#the random deep lore ooh. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theprinceandagcd · 6 months

Text

home is where the heart is (but God I love the English)

Summary: Alex's relationship with "London Boy" by Taylor Swift is an emotional journey.

Words: 4,026

ao3 link

Notes: via @KeptinOnZeBridg on Twitter: "alex continuously teasing henry with taylor swift's "london boy" and singing it over and over again when they shop, when they get to bed, when they cook, and when their friends are over"

So. Anyway. I'm not entirely sure what this is? Is it a crack fic? It might be a crack fic. I hope you like it anyway. I do :)

----

you know I love a London boy

I enjoy walking Soho, drinking in the afternoon

he likes my American smile

like a child, when our eyes meet

darling, I fancy you

----

Alex wouldn’t consider himself a Swiftie, necessarily.

June has been obsessed since they were little and still in Texas – Alex has distinct memories of her strumming a guitar and covering Our Song repeatedly because it was the only song she learned at the time. When Taylor Swift stopped in D.C. for the Reputation tour the year after his mom get elected, he’d tagged along with June and Nora, dressed in all black at the girls’ insistence to fit the vibes.

It’d been fine. He’d had a good time.

But he doesn’t know her entire discography and only pretends to keep up when someone starts diving into the Taylor Swift lore, like who her best exes are or why there were five holes in a fence in an Instagram photo years ago. Her music is good, and he doesn’t actively want to turn it off most of the time when he hears it – he doesn’t understand why that can’t be the end of the conversation.

Still, when Lover comes out in late August of 2019, only a week after he had to clean cake out of places he never wanted to clean cake out of, he finds himself lounging back on June’s unnecessarily fluffy pillows, Nora and June both curled up near the foot of the bed with June’s phone as midnight rolls around. Snacks are scattered around them, like they’re preparing for some kind of fucking apocalypse instead of listening to a pop album. He’s got his HRH Prince Henry fact sheet open on his lap as they start playing the first track for the first time, because he’s here for the snacks and to make June happy, and he’s supposed to be committing this stuff to memory at the same time.

The album isn’t bad. He nods his head along to some of the songs, taps his fingers in tune with a few, and he doesn’t really offer a lot of commentary.

“Okay, this next one is… London Boy.” He isn’t looking, but he feels June’s eyes on the side of his face. “Ooh, wonder if it’s about your new best friend.”

Alex frowns, glancing up at her. “What?”

“Henry, obviously,” June says, grinning around a mouthful of Pop-tart. She gestures vaguely toward the file in his hand. “Doesn't he qualify as a London boy?”

“There’s at least a ninety percent probability that it’s about her boyfriend,” Nora supplies, unhelpfully, as she rips open a bag of skittles.

“And the other ten percent?” June tilts her head and smirks, clearly enjoying this too much.

“I’d say like, eight percent that it’s Harry Styles.”

“And?”

“Probably at least one percent that it’s Henry." Nora shrugs. "He’s the more attractive option of the two royal English men within a decent age range.”

June turns back to Alex, eyebrows raised high on her forehead. “See, there’s a chance.”

“Just play the goddamn song, Bug.”

Nora throws a yellow skittle at his head. “Boo, party pooper.”

June plays the song, as requested, and it’s good.

Except.

Except it’s a little too... boppy for his taste.

Except now he’s stuck thinking about pristine blonde hair and stupid blue eyes and an upturned perfect nose because June has made the association in his brain before he’d even been able to give the song a chance. He breathes in deep through his nose and stares at the words in front of him and tries to push down the irritation rising in his chest. Random facts about Prince Henry are staring back up at him, mocking him and reminding him that he has to fix this stupid mess that wasn’t even his fault.

Well, not really.

“It was cute,” Nora says once the song has stopped.

Alex just shrugs. “It’s not my favorite. Next.”

He pretends not to see the glare that June shoots at him. It’s easier than trying to figure out why his stomach is in knots just from thinking about Henry.

It's probably just pure annoyance.

----

Taylor Swift has bad timing.

On January 3rd, two days after Henry kissed him on New Years’, Alex is antsy and irritable and needs to distract himself because he's definitely being ghosted. So, he’s trying to get a head start on reading for his classes that don’t start for another fucking week because he has to do something when Idris Elba’s voice comes through the speaker playing a random pop playlist on Spotify.

He hates that he recognizes it immediately, even though he’s pretty sure he’s only heard it twice since it came out. Even more, he hates the way it immediately makes him feel.

His stomach drops and twists, and the book he was holding slips from his hands because they’re suddenly damp and he can’t hold onto it. He fumbles in his hurry to slam his hand on the volume down button of the offending piece of technology, and the book crashes to the floor beside his desk, loud and jarring. The silence that follows offers little comfort, the tune still playing in his head, echoing between his ears.

Reflexively, he unlocks his phone and opens his message thread with Henry, reading back over the texts he’s sent – questions of if Henry is alive and if they can talk and—nothing. No new messages or missed calls or even a fucking like on his most recent Instagram post. That had been a stretch, he knows - a desperate attempt to get anything from Henry, but the radio silence has only continued. It feels like he’s lost something, something monumental, which is fucking stupid because they weren’t anything, not really. Acquaintances, at best. Fake friends, at worst.

It’s what Alex tells himself.

It doesn’t feel true.

He counts out four minutes in ten second intervals in his head and then turns the volume back up on his speaker. Another song has started playing, one that doesn’t remind him of cold air and warm hands on his cheeks and soft lips pressed to his underneath a tree in the White House garden.

It’s another story, he guesses, if that’s all he can think about anyway, regardless of what song plays. He’ll still blame Taylor Swift for the crack in his chest that he presses a hand to as he picks his book back up, opening it up and not comprehending a single goddamn word.

Maybe he should have just let the stupid song play. He feels like shit already, anyway.

----

He plays it for Henry in Paris, just to annoy him.

They’re eating apricots and tarts and laughing curled up together on the bedspread in their robes and nothing else, and Alex gives Henry an airpod and they go back and forth picking songs. Alex pokes fun at Henry’s Bowie choices and Henry rolls his eyes when Alex plays the Beatles, but they’re giggling and it’s stupid, really, how this moment feels stuck in time. He knows minutes are passing and he knows Henry will have to leave soon, but their heads are tucked close together and Henry’s palm is warm on Alex’s leg, and he wishes they could just stay here forever.

Here feels like somewhere else, safe from prying eyes and people who wouldn’t understand. Here, they’re just two boys curled together in a Paris hotel room that are friends, that sort of understand each other, that know what the other tastes like when they come and where to kiss to make the other squirm. It’s a little terrifying, this feeling blooming in his chest and expanding. It feels beautiful and fragile, and Alex isn’t sure he’s capable of not fucking it up.

It would be on brand for him, if he’s being honest.

So, he types the song name into his search bar and clicks play. He cuts his eyes up at Henry with a grin, because this is supposed to be something casual, not something that makes him feel like he might die if he loses it. The song is just silly enough, and Henry rolls his eyes and shoves him away, complaining that he needs to take a shower before he heads out.

He hands Alex back his airpod and gets up, but he smiles at Alex before he disappears into the bathroom. Alex lets the song finish playing as he hears the shower turn on, and part of him kind of wants to take off his own robe and join him. Henry would probably let him, but Alex has already skirted the edge of what this is supposed to be this morning, when he watched Henry sleep and traced the ridges of his spine with his fingertips.

Taylor sings “you know I love a London boy” in his right ear, the other airpod tucked into his fist, and Alex, for just a moment, wonders if he could.

Or if he’d even be allowed.

----

The song haunts Alex on his worst day.

When Henry leaves the lakehouse, the rest of them stay for one more day, like they had planned originally. Alex asks to leave and let them enjoy the last day without him, but everyone refuses to let him go anywhere by himself, and Alex doesn’t want to ruin their vacation, too.

He’s pretty sure he already has.

Nora and June hover around him, and he tries to humor them, but his heart feels torn open and shattered. No, his heart feels gone, ripped from his chest and halfway across the Atlantic by now, probably. He wonders if Henry has cried over him at all, too, or if leaving was easy for him. Has he thought about texting Alex back? Has he stared at their text message thread and considered responding and giving Alex any semblance of an answer? Of a reason?

Does he understand what Alex has lost?

If, he thinks bleakly, he ever had it to begin with.

Alex lets his sister and best friend pull him onto the porch, into the warm sun that does nothing for how cold he feels, and Nora turns on some music, and he tries very hard not to open his Instagram and scroll through Henry’s feed, and he tries very hard not to wonder what he did wrong, and he tries very hard not to cry.

“We could go driving in, on my scooter-“

A broken noise slips past Alex’s lips before Nora can grab her phone and change the song. The door slams forcefully when Alex runs inside, before he's even realized that he was moving, into the room that still fucking smells like Henry. Pain laces through his scalp and – oh – he was pulling his hair. He squeezes his hands into tight fists and presses them into his eyes as his tears start to fall and fall and fall.

He was so fucking stupid.

It’s like he can still hear the godforsaken lyrics even though he knows the song was turned off, taunting him, words about loving British mannerisms and “just wanna be with you”s, and he isn’t sure how he read it so wrong, how he misunderstood the way that Henry had looked at him, how he’d let himself fall in love with someone who never planned on being there to catch him.

He curls up in Henry’s bunk and cries into one of the last things that Henry touched that he still has with him, ignoring June when she knocks on the door, apologizing profusely.

It doesn’t matter.

None of it matters.

----

The song winds up being a comfort when he needs it.

Curled into a seat on a private plane the night after dancing with Henry at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Alex slots his airpods into his ears and plays music to try to calm his racing thoughts. He brings his hand up to his sternum, feels the lump of the key and ring hiding under his shirt and clings to that feeling, that hope.

“I want you to know, I'm sure. A thousand percent."

If Alex closes his eyes, he can still feel Henry’s soft jacket underneath his fingertips, the way his palms had slid into the dips in Henry’s waist as they’d shuffled back and forth around some of the most beautiful art in the world. Or, at least, Alex assumes it is. He didn’t see much of it, too focused on Henry, on making sure he took advantage of every second that he was allowed to hold him, to press kisses into his cheeks and jaw and neck, to love him the way he deserved to be loved.

The way that Alex is going to love him forever.

He isn’t really paying attention to what’s playing, until his brain registers a familiar cadence, and he realizes that London Boy is playing.

It makes him laugh, quick and surprised, the immediate visceral reaction almost making him skip it. But, the song plays, “but something happened, I heard him laughing, I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent” and his finger stops over the button. It’s catchy, for one. It’s true, for another.

A lot of things will probably remind him of Henry breaking his heart in Texas, at least for a while - the lake house, bunk beds, this song. He can't change what happened, but he's certainly changed his perceptions before. He did, after all, spend the first twenty-one years of his life thinking that he was straight and now he has a boyfriend.

Things can change.

He leans back against his headrest and lets the song play, humming along. Cash shoots him a funny look from his seat, but Alex just looks out the window and breathes and creates a new memory for the song – a feeling of elation, of knowing that the future is uncertain except for one thing, the one thing that Alex is more sure of than he’s ever been of anything. Before the song ends, he takes a screenshot of the Spotify app as it plays and sends it to Henry, texting, miss you already xo

Henry’s response is quick: I’m never going to escape that bloody song, am I?

Alex grins. not if you’re with me, baby.

Guess I’ll just learn to love it, then. And then, immediately after: I miss you, too.

----

Henry doesn’t escape it.

June plays London Boy on purpose after the inauguration in January, her grin wide and wicked. Alex lolls his head onto Henry’s shoulder and sings along immediately, poking at his side until that beautiful fucking smile pulls up his boyfriend’s features.

“You’re a menace to society,” is what Henry says, but his cheeks are pink and his lips are warm when he presses them to Alex’s temple.

Alex just buries his face into Henry’s neck, pressing his own kiss to the soft skin there, before trailing up to Henry’s ear and, around a giggle, whisper-singing, “Dahling, I fancy you.”

Henry shakes his head, but his eyes are bright, and his grin is infectious, and Alex just wants to live in this moment forever. His mom and Leo are somewhere – grabbing champagne, he thinks. Nora is curled up on Alex’s other side, and June is sitting on the ottoman in front of them with her phone in her hand, and Henry’s arm is looped around Alex’s waist from where he sits next to him, and it’s everything.

He swallows past the sudden emotion in his throat and then laughs as June and Nora grab remotes and start using them as microphones, serenading Henry until his blush has spread all the way down his neck. They love him, too, Alex knows, and as he joins in with them, singing loudly and off-key, he thinks that this is what Henry deserves – to be loved this fully and wholly and unconditionally and, sometimes, a little comically. Nora leans over Alex’s lap to ruffle Henry’s hair during the bridge of the song, and Alex presses his “just wanna be with youuu” into the crinkle at the corner of Henry’s eye. June fakes a gagging motion, but then she gets up and smacks a kiss on Henry’s opposite cheek, which makes him splutter as he pushes her away.

During the last chorus, he glances over at Alex, as if in need of salvation, but Alex just smirks. Henry rolls his eyes, but the hand around Alex’s waist squeezes as the song ends, and Nora and June devolve into a giggling fit just as his mom and Leo appear with a bottle of champagne and 6 glasses. They toast their wins, all of them, including Henry, who flushes but clinks his glasses with everyone.

They’re all talking over each other and it’s chaotic and messy but there’s still something warm and tangible beating through his veins, comfortable and encompassing. Alex looks over at Henry, who smiles and laces their fingers together like it’s the easiest thing in the world before giving his attention back to Leo, and Alex knows – it’s home.

----

Alex adds London Boy to their move in playlist when they’re putting all of their things in the brownstone, credenzas and way too many shoes and everything in between coming together in a jumble that will probably take them weeks to work through.

But it’s their stuff and their mess, and unpacking boxes with Henry feels nearly therapeutic, like the culmination of everything that they had to go through to have this, a home that belongs to both of them, closets that they share, and decisions that they get to make together.

Henry lets him craft the playlist, which is a mistake on his part, but Alex takes advantage and then bides his time, waiting patiently as they unpack boxes and rearrange furniture and argue over which cabinet the ceramic bowls should go in, which is so fucking domestic that Alex actually kisses Henry mid-argument, fingers curling around the back of his neck as he licks into his mouth. Henry’s hands flutter for a moment around Alex’s shoulders before settling around his waist, and Alex’s grin breaks their lips apart.

Henry swallows, eyes dark. “Um, I-“

“Put the bowls wherever you want, baby.”

The bowls go on the counter, for the time being, as Henry drops to his knees, and they christen their kitchen before they’ve even finished unpacking the first box.

Later, London Boy starts playing while Henry is setting up their coffee and tea bar and Alex is stacking glass cups in the cabinet beside the refrigerator. Immediately, Alex puts the dishes down and grabs Henry around the waist, effectively pulling him away from his work and into Alex’s arms.

“What are you – oh my – Christ, Alex, really?”

Alex laughs as recognition flashes in Henry’s eyes, keeping one hand in Henry’s as he twirls himself around once. Henry’s arm winds around his middle as he comes back, and then he’s rocking back and forth with Alex, silly and perfect and his. Alex is so deliriously happy as he obnoxiously sings the lyrics, feeling like he’s holding everything he's ever wanted in the palm of his hand.

And, well. He guesses he is.

----

It becomes a bit, something Alex always knows he can do to get a smile out of Henry. He’ll play their stupid song, and sing it off-key in Henry’s ear, and they’ll dance around their kitchen or their living room or their bedroom or whatever space they find themselves in. Henry eventually even stops complaining, unless he’s critiquing the accent that Alex sometimes tries to emanate as he belts the lyrics.

Alex adds London Boy to nearly every playlist they have on their shared Spotify account, including their chores playlist. So, it always seems to come on when they’re sweeping their dining room or dusting their ceiling fans or cleaning their kitchen countertops. They always stop, they always dance. Alex always feels like it’ll never get old, the way that Henry looks skyward for a moment and laughs and lets Alex keep doing it anyway. He’s lucky, so lucky, that this is the life he gets to live, with this man that he loves and that loves him, too, even when he’s ridiculous or overdoing it.

Henry never seems to think so.

Once, when Henry is washing the dishes, the song comes on and Alex puts down the broom that was in his hand to wrap his arms around Henry from behind. His fingers trail across Henry’s abs from over his sweater, squeezing lightly. He presses his lips to the shell of Henry’s ear and hums, “home is where the heart is, but God I love the English” in the most exaggerated bubble gum pop tone he can manage.

Henry pulls his lips between his teeth to try to hide his smile. “Your love for the English is singular, you cretin.”

Alex just kisses his jaw noisily and keeps singing, rocking back and forth, and moving both of their bodies in a way that makes Henry fucking giggle, and Alex might spend the rest of their lives trying to get that sound replicated as often as possible.

“You know I love a London boy

I enjoy walking Camden Market in the afternoon”

Henry sighs, finishing the last dish and drying off his hands before turning to rest his hip against the counter. He tilts his head in a way that Alex recognizes, slightly exasperated but endearingly fond. It still makes his heart skip a little in his chest.

He loves that – the way his entire soul still reacts to even the slightest bit of affection from Henry. It’s like he’ll never fully get used to it, even as much as he knows that Henry loves him, that Henry is staying forever. He hopes the thrill never goes away, either.

Alex curls himself into Henry’s chest, still singing along with the song as he stretches up on his toes. Henry kisses him, cutting him off and effectively shutting him up, and Alex melts, reaching up to cup Henry’s cheeks in his palms. Their noses brush together when they pull away. “I love you.” Alex grins. “London boy.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re insufferable.” Henry scrunches up his nose, and Alex leans up to kiss it. Henry rolls his eyes. “But I love you, too.”

----

At the end of the year, when they get their shared Spotify account Wrapped, London Boy is their top played song, because Alex plays it while they’re cleaning, while they’re getting ready in the morning, when they have friends over for game nights, as often as he can. He does it for the sole purpose of teasing Henry, of getting to see the splotches of color that rise on his skin and know that it’s born out of love. Plus, as much as he didn’t like it when he first heard it, he thinks that opinion was based on his feelings about Henry getting in the way. In hindsight and objectively, he was too harsh on it. It’s a good song.

When they go shopping at Target and the song plays over the store’s speakers, Alex’s eyes go wide and he sings it to Henry in the middle of the aisle, and Henry tries to run him over with their shopping cart.

When they get married, Alex adds it to their wedding reception playlist, delighted when it blares through the sound system and makes Henry blush, prompting Henry to pull Alex close and hide his face in Alex’s shoulder, his ring sparkling in the light when he covers his eyes with his hand.

A few years later, when they adopt their first daughter from an agency based out of London, Alex posts a photo to Instagram of Henry holding her, small and wrapped in a yellow blanket that has tiny water spots dotting the top of it from where they’ve both cried on her, captioning it, “you know we love a London (girl).”

June comments both a pink heart and an eye rolling emoji, then texts him asking for caption credit.

After all, she made him listen to the song in the first place.

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwarb #firstprince #alex x henry #my writing #firstprince ff #i actually really like this idk why #i hope yall do too

24 notes · View notes

absol-lutely · 1 month

Note

Cleffa: What is your go-to wish on a shooting star?

Ooh, that’s… you’ve unlocked the deep lore 😁

Quite frankly this’ll get long, so if you’re sensitive to religion/spirituality, this’ll be under a cut. I’m not exactly answering the question, but this is more interesting.

Okay so Hoenni from Fortree, right? Obviously we worship the Trio, especially the Guardian, but they’re not our focus. We’ve always favored the Wishmaker. My parents tell me that the night my mom was told she was infertile, they saw a shooting star and wished for a child in whatever way possible. The next month, the weirdest baby they’d ever seen (my words) showed up on their doorstep, and no one could tell who��d put me there. We like to believe that the Wishmaker brought me to them, since She watches over us all. Obviously I was probably just a random hybridization, it happens sometimes, and certainly an absol hybrid in our highly-religious village would have been treated as an omen and thus handed off immediately. But we don’t need to pretend that’s not what happened to still believe Her influence was helping me reach them. So when I see further shooting stars, I thank the Wishmaker for bringing me to my family, rather than asking Her for anything more.

#pkmn irl #pokeblogging #ic post #//astra accidentally directly states her backstory and then says that obviously it wasn’t real #//lmao #//the things she doesn’t know

3 notes · View notes

insomnia-productions · 2 years

Note

17 and/or 35 for the weird questions for writers 😊

Thank you for the ask!!

35 - my favorite writing rule to smash is anything related to sentence length and structure. with the help of commas, colons, semicolons, and dashes, i will defy the will of the gods and forge sentences that are as grammatically correct as they are indecipherably long

17 - ooh okay i actually have a new wip i haven't spoken about on here, so i'll take the opportunity to talk about it! The working title is Kick The Bucket, and it's a revamp of a plot idea i had back in high school. By "revamp" I mean that I took some sweet, soft romcom characters and turned them into most esteemed assholes

The elevator pitch is that it's a Jerk x Jerk style love story between a living person and a ghost who needs their help to move on. I'll put the rest under a cut -

Since this ask is about lore and minutiae I'm just gonna ramble about the characters and all the niche information I have about them so far. As with all of my characters, they're both based on pieces of me that I peeled off of my psyche and expanded into whole people. If this gets long and rambly.... im sorry i haven't talked to anyone about these two yet and im love them

First: April Anand, the one that's alive. She's a grad student studying medicine (following in her father's footsteps, in more ways than the one). If I had to explain her in the shortest way possible.... April idolizes Spock, but thinks that his biggest flaw is being too emotional. She's one of those people who thinks that being pragmatic and emotionally detached is the only way to be intelligent. Consequently, she's also very arrogant and firmly believes that she always knows best. Naturally, she would rather die than admit to being vulnerable or Having Feelings. Her general rule is that if she ever has an emotion, no she doesn't. Underneath it all, though, buried so deep that she isn't even aware of it herself, she's exhausted by her own expectations, and she's afraid that she isn't a real person, that there is no extant part of her that was not crafted by the expectations placed upon her. She's afraid that she'll always be alone.

A random collection of facts about April:

Her movements are often sharp, decisive, and forceful, especially when she's annoyed or angry.

Calls her parents once a week for updates on how her 15-year life plan is going.

Deals with stress by working harder

When she's frustrated at herself for being unable to do something right or not being able to focus, she gives herself a single hard, sharp, controlled slap and keeps going

If she analyses the data and concludes that she was wrong about something, she will readily admit it. She'll never apologize, though.

I took an MBTI test for her and got ISTJ

If I were to assign her one of the five primal fears, it would be Loss of Autonomy, but also Fear of Mutilation

Her favorite flowers are sunflowers.

She's very good with makeup and enjoys wearing it. She likes the idea that she can so completely control her presentation and the way people perceive her. At the same time, though, those moments of transformation make her uneasy, the idea that she could be someone other than the person she has made herself, that she contains multitudes beyond what she was crafted into.

Second: November Niran, the one that's dead. November was a renowned violinist in the world of classical music - a child prodigy, trained by his parents, both failed musicians themselves. He's also exceptionally vain and self-absorbed. He's lived alone since 19, when he essentially disowned his parents. November is just as arrogant and averse to vulnerability as April -- but where she is genuinely very self-assured, November's self-aggrandizing and somewhat narcissistic demeanor is mostly just a front for a deep insecurity and self-loathing. He's a chronic over-thinker, picking apart every thought and feeling he has, and he is deeply, crushingly lonely. November claims that he can't move on because he never fulfilled his bucket list - but really, it's because he was unable to form a single genuine human connection, the only thing he really wanted to do.

Facts about November:

(TW for suicidal ideation and mentions of ambiguous suicide in the final bullet point)

His surname means ‘never ending’. So his name kind of means ‘never ending November’, which has two different levels of meaning- one referencing November the person, and the other referencing November as the last month of autumn.

He turns more translucent when he's upset or embarrassed and will phase straight through the floor to get away

He composes his own music, but never had the confidence to perform it

He's actually an excellent gift-giver, when he tries.

His primal fear would be Fear of Separation

His favorite flowers are daffodils.

When he was alive, he had a recurring dream of standing on the lake shore, or at the beach, or on a cliff, watching as a great incoming wave rose far above his head, blotting out the sun.

November died by drowning in the lake. When he was alive, he used to stand at the end of the dock imagining what it would be like to sink into the cold silence of the water. The idea of not existing anymore unsettled him, so he never really intended to do anything other than imagine it. Now, though, he can't remember exactly how he drowned. He doesn't think he would have done it, but he can't stop thinking about it.

The story follows the two of them as April tries to exorcise November, or otherwise get him to move on and stop haunting her house. I wouldn't say that they improve each other, but along the way they adjust to each other's unique brand of terrible, and eventually fall in love. It's kind of bittersweet that way, because once November gets that genuine connection he's been longing for, he's finally able to move on, leaving April behind.

I've... definitely rambled enough for one post so I shall leave you with this cover I made for their Spotify playlist. oh and their Spotify playlist lol. i Cannot draw but i think this image does give a general idea of the vibes

#ask game #ghost jerks >:]

4 notes · View notes

fagtainsparklez · 3 years

Text

some good quotes from ranboo’s server tour

“here we have the community house, or as it’s called, one canon life left”

“it has a lot of crafting tables because the people on this server are Immature”

“you know it’s bad when the holy land is like, one of the least holy places. i’m pretty sure i twerked over there”

“you’ll find that a lot of things on this server are unfinished, much like the creators’ hopes and aspirations”

“getting married on this server? why does anyone do that? oh. ooh. nevermind that actually.”

“just like some people’s plot lines on this server, it’s full of holes”

“speaking of slashes with swords in the chest, let’s head over to l’manberg!”

“a lot of things blow up on this server. both careers and, well, nations”

“and here’s the floating christmas tree!” [deep sigh] “you know i don’t like this server. i really don’t like this server.”

"speaking of randomly edgy for no reason, let's go over here" [enters panic room]

"there are about three steps in this server about being bored: 1. start a random little lore bit for fun 2. go mining 3. build a random giant tower 4. start a religion"

"i mean, does anyone really know where the badlands is anymore?"

"and now here we have the ever-changing statue of skeppy. this actually used to be a giant [CENSORED]."

"dream's in [the prison] and he has a lot of subscribers. that's why he was put there, actually"

[unintelligible crying over michael]

"there we have more capitalism"

"here's a museum so we can see all of our server's past mistakes!"

"and if you press THIS button, people on twitter will start to get mad"

"here we have the stages of l’manberg: exploded, exploded, and exploded even more, with egg this time!"

"here we have the women x3 sign. it's good to know that there's at least three women!"

"here we have emotional attachment number one, emotional attachment number two, emotional attachment three, emotional attachment four through fifty-" (this goes on until emotional attachment fifty nine)

#mcyt #mcytblr #dream smp #ranboo #ranboolive #icarus speaks #this man is a blessing #these aren't even all of them there were so many more #long post

2K notes · View notes

sketchingtons · 3 years

Note

Some bernard headcannons!

I think he should also like cars so he and tim can bond over being gear heads(? is that the term).

Bernard should know an absurd amount of random historical facts. Like all his facts are correct, but then he uses them to fuel the craziest theories. Also so he could vibe with cassie.

I don't know why but I really like the idea of him gardening. I don't know, maybe something about both tim and bernard finding joy in taking care for small pockets of life

Ooh thank you so much for sharing your Bernard headcanons, I am loving all of these!! 👀 ✍️

I love the idea of them bonding over cars and stuff! If I may be so bold as to add onto the idea: you know how when you have a crush on someone and you learn about something they’re really interested in/passionate about so you try and learn as much as you can on the subject so you can actually hold a conversation with them about it? I feel like this was Bernard when he learned Tim liked cars akdhsk-in the end he actually really enjoyed learning about them so now he has a genuine interest in the subject and he and Tim geek out about them together Lolol

History nerd Bernard is also so good!! I can just see him pulling out the most obscure fact about some random historical battle or civilization like it’s common knowledge Lolol I feel like this could be a fun tie-in to the creative writing headcanon too; Like he uses his love of history to help craft his own fictional worlds that have deep and intricate lore/histories of their own! I also love the idea of him vibing with Cassie-I’m always down for Bernard getting along with the core4 members 💕

I also love the idea of him gardening!! I swear we must have mind melded anon, cause Bernard being into gardening/plants was another headcanon I had but didn’t end up including in my original post-pair that with his tattoos and I feel like we got the florist/tattoo artist au wrapped up into one person haha! And omg your line about “both Tim and Bernard finding joy in taking care of small pockets of life” has me like 🥺🥺🥺

#asked and answered #bernard dowd #timber #timbern #dc comics #I love hearing y’all’s ideas thank you so much for sending them!! 💕

59 notes · View notes

itsbootysmackindelicious · 2 years

Text

i’ve had we don’t talk about bruno stuck in my head for like a week so i have a lot of commentary on it

during the song, we hear from pepa, félix, dolores, camilo, and isabella (as well as random townsfolk) on their experience with bruno. however, we don’t hear from julietta, augustin, or luisa, almost their entire side of the family

additionally, we don’t really hear from them much about bruno in general. why are they not sharing their experiences with bruno? unless they simply didn’t have any

julietta has been proven to be one of the most compassionate characters in the movie. perhaps she didn’t jump into the conversation because she understood bruno, or because she never had a bad experience with him, or both. or it could have just been her understanding that they were just bashing bruno more than anything and didn’t want to contribute to that.

augustin may have had little experience with bruno, given that he married into the family as an adult and adults are busy (bruno especially most likely given that he is a fortune teller, and in a town where everyone knows you’re a fortune teller, you’re likely to have a line of people waiting). another alternative is that julietta asked him not to speak for the same reasons she wouldn’t be (see above). he has shown love and dedication to his wife (love encanto dads) so it’s not unreasonable to think he would respect that. he also could have been somewhere attracting bees.

as for luisa, i can’t imagine as the oldest that she didn’t receive a vision like her sister and cousin, but she isn’t shown with any baggage outside of her gift and pressure like dolores does with mariano being in love with isabela. it’s possible she just got a very normal prediction and was satisfied and didn’t feel like speaking.

their absence is very interesting but i can’t see any “ooh deep dark lore” secrets behind it, just regular reasons not to talk shit on bruno, which honestly is the way lore should be sometimes instead of everything needing to be completely dark

#encanto #we don’t talk about bruno #tio bruno #bruno madrigal #bruno #julietta madrigal #augustin madrigal #luisa magridal

11 notes · View notes

ryttu3k · 3 years

Text

Part 2 of my season 12 reaction posts! Find part 1 (Resolution of the Daleks to Fugitive of the Judoon) here!

Praxeus

Thoughts on Doctor Who - Praxeus!

OKAY FIRST. THANK YOU, SHOW, FOR FIXING A BIG ISSUE I HAD WITH THE FIRST SEASON. So they were doing a thing where they’d introduce incidentally queer characters, have a female character mention her wife, stuff like that, only for them to die. This episode had Jake and Adam, married/separated/it’s complicated couple, who face huge amounts of danger, who both come close to dying, but who survive! And have a Big Damn Kiss! And walk off together holding hands! They survived!!

Plotwise, I enjoyed it a ton while watching, although in retrospect it did feel a bit free of danger. The companions were never in true peril because the Doctor can home in on them automatically, and we never got the true scale of the risk of infection, since the only people we saw get infected were in isolated areas. I would have liked to see, for instance, the threat of Praxeus spreading beyond just the very Hitchcockian birds; all of the peril was on an individual level.

Good message, if unsubtle. Mind you, that’s kind of Doctor Who’s thing, and it pisses off conservatives, so all for it, really XD (They must have loved the core relationship in this episode, too!) Like. Subtle doesn’t work. There are literally climate change deniers that exist. Sometimes you actually do have to tell a message with all the finesse of a sledgehammer because .

(Side note, I was deeply concerned when I saw the cowriter was the guy who did the hot mess that was Kerblam!, so at least this was just an unsubtle and kind of questionably written story instead of an actively harmful one.)

The companions: Ryan seems a fair bit more confident on his own? His initial scenes with Gabriela showed that he’s starting to work well even without backup, and picking up the bird proved to be a damn good call. Yaz and Graham were a fun pair, and Yaz got a lot to do when she and Gabriela (again!) got to explore, and I can definitely understand the conflict between curiosity/doing what’s right and safety when it came to the teleport scene. She does seem to be bordering on the reckless. Intriguing!

Minor plot snag - Graham knows how to set up an IV, presumably because of the shitload of time he spent in hospital! …And yet he doesn’t know what a pathogen is?

Friend note!

“fun fact about graham seemingly not knowing what a pathogen is! in my reading of the scene, i saw it as graham knowing what one was. with "Well, I’m glad you asked that…!” he seems like he’s actually sort of pleased with himself, like he’s about to launch into an explanation, and then IIRC there’s a very brief shot at Ryan giving him a Look and Graham immediately changes tone to “…cause I didn’t want to look stupid.” he immediately changes from boosting his own ego to bolstering ryans and im love"

In which case, good shit gooood shit.

SFX - the infection was creepy as shit. The very obviously puppet bird near the lab was hilariously bad.

Apparently the filming was tricky because it was super windy so all the shorts of Thirteen with her hair Like That weren’t planned, it just kind of happened. Love a fluffy ruffled Thirteen.

So anyway. People calling for more plot focus - literally this is the Doctor trying to distract herself and not focus on the plot! This is her avoidance tactic! Emotional honesty? Who’s she? She’ll get back to it eventually, but for now she needs a distraction after being punched in the emotions. Give her that for one episode, c'mon.

Ryan: “…I do a lot of running.”

Graham: “Whatever is giving off those weird readings… is on the other side of that wall!” Yaz: *silently turns scanner around* Graham, not skipping a beat: “…is on the other side of that door!”

Yaz: “I don’t want you to panic, but… we followed one of those things through a teleport and now I think we’re on an alien planet.” Thirteen: “…well, you don’t do things by halves!”

Thirteen: “That’s why you smell of dead bird! I thought you’d changed your shower gel.”

Thirteen: “I’m having half a thought. Ooh, this one tickles!”

Thirteen: “What can I say? I’m a romantic~”

In conclusion, Doctor Who said gay rights.

Can You Hear Me?

Thoughts on Doctor Who - Can You Hear Me?

Trigger warning for discussion of depression and suicide.

You know you're in for a wild ride when iView warns for horror themes instead of science fiction themes.

Overall: at first impression, it felt sort of mashed together? There's 14th century Aleppo, and there's 21st century Sheffield, and there's a deep space station, and there's creepy monsters and dream villains; I do kind of wonder why Zellin targeted a random girl in Aleppo as source for his pet monster, although targeting people like Ryan's best friend makes sense if he's deliberately trying to lure the Doctor to him.

The theme, on the other hand, of mental health resiliance and reaching out, was done incredibly well. Oh yeah there'll be more comments about it - the Guardian described it as 'adventures in Wokeness' - but damn, sometimes you need to hear it. I loved getting more of Yaz' backstory, about being a desperate teenage runaway at the point of being suicidal, and her reunion with the older woman legitimately made me tear up.

But like, goddamn. Her nightmare - she's still hearing that. She's still hearing her sister saying that she should "do it right this time" and that this time she won't call and that no one is coming and holy fuck. God this makes so many of Yaz' scenes incredibly painful in retrospect, knowing that she was at that point only three years before and that she's still dreaming that shit! It makes her recklessness terrifying!

Ryan's nightmare, and his experience with Tibo - it's quite reflective of the Doctor, too. She wasn't there, and Gallifrey burnt. And Ryan is realising this now, and really thinking about the potential future in Orphan 55. I think this is absolutely foreshadowing Ryan leaving at the end of the season (there's been a lot of speculation given Tosin's new TV role), and I think Ryan and Yaz' discussion at the end of the episode was a definite hint in the direction of Ryan choosing to going back to Earth.

Would have really liked Graham, during his talk with the Doctor, to gently remind her that she can talk about her own problems, although I can understand the narrative choice on why she didn't (although, yeah, would have been good for Graham to ask). Because, yeah, if anyone needs a sympathetic ear (...sans fingers) or a shoulder to lean on, it's her!! The entire theme of this episode was like... reaching out. Conquering your fears with the help of others. Sharing your fears to lessen them. Getting help. And the Doctor deliberately... not doing that makes it into an actual Thing that I think is going to seriously be addressed by the end of the season.

It's been such an ongoing theme. A bunch of episodes have started with an obviously depressed Doctor. The Fam has tried to raise the issue multiple times and have discussed it amongst themselves even more. Scenes like Yaz' reaction after being abducted in Spyfall (...which makes her, "I thought I was dead" part even more worrying) and being comforted by Ryan, not the Doctor... her whole reaction to Graham being like, "I'm glad you talked to me but I literally can't do the same in return" - if it's not addressed by the end of this season, it's at least going to have to be an ongoing theme, because it's becoming very deliberate now.

An interesting note: the actor who played Zellin (an immortal manipulator of nightmares) also voiced the Remnants (who were the first to mention the Timeless Child in The Ghost Monument). Coincidence or deliberate?

Assorted thoughts:

"I'm still quite socially awkward." There's socially awkward and there's emotionally repressed... (I saw a description of it on Tumblr as 'weaponised dissociation' and... yeah. And also yikes.) Also the way she was so closed in on herself, basically hugging her arms to her body! On a semi-related note, talking to herself in Aleppo was a bit depressing. Like it's continuing the theme of The Doctor Does Not Like Being Alone.

The finger thing - ew ew ew ew it's in their EARS ewww D:

Stylistic comment: the traditionally-styled animation for the Immortals' game was gorgeous.

"Try not freak out, yeah, but you're on a floating space platform trapped in a gravitational pull between two colliding planets."

"Thanks for lending a helping hand!" Companions just being, "...Doctor p l s."

On an old lore note, loved the callback to Eternals, Guardians, and the Toymaker! On a concerning note, man, the Doctor has so many issues with immortals. They abandoned Jack, there was the punishment they gave the Family of Blood, they had those Issues with Ashildr (from what I've read), now this, an eternal punishment with no chance of redemption, perhaps because she knows what immortality does? Parallels with the Doctor as quasi-immortal too, which Zellin even pointed out.

"You're wrong about humans. They're not pathetic. They're magnificent. They live with their fears, doubts, guilt. They face them down everyday and they prevail. That's not weakness. That's strength. That's what humanity is."

(Contrast: "That's what humanity is." The Doctor isn't human. She's not prevailing against her fears, doubts, and guilt.)

In conclusion, literally everyone but the creepy immortals needs a hug.

The Haunting of Villa Diodati

Thoughts on Doctor Who - The Haunting Of Villa Diodati!

tfw you think you're just going to get a nice spoopy historical and instead get major plot?

Overall impression: Well, Jack is going to be pretty miffed, given that the Doctor had to do precisely what he didn't want to happen - giving the Lone Cyberman what it wanted. To save Shelley, and also to save the future, although that does bring up the question on if the death of one person can rewrite the future, why doesn't that apply to literally everyone? Fletcher the valet and Elise the nurse died too, do their deaths have the same impact? Either way, the Doctor takes the Cyberium for herself - then realises that the Cybermen are inevitable, and returns it. And now she's trying to go and stop them. So... a bit conflicting in the message there, I think.

Yeah. Bit of a Trolley Problem there.

The characters were really fun. I did enjoy seeing Mary's sense of morbidness, but also her kindness and sympathy towards the Cyberman; you can see the foundations of Frankenstein there. I'm seeing some criticism of how Byron was portrayed as a coward, but eh. Nice little callback to Ada. Also I love how one of the rules was 'no one snog Byron'. Put that dirty boy back, you don't know where he's been! Glad Claire realised that too, although historically, she was already pregnant with his daughter at that point (and that didn't go well at all)... Either way. Good display of all these bright young reckless things.

(And yes, they were young. Byron was the eldest at 28. Shelley was 23, Polidori was 20, Mary and Claire were just 18. And while Claire lived to 80 and Mary to her 50s, the three men all died young, too - Byron at 36, Shelley at 29 - yes, from drowning, Polidori at just 25. Also wasn't mentioned that Polidori also created something on that Dark And Stormy Night along with Mary's Frankenstein - he wrote The Vampyre, the first modern vampire story!)

The Lone Cyberman (and I am deliberately using that instead of 'Ashad') - creepy as shit. Not just the whole Frankenstein look, but the way he acted! Not emotionless and blank, but actively manipulative and sadistic! Mary showed empathy and he actively threw it back in her face! I mean, yikes.

House was terrific and also spooky as hell. (Am lowkey miffed that no one went "VIBE CHECK!") The jumbled layout was quite Castrovalva, and I actually really dig that Graham got to see some actual ghosts. Ghostly sandwiches!

I think we got actual confirmation here that Yaz does have feelings for the Doctor? (Bleeding Cool News is pretty sure that it was for Ryan, but... lmao no.) BBCA twitter certainly thinks so!

Claire: "His answers only increase the enigma." Yaz: "I know someone like that." Claire: "This enigmatic person of yours... would you trade them for reliable and dull?" Yaz: "My person's a bit different..."

I MEAN.

(It got deleted. So. There is that.)

Thirteen: "Hmm. Fourteenth... no. Fifteenth century... touch more umami." (Doctor, have you been playing Detroit: Become Human again?)

Mary: "I don't think they're really from the colonies!" Byron: "No, she... is from somewhere much, much stranger." Polidori: "The North."

Thirteen: "YOU HAD ONE JOB."

Cyberman: "You appear courageous. But your vital signs betray a heightened state of anxiety." Thirteen: "Or as I like to call it... Tuesday."

Thirteen: "Yeah, 'cause sometimes this team structure isn't flat. It's mountainous, with me at the summit, in the stratosphere, alone. Left to choose. Save the poet, save the universe. Watch people burn now, or tomorrow. Sometimes even I can't win."

Claire: "You pursued Mrs Doctor without a care for my presence, belittled my thoughts and opinions... and then proceeded to use my person as a human shield." Byron: "...And?" Claire: "And the spell is broken... my lord." Polidori's face: "haha you fucked up dude"

Next week: Shit Hits The Fan.

Ascension of the Cybermen

In lieu of a proper post for Ascension of the Cybermen, here are a list of questions we need an answer for.

Will Graham and Yaz survive, on a giant carrier full of Cybermen?

Who is Brendan, and what is his relevance to the story?

What is the Boundary?

How is Gallifrey in the Boundary?

How was the Master in Gallifrey, and not trapped by the Kasaavin?

Who is Ko Sharmus and why am I getting Yana vibes?

Who is Ashad and what is his story? (And why is his theme such a literal banger?)

Is he an actual Cyberman? Because I'm totally getting this impression he's human in armour?

How did Brendan survive being shot, and why did his non-ageing father and mentor do that?

Why did it look like a chameleon arch?

Is Ethan's tech-savvy just warzone familiarity or something more sinister?

Are there any other large human populations left?

Was I detecting a hint of romantic tension between Graham and Ravio?

What's up with Yaz?

Why did the Cyberium get sent to that time period?

Who or what is this alliance Jack is a part of?

How do the Time Lords and the lie of the Timeless Child come into it?

WHO THE FUCK IS BRENDAN?

The Timeless Children

WELL THEN.

While I gather proper thoughts on The Timeless Children, here are the questions I had from Ascension of the Cybermen, now with answers!

Will Graham and Yaz survive, on a giant carrier full of Cybermen?

Yup! Disguises for the win!

Who is Brendan, and what is his relevance to the story?

Brendan is a filtered overlay memory of one of the Doctor's former lives.

What is the Boundary?

An anomaly, as far as I can tell.

How is Gallifrey in the Boundary?

No idea!

How was the Master in Gallifrey, and not trapped by the Kasaavin?

No idea!

Who is Ko Sharmus and why am I getting Yana vibes?

A big damn hero.

Who is Ashad and what is his story? (And why is his theme such a literal banger?)

We're still not actually sure. Either way, he's an action figure now.

Is he an actual Cyberman? Because I'm totally getting this impression he's human in armour?

Yeah, sort of.

How did Brendan survive being shot, and why did his non-ageing father and mentor do that?

Because Time Lords.

Why did it look like a chameleon arch?

It's probably related technology! If the chameleon arch rewrites memories, this one just wipes them.

Is Ethan's tech-savvy just warzone familiarity or something more sinister?

Just warzone familiarity. Poor li'l bean.

Are there any other large human populations left?

Possibly! If the Boundary really did send them to random places, there still could be surviving pockets elsewhere in the universe.

Was I detecting a hint of romantic tension between Graham and Ravio?

Maybe a bit XD And now they're all on Earth, who knows?

What's up with Yaz?

Who knows?

Why did the Cyberium get sent to that time period?

Ko Sharmus sent it. Didn't send it far enough.

Who or what is this alliance Jack is a part of?

Same organisation Ko Sharmus is part of. Also, young!Ko Sharmus/Jack please.

How do the Time Lords and the lie of the Timeless Child come into it?

In so many ways.

WHO THE FUCK IS BRENDAN?

The Doctor!

More thoughts later!

Thoughts on Doctor Who - The Timeless Children.

...Actually, first thought is the title. Timeless Children? Hmm.

Anyway. That is... sure a literally mind-blowing revelation for the Doctor, yes! Like, damn, the discovery that you're not even the species you thought you were, that your adoptive parent spent lifetimes abusing and experimenting on you, that your memories were routinely erased by people you thought you could trust (including your adoptive parent), that you're literally the progenitor for your entire species, that you've lost who knows how much time and who knows how many memories... yeah. Damn.

What's an appropriate birthday present for someone turning ten million?

Also, huh. Amidst all the old lore and casual mentions (like Borusa!) that got mentioned - were they taking hints from the Cartmel master plan? About the Doctor being some kind of founding figure for Gallifrey? Not exactly written as Cartmel had it, but that big main concept of the Doctor as a sort of... foundation piece of Time Lord culture was still actually there.

Brain of Morbius Doctors confirmed, I guess. I guess even Four was going, "...the fuck?"

Cybermen = still scary. Regenerating Cybermen = felt somehow obscene. Like, no, that's just fundamentally not right. Like the TARDIS responding to Jack by noping the fuck out kind of not right. God. And the Master was completely and utterly magnificently batshit, like, more than usual, come on, dude, you know they'd kill or convert you the second you turned your back.

Still. Deeply, deeply entertaining to watch just from a villain perspective, completely Chaotic, and like... I do understand where he was coming from? His entire life is a lie. His entire life is because of the Doctor, who, I think it's fair to say, he has Complicated Feelings regarding. (Their entire interaction this episode was a giant power play. Like damn guys just get into BDSM and leave the would-be genocide and universal takeover.)

Tecteun = Rassilon, I'm assuming. Goddamn. Like they were a pompous abusive asshole from the outset, this just kind of makes it worse. I also wonder if Rassilon chose the Master specifically to get the drums because he was friends with the Doctor? That actually may have been something the Master worked out himself, too. I mean, I'd be pissed off as well :-\

Also, how many people know about this? I assume Gat knew, since she was implied to be responsible for the mind wipes, but was it like... a super tightly-held secret or was it something a lot of higher-ups knew? Because that's fucked up tbh

Thought on the Master. Okay, he's hugely furious that he's been lied to, that the entire origin of his people is based on a lie, that his greatest friendrivalloveenemy is incredibly special and that a part of her is in him and not in the fun way, but like... I'm also wondering if he's looking at the Time Lords, the way they turned him into their puppet, how they drove him insane for their own purposes, then looked at the Doctor - someone who has also been used, abused, experimented on, manipulated, controlled, and went, "No. This is an injustice and the Time Lords need to be punished for it."

Oh, saw a nice theory regarding the TARDISes - Ruth!Doctor had the original busted police box TARDIS. When she was eventually taken in to be mind-erased, they sent the TARDIS off to storage to be eventually repaired. The Doctor manages to steal that one, goes to Earth, and it immediately gets stuck again because it's still broken. Explains how Ruth!Doctor can have the police box while also being pre-everything.

I really want the Doctor and Jack to sit down and have a nice chat about being timeless undying constants of the universe. Also for Jack to get one of the spare TARDISes around. Be kinda funny if he got the Master's old one, given the Year That Never Was, but it really is just sitting there. (Poor TARDIS stuck as a tree on a random wartorn planet in the far future, though!)

Also, Jodie was fucking magnificent in this episode. The hurt, the absolute fury, the almost glee when she's telling the Master he can't break her, her refusal to press the button at the end (so much like Nine's "coward or killer?" moment!)... just... so good.

Beautiful post I saw here on Tumblr - the Doctor as the Timeless Child, making the choice to help.

Amazing post here on Tumblr about abuse and repressed memories. Even if the Doctor doesn't remember it all, the abuse they underwent at the hands of a beloved parent figure still informs a hell of a lot of their behaviour, but it doesn't define them. The Doctor's need to run = informed by abuse. The Doctor's desire to help crying children = informed by abuse. The Doctor being an inherently good person = being their own person, no matter what their upbringing, no matter what their past was. They made the choice to be the Doctor, and that's a hell of an important thing.

Extremely painful post I saw on Tumblr about the Doctor being 'hip with the kids' by calling her companions her Fam but hell if they're not more family to her than her actual adoptive mother ow my heart.

Also, the scene between Yaz and Graham was so sweet <3 I do want to see Yaz, at some point, admit that sometimes she's so terrified she can barely move, and to tell him what she came so close to doing when she was sixteen, and Graham to just go, "Yeah, but you keep going." Also I'm trying not to think about how Yaz would respond to the Doctor going off on a suicide mission when Yaz was suicidal just three years earlier because ow my heart. She knows that Ko Sharmus went after her, she knows the Doctor might be alive, but either way, she's just seen someone she loves leave with the intention of dying (and Ko Sharmus too, actually). Someone please give her a hug. Actually please just let the Fam have a big group hug in general.

"Have you ever been limited by who you were before?" "Huh. Now that does sound like me talking."

So, remaining questions to be answered next season!

What actually is the Doctor? Since they were found near the Boundary, they could be from anywhere. It's fair to say they now are recognised genetically as a Time Lord, but what were they originally, why were they abandoned in the first place, and are there any more of their original people out there?

How do the Remnants know about the Timeless Child, or were they just picking up on that unconscious knowledge from the Doctor's own mind?

Like... we're generally under agreement that the Master, the eternal cockroach, survived, right? Despite definitely being lowkey suicidal like oh, was hoping the Death Particle would kill me? Like the Death Particle was made by the Cyberium, it could have gone, "Nah, keeping this one."

What's going on with the Kasaavin? Remember them? Still out there, stationed all through time and space? And are we going to see Daniel Barton again?

Is something going on with Yaz?

Will the Fam stay on? (I personally think Ryan will elect to stay on Earth to account for Tosin Cole's new TV role, and if Graham and Ravio enter a relationship, he might too.)

When will we see Jack again? If he was connected to the Lone Cyberman arc, that seems... pretty conclusively finished, unless we're going to learn more about it?

Is it Christmas yet?

............so the Christmas/NY special is going to start with Jack using his vortex manipulator to bust the Doctor out of prison and get back to the Fam and it'll never be mentioned again, right.

"At least buy me diNNER!!"

#doctor who #companion love #best enemies #long post

3 notes · View notes

deathvsthemaiden · 3 years

Note

caress, patter

Gooood evening madam Eve! 🤓💗💓💞💝🌸

Caress - if you were a young adult novel character what is something you carry with you at all times that probably has a deep background we find out about in the second to last chapter when it becomes a major plot point?

I answered this already but it’s such a fun question I an consumed by the possibilitiesss I often hold onto roses for absurd amounts of time... like I went to a wedding and some roses were on the cake and I was allowed to keep a few and didn’t throw them away till I absolutely had to and when I graduated high school each student was gifted a long stemmed white rose and I kept mine on my dashboard for months and months and months after the fact and as far as I’m concerned it was the ONLY good thing I got out of that experience (high school or graduation? You might ask. I deflect) it got so crinkly and sun warmed and I wanted to take a picture to acrylically paint it one day when I finally work up the nerve to buy the proper supplies and I was just. So happy with it there and my parents threw it out w/o telling me 🤬🔪🥀💔!!! Still heartbroken! Anyway it would be so satisfying for anything I hold onto that others deem pointless to serve me later on a fantastical quest 😳! And that includes random wrappers and such I keep pocketed until I’m near a trash can or recycling bin or notice my kid brother leave lying around and keep so I can make him throw it away in front of me next time we’re near a proper receptacle to dispose of it in (surprising him is SO fun and yes maybe this is bullying but I do it w love so like don’t cancel me plz💞💕💕) like yes... reward my integrity and restraint over small things 💝💞💘 also OOH. The question doesn’t say it has to be anything physical! I have random snippets of things memorized and I’d love for that r serve me later too, whether it was religious sayings, lore from my favorite stories, bits of my favorite prose, obscure fairytales etc etc 👀👀📝

Patter - what color are you walls currently painted, and would you change it?

Default factory settings white. White as snow and ice and dandruff and albino mice 🥱😴🤒🤕😐 I was actually gonna get them painted a few years ago! I chose this light pink-mauve color entitled Romance but things happened and it never ended up happening 💔 it’s ok tho.... 1 day 1 day 💝

#asks #💛💜❣️💖❣️💕💖!!

5 notes · View notes

bibliophileiz · 4 years

Text

A (not really) Ode to bucklemming

Last bucklemming episode, and you guys, it was just such a classic example of their stale mediocrity. And yet, at the end of this post, I found myself bizarrely happy with how the episode turned out.

This is the second time I’ve watched it, and while I was planning to just liveblog my thoughts, I realized quickly that would not work, because most of the episode is boring and miserable, (especially the first third or so) and that makes for boring and miserable note-taking. I think I said in a tag of a different post that Dabb assigning this one to bucklemming is just further proof that he hasn’t cared about plot at all this season, and honestly, I don’t know there’s much they COULD have done to make this plot entertaining. Chuck even says at one point that it ... isn’t entertaining.*

The first third or so is basically Sam, Dean, and Jack being miserable with nothing around them break that misery up (except, briefly, a dog). And that makes for a miserable viewing experience. Here are a handful of notes I took that give you the gist:

- Chuck standing there talking about how loneliness and no-people is “deep” and a “page-turner” is such a gratifying little critique of shitty writers who like their gritty stories about permanently miserable protagonists. Like dude, you know there’s a reason nobody rereads “The Road,” right? - Dean slurring his words because he’s hungover is the first time anything interesting has happened with the dialogue in this whole episode. - Rob Benedict is the only one who gets to inflect his dialogue this episode. I do think his acting in that last scene is great, where he’s screaming, “Guys, wait!” as they drive off. It’s not a terrible ending scene.

So there’s that. Now here are my notes not-related to how stale and boring everything is:

Beginning: -The shots of Kyoto and New York City remind me of all the shots in NYT and other major newspapers after COVID shut everything down last spring (except in this case all the traffic would still be in New York, just no people). - “I couldn’t save anybody.” Poor Sam. (must push down feelings about Sam’s leadership arc and how it always seems to end with people dying, ugh, repress, repress!) - Also, I wanted to see a shot of a sink running and one of them turning it off. Just a random thing.

Archangel stuff: - I guess it makes sense to lose Adam if you’re going to kill Michael at the end, but goddamn if Michael isn’t a way more boring character without him. - Ah, Lucifer, a.k.a bucklemming’s attempt at comic relief. I’m starting to miss the boring dialogue. - Ooh, awesome, the only female character in the episode shows up bound and gagged and immediately murdered so she can be used and then murdered again. (Also, the first time I watched this scene, I was sure she wouldn’t wake up and was gearing up to laugh at Lucifer for sucking.) - Jensen stays as far away from her as he can when he unties her, I’m sure that actress appreciates him trying not to give her COVID. Course then she immediately ruins it by head-butting him, which is NOT practicing social distancing. - Many have commented on whether Lucifer can actually kill Death by snapping his fingers. We don’t know, but the Scythe WAS right there, and if Dean can kill Death with it (twice), I’m sure Lucifer can. - On the other hand, it IS established lore that God doesn’t have power in the Empty. Presumably he could negotiate with it like Death, and possibly he just took advantage of the loud chaos of Jack exploding, Death dying, the Empty apparently being super pissed, etc. to sneak in and make off with Lucifer. - Also WHY DO ALL THE ARCHANGEL FIGHTS IN THIS SHOW SUCK ASS???? - “I haven’t been in a battle like that in several centuries,” Michael says, as if he just fought the Battle of the Blackwater in Game of Thrones, and not what appeared to be the archangel equivalent of Mario Kart.

And climax/last scene: - But the best moment of the episode is when they GET BACK UP BLOODY AND HOLDING ONTO EACH OTHER AND ABSOLUTELY BEAMING BECAUSE THEIR LITTLE BOY IS ABOUT TO BECOME GOD. - Also, I like the music in this scene. And it seems like it’s the same place they used to film the end of Season 12/beginning of Season 13, which was probably peak Dabb era, ngl. (Jensen as Michael was also great.) - I also like that Jack and Chuck are both wearing light jackets, but Jack’s is a leeeeeetle whiter. - Chuck looking at the blank book is that moment in every writer’s life, when they’re like, “NOOOOOO, the computer DELETED EVERYTHING I WROTE.” - “Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer” You guys, 10 is Chuck’s favorite season. - Of course it is sweet that Cas’s last words seem to have had an effect on Dean, how he goes from “That’s (killing) all I know how to do” to “That’s not who I am.” I’m far from the first person to point that out though. - What happened to Amara is THE WORST. - Also, I am annoyed that Jack isn’t going home with them, because I really wanted him to be God, and a hands-off one, but I also wanted him to drive the Impala and solve crimes, ya know? - Jared at least seems to understand that this ending is upsetting, because Sam has tears in his eyes, whereas Dean is just kind of like, “ah, he’s leaving.” Which is fine because DEAN AND JACK ARE NOT AS CLOSE AS SAM AND JACK, fight me. - Him disappearing into light is stupid, though. - At least Dean and Sam get to sit close to each other at the end. I wonder if that was the first scene shot after they got out of quarantine. - WHERE ARE THEY DRIVING? - Maybe to go see Jody. - WE GOT BELA AND CROWLEY AND ANNA IN THE MONTAGE HELLZ YEAH, ALSO ABBADON AND ELLEN AND RUFUS, but we also got fucking Asmodeus and Ketch and no Benny, what the fuck, Showalter?

So I have questions.

Some of them are unimportant, like how did people in restaurants at the end react when they found themselves looking at food that seems to have undergone days’ worth of rot in the blink of an eye? Also, you got a shot of a full airport at the end, but that begs the question: were there airplanes in the sky at the time Chuck snapped everyone away, and did they crash, and did the people on them get snapped back into crashed airplanes and was that not super confusing for them and did the airlines lose billions of dollars because all their planes crashed right before COVID shut them down anyway and if all that’s the case is it really any wonder they needed a bailout from the federal government?

But some of them are plot-relevant and could have helped an episode in desperate need of it.

For example, I want to know what’s going on with the Empty, and if Mark Pellegrino had talked about it for more than two seconds, I might not have hated every second he was on screen. Also, there are other things happening this episode. Like Jack walking around sucking life and “power” out of plants catches Dean and Sam’s attention immediately. We know that, because we see them noticing it and exchanging confused glances in the flashback at the end of the episode.

Here’s the thing though: Why not have that in the beginning? It’s not a Huge Reveal, and it would have given Jensen and Jared something to do in that stale boring beginning other than Make Sad Face. As pretty as Jensen and Jared are, and as good as they are at making sad faces, you cannot build an entire episode around that.

Related, there isn’t actually much of a beat in the plot where it makes sense for them to figure out Michael will betray them for God. It seems like it will happen in that conversation between Dean and Michael when Michael expresses his hurt that Chuck let Lucifer out of the Empty before even asking for help. But at that point, it seems Sam and Dean have already come up with their plan. The flashback makes it seem as if they began to suspect Michael would betray them when Lucifer called him a cuck, something I think they made a plot point purely to have the word “cuck” in the episode for the third time.**

There are a few hopeful beats that show that bucklemming understand on some level that there needed to be some flow to this episode, such as the dog and Dean thinking he may have gotten Cas back. But I don’t think those are substitutes for showing Sam and Dean come up with their plan to defeat God. Even if you don’t want to reveal that they know Michael will betray them, you can still get one scene in there of them saying something like, “You think this’ll work?” if you just cut two minutes of Michael’s boring monologue in the church and/or Lucifer’s bullshit.

It follows this weird pattern of bucklemming once again seeming to not find Sam and Dean particularly interesting, so they don’t spend any time writing them DOING anything, or at least succeeding at anything, because they’d rather write Lucifer killing women and generally being an asshole.

So ... who cares, right? It’s bucklemming, they were bound to be mediocre-to-bad anyway, it kind of makes sense for Dabb to give them this episode because nepotism definitely makes it a best case scenario. And while I take issue with Dabb as a showrunner, I do think he’s great at standalone episodes and character stuff, so I’m not too terribly worried about next episode. I just think there were things about this episode that could have sucked less.

There ARE things about it that were fine, dare I say even good. It was in my notes, but I just want to emphasize that I LOVED the shot of Sam and Dean getting up bloody and broken, holding onto each other and grinning their asses off knowing that Chuck’s about to lose to Jack, and they get to see it! They may very well have gone into that fight expecting to die -- Chuck nearly just zapped them from existence, which would have still unleashed God-power for Jack to soak up.

The ending scene is pretty good, with Sam and Dean seeming like they’re still pretty beaten down, but trying to get it together. That’s more Jensen and Jared’s acting than anything bucklemming wrote, but it’s still good. The montage is good (although I will say for like the third time, where. the fuck. was Benny?)

Jensen’s acting over the dog was SO SOFT (doesn’t he have a dog?). I half-expected the dog to run to him at the end, which would have been cute.

There are also things that were ... potentially good, if they’d been brought up correctly? I actually really like that Jack is going to be “hands-off” (although I like less that he and Sam will never see each other again, but Dabb did say it was going to be a bittersweet ending, so ....).

I also -- and God, I’m going to get hate mail for saying this -- don’t mind that he didn’t bring Cas back. That highlights the difference between him and Chuck. Chuck brings back Sam and Dean (and, in Season 5 at least, Cas) over and over again, not out of love, but just to throw them back into their exhausting existence. In contrast, Jack NOT bringing anyone back (except the people who’d been snapped out of existence, which I would argue is more about putting the world on its proper course again, as opposed to “violating the natural order,” as Billie would put it). He knows he has to let people go. You could argue that’s always been his arc -- he and Cas even talk about how hard it will be for them to one day lose Sam and Dean back in Season 14 when they think Dean is dying.

But I wish there had been dialogue exploring THAT instead of the weird vague stuff about how he would always be a part of them. It doesn’t have to be anything super analytical like what I just wrote, it just has to be him saying, “I understand that in order to be a just god, I have to let things go and be at peace.”

(However, if the reason they DIDN’T go that direction is they didn’t want Dean to be like, “You know, he’s right,” next episode and not rescue Cas from the Empty, then I’m fine with them leaving that out. Screw the natural order, Dean -- go rescue Cas from the Empty!)

I also really really really want to get some sense that Sam’s faith has been rewarded. We got a tiny glimmer of that this episode in the hushed, awed way Jared delivers the line, “Are you really ... him?” Sam has always been the one with faith in a just and loving God, and one of the things that aggravated me about the end of Season 14 was his faith being so blatantly not rewarded, in favor of promoting Dean’s more cynical take on God.

The show has always, since the very first season, raised questions about where God is, whether his will is just, and how we know we’re following it, and the main characters all have different answers to that -- Sam’s being the more faithful, optimistic view of “God is good”, Dean’s being the more critical “If God is good then why do bad things happen?”, and, most interestingly, Cas’ viewpoint largely fluctuating with his own sense of identity and self-worth. The point is, we had all three of these opinions on God, without the show ever explicitly saying which one was right.

Until very recently, I thought it should have stayed that way. But now I love the idea that Sam’s faith in God was rewarded not by Chuck, but by Jack -- the very boy he took under his wing and raised as his own son, the boy who understands that he is good and that people are good largely because SAM TAUGHT HIM THEY CAN BE. It’s just so beautiful, and I’m getting more and more happy about this ending as I write about it, actually, so maybe I don’t entirely hate Jack’s ending after all.

That was a happier note than I planned on ending this on. I guess that is how you stop worrying and tolerate bucklemming.

Goodbye, bucklemming. I hated many of your episodes, but I will miss you and your weird, inconsistent writing that was so entertaining to pick apart and analyze and make fun of. I hope you find some cop shows where you can churn out more mediocrity and make some money. And in the meantime, stop killing off women.

*Yet another example from this season of the writers intentionally writing a bad episode to highlight the fact that Chuck is a bad writer. NEWSFLASH DABB: Bad writing is still bad writing, I don’t care if the villain of the story is the writer, I still don’t want to watch it if it’s bad.

**Which is such a bizarre insult to use. Isn’t it slang for a guy who’s wife cheats on him? I swear I’m not innocent or sheltered, I have just literally never heard anyone use that insult in a real context in my entire life.

#how i learned to stop worrying and tolerate bucklemming #this is the last time i get to review one of their episodes i'm getting a little choked up #not really #supernatural spoilers #supernatural #supernatural home stretch #this episode was boring and miserable but the end was decent

6 notes · View notes

notsoharsh · 4 years

Text

The Scholarly Adventures of Brain Girl and Blood Dude || Morgan & Harsh

TIMING: Mid July LOCATION: The Scribe HQ PARTIES: @mor-beck-more-problems and @notsoharsh SUMMARY: Morgan and Harsh take a little field trip to read a lot of dusty old books.

Thanks to her super-strength, Morgan was able to pull more books for Harsh’s soul problem than she ever could have on her own. She lead him down the dusty shelves with the glee of a suburbanite at the fancy grocery store, plucking everything that seemed remotely tied to the subject at hand. “This place is pretty amazing, right? I mean just look at everything you can accomplish with some collective organization and, well, deep pockets, probably,” she said, smiling. “We’re casting a wide net, but, obviously, indexes are going to be our friend, so if you can’t find any of our keywords inside, just move it into a nope pile. I went ahead and put it on a flashcard.” She turned and passed him one. “I hope you don’t mind my getting a little excited. I get it, why you might not be, and it’s not that I don’t appreciate the gravity of the situation. I think I just really miss having a reason to come back here.” And something concrete, even tangible, to hope for.

So this was the Scribe HQ. Harsh hadn’t really thought about the place before, but somehow he had expected it to be harder to get into. Not like he was about to complain about that. He trailed after Morgan, eyes scanning the shelves. “It’s really… something.” He should probably be impressed, but with each title, he had to fight to keep his eyes from glazing over. There was so much. How were they ever going to find anything in here? He took the flashcard with a little nod. “It’s fine. Honestly, I was kinda surprised you were so up for this. And I get that. There’s… a lot in here. Did you come here a lot for witchy stuff?” He grabbed one of the books Morgan had selected, blowing the dust from the ancient cover before opening it and squinting at the writing. “This one looks like it’s just philosophy, ‘what does it mean to be ensouled’. I’m guessing there’s not really a section here with a bunch of how-to guides?”

Morgan continued to look, climbing onto stacks of books on the ground to reach higher ones. “Nope, just my curse. It went back over a hundred years deep so I had to trace back all these obnoxious second and third hand accounts to all the terrible things that happened to my ancestors trying to get down to the source. My mom had a lot of faults, but enforcing a well rounded magic education wasn’t one of them.” She balanced on the tips of her toes to get another book, On the Metaphysical Material of Human Essence, and jumped back down, grimacing only a little when she landed off and had to knock her ankle back into place. “Magic is complicated, Harsh,” she said. “In a good way! Say your magical heart’s desire is the number 20. You can get there by ten times two, or five times four, or fifteen plus five, or nineteen plus one. Lots of roads can get you to twenty. Also, witches are, historically, protective of their grimoires. And some spells are too sacred or too dangerous to really want to pass down, you know? Ooh, seriously, check the index of that philosophical one, though. There might be some reference to some, I don’t know, random Romanian death cult that was known to help vampires restore their souls. That would give us a lead to follow up on.” She moved on to the next shelf before popping her head around the corner again. “I’m kidding about the death cult, by the way. I don’t know if that’s a real thing. But it would be pretty cool if it was, right?”

“Shit. Y’know, as long as I’ve been dealing with this stuff, the whole ‘ancient curse’ thing is still kinda wild. I guess I need to expand my horizons a little more,” Harsh said, watching her scramble about. He should probably offer to help, but… she seemed pretty content. Even he could understand needing a project. That was a lot of numbers, but it sort of made sense. Kind of. “I’ve picked up on the protective thing. That coven weren’t the first ones I tried to go to. A bunch of them would’ve rather staked me than let me see any of their dusty old books. Yeah, got it.” He flicked through the book, finding the index number before scanning the pages again. “I’m not seeing Romanian death cults, but there’s some Latin stuff in here. Well, I think it’s Latin, but all I know is audio, video, disco, so we’re gonna need some translating if that’s actually gonna help much.” He chuckled as he set the book down and grabbed another. “Hey, trust me, death cults are very real. They throw some banging parties, but you never wanna stay too late. There was this one I ran into in Spain, and--well, that’s kind of a long story, but they would’ve been very into you. They were all about the brain eating stuff.” Trailing after her, he scanned the top rows of the shelves. “How about that one,” he said, pointing at an especially thick, black covered book. “Looks like it’s got little skulls on it, that’s gotta be good.”

“Well a hundred years and change isn’t ancient-ancient,” Morgan admitted, still pleased to have impressed a vampire as old as Harsh. “But brain eating death cults? That’s kinda hot. Scary, but I’m okay with side hustling as a cult maiden. But the not staying too late, is that because after midnight is when they start to get actually all murder-y?” She laughed goodnaturedly at his suggestion about the skulls on the book. “You know, I have started coming around to the idea of skull iconography being a good omen, but this could just as well be about fun curses or potions.” She tried to climb up for it, but her short arms weren’t quite up to the task. She gave Harsh a sheepish look. “Maybe you could, uh--? And then we can start unpacking what we’ve bothered before we start looking again? I think thirty books makes for a solid beginning.”

“The ones I ran into always treated their zombies pretty well. One of them even made this cool throne for them, it was pretty badass. But yeah, usually they start the murdering right after Cinderella turns into a pumpkin. You get extra drinks if you bring someone to add to the murder pile.” Harsh decided to leave out just how many extra drinks he had managed to earn. Morgan was strangely cool with the soulless thing, but adding a couple dozen murders to that might push things a little too far. He snorted. “You don’t want to spider monkey your way up there? Yeah, I’ve got it,” he said. It was a little out of reach, even for him, but getting a leg up on one of the lower shelves was enough to grab it. The book was weirdly heavy. Maybe that meant it was extra full of magic or something. Hopping down from the shelf, he brushed the dust from the cover. “Yeah, seems like a good place to start. Which ones look the most ritual-y?”

Morgan pouted as she reached for another, closer book. “I want a throne.Can it be made of bones? My girlfriend has a huge thing for bones. We’d look pretty together on a bone throne.” And for ceremonial purposes, maybe with the right amount of discretion and care with, well, offering selection, it might even be a halfway decent time. She smirked at the thought, wondering what kind of coronets death cults might make for their zombies. She laughed at Harsh’s joke and carried their haul to the nearest desk. The books tumbled from her stack and spread themselves over the surface. “Well, here’s the thing: a ritual with full instructions and ingredients is an endgame, a big ol’ golden goose. But, you know, this might start off with something a little more broad, a little more sketchy. We don’t want to turn our nose away from death cults or norwegian summoning stones or...whatever. Because some weird reference might lead us to the golden egg. And the actual golden egg might be buried in some other archive. And then, because we followed the breadcrumbs, we’ll find it in that other archive faster, and...sorry, I’m mixing way too many metaphors, huh? Anyways, I can start on the books on this end of the table, and you can start on the ones on that end? You read fast, yeah?”

“I’m pretty sure making it out of bones is required actually,” Harsh said, with a thoughtful nod. Honestly, it was a little surprising that White Crest didn’t have any death cults, at least as far as he knew. They didn’t tend to be very public. Attention moving to the books, he grabbed a few and pulled them close, scanning the titles. There were some promising ones in there at least. “Right, it would be boring if it was that easy anyway. This kinda thing seems like it needs a lot of bits and pieces before it goes together. The coven said something about ‘proving myself’ so if you see anything like that, just, I don’t know, highlight it or something. I read pretty quick, yeah.” He flicked through the pages of the first book, an older one laden with dust. The cover might have been green at one point. “Don’t think there’s any eggs in this one. It does have a spell for cooking them though. I think this one’s more basic rituals than the big one we’re after. It does have a little thing about summoning, but mostly just bats and rats and stuff. Any luck over there?”

Morgan was running her finger down the index of the volume in front of her, picking out anything that looked remotely undead or soul related and flipping to the corresponding pages. There were a few technical magic terms that stuck out that she wanted to look at as well before she wrote off the reference as a dead end for this volume. She reached for another and started the process all over again. “Not yet, although, you know, lots of fun stuff about necromancy. And vampire cults, although I guess you already know whatever you want to about that stuff.” She balanced the next one precariously on her lap and started flipping back and forth, one section after the other. “This one looks like it has lots of serious lore, though. We’re talking old myths, druidic shit, some stuff I...can’t actually read. Do you know this language?” She passed the book over to Harsh, finger hovering over the photograph of some runes.

“I guess necromancy is sort of near what we’re looking for,” Harsh said a little dubiously. Honestly, he didn’t know nearly enough about magic to be sure. It seemed to make sense though. They both had to do with souls and restoring them. Or something. “Vampire cults can be kind of cool, but most of them are pretty anti-soul, so I don’t know if they would be super helpful.” He reached for the book, brow furrowing as he scanned the runes. “Sort of. It looks like Sanskrit, just a little off. I wonder if it’s like some ancient dead version.” His fingers trailed over the letters as he muttered to himself, working to muddle through the meaning. “I think it’s talking about a ritual. It’s a lot of sorta spiritual stuff, but… I think some of it sounds pretty legit. Some of the words are kind of weird, but I think it’s saying there are three, uh, three pieces you need to retrieve a soul. And then there’s some words I don’t know, this one just means really, really old. What about the other bits, the druidic stuff?” he asked, passing the book back as he moved closer to read over Morgan’s shoulder.

“You never know. Maybe understanding more about how you get rid of them could help us understand how to get one to come back.” Morgan said. Harsh couldn’t afford to turn down any possibility, and neither could she, if she wanted to be good for more than just cheerleading. But as Harsh looked over the text and translated, Morgan started to wonder if the search would be so hard after all. “That...that might just be what we’re looking for! Look, this sigil here, means spirit, but it’s sort of a vague all encompassing sort of an idea, it could me soul, intuition, intention, but when you look at these wrapped around it, you get a soul’s last regret. And when you look at its placement in the circle, it's on a material vector, an ingredient. But it’s also in the center, where you do the conjuring for what you want to accomplish. And in that place it’s also joined by this little squiggly? It signifies a joining, of two planes or two pieces, you see it sometimes in certain kinds of alchemy circles and binding magic.” Her face cracked wide into a smile. Harsh, it’s a spell to bind a soul to a body! It’s real!” Morgan shot up from her chair, almost toppling the book to the floor. “Harsh, your cure is real! I mean, I’m going to need to do more work to figure out the other ingredients, and we need to follow up on that Sanskrit, because that might be important, and who even knows how we’re going to even get some of these things once we know what they are, but still!” She jumped on her toes to give him as strong a hug as her arms could manage. “It’s possible. And that’s what matters most right now, right?”

“That’s a good point, actually. I sort of always thought of them as being two really different things, but… I’m not really an expert on any of this. I should’ve done way more research ages ago.” Harsh had thought as much before, several times… and then done basically nothing. He’d had two hundred years to learn this and he had thrown all that time away. Oh well, he was doing it now. That had to count for something. He nodded vaguely as Morgan went on, doing his best to follow along. It was a little beyond him, but the pieces he could parse were encouraging enough to make a grin slowly spread across his face. “Holy shit--Morgan, you’re amazing!” Meeting her halfway, he locked his arms around her with enough force to lift her off the ground, spinning the both of them in a circle. “You figure out what we need and I’ll get it,” he said as he set her down, still grinning widely. “Whatever we need, just leave it to me.”

#wickedschatzy #writing #chatzy #morbeckmoreproblems #c: morgan

6 notes · View notes

katieskarlette · 5 years

Text

WoW: What’s Next panel

This is the big one! I’ll be watching the panel on the livestream and editing this post as it goes, so check back for updates.

[EDIT: Panel’s over, post is finished!]

----

Ion: We are not jumping on a ship and going to a land that “mapmakers have mysteriously ignored for the last ten years.” Ha. It’s another plane of existence.

The Warcraft Afterlife: Souls cross the veil between life and death Souls are brought before the mysterious female entity known as the Arbiter All the deeds/misdeeds, aspirations, triumphs and failures are laid bare to the Arbiter, who then routes the soul to one of the Shadowlands’ realms. Each realm is ruled by a powerful Covenant.

Souls bear with them a vital force called Anima. A quiet farmer who lived an unremarkable life has only a little Anima, while “Varian, Garrosh and Arthas had a ton.” He mentioned those characters by name. Hmmmmmm.

Ion joked about how the early concept art of Bastion was already leaked.

Bastion is home to the Covenant of the Kyrians, aka spirit healers. “Souls here shed past burdens and seek virtue.” Uther’s soul is here, and we’ll encounter him!

Kyrian are ordered and purposeful, dedicated to service.

Maldraxxus is ruled by the Necrolord Covenant. It is the heart of the Shadowlands’ military might who defend the Shadowlands from the enemies of death. They’re about survival of the fittest, not strictly evil. Relentless, unyielding spirits go here, including Thrall’s mother, Draka. It’s like EPL on steroids, aesthetically.

Ardenweald is an enchanted fairy forest. It’s ruled by the Night Fae covenant. This enchanted mystical forest is the Emerald Dream’s dark mirror. It reflects fall and winter, a place of rest and rebirth. Cenarius’ soul went here after Grom killed him.

Revendreth is a creepy, gothic zone with miasma, soaring castles and dark secrets. Ruled by the Covenant of the Venthyr. Flawed and prideful souls atoning for their sins end up here. You don’t want to end up here, but it’s possible to redeem yourself and move on to another area of the Shadowlands. We will encounter KAEL’THAS there! Ooh! (And, yes, Ion made a “setback” joke.)

Covenants are the four powers of the Shadowlands and are integrated into almost every feature of the game. Each one seeks your aid, and each offers power and rewards. Each one has a full endgame narrative campaign, akin to the two factions’ war campaigns in BFA. Each gives you two active abilities, one of which is class-specific.

Endgame progression system: Soulbinds. Bind your soul to a powerful entity in the Shadowlands for unique benefits. There is no artifact power to grind! YAY! Ion says they have learned from the last couple of expansions. It’s important to have goals to work toward and ways to customize your characters’ playstyle without having it be a grind that is full of pressure and punishing to alts.

Each Covenant has a sanctum that we’ll build up and restore to glory, sort of like Shal’Aran was in Legion.

Covenants will also have rewards of mounts, transmog, etc. They will give you items for the cloak slot that will give you ornaments like, in the case of Kyrians, a halo or angel wings, etc.

Oribos, the Eternal City is an ancient city that predates memory, and the home of The Arbiter. Brokers and soul-traders gather here. It will be the main player hub and sanctuary city. “Khadgar wanted to bring Dalaran through but we figured there was already a city there, so not needed.” LOL

The Maw is a mystery even to Shadowlands natives. No known Covenant rules it. It’s ruled by a dark figure known as The Jailer, who is like a boogeyman to the people of the Shadowlands. It’s a horrific prison for the most vile souls. Nothing has ever, ever escaped.

In 9.0 the machinery of death is broken, and souls are pouring directly into the Maw without being routed first. The other parts of the Shadowlands are thus starved of Anima.

“What about Sylvanas’ role in all this?” asks the slide. Yes, Ion, do tell.

A picture of the burning of Teldrassil got a lot of booing, cheering, laughter and general excitement from the crowd.

“Arthas is dead, I’m sorry.” SO?!?!?! So are Uther, Draka and Kael’thas!

The Jailor in the Maw is the creepy silhouette that Sylvanas was facing in the teaser footage. Sylvanas doesn’t have a master, but her goals align with the Jailor’s. He’s been feeding her more power lately.

9.0 will start with Scourge marauding across Azeroth, since the Helm of Domination that held them back is shattered. Azeroth’s heroes make for Icecrown to stop the problem at its source. We are led by Bolvar, since he understands the Scourge best. He has one foot in each realm and knows more than anyone about them.

We go from Icecrown into The Maw, and that’s all, we’re trapped. Nothing’s ever escaped. “It’s a short expansion.” LOL! Actually, we escape the Maw and go on, but it sounds like some lore heroes stay trapped there...for now. Hmm.

We work with each realm’s leaders and borrow their powers, then choose a Covenant at max level.

However, once you have one character who has reached max level, your alts can pick their Covenant right away before they start leveling. You can level in any zone, do world quests, etc....lots of choices. You can work toward endgame progression while you level, reducing the sense that leveling and endgame are two separate games, that what you do while leveling doesn’t matter in the long run. Interesting.

At max level we return to the Maw, a fearsome zone with freeform outdoor gameplay. Unlike other max level zones, there are no innkeepers or friendly bases. You have to be on your toes all the time.

At the center of the Maw is Torghast, Tower of the Damned (the upside-down thing in the sky above Icecrown in the cinematic.) It’s an endless, ever-changing dungeon for 1-5 players. As you ascend the tower you earn upgrades that shore up your weaknesses, play to your strengths, etc. It looks a bit like the choices on each ring of Azerite gear.

4 dungeons to level up in: The Necrotic Wake, Plaguefall, Mists of Tirna Scithe, Halls of Atonement

4 max level dungeons: Spires of Ascension, Theater of Pain, Sanguine Depths, and The Other Side--where Bwonsamdi is!

Castle Nathria is a 10-boss raid at Revendreth. Think Dracula’s castle. It’s a winged raid and “for once you’re not going in through the sewer.”

Core philosophy: Focus on player agency. “We want to give all of you a feeling of more control over your destiny.” It’s something the playerbase has been asking for for years, and they’ve heard the feedback.

Profession updates: be guaranteed to craft an item with the secondary stats you want instead of having to craft a zillion items with random stats before you get the crit/haste/whatever you needed.

The weekly loot chest is the most hated example of RNG in the game today, according to Ion. It will now give you 5-6 items to pick from, based on the bosses you’ve used your bonus rolls on, etc.

Legendaries: Legion legendaries were fun when you had them, but the randomness of obtaining them was a major pain in the butt. In Shadowlands you’ll be able to work toward building a specific legendary that you want, then a second one, etc.

Shadowlands brings us a return to class identity as opposed to spec. Some abilities that were made spec-specific will go back to being class-specific, and some that were removed will be returning. Yay!

Shadowlands has a streamlined leveling experience. 120 characters going into the expansion will be 50 when they go into Shadowlands, and will level to 60 at the end. Every level will now unlock something and be meaningful, instead of dinging all the time but it being meaningless.

Unprecedented flexibility for alts. Want to just level in Pandaria? Do it, then go to Shadowlands. Skip everything else if you want to.

Character customization is the focus this time instead of new races. (YES!!!!!) Tattoos, body paint, new skin colors (be a Sandfury troll!), undead without visible bones(!!!), horn and tusk options, eye colors, etc. RACIALLY DIVERSE HUMAN MODELS! OMG! THEY LOOK AMAZING!

Every allied race will be able to be Death Knights.

Deep dive into Shadowlands at 11:15 AM Pacific tomorrow.

#Blizzcon with KS #shadowlands #shadowlands spoilers

27 notes · View notes

imdoingthismspaintadventure · 5 years

Text

In which I nerd out about PS and portal windows.

THE GREEN TEXT WAS ATTRACTIVE. NOW VIEW THE RED TEXT AGAIN.

Oh god we’re going back to TG again.

John is 1000% done with all these huge logs.

TG: when the film crew zooms where the presidents at TG: im like if that dudes black ill eat my hat TG: turns out he is, so we're all "damn, director's got gumption" TG: like we'll all flip our shit he aint shining shoes or somethin TG: its called freemancipation. if its not pres-election its god-ascension TG: in bruce almighty. whoops, different bruce from the one i just mentioned EB: aaaaaarrrgh!

Oh my fucking god TG was still going on and on with his reality-shattering godraps. That is amazing.

He is creating the perfect pop culture amalgam in there, too! I said it before but TG, you are a treasure.

TG: cant explain to me why this aint condescension to think ill shit a brick TG: not even he can convey the intention with his quickspun wit TG: rather defray all this tension, sit on his lap while he whittles a splint TG: and some guy eyes what he does and patronizes: i guess negrocity's the mother of invention

I’m having an astral journey reading this.

TG, what in the actual fuck are you talking about??

You are the god of rambling I swear

EB: stop rapping for a second you horse's ass! EB: i have something important to talk about. TG: whats up EB: rose is in trouble and she needs help. i was going to connect to her with sburb but i lost my copy! TG: ok

Horse’s ass is a good insult.

Yeah I guess TG now has to bail her out after the car fuckup

EB: also she lost battery power. if she can get back up and running, she'll need someone with the game to get her out of there before her house burns down. EB: so i think you should use your copy of the game to help her! TG: my copy? TG: thats going to be tough

Oh no what will the shenanigans be this time.

EB: why? TG: i lost it TG: its a stupid story and id rather not talk about it TG: shit be embarrassing yo

Oh fucking hell.

Why are all the copies of this game getting lost so easily??? Take care of your videogames!!

What did you do to lose it, now I’m scared of whatever bullshit sequence of events transpired

EB: i thought you said you had two? TG: well yeah TG: one is my brothers copy EB: ok, well get his then! TG: alright TG: but hes not gonna be happy about that

Is this going to be like a Dad situation where there is an interactive boss? That was really great so I hope it is!

EB: whatever. EB: also you might want to read rose's walkthrough to get up to speed on this. TG: oh man EB: what? TG: nothing really TG: look all im saying is the girl tends to lay it on kinda thick you know? EB: /ROLLS EYES

Embrace the purple prose TG! Let it envelop you in its glorious overwritten radiance!

Ooh we’re back with the purple lady herself!

She needs to find an alternative energy source asap, to help John and be able to stay communicated, before she burns to death!

Your LAPTOP is out of BATTERY POWER. There's only one thing left to do. Time to make your way to that BACKUP GENERATOR.

Yup, figured it would end up being relevant.

Rose: Knit laptop cozy to shield your laptop from the rain.

...really?

Time managment is not really your strong point it seems.

Oh you already had one made!!

The heart octopus is just the best.

I remember her inventory system to be an unholy nightmare.

That would be such a waste of time! Besides, you already knitted one a while ago. You retrieve it from your KNITTING BAG and apply it to your LAPTOP. You captchalogue the LAPTOP PLUS COZY.

Cozy laptop is cozy!

Rose: Equip grimoire to strife specibus.

Ooh.

That could either result in getting arcane eldritch powers that man was not meant to know... or just a book to bludgeon people to death with.

Both seem worth it.

NOPE

I change my mind this just screams death.

That would be incredibly ill-advised! There are some dark forces you just don't want to mess around with. You understand this better than most. You put the book down.

I like the fact that Rose has an object with such dark and terrible powers even the inventory system and the narrator are advising us to put it as far away as possible from anything resembling a weapon slot.

Was I correct in the eldritch powers thing??

Rose: Recaptchalogue your items!

Oh hello again you terrible, terrible captchalogue system.

You grab the KNITTING BAG and the GRIMOIRE, in that order. It's always a logistical puzzle with your TREE MODUS. The tree AUTO-BALANCES, leaving the KNITTING BAG accesible in the ROOT CARD.

Imagine having one of this in a real videogame.

Seems the kind of move Yoko Taro would do.

................That rithym minigame

Rose: Allocate knitting needles to strife specibus.

Eesh, that seems like a very nasty weapon by necessity.

You feel a lot more comfortable with this as a weapon. You're so handy with those needles, you feel like you could probably use them to filet a sword fish.

Damn, Rose could be fucking deadly with those.

Say goodbye to all the tender spots of flesh in your body.

John has it lucky with his captchalogue thing.

You lose the ROOT CARD in the process, severing the tree. Hey, careful with all that stuff!

Yeah let’s not break the laptop. Or the Necronomicon, Or both.

Rose: Knit plush cuddle-cthulhu to soothe nerves.

Greatest idea so far.

...it’s the actual necronomicon isn’t it.

That would also be a preposterous waste of time!!! Besides, you're quite sure you've never heard of this creature called "Cthulhu" before. There are however many other specimens of the ZOOLOGICALLY DUBIOUS you're familiar with. Such as...

Or this universe’s version of it at least.

Rose: Consult the grimoire.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT’S FLUTHLU!! WITH A BUNCH OF HORRIFYING BEASTS AROUND IT.

IN THE IMAGINARY CITY STREETS

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN, LAST TIME I SAW YOU, YOU GOT STABBED BY A VERY CHARISMATIC DETECTIVE AND BEHEADED BY A WINDOW PORTAL.

IN CASE YOU COULDN’T TELL, I REALLY APPRECIATE THE REFERENCE.

FLUTHLU, FOUL PATRICIAN OF MISERY. To hear his mammoth belly gurgle is to know the Epoch of Joy has come to an abrupt end

Oh god, we get to see even greater elder gods now!!

Nrub’yiglith.... is that a reference to Shrub-Niggurath? Seems the most likely one to me.

And NRUB'YIGLITH, SHAMEBEAST KING OF GROTESQUERY, WRITHE-LORD OF THE MOIST BEYONDHOOD. Hearing his melodious chirps and tongue-clicks causes one's bones to explode.

WRITHE-LORD OF THE MOIST BEYONDHOOD!!

These descriptions are fucking amazing.

Oglogoth....Ok, this is definitely Azathoth, the daemon sultan.

Nice!

And of course there's OGLOGOTH, THE DEEP ONE. Whenever he grinds his teeth, all the children of a random galaxy somewhere will frown continuously for a nine thousand year span.

These fucking descriptions.... Holy shit give me 500 of these.

He is the first and smallest of the SMALLER GODS, appointed in servitude of a vile, unfathomable pantheon of MIDDLING GODS which caters to the whims of the NOBLE CIRCLE OF HORRORTERRORS, an omniscient, omnipotent order of the elite few, forever cloaked in the darkness of the FURTHEST RING.

What the fuck???

So in the homestuck universe, Azathoth is just a scrub! There are a whole three tiers above him in power!

The noble circle of horrorterrors, cloaked in the darkness of the furthest ring...

Someone should make a story with all this lore, or use it in a DnD campaign. Some of this is legitimately really good.

OH MY GOD

THE WINDOW PORTALS. THEY ARE OUTLINED HERE AS WELL.

And then there's this strange page containing some rather mysterious notes on summoning procedures. You've never been quite sure what these diagrams are getting at.

.....of course they are the summoning rituals!!

They lead to the imaginary city and if you cut their power while you are outside an eldritch being appears!!

Flutulhu was summoned after a city-wide blackout, so I wonder what would be needed for oglogoth... I was going to say a planet-wide blackout, but the imaginary city is.....all that exists over there, alongside the four realms and the cathedral/brothel/sun and moon/GPI, and all the other cosmology.

Maybe if you were outside a window during the last supermassive black hole?? That is probably the most pitch black you could ever get while in the imaginary world....

#Homestuck #Homestuck liveblog #mspaintadventures #mspaintadventures liveblog #Problem Sleuth #oglogoth

31 notes · View notes

thebibliomancer · 5 years

Text

Dark Crystal Age of Resistance ep 1 liveblog

Just a stream of thoughts.

There were seven tribes of Gelfling, all unique.... buuuut only three are important right now: the classy mountain Gelfling, the fighty forest gelfling, and the hippie underground gelflings

The takeaway is that astronomy is a ruse of the evil space lizards

Age of Resistance creators “How many villain voices can we put in one scene? APPARENTLY A LOT!”

Fun little nod at the seven deadly sins inspiration to have the Gourmet screaming about gluttony

The Emperor has a surprisingly deep voice for how scrawny he looks

The Chamberlain: I’m good at eavesdropping

The Scientist: -shrieking top secret information at the top of his lungs-

I think we just saw the first Garthim be born out of random evil mutation. Weird. I never considered them an actual real creature. I just assumed the Garthim Master created them. Even though he didn’t seem much of a brainy Skeksis

It’s downright weird to see Gelflings working for the Skeksis. I know in Lore that they interacted and Skeksis invited them to parties and stuff

These two protagonist gelflings treating dreamfasting like sex “Do you want to?” “Yeah if you want to” and Jen and Kira just doing it accidentally in the movie

Hey the Collector! You’re... very different from how you were in the Legends comic

Rian: “But daaaad I want to lead the guarrrrd”

Damn that’s a hell of a library!

“Why don’t they like questions? How else will we learn? Ooh now I have more questions!” Youre an endearing character, Brea

UNDERGROUND SAND WORMS

Oh no that moss was tainted by Evil

Rolly polly bugs as cart wheels is pretty cool

“Little things have a habit of being stepped on... by big things” surprising Skeksis candor

‘I was once beautiful but then I read a book’ - the Collector

Speaking of weird, seeing Gelflings chanting “All hail the Skeksis!”

Scientist watching hand dissolve “How very interesting!”

We’re also early enough on the timeline that other Skeksis still buy what the Chamberlain is selling

“Please, small words! Chamberlain is not smart like Scientist!”

He also does that simpler pidgin like talking he did with the Gelflings in the movie (where I think the explanation lost to having the Skeksis speak English is that he barely knew any Gelfling language). I guess he’s really playing up how dumb he is here? Or the creators missed the point of the movie scene and thought he’s always like that?

‘Hey buddy why not drain essence from Gelflings?’ Dammit Chamberlain!

The Sanctuary Tree can talk, but only to dunk on people

Sanctuary Tree: “Touch the montage flower”

Mira and Rian are incredibly horny for each other

Rian: “The Skeksis have forbidden us from going into the catacombs”

Mira: -didn’t even wait for him to finish before rushing in-

Ornamentalist: sees a shiny “Want!”

And we learn that the true monster is peer pressure. And also the giant greedy lizards

Brea: “If the Skeksis are all powerful, and they have everything, then why do they require tithes from even the poorest Gelfling?”

“They want us fighting each other for the left overs!”

A librarian: ‘Those are some dangerous thoughts, princess. Gtfo’

“The Sancturary Tree is a tree!” Thanks for the insight

“Trees can’t talk!” “Except when they can”

“No arguing with trees! HA HA HA!”

So the Sanctuary Tree has sent Deet on a quest so she has to leave her hidden elf village. And she doesn’t even get a green tunic out of the bargain

I’m going to be cross if Mira gets her essence sucked out

Gourmand: “I eat when I’m stressed”

Chamberlain: “HmmMmmm you must often be stressed, yes?”

Gourmand: “All the time!”

Welp. Nice knowing you, Mira

Wellllllllp

And that’s how the Skeksis learned to drink soul goo

Geez, it doesn’t even leave a soulless body behind. She just sort of exploded

This is very much a “Did you bring enough for the class” situation

Also Rian was watching the whole time. He saw the Skeksis drink his girlfriend

And then he dramatically cries a single tear... which falls into the Ritual Master’s mouth. Giving away that he was watching

Whoops

Chamberlain: “We are the lords of the crystal, yes? Even if Rian talk, none will believe. They will shun him. Cast him out. How can they not? To believe him is not to believe themselves. Skeksis reign a thousand trine and will reign a thousand, thousand more until last sky in star goes dark. Gelfling will submit, head bowed, back bent as they have always done. Gelfling want to be ruled. Gelfling need to be ruled. Because Gelfling are weak! Gelfling are small. And Skeksis are forever! We took the Crystal. Thra belongs to us now. And is nothing... NOTHING Gelfling can do!”

-montage of various protagonists getting ready to age of resistance-

Tldr everything is SkekSil’s fault

#dark crystal #dark crystal age of resistance #liveblog #episode 1

21 notes · View notes

shirtlesssammy · 5 years

Text

14x11: Damaged Goods

Then:

So Death kind of throws a wrench in Dean’s whole need for free will thing.

Now:

Ooh, Nick has resurfaced and is torturing demons into finding Abraxas, the demon that killed his family. Or, well he’s looking for the hunter that captured Abraxas. She’s in Hibbing, Minnesota.

Dean, meanwhile, is packing up and heading out to spend some quality time with his car and his Mom.

(I mean, that’s what he thought here, right?)

Sam is busy doing research, but willingly agrees to come along before Dean stops him and says he’s going alone. Then Dean hugs Sam, and while it’s sweet and heartbreaking and everyone seems to really love this moment, I was cringing at how awkward the hug was. Sam is 100% suspicious of his brother, so I believe he also found it awkward. [Natasha: SO awkward]

Sam calls Mary to talk about Dean. She’s more of a “Go ahead, touch the cornballer” kind of mom and isn’t as concerned about Dean’s state of mind. She respects his privacy. Sam lets that slide because his investigation into what Dean took with him reveals some missing books, and despite the lack of call numbers, Sam Winchester has the entire Men of Letters collection cataloged and classified.

On his road trip, Dean stops to check in with Donna. They’re enjoying their mutual love of burgers. Boy, Dean and Donna sure do have a lot in common. They always seem to love the same type of food. Wow. Despite Dean’s many attempts at avoiding the elephant at the picnic table, Donna finally brings up Michael. She hopes that he’ll open up, but Dean only gives her the old Winchester “I’ll make it through” shutdown.

Dean makes it to Donna’s cabin, only to hear gunshots. He’s on instant alert. Lol, it’s just dear ol’ mom shooting pumpkins for target practice.

That’s one way to get rid of the fall bumper crop (in December…). When Mary suggests Sam join them, Dean snaps that he doesn’t want Sam there. Hmm. Dean’s hangry, guys! He’s also a lying liar who lies, telling Mary that he just had a long drive and no food. He asks her to make his favorite meal when he was a small child, “Winchester Surprise.” And we’re gifted with another piece to Dean’s life puzzle. Greasy food is comfort food not because it’s all he’s known, but because it’s something he remembers from his too short of a childhood. Mary agrees and heads out to get groceries --and pie.

Dean heads to Donna’s workshop to begin the project that really brought him to Hibbing. Before he can begin, he’s gotta take a looky-loo at all the pin-ups of half-naked dark haired men. In no way shape or form is the show that JUST showed us how similar Dean and Donna are about food implying that Dean and Donna are similar in other ways too. Also, in no way shape or form is the show highlighting Dean locking something away deep inside himself by having Michael rage inside his head directly after he stared at all the posters of half-naked dark haired men. Dean finds the 8-track player and selects some tunes. And as @prairiedust posts out in this great post, in no way is this show trying to tell us something through Dean’s musical choices.

We’re then gifted with a montage of Dean using power tools while sparks fly around one of the pictures of a dark haired shirtless man. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

For Subtextual Science:

This all truly distracted me from thinking about what Dean is actually building in the workshop.

Mary gets help from Joe, the grocery store attendant. He’s kind of surprised by her food purchases since she only ever buys pumpkins, whisky, and crossword puzzles. EEsh, is everything ok, Mary? [Natasha: Definitely not. My theory is that Bobby took off right away and Mary’s just been holed up alone with her thoughts and pumpkin guts.]

Later, Joe is putting carts away when Nick pulls up in a completely normal, non-scary, or suspicious van and asks where he can find Mary Winchester. Joe acts like he doesn’t know her (Joe, I’m sorry I doubted your trustworthiness two minutes ago.) And Nick, why the hell would a random citizen of Hibbing know who Mary is? Lucky for us, he does know her and alerts the police with a call.

Later that night, Nick is trolling the back roads of Hibbing when Donna passes him, and pulls him over. He’s driving around in a stolen creeper van.

She cuffs him and runs his fingerprints. AND THEN TURNS HER BACK ON HIM. DONNA NO. He manages to slip his cuffs and they tussle. Nick tasers Donna.

Mary returns after dark to find Dean just leaving the workshop. She asks what he’s been up to, but he’s elusive and changes the subject. Dean wants to help Mary make dinner. He then LIES again by saying he’s a terrible cook. Wut? I know, I get it. It’s how Dean tries to connect to people. Mary is not dumb though and is really suspicious about Dean. While Dean is finishing up cooking the meal, she talks with Sam. Despite Mary’s protests, Sam’s on his way to Hibbing.

Dean and Mary get to eating the dish of grease with extra cheese. Dean tells us what he thinks is a super funny story from his childhood, but it’s really just a very sad reminder for Mary that Dean had a shit childhood and John was a shit parent. And I’m over here weeping because Dean hangs onto these memories as a good thing because they’re all he has.

Later when Dean’s asleep, Mary heads into the barn and discovers books of lore and a folded sheet of paper (ostensibly ripped from Dean’s death book). “No no no no no,” Mary says. URG, that can’t be good. When she rushes back to the house, Nick intercepts Mary.

Dean wakes to his ringing phone. It’s Donna! She’s calling to warn him about Nick, who knocked her out, escaped, and is heading back to Mary’s place. Dean rushes outside, only to find Sam there instead. Hey, Sammy!

Nick holds Mary prisoner in his creeper van and Mary, bless her, looks utterly comfortable in that predicament. PLEASE, she’s dealt with much bigger fish. Nick delivers a rambling villain’s address, to which Mary just shakes her head.

Nick asks her about a demon hunt a while back where she faced Abraxas (who murdered Nick’s family). Mary’s exasperated with Nick’s theatrics, because he could have just asked her about the demon like a normal person. Mary tells him that Abraxas is dead, but Nick calls her out on a lie. So Mary confesses - Abraxas was too strong so she locked him in an Enochian puzzle box. She directs Nick to a self-storage facility nearby. I LOVE that Mary has her own hunter’s lockup. (Perhaps several, even? Oooo. That seems like a Mary thing to do.)

She opens the door (Dean’s birthday is part of the combination - HELP ME I AM SUFFERING EMOTIONS. It ends with “67.”).

Once inside, Mary carefully steps over her shotgun booby trap line. Alas, Nick notices it as well and dismantles it. Nick! Come on, man. She could reuse that trap.

Nick bashes the lock off a cage and starts opening lockers. He finds:

A head in a jar

A creepy doll/mannequin

A puzzle box

Nick demands that Mary open the box so he can interrogate Abraxas. Mary shows him her anti-possession tattoo. “You didn’t think this through, did you?” Mary asks, sounding every inch the irritated master hunter whose time is being wasted.

Meanwhile, Donna, Dean, and Sam race to find Mary.

Dean lays into Sam about Nick, but Sam defends his actions. Sam could have ended up being Lucifer’s vessel for years so he was treating Nick with due consideration and empathy. Dean tells Sam that he needs to learn when to cut loose the hopeless cases (a.k.a. Dean).

Back at Mary’s lockup, Nick’s kidnapped the security guard, intent on releasing Abraxas into the guard. Mary tries to get the drop on Nick, but she’s still trussed up and Nick kicks her into the fence. Nick tries to unlock the box but finds it impenetrable...to his intellect.

A power drill goes right through, though. Abraxas zooms out and possesses the guard.

Nick demands to know why Abraxas killed his family. Abraxas promises to tell him, provided that Nick kills Mary. Nick decides to go for the deal when Sam wings Nick’s ear with a well-aimed gunshot. Dean, Sam, and Donna head into the lockup. It looks like their defeat of Nick is a lock until Nick scratches away part of the devil’s trap and frees Abraxas. Once free, Abraxas tells Nick that his family was killed so he could be a potential vessel for Lucifer - but that there isn’t anything inherently special about him. Suck on that, Nick.

Nick kills Abraxas after his villain monologue and starts to turn the blade on the others in the lockup.

Fortunately, Donna’s there to shoot Nick in the leg. Mary knocks him out. DREAM TEAM <3

Later, Donna prepares to take Nick away to jail.

Sam confronts him and apologizes for not being able to help Nick. “It’s not about you. You couldn’t fix me because I didn’t want to be fixed.” Sam’s regrets aren’t about Nick, though. They’re about all the people Nick hurt. Let’s all take a moment to reflect on Nick’s cold-ass murder of the innocent security guard, whom he kidnapped within the past hour.

“You can burn,” Sam tells Nick. HARD AGREE.

Meanwhile, Mary has her own confrontation with Dean about what he’s building in her shed. “We are gonna talk about that,” Mary tells him - and he had better bring Sam into the loop.

Cut to the next morning. Dean explains the box he’s been building to Sam.

This is the first time we get a good look at it, and DEAR LORD it’s a coffin. It’s a Ma’lak box, Dean explains. It’s a heavily warded container strong enough to hold even an archangel. Sam’s shocked to learn that Dean wants to be buried alive. So I am! BUT WAIT, KIDS, THERE’S MORE. Dean intends to pay “a little hush money” to a boat captain and get hauled out to the Pacific and dropped there to suffer forever under the waves. Dean tells Sam in no uncertain terms that he’s losing his hold on Michael. They’re working under a countdown clock. Dean acknowledges that Sam, Cas, and Jack have tried to save him - “And I love you for trying.” Dean tells Sam about his visit from Billie, during which she gave him the instructions for his once-impossible prison. In his determination, the box is the only option - it’s FATE. Ugh, a Winchester - DEAN Winchester - believing in fate. It hurts.

“So you came out here to see Donna - to see Mom on some sick, secret farewell tour? You were gonna leave and you weren’t even gonna tell me?” Sam’s pissed, and who can blame him? Ouch. OUCH.

Dean tells Sam that he couldn’t tell him about the box because Sam’s the only person who could talk him out of his plan. “Alright,” Sam says softly, finally.

And...scene.

Just Shove These Emotional Quotes into an Impenetrable Box:

We don’t hug-- We do but only when it’s literally the end of the world.

Just wondering if you’ve run out of ways to ask me how I’m doing so as to avoid me repayin’ the favor.

Delicious heart attack on a plate, and I would like mine with extra cheese.

You catch a lotta fish with that Arkansas toothpick you got there on the passenger seat?

First name eat, last name me.

Everyone keeps asking how I am… And how I am is I don’t wanna talk about it.

Since when do we cut people loose?

Since when do we believe in fate?

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn 14x11 #damaged goods #dean winchester #sam winchester #mary winchester #donna hanscum #nick #supernatural season 14

59 notes · View notes