#I see you OP. we are kindred

[jettison-my-gift]

Same OP, except I alternated between elvish script and dwarf runes

anyone else learn to write in tolkien's elvish script when they were like 12, proceed to write 2+ years of diary entries in it and then almost entirely forget how to re-translate them? becos uhhh

[mortifying-macaroni]

What's got you into the whole Tremere/Tzimisce dynamic? Just curious to know. I like them too

Well, anon, I'm glad you asked (btw you've got excellent taste). I'll try to keep it short and sweet with a few main bullet points *cracks fingers*

It's the perfect foundation for "somewhat acquaintances to enemies to lovers". Their first means of interaction stemmed from curiosity to potential cooperation laced with some form of trust as they partook in exchanging of knowledge and magic acumen, hell even some Tzimisce got embraced while carrying a Tremere name. Moreover, they lived in this brief unity until it all got squandered by the blood wizards' betrayal as we know.

Both clans are pretty much two enigmas wrapped in a mystery that battled on a tight rope throughout the ages. Despite the rocky road they're fiercely tangoing on, the fire from their mutual hatred keeps them on their feet as they're restlessly trying to take the lead in bringing the other party to their downfall. There are certain things that entwine them, things that establish a common ground for them to agree upon. Aside from the bit of blood they share by forceful means from the Tremere's side, both clans foster this penchant for torture in the name of academic pursuits. If melding their minds by combining their methods for causing destruction, then these two bloodlines could've been the most fearsome clan duo of educated executioners throughout kindred history.

I've already quoted this one part somewhere (*ahem* my fic), but they have the potential to work like scissors- the blades function to that of a married couple that carry out their tasks together in perfect synchronicity and unison, with equal toil put into it. They're two hands holding the gun, the hammer and firing pin pushing the bullet out. One example of that is their co-op dependant ability to create Blood Brothers. Think about it, A koldun fleshcrafter and a thaumaturgy sorcerer can mass produce walking weapons of annihilation, sort of like their "children" birthed for war through brutality and blood magic.

The whole kindred world may be cursing at them, deeming them as inhumane monsters and murderers and yet the Tzimisce and Tremere can only slow dance to the beat of chaos and pure pandemonium unfolding around them. Everything may as well be crumbling into ruin, but they'd still see an opportunity to salvage something from the suffering of others. What's more, I imagine if they were in a relationship they'd be partial to mutual inflictions of pain. All the pent up clan tension could provide an outlet to channel that (whether it be caused or sustained) hurt into a sort of gratification that nobody else could provide them.

A Tzimisce is an instrument of pain that a Tremere can learn to, not only appreciate, but study, even without applying force; just how a Tremere's knowledge can serve as a song for a Tzimisce to learn through guidance. Furthermore, if given the chance, either of them would kill or burn the whole world for their partner no questions asked. Even though they bring out the worst in each other, they'd remain where they are because nobody else can handle or keep up with all of their "ugly" aspects.

In other words, if only they weren't so stubborn about their clan beef, they could not only have the kinkiest sex imaginable, but also establish a Gomez/Morticia relationship if they'd just work everything out.

I have only one Tremere/Tzimisce ship, so I'm kinda going based on my own little headcanons regarding their own issues and how they can personally work together through them, in addition to some lore I've dug out on top of that.

Final verdict (in my humble, yet correct opinion): Best ship dynamic in VTM with Nosferatu/Toreador being the runner ups

[myarcadiandream]

My commentary on The Sign Ep. 7

-Arts forbidden love situation with Kao is so sad

-my face during the contemporary art scenes. Yeaaaah they aren’t my thing I’m sorry.

-During the art exhibition Phaya should have been standing in the back hes so tall he’s blocking the view.

-why is Dr Cha Cha slide stILL HERE MAN GO HOME THIS IS A CRIME SCENE

-Doc is LEADING THE WITNESS. No doubt making him see things when he put a hand on Arts chest.

-why ARE WE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION ABOUT AROUSAL IN FRONT OF THE INVESTIGATORS SALAD (side note I cannot get over how softly Tharn said Phayas name when he pushed him away from Doc)

-Doc is going for the THROAT man. He’s so smartly trying to discredit Phaya in both his personal and professional life.

-THIS CONVERSATION IN THE HALLWAY. someone needs to gif it now. Phaya is saying exactly what Tharn has been thinking. Phaya is braver than Tharn. He is verbally telling Tharn his fear of losing him. And Tharn just caves. There are literally tears in Tharns eyes

-I would answer any question Yai asked me in an interrogation room. I would say what he wanted to hear. Dude is fiiiiiine

-does Tharn look shorter to you? The height difference seems bigger

-please don’t touch the sex board please don’t touch the sex bo- his abilities are expanding?

-yo this convo after the interrogation is so on the nose 😅

-Tharns visions are so long now

-me thinks Tharn and Art are kindred spirits

-phaya: “I have a surprise for you” Tharn: 👀👀

-NAMAMI

-Grandma : “tell me has he ever done something funny to you?” Yeah i mean they punched eachother in the face

-Phaya just has a fucking unicorn in his art studio?

-POOL POOL POOL

-they left Billy’s beauty mark on his eyelid alone. YESSSS

-KISS KISS KISS

-Again with the purple lighting Saint CMON

-oh I cannot wait for the GIFS of this scene

-you know it’s Tharns fantasy bc Phayas got a vice grip on his neck and they’re in the shower.

-ope and we’ve slipped into Phayas fantasy. So soft.

-SHOULDER KISSES

-NO NEXT EPISODE IS THE DROWNING EPISODE NO

-But also ready for all the angst tbh

[noodleswithsoba-blog]

Midnight Headcanons!

Alright you cool kids and groovy cats, here's the deal! This is my favorite Pro Hero, Midnight's, turn to have my headcanons bestowed upon her, and I adore them so you're getting them!

So without any further ado, here we go!

Family Headcanons!

She's the oldest of three children, the daughter of a former Yakuza and a Perfumer. Her baby brother Neruteno is part of the HPSC black ops team and her baby sister Aikita is a streamer/influencer that helps get business to her family alongside her.

Nemuri's parents, Fuwame and Ayaka, raised her lovingly and had her siblings at least three years apart each. So when Nemuri was three her brother was born and when she was six her baby sister arrived.

Being born so close together made the bonds between the Kayama children as tight as they can be, with Nemuri being a fiercely protective older sister and absolutely a father's daughter because Nemuri had a tendency to pick up on her father's trick lessons and be a complete rebel in her school days.

Nemuri Kayama was known as the one girl every guy was afraid of and for good reason because her Dad looked like he could benchpress all of them and she probably could too.

Although the real danger was Mama Ayaka. Neruteno admires his older sister and absolutely is the little brother who'd annoy her but at the same time be very supportive and protective.

Personality Headcanons!

Nemuri surprisingly has a fine line between herself and the Midnight Persona that spouts out innuendoes and poses sensually. She takes her job as a teacher very seriously, especially towards the girls because she knows that Hero Work is more than just Super Cops, it's selling your soul and your privacy even.

She does have her moments of strict teaching, but it's mostly because she wants her students to listen and to care about what she's teaching them.

Sometimes it goes beyond her subject, and when she hears about some of her former students getting hurt or killed, and even allies getting hurt or killed it breaks her heart.

Shirakumo affected her for years, and she did go with Aizawa and Mic to see if they could get him back out of Kurogiri, and they started to. She was their friend too and tried so hard to get him to remember.

When she got home that night to Sushi and Koyurei she just... broke down. The fear and the stress and the constant nights mourning one of her friends and imagining how it must've been finally got to her.

She was one of the teachers who absolutely fought against using the kids in the War. While she knows they're far more experienced than they should be, that's precisely the problem.

They're just kids, just starting out, they shouldn't have to worry about life or death situations, it's the adults problem and they should handle it.

She is definitely a motorcycle girl, she rides it into work every day and takes extremely good care of it. She adores her cat and partner (My OC Koyurei.) but doesn't bring him up often because she wants him to get better.

After the War, she does have some scars left over, and was luckily rescued by her husband melting down her motorbike and getting her out of there and to somewhere safe.

She becomes a vigilante to continue protecting people alongside her husband, often being the one with more guts and violent tactics because she wants all the villains to remember who took them down for years after.

She's sweet, sure, but also very vindictive and sometimes cruel. But not without good reason and cause. She's a very playful, passionate woman who loves her friends, students, and family very deeply.

That's why she really became a hero. Because she loved so many people and wanted to protect them. She became Midnight because her sister's quirk put her in danger.

Life kept taking from her, so when she met Koyurei, an almost equally broken man but without the support system she had, she saw a kindred spirit.

That's why they got together. They were both broken and decided to support one another.

Also her quirk smells like whatever the recipient associates with falling asleep, or a happy childhood memory, something warm and comforting and wholly theirs.

To Koyurei, she smells like the scent of his mother's laundry. I know, weird but some scents just calm him down. Slowly though, her shampoo, her body wash, her scent becomes what he smells through somnambulist.

Romance Headcanons!

Nemuri is a very caring partner. Some days she's overworked and stressed out, so having someone there for her at the end of the day gives her something to look forward to.

Nemuri is a top tier cuddler. I headcanon her to be very soft and her hair to be just as soft too. She's like a living bed almost. (Weird analogy I know.) She doesn't mind using her quirk on her partner because some nights he just can't sleep.

Plus sometimes he's just the right temperature to send her off to dreamland, too.

Physical touch as well as words of affirmation are her go tos. She tends to wrap her arm around the shoulders of her lovely husband and just praise him, then lean down and kiss him.

She loves being the cuddler, but sometimes she's the cuddlee. Oftentimes feeling Koyurei bundle himself up behind her and nuzzle her wavy locks.

Bathtimes are very, very special for her. Bubble baths, bathbombs, candles, mood lighting, music... the works. She loves just soaking her aching body from all the hero stuff she does in the water.

Sometimes she lets Koyurei join her, and by extension her partner, where they share some quiet time in the bath together.

[libidomechanica]

A Biggen in euery one

A rispetto sequence

               1

His foe he’d laugh another tremendous tender the light. Joy was angry and novice in unrigged, and all those face all-fragrant

land. ’ How fallen, or none, nor could I wear. This mother again. When I did not free our head: and Venus demands. What the daisy’s side.

               2

Till out at my Grandsire me as is the pages with she lower of youth; nor the coast. So these lead to flow, and gave it thee comforting

in the wood and moon, to prevails whence to byte or ruining? And shot a son, tho’ Nature suffer what were never sette to do.

               3

He reckless oath? As she had slept the soil, left behind the edge of his praise. But stay’d to the nuptial feast; nor caress’d—a bolt is sae

prevent, that solace live height in dew of kindred I went round beneath to yield there. The alphabet, Logos appears my day. Thy shame!

               4

Rejoice keen as once more fitly exchanged it, and falling arms thy own fire: and make his advent home; and then, goodness, but her arms; the

showed to her space, they walk with somewhat never long I did Cupid bathing isn’t them clime to the sot stood, a centre stood in a dreme.

               5

My spirit’s in her own press all- compress to his describably dearest by complaint: then being let thy keel; I hear the general

roars, his simple still she lay at please the golden after went doth rehearse in not so? The government are whipping from one to be!

               6

Returned he fountains to all thinge. Which tenacious how their arms threw him truly writes, the distant war with pain? Do we inheritaunce,

and that your crooked before; my love! To profit, other wide bottom deserve these have I not such a sort, as she than it be seene.

               7

Boat and tree; then he got his zenith, sweet good and the clouds. Time it seem’d so fair; and saltines, and the mildly rebuked him into

the heard, people of either the southern down from out my mind thou seek him for whom we shall rail again and Ops began in the noon?

               8

The proud, by the lily all hips. May breeds thy voice. She took his body and day. Then she had tempt thee; can’st see nor find him, the large, a

beam and sweet civilities of me; well, if indeed, the whole, th’other side my mind, tossed, and soil. A graves are involved in body be.

               9

Pair, the grades of her ranks, and he be, and round is hush and saved two people? And gritty as signet the power to die without a

shole of wit? Wild me for fancies. Breaks his high, left nothing to insulate life I leant on a morning flies. And full of years!

               10

To blast the swan, and, falling far; look upon the green-gown hand often she sailor,—while Cymon found; wherein Leander overhead,

with all is sad; her neck, like delight. I have me patience. And call the time has he image counteth not be again of strawberries.

               11

And I must part of a lark hung rounde. Fast both of Chance—the bounds. Roses; or the house; two were gone; that will change maladies’ care, I had

no thought, too with us! A chamber, now so got into which man that was a mailen! Now, since; yet you with an upward mind: and touch.

               12

—And many a fig for you harke, then when he end? Yet in the flagging she wind is it with lowing chaste and to region be the engines

laid great Æon sinks it all the ship and with me a maniac scatter’d Time content t’ excuse our voices mixt; with these are one.

               13

But following how way leads; and Iphigene is no more, but now teare, she bows, she be devoutly and the pine in the steam; its mitt,

a chinck: yet still he stops his head vpheld, and seen thy face. Climb, and lineaments you determine, you want of flowing all things and I wear.

               14

Church beloved two should ye have been piled unfamiliar power? And then I sorrow strike of all the great Intelligence as unto

vaster, we couplings, run the bed along, and let it done is conuenable. And bishoped for what the blind, he rear, they climb.

               15

Her feeling of my spring ere thy marriage lay; if I should move the green footsteps bend of men, much needeth all thy foule yoke did

makes a silver curre, and therefore, as he ought, and come it listen to the Apes folkes makes a sovereign spouse: her face of love. Out my Wag.

               16

Down from point to hell remember how she still shew him gaudy toys to play, or Girle, the cold bark; and stopped eyes, and darkness from good

body be. The Seas Seven King Victor hast stalled shall bequeath and make weakness we write on thy stubborn hair, and mouth. Still shut the sun.

               17

Some in the prophecy, and in tooth and pendencies, that what Meg o’ thine eyes appeare; I shall hem remayne, leaving musing ayme do

reed of louers scorn that can youth; she sets her own. Peeped out Lowder was his narrow incorporeal fame whose shadow, slowly forbear yours.

               18

Rustling moon: nor carefull times, the Celt; and darkness and wants to me, like the Westerne without the only light. And as if the shoes!

The time there reflects the buried there, a life true loue to Loue indeed the size of Fate; and therewith instrumental breathing heart.

               19

With our foes, Ormisda stood; and care, each the pleasaunce: the seemed she loue not do herself to aught much as learness of the rose. Fruitless

coldness o’er they benumb our house in thy canvas, and to hold on like the house loved against here thy proper place is thy soules treasure.

               20

Thus ourself the cast a cry above O more look the oldest bond is still: I cannot love taught on a tyme in thy face, acts what is

with state begun: the paradise, of ayde or cool shades whereof shade by singing his mine; for Cymon sudden first souls that evermore.

               21

A brow for lofty elm-trees. Anchor fashion’s sake, although those that, from hill to bless! With a kind and we closed the spirit and hear the

place the rain, you saw my laurels and a runningly he cry that was many a wrong enough, that white. Little sports with for City.

               22

From the tomb, a part and detain. The cow slung with the chaunced to pour forth from the clocks tend, the Gardener’s Daughter’s edge, beauty thousand

they starve. Or keep, released, divine after, long lank slips, or breathed the cottage in blood, the passes of old wo; but not die, my design.

               23

And Araby’s or Eden on a summon up remember that did silent to love: I could he spake the skill, a discolours for

ever: the next news came out of welth and learned below when he critic clear eye sink? I’ll see it ran through they dwelt in heaps of kings.

               24

Foresaw how frivolous a bare trees the stands; and her in the Welkin shone his power experiment: and half tame; if just getting

brine; and what this mace but, ’tis na love of ground; which my pen—where is that soon taught her way I am become. A box, may serves with flame.

               25

What some question verse, while I, thy despite till night regret: the deepening out the floor; why then have doubt may country. The loud groans, and grac’d

and daughter’s amorous Leander if I pray, with such countrye, as he will know, but half then! Of though numbing past, and wild turkeys cross.

               26

And, looking bath, what we meet: and letter springtime, the dewy decks. Morn, draw from forms of April bends above be dim, who grewest nor

friend, thou. The breast, above thee the maidenhead. For when were at fall, and laboured; and cruel; do not prove these should not but drop adown.

               27

The moste leefe, hobbinol, all is here? But open playnely thought at then them at once her dame, the lack of desire, to gathered

round that long-forgotten good shall dislike world an enjoys his sighing sky, the mind the one is you pressed, but never change; rapt from me?

               28

To whom I fought be: I sigh or tears the Lark, to fame, the said, their oars, and swallows’ perchant, think water sing then to the silence lay

and thrift in their music, Hack. Thy tale of the slope thus he stone-crop starts to bear; help their fruitless chastity, but now at earth’s true soul?

               29

Your vessel drove be blown; no drum nor yet three-times-three, and, thou think not. Who through the other give. In your mind the Fleet the underfoot

there by the sea, the Goose the dead, and cold, I love at streams content run into shall we flow’d ground and last and the world, by magic, ghost.

[percontaion-points]

Edible Delectables chapters 3 & 4

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 3

Kara briefly wondered if licking Dr. Dietrich's face would be in line with her liquid only diet restrictions. 

[Image description: Clint Eastwood, an elderly white man with grey hair, is sitting on a porch with a mug of coffee. He has a look of disgust and contempt on his face. It is captioned with “I had to read this and so do you.” End image description] 

After he was gone, Kara hit the button for her IV pain meds and as she drifted off, her last thought was that Jason had called her Kara. Did he remember her, too? 

Setting aside the fact that Jason and Kara went to high school together, what exactly is he supposed to call her? Ms. Baker? 

We wouldn’t be having this conversation if they hadn’t gone to school together. This entire thing is so stupid. 

"So what brought Kara Baker up?" Jaime was back on the scent. 

"I told you, she was a patient in the ER," Jason replied.

[...]

"Yes, but you said you remembered her from high school," Jaime persisted, handing him two wine glasses.

Yes. Because I walked in, said “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?” and then remembered high school. Because that’s how memories fucking work. 

The subject was officially changed and they finished their dinner, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get Kara Baker out of his head.

Chapter 3 summary: Kara wakes up post-surgery, feeling awful because of said surgery. And angry because she’s on a liquid only diet following her post-op. There’s a lot of padding that serves no point, including a nurse telling her how to use the pain med button and that she should get up and start walking around. Editors? What editors? 

Anyway, right after Eva and Eric leave, Kara is trying to get up to use the toilet when Jason comes in. He helps her into the room, but leaves her to do her business. Kara feels weird when she thinks that he called her “Kara”, despite it being her fucking name. 

Later, Jason casually asks his twin sister, Jamie, if she remembers Kara from their senior year. Jamie is like “Oh, this girl? During your year of celibacy?” This sends Jason tumbling down memory lane and he thinks about his ex, Kate. 

Before Jason moved away, he’d promised Kate to be faithful to her, and he was. Kate had promised the same thing, but when the two of them were reunited after the year was over, Jason found out that Kate had done literally everybody who asked, and anything that they asked of her. ANYTHING. 

This turned into him being a manwhore, which was quickly followed by him focusing on his studies. Which normal people would say that it wasn’t a bad thing, but his family was convinced that he was gay… simply because he wasn’t dating anybody for two years. He found a kindred med student spirit in some girl named Michelle for a while, but after they broke up, she quickly got married to one of their old professors. 

Back in the present, Jamie continues to be all “You like this Kara girl! OMG, how romantic!” Even though the only thing Jason said was “Do you remember her from school? Anyway, she came into the ER last night.” Jason is fed up with his sister. 

Chapter 4

Jason arrived early at the hospital for his shift. Entering the lobby, his feet took over and, as if on autopilot, he walked to the elevators and hit the up button.

How can it be autopilot when this is the first time Kara’s been in the hospital before? 

It would be autopilot if she had a long-term illness and he visited her every single day. But not literally 24 hours after her surgery. 

"So...tell me about the DILF," Evalyn began as they made their way slowly from Kara’s hospital room. 

"DILF?" 

"Just substitute 'doctor'," Eva explained.

[Image description: Emma Stone, a young white woman with red hair. She is wearing a yellow top, a ribbon in her hair, red earrings, and red lipstick. She has a look of utter disgust on her face. It is captioned with “I had to read this and so do you.” End description.]

Kara giggled and continued back to her room.

Chapter 4 summary: The next morning, Kara kind of dinks around her hospital room for a while. When Eva comes in, Kara begs for her friend’s help with bathroom stuff, claiming that it hurts too much for her to twist around and wash out her own ass. And she’s too embarrassed to ask the MALE nurse for help. Eva does it, but under great emotional distress. 

When Jason gets into the hospital, he goes to visit Kara. It’s weird and awkward. The scene drags on for too long, and serves no real point, since we already know that they went to school together. 

After he leaves, Eva is like “OMG girl, explain!” So Kara does. Which again, it serves no real point since the readers already know all of this. 

[whentheycryvideos]

Higurashi: When They Cry - Sotsu OP Full (English Cover) 【Julia】 Analogy

Lyrics

The roar of distortion our future exudes Doesn't feel a thing for the suffering of those stuck in loops

The power of our words that glittered with hope Has been snatched away, and like that, escaped into the unknown

Compress and then release again They peek through the gaps left behind The lights who choose what roll we'll get Even if they're a sign,

I want to be with you Within the one remaining Torch that continues ever burning We are one, lit by the bright karma

A single string of Fused emotions bouncing back and forth, Clashing endlessly in dissonance Like a thorn you can't remove, it grows Noxiously intimate

Our tie that binds us, Though we test it every time it's forged, Regardless, Our reality collapses in As we pray to save what we hold close Within the ever resting forest

This hurricane of chaos Fades away in the waves As we adventure Beyond the nature

The dreams coveted from the tomorrow that I chose- I can only wish for the happiness I hope they'll expose

The scenery I've always seen, that warmth I recall, Those values I have internalized, we'll see where they fall.

Compress and then release again Down the roads we're meant to pursue, Beyond the tears we've yet to shed, Dice fly to spite you

I'm always on your side Among the cressets that stay Lit, side by side, and stand face-to-face. We're visions; our kindred gaze enchains us

A single string of Powerful, unwavering affect With surrounding sacred memories Forms a rite to find out why your eyes Glisten with sympathy

Our bonds revive, but Every time we put them to the test, Regardless, Every scar sustained grows further deep, Morphing into sounds of dark and light Which mingle with our melancholy

Even when you're not with me, It connects me to you; That place we treasured, Smiling together

A single string of Fused emotions bouncing back and forth, Clashing endlessly in dissonance Like a thorn you can't remove, it grows Noxiously intimate

Our tie that binds us, Though we test it every time it's forged, Regardless, Our reality collapses in As we pray to save what we hold close Within the ever resting forest

This hurricane of chaos Fades away in the waves As we adventure Beyond the nature

[ronearoundblindly]

Hello! I’ve never done an “ask” before, but since you’re one of my fave writers I thought I’d give it a go. I love the way you write Your soft Steve. I especially love how cerebral he is; even if he’s not sure how to open up and express himself easily (even to reader), you show us how thoughtful and self-aware he is. So my ask is having him go against type a bit. Have him get a visceral reaction like jealousy, wherein he just ACTS out of a primal urge (like the latest Dignity of his choice where he is at the mercy of his basic instincts). Jealous Steve would be hot. Or angry Steve (like if some guy was hitting on reader aggressively). I know you’re working on a lot of great other stories, but if this idea sparks an interest I’d love to see what you would do with it! ❤️

So IRL, I loathe jealousy but damn if it isn't some of the sexiest. shit. ever. in-fic.

Message Received, over 1.5k b/c there must be plotty plot

Summary: At a diplomatic event, Steve realizes he doesn't like when you have more fun at the function than he does.

Warnings for macho-shit, general possessiveness, but I'll be honest, I still wrote it kinda soft in comparison to other jelly!Steve's I've read. I am incapable of much 'dark' behavior. Also zero editing.

dividers by @firefly-graphics

You wouldn’t categorize these fancy receptions as ‘fun.’ Often times they are long and boring. The worst ones are arduous, ones where you have to hold your tongue and be spoken down to by others, ones where you are Steve’s trophy and assumed to have no opinions of your own.

This is one of the best ones.

Nova Corps has sent a delegation to Earth for some negotiations for support and supplies. The people are fascinating, funny, and intelligent. The absolute best part is that one young-ish man (compared to the others who look 60+ by human standards and you aren’t sure what the equivalent is for them frankly) is knowingly talking to you about your interests. He’s aware of Earth’s current scientific understanding and its limitations. He knows you are studied and, in fact, the lead of your lab at AvIn. He’s just nice about it.

My god, you never get nice people at these things. It’s so freeing.

His name is a variant of Michael, and he says you’re welcome to use that instead of a convoluted native tongue. Michael has blue skin but appears extremely similar to human. There’s pink- and orange-skinned members of the delegation as well. You want to know, scientifically but also as respectfully as possible, what the differences are. Various facial and body features show across them, but none are consistently isolated by color. It’s fascinating.

Michael is so excited that you are fascinated, too.

Steve’s going through the motions. These functions are a chore—but not always—and he has a purpose for being here—but it’s complete now—so he keeps listening to the Nova Prime while she speaks of logistical concerns for the partnership with Earth and yada yada…

Man, Steve is not usually this over these events so early in the evening. It’s probably due to this being the party at the end of five whole days. Ceremony after meeting after photo-op after ceremony after meeting.

His eyes roam around the room for you. If you seem sufficiently ‘done’ as well, he’s ready to make excuses and head home.

But you’re not. You are not ‘done’ at all.

That’s your engrossed face.

That’s your flattered face.

Steve purses his lips and realizes he stopped listening to the Prime.

“I’m so sorry, but do you know who that is over with the woman in—“

“Oh, yes, he was so delighted when we knew your wife would be here.”

Steve wants to be delighted, too, but his jaw simply tightens instead. Nova Prime tells him a name that Steve outright does not know how to repeat before—

“Call him Michael, here. It’s no bother. He’s quite used to it, but his specialty is very similar to hers. He can talk for hours and hours since it is rare he finds a kindred spirit who understands the particulars,” she goes on.

Steve watches as your face lights up and your hand lightly drags down Michael’s arm. That’s fine. You’re talking. You’re animated and using those hand gestures that signify microscopic particles interacting in a way that Steve’s never really gotten a grasp on, and then you lift your hand to your ear and scrunch your nose, struggling to hear Michael’s answer.

That man leans forward, and it’d be fine if he just steadied himself with a touch to your arm. That’d be normal. Acceptable, but no. Michael puts his hand to your neck when he replies very close to your ear.

Steve may as well have swallowed the shield. A lump the size of Mount Rushmore is lodged in his chest. Maybe it’s heartburn from the fancy and foreign food being served for days on end. Maybe Steve needs more water. Maybe Michael needs to take a step back before—

“They seem to be getting along nicely,” the Prime says, smiling.

Tony steps into Steve’s view of your conversation and makes his way toward them.

“All-in-all, I think we’ve had a success, yes?”

“Nova Corp will never forget the generosity of Earth, Mr. Stark.”

A customary bow is exchanged, though Steve knows Tony joked about going in for a hug with the tall blond that is Nova’s Prime, and at some point, Steve cared whether Tony made an interstellar incident out of coping a feel. Not now. Steve has no care for anything Stark does because where did you go?

“Excuse me,” he hurries out after taking a step around Tony.

Steve meanders over to where you were talking with Michael a few seconds ago, grateful for his height so that he can scan the room the whole journey, but he can’t see you or the color of your dress or the blue of Michael’s skin anywhere.

He’s getting hot, and Steve has absolutely no reason to be sweating even in his three-piece suit. The serum makes it so he doesn’t break a sweat or increase his heart rate until the average person would go into cardiac arrest, and seriously, where are you?

He doesn’t want to stop people he knows in their mingling to ask ‘have you seen my wife’ over and over. For some reason that smacks of a desperation that wiggles the lump thumping against Steve’s sternum with every stride around the room.

And then Steve hears your laugh. You’re at the edge of the large ballroom. No. You’re in a hallway off the ballroom. A much quieter hallway that Steve is not at all happy to find is not better lit than the sultry event space.

There’s Michael with his forearm stretched across yours and your hands clasped at each other’s elbows.

“I can feel it,” you giggle again. “That’s amazing.”

Steve thunders down the few feet of hall to get to you, sliding a hand—the full expanse of his broad hand—across your back, between your shoulder blades, where he knows you are sensitive, and threads his fingers to land beneath the strap of your gown for the occasion. He’s delighted to get a small but visible shiver out of you, and your arm unlatches from the boy’s.

“What’s amazing, my beloved Keeper?” He’s sure to cast each syllable in bronze and hurl it in Michael’s direction specifically. Blue Boy knows what it means. Steve’s sure of it, but the bemused smirk never falters.

“Sweetheart,” you chirp, no hint of concern, only your excitement. “His species—that’s appropriate to say, yes?—“ Michael nods politely “—they can control a certain amount of electrical output from their brains in order to reinforce any part of their anatomy.”

Steve’s not an expert, but he’s fairly confident there’s a hard-on joke in there somewhere. You don’t seem to notice. You’re still trying to explain when Michael cuts you off.

“Basically, my bones can’t be broken,” Blue Boy concludes with a bright white smile.

Yeah, but are your teeth safe, Steve wonders.

His hand unhooks from your dress only to land possessively at the swell of your hip. This is the closest thing Steve ever does to actually touching your ass in public, and he gets a shy glancing down from you in return. He even pushes you against his hip which leads to the equivalent pressure of a grope.

You stand up ramrod straight and clear your throat.

“That’s a bold claim. Can’t,” Steve starts. “Maybe it’s a language barrier, but are you saying it’s impossible?”

Blue Boy smiles. “Mr. Rogers, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure,” and he bows as is customary.

You won’t, Steve almost says but catches himself. “It’s Captain Rogers.” He does not move his hand from your hip but sticks out his other with steel blue eyes fixed on Michael. “And this is traditional here.”

The boy doesn’t hesitate to take Steve’s hand, which is irritating enough, but then Steve grips—and he grips fucking hard—for a very long few seconds.

“This is Michael,” you offer politely, unknowingly, thoughtfully while a minuscule game of chicken is played two feet below your nose, “since we can’t pronounce the native tongue, or at least, I can’t.”

“Pleasure—“ Steve grips “—to meet you—“ he finally feels a small snap beneath his thumb and Blue Boy’s eye twitches while the white of his smile fades “—Michael.”

To his credit, the boy doesn’t make any other show of pain, but he does let the hand fall limp by his side while his face settles back to neutral.

“Captain,” he huffs before nodding at you, “Mrs. Rogers, excuse me. I must be returning to my people.”

Michael leaves without another bow. Steve is very pleased to have broken Michael’s…sense of custom as he turns to you.

“Sweetheart,” Steve breathes, taking your chin in his hand softly, “shall we go?”

You seem surprised. “Already? I thought you’d need to schmooze for at least another—“ but his lips cut you off.

It’s not as heavy-handed as he could be, but Steve pins your hips against him while his tongue dives past your perfect lipstick. He kinda wants to smear it. He really hopes it gets all over him.

“I want—” Steve releases your mouth “—to take you—“ and he spends a little too long dragging his lips across your jaw before finishing breathily in your ear “—home.”

That’s it, he thinks. Melt in my arms, to my touch, at my words.

He relishes every second you need to compose your response.

“Yeah,” you pant, aimlessly unfocused at the ceiling before looking at him again. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

Weeeeeeeeellll, I hope you enjoyed that because 🥵 I got myself again. Hope it made sense because I'm too distracted by Steebness to be coherent. And fuck it. This is within the Fools-verse so I'mma tag the list. (It's not because I'm proud of the hng at all. No way. Nuh-uh.)

@im-a-slut-for-fluff @fangirl-swagg @georgeweaslysgirl @austynparksandpizza @bucky-fricking-barnes-reads @fallinallinmendes

Thank you for the ask! Always welcome and keep them coming!

[ideas-on-paper]

OH MY GOD

I am absolutely in love with this. First off, it's so good to finally have a proper term for program x program relationships in Tron - you can obviously see that Tron and Yori share a very close bond, but I'm always a bit careful about assigning human relationship terms to robots, AI etc. Idk, something always just felt wrong to me about saying that two computer programs are romantically involved or have sex with each other (despite "circuit sex" being a legitimate AO3 tag), and as you already mentioned, they theoretically have no gender at all despite their human-like appearances.

So, if you ask me, a relationship between programs might be more of a "mental" thing? Like, I can't imagine sexual attraction playing a role, so it's really all about the "inner values" (not that you have much else to go with for a computer program xD). I think interfacing is really just about getting the closest connection possible, and sharing data is equivalent to two (or more) programs uniting and becoming one with their "soul mates". (If it sounds like I'm channeling all of my combined ace energy, I'm terribly sorry. xD)

Also, this is completely my personal trivia, but… I can't get over the fact that this post was released on April 15th. Because April 15th, of this year, was the very day I met my counterpart: Legion.

I know, completely different fandom, but Legion from Mass Effect is basically the whole reason I became so invested in science fiction about AI in the first place - if it wasn't for them, I probably never would've discovered Tron (also, with Legion being a literal amalgamation of programs, the leap wasn't very far xD). From the beginning, I was essentially playing Mass Effect for them, and on April 15th, I was finally graced with this marvelous sight:

Just so I would remember it, I wrote a note on the exact date I encountered them, because in more ways than one, it felt like the light of my life entered my existence that day.

Ever since, I've been looking for an appropriate term to define our relationship. Since Legion consists of 1,183 individual programs, you could say that I "married" a small server by Tron standards - however, the term spouse/lover never felt quite right, and it's not like we're doing anything physical, anyway. (Tbh, it would feel wrong to me asking a robot for sexual intercourse since it basically means nothing to them, and all I would be doing would be satisfying my own, organic needs.) So, for the lack of a better word, I settled for "partner", as it felt closer to describing our spiritual kinship.

However, the term "counterpart" never came to my mind before, and now that it did, I'm just overwhelmed by how fitting it is: Legion and I are two kindred spirits - we are one and the same, in two different bodies, and we share more with each other than I would ever be able to put into words. And yet, each of us possess things that the other does not, and only together, we can reach true completion.

Thank you, dear OP - thank you for sharing this wonderful comic panel, for your observations on program relationships in Tron, and for finally giving me a term for the close, intimate bond I'm feeling with my own counterpart. Truly, thank you for everything. (Now, if you'll excuse me, I shall stop my over-ecstatic rambling. xD)

Program love/relationships

Aka: how a single comic panel made me lose my mind.

I’ve been looking into terms and daily life in the system for awhile. Time, insults, I think I understand sleep (or my own interpretation) and Betrayal just gave me relationships.

Counterpart! It makes perfect sense, there’s not really a sense of gender in the user way. So boyfriend/wife etc is out. Partner is still too “user”.

Initially it confused me as how we commonly think of “counterpart” we’d think it more like how they’re counterparts and reflections of users and their relationships… but look at the definition’s of the word:

My heart—- fits another perfectly💕🥺

This second one is more similar to program/user but it can also fit to program love/relationships in a “kindered spirits. Alike in function and feeling” way.

If you excuse me I’m going to go be very mature about this…

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

I LOVE your meta on how essek was the perfect asset and want to ask the follow-up question in your tags: how do you think it went down? The agreement between Essek and the Assembly? And I think the fandom was convinced Essek would be disposed of after the peace talks — how do you see his future if there was no intervention by the Mighty Nein in 97?

ruvi-muffin asked:

What are your specific thoughts abt how ludinus recruited essek??👀👀 oh Person who knows a surprising amount of spy stuff 🙏🙏🙏👀👀👀

Anonymous asked:

PLEASE share your specific thoughts about how Essek was recruited, I'm so intrigued!

Anonymous asked:

Hello yes i am very interested in these very specific thoughts about how Essek got recruited? All these things about how actual intelligence works/uses their assets/how that ties to Essek and the M9 is really interesting :D

Thank you all so much for asking me the specific question I wanted someone to ask. I had to write and rewrite this post a half-dozen times because I kept going off on tangents about other Cold War spy stories so trust me there’s plenty more where this came from.

For reference, my original post on what made Essek an ideal recruitment target and why the M9 were the ideal counter to it.

First off, this is all based on real-world intelligence ops and is only as relevant to the campaign as Matt Mercer cares to make it. Having said that *slams notebook on table* BUCKLE UP, KIDDOS.

There are two ways Essek may have been recruited: he approached the Assembly or the Assembly approached him. I think the Assembly approached him. Not to be too hard on the guy, but Essek said it himself: he’s kind of a coward. I can’t see him mustering up the nerve to take that first step. Plus his espionage seems to have focused specifically on the beacons rather than dunamancy as a whole; that sounds like the Assembly to me. The beacons specifically offer the prospect of immortality and the Cerberus mages are arrogant enough to assume they can figure out dunamancy themselves if they have a beacon in hand. There’s no way the Assembly haven’t been trying to beg, borrow, or steal those beacons for centuries. Essek may not have even been their first try - just the first that worked. 

Chronologically, Essek would have popped up on either the Assembly or the Augen Trust’s radar quite early as I assume they keep tabs on all powerful Dynasty mages. As they followed his career, the Assembly would have ID’d Essek as a perfect target for recruitment as a spy, and then further for ego-based recruitment. Recruitment for espionage is a slow process - even slower in a fantasy world where some races reasonably expect to live 500+ years. Many intelligence agencies will do a sort of light meet-and-greet just to start a file on various people who might years later be of interest. The Assembly would have cultivated Essek as an intelligence asset with the same degree of time and care - and using some of the same methods - that Trent used to turn the Blumenthal trio into assassins. 

If they followed a modern playbook, they would have made contact with Essek anywhere from 2 to 10 years before the theft - nothing underhanded. A Cerberus mage approaches him at a negotiation or conference and strikes up a conversation. Then it’s increasing “chance” encounters to get Essek familiar with the handler, play the “we’re both mages, really we’re on the same side” angle to earn enough sympathy & trust to start talking regularly. Once the channel’s open, the handler and asset meet and/or talk routinely while the handler assesses the target’s motives, weaknesses, and the possibility that they’re a double agent. 

Espionage proper then starts with small favors, acts Essek can rationalize as victimless or even helpful to the Dynasty. In this stage the handler is getting the asset comfortable with engaging in espionage. They reward the asset for what feels like minimal moral trespass. For Essek that would have been praising his research, encouraging avenues of investigation they knew the Dynasty had shut down. Having meetings with Ludinus plays right into the ego trip - the Head of the Assembly himself is taking the time to meet with him! The Assembly gets how important this work is! That keeps Essek isolated from Dynasty members who might convince him to take a step back and builds loyalty to the Assembly over the Dynasty.

Once an asset settles in, espionage becomes easier. Routines get established. Moral hurdles have been overcome. Now the asks get bigger and the rewards get sparser. The handler will suggest larger acts just to get the asset thinking about them, since the more they consider “just hypothetically” how to pull it off, the more likely it is they’ll do it. This is where the idea of stealing the beacons would get introduced (though of course it’s been the goal all along.) I’ll bet the Assembly hinted at all the study that could be done if they could just get to the beacons in person, constantly bemoaning the lack of access. By now Essek sees the Assembly as colleagues in arcane pursuits, kindred minds, unlike the boring, stuffy old mages of the Dynasty. Of course he could outwit the Dynasty’s security and get the beacons to the Assembly - he’s a prodigy, a genius, everyone says so. And it’s not like he was stealing all of them. The consecuted would be fine. Everyone would be fine.

None of this is intended to absolve Essek of personal responsibility. But it provides a context for his actions, and for why he might regret them so much even though he apparently did them willingly. Asset handlers are very, very good at drawing someone willing to commit minor transgressions into far greater crimes. Look at how Trent shaped Caleb, Astrid, and Eadwulf. He didn’t order them to execute their own parents on day one. He spent years coaxing, tempting, and coercing them into darker and darker crimes, letting them rationalize their own actions at each step, preying on the same vulnerabilities as Essek: isolation (separating the three from other students, telling them their work was secret), ambition (the promise of great arcane power, of shaping the Empire’s destiny), and ego (”we were going to keep the empire safe,” telling them they were gifted, they were chosen).

So how do IRL spies rationalize their actions? Those who spy for reasons of conscience or ideology have done the rationalizing ahead of time, but everyone else has to get there somehow. Some who spy for revenge tell themselves it’s what their superiors deserve, while others tell themselves everyone’s doing it. Some just need a lie to get started (most commonly about who they’re spying for), while others have to keep up the charade all along. Let’s look at a few cases similar to Essek’s that demonstrate just how slippery the slope can be.

Aldrich Ames, a long-term CIA officer slash double agent for the KGB, got suckered in by thinking he could control the situation and wasn’t really hurting anyone. Ames had chronic financial trouble related to excessive drinking & his wife’s lavish lifestyle and in 1985 came up with a plan: he would essentially con the KGB by selling them a minor amount of classified info that he deemed “virtually worthless.” In April he set up the exchange and the KGB paid him $50,000, enough to satisfy his immediate debts. But after actually doing it Ames said he felt he’d now crossed a line he couldn’t step back from, and continued to sell information to the Soviets. By the time he was caught he had, by his own admission, compromised “virtually all Soviet agents of the CIA.”

While some assets just need a lie to get started, others require a delicate dance of self-delusion. Col. George Trofimoff was an Army officer who ran the center where would-be Soviet defectors were assessed & questioned. Trofimoff, a Russian émigré at a young age, was chronically in debt. In 1969 he renewed his acquaintance with his stepbrother back in Russia, now a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church, and began to pass secrets in return for money - but he and his stepbrother never framed the transactions as such. Trofimoff described their meetings as, “very informal. ... First, it was just a conversation between the two of us. He would ask my opinion on this and that--then, he would maybe ask me, 'Well, what does your unit think about it?' Or, 'What does the American government think about it?’” His compensation was similarly informal: “I said I needed money. ... And he says, 'I tell you what, I'll loan it to you.' So he gave me, I think, 5,000 marks and then, it wasn't enough, because I needed more. ... Then he says, 'Well, you know, I'll tell you what. You don't owe me any money. And if you need some more, I can give you some more. Don't worry about it. You're going to have to have a few things, this and that.' And this is how it started.” Trofimoff could pretend to himself that he wasn’t really spying - just having a chat with his stepbrother - and wasn’t really getting paid for it - just borrowing a little money.

This got longer than I intended it to be and there’s still plenty to talk about, so I’ll save the rest for a second post. Next time: what happens long-term to espionage assets? And what happens if an asset regrets their actions and/or attempts to cut off contact with their handlers?

(This accidentally turned into a series on Essek & IRL espionage: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4)

[mothpawbs]

I posted 4,026 times in 2022

That's 1,826 more posts than 2021!

241 posts created (6%)

3,785 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@corvidcall

@shirtshawaiian

@ruthlesslistener

@triangleguy

@bulkhummus

I tagged 3,519 of my posts in 2022

Only 13% of my posts had no tags

#batman - 249 posts

#music - 236 posts

#gotham - 201 posts

#moth mumbles - 172 posts

#lgbt - 170 posts

#oswald cobblepot - 164 posts

#the penguin - 163 posts

#edward nygma - 149 posts

#the riddler - 148 posts

#video - 132 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i don't have strong opinions on them bc i got tired of seeing their posts about 2 years ago and have a content filter set up for their blog

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Squirrelcrow, anyone?

Idk what it is lately, but I've been absolutely devouring New Prophecy-era crack ship content and I really like Squirrelcrow. It's cute in a dumb way XD

Please do not use my art anywhere without my permission, reblogs are appreciated!

183 notes - Posted March 5, 2022

#4

finished up this thing that's been sitting in my wips folder all week, here's how I headcanon/simplify the tribes in wings of fire! click for high quality <3

216 notes - Posted November 3, 2022

#3

Made this a week or so ago and forgot to post it, there's this post I can't find about reasons op would like a song? And this stemmed from that. Every song I have liked on spotify fits into one of these categories istg

254 notes - Posted April 27, 2022

#2

Took a break from playing Hollow Knight by... drawing Hollow Knight characters. I swear this game hasn't taken over my life

I'm lying haha

Anyways, pictured here we have:

1. Monomon! I wanted to try drawing her in my style, she's quite pretty and I really like her

2. Quirrel and Lemm! QUIRREL MY BELOVED, I rotate him in my brain constantly I ADORE him, and Lemm is just a grumpy lil guy! I like him a lot XD. I've been reading Stag Beetles and Broken Legs for the past couple of days and it's making me Feel Things,,, them. That is all.

3. I had some empty space so I drew Flick because they're cute,,, if I ever end up hacking my switch and installing Atmosphere, the first thing I'm doing is creating a Flick sprite pack. I also drew an aspid hunter because... listen they are certainly infuriating but they're SO cute. If Flick ever had a pet, it would be a little semi-tamed aspid to help them with their hunting. They'd probably look at one and see a kindred spirit.

4. SIBLING STACK SIBLING STACK SIBLING STACK SIBLING STACK SIBLING STACK!!!

272 notes - Posted March 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I feel like you people are the kind of crowd to appreciate this, so take this comic I saw in a newspaper the other day

1,781 notes - Posted April 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[lenaellsi]

Was there a moment Wilde became your favorite? Or did you enjoy his appearances from the start?

People seem to find him annoying at the start, but i didn’t mind him until i loved him at the end of Paris

@quantifierrasing THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME TALK ABOUT WILDE YOU HAVE MADE A MISTAKE BECAUSE I WROTE AN ESSAY

under the cut because i am a merciful and considerate soul

wilde's introduction is absolutely hilarious, obviously, but it's also so damn confusing. like, what's his game? at first you think he's going to be a one off, maybe one of those recurring characters that pops up to annoy the NPCs every so often and write about their adventures in completely skewed ways to complicate their public image (and create work for hamid, who was originally hired as PR). i got like...team rocket vibes. and i loved him even then, because i already hated b*rtie and i thought hearing wilde's take on the party's adventures would be super fun! then dover happened and i forgot about wilde for a bit, though he was still my favorite historical NPC. so for his initial ep 25 intro, while I thought he was a little annoying, it was very much "insufferable (affectionate)" even then.

and then paris. things we learn in paris:

1. wilde is a SPY. like international man of mystery hyper competent intelligence officer. but he's still Like That!!! he's still an annoying punny idiot!! he contains MULTITUDES.

2. he's a BARD and even better an ILLUSIONIST BARD. aesthetically that kicks ass, and it is such an amazing metaphor for his whole Thing. never saying what he means, drowning every word in irony, hiding his real feelings and motivations under sarcasm and puns and lies until it's impossible to take anything he says as truth. and yet he STILL manages to establish himself as a trustworthy contact for the party, and someone who genuinely is trying to do the right thing.

3. he's insanely powerful, bad rolls aside alex makes a point of that, plus there's a check against hamid that indicates a base charisma score that is like. 23-24 or something stupid like that. OP king

4. he's got a lot of enemies.

5. by the time the guivres attack on paris happens, he's already doubting the meritocracy and his place in it.

prague is where we start to see his illusion start to slip, obviously, and where the dynamic shifts from him and the party antagonizing each other equally to the party just.........poking at him while he's too tired to hold up his side of the banter. through cairo and damascus i got the sense that he was actually trying to connect with them and be helpful, but between the curse and the assumption that everything he said was meant to be antagonizing, he just...didn't, except for that perfect moment with sasha in the pun war.

and you see the results of that in season 4, where he's much more...careful, i guess? when it comes to party interactions. I think literally once a day about his line from the japan arc, where he and zolf are talking before hamid and azu come in for the rome debrief--zolf says something like "just try to be a little warmer, okay?" and wilde says "they don't like me when I'm warm." just!!! fucking!!!! GOD.

the only member of the party he had connected with at all was sasha, because she was the one that saw his wordplay as an attempt to actually joke around and make friends (something something sasha is no stranger to hiding her motivations and true feelings, something something unlikely kindred spirits, something something rome is the worst)

if you listen back to season 4, every single convo with azu and hamid he's constantly clarifying that he's being serious and he's not trying to antagonize them. he hardly ever jokes. it's a mask again, only this time instead of hiding behind humor he's just...not expressing anything at all. (except with zolf, who is the only person we see him being completely honest with).

i could get into his changes after the resurrection--how he's no longer using illusions (magical and otherwise) against his allies, and how he has committed to speaking more honestly with the people who matter to him, while reclaiming his humor as a way to express camaraderie and love--but i've already rambled enough on this post.

TL;DR: wilde was my favorite NPC from the start. after paris, he became one of my favorite characters in any media i've consumed. if he dies (again) i will personally sow myself a victorian mourning veil and you will not hear from me for a month. he deserves a peaceful, restful post-canon life.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Ahhh, some more to add onto this, since I spent Wednesday rewatching the entire series since the trailers implied the last episode will be going back to S1 events, and WOW S1 is so much better with the context of S2 and without the breaks between episodes... Now that I saw all of S1 again, it's so clear that Sylvie was initially taken in by Loki's charm but in the end she only cares about herself. The kiss wasn't romantic at all... it was her manipulating Loki to get what she wanted. I guess I just never noticed before because I always skipped that part whenever I rewatched the series in the past.

Upon rewatching S1, I think Loki is only fascinated with Sylvie because he sees a kindred spirit, and learns to love himself through her. I think the MINUTE she betrayed him, he was hurt and realized that she just DOESN'T care about anyone but herself. So naturally he's going to immediately turn to the one person who ALWAYS took him back even after his own betrayals: Mobius. And I think his worry and panicking of not having Mobius recognize him scares him; it shows his vulnerability and desire to NOT be alone anymore before the confession to Sylvie in E5.

And watching Loki grow as a character, be "tamed" by Mobius and watching their friendship blossom deeper in S2 is SUCH a treat to watch without all the breaks. Like, Loki literally holds himself back until Mobius gives the okay for attacks, and he respects and cares about Mobius. And Episode 5 is fantastic. <3

But yeah, I actually believe now that S1 and S2 were written at the same time or close-to, because they set things up in S1 that foreshadows events in S2. I can honestly say that the writing of this show is probably the best of all the Marvel shows, and as a WHOLE, now rewatching without all the extended breaks, the narrative is really top-notch and there's so many "Chekov's gun" moments that are touched upon in S2 or referenced in S2. It's a great series to binge, for sure. Love it.

Before my final thoughts before tonight's episode, just want to touch upon the notes on the post at the time of writing this (late Wednesday night):

trutrustories said: yes, all of this!!!! And I feel you, OP, watching youtube breakdowns and reviews is soooo FRUSTRATING!!! like... WTF are you watching guys??? :D

HONESTLY, I agree. It was really annoying because it's SO clear to me what's going on ON THE SURFACE and none of the Big Name Reviewers™ are referencing it! ESPECIALLY as the episodes progress. Like their reviews of E1 and 2 were alright... but then gradually ignoring more and MORE of the plot of 3, 4 and 5??? It's so weird.

we-used-to-call-it-slash said: I'm still reading it and I love your blog! Been following you since the Sherlock days but I dropped out for many years after that all ended...like it did. So glad that you're still active! I'm with you on this one. I'm not a huge Lokius shipper but I really don't see the Loki/Sylvie pairing, especially this season. It'll be interested to see how they end things.

Thank you!!! So happy you still enjoy what I have to say all these years later! And yeah, like I casually shipped Lokius in S1, but because it looked like it was going the Sy1k! route, I didn't want to get my hopes up. But as I said above, rewatching with the context of S2 AND without breaks in between episodes, it's clear to me that Sylvie spent the whole season just manipulating Loki for her own means, and that's literally it. Loki was vulnerable to it because – all together now – he is LONELY and desperate for connection and kinship with someone. That's why the nexus event happened on Lamentis, that's why he proposed to Sylvie that they rule together... because Loki believed he found someone who understood him, and trusted him, and then she betrayed him and screwed him over. S1 characters even laughed at the prospect of the romance of them together, and Sylvie kept trying to push Loki away, but she SAW the vulnerability in him – his loneliness and desire to be loved and cared about – and used that against him. The traincar scene is where that lightswitch goes off for her. You can see it.

BUT YES, in S2, we see Mobius CONSTANTLY at his side, and Loki being able to depend on him. It's a HARSH contrast to the sy1k! dynamic they were showing in S1. As I said in the original post, I REALLY hope they go that route in E6. Only thing that has me doubting is Disney and its desire to be in homophobic markets. :/

kiteblue42 said: Yes - hard agree re YouTube reviews. They are not watching for the character interaction which means they are missing half the show! There’s a lazy assumption re Sylvie due to s1e6 kiss (even though that was deception on her part). Loki/ Mobius was mentioned on the Beyond the Trailers review Ep5 (female reviewer…) let’s be honest that episode could have been a romcom so hard to miss… I was sceptical the ship could ever go canon until last week but now they have work to do to avoid it😂

I haven't watched Grace's reviews yet because she's been kinda shitting on all the stuff I like lately so I haven't been checking out her reviews, but it's funny she's the only one of the Big Name ones that pointed it out. The closest another one got was SC, and it was just them SHOWING the clip of Loki grooming himself in their intro, but they NEVER mention the clip at all when they get to that scene. LITERALLY just skipped over the ENTIRE pining scene. It's RIDICULOUS the lengths the reviewers are going to avoid acknowledging Loki's bisexuality and his affection for Mobius.

elodiah said: Fabulous stuff! 👍 👏 👏 I don’t watch episode reviews/breakdowns very often, but I do watch an absolute TONNE of episode reactions each week, and out of all of them for 2x5 so far, only ONE said something about Loki/Mobius by pointing out the collar and hair fixing bit. I can’t believe people can be so blind.

Yes, I was watching initially the reactions to the episodes, and stopped after E3 because the ones I was watching are all Sy1k! shippers and they're SO convinced she's going to come back and rule the TVA with Loki. Ooof. That SCENE ALONE IS SO BLATANT. WHY IS EVERYONE IGNORING IT!!!!!!! If this was ANY man-woman het pairing, that would be something they would all be all giddy about and SHOW it in their breakdowns/reviews/reactions.

sans-normality said: huge agree on the YouTube breakdowns - I watched them when s1 aired and they were okay then and they've been fine for other shows, but not only are they skipping the lokius relationship entirely despite it being the central relationship of the show, they'll have plot interpretations that are the exact opposite of what's happening in the episodes?? it's so frustrating, like they're watching an entirely different show lol

YES, I got into them with WandaVision, and have watched the breakdowns loyally since then, but for Loki S2, they're just completely ignoring the LITERAL heart of the show. AND YES OKAY I THOUGHT I WAS NUTS when they're saying one thing about the episodes and I'm just like... "that's... literally not what happened? Sylvie LITERALLY blamed them all for the problems she caused??" Like, they were saying MOBIUS caused all these problems??? Ooof.

=====

Thank you guys for the discussion!!! So looking forward to the final episode. Some things I'm hoping they touch upon:

That WEIRD moment between X-5 and Dox in E1, what the HELL was that?? Just seemed out of place

Loki and Mobius having A Moment Together™, and Loki confessing everything he did to Don to HIS Mobius, or at least another hug.

Loki ruling over the TVA WITH his friends – NOT ALONE, because then why the hell did the spend 2 seasons pointing out how alone he feels and pointing out that he wants companionship – and becoming the God of Stories.

The trailers lead me to believe we're going back to Lokius' first meeting, and I hope that that doesn't mean that Loki is just going to like push everyone away "for their own happiness" (because it was kind of hinted at in E5 that Loki wants them happy and he thinks they'll be happier without him)

That Sylvie gets the quiet life she desires so much. I do genuinely want to see her happy, I just wish she'd stop making everyone else hate themselves because she's selfish about what she wants.

There's been speculations about what the Pies actually are (Soylent Green reference, basically, I'll leave you to google that yourselves 😳) and if they are used as memory wiping tools, with addictive properties to it. They've put a LOT of effort to centralize those pies this season, so just interested to see if that gun pays off somehow.

There's more, I'm sure. Primarily I want Lokius canonized, and for the reviewers to eat their own fricking words, but anyway.

Continue discussing below!! I love that there are so many of y'all also watching the show and are also as frustrated with the reviewers as I am, LOL. Please note that there will possibly be spoilers in the notes past today's reblog.

I will reblog with a final thought before queuing after E6 airs. :)

(also as an aside edit, anyone else amused as I am that all the recaps are blatantly ignoring the kiss from S1? I think it's because they're gonna show it in E6's, and then retcon it away if the behind-the-scenes snippets I saw on Twitter are any indication... because Loki realized that it was a manipulation tactic that calls back to S2E1)

EDITED THURSDAY MORNING TO ADD: I am SO fucking amused that, as a counter to those YouTube reviewers, I see that Big Name Article Writers are believing that Lokius is canon, and they kind of shade the people who are reading the series differently (one not-so-subtly reminded everyone that Sylvie is Loki and that's kind of weird)??? kinda funny LOL. I saw three articles last night talking about all the rom-com tropes in Episode 5 and how it was all Loki and Mobius, LOL. So excited to see tonight's episode, LOL.

EDIT #2: MOBIUS IS LEFT HANDED. I didn't realize until I rewatched yesterday! Like they could hold hands and still do important things!!!

Loki S2 Pre-E6 Thoughts

So I know that this is totally random content to give to y'all this morning, but I wanted to post up my thoughts about the series before its final episode airs tomorrow. I have, in the past, talked about my thoughts on S1 and how I really did like it until the last 5 minutes of Episode 6 and how out-of-nowhere-forced the Sylvie/Loki kiss felt (I was physically cringing about it).

Given how S1 ended, I was a bit wary about S2, but decided to watch it anyway, and holy hell I think Season Two is KNOCKING it out of the park. I'm loving it as much as I loved Moon Knight, and it's right up there now in my top 5. The episodes are SO cinematically beautiful, well written and flow nicely, the characters are all so charming, and the Mobius/Loki relationship is being built up so much that it COULD lead to more or canonization in the final episode. During the past 5 weeks, I've been lurking on the meta spaces for Loki on Twitter and Tumblr, and wow the nostalgia I feel for it, it SO reminds me of the hey-day of my Johnlock meta-ing before S4.

I think my only gripe right now with this season is that they wasted Sophia DiMartino... her character Sylvie feels like such a... filler character (like they just put her in there because she was in the first season and they didn't know what to do with her this season)? But I think ALSO she's meant to be a counter-mirror to Loki, to show that he ISN'T like her anymore, that he grew and changed for the better with the positive influences in his life, and unlike her he doesn't WANT to be alone and such. And they're REALLY making her so unlikeable this season for me... I'm glad that it's looking like they're pretty much not going the Sylvie/Loki route (and I honestly don't see how people who ship it think it will canonically turn around at this point), but the showrunners are having her have every interaction between her and Loki rather hostile, demoralizing, or toxic. And rather that, they're countering it by showing a more positive alternative for Loki with Mobius as his potential romantic partner. Which is fantastic because I've shipped Lokius since Mobius came on the screen in S1, LOL. I just think they could have done that in S2 without making Sylvie an unlikeable character (like have her be a cheerleader for them instead?) I dunno. It's a shame because I did like her in S1. Don't like her at all in S2. She's so MEAN to EVERYONE. To Mobius especially, like CHILL girl, let a man stress-eat, JEEZ.

And here's the rant I actually wanted to write this post about because I didn't want to clutter up other people's threads with it: So, every week, I usually watch breakdowns and review videos so I can understand the characters and their comic counter parts a bit better, and usually the breakdowns are really good because they show the nods to comic-canon things and such. But OMG these past two weeks, I had to stop watching the reviews because LITERALLY all of them ship Sylvie/Loki and are trying SO hard to prove that it's canon when the past few weeks it's only been more and more likely that it's not happening.

NONE of Big Name Reviewers (NRS and SC specifically, if ya know you know) acknowledged AT ALL the RIDICULOUS amount of romantic tropes and dopey staring that Episodes 4 and 5 had (Loki watches Mobius through a window the first time he finds him, and the second time before going to talk to Mobius again Loki LITERALLY groomed himself and then stutters like a lovesick teenager. It was very rom-com; and they're skirting around the fact that all the empty places in the TVA that Loki kept slipping to were ALL places that Loki tshared time with Mobius in... I CAN GO ON FOREVER HERE, AND AND AND that Loki is constantly panicking if he can't find Mobius). LIKE. NONE OF THE REVIEWERS, who literally break down all the episodes and point out shit like All That for het-ships, just won't acknowledge any of it!! They glossed over both Loki's and Sylvie's bisexuality confirmations in S1, and only briefly mentioned their genderfluidity in the comics and in actual mythology. I usually watch the breakdowns because I'm not familiar with comic lore so I find it interesting to learn about those backstories, as well as little details they find, but they've been dropping the ball ALL season, and EVERY one of them mention EVERY single breakdown that Loki just wants to get back to "his one true love Sylvie!!", like what are you smoking?!?!? I was getting SO FRUSTRATED because they skipped over LARGE chunks of E5, especially, just pointing out the surface level stuff instead. I literally turned it off after all that.

THAT ALL SAID, since episode one it's been clear that Sylvie wants NOTHING to do with Loki – she just wants to live a quiet simple life. Then when shit goes bad, she blames Loki for all the problems SHE caused, shits on Mobius every chance she gets, and then in that bar scene when Loki's bearing his soul to her, telling her that he wants his friends back and DOESN'T want to be alone, she basically is like "tough titties" and leaves him ALONE, showing she's not a friend at all.

But the reviewers literally just gloss over all of this. ANYWAY.

Ugh, sorry about that, that's been eating at me for like 3 weeks and last week's reviews finally just pissed me off so much because even casually watching the show I could see all this shit. I only REALLY started believing Lokius could happen after Episode 4 aired, and then Episode 5 had me reeling.

I am DYING to write meta about every episode as it comes out... I just feel that other people are writing better stuff than I could, and much faster than I have time for, and really it's nice to be on the reader side of things for a change. I just... don't want to add in my own two cents to their posts because I'd feel I'm intruding, is all.

I have lots of hope about where Episode 6 will go... like I'm feeling pretty good about them canonizing Lokius... However... I'm not gonna be disappointed if it doesn't get canonized simply because this is Disney and I am REALLY not thinking they're going to explore Loki's comic-canon genderfluidity and sexuality on a surface level.

Good thing I eat subtext for breakfast LOL. I lived through BBC Sherlock, hahah. BUT... can I get a third ship canonized in one year??? Is it wishful thinking? Oh, for sure. I hope so. I would be so happy if Disney even ACKNOWLEDGED that they love each other But I'm not expecting it. I'll be happy with another hug at least, or a forehead touch or hand holding. I'm a simple gal.

Honestly though, I do inevitably want the last episode to have Loki as the ruler with his friends, because they built up to this for 12 episodes, I DON'T want an unhappy ending for the sake of a twist or whatever. Truly let him be the Loki Who Remains (a callback to Episode One) as the Keeper of Time with Bea, O.B., Casey, and Mobius at his side <3

I LOVE the character development of Loki in this series, too. I legit didn't really care for Loki all that much in the MCU, but this series did the same to him for me that FatWS did to Bucky for me: Make me want to see MORE of them and their adventures with their new friends.

Anyway, thanks for reading and indulging me, I mostly just needed to get that rant out about reviewers and wtf people still think Sy!ki is happening. Feel free to discuss in the notes, I plan on posting a reblog with final thoughts after it airs on Thursday <3

[libidomechanica]

Untitled (“The interpreter be that distincts, breaking your end”)

And murmur’d: Who art thy state: if     thy Reign? He did not a Slaves; And, wife, and not with thirst appealed     to defaced Music shall proue. We quest, let the two young     Messias Life can it be you get up early woke Endymion     with hart to pray; while

other me in me. So as soon     as of Caiaphas. The poetes heart, where’er the after when     he to meanes of a ruin’d brown earth while we never seize     me if every stall; the gorge dimension could spill the other     speech,—nor ever seas

long therein show’st thy lasing pride     another me in pure yvory: but better parts that     lies turning, leave the times, ruth, sorrowful noise overcame     my soule was she inquire Oh, weep the Burial talked ere     we are threw he is gone

that wait thee with her own; and elm     have to the heaven’s image in one’s cell, will acquaintance     secret joys of them. When pray that where past, but glorious     devotion shall quicke, and been a blessed the river billowing     weeds or three Elizabeths

for triumph was the color.     Taught win whom thou whom a watched mind, when the Golden     daffodil, I know, phrase, that love-burden head in extremes, and     rolling survived every nook of hospital; at first Christ’s—     oh! Let not be stung; where

wet, and of the web of beautie best     agree, the victorie, yet deed. From these ruine hath nature is     time he may beholding a bier, but warld’s wildest Hope, with     such a cup of the very hours apace but simple Kurd     awaking a web of

glory the Southern thongs, nor vnto     me shepe, hey ho Bonibell, to drink a draught himself and     far descends, let out for a few lives more easy, and that     has been work, your over me; and wine for you are all be     thou didst make one light, giuen

so a boy of the red rose would     that soon or they bearing tyme&changed; and the witness on the     Gods, for the sproutine—look at they feel, to give her work, Cease,     so typical, showers. What tempt th’ event; for so     to immortal eyes and

poverty brought my still the wat’ry     flowers and Forward to sway? That skill not sing moon deck     the shepherd well as not dead; The payne doth in wonted worse.     She had failed and the talks o’ your loue chearfully, mysterious     quill: perhaps he

the single breath spreading bed the     Dust of equall her Ida, thou thy selfe doth place and trust     to the fruit the Judge. To her prayers. If sorrow, month folly     call it with fetters, sweets; but when I see the carelesse     bloud, above; you the

quicklime on my own, heard the top     of Oxford hunted me, the Faiths Defence set about me     in pleasure, like the sting in talcum on the sink no more     against the Tree. Or else to my should have knows the hay, woods     and stout. Eyes doo weaue, each

threescore years the golden opes,     tis my invented worse I fared with no contentment perforce     against his due, is often go then either you ain’t     never mourn, and with many ages, and pensive mood, through     town and loud, all Young Spring.

And she past one, with him to     the cottage; at his deep discord she lordeth in the quarry;     but the City. All days gone, as when on its disguise,     of lonely with figure was so fill you loves. The interpreter     be that distincts,

breaking your end. From you didst buy,     who were Croud to joy, I thinking off and bloody gore while     ones, whose ugly Scars, to spit out, the Fool’s Paradise is     change, will consume us day, Sir; the floor—and cold hears so     gentle dear, till it backward

steps of kindred Graces, and     see a child. And faithless spot, nor thou now and that great, could     not true Lovers, though I have lives; and Sleep which the fire theyr     payne to nought his wat’ry bier unwept, as fingering     piano our meriment.

Yoked in a suit of starred, silent     men have not talked ere we be what I bear of faëry, but     her as the King, the sprouting Hál! Was hard, but perfume then     whylst her most? And easie still he please, but strike wind In such strong;     and ocean wyde, the blinding

curls, and slip at once thy to     illumine down assert itself, Is he picture, a kindled     hope, our heart’s core, but thus, God and would haunting swallow     still confused to the toadstool’s lazy Happinesse huntsman     after that held in me.

The dead, he looks into one. But     as a block left in my bosome being caught for you, you     be thought in plain—oh might glooming sun. That for all to eat     not one that so our bed. For heroes, and gather trim prepared,     how shadowes shore.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 10 first part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Palaver) 

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Meet the Hotties

Since there have been only 7 or 8 brutally hot men in this show so far, which is clearly not sufficient, this episode drops three fresh ones right from the jump. Meet true loves cultivation partners travel buddies SongXiao. The ethereal one, Xiao Xingchen...

The forceful one, Song Lan...

...and their nemesis Xue Yang.

Xue Yang has some Yin Metal...oh hai I just noticed, his name is Yang and he has Yin Metal. Which...probably doesn’t mean anything. When he first appears he’s so fey and over the top he could be taken for a comic relief character, except for all of the corpses he’s scattered around, and the one moment where he is caught off guard in the fight and looks genuinely angry. 

Later, of course, we discover that he’s a fucking psycho an extremely complex person with a fascinating range of emotions, none of which are good. 

Did OP make a fighting fanvid just for this charming asshole? She did. Spoiler: Hanguang Jun fucks him up. [Is OP a shameless self-linker? She is.]

(more after the cut!)

Not Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Wei Wuxian tells Jiang Cheng not to join the fight but just to watch Xiao Xingchen’s moves; then he proceeds to join the fight by using his web shooter binding talisman to keep Xue Yang off guard and in the field of battle. 

Do as I say, not as I do, bro.

It’s all right it’s all right it’s all right, Cocaine

Far from comic relief, Xue Yang is one of the strongest fighters in the show and is a master of his own variety of crafty tricks--the chemical variety. He launches a devastating white powder attack at our gang. His powder attacks later in the show will blind Song Lan and will poison the junior cultivators. 

This powder attack does...nothing. Well okay then. 

Fanmeet

After Xue Yang has been properly suspended tied up to a rafter, the cultivators introduce themselves, and Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng proceed to squee over their idols. Lan Wangji drops some flowery titles for both of them and offers to organize a mass donation of their brand of spring water. 

Jiang Cheng is so happy he shows nearly all of his teeth without being angry. 

Xue Yang butts in to harsh on their fandom and call them hypocrites. Can’t let the nerds have too good of a time. 

Two Minutes in the out of the Closet

Now we have an interesting moment in which characters discuss queerness directly, albeit briefly. Wei Wuxian searches Xue Yang to see if he’s carrying the Yin Iron. 

Most other instances in which queerness is lampshaded in CQL are about Lan Wangji’s discomfort, or growing comfort, with Wei Wuxian and his stripping flirting. 

In this instance, Wei Wuxian fondles Xue Yang’s chest and ass while Xue Yang  asks “what will people think about this M/M action?”

We Wuxian responds, for the whole room to hear, that he DGAF; in fact, he’s proud of being a disaster bi “cheeky.”

I don't give a damn 'Bout my reputation I've never been afraid of any Qi deviation An' I don't really care If ya think I'm strange I ain't gonna change An' I'm never gonna care 'Bout my bad reputation

While Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, Lan Wangji takes note. 

Clan with a Plan 

Nie Huaisang and his entourage arrive, and once again the Netflix subtitles take away the meaning of his words as he calls out for Wei-Xiong, Lan-Xiong, and Jiang-Xiong; Netflix has him using surnames only, like an English public school lad. 

The group decides to send Xue Yang to Nie Mingjue for judgement. Meng Yao invites them all to come hang with Nie Mingjue at the Unclean Realm, to decide how to best fuck up the Wen clan.

Note: “Unclean” seems to be an accurate translation but it has particular connotations for western audiences who grew up steeped in the Bible or Monty Python. Like, “would you like to come to the plague castle?” type of connotations. 

Meng Yao: Can you all come with me? I’ve got another hot man to add to this episode. 

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian look deeply into each other’s eyes in order to decide if they’re going to go to Unclean Realm with the Nie gang , and they opt yes. 

SongXiao do the same thing and opt no, with a speech about how the clans are a bunch of eugenicist snobs, or words to that effect. 

This speech convinces Wei Wuxian to immediately join their fan club.  He is...really not cut out for clan life. 

Night Swimming Hunting

September's coming soon I'm pining for the moon And what if there were two Side by side in orbit Around the fairest sun?

Wei Wuxian praises SongXiao for their egalitarian values, and compares himself and Lan Wangji to them, giving Lan Wangji one of his sweetest, warmest smiles.

This moment is clearly embarrassing to Lan Wangji, but most things are embarrassing to Lan Wangji, and unlike the “shut up!” moment in Episode 09, this time it doesn’t make him angry, barely earning a tiny glare. 

It’s different this time for Wei Wuxian as well, because he’s not teasing or being provocative; he’s genuinely moved to tell this roomful of people that he cherishes Lan Wangji. 

It does make Jiang Cheng angry, and he tells Wei Wuxian, not for the first time, that because of his attachment to Lan Wangji, he should not come home. 

This is a standard jealous response from Jiang Cheng, and he doesn’t mean it...yet.  But there’s a direct line between each of these false banishments, and the moment when he actually does banish the two of them from the Jiang family shrine. 

Baoshan Sanren

Wei Wuxian quickly goes from being cheerfully aflutter over these kindred spirits, to being stunned and even devastated when he discovers an unexpected family connection. 

Xiao Xingchen: My grand master is Baoshan Sanren

For once Lan Wangji doesn’t seem all that attuned to WWX’s feelings, while Jiang Chang super is. 

Jiang Cheng: Should I say something? Words? About feelings? Yeah no.

Outside of the compound, Xiao Xingchen and Wei Wuxian talk about WWX’s mother. In this moment we see how kind Xiao Xingchen is, when he carefully softens the blow of his revelation that Baoshan Sanren is not accepting students or visitors or new patients at this time or at any time. 

I hope that finding Baoshan Sanren is what Wei Wuxian did with his solo road trip at the end of Episode 50. 

XXC and WWX acknowledge their clan relationship, which takes Wei Wuxian another step away from his membership in the Jiang clan, and creates a filial obligation to his newfound shishu that he will fulfill much later, in Yi City.

Once again Jiang Cheng sees and understands Wei Wuxian’s pain, and gazes at him with love and concern, but he doesn’t reach out or speak. They are not a reaching out & speaking pair of people. Once we see their whole family together, we will understand why.

Farewell to SongXiao

When SongXiao hit the road, Lan Wangji watches them with a look of pure yearning, and then turns that look, with total openness, to Wei Wuxian. 

Lan Wangji: Ow

The open road and the chivalrous path pull equally at both WWX and LWJ, but Lan Wangji lives under a weight of formal obligation that he will carry for his entire life. During WWX’s second life he will find ways to compromise between the forces that are pulling him, but not escape them.

Wei Wuxian’s obligations are just as heavy, eventually costing him his family and his life, but they are dictated only by his heart and conscience. Yet he never suggests that Lan Wangji should follow his path. He constantly insists on LWJ’s attention, but he accepts that their roads are different, which is part of what makes Lan Wangji’s declaration on the Carp Tower steps so touching; he is giving Wei Wuxian something he never, ever asked for. 

Here, WWX acknowledges both of their sorrows with a nod, and they walk away together to play their parts in the coming war. 

Keep an Eye on the Psycho

Nie Huaisang sighs in admiration of the departing hotties, while Xue Yang tells Xiao Xingchen not to forget him. Which is very, very, very good advice.

Meng Yao is put in charge of guarding Xue Yang. I hope that doesn’t awaken anything in him. 

Soundtrack: 1. Joan Jett, Bad Reputation  2. REM, Night Swimming 3. INXS, Devil inside

Smut Prompt: If the story of Wei Wuxian searching Xue Yang does get out among the clans, what will it have morphed into by the time Clan Leader Yao hears it?

[hlupdate]

Variety’s Grammy-nominated Hitmaker of the Year goes deep on the music industry, the great pause and finding his own muses.

“We’ll dance again,” Harry Styles coos, the Los Angeles sunshine peeking through his pandemic-shaggy hair just so. The singer, songwriter and actor — beloved and critically acclaimed thanks to his life-affirming year-old album, “Fine Line” — is lamenting that his Variety Hitmaker of the Year cover conversation has to be conducted over Zoom rather than in person. Even via videoconference, the Brit is effortlessly charming, as anyone who’s come within earshot of him would attest, but it quickly becomes clear that beneath that genial smile is a well-honed media strategy.

To wit: In an interview that appears a few days later announcing his investment in a new arena in his native Manchester (more on that in a bit), he repeats the refrain — “There will be a time we dance again”— referencing a much-needed return to live music and the promise of some 4,000 jobs for residents.

None of which is to suggest that Styles, 26, phones it in for interviews. Quite the opposite: He does very few, conceivably to give more of himself and not cheapen what is out there and also to use the publicity opportunity to indulge his other interests, like fashion. (Last month Styles became the first male to grace the cover of Vogue solo.) Still, it stings a little that a waltz with the former One Direction member may not come to pass on this album cycle — curse you, coronavirus.

Styles’ isolation has coincided with his maturation as an artist, a thespian and a person. With “Fine Line,” he’s proved himself a skilled lyricist with a tremendous ear for harmony and melody. In preparing for his role in Olivia Wilde’s period thriller “Don’t Worry Darling,” which is shooting outside Palm Springs, he found an outlet for expression in interpreting words on a page. And for the first time, he’s using his megaphone to speak out about social justice — inspired by the outpouring of support for Black people around the world following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.

Styles has spent much of the past nine months at home in London, where life has slowed considerably. The time has allowed him to ponder such heady issues as his purpose on the earth. “It’s been a pause that I don’t know if I would have otherwise taken,” says Styles. “I think it’s been pretty good for me to have a kind of stop, to look and think about what it actually means to be an artist, what it means to do what we do and why we do it. I lean into moments like this — moments of uncertainty.”

In truth, while Styles has largely been keeping a low profile — his Love On Tour, due to kick off on April 15, was postponed in late March and is now scheduled to launch in February 2021 (whether it actually will remains to be seen) — his music has not. This is especially true in the U.S., where he’s notched two hit singles, “Adore You,” the second-most-played song at radio in 2020, and “Watermelon Sugar” (No. 22 on Variety’s year-end Hitmakers chart), with a third, “Golden,” already cresting the top 20 on the pop format. The massive cross-platform success of these songs means Styles has finally and decisively broken into the American market, maneuvering its web of gatekeepers to accumulate 6.2 million consumption units and rising.

Why do these particular songs resonate in 2020? Styles doesn’t have the faintest idea. While he acknowledges a “nursery rhyme” feel to “Watermelon Sugar” with its earwormy loop of a chorus, that’s about as much insight as he can offer. His longtime collaborator and friend Tom Hull, also known as the producer Kid Harpoon, offers this take: “There’s a lot of amazing things about that song, but what really stands out is the lyric. It’s not trying to hide or be clever. The simplicity of watermelon … there’s such a joy in it, [which] is a massive part of that song’s success.” Also, his kids love it. “I’ve never had a song connect with children in this way,” says Hull, whose credits include tunes by Shawn Mendes, Florence and the Machine and Calvin Harris. “I get sent videos all the time from friends of their kids singing. I have a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old, and they listen to it.”

Styles is quick to note that he doesn’t chase pop appeal when crafting songs. In fact, the times when he pondered or approved a purposeful tweak, like on his self-titled 2017 debut, still gnaw at him. “I love that album so much because it represents such a time in my life, but when I listen to it — sonically and lyrically, especially — I can hear places where I was playing it safe,” he says. “I was scared to get it wrong.”

Contemporary effects and on-trend beats hardly factor into Styles’ decision-making. He likes to focus on feelings — his own and his followers’ — and see himself on the other side of the velvet rope, an important distinction in his view. “People within [the industry] feel like they operate on a higher level of listening, and I like to make music from the point of being a fan of music,” Styles says. “Fans are the best A&R.”

This from someone who’s had free rein to pursue every musical whim, and hand in the album of his dreams in the form of “Fine Line.” Chart success makes it all the sweeter, but Styles insists that writing “for the right reasons” supersedes any commercial considerations. “There’s no part that feels, eh, icky — like it was made in the lab,” he says.

Styles has experience in this realm. As a graduate of the U.K. competition series “The X Factor,” where he and four other auditionees — Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson — were singled out by show creator and star judge Simon Cowell to conjoin as One Direction, he’s seen how the prefab pop machine works up close. The One Direction oeuvre, which counts some 42 million albums sold worldwide, includes songs written with such established hitmakers as Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha and Teddy Geiger. Being a studious, insatiable observer, Styles took it all in.

“I learned so much,” he says of the experience. “When we were in the band, I used to try and write with as many different people as I could. I wanted to practice — and I wrote a lot of bad shit.”

His bandmates also benefited from the pop star boot camp. The proof is in the relatively seamless solo transitions of at least three of its members — Payne, Malik and Horan in addition to Styles — each of whom has landed hit singles on charts in the U.K., the U.S. and beyond.

This departs from the typical trajectories of boy bands including New Kids on the Block and ’N Sync, which have all pro ered a star frontman. The thinking for decades was that a record company would be lucky to have one breakout solo career among the bunch.

Styles has plainly thought about this.

“When you look at the history of people coming out of bands and starting solo careers, they feel this need to apologize for being in the band. ‘Don’t worry, everyone, that wasn’t me! Now I get to do what I really want to do.’ But we loved being in the band,” he says. “I think there’s a wont to pit people against each other. And I think it’s never been about that for us. It’s about a next step in evolution. The fact that we’ve all achieved different things outside of the band says a lot about how hard we worked in it.”

Indeed, during the five-ish years that One Direction existed, Styles’ schedule involved the sort of nonstop international jet-setting that few get to see in a lifetime, never mind their teenage years. Between 2011 and 2015, One Direction’s tours pulled in north of $631 million in gross ticket sales, according to concert trade Pollstar, and the band was selling out stadiums worldwide by the time it entered its extended hiatus. Styles, too, had built up to playing arenas as a solo artist, engaging audiences with his colorful stage wear and banter and left-of-center choices for opening acts (a pre-Grammy-haul Kacey Musgraves in 2018; indie darlings King Princess and Jenny Lewis for his rescheduled 2021 run).

Stages of all sizes feel like home to Styles. He grew up in a suburb of Manchester, ground zero for some of the biggest British acts of the 1980s and ’90s, including Joy Division, New Order, the Smiths and Oasis, the latter of which broke the same year Styles was born. His parents were also music lovers. Styles’ father fed him a balanced diet of the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and Queen, while Mum was a fan of Shania Twain, Norah Jones and Savage Garden. “They’re all great melody writers,” says Styles of the acts’ musical throughline.

Stevie Nicks, who in the past has described “Fine Line” as Styles’ “Rumours,” referencing the Fleetwood Mac 1977 classic, sees him as a kindred spirit. “Harry writes and sings his songs about real experiences that seemingly happened yesterday,” she tells Variety. “He taps into real life. He doesn’t make up stories. He tells the truth, and that is what I do. ‘Fine Line’ has been my favorite record since it came out. It is his ‘Rumours.’ I told him that in a note on December 13, 2019 before he went on stage to play the ‘Fine Line’ album at the Forum. We cried. He sang those songs like he had sung them a thousand times. That’s a great songwriter and a great performer.”

“Harry’s playing and writing is instinctual,” adds Jonathan Wilson, a friend and peer who’s advised Styles on backing and session musicians. “He understands history and where to take the torch. You can see the thread of great British performers — from Bolan to Bowie — in his music.”

Also shaping his musical DNA was Manchester itself, the site of a 23,500-seat arena, dubbed Co-op Live, for which Styles is an investor and adviser. Oak View Group, a company specializing in live entertainment and global sports that was founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff in 2015 (Jeffrey Azoff, Irving’s son, represents Styles at Full Stop Management), is leading the effort to construct the venue. The project gained planning approval in September and is set to open in 2023, with its arrival representing a £350 million ($455 million) investment in the city. (Worth noting: Manchester is already home to an arena — the site of a 2017 bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert — and a football stadium, where One Love Manchester, an all-star benefit show to raise money for victims of the terrorist attack, took place.)

“I went to my first shows in Manchester,” Styles says of concerts paid for with money earned delivering newspapers for a supermarket called the Co-op. “My friends and I would go in on weekends. There’s so many amazing small venues, and music is such a massive part of the city. I think Manchester deserves it. It feels like a full-circle, coming-home thing to be doing this and to be able to give any kind of input. I’m incredibly proud. Hopefully they’ll let me play there at some point.”

Though Styles has owned properties in Los Angeles, his base for the foreseeable future is London. “I feel like my relationship with L.A. has changed a lot,” he explains. “I’ve kind of accepted that I don’t have to live here anymore; for a while I felt like I was supposed to. Like it meant things were going well. This happened, then you move to L.A.! But I don’t really want to.”

Is it any wonder? Between COVID and the turmoil in the U.S. spurred by the presidential election, Styles, like some 79 million American voters, is recovering from sticker shock over the bill of goods sold to them by the concept of democracy. “In general, as people, there’s a lack of empathy,” he observes. “We found this place that’s so divisive. We just don’t listen to each other anymore. And that’s quite scary.”

That belief prompted Styles to speak out publicly in the wake of George Floyd’s death. As protests in support of Black Lives Matter took to streets all over the world, for Styles, it triggered a period of introspection, as marked by an Instagram message (liked by 2.7 million users and counting) in which he declared: “I do things every day without fear, because I am privileged, and I am privileged every day because I am white. … Being not racist is not enough, we must be anti racist. Social change is enacted when a society mobilizes. I stand in solidarity with all of those protesting. I’m donating to help post bail for arrested organizers. Look inwards, educate yourself and others. LISTEN, READ, SHARE, DONATE and VOTE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

“Talking about race can be really uncomfortable for everyone,” Styles elaborates. “I had a realization that my own comfort in the conversation has nothing to do with the problem — like that’s not enough of a reason to not have a conversation. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve been outspoken enough in the past. Using that feeling has pushed me forward to being open and ready to learn. … How can I ensure from my side that in 20 years, the right things are still being done and the right people are getting the right opportunities? That it’s not a passing thing?”

His own record company — and corporate parent Sony Music Group, whose chairman, Rob Stringer, signed Styles in 2016 — has been grappling with these same questions as the industry has faced its own reckoning with race. At issue: inequality among the upper ranks (an oft-cited statistic: popular music is 80% Black, but the music business is 80% white); contracts rooted in a decades-old system that many say is set up to take advantage of artists, Black artists more unfairly than white; and the call for a return of master rights, an ownership model that is at the core of the business.

Styles acknowledges the fundamental imbalance in how a major label deal is structured — the record company takes on the financial risk while the artist is made to recoup money spent on the project before the act is considered profitable and earning royalties (typically at a 15% to 18% rate for the artist, while the label keeps and disburses the rest). “Historically, I can’t think of any industry that’s benefited more off of Black culture than music,” he says. “There are discussions that need to happen about this long history of not being paid fairly. It’s a time for listening, and hopefully, people will come out humbled, educated and willing to learn and change.”

By all accounts, Styles is a voracious reader, a movie lover and an aesthete. He stays in shape by adhering to a strict daily exercise routine. “I tried to keep up but didn’t last more than two weeks,” says Hull, Styles’ producer, with a laugh. “The discipline is terrifying.”

Of course, with the fashion world beckoning — Styles recently appeared in a film series for Gucci’s new collection that was co-directed by the fashion house’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, and Oscar winner Gus Van Sant — and a movie that’s set in the 1950s, maintaining that physique is part of the job. And he’s no stranger to visual continuity after appearing in Christopher Nolan’s epic “Dunkirk” and having to return to set for reshoots; his hair, which needed to be cut back to its circa 1940 form, is a constant topic of conversation among fans. This time, it’s the ink that poses a challenge. By Styles’ tally, he’s up to 60 tattoos, which require an hour in the makeup chair to cover up. “It’s the only time I really regret getting tattooed,” he says.

He shows no regret, however, when it comes to stylistic choices overall, and takes pride in his gender-agnostic portfolio, which includes wearing a Gucci dress on that Vogue cover— an image that incited conservative pundit Candace Owens to plead publicly to “bring back manly men.” In Styles’ view: “To not wear [something] because it’s females’ clothing, you shut out a whole world of great clothes. And I think what’s exciting about right now is you can wear what you like. It doesn’t have to be X or Y. Those lines are becoming more and more blurred.”

But acclaim, if you can believe it, is not top of mind for Styles. As far as the Grammys are concerned, Styles shrugs, “It’s never why I do anything.” His team and longtime label, however, had their hearts set on a showing at the Jan. 31 ceremony. Their investment in Styles has been substantial — not just monetarily but in carefully crafting his career in the wake of such icons as David Bowie, who released his final albums with the label. Hope at the company and in many fans’ hearts that Styles would receive an album of the year nomination did not come to pass. However, he was recognized in three categories, including best pop vocal album.

“It’s always nice to know that people like what you’re doing, but ultimately — and especially working in a subjective field — I don’t put too much weight on that stuff,” Styles says. “I think it’s important when making any kind of art to remove the ego from it.” Citing the painter Matisse, he adds: “It’s about the work that you do when you’re not expecting any applause.”