#FASCINATING QUESTION THANK YOU!!

[desceros]

Okay PLEASE I have to know your opinion-

So you know how sometimes you look at people and just like- yeah, they’d be a golden retriever for sure. Or a chihuahua.

If the Rise Turtles were a dog breed, what breed would you think they would be? I’m definitely seeing Donnie as a herding dog wanting everything to be organized his way, Leo as a guard dog, Raph would definitely be a giant ass clumsy dog breed that doesn’t realize how big he is. Mikey has got to be some type of hyper terrier of sorts.

fascinating question!!! behold the power of an autistic person who loves dogs and tmnt

donnie: dachshund

wow sam favorite breed for favorite turtle OK LISTEN THO!!! dachshunds are sooo smart but stubborn as hell and want to do things Their Way. picking up a new toy and instantly playing with it so hard it explodes into fluff. taking direction well but only if you have a good relationship with them and they trust you. sassy attitudes, a penchant to attach themselves to one or two people and be distant to others, looks great in cute clothes, a fragile back that needs protecting--DRINK THE KOOLAID!!!

leo: akita

so this one was actually also very easy for me. akita are very much Family Over Everyone Else, and i always see leo as being very protective of his brothers (to a self-destructive point even). they don't trust other dogs or animals (much like leo doesn't trust other mutants or yokai), but when it comes to their people, they're goofy little goobers that love to play and have fun and snuggle. they're super smart, but need good training in order to achieve their potential, otherwise they'll have a tendency to do their own thing and that never ends well. wow who put this picture of leonardo hamato in the akc handbook

raph: great dane

i was torn on this one thinking some kind of livestock guardian dog at first since he worries about his brothers so much and always puts their safety first. only problem is a lot of them are bred to have mild temperaments, and, uh, [gestures at raph]. for that reason, i settled on the great dane. they're guardian dogs who care intensely for their family and are very, very sweet. but their large size and caution against strangers is quite intimidating, and they need to be properly trained against being aggressive to strangers. also, yknow, big.

mikey: pumi

pumi are well-known small dogs that are work-hard, play-hard dogs with the CUTEST curly hair. sound familiar? they're pretty good at watching the family, but often times they're a bit too busy bouncing off in the corner because these dogs are like. adhd in canine form. always need stimulation. always need exercise. gotta bounce move play bark play run RAZZ MATAZZ. also they're cute and mikey is cute.

[frownyalfred]

My friend (InditeandRead) and I came up with this for an entirely different scenario like a year ago but I just remembered it and it made me think of Eye in the Sky bc basically everything does at this point lol. Anyway, if the watchtower ever got overwhelmed by some somebodies who've decided to pick a fight and the Regime was in genuine danger of toppling, and right in the middle of the fighting when people are wondering where the fuck their leader is, they look out the window and see Superman rocketing back towards Earth with a pod/vehicle that very obviously holds one Bruce Wayne, how pissed would each member of the Regime League be on a scale from 1 to 10.

I don’t think any of the Senior leadership would be surprised. I’m sure several of them would be furious. A lot would just be resigned. They’ve known where Kal’s loyalties have lied in the last ten years.

Most likely to break out into space and grab Kal by the hair to drag him back kicking and screaming for his cowardice? 100% Diana. This would be the biggest betrayal of all, I think. Having to watch Kal retreat when they fought, prioritize Bruce over the Regime and those who followed him with loyalty. I wouldn’t put it past her to try and kill Bruce right in front of Kal, tbh.

[gaywizardzone]

love this guy happy birthday to him (not a birthday post but it is his birthday). some jokes about trivia from one of hoshino's instagram livestreams that made me laugh and made my environmental scientist friend who wants to eat poisonous things without dying simply for the joy of studying the experience want to kill him

[hoboblaidd]

Solas and Elgie are pretty Spicy at each other. Was there EVER a time Solas thought he should help or trust Elgar'nan, or that he wasn't beyond reason or redemption?

The way the Solas writing part of my brain short-circuited at "Elgie" xD

I don't think they ever really got along because they're too similar (see also Solas with Vivienne and Morrigan). Solas admits on several occasions that he and Elgar'nan are incredibly similar - which itself is so arrogant, to compare yourself to essentially the king of the gods. If they're like brothers, as Rook can suggest, Solas is the very distant younger brother who can't hold a candle to the oldest brother.

Solas witnessed firsthand Elgar'nan's actions during the war. Elgar'nan to me is like a charismatic, unrelenting force of nature. He was The General of the wars, and I imagine he was incredibly ruthless and cruel. Mythal and Solas weren't much better, but Solas at least felt bad about it lol. Elgar'nan is like General Grant in the back half of the US civil war without the introspection: sacrificing so many men just to gain a military advantage, scorched earth policies, and underhanded tactics. Remind you of anyone else in the latter half of his rebellion?

There's also the Mythal factor, which brings with it jealousy. Elgar'nan and Mythal ruled together as equals - maybe not perfect equals in Elgar'nan's estimation, but close enough. Solas was always her Second and left hand, and most loyal to her. It's like two people arguing and trying to prove who mom loves best, even while Elgar'nan is trying to undercut her power. Sawyer (not @ing because they haven't finished the game yet) had a great analysis on the hugely problematic Andruil-Fen'harel situation that is very applicable to Elgar'nan and Solas. Basically, her actions in the story were to place herself above Mythal by using Solas as an instrument/metaphor. I'd argue that's how the Evanuris saw Solas - as an irritant and, at most, a method of putting themselves above Mythal by conquering her (once) most loyal general.

As for respect, it's a respect for his power, not as a leader, and it's born out of fear. Elgar'nan's power is vastly superior to Solas' and all of the other Evanuris. Solas was genuinely afraid to tangle with him in the second memory we find because he knew there's no way in hell he could win. And he didn't, he just kept him occupied long enough for the people to escape, and got hurt in the process. I do think Solas' plea to Elgar'nan in the Blood of Arlathan is earnest - "you could heal it - you have the strength to repair the damage [to the world] without the blight." But I don't think he was under any delusion that Elgar'nan actually would. Elgar'nan wants domination and a world built in his own image with people utterly bent to his will. He doesn't care that the world is broken, per say, he cares that his vision for the world is broken.

[rapidashrider]

What are your thoughts on the ‘Andor’ series and its RebelCaptain parallels???

Ooh hello! Mm, interesting question. To be honest I haven’t really considered RC parallels because in my mind, the Cassian Andor portrayed in Andor is not the Cassian Andor in Rogue One. The whole story and character background is so massively different from everything that I attached myself to that was implied in Rogue One that I sort of decided to just switch off thinking about it like that, and enjoy the series as something entirely separate.

My feelings on the series as a whole are mixed. It’s brilliantly made with some truly outstanding set pieces, fascinating characters, and its fair share of cracking lines. But I’ve got issues with it in other ways, many of which I think track back to a general dislike of everything Tony Gilroy did and said in the wake of Rogue One, and the sort of uncritical eye he brings to his own biases.

But overall it does have its major conceit in common with Rogue One which is that it really is that tale of someone just Living Through Star Wars, being a normal person just trying to live their life, and realising that that isn’t possible in the face of tyranny and oppression: eventually the leopards will eat your face if you don’t do something about it first.

[claudiablogger]

not enough ppl hating armand w all their hearts and souls

[spaceorphan18]

Yes or no:

You'd prefer to go to dinner with Chris Colfer and Luke Newton (as friendly threesome) than Darren Criss and Nicola Coughlan (another friendly threesome).

I have been fascinated by this question all day, Nonny. I'm sure you didn't realize the kind of question you were giving me, and it makes sense why anyone coming to my blog would pose the question this way. It seems like an obvious yes, right? No - it's way, way, way more complicated than that. Which is, in turn, why I'm so fascinated with the proposition.

I'm not under the assumption that anyone but myself cares about the answer or how I answer it, or even the fact that I've been kind of deep in thought about it and still can't really give you a definitive answer. But I've honestly been having fun making almost a philosophical quandary out of it.

I think if you look at these four actors individually, the obvious answer based on my blog, would be that if I was asked to go to dinner with one of them - I'd choose Chris.

It makes sense on a few different levels -- I've known of Chris for a very long time now. I've actually met him on multiple occasions. And, while I think one should never over self-identify with a celebrity, I do think Chris and I would have the most in common, and probably (possibly) think the most alike.

But I have a few caveats to this automatic assumption. If you asked me who am I the most comfortable with, individually, I might give you a different answer.

Nicola seems like the kindest soul. I would love to go to dinner with her. We're also close(st) in age and just the fact that she's a woman does put me at ease slightly over the guys.

Darren, meanwhile, makes for an excellent conversationalist. He would also, possibly, be the warmest of the four and do more of the social heavy lifting.

Luke, almost by default, ends up at the bottom of the individual list. Adding to possible social awkwardness is the fact that I know nearly zero things about the guy. I mean, I've known (of) Chris (and Darren) for nearly fifteen years now. And even Nicola I knew of from Derry girls. I didn't even know who Luke was five months ago. Add on top of that the fact that, while these are all incredibly attractive people, Luke might be the one I'm most attracted to? Ooff, talk about my social anxiety being high.

So, if you look at individual comfort level, the pairing of Nicola and Darren makes more sense, and therefore the answer might be 'no' to Nonny's original prompt.

But it does lead me to another interesting question -- why is Nonny's original assumption to a 'yes' a Chris and Luke pairing? While it's very well documented that Kurt is my favorite Glee character, it may not be as obvious, but Colin is not my favorite Bridgerton character. Penelope is. So is the automatic assumption, then, I'd go to dinner with those I'm more physically attracted to over not?

It's so curious.

I mean, Nonny, I won't lie - when I first opened this ask, my initial, gut reaction was -- oh, yup. Yes, that makes sense. And then I started down the rabbit hole of introspection.

If we paired them up differently, there's always an obvious choice for me.

Chris and Nicola (over Darren and Luke), yup, sign me up. That would be hilarious and fun (and maybe my most ideal pairing for dinner). (Though I can see Darren and Luke getting along pretty well? And I just don't think it'd be that awkward.)

Chris and Darren (over Nicola and Luke), yeah familiarity is going to win out on that one. (Also, omg, how intrusive would it feel to spend time with Nicola and Luke?)

My point is that Chris seems to be the key factor here. I do always come back to Chris. I always want to come back to Chris. So, maybe Chris is the one I'd feel the most comfortable with. Which also gets me thinking...

What would a conversation between Chris and Luke be like? I have no idea. Darren and Nicola -- I can see it. I can see the dynamic and see what it would be like, and no doubt, it'd be a lot of fun. But Chris and Luke? What is that conversation? I'm now incredibly curious. And I mean, let's take social anxiety out of it. Maybe it's professional - and a lot of my anxiety is alleviated on a professional level. This particular pairing I have no idea what will happen, and that is fascinating.

And now I'm back to 'yes' on Nonny's original question.

We've come full circle.

Do you see why, now, I couldn't just answer the question? My own psychological make up -- my tendency to overanalyze and ponder every angle has prevented me from giving what should be a very simple answer to a silly prompt. Which probably says more about me than the an actual answer to the question.

[russenoire]

here, i'm gonna spill some more ink over studio bones' decisions adapting ???% in mob psycho 100's confession arc... in a lighter color, perhaps.

some manga readers are upset at the lack of separation between '???%' and 'mob' in the anime vs the clear separation in the manga. that separation doesn't exist in the original japanese.

mob's 声優 (seiyuu) setsuo itō's voice acting in this scene from MP100's first season is by turns startling and visceral (tbh, most of the VA work in this scene is amazing, but i'm only referring to mob here).

given the above, i expected a voice come up from the depths of hell for ???% in the confession arc, but bones and itō-san did not indulge my whims here. what they gave us instead...

...actually reflects the source material.

while there is an audible distinction between ???%'s nonchalant contempt and mob's considerably-more-animated (thanks to all that emotional growth we've seen over the course of the story!) upset, they sound like the same person in the anime... because they are. i thought this a tidy way to convey that fact, and this subtle distinction is not that different in feel from what we see on the page in the original language.

inside the teenager's mind, shigeo (???%) and mob quarrel in the same font. tails on their speech bubbles eventually disappear as they continue to argue with each other. i found this pointed lack of separation a little confusing on first read, but eventually became used to it.

(for a breakdown of this full conversation in the manga, check out @exilepurify's awesome translation post.)

shigeo chafes at the thought of considering others' needs. he scorns mob for bending himself into a shape he thinks will suit tsubomi, mocks mob's desire to blend into the background and somehow escape notice. his own wish for tsubomi to accept him in all his explosive vainglory doesn't take her wishes into account, either.

and yet. his desires are subordinate to mob's.

he wants what mob wants -- only without that whole pesky 'consideration for other people' thing -- and he wants to keep mob alive. their full conversation reveals just how much shigeo actually loves mob.

for all practical purposes, any distinctions between shigeo and mob -- private vs public, subconscious vs conscious -- only exist in the boy's head. even then, they have been unfairly imposed... by mob himself.

the teenager laying waste to seasoning city? the teenager his friends and family love? one and the same.

his loved ones and allies address him with the names by which they know him; they assume he's the same person, just experiencing an involuntary loss of control and in need of some help. it's important to emphasize that. drastically different voices for shigeo and mob would have drawn a hard line between them where there is none.

studio bones removed and/or internalized ???%'s lines, apparently robbing him of speech. but ???% is talking to himself, and no one else can hear him.

in the manga, shigeo seizes control of the boy's speech centers and speaks out loud as ???%, in a scratchy, rough font meant to evoke a harsh voice. (it's the same font used for ???%'s last brief, conscious takeover when mob discovers the crispy fried corpses of his family in their merrily crackling home! you can hear itō-san's delightful interpretation of it in episode 9 from the second season.)

he says:

｢僕の好きにやらせてもらう。」 boku no s'ki ni yarasete morau. 'i'll be free to do whatever i want.' or more literally: 'i will take [from you] the allowance to do as i please.' his use of 貰う here emphasizes that he is forcing mob's hand.

this line and the shift in viewpoint serve to highlight the exact moment where shigeo gains the advantage in his argument with mob.

mob and shigeo squabble for external control for a while; ONE shows this by letting them both speak aloud in this same rough voice. both sides of the fight between the two (at least after 'i'll be free to do whatever i want') can actually be heard from the outside. we only get a few small panels of this as it's happening, but it's unnerving.

shigeo, who is winning this battle, not only gets far more lines as seen from without, but his harsh rasp even colors mob's external speech. this is mob's only line the mangaka lets us see in that font, and it's heartbreaking:

｢だって… もしこれが本当の僕の姿だっていうなら…」 datte... mosh' kore ga hontou no boku no sugata datte iu nara... 'because... if this [???%] is what i really am, as you say...

the line continues within:

｢本当の僕になんて誰も近寄らない。誰も…　誰も助けてくれない。そんなの嫌いだ。」 hontou no boku ni nante daremo ch'kayoranai. daremo... daremo tas'kete kurenai. sonna no kirai da. 'no one will come anywhere near the real me. no one... no one will be there for me. i won't have that.'

the full takeover, which happens a bit later, is marked by:

shigeo's dissolution of and absorption of mob's consciousness into himself;

reigen's ｢すまない｣ (sumanai, 'i'm sorry') for not knowing the nature of what his deshi was struggling to contain;

???%'s last glance back at the man before pressing on towards his goal... as reigen begs him to wait, running after him.

thereafter, we see ???% from without. we get two short glimpses of shigeo's internal perspective before dimple's reappearance, then rejoin him inside for his last explosion with mob.

the anime depicts the moment of full takeover thusly:

shigeo's dissolution of and absorption of mob's consciousness into himself;

a ｢すまない｣ from reigen, who senses something has gone even more wrong with the boy and renews his pursuit... begging him to wait;

shigeo's turning his back on reigen and walking on. we see him spurning his mentor from the inside, his face hardening against a stark black backdrop.

the outward shift happens on-screen too. while it eventually returns to an internal view just as the manga does, it largely stays there, owing to a serious expansion of the scene where shigeo indulges his thirst for revenge on reigen.

except for an audible sigh when teru remarks on how normal his friend's losing control of himself actually makes him, anime shigeo speaks to no one.

???% is alone when he speaks in the manga; reigen is nowhere within earshot and shigeo is only addressing mob. in other words, he's talking to himself. shigeo never utters a word to anyone else in either manga or anime, as if he owes no one an explanation for the choice to sack his hometown or injure his friends.

as bone-chilling and unsettling as ???% speaking out loud is on the page, as much as it enhances the reading experience... in my opinion, it adds nothing new to our understanding of this situation on the screen. viewers can see for themselves that:

an internal takeover has occurred in this boy's mind,

???% is sentient and human and ever so divinely enraged at having been chained up for so long;

???% is finally free.

so why should studio bones belabor this point by having him shout, in the middle of a tornado, to no one in particular? if a boy speaks in a tornado, and there is no one around to hear it, does he make a sound... ?

i also don't know that this would translate well to film. in real life, talking to oneself like that usually carries connotations of psychosis, and resolving it as is done here would honestly be an insult to real-life sufferers. i love it to pieces in the manga but understand why this was cut.

the only things removing ???%'s outward speech loses for me are:

one last opportunity for itō-san to flex that audible jump-scare STOMACH-TWISTING SNARL (oh, i will miss it so);

a slightly-less-vague sense of how shigeo might make his wishes known to tsubomi, were he to present himself to her like this... he wants her approval so badly, and is terrified of not getting it. would he be able to speak to her at all? in the manga the question becomes what would he even say to her?

[bumblingbabooshka]

[TUVOKTOBER: Day 6] Based on this line of dialogue:

[obessivedork]

WHY isn't there an option to tell Scribe Haylen that killing Danse was never and WILL NOT be my plan? 😡 I don't CARE if anyone hears me saying it! I'll yell it from the rooftops! Queen I'll more than "Hear him out" I absolutely promise, Maxson can go to hell- I'm NOT killing a friend in cold blood just because of where and how he was born!!!!

[rebornofstars]

whos your favorite lu link?

the impossible question! over the last few years i've been flipping between hyrule, wind, and time. right now it's wind. i do love them all though 💞

[desceros]

Just curious since you write alot of very long one shots. What do you consider a long fic because I remember reading Euclidean line for the first time without checking how long it was because I was looking for a bed time story and wanted to read a oneshot so I could get to sleep quickly. And I end up finishing the fic 2 hours later because I couldn't stop reading it. And I remember thinking, "THAT WAS A ONESHOT???" By the end because I'm used to oneshots being like 1k-10k words.

first of all, oh my god, i'm so sorry scream. this keeps happening to people

soooo. for me i have a couple of different categories of fics that i keep in mind when i go to work on something, and i have a different answer for each of them.

very short one shots - one scene i want to get out of my head. think this mikey fic or this idw donnie fic. these are usually between 1-5k, which for me feels very very short. i don't write a lot of them, because part of what i enjoy writing the most is the progression that happens over time and that's not really... possible at this length. properly, to me. these feel long to me when they start bleeding into... ->

short one shots - think the donnie sex pollen fic, the donnie camping fic, or the blurple villain au fic here. these are 5-20k, which still feels pretty short to me. it's enough for one "proper" scene, or a few short scenes. and these start feeling long when they bleed into... ->

proper one-shots - a la leo wants a baby and of course the aforementioned euclidean line. these are anything 20k+ that are contained in one single chapter. the sweet spot for me is around 30k; that's when things start feeling like i can put enough flavor without dragging an idea out beyond its utility, though sometimes, that idea does carry it further than that. a one-shot starts feeling "long" probably when i hit the 40k mark. that's when i reassess if it should actually be a proper chapter fic, or if it functions better as a one-shot. for euclidean line, because the theme of that fic was the contiguous floaty feeling you get when you're lost in something you love, it felt inappropriate to me to break that into chapters, which are very disruptive to the flow of reading. as you've noted, these are my favorite things to write!

chaptered fics - just symphony........ for now. these vary widely to me. (well. i guess technically we do it together is a chaptered fic... but really it was originally conceptualized as a one-shot; i wrote it as such, and split it up later. i was experimenting with breaking my one-shots into shorter chapters, and i really don't like it. so. yeah. desceros lore for you.) as for these... i think they feel "long" to me when i get about to the 130-150k mark. that's when i see how long it takes me to scroll through the document to find little details and i'm like jesus christ this is absurd. most of my chaptered fics finish out i think somewhere around the 150-200k mark, and the longest thing i've ever finished was right at 300k. just to put it into context i suppose!

[hephaestuscrew]

You listened to Greater Boston, right? Is there a metaplot? Like, is it a conspiracy theory red string board podcast or a listen on long car trips looking out the window podcast?

I’m trying to listen to more things post w359 and heard Greater Boston was good, so… yeah

Hello Anon! Yes I do listen to (and love) Greater Boston! I'm going to try to to focus on the particular questions you asked here, but for more of general attempts to pitch the show, you can look at these posts of mine: Greater Boston description ask , Greater Boston pitch post. (These posts are from a while ago, so stuff has happened in the show since, but I still think they provide a decent introduction, to the extent that it is possible to sum up this show.)

Greater Boston very much has an ongoing plot, or rather a range of interweaving ongoing plot threads. I hesitate to call it a 'metaplot' because I almost think that implies an apparent anthology structure (like in The Amelia Project or The Magnus Archives, both of which I'd describe as anthology shows from which a metaplot emerges. Greater Boston isn't really that). The first couple of episodes might seem slightly like they are each a few somewhat self-contained stories, but that approach changes quickly. The show follows a wide range of characters and events, but I'd say that the connections, throughlines, and returns to key characters are frequent enough to create the sense that you are following one big story.

I'm not sure I completely understand what you mean by your dichotomy of red string vs long car ride podcasts. Greater Boston definitely lends itself to a fair amount of red string thinking, given that there's an extremely high number of characters who interconnect in a range of ways, and some really interesting stuff going on with the nature of the storytelling later on.

But, at least in my eyes, Greater Boston is not primarily focused on figuring out a mystery/conspiracy, or theorising about what will happen, in the way that the 'red string' approach might imply. There are some mysteries, but for all of the utterly wild stuff that happens in this show, what appeals to me the most about Greater Boston is the characters, and how the show forces you to engage with everyone from the main focus characters to the smallest minor character to the antagonists you thought they couldn't make you sympathise with. What ultimately keeps me thinking about this show is the emotional journeys of these characters, the ways they struggle and impact each other and relate to one another... (And to be honest, I don't really kid myself that I can actually predict where this show is going to take you next.)

Does Greater Boston fit the "listen on long car trips looking out the window" vibe? If the long car journey vibe means a show you can just let wash over you while you tune in and out of it, then probably not. But if you mean something that can hold your attention for a long period, with enough variation in tone and plot to keep you interested, then Greater Boston definitely slots into that category for me.

Obviously I'm going to say you should listen to it, because, well, you came to a fan of Greater Boston in order to ask about it, but I hope this response helped you figure out if it's the vibe you're looking for at the moment!

(From the past tense of 'listened' in your ask, I wonder if you might be under the impression that this podcast is fully released. So I just thought I'd mention that while the Season 4 finale had some sense of resolution, there is still a fifth and final season of the show planned!)

[peachdoxie]

What dragon do you think would eat a bag? Like, just randomly have a bag in its mouth for no good reason?

Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon books. He would absolutely steal bags and attempt to eat them.

[astrum-aetherium]

any tips on getting into classical studies? i want to try something new :3

as someone who has tirelessly studied latin in high school and even considered taking it up at university (but got scared off from the lack of prospects), i must confess you are about to read the most biased, opinionated answer to a (wonderful) question like this.

(note: i'm excluding ancient greek from the narrative because i have only touched it once in my entire life, and that alone to put in a henry fic. if you've ever read any of the 12 existing henry x reader works on ao3, you probably know which one, lmao.)

i love, love, love, love, love latin. knowing the inner workings of that beautiful language is so utterly beneficial, especially to those who intend to go on and study even more languages. it's simply the root of all "evil" — so many languages spoken in the world today have originated from it. therefore, knowing latin itself is a wonderful premise and definitely facilitates learning any other language descending from it. i stand by that.

now, to the actual question — how to get started. well, i'm not a university professor (yet). of course, i recommend studying the classics in an academic setting — at school or university, even as an elective, if that's an option. i can only imagine it to be difficult if done on one's merry own. but then again, i've never tried. if you are going solo, however, and have no opportunity to attend a course or something along those lines, order yourself a textbook for beginners. grammar basics, basic vocabulary. do not start by reading the original works of ovid or homer. you'll go down shamefully. build a basic understanding and then dabble into the beautiful pool of literature that there is — and there is a lottt.

alternatively, just go to a course. you'll be dealing with an overseen and confirmed curriculum, follow a solid path, be able to study without the added anxiety of "how on earth do i do this?".

whichever way you end up dabbling into the wonderfully convoluted, complex and yet mesmerizing world of the classics, however, i hope you have fun and encounter very few difficulties. thank you for your interest! i'm convinced you have all the ability to absolutely crush it.

[when-we-drive-away-in-secret]

alright, so this is a question about netflix series which i've recently watched and now i'm suffering from asoue brainrot. there is an obscure moment in the penultimate peril (s3ep6) where frank locks olaf in the closet before the trial, and just as frank is about to close the door, olaf says, "one last thing", as if intending to say something. what do you think he wanted to add? is it something that is maybe more clear in the books?

OKAY so after rewatching that scene (several times) and rereading the corresponding scene in the book, I now feel at least partially equipped to answer this question! (But please bear with me because my research did send me on a bit of a tangent)

So first off, I don't think dealing with the book scene will be of too much help here (although not entirely unhelpful, either), because, as much as I love the netflix adaptation—and I do wholeheartedly adore it—it changes so much that the comparable scene is functionally unrecognisable in several key aspects. The main one being the lack of hostility towards to Baudelaires—Olaf is solidly isolated and supposedly running out of options at this point in the show, whereas his mentality in the books is entirely different because things appear to be going much more his way. He has a crowd at his back and the Baudelaires are seen as far more guilty, which doesn't really translate into the show!verse at all.

So, if we're looking at the show from a more isolated standpoint, I had to consider the possibility that it was a deliberate "what if" moment, without having anything else planned to say, purely for the purpose of getting in the Baudelaires' heads. However, I do feel like the most likely answer is that Olaf did in fact believe he would be heard out, so that's what we'll be assuming from here on out.

The fact that the Denouement in question calls him "buddy" and yet treats him roughly could have made him believe that this is Ernest playing the long con—pretending to be an ally to the others because they were outnumbered at the time, or simply for his own ends. However, he could also genuinely believe that it's Frank, and that he'd be heard out because it's the "noble" thing to do—VFD and the general society in the snicketverse is routinely governed by politeness over logic, and so cutting him off is simply impolite, so he may have believed he'd be able to talk his way out of being locked up. The use of "buddy" could be a generic, positive moniker used by Frank, or a genuine sentiment expressed by Ernest; the rough shake of his arm could be simply how Ernest behaves on any given day, or genuine righteous anger from Frank—just as it's impossible for us as the audience to be sure, Olaf has to try and figure this out in mere moments.

Regardless of what he thought would happen or who he thought he was talking to, though, I have to believe that whatever he was going to say would have been targeted more at the Baudelaires than the Denouement currently getting in his way, so it would likely have been an extension of what he'd already said, and what he'd go on to say at key moments for the remainder of the series—another attack on the Baudelaire parents, a critique of VFD's intentions, or something equally ambiguous to sow the seeds of mistrust in the minds of the children. Despite his general demeanour, he is actually a terrifyingly capable villain, and the human embodiment of the "either I'm god, or truth is relative" soundbite. If he's allowed to talk for long enough, he can convince just about anyone of anything (which is exactly what happens when he takes the stand during the trial), and I wouldn't be surprised if he was expecting to be allowed to run his mouth until both the adults are on his side.

What I think is a very interesting point to consider, though, is one useful comparison from the books—the number of the room he's sent to. As we all know, the rooms in the Hotel Denouement are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal System, and people are categorised above just as the records are categorised below. In the book, the Baudelaires are confined to room 121, and Olaf is locked in room 165 to await their trial. In the Dewey Decimal System, 121 refers to Epistemology—the theory of knowledge. A quote taken from the wikipedia page for epistemology reads:

Epistemology asks questions such as: "What is knowledge?", "How is knowledge acquired?", and "What do people know?"

Having the Baudelaires placed here shows that they aren't sure what people know about them, or what will be revealed at the trial, or what will happen to them (as clearly illustrated by the their conversation at the end of chapter ten). Olaf, however, is placed in room 165: Fallacies and Sources of Error. This could imply that he's in the wrong, but perhaps more likely foreshadows that other people are wrong about him. He will not go to prison, he will not be convicted, and, perhaps most crucially, he is not as completely evil as the Baudelaires believe. He has done terrible things, and he is a terrible person, but—as discussed during The End—they are wrong about the most crucial of his evil deeds (to them). Because he didn't kill their parents. He represents everything that VFD pretends it isn't, but at this point the Baudelaires believe (and have been told) that he is the complete antithesis of what the Volunteers represent—and so, he is categorised as a source of error.

However, in the show, both parties are placed in entirely different rooms, and therefore entirely different categorisations. The Baudelaires are placed in room 342: Constitutional and Administitive Law. This is a choice I absolutely adore, because at this point in the narrative they are quite literally trapped in bureaucracy. They fail because the system is rigged, and they are literally imprisoned by the law—not in the sense that they have already been convicted, but in the sense that they will be no matter what they do. If they stay, the High Court will pronounce them guilty. But, when they run, they're supposedly only proving their own guilt—damned if they don't, and damned if they do.

Olaf's is perhaps the more interesting change, though, because he's no longer seen as a source of error—despite the claims he makes about the Baudelaire parents and VFD immediately before being locked up (once again implying that he isn't lying to them, just using convenient truths). And it carries through to the trial, because he uses the truth (albeit a very deliberately and pointedly edited version) to make the Baudelaires seem just as guilty as he is. In the show, he's placed in room 170: Ethics (moral philosophy). And he is given the chance to talk at the trial, and talk he does. He twists the truth, spins it so that the Baudelaires seem guilty, but that is the exact point of moral debate! He trolley-problemed his way into screwing with the Baudelaires' heads, not because he needed to (he knew he was never getting convicted, because he knew who was on the High Court), but to prove a goddamn point. Yes, he's done terrible things, but did anyone think to ask him why? Of course, to us, the reader, the viewer, the third party observer, it doesn't matter. Because at a certain point, actions speak for themselves. Reasons can explain, but not necessarily excuse—that is the reasonable stance to take, and no matter his reasons, the explanation will never be an excuse for him.

But he's an actor. That's why Klaus calls him up to the stand in the trial, because he knows he'll want to talk in front of an audience, and can't imagine any way he wouldn't incriminate himself. And despite the Baudelaires' personal opinions of his ability, we've seen time and time again that he must be a good actor, because people always believe his performances. And as any good actor could tell you, it's crucial to be able to read your audience. If you want the best reaction, then you need to work out, as quickly as humanly possible, how they'll respond, and play up or tone down your performance accordingly. And he's spent so much time with VFD, with the Baudelaires, that he knows just what to say. He knows that, regardless of their reasons, they will feel guilty—in both the book and the show, they question if they're not just as bad as him! They did what they did to survive, and they genuinely worry that they're the same as the murderous, fortune-hungry beast that's been hunting them through their grief and fear. And he knows that. He wants to get in their heads, maybe just for fun, but mostly to get them to come to him. And the worst part is that it bloody works! They end up escaping with him, burning the hotel and potentially letting him out into the world, turning away from the good-hearted people trying to help them because if they can't trust anyone to be on their side, at least they can trust him not to be.

All this to say that, looking at his character, the writing of the show and the way the events unfold, while I can't give you a verbatim quote of what I think he would have said, I will say this: I wholeheartedly believe it would have been a short, targeted line to the Baudelaires, attacking them, their belief system, their very moral character. Because he didn't know he'd be allowed to speak at the trial—remember, it was only Klaus' fear and paranoia that put him on the stand in the first place—and as far as he knew, that could have been his last chance to ensure they'd come to him. He wasn't sure his previous words had been enough, and we all know he has a flair for the dramatic. Think back to one of the most chilling moments of the entire series, both in the book and show, at the end of the Bad Beginning. When the lights go out and he makes his escape, the Baudelaires would have still lived in fear of him, knowing he was on the loose, but that wasn't enough. He risked capture, risked losing his window of escape, all to torment Violet one last time; to plant that final seed of paranoia and fear into her mind, to whisper threats in the dark. And I have no doubt that, had he been given the chance, that is precisely what he would have done here.

By cutting him off, the Denouement gave the Baudelaires hope; hope that it might be different, hope that people wouldn't listen to him this time. But after all they'd been through, they couldn't risk not letting him talk—everyone always listens to him, in the end, and they had to make sure that everyone would finally believe them instead. And that very act of cutting him off, of not letting him give that final threat, is perhaps what sealed their fates. If Olaf's threat was fresh in their minds, they might have been too fearful to address him. If, like in the books, he'd eluded to his acquaintance with the High Court, they might have known what would happen. But he didn't get the chance, and neither did they.