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where-theres-smoak-2 · 2 years ago

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HOTD Ep 8 Predictions/Theories

I can’t believe we are at ep 8 already this series has gone by so quickly, but once again I am going to channel my inner Helaena and see if I can predict the future. Said it before but for the sake of clarity I am not a book reader so all of my theories are based on what has happened in the show and the promos and stills that were released. So here is what I think may happen in the next episode.

Successions and Alliances

It looks like from the promo that we are going to have two characters in bad health and potentially dying, Viserys and Corlys, which honestly I am so not ready for. I do feel like this episode is going to focus alot on succession both for the iron throne and for the driftwood throne and I do think both story points will be connected.

So lets focus on Viserys and the Iron Throne first. The promo opens with Otto on the throne saying ‘as hand I speak with the king's voice on this and all other matters.’ We also get this shot of Rhaenyra and Daemon:

Where Rhaenyra says ‘those vipers rule in my father’s name’ and Daemon replies ‘to King’s landing then.’ I do think there is going to be alot more to this conversation, but what we have here tells us what we need to know, the king is incapacitated and now the Greens are ruling in his stead. The obvious thing to do here as heir to the throne is to go to King’s Landing.

I do think the greens are going to use the King being out of the game to their advantage though. Which brings me to the driftwood throne. We learn through Daemon that Corlys has been gravely wounded, I actually think the image above could well also be when Daemon tells Rhaenyra that Corlys is wounded and this contributes to them going to King’s Landing. We also get a clip of Vaemond asking Rhaenys who will take the driftwood throne. There are also these stills that show a heated conversation between them whilst Rhaenys is sitting on the driftwood throne:

I suspect this conversation will happen with Corlys injured but still alive, as Rhaenys is not dressed in black but in blue, and its the characters wondering what will happen if he dies. I also think Rhaenys will be ruling Driftmark in her husband’s stead whilst he is incapacitated much like Otto is with the Iron throne. Baela is present and we know from ep 7 that whilst Corlys wants Lucerys to be his heir and inherit Driftmark, Rhaenys wants Baela to be heir as she has Velaryon blood and Luc does not. It is possible that when Vaemond asks who will inherit Rhaenys, despite her husband’s wishes, tells him that Baela will inherit. Needless to say I think this is going to make Vaemond angry, with him calling out Rhaenyra at the funeral I think Vaemond will consider himself as having the most legitimate claim to Driftmark. I think we will end up with three separate claims, Rhaenys putting forth Baela, Vaemond putting forward himself and Rhaenyra putting forth Lucerys. I also think the dispute will be taken to King’s Landing and Otto will preside over it and make a decision on behalf of the king. I also feel like it is going to get very messy with insults thrown about and drama galore. What I am curious about is Baela here. She appears to be the only one of the children at Driftmark which makes me wonder whether she was already there and has been living there a while or whether she was at Dragonstone with the rest of the family but when they heard of Corlys’ injury she travelled to Driftmark at her grandmother’s request. It is also interesting that she is dressed in blue here when all of her siblings are shown in the red and black colours of house Targaryen. Is it possible that there is some tension between Baela and her family? Maybe she suspected Rhaenyra and Daemon had something to do with her uncle’s ‘death’ or maybe she just couldn’t accept her father getting married again so soon after her mother’s death and so she went and moved in with her grandparents? I hope not because I would love for all five of their kids to be close and the four older kids did seem to bond in episode 7, I would also like for them to be close to both parents. I just like the idea of the blacks being one big happy family. Of course her wearing blue could just be Rhaenys way of presenting her connection to House Velaryon, if she is going to present Baela as a potential heir then it makes sense to put her in the house colours to remind everyone Baela has Velaryon blood.

I do think that Vaemond is going to make a deal with the greens to get Driftmark. Giving such a powerful seat to someone outside of Rhaenyra’s family would be a huge blow to the Blacks. The deal could be that if he supports Aegon’s claim to the throne then they will give him Driftmark in return. Part of the reason why I think this might happen is because in ep 7 during the dagger scene we see Vaemond standing close to Alicent maybe indicating he will be on team Green. Also in this shot of Vaemond from the throne room Vaemond looks really smug as does Aegon:

Meanwhile Rhaenyra looks really angry here:

Another reason why I think they will be working together is because we get a shot in promo of Vaemond arriving in King’s Landing and he is accompanied by guards bearing the Hightower sigil with the green flames of war:

So I think that Otto will name Vaemond heir to Driftmark and this is what he is referring to when he says ‘as hand I speak with the king’s voice on this and all other matters.’ I also do wonder if he will also declare Aegon heir to the throne and that’s another reason why Aegon looks so smug, but I don’t know if that would be too bold even for Otto.

I don’t think the greens and Vaemond will be the only ones making a deal. We get these shots of Rhaenyra and Rhaenys in the gods wood.

In this scene Rhaenyra tells Rhaenys that ‘this is a trap’. I don’t think Rhaenys would be happy with Vaemond getting Driftmark instead of someone with her and her husband’s blood. Also Rhaenys can be heard in the trailer saying ‘tomorrow the Hightowers land their first blow.’ I think by this point Rhaenyra and Rhaenys will have guessed that the greens and Vaemond are working together and this is what Rhaenys is referring to by first blow, taking Driftmark from the blacks by naming Vaemond heir. In the image of Vaemond arriving that I talked about earlier you can see the shoulder of Lucerys in the shot, there is this image which I think is from the same scene:

I think Lucerys and it looks like maybe Jace too will see Vaemond arriving with the Hightower guards and mention it to their mother who will put two and two together and that’s how she’ll figure out the Greens have formed an alliance with Vaemond.

I said in my review for ep 7 when talking about the disagreement between Corlys and Rhaenys about who should be his heir that the simplest solution would be to marry Baela to Lucerys that way their heirs will have both the Velaryon name from Luc and the Velaryon blood from Baela. I do think that Rhaenyra will offer something like this to Rhaenys with the argument that it will make their claim for Driftmark stronger. But I am not sure it’ll be Baela she will offer a marriage between and the reason why is because in this scene Rhaena is also present.

If it were a marriage proposal between Baela and Lucerys then I would think that it would either be Rhaenyra and Daemon approaching Rhaenys or Rhaenyra and Baela. With it being Rhaenyra and Rhaena approaching her I am thinking that it is actually going to be Rhaena’s hand in marriage to Lucerys that Rhaenyra offers. Maybe they will also match Jacaerys and Baela together presenting the deal of you’ll have Rhaena for your Velaryon blood on Driftmark and then you will also have Velaryon blood on the throne as Baela will be Jace’s queen consort when he takes the Iron Throne which is a pretty good deal for Rhaenys. It just makes sense to me, the moment I saw the four of them together in ep 7, I was like two sons, two daughters I bet they’ll wed them to each other. As to why I think they will offer Rhaena’s hand for Driftmark instead of Baela’s despite it being Baela that Rhaenys wants, I think that is strategic. Rhaenyra knows that there is a strong possibility that there will be a war when her father dies and that they will have a better advantage the more dragons they have. So it make sense to me for Rhaenyra to surround herself with as many dragons and dragon riders as she can. I can imagine tensions are a bit shaky with the Velaryons after Laena and Laenor’s deaths, I don’t think that Daemon or Rhaenyra would want to lose not just one dragon and rider to Driftmark but two. As it is at the moment (unless she has claimed or gained a dragon in the timejump) Rhaena doesn’t have a dragon so if she goes to Driftmark they aren’t losing a dragon. However if Baela does then they will lose two dragons instead of just the one (Luc’s dragon). At the moment the Hightowers have three dragons, including the biggest. The Velaryons have two if Seasmoke stayed and didn’t disappear with Laenor. If Luc inherits Driftmark and goes over to them then that’s three like the Hightowers. The blacks however (if Luc goes to Driftmark) have at least five if Joffrey’s egg hatched which I am going to assume it did. So even if Luc goes to Driftmark they have an advantage over both the Hightowers and Velaryons. However if Luc and Baela were to marry and then go to Driftmark that would give the Velaryons potentially four dragons, if they were to then betray Rhaenyra and side with the greens, that would give the greens a huge advantage with 7 dragons. I personally don’t think they would side with the greens but I could see Rhaenyra making a contingency plan just in case. Proposing a marriage between Baela and Jace and Luc and Rhaena would not only secure the alliance between the two houses but would make sure the dragons and riders were on the blacks side as well, it would give them potentially 8 dragons if not more.

Dragon Egg Hunt

Speaking of how important dragons will be in the upcoming fight we can see from promo pics that Rhaenyra and Daemon are expecting a little one:

We know that its a Targaryen tradition to put an egg in the baby’s cradle. However we don’t know much about the ownership of dragons and their eggs. Rhaenyra does offer an egg to Alicent for Aemond if her Dragon Syrax laid another clutch which to me suggests that when it comes to the eggs whoever the laying Dragon belongs to also then owns the eggs they’ve laid so in Syrax’s case because she is Rhaenyra's dragon any egg she lays belongs to Rhaenyra. But what happens if your dragon hasn’t laid an egg and you’ve got a babe on the way, in this case I am going to assume that you would appeal to the crown or someone else who has a dragon that has laid eggs. We know that there is another dragon that has laid eggs in the past, Dreamfyre, as it was one of her eggs that Rhaenyra chose for her brother Baelon and that was the egg Daemon stole. It also seemed at the time that Dreamfyre belonged to the crown but I did see a post that said Helaena is now bonded to Dreamfyre. I could see a situation arising in this episode where Rhaenyra and Daemon appeal to the crown for a dragon’s egg to put in their child’s cradle but because the King is incapacitated and the Green’s are in control and obviously wouldn’t want the Blacks to have yet another dragon, they deny the appeal. However we know that if Daemon wants his child to have a dragon egg in their cradle as is the tradition of his house he is damn well going to make sure they do. So I suspect Daemon is going to go on a dragon egg hunt. There is this shot of Daemon holding an egg in this weeks promo:

There is also this shot from the, I think, weeks ahead trailer that shows someone scaling down the side of a cliff and I am pretty sure that it is Daemon:

My theory is that after being denied an egg by the greens he uses the knowledge he got from those books he was reading written by old dragon riders that Laena mentioned in ep 6 and discovers the location of a possible egg, maybe in one of the dragon rider’s journals they recount a tale of their dragon possibly laying a clutch of eggs somewhere and Daemon decides to risk life and limb because his baby will have a dragon’s egg. Who knows maybe they’ll be two there and he’ll bring one back for Rhaena too.

Another possibility is that this is Syrax’s egg and she just decided to lay it in the most inconvenient spot she could and so Daemon has to go rock climbing to get it.

Armed To The Teeth

I do think it is possible that things are going to get violent in King’s Landing over this dispute about the heir to Driftmark and just in general between The Greens and The Blacks. The only way Vaemond can put forth a claim for the Driftwood throne is by discrediting Lucerys’ claim and the way to do that is by once again bringing up the question of Rhaenyra’s sons parentage. Daemon is very protective of his family particularly of people talking bad about his family as we saw when he told Corlys that he could speak of his brother as he wishes but Corlys will not. So I don’t think Daemon is going to take kindly to people bringing up this issue again even more so now that its his wife and stepsons they are talking about. Daemon clearly was anticipating trouble too because in several of the images he is armed to the teeth. Like I think he has at least three blades on him and who knows what other weapons he might be hiding where you can’t see, he seems like the kind of guy who would keep one in this boot just in case. The other thing worth noting is that not only has he shown up with several weapons but that his hands are never far from them, in several of the shots he’s got his hands kind of cupped near the hilts of his blades. It just seems to me that from the moment they arrive in King’s Landing he is in protective mode and is on edge, prepared for anything.

Also in this still, his hand isn’t just near his weapon it is on the blade ready to draw. Daemon looks angry to me and Rhaenyra looks both shocked and upset. Meanwhile Jace also looks tense and is side eyeing Daemon clearly wondering what he is about to do. I suspect from Rhaenyra’s shocked expression and Daemon’s angry one that someone has just thrown an insult either at Rhaenyra herself or at one of her sons.

I do think the situation will only escalate from there as in this still Daemon has drawn Dark Sister:

Also the King’s Guard behind him have their hands on their swords which makes me wonder if Daemon has threatened whoever insulted Rhaenyra or/and her boys. I suspect the person who may have insulted her is Vaemond giving how he was at Laena’s funeral. The thing is bringing up the boys parentage is a risky move on Vaemond’s part and just as risky is the Green’s entertaining it and considering Vaemond’s claim instead of just throwing it out because they themselves by entertaining it are also saying that they doubt their parentage. The problem with this is that the King in ep 7 publicly stated that anyone questioning their birth would have their tongue removed, basically it is treason to question their legitimacy. So this makes it clear to me that the King is like on his death bed and the Greens clearly don’t think he is going to recover otherwise they wouldn’t be risking bringing this up again. However I think Viserys is going to surprise them all by showing up as things are getting ugly. We have this shot of Viserys entering the Throne Room looking the worse for wear:

I think Viserys will be laying down the law like he did in ep 7 and once again reminding everyone that they are not to question Rhaenyra’s sons legitimacy. In this image you can see the Greens and all but Alicent seems to be looking over to Viserys and look like they’ve just been chastised.

Alicent is looking down and away clearly avoiding making eye contact with Viserys so that makes me think she knows they are in a bit of trouble here. I also think Viserys will overturn Otto’s decision to name Vaemond heir to Driftmark and will name Lucerys instead as he won’t consider the claim that Lucerys is illegitimate valid. I don’t know if he will enforce punishment on Vaemond or not for questioning the birth of the princes as he said anyone speaking out would be punished but Viserys isn’t very good at enforcing his rules. But then I could see Daemon either pushing for Vaemond to be punished or just taking matters into his own hands and either removing Vaemond’s tongue or just outright killing him and then pleading that Vaemond committed treason and that he was just enforcing the King’s own laws. I just don’t see Daemon letting it go that easily.

Family Dinner

It also looks like the Greens and the Blacks are going to be having a family dinner together.

I don’t know if this happens before or after the throne room dispute but I can see this coming about through two ways. One could be that the Greens invite the Blacks to dinner as a faux peace offering claiming they want to mend the rift between them but are actually just lulling them into a false sense of security so they won’t suspect that they are planning to crown Aegon behind Rhaenyra’s back, because you can bet that’s exactly what they are planning to do. This could be an alternative reason why we see Rhaenyra telling Rhaenys ‘this is a trap’ maybe she is talking about the dinner.

Another possibility though is that it could be that Viserys realises that he is very close to death now and wants to try one last ditch effort to reunite the two sides of his family before he pops his clogs. He requests that both sides put aside their differences and share this meal together in good will to heal the rifts between them. In the promo we hear him say ‘the crown cannot stand strong if the house of the dragon remains divided’. I don’t think it is going to go so well though. For one thing Alicent and Rhaenyra could not be sitting further away from each other so it doesn’t look like they are going to be talking through their differences:

Also in the promo, I couldn’t get a good shot of it, but we see Jace slam his hands on the table and rise out of his chair and Aegon is standing right behind him so I suspect Aegon has said something that has upset Jace:

There is also this shot of Aemond making a toast and judging from the smirk on his face I actually feel like there is going to be a veiled insult in there.

I think throughout the whole meal we’ll just see quiet insults being whispered. I think the toast will come first and then Aegon will whisper something in Jace’s ear which will cause him to snap. So he slams his hands on the table and then rises to confront Aegon. We also have these shots where a fight clearly breaks out between the four boys. We can see who I think is Jace throwing a punch and Aemond whilst Aegon and Lucerys are in the background and then another shot of Aegon slamming one of the boys’ head into the table whilst Baela looks on in shock.

I feel like at this point the parents must have left because I can not see them just standing by and letting them fight also what are these guards in the background doing because it doesn’t look like they are rushing in to break up the fight.

Ghosts of the Past?

This image intrigues me because I can’t quite make out who it is. They are definitely both Targaryens though as one thing is clear and that is that they both have white hair, you have a male asleep in bed and then a woman approaching the bed. So here are a few options I can think of. One is that it is Daemon and Rhaenyra. Maybe Rhaenyra is struggling to sleep and so has gotten up to wander around the room. Maybe she has become so troubled that she decides to approach the bed to wake Daemon up and talk through her troubles with him.

Another option is that it is Viserys in the bed and that Rhaenyra has snuck in to see her father and check on him. The only thing that makes me doubt that one is that surely there would be guards at the King’s door who would see Rhaenyra go in. Unless there is a secret passage that leads to his room too and Rhaenyra uses that to visit her father.

The last possibility I can think of is a heartbreaking one. There is a good possibility that Viserys will die in this episode. I assumed the woman had to be Rhaenyra as she looks pregnant but what if this is Viserys last moments and as he is dying he imagined Aemma is there, that she has come to collect him in a way, Aemma still pregnant with their son. Or maybe he is having a flashback to a memory of her in his last moments, maybe a memory of when she was pregnant with Rhaenyra or with Baelon. I can just see Viserys thinking about Aemma at his end.

The Whyte Wrym

Now usually when I see someone in a hood like this I immediately assume its Daemon and that he is up to no good. It definitely could be Daemon as he does have a connection with Mysaria, maybe he wants information about someone and so he goes to Mysaria to get it.

But there is another possibility here because in one of the trailers there is this shot of Aemond where he is wearing a black hood:

So maybe they are trying to trick us here in the trailer by making us think its Daemon in his trouble making cloak because he’s the one we are used to seeing in the cloak when actually its Aemond with Mysaria. What he would want with her I am not sure. We know that Mysaria has a informant relationship with Otto, we saw her receive payment from the boy who told Otto about the brothel incident. So maybe Otto sent Aemond to talk to Mysaria about something?

Anyway that is everything that I have got prediction wise. I am looking forward to the episode as always I am interested to see how the characters have developed and changed and what kind of dynamics they have with each other, especially with the kids now that they are older.

#hotd #hotd theories #house of the dragon #house of the dragon theories

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sepublic · 4 years ago

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The Season Finale Promo...!

New promo! The Season Finale promo, my heart can NOT take this…!

We get our very traumatic flashback to Eda’s transformation… Then we have a close-up shot of an Emperor’s Guard doing the drums! It’s probably a parade making a big announcement that YO, Eda the Owl Lady, the allegedly most powerful Witch on the Boiling Isles, has fallen to Emperor Belos! That’s right people if you think you had a chance against him before, well- Not anymore! Considering how young his reign is, Belos is 100% taking any chance to solidify and make it look good.

We see the book from the previous image, and I was right! It’s Belos! We get some little snippets of text, I can catch, “Belos…”, “The Savage Ages”, “from that and his past remains [unknown]”, “Savage Ages caused”, and “many people have proved willing to”… Obviously it’s making a big deal what an allegedly benevolent civilizer he is, how nobody knows where Belos came from (of course), and that if I had to guess, many were willing to fall in line with his Coven System! While I have no doubt that Belos had his fair share of voluntary supporters, I also wonder about, you know… Just how many WEREN’T in line. We also see him surrounded by flame, which further alludes to the fire in his throne room, as well as his implied genocides and executions!

We have Eda being released from Lilith’s bubble into the throne room of Belos, likely our first scene looking back at her since Agony of a Witch… And then we have King warning Luz against her crusade against Belos! We have a better look at the book cover, it’s called “The unauthorized Boiling Isles history,” yet it has the Emperor’s Coven symbol behind it? Did the EC spread its propaganda as having been the always-hidden truth, or is this someone basically taking the symbol of the EC and slapping a title over that screams, “Yeah these guys are SKETCHY, here’s why!”

The author’s name has been faded out, which only makes me more curious, but it’s also possible this won’t matter! There are no doubt many of who have defied him in the past and died… Regardless, we also get our code at the bottom of the cover, which- Whoops! It’s Blood, I guessed, you guessed it, we ALL guessed it! It’s Lilith, she’s the betrayal of blood.

NOW we have a shot of Belos with blue eyes, and I think these are his ‘regular’ eyes, because we can actually see his pupils (instead of them being drowned-out amidst the energy of a palisman’s bile)! His eyes are IDENTICAL to those of an Emperor’s Guard, which really makes me wonder if they’re the same species as him, or homunculu off-shoots made in his image? Regular Boiling Isles residents transformed by Belos’ brand to fit his ideal mold as magic-less enforcers? Or for all we know he stole the eyes of some poor Emperor’s Guard to replace his own… THAT would be a freaky thought, because…

We see him in what could be another section of his castle (there seems to be some weird, organic thing in the bottom-left corner), manifesting behind Luz initially as some… Mixed-up blob version of himself that properly solidifies into his ACTUAL intended shape! This practically confirms for me that Belos’ body isn’t all that well put-together, but there’s at least some benefit to this perhaps? Mostly it seems to be a hindrance to him. You know, I wonder if there’s some symbolism about a character who forces people to fit into a specific mold, having to do the same literally with his own deteriorating body…

What’s interesting is that he’s glowing RED when he manifests behind Luz, who KNOWS she’s messed up! Is this his natural spell-color, does this come from the Titan or some other previous victim? Regardless, the way he seems to form from the floor, this makes me wonder if the castle is essentially just another extension of him (as seen with his “I will know” line from earlier), and that because it’s a part of Belos, his body can just… disseminate within the structure and reassemble itself as it pleases!

His VA calls him ‘omnipotent’, I have to wonder if this is the result of his connection to the Titan’s Heart, and possibly the rest of the Boiling Isles; Like he can form ANYWHERE from the earth, which when coupled with my speculation about the growing limbs… It makes me wonder if Belos is basically destroying his body and constantly recreating/growing it from the ground-up to ‘teleport’! Pretty metal…

We have Luz not caring about Belos’ status, and GOOD FOR HER! She’s always had misguided optimism sure, but she’s also been someone who will take on the odds when she KNOWS what she’s doing is right! I love that defiant confidence, that she’ll give people space and room and be kind and gentle, but when it gets down to it she’s tougher than anyone else! You go, girl! I just… WANT her to go apeshit, Luz deserves it just this once, to utterly wreck her enemies!

Then we have Luz hiding as the same dude who reported on the Greater Basilisk attacks is on some orbs, announcing stuff –possibly Eda’s capture, Luz’s arrest warrant, a new big announcement by Belos for the next stage of his plan- and I have to wonder if Luz has a Wanted Poster now as well. Granted, if she did it’s a bit weird that the Emperor’s Coven didn’t bother capturing her back when she was RIGHT there at the end of Agony of a Witch… But at the same time, Luz roaming about might come as an alarm especially if she’s trying to sneak somewhere, so we’ll see.

We see Lilith by herself, holding Eda’s staff without Owlbert... But I think we see Owlbert in her other hand? I guess this confirms she’s okay, but it seems the throne room doors are closing on her, leaving her alone. I have to wonder if Belos is essentially telling her to ‘stay out of this’ while he does his own thing, and perhaps being in the same room with Owlbert is going to make Lilith have an epiphany... I HOPE at least...

We have a shot of Gus and Willow in their casual outfits but with their school cowls draped on, so I presume there’s been a sudden call for a town meeting by the Emperor’s Guard for an announcement! We can see Boscha’s green-haired friend, another Hexside student from the Oracle track (they were BOTH on the field trip to Belos’ castle), and what even appears to be the Lead Demon Hunter! I wonder how the Demon Hunters feel about the Coven System, if they were once Wild Witches and technically were when they debuted, but then they had to be bound to a coven after Willow destroyed their livelihood!

Then we have a tapestry of Belos being torn down, possibly by Eda while she’s messing around in her beast-form! Next is a shot of Eda’s portal to the human world opening up in a dungeon, which could be the conformatorium, but it could also be another section of Belos’ castle… And this WORRIES me, because. What if someone took Eda’s key and is banishing Luz into the human realm, like I feared- And THIS is our season finale cliffhanger!? On the bright side we’ll likely get a quick resolution on the whole Creepy Luz subplot, but…

…Honestly I do NOT want this girl separated from her family again! Even if it’s Eda turning back and thanking Luz for rescuing her, but still having to save her apprentice again as she sends Luz to the human world! Dana PLEASE…!

And then we have Luz and King looking justifiably wrathful as Luz asks someone that is apparently in some crystalline-magic prison, “Where’s Eda?!” And she is PISSED, do NOT mess with this girl, you go for it! Go get ‘em! I have to wonder if she’s defeated Lilith or some random Emperor’s Guard/Witch, maybe even Kikimora or Warden Wrath? We still have two shots of them from the Season 1B trailer that haven’t debuted yet!

…Either way my heart can NOT take this, so bring it OOOONNNN!!!!!

#the owl house #owl house #the owl house luz #luz noceda #the owl house belos #emperor belos #the owl house lilith #lilith clawthorne #the owl house eda #edalyn clawthorne #speculation #analysis

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hippychick006 · 5 years ago

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15.13: Destiny’s Child - Episode Review/Recap

[Image of episode missing, because out of 15 photos of the promo, only 1 photo was of Sam and Dean and it wasn’t that good. Other 14 photos were a combination of Ruby, Jo, Castiel and Jack - I shit you not]

I think this episode highlights beautifully many of the issues I and I know a lot of other people are having with the show.

The highlights of the episode are undoubtedly the scenes where AU Sam and Dean interact with our Sam and Dean. This is why I make a big deal of how much they are being paid per episode. Look at what happens when you write for the people earning the quarter of a million dollars in the episode. Look what happens when you have it just be them, with no “fan favourite” side characters to pander to. Chemistry happens, and watering that down or separating it entirely, adding someone into it or trying to force it between characters who just don’t have it, is one of the shows biggest issues in recent seasons and largest contributor to people not watching live or choosing not to watch at all because without that chemistry that made the show special, what are you left with?

Drabbernatural my friends, that’s what you’re left with.

The lowlights of the episode are all the scenes that have been written to pander to a small percentage of the watching audience, so pretty much the rest of the episode in all honesty.

Under a cut because some people are in denial.

THEN

Flashback to Castiel watching porn about a pizza man. All that’s in my head from this is Meg! I think we’re getting Meg (let’s be real, I know we’re getting Meg as it’s already been on my dash, but I would have still thought this regardless of spoilers). There it is, there’s the canon Megstiel kiss 😍. I’m amazed Dabb managed to keep his big mouth shut on this spoiler. Anyway, skip this in the entirety to move onto...

NOW

Loved, loved, loved this opening scene. 🥰. Loved everything about it from start to finish. No complaints whatsoever.

We start with Sam and Dean. Just Sam and Dean like the good old days 😍. I can’t believe how happy that makes me and they haven’t done anything yet.

Sam’s going through the books, Dean’s on the laptop, barely any space between them and they appear to be trying to find where Chuck is. They seem to be having no luck.

Sam: Any sign of him? Dean: Nah, nothing yet. Chucks probably trashing a few dozen universes outside of CNN’s range.

They hear a noise and rush to investigate. They see a bright light filtering through the bottom of the door of one the rooms. As they look at it, the light (as well as the noise) disappears. Instantly in hunter mode, Dean indicates for Sam to open the door and they see…

A tiny car that I thought was a mini but have been reliably informed by someone much more knowledgeable than me (which isn’t too difficult tbh) is a Fiat 500. Thank you @alexa-alcantara. It’s a cute little car, and a beautiful colour but my own experience of owning a Fiat is not a good memory. My garage telling me they call them the “Fix It Again Tony” of cars did not help me look any more favourably at them, but on the plus side, I built up a good relationship with my garage from the many hours I spent there. The car is in front of a portal so it’s clear it’s just come through from one of the other worlds.

Emerging from that cute little car is 12’ 6” of muscle in the form of AU Winchesters. The car practically groans in relief (I do see it lift up slightly) as they get out to the tune of “I want you” by Savage Garden.” Thank you once again Shazam as I’m as shit on music as I am at identifying cars.

Did I say I love this scene? I just…love this entire scene. AU Dean’s in the driving seat (of course), We see AU Sam’s foot emerge and he has no socks on – which I’m wondering is a shoutout to that photo shoot they had with no socks. Possibly it’s the fashion right now which I know even less about than cars or music. The entire scene, it’s just… perfection. It’s just so well shot, I love that AU Sam and Dean could not be more different from our Sam and Dean from their clothes to the hair. I’ve fallen in love with both these new characters within a 10 second timeframe and they haven’t even spoken yet! That is the genius of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles on screen, together, without extras, supported by the entire crew from special effects through to wardrobe. They can all bring their A game which makes it all the more disappointing in the scenes and episodes where they don’t bother.

AU Dean looks back at the portal they came through.

AU SAM: Bro…We did it

AU Sam and Dean fist bump at their success and I’m in danger of losing it. 😂 Side note to size kinkers; that is not Jared and Jensen’s hands there 😂. Hey, no judging from this blog, but I personally don’t consider Jared “huge” and Jensen “tiny”, but you do you.

AU Sam and Dean are too flushed with their own success of getting through the portal to notice our Sam and Dean yet. Meanwhile, our Sam and Dean are looking at the new arrivals with increasing horror.

AU Dean finally notices our Dean and we get the “Sam” “Dean” “Dean” “Sam” exchange between the four of them.

AU Sam and Dean: What the heck? Our Sam and Dean: What the hell?

Somewhere, I’m hoping that there’s an AU world where they say, “What the fuck?” because I think that would really please Jared.

Each look horrified at the other – I think AU!Sam may be on the point of tears seeing his doppelgänger dressed in plaid.

The portal starts making a loud ominous noise, AU Dean says “aw nuts” and AU Sam and Dean look at each other before the portal goes haywire, exploding in a bright white light, causing our versions to shield their eyes. When they look back up, AU Winchesters, the car and the portal have all disappeared and the room is back to normal.

What the Heck? You bring them back right now show! Don’t be bringing in waste of space or “fan favourite” characters when all I want is these two.

Sadly, the show does not listen, and we’re forced against our will onto the next scene.

Sam and Dean are explaining to waste of space that a rift opened in the armoury (is that right? I didn’t see any weapons in that room, but it sounded like he said armoury). Sam says two guys stepped out that looked just like them. Dean: except not, and don’t even get me started about the car. Waste of space does not understand which is his standard operating procedure since his first episode tbh. I’m not sure if this is still supposed to be funny; it’s been 11 years since season 4. 😴.

Dean says welcome to the club.

What? The dumbass club? Sam and Dean are such dumbasses that they need Billie to suddenly appear to confirm they’ve met an AU version of themselves running from their reality. Seriously? 😡. They know other worlds are being destroyed, they rescued Kaia from one in the process of being destroyed and that was only last week! They don’t think that other Sam and Deans in other universes are going to be figuring out what’s happening and trying to do something to stop it? It doesn’t make sense. Sam and Dean do reckless things, but they aren’t dumb. 😡

As an aside, what I loved about the AU Sam and Dean we just met, is that they didn’t try to save their world, they were only interested in saving their own pretty asses by trying to jump worlds and I love how different they are from our Sam and Dean who would, and have, sacrificed themselves in a heartbeat to save their world.

I used to like Billie but all the monologuing over the last couple of episodes is 😴 which is not the actresses fault, but there are also some issues with delivery of the lines (because it’s boring). Key point from this entire boring scene is:

Billie: He’s almost done, wrapping up all those other worlds and when he is…Sam: it’s our turn

Billie agrees and says they need to be prepared. She has the next step… for Jack.

Jack appears on cue, eating a sandwich. He says he’s ready and feeling good about it. I’m feeling I’m missing a scene somewhere. Did he already have a chat with Billie, so he knows what she’s about to say? I’m not sure but don’t care enough to spend any time on it.

Billy monologues that the first quest (eating the hearts) was to strengthen Jack’s body. Step 2 is more spiritual in nature.

Waste of space: can you be more specific? Me: you’re that asshole that asks questions during presentations, aren’t you? Give her a chance to monologue ffs. She was just about to tell us before your unnecessary interruption. I don’t even have a clue what your contribution to this scene is, other than pre-emptory meltdown avoidance of 200 accounts on twitter. Death: Jack needs to find the occultum Sam: the occultum? Occultum, that’s Latin for… hidden. Where do we find it? Me: you’re so smart 😍 Death (sarcastic): I don’t know… It’s hidden

Ah yes, a side character making the Winchesters look stupid never gets old. 🙄

Anyway, more boring monologuing later, it’s been hidden for centuries, it’s sacred and potent. It’s not a weapon per se but it’s powerful.

Dean(sarcastically): Okay, thanks, big help.

She asks Jack if he’s ready and he says he is. She says that’s good, that they have to be ready and vigilant and not stupid (looks at the Winchesters). Dean’s eyeroll matches mine almost exactly. Sick, fed up of the Winchesters being called stupid by side characters. Oh, I said that already. Well I am!

Avoiding this scene in future and moving on.

Sam and Dean are researching the occultum. Or at least Sam’s researching and ranting about the occultum, but Deans playing with an elastic band and barely listening. Sam gets his attention and asks what he’s doing. Dean’s thinking about things and how if Jack kills god, that still leaves “you know who”. Sam says: Amara. Dean thinks that if Jack kills god, he’ll have to kill her too, because if you take Chuck off the board, that throws things out of balance and the world ends. If there’s no God or Darkness, nothing is out of balance.

Sam: Okay, Yeah, but who takes over, Jack?

Dean contemplates that and is about to answer when Jack walks in, blowing a bubblegum bubble and announcing he just learned how to do that.

Dean turns back to Sam: Probably not

I love little scenes like this, zero pandering, just classic Supernatural and classic Dean. 😍

Overall, it was another good brother scene (taking aside the boring plot which we can’t do anything about).

Parents Sam and Dean speak to Jack about how he’s going to take down Chuck because Billie hasn’t been clear on the plan.

Dean: Yeah, when you go up against Chuck, you’re gonna what? (makes boxing moves), duck and weave, or just go in for the full smite? 😂

My Dean is back with the one liners in this episode and I love him.

Jack: Yeah, you know, something like that

Dean’s face. 😂

Unsurprisingly Sam and Dean are not reassured, they’re about to ask more questions when waste of space walks in and good news guys! Unbelievably, He has information from fellow waste of space/plot device Sergei (does waste of space only have one contact?). The show aren’t even trying anymore with this shit. Istg. 🙄 Ah what would we do without waste of space? Definitely have a much more decent episode if I’m going to be perfectly honest.

Anyway, when waste of space announces who he has information from:

Dean: Him? Are we that desperate? 😂

Of course, Sergei knows about the occultum 🙄. He would have been extremely useful to have had around in the early seasons. Each episode would have been tied up in 30 seconds with one phonecall to the font of all knowledge. I hate characters like this and the laziness of the writing to continue to fallback on him.

Supernatural writer: Hey boss, I’m stuck a little on the occultum storyline Dabb: Have you tried using waste of space and Sergei? Supernatural writer: I didn’t think of that! Great idea, thanks! I guess that’s why you’re the boss! Me: 🙄 you lazy 🤬

Waste of space monologues about the occultum and what happened to it, he starts off that its divine in origin and was housed in a temple for hundreds of years before…

Dean: it was plundered by pirates! Waste of space: No Dean: it was dug up by tomb raiders! Waste of space: No Dean: it was seized by the king of the dead and his war lords. Am I close? Waste of space: looted by invading mongol hoardes for trade on the black market Dean: on the black market (looks at Sam) That’s what I thought. I was going to say that next, that was the next one.

Sam indulges his hunter husband. Oh wait, this is our Sam and Dean, not the AU version. Rewinds to check. No, Sam is indulging his hunter husband. He asks waste of space where it is now.

Long explanation later, the object was given to a faith healer in return for saving the owners life.

Faith healer? How convenient. Now, who do we know that’s a faith healer? 🙄

Waste of space doesn’t have a name – are you kidding me? He must have had a name to go to the faith healer. He at least has a description. She was attractive 🙄 and had glowing hands while healing.

It’s your wife, Jensen! Erm I mean, Sister Jo.

Imagine that entire scene with waste of space and Sergei plot device removed, Sam found the information from research and that entire conversation was between him and Dean. Infinitely better and rewatchable.

Sam and Dean go off to visit Jensen’s wife Sister Jo who at this point of the show’s run has somehow been cast in 4 previous episodes and every single appearance has been completely forgettable. This one is no different.

I’m going to rant for a second. This stunt casting, bringing back of “fan favourites”, nepotism, lazy writing crap is really dragging the quality of the show down. We’ve had so many shit, boring, waste of time episodes this season. You could have replaced a couple of them with the Winchesters trying to track down this elusive but needed item. Make it hard for them, get rid of Sergei and Jensen’s wife Sister Jo and make the finding of this artefact interesting and more believable by introducing new characters for them to interact with. This is just… really bleh.

Anyway, Sam and Dean go to see one of the most boring characters ever created, and that includes waste of space who was badass in season 4-5, a dick yes, but a badass none the less so he gets a pass. This is not a good scene, it’s worth fast forwarding and forgetting it ever existed, not least because of bad dialogue and questionable acting. I am really, really not a wife hater, but neither will I give someone a free pass because of who they are married to. You come on the show, you get judged on your own merits, same as any other guest actor. Long story short, they want the thingamajig I’ve forgotten the name of because I had a 6 hour watching break to work up to watching this scene and that was not nearly long enough. Jo doesn’t want to give it to them, and Sam and Dean pull angel blades on her. She says she didn’t have it, Ruby does.

Where’s that gif. Where the fuck is that gif? Oh, found it…

This next scene, I just 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬. Okay, I can do this, woman’s up and presses play, weeping for what once was the entire time I’m watching.

We get a pointless scene which as predicted, is nothing less than a gimmick, written only to have “the wives” on the show in the same episode and in the same scene. I think this is the angriest I’ve ever been watching a show and we haven’t reached the point in the episode where Sam is reduced to a doorstopper. Oh yes, that gem has still to come. 🤬😡🤬!!!

Somehow, even though Ruby is terrified of angels and Jo wasn’t on earth at the same time as Ruby, they somehow not only met, but worked together. Jo says the vessel suits Ruby better than the blond. Not in this household missy. We stan the infinitely better Katie Cassidy (fine there might have been a childhood crush on watching reruns of her father that sways the debate in her favour slightly but that’s neither here nor there!).

Okay, no sorry. I thought I could take one for the team, but I can’t. This entire scene would not ever have been made if the show was in the hands of a competent showrunner. It’s just complete nonsense with absolutely no attempt by the writer to respect the audience or canon and not worth even documenting what happens as it’s all a crock of 💩. Do yourselves a favour and ignore it. All you need to know is Ruby has the thingamajig they need. It was stashed somewhere in hell.

Back at the bunker, Jack has take out, lots and lots of take out; pizza (no pineapple), fried chicken, hot dogs, nachos, Chinese food… Waste of space joins him. They talk about Jack not having a soul. Jack says he understands why Sam and Dean were angered by what happened to Mary

Castiel: by what you did to Mary

He gets a pass for this line (and his name back briefly) because it needed to be said so he wasn’t a waste of space for once.

Jack sees things have changed, especially with Dean.

I see a bit of chatter on this one. I don’t understand the chatter. Sam forgives people, this goes way back that he’s able to forgive people and not hold a grudge. He’s had a darkness inside him his entire life, he’s had to fight against his nature to be who he is, so of course he’s going to be more forgiving, more understanding of someone he sees as being similar to him. Add to the fact that Sam did not build a strong relationship with Mary - he’s sad she’s gone - but I think he’s more accepting of it than Dean. All of this has been shown in episodes, so when Jack asks, “Will he ever forgive me?” He’s not asking about Sam because he knows through Sam’s words and actions that Sam has forgiven him, but he knows Dean hasn’t. I don’t have an issue with this, and you know I’m a bitter Sam fan, I’ll reserve my anger for later in the episode.

So, for me, waste of space only talks about Dean for the same reason (and shockingly not because he’s gay for the human). He says, “Dean, he feels things more acutely than any human I’ve ever known, so it’s possible he can work through this. One day he may explode, let it all out and breath deeply and move on.”

Jack asks how long that will take. waste of space says he doesn’t know.

I understand the point of the scene, it’s not the worst. I’d prefer if my boys were saving people, hunting things obviously, but this was an okay scene. I do like Alex and what he brings to the table – though don’t like when too much focus is put on him or Sam’s relationship with him is sidelined.

Sam and Dean return to the bunker. Dean asks if Sam’s sure they can swing this again. Sam says they still have Rowena’s notes from the spell. Dean: Okay, Samwitch, lets do this.” I love how Dean hates witches, he was still wary of Rowena though could see her uses, but the minute Sam is a witch, Dean’s all aboard the witch train. 😂

Waste of space appears, Dean tells him that they sorta know where the occultum is. Waste of space looks worried and they know something is wrong. They follow him through the bunker to one of the rooms. Their AU selves are projected on the wall. I just… Why was the entire episode not their doppelgängers? I love them. AU Dean screams (but we can’t hear him). AU Sam seems far more relaxed about the situation. They can’t see or hear our Sam or Dean. Sam asks waste of space where they are.

Waste of space thinks the blast trapped them between dimensions as the rift and their world was destroyed. AU Dean tapping on the wall, and trying to get a cell phone signal, I just can’t… 😂

Dean: Are they in pain? Waste of space doesn’t think so. Dean says “Good” goes to leave. Sam tries to stop him. Dean says they’ll deal with them, but first they have to go to hell. Waste of space: woah, you do?

Sam explains that’s where Jo said Ruby stashed the occultum

Waste of space: Ruby? The demon you were sexually intimate with? Dean: Sexually intimate? Sam (strongly): Yes!

I’ve seen a lot of chatter on this one as well. Some claiming that Dean is questioning the choice of wording by waste of space. I don’t see that. I see this as another fail, that they are somehow trying to claim Dean doesn’t know Sam and Ruby had a sexual relationship, even though Sam went into it in explicit detail in “I know what you did last summer”, to the point Dean asked him to stop. If they were going for the choice of wording, they failed in both facial expressions and dialogue.

They have a discussion, not worth repeating, too much focus on waste of space. Upshot is Sam and Dean are going to Hell.

Sam and Dean arrive on the Charmed set in Hell. I’m expecting them to meet Julian McMahon striding down the corridor. They meet a demon who informs them that Rowena is hosting a reception for newly condemned souls. The demon doesn’t seem happy about that. He starts taking them to Rowena. This is a pretty pointless scene tbh.

Back in the bunker, waste of space says to Jack that he doesn’t trust Jo’s story, he wants to speak to Ruby who apparently is in the empty. I’m losing it with where entities end up these days. I’m guessing if demons are exorcised, like Meg was, then they go back to Hell. If they are killed permanently, like Alastair was by Sam, they end up in the Empty? I guess it makes sense.

Anyway, waste of space needs Jack’s assistance to get to the empty. He needs Jack to kill him…

Damn, false alarm, it’s only an “almost kill”. Yeah, I would probably be too thorough. Okay Jack, carry on, you’re up.

I don’t understand how he’ll be able to do anything in the empty, won’t he be kept in a state of nothing?

Jack reminds waste of space that the empty doesn’t like him. Waste of space says he’s far from happy so he should be okay.

Jack: Cass, I, I may not have a soul, but I know killing you is wrong, what if I screw up? Waste of space: well then, I’ll be lost forever… but I think you’ll do fine.

Jack has to draw out most of waste of space’s life force into a flask, and keep an eye on him so he doesn’t die for real. He also has to tend the spell to ensure Sam and Dean are not lost in Hell forever either (but to me it seems really easy to get in and out of, not like the early days so don’t see them being stuck there as a problem). Remember back in season 2 when hell was this...

Sam: Hell is like, um ... (punches Dean)... well, it's like hell, even for demons. (punches Dean again)... It's a prison, made of bone and flesh and blood and fear.

Good times. Now we have Barbie!Hell and anyone can just walk in and it isn’t scary. But yeah, tell me again that I should stop being critical and the show hasn’t deteriorated beyond all recognition

Sam and Dean follow the lackey they met in Hell to where Rowena is hosting a meet and greet for the new arrivals to Hell. Or at least that’s where they were supposed to be taken, turns out it’s a trap. Of course, it is, because dumchesters 🙄, but at least we get a decent fight out of it as they are set upon by three demons carrying angel blades. Dean kills two, Sam holds the third hostage so they can find out who betrayed them. Unsurprisingly it was Jo 🙄 Sam then kills the demon (after Dean gives a nod to do so).

Dean: that bitch set us up!

We switch to sister Jo and see her packing up and leaving, so she must know her plan failed, and Sam and Dean will soon be after her.

We’re now in The Empty with waste of space and for sure as shit, this scene changing whiplash, disregard of canon, lack of continuity between other episodes, focus on side characters has to mean this is a suck-lemons episode. He’s shouting for Ruby. He doesn’t get her, we hear, “Hello Clarence”

Waste of space spins around and it’s Meg! He’s so happy to see her and disappointed that it’s the empty. No offence to Rachel, love her, she does great in the episode and Megstiel will always be canon, but just not interested in any of this.

Next scene is waste of space and Ruby. Fast forwarding other than to say no sweetie, Sam didn’t kill you, but I don’t blame you, I blame the writers who are too lazy to do any research. Sam should have killed you, but it was Dean that did it.

Another scene between Ruby and Jo, as forgettable as the first. Lucifer and Michael weren’t circling their vessels when you were still breathing you morons. Lucifer hadn’t yet been released, but what is canon on this show when you can blast it aside and have the wives in a scene together and isn’t it wonderful? Eh, I’m gonna say hard no on that one.

Another scene between Ruby and waste of space. In true Ruby style, she’ll help him if he gets her out of the empty. Oh, and the occultum is a place, not a thing, that’s all we need to know.

Fast forwarding all of this as it’s pandering trite, not worthy of my time, besides the dumbchesters are back from Hell and I think Jack might be in trouble with them.

Jack (guilty): Guys… you’re back Dean (looking between Jack and waste of space’s body): Jack? What the hell?

Severe whiplash alert! We’re back with Ruby and waste of space. Ruby monologues that the Empty is a place where all you do is dream about your regrets over and over for eternity. Well then, just as well I have no regrets in life, other than watching seasons 12-14 of Supernatural. Wait, imagine that on repeat for eternity. NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Waste of space says he knows. In fairness to waste of space, at least he will have a vast range of playbacks on the amount of regrets he should have over the years, so he won’t get bored anytime soon.

Whiplash alert! We’ve left the corned beef actors and are back with the porterhouse steak. They advance on Jack.

Jack: He’s dead, kind of… for now Sam: What?!

Whiplash! Get me back to the porterhouse damn it! Waste of space agrees to try to get Ruby out, she whispers in waste of space’s ear, “the occultum, it’s…”

Whiplash! I’m suing at this point in the episode tbh.

Jack: Cass went to the empty, hopefully to find Ruby, hopefully to find out where this occultum thing is located, hopefully (puppy eyes)

Whiplash! Ruby steps away and disappears. Waste of space’s face is interesting, and I’m intrigued where it is.

Whiplash!

Sam and Dean’s faces. 😂

Sam: that’s way too many hopefullys! Dean: Bring him back, now!

Okay Hellers, here’s a test. If Sam had said that line, would you have interpreted it as Sam speaking as a parent or Sam concerned about waste of space because he’s secretly in love with him? Dean is obviously concerned, but he’s speaking to Jack as a parent.

Jack opens the flask to release waste of space’s grace. But The Empty (still in Meg’s form) is reluctant to let him go. Turns out as she’s torturing waste of space that The Empty has a deal with Death, she helps Death and she can go back to sleep when Death’s plan works. We alternate between waste of space being tortured and Jack trying to revive him.

Dean: come on, wake up pal. Dean: Come on Cass, come on Dean: Cass!

Pandering!

Waste of space wakes up. The Empty says, “see you soon”

I hope she does because yes, I love watching a show where my leads are made out to be dumbasses and the waste of space that should have been killed off years ago is the hero. I’m losing count of how many episodes that’s happened this season. Sick of it. 🤬

Waste of space (looks at Dean): you made it back Dean: Yeah, and so did you! You’re an idiot by the way! Sam chimes in: What if this hadn’t worked?

Waste of space says it did [work]. The occultum was never in Hell. The occultum is the safest place in the world. Jo was never going to give that up. Waste of space knows where it is and asks, “Am I still an idiot?”

I’m actually so angry right now. Who does this? What shitty writer makes their lead cast look like idiots in order to big up a side character. What does he have on someone because I’m at a loss for any other logical explanation at this point for them willingly ruining the show.

Anyway, Dean says “well yeah”. Me: hell to the fuck yeah, you’re still an idiot and I hate you even more after this episode than I did before.

Sam wants to go to the place.

Jack reminds them if Chuck checks in on them and sees what they’re doing, they’ll lose.

Dean’s plan involves using their doppelgängers to pretend to be them. They’ll open up a rift and he thinks waste of space’s grace will be enough to pull them through. Sam thinks it might also blast them to another world.

AU Sam and Dean are playing rock, paper, scissors. AU Sam throws scissors and wins. AU Dean’s reaction. 😂

Sam mixes up the spell for the portal and they place it at the wall where AU Sam and Dean are trapped. Bright light later and…

… it obviously works because AU Sam and AU Dean are now sitting at the map table with a beer in front of each of them. Our Sam and Dean are currently standing. And I cannot do any justice to this scene. It is perfect from start to finish. Go watch the genius of Jared and Jensen at play with no one else cluttering up the scene.

Upshot of this scene is that AU John is (or was) alive, they got separated coming through the portal. He spoils them, (Dean: he spoils you?!) John has set up a very successful business called Huntercorp. They get paid (Dean: you get paid?!) for hunting monsters all over the world and have a private jet. I would ask what they’re doing driving around in a Fiat 500 instead of a luxury car, but I’m having too much fun, so it gets a free pass and I won’t nitpick. Let’s headcanon it’s all they could get a hold of to get through the rift and leave it at that. They keep toasting their beers to their dad, “the best guy ever” but they don’t seem too cut up that he and their world have gone splody. I love these versions, they seem to be fine they made it through and they have each other. I’d like to see one without the other as I think they’d give our brothers a run for their money in the codependency stakes.

AU Sam’s pinkie is raised while he drinks, and I can’t with the silent genius that is Jared Padalecki when he inhabits a character.

Our Sam and Dean during all of this. 😂.

Dean explains to the AU’s that they need them to pose as them for a while. In order to do that, Sam tells his AU self he has to lose the man bun. AU Sam’s reaction 😂. He is not happy. AU Dean closes his eyes and sits back, putting a hand over his mouth. I thought at first he wasn’t happy at our Sam, but no, the reaction is because he knows how his Sam reacts about his hair (*whispers* I suspect AU Dean has suggested many times that AU Sam let his hair down… for reasons and AU Sam has refused, so its an old argument). Sure enough, AU Sam says he will not. Our boys ignore that and also tactfully suggest they will need to change their clothes.

Next, we see the impala at night, driving towards a church. All TFW 2.0 are in the car. 🙄

They walk up to the church doors and Jack says he knows he hasn’t been doing this as long as them, but doesn’t it seem too easy.

They agree and at that moment hear a growling.

Jack: is that a bear?

Dean starts trying to get the church doors open by picking the lock

Sam: No, it’s more like uh… Waste of space: hellhounds Sam (as the hellhounds are approaching): Dean… Dean, you wanna hurry a little bit?

Dean gets the door open and they all get inside just in time. Sam and Dean get the door closed and Dean asks Sam if he’s got it. I’ve seen a lot of chatter on this one. This scene alone highlights one of the many, many things wrong with the show and why it’s no longer enjoyable. I think they were trying for ha ha comedy. Sam trying to keep the door closed while they are all standing around like idiots, but it isn’t funny and reduces Sam down to muscle rather than what he actually brings to the show, and both waste of space and Jack are stronger.

Waste of space should have been holding the door (or not been there at all, which is preferable) and the scene should have been Sam, Dean and Jack. No excuses for why it wasn’t done this way (other than pandering). A line of pandering is annoying but acceptable, sidelining Jared to cater an entire scene to them is completely unncceptable. You’ve pissed off the Jared/Sam fans which are many more than Misha/Castiel (despite what they try to tell themselves), and you’ve pissed off the brother fans which are the majority of the audience.

Waste of space says the top of the cross points the way and they all look up at the cross high on the church wall.

As a side note, the Hellers are so cute, counting Sam and Dean standing in a church with their “son” as their wedding. Refrains from slapping 8.23 down in front of them where Dean actually said some vows along the lines of “don’t you ever dare think there is anything past or present that I would put in front of you!” 😍

Sam (being paid $250k for this): Guys! Can you maybe move it along?

That’s not the cross they are looking for, because at that point, clouds miraculously clear outside, allowing moonlight to shine through a window and highlights an area on the church floor. I mean I like that x marks the spot but I’m not sure about time of day/year and position in the sky etc. to know if this is realistic, like will it still be the exact same spot at 6pm in December as it is midnight in summer?

Jack points it out to them and Dean bends down to open the floorboard.

Sam: Guys, I can’t hold them forever!

Dean lifts the floorboard which contains a velvet bag. He opens the bag and pulls out a golden snitch. He hands it to waste of space and asks if it’s a map. Jack suggests it might be a key. Waste of space reads the enochian passage on the golden snitch (which if he hadn’t been written into this scene, Sam could have done that).

Golden Snitch: in order to be in the occultum, the occultum must be in you. Me (immediately): swallow it!

There’s a reason Sam’s holding the doors closed as he’d have got that within a second. The others are just looking around dumbly. 🙄

Back with AU Winchesters and AU Sam, wearing plaid, man bun still in place, is watching “powderpuff princess and friends” channel on the laptop, which seems to be about kittens. 😂 AU Dean appears carrying two beers

Au!Dean: they said lose the man bun, Samuel (love that he goes by Samuel) Me: Wow, AU Dean really wants Sam to let his hair down…for reasons AU Sam: look, hillbilly clothes are bad enough, I have to draw the line somewhere and my hair… is sacred (Jared added this 😂)

AU!Dean rolls his eyes, denied once again.

AU Sam asks what they do now. AU Dean says, drink beer and sit in front of a computer screen

AU Sam: that’s their lives? He’s still drinking the beer with the pinkie out. 😂. Chuck would know straight away this wasn’t Sam and Dean. Sam’s face drinking the beer. 😂 He’s high maintenance for sure. AU Dean is much less fussy and I think would adapt quite well to the new world.

AU!Dean has found our Dean’s bustyasianbeauty.com internet history. 😂

AU Sam: Can you imagine if dad caught us with that kind of stuff? Goodbye trust funds.

AU!Sam’s not interested in the ladies and I don’t think he’s happy that AU Dean is either.

AU!Dean: I gotta tell you Sammy, this Sam and Dean, you know, sure they’re simple, but they’ve got this place of their own, there’s no quarterly reports, there’s no investor calls, there’s nothing to do but hunt monsters, drink beer and watch porn. AU!Sam: Yeah AU!Dean: they’ve got it made

Switch to our Sam and he’s really struggling with keeping the hellhounds out, while waste of space and Dean are arguing is another pandering scene (which has already had at least four in the episode). It’s been written solely to please the 1%ers who no doubt will create thousands of tweets from their 200 accounts with “old married couple and their son.”

These people are incapable of looking at characters and continuity, they don’t care if it’s likely a character will do something just as long as they get content for their ship. But I care, the majority of the audience care. The Dean we know and love would just not under any circumstances abandon Sam at the door on his own. This is where the writing is failing. If they are incapable of writing a scene that makes sense in the bigger scheme of things, that doesn’t change the standard operating procedure of one of the two leads, then it has no place in the show. I could have written a scene between waste of space and Dean that would have given the 1%ers more than enough fodder (they get excited over lamps, it wouldn’t be that hard to do), while at the same time, not ruining Dean’s core character or sidelining Sam to be a doorstopper for an entire fucking scene. Besides, all the old married couples I know are old and still married because they never argue, they finish each other sentences and smile fondly at their idiot other half when they do something idiotic, because it’s their idiot. Kind of like… Sam and Dean.

Jack ignores them as much as I do, he turns away while they are still arguing. When he turns back, Dean looks at him,

Dean: “Where’s the thing?” Jack: I ate it Dean: You What?! Jack: well, he said it had to be in me… so… Dean (internally) Sammy’s going to fucking kill me. (Externally) No! spit it out! Jack (laughing): it’s fine, nothings happening

Something’s definitely happening as Jack doubles over in pain. Sam can only watch helplessly from the door as a bright light erupts from within Jack and then he disappears.

Again, that scene would have been infinitely more watchable if waste of space hadn’t been shoved into the space Sam should have been, but no, he’s still holding a fucking door closed. I shit you not. 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬🤬😡🤬😡🤬🤬🤬!

Jack wakes up in what we find out is the garden of Eden. The creepy little girl from Angel approaches him. “You must not be human, humans may not enter here, are you an angel?” Jack says it’s complicated but asks why humans can’t be here. She says they were banished, and god hid the garden away from them. Jack says he was told the place might change him somehow. She responds that it might if he’s the chosen one. He’ll know soon enough. She leaves him alone. I’m speculating at this point that Jack isn’t the right person, but Sam is.

We whiplash briefly back to the church. Yes, my fellow Sam fans, Sam is still a $250k doorstopper while waste of space and Dean continue to argue. This isn’t good drama for anyone. Dean is completely ooc in not helping Sam.

Harry Potter Jack meets the garden of Eden snake. Luckily Jack can understand parcel-tongue as the snake talks to him. Who are you really? Who are you meant to be?

We get various flashbacks, none of which show Sam all that much, and I think that’s deliberate, though badly done. The one person Jack has never had to question until the malac box was Sam. I still maintain that Jack knows Sam forgives him and loves him unconditionally, but he knows Dean doesn’t, which is why the focus was on Dean. The annoyance would have been much less if Sam hadn’t been a doorstopper in place of a significantly lesser character.

Anyway, Jack collapses on the ground and he’s crying by the end of it. Same Jack, same tbh.

Back at the church, a bright ball of light comes through the cross window and floats down towards the church floor, right in front of Sam before moving to hover between Sam and Dean (again if waste of space hadn’t been there, this would have been a much better scene).

Sam’s thrown away from the doors and lands on the floor. Dean rushes forward to stand in front of his brother… oh wait, no, that’s in my version, the suck-lemons version has Dean actually take a step back, while the hellhounds advance on Sam who is closest to them. Like he literally doesn’t move a fucking inch, and people are asking why we are unhappy? Who the fuck was that, because it wasn’t Dean Winchester. 😡

The bright light gets brighter, I think it kills the hellhounds, rather than just repels them. When the light clears, Sam sees Jack lying on the floor in front of him. He says “Jack” which draws the attention of Dean who shouts “Jack”. Oh, that gets Dean’s feet moving 🙄. They watch as Jack sits up and Dean asks him if he’s okay. Jack doesn’t answer.

Back with Dean and AU!Winchesters. Dean’s trying to herd them out the bunker, thanking them for their help. AU!Dean suggests they could all live in the bunker together.

AU!Sam: like a club (AU!Dean points at Sam in agreement).

Our Dean doesn’t share his toys very well and thinks that would just be weird.

AU!Dean (he definitely wants our Sam, with the whole hair down thing he’s got going on): it wouldn’t be so weird

Dean knows what AU!Dean wants and tells them to go to Brazil

AU Dean asks if they can keep the flannel shirts, Dean says no, and tries to hurry them along.

AU Sam and Dean turn to go, but AU!Dean turns back and says that when they were looking around, they saw it

Dean: It? AU!Dean: the car Dean: You didn’t…. touch it AU!Sam: We “drove” in it 😉 Dean: You What?!

Awkward looks all around until AU!Dean says, “And we’re leaving…” smacking AU!Sam on the shoulder and pushing him up the bunker stairs.

AU!sam: oww, my arm, you’re hurting me!” AU!Dean: Sam! AU!Sam: Dean… Dean (angry): Have fun in Rio!

I like the scene so I’m trying not to nitpick the fact the car was with our Sam and Dean and the AU versions couldn’t possibly have found it, much less “drove” in it.

Dean goes to find Sam who is leaning on the wall outside I’m guessing Jack’s room. He asks if the kid is okay. Sam says he doesn’t know. Waste of space comes out and says Jack seems to have recovered but there’s something different about him. No one’s been to the garden since the exile, until Jack.

They all go in, yes, even waste of space, and it turns out it wasn’t Jack’s room, but the kitchen and I have to seriously question why Sam - who is unquestionably Jack’s main parent - was outside and not with him. *whispers Jared has obviously done something or not done something to bring the petty wrath of Dabb down upon his beautiful head, no other explanation at this point. Roll on Walker and Jared ensuring that show doesn’t get stolen out from under him by a backstabbing co-worker and petty showrunner.

They approach Jack and he says he is so sorry. He is crying and says it was his fault.

Waste of space says Jack’s soul is back.

Jack looks up at Sam and Dean and asks them to forgive him but the camera focuses in only on Dean. Pats my fellow Sam fans consolingly on their heartbroken backs.

#spn spoilers #15.13 #destiny's child #episode review #episode recap #spn critical #very critical #anti dabb #anti castiel #anti everyone involved in this show right now #tbh

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searchingwardrobes · 5 years ago

Text

Self Promo Sunday: Hope for the Orphans

This was my very first fic, and it’s really hard for me to believe that it’s almost four years old! It’s never been posted on tumblr before, nor have I ever made art for it. So here it is: my way of bringing little!Killian and little!Emma together - in canon. I hope these two cuties bring a smile to your face (even in the midst of their canon-compliant troubles.)

I also wrote this for @whimsicallyenchantedrose whose writing I have always admired. Little did I know back then that she would become a wonderful friend! Love ya, Jen!

Summary: One night, while remembering his mother, nine year old Killian Jones asks the man in the moon a question. The next thing he knows, he’s in a strange realm meeting a seven year old Emma Swan at a Valentine’s Day party. Could she be the answer to his question?

Rating: G

Trigger warnings: mentions of child abuse (very vague), and a very ill Killian as a child

Words: 6k and some change

Also on A03

Tagging my usuals: @snowbellewells @kmomof4 @xhookswenchx @let-it-raines @teamhook @bethacaciakay @tiganasummertree @welllpthisishappening @wellhellotragic @winterbaby89 @sherlockianwhovian @superchocovian @shireness-says @spartanguard @optomisticgirl @stahlop @resident-of-storybrooke @thislassishooked @ilovemesomekillianjones @lfh1226-linda @ultraluckycatnd @jennjenn615 @ekr032-blog-blog @nikkiemms @hollyethecurious @profdanglaisstuff @kday426 @distant-rose @carpedzem @ohmakemeahercules @branlovestowrite @delirious-latenight-laughs @scientificapricot @snidgetsafan @vvbooklady1256

When Killian Jones first saw Emma Swan, he had the strangest sensation that he had met her before. It was like a long-forgotten detail that niggled the back of his brain, and just as he began to grasp it, away it slipped like grains of sand. So he was delighted when it had been Emma Swan to volunteer to climb the beanstalk with him. “I was hoping it’d be you.” And as they climbed, he uncannily just knew things about her. That she was an orphan, for one. He wasn’t lying when he said she had the look of a lost boy in her eyes, but he noticed the look after the knowing. “Open book,” he had told her, but he hadn’t the slightest clue how or why.

The longer he knew her, the more he felt he had always known her. Of course, he never voiced this to Emma. He knew his Swan – he knew if he said such a thing it would terrify her. So it wasn’t until the night of their honeymoon, that he voiced it in the dark.

“From the moment we met, I have felt . . . like I’ve always known you.”

Emma surprised him with her response. “You too?” she asked, propping her chin on his chest. He could just make out the green of her eyes by the light from the bedside lamp. There was no fear there, not anymore.

Killian gazed down at her, confused. “You mean you’ve felt that way too?” At her answering nod, he asked, “How long?”

Emma snuggled into his side before answering. “Since the first day we met. I looked into your eyes and thought that I knew you from somewhere. I mean – I’m not saying it was love at first sight or anything-“ he could almost feel her roll her eyes at that notion – “it was more like a vague ‘I’ve seen this guy somewhere before,’ know what I mean?”

Killian chuckled, “Exactly.”

They both fell silent for a moment, contemplating what it might mean. Emma finally scooted herself up to nuzzle his neck. She murmured against his skin, “It’s probably just the whole true love thing.” How far his Swan had come to speak of it so matter-of- factly!

“Hmmm, “he sighed, as she lightly kissed his jaw. “And pray tell, love, exactly what does that mean?”

“You know,” she murmured as she lazily kissed a path across his face, “two souls destined to be together. Kindred spirits who recognized one another immediately, despite all reason. That sort of thing.”

And that was what they decided. The soul mates cliché. After all, what other explanation could there be?

*****************************************

Nine year old Killian Jones stuck his head slowly out of the hatch leading below decks, so only his eyes were visible through a narrow crack. He searched carefully to be sure no other sailors were above deck. He knew, of course, that there was a sailor on watch up in the crow’s nest. But he would be scanning the skies and sea, not looking down below at the deck. Seeing that the coast was clear, Killian quietly slipped out on deck, padding silently to the railing. The wood was cool beneath his bare feet. He leaned over the railing and down at the water below. It was a calm night. He could even see the moon and a few stars reflected in the almost glassy surface of the sea, the image broken only occasionally by the undulating waves. He looked up at the velvet sky and reveled at the sight of so many stars twinkling down at him. He breathed in deeply the familiar scents: salt, seaweed, and damp wood. He listened to the familiar sounds of the ocean and the creaking and rocking of the ship. He felt the cool night air gently fan his flushed cheeks. This was what he needed so desperately after being cooped up for three whole days below deck. Even if the slight saltiness of the air stung his right cheek just a bit.

“Killian Jones! What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?”

Slowly and reluctantly, Killian turned to face his older brother. Liam stood there, his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking far older than his 13 years.

“I just needed some fresh air, brother!” Killian tried to explain. “I couldn’t stay down there in the hold one more minute.”

“Little brother,” Liam said on a sigh, putting his hand gently on Killian’s shoulder, “you had a raging fever for three full days. The last thing you need is to stand out here, breathing in the deadly night vapors. You must remain abed until you get your strength back.”

Liam tipped Killian’s head up, then turned it to the side to look at his cheek. The deep cut there was still a bright, angry red, but the wound was no longer weeping. Killian saw the regret and guilt in his brother’s eyes.

“It could be worse, I suppose,” Liam grumbled, dropping his hand from Killian’s face. “You’ll have a scar, though.”

Killian decided that the best course of action was to make light of it. “Well, every good sailor worth his salt needs a scar,” he said brightly. Then he poked Liam in the chest, “And what do you expect? I was stitched up by a 13 year old.”

Liam winced. Okay, maybe it was too soon for that joke. But according to Cook, Liam may have saved Killian’s life.

“Well,” Liam replied, poking his little brother in return, “you should have kept your mouth shut, as usual, and refrained from setting off the Captain.”

Now it was Killian’s turn to wince. Liam was constantly berating him for his sass. “Just keep your mouth shut, Killian, and do as your told,” was the seemingly endless refrain from his brother’s lips. And it was true, Killian’s mouth was constantly getting him into trouble. He just couldn’t seem to help himself. A few days ago, the Captain had sent his youngest cabin boy below decks for some more rum. Unbeknownst to Killian, the barrel he had filled the decanter from was not properly sealed. Salt water had seeped in and ruined the rum. The Captain had taken a large gulp and promptly spit it out across his desk. He had roared at Killian, blaming him. Killian should have taken the scolding meekly and gone to get rum from the second barrel, but instead, as usual, he had opened his mouth.

“As drunk as you are, I’m surprised you noticed.”

The Captain had roared even louder and would have knocked his desk over if it hadn’t been nailed down. Instead he threw the glass tumbler in his hand right at Killian, who had ducked just in time. The tumbler smashed into pieces against the wall directly behind his head (really, who uses glass tumblers on a ship? was Killian’s ridiculous thought). Ducking hadn’t prevented a shard of glass from slicing across his cheek. The Captain screamed at him to get out, face red and eyes bulging. Killian had stumbled out, putting a hand to his stinging cheek. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. He wiped his bloody hand on his tunic, and reached up to his cheek again. By the time he stumbled on deck to his brother, his face and cheek were slick with blood again.

“Liam,” was all he managed to say before he swayed on his feet.

The rest was a blur. Killian remembered opening his eyes to find himself laid out on the table in the galley, Liam and the bos’un, Starkey, arguing.

“Cook’s gone to shore for supplies.” Starkey hissed, “What’ll we do?”

“I don’t know,” Liam hissed back, as if he didn’t want his brother to hear him. “Go to shore and look for him, or a healer.”

“Captain was adamant that his slaves stay on board. He may do worse to me and to Killian if we disobey. Besides, Killian needs help NOW. Look at how much blood –“

“Then what’ll you do?”

“Get Cook’s kit. I’ve seen him do it before . . . “

“Have you lost your senses?” Starkey practically screeched. “You’re just a boy!”

“Exactly!” Liam shot back. “I need you to hold him down. I’m not strong enough.”

Then Killian saw Starkey and Liam bending over him. Starkey and the Cook had taken a liking to Liam and Killian a year ago when their father had left. The boys trusted both men with their lives.

Starkey took Killian by the shoulders. He thought he remembered tears in the man’s eyes, but surely he had imagined that. “I’m sorry son.” Then the pain. Killian writhed and screamed. Then everything went dark.

When Killian awoke, he was in his hammock in the hold. He was shivering all over, and no matter how tightly he wrapped his scant blanket around him, he felt chilled. For three days, he drifted in and out of consciousness. He heard snippets of conversation around him.

“The wound’s turned septic.”

“I was a fool thinking I could stitch him up!”

“You did what you had to, my boy.”

“The Captain is demanding to know where his second cabin boy is. He has work he needs him to do.”

“Then stall, damn it!”

Concerned faces floated in front of him. Someone made him lift his head to drink some water. Extra blankets were tucked around him. It wasn’t until later that he realized his brother, Starkey, and Cook and given him there’s. As the fever raged higher, he started to hallucinate. Calling out to his mother. To his father. And most frightening of all, was the hallucination he had of Liam. His brother was weeping, begging him not to leave him alone. It had to be a hallucination. Liam never cried.

But by some miracle, this morning Killian had awoke sweating and hot underneath the pile of blankets. When Cook had come down to check on him, Killian had asked for something to eat. Cook laid a gnarled hand against Killian’s forehead, and then whooped with joy. He had never seen the man do anything but scowl. He tried to get up, but Cook, and later Liam, insisted he was too weak. The two of them and Starkey were covering for him; the Captain had been too drunk to know his smallest sailor was missing.

And that was why, on this night, Killian had snuck out of his hammock as soon as the rest of the crew was asleep. Staying in bed all day when he had all his wits about him was about to drive him mad. It was dark, stuffy, and hot in the hold with absolutely nothing to do. And now he had no doubt Liam would send him right back down there.

So Killian couldn’t believe it when Liam said, “Ok little brother, we’ll stay up her for a bit.” When he saw Killian’s grin, he hastily added, “But not for long, and you’re sitting down.”

Killian couldn’t argue with that, he was swaying a bit where he stood. The two boys sat side by side with their backs to the railing and looked up at the night sky.

“There’s a man in the moon tonight,” Liam pointed out. Killian looked up. Sure enough, there was the outline of a man’s face. “Do you remember what mother used to say about the man in the moon?”

Killian shook his head and sighed, “No brother, I sometimes fear I am forgetting her completely.”

Liam gave him a small, reassuring smile, “It’s not surprising. You were only seven when she passed. But I can tell you stories. That way, you won’t forget her.”

“Ok,” Killian agreed with a smile.

Liam cleared his throat. “She always said to give your problems to the man in the moon. But you had to make sure to tell him everything, so he had all the pieces. Like a puzzle. Then, while you were sleeping, he would work out the problem for you.”

Killian tilted his head up to gaze at the moon. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated. He knew he could remember his mother if he thought hard enough. He had to. Slowly, an image came to his mind. A smile that would light up a room. A turned up nose with a dusting of freckles. He saw her face, still a little fuzzy, leaning over him and wiping his brow. He was four or five and was ill. He saw curls framing the pretty face. Light brown, like his brother. Her eyes? He concentrated harder. They seemed to change color. Crystal blue when she was laughing. A stormy gray when she was arguing with his father. Sea green as she sang him to sleep.

“She sang us to sleep!” Killian exclaimed triumphantly. “And told us bedtime stories!”

Liam laughed softly, “That’s right. She had a beautiful voice. Her favorite was –“ and Liam began to sing haltingly:

Lavender’s blue, dilly, dilly, Lavender’s green; When I am king, dilly, dilly, You shall be queen Roses are red, dilly, dilly, Lavender’s blue. If you will have me, dilly, dilly, I will have you.

The song came back to Killian and he joined in. “I’ll say, little brother!” Liam exclaimed. “It seems you’ve inherited her singing voice.”

The boys continued gazing at the sky silently, lost in their own thoughts of their mother.

“Do you remember what you always asked her at the end of every story she told?” Liam finally broke the silence.

Killian laughed, “Yes I do. No matter what it was about, giants, kracken, true love’s kiss, I would always ask her if she believed in it.”

“And she would always say, ‘I believe in everything.’”

“Aye,” Killian scoffed, “and you would always roll your eyes and say it was silly.”

“Not you,” Liam chuckled, poking his ribs, “you would always loudly proclaim, ‘Then I believe in everything too!’ Momma’s boy.”

“Hey!” Killian protested, but he didn’t really mind his brother’s ribbing too much. His mother used to always says she couldn’t believe two brothers could be so different. Now that his memory had been jogged, more flooded into his mind. The clearest memory was the day his mother died. His father was away, he couldn’t remember where or why, but Elizabeth Jones had insisted on her boys being allowed in the sick room. Their father was a respected merchant, able to afford a housekeeper for his modest home. Little did they know he had gambled it all away. Agnes, the housekeeper, had tried to argue with Elizabeth, but to no avail. She dutifully brought the boys to their mother.

Elizabeth spoke to Liam first, asking him to look after Killian. “You are all he has left,” she had said. He now realized his mother had known their father wouldn’t stick around. She gave Liam a ring with a garnet stone, hanging on a chain. She slipped it over Liam’s head, saying, “This ring will always bring you safely home.” Liam had nodded solemnly and vowed that Killian would always be safe.

“Killian,” Elizabeth had called, gesturing to her youngest son. Killian stepped to her bedside, unable to stop the tears that flowed down his cheeks. Liam was strong, but he was weak. “Killian, you have more love in your little finger than most people have in their whole bodies. When you love, you love fiercely, with all that you are. That is rare, my son. And it is strength. It will make you a hero some day.” At this, she took Killian’s freckled face in her hands. “No matter what happens, Killian Jones, no matter what mistakes you make – and we all make some – never forget that you are destined to do heroic things. Promise me you won’t forget.”

“I won’t mother,” Killian had sobbed. Then he had thrown his arms around her. Elizabeth had held him close, drawing Liam into the hug as well.

“Forgive me boys, for leaving you.” She wept. “I don’t want to.”

“Of course we forgive you, mother,” they had both declared. And the next morning, she was gone.

Killian looked up now at the man in the moon. He didn’t have a problem for him, not exactly. More a question. He realized he had broken his promise to his mother. He had already forgotten that he could be a hero. Because his mother was the only one who had ever seen that in him. So, with her gone, he had forgotten. Liam loved him, he knew without a doubt. But he always had the nagging feeling he was letting his brother down. “Why are you always getting into trouble, Killian?” “Can’t you keep your thoughts to yourself, Killian?” It was always something. So Killian Jones looked up at the moon and asked one single question as he closed his eyes.

“Will anyone ever see me the way my mother did?”

**************************************

Killian’s eyes blinked open. He must have fallen asleep on deck. But – something wasn’t right. The surface against his cheek was smooth and cold, not rough and damply warm like the wood of the ship. Someone was saying something to him. . .

“Sweetie . . . come on, sweetie, you need to wake up and get off the bus.”

Wait . . . what? Everything was off. The woman’s strange accent, calling him sweetie, and . . . what the bloody hell was a bus?

Killian jolted up, looking frantically around him. In front of him was a plump woman, middle aged, holding what looked like a rectangle of smooth wood.

“Wh-where am I?” he stuttered. He looked around him – it was all so strange. Two rows of leather benches with an aisle down the middle. And the entire thing was encased in some kind of metal? What was this place?

The woman in front of him chuckled. “You’re at the Valentine’s Day party. All the other children are already inside. You must have fallen asleep.” She looked down at her piece of wood. “Now, what is your name? I thought we had counted everyone.”

“K-Killian J-Jones.”

The woman frowned. “I don’t see your name here.” She shrugged and looked at him with sympathy. Killian wasn’t sure, but it seemed like she was staring at the cut on his cheek. “You must be a brand new arrival. I’ll add your name – go on inside.”

Killian didn’t know what else to do but obey her. He walked down the aisle towards a door at the front of the vehicle he was in. He guessed it was a vehicle. The seat at the very front had a wheel in front of it. He walked down the steps and onto a smooth, black surface. It was all so strange. He looked behind him at the vehicle he had just exited. Large and bright yellow with four enormous wheels. Bizarre. There were words painted across the side in black. He was grateful that Liam had continued his reading instruction after his mother passed. “Baptist Children’s Home.” A children’s home. A nice way of saying orphanage. Great. He was apparently in a strange realm, separated from Liam, and in an orphanage.

“Better hurry up,” the woman behind him admonished. “The food will all be gone.”

Food! Well, at least he wouldn’t starve. He could certainly eat before trying to get back home. Even Liam couldn’t argue with that. He saw a strip of white through a small green lawn. A path. It lead up to two large doors. From the doors and windows of the strange looking building poured a bright, glaring light. What type of lanterns did they have in this realm to make light that blinding? As he walked nearer to the doors and the light, he could see the kind of clothes he was wearing. His trousers were made of a stiff, blue material. The shirt he was wearing was thin, but soft, with strange pictures. The pictures were like nothing he had ever seen, but he could read the words “Star Wars.” That was odd. Over the thin shirt, he wore a short coat made of similar fabric as the trousers. He shivered a little as the wind blew. Seems orphans wore coats too thin in any realm.

Walking into the bright room was overwhelming. At first Killian didn’t know where to look. Glittering, paper hearts of red and pink were hanging on almost every surface of the room. Children of various ages were all around the room. Some were talking, some were playing what looked like carnival games, and at one long table children sat with more paper hearts, rubbing them with colored sticks. But what finally arrested Killian’s attention was the table draped in pink and red tablecloths in the dead center of the room. Food! He tried to calm himself as he approached the table, but he had never seen so many confections in his life! His mother used to make them shortcake with strawberries for their birthdays, but this! The table was a rainbow of color he had never seen on food before. Cakes, pastries, cookies, and . . . was that chocolate?! Pirates would raid ships carrying chocolate, vanilla, or cinnamon, but in this realm such things must be as abundant as sea water. Why else would they serve such rich foods to mere orphans?

Killian almost couldn’t decide what to try first when his eyes landed on a large, heart shaped cookie. The last one on its tray. It wasn’t just the enormous size of the cookie; it was the fact that it was completely covered in pink frosting. Killian had never had frosting in his life. He had seen wealthy patrons buy cakes with frosting from bakeries, but had never tasted it. He picked up the large cookie almost reverently, his mouth watering.

“Hey, kid! You ain’t eatin’ that! It’s mine!”

Before Killian knew what was happening an older boy who towered over him had shoved Killian and snatched the cookie from him. Killian clenched his fists as he watched the boy cram the cookie in his mouth. The bully laughed, his gaping mouth filled with pink frosting and mashed cookie. Killian felt the anger rising, and all reason flee. The boy was huge, but so help him . . .

“I can split mine.”

The soft, kind voice stopped Killian in his tracks. Forgetting his rage, he turned around to see a girl, not much younger than him, standing there with a heart shaped cookie extended to him in her small hand. She was dressed in a similar manner to every other child in the room: the blue trousers, the cotton shirt (with a glittery pink heart), the thin jacket, but she may as well have been the only one in the room wearing a ball gown the way Killian’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He had seen Liam get tongue tied over girls, but it had never happened to Killian. Until now.

The girl laughed – a wonderful sound. Then she rolled her green eyes and cocked her blonde head. “So ya want the cookie or what?”

Oh, she was a tough lass. He could tell already. Speak, you idiot! Killian thought to himself, but all he could do was nod.

The girl carefully broke the cookie in two, handing half to Killian. Killian ate his half slowly, relishing every sweet bite. It was almost sickening it was so sweet. Almost. Then he shyly licked his lips and his fingers, watching the little girl. She laughed again.

“Didn’t get many sweets at your last home, huh?” She said. “Same here. My last place it was nothing but bologna sandwiches. That I had to make myself, of course. Guy spent all the state’s money on beer. My name’s Emma Swan. What’s yours?”

He hadn’t understood half of what she said. But he had sense enough to remember what Liam had told him about ladies. Whether a duchess or a slave, you should always be a gentleman when greeting a lady. So Killian took Emma’s hand, bowed over it and said, “Killian Jones, m’lady.”

Emma giggled. “You talk funny!” Killian’s face fell until she said, huge smile on her face, “But I like it!” Then he was elated. This Swan girl would be the death of him.

“You must be new,” she continued. “Is the cut why you’re here?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand . . . “

“This home, you don’t stay long. It’s for emergencies. You don’t have to be embarrassed.” Emma rolled up her sleeve and showed Killian her wrist. On it was a scar, puckered and red. “Bologna and beer guy. From his cigarette.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, but he saw a little wetness in her eyes.

Killian gently patted his cheek. “Glass of rum,” he told Emma with a smile, “he threw it at my head.”

She smiled back and he just stood there stupidly. “I’m nine,” he finally said, “how old are you?”

“Seven,” she answered, then abruptly grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s do something! The craft table is lame, totally for babies. But they’ve got some good games.”

Emma dragged him to a table with little darts laid across it. On the wall behind the table was a dartboard surrounded by shelves of stuffed toys. Emma picked up a dart and showed it to Killian.

“Suction cup darts. Don’t want to give the screwed up orphans real ones,” then she laughed. Seven and already cynical. Yeah, Killian could relate.

She leaned closer to him to whisper in his ear, and he thought his heart might pound right out of his chest. “I want the duck. Think I can do it?”

“I think you could do anything,” he whispered back. And he meant it.

He watched as Emma picked up a dart and concentrated on the board, her tongue sticking adorably out of the corner of her mouth. The first dart didn’t even make it to the board, and the second dart hit two circles from the edge. Emma blew out her breath and narrowed her eyes as she threw the third dart. Close, but no bullseye. Emma sighed.

“Sorry kid, you only get three tries,” said the volunteer.

“Figures,” Emma grumbled.

“I’ll give it a try,” Killian said. The volunteer gave him his three darts. Killian tried to ignore the fact that Emma was watching him, but it was bloody hard to ignore her. His first throw hit the edge of the board and bounced off crazily. He breathed in deeply on his second. He had to win that duck for Emma! His second dart hit on the very edge of the bullseye and he heard Emma cheer beside him. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated on the bullseye, tossed the dart and …

“We have a winner!” exclaimed the volunteer. “Now, what would you like, little boy?”

Killian didn’t hesitate. “The duck.”

Killian thought it was obvious that he had played for Emma, but when he turned to her and placed the duck in her hands, her mouth dropped open.

“You won this for me?” she whispered, hugging the duck to her chest.

“Of course I did,” Killian said with a shrug. Why wouldn’t he? He cleared his throat, suddenly self-conscious. He scratched behind his ear. “I mean, you did share your cookie.”

Suddenly Emma was grabbing his hand and dragging him along. Again. Not that he minded. He would follow this angel anywhere. The two of them slipped out of a side door and then down a dark hallway. Emma stopped in front of a heavy oak door.

“We’re not supposed to be here,” Emma whispered conspiratorially. “You just got here, so you haven’t come to the Bible lessons yet, huh.”

“Bible lessons?” Killian asked, once again confused.

“Yeah,” Emma whispered back. “They’re not so bad. They read you a story, you make a lame craft, play a game. There’s cookies and juice. That’s the best part.”

The only thing Killian really understood was the part about cookies and juice. Food was certainly easy to come by in this realm.

“I mean, it’s the deal with this place. Bible lessons every Wednesday afternoon. But they take us places. I’m hoping I’m still here next week. We’re going to the movies. I’ve never been.”

Once again, Killian had no idea what Emma was talking about. “So what’s behind the door?” Kilian asked.

“Oh, right,” Emma laughed. “The first Wednesday I came here, I had to go to the bathroom. And on my way back to class, I saw colored light shining through the little window here in this door. I was curious, so I snuck in. And . . . it’s sort of my special place. I wanted to show it to you.”

Emma was the one who seemed shy now, chewing on her bottom lip. Killian smiled at her,” I would be honored to see it, Swan.” Emma giggled, and somehow he knew he was “talking funny” again.

Emma pushed open the heavy door and looked around to make sure the coast was clear. Then she silently motioned for Killian to follow her. When he followed Emma into the room, he gasped. This must be a cathedral! he thought. Each side of the massive room was lined with exquisite stained glass windows. The room was dark, but the moonlight poured through the colorful windows, spilling colored light onto the carpeted floors. “I see why this is your special place,” he breathed.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful,” Emma agreed, “but I have a special spot. Come on.”

And she was pulling him along again. Did Emma Swan ever slow down? Killian didn’t think so. She stopped at the end of a pew and plopped down on the carpeted floor, her back against the wood. She yanked Killian’s hand to sit down next to her. Just a foot in front of them was a beautiful scene in stained glass. It was a man (the same man who seemed to be in a lot of the glass pictures) seated on a rock, surrounded by children. The man’s face seemed gentle and kind, and the children looked at him with smiles on their faces. One little boy sat on his lap, and he had placed his hand on a little girl’s head. At the bottom of the window, in the stained glass, were the words, “Let the little children come unto me.”

“Who is that man?” Killian asked.

“Jesus,” Emma answered. “You’ll hear a lot about him in this place, trust me.”

“Is he a god of this realm?”

More giggling from Emma. “Realm? Yeah, they say he’s god.”

“So you worship this god?” Killian asked, trying to understand fully why this was her special place.

“No,” Emma sighed, “I mean, I don’t really know what to think about him. But the first night I came in here, we had just heard this story. Jesus was really important, so they tried to send the kids away, they thought he was too busy. But Jesus said the kids could come and actually told the grown-ups they ought to be more like the kids.”

“Really?” Killian asked, surprised. Liam was always telling him to grow up.

“Yeah, I know. And then I saw this window, and I don’t know, it’s just – the Bible teacher said Jesus meant that kids believe stuff real easy.” Emma pulled her knees up to her chest. “But I’m only seven, and it’s getting harder and harder to believe in stuff, you know?”

Killian thought of his mother. I believe in everything. What had happened to the little boy who would echo those words back to her? Killian sighed, “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“And in this home, they keep going on and on about how Jesus cares for the orphans. And I want to believe that someone cares – anyone – but it’s just so hard. So when I come in here and look at this window, I imagine those children are orphans. And for one moment, I don’t know. I feel . . . I feel . . .”

“Hope?” Killian supplied.

Emma looked at him and smiled. “Yeah.” Then she took Killian completely by surprise and rested her head on his shoulder. They both gazed up at the window for a while in silence, and then he heard Emma softly snoring. He rested his cheek against the top of her head, and suddenly felt very, very tired . . .

************************************

“Killian! Killian, wake up!”

Suddenly, Killian felt someone shaking him. He felt damp wood beneath him and smelled salty air. He groaned. His head felt full of cotton and his limbs felt heavy.

“Killian,” Liam spoke urgently, “we fell asleep, and now you’re burning up. I’ve got to get you back to bed.”

Liam began yanking Killian to his feet, and Killian didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Swan?” he asked. He was on his feet now. Liam tried to pick Killian up, but he wasn’t strong enough. Killian swayed and leaned into his brother.

“I don’t know what you’re babbling about, little brother, now walk.”

“The – the swan. With golden hair. She was a little angel.”

Liam chuckled. “You’re fever is definitely back. You’re hallucinating. Besides, you said girls were a nuisance.”

“Not this one,” Killian mumbled as Liam helped him below and then into his hammock. “Bloody brilliant she was. Amazing.”

But Liam was right, his fever was back. Killian spent two more days in a feverish fog, and when he woke up he assumed the blonde angel and her strange realm had all been a dream. And as hundreds of years ground away at his heart and mind, even the dream faded almost into oblivion.

*************************

Killian and Emma knew that the other parents of Storybrooke were probably rolling their eyes at the idea of taking an 8 month old to a Valentine’s Day party. Although none of them should have been surprised. As orphans, they had missed out on so much. They were determined to give their little girl everything they had missed out on. Children’s events at the public library were one of them.

Belle had always been a natural at running the library, but after becoming a mother she took it to a whole other level. She convinced Regina to approve the addition of a children’s wing, and she kept said wing abuzz with activity. Storytime, laptime, babytime, summer reading programs, and countless special events were a welcome improvement over research to defeat monsters and secret war councils. In the peace that had descended on Storybrooke, the Jones family were Belle’s number one customers. They brought baby Elsa to babytime every Wednesday morning, alternating weeks. Belle had tried not to chuckle the first time Killian brought her. Elsa couldn’t even hold her head up yet, so when they sang the song about riding a pony to town, Killian couldn’t bounce her on his knee like he was supposed to. So really, was a Valentine’s Day party that crazy of an idea?

Granted, Elsa drooled, babbled, and squealed her way through storytime about two rabbits who try to outdo each other with declarations of love. Emma had basically done the craft for her after Elsa tried to eat the glue stick. And now Killian was trying to figure out how to balance a plate of food with his good hand while holding Elsa in his other arm. He was trying to grab Emma’s attention across the room where she was talking to Snow, but with no luck. Suddenly, Elsa made a grab for Killian’s plate, taking a heart shaped frosted cookie into both her chubby hands. She squished the cooked delightedly and then tried to cram the confection into her mouth with both fists.

“Oy, little pirate lass!” Killian pouted. “That was your Papa’s cookie!”

Killian heard a chuckle behind him. He turned to see Emma, holding another cookie out to him.

“Wanna split mine?”

And suddenly, just like that, they both remembered. They both gasped.

“It was you!” Emma exclaimed first.

“I thought it was a dream.”

“I thought you were an imaginary friend,” Emma laughed. She stepped forward and drew her thumb across the scar on his cheek. “Rum, huh? Figures.”

Killian grinned. His hands were full, so he gestured with his head to her wrist. “So that’s why you got the tattoo?”

“Yeah,” Emma said while rubbing her wrist, “the scar never did go away.”

They just stood there staring into one another’s eyes, both their hearts breaking for the little lost girl and the little lost boy.

“But how?” Emma asked, shaking her head.

“I don’t know,” Killian shrugged. “All I know is, I fell asleep asking the man in the moon a question. And the next thing I knew . . .”

“Seriously?” Emma rolled her eyes. “The man in the moon? What did you ask him?”

“If anyone would ever see me the way my mother did.”

Emma cocked her head to one side. “Mmhm, and how did she see you?”

“A boy who could be a hero one day.” Killian’s smile lit up his face as he leaned down to kiss his Swan. But before the kiss could get really good, two chubby hands patted Killian’s cheek, covering him in pink frosting. Killian pulled back, both he and Emma laughing. Emma reached up with a napkin to wipe the frosting out of Killian’s scruff.

“What happened to the duck?” Killian asked. “It didn’t earn a place in your memory box?”

Emma laughed. “You’ll never believe this. Another kid stole it.”

“Stole it?”

"Yeah, the same kid who stole your cookie.”

Killian rolled his eyes. “Figures. We were truly made for each other Swan.” And he bent to kiss her againn.

#cs ff #self promo sunday #little!emma #little!killian #hope for the orphans #my first fic

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mebongster87 · 6 years ago

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Making sense of S08E01

While some of the parts of Episode 1 have turned out as predicted/expected including Daenerys facing opposition from the Northern Lords and their displeasure at Jon having bent the knee, Jon being told the truth of his parentage, Bran telling Daenerys about the situation of the Wall and wightViserion, there is one thing that did surprise me to some extent and that is Jon and Daenerys going for a joy-ride on Drogon and Rhaegal amidst the chaos and imminent danger the North faces now that the Wall has fallen.

I am not sure when we see this sequence but if it happens AFTER the Northern Lords Assembly with Daenerys and Jon and Tyrion, then it makes sense for Jon to don his PoliticalJon cap and whisk Daenerys away to not only assuage her fears and discomfiture but to reaffirm his “love” for her. Cue the cringe-worthy romance and dragon-riding. I am firmly on team Not make Jon ride a lizard WMD but oh well.

From the politicalJon standpoint, it makes sense as to why Jon is doing what he is doing. However, let’s put aside this theory and look for other potential explanations of why we see Jon riding Rhaegal and seemingly being in love with Daenerys from a more objective and general perspective. The audience thinks Jon and Daenerys are in love, so to pick things up from where they ended last season, it is only natural for them to act that way. Daenerys is truly in love with him and EC is acting her heart out in demonstrating that. The doubts lie with KH’s expressions and while I believe in PoliticalJon, most of GA does not subscribe to this theory (they think Jon is honorable to the bone, yawn!!!). The GA think A Song of Ice and Fire means A love song of Jon and Daenerys. While it’s clearly far from that, the GA firmly believe that. D&D are making a show for the masses, giving them J/D romance is their way of keeping them happy. The real catch lies in what happens after.

As I mentioned, there is another way to explain this segment that is reminiscent of something that we have seen before. (reiterating LF’s “everything that happens will be something that you have seen before” line because it is pertinent)

Jon and Daenerys looking all loved up at the start of the S8 is to ensure that the GA and their old nans are lulled into this belief.

Jon “could be in love” with Daenerys, simply because he does not know the full extent of her journey through Yunkai, Astapor, Meereen. What he hears are the good things he has been told by Tyrion and Missandei, both completely drunk on the Khaleesi Koolaid. He knows Daenerys went to deal with the Lannisters, but he does not know about the Tarlys being burned alive, at least not at the point in the episode when this dragon romance montage happens. Tyrion and Varys never tell him what she did to the Tarlys. Killing helpless, outnumbered, and overpowered Lannisters....yeah Jon does not know about that either. He remembers Sansa’s lessons about not trusting Cersei and the Lannisters are his enemy foremost. Additionally, what Jon sees is her coming to their rescue during Wight Hunt and given how useful the dragons were in obliterating hundreds of wights (even though the walkers and NK are immune to fire), he still thinks that “Daenerys is our only chance”....it’s a misjudgment on Jon’s part. He is incorrect and just does not fully know it yet. This isn’t the first time he has misjudged his enemies abilities....remember Ramsay and his battle nous at the Battle of the Bastards. Ramsay beat Jon in his own game of planning the battle out, pincer move and all that. In time, even Jon will come to realise that dragonfire is not the answer to defeat the NK.

So safe to say, it would not be too farfetched to think Jon is in love with her. The GA is certainly convinced, so kudos to D&D.

This J/D romance is a callback to S05E04 The Sons of the Harpy....when we see a very moving, heartfelt, and emotional scene between Stannis and Shireen...where Stannis talks about how he refused to send a baby Shireen away to Valyria for her greyscale and how he left no stone unturned to cure her and says “You are the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon and you are my daughter”

and the background music swells when Shireen rushes to hug Stannis and this moment is so touching..so emotional that it really goes a long way to make Stannis look like a proper human who is a parent to a wonderful and innocent child.......right???

Think again.

How long did it take to get from that to this, when Stannis burns Shireen because he wants to fulfill his destiny in an episode titled S05E09 The Dance of the Dragons????

Not even 6 episodes!!!!!

Even now, book fans and show fans think Stannis the Mannis was the rightful ruler and have a hard time coming to terms to Shireen’s burning. However, if you have paid attention to this show, all the signs were there...right from the start. In fact, we are introduced to Stannis for the first time in a scene, where he is burning his brother by law on the Dragonstone beach.....is it any surprise that he would not burn his own daughter who has king’s blood to become the Prince that was promised???? Shireen’s death by fire was shocking and disturbing AF but was clearly not unexpected if you had read the signs and the writing on the wall.

How long do we think it is going to take Jon and Daenerys to go from that “loved-up” to this????

image courtesy @brujhahii

All I am saying is that we believe in Political Jon theory, we believe in Dance of the Dragons 2.0, the GA either does not know about these or does not think will ever happen. We must be delulu Jonsas, if we are coming up with these theories right?????

Well, think again.....because D&D are absolutely coming for the GA with this shocking sledgehammer of making Jon and Daenerys fight.

They fucked and now they will fight. Jon and Daenerys are fundamentally different individuals not because they are “ice” and “fire”, but because one is a defender, “the shield that guards the realms of men” while the other is a conqueror who takes what she wants with “fire and blood”. They want fundamentally different things with their lives.

This season will be a season of revelations, not just for the characters as they figure out who they are, what they want and what they have always been...but also for the audience to wake up and smell the coffee and come to terms with who and what these characters are. It is a season of “truth”. They will make us choose between Jon and Daenerys and can it get any more ironic than the fact that in a promo named “Together” we see the fraction of Jon-Daenerys alliance taking place???

We have a shot of two dragons flying, from the dragon-flying montage possibly, followed by this scene of Jon walking away and leaving Daenerys...indicating the collapse of their alliance. (I personally think this shot happens in context with Sansa’s kidnapping plot but we’ll see.)

“The hero is the villain from the other side”-GRRM and now we will get to see that.

#jonsa #anti jonerys #anti daenerys #dance of the dragons 2.0 #got s8 spoilers #got meta #political jon #jonsa is endgame

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ashleyjouharphotowords · 5 years ago

Photo

In a revealing interview for the Image Source Picture Library, I talked to Miles Aldridge about his early influences, 90’s fashion photography and how at the moment of news-stand success he headed off in a radically different creative direction.

Miles Aldridge shoots sexy, glamorous women in opulent settings. But all is not what it seems in his pictures. Scratch the surface and a common thread runs through the imagery – the strange ominous unease of the dreamworld. Film-maker David Lynch wrote, “Miles sees a colour coordinated, graphically pure, hard-edged reality”. Artist Glenn O’Brien says Aldridge, “uses impeccable instinct in crafting something like ‘stills’ from the fractured narratives that we normally experience nocturnally and unconsciously.”

Aldridge talked to me about his influences and traced the rich visual journey he took from being a graphic design and illustration student, through music promos, to being a photographer who has shaped and stretched the idea of the fashion photograph.

Ashley Jouhar: What was your background to taking the kinds of photographs you take now and what was it that kick started your career in photography?

Miles Aldridge: Well, my father [Alan Aldridge] was a famous illustrator and art director so I grew up around quite surreal, psychedelic and sometimes shocking imagery – and it seemed clear to me I would go into the arts and follow my father. So I went to art school to study illustration, which was incredibly liberating – because I had been at Grammar School and none of my fellow students were interested in art. Being at Central St Martin’s around 1983 – surrounded by a lot of like-minded and talented people – the teachers, the studies and the classes were very good and I immersed myself in everything for the first year and then specialised in Graphic Design with an illustration bias.

Ashley Jouhar: So at that point you were exposing yourself to all the disciplines – life drawing, filmmaking, illustration, graphic design – the whole lot?

Miles Aldridge: I was also getting exposed to cinema, taking girlfriends on dates to see art movies, not blockbusters. I was seeing David Lynch films and it broadened my horizons immensely.

I did become an illustrator when I graduated from art school but I found it quite boring and I wasn’t anything like my father who was a sort of psychedelic whizz kid right in the middle of swinging London, working with everyone from David Bailey to The Stones and The Beatles. So he was really tapping into the zeitgeist. But I didn’t find the work very challenging and I was still very young so I started making enquiries about pop videos. It seemed to me that the film directors I liked were artists, packaging their thoughts and point of view of the world into hour and a half statements.

Ashley Jouhar: A little like you are now doing with your current imagery, except in a photograph?

Miles Aldridge: Yeah, but at that time I had no film training, apart from a couple of days at art so it was all quite new to me. But I bought a Super 8 camera and started shooting films. Then I bumped into Derek Jarman in Soho, who was often drinking tea in the same café I used to hang out in called Maison Bertaux. He was interested in me because I was a good-looking young man and I was interested in him because he was a famous film maker and so we had a few conversations. He was very enthusiastic and encouraging and through this naïve enthusiasm I started to make films. Another person who came into my life then was Sophie Muller, a well known video director who pretty well invented the form, shooting videos for The Eurythmics and many others.

Ashley Jouhar: MTV was exploding at this time so it was perfect timing for you, in the right place at the right time?

Miles Aldridge: Yeah, yeah, exactly and actually because of people like Derek Jarman and other like-minded artists were doing Super 8 presentations to music because of its relatively low cost it was very much the film medium for the 80s. You don’t need masses of finance to make a film on Super 8 – the idea is translated quickly to images. So I started making pop videos for a while.

Ashley Jouhar: Were you coming up with the concepts for these videos – were they very much ideas-driven shoots?

Miles Aldridge: Yes, very much so and I was good at coming up with the ideas but I wasn’t very good with the music! I would come up with an idea that might be loosely based on something from the universe of Hitchcock, Lynch or Godard and I was aware of cinematic tricks and conceits and would play with those. Like for instance, The Shining – I would do a pop video based on a long corridor with different weird things happening in different rooms but I didn’t really know how to put it all together with the edit. During this time I suppose I would have been known as a middling pop video director and therefore lived in a council flat, didn’t have any overheads as such so was very happy doing the odd pop video and hanging out with my girlfriend, who it transpired wanted to be a model. That’s when I took these photographs of her because she looked very much like the kind of girl of the moment – that sort of grungy, heroin chic sort of look of the time.

Ashley Jouhar: I remember it well – the bed-sits and anti-fashion poses.

Miles Aldridge: Yes, and the pictures of her were very well received at Vogue and they asked who had taken them and it was explained that it was this girl’s boyfriend. I was then called in to Vogue to meet them and I had this amazing realisation that instead of all this hard work involved in making videos – starting at five in the morning and ending at five in the morning, horrible food and no money to do anything, I could possibly become a fashion photographer.

Ashley Jouhar: So those original pictures, did you imbue them with something that we would recognise now in your work?

Miles Aldridge: No, I shot them all in black and white on Hampstead Heath on a Nikon and the film was dropped into Snappy Snaps… and picked up two hours later and pasted into her portfolio! They were really, to all intents and purposes, a boyfriend photographing his girlfriend. I mean she wasn’t styled and there was no hair and make up and she wasn’t trying to sell any fashion. Because that was what was happening with London photography then, when fashion photography almost slipped into Reportage.

Ashley Jouhar: Yes, it was very pared down compared to what had gone before.

Miles Aldridge: Yes, very much so and the heroes of that period were people like Robert Frank and Bruce Davidson and also Richard Avedon’s book ‘In the American West’ was kind of like a bible for that kind of styling.

There was this idea of real people rather than glamorous people being pushed to the forefront and being shown as something heroic and wonderful. So I moved from illustration to video to photography in the space of about six years, I think. I really enjoyed the photography and the early work was really about being locked in studios with very beautiful creatures and trying to think how to photograph them. I didn’t come with any technical knowledge – all I had was an eye that still serves me very well today and those pictures were almost a repetition of the boyfriend/girlfriend pictures earlier where in my imagination, these models who were now wearing fashion clothes and hair and make up were, for that six or seven hours in my studio, my girlfriend. Interestingly, when the hair and make-up and styling was being done and I wasn’t paying any attention at all, I left that up to them. In a way, I liked to rendezvous with the model on the white background and see her there for the first time with my camera.

Ashley Jouhar: So at this point your shoots were very spontaneous with what was happening, there were no storyboards planned out or themes?

Miles Aldridge: Yes, it was very spontaneous, it was about having a good time, listening to loud music and being swept up in the energy of a pre-9/11 fashion shoot and I mention 9/11 because after that, the whole world and especially fashion became much more gloomy and serious. Up until that point it was a big party. There was so much energy and money sloshing around and I enjoyed the decadence of it.

Ashley Jouhar: When did you start shooting in a more ‘David Lynch-ian’ way with these very considered, choreographed images and sets?

Miles Aldridge: Well, literally all I was shooting was white background pictures for magazines like W and British Vogue. Those pictures were about energy and shapes and in a way my talent was in trying to find graphic shapes on the flat two-dimensional page. I was successful with that kind of work straight away and sort of fell into it but at a certain point I looked at all this work and I remember I was at a magazine store in New York and saw a cover for W magazine, a cover for British Vogue and a cover for a magazine called Vibe – three white background covers, all by me. One could feel really good about oneself with that but for some reason, seeing them all there together I kind of loathed it and wondered where I’d got lost. Because back when I was an art student and even doing pop videos I was much more interested in darker and stranger things and the books I grew up with were books on Hieronymus Bosch and Breugel. The complete opposite of what I was producing, which I thought was trash. I felt really uncomfortable about that, even though my pockets were full of dollars.

Ashley Jouhar: So this was the turning point?

Miles Aldridge: I realised that when you get into a photo studio as a photographer, even if you said nothing and were dumb, the picture would still get taken because there is the momentum the stylist, the hair and make up artist and the model bring to the shoot that creates the energy for these pictures to occur. Instead of giving myself up to the madness and the freedom of the shoot, I wanted to put the brakes on it – to divert that energy and create a picture you really want to do in advance.

In part 2 Miles tells us how he creates the ‘fantastic’ images that have become his signature pieces…

#fashion photography #miles aldridge #vogue italia #british vogue #art photography #art #ashleyjouhar #pop art #david lynch

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years ago

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Athenas Masterpost

This is going to cover everything Athenas, like the official page and trailer, both new trailers, the art book preview, and some stuff shown in the ign trailers. It’s a lot.

There will NOT be endgame spoilers in this post. If there’s anything that comes up that I want to discuss, you can find it in a spoiler post I’ll be making soon :) I DO discuss a thing that occurs during the first 3 hours of BL3, though I think that’s pretty okay with y’all lol

tl;dr: there’s too much to summarize. 13 days until bl3. lmao im screaming on the inside.

“A misty, tranquil planet that has recently attracted the wrong kind of attention. Athenas is mostly uninhabited, save for a sect of monks known as the Order of the Impending Storm who have made their home in the high peaks of the mountains. What secrets do they guard here, inside ancient walls that were built long before humans set foot on Athenas?”

We definitely got a lot less info for Athenas than the other planets, and I can see why. They want to keep it mysterious.

Also, I’m not saying I totally called it that the pyramid was Eridian, but I totally called it. I am surprised it’s implying that the entire area was built by them, but what can ya do 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, since this post is long overdue, let’s just jump right in!

The Athenas video is nearly half the time of the Eden-6 one, so there’s not a lot to cover unfortunately:

We’ve seen this shot multiple times before

also the emphasis that Athenas is ‘tranquil’ and ‘peaceful’ ahahahaha no it’s not.

i love these dudes! Order of the Impending Storm!!! I wonder if their funky goggle things have anything to do with Sirens, like how they have Siren-trackers. I also really love their outfits. lowkey want one of these robes.

a great overview look of the area leading up to the pyramid. I got more to say about this... but it’s probably best if i leave it for later on in the post after we get more info

also, note the water and the rocks and stuff on the left there. This will come into play later... not even in this post. a later post.

also i totally called this being an ancient aliens reference lol

Vault logo on the flag there. definitely shows how much these guys worship the Vaults

This!!! I have so much to talk about here!

alright so now that we know what the vault keys look like.... this doesn’t appear to be part of any of the Vault Keys we’ve seen. especially not the Promethean one. not even the pyramid shaped one.

im mostly interested in this because this is obviously a monk, her robes match the ones we saw above with the hood. she doesn’t appear to be Eridian because we’ve seen the Watcher and the other Guardians, who are built in the image of the Eridians, and she looks wayyy too human. We’ve also seen statues of the Eridians in that one shot of the Pandora temple.

so it seems like the monks have gone inside the pyramid before and... built this statue? for some reason??? It’s interesting that she has an extra pair of arms as well. I wonder if she is like the Siren ancestor of Amara. which could prove my theory that the next successor of Amara would have another set of arms... it might also explain why Amara’s tattoos are everywhere on the buildings (outside of her being the Tiger)

it would also explain this shot, the skeleton with the book, which we now know we’ve seen before with Maya:

so even though they’re protecting the pyramid/temple, i don’t think they’ve been avoiding it entirely- at least not for the first time after discovering it. maybe they stopped going in after they discovered something bad, somethin like iunno... the Rampagers?

it would be Really Weird if the Eridians built that statue, especially when they probably didn’t know what humans looked like at the time. unless of course they helped shape humanity or smth. meaning they probably personally created Sirens. oh that’d be wild... i wonder if we’re going to learn about how early Sirens shaped humanity in that case. discovering fire could be entirely different lol

“hallowed land”

i wonder if this is where we’ll have anointed gear explained to us... i imagine the order is still worshipping Eridian/Siren stuff, so them having all sorta knowledge of this stuff would make sense

more Maliwan. you guys notice we see cultists purely on Eden-6 (outside of the crashed ship), but Maliwan purely on Athenas? a mix on Promethea, tho that’s bc we’ve actually gotten gameplay.

So my guess is Maliwan has joined up with the cult (be it through whatever means: Maliwan is in) and they’re looking for the Promethea key. which makes sense. they’re attacking Rhys on Promethea, so when he helps us out, word probably gets back to Maliwan (somehow) and they swap from wanting to take over Atlas (either by defeating them w/ Zer0/that giant space laser/whatever or just changing priorities) to wanting to open that fuckin Vault. Teaming up with the CoV is the best way to ensure that happens. I’m sure there will oodles of betrayal going on between the two parties.

I LOVE THESE THINGS

THEY’RE AMAZING

GOOD BOYS

in all seriousness, actually, im curious why we don’t see these good boys on Promethea. maybe they’re only for the top-tier squads? (mechanically, probably higher-level enemies) they look super high tech, so i would not be surprised if Maliwan thought Atlas would be an easy takeover so they didn’t send everything they could have

Nog! not much to say here tbqh

“Protect Athenas Before It’s Too Late”

I imagine before Maliwan gets the Vault Key or some other wild power, like power over the Rampagers. seriously, in the We Are Mayhem trailer, there’s a rampager are fighting on the side of Maliwan (altho if this is The One Rampager, or just One of Many is hard to tell. it could morph depending on which element it is. we just don’t know. personally i think there’s 1 per planet... i’ll explain later)

From the Art Book Preview:

Alright yes. “Maliwan forces have already seized control of the monastery, where part of the Promethean Vault Key has been located, turning a simply recovery mission into a vicious firefight...... A large and foreboding crypt built into the side of the mountain was also designed, and might perhaps have housed the Vault Key fragment deep within its gloomy interiors”

i don’t think this means the crypt is like an actual area. it would be interesting to discover that the pyramid is a giant crypt because... jesus. it would fit with the whole pyramid theme, at least. altho im wondering if this is more like a labyrinth situation where they’re trying to keep a Rampager inside as well as the treasure... which MAY be a Vault Key Fragment

Actually, this brings up a great point: did Atlas spread the Vault Key out throughout the planets? Is this where Typhon originally found that Key fragment? wtf was in the Vault that Atlas needed to disassemble the Key and return its fragments? oh boy i hope it’s something scary

From the Moze Eden-6 E3 Gameplay:

oh ye this. okay so this is definitely 100% Eridian. I’m guessing we get this from Athenas because this seems like a fairly important object and, well, Athenas is all about Eridian stuff. When we go through the next few videos, keep an eye out for the temples. You’ll see the glowing red diamond shape constantly reappearing there.

one of the devs admitted that there are hunks of Eridian Writing left around the world that will ‘open up’ things for the players, so I imagine this is exactly what we’ll use to get to it. If this IS only for endgame stuff I’ll be slightly disappointed. I know we have access to this before Eden-6, since there are gameplay videos that show the player breaking the Eridium chunks with this thing. the above one is from the Moze Eden-6 gameplay, tho I’ve also seen newer footage from the Balex gameplay with this same tool

The following clips can be found in this video:

im mostly interested in the wall art here

what looks like a sun or a planet

this symbol which makes an appearance elsewhere

these two are the same area, im imagining this is the fight up to the pyramid, with Maliwan forces and barricades everywhere

the sun again in the background (middle top)

this cool piece (bottom left of the above pic) which looks like a hand covered in glowing blue. i imagine this is some sorta representation of Phaselock? mainly because of the blue orb in the palm of her hand

not much to say about this area tbh. looks like a residential area to me, so possibly not in the residential district

writing on the top mid-right.

idk why i just noticed these trees are green and not red but yeah, that’s interesting. so probably a different area from Amara’s trailer aka: not Partali

and yet we see amara’s tattoos on the building in the back right. sorry for such terrible quality btw, tumblr ate these images and spit them back out

These clips can be found in the Borderlands are Yours trailer:

looks like the small building we see directly next to Maya and Ava

altho very clearly not the same exact area so im curious what these are supposed to represent. tbh im kinda reminded of graveyards. i really hope there aren’t corpses in those omg

another better look at the two pieces of art. i imagine the one on the right has something to do with the eridians given its in a diamond shape, which we know has something to do with the eridians now

also im not playing amara first (possibly last. depending on how i feel fl4k may go last) but HOLY SHIT her action skills are beautiful

THIS FUCKER

i know he’s probably a vault monster but like...

idk i feel its kinda sad gearbox is showing off a VAULT MONSTER of all things in so much promo material. like why is he fighting with Maliwan/the cult in the We are Mayhem trailer??

sup with that?

does he have multiple stages?? is that’s why he changes elements? goes from two heads to wings to extended necks. like wtf is up with this guy?? he definitely looks like he can be elementally charged given his eye sockets aren’t glowing when he emerges like they do

here but then

this dude looks like he has an entirely different skull like...

this dude is a corrosive one who also seems to be working with Maya (who i guess IS probably the corrosive aligned siren)

and we’re guessing the nuclear charged one is the one from Athenas... for reasons i’ll explain below

AND honestly i've been thinking and maybe the fire one is actually from Promethea? and maybe there’s another that’s on Eden-6 and another on Pandora?

alright so i have 2 reasons for this. one involves spoiler talk with the cloth map, so that won’t be discussed here (but if you see the map and the planets, you’ll understand what i’m alluding to here, most likely). the other is that in this screenshot of all the quests from the Eden-6 demo:

we see immediately after “hostile takeover” is the quest “the impending storm”. which is, indeedy, a reference to the Order of the Impending Storm. We know they’re on Athenas, so I imagine we run over to Athenas to get part of the Vault Key. We’ve established from the art book that’s where it is.

but then after The Impending Storm, Space-Laser Tag (which we all know is that giant-ass laser thing in the asteroid belt), and Atlas, at Last, there’s a quest called Beneath the Meridian.

And we know this area... is definitely underground. we’ve seen with the fire-y boy that the ceiling is just rocks

then we see this shot with the nuclear (?) one where the window outside is clearly showing off mountains/sky, which we know is kinda Athenas’s deal

and we know these two areas are the same v ^

since there’s the same ‘Vault’ in the background

so my only problem with this entire theory that there’s multiple rampagers is that

we see the twins killing/absorbing the red/fire one’s power which is also on athenas since the background is the same as the vault area from the above two pictures. unless there’s a similar vault-thing on promethea and eden-6. we know there’s one on Pandora, but that one is outside so.

so i guess they are the same beasty boy but... why why why show us one of the vault monsters

it’s so cool going in blind and not knowing what you’re going to get out of it.

so im going to say this is a minor vault monster (especially given it’s not exactly the same rock-like design as the other vault monsters) and the ‘vaults’ are actually something smaller. maybe they hold keys, or the pieces of the keys, or they’re part of that teleportation network i keep talking about (and i guess i should just make a seperate post about it) but i don’t know if these are actual Big Boy Vaults. especially when the Rampager doesn’t match actual Eridian-created Vault Monsters

that said given we see a bunch of dead guardians on the floor, its possible the rampager killed them? but i get the feeling we might actually be the ones to pull the trigger cause... combat is fun

so. yeah. if the rampager is guarding something that’s fine. i wanna believe teleportation network. i’d love to see the twins come in, walk out of that vault, absorb the rampager’s powers, and then walk out after locking us in like ‘peace’ and we have to use the teleportation system to make it back to promethea with the vault key fragment or whatever

[im here after the cloth map reveal like... uh huh. i see. u dumb bitchard.]

idk i just thought this was a fun screenshot lol

BoRdErLaNdS

ah yes

that’s eridium

this also appears to be in the temple, but, like, again if there’s more than one temple this could also be on Pandora or even Eden-6. Kinda leaning towards Pandora. HOWEVER since we only know for certain this sort of temple area is on Athenas (from that one statue shot), we’re gonna analyze this bad boy right now (also lowkey think this is Pandora because of the varkid nests but shhh)

what do i actually have to say about it? uhhh not much tbh. i think i’ve said all that needs to be said concerning the twins mutating cultists with slag/eridium.

i will say im pretty shocked at, like, the eridium HORNS and shit. so maybe this is just some cool little miniboss. (okay not mini because look how big he’s gotten!! just like Bloodwing :D)

you know what, it looks like he’s standing on one of these

floor tile things, and now im super curious. is the fire part of a trap? is it powering this lad up? i definitely know he’s a cultist because he’s got the neon light tubes on his shoulder pad

see here

you can see these on other cultists like goliaths and such and such

also this is pretty similar to what we’ve seen in the LLE (especially the powersuits) given their bodies also form eridium crystals when they’ve ascended

i feel like its powering him up

you know during the fight with bloodwing when Jack powers up bloodwing using the elemental flamethrower things? would be interesting if this is similar to that.

like dis

yeahhh

the radiation boy is back and he’s actually elementally charged this time

huzzah

also i love the chest mouth lmao

has anyone here seen stretch armstrong? like that one episode where Gabe (crostini man) gets turned into a bunch of flexarium monster chunks

but yeah, awesome mouth my guy.

im curious if it’s being elementally charged to cryo or if it’s stopped being charged. if this is like a cutscene between different stages in the fight, etc etc.

this also looks fairly similar to this area here

but red this time. which... may tie into the elemental stages. which maaaaay tie into those floor platforms elementally charging that demon baby up above. bloodwing 2.0!

You can find the following clips in the Official Guide to the Borderlands:

god i keep telling myself to be on the lookout for athenas clips but i get so distracted by the gorgeousness of this fucking game i forget and have to keep going back

if that dude in the back floating was t-posing i would have lost my shit

new Siren tattoos!!! we haven’t seen these before. they’re very flowy, i love them. i hope we get to meet the siren with them!

i also loooooove this area in the back. i hope we get to climb it and explore. i would love to just be able to climb to high up areas in bl3 and look down and see the area i just came from. it’s possible! we have the technology! thousand cuts / bnk3r ascension 2.0!!!

more of amara’s awesome looking powers

zane has 2 trans pride skins im so happy 😄

also look at how teeny tiny that ‘Vault’ is in the back!!! it’s only like 2x the size of Iron Bear!!! gimme BIG vaults!! GIANT VAULTS

also also

the VOID vault

i get a feeling these are connected somehow.

sniper spoooot

not much to say about this tbh. zane’s claw things look fucking dope tho. i want one irl.

we’ve seen this shot a few times before already

alright before you get mad, let me explain why i think this is athenas

you see this picture

this maliwan jackass. the building to his left is 100% athenas architecture.

the rocks in the top picture look identical to the ones next to him. plus we’ve seen water in the distance of some of the areas of Athenas

it could also be Eden-6 (which honestly i would not be surprised if it is instead) but given the ivy and the rocks i felt it was worthwhile to put in. plus the moving eridian structures are so cool looking. i feel like that’s going to be a puzzle.

oh oh also

maybe that area leads into/exits from here? because they’re both underground in cavern-like areas

but like... it could also be eden-6... because of that one shot of the temple area in the side of the cliff ASDFHDGJFJGFHSD

still radiation charged.

also seriously this ‘Vault’ is wayyyy smaller than a regular Vault. like... the one in BL2 that you can walk right up to... huge. and nothing even comes out of it. the Warrior climbs up from over the edge

the bl1 is much bigger than this one, too. also the vault of the traveller, i would argue is the biggest out of all of them but eh

for the Vault of the Sentinel, the actual arch we see... i’ve already gone over why i don’t think that’s a ‘real’ vault and that its all more of a simulation, but you can read that whole thing here bc i am trying my damndest to not get off topic for this post because holy fucking shit. this got long.

Alright so. Onto the website pictures

another cool shot of the academic district, really showing off the pyramid in the background. god i wanna know what that is. could be the temple (underground things notwithstanding). it’s probably holding that statue with the vault keys in either arm

you know the one, it’s at the beginning of this post. but damn that thing is huge!! i am hoping it holds more than just the promethean vault key.

did i already talk about how there are siren tattoos written along the edges of this area??? because... damn.

also the symbol for what is probably Vault Key sitting right smack dab in the middle??

also sorry i just noticed those blue shapes are moving. like a fountain or something?? weird light.

i mean... the trees are also warping in the background. wonder wtf is going on here...

anyway whatever she’s holding actually doesn’t match up with any of the vault keys we’ve seen so... wtf are you???

a very nice shot overlooking the water. also a wind turbine in the background. i think the area on the left is where we’ve seen ava and maya? but dont hold me to that lol

definitely looks the same. even has the tree

another shot of that area i think we’ve seen Amara fighting in

big shot of the pyramid with the vault symbol everywhere. and the planet with the beams coming out of it. which in retrospect...

anyway that’s spoiler talk so let’s talk in another post.

another shot of athenas from a slightly different angle, we’ve seen this one before, too, and i remember because i complemented the road signs

annnnd im tired. good night everybody.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #athenas

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illuminatingcomics · 6 years ago

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"backclash to Hydracap caused the higher ups to have the ending changed". I keep hearing this but have seen no actual evidence of it so far. What was the supposed original ending going to be? Did people really think Spencer wasn't planning on bringing non-Hydra Steve Rogers back all along?

The finalissue presents some clear signs of blunt force rewriting, namely the page whereall the heroes just sorta vanish then come back in the span of a couple ofpanels for absolutely no reason because “GENERATIONS” was happening and itneeded some manner of explanation, or how Steve is the one that defeated hisevil half, yet he’s nowhere to be seen in the final splash page.

I don’tthink Spencer wanted to keep Steve a member of Hydra, but Secret Empire and theHydraCap saga read like the sort of story that ends with the main character realizinghis mistakes and sacrificing himself to bring things back to normal. It’sentirely possible I’m talking out of my ass, but that’s what the story feltlike, I wouldn’t have been surprised with Steve redeeming himself at the endthen dying, allowing Sam to stay Captain America a couple more years before theinevitable resurrection.

The DreamlandCap stuff starting from issue #2 puts a spanner in that theory, but consideringthe delays and how many artists are involved in this thing, it’s not out of therealm of possibilities that redrawings and fill-ins where tacked on while thetrain was crashing.

We’re shown two (TWO) disconnected panels (PANELS) telling us of two past attempts. in one “98 people died” and in the other “116 people died” so you know it’s serious shit to, look at those high numbers. Who these people are, if the resistence has some kind of army Star Wars style, it’s never really established, we’re just told that’s the case.

Not aspoiler, Milo—well, let’s use his real name, Rayshaun Lucas, has no role inthe actual main event (I think he does stuff in the tie ins). He just shows upin the first issue to deliver Rick Jones message, and that’s it. He comes backat the end for the final hero shot, because he fills the role of the NEWPATRIOT, something I realized only after rereading the event. I didn’t know thetwo characters were connected, but apparently, they’re the same person. I hadtrouble realizing it, because Rayshaun is supposed to be a teen, but there’repromo images of the New Patriot where he looks like a dude in his thirties.

As I said to another anon, mine was mostly an overaction to the bland cookie cutter statement she gave regarding Carol. how she couldn’t come up with a single interesting thing to say, so she had to resort to an outright lie “she’s the only character that is human and flawed”. I guess if you take every single character in the history of fiction, yes, there’re a lot of characters that have no flaws, Steven Freakin Seagal made it a point in an interview “that his characters are never in trouble because they’re perfect”, but I doubt that’s what Kelly was referring to. I really have no opinion on her writing, the only book I’ve read with her in the credits was a couple of issues of A-Force, and they left no impression on me.

His blindness means that their secrets are safe with him.

Don’t have anything to add to this.

No, I don’t collect props and

>Carol’s video

You cheeky motherfucker…

Ijust heard everything that Bendis touches crumbles away in ruins, and Jon, thewonderful kid everyone immediately liked, is going to be aged up and turnedinto some hostile scarfaced motherfucker, because that’s why people read supermancomics, see him lose his family and wallow in misery. Also Martain Manhunterwants Superman to take over the world, because I guess someone had to ScarletWitched at some point.

#asks #superman #marvel #patriot #Secret Empire

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elizabethrobertajones · 7 years ago

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Hello! Sorry for this stupid question, but here it is... how do you notice subtext?? Like, is it something that is obvious to you or do you know what/where to look for?? Am I dumb for not seeing it by myself, or is it actually okay and you need a skill for it, that's what I would like to know... *sigh*.. but also it's not like I'll accept any explanation that someone gives, I'll take it only if I find it reasonable, but lmao do I even have a right when I can't come up with anything by myself??

Oh gosh, that’s not an easy answer… Good thing I just had a coffee and my brain is nearly back online!

Essentially, it’s just about awareness and willingness to engage with the text on the level of being aware that it’s a text, rather than losing yourself to it. In a very good movie you forget where you are and you’re 100% in there and your thoughts are just absorbing what is in front of you. In a bad movie you’re gossiping and joking about the characters, even in your mind if you are polite in the cinema, and identifying shit like “oh wow what a surprise his sketchy brother is betraying him” or whatever. Aka you are viewing it as a bad movie rather than disappearing into the good one.

And at that point you are an objective level removed, and your awareness of tropes and storytelling and general themes of the genre means you’re now engaging with the story and its subtext on a higher level than pure indulgent viewership. (Which is a blessed state and extremely important for creators to cause that to happen in us, but if we want to be critical of a text we then need to lovingly make this step back to critique and explore and analyse and understand WHY we liked the thing we liked. Or, of course, hated the thing we hated.)

This is the answer the internet gives on What Are Subtext?

The important thing is that the subtext is an actual, solid, understandable part of the story, but it’s not one that the text will actually announce with words… Unless it’s being extremely post-modern.

(You should watch Jane the Virgin, it’s amazing)

In that example, it’s extremely obvious in context that the situation sucks, and our narrator is telling us, as a voice outside the scene, how it feels for the characters even though it’s blatant on screen, it’s humorous for us to be told this as part of the overall conceit of the show, which is extremely postmodern and constantly types out the details of the story and how the characters feel, things they don’t know, etc, on screen for us to make sure we’re all on board and understand what’s going on. Using the narration like this is making what is subtext in the acted scenes, for example jealous eyebrows and the sort of other micro-expressions we over-analyse, into stated fact about the feelings. The serious nuance comes in other, much more intelligent ways in the story.

Another direct and frequent way we interact with subtext aside from it being just literally anything happening on screen that is not directly commented on but may be evident from the work of acting, camera, and setting-related design and other choices, is dramatic irony, which is a very good use of subtext which draws us in and makes us extremely aware of what we know that the other characters don’t, and plays on that for our attention and investment in the story, but of course MUST go unstated at least to some characters, meaning that any engagement we have with the conceit around said character(s) means we’re seeing the subtext they miss. Growing up reading Lemony Snicket was a masterclass in storytelling and general life so I’ll let him explain:

“Simply put, dramatic irony is when a person makes a harmless remark, and someone else who hears it knows something that makes the remark have a different, and usually unpleasant, meaning. For instance, if you were in a restaurant and said out loud, “I can’t wait to eat the veal marsala I ordered,” and there were people around who knew that the veal marsala was poisoned and that you would die as soon as you took a bite, your situation would be one of dramatic irony.”

When we’re reading a text to identify subtext, we need to have awareness of some pretty basic foundations, such as the major story tropes and styles, and character and setting and a lot of other things… Fortunately as long as you read books, watch films and TV series and otherwise consume tons of media, you will have at least unconsciously absorbed a LOT of the toolbox needed for this. You just need to know enough to know how to expect what happens next, OR to know when a story has done something radical which is NOT what you would have expected, and breaks a mould you thought it was set in.

For example, the cold open of 2x03 features a vampire, a panicked, conventionally attractive woman in a white top running through woods, being hunted by Gordon, with the vampire as the typical tropey victim, and Gordon facelessly featured as a seeming hook-handed killer. It LOOKS like it’s going to play into an extremely typical slasher story, but once Sam and Dean realise the victim was a vampire, it turns the entire set up on its head and is immensely unsettling to the foundation of the show (which is how Dean handles the episode). I use that example a lot but it’s one of the most blatantly tropey cold opens on the show which gives away nothing to suggest it will be subverted, because it’s so early in the show their mould is extremely simple, and you could almost not trust that they wouldn’t do another extremely on the nose urban legend, before they have really established themselves beyond the season 1 style.

That whole set up relies on giving us invisible cues we read which are the subtext of the scene, and then using the fact that this set up plays us really hard to believe one thing and the other, in order to make it so complex and confusing and uncertain even for us, as we relied on the cold open to tell us what was what and who was good and who was bad, which if we followed one emotional POV of the episode, could last as long as Dean’s uncertainty that the vampires weren’t bad.

Storytelling is built enormously on this foundation of subtext and stuff, and one of the things that you can tell is bad about Buckleming episodes is that they really don’t put in much subtext: things are fairly straightforward, subterfuge is broadcast, and there’s rarely deeper meanings or connections between events in their stories. It comes across shallow and weird, especially with side characters with bizarre and unexplored motivations, or surface level motivations which are not explored and we can only take it on face value what they actually care about. One of the most hilarious Buckleming scenes to me is the one where Crowley “forces” Lucifer to tell the court of demons that Crowley is the best and he is in charge, while with his back turned to Crowley, Lucifer winks and implies with his tone of voice that he is/will be in charge and is the real king they should be bowing to. This is their idea of dramatic irony, subtlety and subtext in character interactions and it is utterly, truly dreadful to behold, in the sort of way I want to put it in a museum as an example to future children to learn what not to do. You can press a button and Lucifer’s eyes light up in the exhibit!

In any case you’re probably really mostly asking about Destiel and bi Dean subtext etc, because this is what majorly concerns the meta-interested peeps. But to me it is really really essential to know and care about the entire house of cards. Billie’s words about the structure and function and behaviour of the universe in 13x05 are a wonderful description of how writing works, and as a bonus she doesn’t say “this is a writing metaphor” and wink directly into the camera, as Buckleming would have written it, but Yockey leaves this idea in the writing itself for us to interpret and understand. There’s a LOT of commentary in this show about writing but this one in particular really resonates with me when it comes to talking about interpretation, because we really have to understand and handle the entire story in order to really line up any of the pieces in a way that makes sense.

Right now I have that lil lesson in visual subtext floating around, about Ketch and Dean in 13x18 and Dean n Cas in 13x19. I think it’s a great example because Ketch and Dean have a real history, and that’s super important to remember when on the surface it looks like just a joke. The history goes back as far as 2x03, when I’ve written before about seduction and the trap Dean falls into with men filling a space in his life. The tl;dr of this linked meta is that Gordon, the Siren and then Crowley as a main arc over season 9-10 seduced Dean in a very similar pattern. 9x11 is the best example of a Dean seduction episode, but through season 10, Crowley is so successful that he has the dubious honour of having actually managed to bed Dean in the process, while the others failed, though the Siren at least got a proxy-kiss.

Ketch comes on to Dean in 12x14 and there was even a shot or promo image (I can’t remember which this is now) where they had this bottle in the middle of the table between them.

Bottles are suggestive imagery in any case, and we have Cas flirting outrageously (for Cas) with Dean in 9x09 including this action of stroking his bottle in front of Dean:

Ketch’s approach with Dean was a lot like Crowley’s, emphasising their similiarity and trying to get his little adventure with Dean to tap into all the dark parts Dean denies. In the end Ketch went overboard beating up the vampire girl, Dean went into protective mode, and didn’t unleash an inner killer, like Gordon and Crowley in particular had wanted him to, and so this Manly Bonding Over Violence failed to occur, they went their separate ways, and Ketch shacked up with Mary instead because this is a fucked up story :D

Once this incestuous connection to Ketch occurred, he for once is off-limits to Dean now, so he’s having this oddly romantic bonding episode with Dean in a sense - the kind that without this context would be huge alarm bells because it combines the ridiculous homoeroticism of Dean x Cole (thank the fucking lord that stopped short) and the plausible good chemistry of Dean x Crowley in the sense of Jensen and DHJ being a fucking delight when they’re together. This would be EXTREEEEEEEEMELY shippable in other circumstances, but instead Dean knows Ketch slept with Mary, they mother and son killed him and destroyed that gross connection, and then he floated back up like a turd, and so they mostly just talk about when and how they get to kill him again, and not in the “this is a blatant flirtation” way Crowley pointed out it was basically a come on from Dean to threaten to kill him in the closing lines of 9x10 and the opening lines of 9x11 featured Dean threatening to kill Crowley.

So Dean chilling 5ft away from Ketch in a hot tub because he’s not gay in the woods, and telling him flat out he’s not his type, is legit and not connected to subtext telling us that Dean isn’t bi, it’s that Dean in a zillion years is not going to sleep with Ketch, that if he was younger and dumber he would have, but he knows what’s up and now Ketch slept with Mary, this is fucked up in a way that we’re now verging into bizarre John subtext instead. The phallic symbol of a gun - used a lot by Dean from between his legs in humourous or not so humorous scenes and teased as penis subtext a lot (especially in #THINMAN with the “say hello to my little pistola” moment where Dean directly compares dick and gun in coded talk while having it out with Harry) - is therefore presented as Dean with it loose and not pointed at Ketch. Surface level, he’s not gonna shoot Ketch right now. Subtext… He’s… not gonna… shoot……. ketch right now…

And then you go to the kitchen scene with Dean n Cas, the subtext of beer as dicks is also deeply established as well as alcohol as sexual bonding between men, right back to Gordon and the Siren and Crowley, in a bad way, but also positive; Dean bonds with people who share a drink with him and his primary way of picking up women is in bars. In the open of 1x19 he and Sam have full beers on their table, and Dean goes over and buys more beers to talk to the women he wants to pick up, then goes to Sam and puts those beers down - in the end Sam has 4 full, untouched beers on the table in front of him when Dean runs off to go seal the deal at the end of the scene. I find that so utterly hilarious.

But yeah. Between Dean n Cas it has a much deeper level of symbolism about their connection, and the major moments are pretty numerous, but I love in 10x18 at the Last Supper, the Kingdom Beer bottle superimposed over the whole of Cas for a moment in the fade between scenes, before Dean picks it up and drinks from it. There’s also moments like 6x03 when Dean is praying to Cas where he’s holding a bottle directly between his legs, as Cas arrives in the room. Details like this always make me laugh. You need a dirty mind for this sort of subtext :P The show itself has a dirty mind… Season 7 is full of Dick jokes, but they’re only the most overt that the show makes. 9x17 is RIDICULOUS because Misha has the foulest mind and spent roughly 50% of the time he was directing doing close ups of Dean’s face as he drinks seductively from a bottle, or with him standing with a pool cue between his legs, running his hand up and down it. I… Am not going to comment further. It was, however, the episode where Crowley thought he had sealed the deal with Dean.

In any case the subtext of the beer in 13x19 is more likely to link directly to 12x10 and “this will do nothing for me but I appreciate the gesture” and the more wholesome theme of Dean trying to be nurturing and inviting Cas into the home and family - 12x10 was basically addressing and fixing an enormous problem of miscommunication about this. In the end despite the gesture - of both not killing Cas just to spite Ishim, or giving Cas a beer when it won’t make him drunk, Cas ended up still leaving on the mission that ended up with him stealing the Colt and then going off with Jack and Kelly. And this season the theme remains of miscommuncation, this time with so much dramatic irony that WE know that the characters don’t that their cross purposes can be seen from space… Hopefully for the sake of addressing it.

But I have a dirty mind and this is an established part of Destiel subtext from other scenes where the beer was more directly in focus, such as 9x09, meaning no harm in highlighting the upwards pointing phallic symbols in the room and grabbing an awkward shot of Dean holding the beer pointed Caswards from his lower torso… :P

I think in the end spotting innuendo is important to know when it is and isn’t intended by signifiers in the story and characters that it is just random. There’s almost certainly accidental moments where characters with no chemistry or emotional subplot have done things which might look suggestive but it’s up to us to use logic and reason to guess they’re not really telling us they have a boner for each other. Since Dean n Cas have romantic subtext and a strong history of innuendo and sexual subtext as well, it’s fair game to at least laugh about unfortunate implications, wonder about the Big O Slush Machine that Cas spilled over the phone to Dean in 9x06, or look stonefaced into the camera and say “that’s a dick.”

#Asks #meta meta #dean is bi #destiel #my stuff #long post for ts

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finishinglinepress · 3 years ago

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FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: Small Life by Karol Nielsen

TO ORDER GO TO: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/small-life-by-karol-nielsen/

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Karol Nielsen is the author of the memoirs Walking A&P (Mascot Books, 2018) and Black Elephants (Bison Books, 2011) and the poetry chapbooks Vietnam Made Me Who I Am (Finishing Line Press, 2020) and This Woman I Thought I’d Be (Finishing Line Press, 2012). Black Elephants was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing in nonfiction in 2012. Excerpts were honored as notable essays in The Best American Essaysin 2010 and 2005. Her full-length poetry collection was longlisted for the Terry J. Cox Poetry Award in 2021 and selected as a finalist for the Colorado Prize for Poetry in 2007. She teaches creative nonfiction and memoir writing with New York Writers Workshop.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Small Life by Karol Nielsen

In Small Life, Karol Nielsen shares precise little snapshots of New York streetscapes and the people she meets there, always wondering if she truly belongs. The homeless, the street vendors, dog walkers, and more are each presented with compassion and just the right details, in all their unique humanity.

Not till quarantine in a leafy Connecticut suburb does the author note that hers is a “small life.” Her readers realize that despite any accident of birth, Nielsen is a New Yorker. She relishes life there in the before times, and looks forward to after.

–Katherine Flannery Dering, author of the memoir Shot in the Head, A Sister’s Memoir, a Brother’s Struggle and the poetry chapbook Aftermath

A veteran observer of international events, the indomitable Karol Nielsen(whose memoir Black Elephants describes being newly engaged in a war zone) turns the current lockdown into an opportunity to deep dive into her present circumstances (“small” when compared with her pre–March 2020 situation), as well as to retrieve images of Manhattan. By chronicling chance encounters—and recognizing how special they are—this teacher and former journalist rediscovers the immediacy of poetry. Taking time to reflect on the hows and whys of what happens to everyone, Nielsen reminds us how precious life is. She does, indeed, seize the day.

–Judith Mary Gee, author of the chapbook Edges of Wanting

Please share/please repost [PROMO] #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry

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cyn2k · 7 years ago

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Prompt Fic: Shades of Future Past (Zimbits)

I’ve not posted anything original before, and I’ve never written fan fiction. But I saw the below prompt posted by a friend (original prompt source), and this outline just begged to be written. Of course, it just kept getting longer and longer. I’ve left it in outline form, as I truly don’t have the skills to turn it into the monster it threatens to be.

Prompt:

Cleaning out your grandfather’s house after his death you’re going through boxes in his attic when you come across a box of photo albums labeled with your name.

You smile and begin to flip through them. Your smile fades, you don’t recognize many of the people. That is when you realize the dates are from ten to fifteen years into the future.

After the overdose and rehab, Jack returns to his parents’ house in Montreal. He hasn’t lived there for more than a few months since his first billeting for Midgets years earlier.

He has no idea what he will do with his life. Hockey is all he knows.

He starts seeing Dr. Turgeon twice a week. He doesn’t say much at first, but an anxiety attack in his 5th week of visits starts their discussions. He does not talk about hockey or his father. He does talk about how alone he feels. He doesn’t talk about his lack of a future. He doesn’t talk about sex, or whatever that was with Kent.

Bob tries to get him to come to meetings with him (keeping him in view for when he’s ready to return to hockey), but Jack can’t see that far ahead.

Seven months in, one of his Peewee coaches contacts him about coaching some of the kids at his old rink. He says he’ll think it over.

On his next therapy visit, he brings up hockey for the first time.

Jack’s grandfather died a year after the overdose.

Jack’s grandparents live in California. All 3 of the Zimmermanns come for the funeral.

Grandma has decided the house is too big for her alone and wants to downsize to a senior community in Arizona, or maybe Florida. Jack hopes she chooses Florida, as it’s closer to Montreal.

Alicia asks Jack to stay with her after the funeral to help clean out the house. Bob has commitments and returns to Montreal.

Alicia’s brother and sister-in-law help out after work, but Jack does most of the heavy lifting.

California homes don’t have basements, which Jack finds odd.

They can and do have attics, though, and his grandparents had a lot of stuff.

Grandpa had a lot of WW2 memorabilia from his father’s family, including a number of diaries from both male relatives in the war effort, and female relatives involved in the workplace. One of his great aunts worked at the Douglas Aircraft factory in Long Beach.

Jack takes one of the books on WWII history and spends the rest of his free time at his grandparents’ house reading all the books he can find in the collection. Alicia arranges to have the books and diaries shipped home to Montreal, as Grandma and his cousins have no interest in them. (He will later use 2 of the diaries as source material in his senior thesis.)

The box with Jack’s name on it is underneath a quilt Jack recognizes from a visit just before he entered the Q. Jack smiles. They’d gone to Knott’s Berry Farm because his grandpa loved the restaurant there. It had been a good visit.

There are 3 photo albums in the box - one a deep red, one blue and gold, and one white. He doesn’t remember his grandparents taking that many pictures.

Opening the red album, the first picture he sees is a pie. It looks good, but he’s never much cared about sweets. He turns the page.

The pages are filled with pictures of a group of men in front of a rather dilapidated looking house. Most of them are tall, but there’s a much shorter man right in the middle. He had big brown eyes. Jack thinks they look happy. He smiles and turns the page.

The same men, now joined by several women, including one of the shortest women Jack has ever seen, are now in front of a large building. Jack thinks it’s probably an ice rink.

He takes another look at the last picture, and realizes one of the men looks like his father. He looks again. The man has blue eyes. He is standing next to, and has his arms around, the short blond man he noticed before, and a man with a very bushy mustache.

He flips through several more pages. The group appear to be taking pictures at a college campus, and they look like good friends. The man who looks like his dad makes his skin feel shivery. His eyes are drawn, over and over, to the blond man, who isn’t always smiling. Sometimes he looks like he’s scolding one of the others.

Jack’s heart hurts. He’s never had a group of friends like that. He puts the album down and picks up another one.

The blue and gold album has a logo on the front that he recognizes.

He opens the page to a Falconers hockey team photo on the ice. He doesn’t want to recognize the man in the #1 sweater with a C on the shoulder. He shivers.

He can’t deny that the next photo is himself - a promo shot of him in the same #1 sweater. He looks so old. There’s a small scar on his chin, and maybe he’s broken his nose at least once.

The next several pages are game shots. He glances at them, recognizing scrimmages and game shots with other teams. He does not see any that look like the Aces.

He turns the page, catches a glimpse of silver, and shuts the book quickly before he can swear whether he saw a certain large cup.

He puts the book back in the box, and takes several deep breaths before lifting out the white album.

On the first pages he sees have photos of himself with his parents. Looking at his parents first, he thinks they look good. He doesn’t recognize the dress his mother is wearing, but thinks they must have been tired, as they look older. He smiles.

He doesn’t recognize himself at first. His hair is shorter than he’s ever remembered wearing it, and he looks like his dad. The suit doesn’t look anything like his style. He flips the page.

The next set of pages features pictures of a smiling blond man with beautiful big brown eyes and a radiant smile, surrounded by what must be his parents.Jack recognizes the blond from the red album.

The next two pages hold pictures of a group of people, all featuring the blond man from the previous page. Many of them look like the men from the first album. There are only two women in any of the pictures - the short Asian woman from the red album, and an African-American woman who seems to be coaxing the others into place. Jack wonders why he’s not there.

Two of the pictures were taken when everyone seems to be laughing hard, except the blond man, who looks indignant. He turns the page.

His own face smiles back at him, along with the big eyes and wide smile of the blond man standing next to him.

While Jack-in-the-picture has a regular tie, the blond man wears a bow tie. They are the same color, as are the suits they’re wearing. Jack’s smile fades. He turns the page.

Their parents have joined them in this picture. Everyone is smiling. Their moms are wearing corsages.

Jack feels light-headed. He shuts the album and places all 3 back in the box, carrying it downstairs.

He does not discuss the box with his mom, but decides to bring it home.

They finish clearing out the attic two days later. Alicia and her mother have been researching real estate online. Grandma still leans towards Arizona, although she might stay in California to be closer to friends.

Alicia and Jack return to Montreal. The WWII books and diaries he’d picked out appear on one of his shelves, replacing some of his hockey trophies.

Jack looks through the photos once more, avoiding a certain silver image in the Falconers album, before sealing the box and hiding it in the back of his closet.

He feels hopeful for the first time since waking up in the hospital. Since long before that, really.

He contacts his Peewee coach and agrees to start helping out with the kids. Alicia and Bob are thrilled, but decide to say nothing.

Dr. Turgeon is the first person he talks to about Kent. While his parents know he was with Kent, they’ve never talked about it. Progress is made.

A few months later, Jack talks to his parents about attending college. He doesn’t let himself think about the box in the closet, but is pleased when his mom brings up Samwell as an option.

He mostly forgets about the box in the attic.

At Samwell, he chooses history as a major, with a focus on the 20th century and WWII. He joins the hockey team.

Two years later, when he first sets eyes on the small blond frog on the Haus tour, he can’t remember why he looks familiar. This irritates him.

The next three years pass. Jack graduates and joins the Falconers. He does not remember the box at all. He and Bitty come out to their friends and families.

Bitty graduates and moves to Providence, to no one’s surprise. Jack takes him to dinner and proposes 2 weeks later, also to no one’s surprise. They marry the next summer.

Bitty’s mom makes a photo album of the wedding.

Bitty keeps a photo and scrapbook of his time with the Falconers. Jack notices, but doesn’t pay much attention.

In his fourth year with the Falconers, his first year with the C, the team goes all the way. Jack comes out on his Cup Day, which he spends in Montreal with his family and most of the SMH gang.

Jack is traded to the Schooners a year later. He leads his new team to the second round of the playoffs, but they are eliminated by the Sharks. He is traded again, to the Habs. Jack suspects his dad may have been involved.

Bitty isn’t thrilled about the paperwork for living in Canada, but does enjoy spending time with his in-laws while Jack is away.

Bitty’s working on his second cookbook, and Alicia has taken to making guest appearances on his vlog. Bob makes occasional outrageous appearances, leading to the trending hashtags #badbobbakes.

They win the Stanley Cup two years later. Jack is 32 and starting to think about retirement. He doesn’t think too hard around the Cup, because you can’t take chances with Cup magic.

Jack and Bitty have a house and a dog, and perhaps the cat that keeps showing up for chicken that Bitty may slip her from time to time, and are thinking of starting a family. Suzanne and Alicia may be tag-teaming them.

They return to Samwell for Jack and Shitty’s 10-year reunion, after Jack’s second Cup win with the Habs. (He just might have had some thoughts about that). His Cup day is a week later, back in Montreal.

The SMH gang decide to throw their own reunion. They’ve rented a house, and Bitty bakes. The gang devours the first three like they’ve not seen pie in years. (As if Bitty would ever leave his friends pie-less.)

Jack arranges with Lardo for a photographer friend of hers to come with them and take photos while they tour the campus and spend time together. Jack has his own camera, but knows that time with friends is more important than taking the right photo. The photographer gets his own pie.

The photographer sends him a digital file, but also sends Jack a photo album of the best shots. The album cover is red.

He opens the album to a photo of one of Bitty’s pies. He turns the page. There are Ransom and Holster, Shitty and Lardo, Chowder and Cait (no one calls her Farmer any more), Ford and Nursey and Dex, and Jack and Bitty in front of the Haus, which is looking even worse than when he’d lived there. And another of them in front of Faber.

And he remembers. He does not look any further.

He does, however, gather the wedding album, the Falconers album, and the reunion album, and places them in a box. After sealing the box, he asks Bitty to label the box with his name. It sits on the chair in their bedroom.

On Cup Day, he whispers his wish when no one is looking.

When Jack and Bitty get home, the box is gone. He’ll pick it up the next time they go to visit his parents.

#check please #zimbits #prompt #first fic

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ohstardust · 7 years ago

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You Are All Four Seasons

REQUEST: from @likeapinkocean Hey I was wondering if you do fionn imagines. I really love your writing 💜. I was wondering if you could write one where fionn and y/n have been best friends for years. Whilst he is doing an interview with Harry, he admits that he’s in love with y/n. I thought this would be a cute idea 💜😂 A/N: I wasn’t sure how to write this and then inspiration hit. Hope the way it plays out is okay for you :) Also, the Disney Channel thing actually happened between me and my best guy friend (at the time), I didn’t realise that he actually liked me then, oops. Title & italics lyrics: Northern Wind by City & Color My Fionn playlist can be found on Spotify (this is what I listen to when I write about him and songs that are featured in fics about him) (x)

There were no amount of words in the English language, or any other for that matter, that allowed Y/N to express her level of pride for her best friend. It was as simple as that. Her pride was metaphorically off the chart. If one were to tell her and Fionn when they first met at the age of eight that they would be closer than ever, and he would be cast in a historical film epic, by the age of twenty, then they’d have probably rolled their eyes and blown a spitball at you in disbelief. But here they were, twelve years on in the exact position that would have left the youngsters incredulous.

Their friendship had been the most ridiculous cliché since the start, the kind that teenage romantic comedies are made about, the kind that made you laugh but secretly envied, and one that left you in awe of how 2 people could reach that level of companionship without falling hopelessly in love with each. Another rom-com trope. The thing is, she’d probably loved him since they were sixteen when he asked her to prom and bashfully told her she looked pretty, or perhaps it was when she was thirteen and he spent the whole afternoon stroking her hair whilst she binged on the Disney Channel and didn’t complain once. Either way, it had been ongoing for a number of years but time away from him during filming and promo allowed her to breathe and think again, to not feel so intensely and to take a step back to rethink her feelings. Not that she could change them anyway. She did hate how far away he had been lately though, she was stuck at university whilst he travelled to multiple places to promote Dunkirk with incredible people, and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. You’re the Northern Wind Sending shivers down my spine You’re like fallen leaves In an autumn night

She was tired and her arms ached from carrying bags of shopping back to her flat. Her tote bag had fallen off her shoulder four times and the handles on the bag containing plastic bottles of water had snapped leaving her to carry them home in her arms. She just wanted to sleep and pretend the rubbish afternoon hadn’t happened. The girl knew that Fionn had an interview airing live today online from some news site unknown to her, and whilst normally she’d be eager to watch, seeing him live would have just intensified the ache in her chest that had been increasing the past couple of months. It wouldn’t be wise to watch it, which is why she chose that afternoon to shop. She wouldn’t be tempted to logon and watch despite how awful she’d feel. Y/N set the items in the kitchen, putting everything away in their rightful place and trudged to her room to change. Once she was settled on her bed, she pulled the blanket over her and took her phone from her bag. Nine missed calls Fourteen text messages Four voicemails She began to panic as she realised they had all come from Fionn, Angie and Grace and worried that something awful had happened. She clicked on Fionn’s message thread first and scrolled through them in alarm. Fee Fi Fo Fum (16:24) I really need to speak to you, please pick up. I think I really screwed up. Fee Fi Fo Fum (16:32) Where are you? You’re not in lectures or working today so please call me back. Fee Fi Fo Fum (16:37) Look I’m really sorry, please don’t ignore me, we can talk about this. Fee Fi Fo Fum (16:49) C’mon Y/N, ring me I’m freaking out Fee Fi Fo Fum (16:58) At least answer Grace or Ang, they’re worried too Fee Fi Fo Fum (17:11) PLEASE Fee Fi Fo Fum (17:29) It’s fine, I get it. Y/N’s heart began to race, never had Fionn been so insistent on speaking to her, always understanding how busy she tends to be when it comes to studying or working. It scared her. Before she hit the call button on his contact, she opened the text threads from her other friends to see if it would shed some light on the situation. Ang (16:42) Hav u spoken 2 Fionn? If not then CALL HIM! Ang (16:51) Hes a wreck, he knows he messed up but he needs to explain Ang (16:55) Shit hve u not seen what happened? Ang (16:55) If ur out then ring us when u get chance Gracie (16:49) Babe, when you get this can you please call Fi? Gracie (16:56) You’re probably really busy love but it’s important Gracie (17:09) If you won’t call him, can you at least call me? Y/N’s stomach dropped, it was one thing for Fionn to incessantly call and text her, but evidently he’d brought two of their closest friends into the debacle and she wondered what on earth had he done wrong to need to speak to her so urgently? And what was he so sorry about? You’re the lullaby That’s singing me to sleep You are the other half You’re like a missing piece She worked on evening out her breathing before pressing call on Fionn. The voice that greeted her on the other end of the phone was quiet and timid, something that had become a distant memory from their childhood, she couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken to her in that tone. “I didn’t think you were still talking to me.” “I was out doing the food shopping, my hands were full and I didn’t see my phone until I got home,” she found herself reacting defensively, why did everyone seem to think she was ignoring them? “What’s so important? I have a bunch of calls, texts and voicemails from you, Ang and Grace, where’s the fire?” she weakly laughed. Fionn didn’t respond to the jovial tone and sighed, “I’ve been worried sick.” “Why, because I didn’t reply within the hour?” “You don’t know do you?” She huffed and rolled her eyes, becoming annoyed with people skirting around this apparent issue and wanting someone to just tell her. “For God’s sake, what’s happened?” “I said something stupid in an interview today… about you.” “Really? That’s it? You had me thinking someone had died!” “You might kill m-“ Her phone buzzed as it was pressed to her ear and she saw another incoming text from Angie, “-hold on one sec, Ang just sent me a link to something, says it’s crucial I watch it now.” She grabbed her laptop and opened the link in the message, ‘ Fionn Whitehead makes a big confession!’ was the caption on the video. Curiously she pressed play and let the interview with Fionn and Harry run. “It’s just an interview of yours, is this the one from today?” “Probably.” He stayed silent as he could hear the audio of the video, he debated telling her to turn it off knowing that she hadn’t a clue what he’d confessed to, but it was only a matter of time before she’d find out and she’d likely not forgive him for that. “Fionn brought his best mate out with us in London and she’s a riot, not a typical student drinker I’ll give her that, probably why she made such a spectacle of us all.” Harry cheekily grinned at the younger man and shot the same look to the woman interviewing them. Fionn gave the sweetest smile and heartily laughed at the memory, shaking his head and stretching he retored, “God I’m so in love with her.” His face paled and dropped as soon as he had said it and panicked, not knowing how to backtrack. Y/N’s breath hitched and she stuttered out a laugh in shock. After many years of friendship, she knew when he was joking and when he was sincere, being able to read him like a book, and this time was no exception. His face was too soft and honest and relaxed, a feature never seen to people he didn’t know or wasn’t comfortable with. The boy was still on the end of the phone, his forehead rested on his free hand and his eyes closed in fear. He heard her rewind that portion of the video and play it again, the whole image playing out in his head as he replayed the interview. “God I’m so in love with her.” The hairs were stood up on Y/N’s body and her eyes had clouded over. “Was it a joke?” Y/N’s voice came out thick and unsure, still not knowing how to process this. “Do you want it to be?” Her voice came out so small that Fionn wasn’t sure if he’d heard her or not, “No.”

“Good, ‘cause I meant it.” “How long?” “Prom,” she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, she was so elated to learn about his feelings but she hated how much time had been wasted, how many sleepless nights she’d had about losing him because she’d fallen in too deep. “I feel the same, y’know?” “Please say it,” his voice sounded pained but desperate for her to tell him just how she felt after all this time. Her head shook despite him not being able to see her. “Not until I see you, have to say it in person first, see how much we really mean it.” Fionn’s smile was audible through the phone and she couldn’t fight off her own, “I’ll be home tomorrow, love.” “I’m counting on it, ‘ve missed you.” “Missed you too,” he tiredly rubbed his eyes and let out a soft yawn, the promo was really draining his energy but he was glad to be promoting in the same city as her tomorrow and couldn’t wait to hold her. “ ‘m sorry for giving you a scare, I was just so worried that you’d seen it and you were mad, didn’t want to ruin that.” “It’s okay, it was worth it. Just don’t panic so much next time, you can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned and you know that.” “I know, it was silly. We should probably tell the others not to worry now, eh?” The irony of their clichéd romance was not lost on her and she’d absolutely laugh about it later, but right now she wanted to lose herself in Fionn’s voice and forget everything else, “They can wait, tell me about your week so far.”

#fionn whitehead imagine #fionn whitehead #fionn whitehead x reader #dunkirk imagine #dunkirk cast #dunkirk imagines

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meridianrose · 7 years ago

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This is a multiday post, under the cut are my entries for Day 1 - 8

Day 1 Why you're participating in Snowflake

Day 2 Favourite memory about fandom (Legend of the Seeker, People's Palace, landcomms)

Day 3 Rec fanworks you did not create (5 x au fics in 5 fandoms)

Day 4 Create a fannish wishlist (more comments for everyone, be nicer, create more, I can haz art pls)

Day 5 Rec a fannish or creative resource (scripts, screencaps and promo pics, image hosting)

Day 6 Leave feedback (I'm always doing the thing)

Day 7 Create a love meme (please leave comments/gifs)

Day 8 Share a piece of canon (Starz shows and how I fell truly in love during S2 moments, Da vinci's Demons, Black Sails)

Day 1 In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? I'm assisting with mod duties this year and this is what I wrote for my introduction there: I've been in fandom a long time. I've seen some good changes and some not so good. Lately in some places there's been a lot of negativity in fandom and overall it seems there's been a steady decline in interaction. For me fandom is about the joy of connecting with other fans, discussing, creating, consuming - and also commenting on fanworks of all kinds. I'm hoping Snowflake Challenge will give us all a positive boost and encourage us to focus on the good and to rediscover the community side of fandom. And because I'm assisting with mod duties I'm seeing a lot more of the content being produced and its amazing and heartwarming to see people sharing their personal stories and how fandom has helped them, talking about their passions, sharing their favourite fandoms and resources and fanworks. It's wonderful to see so many journal entries and activity! Day 2 In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Legend of the Seeker. This is one of my longer and more active fandoms. The peoplespalace was where I felt very welcomed and encouraged and I wrote a lot of fanworks and participated in a lot of the activities there. I miss the Darken/Cara/Rahl family side of the fandom a lot. There was also legendland a landcomm which ran for many years – we even had a reunion battle last year which was nice! I wrote so much fic, made icons and other graphics, even fanvids. I tried to do every challenge where possible. I was on Team Cara for the longest time. Cara, Darken, Zedd were always my favourites ;) Before legendland there was whedonland and again I felt part of something there. It pretty much saved my life a couple of times. These days there's gameofcards and it's fun and I encourage everyone to check it out, but the more specific fandom landcomms seemed to make for more tight-knit teams and I miss them. Day 3 In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. There are so many things I could rec! But I'll pick 5 AU fics from 5 different fandoms to spread the love a little Side by Side – Cormoran Strike http://archiveofourown.org/works/12036537 Fantasy au that ends in Strike/Robin, highly recommended. Murder – Dark Matter http://archiveofourown.org/works/12000579 College au based around an actual tradition of a game called "murder". As Glory Turns to Dust – Hamilton http://archiveofourown.org/works/11359656 Modern au with magic. Hamilton is cursed to be forgotten, leaving him alone in the world except, briefly, for Jefferson. Warning this is a fantastic fic but a sad ending. There is however a linked sequel by another author to put things right :) Skin Full of Lies – Black Sails http://archiveofourown.org/works/7570540 Soulmate au Silverflint "Every lie your soulmate tells you appears on your skin. Between outward lies, manipulations and stories told the crew John Silver's ink quite quickly takes over most of James' body." a gift fic for me, The Princess' Bodyguard – The Shannara Chronicles http://archiveofourown.org/works/13113129 pre-canon au in which Eretria is Amberle's bodyguard. One-shot but with potential for more, strong hints of Eretria/Amberle Day 4 In your own space, create a fannish wishlist. No limits on size or type of fanwork; just tell us what you’d like to see. Can we please do as most people asked on their fannish wishlist for day 4 and leave more comments? Can we journal more and create more? Can we rediscover the joy of fandom and stop with the "anti" behaviour? Please. More specifically for me, art for fics is always welcome. (I have a transformative work statement at LJ/DW and AO3 and have had translations of my work and podfic which are lovely!) In particular for my sfbb fic Bad Case of Loving You. I've got beautiful artwork for most of my sfbb fics, the DvD fics in particular. For sfbb I provide pinterest boards to help with resources and generally try to help artists out, as I did here. This is a Black Sails modern au medical drama with Silver/Flint/Miranda and Silver&Max and it was a labour of love and I'm still amazed I managed to write the thing. However it seemed to be cursed. My first beta dropped out. My first artist dropped out. My second artist swore they were ready to go then didn't post, then after the fest posted a basic stock photo+text "cover". *sigh* I made my own art in the end, banner and mini picspam for the tumblr promo post but I'm an amateur artist. Day 5 Recommend a fannish or creative resource. Springfield!Springfield! has movie and tv episode scripts. kiss them goodbye has a huge amount of screencap galleries. farfarawaysite has a smaller amount of pictures but tends to have high quality promotional pictures. Cloudinary is the site I'm using for image hosting since the photobucket debacle. Day 6 Leave feedback for a fanwork. Or multiple fanworks. It can be as simple as I liked this to a detailed list of all the things you loved about the fanwork. The key is to leave some sort of feedback. If you've already left feedback in the course of a previous challenge, it totally counts. But you're free to leave more feedback. My new year's resolution last year was to leave a comment on every fanfic, hosted on AO3, over 100 words, that I finished reading. (I needed some parameters; this doesn't mean I didn't leave comments at LJ/DW or on drabbles because I did, on occasion). I did the thing. I read a little less than usual. I noped out of more fics. But the fics I read and finished got a comment. I'm going to try and keep doing that. I've already left comments on some fics this year. My additional resolution for this year is to write down more of my ideas. Having plot ideas or dialogues while showering or in bed is one thing, but if I don't write/type at least the basics up, I forget them partially or entirely when I try to write the thing weeks or months later. Day 7: In your own space, create a love meme for yourself. Let people tell you how amazing and awesome and loveable you really are Come and tell me how amazing I am ;) Seriously though, I'm working on being more positive and telling myself I'm worthwhile, I deserve more, I am achieving more. But it always helps when other people are backing that up. Drop me a gif in the comments if that's easier, gifs are like greeting cards for saying the things we don't know how to otherwise express. Day 8 In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favourite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. My love of Starz shows seems to kick off in second seasons. For Da Vinci's Demons in S2e04 – starts around here: https://youtu.be/cQi4xjrBmgI?t=11m27s This is the moment I fell in love with younger!hotter!Riario, aka Blake Ritson in a wig, because hair kink. But also the moment I finally liked Lucrezia too, seeing her devotion to her sister. If you want me to like a character, have them adore and protect their little sister, if you want me to hate them, have them throw little sis under the bus. Riario tries to spare both girls, succeeds in saving only one, and his grief is evident as he speaks with a heartbroken Lucrezia. This scene changed how I felt about both Riario and Lucrezia and thus about the show and my fannish involvement. Similarly this humorous moment changed my feelings about Silver and SilverFlint in the opening episode of S2 Black Sails : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIt9u7CkBf0 when Silver completely misunderstands the plan and volunteers for a risky mission. This tumblr post shows what happens next: http://alightabovethearbys.tumblr.com/post/168194826519 It's even better later when they get on board, leading to Flint's exasperated "Well what the fuck did you think was going to happen?" You can see some gifs from all those Silverflint moments in S2 here: http://jolinarofmalkshur.tumblr.com/post/168381696381/john-silver-appreciation-week-day-6-favorite

#snowflakechallenge2018 #black sails #da vinci's demons #fandom #the shannara chronicles #hamilton #strike #legendland #whedonland #peoplespalace #nostalgia #younger hotter riario #silverflint #starz

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