#( obviously i think i secretly work on the run down for specific fandoms since i do have major characters involved that my pals write so )

[hargrovetm]

ok i have to talk about this and put into existence but i wanna talk about billy's pirate verse just because it's THAT good ! so basically im writing down like the general bits that kinda have to get hit for him in this verse. and i could more in detail, but obviously there can be multiple verses of this particular verse to fit different fandoms and what not.

his mom does run away, and leaves with neil. he endures as much as he can but then eventually runs off with the original plan of looking for his mom. i haven't set down like an age when he runs off but he is young. he is taken in by a pirate and it turns out that he is like really good at it. he can be ruthless and enjoys the carnage, not to mention the prospect of like earning riches. also the little time he spends with neil does make him learn that self discipline he carries in his main canon. which is a great combo to be a pirate. he obviously has this connection with the sea and this sorta calling to it he can't quite understand.

he rises up in the ranks until he is captain. and he's good at it. it all comes from the balance of not being too attached to people in general and also his mean girls regina george energy. he becomes a very well respected pirate, but also the stuff of scary shit. and it's such a funny thing because this is a billy that gets to spend his team near beaches and the sea most if not all the time. he's gorgeous, blonde long ass hair and his blue eyes with long lashes. like he's cute. he's pretty. and most people don't even know what captain billy hargrove even LOOKS like. they don't expect this pretty boy who can absolutely turn the tables on their ass. he never stops looking for his mom. believing she is still alive, but tells NO ONE about this to not put her into any sort of danger.

now for whatever plot reason, he also has an almost dead moment where he drowns. but the thing is he doesn't. his mom saves him because his mom is a MERMAID, and that explains how he has certain abilities enhanced. like he can swim better than most people, he can hold his breath better than most. and he has this charm. there is a time he spends with his mom sorta reuniting and there is this overlaying conflict where his mom is glad he is with her. and she doesn't want him to go back to the life of piracy since it cannot possibly end well. but on the other hand, billy doesn't think she has the right to mother him now after she abandoned him so many years ago.... so he eventually leaves, promising to visit. and captain billy hargrove does this whole ass bad ass comeback.

i also on another blog i got like cult ocs that have like a pirate verse and im wondering if i could wave some darker forces into this shit like i have for his fantasy verse basically. i might mess around and add some more stuff especially from like the half mermaid part but other than that this is it thank you for reading <3

[scuttling]

While You Were Sleeping (Okay, in a Coma)

Fandom: Criminal Minds Pairings: Derek Morgan & Latina Original Female Character Aaron Hotchner/Latina Original Female Character Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid Word Count: 2,058 Chapters: 1 of ? WIP Tags: SFW so far, Sophie is not in the BAU, While You Were Sleeping (film) AU, Coffee shop, Unrequited love, Canon-typical violence, Slow burn

Summary: What happens when Derek Morgan, the man Sophie Cortes is secretly in love with, goes into a coma, and everyone around them mistakes her for his girlfriend? As if things weren't complicated enough, his boss is sweet, kind, incredibly handsome, and makes sure she's taken care of while Derek is in the hospital. Plus, she thinks one of Derek's coworkers is more secretly in love with him than she is. Feelings shift, but how does Sophie explain to the world that she fell for Aaron while Derek was sleeping, without hurting everyone she's come to care about?

Read on AO3 or read more below! The morning that changes Sophie Cortes’s life forever begins much like any other: she wakes up at 3 AM to her blaring alarm, slides out of bed with a groan, tugs off the oversized t-shirt she slept in and pulls on a sports bra and leggings to go for a run. She knows this makes her sound like a lunatic, but with her schedule, if she doesn’t exercise before the crack of dawn, it just doesn’t happen.

After her run, she goes home to shower and change, grabs her bag and drives to The Busy Bean, the coffee shop she co-owns with her best friend Jocelyn. Jocelyn is the brains of the operation, the one with all the great marketing ideas, the one who handles the finances and vendors and supply issues and makes sure everything is Fair Trade or else—Sophie bakes cookies and makes macchiatos, but everyone’s got their strong suits.

She loves the coffee shop more than anything, its bright brick walls and dark wood floors, the smell of fresh beans and sugar, the bustle of regular customers they get from being so near Quantico; most of them are serious suit types, always in a hurry, but some of them are sweet, take their time to say good morning, like Sophie’s favorite customer, Derek.

She knows Derek is a fed of some sort, even though he’s not usually in a suit. He has that air about him, like he’s powerful and capable, like he’s seen things, but he never fails to flash her a megawatt smile, to lean against the counter while she makes his mocha and ask her how her morning is going. She’s a little bit in love with him.

Jocelyn knows this, and always makes sure Sophie is the one to wait on him; when she calls Sophie out from the kitchen specifically because Derek’s there, she knows he knows, and she flushes, but he says she makes his drink better than anyone, always asks her for a cookie recommendation on Fridays so he can take a box to the office, so she thinks it might not be completely one sided. Maybe. Or he’s just a really, really sweet guy.

On the morning that changes her life forever, he’s still very sweet, but she also sees a side of him she’s never seen before.

Someone tries to rob them. The man walks right up to the counter, no mask, no nothing, and tells her to put all of the money from the register into a cookie box or he’ll pull out the gun he’s got in his pocket and blow her face off. Her first instinct is to be pissed about this, which she knows is really stupid. She takes a step back, looks at the guy like he’s an idiot, crosses her arms.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Do you know how hard we work for this money? We don’t sit around… playing video games in our mom’s basement, like you do, by the looks of it.” The guy is obviously not happy about this, slams his hands down on the counter, and Derek, who is two spots behind him, leans slightly out of line to get her attention.

“Sophie, is this guy bothering you?” Before she can answer, the guy turns to look at Derek; he takes one glance at his hot, strong physique, and then his gun and his badge thing, and books it out of the shop. Derek tears off after him, and Sophie can see this ending very badly, so she grabs Jocelyn, asks her to cover the register and tells her she’ll be right back.

She jogs outside, expecting to see Derek manhandling the dumbass robber, or at least still chasing after him; she does not expect to see Derek laying on the ground, bleeding out, a bullet wound in his stomach.

“Oh my god, Derek!” She skids to a halt next to him, pulls off her apron—it’s mostly clean, she thinks—and lifts up his shirt, presses it to the wound to stop the bleeding. “Are you okay? That’s dumb, you’re not okay, but can you hear me? Are you going to die?” He chuckles, and that makes her feel a little better, but then he coughs up blood, and that makes her feel much, much worse.

She pulls her phone out of her back pocket, calls 911, and just stays with him, talks to him about nothing and everything, until the police and paramedics arrive. At that point, he has passed out, looks drained and weak, so unlike the Derek she has come to know… and love. Fuck. If he dies because of something that happened at her shop…

“Excuse me, miss, but we need to get him on the stretcher,” an EMT says, putting his hand gently on her shoulder. She backs off, knows he needs to be attended to, but she can’t leave him, she just can’t.

“Can I ride to the hospital with him? Please,” she asks the other tech, and she glances at her partner, who nods. Sophie sighs a breath of relief, sends a text to Jocelyn explaining what happened and that she’ll need to be out of the shop for the foreseeable future.

She notices that Derek’s phone has fallen off of his belt, and she picks it up, since the paramedics don’t seem interested. She absently decides to look through his recent contacts, to see if there’s someone she should inform of the accident: the last number he dialed belongs to someone named Hotch, and she vaguely remembers him mentioning the name before. It might be his boss, or something? He dials the number frequently, anyway, so she figures it’s worth a shot.

“Hotchner,” the man answers after two rings, and Sophie sighs, glad she got through to someone. Even if he’s not the person she should be contacting, he might know how to reach them.

“Uh, hello. I’m pretty sure you’re Derek’s boss, but even if you aren’t, you’re the last person he called, so… There’s been an accident. Derek’s been shot. We’re headed to the GWU Medical Center; I thought you would want to know.” She can hear the man moving some papers in the background, banging something around on his desk, maybe.

“We’re on the way; how bad is it? Is he conscious? What happened?” The paramedics signal for her to hop into the back of the ambulance, so she does, and she takes Derek’s limp hand. Her eyes well up with tears, and it feels real, now, that she has to relive it.

“There was someone trying to rob the coffee shop, and—and Derek went after him; he had a gun, and I guess he shot him. I mean, he obviously shot him. In the stomach. He’s not conscious; I don’t know how bad it is, but he was coughing up blood. Oh, god,” she breathes, voice shaky, and the man on the phone makes a soft sound of reassurance.

“It’s alright. He’s a very strong person, I promise you. He’ll be okay. You said you were headed to GWU Medical Center; are you with him now?”

“Yes. The paramedics let me ride with him. I can text you an update when we get there, his room number if he has one.” She can hear him talking to someone else in the background, but it only takes him a moment to answer.

“Please do. We’ll be there as quickly as we can. Thank you,…?” He pauses, clearly wondering who the hell she is.

“Oh, Sophie. Sophie Cortes.”

“Aaron Hotchner. Thank you. We’ll see you soon.”

The paramedics push Derek into the emergency room entrance, and Sophie follows behind, feeling anxious and out of place, and worried about his injury. They push the gurney through a set of double doors, and Sophie goes to follow, but a stern looking nurse in gold scrubs puts a hand in front of her, doesn’t even look up from her clipboard.

“You can’t go in there.” Sophie’s heart-rate jumps, and she shakes her head.

“I need to go in there, I need to make sure he’s okay. Please.”

“Are you family?” she asks, giving her a once-over; she clearly decides that Sophie is not family, and she doesn’t want to lie, anyway.

“No, I’m not family, but—”

“Like I said, you can’t go in there. Family only.” She moves her arm, waits like she dares Sophie to try, but she just sighs, sags against the wall, and the woman walks away.

“But you don’t understand,” Sophie says weakly, to herself. “I’m in love with him.” She brings up a hand to scrub at the tears forming in her eyes, and another nurse, one with blue scrubs and braids and a kind smile, rests a palm on her shoulder.

“Come with me.” Sophie looks up at her—she looks kind of like an angel, but it’s probably just the fluorescent lighting—and nods, follows.

She takes her through a staff only door, sneaks her into the OR hallway, where they can peer through a window at Derek, surrounded by doctors, surgeons, nurses. Sophie has only seen this kind of stuff on TV, so she doesn’t know how it’s going, but the nurse who brought her tells her to stay there for one second and bustles off.

It’s really scary to watch: there are bloody cloths being thrown around, and tubes and clamps and other medical devices she’s not sure the use for, but after a moment, she can see a doctor lift up a pair of surgical pliers, and there’s a bullet between the prongs. That’s a good sign, she’s pretty sure.

The nice nurse comes back, and she scares the shit out of Sophie when she puts a hand on her arm, making her jump a foot. She smiles apologetically, and Sophie returns it.

“I found out his room number, if you’d like to go sit and wait for him to be brought in. It's an ICU, so technically visiting hours haven’t started yet, but I can make an exception—for an hour, okay?” Sophie nods, wraps her hands around the nurse's wrists.

“Thank you so much. Really—I just need to know he’s okay,” she says, and the woman nods understandingly and takes her to room 104, where Derek will be placed after surgery.

She texts the number to Derek’s boss, takes a seat on the chair in the corner of the room. She gets restless quickly, stands up, uses the bathroom sink to scrub at her hands, because they’re still stained with Derek’s blood. It’s quiet, eerily so, until suddenly it isn’t.

Derek is wheeled in on a bed by a couple of nurses; he looks a little better, all wrapped up in gauze, and they hook him to machines, displaying a steady heartbeat. She breathes a sigh of relief. He’s alright. He’s not dead. That’s incredible news. She takes his hand, wills herself not to cry, murmurs that she’s so happy he’s alive.

As soon as the nurses leave, a group of people who can only be Derek’s coworkers enter the room. There is a tall, serious looking man with dark hair and a dark suit; a woman with thick fringe, a kind face; an older guy with facial hair who looks worried and weary; a skinny guy who looks about the same as Sophie feels; a petite blonde woman with the bluest eyes Sophie’s ever seen; and another blonde woman with crimped hair and glossy lips who has absolutely been crying. They look at Sophie, and she stands, drops Derek’s hand.

“Um, hi, I’m—”

“Who are you?” a doctor says suddenly from behind the group. The kind nurse who let her see Derek is behind him. The serious looking man reaches into his pocket, flashes a badge with a no-nonsense expression.

“We’re with the FBI. We’re his coworkers.” He looks over at Sophie, and she takes a deep breath. Before she can explain who she is, the kind nurse steps around the doctor, flashes Sophie a smile.

“And she’s his girlfriend.”

Uh. What the fuck?

Derek’s coworkers exchange a look that says pretty much the same thing; the tall skinny one looks like his heart has been broken.

Sophie opens her mouth to correct that extremely incorrect assumption, but she can’t find the words, and then she passes out.

[jonroxton]

can you talk about chlark beyond chloe? personally i think it's weird that the writers kept adding kisses and weird romantic moments without any pay off. i don't know much about the fandom back then but i think the writers were baiting fans since clark/chloe seems to be the second most popular ship after clex. second i personally think chloe would never be happy with clark or anyone tbh and she doesn't seem like the type of person who would have kids so the finale was weird to me.

this got looooong :)

0. it WAS weird, and the choice to never not once go for it with them was to the story's detriment. I'll get into it a little later on in this post.

Re: shipping in sv fandom. there was definitely drama (clana was HUGE when the show was airing and every ship was basically derailed by it lol) but I stayed in my clois lane with a small circle of fandom friends much like I do now. a good measure of clois fans were fans of lois and clark from other mediums, come to sv just for lois and clark, myself included. we were pretty insulated as a fandom even back then. I do remember seeing more Chlark after the S5 finale (when Chloe kisses him goodbye), but those dropped off after Jimmy was introduced right away in S6. The most drama I encountered was with Chloisers: Chloe fans who believed wholeheartedly that Chloe was Lois. They hated SV!Lois and were convinced she would die so Chloe could take her name and job and place by Clark's side, thus a Chlark endgame. this was a popular theory amongst that fandom even into s9, when the clois ball started to roll for true.

bait and switch

a lot of Chlark is rooted in this notion that chloe WOULD be the best thing for Clark, the ideal Lois, the true best friend, the human hand guiding him through Earth's troubles. she would be could be the BEST possible lois archetype for Clark. it's not a wrong interpretation. she was specifically written as a lois-and-lana-proxy (teenage lana is a reporter in some AUs and even some as an adult as a tv correspondent) and she's given many lois-ish traits (tenacious, secretly crushing on clark and in denial), but this interpretation is deeply flawed. first, because lois does eventually enter into the picture and she has her own defining traits that, when compared to chloe, make chloe seem much shallower than realized. secondly, within the complete context of the story, her position in the greater narrative is not as ~the one who got away, the way it did very early on in S1-S4, but one who clark tolerates.

they're friends because clark is forgiving and chloe has staying power. their friendship is riddled with insecurities and unknowns the characters create for themselves. their dynamic is defined by conflict, not resolutions. this is not made easy by the fact that chloe is such a strangely written character, but ultimately she is positioned as a counter to clark achieving his happiness. not a thematic narrative foil but an obstacle clark eventually relents to.

2. and it has been so from the get-go

S1 is the best season for them and the single season which actually considers Clark's side in this dynamic. everything about them later on can be explained with how they are in this season. and that's the problem. when they're 14 it's nice teen angst drama and works perfectly to establish the dynamic. when they're 24 it's at best a pattern, at worst regression. we expect certain behaviors, dismiss them too, when it's children, at least I do. clark and chloe never move beyond the dynamic they establish in s1 and early s2. in essence, clark and chloe remain children around each other. they have many discussions in the later seasons that make at least one appear petulant.

so S1 clark has just been told the greatest secret of his existence and he imprints on lana hard that same night (right AFTER jonathan tells him, he meets lana at the graveyard and talks to her for the first time EVER, a lot of childhood imprinting going on in SV). all of s1 follows clark's heartache over lana, watching her from afar and figuring out a way to be near her. this pain is exacerbated by the fact that he believes he caused her her greatest grief: the death of her parents via the meteor shower which he arrived in.

here the first beat of the chlark dynamic is established: chloe's job and passion – the wall of weird and her pursuing the meteor infected oddities of SV - directly affects clark in a negative way (he's suicidal for much of s1-s3). so her crush on him is countered with her unknowingly causing him great grief. om top of that: clark becomes part of this passion of hers and she eventually begins to pursue him as a story to be uncovered, very superman yes. here tho, it causes nothing but strife for them and paints chloe in an awful light (and clark too, highlighting his refusal to open up). I personally enjoy this aspect of them in s1. bc they're so young I give em a free pass and it's a good conflict playing around with old superman tropes, but it makes for a fraught friendship.

3. the second beat

is that neither chloe's crush on clark, nor his asking her to stop pursuing his truth, do anything to stay her. her tenaciousness becomes intrusiveness and inconsideration (many of her accomplishments irt the daily planet are directly bc she betrays clark). she simply will not listen to her friend and does not believe his livelihood and autonomy is worth losing a story over. this is literally the opposite of comics/live action lois lane, who in various versions drops the clark reveal story to protect him. this passion turns vindictive pretty early for chloe, who eventually pursues stories about clark out of jealousy and entitlement (against lana also).

4. the third beat

is that clark doesn't ever see chloe as romantic prospect except this time in s1. the tornado trapping lana pulls him away from any solidifying of the clark/chloe dynamic, and that's that. but we know clark was willing to go for it in early s2 when he apologizes to chloe about running off on her. it's chloe who decides not to go on with the relationship. clark is visibly confused, but also 15 so he can't see that chloe is putting on a brave front to protect herself from clark running off again. I liked this too as it's another play on superman tropes, but my sympathy for them stops here.

5. and stays here

these beats are the entirety of this dynamic. everything about chlark can be distilled down to their childhood. it's why I don't hate them completely, bc I have a lot of love for kids who hurt in such a way and that time is never easy. in s8 (I think its s8) when we get a flashback to when they meet as kids (more imprinting!). little tenacious cute chloe kisses insecure clark bc of the funny awkward tension, acknowledging it, and then immediately takes it back because they're better as friends. (also they’re like 11 lol)

every single romantic moment with them is undercut either by chloe herself, or by the presence of other storylines/romances the writers wanted to pursue. the lack of integrity in chloe and the lack of interest in clark, regardless of how sincere their connection or how messed up, is a central part of their dynamic that needs to be reconciled with their friendship. and its exhausting bc there is never a point they are ever truly comfortable around each other.

6. to a fault

knowing the secret doesn't change chloe's methods. it doesn't make chloe clark's great confidante. if anything, it complicates matters for both because their relationship then becomes about the greater good and clark's great destiny. everything chloe does becomes about that, which in theory sounds awesome, but is executed much the same way as s1!chlark: by reiterating behaviors that highlight the negative aspects of that loyalty and the negative aspects of their characters.

the single time they do actively examine what this loyalty means and how chloe's hero complex complicates things for chlark is with s8 and davis. she protects davis with the skills of subterfuge and secrecy she developed as clark's friend. and it costs her jimmy and a lot of her personal integrity as a character. tho ironically it makes chloe the strongest she's been as a character. this is the first time clark is forced to view chloe as an enemy and he never quite recovers from discovering the dark depths she’s willing to go to. 

it's an arc dealing with the established beats: how far chloe is willing to go for a kryptonian (very far), how much she's willing to do for him (A LOT and all of it illegal), and what it costs her (jimmy). it deals with her jealousy (always second choice) and her motivations (uncovering the truth). this great want that she struggled with for years is turned on its head and examined, revealing just how weird and dark her hero complex is because obviously davis is not clark. davis/chloe served to highlight more than any other arc how it's really too bad that clark never saw her that way, because she has so much love to give and when channeled, it's a great force. only it's a great force for evil. clark has to confront that it’s not just lex but his other closest friend who is willing to go so far. they backtrack hard in s9 and s10 but they keep this underlying wariness in clark towards Chloe throughout. it’s not anything new, but it’s no longer subtext that clark doesn’t fully trust chloe.

7. And that's the rub

in the end. chloe and clark have many storylines they're in together and chloe's important.... to develop clark and as a counter to clark. clark never instigates anything, not once, for 9 years! when the show did give us Moments TM, clark is reacting, not actively making choices to connect to her. if anything, clark is incredibly awkward about chloe when they become intimate. he doesn't seem to know what to do with her crushing on him (the elevator scene is a great one to show just how awkward chloe makes him feel). more than that. clark never tells her his secret. and later on, chloe doesn't tell him half the crazy wild shit she does to protect him bc she knows he would disapprove. I still hold that the only reason they work is bc clark is a forgiving character and would give her chance after chance after chance. that's the watsonian explanation, but the doylist explanation is that the writers just never cared to explore them beyond this point.

8. and what was beyond that point?

they would've been a great counter to lexana in S6 and early clana (clark finally having a gf who knows). it’s playing the clark/Chloe as a straight lois/clark proxy before actually pursuing lois and clark. it could’ve been the precursor to davis and caused an even more personal conflict! the kiss at the end of s5 was their chance. they could've written chlark devolving much the same way lexana did in s6 (or not). but again. the writers never went that far and clearly never wanted to. it kept chlark forever in this stage of childhood friendship always on the brink of collapsing, tittering either way. it's also tough to speculate bc clark's just not into her. in fact he becomes more and more wary of her, to the point where he believes she can do horrible things, and he's right. the stories continually make their methods complete opposite.

they go out of their way to show chloe realizing how happy clark is with lois. and even play a joke on the fandom by literally turning her into lois and seeing the sparks between her friends. it's almost... cruel but it does serve to show how clark is when he's smitten and he's never looked at chloe that way except during the dance when they were kids. other unrequited dynamics have at least some spark from the desired, but nil from clark. clark is into chloe in late s1, but she shuts him down, and when he seems to be into her again (damn that s5 kiss was a good one lol), she shuts him down again. it's just a weird writing choice all around, and that they kept nuggets of it throughout the show is the thing I cringe at most whenever I rewatch.

9. bait and switch 2

with hindsight it is definitely ship baiting and that sucks for that dynamic bc without it their friendship would’ve been the stronger, or at least not full of so much negativity. all it did was remind everyone that chloe’s been duped since she was a kid and that clark is both stupid and strange for never noticing and letting her get away with shit just bc she’s the most loyal. I don’t ship them and even I get frustrated lol

[knives-out20]

Knocking Boots - Captain Jack Sparrow x Male!OC

Fandom: Pirates Of The Caribbean (2003-2017)

Pairing: Riley Blackwell (OC) x Captain Jack Sparrow

Warnings: !NSFW!, Smut obviously, Swearing, Faggotry, Praise kink, Jack literally being the king of consent, Gay horny pirates need I say more, Dick stuff but y’know its a given, They have a safe word and safe action guys seriously we’re fine, Dirty talking AND sweet talking,

Notes: If you see this, no you didn’t. Riley doesn’t always bottom, because trust me y’all Jack is JUST as much of a pillow princess as Riley can be, especially if he’s ‘too lazy to do all the work’. I’ll probably delete this SO FAST LMFAOOO I haven’t done this since that shitty Joshua x Aldo one months ago, I literally swore off writing smut after that but I deadass couldn’t help myself. This isn’t placed in a specific movie/between specific movies, so go wild with when you think this is. No spellcheck, we die like men.

Jack and Riley hung around the captain’s cabin of the Black Pearl, Jack sat at the table and Riley standing against a wall. 

Riley inhaled slowly, though sadly his lack of scent blocked him from smelling the rum, the salty sea, and other such smells that every other pirate was long used to.

“Y’know doing that doesn’t really do anything for you, mate” Jack reminded, eyes on his closed compass. “You lost your sense of smell many moons ago, if y’even ever had it.”

Riley pushed himself off of the wall, standing up straight. “Thank you, Captain obvious” he teased, glancing over at Jack and giving him a grin.

Jack returned his gaze, eyebrows raising as he showed Riley a fake smile. “Watch it, love.”

Riley softly arched a brow, left pointer and middle finger padding at his neck. “Bit strange, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

Riley pulled a sturgeon face. “Usually, we’re being pulled this way ‘n’ that, up, down, sideways, left, right, everywhere in bloody death-defying ventures. But now...we’re not on the verge of dying. I’m not losing you, you’re not losing me, we’re not out looking for something, we’re finally getting some damned peace” he explained. “Not that I’m complaining, it’s a relief to finally not be worrying about your well-being, but then again...I’m not used to not bloody worrying.”

Jack chuckled airily. “Finally have me safe ‘n’ sound, and you’re annoyed about it?”

“I bloody said I wasn’t complaining-”

“I’m teasing, rose” Jack cut Riley off. He took off his hat, setting it aside on the table. “Quite nice, isn’t it? Running this way and that is tiresome, sometimes, even I’ll admit” Jack confessed, steadily standing up. He shrugged off his dark coat, placing it over his chair. “More time with you, alone. Or at all, both is fine, honestly.”

Riley crossed his arms, his blue eyes being one (or, well, two) of the brightest things in the room as he watched Jack advance on over. Once Jack came close enough, he grabbed the Captain’s narrow hips and pulled him closer, head tilted slightly. 

“There’s that needy attitude again.”

“Shut it” Riley whispered, leaning in a bit. “I ever tell you how breathtaking you are under the candlelight?”

“Aye. You usually say that under any light, actually” Jack shrugged.

“Because it’s bloody true, dear” Riley shook his head, gaze and smile melting into an expression of hopeless love.

Jack admired Riley for a moment, before asking him something. “Can I kiss you?”

Riley clicked his tongue, nodding. “Always” he whispered.

Jack gently cupped Riley’s cheek, the familiar prickling of Riley’s designer stubble on his palm giving him a sense of safety; of home. His thumb subconsciously starting stroking Riley’s cheek, an automatic thing he happened to do. Jack couldn’t quite place why, maybe it was a reminder to himself that Riley is still there with him and isn’t planning on going anywhere, or maybe it’s just his need to feel Riley under his touch. Either way, he simply couldn’t get enough.

“I’m sorry, I’m expecting a kiss right now, if you’re still up for it” Riley joked, tapping his bottom lip with his right pointer finger.

Jack playfully rolled his eyes, leaning in and pressing his lips to Riley’s. One with a less homey sense to it, as it was obviously more romantic and intimate. Being with everything Riley and him had been through, Jack secretly cherished each and every kiss they shared, no matter the setting nor where the kiss was placed. 

Who knows when a simple kiss could be their last?

Jack pulled Riley close to him with both hands, in a low-key way, feeling safe enough to close his eyes and savor in the moment. Feeling safe around someones energy is a different kind of intimacy than the one that most people are used to, one that he believes only Riley and him have. 

Riley loved kissing Jack, because kissing him never felt like something on his to-do list (though, Jack was constantly at the top of Riley’s to-do list), or a chore. He never felt as if he had to kiss Jack because the two are romantically involved, like he had with men who weren’t Jack. Kissing Jack, to Riley, was that of a fun activity, or a reward for finding the one, so to speak.

Jack’s lips were on the smaller, rounder side, his lips are full, too. He doesn’t take much care of them, more-so himself, but Riley knew them to be softer than a warm bed. Then Riley’s were the complete opposite in looks: wide, and a little on the thinner side. Riley took better care of himself than Jack did with himself, but Riley will reluctantly admit that his lips are a bit dry, most nights. Jack still loved them all the same.

Despite the listless differences between their attributes, Jack’s and Riley’s lips fit ever so perfectly when they kiss. As if they were carved from the same stone, or made for each other. 

Every piece of their bodies were perfectly made for each other, it seemed. Riley’s hand could fit perfectly when holding Jack’s. Jack could wrap himself around Riley and they would fit like two pieces of a puzzle. Riley could place his hand on Jack’s neck and it wouldn’t be too big or too small.

And in this moment, it was their lips that fit each other. Riley kissed Jack as he held the Captain, recalling the idea that his hands were made for holding Jack in any way, shape, or form, he just fit so perfectly. He tasted the rum on Jack’s lips, like it was the only thing he ever could- or wanted to- taste. After all, both Jack’s lips and rum gave Riley a major sugar rush-like feeling.

Jack pulled away from the kiss for air, keeping his lips against Riley’s. “Can you bloody take this off?” He inquired, in more of an actual questioning tone than the pleading tone anyone would expect to hear in the given situation. Jack tugged at Riley’s black coat, specifically the collar despite meaning the clothing item as a whole.

Riley nodded, pulling his hands away from Jack’s person to pull the coat clean off and toss it onto a nearby chair. What was under that coat was always the same, a long-sleeved black button-up with a red double-buttoned waistcoat over that. Sometimes just the waistcoat, unless Riley felt cold. Silence followed, and he arched an eyebrow. “Aren’t you gonna ask me to take these buggers off, too?” Riley asked, tugging his waistcoat and button-up.

Jack gulped. “Only if y’want to. I’d never force you to do anything you wouldn’t want to, mate. Willingly, of course.”

Riley cooed, reconnecting his lips to Jacks as he worked on unbuttoning his waistcoat. Most would think that oh, double the buttons, double the amount of time. But Riley’s grown accustomed to taking off his waistcoat that it’s second nature, he’s very quick at it nowadays. He pulled away from Jack to work it off, folding it and holding it in one hand. “Could you be-rid of this, for me?” He tapped Jack’s smaller, unbuttoned waistcoat, which was forgotten in a flash with how fast Jack took it off, after his belt, weapons, and any other effects. Riley chuckled, “needy much?” He teased, throwing his waistcoat onto a table.

“Shut up” Jack scoffed, the both of them unbuttoning their shirts.

“Can I kiss you, now?” Riley slid his hand over Jack’s lower back, pulling him closer for some skin-on-skin action.

Jack pressed his forehead against Riley’s, smirking. “You may.”

Riley’s other hand found the back of Jack’s neck, cradling the back of his head. He inched closer, kissing Jack for the third time. It was hungrier than the others, now that Jack and Riley both knew that the other knew exactly what they wanted.

Jack pulled away, cupping Riley’s cheek and talking against his other one. “Can I go down on you?” He purred, neediness showing at this point but he’d shut it off like a switch if Riley were to seem the least bit uninterested. 

Riley nodded, turning and pushing Jack onto the bed. He crawled on top of him, grunting when Jack flipped them around.

Jack straddled Riley down, using one hand to pull off his faded, red bandanna. He set the bandanna aside, along with the deer shinbone that usually stuck out of it. “Can we try it like this tonight?” Jack questioned, gesturing to how he was currently on top of Riley. “Let me take care of you, love.”

Riley hummed, nodding. He watched Jack intently, propping himself onto his elbows as the Captain took off his pants. Riley followed suite, until his rings weren’t even on his hands and Jack wasn’t wearing any bracelets. 

Jack pinned Riley down to the bed, face disappearing to the crook of his scarred neck. “I could stay here all bloody day” he mumbled, fluttering kisses down Riley’s neck. “All I ever want to do, Rye, is- is run me hands through your hair, all damned day, and kiss your beautiful neck” he admitted, inhaling Riley’s secure musk.

Riley tilted his head up, smiling lazily. “Anything else?”

“Oh, darling, why tell you when I could easily show you?” Jack hummed, fingers dancing down the side of Riley’s body like he had a million times before, knowing his partner better than the back of his hand. He continued his gifts of loving kisses, trailing down Riley’s body, his way of admiring his own work of art.

Riley’s fingers smoothly tangled into Jack’s dreads, course fingers in the soft locks always giving him a feeling like solace. He tilted his head back to stare up at the ceiling in content, quite glad that a majority of the work didn’t befall onto him tonight.

Jack worked his way back up to Riley’s neck, becoming more and more touchy by the second. He pressed against Riley hungrily, biting down on a safe spot on Riley’s neck.

Riley grunted quietly, eyelids fluttering as Jack did what he did best.

“What do you want, Riley?” Jack urged, ready to stop if Riley were to give a signal. His hand met Riley’s dick, thumb softly stroking. “Tell me what you want.”

Riley dug a hand into Jacks hair, having been worked up very quickly. “You,” he breathed, all his senses practically overloading with his need for Jack. “You, Jack. Please.”

Jack chuckled lowly, pulling Riley’s hand away from him and pulling away, himself.

Riley’s blue eyes followed Jack’s every distinct move, as the man went to go get some aloe vera and come back.

Jack took a bit of the gel, rubbing it onto his hands. “What’s our safe word again, love?” He asked, eyebrows raised expectantly. Jack assumed Riley remembered their safe word.

“Wicked.” Riley answered obediently.

“And safe action?”

Riley pat the bed three times, doing so again with his hand furled into a fist. “If I pat the bed three times, fist or not.”

“Aye” Jack nodded, proudly. He maintained eye contact with Riley as he lathered his dick up with the aloe vera gel, breathing at a ragged pattern as his mind raced with ideas of all that he could do to Riley. “Do you still want this?”

Riley nodded eagerly, long used to Jack’s constant inquiries on whether he still wanted to do something or not. “I want you, Jack-”

“How badly?”

“So bloody bad” Riley licked his lips slowly, eyeing Jack like always.

Jack grinned, “good boy.” He praised, covering two fingers in the gel and teasing them around Riley’s entrance.

Riley squirmed a bit beneath him, having never gotten used to the feeling. His movements were less jerky than they were when Jack and him first started having sexual escapades, but he wouldn’t lie, it was always uncomfortable.

“Are you okay?” 

Riley nodded, reaching up and tucking Jack’s dreads behind his shoulders; this gave him a clearer view of Jack’s face. AKA a sight that none of the seven wonders of the world could ever even begin to compare to. “Always feels weird, is all.”

Jack nodded back at him, tossing the aloe vera aside and wiping his fingers. He lined himself up with Riley, pausing to simply stop and stare down at Riley. And this was far from being meant to be taken in a creepy way, Jack must say. He, cliche enough, always caught himself gazing at Riley on various occasions, ever since he was 18. Something about Riley was just so enrapturing, Jack swears he’d choose exploring Riley Blackwell and all that he is, over any sea or ocean, any day.

But enough of that, now.

Jack glanced down at his view of Riley below-the-waist, seeing Riley was just about as hard as he is. He hummed- intriguing. Nonetheless, there was work- well, a pirate- to be done. Jack exhaled quietly, locking eyes with Riley. “Ready?”

“Yes” was all Riley gave Jack, which is exactly what he needed to hear. With Riley, he always needed the presence of a ‘yes’ rather than the lack of a ‘no’, that always made what they did so much more enjoyable for him. 

Jack winked down at him, slowly sliding into his beloved.

Riley sucked in his breath upon impact, shoulders rising slightly.

Jack knew that was a good sign, so he slowly pushed his length into Riley. At that point in time, he knew full and well Riley could take all of it. “Is this okay?” Jack asked in a hushed tone, droplets of concern sprinkled over the inquiry. 

Riley nodded, relaxing into the activity. “I like that” he answered, repeating it mindlessly when Jack began thrusting softly. 

Jack smiled once more, hips thrusting against the underside of Riley’s smooth thighs. He decided to show mercy on Riley and go slowly throughout, after all he did say he wanted to take care of Riley tonight. If Jack hadn’t said that, he would have been sure to make Riley like how he was when Jack first met him: stuttery, shivery, and overall not like he usually is now. It’s a wonderful sight. “Do you want me to stop?” He piped up.

“Don’t stop,” Riley’s fingers curled, gripping the bed sheets but not in any way that expressed pain. “Don’t stop, don’t bloody stop, please” he begged, music to Jack’s ears.

“Feel good, eh?” Jack pushed, feeling a bit cocky but holding himself back from going any faster than Riley would’ve wanted him to. “Does this feel good?” He reworded.

“Feels so good, Jack” Riley mewled, putty beneath the Captain.

Jack grunted under his breath, brown eyes darting over very square inch of Riley’s body that was in his direct view. He had memorized it a thousand times over, but this was one treasure he was never tired of having, of holding, of looking at. But unlike any treasure, Riley’s a person, a human being. Not some shiny object. In Jack’s mind, he’d call Riley ‘treasure’, but he was sure that Riley’s so much more than that. 

“Jack,” Riley moaned, head tilting up, eyes falling closed as he swore softly.

Jack was pulled back down to reality when Riley called him, unknowingly speeding up his thrusts. “Yea, darling?”

“Can you go slower-?”

Jack gulped, nodding and immediately slowing his rhythm. “Sorry- got ahead of me-self” he apologized, reaching down and cupping Riley’s cheeks. “That better?”

“Right there, yes” A sedated smile slid onto Riley’s inviting lips, giggling airily. “More.”

“You look so pretty when you ask for more” Jack praised once more, thumb stroking at a leisurely pace. “You’re doing so well, Riley.” He added, the satisfaction on Riley’s face telling him more than enough. Jack traced one hand down Riley’s torso, grabbing his dick like before. 

Riley’s breath hitched when he felt Jack begin to pump, fingers stroking and squeezing down below. 

“Is this okay?”

“Yes, more than bloody okay, fuck-”

Jack chuckled, thrusting into Riley in a recurrent pace as his hand went to work at doing something he happened to do best: pleasing Riley. He was brought to cloud 9 as his waist swayed back and fourth, Riley mumbling “I’m close” ringing a bell in his head. “Hm?”

“I’m close, Jack” Riley repeated, head turned to the side.

Jack let go of Riley, leaning in and invading Riley’s personal space to sloppily kiss his neck. He bit down, tugged at skin, left a few marks, doing what he knew Riley would like. As long as Jack’s ears were being met with Riley moaning, groaning, and calling out his name, he was far from stopping. “Come for me, dear. Come for me, Riley.”

***

Jack collapsed beside Riley, the only noise in the air being their heavy panting and the sea rocking against the boat, like their bed had been against the wall. He tiredly reached an arm out, grabbing Riley and tugging him closer. 

Riley wrapped his body around Jack, mind falling back to earth from the nirvana it had just reached. “That was so...good” he slurred.

Jack exhaled through his nose, staring blankly at the wall. “You told me that one too many times” he teased, not denying that he was happy.

“Shut up” Riley breathed, smiling against Jack’s bare neck. “I love you” he told, breath heavy as his eyelids felt.

Jack’s smile grew from ear to ear, holding Riley close to his person. “I love you too, Riley.”

[twdmusicboxmystery]

6 Extra Episodes in S10. This May Be What We’ve Been Waiting For!

Yeah, you might say I have a “few” thoughts on the extra 6 episodes, lol. I think this is fantastic. I really think this is what we’ve been looking for for 5 years.

Of course, that said, I must caveat this with the fact that this is just speculation and no one knows for certain. But man, is this exciting!

When I heard for myself Angela announce the 6 new episodes for S10, the question I kept coming back to is…why? Why would they do that? Even putting Beth aside, never in 10 seasons have they ever extended a season at all, and 6 is a lost of episodes. (I can’t help but run through every episode 6 of every season and how many Beth clues we’ve found in all of them.)

But more to the point, why make them part of season 10? Why not finish them and make them s11 so they can show how awesome TWD is and that it hardly missed a beat. You know, on to season 11!!!!! But they’re smashing them into s10. Why? That’s a REALLY big deal.

So let’s state some things we know MUST be true about these six episodes:

1. Obviously, they’re special. For some reason.

2. They MUST have been previously filmed. They haven’t filmed anything since November and with CoVid, no way they could have. And yes, you could argue that they were filming secretly, away from cameras, as we often say that about Beth. But even so, they wouldn’t have had enough time before CoVid hit to film six full episodes. So these must have been filmed sometime before that. And then there’s those missing scenes we’ve PROVEN were filmed and never aired. Just seems like too much of a coincidence that this wouldn’t be that.

3. It must be something related to what happens in the finale. Maybe that seems obvious, but the reason I say that is because, in terms of Gimple’s we’re-working-on-seeing-what-happened-to-characters-early-in-the-apocalypse thing, I think there’s a few possibilities for what he could be talking about there. One of them, obviously, is Beth. But they’ve also long-hinted at an Abraham/Eugene early apocalypse spin off. So, it’s POSSIBLE he could be talking about that or some other storyline they have in mind for a future spin off. Now, I have more reasons for why I don’t think that’s the case, which I’ll get to in a minute, but this is what I mean about these 6 episodes needing to be tied to the finale. Putting in an Abraham—or anyone else’s flashback story line, for that matter—would make no sense here. It would be really jarring for the viewers because there’s been no hint of anything like in the show.

And of course a non TD-er would probably argue that there’s been no hint of Beth either, but we all know better, don’t we? There’s the Connie stuff (that convo between Daryl and Carol was the first on-screen mention of Daryl’s love life since…what? S3? When Carol asked him jokingly if he wanted to screw around? I mean, of course the fans were talking about it with Beth, but none of the on-screen characters were. And of course there’s the symbolism, dog stuff, Emily’s music being in it, and all other social media hints and attention she’s gotten. It just makes sense that if the last 5 minutes Nicotero keeps hinting at is her, then it would naturally follow that we’d then see her backstory.

And, I gotta say, the six episodes is perfect. This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for. We’ve all gone so back and forth about how they’d do this. We knew her backstory would take more than a single bottle episode. Or even two. And having a full 6 or 8 episodes for it deviates too much for too long from the main story and the other characters. So we always figured it might be a spin off or “special event” or something. This works perfectly for that mold, and may explain why they’re just “extending” S10.

But I’ll say more on that in a minute. Let me get back to Gimple’s comment.

Three things really stuck out to me about what he said, all of which make me think his comment was about Beth, rather than some other spinoff.

1) He made a point to say it was something that happened early in the apocalypse, not pre-apocalypse. And while that would work for an Abe/Eugene spinoff as well, it just jumped out at me that he wanted to be very clear about that.

2) He said what they’re working on that he’s referring to isn’t an entire series. That specifically suggests that a) it’s probably these 6 episodes he’s referring to, because rather than making them their own series (like TWB) they’re just mashing them into the main series. And b) what I said above about any other character spinoff: it would make way more sense and be way less jarring to have it be its own spin-off event because it just wouldn’t fit into the main series.

3) He suggested it’s what they’re actively working on right NOW. So, let me be the devil’s advocate here. That could possibly mean two things. Right now they can either do remote stuff to work on what they’ve already filmed or they can plan for stuff they’ll be filming when they get the okay to do so.

Let’s say I’m wrong and what Gimple said refers to some other spin off. Well, you could actually argue it either way. Maybe (again, we’ll use the Abe/Eugene thing as a placeholder, though it could feasibly be anything) they already filmed another spin off, secretly, and it’s just that no one knows about it. They could, technically, have done that at any time since MC left in S6, right? So Gimple could be working on that. Or, if they haven’t done any other filming, he could just be planning for the next thing beyond S11, right?

But that just doesn’t seem particularly realistic to me. Given that they’re trying to get stuff out for the fans, and the way CoVid has thrown a wrench in everything, I think all other projects would be backburned and they’d just be pushing as hard as possible to get the rest of S10 and S11 out to us. That’s what they have to be working on now to fill the gap of CoVid and make sure the fans don’t riot. That’s pretty much what Angela said and Gimple, Nicotero and others all agreed.

So of course, it’s not proof or anything, but it just seems obvious to me that what Gimple meant is what’s in these 6 episodes and nothing except it being about Beth makes sense. Nothing else would fit into the story at all right now.

Okay, I’m going to give a few thoughts about the suspicious pushing back of the finale and then I’ll stop.

In many ways, them pushing back the finale makes MORE sense to me in light of these new episodes than it did before. You both know I’ve always thought it was hokey because, after getting the filming done, everything else, by definition is done by computer and therefore can be done remotely.

So here’s what I think happened. Remember that even after CoVid hit, they still got several episodes aired, and didn’t tell us until—I don’t remember exactly when; episode 14 maybe?—that they wouldn’t be airing the finale because it wasn’t finished. I still think that was a lie. I think it wasn’t so much that they didn’t get the finale finished, but that they looked at what was happening (CoVid) and understood that everything would be shut down for an extended period of time and there would be a gap. That they wouldn’t get S11 filmed until the new year. But overall, S11 isn’t even really the point. Like I said, hearing about these 6 episodes has brought me some clarity.

So this may explain both why they held back the finale and why they’re mashing these episodes into S10, rather than making them their own thing. Now, maybe they were always going to do that. I obviously couldn’t speak to it either way. But I think the time frame is the thing here. Understand, I’m operating under the assumption that these 6 episodes will be Beth’s backstory, the missing 17 days, the white church, all of it. So, assuming that’s true…

If they always knew they were going to air these episodes soon after 10x16, they probably want them aired very close to (soon after) the reveal of Beth being alive. Think of it this way. When her being alive is revealed, there will a collective, fandom gasp. And then tptb will hype everyone watching the next episodes so we can find out how and why this is the case. But if they’d aired the finale back in February, it would have been 9 months before got those answers, and they would have lost the hype of the initial shock. Not to mention, while obviously the break would have built up plenty of hype for Daryl and Beth, it also would have allowed the haters to rail for months and months about how unrealistic this is, which might have infected others in the fandom in a negative way. I think Gimple and Kang are smart. They know their fandom very well, and are doing everything they can to guard against that sort of thing.

So, I think it’s possible that they were going to present these six episodes in a different way originally, like a spin off or special event (maybe, maybe not; I could see it either way) but they decided to make it an extended part of season 10, specifically because we won’t have s11 for a while and they want to push people through these episodes as quickly as possible after the finale.

I also think it’s terribly interesting from a psychological standpoint that they plan to start airing these things in October. Exactly when we SHOULD have gotten S11. Like I said, the writers are just smart that way. All we’ll actually be missing time-wise this year is the finale. And yes, other things like Fear and TWB were suppose to air in the interim. But in terms of the main series, which blows all the others out of the water viewership-wise, we’ll be sticking to the same schedule of getting more TWD in October, exactly when we should. I’m sure that’s purposeful. And by the time they air everything they’ve already filmed (S10, Fear, TWB), they’ll probably be ready to start airing S11 by then. Hopefully.

Okay, sorry. I said I’d stop, but two more minor things I want to mention. When Nicotero mentioned the last 5 minutes thing again, he said it would take everyone in a “whole new direction.” That gave me a lot of hope. Yes, I know hyperbole and exaggeration are still a thing, but I think we get it less from Nicotero than from Gimple, and I just don’t feel like he’d call it a “whole new direction” if he was just referring to Father Gabriel’s death or something. So once again, I think that “whole new direction” will be something completely unlooked for that will push us into those 6 episodes. That gave me some hope.

And finally, on the topic of FG’s death, I really think that could be a thing. Did you notice Angela’s giggle? I think it was right at the end when they were asking her what to expect from the finale and she just did a rundown of how all the characters were doing important things in important places (Negan has some exciting scenes, Carol has a redemption arc, Daryl’s leadership is important, etc.). And when she mentioned FG, she did this weird smile/giggle thing. She didn’t do that mentioning any of the other characters. It was like she got nervous and was trying to cover something. Just a little too shifty-eyed and giggly for me. So I kinda think we might be right about him dying in the finale.

But of course that remains to be seen. Thoughts?

[themoonstarwarrior]

PLAYLIST SHUFFLE TAG!

Okay, so @viterbofangirl tagged me in this and I need to start learning to post my own shit, so what the hell, why not?

Rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to! put your favorite playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 15 songs, then tag 10 people. no skipping!

(I couldn’t stop at 10 so I added 5 more, sue me)

I have very random music taste and I listen to my music on shuffle alot, so I made a playlist of the ones I like the most (that way I don’t hafta skip 150 songs to get to the one I feel like) so I’m gonna use that one.

1) History of Violence - Theory of a Deadman

Hoo boy starting off light huh?.... Yeah so, I was in the drive thru at Sonic when I first heard this on the radio and was immediately like “holy shit”. Instead of like metaphors and poetic subtlety, it’s just straight up like “here’s a poor abused woman who resorted to murdering her shitty boyfriend/husband cuz she couldn’t take it dum dum dum”. Even though the actual situation is not the same, this song is perfect for getting across the internal issues and turmoil of my character Mikey. Its so perfect I’m even planning to animate something for it...... if I ever get around to learning animation that is.....     

2) The Vengeful One - Disturbed

Two songs in and I look kinda emo.... But hey this song is soooooo cathartic! I love me a good heavy rock song, and the drums and electric guitar are perfect for my ears to absorb. This song gives off a feeling of overwhelming power mixed with a coldness and disdain for the bad in the world. Obviously, thats not my usual temperment, but its an interesting one to explore! Especially when I’m trying to get into the head of characters that exude that like my OCs Spark or Ryu. Plus its fun to sing in the car X)

3) Enter Sandman - Metallica

Okay this one is just a classic! Same thing with the drums and guitar they both slap SOOOOO GOOD. I don’t really associate this song with any of my characters or fandom favorites, but it DOES give me a super strong urge to learn the drums. EXXXXXXXXIT LIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! OFF TO NEVER NEVERLAND!!

4) We Are Giants - Lindsey Stirling ft. Dia Frampton

I don’t really to listen to music by band or artist, but I LOVE Lindsey Stirling!!! She’s probably my favorite musician! This is such a good song, especially for someone like me. Its a positive song that talks about feeling alone in a crowd and unimportant to the world, but how you really do matter and shouldn’t be afraid to dream big and shoot for the stars. It really speaks to me and the vocalization is so good (especially for singing), not to mention the official music video is animated and AMAZING!

5) Cetus - Lensko NCS

I dunno if anyone knows this song, but damn its good. Its one of those Royalty-Free songs that people look up for their channels, which is how I found it in the first place, but I loved it immediately. Its a peppy 8-bit electronic bop that turns a little Irish jig at the end and honestly I think if I ever start an animation channel I’m totally gonna use it! (Also go support Lensko he make good beats!)

6) Sanctuary - Utada Hikaru

I did not grow up with Kingdom Hearts, and only played KH2 within the past year n’ a half. But good God, the moment that Cinematic Opening came on and this song started playing I swear I astral projected into a daze of feelings without names. I know that “Simple and Clean” is the quintessential Kingdom Heart song that gives everyone feelings, but IMHO Sanctuary blows it out of the water. As beautiful as the animation was, or how curious the occasional backwards lyrics are, or how weird it is having high-res Goofy and Donald in what is essentially an anime opening, I really can’t be distracted from this song when I play.

7) Chemical Plant Zone (Rock Remix) - Zerobadniks

Chemical Plant Song is like, one of the TOP Sonic songs by popular vote (and we know how awesome the Sonic series is musically so thats saying something!), but I could never quite vibe with the normal 8-bit version. I think I first heard this as someone’s ringtone and was immediately like “THATS PERFECT THATS EXACTLY HOW I NEED IT!”. The rock makes the song soooo much better and honestly gives the song the perfect vibe. Unfortunately, it took FOREVER to find cuz none of the Rock Covers of this song were the right one. In fact, tbh, I’m not even sure whether Zerobadniks is the correct artist..... that’s just who everybody was crediting when I found it. 

(imma include the link i found since its a little hard to find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqJiZEM6aPI )

8) The Wolf - SIAMES

YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEOS???? THIS IS A GOD-TIER ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEO. I found the video first, and seriously, if you haven’t seen it YOU NEED TO!!! The beat works perfectly with the images on screen and the story being portrayed is really intriguing, with the lyrics adding to atmosphere without necessarily describing the visuals shown. Even without the animation, the song itself is a banger. It bring to mind the feeling of intense motion forward, but unable to decide whether its movement TOWARD something or AWAY from something. I love listening to this on a nighttime drive.

9) Burn the House Down - AJR

If you ask me, the best way to make a pop song better is to add either violins or trumpets. For this song, it was definitely the trumpets that first caught my attention, and the rest of the song kept me listening. I don’t really know how to describe the vibe of this song, and I don’t have a specific character or story in mind when I listen to it, so its a little hard for me to talk about it. I think the best way I can describe this song and what draws me to it is a feeling of nonchalant go-with-the-flow attitude to shenaniganry. Almost an undertone of “We’re hooligans in a situation that we probably should get out of, but hey we’ve got life and each other so why worry?” At least that’s the closest I can get to a verbal description heh...

10) Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell - The Offspring 

DANCE, FUCKER, DANCE, LET THE MOTHERFUCKER BURN!!!

So this also has a KICKASS animated music video, but its technically combined with the song “Dividing by Zero”. Now the video works SO well with both, and the shifting artstyles reflect the differing tones of the songs PERFECTLY. However, I have a preference for both the animation and the song on the Slim Pickens half. Its fun to listen to and sing at the top of your lungs and its SO CATHARTIC. Again I cant really describe what my head does when I hear it, but I think you can probably feel a similar vibe if you watch the music video. 

11) No Heaven - DJ Champion

The first time I finished the original Borderlands, I had been playing for days on end, had just finished a long battle with the Destroyer, and sitting back relieved to have beaten it and reflecting on how much I had enjoyed the adventure. Then this song started playing. For what I believe was forty minutes this song looped on my TV while the credits rolled. By the time the credits finished I was pulling up the song to listen to again! What an absolutely PERFECT cherry to add to this experience. This song perfectly encapsulated the chaotic, trigger-happy, morally ambiguous craziness that I had enjoyed and absorbed in this game. Every time I hear it now, I imagine myself in the wastelands of Pandora, driving haphazardly across the sandy dunes as my companions and I shoot and blow up everything in sight. You know, living the dream.......     

12) Hit & Run (Wolfgang Lohr Remix) -  The Electric Swing Circus

I fucking LOVE electro-swing! The electronic beats and rhythm blend so well with the wild and energetic freedom of swing. A lot of electro-swing gives me a vibe of wild movement, reckless abandon, and freedom from constraint. I think this song melds all of these feelings the best! As the last song might have indicated, despite my general nice and sweet temperament, there is a part of me deep down that is an absolute gremlin secretly enamored with chaos, insanity, and a general disdain for law and authority X). But whereas anything Borderlands related has a more “morality is an illusion blowing shit up is real” air about it, this song is far more peppy. More of a “good-hearted but insane” type of chaos, like an 100mph car chase where you end up sailing over the train tracks JUST as the train passes.

.... I may have gotten a bit off track lol 

13) Kickstart my Heart - Motley Crue

I love this song, but I have to be VERY careful when and where I listen to this. I love songs that make me feel like I’m going a million miles per hour, like I’m gotdam Sonic the Hedgehog. Unfortunately, I may or may not have had multiple instances of listening to this song in the car and abruptly realizing that I’m going like 15mph above the speed limit...... So yeah, regardless of absolutely perfect it feels to play this song while speeding down a nearly empty highway, please be careful and drive responsibly!!!

14) I’m Born to Run - American Authors

Imma just up and say it. This song is a Sonic song; like not like actually from the series but a song for the character. This song encapsulates Sonic as a character better than some of his ACTUAL THEMES (and remember Sonic music are bangers!). Its a song about freedom, living life as it comes, and not letting anything slow you down. Frankly I’m surprised they didn’t make this song FOR the Sonic series, or even the movie! Speaking of which, ironically I heard this song right after watching the Sonic movie in theaters, so yeah there’s no way I can associate it with anything else. 

15) Opa Opa - Antique

Oh, what a PERFECT way to end this list! This may be one of my absolute favorite songs of all time! I don’t remember exactly how I found this song... I think I had just relistened to Dalar Mehndi’s “Tunak Tunak Tun” and was looking for other catchy non-english songs and BOY HOWDY I found one! I know nothing about the band or what the song’s about (its in greek and i dont speak it), but this song is just a masterpiece of retro, pop, and dance sounds. This song feels like the musical and lyrical manifestation of dance and movement. I really REALLY wish I could dance JUST so I can express how happy and free this song makes me feel! This is the BEST song for me to end this list with!

***********************************************************************************

JESUS, this got long..... Sorry about that XD. It was fun though, and hopefully somebody was vaguely interested in my ramblings.

Guess I need to tag people now? How about @tharkflark1, @rockmilkshake, @neonbuck, @drawingsdrawingseverywhere, @birthgiverofbirds, @puccafangirl, @kalcat, @biblestudybussybopsbabey, @monstrous-milktea, and @memecage! I think there are a couple of people here I haven’t talked to though soooooo..... hi, I hope you don’t mind the tag X)

 Anyway hope you enjoyed and/or want to do this too! This took for-fucking-EVER to type, so imma go fuck off and watch youtube or something now...

[chicgeekgirl89]

After the End: Chapter 12- The Shop

Fandom: Harry Potter

Characters: Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, George Weasley

Read Chapters 1-11 Here

                                         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“George asked me to go into the shop today. The holiday crowds are picking up and they need all the help they can get,” Ron said. “I’m so sorry, but I’ll be back before dinner—“

“Can I come with you?”

Ron paused in packing up his lunch. “Come with me where?”

“To the shop.”

Ron looked at her blankly. “George’s shop?”

“Unless you’re working at some other shop,” Hermione said wryly.

“I er…why?” asked Ron.

“To see you work.”

“It’s not that interesting.”

She sighed at him impatiently and secretly it lifted his spirits. She’d seemed much more herself in the last day or two, enough so that he felt all right about going back to work. “You always downplay yourself Ron, you need to stop doing that. I haven’t been to the shop in months, I think it would be interesting to see you and George working.”

“Don’t you think you should stay here and rest?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well it’s not like I’ll be dancing ballet and using defensive spells all over is it? I’ll just sit quietly in your office.”

Ron snorted. “You have never sat quietly anywhere.”

She frowned at him. “I’m coming with you. I’ll be ready in five minutes.”

He threw his hands up and called after her, “We don’t need to leave for half an hour!”

They apparated directly into his office. “It’s er…not very clean right now,” said Ron, as he hurriedly attempted to straighten a stack of papers on his desk. 

“Is it ever clean?” she asked with a knowing smile. “I know this is how you work. It’s not my preference but if it works for you then…that’s fine.”

“Oh. Thanks,” he said.

“Ron, did you—oh, hello Hermione,” said George as he stuck his head in the office.

“Hi George,” she said.

“Feeling better then?”

“A bit yes.”

“Good. That’s good. Are you finally leaving that blasted school and taking a job here?” he asked with a grin.

“I think we can all agree my temperament isn’t exactly suited for a joke shop.”

“Too right,” George said. “Ron, did you get the invoices for that big order from last week?”

“They were supposed to owl them over last night,” Ron said. “I’ll check with Daisy.”

“Great, leave them on my desk when you’ve got them.”

“Will do.”

“Good to see you Hermione,” said George, tossing her a last smile before he disappeared back into the hallway.

“Come on then, I’ll give you the tour before we open,” Ron said, taking her hand and leading her onto the balcony hallway that overlooked the store. “So that’s my office, obviously. And then George’s is down there, he’s got the window, git.”

“Oi! It’s my bloody shop!” George yelled from somewhere out of sight.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ron rolled his eyes. “So then this is the workshop.”

He opened the door between the two offices to reveal an absolutely enormous workroom. Several long tables ran down the center with all sort of experiments and bits and bobs along them. Unlike Ron’s office this was extremely neat and tidy. “So this is where George works on new product. I wouldn’t touch anything,” he said hastily as she stepped closer to the first table.

“This is fascinating,” Hermione said excitedly. “George really is a genius, some of the things in here are absolutely incredible magic.”

“Yeah he spends a fair amount of time in here,” said Ron. “Loves fiddling around. I think he sleeps here sometimes.”

There was a touch of worry in his voice but he quickly moved past it. “Come on. I want to show you the floor.”

They walked down the spiral staircase to the main floor of the shop, which was even grander than Hermione remembered. Everything was bedecked in Christmas decorations; wreaths that twinkled and changed color, spinning Christmas trees on every counter, and a massive sign that flashed Naughty or Nice when someone stood underneath it. Hermione suspected it might be rigged when she walked by and it flashed “Very Naughty” at her and recommended some adult-only products. “You’ve moved the registers,” she observed.

“Yeah, I thought with the layout it might be better for traffic flow through the shop,” said Ron. “And it’s closer to the stock room so if we have to pull something from there for a customer it goes a lot quicker.”

“Seems like a good choice.”

The front door opened, letting in a blast of cold air and a young woman with curly blonde hair stepped inside. “Good morning Mr. Weasley,” she said, unwrapping her scarf.

“Morning Daisy. And it’s just Ron,” he said. “This is my girlfriend, Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is our head clerk Daisy.”

“Oh it’s so lovely to meet you!” said Daisy brightly, shaking Hermione’s hand. “Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley have talked so much about you. Mr. Weasley the most obviously.”

“Er, right,” said Hermione. “Lovely to meet you as well.”

“Well I’ll just get on with opening procedures then Mr. Weasley,” said Daisy, scurrying away.

“Does that get confusing, her calling you and George both Mr. Weasley?” Hermione asked as they walked back upstairs.

“Incredibly,” said Ron. “We’ve told her to call us Ron and George but she just won’t. Personally I think she can’t remember which of us is which. But she’s really good with customers and keeps a cool head so we just let her go.”

As soon as the shop opened it was flooded with people. Hermione could hear the din from upstairs in the office as Ron worked and she sat quietly, sometimes reading a book, but mostly just watching him. It was mesmerizing. Never before had she seen him so confident, so sure of himself. A great lump of pride lodged itself in her chest as she watched him deal with bills, sort out a mess of an order form, and bicker with George about the price of a large shipment of Doxie dung.

“Mr. Weasley?” Daisy poked her head into the office. 

“You can call me Ron, Daisy,” he reminded her again.

“Right, well, Angus just sent an owl, he’s ill and won’t be in today, which means we’re short two clerks since Eloise already left for her holiday.”

Ron nodded. “I’ll come down in just a minute.”

Hermione closed her book. “You’re going to help downstairs?”

“Yeah sometimes when the shop is crazed George and I take turns running the front. What?” he asked when she continued to look at him.

“I’m just so proud of you,” she said, instantly making his ears go red. “I always knew you could do something like this and here you are just…doing it all so wonderfully.”

“Er, thanks.”

Hermione stood at the railing of the walkway and watched as Ron filled orders, took payments, and restocked the shelves even as dozens of customers continued to pour into the shop. “Ma’am,” he said calmly, “I understand that you don’t like the smell of the product your son bought, but he did buy it and it is intended to stink up your entire home in less than five seconds. It says so right on the packaging.”

“Well why was it sold to him in the first place?” the woman yelled. “He’s a child!”

“Ma’am we can’t control the products our patrons buy except for our items specifically labeled ages seventeen and up, which Weasley’s Fantastic Farting Fumigators are not.”

“My house has been stinking for a week!”

“Again, I’m terribly sorry that you don’t like the product. I’m just going to have you go see Daisy right there and she’s going to process a full refund for you, all right?”

“Well,” the woman grumbled, “that’s just fine then I suppose.”

“Excellent, right to the register then. Happy Christmas and all that. Daisy! Full refund! I’m heading back upstairs all right?”

“Candy cane?”

George leaned up against the railing next to her, the offered sweet in his hand. Hermione had been on the receiving end of enough Weasley pranks that she knew better. She raised her eyebrows at him. “What flavor is it? Liver or something?”

“Actually it’s dirty socks, but good guess,” said George with a grin. “Like what you see?” He nodded toward the floor where Ron was now helping a little boy reach something on a top shelf.

Hermione smiled as six boxes fell and Ron tried to catch them all at once. “He’s doing a brilliant job.”

“I don’t know what I’d have done without him all these months,” said George. “Without—“ he swallowed, “you know. It’s just been good that he’s here.” 

He looked sideways at Hermione. “Don’t go telling him that though he’ll get all big headed and think he deserves a raise or something.”

“You could just tell him you know,” Hermione said. “It might do you both some good to speak your minds for once.”

George’s gaze softened. “He knows.” He straightened. “I was kidding, it’s Christmas pudding flavored,” he said, handing Hermione the candy cane.

He walked away and she gave it a sniff. It certainly smelled all right, but heaven knew it would probably make her turn into a Christmas tree or something.

Ron bounded back up the stairs around lunchtime when the crowd died down a bit, stopping short when he saw Hermione standing at the railing. “I thought you were reading.”

“It was more fun to watch you,” she said. 

“All in a day’s work,” said Ron. “We here at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes aim to please or your money back.”

“Is that George’s idea?”

“Actually it’s mine. Got to give the customer what they want, even if they’re wrong. Besides, I’d rather lose a couple sickles than have raging customers in here all day. Not good for business to have people yelling about what a nightmare our products can be.”

“That seems very wise.”

“Well I have been known to do all right on occasion. Apparently I do a bit better when I can sort of be my own boss.”

She kissed him on the cheek. “I always knew you would be brilliant. I’m glad I got to see it for myself.”

Ron’s ears turned red. “What’s that you’ve got?” he said, hastily changing the subject.

Hermione held up the candy cane. “George gave it to me.”

“You didn’t eat it did you?”

“No. I’m a bit smarter than that.”

“Good. It’ll turn your tongue green and make you do nothing but sing carols the rest of the day.”

[blackjack-15]

Hauntings, Messages, and the Mansion — Thoughts on: Message in a Haunted Mansion (MHM)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: MHM, TRN, SAW, non-spoiler quote from CAP, non-spoiler mention of GTH.

The Intro:

Message in a Haunted Mansion is the first “real” Nancy Drew game in that it a) isn’t hard to run on a new computer, unlike the first two, and b) it introduces things that would become staples of the Nancy Drew games: a historical plot/characters foiling and echoing the real life events (or at least giving context to them), a cast of characters who are there for more than just reciting their motives, important phone friends, hauntings both real and fake…the gang’s all here, folks.

We’re finally home.

Along with all of those wonderful things, MHM has a frankly incredible atmosphere that scared me back when I first played alongside my sister and scares me to this day, 18 years later when I play it with my friends.

It’s also the first game that establishes one Perennial Truth in the Nancy Drew world: there are supernatural forces at work, and they are real. Sure, most of the hauntings can be explained away easily — but not all of them can be, and this is reinforced by game after game (most pointedly in TRN and in GTH, but in other haunting games as well).

In the Nancy Drew Universe, ghosts are real. Sometimes people fake their specific ghosts, some use the rumors for their own benefit, and some ghosts “don’t have to be real to haunt to haunt you” — but there are ghosts, and they can haunt you.

MHM is an incredibly solid game, and is widely held as a fandom classic for good reason. Nostalgia might make this game a bit better for a lot of us, but that’s not what makes it good.

If you’re starting the series for the first time — or starting a friend or partner on it for the first time — MHM is the best starting point, bar none. It works on most computers, its sound card doesn’t have issues playing the audio, and it’s not SCKR. It’s the quintessential classic Nancy Drew game — maybe not intuitive, modern, or overly difficult, but it’s the one that all other games are based off of.

The Title:

It’s a very effective title…that unfortunately doesn’t describe the plot at all. The titular “message” is a note warning Nancy to “leave the mansion NOW”, but it doesn’t really affect Nancy, nor is it an important part of the game.

The central piece of the game is actually a poem hanging in Nancy’s room, but “Poem in a Haunted Mansion” just doesn’t have that alliterative appeal, nor does it sound like a very spooky game. Her Interactive wanted to sell this game as the spooky little masterpiece that it is, not evoke visions of Lord Byron plopping down next to Nancy and reading Don Juan aloud.

If I had been naming it back at the Turn of the Century, I probably would have gone with “Terror in a Haunted Mansion”…but the audience for Nancy Drew games was significantly younger back then, and “terror” might have spooked some parents into avoiding it.

Plus, the acronym would have been THM versus MHM, and MHM looks so much better that it’s hard to argue with it. Mythos in a Haunted Mansion? Meandering in a Haunted Mansion? Money in a Haunted Mansion?

Those are horrible, wow. “Message” it is. 

I guess if you really stretch, the poem could be a “message’….or the “message” from Valdez…or maybe “gum bo fu”? Lots of messages, one mansion, a few hauntings, here we go.

The Mystery:

Hannah’s friend Rose has sunk her entire life’s savings into an old Victorian mansion in San Francisco and is trying to renovate it into a Bed and Breakfast.

Unfortunately, strange incidents keep happening to delay progress and raise costs, so Hannah sends Nancy down to ostensibly help with renovations, but also to snoop around and figure out what’s going on.

Nancy does a bit of reno work, but mostly spends her time poking around and asking intrusive questions (not to mention sneaking into people’s rooms while they’re elsewhere and invading their privacy), and seeing the various “hauntings” that the house has to offer.

The secondary mystery (we’re now advanced and confident enough to handle two plot threads! Huzzah!) is discovering the secret of the house and its treasure, which requires Nancy to do a bit of historical digging into the original owner of the house, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Applegate, a famed actress, business owner — and the suspected lover of El Diablo, a notorious outlaw who pulled off a heist on Christmas Day of hundreds of gold coins.

As Nancy digs deeper into the mystery of who’s haunting the mansion, she finds out more and more about El Diablo (whose real name is Diego) and Lizzie’s romance and the treasure they hide together, leaving behind the vital clues to the treasure in a poem hanging in the Chinese room in the mansion.

In the end, in a bit of a “twist” for the Nancy Drew games (perhaps even a retroactive twist, since this is only the third game), it’s the B plot that solves the A plot, as Nancy loses total interest in the main mystery to focus on the historical treasure. Finding that treasure exposes the person behind the “accidents”, who has been causing the accidents in order to find the treasure.

Yes, this does confirm that the only person focused on the B&B is, in fact, Rose. Poor Rose.

The Suspects:

Rose Green is the first suspect you meet, as she’s Hannah’s old friend and the one in charge at the Golden Gardenia. She’s poured an obscene amount of money into the old mansion and likes to make comments that make it seem like she’s Super Guilty.

We’re at the stage in Nancy Drew games where subtlety isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.

Rose is one of our two main suspects, and keeps to herself and her spot in the dining room, ensuring that Nancy can never snoop through her stuff. She also has a mile-long to-do list and never does anything on it over the course of the 3+ days that Nancy’s there, so we have that to be skeptical about as well.

Ultimately, Rose isn’t evil — she’s actually the only one not doing anything suspicious — but I have to think that she’s not a very good businesswoman. As a character, Rose is barely 2D, a trait she shares with Louis. It’s no wonder they’re the two most suspicious characters — we’re not given any help in understanding them.

Abby Sideris is Rose’s second-in-command and helped her afford the mansion in the first place. She’s also the one who insists that it’s haunted by ghosts unable to Move On who cause the clattering and sobbing and moaning in the night. It is, of course, Abby who’s causing the more ghostly hauntings, but she insists the mansion is haunted anyway, and she’s simply helping it along.

She’s the only the only character with business sense, knowing that they have to drum up business for this bed and breakfast, not wait for people to come to then. No wonder Rose needed Abby’s money — she obviously comes by it with a heap of common sense.

Her sizing-up of Nancy shows she has talent as a cold reader, as does her distrust of Charlie, who really is being suspicious, albeit for different reasons than she thinks. She’s got the business smarts and the people smarts…wait, what does Rose bring to this partnership?

Speaking of Rose and Partnerships, there’s a fan theory — and it’s got some evidence in canon — that Abby and Rose are romantically involved.

Nancy asks Hannah about Rose and Louis, and Hannah laughs it off, which is a point in favor of this theory — how would Hannah know that Rose isn’t interested in this specific man who just came into Rose’s life? An easy explanation is that Hannah knows Rose isn’t interested in this man because she knows Rose isn’t interested in men.

Abby also invests her whole life into this bed and breakfast, moving out with Rose to California from Illinois at the drop of a hat. It’s a choice that would make sense if she was just as passionate about the bed and breakfast…but none of her dialogue nor her role in the game shows us that passion. Thus, the other thing that would make sense is that she moves with her partner to help support her.

As far as fan theories go, this is a fairly solid one — it’s not contradicted by canon, which is always a plus. It serves to deepen Abby’s character, giving us multiple motivations and heightens the stakes for the bed and breakfast to succeed…but it doesn’t do anything for Rose.

Charlie Murphy is Rose’s (or Abby’s? He says he works for Abby, she says he works for Rose) handyman, helping to fix up the mansion for rock-bottom pay.

He’s also secretly living in the mansion’s basement through a secret door and using the mansion to write his term paper, and thus doesn’t get much done handyman-ing-wise. 

There’s a point very early on in the game where he won’t talk to you if you haven’t talked to Louis. Louis can sometimes be difficult to make appear/catch, and is really easy to miss, so this is a frustrating facet for Charlie’s character.

Charlie’s a bit shifty for a character who’s literally doing one (1) thing wrong (slumming it in the basement without asking), but he’s also super rude to Nancy. Nancy doesn’t even deserve it this time, so it’s a bit odd that they chose him to be the “innocent but mean to Nancy” character when Abby the Spiritualist is the logical choice.

He’s also voiced by Scott Carty, the perennial voice of Ned Nickerson, so it’s a bit weird to hear him telling Nancy to piss off when Scott-as-Ned worships the ground she walks on and makes any problem between them his fault. 

The variety’s nice, but the variety’s weird as well.

Other than his shifty and sort of mean notes, Charlie has no character. He’s not a bad character, he’s not a good character — he just has no character at all. It’s like the developers had no interest in him other than “fourth suspect to make it an even number and harder to tell who the culprit is”. He’s 3D, but just barely.

Finally, Louis Chandleris a man specializing in antiques and history, who is helping Rose to sort through the hundreds of vintage items left behind in the mansion.

He’s actually mentioned as someone who showed up on the doorstep wanting to help and, well…I know 2000 was a different time, but I knew enough in 2000 to distrust someone like that, and I was a kid. Rose is a grown adult, and has no excuse for accepting this weird man.

Louis is a know-it-all, lying little son of a gun, and is there to run Rose et. al. off the premises so that he can search for the gold in peace and quiet. He, instead, stumbles upon Nancy with the gold coins, and decides to knock her out and steal them, not taking the basic precaution of tying her up or anything.

He’s easily foiled by a chandelier to the face — though, in his defense, I’m pretty sure that would foil anyone.

There isn’t a lot of meat to Louis’ character, but more than the rest of the cast because he has a slightly bigger role in the game. And even though Abby’s the one responsible for most of the spooky noises and the things that go bump in the night, it’s Louis who delivers one of the creepiest moments in the game.

It’s that moment where you’re on the phone asking Emily about gum bo fu, and the door opens for a bit, then shuts again behind you. It’s implied that Louis is checking in to see what you know, and it’s honestly terrifying the first (and second, and third…) time you play the game. It’s a rare moment where you may actually be in for bodily harm, and there’s nothing you can do about it — not even look around for the threat.

So kudos to Louis about that, but the rest of him doesn’t deserve much praise at all. Except maybe his line if you fail to stop him: “So long. Losers!”

How very turn-of-the-century of him. Heh.

The Favorites:

There’s quite a lot to love about MHM, as it’s obvious how much time and effort and heart was put into it to make it a really great game.

Even though there’s not a ton of the historical story, it’s very well done, and gives you just enough characterization of Lizzie and Diego to really care about them and to be…well, charmed by their love for each other. As a story, it feels really earnest, and while it’s not the Ultimate Best Historical Love Story that Her Interactive will ever do in its 30-odd Nancy Drew Games (that honor rests on a future game), it’s good enough to rank in at least the top 5.

Most of the puzzles are fun and engaging, whether it’s discovering hanzi that lines up with the Poem, chipping away old wallpaper to reveal a hidden attic, or solving a puzzle that took Abby and Rose two hour to place two pieces in under five minutes.

My favorite “puzzle” is definitely the hanzi, but figuring out the secret room in the library or the secret room in the basement or the secret attic (the Victorians loved their secret rooms) are definitely up there too.

One of the biggest pluses of MHM is the Haunting part. Abby’s responsible for a lot of them — the odd sounds, the projection of the woman in both the séance and in the mirror outside her room, and the incredibly creepy “I see you~” that can play while you’re in the hallway upstairs.

There are a few that you don’t discover as being her, but that could reasonably be chalked up to Abby’s attempt to market the mansion as haunted: the inflating/deflating cushion (which could be remote-controlled), the shadows at the doors/windows (projections or cardboard cutouts), and even the painting who blinks could theoretically be Abby (though that one’s a little harder to conceptualize).

However, the wooden phoenix/swan/winged creature in the parlor is wooden, and thus can’t move the way it does through human power. There’s also no evidence of Abby ever messing with it — no speakers, no motion sensors, no nothing — which makes it stand out even more.

Above, I mention the fact that in the Nancy Drew Universe, ghosts exist. This isn’t a debatable point; it is fact. The phoenix is just one of the many proofs that the series gives us. What makes Nancy special as a skeptic (which Abby calls her out for) isn’t that she’s a skeptic; it’s that she’s a skeptic in a world where ghosts exist.

As a character who has to be right for the game to end, this is a fascinating trait to have, and I love the relationship it gives Nancy with her world — an almost antagonistic relationship, versus what you expect: a Nancy who “bring[s] order to a scattered world”, to borrow a phrase from CAP.

My other favorite thing is the mansion itself; in quite a few Nancy Drew games, the location itself is almost a character, and MHM is one of the best examples of this. The mansion almost seems like it doesn’t want to divulge its secrets, like it wants to protect Lizzie and Diego, and will only let the worthy discover them and their treasure.

You’ll feel slightly unsettled throughout the whole game, picking one or two “safe spots” (usually your room) that you can run to when things get a bit too creepy, and that’s one of my favorite things as well. This unsettled feeling is independent of Abby’s hauntings, and really reinforces the house as a character unto itself.

The Un-Favorites:

There are a few things that do bug me in this game, though none are really game-breaking.

Once again, the culprit is obvious from the 1/3 point on, even though all of the characters say things that are supposed to incriminate them (Rose honestly says that the mansion might be worth more “burned to the ground”, which is a Bit Yikes and Very Incriminating).

You can write off Abby right away, as she’s obviously causing a lot of the hauntings, but she’s also the secondary investor and isn’t (per her and Rose’s conversation about the fire clause in the insurance claim) the beneficiary of the insurance agreement on the house. Once you know that — and it happens early in the game — she’s off the list.

Charlie’s the other suspect that’s cleared basically right away. It’s set up so that he has absolutely no reason for wanting the mansion destroyed or destitute — it’s providing him money and housing – and Abby mentions that, though she suspects him, it’s due to his straight-up incompetence, rather than any malicious intent.

So you’re left with Rose and Louis almost immediately — a character who never leaves her post, and a character whose stuff you can snoop around in and has a password-locked computer. 

Yeah, no prizes for figuring that out.

My least favorite puzzles are the slider puzzles (though that’s true in any game) and honestly the staircase “Diego” puzzle, as it bothers me enough to just pull up the walkthrough rather than trying my hand at it. I wouldn’t say these puzzles are bad puzzles, just that they’re the type that I hate (and that I suck at majorly, which doesn’t help).

The Fix:

MHM isn’t a game where a lot of fixes are needed, honestly. Updated graphics/other QoL improvements, widening the screen, etc. might be nice, but they’re not necessary at all to enjoy the game. The only thing I can think of interface-wise that would be nice is a journal/notepad that you carry around with you, rather than the one in your suitcase that is No Help At All if/when you get stuck.

Emily — a phone friend who Nancy apparently once solved a case for, as per the little booklet that comes with the game — is another spot that could be tightened up. While she gives you info that you desperately need in order to progress, her relationship to Nancy is never mentioned in the game, giving most players no clue who she is or what kind of information she can provide

Charlie is a character who just wasn’t done with any care, honestly. He’s a college student, putting him roughly at Nancy’s own age in a house full of people decades older than both of them, and yet no mention nor reference to this fact is ever made! She’s not the closest to Charlie; she doesn’t speak to him any differently — in short, even though he’s the one she should feel the strongest kinship to in a house of a suspicious antiques dealer, a psychic medium, and, well, Rose, Nancy has nothing unique to her dealings with Charlie.

This is especially egregious as you look at Nancy’s relationships with other suspects her age/who are the youngest in the game as the series goes on; she’s noticeably more playful and warmer towards them, or agrees to help them/let them help her in situations where she’d suspect an older person.  Charlie’s somewhere between about 18 and 25 (probably closer to 18 than 25), and not only does Nancy not treat him differently, but Charlie doesn’t seem to notice her age either.

Charlie’s age would have been a great way to tie him to Nancy, to give him an actual character (or at least an actual characteristic), and possibly to give a reason why he’s snappier with Nancy than anyone else — he’s worried this girl his age will see what those who are older overlook, or possibly that she’ll out-do him and Rose will find out that he’s not really a great handyman and has been spending him time researching rather than fixing things.

These fixes aren’t necessary to make a good game, or to make it ‘more playable’ — they’re just “fixes” to make the game a slightly different experience with a stronger focus on characters. 

Luckily, as time went on, Nancy Drew characters became deeper and more complex, and so MHM’s characters come across as full of potential and ripe for fandom headcanons, rather than seeming flat like SCK’s or STFD’s characters.

[disasterhumans]

Fjord and the Nature of “Evil”

Now that we’re getting into more of Fjord’s patron lore, I figure the “Fjord is evil!” theories will begin popping back up, so I wanted to write this to sort out why the “X character is evil” theories/assessments tend to irritate me so much. 

Disclaimer: I’m not at all an expert on how alignment is “meant to work” in Dungeons & Dragons, and am mainly relying on the 5e PHB for this. Mostly this is me thought dumping my observations about Fjord and how they line up with my understanding of “evil.”

So, what is “evil?” Obviously that’s a question with no easy answer and has led to centuries of philosophical argument. But let’s go with a basic definition.

As far as denotative definitions go (outside the scope of D&D) we have: “profoundly immoral and malevolent.” Note the specific use of the word “profound” in that definition.

From his observable behavior, Fjord is not obviously “profoundly immoral” or “malevolent.” He may join in the general chaos that is the Mighty Nein, but generally speaking their actions mostly fall into either “mostly trying to be good” or the not-profound flavor of “immoral.” (Matt said that the Nein “wasn’t a moral group,” not that they were “a profoundly immoral group,” or “an evil group.”) The closest we’ve seen him get to “malevolent” is him threatening Algar. He’s also had a few dispassionate moments (e.g. not feeling moved to save Kiri).

As far as Dungeons and Dragons goes, the Fifth Edition PHB isn’t ultra specific about how it breaks down the “good v. evil” axis and the “law v. chaos” axis, instead providing brief definitions of each individual alignment.

Lawful Evil creatures methodically take what they want within the limits of a code of tradition, loyalty, or order

Neutral Evil is the alignment of those who do whatever they can get away with, without compassion or qualms

Chaotic Evil creatures act with arbitrary violence, spurred by their greed, hatred, or bloodlust

Going through the descriptions of D&D alignments (in reverse order):

Fjord categorically does not act with arbitrary violence, and does not at all seem spurred by greed, hatred, or bloodlust. Again, the only exception to this I can think of is him chopping off Algar’s hand--which was arguably driven by hatred and/or bloodlust, but was also a very impulsive decision. By definition, Chaotic Evil characters would have a difficult time hiding their true alignment.

Fjord is occasionally dispassionate, but wouldn’t describe him as being utterly without compassion. That’s entirely disproven by nearly every interaction he has with Beau and Jester. And he doesn’t seem to have any desire to do “whatever he can get away with.” In fact--impulsivity aside--he is often one of the only members concerned with ramifications (e.g. him threatening Caleb for putting the team at risk by taking the scrolls in “Midnight Espionage.”) While a Neutral Evil character could ostensibly mask their alignment, in Fjord’s case it would also imply that he was fundamentally putting on an entirely different personality.

Of the three Evil alignments, Lawful Evil seems like the most “viable” alignment for Fjord to secretly be, as it would allow for ongoing machinations, whereas the other two evil alignments seem designed to account for descriptions of day-to-day behaviors. But, again, we don’t really have any in-game proof that Fjord has some sort of complicated long-con going on beyond “I want to learn more about where my powers come from.” And that may well lead him down an evil path, but power is not an inherently evil motivation, and it doesn’t mean that’s Fjord’s starting from an evil place. At this point the relative evil v. goodness of said power appears to have more to do with his patron’s alignment than Fjord’s.

At worst, with the information we have to go on--which is Fjord’s in-game actions--he’s Neutral, but easily influenced by the moral standards of those around him. Some parts of this fandom seem to have a tendency to take any sufficiently “not good” action and label it “evil.” Which in my mind robs these incredibly layered characters of their moral complexity while also weakening the strength of what we mean when we say “evil.” Ostensibly, “evil,” is reserved for the most morally repugnant.

And actually, I fully believe Travis that Fjord, before meeting the Mighty Nein would have at least believed himself to be Lawful Good (“counted on to do the right thing as expected by society). Fjord grew up outside of the empire and spent much of his adult life within the micro-society of working on sailing ships. Fjord was accustomed to being a hard-working member of a crew. And a crew has to work together and follow orders for the good of the ship. Furthermore, Fjord (and Jester) made a point of warning the Nein about the seriousness of committing crime on the Menagerie Coast, which in combination with Travis describing Fjord as Lawful Good, I will take to mean that while living in Port Damali he did actually act in a lawful manner. In my view, this is why he takes particular issue with Sabien.

I think my main problem with “Fjord is evil,” theories is that, first and foremost, it requires believing that nearly everything either Travis or Fjord has said about Fjord has been a lie or, at best, disingenuous. And I don’t just mean factual information--it would also likely require believing that Fjord’s entire demeanor, personality and emotional expression was a facade. And while that’s not technically impossible given his deception score, and the fact that Fjord has not been insight-checked very often by most of the party, it still feels like a stretch. And honestly it would be narratively unsatisfying to believe that literally everything we know about his past and motivations are a lie. At present what we know about Fjord is:

He was raised an orphan with no orcs around him (this appears to be true not only based on what Fjord has literally said, but about his demeanor when talking about orcs, and the fact that it made him feel strongly enough to want to help other orphans). Being raised as the only member of his race, with little idea of his lineage (and experiencing a lot of bullying), seems to have made Fjord feeling particularly vulnerable and unsure of himself in a lot of different ways. As others have argued before, Fjord is likely easily won over by people who are openly supportive and friendly toward him, and potentially more susceptible to manipulation (borne out by his low wisdom score). Fjord likely also places a high value on loyalty, in keeping with his original alignment.

Fjord’s captain--Vandren--died after another crew member--Sabien--blew up the ship. There have been some theories that Fjord was actually the person who blew up the ship, but even if that did happen, it seems to me that Fjord genuinely believes it was Sabien. Almost every time Fjord brings up Sabien he is visibly angry, and while they’re in Nicodranus he asks almost everyone he meets if they know Sabien. Maybe Fjord is looking to get rid of the only witness to what was actually his crime, but seeing as most people probably believe there were no survivors of that explosion, putting himself back on Sabien’s radar seems ill advised. (Also, if Fjord blew up the ship, how did Sabien manage to escape? The implication for each of their survival is that Sabien set the explosion into motion but abandoned ship before it triggered, and that Fjord’s patron saved Fjord. Meaning that assuming Fjord is telling the truth, that Sabien would assume Fjord dead as well.) Once again, Fjord valuing loyalty above other moral concerns would seem to be driving his anger toward Sabien, which very much reflects his frustration when Caleb appears to place the team at risk.

After making his pact with his patron (something that Fjord seems to not be entirely aware of) and receiving his warlock abilities, Fjord wanted to learn more about his magic by seeking out Soltryce Academy. As far as I can tell, most Evil!Fjord theories rely on him having an ultimate “evil” goal. But while Fjord may not necessarily be entirely open and honest about his past, and is certainly being guarded about the specificity of his patron, he has actually always been quite vocal about his personal goals. And, yeah, he could be lying or bluffing about just wanting to “learn more.” But if that’s the case, it wouldn’t have meant anything or have made any sense for him to suddenly change the nature of his goals post-Lorenzo. Fjord has never covered up the fact that he’s overwhelmed by his sudden acquisition of powers, or the expectation from the rest of the Nein for him to assume responsibility. And his talk with Beau the other night about how since receiving his powers he’s moved from trying to solve problems through communication to solving them with combat and power seem to imply that he feels uncomfortable with this shift in himself. Again, the specificity of that conversation seems not to jive with an “evil” person trying to assimilate (Fjord could very well just have mirrored Beau’s words without contributing anything of substance).

Above all, I think that Fjord is a vulnerable and easily overwhelmed (and potentially easily manipulated) person who values loyalty and trust in those around him above most other moral concerns, and is thus willing to run with the moral alignments of his companions if it means maintaining cohesion (e.g. when he tells Nott that he won’t try to change her). The only times he truly objects to the decisions the others make is when those decisions appear to put the group in danger. That being said, his recent conversations with Beau suggest that he views himself as being a largely good person, and is currently experiencing some regret over personal moral choices he has made recently. [EDIT: Also, while Fjord definitely seemed excited to meet someone going through the same experience as him, he also seemed uncomfortable with the way Avantika expressed her...devotion to Uk’otoa. (At one point, I believe Travis said ooc “I feel so uncomfortable,” but that may have been in response to all the innuendo.) And despite him finally revealing the falchion to her, he was still distrusting of her by the end. Where we stand right now, it still seems like Fjord is more firmly in “learn what the fuck is going on mode.” And not, “alright I’m gonna be a cultist now,” mode.]

There is certainly a lot of moral contradiction and conflict that Fjord is experiencing right now, but in my mind that internal conflict and confusion--and the strong likelihood that Fjord’s patron is evil--is far more compelling than some eleventh hour plot twist that Fjord has been secretly evil all along.

[dimples-of-discontent]

JIB recording policy: my thoughts and feels

So this feels like a really awful moment to be an SPN fan. I’m crushed that “Wayward” didn’t get picked up and honestly that deserves its own post and other eloquent folks on here will no doubt be chiming in soon. Before that, though, I was already alternating between seething and feeling on the verge of tears about the “no recordings” policy for JIB. Because, honestly, I was relying on it as a hugely positive experience to lift me out of the daily struggle I’m in right now. Where the show can and will hurt me all the time (hopefully with a narrative purpose!) as I expect it to in the finale, Jibcon never does anything except make me laugh and smile (and post too many gifs). And without the prospect of seeing the panels, especially Misha and Jensen’s, I genuinely feel...bereft. It’s not that I feel like I lost what I was entitled to, but that I’ve been deprived of something positive and beautiful for no good reason.

If you think that’s silly or that I should get over it or whatever please do me a favor and stop reading. These are my personal thoughts and feelings about something personal to me and you don’t have to agree. But since I think many of you do I’m going to write about it. I’m also going to reflect on the positive impact that sharing panel videos has on the fandom and what we lose without them. (And I recognize that this policy has existed before and that we have gotten around it and that we do not yet know how strictly it will be enforced. But I have these feelings anyway so I wrote about them.)

ETA: I hear from some folks there that you can record but not livestream, like usual. I’m going to go ahead and leave this up though, whatever the outcome, because it makes other points that are prompted by the policy but not strictly about it.

In a previous post I used the phrase “hostile to the fandom” to describe the policy and I stand by that. If it were merely about money or legality why would they not do something like sell tickets to a livestream and/or digital downloads or recordings? (If you are in the industry and have insider information on this I’d be super interested in your perspective and happy to post it with or without attribution.) I know that they may not have the infrastructure to accomplish this. It takes a lot of servers to livestream to that many people. It takes a certain standard of recording equipment to make something professional. But this is the 9th year running. They know there is enough interest to justify sinking some capital into that infrastructure and I’m surprised they haven’t.

I am absolutely willing to pay for content. Paleyfest panels are livestreamed and available to buy afterwards (months after, but that’s ok). I have bought a copy of all the Paleyfest panels from my favorite shows. I am not objecting to paying for content at all. Give J2M a cut! Give the JIB staff a cut! Shut up and take my money! There needs to be a price point between “flying to Europe and paying hundreds or thousands of dollars” and “peering at illegal phone video on YouTube.” Legal recordings that generate profit seem like a great option.

You know who they would be good for in the fandom? Everyone.

People without the money to travel and attend cons.

People who might have the money but who have difficulty traveling or being in a group of people because of physical disabilities, social anxiety, mental health issues, illness, etc.

People who are caregivers and cannot easily find someone to take their duties or who cannot be away at all.

People who work multiple jobs with inflexible schedules.

I could go on at greater length but I think you all get the point. We talk about the SPN Family and have our fandom-driven efforts to better the lives of people involved and show them that “you are not alone” and “family don’t end in blood” and “always keep fighting.” And that is AWESOME. It’s special. It’s so unlike other fandoms I have been in. But the thing that keeps a lot of people going is seeing videos from cons and feeling like a part of that community by sharing those experiences. For some people, maybe just the show is enough. But there’s a substantial population that relies on the social aspect of fandom and on the (perceived) closeness or accessibility of its figureheads, J2M.

Taking away the means to do that and acting as though we have done something wrong in asking for it, in wanting it, seems antithetical to the community-building we rely on. (I could do another post about campaign fatigue, which hit me pretty badly back in the fall, but right now it’s not on my mind.) Why not record it and either monetize it or even (radical idea!) don’t and just release it? Forbidding recording and distributing panels creates elitism and alienates many of the people who rely most on that sense of connection.

This is where I get to the point about hostility. Because I can’t see this new policy (or new decision to strictly enforce the policy) as unconnected to Daniela’s Facebook rant. I can’t. I wrote about it at the time and agreed with other folks who said that, though offensively expressed, it was fundamentally anti-antis and anti-entitlement rather than anti- any particular ship. I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt and allow her to just be a frustrated human being who had a bad time at work and complained. But now I feel like it was a message about how we need to back off of Jibcon because we in some way don’t deserve it. 

And, perhaps wrongly since no pairing was singled out in the Facebook post, I feel like it’s about Jensen and Misha. Because by raw YouTube views alone those are the panels people want to watch recordings of. They are chaotic and hilarious and sweet and a just A Hot Mess, so it makes sense that we want to see them together and beam at our computer screens. There’s a reason it’s always the closing panel, that it’s so expensive, that it sells out so quickly.  And just like with Creation’s weird refusal to offer that as an option (except at Honcon) it seems like banning recordings has to do with some unarticulated prohibition on how fans view those two specifically. Like it’s untoward.

But...if that’s the case, if Jensen and Misha are so bothered by it, why haven’t they done something like sue for libel or send out cease and desist letters to the Cockles blogs? They...don’t care. They actively know what we think about them (they’re grossly in love! they’re secretly a couple!) and they play with it in their stage personae and, I assume, just gloss over it in their everyday lives because they’ve developed a strong and healthy sense of “who the fuck cares?”. I guess it could be something their publicists are clamping down on, being like NO MORE HELLA GAY GIFSETS AND KEEP YOUR DAMN CLOTHES ON, or whatever, but my impression is that the policy is coming from JIB staff.

There is no need to generate more antagonism anywhere in this fandom. There is too much of it already. Alienating the fans who aren’t able to attend JIB from the JIB organizers seems pointless. If it’s an attempt somehow to shut down the shipping wars, well, that’s ass backwards since I’m just waiting for someone to yell about how the whole policy is because of Destiel/Cockles people and their inappropriate questions and theories or whatever because obviously we are the reason Jensen flashed his underwear onstage last year. It’s going to alienate us from each other too, as I already now feel way more envious of people who will get the privileged experience of seeing the panels. 

It seems like such a harmless thing, to let people post videos of panels they can’t see but desperately want to. Like it’s basically just a force for good in the fandom. I suspect that people will find a way to record and share anyway, as we have before in face of the same policy. But, because of where I am personally and how much I have been looking forward to JIB, I have been thinking about the difference it (and other cons but especially this one) make in people’s lives I wanted to say something. Perhaps I’m wrong about the motivations--I admit to making all kinds of assumptions--but I don’t think I’m wrong about what it indicates about how the staff are viewing the fans. And that hurts. Because it’s not about objectification and shipping at all for most of us, even if it’s fun to talk about. Many of us just want a delightful thing in an otherwise painful time.

[themostrandomfandom]

hey jj! i'm incredibly late to the party but i recently rewatched seasons 2-3 (i've watched till the end once before) and i was wondering if you have any thoughts about where brittana stood both off screen in between those two seasons and in the first few episodes of season 3, till "pot o gold" when they become official. i feel like by season 3 a lot is different in comparison to the end of s2 and i'm really fascinated by their relationship in those first three episodes.

Hey, @deleteee!

So here is the thing: 

The hiatus between S2 and S3 is kind of a lost period in Brittana history. As S2 ended, fans had high hopes that we would see a lot of Brittana development play out in S3, but that’s not really what ended up happening. To be sure, things, as you say, were most definitely different for Brittana once S3 started. It’s just that we didn’t get a lot of answers as to how that difference came about. So much was left open to interpretation and introduced through insinuation.

The bad news is that because the show kind of glossed over this transition in canon, we can’t really say, “The Brittana relationship specifically underwent X, Y, and Z changes between S2 and S3.”

The good news is that we have a lot of room for imagination due to the lack of canon evidence—which means that this time period is open for a lot of headcanon.

If you’ll allow me a good jabber, I’ll do some recounting and offer my take after the cut, okay?

______

When episode 2x22 “NewYork” originally aired, spoilers per Brad Falchuk suggested that Brittana would end S2 “with abang.” 

Many fans hoped that this “bang” would take the form of a first onscreenBrittana kiss and/or Santana coming out of the closet and/or the girls finally decidingthat they were officially dating.

Instead, the “bang”played out as the Heart Locker, a scene which gave us a reaffirmation ofBrittana’s best friendship, a really sweet hug and a pinky-link, and Brittany tellingSantana that, for them, “anything is possible” because they love each othermore than anything else in the world.

Initially, therelative quietness of this “bang” left many fans feeling underwhelmed. For allthe ups and downs that last six episodes of S2 had provided, Brittana had neverthelessmade very little in the way of measurable progress towards dating. No one wasexactly sure where they stood or even if TPTB at Glee were going to continue topursue a romantic storyline for them come S3.

During the summerhiatus between S2 and S3, rumors and fears abounded. Some fans worried that thewriters might introduce a new love interest for one or both of the girls comeS3. Others worried that once S3 started, Brittana would once again be relegatedto background status and all forward development for them would cease.

As the summercontinued, hopeful spoilers started to leak out, and the fandom allowed itselfto imagine some more favorable scenarios: Maybe Brittana would kiss or startdating in the season premiere. Maybe Santana would begin S3 out. Maybe she andBrittany would already be dating by the time S3 started. Maybe we would seeflashbacks to what they did with their summer vacation or at least hear aboutit in a JBI retrospective.

But, again, thingsdidn’t unfold exactly as the fandom expected.

Episode 3x01 “ThePurple Piano Project” was not the Brittana watershed we were hoping for.

The S3 premiere sawBrittana back on the Cheerios for the first time since episode 2x11 “The SueSylvester Shuffle,” with Santana being awarded dual captaincy with Becky.

In Brittana’s firstscene together, Santana got a lunch tray for her and Brittany to share andwalked with her arm-in-arm to their seats. They did talk to JBI but not abouttheir love lives, only about Santana’s plan to rock her senior year andBrittany’s efforts to assemble a functional time machine.

There was no explicitconfirmation that Brittana were dating each other—but, then again, there wasalso nothing to say that they were dating anyone else, either.

They tried to re-recruitQuinn to the New Directions and Cheerios together, but it was unclear what, ifanything, Quinn knew about their relationship.

The girls were onceagain a two-shot, appearing in almost every scene together. They danced on thetables with each other during “We Got the Beat” and sat side-by-side followingthe food fight (“Those are your nipples”).

Later on, Sue seemedto intimate that she knew the truth about Santana’s sexuality and used thatknowledge to blackmail Santana into sabotaging Will’s piano project. Santanadid not appear to be out, but she and Brittany were being awfully chummy inpublic. When Santana got kicked out the glee club, Brittany appeared noticeablydistressed, to the point that even Finn seemed to notice.

Everything was,frankly, ambiguous.

There was nothing tosay that Brittana had made progress between S2 and S3. There was also nothingto say they had regressed.

After working throughsome initial feelings of disappointment, the fandom held its collective breath,waiting to learn more. 

Some fans, myself included, wondered if Brittana werealready secretly dating and suspected that maybe a big reveal would come about at somepoint later in the season. Other fans fretted that maybe we would never see anymore mainline development for romantic Brittana at all—that this “Are they oraren’t they?” ambiguity was all we were ever going to get.

True to form, Gleestrung us along. The next two episodes of S3 tiptoed around Brittana’srelationship, with each new episode offering tantalizing clues but never delivering anything definitive.

In episode 3x02 “I AmUnicorn,” Brittany seemed bound and determined to make WMHS a safe space forLGBTQ kids, and she attempted to use Kurt’s campaign for the senior classpresidency to achieve that end. When Kurt rejected Brittany’s designs,Santana made a point to compliment her genius and encourage her to believe inherself. Everything was very sweet and seemed significant, but, again, nothingwas explicitly explained.

In episode 3x03 “AsianF,” Brittany showed up the Booty Camp, seemingly in support of Santana. Later,she performed “Run the World (Girls)” with Santana singing backup. Theperformance was definitely sexy and suggested Santana’s devotion not only toBrittany’s cause but to Brittany herself. However, it was perhaps lessintriguing, from a Brittana perspective, than Mercedes’s dream sequence performanceof “It’s All Over,” in which Mercedes clearly identified Brittana as a powercouple and talked about Santana “knocking off that piece who thinks she’sbetter than everybody running for president”—i.e., Brittany. Once again, fanswere left wondering what, if anything, was the deal with Brittana. Were theydating or what? If so, did the whole school know about it? Or was Mercedes aspecial case?

Finally, episode 3x04 “PotO’ Gold” provided some answers—though, again, not the answers fans perhapsexpected.

It turned out thatBrittany and Santana had been going on dates—eating out at BreadStix, takingromantic baths together, etc.—only Santana wasn’t sure if that meant they were actuallydating. Brittany reassured her that they were, in fact, dating if she wantedthem to be dating (“I ordered shrimp”). And Santana did want them to be dating, just with the stipulation that their relationship remain private (“under thenapkin”), at least for the time being.

This developmentfilled in some blanks for the fandom:

Santana was not yetout.

Brittana had spent the summer and early school year going on dates but notdefining their relationship.

Brittany was fine with taking things at Santana’s pace.

Santana was ready to date Brittany and be in a committed relationship with herbut not yet ready to make their relationship public.

What it didn’t tell uswas how, exactly, Brittana had spent their summer vacation or to what degreethey had discussed Santana’s coming out process to date. Did they have a planfor how they were going to proceed or were they more playing things by ear?

To this point in showhistory, we, as the audience, still had yet to meet Santana’s family on screen, soquestions remained as to how accepting or unaccepting they might beconcerning her sexuality. 

There had been some hints to suggest that Santanafeared their potential reaction to her coming out but nothing had beenexplicitly stated. 

Fans wondered to what degree the Lopez family would figure into Brittana’sstoryline going forward. 

They also wondered how much or how little Brittana’sromantic development would feature in the show throughout the rest of theseason.

When spoilers startedto leak for Santana’s “coming out” arc, set to feature in episodes 3x06 “MashOff” and 3x07 “I Kissed a Girl,” the fandom hoped that maybe we would learnmore about the nature and history of Brittana’s relationship from the end of S2until present.

But that’s the thingabout Glee: The writers very rarely examined developments in retrospect. Thingshappened off screen, through insinuation, and in passing and were never againrevisited. No new details or developments were made, and the story clipped alongat its same heady pace, full steam ahead.

So was the case withBrittana’s relationship.

We got developmentsgoing forward in S3, but the narrative never looked back or provided any newinsight into what had happened to get Brittana from the Heart Locker in 2x22 to “Iwish you’d hold my hand” in 3x04.

That being the case,there just aren’t that many concrete answers to be had about the summer S2-S3 hiatus period in Brittana history. All we can dois make inferences and write fanfiction.

My personal inferencesabout that “lost summer” are these:

I believe that,following the Heart Locker conversation, Brittany and Santana’s relationshipachieved a state of new equilibrium.

Things weren’t thesame as they had been pre-Hurt Locker, where they were friends who slepttogether but never talked about feelings (even though feelings were obviouslythere). Things also weren’t the same as they had been throughout the Back Six ofS2, with so many stutter steps and hesitations and backslides andcomplications, each new week trading heartbreaks and triumphs.Neither one of the girls was dating anyone else, and they weren’t desperately tryingto maintain the image of heterosexuality, as they had in the past.

Instead, Brittana achieved a new normal.

They spent timetogether—probably lots of it in each other’s homes, as we can infer from thefact that they occasionally bathed together—and they gradually resumed theirphysical intimacy, only this time it was different, because the feelingsunderlying it weren’t being suppressed and secreted anymore.

Though fans hadoriginally inferred that Brittany wouldn’t be ready to date Santana untilSantana came out, the truth was that Brittany was ready to date Santana as longas they were exclusive with each other and there was no more obfuscationbetween them about the nature of their feelings.

They didn’tnecessarily have explicit conversations about the nature of their relationship,hence why Santana remained uncertain, even going into the new school year, asto whether or not Brittany was actually her girlfriend. Brittany, on the otherhand, knew that she and Santana were steady dating, but she wasn’t about toforce Santana into labeling their dynamic before she was ready, so she just playedthings cool, waiting for Santana to come to her.

In the meantime, thegirls decided—together—that they would rejoin Cheerios and attain leadershippositions in Sue’s organization.

They also decided thatthey would try to reform the Unholy Trinity and get Quinn to rejoincheerleading and glee club with them.

When the school yearbegan, they essentially hid their new and improved dynamic in plain sight.Santana didn’t come out to the school, and she and Brittany didn’t tell anyonethey’d been going on dates. However, the girls also made no efforts to hide theircloseness or to beard with boys, as per their m.o. in years past. If people sawthem together and made inferences, then so be it. They just weren’t going tomake any public announcements themselves—and especially not before they haddefined their relationship between the two of them.

There was perhaps somesense between them that they were gradually working towards “going public”—thatSantana was trying to become more comfortable with herself and that they werebuilding up the kind of social capital that would afford them the freedom to dowhat they wanted within the walls of WMHS—but I don’t think they had a stricttimeline on coming out or even a real plan as to how that process might unfold.

Things were still newbetween them, and they were still figuring out how to bridge the gap betweenwhat they had been in the past and what they were now—hence all the ambiguityduring the first few episodes of S3.

Honestly, this periodin Brittana history is one of my favorites to imagine, specifically because itis so open to interpretation, so I’ve written a lot of fic about it. If you are interested, you can find my main “summer between S2-S3″ stories here: 

AndEverything is August You

Can’tHelp but Fall Just to Land

Of course, these stories are just my take on this particular period in Brittana history, and other authors have imagined things in delightfully different ways.

As stated above, we don’t have many hard answers about how Brittana made the transition between S2 and S3. We just have the sense that things were keenly different between Brittana, starting their senior year.

In any case, I have jabbered a lot now.

Thanks for the question! If you continue with your rewatch, I hope you enjoy it.

[jagaimogoshujinsama]

rambling about shin men and hyu/kan. its long and self indulgent but if ur curious where my brains been at recently here it is

ive been in an out of a couple fandom interests recently, im still following new shin chan episodes closely (and i’ll get back to subbing some eps probably, at some point)...

anyway the past couple weeks i got, weirdly, super into hyu and kan as a ship. even though theres not a TON of content to work off, and also theyre ostensibly a het ship which can turn me off (and did at first, when i first realized kan is a ~secret girl~, in fact i have my reaction in writing

but then i gave shin men more of a chance and rly grew to appreciate all of the characters and.. the thing as a concept, and BOY!! i love kan a lot, like a heck of a lot. and since shes a girl who deliberately takes on a lot of masculine attributes its very easy to read her as genderqueer or transmasculine or even a trans dude straight up - though as a demi...gender?? person myself i like reading her as Soft Transmasc, because projecting onto cute little cartoon ppl is my favorite thing to do

so one of my main questions when i encountered this series was: who came up with this and why? what IS shin-men? this post will be me trying to explain it to myself:

shin-men was a concurrently-running anime AND manga series created in 2010 to celebrate the 20th year anniversary of shin-chan. the anime is obviously more well known, but the manga chapters tell the stories quite a bit differently and provide some more backstory - i own the first two volumes with the third on the way. the anime is awesome because it was seemingly spearheaded by Masaaki Yuasa (the kaiba dude), and as soon as I saw the first episode i assumed Shin-Men was his brainchild from start to finish. i’m not sure EXACTLY how much was his creation, conceptually speaking, but it is true that he finalized designs and a lot of basic concepts for the characters.  (parabon is straight up hyo hyo!)

(from masaaki yuasa’s super huge sketchbook, which runs in the 40-50 dollar range. let me know if you find it cheaper anywhere ill accept a used copy with heavy spaghetti stains)

yuasa boarded the first five episodes of shin-men, and a subsequent 8 episodes were released with different boarders (primarily yuji mutou, who’s been a heavy hitter on shin-chan since 1998). yuasa’s 5 episodes are beautiful - i mean look at this

yuasa always brings an otherworldly, dreamlike quality to whatever story he’s telling. on shin chan he generally seemed to prefer fun AUs and outlandish stories about buriburi zaemon that would allow him to invent colorful new settings and costumes.

that’s what’s so refreshing about shin-men - it’s the first time the show completely abandons its core cast of characters and focuses on NEW ones, in a universe with different rules. except, just kidding, because shinnosuke is still the main character, he’s just red now and called gou. so even while shin-men is TECHNICALLY breaking the fundamental rule of shin-chan - that shin is the main character who is in every single episode no matter what - it’s still abiding by it, and it still feels like shin-chan. that’s not criticism, though - i like the various alt-universe appearances of shin-chan characters in the shin-men universe. my favorite is matsuzaka, who is called “matsuzakaroni”, is STILL a kindergarten teacher even in this very alien universe (and despite the fact that she, i think, hates it?), and most uncannily of all, gets hit on by gou?? also gou is an adult i think, in this universe’s rules, he’s just really short like all of the other shin-men who are also adults?? i mean, i THINK? why does nobody in universe ever seem to mention how tiny these apparent grown-ups ar

anyway i’m not an expert on shin-men. despite my efforts i don’t really understand exactly where it came from or where gou’s ears are

i hope some day someone will create really good english subs of it, though i realize that’ll be a serious effort since yuasa’s episodes ABOUND with onscreen text - fuck, just imagine editing the moving gossip clouds on botswanawana to have english text. how would you even do that.

but i do wanna talk about kan a little and why shes cool thats the topic of this post

kan akaluislar (thats her last name..) is one of the 5 shin-men, superheroes with elemental powers who all look like a 5 year old named shinnosuke nohara from another universe, but don’t think too much about that. kan’s the only one who doesn’t actually have a superpower - she’s the Iron Man of the group, like, literally she’s tony stark, she’s the super wealthy and successful president of a major automobile company and rules the school in her home country, Detahoit. (which is maybe a pun on detroit? i’m not sure what’s up with that name)

anyway in addition to being iron man she’s also Transformers and Fullmetal Alchemist, she’s all three of those guys. she turns into a car a lot and transports her teammates everywhere. she also OWNS a car and drives it around when she’s not being a secret car superhero. is that bitterly tragic, or does kan secretly PREFER to be the car? is that her darkest fantasy? to be a full time car instead of a car-driving ceo? that is my headcanon

kan guards the fact that she’s female from the group, convinced they’d treat her differently. specifically, she’s convinced gou and nyoki would hit on her (confirmed), sui would bitch her out for not having a proper skin care regimen (that’s sui’s big thing, by the way, is that he’s a bitchy youtube beauty vlogger), and - worst of all - hyu would kick her out, since girls can’t fight.

...which seems like a pessimistic view of hyu. hyu is the wind elemental in the group - he’s buff and a little dopey but kind hearted and sweet, the noble hero type. also a bit of a spoiled prince.

each member of shin-men gets a yuasa episode dedicated to them, and hyu’s episode - his main arc, really - centers on his love for kan, which he keeps secret, despite the powerful curiosity of his country’s gossipy citizens.

what interests me is the disparate ways the anime and manga handle this plot thread. the anime treats hyu’s crush very earnestly, maintaining an undercurrent of quiet affection from him that appears in the majority of its episodes. the manga, however, emphasizes kan’s disinterest in romantic advances from both gou AND hyu, then practically drops the topic of hyu’s crush. it doesn’t exactly defy or contradict the relationship they have in the anime, however -- but it makes me sad, because hyu’s crush on kan is extremely cute and endearing. (as a sidenote, gou’s thing for kan is also pretty  cute, but it only exists in the manga, and, well - it’s not really a /romantic/ crush.

the shin-men manga makes a lot of different choices to the anime, and since the two were released concurrently i have no idea which “version” of any one story was the “original” - and in some cases i’m sure there isn’t an “original” version of a story, just two different ones. sometimes i really prefer the anime’s decisions (not drawing eyelashes on kan) and other times i’m... not sure what to think (the manga chapter with pimawari does NOT focus on kan, so did the anime decide to highlight kan’s relationship with pimawari because... kan’s a girl?? did they really do that? am i over thinking this?)

the manga does a GREAT job of fleshing out kan, though, even though it does so by torturing her, endlessly. she gets trapped inside of a washing machine. then has to use up all her fuel exploding out of the washing machine. the good news is, kan can repair washing machines, we learn this in episode 5 of the anime.

but be it manga OR anime, kan and hyu frequently wind up as partners who work well together, and its understandable. kan and hyu have private lives that mirror each other, both of them being high-profile and wealthy, pressured (kan by her conniving older sisters, hyu by his palace’s grand chamberlain) to settle down when neither of them is particularly interested, both preferring the life of a superhero. their private lives seem lonely and neither of them has any friends outside of shin-men. but within shin-men they team up frequently, and (being natural leaders) the two of them tend to take charge and stand out as The Responsible Ones.

(pointing = leadership)

this is what sells me on them as a couple - that they have this core of collaboration and mutual care in their superhero lives, which could build into a supportive friendship in their personal lives.

i very much love that hyu has a crush on kan despite thinking kan is a guy. that angle never comes up in the anime, though its lightly touched in the manga - and yuasa explicitly addresses it in his earliest notes. to quote,

“kan (iron shinnosuke) is the only girl within shin-men. since only men can be shin-men, she wears an iron suit to conceal the fact that she's female from everyone. and since she doesn't have a superpower, she relies on the power of her suit. hyu (wind shinnosuke) secretly likes kan but keeps thinking things like "could it be that i actually swing that way.." (lol). eventually, he's the only one who knows about her true self, but hides it from everyone so it won't be known.”

so, kan’s expectation of how hyu would react, having a sexist freakout and banning her from battle? apparently not representative of reality. which is good news because, even if kan doesnt want a love connection, she DESPERATELY needs a friend whom she doesnt feel the need to hide her private life from.

and at th end of the day thats what makes me happy: the idea that hyu can be this friend to kan, and they just chill out together, smoke a bong, get their truant son gou to cook them some curry, consolidate oil and wind technology to make both of their countries more sustainable and energy efficient, kiss etc.

im so curious if vol3 of the manga will give me any further insight.. i doubt it but im excited anyway

[yasuda-yoshiya]

EP1 reread notes

So, I'm done with my reread of the first episode of Umineko! I'll probably write up a more detailed post for general thoughts on the episode as a whole later, but for now I'm just dumping these rough stream-of-consciousness notes here. These were mostly jotted down pretty hastily in the middle of reading, and I didn't start taking notes until quite a way into the episode, but it covers some little points that struck me throughout. (They also unavoidably got more detailed and comprehensive as I got further in, because I'm apparently incapable of staying concise for the life of me.)

* Krauss managing to turn the situation around during the adults' discussion is kind of impressive, and it's funny how he always ends up the underdog in subsequent episodes. The whole discussion is incredibly intense even after like 5 rereads...Especially the part where Krauss sort of gloatingly parrots the adults' mockery of him at the end. "Sorry, since I'm such a useless and incompetent loser, I don't have the money to be able to help you!" God damn.

* Kyrie being so incredibly passive and quiet during the adults' discussion is also weird given how later episodes go, but I sort of like the interpretation that Yasu didn't know what to do with her on account of barely knowing anything about her, while Tohya gave her more active involvement based on his memory of how things actually went.

* Kinzo's talking about his miracle really was incredibly telling in retrospect? The desired outcome wasn't for no one to solve it, but it wasn't for any of the adults to solve it either, so the only explanation can be that he wanted a specific person to become his heir. And it stands to reason that the person he's telling all this to - Kanon - might be that person, right?

* In general I like the way Kinzo and Yasu both made their own bets using the epitaph for different purposes and how they both get conflated and run together through the fantasy scenes. From an authorial perspective, Yasu choosing to prsesent insight into her own mindset in making a desperate bet with fate through Kinzo, while still portraying Kinzo as himself as well, is interesting. In general I like how the other characters are used to represent the themes that tie into Yasu's story without detracting from their own individuality as characters either, e.g. Evatrice in EP3, Maria & Ange in EP4, etc. Their stories are obviously used to illuminate the nature of Yasu's magic but their approaches to it are also really different and individual to them as well.

* I am struck this time by how clever Yasu's use of the fantasy narrative in general is. During the scenes that do "take place", Shannon and Kanon show interesting sides of Yasu's actual reactions, but then in the fantasy scenes that aren't taking place, they work differently. Kanon and Genji talking about Beatrice, and Kanon's wariness of the witch and reluctant resignation to having to go along with her ceremony are all part of a completely fictional narrative, but Kanon's reactions in that narrative are still telling for his "character", and what Yasu wants to represent about that side of herself. Kanon is a developed character of his own in Yasu's story, and I like that.

* I do really like Krauss and Natsuhi's relationship; the miscommunication on both sides feels real. From Natsuhi's PoV, hiding the gold's existence from her was a betrayal, but from Krauss's PoV it wasn't really intended that way; Natsuhi wants to be respected and seen as an equal above all else, because of her insecurities about not really being a full Ushiromiya despite all the effort she's gone to to put her old family name behind her and devote herself to the Ushiromiya family - but Krauss sees himself as having failed as a man if he burdens Natsuhi with his problems and wants to try to do everything himself, not because of any real disdain for her but more because of how it ties into his own insecurities about not living up to Kinzo's ideals of how the successor to the head should be, and wanting to prove himself in that way. Neither can really understand the other's perspective at all, though, so it keeps happening. I love her relationship with Jessica for similar reasons. It's easy to sympathise with Jessica's frustration with her mother and her strict upbringing, but it's also easy to sympathise with Natsuhi wanting her to be as best prepared as she possibly can to succeed in the difficult environment of the Ushiromiya family, and her frustration at Jessica's rejection of all that. The whole family dynamic is really believable and sad.

* Shannon and Kanon's scene in the guesthouse servant room makes me sad...Kanon mentioning that he tries not to get close to people because he knows he's not really a person, and deriding Shannon for making that mistake, ow. At the part where Genji points out that he could go play with the cousins himself, reassuring him that they would have invited him too if he'd been there instead of Shannon...part of me kind of takes that as him wanting to encourage Yasu to try interacting with other people more as Kanon, to see if it makes her any happier.

* Cute how they changed "Renon" to "Lenon" to emphasise the Leviathan connection.

* I have a lot to say about George and Shannon... (I ended up making this into a separate post here)

* The scene with Kinzo validating Natsuhi really is extremely sad when you understand that it's basically Natsuhi imagining to herself that Kinzo might have secretly acknowledged and appreciated her efforts in that way, knowing - as said in red by Bern in EP5 - that he obviously never actually did. At the same time though, it's obvious that her imagining and believing in those possibilities genuinely gave her strength and she probably wouldn't have been able to get by without those beliefs, and that's what allows her to be such a pillar of strength and support for the kids throughout this whole episode. It's a pretty clear demonstration of the two conflicting sides of that "power of magic" that Umineko is all about exploring.

* I don't have much to say about the discovery of the crime and such that hasn't been said already, but I do think it's interesting how Hideyoshi is visibly shaken by the whole thing - his repeated frantic questions to Nanjo are obviously partly coming from a place of "That wasn't real, right? Right?" and he also obviously feels legitimately horrible about George's reaction to his lie about Shannon. But Eva's attitude really is completely detached and out of place, really shrugging off the whole thing. It sort of reminds me of how she shrugged off Rosa's death in the EP7 TP. I don't think she actually consciously thinks the murders are real, but I also think she also deep down really doesn't give a crap if they're dead or not - and even though she loves George, she can't give a crap about his love for Shannon, because she never saw that as real either.

* Eva's comparing Battler to Rudolf is true in some ways, honestly.

* The issue of "why would the culprit draw attention to their crime and the fact that only a servant could have done it?" is a big one, really. Battler goes so far here as to say that the very fact that the crime was committed in a way that made it "obvious" that only a servant could do it is exactly what makes a servant culprit theory impossible, and I think that's what caused a lot of people (myself included) to block out those theories as a possibility as well. It really comes down to no one really thinking that the culprit might have WANTED to be caught - even though that's really what everything about their actions points to, in retrospect. Eva and Battler both repeatedly stress that the culprit's actions are weird and impractical and sabtoage their own goals, but Battler doesn't make the logical connection to why that would be. The existence of the "special clause" in Beato's letter itself is huge, and it's interesting, again, how Battler and co try to reason it out - "maybe the culprit is only killing people because they want us to solve the epitaph?" - but then dismiss that because it doesn't make sense, and never really come to a satisfactory explanation.

* I think the fandom often didn't really put a lot of thought into the culprit's motives, either; there was probably an assumption that they'd be spelled out later, that the mechanics were the part they should be figuring out...I think what Battler says in EP7 about the expectations the mystery genre sets up is honestly pretty true.

* MARIA BEING FIERCELY PROTECTIVE OF BEATO MAKES ME SO HAPPY

* Man, George really does like that "chick breaking out of its shell" analogy, using it here to describe Maria just like he did before with Shannon. I think it's pretty telling about how he sees his own journey and his own struggle to break out of Eva's control and move from being a "child" to an "adult", personally...It's also pretty telling of how he views Shannon as a child as well, though.

* "Aniki, I can't believe you're single...You sound like you've already raised kids through middle school" UM BATTLER YOU KNOW HE WAS NOT SINGLE UNTIL HIS FIANCEE JUST DIED HORRIBLY A FEW HOURS AGO RIGHT

* It's funny how the argument over the receipt is basically exactly the same, point for point, between EP1 and EP5.

* Eva must have been so goddamn mad when Battler stole the show from her attempt to corner Natsuhi and turned everyone's opinion around with a ridiculous theory about Kinzo hiding under his bed. I love it.

* The really messed up part is that Eva doesn't even actually gain anything out of pressuring Natsuhi here. She doesn't need to expose Kinzo's death to blackmail Krauss, since she's already going to get a share of the gold from Yasu. It's pretty much pure spite. There's a reason she only impulsively placed the receipt right after Natsuhi managed to maintain her dignity in the face of Eva's goading and made her look bad after leaving Kinzo's study the first time.

* Battler to Eva: "To me, you're an awesome aunt who's always fun and playful." BATTLER......

* Yasu presenting Kanon as constantly thinking after Shannon's death about how she did everything better than he did is pretty sad, all things considered...Shannon is miserable and dissatisfied, but at least she’s confident in her ability to function; she's stable and secure. Living as Kanon, on the other hand, would be a leap into the unknown, and that's really scary...

* I love Eva a lot. The scene with her and Hideyoshi in their room is a side of her character we don't see often, but it's really important. Her being so self-aware about having let her life be guided by her childish resentment of Krauss is really striking, especially since...the way she describes it, it kind of seems like she'd managed to let go, for a time, having given up and accepted that Krauss would be the head and it didn't have anything to do with her any more? But then the idea about how maybe she could get Kinzo to keep her in the family if she could produce an heir before Krauss got into her head, and she made her whole life revolve around that hope of gaining Kinzo's validation once again, through George. So her asking Hideyoshi to "take her back to that time when they were newlyweds" is really sad in that light. It's easy to tie to the struggle between her "adult self" and "EVA-Beatrice" in EP3 as well...

* The part where Kanon is in a really frantic hurry to get to Eva's room and cut the chain while Genji goes to fetch Natsuhi, so much so that Kumasawa is out of breath following him, is interesting. In retrospect, since he would actually have already cut the chain (to get in there to murder the victims) before going back there with Kumasawa to "discover" them, it would be really bad for him if Genji and Natsuhi arrived back there before him and Natsuhi saw that the chain had already been cut before he arrived. He needs to be the first one on scene for the story that he just cut the chain to hold up, thus forming the illusion of the closed room.

* Aaah, Maria tries to comfort Battler and quietly says "Battler, don't cry, don't cry" after he starts sobbing when he sees Eva and Hideyoshi's bodies...It's such a different reaction to how she mockingly dismissed everyone's grief over the first deaths, but actually seeing Battler completely undone like this at the moment of discovery obviously gives her more of a shock and disturbs her. She didn't get to see that with the first victims, so it didn't penetrate as hard. But of course, after the shock has worn off and Battler is on to speculating about the closed room, she quickly goes back to being smug and vindicated again, pointing out how Beato "granted his wish" for a crime that would be impossible for any of the family. I love how honest her portrayal is in balancing her genuine sense of empathy and real maturity in many ways with her real childishness and self-centered, "bratty" behaviour at other times. It sort of reminds me of how she gently pats Battler on the back to comfort him when he's recovering from the boat incident, but she's also totally happy to gleefully make fun of him over it with everyone else later.

* Interesting how Yasu basically spells out her motives through the magic circles. Maria totally misinterprets the second one, though.

* Kanon's death in the boiler room is really upsetting on many levels. The desperate attempt to put forth that he can break free from his fate by giving up on the roulette and that the act of making that choice himself rather than just passively hoping to be exposed might make him more than "furniture", trying to build up the courage to just abort the whole thing himself and confess, and Beatrice just sneering the whole time at how completely ridiculous and pathetic he's being.

* One weird little detail is that Maria spends a disturbingly long time just staring at Kinzo's burnt corpse, even to the point that she's reluctant to leave when everyone else does, and Battler notes that she was probably staring at the stake stuck into him. Given how we know from Maria's diary that she'd made extensive notes on how to summon and talk to the images of the stake sisters in her mind using their stakes as "vessels", part of me wonders if she was actually having a conversation with Mammon in her head that whole time.

* The whole thing with Nanjo carrying Kanon back to the servant room and apparently trying and failing to "treat" his wounds while George and Jessica watch...this always feels pretty hard to swallow, honestly. It really stretches my suspension of disbelief to think that they could somehow go through that whole charade without anyone noticing that Kanon isn't actually wounded at all. I feel like this part is actually kind of unfair from a "solvability" perspective, to be honest; I think it would have made more sense and been much less of a stretch for Nanjo to have just declared Kanon "dead" when they found him. It strikes me as one of those things that would really throw off anyone who was actually getting close to the truth, because there isn't really any subtle hint in the text or anything that might indicate that George or Jessica noticed anything strange about Kanon's "death". I think I'd file this along with the EP5 perspective trickery and "Shannon and Kanon are 2 people" as Ryukishi trying too hard with the misdirection and unnecessarily obfuscating things.

* To Ryukishi's credit, though, I do think he covered this gap pretty well later by making it very explicit through the EP4 tea party that Kanon couldn't possibly have died here. He could easily have used the "Kanon is definitely dead" trick as he does in other places to misdirect further, and it would have been thematically valid, but instead he phrased the reds in such a way that you really can't come to any other workable conclusion besides "Kanon wasn't really dead".

* I really like the scene with everyone being hit by Kinzo's grief over Beatrice and making the leap that that was where the whole legend of the witch came from, with Battler and George having these kinds of awestruck "Yeah, I see, I think I can call this magic" reactions - but the part where it shows Maria in the corner just facepalming and sighing "No you idiots, it's real magic, Beatrice exists" while all this is happening is just the best.

* The system0 scene where Natsuhi turns her gun on Maria and the servants is incredibly intense. Even knowing what's going on, the characters' shifting speculations and the suspicions and tensions arising between the survivors are consistently written in such a way that it's incredibly easy to get absorbed in. Ryukishi did a really good job of this in general. Natsuhi's theory here, that Genji - out of loyalty to Kinzo, wanting to ease his grief over Beatrice - set up an elaborate plot to make it look like her ghost existed in the mansion and has been behind the illusion all these years, culminating in his following Kinzo's "ceremony" for her revival as described on the epitaph as a final act of loyalty to him, is actually really strong given the information she has. It's really interesting reading these speculations with full knowledge of what's happening.

* That said, it's also easy to see how all this seems incredibly stupid and shortsighted from Maria's perspective, and she's actually extremely perceptive in her assertion that everyone is just trying to believe what will make them feel comfortable rather than facing the truth. It's true, Natsuhi was always talking about how they shouldn't be suspecting each other and should stay united and that finding the culprit shouldn't be their priority, but now she's willing to point the finger at others herself when it suits her. In general, everyone's speculations and attitudess toward Beatrice's identity come around to trying to justify whatever will make them feel better in the moment - as evidenced by Battler's flip-flopping between wanting to believe in Beatrice when suspecting one of the 18 gets too emotionally challenging, but then wanting to find the culprit among them when he feels frustrated with not being able to fight back against the culprit and wants to empower himself by believing he can expose them. Maria is completely right that in this way, they're prevented from really fully engaging with Beatrice's game and what she's attempting to communicate. I love her frustration with their inability to really "see" Beatrice, and with the way they keep shutting down her attempts to get that through to them.

* The little exchange where Battler admits to Maria just before she leaves the study that he lied about dropping the charm, and gives it back to her to keep her safe, always really gest me...I love how Maria just looks solemnly at him and takes it, and neither of them have anything to say after that, but so much emotion is conveyed. (I also love how, even before Battler tells her to wait, Maria cheerfully says goodbye specifically to Battler alone as she leaves. The weird little friendship they have is just really sweet to me, somehow.)

* The way Beatrice's command to Maria to face the wall and keep singing while she kills the last three sacrifices is phrased - "you will sing lots and lots of songs, so no matter what happens, no matter what you hear, you won't hear you won't hear you won't know" - is actually really upsetting in how it sounds so utterly frantic and disjointed and broken. Yasu was probably in a really bad mental state by this point...

* Natsuhi framing her duel with Beatrice as a fight to decide the true successor to the Ushiromiya family is a really big hint to the culprit's identity in retrospect. Beatrice never claims that right to the headship when she's "in character", so it's a nod towards the nature of the real person "behind" Beatrice.

* "So, in Maria's eyes, it's just as though all of today's tragedies didn't happen. It's as though all the time she spent deprived of love never happened." AAAAAAAAAAAA ;_;

* The ending with Beatrice appearing while everyone is still freaking out over Natsuhi's death, Maria running towards Beato overjoyed and the two of them gleefully laughing together while Battler stares in disbelief as the clock hits midnight...it gives me shivers every time. Ryukishi's writing is absolutely incredible when it comes to atmosphere.

* Man, I'll never get over how silly and goofy the fourth-wall breaking beginning of the tea party is, considering how the meta setting ends up being so central to the series. "Uu-. Definitely a bad ending. Uu-." Coming into this from all the incredibly intense feelings the end of the actual episode evokes sure is, uh, something.

* The way this feels so weird coming out of EP1 really solidifies what a daring choice it was to introduce the meta world to the series, though. The actual basic plot of Umineko, the mystery of Beatrice and the reveal of the truth behind it and everyone's motives and backstories, could easily have been fully portrayed without it, along the same lines as EP1 - just covering the "real-world" events of various possible versions of the incident, with some unreliable narration and metaphorical fantasy scenes conveying the "magical" elements, and more being revealed about different aspects of the story as the series went on. But the existence of the meta-world really turns the series into something completely different, and adds so much to the scope of the series and its thematic depth. I think it would be a lot harder - probably impossible, even - to really get across Umineko's ideas about "truth through fiction" and the nature of "magic", and the whole scope of Beatrice's character and Battler's journey to understanding her without it.

* Wow, I forgot that the first reference to Bernkastel came from Maria. It's especially neat that she quotes Rika's iconic "If we don't all believe, the miracle won't occur" line - in a completely different, much darker context - in the same scene that (through the intentional parallel with Higurashi's non-canon review sessions) basically serves the function of slamming in your face that "this is going to be very different to Higurashi".

* Oh god, Shannon responding to George being sad about the brutal nature of her death with "Um, well, it's not like it hurt..." Yeah, because it was a total lie, sorry George!

* I really like how it's Kanon, specifically, that keeps challenging Battler and trying to push him to explain his death - especially since said death is pretty much the key scene of this episode in terms of finding Yasu's truth.

* BEATOOOOOOOO!!!!

* I MISSED BEATO SO MUCH OMG I HAVE THE BIGGEST GRIN ON MY FACE RIGHT NOW SHE IS JUST SO GOOD

* Battler and Beato's dynamic is the absolute best!! I love Umineko so much...

* Ahaha, omg. He's actually totally right on the mark here, though. You can tell Beato is just absolutely bouncing with excitement challenging him to explain, eager to hear his theories. I think it's very, very easy to see Yasu in Beato here, and to imagine how this brings her back to how they used to enthusiastically debate mysteries together when they were kids. I really love how, despite Beato at first glance feeling pretty different from the timid Yasu we see in EP7 in a lot of ways, you can still absolutely see that they unmistakeably share a common root; their basic sheer creative energy and playfulness and excitement about the things they're passionate about has exactly the same feel to it.

* The credit roll with Prison Strip playing makes me get up and dance around the room in excitement every time, ngl.

* Huh, the new translation changed Bern's title from "Witch of Miracles" to "Witch of the Fragments"! That's a pretty big change. I guess it fits too, but I'm sort of curious how some other scenes will be reframed with that in mind, since the word "miracles" comes up a lot in reference to Bern...Hmm. I honestly always thought her old title made a lot of sense for her, so I'm not sure how I feel about this! I'll have to think about it.

* I always liked the way they phrase the descriptions of Beatrice's nature compared to Bern's and Lambda's in this scene. There's a lot of insight into what makes the purpose and motivations behind Yasu's roulette fundamentally different from what you would expect from the culprit in there.

* "You're one I really don't want to fight with. Inside of you, there's nothing but zero." Wow, this is a really chilling description of Yasu...What Bern is pretty much saying with this whole speech that since Yasu doesn't have a single "desired outcome" for her roulette, she can't possibly "lose", so she's essentially unbeatable. The unspoken flipside to that, though, is that she can't really WIN, either; none of the possible outcomes are either positive OR negative, so she ends up with "nothing but zero". She's resigned herself to death whatever outcome she reaches; her inability to be "disappointed" in the outcome of her roulette is rooted in resignation and acceptance of the fact that all the things she once hoped for are completely out of her grasp, so she can't be hurt any more by the prospect of those possibilities being destroyed. (Also, notice the parallel between Bern referring to Beato as having "zero" inside her and Kanon calling himself "the zero on her roulette" earlier. Welp.)

* And given that, it's pretty fitting that the way Bern does end up finally managing to get the upper hand on Beatrice is by finding that one hidden, distant possibility - Lion - that she actually DOES still treasure and wants to keep believing in despite everything, giving her hope that that possibility could really exist, and then brutally crushing it.

* I could pretty much do a whole post on this scene. There's so much buried in every line here.

* Considering that Bern was originally only supposed to be a cameo, I think this part actually sets up the later expansion of her character really well. The signs of her being a dark and disturbing figure at heart despite being presented as your "ally" against Beato come across very well.

And we're done! I've been working at this reread on and off since about July of last year, so it's a bit surreal to have only just finished the first episode now. I'm hugely enjoying it, though! There are so many series that I enjoy at first but become more detached and critical of them as time passes, but if anything, I honestly find myself appreciating Umineko more and more deeply every time I read it. It really does feel almost like a story that was written specifically for someone like me in many ways, and I'm just forever grateful for its existence. I'm very much looking forward to revisiting the other episodes!

[overthinkingfeathers]

4, 9, 26!

Straight to questions that are going to get me in trouble with mutuals! I like it.

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

I guess it depends on how you define NoTP. If it’s ‘under absolutely no circumstance will I read/look at this content,’ then I can’t think of any off hand. I reserve the right to take that back if anything horrific comes across my dashboard, but so far, nothing’s hit that mark yet.  

If it’s ‘I’ll only really look at it for a mutual’ then, uh, things are about to get awkward in here, because Templar!Carver x Merrill. Active templar (who had more info than most joining and still made that choice - and I’ve read great meta on how it might have been the best choice he had at the time, but even still) with a blood mage? In Kirkwall, a city where a blood mage’s options upon being caught are Tranquility or death? Ehhhhh. I get that for shipping purposes it’s easier to have Templar!Carver, because honestly, half the times he shows up as a Warden make no sense (the Wardens have great timing, obviously), and it’s hard to ship two characters who are almost never in the same place, but templar/mage pairings are always difficult at best for me. Recent templar in a city with the harshest Circle/active blood mage in that same city just doesn’t work for me. But they’re a rarepair, so it’s not a common thing to see regardless. 

If it’s ‘I hate 99.9% of the content for this pairing and thus don’t even bother with it (except for mutuals),’ Fenders. They have such an understandably tense relationship in canon. It can work in total AU settings, but for anything approaching canon, I have to see some evidence of how they got to that point - growing compassion and understanding, lessening animosity, moves towards begrudging friendship, tension over misunderstandings and backwards steps that come with any enemies to anything nicer than enemies. Instead, most of what I saw back in the days I bothered was usually ‘everything is canon compliant except now they’re cute and flirty.’ I dislike it strongly. While I do wish they had developed a better relationship over the years in canon, and I think some of the choices made there were nonsense (specifically the deal with the demon/give Fenris back), their initial hate makes so much sense for both of them, and I feel like it does both characters wrong to pretend like they should have immediately become besties. I don’t know how popular that ship actually is. It seems pretty popular, but I also have multiple mutuals who ship it, and I think a good quarter of my ‘recommended for you’ section devoted to it most of the time, so I could just be getting more exposure to it than most. 

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

For whatever reason, I read this question in terms of characters you’re supposed to like - companions, basically. And honestly, if we’re just going by companions, Oghren. I wanted to like him. His story was interesting, and I was sympathetic to his position (lost his wife, lost his standing, eventually gave up his home to try to redeem himself). But 95% of the time, his conversations were isn’t his excessive drinking hilarious and/or bodily function jokes and/or repeated sexual innuendos towards every female companion, and all of those things are major turn offs for me. 

If we’re talking all characters across the Dragon Age franchise, it’s a toss up between Corypheus and Elthina. Corypheus because he had such potential - original Fade walking magister, around since before the Blights were a thing, able to find these broken and downtrodden people and make them into great leaders, even the fact that he’s being secretly manipulated by someone else - and they basically didn’t utilize him well. He’s your standard destroy the universe so I can rule it villain. He must have done so much careful planning throughout, but it all disappears by the end, and he reverts to just destroy things mode. His final fight was a snooze. It was disappointing. 

Elthina, on the other hand, is brilliantly written, because she’s disguising her power plays as incompetence so well that almost everyone falls for it, at least at first. ‘Oh I couldn’t possibly help the mages,’ she says, when she’s literally the only person in the city who can officially step in between Meredith’s increasing intolerance and everything else. ‘I guess it’s just the Maker’s will.’ Deliberate incompetence is like fingernails under my skin for me; deliberate incompetence that hurts people in the name of political self preservation is so much worse. 

26. Most shippable character?

For me, it’s Isabela, and probably not for the reason everyone would assume. She’s easy going and friendly, and she breaks down so many walls with people. She has insightful conversations with almost everyone - half of them are covered with jokes and flirting, but she’s smart, and she knows people. She obviously builds trust with pretty much everyone she likes; Merrill adores her, Fenris is willing to have a relationship with her (3 years later than Hawke and proclaimed just physical, yes, but presumably the marks still hurt and he still has trouble with his memories; that takes trust), both of the Hawke twins have good relationships with her, etc, etc. Even with people she disagrees with, she can still have insightful conversations with them (see, for example, Anders and the justice is like a bar brawl conversation). In the long run, she can get almost anyone to open up to her. It’s a rare thing. 

And I just want her to find love so much, and I feel like she can have the ‘love isn’t always something you can prevent’ (aka you’re worthy of love, and you’re a good person in the end) conversation with someone other than Hawke, so it’s entirely doable. My ultimate OTP with her is with Merrill, but I think she could have a good relationship with a lot of people.