#;outfaced

[alicent-archive]

Come war, dragonfire, and toxic workplace conditions, Gwayne Hightower will never miss an opportunity to serve face.

[rar-archive]

[bunnyb34r]

Hmm so now that I figured out that I get that "kidney" pain during my period last time I've been more aware of my pain and surprise! It starts the week before (:

Which in retrospect I did know but I didn't know if that makes sense? Like oh yeah... I did have that pain two weeks a month... huh...

Anyway im experiencing that fun pain again! And it brought a friend 🥰 I'm having a horrible fibro flare which may be related bc I've been having at least one a month 🤔... but anyway my body feels like it's in hell and my brain is torn between being cranky bc of the pain and just Gurkling™️ like it's only visiting hell my body is taking residence (:

[thecreativemillennial]

Derrick green and Christina scabbia

[anattitudeexhumed]

Focus Fanzine #2

Focus Fanzine was a Syracuse Hardcore zine done by Shane “The Goat Lord” Durgee (Oversight, Framework, Gatekeeper, Samsara, The Farthest Man). This issue has interviews with Borderline, Burn, Outface, Betrayed, Outspoken, and Naked Angels, as well as a (teenage) Straight Edge debate, animal rights, and some great pictures of some early 90s Syracuse Hardcore shows. Available Here

[sunuism]

actually whoever decided to put those ateez guys in the same stage as sunwoo were kinda mean

[herejusttosufferalong]

So as expected the cohorts are posting their birthday tributes to R today. What I keep seeing time and time again is this "connection" between A + R.. her video story today he looks smack into her camera for "a little longer than is socially acceptable" per my standards for friends ;) The other night with the fireworks was the same. He posted a story of her diving into the water the other day, butt cheeks and all, then deleted it. His grid post of GQ, yes he's walking next to S, but the focus of the shot is A and her sneaky look behind (granted L took the pic, but why would R feature this one on his grid and not one featuring more of S)... it just doesn't add up for me.

I'm trying to reconcile that HBS L might be the actual L as he "finds" himself now with his new found fame. I completely understand they control the dynamic of what is publicly outfacing and their behind the scenes selves might be completely different.. I get that.. we have zero right to what happens behind closed doors. Something is just not sitting right with the dynamic between them. C + T seem outsiders in this little bubble. In reality they seem chill and if the 6 of them were more like that I think we'd be more at ease with all of this..

Not sure what my point is getting at as I just vent out my thoughts after doing the IG lurk for the morning. Bottom line, I "fell" for L the actor and what I saw while promoting said show (which yes, who knows what was real and what wasn't). As a fan, I want him to be successful and happy in whatever form that looks like. This whole scene just doesn't sit right with me, and if he's truly being played by those he holds closest to him, by the power of Greyskull let that come to light sooner rather than later, so he can move on.

He just comes across right now as a lost puppy. In my delulu world once he returns to the BTON bubble and others on his "level" can refocus him, all will be well.. but that remains to be seen!

.

[suthex]

See I have outfaced you, demon! See, I have faced the one who is submerged in the limbs of [NAME NAME] born of N.N - like someone who flies up and then stops and settles on a high place, like the flying of Ra [or else: the Sun] when He is rising. I have outfaced you in the same way, demon! But see, it is the [name of god] who knows me, namely that I belong to the tribe of gods; those who speak with the snakes, who kill the vipers, those who make an end of your life-breath! See, from the breasts of Anat/Astarte I have suckled the big cow [wife; mother] of Seth.

See, I have lots of words against you. From the big pitcher of Seth I have drunk them, from his jug I have drained them. Listen, demon, listen! The voice of Seth is roaring, you shall listen to his roaring. While you are tortured, Seth will lift you up with his mighty hand and he will throw you onto the solid stone. The deserts drink you up, you who is against me, the deserts drink you up since they are thirsty. The ground which is dried-up and stone-dry drinks you up; the ground that never becomes satiated now drinks you up. It is this that drinks you up, demon!

Then the gods will learn of your death, then the [seven] Hathor-goddesses will learn that your heart has left. Set has vanquished you, demon. Powerless are you, you who submerged and plotted against me. The heat of your mouth does not exist any longer. Victorious are the Mighty Ones.

- (modified by me) ”24. Another Conjuration”, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, J. F Borghouts

[scotianostra]

Edwin Muir was born in Deerness, Orkney Islands on May 15th 1887.

He was the youngest of six children was initially raised on a farm before his family moved to the island of Wyre and then later the mainland of Orkney. His parents were farmers and when he was fourteen his father lost the family farm. This forced the Muirs to make another move to Glasgow where they hoped to secure their finances.

The move to Glasgow, from agricultural life to an industrial one, was extremely hard on the family. Within a few years, Muir’s father, mother, and two brothers died. These losses, added to the succession of poor jobs made his youth an unhappy one. He spent time working in factories and offices. The work was psychologically destructive to the young man but helped to inform Muir’s later poetic works. It was in 1913 that he began to write poetry, some of which was soon published in New Age. The passion seemed to drain from this pursuit quickly though and he turned to journalism.

A few years later, in 1919, he married Wilhelmina Anderson who was a teacher and linguist. The two moved to London together. Muir would later speak on his marriage as being the most important thing in his life. He and his wife would work together on a number of translations throughout the coming years, including Kafka, (those for which he is best-known). In the early 1920s, the couple lived in a number of different cities throughout Europe. In 1924 they returned to the UK where Muir began seriously publishing.

The translations that Muir and his wife worked on together became their main source of income. This was particularly helpful during the beginning of the second world war. The two worked on translating the works of Gerhart Hauptmann, Heinrich Mann, Hermann Broch, and more. This time period also saw Muir’s reputation as a critic grow. He wrote Latitudes and The Structure of a Novel. In 1927 Muir published his first novel, The Marionette.

The 1930s saw Muir begin a series of projects which included a number of travel and history-related works for Scottish Journey, a biography, and two autobiographical novels. In 1941 he accepted a position with the British Council and moved to Prague and Rome. The following years were highly productive and included his eventual naming as the warden of Newbattle Abbey College. His final collection was published in 1956 and he died in Cambridge in 1959.

Robert the Bruce (To Douglas in Dying)

'My life is done, yet all remains, The breath has gone, the image not, The furious shapes once forged in heat Live on though now no longer hot. 'Steadily the shining swords In order rise, in order fall, In order on the beaten field The faithful trumpets call. 'The women weeping for the dead Are not sad now but dutiful, The dead men stiffening in their place Proclaim the ancient rule. 'Great Wallace's body hewn in four, So altered, stays as it must be. 0 Douglas do not leave me now, For past your head I see 'My dagger sheathed in Comyn's heart And nothing there to praise or blame, Nothing but order which must be Itself and still the same. 'But that Christ hung upon the Cross, Comyn would rot until time's end And bury my sin in boundless dust, For there is no amend. 'In order; yet in order run All things by unreturning ways, If Christ live not, nothing is there For sorrow or for praise.' So the king spoke to Douglas once A little while before his death, Having outfaced three English kings And kept a people's faith.

[ectopuppy]

which ben 10 series do u like best??!! im a sucker for the original series bc of nostalgia personally, but they are all good in their own ways

this is an impossible question to answer so im just gonna talk about why i love each series im sorry and thank you anon for gifting me this opportunity to ramble about The Hyperfixation (tm) o7

This is going under a cut btw. It's a little under 3000 words of unedited thoughts so like, just a heads up lmao

Why is the Original Series Good?

So first! Before I get into it! I overall just fucking love Ben 10 conceptually in general! I've always loved aliens and sci-fi and superheroes so you can imagine how excited I was to stumble onto this show airing on teletoon when I was just a tiny Kiki.

The OS has a lot going for it, but the big one is, of course, the nostalgia factor. Iconic as fuck! Fun theme song! Max is there! Yay!!

The BEST character in the OS is Max and I WILL die on that hill. Even as a kid I fucking loved him. Ben and Gwen are fun characters, but Max is the much needed reprieve from them constantly bickering. (Which is one thing I'm glad there's a lot less of in later series.)

Ben is a compelling hero, and the OS is an amazing START POINT for him. While he does have character growth in the OS, I would not be THIS obsessed with him if the OS was the only Ben 10 media that existed. He's a kid. A bit of a brat, but always TRYING to do the right thing. Which he's not always great at considering he's, you know, 10, but he really does try.

Something a lot of people seem to brush past when talking about Ben is that at the beginning of the series he was actively friendless and being bullied at school. I feel like that's a huge factor in why the Omnitrix is so important to his identity in later series. (or even in the Xylene episode when he finds out the Omnitrix was supposed to be for Max) He really didn't have much going for him before that. Being a hero is very likely one of the first times he's felt like he belongs somewhere, you know? Anyway..

Gwen is also very fun in the OS. UAF filed down her teeth just a little too much in my opinion. A lot of her personality in the OS is her THINKING she's sooo much more mature than Ben despite also being a fucking grade schooler. (They are literally the EXACT same age, right down to sharing a birthday.) She's is just as immature as Ben, no matter how much she thinks she isn't. It's just that her smug "I know better." attitude doesn't cause outfacing issues as often as Ben being impulsive and a little self centred.

The OS also benefits from being the "spaghetti on the wall" series. Things just kinda worked however the writers wanted at the moment. Big point here: Magic got to just be magic. (I have made a whole ass post RE: Anodite Gwen so I wont get into it here, but I like the retcon. That statement does not conflict with the above.) Gwen getting fed up being sidelined and going "Fuck it I'm learning magic." is so good and I love it.

I feel like it is impossible to not like the OS in some form, because it's the Original Series. Everything that happens later can only have happened BECAUSE of the OS. Is it my favourite series? No. But it's charming and silly and fun and I love it. c:

Why is Alien Force Good?

Alien Force is a tonal downshift for the series. The era it was made in was the era of Gritty Cartoons for Cool Boys, and it shows. Now, this is not a bad thing to ME, but I know a lot of people don't like the heavier atmosphere of Alien Force, especially in its opening arc. Like... episode 1 (or 2 not sure, but it's in the premiere) of AF has a dude straight up just fucking die, which is kinda. A lot. I can see where people are coming from.

HOWEVER.

Personally, I love the entire DNAlien arc, and it's use as a coming of age story for Ben. A big part of AF is Ben realizing that he needs to grow up. In the OS he was a kid. Max was the leader and the beacon of morality. In AF Max is MIA from episode 1. Gwen is more mature, and has mellowed out a lot, but she just isn't a leader. Kevin should never be put in charge of other people, so he's out. So it's Ben. He has to step up and lead, because there IS nobody else.

But, also the show is not gloomy! It has it's moments, and I get why people might watch the premiere and think "Hmm, too dark.", but AF is silly as hell. I will point to the Alien X episode as my basis here. It's smack in the middle of the DNAlien arc, and it's dumb as hell. Again, I have made a whole ass post about this, but the gist is: I love Alien X being a god being with the ability to do LITERALLY anything, but Ben gets so frustrated that he refuses to use it unless the universe is actively collapsing. (Also, the incurseans are there, and they are never not silly lmao)

But to me, the best thing AF did for the series was give it structure. The OS was extremely episodic, but the front half of AF is held together with a tight plot line. The back half not so much, but it does have a lot going for it character wise. Case in point:

Let's talk about Kevin. c:

Kevin was always a fun villain in the OS. Any time he showed up I knew we were in for a fun time, so him becoming part of the main cast (As a hero and friend no less!) in AF was a major selling point to me personally. Unlike with Gwen, I feel like they sanded him down just enough. He's still kinda sleazy and a bit of a shithead, but now he's trying to do better.

I'm aware the explanation for this behaviour is that the Omnitrix energy he absorbed in the OS drove him crazy or whatever, but that's not something we get up front if memory serves. He really does seem like he naturally just grew up and realized acting how he did when he was 11 wasn't exactly getting him anywhere good.

Kevin's arc in the back half of AF plays really well with Ben's arc. Ben is at an all time high after saving the universe, while Kevin gets mutated again and has a really shitty time. Ben getting humbled while Kevin gains confidence just works really well in tandem, I think, and they end AF on somewhat equal footing.

AF also gives us some of my favourite side characters so I really love it on those grounds alone tbh. Mostly talking about Paradox here, but also Albedo, and The Plumber's Kids (especially Alan I love him he's so baby <3), and Sandra. God, I love Ben's hippy dippy granola mom so much it fits him so well.

I could make a whole fucking post about Paradox to be honest, and this post is already insanely long so I'll be brief here. He made it a billion times easier for the writers to play with timeline bullshit without having to sneak retcons past the audience every time. He's also just insanely fun. Silly Time Man. I loves him!!

I also really love Julie and Omniverse did her so fucking dirty, but that's a whole thing and I'm sure I'll get into it when I get there in my rewatch so I'll save it.

Again, I don't know that I would say AF is my favourite series, but I will say AF DOES happen to have my favourite EPISODE of the entire continuity though. "Con of Rath" is the best Ben 10 episode and I will fight you on this one.

I'm about to pivot into Ultimate and seeing as I haven't gotten there in my rewatch I am going to have less to say about it (and Omniverse) since they aren't fresh in my mind and I don't want to be spouting half remembered nonsense or go dig through the wiki to fact check (and spoil myself on things I don't remember). I know this post is stupid long, bear with me a bit longer.)

Why is Ultimate Alien Good?

Every new series of Ben 10 does something to change the status quo in some way. In AF it was aging up the characters and relegating Max to side character status. Omniverse does much the same, giving Ben a new partner and pushing Gwen and Kevin aside. Ultimate changes things in a different way, though, and I'm NOT talking about Ultimate forms.

Ultimate's big shake up is actually the name of it's first episode: "Fame".

Now, in this house we love a secret identity, lemme get that out up top. For Ben, though? The fame works. He never really honestly HAD a secret identity the same way most superheroes do. He'd always just kinda done his thing, and had it work out. All of his villains knew who he was. (To the point that "Hit 'Em Where They Live" kinda makes no fucking sense? Zombozo is dumb as shit so like maybe he didn't? But Charmcaster DEFINITELY did, and Ben was famous OFF earth already? It's whatever, but like ',:| ya'know.)

The important thing about making him famous is that it gives him a new avenue for character growth. As in my dude needs to get his fucking act together good god. Like, it's Ben, when it comes down to it he buckles down and does the right thing, but fuck man. This is a character trait that will haunt the rest of the series. There are episodes of OMNI that focus on Ben needing to get his head on straight wrt being famous.

It circles back to my point from earlier, though. Ben was NOT popular before "Fame". His friends included: Kevin, Gwen, and Julie. That's it. He's on a soccer team (At least at the beginning of AF I feel like it never comes up later.), but he never talks about his teammates. That one bully whose name escapes me is on okay terms with him after "The Gauntlet", but I wouldn't call them friends. But after his identity is leaked suddenly everybody likes him. He's gone from absolute nobody to celebrity overnight. Of course he would love this.

This is also an extension of one of Ben's core character traits: He NEEDS to be a hero. Actually he needs to be THE hero, because that is his entire self identity. It comes across (both in universe and from a meta standpoint) as Ben being conceited and selfish, but underneath it is really just a sad little boy who is clinging desperately to the ONE thing he's ever been that people liked. The Hero.

If Ben isn't the hero then who is he? He clearly doesn't know as of the AF finale. He loses the Omnitrix and completely breaks down. Even though he's an expert tactician and a damn good leader, he doesn't even know who he is without the Omnitrix.

Azmuth of all people is the one to tell him to get his head out of his ass. I don't think any other character could have done it, though. Azmuth does not care about Ben's feelings, but he's also someone who (whether he likes it or not) sees ALL of Ben's worth. Max or Gwen would be too soft and Kevin's words wouldn't hold the same weight. Azmuth is someone Ben looks up to while also being someone who won't pull his punches. If he's telling Ben he can do something it has to be true, you know?

That aside, lets talk about the "Ultimate" in "Ultimate Alien".

The Ultimatrix is... weird. It's interesting, don't get me wrong, but it is so completely and clearly just a marketing gimmick. The Ultimatrix can be as cool as it wants, it is not making it out of this series alive. Also, everything I find interesting about the Ultimatrix gets dropped. The first episode has Ben be apprehensive about using the Ultimate forms, but then it's just never brought up ever again for some reason.

Also this shit:

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN????? WHY IS IT NEVER TALKED ABOUT? 😭

It all just feels so fucking meaningless knowing the Finished Omnitrix is going to replace it. Like, Albedo made this peice of shit. So even if I hadn't watched parts of Omniverse first I would have put together that Azmuth would inevitably replace it, right? But it doesn't really matter I guess. That's my personal gripe with Ultimate forms, though, so I wanted to get it out here. Ultimate's does give us "The Ultimate Sacrifice" which is an episode I remember enjoying though, so its not a complete wash.

The thing with Ultimate as a series it that it's really just Alien force... 2!! to the extent that fans refer to them as a collective. "Ultimate Alien Force" Like, my header up there ^^^ was "Why is Ultimate Alien Force Good?" when I first started writing the AF part, and I only changed it so I had a smooth transition to talk about "Fame". They are so intrinsically linked in my brain that I didn't even blink lumping them into one. It makes it hard to find fault in Ultimate when I love so much of the things introduced in AF that carry over, you know?

Now onto the one I was soooo close to saying was my favourite:

Why is Omniverse good?

Omniverse is very, very special to me. I did not watch UAF as a kid. It started airing just as I was hitting my "I'm too old for cartoons" phase, so I just.. never watched it. I wouldn't have ever really gotten into Ben 10 as much as I have if not for someone talking about how much they liked Omniverse on my timeline when it was airing. I watched a large chunk of Omni before doubling back to watch all of the OS (Which I had only seen bits of growing up.) and then UAF.

I fucking love Omniverse and a big reason is:

Him 👆 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

I would kill and die for Rook Blonko.

He is mine moste beloved boy. My babygirl. My right hand arm etc.

But beyond The Boy 💖 Omniverse has a lot going for it. It's another tonal shift for the series, this time back to the more innocent and silly tone of the OS. Like I said, I like the tone in UAF, but Omniverse is just so bright and charming it's hard not to enjoy it.

The art style is also very fun in Omni and matches that lighter tone really well. (There are some stylistic choices I'm not personally big on, but it's whatever.) Where UAF had scaled back a lot of designs to give off a pretty generically American Comic Book style, Omniverse lets characters look interesting again! I'm thinkng specifically about Animo and Charmcaster here (Charmcaster's UAF design is so boring. Omniverse puts her back in her cool robe/tunic thing from the OS.), but in general the characters in Omni just have more interesting designs than they did in UAF. Like, Paradox isn't just Guy in Labcoat in Omni lol

I also think the ten episode arc structure does Omniverse a lot of favours. It gets to have the fun silly episodic nature of the OS while also holding onto the structure AF gave the series.

Beyond that, based on my memory of the series (which I have not watched since it finished airing so it's not exactly perfect) I don't really have much more I can say about Omni. It's fun, and has good characters and plot lines. It's just a really good entry and was a solid ending to wrap up the whole four series continuity.

And so, finally, I can wrap up this fuck off long post.

Like I said up top, I can't definitively say which series is my favourite. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses, and are good in their own ways. If pressed, I would probably say "Um... Omniverse maybe?", but I love the OS and UAF so so much it's not a confident answer. (having not watched Omni in a hot minute also doesn't help lmao)

Thank you for reading my big dumb post. If you got all the way to the end, I love you. I mean, if you stopped reading it I also love you, but if you managed to get through all, uh, 2800ish words of this post without tapping out, you are on the top shelf. <3

I'd love to hear your thoughts, or answer more specific questions if you have them!

[aeshnacyanea2000]

In a few minutes he would have to make a speech. Wayzygoose had, in his younger days, sought power in strange places; he’d wrestled with demons in blazing octagrams, stared into dimensions that men were not meant to wot of, and even outfaced the Unseen University grants committee, but nothing in the eight circles of nothingness was quite so bad as a couple of hundred expectant faces staring up at him through the cigar smoke.

-- Terry Pratchett - Sourcery

[whatthecrowtold]

"Another time," the man says, "my father told me he was in a boat out on the lake with two or three men from Gort, and one of them had an eel-spear, and he thrust it into the water, and it hit something, and the man fainted and they had to carry him out of the boat to land, and when he came to himself he said that what he struck was like a calf, but whatever it was, it was not fish!" A friend of mine is convinced that these terrible creatures, so common in lakes, were set there in old times by subtle enchanters to watch over the gates of wisdom. He thinks that if we sent our spirits down into the water we would make them of one substance with strange moods Of ecstasy and power, and go out it may be to the conquest of the world. We would, however, he believes, have first to outface and perhaps overthrow strange images full of a more powerful life than if they were really alive. It may be that we shall look at them without fear when we have endured the last adventure, that is death." (W.B. Yeats)

Art by Arthur Rackham

Quoted after "The Celtic Twilight" (1893, inf.)

[withasideofshakespeare]

We all know that I am First Quarto Hamlet’s number one fan (and I’m probably the only one who thinks I don’t talk about it enough...) so I thought it was time I write out my thoughts on staging Q1′s version of act 3, scene 4, how it affects the plot, and how I understand the odd choices made by its players. Before we begin, here is a rundown on what Q1 is for the uninitiated: https://www.tumblr.com/withasideofshakespeare/704686395278622720/a-rundown-on-the-absolute-chaos-that-is-first?source=share

Another quick note: I will not be adjusting Q1 spelling for this so if it’s in quotes, the spelling errors are some dead guy’s fault. Now, here’s how I’d stage this scene! (Below the cut for your sake)

TW for murder and mention of sexual assault (mentioned by the quarto, not me!)

The first major change I’d make would be tonal. A lot of typical Hamlet productions tend to make this scene angry for Hamlet and terrifying for Gertrude, but I find that the overall tone of Q1 is more subdued. Sorry, Branagh, but no one’s screaming at each other in this production. There’s a quieter horror here. Hamlet enters Gertrude’s chamber calling to her: “Mother, mother, O are you here? How i'st with you mother?” This is significant because it almost seems like he’s let down his guard for a moment. Q1 Hamlet almost never refers to Gertrude as “mother,” only “madam,” and I like the interpretation that Claudius is behind this- Q1 Claudius has the vibes of a step-father who demands that his new wife’s kid refers to his parents as “sir” and “ma’am.” I’d want Hamlet’s tone to be familiar here. He trusts that he’s out of Claudius’s earshot and puts enough hope in Gertrude to assume she won’t rat him out. Upon arriving in her chamber, it should be clear to the audience that Hamlet has an uncanny sensation that he’s being watched. He already knows what he’s going to tell Gertrude (or at least the gist of it) and he knows that being overheard is extremely dangerous. He’s pretty frantic by this point in the play, so we get the line:  “I'le tell you, but first weele make all safe.”

He seems to weigh his options through the next few lines. He looks back at the arras and guides Gertrude away from it, towards her bed. He takes a breath and draws his dagger. He has no intention to hurt his mother, but he is hoping that this half-threat will provoke any onlooker to come forward. Polonius (Corambis, whatever.) cries out from behind the arras and Hamlet whirls around and stabs him through the fabric. There’s no confusion in Hamlet’s next lines as we get in the later versions of the play, so I believe Polonius (Corambis... ugh) either falls forward and Hamlet sees his face or he manages to deduce who it is given that he just saw Claudius in another room.

Gertrude panics and tries to get up. Hamlet knows he only just has time to get a few words in to subdue her so he says the infamous “Not so much harme, good mother, As to kill a king, and marry with his brother.” She sits down again. 

“How! kill a king!“

Hamlet seems to steel his nerves and carries on, his dagger sheathed. He takes down a portrait from the wall: the royal family before things went awry. He ignores his younger self smiling back up at him and turns the painting to his mother. “Why this I meane, see here, behold this picture, It is the portraiture, of your deceased husband, See here a face, to outface Mars himselfe, An eye, at which his foes did tremble at, A front wherin all vertues are set downe For to adorne a king, and guild his crowne, Whose heart went hand in hand euen with that vow, He made to you in marriage, and he is dead. Murdred, damnably murdred”

He watches her intently, gauging her reaction just as he’d instructed Horatio to do at the play. If she’d shrunk away from her now-murderer son before, now she listens intently. He carries on, taking a gamble:

“Looke you now, here is your husband, With a face like Vulcan. A looke fit for a murder and a rape”

He isn’t entirely sure what he intends to imply, but somewhere, subconsciously, he feels he’s right. Gertrude doesn’t want Claudius. (And I think in the context of the First Quarto, he’s right.)

She pleads with him to stop. Maybe she’d suspected Claudius, maybe not. Either way, now she has to keep quiet and pretend everything’s normal with confirmation that Claudius is a killer (and so too is her son...)

The ghost appears. Gertrude shivers. She can’t see or hear it, but she feels it. Hamlet drops the painting and leaps to his feet, torn between attentiveness and terror. Guilt crashes over him. He has failed to kill Claudius. He has killed an innocent man. Hamlet tries to conceal his sobs. The ghost steps towards him, its back to the audience. Hamlet is trembling, but we can’t see his face.

The ghost steps away as instructs him to comfort his mother and we see Hamlet pressed against the wall, tears in his eyes. He turns to Gertrude, mirroring the ghost’s motion, and chokes out  “How i'st with you Lady?”

She responds: “Nay, how i'st with you That thus you bend your eyes on vacancie, And holde discourse with nothing but with ayre?”

It hits him all at once. She can’t see it, she can’t hear it, it can’t vouch for him. His tears spill over. 

He prays he’s wrong. 

“Why doe you nothing heare?” 

“Not I.”

“Nor doe you nothing see?”

Gertrude isn’t sure what to think. If the mad prince tells her to believe that Claudius killed her first husband, does she dare listen?

She responds, shakily: “No neither.”

“No, why see the king my father, my father...” Hamlet reaches out as if to touch the ghost, but it only looks back, sorrowful, and strides away, vanishing into the air.

She says he is mad. She doesn’t know if she believes it. She doesn’t know what to believe. 

Hamlet returns to her side and frantically places her fingers over his wrist. His heart still beats, doesn’t it?

“Idle, no mother, my pulse doth beate like yours, It is not madnesse that possesseth Hamlet.”

He isn’t sure whether he’s convincing her or himself. Gertrude pulls him into her arms. She can’t help it. She feels the blood on his hands, sticky against her dress. She pulls him closer.

He eventually pulls away and implores her on his knees:

“O mother, if euer you did my deare father loue...” He echoes the ghost’s if thou didst ever thy dear father love... half-intentionally. If the ghost cannot speak to her, he will. He must.

“Forbeare the adulterous bed to night, And win your selfe by little as you may, In time it may be you wil lothe him quite: And mother, but assist mee in reuenge, And in his death your infamy shall die.”

The ghost asked him to leave her to heaven. He fears what her judgment might bring. He loves her. He needs her. He can’t do this alone. He’s so scared and he just wants his mother’s affirmation that everything will be alright, that she will support him, that somehow, their family can be saved. He knows he’s lying to himself, but he can’t stop.

They make eye contact. Gertrude takes a moment before nodding and longer before she speaks, but she agrees.

“Hamlet, I vow by that maiesty, That knowes our thoughts, and lookes into our hearts, I will conceale, consent, and doe my best, What stratagem soe're thou shalt deuise.”

She holds his hands for a while, but her eyes drift towards Polonius’s (Corambis’s ARGH) body and Hamlet, who was facing away from it, suddenly realizes what he’s done all over again. He scrambles to his feet and wraps it in the arras before frantically dragging it out of the room and off stage.

Gertrude doesn’t move. She sits on her bed, breathing heavily, her head still turned towards the door. The pause feels long and drawn out. Too long. She stands very suddenly and grabs a rug, placing it over the bloodstains on the floor. She hangs up the painting and as she’s centering it, Claudius enters.  (The Q1 cue is:  “Exit Hamlet with the dead body. Enter the King and Lordes.”  There is, notably, no exit cue for Gertrude. He comes to her, not the other way around.) She turns to face him. He greets her:

“Now Gertred, what sayes our sonne-”

He notices the blood on her dress. He looks down. The rug he’s standing on is soaking through with blood. 

“How... how doe you finde him?”

She stands with her back to the audience, facing him, hardly moving. The panic and shock and horror hit her all over again and she reveals all: 

“Alas my lord, as raging as the sea: Whenas he came, I first bespake him faire, But then he throwes and tosses me about, As one forgetting that I was his mother: At last I call'd for help: and as I cried, Corambis Call'd, which Hamlet no sooner heard, but whips me Out his rapier, and cries, a Rat, a Rat, and in his rage The good olde man he killes.”

What else is she supposed to do in her bloodstained dress, the carpet sticky with gore, and her portrait hung sideways on the wall? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark and Claudius can’t suspect it’s her. Not yet.

[aquillis-main]

Sonia had bigger tits than I remembered. They're not beachballs but they're a pretty decent pair👀. No wonder Dingo fell head over heels for her.

I mean...?

I'm more paying attention to how Sonia's body fur/quills don't match her outfacing Quills more than Sonia's looks, but they always did draw Sonia a bit shapely that I never liked. Especially since Sonic and Manic weren't ever drawn the same way.

Seriously, I feel someone wanted Sonia to be more 'interesting' than Sonic and Manic, when it just turned Sonia into something I felt didn't suit her. The three are triplets, so giving Sonia a different body style from her siblings never made sense to me.

[keefsteef]

Mr. Roth had to place his hand upon his OWN SHOULDER because Alexander said "LOL, NAH" 💔.

And that's not even the end of it. Eddlewart had NO COMPASSION, and outfaced Mr. Roth anyway 💔

[wulfhalls]

Rhaenyra is so pretty 😍 I just can’t get over it when I see her every time. We get it Daemon. We adore her and can’t stop gazing too. Emma ❤️ Milly

licherally outfaced everyone <33 also the way she looks at daemon exactly the same even after all these years. pain suffering torment agony anguish