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#which is kinda confirmed by the way hunter goes like 'there's a reason you and i are alive and here right now and it's because-

jess-the-vampire · 2 years

Note

If I may ask, what are your honest thoughts on the ship Alador X Darius?

ok so i surprisingly have quite a bit of thoughts on this ship despite their relationship being more implied and not as delved into.

i think for one, it's def a ship with some potential to actually go somewhere, def not without a timeskip involved for the series itself, but still.

They sorta have this fun dynamic where they clearly had some tension in the past, ending their friendship, but it's become this fun rivarly between them and despite everything they still seem to care about the other and you can def imply a lot of their small implied reactions are a bit flirty if you choose there.

it's kinda funny how these two have not really talked onscreen towards the other, at least not as adults, and you can kinda pick up a lot about their dynamic.

since they used to be a trio with odalia it does make you wonder....it's not confirmed obviously, but with how they wrote odalia and how it seems almost implied alador became more of a prop to her over time it does make you wonder if darius and alador's relationship being severed had anything to do with her.

it's not something out of character for her, she was adment on amity and willow's own friendship being severed because of her own goals, so the idea she may of pulled something as a kid to kick darius out is not completely out of the question.

the show sorta implies in COTH almost like, even if maybe at one point they did love each other, at this point alador is more of a pawn in constructing her perfect life then anything and i don't see the likelihood of them repairing this so easily unless she goes through MASSIVE growth offscreen....which is probably not likely.

so if he did find someone else....darius makes the most sense given everything we know at this point, and hey look, if they set it up well i don't mind. Some people think the show put too much on odalia and not enough on alador and tbh i think they were fair in mostly how they addressed alador tho i agree there were probably some rewrites involved somewhere because we couldn't get more episodes with them. They were clearly trying to imply alador was emotionally manipulated into doing things her way and he was guilty of following along but that it wasn't always what he wanted to do either, and i can't say too much goes against that idea.

Even EE, looking back on that episode now gives more of a light to his behavior knowing things now.

Not a perfect person but he's not meant to be.

Point being i don't really see it as breaking up one ship for another personally, i wish we had more time for the blight parents but i think to an extent we were always meant to pick up on the idea that odalia wasn't exactly great towards alador either....it was just way more noticeable in COT.

we'll see how things go.

on some other points, i see the criticism a lot about hunter having a thing for willow because people just REALLY wanted gay rep, and i assume willow's dads's weren't on the table because they wanted it to be with a more mainstream character.

But i never personally understood why it had to be HUNTER, every time this complaint gets brought up about no primary m/m rep it's always about hunter, even though he was ALWAYS the most unlikely male character to ever get that. It's a female dominated show, he was introduced in s2, so any romance he had was gonna be developed later, and the only way it's gonna be a guy is if you dig someone up and force them into the main cast...which....is gonna feel weird if their only purpose of being in the main cast is JUST to date hunter/ or are only established just for that purpose.

(Like gus is a main male character and his relationship with matty was set up in s1, why don't more people care about that, why does it gotta be hunter when this exists- ?)

Whether people like it or not, willow has been around since s1, she already has an arc outside of hunter, and because she's a main character that gives her ample reason to be around hunter frequently to set something up or develop it, she was always the best option for them to do this with. Like sometimes you have to think about about this from a technical perspective and there was no way in heck you'd be able to set him up with a guy without the character either feeling like he existed just to date hunter and nothing else, or being dragged into the main character group oddly....just to date hunter.

but that's something nice about alador and darius, because they already have an established history you can get right into, and are both characters with larger roles and lots of great set up and characterization. If they started building something it would not feel out of left field at all, or like either character was there just to date, they have their own drama and issues, but they also happen to have a history and a LOT of implications between them.

And i also like seeing adult queer characters have this kinda thing, like it's great seeing it with kids but it's always just as important to see it with adults. It's not like the gay parents who are in episodes but don't usually have bigger roles either, like these two may be supporting characters but they actually are in frequent episodes and are given quite a bit of development and attention.

i think they have real potential and i'm glad to see a potential "gay dads" ship but we'd actually see the dads more individually first as people and see them come together, i find that nice.

like i like willow's dad's fine enough, but i can't deny we don't know them much as people, we met them together and there isn't too much i can say about either of them tho there is a lot of fun details in the bgs of episodes that imply some stuff.

The idea of hunter and the blight siblings being his new step siblings is....also kinda funny , i mean it'll make all the ship fanart of him with the blight twins REALLY awkward, but it would be funny to rewatch the show knowing that might actually happen.

like can you imagine watching amity and hunter in EL knowing they'd end up as siblings?

i kinda like the potential of this ship i gotta be honest, i'm kinda intrigued by their mysterious drama and there's ample reason to assume it's possibly being set up.

#the owl house #toh #alador blight #aladarius #darius deamonne #my art

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lewishamil10n · 3 years

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hi! zero obligation to answer this ask but I’m an old school SPN fan (went to a convention in 2013 and everything lol) who stopped watching in season 9 & hasn’t seen a full episode past that point. I’m wondering if you could recommend any episodes from season 9-15 that you think are essential viewing for the Sam x Dean relationship? I know episodes like Red Meat and Baby are popular but any others you can think of would be amazing!

hi anon! sorry this took a while, i was compiling the list, and then halfway through my app crapped out and i had to do it all over again. thanks, tumblr :')

anyway, here is the comprehensive list of my personal fav samdean episodes! i'll be putting most of it under a cut, since it's kinda long, and i'll add a samdean factor (sdf) rating out of ten at the end of each episode summary.

here goes!

season 9

actually my least favorite season, but it does have a couple good episodes

9.05 dog dean afternoon – dean becomes a dog. sort of. yeah. humorous motw (monster of the week) episode with some hurt!sam and some good face-caressing action from dean. sdf 7/10.

9.07 bad boys – motw, has flashbacks to teenage dean. some retconning about john that might bother you if you're a john fan. overall a good episode, with a moment at the end showing just how much sam means to dean. sdf 6.5/10.

9.13 the purge – boys go undercover at a spa. also the episode that introduces donna. motw, lots of humorous moments, including the classic sam and dean being confused for a couple thing. also, sam doing yoga. the boys do have an argument at the end though, for plot-related reasons. sdf 7.5/10.

9.23 do you believe in miracles – overall kind of a boring episode, but has a samdean moment at the end when dean decides to take a temporary vacation from the mortal plane. you could just watch that on youtube though, with the keywords "i'm proud of us." i wouldn't say it's worth putting yourself through the entire episode. up to you entirely. sdf 5/10.

season 10

10.03 soul survivor – actually one of my favorite episodes. not top 5 or anything but it's up there. demon dean chases sam around the bunker a lot, he was nice and scary, and the suspense was fun. references to married samdean at the end. sdf 7.5/10.

10.05 fan fiction – basically a love letter to the fans. motw at a high school play based on the supernatural books. lots of brother moments, by proxy and in actuality. the show pokes fun at itself in a light-hearted way. the samulet is brought up. good stuff. sdf 8.5/10.

10.06 ask jeeves – one of my absolute favorite episodes to rewatch. motw, classic locked-room mystery except in a house. sam and dean stuck with rich pretentious WASPs. sam versus cougars. the phrase "homosexual murderers." overall a very good episode. sdf 8.5/10.

10.12 about a boy – motw, deaged!dean shenanigans. sam gets to be the big brother for once. lots of banter. a cute scene with dean telling stories of his and sam's childhood. a fun episode to watch. sdf 7.5/10.

10.14 the executioner's song – oh man, what an episode. plot-related. dean versus cain, excellent fight scene, even better emotional samdean moment later. it's a short moment so you could just youtube it if you wanted, but overall i would recommend this episode. sdf 8/10.

10.19 the werther project – motw with some plot-related stuff. warning for suicide. really good episode, though intense. good samdean moments at the end, including hurt!sam and dean stroking his hair. sdf 9/10.

10.23 brother's keeper – season finale. suspenseful episode, i liked it. watch for the sam versus dean fight, and death's scenes. the brother moment pay-off is SO GOOD. in my opinion this is where spn started getting good again. sdf 9.5/10.

season 11

aka my favorite season

11.04 baby – easily my top 10, if not my top 5. motw told from the impala's perspective. so many brother moments, and improvements on their relationship like open communication etc. really brilliant. don't miss this one. sdf 10/10.

11.05 thin lizzie – fun episode until the axe murders start. sam and his thing for serial killers, dean indulging him. the implication of bed-sharing. banter and fun. good stuff. sdf 8.5/10.

11.08 just my imagination – motw episode, super cute moments. sam getting affirmation that he's a hero. flashbacks to younger sam and dean. dean being jealous of someone else being protective of sam. lots of humorous moments. sdf 9/10.

11.10 the devil in the details – plot episode. watch mainly for sam standing up to lucifer, and dean protecting him. excellent excellent moments. warning: you might feel rage by the end of it due to a certain angel's bad decisions. sdf 9.5/10.

11.11 into the mystic – motw at a senior home. eileen is introduced. sam accidentally says fuck in asl. good episode. broment with sam thinking about his and dean's future. sdf 8/10.

11.16 safe house – amazing episode. motw. the boys work a case worked by bobby and rufus in the past. excellent transitions between present and past, bobby and rufus banter, and dean reaffirming that sam is a part of his soul. sdf 9/10.

11.17 red meat – do i need to say any more. possibly my favorite episode of ALL TIME. motw. hurt!sam, reckless!suicidal!dean. straight up romeo and juliet parallels. badass sam. the boys being compared to a married couple. the classic spn vibe is [chef's kiss] sdf 15/10.

11.19 the chitters – motw episode featuring two of my favorite one-off characters. more classic spn vibes, specifically wendigo (monsters in the woods). more of dean comparing him and sam to a married couple. the usual. sdf 8.5/10.

11.20 don't call me shurley – the show could have ended at this episode and it would have been perfect. more classic spn vibes, with a case in a small town. more sam and dean moments than you know what to do with. soft touches and reaffirming their love and obsession with each other. a long-standing theory confirmed. and of course, one of the most important objects in their personal history. sdf 13/10.

season 12

also one of my favorite seasons

12.01 keep calm and carry on – no bro interaction in this one, but you might enjoy it if you like hurt!sam and feral!protective!dean. also, dean talking mary's ear off about sam. sdf 7/10.

12.04 american nightmare – motw with one of my favorite one-off characters again. sam's past is revisited. brothers have some nice moments of banter, but it's mostly sam-centric. sdf 6.5/10.

12.06 celebrating the life of asa fox – motw in which dean literally forgets his mother's existence because a door comes in between him and sam. great episode. another locked-room mystery in a house; the brothers attend the wake of a famous hunter and run into other hunters who see them as legends (also what inspired my url lol). trouble happens. sdf 8.5/10.

12.09 first blood – separation anxiety leads them to make a stupid deal in order to break out of a maximum security facility and see each other again. separation described as "worse than hell." unironically. badass winchesters. underrated episode, one of my favorites. i rewatch it a lot actually. sdf 9/10.

12.11 regarding dean – motw. a curse causes dean to start losing his memory. he begins forgetting everything, including sam. angst and brother moments ensue. rowena is there. good stuff. sdf 8.5/10.

12.20 twigs and twines and tasha banes – the witch twins return! good motw episode with interesting characters, paralleled with the boys. wish we'd gotten a banes twin spin-off or at least more episodes with them. sdf 7.5/10.

12.22 who we are – sam and dean getting themselves out of a death trap. dean finally gets to use his rocket launcher. the words "hey lunatic" are said in the way most people say "i love you." bro hug. dean is proud of his badass little brother. ass is kicked. the brothers do separate midway through the episode but the broments more than make up for it. dean stands up to mary for everything she did to her boys with her choices – especially sam. extremely emotional episode, sdf 10/10 would recommend.

season 13

13.11 breakdown – motw. dean takes a visibly depressed sam on a hunt to help donna out. some epic hurt!sam ensues. brother moment at the end where they talk about sam's depression. sdf 7.5/10.

13.12 various and sundry villains – humorous motw episode. dean gets put under a spell by a witch and is convinced she's his soulmate. sam, his actual soulmate, is not amused. wrestling and shenanigans ensue. rowena is there, as she usually is when witchy shenanigans are going down. she and sam talk about their lucifer-related trauma. good episode overall. sdf 8.5/10.

13.15 a most holy man – motw (sort of) where the boys hunt down a skull, knock the fuck out of a priest, and engage in general shenanigans. humorous broments scattered throughout the episode. jealous!dean makes an appearance. sdf 8.5/10.

13.17 the thing – motw. sam gets kidnapped, dean loses his shit. lovers are separated across an interdimensional rift, while dean debates whether it's safe to take sam across another interdimensional rift. parallels between the brothers and a pair of lovers? yep. must be another day ending in y. sdf 9/10.

13.19 funeralia – wonderful, wonderful episode. rowena and billie are BRILLIANT. dean freaks out again because he's separated from sam. important revelation about sam and rowena at the end. sdf 8.5/10.

13.21 beat the devil – sam and dean go to the alternative universe to save mary and jack. BAD SHIT happens to sam and dean can't help him at all, leading him to go literally mute with grief. so. many. emotions. no one matters to these boys as much as each other and this episode is testament to that. sdf 10/10.

13.22 exodus – HUG. BROTHER MOMENT. BADASS BOYS. SAM BEING A LEADER. GOOD STUFF ALL AROUND. sdf 9/10.

13.23 let the good times roll – dean and sam get separated again thanks to lucifer and dean makes an impulsive decision for sam's sake. the world's silliest angel fight ensues. beautiful moment at the end that unfortunately doesn't last. sdf 9.5/10.

season 14

14.04 mint condition – halloween motw episode. nice homage to slasher flicks, plus sam and dean being cute in their insurance guy outfits. broment in the beginning AND end of episode. dean calls sam pretty a lot. one of my fav episodes to rewatch. sdf 9.5/10.

14.08 byzantium – nice angsty episode. sam grieves jack when he, in true winchester style, takes a temporary vacation from the mortal plane. he and dean (and cas) fight to get their kid back. a good ep if you like sam angst and dean worrying about him. sdf 7.5/10.

14.11 damaged goods – another angsty episode. dean resorts to desperate measures to deal with his annoying skull roommate issue. sam is not happy about it but reluctantly goes along. featuring the hug-from-behind that's become legendary in gifs, and dean saying Those Three Words along with other things that indicate that sam is the most important person in his life. sdf 9/10.

14.12 prophet and loss – the boys go to help donatello who's in a coma. sam is angsting over dean's decision from the previous episode. dean is angsting over sam's angst. castiel is just kinda there. then sam has a breakdown which short-circuits dean's brain and resets it back to common sense. brohugs and tears ensue. one of my favorite hugs mostly due to how Baby Brother sam is in it. sdf 10/10.

14.13 lebanon – DO NOT SKIP THIS. lots of cute moments showing sam and dean's life in their town, plus. john winchester. SO MANY BROMENTS. literally all they do is talk about how much they love each other. they get closure from john. lots of tears are shed. i will never be the same again. sam and dean are each other's endgame and i will go feral. sdf 14/10.

14.17 game night – an okay episode, though it has a great hurt!sam broment near the end. worth watching for that itself. dean takes care of his baby brother and i cry a little into my bowl of chips. sdf 8/10.

season 15

15.01 back and to the future – another okay episode. there's a nice scene where dean fixes up a bullet wound in sam's shoulder, but you could probably find that on youtube too. sdf 6/10.

15.04 atomic monsters – kinda a depressing episode even by spn standards, tbh. motw, again where dean takes a visibly depressed sam on a hunt. the hunt hits too close to home, sam's depression gets worse, and he talks to dean about it in the end of the episode. it was a good scene, was nice to see sam discuss his mental health and dean listening. sdf 8/10.

15.11 the gamblers – motw. the boys go to a bar in alaska to win back their luck from the goddess fortuna. some other plot stuff happens with castiel and jack but eh. the boys play pool and have some nice moments. also, snarky sammy! sdf 8/10.

15.14 last holiday – motw. the boys accidentally release a wood nymph named mrs. butters who looks after them in a creepy kinda grandmotherly fashion. they get to have birthdays! but of course she's not what she seems, etc. etc. some hurt!sam, a few cute brothers-and-jack-as-family moments. sdf 6.5/10 (some marks reduced due to unnecessary and nonsensical inclusion of saileen)

15.17 unity – plot episode, honestly just watch for the moment near the end where sam is able to talk dean out of his existential-crisis-induced mind-controlled state, breaking chuck's hold over him. it's a great moment, but like. i'd say go watch on youtube instead of watching the entire ep. sdf 7/10 due to the moment.

15.19 inherit the earth – the boys finally take back control of their own lives and destiny. the universe is back in order with a new deity. classic sam and dean versus cosmic entities, with nothing but each other and their sheer willpower. beautiful, beautiful ending. the show could have ended here and been perfect. sdf 10/10.

15.20 carry on – the episode that might finally land me in therapy. the series finale that made this entire 15-season ride so worth it. lovely motw episode, full of love and passion and heart, and a monologue from dean that will have you in tears. The Three Words are spoken. he calls sam his baby brother. hands are held and foreheads are touched. i was literally sobbing while watching this, and i never cry at tv shows or movies. even now when i think of this episode my heart feels heavy and full in the best of ways. the entire episode is a love letter to the pilot, to the boys, and to everyone who's stuck with them. it is the distilled essence of what made this show special. i still haven't been able to rewatch because of how emotional it makes me. sdf 34693/10.

well anon i hope this long list helped!!! enjoy your watch <3

#supernatural #samdean #asks #anonymous #naila.txt

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katnip225 · 3 years

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So remember that au where the dream smp is a comic book in the manhunt universe. Well more of that. This is what manhunt!Dream thinks of each character. Now I will just be using the real names but in the comic the names are different. Not doing the tales of the smp characters. Might also get some backstory for Manhunt!Dream

Techno - As stated in my prev post, this is Dream's fav character. He has regularly copied ideas from him. He loves all the pets that Techno has. And how no matter what Techno always follows his beliefs. Might also remind him of his childhood rival.

Phil - finds the character very funny. The 3 months thing. Through does have some very good serious moments like Nov 16th and Doomsday. The guy is clearly not perfect but he really has a hard time hating the guy. Only time he did hate Phil was during Doomsday for letting Friend die and hurting Ghostbur.

Wilbur - easily his 2nd fav. The way his fall was done. It was so heartbreaking. Then his revival. To find out about being alone for 13 years was rough. Dream feels for the guy since being on the run is very lonely. The only people he talks to is when the hunters get close enough for banter. He really hopes that Wilbur gets the help that he needs.

Ghostbur (yes counting this as a different character) - loves the guy. so sweet and just wants to help. Through feels very sad because of the memory thing and the blue. Plus the speech that he gave on Doomsday.

Tommy - this kid can't catch a break. He feels so bad for the kid. Tommy is a good kid that overall does not mean harm. The only thing that Dream hates Tommy for is killing the cat. Dream likes animals and while can understand why Tommy did it, still found himself crying over the cat's death. Dream always wanted pets but his life before on the run was rough and now there is no way he will get one

Tubbo - another kid he feels sorry for. Dream feels bad for Tommy but for some reason Tubbo hits harder. Maybe it is because Tubbo reminds him of one of his neighbor's kid. They are pretty similar in personality from what he remembers. He was sad when the neighbors moved. The scene of Tubbo crying hurt so much. He really wanted to jump into the comic and comfort him.

Ranboo - Easily his 3rd fav. The memory book. The ender walking. The weird connection to main bad guy. The begging to be locked up in the prison. Plus love the marriage to Tubbo. Really hopes they can talk to each other. This comic needs one healthy relationship that lasts. Reminds him of this enderman hybrid that helped. Found the kid lost in the woods and badly hurt. So helped get the kid back to help then took it to the village with the nice baker lady. It was a nice village so hopefully the kid is okay.

Michael - yes doing their son. Super cute. The in comic reason for keeping Michael inside is for safety. I like to imagine there is a small mini series of Michael playing pretend or sneaking out to meet the other kids.

Fundy - neutral. Does not like him but does not hate him. Through is curious about the seeing the future thing. Wonders if this is his god's blood in work. (in the comic, Wilbur is confirmed to be a demigod. Only Phil and Techno know about it but it was confirmed)

Yogurt - cute kid. Hangs out with Michael when he sneaks out.

Puffy - a cool pirate and therapist. Kinda wish that she was his mom. He does not have any parents but he feels like Puffy would be a cool mom. She went feral when Foolish was killed.

Niki - reminds him of a baker he meet once while on the run. This was before he was well known so he could risk being seen. She gave him some free cookies and gave him a discount on the bread when she saw that he did not have much money. Super sweet and nice but also not one to be messed with. He saw how that baker handled an attempted robbery. Sad to see her wanting to hurt Tommy but was so happy that she is healing.

Jack: Feels bad for the character since he is put through so much. Even had to crawl out of hell.

Karl - love the guy. The time travel spin off series is super cool. feels bad for the losing memories things.

Quackity - flip flops between feeling bad and hating the guy. Quackity has been through a lot and Las Nevadas is cool. But he is just doing what the main villian did. Please just heal so you can be at peace. Hopefully him and fiancés will get back together

Jschlatt - great villian. hated the guy. Also reminds him of his neighbors. The father. Through was a much better person. Actually wanted to give a better life for his son (Yes in this au, DadSchlatt is a thing and he is a good father)

Purple - felt bad for the ufo being blowen up but does not feel anything towards him.

Punz - He respect the guy. Reminds him of a mercenary person that once was after him. Through stopped after realizing that the pay was not worth all the chase. Needed to be payed more

Ponk - felt bad for losing his arm but otherwise neutral for the character

Skeppy - over all neutral. Nice guy and feels bad for the possession thing.

Eret - liked the guy then hated the guy then went back to liking him. Glad the character was making up for the whole betrayal thing.

XD - does know what to make of this character. Through does not trust the god with George

Drista - a fun character that can cause a lot of chaos. Would want as a sister. Yes he might get attacked by a fork but hey he already has a younger brother.

Kristen - not much is known about her. Only that she is Wilbur's mom (in the comic, Wilbur does say his mom is a fridge but I am going on what Phil said. Which is that Wilbur got confused when Phil pointed to the fridge which had a pic of his mom)

MD - fun guy. So sad to see him die. Was really helping Tommy

Mamacita - another fun character through has not been seen since MD's death.

Sally - in the comic Sally is a shapeshifter through the writer wanted them to be a fish. Their editor refused to allow that. Not really shown much outside flash backs. I go back and forth on how good of a mom she was. So if she was good then Dream liked her. If not then he hates her.

Slimecicle - very confused. not like conflicted. Just confused.

Sam Nook - like him. Only one he trusts Tommy with. If he could becomes friends with Hunter!Sam would totally ask if he can build something like Sam Nook

Sam - really hates the dude. Does not care that the main bad guy asked Sam to build it. Sam has control so everything is Sam's doing. Plus the whole thing with Ponk. Part of him does remind dream of Hunter!Sam but that was earlier in the comic. Hunter!Sam would never hurt his partner (Yes Hunter!Sam is dating Ponk)

Ant - again the character remind him of Hunter!Ant. Through overall neutral. Does feel bad for the whole possession by the egg thing

Sapnap - hopefully gets back with Quackity. The dude really gets the short end of the stick. Also reminds him of Hunter!Sapnap. Through hopefully his relationship goes better then dsmp!Sapnap (yes Quaickity and Karl are his boyfriends)

George - reminds him of Hunter!Geroge. The weird dream comics were funny. feels bad that the character can't tell what is a dream and what is real.

Bad - again remind him of Hunter!Bad. Only reason why Dream does not hate dsmp!Bad is because he is being possessed by the egg. He did not like Foolish being killed. Also finds it sweet that the character was willing to do something for Skeppy. (yes. Bad and Skeppy have the same relationship as canon)

Dream - is a great villian. very evil. Through as stated before. Does not like the prison treatment. Does see himself in the guy but it is like all his more negative traits were turned up to 1000. Through Dream is lonely and does not make attachments, there is one he can't get rid of. Since that attachment is why he is doing all of this

Foolish - can probably tell he really likes Foolish. reminds him of his younger brother. Foolish being killed was the one time he needed to put the comic down and take a break.

that is everyone. There are a few more that I really don't watch so have no idea what Manhunt!Dream's opinion would be.

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meteor752 · 3 years

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Dsmp Hogwarts AU, except it’s all the characters and I go into why they are what they are, please reblog this took a long ass time

Man, what a title Huh? Anyways, this will obviously go over the characters and not the content creators, because in some cases those are vastly different

Also, before we start, I will go over an important thing that I will mention probably a few times, and that is the difference between Hufflepuff Loyalty and Slytherin Loyalty.

Both of these houses value loyalty, but in very different ways. Take for example that you’re a spy who has their best friend as their partner, and you’re out on some super important mission. Let’s also say that your partner got shot and is close to death, and the only way to save them would be to abandon the mission entirely.

A Hufflepuff would try to complete the mission because it would be the best for all, while the Slytherin would abandon the mission despite the fact that it could result in countless deaths, just to save their friend.

See it as Selfish Loyalty vs Selfless loyalty. Both are great things to have, but are still different.

Anyways, on with the show

Tomathy Danger Kraken Careful Innit

I have seen people try to argue that this boy is a Hufflepuff because of his loyalty and such, but gosh darnit everyone this child is a god damn Gryffindor. I mean, one of his main character traits is that he’s brash and too brave for his own good. The reason he got fucking exiled is because he burned down George’s house without thinking of the consequences, and then just screamed at Dream without thinking of the consequences. The same goes for Ghostbur’s “death”, it was because he had no real plan except Stab Dream with an axe. So yeah, Gryffindor

Wilbur Soot

Slytherin, 100%. This man has created one and a half nation, one entirely out of spite, he was both a general and a president, he’s a smart lil fella, and he managed to hold his own against the god of the server. I don’t even thing you guys wanna argue with me here

Tuberculosis Underscore

This one is tricky, because it’s really between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for me. Like, he does possess the Hufflepuff loyalty™ plus he is very kind, but he’s also one of the more logical and observant characters we have in this server (The bar is very low let me tell ya). But I think I will have to go with Ravenclaw, just because like, the boy invented nukes. He built fucking nukes. So yeah, a very chaotic Ravenclaw that will spout bee facts at you, be prepared

Technoblade

My man is a Ravenclaw, no doubt about it. I mean, he started talking about an old greek myth in the middle of a war? Just Ravenclaw things amiright?

Philza Minecraft

I will have to go with Slytherin on this one, simply because of the large amount of Slytherin Loyalty, but also because of his cunningness and resourcefulness, but for real this was very tricky, simply because I don’t like to think about c!Phil too much because as some of you may know, I kinda hate him (Not the cc though, obvs, he’s awesome)

Ranboo My Beloved

Hufflepuff. This boy’s ideology is literally “Choose people, not sides”, he’s an honest and compassionate boy who works hard, and has a very open mind. He’s literally the by the book Hufflepuff

Eret

Honestly, Slytherin. I mean, they are ambitious as fuck, both shown by them betraying L’Manburg for the throne, but also by working hard towards their redemption arc. They are also a good leader of the smp, and in general a great role model to have

Nikki Nihachu

This one is actually difficult, simply because Nikki has gone through quite the character arc the past couple of months. She started out kind, sweet and loyal, a classic Hufflepuff. Then she joined the syndicate and straight up tried to kill a child, which is less Hufflepuff but who am I to judge. But in her core, as seen through her discussion with Jack about Tommy’s revival, she is still a good person that works hard for what she believes in, wants the best for everyone (Despite sometimes working in her best self interest) remains kind through it all. So yeah, Nikki is a Hufflepuff, just a bit of a sadistic one. But we can’t all be perfect ya know?

Fun Jonathan Michael Vincent Georgina James Sus Dy Soot

Ah, my favorite character, and also one of the best examples of a Ravenclaw. And I ain’t saying that just cuz I’m a Ravenclaw, Fundy is one of the most Ravenclaw characters out there. He’s creative, Clever, Spontaneous, Witty, Curious, Sharp, and a real trickster. The idea of Ravenclaws being the goody two shoes kids that always does their school work is just false, we never do our Homework and instead sit and read about things we find interesting, and Fundy is a good example of that. Also he was quite the eager learner during the Dreamon Hunters arc, which again is a good example of a Ravenclaw. So if Ranboo is the by the book Hufflepuff, then Fundy is the by the book Ravenclaw.

Dreamwastaken

I’m pretty sure it’s confirmed that Dream is actually a Slytherin, and I ain’t arguing with that. This boy is cunning, sly, a leader, traditional, Self-Preserving, and a master with words. There is not much more to say here, apart from the fact that Slytherins main colour is literally green, so it all checks out, this boy is a snake.

George Lore

Mr not found over here really is hard to pinpoint down, simply because his main character trait is his apathy, which isn’t really a trait for any of the houses. I was discussing this one with my girlfriend, and both of us were pretty clueless of what to do with him. I was thinking if Hufflepuff since they take the ones that don’t fit anywhere else, but then I was reminded of the most recent Dream XD stream, which showed us one thing, and that is that George is clever, observant, and Sharp Minded, all the traits of a Ravenclaw. Sure, he could also be Slytherin as he was both cunning and sly as well, but I think Ravenclaw fits him more personally.

Sappitus Nappitus Boyhalo

Finally we have another Gryffindor, there’s been a serious lack of them on the list. My man is a fighter, he’s bold, he’s brave, he’s passionate, he’s confident, and he doesn’t really think that much of the consequences of his actions (Cough the pet war cough), so yeah this boy a lion.

Punz

Ah, Punzie, the mercenary themself. Tbh, I know very little about them because Punz don’t get involved that much in lore unless they are hired for something. I mean, they were in the eggpire, but even then they were barely involved, which is sad cuz I like Punz. But what we have seen of Punz is that they are someone who does not care about you or what you want, as long as you pay them. They are power hungry and self preserving, which means that I have to put them in Slytherin.

Jack Thunder1408 TV Manifold

The boy who I can’t help but be sympathetic towards. Jack is also a hard character to pin point because of the reason that he’s gone through quite the development. Jackie boy is a very broken character that has literally been through hell, so it’s hard to properly sort him. He’s quite confident and clever, yet cunning and resourceful, so for me it’s either Slytherin or Gryffindor. But I do lean towards Gryffindor more, partly because of his stubbornness and gullibility, and part because of all the fire imagery that’s associated with him. I mean, the cc described him as burning inside, he’s been through the scape of fire and death, and he burnt his nation to the ground. In case you didn’t know, Fire is the element of Gryffindor, so yeah, another red and gold boy.

JSchlatt

Schlatt is as both charming, charismatic and calm in the early days, using subtle manipulation tactics to get his way and achieve ultimate power. He’s ambitious, narcissistic, cunning, and tyrannical, while still hiding it all behind a facade of smiles and waves. He could also be both cruel and irresponsible at times, aka the time he had an underage child drink during an event, but ya know, mistakes. So all in all, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s a Snakey boy.

QuackityHQ

As much as I love CC!Quackity, I also fucking hate him because of the many, many different directions he’s taken this character which makes it possible for him to fit in literally any of the houses. The duckie is both Chaotic and lawful, he’s both friendly and hostile, he’s a smart cookie and a fucking dumbass, so like bruh. But, I’m gonna have to go with how he is now, which is manipulative, power hungry, cruel, and strong willed. Aka, another Slytherin.

Karl Jacobs

Finally, a character that is not broken down to the point of barely making out a readable personality. Karl is a kind and funny person, who is very open to new people considering how often he gives tours to visitors and new people, and he is quite literally loosing himself traveling through time in an attempt to help people. Hufflepuff

Awesamdude

This one I know will be controversial, but I’m saying Hufflepuff on him. Sam is one of the best cases of the Hufflepuff loyalty, literally letting both Tommy and Ghostbur be stuck and ultimately die in the prison just so he wouldn’t risk Dream breaking out. Before that point he was very kind and gentle towards Tommy, literally building a robot to keep him safe and take care of him. Sam nook is a reflection of Sam’s feelings towards Tommy, and they are kind and gentle.

Dropsbyponk

Ughhhh, another tough one. Ponk is a chaotic being who is mostly neutral in conflicts, but is shown to be very open about their feelings towards those they care about, like Sam or Foolish. They seem to be have strong feelings in what they believe in, and can be a bit brash sometimes, not really caring about the consequences of their actions, which is what makes me say Gryffindor for them.

Badboyhalo

Our favorite muffin demon. I assume, I don’t know what life you live. Anyways, Bad is like the stereotypical Hufflepuff. The kindhearted, well meaning, sweet, responsible Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff that’s like in all of those incorrect quotes blogs and “Slytherin and Hufflepuff friendships uwu” posts. But for real, Bad is very Hufflepuff. He does however have Slytherin Loyalty, considering he pretty much sacrificed the entire server for Skeppy, but if you would try to convince me that Bad is a Slytherin I will just laugh at you

Skeppy

It was at this point I realized what I’ve gotten myself into with this post, which you know, not fun. Skeppy is both cocky and filled with energy, with a real ambition to cause chaos. He’s also shown to be willing to sacrifice himself for the person he loves, Bad, when he gave himself up to the egg. I’ve seen some people say Slytherin, but I’m kinda getting Gryffindor from the lad, so yeah, another lion.

Antfrost

Frosty here is a kind hearted person that for the most part seem to be along for the ride. He reminds me a bit of a parent of toddlers, with his patience and serenity towards the more chaotic people on the server, so of course my natural instinct is Hufflepuff. Buuuuut, then there’s again the issue with the egg and the Slytherin loyalty, this time towards his boyfriend Velvet who he was willing to join a cult for (relationship goals) but again, you can’t really say Ant is a Slytherin considering how wrecked he was about what he did while in the eggpire when he was released from it’s grasp. So yeah, Puffle boy

Captain Puffy

Oh captain my captain, you are such a Gryffindor. And some of you may disagree on that, stating that she’s a Hufflepuff or something (I did research before this to check what other people think, I know) but naaah, she a lion. Puffy is very motherly and protective towards other people on the server, especially the minors, but in the way that a Bear is protective towards its cub, which is gentle towards them but fierce towards others. Puffy also falls natural in the role of a leader as seen with Pro-Omelette, but that is kinda expected since she’s a past Pirate Captain. But she wasn’t the leader she was supposed to be, as she waited quite a while to act against the eggpire out of fear of hurting her friends, which lead to quite the damage towards the rest of the server. She’s also been shown to act on impulse, killing Antfrost and taking one of his lives after he killed her son. Idk if this is a good explanation of why I believe Puffy to be a Gryffindor, it sounds more like I’m claiming her to be a Slytherin or Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor I promise!

Foolish Gamers

Foolish is a kind and friendly being, if not a bit naive and easily distracted. He’s also not the brightest person, in fact I’d go as far as to call the guy a Himbo, and he can be a bit skittish sometimes if he’s stressed or haven’t taken a break in a while. But despite it all, the guy is someone who’s creative and hard working, with a brilliant mind for his building. The man is an artist who can get grumpy if you suppress his creative aura, and put his heart and soul into his works. He also has a habit of getting wrapped up in big projects, and ignoring sleep or personal care until he’s finished them. This all leads me to say that Mr Gamers is a Ravenclaw, just not the smartest one. But hey, we can’t all be geniuses, can we.

Slimecicle

Slime is very naive and very trusting towards people around him, taking every word they say as a fact. He can also be a bit dark and ominous at times, but quickly shakes it off as nothing important. This all makes him quite childish, which is very hard to sort, so I’m gonna say Hufflepuff for his friendliness and move on.

Purpled Bedwars

I actually started loving this guy the minute I saw him, purely because Purple is my favorite colour, like my man has taste. Purpled, like Punz, is a guy who helps whoever pays him the most. He’s not interested in most things on the server, too busy looking out for number one (And Dogchamp of course). He’s very self reliant and resourceful, but still quite passive. He may not be the most ambitious guy, but Purpled is definitely a Slytherin (It also brings me and my girlfriend Serotonin knowing that the mercenary siblings are both in the same house, we love those two)

Hannahxxrose

I don’t watch Hannah that much, but god I love her voice, it makes my lesbian little heart happy. Hannah is a friendly person who is very naive about the conflicts on the server, thinking it all can can be solved by placing a rose (God I wish). She’s a good decorator and a good hearted person, who unfortunately fell victim to the egg’s influence. I’m going with Hufflepuff on her, but I’m honestly not entirely sure as I don’t know that much about her.

HBomb94

H is a very well meaning person that only really wants people to be friendly towards each other. He had a strict moral code and he keeps to it, as shown where Fundy tried to get his help with blowing shit up. He’s very helpful to those who ask and is willing to back up his friends when it’s needed, which makes me say that the friendly totally not dirty cat maid is a Hufflepuff.

Connoreatspants

I just want you all to know that I’m writing this before Connor’s lore stream that surely will just go against everything I say because fate hates me, just so ya know. Connor is not a person that does stuff on the server with lore and he for the most part keeps to himself, so this is a bit hard. Connor also has this thing where he likes to say things just to confuse him, and also making a bit of cursed lore, but he’s still a fairly humble person. He does lie and steal a bit, and has this habit of moving into other people’s houses, but I digress. I’m actually leaning towards Ravenclaw on him, for some reason, so that’s what I’m going with until I have more of an established character.

ItsAlyssa

I know she has left the server and stuff, but she was one of the original members so it would be a crime not to include her. Alyssa is a bit chaotic, often going on killing sprees, or burning down the trees outside of L’Manburg. So I’m placing Alyssa in Gryffindor, but to be honest I don’t really know at this point.

Callahan

How do you sort a person who does not speak, stream, or show like anything of his personality? The answer is, you don’t. Hufflepuff is the house of those who don’t fit in anywhere else, and that’s where I’m placing him.

Vikkstar123

Please log onto the server I’m begging you, I didn’t watch you as a kid and honestly know nothing about you. From what I’ve seen of Vik he’s a very humble person that tries to stay out of it all, instead forming a land together with his bro Lazar. Honestly my instincts say Ravenclaw and I trust my instincts, so I’m putting him in Ravenclaw

Lazarbeam

Lazar was actually a big part of the exile arc which I realized after already have written his, so now I gotta rewrite it. Lazar is fairly ambitious on the server, and has the goal to obtain the most powerful objects on the server just to rival the other strong members of the smp. He’s especially against Tommy, and aims to do a lot to be the opposite of him, aka well respected and not a war criminal that got exiled (Totally fair goal). Despite that, he was able to show some empathy to the British child, even going as far as to give him a disk during his exile. This all makes me say Slytherin on him.

Michaelmcchill

Newest boy. Michael is a very apathetic person, showing little to no empathy towards most people’s trauma on the server. The person he does feel empathy for however is Dream, who of course did nothing wrong and is locked up in the prison which is just horrible oh no. Michael just truly does not care about what you’ve been through (as of now) which is why I’m gonna say Slytherin, because he does have Slytherin loyalty towards Mr Was Taken.

TL;DR

Tommy-Lion

Wilbur-Snake

Tubbo-Eagle

Techno-Eagle

Philza-Snake

Ranboo-Badger

Eret-Snake

Nikki-Badger

Fundy-Eagle

Dream-Snake

George-Eagle

Sapnap-Lion

Punz-Snake

Jack-Lion

Schlatt-Snake

Quackity-Snake

Karl-Badger

Sam-Badger

Ponk-Lion

Bad-Badger

Skeppy-Lion

Antfrost-Badger

Puffy-Lion

Foolish-Eagle

Slime-Badger

Purpled-Snake

Hannah-Badger

HBomb-Badger

Connor-Eagle

Alyssa-Lion

Callahan-Badger

Vik-Eagle

Lazar-Snake

Michael-Snake

So all together we have Seven lions, Ten Snakes, Seven Eagles and Ten Badgers. I think that’s fair tbh

127 notes · View notes

9worldstales · 3 years

Text

MCU Loki Ep 4 “Nexus Event” intensive analysis

Okay, new episode which is, thankfully, kind of better than the previous. But let’s start with order.

So we’ll start with Asgard, only we aren’t told it’s Asgard nor in which year we are. I hope the fact we aren’t told the year is meaningful, because otherwise it’s just lazy.

We see a child Sylvie playing with toy dragon and toy Valkyrie when Renslayer, at the time a young hunter and other hunters get there to capture her. We don’t know what little Sylvie did wrong. As far as we know she had no magic so, unless she actually did have magic and her adult version didn’t know, it’s not like she was a male Loki who shapeshift into a female so this can be her Nexus event.

She’s just a child playing.

Whatever, Renslayer and the others didn’t care she’s a child, they decide she’s the Variant they were hunting, grabs her and take her away.

At the TVA Renslayer holds her for her arm in what should be an uncomfortable grip for poor Sylvie and doesn’t even look at her or tries to reassure her in any way.

I remember, when we saw all this being done to Loki, wondering if the series would dig into police brutality. Sylvie sees a man getting dragged in, she’s scare she asks for someone to help the man, no one cares. She goes through the same routine Loki went through at the TVA. Mercifully we don’t see her being left naked but we see her being forced to wear the TVA prison uniform for Variants.

For all the people who though what Loki went through was funny and the TVA was justified in doing it, now I want you to look well at what they’re doing at this poor child. It’s the same thing. Is it still funny? Do they still lokk like the good guys.

She’s scared and, as far as she know, she did nothing wrong and, despite her young age, no one is showing her any sympathy.

She’s guilty of the same crime Loki committed, ‘crimes against the Sacred Timeline’. She’s handled the same. If you justified or excused or agreed with what was done to Loki for ‘crimes against the Sacred Timeline’, you were agreeing to what is happening to her now.

Being stripped of her rights, handled like an object for a crime she had no intention or idea she had committed because it was made up by some unknown authority.

Once in front of the judge Sylvie manages to escape to Renslayer’s grip and steal her tempad.

Now, I can excuse the escaping and also the stealing. Maybe Renslayer is inexperienced and maybe she didn’t expect dangers from such a young child but how did she figured she has to steal the tempad and how to use it?

Up till now how Renslayer has used the Tempad for was to recognize her as the Variant they were searching for. She shouldn’t know it’s the Tempad which opens the Timedoors or how to work it. Sure, we can assume it’s really easy to use it but it still makes no sense she knows she has to use it to open the timedoors.

Whatever, Renslayer remains frozen on the spot when little Sylvie escapes and I can wonder if she felt a bit of sympathy for her… only the scene is kinda weird because she looked angry and ready to strike when the Sylvie stomped on her feet so this sudden sympathy when she’s about to escape is out of place. They just stare at each other, NO ONE making an attempt to grab Sylvie before Sylvie escape through the timedoor which, differently from how it had done with Loki in Episode 2, immediately close behind her.

The scene switches to Renslayer who has her eyes closed as if this was her memory.

She then opens them and enter through a golden door, supposedly going to see the Time-Keepers.

We get a glimpse to the Time-Keepers and then the title.

In the next scene the door opens and Renslayer marches out of it, Mobius confirming she went to see the Time-Keepers. He asks her how she feels and she says she’s not well because she had to meet the Time-Keepers in a bad situation and it’s stressing enough to meet them when everything goes well so this is really terrible.

Now… I don’t know. Later in the episode it’ll turn out the Time-Keepers are fake so… didn’t she know? Is she pretending to be stressed for Mobius’ benefit?

She says the Time-Keepers are blaming her for the situation and for how Sylvie and Loki escaped. She doesn’t mention Loki tried to stop Sylvie from meeting the Time-Keepers.

In short although Loki tried to stop Sylvie and used the Tempad to escape only when Renslayer tried to kill them both, through the whole episode they’ll handle him as if he tried to escape with her or worse help her to kill the Time-Keepers.

Renslayers remarks how

The Time-Keepers are all that stand between us and full-scale calamity.

…basically fuelling their own Time-Keepers cult.

Mobius though is more interested in talking with C-20 but Renslayer, with a tragic performance, tells him she’s dead because when she was enchanted this scrambled her mind and basically she began to decline till death. Tissues anyone?

Even Mobius feels a slight scent of b*llsh*t at this story since C-20 seemed fine when he brought her back to the TVA but since he trusts Renslayer he swallows it.

Poor C-20 clearly either got pruned or reset, somehow they didn’t decide to make the smart thing and re-brainwash her, but just preferred to kill her off.

Renslayer persuades Mobius to keep C-20’s death a secret so as not to create panic.

By the way, NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE BOMBED TIMELINE AND NO ONE WILL TALK ABOUT IT LATER ON. It felt like the bombed timeline was merely something they did in Ep 2 to distract TVA and the viewers so that Sylvie could sneak in but nothing serious since it gets dropped so easily which is beyond disappointing. I mean, in Ep 2 it seemed to be such a huge problem and now… it’s nothing. All solved, all forgotten, just some extra work done in a short time.

Apparently, resetting the timeline in god knows how many points did nothing.

Really, that feel more like a dropped plot point or a plot hole than anything else.

For all that’s worth I find the acting between Mobius and Renslayer good. Every actor is working really hard in this series and I feel bad if it were to get lost into plot contrivances and plot holes.

Back to the story Renslayer pressures Mobius into tracking Sylvie and Loki.

The scene switches back to Lamentis. A lot more meteorites are falling but none of them close to Loki and Sylvie.

Sylvie is sit on a stone. Loki reaches her and apologizes. Because this episode wants him to be a narcissist but he again shows empathy to her.

Sylvie opens up to him, talking with him about her life.

Now is what Loki said about love being a dagger is something that’s not profound and pompous what about this that Sylvie says?

The universe wants to break free, so it manifests chaos. Like me being born the Goddess of Mischief.

It’s completely her speculation and gives her a sense of grandiosity. SHE’S IN A MISSION FOR THE UNIVERSE! THE UNIVERSE WANTS IT!

Don’t take me wrong, the TVA is keeping everyone prisoner but the universe didn’t create the Loki so as they could become its saviours.

We continue with Sylvie story. We’re supposed to swallow not only she figured the Tempad could open timedoor and how it worked but also how to recharge it and how to escape the TVA despite their many attempts to get her. Sylvie, who was already amazing for teaching herself how to enchant people, is set up to be even more amazing as she’s basically teaching herself everything and escaping from the TVA by centuries from when she was a young kid.

Who’s Tony Stark compared to her?

If this were to be a fanfic we would call her a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu.

She’s simply so awesome it doesn’t seem realistic for no reason at all especially compared to the other Loki Variant with her.

As Waldron is not a young girl writing for free I fear nobody will dare tell him he created a Mary Sue and people will only praise him for the oh so competent Sylvie.

And mind you, we need characters like Sylvie, who’re very competent.

Characters who’re sex fluid and bisexual and with a woman body and can still be strong and competent and above others… but the whole thing feels forced because she’s too good without a logic behind it, from figuring out it’s the Tempad that opens time door without never seeing it to do, to successfully escaping the TVA for so long.

When Loki managed to steal the Time Twister and use it, he has seen it being used previously more than once so it made sense he could use it and he had, to figure out how it worked, all the time Mobius spent discussing with B-15.

It made him smart to realize he could use it and he used it in a clever way but it wasn’t unbelievable because he had a grasp of how it worked, of what it could do.

Sylvie only saw it being used to identify her yet she guessed it was the thing that opened the Timedoors and how to make it work despite the Tempad having more than one function in basically a moment.

Then, although she apparently keeps on causing Nexus events everywhere she goes, she always manages to be one step ahead the TVA, escaping their grasp and, in all this, she also managed to recharge the Tempad using amazing power sources where Loki supposedly has no idea how it’s done. She fed herself, she learnt how to fight, she got herself a sword, she learn enchantment without having any basis whatsoever…

She’s the ‘superior Loki’ in a way, but why she should be superior to all the other Loki is absolutely random.

Anyway she says she grew up among ‘ends of the worlds’ and she will die in one of them, all while the scenery around them didn’t seem apocalyptic but romantic.

And mind you, the visual is really pretty but I feel the romance is misplaced, unnecessary.

And I’m still not sold in how they’re representing the moon.

Meanwhile Mobius is searching for them or better for a Nexus event that will lead him to them.

B-15, who hates variants, suggests they’re gone planning their next massacre… which isn’t true but if it were… can you blame them when you were the one who wanted to kill them in the first place and humiliated and belittled them? Should they have thanked you for your mistreatment?

She then asks about C-20 and Mobius says he has none so, worriedly, B-15 tries to urge him to… do something.

We go back to Loki and Sylvie and to the moon conveniently crumbling above them and yet not hitting them with them perfectly calm and enjoying the show.

Sylvie starts getting depressed.

Sylvie: Not long now. Do you think that what makes a Loki a Loki is the fact that we're destined to lose?

So okay, she feels she has lost but this is kind of a big leap. I mean, if the fact Loki was destined to lose is what made him Loki… then Thanos is Loki and Obadiah Stane is Loki and Red Skull is Loki and Killmongrel is Loki and so on.

Loki counters with something… interesting.

Loki: No. We may lose. Sometimes painfully. But we don’t die. We survive. I mean, you did. You were just a child when the TVA took you, but you nearly took down the organization that claims to govern the order of time. You did it on your own. You ran rings around them. You’re amazing!

Okay… so he knows he died in the sacred timeline. What’s his basis for saying they don’t die? The fact he survived to the wormhole? When he specifically wanted to die? Or that he survived through Thanos? Is the series ever going to touch that or we should pretend it never happened and Loki had a nice holiday with him?

Or a Time Charge hit the timeline in that point and erased that year Loki spent with Thanos?

Whatever, Loki is now busy admiring Sylvie for her efforts and being supportive… but it seems Marvel doesn’t want to count this as him being empathic and supportive with another being because she’s Loki… only episode 3 and the beginning of episode 4 went to great lengths to establish she’s not and hey, technically episode 3 is right in this.

I’ll point it out here and not later on because it’s probably important to discuss it immediately as it’ll come up later on a lot.

The identity of a person is made up by nature and nurture. Part of you is what you physically are, your genetic code that decide if you’re black or white, male or female or something else, human or a horse, tall or short, healthy or sick.

What you are will dictate part of what you will experience so it has a huge impact on you as it will decide part of your skills and part of your weaknesses.

Then, of course, there’s nurture.

Let’s pick twins. It’s worth to mention not all the identical twins share EXACTLY the same DNA because recent studies have proved mutation occurs in around the 15% of identical twins.

It’s also worth to mention that nurture begins really early. Even if we assume the two managed to keep the same genetic code, during development in the womb one twin might not receive the same amount of nutrients and this might affect his development.

And nurture will continue to affect them as they can even experience similar things (same parents, same house, same school) but there will be always differences that will end up affecting them.

Each twin is his own person, they’re not the same.

So now, Loki and Sylvie.

They’re clearly genetically not the same. What’s more we’ll see at the end there’s even a black Loki so basically this series doesn’t require the same genetic code for a Loki to be a Loki. So nature isn’t relevant here.

What about nurture?

We just learnt Sylvie’s story is completely different from Loki.

As a result her powers are different from his own. Her skillsets, her reactions, her temper is different from his own. She has different goals and different wants. As Sophia Di Martino said, she’s Sylvie, not Loki.

She’s as different from him as another person could be.

To me she even looked more like Thor than Loki.

So really, how’s self admiration when she’s actually not him? The only way for it to be self admiration would be if Loki isn’t admiring her for her own accomplishment, but just because he was told she’s him. But in this case he wouldn’t have been babbling for ours about who’s the lesser Loki.

If all Lokis are made equal in his eyes and worth his admiration because Loki then there’s no point to discuss who among them is better.

In short it’s a damn mess.

Anyway Sylvie touches Loki and he’s kind of surprised, in fact he looks at his arm.

In “Thor” the touch of a Frost Giant could turn Loki into his original look but we know Sylvie has touched Loki already when she tried to enchant him and that’s not the problem.

I wish the trick were she has enchanted him but later Mobius will say the problem is that they had started swooning on each other which opens a huge can of worms but we’ll discuss them later.

So now back to Mobius we go and to the timeline which begins to branch, signalling problems on Lamentis 1.

We return to Loki who raises his eyes from his arm and he and Sylvie look at each other for a moment before returning to pay attention to the show of meteorites falling closer. They turn again to look at each other, holding hands this time and smiling.

Back to Mobius we go and to how the branching timeline seems to go on a perpendicular line rather quickly. It impresses Mobius as it’s apparently an unheard event.

Back to Loki and Sylvie we go and to how two TimeDoor open in front of them.

We don’t know if they jumped through them to survive or if the TVA came out, grabbed them and dragged them through and it doesn’t matter.

In the next scene we see that both Sylvie and Loki are collared, held by guard as they struggle and escorted through the corridors of the TVA, Mobius leading them.

They’re then parted and when this happens they look at each other.

As they walk Mobius begins to talk with Loki. Evidently Mobius has no idea that Loki had been trying to stop Sylvie when they were at the TVA and works on the assumption they were accomplices. Maybe. It’s not really clear on which assumption Mobius is working.

Loki accuses him to have betrayed him and Mobius counters it’s Loki who betrayed him.

Actually they’re both wrong, Mobius more than Loki.

For a betrayal to happen, there needs to be a break of trust.

Now, in regard to Loki, trusting Mobius was a mistake. Mobius picked him up from the trial because he needed him for a use and was never honest with him.

Meeting the Time-Keepers? Mobius can’t met them himself, how could he help Loki meeting them?

But whatever, Loki apparently trusted him so I take he feels betrayed by how Mobius had him arrested when he actually didn’t betray Mobius. He tried stopping Sylvie, he tried capturing her, he ended on Lamentis 1 because Renslayer tried to kill them both, he didn’t cause the timeline to branch on purpose, for most of his permanence on Lamentis 1 he wanted to leave the planet and stick to his own plan to bring Sylvie back to the TVA.

So Mobius arresting him clearly feels an act of betrayal to Loki. He doesn’t know Renslayer didn’t report he tried to stop Sylvie and the fact Mobius didn’t trust him to do what he was supposed to but handled him like a criminal likely hurt.

But, as I said before, for all Mobius can say, he’s not his friend, he’s not someone who would trust and support him, Mobius cares about the TVA.

And Mobius feel betrayed because he thinks Loki plotted against the TVA with Sylvie.

This is wrong for two reasons, the first and most obvious being that Loki didn’t plot with her, the second being that, although Loki seemed to have missed it, he was working with Mobius under coercion. The TVA wanted to prune him, Mobius saved him but in exchange Loki had to make himself useful. This was made clear in episode 2 as well. Mobius said if using Loki didn’t work he would delete him himself and he made Loki sure this was his last chance (before being deleted) and that he had to work to make himself useful while Mobius went and have lunch.

You aren’t entitled to expect genuine loyalty from someone when you tell them ‘if you don’t give me what I want I’ll kill you’. I hope no one has forgotten this little talk from episode 2:

Mobius: This is the final step. Your last chance.

Loki: Oh, and what does my desperate last chance require?

Mobius: Work.

Loki: Work?

Mobius: I need you to go over each and every one of the Variant's case files, and then, give me your... How do I put it? Your unique Loki perspective. And who knows? Maybe there's something that we missed.

Loki: Well, you're idiots. I suspect you probably missed a lot.

Mobius: That's why I'm lucky I got ya for a little bit longer. Let me park ya at this desk. And don't be afraid to really lean into this work. Here's a good trick for you. Pretend your life depends on it. I'm gonna get a snack.

Mobius made really clear if Loki didn’t give him what he wants he’s a dead man.

For some weird reasons Loki decided to still be loyal to him (okay, so he wanted to get to the Time-Keepers and might suffer of Stockholm syndrome), but the most logical thing, as many had pointed out, was escape from the TVA first chance he were to get as Sylvie has been doing.

Now… to be honest there are situations in which you could ask this from another.

If Mobius had told Loki ‘Sorry, I know this is unfair and I want to help you but I can’t do more or I’ll get killed too. So I’ll protect you but I’ve to ask you to protect me as well by putting up with this.’

This though would have required Mobius to prioritize Loki’s survival and consider the fact he needed Loki to catch the Variant as an excuse to keep Loki alive.

That’s not the case, Mobius made clear although he has sympathy for Loki, he prioritizes catching the Variant. He didn’t suffer any repercussion when things went wrong.

He’s absolutely safe, his only risk comes from the Variant but this was the same even prior to Loki getting involved.

Mobius is using Loki and, in exchange for using him, he let him enjoy the benefit of being alive, albeit belittled by others around him. As I said talking about Episode 2, they don’t have an equal partnership.

I hate how Mobius says this:

Mobius: You know, it occurred to me that you're not really the God of Mischief.

Loki: Oh, here it comes. The folksy, dopey insult from the folksy dope. What am I? The God of Self-Sabotage, yeah? The God of Back-Stabbing?

Mobius: Just kind of an asshole and a bad friend.

The worst part is that Mobius seems to genuinely believe he’s a good friend to Loki, opposed to Loki who’s a bad friend. He didn’t even listen to his reasons or asked him what had happened. When Loki tries to tell him something ‘the TVA is lying to you’, he merely assumes Loki is lying. Mobius has no idea what a friend is. He’s angry in the way a pet owner is angry when his dog peed on the carpet, he doesn’t view Loki as equal, which is the basis for being friends.

His idea to deal with Loki now isn’t to listen to him, it’s to punish him by having him being beaten and belittled, as well as tossed hurtful words about Loki’s worst fear, being left alone. He doesn’t even dirty his hands with doing it himself, he just traps Loki in a timeloop in which Sif slaps him, kick him in the groins and punches him telling him he is a ‘conniving, craven, pathetic worm’ and that she ‘hope you know you deserve to be alone and you always will be’, all this because Loki cut her hair.

Now, this is based on something the Loki of the myth did, and that Marvel also had Loki do more than once in the comics, either with Sif or with other characters. In the original version and in the Marvel version Loki didn’t just cut some locks from Sif’s hair as he did here, but basically turned her bald.

It doesn’t matter, yes he was an *ssh*le and yes, I think Sif had all the rights to be angry and call him names and beat him.

BACK THEN.

Loki hurt her, she hurt him back, they are even. That’s the end.

Even Sif knows as she doesn’t remain there to beat him further until all his bones are broken.

Of course this is not going to work because beating someone and calling him names doesn’t magically turn that person into a better person, that’s why many countries abolished corporal punishment and considered it an useless torture.

But this doesn’t mean it’s okay for Mobius to take that moment and traps Loki into a time loop so he can get beaten and humiliated to Mobius’ heart content until he says he’s bad, bad, bad, which in real life is equally useless because we know if you start beating a person and won’t stop until he says what you want him to say, people in the long run will say everything to make the beating stop, they even confess crimes they didn’t commit.

That’s why, in many states, if you arrest someone you can’t beat him until he confess and any confession obtained by beating him is null and void.

And I particularly loathe the framing of all this for more than one reason but let’s start digging with the first ones.

“Thor” side material established that Sif is a better fighter than Loki but sadly the idea a girl can’t hit as hard as a man rules so Sif beating Loki doesn’t feel as bad as, let’s say, Cull Obsidian punching him over and over. Some see as fun that a male can be beaten by a girl and hit on the crotch, a rightful demeaning which excuses what’s being done because she’s just a girl and if Loki can’t defend himself it’s his fault… which is a rather disgusting mindsetting.

The fact Sif was, ‘supposedly’ Loki’s friend is clearly chosen to draw a comparison with Mobius… which doesn’t really work really well because we never truly saw Sif and Loki being friends.

In “Thor” she was fast in thinking he was plotting the downfall of Asgard. If the idea is their relation turned sour because Loki cut her hair… well, this is up to speculation because we never saw it being friendly.

And anyway, even Sif knew when to stop while Mobius evidently doesn’t as he continues to let him be beaten, again without even doing the job himself, framing it as if it was all Loki’s fault.

If he had to beat Loki into submission I would have honestly preferred him to just take a whip and beat him, this framing in which he ‘remains innocent’ while his dog gets punished for peeing on the carpet honestly disgust him. But okay, if the series were to use it to make a point about ‘police brutality’ I would have been fine with it. Mobius wants a confession, wants to force Loki to comply and beat him. The viewers will be shown how wrong is this and the message will be that you shouldn’t do it.

It would be great if Mobius were playing the part of the Bernardo Gui of the TVA.

Bernardo Gui: Brother Salvatore... these torments will cause me as much pain as you. You can end it before we even begin. Open the gates of your heart, search the depths of your soul. [Name of the Rose]

Too bad that’s not the case.

The scene switches to Renslayer’s office.

This is how Mobius defines what he’s doing to Loki:

Mobius: He's softening in the Time Cell, but while he marinates, I thought maybe I'd interview the other Variant.

Please, don’t tell me you never heard this sort of excuses in movies that included police brutality. Or outright torture to make you confess you were an heretic or guilty of a murder.

He’s not being beaten into compliance, he’s softening. We’re making him better, we’re making him willing. We’re absolutely not making anything bad in having him being beaten over and over. Because if you beat someone over and over you’ll always have a honest confession, won’t you?

Bernardo Gui: Since the verdict of the Inquisition has been disputed by Brother William... we are obliged to extract the prisoner's confession to murder. Take him to the forge and show him the instruments.

Remigio Da Varagine: I'll confess anything you want, but don't torture me. I can't go through a night like Salvatore!

Bernardo Gui: Very well. Why did you kill them?

Remigio Da Varagine: Why? I don't know why.

Bernardo Gui: Because you were inspired by the devil?

Remigio Da Varagine: Yes... that's it. I was inspired by the devil. [Name of the Rose]

But I’m running ahead.

Mobius would like to talk with the other Variant, aka Sylvie. Would he also torture her psychologically or physically or it would look bad on him to abuse of a woman? We don’t know as Renslayer, rather cheerfully, refuses to let him speak with her. Nobosy should speak with her.

Mobius tries in another way:

Mobius: I mean, if there's a mastermind here, I don't think it's Loki.

The problem I have with this sentence is that it’s not said because geez, it makes no sense Loki willingly escaped with a variant into an apocalypse with no means to leave it, all to create a branch that would allow the TVA to detect them and capture them.

It’s not even said because Loki is his friend and wouldn’t do it.

Or any other logical reason why Loki wouldn’t have done it.

The implication here seems to be just that Loki doesn’t seem smart enough to be the mastermind of all this fiasco, because this is a fiasco, mind you, as they were captured and if they weren’t they would be dead.

Renslayer’s reply isn’t what Mobius wants.

Renslayer: Good. Then he should be the easiest to break. Work your Loki and figure out what caused that spike. Time-Keepers are watching, Mobius.

She at least calls things with their name as she says Mobius is supposed to break Loki. To break him to get the truth. She has figured Mobius is having him beaten and she’s okay with breaking him. Because a regime beat people into compliance.

Then she put pressures on Mobius by telling him the Time-Keepers are watching which reminds me of how, in the past, people used to say to scare others ‘Remember: God is always watching you!’ and it wasn’t meant to be encouraging, as he’s watching you to protect you, no, he’s watching you because if you mess up he’s ready to punish you.

Welcome to the Time-Keepers cult everyone.

Mobius leaves.

We move to B-15 who’s asking to another hunter Sylvie has beaten if she’s Okay because Sylvie is the superior Loki and of course she has managed to beat one of the hunters guarding her.

Mobius joins B-15 and saying the hunter hurt comments:

Mobius: They don't go gently, do they?

WHY SHOULD THEY?

Are you going gently with Loki? You’re having him beaten over and over and my guess is you’re not doing the same with Sylvie because the show thinks it would look bad if they were shown beating a woman over and over.

Anyway B-15 is right when she calls Loki his ‘Variant pet’, as I said that’s how Mobius sees Loki, as a pet who peed on the carpet.

Mobius goes on:

Mobius: You know, we brought in Kree, Titans, vampires. Why is it the two orphan demigods are such a pain in the ass?

I hate this question honestly because it implies two orphan demigods should just go down quietly, that they aren’t as terrible as Kree, Titans, vampires. Why are they opposing to the TVA, why don’t let themselves just be erased. Or reprogrammed as you let the TVA do to you, Mobius.

You know, there’s people that’s not thrilled with the idea you can kill or submit them.

But Hunter B-15 despite looking down on the Variants, is worried so she asks if Loki said anything to him.

Mobius replies Loki told him the TVA is lying him. Oh, think the audacity! The TVA which is so honest. The agency he can believe it’s real because he believes it’s real.

Mobius: Odin, God of the Heavens. Asgard, mystical realm, beyond the stars. Frost Giants. Listen to yourself...

Loki: It's not the same. It's completely different. No. It's not the same.

Mobius: It's exactly the same thing. Because if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, it sounds kinda ridiculous. Existence is chaos. Nothing makes any sense, so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky that the chaos I emerged into gave me all this... My own glorious purpose.

Mobius: Cause the TVA is my life. And it's real because I believe it's real.

Such a solid base. And Loki tells him they’re lying. No, really? His little personal cult, lying TO HIM?

Of course B-15 fears differently but she had an experience Mobius couldn’t share.

We go back to Loki who now is on the ground and is begging Sif to hit him no more. And a side of me facepalm.

Okay, as said before Sif was established to be stronger than him but he knows she’s coming. He could goddamn prepare and put up a fight instead than just stay there and get beaten which, I guess, is painful.

I’ll assume he can’t use his magic so I’ll forgive him for not using that but he could just take a flower vase, hit and crash it against Sif’s head when she enters.

Never mentioning that if he kept on getting punched and beaten, since HE doesn’t rewind, by now he should have a quite bruised check. Again, since Mobius wanted him beaten it would have made more sense if he just had whipped him but no, we needed to get this thing that supposedly tame the beating down so we don’t feel disgusted if we don’t think at it too hard.

Anyway Loki has enough and gives Sif what she wanted to hear.

Loki: Please, please, no more. Please, I beg you. I'm a horrible person. I get it. I really am. I cut off your hair because I thought it'd be funny. And it's not. Uh... I crave attention... because I'm... I'm a... I'm a narcissist. And I suppose it's... It's because I'm scared of being alone.

So let’s talk of all that’s wrong with this.

First of all Loki was coerced in saying this. It means goddamn nothing.

Second if this is meant to be the truth and someone doesn’t point out a little louder how the TVA is a fascist organization that deploy torture and anyway it’s bad to coerce people into saying the truth this way, it basically encourages to beat people to get them to be honest. Which is disgusting.

Third, it makes a HUGE deal of something that it’s relatively minor. I mean, Mobius wanted him to say he’s a horrible person? For cutting Sif’s hair?!? This is his worst crime, something Loki need to regret?

The TVA in Ep 1 was all about pinning on him the blame for the attack on New York but Sif’s hair, oh, cutting Sif’s hair is obviously worse. Only no, because it meant to happen in the Sacred Timeline so the TVA would have punished him hadn’t he done it.

So you can read this in two ways.

Either Mobius’ logic is dumb or the episode’s logic is dumb. If the story is trying to paint Mobius as an idiot and an hypocrite or he’s just trying to confuse Loki so that he’ll say everything and the opposite of everything and it doesn’t matter if it make sense or not fine, I’m cool, but if I’m supposed to run with this instead and think Mobius’ amazingly therapeutic way to get Loki to realize his faults and think at his behaviour and realize what he is, is to have Sif beat him into submission they’ll do better to think it twice.

Now… this part ‘I crave attention... because I'm... I'm a... I'm a narcissist. And I suppose it's... It's because I'm scared of being alone’ doesn’t make sense.

You don’t become a Narcissist because you’re scared of being alone. If you’re a Narcissist you crave attention and are scared to be alone but fears of loneliness doesn’t turn people into narcissists.

Now… is Loki a Narcissist? It’s kind of ridicule Loki would self diagnose it to himself, especially without any competence in psychology which on Asgard doesn’t seem to exist or they would know adopting a child and not telling him he’s adopted ends up badly in 99,9% of the cases. He’s probably using the term loosely but whatever, let’s run with it.

@lucianalight wrote an awesome essay (whose reading I recommend along with the others of the same series) explaining why he isn’t and Cinematherapy who can count on a real therapist, did a video explaining why he is. So who’s right?

Both and neither.

Let’s start with Cinematherapy as they employ a professional.

If you watch the video (recorded prior to the series) you realize they make a HUGE canon mistake right at the start. They assume Loki’s magical powers come from Loki being a Frost Giant.

That’s not bad will from their part, this is actually based on how they’ve watched the movies… and nothing else so they skipped all the additional side material and cut scenes. They didn’t watch the cut scene in “Thor: The Dark World” saying how Loki learnt magic from his mother nor read it in a side material publication or interview. They have no idea Loki’s sceptre was influencing him in “The Avengers” because that’s only written on Marvel’s web and not present in the movies and don’t seem to consider Loki in the year between “Thor” and “The Avengers” had to go through something terrible that could involve Thanos and torture or even death since that was only mentioned in interviews and in pretty vague terms. They consider “Thor: Ragnarok” part of the canon without considering how Taika Waititi deliberately, for his own admission, retconned it.

So their analysis uses the 5 movies and considers Loki in ‘perfect’ psychological state through the 5 of them. And it makes sense Cinematherapy analysis are meant to talk to casual viewers not to fans who knows everything about the movies.

@lucianalight instead considers all the side material included the cut scenes and the interview and discard “Thor: Ragnarok”. As a fan who well knows the story and the authors’ intentions she has access to a completely different set of information that Cinematherapy didn’t use in their analysis.

The result is that Cinematherapy and @lucianalight fundamentally looked at two different stories, albeit rooted on the same movies, and since they analyzed different material, they came up with contrasting analysis in which neither is wrong because they’re basically analyzing two different Variants of Loki.

But what’s the Variant we should look at to understand if the Loki of “Loki” is a Narcissist or not?

The real problem with diagnosing a character of fictional works is that said character is well… fictional. He can’t have a personality disorder, said disorder needs to be scripted into him by the writers… who often know very little of psychology, which is why I prefer to use trope to analyze characters than the effective mental disorders.

But with Loki we’ve a huge problem, because, in addition to the writers not being experienced about disorders, we’re talking about writerS, plural.

There’s more people writing Loki, and each of them can’t agree on how to interpret him.

So we have:

“Thor” in which Loki hardly presents traits of Narcissism.

“The Avengers” in which he presents them.

“Thor: The Dark World” in which he alternates presenting them, depending on the scene being written by Whedon or Don Payne (who also worked on “Thor”) and Robert Rodat.

“Thor: Ragnarok” in which he presents traits of Narcissism.

“Avengers: Infinity War” in which he doesn’t present them, if you read the interview, he’s just saying whatever comes to his mind to try to get a chance to kill Thanos and save his brother aware he can easily get killed… or in which he presents them if you don’t read the interviews and believes he’s persuaded he will come on the top.

If you mix the movies together and take them as they are without checking the additional material, the ones in which he presents traits of Narcissisms ends up colouring the view of the ones in which he doesn’t.

If you consider only “Thor” and “Thor: The Dark World” (the Don Payne and Robert Rodat part) which tried to keep the same continuity as the same scriptwriter was involved in both of them, he doesn’t.

I’ll be honest though, I think Marvel wants to slap that disorder on him.

They’ve discovered it’s oh so funny to have Loki feel so high and mighty and then be humbled down by having the Hulk smash him or Thor tossing him out of a spaceship or electrocuting him or Sif kicking him in his groins.

However I think Marvel is trying to milk their cow too much.

The scenes in which Loki is humbled work wonderfully in “The Avengers” because Loki genuinely felt high and mighty to the viewers to the point we didn’t expect him to be defeated, so seeing him being humbled down by the Hulk, by Hawkeye’s arrow, by Coulson shooting at him, were all powerful moves.

You didn’t expect them, Loki was a real threat in the movie and you’re as surprised as him when he gets defeated.

I mean when Hawkeye throws his arrow and Loki grabs it with no effort, it pushes you to think ‘oh, he’s too strong’ only for it to explode in his face.

You don’t get the same feeling in this series.

Loki is not strong nor particularly competent or bright. His words aren’t profound nor persuasive. His confidence seems baseless, his humbling down becomes expected, here, against Sif, he basically did NOTHING, except being beaten up. His verbal efforts to stop her were pathetic.

You aren’t surprised by Sif beating him, by Sif not being persuaded by his first weak attempts at stopping her verbally, his words aren’t convincing, his attempts at stopping her physically, inexistent.

It gets boring for the viewer as well as it ultimately gets ‘boring’ for Loki who, at a certain point says:

Loki: I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times. "You. You conniving, craven, pathetic worm. You did this." Right?

He’s no more affected, it had become routine and it is for us too.

It’s a fail a wasted scene.

Overall I think Waldron doesn’t think highly of Loki. He views him as a Narcissist who thinks highly about himself but in truth is nothing special. A comic relief, an agent of chaos. At the same time… I’m not sure he knows what a Narcissist is, or that he’s thinking at the Narcissistic personality disorder because this Loki shows empathy. In this episode he showed he is not envious of Sylvie and his arrogant behaviour is a cover to cover up his weakness.

So honestly… whatever, I don’t care. No, okay, I do.

I’m sad because I see a lot of people working hard in this series, from the actors to Kate Herron who really love Loki and wanted this job but for me the plot of a story and the characterization of the characters are important and only Sergio Leone can pull out a masterpiece with a man with no name and a poor script.

Mind you, this episode is better than the previous in terms of plot but… overall is weak. I really, really hope the series will improve in Ep 5 and 6 because episode 3 & 4 just weren’t that great.

I really want Loki to have a great series but wanting it and getting it aren’t necessarily the same things.

Anyway back to the plot.

Although after Loki’s confession Sif doesn’t beat him and help him to get up this is what she tells him.

Sif: You are alone and you always will be.

Basically yeah, Loki’s confession meant nothing because he can’t change anything. He can’t get attention or company, not even behaving better. This is Sif’s message in the end. He’s pathetic and this time she doesn’t beat him up because it feels like beating a pathetic person.

Now, I’m not saying she should have forgiven him. Not this Sif. But the overall situation is warped. Although she didn’t mean to, she technically beat him nonstop, he had way more than enough, and if Sif hadn’t been trapped into a timeloop she would have known.

This Sif was used as a toy to do a job Mobius didn’t want to do personally.

It’s overall a sick situation and, since this Sif didn’t know she had been abusing Loki for only God knows how long, although she helps him to stand she rightfully doesn’t feel they’re even.

And though Loki had gotten a break from being beaten, it’s clear his admission ultimately did nothing good to him psychologically. If he’s alone and will always be as such… why should he care he hurts others? Why shouldn’t he take a bit of fun where he can?

And all this is psychological manipulation of course because then Mobius appears like a balm.

LOKI: There's not many people that can sneak up on me. (turns to see NATASHA STANDING THERE)

NATASHA: But you figured I'd come.

LOKI: After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate.

Now… I have not the slightest idea of what Mobius is planning to do here. He doesn’t trust Loki, he doesn’t really want the truth, whatever that can be, he wants a truth of his liking and this is not negotiable.

Loki tells him that he’ll give him info only if he’ll let him out of the place and stop beating him and he decides this means Loki previously wasn’t telling the truth because he’s not being submissive enough.

Mobius makes clear he wants to hear about the plan between Loki and the Variant and that he wants Loki to give him the answers he wants, not the truth. Which is stupid because instead he needs the truth.

When Loki tells him the truth, that he wasn’t partner with Sylvie, he’s dismissive of his answer.

Mobius: Yeah, I guess you don't do partners. Unless, of course, it benefits you, and you intend to betray them at some point.

Loki insists on not having a partnership with Sylvie.

Loki: It was a means to an end, Mobius. Welcome to the real world. Down there, we're awful to get what we want.

Mobius: Now I gotta have a prince tell me how the real world works?

I hate this mentality that has started to develop into Marvel movies as if royalty lived a fairy tale life and could have no idea of the real world, especially the part in which ‘we're awful to get what we want’ because it’s dumb. Royalty has an history of being awful to get what they want that’s as long as the start of civilization. If Mobius doesn’t know, maybe he is the one who has no idea how the real world work, how many wars had been declared because a king wanted the land of his neighbour or something else. How they could accuse people of betrayal or of imaginary crimes to get rid of them.

Laufey is a king and moved war to Earth. Odin is a king and drowned civilizations in blood.

T’Chaka is a king and abandoned his nephew so as to cover an unwanted truth.

The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire took advantage of Carol Danvers, altering her memories.

And that’s just the Marvel universe. So really Mobius, are you sure that all royalty is the equivalent of Disney princesses who sings are lovely and have talking pets?

And then Mobius does a really STUPID question.

Mobius: Why don't you just tell me what caused the nexus event on Lamentis?

So the series has gone to a great length to establish people doesn’t know they cause a nexus event. They can’t see the sacred timeline they move at random and SLAM, sometimes they end up doing something they didn’t know they weren’t planned to do and it results in a nexus event. BUT THEY DIDN’T KNOW IT BEFOREHAND! SO HOW IS LOKI SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!?

But anyway they clearly weren’t supposed to be there so everything they do can create a disturbance if it’s not erased by the apocalypse. For example if they sent a missile to destroy the neighbour planet before Lamentis 1 was destroyed they clearly would affect the Sacred Timeline because the neighbouring planet wasn’t meant to get blasted away.

But still… they found them there, waiting for destruction with no means to escape and with no idea the TVA would have appeared because they broke the sacred timeline.

It’s kind of a giant warning sign they’ve no idea what they’ve done.

So Mobius demanding to know feels as if they had dumbed down Mobius as well.

Loki wants to play stubborn and he has good reasons since he fears for his life.

Loki: Let me say this again. I'm not going to tell you just so you can turn around immediately afterwards and prune me.

In reply Mobius decides Loki needs to be tortured by Sif some more.

So Loki does what Remigio Da Varagine did when Bernardo Gui promised to torture him, he tells Mobius what he believes Mobius wants to hear, that of course they were accomplices and of course they had a plan and he was in charge of it.

Only Mobius has decided that Sylvie is the better Loki so he doesn’t believe Loki is in control and, to test him, he tells him Sylvie was pruned.

This hits Loki as he has grown feelings for Sylvie. He tries to play it as he doesn’t care but Mobius guesses he’s affected.

On a sidenote the series painting Loki oh so transparent affects negatively Thor as well as Thor never seems to realize it when Loki is affected, which leads to the implication Thor is either dumb or doesn’t care or… he’s written by someone else who thinks Loki is better at masking his feelings.

Mind you, in the movies Loki has moments in which is feelings are on display for everyone to see but also moments in which they’re guarded. Here they simply are not. In the series his feelings are constantly on display as if he somehow has lost the ability to guard them even if he tries to.

Anyway Mobius decides that Loki caring for the variant means he got a crush on her. I wish I could say he’s wrong but this is what Waldron has to say on the topic:

“That was one of the cruxes of my pitch [for the series], that there was going to be a love story. We went back and forth for a little bit about, like do we really want to have this guy fall in love with another version of himself? Is that too crazy? But in a series that, to me, is ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself, it just felt right that that would be Loki's first real love story. The look that they share, that moment, [it started as] a blossoming friendship. Then for the first time, they both feel that twinge of, ‘Oh, could this be something more? What is this I'm feeling?’ These are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another. That's a straight-up and down branch, and exactly the sort of thing that would terrify the TVA.” [Loki Writer Explains Episode 4's Sylvie Love Story Reveal]

Why there needs to be a love story? A romantic love story? Self-love is different from self-cest. Learning to appreciate yourself doesn’t mean you suddenly wants to date yourself.

Besides, if the whole point was having Loki fall for himself, then let Sylvie be him!

Sylvie is so different from him she could very well be a different person... and it’s actually worth to ponder a bit on this.

As I said before Sylvie is genetically different from Loki. By logic this would mean more than Loki, she’s Loki’s fraternal twin from a parallel dimension. Only, if the TVA prunes whatever diverges by the sacred timeline this means she should have been pruned at birth because the sacred timeline has a male Loki. But no, she gets the time to grow up till… the Asgardian equivalent of 10 years old?

And only because back then she has somehow made something that didn’t fit with the timeline?

What was that, she was told she was adopted and, since her parents this time did things properly she felt loved instead than the monster parents tell their children at night and was about to grow up as a psychologically healthy girl?

Anyway, back to the problem, we’ll see at the end that, among the other Loki there’s also another Loki who clearly doesn’t have the same genetic code of Loki. No, I’m not talking of the Loki played by Deobia Oparei, Loki’s skin colour was supposed to be blue, it’s of course worth questioning why Odin went for black instead than white this time (does he come with an Asgard where everyone is a person of colour?) but it can be just the result of Odin’s magic. What I’m talking about is the Loki alligator.

Because normally who give birth to alligators aren’t frost giants but alligators… that or Asgard was populated by alligators. Or, that Loki was magically turned into an alligator but somehow I doubt it.

So anyway, if Loki might not share the same genetic code with his variants and not being pruned at birth… this works for Laufey too. This works for everyone.

Basically all the Variants could be completely different people who happen to share the same name.

In a way we know about the TVA work as much as we knew before episode 1. Sometimes they accuse someone deciding he broke the timeline… but sometime they don’t care if such break is done. Why? Because the Time-Keepers say so.

Great, whatever, I really don’t see the need of Loki falling in love for a version of himself who couldn’t be more different from himself than Sylvie is. At this point he could have fallen in love for anyone, even B-15.

Couldn’t they put in the show Verity Willis instead than Mobius and Sylvie?

The genuine friendship and appreciation they have in the comic which is also part of what saved Loki in the end was much better than the ‘friendship’ he has with Mobius or the abrupt crush for Sylvie.

And mind you, I like Sylvie as a character. I just don’t like what the series is doing with her.

Mobius too is well done as a character… but he’s the farthest thing from a friend for Loki.

Back to the story Mobius is having the time of his life because Loki is in pain for Sylvie’s supposed death since he has fallen for her.

Because friends obviously love it when you’re in pain when you believe your crush is dead.

Then he goes and say:

Mobius: No wonder you have no clue what caused the nexus event on Lamentis. Both of you are swooning over each other.

Wait so he knew Loki has no clue about what caused the Nexus event? And despite this he tortured Loki? And now he claims Loki has no clue because he and Sylvie were swooning over each other? Because that’s always what happened when a Nexus event happens, isn’t it? People swoon on someone else and don’t realize they’re causing a Nexus event. Loki was probably swooning on the Tesseract and Sylvie on her Valkyrie doll, right? The logic here is big.

Mobius: It's the apocalypse. Two Variants of the same being, especially you, forming this kind of sick, twisted romantic relationship. That's pure chaos. That could break reality. It's breaking my reality right now. What a incredible seismic narcissist. You fell for yourself.

Yeah, the sacred timeline is something that can bear people being turned into slaves, Jewish people being gassed into concentration camps, children being abused, terrorism, the destruction of Pompeii, New York being attacked by the Chitauri, Lamentis 1 getting destroyed, Bucky being turned into a slave of Hydra, Asgard being destroyed, Peter losing his parents, Thanos purging half of the universe, Tony Stark having to die when they could have just wiped away the Thanos that went into the future but God forbid two Loki were to commit selfcest. What are lives lost compared to selfcest?

Much, much better to wipe away half of all the living things than that.

Because…

“These are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another. That's a straight-up and down branch, and exactly the sort of thing that would terrify the TVA.” [Loki Writer Explains Episode 4's Sylvie Love Story Reveal]

Ah, okay, great, it’s just because they’re two beings of pure chaos. If it had been Captain America falling for a Variant of himself the timeline would have clapped at him. No really, I still hope you take back this somehow and say it was all to mislead us because for me it’s not a problem of selfcest. It’s a HUGE problem of something called LOGIC. What’s this “Alice in the wonderland”? Mobius continues being a good, supportive friend by mocking Loki when she tells him the Variant’s name was Sylvie. Really Loki, with friends like this you were better with Thanos calling himself your dad. Finally anyway Loki manages to have Mobius tell him Sylvie is still alive, which gives him some relief, then Mobius goes on.

Mobius: And was infiltrating the TVA, was that always sort of the grand plan?

Wait, is he implying that when Loki produced his first Nexus event he did it so he could infiltrate in the TVA? Because of course he would know that they wouldn’t prune him but Mobius would come to his rescue? What had Mobius been drinking? Then when Loki tells Mobius maybe the Time-Keepers need to be overthrown Mobius goes:

Mobius: I ought to box your ears.

Because of course, violence is the solution and Loki should only be grateful to the Time-Keepers who kidnapped him and want to terminate him, shouldn’t he? Mobius is simply terrible here… which I don’t like because in a while I’ll be supposed to feel sad for him.

Loki now tries to tell Mobius the truth… only Mobius doesn’t want to listen, he claims Loki already told him 50 lies in the past 10 minutes without even considering he called for them as he tortured Loki to get what he wanted to hear, not the truth and anyway, if Loki isn’t trustworthy why they’re having that discussion?

Plus he belittles everything Loki says by basically downplaying Sylvie. She’s his girlfriend, his female self. She’s not her own. And of course in addition to downplaying Sylvie he has to insult Loki’s feelings because that’s what friends are for.

Mobius: Whatever you want to call her. What, your female self that you have some demented crush on...

Honestly, if Mobius had had a crush on Loki I would have waved this as him being jealous and bitter Loki found someone else but he does not. He took possession of Loki, looked down on him as some sort of pet, tried to manipulate him into obedience and babbled of a friendship that clearly didn’t exist and that had no reason to exist even if he hadn’t acted as a jerk because they barely know each other.

Friendship is something earned over time, not something others own you because you save them from death provided they’ll work for you.

What in the world is the TVA idea of friendship?

Anyway Loki informs him they’re all Variants and all the truth connected to it.

For a moment it seems to work, Mobius seems to be affected.

But this isn’t a truth Mobius wanted to hear because it ruins the basis of the TVA and the TVA is…

Mobius: Cause the TVA is my life. And it's real because I believe it's real.

So Mobius goes and call all of that a lie and since he hadn’t been a jerk enough he felt the need to play Odin’s role and remind Loki of his path in the sacred timeline.

Mobius: You two, what a pair! Gosh! Unbelievable. Wherever you go, it's just death, destruction, the literal ends of worlds.

What a friend, huh? Honestly I think he went for that line deliberately, because he has seen Loki’s life in the sacred timeline and saw Odin tossing a similar line to him and knows it hurt him.

Odin: Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes? Wherever you go there is war, ruin and death.

It’s also probably worth to mention this Loki hadn’t caused any of the ends of the worlds he’s been in.

Then he does what everyone expected, he decided he didn’t need Loki anymore and could get rid of him.

Mobius: Well, I'm gonna have to close this case now, 'cause I don't need you anymore. Yeah, or as you might say, our interests are no longer aligned.

Honestly I don’t like the idea of Loki falling for Sylvie but with people like Mobius around him… why am I complaining? Sylvie, who also attacked and belittled him, was much better as she didn��t go and called herself his friend at least. She was more honest than Mobius so congratulation Mobius, you beat the Goddess of Mischief.

On a sidenote the lines red and grey on the wall give me the feeling they’re in a circus tent. So yeah

Loki: The Time-Keepers have built quite the circus, and I see the clowns are playing their parts to perfection.

Anyway Loki is dragged away to be tortured by Sif again. Because Mobius hadn’t had him beaten up into submission enough before killing him. This is just sadistic.

This time Loki though is so angry he’s calm.

Loki: You know, of all the liars in this place, and there are a great many, you're the biggest.

Mobius: Why? 'Cause I lied about your girlfriend?

Loki: Oh, no. That I can respect. I mean, the lies you tell yourself.

Honestly I hate how Mobius continues to call Sylvie ‘his girlfriend’, not because I don’t like the idea of them paired together but because I get it’s Mobius’ way to belittle them both. She’s not her own person, not Sylvie, she’s Loki’s female self that he has some demented crush on. That’s all he makes her to be.

I don’t know what happened to Mobius in this episode. He seemed to have moral standards in Ep 1 & 2. He didn’t seem to enjoy hurting others for no reason. Now he does.

Well, at least Loki gets to call him on the lies he tells himself.

So, a break here. Great acting from both, good direction from Kate Herron, dumb plot.

The idea is that Mobius is questioning Loki to know what caused the Nexus event, right? But instead than his intelligence he uses physical torture. Now it would be fine if he needed to get a confession and didn’t care about the truth but he cares about the truth, he needs it to prevent future nexus events. Only no, he doesn’t care. Whatever.

Then he tries to see if Loki has feelings about Sylvie, which he does and jumps to the idea that Loki must love her because since they’re a male and a female there’s no other way to care for each other if not romantic love. He can’t view her as a sister or have pity of her, no it has to be romantic love and Waldron backs him up so it is and so this has to be what broke the timeline because… the timeline can tolerate any sort of crime but not selfcest committed by chaotic beings?

It must be this because if Mobius find something demented the timeline would as well, we’ve proofs… no we don’t have it is just speculation but Mobius read Waldron’s interview so he knows it’s true.

So Mobius has his answer, the timeline is against selfcest. Case closed. Logic thrown out of the window notwithstanding.

But then Loki really tells him the truth but Mobius doesn’t like it so let’s torture Loki some more. Because Mobius is so intelligent he can tell when Loki is lying, the series has already established it, so this has to be Loki lying right? And Mobius let him be tortured despite claiming he’s Loki’s friend and having tons of doubts about what C-20 saw and how Rendlayer is acting oddly because that’s what friends do. It has Thanos’ seal of approbation after all.

Whatever, let’s go on.

So we move to Hunter B-15 doing calming breaths as she’s clearly very upset. It’s worth to remember she was depicted as hating Variants the most. Her gaze falls on a poster recommending to capture all the variants and make sure to delete them all.

The fun part is that the guy on that poster remind me of the Mobius of the comics… but maybe it’s just me.

After this B-15 turns on her weapon and orders the ones guarding the entrance of the theatre in which they had put Sylvie to let her in. They don’t even discuss or hesitate, they just let her in.

Sylvie acts in the confident manner Loki used to act in “The Avengers” when he was prisoner of the Avengers.

Sylvie: Hello... Oh, I don't know. Your name's a number. Can't read it from here.

As she says so she moves closer. B-15 though put away her weapon, opens a timedoor and tells her to come with her.

Why they go away through a timedoor? Couldn’t they talk there? Isn’t it more risky as not only Sylvie could use this to escape but they might risk altering the oh so sacred timeline? Are there hearing devices in the theatre? Does the guards outside eavesdrop?

Whatever, we’re back to Renslayer’s office.

Mobius is thoughtful, Renslayer is happy because the case is closed. So Mobius really presented as excuse for the branch the fact that Loki and Sylvie supposedly fell in love? Because if Loki cares for someone is romantic love? He cried for Frigga too, for Asgard? Why it has to be romantic love for Mobius? Because Sylvie is a woman and Loki is a man and God forbid a man could care for a female in any other way that’s not romantic? Because the script said so? Couldn’t he care for her like a twin sister? She even acts like Thor here and there but she’s smarter than him. Would the timeline branch anyway?

Whatever, I guess I’m not meant to make questions but if the case is closed why he had to stuck Loki again in that timeloop to be beaten and humiliated? It’s not like Renslayer is checking him and even if she were or the Time-Keepers were which would have been the harm in letting him sit there like Sylvie is?

For which reason Mobius is trying so hard to break him? Revenge? He didn’t seem such a jerk in Ep 1 & 2 and now… why has he changed?

Anyway Mobius is beyond obvious acting weird despite Renslayer being all happy for the case closed and asking him

Renslayer: If you could go anywhere, anytime, where would it be?

She clearly mean for personal pleasure, maybe she plans on letting him have a holiday anywere he’d like but Mobius doesn’t seem to get it.

Mobius: I can go anywhere, anytime.

His reply hints he reduces everything to work, to going anywhere, anytime for work and while Renslayer tries to get him to open up he asks again why she didn’t let him interrogate ‘Sylvie’, which is a mistake as when in Renslayer’s office he usually calls the Variants just Variants, not by name, unless it’s necessary. Besides Renslayer doesn’t know the Variant’s chosen alias so she’s twice as confused.

Mobius has to explain ‘Sylvie’ is how Loki calls the Variant and Renslayer tells him it wasn’t so as to make sure it wouldn’t escape, and when Mobius says she wouldn’t have escaped (because Mobius is so good at keeping the Loki Variants close) she reminds him the other Variant did escape while in his care (yeah, twice, Mobius you aren’t as good as you like to present yourself).

Renslayer tries again to get him to answer her on where he’s like to go and he replies

Mobius: I like being here now, with you, doing the work.

Which is solely because he’s deadly scared of admitting he’d like to be some other place. He doesn’t like his life there, he loves jet ski and would like to ride one but he’s just scared to do so and finds comfort in the monotony of his own life. Which is beyond depressing and is part of the lies he tells himself.

Renslayer gives up and informs him she’d heard the Time-Keepers and they will personally oversee the Variant's pruning and they want Mobius to be there as well. I take that with ‘the Variant’ they mean Sylvie but later we’ll see Loki too is carried in front of them.

Why they want Mobius too though? To make sure he’ll stay put? To prune him as well because he’s being as suspicious as possible?

Mobius seems pleased he’ll finally met the Time-Keeper then oh so discreetly goes back on questioning Renslayer. On C-20 this time. Which obviously makes Renslayer even more suspicious.

She tries to deflect his question by pointing out how everything went well, the Time-Keepers are happy and yadda, yadda and Mobius insists again on wanting to know about C-20… because this was totally smooth and not suspicious at all.

And this is bad because this guy is the one who’s supposed to be at Loki’s same level if not above. If he’s so incompetent it reflects poorly on Loki too.

Yeah, he was very upset by C-20’s death so maybe this is messing him up but still he couldn’t be more obvious, insisting over and over when Renslayer clearly doesn’t want to tell him more. What does he expect, her to admit she lied? She’s not a Variant he can torture, or keep there until he gets the answers he wants, she’s basically his boss.

Anyway Renslayer, probably due to her fondness for him, confirms her previous version and tells him if he’s not allowed to meet the Variant that’s because she’s protecting him from facing the horrible fate C-20 went through.

I think this requires a bit of appropriate singing from another movie:

Shhh.. Trust me Mobius, Ravonna, knows best. Ravonna knows best. Listen to your Ravonna. She's a scary Variant that Sylvie. Ravonna knows best. One way or another. Something will go wrong, I swear. Stabbing, kicking, poison, punching. Stealing, and humiliating, the lies. Also large sword, a woman with pointy teeth. And stop, no more, you'll just upset me. Ravonna's right here. Ravonna will protect you. Darling here's what I suggest. Skip the drama, stay with Ravonna. RAVONNA!! Knows best! Ravonna knows best. Take it from your Ravonna. On your own, you won't survive. Sloppy underdressed, immature, clumsy, Please, they'll eat you up, alive. Gullible, nave, positively grubby. Ditzy and a bit, well, hmm vague. Plus I believe, getting kinda chubby. I'm just saying, 'Cause I wuv you. Ravonna understands, Ravonnas here to help you. All I have is one request. (singing ends) Mobius? Don't ever ask to see the Variant, again.

Evidently Mother Gothel… pardon Renslayer’s performance doesn’t fully win Mobius over.

Mobius: Yeah, if it's the truth.

Intelligence? Or, like with Loki he has already decided with answer he needs to get?

Renslayer now tries to distract him blaming everything on the time Mobius spent with the Lokis, implying that because they lie he came up to think she would lie too and then she gives him an inspirational speech about how their work matter and how they’re special friends.

Renslayer: When we're out there fighting for the fate of the Sacred Timeline we're also fighting for this. For us. Friends against time, allies to the end. You've seen all of existence, same as me. So, you know, friendship like ours is uncommon. And worth fighting for. Same as the Sacred Timeline.

So Mobius has friends.

Or at least he has Renslayer.

Does he plan to close her too in a timeloop for lying to him? Or, since she was used to always humour him (this is apparently the first time she told him ‘no’) he expected Loki too had to play on his tune, especially considering Loki isn’t his boss, and got upset when Loki showed a mind of his own?

Or is Renslayer who taught him who disappoint gets closed in a timeloop where he’s punched and insulted by doing this to Mobius?

I’d like to know.

Whatever, this speech persuaded Mobius so much he distract Renslayer suggesting to find a place for her new trophy only to swap the Tempads behind her back… and then oh so discreetly try to run away because this wouldn’t be suspicious at all.

Smooth, Mobius, smooth.

Okay, so B-15 took Sylvie to the Roxxcart apocalypse since now she knows the TVA can’t detect changes if they happen in an apocalypse.

Sylvie thinks she wants a fight but B-15 is instead tormented by what Sylvie had shown her when she possessed her.

Now, everyone, let’s refresh our memory on how enchantment works.

Sylvie: It depends on the mind. Most are easy and I can overtake them instantly. Others, the stronger ones, it gets tricky. I'm in control, but they're there, too. In order to preserve the connection, I have to create a fantasy from their memories.

B-15 was overtaken very easily with Sylvie fully in control of her as she moved her like a puppet and had her say what she wanted. So why in the world she needed to show her a memory? We saw how things worked with C-20, she used the memory to answer in kind to her questions believing she was with a friend. What she did to B-15 to make her move and say what she wanted, did she had a memory in which she was an actress and Sylvie read her the script?

I’ve no words, they gave the rule 1 episode ago, don’t they remember them anymore?

So anyway Sylvie tells B-15 the truth and B-15, the one who believes talking to Variant is a mistake and they should all be pruned as they’re cosmic mistakes immediately swallows what the Variant who’d been killing TVA agents non-stop tells her and volunteers to let herself be possessed again.

Because this wouldn’t be dangerous at all, I mean, surely Sylvie who has a grudge against the TVA and has been killing TVA agents won’t lie to her and wouldn’t just possess her to steal her tempad and escape leaving her to die in the apocalypse.

Yeah, surely because Sylvie, instead than possessing her, does as she request and shows her those memories and B-15 can be sure they’re true and not a trick because… she too read the script and know they’re true.

So B-15, who had been pruning, abusing and belittling other Variants like her, once knowing she’s a Variant says:

Hunter B-15: I looked happy.

With tears in her voice. Okay, so she also sides with Sylvie but… don’t take me wrong, different people react differently but let’s look for a moment B-15’s reaction at discovering she’s a Variant, a cosmic mistake.

B-15 was the one who hated Variants the most… but knowing she was one all she cares was she looked happy. What’s her problem she was miserable at the TVA? I didn’t notice. She just accepted she’s a Variant so easily… everyone else, even people who didn’t hate Variants will have more problems with it. C-20 was in shock, Mobius goes in denial, Loki basically went mad with grief when he discovered he was a Frost Giant.

B-15 mourns that she was happy and then asks for instructions to Sylvie.

I wonder if she’s the sort of person who can’t think on her own. She did what the TVA propaganda said because she never stopped to think about it, she got an easy to posses mind, and now she’s willing to do what Sylvie says because she can’t think at it on her own.

To be honest… although I feel what the TVA did to the people working there was pretty disgusting, I find hard on an intellectual level to empathize with someone who had been enjoying pruning and abusing Variants and now that she has discovered she’s one she doesn’t regret what she did to the others like her but mourn her old happiness.

Anyway I compliment Wunmi Mosaku for this scene. I’m not persuaded by how they decided she would just swallow she’s a Variant so easily, but still she played well the part.

Empathically, to see another being so grief stricken, causes me to react emotionally, even though logically I feel I shouldn’t care because they didn’t give me reasons to feel sorry for someone who was so happy to be an abuser and doesn’t regret having been one, she still managed to make me feel sorry for her character because her sadness was emotionally involving.

Really, good job, and good job to Kate Herron who played that scene well.

We switch to Mobius who hides among bookshelves to check Renslayer’s tempad.

I love the visual here, how it seems we’re pecking on Mobius by a hole but whatever, might be just me.

Renslayer’s tempad confirms C-20 died so Mobius is about to close it when he decides to check the classified report of the mission on Renslayer’s tempad. Renslayer conveniently recorded C-20 saying:

Hunter C-20: You're not hearing me. I was there. This was real, what I saw. This is a place that I've been. This wasn't the TVA. This was a memory. I lived down there. I went to that bar. I had friends. I had a whole life on the Sacred Timeline.

Interrogator: Calm down.

Hunter C-20: "Calm down"? I'm a Variant. So are you. So is every single person in this place. I'm ending this.

So yeah, Mobius, Loki didn’t lie to you, you moron, that excuse was way too dumb to be a lie.

Also C-20 never went mad as Renslayer said. Because it was Renslayer who lied to you, Mobius. Because in the real world people are awful to get what we want and maybe you should take lessons from a prince.

Just as to remark Renslayer knew this and not just because it’s on her tempad, she also appear on the screen, proof she was listening. To do what I don’t know.

We go back to Loki who’s just being beaten by Sif again because Mobius, his friend, couldn’t let him sit on a chair while he checked if Loki told him the truth. We also see how all this beating isn’t really breaking Loki.

Although he has previously apologized to Sif and accepted his fault, now he’s just annoyed he has to hear her saying such things over and over and beating him.

Because beating people doesn’t make them better.

On another side, since Loki knew what he had to tell to Sif to make her stop I wonder why he didn’t repeat it… or why he didn’t try to think of a plan. Whatever.

Mobius drops there with the dumbest question of the year:

Mobius: What are you doing?

Loki has a sarcastic reply for his idiotic question:

Loki: Passing the time.

No, really, Mobius trapped him there, what was he thinking Loki was doing, playing poker with Sif?

So now is Mobius’ time for another dumb question:

Mobius: Do you care about her?

I mean, after you called her his female self that he, a seismic narcissist, have some demented crush on, of course Loki wants to open his heart to you. Who wouldn’t?

Mobius tells him to shut up and then asks if he really think you deserve to be alone… as if this was Loki’s idea and not something Mobius’ tried to brainwash him into believing. Loki doesn’t reply which upset Mobius as when Mobius says ‘jump’ Loki should only say ‘how high?’, so Loki point out how MOBIUS TOLD HIM TO SHUT UP. Because Mobius is not making any sense and Loki needs to lampshade this.

Mobius asks him if he thinks he deserves to be alone.

Loki replies he doesn’t know which means his pretty words to Sif were all pretty words. He didn’t believe them, not fully. Thanks God.

So now the conversation starts to get surreal.

Mobius: You better figure it out quick, because the nexus event the two of you caused, whatever that connection is, can bring this whole place down.

Okay, I’m not following this, after belittling Loki’s relation with Sylvie now he’s trying to tell him he has to get together with her for the sake of bringing down the TVA? That’s why Loki has to get with Sylvie? Why he doesn’t have to believe he deserves to be alone? So now Loki’s crush is no more demented but a key to throw down the TVA?

What was sticking him with Sif then, an attempt at manipulating him into not getting in relationship with other Lokis? So Mobius knew already he and Sylvie had a crush on each other? Because it looked like he stuck Loki with Sif PRIOR to knowing it.

I’m lost but whatever, Mobius decide THEY have to do something so Loki remarks on the use of plural.

Mobius asks him to swear Sylvie didn’t implant whose memories in C-20.

It’s a dumb question as not only Loki could lie but Sylvie could have lied to him and anyway Renslayer lied so it’s not like she’s safe to trust either.

Loki vouches for Sylvie and Mobius asks:

Mobius: So, I just have to trust the word of two Lokis?

No, please, Mobius, don’t. You’ve wasted everyone’s time questioning Loki when you don’t believe him. Really, I don’t get why you wanted to use someone you don’t trust. What did you come there for if you can’t believe him?

At this Loki, who’s at first hurt, replies:

Loki: How about the word of a friend?

And okay, it has to be Stockholm Syndrome talking. That or masochism. Because friends don’t close you in a timeloop in which you get beaten and humiliated for all that time so really Loki, don’t be Mobius’ friend.

So now Mobius admits Loki was right about the TVA from the beginning, which was damn time and would have realized it sooner had he spared 5 minutes of his time on this and tells him if Loki wants to save Sylvie he has to trust him. Because Mobius never lied and manipulated him, no, really. You’re lucky Loki has Stockholm Syndrome so of course he’ll trust you.

So Mobius goes:

Mobius: Okay. You could be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you different.

Yeah, someone did. Should I refresh you, your memory Mobius?

Mobius: You weren't born to be king, Loki. You were born to cause pain and suffering and death. That's how it is, that's how it was, that's how it will be. All so that others can achieve their best versions of themselves.

Or maybe you prefer this, which includes Sylvie too?

Mobius: You two, what a pair! Gosh! Unbelievable. Wherever you go, it's just death, destruction, the literal ends of worlds.

I mean, if this is Mobius’ way to apologize for all the things it tossed at Loki, it honestly sucks, and it gets worse because he’s merely doing because he needs him to cooperate with him because, guess what? As Loki told him from the start the TVA sucks and had been lying to him and he just didn’t want to see and has exchanged his own belief in the TVA for ‘truth’.

I mean, he’s probably being as sincere as he can be, as we know he has wondered if Loki could be good, but he has been so manipulative with Loki up until now that really, him saying Loki this when he needs Loki to trust him, only feels like him being manipulative.

Are we sure Mobius isn’t another Loki variant, one Renslayer wanted to keep as her pet?

Still I think Loki understood this was Mobius’ way to apologize as he smiles and follows him.

The moment they leave the Timeloop they find themselves face to face with Renslayer and four hunters.

And here it’s where the writer forgot Mobius too is supposed to be smart. For start because it didn’t dawn on him to remove Loki’s collar from him, to continue because when Renslayer points out she has something of hers he returns the Tempad, their only way to leave the place, to her.

I can explain this merely by going under the idea that Mobius still think that the fact they’re friends would push Renslayer to cover up for him, which clearly means he doesn’t know/understand her as much as he thinks.

Mbatha-Raw:

“She’s really worked hard to get where she is, so she’s not going to be reckless with the power that has been hard-earned for her. She, in some ways, is deeply indoctrinated with the ways of the TVA. She’s completely conditioned by their thinking and the idea of the Sacred Timeline, and the concept of free will is quite alien to her. She’s a believer. She believes in law and order, and it’s done quite well for her so far in terms of getting her to where she is. She’s not going to abandon her philosophy lightly.”

[‘Loki’: Owen Wilson Says Renslayer’s Betrayal of Mobius in Episode 4 Was ‘Pretty Shocking’

]

And in a way the situation we’re facing is really funny because Mobius believes Renslayer betrayed him… but she believes he’s the one who betrayed her. And this in a way mirrors Mobius’ relation with Loki.

To Renslayer Mobius had no right to doubt her, to question her decisions, to doubt the TVA even if the TVA is lying and she knows it. To her, Mobius is the dog who peed on the carpet.

Mobius instead somehow believed to be an equal friend, to whom she owed the truth, so he’s hurt by her acting as if he was just her disobedient dog.

She lied to him, manipulated him, demanded from him to be a loyal TVA supporter who only seek for her approbation and when he goes and doesn’t do this, she punishes him by pruning him. She doesn’t even try to beat him into submission again, she just get rid of him because her faith in her cult is more important than their ‘friendship’.

She’s a real Nazi in a way.

But the irony is that Mobius was the same with Loki and now he experiences what it means to be on the other side.

His emotional speech:

Mobius: What's the problem, Ravonna? You know where I'd go if I could go anywhere? Wherever it is I'm really from. Yeah, wherever I had a life before the TVA came along. Maybe I had a jet ski. That's what I'd like to do. Just riding around on my jet ski.

…it changes nothing in Renslayer’s mind, she’s like him, she doesn’t want the truth, the honesty, she wants submission but she’s not even going to waste time to work him into submission again. She probably plans to replace him with another Mobius Variant who’ll be more obedient this time.

Note that pruning him hurts her… but she has it done anyway, the way Mobius had oh so many branches pruned. Because that’s what they did at the TVA.

It’s a damn case of “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party”.

Mobius never thought he would be the one ending up pruned, being a Variant and ending up pruned was other people’s problem, Loki’s problem, not Mobius’, Mobius was one of the good guys, he was created by the TVA so such things wouldn’t happen to him.

Now… this is the same problem I had with B-15.

We are supposed to feel sorry for Mobius and I probably would feel very sorry for him if he hadn’t been a complete asshole to Loki up till 5 minutes ago. I get maybe they were aiming to take advantage of Owen Wilson’s fans, who loved Mobius no matter what they do or to how Loki and Renslayer still mourn him because Stockholm syndrome pushes you to do this and your pet dog is always your pet dog even if you decide to shoot him down because, to you, he’s rabid but all I felt was that Mobius had got what he deserved, what he did to Loki was done to him.

And this is a goddamn shame because I would have been a lot sadder if Mobius hadn’t act in such a way in this episode.

I mean, yes, in episode 1 & 2 he was still manipulative but he had genuine moments in which he was sympathetic and didn’t want to gratuitously hurt people.

Mobius: What are you doing? Hey! These people are scared.

Hunter D-90: They're about to die. They should be scared.

Mobius: Okay. Not of us.

I love this scene because he just stood up for those people even if he had nothing to gain, just because he didn’t want the TVA to scare them even if they were about to die and would have been rest if they weren’t to die. This wasn’t manipulation, this was Mobius being a decent being and… and this episode just tossed it away.

His whole interrogation scene with Loki, from the moment he just had him beaten and belittled to ‘soften him’ to how he ends by having him beaten and belittled again even though the case is closed is nonsense and disgusting. That’s not what a decent human being would do.

On a positive note Mbatha-Raw is very good in the scene. It’s clear a part of her is suffering, yet another remains hard. She turns her face away because she can’t watch when Mobius is pruned, even the way she squeezed her eyes shut and then relaxed them but kept them closed is a nice detail and so is the way she looks at Loki, still hurt by Mobius’ disappearance but firm, how she takes long breaths after saying they’ve to wait for her, how she first looks down, as if ashamed then up, as if to ask the moral support of her gods or whatever and then closes her eyes and mouth as if to swallow it all and go on.

She’s good.

Mind you, I loved how Owen Wilson gave his speech and I love Tom Hiddleston’s reacting to him being pruned which interestingly opposes to Mbatha-Raw’s as he keeps his eyes wide open and he tries to reach for him where she instead close them and kind of tries to ‘hold away’ from him, her body posture close where Tom Hiddleston’s is open and then he closes his eyes, calm down and straighten up before facing her in a ‘it was your doing’ way. He let himself be carried away but he turns to look at her so as to keep eye contact with her and she’s the one who has to lower her gaze.

Now, I personally wish Loki wouldn’t mourn Mobius because really, Mobius wasn’t good to him, but since he’s supposed to do it, I can only say Tom Hiddleston’s performance here is good as well.

Very fitting also the background music, especially when Loki is escorted through the corridor and now he seems to be worn out as he waves a little as he walks and then… he stops, and I’m not sure if there’s a reason or he just waves a little for the sake of him being emotionally hurt and the guards have to steady him and then force him to resume walking. In itself that pause was good to animate a walking scene who otherwise would have been pretty boring… but I don’t know if there’s a reason for it beyond that. But well, Loki had been beaten up till now so maybe he has a right at also being physically worn out.

So anyway Renslayer go to see Sylvie and as soon as she does she claims someone was there with her and wants to know who. Well, I guess the fact Sylvie is soaked was a dead giveaway so really, they should have found her a hairdryer before sending her back there. Besides why not to get inside the Roxxcart where it’s dry, instead than outside?

I get that outside, under the rain, the scene came a lot more dramatic and so technically better but logic is king of important as well. Giving away that Sylvie was taken outside to chat, as Sylvie has no bruises on herself, is dumb. I mean, had B-15 given her a black eye they could have at least pass if for B-15 taking her revenge on her but like this… it’s so dumb…

In fact as soon as Renslayer discovers it was B-15, she decides she too had been compromised and people has to search for her. Not that it matters as they won’t find her. After all she has a Tempad and has learnt she can hide in apocalypses.

Sylvie smiles at her smugly because she is enjoying seeing Renslayer under pressure and how could she not? It was Renslayer who captured her.

Sylvie is then taken away but this time only by two guards because they’ve decided giving her more when the last time she managed to punch one is useless. No, actually Renslayer might have figured if Sylvie has remained in her ‘theater’ (yeah, she and Loki were put into rooms called ‘time theaters’) instead than escaping with B-15, she’s willing to let herself be dragged to meet the Time-Keepers.

Or not, the plot had the characters act in dumb or irrational ways way too often so I don’t know.

Sylvie is anyway taken in front of the same door in front of which Loki is waiting. I love how she whispers to him an ‘You okay?’ even if I would prefer it wasn’t because she’s also crushing on him but because she was touched by how he gave her appreciation and validation. Loki nods once, deeply, but doesn’t verbally replies which is kind of worrisome per se.

Renslayer says she’ll handle things from there and open the door of the golden elevator with her ‘electronic key’ meaning when Sylvie got there the first time, as she was without key, she wouldn’t have been able to do anything. Loki and Sylvie follow Renslayer while the guards remain behind.

Sylvie asks Renslayer is she remembers her and when she answers affirmatively, always calling her Variant, she asks her which was her Nexus event. To Renslayer who asks her what does it matter she replies:

Sylvie: It was enough to take my life from me, lead to all of this. Must have been important. So, what was it?

I feel bad for Sylvie because maybe she doesn’t remember Miss Minute’s video (by the way did Miss Minute had a reason to exist or we’re meant to forget about her?) in which they said to create a Nexus even it’s enough to be late for work. Maybe Sylvie wasn’t meant to be there to play but should have been in the Vault with Thor and Odin learning about how glorious was Asgard for having beaten the Frost Giants. Maybe she was just meant to play ball instead than dolls but in short, what destroyed her life didn’t have to be important because that’s the kind of jerks the TVA is.

They punish someone for doing something completely innocent without having any idea it was the ‘wrong’ thing, ‘wrong’ being a matter of perspective because I bet they pruned all the Lokis who didn’t sent the Frost Giants in the Vault or didn’t try to kill Thor or didn’t attack New York because THOSE WERE THINGS MEANT TO HAPPEN.

The TVA is not about morality, I wonder if it’s about the entertainment of the Time-Keepers.

Anyway Renslayer smirks and then tells Sylvie she doesn’t remember. Honestly I doubt she doesn’t remember and even if she did, she could have made up something but she just prefers to hurt Sylvie by implying her Nexus event was so unimportant it wasn’t even worth remembering.

The door open and they are in a bluish, foggy place. There are two guards giving them their back and two instead facing them and, in front of them there are the three space lizards known as the Time-Keepers. Hum… the impression I get is that the place is foggy because it’s freezing cold since there are white bits that seem ice but… I’m not sure as nobody seems to be feeling cold.

Renslayer announces to the Time-Keeper she had brought them the Variants.

Now I was thinking it was poor effects, as the space lizard talk in a mechanical way and are so still they seem robot and even when their face move as they speak they seem mechanical… but no, it’ll turn out they’re robot. Whatever, I’m running ahead.

The lizards ask them what they have to say before being killed.

Okay, so Loki says and I quote:

Loki: Is that the only reason you brought us here? To kill us? I've lost track of the number of times I've been killed, so go ahead. Do your worst.

And I am WAIT, YOU’VE BEEN KILLED BEFORE? EVEN IF YOU’RE STILL UNDER THE WRONG BELIEF THOR TOSSED YOU INTO AN ABYSS, WHICH HE DIDN’T AS HE WANTED TO SAVE YOU AND YOU LET GO DUE TO ODIN’S HIGHLY MOTIVATIONAL WORDS (really, Odin should write demotivational posters quote along with Mobius) THAT COUNTS ONLY AS ONE. YOU DIDN’T DIE IN “THE AVENGERS”. CAN WE HOPE THIS MEANS WE’LL BE REVEALED WHAT HAPPENED IN THE YEAR IN BETWEEN “THOR” AND “THE AVENGERS”? OR IT’S JUST TO BE MEANT RANDOM BABBLING? PLEASE, LET ME KNOW!

Anyway okay, back to normal.

The Time-keepers tell them they’re no threat to them and Sylvie counters she believes they’re scared. She tries to get closer but Renslayer uses the Time Twister so she can’t.

The Time-Keepers complains they’re just a ‘cosmic disappointment’ why I’ve no idea as it’s not like they created the Variants so the Variants aren’t supposed to please them, and tell to delete them.

Sylvie tries to protest she’s not done with them but Renslayer tries to use the Time Twister and only manages to stop her because B-15 all of sudden comes to rescue because the TVA did a horrible job at tracking her apparently. B-15 disables Loki and Sylvie’s collars, then she mockingly repeats the TVA motto ‘For all time. Always’, before handing Sylvie her sword that originally had been put as a trophy in Renslayer’s office.

The two guards behind immediately knock down B-15 who didn’t even bother bring her weapon or, if she had, didn’t pull it out. Renslayer orders to the four guards to protect the Time-Keepers, so now it’s Renslayers and 4 guards against Loki and Sylvie. Renslayer decides not to fight, to be honest because the guards evidently had been given a better version of the Supersoldier serum and can comfortably stand against Loki and Sylvie with no problems whatsoever.

Really, if I don’t get an explanation on why human Variants are all of sudden strong enough they can stand against Loki I’ll think those guys have never seen “The Avengers”.

In fact the 2 guards fighting Loki are about to overpower Loki who asks for Sylvie’s help as she’s holding against her 2 guards just fine and she hands him her sword. Meanwhile, despite being weaponless, Sylvie… kicks to unconsciousness? Is that what she did? a guard, steals his weapon and instead than prune his companion with it, she stabs her. Because, you know, this is cooler and rule of cool always win.

All while Renslayer watches because whoever rules at the TVA has never read the ‘Evil Overlord list’ rule 75 “I will instruct my Legions of Terror to attack the hero en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time.”

Actually there’s a huge list of rules the TVA ignored but this is the most important at the moment.

Anyway while the camera ignores Loki fighting with two guards in the background, we’re supposed to focus on Sylvie and Renslayer. Sylvie gives Renslayer a sporting chance letting her pick up a weapon. No idea why, really. Who cares about sport when you’re there to kill the Time-Keepers?

Besides, who cares about Loki? This is Sylvie’s moment to look cool.

Anyway Renslayer tells her this time she’ll finish the job, they fight, she ends on the ground, manages to turn their positions and punches Renslayer into unconsciousness, just in time for Loki to finish killing his guards. Why she didn’t kill Renslayer? Because the plot needs Renslayer to make troubles afterward so Sylvie, despite having a weapon and having used it to kill a guard, only punches Renslayer, which she should hate as much as the Time-Keepers, into unconsciousness.

Let me facepalm, please.

Now the Time-Keepers go:

Time-Keeper 1: You're a child of the Time-Keepers too, Sylvie. We can talk.

And okay, I’m not following this. Are they implying they created the Variants? Are they trying to pass themselves for Gods? Or it’s just Sylvie they created?

Sylvie tosses against one of the sword Loki gave her back, decapitating him. The Time-Keepers starts laughing as it turns out the Time-Keeper she decapitate was a robot.

I get “Wizard of Oz” feelings and I swear if it turn out this was created by an evil Loki Variant I’m gonna scream.

The Time-Keepers somehow deactivates, not sure if someone did it, or it was Sylvie pointing a weapon at them.

Sylvie picks up the head and, seeing it’s a robotic one and never having heard of Ultron and Vision, decides since they had robotic head they’re fake, mindless androids. Which yes, they have to be because we’re missing 2 episodes and they were beaten too easily but she’s not supposed to be aware of the episode count.

Whatever, Loki decides, I think, this would probably be a good moment to declare his love only they forget Renslayer is alive and she prunes Loki in front of Sylvie. At this point Renslayer forgets her warrior skills and Sylvie easily rips her weapon from her but, instead than pruning Renslayer as she asks, she informs her she’ll tell her everything. Meaning she will use her powers to force Renslayer to be cooperative.

The episode apparently ends, with the ending credit replaced by a love song, “If you love me” by Brenda Lee. Just in case you didn’t get Loki was about to make a Love confession.

When the ending… well, ends though, we see Loki opening his eyes and wondering if he’s dead and in Hel.

He’s told:

“Not yet. But you will be unless you come with us.”

As he looks up he sees four version of himself, a child, an old man, a POC and an alligator.

I can’t help but point out the costume the old Loki is wearing, despite being based on the one old Loki wears in the comics somehow feels like a poor cosplay.

Behind them the ruins of a city which, I bet, is New York. I wonder if they’re in an apocalypse created by the attack of New York succeeding.

And so the episode ends.

Now… this episode is, plotwise, better than the previous, as the previous was basically an excuse to get Loki and Sylvie to spend time together so as for them to fall in love. Oh and the revelation everyone in the TVA is a variant but really, Sylvie could have told Loki that in Ep 2 and we wouldn’t have missed anything big.

This one episode as, instead, a plot… but there are some things that just don’t add up and felt tossed there at random. I mostly mourn how the ruined Mobius’ character because this episode seriously damaged the sympathy I had for him, with that useless decision to have Loki belittled and beaten for… fundamentally nothing since he doesn’t believe him. Then he further insults him for falling for Sylvie before he decides to switch sides and no, Loki shouldn’t believe all the cruel things he told him because… hum… they weren’t true because Mobius is his friend. Not like how he said he was before, this time he’s really his friend the fact he needs him doesn’t matter, he’s not like Loki who uses people he’s one of the good guys of the TVA, you know, the ones who belittle and prune Variants unaware they’re Variants too.

Okay, I’m still very salty on this bit but I just didn’t enjoy the useless abuse of Loki.

It wasn’t funny, it had no purpose and it also ruined Mobius as a character.

It even impacted negatively on Sif which was fundamentally used to beat Loki up over and over when she already had, just for Mobius’ purposes, whatever they were.

Honestly I’m sick and tired of Marvel thinking that abusing of someone is a funny joke, especially if the one doing the beating is a girl.

The only thing it serves was to remark Sif had no love for Loki, which everyone seeing the movie could have guessed already.

Another thing I didn’t quite enjoy was how this is turning into Sylvie’s story. Is the purpose of this series pass the Loki baton to Sylvie?

We have the guards of the TVA being as strong as supersoldiers so far without explanation whatsoever, with Loki, who, in Asgard was trained to fight, in “Thor” could hold his ground against Frost Giants and even fight with Thor and who, in “The Avengers” gets punched by Cap and merely turns his face before he hits Cap with the sceptre and sent him flying and this not with magical powers but merely with his strength. And he does so TWICE, completely able to avoid Caps’ blows. Caps kicks him in the face and Loki remains standing and tosses him on the ground again.

Loki lets himself be arrested because:

a) Iron Man joins and he manages to send him on the ground by shooting at him and

b) because this was part of the plan.

Coulson shot him with a super powerful weapon and still Loki got up and left the Helicarrier on his feet. When Thor tried to hit Loki with his hammer, Loki could stop the blow by having it hit his sceptre without him even wavering on his feet.

And then okay, this Loki hadn’t lived through them but in “Thor: The Dark World” he could hold his ground against elves while in “Thor: Ragnarok” against Hela’s undead Asgardian soldiers.

And now we’ve those Variants of humans who can give him problems? Sylvie even gives him his weapon!

And all this while Sylvie, who had to learn to fight on her own, can hold her ground weaponless against two of them and save time to fight and beat Renslayer too?

Whatever, let’s hope we’ll get an explanation.

And then there’s the romance between Sylvie and Loki, which is useless or the whole idea Sylvie is Loki and all those other guys plus the alligator are Loki and I’d like to know what decides they’re Loki variants since they’re clearly genetically different from him… never mention one of them managed to get old when Loki supposedly died ‘young’ in the sacred timeline so what? The truth is he didn’t die in “Avengers: Infinity War” and grew old?

And why genetically different Variants of Loki were allowed to exist? How come this didn’t cause a Nexus event?

But whatever, let’s put aside my complains about the plot holes or the messed characterization and the nonsense dialogues and talk of the good stuff, like the acting or the director’s job or the music which really fit some scenes. There’s some really good stuff here.

And well, let’s mention the plot is not all to waste.

There were some good ideas in this.

To have the TVA agents discover they’re also Variants like the people they discriminated and pruned could have been great, I mean, one of the best scenes of “Thor” is Loki discovering he’s a Frost Giant so this could have been SO VERY COOL.

The Lokis forming a bond also had potential as idea on paper. If they were the same this could have pushed them to learn to appreciate themselves, if they were different, this could have pushed them to appreciate others. They didn’t need the romantic story and the idea they’re the same only they’re completely different so the fact they’re the same seems an idiocy.

Really, from a series who give space to a lot of female characters, who don’t just talk among them about men but about plot related issues, I don’t see why we need to pair together the two Lokis.

Mobius being Loki’s friend could have been great if he had acted as such and not as an abusive pet owner whose dog has peed on the carpet. But whatever, it could have been great to have Renslayer do the same to him, if this were to be acknowledged, if it were to be acknowledged how they both are poor friends.

Also Mobius’ death could have been a lot more moving if they hadn’t ruined him in this very same episode.

Seeing Sif again and learning of Loki’s past mischief? Could have been great if it wasn’t used for what turned into a torture scene or ‘police brutality’ who however wasn’t meant to be seen as bad as it was because it’s a woman who beat Loki.

Even the police brutality or the fascist agency could have been great plot point if it wasn’t they’re barely brushed over.

Loki reflecting on his behaviour could have been good if it wasn’t inserted into what was basically a torture scene.

Little Sylvie’s backstory could have been awesome if it had been realist, if this little escaping child had had knowledge of a Tempad and had had someone to help her.

I mean, there are some genuine good things in this plot… but then they got ruined by poor planning or poor explanation or abrupt character OOC.

It’s a pity.

We’ll see if episode 5 will redeem himself.

#mcu loki #loki #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #sylvie #mobius m mobius #ravonna renslayer #hunter b 15 #hunter c 20 #hunter u 92 #9 worlds study #9 worlds study mcu loki

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weirdthinkingdragon · 3 years

Text

Pushed Temptations

Yandere Western Shouta x reader

Warnings of blood, guns, character death, uh… intended weapon harm to reader? Should that be a warning? Quirkless AU

IDEK if you can really call this a yandere. More like highly protective, which is kinda yandere I guess? All I know is I was in a really soft mood when writing the ending. Oops…

It was rather quiet today at the bar. The only thing being the pianist playing their good old favorite tunes. No one seems to mind, and he offers to do the piano at a rather small price. Because of that, my boss decided to let him have a few drinks a day free. He was thankful but oddly declined. He’s definitely an older man, maybe in his 50s. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, but I do remember it starts with a T. He’s definitely an incredibly kind man though.

I clean the glass of the customer that just left incredibly drunk. I don’t care much about doing this job, but I have to because the boss told me I could live here if I do. He knew my family and wanted to help me out after they were killed by bandits on their way home. He’s also worried about me being alone in case that happens to me as well. I don’t really care. We all die at some point anyway. I am rather angry with the bandits though. He wouldn’t let me decline. Seriously, he made two of his strongest bouncers come get me to bring me to him. I’m starting to think he only wanted me for his benefit.

There was a rowdy few in the corner playing poker at the corner. I try to ignore them and stare at the doors to the entrance. One of the men at the table suddenly stands up, and storms out. He yells in fear after exiting. No one bats an eye since yelling is pretty normal around here. From fear? Not really, but it’s not my problem as long as it’s not in here.

It doesn’t take long to know why the man yelled in fear. A very feared outlaw enters through the doors. Shouta, the man feared by all. The only man that wears black everything, including his stetson. Well, the only thing not black was his bandana. That was a medium gray. He’s taken down multiple people at once, and so many Sheriffs and Bounty Hunters have been after him, which lead to their deaths. Only one person has ever been close to doing serious damage to him. From what I heard, they tried to become friends with him over a few days, got close enough, and tried to stab his eye with a knife. The swing hit, but not the way they hoped. The man was found dead a few days later with a bullet hole in his pants. He was shot in his thigh and left for dead overnight. The wolves got to him before he was found.

A chill goes through the place as everyone goes silent and stares at him. They know to not bring their guns out. They stare in fear at him as he saunters up to the booth right in front of me. “Howdy stranger, what can I get ya?”

“Whiskey.” Geez, even his voice is something to send chills down someone’s spine. I grab one of the glasses, fill it, and pass it to him. He goes to pass the money for it to me. I push it back towards him, leading him to have surprise on his face.

“It’s on me. It’s a thank you for getting rid of that group of damn bandits that called themselves the “Iron Will”. It’s nothing to you, but they were a royal thorn in my side. I wanted revenge on myself for something they did.”

His face went back to being stoic, but he did grab the glass. I look at the entrance to see if anyone else entered. No. In fact, the ones at the table playing Poker booked it out of here, so it’s now just him, the pianist, and I.

It stayed quiet between us for a bit. “You know, I don’t think you’re as bad as people say,” He raises the brow with the obvious scar under his eye, but says nothing. “From what I’ve heard, most, if not all, of the people you have killed have deserved it. Yes, even the Sheriffs. They’re usually corrupt themselves anyway.”

“...You talk a lot.” He’s too hard to read to know what he’s truly thinking.

I shrug. “It ain’t much. It just gets pretty boring around here, especially since I’d honestly rather be doing anything else. Kinda forced to be here,” I glare off to the side. “Thank the damn bandits for that one,” I lock eyes with him again. “Uh… nevermind. Enjoy the rest of your whiskey.” I say and go over to the table the rowdy people were t and grabbed their glasses. It might be best to not bother him much more. Maybe I’d be next.

The blond stops playing the piano for now, and he locks eyes with Shouta. Shouta… Gives him a small nod? They must know each other. That would just be further proof he doesn’t kill for no reason.

He asked for another, which I gave him. The blond didn’t continue playing yet. He must be giving his fingers a break. Honestly? About time. That man’s been playing for the past three hours without a break.

At least, it was peaceful until someone slammed the doors open in an obvious frantic state. It was my boss. He has a revolver… It was easy to tell what he wanted to do with it from the way he glares at Shouta. I don’t let worry show, even though I’m worried about him being shot by Shouta, which could easily happen. That and the blood would be hard to clean up. It always is on wooden floors, as well as I don’t have anywhere to go after since my home was already taken from being forced to be here. “Ren, please put the gun away. We ain’t got time for blood to be spilled here.”

That got Shouta to turn around and notice the man. His hand hovers over the pistol in his belt.

“You don’t tell me what to do! This man doesn’t belong here! I want him out! If the bouncers won’t, I’ll do it myself!”

I sigh. “Ren, please. The bouncers left an hour ago. You know you don’t stand a chance, and I really don’t want to clean blood off the floor tonight,” He’s still frantically waving the gun around like a child proud of a new toy. “He also hasn’t done anything.”

“Hasn’t done anything!? He killed Mizuki!” Mizuki? Where have I- oh. That wretched man.

“Isn’t he that man that kept forcing himself on women?”

“That doesn’t matter! He was still a great person!” … Is this man serious!?

If I’m reading Shouta right, he wasn’t too happy about hearing that either. “Why the fuck am I stuck working for you?” I whisper to myself. It’s not loud enough for Ren to hear thankfully. He would have blown his mind if he heard me. In speaking of a blown mind, he’s about to get his mind blown to bits for real. “I’m sorry for his actions. I'm also sorry, but would you mind leaving without spilling blood? I know it's stupid to ask, but I'm sure you know just how hard blood is to get off of things." I lean a bit over the counter.

"Stop being a pathetic bootlicker! He ain't deserving of it! Get. Out!"

"You're always welcome here otherwise." I whisper. Ren didn’t hear it, but I’m pretty sure Shouta did as he turned to lock eyes with me for a second before slamming the glass down and turns to glare hard at Ren. I don't even need to see his face to know. The fearful shaking of my boss shows. He stands up, and heads towards the door. He shakily points the gun at Shouta, but he doesn't even bother grabbing his pistol, just keeps his eyes on Ren. Ren is angering me right now, disturbing the peace between the three of us here. Also for being a darn hypocrite of sorts for not being able to be brave for pointing a gun at Shouta, even though he’d make others do it if they were around.

Ren steps away from the door as Shouta exits. It doesn't take long for the loud pounding of horse hooves to drift away until they’re no longer heard.

Ren puts his gun away, but glares at me. "Why did you not tell him to leave when he entered!? Men like that ain't welcome around here.”

I look at him like he's stupid, probably because he is. "What in tarnation did you want me to do about it? Money is money, ain't it? Even then, a simple person such as I had no chance against a man such as that. Do you even see a gun around me!?”

He swears under his breath. “Close up early.” He leaves. ??? What? Just comes in here to disturb us for that? It’s confirmed, he’s not stable.

Despite everything I could do, I decided to just listen and close it early. I grabbed the glass Shouta used, and started to clean it.

“You’re right you know,” I stop cleaning the glass and look at the blond. “About Shouta. He’s a kind man, just given odd cards for his life. All it takes is one bad doing to make someone thrown in the dark. He’s saved me more than once before. Unfortunately, one time he did accidentally kill a good man. Hizashi was his name. At least, that’s what everyone believes. Someone else shot him, but pinned the blame on Shouta. Everyone believed the other man before they believed him. There’s no way he’d purposefully kill his friend though. Sure, Hizashi was a troublemaker at times, but he had a heart of gold. Friendly to all.”

My brows crease. “Why have I never heard about this?” This seems like something that really should be known.”

He grows a saddened expression. “Many have simply chosen to forget or listen to him. Shouta gave up trying to convince people and just accepted his new way he has to live.”

I’m angry at people for doing this to him, and also sad for him. Just thinking about how bad and painful it would to be not be listened to when telling the truth and no one believes me would be devastating.

He leaves, and I leave a bit after finishing cleaning up.

----------------------------

For the past few months, Shouta has visited a few times. Luckily, Ren never came around, so he must be rather stealthy coming here now. I’m sure he comes for the free drinks. Who wouldn’t use that offer? I also started staying open a bit later than normal just for him. Still pretty sure he doesn’t like me too much from constantly trying to talk to him more with no success. Only a few nods or shakes of his head as replies.

Tonight was no different. I kept it open late on the twelfth day of the month. He’s had a pattern of coming on this specific day. Toshinori, the man I finally remember the name of, left not too long ago. I’m all alone now. The eerie silence is rather unnerving when being so used to hearing the piano playing so often.

Sadly, he doesn’t enter the saloon after a while of waiting. Maybe he’s busy tonight? Or maybe he got injured? There’s no way he could have been caught, right? I really hope not. I close the saloon and start to head home. It’s really late at night with the moon at its highest point in the sky. It’s a full one tonight, showing everything around me rather brightly. I pass a house on my way to mine, only to be suddenly slammed into the wall of it.

There was a familiar face to the body. Ren!? He holds a gun right up to my neck. His breath is shaky and obviously full of anger. “You… Stupid… Did you really think you could keep going against my back without me finding out!?” He pushes the gun harder on my neck. “I really hoped to be wrong that you were helping that.. Filth of a man. Oh no. No, no, no, no! You’ve not only kept serving him, you’ve been doing it free. You deserve to be fucking executed for that!”

He wasn’t alone. There were three other silhouettes that revealed themselves as men in the shadow of the building next to this one. They were close friends of his, and I’m pretty sure I remember the one farthest from me being rather close to Mizuki. The situation started to show, and fear quickly started rising. I’m going to die. “No, you deserve to be killed now for stealing from me! I give you a place to stay, and you steal! I should have left you to the bandits.” He seethes.

“Heh, I reckon we use ‘em as bait. We could pin the blame on them instead, and maybe their new “friend” will be angry enough to kill them. He’s had no problem killin’ people close to him before” Ren grows a sadistic smile. “You know? That’s the best idea!” He leans dangerously close to my face. My body recoils at the stench of his breath. It’s foul enough for my stomach to want to release everything in it.

The sound of two guns being cocked brought my attention to behind the man farthest from me. It’s Shouta. “There’s one problem with that plan.” He says. His tone seems a bit sharper than what I’ve heard though.

All the men sharply turn around with their guns held, pointing at Shouta.

“Oh, hey, Shouta. Sorry for-” Ren pushes the gun hard enough on my neck that it cuts me off from talking. “Shut it.”

I’ve never seen Shouta’s face so angry before. “Let them go, and maybe you’ll be spared.” He nearly hisses, but is trying to stay level-headed.

Ren suddenly starts laughing. “Aw, does the murderous outlaw have a big ol’ soft spot for this pathetic thing? How touching!” His finger on the trigger twitches. “Just makes me want to kill them more!”

Gunfire rang out. Something warm hits my face. I cringe at the quick realization it’s Ren’s blood. Ren’s body collapses to the ground. The others try to shoot at Shouta, but he dodges them all and shoots all of them through their heads. People’s lights started to turn on and others were coming out of their houses to see the commotion.

Shouta holsters his guns and whistles for his horse. A black Arabian runs up right next to him. “Thanks for saving me. You might want to leave though before you get more involved.” I try to walk away, but he grabs onto my arm, pulling me towards his horse. “What are you doing!?” I ask as he pushes me towards his horse.

“Something I should have done months ago. Get on.” What is he making me do? People will get the wrong idea if they see me with him.

“But-”

He nudges me by the horse again. “Get on.” I comply with a bit of difficulty from not used to being on a horse. He then gets on the saddle in one quick movement. The horse takes off as bullets from others whiz by us. I hug his rather well-toned torso to hold on. Luckily, none of them hit as we got far enough away.

It doesn’t take long for us to get to a house that looks abandoned. It was a rather small house with only a window on the front right next to the door. It’s hidden incredibly well by a few large hills.

He gets off the horse, ties the reins up, and nudges me towards the small house. "Why did you make me come with you? Now people will get the wrong idea."

He opens the door and allows me in first. Moonlight sone through the window enough to make the inside visible. On the left is a decent sized bed that seems a bit worse for wear, but still sturdy with rather clean looking sheets. The only other things in here was a wardrobe against the wall farthest from the door, and a chest under the window on the right side. “They would have gotten the wrong idea anyways. It wouldn’t have been the first time.” He ends up saying with his voice a bit strained. No doubt he’s remembering his friend.

He closes the door, and surprisingly, hugs me from behind. “Not again. I’ll make sure of it.”

I quirk a brow. The attention isn’t unwelcomed, but quite a surprise.. “You DO know I could have been shot as we left, right?” I ask. Wrong thing to say. His arms tightened substantially as he buried his head in my neck.

“They’d all be dead.”

“Wait, but they wouldn’t have done anything.” A bit of fear laced through me. Not for me, but for the others.

“Someone injuring or threatening you deserves death.”

“You’re supposed to be a good outlaw, what happened?” I ask, already kind of knowing the answer, and angry with myself for being so nice in the first place.

“Today happened. Those… things that nearly harmed you were right with their thoughts. No matter what I do, everyone is going to think I’m bad. It’s time for me to be a bit selfish for once. That selfish want is wanting you close to me.”

My heart is torn between melting at how cute that kind of is to still being fearful for others.

“That’s sweet and all, but you and I both know this isn’t gonna work for many reasons. One being we both can’t keep riding the same horse. It ain’t fair to the poor thing.” I felt him smile on my neck.

“We’ll get you one at some point. Judging from your struggling earlier, we have a ways to go first.”

I smile. This could be fun. What’s not fun is the mostly dry blood cracking on my face. “Sounds like fun, but uh… Got anything to clean this blood off?”

He tenses. “Blood?” The way he said it made me wish I didn’t say anything about it. He stops hugging me and turns me around, closely examining my face.

“Don’t worry, it’s not mine. It does feel gross though.”

Within a blink of an eye, he pulls out a rag and goes over to the chest to see a rather large jug of water. He dips it in the jug and comes back to wipe it off my face with a deep frown on his face.

In an odd form of suddenly feeling silly, I poke his nose with my right pointer finger. He blinked in surprise at me. He grows a soft smile that almost doesn’t seem suiting of him. It makes me chuckle.

“You know, It’s surprising to me you actually care. Or uh… Love me? Or whatever it really is. For the longest time I could swear you hated me.”

“I did at first,” Okay, points for honesty. “I expected you to be like an earlier nuisance I had to take care of. That changed especially after my third visit. I noticed you weren’t acting like it just to me. You were genuine with everyone. Toshinori helped by informing me more of your... issue that you told e a bit about,” He leans in close, fully cutting the conversation. “I think this is long overdue.” His lips touch mine. It was a really quick kiss that I barely had time to register.

I smirk. “So you DO love me, or am I looking too much into it?”

He’s not amused. “You already know the answer to that.”

Now I know I have a deadly outlaw that loves me. I guess in a way I should thank Ren.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#yandere western shouta #yandere mha x reader #shouta x reader #western au #outlaw shouta #yandere shouta aizawa

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cynthiaandsamus · 3 years

Text

Custom Toonami Block Week 76 Rundown

Code Geass: So we’ve come to this, been kind of avoiding this episode, part of the reason I did the Rebuild marathon last week was to put off this episode for as long as I could. Shirley’s death is fucking bullshit, the whole thing feels like a farce, she dies from trying to help him against someone that wasn’t even trying to kill him just because she triggered Rolo’s Yandere Simulator instincts. It’s a foregone conclusion that Shirley would die at some point, Lelouch is a tragic figure and having him be happy doesn’t really fit his character arc as the martyr that will save the world, like the Zero Requiem would be really fucked up if Shirley was still alive and had to watch Lelouch become Gundam Hitler and then get stabbed. But still the matter of fact nature of her death is so weird, like I feel like a lot of people originally knew this was coming and kind of braced themselves for it but it’s so weird and contrived and sad, Euphy’s death made me cry and this didn’t quite get there but I did get a bit weepy, like fuck this show man, it knows what it’s doing and pulls on the emotional manipulation hard.

Inuyasha: Another filler episode this time around, this one’s pretty funny though with Jaken doing all kinds of Team Rocket-esque hijinks to steal the Tessaiga, it’s some good character building for Jaken and Rin before Rin gets kidnapped leading to the actual canon part of this story and plus there’s a lot of cute fluff with Inuyasha’s group just kinda killing time, like they’re still traveling but they seem to be taking it easy and playing games and shit this time around. Also Kagome definitely saw Inuyasha’s junk in the hot spring so that’s a good reverse on that, we get basically no fanservice for the girls but Inuyasha gets splayed out and spends the climax shirtless so that’s some defying expectations right there.

Yu Yu Hakusho: The Black Black Club arc concludes with Yusuke and Kuwabara vs the Toguros. Honestly this fight does a really great job of subverting expectations since you think it’s going to be two on two but then Younger Toguro basically uses his brother as an Equip Spell Card and it’s essentially one on two. Kuwabara gets his flash of Yukina’s backstory and his Super Saiyan powerup which is pretty standard for how these arcs end but Toguro doesn’t seem that phased by it which is because he isn’t and this is all a ruse and Toguro fakes his loss so Sakyo can win his bet and get rid of Tarukane. The Black Black Club shenanigans have been in the background of this whole arc and spicing up the fights that are otherwise Yusuke and Kuwabara just plowing through mooks so it’s really neat that it ends this way so it can subvert how things are supposed to go and still give us a cool fight, it reminds me of how arcs tend to end in Hunter x Hunter where the climax is often undercut because of outside forces. I think I like this version better though because HxH tends to go for an anticlimax, this is a standard climax but it doesn’t mean what we think it means at first and that’s really kinda cool. Also Kuwabara tells Yukina to not give up on humans and Hiei saves her without telling her he’s his brother cause he thinks she’s better off this way.

Fate Zero: We take a detour from anything of importance to see how Baby Rin is doing, it’s pretty much completely unrelated to anything going on but it is pretty cute and gives some nice character stuff for her that puts her arc from UBW in a new light so that’s nice. Also Kariya shows his face again and reminds us that he’s really the only one who has any good reason for trying to get the Grail amongst all the child murderers, arrogant kids, arrogant adults and general war criminals in this fight. Everyone’s basically “I am a dick, gimme the grail” or “My family’s a dick, gimme the grail to shut them up” and while Kariya is in the latter camp, he’s also doing it to save Sakura and not just “Welp that’s life.” Given that Sakura’s still with the Matous in UBW and no one besides Kiritsugu and Kotomine and Waver are confirmed alive, we probably know how that went.

Konosuba: So the big showdown with the Mobile Fortress is here, I do kinda like how Konosuba peppers mentions of the big bad throughout the arc so it builds the hype when it finally shows up. Everyone gets serious and actually does shit to take down the Wild Wild West Spider Tank, unfortunately it’s not piloted by a racist old man in a wheelchair but a dead guy that didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. For building it on the cheap he sure made it sturdy at least, but Kazuma basically acts as a Mana Dumpster and gives the important people the energy they need to get rid of the core and blow up the carcass. This is Konosuba and our Protagonist is essentially a glorified battery. Also Kazuma’s insane luck betrayed him and threw the core into the Capital so now he’s a war criminal, oops I guess.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So everyone goes to the moon surprisingly easy and fights out from Usagi’s Fortress of Solitude Recording Mom all about how the moon was cool and shit but then everything changed when the humans attacked and the princess was such a little bitch that she gave up right after her man died and the queen had to do all the magic sealing and shit but that also destroyed the kingdom for some reason. Also the Four Kings are formerly Earth Knights also reincarnated like the Sailor Guardians and used to be less dicks and were even the guardians’ boyfriends which feels REALLY forced and even more gross and weird than Usagi’s reincarnation relationship just being told “Hey you love this guy now, you don’t get a say, past life shenanigans decided” and everyone decides that they can’t fight the people they love that they only just remembered so Usagi has to boomerang some bitches in the face and then there’s a four way Solar System Kamehameha to get the Four Kings to fuck off again. Now Beryl’s working on borrowed time since she had to re-brainwash her pawns so she’s gonna brainwash Tuxedo Mask to do it even though he doesn’t have powers and should be less effective than the kings but it’s really dramatic if Usagi has to fight her boyfriend so let’s go with that.

Durarara!!: Reporter Shuuji Niekawa is digging around Ikebukuro to find out about the crazy amount of tough customers the city has. The first half of the episode is the “fuck around” half where he talks to much of the main cast, and then as everyone knows, when you fuck around, that leads to the “find out” half where he is promptly stabbed and becomes a Saika kin and stalks Anri and Shizuo and wants to stab everyone before getting crushed behind a car door by Shizuo while thinking he can finally get his life back on track. RIP Reporter-chan, you fucked around and found out.

#ooc #Toonami #Custom Toonami Block #Code Geass #Inuyasha #Yu Yu Hakusho #Fate Zero #Konosuba #Sailor Moon Crystal #Durarara!!

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thebigqueer · 4 years

Text

*Major Tower of Nero Spoilers*

Okay, I finished Tower of Nero.

Safe to say I am an Emotional Wreck TM.

Let’s start with my feelings:

SLDKFJL:FKJSKF PWEYPAEYWSDUIHLDKE UFAQW F{DPHUSSKJS FSK

Okay feelings are done with.

What I liked:

I AM A SLUT FOR SOLANGELO AND I LOVED SOLANGELO

Will’s a GLOWING BABY JUST LIKE THE FANFICS

Nico goes to Mr. D for his mental health issues. This, hands down, has to be one of my most favorite things about the book. I’m glad this boy is getting the support he needs.

ESTELLE!!!!!!!!! WHAT A FREAKING CUTIE!!!!!!!

Apollo’s character development was ON FLEEK

OVeRAchiEviNG NigHTLigHt

Nico wearing various cowboy hats

Will wearing a lampshade

Honestly I feel like the most powerful part of the book was when Meg had to stand up to Nero. That part was just so... emotional for me. This poor girl and her foster siblings had been living in his lies, his torture, his pain for literal years with no support whatsoever. But Meg proved she could defeat him and his evil embrace, and she grew up. I love her so much.

“LiKE i’LL tAke YoU oUt For PizZa ThiS WeEkEnd iF yOuRe NoT ToO AnNoYiNG”

solangelo holding hands and squeezing each other’s hands??? YES PLEASE

(as you can tell, most of these are about solangelo lmao)

WILL HAS A FUCKIN TATTOO

“WiLLiAm AndReW SoLaCe! Do YoU hAvE sOmeThiNG yOu NeEd To TeLL mE?”

APOLLO MADE THE “honey he gay” MEME AND I SLDKFJLSDKF

(i know he didn’t actually but THE FACT THAT UNCLE RICK REFERENCED IT HAS ME SCREAMING)

I love how human Apollo has become. Like I know that often times i complain about humans with my friends, but i think this series has made me realize how amazing humanity can be, too.

PIPER IS QUEER AND BITCH I FUCKING KNEW IT I JUST KNEW IT LIKE THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY SHE WASN’T IM SO EXCITED

there’s probably a lot more shit that i loved but I just don’t remember it

What I didn’t like/didn’t get enough info on:

To be honest, I was REALLY hoping for more of a backstory on Will. Like, why does he stay at camp year-round? Is his mom bad? Or does he just do it because of some other purpose?

Going back to Will, I wish we got a lot more info about Will’s character. Like, yes, he glows and he’s the god of the sun - but that’s not all he is. But I feel like the story really painted him that way, and I didn’t like it that much. He just seems like he was created to be Nico’s boyfriend, and I wish we could have gotten a larger glimpse into his backstory and personality. Yes, we know he’s nice.. but what about mental health? What’s it like watching, what, 3 siblings die in the battle in PJO? What’s it like being the head counselor? We never got these questions answered :/

HOW did nico and will start their relationship??? that’s been plaguing me for a while. like yes, we know they date... but HOW? we never get a story on that. while i understand this is in the perspective of apollo and these probably aren’t the most important questions to think about, i feel like it would’ve been nice to at least get an understanding of where they come from, you know? cuz otherwise, it seems like they’re just there to fulfill the hearts of solangelo shippers and stand as representation when they’re so much more than that

NO SOLANGELO KISS AND I WAS REALLY HOPING FOR ONE

kinda similar to the will-didn’t-get-a-backstory, i wish we got more of a backstory on his other kids, too. last i remember, it seems Austin and Kayla have been here since January, which can mean they most likely stay all year too. but why?

Reyna joined the hunters and Nico still doesn’t know. Again, I know there was more of an imminent danger, so this probably wasn’t the best time to tell Nico any of that, so maybe we’ll find this out in the nico standalone book that Riordan said he might write

RACHEL REALLY SAID A PROPHECY. LIKE THIS MAN CAN’T GET ENOUGH WITH THE PROPHECIES AND CLIFFHANGERS CAN HE????

this probably means that we will definitely get a nico standalone book and that’s exciting but STILL i dont even know if it’s CONFIRMED, i just know that out of anything, it is very POSSIBLE

i feel like we never got that much into Nico’s PTSD, and I wish we did. Like on top of finding out that Jason is confirmed dead, Nico has these nightmares that were mentioned only once. Which is another reason why i think we’ll get a standalone Nico book - becasue clearly there’s a LOT more to unpack here. but i just wished that we could have gone deeper into this, because it’s important to address mental health issues like these. i’m glad he’s talking with dionysus though :)

similar to PTSD with Nico, I was kinda wondering how Percy and Annabeth were dealing with that stuff... and also, are they also hearing the voices?

Chiron said he met with people from other pantheons - what did they discuss? AND HOW DID HE MEET THEM???

LSKJFLKJDF DOES HAZEL KNOW THAT HER BROTHER HAS A BF???? DOES SHE???? I NEED TO KNOW

SAME WITH REYNA - DOES SHE KNOW?

again, there’s probably more things that i didn’t like or wanted more info on but i can’t remember right now

But anyway, that’s all for now. I want to thank Rick Riordan for blessing us with such an amazing series. Though it could definitely be problematic in some cases, i think overall it was great and it’s very near and dear to my heart.

I love my demigods.

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440mxs-wife · 4 years

Text

It Was Always You

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Your phone dinged in your pocket with a text message notification. Your eyes widened as you read the message from Dean. It said they were on their way home, but that Sam got hurt, and to be waiting in the infirmary. He didn't elaborate on Sam's injuries, so you made sure to have suture kits and bandages readily available.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It's been about eight years since you started hunting with the Winchesters. When you met them, you and your hunting partner/boyfriend, Evan, were on a hunt for werewolves. Your intel on the number of werewolves turned out to be wrong, which caused you and Evan to quickly get overwhelmed. At one point, Evan thought that you had gotten them all but the pack leader ambushed him out of nowhere and killed him.

You scrambled to find a hiding place, but knew it was just a matter of time before you were discovered. Just as the pack leader found you, a gunshot rang out and it dropped to the ground. When you looked up, you saw two men standing before you in blood-stained clothes. One of them had spiky hair, glittering green eyes and introduced himself as Dean Winchester. The other man was taller than the first man, with kind, hazel eyes and chestnut brown hair. Sam Winchester.

You had heard of the Winchesters, but never thought you'd ever cross paths with them. They checked you for injuries and rendered first aid. They also helped you with Evan's body in giving him a hunter's funeral. With Evan gone, you had no one else, so Sam and Dean invited you to join forces with them.

Living in the bunker, you settled into a routine with the Winchesters. They did the field work, while you were in charge of the bunker. You mainly researched cases, only hunting when absolutely necessary. You kept the home fires burning and patched up injuries. You waited up for them to come back from a hunt, hoping they would both be in one piece when they got home.

As time went on, you realized that the younger of the two Winchesters had captured your heart. At first, you tried to deny what you were feeling for Sam. You buried your feelings deeper each time he smiled at you, or laughed at something you said. The sidelong glances and lingering touches between you were slowly driving you crazy.

You tried to keep it cool on the outside, but you didn't know how much longer that would last. You already knew that there was no chance that Sam was interested in you "that way". If Sam ever found out how you felt and didn't return your feelings, that could make things weird between the two of you. You just had to keep reminding yourself of these facts, which was proving to be more and more difficult each day.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The bunker door flew open, and in came Dean, with Sam's arm around his shoulder. You had just come back from the infirmary to see Dean trying to maneuver Sam down the stairs. You raced up the steps to sling Sam's other arm around your shoulder to make it easier on both of them. Once in the infirmary, you and Dean managed to get Sam into a sitting position on one of the beds.

"What happened?" you asked Dean as you started to assess Sam's injuries.

"Thought it was a simple salt-and-burn, but turns out, the ghost was working with a couple of demons. We took care of the ghost, then as we turned to leave, the demons showed up. One of them flung Sam at the wall, then started beating on him. I took out the one who came after me, then got the one fighting with Sam," Dean explained.

As Dean is telling you about the hunt, you could see Sam was wincing with each breath. You tried to carefully remove Sam's shirt to check for more injuries. You finally decided that you had no choice but to tear the shirt off of him. Straight out of your fantasies, to be sure, but you harshly reminded yourself to keep your hormones in check. This was for purely medical reasons.

Once his shirt was removed, you could see multiple bruises on his torso. You figured it was probably bruised or cracked ribs, so you taped and bandaged up his side. Sam seemed to be breathing a little easier now that some of the pressure was off.

You continued your examination of Sam for other injuries. You found that he had a cut on his forehead, which likely meant a possible concussion, and he had a sprained ankle. You patched up the head wound, carefully wrapped his ankle and gave him some pain medication.

"Guess you're going to be stuck here for the next few days, Sam. At least until some of the swelling in that ankle goes down," you explained as Dean went to get an ice pack.

"No way, I'll be bored in here. I'll recuperate in my own room," Sam muttered as he attempted to get to his feet.

You forcibly put your hands on Sam's shoulders and got in his face until you were nearly nose-to-nose with him. "Sit. Down. Now, let's recap: you were recently in a fight with a demon, during which you got flung around the room and beaten. At the very least, you have bruised or cracked ribs, a possible concussion and a sprained ankle. You won't be going on any hunts for the near future, either, so I suggest you get comfy, Sam," you quietly but firmly stated.

Sam thought about fighting you about staying put, but the look on your face stopped him. Dean had also brought Sam's pajamas and a clean pair of boxers. Dean helped Sam change clothes, but not before making a lewd comment about how Sam should ask you for help. Then Sam got back in bed, into a sitting position. You placed a pillow under his sprained ankle and pulled the blanket over his bottom half. Sam caught your hand in his as you smoothed out the covers. "Hey? Thank you," he said softly.

You turned around and gave him a worn out smile. "You're welcome, Sam. But you don't have to thank me. I apologize for being so rude about getting you to stay in here, I know it's not an ideal situation. I just don't want to see you get further injured, all because you were stubborn and wouldn't allow yourself a chance to heal," you explained. Then you pulled up a chair next to the bed, and you stayed to keep Sam company.

It wasn't long before Sam's adrenaline wore off and the pain meds started to kick in. He yawned and you could see his eyelids begin to drift closed. Before you left the infirmary, you made sure he was comfortable and gave a lingering kiss to his cheek. "Goodnight, Sam," you whispered as you swept his hair from his forehead.

You wandered through the library and found Dean nursing a glass of whiskey. "Everything okay, is Sam asleep?" he asked.

With a weary sigh, you dropped into a chair and confirmed that Sam was indeed asleep. "I gave him some meds for the pain, so hopefully he'll sleep through the night. He needs rest, and I'm going to make sure he gets it," you replied.

"Gotta say, sweetheart, seeing you take charge like that with Sam was kinda hot," Dean smirked.

"Oh, but Dean, you're not the Winchester who has my heart. That would be Sam," you remarked. Your eyes widened and you immediately clapped a hand over your mouth once you realized what you'd said. "I mean, uh, that, um, oh hell," you stammered, as you covered your face with your hands.

Dean chuckled and put down his drink. "Relax, it isn't like I didn't already suspect something had to be going on," he remarked. "If it makes you feel any better, I think Sam's pretty clueless about it. But you should tell him at some point," Dean advised.

"Yeah? Maybe so. Then what happens when Sam doesn't see me that way? I'll have ruined a good friendship and things around here will get weird. No thanks," you stated firmly and rose from your chair. "Goodnight, Dean," you called over your shoulder as you walked to your room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

You checked on Sam first thing the next morning. He was looking much better than when Dean first brought him in, with a little more color in his cheeks. He seemed to be a bit restless at the moment, moving his head from side to side. From his mumbling, you could tell he was in the middle of a nightmare. You knelt on the chair next to Sam's bed and reached for the washcloth in the basin. After all of the water had been wrung out of the washcloth, you folded it and placed it on Sam's forehead.

As soon as the washcloth touched his forehead, he seemed to relax and start emerging from his nightmare. He stopped thrashing his head back and forth, and wasn't mumbling anymore. His breathing seemed to even out as you sandwiched his large hand in between your two smaller ones. Your thumb gently rubbed circles on the back of his hand while you whispered soothing words to calm him.

You watched as Sam's eyelids began to flutter and eventually fully opened. He seemed a little disoriented and immediately tried to pull his hand from your grasp, but you held fast. "Shh, shh it's okay, Sam. You're in the infirmary," you soothed.

"What happened? What am I doing here?" he asked nervously.

"You got hurt on that last hunt with Dean. You took care of the spirit, but you didn't know that it was working with a couple of demons. Dean killed one, but the other one went after you. Beat you up pretty bad, possible concussion, some rib damage and a sprained ankle," you explained.

"I remember now. I tried to go back to my room, but someone in a not-so-subtle way told me there's no way that was gonna happen," Sam gazed pointedly in your direction.

"Hey, I had to do something! You can't tell me that you would willingly follow my instructions of staying in bed with your foot propped up? Not to be lifting things to aggravate your ribs? Yeah, right," you retorted, dropping his hand. You got up from your chair and started to walk away, but Sam reached for your hand, and caught hold of it.

"Calm down," he chuckled. "I promise to stay here and behave myself. But, I'm going to need some distraction. Wanna play cards or watch a movie or something?" he asked.

Your attitude softened. "I can do that. Let me go shower and make some breakfast for all of us, then I'll be back. Deal?" you replied.

"Deal," he grinned.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sam watched with a smile on his face as you walked out of the infirmary. He thought back on the events of the last day or so. He remembered the worry in your eyes when he and Dean first came through the door. Then he noticed how quickly you had regained your composure to focus on the task of getting him to the infirmary.

When you tore open his shirt, Sam thought he saw a fleeting glimpse of something in your eyes. They looked full of softness, an adoration maybe? Like you appreciated what you saw, but felt guilty and decided that maybe you shouldn't have. Could she have feelings for me? he wondered. Then he searched his mind for evidence to support his observation.

He thought about how he always finds you in the kitchen just in time to greet him after his morning run. You know exactly how he likes his coffee, and how to make the perfect egg white-only omelet with all of his favorites. And just this morning when he was having a nightmare, you knew exactly how to bring him out of it.

Sam made up his mind that if you were going to confine him to the infirmary, he was going to use this time to his advantage. He decided to test his theory and try to find out how you really felt about him. Maybe he'd even discover his own feelings along the way.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Over the next week or so, you spent a lot of time in the infirmary with Sam. The two of you played gin rummy, with Sam winning most of the time. However, you got your revenge while playing Scrabble by being the all-time high scorer.

As the days progressed, Sam started to notice certain things about you. How you scrunched your lips when you were deep in thought about the next card to play. Or how your hazel eyes sparkled as you discovered the winning letter combination in Scrabble. Your thousand-watt smile and how it lit up your whole face.

One evening, you took Sam out for a drive to get some fresh air. You drove to an open field that you knew would have the best view of the setting sun. As you leaned against the car, Sam turned to you and saw the wonder in your eyes at the simplicity of nature. He noticed how your hair caught the rays from the setting sun just right to make it look like it glowed. It was at that moment he realized he was falling for you.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A week later, Dean got a call about a case a couple of towns over. It was a simple vengeful spirit, so just the two of you went. Sam's injuries had healed pretty well, but he decided not to chance it and therefore stayed home. You promised that Castiel would be available if he needed anything, and would probably check in every now and then. Then you gave Sam a lingering kiss on the cheek and blushed a little as you shyly said goodbye.

Late that night, Sam was jolted awake by the sound of the bunker door flying open. You and Dean had succeeded in your mission and stopped at the bar on the way home. Dean's high alcohol tolerance enabled him to drive home without too much difficulty.

You, on the other hand, were a stumbling, weaving, giggling mess. Dean kept trying to shush you so as not to wake up Sam, which only made you giggle even more. He finally got you turned around in the direction of your room and guided you down the hallway.

Dean paused at your doorway and leaned you against the wall while he opened your door. "Hey, Dean?" you slurred. "You know what I wanna do right now? I wanna tell Sammy everything. You know, 'bout how I'm in love with him," you mumbled.

"Oh, really, Princess? Are you sure that's such a good idea in your current condition? 'Cause if you want, I can knock on his door right now and have him poke his head out here so you can tell him," Dean chuckled.

"NO!!" you shouted. "Don't do that. 'S probably not a good idea anyway, since he doesn't like me that way," you muttered.

Dean opened your door and pulled you towards him to guide you into your room. "How do you know that? Did you ask him? What would you do if he was standing in front of you right now?" he asked.

"Kiss him. Like this," you answered and gave Dean a kiss full on the lips. At that moment, Sam poked his head out just in time to see what looked like you kissing his brother. He dropped his gaze to the floor and quietly closed his door.

"But, that'll never happen. So I'll go in here, cuddle with my pillow and pretend that it's Sam," you replied softly, tears shimmering in your eyes.

Dean kissed you on the forehead. "Goodnight, Princess. Take a couple of Tylenol with a bottle of water before you conk out. Hey, you did good work today, you know," he remarked.

You nodded. "I know. Thanks, Dean," you mumbled, then closed your door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning, you didn't have nearly as bad of a hangover as you expected to have. It was enough, though, to remind you that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to drink so much. When you wandered into the kitchen, Sam was already at work, making breakfast. Something was off about him, however. He had yet to acknowledge your presence as you walked in, even with just a look.

"Good morning, Sam," you remarked. Sam said nothing, just kept preparing his breakfast. "Good morning, Sam," you said a little louder. Still no response. "Good--" he cut you off.

"Morning," he snapped then returned his focus to finishing his breakfast.

"I-is something wrong, Sam? Are you feeling pain again, maybe from your ribs or your ankle?" you asked timidly.

"No, no pain there," he answered in clipped tones.

"If-if you tell me where you're hurt, I'll see what I can do to help ease the pain," you tried.

Sam looked up with a rare flash of anger in his eyes. "Listen, I don't need your help and, more importantly, I don't want your help. Besides, I think you've done enough," he snapped. You nodded, and brushed past Dean out of the kitchen, then ran to your room.

"What the hell was that all about?" Dean asked.

"Oh, like you don't know? The next time the two of you decide to hit the bar after a hunt without me, do me a favor. Get a room somewhere, then you can take care of two birds with one stone," Sam retorted.

"Now, what is that supposed to mean?" Dean demanded.

"It means, I saw you, Dean! You two weren't exactly stealthy when you got home last night. I saw you outside her room and the two of you were kissing. Don't even try to tell me 'it's not what it looks like', because I know what I saw. She wants you, not me," Sam ground out as he left the kitchen.

"Some days, it's best just to stay in bed," Dean muttered to himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Over the next week, you and Sam did your best to avoid one another. If he was in the room first, you waited until he left before going in. When you did end up in the same room, neither one of you could look at the other, let alone say much of anything. Not unless it was absolutely necessary, like looking for a case.

Dean was stuck in the middle, forced to watch it all from the sidelines, which tore him up inside. The two people he cared about most were in pain because of a misunderstanding. He wanted to try and fix this, but he knew the two of you had to work it out on your own.

Garth called Dean with a case involving a vamp's nest that needed to be dealt with. It was fairly good-sized, so he was going to need all three of you to take it down. You didn't really want to be cooped up in the car with Sam for that long, given the tension between you. However, you were needed, so once more, you pushed your feelings down so you could focus on the job at hand.

After another successful hunt, the three of you ended up taking another trip to the bar. You decided to keep your drinking to a minimum, considering what happened last time. You, Sam and Dean settled into a booth, with the boys on one side, you by yourself on the other. Dean brought over the first round of beers, which you tried to drink slowly to pace yourself. The boys finished their beers well before you, so Sam left the table to get the next round.

"You have to talk to him sometime," Dean remarked.

"Dean, I appreciate your help, but this is one time you need to stay out. Sam's angry at me, and he must have a good reason, because he doesn't get angry often," you replied.

"Not this time he doesn't, have a good reason that is. Remember that night we finished that vengeful spirit hunt? We stopped here on the way home, and you drank too much?" Dean prompted. You nodded. "Do you remember what you said to me outside your bedroom door?" he asked.

You thought back to that conversation. "I told you that I should tell Sam how I feel, and you offered to knock on his door to get him," you responded. "Then you asked me what I would do if he was in front of me at that moment, and I....Oh Chuck," you whispered. "He saw, didn't he? He must have thought I chose you over him. That's why he snapped at me in the kitchen the next morning," you said as everything made sense.

Suddenly you had a strong urge to find Sam, to explain what happened that night. You slid out of the booth and scanned the bar area to see if Sam was still there. He was, only he wasn't alone. A gorgeous woman with long, dark hair was making serious eye and body contact with Sam. He had his arm around her and was smiling at her, then he was laughing at something she'd said. Overall, he looked extremely comfortable in her presence.

Your heart sank as you abandoned your decision to find Sam. You told Dean you were going to get some fresh air and that you'd be back. However, you had no intention of returning to the bar. Instead, you started walking back to the bunker.

About halfway home, a car pulled up next to you and the lady driver asked you if you needed a ride. You politely declined, then the stranger showed you her fangs. You turned to run back to the bar, but didn't make it. Two other vamps appeared, and when they got to you, they knocked you unconscious.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Having fun tonight, Sammy?" Dean asked, with an edge to his voice.

Sam ignored the tone. "Yeah, actually. For once I'm the one picking up the chicks. See that brunette over there--" Dean cut him off.

"Cut the crap, Sam. You know who you belong with and it's not that brunette chick," Dean retorted.

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean, then looked all around the bar for you but didn't see you. "So, where'd she go?" he asked.

"Like you care. Right after you left the table, she went to find you to talk to you, try and clear the air between you. Then she saw you and Ms. Right Now hanging all over each other and headed outside for some fresh air," Dean grumbled.

"Shouldn't she be back by now? I've been gone from the table for about half an hour, Dean," Sam said as concern started to creep into his voice.

As Dean caught on to what Sam was saying, his phone rang, with Caller ID saying it was you. He answered it, but on the line it was your captor instead. Dean demanded that they release you and promised that if you didn't make it out alive, he would personally slice off their heads.

"You don't scare me, Winchester. But I can smell the fear rolling off of her in waves, and it's so deeply satisfying. She's a feisty one, though, won't tell us where you are no matter how much pain we've put her in. Allow me to demonstrate," the vamp cackled with glee.

She came over to the middle of the room where you were tied to a chair. "Where are the Winchesters?" she demanded. "I'm not telling you squat," you snapped as you glared at your captors. The boys heard the sound of you being slapped across the face for your outburst.

"She's so uncooperative. Guess it's time to sample the merchandise," the vamp remarked. She could see you struggling against the ropes, so she slapped your face again. She tilted your head to the side and sank her fangs into your neck, causing you to cry out in pain. The boys could tell what was happening, and it was almost more than they could bear.

"Oh, boys, she tastes just as sweet as you'd expect. You have two hours before she becomes one of ours," the vampire retorted before disconnecting the call.

After the call ended, you heard her giving instructions to the other two on what to do when Sam and Dean showed up. Then she went back over to you. "Relax, sweetie, this is almost over. I promise that after the Winchester boys are dealt with, I'll put you out of your misery as well," she cackled as she walked away.

As soon as you were sure you were alone, small sobs shook your body, tears streaming unchecked down your face. You sent up a silent message to Castiel, hoping against hope that he was listening. If he was, then he could tell the boys where to find you, and you might have a prayer of seeing Sam again. All you wanted was one last opportunity to explain and maybe find the courage to tell him how you felt.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Back at the bunker, Sam was busy on his laptop, frantically trying to locate you. He thought back on the events of the past few weeks, and how tense it's been between the two of you. Regardless of what happened before, you were still an important part of his life, and he wanted that part back.

Dean brought in the bag of weapons and dropped it with a thud onto the map table. He leaned on the table with his palms flat on the surface and glared at his younger brother. "All right, Sam. I'm sick of this. There's something you need to know about that night," Dean started.

"Not now, Dean. I'm busy trying to find her through the GPS on her phone," Sam grumbled.

"Yes, now, Sam. That night outside her door, she wasn't talking about me. She was talking about you. That kiss you saw? She said--" Sam cut him off.

"Dean--" Sam started.

Dean slammed his hand on the table, causing Sam to jump in his chair. "She said that if you were standing in front of her at that very moment, she would kiss you," he finished. "It's YOU she loves, Sam. For her, it's always been you," Dean said softly.

Sam paused in his search efforts to consider what his brother was saying. Was it possible that he misinterpreted what he saw that night? If so, then all the tension and animosity was his fault, and he had to make it right with you. He only hoped time was on their side and he would have that opportunity.

A whoosh of wings was heard and Castiel appeared in the bunker, a grim look on his face. He had heard your prayer and told the boys where to find you. Cas also gave them a description of the place so they could formulate a rescue plan on their way.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The female vamp returned to the room to see if she could get any more information out of you. If not, she said she was fine with inflicting more pain on you. She didn't get the chance to start anything, though. One of her lieutenants came rushing in to tell her that Sam and Dean had been spotted. They all knew that Castiel was likely not far behind, but he hadn't been seen yet.

At the mention of his name, you felt a light touch on your shoulder. "Cas? Is that you?" you whispered. You felt a quick squeeze of your shoulder and relaxed a bit, knowing that Sam and Dean were at least aware of your location. The female vamp leaned down next to your other ear and murmured, "Not quite done with you yet, dearie. I'll be back soon."

As soon as they were out of the room, Castiel made himself visible and started to untie your ropes. "Thank you, Cas. I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again," you mumbled as you drifted out of consciousness.

"Shh, just take it easy. I'll have you out of these ropes in no time," Cas replied. Off to his right, he heard heads hitting the floor and knew that there were no more threats.

Sam was the first one through the door and rushed to your side. He checked for your pulse and was relieved to find that you were only unconscious. His heart sank at the sight of the injuries inflicted on you by the vamps, and instantly blamed himself. As soon as you were free of your restraints, Sam scooped you up in his arms and carried you to the Impala.

In the backseat of the Impala, Dean helped secure you in Sam's waiting embrace. He held you to his chest and whispered soothing words in your ear as Dean raced back to the bunker. He was almost afraid to let go, as if you would disappear if he did. Sam silently promised you that once you woke up, he would tell you about his feelings for you.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

You awoke to find that you were in a bed in the infirmary, and were no longer wearing the clothes you had on at the bar. You were now wearing your sleep shorts and a T-shirt. One of Sam's T-shirts. You looked over to your left and saw Sam's lanky frame draped uncomfortably over a chair next to your bed.

When you tried to move your left hand, you saw it was perfectly entwined with Sam's larger hand. This small movement caused Sam to jolt awake and his eyes seemed to automatically lock on yours. "Hey," Sam said with a soft smile.

"Hey, Sam," you croaked. Sam handed you a glass of water to relieve your parched throat. "How long have I been out?" you asked.

"About a day and a half. I was so worried, I thought I'd lost you," Sam replied, his thumb tracing gentle circles on the back of your hand. "Cas healed what he could with his limited grace, so you'll still have some healing to do on your own," Sam explained.

"Thank you for rescuing me, but I'll be fine now. You don't have to worry anymore, I can take care of myself from here. Don't let me keep you from your girlfriend," you remarked.

A puzzled look crossed Sam's face. "I don't have a girlfriend," he replied.

"Yes, you do. That brunette from the bar. I saw how the two of you were looking at each other that night," you answered. You pulled your hand from Sam's hold and swung your legs over the side of the bed. At the doorway, you turned to face Sam, who was still sitting beside your bed. "I hope she makes you happy, Sam," you said softly.

Sam couldn't believe what just happened. You had let him go, more concerned for his happiness than your own. What you didn't know is what made him happy was being with you. "Wait!" he called after you, running to catch up.

He found you resting against a chair in the War Room, trying to catch your breath before continuing on to your room. "Listen, I owe you an apology about that night you and Dean came home from the bar. I got angry because I had finally found someone that I want. When I saw you kiss him I thought, as usual, she chose my brother over me. That's why I snapped at you that morning," he explained.

"I know, Sam, because Dean and I talked about it at the bar. I wanted to clear the air with you, so I got up from the booth and looked for you. That's when I saw you with her, your new girlfriend," you replied.

"For the record, she's not my girlfriend," he firmly stated. Sam reached up and caressed your cheek with his knuckles. He drew you closer to him with his free hand on the back of your neck. "How could she be, when I'm in love with someone else?" he asked softly. Sam inched forward until your lips meshed together in a sweet, tender kiss.

"Oh, Sam," you whispered.

"Baby....," Sam responded as he dove in to capture your lips for another, deeper kiss. You melted into the embrace of his strong arms and surrendered to the feel of his hands roaming up and down your back. Your hands slid up his well-defined chest and continued until your fingers were threading through Sam's hair.

When the kiss was broken, you and Sam touched your foreheads together and grinned at each other. "You're the one who makes me happy. I love you," Sam remarked softly.

"I love you, Sam. It's always been you," you replied.

Sam's thumb gently caressed your face as his hand cupped your cheek. He drew you into another lingering kiss that left you breathless. He carefully scooped you up into his arms and placed you on the bed in his room. The blankets were already pulled back and he arranged them up and around you. Then he slipped into bed beside you and drew you into his embrace.

"No more cuddling with a pillow anymore, pretending that it's me. You've got the real thing now," he remarked. "I love you, Baby."

"I love you too, Sam. Sweet dreams," you murmured.

#sam winchester #sam x reader #spn imagines #spn fluff

18 notes · View notes

jess-the-vampire · 3 years

Note

Sooooo whatya think of the new episodeee?

Oh it’s definitely my favorite episode of the series so far, i was having such a good time at every turn. I’m glad i went out of my way to avoid spoilers, cause i was glad to actually be surprised by some elements on first watch.

I think this had by far the best opening for an episode so far, we finally get back to the villians, we meet the coven heads, we get insight on belos’s plans-

and then belos gets constipated, which starts getting into the more character driven lore, which is the best part. You instantly can tell GG and Kiki have some bit of tension between them to be Belo’s favorite, though granted i wonder if hunter is the only one to know belos is cursed and actually just always insists to help belos with his fits to prevent others from seeing them.

Including kiki.

It’s honestly unclear how aware anyone is that belos is cursed, like him eating pailsmans is apparently not something he hides, but like....i feel him being cursed is something that people would know universally if it got out...so i’m left wondering if anyone knows besides hunter.

Regardless, belos turns into a goop monster with an angry side, and i guess his mask doesn’t transform with him compared to the rest of his body so he breaks it again because i guess he goes though masks like crazy.

Hunter turns away in this scene from his outburst and even though he’s masked here i can already tell he’s most likely pained in these scenes. Like he’s probably seen this happen so many times, and i can’t imagine it gets any easier for him, it’s probably awful to watch belos suffer like this for him (Regardless of the abuse)

And to be honest, it seems pretty painful for him, i think this ep seems to at least confirm whatever this thing is that takes over belos’s body.....belos never actually wanted it in the first place.

Yeah so after Hunter tells belos there’s not enough trees to medicate him anymore, we’re hit with the “UNCLE”. Which, when i first watched it i needed a second to even process the fact they confirmed their relation.

and i was like “CLOSE ENOUGH”, not his kid but uncle still works just fine for me, i’m just happy my assumption they were related actually came to ahead.

And i rewatched this episode a few times, and on second watch i realized more what happened in this scene. Hunter was talking about his interest in wild magic, and making more pailsman to help belos, and some method that could heal him and as soon as belos looked at him he instantly shut down.

He was clearly rambling about wild magic cures for belos because of his interest in it, and then suddenly remembered his uncle hates wild magic and felt super awkward.

It seems highly likely his interest in wild magic came from trying to cure belos and spending a lot of time reading up on the stuff.

And then we get hit with the whole “Our family is dead because of wild magic” line, which.....i’m curious to know what happened there. But it does at least explain why belos feels how he does, if wild magic both killed his family beside hunter AND cursed him in the first place. We’re just gonna need more info on what exactly happened.

Also while Belos is def abusive and does not treat hunter how he should, this scene actually does read off to me like belos does care about hunter to some degree. If belos is cursed and his curse works in similar ways to how Eda’s curse works, then it’s worth reminding ppl that eda mentions early this season how stress can amplify the curse even more.

And sure enough, belos goes goopy on hunter’s shoulder all of a sudden when he grasps him. Which could be considered a sign of stress and that the idea of hunter dying or being in danger actually does stress him.

You could very much also assume this is just due to his curse not being fully handled and just getting worse, or that belos only cares about hunter for selfish reasons....but i’m not taking anything off the table here.

Belos can still be a shitty uncle, and still care about hunter, these aren’t mutually exclusive traits. But we need more episodes for now on this.

But anyways he asks hunter if he can rely on him, kiki is pissed......and we move on.

So i’m glad luz’s impulsiveness is addressed a ton in this episode, they actually bring up a lot of good points. That luz has no plan, that the time she’s spending here might render moot if she goes back to earth, ect ect.

Hunter even calls her out a lot later for not thinking things through, it’s a whole deal in this episode. I’m glad it was brought up cause it’s actually worth asking a lot of these things.

the set up here works, they actually made a good reason for why a pailsman didn’t bond with her. Speaking of which the adoption thing is cute and i love it, it’s a great idea. The designs are all very cute and fun.

Bump face reveal was a lot for me to process, but i find the idea of his pailsman being a pet that can help with his disabilities a good idea.

Also like, i did find it odd that they got staffs so early because we’ve never seen kids their ages with them before, but i guess it’s a new tradition? Does everyone at hexside now have one?

Honesty not sure why batqueen left the nest there overnight, i meant i guess she assumed they were safe with that shield but in context i dunno why she didn’t take them home after the school day was over.

but whatever, luz stays there overnight hoping a pailsman will bond with her and GG just kidnapps them cause of pure luck on his part a bunch of pailsman were in a vulnerable spot tonight.

So GG continues to be charming, by whistling the theme song and then being blasted off his ship hilariously, before cockily teleporting himself right back on it seconds later. Like he and luz have great banter, he’s so extra like this it’s so funny, and god he’s so FAST with that staff it’s scary but so awesome.

Yeah so then hand dragon crashes them and i was so excited cause it meant face reveal. Poor dude looked so in pain and then we find out kiki tried to effing murder him because of course she did. But like, i think killing your boss’s nephew is the WORST way to get a promotion tbh.

(Also i got confused for a bit cause his mask has always been drawn as a mask, but now it’s a helmet in this scene for whatever reason but-)

Anyways, face reveal, Like honestly ppl weren’t too far off with their guesses, really the only thing people didn’t get was the tooth gap (That was fair tho, we couldn’t have guessed that). But it did make him even cuter.

like the banter is funny, he licks her hand, she slaps him, he looks SO pissed at her for this mess.

and i guess that outfit is his under armor apparently.

He’s lucky she didn’t run away immediately and followed him, but maybe he assumed she would since she had no where else to go.

Also his expressions in this ep are glorious, these had to be fun to draw.

Also we find out that the coven team members have never seen his face i guess? They just assume he’s a silly kid and are awful to him, so i guess he’s not only the youngest member of the coven but he never really shows his face much.

(”Call your parents”, ha ha.....whose gonna tell them who his uncle is?)

He is however, REALLY good at parkour and he’s fast even without his staff, so he’s well trained alright.

And then they reveal he’s not magical and i was SO happy cause i was so sure something was up when he wasn’t doing magic like the other witches despite his pointy ears. So they outright confirmed what i thought.

Hunter is pretty smart tho, like he can tell luz wouldn’t hurt him and wouldn’t flee so he knows he has the high ground here. Like he might be being a bit of a dick, but to be fair luz has been nothing but a dick to him throughout the whole episode (Everyone in this episode has been a dick to him tbh)

They team up and i get excited cause i love this kinda stuff and it gets more wholesome because hunter is super interested in her magic, he thinks it’s cool and you can tell how much he actually loves wild magic but then again...shuts himself down because of belos making him fear the stuff.

An then because luz asks, he tells her his backstory.

honestly with how this world treats people who aren’t magically powerful, living and growing up in a world that would find you useless sounds....awful. Hunter must be an anomaly around here, human blood or not.

Luz coming here to learn is different then growing up in a world and being the only one with no abilities and no future without them. Belos provides him with magic and a future, it’s no wonder he stays with him despite everything.

the whole “Found me” thing is weird, cause belos implies they’re blood related and hunter makes it sound like belos semi-adopted him. Which....if he did i dunno why “Uncle” and not “Adopted dad”, but ok....guess that’s for later.

Apparently hunter is important for something tho with the “Titan has big plans for me” thing, not sure what, but-

But yeah as soon as Hunter talked about wanting to make his own future and Rascal tried to land on him i knew EXACTLY where this was going, it was so cuteeeeee. The lil birb wanted to be with hunter, that’s so wholesome.

And he’s so terrified because of belos and what wild magic did to him, the poor bab.

But yeah, luz then trusts him with his staff back, because again....impulsive. But hunter does actually ask if she’s sure, so he might as well be asking if she trusts him.

The plan goes ahead, and hunter nearly betrays her.

though granted, hunter never promised her he’d stop and let her take them away, the truce was supposed to last till kiki was stopped and they were gonna fight out who got the pailsman. But it does bother luz cause she was hopeful he was better then this.

But just like he did before, she calls him out and he doesn’t betray her, because he’s ALSO too nice to do it, just like he said she was. He says his name (Which also took a moment to process), and then beats the crap out of kiki while letting luz get away and protecting her like a badass.

He might not have magic, but he’s good at fighting

like he can easily teleport to luz and take the pailsman, but he doesn’t, he lets them get away and luz knows this. Even though she also knows hunter has to go back to the emperor too and they have to separate.

It’s only slightly bitter terms, because in the end he came through for her and she knows it.

honestly, the worst part is i can’t even be mad at hunter for it, i’m sure he was terrified to fail belos. Both because he loves him and doesn’t want him to suffer....but also because of well...being punished. Really says something when his near betrayal doesn’t even make me mad at him, and i can understand why he nearly did it.

He let her go, knowing he’d be in SERIOUS trouble and that it would hurt someone he actually loves, so....ouch.

so yeah at this point i knew rascal wanted him so it was only of matter of what happened next.

Which was, luz getting the wood, which i like more anyway. Eda and King doing this offscreen and coming home like this is actually very funny, and honestly i appreciate the message of it being ok to wait.....means a lot to me.

yeah so belos is like...being an ass, like the kid tried his hardest, you don’t need to hit him with the “Is this the thanks i get?”. He’s a kid and he’s trying to cure you you dick, give him a break he doesn’t remotely have to help you like this.

Also apparently belos has not even told hunter HOW this happened, like...dude. Hunter is trying to be entirely reasonable here and belos spikes at him, which does imply some physical abuse though the only reason hunter doesn’t get a new scar is because he moves.

but how he reacts implies this has happened before, he is bracing for impact and he flinches. It’s pretty sad tbh, especially since hunter loves him and belos’s respect means something to him.

Belos is such an idiot, like c’mon dude, hunter is trying to help you and you don’t listen to him you dick. Kid shouldn’t have to say sorry for anything he did nothing wrong, he was just trying to help.

Anyways, he gloats at kiki (So at the very least she knows what he looks like under the mask), which he deserves a chance to do anyway. So i guess he didn’t rat her out for trying to kill him, personally my guess why is blackmail.....he was gonna hold it over her head to keep her from doing it again and threaten to tell belos.

But kiki quickly tells he LET the pailsman get away since he was the one to fight her (Curse his cute loose hair strand). So i guess now they have dirt on each other, so that’s fun.

His room is adorable, though the med kit by the bed is concerning.

Rascal comes for him and it;s so cute....though you can tell hunter nearly hurts him on instinct because of force of habit, but it’s so cute how he cares and how the birb loves him and is his new staff.

it was well hinted to as well, it’s so subtle, but the bird being cheery, curious, and his constant habit of escaping boundaries was perfect for hunter. He represents what hunter wants to be and why they got matched is done so well, all without explaining anything.

Hunter indirectly stated his deepest wish, to make his own choices, and rascal resonated with that.

can’t wait to see where this goes.

great ending shot, love me some conflicted shots looking out of windows like trapped birds.

also this title was a pun the whole time i can’t-

#the owl house #toh #toh spoilers #golden guard #toh golden guard #the owl house golden guard #the golden guard #the owl house luz #emperor belos #kikimora

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slipperyskell · 4 years

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Skyrim/Witcher Crossover - Cicero Fuckeries

alright so i’m gonna make this its own post since I have a lot in mind for this specific lil scenario, and i don’t want to make a too big a text wall ajs;dlfkjasldk

just hear me out on this one, this would be a lot more entertaining than you might think

Cicero, Geralt and Jaskier first meet out on the road, out in front of the Loreius farm

Geralt was fully intent on ignoring Cicero’s call for help, but Jaskier is the one to be like “hey, why don’t we give this guy a hand?”

honestly the two prolly bicker a bit on what they should do but then Jaskier hits him with That Look and Geralt finally relents

Geralt helps up to the farm while Jaskier sticks around with Cicero, making small talk

aint long for Geralt to come back down the hill with Loreius in tow - really not hard for him to change Loreius’s mind on the whole ordeal

Jaskier finds the little man very odd, but still fun to talk to

Cicero also thinks he’s fun, but at the same time, i would not be surprised in the slightest if he’s lowkey plotting a murder - getting mother home stays his blade, of course, but if he has the free time? hmm... tempting, tempting indeed...

Once Loreius is down there helping Cicero, Geralt starts to leave, but Cicero calls out to him, asks him to wait, before tossing a coin purse his way as a thank you

he accepts it without a word, and off Geralt and Jaskier go

Jaskier has no idea what’s up with Cicero, but Geralt knows there’s something definitely not right

he wasn’t lying about his mother being in that box, as far as he could tell - his sharp sense of smell confirmed it - but there was just something... wrong. something dark. something evil

they don’t see each other again for a while, not until the Cure for Madness happens and Cicero is all alone in Dawnstar (assuming he’s been spared)

Geralt and Jaskier happen to be there, too, looking for work

they’re in the tavern, with Jaskier playing tunes for coin and Geralt sitting alone at a table, watching him and takin swigs of his ale, and Cicero sees em and he’s just like !!!!!!

just scampers his tiny ass over to Geralt and plops down next to him with a big smile on his face

“Well, well, well! Long time, no see, dearest Witcher! I was wondering if we’d ever cross paths again.”

“Cicero.”

they chat up a storm - or more Cicero’s talking to him while Geralt listens and prolly says like... five words in one sentence at most

definitely asks about his mother, who Cicero simply says is enjoying her new home

which confirms something on Geralt’s mind, but he keeps it to himself

Jaskier had seen the jester walk over to Geralt while he was performing, and once he’s done he goes over to say hello

ain’t long before it’s the three of them sittin there, chattin it up. Err, well, Cicero and Jaskier chatting it up while Geralt offers his most enlightening hmm’s

something something Cicero ends up more or less inviting himself along on the adventure since he, at that time between the Cure for Madness and the end of the DB questline, has nowhere else to be

something something also tagging along so he can go through with his little Jaskier murder plot

something something he does attempt to kill him a couple times but some thing or another foils it without him actually getting caught by the bard in question, or more importantly, Geralt

mind you, Jaskier actually likes Cicero - as eccentric as the man is, he relates

but then he hits him with the bard joke

and poor Jaskier

a lad is CONCERNED

HE’S TALKIN ABOUT SMASHIN LUTES AND BURNIN BARDS

starts sticking around Geralt a bit closer than usual

Cicero learns very, very quickly that you do not make murder jokes around Geralt

he does not appreciate them

he especially does not appreciate murder jokes about Jaskier

Regardless of this, Cicero tries very hard to get Geralt to laugh when the three of them are out on the road

he’s never seen him do anything more than smirk and “hmmph” in a way that he’s pretty sure was a laugh but isn’t positive on

he’s done countless jokes, no matter how well structured or not, desperate to get a chuckle, a smile, anything

Usually doesn’t work, but Jaskier gets a kick out of most of em

there’s some point in time where Cicero gives up on trying to kill Jaskier, for a couple of different reasons.

One, Geralt Will Find Him. Cicero may have outrun Arnbjorn but he will not stand a chance against a Witcher. He knows this.

Two, he’s found enough bloodshed travelling with these two to keep him contented

Three - honestly? Jaskier is friend-shaped. He can never know about who or what Cicero actually is since saying anything about him would technically break one of the Tenets, but he’s helped Cicero out in ways he may never know

at some point, the trio are at a jarl’s palace, attending some celebration (prolly the “slaying” or Alduin or something to do with the Civil War, regardless if we’re taking Dragonborn!Geralt into account)

Jaskier gets harassed by someone, who claims he slept with their spouse the last time they were there

Geralt steps in, tells em to fuck off, right

But Cicero’s watching from afar as the person leaves, and he walks over after they go with a grin on his face

“Tsk tsk tsk tsk! Naughty, naughty, Jaskier! You ought to know better than to sleep with a noble’s lover! You’ve gotten yourself in a situation now, haven’t you?”

Jaskier apologizes (kinda sarcastically, kinda awkwardly, not really sure where Cicero’s going with this)

and then the little fucker just hits him with

“Well... Geralt may scare them off for now, but... oh, what are you going to do if you’re alone, hmm?”

his grin widens and he leans closer

“Cicero could make sure they don’t come back. If you would like.”

and Jaskier is just like “wat” for a solid couple of seconds before he realizes he’s talking MURDER

Jaskier appreciates and utilizes Cicero’s murderiness and you caN’T TELL ME OTHERWISE

HE IS A FERAL FUCKING BABY NOT AFRAID TO SEND THE LITTLE GREMLIN JESTER MAN OUT TO STAB A BITCH FOR HIM

AND CICERO THRIVES OFF JASKIER’S FERAL BABINESS BECAUSE IT’S A SIDE OF HIM HE NEVER SAW UNTIL NOW

and poor Geralt

Geralt is very tired

not only does he have to make sure Jaskier doesn’t get killed, he has to make sure Cicero doesn’t go out killing people himself

the trio is often mockingly called the travelling circus by those living in the towns and cities they pass through

Geralt knows Cicero’s Dark Brotherhood and caught on pretty early, but he actually doesn’t do anything, per se

he keeps him in line as best he can when they’re travelling together - more or less makes sure he’s not killing people he shouldn’t be

but he knows Cicero’s off to his own devices when he leaves to go do whatever it is he does before travelling again

And, while he would NEVER openly admit it, he is aware the Dark Brotherhood is something of a necessary evil in Tamriel. From what he understands, they kill people, yes, but the ones they’re called upon to kill aren’t innocent people by any sense of the word. They’re slavers, they’re abusers, they’re corrupt politicians - the scum of the earth. Geralt (likely with a little bit of convincing from Jaskier if/when he finds out about Cicero’s true identity), tries his best to keep Cicero in line outside of the contracts he was once called upon to fulfill

I’m gonna leave it here for now and do separate interaction headcanon posts between Cicero and Geralt and Jaskier individually because this is a fucking huge text block but really tho

i just fucking love the idea of the gremlin jester travelling with the gremlin bard and gremlin monster hunter. there is a chaos there that i’m thriving on

#cicero #jaskier #geralt #jaskier the bard #geralt of rivia #skyrim #witcher #the witcher #netflix the witcher #the witcher netflix #cicero skyrim #skyrim cicero #skyrim/witcher #witcher/skyrim #cicero headcanon time #AU cicero headcanon time #the elder scrolls #tes

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consilium-games · 3 years

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Setting, Genre, and Principles

I talked recently with a friend about Apocalypse World, genre, and Principles. For those unfamiliar, Principles are a design and game-running technique that Apocalypse World did not invent, but did refine and explicate, a bit like how the Greeks knew of static electricity, but it was Galvani who made a battery on purpose, that others could study. Since I haven't died yet, I have a project in mind, in this case one that really explicitly relies on Principles in its basic design, so in this essay I want to work out a basic edge of 'what Principles can cover'. Namely, the edge of 'genre'.

I'll define a couple technical terms here because I intend to use them pretty narrowly:

Diagetic means the usual, "bound within the world of a given story".

Commentative means "outside of any story, things we say about stories-generally".

So a setting counts as diagetic, bound within its own logic and the logic of the single work it appears in. Diagetically we'd ask "why does the author choose to write dragons in this way?"

A genre counts as commentative, not bound within any story. It may or may not codify some stories, an author might consciously bend to or defy a genre as they understand it, but most importantly on the genre level, we don't ask "why did the author write dragons like this?" Instead we ask "why do people-generally like to see dragons?"

In talking with that friend, she said she had difficulty reading AW, which I can't really fault anyone for: I'd consider AW almost as much a polemic manifesto as a procedural manual. And the former undermines the latter. Part of her issue came from her looking for a setting, not realizing that properly speaking, AW doesn't have one. I said as much, and as we talked, I then said a lot more than I should:

After confirming that "Baker does not give AW a setting", in a bit of enthusiasm on the idea of 'genre emulation', I went on to say that "Baker gives his apocalypse". This prompted confusion, for the reasonable question arises, "how can Baker provide his own, particular, post-apocalypse story without giving a setting?" So I should have spoken more carefully, and I wrote most of this essay to over-answer that question for my friend. I've massaged it into its current form, for you non-her readers, in hopes that it helps someone, or if nothing else I can refer back to it as I clarify my own cranky lit-game-dev ideas.

To me, 'a setting' goes like this:

DnD has a kind of proto-setting, it has dragons like-so, it has elves who look pretty and live in the woods, it has dwarves who look TV-ugly and live in the mountains, it has orcs who look ugly-ugly and live in the wastes, it has humans it treats as default and live wherever. It has vague gestures of settler-colonial race-relations but not enough anything to explore, unless you the reader put it there. DnD doesn't really have much of a genre more specific than "uh, generally sword-and-sorcery fantasy".

Shadowrun has basically the same things, and a specific setting: neoliberal dystopia and collapse of the state, but otherwise 'basically our world'.

But more than that, Shadowrun also--for its many faults--has a commentative-sense genre: in Shadowrun, might makes right (or at least right-now); money rules everything, except maybe loyalty; it treats magic as innately cool and natural but technology as evil and you maybe would better die than get an artificial heart. These story-contours don't care at all about where things happen or what institutions exist.

To take another example, Cowboy Bebop tells a solid noir western story set in space. The fact that it takes place in space ultimately matters very little to the 'western' or 'noir', though. Spike knows he lives in space, and he'd agree that--to someone alive in our world today--he lives in a sci-fi story. He doesn't know that he got cast as a western-revenge-fable protagonist (though he might agree if someone asked). He definitely doesn't know that he has a corner of the story that goes more-western, while Jet lives in a corner of the story that goes more-noir.

If you wanted, you could tell Cowboy Bebop beat for beat, almost unedited, as a straight-faced noir western. Instead of Jet's main ship they have a wagon, the individual bounty-hunters have their own horses, Ed does something weird with telegraphs and adding-machines. Instead of vacuum between planets of our solar system, they weather the desert waste between far-flung towns. It would remain a story about revenge, losing oneself, finding oneself, remaking oneself, and the things we have to do for the people we love, and what happens when we don't.

You could not do this and also remove the noir, or the western, those define the kind-of-story. If you left it in space but took out the noir, entire episodes of moral ambiguity would disappear (like Ganymede Elegy). Likewise taking out the western, the premise of bounty-hunters wouldn't fit and couldn't stay. I would even go further, and say that while I don't mind Cowboy Bebop sitting on the 'sci-fi' shelf so that consumers can find it, I wouldn't class Cowboy Bebop as sci-fi. A masterpiece, but not sci-fi. Because I think that as a genre, the core of sci-fi asks "where are we going, and what will we do when we get there?" Cowboy Bebop does not care to ask this question, it cares about the human condition right now, and what people right now will do. It takes place in space because space is cool.

Second hot take: Kafka's The Castle counts as sci-fi, by the above conception. Extremely, disturbingly prescient sci-fi, precisely predicting things from call-centers to Big Data and the professional managerial class, and warning of the ease with which a competent, level-headed, and well-meaning person can confront The Machine, and The Machine will completely hollow out and dehumanize them, rob them of every competence and agency, until The Machine no longer notices them as a foreign object.

No one would put The Castle on the sci-fi shelf, because it has no shiny labcoat SCIENCE![tm], telephones and typewriters show up as cutting-edge in the setting. But just look at the concept of tracking, monitoring, filing, and refiling, and bureaucratic shuffle and managerial maladaption and "not my department" and "oh you have to fill out a form 204B -> well file a form AV-8 to requisition a 204B -> look do I have to do everything for you, I'm a busy cog you know". Look at that concept as a technology, like Kafka did.

The story explicitly refers to this as innovation, as a deliberate thing that the Count and his bureaucrats did, on purpose, with intent and expected effect. The Castle explores social science, political technology. And Kafka rigorously explores its psychic effects on the subjects, more thoroughly than Gibson waxing poetic about VR headsets and the Matrix. The Castle qualifies as fiction about science, where we're going and what we'll (have to) do when we get there. It takes place in a quaint provincial village that might lie somewhere in Bohemia in the very early 20th century.

So I allege that while setting matters for writing a given story, it doesn't matter a lot for kind-of story. And in my conversation with my friend, I should have sensed the kernel I could have dug out, but instead, I wrote the rest of this essay, particular to post-apocalyptic genre fiction, and germane to Apocalypse World.

Bringing this back to apocalypsii:

In the Australian outback in the late-70s, the gas supply all but disappears, causing societal collapse and civil breakdown.

In the American midwest, an unspecified disaster wipes out communications and supply-lines, causing survivors to turn feral and cannibalistic.

In New York in the late 60s, food shortages and overpopulation cause the government to criminalize almost everything so that they can grind people up into food.

These are settings in the sense that I mean: a place, a time, implicit societal structures and institutions, "where is this, what world is this, what is here?" DnD's setting doesn't have much of a 'where' but it more or less assumes "uh, Earth kinda, sorta"; Shadowrun says "literally Earth but N years after magic becomes real and also DnD races". But the above three post-apoc settings have very different everything-else: if you were making a post-apoc section of a library and wanted to break down into sub-genre, you'd want to put the three works above on different aisles.

Mad Max tells a story where holding on to old power structures is complicated, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and it emphatically matters how we go about doing it: when marauding punks kill your family, you may justifiably go and kill them back; but when a power-mad warlord inflicts his brutal regime, you owe him no allegiance.

The Road tells a story where everything we care about can just blow away in the wind, and at best we can only cling to what we cherish, while we can. Power comes and goes, structures don't last, but cruelty and misery endure eternal and will always win--but we try anyway.

Soylent Green tells a story where societal structures can technically endure, but themselves have no moral compass and can inflict as much cruelty as uncaring nature. You may live in an illusion in which civilization appears to function, but in fact you have no more safety than the wilderness, and indeed you didn't realize it, but you're the cannibals, and perhaps soon the meal.

Those considerations all sit at the genre-type, commentative level, and I class them as wholly unconcerned with setting. Each of these stories would tell just as well in space, or an underground complex, or even Bronze-Age Fertile Crescent if you twist a few narrative arms. The where and when and what doesn't define or determine the kind of story, the genre, even if setting can help or hinder genre goals.

Bringing this back to Baker: he doesn't give a place where things happen; he doesn't give an inciting event that brought the apocalypse; he doesn't even describe what happened during the apocalypse, or how long ago it happened, or give a date for "today". I'll list three AW settings I've run or played in or heard about:

Sunlight vanished altogether, though somehow it hasn't gotten any colder. Darkness and shadow can become animate and even sapient, and can claim people, though it doesn't seem exactly malevolent or 'evil'. Rule of law has mostly fallen apart, but out of fear and prudence people mostly avoid wanton violence, because if you see someone you don't like, you could roll up on them and take their stuff--but just as easily they could kill you, and just as easily as either, the Dark might just take both of you; you're safer keeping the Dark at bay and not hassling someone else, unless you've got good reason.

A few years(?) ago, survivors woke up from total amnesia and some kind of fugue: it seems like this fugue lasted at least some years, there's some decay of modern-to-us structures, but the ruins look fully recognizable and often quite well-preserved. But signs abound, literally painted twenty-feet-high on buildings and structures, that something unfathomable happened. The giant wordless pictograms seem to warn to protect tools and structures, to stay together and not go off alone, indicate places that once had lots of food or other important resources, and most alarmingly they show gigantic hands reaching down from above onto some of the pictogram figures. No one can remember anything from before the wakeup though, so the meaning is lost.

Something like twenty years ago, the world broke in some fundamental way: it always rains or at least fog abounds, long-distance communication inexplicably but insurmountably fails to work, and cityscape has sprawled on its own to incorporate seemingly the entire world. As far as anyone knows, the city spans infinitely in every direction, it has no edge, only more city. The city-cancer seems waterlogged and rotting everywhere, some few places fit for use and occupancy, but if you go down any given street and step inside an empty house or shop, it probably won't suit human habitation. People still habitually carry on the forms and outlines of societal norms, mostly, because what else can they do? You can't burn it all down as long as it keeps raining.

I brought these up because Baker's conception of 'post-apoc' does not cover the whole of "all post-apocalyptic literature"--it couldn't, shouldn't, and if it did it would have little or no use to anyone. Baker's narrower conception, the Principles that AW's rules expect a setting to follow, narrow things down and keep the rules crisp, tight, and tractable.

Each of the AW campaigns above has a totally different setting, aiming in totally different directions for different things--but, they all live inside Baker's Principles for a post-apoc that fits within AW: scarcity, weak but present society and norms, a Before, an After, and no going back, and each has a 'Psychic Maelstrom' that excuses a lot of narrative fiat and deus ex machina and having characters just do weirdness not otherwise specified.

That 'Psychic Maelstrom' comes closest to giving what I'd call "a setting" as in "place, time, institutions", because it sits at the diagetic level. A distinct thing bound within a given story--except it only barely counts as 'diagetic'. Because Baker only gives loose guidelines for what a Psychic Maelstrom should be or do. Baker's own at-his-table Psychic Maelstrom will look nothing like mine, or my girlfriend's, or her erstwhile friend's, because in those three AW settings up there, each of us had totally different ideas for what to do with a Psychic Maelstrom in a post-apocalyptic setting.

But: all three of us used our Psychic Maelstroms for the things Baker says to use them for: unleash weirdness, justify unrealistic but narratively satisfying twists, allow and excuse extra awesomeness, maybe use as a metaphor or allegory for "how it got this way", as well as "where it could go", in literary terms. And . . . Baker doesn't really get closer than this, to giving "place, time, institutions, history and people and events". So in the sense I understand 'setting', a diagetic construct within a given story, AW doesn't have one.

But in the commentative genre sense, AW very definitely gives Baker's apocalypse, in that it gives a recipe for the things that Baker considers essential to the post-apoc genre (or at least, the aisle of the post-apoc library he wants to confine his game to). He doesn't try to tell a Soylent Green apocalypse so much--you'd need to twist some arms and ignore some Principles to tell Soylent Green. Nor does he try to tell Children of Men so much--you'd have to leave a lot out to rein AW in to just Children of Men. He instead aims* for something closer to Mad Max, but heavy on Weird West, and a lot less somber and desolate, so more like Fury Road. And he says, "here's how:".

(*) But, of course, he doesn't actually tell these stories. Instead he has the project of telling the reader how to tell this kind-of story. So, while he gives some sample poetic images of skylines on fire and the world torn asunder, he doesn't care to talk about the virus, or the metorite, or the gas-shortage or the food-shortage. He doesn't care about the where or when or what, and even with the Psychic Maelstrom, the one concrete diagetic thing he gives--it sits there as a meta-thing, explicitly unstated whether it resulted from The Apocalypse or its inciting event, or caused it as the inciting event, or something else.

All of which boils down to: commentative, about-stories, genre-level stuff owns bones, and I weigh it heavier than diagetic, in-stories, setting-level stuff. Baker gives excellent tools, within his purple polemic prose, for that first stuff and gives little or nothing for the second.

#literary theory #game design #genre

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kryativelogos · 4 years

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Lukanette is the Ideal Ship (for now) Here’s Why

Hi before, anyone gets mad at me - I still think Adrienette is endgame, but with the information we have right now, I’m really rooting for Luka atm. I’m not hating on anybody’s ship, ya’ll can ship whoever you want with whoever you choose. This is just an analysis considering the plot and the characters within the show. So this post is strictly analytical and I’m going to do my best to keep the bias down to a minimum.

We all know Luka was created as a love triangle for Marinette. Like the first time we’re introduced to him (Captain Hardrock, S2Ep13) Alya was already all up in Marinette’s business meaning the show wanted us to consider him as a love interest. I mean she was infatuated with him the moment she saw him, she straight up stammers like she did with Adrien. We also see him making fun of Marinette afterwards, which is similar to when Adrien laughed at Marinette during the umbrella scene (Origins PII, S1Ep26). There a few more key similarities between the two main love interests which is just more confirmation that this was intentional. The show wanted more drama in our superheroes civilian lives because let’s be honest, Marinette stumbling around trying to get Adrien’s attention was getting a little old.

Now let’s actually talk about why I believe Luka is better suited for Marinette (again, for now, because we all know Adrien and Marinette were made for each other). We’ve all read the fanfictions, Marinette is just overall clumsy and shy irl vs her superhero persona, this isn’t something that can be fixed overnight. Confidence needs to be built up from the inside out and I really think Luka does a really good job of bringing that side out of Marinette. She has great confidence in herself around Luka, but she freaks out about her designs not being good enough around Adrien (Mr. Pigeon, S1Ep6). In the Silencer episode (S3Ep6) you can see Luka constantly looking at her during rehearsal and praising her designs. Although Adrien does this in Mr. Pigeon, this is the only time it happens, and he’s been around her designs quite often - Style Queen (S2Ep23) and Reflekdoll (S3Ep9) to name a few - while Luka has only been around Marinette once, you can already tell that he’s not just being polite like Adrien. Confidence is something she lacks around Adrien, and maybe it’s because all he ever does is be polite around her and not so much genuine. Luka has said outright that she’s amazing (Captain Hardrock, S2Ep13).

Ok maybe that’s just semantics and poor line choices, so let’s talk about Luka’s confession:

"You are an extraordinary girl, Marinette. Clear as a music note, sincere as a melody. You have been the song I hear in my head since we first met. I won’t let anyone hurt you."

I swear if someone ever said that to me I would have lost it. Like, I would not know how to cope after that, forget Adrien, I want this kind of poetry in my life at all times. Regardless, this isn’t about me, this is about Marinette. This woman just stands there blushing, she knows that he likes her now, but she can’t get over Adrien, which is understandable, she’s liked him for so long. His confession just kinda shows that he’s ready to support her forever, and that’s really all he can do because clearly she’s still hung up on Adrien (Desperada, S3Ep13).

Here’s my issue with this, do we ever really hear why Marinette likes Adrien so much? For me, I have to separate the fanfiction from the show because I recall in so many fanfictions about why Marinette likes Adrien but do we ever get a reason in the show? Let’s look at the umbrella scene again, what made him so attractive in this one moment? Was it him saying he was trying to be a good friend? Was it the umbrella? Or, hear me out, his looks? We can’t tell for certain, all we know is, after given the umbrella, she’s completely in love with him. I fear that this is a toxic relationship though; throughout the show we can assume that Marinette has stalked Adrien (Copycat, S1Ep9) and has documented everything about him (Animaestro, S3Ep4). This obsessive behavior can come off as creepy irl and honestly our oblivious cinnamon roll is just vibing and only recently figure out that she liked him (Puppeteer 2, S3Ep12). She’s so nervous about being the perfect person around him I feel like she’s completely forgotten that he’s a person with feelings too. In fact, in the same episode, Marinette goes on a whole soliloquy about how perfect he is. I don’t think Marinette really can share her reasons for liking him and that’s a problem in itself.

Luka also complements Marinette very well. Our girl loves to get jittery and excited, she’s impulsive and just ready to take the initiative (as long as it’s not around Adrien). Her high-strung energy requires someone to be her rock and keep her centered. Luka proves to be a great supporter in Heart Hunter (S3Ep25) when Marinette is overwhelmed with emotions. He just stands there and let’s her cry, which I don’t think she would ever be able to do around Adrien. He also proves to be observant as a superhero (Desperada, S3Ep13) which is something that even Chat Noir sometimes can overlook. He knows even as a hero that he’s the support and Ladybug needs him for that reason.

Luka is really out here just trying to be supportive and I love the headcanon that he knows who Ladybug is because he can tell it’s Marinette’s voice, but that’s besides the point. Adrien is sort of being forced to the side because the show wants to dramatize the love life, which is understandable (I mean, who watches the show for the hero stuff, nah, we here for the romance). Like Kagami says, she’s gonna have to make up her mind eventually (S2Ep21) and I think the way the show is going, she’s currently siding with Luka given that Adrien is with Kagami (Miracle Queen, S3Ep26). I would love to see how the romance pans out in the end, because I really believe that the only reason why we’re here is because Adrien can’t make up his gd mind, and he’s honestly doing the same thing but with Ladybug - as in he’s not even considering other people or acknowledging them because he’s put Ladybug on a pedestal but can’t go through the same obsessive lengths like Marinette since she’s pretty good at hiding her identity, he’s got the Ladyblog and that’s it. (If ya’ll wanna talk about how oblivious he is hmu)

If you guys have any inputs feel free to have a discussion down below! I do sound a bit biased in this, but I hope my analysis explains why. As always this was just a fun post, so please don’t judge me based on this! Thanks~

#lukanette #miraculous ladybug #this show is a mess rn but i love it so much #i mean look at my cosplay acc and tell me i'm not obsessed #check out kryativelyrics if you wanna hear a snippet of the piece i'm playing for my cmv #i'm sorry for the plugins lol

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 4 years

Text

Krieg??? and othe- wait. no. it’s just Krieg

spoilers for the main game and all under the cut, you know the drill. This goes over cut lines regarding everyone's favorite psycho.

TL;DR: i found a voice line where Maya directly refers to Krieg (says his name) and also he was supposed to help us take down Katagawa’s laser and also he went undercover in the CoV

y’all… i found a pretty incriminating voice line by Maya the other day and was like “ehhhh maybe… probably… but no confirmation. yet”.

and then i fuckin found more.

and it is PRETTY DAMNING (this is a google drive link)

(like SURE this COULD be dlc. but a) Maya is ded. which, i mean, hasn’t stopped many a zombie before, but still b) ehhhh it just. doesn’t seem like it given the context we get. just listen to the files provided and all will make sense)

So BASICALLY Maya was supposed to help us take out the laser for Rhys. In fact she told him to back off cuz we’re doing it her way this time. which means she was around with us on Skywell-27. WHICH IS AWESOME. She didn’t want Katagawa using it on Athenas. which is reasonable

then we get the lines in the folder in that folder

which blew my fucking mind

basically, the first one (bigger one) is her talking to an unnamed person about how he went undercover for ‘burnt turkey’, who she ‘translates’ as the Firehawk. She directly explains that Lilith sent this unnamed person to go undercover in the CoV, but he got caught by Crushjaw. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s one of Zer0′s hunt missions, the one right before the Great Vault. so i imagine he was reused as side content.

The next voice line is about the laser again. and then

she FUCKIN DIRECTLY SAYS KRIEG’S NAME AT THE END

She directly references him, and asks if he can get to the laser controls.

K R I E G.

And I’m betting this is the same person that Maya is speaking to in the first file in that folder, bc who tf else would call Lilith ‘burnt turkey’ and WHO TF ELSE WOULD BE ABLE TO TRANSLATE KRIEG OTHER THAN ONE OF THE VAULT HUNTERS WHO HAD SPENT TIME TAKING DOWN HANDSOME JACK WITH HIM. I mean also Lilith wouldn’t just send any other psycho or crimson raider. Lilith *trusted* this person, and they could fit in with the CoV no problemo

AND YOU KNOW KRIEG HAVING 2 LEGENDARY COV GUNS IN THE GAME MAKES A LOT MORE SENSE NOW!!! I JUST REALIZED

ASADSFGHJHKL

YEAH IM KINDA HYPE ABOUT THIS

I’LL ADD MORE IF I FIND ANYTHING BUT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

anyway i made this meme about it

#bl3 #borderlands #borderlands 3 #krieg #krieg the psycho #yeah baby im thinkin he's back #maya #maya the siren #FUCK DUDES #cut content

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Shadows of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 21

Shadows of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because Naia is in the guest room of the castle!

Last times on book: Naia was on a journey to Ha’rar to defend her brother from a treason charge until Tavra told her to go home. Naia decided not to go home and went to the Castle of the Crystal where she encountered Tavra again. Before Tavra could tell Naia something important, the Gelflings were bustled in front of the Emperor for a tense conversation. Then Tavra sent Naia away to the guest room, in guise of being her retainer.

Kylan has fallen out of the synopsis. Isn’t it sad?

Chapter 23

Naia disobeys Tavra for, what, the fifth or seventh time? by immediately leaving where she’s supposed to be and starts sneaking around the castle seeing weird, alarming stuff.

Naia goes off with some Gelfling guards for the All-Maudra’s guest room but things are weird.

Gurjin described the castle as bustling with activity but it seems weirdly empty and quiet. What guards there are are silent. When she tries to talk to the guard escorting her, he doesn’t reply. And his expression is weird and lifeless. Something is going on here, in the Castle of the Crystal!

So, of course, instead of doing what Tavra probably wants and staying put, Naia sneaks out of the guest chamber as soon as she can.

Remember the last chapter where she regretted how impetuous she’d been? She’s doubling down!

Naia follows the smell of food because hot food means kitchen and kitchen means cooks and attendants and people that can tell her whats up with her brother.

But the Podlings that leave the kitchen with carts of food for the dining hall are... weird.

They don’t have any of the animation or energy that Naia associates with the few Podlings she’s met. And their eyes... are milky white...

OH CRAP

I was just hit by some massive dramatic irony. I know whats going on but Naia do not.

Also: I guess that settles it. I’ve been suspecting that the YA novels were a separate continuity. I mean, we didn’t even have the massive psychic conference call where Aughra explains the plot which happened before Naia went to the castle, I thought. Because she doesn’t know the plot. But Tavra knows something.

But I don’t think the Skeksis learned that they could turn Podlings into slaves with the crystal during the series. And they definitely didn’t do that with Gelflings (what I think is implied with the guards) because Gelflings explode when drained.

We’re in a brave new world here.

Naia also notes that the Podlings have wooden shackles clasped around their ankles which she considers both horrible and weirdly unnecessary considering how sluggish they are.

She keeps moving. Apparently the castle is 90% hallway because she can’t find a room to just stop and have a think in. Its just hallway and hallway and hallway. All the way hallway.

And the hallways are all empty. She doesn’t run into any guards in her wandering or more of the weird Podlings or anything but bugs and crawlies.

What’s going onnnn?

She finds a weird fuchsia light shining and follows it, recognizing it from all the dark crystals she kept seeing. The passage toward it is gated off but without guards to guard the gate, Naia just climbs over it.

And so she comes to the Crystal Chamber, where the Crystal of Truth floats over the hole that goes right to Thra’s fiery core because this is a sensible element for a world to have ha.

This was not the white pure Heart of Thra told of in song. This heart was the color of the crystal veins - the shadw of a heart already darkened. In the Crystal’s crown was a wound, a hole surrounded by fractures from when it had been struck. Naia shuddered at the sight, the source of the broken song, the crack that had caused the Crystal to bleed violet and red, darkening, its pain flowing through its veins to reach every part of Thra.

Naia felt tears on her cheeks, knowing what she wished was not true.

The Crystal was not in danger of infection by the crystal veins.

It was the source.

Woooooooooow.

I do kind of wonder though. If Gelfling all think the Crystal should be white, was it hard to have it guarded? Or was part of guard orientation ‘its purple now, don’t question your Lords’?

Remember that thing from the movie where the Crystal was also a TV? It was associated with the crystal bats in some way that I don’t remember, I don’t know if the Crystal could just see everywhere or not but it can definitely see inside the castle. Also, they never really do much with the Crystal’s ability to display imagery, huh?

Either on one of the faces of the Crystal, or in her own brain, Naia sees Tavra in the Dining Hall with the Skeksis.

Handy way to include a scene while keeping to the POV.

Anyway, Tavra sent Naia away because she was about to get Real with the Skeksis.

She’s heard weird rumors about the castle and things aren’t adding up. The Skeksis are sending Gelfling all over the place to look for Gurjin but rumor has it that he’s in the castle? There’s been rumors of vanishing Podlings. And worse, rumors about the Crystal.

The Skeksis deny all of it and tell her to get lost.

“Then vow it!” Tavra demanded. “Vow to me it’s the truth! Vow to me that should I search this castle, I’ll find no sign of the guards you accused of treason, and that should I look in on the Crystal, I’ll find it shining white and bright as it did the day it became entrusted to you!”

The mood instantly shifts into furtive whispers.

This.... is a bold strategy, Tavra. I don’t know if the ideal one but certainly bold!

She continues questioning. Where are all the castle guards? There used to be two at every door and ten at the gate.

Oh so thats why the Chamberlain had to answer the door, ha.

There’s darkened creatures roaming Thra, the song of Thra is out of tune. And Tavra actually received a message from Rian claiming that the Skeksis are murderous liars and they have Gurjin.

Ok, so that’s how she knew where he was. Or suspected. And was trying to confirm.

And that’s why she tried to get Naia to leave instead of letting her march into a possible vipers den. Oof. You should have listened to the cheek squish, Naia.

“I am merely in search of truth,” she said. “Rian is an alleged traitor, so I cam to find out for myself. If I am wrong, I invite you to prove it... because if I am right, it is the Skeksis who have betrayed us. Betrayed the castle, and the Heart of Thra. And I do not want to be right.

Tavra really didn’t want to be right because you know that thing in the show where the Skeksis were honestly glad they could take off the mask of civility and just be bastards?

Yeah.

The Skeksis descend on Tavra in bulk.

In a parade of hysterical celebration and uncontrolled, garrulous fanfare, the Skeksis Lords tossed Tavra back and forth among them, finally dragging her with frantic waves of their berobed arms toward the exit. Even after they were out of sight, their deafening laughter and stomping feet beat through the body of the Crystal.

They drag Tavra off to the Chamber of Life while Naia ineffectually cries out in shock. Thankfully, the Crystal is a one-way mirror. Or security monitor. Or whatever.

Naia is left with the horrible realization that the Skeksis have betrayed the Gelfling and that she is far, far, far, far, far out of her depth.

She can’t just leave Tavra and Gurjin to run away. If for no other reason than the Hunter still lurking in the woods, kinda trapping her here until daylight.

And if a seasoned paladin like Tavra was so easily swatted by the Skeksis, what hope did Naia have?

Thankfully, the Crystal takes requests. Pretty user friendly, actually. Naia asks it to show her brother.

The Crystal moaned with its ghostly song, turning once again. In the walls of its body she saw a dark figure slumped near a window, and through the window she saw stars and the tops of trees. It was somewhere high in the turrets of the castle, and so without another moment’s hesitation, she dashed back into the maze of corridors, searching for a way up.

Huh.

Usually Skeksis throw people in more dungeony environs.

Actually, I have no idea what the layout of the castle it.

I assume that the Crystal chamber is pretty central. As it has the Crystal. And the Chamber of Life is under it so also central.

Nice of them to give Gurjin a room with a view though.

#dark crystal #the Dark Crystal #Shadows of the Dark Crystal #liveblog #Naia #Tavra #a conspiracy of Skeksis #a helpful crystal #top 10 anime betrayals

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