#Also it's up to you if you want to interpret the ending as Henry dying or not

[tryingonametaphor]

Why Will Byers?

An analysis and theory on why Henry/Vecna targeted Will first in season 1 and his plans for Will in season 5

‼️Contains The First Shadow (TFS) spoilers so please proceed with caution.‼️

This is going to be a little long but I’ve tried to give as much context as I can without actually being able to show snippets from the stage play. This is my interpretation of everything that went down as a member of the audience and not as someone who has read up any theories about TFS before. To understand why Henry took Will first in 1983, we have to start with -

Henry and Joyce

From all the times I’ve watched TFS, the one thing that has stuck with me is the final conversation Henry has with Joyce. It’s just before his last confrontation with Patty Newby and before he joins Brenner for good. Joyce is the last person (who doesn’t know about Henry’s powers) that he canonically talks to.

Throughout the entire play Joyce, Hopper, and Bob are investigating the animals dying at the hands of Henry and come to the conclusion that Victor Creel has been the one doing the killing. They get so close to solving the case. In her last conversation with Henry, Joyce tries to comfort him by saying that Victor will pay for his crimes - which makes Henry laugh because she’s so close yet so far from the truth. He gets a little frustrated and says something along the lines of “You don’t get it. But someday you will.” (edit 28/9: the exact dialogue is [Henry: you’re too nice. that is how they’ll get you. you have to learn to do anything you can to protect the ones you love] [Joyce: I don’t understand.] [Henry: You will.]) The next time we see Henry make a reappearance in Joyce’s life is during -

The Vanishing of Will Byers

Will is taken into the Upside Down (UD) by Henry. It’s not even a question anymore. All of the context clues from 1x1 lead us to believe that Will’s kidnapping was not by a demogorgon. Will - a 12 year old - miraculously survives a week in the upside down with no food or water. Will is even around the demogorgon a few times in the Upside Down. (Joyce communicating with Will through the lights and then the demogorgon coming after her immediately).

Barb dies the night she is taken but Will stays alive and also somehow manages to talk to Joyce through the wall. Joyce is led exactly to where Will was held at the end of s1 and he makes it out alive. It’s almost as if Henry knew all along that Joyce was the most capable of never giving up on finding her son. Like Henry took Will Byers because he was Joyce’s son. And like he was giving her just enough to know that Will was alive. Even when Joyce and Hopper find him at the end in a state of near death, he’s not injured by a creature. He was being prepared for the next stage of Vecna’s plan -

The Possession of Will Byers

The origins of Henry’s powers happen as such - As a kid, he is transported into the UD (originally coined Dimension X by the government) for a few hours because he touched something he wasn’t meant to touch. During his time in there, he came in contact with the Mind Flayer (MF). According to TFS this is the point in his life when he started getting “corrupted”. Brenner’s dad - who was one of the first people to enter dimension X - had mutated blood after but no powers. Henry was the first person to come in contact with the MF and it’s highly likely he got his powers because of this (This would also track considering how most of the party has been in the UD now but show no signs of having powers). The MF controls Henry for the rest of TFS and Henry grows more power hungry the more he kills.

In S2, Henry presumably sends the MF after Will - who has now had a year to heal from the events of 1983. Will is the only other person in all of ST to have had direct contact with the MF and survived it. Henry didn’t hesitate to kill Billy in S3, but he always gives everyone just enough to keep Will safe. Will himself tells Owens in S2 that the MF wants to kill everyone except him. Will once again survives the entire ordeal and is given a “break” for the next 2 seasons. Except I don’t believe he’s been just given a break. I think Will is -

Henry’s Sleeper Agent.

Ready to awaken in s5. I undoubtedly think that Will is going to have powers. And I don’t think they’re going to be the same as Henry and El. El and the other lab kids get their powers directly from Henry. Will’s powers will be directly from the MF like Henry. I believe this has been Henry’s plan all along and it’s further affirmed by what he tells Will in the recent VR game. That Will will be the key to Henry being able to infiltrate his friends’ minds. Jamie Campbell-Bower also mentioned during the S4 press that to get in character, he set up a display with all of Henry’s victims and targets’ faces on his wall(?), and Will was in the center.

Henry is going to use his connection with Will sneakily and midway through S5 he’s going to awaken Will’s powers (maybe in ep4 - which is said to be titled ‘Sorcerer’ and has young Will in it). Henry is going to try and manipulate his way into making an ally out of Will, and it’s not going to work because -

Will is the Perfect Character Foil.

Will is everything Henry could have been if he had a better support system. He is the perfect character foil. Unlike Henry, Will has a mother who loves him unconditionally and more importantly, believes him. Unlike Henry, the person who Will loves the most (the Patty to Will’s Henry: Mike) is going to love him back and stay by his side all season. No one is going to force them to be apart the way Henry was told to stay away from Patty. Will is not going to be easily swayed even though Henry has spent years crafting him into the perfect soldier. Sure, Henry has seen him heartbroken and sad, but that comes nowhere near to the amount of love and support Will is going to get from his people next season. And they’re going to quite literally defeat Vecna with the power of love and friendship. After that, Will Byers is getting the happy ending that Henry could have gotten.

[nhasablogg]

Tickle fics

Fandom: Red, White and Royal Blue

Characters: Henry/Alex

Summary: Alex reads a tickle fic about them aloud and Henry is having a totally chill reaction to it.

A/N: Soooo I do admit not a lot of tickling happens in this one (if any?). It's more of those fics with (the concept of) tickling that I love writing. BUT if you're nice maybe I will write you a sequel with the thing Alex mentions toward the end ;) Actually I probably WILL write it either way, although maybe I won't have the fics be connected. I hope you like this regardless!

Words. 1.2k

Alex finds it funny, and Henry likes watching him giggle over the phone, but, respectfully, Henry is about to die if he keeps it up.

Gripping the pillow he’s fighting against covering his face with, he tries to keep his features neutral, the opposite of Alex’s animated movements. He’s all hands and expressions, all laughter and voices. Maybe it’s Henry’s silence over the voice Alex has chosen to adopt each time Henry’s character speaks - too high pitched, not even the right British accent - that finally makes him look up from the phone, eyebrow raised, sentence dying at the tip of his tongue. “You don’t like this story?”

“It’s a great story.”

“But you’re barely reacting.”

“I was simply just enchanted by the descriptions. You know-” He sits up straighter, eyes on the back of Alex’s phone. “My interpretation of the story relies on how you read it to me. What words you choose to emphasize. What tone you adopt.”

“So you’re saying the way I’m reading is boring.”

“Not at all.”

“Hmm. Okay, look.” He shoves the phone in Henry’s face. “Read this.”

All Henry sees is giggle and tickles and it makes him want to scream. “Okay.”

“Read it aloud. I wanna see how you’d read it.” He leans back, grinning at him. “Since apparently I’m not a good narrator.”

“Oh my god, Alex, that’s not what I meant. I simply thought it was an interesting observation which was entirely on topic by the way-”

“You’re trying to get out of this.”

“I am not-”

“So read.”

They’ve done this before. Henry has never cared about the world of fanfiction, which Alex finds interesting since he is a man of letters and stories. Alex, on the other hand, was looking up fanfiction about the two of them the very moment they started sleeping together, sending him links and screenshots with lewd emojis. It was only after they became official that he started reading them aloud to him, sometimes as a joke, sometimes to see what Henry thought of certain, uh, activities. Henry has never called him out on it, mostly because it’s been quite effective.

“Look,” he said earlier that evening, tapping Henry on the arm. “I found a tickle fic of us.”

Henry nearly broke his own neck from how quickly he turned toward him. “S-sorry?”

Alex took his spluttering in the wrong way and nodded eagerly. “I know! Apparently that’s a thing. Listen to this.” He cleared his throat. “This is in the middle of the fic, it doesn’t start like this. Henry managed to call out a panicked, “No!” before Alex had switched spots, fingers curling over the area and making Henry howl with laughter, much different than June’s quiet pleading, but nowhere near Alex’s yelling. I don’t yell by the way. Also it’s a little weird that June’s in here. But oh my god, I need to read you the whole thing, it’s glorious. It’s about me compiling a list about my favorite things about you and putting you being ticklish on there, which I guess is kinda true. The author’s this weirdo called N-”

Henry grips the phone tighter now, scanning the screen. “Where did you stop?”

“About here.” Alex points and Henry tries to breathe.

“‘I should pin you before you fall off,’ he said, and Henry positively whined- I don’t whine.”

Alex waves his hand. “You do. Keep reading.”

“‘You liked that?’ ‘Let go of me, you brute.’”

“It does kinda sound like you, doesn’t it?” Alex has his cheek pressed to Henry’s shoulder, eyes on the phone. He can probably feel the heat radiating off of him and Henry tries to calm down, he really really does. “You’re certainly just as ticklish. Not sure if you like it when I tickle you, though.” He turns to grin at him, all cheeky innocence and Henry deserves a prize for the way he doesn’t look away.

“Right.” The prize should promptly be taken from him due to the way his voice wavers.

Alex sits up, as if he only just now realizes how not chill Henry has been during this entire interaction. “Wait, do you?”

“No.”

“Baby.”

It’s so unfair when Alex baby’s him. “I don’t.”

To Alex’s credit he seems to be trying very hard not to smile now. “You’re blushing.”

“It’s very hot in here.”

“Come to think of it, you’ve been blushing this entire time.”

“I have not.”

“Did you write this fic?”

“What? No!”

“But it’s not far off, is it? You don’t mind when I tickle you.”

Henry finally covers his face with that stupid pillow. “Please god, what did I do to deserve this.”

Alex is laughing as he pulls at the pillowcase. “Come on, don’t hide. It’s cute. I swear I didn’t pick this fic to embarrass you. I hadn’t connected the dots until literally just now.”

“There are no dots.” Henry gives up on the pillow and lets Alex take it. “This fic is simply not good.”

“Oh, come on now.” Alex makes a move as if to touch him and thinks better of it. “You almost never protest when I tickle you. You always seem to be in a better mood afterward. You don’t have to be into it or anything to not mind it.”

Henry whines - stupid N being right - and shuts his eyes. “I- okay, fine, I don’t fully mind it. Not when you do it.”

“Baby, that’s so cute.”

“I will literally murder you.”

“Tell me.” Alex is suddenly closer. Henry can feel his breath at his neck, but he refuses to open his eyes. “Did it do something to you to hear me read that fic?”

“Alex-”

“Did you enjoy it? I certainly like watching you squirm.”

Henry opens his eyes and Alex is right there. “I won’t answer that.” A breath, and, “You already know the answer.”

“Oh, that I do.” A fingertip on Henry’s thigh. Henry imagines it moving further in, touching his most delicate skin. He rarely allows himself to think this - shame and guilt always gripping him - but sometimes, when he’s alone in bed or has Alex sleeping beside him, he imagines what it would be like to fully lose control to teasing fingers.

He’s never thought this fantasy will play out. He doesn’t know how to approach it now.

But Alex is there, so certain with it. So nonjudgmental.

“Tell me,” he says now, finger still but still touching. “What would you want me to do to you, if you could have me do anything? Pin you? Tie you up? Tickle you so gently you nearly scream? Or maybe you’re more into the playfulness of it. Maybe you like it when I’m quick and brief.”

“I don’t know what I like.” It wasn’t a lie.

“Oh. Well.” Alex grins, all teeth and glee. “Maybe one of those fics can help us figure it out. Combined with some experimentation, of course.”

Henry doesn’t know if he should curse N out or thank her. Maybe both.

[raspberry-vinaigrette]

you should tell me your thoughts on one steven s stevenson from hit game dayshift at freddys (imagine that one proud tiktok emoji with the spiky hair here) go boy (gender neutral) !!! yap!!!

the fact i know exactly who this is ...... ur the steven fan forever. godspeed

BUT !! steven is just so fascinating to me. he suffers a bit from originating from dsaf1 which is the most satiric and parody-esque of the games so most of his legitimate characterization is often taken from dsaf3 but! i think there's still something to be pulled from what we have! namely his whole "sweep it under the rug" idea and how it contrasts with his entire thing with peter! because i find it really interesting how steven reacts to deaths in general honestly and how it differs based on circumstances.

for one, prior to him becoming a phoney, there's how he reacts to henry's murders. one thing that always stands out to me is that his priority is mentioning henry has effectively disrupted the workflow and killed paying customers more than it is... y'know... henry murdered children. while i do think he definitely feels stressed and upset about the fact Kids Died in some form, his main way of expressing this is through a corporate lens, and it's always given me the impression that even before becoming a phoney, steven was kind of firm on company policies. it's probably a part of why steven sticks so hard with his scott identity and refuses to let it go, even begging jack to not make him remember his own name, compared to harry, who is reluctant and doesn't consider harry as himself but overall is more willing to accept he isn't scott, at least. regardless of how much steven remembers of his past life at any given point, the AI kind of works all too well with his existing identity, so of course even when his real personality shows it just kinda... blends.

and then there's peter's death! we hear of this from one of the company logs in dsaf3, but we also get to see the aftermath of peter dying and steven sending him off in a cutscene seen in the dsaf marionn-ending. steven treats this as natural of a progression as harry does with steven's death, joy of creation, etc etc. however, as steven is leaving, he apologizes to peter, saying he hopes peter can come to forgive him. and that's WILD !!! because that is almost for sure not what phone guys should be doing -- as far as they seem to be programmed, this should be what they want, given harry doesn't apologize to steven on screen and also advocates for phoney-fying the springlocked employee in dsaf3 if you get that cutscene (i need to trigger the scene for myself so i can show screenshots. maybe sometime this week). we get further confirmation that phone guys shouldn't be discussing the phoney-ing process in the notes on steven's recording about peter's death, given it literally says steven was decommissioned for that -- i personally headcanon he wasn't actually but like. regardless. steven defied company policy over this death specifically and then shoved the RAT suit in a backroom where nobody was allowed to go near it. so his feelings on this are clearly a lot stronger than they were in life or than they are in any subsequent deaths. it's so interesting.

lastly we come back to what i can pull from dsaf1 (well... one of the things. i have thoughts and interpretations on some of the sillier stuff too)! which is when steven finds the bloody suits and immediately hops straight to figuring out how to cover it up. it's practically instinct for him to sweep it all under the rug, and he very easily picks jack and hesitates not in the slightest at executing a plan to make this all go smoothly. he expresses some pretty intense emotions about this in the flipside's layer 3 so it's probably safe to say this was something that was weighing on him a lot, or at the least he's reasonably surprised jack would try to save him when it's something that he feels was so awful, but steven still shows no hesitation in the follow through when he's actually doing it. he never apologizes or pauses the way he does when sending peter to the factory, he just... does it. it's how the world works, to him. and the phoney process is part of this, too, but clearly he exhibits some degree of hesitancy over it. i don't have many deep thoughts on what this distinction means presently, it's just curious.

overall for how steven typically behaves, which is uptight and too-serious at best and downright cold and aggressive in his hastiness at worst, the differing reactions he has on deaths or the notion of his OWN death are just so interesting ?? it's something i NEED to study more at some point and figure out what the distinction is beyond the potential "he is a phoney and doesnt like being one" which feels simplified given his feelings on being himself vs being scott. he's soooo interesting

[cowboysanddragons23]

Arthur Morgan has been training to fight Dutch during his whole arc and doesn't even realize it, as all of the antagonists he fought against, all represent an aspect of Dutch:

-Colm O'Driscoll: Colm O'Driscoll is an outlaw who cares only about causing chaos and destruction, with no sense of idealism or loyalty towards his men, seeing them only as expendable numbers, focusing only on the quantity aspect instead of quality. He rules his gang with a cultistic mix of fear and adoration ("He's..uh..uh.. wh-when he talks to you nicely is like the sun is shining, and when he is mad at you, it's like the devil's gonna be upon you"). This parallels how Dutch would behave during Chapter 6, leaving Arthur and John to die and regarding the rest of the gang as expendable numbers and leads them with a cultistic mix of adoration and fear.

-Leviticus Cornwall: Leviticus Cornwall is an industrialist who, despite his delusions of gentlemanliness and eloquence, he robs, kills and destroys everything on his path, showing utter lack of concern about the destruction he leaves on his wake ("Business doesn't give a damn about feelings."). He is also obsessed with getting more power and will betray the law he claims to uphold so he can get what he desires. This reflects how Dutch threw away the ideals he cherished so much the moment pressure started mounting him at the drop of a hat, but also that despite dressing elegantly and speaking eloquently, he is a criminal hiding under a mask of sophistication.

-Andrew Milton: Andrew Milton is a Pinkerton agent determined to make his vision of the world a reality, starting out with a noble intention (which is up to interpretation), which is to clean up the West, yet ends up descending more into savagery and uncivilization, yet retains a sliver of honor. This mirrors how Dutch started out wanting to build an utopia using brutal and relentless methods, yet ends up descending more and more into insanity, dying a violent death.

-Tavish Gray and Catherine Braithwaite: Tavish Gray and Catherine Braithwaite are the heads of the Gray and Braithwaite families, who despite the times advancing, they still remain stuck in the past, wallowing about the "good ol' days" where they could hurt and kill with impunity. This is a parallel how Dutch refused to stop being an outlaw and had no intention of retiring at all.

-Angelo Bronte: As already explained in my earlier post, Angelo Bronte is a mobster who rules Saint Denis as a king, who has both the police and mafia serving as his knights. Similar to Cornwall and Colm, Bronte is not only supported by society, but is also a criminal who has no delusions about the nature of his business, treating others as dirt and manipulating them into doing what he wants. He also takes orphans into his thrall in order for them to serve him as criminals. This parallels how Dutch treats the gang at heart, with a compassionate way, but in the most condescending and arrogant way possible, but also how he adopted Arthur and John, grooming them into becoming his personal weapons.

-Alberto Fussar: Alberto Fussar is the dictator of Guarma, who he rules as its ruthless autocrat, claiming to work for the glory of Guarma, yet being utterly uncaring and apathetic towards the people inside it, working them to death and outright importing slaves for him to use as workforce in order to satisfy his own endless greed. When his right hand man, Levi Simon, was shot, he left him to die and only cared about saving himself and his pride. Fussar is also ruthlessly intolerant of any viewpoint other than his own. This parallels with how Dutch rules the gang, as the title of the mission "A Kind and Benevolent Despot" can be also applied to Dutch as well, as he gaslights on numerous times the members of the gang the moment they start questioning him and is willing to kill them himself.

-Henry Favours: Henry Favours is a colonel in the US Army who after an undistinguished career, hatches a plot to "reclaim" his "lost glory" by manipulating the Wapiti into war, eventually becoming one of its casualties, while being regarded as an incompetent moron. This is a reflection of how Dutch manipulated the indians in order to both make his escape and to cause chaos and his delusional belief about being a mastermind, yet having in reality an abysmal track record.

[undeaddollz]

HENRY BOWERS ANALYSIS!!

btw this is long as shit as it was a ramble to my friend on discord. this is how i interpreted henry, not including the obvious parts of his personality like the racism and much more. thats obvious and everyone knows that, heres something i picked up as i love psychology! i also have a patrick one if you guys would like!

and you can always ask for me to do another IT character as well and i'll try.

so henry is such an interesting character!

it's so obvious he replies on being perceived as masculine and strong because even though he hates his dad he still wants butch's approval and to finally be good enough.

it's part of why he's such a fucked up person and bullies others because it makes him feel stronger and powerful which is something he craves since he is beat at home which makes him feel weak.

bowers gang is a very interesting group of boys, henry is friends with them cause they're kind of like him. we dont get a ton of insight on victor and belch but we know they just think its all in good fun, they dont get as much of a kick out of bullying as patrick and henry. but more or less they're all pretty similar, which henry thrives on. it's obvious he doesnt rely on them or gets emotional with them, belch and victor seem to want henry to but he screams at them every time so they're used to just ignoring the abuse henry goes through.

How henry has a problem with anyone who isnt like himself is an extremely deep rooted problem and the one to blame for this is butch, he beats henry over anything he can, even just little reasons. butch definitely puts some gender roles into henry's head and told him to "stop having a smart mouth" (a reason he hates richie.)

The reason pennywise chose to possess henry is pretty apparent, while it could've gone with patrick i feel like there isnt a lot in patricks mind to break to make him become a mind slave, which is why he just killed patrick instead, using his corpse to manipulate henry. while patrick can be strong he's so mentally fucked up with so many disorders he would've probably just thought his family dying was funny. which makes him a not so great target since he wont be broken like henry could. Henry was having problems at school, home and in his head, there were still parts of him that could be broken as he was not past the point of no return. deep down henry had a lot of fears, one of those fears even being patrick, patricks killing of animals and his own little brother scared henry. while henry could only wish his dad dead, patrick was able to make things like that happen and get away with it and have no guilt, even brag about it.

Henry was still a fairly normal kid until the rock war, thats when i believe he started to go crazy and when pennywise started to get a hold on henry as patrick died shortly after. While henry is scared of patrick that doesnt mean they werent friends, patrick was part of henrys routine, i think having a bit of a routine kept henry sane but the clown started to disrupt that and put henry on edge.

It continues to add shit onto henry's plate to break him. A friend goes missing, he's continually beat at home and it's getting worse. He gets embarrassed in front of his friends, just more and more is added on.

He's then forced to kill his father and then his two closest friends, then made to go back home with evidence planted in his room that he killed all the missing kids. usually he would end up in jail but pennywise knows it will need henry again so it has henry sent to a mental hospital where he endures more abuse and never recovers from having his mind broken as 1, the staff are awful 2, pennywise visits him every night in the form of his dead friends. He mostly takes the form of victor as victor was henry's best friend. the movie isnt fully accurate and uses patricks corpse only when it was actually victor who meant the most to henry, patrick is used as a scare factor.

Although patrick is the one who stuck around to the end and got the same kick out of making people suffer like henry did. he always supported crazy ideas unlike belch and victor. grief is one of henry's huge motivators and pennywise took advantage of that as grief is one of its specialties

[princesable]

hi welcome to my post. my post of charlie game plot summary. because i realized no such post exists. so like. here we are. charlie game has a plot. you wouldnt know this because i keep forgetting to mention it as i have a horrible habit of just assuming people know. for some reason.

so the story starts as all memorable stories do. someone fucking dying. i could not think of any other way to open this. basically sherwin ends up causing a freak accident that ends with twitch's best friend getting killed badly. he then immediately goes into hiding as you do.

twitch kind of assumes he also died because he just vanished without a trace so like. what else would have happened. one day sherwin makes the brilliant decision to leave his house for the first time in like a year or so (i have not decided on how long ok. its long enough) and twitch almost immediately spots him and is like Oh i need to kill him right fucking now. they start chasing after him but due to his abilities (being relatively fast) he gets away. and twitch is like. ok. what the fuck. i need to go tell the 4 (four) people i know that sherwin isnt actually dead so i can get them to help me track his ass down and kill him. so he will actually be dead.

luckily for twitch they exclusively know people who are Fucking Weird and always open to violence because they have nothing better to do or theyre clyde who is convinced hes a super villain. fox is also there but shes mostly ambivalent on this due to not really. knowing any of them. henry and terrence are also there and theyre not really invested either but they think it sounds fun. so theyre down for whatever. important thing to note is that none of them are really taking this as seriously as twitch. everyone else kind of just views this as a "game". subtle reference to the fact this will be a video game.

so twitch is like ok i have. no idea where the fuck he could have gone. so we're all gonna split up and look for him. feel free to do whatever you want as long as you bring sherwin back to me so i can kill him badly. and everyone hears this as "have fun with it be yourself" so instead of setting up traps like normal people they essentially set up. attractions? meant to lure him in so they can mess with him a bit before grabbing him and taking him home. except for fox shes just watching everyone. plotting or something. she says shes plotting.

sherwin on the other hand runs into sam and ellie who are just completely unrelated. they dont know anyone involved. so the only side theyre getting is "weird dude shows up out of nowhere who is clearly running from something and looks absolutely terrified" so they decide to tag along with him so he doesnt immediately fall down a flight of stair or something. also because it means they get to go on a road trip weeeeeeee (they are actively on the run)

and thats the prologue. basically. every chapter/act/whatever you feel like calling them will focus on one of the "attractions" and which ever guy is assigned to them. and how they are really really bad at their jobs. tldr: sherwin fucked up reaaaaaaaaaaaally bad and now everyone wants him dead. it is up to viewer interpretation if this is fair. personally i think its funny.

^ i think hes funny

[officialgleamstar]

dndads couple songs

okay. i wrote out all of this, and then deleted it all by accident as soon as i finished, so now i’m rewriting it. originally oakworthy was on here too as a bonus ship, but it ended up being the only thing i didn’t delete and so it’s getting cut out of spite. fuck them kids. no one gets to know what small musician’s song i assigned to the freaks.

anyways! i like to collect songs that remind me of the relationships between the parents of both seasons, and i thought it would be fun to share my top picks for them all here with some of my reasoning :D i’m smart. come closer. look at my music, boy/girl/enby/etc.

Season 1: Odyssey

Darryl/Carol - I’d Have to Think About It by Leith Ross

I had a few different options for them but this is the best choice

Yes, I know this is a lesbian song. Hear me out: I am a lesbian and I like them.

They need to be divorced so badly but I truly think Darryl will be in love with Carol forever

“I’ve been a liar and you’ve been a pill” LITERALLY THEM?? Darryl lies about his life/feelings and Carol is hard to talk to, that’s literally them, oh my GOD. Please see my vision

Henry/Mercedes - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)

Literally the easiest song on this entire list

They’re hippies. They’re so fucking in love. I rest my case

I picture it from Mercedes’ perspective (just because Henry is a druid, so things literally grow wherever he goes), but it works both ways

Ron/Samantha - Lay All Your Love On Me by Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried

Yes, it’s important that it’s the Mamma Mia version and not the ABBA original, because Cooper’s verses fit Ron and Seyfried’s verses fit Samantha

“I wasn’t jealous before we met”, “And I’m possessive, it isn’t nice”, etc. are so so Ron about Terry Sr.

“I still don’t know what you’ve done with me, A grown-up woman should never fall so easily” Samantha is so so in love with Ron despite the bizarre way they met

In conclusion: this song is so them, thank you

Glenn/Morgan - I’ll Never Love Again by Hamilton Leithauser

I have a few different Glenn/Morgan songs but we’ll go with the sad one because I love it

I don’t need to explain this one. You get it from the title. He never loved again (until he met another timeline version of her, I guess).

Jodie/Morgan - Wedding Singer by Modern Baseball

I do need to explain this one because I have a very specific interpretation of the song that may not be entirely accurate, but it’s real to me

This song is about a dying relationship that you feel like you should be able to fix, but you just can’t

This song is about to clinging to your past even though everyone just wants to move on

This song is about being unsure if your lover is your lover anymore. This song is about love not being what romantic movies have shown it to be. This song is about being stuck in a relationship that is on its last legs and you can’t tell if you want to let it go or fight for it kicking and screaming.

Most importantly, it is about Jodie’s endless pining over his ex-wife!

“The selfish side likes to think that my execution’s more of an honest one, these artists all cut cloth with underscore” is definitely aimed at Glenn, by the way. ‘My pathetic pining over you is more honest than whatever he’s doing with you and his dead no longer real wife.’ etc etc

Season 2: Quest

Grant/Marco - God in Jeans by Ryan Beatty

If you know this song, you know I don’t even have to explain this. But I will, because I love this song.

God in Jeans is about worshipping your homosexual lover like he’s your God, and how rewarding it can be to place your love in trust in him

Grant placing his love and trust in Marco despite everything that has happened to him is so deeply personal to me, and this song is essentially all about that

Also Grant just needs more Catholic guilt. He also needs to kiss his husband more. Please. Please I miss Marco so much

Sparrow/Rebecca - Strawberry Mentos by Leanna Firestone

This was another one that was hard because I had too many options. This time, I went for the happy one, because I know I can make it sad but also it’s a happy song and I really want Sparrow to be happy

This song is all about comparing your love to something sweet! Rebecca runs an ice cream parlor! It all adds up!

“So I pick up black licorice from every candy aisle even though I hate the taste of it, because I know when I kiss you, it’ll make you smile” Sparrow is shown to sacrifice parts of himself to accommodate the people around him, and molds himself to fits others whims. This is the sad part.

“You’re not afraid of your feelings and you’re not afraid of mine” Rebecca is shown to be confident in herself. She’s a girlboss. I think Sparrow depends on that sort of sturdiness a lot, since he’s… y’know, Sparrow. Having someone who is so confident in themself helps him be more confident in their relationship

“Taking weekly trips to my dentist, but I know it’s worth it” Sparrow looks over the faults in their relationship (cough cough THE AFFAIR cough) because he wants this marriage to work. He loves his wife!

That’s the end of my case, thank you

Lark/Rebecca - Rebecca by Against Me!

Literally no fucking contest

We are not in love but we ARE fucking. I’m obsessed with you. There’s vague implications that I might have feelings for you but we will never address it because neither of us want more. The song is literally about a woman named Rebecca

It’s their song. Moving on

Terry Jr./Veronica - Be Your Man by Ivan & Alyosha

This feels like a bit of a weak pick but it’s just so them, okay?

The entire song is about wanting to be a dedicated husband to your wife. Terry Jr. does everything in his power to fit himself into Veronica’s life and be a part of her family

Plus, considering what we know about Veronica’s ex-husband, I think Terry would do his best to be almost overly giving and caring in contrast to him

It’s a sweet song, Terry is a sweet man, and this song is so so so them

Nicky/Cassandra - Breathless on DVD by Antarctigo Vespucci

Not to brag, but my Nicky playlist on Spotify has two whole likes. This does not mean that I am confident in this pick. It’s really hard for me to narrow down a song that fits their vibe considering they don’t interact

The closest we get to them interacting is Cassandra saying Nicky was a good man, and also that they’re divorced. I also feel like maybe it was said that they argued, but I may have imagined that based on the divorce line? I dunno

Breathless on DVD is a song about an ex-relationship that ended in a place you’re not fully happy with, and looking back on it now, you’re not sure how you feel about the relationship as a whole

“I wanted to see you to see if I still wanted to see you, but that’s not fair” Being unsure what you even want anymore, etc etc

It’s a reach, I’m sorry, but their vibes are so hard for me to pin down personally LOL

BONUS: Jodie/Scam - She Hates Me by Puddle of Mudd

The girls are fightiiiing lmao

[bishkebab]

Thought dump on the Ted Lasso finale below the cut

The Ted/Rebecca fakeouts actually felt kind of mean to me until I realized I was looking at the show from a tumblr perspective and thinking they were picking on shippers vs looking at it from a mainstream audience perspective and realizing they were thumbing their nose at the expectation that Ted and Rebecca would end up together because Ted HAD to have a love interest at the end.

The way Roy and Jamie were talking about Keeley made me cringe hardcore. It felt like a regression, especially when Jamie brought up the video as a gotcha point. I was so glad that Keeley said fuck it and didn’t end up with either of them, even though I was originally rooting for triad.

That made it clearer that the point was that even though they both have grown a lot, they both have a long way to go….and even if they didn’t, growth doesn’t guarantee anything! They could both have become the absolute paragons of perfection and Keeley still wouldn’t have to choose one of them! I think it made sense for Keeley to be single at the end because she’s barely been out of a relationship for more than short periods throughout the show.

Even though I wish Keeley and Rebecca had been endgame, from a watsonian perspective they’re at different points in their lives. Yes, they’re both powerful women, but Keeley has a huge career trajectory in front of her and Rebecca is looking for peace and a family.

I loved the callback to the suggestion box at the beginning of the show, with Nate getting to proudly pass around his even more bedazzled box and Jamie sneaking in extra money with a wink instead of putting in his gum with a sneer.

Rupert sweeping around in his evil coat felt a little over the top, like we could have somehow forgotten that he’s The Villain and they wanted to make sure that we saw him Earn His Comeuppance. Seemed unnecessary.

When they passed the ball off to McAdoo and I was holding my breath trying to figure out how his super powerful corner kick that broke the window was going to be significant, and then he kicked it through the net like something from a sports anime 🥲

Ted’s arc was actually what was most baffling and depressing to me, up until the very end. He looked so subdued for the first half of the episode, and it felt like we were being shown how everyone around him felt about him going but not how he felt? Like, shouldn’t there have been some sign of joy for what was ahead, not just resignation that it was what he had to do? Even the speech in the locker room felt like an attempt to justify the fact that they hadn’t actually given him a future beyond “be in the same country as your son”.

The final diamond dogs meeting helped a lot. We actually got to see Ted being Ted again, plus the full circle of seeing Nate back in the fold plus Trent and Roy added in. Perfect scene 10/10 no notes 🥹

I was going to be so hideously depressed if Ted’s final scene had been him getting out of the taxi and walking with Henry back into his ex-wife’s house. Like what, you’re going to throw away all your autonomy and growth and just be a third wheel to Michelle and Dr. Jake because your son needs you? But the final scene made me feel a lot better, because it felt more like…a real reason. Like look, at the beginning he was running away from a dying marriage and a son he was afraid to fail, and he became a father figure to an entire team, so then he needed to go home and give his own son the coaching he gave those other young men and face his dissolved marriage head on.

And then the elephant in the room, Trent my beloved. I’m not going to blame any of the TedTrenters for being disappointed, but I will say the impression I was given of the laugh police scene by people in the tag was vastly different from my interpretation of the scene. I didn’t see it as Ted shooting Trent down or not liking his enthusiasm at all, it was just a gentle admonishment to not fish for a reaction (and also, like, don’t bug me when I’m concentrating on reading lol) but Ted was looking at him with complete fondness the entire time, he didn’t seem actually bothered by Trent himself; and Trent didn’t seem dampened at all, just a little abashed. I don’t know, I kept seeing it interpreted as Trent’s bid for connection - “I just want you to like it” - being rebuffed in that scene, when to me it is met and returned by Ted’s note on the book- he didn’t just like it, he loved it!

The thing is, people were analyzing everything James Lance was saying about Trent through a shipping lens, and so I can understand why it would be so disappointing to not see what they thought he was telling us we’d see. My view is, James Lance fell in love with his character, and he’s looking at everything from a purely Trent perspective. Someone asking him about how Trent looks at Ted and him saying “oh wow, you noticed that? Yes, that’s significant” could definitely come off as “yes, Trent has feelings for Ted” but I always pretty much interpreted it as “yes, actually Trent is attracted to men and I’m impressed that people picked up on that”. And the final shirt that said it all- “Stay Golden” - is a thank you to Ted and a well-wish for the future, not the love confession we were hoping for.

While I 100% think James Lance did play Trent as having some level of feelings for Ted, ultimately Trent’s love story is with himself. He says it at the final diamond dogs meeting- I don’t necessarily think people change, but they learn to accept the person they always were. Trent went from his tough-as-nails, unflappably suave persona to a massive dweeb 🥹 he wears band shirts and dorky scarves and leopard print shoes! He does cute little paws during diamond dog meetings! He dances awkwardly with his crush’s mom! He takes off his blazer and twirls it around his head like a maniac!

Like to go from being astonished by the fact that Ted actually meant it when he said he enjoyed spending the day together, to joining in with the team’s revelries? He loves himself now!

Like I said, I’m not denying the subtext. I absolutely think Trent has some feelings for Ted, and I absolutely think Ted is bisexual (though I doubt he knows it). But I don’t know, I guess I never saw Ted as showing any conscious sign of reciprocation purely because, to be honest, he IS still a huge mess. He’s way too absorbed in his own guilt and confusion to be able to figure that out. But I didn’t feel like the show actually, canonically shut down the possibility. 6 months, a year down the line…? Trent has finished his book, he’s no longer a sports journalist, Ted is in the states near his son, who’s going to write the fanfic for me about what happens next…? 🤣

I will say one loose end that I sure wish had been tied up was Dr. Jake. So what, Michelle’s just going to…keep dating a walking ethics violation who was shitting on the game to her and her son? I mean, he wasn’t in the final scene so maybe they did break up, though I hope to god that wasn’t supposed to imply that she and Ted would ever end up back together because I WOULD break into Jason Sudeikis’s house and smash his kneecaps.

Anyway, I dunno. I still feel like it was weirdly sad on Ted’s behalf, but I felt like it was a nice ending for everyone else. Overall it was…fine. I’m not tortured by any of it. I’ll just be over here continuing to read Ted/Trent fan fiction 🤷🏻‍♀️

[marshmeowllows]

I wanna talk about this visual novel. It's not new-in fact it was released in October 2021 and won that year's Spooktober VN Jam.

It's called Stillwater, by Studio Clump.

From the itch.io page:

"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU"

Private Investigator Hugo Laurent was ready to busy himself with more paperwork until a young disturbed woman entered his office to request an investigation regarding her grandfather's safety. What danger awaits underneath the surface of this mystery?

(From picture left to right are Hugo Laurent, Colby, and Noah De Leon.)

What's the danger, and what mystery?

Well, the mystery turns out to concern the grandfather of this woman, Nina Mortimer. His name is Henry Mortimer, and despite being Nina's grandfather...

...He looks like this.

Yeah, it's been that way since a few nights ago. The Mortimers' caretaker also quit because she kept noticing random puddles of water everywhere in the house, stopping in front of Henry's room.

Anyway, Henry received a letter from someone named Louis-someone Nina doesn't recognize. She shows the letter to Hugo, who notices an ominous message on it: "I AM COMING FOR YOU HENRY".

Later while investigating at the estate, Hugo checks the letter again. It looks different-no more creepy message.

This is the locket Louis was talking about. Looks like Henry did keep it.

After finding the locket, Hugo can choose to take it or leave it. Water appears, followed by an ominous figure that tells him "don't get in my way"-then the door jams shut. Hugo has to leave via the window.

Outside, Henry is heading towards the lake, as Nina tries to stop him. Hugo goes after him in her stead. He first tries to appeal to Henry's love for his granddaughter, which works briefly before Henry resumes blaming himself for the death of Louis. Hugo then tries to tell him that Henry dying won't resolve anything for him or for Louis.

If Hugo didn't take the locket, he'll fail to save Henry and end up dying in the lake as well (mundane: drowned, supernatural: killed by the entity). If he took the locket, he can give it to the entity, which lets him and Henry go. Hugo ends up unconscious, meeting the ghost of Louis, who thanks him. Fortunately, Louis tells him he can't "rest" there, and he and Henry are saved by Noah.

Henry has now returned to what's he's supposed to look like in the present. He tells Hugo about how he never got to say goodbye to Louis, how he kept wishing if Louis stayed longer in the world with him. He thanks Hugo for doing so much for a stranger, and also tells him he hopes Hugo can also overcome whatever's troubling him.

Who's Louis?

My interpretation is that Louis was Henry's romantic partner from when he was younger. One day, Louis asked Henry to meet him by the lake, but Henry didn't show. Louis, who's described as "troubled" in the newspaper article about his death, ended up drowning himself. Henry felt guilty after he heard the news, but eventually moved on with his life and had a family.

What's going on with Henry?

Noah mentions that the Mortimers faced many deaths over the years, to the point people believed they were cursed. All these deaths likely took a toll on Henry, who's reminded of the death of someone he loved and who loved him, all those years ago. Over time it culminates-until Henry is returned to the age he was that fateful day, and he tries to drown himself in the lake on what's likely its anniversary.

What's with Henry's eyes and the ominous figure?

Henry's eyes were glowing green. If Hugo took the locket, a green entity will appear at the lake and drag Henry down with it.

I suspect that's part supernatural, part manifestation of Henry's feelings.

What's the thing Henry hopes Hugo can overcome?

In the good ending, Henry says he hopes that Hugo can overcome "it". What's "it"? His troubles with work, troubles with experiencing supernatural shit, troubles with Noah who he maybe wants to be more than coworkers with? I think Henry was speaking in general, but no matter which is it it looks like things are looking up.

[evyisaks]

I hate whenever the tag has a resurgence of people trying to defend M*leven shippers. They will absolutely never do the same thing for Bylers. Obviously every single M*leven isn't a raging homophobe. But crying over how unfair it is to say negative things about them when a lot of their fanbase is very vocally homophobic just screams pick me behavior.

Also, I'm sorry. But if M*levens don't see a problem with the gay kid's feelings being used to fix a straight couple's problems, that is really sh*tty of them. Wanting people to get queerbaited and the plotline of the show to be homophobic just because "my ship is cute and I Iike them 🥺 " is not a stance that many Bylers will get behind.

Hii! :)

Yes exactly! And I honestly have no issues getting started on how annoying and problematic parts of the Byler fandom can be. There are people in the fandom that are so hateful, and not for not finding Mcflurry cute or for thinking that Mcflurry's aren't watching the show right, but they are downright hateful.

However, this isn't what's being discussed when talking about the issues in the fandom. And I'm sorry but there's a difference in saying that someone isn't watching a certain piece of media correctly, and then being called slurs. There's a difference in saying that you don't ship Mcflurry and think that they were never in love, and then people calling Bylers homophobic slurs and wishing Will's death so that he doesn't come between McFlurry.

And most of the posts about Will from Mcflurry's is almost never positive- even if it's outside of Byler. Will is a loser. He's annoying. He's a cry baby. He's a crybaby. He's a bad friend and brother. He's creepy for liking Mike. You are creepy if you ship Byler. You hate El if you ship them. You are ableist against El if you want her brother to steal her boyfriend. But gay people having unrequited love stories and ending alone is realistic. It makes sense for Will's character to end up alone. Will realising that he's not a kid anymore and ending up alone makes sense. You need to read these bible verses because shipping Byler is a sin. The social media didn't queerbait with Byler, Bylers are just throwing up that word for nothing. Will dying would make sense in S5. Will dead and Mcflurry as endgame in S5 is the perfect ending.

I get it that people have friends who ship Mcflurry and they are nice, I'm mutuals with people who share different ships and fave characters than I do, and that's okay.

Do I agree that Bylers need to be nice to each other? Yes. Because at the end of the day we only know what the writers tell us and what is confirmed. Ones theory about Henry isn't the correct one and it doesn't make your theory any less valid than the one posted by a popular blog. People speculating about Mike's sexuality need to stop and think why bisexual Mike offends them so much, and some goes to people having bi-Mike as canon. Why does Mike being gay offend you?

Calling out people from your own fandom is so important to do because hey, Bylers aren't perfect shippers. People go too far. People don't always separate real life from fiction. Some Bylers are hateful. That's facts.

I think what bothers me is that we aren't telling some Bylers to back off because they are being hateful and disgusting. No we are telling Bylers to take all the hate and slurs from Mcflurry's, because saying that they are interpreting the show incorrectly is bad. And how can you say that Mcflurry aren't cute??? So sit back and watch the homophobic replies to a post that was "Mcflurry aren't cute. They were never in love and they bring out the worst in each other" because how dare Bylers not like Mcflurry?

[kittinthedesert]

I feel like making another Peter Pan post. I've done a few Sun Wukong ones, like I got a few more ideas, but more Peter Pan posts as that fixation hasn't died I just started Journey to the West.

So just some ramblin'.

I've seen some arts and fics pairing Jack Frost (specifically the Rise of the Guardians one) and Peter Pan and I'm here for it. Immortal baby bois of some vague age tbh. Lookin' young, being young, but the years of centuries upon them.

I learned today my mama saw Once Upon A Time, but I haven't though cause as I told her, I was reading up on Peter in OUAT so I didn't waste my time and it was a good thing I did as that whole Malcolm thing is just... I don't vibe. Mama didn't like it all that much either though she liked seeing the more villainous take--the villainous take seems to be the biggest enjoyment by the fandom from what I've observed just going through #peter pan. I would be down with a villainous Peter but being dragged into Henry's out-of-wak family tree wasn't the greatest idea just looking at it from the outside.

Another thing I thought about reading was Peter Darling but while I've seen mostly positive reviews there are a few elements that pause me.

1) The merging of Wendy Darling and Peter Pan as the same person.

This possibly draws on the theory that Peter is just someone Wendy dreamed up, which in turn might come from a misunderstanding of what Neverland is and the whole 'map of the mind bit', plus Wendy being taken as more 'real' than the allegories Peter (youth and never wanting to grow up) and Hook (growing up and forgetting 'childish things'), but I would argue that Wendy is as much an allegory as those two (growing up and not forgetting 'childish things'). Ultimately, I don't vibe with the Wendy Darling erasure. You can have the trans-Peter Pan story and not have him and Wendy merged.

2) Neverland was only partially real? And the lost boys and the pirate crew are all fake? But also not? I've seen so many reviews mention this and I don't quite understand.

Both, however, make me think of ideas surrounding Peter Pan and the themes of childhood/adulthood that I've mentioned before in a previous post on him. Want to craft a few au's and story thoughts on a grown Peter Pan, or even a Peter Pan that was a normal man or teen similar to OUAT just without the weird family connections and the whole Malcom thing in general.

Story 1 - Peter is just a teen, almost a man, in a poverty-stricken village. He lives on his own but ends up looking after the younger kids and teaching them useful skills like hunting and repairing, maybe reading and such if it's a lighter theme. James Hook is another teen who develops a childhood crush on Peter.

1a. Could tie into OUAT with Rumple just being one of these kids, but all I know comes from what I've read, some yt vids, and #Peter isn't Rumples dad fanfics.

Anyways, something happens and Peter is dying, they could still be teens or adults by this point, but either Rumple or James make the decision to save Peter at the exchange of his memories (which would include memories of them). Peter wakes up and is frightened by them and flies off. James goes off sailing for Peter and by the time he finds Peter, James is old and worn and Peter is still just a boy. A happier ending could be Peter eventually growing up to join his childhood bf as an adult.

Story 2 - I really wanted to tap into the possible inhumanity of Peter's powers. Cause a lot of things he does is just by sheer force of will and belief. Flying? According to the Kensington Gardens book, Peter simply believed he could. He's also been shown to alter the weather (though granted we've only seen this on Neverland) by his mood.

He sorta isn't human anymore, an interpretation is that he lays outside normal human society and rules as such from the other post

referenced in the original text and many adaptations that Peter is more fairy than human child, and is a point in separating him from gender constructs in that he no longer or never truly existed in the world of man [...] This overall existence outside of the world of men and male expectations creates a resonance between Peter Pan and anyone who feels limited and outside this world of men and male expectations.

So, more fairy than human, a mood that changes the weather, flying and not aging cause he believes it so. What if, in this 2nd story anyways, he's like the representation of Belief itself (a step further, what if he's Neverland or the heart of it). Belief is a very powerful force for magic. Which kinda led me down a path of looking at other figures of magic and belief--an obvious one being Hecate, though in this I drafted the idea that Peter can take on different forms/stages of life tied to different points of belief.

The childish belief, the adult belief, and the belief of the old.

[whitegownsandflowercrowns]

Ok, time to drop my theories.

I’m team “it’s ending with Alicent,” and I think there are a few ways that ending with Alicent could go down:

The Tudors ending. For those of you who don’t know, the TV show The Tudors (2007-2010) ends with Henry VIII’s death, but not before the ghosts of his first three wives show up to haunt him and guilt him. This could absolutely be Alicent’s ending. Her children, Rhaenyra, Otto, Viserys, Criston could all show up and she could have conversations with them as she dies, with her on a sliding scale of apologizing to finally lashing out - if she got to yell at Viserys here I’d forgive all the praise he got in season 2. You could also use this (especially Helaena) to reveal that Jaehaera will die young, Viserys II will return and Aegon the Younger will never fully recover from the Dance. I’ve seen it proposed that these ghosts could mimic the Seven, which I think would be beautiful and devastating. Pros would be that I think this would be stunning and a great way to make sure that all of the themes are out there. Cons would be that this could be interpreted as ripping off The Tudors.

The Godswood Hallucination. All of the final rites have been done, and Alicent lays dying. As she dies, she sees the Godswood scene from the pilot in her mind. Maybe it’s exactly the same, and she only expresses that she wishes they could have flown far away together; maybe it turns into something completely different. Maybe they become their older versions and hash it out one last time. Maybe their younger versions express all their regrets. Maybe their older versions watch their younger versions, wishing they could be those girls again. Slight possibility that this could be underwhelming but I think this has a lot of potential to end the series perfectly.

The Viserys parallel. We all remember Viserys’ death scene in 1x08 - he reaches out to Aemma, the screen cuts to black, we hear his voice say “no more,” and the credits roll. This is significant as it was his death that kicked off the Dance, and the “no more” could equally apply to no more peace as it does to no more suffering. Ryan Condal loves his parallels, and this could be a great one - Alicent reaches out to Rhaenyra, the screen cuts to black, she says “no more,” and the final credits roll. I think those would be great final words for the show (this time no more war) and it has the potential to be a very powerful ending. My one problem with this is that I don’t want Alicent’s final scene to be paralleled so directly to her abuser. We’d need some sort of subversion here to make it work.

The In Heaven, Everything Is Fine Ending. Alicent dies. She is then woken (either as her older or younger self) by Rhaenyra (either as her older or younger self) who leads her off into the afterlife. This one is very much a 50/50 split for me - depending on how it’s done, it would either severely undercut the tragedy of the Dance or it would make me ugly cry for the next three weeks.

I'm interested to see what viewers most expect and also if we can accurately predict the ending scenes due to media analysis.

[pretty-rad-arson-dad]

hey what if. what if Henry. went looking for charlie the night she was murdered. and found William. in the act--? ~Taco

Sorry for the late response! I’ve gotten a bit busy lately and have been feeling a bit unmotivated. Anyways, here you go! 

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

“Oh god... William, what did you do...?” 

William watched as Henry backed away from him, a smile plastered onto his face. He rubbed his bloodied hands on his soaking pants and approached Henry.

“Youu... I didn’t know you were here....” he mumbled.

Henry continued to back away from him. “Stay back! I’ll-”

William growled and grabbed Henry’s arm, yanking him forward. “You’re staying here-”

Henry let out a sob as he was pulled against William’s chest. He weakly tried to shove at him, but his arms just trembled, feeling like putty.

“Stop it now-” William mumbles, pressing his lips against Henry’s forehead as he gently traced his fingers along Henry’s chin before he harshly gripped it and forced Henry to look up at him before forcefully kissing him. Henry let out a muffled scream and shoved himself away from William, then began hitting at him.

“DON’T TOUCH ME! DON’T TOUCH ME! DON’T TOUCH ME!”

William growled and grabbed Henry by his hair. “That’s it! I’ve tried to be nice-” He yanked Henry towards him again. Henry continued to try and hit William. 

“I TOLD YOU TO STOP!” William shouted, throwing Henry against the wall of the pizzaria. Henry fell to the ground and looked up at William, who quickly grabbed Henry’s hair again. “YOU NEVER LISTEN! IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT YOU, ISN’T IT?!”

Before Henry could even reply, William smashed Henry’s head into the wall. Henry struggled against him.

“I LOVED YOU AND YOU JUST TOSSED ME ASIDE!”

Again, he smashed Henry’s head into the wall. He began to bleed. Henry’s struggling became more frantic.

“YOU SAID YOU CARED ABOUT ME!”

“W-WILL PLEASE!”

The blood began to trickle down the back of Henry’s head and down his neck.

“YOU’RE A LIAR!!!”

The blood dripped down into the puddles of rain. Henry’s movements became weak. 

William slammed Henry’s head against the wall one final time before letting go of his hair. Henry slumped down against the wall. He could feel the wetness of the blood and rain running  down his back. He felt nauseous now... Dizzy... And his head ached. 

He tried to move his head to look up at William once again, just so he could see what the other man was doing. Just so he would know that William wasn’t going to hurt him again... And yet, he found he couldn’t move his head.

He let out a few labored breaths and let his eyes slowly close. He felt tired now.

Maybe if I just take a quick nap, I’ll wake up and it’ll all just be a bad dream...

[halcyon-hyacinth]

Which webtoons are your faves?

To those of y'all unfamiliar to webtoons, they're free comics you can read online. They're generally updated weekly and there's all sorts of stories from every genre covered. The ones I have listed are all ongoing and can be found here. Two are on hiatus atm but they'll be back soon.

Generally I like to read Fantasy/Action+Adventure/Romance.

My favorite to read out of all of these so far has been Finding Wonderland which is a different take on Alice in Wonderland. The plot is really intriguing and I love how everything's being slowly revealed.

Summary: In Wonderland, Alex is the Ace. When tasked with hunting down the nefarious Black Knave and his scourge of Nightmares, Alex begins to have visions of another world beyond: our world. In reality, Alex is a normal teen who has been placed in a dangerous simulation to draw out a scientist’s lost son. And time is quickly running out.

This webtoon has my favorite art style by far. The colors are super vibrant and the transitions/character design is on point. It's also near and dear to my heart because there's some unresolved history between Alex and Lucky (the white rabbit) that I'm dying to know more about. While romance isn't the focus of the webtoon I love seeing it as a side development and their chemistry is on point.

Some words on the other ones I have listed:

Purple Hyacinth (Mystery) - A cop with an ability to detect lies teams up with an assassin to fight corruption/plots by a criminal organization to overthrow the ruling monarchy. I don't usually like stories with cops in them but this one has a clear critique of the criminal justice system/policing so it's been pretty fun to read.

Your Smile is a Trap (Romance) - Kiyu is an ex-idol trainee starting at a new high school. He's always gotten way too much attention than he's comfortable with for his good looks so he decides to hide his features with a pair of glasses with thick frames. But try as he might to make some friends, he's socially awkward, his new seat mate is unapproachable, and his fans have tracked him down. Hijinks ensue.

Odd Girl Out (Drama) - Nari starts high school and somehow ends up getting the three most popular girls in the school to hang out with her, when all she wants is a normal life. This one has great found family vibes and the character relationships/dynamics are super well done. Also the art has improved a lot over time so it's been cool to see that develop as well.

Jackson's Diary (Supernatural) - A teenager named Jackson starts at a new school and can't help but feel that something is off about one of the school's most popular students, Exer. This one gives me Stranger Things vibes cause it's set in 1989 and has supernatural elements and I appreciate the character dynamics and the slow reveal of what the hell is going on, lol.

Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell (Comedy) - A teenager named Paul summons a demon to get love advice from to help talk to his crush. Supernatural shenanigans ensue. By far one of the funniest webtoons I've read, with plenty of twists along the way.

Lore Olympus (Romance) - Retelling of the story of Persephone and Hades. Really like their interpretation of all the gods, the character development and plot progression has been super good. Also, it's going to be turned into a Netflix show!!! :))

Mom I'm Sorry (Drama) - A college kid named Henry makes a deal with a lifespan dealer to give away part of his lifespan so that his dying mom can live. Now his mom is his age and they're able to go to college together as Henry decides to live his remaining days helping her live life to the fullest. Shenanigans ensue. I really like the character dynamics and all the different conflicts they run into. It's a pretty engaging story.

If y'all want some specific recs lemme know! There's a couple of really good sapphic webtoons out there that I've checked out :,)

[ruby-whistler]

Alright curious anon here. All this is /dsmp /rp from here on out unless otherwise specified and is refering to characters. If i make any mistakes or am misinformed please let me know! So by the cat was nothing compared to mushroom henry i was meaning more toward the fact that the cow was killed as a punishment for something not worth or ok for it to be killed for at all and the fact that it belonged to tommy, wheareas the cat was killed more to annoy dream and belonged to tommy. (1/?)

alright then another lengthy reply, here i come! /lh /dsmp /rp

Dream also did not seem to mourn the cat much, shrugging it off with a "just more motivation to break out".

it was killed to hurt dream, not to "annoy him". it doesn't matter who it belonged to, c!dream was attached to it and it died, which had an effect on him and also further proved his point about attachments being weakness and caring getting you hurt, and it's still very sad.

you say that it was not ok at all to kill mooshroom henry, but the cat's death wasn't ok either, so i really don't see your point.

again, i disagree it was "nothing compared to" either way. i never meant to compare them in the first place, i was simply talking about the cat and c!dream so i don't see why it is in any way necessary to drag c!tommy and other dead pets into this. /nm

also, it isn't true he didn't mourn it. he is a very reserved person who doesn't show his feelings much, that's true, but the cat death still changed the way he acted afterwards, as well as the attempts he made to prevent it. he didn't "shrug it off", he yelled about it because he was understandably upset.

You mentioned that propganda was used to make dream seem like a tyrant, could you specify a bjt? Cus im a little confused srry /gen. Because the most i can remember from the lmanburg era at least is him being called a b'tch or other similar insults. You also mentioned how trauma responses can be differet which is true! I agree! Do you have any ideas to what caused dream the trauma?

wilbur would continuously make him out to be some sort of oppressive, tyrannical force, in front of his troops - a prime example of this being the lyrics of the l'manberg anthem itself and the l'manberg declaration of independence.

actually! here's a nice thread about l'manberg's establishment complete with links, timestamps and evidence :]

i also said in my previous post what could've possibly caused it, but since the character intentionally hides his emotions from the public, it would be difficult to see how things really affected him - which is why the way his spiral went is the majority of the evidence that would imply it, however it does make sense within the story as well with what i mentioned last time.

I would like to note that for sapnap at least had reason to leave dream. Some examples off the top of my head are dream leading an angry fundy to sapnap's pets on purpose, resulting in some deaths, dream assisting tommy in burning down sapnap's effiel tower where he got engaged to karl, and dream giving tommy either mars or the other fish at the battle of the lake. Idk about george tho other then the whole mexican lmanburg/el rapids thing and decrowning him

c!sapnap was actually at fault for most of this, and it wasn't really ever betrayal on c!dream's part.

c!dream is a mediator and he wants to stop everyone's conflict - c!fundy was angry because of c!sapnap's actions, and hence it made more sense for c!dream to centre him on c!sapnap's animals instead of running around killing everyone's pets (at that time, all c!dream knew was c!sapnap did something really bad and c!fundy wanted beckerson / mars from him, which were also his and c!george's fish).

c!sapnap was an instigator, and in multiple conflicts during the time as well as before he'd align himself against c!dream. he isn't "loyal" per se, he causes chaos and the reason c!dream helped c!tommy was because, c!sapnap, again, killed his pet. the first l'manberg war and then the 16th are signs of the fact that c!dream and c!sapnap were willing to fight together in actual war, but these small conflicts where c!sapnap continuously picked fights weren't about personal loyalty, nor did they seem to affect their relationship at all.

c!george was never really hurt by c!dream either. the dethronement was him very obviously being a guilt-trippy drama queen, but, well, that's just the character. he had stolen the l'mantree while he was supposed to be the diplomatic figure of the greater smp, which is why c!dream was justified in - very politely, may i mention - taking the duties off of him (seeing as he was also trying to keep him safe and c!techno had already assassinated him once).

Im pretty sure i remember cc!sam stating that his character never canonically physically tortured dream during his subathon but take this with a grain of salt as i am looking for the clip currently. So to the best of my knowledge dream did not have a physical contact trigger during tommy's visit which! I rewatched the vod and dream actually was first to hit tommy and i can give you my full writing downs but 10/12 of the phy-

you never finished this point because you had to go do something, but i'll reply to what is here at the moment (i suggest writing these down before sending next time, or even writing them out wholly before sending a single one could help avoid stuff like this).

i am 95% sure that the reason cc!sam stated this was because people were suspicious he had already been doing what c!quackity was doing after - torture within the storyline itself is associated pretty much only with what c!quackity is doing, so that's what he meant, just to clear up confusion - the starvation or terrible conditions haven't been retconned, but it was direct torture (like c!quackity is doing) people were asking him about.

i never said c!dream had a physical contact trigger at all, i don't think he had that, though he probably will after the torture.

huh, ok, i'm gonna have to rewatch then, but i remember c!tommy punching c!dream a lot and him just telling him to stop and only punching back to get him to stop. trigger or not, getting hit isn't very pleasant, if you know what i mean.

You mentioned tommy stealing dream's armor unprovoked. Do you have the vod or a general idea of the time so i can find it? Like before lmanburg after another event so and so because if you do not have it i can find it but any help is appreciated.

i am pretty sure you can find the video on cc!tommy's channel! there are also recaps of the disc war on youtube :]

I wanna talk a little on why the Final Control Room was so messed up. For starters, with the way the room was designed. It was small, and had labeled, empty chests with each person's name on them as a mockery. The next reason is that its bascially a kill box.

It's fairly inescapble with the stairs being ones you have to jump up, slowing anyone who climbs them down. The final reason it is messed up is that it is shown to have caused every person who died in it trauma. With tommy there are several examples, the time he saw it with techno, the way he refuses to go near it, the exposure trauma, etc. Fundy also appears to have trauma, as when the Red Banquet executions began, it can be seen as him being afraid of dying last again.

It can Be thought as tubbo having trauma because he buries most of his issues and pretends to be ok. Moreover this event took at least one of each person's canon lives, making it the most canon lives lost EVER in a dream smp event. (This is not hate on any of the ccs btw i loved this scene and its one of my personal favorites). Plus the fact Eret's betrayal just literally happened, giving at least Tommy and Wilbur canonic trust issues.

i wouldn't call the chests mockery? it was a trap. people had traps on the smp before. it was a trap in the middle of war, supposed to end said war by killing them all at once rather than individually which would be a lot more bloody and difficult.

i agree c!tommy and other people might have post-war trauma, especially if they were young during the time, but i think that's because the final control room was "messed up", moreso because the war itself was. it all happened fairly instantly as well? i don't think c!fundy would be able to realize he was the last one standing within the two second before he wasn't.

it "can be thought" and it can be interpreted like that but besides c!tommy there isn't much evidence for them "all" being traumatized by the final control room. of course betrayal would spark trust issues, i understand that.

The probation was humiliating in my opinion because dream was Sending tommy anatgonizing messages through out the whole meeting, plus he had to write a review of his day every single day, which fundy mocked him for.

i mean, it was definitely a strike to his pride, but he was being extremely uncooperative so i don't really blame the other members of new l'manberg trying to teach him to listen for once? of course i know c!dream was riling him up, and that should definitely be considered. i don't think it would be as humiliating if c!tommy didn't make it, is what i'm saying.

for the tommy being toxic to fundy? At least for the examples you gave, to me personally they come acoross as either in a meta way being the cc's bantering or in canon being the characters having banter. If you can send the post with the clips so i can read the tone better that would be cool but if not i will try and find em.

no, these were all in canon. canon isn't only when c!tommy is being nice, it's also when he's being a jerk. /lh

the first one was him threatening c!fundy about kicking him out of l'manberg and undermining his self-worth, and the second one was him trying to get c!sapnap to vote for them via bullying c!fundy.

i found these from a transcript focusing on c!fundy's character, so i don't know exactly where the first one is from, but the second one i am pretty sure is from when the elections were starting with the whole cabinet battle deal and all of that.

there are other instances, and all of them are canon. his personality was never being nice or compassionate, so i'm not really surprised? he still cares about the people he cares about and is very brave, y'know. but this part of his personality is definitely a valid reason for people to dislike him.

I hope the exam went well :). Hope u have a great day! (Ps i think theres something called a submission box to send in pictures? Am not entirely sure sry)

it would've gone well but my work-speed is a tad too slow for the schooling system (considering i'm three years younger than my classmates,,, probably that's also a factor) so probably not despite the fact i knew everything and would've aced it if i only had more time. i did as well as i could so i'm not worried about it, but thanks!

i think you're thinking submissions. sadly, i tested it and it doesn't work on anons, so idk how you'd solve that, maybe make a burner account?

Curious anon here one point you may wanna include in the redemption essay is that c!tubbo or c!tommy do not necessarily have to forgive him. What's important is that he recognizes what he did was wrong (exile, beating tommy to death, manipulating them both, etc) and does his best to make amends. Hope this helps! Can't wait to see your essay

it's out, idk if you've seen it yet, and i think i included enough of that so hope it's all good! :)

the mcc update video is out if you are an mcc enjoyer. It's very neat, if you wanna check it out

yeah! i am a fellow mcc enjoyer, saw it already, thanks for telling me though, i'm really hype for today.

Allo curious anon here sorry if the lots of asks bother you. I was just curious if i could share an interesting post i saw today about c!dream :0 (not necessarily negative i think? More of a statement of an often-confused canon)

sure thing! i don't know what you mean by often-confused since, the entire fanbase is very confused always, and often selection bias plays into the perception from both sides, but sure :]

you also sent in a thing for the other anon who said they didn't know what c!dream did that bad; pretty sure they couldn't really be alerted since, not sure if they watch my blog that closely, but i'll summarize your points just in case and add some notes;

the repeated blowing up of l'manberg (in my mind that's largely a positive since i,, despise that country, but fair enough), revealed c!ranboo as a traitor (they seem to be friends so i also,, think that might've been planned between him and enderboo), sent ghostbur away (i don't think c!dream knew it was dangerous for him and wanted to actually hurt him, but idk), participated in fighting against c!sapnap when he killed people's pets (that's only negative against c!sapnap and didn't seem to hurt him much at all), and then the whole vault scene where he was allegedly planning to steal people's things (though saying he would & being stopped beforehand and doing it are two different things, frankly).

so i still agree with the other anon that a lot of the hurt he did "to the entire server" (he only negatively interacted with like,, a half of them) is exaggerated both by the characters and the fandom, but i guess that's a consequence of most people seeing him as a threat to everyone's happiness rather than a complex personality.

Also he was aware of the butcher army going to kill techno but only got involved because he saw an opportunity to get a favor. (As he knew in advance due to him telling techno to get a totem, watching from afar instead of interveing or manipulating tubbo out of it)

i don't understand this at all, i'm sorry. how do you know he only helped techno in order to get a favor? last i remember he was only doing it to protect and strengthen his alliance, and techno came up with the whole favor thing entirely on his own. you might've not watched techno's perspective or their prior interactions, idk, but this really is a misinterpretation in my eyes. /nm

sorry if that is overly dream negative i just wanted to let yall know cus you seemed unaware -curious anon

nah dw, i watch the smp and i watched all of these things happen so, wouldn't say unaware, but thanks.

[heartofstanding]

The Jerusalem thing makes me want to shake him vigorously while yelling WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS at him. But it is interesting that Jerusalem seems to have been this unfulfilled goal for both he and his father. It does just seem like he's working himself towards a death, doesn't it? If he achieves the impossible with France, he'll move on to another impossible: Jerusalem. And both are choices that are bound to keep his subject happy, so long as he succeeds - and if he dies in the attempt, he doesn't have to deal with the fallout. But it does mean he has an awful weight on him to succeed, because it's his brothers who would suffer afterwards. There's the interpretation that Thomas's death makes him view his own presence and participation as necessary for victory which is probably why he was so insistent on going to Cosne when he was sick.

It's very hard to know, isn't it? It took he and Catherine about 10 months to conceive an heir which might indicate they were delaying or limiting sexual relations for whatever reason (getting to know each other?) - though it could just be a quirk of nature. Given Henry VI was likely conceived during Lent when you weren't supposed to have sex, it suggests Hal wasn't opting out of sex whenever possible so... idk. Plus, I think he understood marriage to Catherine and having a child with her was the best move he could make to succeed in France, and France seems to have been his main concern for most of his reign. But also, I do think that his own issues with his father may have been reluctant to be a father himself - sometimes I joke that he decided to end the vortex of Plantagenet daddy issues by yeeting himself out of equation (dying before he can meet his son and screw him up) but just gave Henry VI a different set of daddy issues.

I think you're referring to Jeremy Caton's comment that "[Courtenay] took part in both of the embassies to Charles VI in 1414-15, perhaps because he knew the king’s mind better than his colleagues"? I sometimes wonder what would have happened for Hal had Courtenay lived - if that would have helped him stay alive longer, but maybe that's the shipper brainrot, lol. More seriously, I wonder about the connections between the brothers and Courtenay. We don't know anything about them - he's credited with beginning the setting up of Oxford's library which will become Humphrey's passion project in the next reign but it's hard to tell whether that was an interest Courtenay helped inspire or one Humphrey came to through his own connections with Oxford.

Kirby does a bit of a "well, Hal wasn't involved but as he was nominally in charge he was held responsible" dance but it's also like. OK. That's still makes the charges look back. Either the charges were fabricated to attack Hal or there were concerns about about corruption that were expanded/exaggerated to attack Hal.

I honestly don't think Hal forgives Henry. He just understands that usurpation or forced abdication would just make things worse so he settles down to wait in hope someone else doesn't escalate things. I think he gave up completely Henry then. I sometimes play with the idea of a deathbed reconciliation - maybe Henry does try, when he's finally literally dying - but it's too little, too late. It's very interesting that Hal didn't stand vigil with his father's corpse (which I think was tradition?) but went off to spend the night with an anchorite in contemplation.

Henry seems such an indecisive king sometimes, something of a ditherer, so I can see him circling around the options and being unable to make a decision while someone forces his hand. Mary probably spent a very, very long time yelling at him in the afterlife, after she decided she'd speak to him again. Whereas Thomas - I think the letter he wrote to Charles, Duke of Orleans about their sworn brotherhood - might have been seen as more biddable/controllable (though the Battle of Bauge punctures that image - maybe they figured if they distracted him with battles and jousting, he'd let them get on with ruling) and maybe they thought they could deal with Hal in his absence and sell to him as an accidental death?

There's the Lollard issue. You can argue that Hal was viewed as having some Lollard sympathies, given his friendship with Sir John Oldcastle, while Arundel was deeply concerned with stomping Lollardy out, hardcore style. He was ostensibly visiting Oxford to root out heresy there and while Courtenay seems to have completely orthodox in his faith and his refusal to allow Arundel entry to the university based on papal decrees and the fact most of the university was against it, I think Arundel's the sort of man who is like "if you protect a heretic, you're just as bad". But it's also interesting Arundel was close to William Courtenay so you would think he would have some sympathy for Richard Courtenay.

I believe Arundel is also believed to have disapproved of the Beauforts, to the point where Given-Wilson (and Mortimer?) credit him, not Henry, with barring them from the succession when their legitimacy was confirmed by Henry, and since Hal was close to the Beauforts, it might have also played a role?

I could be burying the lede, though: Courtenay was an Oxford man, Arundel was a Cambridge graduate. 😱

To torture you: Courtenay extremely reluctantly giving Hal any last rites he may need in case the Dagger Incident does end fatally

Oh mannnn. I was actually poking at the thing I've been writing about the Dagger Incident and trying to determine just whether Courtenay knew about the Dagger Incident before Hal pulled it or whether he didn't know until afterwards (I think he's somewhere in the middle - he knew the gist of what Hal was planning but not the details). But man. Courtenay being the one who Hal goes to for the last rites? I'm going to go insane.

Though I might raise you a wounded Hal, post-Shrewsbury and delirious with pain, insisting that Courtenay give him last rites...

And both are like an inverse of Hal at Courtenay's death bed, where "after extreme unction, with his own hands wiped his feet and closed his eyes". I'm going to chew glass.