#I mean like---he's a main character and I'm interested in examining how he affects the world & other characters

[cho-aaacho]

Cherish ~A cute light-yellow bloom with a purple center~

Masterlist

Tags : Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Comfort, Soft Gojo Satoru, Canon Divergence AU(?), Gojo Satoru needs a hug.

Summary : "Come back with me and let me unfold my story once more for you. So you can write me as the main character in the pages of your life. I need you. Please come home."

You're a new teacher at Jujutsu High School and have been promoted by the higher-ups to teach in Tokyo.

Despite being a novice teacher. Your students hold you in high regard, earning instant respect from the famous Gojo Satoru.

Initially, Kusakabe felt skeptical of your ability, having never witnessed you on missions, and he questioned how someone without a good track record or license could teach. 

However, Gojo held a more open-minded perspective, a typical Gojo Satoru. Believes that anyone could be a teacher, regardless of their lack of experience.

His opinions led you to think that Gojo's reputation isn't as bad as anyone says about him. The truth is, Gojo is a good friend. Very interesting man. Cute. Somehow, you loved how he treated you.

Despite how loud he is in the teacher's room, he always injects joy into your empty heart, filling you with happiness. All of your days are always surrounded by yellow since you know him. Rays of sunshine. Yellow. So warm yet so bright.

He knew how to make you smile, giggle, and laugh. What a wonderful man he is!

Sometimes he would bring you a morning coffee with so much sugar on it, along with some marshmallows. Invite you to lunch, picnic, and watch Kohaku Uta Gassen on New Year's Eve.

Everything about him is too much until you feel dizzy. Because your mind is always full of him.

His other habit is showering you with souvenirs whenever he is aboard. Despite how weird the souvenirs were, you kept them in your bedroom as a charm, a treasure that you would cherish.

Unlike Kusakabe, you dislike Gojo's teaching methods, which seem too casual and childish. However, you can see that his students are talented, even at such a young age. 

He undoubtedly unusually encouraged his students; you know exactly how he expressed his affection for them. His students mean everything to him. Everything.

One day, he said he needed your help and claimed that you were the only person who was capable of helping him. He didn't give you any details, but he only sent you a message with crying emoticons, expressing distress.

You found him in his favorite spot. Which is a cat cafe near Tokyo. Even with his eyes covered by a blindfold, you could tell he was worried by the tone of his words.

He started. "You know, two days ago I sent Megumi to examine Sukuna's finger, and... at first it went so well, but... there was a kid the same age as Megumi, and he swallowed Sukuna's finger. I don't know what to do now. He's possessed by Sukuna. The higher-ups want him to be executed, but something about this situation is bothering me."

"Oh, is he in the same situation as Okkotsu-kun? I know Gojo-senpai always has something good in his head. I understand why the higher-ups are concerned, but their opinions are often biased. Gojo-senpai is more suited to this. So, do what you think is right, and I'll help if you need me."

"But—"

"Senpai, I understand your concerns. However, that kid still needs you right now. He's probably confused, and I want you to guide him. Where is he now? Should I greet him?"

"Sure, you can meet him at school. I'm sure Yuuji-kun likes you."

You understand that very well. Gojo is in a fragile state where he can't think clearly. He seems to look to you as a moral compass or hopes for some good suggestions.

Last year had a big impact on his mental health, and you've been deeply concerned. He never scolded you before, but every time you mentioned Yuuta, he always raised his tone when talking; he didn't want you to be involved with his problem.

Kusakabe says that Gojo will solve his problems on his own, as he's always done since they were young. Gojo always has a tiny space in his mind to solve everything.

Yet, he is still human, right? In the end, he needs someone to encourage and support him, no matter how strong he may seem.

The Shibuya Incident left everyone with so much trauma and pain. The Jujutsu world lost everything at that time. Nanami was gone, Maki was severely injured, and Shibuya transformed into a big black hole in only an hour. 

This impact hits you as well. Your own realm seemed to be falling apart. There was a pain sensation as if transparent swords were stabbed all over your body. The series of nightmares filling your mind, including the worst scenario.

Gojo Satoru.

Why did this happen to him? Was he too reckless, pushing himself against those curses? Did he let his guard down?

You kept sending positive thoughts to your brain, hoping and praying that Gojo would be fine and that you could help him escape the prison realm. 

But no matter how hard you tried to be strong, you couldn't hold back your pain. Especially when reading the announcement from the higher-ups—taking advantage of Gojo's absence, they declared the execution for Yaga and Yuuji. Two people are important for Gojo.

Of course, this was not what you wanted, and certainly not with Gojo.

Everyday. Everyday. You hope that a miracle will whisper your fortune. You are hoping for him to come back and see his face...

again...

at least one more time again...

...with him.

[bucked-it-up]

That's the thing though bc there would be portions ga who aren't here for the queer storylines are good with buck and hen have queer partners chase those partners aren't mains and so it's sort if a out of sight out of mind things but if you have 3 of the 5 mains as queer (not that more representation isn't good) it becomes a queer show and that would put more people off that it would join bc a lot of the fandom has a fundamental misunderstanding of the bulk of the audience that brings in the ratings

I agree with you ! I'm also gonna use this to bounce off of to talk about how having Buck and Eddie together would change the dynamic within the firehouse which I would say is probably one of the top reasons many people watch this show for. Whether you watch more for the emergencies or the personal moments, the dynamic between the team is the foundation to making those part work as well as they do. Changing this could affect ratings.

Rest under the cut because it got way too long

First, it's very unlikely that in the real LAFD that Eddie and Buck could work on the same shift. There would be a conflict of interest there, as much as everyone should be professional, there is always that chance that they may in times of distress priotise their romantic partner and not on the job. It's like in medicine. For example, it is against most policies to carry out any kind of procedure, examination, or consultion on a family member. Having them seen by a non related professional reduces the chance of bias, thus reducing the chance of harm or exploitation. Having them on the same team could also mean that they bring home life disputes into work, which distracting them and going on to cause harm to civilians, co-workers, or themselves. While yes, 911 is not a perfect example of the real world, I don't think this is something they would necessarily forgo. It's fun in fanfics to have it explained as okay by mysterious paperwork, but irl and in the show, it would not happen this way. (I do understand that in ls Nancy and Mateo are together while in the same firehouse, but they are also under different captains and work in different teams. As such they spend much less time together in comparison to what Buck and Eddie would be doing as they do not exclusively work on the same team and will be going on different calls and in different vehicles compared to Buck and Eddie, who work on the same team and also go to scenes in the same vehicle).

Having two main characters who are within the same team would also mess with the balance of the show. Obviously, bathena are both main characters, but they do not both work for the same service and also arguably the main characters of 911, so they will get more screen time and focus as they bring in the GA audience. Eddie and Buck are both within the fire service, and Eddie is also the bottom billed main. The focus would be off, and with how some fans see it, they want the focus to be on their relationship, ignoring that they are not the main draw of the show and thus turn away GA. The show would not feel quite right as more of the firehouse scenes may feel like there is a focus on those two rather than the whole team, and tbh I wouldn't want that. Also, realistically, as they would be likely working the same shift (in the world the shippers want), they would be around each other a lot. That would put strain on any relationship and also parenting Chris (which I will not go into as i am not a parent myself so do not understand all the nuances of it but as a child of a parents who had to work longer hours and spent time in both breakfast and afterschool clubs its hard to not be able to spend that much time with them and also increases the cost of childcare, once my dad got into teaching summers and breaks were a lot more fun because he was around more. Tldr it would be hard on chris to not be able to see both guardians for long periods if they both worked on the same shifts). Holidays all together would be hard as it is likely harder for both of them to get time off at the same time. There would be a lot of strain and stress in that relationship, of course people could make it work but as Eddie has been shown to struggle to communicate issues that would make it harder to work through issues before they turn into serious problems and Buck also has his own issues when it comes to relationships and would likely burn himself out trying to make sure the relationship worked and likely struggling with abandonedment issues etc.

I think a lot of this would lead to not fun drama to watch on the show or it would have to be handwaved away to make it all work. I wouldn't want that, and I doubt the GA would either. They don't watch the show for Buck and Eddie. I think the change in dynamics would turn away people from the show and would definitely turn away the less tolerant people. The GA also, like Tommy and Buck together they have had a good response to that, so why would they throw it away for a part of the online fandom. Buck and Tommy will be here to stay for a little while due to that alone and I think many people now (including the GA) want to see Buck settled down in a long term relationship and to see Eddie get a partner that he can settle down with, without breaking up Buck and Tommy.

It's amazing how many queer stories and characters we have gotten in 911, and while yes, I would love and be accepting of more, I don't think Eddie will be one of them.

[youhavenoideahowbadiwantthis]

I've been waiting to watch The Outwaters since I heard about it a few months ago. I love found footage and I love cosmic horror. Mash them up and you've got yourself a stew.

I found a few days ago that it was available on VOD so I got it for $13. That's a pretty sick part of the COVID film release trend. Love when brand new horror comes out to own for the price of a movie ticket.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

I'm going to just say the very common disclaimer: "this film is not for everyone."

A bunch of friends go out to the desert to film a music video, apparently. There are constant mysterious booms and shrieks. Desert animals exist around them. A bloody axe man chases them around and kills them. The cameraman/main character (Robbie) wakes up in a pool of blood and looks for his friends and there appears to be a time loop and maybe he's the axe man. There's an, apparently, big, practical effect creature that makes noise at him. Then he finds his dead friends' heads and cuts off his penis and disembowels himself with an animal tooth.

End.

So, if you're reading this, you're probably frustrated at how lazy and lackluster that synopsis was. Right? Now you know how I felt watching almost 2 hours of it.

I promise I will discuss WHY I feel this movie is one of, if not the biggest piece of shit I have ever watched in my life, but first, I want to dissect this movie through other people's words.

"Banfitch has a clear talent for character development, which is thrown out the window as soon as the true horror begins. Yet, getting to know his cast of characters only makes watching their annihilation more gut-wrenching in the end." - Grace Detwiler, Rue Morgue

If you think this character development is outstanding, I'm excited for you to watch literally any other movie, ever. He attempts to create the candid, real characters or Benson and Moorhead films, but they end up one dimensional, typical found footage characters. Think Paranormal Activity characters, but not even douchey enough to be interesting.

"...will likely be most effective for viewers who are strongly affected by the power of suggestion." - Grace Detwiler, Rue Morgue

Lol. I mean...yes. Correct.

"...[transforming] the found footage format into something far more transgressive..." - Meagan Navarro, Bloody-Disgusting

If the boundaries that are being crossed are "good overall filmmaking" into "bad", you're still wrong. Many found footage movies have done that. This is uniquely bad, however, so maybe there's a point there.

"...the film is more interested in immersing us than it is in answering any questions. In this regard, it completely succeeds as it spends longer and longer getting lost in the landscape that has become distorted." -Chase Hutchinson, Collider

Ok, let's talk about this, specifically.

At no point, was I immersed in this movie. The first 20 mins are the, supposedly incredible, character-building, that can really just be boiled down to the phrase, "hurr durr, you reminds me of your parents." I promise, you may relate to the dialogue between these characters, but you're better than them. Seriously. This entire build up is filmed with the tightest camera work I've ever seen. This man forgot to zoom out and he moves the camera quickly and often. You will get sick.

Then they're in the desert. The camera is slightly better because you have a vast landscape behind people most of the time, so it isn't as disorienting. But God help you, he will manage to examine every nook and cranny of a bush and the inside of their tent and the one girl's face, over and over again.

The night time shots are so much worse. Half the time, he's filming with a normal light source that illuminates a large enough area to provide tension so that you only recognize so much of what is on screen. The other half is lit by a gas station pocket flashlight using batteries from the early 2000s. I, like many other people in this day and age, have a large television. So when I have a 65" TV (1809 Sq. In.) and about 1/6 of the movie is filmed through a 3" diameter pinhole, I'm gonna be upset. The power of suggestion does not trump the power of wanting to watch a fucking movie.

Apparently, there was a large, maybe practical effect monster. Couldn't tell you, because it was filmed through this dipshit pinhole. If I spent the money to build a monster for a movie, YOU WILL FUCKING SEE AT LEAST 20% OF THAT MONSTER FOR A FEW SECONDS.

The story was run of the mill. The themes and characters were as deep as a teacup. The cinematography was fucking trash, even for found footage.

This was like a visual representation of a Chainsmokers song, but they were trying to make a black metal song, but the only black metal they've heard was Deafheaven, but the only Deafheaven they've heard was Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, but they recorded it in mono.

Also, a lot of people are comparing this to Skinamarink. Stop. Both films are frustrating and work on the power of suggestion. However, Skinamarink actually leans into the suggestion. It gives you vague pieces to tell yourself a story. Outwaters gives you a story and then lazily slops out blurry garbage that has been done better many times before over the course of almost 2 hours and then just kind of ends. I was not a huge fan of Skinamarink, but in my opinion, it is far more worthwhile than Outwaters and it's insulting to Skinamarink to conflate the two.

I will not say that I could make a feature length film. I don't have the talent or creativity. It's easier to sit and judge than to actually do something. Maybe Banfitch should take a break to reassess his influences to see what makes them worth watching, because this movie is evidence that he has missed the mark.

I hope he gets better.

If you want to watch the movie, sure, go ahead. If you want to watch something that will actually entertain and/or challenge you, might I recommend the following:

Resolution, Spring and The Endless are all wonderful pieces of eclectic cosmic horror by Benson and Moorhead. Good characters and intriguing concepts without giving away every detail.

Banshee Chapter by Blair Erickson is an incredibly underseen cosmic/conspiracy horror film that predates Stranger Things by several years, and in my opinion, does it better (horror-wise).

Bellflower by Evan Glodell is not exactly horror, but is a film that I feel Banfitch to inspiration from. The character development is on point and organic and it has sort of the mumblecore feel that I felt Banfitch was trying (and failing) to develop in the first 20 mins of his movie.

These are just suggestions that I think all do a significantly better job in every respect than Outwaters.

Just my opinions.

Thank you for listening, though I'm not sure why you would.

[fervency-if]

How would the LIs react to a vampire/cannibal that stalks their victims for prolonged periods of time and is sadistic if they were a stranger and if MC acted like that? Since you mentioned that at least Aubrey doesn’t play with the victims out of sadism. I also wonder how the LIs would react if they dreamed of being the victim of such a person and if MC had such a dream and felt uneasy.

This was interesting to examine!

I'm putting the reply to this below a cut because of it's length.

As for the stalking part:

The Physician wouldn't like that whatsoever, because she would see no reason to do so - she understands if one kills people because one's unable to help oneself, but doing something that calculated is simply too cruel and immoral.

Aubrey wouldn't understand it, seeing as he wants his gratification to be quite instant, he's impatient, and his hunger overrides everything, but if it brought this person joy and a thrill, who is he to disapprove? He seems himself and other anemiacs as predators, after all, and some predators stalk their prey - it's simply a different method.

Vesa would find it quite intriguing, she's rather callous when it comes to her own food - very different from her own methods, and she would ask them about their reason to do so. Not because she really questioned it, but out of curiosity.

Narciso wouldn't mind one bit. Morals? What morals? His psyche is quite twisted - that person's mind would just be twisted in a different way than his own.

It would freak Roswhen out, plain and simple, and they would find it wholly off-putting. They would mentally put themselves in the victim's shoes, and that would make them shiver, imagining something like that happening to themselves.

Elan would wonder how they had the conscience to do so, but at the same time... does he really have the right to judge them, he would think. He's far from perfect, being a bit sloppy and greedy...

As for the dream part:

The Physician would try to forget the dream immediately. It was just a dream, it doesn't mean or affect anything. She would probably say something similar to the main character if they felt uneasy from such a dream; 'I understand your discomfort, but it doesn't mean anything, it was simply your mind playing tricks on you.'

Aubrey would find it creepy... and fascinating... or rather - fascinating because it was creepy. He wouldn't want to forget that dream. He would want to tell the main character about it in great detail, mentioning exactly how that person's personality was, how it made him feel, and so on. He always enjoyed having unsettling dreams - his mind acting in intriguing ways. If the main character had such a dream he would - despite being intrigued - feeling sorry for them for being unsettled, give them a little smirk, and say 'well. If such a person exists and comes after you, don't fret. They would have to go through me first. I would... take care of them for you.'

Vesa would find it interesting - I imagine her being someone who always tries to remember her dreams because she finds the concept of the subconscious mind making up scenarios intriguing. If the main character was unsettled by such a dream, she would hug them and say 'I won't let anything happen to you.'

Narciso would know the source of this dream, what triggered it, the inspiration for his mind to create such a scenario. That's all I can say for now! If the main character had such a dream and felt unsettled, he would try to calm them down, make them think about other things. The subconscious mind can be so cruel...

Roswhen would wake up in a cold sweat, basically, and try to distract themselves from it. They don't want any creepy thoughts lingering in their head! If the main character felt uneasy from dreaming about the subject, they would try to distract them as well, unless they wanted to talk about it and examine it together with them.

Elan wouldn't be surprised if he had a dream like that. It's stressful, and his dreams - the ones he remembers, because he rarely remembers his dreams - tend to be quite stressful. He would tell the main character the same thing - that sounds like an annoying stress dream, albeit more disturbing than most. He would comfort them if needed.

[ultfreakme]

"He’s just a pink-haired twink Jon picked up off the streets" - I need you to take some time to examine why you chose to write this sentence and phrase it this way because whether you intended it or not, this is a microaggression and as someone who is queer and Asian with once pink hair, every part of the sentence has racist and queephobic implications.

Jay's trauma is shown, its effects are extremely visible and spelled out in his attitude within the comics.

He's a journalist, he has a job as the head of PR for Steelworks, he's a member of The Revolutionaries, a hero to his people and a freedom fighter. Every single thing about Jay is informed by his backstory which immensely affects him. This is the man Jon respects and loves.

You cannot replace SOKE with Lazarus Island because Gamorra and SOKE's story is one about decolonization and bringing agency to those whose power has been robbed by colonizers like Bendix who are under the thumbs of the American Government. I have read the Robin run, it has nothing to do with themes as politically relevant as SOKE. if you do so, you ruin SOKE and make this the Damian Wayne show again and remove a vital message from the Superman universe.

This aspect of Jay- on colonization and struggle for freedom- follows him into Absolute Power, as elaborated by Nicole Maines who, btw, says Jay is entirely justified in his anger towards Dreamer(Nicoles is the writer and creator of Dreamer and Absolute Power). What do you mean he "lacks empathy"?

Should Jay have comforted Nia after she let him get shot and colonized his country? Should he hug her when she is responsible for getting his mother's killer into his country & imprisoning him? He has plenty of empathy.

I don't need damijon fics to fulfill the need for more Jay, we're fine. It's actually the last thing I need when I'm looking for a well-written Jay because everything with him is filled with unexamined internalized misogyny, homophobia and racism. I just got curious because most of my interactions with the damijon fandom has led to some level of racism, bi erasure, or hatred of queer culture and I wondered if this attitude remains in fics. It does.

Jay's written extremely well in canon. A thing I noticed is all the damijon fics did their best to villanize Jay, it was clearly not the writers' intent to do something interesting with him or make him better in these fics, it was to make sure the reader hates Jay and to express the writer's own biases in order to make Damian and Jon look better.

It is "easy" to villanize Jay only if you in particular do not like Jay. If you have decided to not analyze the context in which Jay's story is told. It is infinitely easier to make him the hero than to turn him into the bad guy.

Their characterization was OOC for everyone, but especially Jay. But his character basis is really strong in canon. It's genuinely impossible to villainize or antagonize a character like this if you are writing a canon-verse fic. So they make fun of his hair, how "clingy" he is to Jon, how he "doesn't let Jon see Damian"- making things up and going into microaggressions regarding Jay's race or his sexuality.

What, specifically, is wrong with pink? Why is there a tendency to mock his hair in tandem with his sexuality?

The fics I read didn't try to examine the politics going on behind Jay or Jon's characters. Much like the fandom at large continues to call him "manipulative" and "terrorist", which no one would if they examined the message of SOKE. These are not the focus of the fics, which is fine! It's just a fic, but you are giving them undue credit by saying all DamiJon shippers write good fics. I had never said the writing was good either, that was an assumption you made. The cool guy in the background of the damijon sordid love affair with a motorbike and a team of anarchists to catches more attention for me & none of that can even be credited to damijon writers.

It's like, Plato's cave allegory. The damijon fics have captured a shadow of Jay, unaware of the real thing in the sun in canon. The shadow exists, but it's nothing in comparison to what actually exists outside the cave.

Most of Jay's canon(and actually explored in canon) characterization was left untouched and transported into these damijon fics on accident. And anyone can realize "ah fuck, Jay isn't....the bad guy". These fics call him a terrorist but now they have to like, read the comic to figure out why Batman labelled him like that. And then they realize Batman is wrong and now have to work with making a discriminated teenager fighting for his life, his mom and his country into the bad guy.

Anyone worth their salt in creative writing would know this is impossible to make it seem like the bad guy.

Hence, every damijon fic which deals with jonjay has cheating in it; emotional or physical or both. Jay is good in these fics not because any of these writers care about Jay. Heck, these writers didn't even realize they accidentally made Jay the sympathetic one.

If you'd like to read good Jay content though, why don't you check out the JayJon centric fics by my friends who actually like Jay, explore his trauma, his character and themes in an intentional manner instead of brushing aside canon content out of their biases?

shrike by unexpectedchair - DKOS AU with fae Jay and prince Jon

Cards and Coins by Auberge - A retrospective fic on Jay and his life before Bendix

The Man Who Returned to Earth by AvaCelt - deals with Jon's trauma after being lost

birds of a feather by unexpectedchair - this one is just Nia and Jay and a prelude to Absolute Power

loyalties by unexpectedchair - this one's about Jay's mom Sara and Jon

Touch and Go by Ult_Geek - this one here explore both Jon and Jay's traumas

Side Note: Nika isn't villainized in fics and doesn't show up in the DamiJon tags because Nika as a character overall only has 74 fics(unfortunately), of which 57 are Daminika and 8 are DamiJon, which is about the same ratio at which the Jay tag is though he has more fics. And frankly, saying the fandom hasn't villainized or downgraded a character who is 13-14 is not a flex. She's 13. I'd be appalled if you did, this is the bare minimum. She's also white, which Jay distinctly isn't and the super sons books and fandom has a tendency to whitewash Damian and mark the "Batfamily" as good while anything associated with the Al Ghuls are ostracized or demonized. The writing for Nikas has never, ever villainized her. She has been nothing but nice to Damian and plays along with him. She has the aesthetic for "evil" characters but is a good character who wants to protect Damian.

I don't need your jonjay fics, I am pretty sure with the way you speak about him, that you don't respect his character or canon writing in any manner and I'd rather have quality over quantity, without any clogging up off the tags on ao3

I got desperate for Jay content and ended up reading the damijon fics with Jay, and like they clearly want Jay to be the bad guy. But they somehow write him as being even cooler than in canon! A lot of fics have him riding a motorbike(love how damijon shippers and not have just decided he's a motorbike guy), he's the leader of The Revolutionaries now apparently, and most of these fics have Jon cheating on Jay physically, emotionally, or both ways so now I'm just mad at Jon.

Like, slay King, if Jon can't appreciate all that it's his loss. I am having an fun time if i just focus on the Jay of it all like who is this rizz-filled man who is apparently a threat to the Justice League???????? Actual Jay stans make him a bit of a loser

[amazing-spiderling]

This has been itching at me but how do you think Murderdock would display affection in any capacity?

Oh, anon. Are you ready to join me on a voyage of soul searching and navel gazing? Because that's where you have sent me with this seemingly simple question.

For starters, we are venturing into the territory of personal headcanons and subjective judgements, simply because we don't see this character in a purely romantic or even sentimental exchange. But I assume that's why you asked this question in the first place. I have spent a lot of time (too much, probably) dissecting the few heavily loaded lines of dialogue and context clues, as well as using what we know of Matt's relationships in the garden variety universes.

But I think the main answer to this question lies in examining the significant relationships he does have with other people.

First off, Cindy Moon:

Now you may be saying to yourself, "This looks like a romantic relationship to me, case closed!" but A. I don't think that it is and 2. You asked how Murderdock would show affection, and I don't think that's what we're witnessing here. Though at the time, it's easy enough for the reader to think this is some kind of serious romance, Murdock later tells Gwen that he essentially has an arrangement with Cindy Moon. Since SILK represents the only major rival to the Hand's endeavors in the West, he's found it advantageous to "keep his enemies closer". Even this visit isn't a social call, he's come specifically to ask Cindy for more isotopes to help fuel Gwen's powers.

Everything about this scene, his dramatic entrance, flippant dialogue, overbearing cologne is classic Murderdock. He's showboating, putting on a performance for an audience, in this case, Cindy. His demeanor around her is no different than what the rest of the world sees. I wouldn't go so far as to say he feels nothing for Cindy, but I don't know that I'd call it affection.

So let's move on to someone who gets an inside view...

Otomo:

"Otomo" is literally "companion" in Japanese. Whether this is the man's name or simply his job title, we never learn, but suffice to say he has filled this role for Murdock for long enough that they have a unique rapport. Otomo is allowed to speak candidly around Murdock, even when it's bad or disappointing news. He is someone that Matt trusts on some level, at least enough to let him closer than most other people, and part of that probably has to do with the fact that Otomo very likely already knows a great deal about Matt's past, at least from the point that he joined the Hand. Even if Otomo doesn't understand Matt's motivations, he does understand his motus operandi. Otomo likely doesn't know why Matt has an interest in Spider-Woman, he almost certainly doesn't know about Matt's suicidal thoughts, but he is also content not questioning anything his master does. This puts him somewhere between an employee and a friend, but I wouldn't say Otomo gets to see Matt's true face either, despite their history.

Speaking of history...

DA Nelson:

My personal favorite relationship in this universe (and let's face it, all of them, when it comes to Matt Murdock) is the one between Matt and Foggy, even though it's been twisted into something toxic and yet shockingly recognizable. Just as they were in 616, Matt and Foggy were roommates in law school, and it seems their association has continued in some form since then. Now that Foggy is District Attorney, Matt seems to have no qualms about asking for "mutually beneficial" favors, which clearly seem to come at great expense to Foggy, if only because Foggy actually gives a damn about what other people think.

I chose this panel because of one line that I have spent so much time thinking about: "Just like always... I'm trying to give you what you want, Matt." This tells us that Matt has a long history of putting pressure on Foggy, and Foggy has gone out of his way to deliver whatever it is Matt wants from him. To me, that means that Foggy has proven to be a reliable asset time and time again. That may not speak to a romantic relationship in the present, but I do think it's the sort of thing that could spawn "fond" feelings in the charcoal briquet of Murderdock's heart, although perhaps more akin to what someone feels for a well trained pet.

The interesting thing about this dynamic as we see it in the comic is that, as always, Matt doesn't actually hide his intentions from Foggy. He is very casual in the way he approaches him and speaks plainly about the rules he wants Foggy to bend. Matt shows his fangs to Foggy, but it is Foggy who makes the mistake of thinking he won't bite. Foggy trusts Matt far too much, but because of that Matt knows he's on a short leash, unlikely to wander. Of course, things change once Matt meets...

Gwen Stacy:

Now you might be sitting here and going, what, what WHAt? This is a question about affection and Gwen and Murderock are enemies. Where are you headed with this, you coco crazy pants? But hear me out on this one-

Gwen thinks Murderdock is the villain, her villain, and certainly, we the readers do as well. But Matt? Gwen is his special interest. He's not opposed to what Gwen does or who she is. Unlike Spider-Man and his villains, Gwen didn't wrong Matt in the past or steal his research or destroy his criminal empire. Matt isn't out for revenge, he doesn't want to kill Gwen. All he wants is to prove that they are, on a fundamental level, the same.

In this universe, Matt plays a role not unlike the one Mephisto plays in 616 when it comes to Spider-Man. The "basically the devil" has an obsession with corrupting Spider-Man because we can't have nice things, don't ask me. Similarly, Matt wants to break Gwen, but only by giving her so much power that she has no choice but to be corrupted by it, as he felt he was by his.

How does he plan to accomplish this? By worming his way into her life, devising scenarios that put Gwen in increasingly desperate situations and watching her squirm. He continues to up the stakes, calling in favors, giving his enemies valuable tools to manipulate them into their places on his chess board, all to force Gwen's hand and bring about his downfall. Speaking of hands, what the hell does the Hand even do in New York? I have no idea, and neither do you, because Matt sure as hell isn't minding his business, because he's obsessed with Gwen.

So! What does this mean when it comes to the answer of your question, oh so patient and gracious anon?

First of all, I don't think there's any chance that Murderdock is going to show affection (platonic or romantic) in a "normal" way. No bouquets of roses, no fancy dinners, no calls to hang out, no hugs. Part of this is because openly showing his genuine emotions is just not how Matt works. He is at his core a performer, and he is almost always "on". Those few rare moments that his true self shows through would be considered vulnerabilities to Matt, and it's hard to know how he might get to a point where he is willing to show them to another person. (One he wasn't about to kill, anyway.)

I also think we have to consider that like most Matt Murdocks, Matt-65 has experienced a great deal of loss. His mother, father, even Stick. but as opposed to Matt of 616 or the Netflix series, this loss isn't characterized by abandonment. His mother didn't choose to leave him. Stick didn't consider him an unworthy pupil. They didn't leave, they were taken. That means this is not a Matt who is concerned with the feeling that he wasn't enough to make people stay, he is concerned with the idea that if he does care about someone, outside forces could take them away from him. And if he did come to care for someone, that would need to be prevented.

I think, if Matt did feel affection for someone, it would be a hell of a long time before that person knew it, because whatever he did wouldn't include many of the typical signs. Maybe it involves secretly scrutinizing the people they interact with, or vetting and disposing of professional contacts, all without the person of his attention being any the wiser.

This might evolve into Matt just... being there. As we've seen with all of these examples, Matt is interacting with each of these people because he wants something from them, whether it's service or personal satisfaction. If Matt started hanging around someone with no ulterior motive, then I think that would be very telling. (I am reminded of cats who just show up at random houses and decide their residents are suitable hosts and end up living there.)

I don't think gifts would be material, because he is not shown to be a particularly materialistic person. (His penthouse is basically empty, he wears basic suits until he starts fashioning himself into a caricature of a villain for Gwen.) I think they would be gifts of service that he would absolutely not mention, though he would relish when the other person discovered them (though they likely wouldn't know how they came to be.) Imagine something like someone lamenting that their favorite band was on tour, but the dates in their city weren't going to work out for them, only to find out a week later that the band caught ill and had to reschedule some shows, which now worked out very well for them. How lucky! (How orchestrated, more like.)

I think we might even consider a bit of arrested development in this area, because while Matt is incredibly adept at playing a part and showing exactly the face he wants to to the world, he is woefully inexperienced at expressing genuine emotions. I think it's safe to say he'd make a bit of a mess of things at first before the recipient of his emotions was able to make sense of it all.

[surely-galena]

I think it's cool how mhy gave Vyn new glasses and for some reason I Must Analyze This

I've noticed that all of Vyn's cards since Partyland have put him in new frames. Vyn's first cards all have him wearing rectangular frames -- although they only seem to be half frames, since the top section of the lenses are exposed. So I wonder if this new pair of glasses -- which are rounder in shape -- serve to make his face softer, thus subtly affecting our perception of him by making him appear more gentle/trustworthy? You'll find that he's wearing the new glasses in more recently released stickers as well.

To add to that, he's smiling more often. R 'Special Gift' and SR 'Snowy Fairy Tale' are pretty good examples of this. He looks happier. Friendlier, even. It could be a subtle nudge to how he's gaining back his faith in humanity because of MC and other general character arc things.

Upon further examination, it also seems that he has another pair of rectangular-framed glasses for fancy occasions (R 'Gentlemanly Courtesy', R 'Dressed Up, SSR 'A Star in the Night'), which then brings his glasses total up to three pairs.

SSR 'Medieval Suspense' has him in another rounded pair, but I sense that that one is an exception due to the context of the card (costume murder mystery).

So we have: Glasses # 1 (rectangular, old)

Glasses #2 (rectangular, fancy)

and Glasses #3 (rounded, new)

So, okay. We know that Vyn probably has enough money to afford multiple pairs of glasses, no problem. But is mhy going to continue to do this? I don't know if it's common to change up your glasses each year because I have a pair that I got made about four years ago and it's still functional to this day.

Again, I think it's most likely that the glasses are a character design thing to indicate character growth, but it'd be pretty interesting if we get to next year and Vyn has ANOTHER pair of glasses for normal everyday use

Still, that doesn't stop me from speculating about what happened to his old pair (unless there's content from canon I don't know about). Like... did he put his glasses down for one second, but then they got knocked off the table and then Marius accidentally stepped on them? Did he get hit in the face by Artem and a stray basketball? Did he just decide, one day, that he'd like to change his style? Vyyyyn, take care of your glasses they are expensive

Side note: I think we see yet another pair in the future Electrifying Night event, but those might just be prescription sunglasses, so I'm not sure if they count.

It's also intriguing that in the prologue, we see Vyn wearing Glasses #1. We still don't really know if that's going to tie back to the main story, but it's interesting to note since if the prologue actually takes place in the future, it means he's back to wearing something old. This is, however, more likely just to keep things simple and/or consistent since it's the first time we see Vyn, and throughout main story 1-5 he'll be wearing this pair.

It just strikes me as interesting that Vyn is the one who gets one of the less subtle character design changes. Marius and Artem seem designed to have warmer/softer expressions as time goes on, and I'm not entirely certain about Luke, but this time it's Vyn who gets the least inconspicuous "season 2" type look.

Edit: I've been told that it isn't uncommon to change glasses each year! Maybe I'm just the anomaly in this case, ha. But knowing this definitely makes it easier to justify the gradual change!

[notbecauseofvictories]

What if Anakin had survived RoTJ, what would his relationship with Ben be like (and what does a very-unwilling-to-have-any-contact-but doesn't-have-much-choice because Snoke is hounding her boy Leia think about it?)

“Force,” Grandfather laughed, though the sound came out as a burst of static—it had to be the new tech, they must not have figured out the feedback balance yet. “If you keep growing, you’re going to be even taller than I am.”

Ben drew himself up as straight as he could, trying to imagine looking down on the man he’d spent his whole childhood craning his neck to see. The growth spurt had taken them all by surprise—his shins still ached, a kind of absent throbbing that got worse, if he was too long on his feet. There had been a few nights he’d woken up crying from the pain, and Mama had brought her datapad and her papers, and they’d curled up together with hot-pads packed around Ben’s knees. (It was so babyish, but he couldn’t remember the last time she’d done—something like that, like lying in bed with him, her hand running through his hair absently.

But Grandfather didn’t need to know that.)

“I’m as tall as Uncle Luke now,” he said instead, and Grandfather smiled. It was easier to see where the synth-skin met scar tissue when his mouth moved.

“And how is your uncle? He hasn’t been to—see me, recently.”

Ben rolled his eyes, huffing. “The same. Chasing down the latest half-whispered rumor of the Jedi temple, leaving cryptic transmissions that worry everyone. Dad left to bail him out or something, but that was weeks ago.”

“Emmos wasn’t fruitful, then?”

“I don’t know. I guess not.”

Grandfather shook his head with a sigh, another rush of static. “I should have paid more attention when Master Osdanii lectured about early Jedi history. I would have—” 

He fell silent.

It was rare, to catch Grandfather stumbling into the gap between ‘would have’ and ‘did’. He usually remembered. He always remembered. He’d said that was his punishment, more than anything else—to remember it all, everything he had done and had done to him.

Ben swallowed: “I got perfect marks in history,” he said hopefully, trying to stave off the storm he could feel gathering in the Force. “This quarter, anyway. We’re studying the early Republic.”

Grandfather relaxed by centimeters. Breathed in, and out, in a rush of static. “That’s excellent, Ben. Well done.”

Ben cleared his throat, made an awkward gesture. “Should we—?” 

“Yes. Right, yes, of course,” Grandfather said. He held out his hands. and Ben stepped forward, taking him by the wrists. Slowly, he helped grandfather to the floor, careful not to let him drop him those last centimeters. Grandfather groaned as he crossed his legs, poking at his right foot until it stopped twitching. “Mother of Moons, these joints need replacing.”

Ben flopped down beside him, arranging himself in meditation pose. “I had the nightmare again last week.”

Grandfather froze, his eyes flicking to Ben. “The temple, or…?”

Ben nodded. 

“All right. We’ll start there.”

Uncle Chewie had asked once, what Jedi training was like. Meditation, Ben had told him, because that was easier than trying to explain something Ben didn’t have words for. The truth was, Grandfather was terrible at meditation—the first time he showed Ben how, his presence in the Force got big, much bigger than his body and dangerous, restless, like a krayt dragon from Uncle Luke’s stories. It had opened its jaws and its jaws were the Force, and Ben had screamed as he felt it swallow him. 

It had taken two hours of Mama stroking Ben’s hair to get him to stop crying, her presence in the Force gathered around them both like a bulwark of light.

So Ben and Grandfather didn’t do meditation.

What they did was—well, what they did…was…was…

It was sort of like building an x-wing from nothing but wet flimsi and light, as the x-wing was traveling a hundred thousand klicks a second through hyperspace. Also, your hands were wrapped in thick leaden gloves that wouldn’t bend at the second joint, and no one had ever actually taught you how to build an x-wing, or what one looked like.

Except of course it was nothing like that all, bigger and stranger and more terrible. But Ben didn’t have the words for that, for the brightness of the stars or the ghosts that would sometimes turn up—the man with the heart cut from his chest who made Grandfather go quiet, grief-stricken; the woman with lines on her face and a cloak like the sky. Sometimes they would lean in, whisper something in Grandfather’s ear and then vanish into the air.

Sometimes they touched Ben, his hair, his cheek, and he wasn’t afraid.

In the Force, Grandfather was young, even younger than Dad. He looked a lot like Uncle Luke this way. (Handsomer—Grandfather didn’t have Uncle Luke’s terrible beard.) Together, Grandfather and Ben surveyed Ben’s x-wing-that-was-not-an-x-wing. Finally, Grandfather hummed, narrowing his eyes at the damage to the fuselage. “Not bad. Your shielding must have deflected most of the worst of it.”

Ben shivered. “It didn’t feel like that. Sno—him, it felt like he was close. Like he took out one of my engines.”

It wasn’t smart to use real names here. Sometimes, things answered.

“Give yourself credit, Ben,” Grandfather said, resting a hand on Ben’s shoulder. It was warm, even in the Force. “You’re learning to protect yourself, and you’re getting stronger every month. Just last year you would have sustained serious damage from a hit like this.”  

Grandfather stretched out his hands, and the tools appeared in them. He held the winch out to Ben. “Let’s get to work.”

There was no sense of time, in the Force. (The Force was always present tense, the eternal now.) Hyperspace whirled around them, but there were systems fixed amid the rushing blue; Grandfather was old and young and older, older still, then young, a boy with sandy hair who barely came up to Ben’s waist and whose eyes held stars.

Sometimes Ben wondered what he looked like in the Force, if Grandfather could see him like that too, at three and five and ten and maybe even older—at fifteen, at fifty. Ben wondered what it would be like to be fifty.

By the time the repairs were finished, Ben’s hands were bleeding (not really, not real blood, not really his hands) and his whole body felt like overcooked psatta. But Grandfather was animated, making Ben laugh with another story about the antics of the clone troopers. And then—no, you won’t believe this—that Zeroes said—

The harsh buzz and crackle of the laser field startled Ben out of the Force. He had to blink several times before his gaze would focus, and even then he felt off-kilter, sluggish. 

His arms really did ache.

“Time’s up, Organa. Let’s go.”

Ben blinked again, finally managing to focus on the guard standing just inside the laser field of the cell. It was Kinunt—Ben didn’t like Kinunt, he’d always cut Ben and Grandfather off a few minutes early so he could make his caf break. But he seemed more at ease today, smiling idly at Ben. His presence in the Force was tired.

“Visiting hours are over, kid, we got to get you out of here.”

Ben exhaled—a glance at the chronometer on the wall showed that Kinunt had been uncharacteristically generous, giving Ben an extra few minutes. Ben nodded, and leaned over, resting a palm on Grandfather’s knee. “Let me help you up,” he said, and Grandfather shuddered, coming out of the Force-trance with a faint tug that rippled out, like waves, like a tension being released.

“The time always goes too quickly,” Grandfather grumbled, as Ben helped him back to his feet.

“Sorry, Sithspit,” Kinunt said cheerfully, hefting his gun. Far off, Ben heard the buzz and clang of reinforced doors slamming shut, though maybe that was his heart, jolting. “Rules are rules. And you know how the warden gets if we don’t follow the letter of the law around here.”

Ben turned back to Grandfather, anger simmering in his gut. He’d always hated Grandfather’s threadbare cell, the meager tray of food delivered at midday and the disgust, the pity and hatred and disrespect of the guards. He couldn’t fix those things but this he could, or he could at least get mother to fix it. “If you’re having trouble with the warden—”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Grandfather said, and his synth-skin curled with his smirk. “I have…experience in tyrants.”

Grandfather reached out, rested a hand against Ben’s cheek, and the alloy of it was cold, even through the sheath of synth-skin. Around them, the Force was tangle of grief and love, heavier than worlds. Ben could feel it settling over his shoulders like a cloak, like armor. “You have your grandmother’s eyes,” Grandfather said finally. “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that.” 

Ben nodded, choking on a lump in his throat, and Grandfather’s expression softened. “Tell your mother I said hello.”

“I will,” Ben said quickly. “See you in a few weeks?”

“Until then.”

“C’mon, Organa,” Kinunt said, an irritable edge creeping into his voice. When Ben turned and threw him a dirty look, the guard rolled his eyes. “Wrap it up, I’ve got other shit to do.”

Ben bit his tongue to keep from saying anything he would regret. (He’d been banned from seeing Grandfather before, once when he was seven for lashing out at a guard, and again when he was eleven, for lashing out with the Force. He’d learned his limits in this.) Instead, he exchanged one last look with Grandfather and followed Kinunt out.

Mama was sitting in her usual place, her back very straight against the duracrete wall. Ben had been taller than her for years now, but when she was in the room no one noticed. (Leia Organa was always seven feet tall—maybe eight, when she was angry.) She was reading something off her datapad. Judging by the frown lines, it was Senate business. 

But she looked up when Ben approached, and the lines smoothed out, her expression softening. “How did it go?”

“Grandfather says hello,” Ben said, enjoying the way her mouth went pinched and thin. She raised her eyebrows pointedly, and he huffed. “Good. It was good, I guess.”

Ben could be blind and deaf at the other end of the galaxy and he would still know his mother when she reached out with the Force. The hard, vibroblade brightness of her was as familiar as breathing, and Ben rolled his eyes at the worrymistrustworrylove she projected; let her scrape against the edges of his shields, reinforced with Grandfather’s strength. Finally she relaxed, then tension leaving her shoulders.

“Good,” she said, quiet and proud, really proud, and it was dumb how warm it made Ben feel, hearing her say it like that.

She turned and gathered up her things, and Ben followed her, a step behind, down the winding prison corridors and past the guard posts. They were through the gates and almost to the visitors’ landing pad when she asked, “What do you talk about, with him?” 

It was brighter than when Ben had gone into the prison, and he squinted against the sun, so he didn’t have to meet her eyes. “Nothing,” Ben said. “History. Jedi stuff.”

“Do you ever wish you’d trained with Luke instead?”

Ben’s gaze jerked to her despite himself. It was the first time she’d ever phrased it like that—like a question, and not like on order, or a law handed down from the Senate floor. Of course she had always wanted him to train with Luke, the brother she loved, and not Darth Vader, the father she hated. She had only ever agreed to these visits with Grandfather as a necessary evil, a means of protecting Ben while Luke grew into Jedi Knighthood.

But Ben hadn’t, and when she announced she was sending him to the Outer Rim with Luke for training, Ben had fought her for it. Screaming matches that woke the neighbors, instructors who had pulled her aside for a conference because Ben claimed she was selling him to slavers. Once, Ben had even tried running away from home—though he had only gotten to the Ranthorpe District before Dad found him and brought him back.

(Don’t make me go, Ben had said on the hovercab back, squeezing his eyes shut. His stomach had churned, and he’d felt hot, sick. Please, Dad, I don’t want to go. She’ll listen to you, you can…I like training with Grandfather, I don’t want to go away with Uncle Luke.

I know, Dad had said, rubbing Ben’s back with his big hand. I know, kid.) 

Finally, just before what was supposed to be their last visit, Mama had told Ben to sit with the guard, that she had business to discuss with his Grandfather. It had been thirty minutes—Ben had watched the chronometer the entire time, practically vibrating—before Mama returned, her presence in the Force tinged dark, and storming.

Ben was not sent to train with Luke. And as far as Ben knew, that was the last time his mother and grandfather had spoken directly to one another.

“Ben?” Mama asked, reaching out with the bright-edge in the Force, and tapping at his shields. Ben twitched.

“No,” he said shakily. “No, I don’t. Grandfather is a good teacher.”

“Luke is a good teacher too.”

“Luke doesn’t like me,” Ben said bitterly, before he could stop himself

Mama a soft noise, and Ben looked away quickly. His ears were burning. “Oh, Ben,” she sighed. “He loves you. You know that.”

Ben scowled. Of course Luke loved him. Luke loved everybody, even the father who chopped off his hand and nearly killed him. (Sorry, Grandfather.) That didn’t mean anything. Ben had spent enough time around Luke to know that Luke didn’t like him—Ben couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t circled each other like wookiees fighting over territory, Luke said things without thinking that hurt Ben; Ben dug in his heels and fought against Luke just for the hells of it. Grandfather loved Luke with a kind of love he didn’t share with Ben, even though it was Ben who saw him every few weeks, who knew all his stories and could make him laugh. Even Dad, who was Force-sensitive as a hunk of asteroid, could sense the tension when they were together.

Honestly, Luke teaching Ben would probably result in someone’s violent death and a fall to the Dark Side.

“I just want to make sure you’re learning the right lessons,” Mama said. The second half of the sentence was swallowed up by the transpo’s engines, and Ben’s hair whipped into his eyes.

He reached out with a tendril of the Force and touched her mind, which was still caught in that tangle of worryfurylove. She was seeing him at three and five and eleven and—but that wasn’t the Force, she was just remembering.

The transpo docked, and Mama squeezed his arm before moving away to talk to the captain.

Ben swallowed. His shins were just beginning to ache.

[etlunainmorte]

❄❄❄

***

*German Christmas Goose ( Weihnachtsgans )*

Total - 2 hours and 30 minutes

Prep - 30 minutes

Cook - 2 hours

Yield - 4 servings

*Ingredients

For the Goose:

4 1/2 - pound goose ( cleaned and dressed, no gizzards )

Dash salt ( or to taste )

Dash pepper ( or to taste )

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 apples ( peeled, cored, and quartered )

1 small onion ( cut lengthwise into 1/4 - inch - wide strips )

1 tablespoon salt ( mixed with 1 cup water )

For the Gravy:

2 tablespoons goose drippings

2 tablespoons all - purpose flour

1 ( 14 - ounce ) can chicken broth ( or homemade chicken stock )

Optional: salt

Optional: pepper

Optional: dried thyme

*Steps To Make It

Note: while there are multiple steps to this recipe, this dish is broken down into workable categories to help you better plan for preparation and cooking.

*Make the Goose

1. Gather the Ingredients.

2. Heat oven to 350 F.

3. Wash and dry the goose, like you would a chicken or turkey. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and thyme inside the cavity and fill with apple quarters and onions. If they don’t all fit, you can cook them alongside the goose in a small, buttered dish.

4. Mix 1 tablespoon salt with 1 cup of water and pour that into the bottom of the roasting pan. Place the roasting rack on top. Pierce the goose skin in several places to let the fat drip out as it cooks.

5. Put the goose, breast - side down, on the roasting rack and place in oven for 50 minutes. Use the salt water mixture to baste the goose several times during this period. Add more water to drip pan if necessary. Turn the goose over onto its back and cook, basting as needed, for 50 minutes.

6. Let the goose rest for 5 minutes as you make the gravy.

*Make the Gravy

1. Gather the ingredients.

2. Mix 2 tablespoons of the fat drippings with 2 tablespoons flour in a small saucepan and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add the chicken broth, stirring well after each addition. Add salt, pepper, and thyme, if desired, to taste. Keep warm.

3. Serve the goose and gravy with canned peach halves decorated with currant jelly ( if you don't want to make currant jelly or can't find it prepared, cranberry sauce is a fine substitute ), buttered Brussels sprouts, potato croquettes ( or mashed potatoes ), and the cooked apples and onions.

***

❄ Three Wishes ❄

***

V

***

A plump, elderly woman with very gentle and motherly features clapped her hands and addressed everyone in the room. "Let's get to work, everyone!"

"Let's go, V." You told the poet as you motioned for him to follow you into one of the classrooms.

At first, V didn't understand it when you said you needed someone to play the violin during a book reading session. But, now, he understood. Turned out you're working as a teacher in a kindergarten a few blocks away from Avery's mansion. 

Well, for one thing, V could totally imagine you spending your time around lots of children who adore you and play a lot with you. He felt you were just that perfect kind of person in this type of working environment: warm, caring, protective, nurturing,...

... loving,...

I wonder how she would be like as a mother of,...?

"Here it is." V was brought back from his musings and reverie when you handed him your partner's violin, which you were carefully carrying.

The poet examined the instrument and hummed in satisfaction. But, then,...

"I have a question." V quietly asked.

You hummed in question as you positioned yourself in front of the cabinet piano.

"Why did she leave this here?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I mean, this instrument. This actually looks," He muttered, once again looking at the delicate instrument in his hands. " ... very well taken care of. I can't imagine someone just leaving an instrument like this here."

"Oh, you're a keen observer." You answered as you took out the sheet music you bought from the music store with V from your (F/C) hand bag. "My partner never really tells me anything too personal, actually. But, one day, she just,... I don't know,... kind of became depressed.

"She stopped practicing the violin, which was affecting our work in a way. I wanted to help her so, I asked. And you know what she said? She just said, it's hard to love someone who could never love you back, you know? I actually never knew if she had a boyfriend, or not but, all I know is that there was this really tall guy with white hair who used to visit her. Then, for some reason, he stopped visiting her. A day later after we talked, she asked for a short break. And, here we are!

"It was kind of intriguing, really." You said as you shrugged your shoulders. 

“It sure is.” V answered as he thought of the violin’s owner, who must be tending to a broken heart as of the moment. "Love can do many things to you. It could lift you up to the highest of heavens, and one wrong move, it could drop you to ground without you ever knowing it."

“Then, she must have one heck of a fall from the highest of heavens.”

"Hmm. Well," V replied as he plucked the strings of the instrument to check how much it was off tune. " ... who am I to judge?"

"Yeah, me too." You sighed, allowing yourself to slouch as some unsavory experiences regarding that stupid thing called love came back to haunt you. Forcefully pushing those thoughts aside, you sat up straight and hit the C note on the piano. "Let's practice, V."

A few hours later, the place began filling up with excited little children in cute, fluffy sweaters together with their parents. The faculty members, which consisted of the kindergarten's headmistress called Sister Christina ( the retired catechist from Germany who cooked most of the meals for the feast later on ), the teachers Alicia ( a sweet young lady from Spain who did the colorful and really festive decorations ) and Natasha ( a very tall, very lovely and very haughty - looking Russian who made the desserts ), you ( the music teacher ), together with the invited guests V ( who was honestly overwhelmed by the presence of all these adorable little children ), Avery ( who took a day off from work just to participate in the event ), and Nico ( who was doing something pretty suspicious in her van together with Griffon and Shadow ) all greeted the children and parents and made them gather in one of the classrooms. The program started off with a prayer by Sister Christina, followed by a simple, little opening speech from Alicia. 

V watched in awe as the little children ( now wearing cute costumes ) performed with so much energy. Some of them danced ( there was this adorable little number from a group of sugar plum fairy princesses and a fawn prince ), some of them sang ( he couldn't help but smile as they did a Christmas medley of Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Away In A Manger, and Joy To The World ), and some of them even acted out some scenes from Frozen, playing as its popular characters ( the most famous act was the one from, of course, Elsa the Ice Queen ).

And then, there was this little boy ( who was in his early nineties costume ) who came forward and simply bowed down. A resounding aww was heard all over the place from both parents and teachers, and when he took a deep, exaggerated breath, everything went silent.

"The Lamb." The little boy announced with his clear voice, then bowed once more. It surely perked up V's interest in an instant, being a huge fan of William Blake, himself.

Blake at such a young age? He thought with such admiration. How commendable!

"Little Lamb who made thee, dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life and bid thee feed. By the stream and o'er the mead."

"Aww, how cute is that?" V heard you whisper next to him.

The little boy went on. "Gave thee clothing of delight, softest clothing woo - "

"Woo?" You whispered, realizing that the child was probably forgetting the poem.

The poor boy shook his head and tried to recite once more. "Gave thee clothing of delight, softest clothing woo,... wool,... wooloo,... "

"Wooloo?" Avery, who was sitting on the floor right next to you, questioned. "Isn't that a Pokémon?"

"Oh, no!" V saw you awkwardly divert your eyes as you were unable to bear the situation. 

"Gave thee clothing of delight, softest clothing woo,... wooloo,... " The little boy tried once more to recite. He was about to give up as he became more and more frustrated with his inability to pronounce the word properly, until his eyes landed on V, who was smiling at him while pointing at his own lips. And as the little boy looked at V, he noticed the way he was forming his lips, like he was saying something,...

Woo,... lee,... V mouthed. 

The smart child picked up on this immediately and went on with his poetry. "Gave thee clothing of delight, softest clothing wooly bright."

The crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief as the boy finally remembered the lines. Smiling wide from ear to ear, he went on, "Gave thee such a tender voice, making all the vales rejoice! Little Lamb who made thee, dost thou know who made thee?"

Cheers erupted from the crowd as the little boy finished his recital. After the little program, everyone proceeded to the canteen to partake of the feast that was prepared for all of them, the German Christmas Goose dish that was lovingly made by Sister Christina being the center of attention ( it was very well noted how Griffon felt horrified looking at the poultry meal on the table, which made Nico almost collapse in wild laughter ).

About two hours of feasting later, all the guests were gathered into the same classroom, this time, for the book reading session that you and V were preparing for.

The story was about Little Red Riding Hood, and how she escaped the wolf who pretended to be her grandmother to eat her. And the main protagonist was played by none other than Avery, herself.

"One morning," Alicia read as you started playing simple notes on the piano. " ... Little Red Riding Hood asked her mother if she could go to visit her grandmother as it had been awhile since they'd seen each other. That's a good idea! her mother said. So they packed a nice basket for Little Red Riding Hood to take to her grandmother. When the basket was ready, the little girl put on her red cloak and kissed her mother goodbye.

"Remember, go straight to Grandma's house, her mother cautioned. Don't dawdle along the way and please don't talk to strangers! The woods are dangerous.

"Don't worry, mommy, said Little Red Riding Hood, I'll be careful. But when Little Red Riding Hood noticed some lovely flowers in the woods, she forgot her promise to her mother. She picked a few, watched the butterflies flit about for awhile, listened to the frogs croaking and then picked a few more. Little Red Riding Hood was enjoying the warm summer day so much, that she didn't notice a dark shadow approaching out of the forest behind her,...

"Suddenly, the wolf appeared beside her!"

The little children, who gathered around Alicia, gasped in fright as Shadow, who was strangely, and yet cleverly, disguised as a wolf, appeared and growled. The overall tense atmosphere of the book reading session was amplified by V's skillfully ominous violin playing.

"What are you doing out here, little girl? The wolf asked in a voice as friendly as he could muster." Alicia went on as V played the violin.

"I'm on my way to see my Grandma who lives through the forest, near the brook." Avery replied. 

"Then she realized how late she was and quickly excused herself, rushing down the path to her Grandma's house." Alicia read. "The wolf, in the meantime, took a shortcut. The wolf, a little out of breath from running, arrived at Grandma's and knocked lightly at the door."

"Oh, thank goodness dear! Come in, come in!" Griffon, who was ridiculously dressed in gingham clothing and a pair of glasses to look like a grandma, acted out as he waited in his makeshift prop bed in one corner of the room. Then, with slight frustration, he whispered, "How the fuck did I end up dressed like this?"

"Ya, stupid chicken!" Nico, who was positioned behind the bed and hidden from the viewers, whispered savagely as she kicked the wooden prop, making Griffon squawk. "Ye're pretendin' to be a grandma, right?!"

"Oh, sheesh! Right! Ah," projecting his voice once more as he made it sound like an elderly woman, he spoke, " ... I was worried sick that somethin' had happened to ya in the forest."

"Said Grandma thinking that the knock was from her granddaughter." Alicia went on. "The wolf let himself in! Poor Granny did not have time to say another word, before the wolf gobbled her up!"

"Watch out, granny goose! The wolf is gonna eat you!" One of the children screamed and pointed as Shadow attacked Griffon and used her powers to swallow the screaming ( and swearing ) demonic bird whole.

"Nice effects!" Complimented one of the parents. "I wonder how they did that,..."

"The wolf let out a satisfied burp, and then poked through Granny's wardrobe to find a nightgown that he liked. He added a frilly sleeping cap, and for good measure, dabbed some of Granny's perfume behind his pointy ears." Alicia read as Shadow did all those things that she just mentioned. "A few minutes later, Red Riding Hood knocked on the door.  The wolf jumped into bed and pulled the covers over his nose."

"Who is it?" This time, someone from the faculty was voicing the wolf, and not Alicia, and it sounded suspiciously strange for a female teacher. It almost sounded like someone's husky - voiced middle - aged aunt,...

"It's me, Little Red Riding Hood." Avery acted.

"Oh, how lovely! Do come in, my dear," croaked Shadow.

"When Little Red Riding Hood entered the little cottage, she could scarcely recognize her Grandmother." Alicia read as you and V stopped playing for a while, plunging the whole classroom in silence.

"Grandmother! Your voice sounds so odd. Is something the matter?" Avery asked.

"Oh, I just have touch of a cold." Squeaked Shadow, adding a cough at the end to prove the point.

"But, Grandmother! What big ears you have!" Said Avery, exaggerating each word, as she edged closer to the bed.

"The better to hear you with, my dear." Replied Shadow.

"But, Grandmother! What big eyes you have!"

"The better to see you with, my dear."

"But, Grandmother! What big teeth you have!" Said Avery, making her voice quiver slightly.

"The better to eat you with, my dear!" Roared Shadow and she leapt out of the bed and began to chase Avery, making the little children yell excitedly as you and V began playing once more.

"Help! Wolf!" Avery, who was suppressing her laughter, pretended to cry as she ran around the room away from Shadow, who was doing a pretty good job of being a wolf.

"I'm here!" Nico, who was dressed as the woodsman, appeared from behind the makeshift bed and chased after Shadow. She grabbed the familiar and made her spit out poor Griffon ( now soaked in Shadow's saliva ) who was a bit frazzled by the whole experience, but still in one piece. Fortunately.

"Oh, Grandma, I was so scared!" Avery sobbed. "I'll never speak to strangers or dawdle in the forest ever again."

"There, there, child." Griffon, who still somehow managed to act despite his coughing fits, croaked. "Ye've learned an important lesson. Thank goodness ya shouted loud enough for this fuckin' woodsman to hear ya!"

"Was that fuck just now?" One of the parents whispered.

"No! You must've misheard it." Another answered. "This is a classroom! No one's allowed to swear."

"Oh, you're right! It must be an old English word from the medieval times."

Nico pretended to knock Shadow out with her prop axe and carried her away from the classroom.

"Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother had a nice lunch and a long chat." Alicia read. "And they lived happily ever after. The end."

The children and the parents applauded as the characters, along with Alicia, you, and V, all bowed. The book reading session was, then, followed by gift giving, and after that, you were called in front to perform one last thing on the piano.

"Hailing from the uber romantic city that is Paris, the winner of the 73rd annual European piano concours last October," Avery announced proudly. " ... I give to you - my cousin, (Y/N)."

V watched as you shyly took a seat in front of the piano once more and positioned the music sheet in the music rack. Then, with beautiful and skillful fingers, you started playing.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are." The children excitedly sang as they gathered around you in utter curiosity as you played the simple tune.

However, it was anything but. As the music progressed, V found out how complex the piece really was. It was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, after all. It looked really difficult, indeed. Despite that, he saw how you smiled as you performed.

He saw how eager and excited you were to play for the children.

And it warmed his heart.

When it was almost time to go, Shadow and Griffon made one selfless and surprising move to serve as petting animals for the children, a Christmas treat courtesy of them.

"Hey, do those creatures kinda look dangerous?" The confused parent from earlier asked.

"Hmm, I don't think so." The parent next to him answered. "They're not biting the kids, anyway."

"Oh, you're right."

"Wait, they're battery operated!" Another parent chimed in.

"How did you know that?"

"Animals can't speak."

"Okay, gentle lads and lasses, one hug at a time!" Griffon announced, trying to be heard amidst little, excited voices and numerous, itty bitty hands. "Ouch! Don't pull a tail feather! Sheesh, calm down! I'm not a Thanksgiving turkey!"

"Did you tell them to do that?" You asked V as you watched the scene with total interest.

"Hmm, actually, no." V answered as he savored this moment to be close to you.

"Such a good child." That husky middle - aged aunt voice from earlier spoke, startling both you and V.

"Who was that?" V, who was still looking at the scene before him, asked as he crossed his arms and knitted his eyebrows.

"I have no idea." You answered. You were just as baffled as him with this whole mystery voice thing that was using Shadow as a -

"I have never been hugged by master V before!"

V's eyes darted to his familiars just in time when he saw one little girl hugging Shadow like she was a huge stuffed animal.

"So soft and cuddly!" The little girl said, then kissed Shadow on the forehead. "Thank you so much, big kitty!"

"Why, thank you, little girl." The mysterious voice answered. "And Merry Christmas to you, darling."

"My turn to hug the big kitty!" The little boy, who recited Blake earlier, came forward and engulfed Shadow in a bear hug.

"Oh! And Merry Christmas to you, too, little lad." The voice greeted just in time when V saw something tied around Shadow's neck - a red ribbon with a little, golden bell dangling from it like a dog tag. "My master is truly pleased with your William Blake recital."

Shadow's voice acting earlier,...

The voice greeting the children,...

That little bell dangling from the red ribbon tied around Shadow's neck,...

Could it mean,...

Could it be - ?!

Is it even possible?!

***

❄ Special thanks to @la-vita for suggesting the Christmas Goose Dish. ❄

❄ @clevermentalitybeliever , @v-vic , and @birdgirl69 .❄

***

❄❄❄

***

[ngame989]

SVTFOE 4A Prediction/Analysis Master Post

So we just had the first two episodes come out, and overall I enjoyed them. There’s been a lot of mixed reactions to the details, from myself included, so let’s dive in a bit. Apologies for when this becomes a giant wall of text in the back half, I'm not digging through promos for images.

Butterfly Follies

In the first episode, 98% of it is focused on Star feeling like shit because Moon is missing and nothing she does to try and find her works, and other people keep telling her she is screwing it up. Yeah, many of us thought this theme of “Star screwing up” would extend a bit more concretely to stuff with Marco and Tom, and it was present but only a tiny bit as a reminder. Her interaction with Tom was basically just a reminder that the situation from after Booth Buddies hadn’t budged - Star still was barely paying attention to him, Tom was still not really a companion to her at all, it just isn’t working, but they haven’t talked about it yet.

Tomstar has always had the candy coating of a romantic relationship (nicknames, handholding, occasional smooching, gossip and drama, etc) with virtually nothing underneath. We see this over and over - Demoncism has a genuine emotional connection between them in that moment, but once their relationship starts up again, it takes until Is Another Mystery for even a hint of true, genuine support between them, and it still doesn’t extend to either of them considering the other as a life companion at all. Most of it is going through the motions for both of them. When everyone’s lives were on the line, Tom stepped up, but this doesn’t immediately make him Marco 2 - the issues that existed before, the lack of commitment and drive between them (still candy-coated by nicknames and whatnot) is as present as ever, and arguably more so, now that Star has the events of the end of S3 dwelling somewhere in the recesses of her mind. Plus we get a moment of Tom checking in with Marco about Star’s comment, showing once again that Marco is the one Tom actually turns to for genuine support.

Contrast that with Starco in these episodes. Yes, it’s not magically perfect, there’s still lots of stuff to resolve and many people (myself included) have felt that it was a bit “off” (more on that soon). But there’s still a genuine sense of progression, where Marco is comfortable being close with Star again, being emotional support, even if he doesn’t always know how to help.

As predicted, Eclipsa’s style of ruling has mostly been “make disliking monsters entirely illegal because that’s Equality™” and it’s not working out so well for true social change. I expect this to be a major plot point moving forward.

Honestly, I dunno what all to make of the details of Glossy’s lines here. Considering the situation with Toffee was pretty explicitly Glossaryck’s intentional method of teaching Star how to do things her own way, this definitely isn’t literal. Maybe he’s playing 4D chess, and Star questioning whether Glossaryck was misleading her is all part of how he leads her. There’s a... nonzero chance, I suppose, that there is some more direct connection here and trying to fix past mistakes (since time travel is brought up very shortly) but I’d be incredibly shocked and largely appalled if that’s where things actually head.

(Skipping around on photos a bit here to just get the point across)

So let’s talk about this for a moment, shall we? I’ve seen a lot of talk about this photo and how it’s really sketchy that Star apparently knew it was from the future the whole time, given its past importance in Starcrushed. Granted, we don’t know exactly how it’s going to pay off yet, but I’ll take a strong educated guess - it’s basically a gag because the writers thought it would be fun. A relevant gag and kind of an asspull, yes, but still just a gag. Yes, the photo is now factually from the future and will be relevant again in that capacity, but I’m entirely convinced that the point of it wasn’t to intentionally retcon something about Starcrushed or anything like that - a meaningful photo of Star and Marco was used in Season 2 to generically remind her of their “good times” and their relationship as a whole, and that same photo was used here as a promise of happiness to come, and the primary purpose of the photo in each case is how it was written for that case.

I know it’s not a satisfying explanation, but it is entirely consistent with this show to have details occur that are largely arbitrary and inconsistent, and there’s a consistency to that inconsistency. Adult Marco is another example, Janna implying Kelly maybe had feelings for Marco in Stump Day is another, any time Star yeeted a high school student into some pit of horrors is another. All of these are situations where, if you examine them thoroughly as a whole and consider all the possible implications, they get kind of sketchy really fast. Yes, it is frustrating at times, but I think you just have to roll with it - Marco has memories of a 30 year old when the boarders want to make a cool reference before Marco does a bunch of fancy weapon tricks, but it never affects his normal existence unless it’s needed for a joke/reference. Janna says something that implies complicated romance drama incoming when the boarders want girly banter to accompany dudes fighting, but it doesn’t go anywhere beyond that. Star has a body count on Earth but she’s not a wanted criminal, probably. The consistency here is that if the show kind of glosses over some sort of possible implication and plays it off for a gag, then that’s what you should take it as.

Again, I don’t know exactly how this will pay itself off, but I have an incredibly strong suspicion that the answer to “what were the boarders thinking when they did this??? It screws up a core moment in Starcrushed!!!” is that they weren’t thinking about that. COULD they actually do something more in-depth with the time travel aspect? I guess, but “throwing organic core moments of character/relationship growth under the bus for the sake of wacky over-the-top plot” sounds like the opposite of this show. I’ll cover more about how I think this might actually work later.

A lot of people said Star and Marco felt like acquaintances this episode, and not best friends. I understand where they’re coming from - there weren’t all kinds of hugs and affection flying around, their talks were awkward. But this honestly makes a lot of sense for where we’re at now. We’re completely over the hump where they they're hesitant to even think of themselves as best buddies, where they’re struggling with their feelings just to spend time with the other. Marco is back to making all attempts to be her close friend and companion and support, Star is comfortable around him... but, there’s still some lingering “OK we moved forward from here, what now?” We saw in Divide that a simple hug between them brought out strong feelings for both of them. I think a lot of the awkwardness remaining could be attributed to the strong sour mood of the situation overall, but part of it could also be a subconscious “OK, Marco confessing his feelings made things better, and we’re OK being close, but...” lingering, waiting to be addressed. And given pancake and cereal clips, it will be soon.

Escape from the Pie Folk

I have less to say about this episode, it was fairly straightforward, honestly. It was 22 minutes of adventure and fights while trying to find and steal away Moon - lot of really fun and well-executed humor, it definitely was a strong showing for pretty much all the parts of the show besides “focus on the relationship growth of Star and Marco”.

More Marco trying to be constantly supportive, but still maybe having a bit of lingering tension in the how.

And sweet family moments.

Overall, a very isolated situation, honestly. The actions and interactions of the characters were put in a very specific, very focused situation where “finding Moon” overrode anything else, and didn’t allow for much other special elements to shine through. I liked the episodes, but some part of me was disappointed that most developments besides Moon were put on pause for the premiere. Still, resolving this in its entirety straight away sets up for some pretty strong coverage of the rest...

INTERMISSION

Let’s take a moment to talk about compartmentalization and the rules of TV pacing. I love Star vs the Forces of Evil, and I’m sure many of you do, even if its infuriating and painful at times. A lot of times. But I definitely think the show is special and does things differently than many others, to an extent. And that extent is key - I like to think of it as content vs structure. Content-wise, it is rather different from what you might expect (especially with character/relationship development). Characters come first, always, and there isn’t a sense of outside drama pushing characters around like ragdolls, changing their relationships and emotions in ways that they aren’t already naturally primed to at that moment. Romance isn’t handled as a drama-fest love triangle, with Star and Jackie or Tom and Marco directly vying for the affection of their love interest, nor do those love triangles ever damage the development of the main dynamic, Starco. Basically every shift in Star and Marco’s relationship, the ebbs and flows of it, can be entirely explained by just the two of them. Yes, seeing the other be romantic with someone else was a partial catalyst to individual moments of growth, but by and large Star and Marco themselves have been their own biggest obstacles, their own insecurities and missteps guiding the path of Starco 1000x more than Jarco or Tomstar or plot.

However, this doesn’t mean the show is magically free of the confines of episodic story pacing, and that’s where people often find faults in it. Many, including myself, went into the premiere thinking/hoping that it would include some relationship payoff, or skip some steps and just have Tom and Star break it off right away. And while anyone is free to disagree with the general concept of the premiere being entirely focused on Moon and plot setup, it’s completely logical for the show to take its development in concrete, compartmentalized chunks. An episode dedicating itself to a theme, to a concrete piece of plot, is likely going to focus on that. And this can be nuanced - I don’t think it was wrong of people to think that Follies could have had a theme of “Star confronted with her screwups” in a broader way that included multiple aspects of that, but it doubled down on Moon and it’s totally understandable that she didn’t take time during her hunt to figure out her feelings, etc. Still, it included reminders of the current situation, and we’ll see those pay off very soon. It’s not so reasonable to expect the show to bend over backwards to steamroll through Starco development right away, but it’s also unreasonable to expect no chunks of development at all, or for them to stop randomly. 

More specifically, the way the episodic structure handles these chunks is to follow up underlying buildup with inevitable realizations. It’s very, very rare for an episode that confronts a character with a specific question (e.g. “How do I feel about my Earth life” - Marco in Sophomore Slump, or “How do I feel about Marco” - Star in Starcrushed) to actually have the emotional development required to understand it occur within that episode. Star isn’t confronted with her crush on Marco until it’s developed enough to be ready to burst out. Marco isn’t confronted with his priorities in life until he’s experience enough of a bold, adventurous life with Star that his heart has already decided, and in both cases it’s a matter of a climactic wake-up call to what’s already there. On that note, onto predictions.

Moon Remembers

Well, I dunno much specific to say about this. Seems like this will be the episode dedicated to trying to get Moon her memory back - we have scenes from the promos of them riding warnicorns and Eclipsa playing guitar with her, maybe just trying to jog it. Could lead to some type of plot revelation (”I remember something big I saw in the Realm of Magic!” etc) but who knows. Seems likely that it’s entirely plot/Moon-focused, maybe with some more tie-ins to magic lore.

Swim Suit

This is a big one. So from the synopsis, we know that this is when Star and Marco attempt to have their beach day (which we now know is a celebration of things being “back to normal”, with Moon being back) but get interrupted by Eclipsa. I don’t know specifics of it, but in general, I think this is going to be the episode where Star truly settles in to an understanding of how she feels.

Quick tangent about the photo and how I think it’ll be used: in Follies, it was primarily encouragement for finding her mom. It’s still definitely interesting, and intentional, that the particular reminder of future happiness is a time with Marco, but it wasn’t relevant immediately - I think it will be used that way moving forward. Basically like this - “I kept this photo as encouragement to think positively and know I’d find my Mom. We found Mom, so now I can be happy like in the photo. It feels really good being happy with Marco like I am in the photo. Huh, I wonder why it is that my ideal of happiness is having fun with Marco...” Clearly the underlying feelings are already there, this is just bringing them to the forefront, actually giving Star a chance to reflect on how her heart feels after recent weeks/months and big events. As for specifics, I think they won’t actually take the photo here. They’ll try to have a beach day, get interrupted, and throughout the course of Eclipsa shenanigans, the episodic plot will tie in towards thinking about her feelings, with the end result being a “well, we didn’t achieve Beach Happiness™, but it was still nice.” We already know that an Earth beach is in episode 16, so maybe the photo comes full circle then (and at that point, they’re completely together already, and the photo is spontaneous). Or maybe I’m wrong, but who knows, this is a level of specificity I can’t predict with any confidence.

Also note here that, provided animation studio order stays consistent as expected, the cereal/pancake/babysitting Meteora scenes aren’t actually from Swim Suit, so who knows where those end up.

Overall, my general expectations for this episode are to set the stage for Starco developments, to start the ball rolling on payoff from last season and to start characters recognizing those changes and truly moving forward. Of course Tomstar is likely not going away officially until Lake House Fever, so I don’t exactly expect Star and Marco to talk about their feelings in depth here, but it’ll still be an important episode for Starco regardless.

Ransomgram

Alright, let’s just make something clear here. Yes, we already know Star is going to be fawning over adult Marco’s hot bod here, and very likely before breaking up with Tom. I know a lot of people are gonna find that sketchy, and I don’t entirely disagree, but adult Marco (and Star thirsting after hot dudes in general) has always been a gag never treated with any real serious weight. Both Jarco and Tomstar overall, but especially Tomstar, never really ever are treated with any true weight in the story. Like, yes, it’s acknowledged that Marco and Star kissing while she’s dating Tom are bad, but none of the moments of Marco abandoning Jackie to be with Star, or Star ignoring Tom to be with Marco, or Tom being a really unhelpful/unsupportive boyfriend, are ever treated with any real gravity. In the real world, perhaps these would be frowned upon much more even in weaker relationships, but in the show, “Star and Tom are dating” is taken as a given in the background, and none of the actions that characters take are really ever truly treated seriously as hurtful. So yes, on some level it’s weird and questionable that Star will be drooling over Marco (again) while STILL not talking to Tom, but Compartmentalization™ and the general lack of concern for treating the possible implications of situations like this seriously add up to explain it. Feel however you want about it, but this is how I expect it to work, because it’s how it’s worked in the past.

MHC is gonna come back here, and there might be a connection to the monster side of the plot, figuring out where the old guard fits in with the new regime and how politics are moving forward. Also, as far as Starco goes, I think this will be a sort of emotional payoff to Swim Suit. Not that anything tangible will result within the episode, but showing the differences in how Star acts around Marco when she’s actually admitting to herself that she loves him. Just like how Marco Jr., for instance, showed a very clear and different Starco interaction than 3A episodes, as a result of the concrete development moments in Deep Dive. Or how their interactions in Divide were very clearly the result of changes in Booth Buddies. So on and so forth.

All of this, then, leads into...

Lake House Fever

So this is where Tomstar finally rots. We have all-but-confirmation from animation studios, hints in the title, and background/SFX “leaks” that this is where the Tom and Star clips in the promos are from. So how exactly might this work? I can’t even say for sure, but I think it’s going to follow the usual trend of Tomstar episodes and basically be a vehicle for Tom development. Let’s face it, Star basically got nothing out of Tomstar besides a general passive armor against having to contemplate heartbreak/feelings since Tom filled the checkbox of “romance” in her life. She initially at least did truly fulfill the role of “normal teenage girlfriend” by spending time with him, dates, etc, but that started to wane after Lava Lake Beach and kept doing so more and more, and it’s now basically at the point of Tomstar being a couple in name only, with 0 effort between either of them put into actually... being anything. 

Let’s compare to Sophomore Slump for a minute, shall we? So in that episode, we had Marco who had undergone a ton of previous developments in how much he cared about adventure and a greater purpose in life and Star, and his heart had already basically made up its mind (Scent of a Hoodie’s ending and wearing the cape in Rest in Pudding, as clear signs of this). Sophomore Slump was the direct reality check, the final piece of the puzzle slotting into place, at least with regards to specifically “where he’d rather be” (even if the why still needed a bit more). So we could say, in effect, that Marco had fully developed everything underneath to answer the question of what mattered more to him, the old safe kid Marco’s ideal Earth life, or the new Marco’s life, and the breakup was simply everything that was already there clicking into place - he moves to Mewni immediately afterwards.

So how does this fit into Lake House Fever? I think the positioning of the episode is going to revolve around Star’s “growth” from it to work like Marco’s. In the Jarco case, the breakup wasn’t about Starco specifically, but Marco’s overall goals and focuses in life (Star was a part of that too, of course). It’s fairly clear that the Tomstar breakup will be different - the tension in their relationship is FAR more directly related to Starco itself (and also a much greater overall dysfunction within Tomstar compared to Jarco). It’s not a case of “this is a perfectly working relationship but it’ll eventually have issues, so let’s end it before we both become miserable”, it’s “this relationship isn’t working at all right now, for multiple reasons, among which are that Star prioritizes/loves someone else, but also general incompatibilities between them for committed companionship”. 

I think on Star’s end of things, we’re going to enter the episode with her knowing, very close to the surface if not on the surface already, that she has feelings for Marco and they need to talk, but will just have the one last hesitation holding her back. Not a “I genuinely don’t know who I like/whether I want to keep going longterm with Tom”, but a “this overall situation needs resolved and I just don’t know exactly how to handle it”. From the very limited info we have from the title/promo (no synopsis yet), it seems like Star might be helping Tom with something - he kind of looked ill in the promos. Regardless, I still sort of predict a semi-arbitrary episodic plot leads them to meet up in the episode. Give em a reason to interact that isn’t directly related to awkward and complex feelings, and let the handling of those naturally evolve from there. 

So as for Tom, I think the bulk of the change in this episode will be on his end. I think he’s going to sort of have an attitude not too dissimilar to Star - knowing they should talk at some point, but not really knowing how. I think the bulk of the episode’s plot, whatever it may be, will lead up towards Tom getting the wakeup call that it 100% won’t work and that he needs to pull the trigger on it. It would give Tom a really solid moment to follow up on some of his initial moments in Season 3, would give him some critical agency when he honestly hasn’t had much of it for a while (Starco developments just kind of happen around him, although of course his general lack of presence in Star’s life contributes to this as well - Star’s a fairly absentee girlfriend, but Tom’s no angel either). Getting over that initial hump of awkwardness would still accomplish things for both of them, but Tom being the one to first make the leap of faith into starting the uncomfortable conversation would fit best imo.

As for afterwards, much like how I said Jarco was the final puzzle piece for Marco decisively figuring out his priorities, I think this will be the same for Star’s feelings. She’ll be aware, nearly-consciously, that she has feelings for Marco ahead of time, but will just be stuck on inaction, not being confident enough to take a bold step forward on her own. So I think the breakup for Star’s feelings will do what the breakup did for Marco’s sense of accomplishment - the final domino will not only help her realize that she has feelings for Marco, but prime her to actually act on them.

Now if this breakup occurred earlier, I’d say it could have a major impact on Star’s own growth and understanding, and it still could, but I don’t think it’ll be so likely. There are certainly situations where the breakup would serve as a shakeup for her to consider her feelings, which would then take some more time afterwards to solidify, but I can’t help but assume that’s what the purpose of multiple Starco episodes beforehand is. The situation is too much of a powderkeg for Star to have any downtime with either of them that doesn’t start turning the gears in her brain. Anyway, that’s all for this.

Eps 5-7

Yada Yada Berries/Down by the River

The Ponyhead Show!/Surviving the Spiderbites

Out of Business/Kelly’s World

These, I have no clue on specifics, to be honest. There’s an RDK Ludo episode coming up, so that would be part of episode 5 most likely. Second half of that seems like a River episode contender, but who knows. The first half of episode 6 is some type of variety show involving Eclipsa in part - this may be part of the plot of Eclipsa trying to find her place as Queen. Spiderbites is a possible contender for the babysitting Meteora clip, the first half of episode 7 is Quest Buy with the Ocrams, and Kelly’s World is something with Marco and Kelly. We’ll circle back to these, but let’s look at broader strokes first.

Curse of the Blood Moon

I’m entirely confident that by the end of this episode (at the latest) Starco will be 100% canon, ready to move forward into Season 4 as a couple, romantic uncertainties behind them. It’s the only possible next “big” step in their development, one that was set up very directly in Booth Buddies with the idea that things were different now and they could no longer ignore their friendship meaning more than friendship. I’m sure it will be tied in to Starco relationship progress, but as I’ve said many times before, it’s entirely out of the realm of how this show handles development as a whole to actually prioritize plot over characters and obstruct character development with plot. The “Curse”, whatever it may be, could very well be activated by Starco itself, but it’s entirely out of line with everything the show has ever done with characterization to actually claim plot is “forcing” feelings, capisce?

Now how could this be accomplished? Well, given the pacing of the show in general, concrete chunks of development along the way seem most likely. And Star and Marco acknowledging the stronger nature of their relationship and stepping over the edge towards mutual romance, to me, seems like a different piece of the puzzle than something so strong as becoming 100% canon forever. After all, Bonbon for Jarco still had a Naysaya before it, a setup with clear and direct Jarco moments nudging it over the edge of romantic before going the whole way. Similarly, Tomstar had Demoncism before they officially confirmed they were a couple a few episodes later. 

Curse is definitely going to be a big episode, but I don’t see it being very likely that we entire the episode with the entire prospect of Star and Marco talking about their feelings still completely looming over them. Another major reason I have to believe this, which is in some ways related to the above point, is that the show doesn’t overly fetishize romance. It’s all-too-common in media, especially family-friendly/kid media with romance, to warp the whole concept and make the “confession + big kiss + happily ever after” one monolithic moment at the very end, as the pinnacle of romance, often going so far as to delay natural developments and put roadblocks of misunderstanding in the way to keep the pair apart until both could have this moment. SVTFOE, on the other hand, historically hasn’t done this. It has always, thus far, recognized the ebbs and flows and slower progression of natural relationships, with steps in between “I guess we might like each other” to “yup we’re 100% dating”. So I can’t guarantee anything about the specific pacing along the way, but I’d wager that Starco has already crossed the threshold into mutual romance before Curse begins.

I have genuinely no idea what the plot will be here overall. We have a shot from the promo which is a newly animated version of the Blood Moon Waltz... flashback? Recreating the event? Time travel? I hope not the last one, but I have no clue.

So circling back around, we have the cereal, pancake, and babysitting Meteora scenes which (as far as I can tell, assuming animation studio order holds) are unaccounted for. There’s... I suppose a nonzero chance for a huge curveball, with some of them being Lake House Fever? Star wears the new S4 outfit in cereal/pancake as well as then, and they’re all Sugarcube. Another option I’d been considering was for Surviving the Spiderbites to be their attempt to spend time together, either resulting in feelingstalk or being the result of feelingstalk and tiptoeing into romance, with the cereal/pancake scenes being about trying to have a good “date” but getting interrupted... which is now the plot of Swim Suit, so I don’t know. Quest Buy has always, historically, involved heavy Starco importance, so perhaps that episode is a leadin to Curse on that front. Note that either everyone actually thinking Kelly’s World (and their baking scene in Ponyhead Show) is actually implying more love triangles is wrong, or the writers officially gave up and we can all go home.

As a note, I’m of course not really making any bold claims of confidence in the minutiae of these predictions: there’s so many options for curveballs that I can’t say anything for sure! But I think, in a general sense, the path of Starco buildup towards and through Curse is a sure thing, one way or another, because there’s basically nothing else meaningful that could happen!

Hope you enjoyed the read, and stay tuned for any new updates we get on future episodes.

[elizabethrobertajones]

I'm not saying you agree with that TLJ article since you tagged it 'mh', but I'm very worried but this latest trend 'Your opinion is wrong because of internalized ___'. Some movies just suck? Like, I hated Ghostbusters 2 because it was bad. I was perfectly okay with having four women as main characters, but that can't be your whole idea for a movie.

I do think that article is interesting, and trying to describe what is basically a wider cultural phenomenon. I’m sure on case by case basis you could rarely boil it down to just a few specific factors and “diagnose” someone except for really obvious lifelong character types who would be in the most obvious demographic. 

Star Wars *already* got a bunch of sexist and racist backlash before TFA, so it’s already in the bracket of movies which got thrown together as the collection of SJWs are ruining our childhood movies like Mad Max, Ghostbusters, etc, so it’s also definitely not like this is a wild stab in the dark that it has pre-existing tension, although in this case the reaction is still really split. But I can see why it’s easy to examine it this way and analyse where it might make people uncomfortable, and wonder to what degree people are prepared to let go of Leading White Man formula for mega blockbusters. 

Something like Wonder Woman, people know what they’re getting into when they see it in the sense that the franchise is completely built around there being a female character in the lead role. So that stands quite alone. And it’s not like there haven’t been action movies with female leads in the past either, but the re-casting in the case of Ghostbusters, or just development of interesting female characters who aren’t beholden to a cookie cutter template/romance arc within a supposedly male-dominated franchise (Furiosa, especially) and changing up old franchises to have more diverse cast (Star Wars) or just completely flip the “male is the default” idea like Ghostbusters and Oceans 8, are deliberately challenging and in some cases - the last 2 especially - are pretty much thumbing the nose to the idea of all-male casts being unremarkable and default. Whether the movies are *good* or not (I thought Ghostbusters was about on the level of, say, a Ghostbusters movie for quality and humour, so okay basically :P) they’re culturally significant at a time when it seems both bizarre and horrifically slow and backwards that we *still* don’t have *even just getting male and female representation right, never mind race and sexuality and disability representation* (I mean for that last point - in some ways these films are already going to be regressive by the time other progressive steps are made, for example Charlize Theron wearing a green screen glove to delete her arm, instead of just hiring an actress with half an arm which is the immediately less-expensive and fiddly route to get the aesthetic…)

But idk, it’s not even like Star Wars was either perfect or extremely progressive, it just managed *not* to have 2-3 white male leads + some other people in the background, and to allow the non white male people to have such a stake in the story they could mess up and make decisions that affected the fate of the galaxy - often negatively, as this is the ESB slot of the trilogy aka where everything is supposed to go in the toilet. There was a lot they could have done better and I’m still annoyed that Maz and Phasma both got pitifully tiny roles but were basically included despite the set up of the movie being extremely restrictive to much exploration and with probably the longest time limit they thought they could allow themselves and still sound like there were any tension in the chase… 

I think it’s definitely always worth exploring whether social issues are having an impact on the reception of a film, though, because it’s a way of addressing the issues in our society, which we *know* exist, and when a film is openly critical of our society, and then people are critical back at it, guessing there may be a nervous backlash from people it made uncomfortable for too-close-to-home reasons makes sense. The critique offered by Kylo Ren to edgy white masculinity is really interesting, and I think it’s probably not hard to imagine SOME people especially who fit the profile are reacting against him, or glorifying him anyway unironically while disliking large amounts of the rest of the movie. 

One of the points that article made as well was that other generic or bad films do much better with audience reaction - in fact some truly terrible films do really well as they’re marketed to a niche audience, and that audience gobbles them up and we get the inverse, of critically panned but audience ratings pretty high.

I mean, I’m assuming if you follow me you’re a Supernatural fan and so we’re all here to gobble up the melodramatic pretty boys :P

So, idk, I think in some ways the picking apart of the film and emphasising its flaws is happening in a strange social climate, where in some ways the discomfort about the film not catering with the most “easy” empathy of a white male main character & with flawed but interesting characters in the other roles particularly prone to being criticised in society for existing anyway and that the SW revival has already had one film threatened boycott over because of Finn being a black stormtrooper on his reveal, and I doubt that feeling has just magically gone away… There comes a point where I wonder how much is basically film review concern trolling when it comes to criticising his and Rose’s arc, or the film in general. 

And how much of the film’s real flaws, plotholes etc if they existed in an easier version of the film with all 4 Chrises in the major roles would take months or years to get properly dissected by the internet while it’s basically as soon as you go back online after the movie someone’s complaining about why Canto Bight even existed.

I mean my “Hm” was “this is interesting and I think it definitely could apply to the wider cultural reaction to the movies” while obviously on a personal level if people have certain standards for films (my dad hates basically *everything* so I don’t think his reaction to TFA was categorically racist or sexist, just that he would be inclined to think pretty much anything JJ Abrams makes is garbage and whoops I never should have naively made him watch the first episode of Fringe with me :P) then if any of these movies are things you can tell would have rubbed you up the wrong way anyway, e.g. you didn’t like the original Ghostbusters that much/have found it far cringey-er on adult rewatches etc then you are absolutely allowed to have a reaction to it on a personal level which is not a sign of the sickness of our society :P 

But I think even if you don’t like the new SW film, it’s worth putting aside your critiques of it for a moment to think about this article and the wider reaction - not to make you guilted into enjoying the film, but because it’s worth at least pondering the wider social issues the film’s already definitely caught up in since like, before TFA came out, so we can’t deny that there’s at least some portion of the audience, whether the loud but small group of assholes who utterly invisibly boycotted TFA, or the wider percentage of the population who’ll be consciously or unconsciously turned off by the cast and the power given to their characters in the story, and the possibly even wider percentage who may still struggle to empathise with female characters because Hollywood has so systematically underrepresented like, what can alternately be the literal largest demographic on the planet, and presented just plain old cis women as characters whose inner lives are valuable and decisions should be respected. 

I mean since I came out the movie I’ve been swinging back and forth on “should Holdo have just told Poe her plan or was the point that this man of a much lower station is getting all up in her business demanding to know and questioning her, and I assume that was intentional so I should agree with Holdo but would this have looked just as bad if a male admiral showed up doing the same thing and they accidentally undermine her by it being a bad decision in general, or is the point that if it had been a male admiral Poe would have shut up and not let an insurrection, but I mean it’s *Poe* and I love him and I totally understand and he was made out to be more sympathetic until *after* the twist so did they WANT us to be critical of Holdo or am I just falling into a trap of not giving female characters the same room to fuck up as male characters -” and that’s BEFORE I get onto the internet and read this debate for weeks, just my confusion about this arc and what it was saying and if it was meant to say one thing or the other or if it’s a bit of bad writing (but not something so bad it would ruin the film to the point of only 50% enthusiasm like Rotten Tomatoes is giving it - like, 93% or something :P) or if it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to by making my brain cogs go and making me feel I need to write like, a dozen female admiralty into things to allow Holdo a cultural sisterhood of good bad and ugly admirals to be her own person in instead of the only female admiral to ever stick in my head like this :P So idk. 

Hm. Basically. 

[maeve-of-winter]

I'm curious as to why you can't seem to have a larger conversation about Riverdale and race w/o mentioning Cheryl? Like even your comment about Josie had to be in the context of Cheryl stalking her in season 2. What about the fact that Josie is ignored for the whole series? Toni was introduced in season 2 as a prop for Bughead. Just bc she wasn't a series regular, doesn't mean they couldn't have told us about her parents lol. I get why you don't like Cheryl, but is she really the only issue?

Lol, anon. And I’m curious about why you think Cheryl should be left out of all discussion of racism in Season 2? I guess since you were unable to come up with a rebuttal to my points about Cheryl stalking Josie and framing Chuck, we’re right back at “HDU, you’re interrogating racism from the wrong perspective!” 

 Honestly, why should I have to leave Cheryl out of my discussion on racism, other than that Cheryl fans and Choni fans don’t want to admit that there are odd racial implications surrounding her character? Why should I have to talk about other racial aspects of the show and not mention Cheryl? I mean, it’s not like the storyline of her stalking Josie is suddenly going to vanish from existence if I stop bringing it up. In fact, it’s that storyline, as well as the show’s refusal to treat it as significant, that made me dislike Cheryl. 

 This isn’t a case of me disliking Cheryl and then latching onto racism as justification. This is me genuinely disliking how her emotions and trauma are treated as so much more worthwhile and special while WOC’s emotions and trauma are consistently swept under the rug. That’s why I continually harp on it—I don’t think I’ve ever seen a modern example that’s so blatant in prioritizing a white woman’s pain over a black woman’s pain, and it’s something deeply bothers me, so I want to talk about it. I also want to talk about since no one else is, and because Choni is constantly praised as a deeply progressive relationship, when from a racial perspective, it absolutely isn’t. 

 Also, I’ve noticed that when I talk about this issue of Cheryl and Choni, I tend to get a bunch of protests like yours above to stop it, and it’s important to me to pull back the curtain on the racism in Riverdale fandom, too, and get rid of this notion that it’s evidently wrong to talk about racism when it involves someone’s fave. 

More to your point, it’s nearly impossible to have a discussion about racism in Season 2 without discussing Cheryl, since she’s heavily involved in the main plots of all five of the Black recurring characters. Four of them have her involved in deeply unpleasant ways, and the last one is still irritating and iffy. 

Let’s just go over how Cheryl is involved in the plots for the recurring black teens in Season 2: 

 Josie: In one of her only plots for the season (or ever), Cheryl stalks and terrorizes her while gaslighting her into believing it’s the Black Hood, Chuck, and then the Black Hope again. She destroys the Pussycats and leaves Josie isolated from them. She destroys her relationship with Chuck. The show completely forgets about this plot in favor of concentrating on Cheryl’s pain and fear and issues with her mom, and it’s not until nearly ten episodes that it’s briefly brought up again, but it’s brought up in the context of something hurt Cheryl, not Josie, and got her sent to conversion therapy. Then in the following episode, we get a very brief apology from Cheryl where the narrative excuses her behavior, and then it’s forgotten.

We NEVER get to see the Pussycats reunite. Cheryl NEVER has to face consequences for what she did that aren’t framed as a reason to feel sorry for her—the show actually turns around and paints Cheryl as a victim of her decision to stalk and harass Josie, rather than examining Josie as a victim of Cheryl. We NEVER get a get focus on how Josie feels about finding out that Cheryl was stalking her. We get maybe two minutes combined, if that? What we get is an extreme example of a white woman tormenting a black woman and getting entirely away with it. And any discussion of racism within Season 2 would be remiss if they didn’t mention it. 

The worst part is, Cheryl’s obsession with Josie came from Josie rescuing her from Nick. So Josie is essentially repaid by Cheryl (and the writers) for her heroism by having her life destroyed.

Melody and Valerie: After spending most of Season 1 in the background and getting just a few moments in the spotlight, they spend Season 2 almost entirely in the background before vanishing from the show entirely. Their only plot where they get any focus is when Cheryl, a white character, permanently destroys the friendship between them and Josie, three black characters. The Pussycats then break up for good, never to reunite. 

Chuck: In one of his only plots of the season (or ever), he is framed by Cheryl for stalking Josie, of which, of course, Cheryl is actually guilty and he is innocent. But as I mentioned before, there are unavoidable racial implications tied into white women knowingly falsely accusing black men of being predators. Historically, numerous black men have been lynched because of it. Cheryl essentially preys upon society’s fear of black men by accusing Chuck, even if that’s not her primary motivation—she’s still using racism to her advantage. And again, any discussion of racism in Season 2 would need to talk about this scene because of the ugly history surrounding it and the writers’ ready willingness to indulge in it. 

 What’s more is that again, we NEVER get to see how Chuck was affected by being falsely accused. We NEVER see Cheryl apologize to him. Similar to how Josie being stalked by Cheryl was treated as negligible and barely worthy of closure, Chuck’s circumstances as falsely accused black man is treated as wholly negligible and unworthy of closure or further attention. He is just yet another black character whose life Cheryl destroyed because she felt like it.

Toni: The one black teen cast member who wasn’t involved in the Cheryl stalks Josie. Instead, her character is treated as negligible in other ways. 

First of all, let’s address what you said about Toni being a prop for Bughead. She absolutely wasn’t. She demonstrably wasn’t. And while I’ve tried to avoid being rude, the assertion that she was is such a transparent display of, “What about this other thing, huh? Isn’t that problematic, too? Huh? HUH?” that it gives secondhand embarrassment. You obviously saw me and others discussing how Toni was a prop for Cheryl and instantly went, “Well, Bughead did it first!” It’s very predictable. 

To put it plainly, Toni wasn’t a prop for Bughead. She wasn’t introduced solely for encouraging the ship or just to help that out. She was introduced to an obstacle for them and a potential love interest for Jughead. The difference is that the latter allows her agency and independence. The former does not. She is essentially a secondary character for Jughead, but she is not his prop.But even if she was, if we go along with your logic of her being a prop for Bughead and then being a prop for Cheryl (which you don’t even deny), is having a black character go from being a prop from one white couple to another white character really progress? 

What I’m saying is that it wouldn’t be an improvement if Toni went from being Bughead’s prop to Cheryl’s. It doesn’t make it less problematic for her relationship with Cheryl, it just means that both relationships have issues with racism. Neither one is better than the other. So for all your trying, Cheryl still isn’t in the clear. 

 But I don’t agree that Toni *was* a prop for Jughead or Bughead. She was his secondary character and mainly to introduce him to the world of the Southside, but not a prop like she was and still is for Cheryl. 

Let’s look at how Toni is written in regards for each character. 

Jughead: Toni has her own interests in school newspaper and photography. She warns him that if he doesn’t join the Serpents, he’ll be targeted by the Ghoulies and is proven right. Tells Jughead numerous times when she thinks he being a dumbass. Tries to help decode the Black Hood’s cipher with Betty and Jughead and snarks on Betty’s ponytail. She has a one night stand with Jughead and dumps him the morning after because she realizes he isn’t what she needs. Discusses how her uncle has kicked her out of the house for her sexuality and is reduced to couch-surfing or else just living on the street. Has an identity as a Native American, encourages Jughead to meet with her grandfather and learn about her people’s heritage, gets angry when he appropriates her people’s suffering, advises Jughead on what he can do to make amends and helps him lead the protest at Pickens Park. Pushes back against Cheryl’s bullying when Cheryl, apropos of nothing, begins insulting Toni and all of the Southside students. 

Cheryl: For no adequately explained reason, suddenly starts reaching out to Cheryl, who has never apologized for the way she treated or anyone else and has never done anything nice for her in the slightest. Stops pushing back against Cheryl’s bullying and just accepts it so she continue to reach to help Cheryl, who responds to Toni’s kindness with homophobia, which she also never apologizes for. They get together in a scene all about Cheryl and Cheryl’s pain and suffering, with Toni making a speech about how awesome Cheryl is. Toni joins the River Vixens for no reason we get to hear other than that Cheryl wants her on the squad and then basically exists the next few episodes to comfort Cheryl. 

Is Cheryl still bullying other Southside students and just not Toni? Is Toni still being bullied by the students Cheryl was initially leading against the Southside students? We don’t know. The show doesn’t want to remember Cheryl being a bully or Toni being a victim. It’s all about Cheryl being a victim of everyone now. 

Case in point: the conversion therapy plot. Here Toni exists to rescue Cheryl from the Sisters, in a plot that’s not about Toni being badass or how much Cheryl means to her when she has so few other people, but to give a decidedly prurient examination of Cheryl’s pain and suffering and of how much of a victim she is. And when Toni shows up to rescue Cheryl, Toni gives another speech about how awesome Cheryl is. This plot exists not to “humiliate Cheryl,” as some have accused it of, but to paint Cheryl as the woobiest woobie to ever woob at the hands of her mother, uncle, religion, and society in general, and to also demonstrate that the show writers aren’t afraid to go to extreme and distasteful lengths to do that. The next episode has Toni joining the show musical mostly so she can be there to comfort woobie Cheryl about her monstrous mother and make yet another speech about how awesome Cheryl is. And the next and last time we get a plot that really focuses on Toni, it’s when Penny is holding her captive. 

And if you think that we’re going to get a focus on how traumatic this is for Toni and how hard she’s fought and how angry and scared she is about her situation, then you’ve forgotten that Riverdale doesn’t give a damn about black characters, because the scene exists to be 25% about Jughead outwitting Penny and 75% about Cheryl being a Badass Archer Warrior Goddess. 

 When Cheryl is captive and Toni is her rescuer, the show is about what a woobie Cheryl is. When Toni is captive and Cheryl is her rescuer, it’s about what a badass Cheryl is. But the focus is never, ever on Toni. And that’s why I’d say she’s a prop for Cheryl. 

Previously, I’d discussed Toni’s parents not being so much as named despite her main character status while Cheryl got detailed focus on her immediate family throughout multiple seasons, including an emphasis on all of the ways her mother had hurt her. In the second season, it didn’t bother me as much, since Toni was a secondary character. You’re right in that we could have been told her name, anon, either when she was Jughead’s supporting character or when she Cheryl’s character, but since she was still a supporting character, it didn’t honestly bother me that much. After all, we only learned Kevin’s dad’s name in the second season, and he’s an actual character on the show with a central role in the first season. 

However, it is glaring how few times Toni’s family receives even a mention when she’s supposed to be a main character during the third season, especially when she’s compared to Cheryl, who continually has plots involving her family.It really does look like the show is more interested in focusing on a screwed up wealthy white family in their big Gothic manor than a mixed black-Native who struggles with poverty and lives in a trailer. I’m just saying. 

 And consider this: we never learned her parents’ names, but when Toni was Jughead’s supporting character, we got to hear about her family. We got to hear about her personal struggles with her uncle and the problems he caused for her. We got to meet her grandfather, we got to learn about Toni’s culture, and we got to see how angry Toni was about Jughead appropriating her family’s history. Toni was allowed to have struggles as a bisexual teenager and a descendant of the Native Americans, and both were treated as entirely separate issues. 

 Contrast that to when Toni becomes Cheryl’s supporting character in Season 2 and continues to essentially be her supporting character in Season 3. I don’t think Toni’s uncle or grandfather ever get so much as a single other mention. And the only other time Toni’s identity as a WOC came into play was when it was relevant to college admissions. Even though Toni being kicked out of her house by her uncle would be a strong basis for Toni to relate to Cheryl’s issues with her mom, we never see it. And why? Because the Choni relationship is not written to be about Toni and Cheryl bonding together. It started as and almost always has been about Toni being unfailingly supportive of Cheryl. 

 And that’s why I say Toni wasn’t a prop for Jughead or Bughead but is one for Cheryl. She was a person with her own problems outside of Jughead when she was his supporting character. She wasn’t allowed the same agency when it came to Cheryl. 

TL;DR: Cheryl plays a major role in the plots of all the recurring black teen characters’ storylines in Season 2, with ugly racial implications for each one.

[aseparatenet]

hey! do you have any idea what a good asp essay topic would be? i'm in love with the book but i just don't know what to write about. all the topics people have suggested either seem awfully vague or are too vapid, like they don't really do the book justice, you know? i figure you probably resent these types of questions but i thought asking was worth a shot haha, anyway thank you & sorry to bother you!

It really depends on how much you’re supposed to write and what parts of the book you like the most. And, of course, how much you’re looking to write for specific examples! I’m definitely not qualified to give great advice on this, sorry.

I once wrote an essay on how Finny affects Gene as a person. ( “ In Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace, Phineas is the catalyst for Gene to fully conceive and become his true personality and potential. “)

I also find the whole concept of innocence and the inability to change some of the intriguing parts of the story. Such as Gene’s loss of innocence and how that’s integral to the story, or that of any of the other main characters.

Finny’s inability to change and accept what has happened and what Gene did and then his eventual death are very interesting concepts. Like, the fact that everything must evolve or it perishes. I found that one of the most interesting concepts in the book. I also like the constant metaphor (and literal occurrence) of falling. 

I mean, you could also examine the line about how the winter loves Finny because Finny loves it and how that reflects in the rest of the story, including his relationship with Gene.

You could also examine the impact of either Leper or Brinker in the story as well. (or their relationship with Gene or Finny)

There’s also the idea behind romanticisation, how over romanticised the book is, including Gene’s view of Finny and how he idolises him.

I’m just throwing out ideas here! I hope I’m not being too vague or vapid. I’m not entirely sure what you’re looking for, but if anyone else has any ideas be sure to add!

-rem