#like. man. she's just fascinating to think about in terms of how she fits into everything because of what a mess she is

[spacingoutforever]

PLOT THEORY FOR S2 - Fallout

**MANY FALLOUT SPOILERS AHEAD - read at your own risk**

i have this weird theory that the juxtaposition we see between Cooper's outwardly grim appearance vs his morals being intact, and then Max's outwardly normal appearance vs his morally neutral choices, might be a way of telling us more about looks being deceiving for future developments.

hear me out.

Max is knocked out as soon as he finds out about Shady Sands, but he was definitely intending to do some damage, revenge had its hooks in him from the beginning. it was always there, whether it be to regain the honor the Brotherhood took away from him, then evolving into being part of the trio that was now after Hank. the man who robbed him of his home, family and hope for the future.

i saw a video essay discussing the moral choices of Lucy and Cooper's characters and i really liked the criteria they created for measuring it - ill link it below.

she says there's 2 main parts:

1. loss of control

2. being unrecognizable after enduring hardship

whether you agree with this criteria or think there's more to be added, i like how simple of a base it provides, when approaching these complex characters.

so if we then apply this to Max, he is the only member of our main cast who exhibits both points.

1. loss of control:

this is distinct to me in the Philly shoot-up, where he isn't able to control the T-60 power armor enough to put up a fair fight against The Ghoul. literally crash-lands it and then gets flung into the atmosphere LIKE PLS

he mistakenly attacks the people of Vault 4, once again losing control of his power.

the chicken-guy .... trying to derail that argument but saving the wrong person ><

Note: it's FASCINATING if you look at his character metaphorically, because the power armor is someone having the means for good but not having the understanding of what true 'good' means to them, yet. the power armor is LITERALLY his OUTWARD POWER like who is he really, underneath it??!!!!

we don't have this problem with Cooper and Lucy right now, their power is shown to be INWARD. the Ghoul's experience/connection to the beginning, and hers is her obvious moral strength and perseverance. they overlap.

i feel that his character is supposed to lean into the apprentice archetype, where he is currently lacking a proper teacher to show him the ropes. at first we expected Lucy to fit this role because of her inexperience on the surface, and yet when given a 'mentor' she not only challenges him but proves she can handle herself. ruling that one out, and leading us to believe the fate-intertwined aspect of ghoulcy has a touch more to it. implicit rather than explicit.

2. being unrecognizable after enduring hardship

Max to me fits this point too, because we still don't get a glimpse into who he truly is, besides knowing his past. from the beginning, his goal is to be a Knight of the Brotherhood, that's how he defines himself currently.

when he fights off the gulper, he reiterates this line to himself: "i am a Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel".

he says it AGAIN in response to Lucy's advances in the vault. which is a clue into how much he relies on it for his moral code, to the point where it crosses into his personal decisions. not just for 'missions' or survival.

this is like foreshadowing a tipping point for me, because without the Brotherhood, what does he want? he's acting in alignment of the code that was pushed on him, but it always feels like he has to remind himself to BE that.

that it doesn't come naturally, the way the other characters' do. we see this at the start where he gets the answer wrong in class, he's bullied, an 'outcast' within his own community (for lack of a better term).

by comparison, the Ghoul isn't even a real 'outcast' in the way cowboys are stereotypically portrayed, because he fits in the wasteland better than anyone.

so point 2. becomes relevant when he gets the armor and is unrecognizable from where he started. this is a point he never thought he'd get to, but he sacrifices his real identity to get there.

SO ALL THIS TO SAYYYY...... that's where i feel his character will be vulnerable to a villain-arc!

in the ending, he gets accepted as a Knight, but his expression betrays him. there is a continuous inner conflict within Maximus that is SO SUBTLE and its written so beautifully. i think we're going to see ghoulcy pushing each other in the right direction. their shared journey seems to be about regaining HOPE.

but for Max, i feel in my bones that something darker is coming for his arc, it feels like revenge. the goofy, lovable boy in the clunky armor, may very well end up having the darkest battle to face. and it's because he's alone in doing it.

this was a lot to digest, so if you made it this far i thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!!!!!

AND if you have anything to add i would love to hear it :) !!!!

#fallout prime #the ghoul #ghoulcy #cooper howard #lucy maclean #maximus #fallout theory #spoilers #fallout spoilers #vaultghoul #Youtube

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

listening to my Tideturners playlist was a mistake because I am having SO many feelings about the Sidewinder again.

she's not just any AU of Mai Trin; she's a version who's endured the absolute worst case scenario and lives every day in fear of losing everything all over again. but her story flips the entire narrative of Guild Wars 2 on its head; it's all a matter of perspective, and hers comes from an entirely different angle than we're used to.

what is a monster? as they say, to a bird, a cat is a monster.

the Sidewinder's monster is the Commander.

the first Commander she ever met was a tyrant who set the world on fire just to watch it burn. nothing could stop his rampage until there was nothing left to destroy. he made Scarlet Briar's war look like a playground scuffle; in fact, he did it by killing her and seizing her army to do it with. the Sidewinder doesn't have to wonder what a rogue Commander is capable of at their worst. she KNOWS.

and she also knows that if even a single one knew about her outpost, about her, about her people, and decided they were a threat to get rid of, there's absolutely nothing she could do to stop them. the most she could hope to do is be enough of a speed bump that the rest of the Turnabout can escape and make her sacrifice worthwhile.

she's spent decades building up a new world, a new society, and a new identity-- and in a split second a single person could bring it all crashing down. that absolutely terrifies her. it's all so fragile.

a major part of the Sidewinder's personal arc has to do with overcoming that dread to find common ground. because, truth-be-told, much as she'd insist otherwise? she's not so different from the Commander herself. she's fought long and hard to become someone worthy of the trust and respect that so many refugees from so many, many different worlds have placed on her. it's not enough to have it, she wants to DESERVE it. and even if she'd claim she's not there yet, most would agree she's succeeded. she's the beating heart of the Turnabout; none of it would exist without her. she's given all of them the hope that the heroes of their own worlds couldn't.

Mai Trin never wanted to be a leader or a hero or a politician. but as the Sidewinder, she's become all three out of necessity. she had no other choice. no one else was left alive to do it in her place.

so she puts on her mask, and she steps onto the stage, and she talks big, but deep down she knows that if the worst case scenario came back, there was nothing she could do to protect them, not on her own. the only thing that might stand a chance is another Commander, and is she really prepared to take a risk like that? is she willing to put it all on the line to fight for a future without fear?

and even if they are the right choice, even if they do agree to help in spite of it all... can she put one of the last good people at risk, knowing just what horrors they'd be up against? facing someone who's killed others like them a hundred times over, allowing them no rest even in death as their shambling corpses are conscripted into his undead army? how can she, in good conscience, expect anyone to face something so horrific with stakes as high as THAT? which is worse; that they turn against her, or that they trust her and die, adding another force of nature to their enemies' ranks? the Sidewinder doesn't know the answer to that question, if there is one.

there's so much weight on every choice she must make, and the consequences of every wrong move are unfathomable. she might not be the Commander, but that, at least, is one thing they have in common. the decisions they make will decide who lives and who dies.

all the Sidewinder can hope is that when she finally does make that leap of faith, she'll be ready to handle whatever results lay in store.

#my posts #the Sidewinder #Tideturners AU #i won't put this in the main tags because it's just me rambling incoherently and having Emotions but i just needed to Yell #honestly the most fascinating thing for me would be seeing what happens when she has the opportunity to meet other Commanders #specifically: ones that aren't crazed megalomaniacs like hers was! Ruju is SUCH a piece of work i need to talk about him someday #tbh if/when i actually put together a Tideturners RP group the first event would be a Commander gathering where she's trying to reach out #because she needs to! she KNOWS she needs to! but god there are SO many reasons that she doesn't. this woman has SO much trauma #any interaction between her and a Commander is bound to be interesting though regardless of whether they recognize her #because in both scenarios you'll get ENTIRELY different results... for better and for worse because Hoo Boy #if they don't: she'll just try to play it cool but she's so freaking nervous and is trying so hard to make a good impression #but she's still Mai Freaking Trin which means she's going to be a bit on the snarky side and definitely rough around the edges #and if they DO recognize her? how to give the Sidewinder a heart attack in one easy step. she'd freeze up IMMEDIATELY #like funnily enough she'd literally respond better to an AU Scarlet recognizing her because she Knows Scarlet #Commanders meanwhile are wildcards that can also be insanely destructive and dangerous and weren't always on great terms with Mai #and like. she knows that! she knows full well what her Reputation is elsewhere even if she left her version of the Alliance early #so while she didn't participate in like Any of that (Scarlet was already dead EARLY) she knows they won't know that #like. man. she's just fascinating to think about in terms of how she fits into everything because of what a mess she is #sidenote probably the saddest thing would be if she met a Commander who was a version of one she'd seen before #specifically: one that died holding off Ruju to let their timeline escape from him. that'd earn her trust immediately #though she'd feel SO bad about it and be very weirdly resistant to them facing Ruju directly (she already let them die once...) #I'm just. augh. all the thoughts tonight. explodes

[davidtennantgenderenvy]

On David Tennant and Aging

So, I’ve seen a lot of posts in response to Tumblr users’ habit of affectionately calling their favorite middle aged dudes “old men”, David Tennant in particular, saying things like “clearly you’ve never met an actual old person”, “omg you talk about these guys like they’re 80”, “please be normal about people aging”, etc. And on one hand, all of these statements are objectively right and true! But as someone who’s always been really fascinated by and found a lot of beauty in getting older (which I’ve explored in some of my writing on A03 because nobody else is going to do it for me), I’d like to provide a bit more nuance on how I think this label applies to David in particular.

David, obviously, in literal terms, is not “old”, at least not to me- I don’t personally consider people old until they get past 60. 52 is middle aged, simple as that. And yet, when I see David stuck with the “old man” label, it still somehow feels weirdly right, for a number of reasons.

It annoys me so much when people say David “hasn’t aged a day since Doctor Who”, because, well…

He clearly has. A lot. He’s got forehead creases, deep crows’ feet and eyebags, and I think that post-Fourteen we’re gonna see him rocking the grey temples a LOT more. He also has the voice of an older man now, his upper range is still there but the default is much more deep and rich, with a gravelly, rumbling quality that just goes straight through you. I personally think Broadchurch was when David finally started to embrace looking his age- Alec Hardy just wouldn’t have been served by Ten’s fresh-faced boyishness.

Obviously, these are the kinds of changes you’d expect any 52-year-old man to have, but something about David just makes it all seem a bit more… intense? The expressiveness of his face combined with his almost gaunt frame makes his wrinkles very prominent, and when he works his voice to its emotional extremes, his lower register can sound positively ancient, to devastating effect.

David, I think, is someone with an old soul- I don’t think he could be as good as he is at playing ancient characters like Crowley and The Doctor if he weren’t. He has lived so many lives, given so much of himself to so many characters, often incredibly tragic ones, and I think it wears on him. David also has five kids. FIVE. Do you know how exhausting it is to be one of the hardest working actors alive and be a present, loving father to even ONE child? But David somehow does it anyway! Nowadays I see him and my heart breaks because he looks so tired, so weary and fragile. But he’s all the more beautiful for it to me because I know that that is because he is kind. He’s a deeply empathetic person who feels and lives to the absolute fullest, and that story is written so clearly on his face, along with every other story he has ever been a part of.

There’s other things about David that make the label endearingly fitting- his utter hopelessness when it comes to technology, for instance. And he’s just got that warm, wise, grandpa energy too sometimes- look at that above Fourteen picture and tell me I’m wrong!

I once showed my friend who’d only seen David in Doctor Who and Harry Potter a picture of David from Around The World in 80 Days. It was a particularly emotional scene, and his face had just the most beautiful expression of compassion and sadness, every wrinkle on full display. And she said, in a less than complimentary fashion, “he looks so old!” Which, of course, offended me quite a bit at first. But to me, referring to David as old almost feels like a badge of honor, something he’s earned by living fully and selflessly, working hard and being wise and compassionate beyond his years. I think David himself is secretly more than a little insecure about the fact that he’s getting older. There’s sadness behind every jovially self-depreciating remark he’s made about his age in the past year, particularly in comparing himself to Ncuti Gatwa. I know how much David struggles with his impostor syndrome and how people perceive him, and I can clearly see in his eyes the fear of being discarded, the anxiety he feels about if he’ll still be as loved as he was back in 2007 now that he’s closer in age to King Lear than he is to Romeo. So I hope David knows it’s a privilege to watch him grow older, to watch his soul and talents deepen with the crinkles around his eyes. If I, in my silly goofy tumblr girl-ness, call David Tennant an old man, it’s because it’s a label that suits him beautifully- even if it isn’t TECHNICALLY an accurate one yet.

#David tennant #doctor who #the tenth doctor #the fourteenth doctor #good omens #crowley #shakespeare #around the world in 80 days #phileas fogg #pro aging #growing old

[magicalbats]

Tavern Nights (Sampo x reader)

Rating: R-18+

Word Count: 5949

Warnings: Afab!reader, gendered language, alcohol, coercion, manipulation, just generally skeevy/predatory behavior, age difference, size difference, public fondling, public nudity, implied public blowjob

A/N: My second commission from the donation's for Parm. I was once again lucky enough to get permission to post this for everyone to read and (hopefully) enjoy, and I am very glad for that. I just don't think Sampo gets enough love! Someday everyone who's been sleeping on him will regret it, I promise you that! Anyway, thank you so, so much for working with me on this @rabbbitseason I had a blast! ❤️

⭐

It's been a long, long time since he last frequented The Tavern as much as he has in just the past week alone. When he was young and still figuring out his place in this expansive universe, he’d spent countless nights here simply taking in the ambiance and the drink, with maybe even a bit of gambling on the side here or there. Maybe a bit of fucking too, when he found an interesting partner to take into one of the frequently used back rooms. And the Masked Fool’s had no shortage of interesting people. 

But now he was older, arguably wiser and not quite so easily taken in by all the revelry and merrymaking of the familiar old haunt. In truth, he hadn’t thought he’d ever visit this place again after willingly parting with his mask. Sparkle drove a hard bargain though and after spending too much time with her on Penacony it was hard to tell her ‘no’ and actually mean it. 

He’d tried. Really, he had. But he hadn’t meant it. 

She’d seen right through it, of course. 

Sparkle isn’t with him tonight, nor had she been at his side the previous time either. Just that first fateful evening, wherein she’d pretended to be the good little chaperone accompanying her charge back to where he belonged (according to her, at least) like a shepherd returning the lost sheep to its flock. She’d ditched him quickly enough after that but he was fine with it. Glad, actually, because he’d managed to find someone much more his speed than ole’ miss Sparkle who in many ways had proven herself nothing but trouble. 

“Mister Koski! I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon!” 

His poor heart practically melts into an unrecognizable puddle right then and there as you come bouncing over to him with an excited grin on your face. He couldn’t even remember the last time someone had been so excited to see him, if ever such a person had existed at all. It does his ego a world of good, and he pins you with a dotingly indulgent smile when you come to a stop before him. 

“Now, now. I told you to drop the formalities, didn’t I kiddo’? Just call me ‘Sampo’.”

“Okay, mister Sampo! Will do!” 

Cute. He thinks it’s really quite cute in a way that doesn’t seem particularly fair to him, or any other man with a working pair of eyes and a functioning cock, but he isn’t about to tell you that. You were already fidgeting before him like you were flustered under his attention, or perhaps excited to be on the receiving end of it, and he didn’t want to break the illusion just yet. 

In terms of young rookie Fools, you were perhaps the most bright eyed and bushy tailed he’d ever met. He’d seen more than his fair share over the years, had even been one himself at some point in the far distant past, but he’d never known one quite like you. Even putting aside your obvious fascination with him (only partially owed to his usual charms, he's willing to admit) there was something about you that just screamed … naive and a little too trusting. Like ‘please take advantage of me’ was stamped across your forehead in permanent ink. 

Sampo wonders, not for the first time, how exactly you ended up here with a dainty little mask perched atop the crown of your head like a hat. A somewhat unsettling hat, albeit, but a hat nonetheless. It looks like the blank face of a doll, which he finds rather fitting for you, with a full set of luxurious lashes but no eyes and no hair. Just an adorable button nose and a tiny mouth set in a neutral pout. He probably would have found it a bit creepy had it not only added on to just how very interesting he considered you to be. 

“Alright, enough of that. I’m just stopping in for one last drink before I head out.” He tells you with a velvety drawl. “Would you care to join me?” 

At some point he was probably going to end up regretting this but for right now at least he deemed that a problem for Future Sampo to worry about. In the present, he was much more keen on having some fun with you first before any silly notions like impropriety or moral obligation managed to sink its claws into him. 

At your eager nod, he reaches out to take your shoulder in what most would likely consider a too friendly gesture but you don’t even bat an eye at it when he steers you towards the back of the establishment. Finds a nice unoccupied booth in the corner, away from all the other Fool’s who have largely gathered around the bar to have their drinks and play cards with one another, the wagers of which could have ranged from anything as mundane as simple credits to the outrageous sort he’d seen on more than one occasion here. A long lost relic from a forgotten civilization, once, or even a mutually assured self destruction button courtesy of miss Sparkle herself. It was her favorite toy, after all. 

Much to his satisfaction, you obediently sit when he nudges you into the booth, scooting over along the bench to give him some space to join you. Bending at the waist when a chorus of hoots and hollers rises up behind him, Sampo has to lean down and get close to your ear in order to ensure he’s heard over the raucous noise. 

“What can I get you to drink, sweetheart? It’s on me.” 

There you go squirming again, looking really quite pleased as you sit up a little straighter and round your shoulders for him. “Whatever you’re drinking is fine.” 

How precious. 

“Ooh, now that might turn out to be a bit dangerous if you’re not careful. I have a feeling I’m a tad more experienced than you when it comes to, uh, drinking.” 

If you find the sleazy note in his voice at all off putting you certainly don’t show it, looking up at him with the kind of bright faced confidence only someone in their youth can pull off. ‘Take advantage of me’, indeed. 

“Don’t worry, I can handle myself.” You tell him candidly. “It’ll be your mistake if you underestimate me.” 

Was that a challenge? If he didn’t know any better, he’d think you were doing this to him on purpose. 

“Pft. I bet. Okay then, just sit tight. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though. I’ll be back momentarily.” He starts to straighten up but not without sliding his hand down from where it had reached out to brace against the backrest of the booth seat just behind you. Perfectly casual about it, Sampo palms the top of your head in a quick, harmless pat that shifts the little mask and ruffles your hair just so before pulling away entirely. He doesn’t stop long enough to take in your reaction or gauge what you think about it. He doesn’t really need to. 

This was not the first time he’d touched you in such a seemingly off handed manner and he already knew you were preening under the attention. No matter how many times he’d tested the waters the reaction was always the same. You liked him. Wanted him to keep touching you like that, either knowingly or unknowingly, he couldn’t yet say for sure, but he was more than happy to give it to you regardless of the reason. Lucky you. 

He returns to the table a few minutes later with a freshly made drink in both hands, watching carefully from under the fringe of his hair when he sets yours in front of you. It’s a dark, murky looking concoction that seems to announce in no uncertain terms that it’s potent and strong with just a glance. As expected, you don’t look quite so sure of yourself anymore when you take in the thick consistency inside the stout glass. 

But you keep a brave face, which he has to give you credit for, especially when you don’t hesitate to pick it up at his nudging insistence. The first tentative sip has you choking at the taste even as you desperately try to blink away the tears that come into your eyes, and he can’t quite stop himself from laughing at your expense. 

Sampo doesn’t push it on you anymore than that though, finding it much more entertaining to watch you slowly try to drink it all down completely of your volition. He doesn’t even need to wheedle you or coerce you into it. You just do it — because you had something to prove? Or was it because you wanted so badly to impress him that you were willing to get yourself drunk just to accomplish it? He isn’t entirely sure on that front either but it doesn’t actually matter. You were doing exactly what he’d hoped you would and that pleases him a great deal. 

By the time an hour has gone by, you’re slumped against him in the booth with your head tilted back, resting along his bicep where it’s curled over the back of the seat. He’s kept you talking for the greater portion of your time spent together, alternating between one triviality or another just to ensure you don’t accidentally doze off on him. He could now name your favorite color, the school you’d attended back on your home planet and the breed of your first pet. You hadn’t struck him as the sort to be fond of Pettu Hamsters, bizarre little rodent-like beasts that laid eggs and curled themselves into tight balls for protection, but you’d assured him that you were quite fond of them. Given the no nonsense look you’d leveled on him, he believed you. 

“And you know what happened next?”

It’s obvious you’re a little too relaxed to be self conscious anymore, and he doesn’t say a word about it when you not so subtly shift closer to him on the bench. You’re practically pressed right up against his side now but, still, he doesn’t make his move yet. Sampo may have technically been working to pull one over on you but that didn’t mean he was going to be a pig about it. 

“I’d never seen a meteor shower like that before. All up close and personal, right outside my window. It was pretty cool but kind of scary at the same time.” You’re rambling about nothing in particular. Just a fond reminiscence of the long list of firsts you’d experienced upon leaving home, which Sampo listens in on as much as he needs to. There were a few other first time things he wanted to introduce you to, provided you didn’t fall asleep on top of him before then. “I thought for sure one of them was going to slam into the ship and — and vacuum us out into space! All I remember going through my head at the time was that I didn’t want to die like that. I can’t imagine it would feel great. What do you think?” 

You tip your face towards him with the sluggish, heavy lidded lethargy of someone well and truly buzzed. Sampo just chuckles as he tips his chin down, cheek braced against his propped up fist for support. 

“I think you’ve had enough to drink for one night, darling. What was that you said earlier about being able to handle yourself?” 

Unmistakable fluster creeps across your expression, distant though it may be under the hazy mask of intoxication. “I didn’t know you’d get me something so strong. Are you sure you weren’t purposely trying to get me drunk?” 

Feigning hurt, Sampo draws his brows together in an overly affected lift and places his opposite hand over his heart. “Why, I never! Such a serious accusation to lobby at a gentleman of my esteemed standing. Just ask anyone here, missy, and they’ll tell you exactly what kind of upstanding, trustworthy guy Sampo Koski is!” 

You giggle at his theatrics and reach over to weakly shove at him. Your arm seems to immediately lose all of its remaining strength though, and rather bonelessly flops down to stretch out along his thigh. He can see his moment to strike fast approaching but it still wasn’t the perfect time. Soon, very soon, just not quite yet. 

“You’re funny.” 

“We’re all a bit funny here, I’m afraid.” He murmurs, dropping his voice to a slyly suggestive drawl again. “You’ve still got some growing to do if you want to fit into that mask on your head. Want some pointers?” 

Huffing softly at the suggestion, you visibly muster up the strength to send him a weak look of warning. “I’m already grown. I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now if I wasn’t, would I?” 

Sampo sends a slow look of appraisal down at your chest, noting the weight behind the thin material of your blouse while images of what your bare breasts might look like dance through his head. Yes, there certainly would be no denying that you were of a mature build and filled out in all the right places. 

“Mmm, if we’re talking physically then you’re right, of course. I doubt anything I say would help you get any taller.” 

“Hey.” 

“But I wasn’t talking about that,” He goes on, ignoring your interjection. “I meant your future as a Masked Fool. You haven’t drawn Aha’s gaze yet, have you sweetness?” 

“… no.” 

You look like you want to pout about that, and Sampo chuckles at the petulant tug of your mouth. Seriously too cute. 

“Oh, but fret not, little one.” He coos. “You’ve got me here to show you the ropes, don’t you? I promise I’m a good teacher.” 

You seem to think about that for a long moment, giving it the due consideration of someone who hasn’t yet picked up on the scam. Not that he could really blame you or the alcohol making your eyes look so heavy and tired. Sampo was good at the game. Always had been, even when he was younger, and his technique had only continued to improve over time. Most people assumed him far too goofy and painfully obvious to harbor any ulterior motives after he started laying it on thick enough. That was the real angle to his schemes, once you got right down to it. Hiding in plain sight was in many ways his specialty. 

“What will you teach me?” You finally ask, roving your attention up towards his face once again. The way you look at him is so unassuming and guileless that he knew he could have offered you a tropical vacation home on Jarilo-VI and you probably would have bought into it without question. Poor thing. 

The muscles along his back gradually start to tense with the building anticipation of finally making his move, of pouncing on his chosen prey to claim it for himself, and he leans down, practically engulfing you in the mass of his much larger frame. You feel as tiny sitting next to him on the bench seat as you look, far outclassed by his much taller, broader build and such a sharp contrast to your feminine stature. He could have easily overpowered you if that was how he’d wanted to go about it but, well, Sampo Koski was never one for doing things the hard way if he could help it. 

His face now hovering just over yours with precious room to spare, he slowly reaches up to brush the tips of gloved fingers under your chin. Your lashes flutter at the touch, threatening to slide shut, but an attention grabbing upward nudge prompts them wide open again. 

“There are a few things I can think of,” He purrs, secretly delighting in the way you start to squirm for him. Nervous or eager? He’d find out soon enough. “An old dog like me has his trusty bag of tricks, rest assured. I’d be happy to share some with you, if you’re interested?” 

Your mouth parts, a tiny pink tongue inching out to glance over your lips and wet them. It almost makes him crack. Almost throws all of his self control and restraint right out the window, but he forces himself to wait. To let you respond first before he goes in for the kill. It would make everything so, so much more satisfying in the long run. 

“Okay.” You finally murmur. “I’m game.” 

“Glad to hear it. Shall we seal the deal and make it official then?” 

A small sound of confusion slips out of you but then he’s leaning the rest of the way in, closing the scant distance. You don’t protest or pull away. Just watch him with wide, fascinated eyes as he tilts his mouth to slot against yours, and a dull jolt works through your body at the contact. He keeps it brief and gentle, a mere brushing of mouths, before pulling back enough to pin you with a lopsided smirk. 

“There. Now it’s a promise.”

Tentatively, you reach up to touch your bottom lip. “Is that how all the Fool’s make their promises?” 

He shrugs broad shoulders, tracing shapes along the side of your neck with blunt fingers. “Only the really fun ones.”

Extending his thumb to prod the underside of your chin, Sampo carefully nudges your face back up at him until your hand finally falls away and you comply, offering him a vaguely flustered look. 

“Another, for good luck?” 

The first real glimpse of uncertainty flashes across your face at that. You hesitate, flicking a quick glance behind him at the rest of the bar and — 

“Oh, don’t you worry your pretty little head about them.” Soothingly, he cups your cheek in what otherwise would have been a comforting gesture had it not been for the way he gives the roundest part of your face a quick, mostly harmless pinch. “They’ll mind their business so there’s no need to get shy on me now. Besides, I’ve already kissed you once haven’t I? What harm could one more do?” 

You still don’t appear to be totally convinced but you give him a brief, stilted nod anyway. He’s pretty sure it’s the unmistakable gleam of excitement he can see reflecting back at him in your gaze, unsquashable despite your obvious nerves, and Sampo feels a smoldering hot rush of victory sear through his veins when he leans into your space again. 

His mouth brushing over yours in a light, coaxing caress, you simply sit there for a long moment of indecision like a frozen, petrified statue. So still he isn’t even sure if you’re breathing. But then, thoroughly dashing that impression against the floor, you come alive under him all at once. Give a squirming shudder and press up into him, fervently kissing him back as if in outright challenge. He feels your lips trembling against his and he can’t quite keep the leer off his face when he increases the pressure to kiss you just a little bit harder, claiming you as his own. 

The discordant noise of revelry and drinking, Fool’s eternally at play, seems to highlight the poignancy of what’s happening in the booth situated in the far back while at the same time it also recedes to a far distant thrum of vague sounds. Like everyone else in The Tavern was on the other side of some great, reverberating tunnel. His attention is focused entirely on you and the way you slowly bring your hand up to tentatively brace the palm of it against his chest. Your fingers feel dainty, something small and fragile, and he quickly decides to return the favor. 

Sliding his own hand down off your cheek, over the line of your neck and past the soft jut of your clavicle, he takes a slow pass over one breast. They’re big but his hands are bigger still, and it easily cups around the full weight of it behind your blouse. You react like he’d electrocuted you, jolting in your seat as your head tips back and your lips slacken, dropping open as if to moan. But he just follows you, keeping his lips sealed over yours so he can plunge his tongue into that cute, hot little mouth and truly taste you for the first time. 

Noising an incomprehensible kitten mewl against him, you close your hand around his shirt and give it a halfhearted tug. Like you wanted to pull him in closer but you weren’t quite confident enough to follow through on that urge; like your head was spinning a shade too fast from the alcohol as much as the surge of physical responses in your body to make any sense of what was happening and act on it. 

Sampo can tell you’re enjoying it though. It doesn’t exactly take a genius to figure that out. 

The proof is as plain as if you’d spoken the words aloud. You don’t bite at his tongue when it invades your mouth to explore every little nook and cranny inside, nor do you pull away in revulsion when he leisurely fucks it towards the back of your throat in slow, suggestive motions. You also don’t attempt to slap his hand away when it comes back up to caress over the fullest part of your breast again. He can feel your nipple rapidly stiffening underneath the layers of your clothes, responding to him with a great deal of eager enthusiasm that has you shuddering and pressing your legs together. So sensitive. 

He could really exploit that if given half a chance. 

At length, he breaks apart from the kiss with a low, seedy exhale of deeply felt masculine pleasure. Peers down at you with an easy, self satisfied grin, but you look to be a bit out of it and lost in your own little world. With your head tipped back and rested against his arm where it’s still curled over the top of the booth seat, you merely blink up at him through a hazy, distant gleam in your eyes. Panting softly, as if you couldn’t quite catch your breath while he was idly fondling your tit. Hardly any wonder there, given how much you seemed to be feeling everything in stunning high definition, but he wasn’t quite done with you yet. 

“Oh my, it seems like someone is having a good time now. I wasn’t expecting you to look at me like that, kiddo’. You’re gonna’ have this old man falling in love if you’re not careful.” 

Your breath catches in obvious surprise, a vaguely startled expression creeping onto your face. Sampo doesn’t give you a chance to question him or realize that he was only teasing though, and instead tips his attention downward to regard the weight of your chest. A fresh wave of innate satisfaction washes over him when you do the same, following his line of sight to peer down at yourself as well. 

“You’re looking a little hot under the collar, y’know. Let me help you with that.” 

Fingertips tracing the path over your breast, he reaches lower and you finally seem to snap out of it. You give a quick start, fumbling to get your hands down to try and grab at him, but even with both sets of digits locked around his blocky wrist it’s easy enough for him to tug your blouse free of your cute little skirt and get it inched up enough to reveal a smooth strip of your fluttering stomach. 

“M - mister Sampo!” You squeak, halfheartedly twisting in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable. “We’re — we’re still in public, you can’t - -“

“Hush now, sweetheart. Your ol’ pal Sampo’s got you. There’s nothing to be afraid of. See?” With a taunting flick of his hand, your blouse rises up another inch or so, and with it so too do your eyes grow even wider. “No ones even paying attention to us over here so they won’t see anything. Trust me. I’ll make sure of that. After all, you’re mine now, aren’t you? Can’t have anyone else eyeballing the goods, right?” 

Numbly, your gaze roves up to regard him again. There’s an unspoken question behind your expression, a sentiment that you hesitate to give voice to, and he just hums a playful little tune under his breath while he continues to toy the hem of your top. One more nudge is all it would take to reveal what sort of bra you were wearing and he couldn’t wait to find out. His bet was on something soft and girly, with a bow or maybe even a bit of lace? But first … 

“Don’t tell me you’re really that scared, sweetness? Even with me here?” 

Your brow pinches inward, creating an adorable little crease between them to go with the almost petulant pull of your mouth. An internal war wages, bloody and violent, behind your eyes while you no doubt weigh out the multitude of options at your fingertips. The truth or a deceitful lie, which would you ultimately decide? Sampo knew which one he would pick had it been him standing under the spotlight but he’d meant it when he said you still had a lot left to learn. That part, at least, hadn’t been facetious. 

Finally making your decision another series of heartbeats later, you at last give him a mute nod. It pulls a soft, doting sound from deep within his chest and makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside as he dips his face close again, rumbling a low sound of approval. 

“Aww, you poor thing. It’s okay though. Just trust your old friend Sampo, okay? Here, I’ll even make it better with another kiss.” 

This time you eagerly tip your face up to meet him halfway, and a soft sound of need puffs out of you when your lips meet again. He kisses you deeply now, claiming your mouth for himself and swiping his tongue inside with a possessive, demanding gesture that has you mewling faintly in response. As he’d half suspected you would, you positively melt under him like you were happy to give into the pulse pounding heat and the risk of the moment as long as he was there to guide you through it. To lead you and to teach, just as he’d promised you he would. 

Thoroughly placated now, you don’t protest or make a move to stop him while he inches your shirt the rest of the way up, but you do shudder uncontrollably at the first waft against your exposed chest. Still fervently kissing you, Sampo cracks an eye open and peers out from under the fringe of his hair to look at what he’s working with. A dull thrum of pleasure promptly races up his spine when he sees that your tits are just as juicy and tantalizing as he’d thought they’d be, and he voraciously watches them heave within the confines of your pale peach colored bra. It’s a lovely shade that complements your skin tone perfectly but he’s a bit too impatient to simply admire it or the dainty blue bow on the front for very long. 

You groan into his mouth, arching against the booth, when he casually slips a long digit under the middle center of the dainty undergarment but he just swallows the noise and tugs. Doesn’t even give you a moment to understand what he was planning to do, and your breasts spill out with a meaty jostle as the cups slide up and away. Your nipples are already stiff and aching when they hit the air, pointing up off your chest in demand of attention, and you finally tear your face from his with a threadbare, faltering gasp. 

Sampo can’t quite find the wherewithal to follow after you and lay claim to your mouth again when he was so damnably transfixed by the sight of your bare tits, round and squeezable in all their fleshy abundance. He feels suddenly faint from how violently his cock instantly springs up in his pants to shove at the inside of the zipper, only vaguely aware of you turning your head away in bashful reproach while your hands come up to crowd together over your chest. 

Oh, that wouldn’t do. That wouldn’t do at all. 

“Come on, don’t be like that.” He coos at you, the usually soft inflection of his voice noticeably absent now. It seems to have been replaced by a deeper, gravelly edge that makes his customary sing-song fall short. 

You don’t seem to mind though, much too preoccupied with softly whimpering when he takes one of your hands by the wrist and gently pries it away, curling it up and back so he can juggle it over to his opposite hand. Half restrained now, you can’t do much else but anxiously squirm in place when he reaches back down to lightly tweak the exposed tip of your breast between thumb and forefinger. 

“Ahhn!” 

“Mmm, these are awfully tender, aren’t they?” 

He doesn’t really expect a response, which is good, because you can’t seem to catch your breath long enough to actually speak. All that comes out of your mouth are short, tender little gasps and the softest moans his old ears have ever heard. It sounds like the sweetest music and he makes an effort to file it all away for later, when he was back in Belobog and lonely in the middle of the cold, frozen eternity that had yet to see any noticeable improvements since the Stellaron Disaster there was neutralized. Maybe someday it would, hopefully even soon, but he wasn’t expecting to return from this trip to find lush fields of green stretching as far as the eye could see. 

This night spent with you here in The Tavern was going to keep him comfortably warm for many more to come though, and he eagerly folds himself over you so he can bend down and seal his mouth around that pert, straining bud. You give a tiny little cry, a sensitive yelp that you quickly try to stifle, but not fast enough. 

Releasing his hold on your wrist, Sampo snakes his arm around the back of your head and covers your mouth with his broad palm. You let out a muffled protest behind his glove and try to turn your head away but it’s no use. He’s so much bigger and stronger than you that he can easily hold you in place no matter how you squirm or weakly shove at his forearm. Still sucking on your sore little teat, his mouth working the fleshy nub to a tight coil, he rolls his eyes upward to look at you from this angle. 

If he’d thought you were pretty before, now you were downright gorgeous. That hazy, flustered look of begrudging pleasure really suited you. Especially when it was because of what he was doing to you. 

He isn’t sure how much more of the anticipation he can stand when his cock was already aching, practically throbbing inside his pants, and he at least disengages from your breast with a noted hint of regret some moments later. In the wake of his attentions your stiff little teat is left flushed a noticeable shade darker than when he’d started and glistening with a fine sheen of sticky, fast cooling spit. The sight alone makes him groan, low and gravelly, as he looks upon it with longing. 

Oh, how he would’ve loved nothing more than to simply suckle at both of them for an hour or two but this was hardly the right place or time for him to indulge like that. Even what he had in mind for you had the potential to backfire with spectacularly disastrous (yet still amusing) results. It was time to get on with it before anyone’s attention was drawn towards the far back corner and curious interlopers came creeping over to check what was happening. 

“You seem to be quite sensitive, darling. Even moreso than I initially thought, and somethiiiiing tells me you’re going to be a screamer so we’ll have to play it a bit safe.” He murmurs, teasing you with a quick wink as he straightens up and allows his free hand to slide down lower to pinch at the hem of your skirt. 

Already askew from all of your fidgeting, it doesn’t take much for him to pull it up enough to reveal your panties moulded to the puffy outline of your cunt. Even just a quick glance assures him you’re wet and sticky given the way the matching peachy material sticks to you and he gives his tongue a soft click as if in reproach. 

“Really now, are you sure the possibility of getting caught isn’t exciting you? Well, you’re a hundred years too early to try and pull one over on Sampo Koski, I promise you that.” 

He shifts back into his seat to settle in next to you again before releasing his hold on your mouth. You promptly suck in a much needed lungful of fresh air, swaying somewhat unsteadily on the bench, but the reprieve is short lived. Grabbing you around the middle, Sampo effortlessly manhandles you around so he can pull you half into his lap, partially sprawled out across the seat and perfectly positioned over the tent in his trousers. Your little mask has been almost completely dislodged from its perch atop your head in all the shuffling, and he reaches up to pull it the rest of the way off while his other hand busily works on his zipper. 

“How about this,” He starts, using his most effective and well practiced salesman pitch, feeling much too hot and reckless to reconsider the wisdom in this move. If you finally decided you’d had enough of him and all his pawing it wouldn’t be hard for you to put him out of commission for the foreseeable future in this particular position. But, well, he didn’t really think he needed to worry about that too much. “Let’s keep that mouth of yours busy for right now and I’ll make it up to you later, huh? Whaddya’ say? I promise it’ll be worth your while.”

Panting and flushed, you slowly lift your face to regard him. A bright, sparkling gleam flashes through your eyes and you grin, looking like you were seconds away from bursting out into uncontrollable, wild laughter. You looked like a kid on Christmas morning being handed the one present she’d wanted more than anything else in the whole wide world and that youthful, beaming enthusiasm just makes his balls draw up achingly tight in heady anticipation. He couldn’t wait to sink himself into you. Any part of you. It didn’t really matter which, when you had him so painfully stiff in his pants and more worked up than he could recall being in a very long time. 

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Mister Sampo.” 

He almost laughs too, feeling the familiar bubbling sensation gleefully rising in his chest, but it’s swallowed up and doused by a shaky groan of relief when he finally manages to fish his cock out. It was starting to make more sense to him, why you were here rather than anywhere else in the vast cosmos, but he didn’t care enough to dig for any real answers. 

All that mattered was that you were interesting and you were fun, and as long as the two of you were having fun together then everything else was irrelevant to him.

⭐

Crossposted: here

#honkai star rail #star rail #sampo koski #sampo x reader #self insert bullshit

[that-ari-blogger]

Witch Side Are They On? (Young Blood, Old Souls)

Hero and villain are nebulous terms, the definitions of which can be taken to mean literally any character. Although, almost everyone knows one when they see one. It's a vibes based classification. Nobody is trying to argue that The Joker is a paragon hero (except some people), for example.

Certain characters break from the mould, with some protagonists displaying more morally challenged motivations or methods, some villains being redeemed, and some "morally grey" heroes ending up being written as power fantasies and you can usually tell when that happens.

I find the classification of characters rather redundant, as people have a habit of being complex. Sure, I have met people who fit stereotypes to a tea, but they are the exception not the rule, and the more you get to know someone, the less tropey they seem to you.

So, instead, I would like to examine the actions that The Owl House frames as evil, as well as the point at which the series decides a character is no longer redeemable.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House)

Because good and bad are subjective, and this is the internet, I am going to define heroic and villainous actions in this context as "behaviours that The Owl House presents as desirable and undesirable" respectively. Knowledge, expression and kindness are heroic in this context, and willful ignorance, cruelty, and repression are villainous. Ok?

These themes are really well emphasised by the light and dark motif going on. Luz's name literally means light, and she is very much associated with that concept through her magic.

Compare that to Belos, who has managed to spend the entirety of the series up to this point either in literal shadows or figurative ones. We haven't seen him outside in the daylight; we haven't even seen what he looks like yet. The man exists in darkness.

What I mean by this, is light reveals, shadows conceal. A light can bring hope, show you the way out, or let you glimpse the beauty of an artwork, if someone keeps you in darkness, your eyes will adjust eventually, but you won't be seeing the full thing.

Now, here's a question: what exactly is Lilith's motivation? The flashback gives her a history, and shows her actions and sacrifices, but it doesn't redeem her by any stretch of the imagination.

Lilith made a sacrifice for power. She has been chasing Eda because of Belos, and we will get to that. But the curse was her own misdeed, and I think its fascinating how the concept of willful ignorance plays into that.

"I thought it would just be for a day."

Now, I don't know what was on that scroll. Maybe it came with a sticky note that says, "guaranteed 24-hour magic removal or your money back". But, it takes some serious mental gymnastics to decide that the thing you wanted to do because you wanted to do it with someone was worth sacrificing that someone to achieve.

And when the curse turned Eda into the beast, it never occurred to Lilith to tell anyone. I think providing evidence of the magic that caused it might have helped to fix it, but Lilith kept it a secret.

Also, if you see a system that outcasts your closest family member and TURNS PEOPLE IT DOESN'T LIKE TO STONE, and you devote yourself to upholding that system "because of all the good it does", you are deliberately ignoring some major factors.

So, Lilith engages with the theme on two fronts, she keeps the world in the dark about her own actions, and she actively ignores things about the world she is in, and that is the key here. Lilith is presented as highly intelligent and rational, but someone the clever should surely notice some things that she very much doesn't. Which leads me to believe that she is either unintelligent and rational, or intelligent and irrational.

I don't think Lilith is a villain in the series, entirely. I think she is an antagonist, and thematically opposed to the heroes. But the motivation for the specific acts of antagonism are, fundamentally, altruistic. She wants to heal her sister. The problem is that being motivated by guilt and compassion doesn't square with the actions she has taken to get to this position. So naturally, she ignores the incongruities until she runs face first into them, and her redemption comes later through her actions and decisions to seek out and understand.

Belos plays an interesting role in this as well. I mentioned in my previous post that Belos manipulates her agency out from underneath her, and I stand by that here for two reasons. 1) Belos is the system she has bought into. He has directly and intentionally, through propaganda, convinced a world that wild magic is bad and that sacrifices must be made. 2) He found a woman who was conflicted about her actions and saw a way to get rid of the most powerful witch in the boiling isles.

So, Belos too features the theme of wilful ignorance, imposing it on the boiling isles, and making use of Lilith's blind spot to further his own goals.

I've mentioned Belos' restriction of expression in the past multiple times, but there is one more of the core themes that the emperor engages with, and I think the way in which he does that is rather funny. Belos is cruel, and it is constantly tripping him up.

So, what spur's Lilith's redemption? She gets shown her actions are wrong immediately after performing them, so it can't be realisation. So, what is it that prompts her to reconsider her life choices? What causes the leader of the coven heads to bail? Lilith backs out of the coven system because Belos is a jerk.

Belos could have kept the manipulation going. He could have said that he tried and failed to heal Eda's curse. He could have said that Eda attacked him and left him no choice. But instead, he decided to gloat.

"Ah, taking her to the healing ceremony?" "I will not be healing her." "But, you, promised me." "Don't be so naïve, Lilith."

This isn't even the only time the man's desire to gloat self-sabotages him in this episode. So, let's get to that fight scene.

"Okay, I'll play."

I feel the need to point out that Belos wins the fight part of this scene hands down. I recommend UnholyBasil's excellent video on this scene, but suffice to say, anyone with the power to instantly quadruple the animation budget for a moment is a terrifying threat, and Belos is definitely that.

Up until now, the emperor was just an ideological roadblock. The antagonist has been the coven system and the Emperor's Coven that want to restrict magic. Belos has simply been the guy at the head, the one Luz must symbolically defeat.

But now, Belos barely has to lift a finger, and Luz is on the back foot. She can't even touch him. And that is the key to why the ending of the fight is so cool. Belos is untouchable, emotionally and physically, so Luz does both. She puts a crack in his armour, not enough to defeat him, but enough to break the facade he has put up and make him look like an Undertale character.

Remember what I said about self-sabotage? Well, it happens again here. Here is someone who is trying to kill Belos, someone with magic that he has seen. And he decides to waltz up to her and present his face as a target, just because he wants to needle at her mind, the man would have succeeded had he been intelligent.

That is my takeaway from Belos. He is an eejit with delusions of grandeur. Don't get me wrong, the man is a decent manipulator, but his inability to look past himself and his need to be cruel repeatedly puts a dampener on his whole mastermind shtick.

Also, he didn't think to check for the obvious glyphs on the side of the suitcase he was given, he just assumed he had won and didn't feel the need to make sure. Are we sure this guy is clever and not just charismatic?

Now, I haven't talked about Luz or Eda much, and I think it's time to rectify that.

Lilith's character design is a mirror of her sister's. She is restricted in her dress, and perfectly symmetrical. Eda meanwhile is unkempt and wild, with the torn outfit making her look unbalanced and volatile.

The Clawthorn sisters also have a Red Oni, Blue Oni motif going on between them, a trope about characters with a duality to them that has shades of colour symbolism and mythology thrown in for spice.

According to TV Tropes:

"The Red Oni is associated with passion, wildness, and defiance. The red oni character is often more brawny than brainy, extroverted, enthusiastic, determined, and filled with a zest for life. They are also much more likely to break conventions and rules than their counterpart."

Meanwhile:

"The Blue Oni is associated with serenity, control, and observing authority. A Blue Oni is more intellectual, proud, traditional, introverted, and cultured."

I those two don't sum up Eda and Lilith respectively, I don't know what does. And if you have been paying attention, the colour symbolism there appears in the designs of the two. Lilith bears more cool colours, with the blueish hair, eyes, and gem, while Eda scraps all subtlety and just wears red and orange.

So, Eda and Lilith represent two ends of the spectrum, chaotic and lawful. But its notable that when Lilith gets redeemed, she doesn't lose the logical, heavily rationalised mindset, she loses the restrictions. She ends up being free to be whomever she wants, and that person doesn't have to be as overtly wild as her sister.

Luz and Belos, however, are extremely similar characters, with one Luz and Belos, however, are extremely similar characters, with one main difference. One is kind, one is cruel. In terms of character mechanics (how they approach problems), that is the main difference. The rest of their actions come as a result of this dichotomy. Both have a form of main character syndrome, for example, but where Luz wants an adventure and to save the world, Belos wants to remake the world in his own image.

I'm not saying they are identical, or that they are the same character, I am saying that they are similar except for the most fundamental of points, derived from this difference of kindness vs cruelty. All of the lessons that Luz learns but Belos ignores, come from selflessness, all the differences come from expanding out this over and over again until you get a hero and a megalomaniac.

They are both charisma-based artificers, but they have different alignments, and that has led to them making different choices, and leading different stories that have clashed with each other. They started in a similar place, but because of the one difference, their paths diverged wildly.

Final Thoughts

Belos is a villain who would be right at home with Wiley Coyote if he wasn't so terrifying and megalomaniacal, because he cannot stop bringing about his own downfall in spectacular fashion.

I wanted to find the Tolkien quote about evil destroying itself for this post, but instead I found something that sums up The Owl House really well.

"You have to understand the good in things, to detect the real evil."

Tolkien was a man who fought in both the first and second World Wars, including the battle of the Somme, and yet he was a profoundly optimistic man, as well as being a realist. His most famous work is about someone small accomplishing a great thing against all the odds because evil cannot comprehend the simple acts of kindness.

That, transformed by generations of nerds, has resulted in The Owl House, where a villain, by dint of being clad in gold, can only shine by reflecting the light of the protagonist. And he cannot comprehend the simple kindness of community, and harmony.

Light, do not faulter.

Next week, I am diving straight into the next season, with Separate Tides, and the introduction of the woobie, so stick around if that interests you.

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#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #what's so special about...? #the owl house #toh #toh belos #the owl house belos #emperor belos #the owl house lilith #lilith clawthorne #toh lilith #young blood old souls

[venusjailer]

Will I ever stop pathologising the AP main characters and creating incredibly detailed backgrounds riddled with childhood trauma? It’s unlikely!

(INSANELY LONG) (LIKE INSANELY) (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) EXPLANATIONS BELOW

(And If you have hc’s feel free to share!)

Patrick: cmon. The entire plot of AP is literally him just begging to be noticed.

Bro is devoid of attention right until the very last scene (aka the one with his lawyer). Sorry to all the SiGmA mALe AMPS fans but this is not a “sigma 🥶”, this is a man who did not receive a MORSEL of affection during his formative years.

His obsession with ‘fitting in’ (ie being accepted and therefore cared about) through his clothes, his looks, his social circle; his outbursts of intense emotion and inability to regulate them (almost as if he was never taught how to do so); the way he views the women in his life in an almost maternal way (namely Evelyn and Jean) - he just needs a hug!!!

And some intense therapy. And heavy duty psych meds.

Paul: this one is partly canonical, partly not.

The way that his character is almost revered by the other guys at P&P is interesting; he comes over as this über cool, competent, successful finance bro almost to a greater extent than they think they are.

But then he gets drunk with Patrick away from the office and from the constraints of corporate professionalism and becomes this silly goofy little guy.

I don’t necessarily think his work ‘persona’ is an act: I think it’s the parts of himself that he has to accentuate in order to succeed.

Also - I took influence for this from the amazing Paul character studies written by my dear friend @leoblooms on AO3 - please check them out

Luis: this one is pretty self-explanatory.

He’s the only confirmed canonically queer character in AP (although, come on, Patrick’s canon closet is made of glass at this point). And yet - in a way that so many LGBT+ people have suffered with throughout history and sadly even to this day - he can never, ever show it. Being openly gay in his environment would make him a social pariah.

Instead, he has to fit in: he’s marrying a woman, he’s acting like ~one of the guys~, he’s hoping that he can suffocate that part of himself by burying it six feet underground. But as so many of us know all too well: you can’t hide who you are forever. The bathroom scene with Patrick just proves this.

I also wanted to make a note of this because it’s very interesting to me - I read the most AMAZING fic a couple of years ago that was written from Courtney’s perspective, and in it it was mentioned that Luis is Catholic. I’m a Christian as well (from a famously progressive denomination) and although a lot of attitudes are changing within the Catholic Church, particularly right now, the ‘gay = sin’ mentality does prevail for many.

So it makes sense that if Luis was raised Catholic he has been suppressing that part of himself for a very long time. I can see him lying to himself and having girlfriends in high school.

Courtney: my literal baby girl. I’ve written a whole 18k character study on her because I find her so canonically fascinating.

My headcanon is that her father was absent from her life from a young age - but this is rooted in how she actually acts in the source material.

In the boardroom scene, Luis thanks Patrick for “taking care of Courtney last night”. To me, it sounds like he’s taking on a role that’s almost paternal. She is also notably reliant, and almost clingy, on the men in her life: telling Patrick she can’t go out because she’s waiting for Luis to call, and practically begging Patrick to call her after they’ve slept together.

Additionally there’s the whole ‘fucking my best friend’s boyfriend’ thing - I’m getting WAY off topic here but I see so much of her in Cassie from Euphoria. Unless someone is purposefully malicious and nasty, I think there’s always a reason for that kind of thing, even if it is complex and unsavoury.

I hate to use the term “daddy issues” because it absolves absent/abusive fathers of all of their damage and unfairly places the blame on young women, but if I had to describe a reason for why she might act in this way - having seen it first-hand myself from many people - that would be it.

Evelyn: so I did take some influence from Reese Witherspoon’s character in Legally Blonde here - but I think Evelyn is actually one of the smartest characters in AP and so I feel it’s fitting.

She comes over as incredibly ditzy and shallow, but remember we’re seeing and reading all of this from Patrick’s perspective - of course he’s not going to have a high opinion of her, because…it’s Patrick Bateman were talking about here.

In reality, she’s probably one of the most socially clued-in characters. For example: she effortlessly hosts big gatherings with grace and decorum even if the majority of guests are, let’s be honest, fucking insufferable.

She’s also the only character who can actually handle Patrick and meets him on his own level. She absolutely refuses to take any of his bullshit (“what am I supposed to do with that? Floss with it?”).

Her actions and force prove her to be the strong willed and savvy and to me that suggests intellect, as much as it may be hidden - again, due to the environment she exists in.

Bryce: he’s so interesting.

I’ve not written as much about him in my fics as the others, but his actions in the source material suggest that underneath his finance bro Wall Street image, he’s someone who’s very disillusioned, and almost broken.

I really wish the scene of his…episode?…in the club hadn’t been cut from the film. I’d recommend anyone to watch it (and the rest of the deleted scenes because they’re class) if they’ve not seen it already.

There’s also The Informers, the book and film adaptation of another of of Bret Easton Ellis’ works, which features a young Tim Bryce (referred to as Price) and the complex relationship with his father. I’ve not read/watched it in full yet, but whilst they’re on holiday Bryce’s father gets drunk and acts lecherous and gross towards young women on the beach, and Bryce is disgusted by this (perhaps he’s not as much of a raging misogynist as his peers?), and then makes ‘joking’ comments about Bryce being the subject of attraction by other men, to which Bryce walks out on him (perhaps he’s less condemning of homophobia than the others? Or, possibly…maybe he has less than hetero feelings himself? Not to spoil any of Mergerizations but I headcanon him as bisexual tbh).

This behaviour suggests that, at least as a teen, Bryce was very assertive of what was and wasn’t okay and was happy to make these views known.

But due to bullying by his father and, again, the environment that he likely grew up in, he has to suppress this part of himself to be accepted.

WOWWWW that was a whole ass essay. If you’ve read to this part, 1) I’m sorry 2) THANK YOU 3) I love you!!!!

#american psycho #patrick bateman #american psycho memes #bret easton ellis #mary harron #christian bale #gay #lgbtq #patrick bateman x paul allen #paul allen #lesbian #biseuxal #trauma #childhood trauma #daddy issues #character study

[misc-obeyme]

I loveloveLOVE the idea of a FarmSim! AU! Like yourself, I assume a lot of us weren’t raised as farmer’s children, and more or less grew up on Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon. (Altho I do know a bit about living in Indiana, land of the Corn and home of the Indy500, if that counts towards anything lmao). In any case, I hope you like mytake on the Sides!

In terms of Farm Sim tropes, I’d be willing to say that The Royals (Dia, Barb, and ‘Phisto) are a part of some sort of local govt. bc I cannot see them as knees-in-the-mud farmer types lol. Maybe the farm is the “ROYAL FARM OF DIAVOLO” or something to try and convince Dia’s (not-in-a-self-induced-slumber) Mega-Corp father that farms are important, and corpo factories are bad. Diavolo has no idea how farming works but he likes to watch and play with the baby animals. Barb does not appreciate the farm visits bc Dia gets super excited and cannot be told “NO” if he wants to walk across a muddy field and up to a bull like “You are a fine specimen! A complete winner!” Luckily he is blessed with “Animals Love Me” kind of luck. Barb makes sure to get the Young Master dressed appropriately for next time. You need to talk to Barbatos about ordering tools, supplies, and contractors to build/repair things like stables, wells, and greenhouses. Mephistopheles takes care of the buying and selling of animals, and you gotta “prove to him” that you can be responsible enough to handle a horse (he does inspections of the farm and makes EVERYONE take riding/horse care tests).

The angels run the local cafe/store where you can get food and seeds, among other things. They buy your products and sometimes make presents (like sweaters made from your sheep's wool). Simeon and Luke run the Cafe side of things, while Raphael runs the store. Since Luke is a bit young to be running a business, he’s more like an assistant baker and he runs the morning collection at your farm. When he has time, he’ll sing to some of the animals.

Thirteen would probably the the Farm Sim Mine Spelunking Monster Trapper or smth like that? She’ll toss some coin your way if you bring her monster parts or rare ore, and maybe she’ll give you some “recipes” to make mining tools/weapons/traps.

And like... How funny would it be if Solomon just... didn’t change? Like at all? He already fits the “supernatural element” of other farming sims. An interesting and mysterious figure that lives just on the edge of the village. If you come to him with the monster parts/ore instead of Thirteen, he could help artifice some of your farming equipment with special traits, or craft potions that help you talk to animals or w/e.

IDK what do you think?

PLEASE I AM LOVING IT.

Okay okay so I totally agree about Diavolo, everything about that is spot on. He's fascinated by farm life, but knows nothing about it just like he is with humans in the game. Totally gets himself dirty because he just wants to experience things! Come on, Barbatos it'll be fun!!

And the corporation dad, that is perfection, too. Of course Dia's trying to convince his dad that farms are good!

Barb is forever suffering lol. While he does have a garden, I can't see Barbatos doing any kind of hard farm work either. He's definitely more suited to getting permits and such, but I could see him frequenting the angels' bakery because he likes to cook. They swap recipes a lot. Maybe he hosts the cooking competition, mostly because I think that'd be so funny.

Mephisto as the animal guy is perfect, you better believe he's gonna make sure your horse area is up to par before he'll even consider letting you have one.

Love the angels running a cafe and store, that's something I could easily see them doing. And oh my heart Luke singing to the animals!! My precious baby son. I kinda see him also being partial to flowers in general, since that's the only thing he's grown in the actual game lol. Maybe he starts making bouquets or perfumes...

Oh man Thirteen as the miner/monster hunter type! She's got a forge and spends untold amounts of time wandering the woods.

Solomon is such a menace and honestly I can't see him doing anything other than being the supernatural being. I keep thinking of Witchie from Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon. Like it'd be funny if he was more like Dessie and lived in a pond, but let's be real, he's definitely the one making weird potions and magic tools and such.

And of course all the characters are also marriage candidates, so if you marry Solomon, he's gonna come live with you on your farm. Spends all day in his wizard tower on the edge of town, but at night he comes home to his lil farmer spouse lsadlkjdfjkfdkjl.

Wow my worlds are colliding so hard right now I can't even deal with it. What I wouldn't give to have all these characters in a game where I could deliberately pursue and marry one of them!

Anyway, I totally love this and your ideas! I'm pretty sure I would do some unspeakable acts to have an Obey Me farm sim game like this.

#this is fantastic and I love it #thank you for sharing this with me #now I really wanna play one of those games again lol #obey me #obey me side characters #dread-bard #misc answers

[kanohivolitakk]

Miserix for the ask game!

This was one I really wanted so thank you so so much for asking it ;A;

First impression

I always liked Miserix. I discovered his charater via browsing on the wiki and reading about him made me interested in him. Since my language doesn't have pronouns I thought he was female for the longest time though lmao.

Impression now

My beloved strawberry dragon ;A;!!!! I love Miserix so much, he's easily one of my favorite characters and by far the most underrated in the series. In my opinion Miserix is one of the most interesting and intriguing characters in the series with by far one of the most compelling character journeys (even if we don't see much of it on-screen). Miserix is a tragedy, someone who was ousted from his position and ended up going mad as a result of his exile and isolation for thousands upon thousands years. He lost everything: his purpose, his identity and people to trust and was left with nothing but rage and vengeance! I find characters who lose themselves in their anger and vengeance such fascinating lost souls and Miserix is no exception! He's one of those characters I love to rotate in my head and dissect from all angles, trying to understand his psyche and mindset. And it's so much fun: Miserix is so fascinating to think about both with how he was in the past and how he is in the present. Not to mention how well Miserix fits thematically to the franchises themes, in particular on it's commentary of duty, identity and authority! He's an interesting character on his own and as a part of a larger world/narrative

In addition of finding Miserix's character so fascinating, I also love him for thow badass he is. And this isn't because of his powers and feats in story: The core of Miserix's badassness (at least for me) is his indimitation factor alone.Every time Miserix is on screen he brings so much tension to the scene he is in by his mere presence, he just has that type of charisma (for lack of a better term). Like Miserix doesn't have to do anything substantial, just by being present and saying somethign (even if it's just one line) is enough to get chills. Helps that he has easily some of the best lines in the series.

But god I love Miserix so so so much. I know that people dislike the Makuta as a species/faction retcon but I think it was worth it just for Miserix's character alone. His character does so much good for the series by introducing a fascinating major player into the series mythos who reflects some of the larger themes and ideas of the series really well!

Also the funny realization that Miserix is really similar to a favorite character of mine from another fandom but said character would hate him because he hates dragons and wants them all dead and...well..Miserix is a dragon so.

Favorite moment

This is hard since I like so many Miserix's scenes but none of them stand out as his absolutely best scene...probably his "official" introduction when The Federation of Fear freed him. It did a great job establishing his character that's also a great example of the intimidation factor I talked about earlier, while also giving him some really badass lines. Also him just telling Roodaka how she shouldn't puppet him is simutaneously funny and badass.

Honorable mention to that scene he arrived to Stelt and threatens a Steltian trader due to him not telling him Teridax's location. Mainly due to it having his best line in the entire series:

“I don’t have time for this. I have places to be, and bodies to break. I want you to send out a message to all your friends, to everyone who sails in and out of this island. Tell them Miserix is back, and when I find him, Teridax is dead!”

Like man, this line is such a perfect example of what I mean when I say Miserix gets the best lines! Its just raw unadulatered badassery and I love it!

Idea for a story

Post-canon/post-reformation where he gets to heal and rehabilate himself. I'm very much of the mind tht Miserix should have a chance at redemption: Yeah sure the guy was an angry vengeful dragon fueled by murderous rage against Teridax but he wasn't really a bad person himself nor did he bad things and thus shouldn't really be punished. I don't really like how some people in the fandom treat him like a rabid animal that needs to be put down when he isn't that far gone. He deserves to live and recover! Which is what I want: him slowly recovering from his trauma and pain, and him finding a community that will support and help him. Also get this dragon therapy or anger mangment at least he needs it so badly!

I'd also like to see a story about how Miserix was like before his exile. Miserix pre-exile self fascinates me to no end and getting to see what kind of person and leader he was before Teri ousted him would be great! Just to learn more about Miserix's values, how he saw his and the brotherhoods purpose in the larger MU and what his relation was to Mata Nui would be so cool! I need character studies on this guy and I need them now!

Unpopular opinion

Miserix is not boring! It annoys me so much when so many people in the fandom dismiss him, calling him a boring and unnecessary filler character that's an example of why the serials focus on superfulous new characters was bad.. when he's not. Yes, the serials have problem of ignoring the already established characters we already know and love, instead focusing on new players or bit characters fans weren't that attached to all because they wanted to focus on the grander world and have larger stakes...but this doesn't mean the new characters the serials revolved around weren't bad, and Miserix certainly wasn't! He is a geniunely compelling character with solid characterization and people ignoring him makes me so sad :C. Especially when they say he's just a violent angry dragon with nothing else going on for him. Sure he is a violent angry dragon, but he wasn't always like that and the story how he became who he is today is geniunely one of the better character stories in the series. Not to mention how he has a bit more going on with him than just angry murder dragon, even if you ignore his past self and focus on the Miserix we see in the story. Killing Teridax is his priority for sure, but there are times when he's able to prioritize on other things and thus doesn't mention his objective. See the scene where he interacts with the Hagah for a prime example.

Another thing that bothers me about peoples takes on Miserix is how people try to categorize Miserix on whether he was a "good" or "bad" person. One of the reasons Miserix is such a fascinating character to me is due to him being one of the few characters in the series that isn't really good or evil but somewhere in between. He was someone who was rigidly loyal to his duty and purpose in the universe, but he was willing to do some shady shit for accomplishing it. And when he became an angry murder dragon he only realy wanted to kill Teridax! He didn't care about hurting anyone else, only hurt them if they came to his way.

Also on a related note, I dislike Greg saying Miserix didn't care for his duty and was just happy of the power it gave him. Miserix is a much more interesting character if he geniunely cares about his job as the guardian of the universe, if he geiunely wants to protect the world and take good care of it to the point he sees it as his entire being rather than if he was as selfish and power hungry as other Makuta and was just content of his positiion of power so didn't try to take over anything.

Favorite relationship

Tbh none of Miserixs relationships are that "developed" in canon as I wish they were (curse for lategame Bionicle prioritizing over plot over character relationships) but I find his relationship with Takadox so fascinating. The little we know is that Miserix hired Takadox to act as a brotherhood spy due to him being "corruptible" and that Takadox most likely cared of Miserix based on how he looked at him when Barraki left that meeting with BoM. And that's just so fascinating. Miserix essentially taking advantage of Takadox is a concrete example of how he did some really fucked up stuff for the greater good. It makes me wonder how much Miserix affected Takadox becoming what we see in the story proper or if he was already a slimeball and Miserix just took advantage of that. Meanwhile Takadox seems to at least somewhat genuinely care about Miserix based on his reaction, which gives an interesting layer to his character. The idea that Takadox, someone who mainly sees others as toys or obstacles, would have had someone he actually loved and cared about is soo compelling to me and for that person to be someone as powerful and menacing as Miserix makes it even better. Their relationship has so much potential and I wish we had gotten to see them interact in canon. Oh well, at least we have fancontent and headcanons to satisfy those needs!

Favorite headcanon

His voice has an incredible vocal range and as such can vary his voice to sound between extremely feminine and masculine. His "regular" speaking voice he defaults to is either androgynous or does that weird thing where he manages to sound both feminine and masculine at once. It's hard to explain what I mean but basically speaking in a way that sounds like two people speaking at once.

#asks #ask game #Bionicle #Miserix

[darlingandmreames]

Hello! I've had this idea in my head for a fic but currently lack the wit and drive to even attempt it- but every time I listen to Tom's Diner cover by AnnenMayKantereit x Giant Rooks I have this flash of Eames as a regular patron of Arthur's coffee shop, and Mal being the woman who enters, greeting Arthur with a kiss. Eames is secretly enamored of Arthur and thinks them married, until a later conversation with Arthur or Mal reveals otherwise... it could go either way, Arthur the patron and Eames the owner. Indeed your fics come to life with your beautiful writing, I thought to entrust this idea to you if ever you should wish to write it.. happy days to you, lovely!

This is such a cute prompt and such a sweet comment, thank you 🥺❤ have a lil ficlet as a treat, I hope it's at least somewhat similar to what you were envisioning! ❤

Eames tried not to sigh as Mal walked into the cafe. 

He loved it here, he really did. It was a small shop on more of an alleyway than an actual street, the sort of place that made its money from local regulars rather than tourists. The exposed brick walls, warm light, comfortable chairs, and charmingly eclectic decorations made for a cozy atmosphere that was absolutely perfect for those days when Eames wanted to work anywhere but the actual office space in his apartment. Even the coffee itself was amazing, and Eames was enough of a coffee snob that his compliments for coffee made by anyone besides himself were few and far between. 

All of the wonderful things Eames loved about the space seemed to lose some of their luster as Mal burst through the door with a flourish though.

“Mon amor!” She set the large container of pastries down on the cafe bar as she rounded the corner and crowded into Arthur’s space, pulling him into a hug and pressing a kiss against his cheek. “It’s been too long, my dear.”

Arthur laughed, kissing Mal’s cheek quickly before going back to drying mugs. “It’s barely been a few hours.”

Mal waved his answer off dismissively. “Like I said, too long.”

Arthur’s smile was warm. “Whatever you say.” He raised an eyebrow, gesturing to where Eames was sitting at the counter. “You do realize I have a customer here, though, right?”

Mal smiled at Eames, pulling a danish out of the box and sliding it over to him with exaggerated secrecy. “Of course. How could I overlook the shop’s resident writer?”

Eames picked up the danish with a grin and a wink. Apricot- his favourite. “That’s a nice way of saying cafe bum who’s here so often that he’s practically part of the furniture.”

Mal scoffed as she started carefully arranging the new pastries in the display case. Arthur, meanwhile, caught his eye from the other side of the cafe bar with an amused smile. Eames returned it, his grin shifting into something warmer and more genuine. For as much as he loved the location and atmosphere and coffee, his favourite part of the cafe was unquestionably the owner. Arthur was a prim and proper man who wore cardigans and fitted suit vests and who had a sharp mind and even sharper wit, and Eames had been hooked after their first conversation. It wasn’t often that he found someone who could keep up with him in a conversation but Arthur managed to do that and more, challenging and needling him in a way that was as fascinating as it was exciting. The fact that he was also simply gorgeous was just an added benefit. 

So it was an absolute shame he was already married. 

Eames had almost managed to get his hopes up that maybe his interest was reciprocated when he’d first been at the cafe when Mal stopped by to drop off the day’s set of pastries. As he’d quickly come to learn after that, her entrances were always dramatic and involved a flourish of terms of endearment and at least a few kisses. He’d gotten used to it before long but the first time had caught him off guard and he’d left the cafe feeling surprisingly upset, which was stupid. He’d always had a penchant for wild dreaming- both the gift and a curse of a writer’s mind- and he knew he’d simply gotten a little carried away with his daydreams of a particularly handsome cafe owner. That was all it had been. He knew that and had quickly adjusted.

But still. Dreams weren’t easily gotten rid of. 

Mal was the sort of person whose personality lit up any room she was in, and she’d quickly identified Eames as a regular. She added a lovely brightness to the mornings he spent at the cafe and he’d honestly started to look forward to her pastry deliveries. If he also felt a little jealous seeing her be so affectionate with Arthur, well, that was beside the point. 

“Alright, my love, I should be heading off.” Mal pressed another kiss against Arthur’s cheek before heading back towards the door, the now empty pastry container under her arm. “You know how Dom is- if I’m gone much longer, I’ll come back to the bakery up in flames.”

Arthur chuckled. “Thank you, as always.” He gave a small wave as Mal opened the door. “See you later.”

Mal’s energy always seemed to linger in the space for a little after she’d left, but Eames could already feel the cafe’s normal calm seeping back in. He took a bite of the apricot danish as he turned back to his computer, savouring the burst of flavours. He’d always liked having something to nibble on while he wrote, and Mal’s pastries had quickly become a favourite.

“She must really like you.”

Eames looked up, surprised. “Hm?”

The amusement from earlier had crept back into Arthur’s expression. “Mal. She only ever gives free pastries to people she really likes.”

“Oh. Huh.” Eames looked at the danish in his hand a little more closely. He hadn’t realized he’d made that much of an impression on Mal. “Well, don’t you dare tell her the truth about me then, because this is delicious.”

Arthur’s laugh was bright and Eames found himself smiling in return without even meaning to. It was the sort of laugh that made Arthur’s eyes crinkle and put his dimples on wonderful display and even after months of coming here, the sound and sight still managed to make Eames’ stomach flutter. He quickly looked away, worried that a telling blush might creep into his cheeks otherwise. 

He glanced back at the danish as Arthur’s laughter faded, feeling slightly guilty. Mal had always been nice to him ever since she’d swept into the shop that first time while he was here and she apparently liked him enough to give him free baked goods. Begrudging her the fact that she was Arthur’s wife was petty and mean and certainly wasn’t a kind thing to do if he wanted to continue building a friendship with Arthur. Which he very much did. Among other things, of course, but a friendship was the most he was going to get and there was no point pouting over it. 

He looked back up with what he hoped was a casual and convincing smile. “Can I ask how long you guys have been married?”

“Hm?” 

Confusion took over Arthur’s expression but Eames kept his smile even, motioning to the pastry display. “You and Mal.”

Arthur’s confusion deepened for a moment before he suddenly started laughing again, even brighter than before and hard enough that he had to lean against the counter. Eames frowned. This…wasn’t how most people reacted when you asked them about their spouse. 

It was several moments before Arthur managed to get his laughter under control enough that he could even start stringing words together again. “I’m…we’re not…” He paused, taking a deep breath as he clearly teetered on the edge of laughing again. “Eames, Mal and I aren’t married.”

Eames�� frown deepened. “You’re…not?”

“No, she’s married to Dom.”

Eames blinked, trying to process what Arthur was telling him. “I…oh.”

“I’ve known her for years and she’s a very dear friend, but that’s it.” Arthur watched him for a moment, obviously amused. “Have you really spent this whole time thinking she was my wife?”

Eames sat back, gesturing broadly at nothing in particular. “I…she greets you with, like, seven pet names every morning! And kisses you!”

“Well, I can guarantee you it’s all completely platonic.” Arthur raised an eyebrow, fixing Eames with a pointed- if still very amused- look. “Even if she wasn’t already married to Dom, she’s…not exactly my type.”

“I don’t…oh.” The realization slammed into Eames almost as soon as he started talking and quickly shut his mouth, heat immediately flooding his face. “Oh.”

“Mm.” Arthur went back to drying the remaining mugs. “Certainly took you long enough to get there. I’ve been flirting with you for months.”

Eames stared at Arthur. He was calmly and methodically going over a mug with the dish towel like everything was completely normal. Eames’ brain, meanwhile, was scrambling to catch up. “I…I thought you were married!”

Arthur kept his gaze on his work but Eames could see him smiling. “So you’ve said. Though,” he glanced up briefly with a sharp grin, “I suppose it’s nice to know you’re not a homewrecker.”

Eames stared at him a moment longer before leaning back in his chair, rubbing at his face and groaning. “God, I’m an idiot.”

Arthur hummed. “Undoubtedly. You could make it up to me though.”

Eames paused, peeking through his fingers. “Oh?”

Arthur’s posture was relaxed as he finished the task in front of him with well practiced movements. “I was thinking dinner.”

Eames rested his chin on his fist as he leaned forward onto the cafe bar again. He could feel a smile breaking through, even if his face still felt like it was on fire. “Dinner, hm?” Arthur hummed again and Eames quirked an eyebrow, his smile breaking through even more. “Funny you mention that. There’s this Moroccan place I’ve been meaning to try out.” He paused, suddenly feeling emboldened by everything. Still embarrassed- he doubted that was going to go away any time soon- but not just embarrassed. “How’s Friday sound?”

Arthur shot him a coy, amused look. “Friday sounds lovely.”

“Perfect!” Eames’ smile was wide. “It’s a date.”

Arthur set the last mug aside, finally looking back at Eames more fully that was surprisingly soft, and Eames felt his stomach flutter again. “Yeah, it is.”

#arthur x eames #arthur/eames #dream husbands #dreamhusbands #inception #arthur #eames #asks #hey there nonnie! #local trash goblin writes stuff #local trash goblin speaks

[tuiyla]

Congrats on finishing season 6! I’d like to ask, what are your thoughts on Spuffy this season? I know Seeing Red can make it difficult, so totally chill if you don’t wanna, but I find their dynamic fascinating and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I'm actually so sad that I finished season 6 haha but oh well.

The good part of Seeing Red is that it's at the very end and Spuffy's last interaction for the season so I can talk about everything else and then touch on it.

We were off to a good start with episode 3 and Buffy only finding it in herself to confide in Spike. I think it's so layered that she did so, including but not limited to Spike's lyrics in Once More, With Feeling: a whisper in a dead man's ear. In that sense, Buffy starts "using" Spike at the very start. She can't bring herself to confess to her friends but Spike, Spike is... there. And willing to listen and actually understands far more than Buffy thinks others would. (Side note and not a Spuffy one, but damn I thought Buffy and Willow would have more of a confrontation about the whole ripped-from-heaven thing post 6x07. Oh well.) By confiding in Spike, Buffy, perhaps inadvertently, forms a bond with him straight after returning to the land of the living.

I see 6x07 and after that as the next step of this. The songs do a wonderful job of conveying Buffy's depression and her need to just, feel. Doesn't matter what. And it's pretty clear that kissing Spike is more to do with her own feelings of depression than it is with him, at first anyway. Fascinating that Buffy knows, not so deep down, that she's using Spike but him being a special situation of a vampire without a soul she sort of lets herself get away with it. Buffy is usually the person being used, even when it's as innocuous as being everyone's hero. It's still a form of being an instrument to others.

The next stage, one I have the most icky feelings about up until Seeing Red happens is when Spike realizes Buffy "came back wrong". Which she didn't, as Tara reveals to us and Buffy, but Spike delights at the thought. Not only does it make them equal once again in terms of throwing punches but, in his eyes, it brings Buffy down to his level. His insistence that she's some sort of demon now, too, is wrong of course but it also betrays just how desperately Spike wants them to be equals. He resented being called beneath her and now he gets to, in a way, bring Buffy down to his level. Which I find extra insidious when you consider that it wasn't just Buffy trying to alienate Spike by degrading him, it was Spike putting Buffy on a pedestal and blaming her for it. So it's a messy dynamic for sure, but like you said in the notes of that other post it's meant to be. Spuffy is dysfunctional (in season 6), yes, but I appreciate the intentionality behind it. I think it's quite repulsive that Spike is so desperate to make Buffy believe she's lesser than she was and that she needs to come live in the shadows with him, but it makes sense for the character and provides interesting drama for Buffy.

After all these years of UST I figured they would go for it but I was surprised to see just how explicitly sexual season 6 was. Not just through the Spuffy kinky sexcapades, though mostly that, but also with Willow and Tara being allowed much, much more than before. Which was lovely to see and wild to think that this was back in 2001/2002. And with Spuffy, it wasn't just what the camera showed and suggested but the graphic language used. Again, it fits, and if they just danced around the topic it would have made no sense and lessened the impact of the storyline. I suppose it's just strange to compare it to the, no pun intended, innocence of Bangel. Even curse aside, it was such a wildly different dynamic. I bring the sexuality of it all up because, as I mentioned when you asked about 5x07 violence and sex really do have such a thin line between them with Spike. And I do think it got a bit too much during their first sex scene, because there's only so much you can do in conflating the two before it becomes, sigh, hate the word but problematic. I'll circle back to this when I get around to talking about, sigh, Seeing Red.

Anyway, I think that thought process would lead me down quite the side tangent. So what I will say about the on and off sexcapades of Spuffy during midseason is that I've already seen arguments on just how bad it was for Buffy to be using him but to me it just reads as a mutually destructive thing. Yes, Buffy was using Spike despite knowing, if not wanting to believe that he had genuine feelings. Yes, even after she realized she too had feelings she denied and deflected and degraded. But like I say, I don't see that as any worse than Spike whispering in her ear about being demon-like, about being something that can't be around her friends anymore. More than the thin line between sex and violence and the using of each other physically, this is what's truly messed up about them in season 6. Buffy keeps hitting him the heart with all but an actual stake and Spike keeps fuelling her worst fears.

On a storytelling level, I think it's really interesting and overall executed well. I don't think the presentation of the text ever shies away from how messed up it is. The one thing I've seen backlash for in terms of how it was/was not acknowledged in the text is Buffy's invisibility stunt and the whole pinning Spike to a wall and unbuttoning his shirt before he realizes it's her. I don't know if it's even worth discussing, honestly, but I will say that I find one on one comparisons of that scene with Seeing Red to be wholly disingenuous. I do think it was a bit of a double standard portrayal and the rest of the season is quite good at acknowledging Buffy's treatment of Spike as iffy, but this scene isn't nearly the same.

Alright, let me think if there's anything else in the leadup to 6x19. Oh yes, the whole "tell your friends!! fine I'll tell your friends!!!" thing and Spike sleeping with Anya. Eh. Compared to their earlier drama I didn't find this stage nearly as compelling. Spike is pissed and petty. Rip to me I might just be different but I don't find him sleeping with Anya that big an offense. Sure, it was a dick against Buffy but it's not like Buffy's hurt really has a leg to stand on after she's made it clear that she wants them to be over. And Spike didn't do it out of malice, so I don't blame him much for this. As for telling Xander about them and the cat being out of the bag, it was again not something I can really hold against Spike. I'm not saying my conclusion of this portion of their arc is "wow Buffy was a bitch, poor Spike!" but, if not for Seeing Red, I'd think most of Spike's pov is justified. Keeping in mind that him wanting to gaslight Buffy into thinking she was a demon was still appalling.

And then, okay, Seeing Red. I accidentally spoiled this for myself when browsing on TVTropes, or at least a Spuffy assault scene happening and I'm glad I was mentally prepared cause god, that was a lot. I think I'll be able to say more conclusive thoughts once I see season 7 and see how they handle the aftermath. For now, I'll say that I don't think it's impossible for Spike to come back from this but he'll need to work harder than "just" going through the Demon Trials and getting that soul. I like that it broke the pedestal Dawn had him on. In terms of Spuffy, god.

It does make things marginally better that he seemed like he genuinely was just not thinking and got carried away. I already hate anyone who justifies it by saying Buffy had "trained" him not to take no for an answer and to be rough, though. Because assault is assault. And there were other Spuffy sexy times where Buffy did say no and nevertheless, they ended up having sex, and not saying that's not sus. But Buffy screaming and crying and begging is surely different. Damn, SMG acted her heart out with that.

The fact of the matter is, Seeing Red was a natural conclusion to their destructive dynamic this season. I'm not saying it was inevitable and if I'm correct many (including James Marsters?) hate that it happened. But I don't think it was out of character, as such. Really, a lot depends on how it will be handled. Spike now with a soul better feel damn guilty about the thing and I would hope that this makes him reconsider the whole sex+violence=love thing. But I also hope Buffy takes longer than a second to forgive. This was a traumatic experience no matter how we spin it and I want justice for Buffy as a character in that sense. I don't think this marked a point of no return for them at all, but since BtVS hasn't had the greatest track record with sexual violence I think this is their chance to get it right. Ah well, we'll see.

I'm sure their whole season 6 deal and particularly Seeing Red is quite polarizing. I'd actually be super interested if there were discussion threads or old forum posts, whatever, floating around about Seeing Red specifically. Even if they're not spoiler-free in terms of season 7 I'd love to save them and go back when I can.

Alright, I'm not sure I could offer much or anything novel but the bottom line is that yeah, I find them fascinating too. The relationship works very well with the season's themes and characters' arcs and while I can't comfortably say I support what they have this season, it is interesting drama.

#buffy asks #btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #spuffy #rachelberryy #spike #buffy summers #seeing red really was brutal tho. they had a vision and they went there geez

[rinbowaman]

Yes I can see that Heethan is popular here on your blog, i mean we can’t blame them can we I suppose? Lol, the way you write and portray him have people hooked even managing to look past the blaring red flags haha. And yes if I have any more questions I will be sure to ask! I have an interest in psychology so I like that bit of extra information to satisfy that curious itch; why is Heeseung is the way he is? What happened, Was he always like this or did something trigger the split? Did he have an iffy upbringing or was there always a darkness in him? But I suppose we will find out in future chapters so I’m happy to wait for the explanation I know the rest of the series will be great as always!!

And ooh seeing that you mentioned it, I briefly read through the first chap of se7en after reading the synopsis and man!! Is that right up my alley! The characters seem very interesting (all one of the seven sins I love that) and I see there’s multiple chapters for all the boys (although I do already know she’s Heeseung’s from the get go haha). I will definitely be indulging in that series too.

Seeing as MT is reaching its peak i will be reading that first so I’m all caught up before it finishes♥️

Its funny you mentioned your interest in psychology because i took quite a bit of classes in my college program, and that somewhat helped me draft up heethan's character. depending on what arc you're in, with MGR being the first arc, MRE the second, and HHP the third and ongoing, if you haven't reached HHP yet, you'll find alot of the questions you have will be answered in that arc 😉 heethan is just a very interesting character, he's actually my favorite to write about because i always find the alter ego aspect so intriguing, the whole Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde effect, where he can switch from gentle to rough in a split second at will. its' very interesting and there's never a boring moment. I think the red flags is what also makes him addicting, because yes, he is sooooooo toxic, obssessive, possessive, and just downright insane, but its all stemming from his insatiable love for his y/n. I didn't have a full understanding of the 'yandere' term when i started the series, but i knew that's where i wanted his character to lead to, so i started him off as a nice guy, then after seeing y/n he became a soft yandere, then it just grew from there and onto the hard yandere he is right now. it's very fitting since he's a dominant and intimidating type. so all of that combined just really makes him a fascinating person. i just love how, despite his flaws....which are very heavy, he loves his y/n to the ends of the earth. its twisted and romantic lol. which i love.

MT and SE7EN are both great series. if you like heethan, you'll love heelel. ofc we love heedam and since MT is at a very good spot right now, i think you all will swoon for heedam lol. but def let me know your thoughts when you finish the SE7EN series bc i love talking about it and the MGR series. Once MT and DT is finished, i know everyone is going to be buzzing about heedam and heebros. omg DT is reaching a climactic spot that may shock alot of the readers. 😉

[bloobluebloo]

Hi! For the character ask game, 23, 20, and 18 for Ganondorf?

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

"Relationship" is a bit of a loose term when it comes to canonical depictions of Ganondorf since he is often acting alone, so I will take a bit of liberties with this question with characters that he interacts with that he has a direct grudge with. That being said...I will go with Zant. I think Zant was an incredible antagonist in Twilight Princess. I think if he had been the primary villain of the game I would have been fine with it. Every time he appeared on screen there was a chill to his ruthlessness, that his desire for conquest and his desire to break free of the Twilight Realm was so overpowering that he would even turn his own people into mindless beasts in order to see his plan through. When you see the true madness that hides behind his mask, you can easily conclude why the Twili did not see him fit to rule. What is even more intriguing is his relationship with Ganondorf. When Ganondorf says this:

I am just like "Well Ganondorf, you are taking quite the gamble there aren't you 👀", except that perhaps he didn't. He and Zant are so similar, driven to madness and a desire for power because of their bleak circumstances, imprisoned and cast out of the light by Hyrule. He understands Zant's madness and knows exactly how to manipulate it to his own ends. I can imagine that Zant, being one with Ganondorf and using his power in turn, also sees how similar this god is to him, how similar their desire is, and it is what fuels his reverence for Ganondorf. I always think about how Ganondorf sees Zant crack his neck right before his death, what that might mean. Is it the illusion of immortality that he imparted to Zant, a false promise he would return him to life over and over again, and being faced with his own mortality and the scorn of a man so similar to him, dying alone? Is it a mercy from the illusion of one of the few that knew him so intimately, ending his life? Who knows. ANYWAYS THIS IS A LOT- 20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

I think it would be Link. Now, I have often argued that, while on a personable level, Link is willing to relate to anyone and lend them an ear, he is ultimately Hyrule's tool. He will view Hyrule's enemy as his own, and will fulfill his duty in eliminating the enemy. That being said, I am always fascinated by how Ganondorf reveals the most we see of his true character to Link. He loathes Link because of what he represents, but also admires and respects him, and I think he sees in Link what he sees in himself; a man willing to risk everything and put his own life on the line for what he believes in. In that sense, Link is possibly the only true "friend" he has ever had, someone who has seen his true side and acknowledged it, even if it ends with his defeat at the end. (And to be honest, while I do like Ganlink as a ship I love portraying them as close friends, because I think it takes someone like Link to understand someone as complicated as Ganondorf. Hell, Zelda is no walk in the park either but Link is patient and understands where she is coming from)

23. Favorite picture of this character?

THERE IS NO STRAIGHT ANSWER FOR THIS BECAUSE IT KEEPS CHANGING. I can only give you the image that is currently rotating in my brain:

(HE’S SO PRETTY WHEN HE’S SMIRKING AHHHHH)

Questions here!

#thanks for the ask! #ganonthots

[jasperathrifteddoll]

The werewolf as a symbol in Stephen King's IT, a ramble

A fascinating detail from the book I haven't seen anyone talk about is how the symbol of the werewolf appears not just for Richie, but for Patty Uris.

In her appearance in chapter 3, Patty describes the discrimination she has faced as a Jewish person, the expectations that has been put on her by her parents and herself to be successful and 'Normal,' and how the fear has lingered despite her comparatively happy life.

As a teenager she and her date were barred from attending prom for being Jewish, and the details of this event are seared painfully in her mind. The click of her heels on the ground, the sound of onlookers laughing at her, and the dress her mother said made her look like a "Mermaid."

She thinks of the idea of being a Jewish mermaid as ridiculous. Though i am uncertain if this is due to a contrast between a generally loved fairytale being and the perception of Jewish people, or comparison between this perception and the non-human-ness of mermaids. Regardless, the thematic idea of mermaids is strong: to a be a being caught between two worlds, partly a person, and partly an inhuman creature. In common stories, mermaids appear to sailors only showing their upper halves, and so are able to lure them to grisly ends. Already I would say that the mermaid can be compared to the werewolf in it's connotations.

Stanley, who remembers the most out of the losers (aside from Mike) buys books by Bill Denbrough, aware that they were childhood friends. Patty immediately dislikes the novels, considering them frightening and in bad taste.

Though she points out a particular one with anger: a book about werewolves.

Here Patty uses the werewolf as a symbol for the discrimination and fear she has experienced. She may try desperately to conform to the social standards set for her, to become successful, happy and 'Normal,' but the fear of being targeted always exists. This is expressed through her constant worries that others are gossiping about her and her husband, and that their safety and security will be compromised for being Jewish.

And so she thinks of Bill Denbrough and his book with derision, because in her eyes he is a man with no troubles and at the top of the social hierarchy (a view that is mostly true, Evil Space Clown and Childhood Trauma aside), and could never understand the experience of being a symbolic werewolf. Something seen as dangerous, monstrous and inhuman, and something that must hide and pretend, that lives in constant fear of it's own exposure.

And while I foremost wanted to discuss Patty Uris, I also think this is a useful detail to think about when it comes to Richie's werewolf. As stated before, Stephen King has established the werewolf through Patty as: Something seen as dangerous, monstrous and inhuman, and something that must hide and pretend, that lives in constant fear of it's own exposure. And furthermore connected it with experience of being a minority facing discrimination.

And so it is interesting to look at the connection between Richie Tozier and his own werewolf. What is the monster he is so afraid others will see him as? Neither Richie or King himself gives us any concrete answers.

Personally I think that Richie's position as a young boy with visible differences/disability, such as his glasses/poor eyesight (something he attempts to hide as an adult) and complicated behaviourial issues, that are likely undiagnosed ADHD, are strong factors. As someone who similarly grew up with undiagnosed ADHD, I can attest to a strong feeling of being "too much" and distinctly abnormal, something that has bordered on monstrous or alien.

Queerness, in terms of being Bisexual/Gay is also a good fit within his story. His relationship with Eddie and how the Werewolf itself ties into the long history between movie monsters and Queerness is well discussed. Bisexuality especially, can be easily matched to the duality of the werewolf and I personally interpret Richie as such.

But regardless, Richie is shown to put facades up in front of most of his genuine emotions, and is described as confusing by many characters, including his own mother. He is a teller of half-truths and of course, a performer at heart. And in some ways, through his concealment of his inner thoughts to the reader, seems almost aware of his status as a book's narrator.

--

Yeah, so werewolves are a really fun symbol and creature, and I just wanted to blabble (:

There are lots of other great analyses of Richie Tozier's Werewolf on Tumblr, especially ones that delve deeper into queer interpretation, so I recommend you search for them if ya like this sort of thing.

Or just check out any of the posts on @reddieanalysis. Lots of fun stuff for the literary analysis nerd who is also head over heels for those clown fighting boyfriends.

#stephen king's it #it stephen king #it book #it novel #it 1986 #richie tozier #bisexual richie tozier #richie tozier's werewolf #adhd richie tozier #reddie #patty uris #meta #my meta #my stuff #it chapter one #it chapter two

[edenfenixblogs]

Thoughts on Natalie Haynes? Ancient Historical Fiction and Medieval Historical Fic Lit Recs?

This isn’t a hate post but it does talk about stuff I haven’t liked in some Natalie Haynes books. Idk if she has a huge following or not, so I hope I’m not incurring the wrath of a fandom here.

I wanted to like A Thousand Ships so much. I really did. But I actually hated it. Especially Penelope’s chapters. A chance to get insight into her whole life while Odysseus was away, and all we got was letters to Odysseus that mostly recounted stuff we already knew from the Odyssey. Like, yes. It is valuable to know how her feelings toward him evolved over the time he was away. But we know she was smart and beautiful and talented. That she raised their son herself. That she managed to keep suitors at bay for nearly two full decades while still maintaining power.

Every time I would read one of her chapters I was so annoyed that we didn’t get insight into anything we didn’t know already about her. There was such a great opportunity to really explore her daily realities and inner life and instead all her chapters were just her being hopeful or bitter about a man. And given that the book is supposed to highlight the stories of the women at the periphery of these classics, it felt like such a missed opportunity. Also, her writing style meandered a little too much for me.

So, with that in mind, are her other books any better? She write about subjects I’m interested in through a lens I would supposedly enjoy, but if they’re all like A Thousand Ships I really don’t want to waste my time. Maybe it was just that particular book that wasn’t for me, though.

I have LOVED all of Pat Barker’s and Madeline Miller’s books. For Pat Barker, I really love her nuanced take on the inner lives of women in Troy/Trojan custody. It’s a truly earnest effort to describe the horrors of the time and the strength of women in a time before feminism was a defined idea. It doesn’t try to apply modern ideas of strength and fragility to the women, and it’s so fascinating and moving. She’s very good at carving out a place for women within the constraints of existing narrative.

For Madeline Miller, I really love how she touched on things we know from ancient sources and, without contradicting them, builds entirely new lore that feels like it fits right in with ancient ideas but still feels remarkably relatable to modern readers.

In terms of translations, I really enjoyed Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey and Stanley Lombardo’s of the Iliad.

I’m also super into medieval (especially British) historical fiction but tend to prefer stuff that is more accurate to historical details we do actually know. I think I’d get kinda pulled out out of the narrative when reading Philippa Gregory books (even though I did enjoy the White Queen/White Princess TV miniseries).

How does Alison Weir compare?

What are people’s thoughts on Claire North? Claire Heywood? Jennifer Saint? Susanna Clarke? Any hidden gems out there for either of these eras of historical fiction/mythological fiction?

I can only check out or buy so many books at a time so I want to avoid getting like 5 on a whim and being meh on all of them.

So, y’all, who are your faves in these genres?

#bookblr #books and reading #ancient historical fiction #historical fiction #mythological fiction #book recs #lit #literature #help #a thousand ships #natalie haynes #pat barker #madeline miller #philippa gregory #alison weir #fiction #Ancient Greece #Trojan war #British history

[homielander]

(rape tw) im so annoyed that they made homelander a rapist because it just seems so shock value at this point. now i'm not allowed to like a complex character even to cope because he's crossed such a moral horizon. i say this as a victim of sa, the weird fascination and oversaturation of rape in media and tv is almost gratuitous, an easy way to entice fear and disgust in the viewer while simultaneously being something people fetishize and exploit. trauma should not be used like that. pain should not be used like that, especially pain in the nature of sa. it doesn't fit in homelander's arc or just the person he is that he would rape anyone, but sometimes i feel bad for thinking that way. i wish the writers took a more delicate care of how they handled these characters and themes, because now you can't erase it, only amend it :(

i'm right there with you! the way rape and sa are used in media is almost always so flippant and careless (and often purely for shock value :/ ). i honestly feel that if your story does include rape or sa, it should be something that carries significant weight and resonates throughout the narrative.

and weirdly, the boys has the perfect setup to accomplish this, considering that along with a-train running through robin, homelander and becca's encounter is the inciting event of the show. but the whole plot line was just so badly mishandled, it's astounding. there's the obvious problem that any analysis of homelander that goes beyond "evil man do evil things" will point to the fact that this was out-of-character for him. it's equally horrible that the writers squandered any opportunity they had to make becca her own character. (i HATED her season 1 flashbacks that presented her as nothing but the object of billy's affections. i stupidly believed season 2 would fix this once she was revealed to be alive, only for her to be wasted in all 8 episodes. seriously, i laughed in 2.08 when the boys fell in love with becca two seconds after meeting her because it seemed like such a lazy, last-ditch attempt to get us to appreciate her right before she died. it was literally one of the most egregious examples of "tell, not show" i've witnessed in recent memory.) i even read that kripke and the writers deliberately framed the s1 plotline to be ambiguous, so that viewers would question whether becca was raped... which is awful for all sorts of reasons. 

and i apologize in advance for this tangent, but -- i absolutely DESPISED the way they referenced starlight's sa in season 3. it seriously seems like one of the writers had just learned the term "mouth rape" and wanted to squeeze it into every conversation possible. i understand people can be extremely crude and disrespectful while referencing something of this nature in real life, but i think they had three different people use this exact phrasing in multiple eps. it felt super inauthentic and i'm seriously questioning what happened in the writers room this season because if you compare these conversations to starlight speaking up about her sa in s1... there's a world of difference. (i also have a lot of thoughts about how they've been playing out the gimmick of the deep/sea creatures but that's for another post)

i also completely understand what you mean about feeling bad for even questioning whether this is in-character for homelander -- i've wondered that too. in real life, the line of thinking that "this person can't be a rapist because it doesn't fit with my view of them" is insensitive and naïve, because we don't ever know the whole of a person. crucially, this is where fictional characters are different, because we do know them -- in the sense that the character is the sum of what is presented to us on page or on screen.

homelander is still my favourite character, mostly because i subscribe to the idea that you can take what you like from canon and leave the rest. but aghhh it's incredibly frustrating because it would have been so easy to not do it this way and come out with an even better story as a result.

#homelander #the boys #asks #im sorry for ranting😔 but thank u for sharing ur thoughts!!

[nachosncheeze]

I have so many thoughts about Remi. So many. For now I'll try to keep brief and to this episode. First... did she recognize Rich from setting up the Ashwell Creek Kennels puzzle? Or was that look she gave him just "who the fuck is this guy?" xD

Okay, in seriousness though, I want to talk about the the flashback to where she's laying out the plan for Shepherd. It's a scant few seconds in the life, but I find it SO INTERESTING, because that whole "I'll tear them apart from the inside" strikes me as so different from basically every flashback we've ever had of Remi up until then. Pre-ZIP Remi was angry, yeah, and with good reason. She was harsh at times, especially with Roman and especially as ZIP-day approached. She wasn't nice about Kat Jarret, and we have hints from the expectations Shepherd and Roman put on Jane, that Remi had some pretty loose boundaries about what she would do for the mission.

But almost every flashback before now also shows us that she was gentle. Soft-spoken. Oscar called her empathetic. Her first instinct was to worry for the Thorntons, and she was grateful for their help. She encouraged Roman, even after she told him Shepherd was right. She laughed around a campfire, she gently bandaged Markos, she was tender with Oscar, and she had her misgivings when they watched Taylor's memorial and she saw how Weller cared for Emma Shaw, how good and loyal a man he was.

The ResurRemi we see going forward is really angry (and why not? She's lost literally everything and everyone). She fits well with the angry scheming Remi in this flashback, but imo this flashback doesn't really fit with who they've shown her to be before now, in any form except maybe Roman's hallucinations. To me it suggests she really did have to be a very different person with Shepherd. I don't think Shepherd would have wanted her to eviscerate Weller (they wanted to control him not wreck him), but couching it in harsh terms of tearing the team apart to isolate him and make him easier to control sounds like something Shepherd would find agreeable. I just find it so fascinating that just this one flashback casts Classic Remi as so much meaner than we've seen before.

#also seems to be roman's playbook for s3 - tear the team apart to isolate jane #blindspot #blindspot 3x22 #blindspot thoughts #blindspot rewatch 2023 #blindspot rewatch #blindspot s3 spoilers #resurremi