#His explanation would include a flashback to this scene

[foxgonyoom]

Yo remember this guy?

What if they’re how the main cast fix Wukong’s scroll piece?

Like so far I’ve been thinking that they’re the villain behind the scenes, the one pulling the strings to follow through with some master plan, and I still think they’re gonna turn out to be evil and who’s manipulating events.

But they’re also our only possible lead on how the gang are going to fix Wukong’s scroll piece, mainly because they seem to have some sort of knowledge of the scroll, having been able to access it. Thus, they might be someone that the main cast goes to in order to fix Wukong’s scroll piece. That, or they pop up out of the shadows offering their aid.

But yeah it definitely seems like they’re gonna be the way that the gang mend Wukong’s scroll piece so they can free him again.

[mysterialistic]

Inconsistencies between the Yingdu timeline and the season 1 & 2 timeline

Okay, so the final episode of Yingdu is right around the corner, which means this will probably be my last analysis of this arc. I’ve made some posts before discussing the discrepancies between what has happened in Yingdu and what we’ve seen in seasons 1 and 2 (which I’m going to refer to as the current timeline), but I decided to write everything down in a single post.

1. Cheng Xiaoshi's parents

One thing I’ve noticed is that, throughout season 1, Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t seem to know anything about his parents’ whereabouts. The only thing we do know is that he believes they disappeared one day without explanation. At one point, he even considered the possibility that they had died in the earthquake. He has no idea where they are or any clue as to what happened to them.

On the other hand, in Yingdu, he has an important lead about his father’s whereabouts. He knows where his father went after abandoning him, he saw and spoke to him (even if it was through someone else’s body), but he interacted with him nonetheless. Now, Cheng Xiaoshi believes his father may have died in that fire—something he seems completely unaware of in the current timeline.

2. The basketball game

This is a smaller detail, but I think it’s worth pointing out: the way Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi met during their basketball game in Yingdu is not the same as the flashback we saw in season 1. This could be explained by saying that the flashback was from Lu Guang’s perspective, meaning it was his memory of the first/original timeline.

3. Cheng Xiaoshi’s death scene

Another significant change is Cheng Xiaoshi’s death scene. The flashback at the end of season 2 differs from what we saw in Yingdu. In the flashback, they were in some sort of forest(?), their positions were different, Lu Guang had his hand underneath Cheng Xiaoshi’s head, and only one of his hands was stained with blood—quite different from how it played out in Yingdu.

4. Liu Xiao and the Quede Games card

Another interesting detail is Liu Xiao and the card he gives them with the Quede Games name on it. Yes, Cheng Xiaoshi is the one who receives the card, and he might forget about this small detail in the future, but I find it really curious that the creators chose to include this here. We know that the Quede Games case is the first one in Link Click, and it’s not just any case—it’s the one that started the entire conflict of seasons 1 and 2. It’s a bit strange that Lu Guang doesn’t seem to connect LIU Xiao with LIU Min and the Quede Games incident, but this might just be a plot hole.

5. Cheng Xiaoshi awakening his powers

Now, the most significant detail, in my opinion, is the way Cheng Xiaoshi awakens his powers. In season 1 episode 8, we got a small flashback of Lu Guang explaining how their abilities work together. This happened at the studio—not in a hotel in Yingdu.

And, of course, there’s the fact that Cheng Xiaoshi has already discovered that he can dive on his own—something he didn’t seem aware of in the current timeline until after the Emma case, when he attempted to enter a photo on his own and succeeded. There’s no way he just forgot he could do this. He’s not that dense, come on.

Conclusion

Now, I don’t know if Yingdu is going to be another failed timeline, but honestly, I hope it is. Otherwise, there will be a bunch of inconsistencies and plot holes that won’t make much sense. If they confirm Yingdu as another failed timeline, it would actually reinforce Lu Guang’s dialogue from season 2: “I want to use this LAST chance”—implying that he has already repeated this several times. I guess we’ll just have to wait a few more hours to find out.

[queerfables]

The Rules of the Twist

Given the themes of deception and sleight of hand in Good Omens season 2, I think most of us agree it's at least possible there's some kind of twist waiting to be revealed in season 3. We're bouncing around a lot of theories, but I wanted to take a step back and look at the general shape of what we might expect.

The big twist we've seen before in Good Omens is Crowley and Aziraphale's body swap. (Okay, technically it was an appearance swap. But that just doesn't sound as pithy.) Rather than anticipate an exact repeat of this trick, I'm considering the swap as a sort of model. What does it tell us about the rules Neil plays by when he pulls a twist in this story? What clues can we expect, and what can we not count on? Sure, there's no guarantee that a season 2 twist is going to map exactly onto what we've seen in the past, but I think it's a reasonable place to start. Take these as guidelines and take them with a grain of salt, but if you're sorting through all our fascinating Good Omens theories and trying to decide what you think, you might find them helpful.

So then, what are the rules?

Broadly speaking, Neil plays fair with twists. He foreshadows and includes enough hints for the audience to make a reasonable guess at what's going on, or at least to look back after the reveal and go, "oh, of course". But he still keeps some cards close to the chest.

During the body swap, there are two big gaps in the information we're given:

Key events happen off screen The swap happened between scenes, during a time that it was only suggested, not confirmed, that Crowley and Aziraphale would be together. The transition between these scenes also used film and tv conventions to make that passage of time "invisible" - we see Crowley and Aziraphale get on the bus, and then we see them in the morning going about their days separately, and we're conditioned to think nothing important could have happened in between.

Key tools (eg abilities, items, information) haven't been shown before The swap was not something we'd ever seen Crowley and Aziraphale do, and it wasn't something they'd ever talked about either. It fit comfortably into the established world building but it hadn't been specifically signposted as a possibility.

The other big twist that Good Omens pulled was the romance between Gabriel and Beelzebub as the explanation for Gabriel's disappearance from heaven. Both of these information gaps are involved here too. The offscreen event is obviously the meetings between Gabriel and Beelzebub that lead to them falling in love - up until Gabriel's flashback sequence, the only indication they'd ever met each other was a brief conversation at the airbase during Armageddon. The tool that we haven't seen before is Beelzebub's ability to create a fly vessel for Gabriel's memories (protecting him in much the same way that Crowley and Aziraphale protected each other with their body swap, in fact).

These are pretty big gaps, really. And given that Neil knew there'd be years between seasons 2 and 3, I expect he would have leaned pretty heavily into them if he wanted to hide something. So how do we predict a twist if we can't know where it is and haven't seen what it might involve?

Unanswered questions

This is the big one. Looking at where the furniture isn't, you might say.

What's interesting is that the questions that point to a twist aren't usually subtle or ambiguous. For the body swap, the two converging questions were: what did Agnes' last prophecy mean, and how could Crowley and Aziraphale survive their executions? In season two, some of the unanswered questions signposting Gabriel/Beelzebub were: how did Gabriel lose his memory, why was he carrying a box, what was the significance of the song he kept singing, who was he at the Resurrectionist with...

I think guesses about upcoming twists are most convincing when they seek to tie up loose threads from the show. For this reason, I'm a little skeptical of theories proposing the kiss between Crowley and Aziraphale involved some kind of twist. It isn't impossible, I just don't see any unanswered questions there. (Savvy readers may note that I too have speculated about a twist hidden in the kiss. I do find the possibility fun, but it's not a theory I'm seriously committed to). If I was going to really buy into one of these theories, I'd want it to explain one of my big unanswered questions other than "but how could they get into a fight that hurts me so deep in my soul?" That's definitely a question I have, but not technically a mystery.

It's worth noting that in the case of the body swap, we were initially given a false answer to the question "how did they survive their executions?" The angels and demons watching attribute it to Crowley and Aziraphale having "gone native", believing that their natures had fundamentally changed, making them immune to holy water and hellfire. It might be the case, then, that some of the apparently resolved questions this season warrant further investigation. Is there more to the story of Gabriel's disappearance than we know, for example?

2. Unexplained details

If examining an unanswered question is looking at where the furniture isn't, then this is where we take all the pieces of furniture piled up in storage and see if we've got anything that fits. Everything is fair game here: script, acting, music, props, sets, costumes, editing, camera angles, audio effects, visual effects, everything. If it's on the screen or coming through the speakers, it was put there on purpose by multiple teams of highly skilled and attentive creators all working together to create the final product.

I think you could probably do an entire meta on all the little details pointing towards the season 1 body swap, but here are some of the big ones:

"Crowley" sees the restored Bentley, but takes a taxi instead of driving it

"Aziraphale" circles "Crowley" when they order their ice creams, the way Crowley more typically moves around Aziraphale

"Crowley" says "tickety boo", an extraordinarily Aziraphalean phrase

The collar on "Crowley's" jacket is a beige tartan rather than its usual red

There are general differences in the ways David Tennant and Michael Sheen embody the characters throughout the swap

Similarly, Gabriel and Beelzebub's romance has lots of small details pointing to it. The big one that keeps showing up is the connection between Gabriel and flies. He mentions them and interacts with them repeatedly, and although it isn't obvious at first glance, there's a fly in the box that he carries to the bookshop. This all culminates in the reveal that it's the same fly, Beelzebub's gift to him.

Here's the problem, of course: if everything in the show is intentional and crafted with meticulous attention to detail, how do we know what actually matters? This is why I think it's so important to look at the unanswered questions first. There's a joy in seeking out Easter eggs and connecting all the dots, and sometimes you might strike gold this way, but there's also a lot of noise in the signal. It's helpful to know the general shape of what you're looking for, so you'll know when you've found it.

You can reverse engineer this. Start with details that jump out at you and then look for a puzzle they might explain. This works, but it's a little easier to get lost in the weeds, struggling to sort out what's significant and what's a fun reference to another piece of media or a hint to a question that's already been resolved. Going back to the twists we've already seen on this show, the unanswered questions around them were really big and obvious, so I think it's a good idea to ask: if I hadn't noticed this detail, would I have thought this was a mystery that needed solving?

Okay, but what do we do with this?

Well, maybe nothing. These criteria can't confirm or rule out any theories, after all. I'm laying it out like a rubric but it isn't really, I'm just describing a few storytelling patterns we've seen before and making some rough guesses about how they might show up again. If I were really serious about this I'd probably take a look at other examples of Neil's work and see how well my model holds up there, but the truth is I'm not really familiar with enough of his other works to do this. (Confession time: I was always more of a Pratchett fan).

The main reason that I've laid everything out like this is it informs my thinking when I stress test my own theories, and I figured other people might be interested in it. I'm also hoping it will help me to be able to refer back to this when I write meta in the future. For my own purposes, I find a breakdown like this helpful because it gives me a sense of how a writer approaches their story, where they'll tip their hand and where they'll hold things close. It's no guarantee and it wouldn't be any fun if it was, but in a lot of cases we're not aware of our own patterns, so it can be surprisingly illuminating.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

You wanna know what I just realized....You know how in chapters 1-4 MC/Yu kept asking Crowley to go home. But Once Chapter 5-7 they stopped asking to go home and gave up. Why? Did they just change their minds once they got friends or did they just give up on trying completely until Orthro put it back in their brain? Or Did they just gave up on asking adults period?

Oooh, interesting topic 🤔 I went back in each book to see when instances of Yuu asking about going home were brought up and (shockingly) this actually happens very little, maybe a few times max in the main story (not counting the prologue):

***Main story spoilers (INCLUDING book 7) below the cut!!***

In 1-19, Yuu does NOT ask Crowley; Crowley is the one who brings the topic up. He claims he is in the library to research a way to send Yuu home, and definitely is not reading the latest edition to a new novel before anyone else (which, come on, we all know Crowley is just giving a convenient excuse for himself). Crowley's presence here is then used to inform us of a way to dethrone Riddle via duel.

In 2-4, Yuu DOES ask Crowley when summoned to his office. Crowly then says he is busy preparing for an inter-dorm Magift/Spelldrive tournament, so he hasn't made any progress for Yuu. In 2-14, Yuu also wonders about when they will be able to go home while talking around the campus at night, but does not discuss it further with others.

In 3-6, Yuu does NOT ask Crowley; again, Crowley is the one to bring up the topic when trying to get Yuu to convince Azul to stop his shady dealings. He uses their rising food bills and all that "effort" he's putting into researching as a means to guilt trip Yuu into agreeing.

In 4-2, Yuu DOES ask Crowley if he's actually researching. This occurs because Crowley is all decked out for vacationing in a tropical destination, so Yuu of course questions whether he's doing any real work. Crowley defends himself by saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!" and that he's broadening his knowledge base by researching in a southern region.

After book 4, there are no new explicit or even implied scenes of Yuu asking Crowley anything about home. However, 5-33 does feature a flashback to the prologue in which Crowley is struggling to find Yuu's home on a map.

There isn't really a strong mention of Yuu going home in book 6, unless you want to count Yuu talking to Mickey through the mirror and wondering what's on the other side.

7-10 and 7-11 has Ortho to concluding that the mirror with Mickey could be a "connection" to Yuu's original world, and can thus serve as a route home.

Most discussion of Yuu going home is concentrated in the prologue (as it is an important piece of the set-up and explanation for Yuu's presence in Twisted Wonderland), as well as book 7, when the issue becomes very relevant again. There is the occasional instance of Crowley using "oh, there might be information here about a potential way home" as an excuse to rope Yuu into an event's story (ie Glorious Masquerade), but nothing meaningful ever comes from it. These are just contrivances to bring Yuu and Grim along for a more immersive self-insert experience.

If you want a boring answer as to why Yuu asks/seems to care so little about going home and stops completely by the start of book 5, I would wager it's the metacontext. Even in books 1 through 4, Yuu going home is mentioned like maybe once and then is dismissed for the rest of the book. You’ll also notice that in these instances where Yuu going home is mentioned, they are almost immediately then used as a springboard to propel the problem of the week onto them to resolve. Yuu going home isn’t a plot point for most of the main story, it’s a plot device to force Yuu into an OB boy’s path.

There is very little urgency granted to finding a way home because you, the player, WANTS to be in this magical world even if Yuu, the actual in-game character, may be uneasy being away from their friends, family, and home world. Yuu's unease is most likely not depicted or not frequently brought up because it would interfere with the player's enjoyment of the escapism to another world. These desires very obviously clash with one another. However, because the game itself is trying to tell you its story, it has to provide a reason (no matter how nonsensical it is) for there to be no progress made in the search (thus keeping Yuu in Twisted Wonderland), and that reason often happens to be Crowley's incompetence. This is not true of all iterations of Yuu (as the light novel has a strong focus on Yuuya’s anxieties about being in a new world), but it must be this way specifically for in-game Yuu since they are the most easy one for players to project into.

If you're looking for a meatier answer, consider this: book 5 is the turning point in the main story. Before book 5, Yuu seems to defer to Crowley for finding a way home. They don't really wonder or investigate into this area on their own. By the start of VDC/SDC training, it's mid to late winter, or about halfway through the year. Given that Yuu is incentivized by the promise of renovations to let the NRC Tribe boys use Ramshackle as their base of operations, I get the impression that maybe Yuu thinks they'll be stuck in Twisted Wonderland for longer than initially anticipated. Rather than an "I give up", it feels like a "boy, this is taking a while so might as well upgrade the accommodations and make myself as comfy as possible while I wait it out" This thought is helped by the fact that book 5 is also the first time when both Yuu and Crowley don't mention them going home, but also nothing disparaging or hopeless is referenced. As I've said before, we still get a flashback from Yuu which is centered on them going home, so it's clearly still a topic on their mind. It's just not consistently shown to us so as to not interfere with players self-inserting or to avoid making the gaming experience not fun by focusing on Yuu's distress or worries.

Many other significant things happen in book 5 which makes it the "turning point": Malleus reveals his true identity to Yuu, Grim finally going a little feral from the blot stones, and Yuu seeing and speaking with Mickey clearly. From there, Yuu starts thinking about the mirror and how it could lead into another world. They begin to take more agency in their own return, later confiding in their friends about Mickey and what he means for them.

Book 6 mostly glosses over Yuu going home because... well, let's be honest, there's a lot more immediately at stake with six students being kidnapped and experimented on. Yuu's focus and concern is on getting them (and especially Grim) back safely. They weren't thinking about themselves or their own situation back then, they were thinking of others.

Going home returns in book 7 because it has story significance once again. Yuu going back to their own world adds to the growing dread and sense of loneliness that our OB boy for the evening, Malleus, feels over Lilia's departure. It helps to push him closer to the brink of snapping. What's more, this contributes to the overall themes and questions that book 7 poses: those of farewells, change, and leaving friends behind. These are sentiments that Ace, Deuce, and Grim discuss in 7-17, and they parallel Malleus's own anxious thoughts. In all previous books, Yuu's own quest to get home is not closely tied to the themes of a particular book, or it simply was not relevant to mention (it would disrupt the ongoing conflict or pacing).

Finally, to more address each of the specific things asked by the asker (since I know the information in this post is sort of all over the place and might be hard to match up to each question):

[Yuu] stopped asking to go home and gave up. Why?

Yuu did not frequently ask about going home to begin with. (Again, likely because on a metatextual level, the story needs an excuse for Yuu, ie the player, being present in Twisted Wonderland and experiencing its happenings.)

At that point, it comes down to individual interpretation as to why, but personally I believe Yuu realized that the solution was more complicated than just poofing up a portal home, so they decided to make themselves comfortable while they waited for updates rather than keep asking only to be constantly disappointed. Later on, events going on around Yuu become too hectic for them to focus on their own wants.

Did [Yuu] just change their mind once they got friends?

Wouldn’t this imply that Yuu didn’t consider Adeuce and Grim “real” friends until the start of book 5??? I just don’t think that’s true; they were friends way before this point, not hanging out with each other for convenience’s sake. Why would they sit together at lunch every day? Why would Yuu try to help Ace make amends with Riddle? And why would Ace defend Yuu when Riddle insults their upbringing? Why would Yuu try to free the idiots of their anemones at the risk of going homeless themselves? Why would Adeuce use public transportation to go all the way from the Queendom of Roses to Sage’s Island because of a SOS text from Yuu? The same logic goes for the Ramshackle Ghosts, who are very friendly with Yuu and Grim. They play games with them, tell them about the school, and even do Yuu’s chores for them while they’re held hostage in Scarabia.

I also think gaining friends isn’t necessarily a strong enough reason for Yuu to renounce their old life and suddenly be committed to staying. Yes, it can be said that this could change depending on individual interpretation of Yuu—but assuming a very basic backstory, a regular person would not be so quick to forgo their old friends, family, etc. I don’t think new friendships are a significant motivator for Yuu no longer asking about home.

Or did they just give up on trying completely until Orthro put it back in their brain?

Yuu didn’t stop thinking about going home just because they stopped asking about it. Post book 4, they are shown to have flashbacks to earlier discussions of going home. Yuu hardly ever expresses thoughts about their original world or wanting to go back (most likely to not break the self-insert immersion of their character), so it’s easy to perceive this as “Yuu gave up completely/Yuu forgot about it until book 7”.

Or did they just gave up on asking adults period?

I believe Crowley is the only adult Yuu really asks about finding a way back. I doubt Yuu actually thinks all adults are as useless in this endeavor as Crowley is, but we aren’t ever shown Yuu communicating in this manner to other adults. Crowley is the only “required” adult to interact with on account of being the headmaster typically forcing you into the plot anyway. In conclusion (I know I keep bringing this point up, but it’s because I truly believe in it), this is all probably done for convenience and/or to allow the player to fantasize and imagine themselves or their own Yuusonas navigating these circumstances. They don't want to constantly keep the story gloomy by having Yuu angst about how they miss home or how badly they want to go back. They want you, the player, to enjoy the world and the people of Twisted Wonderland and never want to leave, even if it may be contradictory to what Yuu themselves fails to express in the narrative. This is 100% intentional, and it's made clear because it ties in very deeply with the themes in book 7, which is when the idea of Yuu going home becomes extremely relevant again. Book 7 creates an analogy between a digital pet that Malleus owns and how sad he is that its lifespan has to end, that the digital pet is just "fiction designed to amuse". This is also true of what Twisted Wonderland (the game) is. The player is in the same circumstances as Malleus, who is too attached to his fiction and doesn't want to let it go.

As much as the game's structure encourages self-inserting, it cannot be denied that, ultimately, the perspective of the player ≠ the perspective of Yuu. The player does not actually have to worry about never returning home or being stuck in a foreign world, at the mercy of strangers (which, if not for entertainment purposes, would be something truly terrifying to deal with). The player is glimpsing into this other world for fun and can step away whenever they want. Yuu can't.

askhdvasoydvuealalf I know this was a lot, but I hope it made sense and properly communicated my thoughts ^^

[tvchi]

Disclaimers: DO NOT COPY OR REPOST MY WORK. DO NOT TRAIN AI WITH MY WORK.

Warnings: You are in charge of your own experience! Mature Audiences ONLY: 18+, Minors DNI- SMUT, Nudity, Female receiving fingering, Oral Sex, Anal play, Profanity Pairing: black male x black female Words: 4,420k

A/N: Hey yall! Since I'm committed to finishing a series or two that I've started here for 2025, I am back with Part 4 of this series. I have been feeling a type of WAY, not sure if I'm ovulating or what, but this was what came out, and I hope you enjoy it. For all of my smut bunnies that have been patiently waiting for something kinky to pop off since Part 1, welcome back! Lol. There are some flashback scenes here that are Italicized.

Summary: Adrian is grappling with a myriad of things including why Y/N (aka Alana) isn't responding to him, meeting deadlines for a demanding boss, his own hidden agendas within the company, and possibly the police? See what happens on this installment of Veiled Intentions.

----------------------------------------- Adrian

She’s dry and became startled at my touch. As much as she tried to play it off, something had shifted. Either she knows or something is going on, and I have a feeling it has everything to do with that nigga. I had two jobs when it came to her. The first was to keep her happy and have her thinking that she had some semblance of control. The other was to make sure that my affairs were private.

I contacted some of my eyes on campus, and no one seems to know who this light-skinned nigga is or what department he belongs to. He’s been seen leaving that library with Alana one too many times for my liking, and they seem to be…familiar.

One of the videos I received of the two showed that they exited the building seconds apart and at a reasonable distance, but she had that look on her face. The one where I can tell that she’s pissed at me but is trying to parse through her emotions and thoughts to deliver a sound explanation for the way she feels while conjuring the receipts to back it up. I’ve only seen her have that look on her face when she’s studying, arguing with one of her annoying colleagues at the department or into it with me. 

I’m not sure when this thing between Alana and I bloomed into what it is now, but I was all in. After that night at the gallery, I became increasingly drawn to her. She popped out of nowhere and right into my lap with the witty sarcasm of someone not phased by glitz and glamour. The kind of someone who could fit into any crowd but had an air of sophistication about her. Someone who could help me run an empire.

Outside of knowing that every eligible bachelor would want a piece of her fine ass, she was also an art history professor. Our paths couldn’t be more aligned. I knew I was gone when I asked her to move in with me just after a month and a half of us dating. She hadn’t given me any yet, and I was still fucking Tara, but I ended all of that on our fifth date. I wanted Alana around me all the time. I wanted to be in her skin if I could. While I believed in marriage, I also believed in taking my time in getting there. Something about her made me reevaluate my timeline. I needed her.

The first night we fucked, everything in me unlocked. I felt it would be worth the wait, but I had no idea how much. Our bodies were in sync from the first night. 

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

It was the way her eyes begged for more as I kissed her. Savoring every bit of the champagne that was previously on her lips, I poured some down her chest and began to lick slowly. I didn’t typically like playing with food, but she seemed like the perfect meal and plate. Edible dining ware was what she was.

I licked every single drop off of her while her nipple pebbled. Her areolas were the perfect shade of dark chocolate. I took them into my mouth one by one, then together. Wondering what it would be like to slide my girth in between her tits, I hardened. She moaned. The sounds she would make could make a dead man rise. They made you want to learn about her body and find out how many different ways you could bring her pleasure just for a chance to hear her sing.

I trailed kisses down her stomach to her belly button and drank the pooling liquid from there. I wanted to experience every curve and crevice. I finally reached her mound. Smooth, fresh, hairless. She knew tonight would be the night, making me want her even more. I ate her like she was my last meal.

Her climax trickled down my goatee and mustache. I kept going, introducing fingers into her warmth and into her ass. Her eyes bulged and rolled to the back of her head. I needed a couple more standing O’s for my work before I introduced her to my throbbing dick. She came again.

She lay on the bed, almost lifeless, when I came out of my clothing and used the remnants of her organism to coat my shaft and enter her. She gasped as I stretched her. I’m not sure anyone has had the honors in a while because she winced in pain. I slowed my strokes, letting her adjust to me. She cried out to me, saying my name. It was then that I knew I would paint the city red behind her. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I gotchu.” “Too. Much,” she let out in a staccato. “You’re a big girl. I know you can take it.”

She cried and moaned. 

“You want me to stop?” “No. Fuuuuck, Adrian. No. Fuck meeeee” “Anything you want, Mami”

I drilled her until she gasped for air, and tears streamed down her face. It wasn’t long before we both climaxed. Round two went a lot smoother. She was still getting used to me; her movements were slower, but she rode me like her favorite horse. The views from the back sent me into orbit. Riding my dick, she palmed and massaged my balls, sending me to heights I didn’t know were attainable. 

“Alana, I’m gonna c–”

Right before I finished my sentence, she lifted off of my dick and began to take me into her mouth. She used her right hand to apply most of the pressure around my shaft and proceeded to take my balls into her mouth.

“Alanaaaa” I grunted. This was a sound unfamiliar to me. She stopped abruptly and looked up at me. After a second, she said, “Cum for me,” as she stared into my soul and proceeded to stroke my dick, suck my balls, and massage the saliva dripping down her mouth into my tent and ass. I busted immediately. 

“Oh, fuuuuuuuck!” I couldn’t help it. I screamed, my cream coating her face. She straightened her posture and licked the cum off of her lips with her tongue. She took her index finger and wiped her eyes next.

“Good boy,” was all she said in a sultry tone. Then she sauntered off into the bathroom.  When she reemerged, evidence of my lack of control was wiped from her face. She cleaned me off with the warm, moist rags. Slightly embarrassed, I attempted to apologize, but she cut me off.

“I know you’re not about to apologize for doing something I explicitly told you to do?!”

“I wasn’t trying to disrespect you by bussin’ on your face. I was trying to control it. I didn’t think you were going to–”

Her index finger pressed against my lips. “I don’t feel disrespected. I feel like I own you now,” she replied as a wicked grin stretched across her face. She had no idea how right she was.  -----------------------------

Tearing my thoughts away from that night and back to the footage before me, I thought back to this particular day. She wasn’t supposed to be on campus the day of this footage. She told me that it was going to be a maintenance day. I remember because I slid her about $500 and told her which color I wanted on her nails and toes. She looked at me with those bright golden brown orbs, and the corners of her mouth curled up the sides of her face, almost reaching her eyes. Thank you, baby. That was what she could manage before skipping out of the door.

When she returned, everything was done, but not before she went in to work on her day off—something she rarely did. Something was off. I called in a few favors and put a tail on this new guy. He looked like a cop or military officer, and if they were trying to get to me through her, I wanted to be the first to know about it. It’s nothing to get him sent for. If Alana was turning on a nigga, I needed to put her down too. 

I left the apartment and headed down to the museum. I had an important meeting with the head of Consortium, and from what I gather, he doesn’t take too kindly to waiting. Once I arrived, I greeted West and Rich. They gave me today’s itinerary, inventory, and any events that may be hosted today. I thanked them and headed to my office.

I retrieved my laptop from the secure safe and began typing in my code. From this computer, I could monitor all the cargo routes, see the merchandise in transit, and monitor goods from each warehouse. It was safer to track this here than it was at home. I couldn’t risk Alana stumbling upon this and asking all kinds of questions she wouldn’t get the answers to.

There was a big set of morals on that one. She didn’t dabble in the grey. It was one of the first things I learned about her when we were dating.

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

“I don’t think anyone should withhold aid just because other people take advantage of it,” she said sternly. We walked past a homeless family with three kids sitting on the street. One of the kids had come up to us asking for money. Alana reached down in her purse, pulled out three ten-dollar bills, and gave one to each kid. She looked at me, waiting for me to contribute, and when I never did, she flashed a faint yet disappointed smile to the kids and bid them a good day.

She started admonishing me for my lack of empathy, chastising me for buying her lavish gifts but not giving to those in need. This sprung into a debate about the begging industry.

“So, you are aware that a lot of these people choose to stay poor to take advantage of your sympathy, using babies and children to do it. Some of these people, especially in foreign countries, maim their own kids, forcing them to be crippled their entire lives just to give the money they get from you to thugs. It’s an entire industry. Look it up,” I said intently.

“It’s not that I’m not aware of the disgusting side of poverty and how some of these people have to do disheartening and strange things for shelter, protection, and food. But if they don’t produce, then what? They end up dying.”

“And what if I told you that for a lot of them, death is inevitable, and your $10 isn’t going to do anything but ease your conscience.”

“You don’t know that! If it was you, would you want someone to help?”

“Of course, they all do. The way this society works, or any social and political caste system for that matter, there needs to be systemic help to bring them out of their situation. Because capitalism always needs to use someone’s neck as the first stone to climb the ladder of hierarchy, you won’t change anything, and neither will the political system. You’d do better donating to HBCUs, school libraries, or local art museums and programs.”

“Yeah, but who remembers them?” she asked, referring to the family she had just helped.

“No one”

“That’s just not good enough.”

“It shouldn’t be, but that’s the way it is,” I declared in finality. 

She eyed me curiously, probably trying to decipher how I knew so much about how the underbelly of society operated or how I’d formed such a crass opinion about society. She didn’t need to know any of that. I wasn’t trying to reopen those wounds for anyone, especially not her. 

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

Someone opening the storage room on the eastern dock brought my mind back to the present. I peered intently at the unfamiliar face. He opened the doors wide, blocking the line of sight of the camera I was looking at, so I turned to look at another camera showing a different angle.

The man was tall, muscular, and wore a snapback cap with an arch in the brim. His entire outfit was all black, topped with a black slender puffer vest. He moved like he knew his way around the docks and our containers. I watched him picking up items and placing them back down. He marked things off on a piece of paper attached to a clipboard.

Working diligently, he moved deep into the depths of the shipping container until I could no longer see him or what he was doing. After a long while, he resurfaced again. Shutting the container doors, he locked it and proceeded to head to another container and do the same.

At first, I didn’t think anything was strange outside of the fact that I’d never seen this particular dock worker before, and I personally handed out payroll to each and every worker on the dock. He may have been a new hire, but I would meet him soon enough. It wasn’t until he left that I noticed something small yet odd. 

“Adrian, Lucien is in the conference room waiting to see you,” my secretary Octavia said. I kept the anomaly in mind as I gathered the documents I needed to present.

“I’m coming”

“Those are words I haven’t heard in a while,” she cooed. I paused and looked at her as she flashed a devious smile. 

“Mhm” is all I managed before I followed her down the hall. 

She was a very attractive woman. Caramel complected, cinnamon and vanilla scented, and soft-spoken, she had all the right weaponry when it came to her curves, and her slanted, hooded eyes looked at you like she knew.

I tried my best to avoid her, only speaking with her about projects and schedules, but she made the task impossible. She lingered a little too long, got a little too close, and was always a little too attentive. On some nights, when there were events at the gallery and Alana couldn’t make it, she often accompanied me around the room. People easily mistook us for a couple, and I had to correct the mistake that she didn’t seem to mind. 

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

One particular night, at the Red Dragon Gala the museum hosted for the Chinese New Year two months ago, I went to my office to retrieve some bidding cards. We had run out downstairs, and there were way more investors than anticipated. That shit blew me because I always made sure that the list wasn’t too big as to draw attention to any particular event they were hosting.

I knew that my coming down here from the city had me pinned as the curator extraordinaire, but 30 big wigs in one small-town museum event for a heritage event was a little suspicious even for me. Our Chinatown wasn’t even that populous. I knew it wouldn’t make sense for anyone looking in, especially law enforcement, but nothing could be done about it. Everyone was already here. As I retrieved the last of the cards, I heard a set of heels behind me. 

“There you are,” she seductively beamed. “I was beginning to think I would have to send a search party for you.”

“No need. I was getting a few more cards for the auction. I didn’t know that so many people would be joining us tonight. I remember making that list and a lot less names were on it. A lot less invitations were created too. Any idea how this happened?” I inquired.

“Well,” she started, looking up at me with apologetic eyes. “Don’t be mad, but a couple of people on the original guest list wanted to bring plus ones who were interested in our events. I didn’t want to say ‘no’ and risk losing them as clients, so I obliged. Names on the guest list kept growing each week, but only those on the original list received formal invitations. I’m sorry,” she ran her fingers up and down the length of my arm. Her eyes never left mine.

“Next time, you come to me if you have issues with these assholes. You hear me?”

“No, I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear that. Couldn’t say that again,” she said, walking right into the space between my legs, lips at my left ear, and her right hand now caressing the sword underneath my slacks.

“Whoa, Oct—”

“That wasn’t what you were saying,” she continued, cutting me off. “I asked you to tell me what you said.

My breath became shallow, and after repeating myself, she unzipped my trousers. Reaching inside, she set my dick free and began to massage it.

“Nothing turns me on more than a man who protects. It makes me want to…give him things.”

“Like what?” I inquired, trying to even out my tone and steady my breath.

“The stars,” she replied, guiding me onto the floor by my member. 

I lay facing her as she lifted her skin-tight, floor-length dress and moved her thong to the side. She lowered herself onto me and, without hesitation, guided my dick into her warm walls.

“Shiiiiiiit,” he moaned.

With a salacious grin, she began riding me. Her even tempo allowed me to regain my composure because I was sure if she went any faster, I would be done for.

“You feel so good, Adrian. Is this what she’s getting at home?” Her alluding to Alana while bouncing on my dick didn’t sit too well with me, so I hoisted her up and changed positions. Turning her around, I placed an arch in her back and entered her from behind, snaking my hand around her neck. 

“Anh auh, we don’t talk about her,” I stroked, pounding my annoyance into her. As I proceeded to wreck her, I noticed that she had multiple tattoos of stars and planets on her ass, resembling a galaxy of some sort. It was the most intricate ink I had seen in a while.

“UUuoouuu, Adrian,” she yelled. I covered her mouth with my other hand, muffling her screams. Picking up on my rhythm, she started throwing it back. Matching me stroke for stroke, retreating and slamming into my center as I rammed into hers. The sounds of her creaming pussy and my hungry dick filled the air. 

I lowered myself just enough to whisper in her ear. “Don’t scream.” Then, I removed my hand from her mouth. I moved her legs together and pulled her arms back, using them as reigns. I entered her again. Her muffled cries ignited more fire in me. She tightened around my dick, threatening to explode.

“You better not fucking cum unless I tell you to. You fucked up once, don’t fuck up again,” I scolded.

“Please, Adrian. Please, baby, let me cum”

“Uh uh. You over here sending invites I didn’t tell you to send, then grabbing dick that ain’t yours. You must think you run shit around here.” The more I spoke, the rougher I became. I pounded her pussy until she almost collapsed. Her walls convulsed.

“Adrian, please. I’m going to come,” she gasped, tears streaming down her face.

“Say you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry, Adrian, please.”

“Sorry for what?”

“I’m sorry for sending those other invites. It won’t happen again, baby, please.”

I was reaching my peak and knew I could not hold on any longer. My balls were pulsating. She must have sensed that I was there because she tightened her pussy around my dick.

“Fuuuuck!”

“Let me cum”

“Let me see you. Rain all over this dick, bitch”

She let go as I continued to pound. A shower emanated from her, wetting my legs, shaft, and the tops of my pants.

“Damn, that’s some good pussy. I’m finna bust.”

“Mmmm cum in me, Adrian. Cum inside of me”.

I growled. Her pleas set me off as thick cream shot out of my tip. I pulled out a second later, stroking the rest of the hot substance out onto her ass and back. I closed my eyes briefly, trying to regulate my breathing and regain composure. She wiggled her ass, causing some of the cream to slide down the curve of the tattooed ring of one of the planets inked on her ass, hitting the nearby star on the way down her leg. 

“Damn”

“So, did you see them? She asked. I looked at her in confusion. “The stars,” she finished, chuckling. -----------------------------------

She turned around as she opened the door to the conference room, a knowing smile dancing across her face letting me know that she could feel my eyes dancing over her ass. 

“Let me know if you need anything,” she said as I walked past her. She closed the door behind me and sauntered off. I had no time to think about all the different ways she could wet my dick. Plus, I wasn’t going to risk losing Alana for her. She had amazing pussy, but she was no Alana. I settled my thoughts as I walked over to Lucien. I extended my hand over to him, and he took it. We both sat down. 

“I know you’ve come a long way so I won’t waste your time with pleasantries. I see that my secretary has gotten you some pastries, coffee, and your favorite drink, so I’ll dive right in.”

“Man after my own heart,” he said, smiling while his entourage chuckled. 

I started delving into the presentation. There were three areas that connected our operation. I went through all the inventory we’ve been getting worldwide and on U.S. soil. All the merchandise that we housed totaled up to eighty million dollars.

Then, I presented an active list of everyone who was interested in clientele. To date, we had about three hundred and forty-seven active buyers and a couple more on the waiting list that had substantial capital.

Lastly, I reviewed the brick-and-mortar locations, land, and charities we owned and supported. I gave them an estimated time on when we could realistically expand operations at this location without raising too many eyebrows.

“All those years ago in Santa Monica, when you barged into my office, I knew you were the man for the job. You were dingy and straight off the street, but I knew you were different. No ordinary beggar, drunk, or gambler could leverage their debt into a million-dollar scheme like this,” he started. One thing about the threatened and wealthy is that they always try to remind you of your place. Beneath them.

He turned to his right hand, nicknamed Cain, and said, “I fucking told you. You told me not to trust him, and I said this one is a spitfire. And he’s good-looking too. He’s black and spic, but I bet you he can get people to listen to him. Didn’t I say that?”

“Yeah, boss,” replied Cain.

This is the part of our interactions where it starts getting racist and I start to tune out. They all knew that I was more than qualified for this endeavor, and if another person could do the job, they would’ve found them already. They’d take anyone over a nigga.

My returns did not lie; in 2 years, I had made them even more prosperous than they’ve ever been.  I united worlds that generally had nothing to do with each other, kept peace, and ensured everyone got paid.

Most importantly, they didn’t know how. A couple of months in, a couple of Lucien’s guys were following me, trying to uncover just exactly how I did my shit, hoping to mimic the system and cut me out completely. They should all know that niggas are used to getting fucked over, and by now, this nigga would have come up with a foolproof way to remain the plug. Once Lucien made good on paying off all of my debt, that’s when I really started escalating the business. 

“I need you to run by the museums on Pinehurst and make sure everything is ready for the event in two weeks. As you know, there will be a lot of A-listers present. I need everything to run smoothly,” his tone changed from lighthearted to firm.

“I’ve been going there twice a week since it was announced, and I’m already set to head over there tomorrow. Everything will go as planned,” I replied, insulted. I’ve been doing this for two years, and he hops on a plane to tell me how to do my job.

“Good. Well then, I’ll leave you to it then,” he said. “Oh, I’m sure you already know this, but there has been increased chatter about what we do here. A lot of curious minds want to know why there is a sudden interest in Harborview. Many of them think something fishy is going on and want to join the party. I would expect that you keep that girlfriend of yours close and your friends at the precinct closer,” he tossed over his shoulder while eating a toasted croissant. 

I packed up my things and headed to the conference room, leaving them to the snacks and drinks on the table. I didn’t have time for a dick-measuring contest. I still needed him, and he knew that. He was a wealth of information, and I still had to be tapped in to finish this phase of the program.

I wondered what he meant by “keep Alana close.” It only fueled the doubt growing within me that something was going on with her, and I needed to know what. Once I made it, I scanned the security camera around the building. A habit I indulge in twice a day during the work day and once more in the evening.

As I looked at the corner of the screen, I noticed a navy blue car that looked like it had been parked there for a while. I didn’t remember seeing it this morning when I pulled into the side entrance. Something about that car looked very familiar. I tapped into the other camera on the street, which was placed there by some of Harborview’s finest for extra security, and I could see some of the time within the car.

I zoomed in to see some of the items. There were two soft, small stuffed animals at the back of each headrest, and there was also a leather satchel with braided leather tassels that rested between them. I recognized that satchel after staring at it for a couple of minutes. What is she doing here?

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

As always, I am so thankful that you made it till the end. Please comment, reblog, ask questions, and throw in some suggestions of what you may want to see next. I had fun writing this one and I thought it was about time that we heard from Adrian! CATCH UP: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

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[randomfoggytiger]

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part XV): Making an Effort

In the last part, Mulder was able to see (for the first time since his abduction) that Scully hasn't, won't, and will never give up on anyone she deems "worth the effort"-- and that, he concluded, included him.

This being the case, it seems he's made it his mission to prove that she, too, is worth the effort.

Mulder Tries

After Monica Reyes assists in the arrest of the alleged culprit of Luke Doggett’s murder, Mulder finds Doggett by Scully’s bedside; and silently orders the other man into the hallway. Though angry at this exchange-- and angrier at the world and its injustice-- Doggett relents and follows him out, jaw clenched tightly shut as he moves as far away from his partner's partner as possible.

Unbeknownst to Mulder, the latter was in the grips of his own PTSD flashback-- the day his son’s burnt body was discovered. The episode connects clear and blatant dots between his journey to belief and Scully's (including a cursed scene transition, here); but we are also left to draw a few obvious conclusions: Doggett lost his son and was assigned to the files while Mulder gained a son (a baby of unspecified sex, at this point) and was blocked from the files. Both men suffer from PTSD, to varying degrees; and both men are thrown together in the latter end of Season 8 to protect Scully and her baby-- a redemption of their own past losses. (And while these parallels, ideas, and themes are intriguing, it would be nice if they were properly fleshed out in their execution.)

Doggett's anger evaporates in the hallway; and he stuffs his hands in his pockets, slowly nodding as Mulder immovably explains, "She just fell back to sleep."

Head down, he says, "I just wanted to check to see how she's doin'." But that's not all; and Doggett exhales before further stating, "'Course I'm here with this other thing-- we, uh, we caught this killer Jeb Dukes. He's in the ICU. He may not make it."

Mulder runs his tongue over his lips and swallows-- a nervous tick-- while the other agent finishes. Despite everything he's been through, those profiling skills are still spookily intact: "And now you're wondering if there really was a connection?"

Doggett doesn't answer, not wanting to admit his doubts; but he doesn't bother to deny it, either. There's a defensive, curious stance in his stooping shoulders and sideways-upright glance, as if he is inviting Mulder's opinion while shifting away from his scrutiny. In short, Doggett is posturing: pretending to be rationally stable while adrift and looking for guidance.

Never one to leave others floundering or in pain, Mulder decides to act on Scully's insight, and offers an olive branch: he opens up.

Looking down at first, he begins, "When I, uh, when I first came to work at the FBI, I worked at Violent Crimes."

Agent Doggett knows where this is going-- former cop that he is-- and turns his head to the side as Mulder gently drones on.

"I saw the worst of humanity. I saw monsters."

At this, Doggett looks up, trying to guess if 'monsters' is metaphorical or literal.

"And I wondered how they became that way. How these men became so evil. I know, there were--" Breaking off, Mulder shakes his head, shifting through past testimony and reports, "--Psychological explanations: victims of their environment, victims of their parents. But those scientific explanations were never truly satisfying.

"And I began to think," he confesses, moving one hand to wave it around briefly before recrossing his arms, "of evil like, like a disease. You know, it goes from man-to-man, or age-to-age-- most of us walk around thinking we're incapable of any acts of evil. And we are. Y'know, we can stifle that momentary urge to kill, or to hurt-- we have some kind of immunity to it."

"But I think it's possible that there's..."

Again, he trails off, lips pressed tight as he weighs his words. "An occurrence in somebody's life-- a tragedy or a loss-- that leaves them vulnerable." He further gentles his voice when Doggett's face pinches: "And all of a sudden-- at that point in their lives, when they're weakened-- they're open to evil. And they can become evil."

Agent Doggett's skepticism peaks through as he fills in the blanks. "If that were true, then what you're saying is, is... this man we wheeled in here tonight is effectively evil. Same evil that killed my son."

Mulder maintains Doggett's level gaze, swallowing-- not denying the other's conclusion.

"You really believe that, Agent Mulder?"

"Nah," Mulder cracks, a genuine smile shyly peeking through-- the first around Doggett. "I'm not really a good test for questions like that. I'll believe almost anything. Y'know?"

Doggett snorts, acknowledging the joke and chastising himself for grasping at this explanation.

"You may never know," Mulder reveals. "It may be like Agent Reyes says--" an acknowledgment of Monica's instincts, as well as a channeling of Doggett's attention to the other agent, "--it may be random and meaningless: who it affects, who it goes to."

"What if it isn't?"

"Well then you'd be seeing something that I don't, Agent Doggett": and what a conclusion-- Mulder is steering Doggett to trust his own intuition. It neatly attempts to shred Doggett's reliance on Scully or himself, and to plant a seed of faith in his own instincts (or Reyes's instincts of his instincts.)

Doggett walks away, unable to accept that possibility; and Mulder remains fixed by Scully's door, knowing where he belongs and decisively staying there-- a journey the other agent is still struggling through.

She Is Worth the Effort 

“Mulder, you never fail to surprise me.”

The scene opens on Scully, perched on a couch with a pizza before her, and Mulder sneaking behind her to hide his surprise present again. Hands on her belly, she turns her head to try to find him, slowly, contentedly continuing, “I just wish I felt like eating it.”

Nonchalantly, he swings around the couch with plates, napkins, and silverware in hand-- silverware, for pizza?-- flippantly assuring, with a comedic lilt in his voice, “That’s cool-- we can just wait for the cheese to congeal and eat it later.”

After sitting and noticing her reluctant smile, Mulder deduces, “You miss your regular pizza man, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Scully pouts as her partner slumps and defeatedly lets the silverware drop to the table. 

Mulder is trying to become everything Scully needs: friend to her associate, father of her baby, and delivery boy of her favorite pizza. His efforts, however, are stymied by the new ropes he’s still learning-- forgetting, in this instance, to ask if she would like a pizza fresh from her release; or even if she can eat one. When he realizes his carefully crafted plan falls through, he slumps: Scully’s pizza boy wouldn’t fail because he would know when she needed one. And while that isn’t an entirely logical train of thought, it’s one that’s easily suggestible. 

He takes this failure to heart, caving in and avoiding her eyes as the “Aha!” moment turns into a heavy “I should have known this” thud. 

Scully, however, has an ace up her sleeve: revealing her expert rouse with a subtle, “That’s okay, he’s coming later.” She’s so pleased with herself that she fails to hold back a smile, outright giggling when Mulder catches her humor and returns it with a mock-stunned expression. 

Both visibly glow and twinkle while connecting over this simple couples’ joke-- the second they’ve shared since his return, and the first that is levied back-and-forth with equal, humored fervor (post here.)

As Scully’s giggle turns to a chuckle then peters out, Mulder reaches behind her for the stowaway surprise. (An aside: Scully looks down at her belly before her partner shifts, as if her laughter brought on an unexpected bump of movement.)

He keeps his face focused on her, watching her curious eyes track his hand (knowing his partner loves presents, posts here and here); and stays still, mouth wide in anticipation, as she gasps with delight. 

“Bet you forgot about that, didn’t you?”

Shaking her head as emphatically as she can, Scully insists, “No, I didn’t, actually. I thought about it a lot, while I was lying in my hospital bed.” She spares him an assuring, more somber glance while methodically tearing the package open, as if to say you and your efforts were not forgotten, despite my compounding worry and troubles. 

Mulder, meanwhile, loses a touch of his joy, eyebrow twitching, eyes tightening, throat swallowing at the acknowledgment of her recent hospitalization.

But he tries to school his features and zone back into the moment. Her words-- “Wondering what on earth you’d given me”-- help; but it still takes effort to shake off, with a bounce, that darker mood. 

“And?” he prods, voice intentionally buoyant. 

The present is revealed; and Scully is immediately touched, mouth opening in shock. Face pinching, she whispers then croaks, “Oh, Mulder,” swinging the doll around between them to study it intently. 

Pleased, he asks, “Is it what you imagined?”

Eyes squinting, she states, “Not even close.” Sensing there are layers of meaning behind this gift-- and that her partner is continuing a reemergence back to his former ways-- Scully looks up and breaks into a smile.

Mulder leans forward, drinking up this freer atmosphere between them. “Oh, my, that’s the wrong doll, actually.” His face slips near the end of his tease; and Scully calls him on it-- to the delight of them both-- by pretending to swipe at her partner with the toy.

He dodges, and they both fall into a fit of gleeful chuckles and giggles. 

It’s Scully who switches up the mood first, pivoting suddenly into, “But then that’s the other gift you gave me, Mulder.” She looks up from the doll, staring at his softened, tentative expression: there is a hesitant bracing there--not of having to own up to fatherhood or claim this baby, but of wondering what she’s going to say next; and what she expects him to say in response-- before he relaxes with a tender smile.

And she, as always, throws him a curve ball: “Courage. To believe.” Scully looks down, shy, but decides not to dodge Mulder’s natural assumption entirely: “And I hope that’s a gift I can pass on.” Again, she looks up, lips pursed in a smile, eyes locked as Scully draws their attention to the baby: content, and confident.

And that’s an interesting statement: not only does this imply Scully is having a baby (because obviously) but it also implies she is directly tying something intrinsically Mulder to this child-- meaning, this child will be, and was going to be, connected to him no matter what. We know both know the baby is his, and that Mulder wasn’t jealous or resentful of his child (posts here and here); but what I find more fascinating is that there are multiple, subtle clues that Scully would have raised her baby as Mulder’s child (Skinner’s “he’s not the last” in Deadalive; Scully’s blue mourning-but-moving-on sweater, post here; and her pointed remark in this scene.) This is the first time she’s confessed her intentions to her partner; and that points to how personal this decision is for her-- Scully confessions don’t come lightly; and don’t come willingly to anyone, at all, unless that person’s a Mulder.

Mulder takes this revelation in stride, staring at her bump in contemplative silence before re-locking eyes and nodding. 

A split-second one-two-three happened there: 

His eyes slid lower, taking in her words as they came to rest on their child. 

His eyes snapped up, a wild, possessive, purposefully stilled gleam in them. 

His eyes lowered again as he nodded and twitched an eyebrow: I understand and That’s not all I gave you wrapped up in one. 

Scully, being Scully, catches this one-two-three. She begins petting the doll’s hair, an attempt to work through the happy, vulnerable emotions that are nearly breaking from her control. The camera fades out as she masters them; and that is the end of Mulder and Scully in Empedocles.

NOBODY GETS THERE ALONE

I'd be remiss if we didn't compare this sweet and affectionate moment to the last time Mulder gave Scully a gift. There are quite a few parallels, actually.

In Tempus Fugit, Mulder takes Scully to their frequent hangout, and loudly sings along to and claps afterwards with the staff's "Happy Birthday" cheer. (In fact, he continues clapping long after the staff leave and the patrons drop off.) Then, he made sure she had something fun to nibble on (either because the local provided it or because he sneaked in a Snoball) while opening her niche gift. Like Empedocles, however, their moment is interrupted by tragedy and more tragedy (Max's and Pendrell's death; Scully's abruption and Luke's killer's case.)

Alongside these parallels, the mechanism for each gift remains the same: to do things right. In Season 4, it was spurred on by Mulder's fear of Scully's cancer and realization of the depth of his feelings (post here); in Season 8, it is instigated by Mulder's return and stabilization after his death. In both cases, Mulder wants to make up for lost time: birthdays (in dog years, he parries) and fatherly moments missed.

And Scully figures him out-- already had him, probably, when he showed up at her door with something from his mother's, post here-- both times, smiling and puzzling over her partner's presents, divining their oblique and askance meanings. "Teamwork" in Tempus Fugit and "Family" in Empedocles.

Mulder's gestures themselves paint a broader, more evolved picture of his feelings for and commitments to Scully. During the cancer arc, Mulder ran and ran and ran headlong into work or self-recrimination or anyplace where he didn't have to acknowledge Scully's death (they both did, post here.) During the pregnancy arc, Mulder returns, despite his PTSD and doubts and fears, after an abduction (This Is Not Happening), after his "death" (Deadalive), after the failed DOD mission (Three Words), after Doggett and Reyes's case (Empedocles), after the black oil rig (Vienen), after a begrudging trip to help Doggett (Alone), after trying and failing to do the right thing (Essence-Existence.)

An important note: the writers carefully picked and chose what present Mulder picked and chose each time. A NASA commemoration medallion in Tempus Fugit pointed to his hope alongside Scully and the fathomless, though largely unspoken, value Mulder placed on their work together. Their partnership, Mulder said, is a gift; and one he needed (needs) to see things through. It was a sentiment Scully didn't hear voiced until Fight the Future, but it's one he was acutely aware of since their separation and her abduction in Season 2. A cloth doll from his mother's pointed to the day Scully was by his side when he lost sight of the answers and would have lost his closure if not for her truth. It was a different time in their partnership, one that didn't require them to step around the danger between them. In both instances, his presents were a symbol of their relationship beating back the darkest hours: her cancer and their hope, his mother's death and his closure. And there is one last meaning to this gift-- the most glaring one: an extension of the Mulder family trinkets to the next generation of Mulders.

CONCLUSION

Empedocles is wrapped!

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[aristaspark]

What do you think about the "he... wants me to be someone that I'm not" (S2E3, flashback in Darius cabin)? Here we see how Brooklynn ties her interests, work and identity and how she connects it to why she and Kenji breakup.

Also the "I don't like the way people looked at me back home" (S2E5, when Sayona was painting Brooklynn).

I really want to see how you, a Kenlynn shiper, see it

Well, she's wrong 🤷‍♀️

We know she's wrong, and that she's in the wrong. We know that Kenji didn't "want her to be someone else", all he wanted was to spend time with his lover, lover who started neglecting everything in her life that didn't relate to her work, including their relationship.

He had no problem with who Brooklynn was when she was present, the problem was that she was NEVER present.

So why would Brooklynn say that? Because that's the only reasoning Brooklynn was able to come up with to explain why he'd break up with her.

Brooklynn, in this moment, is so deep into her investigation, is so blind to how unhealthy her relationship to her work has grown that she's physically incapable of making sense of the reason why Kenji broke up with her, so she tries to rationalize it, and this is the only explanation she's able to come up with.

We even have the confirmation of this in the dialogue when she tells Darius "I've been a LITTLE distracted with work". I've seen a lot of people come at her for lying to make Kenji seem like the bad guy in the relationship, but that's not at all what she's doing 😭. What's happening is that she's so disconnected from her life and from reality that she truly believes that she was only a little distracted. And since to her, in her broker-obsessed mind, the cause of their break-up didn't exist since she was only a little distracted, then Kenji had no reason to break up with her, unless he didn't really love her.

One thing that I think is important to understand is that the show isn't trying to frame pre-fake-death-Brooklynn as being misunderstood but, on the contrary, as being the one who doesn't understand sh*t and is wrong about everything, and this scene is simply one of the many instances when it's shown to us.

This was one of the many instances when we were shown just how much she was in denial.

And so, because I think it needs to be adressed, Kenji's problem wasn't that Brooklynn's work was of great importance to her. She had always been like this, even back in cc, he fell in love with that part of her. It's not some mysogistic thing where the dude can't accept that his partner is career-driven. The problem was that there was a clear shift in her behavior after she discovered Dark Jurassic, a shift that, as I touched upon in on of my posts, was everything but a natural evolution of her character because she closed herself off to everyone. The lesson is not that she can't be passionate about her work, the lesson is that there need to be a healthy balance between her work and her life, a balance that completely got off the rails when she got on Dark Jurassic, and we got to see the consequences of that balance being thrown off: Kenji broke up with her because she was in denial, Darius didn't show up because it hadn't even crossed her mind that his fiasco of a confession could affect their relationship and their plan to meet up, and finally her arm got eaten because she had gone about everything the wrong way, thus ending up alone and traumatized.

I totally got off topic, but consider the first few paragraphs my reply, the rest in bonus, as per usual 🤣

Oh, and of course, narratively speaking she also said that to allow our dear Darius to bounce back on what she said, leading to the infamous confession. It was because she said that that he started rambling on about how he couldn't fathom wanting her to be someone else because she was so perfect, bla bla, the rest is history. So it's also partly there as a set up to allow for Darius' character to accidentally confess in the most awful way I might say 😂.

And about the second question I'm not sure I understand what you're asking me, sorry 😭 Is it about Kenlynn or simply Brooklynn ? Because Kenji's not in that scene. I don't think you're asking me what Brooklynn meant because I think it's pretty easy to get that people look a certain way at people who look different, even if they don't mean to, and that it's bound to hurt.

[sylvestris123]

The mystery of Muriel

I have a lot of questions about Muriel...

The first is: Why is it that we see Muriel and Aziraphale interacting with each other during the minisode "A Companion to Owls", but when Muriel turns up on the doorstep during the present time, neither of them appears to recognise each other?

There are several possibilities here:

It was a long time ago, neither of them recalls the other.

I don't like this theory much; it's the simplest explanation, but if A and M are supposed to be strangers in the present, it would have been a lot easier to cast another person as "unnamed scrivenor" in the Owls flashback, or use one of the other angels for the interaction in that scene.

2. Both of them do recognise each other, and both are going along with the charade.

I just don't think M is devious enough to carry this off! They can't even keep up the "I am a human being" act for more than a minute before slipping up.

3. Aziraphale does in fact remember Muriel but is pretending to go along with their "I am a human police officer" spiel. Muriel doesn't remember Aziraphale.

This explains A's behaviour but not M's. I would have thought that they are more likely to remember A than the other way round. A has met thousands of people in his time on Earth; M confesses to Crowley that they see almost nobody in their day-to-day job, so almost any interaction with others would probably be memorable.

Also: would the other Archangels send down somebody that they hope will be incognito if they thought that person might be recognised?

Unless...M has had their memory wiped at some point after the events in the flashback.

4. Another "unreliable narrator" moment. Aziraphale does not actually remember who checked the contract with him, just that it was a scrivenor. And the only scrivenor he has seen recently was Muriel so he sees that face in his memory.

This is possibly the most plausible explanation to me...I can't really think of why else the Archangels would send somebody that they thought A might recognise. (Although they don't seem to be that sharp in Heaven - maybe whoever made the decision to send M wasn't in possession of the brain cell at the time).

Next question: How many scrivenors are there, actually? We have only seen Muriel, and they are 37th class, implying 36 categories above them exist. If there are lots of "Muriels" there is even less reason for sending that angel specifically to Aziraphale.

Is there just one in each class, each representing an angel who has had a memory wipe, maybe?

Next question: Muriel GLOWS. They outshine every other character in every scene that they are in, including all the Archangels, Aziraphale and Jim in his innocent state. What's that all about?

The only other person who comes close to M in terms of brightness is Saraquael...

I'm certain that it is not only relevant but important...

Any ideas?

[they-breasted-boobily]

Ways the plot of tua s4 could have been improved while including a lot of the same storyline:

It goes without saying that a 6 episode season was too rushed for even the shitty plot we got given, but I'll mention that these ideas would have worked better for an 8-10 episode season. Or maybe you could use them for fics or comics- I'd love to see them!

1. The careers and new lives of non-powered umbrellas: While Lila, Klaus, and Viktor had decent set-ups, the others seemed out of place. Diego's personality and desire to be a hero would have been better suited to a mall cop or traffic cop, where he feels undervalued and underutilised, rather than just beaten down as a delivery driver for jokes about peeing in a bottle. Luther only mentioned Sloane a couple of times in the entire series- with more than 6 episodes, it could have been possible to give flashbacks of him trying to get back to her, but her not recognising him and not being romantically interested. Not sure what changes could be made to his job or housing though. Allison's setup was mostly fine, but we really should have been given an explanation for why Raymond left- maybe lean into the horror of being taken from your time and timeline raising a daughter you suddenly have? Five would not work for the CIA except as a double-agent, either that or he would be retired as a fishing supplies store owner. Ben is his own whole point later in this post.

2. The marigold sake shots: I feel like this plot point added to Ben just being an asshole and scapegoat for the entire season, which could benefit from major changes. If left relatively unchanged, the fact that Klaus threw it over his shoulder could have led to greater implications if it landed on an unknown person behind them and gave them powers. This person could have been the subject of an episode or two as they were tracked down when it was necessary.

3. Ben's character: While s3 Sparrow Ben was a dick, he was not as edgy, conceited, or self-absorbed as he was in s4. I think it's fine to start his arc with him leaving prison, but making the crime as major as crypto fraud (just because you think it's funny) makes it much more difficult for him to seem likeable and relateable to Jessica or anyone else. If the crime was something more minor, or he was framed/unfairly jailed it could set up a revenge/redemption arc from the get-go. With his relationship with Jessica, it would have benefited from being more of a slow burn, or if the gradual unnatural obsession had more than 6 episodes to build up.

4. The subway romance: While I can almost understand why it was Five and Lila due to their history working together and especially using time travel together, I think if Five needed a romance (which I don't but show writers can't stand having one member of the main cast never being in a relationship), it should have been someone he met while on that 7 year subway adventure (probably an older woman) and settled with in Strawberry Tradwife timeline while Lila keeps looking for a way out for the sake of her children. Lila would find the journal a few months later and using both it and the subway map, get back to Five because she still needs his powers to get entirely out of the subway system. Could you imagine a scene with Lila trying to convince Five to leave the peaceful Strawberry Tradwife life he's always wanted after dealing with the trauma of being stuck in time twice?

5. Klaus's return to addiction: I think Klaus's arc could have definitely benefited from the season being longer. If there was a slower burn towards his addiction returning and his confrontation with Claire and if she stressed more that he didn't need to go down this path again, it could have really been impactful. The ghost sex trafficking thing was gross but if that was the only way to get him buried alive then so be it, because having him in a situation where he would have to directly face his trauma from the mausoleum and become stronger would be so good for the sendoff of his character. Maybe that could have been the point where he learned how to levitate?

6. Reginald and false memories: Why was the fact that he's literally not human and crafted this timeline so he could have as much power as possible (including a militia town) not explored at all? The plot should have revolved a lot more around at least verifying what he was saying about marigold and durango, if not about handing him a final defeat for this final season. Everything around him killing Ben led to huge plot holes (why wouldn't Klaus know the truth from Ben's ghost? Ben easily could have been spared and only Jessica shot. Why was Jessica being in a squid never explained?). While it's interesting to see the Umbrellas all give a brainwashed explanation for Ben's death, it couldn't be something as blatant as that, because Klaus would have to know even if everyone else was brainwashed. The brainwashing is an idea with promise, but it should have been something like Ben and Jessica being consumed by the giant squid together because Ben went against orders.

What other things could have been changed? I personally liked the CIA subplot, especially as it taught Diego to appreciate his family more. I also found Jean and Gene and the Cleanse conspiracy theorists to be fun new mini-villains.

[emberwritesinsight]

"Your sister's as cute as you are. And as easy-going."

I was going to make a "why did he say this, what's wrong with him" joke, but actually let's unpack this? Fully inviting people to help me unpack this- it's Utena, I'm sure I'll miss something.

The thing that jumped out at me upon first watching this scene is that it's really blatant flirting. "You and your sister are equally cute", he says, just having had sex with said sister.

And I initially couldn't figure out why he did this! Like, this whole scene is about baiting Miki into dueling, the sex with Kozue included. But this? This moment where he straight-up hits on Miki? I couldn't make it fit.

The best explanation I can think of is that flirting with Miki is, like, a show of dominance. "I'm going to compare you to a girl I just had sex with, what are you going to do about it? Nothing. I have the power here." It makes Miki feel more helpless- it also makes him feel some other things, if this shit

is any indication*, but I think the point is less "give Miki the most confusing and twisted bisexual awakening in existence" (although I do think Touga would find that funny) and more "treat Miki like an inferior".

*I am only slightly joking. Like, Flashback Touga doesn't repeat the flirty line, just the stuff about the Rose Bride, but the fact that he's being framed like That in Miki's mind, even though there's also the image of him leaning on the piano with his shirt off that actually happened and would be way less suspicious to linger on... I'm sure there's more to it than just Miki being thirsty, but I think that part is definitely there.

Also, as a younger guy with similar-but-not-yet-as-severe sibling issues, Miki is objectively the best candidate if Touga ever decided he wanted to have his own Touga- that is, Touga in relation to Akio. I don't think Touga ever even tries to go through with it, but this might be laying the groundwork for a similar fucked-up apprenticeship. Make Miki want to be Touga and also stir up some sexual feelings and the Yikesfest follows.

[bereft-of-frogs]

ugh I think I have another #Theory, this time to the solve to the 'how to kill a Jedi without a weapon' riddle, I truly must be stopped --

I think people are off-base assuming it's with the Force, because I feel like Mae would have already figured out choking/lightning or whatever, I believe the Force counts as a 'weapon', and clearly the poison was a weapon (see: Qimir after 'so you did it, you killed the Jedi without the poison) so I do think it's metaphorical rather than semantic. I believe the theories that it's about corrupting a Jedi to the dark side and 'destroying the dream' are closer than any 'it's because she's meant to do it with the Force/her bare hands' or 'it's about killing an unarmed Jedi' (though that second one has potential, why else is she grabbing for the lightsabers but leaving them after they're dead?). But another solution could be destroying the Jedi's legacy.

I think they're going to frame Sol as the rogue Jedi who trained Mae.

I have like, so little textual evidence for this. This is probably as out of thin air as the 'Vernestra/Indara is the Sith' theories so maybe I who live in a glass house shouldn't be throwing stones about how much I dislike those theories after proposing this one. But I'm really thinking that only Sol is going to make it out of the forest battle alive next episode, aside from Osha and the Sith crew, and there's going to be some kind of chase that leads them away. So Vernestra shows up on Khofar (the lightwhip scene in the trailer is almost certainly Khofar) to find the bodies killed with a lightsaber and everyone else gone.

I think they go off and unpack whatever happened the night of the fire on Brendok, there's all kinds of confrontations/fights/reveals/etc in episodes 6 & 8 (episode 7 is definitely the Jedi POV of the flashback) and the season's going to end with at least Sol dead (maybe Mae too) and Osha turning to the dark side to become the true acolyte. It was already set up last episode that the Order doesn't suspect the Sith, they're pretty convinced it's a 'rogue Jedi' who trained Mae, and Sol did some kind of shady stuff during that meeting. (Not including himself on the list of targets, keeping Mae and her survival a secret.) Even I sort of started to suspect him, but I think that's a red herring, just to set up why Vernestra might end up distrusting him. So Vern's feeling kind of weird about the secrets Sol's kept about Mae (because it's more than just 'he thought she died', Yord said even the existence of Mae didn't end up in Osha's file), but she still trusts him and there are innocent explanations for all this she writes off, so she sends him off with a bunch of other Jedi to go get Kelnacca. But now the whole crew she sent out is dead, clearly killed with a lightsaber (they know Osha doesn't have a lightsaber, and reasonably suspect Mae doesn't either considering Indara was killed with a knife, Torbin poison, and she left their lightsabers behind), and Sol's gone...I think it's fairly reasonable suspicion especially if later Osha turns up as the acolyte.

(There were a couple early things that seemed to deliberately set her physically apart from Mae, the marking on Mae's forehead and her tattoo. Why would they do that if the Jedi believed the identical twin thing right away? Why would they need some proof of their identities unless there's a second role reversal and they need some other way of telling it's Osha and not Mae?)

So yeah in this Sol -- ray of literal sunshine, good Jedi, kind person -- gets his legacy destroyed (one apprentice dead, because I'm pretty convinced Jecki doesn't live out the season, though I'll be happy to be wrong -- the other turned to the dark side) and his reputation tarnished by accusations of being a rogue Jedi training dark side assassins. There you go, you've killed a Jedi without a weapon.

And I feel like this would fit the kind of meta narrative they've got going on, as sort of a mirror of what happened to the Order as a whole at the end of the PT, heroes transformed into traitors.

I have no additional evidence for this. My theories are not spiraling at all. I love weekly releases and am being very very normal about having to wait between episodes. :) so normal *vibrates intensely*

[krafterwrites]

Ok, time for the one post I'll make about Sonic 3 itself now that it's out. Since there's already a full recording of it available online, I'm going to write down my "live reactions" (I already know basically everything that's going to happen, but I'm sure there's at least one or two small surprises left) below the cut so I can get this movie out of my system and move on

The first lines of dialogue are a "Cops love donuts" joke. Off to a great start

A gambling ad popped up right as Shadow broke out and started attacking people gljkdfgh

4 minutes in and they've already used the leitmotif of Live And Learn 3 times

Shadow being sopping wet and miserable is pretty cute

Ace already said this but wow they really did ruin the "Talk about low budget flights line", Sonic saying it feels soooo unnatural and shoehorned in

Unless it's for a really good sequence, I don't understand the point of playing a licensed song for literally 10 seconds

Wow the opening fight with all three of them against Shadow is super short

I'm glad that the gun isn't just for show and he actually gets to use it

I seriously cannot get over how stupid Shadow coming from a meteor is, the entire POINT of his character is that he was created. He was born to be the ultimate lifeform, to be a cure for Maria, to bring hope to humanity. Him just randomly showing up instead of specifically being created undermines his entire identity. Also, Gerald creating Shadow is incredibly important to his identity as well. It's almost impressive that they managed to fuck up so much with a single decision

The dialogue has already made me cringe a few times but that was definitely the worst instance so far. I wish they would stop

YIPPEE OFFICER DOWN!!!

Walters having a photo of Team Sonic in his jacket that was taken like 5 minutes beforehand so Rockwell can pick it up to illustrate that she thinks Team Sonic killed him is kind of strange and unnecessary

I thought that the show Eggman was watching was another gambling ad for a second

Eggman said boobs. Sure why not

I forgot that they're allowed to swear a bit

I thought they were going to reference Among Us when Stone said imposter. I wish they did, it would've been an actually acceptable pop culture reference

I'm kind of torn on the flashback montage with Maria. It feels a little too silly and lighthearted, but it is cute to see her and Shadow do a bunch of childish stuff together

However, her not being terminally ill and also not spending her entire life in space is dumb. Those are both very important to who she is, and consequently, who Shadow is (he was initially made to be a cure for her, and her love for the planet that she never got to see is what motivates him). I know both of these are consequences of them making Shadow come from a meteor, but there was literally no reason for them to do that, especially considering it messed up him, Gerald, AND Maria. Why would they make that choice when it doesn't add anything and has such a high cost

The Biolizard puppet is cute, though. They should've actually included it (along with Rouge, Amy, and all the other things they omitted), but I guess it's better than nothing

Oh god Gerald is here. I was thinking "So far this isn't as hard to watch as I thought it would be" but it's probably going to get significantly more painful soon

That was a Family Guy cutaway gag

How is a bunch of loose popcorn still in pristine condition after 50 years of sitting out in the open

That was a bad fourth wall joke. Also get on it, this has been going on for like 2-3 minutes

So if we're meant to believe that Shadow's quill is what kept Gerald alive, can Shadow basically just grant people immortality at will? Or is there really just no explanation for him living longer than any human should be able to

I'm glad that the scene of Eggman and Gerald doing stuff together in VR didn't go on for that long, because it felt like the scene of them meeting felt so dragged out

For a split second I thought the music was using the leitmotif of Dreams Of An Absolution, but then I realized that its Green Hill

The puppet only has like 15 seconds of screentime but it's still SO unnecessary

Shadow saying "revenge guac" is stupid but it did not make me cringe like some of the other lines have so far

Tom using the hologram tech to disguise as Randall... Not my place to speak so I'm not going to say anything, but I don't think that was a good idea

Pointless extended bit of Jim Carrey doing comedy with himself number 3. And I know there's at least one more after this. Why did they have to focus on him so heavily

YESSSSSS thank you Shadow, we all wanted to see that happen. Keep up the good work

I hate that Wade got to appear at all, but at least his screentime is brief

It sucks that we just get Gerald saying "It's not about what Maria wanted, it's about what they deserve" to convince Shadow to get revenge, because that's the opposite of how he motivated Shadow in SA2, he made it seem like revenge is what Maria wanted

When I first saw the commander trying to wrestle away the gum through a leak, I laughed my ass off. It's so stupid. Also I knew they would be cowards and not actually show her getting shot, but it's still annoying

Maria not actually getting to say her last words to Shadow, on top of him not being made by Gerald, really is a one-two punch of completely destroying his SA2 characterization (and his characterization in general). It's insulting to Maria too, how do you manage to take away agency from a character who's entire narrative purpose is to die for the sake of another character's backstory

Also, now that the plot has moved into space, I can say with even more certainty that there truly was no reason for them to use Tokyo and London instead of San Francisco. The only thing gained from using Tokyo is the Chao cafe, and the only thing gained from using London is about a minute or two of basic pop culture references. I'm pretty sure they only picked them because they're two of the most famous cities in the world, which is dumb

I hate that Shadow's arc is about letting go of anger and not seeking revenge, that's completely different from what his story is in SA2, they're barely comparable even on a surface level. His actual arc is about being unsure of who he is and why he exists, being used as a tool for revenge by Gerald, and eventually breaking free of that programming to discover that he was created to bring hope to humanity

The Eggman vs Gerald stuff is the stupidest shit ever, and it's made even worse by the fact that it keeps interrupting the Sonic and Shadow scenes

I hate to say that when I first saw Gerald's death through a leak, I (involuntary) burst out laughing. It's supremely stupid and I do not like it, but it's just so absurd that it's hard not to react in some way

The moon thing kinda makes me mad tbh. This movie loves to make references to iconic things from SA2 instead of actually adapting them

The finale is pretty cool visually, but conceptually, it's a really big downgrade from the original. It's comprised of a super form battle between Sonic and Shadow, a cartoon slapfight between Eggman and Gerald, Sonic and Shadow easily blasting through a bunch of GUN Hunters, them blocking the laser while it gets steered away with an actual steering wheel, and then Shadow physically pushing the ARK away by himself. SA2 featured everyone except Shadow working together to reach the deepest part of the ARK as it hurtled towards the Earth, Shadow rushing in to fight the Biolizard while Sonic and Knuckles neutralize the core's energy, and then Sonic and Shadow being forced to go super after the Biolizard fuses itself to the colony in order to continue Gerald's plan, ending with them both using Chaos Control together to put it back in place

I was going to write a summary after I finished watching, but honestly, Eggman took the words right out of my mouth when he said "It's been a real drag. Thanks for nothing" and then died in an explosion

[breckstonevailskier]

"Jumanji" speculation

This is the synopsis for the upcoming sixth episode of Gen V (source).

My guesses are that:

"Emma goes to find Sam" - Seems like she probably returns to Godolkin's campus since we last saw her in episode 5 with Sam at the drive-in, calling the others to warn them about Cate.

"Marie, Jordan and Andre are forced to see things from Cate's perspective." My guess is this will be a limelight episode for Cate with a fair number of extended flashbacks that illustrate just how Cate came into Shetty's control, and also probably give us more Golden Boy as well as tell us just how Brink fits into this all (and why exactly Golden Boy killed him). Since Cate clearly is wracked with guilt about wiping their minds, it would make sense that she'd want to divulge everything she can to regain their trust. There was a preview shot in episode 6 of Cate's eyes looking pretty bloodshot, suggesting she restored all of their memories, not just Andre's.

"Dr. Cardosa makes a breakthrough with a mysterious virus, and Shetty makes a terrifying request with dire consequences." We're definitely going to be seeing follow-up to the scene that Shetty had with Cardosa in the Woods corridor. Definitely seems like he wants Marie's blood to perfect his virus that can control Supes (which I personally think might also tie in with why Cate was under Shetty's control, given her particular powerset).

Edison Cardosa: [Sam] nearly killed my family, Indira! He's far more trouble than he's worth, and Golden Boy is dead anyway. The point is, I'm done with Sam. He's not my problem anymore. I'm tired of babysitting psychopaths. Indira Shetty: Babysitting psychopaths is literally your job. Edison Cardosa: Those kids found out about him! Indira Shetty: Those kids have been handled. They won't be a problem. Edison Cardosa: Come on. You know it's just a matter of time before they find out about everything else we're doing down here. I am this fսcking close to perfecting the virus, a viable way to control them for good. But if they discover that? I'm not paid nearly enough to die for this shit. Indira Shetty: So you want a raise? Edison Cardosa: No, that's not what I... Indira Shetty: So why don't you tell me what it is you do want? Because we both know you're not going anywhere. Cutting up Supes and seeing how they tick is a skill that won't quite shine on your LinkedIn profile. Edison Cardosa: I want the girl. Marie. Her abilities are the rarest I've ever seen. She doesn't understand how powerful she really is. She's the perfect subject, could speed up my timeline. Indira Shetty: She is special. But no. You're not the only one interested in Moreau. She has a benefactor, and because of that, she's strictly off-limits. For now.

This will probably include some explanation as to what Soldier Boy might be doing in this show. But then there's the question of who Marie's benefactor is. It's probably not Shetty herself because I don't see why Shetty would refer to herself in the third person, so it's probably someone else within Vought or associated with Vought. Could be Victoria Neuman (since we will see her in person in one of these episodes), but I like the theory that Marie's benefactor is Stan Edgar. As New Rockstars pointed out, he's got a history of taking interest in orphaned Supes from Red River who accidentally killed their own parents (can't be a coincidence that we actually saw Marie's picture briefly on the computer screen when Hughie was at Red River investigating Victoria's past and uncovered her connection to Edgar; Victoria's and Marie's parents also died in similar fashion); he'd want a new asset in the wake of Victoria's double cross, and seeing as Edgar was the one who signed off on Payback betraying Soldier Boy to replace him with Homelander back in 1985, it would make sense for him to have a contingency plan up his sleeve (and be secretly coordinating with Shetty and the many other insiders he probably still has within Vought).

[nalyra-dreaming]

Thanks for answering my ask! Re the trial-louis-lestat choice.

I understand what you mean about picking up on the clues, but clues are not enough to make a canon. Season 3 will hopefully bring more clarity that would be much welcome! One of the reasons why I am being wary and not yet believe that these theories will come to fruition largely has to do with the season two revisits.

They chose to revisit two scenes, one of which quite literally dichotomized the fan base (and actually turned some fans away from the series altogether). During the wait for season two people were swearing up and down that the revisit would set this right somehow and that there were hints (lestats immaculate appearance during the drop etc) that this did not take place at all and it was a fake memory inserted by armand.However that did not happen and in 2x7 the drop became accepted canon. (They may add more explanation behind the why of it but that's another thing to theorize about)

Instead the revisits were shown to be the two moments of truth during the sham of a trial and they were focused on lestat being made to appear more vulnerable and indeed more like the "victim" like the narrative the script was trying to push. Not sure if these crucial moments showing louis to be unreliable had to be shown to us in the middle of a script meant to lynch him, but then again it falls in line with the overall theme of the episode and season two 😅

I fully agree with you that the manipulation from armand played a huge role in louis' psyche and choices, I do though get the feeling that the writers wanted to sort of muddle his character too and show he is part of the problem with the choices he made in his relationship with armand and lestat. Having both parents have a hand in claudias death is also A Choice (slightly raised eyebrow here).

Either way I really hope that by season 3 they don't take the he- said- she -said route, and we get both flashbacks and backround information! There is much more to explore behind these events (especially where leatat is concerned) and I really hope they go for it!

Thanks for reading!!

Hey,

sure :)

You’re right, clues are not enough to make canon, but… that’s the point. We do not have CANON yet. We do not have the truth... yet.

The writers said in November 22 that they would revisit, and yes, you are right, a lot of people - myself included - thought that would be more … let’s call it direct.

But they chose the very subtle approach there once more, AND they chose to return to the books in setup, something I did indeed not anticipate.

Season one was like a breath of fresh air. Making Louis more, pulling up the so-called subtext, breaking the book structure up and also the setting, as well of the backgrounds. They incorporated things from multiple books in s1 alone already: IWTV, TVL, QotD, Memnoch, Merrick and Prince Lestat.

I had expected that they would continue like that, but they returned to the book structure, and quite… closely too. That expectation I was wrong about, and subsequently also about the (depths of the) reveals, granted.

Because: By returning to the book structure they also returned to the narrative views for a while longer at least, to the uncertainty of what Louis knows - and what he does not know. Which goes for the audience as well.

I think, I, like a lot of people, had expected different for s2. And while I loved s2 in general that part has left me disappointed, as said before.

I said it before, I think the drop happened as it stands now, however I fully expect them to go back to those minutes, add context, and if I'm right the dragging outside will have significance in later seasons. But, you HAVE to remember - what you have seen of the trial, was also a memory. An edited memory, to a large part, because we do have the trial script. And that is, right now, our only source of actual proof which contradicts reliably.

So right now I am interpreting it all within the clues we got. You said it yourself, some things do not match.

By now I am quite sure that they will continue like that - to write clues in, but will not care to spell it all out.

And, as said before, >I< would have preferred that another way. It makes the show very clever, yes. It makes it intricately layered, also yes.

But it also makes it so much harder to get truth, and while this show is probably made better for not giving us said truth, the fandom would desperately need it, imho.

[zacki0gaming]

Trying To Analyze Cintagon’s Backstory In The Season 1’s Finale

I know haven’t got a lot of analyze posts to say about the TPC series, but I want to actually fully talk about Cintagon’s backstory here, including truth of Pentellow’s mother, the Green Tree of Life’s conversation, etc. It is because I definitely know it’s still terribly written to this day for me…

Scene Overview

So apparently, Cintagon’s story discloses crucial information regarding Pentellow's origins, her mother's fate, and his own paternal relationship to her. It revelation serves multiple narrative purposes: it elucidates Pentellow's background, contextualizes Cintagon's challenging past decision between the Green Tree of Life’s request (we will get to this bullshit part later…), and establishes a profound emotional connection between the long-separated father and daughter.

Analysis

Cintagon’s Revelation

Lines:

"It was before this pink virus existed."

"Your mother died from giving birth to you."

"So your father was going to raise you like any parent would...But..."

"He had to give you away to someone else."

Setting the Context: Cintagon starts by mentioning a period before the Pink Corruption Virus was created. It contextually shows how this backstory is gonna playout later on within this discussion.

Grief and Responsibility: Cintagon’s statement about Pentellow's mother dying at childbirth, introduced a profound sense of lose as Cintagon's use of "your father" in the third person creates initial distance, building suspense before revealing his true identity to Pentellow.

Conflict and Duty: The word "But..." introduces a turning point, highlighting the internal conflict between his parental love and his sense of duty, evident through his promise to raise Pentellow like any other parent would.

Pentellow’s Curiosity and Shock

Lines:

"Why?"

Innocence and Curiosity: Pentellow's single-word question encapsulates her confusion and longing for understanding of her seeking the truth about her past and more about her family's background.

Cintagon's Explanation and Vulnerability

The Backstory’s Dialogue:

"The tree of life told him to. It said his daughter will become the second caretaker, and will succeed at it. If he's willing to give you to someone else. He was devastated. He thought he could never see her again... Until now. I can finally tell you why I had to give you away."

Forgive me for my stupid computer pen writing skills here....

So basically, this flashback represents Cintagon's vulnerability through the Green of Tree of Life's request in order to have his daughter, Pentellow to become one of the Caretakers. It is testament if he is wiling to give his daughter to someone else. So, remember the promise Cintagon made to take care of his daughter like any other parent would?

Emotional Devastation: This will get heavily influenced and destroyed here, humanizing the depth of Cintagon's long-lasting emotional toll for sacrificing his chance of taking care of his daughter in order to have her become one of the chosen ones.

Revelation of Identity: By saying "I can finally tell you why I had to give you away," Cintagon reveals his true identity as her father, blending relief, regret, and a desire for reconciliation.

Alright, here’s the main fucking problem here…

I don't mind Cintagon being Pentellow's father, but the overall execution of this main storyline arc needed more improvement. It was so underwhelming, rushed, and poorly-written. The initial episodes of Season 1 (1-5, and possibly 6) primarily felt like we were focusing on Cube and Cyan's characters when they basically became caretaker and hero in the first few days. But however, this sudden shift to Pentellow's backstory on searching for her long-lost family feel somewhat abrupt and disconnected.

The buildup to the realization of Cintagon's role as Pentellow's father lacked subtlety, with foreshadowing that was overly transparent. By the conclusion of Season 1, Episode 9, when Polyhedron stated, "Oh, you need to find this guy named uhhhh…. Cintagon," the revelation had become quickly predictable, diminishing its potential impact.

Now we talk about the backstory here. In essence, the Green Tree of Life makes a highly controversial and seemingly unjustified decision, instructing Cintagon to go fuck himself to cease all of his parental responsibilities towards his daughter for a period of 24 years. Let me say this AGAIN...! "A FUCKING 24-YEAR TOLL." I don't like this because The Tree's request was just so unreasonable and poorly justified. Like, the Tree was just seeming to disregard Cintagon's paternal role and emotional well-being, not wanting him to actually take care of his daughter for no fucking reason WHY…!

Overall, this main story arc for Pentellow appears to have been implemented hastily, resulting this storytelling experience with so much of wasted potential. Pentellow dosen’t get a whole lot of character development, Cintagon’s backstory was poorly-explained with the Green Tree of Life being so nonsensical and out of character for the sake of being a asshole toward Cintagon.

Alright, that’s all I’m gonna say here. See yall in my next rant post.

[neuroticbookworm]

Understanding the Core Four of La Pluie

Last Saturday, I screamed into this hellsite about the brilliance of La Pluie episode 10, and in the last couple of days, I read many amazing metas from my fellow La Pluie fiends that broke down all the well-executed dimensions of this episode (keep an eye out for this week’s La Pluie meta roundup from my pal @lurkingshan). When we last saw these characters in episode 9, Lomfon was running the hamster wheel in his brain, trying to figure out how to navigate his situation of hearing Saengtai (and Patts) when it rained. Tien was nursing a crush on Lomfon, and Tai and Patts had made things official and were stronger than ever. Then came episode 10, which turned everything upside down and left us speechless.

I loved and enjoyed every aspect of this episode: acting, plot development, cinematography, screenwriting, and more. But the one that blew me away the most was how the motivation and drive behind each character’s actions were perfectly in line with the character traits the show has already established. I initially wanted to write this post only to explore these traits, but after observing the La Pluie fandom discourse for the past week, I expanded it to include my defense of why every character in the La Pluie Core Four "deserves" the resolutions the show is poised to give them in the coming days.

Tien:

When Tien enters the pivotal conflict scene in the rain, he walks into a kiss between his brother and the guy he has a crush on. Absolutely heartbreaking. We see him stand still on the side, while Patts rushes to push Lomfon away from Tai and punch him repeatedly in the face (though not hard enough, as my friend @bengiyo argues here, and I fully agree. That ass-whooping should've been harder and longer). And after Patts and Tai walk away, Tien faces Lomfon, who just recklessly messed up the lives of everyone around him with no regard for anyone's feelings.

Here’s a quick list of Tien’s personality traits that were on display in this scene:

Tien is calm. He is pissed, he is rattled by the events, and yet he starts with a pretty calm "What did you mean?"

Tien is logical. He immediately counters Lomfon's explanation about his hearing loss and him being Saengtai's soulmate with, "You liar. I'm speaking now, and you can hear me."

Tien is a good communicator. He clearly confessed his feelings to Lomfon and how he thought his feelings were reciprocated, even when his heart was in tatters. He managed to be the most open and honest person out of everyone involved in this mess, and he hadn’t even done anything wrong. We would’ve completely understood his actions if he had just walked away after cussing out Lomfon, but that’s not the Tien we’ve seen and adored for the last nine episodes.

Tien is brave. He had been developing feelings for Lomfon for a while, and he thought his feelings were reciprocated. Being vulnerable and confessing your feelings to your crush is a nerve-wracking experience in its own right, and yet Tien confessed his feelings after Lomfon had just kissed his brother, potentially ruining any possibility of a relationship between them. For that alone, he is one of the bravest sonsofbitches I've seen in a BL so far.

I was not expecting to be surprised by Tien in this episode. I don’t exactly know what I thought his reaction would be to the Lomfon-sized wreaking ball I knew was coming, but I had only anticipated a heartbroken Tien. Instead, I got a Tien who was the only level-headed and rational person in this fight. And all of these wonderful traits were already established in the show's previous episodes:

Tien is one of the calmer Saengs. We have seen each of the Saeng brothers handle their parents' split very differently in the flashbacks. Saengtai and Saengchan are usually in tears and are physically reactive, whereas Saengtien and Saengnuea are the ones holding them back and comforting them.

Lomfon is not the only one who ran experiments to understand his feelings. Tien is also logical (albeit less neurotic and more sensible than Lomfon), and he worked through his sudden feelings for Lomfon after they held hands in the classroom by holding hands with his friends. He’s also open to opinions from others, as he talks to Tai about his feelings. Which makes him…

A good communicator. Tien also calls out Tai’s reluctance to communicate with his mother rationally, and to try and understand her side of things in the divorce and her relationship with her boyfriend, Nu.

Tien is an excellent subversion of the "playful and less mature younger sibling" character because, while he is easy-going and playful, he’s also the most emotionally intelligent and mature character out of the Core Four. Moving on to his elder, albeit much less emotionally mature brother, Tai.

Tai and Patts:

I’m analyzing Patts and Tai’s actions together because this way it’s easier to compare their words and actions towards each other in this episode, to their relationship dynamics that were established previously. The explosive fight and the subsequent breakup were shocking, but smart cookies like @lurkingshan, @bengiyo, @shortpplfedup and @ginnymoonbeam posited in our conversations, before the episode aired, that it was time for Patts’ frustrations and insecurities to rise to the surface. And boy did it rise up. This conflict between the primary couple has already been extensively analyzed by @lurkingshan here, so I will add my little observations on how Patts and Tai’s behavior in this fight is supported by the writing of the show so far.

@ginnymoonbeam has shared her thoughts on Tai’s avoidant personality, here. I want to add that Tai is also incredibly stubborn and hard to please. His father says so, to Patts during their dinner in episode 5.

The phrase "seems like an understanding person" is very telling, five episodes later. Tai also has the propensity to see life in black and white, especially when it comes to romance. His faith in soulmates is broken the moment he witnesses the end of a soulmate relationship. There is no room for explanation, as evidenced by his decision to ghost his soulmate for 2 years, and his coldness towards his mom, whom he has decided is the sole villain in their parents’ divorce. Simply put, he reads too much Nora Roberts (check out @syrena-del-mar’s excellent meta, La Pluie meets Nora Roberts).

Moving on to Patts. First off: no Patts hate is allowed in this house. I do not condone violence, but I also think the reasons behind the display of violence deserve to be talked about without the air of dismissal surrounding it (@shortpplfedup backs me up on this, here).

Patts had been understanding of two years of silence from Tai, and had been incredibly patient while working and finding solutions to Tai's fears around relationships and commitment. All the emotional labor in this relationship had been done by Patts, he verbalizes his desires and thoughts every time and is often left hanging by Tai, in silence. After Patts and Tai’s (supposed) heart-to-heart in Doi Mae Pliang (shout out to @indigostarfire and @lurkingshan for the incredible observation that Tai chose not to verbalize his answer to Patts’ question "Do you want to be my faen?", here and here), Patts must’ve felt that they are finally on solid ground, after years of uncertainty.

When Tai lied and hid his plans with Lomfon at the park, Patts must’ve felt devastated. And when he saw Lomfon kiss Tai, he finally snapped. He took out his anger on Lomfon, but as @bengiyo observed, Patts still managed to not leave a single bruise on Lomfon. His restraint is a sign that his frustration is not directed at Lomfon, but at Tai. Patts’ anger and Tai’s refusal to communicate openly escalate the fight further and further, until all the tension breaks at Tai’s room, with Patts agreeing to break up.

Something that stood out to me in this conflict is that the escalations were so well written that they did not feel like they were being done just for the sake of moving the plot along. Every question thrown at each other’s faces and every furious answer spit out in response felt natural and fluid. When Patts shows up at Tai’s door, he is not there with the intention of picking the fight back up. The first thing Tai asks Patts is, "Are you drunk?" and Patts tells him that he is not. They both know and understand how horribly this can go if one of them loses control. When Patts asks him "You still love me, don’t you?", Tai infuriatingly responds "This is exactly why I don’t want to talk to you".

And we see Patts getting angry at his response, shouting this:

To which Tai responds with this:

Tai did not utter those words to aggravate Patts. He truly believes that in an ideal, happy relationship, the couple must be completely compatible, so totally in sync that they will know all the answers to the questions that didn’t even need to be asked. Tai stumbled into a clear understanding of the Patts-Nara mess in episode 8 and told Patts that he was not mad about it. He did not ask questions or demand answers from Patts. Sometime during his deadly trek up Doi Mae Pliang, Tai decides that their love is enough to conquer whatever the universe throws at them. Not understanding, not communication, but love. That’s why Tai shuts down every time Patts demands an explanation; he thinks needing one means that Patts does not love him "the right way". And when Patts finally blurts out "Let’s breakup", we see him immediately absorb the weight of those words and backtrack. But for Tai, this is the final proof he needed to confirm that Patts is not right for him. So, he thanks Patts for the time they shared together and shuts the door in his face.

I sincerely hope Patts holds his ground and does not apologize unnecessarily to Tai. Tai is 100% in the wrong here; he needs a stern talking-to from someone who understands both Tai and how love and relationships actually work (my money is on Tai’s dad), and then he needs to do some very difficult but necessary introspection about his understanding of love. When he is finally done and realizes that he has made a massive mistake, I hope that Tai is the one who seeks out Patts to reconcile.

And finally, the messiest mess of the Core Four…

Lomfon:

Sigh. Oh Lomfon, you fucking disaster. I’ve been wary of you, I’ve been fascinated by you, and now I want to buy a ladder so I can climb on it and ring your head like a fucking bell till you forget the “How to acquire Tai in ten easy steps” list you have in your head.

There is no question in my mind that Lomfon fucked up spectacularly. He orchestrated a date with a man who was already taken, proceeded to reveal the truth about his soulmate connection in the most dramatic and emotionally destabilizing way possible, and then kissed him. And he does all this in the midst of developing feelings for this man’s brother.

Folks, I now have a confession to make. The nearly 2k words I had put before this section were to gently lure you into an "In defense of Lomfon" post.

The two major criticisms I’ve seen so far that are leveled against him are that he has disregarded Tien’s feelings and that he has been grossly manipulative in how he chose to reveal his soulmate connection to Tai. I will try to tackle both of them with an objective lens. My goal here is not to pose an explanation or argument for every shitty thing Lomfon has ever done in the show; it is just to present Lomfon’s traits, stripped from the (rightful) anger the fandom feels after the events of episode 10, so I can understand and accept the redemption the show might give him in the coming week.

Before I get into the specifics of the defense, I want to focus on the Keychain Acquisition scene we finally got in this episode. We see Tai run after his dad, and Tai suddenly notices Lomfon, who is focused on the papers in his hand and wearing headphones, about to walk into a busy street. He rushes to push Lomfon out of the way, tells him to be careful, and then runs after his dad again. From the moment Tai touches Lomfon, to the moment Lomfon looks up only to see Tai running back, this whole interaction takes about fifteen seconds. I counted them. Fifteen seconds.

When we watched this scene, @lurkingshan and I could not believe how absurdly mundane it was. The show has been teasing a connection between Tai and Lomfon for weeks, and this is it? Tai pushed him out of the way of a moving car and shouted an obligatory "be careful, it’s dangerous" in Lomfon’s general direction before going back to his own problems. But that’s all it took for Lomfon to decide that this mystery stranger is his "first love". He did not even get a proper glimpse of Tai because, by the time he looked up, Tai was already running. I wonder how much of Tai’s voice he actually registered, given the fact that he had to rip his earphones off first and that he was disoriented from being pushed to the ground.

I understand that teenagers have wild imaginations, but even for them, this is a level of delusion that is only achievable if any and all human contact is rare. I have held hands and gently pulled and pushed friends and family members out of the way countless times in my life while crossing a busy road. If Lomfon had saved the keychain as a reminder of the day he almost died before a kind stranger saved his life, this would be a completely different post. Since Lomfon attaches such an intense meaning to an event that is so commonplace (the showing-kindness-to-strangers part, not the almost getting-hit-by-a-car part), all this scene shows us is that Lomfon is utterly and pathetically lonely.

I’m not just reading this from the keychain scene. Since this show has some very clever writers, Lomfon’s "Social Loner" status is established from the very first episode. Before Tien meets Lomfon at the bookstore, we see Tien interact with his friends and his brother. In contrast to this, when we see Lomfon for the first time, he’s alone and is immediately picking a fight with Tien. Which leads to Lomfon meeting Tai for the very first time, and Tai intervening to break up the catfight. Tien even says this to Lomfon:

Remember when we were theorizing about Lomfon potentially knowing Tai before this incident, after the Keychain was introduced in episode 7? Because in episode 2, when he meets Tai at the coffee shop, he talks about Tai’s articles? And we were thinking, there’s no way he just stalked this person online after meeting him for about 2 minutes, just because he took his side. Nobody would be that obsessed, right? Right? Nope. This boy is really THAT obsessed, because he does not have a single friend who can take his side on a daily basis and normalize this experience for him.

With this information, some of Lomfon’s actions start making a little bit more sense, as his social isolation must make him very inept at reading normal social cues and emotions. He may fancy himself a logician, but he cannot factor feelings and emotions, his own or otherwise, into his calculations. I intentionally only used the word "obsession" when I talked about his feelings for Tai, because I know that he’s not pursuing Tai because he felt his heart flutter in his chest. He’s pursuing him because: 1. Tai took his side in the bookstore argument; 2. He then went home and stalked Tai on the internet and figured out that he’s a writer, which was interesting, because he likes... reading, I guess? (I’m feeling physical pain due to second-hand embarrassment from typing that sentence.) and 3. He found out that Tai has read some of his favorite books and figured that they must have the same passions and interests.

And here is my defense for the first criticism: When we consider just how little time he must’ve spent in his entire life, thinking about other people and their problems (because he must have the heartfelt and intimate connection it requires with only a rare few people), Lomfon does care for Tien. He held Tien back when he was recklessly rushing into a storm to save his brother. He calmed Tien down with very persuasive arguments that were both logical and empathetic. He respected Tien’s opinions enough to discuss the concept of soulmates with him twice (in episodes 7 and 10). During their discussion in episode 10, Tien tells him he doesn’t know whether he would choose his soulmate or someone he likes. After the scene, we see Lomfon sitting alone, ruminating on this thought for a few seconds. He asks his friend and possible crush for advice on what to do, and when he doesn’t get a concrete solution, he decides to give his way a try. And we see him make the call to invite Tien to lunch and a day at the park.

And what exactly was he trying to accomplish on this date, you may ask? Well, to paraphrase @bengiyo, he just wanted to run an experiment for "The Foot Pop" theory from The Princess Diaries. Matters of the heart are not something you can distil into equations. You either have to let the desire fully confront you, let it cloud your logical brain, and bravely let it guide you into your next steps. Or you can open up and be vulnerable about it with the people closest to you, ask for their opinions, and then take a decision that’s a bit more informed, yet firmly rooted in what you want based on what you feel. Both of these options are foreign to Lomfon. He has never solved problems this way, nor has he witnessed someone solving problems like this. So he recklessly kisses Tai, to prove to himself that all the calculations he had performed on his and Tai’s compatibility were right. He kisses Tai, and when he does not feel the butterflies, he pulls back, sees Tai’s stunned face, and immediately realizes that he has made a horrible, horrible mistake.

You know where he should’ve run the experiment, for better results? Riiiiiight here:

gif by the ever lovely @liyazaki

It could’ve been so simple and sweet. This loser just had to take the route that would cause the most damage.

Moving on to the second criticism that Lomfon is shady and manipulative in his actions in episode 10. I agree, he easily could’ve found a much less dramatic way to talk to Tai and Patts about this shared soulmate bond situation. But taking this straightforward route takes a lot of social courage and nuance, which Lomfon clearly does not have. If he and Patts had not been staring daggers since the moment they laid eyes on each other, the solution to their soulmate problem could’ve been calmly discussed at a table over breakfast. Since Lomfon decides to posture up to Patts as a romantic rival, with Patts already on edge about his intentions with Tai, Patts brusquely tells him to stay away from Tai. Which does not help matters one bit, and leads to Lomfon making all the wrong moves straight into disaster.

The biggest questions that were constantly in my head after this fiasco were "How the heck is Tien ever going to forgive him?". "Is a happily ever after even on the cards for Lomfon and Tien?". "Will it be believable and realistic if the writers give us one?".

I do not want to speculate on how the writers may choose to end this arc, because I want to ponder these questions purely based on what we know so far, without an ending of my choice already in my head, so I don’t skew my arguments to fit.

Lomfon may believe that Tai is the one who is most compatible with him, but he could not be more wrong. We have not seen any interactions between them where their personalities complement each other. We only see Tai in these interactions through Lomfon’s obsessive lens. But on the flip side, we see that Tien is rational and emotionally mature enough to give Lomfon an honest chance to explain himself and apologize. If Lomfon takes the time to look inward and understand his feelings for Tien, he will then convey them with sharp focus, and without any ambiguity. Because, let’s be honest, Lomfon is many things, but he is definitely not the type to prattle. And for Tien, who is also a straightforward and no-nonsense communicator, this approach might be the first step towards understanding and eventually forgiving Lomfon.

I know that I am skirting around a lot of Lomfon’s major fuckups on this road to redemption, but as I stated before, I’m not here to explain away all of his mistakes. I know Lomfon has some serious introspection and atonement in front of him. The only way he can ever hope for forgiveness is if he goes into this journey without hoping to be forgiven. He has to do it for the people that he has hurt, with no expectations in return.

Lomfon is not irredeemable. Does he deserve all the hate he is currently getting from the fandom? Yes. Did he deserve the ass-whooping? Hell yes. Will he also be worthy of Tien’s (and our) forgiveness if and when he reevaluates all of his actions and apologizes to him? Absolutely.

Shoutout to @lurkingshan, @bengiyo, @shortpplfedup, @wen-kexing-apologist, @ginnymoonbeam and @kyr-kun-chan for discussing their La Pluie thoughts and opinions with me, which helped coalesce my thoughts into this post.

Tagging @blmpff on request