#I say web weaving when really it's a RANT

[theagenes]

This is a late night rant about 2014 Sebastian Vettel, not my usual type of content at all but I had to get it out of my system. 🎀

I would have not particularly written this but I heard a comment about Sebastian's 2014 season and it bugged me, then I saw something very similar later that day and just thought about doing this.

Then what is it about ? Well initially, what I heard came from a commentator discussing George Russel and Lewis Hamilton's dynamic at Mercedes, and how, in their first moment driving against one another, the younger one tended to force the elder into driving a bit more desperately : to commit mistakes to try and beat their younger teammate. To this, the commentator also put the example of 2014 Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, which the former had seen as a threat, and as a result, had been pressured into driving poorly in 2014.

The problem I have with this is that it just highlights how little people know, and on the contrary, how much people assume, about Sebastian's 2014 season — which, arguably, is probably one of his most overlooked. It is not so much that he had a poor season that year, more than why — and you will find that it is the combinaison of many factors, most of them I thought people knew very well, but as it turns out, not so much.

Why was it such a terrible season for him then ?

First things first, I'd like to put this into perspective : we view 2014 as an “awful” season for him, if not by sheer, automatic contrast to 2013. It's not easy to have both your best and worst season follow each other in a 2 years' spawn : is it really though— his worst season ? Because it's not. Sebastian finished 5th in the driver championship that year, and stepped on a few podiums — some of them he even shared with his teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Here he is in Singapore 2014, lifting his trophy at venue which has never failed him. 🥸

Now 5th isn't so bad, especially considering there were more drivers competing in the championship, as well as a fiercer competition. Why does it stick in our minds as such a forgettable season for him then ? Well, as we saw, 2013 was his most dominant form ever, and there is nothing more humiliating than losing a Grand Prix with the “ 1 ” sticker branded onto your every belonging : car, caps, race suit, garage ; right next to your own name.

But once that this a priori is out of the way, you will find that his 2014 season – although nowhere near his last four championship-winning years – was not simply Sebastian making silly mistakes, in the heap of the moment or born out of a rage to prove himself, because he felt threatened by his new teammate.

There are reasons behind 2014, and there are numerous.

An obvious reason, although going slightly in the same direction than what the commentator was saying – without ever reaching the same conclusion though – was that the 2014 season was all about changes for Sebastian : new regulations, new engines, new cars, new teammate : new dynamic. A change to which he adapted pretty poorly, that's undeniable, but which does not warrant for such a drastic drop of performance — when compared to 2013 or 2011, his most dominant years, but even 2012, one of the hardest fought championship he ever won, or 2010 or 2009, two championships to which he teethed and clawed at, for two very different outcomes. What I mean is that you simply do not go from breaking and setting new, unheard-of records (still unbroken, as I write this), winning 13 races out of 19, and only missing out on 2 podium finishes in an entire season, to climbing on the top of a few, scarce podiums the very next year — or at least, not without a justification.

This justification, you will find, comes into a much simpler, intertwined reason than you might think. To put it very simply, I would say “Ferrari” on one side, and “Michael Schumacher” on the other. Don't forget where we stand, and where we are : this is 2014. A few month prior, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian's greatest hero, friend and counsellor, had been drastically injured in a skying accident.

This might seem a bit foreign to us nowadays, and although we all know about his accident, do we always remember the precise date ? December 29 2013, during the winter break and somehow, both at the same time, a moment of joy and celebration for Sebastian, as well as sorrow and grief. How do you celebrate your greatest achievement in the sport of your dream, when a primordial component of this very childhood dream, your hero, fights for his life in a remote hospital ? And it's no well-hidden secret that Michael's accident dealt a terrible blow to Sebastian's mental health — he talked about it himself in interviews saying that the period which followed was one of the toughest of his life. The 2014 season cannot be extracted from its context, and the driver that got into his car this year was a man grieving, constantly ; persistently.

The third reason is very much linked to the second, as Michael Schumacher had a great impact over Sebastian's dream of ever driving shed in red. 2014 is also a turning point in Sebastian's career : both a pivot and a fulcrum, to later become an unsteady keystone. The thing is, the discussions over Sebastian ever joining Red Bull had started as early as 2008, although at this time, he had chosen to commit to Red Bull. The movement from Red Bull to Ferrari did not happen in one day, and it surely did not pop into Sebastian's mind over the spawn of a few month. It must have been there for years, simmering until he finally crossed the threshold and took a step. A move he had to make without any word of advise from the person who had made him want to join Ferrari in the first place.

The 2014 season was not so much his last year with Red Bull, more than a springboard-year before his first season with Ferrari. It was never going to be a year where Sebastian would fight for a championship, not even for wins or podiums : on the contrary, not winning with Red Bull was the only remaining necessity. His contract with Red Bull was set until the 2015-2016 season, and as we've seen in the past, a driver leaving his team is always legally managed by a contract : in order for this to happen, there has to be a clause which can break their pre-existing contract. It was the case with Daniel Ricciardo last year (2022) who was kindly thanked by McLaren in exchange of a good sum of money : that was the mandatory loophole in the contract for it to work. Similarly with Sebastian in 2014, the loophole in his contract was all about championship points. Helmut Marko talked about it after Sebastian's move from one team to the other, saying that this transaction had not came as a backstab at all, simply because it had been done in full knowledge of their team.

What do we think about it, as a whole ? Of course, I have no purpose to cast a shadow on Daniel Ricciardo's very good season in 2014 : his victories were his and he didn't rob anyone of them, nor his podiums. What I am trying to say is that there is no correlation between those two chains of event : in the same way that Sebastian losing did not help Daniel winning, Daniel winning did not make Sebastian lose. I don't think this 2014 season should be summed up as Sebastian feeling pressured by a younger teammate into making mistakes after mistakes — all the more considering his sheer streak of unluckiness and the unavoidable DNF's, engine and car failures he had no role into. Wouldn't it be pretty simplist, to link Daniel's victories to Sebastian, and wouldn't it take a bit from them ? I sincerely think that they are not linked, and that his – arguably weaker, although 5th position in the championship is no small feat if it is regarded as your very worst, considering most drivers never even win a Grand Prix, let alone make it to the top 5 of the WDC – 2014 season was about something else entirely.

Perhaps that it was less about being beaten by a teammate than saying farewell to a former team in the smoothest way possible ; for once losing sight of the championship to achieve something bigger, to try and reach for a childhood dream.

Pictures are from Motorsport Images (cr: Vettel 2014 Portrait) / Alfred Guillou - Adieu ! / - Lora Mathis - If There's A Way Out I'lI Take It / Edward John Poynter - The corner of the villa / Franz Ludwig Catel - Porch of a Church in a lunar landscape / The Guardian / Witold Pruszkowki - Falling Star / Patrick Gale - Notes from an exhibition, p.36 / Sebastian Vettel for the Daily Telegraph / Dr Helmut Marko for Sky Sports / Johan Christian Dahl - View of Dresden by Moonlight.

[shuxiii]

Love at first web— Hanni Pham x reader

synopsis: Hanni desperate for a hit news was ready to do anything to have a brief interview with the one and only friendly neighborhood spider-man. Yet it didn't seem like an easy task when you're swinging out of reach of her, so she does the ordeal.

Note: is my obsession getting obvious for the Australian-Vietnamese girl now because i think its getting chronic each day

🕸️🕸️🕸️🕸️🕸️🕸️🕸️

''Hanni, you can't just do whatever you want without facing the repercussions,'' Minji, my long-time best friend and my boss.

''I can make it up to, i can—''

''Hanni, you've caused too much problem and it's causing harm to our resources; why don't you focus on less challenging news?'' Minji says ''well like um,, oh! like that protest against—''

I was too driven by my thoughts to even care to listen to her rantings, I couldn't bear to be held back I've dedicated my life to journalism, just a few rough patches won't stop me.

I need to think, i need something big. something that will give me back Minji's trust in my work, I look at the little spider on the wall hanging on its web quietly weaving its spider web, and it hits me.

''so like i was saying han—''

''I can talk to Spider-girl'' I say.

Minji takes a pause and stares at me perplexed.

''What?''

''i can get an interview with spider-girl themselves,'' I suggest hesitantly. and that didn't go unnoticed by Minji.

''really? how exactly?'' she asked.

crap. think of something.

''well, i have contacts that will get me through spider-girl myself,'' I lie ''so if you just let me do this, just once I'll make it up for those mistakes.''

''Hanni—'' I gaze at Minji's conflicted thoughts, she knows me well. she knows i don't just give up. and eventually, she sighs.

''fine, but if i don't get any progress by the end of the week, you're halted with any bigger works.''

I jumped in triumph, hugging Minji tightly.

''okay don't get ahead of yourself, you still owe me an interview with a superhero'' she giggles.

i rejoiced too soon, now i was in a cornered wall.

lying was easy, but making it real was difficult

Let's be real how exactly will I get a hold of a human swinging from buildings to buildings like it's a normal Monday morning.

It was deemed so impossible but what do I have to lose? Yeah, my job. Exactly.

If I don't get this interview, then I’ll question myself if I was ever suited for journalism, I don't care if it takes a train to stop me, I'm getting that spider.

I knew exactly how to get their attention. It's simple put myself in to trouble.

🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️ 🕸️

And as smart yet stupid as i was, i decided to get mugged in an alleyway.

It was easy, carry an expensive-looking bag while appearing naive and vulnerable. You’ll have all the eyes of every burglar you get in Manhattan.

I go down a dark alleyway, hearing faint and slow footsteps behind me, and as I reach the end of the street, I glance back to see two buff males wearing balaclava masks approaching me.

And, like every comedian's punch line, they speak their six legendary lines.

“Give us all you have, miss”

And of course I try to stall.

“I don't have anything with me,” I say.

I heard a scoff at the other guy much more shorter than the other one.

“Then what's in your bag?” He says “Nothing?” He laughs.

I take a step back and with every step they inch closer. Yet no signs of that famous red suit spider.

The consequences of my impulsive choices has started to bite back at me, and the fear has started to set in.

“C’mon miss, you don't want to make this harder than it already is” the taller one says.

He grips on my wrist, tight enough to make me wince.

“Let go of me!” I try to push away his hand but he was twice as big as me, and it didn't budge at all.

raspy laughs echoed through the dark alleyway, and he grips me tighter.

“This one's a fighter eh?” He smiles, putting his face closer to mine, smelling the horrible stench of cigarettes and alcohol.

“My, I couldn't take a good look at you but aren't you a little too pretty to be here? He says “We definitely hit the jackpot.”

I look back at him in disgust. And even though I tried to hide my dread, I felt confined and terrified more than I ever had before.

“Why don't you entertain us huh?” He grins with a gleam of darkness in his eyes.

I felt tears drop against my cheeks as i imagine the worst to come.

I close my eyes in fear.

“Hey jerry help me here” he says.

Yet the silence was only heard.

“Jerry!” He yells louder “ are you fucking deaf?”

“What the fuck!”

I open my eyes to see the shorter guy webbed against the wall, muffling.

"Hey now, that's not very chivalrous of you," the one and only says as the guy collides with the wall in the blink of an eye.

A loud thud was heard, as the burglar falls inside the steel wheelie bin.

And just like that the two burglars were webbed and knocked out.

I stood there in both fear and relief.

Suddenly she went up to me placing both her hands against my cheeks,

“Hanni? Are you okay?!” She says with quaver in her voice, like she was scared.

“Are you hurt, did he hurt you?” She gently brushes the part of my wrist the guy gripped.

“Yeah—I’m okay,” I say yet the shake in my voice said otherwise.

She looks at me and suddenly her lenses became bigger, like she just registered what she said.

And I gaze back at her, my benevolent savior, perhaps momentarily questioning the disparities between her identities.

“Wait…Hanni?” i say.

We stare at each other in awkward silence.

“Wait—how do you know my name?” I ask.

“What—I mean no—uh” she stutters “I’ve seen you in new reports! You’re quite a renowned reporter…hahaha”

“Anyway,” she coughs “What are you doing here? Don't you know it's not safe being out so late?”

Yeah what was I doing here? Right. Getting myself in trouble to get an interview from you.

“I was going home but these guys followed me and led me to an alleyway” I lie.

“Uh huh,” she pauses, slightly unconvinced “Well um I better get going”

As she was about to swing out my sight, i grab hold of her wrist.

“Wait!” I shriek.

She looks back at me before looking at my hands holding her wrist.

I quickly let go.

“Um—I was wondering if I could get an interview from you?” I ask, hopeful.

“Uh,” she says “Look, I’m a little busy with my fans at the moment aka my enemies you know? I don't think—“

“It won't take a minute” I pleaded.

“I'm not sure…” she scratches her nape.

“If you don't, well I’ll have to keep putting myself in trouble” i blurt out.

“Keep putting yourself in trouble?” She ask “did you—did you put yourself in trouble, to talk to me?” Did

I seriously don't know when to keep my mouth shut, do I?

“Don't you know how utterly dangerous that is?” She inches closer to me “You could hurt yourself or—or even worst!”

i felt like a kid again scolded by their parents except it was a superhero giving me an earing lecture.

“There are so many ways but you decide the most reckless one?” She continues “what if I’m not here when you get hurt?

She was meters away from me and one push was all it needed, maybe if the mask was removed it would have been.

She awkwardly blinks and freezes, noticing the gap between us.

She stiffly backs away from me. Shes one awkward hero.

“Sorry totally forgot personal space existed” she stutters.

“You’re just like someone I know” I say, giggling.

“What?” She asks, taken aback.

“You’re just like someone I know, her names Yn.” I tell her “She’s always nagging about these kinds of stuff.”

I smile at the thought.

“Really, are they cute? She ask “I m-mean like are they hot, or pretty maybe cute, maybe all of the above?”

I look at her, laughing.

“What—did I say something wrong?”

“No”

“Then why are you laughing?”

“Its just a little odd for a superhero to ask such question,” I say.

“Oh, Im sorry—“

“Yeah, they’re cute.”

“What.”

“I said they’re cute.”

“Oh wow—uh so um,” she says “so do you like them?”

I hesitate and smiled at her.

“Yeah, I like her.”

"Like—like them?" She glances back at me, and even with the mask covering her eyes, I can tell she was looking at me intently.

Something about her gaze that hid behind that mask felt so recognizable, almost as if it was a recurring gaze I would see, but I couldn't place my finger on it.

"Why does it seem like you're the one interviewing here?" I ask, smiling back. "How about if you let me interview you, I'll answer all your questions."

She pauses for a moment, considering the deal. And I give her the best beseeching eyes, something I would never do but if it takes a cute girl to allure a man, then I’ll do everything it takes to get a sweet yes.

But this is a hero, a person who has gone through many things I don’t think being seductive would work but it won't hurt to tease, won't it?

“Do you want me to kiss you?” I say, teasingly “Does a kiss seal the deal?”

“W-What?!” She stammers “did the guy hit your head ?”

“Haha very funny one, no he didn’t,” I say, “ it’s just taking you so long to answer, and you aren't denying the kiss, I won't mind either, you have my consent.”

She stays quiet, and i took a few step closer to her.

Her lenses widen as she puts her hands in defense.

“Okay, I-I agree you don't need to do that!” She sputters.

I squeal in excitement, hugging her. I'm not sure whether I'm hallucinating, but the way her body fits in my hold, it had this familiarity to it. it felt like I've hugged her before like I was grown to it, it felt like I was in the arms of someone I love.

“That kiss was just a joke if you didn't get the memo” I chuckle as I let go of the embrace, but the feeling stayed against my skin.

“Y-Yeah i knew it was a joke” she crosses her arms between her chest.

“Well then, how about we meet on the rooftop of the Daily Bugle? Tomorrow, sounds great?”

“Um yeah sure sure, grool” she says.

Grool? Who says that these days.

“Alright” i laugh.

She timidly shoots me a quick wave as she backs away from me still looking back at me.

“Y-Yeah,” she says “see you later”

''Wait! Look ou—'' I winced as she stumbled backward after hitting her head against the steel pole.

“Are you okay?”

“I did that intentionally,” she says “ and it didn't hurt at all”

''right.''

Before she decides to leave completely, she says something that makes my heart feel soft to this day.

“And Han, please don’t do this again,” she says “I don’t want you to be hurt.”

A nickname only I knew who would always call me and suddenly the same familiarity started to dwell on me again, and the questions that lingered in my head started to be answered.

It all became clear.

[ice-sculptures]

hey everyone!! so, originally, i wanted to do one of these back when all of y'all were posting your 'follow forever' + favorite blogs lists for new year's eve, but at that point in time i didn't feel like i knew anyone well enough to make a full list. but now, it's been almost nine months (holy shit!!!) since i joined this fandom, and there have been so many people that i've connected with and who have made my experience on here so much fun and so special.

plus...it's my birthday today, so i thought - what better way to celebrate it than to show my immense love & appreciation for all my mutuals, followers friends, and anyone who has ever made my tumblr experience better?

this isn't really in any particular order, and also, i am so so sorry if i forgot anyone. i had to type this out at least six times over the past two months because tumblr kept deleting my progress for some reason, so i'm really sorry if i missed anyone because of it. i recognize the urls of anyone that regularly interacts with my posts, so i promise that if you've ever left nice tags in the reblogs of my gifs or replied to any of my WIPS or tagged me in a gifset or in a tag game or sent me a nice ask or anything at all, really, please know that i think you're wonderful and i love you all so much even if tumblr hates me and decided to erase all of the evidence of it 😅

okay, enough dillydallying!! putting this under a cut so that it doesn't swallow ur dash whole....n here we go :)

@fireplceashes hi jen!! i know i said like. just one paragraph above that this was in no particular order, but i immediately broke the no. 1 rule of law and lied, bc as my very first friend in this fandom you are so undoubtedly so special to me and i'm putting you first just because i Can and no one can stop me. but anyway. where do i even begin with you? you are easily one of the sweetest people i have Ever, ever met - not just on tumblr, but in my real life as well - and i really love talking to you So much. thank you so much for always listening to my rants, and checking up on me, and just generally being there for me. you're just a really soothing person to talk to and i never have to worry about being 'too much' or anything like that when i'm talking to you. and of course - you are also so, so talented, and your gifs are absolutely stunning. they always turn out so beautifully, and i'm so in awe of your editing skills. basically...i'm just Very grateful to have met you, and *mike wheeler voice* all of my other mutuals, they're great, but my fandom experience would not be the same without you ❤️

@basiltonpitch spencer!! i feel the need to echo the first thing i said to you and remind you that i think you're a genius :') fun fact that i haven't told you: when i first found your blog, even before i realized that you were That person who wrote the benvi meta that i loved, the first posts that i saw from you were your beautiful web weavings, and i was immediately like Who is this person??? and Who gave them the permission to stomp all over my heart like this?? wtf?? i just. i love ur brain So so much and i'm so grateful that i get to enjoy your creativity in not one but two of my favorite fandoms (soon to be 3 with 911 maybe?) oh also...this is slightly embarrassing but i've gone back through your blog a few times just so i can read your incredible meta because all of your thoughts are so valuable to me. you are the Only person on this site that i trust to Get devi vishwakumar and one of the biggest reasons why i'm so excited for never have i ever s4 to drop is so that i can experience it alongside you!! and even outside of your creative genius, you are one of my favorite people to talk to bc you're so kind and so supportive and such an absolute sweetheart and i really love hearing everything you have to say. so. um. basically. i am just a Spencer Enthusiast through and through 💖

@padmedala carson!! hello!! first off, i've said this to you a million times, but i want to thank you once again for writing one of my favorite pieces of byler fanfiction. do you know that one post about reading fanfics and having to stop because 'he would not say that?' well, your work is the epitome of reading a fic and feeling wholly satisfied because yes, he would say that - in fact, i would not hesitate for a minute to say that you have the strongest grasp on will and mike's characterization - especially their dynamic together - out of any writer i've met in this entire fandom. like...i enjoy your writing so much that i've read a couple of your pieces for IT despite not having any knowledge of the source material simply because i wanted to experience more of your work. you're also such a deeply kind and supportive person, and you have no idea how much i appreciate every single time you've checked up on me or sent me a sweet message or even just dropped into my inbox to say hello. you make my dash infinitely brighter, and i'm so very glad to know you and have you as a friend on here 💞

@wllbyers dani!! hi!! i have so much to say abt how wonderful you are, and i was struggling w how to articulate this for a while, but then i remembered that you once said to me that you found my presence on the dash comforting, and honestly, that's exactly how i feel about you. forgive me for the awkward metaphor, but seeing you on the dash is like coming home after a long day and having a warm, home-cooked meal. seeing your url and icon always makes me smile, and i'm so grateful that we're mutuals because of how kind, considerate, and utterly genuine you are!! i don't know if i'm describing this right, but you just feel so real, you know? i feel like your personality shines through with every post you make, and i always love seeing it. and i'm sorry if this is weird to say, but your openness and your authenticity about everything going on in your life makes me feel a little bit less alone about my own struggles. also do you remember when you started watching 911 and eventually ended up getting ahead of me, and you tagged each and every one of your posts just so that i wouldn't get spoiled? i know it seems simple, but the sheer fact that you thought of doing that just for me had me melting into a little puddle w my face looking like that one meme of kristen bell. you are just so, so lovely and i'm unbelievably glad we're mutuals 🥰

@willblogger ima i've said this many times before but i absolutely Need to say it again: you are genuinely the funniest person on byler tumblr. i cannot count the number of times that you've made me full-on belly laugh (to the point where my stomach starts to hurt) and completely destroyed my attempts to casually and inconspicuously scroll through tumblr in public places. i dunno how you do it at all but every single thing you say is such an absolute delight and i am always giggling n kicking my feet when i read the tags on all of your posts. the thousands of people on tiktok and twitter copying your jokes could never do it like you. you've also got this deep understanding of the way the text has been written and i really appreciate how your analysis honors the characters as they are instead of trying to make them more palatable them for this fandom. it's just. it's rare to find people that love these characters as they are and understand them as well as you do and i feel very lucky to have found your blog. also this is not related at all but ur plushies are cute as fuck & i love them :) OH!! n thank u sm for being my number one stevebucky enthusiast mutual n partner in rage when it comes to avengers endgame!! can't wait to have a hate party w you (if you'd like) in five days 💗

@willelfanpage SARA HI HELLO do u see me waving at you. this is me holding up a banner screaming abt how much i love you. as the resident fandom cheerleader who gives and gives and gives so much love to everyone she interacts with, you deserve someone cheering YOU back on and that is what i am here to do!! you are so brilliant and you have never made an incorrect post in your life!!! all your fics are wonderful and i've loved reading them!! you are kind, you are smart, you are funny, and you make everyone around you feel so safe and comfortable and welcome here. like. i can't tell you how much i admire how open you are with your kindness and friendship and how you give it so freely to everyone you interact with. i love talking to you so much - whether it's hearing about your life or sharing our ideas with one another or just. venting about anything i want to - and your enthusiasm is utterly infectious and makes me feel more hyped and excited to be in fandom. forgive me for being so sappy on main but i will never not be touched by your endless love for fandom, not only these characters and the works that people make, but for the people around you as well and i hope u know i love u very much too 💞

@jackietaylcrs hii marianne fellow haver of good taste!! i remember you once made a post wondering if your followers would still love you if your stranger posting went down to 0.5% and i wanted to lyk that i definitely would!! i really like reading your commentary on ST and yellowjackets, but even when you're posting about a show that i'm not familiar with, you have this Way of speaking that i find very charming and funny and entertaining, and you bring this inimitable energy to my dash that i doubt i could ever find elsewhere. i like the way you sign off your posts with 'and like i say: brf slt.' i think it’s Neat n it fits you very well. alsooo THANK YOU very very much for being the one to convince me to watch yellowjackets!! people have been telling me to watch it for a long time but in the end it was your posts that made me say, fuck it, and finally watch it. also. um. ur posts abt stephen harrison make me feel very Seen so. thank u. ok bye 💗

@emblazons hello marie my beloved mutual marie!! honestly, out of everything in this post, this message was the hardest to write because i don't even know where to begin with you!! you bring so, so much to this fandom - your thoughtful, entertaining, levelheaded commentary, your stunning gifsets, your logical and witty posts, your incredibly supportive and kind personality, and your endless passion for this show and all that goes into making it, as well as our shared love & enthusiasm for noah schnapp 😅 every time i think you've made the most brilliant observation or put out the most beautiful set, you go and top yourself by finding something new or making an even prettier gifset. if i had to pick one person whose contributions to the fandom enriched my experience of this show? more than anyone, it would be you!! and i could go on and wax poetic about your talent forever (as i have on many, many occasions bc you deserve it 🥰), but i'm gonna end it here by saying that you are a gift to this fandom and one of my absolute favorite people on here, and that i'm beyond grateful to know you.

@mikeandwillel sandy!!!! you are so so smart and your analysis is absolutely incredible. i look forward to each and every one of your analyses because you always find the most clever parallels and your deep dives into each of these characters' arcs are always written with so much care and skill. and of course, i forever have you to thank for writing The ultimate masterpiece (your s4 painting arc analysis) that finally convinced me of byler endgame and thus made my fandom experience so much more relaxing and fun. i also really love & how much you love mike for all that he is -- i feel like it's a little rare in this fandom, so seeing how much you adore his true character and how you Understand him better than anyone else i've ever met makes me really happy. and not to mention, i have no idea how you managed to get so good at gifmaking in such a short amount of time but all your sets are so beautiful!! you're a gem fr 💖

@babygirl-jonathanbyers abbyyyyyy hello!! do you know how much i love seeing you on my dash? i love your pure, unapologetic love for jonathan, jancy, and the byers brothers and it really makes my whole day when i see a post from you appreciating those characters/ships. your moodboards are also So pretty and your presence on my dash is so positive and welcoming. i hope you're doing well on your hiatus rn and i can't wait to see you back on here again 🫂

@elmaxed lumiiiii hi!!!! when i think of you, honestly, the very first word that comes to mind is creative, because you bring so much to this fandom and i'm so grateful for it. i'm obsessed with everything you write because your fics are so lively and fun and make me smile uncontrollably every time i read them, all your headcanons are brilliant and adorable, your moodboards are gorgeous and not to mention, your themes are always so beautiful!! you're just...such a ray of sunshine on my dash and i'm so happy to have followed you 🥰

@mlchaelwheeler sarahhhhh my favorite stonathan pioneer and one of my first mutuals in this fandom!! i think you already know this but your analyses were a huge part of what got me into the byler fandom in the first place and i have never looked back, so thank you for that!! i Love love love ur theories (especially the s5 spec stuff) and i love seeing u in my notifs and reading your lovely and enthusiastic tags on everything you reblog and i love your love for st's OST!! you're a really smart, sweet, and positive person with the best opinions and i am forever rooting for mike to get a sword in s5 just for you 🙏🏼

@bylrndgm dearest elz you have no idea how happy your blog makes me 🥹 you're one of the most talented gifmakers i've ever met, and i always find myself smiling so much whenever i see you've posted something new (especially your byler x TS edits 🥰) because they're always so beautiful!! i've also always felt like your blog and everything you've posted is one of the purest and most expressions of love for mike and will....it's so clear that you love them So much and your blog makes me so happy to be part of this community. you've also always been so sweet to me throughout my entire time in this fandom and you're one of the people that has made me feel most welcome here. also since i never ended up responding to your DM i wanted to say that whatever path you choose, i'm sure that you're going to crush it and i am rooting for your success always 💖

@madcleradin sierra madcleradin byhops finalgirlbyers willcoded!! ok i promise i don't mean this in a weird parasocial way but i kind of admired you from a distance for a while even before we were mutuals just because every single one of your posts that ended up on my dash had me nodding my head and tapping my brain in agreement and clapping for u like this 👏🏼 all of your takes are top tier and i love how passionate you are about everything you talk about!! you're def one of the sweetest, friendliest, and coolest people on byler tumblr and following u has been such a gift ❣

@byclairs hello emily!! your gifs are absolutely stunning and i love following you because i Know i can always count on you to have the most based takes, both on stranger things (especially ur will takes - those keep me sane fr) and on fandom as a whole. also just wanna say that you have the best taste in ships and that you've got a 10/10 banger of a url that always has me mentally giving you a thumbs up whenever i see you on the dash ❤️

@heroesbyler stav!! you're one of the most brilliant analysts on this site and i'm so in awe of all of the incredible theories and analyses you've posted!! i'm obsessed w all of your banger gay mike posts & i'm also both fascinated and disturbed by all of the dots you've connected regarding brenner, henry, & the lab. your posts are so insightful and compelling and you've made me think about so many things that i never would've noticed on first glance. i also love that you're both unflinchingly confident but also insanely kind - a rarity in most fandoms, especially this one, and i love that energy on my dash. i'm very proud to be your grandma (your words not mine -- no i will not let you forget about that 🙏🏼)

@mandycantdecide hiiiii amanda!! i love your blog so much, and even though we don't share all of the same fandoms i love seeing your posts about everything you're interested in because i can always feel your energy and enthusiasm for it no matter what :) in fact, it was actually your posts that made me want to get back into 911, and you have no idea how grateful i am to you for that because being in that fandom is the most fun i've had in a really long time. so thank you, thank you thank you for that, and for generally being so sweet 💕

@howtobecomeadragon ayla!! hello!! i know we don't know each other super well but i Really wanted to let you know how much i appreciate your posts and all of your contributions to this fandom. you were one of my first favorite blogs when i first joined in august and you have no idea how thrilled i was when you followed me back haha 😅 i looooove your theory posts so much and i think your fics are fantastic (and i am Eagerly awaiting the end of come back to me and forgive everything so i can read it). you're also super sweet and kind to everyone around you, and i love seeing you on my dash 💞

@mrperfectlyfinetv hi jake!! as my designated Swiftie Mutual i feel like i should let you know that i don't usually follow taylor swift blogs bc swifties are scary but your gifs are so gorgeous and your takes are so good that i just Had to break my rule and follow you anyway. i really enjoy reading all of your opinions on miss swift even if you are a rep hater asdkjendfcskjflejrf and i adore all of your pretty ST and taylor swift gifsets!! i also love how much you love speak now and you've definitely made me go back and give it a few more listens so that i can appreciate it more & at this point i'm begging taylor to release speak now tv soon just for you 🫶

@magentamee - hi bre :) your art style is absolutely delicious and your writing is so cute and i've always noticed how committed you are to uplifting everyone around you in this fandom. also this is random but your friendship with amanda and @/likegoldintheair is so cute and whenever you guys post about each other i always find myself smiling at how sweet your interactions are. you’re just a person who always brings a smile to my face when i see you on the dash and i want to thank you for that 💗

@paintingformike hi!! i've said this before but i really do think you've always been The strongest soldier in the byler fandom (like, ngl your posts were Carrying byler tumblr for a while there while everyone was still in their debating-over-s5-canon phase). you've always been so levelheaded and astute with your observations, and i've always admired and respected how your posts make it seem so simple and So clear how all of the overarching themes of the show are leading to byler endgame. you've got an incredible way with words and i'm so glad to have you in our fandom 💞

-

and now for the creatives in this fandom - some incredible gifmakers whose beautiful sets have been the highlight of my dash, some wonderful writers who have ripped my heart out over and over again only to stitch it back together seamlessly just one paragraph later, and brilliant fan artists who are able to capture so much and make me feel the entire spectrum of human emotion with just a few brush strokes:

@sharpesjoy - em!! you're an absolute sweetheart and such a joy to see on my dash. all of your gifs are so gorgeous and so clearly infused with all of the love that you have for everything you watch and i've added several shows to my watchlist because your gifs have made me want to watch them so badly 💞

@heroeddiemunson - kai!! your creations are so beautiful and you have this unique gifmaking style that i'm totally obsessed with!! your colorings and typography are always so pretty and i Love how special and creative your sets are, especially the D&D character sheets. like.....i have no idea how u come up w all these incredible ideas but i'm so very glad u do bc my dash is better for it❣️

@kaliprasad - hi!! your blog is amazing and i'm so glad that i found it bc all your gifs are fantastic and i love them So much. i think your talent is insane tbh, that byers brothers set that you made for me a little while ago is still one of my favorite things i've seen on this whole site, and i love that you love them just as much as i do 🫂

@kingofscoops - no one, and i mean no one, does coloring like you!! all of your sets are so vibrant and bring so much life to my dash & i think the ST fandom is very lucky to have you ❤️

@aliecenthightower - emilia!! your gifs are stunning and i'm completely in love with your song lyric edits. they're all absolutely beautiful and i'm in awe of how perfect and emblematic the lyrics you choose are, like you just Get these characters, y'know?

@mayahawkins - MADDYYYYYYY you are So talented, and believe me when i say that your gifs have been the Biggest inspiration for my own gifmaking journey. all your sets are so pretty & i love everything you make - including your playlists which live rent free in my mind!! but as a reminder i also love following your blog for You and not just your gifs :) you're an incredibly sweet person and ur presence on my dash is utterly invaluable 💗

@padme-amidala - hi erika!! okay, calling you a gifmaker almost feels wrong because that word doesn't feel like enough to encompass how beautiful your work is...all ur ideas are So amazing and you have such a natural eye for color and detail!! it is so clear that you pour so much love into all of your creations, and if i'm being honest, one of the reasons why i am so grateful to be a byler shipper is so that i can appreciate your craft to the fullest. and you're also Such a genuinely kind person that i always look forward to seeing on the dash!! thank you for being so lovely!!

@wiseatom - hi thea!! your writing is the ultimate definition of comfort. when i read ur work, no matter what i'm doing physically, mentally i am in my cozy bed with the fireplace crackling in the corner, surrounded by twinkly lights and warm blankets, sipping hot cocoa bc that is the kind of emotion ur writing invokes ✨

@byeler - irene!! your fics were my introduction to the world of byler fics and i admire you and your writing so very much 💞 i don't know how it's possible for one person to have this much skill and talent, but you do, and i'm so grateful that you've chosen to share it with us. eagerly waiting on a new heavy hopes chapter was one of the highlights of my fandom experience and that fic is a piece of writing that i will always come back to over and over again 🫶

@astrobei - suni i have been reading fics for over a decade now and i have still never encountered a writer that does emotion quite like you do, devastating me with every single fic you put out. i promise i mean this in the best way possible but you're So damn good at capturing all of that heartbreak and pain and inflicting the same agony on your readers, and it would have killed me by now if not for the fact that you're equally good at writing the sweetest fluff that has me melting into a puddle whenever i read 🫂

@hopelessromanfic - lyssaaaa!!! i've been Such a huge fan of landslide ever since you started writing it - it's one of my all time favorite fics in the fandom and i'm obsessed with the storyline and your characterization in all of your fics 😍

@artistaquinterob - hi!! your art style is so ADORABLE and your use of color in your work is stunning and i just adore everything you draw, especially your will and el art and your jargyle art 🥹

@junkoandthediamonds - your character studies are beautiful and i'm obsessed with your byler comics, your gifs and your ST x DC crossovers!!! i love your realistic style so So much and if i worked for the duffers i would 1000000% hire you to draw the official comics because i can't get enough of your work 🥰

@livsmessydoodles - fun fact: last year, when HSMTMTS s3 was airing, i remember seeing your rina art throughout the season and immediately fell in love with your style and your interpretation of the characters, and the same exact thing happened when i saw your ST work, and it wasn't until you followed me that i put the pieces together and realized that you were the same person 😅 your style is So gorgeous and your art just makes me so happy, and trust me when i say that i am mentally wallpapering all of your work to the inside of my brain so i can look at it forever❣️

and of course, a very special shoutout to all of the people that i don't know too well but are still such a comfort to have on tumblr: @miwism @yearninginblue @kittykat940 @robinsnance @jesper-faheyss @bylersheart @usergabby @achingly-shy @wheelersboy @wontbyers @stbyers @will80sbyers @watpoetry @frodohaven 💝

+ to all my other mutuals: tumblr wouldn't let me link your profiles because of some ridiculous limit, but please know that i see all of you and i am hugging you through my screen rn. thank you!! 👍🏼

[silverview]

hI it just clocked for me that you wrote that tlw smut fic - absolutely loved it btw 👏🏼 ngl i'm just as fascinated about this episode as you are, and am honestly *obsessed* with your thoughts on it so please Tell Me More 👀

aahh thank you so much!!! i'm so glad you liked it!! 🥰 (for anyone who might be interested, my the last weekend fic is here, but obviously it's pretty dark so PLEASE read the warnings)

thank you for the opportunity to rant some more. i hope i'm coherent. if you have any thoughts yourself i would LOVE to hear them too!! and pls feel free to dm me any time about this or any other episode! (this goes for anyone, my dms are open, i am very friendly and i live to yap about shows)

actually, to talk more about tlw, i need to talk more about its similarity to simon says. at their cores, they are both interrogating what creators owe to fans, and they are both horror stories about what your fans might do to you if you disappoint them. if your work doesn’t please them, if you hurt their feelings online – what will the fans do? will they weave an elaborate web of lies around you, ruin your life, and trick/coerce you into sex? in these episodes they will!

nobody talks about how chas's punishment is in kind. i don't mean the nine years. i mean the specific nature of the punishment, the tables turned against him. "loving someone who hated you." he failed to honour the parasocial contract with his fans, and so he is subjected to the ultimate parasocial rejection. manipulated into caring deeply for someone, believing in a real mutual emotional connection, only to discover it was just a facade. that the person he loved never even said i love you back.

it's a dark revenge fantasy for the fan who's had (for example...) their tv comedian crush be a little mean to them on twitter. a nightmare for the tv comedian in question. i think, consciously or unconsciously, it's a very personal story for them and especially for reece, who is on the receiving end of a lot more obsessive fan behaviour and understandably has a much stronger reaction to it.

i mean, who's really being queerbaited in tlw? not the viewers, not in the traditional sense. chas is being irl queerbaited to death. some people say the deception was too obvious – that he shouldn't have accepted only seeing his partner on weekends, for example. but the humiliation of being easily deceived, of accepting scraps, is important to the punishment. like 🤡 when you let a showrunner transparently string you along.

a little over seven years ago, i sent some fanmail to one of my favourite creators, and we started dating. we are still happily together now, and i am still a fan. but the transition was hard. we self-aware parasociality enjoyers like to think we have things in perspective – that we know we're just projecting and we actually have no idea about the real, flawed human being who exists in private. but knowing that intellectually and being confronted with the reality of it are two very different things. creators and their fans, regardless of positive intentions or demographic similarity or anything else, inherently approach each other with different mindsets which inevitably create discomfort for one or both parties. it's a really interesting and fertile kind of dynamic and i think tlw and simon says are both fascinating explorations in that space.

i think simon says is reasonably authentic and respectful to the fan perspective (never forget they did enough research to drop their own ship name in the podcast about it 🫠) but i see it as a major oversight that simon's reaction to the mention of fanfiction is to say dismissively, "no, it's more sophisticated than that." my partner – who seven years ago would have been confused by or dismissive of this sort of fan culture, but who has learned a lot by living with me – turned to me and said, "a real fan wouldn't say that."

i don't have a neat segue here, i just have one more dumb thing i wanna add about tlw, i'm crazy about this comment from someone on reddit:

he is a prettyboy!! a very pretty boy!! 🥰 but here it's clearly being used as a euphemism for slutty, which i love. oh chas. you poor little pretty monster. you will always be famous. i wonder if reece would be more comfortable with his own attractiveness if he was handsome instead of pretty.

[midnight-in-town]

Shonen no Abyss (Boy's Abyss) by Minenami Ryo

(I usually don’t make rec posts for emotionally dark stories, but I’ve been unable to stop reading until I finally caught up in 24 hours, even though I’m in harsh exam week and I really have other things to do, so here goes nothing :))

Before we begin, I should warn: even though the art style initially appealed to me, as I was reading the first few chapters I just thought it was going to be yet another random, plot hole filled, badly written story that’s just ranting about how shitty life can be. How emo.

Well, how wrong I was!

In a little town filled with nothing extraordinary, 17 year old Kurose Reiji spends his life going to school, hanging out with a few friends and mostly helping his mom at home, with a bed-ridden senile grandma and a shut-in brother to take care of. Even though he wonders about maybe going to the university after high school, his family needs him to work as soon as possible, so he’ll probably never be able to leave his hometown. 

As he goes on with his life, one evening he randomly meets Aoe Nagi, a recently retired Tokyo idol he’s a huge fan of. As he shows the newcomer around town, Nagi suddenly mentions to Reiji that there is a hidden place in this town called “the lovers’ abyss” where two people go when they want to die together. Meeting Nagi leads to Reiji realizing that he’s got nothing he wishes to live for in his current life and he seeks a way to attempt suicide along with her.

(At this point, I gotta be honest, I was here like

._.)

I know what y’all are wondering. How and why the sudden arrival of a retired idol in this little town suddenly instilled the wish to die in Reiji? Is it fate...? Or is it a curse from the past? 

Follow Reiji, Nagi, Gen, Chako and Kazu (because on this blog, we #ProtectTheChildren) as they evolve through a carefully weaved web by emotionally manipulating adults and find out !

Who tells lies and who speaks the truth? Who can help and who will destroy? Who’s the dead teenager in star author Esemori’s “Spring’s coffin” book who also committed suicide in the town’s river around 30 years ago?

Who’s the evil demon who instigated despair in their lives? 

Watch out ~ the culprit(s) may not be who you initially think they are... :D

(Rapidly, I ended up like...

:))

Before anyone starts reading though, very heavy warning that it’s a pretty dark and emotionally unsettling story, with a lot of suicide mention but also dark twists about emotional abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, manipulation, blackmail, anorexia, etc.  Also some female nudity from time to time (mostly in the beginning), but far from the most distressing part of this manga. 

No my poor boy, it’s not on you. 

The last thing I can say is that if you enjoyed Oyasumi Punpun, this is a title you might want to try! While in no way a masterpiece, it shares similar themes with it. Also while the beginning seems, as you may have understood, incredibly cliché, it’s a far more mysterious and deeper story if you give time for the plot to kick in. 

About 120 chapters up as of now. Let me know if you beat me by reading them all faster than in 24 hours. xD Going back to my exam week now! Hope the start of the year was kind to y’all!! :D

[petrichor-and-moondust]

Hello! I've been around a while so I figured it was about time I made one of these. So, intro post!

You can call me Jay. I use mostly he/him and she/her pronouns. If it's a gender, then I got it! No, I do not use they/them pronouns. I'm Irish and I'm queer and I like to ramble about sometimes nothing really in particular. I'm also very fond of playing tag games and chatting with mutuals or anyone who reaches out!

If you're here- let's face it, it's either because of DC, or because you saw my custom pride icons. If my askbox is open that means I'm taking requests! And if you've a real burnin desire to turn your blirbo a real specific flavour that you cannae fins nowhere, then hmu in my DMs and I'll get back to ya when I can.

These are icons I've already made:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

and requests I've done:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

tag navigation is as follows!

#birdsong -> my ramblings, thoughts, ooc life updates. really, anything that I post that's non-fandom related. Can be anything from complaints about the postal service to ADHD rants.

#bats and birdwatching -> Batfam stuff! the majority of my blog. May or may not include crossover posts too.

#of a feather-> DC stuff that isn't Batfam or Batfam-adjacent. Yes, I did feel the need to differentiate. Yes, you will see why after a while.

#vigilantes and a vagrant -> DC xDP things! A relatively new fandom for me. Blame my lovely mutual for getting me into it.

#the vagrant -> DP stuff. highly guessable tag based on the prev.

#a different flock -> Marvel and non-DC comics. Mostly Spidey and Moon Knight. I have faves, and I'm not scared to say it!

#pseudobirds -> assorted uncateogorised fandoms! You'll find MHA, Dunmeshi, Pokemon, Zelda, and more in this tag.

#bushwacking -> reccommendations and reading lists- fanfics, comics, the like

#cross-species -> reblogs for mutuals! usually fandoms I'm not in, or no longer active in.

#the birdfeeder -> my own content! drabbles, playlists, character analyses.

#murmurations -> stuff that make you go woah. Mostly poetry, web-weaving, writing, and nonfandom arts

#feathers and clay -> shitposts that will forever live in my brain. I can never escape them and now neither can you.

#skywatching -> references (for art, writing, etc)

#sparkbird -> jason todd stuff because he is my SPECIALEST guy!

I'm perpetually in the process of organising my backlog of as-of-yet untagged posts, so check back every so often, or stalk my profile for some real funky stuff if you're inclined to the endless scroll.

Alright, peace! See yall round!

[spacecowboysfrommars]

cracks knuckles boi you have no IDEA the kind of lunacy you've unleashed by asking for readers' feelings about "These Webs We Weave" within my hearing. Emotionally while reading your fic I was just making pterodactyl noises. I am STILL not okay.

but alright alright so. Theories.

I have an awful suspicion that John is going to get Peter back at some point and I HATE it. I've got my own Peter Tingle about it called foreshadowing and I hate it so much (but also it's really artfully done though. Chekhov's evil man gonna show up at some point to cause more pain). I'm miserable about it.

I kind of wonder if Tony's going to end up captured too. We do be enjoying when Tony has to watch his kid get tortured. Sucks a lot. Angst, mayhem. Horrible. My only evidence for this being a possibility is like, all that scarring on Peter's back makes me think Tony's going to have to, at some point, bear witness to the location where it happened.

SHIELD is being shady as hell and (Chris Evans voice) I Don't Like It.

The very end of the last chapter (ch 5), for example. Fury: "Call me when you change your mind" Tony: "won't be doing that" and it's like... Tony, babe, why are you ASKING the universe to step on you.

I have another theory where Peter slowly, slowly gets more comfortable being apart from Tony, ease up on that codependency, only for New Trauma to get that whole plan shot to hell and send both of them right back to separation anxiety square 1

Peter deserves to grieve more for the teenage experiences he missed out on. I hope he gets to do that. I hope Tony gets to support him through his journey of doing that.

Here's another theory: Part of Peter's healing could end up being him having to hero the fuck up. Like, he clearly feels really incapable and helpless right now, which makes sense given he's been victimized and tortured for 2 years straight. But if it ends up being up to him to save the day, and if, in spite of his fear, he manages it -- would be absolutely soul ascending

Questions I still don't know ANY answers to:

wtf WTF is up with the clone thing they buried???

(which by the way side now, oh my GOd poor Tony. Stabbing me in the heart would've hurt less thank you)

Is Happy going to eventually encounter the person he reminds Peter of right now? because if so I hope Happy gets to 1-hit KO destroy him

Did the public ever make the connection between Spider-Man and Peter?

Are we going to get any paparazzi trope in this fic?

is Peter going to go back to school? (....I do want Peter to get to graduate, actually :( he deserves it)

Is his body permanently scarred now, even with his super healing?

Does the not eating impact his super healing or strength or powers at all?

Feel free to not answer these questions and just go >:) because yeah I realize now that these are just more theories in question form.

HOWEVER, here are two actual questions for you:

What was the first spark that inspired you to write this fic?

Are there scenes that you're looking forward to writing in later chapters? Will we know when we get there?

To understand my pterodactyl psyche whilst reading your fic, just imagine all of this nonsense happening in my brain ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

YES YES YES I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS

I can’t confirm or deny anything but I WILL say that you’re on to something pretty important >:)

I’ll also say that in terms of his scarring, it’s sorta slowly healing, but it’s a pretty horrific injury that’ll take a lot longer than usual, even with his super-healing. And yes, it’s kinda sorta a little bit implied (in later chapters) that being half-starved for two years impacts his strength, but not by much.

and for the two amazing (seriously you are my favourite person to rant with) questions:

1. The first spark of inspiration was actually a re-read of my all-time favourite fic, Come My Darling, Homeward Bound by buckleyirondad. That was the fic that got me back into irondad back in early 2021, after being absent from the fandom for over a year. It got me completely obsessed with the kidnapping trope, specifically long-term captivity and trying to fit back in to a world they were taken from. I’ve wanted to write something similar for a while but didn’t really figure out exactly how I wanted to do it until my most recent re-read. Highly recommend checking out Liberty’s irondad stories (as well as her 911 fics) because she’s an incredible writer and CMDHB profoundly effected me.

2. Absolutely! I literally get giddy looking through my chapter notes sometimes. Once I actually get the chapters finished and uploaded, I’ll probably post again about what scenes I enjoyed the most. With the adoption storyline in play, there’s a lot of domestic stuff and family drama that I’m really looking forward to.

I adore every single thing you post on here.

[and-there-were-words]

A Spider Life: Foundation Stones (Chapter 04)

First if all, huge thanks to @firekitten830 and her amazing annons for so many tasty HCs that inspired me to take the pen into hands to begin with. I’m still feeling the writing juices strongly, so expect more chapters during this week. Also headcanon heavy chapter ahead!

---

Taking place during “Dumpling Destruction”, the rest of the Spider Gang blissfully unaware of a potential soupy doom.

Goliath understood that sometimes, certain tasks could not be solved with brute strength but instead required more finesse and stealth. Now that Huntsman was out on a mission, someone else seemed to grow a little more comfortable to be social. (Wordcount: around 1290)

---

Ever since the disaster that had been the New Year’s festival, the strong spider had not left the tunnels of the Silk Web Cave. Mostly because he didn’t need to, but it wasn’t like he really cared to do otherwise either. It was great to be back home, and there was always something to do. He didn’t understood much of modern technology, he couldn’t be of help in that regard – still feeling so out of touch since he had woken up. So instead, Goliath made it his own little side project to repair and rebuild the old walls. There was a sense worry why the place looked so jagged and crumbled, but he felt like he would open an entire can of worms if he was to ask his Queen about it. Maybe another time when she felt like she could relax again.

Heaving rock after rock, pushing away boulders and slowly but surely the foundation stones became visible. Warmth filled his chest when fond memories came flooding back. The small palace they had created here, the few buildings they made as their base of operations – times when things had been more simple. When the Queen was able to just lose herself in her weaving, creating one masterpiece after another. When Huntsman wasn’t as overzealous to find the next adrenalin kick. Things had been so tense ever since… that day, Goliath feels, before they had to hibernate and left their safety in the Spider Queen’s hands. Basically leaving her all by herself for how knows long.

Something in the air shifted ever so slightly, so putting his own somber thoughts to the side, Goliath turned his head to find the source of it. The smaller man was watching him rather intensely, not saying anything as he just stood there with hands in pockets. He did call himself Syntax, right? The newest addition to the team, even though he didn’t knew how the scientist had joined prior. Their Queen didn’t mention it at all, this was just how things were now, and they had to simply accept that fact.

Huntsman had still been furious. After the first night, the hunter had pulled him aside and started his angry rant. In all honesty, Goliath had kind of zoned out after a minute and just let his buddy vent his frustration. He himself didn’t see any problem with this. Sure, maybe Syntax didn’t look quite right, maybe he was smelling like a human. But the more the merrier, right? The Queen had been rather picky of whom she wanted within her clan, so each new face was a joy. And it only meant that Syntax must bring astounding abilities to the table to have her favor.

Only now did Goliath notice that they still stared at each other in complete silence. The scientist hadn’t even coughed as much as a word, as if he was waiting for something. Goliath blinked a little bit before offering a small smile. “Can I help you, buddy?”

That got a twitch out of the other man, now looking ever so slightly flustered. Whatever Syntax had been waiting for, this clearly hadn’t been what he expected. He looked around, seemingly a little nervous, obviously trying to buy himself some time to mull over words. “What are you doing here?” A simple question, there was no bite behind it. Just curiosity.

“I am trying to repair the old palace. Wanna help?”, Goliath offered, stepping ever so slightly to the side, so the other had a better view on the foundation stones he had been uncovering. The scientist gave a little snort, tilting the head with a toothy grin. “Doubt I can lift any of that.”

Ah. Right, there was that. It already escaped Goliath’s mind that the man seemed to be lacking the physical strength or the skill in web manipulation. He thought about it without really thinking about it, if that makes sense, only to simply shrug. “That’s alright. I don’t mind if you just want to hang out either.”

That brought another flinch out of Syntax, as if he had been hit against the shoulder a little too strong. Now radiating a slight air of unease. Goliath raised a brow at how jumpy the other was. However to his satisfaction, the scientist moved closer, settling down on one of the smaller rocks. With that settled, the strong spider returned to his self given task. The only noises now filling this part of the cave, were his own grunts and heavy breathes, as he moved rubble to clear the place.

“Why aren’t you using any of your web? I know you’re capable of making them.”, it took Goliath a second to register that Syntax was talking to him again. Deciding this was a good moment to take a break anyways, the strong spider sat down, leaning against the cave wall. It was good that the scientist finally had found the courage to ask some questions he clearly had on his tongue for a while. Goliath had noticed ever since they met up in the city streets, but it wasn’t uncommon that everyone always seemed to forget how perceptive he was in the end.

A small smile appeared on his lips as he spun a few strings of silk between his fingers. Creating a little funnel. “My webbing is too thin to be used for such tasks. Is just something that’s in the family, you know?”, he pulled his fingers further apart, at some point the silk simply tearing. “Ain’t enough to weave clothing either, but that’s more of a me problem, I guess.”

Syntax had his brows raised at this revelation, first trying to find any sign that Goliath was simply messing with him, before looking back at the torn threads. It was endearing to watch how the gears in the scientist’s head were turning, trying to connect knowledge he had gathered by just watching before. He was almost hesitant to voice his next question, as if fearing that he was overstepping boundaries. “But Huntsman’s… you two are not related?”

He couldn’t help himself but burst out in a short laugh. Syntax's nervous twitching signaled him not to laugh for much longer. “Oh hell nah. Huntsman is from a complete different family, as is the Queen. What do people call it? Found family? It doesn’t matter where we are from, it’s the trust that makes our bonds strong.”, Goliath explained without a second thought. At that, the scientist seemed to deflate, almost curl up on himself. Ah, that had been a little tactless… considering how everything was standing between Syntax and Huntsman, this was obviously a bit of a sore spot. And a way more complex problem that needed careful entangling. For another day though.

Goliath scooched a little closer towards the small man. Raising some new strands of silk, offering them to Syntax. “Wanna try it yourself?” For a moment, he feared that the scientist wouldn’t move at all, or worse, just leave. But eventually, small hands picked up on the threads carefully, looking a little lost of what to do next. Goliath leaned in, giving him instructions on how to create a small woven square, while providing material if needed. Syntax almost seemed to beam at the simple creation, though he was quickly hiding it behind his more professional mask again.

“If you have any more questions about the stuff, feel free to ask.”, Goliath hummed, pleased when Syntax slowly nodded, mumbling a low: “I will… prepare a list.” It wasn’t much for now, but the strong spider still felt good that new foundation stones had been layed. Maybe it wasn’t too bad that they all had to rebuild their lives in some way or another.

[feminist-propaganda]

Single Mothers Will Probably Cry During Every Episode Of  Queen’s Gambit - Episode 1

I’ll start this long piece with a quote by Toni Morrisson. She once said : “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

After watching Queen’s Gambit yesterday I rushed to the Internet to see if someone had written all of the things I am about to write, all of the symbols I saw in the miniseries, all of the dog whistles, the references.  I found articles about chess. About how the community had adopted the film, about which grandmasters the characters were based off of, about chess moves and theories, about production and the unexpected success of the series.

According to me, this is quite mediocre commentary. I eventually clicked on the New Yorker article that seemed to be a tiny bit smarter. After a couple of paragraphs I realized that the male writer was only going to rant about how the actress is “too pretty” to be Beth Harmon, and this seems to upset him. A lot.

But no one talked about Beth’s mother. Or the name of the series. Or the embroidery. The chess board. The tranquilizers. The math. The flashbacks. The exchange of queens. The sacrifice of the queen. Did no one see it? Or is it again one of those things; where the world is so obsessed with single mothers and representing them as huge, massive, quite literal train wrecks, but no one actually wants to look at them in the eye, talk to them, help them?

Let me tell you, as a single mother, this miniseries had me in tears the whole time. It’s really difficult to watch. It’s downright triggering.

Single mothers like to keep their silence. That’s because we know the world doesn’t like it when we start talking. It hurts. A lot. So instead, the world likes to make memes about how single moms are whores, how they are drunks or over worked. How they’re psychotic. How they ramble. They don’t make any sense. Bipolar. Crazy. How their children stare at the television all day, the way they microwave bad food. We laugh at them, and use them as comical relief in our ... what exactly? Cultural objects. Then we move on. We send a message to single mothers when we do this, and the message is important. You suck. Shut Up. Don’t exist. It’s your fault. 

We make an entire mini series about a single mother who killed herself to save her kid, we put on the television images that hurt and harm single mothers and then the public responds with nothing. They don’t even bat an eyelash. Miss the point entirely. Great series about chess! Except it’s not about chess. Not at all. It’s about raising children alone, when the world hates you. It’s about a trailer. In the middle of nowhere. A strong willed woman who was a mathematician in the 1940s. Who taught her daughter everything she could. Realized she couldn’t do more. And made the ultimate sacrifice, the queen’s gambit. The riskiest, most reckless, bravest move of all.

So let me tell you about what it’s like to watch Queen’s Gambit when you’re a single mother. So that somewhere in the AI, it’s written. So that when our great grand children will try to understand our times, they’ll read it.

I’ll write an essay for each episode. And in each essay I will review the important lession that Alice passed on to young Beth, and how this takes her to Moscow, where she can live a much more fulfilling life than in the U.S.A.

Lesson 1 : Find A Two Dimensional Algebric Plane. Study It. Control It.

I recently learned from instagram user @itllbeokbaby and Amsterdam based artist and weaver Liza Prins that the words textile and text have the same origin as the word texture. 

Text derives from the Latin textus (a tissue), which is in turn derived from texere (to weave). It belongs to a field of associated linguistic values that includes weaving, that which is woven, spinning, and that which is spun, indeed even web and webbing. Textus entered European vernaculars through Old French, where it appears as texte and where it assumes its important relation with tissu (a tissue or fabric) and tisser (to weave).

Women have been weaving, beading, sowing and stitching since the dawn of times. We also know that women used this technology not just to create clothes, tents or shoes. They used it as a container of information. As cultural DNA. 

In South America, in places where writing as we know of it was never created, women would bead important tribal information into skirts. They would then use the skirts as a database of the tribe. To track births, deaths, epidemics, droughts and other important group defining events.

In modern times, women still use embroidery as a means of expression. My memories from childhood contain strong images of my aunts and grandmothers, sewing my name and date of birth onto pillow cases, bathrobes and bedcovers. They would do this by the pool, at the bottom of the ski slopes, on the beach or in the train. They would engage into conversation as they embroidered; as this activity required some concentration, but not their full attention. It was their way of being present; but also transcending into the past and projecting into the future. They sewed our lives into the cloth.

I once heard my grandmother counting the holes in the cloth she was decorating with her beautiful colours. I asked what she was doing. She said that to build the letters on the cloth, you needed to count the squares. Two to the top, four to the right, ten to the middle, etc etc. I was quite mesmerized. I was maybe eight at the time, the same age as Beth when she loses her mother. I had started learning some math in school but somehow the math in school seemed to be presented to me as the epitome of something quite different than this excruciatingly feminine passtime. 

Math was presented to me as masculine, out of reach to us girls. And now I was disovering that these women in my family were geometry experts, fluent in linear algebra, and that at a higher level, they were database account managers.

In the first episode of the miniseries, in the first couple of minutes; we discover two Beths. The first Beth is in Paris, the beautiful, the chic; the glamourous Paris. Paris will always be the undisputed capital of Fashion. 

Paris is the undisputed capital of fashion not because it is the home of polluting massive textile industries like the ones in Pakistan or Zara’s empire in Spain. Paris is the capital of fashion because it is the capital of Haute Couture. And Haute Couture is custom made, sowed by hand, piece by piece, bead by bead, sequin per sequin. It is delicate. It is slow. It is sacred. It is what my aunt’s did. 

It is the opposite of industrial, the opposite of a sewing machine, the opposite of an engine. The opposite of yield failures, punching in and punching out. It is lace. Delicate, personal, eternal.

The second Beth we see is the eight year old Beth, that has just lost her mother. She stands on a bridge. Two cars have crashed into one another. And she stares on at the police officers. One says “Not a scratch on her. It’s a miracle”. The other says “I doubt she’ll see it like that”. 

My theory is that the miniseries explain how Beth eventually begins to “see it like that”. 

The first time we see 8 year old Beth she is wearing a dress, with her name embroidered on it. It reads Beth, in pink. Feminine. Purple flowers surround it. The embroidery is delicate. It’s on her heart. 

We follow eight year old Beth as she gets sent to an orphanage. In the first couple of scenes at the orphanage, we think, for a minute, that maybe Beth will be okay here. The head mistress smiles, has nice hair. Shows her around. Yes, the bed is by the lavatory, but at least she has a bed, a roof over her head.

We only start despising this new mother figure when she takes Beth to choose new clothes. Beth takes off her dress, and stares at her name, written on the front. The headmistress selects a white shirt and grey dress for Beth. She hands to her these new items, symbol of her new life, of her integration within the orphanage and later mainstream society. The headmistress then grabs the dress with the name embroidered and looks at it with disgust. Then, she says “I think we’ll burn this one” and disapears.

Beth then understands that she is no longer allowed to love her mother. That to fit in this school, this orphanage, to survive, she must let go of the embroidery and all of the things she associates with her mother. Her mother, in the words of the teacher was a “victim” of “a carefree life”. A free spirited whore, a lesbian, a witch. There’s a lot of words we liek to use to describe women who don’t conform. And Beth’s mother, as we learn, never conformed.

At night, Beth sees her mother’s eyes, she hears the last words her mother uttered before dying in the car crash. “Close your eyes”. She said it with tears in her eyes and an air of great determination. She knew what she was doing, which is something Beth doesn’t want to tell anyone. Not even her new friend Jolene. Beth’s secret is her mother wasn’t crazy. She wasn’t crazy at all.

Then, Beth discovers the board. One day, she gets sent to the basement and sees the janitor playing chess. Later in the miniseries, Beth tells the journalist from Life it was the board that attracted her. Not the pieces.

As the first episode unfolds, Beth learns that the squares have names. She learns the names. And at night when she looks up at the ceiling she sees the board. She visualizes the pieces moving on the 64 squares. She moves them in her mind and imagines all of the alternatives. What the board would look like if she moved this piece to that square. What would her opponent do then? 

To the journalist of the Life magazine, Beth says that the Chess board was a universe of 64 squares, and that she could control this space. All she had to do was study it.

The board is much like the cloth that Beth’s mother Alice would sew information onto when she was a young child. You count the squares and move your material through it. As you go, you make shapes, patterns, motifs. Beth looks up at the ceiling at night and the first night, without the tranquilizers, she sees her mother say “Close your eyes” which is too painful or such a young child. A young child doesn’t understand yet why a mother would say “Close your eyes” and then crash on purpose into a truck. A young child doesn’t know about the world yet.

Alice aknowledged that she was about to do something extremely risky, that the outcome was uncertain. Alice told Beth that she was going to purposely provoke the car crash. 

But when Beth takes the tranquilizers at night, and now that she knows about chess, she can transfer her love for her mother into her growing obsession with Chess. She looks up at the ceiling and instead of seeing Alice’s last thoughts, she sees the Chess board. Which is the small piece of universe that Alice controlled, when she was alive. The cloth that she sewed her daughter’s name on: “So that you’ll always remember who you are”.

[adragonhoardingstories]

Daminette AU (Part 1)

#There was no crushes in either facet of the lovesquare. Marinette and Adrien were simply BFFs as were LB and CN, though CN did flirt - it was always jokingly and LB knew it. Due to Marinette and Adrien being close, the other girls in her class thought she had a crush on him and whenever she refuted that statement, she was said to be in denial.

"Aaaaah Tikki, I'm so tired!" The seventeen year old flung herself on her bed. It had been another long tiring day, even moreso as Hawkmoth had been feeling particularly lively today and had sent three akumas in the same day. 

She didn't know if this was because he thought her tiredness would slow her down or just cloud her mind to make her sloppy but it thankfully didn't work. 

At times like these, she missed the good old days when she could count on Chat. Now thinking of him was just a nightmare. 

He had changed after about two years in their partnership. He started showing up late in fights, getting taken out almost immediately when he did and whenever she talked about the master he became agitated and went on a rant over how it wasn't fair that they didn't trust him. 

 The earlier episode of Syren came to mind and she shuddered. 

To this day, Syren still plagued her, it was one of the most dangerous akumas which had existed. So many had died…

That had only been the start of other akuma attacks as terrible or worse. Medusa and Queen of Hearts came to mind, as did Mourning Star. She'd rather not think about Arachne. She still woke up with nightmares of them especially of the giant spider that they couldn't even look at because it was so horrifying, weaving her web all over Paris, picking up every move of theirs and trapping any living creature in her web as if they were nothing other than prey and spitting acid before devouring the still screaming chil-

Nope! She couldn't go down that hole right now. She wouldn't be able to handle another panic attack or dissociative episode at this moment.

Chat - she was thinking about Chat. 

Chat had seemed off to her. His behavior had taken a turn for the worse when it concerned her yes. He had become  possessive, could barely stand their other teammates, was always on edge when she called in someone else. 

It had come to a stop one night on patrol. 

She had sat him down for a long discussion but it didn't go the way she expected. Both of them returned unsatisfied at home that night.

She knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep after their...discussion so she had started designing. It was a sure way of  keeping her mind distracted.

It wasn't a long time after that she heard a knock on her trap door which had derailed into a series of unexpected events.

"Plagg?" Tikki shrieked at Chat Noir. Why her Kwami had chosen to reveal herself too was still a mystery to her but it seemed like something was really wrong with Chat Noir. 

His transformation fell leaving Adrien Agreste on floor, looking dazed. 

Now, she had already figured out his identity a while back but didn't say anything - plausible deniability and all that shtick.

The little black god seemed exhausted as she brought a hand up for him to sit on. "I forcibly took over his transformation to bring him here." Was his explanation. "You're right Spots, there's something wrong with him but it's not what you think." 

And then he explained about the tainted magic that lingered about the Agreste household making him mentally sick. 

Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth, he revealed, and Nathalie was Mayura. She really would have liked to be more surprised but the suspicions about him never really left her mind. 

The most shocking part of that night however had to be when Plagg explained why Adrien was being affected.

"In every generation, Tikki and I have a chosen. Our souls resonate perfectly. This time...this time something is different. Adrien could have been Chat Noir if there wasn't already someone who's soul resonated better with mine."

She frowned. "Who is it? Why didn't Master Fu send you to them instead?"

He stared right in her eyes when he spoke those words. "It's you."

She was the soul resonance of both the creation and destruction Kwami in this generation. 

Tikki and Plagg liked to say that she was their daughter. Sometimes she wondered if it really was a joke. They certainly treated her like their offspring at times. 

Anyways, Adrien while he had been a good candidate still couldn't bear the power of chaos. It left him vulnerable to the foul, perverted magic of his father, only made worse by the misuse of miraculous in that house and the kwami's broken comrade.

"He won't last there much longer." Plagg had warned them. "I brought him here because Tikki's magic has settled in this place. It will protect him."

That had lead to another difficult conversation between Adrien and Marinette as soon as he woke up.

There had been crying and hugs involved.

After a long time, Adrien's own actions seemed clear to him. He apologized to her for how he behaved as Chat Noir and for letting her down as civilians. 

They talked about the fact that his father had ordered him to make Mlle. Rossi happy at all costs and how despite him confiding that Lila was a liar and she always made him uncomfortable his father had not budged on his decision. That had been the breaking point. 

They talked almost all night and Marinette convinced him that Hawkmoth or not, the environment at his home was toxic and that he needed to leave. 

But also, they rejoiced that it was each other that had been their partner all this time. She was the one who was his best friends in both of his lives and he couldn't be happier. 

At that moment, they could see a bronze string binding both of their ankles and a soulmate tattoo of a a very intricate arrow passing through a crescent moon.

Adrien had burst out crying at that, throwing himself at her to hug her. He didn't let go until next morning when he had to go home and Marinette was content just being there for him, holding him and making sure he knew that there was someone who loved him for himself.

Soulmates had existed in this world for as long as people could remember. There were all kinds of soulbonds ranging from a single tattoo to a telepathic connection. The connections were not always romantic, like theirs for instance was a sibling soulbond. 

Most of the time however, romantic soulbonds had to do with a way to connect them, for them to be able to communicate.

Every person when they found their soulmate, would have a string that bound them. Romantic soulmates' string s would appear instantly while platonic soulmates appear only when the soulmates are ready, when their bond had been forged.

Romantic strings were red and turned gold as the relationship grew.

Strings of soulmates who considered each other siblings were silver. 

And lastly, best friends and perfect teams were bronze. 

She hadn't seen a string of hers in so long, as far as anyone knew, she didn't have a string at all - which was something Lila and the class recently, hadn't failed to exploit but she now understood why, none of them had really been her friends. 

[hyperionswrath--archived]

@cosmoscompressed

Artemisa’s voice came back in equal parts perfume and mocha: not chocolate - mocha.

“How cynical, how jaded the youth of today! - and why? Do we not live in a time of endless entertainments and technological wonders, the whole world accessible from the palm of the hand? Or is that precisely it? - that behind the bread and circuses hang the invisible hand of the market and the all-encompassing web of intelligence agencies weaving war for the glory of crowns? Surely you are not blind to the puppets pulling your strings. Kingsglaive, Crownsguard: what are these if not the titles bestowed upon the most faithful of slaves? So tell me, Seifer:”

Caesura, cigarette, cloud of smoke.

“Why is it that you frolic in these chains? I know you and you know me. We may not always see eye to eye, but in one crucial respect we are one and the same: ours are revolutionary souls. You wish to be free of the rule of gods and men, and I - I wish to be rid of limits altogether.”

Another pause as Artemisa lifted her cup of coffee to her lips, and made an outward gesture with it still in hand.

“No, I am not here to merely meddle in your affairs. Were it play that I were after, I assure you, there are any number of unassuming fools I might befuddle. If on some dusty plain you wish to someday settle the score between us, then I am more than willing to comply; but presently, I believe you and I share a cause we are willing to set aside our differences in the pursuit of.”

Setting down the cup upon its saucer, Artemisa took another drag before extinguishing her cigarette.

“What are your thoughts on the Lady Lunafreya, my dear?”

Still grinding his teeth, Seifer didn’t like where this conversation was headed at all. Inhaling another bout of smoke and letting it sit in his lungs for a long moment, he exhaled with a show of an amused, huffed laugh - amusement he did not really feel in her presence.

Much on the contrary, her being here in front of him made him tense, and pulled on all the wrong strings again. He came here to forget, but seemingly, there was no way of escaping her clutches entirely either.

Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her lengthy monologue about technology and the connectivity it brought. Was she really ranting about the internet? it would come as no surprise, given that she hailed from an entirely different time, as he now knew. But why the idle conversation? All just to lull him in again and make him feel safe when really she might be trying to weave her webs and pull him into her clutches again?

There were too many variables at play, once again, for him to properly gauge the entirety behind it and the lack of control in this situation didn’t sit right with him. Every second he spent in her presence was dangerous, simply looking at her threatening to flick all the switches of his triggers.

And then she played her cards more openly. Well, to him at least. Appealing to his rebellious side, the one that never really could follow any orders, or rules, who made destiny his bitch if he could. Still, a flat laugh hummed from the blond at her words. “I am here to redeem myself for what you had me do,” he said, voice even, almost bored. Deliberately so. 

Pulling on his cigarette again, he did what he had never tried before in the past. Read her. Emerald eyes flicked over regal features, hoping against hope that he might be able to find a pattern of expressions that he could work with. To at least gain *some* intel of what she was up to.

When she finally spoke again, laying her plan - or the beginnings of it - out more precisely, blond brows furrowed as Seifer leaned in now, arms crossed on the table. “I doubt we share anything,” he deadpanned before his jaw set.

The Lady Lunafreya...?

Swallowing against a lump in his throat as an ill-boding feeling settled in his stomach, he tipped his head to the side, taking another drag of smoke.

“Nice ass, nice tits, pretty girl. What about it?”, he replied flippantly, all the while careful to pay the utmost attention to what she was actually about to say next.

[duckielover151]

Didn’t think this would be one of those shows I rant about, but here we are. I’m not crazy about slice of life romances, and I didn’t particularly enjoy Just Because, but I did get invested in the characters by the end, and boy do I have things to say about the Ena-Eita-Mio love triangle. (SPOILERS)

This comes together in a few parts.

Mio:

I liked Mio just fine as a character, but I always felt her stake in these romances was the weakest part of the show. There was so little substance to her crush on Haruto. It literally existed only to complicate her relationship with Eita-- act as an early roadblock to his equally substance-less crush on her. 

For a while, it bothered me that whatever her attraction to Haruto was, it was apparently strong enough to persevere since middle school but then fades away in the space of, like, 5 minutes. She returns the eraser, and it’s like she’s been freed from some spell. Like, “Huh, guess I didn’t actually like him after all.” 

It just felt shallow and manufactured for the sake of drama. Only recently did I start to appreciate the potential this plot line could have brought to the series. Which brings us to part two. 

Ena: 

On the other hand, I found Ena Komiya to be super annoying when she was first introduced. On top of her pushy attitude, she just occupied a really weird place in the story, not really connected to the main group, the only underclassman who didn’t have adulthood breathing down her neck... I was dreading it when the show started to very clearly head in the direction of weaving her into the love web, when she started developing her crush on Eita. I didn’t need any more angst or drama or dumb misunderstandings. 

But then something started to shift. And before I knew it, Ena was suddenly the best character in the show. 

Let’s be real for a minute. Just Because is pretty fucking dull, like, 90% of the time. Most of the cast is either naturally very reserved and introverted or-- in Haruto’s case-- uncharacteristically bogged down by his romantic woes at least for the duration of this story.

Ena is loud and stubborn and pushy and very blunt. The character who had no trouble saying the thing that everyone else holds back because they’re trying to be polite. She confronts Eita about his crush on Mio and basically confesses her own feelings for him in the same scene. She’s always very clear about what she wants from their relationship but also never hesitates to support him-- even if what he’s working towards is meant to get him closer to another girl. She wants him to be happy, even if that happiness is going to come from being with someone else. Komiya is just great. I love her.

This finally brings us to part three.

Eita: 

You want to talk about dull... Eita barely has a personality to speak of. And there could have been some background to his introverted-ness. His dad’s job has always caused the family to move a lot-- and unexpectedly, often in the middle of the semester. So he’s struggled to make friends for most of his life. (Not that the show ever really explores that...) The only thing the writers deemed important enough to really tell us about him is that he’s had a crush on Mio since junior high. ...For no particular reason that I can discern. He admires how hard she works, I guess? He gets one line about how she has a cute, awkward side despite generally seeming put-together. And that’s it. One line. 

I won’t pretend that they never had a good moment. They had exactly one of those too, in fact. I’ll admit, the scene where he helps get her to her entrance exams in spite of the snow delays, calming her down by helping her study on the journey there is a really good scene. The first (but also last) time I really felt something for their ship. 

The thing is, Eita really comes to life whenever he’s interacting with Ena. (Haruto even points out that they have chemistry.) At first, it was just their bickering pushing him out of his comfort zone. But he also opens up to Ena in a way we never get to see with Mio. The scene where she gives him the good luck charms for his entrance exam-- knowing that he’s only taking a last-minute entrance exam to try to get into the school Mio’s headed for-- was really great. The culmination of a bunch of good scenes between these two. We get to see their relationship grow. With Eita and Mio, the whole ship is kind of just supposed to be carried along on the knowledge of the crush Eita’s had for however long. 

Conclusion:

Just Because would have been such a better show if they’d gone for the curve ball ending and had Eita end up with Ena instead. 

This is a show about a group of (primarily) high school seniors learning to let go of the past and face their futures. I originally hated how hastily thrown-together the end of Mio’s crush on Haruto felt-- just so she could realize she had feelings for Eita instead at pretty much the same moment Ena did.

I just get the same feel from both crushes. Mio realizes so easily that her feelings for Haruto had likely faded away a while ago, she was just holding onto the past. What feels contrived as is could have been a great parallel to Eita realizing that holding onto his crush on her was also a way of avoiding the future and all the impending changes to his life. It wouldn’t have been the perfect ending they try to make out his finally getting together with Mio to be, but when is romance ever perfect? 

[haberdashing]

What A Tangled Web We Weave (7/?)

TMA AU diverging from canon at the end of episode 92. Jon is forced into an arranged marriage by Elias; Martin does what he can to help.

on AO3

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7

Martin slept well that night.

He wasn’t expecting to, really. When he put his head against the pillow, he was fully expecting a night filled with tossing and turning and nightmares and very little in the way of actual sleep. But both that night and the one before, once he made the decision that it was time to go to bed he was out like a light, lost in dreamless sleep, and before he knew it it was morning.

Part of Martin wondered if this had to do with his new connection to the Web somehow. Part of Martin wondered if it was just because he really needed the rest. Part of Martin wasn’t quite willing to look that particular gift horse in the mouth just yet.

He didn’t feel quite as, well, off as he had the day before when he woke up, either, and Martin figured it was probably time for him to head back to the Institute. No use putting things off any further, delaying the inevitable and risking seeming all the more suspicious because of it. Besides, he did still have a job to do... even if that job wasn’t nearly as mundane as he’d thought when he’d first signed on.

Martin was nervous on his way to the Institute, scared even, but that wasn’t really new. The specific cause was, sure, but he’d been scared of something ever since Prentiss trapped him in his flat, and probably even earlier than that if he was being entirely honest with himself. At least now the fear and anxiety had a clear rationale behind them, had a single cause he could focus on dealing with as best he could.

He’d picked his nails half to shreds by the time he made it through the front door of the Institute, but Martin was pretty sure his eyes were two in number and human-looking in appearance, that nobody was staring at him any more than usual, and that was more important right now than having intact fingernails.

Jon was tucked away in his office again, or so it looked from a glance towards the place to see the door to it closed and light peeking out from the gaps between door and frame. Martin wanted to try to draw him out of there, to give him comfort and reassurance, but he didn’t entirely trust himself to do so without something going terribly wrong, at least not yet. Maybe later he could just so happen to make himself and Jon a cup of tea and use that as an excuse to stop inside again, but for now...

For now, he had work to do.

Martin wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, or if it was because of the day that passed without him in the Archives, or if it was because of his return to the Archives now, but the other archival assistants (including Basira, whose set-up was still a little haphazard, but was a fair sight better than sitting on the floor now; Daisy was nowhere to be seen, and Martin rather preferred it that way) were a lot quieter now than they were two days ago. No open-ended speculation about whether Elias’ claims were true, no discussion of Jon’s fate. Melanie was actually doing some research, by the looks of it, while Basira had another book open at her new desk, and Tim was playing a different violent video game on his work computer.

Was being the operative word there; as Martin booted up his own computer, he saw Tim pause his game before strolling over to him.

“Martin, can we talk?”

Martin shrugged. “Sure?”

Tim looked around the archives before adding, in a slightly lower voice, “I mean, can we talk alone?”

Martin gulped nervously. While he didn’t know exactly what Tim wanted from him, his mind jumped to the worst easily enough, and it being something that he wasn’t willing to say within earshot of the other archival assistants definitely wasn’t a good sign. “Y-yeah, sure.”

They followed the path together, no words needing to be exchanged beforehand; this wasn’t the first time Martin and Tim had wanted to speak without others overhearing them, and they’d identified one particular document storage room that went almost entirely unused some months back for that purpose. (Though back then if they couldn’t talk in the Archives, it was because they were avoiding Sasha--Sasha, whose death still felt like a freshly opened wound--and that memory sent a pang of loss coursing through Martin.)

As Tim closed the door behind him, Martin leaned against a pile of old boxes, though he regretted the move almost immediately as a cloud of dust emerged from the boxes with his touch and he had to fight to stifle a sneeze. “What did you want to talk about?”

Tim laughed a little, and that should have helped, should have eased the tension at least a bit, but the laugh was short and bitter and Martin didn’t trust it even slightly.

The pause between Tim’s laugh and his actual response to Martin’s question must have taken only a few brief seconds, but in Martin’s mind, that period of uncertainty and unease dragged on much longer.

“Did you really take a day off work just because your crush is getting married?”

Once Martin finished processing the question being asked of him, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter, even though it just made the fire in Tim’s eyes burn brighter.

“That’s what this is about? Seriously?”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “Why, what did you think this was about?”

“...nothing.”

“Right. Look, I thought you were still all gung-ho about working here. Did you change your mind about all that, or are you really just that taken with Jon?”

“I...” Martin had been prepared for a few different ways this conversation could go, but this fit none of them, and now he was left grasping at straws. “Neither, I guess?”

“Then why didn’t you come in to work yesterday, hmm?”

“I didn’t feel well.” Technically true, that, the best kind of true. “Might’ve had some sort of 24-hour bug, I’m better now.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, so you just happened to fall ill yesterday.”

Martin threw his hands in the air. “Yes! Why is that so suspicious?”

“Because you’re back now, not at all worried about being contagious, the very next day.”

It took Martin a moment to put together the pieces, to remember the time he’d chewed out Sasha (...was that Sasha? Martin didn’t know for sure, couldn’t remember the timing well enough) for coming into work after taking two days off for a cold and returning while she still had a slight sniffle, how he’d gone on a rant about how easily germs could spread in an office environment, but once he realized what he’d done Martin could feel his stomach sinking until it seemed like it must be resting somewhere around the floor.

“Maybe it wasn’t a bug, actually-”

“If you’re trying to avoid this place, trust me, it’s not that easy. But if you’re just trying to avoid Jon-”

Martin could feel his face growing pink and hot. “It’s not like that!”

“If you say so.”

“It’s not, I swear it’s not-”

And then Tim’s eyes went wide and he started backing away, and Martin didn’t know why until he realized that the room definitely hadn’t been this bright when he’d entered, and he could see the cobwebs in the corners more clearly now-

Shit.

“Tim?”

Tim kept his eyes fixed on Martin as he reached for the doorknob, only breaking eye contact once the door was flung open and he began running past it into the hallway beyond. Martin followed, but if he tried chasing after Tim Martin would likely end up losing the chase, and then he’d end up parading through the Archives looking like- like this, and everything would just unravel that much faster...

Better to try using his words, then. Maybe he could still talk Tim out of doing anything too drastic.

“Tim, stop!”

Tim went from sprinting away from Martin to practically screeching to a halt on a dime in a motion that looked more like something out of a cartoon than something unfolding in real life. It was almost comical, how quickly he stopped in his tracks when Martin said the word. Almost.

“Tim...”

Martin approached Tim, who was standing still in the middle of the hallway now, not moving an inch from where he’d been when Martin had called out to him. Martin circled around until they were face to face again, halfway between the archives proper and the room where their conversation had begun.

“Please don’t- don’t tell anyone about this. Don’t tell Jon about this, especially. Please. I know it looks bad, and it, it kind of is bad I suppose-” Martin let out a soft, bitter laugh. “But I want the time to figure this out myself, handle it on my own terms, alright?”

Martin looked into Tim’s eyes, which looked strangely unfocused, as if he were looking through Martin instead of at him. For a moment Tim didn’t respond, and Martin held his breath as he waited...

“Fine, sure, I won’t tell anyone.” The bitterness in Tim’s voice was audible, but Martin still let out a sigh of relief. “But if you go around looking like that, I doubt me keeping mum will help much.”

“Right, right, yeah.” Martin concentrated, thought back to those hours spent staring at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror, and the world grew dimmer and his peripheral vision shrank away as he willed eight eyes back into two. “There we go. Now, can we talk about this?”

Martin blinked a few times before realizing that his vision wasn’t failing him, that Tim really was nowhere to be seen. Apparently he’d taken the time Martin had used to adjust his appearance to run off to who-knows-where.

Martin sighed again. “Tim?”

No response came as Martin made his way down the hallway.

“Tim, I’d like to talk. Tim!”

Even once he reached the main part of the archives, Tim wasn’t there, wasn’t waiting at his desk as Martin had expected, his video game still paused on the same screen as before.

As Martin made his way back to his own desk, Melanie asked, “Looking for Tim?”

Martin tried to summon up a grin, though he wasn’t sure how successful he was on that end. “That obvious?”

“Well, you were practically yelling his name just now-”

“Right, uh, about that-”

“But he just ran off. Literally. Looked a little like a deer in headlights when he was at it.” Melanie paused, clearly hesitating before asking, “What was it you needed from him, anyway?”

Martin let out a laugh that he hoped sounded less bitter than it felt, shaking his head as he replied, “Nothing, actually. Nothing at all.”

[imagine-loki]

The Slutty Webs One Weaves

Title : The Slutty Webs one Weaves

Chapter NO. 6 of 10?

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki’s Asgardian wife learns women write fanfiction about him on a trip to Midgard. She’s edgy for the duration and lets him have it when they get back.

Author: lokilover9

Rating: M

Brianna's surprise was a bedroom matching the guest room at Tony's and much more. Loki had conjured a two thousand square foot flat into an underground rock formation with sleeping quarters and private ensuites at either end. The main rooms were open concept, all the lighting adjustable to simulate midday or dusk and she followed his gaze to a set of drapes in the dining area.

"I dare speculate what's beyond. Don't you?" He asked.

Another room simulating the outdoors had a domed ceiling painted like the sky, two walls a tropical rainforest and the third a beach scene. Below it was a narrow pool, running the rooms length and to her left, a swing set and exercise apparatus. Brianna ran to him and squealed with delight when he spun her around in his arms. "You did all this for me?"

"With great pleasure."

"It's the best. Our own perfect hideaway, but aren't you exhausted?"

He chuckled. "Had I conjured a palace, perhaps. My magic is very powerful."

She suddenly looked concerned. "Sooo, nobody knows I robbed those houses? I really don't want to go to jail."

"Og Min Lille, no one. You're free now and shall never live imprisoned again." Loki wanted to erase those sad memories, but she was too young. It risked relearning to walk and talk, achievements well established in adults and possibly forgetting vital information that could help locate her 'imprisoners'. "Let's focus on the happier times ahead. I'm hungry are you?" Inside, he opened a suitcase of food taken from Thor's. "Can you believe the God of Thunder eats marshmallows? His face must resemble an oversized zit."

Brianna's giggle was so adorable he wanted to gobble her up. "Do you like pranking him?" She asked.

"Me? The God of Mischief? Nooo."

"Your nose is growing, Pinocchio."

"Who?"

She explained the character, Loki feigned panic, conjured a mirror and made funny faces while checking his reflection at different angles. "It's not a centimeter larger than the last time I looked. Who's the prankster?" They made smores together and Loki's first bite resulted in a glob of marshmallow dangling from his chin.

"It's okay." Said Brianna. "Uncle Cootyoodles wore most of his first time we made them. Pepper too. He was holding one for her taste when a glob fell down her shirt, she smeared some into his hair and what a mess that followed. Tony started chasing her around the island trying to stuff them into her pockets, but Pepper was crafty. She grabbed the partially melted ones and tried smearing more into his hair. When he blocked it, she slid one under his t shirt sleeve and mashed it into his armpit. They'd begun cleaning up when he snuck chocolate sauce from a cupboard and squirted some onto her head."

"Did uncle Cootyoodles get in trouble?"

"No. They chose a third target and boy did she become invisible fast."

Loki laughed.

"Tony's super funny. Did you know he hides boxes of Count Chocula in their apartment?"

"Where?"

"No way, Jose. I plan a return visit. He might not share if you tattle."

Loki suddenly felt trapped in a web of deceit. Telling Brianna that wasn't possible, or of his intention to move her to Asgard permanently risked jeopardizing her trust. Might she become angry enough to vanish at first chance? He could cap her abilities with a spell, but that meant the same and not learning her full capacity. He was damned either way and wondered if all parents shared this dilemma. Making decisions for their child's best interest knowing they'll be resented for them. And what of the biggest? Telling his Daughter she was a Goddess. With time on their side he opted to mull things over.

That evening he gave her a swimming lesson, cut her hair into a bob with bangs, altered his to salt and pepper, conjured brown contacts and together they planned their first adventure. ***** On Asgard, after reading Loki's letter in her private parlor, Frigga had whisked Astrid off to the observatory.

Heimdall saw them coming and stiffened with the Allmother's scowl. 'Odin's toupee, Beelzebub is resurrected.' "Greetings my gracious Queen and my lady. What can I do for you?"

"Find Loki, please?" The Allmother instructed.

"He's left realm?" Astrid replicated her scowl and he gazed into the cosmos. "Right away." 'Before one of you sprout horns.'

The search was taking too long and Frigga caught on why. "Has my son veiled himself?"

"I cannot see him." 'Fuck. How many holes can you dig in one lifespan, Fenrir?'

Astrid looked ready to hyperventilate. "I didn't hide from him down there."

The Gatekeeper did like the Duchess, yet occasionally questioned her sensibility. 'Maybe because you lack such powers?'

The Queen dismissed her nonsense and calculatingly advised. "Worry not. I have a plan."

Heimdall prayed to the Norns it didn't include an inverted pentagram. ***** The next night, Loki and Brianna exited a portal into a dark alley in Paris.

"This way, darling. You're going to love The Ritz."

An inebriated man witnessed the phenomenon from his apartments alley window. "Sacre bleu! No more cheap merde for moi." ***** In New Mexico, Thor was watching How to Train Your Dragon, thinking Toothless would make his Father a great pet. Odin blitzed on ale and the pair swooping down on Asgards Einherjar as he taunts the warriors. 'Catch me if you can, suckers!' Frigga's in pursuit on a skid. 'Land you ancient ripstonker or I'll tan your hairy hide!' He chuckled at the vision, crushed an empty beer can against his forehead and the doorbell rang. "Must be my neighbor Willie with another complaint. Yesterday the stereo's volume, tonight our TV's. Guess I should pity the old bugger, his surname being Stroker. Coming!" He politely shouted. 'Rickety ray of sunshine.' "Evening Mr...Astrid???"

"Hi."

Thor inwardly cringed when she rolled in a suitcase and paused a second to think. Heimdall always delivered him to spots where Loki had hidden vehicles, but Astrid didn't have a license. "How did…" He picked up her luggage when the bell rang again.

"You should answer that."

He did to someone looking less a ray of sunshine than grumpy Mr. Kneads-his-knob. "Mother???" It suddenly clicked why Loki had warned him Astrid might visit. He'd intended to shield himself and Brianna from Heimdall.

"Don't look so shocked. Last summer your Father surprised me with a brief trip to Norway. A beautiful country, but too many nude beaches. While there, he taught me to drive and Seidre granted me a fake license."

"Why didn't you mention it?"

"I had intended to surprise you by coming with Astrid and Loki on their next visit. In light of your mail delivery, I came sooner. Now where's your brother?"

"I don't know and presume he's veiled?"

"You're lying and we know he has a daughter." Said Astrid. "It was in the letter."

She'd never addressed him so crassly and Thor dismissed it to upset. "I'm not and imagine it was, hence your presence. He spelled me to sleep with a tonic I thought ale and upon waking, they were gone. In 'my' letter, Loki apologized for leaving unannounced, didn't explain why and asked I make the delivery."

"Loki apologized to you?" Asked Frigga.

"Yes."

"This I must see to believe. Show me."

"Impossible, Mother. He spelled that too."

"He what?" Asked Astrid.

"It's in the ink." Replied the Allmother. "The paper dissolves within minutes once exposed to oxygen."

The Duchess shook her head. "This is wrong. Loki claims to have had no relationship with a woman he impregnates then runs off with a child they supposedly created without a word to his wife or Mother?"

"She's right, Thor. If your Father and I truly do have a granddaughter, your brother should've said so, brought her to Asgard and introduced us."

"Loki didn't believe me at first, but knew the instant they met. Like myself."

"So he really didn't come for a bondage session with his big brother." Said Astrid. "You lured him here to meet the girl? Who introduced the two of you? Was the Mother blackmailing Loki and that's why they've vanished? How does he know this person and her daughter aren't working together? Any preteen could learn such skills!"

Thor had retrieved her from Heimdall's last drop and en route to see Tony, was subjected to her jealous assumptions regarding the stories. Loki had once mentioned similar behavior during a visit home with Jane, but this was over the top and he responded curtly. "That's bon-ding and could a six year old, Astrid? Enough with your antics."

"Thor Odinson, mind your manners and tell us everything." Demanded Frigga.

He observed the two expectantly glaring at him and pondered being in his brother's shoes. "No."

"And why not young man?"

Astrid spoke again. "Because he's lying, just like I thought."

The God frowned at his sister in law. "No, because I think I understand now why Loki vanished. Did either of you even hear what I just said? Brianna is six..years..old."

"Frigga's tone softened. "Brianna?"

"Yes, Mother, that's your granddaughters name. Which saddens me to say you'd know had you bothered asking."

"Well if you won't help us, I'll bet Tony knows where Loki is. I'll just call him." Said Astrid.

"You will not." Thor sharply reiterated. "I contacted Stark first thing and he knows nothing. The couple are on vacation. Leave them be."

"Son, at least have some compassion for her feelings." Suggested Frigga.

"Why? I haven't heard a shred of it yet for Loki from either of you and suspect he predicted the same. It's no wonder with our consistent lack of empathy towards him. Jane always disliked him yet the more I spoke of our history, her opinion changed. Humbling mine by insisting I see things from Loki's perspective and candidly pointing out Father's favoritism. I regret a lot, but this isn't a self pity rant. He and Brianna need someone on their side and I'm volunteering, so listen. All I'll reveal is she came to me and refused to say from where or how. I found her cowering inside my apartment after a run and willingly obliged her request to meet Loki." He looked directly at Astrid. "Your husband is innocent, knew nothing of her existence until I told him, yet carries guilt for not rescuing her sooner."

"'Rescuing?'" Asked Frigga.

"Brianna's short life hasn't been a happy one." Thor grabbed his keys.

"Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here. I need to think."

He left and Astrid sobbed. "I've behaved so selfishly and now Loki's facing this alone."

The Allmother squeezed her hand. "I'm just as guilty, darling, but do get your sexual references straight?"

Astrid cried harder.

"There, there. Loki has to come home eventually."

"How..do you think he instantly kn..knew she was his?"

Frigga suddenly straightened. "Hells bells and Bilgesnipe testicles. Could she possess magic?"

Thor hadn't left to think. Distrustful of Astrid, he needed an excuse to do the one thing Loki had asked him not to. Call Stark. "Heyyy, flying human. Have a minute?"

"Nope. Busy drinking tequila out of Pepper's navel. Later."

She smirked when he hung up. "That was rude."

"What? I can't hold my phone, pour belly button shots and slurp all at the same time."

"Put him on speaker." She suggested.

"Stop moving or I'll pin you to the bed with my suit pieces."

"Now he's calling me. "'I'll' put him on speaker."

"A threesome with big guy?" Tony jested. "Can't we choose someone prettier?"

"You want a threesome? I never thought of sharing 'you' with anyone else."

He belched. "That was ugly. Answer the phone, Butch."

"Hi Thor."

"Sorry, Virginia. It's urgent."

Stark had risen from the bed in his boxers and Pepper withheld laughter as he goofily attempted a full monty. "What's up?"

Thor finished explaining and Tony gasped. "Say what? Pepper and I were about to experiment with shock treatments via my tequila laden nipples and you ruined it."

"He's kidding." She interjected.

The God chuckled. "Whatever ruffles your truffle, Virginia. He's taking it better than Loki predicted."

"It's the booze."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here people."

"Astrid's on realm and has thought of calling." Said Thor. "I won't send her your way. This is just a heads up."

Stark scanned his naked self. "Not anymore."

"Tony." Scolded Pepper.

"Sorry, what?"

"I've convinced her you're on vacation and Brianna came to me."

"Thumbs up, uncle lightning wielder. Why Daddy Snowflake lie and run away?"

"I'm not exactly certain, but suspect to avoid family drama over knowledge of Brianna's existence."

"Are they loco en la cabezas? You tell Loki she can come live here. If she turns our apartment into an ice rink, I'm down with that. I'll teach her how to skate."

Thor's respect for Tony was deepening over his unwavering affection for her. "If Loki contacts you, please warn him our Mother's here too?"

Stark shot upright. "Flaming flamingo fishnets! 'Thee' Allmother is on earth???"

"Not for long if I can help it. Astrid as well."

"'Atta boy! Duct tape them together and hurl 'em up the bifrosty."

"My Mother would have me quartered."

"Pooper shnickers. Saran wrap then?"

Thor laughed. "Virginia?"

"We'll play along. If Daddy Snowflake contacts you, tell him we're a phone call away." ***** Thor opted for a local pool hall instead of going home, but Frigga waited up.

"Does Brianna have powers, darling? I'd appreciate knowing."

He headed straight for his bedroom. "Jane comes home in three days. 'I'd' appreciate if you and Astrid returned to Asgard beforehand."

Frigga stood outside his door. "Thor…"

"Cover me in preserves and tie me to an ant hill, Mother. I'm still not talking."

"Sounds like a kinky ritual to enact on your Father."

He opened it enough to stick his head out. "Are you cray cray?"

"Possibly. If you aren't going to talk then come listen?" He begrudgingly obliged and they sat in the living room. "Forgive my rudeness earlier? I've been overcome with shock and bewilderment since Astrid came to me."

"No more so, than Loki."

"I imagine and have a briefened love story to tell you."

"Again?"

Frigga smirked at the hint of disinterest on Thor's face. "Not mine and your Father's, Loki's and Astrids. When your brother was first pardoned, the people were angry. Palace staff addressed him only when necessary and on the streets, there was talk of him being a traitor. He was miserable so your Father and I allowed him back to Midgard if he promised to stay out of trouble. He rarely cracked a smile on visits home and during one, I convince him to attend a ball by threatening to sacrifice a virgin."

Thor's brows rose. "Mother, you didn't."

"Almost. A young handmaiden he coveted. I'm not as innocent as I appear. Loki spent a good part of it alone, brooding in a side parlor. I'd considered suggesting he lose the glare which conveyed to all, 'come any closer and I'll rip off your limbs' when noticing Astrid edging her way around the room, cautiously evading his sight. I later learned she wanted to greet him unexpectedly, so he mightn't be so quick to reject her. Then as she introduced herself and Loki rose as a gentleman should, he smiled wholeheartedly for the first time in over a year. As you do in Janes presence. Soon he began spending more time at home and no matter the ignorance of others, including her Father's disapproval of their courtship, she lovingly stood by your brother. They were walking arm in arm at last year's harvest festival when someone bellowed 'traitors whore!' Astrid said he furiously demanded the coward show themselves. When no one came forth, she announced to all listening. 'Taunt and think of me as you please, but never forget whose presence you're in. Prince Loki of Asgard, son of your King and Queen and I am his proud fiance, Astrid Heskin.' She's made Loki very happy and it shows in every aspect of his personality."

"I'm just as impressed as I am confused." Said Thor. "If the feeling's mutual, why the constant jealousy?"

"It's between them I suppose." Frigga knew why, but withheld it in confidence.

"Sentiment aside, Loki never said where or when he planned to return. I'll have two days with Jane before she's back at S.H.I.E.L.D and I'm doing charity work. Nor can Astrid keep imposing on Mr. Stark when she and Loki have problems. Please take her home?"

"We'll leave tomorrow."

"Thank you. How did Father take the news?"

"He doesn't know and thinks I came to escort Astrid to Loki."

"Weren't we supposed to be bonding?"

"That, he would never believe and have surely gone to Heimdall. We told him Loki was helping you find Jane a new house as a surprise, Astrid missed him and wanted to help too. He waved us onward amidst his newfound kingly pleasure, a pedicure."

"Father gets pedicures?"

"It's not as though they paint his nails slut red. Centuries in leather boots makes for terribly smelly feet."

"Still, that complicates things." Thor explained Loki's conversation about Frost Giants. "My crassness wasn't meant as an insult to his original heritage. After everything Brianna's endured, I merely assumed it information overload for her."

"Darling. Where is the difference in learning she's Jotun or Asgardian?"

"There isn't any. Loki wouldn't reveal all they'd discussed and I'd dreaded he'd informed her Asgardians opinion of Jotuns. That 'we' were taught to fear and hate them."

His words reminded Frigga of her own guilt and shame over lying to her son. "Your Father and I were catastrophically wrong for teaching that. He despised Laufey for senselessly attacking Midgard, but I'm just as guilty for not speaking up."

"His scorn remains, Mother."

"Only because Jotunheim are ruled by a secretive and fluctuating council since Laufey's death and are rumored to be allies with Svartalfheim. They want Nidavellir to join them but the realm will not, claiming fear of animosity from the others and losing their greatest source of income."

"Weapons."

"Yes. Secretly, they are 'our' allies. Through spies, we learn of every weapon they sell and to whom. Should the Jotuns attain this knowledge and see the Dwarves as traitors, your Father dreads an outbreak of war and the senseless demise of millions. The Jotuns tell your Father only enough to appease him and the constant uncertainty has led him to double the size of our Einherjar."

"More you have not told me? Mother, why?"

"You're happy here and in a strategic position as an Avenger. Midgard is safer because of you. Loki knows all of this yet your Father is so edgy, I'm uncertain how he'll react to him being veiled."

"I'm saddened to hear of his duress, yet intend on further mending my relationship with Loki. Wish to join me?"

"Indeed I do."

"Then lie to Father again. Don't tell him Astrid returned and ask her to visit her Mother. Have her agree your back up plan should he question Heimdall sooner is she spoke to Loki, but he'd taken Brianna to Disneyland to bond with her alone. Claim that's why he's veiled and said they'd return 'here' in two weeks. It covers our arses and hopefully buys him time."

"Disneyland?" She queried.

"It's a famous amusement park for children."

"And if Loki doesn't show?"

"We're dungeon bound. Pack a warm sweater."

"Norns. How do I prevent Heimdall from seeing Astrid return?"

Thor groaned. "Snitch about this and I'll never forgive you. Max is sworn to service myself and Loki only or be fed to beasts. He takes bribes, but you can probably intimidate him into staying quiet with one glare."

Frigga jestingly rolled her eyes. "Such hooligans I raised."

"Be grateful to him, Mother. His arse will also be on the line for worse than concealing a mail delivery."

She shrugged. "I'll tell your Father I threatened to confine him to my poisonous spider conservatory."

Thor froze and asked similar question Loki had asked of him. "Are you truly 'our' relative? Asgards warm, kind and Allmotherly Queen?"

"Yes although formidable when required. It's a torture chamber, darling. So our enemies believe. They're artificial replicas of Midgards most deadly with tiny doses of various potions in their fangs. One induces diarrhea, another severe itching, hallucinations and my favorite, temporary paralysis. All with anecdotes, of course and they only attack via my magic. Imagine thousands positioned for battle."

Thor wondered if Frigga had inhaled too many fumes from her potion components and next he'd hear she'd conjured them tiny helmets. "You're right. I am happier here." 'With access to exterminators.'

"Do you think Loki is veiled out of fearing your Father's judgement?"

"Primarily."

The Allmother regretfully sighed. "I'll speak with Astrid in the morning."

She passed him and Thor faced her. "Mother?"

"Yes?"

"Brianna's amazing. Intelligent beyond her years, braver than some Einherjar I've known. You will love her instantaneously and yes, she has powers. The rest is her Father's privilege to disclose."

Frigga's smile conveyed gratitude. "Thank you, son. Goodnight." Astrid slept like a log and with magic, she carefully removed her wedding ring, entered the ensuite, made a replica of it for herself and began whispering. "Loki, darling..." ***** Astrid's ring was on, but Loki wasn't tuned into its frequency, didn't hear his Mother's message, nor of a link to the spell that accessed hers. He was too overwhelmed to endure his families negative rantings. As Brianna slumbered in luxury, he read more of her Mother's diary and lurched forward, seething upon discovering an adversary. 'You?'

Loki added the name to his shit list of most wanted. 'Consider yourself marked, fucker.'

[l-sincline]

Cybernetics- Cyberpunk!Sonic AU- Chapter 4

Amy Rose has been working tirelessly at her broken down booth for as long as she can imagine. Ever since Tails left their work to join forces with the revered hero of Mobius, ‘The Blue Blur’, she’s grown lonely and desperate to make her life exciting. A strange customer comes in one day asking her to fix his cyborg arm, what she didn’t know was that he would be the catalyst for a brand new life.

AO3 Tags:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Amy Rose/Shadow the Hedgehog, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedgehog), Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles “Tails” Prower, Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik, Rouge the Bat, Whisper the Wolf, Cream the Rabbit, Knuckles the Echidna, Badnik (Sonic the Hedgehog), E-123 Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Angst, Slow Burn, Partners in Crime

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He had walked Amy back to her booth that night, thanking her for her service on his arm, and claiming that he’d come back if he ever needed anything else. She’d offered for him to come by any time to say hello and thanked him for the dinner, but with his personality she quite frankly doubted she’d ever see him again. She’d turned to walk into her booth, and by the time she’d looked over her shoulder to see which direction he’d already disappeared without a sound. She wondered how he did it.

Anyways, she was feeling quite refreshed this morning. Smiling at every potential customer that passed, fixing minor defects on ProjScreens for free, finally talking to someone outside of work had done a world of good for her. Amy could tell it had cleansed her mind and relaxed her a bit, and she felt a bit more like she had when Tails had co-owned the booth with her. She didn’t know how long this feeling of security and peacefulness would last, but she intended to take advantage of it for as long as she could. So, she put up her ‘be back soon’ sign and stepped out of her booth to go and visit Whisper.

The rusty bell jingled as she pushed open the creaking wood door, Whisper’s weapon shop bustled quietly with activity. A few children stood staring at an impressive sword like weapon in a glass case, and a few seemingly more serious buyers turned a base model of a blaster over in their hands.

“Amy! Come on behind the counter.” Whisper’s damaged voice reached Amy’s perked ears as the mechanic turned to look at the weapon maker and quickly headed to get behind the counter.

“Hey Whisper, sorry I couldn’t do this last night.” She apologized as she walked around the counter to stand in front of the wolf mobian.

“It’s quite fine, I understand being exhausted. I caught a glimpse of the piece you were putting back on, it looked very different from anything I’ve ever seen before.”

“It was pretty strange, but enough about my work, what have you got for me?” Amy redirected the conversation as it twisted to be on ‘Myst’s strange cyborg arms. She was sure he wouldn’t want them to be a topic of conversation, even if she didn’t know him that well, she could tell that much.

Whisper merely nodded in response before reaching under the counter and pulling out the model. As it was, it looked a lot like the metal ‘bag’ structure she’d been picturing.

“It’s made out of aluminum, so when you finish it I’m assuming you’ll make it with perhaps cobalt or some other lightweight strong metal, but this is the base form.” She explained. “The strap is here-“ Whisper popped open a compartment and the strap fell out. She continued to speak as she hooked it on to a loop on either end. “-it has magnetic fibers in it, so when you want to be able to go from using it as a weapon to using it as a bag quickly, it can just attach itself to the outside, as long as your metal is magnetic.” Whisper hung the bag over her shoulder to demonstrate how it looked. When she dropped the bag from her shoulder, she pressed a button on the top and the handle of the hammer shot out the other side. Whisper grasped it by the handle and twirled it a few times before stopping to grip it with both hands in a strong stance. “And here’s the finished product.”

“Wow...” Amy breathed out in awe as Whisper lowered it and handed it to her. “I can’t wait to work on it!” She smiled. “Beautiful work, Whisper, really.”

“I’m glad you think so.” She smiled back. “I can’t do lunch today, unfortunately, but something tells me you want to get to work right away.”

“Right- I’ll see you later, Whisper.” She smiled as Whisper waved a quiet good bye.

Amy weaved through the stands displaying weapons and out onto the busy, outer ring streets, where she dodged mobians walking quickly past her to get back into her booth and put away her ‘be back soon’ sign. She set the model down on her desk and quickly got to work on it, now eagerly hoping that no one would bother her for the rest of the day so she could get it done as soon as possible.

After a few hours of replicating pieces of the aluminum model with cobalt she had almost finished forming the head of the hammer, but it was then that she realized there was an odd silence coming from outside the booth, accompanied from a familiar hum she didn’t quite like to hear. She turned to see the mobians in the street parting the way, parents tucking their kids away, others ducking into alleys to be out of the line of fire of the devilish thing- a Robotnik Robot, easily most common to the outer ring, where people were less likely to be able to defend themselves against the flying robots, and where the government didn’t care to check up on often. The white and black robot hovered off the ground, it’s one beady red ‘eye’ shooting off a beam that it used to scan the crowd. This was normal- it was looking for someone, maybe a citizen had gotten ballsy and kicked one and the Doctor wanted his revenge. It wasn’t as much of revenge as it was an excuse to spill some blood though, she supposed. What she didn’t find normal was when it stopped on her. She hissed in pain and shielded her eyes at the sudden bright light of the robot scanning her.

Subject: Amy Rose

It spoke emotionlessly and Amy froze- what did that mean? Usually it just scanned subjects and moved on- why had it said her name?

Amy Rose, you are the last Mobian in contact with Project Shadow, reveal his whereabouts immediately.

What? Amy shrunk back a bit and found herself grabbing the aluminum hammer, it might fall apart if she used it, but she would still have all the pieces at least.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Amy shouted.

Amy Rose, reveal the whereabouts of Project Shadow.

It repeated with no care for her testimony.

“I don’t know about any ‘Project Shadow’!” Amy shouted again, angrier this time, desperate for the robot to hear her and give up.

Amy Rose will be: Terminated.

She gasped as the robot came shooting towards her, eye beginning to shine as if it were ready to hit her with a terrible blast. In a moment of adrenaline, she spun on her toes and lifted the hammer with both hands. By the time she’d made it all the way back around again, she swung as hard as she could, and BANG- home run.

The Robotnik Robot went flying back out into the street as she followed through and the hammer poised back up behind her head again. It’s white body clanked to the ground and skidded, creating a horrible screeching noise before thunking against the wall of the building opposite of her and powering down. Amy breathed heavily in fear as she lowered the hammer and dropped it to the ground, the reality of the situation coming back to her senses as the mobians in the street slowly stopped staring at her and began carrying on with their day. A couple kids scrambled to tear the broken robot apart for parts, and she clutched a hand over her chest.

What. Was. That.

She had never, never in a million years, ever been targeted by Robotnik robot. At first she thought it might’ve been because he had found out Tails had used to work here- but Tails was no ‘Project Shadow’ unless he had suddenly changed drastically in the last twenty four hours. It seemed that ‘Myst’ was her only viable culprit for the ‘Project Shadow’. Amy picked up the aluminum hammer off the floor and placed it back on her work desk, amazed it hadn’t fallen to pieces like she’d thought it would. She sat back down on her stool and pulled out her ProjScreen.

Her first search was ‘Project Shadow’

The web showed it as nothing more than some Projection vlog channel of a kid who had no more than ten subscribers.

She looked up ‘Robotnik Project Shadow’

Same kid as before, except it seemed he had made a video ranting about the Doctor, seemed like it might be amusing, just not right now.

She tried ‘White Cyborg Arms’

Most of what came up we’re just arms taken from androids modeled after white colored mobians- cats seemed to be the most common, though she also saw what appeared to be a bird- and a few were actually pictures of Mobians with white cyborg arms, but none of them were what she had looked at only a few days ago.

Then ‘Cloaked Cyborg’

And now she was getting somewhere. The first article that came up was from about two months ago, and the headline read ‘Blue Blur goes head to head once more with the Cloaked Cyborg’ she clicked on it and was met with a gut wrenching picture.

It was the Blue Blur, just as handsome as everyone claimed, right in the middle of kicking her familiar mysterious customer in the cyborg arms with his cyborg legs, through the shadow of the hood he wore she saw the gleam of clenched teeth, it seemed that his shoes were skidding on the ground as well. Something told her he would have flown into a wall right after this picture. Her stomach churned- the man she had met did not seem deserving of this treatment, but then again, she hardly knew him. What had he done to get to that? She read the article quickly, the most she got out of it was that the people were lucky to have the Blue Blur to save them from wrong doers like the Cloaked Cyborg- but it still didn’t tell her what he had done. Clearly he had some sort of connection with Robotnik, she was almost one hundred percent sure that it was the doctor himself who had made ‘Myst’ those arms now. He had also apparently done something to get on the Blur’s bad side, and by extension Tails, which meant that it was good she never showed Tails the arm, but bad that she’d let a fair amount about Tails slip to ‘Myst’. Amy groaned and powered down the ProjScreen. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of all this. She didn’t like that she couldn’t find what ‘Myst’ had done anywhere on the web, but a part of her felt like she was betraying Tails by not immediately contacting him to tell him what had happened. Her unease swirled in her mind as she clenched her hands into fists in her lap. For now, it seemed that it might be best to just not say anything at all. She didn’t have to lie to Tails if she just didn’t talk to him, and with any luck, ‘Myst’ would not reappear at her booth anytime soon. She felt like she was trapped in a web, but all she could do was toss the ProjScreen to the top of her table and start working on the hammer once more.

[lyendith]

Ciconia no Naku Koro ni Phase 1 : To You, The Replaceable Ones

I had planned to write this… review? analysis? of Ciconia Phase 1 right after finishing the game about two weeks after its release, but since then I've had trouble organizing my thoughts. The reason is that this first installment alone tackles a lot of themes: war, nationalism, technoscientism, media consumption and manipulation, the blurring limits between physical and virtual reality, education systems, generational gaps induced by technology, artificial procreation, old people robbing the youth of their dreams, the meaning of family and interpersonal bonds, and even transidentity (albeit briefly). And it is quite remarkable that almost all of those themes are represented by one object: the Gauntlet and the idea of “parallel processing” associated with it.

It's gonna be a long and messy review, I'll probably forget to mention some aspects of the story or overlook others, and I won't talk about every single character, but I'll try to cover the essential parts. Not easy considering how densely-packed the story is, but let's go!

So to start, I should probably focus on this VN's protagonist, Mitake Miyao. On a surface level, he's a bit of what you'd call a “tsundere”: harsh, a little irritable and sarcastic with his pals, but always well-meaning and easy to befriend in the end. One of the running threads of the story so far is that he's too well-meaning in fact, idealistic to a fault, which contributes to his odd charisma but also makes the increasing realization of his powerlessness all the more depressing. You don't want to see this guy fail, but because of the way the story is framed, you know he inevitably will.

For a while, the narration and dialogue like to repeat that “youngsters are each generation's main characters”, but that's a sentiment I couldn't quite share − in our real world, youngsters may be the ones will all the dreams, but they sure as hell aren't the ones making the decisions. The climate change crisis, for example, wouldn't be left unaddressed if that was the case. And sure enough, Ciconia isn't so naïve as to ignore that reality. Every single step of the way, Miyao thinks he can use his power to overturn the situation. Every single step of the way, he's reminded that in the end he's just a pawn moving however his higher-ups or other nebulous forces wish him to. That's a really powerful and relatable theme in this day and age, which raises the question of how far you can oppose a system you're an essential part of.

One thing that makes Miyao special, at least compared to his pals from the AOU, is that he's “ciconia-born” − born from natural procreation. Which means that unlike Jayden or Gunhild, he has bilogical family bonds but also hasn't been subjected to a genetic selection that would predetermine his path in life. At least supposedly, but we gradually learn that that may not quite be the case. In fact, that biological link to Toujirou ends up acting as a tether that robs Miyao of even more control on his own life than he thought, leading to the final tragedy of this first Phase.

There also lies this story's commentary on technology and man's increasing dependence on it − technology makes the kids' life easier, but it's also their undoing. One technology prevented an apocalypse that another caused, and the loss of the former brings about a new apocalypse. Humans created the 8MS but only a handful of scientists have a full understanding of how it works, just like today's technology are only fully understood by a small elite of technicians. We are increasingly dependent on tools whose principles are increasingly out of our grasp. Again, the Gauntlet is another reflection of that.

But back to Miyao and the Gauntlet Knights. In retrospect, it is clear that the way both the characters and readers learn about most dramatic developments through disincarnated news reports (with a goofy “news flash” alert by the frog AI Keropoyo to make it worse) is meant to build up that feeling of powerlessness, and also of disconnect. We should be alarmed that war is approaching, that terrible things are happening… but it all feels distant. After all, do you cry or tremble in fear when you learn that an eathquake killed a thousand people on the other side of the globe? No, you'll think “it's terrible” for a minute and then move on, because what can you do about it? Reading the second half of Ciconia felt a lot like that. And while that's part of the message, it is also to the detriment of the reading experience a lot of the time.

For a while (around the 60-to-80% portion of the game, roughly) we get a lot of redundant dialogue about commenting the news and Miyao rambling on about how they're all COMRADES MAINTAINING THE WALLS OF PEACE, again and again and again, to the point it becomes annoying. That's my only real gripe with the game − the feeling that, at times, Ryukishi forgot he was writing a story and went into political or philosophical essays about its themes instead. Maybe a manga or anime adaptation could help make these parts more… show-don't-telly. But as it is, it could have used some serious trimming down. That's hardly something entirely new − who can forget Krauss' tangent about 1986 Japan's economic situation or Beatrice's explanation of Hempel's crow? But in Ciconia the narration doesn't seem to come from any specific point of view except that of the author (and even on that front, the opening disclaimer warns us that the views expressed don't necessarily reflect the author's opinions), so those parts become all the more conspicuous. Unless this all turns out to be part of a Witch's game, which wouldn't be surprising.

Where Ciconia shines however, is at weaving a web of connections between the characters, one by one, to make you care about some and suspicious of others, sometimes both, and deliberately confuse you about who really controls whom. First we have the kids, with Warcat and Grave Mole which instantly grew on me (the slice-of-life TIPS focused on them had some of my favorite scenes actually), then the other kette with their own quirky charms… then the “villains”, with Toujirou and Seshat, then the Three Kings and Jestress who has a delightful dynamic with Toujirou, and then Toujirou is revealed to be Miyao's father, etc... It's a testament to how well all of those characters are established that I could remember almost all of them very quickly despite their massive number. Save for the Cairo Squad maybe. They're just kinda there. The (mostly) gorgeous character designs certainly help, even if Ryukishi still has a somewhat loose grasp of body proportions and of the… number of fingers on human hands. There's some improvement even in that department though.

While Miyao is for the most part the center of the cast, at least on the kids' side, that doesn't mean the others aren't interesting in their own right. Jayden is your classic “best buddy dudebro” whose easygoingness lets him bounce off Miyao's more strait-laced personality in a fun way, but his relationship with Meow, Miyao's “little sister” who shares the same body, allows him to show more sensitivity and shyness he would otherwise have. Speaking of Meow, she brings about another interesting element of worldbuilding − the existence of “Congenital Parallel Processors”, or CPPs, i.e. people born with multiple personalities, who are not considered mentally ill but a full-fledged minority with its own issues and “coming outs”. Although that aspect isn't developped much (Meow herself kind of disappears from the radar in the second half), we do get other examples of how it can manifest, notably with the character of Naima, whose unnamed alter-ego is violently protective of her, or Rukshana who's prone to abrupt personality changes when she laughs. The way Jayden kinda walks on eggs but genuinely tris to to treat Meow as her as her own person while respecting her and Miyao's privacy is frankly adorable, and I almost wish we got more of that at least in the TIPs!

The kette I found the most interesting, though, was Grave Mole, composed of Chloe, Lilja and Koshka. While a lot of characters have issues, all three of these girls are complete mental wrecks to some degree. Koshka spends her time between grumpily taking part in Kizuna chat rooms and horrific body experiments (usually simultaneously) when she's not training, Lilja has to take drugs to pretend like she's a happy, cute and mischievous cat-girl for the sake of making Koshka a more-or-less functional human being, and Chloe has to constantly deal with unfair punishments and a constantly battered self-esteem. As comedic as Okonogi's angry rants and karate-chops are played (and as much as I like this version of Okonogi, strangely enough), that scene where she gleefully lets Lilja be killed in battle makes it clear that her mental state is just as unstable as the other two's.

On the antagonists' side, things are a lot more blurry: a lot of them utter the arc phrase “All is in the name of guiding humanity down the right path.” However, what the right path is seems to vary depending on who says it. That's where a lot of the mystery lies − be it with Jestress, Seshat or Toushirou, their goals seem contradictory, and Tak… I mean Vier Dreissig doesn't even seem to have a goal beyond SCIENCE. But a big part of Phase 1's hook is that constant uncertainty as to who is playing whom and for what purpose. Even the Three Kings, who seem like your bog standard Illuminati knock-offs, might not be as much in control as they seem − hell, one of the big catastrophes (the fatal damage to the atmospheric 8MS) happens completely outside of their control, in an almost comically sudden way.

Speaking of comical… let's get to what I found personally fascinating but what other readers might have gripes with: the brutal tonal shifts and dissonances throughout the story. A cheery scene to announce the big success of a plan for the Order of the Public Bath? Keropoyo pops up to gleefully announce… an avalanche of terrible news that make the success from a minute ago meaningless. A big conference for peace where World War IV will most certainly be stopped? All of its participant die in an “accidental” explosion. Not to mention characters that are walking balls of tone dissonance like Chloe (who has many comical scenes but is clearly broken beyond repair) or the Yeladot Shavit girls (who by the end are forced to spew out fanatical bullshit with the same sparkly smile they sport when gushing about yuri ships).

This is of course embodied by the incredible climax where all the Gauntlet Knights celebrate their comraderie together in a virtual room… while their real selves are busy killing each other lest they're court-martialed for treason. The moment where all of Miyao's ideals are brutally trashed and scattered in a battle we don't even know the purpose of. The moment where the kids' taent for “parallel processing” becomes their sole mean of escaping the horror of their situation. The moment where all the absurdity, all the unfairness explodes in a depressing flourish. The moment also where the thematic resonance with Umineko becomes fully apparent − how can we not be reminded of Sayo and Maria escaping their shitty lives through their magic? Though of course Rose Guns Days also constantly came to mind, with the focus on war and nationalism, Japan being divided between a union led by the US and one led by China, and two of Miyao's closest friends being the American Jayden and the Chinese Lingji; as well as Miyao being an idealistic and charismatic leader-by-circumstance whose dreams crash into a wall much like Rose's in RGD.

So…

All in all, Ciconia might not entirely be what I expected from a When They Cry game, but it is certainly what I expect from a 07th Expansion game: a thought-provoking experience. Again, I finished my reading shocked and confused. Although it might seem like it shows its cards more explicitly than the openers of Higurashi and Umineko, deception still plays a big part in the story, even if the interaction with the reader is less direct.

Now there might be no murder mystery for the reader to solve, but that won't stop me from speculating! The invisible turning point to me is the “Proof of a Program” chapter, where Blue Miyao tells Miyao that he'll show him someone's face, and that that will activate Miyao's murder program instantly. Miyao first laughs it off, but then the scene brutally cuts to something that might be a flashback, a flash-forward or a nightmare, maybe all of that at once… The most graphically horrifying scene of the entire game, to the point it's almost at odds with the rest. And then… it's never mentioned again. Not even when Miyao meets again with Blue Miyao. Like it never happened. My theory is that everything Miyao experiences from that point onward is some kind of simulation, and that's where the obligatory When They Cry time loop will come from this time. See you in May for the answer?

That is all for today, folks!