossover?

Glassy Shards over on twitter has a really cool take on this AU, giving Bo this creepy "glitch" ability that allows him to no clip through realities. Her take on Bo is pretty creepy and intense, as you can see in this delightful art here and here.

Fun fact: it was actually Glassy's audio dramas that made me inclined to have Bo be more promiscuous, violent, and rebellious in my version of the Mafia AU. The audio dramas are really well done, which makes sense considering she was Bo's original VA. I suggest giving them a listen here, here, and here if you want to hear Bo be a very scary alpha on the hunt.

Lilith Rose on twitter made a fun comic, which really pops in her colorful and distinct art style. It's just another day in the city of St. Valens with some goons getting pummeled, and Bo falling for his puppy. Check it out here, here, here, here, here, and here. Oh, and a cute piece of art that isn't part of the comic, but Bo in suspenders and Lilith in a dancer outfit are just so cute.

CheriiHoney on twitter and here on tumblr also has an adorable comic for this crossover. Jack is lovestruck, and Bo is just dumbstruck. There's also this very delightfully spicy follow up picture of Jack being so yandere for his sunshine and Bo is still annoyed by his boss, hahaha.

I'm sure there's plenty more takes on this crossover out there. If you have any favorites I missed, feel free to tell me in a reblog. Also, consider checking out these awesome artists and leaving a kind word or two. It was Cherii's birthday yesterday, so you could also consider giving her a belated happy birthday as well.

One thing that always tickles me about this AU is how much we've inspired one another when adding to it. It's almost like a community project. Rain inspired Sauce who inspired so many others. We're paying it forward artistically, which is why I wanted to shout out so many of my fellow artists in this post who have given me so much inspiration. You're all awesome. Keep on creating. 💖

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #DachaBo #Aphrodesia #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Sauce-y Art #Mafia AU

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o0o0thorn0o0o · 4 months

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New year, new OC. Well, to most of you, anyway.

No, I did not forget Karma and Gakushuu’s birthdays (though, I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I did). For Karma, I missed it ‘cause… well, I explained it in my last post; it’s there. So then I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make a brothers post, give him a late b-day piece, especially since if I were to pick one of the birthdays, I prefer January 1st (though, twins (and triplets, too, but, er, we’ll get to that very soon) don’t have to be born on the same day, so he could still be born on Christmas… details, details). And then, because I’ve been mulling over introducing her for a while, I decided to make it into a triplets post and introduce you to my OC Mineko.

She’s made a cameo before though; I don’t know if you remember. It was in a Kuniko piece.

I originally meant to introduce her in a fanfic first, but, uh… dunno when that’ll be written ^^; (I’ll get to it one day, but it’s not seeming anytime soon). Made her a few years ago because I really like seeing people give Gakushuu or Karma a sister, and since I’m obsessed with brothers’ AUs, why not hit two birds with one stone? Though, she only came into proper fruition when I got the fic idea. But yeah, decided to introduce her now, since January 1st is definitely her birthday, regardless of Karma’s (she’s the middle triplet. Gakushuu’s still the baby brother, haha). That was the plan, anyway, considering January 1st was yesterday… Oops.

But yeah, a belated happy birthday to Gakushuu (and Mineko), and a very belated happy birthday to Karma (One year, I’ll be on time for both 😤).

I’ll post some old sketches of her in a few days from now (to pad out some time for my next post; dunno when I’ll get something new out), and I’ll talk a bit more about her then, too, so you have some info on her and she’s not just a blank slate until I get her character sheet done (I am working on those, trust me… just, the art rut paused the process). But yeah, kinda wanna talk about the piece for a bit.

Since I’m dealing with 3, Neapolitan flavors were an easy idea to come to. So they’re having a little sibling outing on their birthday, eating little cakes. Obviously don’t have to explain Karma’s choice of flavor, but I kinda wanna explain Shuu’s. See, when I was a kid, I vividly remember seeing vanilla being referred to as the king of ice cream flavors, but when I looked it up years down the line, I couldn’t really find anything justifying my memory :/ But I’m pairing Shuu with vanilla because of that title my little kid brain may or may not have made up. I mean, why wouldn’t he want the (hypothetical) king of all flavors? And then Mineko gets chocolate by process of elimination. She wouldn’t really have a preference between those three flavors.

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sixty-silver-wishes · 5 months

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you don't understand I need to talk about shostakovich's antiformalist rayok because HOLY SHIT

okay. so.

I've been wanting to talk about rayok for a while because it's truly mind-blowing what rayok is. hell, it's mind-blowing, considering the circumstances, that we know about rayok. and it's even more mind-blowing what we don't know about rayok. this is probably one of the most impressive works by shostakovich when you really dig into it, just because of how ridiculously multilayered it is. there are scholarly essays and research conducted on this piece because the rabbit hole that is rayok just goes so fucking deep that in order to fully understand it, you need to know a decent bit about music, russian history, the russian language, the relationship between the soviet government and the artistic sphere, etc. I'll mainly be citing manashir yabukov's essay on it in rosamund bartlett's "shostakovich in context," because while there are many publications about this piece, this one is especially comprehensive.

so. what is rayok. WELL.

the antiformalist rayok, simply put, is a shitpost. less simply put, it's a satirical cantata by dmitri shostakovich. it lampoons stalin- and post-stalin era political officials who attempted to interfere with the artistic, particularly musical, culture of the soviet union. shostakovich essentially argues in this piece that political figures have no business policing the arts, especially when they have little to know artistic knowledge themselves.

the way "rayok" works is sort of like a soviet musical SNL skit. there are four characters at a conference on "realism and formalism in music" (sometimes played by the same singer) who are all caricatures of a specific political figure or idea, imitating these figures in a mocking, ridiculous way. the characters are the announcer, who introduces the other three, "yedinitsyn," who represents stalin, "dvoikin," who represents andrei zhdanov, head of the central committee propaganda department of the USSR, and "troikin," who represents zhdanov's successor, dmitri shepilov. shostakovich caricatures each of these figures through references to quotes or speaking patterns, musical quotations, or satirizing their ideologies. for instance, yedinitsyn's (stalin's) verse is often sung in a georgian accent (stalin was a native of georgia), the music quotes the folk song "suliko" (said to be stalin's favorite song), and the text is repetitive without saying anything, parodying stalin's manner of delivering speeches. (an example of a line- "formalist composers are formalist because they write formalist music")

nobody knows quite when rayok was written, or if shostakovich was the sole author. we know that shostakovich often performed it in private gatherings with close friends, but the authorship of the text is disputed. shostakovich wrote the music, but it's contested who wrote the words- shostakovich's friend isaak glikman claimed that shostakovich was the sole author, while another friend, lev lebedinsky, claims he had a hand in writing the text. (many of lebedinsky's other claims have come into dispute.) interestingly, rayok is referenced in "testimony," the highly controversial supposed memoir of shostakovich, which was published before the piece became known to the wider public. it's assumed that shostakovich started working on "rayok" around 1948, and continuously added onto it into the 1960s. along with the piece itself, shostakovich also wrote a hilarious preface (which I'll get into later) and a sarcastic questionnaire to go with it, perhaps as a nod to ideological exams that were required in schools.

so, what does the title "antiformalist rayok" mean? that requires some historical context. "formalism" was a term used to describe art considered unacceptable by the soviet government, and was used most often from the 30s to the early 50s. it originated from the term in academic analysis which meant interpreting a work of art by its "form," or removed from the context intended by the author. formalist analysis was popular in the late 1920s, a more liberal time in soviet history that gave rise to an avant-garde art movement. as such, by the 30s, art considered "formalist" was deemed "art for art's sake," and was derided as "bourgeois" or "western." the crackdown on the arts was part of a larger cultural campaign under stalin, in which he sought to increase the soviet union's industrial production and differentiate it from the west, both culturally and politically. "antiformalist" art, therefore, was the opposite of "formalist"- safe, patriotic, and easily digestible by the masses. such art was also referred to as "socialist realism." "formalist" artists faced increasing persecution that culminated in the "great purges" of the late 1930s, a campaign that sought to eliminate anyone who could be viewed as a threat to the soviet union through exile, arrest, or execution. people who were purged included stalin's political opponents, artists, accused german spies (often in the military), ethnic minorities, farmers who refused collectivization of their land, and civilians suspected of dissent.

still with me? good.

now, the word "rayok." this is a reference to two concepts- rayok shows, and another piece of classical music called "rayok" by modest mussorgsky, a 19th century russian composer. the original word "rayok" refers to rayok shows- a popular form of entertainment in 18th and 19th century russia, in which rotating figures of people or animals would be displayed inside a fairground box with holes that viewers could look through. a performer called a rayoshnik would rotate the figures in the box with a crank and narrate a story, usually of a satirical nature:

mussorgsky's "rayok" took its name from this form of entertainment. like shostakovich's "rayok," it was a satirical piece, focusing on the conservative musical establishment and its patrons, in which specific people were lampooned, similar to the performances by the rayoshniki. by the 1920s, rayok shows were beginning to die out, but shostakovich (b. 1906) displayed an interest in them. as a reference to these performances, he sometimes jokingly referred to his colleagues in letters with exaggerated diminutives, a common practice in rayok shows- for instance, the composer vissarion shebalin was "shebalalishki." (put a pin in that bit about diminutives. it'll be important later.) shostakovich's title "antiformalist rayok" is therefore a reference to the mussorgsky piece and rayok shows, as well as the concept of "antiformalism."

and if you think that's complicated, that's only the title.

so, let's walk through the piece. again, there are four characters- the announcer, yedinitsyn (stalin), dvoikin (zhdanov), and troikin (shepilov). the names "yedinitsyn, dvoikin, and "troikin" correspond to the words for the numbers one, two, and three in russian. some people speculate that these names do not only refer to the order the characters appear, but also the russian school grading system. in russia, students' assignments are graded on a scale of 1 to 5, with a 1 being the lowest grade, and a 5 being the highest. therefore, these names could potentially be a snide remark on the intelligence of shostakovich's subjects of ridicule. elizabeth wilson also notes that the name "troikin" could be a reference to the nkvd's "troika"- a group of three secret police members tasked with sentencing the accused to imprisonment or death, which would line up with troikin's remarks towards the end of his verse.

"rayok" starts out with the announcer introducing a panel on "realism and formalism in music." he introduces yedinitsyn, who sings over and over again about how "realistic music is written by the people's composers, and formalist music is written by formalist composers." that's it. that's the whole verse. as I said, there's a suliko quotation to tip us off to the fact that this is stalin (shostakovich even lists his full name in the score as I.S. Yedinitsyin- as in Iosif Stalin, removing any doubt of who yedinitsyn represents). the announcer then says, "let us thank our dearly beloved comrade yedinitsyn for his historic speech, and for his exposition, enrichment, and elucidation of complicated issues of the musical sphere." this is typical shostakovichian sarcasm- as seen in his letters, he tends to over-elaborate a statement to communicate distaste or irony. this statement is even funnier when we consider that yedinitsyn did not "elucidate complicated issues" in his verse, but rather repeated the same thing without elaborating. and of course, the ensemble thanks him for his "historic speech" and "fatherly care." the next character up to the stand is comrade dvoikin, and this requires a LOT of historical context to explain. while yedinitsyn is fairly straightforward, dvoikin and troikin are much more multilayered. so again, bear with me as I go on another tangent about soviet history.

in 1946, andrei zhdanov launched a series of denunciations and censorship against soviet writers and poets. by 1948, this expanded to scientists and musicians, in a period known as "zhdanovshchina." among the composers denounced during zhdanovshchina were big names like shostakovich, prokofiev, and khachaturian, as well as a little-known georgian composer named vano muradeli. muradeli had written an opera called "the great friendship," which had come under fire because he had written his own lezghinkas (a kind of caucasian folk dance) for the opera, instead of incorporating "authentic lezghinkas" instead. shostakovich, as one of the most prominent composers to be attacked during zhdanovshchina, was particularly targeted. many of his works were censored, he was fired from his teaching positions at the leningrad and moscow conservatories, and he was pressured into denouncing his own music, resorting to writing banal film scores and ideological pieces to make a living. while no composers were arrested during zhdanovshchina, it still took a heavy toll on many of their lives, shostakovich included. worse yet, after ww2, a wave of anti-semitism in the soviet union began to take hold around the same time, impacting many jewish artists and professionals. some were assassinated, including solomon mikhoels, the father-in-law of mieczyslaw weinberg, a composer and close friend of shostakovich's. (weinberg himself would be arrested on false accusations of zionist conspiracy, but was released from prison after stalin's death.)

so, all that being said, 1948 was a really, really bad time in the soviet union. this is likely when shostakovich began composing rayok, as well as some of his other "desk drawer" pieces that would not be performed until after stalin's death, such as the first violin concerto and the "from jewish folk poetry" song cycle (note- while shostakovich was not jewish, he took a strong stance against anti-semitism, which would be more pronounced in his later years).

as such, zhdanov comes under serious fire in "rayok." many of his speeches are referenced, if not quoted word for word, in "dvoikin's" lines, including where he refers to dissonant and atonal music as a "dental drill" and "a musical gas chamber." these criticisms were leveled by zhdanov at shostakovich's music- the second directed towards his eighth symphony. this was a serious insult considering the time period- the 8th was written in 1943, when the soviet union was at war against nazi germany. in his essay, yabukov points out something interesting- after the ensemble laughs at dvoikin's remarks, a transposed instance of the dsch motif- shostakovich's musical representation of himself- is heard, implying that while zhdanov is laughing at him, shostakovich ultimately gets the last laugh by satirizing him in "rayok." dvoikin is introduced as having the "ability to vocalize" as he sings exaggerated arpeggios, a dig at the fact that zhdanov was said to be a good singer. he stresses how music must be harmonic, beautiful, elegant, etc., until the music does a complete 180 from oversaturated, kitschy romanticism into- of all things- a georgian lezghinka, just like zhdanov denounced muradeli over. he suddenly sings obsessively about how "in caucasian operas, there must be authentic lezghinkas," the caricature exaggerating to ridiculous lengths as he sings (and in some productions, dances) the lezghinka, before the announcer gives the floor to troikin.

troikin. troikin. oh boy, troikin.

while troikin is based on dmitri shepilov, soviet minister of foreign affairs during the khrushchev era, he can be read to represent, in general, the disastrous effects of politicians in the musical sphere. troikin is portrayed as a complete idiot, singing to a simple melody about how "the soviet man is a very complex organism." in my favorite joke in the entire piece, troikin sings the names "glinka, tchaikovsky, rimsky-korsakov" three times in a row- romantic-era russian composers whom soviet composers were encouraged to imitate, in opposition to avant-garde western composers. (note- tchaikovsky is a complicated case when it comes to his legacy in the soviet union, but his music was regarded far more positively after ww2 than before it, due to the increase in russian nationalism during the war to boost morale.) during this part, troikin mispronounces "rimsky-korsakov" as "rimsky-korSAkov" each time, singing to a 3/4 time signature (for you non-music people, that's like a waltz rhythm). the mispronounced syllable falls on a downbeat, making it stand out even more. according to lebedinsky, shostakovich once heard shepilov give a speech, in which he listed off the names of classical and romanticist composers that soviet composers ought to imitate. however, he pronounced "rimsky-korsakov" as "rimsky-korSAkov," and shostakovich thought it was so hilarious that he puts it directly into the spotlight in "rayok." (remember covfefe? it's like covfefe.) and FURTHERMORE, during this "rimsky-korSAkov" bit, shostakovich is quoting a song called "we'll tell you" from a film score called "faithful friends." this film score was written by none other than tikhon khrennikov.

who's tikhon khrennikov, you may ask? khrennikov was the general secretary of the composer's union from 1948, all the way up to the fall of the soviet union in 1991. he played a role in the zhdanovshchina denunciations against shostakovich, but later stated he was pressured into it. whatever the case, shostakovich didn't forgive him, and we'll see another multilayered shot at khrennikov a bit later on.

troikin continues to be a hot mess on stage. he begins listing kinds of music that should be written, but gets stuck on "suites," before giving up entirely and switching to a parody of "kalinka," a popular folk song. this in itself is another joke- troikin knows nothing about classical music, so he switches to a folk song associated with socialist realism, but it's like, one of the most basic ones you can think of. and in these modified "kalinka" lyrics, troikin drops two names- "dzherzhinka" and "tishinka."

okay, remember what I said about rayok shows and how the rayoshniki performers liked to use exaggerated diminutive names as a part of their satirical shows? this is an example of that right here. "dzerzhinka" refers to one ivan dzerzhinsky, a socialist realist composer best known for his opera "quiet flows the don," whom shostakovich was on unfriendly terms with- shostakovich had helped dzerzhinsky with the music for "don," which was upheld as a "proper" soviet opera after the denunciation of shostakovich's own opera, "lady macbeth of the mtsensk district," in 1936.

tishinka, of course, is khrennikov once again, but there's another layer here. "tishinka," as yabukov points out, was also the nickname for the transit prison "matrosskaya tishina," or the "silence of the sailors." but shostakovich uses the words "raskhrenovaya tishinka"- yet another triple play on words. "khrenoviy" means "rotten" or "worthless," "ras," in this context, meaning "completely." and furthermore, "khren"- as in "raskhrenovaya" and "khrennikov," means "horseradish," and can be used as a euphemism for "penis." so essentially, shostakovich is saying, "khrennikov is a fucked-up dick."

so, after the kalinka segment, troikin's tone suddenly changes. he begins singing about being vigilant for the enemies, and consequences for those spreading "bourgeois lies," such as being "sent to the camps" and "extra hard labor in the snow." as the verse goes on, his mask comes off. while he may be a complete idiot, he's dangerous. this is a common theme in shostakovich's works- that stupidity breeds danger, and that the comedic and tragic exist alongside one another. as soon as troikin makes these threats, the music picks up again and becomes circuslike, trivializing the "vigilance, vigilance" theme- but also adding a threatening undertone to the humor, as shostakovich gives us a grave reminder that real people indeed suffered consequences under the ridiculous ideologies posed by the figures behind yedinitsyn, dvoikin, and troikin.

I want to close off this extremely long analysis by mentioning the written preface to rayok and questionnaire by shostakovich. these are somewhat difficult to find both of them. the questionnaire is at the bottom of this page (in russian, but you can autotranslate it) and the preface, in english and russian, can be found here, with notes by scholar elizabeth wilson. it's honestly one of the most hilarious music history tidbits I've ever read, so it's seriously worth checking out. the preface is essentially a fake article about how the script for rayok was "found," and I'm just going to share it in full here because it's just. you have to see it

like. look at these fucking translation notes. dmitri shostakovich made these names. you can't make this up

so like. here it is (in english)

also, this is the best performance of rayok I've ever seen. just. just watch it

would highly recommend reading yabukov's analysis btw. it's WAY more comprehensive than this post, which tbh is just scratching the surface.

#long post #goddamn this took a While #shostakovich #dmitri shostakovich #composers #classical music #history #soviet history #antiformalist rayok #soviet music #classical composer

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steve0discusses · 8 months

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Episode 47 S5: Mana Runs too Slow and it Kills 2 People

Tumblr decided to change the way it does image posts so this is going to be my hell. I can only have max 30 "blocks" of images (yikes) and uploading all your images at once and then just adding text in between is actually not possible! (least it's a nightmare on browser. I have not figured out how to drag my text in between images, so I'm just uploading every image one by one and hoping I don't forget one)

thanks, I hate it!

Peeking up at us over the horizon, our end of the world apocalypse has reached the next step of his rampage: which is to shoot glowing missiles out of it's Dragon crotch until Egypt is destroyed.

Seto is doing his best to look productive, but unfortunately this is Sad Seto, who is still buffering.

Just uh...give him a minute. He has to remember how to be Seto.

(read more under the cut)

I'm pretty sure Kissara told him straight up to call her whenever, and considering how few words they've ever said to each other, you'd think he'd remember the words she said like half an hour ago. Then again, he was kind of...sleeping when that happened. Or hallucinating, or dreaming, or all three.

Bakura and Yami are watching this pan out from the Shadow Game Zone, Bakura kind of nodding slowly while Yami becomes overwhelmed with embarrassment over how much everyone around him is screwing it. This is not meant to be funny, but it was very funny to me.

I have brought this up before, but Bakura does bring up a good point, that this entire arc was kind of against the grain of who Yami became over the course of the last 4 seasons.

+++++STAND BACK I'M GONNA RANT, FEEL FREE TO SKIP++++

Don't get me wrong, Yami LOVES to make bad choices that end the world. But why would he continue to go back here and destroy the world of the future he knows and loves so much? Especially since it already went SO south with Dartz the last time he opened pandora's box?

He has a new identity now, he has so many friends, last arc was just so many women throwing themselves at Yugi. His life is really good! I think they could have developed more of a line of logic between last arc and this arc, but like with a lot of things in this arc, it was rushed.

So him giving up his newfound modern identity that he made all himself through hard work and friendship first off feels kinda bad. Like I'm OK with him being a new guy, he worked hard for that! Lets not go backward now.

And then him coming here to regain his old identity is sort of like the show knew what it must do, but the characters were like "nah." and then went and did it anyway seemingly at gunpoint.

And I kind of wish there was any contrast between who Yami's new identity is in the future and who Yami was in the past. It would be fascinating to dive into the fact he's now two people yet again, even though Yugi is no longer in that bean. but eh save it for the fanfiction, because they needed to end Yugioh in a certain number of episodes.

And that happens sometimes. Stories are character driven, and when you try and drive the characters, they become less like people and more like iconic symbols. Here's our hero. He must do this because he's the hero. That's it, that's the reason. Welcome to Shonen Jump.

+++++++END RANT AKA THIS ARC HAS COOL IDEAS AND I WISH IT HAD ENOUGH TIME TO DO THEM BETTER++++++++

Problem is, Yami isn't that meta. He's dumb though, so in a way it does make a little sense why he had to open the box. He dummy thin.

Dummy thin and still can't read.

And like in case you've jumped in here after my accidental hiatus (hello!) and not realized this, I had to binge watch the rest of the season before we cancelled our Hulu subscription. There was the option of watching it for free on the Yugioh website, but I didn't want to change my Photoshop actions.

So get ready for me to talk about how the ending of this show bothered me, for like 8 episodes. I'll try to keep it in, so we can get there when we get there.

But you can't say lines like "We were meant to be together." in the context of this arc, you can't DO that, show.

Apparently the creator of Yugioh got hospitalized while he wrote this arc, hence the dick king demon. But also it got....messy. We have like 3 seasons of development in like 8 episodes, buckle up. They did the best that they could do with the resource's given, and we'll even get to meet my favorite character a few times before it's over (the Storyboarding God that occasionally guest stars on Yugioh, love that guy)

Back on the playing field, Yami is running out of options, when Isis informs us we can just go to McDonald's and get more McGuffins.

Out of basically no where, Mana zips onto the screen because she's ready to have at least one girl's night before the end of the world. The contrasting energy from both Mana and Isis is peak goth babysitter vs the parrot that hides behind the couch and bites your feet.

Back near Pharaoh's tomb, Yugi is still dueling over a deathpit with the child who these kids think is Ryou bakura.

This is not however, Ryou Bakura. It's sideways adjacent evil Bakura.

And it didn't really matter that this plot point ever happened because it's not like Yugi, Joey, or Tea ever catch on that this isn't Ryou anyway. But at least I, the audience can feel a little bit better about the weird twist by the dub there.

Ryou is still passed out on some stone steps. He's fine.

You might be wondering "Oh so what asinine thing is Isis going to have to do to get the items back?" and uh, you're wrong actually.

Turns out we could have just picked up the items in the desert at any time but I guess we forgot. I'll blame it on Shadi.

Joey Wheeler, who can punch out probably anything but a ghost, chooses to hide behind Tea because he knows she can punch a ghost and I believe it, too.

Back on the surface, is a scene that would have been emotional if it hadn't been 3 minutes. it was NOT enough time to give a proper send off to our girl Isis here, and they tried, but if you imagine the Yakety Sax song playing under this death here, that's about the speed at which this girl biffed it.

speaking of Yakety Sax theme, this is what was happening while Mana was crying her eyes out.,

And you may ask, was it really that goofy? and yes, yes it was.

and like I get it, animation and pacing are really, really hard. Parts of me wonder if maybe on paper this seemed OK. If maybe even as a storyboard this seemed OK. But something you learn quickly when doing any sort of narrative art, is that you need like 2x as much space as you think you do. Pause is an underrated godlike skill that takes a lifetime to master.

However, it still had good stills going on, it still had some lovely direction just...I mean they dropped Isis from top to bottom of that frame so freakin fast it was like she was a dropped banana hahaha.

They still have to carry these items physically to the Pharaoh, and so becuase Mana is a slow runner, 2 people freakin died this episode distracting Zorc. Which is also the title of this episode because I want to send home howfreakin funny that is to me.

Ah, back to Episode 1.

So how breathtaking and epic is the Kaiju fight you ask? Well good thing for you, I capped it.

The look on Seto and Yami's faces about sum it up.

And as quickly as he showed up to do a few silly punches, the great Exodia was cut exactly in half. Don't ask me how the card logic works for that, I have forgotten how this game works already.

Mana finally makes it to Yami, cursed puzzle in hand, and that ends this episode.

Can you imagine adding 7 characters to a story knowing you have to kill all of them individually before the anime arc is over? Breakneck deaths going on here.

Sorry for all you people that were so deeply attached to Shimon, the guy who isn't even Grandpa, by the way. A moment of silence for all 4 of you.

And we get back this thing. This horrible thing made out of thousands of dead people's souls. The thing that trapped him for 5000 years and launched him into the future. The only thing that can save mankind.

(If I have used this Mokuba joke like this before forgive me it was like a different lifetime before I caught covid, and I will not be able to regain those memories because I cannot curse myself with a rude ass puzzle.)

The abusive relationship with the Millennium Puzzle is a whole anime college essay I would write if I had half a brain, but alas I have the immune system and fatigue of a sickly gerbil or a goldfish that feels a little bit chilly. So I will not be writing that in depth episode but like...

Think about how far we've come with this jackass puzzle. And yet, I'm supposed to forgive it? Nah I don't think I have yet. Go to hell, puzzle.

This puzzle can go straight to hell.

Anyway, if you just got here you can read these recaps in chrono order at the link here:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

PS I had to do so much assholery to get that to go to my chrono link and not my main link. They would just. Change my link. They would just change my link every time I pasted it. Tumblr you have GOT to give me my old post editor back omg.

#yugioh #YGO #yu gi oh #photo recap #yugi muto #joey wheeler #tea gardener #seto kaiba #priest seto #demon king bakura #bakura #yami muto #shimon #mana #isis #exodia #S5

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popop-maru · 3 months

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I caved and bought Pinkly Paige because, despite her braindead name, I actually adore her. I love that she's a cringefail social media girlie, I love that she stole Paris Hilton's dog and dyed her pink, I love that according to the wiki she's a fan of fashion dolls... However.

This is what her hair looked like right out of the box. Needless to say, I was horrified. Especially because fixing this (and the gross glue/gel/whatever all RH dolls have in their hair) meant redoing her fat sausage curls (I've seen people straighten her hair, I don't like how it looks so much)

Thankfully, after some combing and fussing, her hair looks fine. You can see where I laid some over the cursed crevice just to be sure, but it actually didn't need much brushing to look like normal.

I also want to report- I've seen some people restyle her in other RH clothes and, unless they're letting them out, idk how they're doing it. They do not fit her (hoodies and other loose things might, haven't tried)

The coat, however, was fine. Maybe a bit tight, but, it works.

Considering no other doll has this body type AND she doesn't come with the 2nd outfit that used to be standard, I could definitely see this being annoying to people. Especially because I imagine Blu and Lilac (again, what names) can swap outfits with other dolls easily.

Personally, though, I liked it. Especially BECAUSE they don't sell additional "plus size" doll clothes at a premium, and she's currently our only "plus size" RH doll. So this was done entirely to make Pinkly Paige stand out, and I'm actually glad for it. Kids would probably find it frustrating, since a core part of playtime is redressing your dolls, but I think its a plus for an adult collector who is willing to put in the time to restyle her with custom pieces or just experiment with what fits.

I do have some complaints about how """plus size""" in dolls now means "big hips, not much else" and would one day love to see a doll that incorporates more variety, but, that isn't what this post is about. That's a rant for another day.

Anyway, Lilac Lane was my original bias for the New Friends line, but Pinkly actually grew on me more and more over time. I eventually want all three, though, because I'm a greedy whore.

#rainbow high #dolls #dollblr

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littlesparklight · 4 months

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I love your posts about the Trojan family! Are there any headcanons about them that you could share? (especially Ganymede and his immediate family's era cause I love those ones the most :) )

Hehe, thank you, anon! <3 I love the Trojan family, especially, of course, Ganymede's era and then Priam's one for Paris and Hektor hehe.

And I think I can do that~ I love thinking about the Trojan royal family. :D

Considering you can have basically a nymph wife in every other generation being married to a Trojan king in either branch of the family starting with Astyoche (daughter of Simoeis) marrying Tros' father, the whole family is marked by this connection. I don't really headcanon that mortals being born of nymphs has any physical/visual effects as such on them (I go with nymphs generally just looking like human women), aside from... uh, beauty "infusions"? But that doesn't mean there aren't effects! All of the following would only work in fresh water, not the ocean: -Literally all of them can either keep their breath for extended periods of time, or straight up breathe underwater. -They don't really need to learn how to swim. They might need a refresher a couple years after birth, but that's not really swimming lessons so much as "lead them into the river and let them dog paddle a couple moments, done". -They can see really well underwater, though it's doubtful anyone ever realises this is weird. Unlike being able to stay below for an extended length of time, it's far less easily noticed by others as something off from what they can do.

Xanthos and Simoeis have turned up for each and every birth of their direct or extended grandchildren in Troy or Dardanos. When it comes to Priam's children, this got restricted to those born of Hecuba (but Aesacus also got this 'blessing', since at that point his mother was Priam's primary wife). Aeneas was visited when Aphrodite handed the infant to the nymphs who raised him for his first five years on Ida. Only Paris wasn't visited at his birth - but he has, however (even if he doesn't know that she is his ultimate grandmother) been visited by the goddess-nymph of Mount Ida, Idaea, before he was reunited with his family.

There's a tacit agreement that only one daughter of either Xanthos or Simoeis will marry into the family in each generation (at most). Why it was Assaracus, who isn't the oldest son, instead of Ilus, who got to marry a nymph, is because he was already involved with her before Ilus was looking to marry. He didn't marry before his older brother, but it was obvious he and Hieroneme were going to do so, so Ilus looked elsewhere and married a mortal woman. (Laomedon "makes up" for it by being involved with two daughters of Xanthos lol (possibly three? We don't know who Calybe's father is) One that he married, one that was simply a mutual fling. save yourselves, girls!!! I suppose he has divine dick-skills or something.)

The beauty of nymphs isn't actually where the famed beauty of Troy's royal line stems from! It's undoubtedly why the daughters are beautiful, but as it's especially the sons who are given a certain beauty, it actually comes from Dardanos himself, and thus from Zeus. The first and only time divine-like beauty was conferred on one of the demigod sons of Zeus, and it uh, had effects, as we know.

I feel like Xanthos gifted Erichthonios his first mares (maybe as a wedding gift?), and this is where the whole ~horse connection comes from; the herd grew ungodly fast and Boreas, uh, taking an interest, meant the horses descended from those were particularly fine and could fetch some great prices when sold/or favour and prestige when gifted.

Ganymede kept up with his brothers and sisters' lives. He might only have ended up visiting Troy when his father died, but he was well aware of what was happening. Basically, he had a sort of long-distance relationship to his family, even if it was sort of one-sided, but it kept a connection up for him, which was important! It let him still feel involved.

Like I've mentioned before, I don't go with Tros' son Ilus founding Troy, because I lean more into the real world here. What I do, instead, is have Dardanos' son, the first Ilus, help extend and build up the already extant settlement into something greater, and it keeps building from there. Ganymede's brother Ilus merely becomes one of the greatest Trojan kings and does a lot for the city, etc. I headcanon he built a new shrine/temple to Athena for both her and the Palladium (and that the cow omen mentioned in Apollodorus has to do where to put said temple, not the city as a whole).

I originally headcanoned Kallirhoe dying with her husband, and obviously this still applies for my fic-verse. But it's also just annoying when most of what I see is how alone and depressed and without family connections Ganymede is, so I also definitely very much like the idea of Kallirhoe living quite a long time afterwards, and that she becomes one of his main familial connections alongside Xanthos, now that she's back within the divine sphere.

I headcanon the Palladium is tied to the Trojan royal bloodline specifically, through Elektra. I basically go with that it was given to her directly, and then handed on to Dardanos as he left Samothrace. (Blending a scholia and a 4th century CE source.) It does have a protective effect even in Rome, but as the blood connection to the royal family (via Aeneas and thus later the gens Julia) is extremely thin at that point, it's not at all a very strong protection.

Green is the eye colour for fresh-water nymphs! (Blue for ocean-connected ones.) Which means the whole Trojan royal family have green eyes in various shades and degree, and it is always very bright and intense colour. Around the generation of Priam's children hazel has become more usual, but even then the green element is very obvious and still more-than-mortal intense/bright.

Xanthos and Simoeis tacitly agree not to marry any of their daughters into Priam/Anchises' generation (or the one after), exactly because they can tell something is coming. It's nothing against the family suddenly, in fact especially Xanthos becomes more actively protective, but they don't want to tie any of their daughters into what might be tragedy. (It becomes far more of a tragedy than they'd assumed, however, which both affirms their choice but also horrifies them both.)

#greek mythology #trojan family #ganymede #trojan war #greek myth thoughts #dfhvjfd this got... long #but thank you anon it let me pull together a lot of thoughts!#asks

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