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plutowrites · 3 months

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love is strange

✧ pairing : Armin Arlert x Nurse!Reader (gn)

✧contains: angst, mentions of violence, canonverse (takes place between s3 and s4), Armin in love

✧summary: y/n urges Armin to confront Eren and seek vengeance for her best friend, harmed during one of the Attack Titan's village onslaught. Unknown to everyone, Eren has orchestrated this entire situation to force Armin to view him as the monster he wants to be seen as, believing that if the request of his demise came from the person he cherishes the most, Armin would not be able to refuse.

✧important note: this fic is a reimagining of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" (Act 4, Scene 1 to be more specific, the conversation between Beatrice and Benedick). I saw the quote "I want to eat his heart in the marketplace" and the wheels tuned so fast in my head i couldn't keep up! Let me know your thoughts mwahh<3

You're not sure when Armin entered the room, but his voice doesn't startle you as he asks from behind, “Have you been crying all this time?”

You knew he would find you.

Standing up from the edge of the hospital bed you stopped attempting to clean 10 minutes ago, you glance at the dirty sheets, riddled with dirt and other stains beneath you. Your focus remains solely on your friend a few floors above, in her own room, making you indifferent to the mess or the fact that your job entails cleaning it. “I have. I haven't been able to stop."

“I wish you wouldn’t cry…” Armin rubs the back of his neck, his expression weighed down with guilt, which only serves to annoy you further.

“My tears have nothing to do with you,” you retort coldly, making no effort to veil your anger.

“I will say this: Your friend did not deserve what happened today.”

Throwing your hands up in exasperation, you snap, “Argh! I would give anything and everything to the person who could make this right!” The thought that Eren can cause such destruction without a second thought, oblivious to the precious lives and the essence that imbues your village with its beauty and heart, pains you. Your closest friend now injured; a disregarded casualty of his rampage.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“No, not you.” You're certain that Armin grasps your insinuation. What you desire is Eren's head, something he can't deliver.

His incapacity to fulfill your wish isn't a question of ability—you're well aware he's the Colossal Titan, a secret he confided in you after a close bond formed while you nursed him back to health following a particularly brutal mission. You know his hesitance stems from his unwavering loyalty to his friend, a loyalty that now clashes with yours.

As you're wiping the tears you've wept, Armin confesses, “I don’t love anything in this world more than I love you. Isn’t that strange?”

You can't help but smile at his choice of words, “Is loving me the strange part?”

His eyes widen at you, “No, no, I mean loving anyone in times like these is. Amidst all this turmoil and uncertainty…”

You feel a pang in your chest. He’s right. This isn’t a time for any sort of romance, but still, a mix of tenderness and vulnerability lingers between you in the dimly lit hospital room. So, you admit without truly admitting, “What’s really strange is how I feel about you… don't consider this any sort of confession, though. If you mention it, I’ll simply deny it.”

Armin offers you a soft look, taking your hands gently in his. “You love me. I wasn't sure before, but now I know.”

You roll your eyes but don't withdraw your hands from his hold, “So, you think you know my heart? Be careful, I might make you eat those words.”

He meets your eyes unabashedly, “I love you so openly and without caution, everyone knows it. I just need you to know it.”

“God forgive me—”

His brows knit together slightly, “Forgive you for what?”

“For almost admitting I loved you before you so rudely interrupted,” you smile the tiniest bit.

“If you’re going to say it, I need to hear you really say it. Fully, without reservation.”

You sigh, trying to hide your vulnerability with feigned annoyance, “You have my whole heart, Armin. No part of me resists loving you.”

He closes his eyes momentarily, as if to fully absorb your words, then speaks slowly, “Ask anything of me, and I’ll do it. Anything to ease the pain you’re feeling.”

His eyes remain shut. Without hesitation, you demand, “Kill him. Kill Eren.”

A short breath of laughter escapes Armin at the request, which enrages you. You're tempted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, to make him understand what he must do.

“I’m sorry, sincerely and truly, but you ask for the one thing I don’t think I could ever do. Eren is… He's...It’s not simple. I—”

You cut him off, “Then you’ve made your choice. You've destroyed whatever was between us.” You wave a hand in his face, dismissing him.

It was a mistake to think Armin could be the hero in this story. No matter how deeply you love someone, you cannot transform them into something they're simply not.

He doesn’t take your cue to leave. “Wait, my love,” he pleads.

“I am not your love. Enough.”

“Please—”

“If you won't leave then I will, Armin.”

“Then, before you go, can we make amends? Can we agree to be friends at least?”

Your laugh is cold, “You offer friendship now? You wish to be friends yet refuse to confront my enemy? Is that your idea of friendship?”

“Has Eren become your enemy?” he asks with a voice barely above a whisper, his words dripping with hurt.

“He has become all of ours!” you cry out, despair gripping you, “If only I had the power of a shifter! Consumed by pure hatred and rage, that boy... Oh, if I possessed your titan, Armin— I would eat his heart in the marketplace.”

“Listen to me.”

“She lies alone in a hospital bed as we speak!”

“Please, listen…”

“She’s the epitome of innocence and kindness. If she dies... I can’t even begin to imagine—”

Armin grabs your shoulders to hold you in place before saying, “She will survive, but please, I need you to hear me out.”

“If I were a soldier, I’d confront him myself… or if there were someone in the corps, anyone with a shred of honor, willing to seek vengeance for her, for all of us,” you shriek, your head in your hands in frustration and desperation. “It seems like courage and duty are foreign concepts to you all. The very essence of being a soldier, of bravery, has been lost. If someone as vile as him is left to roam free, then what does that make you? I will tell you: Cowards, all of you!”

“I love you,” is all he replies with after moments filled with only the sounds of you catching your breath.

“Proving your love for me would mean much more."

“Do you genuinely believe Eren is responsible for what happened?” Armin inquires, unable to meet your gaze. You know he’s aware of his friend's involvement. Who else could wreak such havoc in mere minutes? Who else is capable of such heartless acts against their own? You didn't need to witness the events that transpired this morning to know the answer.

You lift his chin forcefully, your eyes burning into his, “As certain as I am of anything.”

He nods once, solemnly, lowering your hand from his face, “That settles it then—I’ll do it. I promise he’ll pay for what he’s done," Armin presses a tender kiss to your cheek. "Go comfort your friend."

#armin arlert #armin x reader #armin arlert x reader #aot x reader #aot fanfiction #aot angst #armin x y/n #armin x you

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soupthatistohot · 1 year

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why it's called Meursault and why that's the correct spelling

(plus other related thoughts because I'm a nerd)

BSD s4 spoilers ahead!

With s4 of BSD airing, we've finally arrived to the point where Dazai has been arrested and is imprisoned with Fyodor in Meursault. With this, I noticed that depending on the streaming service people are using, in the subtitles, Meursault is spelled differently (Mersault vs Meursault).

There is a correct spelling. It's Meursault. I know this because (surprise, surprise!), this name is a literary reference!

The Stranger is a story by French-Algerian author Albert Camus (1913-1960), and one of his most well-known works, the main character of which is named Monsieur Meursault (hence the spelling). I don't think there would be any spelling discrepancy with this name because it's French in origin, meaning that it's spelled using the roman alphabet. There would be no reason to eliminate that extra "u".

Other names that are translated from languages that use different alphabets having multiple spellings are more understandable. For example, Chuuya's name in Japanese hiragana (one of multiple alphabets the Japanese use) looks like this: ちゅうや. I don't know much about etymology or anything, but I assume the fact that because Chuuya's name doesn't originally come from the roman alphabet is why it has multiple spellings in English (Chuuya vs Chūya). This would not be the case for Meursault, though, because there's no discrepancy there. French and English use the same alphabet.

Okay and now I wanna be a literary nerd for a second — spoiler warning for The Stranger in the next paragraph, if you care about that.

At the conclusion of the story, Monsieur Meursault is arrested for murder and goes to prison, where he accepts his death as inevitable and is at peace. I suspect that the fact that in the BSD universe Meursault is a French prison has to do with the character's fate, but I wonder if the part about accepting death will somehow play into it? I don't know how much Asagiri is letting the inspiration for the prison's name influence his storytelling....

And on that note, I also think it makes so much sense that Asagiri would have an interest in Camus' work! Albert Camus was an author, yes, but also notably a philosopher who believed strongly in absurdism — the idea that life is meaningless, essentially.

This point of view isn't quite as dark as it seems, because for some absurdists, it just meant that it was up to the individual to create meaning within their own life. One of my favorite quotes from Camus is "The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.”

Part of the reason I think this makes sense for Asagiri is because BSD is very much about its characters searching for a meaning of life. Dazai is searching for a reason to stay alive by helping people as Oda told him to, Atsushi is slowly overcoming the idea that his meaning of life is solely to help others, Akutagawa is slowly overcoming the idea that Dazai is his reason to live, etc. etc..

It also makes sense because Kafka Asagiri is a pseudonym. The given name Kafka is taken from another famous absurdist author, Franz Kafka (1883-1924). He wasn't a philosopher like Camus, and actually, he wasn't really even known in his lifetime for his writing. He worked a day job as a banker, which he hated, and at night he wrote. His stories often touched on the absurdity of bureaucracy, and were far less realistic and more ridiculous than Camus' work (ever read The Metamorphosis?). But they were similar in that they called out hypocrisy and the innate absurdity of life.

So basically, that's why it didn't surprise me at all that Asagiri was also familiar with Camus' work, and liked it enough to include a reference to it in BSD.

I was also just genuinely delighted to learn this as someone who is really interested in Camus! I read one of this other works, The Plague, in high school and this past summer I read The Stranger. His work is really cool to me, and though it's dense at times, I like that it's thought-provoking. It was also interesting to see the parallels between The Plague and the Covid pandemic... it's quite spooky how not much really changes.

Anyway! Thanks for reading my nerdy little ramble! I hope you got something out of it and please share your own thoughts if you have any, I'd love to hear them :)

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd s4 spoilers #bsd s4 #meursault #literary reference discussion #kafka asagiri #albert camus #franz kafka #absurdism #soup rants

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lynpheas · 1 month

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vy my beloved big brained winx mutual you simply must ramble about the platonic winx/specialists dynamics i'm actually begging you </3 aldhgl

like,, which ones are your favorite and why! which ones do you want to see more of in canon! which ones are you definitely sure would be great but have zero canon evidence for (tecna helia dynamics my beloved ueghhhh)

THANK YOU FOR ASKING! YOU WILL RECEIVE!

i'm a huge huge huge sucker for platonic friendships and i think the biggest personal attack winx club canon has made on ME, vy lynpheas, is that they never really develop... platonic winx and specialist relationships ☹️ i haven't seen s1-3 in a long while but i just rewatched s4 and i'm wracking my brain trying to remember any platonic interactions between the winx and their non-boyfriend specialists. & i got nothing. when there was a 30 second interaction in s5 between sky and flora right before sky got amnesia, my 12 year old self thought about it for months i swear 😭

so i'm just gonna throw out a bunch of fun random pairings i like and how i think their friendship would work because my basic assumption is that EVERYONE is friends with EVERYONE because i want them to be!!!

(also i wrote most of this in oct 2023 and forgot about it but if anyone wants to ask me abt any more platonic pairings i would be so so so down 😭😭)

tecna & riven

okay this dynamic i have a lot of fun thinking about just bc tecna is musa's roommate so she deals with riven on a diff level than the other girls

i think esp early tecna would tend to make snap judgments of people & she immediately thinks riven is like. rude and immature and so everything he does after that point is framed through that lens. & i think riven is primarily motivated by his emotions (at least in terms of his interpersonal relationships) and tecna who is more "logic" based so she doesn't really understand why he acts the way he does. (i put logic in quotes because i do think tecna is biased toward her feelings when it comes to interpersonal relationships, but she sorta confirmation biases herself into thinking her judgment is more factual) & so i think their relationship begins as being vaguely antagonistic/indifferent (ie tecna making snarky comments to the side and riven being like. offended but kinda writing it off by acting like he just doesn't care about tecna), especially because she doesn't see why musa would like such a jerk and thinks musa deserves better.

then i think because of proximity and just facing a lot of mortally perilous conflict together, tecna begins to respect/sympathize with riven a lot more as a strategist because riven is actually like. pretty contemplative about his next moves, and she sees how his abrasive personality obfuscates that and leads to the specialist squad initially just. bulldozing over his ideas bc they're like "oh riven's just an asshole all the time let's go with sky's plan." and i think riven begins to really appreciate and respect tecna's tactical skills but also be slightly envious of how the winx do rely on tecna and trust her judgment. and he tries to learn from her approach: more levelheaded suggestions rather than condescending/combative remarks to express his ideas.

& i think riven's really good friends with timmy (they might be roommates in s1? i don't know if i made that up tho) so when tecna starts showing up more often & he can tell she's very important to timmy, riven makes an effort to be less rude and standoffish toward her, although still awkward. i think this is what especially shatters tecna's preconceptions about riven bc besides her relationship with timmy, he doesn't have any real reason to make nice with her -- especially after she's been pretty rude to him about him and musa.

and then they become pretty decent friends! maybe not super emotionally intimate, but they like, advocate for each other. tecna really utilizes riven's skillsets in her plans and makes sure he isn't overlooked & riven gets more protective over tecna bc he's like. this girl is smart and capable. and even when they don't always see eye-to-eye, she's very kind in her own non-traditional way.

musa & timmy

between riven and tecna, musa sees a Lot of timmy. i think as riven and tecna stop being as icy with one another, the four of them hang out as a group a lot. musa can kinda be the odd one out at times, because tecna and timmy can technobabble together a lot but if they veer into. hovercrafts or battle strategy riven and tecna can get Really into it with each other bc they agree on enough to not argue but have enough strong contrasting opinions to have very spirited conversations. so musa can kinda sit back and watch as timmy gets ousted from the convo and they have solidarity in that LMAO

they're both very chill and timmy is just. super curious about all of musa's hobbies and interests bc he doesn't know Anything abt music or anything. & i feel like timmy is an edm/techno/trap kinda guy & i hc that musa freelance djs at clubs and parties. so timmy is like fascinated by the mechanics of all of that and musa loves talking about music in any capacity so they reach common ground through that. and in turn musa gets interested in like, hovercraft mechanic convos and videogame lore that also helps musa better connect with riven and tecna!!

& i think these conversations evolve into. timmy tagging along with musa to raves LOL like they party it UP together!!! like timmy is pretty self-conscious and awkward at first, but musa really shows him that dancing/enjoying music isn't about how you look or acting cool -- it's just about having fun. and it really brings him out of his shell. timmy's got his white boy dance moves!!! riven goes to musa's shows sometimes but edm gives him a headache and most of the girls like to party but they're not into the subculture at all so they're not consistent participants. but timmy is a yes-man! he always wants to come!

& timmy and musa get fairly close because of this! timmy is such a huge hype man and occasional technician for musa and musa knows she can always rely on timmy to show up for her! and they just learn a lot from each other!

plus because they're both close with the other's respective partners, they like to go to the other for relationship advice because they'll get some unique insight into the problems they're facing. timmy is a huge riven-is-just-misunderstood advocate and musa knows tecna's ins and outs.

musa & timmy besties agenda <3 like i really really just love the idea of their friendship

aisha & riven

this is the only non-romantically involved winx/specialist combo i had actual recollection of interacting before i did my rewatch tbh. or i guess also riven and bloom. riven is just a very notable character LMFAO

anyways, aisha is hyper-independent and riven is prickly and easy to misjudge so. aisha doesn't fuck with him very much at first BUT when she comes into the winx's life she didn't firsthand experience riven double-crossing them w the trix. so she's an asshole to him for like. "i think you're kind of a loser and i don't like men that much in general" reasons instead of "you have personally wronged me" reasons. she challenges him to petty stuff because she likes poking the bear and she finds it kind of entertaining to see him get annoyed and want to prove himself for the sake of his ego, but eventually she just starts genuinely thinking that riven's a pretty decent guy. like, he never tries to undermine her for her skills, he just wants to match and surpass her. and he simultaneously respects her authority but also respects her enough to disagree with her and involve her in certain decisions, where she's used to having to put her foot down to assert herself.

at first riven really just. does not care that there's a new winx girl bc besides musa and maybe bloom they're all kinda the same to him. but then aisha is just kinda mean to him and temporarily hogs his hoverbike so he starts actively disliking her but underneath it all begrudgingly respects her. THEN he finds out she and musa are getting really close and she's actually a princess and he sees her put sky in his place over smth that wouldve irritated the fuck out of riven privately -- and he just starts to really like and respect her.

at first, aisha just likes to aggravate riven bc she initially thinks he's kind of standoffish and takes himself too seriously. so they'll be walking with the group and she'll all of a sudden be like "bet i can reach that tree faster than you" and riven's like "what are you talking about" "so you know you're gonna lose?" "uh, fuck no, you're on" and suddenly they're sprinting past everyone else and leaving them in the dust. but aisha tends to win these little competitions and eventually after she starts genuinely liking riven, she gets bored of trying to get a rise out of him. but riven still thinks she's cool asf and wants her to realize that he's actually Not A Loser so he's the one that ends up instigating more often.

their friendship is mostly characterized by them just. egging each other on. bet you can't do more hoverboard tricks than me. bet you can't do a backflip on the spot. bet you can't tell musa you haven't listened to her mixtape yet. bet you can't let stella give you a makeover. bet you can't swing from that vine across that canyon. holy shit riven ur lucky i have wings otherwise you would've died. nah i knew i could trust you.

like honestly riven is basically just aisha and tecna's kid brother. with aisha specifically he just rly wants to prove himself to her lmfao. little does he know, aisha already thinks he's cool but she will never ever ever tell him that.

stella & sky

so canonically stella has probably never met sky before red fountain in order to be able to pull off the whole name-switch situation, but i think it'd be fun if they had at least some awareness of each other before going to school from being the royals of their respective realms. like you can't tell me they've never attended the princess balls of some realm that's mutually allied with eraklyon and solaria! if anything, as his squire, brandon and sky must've always attended events together and been so close/tight-knit that a lot of people weren't exactly sure who was who, just that the duo themselves were sky and his squire. (because sky also barely looks like his parents lmfao)

i like to think that stella is extremely put off by sky for multiple reasons, including that he ultimately fucked up her relationship and completely broke bloom's trust. and pettily she sorta vows to make sure solaria and eraklyon never have good relations ever again. sky's like. well, can't let that happen + i need to be on stella's good side for the sake of brandon/bloom

and i think this results in him just like !! slowly trying to initiate a relationship with stella, like if he agrees with her about something he'll go out of his way to make it known he agrees with her. and just making comments and stuff to get on her good side

and stella sees right thru this lmfao she's like ok... i see your game... and i don't respect it... but she fully just leans into it and if sky is saying some kind of affirmative to an outrageous idea she has she's just like ok bet. put your money where your mouth is

which is how sky ends up in a lot of ridiculous situations because of stella like maybe during a mission stella suggests going down a path everyone else is hesitant about, and sky is also hesitant but he doesn't necessarily DISagree with her so he loudly corroborates her plan and then. it's just the two of them who get sent down that path and then get fucking eaten by a venus flytrap monster or smth idk. or sky ends up being stella's mannequin for like 12 hours straight while she figures out draping. or he ends up accompanying her to a stuffy ball where everyone around her is condescending her

and then eventually they'll just have more and more moments where they're spending time together like one on one and theyre like???? hey we actually do have a lot in common because of our upbringings and we can give each other diff perspectives about how to deal with the expectations that were imposed on us growing up

like stella has reacted to being in the spotlight as a princess by being aggressively and unapologetically herself. shes not afraid of fucking up but shes like inifinitely empathetic and kindhearted. sky is kinda the opposite where he's always tried to mold himself into expectations and really lean into this idea of being a leader-prince charming type guy. and basically they teach each other how to Be A Royal in a way that allows them to be their truest selves. like sky helps stella figure out how to use Royalty Etiquette and Rules to get her way and stella helps sky figure out how to let loose and not be so bogged down by duty all the time

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kinnenvy · 4 months

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In defense of season five Brian Kinney

(this has been in my drafts for months because i'm scared to post it sjkfhs)

We all feel a certain kind of way about season five, it's like... kind of unfortunate from beginning to end lmao. BUT STILL the one thing that I will always do is try to defend that babygirl, I will carry him out of the storm of criticism princess style and take him home on a white horse.

disclaimer: this is a confused stream of consciousness and I will get some things wrong because it's the season I've watched the least lol.

Why does Brian act the way he does? We know why he acts a certain way throughout the series and to me his behaviour in s5 is not that unwarranted or different from the other seasons.

1) At the end of season 4 he asks Justin to move in, he talks about wanting to spend more time with Gus, but does any of it happen? no.

Justin leaves and Brian is happy and proud of him, but honestly I would also see why that would make him feel a certain kind of way. He already thinks he doesn't deserve love and companionship and one of the few times he asks for it he doesn't get it. He prepares a trip to go see Justin, but at the last second he decides not to go, he gets cold feet because it sound like Justin is leaving him forever. Sort of, kind of, but it's enough. The same happens with Gus (imo). Like he's accepted that with time all his relationships will end and no one actually wants him to fight for them, because no one actually likes him enough to want to stick around. But do you know who will always stay by his side? Michael. Until...

2) Confession... I don't hate the assimilation plotline. It was handled horribly, but I still think it's pretty cool they dedicated so much time to it. They were doing this in the early 2000s and now most lgbtq+ media can't handle to seriously get anywhere close to it.

Brian and Michael's roles are on the opposite spectrum of the debate and Justin ping pongs between them way too pointedly, because (imo) the writers decided to use him as a plot device instead of a character. (Unironically to me Justin feels the most like Justin when he is being a dick to his mom about her boyfriend) (and even then I find myself questioning whether s4 Justin would do or say any of that)

ANYWAY Brian sees his best friend/brother travel where he can't follow him. Michael has a family, he is married, he has a house in the suburbs, new, more mature friends and Brian is looking at him from afar, wondering why he suddenly thinks the life they've shared is a meaningless, shameful thing of the past. Not directly, but in a way wondering why Michael can't just accept him the way he is anymore.

BTW Brian might have celebrated the wedding of his friends... but that doesn't mean he changed his mind on weddings as a whole. Actually his wildest marriage nightmares are proven right by the two married couples he knows. He probably looks at Mel and Lindsay destroying each other, stuck in a legal battle with Michael /and/ Ben, looks at the kids trapped in that mess and is glad that will never be him.

UNTIL IT IS. Justin, in his infinite wisdom, decides he wants all of that actually and he tries to "tame" (quoting Cowlip) Brian until he leaves him behind because the domestication isn't sticking and him alone is not worth as much as weddings and kids. There's supposed to be something MORE. Staying with Brian suddenly means settling for something lesser than what Michael has. This process starts way before the break up (talks of... puppies?) and it's there where (imo) Brian just breaks.

No Michael, no Justin, constant talk of marriage and kids and divorce and custody. No one fucking cares Brian has a reason to behave the way he does. It's normal to want different things in life, but no one in the cast has experienced what Brian has and no one tries to understand it and understand what he wants and why either.

Brian's entire existence in the series is being questioned: his worth, what he has to offer, what he can't/won't give as well as what he can/will give, what HE IS, everything amounts to literally nothing. he is being left by everyone, he's wrong and not enough. Meanwhile he hates being alone, he's needy and touch starved and sweet, he needs his special people around, but why would he ask them to stay, when they make it so clear that they think he is not worth anything? (he's left with literally only Lindsay who is so bad at keeping her mouth shut and just offering support and Ted who's mostly just thinking about his own dick 24/7 and is more of a distraction than anything else).

The only gateway to attention and affection he has left is sex except that isn't working as well anymore.

[2.2) (little aside about Justin) To me he is a bit like a moth flying into bright, shiny things. He's still stubborn and driven, but in season five his decisions feel shallow, like he's doing things out of boredom. At the start of the season he's coming back from hollywood, where he was happily living in kinney-like debauchery, and he's disappointed to be back to his old life. So (imo) he finds a new thing to obsess over: marriage. Then he gets to go to new york and weddings, kids and manors are suddenly a thing of the past. This is why to me, in season 5 he's just a big nothing of nothing, genetically modified to accompany the brian/michael assimilation plot line and then Brian's ending.]

3) Confession n 2 I don't hate Brandon and even though the competition is SO cringe, it's meant to be that way (i hope at least), to me the way it ends is what makes it clear. We get a glimpse of season one Brian, broken and lost, terrified, hanging onto the one thing that makes him feel wanted, safe and alive (sex). He wins, but the ending to the competition is not satisfying, Brian doesn't claim his prize (he doesn't want it). We get an unsettling, super close close up on Brian and Brandon instead, the lines are not good, but the visual storytelling carries that scene effortlessly. Past and present looking at each other, the future looming over them right out of frame where none of us can see it.

Aging is a main theme throughout the story and to me it feels very fitting to ham it up towards the ending. Justin spitefully telling him he looks good after sighing and moping around for entire episodes can't fix Brian's lifelong obsession with the loss of his youth. Brian is left to deal with it on his own when it's at its worst. He is old and lonely, Brandon and the competition is an escape, one last glimpse at what it's like to be the young, hot, reigning stud of Liberty Avenue, while being fully aware that his time is up.

In conclusion, Brian has not taken steps back imo, he is struggling to come to terms with the changes around him, while also feeling confident about his own convictions. Sometimes he is bitter and lonely and we get to see him say extreme things, but he's also more well adjusted than he was in season 1. He knows what he wants but he's still scared to admit it. Partly because (and the failure with the moving in thing could be a factor in this) he doesn't think he should ask for anything, partly because the people he loves are expecting him to change even more and against his will.

A the same time, he is able to question himself because he has grown and worked through some of the trauma that shaped him, also he has found a new kind of intense love with Justin, different from the codependency he has with Michael (and Lindsay) and the surface level friendship he has with everyone else, which is something that has made him realise so much about himself and what he wants and would like to be.

For the same reasons he is able to look at his empire crumbling and accept it, because during the show he found other reasons to fight and stay alive. When those same reasons are taken away from him, or he doesn't find the courage to go after them, he tries to comfort himself through sex, even if it's unsuccessful, but he's not closing into himself like he used to. He still thinks he'll get Michael back eventually and he's happy to let Justin go if it means he'll find what he is looking for, Brian doesn't want another relationship he doesn't care for it, the only reason Justin became his boyfriend is because he forced his way into his life and his heart ugh cringe lol. Obsessing over sex, age and fighting with his loved ones is not necessarily a sign of regression, just a momentary way to cope with the world pulling the rug from under his feet.

He went from attempting suicide to celebrating being cancer free. He wants the people who make him happy to be happy, even if it hurts him. He's not possessive and he's not particularly brave when it comes to relationships, but he's also growing constantly, willing and unwilling he changes and moves forward in his own way, sometime turning to look at the past but with no excuses, no apologies, no regr[GUNSHOT]

Then episode 10 comes and a lot more shit happens that i could write another 20 pages about but im done for now lmao ok bye

#qaf #queer as folk #meta #queer as folk us #brian kinney #possibly my last contribution to the fandom rip kinnenvy on ao3 #i don't know why anyone would want to read this but i want it in my blog in case i forget how weird and obsessive i can get

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emblazons · 1 year

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So this started as a post in response to this by @mel-hyperfixates but turned into a whole thing so. I'm gonna quote them & then go into...what has turned into an analysis of El's S4 narrative through episodes 1-3 in regards to Mike lol.

The basic premise was this:

i don’t think i’ll ever be over the fact that mike literally jumped off a cliff at 12 years old because of bullies, el saw it and literally saved him, and then 3 years later she’s like “you don’t know what it’s like” when mike tried to open up to her about being bullied as well

—and I wanted to expand on why that might be, so here we are.

forewarning: this is a very anti-mileven post. Also...YES. Its much more complex than just this. I'm just talking about a side of this breakup subtext we gloss over a lot lmao

In regards to El not having any thought of how Mike was trying to relate / how it seems as though she "forgot" he was also bullied...I feel like that's the thing. If you've ever been ready to break up with someone, you know exactly what El was going through, because when you're checked out of your relationship, all you focus on is the negative—even at the expense of the other person, and regardless if there is evidence to prove the person isn't as bad as your mind is making them (at least historically).

From the second we see her this season, El had stopped being vulnerable or honest with Mike entirely (see: her lying in all her letters) and had probably emotionally distanced herself before he even got there. The entirety of the first three episodes of S4 we are watching her care very little for Mike or his feelings because she is already distancing / distanced from him in her own mind—their relationship was on its last legs in El's mind even before we got to see the events of the season, but you need to look at the context clues surrounding her words and actions to see it.

From the very start, El was doing + saying things that were her last ditch attempts to throw herself into being invested in Mike by lying to him and herself ("I want this day to be about me and you, all her over-affectionate behavior, on top of how enthusiastic she sounded in her letters), but from minute one of them together we already see her honest emotions about their dying romantic relationship show up in her expressions (a theme with all characters this season)—

—and the SECOND things start getting real (see: Angela bullying her at Rink-O-Mania) the facade El was trying to maintain (in regards to her investment in her relationship, among other things) breaks down.

Even after her lies about enjoying Lenora + being friends with Angela are exposed, El isn't interested in being genuine with Mike at all, and doesn't ask Mike to protect her or even be present with her after she is bullied—she only comes out from hiding to demand Angela help her put her facade back up, because she doesn't want to be vulnerable with Mike even after he finds out she was lying.

People like to focus on how Mike wasn't paying attention to El / call him a bad boyfriend (and lets be real, he is lmao) but...in doing so we are glossing over how El is contributing absolutely nothing to sustaining her perceived closeness with Mike, or meeting Mike in their relationship in all his attempts to reconnect either.

Like, sure...we get Mike not looking at her in the van + being petty at the dinner table yes. But we also get El stonewalling him by not talking to him at all before their fight in The Monster and the Superhero, when she storms off at dinner, not sad, but angry—

—only to go to her room to mull over how she feels about herself...while making comparisons to Mike saying "what have you done" to Brenner, thinking back to several things that happened in the lab that she (at that point) thinks she did (because she had no memory of One)...aka her struggling with thinking she's a monster.

No matter how deeply you think she loves him at this point (highly debatable, no matter who you are) this is hardly the stuff of the surface level interpretation of it being at all about Mike specifically for her, never mind as shallow as something like "My main issue is I'm sad my boyfriend can't say he loves me." In fact, all of these things point not to Mike even being her primary concern at this point...even before they get into a fight about how he isn't saying I love you.

By the time the fight in her room happens, she's shutting down even his most genuine attempts to relate (see: admitting he was bullied too) because what El is actually struggling with wasn't (and never was) about him.

What starts the actual argument is her trying to say "I'm thinking I'm a monster" and him not understanding that its not about Angela, the roller rink, or even him being a shitty boyfriend, but her identity crisis over something that happened before she even met Mike, and that Mike has no experience with or even knowledge of—

—only she is unwilling to let Mike into her headspace about any of that, because (as I said before) she's already checked out of both honesty and emotional intimacy their relationship.

By the time we get to the "care" and "you don't love me anymore" part of the argument with those those letters (the secondary part of her concern), El has already put Mike on the defensive by 1) moving the conversation away from his perception of the issue without clarifying the real problem and 2) latching onto him saying he cares & putting him on the defensive by undermining his attempt to connect with her—going back to that idea that she's not been invested in telling him the truth or being close to him since the very start of the season.

Now, I don't absolve Mike of any of his wrongdoings in regards to their relationship(of which we all know there are many), but...the irony is that El isn't saying anything that would show she is invested, trusts or loves Mike either, to the point that her accusing him of not caring is borderline projection.

By the time we get to him calling her a superhero, we see that she's even more displeased than she was at the start—not even necessarily because Mike is saying something, but because 1) she doesn't feel like a superhero, and 2) he's not hearing her...because she's not communicating what's going on in her world anymore.

Mike doesn't understand what's going on with El because she's not telling him...and she's not telling him because she doesn't view their relationship as worthy of either her honesty or vulnerability anymore which is especially ironic, considering she's always cared a lot about the idea that friends don't lie.

(Maybe I'll follow this up with a "this is how El transformed when she was gone" + "why Mike saying You're My Superhero after what happened with Brenner / Vecna was literally the nail in the coffin post-Nina," but. For now, we can just stick with how the breakup / distance context was build into their relationship from minute one...and not only because Mike was trying to be "normal." In truth, El has been checked out from her relationship, emotional closeness and honesty since the first seconds of the season...and nothing Mike could have said would have brought her back into it).

#anti mlvn #el hopper #mike wheeler #my st commentary #LIKE. SHES DONE. SHE'S BEEN DONE. AND IT HAPPENED LONG BEFORE THAT GD PIZZA FREEZER LMFAOOO #like I'm sorry if you're still holding onto this idea that she's interested in them being close again but #her actions and the writing really don't support that lmao #anyway #stranger things #the me tag #st analysis

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k-s-morgan · 9 months

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Do you think Will stops Hannibal from murdering people after they run away?

No, definitely not. That would defeat the whole purpose of Will's Becoming and the reason why he and Hannibal were so drawn to each other. They are the only people who can see and love each other for who they really are. Slipping back into a cage and denial wouldn't do them any good.

I love this quote from the book:

Hannibal: Tell me, Clarice, would you ever say to me, "Stop. If you loved me, you'd stop"?

Clarice: Not in a thousand years.

I think Bryan would want to adapt it if there was S4 because it fits Hannigram perfectly. Will never complained about Hannibal’s choice of victims. He called him destructive, but he never held his murders against him with the exception of Abigail, who was an accomplice herself. Will’s major conflict has always been with himself and his own darkness - Hannibal simply represented what he wanted but was scared of having. Other Will’s problems with Hannibal stemmed from their personal conflicts and misunderstandings.

Meanwhile, Will set up innocent people for death every time he chose to save Hannibal, knowing perfectly well that he’s going to keep killing. He dismissed justice for Nicholas Boyle when he realized he’s innocent because it protected Abigail. He toyed with Chiyoh and her prisoner, getting one of them to kill the other, even though Chiyoh has never murdered anyone and Will doubted whether the prisoner is actually a bad guy. This makes it even worse - Will considered the option that this tortured man could be innocent yet he still messed with him carelessly. Will set Chilton up, admitting he did it on purpose; he got all those TWOTL officers killed and didn’t even bother to spend a minute on mourning them; he easily endangered Molly, Walter, and Alana with her family by conspiring with two dangerous killers. Finally, he claimed Bedelia deserved to be killed and participated (or likely organized) the attack on her, even though she’s practically innocent when we compare their body count.

WIll is a dark and cold person, no matter how much he hates himself. He simply doesn’t care about human lives as much he would like, so I can’t imagine him worrying about who Hannibal kills as long as it doesn’t interfere with their safety.

He could and probably would set limits, establish some ground rules, but he has his design and he acknowledges that Hannibal has his own. In many ways, he admires it. I don't think he'd want him to discard it.

#hannibal #hannigram #will graham #hannibal lecter #post season 3

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bisexualhomelander · 1 month

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Butchlander - CFHI, if you please.

So, I don't know if you mean this as a pairing ask or as a "do both of them" ask, so my answer will be a mix of that.

C = Cum (where does your muse prefer to cum/have someone cum)

Homelander can and will creampie anything and anyone. I like to think he's become a bit wary about creampieing anything and anyone female after finding out he is not, in fact, shooting blanks exclusively, but knowing him, the idea of adding kids to the family just makes it better for him, so probably not. When bottoming, also prefers to be creampied, because he likes feeling physical proof of someone loving him enough to be inside him.

I honestly 100% believe Butcher does not care where he cums, as long as it's fun for him and his partner. He strikes me as the kind of guy who doesn't put that much importance on the orgasm itself; that's just physical release. The journey there is where it's getting interesting.

That said, I think he has a weakness for cumming in Homelander's mouth - seeing him swallow and also shutting the man up for a while are both big pros of the act.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Oh, Homelander's is anything in the air. As soon as we see him find a partner who also likes it, he immediately goes for it, so I assume that's been a fantasy for a long time.

Butcher is not... thrilled. Thankfully, he can convince Homelander that it's basically impossible for him to actually top in that position because while Homelander can hoist him up into the air, Butcher himself cannot generate any momentum in the air, so Homelander is deterred if disappointed.

We see Butcher fuck on-screen twice, and both times, the women are on top of him, either his wife riding him or Maeve sitting on his dick on the Flatiron table. Given this overwhelming evidence of two, I will assume he likes his lover on top.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

For Homelander, I think the carpet never matches the drapes for two reasons: 1) There is no carpet, this man has zero body hair that is not literally on his head either because he was genetically modified to not have any or because he shaves so damn religiously no stubble anywhere ever manages to happen and 2) He's not a natural blond anyway, so any body hair is bound to be darker than his main (mane?). Maybe canon will answer this question with the much-dreaded jar in S4. It honestly looks blond in the photo to me, so I also dread the idea of Homelander supposed to be a natural blond.

Butcher is a hairy bastard these days. This man does not groom. He clearly did for Becca, but those days are gone, he's waved 'em goodbye, and he can't be, pardon my British, arsed to do anything apart from some trimming here or there. I think Homelander is both disgusted and fascinated. He wishes he could have beard burn so bad.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Honestly, from the things we've seen they are... not that romantic, MOSTLY. Separately, anyway. Again, Butcher was soft with Becca, and she was probably the only one given that Raynor talks about fucking in bathrooms. We've never even seen Homelander have sex in his own room apart from one sad handjob from his burned-to-hell girlfriend, which is not the height of intimacy. But do I think they are capable of it or secretly want intimacy? SURE.

Together, it takes them a looong time to warm up to intimacy given their history.

Homelander starts that tentative journey by being absolutely needy for it and simply forcing the matter eventually by cuddling into Butcher during, and Butcher is just touch-starved enough to let it happen and find he enjoys it. To quote one of my favorite characters of all times, Bella Crawford: forgiveness isn't something you do deliberately, it's something that happens to you, and so the first time they actually 'make love' instead of 'fuck like rabid animals', it takes them both by surprise, and I wanna bet afterwards, they both hide away in separate corners of their respective lodgings and don't talk about it.

#ask game #thank you for the ask!!

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chirpsythismorning · 1 year

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Hi!

I want to ask a question which is eating me since july:

What is the narratively propose of the line "I feel like my life started the day we found you in the woods" ?

Because I am losing my mind on this one. The worst is I don't think it won't came back in s5, not like the painting.

But this sentence makes the all "asking to be my friend is the best thing i did" business a lie! From Will's prospective.

How much Will's lie will affect Mike in s5 is widely discussed, but what will be the consequences of Mike's monologue for Will ?

(Ironically, I don't think Will knew he was lying, he genuinely thought that El loved Mike that much. he genuinely thought that El loved Mike as much as he do)

So what do you think?

Bye <3

I never really thought about it that way, but now that you say it, ouch.

I would definitely say from Will's perspective, Mike's monologue to El contradicted his monologue to him in the shed in s2, and so therefore Mike asking him to be his best friend wasn't the best thing he did...?

Yeah that's definitely going to be circled back to in some capacity.

Honestly, I think s5 is going to be very tragic. So many casual fans expect Will to have this horrible ending based on this trend they've had for Will's character thus far. I think to subvert this expectation a majority of the audience has, the Duffer's are going to go all out... They're going to humor those fans expectations a little bit, meaning they are going to make Will (and all of the characters quite frankly) experience so much pain, that it'll have even the most confident bylers questioning everyones happy ending. And that's what's going to make the ending so gratifying. You can't know joy unless you've known sorrow. Those of us who can soar to the highest heights can also plunge to the deepest depths. Don't mind this very relevant Anne with an E quote because the Duffers are anners.

This season upon season trend of the story sidelining Will, something even most casual viewers picked up on and critique as a bad thing... is literally setting Will up for a perfect ending. Because how would season upon season of a character losing again and again, be satisfying if it ended with him losing, again? Answer: it wouldn't be.

Will's dealt with the shit end of things for years, with s4 reaching new heights of making him feel like he deserves it.

All of this is going to come to a head in s5 with Vecna trying to get Will to join him. We already know that he wants to kill everyone else, except Will... and so, Will clearly isn't a target for him to literally kill or hurt technically, and yet Vecna will do what he has to in order to get Will to feel like he has no choice but to join him.

And I think this quote is going to play a part in Will's experiences over the last 3+ seasons finally being confronted head on in the story.

I also don't think Mike said that, knowing what it implied, otherwise he wouldn't have said it at all. Though I think both Will and El and maybe even Jonathan knew what it implied, and I'm sure it pissed them off a little bit. Like I know El was thinking Mike not only are you a bad boyfriend but your bad friend too because jesus!

This quote could honestly come to bite Mike's ass as well, because seeing Will at his lowest thinking no one cares, is going to make Mike feel responsible, because he's going to realize he played a role in part of Will having those negative feelings about himself in the first place. Actually thinking about what he said and how it made Will feel, and also rethinking other interactions between them, all while potentially finding out about Will's feelings/sexuality, that is going to destroy Mike honestly. Because this whole time they could have been together if he'd just not done those things.

Yes, Mike has made the effort to reconcile with Will in both s3-4 after their fights, but they've never truly confronted the problem. And that's all for a reason.

Because once they do confront the truth, it's going to be hard for them to not want to be together knowing they both feel the same.

But the reality is most stories don't operate like that because it's not satisfying, especially slow-burn romances.

When it comes to slow-burns, it's all about the miscommunication and the will they wont they and the balance of both parties feeling something while thinking the other couldn't feel the same.

But I think right now the story is sort of imbalanced in terms of clueing the audience in on Mike's feelings for Will, in comparison to clueing the audience in on Will's feelings for Mike.

And with s5 going back to s1-2 vibes, it's entirely likely s1-2 vibes Mike is making a return, so there is a good chance they're following through with how a slow-burn ship has to operate, meaning they are evening up the balance of those feelings to make their endgame feel worthy and satisfying.

I do think that quote from Mike's monologue will impact both of them in some capacity, because it also, like you said, questions the validity of Mike's monologue to Will in the shed. And so it needs to be confronted in a way that gives both Will and Mike closure.

And let's not forget about El. She was there the day she met Mike and Lucas and Dustin and she knows it wasn't love at first sight. I think she herself has had a similar understanding of their meeting as Mike does, where it wasn't fate, that they just got lucky basically and it worked out for them. And yet she had strong feelings for him that grew over time. And so him saying that even probably upset her a little bit, because she knew it wasn't true even from her take on things. And so why would it be true for Mike who has been incapable of saying i love you to her face, ever?

This rose-tinted lens on their relationship from the beginning by the people around them, society and most of all the audience, is what put them in this position in the first place. They need to acknowledge the truth with one another (without Will mediating) so that they can actually move on and grow and be friends in the way they truly want to be.

Season 5 is definitely going to be a wild ride from start to finish, and even if it feels hopeless in the beginning, it'll all be worth it. Trust!

#stranger things #byler #st5 predictions #stranger things theory #stranger things meta #will byers #mike's monologue #shed scene #piggyback

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spacedlexi · 2 months

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you said that you "need 2 characters to deeply care for each other and positively impact each other for me to want to ship them" so which of the twdg canon ships do you actually think work/make sense? and by canon ships i mean like actual established relationships, implied relationships or perhaps a character that was crushing on someone else before death.

me immediately blanking on every relationship in twdg upon reading this ask

the only one i stand behind with conviction is clemvi. idk if you need me to explain why i feel like ive done it a million times by now 👀 but yeah theyre the only relationship i "Ship" in regards to the quote where i see them as a match for each other and think romance makes sense for both parties

as for some "in defense of"s

i'll defend javi and kate. my only Real problem with them is how they handle david in it like girl can you at least take off the wedding ring before we kiss 😭 my brother still thinks youre his wife (plus they did push it Really hard.. but like.. narratively i understand why they did. family is a running theme of the series and javi and davids relationship is like the main conflict). but like. kate and javis relationship Makes Sense. she had a shit husband (who wanted to go back to the army anyway). her and javi already had the beginnings of Something before the outbreak even happened. she was left with javi to take care of 2 children that werent even biologically hers (i enjoy the complex family dynamics in twdg as a whole). and together theyve been surviving for years as a family unit. i think javi having feelings isnt up for debate, its more just will he act on those feelings or will he respect his brother? and like.. fuck david am i right? kate was Not happy in that relationship and deserves better, and javi cares about her. but also the pressure from their dad to get along after hes gone. it all works for me even if it couldve been executed better

and i .... sigh .... Understand gabe and clem. BUT!!! i think they have different feelings towards each other and its an important distinction. gabe definitely has a huge crush on her, shes cool as hell, but i think her feelings in return are fueled by hormones and the fact that she hasnt been around anyone her own age since DUCK (sarah was 15 at the time). like. does she think hes cute? yeah. but he can also be kind of a huge jerk sometimes and acts recklessly. i think its those moments that snap clem out of it lol. seeing this response in S4 felt vindicating im taking it as sad loner clem having a hormone induced crush. like girl yes or no?? this is the most direct option??

personally i dont like them together because i Hate tropes where the more mature girl half has to teach the immature boy half to grow up and be capable and thats somehow romantic. ESPECIALLY in clems case where she is literally already raising someone like her hands are full ok. her assuaging his ego makes me 🤢 girl you dont have to take that second gun just because he was gonna cry about it if you didnt. its just not romantic to me. also i think its soooo funny that clem uses the same tactic on gabe that she does on aj in S4 with the "i need you to watch my back" to stop him from complaining about being left behind at the gate LOL. also i just think he loves his dad too much who clem hates more than anyone on earth so like.. theres that

uuhhh who else... alvin and rebecca are fine. like i have nothing to say about them but i believe their relationship and think they wouldve been good parents to aj. hmmm.... i guess thats it for the ones i have defenses for?? the others just like.. exist. like im neutral

#am i gonna have to make the david kate javi army wife memes myself where are they #me struggling to remember them all tells you how much i cared about them lol #if you want me to explain why i think clemvi Works thats gonna have to be another post i could go all day #my feelings on clem and louis are Nuanced and ultimately i prefer them as friends. regardless the 3 of them become inseparable #louis and violets friendship is soooo so important like more important than most of the romantic relationships 😭 i love them #for me its clemvi + louis. he is their platonic third. the bond louis and vi share is deep and undeniable you cant exclude either of them #i love how much they care about each other 🥺 how theyve been important to each other for Years before clem showed up #its really sweet :') and i believe it too. they love each other #replies with lexi #incognito #twdg

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pinkeoni · 8 months

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I think it's funny how people are saying 'Nancy will want to pursue a career life without a marriage and kids' meanwhile the script says Nancy is supposed to be enamoured by Steve's dream and Steve himself the whole S4, but Natalia tanked the whole romantic dynamic between them with her looks.

I don't remember the exact part of the script that said she was enamored with Steve's dream (I had the scriptgate tag filtered for awhile) but I do remember the point in the actual show (the finished product) where Nancy says that having six kids would be and I quote "a total nightmare."

In your defense anon Nancy does seem enamored with Steve's dream and says that it "sounds nice" although it's only regarding the bits about road tripping to national parks, not the bit about marriage and kids that you brought up, anon.

When Steve brings up to Nancy that he pictures her as the mother to his six kids, she gives him this look—

Now to me this doesn't look like someone who is happy to hear that Steve has her in his dreams for the future, but instead, someone who is torn on having to break the heart of someone she cares for deeply because she cannot fulfill the role that he wants her to.

Although I am glad that you brought up Nancy's oddness with Steve this season because I won't deny that is there, but I do think there is a very, very simple explanation for it and it doesn't have to do with her being in love with him.

In the cross-cutting scene between Argyle-Jonathan and Nancy-Fred, we get this line from Argyle—

—which then cuts to Nancy responding to something Fred had said off-screen.

Would it be unreasonable to suggest that Fred said something similar to what Argyle said? And if so, is it unreasonable to suggest that maybe Nancy has similar wants to Jonathan?

The most notable moment where Nancy shoots a glance toward Steve is in the boat on the Lover's Lake, which is followed up immediately by this moment of Max looking at him through the binoculars.

Is Max in love with Steve? Of course not, but he has a nice body and Max has eyes. tl;dr—

Nancy wants hanky-panky

#btw im not shaming nancy for being attracted to steve cause like come on #regardless of my personal lack of attraction to joe keery i know that in universe steve is supposed to be a hunk and very attractive #also anon i was a little confused by what you meant by 'natalia ruined it with her looks' so i didn't address it #although it is a little comical to suggest that actors themselves can just derail a storyline if they want to purely with their acting #choices as if they arent being directed #can we pls stop using the scripts as a gotcha as opposed to what is on screen #anon #asks #anti stancy #stranger things

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can-i-ship-in-queering-peace · 2 years

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Okay I have yet to see anyone use the comment Finn made about this season to back up that Byler won’t be unrequited. I figured I should bring it up to help others like me spiraling back n forth on the matter.

So (in the video interview I saw and will try to find) he mentioned it being “like the ending of Schitt’s Creek”.. which is legit about a Pansexual man being some dudes first guy that he’s with and they are quoted saying something along the lines of:

Guy who has never kissed a guy but likes him back: “I’m finally feeling the feelings you’re supposed to”

Guy who has been confirmed queer who kisses him because other one was too afraid to:“I never kissed someone I cared about”…. //never fell in love (Will says he’ll never fall in love)

Props to @inveinity for finding it!!! LIFE SAVER LOVE YA OWE YA! If anyone can find the video though that’d be great cause it has the quote I need. But it’s from this interview

I’m sorry y’all life’s been busy and I still haven’t been able to find the interview vid. But can we just. Like from S4 onward thus far it’s soooo Byler energy in Schitts creek. Got a vid of this part cause I kinda freaked with how perf the vibes are tho. He knew what he was sayin in that interview cause literally WHAT ELSE COULD HE HAVE MEANT!?!?!

(Further updates as I’m finishing it. Stevie seems to be the El character and she’s super sad and wears flannels and is like “WHAT ABOUT MEEE!?! Why can’t I find love!?!” And it’s heart breaking but she’s finding herself some and what she wants and her voice (literally lol) and confidence on her own.) the guy who this was a first for also had a fiancé before this sooo serious relationship, but again it never felt right.)

I’d also like to say the way they direct/write the show (for this main ship) is similar in the way where what they hint at is subtle and you really wouldn’t catch it if you aren’t good at noticing things like that. Like all the details Bylersss pick up on!!!!

#byler #will byers #mike x will #byeler #will x mike #mike wheeler #byler rights #byler is canon #mike/will #will/mike #byler is real #byler is endgame #byler evidence #byler season 4 #byler s4 #cisiqp

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erikiara80 · 2 years

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ST analysis/S5 theories Part I: Will and Henry - parallels and differences

I started making theories on S5 the moment I finished S4. It was so good! Of course, theories should be fun, and they come from my immense love for this story and its amazing characters. If what I speculate doesn’t happen, no problem. I just hope the story is good. That being said, let’s have fun!

There are so many theories to discuss and analysis to make. Where the powers come from, Will and Eleven, the parallels between the two Byler relationships (Nancy/ Jonathan, and Will/ Mike) and so much more! But today let’s talk about my favorite character, Will Byers. He didn’t have much to do this season, but his scenes were among my favorite. Some of them were so beautiful and heartbreaking. Noah Schnapp is such a talented actor. But more importantly, some of the most shocking reveals of the show that we got in S4 involve Will directly. That’s why they had to send him to California, imo, or it would be even more obvious. This proves his fundamental role in the story and in the last season of Stranger Things. I’m talking about Henry and Will’s parallels, the Upside Down being stuck at 11/6/83, the day Will went missing, Dustin telling they needed Will, and Nancy mentioning how he found a way to communicate with his mom with the lights. They really wanted us to think about the mysterious week he spent there alone. And for good reasons.

1. Parallels between Will Byers and Henry Creel

They’re obvious and very deliberate. From the words to describe them (sensitive kids), to their clothes and love for drawing. The writers went out of their way to make us notice how similar they are. Of course, it’s important for the story.

Two sensitive kids who love drawing

Almost the same clothes

They both drew the Mind Flayer.

Both Vecna and Will are called wizards. The password to enter Castle Byers in S1 is Radagast, the name of one of the wizards in The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. Also, notice the flames on Will’s cloak. Flames, fireballs. The only thing that can hurt the creatures of the UD. Coincidence? I think not.

Hopper, in S2, asks if they can kill the Mind Flayer with fireballs

Even the littlest details show the clear connection between them.

Will in his classroom, in Lenora. Behind him, the name Henry

Henry’s infamous grandfather clock. The name of the manufacturer: Williams The clock was important in S4 and will be even more important in S5 (the theory on why is here )

So yeah, we get it, Duffer brothers. Will and Henry are similar (cough, and they both have powers, cough)

2. Differences

Henry didn’t have a loving family. His father seemed to at least care about him, but they didn’t seem close. Henry calling him blind and dumb could mean that he didn’t see many things, not just that he lost his eyes. Henry’s mother despised him and wanted a doctor to lock him up to fix him. And I’m sure he didn’t have a bond with his sister, who probably considered him a freak. Henry was a lonely, kid, like he said, deeply misunderstood, and when he realized he had powers, he didn’t have anybody who could guide him or stop him. So he started to use them to hurt others. He became a predator. He said: But for good. So he didn’t just kill for fun. But that doesn’t change the fact that he chose violence.

Will has an awful dad, but he has a loving mother and brother. He has friends he loves fiercely, especially Mike. People who would do anything to protect him. And Will’s so selfless that he was even worried about Jonathan’s hand, when he was the one who’d almost died in a scary, alternate dimension.

So why showing us how similar Will and Henry are? Some people think it’s foreshadowing of Will becoming like Henry. I disagree. We know that in S5 Will will have a huge role, but it’s going to be, to quote the Duffers, “the beginning of his coming of age”. I doubt they want him to be possessed again and start killing people. He’ll be a hero, not a villain.

Anyway, I think it is possible that Will only has vague memories of what happened to him in the UD. I’m sure people told him what he did, about the lights, the cassette player, the phone calls, and he was just like, hm, yeah, I did those things. It wouldn’t be too strange. In S2, Lucas told Max that Will didn’t want to talk about his experience. And let’s be honest. Has anyone ever asked him how he was able to almost open a gate in his living room? Or how did El recognize him from that pic? They never answered those questions. So maybe the answer in S5 will be something like: We were so focused on saving you, that we never really thought about it. Or, you always said you didn’t want to talk about it. And Will could say that it was all confused and he just remembered he was always cold and scared.

Maybe he can’t remember because of the trauma. Like El forgot about Henry and the massacre. Or it could be something that was done to him. To let him stay dormant until Vecna or the MF needs him, once the UD starts to merge with our world. Will literally said that to Max and Lucas in S3, when they were talking about the Flayed people: “It’s like you’re dormant.” The actor who plays Henry said that Vecna and Will have history. So, in S5, Will could realise that he knows more than he thinks and will need to remember every detail about those terrifying days. And in doing so, he will find the answers they need to win.

S5 SPOILERS

From some bts photos, we know that someone will get targeted by Vecna, or will have visions, or will have to reliving memories.

Noah posted this pic on IG. He wears the same harness used when Max got Vecna’d in 4x04.

EDIT: It seems that the harness was for the van scene, for safety. But the other pics are still proof that something weird is going to happen, for sure

This is a flying harness.

In the S4 read table we see the actor who plays Lonnie. But we didn’t see Lonnie in S4, so either they cut his scene or they’ve already filmed a few scenes of S5.

And here another bts pic of Noah and Millie at the Rink-o-Mania. Noah wears the same brown shirt. In the actual scene he doesn’t, so this happens later, in a vision. Whose vision? Who knows? Will's? Mike's, if he gets Vecna'd? Look at Millie’s dress. Yep. That’s the milkshake.

But even tho we don’t know what these pics mean, the hints throughout the whole show are clear: Will is important and has a deep connection to Henry, the Mind Flayer and the UD, because he has powers too. And this is one of the biggest surprises of the show.

3. Will wasn’t just a random victim and the kidnapping scene proves it

How:

The Demogorgon’s attack is different

The door opened with telekinesis (no creature in the show has ever used that power. Not the Demogorgons in S1 and S4, nor the demobats or demodogs. They could include that element in other seasons, but maybe they didn’t because they decided it could actually mean something)

The shed’s light (this detail comes back in S4. In the Creel House)

1) It really seems that the Demorgogon specifically targeted Will, because after the kidnapping we learn that the monster chases preys that are bleeding: Barb, the deer, Jonathan and Nancy, the government men (at the school, Mike even says twice: “Blood! Blood!”) But the monster never really attacks Joyce. Imo, because she wasn’t bleeding. The Demogorgon just didn’t want her to help Will. And Will wasn’t bleeding either. We have confirmation from Hopper. When he finds his bike, Joyce explicitly asks if there was blood on it and Hopper says there wasn’t.

We also know that, despite the fact that he wasn’t bleeding, the Demogorgon followed Will for a mile. We know it was a mile because at the funeral Jonathan shows Nancy a map of Hawkins. The writers started the show with Will’s kidnapping, when we knew nothing about this world and this monster, and then spent the rest of the season showing us what the Demogorgon does and doesn’t do, how it attacks its prey, and what attracks it (Mike at school: “Blood! Blood!”) The Duffers never openly told us there was something weird about Will’s kidnapping, or that Will was somehow special. They showed us that his kidnapping was different from the other attacks.

Will’s kidnapping was important for the plot so they made it as mysterious as possible. True. But it’s also what they did AFTER S1 that, imo, confirms that what happened to Will was actually different. They could add information, details in later seasons that made that scene more like other attacks. But it never happened.

On the contrary. At the end of S1 Will dies. So it seems he was just a random victim, right? But then in S2, when the Duffers said they planned out the rest of the show, suddenly Will tells Owens that this evil he’s seeing in the sky wants to kill everyone but him. Maybe, since he survived, Henry/Mind Flayer thought wait a minute, can we use him again? Sure. Or maybe Will’s “death” means something else. Because we know for sure that he wasn’t just a random victim like Barb or the other people. The very world he was trapped in apparently is stuck on the day he went missing (and not when he was intubated) That means that whatever being was in control there, the MF or Henry, they knew that something big had happened. And I refuse to believe they didn’t know it was Will. So, simply killing him and let him rot... Nah, not possible. Even if they wanted to kill him, it was for some specific reason. Stealing his powers, turnng him into an undead (He’s not breathing!) a creature of the UD. A... Zombie Boy the MF could control. We’ll see.

All of this, of course, makes me think that the Demogorgon showed up in the middle of the street to kidnap Will.

He was targeted because he too is sensitive to (the Force) powers. He had the potential. Like Henry when he was 12. Will’s not an experiment or the child of someone who was part of Brenner’s experiments, like El. I think Henry and Will’s abilities were directly activated by the source of the powers itself. The UD/Mind Flayer. Henry’s in 1959, in his house. Will’s in the UD, on November 6th, 1983. That’s when his life changed, in many ways.

2) I read the theory that it was El who opened the Byers’ door with telekinesis. That the Demogorgon was actually chasing her, she saw Will, (the reason why she later recognized him in the photo), but didn’t help him because she was scared. I disagree. It wasn’t her at the door. It was the monster. Will saw its tall shadow in the door’s glass. He heard it growling and on the phone when he tried to call 911. Plus, there was no reason for El to open the door in that moment.

But it’s interesting that no other creature has ever used that power again. Not even Billy and the Flayed. My theory is that the Demogorgon in S1, as the only creature El touched when she opened the gate, kinda absorbed her powers, like Vecna did when the MF bit her in S3. And that’s also why the monster was also able to temporarily open small gates. Something we’ve never seen again. Also, in S2 and in S3, we see El opening a lot of chain locks (the Byers’ too, in 2x08. Same shot!) imo to make us make the connection that the Demogorgon was in fact using her powers in S1. But the point of this moment, imo, is that the monster could smash that door and grab Will. But it didn’t. And I find that detail very interesting.

3) More thoughts on the Demogorgon. I know that it first killed a scientist in the lab, so it may seem that it wasn’t there for Will. Well. We already knew it was there to kill people. It also attacked Barb, two hunters... It wasn’t always at the Byers house in the UD during that week. But the Demogorgons in S1 and S4 we saw were always ferocious. They growled and screamed. Only the one that got Will was quiet. Also, the bike light flickered just a moment before Will saw it. I think it’s because it had just opened a small gate in the middle of the street. It totally makes sense to think that it knew Will was coming.

Oh, one more thing. Nancy saw the Demogorgon at Steve’s and the monster was so close that she noticed it didn’t have a face. But it didn’t attack her. Maybe because she wasn’t bleeding? Or because it wasn’t hungry? But it did chase Will for a mile even tho he wasn’t bleeding. And if it was hungry, I bet it would’ve been much more aggressive.

The only season that seems to imply that Will was a random victim and is not special at all is S3, the season when he feels ignored and says that the MF has found “another me”. Billy.

Now, of course possessing Will again would be too risky anyway. He knows what the MF is and they could try to stop it again. But also, in that season Henry just wanted to get El’s powers and killed her. And he needed the Flayed’s bodies to build the Mind Flayer. So imo, Will being ignored doesn’t mean that he’s not important.

Then, in S4, we got some big surprises. The introduction of Henry, who has many parallels with Will, the huge reveal that the UD didn’t always look like that. And that is even stuck on the very day Will went missing. And not just when El opened the gate. But the exact moment Will vanished, at 8:15 pm.

We know that’s when the Demogorgon got him, because Karen told Mike he had to go to bed at fifteen after (eight) And when Joyce calls her the next morning, Karen tells her Will left just a little bit after eight. So, at 8:15 he was in the shed with the Demogorgon. And the UD being stuck at that moment is definitely important (also Will keeps have visions of the MF at 8:15 pm, even tho when he was filming Mike it was actually 8:04)

So.

The only way I could accept this coincidence is if they explain it as a parallel with Henry, who also happened to move to a town and into a house where the veil between our world and the UD is probably thinner. And that’s why he was able to sense the UD and draw the MF, and how his powers were activated. If that’s the explanation on how Henry’s powers were activated, because he moved into the only house where he could develop his hidden abilities, then, maybe, I can accept that Will was going home that night, and since the lab was near, he just met the Demogorgon. And then, when he arrived in the UD and had a direct contact with it, like Henry with the MF when he was a kid, his powers were activated too. But that’s the only coincidence I could accept, kinda. And I still prefer the idea that the Demogorgon followed him for a mile because it knew it had to get that kid. After all, there IS a big difference here. When Henry communicated with the MF there was no open gate. In 1983 there was, plus at that point Henry Creel was in the UD with the MF. So we’ll see...

But back to the it wasn’t a coincidence theory

To sum up: the kidnapping scene breaks the pattern of the Demogorgon attacks, suggesting that Will is not like the other victims. The Demogorgon being a bit too quiet, almost “delicate” with him. The door opened with telekinesis. The clue of the light in the shed getting brighter and not flickering, like the lights in the Creel House’s attic where Nancy and the others find Vecna. So they only broke the pattern with Will. And after S4 I believe that the vanishing of Will Byers was different because someone in the Upside Down wanted him specifically.

I think there have always been hints that Will has powers, but every time the writers gave us plausible explanations for the things he could do, like Truesight and the neck tingle: him surviving in the UD for a week in S1, and being possessed by the Mind Flayer in S2. Sure, it was strange that he’d managed to survive alone, for six days, in the Upside Down and that the Demogorgon didn’t kill him immediately. But with what we learned about Henry and the UD it all makes more sense...

Bonus:

S2 - Owens talking about the “virus” that was infecting Will (aka the Mind Flayer)

S4 - Here he was talking to El

Hm, but at the very beginning of the season we have this. Look at the poster in Will’s room. What could it mean? It’s a mystery!

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beevean · 9 months

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hey so ftr i am muslim, and i'd like to add that even giving that trait to n!isaac in particular is hella questionable imo if game!Isaac's whole deal is that he is so fully, mindlessly devoted to dracula's cause that he's willing to commit genocide on his lord's behalf, no questions asked, and because they do mostly keep that characterization with him in the show's version, once you tack on the 'muslim' trait it gets problematic, fast. it basically amounts to a really stereotypical post-9/11 islamophobic caricature of all muslims being war-mongering jihadists, so blinded by and justifying atrocities committed with 'faith'. and the fact that they also kept n!isaac as being especially sadistic doesn't help with the comparisons to the taliban or ISIS - if they were trying to be clever and expand from "CHURH BAD" to "ALL RELIGION BAD" message, they well and truly fucked it up and n!Isaac ends up being terrible representation

like, i used to be just kinda "meh" towards n!Isaac in that he's not really as impactful as the original Hector and Isaac's characters since he has such a middling stance and really not much on-screen development to even get to that point, but after connecting these dots i actively dislike him. just...what the hell was Netflix thinking??

Thank you for your input! I don't want to speak on behalf of others so I appreciate your insight :)

Another thing is that it gets emphasized in the mangas that Hector and Isaac are heathens? Blasphemers? They create life which is literally copying God's work?? Hector in the MF manga goes for a whole page about his disillusionment with God:

And Isaac in the PtR manga sarcastically reassures Hector that all the people they've killed "will go to Heaven soon", with an implied "we won't".

They're both sinners, and they're aware of it. Hector feels guilty about it, Isaac couldn't care less because Dracula comes above all else. Neither of them have a reason to believe in any religion - not even Hector regains his faith in God, even after falling in love with the religious Rosaly.

Sure, this is all about the Christian God, but I doubt N!Isaac would be treated any better by other Muslims of the time, would he? He's still a necromancer. He's still sinning left and right. Why would he believe in Mohammed's teachings, profess his faith with pride, and still accept to devote himself to a monster hellbent on killing innocents? This kind of deep seated hypocrisy needs care to be explored!

Anyway... yes, you make a good point. As I said, in a vacuum a Muslim anti-villain would be an interesting concept, especially since Christians are not afforded the same intended complexity. As it was done in NFCV, a Muslim villain who twists his Prophet's teachings to justify his self-imposed extremist mission of eradicating human life to "purify the world" is... yikes. Actually, now this quote feels particularly gross:

"Dracula will bring a pure world into being. I believe that. I believe him. I want, of all things, a pure world. A clean world. Where there is only loyalty and only love."

Yeahhhh I can see why he comes across as a jihadist. ew.

Now, sure, he allegedly grows from this, he eventually decides that life is worth living and he'd rather leave humans alone. But it doesn't help that his religion is mostly brought at the forefront of his character in S3, when he's in "humanity sucks" mode, but in S4 there's no mention of his faith.

#anti netflixvania #the more i think about n!isaac the less i like him too #the hype around him doesn't help matters #'best character arc i've seen in television' c'mon now #but even ignoring how unfair it is that fans use him to shit on game isaac... the writing just isn't that good

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luvmagician · 1 year

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Ok, I'll be the one, Fubuki!!

you didnt say which number so i answered all 30 of them

1. My first impression of them

me and GX really had an enemies to lovers arc i could barely sit through the first episode after finishing DM the guitar stings were too much. i did not care much for any of the characters. it grew on me though we are besties now obvs

2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

i think i realized how much i liked S1 nightshroud first bc i love campy and ostentatious femme villains and then my love spread to regular fubuki around the time i got to s4 and then he graduated to a proper Blorbo and well the rest is history…

3. A song that reminds me of them

go fish by cub (ask me no more questions / ill tell you no more lies / about my sweet little trip to the other side) also obligatory fubuki playlist link

4. How many people I ship them with

off the top of my head 4 (ryo yusuke reggie manga!jim) but my interpretations tend to stretch the definition of “ship”

5. My favorite ship of them

idols hehe ^_^ lh4wds couple (lighthouse 4 wine dark sea)

6. My least favorite ship of them

theres not any i particularly dislike to be honest. hes a charismatic guy.

7. A quote of them that you remember

WHEN STAGE LIGHT HITS YOU THAT WHICH IS BEHIND YOU IS SACRIFICED TO SHADOW ! 🌟

8. Your favorite outfit of them

first i have to come out as an turn 60 austin powers cosplay enjoyer so sue me the purple looks nice on him secondly HIS LADY OSCAR OUTFIT!!! I WISH I COULD PICK THE BRAIN OF THE ANIMATOR WHO PUT HIM IN HER OUTFIT SOOO BAD ITS EVERYTHING TO ME

9. Your least favorite outfit of them

nightshroud outift but only when its lit by cool lighting and looks gray thats when its ugly when its lit warm and looks brown its flattering!! see theres a stark difference here!!

10. Describe the character in one sentence

11. What's the first thing you think about when thinking about the character?

“BUKI!!! :)” <- too happy to formulate coherent thoughts

12. Sexuality hc!

little bisexual weirdo

13. Your favorite friendship they have

manjoume and him are so sweet and funny thats his little guy. thats the chihuahua to his valley girl

14. Best storyline they had

season 4 makes me screammm its about absence as a presence its about how running from something only gives it more power over you its about confronting the horrors and chosing to live with them instead of dying to escape them…

15. Worst storyline they had

the jokes around his treatment of asuka in the show proper arent Great but i have a thick enough skin to slough through it… that being said the flanderization he endures in the spinoff games especially cross duel SUUCCKKK the “trying to marry off my bitch sister” jokes werent funny in 2004 they arent funny now STOP TRYING TO BRING THEM BACK. even more of a bummer bc i think his love for love and romance are such endearing parts of his character seeing them flattened down into bad jokes makes me -___-

16. childhood headcanon

regularly held concerts for an audience of his stufffed animals drew flyers to hand out and everything it was a whole production.

17. What do you think their first word was?

he needs attention. something attention grabbing like “HI” or “HEY!” or “ME!” something like that

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

he was just as outgoing and chipper but also.. yk he was an emotional feminine kid with long hair who didnt like conflict and kids are mean.. but i think asuka looked out for him a lot and beat up his bullies

19. The most random ship you've seen people have with them

fubuki/shoji (manjoumes older brother) is so funny. i love it btw i think its such a serve and there are interesting ways you can spin it like yess fubuki chase the childhood you barely got to live by hooking up with a man who looks eerily like your highschool protege and maybe gold dig while your at it

20. A weird headcanon

i think him and asuka grew up in the middle of bumfuck nowhere (nowhere near the ocean he just picked up surfing really fast his freshman year) and them and the marufujis have a lil country mouse city mouse thing going on. and i draw him with rubber bands on his fingers to help with his memory issues :)

21. When do you think they were at their happiest?

freshman year of duel academy he was on top of da world baby

22. When do you think they were at their lowest?

the almost two years he spent in the nihilism nightmare depression hell dimension or the day he found out Prince died

23. Future headcanon

he does acting and entertainment dueling and shows up on variety shows and keeps teasing his album but refuses to release it until he he can get asuka to feature on a song. if he did ever release music all his music videos concepts would have a rich interlocking story ala the loonaverse

24. What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

he dodges questions about the darkness BIG TIME and even lies about like the time he lies to judais face about how oh im fine :) the darkness isnt in me anymore :) he really doesnt want to worry people i think he goes to his grave with just how much his time there sucked and how he suffered afterward. i dont think he would ever tell ryo or asuka how bad it really was

25. When do you think they acted the most ooc

this is hard hes on screen like 4 times

26. When do you think they were being "themselves" the most?

fubuki is always himself even at the absolute height of his performance and apparent detachment from reality because the act of performance is so baked into his character he would not be truly “himself” without it. he is both the mask and the wearer.

27. If they could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who would be the most fun for them to meet?

HE SHOULD MEET JOEYYY i think joey wheeler is his personal hero… also him and ryan akagi from infinity train book 4 could absolutely kick it. two dudes who want to become rock stars and were trapped in hell/purgatory for a while

28. The most unnecessary thing they ever did?

the pensive ukulele strumming to punctuate his revenge monologue to kagemaru

29. How do you think they would be as a parent? (and if they are a parent, how do you think they would be if they weren't?)

I THINK HED BE A GREAT PARENT !!! a bit overbearing and doting but only bc he loves so so much.. hed be so good with young kids until they grow into teens and realize hes cringe

30. The funniest scene they had?

gotta be dropping down from the ceiling to call gay people “taboo and thrilling” and his sister homophobic

if you made it this far.. thank you for indulging my craziness 💖

#fubuki tenjoin #atticus rhodes #ask meme

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