#while Plot does intrude into part 2 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

knackeredforever · 1 year

Text

AN OWL HOUSE SHOW RETROSPECTIVE BEFORE THE FINALE PART 1 SEASON 1:

So we’re around two weeks from the finale and I’ve spent the last two weeks rewatching all of the owl house (I’m not the kind of person who can binge a lot of episodes in a small amount of time). First of all my relationship with this show is somewhat unconventional to say the least I started watching the episodes on Disney + while just season 1 was on their because I had heard of the show’s similarities to gravity falls (which is one of my favourite shows) and really liked it and was excited to watch the later episodes however due to living in the uk Disney who in their complete dumbfuckery had already stopped airing the Disney channel / Disney XD here like they used to do I had to wait for the episodes to come to Disney + and so I couldn’t really interact with the fandom to avoid spoilers which was infuriating. Even more because with every chunk of season 2 that came on Disney + it became clearer that the owl house is one of the best shows to come out of the last few years with amazing characters , story and animation that was simultaneously really funny but also very mature and the fact that Disney decided to shorten the show is legitimately one of the dumbest decisions in the company’s history and We can only hope that them finally realising the shows success means we may get future content in this world hopefully more than a book or two although only time will tell. Anyway with the introduction over I’m gonna talk about the actual episodes not all of them I’ll be skipping most of seasons 1 cause it’s the only season with filler episodes and probably a few on season 2 but not cause their filler I just don’t have much to say about them:

A lying witch and a warden/witches before wizards: The first two episodes of the show but arguably some of the lesser quality compared to later episodes probably due to luz, eda and king being the only actual main characters but they are still important from a story sense so their still fine episodes in there own right… however the first two S3 specials make these first two episodes way more tragic I’ll obviously talk more about the S3 episodes when I get to them but damn does what we learn about luz’s past with her father’s death being the catalyst for her love of azura make these episodes so much more interesting in retrospect and S3 E2’s all I’ve ever wanted was to be understood makes this idea of luz’s desperation for a sense of belonging and believing she’s special to escape some of the unfortunate parts of her life so fucking tragic. I also find it funny how people referred to S1 luz as luz before the trauma when she’s been using her love of azura and hyperactive attitude to deal with her trauma in the first place. So yeah while this doesn’t change the fact these are both just ok episodes S3 does contextualise them in a completely new light.

I was a teenage abomination: the first episode to introduce willow, gus , AMITY and hexside as a whole in general a step up from the last two episodes purely because of the introduction of new main characters including amity (we will get back to amity later when she gets character development) who in this episode is mean girl who is absolutely feral. This is also the first episode to introduce abomination magic which will become one of the most interesting and unique parts of TOH’s magic system which essentially combines concepts such as magitech, homunculi and used in a way similar to waterbending in atla (quite appropriate considering katara and amity share a VA) but yeah a good episode overall.

The intruder: in my opinion this is TOH’s first great episode while the plot twist is quite obvious the suspense the episode creates is really good the way luz learns her own unique way to do magic through the glyphs is great the owl beast is genuinely quite creepy mainly for me due to the noises it makes but one of my favourite parts is how edas curse is a beautiful done metaphor for chronic illness shown through the line “nobody likes having a curse but If you take the right steps it’s manageable” (or something like that I misremember stuff easily ok) anyway not much else to say genuinely great episode overall.

Covention: This episode is basically what sets up most of the plot of season 1 with introducing lilith and her mission to capture eda overall lilith in season 1 is a pretty generic villain compared to what will come later with belos in season 2 onwards. Lilith isn’t that interesting until in season 2 when she becomes the much superior cool aunt lilith. This episode is also what introduces the concept of the coven system and one of the most interesting ideas of toh that being that it’s magic system is constricted and controlled by the ruling government the emperor’s coven and that the coven system is an inherently evil thing so Is separating the different types of magic which is s thing that many magic systems in fantasy do so it’s cool toh takes that idea and puts it in a negative light. This episode also contains TOH’s first major fight scene and oh god it’s great. Overall toh definitely does quality over quantity with its big fight scenes so this is great for the first major one the giant Hooty statue that grows smaller hooty’s is definitely the best part. This episode is the first one that shows luz and amity’s relationship and amity try’s to kill luz for the second time although this is also the last time amity try’s to kill luz so progress? Anyway good episode.

Lost in language: not much to say about this episode except more lumity development which is cool i like Edric and emira and. I like how emira calling luz cutie and luz blushing because of it is an early tease of luz being bi. And finally amity’s line about trying to figure out why luz keeps trying to be around her and deciding on luz is a bully has literally been living rent free in my head since I watched the episode because it’s such a good line and unexpected that the character that has been presented as a bully thus far actually thinks the main character is trying to bully her is something I’ve never seen in another piece of media before and It’s just interesting how amity views luz in this episode.

Something ventured ,someone framed: I hate / love Matt tholomule so much and the detention pit is so insanely overkill it’s funny like they casually just throw kids into a lovecraftian horror for detention and everyone from the BI just thinks that’s normal.

Escape of the palisman: PLEASE tell me we’re gonna get a conclusion to who the bat queens original owner was int the finale.

Sense and insensitivity: the episode that first introduced kikimora my beloved / should probably be put on trial for crimes against witch kind.

Adventures in the elements: ice ice lesbians. But this is a really good episode too and I love how luz finds the second ice glyph also love how at this point eda is fully willing to let the blights die if she can escape the slitherbeast which if that did happen do you think eda would let Odalia and alador know or she would pretend not to know. Just me wondering that ok MOVING ON.

The first day: the first day 13 episodes in is a fine episode luz has the worst look with school in the universe and gets sent to detention eternal on her first day of school for mixing magic where she meets the detention squad including: viney , guy who knows French for some reason and a talking dog who can tell the future they’re great the part where luz is looking through the secret openings and see’s amity trying to convince herself she’s not gay for luz is hilarious and adorable. The main plot focusing on the invading basilisk is ok in the episode but cooler in retrospect because it sets up vee.

Understanding willow: the first episode that sets up willow and amity’s past friendship and also willow’s character arc of becoming more self confident in herself which is funny cause she spends most of the episode partially comatose. This is also the first episode where amity transitions from having gay thoughts for luz to being blushing tomato gay girl which is great. I love how this episode sets up the idea of entering the mind in a lower risk environment compared to hollow mind where all the shit hits the fan. The fucking he’ll scene with eda being absolutely manic is great. Cool how this is the first episode that shows odalia and alador. It’s interesting how amity’s parents forced boscha to be her friend considering what we learn later about boscha having a crush on amity. And what odalia says when she finds out luz is amity’s girlfriend. Makes me wonder if odalia and maybe alador thought boscha would be an arranged marriage for amity in the future it’s interesting to think about. I like how because amity is nice to willow now they don’t immediately become friends again because of what amity did but they still are understanding of each other it’s a very nuanced ending.

Enchanting grom fright: not much to say for this episode despite the fact it’s essentially the episode that started to skyrocket the owl house to popularity because damn the dance scene is one of the most important and beautiful scenes in animation of recently and the only things to top it are later episodes of the the owl house Itself. Luz being so oblivious to amity is hilarious but sort of sad considering it’s out of a fear of previous rejections on Luz’s part that cause her to not even assume the idea that someone has a crush on her damn this girl needs a hug. Also the ending first teasing vee but as this terrifying doppelgänger instead of the wholesome cinnamon bun she ended up being is just the cherry on top

Wing it like witches: it’s funny how confident amity was dancing with luz in the previous episode probably only fully realising what she’d done in retrospect explaining why amity is a complete and utter lesbian disaster in this episode every other sentence from amity in this episode is gold and she has become an evolved gay tomato new power unlocked being scooped up by your crush and going oh wow sports. When I first watched this episode I had to watch it again because of just how fucking wholesome I haven’t even talked about the episode itself but it doesn’t matter rename the episode to amity down bad because that’s the highlight of the episode and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Agony of a witch/young blood old souls: the two part season 1 finale amity was too gay so she’s been sent to the time out corner so is not present throughout the rest of the season finale. It’s interesting how willow and gus actually respect belos at the start of the episode thinking he’s the BI’s greatest witch showing how far and wide belos’s propaganda has spread. The general aesthetics of belos’s castle due to how the BI has been shown to be hellish in its design with all the plant life being read literally being on the dead body of a long dead Titan and bonesborough’s design especially invoke that feeling so it’s appropriate that the villains castle is actually the opposite looking like this holy palace from its golden interior and the emperor coven’s design of gold and white are not that of typical villains but due to the unruly chaotic design of the BI makes the emperors coven look like they do belong their which they don’t they are their to restrict freedom of the people and though most of its members don’t realise they are helping bring about there people’s destruction for a ruler that secretly hates them. The designs of stained glass windows obviously show the religious inspiration of the emperor’s coven which is really cool but when you enter the emperor’s throne room you see the twisted pipes and the steampunk dark atmosphere and the giant beating heart which can always be heard in the background of the throne room which always adds to the ambiance their making it way more terrifying. Now my thoughts on belos in this episode is that with what we now know about him everything he does in this episode is way more intriguing and interesting. But taking this episode on its own belos is presented as incredibly mysterious but also not super interesting on his own he is shown as a tyrant that has very vague goals who lies to his underlings to get them when I first watched this episode I saw belos as in a joking manner “ sans undertale hollow knight reject” referring to the mask getting shattered later in the episode revealing his one blue eye and the fact his mask makes him look like a hollow knight character (although considering how similar some of his actions are to that of hollow knight’s pale king I guess I sort of predicted the future with that one) little did I know belos would soon become one of my favourite villains of all time as season 2 progressed. The second fight scene between eda and Lilith in agony of a witch is even better than the last with it being anime as fuck. And considering how similar due to eda being morally opposite sibling fighting each other with similar powers and with the good one in a red colour scheme and the bad one in a blue colour scheme the fact that Lilith never said “foolishness eda foolishness” as a DMC reference is one of the shows biggest missed opportunities in my opinion. Also Lilith being the one to curse eda is an insanely obvious plot twist considering their was literally no other character introduced at that point who could have realistically done it but it works in the story as a way to show how far people will go to serve the emperor. In young blood old souls luz goes into murder mode and basically single-handedly takes down the entire conformatorium security including warden wrath who was the main threat in the first episode so it’s a good way to show how far luz has come as a character power wise it’s also cool how the first and last episode of season 1 takes place in the conformatorium. When we get to the Lilith vs luz fight all I can think is how much I wish toh had a higher age rating so we could have actually gotten luz saying “talk to the glyph bitch” anyway belos being the sassy can not recognise irony if it stared him in the face asshole that he is sitting on the demon skull throne in shadowy lighting about to use the most demonic magic possible motherfucka probably thinking to himself what a considerate morally good guy he is. WAIT TUMBLR HAS A TEXT POST LIMIT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

#the owl house #toh #toh analysis #toh s1 #I was not aware tumblr had a text post limit

3 notes · View notes

satellitesoundwave · 1 year

Note

⭐️⭐️

Dealer’s choice! I decided to go with Your Own Hands but couldn’t narrow it down to just one bit. So here’s my commentary on two sections instead lol

From #13:

The machine’s base is a vast crucible, stout and steep sided. Pipes conveying in heat encircle the sides. The superheated air above it shimmers, transparent patterns twisting in the air as the molecules writhe. Pooling inside the cup of the crucible is a pool of liquified obtenteum.

Bathed in the fuel’s toxic green glow is Averruncus' heart; an octahedron bigger than a mech, hovering in the air as if it is beyond the purview of physical laws that everything else has no choice but to obey. Each of its identical faces is roughhewn like stone, and a shade of black that seems to swallow all light that falls on it and give nothing back.

Below the octahedron the obtenteum withdraws, repulsed, pressed flat to the crucible and rising up the sides like liquid in a centrifuge. It is flowing up the crucible’s walls like waves on a vertical shore.

Okay, so, I reallywanted the causality-breaking-machine itself to feel unnatural and wrong. What it does is so implausible, like everything depends on cause and effect to exist at all. While plotting out YOH I found that trying to consider what that disruption would do to pretty much anything straight up hurts to think about if you try to do it too in-depth lol. I decided to lean into that and give the machine an appearance that also communicates that this thing should never have been able to exist to begin with.

It was partly inspired by the vibe Tarantulas has in SotW’s too. Stuff like the way that his hybrid organic-Cybertronian nature, and the wonky shape and distinct font of his speech bubbles, frame him as an aberration in the narrative. An intruder into the story. Averruncus is very much Tarantulas’ creation, and I wanted to communicate that by sharing the feeling of wrongness that its creator is marked by – Tara’s hybrid nature inspired the sentence “As the octahedron rises above the lip of the crucible it contracts like an organic heart, the sides dropping back down to squeeze out the liquid,“ as well, actually. Organic imagery where you would expect a more mechanical simile. Also kinda gross, which is a good fit for Tarantulas’ vibe too.

The other big inspiration for Averruncus was the gravity drive from the movie Event Horizon, because that thing looks cool as fuck. I saw EH for the first time while writing Your Own Hands, and the gravity drive had a real impact on me. Mad kudos to all the people involved in designing and building it, I mean just look

so the gravity drive ended up being part of the creative foundation I built on to design Averruncus’ appearance as well

I also wanted to talk about snippet #2, because the stuff in #2 is actually the very first thing I wrote for YOH; I was originally going back and forth on whether I should sign up for the Big Bang, and decided to mock up a little section of the idea I’d picked out to potentially do for the event to get a feel for what writing it would be like. A lot of the approach I wanted to take to the theme and these characters got nailed down in that trial run (which also made it very exciting that this was the scene ashals-dream chose to illustrate). The section's too long to quote the whole scene, so I’ll do some choice bits:

This time he has relocated to a beach. His lure lies nestled on the sand, signalling while he investigates the nearby rocks, captivated by a tenacious little specimen of Niebla Effusa.

Lichen. The composite of fungi and cyanobacteria – or fungi and algae, of course – that possesses characteristics neither of these individual species do in isolation. Two individuals with one form, like an inversion of the typical Cybertronian’s nature for a single individual to have two forms. He longs to collect samples, but they would only go to waste. There is no time left for passion projects.

This is the point where I started to feel like I’d gotten Tarantulas’ pov nailed down. It felt right that he is constantly assessing the world around him through the lens of a scientist’s curiosity, and in an environment it’s the things that appeal to the curiosity which receive special attention from the narration (the composite nature of lichen is something I learned about from Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, which is a great read. Highly recommend)

Whipped onto the rocks by the buffeting wind, waves crash onto land, reaching for the sky until they dissolve into white foam that falls to fleck Tarantulas’ carapace with salty droplets. Prowl is too distant for the fine mist to reach him.

Distance is something I’m often thinking about with these two. The psychological/emotional distance between them is something of a blind spot for both Prowl and Tarantulas; they each think they have a particularly good read on the other, and in some ways they do… but there are key places where they really don’t, and neither is self-aware about those deficiencies. It gives the two of them a knack for unintentionally taking the absolute worst tact with each other – like how chronologically later in the fic Prowl manages to, from an interpersonal standpoint, completely fuck up in the way he saves Tarantulas’ life and be taken by surprise by the fallout. By noting the physical distance between them in this first meeting, I was hoping to gesture at that interpersonal disconnect too

“And what is it that you need, Tarantulas? Why have you been playing this game?”

Tarantulas walks up the dune, leaving the lure in the sand. He won’t need it again. Prowl is going to say yes. It truly is his only option, this time.

He walks right up until he can see himself reflected in that cold blue optic, until the muzzle of the blaster presses into his chest. There is nothing to fear from the gun. There isn’t a weapon in the world capable of making a difference to him anymore.

“This time, Prowl, I need your help.”

A physical distance that Tarantulas is the one to close, in the same way it’s his decisions later on that puts them on a path where closing that emotional distance becomes possible, and turns them away from repeating their damaging cycle but with Prowl as the person consequences splashed back onto this time around. Also, here’s the first place I decided to bring in the emphasis on Prowl saying ‘yes’ that comes up several times across YOH, to tie it into that thread from SotW.

I also really enjoy Tarantulas’ bring completely unconcerned about walking right up to the gun here. He might have decided that he’s okay with having to die in order to get causality stabilised, but he knows that until then Averruncus’ intervention means that he cannot be killed. Tarantulas’ confidence in the face of a deadly weapon is drawn from the total confidence he has in his own work

#satellite speaks #satellite writes #indexing tags:#tarantulas #prowl #prowl/tarantulas #Your Own Hands #ask meme

3 notes · View notes

anotheruserwithnoname · 2 years

Text

When TV shows perform a “body swap” (SNW, Orville)

Some thoughts on the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the long-awaited return of The Orville (despite my complaining about access, I was able to view the first episode of Season 3).

The tl;dr before the spoiler break (and there will be plot spoilers for both): Both shows were excellent. But, while one featured a body swap between two characters; the other episode seemingly featured a body swap between two shows.

“Spock Amok”, the latest episode of SNW (and I’m told the midway point of the all-too-brief first season) might be the first all-out comedy episode (outside of Lower Decks, which is meant to be a sitcom) the Trek franchise has attempted since Enterprise’s infamous “A Night in Sickbay” nearly 20 years ago, but it’s much more successful. At this point I’ve given up trying to reconcile SNW as being part of “prime” Trek canon - it can’t be. And I’m fine with that. I WANT them to say it’s a reboot/reimagining because I hope it will free them up to do more stories like this which give us underserved characters like T’Pring and Chapel in a new light. Unfortunately I’m finding myself shipping Spock/T’Pring and Spock/Chapel at the same time. I know I’m not alone. Ethan Peck’s Spock and Gia Sandhu’s T’Pring and Ethan and Jes Bush’s Christine Chapel have amazing chemistry together. So do Gia and Jes, for that matter.

Unlike Discovery and Picard, which (a few Orville-esque moments aside) feel like plot-heavy, serious-to-a-fault shows, SNW has so far managed to replicate the feel of TOS in a way I don’t think we’ve ever seen since, well, TOS. “Spock Amok” (which is NOT the reimagining of “Amok Time” the ads make it out to be, though the opening certainly pays tribute to the TOS episode, right down to recreating the famous fight music!) is a joyous episode built around a classic sci-fi trope, the body swap. Due to a katra-related ceremony going off the rails in an attempt at Vulcan couples’ therapy, Spock and his fiancee, T’Pring, swap bodies just as the two are being called upon to take part in some serious business (negotiations to recruit a new Federation ally for Spock and for T’Pring it’s the apprehension of a Vulcan criminal whose crime is apparently being an asshole). We’ve seen swaps before in Trek (Turnabout Intruder, for one) and in other shows like Farscape, but it’s handled so well here, it stands apart. Meanwhile, Chapel (whose love life is discussed in a bit of detail) finds herself in the middle of the two, M’Benga goes fishing, and La’an and Una try to prove that Una’s lower-decks nickname “Where Fun Goes to Die” is untrue by playing through a wild set of tasks known as “Enterprise Bingo”.

The whole thing looks and feels so much like a Lower Decks episode (especially the whole Enterprise Bingo subplot which even connects to the “lower decks crew” concept), I was expecting to see a time-travelling Mariner and Boimler to turn up. That’s not a complaint - I love Lower Decks.

In contrast, The Orville: New Horizons decided to launch its new season - the first made for streaming service Hulu - with an episode so dark and serious it puts the darkest moments of DS9 and Discovery to shame. It’s hard to believe this was ever considered a comedy series. I have to be careful how I discuss the episode because I know “trigger words” are a thing. Basically, after robotic Isaac finds himself ostracized by the crew due to his actions in Season 2 (he was revealed to be a “sleeper” agent of the Kalons, a robotic race bent on wiping out all life in Orville’s version of the Federation. He was brought back to the side of good but not until thousands of people were killed in a battle), he basically ... commits deactivation. The episode does not shy away from using the S-word here and it features characters on both sides of the issue. I suppose back in the 1980s US network TV might have promoted this as “a very special” episode.

People who think Seth MacFarlane is all fart jokes and edgy humour (or, for that matter, TNG homages) may find themselves surprised. As writer and director of the episode, he approaches both sides of the issue with remarkable candor. He takes a side, to be sure, but he allows both sides to be heard. And the episode has angered some fans - in much the same way Trek, at its most powerful, has been known to do. (And I don’t mean regarding canon, quality, or any of that). Technically, it’s feature length (about 70 minutes), so Seth allows scenes to breath and conversations to take place. It makes for a slow-moving episode at times, but ... it works. Incidentally, although one character says “bullshit” which is a word Fox TV wouldn’t have allowed, at least in the first episode Seth hasn’t turned The Orville into a swearing-and-sex fest on streaming. Other than that one swear there’s nothing here we might not have seen on Fox ... except, possibly the storyline. There have been questions asked as to why Seth moved The Orville to streaming and I think the ability to tell stories like this may have been a reason.

Seth also takes the brave step of allowing a season premiere to (after some initial awwwww it’s back! moments) focus on a brand-new character, Charly Burke who, at first, resembles Alara Kitan a bit too much (give actress Anne Winters dark hair and she’d be a dead ringer at times for Halston Sage, and they even give Charly her own superpower (the ability to visualize in 4 dimensions), but she very quickly reveals a voice that has already reminded some fans of Ensign Ro from late-era TNG, which again is not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall an excellent episode, if a slightly concerning one. One reason why Trek fans have gravitated to The Orville since 2017 is because it provided a counterbalance (or, for some, an outright alternative) to modern Star Trek which is seen by many as being too serious, too political, and playing too fast and loose with established canon. The Orville felt like a modern-day remake of Star Trek TNG by someone who understood what made TNG popular, not to mention TOS. But this week, at least, it felt like Strange New Worlds is the show that has the formula, while The Orville felt like an episode you might expect of Discovery. Again, not necessarily a complaint from me because it was so well done the episode title, “Electric Sheep” (itself a reference to the iconic Philip K. Dick story about artificial life that was adapted as Blade Runner) might as well have been subtitled “The Orville’s Emmy Nomination Episode.”

Back to SNW: since I’ve made the choice not to accept it as “prime” canon, I am greatly enjoying it. Sadly, I know people have written off the show simply because of certain names on the credits. Right now it’s Alex Kurtzman. 10 years ago it was J.J. Abrams. 20 years ago it was Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. At least with Trek I don’t play that game. I chose to no longer watch Discovery and Picard because they no longer felt like Star Trek (and had other negatives like characters and storylines I did not like). But Strange New Worlds is actually Star Trek with likeable characters, homages galore to the original series (even the original theme from TOS is established as existing in the SNW version of the Trek universe when its fanfare is heard coming from a device during “Spock Amok”), and interesting stories. This is what we should have got back in 2017. If you’ve been avoiding SNW because it has the same pedigree as Discovery and Picard, I’d suggest giving it a try. So far SNW Season 1 has been the strongest first season of a Trek series since (and I don’t say this lightly) the first season of TOS. Every Trek series since TOS has had weak (or at least weak-er) first seasons, with some shows taking so long to find their voice - like Enterprise - it’s too late. Although the DISCO episodes with Pike were hit-and-miss, and the less said about the Short Trek with the Tribbles, the better, SNW has been firing at Warp 9 since the first episode.

As for The Orville, I’m glad to see it back. It delivered an excellent opening episode with amazing work by everyone involved. But I am concerned that if it swings too serious it may lose much of the appeal that made it so popular in the first place. But I look forward to seeing how the new season plays out and I still have immense goodwill towards it, while SNW is rapidly restoring my own goodwill toward live-action Star Trek series.

#star trek: strange new worlds #the orville: new horizons

5 notes · View notes

papillon82fluttersby · 2 months

Text

Famous Five Art Nostalgia #01 – Part 4B

Introductory post

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4A

Five on a Treasure Island – Le Club des Cinq et le trésor de l’île

Original publication date: 1942 (UK), 1962 (France)

(Cover art by Jean Sidobre, Hachette, Vermeille collection, 1975)

The following day, the Five visit the wreck and discover the captain's cabin, where they find some objects belonging to George's great-great-great-grandfather, including an old box which they take back to Kirrin Cottage. The box proves difficult to open, so they throw it from the highest window of the house. The box breaks open, but the noise disturbs Uncle Quentin who confiscates the box. Not willing to give up their quest, Julian sneaks into Uncle Quentin's study and takes the box, which contains an old map of Kirrin Castle. Later in their further examination of the map, the children find the word ‘INGOTS’, and they realise it is a treasure map showing the location of the lost gold. After making a tracing of the map and returning the box, they decide to find the gold themselves.

The second half!

~~~~~~

Plot summary (adapted from Wikipedia) – continued:

(A mysterious find in the wreck)

(Julian finds a creative way to open the box)

To the children's dismay, the box containing the map is sold to an antique collector. The same man also makes an offer to buy Kirrin Island. The children realise he has found the secret map and wants the gold for himself, and so begins a race for the Five to get to the gold first. Thinking the children want to spend time at the island before it is sold, Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny allow them to go camping there for one week.

(George is unhappy with her mother when she hears about the many onlookers gawking at the wreck)

(Making plans for a few days’ camping trip on the island)

(Timmy saves the day by rescuing the map that had fallen overboard)

Once on the island, the Five start searching the castle ruins to locate the old dungeons where the gold is hidden. Timmy falls down an old well while chasing a rabbit, and thus helping the children to find the entrance to the dungeons. Exploring underground, they find the gold in a locked vault.

(Studying the map on the island)

(Searching for the dungeon entrance)

(Timmy’s furious rabbit chase)

(Timmy gets rescued from the well he fell into – and thus starts a long-suffering career of being hauled up and down holes by his enterprising two-legged friends)

(Anne has found the hidden entrance to the dungeons!)

(Exploring the dungeons)

(A locked door…)

Trouble soon arrives, as bad men come to the island hoping to steal the gold. They capture George and Julian, lock them in the dungeons and ask them to write a note to Anne and Dick up on the surface—a note that will induce those two back down into the dungeons. George writes the letter but Dick finds something fishy about it, as George has signed her name "Georgina", so Dick and Anne decide not to go down. Unable to find those two, the men leave the island, taking the oars from the children's boat so they cannot escape. Dick and Anne use the well shaft to rescue Julian and George from the dungeon, and the children hatch a plan to trap the men when they come back to the island with a boat to steal the gold.

(Timmy hears intruders approaching…)

(Dick and Anne discover the intruders’ boat)

(Dick climbs down the well to reach the dungeons and rescue Julian and George)

(Dick in the dungeons)

(Rescued!)

(Julian is hard at work hatching a plan for trapping the bad guys)

(Julian watches for the villains’ return)

(The bad guys are trapped, hah!) [Note: Is it me or does this guy look like Charles Bronson??]

(The victorious Five leave the bad guys stranded on the island)

Although the plan goes wrong, the children manage to leave the men stranded on Kirrin Island. They return to the mainland to tell Uncle Quentin, Aunt Fanny and the police what has happened. The gold is recovered, and it is determined that it legally belongs to George's family, making them rich and enabling them to afford everything they have ever wanted. George's only wish is to be allowed to keep Timmy, and her parents agree. George also agrees to go to boarding school with Anne, because she and her cousins have become very good friends and also the school allows pets.

(A proud father – and uncle)

(Two policemen talk with Uncle Quentin) [Note: Okay, now these guys are definitely Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy!]

~~~~~~

Thanks for reading!

#papillon82 reads #famous five art nostalgia #famous five #le club des cinq #enid blyton #illustrations #jean sidobre #there may or may not be a mid-week post #i may have quite a busy week... 😬#see you next time!

1 note · View note

thegreatobsesso · 1 year

Text

Edited today + update from meeee

Callie POV

Camilla reached inside folds of leopard print and Callie startled, flaring the energy in her outstretched hand in warning.

“Simon, if you’ll restrain your guard dog,” she said with amusement, and pulled an envelope out of her ugly coat. “Hand this over to him, would you, hun?” she said, wiggling it in Callie’s direction. “Just papers. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

Easy, Bennett sent her as he reached for the envelope. Do as she says, hand it to me.

Callie reached forward and snapped the thing from this, this Camilla’s hand, swallowing the uneasy feeling she got from the woman’s fingernails. Too sharp, too long and a wretched shade of milky pink. She passed the envelope behind her to where Bennett stood, not taking her eyes off the intruder the whole time.

She was only sure of two things at the moment: the first was that whatever was happening was bad, and the second was that it was unfolding on live TV.

Camilla conveyed ease, even boredom while Bennett put his glasses on and tore into the envelope, but Callie knew the look of someone trying to hide just how much they were enjoying themselves.

All at once, the bridge groaned with the weight of shock and disaster - she and Bennett’s bridge, not the one they were standing on.

“This isn’t…” he stammered, and she heard the flutter of paper as he flipped the pages, hoping something in it would add some kind of understandable context to the opening paragraph. Camilla just waited, and while she did, the sound Callie heard earlier grew louder. She could see now that people were rolling metal carts up the bridge bearing loads of cargo; various shapes and sizes, covered by white sheets tied tightly with rope, their wheels clattering over the cobblestone. She counted eight, nine, ten - no, even more emerged from the mist even as she stood there gawking. What the hell was going on?

Updates related to the draft and me in general underneath the cut!

Hi friends! I’m still alive, and still slowly plodding through draft two edits. In this bit above I’m cracking open the campaign plot that will keep these kids busy throughout the remainder of book 2. Which, now I guess I’m calling this three books. So. That’s, fun? 😂 On some level my brain really wants to know how many books it will be, but another part of my brain knows I have to service the story and ultimately it gon be as long as it gon be.

Thematically, it truly does make sense for it to be three books. Word count wise, draft two is.... shaping up that way. Sooooooo, I don’t know, it’s funny.

I wasn’t writing for awhile there, mostly because I started listening to the Magnus Archives and it consumed me. :) :) :) Binge-listening is the way I would describe what I’ve been doing and if anyone wants to talk about it, please for the love of christ slide into my DMs. I’m only through the first two seasons, but in a rare move where I don’t know what came over me, I kind of just started dipping my bare little toes into the fandom space here and I’m pretty sure I’ve spoiled almost everything for myself, and a small part of me regrets it, but a bigger part of me is also just.... enjoying it. I don’t want any more spoilers than I already have poisoned myself with but I do do do do do do wanna talk about it so hit me up if you are also a fan. 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏

#the insuppressible callie ray #my wip #oc: callie #oc: simon #writing snippet #writeblr #writing excerpt #original writing #original novel #life updates

0 notes

flowerflamestars · 3 years

Text

Shoreless Sea snippet

“I like him.” She absolutely did not hide in her hand, but it was a close thing. “I…enjoy him. There’s humans in fucking Summer, did you know that? Mixed as our cities. Gentry titled selkies. Sirens. Citizenship to refugees. They call their Death God mother. Helion made a little noise. “Oh, I see. A beautiful sailor revolutionary.” The flat tone she was trying to affect failed full-hearted. “He’s a good man.” “He is.” Helion agreed, reaching for her hand. Nesta let him take it, the gentle squeeze familiar as the wash of sunlight arriving home. Day, where love was made to be shared, choice more guiding than stars.

Where the High Lord knew a thing or two about walking forward into a less lonely life that strayed from expectation. Nesta flipped her wrist. “What’s the scent, to you?” “Sunshine on the sea,” Helion answered immediately, before a glorious, laugh. “Like you spent the last thirty days loved up and rolled in sugar. Salt and blood and warmth. You smell adored, Nesta.”

#back at it and screaming merrily to myself #while Plot does intrude into part 2 #(as does Cassian)#it is the section for Nesta to literally #be all loved up #Nesta: HELION YOU DID NOT WARN ME #Helion who is so pleased he's having an out of body experience: you? met someone?!!!#Helion returning to the mortal plane to choke on his drink two seconds later: TARQUIN?#TARQUIN?#Nesta: Tarquin.#Nesta falling in love with her eyes wide open #like a snake shedding skin #Helion Not making jokes #but thinking them #because he realizes IMMEDIATELY #there is nothing casual about this #(there is nothing casual about Nesta Archeron)#the small joy of this story #is that I get to include a bunch of Nesta #just being happy #in Day #with her lil family #you know #drinking all of helion's wine with him #stitching up Azriel's catastrophic wounds from his own brother trying to murder him #having dinner with Lucien #and catching the manic light in his eyes #the second he realizes she ISN'T JUST happy and newly speckled in gold

38 notes · View notes

hessafeelsfordayss · 2 years

Text

Some of my thoughts about Bridgerton season 2 (these will be out of order) MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS:

• First off, I just want to start out by saying that Simone and Jonathan's performances were out of this world. You could feel every emotion they portrayed; you could feel the yearning, the frustration, the passion, the angst, every single time they were in a scene together. They brought Kanthony to life better than anyone else could have ever dreamed of.

• Because of them, Kate and Anthony's chemistry was unmatched. Every touch, every lingering stare, every almost kiss, had my heart fluttering and me biting my fist from pure excitement. During their intimate moments it almost felt like I was intruding on their privacy. I felt like Anthony and Kate were real people, and not just actors playing a part. All I'm saying is Jonathan and Simone better get all the rewards!

• I've already stated this, but Lord Featherington and Portia's scheming 'romance' was really boring to me and also quite gross. The fact that it came out of nowhere and the lack of chemistry was a turn off.

• But I'm so so proud of Portia for choosing her girls without hesitation. She has made some questionable decisions no doubt, and isn't the best at showing her affection towards them, but I know she does love them and want them to be happy. If she didn't she would have gone with Lord Featherington, because she obviously did have feelings for him. Big props to her for that.

• I'm gonna get hate, but I don't really like what they did with Edwina's character. In the book Edwina is more understanding and happy for her sister, and knows exactly what she wants in a husband, but then again Anthony didn't propose to her in the book 😒 I can understand her feeling hurt, truly I can, but I feel like she took it too far when she told Kate that they are only half sisters. That was a low blow, especially considering Kate felt she needed to earn her way into their family, and set aside her own happiness to ensure that Edwina and Mary got theirs first.

• Even when she wasn't blind to their feelings anymore, and she could see how much they truly cared for each other, she was still acting bitter and treating Kate poorly and calling her an unkind person and not forgiving Kate until the accident. Edwina in the book would never do these things. I still love her though. She is only human after all.

• I saw a lot of growth with Colin towards Pen this season. The way he stared at her when he first saw her after a while, him protecting her and her family and telling her she's special to him... Only for him to once again regress at the end. I love angst though, so I'm not really bothered by what he said. It makes me think that in season three it will play a big part in his and Penelope's story. What I am upset about is how he laughed at the expense of her with the guys. That was really messed up, especially after he had just got done telling her she was special to him and that he will always protect her.

• I better see Penelope distancing herself from him, or better yet straight up ignoring him. I want him confused and I want him to pine for her presence without even knowing that's what he is doing. Most of all, I need Penelope to have suitors. I need obliviously jealous Colin like I need the air to breathe! I want the tables flipped, I want Pen to give up on the fantasy of Colin and actually show interest to these suitors. After the little stunt he pulled, I need Colin to be the one doing the pining this time.

• My heart broke at Eloise and Penelope breaking their friendship. I love them both dearly, but maybe this is for plot purposes? Like maybe so Penelope won't be around the Bridgerton' s anymore, which will affect Colin? And Eloise and Penelope as well. Because let's be real, Penelope and Eloise are for life. I just wonder if El is going to tell her family or anyone about Penelope's secret.. 🤔😩

• Loved all the Bridgerton family scenes, along with all of the individual family members. They will always be one of my favorite things about the show. The playful jabs and banters, all of them always being there for one another no matter what, the raw emotional moments, etc.

• When Anthony sniffed the air when Kate walked by and Lady Danbury caught him and loudly cleared her throat - that was peak comedy 😂😂 I snorted so loud I was afraid I woke the rest of the house up.

• Not to mention his reaction to seeing her bare thigh.. the man is a capital R Rake but was left speechless and flustered at just seeing her leg. He already had it bad. 🤭

• Marina being the number one polin shipper... Hell yess! I didn't see it coming, but I'm so happy about it.

• The Queen's storyline was boring as well, but I love her so much for putting her own desires aside and approving of Kate and Anthony's love. If it wasn't for her, I'm not sure how Kate and Anthony could have ended up together without tarnishing their families names.

• That's all I can think of right now, but if I happen to think of more I'll be sure to share them with you all!

#kanthony #kathony #kate sharma #kate x anthony #anthony x kate #anthony and kate #anthony bridgerton #viscount bridgerton #viscountess bridgerton #bridgerton season two #penelope bridgerton #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton #polin #bridgerton #the viscount who loved me

555 notes · View notes

smartzelda · 3 years

Text

Highkey hope sk8 is renewed for a season 2 so the team gets a chance to finish off some of the leftover plot threads

Like Miya's issues with being left by his friends for being better at skating and Reki leaving. Reki still needs to apologize. And in that same vein I'd like to see how he rekindles his friendship with his ex best friend and what gets his ex best friend to start talking to him again

Then there's the thing with Adam and his aunts. Does he secretly resent them? Is he gonna tell em off or go directly against his wishes? Is something gonna happen to them since they were a part of Adam's abuse and forced supression of his queerness. And what of the marriage thing? Does he just come out and marry Tadashi? Does he make excuses to his aunts and the public while secretly (but probably not so secretly) date Tadashi? We're still missing a lot with Adam, Tadashi, Joe, and Cherry's past. It's still not clear exactly why Cherry has a grudge. We don't know if Cherry and Joe have always been that way to each other or if something happened back then (probably after ADAM left for America). We don't know what happened in America and we haven't gotten much of a chance to see how teenage Adam was before his father found him and Tadashi out. Tbh I'd like to see more of when Cherry, Joe, and Adam became friends aside from a flashback that sorta summarizes it from Cherry's end

What of that after credits scene in episode 9? That whole scene with Joe and Cherry showing us that Cherry trusts Joe enough to be able to fall asleep in his presence. Joe going "but we're not alone. Right Kaoru?". The symbolism of Joe filling up a glass for both of them and clinking his wine glass with Cherry's stationary one. It's an intimate scene towards the end. One of those where someone is asleep and the other softly gazes at them, saying soft things they might not dare confess to their face. Watching feels like you're intruding on something. Personally I interpreted that scene showing Joe's unrequieted love and even how he feels different about Cherry than how they act in front of each other. Not to mention there's a possibility that women isn't really Joe's happiness and that money isn't Cherry's. I mean it's entirely possible they're just distractions for something else.

Then Adam doesn't believe the way he wants to live and loving Tadashi is bad anymore, but what of Tadashi? I'm sure it was so reassuring to hear straight from Adam's mouth that he wanted them to be together forever too and that maybe he'd still cared for Tadashi all this time. But while Adam's relationship with skating and queerness has been addressed, Tadashi's has not yet. We got to see more of him being vulnerable and expressing emotion in the final episode, but we haven't gotten to see him completely move on from societal pressures and his feelings on skating. He hasn't realized onscreen like ADAM yet that whether you think "skating" is a childish want, you have the right to live your right however you want. Queerness- I mean skating isn't inherently bad. That being said, we also haven't gotten to see onscreen why the intertwined hearts at the bottom of the pool mean so much to him. I assume it definitely symbolizes his relationship with Adam, but we haven't gotten to see either when it was put there or the exact feelings he and Adam put into it. Not to mention Tadashi's original decision to stay by Adam's side

Then at the end of episode 12 it's also sort of implied that Tadashi and Adam joined the found family, meaning at some point Adam fixed his relationship with Joe and Cherry. Tbh I'd like to see how that happened. How did Adam go about apologizing and rekindling his friendship with them?

What's up with Reki’s ex best friend? We got to see some flashbacks, but just how important was he to Reki? They obviously don't hang out anymore after his friend ended up in that accident, so how did their falling out go? Is he gonna show up in the future? If he's still around, will Reki try to fix his friendship with him even if he doesn't do skating anymore? Or is Reki over it?

Then there's small things. Reki and Langa have been friends for a while now, and Reki’s mom knows they hang out and has met Langa more than once. But as far as we know, Langa’s mom only knows that Langa sneaks out with "someone" every night and there's someone he really cares about and maybe has a crush on. Reki still hasn't met Langa’s mom? And Shadow learned his crush has a boyfriend already and cried about it? What does he do next? Obviously he skates for himself and to blow off steam, but since part of his reason for skating was to get strong for his crush, what does he do now? Then Miya obviously likes skating, but if there might be a theme in sk8 about finding your true happiness, what is Miya's true happiness if not getting into a good school or being the best skater? Tbh I bet it has something to do with his ex friend or friendship in general

I think with the amount of episodes sk8 had to work with and all the plot threads and themes introduced, sk8 finished pretty well all things considering. It was a good ending and I liked it, but there are still some things I'd like resolved one day

713 notes · View notes

fermented-writers-block · 3 years

Text

PART 1 of 6 of the Owl Deity Hooty Theory

[NEXT PART]

[OWL DEITY HOOTY THEORY MASTERPOST] (in development)

(TLDR at bottom of post)

Over several long months of research and analysis since March of 2020, I have been following an utterly fascinating thread of potential misdirection and subtle details throughout The Owl House, and today, I would like to start weaving together of what I believe could become one of the biggest and most cleverly disguised twists in the entire show.

To begin, let’s take a look at the B plot of Understanding Willow:

On first glance, it’s an ultimately inconsequential sidestory with the sole purpose of justifying an excuse to keep Luz and Amity in Willow’s mind, as well as providing some well-needed room to breathe and release tension after the veryemotionally charged confrontation with Inner Willow. After half an episode of Eda and King outdoing the other in ridiculous ways to win Gus’ vote and Gus running off in frustration at the end of the episode from Hooty’s inane rambling, it’s easy to laugh off Gus’ pick and assume that nothing/of value was said when he closed the door for the interview.

However, if one pays close attention to that very scene, Hooty actually canstill be heard (if faintly) underneath Eda and King’s grumbling, interestingly talking about how “It all started with a hunt. Blood red skies. That’s right, I was created-.”

Now, while it may seem silly to focus on dialogue from Hooty of all characters, this A) tells us that there was an event in the past involving blood red skies and a hunt of some kind, B) that Hooty had been created close to said event, and C) implies that what he knows but can’t tell as a story worth a damn is EXTREMELY important to be included and be hidden in such a manner.

For comparison, the only other instance of dialogue being tucked away in the background in the entire show is in Wing It Like Witches:

During the lecture at the beginning of the episode, the history teacher openswith lore on Belos appointing a head witch to each coven over 50 years ago, immediately cluing in the audience to try and decipher the rest of the lecture as it moves to the background. Adding to this is how the musical sting when Luz shows off her movie obscures what he says even further, making it even more of a intriguing puzzle that the creators clearly intended for viewers to pick up on and attempt to solve.

In contrast, the hidden dialogue of Hooty’s interview is much shorter and not as hard to decipher as the teacher’s history lesson, but at the same time, there are few to no indicators whatsoever in that scene to clue in the audience to even check for something like that. It comes at the end of an episode where most viewers would have been paradoxically tired out and driven abuzz by the revelations of Amity and Willow’s relationship, doesn’t attempt to draw much attention to itself, and frames itself as a comedic subversion of audience expectations with neither the “greatest witch who ever lived” or the self-proclaimed king of demons being picked by Gus.

Instead, he picks someone that the show portrays constantly as an oblivious and gullible idiot after being described as a “state of the art defense system” at the very beginning of the series. Someone who, despite it being played for laughs, is scarily capable of casually subduing Lilith offscreen one episode and then beating her and an entire squad of Emperor’s Coven members without even the slightest change in personality or temperament.

Someone who, due to being the Owl House itself, could be considered the titular character of the entire show, yet is taken for granted by those who inhabit him and barely gets any respect from even the cutely patronized King - including when Hooty could be interpreted as having potentially been full on DEAD for a time given the use of extremely cartoony X eyes and a lack of vital signs in The Intruder.

And someone who Eda at best tolerates and at worst abandons in personal interactions and only occasionally acknowledges him when he’s actually doing his job. Yet at the same time is so implicitly trusted beyondprotecting her home to the point where - when up against the closest person Eda has to an equal outside of likely Belos - the only actually recognizable spells Eda used in combat were 1) stereotypical energy blasts, 2) a single shield spell in Covention, and 3) a noticeably large reliance on imitations of Hooty above any other spells she could have decided to use instead.

In short, the show repeatedly tells us he is just an idiotic gag character through and through, but at the same time demonstrates he has immense power through both onscreen and offscreen demonstrations, implicitly tells us his importance ahead of time through Eda’s imitations in actually serious situations, and treats his interview and origin story as - if not even more- important to keep secret than a long lore dump about how Belos’ reign works.

After all, there being only two instances of hidden background dialogue in the entire season is already intriguing on its own, but for one to get plenty of clues to draw in people’s attention and for the other to be treated as just another gag about a “mere comic relief character” - aka a good way to draw away attention and lower one’s guard - heavily suggests a far deeper significance buried under layers of misdirection, comedy, and conditioned audience expectations.

I mean, when Eda bragged about being “a bad girl living in a secret fortress,” Hooty followed with a remark about how “I’m the secret.” While that line may sound like Hooty simply being confused as part of a one-off on the surface, it’s an odd dialogue choice for the writers to pick when you think about all the other reminders of his nature as the house itself throughout the season. With the precedent these moments set, it would have been much more appropriate for him to latch onto the “fortress” side of “secret fortress” AND it would have been just as equally funny of a joke about his awareness skills, but instead, Hooty broke away from the established trend to say something that would make people suspicious were it to come from anyone else.

In a way, this reminds me much of the many subtle bits of foreshadowing strewn across the show, like Luz unknowingly describing Amity in Witches Before Wizards and Eda burning a hole through Luz’s coven type quiz that coincidentally selected the same track she had taken at Hexside as “a punky potionist.” At the time of airing, these initially seemed like one-off jokes, but eventually came back in full force several episodes later with Amity’s hidden sensitive feelings and love for the Azura books becoming clear in Lost in Language, and the reveal of Eda’s school track in Something Ventured, Someone Framed with her school misdemeanor pictures.

That said, compared to these individual bits of minor foreshadowing, the jokes about Hooty in Understanding Willow appear to simply be the most obvious pieces in a giant puzzle, implicitly and outright telling attentive viewers that there’s a major mystery to be uncovered here.

In fact, I feel bold enough to say that we could be looking at a twist on a similar scale to that of the Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz and Stanford Pines twists in Steven Universe and Gravity Falls respectively, what with this particular puzzle piece coming from how Gus wanted to make THE greatest interview of all time, and how he was looking for someone who was “interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy:”

Note the emphasis on the ‘and’ here, as Gus had made a big deal that “people aren’t meantto be all those things” at the beginning of the episode, so as a result, stripping away all the comedic framing of his subplot leaves the intriguing implication that whoever - and, perhaps, what- Hooty is, they really are the most interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy person out of everyone.

I could go further and talk about why I suspect the mystery surrounding King’s origins, whether true or not, is partially meant to misdirect us from paying attention to Hooty, or how the TOH crew’s could be disguising legitimate clues to his nature among made up and highly meme-able joke answers in order to proliferate said concepts throughout the fandom - thus letting us do all the dirty work of getting ourselves used to the ideas and used to dismissing them at the same time - but to bring things to a close for now, I’d like to leave you all with a question that I’ll start answering next time:

What does it mean when both the most powerful and notorious witch on the Boiling Isles and the possible actual king of demons/the Titan itself/something don’t match up to a house? And what do you think it is that makes him so special to warrant such misdirection?

TLDR: Between Eda’s golem spells, the show stressing his nature as the titular house, his implicit strength, and the odd dialogue and structure of Understanding Willow‘s subplot in relation to him, I believe I have good reason to suspect the show has been giving us many hints towards Hooty being much, much more important than it would like us to currently believe or even joke about. Particularly, through clever uses of comedy to establish and enforce a strong audience bias against looking closely at him or unironically taking him seriously, and to potentially plant the seeds for something I will start exploring in Part 2.

#the owl house #the owl house theory #owl house theory #the owl house speculation #toh theory #the owl house hooty #toh speculation #owl deity hooty theory #long post

263 notes · View notes

demonslayedher · 3 years

Text

Dream Analysis of Mugen Ressha

Spoilers for the movie, while it does not depart from the plot of the manga, they made adaptational choices which I may refer to within.

While Enmu has control over what kind of dream his victims see, ultimately, he would have no way of knowing all of the details of his victims' lives, so we can assume that he is prompting his victims to fill in a lot of the details themselves. These are the worlds they surround themselves with consciously, but their untouchable unconscious spaces say just as much.

I've said some of this before, but these dream sequences give us so much to say about Inosuke, Zenitsu, Kyojuro, and Tanjiro.

Into the dream: Did that "Rengoku-aniki" thing really happen???? It's animated like a fever dream (or drawn like a typical Gotouge-being-Gotouge panel), but both the movie and the manga leave this inconclusive. It can be interpreted two ways: 1. The two other demons were there all along as decoys, set to appear only when Enmu's blood technique slowly started to take effect so that they'd let their guard down. In this way, we'd know that the boys had a true way of witnessing Kyojuro's prowess and a true bonding moment, thereby making his death hit all the harder later. This would also mean that one of the cars was totally unusable for passengers, and many of the passengers were already thoroughly spooked before falling into sleep. It would also imply that they were all super excited, thoroughly relieved, returned to their seats, and then just passed out.

2. The moment the tickets were clipped, Enmu's very, very, very realistic dreams took immediate effect, but he still needed time before it took effect enough that their guards would go down. If this is the case, then it implies the following: 1. Enmu's illusions can be shared 2. Everyone syncs extremely well together to have all been sucked in by the same illusion (it's possible it was only Tanjiro's, but since we get in everyone's heads a little in this part, I believe they all experienced the same thing). Reacting in ways so true to how they would in waking like, they learned as much about each other as truthfully as they would have if they were fighting while awake. 3. The "Rengoku-aniki" thing is the moment they're falling into a deeper stage of sleep, when any bizarre thing will make sense. They've lost any sense of holding back and are embracing the emotions as they hit them. Even if that was all a dream, the bond formed was very real. But then, as they fall deep, they fall into their own headspaces. Inosuke: I love how bombastic this dream is. It moves at a very fast pace, and everything revolves around Inosuke. He is physically much larger than Ponjiro, Chuuitsu, and Pyonko, who clearly follow him as their leader, the most powerful person in this cave exploring world full of wonder and excitement. True to life, these underlings can at times be frustrating or stupid, but there is no one else Inosuke would rather have at his side to take on a hugely impressive foe. It's a relatively simplistic world, what Inosuke really cares about is his place in it, and who is there.

Taking it a step deeper, he should not be able to manifest in his self-conscious space, but Gotouge attributes his and Zenitsu's ability to do this and protect their cores from intruders to their strong senses of self. What's telling is that his subconscious space is practically identical to his conscious dream space; like there is no breakage between one stage of reality and the next. In its Zen-like simplicity Inosuke's mind is never at odds with itself, its interpretation of reality is fluid and seamless. However, being at this deeper state brings us to a deeper state of self actualization, with Inosuke manifesting closer to the ideal beast he views himself as.

Now, with Inosuke being so fully invested in what he sees as reality, he's still got a carry-over effect from dream after waking up, which one could interpret as not having fully shaken the effects of Enmu's blood technique. After all, Zenitsu simply never broke out of it, Tanjiro had to kill himself in his dreams each time to fully snap out of it, and Kyojuro was the only one powerful enough to have broken through its effects through his own willpower. When Tanjiro says the train is a demon, he buzzes with "I was right!" (a conviction that only got stronger in his dream), and Inosuke's declarations of being the boss and Tanjiro being his underling are indignantly plentiful and he fully believes what he is saying every time he brings it up, even if he's aware that he's no longer in the cave exploring dream. But, given that Inosuke is so at peace with his own version of reality, it's also just as likely that his conviction of being The Boss was also only compounded by the dream, and all that dream did was give him a more fun setting in which to play around in. But, what was so fun about the dream, what made him sleep-giggle with pleasure, was that everyone else was finally getting with the program and recognizing him as the boss, as they should. Finally. It's so frustrating in real life that he has to keep reminding them to get it right. Get it, Santaro?? GOOD. Zenitsu: What I love here is the contrast between subconscious and conscious space. Both of them have the same theme melody, but played in very, very different ways. They also both play with the same core desire in very different ways as well. Is it so much to ask that he can just spend some time alone with the girl he loves?? If we jump straight to the pitch black unconscious space, he specifies to the intruder that only Nezuko is allowed there. Not just girls in general, not a close friend like Tanjiro, only the one girl he loves, and even then, you'd have to love someone a lot to invite them into the deepest, darkest corners of your soul. And it is a very, very, very, very dark corner. Zenitsu's spent most of his life building that dark, pessimistic personality, compounded by the treatment he's always received throughout his life and what he believes about himself at his core. He's ugly and depraved there, and very defensive. Because he holds himself in such darkness, that makes him desire the bright, happy, completely idealistic world of his conscious dream world. It's rich with detail and warm and he knows it well, that places is the first place he ever felt someone have hope for him; it's Jiichan's home, that sunny place with delicious peaches and full of clovers and lush greenery and a charming stream. Of course he'd want to show it all to Nezuko, she deserves to see such a happy, pretty place! And, while the world is idealized and happy, Nezuko is e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y cute and actually wants to hang out with him too. She's willing no hold his hand, none of the girls who dated (read: used) Zenitsu in the past were ever willing to hold his hand. He even gets to show her that he can be cool, and she likes it!! She looks him in the eyes and is totally honest about enjoying his company!!

He just wants someone to want him back. He wants to belong in the sunshine too. So, even if he had it in him to wake up from Enmu's blood technique, who can blame him for staying there? (You know, besides Tanjiro, who has been desperately screaming for them all to wake up and help him protect the passengers. Zzzzz, five more minutes, Tanjiro, zzzzzzz----) Kyojuro: This... isn't really a happy dream. Kyojuro has accepted a lot of sad parts of his reality so wholeheartedly that he doesn't seek the comfort of a dream in which his mother is still alive, or a dream in which his father is proud of him. Instead, what Kyojuro was looking for was the chance to go back and say more to Senjuro. This implies that on the real day he knelt in that room, while his father faced away and read the book* while Kyojuro told him all about how he defeated Lower Moon Two and became a Pillar, and was met with his father's heartbreakingly unenthusiastic reply, he later went outside and...

...didn't say any words of comfort to Senjuro.

This regret, that he didn't do more for his brother whom he knew was hurting in his own silent ways this whole time, was what sat most bothersomely in Kyojuro's otherwise peacefully self-assured psyche (or fired-up psyche, if you go by his subconscious space) . It makes sense that in his dying wishes, the first thing he requests is that Tanjiro do this in his stead. *Speaking of that book, Kyojuro had forgotten about it until his memories pulled together to create the details of the dream, which was why he thought to mention it to Tanjiro later. This shows that Enmu is not an architect of people's dreams, he only sets them in motion. How believable they are depends on each victim. (Totally unrelated, I love the design of the Rengoku estate's garden??? It's primarily evergreen and unflowering trees, meaning it stays relatively steadfast throughout the year, a garden designed in samurai villa taste. Plus the details of the house also fit really well, I think??? Would need to review research of buke-yashiki architecture to say more.) Tanjiro: ...*deep breath* This boy really, really wants to go home. Like, the climax of the movie is amazing and all, but it's the scenes with Tanjiro's family that make me cry. Ugh, where do I start. Enmu probably just grabs on to whatever thread of a desire a person has, and then he just tugs on it and says "this way, let's go really far in this direction, show me where it goes, hmm, okay, nice, lovely. Have fun here, I've now seen enough to write my own angsty version for later." So... so I'm just going to work backwards a moment. Enmu screwed up here, thinking he could really read the depth of Tanjiro's family and his feelings for them. He thought he could make a convincing version of these "characters" cry and shove Tanjiro around and speak meanly to him and make him feel shame. And the cut to that dream, OH MY GOSH, truly horrific sound and color change. But Tanjiro's sees through it so fast that he wakes up immediately and uses that anger at how Enmu wrote them to cut off his "head." You screwed up, Enmu, you blew it, maybe other people would very so blown down by the shock that they wouldn't question how unreal that dream sequence is, but Tanjiro has honed his fighting spirit so much that it's been nagging him even throughout his happy dream. And he really, really, really wants to stay in that happy dream. Like, even though he's on guard at the beginning, so much so that he only focuses on the familiar feeling of a demon being around and does not notice the familiar landscape AT ALL. But the moment Hanako and Shigeru step in, convincingly made from Tanjiro's memories and unedited by Enmu, Tanjiro throws that all away in an instant. As he says when he's trying, after trying and trying and trying to rip himself away from the dream, he was never even supposed to had left this world. He was never supposed to had touched anything like a sword, they were all supposed to stay there together, living their simple life. If things hadn't gone wrong that one night. Tanjiro cares deeply about his mission, he's adopted his training deeply, he has serious desire to improve, which is why his subconsciously keeps trying to call himself back to reality, but it's so hard, because this is where he wants to be, and it's even harder because it feels so real. It's a little peeve of mine when families with lots of little siblings are written to be too angelic and idealistic, and there is some of that with the "let's make sembei, yaaaay" scene, but... but that's actually pretty true. I'm giving myself away with how close this hits to home, but it's a dynamic in a lot of large families, especially large families pretty happy to stay to themselves and people who live the same sort of conservative, traditional lifestyle, to foster in the older siblings some pride in taking care of the little ones and helping create that happy world for them, even if taking care of little kids can be rough. It's not to say that things are always happy and fluffy, they're not, and that's not to say even

happy kids don't resent being in a large family sometimes. But there's plenty of moments in daily life, especially in the presence of small children, that you get swept up into a sillier, happy, caretaker side of yourself, and since you all grow up with these silly moments together, you're going to naturally fall into into some silly, scripted-feeling moments of "then I'll be in charge of eating the sembei!" "no faaaaair!". So, I'll give the sembei scene a pass because that IS a moment that happens in years of moments with the same posse of kiddos around you all the time. But it's also so striking to me how each of Tanjiro's siblings, however idealized, has their own personality. The traits are so subtle but consistent and Tanjiro knows all of them. They pick up on things about each other, they grow realistically annoyed and surprised and concerned and scared like they would if they were real instead of only Tanjiro's memories of them. Those kids feel so real to me, even if they are annoyingly overidealized in some parts as Tanjiro is letting himself get swept away. And just when he's managing to part from it to go face reality, Enmu makes more attack: he brings in Nezuko, trying to make it feel like there's no point in Tanjiro running at all. She's fine. There's nothing left for him to fight for. Everything's fine. And all over again, Tanjiro just stops. He KNOWS it's not real, but he's hurting so much to hear her voice again that he just sto-o-o-o-ps. And his desire to stay with the others catches up to him all over again, and he's tempted all over again to stay, EVEN KNOWING IT'S NOT REAL and there are very, very, very pressing matters to attend to. Even if it was all a little happy and idealized, more than anything, it felt like life always did. It's telling that when Tanjiro finally, FINALLY pulls away from that that time, he doesn't look back, and the family stops chasing him. This is Tanjiro accepting reality, however much it hurts. He's already had a couple years to accept this, but it was all overwhelming to get such a vivid taste of it again.

Tanjiro wants to do well to his organization and honor Urokodaki's training and avenge the fallen and prevent anyone else from being hurt and see an end to Kibutsuji Muzan and make Nezuko human again, but more than anything, he wants that simple life. And it's so, so heartwarming that at the end of the manga, he gets it.

It's not the same. It'll never be the same.

He never wanted a life with a sword, but he's been working so hard at it anyway.

#my heart is broken and it's Kamado Tanjiro's fault #KnY Fandom Theories and Meta #Mugen Ressha Hen #Kamado Tanjiro #Kamado Tanjirou #Agatsuma Zenitsu #Hashibira Inosuke #Rengoku Kyoujurou #Rengoku Kyojuro

164 notes · View notes

oliviayamaoka · 3 years

Text

The Roseville Murders (Chapter 2)

Hi, just wanted to say I adjusted the plot slightly and will go into more detail with the story next chapter! This was a bit experimental and I wanted to write the growing relationship / rivalry between Y/N and Danny. I also wanted to write Y/N as a girlboss and to be just as witty as Danny!

Anyways, please comment any ideas or suggestions you may wanna see in future chapters! I have this planned out but would love any ideas or stuff I can add into the story! Tysm for reading!

It rained softly outside as you took a seat at your workplace. The desk was a bit cluttered with your art, notes, junk, and your papers regarding your current investigation.

One of the drawings on your desk was a sketch of Ghostface’s mask, attached to it was a few notes regarding the origin of the mask. Did Ghostface care for the history of it, anyways? You already theorized he was a narcissist who took pride in his work. Perhaps, he admired Edward Munch and his infamous “The Scream” artwork? Or maybe he based his persona off of it? You weren’t too sure but you did research the distribution and the company that made the masks. It wasn’t a particular popular company but it only distributed to the USA, Canada, and Brazil.

Ghostface didn’t seem too caring when it came to where he stabbed victims. As long as there was a lot of blood and something only he could perceive as art. And maybe you too. You felt excited, you already had a three year timeline. Maybe, you could get ahold of other states and ask if there’s been similar killings. Maybe even Brazil and Canada? You had to pinpoint a location and see if you could find just one name, any name.

Three years. Three countries. A part of you doubted he was Brazilian. Maybe Canadian? You weren’t so sure, you were pretty sure he was American. Y/N would probably have to go to the library tommorow to do research and use the slowly growing internet. Your research was suddenly halted when you knocked your sketchbook over.

Our slid a page. You kneeled down to pick it up, holding it as you examined the dark sketch. On the paper was a sketch of claws? No, they also looked like tentacles. Ever since the incident, you had dreams of these tentacle claws grabbing you and pulling you away from life as you know it. It must’ve been a sign of trauma or maybe it represented what happened through the nightmares? You slid it back into your sketchbook, deciding not to dwell on it. It would only make your room feel more depressing.

Beside your sketchbook was your leather journal. Y/N wrote everything in there, for mental health reasons. You included the incident and what Jonathan did for you. Your previous therapist said journaling your thoughts helped the healing process. It worked but journaling about how you killed your abuser was hell.

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted when your phone rang. It was a chunky, black mobile phone you got about a week ago? Y/N reached for it and answered.

“Hello?” You answered, using your other hand to organize your desk.

“Hello?” A voice answered, it was a male by the sound of it.

“Hi, who’s this?” Y/N asked, paying no mind to the phone call as she started to put some of her stuff away. Art supplies.

“Who’s this?” He replied.

“Y/N L/N, am I who you’re trying to reach?” You asked, sitting back down.

“Ah, you’re no fun, detective.” He chuckled as you stopped, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion. Who was this?

“My apologies but, this is my personal phone. Can I ask who gave you this number?” You questioned him.

“Why does it matter, gorgeous? I know it’s you now.” He responded.

“Please don’t call me that. And yes, I am indeed a detective but I’d feel more comfortable discussing anything with you on my work phone.” Y/N said sternly.

“Oh, yeah… Detective L/N, huh? Think you’re some sort of hotshot because you’re new? Where did you come from? Washington? Gonna take more than the feds to catch me.” He said to you.

You listened intently and stopped for a moment. Catch him? Must be a stupid prank. Although, not a funny one since he had your personal phone number. An eyebrow raised as you looked at your notes on Ghostface.

“You still haven’t told me your name. Let’s not be rude, yeah?” You responded, being a little more cocky since you were off-duty.

“Awe, don’t tell me you forgot my name. I’ll give you a hint… I’ve been quite famous lately. In fact, I think you’ve taken quite the interest in me, Y/N.” The man teased. It was 100% Danny.

“I asked for a name, not an alias.” You said.

“Maybe after dinner, hotshot.” Danny said to you as you furrowed your eyebrows.

“I’m not in Roseville to play games. Either verify you are who you claim to be or quit wasting my time.” Y/N spoke with a stern tone.

“My last victim had three stab wounds to the throat. It was going to be two but their scream wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be. And they had a tattoo on their upper thigh. Bella Smith.” He said as you froze for a moment.

It was true. The latest murder victim was a middle-aged woman named Bella Smith who worked at a convenience store. She had multiple stab wounds but it was pretty much impossible to see she had three wounds on her throat just looking at photos of the crime scene.

“Okay and how did you get my number? I imagine the infamous Ghostface doesn’t have access to these types of things. How do I know this isn’t some sort of elaborate prank orchestrated by my coworkers?” You questioned.

“Honey, I am Roseville. Also sounds like you have experience with these kinds of things. You ever get humiliated like that?” Danny asked, grinning widely.

“No, it’s just a very logical conclusion. And why would you be talking to me anyways?” You asked him.

While you spoke to him, you quickly wrote down what he said and what he sounded like. You quickly speculated what his age may be, maybe 25?

“I keep tabs on the cops who are investigating my work and to be honest? They’re all stupid, it’s pathetic. Although, I noticed something about you. You come from one of the big cities, don’t you? You’re actually smart compared to those other pigs.” He said.

“Those pigs you speak of have tried their best in pursuing you. They have families too.” You responded.

“Really, huh? You’ve only been here three weeks? I think you should just trust me on this one because those other officers really don’t know what they’re doing. If you actually find out who I am, are they gonna give you credit? The newbie? A woman?” He asked.

“I don’t understand why gender is an issue. And why would they try to steal credit?” You questioned.

“They’re stuck in this shit hole city and I bet they could just really use a promotion right now. They want so badly to be the hero that arrests me… but first, they’ll let the freshly graduated detective do the work. It’s so easy to overshadow women in this world.” Danny said.

“Well, I don’t care. As long as you’re put behind bars.” Y/N responded.

“The bars at this station? I must say, your desk is quite cute. A bit plain but I like your style… interesting files too.” He mused.

“Huh?” You responded, furrowing your eyebrows.

“Your lil’ office at the station, I like it. This place has always been easy to break into. You noticed it too, didn’t you? Their security sucks and their morgue is just too damn small.” Danny said as you frantically looked around, shoving your shoes on.

“I’m going to call them right now and tell them you’re there. That was a stupid move on your part.” You said, practically yelling.

“So young and naive. I’ll be long gone.” He responded, chuckling as you hung up.

“Fuck, shit!” You said, quickly dialling the number to the police station.

You practically flung your door open, sprinting down the hallway and out through the front doors of the apartment complex after three flights of stairs. Your heart rate increased as you continued running down the sidewalk, feeling more frantic when there was no answer.

“Answer…!” You yelled, calling the emergency number.

“911, how can I help you?” A staticky voice answered as you continued running.

“I’m Detective Y/N L/N! Please inform the police station that there’s an intruder! He might be armed and dangerous! Do not touch anything since there may be forensic evidence!” You instructed.

“Oh—yes, right away, ma’am!” The dispatcher answered as you hung up, continuing to focus on your running towards the station.

Back at your apartment complex, there stood Danny with his own mobile phone. It couldn’t be traced back to him since it was stolen and he didn’t leave any DNA on it. If anything, it had the previous owners. Bella Smith. Your apartment complex had fire escape stairs outside your window. Easy enough, he thought. His outfit was black and had some stuff hanging off it. Strings? Ribbons? Danny was quite quick and extremely quiet when it came to climbing the set of stairs.

He reached your window, pulling it open gently and hoisting himself through, landing gently whilst kneeled down. For precaution, he had his knife gripped in one hand. This was purely for investigation and to see what you truly had on him. His head tilted curiously as he noticed your desk. Your art and notebook. His gloved hand reached out to your sketch of him.

Danny was truly impressed at how detailed and good it was. He read through your sticky notes and theories. Other than the fact he was blown away, he knew you were a threat since you successfully guessed his age range and height. Wait, his height? You did a careful examination of the footage he was in, looking at objects around him and his boots to correctly guess a height.

“What the fuck…?” Danny muttered as he looked at your notes.

The Scream by Edward Munch and a costume company? He skimmed over your notes and the psychological profile you built on him. He felt somewhat panicked since you were indeed no joke. His gaze averted towards your leather notebook. Eagerly, he grabbed it and opened it. Most of it was your thoughts and causes of your stress and anxiety. He stopped flipping through when he saw a darker page. It was dark because of the writing and how crumpled it seemed.

December 23rd, 1992

I was walking down an alleyway two weeks ago. It was cold so I had a jacket over my uniform. I suppose that’s why the man didn’t know I was an officer.

At first, I thought that he was going to try and rob me. It took me a while to realize that my money and belongings wasn’t what he was after. I suppose it would be appropriate to say that I was in shock for a moment. He never finished what he started. Despite being in shock, I was able to feel everything and the adrenaline only helped my rage.

Why? Why did this have to happen to me? After getting him off, I pulled my gun out and he stopped. I still remember the look on his face after I shot him. He was scared and pathetic, as he was in life. I don’t regret killing him. I never will. I just feel utterly violated. Never once have I been touched like that so violently. Is this what this fucked up world has come to? What if I didn’t have my gun and training?

He definitely did this to other women… he deserved to die. And I would do it all over again to him and to other men just like him. Of course, I had to call the police. They were going to charge me with manslaughter but they said that they would push this all under the rug, just as long as I never tell anybody. Did I contribute to corruption in the police force? This getting out would ruin everything. I don’t know but I do know that this was my gift.

Freedom was my gift for killing that man. It felt oddly exhilarating. I hope nobody remembers him, I hope his family know what kind of monster he was. Anyways, I’m being reassigned somewhere. They said they’ll give me my first investigation. In a smaller city.

Danny’s fingers trailed over the page. He felt angry and sad for you. That this happened to you. But, something arose in him when he kept re-reading that paragraph. You… enjoyed it? Behind the mask, he had a soft expression on his face. He imagined your beautiful face full of blood with you and your gun. He smiled gently as he kept the notebook.

He did indeed feel bad for you but he wasn’t satisfied with his limited knowledge of you. Danny decided to use this notebook of incriminating evidence to hold some leverage over you. Not only that but he figured he’d get to know you better if they had something interesting to talk to you about. Danny couldn’t help but grin when he thought about your journal entry and the sketches you made of him. So smart yet so naive.

Danny quickly took a look around your apartment to see all points of entry. He took a peak into your bedroom, it was neat and tidy. He seemed somewhat paranoid so quickly went back to your living room window, making his swift little escape. Not without taking some of your notes on him and your sketchbook.

About two hours later, you rubbed your eyes in frustration as another officer came to talk to you. There was a forensic team still investigating your little office space. Apparently, there was nobody here and your office seemed untouched. For about thirty minutes, you inspected any points of entry and tried to look for out of place shoe marks since it rained outside.

“Detective, are you certain it was the killer who called? We get prank calls a lot.” He said as you nodded.

“Yes, I’m certain. It was him, he knows I’m going to catch him soon.” You said as he nodded a bit.

“Okay, well, we’ll take it from here. Come early tommorow.” He said as you sighed.

“I will but please, don’t miss anything. I’m starting to think he was lying. It was him though.” You said as you turned, walking down the hallway towards the exit.

It seemed to be evening at this point and the rain stopped pouring. It was slightly humid but the city looked oddly beautiful when it was wet? You couldn’t stop thinking about your phone call with Ghostface earlier. Y/N already had some tech professionals try to track the number he called from and all of the information regarding the phone company. You’d have to wait two days at the latest for the results to come back.

As you walked through light puddles, you felt more and more tired. All the running and frantically searching for him was enough to just make you exhausted. It was all last-minute too. Y/N stopped dead in her tracks when she felt her mobile phone ring. You pulled it out of your pocket and answered it.

“Hello?” You asked, tired.

“Hey, gorgeous. Just wanted to apologize for my little deception trick earlier.” He responded as your eyes widened.

“Ghostface…” You responded, shocked that he had the courage to call you again.

“God, hearing that from you…” He said with a slight husk as you took a deep breath quietly to calm yourself.

“You know I’m close, don’t you?” You questioned him as he chuckled.

“Of course, I do… only these hands of mine can do wonders for you.” Danny said to you as you scoffed.

“You’re disgusting.” You say to him.

“Don’t lose your temper now, detective. There’s… things we should discuss.” He cooed.

“Things? Seriously?” You asked him, already tired of his bullshit.

“Yeah! Like, this lil’ notebook of yours! Really deep stuff… Victor Houston, was it? The serial rapist? Must’ve felt real good to put him down, didn’t it? Did it feel as good as you said it did in this thing?” He asked as you froze.

You probably let out a small whimper of shock as your hands trembled. Your heart pumped hard and fast. It was all you can hear as you felt your face heat out of pure embarrassment and shock. He… read your journal? This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good.

“W-What…?” You asked as he cackled.

“God, you’re so hot when you sound scared. Don’t be offended though, babe. You still sound real sexy in your cop tone.” He said as he continued.

“Yeah, I read all about the guy you killed. And how it was all covered up to accommodate you. Are you a star student or something? It’s hard covering up murders… or has it always been easy for you?” He asked.

“I-I, um… how did you get that…?” You asked him, trembling.

“You see, Y/N… we’re the same. You and I are too smart for Roseville. It’s just that I got the upper hand this time. While you rushed to the police station, I took a quick trip into your apartment.” He said as you let out a light gasp.

“Yeah, that’s right! I know where you live, I know where you’re from, and your number. I know who you truly are, Detective Y/N L/N.” Danny said mockingly.

“And what are you going to do with it?” You asked him.

“Always so straight to the point. I might give that annoying little journalist Jed Olsen. You’re trying to work with him, aren’t you? You mentioned in one of these notes… you also think he’s handsome.” He said as you covered your eyes.

You fought tears.

“Why? Why would you do this?” You ask.

“I should be asking you that. I’m a bit jealous you find someone like Olsen… attractive. He’s so boring, so normal, so… ugh, I hate talking about him. Still though, nice to know I have another fan besides him.” He said to you.

“Where are you going with this?!” You snapped as he chuckled darkly.

“I won’t tell anybody. Just as long as you halt your investigation for a while. I still want to have fun in Roseville here and well… get to know you.” He said.

“Go to hell.” You muttered.

“How original… so what’ll it be? I kinda need to know now since I’m also on a bit of a time crunch.” Danny asked you.

“W-What the fuck do you want me to do? Sit back and watch as you kill more innocent people?! I won’t let you.” You said with a venomous tone.

“What are you gonna do? Stop me behind bars?” He asked mockingly.

“Fuck you.” You said.

“I’m sure we will. But first, I just want you to sit back and not do anything stupid. We’ll see each other eventually. I’ll call you from another phone soon.” He said, hanging up.

You held your phone in disbelief and quickly made sure you had your gun. How the hell could you have been so dumb?! It was genius, leading you away from you apartment and finding such leverage against you purely out of luck. Your breath trembled as you walked back to your apartment, having your gun ready in your pocket as you did so.

#dbd x reader #ghostface x reader #the ghostface #ghostface dbd #danny johnson x reader #jed olsen x reader #jed olsen #danny johnson #dead by daylight x reader #dead by daylight

75 notes · View notes

tittytania · 3 years

Text

Finding ChristBorg: A TED talk about what happened during the Coldharbour Compact.

Reposted from my tes reddit bc I want to see what y’all think.

I can't tell if I'm a genius, completely insane, or if I'm just late to the lore-party. Time to find out I guess. TL;DR at the bottom.

So it has never been explained what Sotha Sil did during the Coldharbour Compact to convince the daedric princes to not manifest on Nirn without an intermediary, and it probably never will be since the mystery of it all is far too cool. But that doesn't mean I can't read into it like literature and look for meaning in the other texts I can compare it to.

To start, Vivec is based off of the Shakta variation of the half female/half male Ardhanarishvara, where the gold-skinned female half is the right side. Both Vivec and Ardhanarishvara represent unity and duality, and looking at some images of Ardhanarishvara, it's kinda hard to argue that Vivec wasn't based off of them. Kirkbride even confirmed that Ardhanarishvara was the inspiration for Vivec in an AMA. Now, Vivec is part of the god trio the Almsivi Tribunal, along with Almalexia and Sotha Sil. Shiva, who Ardhanarishvara is the avatar of, is also part of a god trio, called the Trimurti in Hinduism. So it would make sense if the other members of the tribunal are also based off of one member of a real world religious triad. I have a shaky idea of who Almalexia could be, but my theory for her god-inspiration is nowhere near as solid as my theory for Sotha Sil, who I believe is based on Jesus Christ.

To start, their characterizations have multiple similarities. Both are one branch of a god-triad, with Sotha Sil as part of the Tribunal, and Jesus as The Son in the Holy Trinity. Both serve as a teacher, with Jesus being referred to as Teacher several times in the Bible, and Sotha Sil giving lessons on magic and Mysticism to the Psijic Monks. Also, both are characterized as wise, patient, and celibate. They both talk about moral and philosophical concepts with their followers, neither Jesus nor Sotha Sil are shown as having a temper or raising their voices, and neither of them are shown with a spouse or partner. Sotha Sil is specifically shown as not caring about the Night Mother's attempts to sexually manipulate him in book seven of 2920, The Last Year of the First Era. Now I know that 2920 is considered a work of historical fiction in-universe, but I don't think that matters in this situation since I'm approaching this as a person reading a text, not as a person living inside the lore world.

In terms of specific scenes that connect Sotha Sil and Jesus, the first I will mention is that they both use a makeshift whip to beat intruding wrongdoers and drive them away, while yelling about fathers. In the Truth in Sequence vol. 8 book, it says that "[t]hrough His will alone, Mighty Seht wound the veins (of metal ore) into god-bronze whips, and lashed the Prince pitilessly," saying "[b]ehold the wrath of lost Ald Sotha! Know death at my hands, false-son of a false-father!" In the Bible, Jesus found people doing sales in a place of worship, and then He "made a whip of cords, (and) He drove them all out of the temple," saying “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” (John 2 15-16).

Also, Jesus had close friends and followers who were called his apostles, and Sotha Sil has his own Clockwork Apostles. Sil's apostles reside in the Clockwork Basilica, and while basilica isn't an exclusively Christian term, it is frequently used to describe a type of church architecture, and is a term the pope uses to recognize distinguished churches.

Another similarity that I found was in the plot of Morrowind, where Sotha Sil's death was caused at the hands of Almalexia, who was someone he had once loved and trusted, much like with Jesus and Judas.

The most notable life similarity as it relates to the Coldharbour Compact is that both leave the earthly world in order to make a deal for the benefit of the souls on earth, and then return to the earthly world. This parallel is given extra weight with the descriptions of the scene in the book 2920, The Last Year of the First Era. Sotha Sil returns from Coldharbour by way of someone "rolling aside the great boulder that blocked the entrance to the Dreaming Cavern. This sounds a lot like the scene in the bible of the discovery that Jesus had risen from the dead, where "an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door" (Matthew 28:2). In addition, Jesus said "after He is killed, He will rise [on] the third day," (Matthew 17:23) and after Sotha Sil returned from Coldharbour, he "felt he had been away for months, years, but only a few days had transpired." Perhaps it had been 3?

In addition to the life and behavior similarities, there are similarities in dress. In the 2920 book, Sotha Sil is always described as wearing a white robe or cloak. In ESO, Sotha Sil is shown as barefoot, and wearing a blue sash over his long white robe. In medieval and renaissance art, Jesus is most always depicted as barefoot, and is frequently shown with a blue cloth over his shoulder. In most resurrection art, as well as in almost all 20th/21st century art, Jesus is depicted as dressed in white. While Jesus usually isn't usually shown wearing both the blue sash and the white robe at once like Sotha Sil is, I found one modern interpretation of Jesus that does dress him this way, and several depictions of him in Chinese art that also portray him like this.

I'm feeling almost conspiratorial here, but these similarities are far too many for me to think it's accidental, and therefore I have to think that all of this is meant to suggest that Sotha Sil serves a Christ-figure role in his story, i.e. in sacrificing own life like Jesus did in order to make his deal in the Coldharbour Compact. However I don't think Sil's sacrifice was quite so simple. After he is asked what he offered the Daedra in return for the deal, he states: "The deals we make with Daedra... [s]hould not be discussed with the innocent." This implies that in contrast to the Christ mythos, Sil's sacrifice was not blameless; he did not come out of the deal with his hands clean.

So, a Christ-like sacrifice that isn't quite as pure and selfless as it is in Christianity. What could that be?

My theory is that in order to make the Coldharbour Compact, he sold the lives of Vivec and Almalexia along with his own. Perhaps he told the princes that he knew the tribunal's godhood would end, and in exchange for their cooperation he promised not to tell the other tribunes or make any attempt to prevent his and his companions' demise. (After all, as far as I know he made the mechanical heart for keeping his city functional, not for recreating the divinity the heart of Lorkhan provided.) Or, maybe he offered to do something to assist in bringing the Tribunal down, and losing Sunder and Keening, the tools that helped them maintain their divinity, was intentional on his part. Sil deliberately sacrificing his own life appears to be reflected in Azura's statement after his death. She said "he shed his mortality long ago, and I am certain his death was no small relief to him." Of course she'd know that he let go of his life ages ago if he had willingly sold it to her. Of course she would be certain that he found his death to be a relief, if she'd heard him say so himself when he was explaining why a god would ever offer such a deal.

It would also make sense with Sotha Sil's character, since he allegedly loved the people on Nirn more than Almalexia or Vivec did, and the destruction of Gilverdale could have definitely been a traumatic enough reminder of the destruction of Ald Sotha for him to do something dramatic to prevent it ever happening again. And guilt over sacrificing his friends could have definitely been a contributing factor to the worsening self-isolation and intense depression in his later life. It would also be a definite explanation for why he apparently never met another soul in the 10 years between losing the tools and his death. Not only had he become extremely disillusioned with the imperfections of the world, he had now finalized the deal he made so long ago, and saw no point in continuing to interact with a deeply flawed world he was essentially finished with.

However, I do see some issues with this and how it would work in-universe. Namely the fact that Hermaeus Mora's seekers said the prince received something from every individual on Nirn as part of the deal, which is quite different from what I'm suggesting. A different deal for each prince would also explain why Sil was able to include Clavicus Vile and Mephala in the compact at a much later date. There would be no reason for Vile and Mephala to submit to a collective deal whose terms had already been decided. So if he offered the tribunal's lives as part of the deal, he would have needed to offer other things as well. But for me the most significant in-universe issue I struggled with was that using his death as a bargaining tool would create a massive problem for his ability to enforce the deal in the future. This could explain why both Molag Bal and Mehrunes Dagon manifested on Nirn after Sotha Sil's death, but since I think they were summoned by qualified mortals that could have been a loophole. Either way, making a deal that is meant to last forever by promising something that can never be taken back in the case of a breach of contract seems extremely short-sighted for someone who claims to be cursed with certainty. Especially considering how many of the princes there were known to be cheats and liars.

Unless, that is, you believe this theory I read about the reason why Sil was completely silent as he was killed. My original belief was that he was silent because he'd seen it coming long ago, and knew that nothing he could have said would have changed Almalexia's mind. And while that would be in character for him, now I'm starting to think that it was because he had already uploaded his consciousness elsewhere. This would fit in with the Christ-figure parallels, due to the Christian belief that Jesus is risen from the dead and very much alive. While Jesus returned to life at the same time he emerged from the cave, the completion of Sotha Sil's death sacrifice didn't happen until long after his return via the cave. While I have found no explicit evidence that he's still around, when you find his body in Morrowind he is shown hanging, with his arms outstretched at his sides, in a sort of crucifixion pose. And after the crucifixion comes the resurrection. Perhaps Sotha Sil is still around somewhere in the gears of his city, and he promised the princes he'd never be present or have any influence on Nirn so long as they kept up their end of the deal. Additionally, the 37th sermon of Vivec mentions Sotha Sil as holding "his swollen belly," carrying "[his] daughter." While Vivec's sermons are hardly ever literal, Kirkbride's comments suggest that maybe Vivec was being somewhat literal in this instance. Regarding this concept art, Kirkbride said "note the cosmic baby growing inside Sotha Sil. While Sotha Sil is dead as we saw in the add-on pack “Tribunal”, the child survived." Perhaps one of Sotha Sil's many body modifications made him able to carry and birth a child, and then he created a daughter through self-cloning or some other method that allows him to have enough influence to enforce the compact.

TL;DR - Sotha Sil has a lot of similarities with Jesus, so he's a Christ figure and therefore his sacrifice in the Coldharbour Compact was himself, and Almalexia and Vivec too, and that also means that he may still be around.

Anyways, thanks for reading and sorry if this sounds like I'm putting red strings on a wall as my application essay to the r/SothaSimps fan club. Also, lmk if I'm missing anything obvious. For me right now Reading Lore On The Bedroom Floor is a bit more manageable than playing the games, and there may be something I've just completely looked over.

#sotha sil #tes #the elder scrolls #tesblr #vivec #almalexia #morrowind #elder scrolls online #eso #lord seht

58 notes · View notes

dhwty-writes · 3 years

Text

On the Benefits of Trancing

This is a bit late, but was in fact written for Day 2 of sgtober, Can't Sleep. It's very fluffy, have fun reading!

Summary: There are several reasons why Essek prefers trancing over sleeping. Firstly, as difficult as it may be to leave yourself vulnerable for eight hours at a time, he finds it even more challenging to imagine his friends defenceless. Secondly, sleep, inevitably, will give birth to dreams. And no matter if they are foul or fair, they torture him all the same. And lastly, well—.Essek reminisces about the strange habit of sleeping and his even stranger habit of sharing his bed with Caleb whenever he can't sleep.

Warnings: None, as far as I’m aware

Read on AO3

Sleep is a curious thing, Essek muses, that he doesn't understand and hasn't particularly cared for up until this point. It is a childish thing, and wild and vulnerable and oh-so terribly time consuming. Truth be told, for most of his life he has pitied the other races who are forced to bow to the whims of nature in that way.

Like so many things, that changed when he met the Mighty Nein. Well, not when he met them necessarily—back then he may or may not have been quietly plotting their demise for returning his carefully stolen beacons—but certainly when he started travelling with them.

As many aspects of elven cultures are, trancing is a solitary activity, a silent contemplation of one's most private thoughts to better cope with them. Shock and surprise don't even begin to cover his feelings when Caleb first cast his dome and Essek found out that sleeping, as many things for the Mighty Nein, is a rather communal event.

He had eight whole hours to come to terms with those implications—did they not realise what it meant, the trust one had to place in another to sleep in front of them? Did they not care? Or did they, by some miracle, in fact trust him that much?

When he came out of his trance the next morning, he realised some of the members of the Nein had moved during the night, curling closer to and around each other. Cuddling, they called it, and Essek's pity melted away, turning into something more bitter, more poisonous. Envy.

There is something about sitting upright, floating a few inches off the ground while surrounded by people holding each other that can make you feel so incredibly lonely, and that has to say something. Nearly a century of solitude spent between too-large, too-empty towers, too-secretive and too-pious schools, and a too-scheming and too-paranoid court have never left him feeling as isolated and bereft as that morning with the Nein did.

Of course, back then he didn't have the words to describe the feelings swirling in his chest. Nor did he have the words to ask for them to include him in their affections, lest he be presumptuous. That, to quote Caleb Widogast, takes time. Surprisingly little of it, if he is perfectly honest.

A few months down the line, he stopped floating while trancing and when he resurfaced the next morning, he found himself leaning against Fjord, who had taken the last watch. When he jerked away in embarrassment, Fjord blinked awake, too, a disgruntled look on his face, growling that he should stop moving around so much.

Despite his shame, Essek complied and held completely still until the rest of the Nein woke up. After that, he began to dabble into the casual intimacy his friends share. He even tried to sleep, occasionally.

In the beginning, he felt very self-conscious about it. He would wake up with messy hair, or drool on his pillow, or, worst of all, tucked close to Caleb. Another effect of the Mighty Nein, though, is that they very quickly rid you of your sense of shame. So, he no longer cares if he looks a mess, if his clothes are rumpled, or if he's getting spit on Veth's backpack. Just the last thing he can't help but feel embarrassed about.

There are several reasons why he still prefers trancing, though. Firstly, as difficult as it may be to leave yourself vulnerable for eight hours at a time, he finds it even more challenging to imagine his friends defenceless. He much prefers being able to watch over them for at least half of that time.

Secondly, sleep, inevitably, will give birth to dreams. And if sleep is childish, wild, and vulnerable, dreams are tenfold so. He often contemplates his crimes during his trances, as well as the discarded timelines, the lost possibilities that could have led to even more death, destruction, and despair. He frequently considers members of the Assembly lording their victory over him, disposing of him, torturing his friends. However, in his trance, he can choose to abandon these timelines. Dreams offer no such luxury. Once in their cruel grasp, you have no choice but to see them through.

Nightmares are one thing, but dreams are another. Even the pleasant ones often come unbidden, worming themselves through his subconscious to pluck out— What exactly Essek should call them, he isn't sure. He wouldn't dare name them wishes or hopes, for that would imply a certain level of possibility for them to come true. These visions are desires, more like, though that term implies a certain passion that does not fit the circumstance.

These unsought fantasies often include the Mighty Nein, years or decades from now. How they would still seek him out, include him in their midst. He dreams of feasts and festivals, of hugs and humour, of truthfulness and trust. And then there are other, even more forbidden dreams featuring him and Caleb. He dreams of soft kisses and gentle caresses, lazy nights spent in the tower reading books, of research and adventures and normalcy, of waking up as close to each other every day as they do from time to time on accident. He would love his future to look like this, but he knows there is a very little chance for that.

So, no matter if the dreams are foul or fair, they torture him all the same.

And lastly, well—

There is a knock on his door and Essek's heart lurches. "Come in," he calls as calmly as he can manage, forcing himself to slowly close the book he hasn't been reading instead of slamming it shut and scrambling to his feet.

The door opens silently, as all doors within the tower do, and Caleb slips inside. He's wearing simple sleeping clothes and Essek silently curses himself for already closing the book, so he can't even pretend to read that instead. "I, ah— I'm sorry for intruding... again," Caleb says, self-consciously tugging at his sleeves. "I hope I didn't wake you?"

"Not at all," he answers, barely keeping himself from saying: 'I was waiting up.' Instead, he opts for: "I was still reading."

"Anything interesting?"

"Are you trying to tell me that you have stored uninteresting books in your mind, Caleb Widogast?"

"Plenty," he deadpans and Essek chuckles.

"It's called The Creation of Silver." He turns the plain cover over to Caleb, to jog his memory. Based on what he could gather by skimming the first pages, it promises to be a rather run of the mill romance novel following the story of a Dwendalian noble trying to escape their arranged marriage. "So far, I find it quite entertaining."

"Ah, yes." Caleb quickly glances away, a faint blush colouring his cheeks. "Have you reached the part where Stefan leaves for the city yet?"

"I have not."

"Then I will not spoil you." Another tug on his sleeve. "The plot really picks up at that point."

Essek tilts his head to the side, studying Caleb. According to the clock in his room, it is past midnight, which is quite late for the human to still be awake. Yet, he is just hovering in his doorway, caught between stepping inside and leaving again. "I presume you did not come here to discuss my evening reading matter."

"Ah..." He tugs at his sleeves again. "No, I did not." As always, Caleb is as incapable of voicing his needs as Essek is.

Thankfully, Essek is not nearly as apprehensive when it comes to his friends' well-being as he is when his own is concerned. "Should you have trouble sleeping, you know you are more than welcome to stay. Seeing as we are to make progress tomorrow, I am very invested in you having a restful night."

Not being able to sleep is another thing about that practice that Essek cannot understand. Trancing is a matter of will, discipline, and tranquillity and he's always assumed sleep to be the same. He supposes it is, to some degree.

But travelling with the Mighty Nein, and Caleb specifically, has taught him that you cannot force sleep. There are circumstances under which they will toss and turn for hours, unable to find rest. Not even Beau's meditation, which he considered relatively close to his trance, seemed capable to calm a disturbed mind enough for sleep.

He has, however, also discovered that for certain members of the Mighty Nein, certain methods will accomplish the necessary peace of mind. Caduceus' tea appears to be able to work miracles, time and time again. Beauregard likes to tire herself out by running drills, while Jester usually draws in her sketchbook. Yasha tends to make flower crowns or, lacking flowers, braid other people's hair. Essek has been subjected to that numerous times so far and despite his aversion to Dynasty braids, he doesn't hate it. Fjord usually ties sailor's knots, and Veth sorts through her various collections.

Caleb, though? Caleb, for some reason, only needs another person to fall asleep next to. And for some reason, despite the numerous options he has, he chooses Essek more often than not. Not that he's complaining, of course. In fact, he may enjoy it a little too much.

Caleb laughs quietly as he often does at their antics. They have long since learned the rules to this strange game they are playing. "Well, if you put it like this..." he says as he rids himself of his slippers—Hausschuhe, he has explained to Essek, a very important part of Zemnian culture—and puts them next to Essek's. "I would hate to disappoint you, Herr Thelyss."

'You couldn't,' he thinks as he pulls back the covers. Instead, he says: "Indeed." As always, he freezes in place when Caleb joins him on the bed, scooting closer until they are nearly touching. Being this close to each other is not getting any less mortifying, no matter how long it has been since Caleb first came knocking on his door.

He still remembers that night in vivid detail. As so often, Essek has been reading and just got up to get a cup of tea. When he stepped out of his rooms, he nearly collided with a wizard who had convinced himself that his suffering wasn’t important enough to trouble him with. “Do you want to come in?” he said to his own surprise. To his even bigger surprise, Caleb accepted.

They sat on Essek’s couch and talked about everything and nothing at once. Hours later, with his throat gone dry, Essek asked: “Shouldn’t you be asleep by now?” The moments the words left his mouth he knew he’d said something wrong.

Caleb shot to his feet as if burned and Essek followed suit. “I am so sorry, friend. I will not continue to disturb you any—”

“Where are you going?” he interrupted him, perhaps a little irritated. “Give me some credit, Caleb Widogast; I am capable of far subtler ways to rid myself of an unwelcome visitor. Which you are not.”

He laughed self-consciously and said: “Regardless, I should go and rest. Schlaf gut, Herr Thelyss.”

“You could stay,” he blurted out before he could stop himself. “I mean—I noticed your sleep to be more restful when you are around others. I am aware that I am not your first choice, but since the others are not here—You’re welcome to stay, if it at all helps.”

Caleb hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Certainly.”

“In Ordnung,” he answered finally. Essek is still glad he had thought to float for that conversation. That way, at least, his knees didn’t give out.

A short discussion about who should take the bed followed before they stubbornly agreed to share it. Essek came to regret that immediately after when he was confronted with the practical implications of ‘sharing a bed’.

“Make yourself at home,” he said. Caleb took some time to rearrange the pillows and blankets—just like he does now—while Essek hovered nearby. Literally.

It took several reminders from Caleb for Essek to not instinctively recast his floating cantrip, but eventually they managed to lie down next to each other with a minimal amount of awkwardness. They have moved past that initial apprehensiveness by now, Essek thinks while he pretends to read. Shortly after, Caleb flops down, close enough that Essek can feel his breath ghosting over his cheeks.

“Good night, Caleb Widogast,” Essek says, stubbornly staring at the pages and nowhere else. "Do you want me to dim the lights?" He doesn't need them anyways; he just likes to appreciate the room Caleb made for him in all of its colours.

"No, I think I would like to read a bit. I am quite fond of that book."

"You are?" Essek looks down to him in surprise. ‘If Caleb tilts his head,’ the thought hits him, ‘he could rest it on my shoulder.’ He just thought it to be one of the countless books Caleb has read in his life, nothing special. "Why?"

He blushes again. "Ah— I think you'll see. The title is more literal than one would assume."

He considers the book once more, trying to discern what Caleb means with his words. ‘Luxon help me,’ he sends a silent prayer. It wouldn’t be the first time for him to pick up a romance novel that turns out to be quite a bit more explicit than anticipated. To think that such a mistake may have happened to him with Caleb so close—He thinks he might just combust from embarrassment.

"Do you mind flipping the page?" Caleb asks with a yawn, startling Essek out of his thoughts.

"Oh, of course," he says belatedly and turns the page. He hasn't read the last one yet, but nor has he read the one before, so it hardly matters. The novel has a rather shallow plot, so he has no trouble picking it up three pages later, and he's done so by design.

“Thank you.” He yawns again, louder this time and burrows down further into his pillows. “Gute Nacht, mein Schatz,” he mumbles and freezes as if he only now realises what he said. He seems to wait for an answer, but when Essek fails to provide a wrong one, he just smiles up at him and says: “Schlaf wohl und g’sund, bis morgen früh’s Kaffeele kommt.”

“I don’t understand you,” Essek tells him just as quietly, “but you can translate tomorrow.” After a moment of hesitation, he adds in Undercommon: “Sweet dreams, my dear. I’ll be here when you wake up.” He quickly glances back at his book before he can do anything stupid. Such as regret his words. Or kiss him goodnight.

Still, with Caleb reading along he does his best to at least somewhat read the novel. It’s a very flowery language, occasionally dropping Zemnian words Essek doesn’t know. Judging by Caleb’s grumbling at least some of them appear to be wrong. The protagonist, Stefan, seems like quite the bore. He does have a strong motivation, he supposes, to escape from the dreary life that awaits him in his arranged marriage. Besides that, and his general cold-hearted demeanour, he can’t discern any defining characteristics.

He finally reaches the part Caleb asked him about—Stefan leaving for the big city—when another character is introduced, presumably his love interest. He appears to be about as compelling as the protagonist, until— Essek snorts quietly. “Caleb Widogast,” he chides softly, “is this a love story about wizards?”

At first, he doesn’t answer and Essek briefly considers the option of Caleb wilfully ignoring him. Then, there’s a barely audible snore. When he glances down in surprise, the human is leaning against his shoulder, soundly asleep. He noisily chews on a strand of his hair, a bit of drool dripping onto Essek’s shoulder.

For a moment he can’t help but stare, a dopey smile on his face. He quickly arrives at the conclusion that something as disgusting as that has absolutely no business being as endearing as it is. But for some reason he doesn’t mind at all.

Moving carefully and slowly, in order not to disturb Caleb’s sleep, he puts down The Creation of Silver. It is getting rather late and he probably should begin his trance, if he wants to wake before Caleb's inevitable departure.

He leans back, wiggling a bit to find a comfortable position. He thinks he's doing a good job of not rousing Caleb until the human grunts quietly. Essek freezes, fearing he may have woken him, but instead of opening his eyes, Caleb just shifts closer to him, throwing an arm and a leg across his lap to hold him tight.

Essek looks down at his... friend with a fond expression. After a moment of consideration, he reaches down to brush the strand of hair behind his ear.

Sometimes, he feels like he can barely contain all the love he feels for this man within himself. One day, perhaps, he might even find the courage to tell him so.

Zemnian Translations:

Hausschuhe - slippers. In fact a Very Important German thing. Can't wear your normal shoes indoors, so you need special house shoes. Schlaf gut, Herr Thelyss. - Sleep well, Mister Thelyss. Gute Nacht, mein Schatz. - Good night, my darling. (lit. treasure) Schlaf wohl und g'sund, bis morgen früh's Kaffeele kommt. - Sleep well and sound until tomorrow morning the little coffee arrives. (My Caleb is Suebian now and I don't take criticism. I was writing this when I suddenly remembered this sentence my parents used to say to me and I thought if my sleep deprived brain remembers things like that, it would only be appropriate if Caleb's did too.)

#critical role #critical role fanfiction #shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #the mighty nein #my writing #sgtober2021

45 notes · View notes

my-unmanageable-mischief · 3 years

Text

New Norm Part 2

Hello!!! I’m back with the highly requested part 2 of my New Norm series. I am defiently open to a part 3 as well if people continue to enjoy it. Not too too much ‘plot’ here, just getting back to school while trying to navigate a new relationship. Some tender moments, and some very cuddly Sirius. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it!!

Part 1

Sirius Black x Reader

The last few weeks of summer we’re the longest and most brutal weeks of your life, and for the first time you felt you understood Sirius and how he became the lighthearted boy he portrayed daily at Hogwarts. When dealing with trauma, and Merlin his mother was traumatizing, people adapted in different ways. Never have you seen such polar reactions as you saw with Sirius and the dutiful Regulus.

Sirius spent the first week you were living at Black Manor picking fight after fight with his mother. Not that she didn’t start her own plethora of ‘disagreements’. You could tell Sirius got something significant out of disobeying her and making her angry, much to your demise; as the woman began taking it out on you as well. She would nitpick you worse than your own grandmother. Sit up straight, ladies shouldn’t speak out of turn (Not that she didn’t do plenty of speaking), and most recently, a wife should know how to cook. So you spent hours of your day locked up with the awful Kreacher in the kitchen.

After a conversation one evening in hushed voices, curled up under the covers he had apologized to you.

“I’m sorry about my mother,”

“Sirius, it isn’t your fault,” You assured, playing with a loose string of his duvet.

“I don’t help it,” He admitted, staring up at the ceiling. Your hands paused and you turned your head to look at him sadly.

“Maybe not, but I can’t blame you either. She’s a witch, and I mean that as an insult. Like the Snow White kind.” Sirius turned to you making a face.

“What’s a Snow White?” You chuckled, shaking your head.

“Oh nevermind, just.. God I know it’s easier said than done, but, try and ignore her? We’ll be back at Hogwarts in no time, away from her. And then my mother said next summer we will have our own home.” Sirius gazed at you for a moment before turning away to look at the ceiling again. He didn’t answer, though you gave him room to do so. Finally you stopped your fiddling with the string and reached over, taking his hand in yours and squeezing.

“We’ll be alright.” You promised him as well as yourself. You had to be, you had no choice. Sirius squeezed your hand back and didn’t let it go for the rest of the night. Eventually silence ebbed into static breathing and light snores, and when the sun peeked through the window, you were still in bed, fast sleep, hands clasped. Sirius woke up first that morning and laid there for a while longer as you slept. He remembered his vows, that he would protect you, and that included from his own mother. If that meant becoming complacent in her demands for these next few weeks- that was something he was willing to do. For you.

Finally the morning of September 11th, 1978 came, it was a cool morning for the end of summer, but sunny. You and Sirius were dropped promptly at Kings Cross station, receiving lectures on behavior. Sirius and his father shared a few words in private that left him scowling for a good majority of the morning, even after you had found Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin in one of the train compartments.

They eyed you funnily the entire train ride, and you did your best to ignore the gazes. Sirius had told you that he had told them about his wedding, but it was different now in person.��

“So is she going to be hanging out with us now? All the time?” James eyed you skeptically and you raised your eyes from your novel to narrow them at the boy.

“She has ears, and is capable of responding to you herself.” Sirius glanced at you, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. It was the closest you’d seen him to smiling since you boarded, and that fact was not lost on the other Marauders.

“Are you going to be hanging around all the time now?” He asked, pouting slightly. James Potter could have received straight Os if being a git was a class at Hogwarts, but you knew he was also a sweet and caring boy, when he wasn’t being 17. You had a feeling he wasn’t keen on sharing his best mate, not that you blamed him.

“James, she’s my wife now.” Sirius muttered, glancing out of the window. Potter made a face.

“I know and it's weird.” You rolled your eyes, opening your book back up and slouching in your seat.

“And you think that is lost on us? We know it’s weird. We’re living it.” James looked ready to continue but Remus cleared his throat and gave him a warning look. A silent conversation you weren’t privy too took place between the two boys and James shrugged, going back to his Quidditch magazine. You finally reached the doors to the Great Hall hours later and Sirius turned to you.

“Sitting with us?” He asked, you looked past him to James and shook your head.

“I think I’ve intruded on boy time quite enough for one day, I’m going to go find my dorm mates.” You admitted, James had the decency to look guiltily at his feet.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.” You hadn’t kissed since you were pronounced man and wife, but you had taken to holding hands in rare private moments you had gotten together. He reached out to you, allowing his hand to awkwardly drop onto your shoulder. He squeezed before letting go and you offered him a smile before turning to go find your friends, you had missed them.

That night was the first night you had not eaten together in a month, and it was weird for you. You glanced down the table a few times, making eye contact with Sirius. When your eyes would meet he’d smile at you reassuringly, and you always returned it. Meanwhile, your friends gushed about how lucky you were, married to the most gorgeous, the most wanted man at Hogwarts. You didn’t feel very lucky, nor did you think they could understand. So you smiled and nodded, and laughed, like things were how they always were. But they were not. They never would be.

When you entered the common room that night Sirius and his crew were already sitting in their seats closest to the fire, Sirius waved you towards him, but you were in the middle of a (dull) conversation with your friends about whose bum had gotten the fittest over the summer, so you shrugged, going to sit with them. About half an hour later someone approached your group and you looked up surprised to see Sirius.

“Y/N,” He greeted you, and you smiled.

“Hey, what’s up?” Your friends around you tried to stifle their giggles and hid smiles behind hands, something Sirius was used to, but for some reason, in that moment it bothered him. Were they laughing at him? Had you been laughing at him?

“Can we talk for a mo?” He asked, and for a moment he almost looked nervous, but mostly he looked slightly ticked off. You frowned. What had you done?

“Of course,” You nodded, getting up from the armchair you had been longing in. You followed Sirius silently through the common room, aware of his friend’s eyes on you as you went. You reached the corridor and he walked you a little further before sitting in an alcove. You sat with him.

“Are you angry with me?” He asked so suddenly it took a moment to process, your frown deepened.

“Merlin, no, should I be?” You asked, turning to face him, with your hands rested in your lap. He shrugged and wouldn’t look at you. “Have I done something to upset you, Sirius?” You asked gently. He shook his head no before shrugging.

“Why were your friends laughing at me? Why didn’t you sit with me?” He asked, and you sighed, taking his hand gently in yours, causing him to look at you.

“Because they think you’re cute,” You smiled slightly, nudging him, “And they think it’s brilliant I’ve gotten to marry you when half of Hogwarts would die to get ten minutes in a broom closet with you.” He smirked slightly, which made you feel better. That was the Sirius you knew. “And I didn’t sit with you because.. Because I am trying to give you space. This is new and scary. For both of us I’m sure. I don’t want you to feel like I’m smothering you, and I can tell James isn’t too keen on me, I don’t want him thinking I’m stealing his best mate.”

“But were different. I’m not married to James.” You laughed at that,

“I wouldn’t tell him that.” You joked and Sirius let out a small chuckle himself.

“You’re not smothering me. I... I enjoy you being around. I would like you to know my friends, they’re my real family after all.” You squeezed his hand again and he lifted your hand to his lips, kissing the back of it.

“I’ll sit with you lot more often then, just tell James to go easy on me. And don’t think I will be helping with any of your tomfoolery,” You chided jokingly, “My mother will have a cow,”

“Well good thing I’m your husband, I’m in charge of you now,” He grinned and you used your free hand to whack him.

“In charge of me?” You laughed, “Watch yourself, Black.”

“Oh Black huh? Well you’re Mrs. Black.” You froze at that, and something truly haunting dawned on you. Tomorrow classes started. You were no longer Ms. Y/L/N... would your teachers be calling you Ms. Black? If the whole school didn’t already know by now, they certainly would tomorrow.

“Penny for your thoughts?” He asked, resting your entwined hands in his lap.

“I’m Mrs. Black,” You repeated, he nodded, not catching on. “Everyone will call me such.”

“Does that upset you?” You shook your head.

“No no, not upset. I mean, everything is just different now? Even my name.”

“I don’t really fancy it either, don’t worry,” He joked, but you knew he was serious. “We can change it.”

“Sorry?”

“When you graduate, when we move and have jobs we can change it- to whatever you’d like.”

“I’m not sure your mother will allow that.” Sirius shook his head defiantly.

“Once I, well now you I suppose, graduate, I have no intention of doing anything that old bat has to say.” He puffed his chest out slightly, putting on an air of confidence. Your head swum slightly. If that were the case, wouldn’t you simply divorce? “Y/N,” He continued, voice lower and more gentle.

“Hm?”

“It’s going to be weird sleeping alone tonight,” He admitted sheepishly, glancing at your hands, “I’ve gotten quite used to you, I admit.” You smiled at that, leaning against him.

“I won’t miss the snoring,”

“Oi, I don’t snore!” He laughed and you grinned nodding your head.

“You do, love. But I will miss it too,”

“Come visit?” He asked wiggling his eyebrows at you again, you whacked him once more.

“No I think I’ll let you suffer, just for that.”

“Evil.”

“That’s me,” Sirius stood up, bringing you with him before releasing the hand he was holding to put his arm around your shoulder.

“Come sit with us?” He questioned, “I promise James will be good.” You nodded, leaning into the boy's touch.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me.” You spent the rest of your night at Sirius’s side.

James was civil but you could tell he still wasn’t fond of you or your newly added presence. From that moment forward you spent nearly all your time out of class with the group of boys. You found a friendship in Remus, he was a kind boy, with similar interests. You enjoyed studying together while the others mucked around, and you talked about literature together. Even James was coming around on you, though you two still bickered constantly. Sirius once called it “Sibling rivalry.” which made you laugh. But you could tell how fiercely James cared for Sirius, it made your heart feel warm, knowing he had people to look out for him. Even Peter wasn’t bad to be around, he was funny when he wasn’t being vulgar, though he loved making jokes about the fact that Sirius was now a married man and ‘on a leash,’.

You didn’t feel like Sirius was on a leash, and certainly not your leash. You were married by your parents' request, not dating. If he wanted to go snog some slag he was more then welcome to. At least that was the lie you told yourself. Girls continued to throw themselves at Sirius, I guess a wedding ring didn’t mean much to them, and you were increasingly more surprised every time he politely turned them down. You began to relax more, maybe he wouldn’t?

One evening you all sat in the boys dormitory. Peter was practicing chess, Remus was reading and taking notes. James was laying on his back at the foot of Sirius’s bed, you were sitting back against the boy’s pillows, as he was resting his head in your lap. Sirius and James were debating the validity of some prank they wanted to pull- whether they could pull it off or something like that. You weren’t paying attention, you were reading, occasionally running your fingers through the hair of the boy who was in your lap.

“You’re making me sleepy,” He suddenly yawned, turning away from James and burying his face into your jumper. You smiled, not looking up from your reading.

“So go to sleep,”

“Get a room, you two.” James complained, whining from the bottom of the bed.

“We’re in a room, you’re the one in my bed mate.” Sirius laughed, wrapping his arm around your middle and cuddling into you. As time past Sirius became more and more physically affectionate with you. Not that you minded, it was comforting having someone around whom you could simply touch. James huffed, dramatically getting off the bed, pulling the curtains shut with a great flourish.

“Use a silencing charm for our sake!” He called.

“Piss off mate,” Sirius laughed and you chuckled slightly rolling your eyes.

“He’s just jealous you don’t cuddle him like you used to.” James made an indignant noise from the other side of the curtain and you heard him stalk away to his own bed. You carded your fingers through Sirius’s hair for a few more moments before letting out a yawn of your own.

“I should go to bed,” You murmured, hand stilling. Sirius let out a small whine and you smirked, gently tugging on one of his locks.

“So go to bed,” He joked, mirroring your earlier words. You started to move and Sirius’s arms around you tightened, pulling you to him. “Here,” He asked and you sighed, patting his head.

“And if we’re caught?” You questioned.

“Live a little, love. Girls are always sneaking into the boys dorm for sleepovers, at least we’re married.”

“I doubt McGonagall will care for that small difference.”

“Please?” Sirius asked, looking up at you through his lashes, batting them at you sweetly. You sighed, shaking your head.

“Fine, you’re a bad influence one me, you know that?”

“That’s the kindest thing a woman has ever said to me,” He grinned, peeling himself from you to sit up, “I’ll get you something to sleep in.” You hummed softly. Sirius disappeared for a moment and came back with a t-shirt for you, handing it over. You watched from your position on his bed as he undressed himself, you felt your cheeks going rosy. Once Sirius was down to his boxers he crawled back into bed beside you, nudging you. “Get changed, I wanna cuddle,” He murmured to you and your blush deepened. You stood up, standing beside the bed and facing away from Sirius as you removed your jumper, pulling the shirt on over your head. It was plenty long on you. Next you removed your skirt, leaving your clothes in a pile beside his head. You turned back around and Sirius was watching you, his own small blush. “C’mere.” He offered you his hand and you took it, allowing him to pull you down to him.

You situated the covers around you both before allowing the boy to snuggle up to your side, his head on your chest. You resumed your earlier activity of running your hands through his hair.

“Thank you for staying,” He murmured and you smiled, dropping a kiss onto the top of his head before you could think about the action.

“Of course.”

“You’re welcome in my bed, anytime.” He promised and you rolled your eyes, gently tugging his hair again.

“Don’t ruin the moment, arse.” He chuckled, tangling your legs together beneath the duvet. Sirius fell asleep to the sound of your heart beating firmly in your chest, it was the best lullaby he had ever heard. You played with his hair until his quiet snoring started before simply resting your hand on his head. It took you longer to fall asleep but you eventually did, enjoying the company of the other- you hadn’t realized how much you missed just sleeping with the boy. And this new found cuddling between the two of you really added to the whole experience.

In the morning you were rudely awoken by James, who threw the curtain of your bed open with a scowl.

“Are you wearing clothes?” He questioned, “I was kidding when I said to use a silencing charm, I don’t want you two shagging when I’m five feet away-”

“Mate,” Sirius groaned, rolling over, glaring at the boy, “Shut up,” James huffed, crossing his arm.

“Y/N better get back to her dorm before all her roommates wake up and wonder where she’s been all night.” You groaned, stretching your arms over your head.

“Thanks Jamie,”

“Don’t call me that!” He whined, shuffling away, you laughed as you untangled yourself from Sirius’s limbs, standing up.

“Do you have to go?” He asked, frowning.

“I will see you at breakfast,” You rolled your eyes, grabbing your discarded clothes from the floor. Sirius frowned, flopping back onto the bed, crossing his arms. It made you laugh, god how he and James had grown to be alike over the years. Or maybe they found each other because they were already so alike.

“Do you want to go on a date?” Sirius asked you one morning during breakfast, your mouth full of food. You raised an eyebrow at him as you swallowed.

“Hm?”

“A date, Y/N.” Like that clarified anything.

“Is there a Hogsmeade weekend coming up?” You questioned him and he grinned, shaking his head no.

“So what, you want to go on a date in the common room?” You laughed, shaking your head at the boy, “Don’t we do that every night?”

“Not the common room, I want to show you something.” You eyed him suspiciously and he flushed slightly laughing, “Not that, who's got a dirty mind now?”

“Still you mate,” Remus interrupted and Sirius shot him a glare, but he quickly recovered, grinning at you again. You weren’t sure you liked that look.

“Sure,”

“Brilliant, be ready tonight at 8pm, in the common room.” You nodded your head, continuing to eat. Whatever he was up to, you were sure you’d be finding out soon enough. That night you got dressed, listening to advice from all your dorm mates.

“Wear a dress!”

“Let me do your makeup please!”

“No no wear the blue skirt with the cream jumper.”

“Do you think you’ll snog?” You shrugged helplessly, ignoring all of their advice and going with your favorite pair of jeans instead and a black and white striped jumper.

“I hardly know.”

“I think it’s weird. You’re married but you don’t snog.”

“They cuddle, that’s for sure.” You flushed slightly, rolling your eyes.

“We sorta skipped a bunch of steps. It’s hard. Our relationship is unique.” You tried to explain to them. You and Sirius didn’t have some play book you could look to to figure what you should be doing and when. You were all on your own in this, on your own; together. You allowed your friend to apply a small amount of makeup to you, no more than you would wear any other day. You didn’t want to seem like you were trying too hard- because you weren’t. You shouldn’t be. It’s not like you had to woo him or anything. Right?

You went down to the common room at 8 where Sirius was sitting with the boys waiting for you.

“Y/N!” He called excitedly, jumping up from the sofa, “You ready to go?” He asked and you nodded, coming to him and accepting his outstretched hand.

“Be good!” Remus called jokingly, waving from his spot in one of the armchairs.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” James added and Sirius threw them the finger over his shoulder before leading you from the common room.

“So,” You started, skipping slightly beside him, grinning up at the boy, “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise, you’ll see.” You followed Sirius up to the 7th floor corridor and were met with an expanse of blank wall, you eyes him suspiciously.

“Very nice, Sirius.” You put the hand not holding his on your hip.

“Just watch!” He assured you excitedly, “Me and James found this place 5th year when we were running from Filch. Suddenly it was there,” You listened intently, still staring at the blank wall. Maybe you were missing something? “So we did some experiments, and I think we figured it out. Remus read about it in a book we nicked from the restricted section. Apparently it’s called the Room of Requirements, or the Come and Go Room.” You looked away from the wall up at Sirius, blinking at him. He smiled down at you, nodding towards the wall, when you looked back there was a door and you gasped.

“How?”

“No idea,” He shrugged, “But it turns into whatever you need it to.” You looked at the door in awe.

“Really?” You asked, shocked.

“Yup, come on,” He tugged you forward, opening the door and ushering you in. Once you were inside you were met with a small room that closely resembled the Gryffindor common room, but maybe only one forth of the size. It had a sofa in front of a large roaring fire, there were candles lighting the rest of the room, and a few fluffy blankets sitting on the sofa.

“This is lovely,” You breathed. He pulled you towards the sofa and you allowed him to guide you. He sat down and pulling you down beside him. You sat close to him and he placed his arm around your shoulder. You pulled one of the blankets off the back of the sofa and wrapped it around both of you, leaning into him.

“Thank you,” He smiled, glad you liked it. It had taken him ages of brainstorming to decide what you both needed, for your first proper date. And in the end, he decided, simpler was probably better. You weren’t really one for grand gestures.

“How are your classes,” He asked, playing with a lock of your hair, looking at you. You were warm from the fire, but your chest felt even warmer, something fire couldn’t cause. You shrugged, leaning slightly into his touch.

“Alright, not as hard as your stuff I’m sure, but everyone’s making sure we’re preparing for the NEWTs already. It does my head in.”

“I’ve never asked you what you want to be when you graduate,” He tilted his head thoughtfully and you smiled slightly looking down.

“I’d like to be a curse-breaker,” You admitted, Sirius nudged you until you looked at him.

“That’s brilliant, you’ll do wonderfully.” You shrugged, flushing slightly at the complement.

“Maybe. I’m struggling with charms this year though.”

“Is Remus helping you?”

“Yes but still,”

“You’re brilliant, Y/N.” He assured you, resting his forehead against yours. You smiled, leaning forward slightly to nuzzle your nose against his. “You can do anything you want to do, believe that.”

“I will try. What will you do? After you graduate.” Sirius hummed softly, and you cuddled even closer to him, practically sitting in the boys lap.

“I want to be an Auror.” He spoke softly, “I want to save people, protect them. War is coming, Y/N. I want to make sure I am on the right side of history.” You took his free hand in yours and held it tightly.

“That’s sweet, you’ll make a brilliant Auror.” Sirius smiled.

“James heard his parents talking about some... organization, they call themselves the Order of the Phoenix. I want to join as soon as I’ve graduated. Their goal is to be prepared for when Voldemort finally makes his move.” You nodded, trying to swallow down the worry you felt rising in your chest. You didn’t like the idea of Sirius out there battling dark powerful wizards without you there by his side.

“Good,” You squeezed his hand tightly, “That’s good. You’re a good man.”

“My mother will disown us, she supports those pure-blood ideologies.” He spat the words out and you flinched slightly. You didn’t want to think about what your own family thought of those horrible people. Especially not your father or your grandmother.

“We’ll be alright.” You assured him. Sirius looked at you for a long moment and you smiled softly at him, nudging your nose against his again, “Alright?”

“Alright.” He assured, “Y/N...” He started before trailing off.

“Hm?”

“May I kiss you?”

“Of course,” You whispered, blushing slightly. Sirius smiled before leaning in, he didn’t have to go far before his lips were on your lips. He kissed you softly, his hand that was playing with your hair stilled, resting on the back of your neck to keep you close. You kept one hand in his and moved the other one to his chest, placing it over his heart. He broke the kiss and pulled back just far enough to look at you before his lips were on yours again, this time with more eagerness. He kissed you, lips smashed up against yours and you kissed back, moving your hand from his chest to wrap around him, pulling him closer. He parted his lips slightly, testing the water. You allowed your own lips to open as well, inviting him in. Sirius kissed you with emotion you were surprised were capable of being put into a simple kiss. Everyday Sirius surprised you more and more, and everyday you found yourself falling more and more in love with your husband. It might not have been traditional, or even preferred. But it was working, you were going to make it work.

You spent the rest of the night alternating between speaking to each other in soft voices and snogging. It was the best, and last first date you had ever been on. Sirius was becoming you safe haven in a confusing world. He was becoming your new norm.

Tag list : thebrigheststarinthesky , all-art-is-quite-useless , lindatreb , paosesposts

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in a part three!

#Harry Potter #sirius black x reader #Sirius black #sirius black x y/n #james & peter & remus & sirius #sirius black x you #new norm

201 notes · View notes