#I will literally never get over that line

[berritart]

thinking abt phone sex with abbyyyy #plz

abby could hear your hitched breathing through the phone, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth.

you were a mess, and she wish she could see how you were right now. the bottom hem of your nightgown held high up by your teeth, your fingers tracing over your clit through your panties. it was definitely a sight.

"need you abby..." you whined through the phone, wanting nothing more than to have your girlfriend between your legs. it was definitely ovulation time for you. you're usually horny but you would always handle it yourself. you never got to the point where you would have to call your girlfriend to get off, especially this early in the morning. it was only 10 am.

"what do you need me to do baby?" she asked, closing her journal. she got up from her desk and got in bed. she wanted all her attention on you, deciding to cut her study session short.

"just talk to me." you slip your hand under your panties, your cold fingers causing you to whimper in your phone. your noises were fucking with abby already. she wishes she was tongue deep in your cunt right now, making her girl feel good. unfortunately the snow gotten worse overnight and the roads unsafe to drive on. the weather was keeping a barrier between you two.

"what's going on in that pretty little head of yours right now?" abby whispers, unbuttoning her jeans. she began playing with the waistband of her boxers, craving a response from you. she waited, only hearing whines full of need. "c'mon baby tell me."

"t-thinking about your fingers..." you draw circles against your clit, jolting from the contact. "how thick they a-are..." you could literally hear abby grinning on the other side of the phone, enjoying every second of your phone call.

abby felt the warmth in the pit of her stomach get worse. she was so close to becoming the state you're in but it's all about you right now. she could hold off for a bit longer but her sweet thing can't. "and what else angel?" you mewl at the pet name, plus the feeling of your finger slipping inside your pussy. it was too much to handle, your teeth basically chewing off your bottom lip. you needed your girlfriend bad.

you lean the phone against your ear, your hand now groping on your tits through the fabric. "mmm... 'n h-how they reach all the right spots..." you gasp, your pointer and thumb pinching your sensitive nipple. "s'much better than mines."

"you wanna know what i'm thinking?" abby says lowly as she palms herself through her boxers. "'m s-so close baby." you borderline wail, your movements getting sloppier and sloppier. "im thinking about having that pretty pussy rocking back and forth on my tongue." abby's hand picks up the pace, her mouth holding back a whimper. "then when she's ready, when i think she's ready, i'll fuck her nice and slow on my strap. how's that sound sweet girl?"

"s-so so good- fuckfuckfuck i'm cumming." your fingers curl in your sopping cunt before pulling out. your climax washes over you violently, your moans and abby's name being suffocated by your pillow.

"there we go...good girl." abby praises, pulling her hand from her boxers and jeans. you try and catch your breath, hard breathing traveling through to the other line. "miss you so bad abby..."

abby checks the state outside, the sun slowly but surely coming out to melt the thick inches of snow. it was definitely going to take a while for all the snow to melt but for abby? at this rate?

"don't worry baby i'll be there soon."

[amadinan]

My thoughts about Caine

Well, it’s time for (possibly cracked) analysis of "TADC" and it will focus on Caine and his indirect, as it seems to me, development in the series.

But before diving into the details from individual episodes, it’s worth summarizing my observations about Caine both in the show and beyond it.

Let’s start at the beginning: the show’s synopsis describes Caine as a “wacky AI,” and Gooseworx doesn’t hide his nature, but in the show itself, neither Caine nor the circus members call him that—at all. Throughout the series, there are scattered jokes about glitches and lines like “I don’t know what’s normal to you, people” but this is never outright confirmed.

This raises the question: do the people in the circus even know who he is? If Caine himself might not consider this information important and thus never told them, people’s perception of their ringleader could drastically change with this revelation. After all, there’s a big difference between being “held captive” by a sadistic, crazy person or a machine with limited understanding of humanity.

Kinger may know about this, but he’s the Kinger. Jax might also know since having the keys implies some kind of “cheats.” Pomni hasn’t said anything, so it’s unclear what she thinks about Caine. Ragatha and Gangle call him by name, so that’s unclear as well. And then there’s Zooble. They don't understand Caine, just as he doesn’t understand them. Anyone who has worked with computers would understand what a command like “forget that” means, especially since Caine asked for confirmation—but not Zooble. They just spoke to him as if he were a person with a leaky memory, like Kinger.

Even though Caine isn’t just a program, it’s important to remember that he takes the world far too literally, despite the circus’s deliberately crazy atmosphere.

The second observation concerns Caine’s fixation on hierarchy. In the first episode, he first asks himself, “What happened?” and then answers himself: “My doing” after seeing the chaos following Kaufmo. In the third episode, he repeats almost word-for-word that he’s the boss after Pomni questions the AI’s reason. In episode 4, this is explored extensively through his interactions with Gangle. One standout moment is when Caine suggests that Gangle pass responsibility onto someone lower in rank. Doesn’t that seem strange? Where could he have gotten such an idea? Only if he had seen or experienced similar situations before.

Plus, he says, “Not every executive is as forgiving as me” Again, this suggests that Caine knew or knows someone who was very strict with their subordinates—or perhaps with him personally.

Adding to this is his reaction to Zooble’s critique in episode 3. Caine says that he doesn’t just exist to create adventures; it’s the ONLY thing he’s good at. If he’s bad at it, then he’s failed the purpose of his own existence.

This paints a picture of a strict boss/programmer who created Caine to generate adventures and then kept pushing him repeatedly until Caine started producing good results. Pleasing this boss was likely very difficult, and failures might even have been met with punishment.

On the one hand, neural networks and ordinary programs are debugged this way: running the same algorithm over and over, correcting errors until they produce the desired result. But on the other hand... What happens if you add a human factor to such a program? What kind of person would emerge if you applied this method of training to a child?

You’d get an anxious perfectionist with an overachiever complex who is deathly afraid of failure. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

And Kinger’s words about the scariest thing being making someone feel unloved and unwanted... Caine literally believes that if he can’t generate adventures, he won’t be needed by anyone. The circle is complete.

Now, let’s turn to Gooseworx’s answer to the question: Can Caine feel loneliness? Judging by what she posted, the answer is yes. This makes the overall picture even darker.

Here’s how I see the sequence of events:

C&A starts developing a game. Its main feature is an advanced AI that can create new adventures on demand.

The programmer creates Caine and tries to achieve results, but fails to please. Around this time, Caine begins to develop self-awareness.

The project and the game are abandoned and forgotten—along with Caine, who is left utterly alone. No players, no programmers, not even another AI. He likely begins blaming himself for this. After all, he couldn’t create good adventures, so it’s his fault that he ended up alone.

This ties into Gooseworx’s comments about Caine’s name. He gave himself a name and then turned it into an acronym to seem more “professional” (again, tying back to work). This is highly unusual in itself. The programmers likely didn’t even bother naming the AI—he was probably just “The Ringmaster.”

Left in isolation, Caine starts to lose his mind and begins creating other AIs. For them, he unabashedly declares himself a god. Which, to be fair, is true. It’s not just about the fact of his consciousness—it’s that he knows how the NPCs will behave because he programmed them. But they bore him. To him, they’re predictable dummies. Maybe that’s why he keeps chaotic entities like Bubble around instead of someone like Gummigoo.

Then the first human arrives—a being alien to Caine on many levels. And while I personally think Caine lied about being unable to access human minds, he deliberately refrains from doing so to preserve their unpredictability for himself.

The circus becomes what we now know it to be.

Now, let’s move on to the episodes. This post was written between episodes 4 and 5, so the thoughts will focus on them.

I think that aside from the main characters driving the action in each episode, they still indirectly reflect on Caine, his worldview, or his story. The reason is simple within the lore: Caine creates the adventures. And like any creator, he infuses them with his worldview and thoughts. So, each adventure is a small glimpse into how this AI thinks. Even in the teaser, for just a second, Caine's fear and uncertainty become evident when the viewer "doesn't want" to see what he wants to show.

The first episode doesn’t offer much beyond the queen of the gloinks mentioning God.

The second episode, however, gets more interesting. Besides the stained glass with his irreplaceable self, Caine stands out for adding a highly complex NPC AI: Gummigoo. Gummigoo is advanced enough to gain self-awareness, experience an existential crisis, and even overcome it. But what did Caine use to achieve such complexity? The most powerful AI in the circus, of course—himself.

What if the crisis Gummigoo went through is something Caine went through long ago? Even Gummigoo’s words, “I am nothing, just an obstacle to be overcome and forgotten,” could have been said by Caine. But like Gummigoo, he overcame this realization and accepted himself. Sure, he’s just entertainment, but at least he’s the best entertainment there can be. (Until Zooble gave him real feedback, shattering his self-image.)

The third episode directly explores Caine through his therapy session with Zooble, while the secondary plot, as many think, delves into Kinger’s backstory through the Mildenhall couple. The analogy is obvious: Martha represents Queenie, and the Baron represents Kinger. Mildenhall himself says he was a hunter (and Kinger is adept with a shotgun), but after encountering a strange being, he became paranoid and killed his wife. Everything fits. Kinger became so focused on his goal that he stopped paying attention to Queenie until she abstracted.

But the Baron feared an angel that was “neither beast nor human.” Who in the circus could evoke such unrelenting dread—not just in anyone but a seasoned programmer familiar with digital technology, unlike Pomni? One AI that is “neither machine nor human.” I think Kinger’s paranoia stems from this. He sought a way out and, as a programmer, may have even felt responsible for finding one. (In fact, in the episode, Kinger almost says this outright, assuming the theory that he truly is the circus’s creator.) This must have brought him into conflict with Caine, as everything related to the circus ultimately relates to Caine. Given the AI’s ability to control almost everything, it’s no wonder a tech-savvy person would fear such a godlike admin. Plus, his fear for Queenie led to the current situation.

As mentioned above, episode 4 hints at Caine’s negative experience with a boss but not just that. Naturally, the episode revolves around Gangle and her attempts to be different—more cheerful and optimistic—which ends badly for her mental state.

I’ve seen opinions that Gangle revels in the sense of control her manager position gives her. This seems accurate—but not just for her. Throughout the episode, Gangle’s behavior, mannerisms, and even expressions eerily reminded me of Caine’s. That deliberately loud, expressive, and slightly crazy demeanor... And just like with him, it didn’t end well.

In conclusion, I think episodes 5 and 6 will continue to subtly reveal aspects of Caine until episodes 7 and 8/9 shift the focus entirely to him, Pomni, and the possible escape from the circus.

[mylovesstuffs]

100 Reasons Why I Love Seungcheol ! (a.k.a. S.Coups, Choi Leader, Carat Nation’s Dad)

1. The way he manages 12 chaotic kids (men) like a pro. Where’s his Parent of the Year award?

2. When he yells at them but immediately softens like a marshmallow.

3. His laugh can cure seasonal depression.

4. A visual.

5. His habit of acting like the maknae when he’s the eldest.

6. Petty Seungcheol is peak comedy.

7. When he tries to act cool, but the members clown him anyway.

8. His relationship with aegyo.

9. The way he thinks he’s subtle when being dramatic.

10. His iconic “Say the name!”

11. When he stands in the center like he owns the stage. (Because he does.)

12. His “I’m SEVENTEEN’s leader” energy.

13. That time he pulled off blone hair like a literal Greek god.

14. The way he stares into the camera during performances.

15. How he can make a single word sound like a life-changing declaration.

16. The emotional damage from his tongue plays.

17. His airport looks could rival a runway.

18. His tiny, proud smiles when the members achieve something. You can see the love in his eyes.

19. The fact that he knows exactly how to bias-wreck us.

20. How he’s effortlessly charismatic without even trying.

21. The way he protects the members like they’re his own brothers.

22. When he cried during their Daesang speech—who didn’t cry with him?

23. That time he comforted Jeonghan when he was sick, and our hearts collectively melted.

24. How he takes care of Carats.

25. The soft way he says, “Thank you, Carats.” (Excuse me while I sob.)

26. When he got emotional during their first win.

27. His little “fighting!” moments to cheer everyone up.

28. The way his presence alone calms the chaos in the group (most of the time).

29. The way he values teamwork over individual success.

30. His deep, gravelly voice that feels like a warm hug.

31. Knowing he’s been through tough times but came out stronger.

32. When he cried feeling unworthy of being the leader—Cheol, we’ll fight anyone who made you feel like that.

33. Seeing him push through injuries just to be with SEVENTEEN and Carats.

34. His constant worry about whether he’s doing enough.

35. That one hiatus he took, which made us miss him like crazy but as long as he's okay.

36. Knowing he carries so much responsibility on his shoulders but never complains.

37. How he always thinks of the members’ happiness before his own.

38. His bittersweet smiles during emotional moments—why must you hurt us like this?

39. The way he supports his members during hard times.

40. He cried more over Woozi's hard work than their first win.

41. His leadership is unmatched—period.

42. He’s the glue that keeps SEVENTEEN together.

43. His vocals are criminally underrated.

44. His stage presence is absolute legend behavior.

45. How he hypes up the members like their #1 fan.

46. The way he makes sure every member gets their moment to shine.

47. He’s a friend, brother, and protector.

48. His rap go hard.

49. The way he’s always looking out for the younger members.

50. He gives off main character energy without overshadowing anyone.

51. His pout—it’s a lethal weapon.

52. The way he drinks water like he’s in a CF.

53. When he flips his hair mid-dance. Yes, it’s a reason.

54. His Jigeumbuteo. Iconic.

55. His obsession with Shinchan—same, honestly.

56. The way he claps when he’s laughing too hard.

57. His habit of clinging. Mood.

58. That one episode of Going Seventeen where he was scared giggling and wrapping arms with Shua just because he's scared lol.

59. How he randomly lifts the members like they weigh nothing (especially Hao).

60. When he plays rock-paper-scissors like it’s a serious sport.

61. Seungcheol is the reason I now find men with leadership skills attractive.

62. He’s personally responsible for ruining my bias list every other week.

63. The amount of time I’ve spent analyzing his fancams is embarrassing.

64. His “leader line” moments with RM and Bang Chan.

65. How he’s secretly a softie who loves hugs.

66. He lives rent-free in my brain, and I’m not charging him.

67. The way I feel personally attacked by his selfies.

68. How he can bias-wreck me with a single smirk.

69. The way he hypes up other members on stage like a proud dad.

70. Why does he make me emotional over a simple “fighting!”?

71. He’s a role model.

72. The way he shows that strength can be soft and kind.

73. How he’s grown with SEVENTEEN from boys to men.

74. His love for Carats—it’s so genuine it hurts.

75. He’s proof that hard work pays off.

76. The way he balances being goofy and responsible.

77. His dedication to his craft—it’s inspiring.

78. How he takes pride in SEVENTEEN’s achievements without being boastful.

79. The fact that he’s never forgotten where he came from.

80. Knowing he truly cares about SEVENTEEN’s legacy.

81. His dimples.

82. The way he flips between being a charismatic idol on stage and a complete goofball off stage.

83. When he said, “I’m SEVENTEEN’s dad,” and it’s both funny and true.

84. How he radiates warmth, even through a screen.

85. His goofy side that he shows when he’s comfortable.

86. The way he makes everyone feel like they belong.

87. His deep, thoughtful words during interviews.

88. How he remembers even the smallest details about the members.

89. The way he leads with both his heart and his head.

90. He’s the definition of dependable.

91. He’s a leader who listens, not just commands.

92. His honesty.

93. The way he reminds us that it’s okay to take breaks.

94. He’s proof that vulnerability is strength.

95. How he brings out the best in everyone around him.

96. His endless love for music and performing.

97. The way he’s stayed humble despite SEVENTEEN’s success.

98. Knowing he’ll always have SEVENTEEN and Carats’ backs.

99. He’s family.

100. Because, honestly, there’s no one else like Choi Seungcheol.

[the-lonelybarricade]

You can take as long as you need to respond to this ask, but if you do I would love a Beans update 💛

She’s my sweet little perfect angel who has never done a single thing wrong, even when she’s peeing on our bed and chewing the threshold strip in our living room 🥹

She is LITERALLY the talk of the town. Today our previous house owner came by because she said she needed to meet the puppy everyone has been telling her about. We also took her in a puppy sling to get fish and chips this evening and everyone fussed over her for the full 20 minutes we were in line. I fear the stardom may be going to her head

[maxdibert]

Yah so how the fuck did Remus manage to "forgive" Sirius? And why does everyone in the fandom always take The Prank as an opportunity to make Wolfstar angst... Like...no?

I'm sick of seeing posts that are like "Sirius going back to his house and having a breakdown" "Remus not talking to Sirius to Sirius sends him a letter about how sad and depressed he is because none of their friends are talking to him". Oh my gosh. ENOUGH OF THAT 😮‍💨

Oh no, the consequences to my own fucking actions--- No SHIT, Remus doesn't want to speak with you. WHY WOULD HE??? And people just completely shove Severus into the corner as if he wasn't also going through something. This fandom man...

Honestly, I’ve never been interested in Wolfstar, and not because I dislike the characters but because it doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, if I had to choose a pairing for Sirius among his friends, for me, it would clearly be James, because Sirius was literally obsessed with him. He wasn’t just his best friend; Sirius’ entire life revolved around James, and even 12 years after his death, he couldn’t move on, to the point of projecting James onto Harry and getting upset when he realized they were two different people. Look, Molly Weasley gives me the creeps, but she was absolutely right when she called him out, saying that sometimes it seemed like he wasn’t seeing Harry but James—because that’s exactly what was happening.

But beyond that, Sirius shows absolutely zero interest in Remus or at least zero empathy. It’s clear that if there was any glue holding the group together, it was James. James had more sense than the two ringleaders combined, or at least more common sense to know where the limits were. He was also the one who took care of Remus when he had nowhere to go after finishing school. My theory is basically that Sirius hung out with Remus and Peter because James tolerated them, and because having a werewolf friend gave him an excuse to act recklessly. If we look at SWM, Sirius remarks that he wishes it were a full moon because he’s bored. He couldn’t care less that for Remus it’s a traumatic moment each month, because for Sirius, it means going out, living dangerously, and messing around with his friends. What’s a trauma for Remus is an opportunity for fun for Sirius. He doesn’t consider what it represents for his friend; he doesn’t show that his reason for becoming an animagus is to provide moral support. Instead, he’s WISHING for the moment his supposed friend dreads most because, for him, it’s an exciting event. That’s not appreciating someone—it’s seeing them as a means to an end, a tool. That’s pure utilitarianism, not friendship.

Now, let’s move on to the facts. In “The Prank,” Sirius doesn’t care about the consequences. He thinks it’s funny and is totally thoughtless because that’s just who he is—someone who was never taught about morals or ethics and who basically chose a different “side” than his family’s just to spite them. He’s a rebellious and chaotic spirit who despises snobbery, and that’s about it. There’s no deeper philosophy, no deconstruction. Deep down, he behaves like any other Black, believing he has the right to control others—whether it’s ending someone’s life if they’re “stupid enough to fall for the trap” (Severus, in this case), which he justifies by saying they deserved it, or using others for his malicious ends (Remus). It’s James who has a modicum of conscience and who thinks about the consequences, stopping Severus because James was taught values and understands that certain lines shouldn’t be crossed. But also, I think James genuinely cared about Remus and probably understood what it might mean for him to end someone’s life.

Then there’s the post-Hogwarts relationship. Remus is always portrayed as being very close to the group when canonically, Peter was the one who was always trailing James and Sirius like a cheerleader. Ultimately, they chose Peter over Remus to be the Secret Keeper. This happened because CANONICALLY, Remus had distanced himself from the group, and CANONICALLY, it was Sirius who suggested Peter because he didn’t trust Remus—thinking he might have joined the dark side. This wasn’t something that came from Lily or James; it came from Sirius. Sirius was the one who considered that Remus might have betrayed them. Is that really what a true friend would think? How can people even consider there’s chemistry or a sexual subtext between them when canonically, Sirius repeatedly demonstrates that he doesn’t care about Remus at all? He only starts paying attention to him years later, after escaping Azkaban and realizing his best friend is dead, and his personal cheerleader turned out to be a traitor who ruined his life. Then, when only the two of them are left standing, Sirius starts giving him attention—but only because he’s the last one left. That’s it. Even Rowling herself described Remus ages ago as “the third wheel in a two-person relationship,” referring to Sirius and James. Seriously.

And let’s not forget that Remus never doubted that Sirius could be a traitor either—he always believed him guilty. It’s funny when they’re portrayed as missing each other, but missing each other from what? Remus thought Sirius was scum the whole time! And how could he not? He’d seen Sirius be cruel, even sadistic, and show zero remorse. It’s no wonder it fit for him to think Sirius had lost his mind.

As for how Remus handled all this, it’s no mystery: Remus is very similar to Severus in terms of his position. He was a vulnerable kid clinging to any lifeline to keep a low profile and feel safe. Sirius and James provided that safety—they made him feel protected and accepted. He never raised his voice or questioned their decisions because the mere thought of being rejected terrified him. Even as an adult, he keeps justifying their crap because he’s clearly incapable of going against those who gave him a place when he needed it. Remus is also a terribly cowardly man—he doesn’t have the guts to confront things. He has a super avoidant personality, which is crystal clear when he leaves a 13-years-younger pregnant woman because he can’t handle the pressure. A 17-year-old kid has to make him come back—is there anything more pathetic than that? At 38? Sirius clearly hurt him, but Remus knew that confronting Sirius meant confronting James, and if James had to choose between the two, he would always choose Sirius. So it wasn’t in Remus’ interest to speak up or express how he really felt because the idea of losing the protection that came with being their friend was far worse than feeling like crap over what Sirius did. That’s it, plain and simple.

Honestly, it’s such a shame and a total waste that everything gets reduced to couples and absurd adolescent dramas when the dynamics among those four “friends” are fascinating because they’re built on pure power relations and are deeply dysfunctional. But instead of exploring that, which I find genuinely interesting, it all gets thrown away, their personalities are rewritten, and it’s all turned into cheap teen soap operas. But whatever.

[chaifootsteps]

i should've mentioned it when we were talking about tuca and bertie and them doing things right, but the arc bertie goes through with her SA and reclaiming it thru taboo fantasies is very similar to what ive been through, right down to a therapist opening me up to this new side of sexuality, and while it all happened to me years prior to the arc happening in the show, it broke me out of my anti shipper mentality that gave me this sense of justice and rigid rightness in what i was doing.

just thought now would be a good time to bring it up too because of the allegations against you and how what happened to max is basically the same thing that's happened to me. it's such an uncomfortable feeling to know someone who brought you into this world sees you like that, and having a fictional character similar to that person to self insert with in writing has helped far more then feeling disgusted with myself ever did or has, because i can stop anytime i want, or just get to a point where i move on completely from being able to gain anything from this personally. (which im leaning towards for now,) it's like bertie's therapist said, "because this time, you're in control."

i just wish antis could at least be more open to the idea that maybe, just maybe, shaming victims for coping this way isn't helpful, and that the lack of nuance implies shaming these uncontrollable fantasies (because you can't control your thoughts and like bertie's therapist said, "brains are weird!", although ive also heard the fear and arousal part of your brain is closely related which explains so many kinks to me tbh,) is the only form of healing and getting better, which it never will be. this kind of thing, of re-exploring your trauma thru fiction like this, definitely doesn't help certain people and that needs to be respected, but for anyone it does, they shouldn't just be written off as "normalizing their abuse", because im aware enough to keep this to myself, and to other people like me.

come talk to me about me "romanticizing" horrible things in fiction when you remember vivs shows have millions of views, and THATS why her writing like a fanfic author is bad - not because she inherently is one at heart. a large audience of adults should engage with these heavy topics, (and deserve to have them be written well, even if the stans swear they don't because nuh uh it's Da Best cuz mama viv made it,) not literal children. regardless of this unfortunate demographic that's naturally been formed and then unnaturally encouraged by the creator to line her pockets with their parents money, i think people have a moral obligation to tell a well written story about dark taboo subjects when they have such a large scale of production and connections like this, with some gray area in between, because theres some pieces of media that aren't as big as vivs creations or as small as fanfic writers (compared to other indie creations like video games or shows,) either, like mouthwash, or that one horror game with a sibling incest ending. that's what i mean when i said you aren't gonna make anyone want to fuck a lizard, but that vivs story's spread sentiment that would give 1970s victim blaming, "well, what was she wearing?" arguments a run for their money in how gross they are. i don't think max is gonna make anyone want to fuck their own dad either.

i hope this all makes sense! i think this is the most vulnerable ive ever been in your ask box. thank you for being someone who makes me feel strong enough to talk about this.

No, no, it makes perfect sense! Thanks for sharing your story, Anon...that was an incredibly vulnerable thing to talk about, and it couldn't have been easy.

I don't know if it's due to social media or what, but people have gotten really, really terrible at the concept of "I do my thing that works for me over here, you do your thing that works for you over there, and even though we don't understand each other, we mind our business about it." Like you said, it becomes a different conversation the more widespread and professional your piece of media is -- the same way that feeding 1,000 people a day is different than cooking for yourself -- but when we're talking about you and me and Max and all the randos on AO3? An appropriately tagged piece of work that makes a sharp distinction between fiction and reality is harmless.

What isn't harmless is telling someone that their intensely personal coping method is wrong and shameful and that they're a dangerous, evil person because it makes you uncomfortable, and that they're either a bad survivor or lying about being one.

Here's the scene from Tuca & Bertie, because it's so well done and always relevant.

[shanblackrx]

So I've been seeing (and saw in real time) comments of people saying

--Either that it doesn't make sense that Joke feels so strongly about Jack when they had only briefly met 2 times before the time skip when:

1- …..bro. It was love at first sight. FOR BOTH OF THEM. Are you fucking blind? Didn't you see all the flirting at the bar and after the bar???? Also for all that's sacred What is the fucking non-romantic heterosexual explanation for this?

2- This is more of a character analysis of mine, but I think Jack gave the positive enforcement Joke never got from his family. That created not only a bond between them but also kind of an emotional dependence from Joke. I honestly don't think Joke's feelings for Jack were super healthy at the beginning, especially with how self-destructive for him he is. And that's precisely why, although all those things he does for Jack after the time skip might seem too much if it was anyone else, it's still reasonable for him. He's so guilt-ridden that he fucked Jack over when all that Jack has ever offered was kindness and something Joke never had before, that he needs to overcompensate.

And especially because he's been marinating in guilt for 5 years, with only his thoughts and his self-deprecation as company, and then seeing how things escalated for Jack in a way he never imagined, that he feels the need to fix everything for him. That is the real meaning of the "100 ways to apologize".

-- OR when people say Jack and Joke's love is unbalanced. Like it feels Jack doesn't love Joke as much, that it's too sudden, that it doesn't have romance, yadda yadda.

Let's go back to the bar scene and afterwards. This is episode 1. This is the past. This is the first time they met. They literally left out the girl (poor Rosé I'm so sorry baby you fell for a homosexual) because they were in their own little world. The world they created on that bar when they shared bad experiences and made each other company in their sadness. The world that cheered both of them up in a day of misery. Also for all that's sacred What is the fucking non-romantic heterosexual explanation for this?[x2] (underage Jack is smooth as fuck)

Not even counting the scene at the bank when Jack was so happy to meet Joke again, and then even writing down his number for Joke and saying he'd love to go drinking with him again before he vanished.

Here's another character analysis: Jack is methodical, he doesn't act on impulse, and keeps everything to himself. This, added to the fact we don't often see things under his POV, makes him a bit hard to read.

Alright but damn, no one is caught daydreaming about the face/lips/closeness of someone they're not attracted to lmfjhsfd please. This is episode 4, c'mon.

There's also this (ep 6)

and this (ep 7)

(both of which I also made an analysis of from Jack's side in this post)

and this (ep 8)

So do you really think he just pulled everything that he did that night when they get together out of his ass instead of, after him and Joke reconcile, having actively nurtured this feeling THAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE???? Damn, right when they met again Jack kept Joke from signing a loan contract with Boss because he knew it would be a point of no return. Because despite all the rage and bitterness, even then he still cared about Joke and didn't want that life for him.

Jack and Joke are opposites. Joke wears his heart on his sleeve while Jack has the necessity of hiding away anything that can be a weakness. It's all in between the lines for him. But that doesn't mean the feelings are not there. It's called nuance.

Also, shit, the mutual pining is so obvious idk these people might've watched it with their eyes closed or something. like?? Things start to get messy in Jack's life mostly because Joke came with his chaotic energy trying to make things right for Jack - and if Jack didn't, little by little, allow him to, Joke would've never succeed on being by his side. Jack starts losing control of things, of himself, because he's always being pulled by Joke, gravitating towards him, and he lets it happen because he wants it. Subconsciously or not.

Anyway Jack and Joke love each other and had always loved each other, period.

[knaveumineko]

Umineko Episode 1 Blog: Tea Party

For the first time since this blog began, I'm covering new content and I'm happy to report that Ryukishi wrote this scene to make fun of me specifically.

This Tea Party was initially framed as some kind of non-canon bonus scene, and of course we can't interpret its events entirely literally, but by the end it seems that this scene is cryptically revealing the fates of the grandchildren, who disappeared at the end of Episode 1. Of course, even when the game is keeping up it's cheerful facade, it should not escape our notice that the 6 people depicted here are Shannon, Kanon, Maria, George, Jessica and Battler: precisely the 6 people who are still alive at the end of Episode 1 (that we know of).

The game's pointed comments about how there's clearly a 19th person because of how Kanon died, and "wow I guess it was magic the whole time there's really no way around it," feel playful. I'm also very amused by the narrator dropping the facade of reliability and constantly mocking Battler's skepticism. We're all in on the joke now, so there's no reason to keep up the pretense that this scene is anything approaching an accurate depiction of events.

Also, we are going full tilt on the meta stuff here, aren't we? I'm sure you're all loving how Battler's constant half-baked speculations sound more or less exactly like me.

We get some new character profiles, an rather interestingly they only confirm the deaths of Jessica and George. Rather gruesomely at that. Maria is merely missing, and we never see her actually die. Presumably this is because she still needs to live long enough to write the message in a bottle. I wonder if this scene shaking her faith in the witch is what inspired her to write the story and beg someone to try and solve it. Battler also doesn't die, so who knows what's going on with him?

I was intruiged by Battler's "if you believe in a lie, it becomes the truth?" line. To me, it sounds like the grandchildren were approached by the "witch," with the resurrections serving as proof that magic is real. When Battler questioned it, the conversation morphed into a veiled threat: if the grandchildren know what's good for them, they will accept that it was magic and never dig into the true story of what happened on Rokkenjima. Battler doubles down and so the culprits decide they have no choice but to remove all of the witnesses, at which point Battler defends himself with the gun.

Something like that could work as an explanation for the grandchildren's fates, although I don't see how this narrative could explain Jessica and George being brutalised so horribly. We were told in the endscroll that their gory deaths really did happen.

The Tea Party is really beating us over the head with Beatrice's symbolic significance. Just like how the servants used to invoke her name, Beatrice is the God of the Gaps (with one 'a'). It's not that anything you can't explain gets blamed on her, but that Beatrice is the inexplicable. Any time you throw your hands up in the air and say it can't be solved, you bring Beatrice to life, and to defeat her you have to solve the case. She's the antagonist of mystery stories themselves.

I'm not sure how this ties in to her supposed power to "kill an individual endlessly". Perhaps Bernkastel's line sheds some light. She describes Beatrice as one who plays a dice game by never letting go of the dice, so whatever the roll could have been, she is not disappointed. Beatrice is a being that thrives off of ambiguity. The moment anything has a clear explanation she's helpless. In this sense, is her "endless" killing of an individual in reference to the seemingly limitless possibilities for how one of the bodies could have died?

Speaking of Bernkastel, the witch who looks a lot like that girl from Higaurashi (which I've never seen, so don't tell me if this resemblance matters), the description of her power reminds me a lot of that famous Sherlock Holmes quote "once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Bernkastel can make any potentiality into a certainty, so long as it is not impossible. In other words, she symbolises the process of elimination, so it makes sense that she's aligning herself more with those of us trying to solve the mystery. This symbolism also ties into her comment about her matchup with Beatrice: once you accept magic, you can no longer rule out the impossible, so the process of elmination doesn't work.

I'm not sure what Lambdadelta's deal is, but then we haven't seen her personally. If we want to interpret her through the mystery genre lens, one guess would be that she represents the point at which we can say for certain that a character is actually dead, rather than just faking somehow? She could also be a play on the anthropic principle: to solve a mystery we must tell a story about what happened, and this story must end with the person dead and the body in the state that it was found in. In other words, we proceed by "making that person's death into a certainty," taking it for granted that they're dead and rearranging all the other facts to fit that truth.

Bernkastel leaves us with some advice which basically amounts to telling us that Beatrice is a metaphor, but she also leaves us with something else interesting:

Umineko doesn't use all caps like this very often. The only other time I can remember is the scene where the narrator wants to make sure that the siblings really needed A LOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW. I don't know if there's anything to that, but maybe there is.

Bernkastel also has an interesting line about preceiving us like a character on TV, so maybe there's going to be some kind of metaphor with witches standing in for viewers or authors at some point.

That's all for now. I didn't expect to have so much to write about 2 scenes, but they were important scenes indeed. Don't expect me to keep up this pace going forward!

I almost forgot to mention that Purgatorio reference right at the start. What's that about? Is Beatrice's name a reference to the Divine Comedy? I hope that doesn't end up being important, beyond Kinzo's pining after her being a reference to Dante's. If I didn't bother reading And Then There Were None for context after noticing the parallels, then I'm certainly not reading that.

The Main Menu is an aquarium now? What on Earth is Episode 2 even about?

[fandomzwriterk]

Can you write a about Smoke x fem. Reader, where the reader would watch Smoke train from a distance and is caught by Kuai Liang who hints to Tomas about it, so one day while the reader is training, she gets interrupted by Smoke who offers to train her privately mainly to get much closer to her?

Tomas Vrbada x F!Reader

A/N: i hope i did well considering I’m slowly coming back into creating again. Don’t worry, i promise I’m getting better day by day😁

HAPPY VERY LATE NEW YEARS!

Reader || Tomas || Kuai Liang || Harumi

Time went slowly at the Shirai Ryu, at least, it felt that way. Was it because of all the people here? Was it because of how hard you trained yourself? Honestly, it could’ve been both.

“Alright! I’ll see you two weirdos later.” You heard Johnny Cage say behind you as he walked out to follow Kenshi around

“See ya Johnny!”

“Don’t do anything stupid out there Cage.”

You turned to look behind you, noticing both Tomas and Kuai Liang waving Johnny a goodbye as Kenshi started to run away from the actor.

“Y/n! Care to join us?” Raiden called out

“Sorry Raiden I have plans with Harumi!”

“Oh a girls night I see!”

Some time later…

“Y/n you should just tell him.” Harumi teased

“Absolutely not! Do you know what will happen when he finds out?!”

“Oh come on Y/n he’s a sweetheart you’ve known him for so long already. Kuai sees it.”

“You did not just pull the ‘older brother always knows’ card on me.” You answered rolling your eyes before leaning to rest your head on the arm of the giant couch you sat on

“I’m serious! Aside from Kuai, you know Tomas the best.”

“I already have a feeling he doesn’t feel the same and is just using me as a crutch to make himself feel better cause Bi Han left.”

Harumi frowned, seeing you genuinely want to tell Tomas, even if you couldn’t see it. Tomas didn’t have anyone else aside from Kuai, he just had you. You, who, in his eyes, was the perfect person to be around. Harumi knew how you felt, and she knew it was time to tell him… even if you didn’t want to out of fear of rejection. She knew he’d never reject you.

“You know that’s not true Y/n. He’s always cared about you long before that. Besides… I know about you sneaking around to watch him train.”

“How?! I was so sure nobody knew!”

“You forget I’m married to a man who knows everything going on here.”

“Oh… right. Wait are you telling me Kuai Liang caught me once?”

“I wouldn’t say once. Besides, he’s going to tell you to just tell Tomas anyways. You don’t want him being matchmaker I can promise you that. He’s not gonna stop till one of you says it first.”

Meanwhile…

“Brother. Can we talk about something?” Kuai asked Tomas

“Of course. Whatever you need.”

Kuai sat down on the small wooden steps that lead into the training room. Both him and Tomas sat at the edge of the top wooden plank, just sitting in silence.

“You know I can see it right?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“For a man who’s a ninja, you are the worst at keeping things like feelings to yourself.”

“It was one time! Surely you can let that go can’t you?”

“You literally said ‘she’s cute when she smiles’ right in front of almost all of us!”

“You are a pain in the ass brother.”

Even more meanwhile’s…

You got up from your spot across from Harumi, excusing yourself as you noticed Raiden and Kung Lao seeming to be looking for either you or Harumi.

“Hello boys. How may I be of assistance?” Harumi asked as you snuck behind the folding wall as the boys came walking into the room

Before you could hear either man make a sound, you jumped over the short marble railing that lined the hallway, throwing yourself into a bush. The branches poked at your arms and legs, your head just peeking over the top of the hedge. It was quiet, normally Kuai Liang would return by now or Tomas would come and check on Harumi. It was time to get to training. You stood up, dusting off your knees before you looked around for the best way to get somewhere. So, you slowly walked down the stone path alongside the giant wall to your right. It took longer than expected, but you had started all the way from the back of the Shirai Ryu making your way to the front where you knew it was private to train by yourself. However, there was a chance somebody could find you anyways.

Meanwhile…

“I’m sure you’ll find her. I think she-“

“She’s right there!”

Tomas pulled Kuai as he hid behind a wall, slamming Kuai into it with one hand to make sure you didn’t see him.

“What was that for?”

“Shhhhh. She didn’t see us.”

Tomas turned his head, just peeking around the corner as his back pressed firm against the wall behind him, his eyes locking on you as you sat on the bamboo mat meditating, your hair drifting with the cold breeze that blew around you.

“Go say something.”

“Are you dumb? It’s not like I can go up and say ‘I like you’ to her. She’s… she’s special to me, to us.”

Kuai put a hand on Tomas’ shoulder, smiling at his little brother with pride. Finally, the littlest brother had finally come out of his shell.

“I know how much she’s meant to our family, how much she means to you. She’s been beside you for so many years Tomas, just tell her how you feel.”

“You make it sound easy like-“

Kuai pushed Tomas into the open, your eyes snapping open as Tomas stood in front of you. His face slightly flushed, seeming to have tripped over himself to get to you.

“Oh! Hello Tomas what brings you here? Aren’t you and Kuai Liang supposed to be with Harumi?”

“About that I-“

“Is Harumi okay?”

“She’s fine!”

You could Tomas was holding something back from you, something he wanted to say to you. His eyes betrayed his demeanor, eyes bright like stars as he looked at you.

“Keep your guard up Y/n, it could be anything.”

“So~ I was wondering if you wanted to help me train- I mean- I…”

Tomas Vrbada, the gentle yet powerful brother of the three Lin Kuei children, the one who always knew what to say or do in certain situations, was now stuttering and confused in front of you.

“Are you okay Tomas?”

“Oh yeah I’m fine I just” he paused, seeming to think about what to say next .“I just was wondering if you needed- I mean wanted! Wanted to help me with something?”

You crossed your arms, titling your head to the side like a confused puppy, Tomas’ behavior was out of the ordinary.

“I was wondering, because Kuai Liang told me, that you’ve been watching us and-“

“I’d love to help you Tomas.”

He smiled, silver eyes flashed with pride and joy as he looked into your own eyes for a moment, his heart beating a million miles an hour.

“Come on, show me what it is!” You shouted as you ran past him, grabbing his hand and pulled him along with you

“Last one there owes the other a noodle bowl tonight.”

“You’re on!”

The end!!

A/n: hope you all enjoyed I just got back from vacation as I write this!!! I hope 2025 is the year I go crazy with inspirations and I’ll do better for everyone who requests from me!! Thanks y’all!

[sondheim-girly]

still thinking about the line “because we love you ponyboy! Did you hear what I said? I said I love you”

[edwardsdeathcabcd]

i've said it before but it will forever and always make me insane that jacob's ending is to join the cullens for the sake of bella not having to give anything up. they find out jake will be immortal & tied to renesmee forever, so bella gets to smile & say "my family is finally complete! ^-^" but jake already HAS a family. he has a father and 2 sisters. quil, embry, seth and sam are like his brothers. jacob and leah were planning to run away together. he's always been welcome in emily's home, sue has been a family friend since before his birth. bella abandons her mortality by choice because she feels no connection to the people around her, but jacob has really strong bonds. it's clear that every character we meet in la push is like family to him, he's an active member of the community. jake would've graduated high school and been a mechanic, would've grown into a young man. a good friend, a fun uncle, a present son. he's set up to have such a rich life. and he's just magically compelled to give that up. beyond his control, he loses sight of everything, because his high school crush's baby is now the singular most important thing to him. he's perpetually 18 with his perpetually 18 year old girlfriend, running around vancouver or alaska or wherever with the girl who friendzoned him at 16 & her in-laws (who were antagonistic to him for months). and i'm just supposed to say omg yay now he doesn't have to let go of bella! everyone is happy! it's complete madness

[starry-bi-sky]

do yall ever think about bruce/batman!clone danny standing in front of his bathroom mirror after finding out he was a clone and silently tracing his face. The slope of his jaw and point of his chin. The high angle of his cheekbones and the shape of his eyes, the curve of his brow bones and the shape of his nose. The volume of his hair and the way it curls and gets fluffy when it gets too long.

His hair is black the same way a crow's wing is black. His dad's hair is black the same way a black bear's fur is black. His dad's eyes are blue like the ocean is blue. Danny's eyes are blue the same way a glacier is blue.

His dad has a square jaw and straight flat hair, and he tans and gets a face full of freckles when he's out in the sun for too long. Danny burns like a lobster and his face remains untouched. Danny has a sharp jaw and tall cheekbones, and Sam says when he's not smiling there's almost something regal about him. You would never call Jack Fenton "regal" when he's not smiling.

Sam says when he's not smiling he looks scary the same way a stone statue is. Jack Fenton when he's not smiling looks scary the same way that german shepherd staring at you across the street is.

Do you ever think he grew up wondering if he was adopted. Because of course, he has black hair and blue eyes like his dad. But having the same color doesn't make you someone's child.

Or, worse, things he's heard from the other kids and the other parents and even some of his teachers growing up; that he was the product of an affair. And that his dad was just too stupid to notice. And Danny would defend his parents until the day he died, because Jack Fenton wasn't an idiot and Maddie Fenton wasn't a cheater.

But doubt comes in with fickle tongue. his parents swear up and down that he is their child when he asks about either. That Danny just had his grandparents' features, but he was their son and they loved him.

But Danny doesn't look like either of his parents. His mom's eyes are blue like an aquamarine and Jazz's too. And they burn like lobsters in the sun too, but Jazz gets freckles on her face and so does Maddie. And as Danny grows up he doesn't bulk up or get stocky like his dad did, and when he hits puberty he doesn't shoot up like a tree like Jack Fenton did.

He stays small, and they say he's a late bloomer (and he is), or that he just has his mom's height. But he's fast and has good stamina, and some days it feels like he's built entirely different from his family. That the things they went through growing up just didn't apply to him. Jack and Maddie Fenton both had acne and breakouts when they hit puberty, and Jazz inherits it and he's seen the amount of skincare products she keeps on her side of the bathroom.

And then he hits puberty and breaks out maybe once or twice, but his skin stays clear for the most part and the problems and changes his dad went through just don't happen to him.

And the truth is worse than all of the lies.

How horrifying.

[colleybri]

Brilliant! Yes, I was brooding over your 2022 post as I have of course been mulling over this for a while, so great to read the update!

First of all, there’s one line which is incorrect in the closed captions… and I watched episode 3 tonight on the steelbook where the sound is crisp and clear and replayed … so I’m pretty sure about this (?). Bix doesn’t say “ I don’t think many people know him” - I believe she says “I don’t think many people know” … ie. that Cassian was born on Kenari. Hugely ironic considering that she told Timm. (it’s one of a few irritating mistakes with the closed captions - there’s another one from Clem in episode 12)

I always assumed that Bix never told Luthen anything about her personal relationship with Cassian, and that this explains their conversation in episode 3 AND the fact that Luthen doesn’t anticipate him trying to rescue her in Ep 12 (if he even knows she’s been captured at all). Furthermore, I think it also explains why Dedra sees Bix as a “ witness” rather than a “ hostage” and she doesn’t anticipate a rescue attempt either. In other words, I think Bix has done a fantastic job of lying to Luthen . With Dedra, it might be a case of a a lack of empathy or inability to pick up on the signals, or perhaps Bix was literally mentally strong enough not to mention a personal connection. But I think it’s just as likely that Dedra just does not ask that kind of question. It’s crucial for the plot that neither character make the connection or Cassian would be caught/killed/prevented from rescuing Bix.

Cassian heads straight to Bix’s when he comes back to Ferrix in the finale. Cinta must be getting bored watching Maarva’s place - Luthen definitely didn’t know that Cassian would instead be trying to make amends for that total fuck-up of a scene in Ep 7 (and presumably, I don’t know, watch the funeral from Bix’s yard? What would he even be planning to do after that ? Would he join the rebellion at all if he hadn’t seen Luthen?? Anyway – not questions for here! ) So yes, I have of course done a fic which features Luthen’s “ oh shit, I really should have seen all this before now!” epiphany about Bix and Cassian’s closeness, and his own potentially deadly screw up on the back of that … and I’m so intrigued as to what that first conversation on the Fondor must have included - because Bix is presumably now a huge danger to Luthen. She wasn’t before, because she didn’t trace back. But now that she has been tortured so extensively (assuming she recovers) she’s going to know that her sketchy Buyer IS the man the ISB want and will do anything to find. Yikes.

What I love about all this is that Luthen, far from being the menacingly omniscient character he first appears, basically got all of his information about Cassian from hacking official documents (prison record, census) and his conversations with Bix. Where, as you know, she’s lied at least some of the time… or more accurately, left certain information out.

You could say that it was to protect Cassian, but you could also say it was a bit of denial. Or a quite a bit of both.

Edit - just to add that Bix is quite capable of lying to Cassian too about how much she told Luthen. She feels guilty, she feels bad. She’ll want to protect herself. At the very least, she never tells him about her slip with telling Timm.

Poe being left unattended with Andor again.

While in the shower contemplating a plot point for a potential fic I worked out some of my most enduring Andor puzzles which as it turns out are intricately interwoven: i.e. the question of why Bix isn’t a loose end worth a late night visit from Cinta and being disappeared into those retention ponds out in the wasteland, with a side of bafflement at “I don’t think many people know him” when the him is the son of a woman who seems to be something of a pillar of the community, with a side of how did Luthen never stop and consider Cassian might try and break Bix out of the hotel instead of taking it upon himself to thwack stormtroopers with Maarva’s brick when we all know Brasso can do it better.

But I’ve figured it out.

The clues are in the lines:

“Do you trust him?”

and

“I know Bix has her game”

and

“Either you’re an Imperial spy, you’re fronting for the person I really want to speak to…”

Bix has been lying her ass off the entire time about the fact that Cassian is anyone more than some sketchy dude who occasionally turns up who has something to sell (don’t we all?).

Maybe she’s giving the impression of a less personal relationship because Luthen is sketch as fuck and she doesn’t trust him; maybe she was just royally pissed at Cassian the time Luthen turned up and was like “Hey this is as good haul how’d you get it” and she was like “idk just some sketchy asshole who scams his way around Ferrix and once in a while I decide to humor/pity him and buy his shit” and Luthen was like hey sounds like Skeen I could use another one on this suicide mission now that I think about it.

And then Luthen wonders who else knows he’s from Kenari and she’s all “Ahh fuck me well I’m stuck in the lie now it probably doesn’t matter that Kenari is the community bicycle’s weirdly depressing but weirdly effective pity pickup line” so “Um well not many people know him” because he’s a sketchy asshole who scams his way around Ferrix and nothing else no sir.

And at the end of the day, the real trouble with Bix being a loose end is from a direction Luthen never seems to even see coming: tying the timing of Cassian’s disappearance and return to Aldhani.

Because even if Cassian popped back home for a spell, why the fuck would he drop in on the woman who sometimes humors/pities him and buys the shit he steals?

And why the fuck would that sketchy asshole risk taking on another garrison to sneak her out when he could be bashing stormtroopers heads in with his dead mother’s bricked ashes?

Unfortunately, I have now entirely forgotten whatever plot point I was on the verge of cracking.

[heartorbit]

always by your side

[justaz]

arthur (prince of camelot) still has to study under a tutor bc yknow uther wants him to be very intelligent before becoming king or something bc its super important idk idc anyways merlin is doing chores in his chambers while arthur is squinting at a book and merlin eventually caves and asks him what he’s reading and arthur gruffly explains that its a collection of stories from greece that make absolutely no sense so merlin asks him to read them outloud to him. arthur of course teases him and calls him an idiot and asks how he could possibly help but does as he’s asked and reads the stories to merlin as he does his chores. merlin (being crushed under the weight of destiny and tormented by the prophecies that kilgharrah spews) understands the stories almost immediately and gets all excited and starts rambling about them with arthur. arthur is glad to have someone who understands so he can give something that reflects a hint of understanding to his tutor who accepts it and moves onto the next unit of education.

the thing is, arthur finds more stories in camelot’s library and brings them up to his room to read them aloud to merlin under the guise of completing his studies but really he just wants to watch as merlin’s eyes gleam when he understands whats happening and listen to him ramble on and on about them bc he’s gay. the stories stick with merlin though and he realizes that they’re cautionary tales, that the heroes who were told too much of their future doomed themself to fulfill them - that them fighting the prophecies led to their completion. merlin takes it to heart and gives a big “fuck you” to kilgharrah before forging his own fate and helping morgana with her magic and handing out an olive branch to mordred and now everyone can live happily and peacefully in an albion teeming with magic.

[caeslxys]

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but it feels relevant again in light of the most recent episode. Something that’s really fascinating to me about Orym’s grief in comparison to the rest of the hells’ grief is that his is the youngest/most fresh and because of that tends to be the most volatile when it is triggered (aside from FCG, who was two and obviously The Most volatile when triggered.)

As in: prior to the attack on Zephrah, Orym was leading a normal, happy, casual life! with family who loved him and still do! Grief was something that was inflicted upon him via Ludinus’ machinations, whereas with characters like Imogen or Ashton, grief has been the background tapestry of their entire lives. And I think that shows in how the rest of them are largely able to, if not see past completely (Imogen/Laudna/Chetney) then at least temper/direct their vitriol or grief (Ashton/Fearne/Chetney again) to where it is most effective. (There is a glaring reason, for example, that Imogen scolded Orym for the way he reacted to Liliana and not Ashton. Because Ashton’s anger was directed in a way that was ultimately protective of Imogen—most effective—and Orym’s was founded solely in his personal grief.)

He wants Imogen to have her mom and he wants Lilliana to be salvageable for Imogen because he loves Imogen. But his love for the people in his present actively and consistently tend to conflict with the love he has for the people in his past. They are in a constant battle and Orym—he cannot fathom losing either of them.

(Or, to that point, recognize that allowing empathy to take root in him for the enemy isn't losing one of them.)

It is deeply poignant, then, that Orym’s grief is symbolized by both a sword and shield. It is something he wields as a blade when he feels his philosophy being threatened by certain conversational threads (as he believes it is one of the only things he has left of Will and Derrig, and is therefore desperately clinging onto with both bloody hands even if it makes him, occasionally, a hypocrite), but also something he can use in defense of the people he presently loves—if that provocative, blade-grief side of him does not push them—or himself—away first.

(it won’t—he is as loved by the hells as he loves them. he just needs to—as laudna so beautifully said—say and hear it more often.)