#tis the season to make this scene fall themed

[patrick-stewart]

Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014)

#bucky barnes #tws #marveledit #twsedit #mcuedit #marveladdicts #marvelgifs #buckybarnesedit #usertammy #usersvenja #userelio #noalook #usernani #userashe #usersavana #* #tis the season to make this scene fall themed

[prince-kallisto]

Dire Crowley: The Serpent and the “gift” of the Forbidden Fruit

I’ve been seeing a lot of interesting comparisons about Crowley’s repeated mention of apple trees in his new vignette to the “forbidden fruit” from Biblical lore. I had a bit of a lightbulb moment the more I thought about it! Σ੧(❛□❛✿) My take on the idea is certainly far from perfect haha, there’s a lot of gaps in the technicalities of it all, but I do think there is a connection between Crowley, the serpent, and the Forbidden Fruit 👀

Apples have been a repeated (although subtle) motif of Crowley’s for quite some time. The courtyard at NRC is riddled with apple trees, his vacation shirt depicts them as well, and it’s been heavily implied long before his vignette that he is the one who takes care of these trees. Additionally, the ever-so ominous opening animation depicts quick flashes of a bitten apple on the ground, much like the scene in Snow White when she takes a bite of the Poisoned Apple and falls into a death-like sleep.

In Crowley’s new vignette, it first begins with him making a whole speech about how the apple trees in the courtyard thrive no matter the hardships and seasons, and how they’ve grown before he knew it- much like his students! The students are oblivious to what he actually means by this, repeatedly mocking him and messing up what fruit he’s talking about because they didn’t pay attention to his speech. But later, the vignette ends with the ominous Dire Crowley theme playing (same one as in the opening prologue), as he says “because you are all…my precious, precious apple trees.” His story begins and ends with apples! 🍎

The opening animation depicting the apple feels very symbolic- I don’t think it’s a representation of Book 5, aka the Pomefiore book at all! Neige and the themes of an apple’s temptation played a surprisingly meager role in that book, and he was given apple juice instead of an actual apple. And in the opening animation, there’s shots of a book, spilled ink, the bitten apple, the spindle, and Crowley sitting in Pomefiore’s (a replica of the Evil Queen’s) throne.

For a long time now, we have believed Crowley sitting in this throne meant his ties to the Evil Queen, like him being twisted from her crow. Which I am not discounting that idea by the way! 👀 But what if…this scene is meant to hint that Crowley is taking on the symbolic ROLE of the Evil Queen herself- and also the serpent from the Bible? The novel gives more details of his whip weaving and constricting like a snake, as if it were alive…

Because when thinking about the story of Snow White- she is an innocent maiden who is tempted by a fruit that is dyed with beauty and promise of good, while underneath it lies a creation that will harm her IF she eats it. Despite the dwarves warning Snow White to never take anything from strangers, the Evil Queen disguised in her crone form tempts her with the apple, and her biting the apple puts her in a death-like sleep. Isn’t this just a loose retelling/allusion to what happened with Eve and the serpent, and how the serpent reassured her the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil wouldn’t harm her, despite God strictly forbidding her and Adam from eating it?

Side note, I’d like to mention how Crowley keeps saying how “kind,” how “magnanimous,” how “generous” he is. And in Twisted Wonderland, the Evil Queen is now called the FAIREST Queen

Apples symbolize knowledge, fertility, love, wisdom, and immortality (soon I will specifically talk about the apple symbolism in general for Crowley)! Serpents/snakes symbolize can symbolize evil, mischief, trickery, but there’s also a lot of potential positive associations in them as well. They can symbolize rebirth, wisdom, and fertility. This is post that goes more into a bit more detail about the snake imagery at NRC but the edges of the Dark Mirror and NRC logo depict the caudeceus- two serpents together that also represent negotiation/diplomacy and eloquence.

And going back to the novel description of Crowley’s binding Whip of Love, Lian mentioned that Crowley’s Whip of Love literally binds the students together in his vignette much like these threads do on the spinning wheel with the Diasomnia characters in the Book 7 trailer animation🤔 And I feel like when looking at all these images of the spinning wheel together, there is threads and thorns “weaving” and “binding,” much like Crowley’s whip of love. And in the novel, Grim also mistakes Crowley’s whip for a “string” 👀

So after ALL of this ANDJSJJD, the long story short is that I believe Crowley is the serpent, which the Evil Queen also plays a similar role of. I made a much more detailed analysis here going through every Book, but I feel like Crowley is secretly guiding the Overblots to happen. There is always a weakness each Overblotter has that Crowley manages to exploit. Even though I think Crowley’s potential end-game plans are meant for the good of everyone, there’s a lot of bad things and suffering that must be caused for even the possibility of a happy ending. In the Bible, the Serpent was said to be the most “subtle”, aka the most cunning of God’s creations, convinced Eve that the Forbidden Fruit would not kill her and Adam if they ate the fruit unlike what God claimed, and said that Eve would have the knowledge of everything.

And going back to the vignette, Crowley seems to almost lament how naive and sometimes foolish his students can be. They certainly have much to learn under him. They completely missed and disregarded his speech about the apple trees and their growth, and then the NPC students and Grim call him weak and try to taunt him- but then he comments on how they know so very little before whipping them into shape 🤣

Additionally, in that same vignette, he says that hard work and experience is what makes life so much sweeter instead of doing what just comes easy to you- apparently he even pops into Special Lessons all the time to purposefully frighten the students and get them to work harder! 🤣 And another a new voiceline also reveals he does not intervene with the student’s shenanigans because he wants them to grow as individuals and have their own autonomy. It’s as if Crowley desires his students to have freedom in every sense of the word- but not to have everything just given to them on a silver platter.

And if Crowley is indeed involved with causing the Overblots as I think he is, then it even furthers this idea. The students never actually died despite their magestone being tainted and Overblotting. They were certainly forced to realize the deeper pains and issues inside them, but they didn’t die. What Crowley is doing is not because he wants to hurt them, but for the growth they experience afterwards! Directly confronting these horrible things is what triggered a change in many, and we even get to see the core reasons at how they led to their Overblots.

What the Serpent essentially did was the same- it technically never lied, much like how Crowley is always telling half-truths. Adam and Eve discovered shame and fear, but they technically gained a lot more freedom and knowledge of everything, both good and evil, once cast out of Eden for how they disobeyed God.

What’s interesting to me is that this philosophy Crowley has directly contradicts Malleus’ philosophy when he Overblots in Book 7. Malleus practically quotes Revelation 21:4 of the Bible, saying he will create a world without pain, sorrow, and loss. Practically orchestrating everyone’s individual “Garden of Eden” in their dreams. And as we see in the peeks of Idia’s and Sebek’s dream, everything is so ideal that everything changes. As we see in Idia’s dream specifically, we presume that the “original” Ortho is alive and well, and has grown up and is attending RSA.

AND this is where Lilia becomes so fascinating in this book. Lilia’s dream is full of hardships- his life as a General, the hardships of war, the loss of Levan and Meleanor, the cruelty he received outside Briar Valley. But ALL of this was a necessary part of Lilia’s journey in adopting and raising Malleus. It was a harsh journey, but his life became so much sweeter by the end of it, where he even bursts into tears from how happy he is to have hatched Malleus. Earlier in the dream, we see him complain how he’d probably be responsible for babysitting Levan and Meleanor’s kid- but now he’s begging Malleus to hatch, saying he’ll do anything as long as Malleus can live, even sacrifice his own magic and lifespan to do so. (Credit to Otome Ayui on YouTube for the translations!)

I think it’s interesting how the events of Lilia’s dream is essentially Crowley’s philosophy. That pain and hard work is necessary to achieve one’s true potential- an idea that Malleus is not emotionally ready to comprehend yet. I wonder if Crowley will play a role in Book 7 to lure everyone out from their “Gardens of Eden” that Malleus has created? 🤔 Because now that I’m thinking about it more, the whole Garden of Eden think represents the loss of innocence and bliss in exchange for the knowledge of death and hardship- Twisted Wonderland starts with us essentially having schoolboy squabbles, and now in Book 7 we have witnessed literal war and the death of loved ones! Is it because we as the player took Crowley’s hand (or someone’s) in the opening on the game, slowly leading us down this story? 🤔

Birds are not the sort to coddle their young forever. Eventually, the fledgling gets pushed out the nest by their own parent to learn how to fly- this is Crowley’s “tough love” and the results of his forbidden fruits. Even if the fall is frightening, seemingly cruel and potentially deadly, fledglings learn how to use their own wings regardless! Crowley is giving that push to help his students fly, even if they can’t ever understand his admittedly tough yet well-meaning motives.

But if Crowley is the serpent AND the nurturer of the Forbidden Fruit, who IS the Eve, and who/what is the Forbidden Apple? 🤔 After all, the role of the serpent relates to temptation- there must be someone he has to tempt in the first place.

This is where I get stuck, in all honesty! 🤣 There is so much about Crowley that we don’t know about yet, that his odd connections to apple trees are unknown. The apple symbolism aspects are quite interesting, especially for the Levan theory, so I will hopefully cover that tomorrow 🤔 But the literal concept of what the “forbidden fruit” could be is unknown to me.

…But I would like to add that the likely reason why the Forbidden Fruit became commonly known as an apple (the original text makes no mention of an apple at all) is because of either a misunderstanding or a pun of the Latin text. “Mâlum” is the Latin noun for Apple, and “Mālum” is the Latin noun which means Evil- and is derived from the adjective “malus.”

Evil…Meleanor…Maleficent…Maleficia…Mālum…Malus…MALLEUS???

…Isn’t it interesting that in the first part of his vignette, Crowley speaks of how an adolescent apple tree suddenly grew without him realizing despite its hardships…a speech where Malleus conveniently wasn’t invited to and never got to hear how proud Crowley was for his apple tree? And in Glorious Masquerade, Crowley speaks of being the one to “nurture” Malleus into the great and powerful mage he is today. Just like the apple trees Crowley frets over so much? 🤔🍎 I suppose in “original sin” terms of the forbidden fruit, Meleanor did “bless” Malleus to be a malevolent star to humankind???

And…another new voiceline has Crowley being concerned that Yuu seems to know no fear when they ask him about the extent of his powers. Yuu being seen as an almost naive figure that Crowley is worried about…Malleus and mâlum…I’m not sure anymore 😭🤣 Because it can go both ways as well!

I feel like I went all over the place with this theory! 😭 My brain is still trying to process everything that happened with Crowley today…I hope the general idea of what I’m trying to say made sense though! 😭 Everything I said is just a loose interpretation ^_^ I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts, as I felt like I kept confusing myself trying to figure this out 🤣🤣 I @moonlightequin1 made notes on a super interesting theory of Grim and Yuu being the Forbidden Fruit!! It makes me think of the headcanon/theory that if Crowley was Levan, he “gifted” Yuu to Malleus. Like a forbidden fruit of knowledge for Malleus?

#twisted wonderland #twst #dire crowley #twst theory #twst dire crowley #twst Crowley #twst spoilers #twst jp spoilers #twst malleus draconia #kallistopost #twst Lilia

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I'm having a lot of thoughts and feelings about Eddie and clothing and being in the closet.

Because Eddie being shirtless is a thing - a thing that happens when he's in a spiral - and its always been a thing - right from his introduction. (and it kind of ties in with the black singlet - emotional vulnerability thing he has going on too)

Eddies introduction - him putting on a shirt - going from shirtless - to clothed - Eddie has upped his and CHristophers whole life an dmoved them to LA - he's been questioning if hes done the right thing - the shirt being put on - covering him up - is showing that it is the right thing - that the uniform is a safe space for him.

Then we have the Shannon of it all - they fall back into bed - and shirtless Eddie is spiralling out - not wanting to actually have the conversation about what they are doing (Shannon has to come to the firehouse to get that conversation to happen) he puts a tee back on so he can step back into dad mode.

Eddies fight club era - is a massive and obvious spiral that he is in - dealing with the death of Shannon and all his feelings around the fact she'd asked for a divorce, plus the fact that he could've lost his son in the tsunami, but Buck saved him and Eddie has complicated feelings developing there that he's not in a position to either recognise or deal with. We never see him put a shirt on here - just a zip front hoodie - that he doesn't zip up - symbolic of not actually dealing with anything - just sort of hiding it.

We also have a flashback scene in Eddie begins where he is shirtless in the militrary hospital - once more it is Eddie vulnerable and exposed and dealing with a traumatic event.

Then we have Eddie after leaving the 118 to work at dispatch - we see him start shirtless - essentially when he's at his most vulnerable and then as he finds a way to build up some new walls for himself we see the black singlet appear and then we move on to various tee his spiral happen - we never see him put a shirt on here - he does get into uniform, but its always cut to rather than watching him actually get dressed. He hasn't dealt with his issues at this point and the implication is the walls he's built up - that are letting him pretend to be fine are flimsy - then a bit later we get his breakdown

We get no shirtless Eddie in season 6 - its a season about him dealing with and healing from a large portion of his trauma.

In season 7 we've had him shirtless several times already. Firstly in the locker room - Eddie is shirtless whilst talking about first dates but then we get Eddie putting on his shirt - its denim - much more robust than anything we've seen him put on in this way before as soon as Buck reveals he's single.

Then when Marisol was moving in - not going to go into the parallels with Shannon here - and Eddie starts to spiral. We've already had the closet conversation by this point, so the fact that we have him shirtless essentially in the aftermath of that conversation is an interesting choice, we also don't see him putting on a shirt here! instead we are left with a visual representaion of a part of Eddie he had tried to keep locked up newly exposed.

And now we have this bachelor party - where it seems to be that Eddie is losing his shirt bit by bit (cannot wait to get the context for this!)and ending up in just the collar.

He wakes up in the bathtub in just the collar before he puts the suit jacket back on, in much the same way as he put the hoodie on back in season 3. Its an indicator that while he's covering things up, he isn't actually hiding them - that they are still visible for people to see if they go looking. And while I'm on that subject - the fact the collar is the thing he's left wearing - literally playing into the religious theming of Eddies vulnerability because it is screaming dog collar!

The show making such a clear visual indicator that connects to the last time we saw Eddie shirtless is very telling - its indicating to those looking, that Eddie might've asked Marisol not to move in and taken a step towards dealing with his catholic guilt, but the reality is that he hasn't dealt with it at all and that it is still very much a part of his story - his arc.

THere seems to be something in the soft underbelly of who Eddie Diaz is, that reveals its self for these brief moments, only to be covered up and hidden once more - with varying degrees of sucess. This season its especially loud and telling.

If we look at this season more closely - all of them are interesting moments, and all of them are connected to closets or defacto closets. The locker room - Eddie's locker is open while he is shirtless - he stands in front of it - a locker is a form of closet - its for storing his clothing etc while he's at work - a place where he stores is civvies - his real self. He only moves away from the locker and puts a shirt on, when the conversation moves from him onto to Buck - Bucks vulnerability is not Eddies and so he doesn't need to be shirtless - in fact he needs to not be - to shield himself from Bucks vulnerability.

Then we have the bedroom - which while not technically a closet, is Eddies safe space - a place where he can be his full self (in theory) and shirtless Eddie has one of his biggest vulnerabilities revealed in that scene - its so big that he cannot cover it up and hide it - his catholic guilt. This is the first time we're seeing Eddie's room since Buck was in there at the end of season 5 helping patch the holes in the walls. It makes sense that Eddie having a moment where his catholic guilt is revealed becasue even if it isn't directly a closet it - indirectly because he was going to start putting things in his closet - was going to let Marisol into his closet.

The implications of him not being able to let Marisol into his closet are pretty telling in my opinion. Even the fact that she was coming with her own armoire is in and of itself speaks volumes

And now we have bachelor party Eddie - kicking in metaphorical closet doors (whilst kicking in actual closed doors) and falling asleep in bath tubs whilst wearing pink!

The pink in combination with this idea that Eddie is vulnerable and heading towards dealing with his catholic guilt in the same way that he was heading towards dealing with his other trauma before. Pink - as I've talked about in the season 7 costume meta's is the colour of naivety or innocence. yes there is the idea that Eddie (and probably by extension, Buck) will be innocent in whatever ends up happening with Chimney.

But there is also the idea that this innocence and naivety plays into the fact we're seeing a lot of Eddie shirtless and the play into his vulnerability as well as Eddies catholic guilt and all the closet references. This idea that Eddies naively trying to ignore his catholic guilt, ignore his vulnerablity as well as the fact that his catholic guilt stems back to his childhood - when he was effectively an innocent.

yeah I have a lot of thoughts on all of it

#shirtless Eddie meta #the show is always so intentional with when they show them shirtless - that goes for Buck and Chimney etc as well #Eddies queer journey is getting under way #I didn't put this under a cut becasue who doesn't want shirtless Eddie gifs filling their dash!!! #eddie diaz #911 spoilers #911 abc #911 costume meta #sort of!

[amuseoffyre]

Have had a couple of days and a rewatch and some mulling to put together my thoughts:

The good:

the writing - I've talked at length about the use of metaphor, symbolism, allegory and the like to add meat and substance to the narrative

the continuity tied in to S1 and the foreshadowing coming full circle, plus running themes continuing

the music is flawless throughout - both the soundtrack with songs and the original score and the way old motifs are used to add parallels and depth to scenes

the acting across the board has been staggeringly good. Especially for Taika, Rhys and Con. I can see why so many reviews had been raving about it.

the bits of set-up for S3 that have been planted if/when they get it

new characters who are an absolute delight

Family Trauma the TV show - intense to watch but cathartic af

Badass ladies and the soft boys who love them

Auntie.

The bad:

too much story and not enough time to tell it

sacrificing a lot of crew-related stuff - I know this is primarily the Ed and Stede story, but we're told that Olu was always talking about Zheng, but we never even got a single line of it. Buttons' disappearance gets one sus line. We gloss over the probation and why Ed is back in his leathers literally the next day. Again, I know, time constraints, but it does feel weaker for it.

speedrunning so much that it's taken several rewatches to catch everything that's going on - yes, it can work as a narrative device, but not all the time

still not over Zheng falling for Ricky's gift. Do not trust the aristocratic white dude, especially not when you've been blackmailing him. And I know there's some logical sense to her being so used to being able to manipulate desperate people on the fringes with both carrot and stick, but it feels like severe underestimation on her part about how ruthless and cruel and petty Ricky could be. He's not like the pirates - he has the power and privilege and it feels like she ignored that.

whatever that Teal Oranges pivot was so Jim could have a girlfriend, especially since they didn't have time/space to actually develop the Olu/Zheng and Jim/Archie stuff. Archie was barely a scrape of characterisation because of time constraints.

The ... Forbs Boding

Izzy - it falls under the typical archetype of Loss of a Role Model especially given all Ed's dad issues, which I thought we were beyond, but then it also fits with the running motif of the show of change, death and rebirth. We've had confirmation of the existence of a place between life and death plus a character who was beaten to death coming back from it and a seawitch turning up at the grave. I can see why it was done as it has been foreshadowed since "the only retirement we get is death" but after all his growth in S2, having Ricky be the one to get the jump on him is... hm. I feel like they had him and Ricky talking and Ricky causing his death for a reason. Feels like there's set-up for S3 planted and ready. My Forbs, they are A-Boding. ffs, they Obi-Wanned him right after he did a speech about "our spirit will last beyond your whole fucking empire". Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine vibes.

The way trauma is/isn't being dealt with - I feel like there's stuff there that is set up for S3 as well, because we've seen how Stede is still bottling all his stuff and hasn't dealt with any of it, while Ed has done some processing and started to make peace with himself over it. Stede still has his mental lockbox and while he tries to pretend it isn't there, it still informs so many of his decisions.

All the Star Wars vibes - I've always been convinced this was the Empire Strikes Back season and now, they have all the pieces in play for the Return of the Jedi arc: Stede and Ed are together and recovering but will have a role to play, Izzy is in carbonite with a seawitch control panel, their allies are out there getting pieces in place, and the Imperial figurehead villain who showed up in S2 is still out there and convinced he holds all the power. And I just realised that this means that if they use Hornigold, he's the equivalent of Boba Fett - Bounty Hunter for the Empire XD

On the whole, I am content with it and am already having thoughts about the potential for S3, but I find it incredibly frustrating knowing how much more it could have been with the budget/time they wanted and didn't get.

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers

[starlight-bread-blog]

Why Lokius Should Have Been Canon

This is a sort of combo of two metas that didn't quite get point my across. Some parts will be copied directly, but there's a lot of original content. I will discuss the ship between Loki and Mobius, their place in the show, and the MCU at large. My focus for this meta won't be parallels or motifs, because these things border on well-written friendships. But there will be some of that.

Romance in the MCU

There are a lot of straight couples in the MCU. (Almost) Every main hero is in some heterosexual relationship, Loki included.

(That's not all, not remotely).

But in the LGBTQ+ department... uh.. I think it was mentioned that Valkyrie had a girlfriend... uh... America Chavez had a pride pin... and Loki:

One line. Queer experiences are never a focal point of a show/movie the same way heterosexual experiences are. And that needs to change.

Romance In the Show

Wrong, toxic, or unsuccessfu romantic love is a recurring theme in the show.

Sylki

Sylki was an icky relationship right off the bat. They are the same person. I can't find the post at the moment, but someone has pointed out in their post that them being the same person is referenced in every episode in season 1 (edit: here it is), which is when the romance took place. This made their romance uncomfortable for many viewers.

(Some consider Sylki a toxic relationship, but for this post, the topic is too large to handle with the nuance I'd like to handle it with).

When he's drunk, Loki compares love to a dagger, stating that it hurts you, but when you try to find strength in it, it's not real.

Which is exactly what happens. Sylvie pushes Loki into a portal and they never get back together.

The Love Triangle

In 02×03, Ravonna Renslayer is infatuated with Victor Timely, but he leaves her behind and betrays her when Miss Minutes told him to. One episode later, we discover that they were indeed an item, and established the TVA together. He Who Remains deleted her memories and they never rekindle their love.

Later in the episode, is the best example of "wrong" romance in the show. Miss Minutes, the AI clock, confesses her love to Viktor Timely. He, obviously, freaks out and shuts her off. Nothing ever comes of this.

Brad and Dox

This one is small, but a big indication to romance being a theme. In 02×01, we're shown this:

The gap in the age of the actors is uncomfortable, and a character in universe has this reaction to it. It is never mentioned again.

So what does all of this leave us with? Not much. None of this properly ties to the finale, or anything really. If I were to write the show I would cut a lot of this out, since it serves no purpose. But it does make you keep romance and its shortcomings in mind. The writers want it to be there, in the back of your head.

Loki and Mobius

Finally! I got to talk about them. The two people in question. First things first, who are they, together? They became really supportive, close friends.

Fans even drew parallels to Chaos & Order, which is a very important theme in Loki. But I'm not here to unpack them. These things don't necessarily make them in love. So what does make them in love? I'll present you my evidence, and you ask yourself,

Would it be valid to suggest romantic implications if a man and a women are:

1) Extremely thouchy with each other.

2) Riding on a tandem bike together.

3) Willing to suffer a fate worst than death for another.

4) Falling on each other after that^

5) Literally the Interrupted Declaration of Love trope. (Ex)

6) Being framed in a circle.

7) Waiting & giving permission to attack.

8) Fixing themselvs before seeing the other.

Of course yes. Maybe you think some of these are a strech, but ultimately, people would point out romantic connotations across the board. And I'm here, pointing them out right now. Some scenes between Loki and Mobius have romantic implications.

Conclusion

Loki is a queer protagonist in the MCU, a universe that lacks representation of queer experiences. His show constantlty reminded us of romance, sometimes for seemigly no reason. In the second season, they wrote him and his best friend with romantic implications. And then, nothing. It should not have been nothing. Lokius should have been canon.

#loki series #anti sylki #antisylki #lokius meta #lokius gif #lokius #loki x mobius #mobius x loki #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki #loki season 2 #loki s2 #loki spoilers #loki 2 #anti loki series #anti loki show #loki series criticism #loki series critical #loki and mobius #mobius mcu #mobius marvel #mobius m mobius #tom hiddleston #tom hiddelston loki #owen wilson #marvel mcu #mcu loki #lgbt #queer

[dinitride-art]

…y’all weren’t fucking kidding about this huh. Like I know why they (not all of them, most of them are chill) hate Will (because he’s gay) but still. They’re pretty bold over there huh.

“Some b tier side character” weird way to refer to the character that has the first episode of season one named after them because they’re that important to the literal start of the entire story (The Vanishing of Will Byers),

one of the main focuses of season's one and two,

and a character who definitely has had more than eight lines in the last two seasons.

Yeah, sorry. This isn't how you put a B-list side character in a shot. Center frame, close up shots, focusing on them speaking- and you definitely don't do close up shots of their emotional reactions to add depth to their character so you can tell the story you want to tell the best you can.

"I didn't know she was lying to you, Mike!" "Is it early, Michael?" "So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?" "Yeah. I guess I really did." "I'm not gonna fall in love." "A day free of girls!" "Funny how a lot of Will's lines in both season three and four have to do with Mike. How his character arc has to do with Mike.

"It's nothing. It-it's just this painting I've been working on."

"Why do you keep lying to Mike?" "You're not- you're friends with Angela and Stacy and you come to parties here?" "For mom's work- that's not what you implied. I just, I don't think Mike's gonna like that you're lying to him, and he doesn't deserve that, and when he finds out he's gonna be mad."

"No, listen to me. She's having problems here."

"She was lying to you, Mike! Straight to your face, ever since you got here and... I've been a total third wheel all day. It's been miserable. So, sorry if I wasn't... wasn't smiling." "What about us?" "You're mad that I didn't talk to you? Seems like you made it super clear that you're not interested in anything I have to say." "You called maybe a couple of times. It's been a year, Mike. Meanwhile, El has, like, a book of letters from you." "And us?"

"Sometimes, I think it's just scary to open up like that. To day how you really feel, especially to people you care about the most because what if- what if they don't like the truth?"

"Well, once we save her, El, we should stop on the way back. El could make us super rich and we'd never have to work. We could just play D&D and Nintendo for the rest of our lives."

Will hasn't been involved in the supernatural plot for the past two seasons. That doesn't mean he hasn't been involved in an equally important part of this story. Side characters don't get relationship conflict that spans over multiple seasons that ties into the larger themes of the story.

"It's not my fault you don't like girls!" "I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?"

As for how Mike views Will Byers, that has always been very clear.

And that's just season two and season four (I don't have season one and three on hand).

Yep. This is him. Will Byers. The B-tier side character who Mike Wheeler has never looked at once in his life, nevermind cared about, and who is barely even going to be in season five!

Definitely not important at all! To the plot OR to Mike! Funny how Mike has more scenes with Will than with El, "Who he actually loves," though. Weird. And definitely not significant at all. Guess the writers just didn't know what to do with Mike while El was away growing as a character so they just stuck him with Will. And really, they didn't know what to do with him in the last shot either! Just stuck him in the middle for some reason. And next to Will!

It's definitely not because Mike and Will are important characters, to both each other, the core themes of the show (forced conformity, abuse, love), and to the plot! Nope!

It was just a mistake. Damn. They really fucked up that last shot bad then. Putting Mike AND Will together in the center of the shot which, well, normally would be intentional in order to emphasis their importance to the story and their relationship but this is Stranger Things! We all know that no ones putting any thought into any detail of this show. Really, it was just a simple mistake. The blocking, the multiple angles emphasizing it, having this as the final shot of the season. None of it matters.

Least of all, Mike and Will.

Just another string of errors attached to these two.

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #okay- im not THIS angry about this comment #im mostly using this as an excuse to procrastinate everything that is happening in my actual life #and i get to look at pictures of mike and Will's scenes which are very pretty #its a win win for me #or a lose lose #i have so much stuff to do guys #augh

[your-thorn]

Dancing in my mind, revelations as you saunter through my psyche.../Caressing every concept like a fearie

Words flowing out, silky as the wind/My love, surely you've sinn'd

Just like I have when life was dreary, hazy, hopeless/Everything I've done... it's draped in evil, elaborately dressed

Silk ties and ceramic buttons/At the dining table, many seated are Satans

Then I see you, unmasked despite the theme/With you we talked a terrible scene

That dress hasn't been worn since/Any that come between us will see it and wince

Forever shall we be/Heartfelt love, only between you and me

For you I'd sacrifice it all/Don't worry dear, it's not a long fall

Long into the seasons grace/We will lie together atop dreams of snowy lace

Never again will you go through life alone/For no sin can God make you atone

No one can confront our union/Even with accounts of coloured journals in cerulean

#love poetry #♡prince♡ #sacrificial writing #yandere girl #irl yandere #actually yandere #irl darling #yandere blog #yandere thoughts #yandere #actually obsessive #yandere community #yandere post #yanblr #yancore #soft yandere #poetry by women #poetry community

[angel-armed]

Tristamp OST analysis

This is going to be a bit of a monster even with me just jumping to favorite songs so bear with me... I'm a classically trained vocalist, I play piano, guitar, and a load of different woodwinds.

1.KNIVES’s Piano

This is the most important leitmotif in the series, legit. This is part of how Knives ‘haunts the narrative.’ While he doesn’t appear in every episode, his leitmotif is everwhere. This melody appears even in songs that are not necessarily about him, and can also be tied directly to the concept of Plant Song, which is another track on here. It gives the idea that Knives’ theme is not something he just magically composed and pulled out of the aether– it’s a primordial melody that belongs to the Plants themselves. We see this especially in the scene in Episode 11 (Or 12, they blend together for me oops) where Vash starts to sing this very melody and the Plants sing along with him. 

Millions Knives vocal Ver.

This is probably the most obvious and prominent track in the entire show. It takes the same melody and motif as Knives piano theme and adds lyrics that are really only fully heard here and in Drain Arm, the 2nd to last track. These lyrics turn that Plant Song into a blatant lovesong, even including a call and response– a lyrical/vocal style used primarily in lovesongs in musicals and even Disney Lovesongs. Without official lyrics to look at the, lyrics I hear go as follows: 

Can we breathe (or maybe be, but breathe is more likely) the same way together?

All of the lives(Lights? Lies? All fit) are a part of me

Wish we could stay here forever

Although the stars are falling down.

Remember how

We used to be

No turning back

Stars falling down

These are the main vocals, but the response is, either right after the last stanza or during it, underneath the vocals as a joined swell “I still care for you” suggesting that said response is Vash responding to Nai’s previous thoughts. I could go on about this one forever, but those are the main points to take away. 

Vash the Stampede

This is Vash’s main theme and leitmotif, heard very prominently throughout the first few episodes. It harkens back to the more Western heavy themes of the original anime and manga, and really represents Vash’s spirit. It’s upbeat and introduces several motifs that will be used to represent Vash throughout the rest of the OST. It also includes the big brass fanfare that are the main Trigun Stampede theme from the first OST (which I haven’t played to death as much as the 2nd one) We’ve got the harmonica and guitar that brings us that western feel, but that quickly gets wrapped up in a modern almost hip-hop rock beat and really encapsulates the way Vash presents himself, less than his actual inner being. It almost feels like this song is how Vash wants the world to view him. That cool cowboy that Nai talked about when they were kids. 

10. Boyhood/ NICHOLAS THE PUNISHER/ Whom to let live

This gives us Nico’s leitmotif, and some that might later be associated with Livio depending on how they decide to utilize him in season two. This is the only place in the soundtrack where we hear the use of the theramin (A very cool instrument you should look up the history of) which is famous from classic sci fi shows like the Twilight Zone and the Original Star Trek. It’s used to invoke a sense of spookiness, and often used to tell us through the music that something strange and alien is happening which is appropriate, as part of Boyhood is used during the scene where we’re shown how Conrad’s experiments transformed Wolfwood and Livio.This and NICHOLAS THe PUNISHER makes use of another instrument we don’t really hear anywhere else– the Saxophone, which if you know Trimax and the 98 anime, is a cool throwback. Whom to let live uses it even more prominently. Whom to let live is a personal favorite of mine, it’s so introspective and soft– almost soothing. This plays on the Sand Steamer during one of Wolfwood’s introspective moments; when he’s trying to choose who he should save. 

11. Energy of the Plant

This one contains some of the same musical elements of Knives’ vocal theme, eventually ramping up into the violins that are often used, in my opinion, to represent Vash in a theme– a cool little nod to them being connected literally and figuratively. 

20. Home

This track is SO near and dear to my heart. It’s built out of melodies and themes that are simply not present in the rest of the OST. No sign of Nai’s theme, yet the theme is played on the instrument associated with him– piano. It starts out simple and then bit by bit, brass and woodwinds come in to swell the melody into a heart-bursting wave of warmth. Just as it reaches that climax, the violins that represent Vash come in, and give us a tiny glimpse of the leitmotif from Vash the Stampede, as though whispering of the man he will become after growing up in the company of the people from Ship Three. See if you can pick it out right at 1:46!  This right here is why I believe the violin is the instrument used to represent Vash throughout the rest of the OST. 

23. Last Run

I can’t help but mention this track, as it is probably one of my top three favorites. Of course the most obvious part is how it incorporates Knives’ theme towards the middle and end, but the build up to that point is a masterclass in creating musical tension. It starts with the underlying sound of weeping violins, and then a synth instrument that just barely offers a TEASE of Nai’s theme as the other elements, discordant slides and very subtle percussion build up. As Vash enters the scene, the violins become more tense as well, playing short staccato notes instead of the long, weeping notes before. It drops off into that synthesized guitar bomb slide, which is used to almost simulate the beating of a heart along with deep bass. Then, the Plantsong itself comes in– the same vocals used to represent the Plants in other songs just as the Climax of the scene begins, and then Knives’ piano theme slowly comes in, falling like tears before another stop that leads into the actual climax. Honestly this song is an absolute masterpiece. Just then, some organs come in very softly, picking up what can only be called a transformative moment for Knives as his worldview is cemented into stone, his path to becoming the god of this planet laid out before him in rage and fury. Then in the very last quarter of the song, it transforms almost entirely into his theme just around the time Vash’s gate manifests– but with the added oomph of Vash’s absolutely gut-wrenching violin playing along in a duet. They are both in so much pain in this scene, and the song spells it all out. 

28&29: Erhu in July and Plant Song on erhu

I love these two tracks because they really are one song, and go one into another seamlessly– they are simply Vash’s and then Knives’ leitmotifs played on an Erhu, which is legit one of my favorite instruments of all time. Really brings into focus that July has a TON of Chinese influence!

41. Conception

Jumping way ahead on this because while there are a lot of great tracks, I really wanna focus on the ones that stand out. This one in particular is really special because it takes Knives’ theme that is usually played in Minor key and moves it almost entirely into Major Key. It’s triumphant! His eden is at hand, and then, those sad strings come in (a cello this time–) that just suddenly dies out, just as Vash cuts him off. 

42. Memory of Rem

This song is really cool because it is, once again, part of the same melody that Knives always plays– but it’s only ONE part of it accompanied by violin, likely to represent the half of the melody that is attributed to Vash. Obviously it represents his connection to Rem and his childhood. 

44. Drain Arm

This song is a fucking magnum opus, and starts with the same notes that are present in Memory of Rem, symbolizing how she lives on through Vash. It almost immediately starts with a slow, sad violin melody that then builds up and up using some of the same melodic motifs as Home– and then Nai’s piano comes in, cascading downward along with the vocals that are used to represent plants. The beginning movement really is a mix of everything that made Vash who he is today. Then, it moves into mirroring the melody of Knives’ piano theme entirely with new added piano flourishes that make this moment feel so beautiful and yet sad. Vash and Knives are both becoming who they are going to be for the duration of the rest of the story. The old is dying, and the new is being born– very painfully. The vocals swell and then drop, bringing the focus back to the piano and some ominous percussion and bells before coming back up into a crescendo. This is where the lyrics from Knives’ Vocal theme appear, expressing Knives’ pain and Vash’s desperate “I still care for you,” 

I’ve said it before but the piano here really feels like cascading tears, which are then joined by the weeping of a violin as that lyric: “I still care for you” plays. The melodies all start to join up into one as the violin now starts to play the intro to Knives’ theme and carry the song into its final climax and the pain we all know it overlays. This time, the violins play Knives’ theme– while his usual piano plays a countermelody and harmony. Still, the two are unavoidably intertwined. I can’t help but feel as though this represents Vash taking that melody into himself, carrying the Knives he knew and loved with him. 

#trigun stampede

[notoriousbeb]

I don’t know about you, but my dash is…less than fun right now. SO I decided to do some lyrical analysis, which always distracts me and cheers me up.

Specifically, I noticed Folklore and Evermore have some very strong themes…

Fantasizing About a Path Not Taken / Pining

“As if you were a mythical thing/Like a trophy or a champion ring/And there was one prize I’d cheat to win/The more that you say/The less I know/Wherever you stray, I follow/I’m begging for you to take my hand/Wreck my plans/That’s my man” - Willow

“What must it be like to grow up that beautiful/With you hair falling into place like dominoes/My mind turns your life into folklore” - Gold Rush

“Eyes like sinking ships on waters so inviting I almost jump in” - Gold Rush

“I see me padding across your wooden floors/With my Eagles t-shirt hanging from your door/at dinner parties I call you out on your contrarian shit/And the coastal town we wandered around had never seen a love as pure as it” - Gold Rush

“The old widow goes to the stone every day/But I don’t, I just sit here and wait/Grieving for the living” - Ivy

“Write this down/I’m staying at my parents’ house/And the road not taken looks real good now/And it always leads to you and my hometown” - ‘Tis the Damn Season

And a subset of the same theme: Dreaming about Someone She Thinks She Shouldn’t

“I can’t dare to dream about you anymore” - Gold Rush

“Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in” - Willow

“I can’t stop you putting roots in my dreamland” - Ivy

Personally, I think all this longing and wondering coincided with one of Taylor and Joe’s “rough patches.”

Then, we get Midnights. These feelings haven’t disappeared, and now they’re being channeled into autobiographical reliving of sleepless nights.

Three of these, I believe, are about the same person: Harold.

Many people, myself included, believe Maroon strongly points to him, based on their shoeless karaoke session in a red-toned room in NYC, the hickey he put on her collarbone that a bunch of people saw, her iconic red lipstick, Harry’s god daughter being named Ruby (this one might just be me, but I stand by it), and the fact that a person left behind on an island is called a maroon.

But I haven’t seen anyone making what I call “the rosé connection” to The 1.

Maroon: “Your roommate’s cheap-ass screw-top rosé, that’s how”

The 1: “Rosé flowing with your chosen family”

You know who had roommates like chosen family? Harry.

Also, I have some observations about why Snow on the Beach could be about him, which I haven’t seen before:

“One night a few moons ago, I saw flecks of what could have been lights/But it might just have been you/Passing by unbeknownst to me” - He used to drive by her house in LA at night

“This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen/I searched ‘aurora borealis green’/I’ve never seen someone lit from within” - Reference to green eyes

All that to say, it appears to me that girl spent at least some of 2020 in a heavy state of confusion/longing (that she channeled into some really great fictional settings) and then went on to just lay it all out there in Midnights.

#haylor

[unproduciblesmackdown]

ummmm princess tutu post here where the starting point / inspiration is “romance doesn’t particularly matter here lbr” which honestly is further inspired as a counterpoint re seeing occasional mention of like oh it’s Thematically Relevant that ahiru realizes she’s Not actually in love w/mytho b/c like, tl;dr it’s not really imo, when her having a crush at the start of things was always Kind Of beside the point. bring your mytho appreciation and/or willingness for that perspex to be illuminated & know that this will have plenty of tangents b/c it’s me & b/c already it’s like, this has to build on how there’s that essential theme throughout the series of Hope vs Despair as opposites. in fact, spoilers, idk this post is me getting down things i was just Thinking Through while trying to fall back asleep earlier, it’s like, the Hope overlaps with Love so much that it’s like, it might be Essentially the same around here. and i don’t know, maybe in actual life too, see you next week for poetry hour, but for now here’s a cut where i just really start going off on Ideas

anyways like whenever people are going like “people’s roles in pt are subverted and changed & they have to fight against them sometimes” it’s like Yeah but then when an example given is like “ahiru being In Love w/The Prince was Assigned to her & her Questioning that is a key part of the self acceptance & defiance needed to avoid tragedy” like No, again it really never mattered how much she was or wasn’t in love with him in like, a [becoming the princess] endgame romance soulmates way, b/c it was always about her having this genuine love for him that really didn’t hinge on that. and Questioning whether she wants to be with him is really more a matter of drosselmeyer having this shallow understanding / disinterest in the feelings & motivations of his own characters, when a) those characters are Real People (in their world. of course in Real Reality these are all fictional characters) and b) he just wants One Conclusion that’s as tragic as possible for fun, so saying like oh the princess marries the prince, the knight protects the prince, etc, as these simple but high stakes asserted goals for everyone’s roles, is conducive to that

like it’s right there in the first scene like, ahiru’s talking about wanting to dance a pas de deux with the prince, which is certainly potentially romantic, and it’s not like a secret once she’s human that she does Like him, but even then, once she does Sort Of get such a moment when mytho dances with her in the Fire Festival episode deal, she’s excited about having danced with him herself but a) is more substantially excited that Mytho Wanted To Do Something and did it, and then later b) isn’t bothered about him dancing with rue instead. and in that first scene, although she originally says she’d give her life for the chance to dance w/the prince, she also says he looks sad/lonely, and that’s what she repeats later and builds on to say that she’d give her life just to help him on that front in some way, which makes drosselmeyer appear again. drosselmeyer needs princess tutu to also want to restore mytho’s heart so that the story can reach a conclusion, rather than kraehe being fine with him having no heart if it means she can have him, while he wants tutu to also confess her love so that there can be that tragic ending for her, so wanting to generally help but also be with the prince would seem like the key elements to who should get to be tutu out here, while of course for ahiru she does actually want to help him more than she wants to Be With Him in the first place. it’s evident again in the season one finale wherein she does For Intents And Purposes confess her love through dance, but that love is also tied to, again, just wanting him to have his heart back and be Able to dance with her or do anything else, whereas kraehe’s love can’t reach mytho because her approach is a destructive and controlling one about trying to possess him as a Concept of the prince who should be with her as the princess. whereas tutu is like yeah i want you to have your heart back, and then if that meant you wanted to dance with me that’d be cool. and that when they Do dance together afterwards it’s sure Able to serve as an ending, but doesn’t need anyone to really more directly declare Love or eternal togetherness or anything, it’s all good b/c mytho has his heart back (i mean, he doesn’t, but only when there’s Definitely a season two, b/c otherwise you could believe that Love was the final piece. and even if you don’t you could just presume tutu kept doing her thing until he was good to go)

anyways and then season two when there’s like more blatant will they won’t they with her and fakir which, maybe unsurprising disclaimer that that just falls flat for me lmfao b/c a) i think their unfolding dynamic is fun re being friends and a team but everything else just feels kind of tacked on to that wherein also b) idk it never really seems to affect what ahiru does in any especial way lol which would potentially make it more interesting if she did. but otherwise it’s like well great job morally supporting each other out here, fakir’s having antics on his end, but other implications of like “ooh...romance???” are like idk, it just doesn’t do anything for me, and in the end, Again we don’t need any unambiguous answer when it’s like, we’re talking about accepting True Selves and not needing to worry about being alone and then that means hanging out with a duck on a lake, doesn’t really Need to be asked like, is this guy in Love with that duck? when again the love is There between all these characters and drives them already and any potential for romance is, if anything, just kinda like the bonus layer after everything else has already served as adequate motivation all around

anyways i have to go ahead and link it to Hope wherein like. it ends up firmly established that tutu is literally this embodiment of hope, which saves the day in the series finale, so that’s Relevant. and then the raven is embodying despair, but beyond like wanting to destroy the prince and all, that involves people not being able to be themselves, and having to give up on getting to be themselves, and we see from the raven himself and from the people who stand in for the raven / as that antagonist (so kraehe and/or raven mytho) that the general approach to interactions that aren’t just “im gonna kill you” are about trying to control someone, and possibly also still being like “im gonna kill you” but as a less imminent threat, or even “haha yeah you should also kill me, go for it” possibly, re mytho when his jumping in for episodic antagonist lets kraehe’s material become more about her as rue again, and her obviously feeling pretty hopeless with this new context like oh, also, she thinks the prince and kind of also the raven are the only people who even Could possibly love her, b/c of the raven. 

meanwhile there’s also drosselmeyer who wants characters to have enough hope to continue the story and to provide Setup for the later tragedy, but also wants them to be able to despair at the Correct time (namely, the Ending, when tragedy is great / players dropping out of the narrative is fine) and all these characters are dealing with their stories being controlled by someone who does want to push things towards more tragedy. which like, surely Not Very Coincidental overlap of tragedy, despair, and control there. drosselmeyer has a degree of control over everything, though it seems More direct the more people are getting into the “staged” zones, or say, being in his clockwork puppets behind the scenes world, whereas edel’s function was to try to exist within the world and direct the story the way drosselmeyer wanted it to go, rather than him just being able to do it himself (or necessarily Wanting to do it himself, since he’s just here to be entertained, and even if he Could write it all into reality, seems he might instead be letting it play out w/o more interference b/c that’s more fun for him), but we see even through edel, who’s entirely a puppet rather than a person and definitely has never had a heart in the first place, that she still manages to become interested in and understand more about emotions and arguably have them herself, since she ends up having motivations in conflict with drosselmeyer’s and takes actions he didn’t direct, and if that goes for her, it has to go for his created characters turned real people, too, even when, say, they don’t have their heart

which idk i’m making up segues as we go here, but at the start, you have people who see mytho as a Concept and how he has a role in whatever role they imagine for themselves. like rue seeing him as the prince to her princess, or fakir being threatened by his being the prince to his knight, and their sort of begrudging alliance when neither of them want mytho to have his heart restored b/c rue knows he could wind up with someone else and fakir knows if the story could possibly resume, as the knight, he’d have to die. yet they both see mytho as enough of a person to also want to protect him, which is sure a manifestation of love that we see around here. but that protection also involves control: they both control what mytho gets to do, when they know that otherwise anyone Else could potentially direct him around, b/c mytho can’t know what he wants or doesn’t want to do, but he would if he had his heart. which they Can’t return, b/c apparently only tutu can do that, and evidently drosselmeyer hasn’t tried to give either of them the ability to return it, but even before it’s started to be returned they’re both decidedly Against that happening. and when they do realize it’s being returned, you have rue taking that role as kraehe and doing everything she does trying to stop tutu or tell mytho about how he Has to be with her, and just kind of shove fakir out of the way if he’s trying to interfere with the latter, while he’ll Also get in on trying to stop tutu, and while when push comes to shove he won’t really try to oppose mytho once mytho tells him what he does or doesn’t want, it takes a minute to get there, and his approaches to trying to stop mytho from regaining his heart are the classics like, tell him he sucks all the time, lashing out like hitting him that once, the “if i lock him in a dark room forever that’ll be so depressing it’ll just make him stop having feelings” effort lmao like it’s not gonna work....instances of the connection drawn between control & despair like, thinking of someone acting out of despair as, say, despairing of their being any other options for themself. which someone else can try to push them into by telling them there’s no other option / trying to put them in a situation where they seemingly have no other options

and it’s interesting how it’s not only like oh Despair / thinking you have no options is only something antagonists engage in, because we can say it’s in the choice to Self Sacrifice as a way to protect others, which comes up a lot, for example, mytho’s drive to protect defenseless things as a quality that motivates him even when he has no emotions. and you have the finales where, in both cases, fakir has to figure out how to fight anyways (and the second time around is inspired to risk tapping into his Author Powers again b/c he’s aware of how everyone’s been protecting him, like mytho managing to stop his dramatic Evil Self from just killing fakir w/a sword lol), and the first time around tutu’s supposed to see no other option but to save mytho by confessing her love and thus vanishing into a point of light, but she trusts in her own feelings and thus herself and refuses to give up, in the series finale, it’s rue who sacrifices herself by confessing love (which now manifests as her desperate to save mytho from the raven rather than her standing in for the raven, when she was willing to control him just so she could possess him, whereas now it’s been made entirely obvious to her where that approach wound up) and ahiru has to again face down despair, but then brings in Hope in the end for everyone else’s sake even when it seems she has no options b/c she seemingly can’t do anything. fakir won’t give up writing even when it seems he can’t do anything (and is told that), mytho won’t give up by shattering his heart again and figuring he can only die in the end even after defeating the raven, and ahiru’s apparently like summoned some form of the original tutu via all this Hope, wherein it’s sure interesting how original tutu apparently Also self sacrificed but did successfully give the prince hope in the process, because people are considering the self sacrifices in the first place to protect others, who in turn might try to stop them from doing that to protect Them, and that means creating other options / convincing them of other options

so tutu is out here sure creating options for mytho by returning his heart, and the reward in this for her is all about helping him and seeing him getting to be more of himself again and exercise his agency. which is so genuinely important to her that she also was ready to give up returning his heart / being tutu at all when she thought she was only hurting him and that he might not even want his heart returned; and that returns again in the next season when she again can’t know if he wants his heart back b/c he again can’t be his full self to communicate the answer one way or another, but she’s realized that she’s had a piece of his heart with her all along and that that being the source of her power to return his heart means that regaining his heart was always a genuine desire of mytho’s and why they should risk everything now to restore his heart in full when they don’t know that’ll go great. and at that point it’s obvious that rue no longer acts on her love through the Despair angle of thinking that her only option is him loving her, so she can only accept his loving her being His only option too, thus trying to control what he does so she can own him; now rue is acting out of hope, encouraged by tutu, where even if she can’t see it working out she knows that acting on that despair Isn’t The Way and is now trying, even as distantly as this, to work with mytho’s genuine self and what he wants, even just trying to let him exist again, really

and it feels like all the Birds all over the place might have to do with the freedom and creation in hope vs stifling and limitations via despair, what with flying and all, not to mention one intro being about the fairy tale with someone who wants their Magical Winged Lover to be guaranteed to stay with them, so magically removes her wings, but the wings were the source of her life, so she dies. it’s like kraehe with mytho in season one, where by trying to control him / remove his freedom she can technically be with him by virtue of like, yes, he’s physically present, but she can’t actually engage with him as a person nor he with her in turn because, as i’ve just remembered, her ripping away his feeling of Love while kissing him just shuts down his access to his emotions again, which is sure Something, tap into some [metaphorical trauma response?] if you want maybe....she can’t truly be with him as a person, with any actual relationship, when her efforts at getting there via the despair/control route are incompatible with him getting to actual exist and live as his full self, even if he’s technically physically there, she can’t truly just Have Him like that....meanwhile, mytho has this affinity for / connection with birds, he saves that canary chick who’s trying to fly in the first episode (and Does manage to fly when tutu also steps in to save them both), and ahiru is also actually a bird (who can fly a bit but seems to struggle with that) while tutu appears to others as either a swan or a figure with wings for arms (which might be tutu’s Original form as well), and ahiru as a girl is already out here supporting mytho as a person so that in that moment that’s just like, Scream, there’s that instance in the first episode of season two where he says that ahiru is like his bff and the person he feels he can trust most? or i think what he says is she’s the one person he feels he can tell anything. and then never knowingly interacts with her again lmao like scream....but the fact that Relationship is established even without him knowing she’s tutu where he still feels like yeah i can trust this person with my heart too, in essence. and to tie this back to the Ostensible premise of all this lmfao, it’s clearly not particularly outright Romantic, but that really doesn’t matter, and when he eventually at least realizes tutu is like, a duck, obviously he has no negative reaction to that whatsoever like yknow what, sure, who Isn’t kind of a bird, god bless you

anyways i think it’s sure neat how like. sure maybe only a few people know mytho’s literally a fairytale prince with literally no heart, and everyone else just thinks he’s like kind of weird / mysterious, but ahiru notes he doesn’t seem to be happy / seems lonely and she hopes(tm) she can help change that, and soon embraces knowingly returning his heart, even though she could’ve taken the route of going yeah oh since he Can’t want anything, why both returning it, if his current experiences Can’t upset him, why try to give him anything else.....she sees him as a person from the start, and wants him to have as much ability to want and enjoy things as possible, whatever he chooses to do with that. Couldn’t Be Me when ppl think mytho’s just boring or he’s basically not a person like, well again in reality none of them are people b/c they’re characters, but in that world like, even with yes him being technically a character There, drosselmeyer’s creations Are just real people, where even the actual puppets can gain autonomy and have wants and feelings of their own, and ahiru was sure always able to treat edel like a person, too

running out of steam here lmfao & i always of course take long pauses in writing these so remembering what was going on takes even more effort lol but as a fun postscript like galaxy brain of autistic appreciators of mytho lmao like, that’s me, it’s Fascinating like again i don’t think [oh boring] about him not having feelings, i think that’s interesting & fun of him lmfao. and of course it’s not about like oh autistic people Can’t feel anything, or that they even feel any less, any more than it’s about autistic people all being fictional princes who can summon a swan sword and defeat the raven or anything. but it’s like, thinking of people being seen as Not Expressive Enough and how that must mean they don’t have feelings (and the fact like also mytho sure does Have the capacity for those feelings, and there’s even some ambiguity about whether those feelings are still Active while separated from him / affected by things that are happening to him, but he just can’t draw from that at all until its returned) or those feelings are like, diminished / deficient. also thinking of, i forget the word for it, difficulty identifying what you’re feeling, wherein you know it’s like, being autistic where people misinterpret how you’re expressing yourself or a lack of some particular expected/desired manifestation of expression, and react (negatively) to that misinterpretation (thinking of like. all the times people around mytho are reacting to misinterpretations about him and his intentions and feelings. second episode where mytho hasn’t had a single heart shard returned yet, but already is getting hit by someone b/c while he’s giving No Reaction and expressing No Emotion b/c he can’t feel anything yet, she’s reading this like desire to sabotage her / disdain for her into it) and people being left to wonder if They’re the one misinterpreting their own emotions / ways they’re expressing it when nobody else is recognizing this or responding to that, and rather asserting they must be acting on some xyz other emotion actually....and all this pushback as mytho Is exploring his own genuine emotions and trying to act on his own genuine wants and interests even while other people are like what no, that’s ridiculous, cut it out, etc, and being shocked & surprised when he does show some open expression of [whatever emotion] like, king of not masking lmao. thinking of how i could surprise ppl with the most mundane things like “i think basketball is fun” like i have a zillion opinions & things i can talk abt & i’m fairly spontaneous & excitable & theatrical & talkative as hell but like the “default” or safe approach i have has none of that and people will then just assume like oh if it’s not being shared with me in a way that seems obvious enough or expressed Naturally / Correctly Enough, it must not be there at all. and ahiru just seeing mytho as a person in the first place and gaining the ability to Help Him Be Himself because of that. i think it’s soooo neat and i love that funky little guy, again s/o to the wisdom of autistically enjoying mytho as a character

and you know i think that’s ahiru of course acting as this force of Love by supporting mytho’s personhood & autonomy & wanting him to have options and the ability to actually choose b/w them, and Hopefully i connected that to Hope b/c you know, it’d be Despairing to figure actually no she’s not going to try to help him and there’s nothing anyone can do and this is the only way it can be. where people’s love for each other in all ways and all combinations around here is about not giving up, wanting to give the other person hope / getting hope from that person. the heart shart tutu gets is hope, wherein even interacting with her lets mytho feel hope, and where in turn there’s that line in the season one finale about her wanting to protect him and that the way she feels when she sees him is what lets her become tutu, wherein clearly also that is powered by the hope heart shard, so another love / hope link, wherein does it even seem like that love being Romantic was what really mattered, vs just that it’s a more general love for him as a person, where Liking him sure can fall under that, but it’s clearly never really that big a deal, like, even recognizing rue as a rival doesn’t introduce any conflict when instead ahiru’s like wow i love rue she’s the best yeah if she was with mytho that’d be cool, she’s my best friend now, i want the best for her too....there’s no like, “oh she Liked mytho at the start b/c she was Supposed to, it was an imposition of her Role” like that might be more of drosselmeyer’s assumption but what Really mattered from the start was simply wanting to help him, and Everyone Wanting To Help Each Other keeps being what wins....ahiru gets to be tutu for that reason, not b/c she’s determined to be with him romantically, which, you know, it’s also pointed out that tutu’s role being so Tragically Fated means you’d have to accept not getting to be with him anyways, in theory....and what motivates her re: mytho was never imposed, it’s love powered by hope & vice versa, and even when season two is all will they won’t they abt her and fakir that never like gets in the way of her main goal still being helping / protecting mytho, b/c again, that was never Just All About Liking(tm) Him anyways, so if she ever wonders about Liking(tm) anyone else it’s like yeah okay that actually is not that related lmao, her crush on mytho in the first place is mostly just like, funny and lively lmao. Wish the would they wouldn’t they material in season two was that way also b/c then it might’ve been engaging / interesting to me lol, but if it’s enjoyable like cool then, it’s just not really in conflict with anything actually lmao or that glorious defiance. all the climactic moments of the like ultimate Hope and Love saving people isn’t outright about romance. b/c this is all about any forms of relationships really, it’s not like oh yeah this way of treating people is good for Romance, but not other kinds of love, or vice versa

#this isn't even that long but who knows how much sense is made in there....efforts at coherency were made but #princess tutu #the point really is just me going shoutout to mytho shoutout to mytho enjoyers

[summersmithlatinxgyatt]

Okay so I did watch some of Bethic Twinstinct but it did not dissuade me. Even if the episode was good, I would be more mad because of missed potential and falling off. So let's not have that as a suggestion against me because this episode was HORRIBLE. I will try not to ramble and still provide enough information for each argument

Bethcest is awful and toxic. I think there's no saving it without fundamentally changing the entire dynamic and Space Beth, meaning it's not even the same ship at that point

Let's start with Space Beth herself. She has almost no unique attributes. What I hate is how she's useless most of the time. All of her dialog is just slightly raunchier and meaner/sarcastic but it just comes AFTER Beth speaks and has the same message behind it. Why even bother

And when was the last time she contributed so much to the plot or was even at the center of the conflict?

She feels way too similar to Beth. It feels so weird seeing this completely different Beth just adjust to living in the household kinda fine? I wish there were more episodes where she’s the center of the conflict because it must’ve been hard to live with a woman like that. It feels wrong to see someone like this…do nothing most of the time? She doesn’t even really have a personality outside of being a slightly edgier Beth, like I said. Her dialog patterns reflect that and she rarely is seen alone without Beth

Not to mention that I feel like The ABC’s of Beth did this topic WAY better. We got to see Beth embrace bloodshed AND trying to realize that her flaws come from herself as well, needing to embrace that and take some level of action against it. I always see Space Beth and Bethcest as a whole as an embodiment of that episode. The only difference is that episode was actually good

I’ll detour quickly to talk about how Beth’s character has changed over the show. Season 3 did SO MUCH FOR HER and I’m glad it even exists. The Rickshank Rickdemption shows her drinking her sorrows away and later on choosing Rick over her own husband. And as much of a meme Pickle Rick is, that episode shows that Rick refuses to change mentally and emotionally - yet will change his entire body and willingly put himself into situations where he doesn’t change his MINDSET, just his body. And Beth allows it to happen because she holds him to a higher regard than anyone else in the family. Again, there’s The ABC’s of Beth that continues this theme of Beth and Rick’s relationship

I really wish that Space Beth would’ve instantly been at Beth’s neck for this. Beth has been trying to move away from this level of relationship by changing how she thinks. To get better, she has to change her way of thinking AND her relationship with Rick. So why is it okay to have her date a clone of herself? That is literally making things worse

Bethic Twinstinct has that scene of them in space where they claim that they’ve been more emotionally tied together and growing together, but we rarely got to see that and it’s already episode 3. And I fucking hate how, to illustrate how close they are, they just start talking about how they find themselves attractive and attracted to each other. It just shows that this is a sexual relationship, not a romantic one

To tie things back to Jerry, it would be retconning the relationship Jerry and Beth has by implying that sex was the void in the relationship. That retcon stays consistent because Beth pursues a sexual relationship with Space Beth and eventually ropes in Jerry. It doesn’t help how most of the time, the cliche of a woman cheating on her partner with another woman is less about sexuality afterward and is more about trying to fill in the void - even though in the moment it’s just yearning for sex and understanding. And even worse, it portrays the sapphic relationship as ONLY being sexual. This is another stereotype and YET AGAIN, this is so fetishistic in so many ways

By having Beth love herself this way, we already are retconning the faults of her relationship with Jerry. But even worse is the fundamental idea happening. Everyone points out that “It makes sense since she’s so self-absorbed”. But she ISN'T. Beth RUNS AWAY FROM HER FAULTS, when has she ever fully embraced them? She is known for drinking and dwelling in sadness before acting like it didn’t happen. She also stays around Rick to fill that void he left so many years ago and upholding him higher than the rest of the family she built and regrets (for the most part). If she was so self-absorbed that she wanted to have sex with herself, then why does she follow Rick around the most? If she was so self-absorbed, why is one of her traits being ignorant to her own faults without first mentioning that they apparently aren’t flaws? This is such a small thing people overlook. Even if the idea that she’s narcissistic and deflecting applies to this dynamic, there’s still more that would contradict it and her character

I would have LOVED it if Space Beth was actually ruthless. She feels so watered down and just stands in the background. Here’s my approach:

Try to build up the relationship in brief interactions or even having it be a subplot at first. I don’t think Space Beth can even interact in a family in any healthy manner. She would probably be trying to remove all of Rick’s failsafes to replace them with her own. She’d be trying to take the kids to school. In fact, she’d probably stand there shellshocked at the SIGHT of Morty and Summer because it’s an overwhelming sight to see the other Beth having kids

Even if she settled differences with Rick, the dynamic should persist if you want to make the character different. I would’ve loved to see Beth and Space Beth actually be a thing. YES. As much as I hate this and have listed its issues, it can be salvaged a bit

Imagine if the plot started with Space Beth and Beth having an actual romantic moment that’s interrupted with Space Beth saying something about her and Rick’s relationship. Maybe while saying she loves her, she says she wishes she could stop being around Rick all the time

Or maybe, as Rick takes Morty and Summer out for an adventure, she says they cannot go with him and instead offers herself, leading to her and Rick having a quiet yet tense drive in his ship because she doesn’t want the kids hurt and wants to watch him closely

These two ideas would serve as ways to start the conflict of the episode. To show she’s different, MAKE HER DIFFERENT. Have her actually hate Rick and be so protective of the family actively. This would lead Beth to try to step in, but here’s the thing - Space Beth is right

The internal conflict for Beth would be having to change for herself twice over, because she’s appeasing a clone. In trying to fall in love with Space Beth, she’d have to be better for herself, LITERALLY. That’s the entire point. Maybe she changes how she interacts with Rick but also tells Space Beth that everything will be okay. That would be the wake-up call for her. Yeah, maybe it’s very late to do this kind of thing, but you can insert it with any kind of conflict that would normally be fine with Beth and divide Space Beth

If she’s going to date herself, she’ll change herself. She needs to change

Space Beth needs to be VERY distinct. She needs to serve actual narrative purpose. Also, this relationship can stop hinging on sex because it completely changes Jerry and Beth’s relationships and even characters. Finally, CAN THIS NOT BE FETISHISTIC AND FOLLOW HOMOPHOBIC STEREOTYPES? Not to mention have such a random build-up to just drop the idea over the course of several episodes?

That’s all. If you ship Bethcest, I don’t hate you. But I hate the actual dynamic shown in the show. This could be WAY longer but this is more condensed. I just want her to not have a boring character and serve a bigger purpose to the show and Beth

Because honestly, we could use a sweet sapphic relationship if Sumncy doesn’t happen. I WANT them to succeed, but none of it feels genuine at all. It's so much missed potential I can still go on about

Oh and also i fucking hope that this level of bad writing doesn’t happen to summer.

#rick and morty #bethcest #beth sanchez #space beth #sapphic #bro pls #idk what else to say or tag i might do a fanfic where i fix it my way

[kiss-my-freckle]

Full Episode Commentary

1x4: Family Ties

Just watch and you'll know what I mean by color scheme. I've noticed this done in certain episodes.

They showcase Damon's ability to manipulate Stelena indirectly. Unlike Stefan needing to manipulate Damon and Elena directly, Damon manipulates Stefan and Elena through Caroline. Like most of their episodes, Family Ties ends opposite the open. Damon hands Stefan a bad dream, and he's only able to because Stefan doesn't drink human blood. Damon tosses Elena on the news like the couple he actually killed at the open of the pilot. She's the entire reason he vervains Damon with the plan to desiccate him. "You really need some human blood. It might even the playing field. Football reference. Too soon." Like I said in a previous post, they have a football/game theme that isn't just used on the actual field, but in their love triangles. Stefan's so pissed over the bad dream that he stabs Damon with what appears to be a letter opener. Damon returns the favor, stabbing Stefan. Like Vicki's compulsion in 1x2 and the dream Damon just gave him, their mutual stab is one of many scenes they use to show the difference in strength with their diets. When Stefan stabs Damon, it doesn't phase him. When Damon stabs Stefan, he drops to his knee. They continue with these comparisons even into season 2.

Damon: All right, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing coach Tanner and all those people. Stefan: What are you talking about? Damon: It was a mountain lion. Really big one. It attacked a hunter this morning. It's all over the news. "Deadly beast captured. All's well in Mystic Falls." Stefan: Why would you cover your tracks? Damon: I've decided to stay a while.

This portion of the conversation shows Stefan having no reason to vervain Damon with the plan to desiccate him. Protecting Elena and the town is simply the excuse he uses for it. Best to trust what Damon says while locked in the cellar because he makes it clear why Stefan opted to desiccate him. After all, he's the one spitting truth here. It's because Stefan decided to stay and build a life in Mystic Falls that it was only his problem.

Stefan: You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you. Damon: Ah. That can be a problem... for you.

At this very moment, it's Damon's problem because like Stefan, he's now planning to stay in Mystic Falls. He has to for the sake of rescuing Katherine. Understand he's saying this after connecting to his humanity in 1x3, so trust he's being real.

Damon: And I'm just having way too much fun here with you and Elena. Stefan: Can't touch her now. Damon: Well, the vervain keeps me out of her head. Maybe that's not my target. Believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion. Some girls just can't resist my good looks, my style and my charm, and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift.

Damon's attempt to compel Elena in 1x3 and this bit of conversation right here is the beginning of Delena's head/heart theme, and it's quite a huge theme. He's referring to her heart and he's lying. He has no plans to get her to fall in love with him. He's emotionally loyal to Katherine and he truly cares about Elena. Stefan's "Can't touch her now" only shows he's ignorant to the reality that Damon could touch her if he wanted to. All he has to do is rip that necklace off and compel her, he's choosing not to. With his reference to Taylor Swift, Damon tells the audience the type of man he is. It's not about impressing girls, it's about spending time with them. He's what I term a woman's man. That part of his personality is an aspect that he and Klaus share. He has other scenes/attributes that contribute to this aspect, and I'll note them along the way. He has an insane eye for fashion, and you can include that in his "Taylor Swift" personality. "The real animal is still out there, waiting for me, challenging me to fight back, to stop him. But how do I stop a monster without becoming one myself?" Again, Stefan has no reason to vervain Damon with the plan to desiccate him. They introduce Logan, and he... comes off a lot like human Damon.

Jeremy: That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away. Elena: I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan, Jeremy.

I love the scenes between Jeremy and Elena in this episode because I understand it. There's no way I'd trust loaning that stuff to be put on display at a founding family event. I'm very sentimental. My mother's things are off-limits to everyone and have been since she died. They'd only get close enough to take a picture and display that picture at the event lol.

Now the third time Stefan's bloodlust became an issue in scene with Elena, and all he's doing is kissing her. He poses a threat because he chooses to remain in her life, and he knows it. This builds as the series moves along, and I'll reference every escalation. Consider this a lie by omission, which I feel is no different than compulsion. Elena invites him to the Founder's historical party.

Elena: Will you be my date to the Founder's Party? Stefan: They still do that? Elena: Have you been before? Stefan: No, the Salvatores don't get invited anymore.

He lies to her again. Cut to Damon and Caroline. As I've mentioned before, he's good with fashion. "No yellow. Jaundice. Go for the blue." Her yellow dress looks godawful. I don't even like the style. He compels her to take him to the party because he's not lying, it's truly important that he goes. He needs to get to Emily's talisman. Despite being compelled, Caroline speaks to Damon's 1864 attributes, and she's not the only character to mention this. Katherine and Stefan both do. "You can be very sweet when you want to be."

Caroline asks him if he's gonna kill her. He's being honest when he tells her, "Mm-hmm. But not yet." Stefan has no idea of his intention to kill Caroline. So while he plans to desiccate Damon because of Elena, he has no idea that it's not Elena, but Caroline he's protecting. "Because there's something I need you to do for me. How good are you at getting this little nose where it doesn't belong?" This right here is 1/4 of Damon's manipulation, and the entire manipulation is done on Caroline. Tyler sits with his parents at the Grill. When Vicki comes to the table, he reacts as if he's too embarrassed to be seen talking to her, like she's the kind of girl he can't bring home. It's insane the way the parents in this show treat their kids. The way Carol treats Vicki, the way Matt's mother treats Caroline. lol @ Caroline's witch twitter tweet comment. Damon is older sexy danger guy.

Caroline: And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know, like major deep-rooted drama. Bonnie: Like...? Caroline: I'm not really supposed to say anything. Bonnie: Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life? Caroline: Okay. But you can't tell Elena. Bonnie: No.

This is 2/4 of Damon's manipulation. Vicki knows well enough to know that Tyler is treating her just as his parents do, yet chooses to continue seeing him. "Oh, your parents are gone. I guess we can be close now. You treat me like trash. I'm sick of it." That's why I question the impact having absent parents had on her self-esteem. Jeremy is adorably sweet to her. "You know you're making the wrong choice, yet you make it anyway. It's sad." I could say the same of Elena, and often lol. The sad girl mourning her parents becomes the happy girl being sad in her choices.

Probably best not to treat the "bad" brother this way. Damon is chill and looking through Stefan's homework. It's insane to me that both Stefan and Zach treat him like he doesn't belong in Mystic Falls as if that's not his hometown, treat him like he doesn't belong at the Salvatore boarding house as if that's not his name. "You are in no position to question me." He basically tells Zach the same as Stefan did, only he's more hands on about it, chokes him to get his point across. Damon doesn't have to explain himself. Being alive is enough explanation. Damon likely wouldn't have choked Zach had he not pressed the issue.

Stefan: Hey, are you okay? Zach: No, I'm not. And neither are you. How many more people have to die before you see that? Stefan: I see it. All right, Zach, I see it. Zach: Then why aren't you doing anything about it? Stefan: I can't, Zach. I can't. 

Zach has no idea that Damon already spoke to Stefan about the deaths and cleared the air. Stefan doesn't bother telling him either. It's from this moment forward that I blame Stefan for Zach's death. "Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865. Damon saw to that. The little I had, I gave to Elena." As I said before, the necklace is for Damon, the vervain is for Elena. It hasn't grown in Mystic Falls since 1864 because Damon watched 27 vampires get rounded up. They double-up the vervain and those 27 vampires in this episode for a reason. Damon believes Katherine has been desiccating in a tomb for 145 years because of vervain. While it was also used by their Uncle Joseph when he sold Damon to the Whitmores in 1953, I guarantee Katherine was the entire reason he stopped it from growing in Mystic Falls in 1865.

Damon: Nice trick with Elena. Let me guess... vervain in the necklace? I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion. Where'd you get it? Stefan: Does it matter?

Keep this exchange in mind going forward because Damon wasn't pissed that he couldn't compel Elena. Damon was pissed that he encountered vervain in Mystic Falls, where he made sure it wouldn't grow. He's a vervain extremist. Consider it the weapon that killed 27 vampires, Katherine included. Even though they're alive, they're only alive because of Emily. It was the intent of the founding families to burn all 27 vampires alive in Fell's Church, that's why the church is literally burned to the ground.

Stefan: You've been growing it.

Expect Damon to kill Zach.

Zach: It's just something that's been passed down through the generations. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires. Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it. Stefan: But you're telling me. Why? Zach: Because I trust you. And you're gonna need it if you want to get rid of him.

Not just for growing it, but for handing it to Stefan for the purpose of using it on him for a 50 year desiccation. In his mind, Zach is no better than their Uncle Joseph. "Would it make a difference if I told you I actually like Vicki?" Tyler must be nuts. Him liking Vicki makes it worse. I'm glad Jeremy agrees. Bonnie and the nail polish. Elena wants to mix them because she's both. Elena ends up becoming Damon's sired vampire girlfriend, so the Delicate Flower becomes the Unbreakable Flower and the Naughty Vixen becomes the Obedient Vixen.

"Okay, but it has to go in the vault because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed. Apparently Stefan has a very interesting back story. Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend Katherine? Yeah, they both dated her, only she chose Damon. And that drove Stefan mad, so he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Katherine. He filled her head with all these lies until finally it worked, and she turned against Damon."

This is 3/4 of Damon's manipulation, and all it took was a single conversation with Caroline. It isn't just Damon's lie that drives the wedge between Stefan and Elena. It's also the point Bonnie makes at the end of their conversation.

Elena: Stefan is none of those things. Bonnie: Yeah? How do you know?

Elena wouldn't know because she doesn't know Stefan, and Stefan avoids the Katherine topic every chance he gets. In truth, Stefan IS a calculating, manipulative liar. He's been lying to Elena since the moment they met, and lying is a manipulation tactic. That's why I consider his lies no different than compulsion. He's controlling her through them. Trust that Damon would view Bonnie as a very good friend to Elena. He's very intuitive that way. She stood up for her against Caroline right in front of him in 1x3. So yeah, Bonnie is the one to get this reaction...

I love the chess board in this scene with Damon and Stefan. Again, Stefan treating Damon like he doesn't belong. "Why are you even going? I think it's better if we don't draw attention to ourselves." They're going to an event, not dropping bodies. "So you should stay here. I'll see to it Elena has a good time." This is the very threat Stefan worries about. The threat that matters. Stefan delivers the same possessive body language as he did with Damon and Elena in 1x2. Carol calls Elena because the pocket watch is missing from their mother's box. Carol put it on her list of things she wanted to display at the event. Like I said, I understand Jeremy's desire not to loan it out. He wants to feel connected to his father. Unlike Stefan's daylight ring, it's an actual family heirloom. They cut back to Stefan and Damon. In this cut, Stefan purposefully highlights his alcohol in an attempt to get Damon to drink it, and he is fully expecting him to drink it. Tell you what's really insane to me. The last time Katherine's photo appeared was in the pilot. Stefan was shown putting it in his journal. They continue to display it in Stefan's room as if he's continuously taking it out. It's shown in this scene, again with Vicki in 1x6, and again with Elena in 1x10. Clear to me that Stefan has an emotional connection to it. "1864. You and Katherine were the perfect couple. It was hell watching you dance with her." He's being honest, referring to the flashback of their "near touch" dance. Ah, I totally forgot about this dialogue, so I'll have to add it in my notes. Anyway, this entire scene can be found in 2x4.

"Here's to history repeating itself, huh?" THIS is clear-cut intent. History WILL BE repeated. Elena has a scene quite similar in 4x2. And this... this is honesty. "I have to go to the party angry. Who knows what I'll do?" Like I said, a vervain extremist. Vicki looks gorgeous dressed up. I love the way the sunlight hits her, and yeah... I love the dress she's wearing. Again, Tyler treating her like she's trash. He lies to her like Stefan lies to Elena. He claims the line is too long, but it's because he doesn't want Vicki and his mother having a face-to-face moment. They cut to Zach and Stefan. "I wasn't counting on it." This is another lie. Zach's vial of vervain is Stefan's plan b. If he truly didn't expect Damon to drink the alcohol, he wouldn't have bothered with it. "Did what I wanted. It lowered his guard. He won't expect me to try again so soon." He didn't need to lower Damon's guard to roofie him via Caroline. Stefan's entire comment is completely contradicted because he's lying. That's why he offers Damon a drink at the party and Damon refuses. However, I do find it hilarious that Stefan uses Caroline to vervain Damon after Damon already manipulated Caroline to put a wedge between Stefan and Elena. Yes, you read that correctly. Stefan USES Caroline to vervain Damon. I love the dress Elena chooses for the party, but I'm not liking the hairstyle. I'm glad she chose to give the pocket watch to Jeremy and lie to Carol. Not because it acts as a vampire compass, but for Jeremy. She's getting ready to attend a founding family "historical" event, which is likely the reason she comes to understand his desire to hold onto it. Her heart is so damn beautiful. I like how characters comment to age. While Liz feels Damon is a little old for Caroline, Elena feels Caroline isn't much younger than he is. Elena's comment lol... "There's a lot of history here." She has no idea just how much. Jenna runs into Logan.

After Stefan already lied to her about never attending the event, Elena catches sight of their original guest registry. Damon offers her details of the past while Stefan makes it clear that he doesn't want Elena learning their truth. "We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." 4/4 of Damon's manipulation, getting Caroline to dance with Stefan. He's using her here for the sake of getting Elena alone. Not to manipulate Elena, but to offer a genuine apology for trying to kiss her. "I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm... acting out, trying to punish Stefan." lmao!! If only Damon saw a therapist. If only Elena did, then she wouldn't need to depend on Stefan as badly as she does. Stefan pulls a page from his father's playbook, spiking Caroline's drink with vervain for the sake of vervaining Damon just as their father vervained him for the sake of vervaining Katherine. I'll gif this Delena scene, but it'll be posted separately. Damon tells Elena how he and Stefan died in 1864 while trying to save Katherine. So much for boring Elena with stories of the past. "Who was in the church that they wanted to save?"

Elena's "but I can't get in the middle of it" in this scene is partly the reason Damon trusts taking her to Atlanta in 1x11, and it backfires because Stefan manipulates her for the sake of betraying him in 1x13. At any rate, this Delena scene is what I term "close-up" filming, and to the extent it's... quite intimate. I can understand if some fans started shipping them after watching it. Elena still has no idea that she's a doppelganger of their ex while he's actually referring to their ex. "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" This line here is a straight-up admission on Damon's part, and Elena knows it. He's referring to the sibling rivalry and how it ALWAYS comes down to the love of a woman, thus, their sibling rivalry is all about Katherine. Even in the night and the lighting they chose for the scene, Vicki looks gorgeous. I love watching Bonnie work her magic, the fact that she's completely terrified of being a witch, and how they gradually have her embracing that part of herself. Notice how I say "that part of herself" because Bonnie isn't just a witch even though the writers treated her otherwise. "Don't talk, please." Damon isn't jealous of Stefan and Elena in this dance scene. She's Katherine's doppelganger, so when Caroline talks about them looking so cute together, she might as well be referring to Katherine. She's jumping off Damon's initial roofie scene. Like I said, this scene only furthers the fact that Stefan couldn't even stop himself from lying to Zach. Damon refuses to take a drink because he's expecting Stefan to make another attempt. Damon doesn't consider the idea that Stefan spiked Caroline's drink for the sake of spiking him. If not for their father doing it to Stefan, he wouldn't either.

It's insane to me that Stefan blames Damon. This dance scene with him... it jumps off Elena's scene with Bonnie, and she felt the truth for herself because she KNOWS that she barely knows Stefan. Even when she asks him to say something, anything... he still refuses to speak of the past. This insane boundary Stefan put on discussing anything of the past will remain an issue for them for four seasons, that's how bad Stefan is with his inability to be open and honest with her. Rather than accept the fact that he's withholding information, that he's been lying and keeping secrets, he blames Damon for causing trouble. While yes, Damon is causing trouble, there wouldn't be any trouble if Stefan were honest with her... which is the entire point. "But with mystery comes secrets." He's keeping secrets, and it's not like the secrets he keeps are "safe" secrets. They're extremely dangerous to her because he's a ripper vampire.

"Because I put it there." The best way not to lose Emily's talisman over the course of 145 years is to keep it with the founding families - and in a secret compartment. After all, Damon had to come home to rescue Katherine, might as well keep the tool to open the tomb close to the tomb. Logan is being more than genuine here. "I was young and stupid, and then things changed. Life got... real." He makes mention to cheese fries, so he clearly remembers her taste buds. He's beautiful in these scenes with Jenna. lol... I love Bonnie. She refers to Carol as a bitch. I agree, but she's only a bitch in the beginning. Hard for her to judge others once she finds out her son is a werewolf. Elena catches sight of Caroline's bite marks. "My mom would kill me." No, Liz would kill Damon lol... Damon would be the one to kill Caroline just as he told her he would at the open of the episode. This scene between Elena and Caroline is the reason Caroline makes a big deal over Damon biting her in 1x5. She wouldn't have made a big deal of it otherwise. Damon gets pissed at Caroline, though not because Elena found out. He's pissed that Elena threatened to go to Liz... who is part of the secret council that kills vampires. "You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it?" That's why he's more than ready to kill Caroline here. Again jumping off the open, he told Stefan that he plans to stay for a while so he's decided to keep a low profile. If Elena were anyone else, trust she'd be dead with that threat lol.

"Look, there are things that you don't know, okay? Things that I want to tell you, but I can't. And I may never be able to." This is Stefan basically admitting that he never had plans to tell her he's a vampire, that he may never be able to tell her. And despite this, he forced himself into her life and started a relationship with her. So yes, he clearly felt that Elena deserved a life with him, that she deserved a life of secrets and lies. Jeremy and Vicki are so gorgeous. Slightly angry before the party, Damon now has reason to be extremely angry. Stefan admits to spiking Caroline's drink for the sake of spiking him, tosses him in the cellar with the plan to desiccate him, and in that cellar with him is the very vervain Zach's been growing in secret while Damon is the very person that stopped vervain from growing in Mystic Falls in 1865... and stopped it from growing because of those 27 lives that he knows aren't mentioned in their history books lol. Expect Zach to die as a result.

Even though Damon had every intention of killing Caroline, Stefan's plan to desiccate him isn't about Caroline. It's about Elena. And it isn't about protecting her from violence. It's about stopping Damon from threatening their relationship and to stop Elena from learning their truth. Ending opposite the open...

"I did what I had to do… To protect Elena."

"Don't you see what Damon has done here? He's trying to get you to turn against me."

"Damon said something, didn't he? He likes to play games and cause trouble, Elena."

"So you should stay here. I'll see to it Elena has a good time."

"Well, the vervain keeps me out of her head. Maybe that's not my target. Believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion. Some girls just can't resist my good looks, my style and my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift."

"I've decided to stay a while. And I'm just having way too much fun here with you and Elena."

50 years of desiccation is Stefan's plan.

#Bite Me

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 054 - Cavemen Planet

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 3 Episode 3 - Extinction

This episode with a conversation between T'Pol and Trip, and they've gone a bit beyond just the Vulcan Neuropressure to help Trip sleep. Trip's now bringing T'Pol Gifts, it's kinda cute. Unfortunately for trip, the duo are interrupted by Archer, who has been looking through the Xindi database and has pieced together the flight history of the Xindi ship it was taken from.

The crew land on the last planet that Xindi ship visited and immediately start suffering from weird mutations. It's a mystery as to what's causing it. They haven't been bitten by anything or been exposed to any strange plants, and it more or less happens instantly, at least for the humans. T'Pol seems more resistant to it.

Phlox Theorises that the transformations are a result of the Expanse's weirdness, and that the Laws of Biochemistry my be just as non-existent as the laws of physics are. This is definitely the creative kind of use of the Expanse's nature that I was looking forward to!

As Trip manages to get Malcolm back up to Enterprise, allowing Phlox to study what's happening. Then, some unknown ships show up, and place Enterprise under quarantine. Archer's performance, especially when he find out the city was destroyed, was really well done, and the brief action scene where the infected Archer and Hoshi fight off the aliens coming to kill them was also great.

I really like the conflict of this episode, of curing the virus vs containing it. The stuff happening on the planets surface with the infected wasn't so interesting. The episode was okay, and it had a creative premise, I just don't have much to say about it. At the end though, Archer specifically requests that a sample of the Virus is put in Stasis, which makes me wonder of we're quite finished with this plotline yet.

Comparing my Enjoyment of this Episode with a Doctor Who Universe Story of the Same Title

Big Finish's Cyberman - Season 2 Part 4 - Extinction

Concisly reviewing the finale of an Eight Part Mini-series of which I haven't covered the first 7 parts... Easy job right?

Cyberman was a audio mini-series about the Cybermen, specifically their resurfacing in the 26th Century, against a backdrop of a three way cold war between Humans, Android Separatists and of course the Cybermen. Overshadowed by the absolutely phenomenal Dalek Empire series, which was released alongside it, Cyberman was always a hidden gem in Big Finish's large back catalogue, and Extinction was it's finale. I really do recommend listening to the whole series, you don't even need to know much about Doctor Who to Enjoy it.

Earth has fallen, not to invasion, but to subversion. The planet is currently under the leadership of Paul Hunt, a partially converted Puppet of the Cybermen. Liam Barnaby, former Commander in Chief of the Earth Empire and Main Character of the Cyberman Series has been sentenced to death, under accusations of being a collaborator to the Orion Androids.

The scenes between Hazel and Samantha, two characters who fall on the separate ends of the Human Android cold war, and their coming together to fight the Cybermen were great, and Liam's monologue about Death was brilliant, and so was his conversation with Paul about his ongoing Cyber-Conversion.

As for how my enjoyment compares with Enterprise's extinction, it's not really a contest. The Enterprise episode was okay, but Cyberman's Extinction is a fantastic display of my absolute favourite Doctor Who villains, and ties together the themes of the Cyberman mini-series beautifully.

#whovian watching star trek #star trek #star trek enterprise #star trek ent #star trek: enterprise #enterprise #ent

[josiesaltzmanstyle]

We’re Being Punked, Pedro

Episode three, babyyy!

I always forget that Josie has another outfit before the t-shirt and shorts combo she spends most of the episode in.

Experimenting with some modest lighting/color correcting for these caps this time around.

Josie starts off the episode in her second blazer of the season. I remember at least two more, making it undeniably the most blazer-heavy season for her; from what I remember, they became less common in her wardrobe as time went on. But they’re good for establishing her as a serious and academically-minded student who cares about what she looks like. It’s also cropped slightly and the ends are angled, making it a somewhat trendier look than a traditional blazer, which gives it more personality.

It’s also yellow, which is another common theme with her this season, and has those interesting single pleats in the middle. Yellow’s an interesting color choice to associate so heavily with a character who performs happiness while struggling to admit when she’s struggling so much.

Unfortunately, /I/ struggled to find where the exact blazer hails from. Alas, alack. If anyone has any info on it, please feel free to reach out!

Gasp. Shock face.

What shocked me about this outfit is the shirt she wears under her blazer. if you look closely, it’s almost certainly this white Modcloth blouse with a Peter Pan collar that she wears in both 2.02 and 3.18. I was surpised not only because an item from her wardobe got repeated three times (though that’s always a pleasant surprise in my book, as it makes the world feel more grounded), but because I didn’t even know they had this shirt for her by early season one. It maintains some of her common motifs (the material is textured and tranlucent and the Peter Pan collar has interesting detail work - black stitching that matches the sleeves), but it’s a little more youthful, playful, and trendy than similar blouses we’ve seen her in thus far. I’ve always associated it with her early season 2 wardrobe shift, so it’s interesting that she already owns it here! Also interesting: despite being a beautiful piece that stands on its own, it’s far more covered up here than it is in its other two appearances; appropriate as Josie is still more reserved and buttoned-up than she may come to be later.

She accessorizes with a red tie and interestingly pairs the outfit with pants this time. I’m pretty sure they’re black slacks, despite the filtering on the scene skewing green in a major way. What captures my attention about this though; what exactly is the school uniform? I’ve always assumed it was: a button-down and/or blazer with the school symbol sewn to one or the other, the plaid skirt, or plaid pants. But Josie’s pants are, to my knowledge, pure black. So maybe the plaid is optional? Idk. (Edit: I found her pants! They’re listed further below. They’re actually navy, so I now have even more questions.)

Also, a moment of appreciation for Kaylee Bryant’s hair. Wowza. It’s obviously curled and styled, but I’m glad they’re letting it fall and frame her face more this time around. Her space buns were cute, but they kept pulling all of her hair away from her face and forehead in a way that looked a bit strange to me.

The color palette of this outfit kind of has a lot going on, but I’m not actually mad about it. I think the red and yellow work especially well together here (and they’re two colors we’ll see her pair at least one more time this season) and I like the contrast of the smooth but rigid blazer and the likely soft but textured shirt she’s wearing. Lots of variety.

Speaking of pants! Here are her navy slacks, from Banana Republic. They're practical, but the scalloped hem at the ankle gives them a little edge.

I’d say the one thing I’m not really a fan of is these silver Aldo heels.

They’re very similar to the Aldos she wore in 1.01, (and that indeed seems to be the shoe brand they’ve tied her to so far), but they don’t really match the vibe of the rest of the outfit. I think they’d work in a little bit of a more formal look but… shrug. I just think they’re a miss here.

I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be the same day since Alaric called the girls in from class to tell them they had to do community service. It seems strange that they all changed outfits, but I guess it checks out that they might not want to wear their preppy takes on their school uniform off-campus. It’s also quite possibly hot out—the show isn’t always super clear about the timeline.

What I find notable here is that Lizzie and Josie both pulled their hair into a half-up, half-down look. (A ponytail for Josie and a bun for Lizzie.) Styling can do a lot to show that even when they’re fighting, they’re sisters through and through.

I would bet money that this yellow t-shirt with blue bows on the sleeves is actually printed with bows, rather than being separate accessories. (EDIT: After getting a better look at the angle of the bow, I can clearly see it’s an attached accessory. Despite being wrong? ironically, I feel a lot better about not being able to find it. There are a LOT of yellow t-shirts out there.) However, I’ve searched high and low for the shirt, and I can’t find it anywhere. One of these days, I’m going to make a post and not know where ANYTHING is from, LMAO. As it is, I still only know where the Modcloth shirt and the shoes are from, because I couldn’t find the shorts either, lmao.

But! They are black and high-waisted, and the waistband, when visible, is blue and plaid, coordinating nicely with those elusive bows. She also seems to be wearing something else under her t-shirt; perhaps an isolated collar, but I’m actually wondering if it’s the polo she wore in 1.01.

It’s a relatively simple outfit with just a few little details, but it comes together nicely!

Number of Outfits: Just 2 this time!

Favorite Look: The Modcloth shirt is probably my favorite piece, but since we'll get a better view of it later, I opted for her day clothes while volunteering.

Simple but cute! This outfit is a nice change of pace for Josie so far, but doesn’t feel so out of left field.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed. As always, if you have any information about a piece, I’d love to add it here and would be happy to credit you.

#legacies #legaciesedit #legacies meta #josie saltzman #josie saltzman meta #1.03

[mermaidsirennikita]

Hi! I hope you’re doing well. This spring most of my peers are graduating college and the fact that I have yet to start (or even decide if I want to go) has me feeling like a total failure. I could really use recommendations for your favorite lighthearted/fun romances. Thank you!

I'm sorry that you're feeling down. Honestly, take this time to think really hard about it and don't conform to what seems "right", do what's right for YOU. College was always a given to me--I "had" to go, even though it was basically entirely up to me to pay for it... and I did, with some scholarships but mostly loans, and now I'm in massive debt with a degree I didn't really think through (however much I loved what I studied) because I was 17 and had basically zero guidance and felt obligated to begin college ASAP.

I also had a total mental breakdown during my first semester and had to take over a year off before I was ready to go back. I still graduated, and though I have regrets about not thinking through the money and major stuff, I did genuinely enjoy my college experience after I went back. I think I would've enjoyed it even more if I'd taken time to decompress and figure my brain out. So sincerely, no pressure, no rush, in terms of timelines you can do this at any point. One of my favorite classmates was in her 60s.

ANYWAY. Soapbox over, I've got you!

Generally, I would recommend Tessa Dare if you want a fun historical romance. Some of her books do deal with heavier topics--from what I recall, The Wallflower Wager touched on childhood sexual abuse, and that's the heaviest one I think I've read from her. But if you want to try her out, read A Week to be Wicked--it's fun, it's a road trip, the hero makes an amazing joke about the heroine being a sword swallower... And they're really hot. I also love When A Scot Ties the Knot, Any Duchess Will Do (though heads up, this one does discuss the loss of a child) and basically the entire Spindle Cove series.

Talia Hibbert has some really fun contemporaries. Her Brown Sisters trilogy is great; usually they touch on serious topics like mental health and chronic pain while not getting TOO heavy. Act Your Age, Eve Brown may be my favorite--it's light enemies to lovers and both leads are on the autism spectrum. There's a scene where he finds her dildo that's both hilarious and hot?

Alexis Hall is HYSTERICAL, and I would super recommend Something Fabulous and Something Spectacular, his historical romcoms. The first one is a m/m road trip romance where this stuffy duke proposes to a woman horribly, she goes on the run, and he has to track her down with her sparkly fun twin brother... who he falls for... Something Spectacular has a nonbinary genderfluid lead try to help her ex get the attention of a famous castrato soprano, only for the soprano to notice her rather than her friend. These books are literally laugh out loud reads for me.

Heated Rivalry and The Long Game by Rachel Reid. M/m hockey romances, light enemies to lovers--these two dudes are the biggest hockey rivals in the league, but they've been secretly hooking up since their rookie season. Hot, romantic, emotional. It does deal with themes of homophobia and internalized homophobia and there is some "can we make this work" angst but it's really such a lovely and loving duet. It makes me SO happy, and they're two of my top "pick me up" reads.

Annika Martin's The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call-Girl!! Such a fun contemporary romcom, but it's also sexy? The heroine is supposed to set up wake up calls for the billionaire CEO of her company, but she fucks it up and can't afford to lose her job, so she does them herself and he really likes her caustic attitude and doesn't realize she's an employee, so they get... dirty? It's so frothy and fun. The next book in the series, Most Eligible Billionaire, is also fun and light, but the heroine does have a backstory involving attempted SA that's heavier, so heads up. Aside from that, it is ridiculously funny.

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley if you're open to paranormal. A witch who's supposed to have untold power accidentally summons a demon who needs to collect her soul, and they enter into a stalemate that does involve fake dating. Hot, also?

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian. Local lord needs to steal a special book from his evil dad, so he tries to hire a retired highwayman who's like "fuck no but I'll teach you how to do it". They fall in love. So funny but also emotional; Kit (the highwayman) is desperately besotted while Percy (the lord) is like "UGH I CANNOT HANDLE YOUR EMOTIONS".

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn is a great "I am stuck in life and need to figure shit out" book about a 28-year-old who returns to her small town after losing her job as a celebrity's personal assistant. She uncovers this notebook where she wrote all her hopes and dreams as a young teen, and begins to try to live them out with the help of the older brother of the guy she had a crush on (and of course, he's a former bad boy).

Praise by Sara Cate, if you want an adventurous contemporary that has some angst but nothing super heavy? The heroine is 21 and recently broke up with her cheating boyfriend. She goes to his estranged dad's place to pick up the rental deposit the bf owes her, and the dad.... who is 40... thinks she's one of the girl's sent to audition for the role of his professional (not inherently sexual) submissive? And she thinks being told to kneel on the floor is just something he's doing for a bit so she does it and LIKES IT? And he realizes who she is and is like FUCK but feels bad so he hires her as his (platonic, super professional) secretary? And he is the partial owner of a sex club?

Never have I read a book where I felt more "God I wish that was me", I won't lie. The whole series is very good, explores some deeper topics but isn't SUPER heavy.

The Nanny by Lana Ferguson is a contemporary about a woman who takes this nanny gig working for a hot single dad chef... only to find out that he used to be a huge fan of her on OnlyFans. Hot and light and I liked it A LOT.

I also would sooo recommend India Holton's Dangerous Damsels trilogy. I love them all, they're hilarious and romantic and have a great world of flying pirates and witches and spies.

#romance novel blogging #book recs

[bitchfitch]

I found the og draft of that mermaid thing and like, it's not at All the vibes I'll be going for with the story in the future. but it is interesting in its own way.

Anyways, my notes on it bc I'm not posting it (i don't want to edit it)

1. Jish is way fucking meaner in this one. My dude is actively violent towards other mermaids and nearly kills an intern bc he's cranky Nereida can't come play.

2. mermaids in general are stupider and less like, communal. No real culture or unity across the species with individuals being more aggressive towards each other and completely solitary outside of brief bouts of cooperation for child making and rearing.

3. honestly they're closer to a standard smaug type dragon but wet than what they are in the current draft.

4. The shadow over innsmouth inspirations are Way more apparent. This first draft was a horror story and Nereida's transformation was gradual and terrifying for him.

5. Jish was a fucking Awful partner. like, he was never hurtful or violent towards Nereida but his aggression and stubborness about all other humans was so pronounced that Nereida was abandoned in an alien otherworld during the storm season when every other human left because Jish was Absolutely going to kill anyone who suggested or attempted to make (help) Nereida leave.

6. The final scene was planned to be Nereida warning the other researchers against singing, and that if they did they best be prepared to be heard.

Anyways it's just. A vibe difference i wasn't expecting to see.

Jish has his issues, he's still not going to be great about other humans and not being territorial over Nereida, but he's going to be much more reasonable about it. He's not violent towards other mers and is instead a beloved part of the community. There's a community now with a recognizable culture and two languages tied to it. One that's a sorta mish mash of various human languages warped to fit the needs of the mermaids with a lot of unique words, and the whale song sounding one. A language for actually speaking and conveying thoughts in and one for shouting real loud accross vast stretches of ocean to keep in contact and communicate simpler ideas.

the horror themes are still there but they're more in line of the horrors of capitalism and the endless expansion and destruction needed to feed it. The institute is a Lot less nice in the new draft. They know what Nereida is before he does and him being involved with the mission despite not being especially qualified is entirely because they wanted to see what would happen to him.

the human-mer transformation is an at will thing that they can all go back and forth between. Nereida just doesn't know how to trigger it and will find out (i also don't know how he would trigger it, drowning is definitely involved though)

I'm Undecided about what the new ending will be but it's hopeful, and happy, and Nereida is probably going to end up acting as an ambassador/point of communication between humans and mermaids.

overall the story is shifting to be more about Nereida discovering himself and a world, and culture, and family he didn't know he belonged too, and sorta getting closer on a lot of things while also falling in love with a hot merman. The story has it's dower notes, but it's ultimately a pure happily ever after in the end. No asterisks needed.

#They have a daughter and Nereida calls her Doris after his mother #Jish calls her Dahri bc its the closest he can get. #he says it sorta like Dawr-i with the i pronounced like the one in 'it'