#In case you're wondering why Im going this route

[akaikali]

TMAGP EP 20 REACTION (SPOILERS)

Firstly before I even START, it's called social stigma. PLEASE tell me it's not another social influencer one I'm begging you I cannot take another laughing fit like ep 16.

Also wait the dedication is so me

WAIT ALICE CAME AS WELL??? ALSO HELLO SAMALICELIA PROTOCULE

Alice. Did you really talk him OUT of it??? Because lats I remember, Colin slammed the door in your face.

"It's more about who killed the Magnus Institute" DAMN

Okay I did kind of suspect that the OIAR had a hand in destroying the institute. But like also Alice knows a bit too much about Starkwell. Something you wanna tell us, honey?

SAM'S TALKING ABOUT THE PROTOCOL HOLY SHIT.

Alice babygirl. The things you are saying seem like you're actually inadvertedly conforming all of Sam's suspicions. Like are you saying there IS a government conspiracy???

Okay I love Alice but she's starting to take the s1 Jon route where she refuses to believe things are supernatural or suspicious to the the point where it actually makes LESS sense. Someone is gonna get hurt because of that. And if it's Sam, Alice is going to be in a WHOLE different world of guilt.

DID JON SEND SAM THE EMAIL ABOUT THE STARKWALL 1999 REPORTS???

Alice sweetie you have a point but being so...Dismissive of it when there's CLEARLY something was just not the way. Sam is obviously the kind of person who will keep digging unless you directly tell him the truth.

"We already know we work in a global atrocity factory. It's called the British Government" God Alice I love you

Alice's hatred for England fucking SENDS me I love this woman

I get where Alice is coming from like she's right unfortunately. But I think she's very much blocking out the supernatural part of it and seeing it more as a conspiracy theory than something. Yknow. Horror-y

CELIA IS DEFINITELY FROM THE TMA-VERSE HOLY SHIT BECAUSE IF SHE KNOWS WHAT THE INSTITUTE CAUSED IN TMA-VERSE, NO WONDER SHE THINKS IT WASNT THE WRONG IDEA TO DESTROY IT.

"Catastrophic, world-ending" HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT YEAH THATS BASICALLY CONFIRMATION. BECAUSE THE WORLD DID END. THE APOCALYPSE HAPPENED.

Oh Alice...this is going to drive such a wedge between Alice and Sam. I think the funniest thing is that Alice is absolutely not going to be able to stay away from the "hornet's nest", as she puts it.

At least Sam has Celia on his side, I guess?

OH MY GOD WE MET INK5OUL IM ABOUT TO FUCKING LOSE IT.

Ink5oul is giving Jude Perry why are they annoyingly hot

"Shame. You've got lovely skin" Ooooo Gwen is the hot tattoo artist hitting on youuuu

FUCK WHY ARE THEY SO HOT

Oh???? Hello wait what???? Does Ink5oul. Not know what they are???

OH NO DONT DO THIS TO ME I INK5OUL ABOUT TO GET BLORBOFIED. BECAUSE I WILL TAKE IT OF COURSE BUT THIS WAS NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

Ink5oul is self-aware??? Oh God could they get sexier???

Something something addiction to being seeing or being known is so much the opposite of The Eye which is the fear of being seen or being known.

"Tattooed Prince Albert's cock or something" WHAT

Does this count as stealing designs??? Because the og artists is long dead but Ink5oul never says they referenced his work. It's important to me as an artist SO

OKAY SO Ink5oul's tattoos are like...Predictive? Like whatever they tattoo will most probably lead to the person's method of death?

The pipeline of small influencer to...whatever the fuck Ink5oul became

"The ink flows through me" BENDY IS THAT YOU AND YOUR INK MACHINE????

Hmmm so Ink5oul slowly became an external but rly without even their knowledge. Is this them becoming less human??

"Thats...very eloquent" GWEN GIRL WHAT DO YOU EVEN MEAN

Gwen you chose the WRONG PERSON to bite back against girl WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF

GWEN YOU IDIOT YOU'RE LITERALLY JUST AS BAD AS JON WHY DO YOU PISS OFF THINGS THAT CAN KILL YOU literally this reminds me of Jon yelling at Not-Sasha to shut up in ep 79 of TMA.

Hmmm wait okay so Sam actually heard the first Ink5oul case in episode 2, so I wonder if Gwen ever manages to open up to him again (Which I completely understand if she doesn't) he might believe her because he's heard what Ink5oul's tattoos can do. But like. Again very unlikely since Mr. Khalid over here really fucked up in ep 18.

It really interests me though that Ink5oul has no idea what happened to them. I looked up Sutherland Macdonald, nothing of note. But I think it's pretty obvious that by TMAGP, they found out the tattoo on the dead body was an Oscar Jarrett tattoo and was looking to get some... face-to-face inspiration.

I'm worried about Sam and Alice. I mean honestly, Alice does have full right to step away from all of this but her dismissiveness of Sam this whole time probably doesn't help her when it comes to him. She wants to protect him, but he wants the truth. It actually makes me slightly more sure that the Dyer in the ARG was probably her pre-transition because of the empathy levels. Not that she doesn't feel empathy, but I don't think she feels like there's anything she can say to change things, so she doesn't try. Which is exactly what she says in this ep.

Anyways ummmm SamCelia shippers I get you they're actually pretty cute and it does make me happy to see that someone is supporting Sam and genuinely hearing him out since absolutely no one else he's talked to about this will.

[itsdappleagain]

alrighty, to steal or not to steal! this one is a little hard to liveblog and I'm not going to go through all the options, so I'm just gonna take you through my favorite path and gush about how hot and gay everything is for the most part! there will be a little commentary on other paths but yeah :)

(thats the ile d'oleron)

notes under the cut as always!

for your viewing pleasure in case its been a while and you haven't played.

fun fact- I am also taking us on close to the first route I ever took with this special. I got waylaid along the way by the trick routes and failed a lot, but I'll get us on the path to the first win I ever got. (the best one.)

i was SHOCKED by how good this special was the first time I played through it. I had just joined the fandom, I was scrounging for content in the waiting-for-s3-desert, and boom- there was a SPECIAL? why didn't anyone tell me?

anyway, this is always super fun to do. I've done every single route multiple times and recorded all of them too for the illegal stash but theres nothing quite like playing it.

in the very first episode (and african ice) devineax mentions an amusement park in shanghai. wonder if the two are related, or if VILE just has a shit ton of properties in there?

she did, in fact, get shanghai'd in shanghai.

oh. thats why its set here. ahha i get it

she loves them 🥺

i choose top floor

carmen trusts her grappling hook in a glass building more than I trust myself

girlie walked into that empty steel door locked vault with an indiana jones trap ass looking phone in the middle that maelstrom was talking from and went to pick it up with ZERO hesitation

ah, carmen sandiego and its weird genre of toilet paper jokes during stressful circumstances

maelstrom's exasperated eyeroll and sigh as the married couple bicker

i choose steal for vile

the first time I played this i obviously chose to try to save zack and ivy. since I know that leads to failure now, I'm skipping it this playthrough, but it was quite the shock the first go around! tsonts plays to my little angst loving heart by making you watch zack and ivy and sometimes carmen meet horrible tragic ends again and again lmao

girlie the old you stole the statue of liberty skill issue

i like the glow of green on carm's face here to show her temporary allegiance change and vile's win

the terracotta warriors are super cool im glad we get to visit them

i think the first time i played this option i talked to tigress. since sneaking just gives bonus material and doesn't actually change anything (plus. puppies) im going that route!

i choose sneak past tigress

oh btw i love the little simplified characters in the choices they r so cute

also carmen's quips if you take too long to choose are hilarious and worth waiting for. dodge the cat or stop to chat?

me

subtitles doing the most

i LOVE how bitchy carmen gets in the special she's hilarious. she's very quietly pissed off the entire time and she mostly takes it out on tigress

those slides down the tunnel are sooo smooth

its impossible, as a canon law, to get zack and ivy's names right if you're a villain

i love the two's looks at each other when she steps on the booby trap its just resigned "ahhh shit."

imagine if there had been spikes at the bottom of the pit and carmen had just saved herself sdgjadsgjds

"im the one sitting in the catbird seat right now" oh you

anyway, i'm choosing leave tigress

this is the choice i made my first time playing! i love carmen's sassy ass "i cant hear you! im in a tunnel, bad connection!" line, and i'm not going the arctic circle path anyway so it doesn't matter.

tigress bugshadowing for s4! lots of foreshadowing for s4 in the special actually

the "theyre stunning" followed by that just. crushed look when she remembers what she's here to do augh

he has a beard and a mustache

she so cute

i choose hide and blend in

my first go around I chose to hitch a ride, as, I thought, was logical. I didn't know carmen had access to stopping time, a disguise, and endless amounts of dirt to camouflage her perfectly with the statues in addition to a handy spot to keep her change of clothes. who knew? im going with hide to speed up my run, but I was pissed off the first time i played this let me tell you sjgdhsgdhs

actually, you know what, let me hit ride for a second because I think there's a carmen death at the end of that one I want to comment on

carmen "historical artifacts are irreplaceable treasures" sandiego, everyone

why are vile's names for zack and ivy so shit

oh yeah here we go

the crash landing! I made a post on that years ago but my headcanon was that carmen was so distracted that she crashed and died I think lmfao. anyway no one came outta that one unscathed. k, back to the route!

OH i also like that the format for this is like the old gameshow a little bit with chief's lines at the end. its fun

they really wanted to call this thing "carmen sandiego: vile operative" didnt they. hamlet? was bela in on the naming of this?

cleo's little shoulder shimmies

abby trott's singing voice this episode <33333333

also THE OLD THEMEEEE this whole thing is just a throwback honestly its a lot of fun

carmens eyeroll at "carmens choice" jsadgha

to steal or not to steal: or, bellum and cleo being married old women for forty minutes

i choose cleo's caper

we just gotta get to the gay dance scene as quickly as possible okay

carmen asked for the specification on the eggs so seriously

cleo speaking french. thats it thats the post

some of the lines in this special are a little weird with repetition. carm does it once with the riding with/hiding among the statues in a way that sounds a little unnatural, and she does it again here with "everything i ever steal from vile goes straight to charity, and now they're making me steal from a charity?" the inflection/repetition is just weird, like the emphasis should have been on steal, not charity. idk maybe gina just reads weird

carmen SLAYS in this dress. i wish it was even more extravagent but i get they needed something simpler for the dance scene. still shes hot as fuuuck for the whole part

her leg split is scandalously high btw??

and JULIA GOOD GRACIOUS SHE'S SO GORGEOUS actually thank god for chase never showing his face in here he gets enough spotlight in the choose your own adventure novels

it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that julia looks different because shes wearing contacts

her favorite acme agent

how did she find out julia's last name i wonder

noooo carmen dont avoid her ur so sexy ahahaha

carmen's voice. when she says scarlet santa rosa. hdhwidw oh boy. also hello, fake name for hospitals and hotels in every fic ever from this point out. we salute you.

player's "oh boy" he knows carmen's too gay for this shit

also good GOD yes we're dancing. only thing we're missing is carmen saying she likes to tango more than she likes to waltz so there we go. gay time

i choose to accept the dance

"do i cut a rug, or put the 'go' in sandiego?" these lines are GEMS

man this scene is spectacular

adoring how miserable carmen looks the entire time she's dancing with this rando. can she do it? yes. does she want to be? hell no

the guy: :D carmen: 🙁

SHES HOLDING HERSELF SO FAR AWAY FROM HIM ITS SO FUNNY

girl if you were any further apart from this dude you'd be in north america

carmen fantasy mind link with mime bomb where she kicks the man to the curb and engages in a techno dance fantasy where she lets her hair down and goes wild, imagining julia argent seeing her and cheering her on gayly is top ten scenes in all of animation history

carmen's hips in the dance have me in a chokehold figuratively and i wish it was literally

the little prance after carmen kicks herself in the face is so gay you're being so gay dude. she imagines julia watching her and she stares directly at her and PRANCES

love the imaginary dance partner guy. carmen's like hm i wish this guy was fun

also THRILLED that the only canon imagination we ever see carmen having is one. being paranoid about a crusty 20 year old shadowsan stalking her and 2. having a dissociative dance fantasy because dancing the waltz with monaco royalty is torturous to stay grounded for

when she takes her hair out like if you agree

THE LEG SLIT SHINES THROUGH HERE WE ARE INCHES AWAY FROM THE TVY7 GOING OUT THE WINDOW FASTER THAN CARMEN DOES LATER IN THE SCENE

that was fantastic as always, sorry you had to sit through me ranting gayly for that long. time for more gay ranting. ITS JULIA!

carmens little moment of panic when julia comes up behind her is always great

man theyre so gay. julia is confident and girl please bestie i love you but this is the ONE time you're wrong

my favorite frame. goldfish julia

the height difference

"so good to see you again" 😌

julia using they/them pronouns win writers did her dirty in the s3 opener

"I will CERTAINLY be relieved once any stolen treasures MYSTERIOUSLY appear at my doorstep to allow me to return them to the proper authorities" she says in the most seductive voice possible, turning and walking away with a look over her shoulder

shes literally flirting you guys

player said woah because even he knew that the usual writers never let julia have that much personality and gaydar

gay abt it. also obsessed with their little hooves

we never talk about how dirty tsonts does you. it leads you unequivocally to believe that tricking julia is the correct option to keep both carmen and her safe. it ALSO leads you to believe that carmen is just going to pull a "WHATS THAT OVER THERE" trick and leave. SHE DOES NOT. DO THAT. SHE LOCKS JULIA OUT ON THE ROOF, STEALS FROM HER, AND LIES TO HER. WHY

anyway first time i played this i tricked julia thinking i was keeping her safe and was so pissed off by the outcome that I went back and trusted her. we do miss a glorious angy jules moment of her screaming "la femme rogue" with ten times less punch than devineaux, though.

all that is to say i choose trust julia.

either way you slice it i managed to wind up in a pickle at a caviar party

MMGH THE TRUST <3

they say trust like three times in this conversation its so. the core of their relationship

YESSS SHE TRUSTS HER DUGHDUHGDJDHEDHJD SHAKING THEM IN MY TEETH

carms little smile mmmmmmmmmm

ah, the cs 3/4 turn

OKAY even though it'll lead to bad shit happening we cannot skip the stash part because 1. it gives us one of carmen's BEST outfits and 2. i have a funny story about it/this is what i picked the first time

also it again leads us to the wrong choice on purpose in my opinion, which i think tsonts is designed to do

shes my profile picture and shes so killer in the waitress outfit god im so gay about it

okay here's my funny story when mime bomb started choking i was COMPLETELY prepared to have an option to save him or continue to go after the caviar and i was also COMPLETELY prepared to let him die i felt really bad about it once I realized they obviously weren't going to let him choke

NOT ON STAGE, PLAYER, ON FOOD

mime bomb singing opera foreshadowing!! while hes choking to death

carmen could give me the heimlich maneuver

mime bomb hairline reveal

everyone just dissipates once they realize they were laughing at a person actively dying

THE SHE

who is also the me on tumblr

the waitstaff wondering why this piece of fish weighs five times what its supposed to and why this one weighs nothing at all 🤨

you uncouth ninny

i love the cut from zack and ivy trying to fight to them immediately getting brainwashed they didnt stand a chance

btw where does carmen keep just. changing. where is she going. did she mug a waiter for that outfit and leave them naked in a closet. what

anyway ultimately i choose dash

she so cute when she commit acts of violence on innocent people

elsa is that you

man i love that shot of her putting on the glider. where is everyone though. like did they just think she threw herself off the edge and were like ah well

i love getting to see clips of carmen actually pulling the cord on her glider also her WHOLE LEG IS OUT GOD DAMN

imagine if they had just prerecorded zack and ivy and they were way off the mark. and zack and ivy were just mindwiped already

its my favorite background extra!

also the carmen-in-milan extra who was in dubai was also in the earlier scene

they have one RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE TOP OF THE WORLD

i choose steal for vile again becauseeee we snubbed tigress so that would fuckin suck for us. i do really enjoy the trust tigress --> arctic circle route, though (i wasnt even aware there was more than one good ending for a really long time because i always left tigress in the hole lmfao) but shes actually decent. i also like when you leave tigress --> arctic circle because carmen just kicks a solid metal foot thick door. and it hurts. like she didnt think about that one

hell???? in a kids show??? 😲

i like how you can see that carmen appreciates how incredible it is that theres soft tissue intact

another weird inflection thing? she says "attempt to clone-" like shes about to put emphasis on the dinosaur part after, when i feel like she would put emphasis on clone? idk whatever

gremlin bellum is the best

editing carmen sandiego clips to be way out of context is my passion. ugh. im going to hell

montana got such a sad info section honestly

carmen slaying that red eyeliner

OKAY first time i did this i tried to catch the plane, which is what im doing now because...it just adds scenes and doesnt actually change anything. however the first time i did this...you know what, tell you when we get there. here we go.

rip carmen's motorcycle which she somehow had in montana

imagine being the pilot

oh yeah okay. so, the first time i played this i literally fucking thought i had just condemned carmen to a horrific and unnecessary painful death. the glider prevented me from having a full out heart attack, I think, but it scared me VERY BADLY!

and then- alright, by this point, I'd chosen wrong pretty much every single time. the van, the soldiers, the stash/dash, everything. i just fucked up EVERYTHING. so when bellum called and was like YOU WASTED SO MUCH TIME i thought OHHH NO FUCK DID I DOOM THEM AGAIN NOOO. it turns out, you get that scene no matter which path you take. so. whatever. but that series of events got me so scared

TSONTS does more for carmen's friendship with zack and ivy/building relationships with allies than the entire main series and you can fight me on that

she thought you were making a funny 🤨

autistic bellum agenda

first time around i picked el topo! there are fun sides to both- el topo's line about being pawns in a bigger game, but also le chevre gets you a chase scene on a rollercoaster where agent zari tries to run carmen over . ride the cyclone her if you will. both are fun, but for the sake of doing my og path im going to go for el topo!

el topo is such a cinnamon roll. hes excited to work with her 🥺 he hates no one 🥺

"very well dressed company" acmeoffical should put that was their tagline

i think my first go around i hid, so I'm doing that. AgAiN, tsonts leads you to the wrong option. like. obviously running seems stupid if the entire place is crawling with them?? to me, anyway. but. i guess its always right in this playthrough. still choosing hide first because i like to see carmen break shit and get caught

she pulls a dokuso on that one. where did she get a smoke bomb

the cranial dranial. btw the noises on that title card are disgusssting. you miss out on so many good gags if you save zack and ivy from dying. bellum and cleo squabbling. bellum renaming the mindwiper every three seconds

anyway onto the good option of run

and my favorite background acme agent <3

carmen being loud af in those vents and REALLY not careful with that one of a kind priceless bone

behold, carmen sandiego

love how embarrassed zari is jdsgdjsh

girlie fit through THAT grate???

AHH THE JULIA AIRPORT SCENE

love how you can see her little foot sticking out from behind the tourist before she pops out

i also love how carmen very clearly notices julia following her

my favorite bg character again

julias so cute

woah, a mindwiping carmen plot?? thats so diabolical! im glad its possible to entirely avoid that fate for carmen in the canon. yep!

lil. gay julia

its so sad when julia rejects her if you decide to lock her out on the roof. but also hilarious because julia tracks her through the airport LITERALLY just to break up with her on her own terms. shes like oh i gotta find carmen and carmen is like hi and then julia just leaves

also the dont trust julia ending is literally the worst ending in the game and its a crime that that symbolism didnt carry to the main series. so angsty and good though i really like that scene

ALSO also the carmen getting mindwiped bad ending?? THATS how carmen should have reacted in s4. shes struggling, shes trying to avoid it, but like?? in the CANON MINDWIPING carmens just like grgrggrgr im biting this. not going to change my behavior of yanking on my wrists as maelstrom reveals a terrible fate to me just going to keep looping "struggle animation" like an npc

sorry. im salty about that. you can tell. back on track to the gay ending.

UM. SURE? shes so cute

PAPER STAR'S THEME!!! i love that being woven into the score

juliaaaa in the hat and coaaaat

zack and ivy's banter in the evil shack is great

oddly specific subtitles?

carmen got the perfect circle capabilities of luz in here

how did she just move that piece of roof aside instead of it falling in help

"since when does carmen sandiego wear glasses" REALLY thats the ONLY thing that looks different about her? not the. race change. or the dark hair pixie cut. or losing half a foot of height

zack hugging carmen <33

man im hitting my image limit for this post help

also carmen just shoving zack away is so funny shes not even gentle shes just like BOOM lets jet.

that vile grunt slamming face first into the helicopter my beloved

"not of helicopters im not!" zack says, flying the helicopter flawlessly

"here's looking at you, crew" is a reference to the 1942 film casablanca which was the first location carmen visited outside of vile island. in this theory i will prove that casablanca was the first movie she ever watched and-

how do you know where julia lives, huh carmen? dont you know thats GAY?

HHAAIHUDGHGGHDSJ i love this ending so fucking much arhsghaggdrg. im carmen sandiego and im here to make your day. she's wearing the hat and coat. shes so cute theyre so gay et cetera et cetera

that gayass little display carmen does for her

the fucking. bouquet of red roses oh its carmens color no shut up she did NOT have to do that that was EXPLICIT. ALSO JULIA BLUSHING ABOUT IT WHILE SHE THANKS HER AND HOLDS THE BOUQUET IM GOING FERAL OVER THEM TSONTS DID SO MUCH FOR US

BONUS SCENE TIMEEEEE

what an absolute treasure i love the recreation of the old rockapellas song. they got to correct their czech republic inaccuracy wheeze. oh to be a geography show during a time when geography isnt staying the same long enough to make content about it

zack submitting himself to chinese water torture just for fun

the vile operatives ajdgshdfaghds

ABBY TROTT <3 love you and ivy's dancing and ivy singing and everyone dancing and everyone singing pop off slay the whole nine yards

obsessed with that little arm move on "berlin down to belize" what was that

carmivy canon

tigress's shoulder shimmies and pinchies of the glider yes

cs color theory ON LOCATION + the gays being gay

ive never understood the mekong from the jungle line honestly. did she steal the whole river. unify east and southeast asia. i guess so. if she can steal the statue of liberty why not

puberty didnt hit player like a truck it hit him like a rocketship

brunt's little jig as she goes to punch the living daylights out of carmen <3

SHE PUT THE MISS IN MISDEMEANOR WHEN SHE STOLE THE BEANS FROM LIMA <3 thats my favorite line

GO BORIS SLAY

i also love zari's line

"A moving violation is any violation of the law committed by the driver of a vehicle while it is in motion" julia literally knows carmen is a cant drive gay

mime bomb's one line <3

ACME SPELLING OUT ACME LIKE ITS YMCA IS HONESTLY SUCH A FUNNY VISUAL GAG BY THE WAY

once again, ABBY TROTT'S VOICE

tigress dances like i dance. badly

GAYS BEIN GAY

SLAY CLEANERS GET IT

the little faculty dance showcases is also fantastic. get bellum'd. maelstrom's doing a mickey mouse clubhouse ass dance. cleo is slaying

the mystery: is coach brunt saying "let me know" or "lambkins, oh" its the first one but i thought it was the latter for a long time

THE GROUP SHOT!!

never noticed the mechanic waving her little wrench around. there are a bunch of cute motions like the gays being gayer, a cleaner singing into his mop, and ivy pumping the air with her fist

anyway, SORRY! this was long af! my bad! it's a lot to cover and. kind of hard to liveblog when there are so many options. if anyone got this far, i hope you enjoyed it! see ya next week for season 3!!

and, yes, i was later again. more late than usual, actually. i've been busy with art fight >:)

[the-backup-protocol]

tmagp 22 ep thoughts. again putting these down for myself but you guys get to read it too haha

spoilers under the cut!

Lena definitely cares for Gwen. It's pretty obvious that she's doing this to forcefully keep her safe. I think her assessment is also like..pretty fair from her pov since Gwen really is not doing great with the horrors (love u gwen you're doing your best with a scary dangerous situation) and she'd really just get herself hurt further.

Gwen could grow and get rlly good at surviving still ofc (you need Experience for that after all) but Lena wants the excuse to not have her be IN that position anymore.

The statement itself was really interesting, and I'm thinking that dark ocean of secret knowledge is an interesting visual (side note, while i dont think the Deep is supposed to be knowledge related... it's reminiscent in my head for some reason and made me think of it. probably the imagery tho) and possible nice comparison to Jon's "it's like there's a door in my mind" ocean of Eye Knowledge tm. Just interesting.

I do wonder who wanted out of a) the guys head or b) the wires/the equipment. Is it a general entity Of wires technology current etc that we have tamed with the advent of electricity? Is it the consciousness of the guy, or even the subconscious? Is it other people who have been ushanka'd and thus can be across anything electric, like an amalgamation of souls? The silver in the wires is obviously important as well as the split consciousness, but...

I know the obvious narrative that, im my opinion, freddie is trying to paint is that they (jmj, supposedly) need out and they're using the transcript to speak that fact. As they have been, in theory, using the casements to speak to tbe team from the start. But in the actual situation, mr. Schmidt's case still resulted in those words, so who?

Side note, I still don't think JMJ are actually in the puters. I think Freddie is puppeting their voices still. But then again... there is some consciousness there. Sam did get an email from Jon. And then you have to wonder, when does a puppet mimicking consciousness actually gain it, if so?

I think they might be taking us on a very interesting route about identity and such. The "some of him" from episode one seems to hint at, well, at least some of jmj still being in there if it isn't only a red herring. On the other hand... I still don't think Jonny and Alex lied to us that their fate stays ambiguous either? It'd make no sense to.

I also don't think Celia knows what's going on fully. I think she is tma Celia but the reason she brings up their names is _She_ might think they're in there regardless of it being the case, because she recognizes their voices immediately.

But maybe I will be proven wrong in a few weeks and it was never a red herring after all, and what Jonny and Alex meant is that it could he a different universe version jmart and jonah.

Who knows! We have the multiverse fully established.

Also Alice and Sam's argument :( The beloveds are fighting. I guess it makes sense why they didn't work out. I wonder what Alice was supposedly controlling about before, and what truly happened. I can't wait until we know.

That's my thoughts, though. If anyone does have a good theory about who was wanting out innthe casement put it below??? I scour the tags but they're exploding right now ahahaha.

Can't wait til next week. Thanks for reading!

[munchkin1156]

Here’s a prompt: fist fight with a mouse

'He started it'

Thank you, @melanch0ly-gh0st for the prompt!

Warnings: mild injury's, shouting, angry borrowers, angry mouse, blood, swearing

The atmosphere in the the house was peacefully quiet. Well, almost.

. . .

"I don't see why we can't just take the normal route! You're just overreacting."

"Im TELLING you, there was a infestation that way! And it's just a slight detour, you know!"

Fennec glared at Quill, who was twitching in annoyance, their tail swishing back and forth, sending angry clouds of dust into the air. "A slight detour you say? I wouldn't call HALF A FLAMING HOUR A SLIGHT DETOUR. By that time, if we take the normal route, we could be done with borrowing SO IF YOU THINK-" Quill shushed her. "Be quiet, you'll wake up the beans." Fennec held her tongue. They both knew it was almost impossible for a bean to hear them but just in case... "Fennec, listen to me." She tuned back in to hear what they had to say. "What if I went the detour, and you go the normal way. And we'll see which way is better." Fennec grinned. "Okay deal", she replied. This was going to be SO easy. As Quill disappeared round the corner she shouted after him.

"AND DONT FORGET THE CHIPS DUMBASS!"

"You got it!"

And she set off, towards the so called "infestation". After four minutes of walking, Fennec began to wonder if Quill had been lying. Or he had seen one itty bitty bug and gone argh! Insects! Absolutely dangerous and murderous! Best not let Fennec go ANYWHERE near them! Something moved up ahead. She froze, and slowly kept forward with her-wait. Where was her sword? Fennec mentally slapped herself in the face. She forgot it, and would have to be careful if there was that infestation Quill had mentioned. She slowly inched forward, taking care with every step. Now she was close, Fennec could see exactly what was there. It was a mouse. Shit. He (she assumed it was a he, too panicked to care) stood up on his hind legs and sniffed the air, before making direct eye contact with Fennec. For a split second, it looked like he wasn't interested in her. Then he launched himself straight at her. She punched him right in the face, saving her from any fatal injuries. But the mouse wouldn't give up, and before Fennec could react, bit her hard in the leg. She punched him once more, which seemed to do the trick, as he finally gave up, and scampered away, probably going to find an easier meal. She looked at her leg. The bite was deep, she would need a bandage for it. Blood trickled down, and Fennec winced when she tried to move it. "Fuck..." She whispered.

How was she supposed to get back!?

When Quill found her, they asked what happened, and told her that yes, they did bring the chips stop asking.

They were concerned, hopefully it wouldn't get infected, but now that they found her the worry was dying down, and smugness took over.

"I told you so!"

"He started it!"

[wandapinkay]

you interacted with some of my steins gate fanart ages ago and ever since your blog has remained permanently on my mind. not in a bad way, in a neutral “i wonder how the daru selfshipper is doing” way. im not sure why tbh (￣▽￣;)

because of this, a few questions have come to mind over time and i think its finally about time i ask them

1) how do you feel about yuki? in your AU where you and daru are together does yuki exist at all?

2) does suzuha exist? since she would need to be conceived by yuki and daru, and in the future no less— meaning if your self insert exists in the time the show takes place in, suzuha would need to be conceived either during your relationship with daru many years down the line, or after a break up with daru.

3) if suzuha does exist, how does your self insert feel about her? do you have parental affection for her, or is she just your husbandos daughter?

apologies because im sure these questions are absolutely insane and u probably havent even considered them because why would you \(T- T;) just, if you’re willing to humor my thought experiments, i would be most grateful.

Hello there! I appreciate your interest regardless, it means a lot :'D First of all, I'd like to say sorry for taking long to answer your ask! As you might see in a bit, I needed some time to organize my thoughts in explaining everything within my best abilities. Hopefully it actually makes sense ahaha :'D Second of all, and most importantly, regarding my thoughts on both Yuki and Suzuha while being a Daru selfshipper.. well.. I haven't cared too much for the both of them but I still wanted to specify some things that would make more sense if my selfinsert were to actually exist in the Steins;Gate universe: I've made a two-case scenario if you can call it that some time back:

This will probably answer most of your questions hopefully FGGDFS The main one is the ideal world line where most of my scenarios with Daru would have place but.. depending on my mood, I might choose to consider the most "tragic" outcome-

As written above, Yuki will still exist but it's not set-in-stone that Daru will meet her in said timeline, so neither of us would know who she was regardless. As for Suzuha, she'd exist in one timeline where, like in S;G0, she's aware that Daru's her dad and try her best to preserve her existence by making the relationship between the two of us impossible. Ooor.. I also though that she'd might act like she did in one specific CD Drama: Chio-san, a girl that started working at Sampo's (I think that's the ramen place where Daru and Okabe would go to), gets close to Daru overtime; this makes Suzuha feel "threatened" in a way without realizing, and so she trips her in front of him and everyone in the lab when the two of them are in the same room. People notice this and think she's in love with him, but she feels something else.. and mind you, she didn't know Daru's status to her when this happened. (in case you're interested in watching it, this is the CD Drama playlist)

What I'm getting at is that Suzuha might feel the same way she felt with this girl in my regards.. the same attitude and everything- But I'd still try my best to be friends with her and everything, even if it would mean being stepped on by her in the process (introjection about how I feel about most relationships I have with people, yessir). Buuuut I just think the easier route for my scenario would be no Yuki and no Suzuha; mind you, that's not because I don't like them. Hell, Yuki's nice and Suzuha may be my favorite girl of the series for how badass she is, but I just don't want them to interfere with what I had in mind with him for mostly comfort reasons.. I'd be lying if I said that how both of them treat Daru sometimes trows me off and inserting myself in said parts would make it easier to digest.. So yeah, this is my explanation about how inserting myself in Steins;Gate's universe and start dating Daru would change things! I know I might have been repetitive in some spots, so I hope I was as clear as possible! Still thank you for being curious and sending the ask away! I actually needed to talk about Daru again as I felt like I was getting distant from him, making me feel quite bad lately not gonna lie, so thank you again! Have a great timezone wherever you are! ✨💕

[seth-burroughs]

czynś czecia: (last one!!)

nice submarine dude ok now how tell me exactly on a scale from 1-10 how stuffy is the air in there. and how much does it cost you yearly to maintain that shit. and can it even do the swim.

holy shit its the gang!!!! fubuki and halara and the other two!!!

lets see if im still gonna hate vivia just as much as i did when i first watched it... i feel like now that i have been through dazai bsd i can get through anything. vivia is nothing compared to dazai bsd.

they do not fucking care lmao

i missed halara's og voice...... though i'm not sure whether i prefer the english or the japanese one.......they sound. Very different.

halara x seth x swank where they bond over money

both of desuhiko's va on the other hand sound veryyy similiar

i love how yakou is just. Silently listening the entire time Desuhiko, Fubuki and Halara engage in acts of considerable tomfoolery

you and me both Fubuki. you and me both

every single person (and especially the youtubers) who were so fucking mean to Fubuki for some reason (we know what it is) should apologize right now while they still have the chance

halara should have overthrown yakou by like, the second chapter tbh. i don't even think he'd even put up that much of a fight

we can take him.

oh yeah i forgot about vivia's "i wanna die someday" bit. dw that can be arranged

i wonder what was desuhiko's personal "train massacre moment" that we talked about earlier, especially since it looks like he at the same time both 1) doesn't do well with blood and murder and the like and 2) the "everyone on the train died beside you? that sucks. had i been on the amaterasu express i wouldve solved it before anything had gone down. damn, missed the chance to show off my superstar self." line which im pretty sure he wouldn't have ever said if he actually saw a corpse on his trip. personally i think that at least he solved the murder plot on his route before anything had the chance to go down. but because there were supposed to be multiple mds on all of the routes as far as i remember, i also like to think both he and Fubuki were there together. just the two of them

me too shinigami

would it be controversial of me to say that i don't really care for the agency. at least as a group (halara and fubuki are fine). my soul has been sold to shinigami, kurumi, amaterasu corp and fake zilch and maybe its also the yomi brain that makes me see them all as an annoying pest infestation instead of the actual mcs lmao

wait speaking of the wdo. how did yakou manage to get that fucking phone that could reach outside kw and not be spied on. hw did he. how did he get it

you and me both Fubuki. you and me both

"uh, i think you're just forgetful" yakou that is not normal. yakou if you think that's normal then i think we should have both of you checked maybe

oh wait halara and desuhiko were the ones who arrived early..... now im just thinking that halara was the one to solve the Evil Plot on their route on their own and desuhiko was taking all the credit the whole time

shinigami <3

the wdo is probably not the only organization hiring people with these powers, or "forensic fortes" in their case (that they help hone, they aren't born with these specific abilities but just exhibit signs). there is probably like, a military or scientific market for those too, and if the wdo are the only ones in the world with the permit to do all that then theres bound to be some illegal shit going on in secret in other groups. but like, these powers/"paranormal dispositions" explicitly aren't exclusive to the wdo. we don't even know how common they actually may be and if most people who have them are even aware they're not just normal. anyway

everyone keeps calling yakou old but he looks so young.

oh god i forgot the skank bit with fubuki and shinigami too. help me survive this

no1 double videochat time

old man time. why does he have the homesfuck sharpie bath complexion. why is everyone in this game either white or gray except for dominic but not really he's also really gray . i would blame this on the lack of sunlight and shit but this is not just a kanai ward resident thing. yes i know this is probably like an aesthetic choice i don't care shut up now

just sitting there listening to all of this.. nobody tell them

ah yeah the creed

"is that true master" "i don't remember at all" fgsdfgdsgssdfhakejsfaysjkhg.

and the pose... that double had a blast pretending to be number one back then

you and me both Fubuki. you and me both

never not gonna laugh at yuma's prey animal stare. mouseboy

oh i forgot yuma just started fucking writing poetry at the start/end of the chapte- YAKOU READING THE NOTE SPOTTED!!!!!!!! THE. THE NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i forgot hellectro duo appear that early on at that point and started choking on my own tongue. this is not an exaggeration. help me survive this and go back to the tab............... good lird.......

when :DDDD police brutality <33333

i might need time to recover spiritually .

KURUMI SPOTTED

MAKOTO SPOTTED??? THAT EARLY?????

The. Oh god the fucking restricted area i forgot they were just showed in the prologue sjdgfdsjdgdsj. they were right there.... and we all collectively forgot about it. if you say that you remembered this scene then you are a nasty liar. you forgor. accept it already

Finally the intro lets go!!!!!

goddamn it i got yomi jumpscared again. stop doing this to me you know this is bad for my tortured stress organs goddamn it (do not be worried about me once i get to chapter 1 ending............)

aaaaaaand that is all for the prologue :3333333 we have got through it!!!! at last!!!!!

continuation of my mdarc rewatch but from the ch0 ending and onwards instead because it was stressing me out too much. blissfully ignoring fzilch's entire existence anyway here comes yakou-

once again im so glad im watching this in jp dub again because i don't think i could survive if eng yakou opened his mouth and i just heard fuckinbg. dubbing dazai.

can someone tell my goddamn muscles to stOP tensing up whenever rejn kołd kanaj łard mentioned . getting the twitches again >:(

yuma peril we love to see it. also i will never stop making fun of his stupid fucking phallus haircut

i don't remember if ive said this before but japanese shinigami >>>>>>>>> english shinigami

i spot a faint trace of a seth thumbnail in the corner and start blushing and kicking my feet uncontrollably. imagining him getting his limbs ripped off

good fucking lord. oh my fucking god. jesus christ, motherfucker. my first statement aged like fucking milk i cannot take this anymore jp dub yakou has the same voice as jp dub nikolai bsd fuck my stupid baka life why do i bother. what the fuck.

huh. maybe the yomiakou mfs were onto something after all. his swagless demeanor just now has charmed me significantly.

i like how in the game his description lists his ability as "a flair for negotiation", makes him negotiate exactly once during his introduction and then he never does it again

i am not giggling at yakou furio rain code. leave me alone. i am not. IM NOT. GO AWAY. I CANNOT CONTROL MY VOICEBOX JACKASS..

"he managed to turn away the peacekeepers, so he must be in high standing" hahahaha. hahahaha. no sorry yuma i think thats just pretty privilege on his part. once again shinigami ends up being 100% correct somehow

aaaah i still really like yuma's jpn voice especially when he's stressed or screaming. makes me want to throw him down the stairs

its so pretty in here why would anyone want to leave anyway lol. when all the remaining nations explode each other kanai ward will be the only city still standing and we will flourish and thrive. also in the station(?) theres a poster with a rainbow on it so obviously its gay paradise too what more do yall fucking want

detectivephobia mention counter: 1

thats all for today i fear op is not strong enough for rhis shit,

[stimmywombat]

Hey, so at the moment I can't sleep and I need a distraction. So I shall call on you ,lovely followers, to ask me questions.

[halfmoondaze]

Stuck In Fantasy Mode

The first thing I remember from him was his iridescent blue eyes and his inviting bright smile as he introduced himself in the middle of my interview at the Met Gala ceremony; having no care in the world that this could create buzz around the both of us in terms of relationship rumors. He took a look at me from head to toe and made no effort to conceal the smile on his face. I was mystified by him, to say the least, and during our short interaction, I find myself being unaware of the world around us as if it was only the two of us in the room. Only coming back to earth when he left.

During the ceremony, I was hoping not to run into him, as I pretended to be unaware of his presence or the chance of running into him again. I don't think I would be able to bear it, for I would probably melt like butter next to him making a fool of myself. Better to stay away from him.

It's not like it was the first time I met him. For the past few months, he has been attempting but somehow failing to shoot his shot. He would make appearances on my Instagram live and by the time I would notice his presence I was quick to make up an excuse and end the live. But after several similar interactions, fans were quick to suspect something was going on behind the scenes.

Sometime along the way, his public interactions with me came to a halt, probably sensing I was too shy to reciprocate something or that I was just not interested.

Cipriani South Street was the place to be, at the Met Gala after-party hosted by Alicia Keys. An event filled with performances and A-lister celebrities having the time of their lives letting loose as they mingle with everyone.

As I was catching up with Yara Shahidi, Timothee Chalamet, and Ella Emhoff; Jack and Lil Nas X approached us and inserted themselves into our little group just listening. Nas ended up taking over the conversation and I just opted for listening and interacting.

I could sense that he would stare at me every once in a while. And there was no denying that he was dying to speak to me or maybe that was my newfound confidence acting out.

The interaction took a different route as everyone else scattered around leaving me and Jack alone.

“Hi Y/N”

“Jack, hi”

“It’s good to see you, we haven’t properly met”

“Is that so? Because I can recall you interacting on all my Instagram live"

“So you did noticed me. Well I’m surprised you haven’t run away from me yet. If I didn't know any better I would've assumed you've been trying to avoid me” he said with a cocky smile.

You diverted your gaze from him as you felt caught and started laughing trying to conceal your embarrassment.

"Hey, there's no reason to shy away from me. You look beautiful" he smiled.

“Thanks”

"I have to say it. It's great to finally meet you, I was looking forward to it"

"Are you always this upfront?"

"Does it bother you?"

"On the contrary"

"What are you doing later?"

"Not much, go back to my hotel room, why?"

"I was wondering if we could spend some time together getting to know each other"

You were caught by surprise, as you never expected for Jack to actually be interested in you. And before you could stop yourself, you started giggling like a fool.

"Are you always this shy, or is just around me?"

"Jack, I think you're handsome and charming; and Im very flattered but I'm not looking for a one-night-stand, I just want to make that clear"

"Me neither. Ive would be lying if I said I haven't been crushing on you for the longest time"

Was this some sort of fantasy I was leaving in right now?

"Well, its an open invitation, in case you change your mind" he smiled at you before walking away.

Should I conform myself to spending the rest of my lifetime longing for him?

"Wait"

You caught his attention as he turned around looking at you.

"That actually sounds lovely"

[hakuoyuki]

Hi! So I trust your opinion about Ikepri a whole bunch! Im a huge Licht Stan! Is it worth it to get that story just released with him and Nokto? I don’t wanna waste my money before his route!

Hello! So my friend just got the story this morning and after reading it together with her, my verdict is that it is indeed worth getting!

There is a few changes there and there (most are minor changes but there's a few specific lines that got changed. Everything else is pretty much like in JP.

There are however, a few specific changes (2 major, 1 minor) that changed the context/nuance of the message coming across so I would like to take this opportunity to highlight those here.

If you keep these points in mind, the rest of the story pretty much stays the same (true to context) so it certainly is worth getting (especially for the bit where the twins were reminiscing 🥺)

(Comparison under the cut due to story spoilers for The Beasts’ Day Off  ～Nokto & Licht Episode～)

.

.

Major Change #1

ー

JP

Nokto: It's something that makes you ashamed to the point that you can't say it. In that case, let me guess.

ー

ENG

Nokto: There must be something you feel so guilty about that you can't talk about it. In that case, I'll try to guess what it is.

ー

In ENG, they changed the word "ashamed" to "guilty" which I do no know why they did that because it does not even make sense for the context of the situation here.

ーーーー

Major Change #2

ー

JP

Nokto: You're trying to do the same thing with Belle here. I wonder if that's why it's making me feel all nostalgic butーー

ー

ENG

Nokto: You want to do the same thing for Belle. So, that must mean you're attached toー

ー

Notice how the last half of the sentence was changed here in ENG to be focus on MC instead of how the original focused on Nokto's own feelings toward what's going on. (Again, why did they changed this 😭)

.

ーーーー

.

Minor Change

ー

JP

Nokto: It's like that so, sorry! I'll play with you next time?

ー

ENG

Nokto: So sorry, ladies! Come see me again some other time, won’t you?

ー

The minor change here is the subtle difference in the way Nokto reacted to the women in the scene.

Everything else stays pretty much true to the original except for the 3 bits I highlighted above here 👀👌

[gaylorlyrics]

Folklore Songs - what are they about??

This is a developing thread, but I’ve been listening all day so I’m taking a stab at it.

1."The 1"  

Common consensus is that this is about Dianna Agron and what they could have been. Telling lyrics are the general idea that the relationship wasn’t truly given a chance (”it would've been sweet, If it could've been me”) and “Roaring Twenties”, referring to the below circus themed party pics with Diana dressed like a flapper

tbh im not totally sold on this - most because it seems more recent with lyrics like, “In my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone” sounds like a reference to ME! and “Roaring twenties” sounds like a reference to something that happened this year (2020). Also “throwing pennies in the pool” could be a reference to throwing Penni (Karlie’s agent) in the pool. Finally, Route 1 is the road along California’s coast, where Tay & Karlie drove on their legendary road trip...this makes my lil Kaylor heart worry. 

2. Cardigan

This is the first installment in the Teenage Trio, which also includes August and Betty, and is told from the perspective of Betty. It’s about feeling so loved by someone but then being betrayed by them (”Chase two girls [Betty + August’s narrator] lose one”). The line ”And you'd be standin' in my front porch light” foreshadows to James professing love in “Betty”. Potentially Taylor is Betty - but I’m still thinking about that theory.

3."The Last Great American Dynasty"  

We <3 a Rhode Island throwback. Here Taylor tells the story of her house in Rhode Island that Rebekah “Betty” (??!?!??!! more on that later) Harkness used to live in. Rebekah married an heir to Standard Oil which made her one of the wealthiest women in the USA at the time. She was also known for making a scene (”She had a marvelous time ruining everything”). Additionally, she founded the Harkness Ballet (”And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet”). After Rebekah’s death Taylor purchased the house and it is now best known as the place of many epic 4th of July parties.

4. Exile

Such a sad song! This is a duet between Taylor and Bon Iver, telling the story of a failed relationship that they have tried to mend many many times. Interestingly, this is also about a love triangle (like the teenage trio) -  "I can see you starin' honey/Like he's just your understudy." This line specifically feels like it could be about bearding, and seeing someone else with the person you love, but feeling like - or knowing - it’s fake. “You were my town Now I'm in exile seein' you out” references and end to the relationship Taylor discussed in False God “Staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town I'm New York City”. To me this indicates that it is about Karlie and them breaking up or going through a rough patch - continually trying to fix things - and eventually being unsure that it could ever be repaired.

5."My Tears Ricochet"

This is pretty clearly about Scott & Scooter - “And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed” and “You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same” seem to be a reference to them trying to exploit her work and how her leaving Big Machine really ruined the business - plus there’s some LWYMMD imagery. “You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” also seems to be a clear reference for trying to use Taylor’s own work against her, taking the profits, and pushing her out of the deal. As if we needed more evidence “You hear my stolen lullabies” clearly references her stolen masters.

6."Mirrorball"  

Big 80s prom vibes from this song. Mirrorball is about being famous and all of her work - her most personal thoughts and dreams - just becoming different ways for other people to see themselves once she releases her music into the world. Part of being an artist is knowing that your work will reflect more of who the viewer is than who you are yourself. Here she uses the metaphor of a disco ball to explore that idea, and worries that she is losing her own identity through it “I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me”. She also alludes to her fears that she will age out of relevancy “I know they said the end is near”, something she discussed in her documentary Miss Americana. Obviously this is internalized misogyny because we love Taylor and will listen to her music always and do not subscribe to the belief that women need to be young to be relevant because if they were a man then they'd be the man, and tay’s the man <3 

7. “Seven”

Personally, this is one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s so sweet and pure and lovely. This is about young love, with imagery of summer, toys, and child’s dreams to runaway together. Many people have speculated that it is about the same girl that the two unreleased Taylor songs “Sweet Tea and Gods Graces” and “Me & Britney” are about. 

[Side note: initially I wondered if Me & Britney was about Britany Maack, Taylor’s long time friend who recently got married, but the names are spelled differently. Also the line in Seven “I can’t recall your face” indicates that this is about someone who Taylor is not currently in touch with.] 

Both M&B and STAAG seem to be about the Seven relationship because there are general parallels with outdoor scenery, childlike wonder, and ( in the case of STAGG) sweet tea. Also all three songs indicate a gay relationship: STAGG - “And you can love like a sinner and lose like a winner”, M&B - “That boy she went ran off with, well, I thought he was crazy. Maybe I was just jealous that he'd come between me and Britney”, and Seven - “You won't have to cry or hide in the closet And just like a folk song our love will be passed on”.

8. “August”

This is the second installment in the Teenage Trio, told from the perspective of the “other woman” who James meets while on summer vacation. The other woman (she doesn’t seem to have a name...unless it is August...which it could be? idk) is in love, but realizes that James isn’t in love with her - “Will you call when you're back at school? I remember thinkin' I had you”. The line “Remember when I pulled up and said "Get in the car" references the same incident which is retold in Betty, but this time with James telling Betty it was just a summer fling that didn’t mean anything.

9. This Is Me Trying

Here we have a break up song, about Taylor trying to win her lover back and feeling completely lost without them, unable to concentrate or be around people, and turning to self sabotage. It’s about the general loneliness that one feels when they’ve lost someone they truly love, and the miscommunication that can happen in a relationship when you’re not understanding each other or receiving love in the same way (hence the song’s title). I think this could be about Karlie, it seems clear that their relationship has not been smooth and that they have had many on-and-off times. It could also be serving a purpose of building the Joe break up narrative, but only time will tell for that.

10. “Illicit Affairs”

Taylor loves her secret love - this song reads like a sad version of “I Know Places”. It seems clear that this is about Karlie Kloss. “Tell your friends you're out for a run” is one of my favorite lines because Karlie started Klossy run club, where you commit to running a certain distance in a month - and she posts about it on instagram CONSTANTLY. But overall, the song details a relationship of a woman being with someone she doesn’t love (kushnerd) and sneaking around to meet up with the person she does love (tay!). The line “Tell yourself you can always stop” is so sad to me, the idea that Karlie got into this and keeps telling herself that it will only be a little longer and she can leave when she wants, but staying in her fake marriage anyway.

11. Invisible String

This is pretty much the only pure love song on the album - about feeling connected to someone throughout your whole life, knowing that that somebody is out there, and then finally finding them. Taylor talks about being in Centennial Park in Nashville as a teen, and then eventually showing her lover around. The song is really self referential, with lots of easter eggs for her past work, including Bad Blood and Delicate. She also references Joe Jonas with the line “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind For the boys who broke my heart Now I send their babies presents”.

Some people have pointed out that there is a similar idea presented in Jane Eyre - when the protagonist says to her love interest “I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you."

12."Mad Woman"  

Another Scooter one - “It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together”. “The master of spin” is word play referencing the masters records scandal. “Watching you climb over people like me” points out that agents and labels are making money off the performers they find and pushing them around. There’s also a reference to Scooter’s wife Yael and how he cheats all the time, but she doesn’t do anything likely because of her own internalized misogyny - “has a couple side flings. Good wives always know. She should be mad, should be scathing like me”.

13. “Epiphany”

The first verse of this touching ballad is about Taylor’s grandfather in WW2, storming the beaches at Normandy - “Crawling up the beaches now "Sir, I think he's bleeding out"”. The second verse is about a nurse helping patients with Covid-19 - “Holds your hand through plastic now "Doc, I think she's crashing out"”. The bridge here talks about wishing there was some great epiphany, some magical solution for the suffering in the world. The chorus refers to experiencing trauma with others and staying loyal even in the hardest times, even if it means literally dying. Although this seems like a departure from the themes of rest of the album, the whole album examines loyalty and considering what you would do for the people you love - so I really don’t think it’s a departure at all.

14. “Betty”

Obviously this is the gayest song on the album and an early fan favorite. It is the final song in the teenage trio, told from the point of view of James, going to win Betty back after betraying her and sleeping with someone else (August!?) over the summer. The line "Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?”, a line that is very clearly about wanting to kiss a woman, is especially striking (& gay!) when sung by Taylor. The clearest version of this plot is someone begging for forgiveness after betraying the person they love.

There is also a bit of a nod to a line in “Picture to Burn”, a break up song off Taylor’s first album. In PTB Taylor says “So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy that's fine, I’ll tell mine you’re gay”. This lyric has since been changed in versions available online, but on the original album that's what it was. This is interesting because she’s calling attention to knowing that someone is gay and hasn’t told their friends...which you would definitely know if you had dated them.

The names “James” and “Inez” are both mentioned in the song, which are the names of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s daughters. James was already featured on a Taylor Swift album, as the lil baby voice at the beginning of “Gorgeous”. Worth noting that “James” is traditional a male name, but that this character is named after a female.

ALSO I have this theory I’m working on that Taylor is Betty and this whole album is in the same world with the same people, but WILL POST MORE ON THIS LATER.

15."Peace"  

Ok - this is Archer 2.0 for me, about how she is worried about how no one will ever love her or stay with her because its too much work - “the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me” and “No, I could never give you peace” are pretty telling lines about her concerns that people will think it is not worth it to be friends with or in a relationship with her due to all of the baggage that comes with it. 

The opening lines - “Our coming-of-age has come and gone Suddenly this summer, it's clear” feed into my emerging theory that all of these songs exist in the same universe and are about the same three characters...but I’m still figuring that one out. The line “And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches” reference Seven and Epiphany, respectively - further supporting that all of these songs are in the same world.

16. “Hoax”

Out of all of the songs that make my little Kaylor heart ache - this is the most heartbreaking. Specifically the line “My eclipsed sun” refers to Karlie, who Taylor has called “sunshine” on multiple occasions, and her light being covered up by her contract with Kushnerd and Scooter. The line “Don't want no other shade of blue But you” makes it clear that this song is in reference to the muse for the album “Lover” - aka Karlie. 

However, this is a song about betrayal and completely trusting someone, only to find that they stabbed you in the back, as is clear by the line ”Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in”.

Additionally, the line“You knew it still hurts underneath my scars” seems to again feed into the idea that all of the songs on the album involve the same characters. This one is a bit more clear, it seems that - if this theory is correct - Betty is the narrator of this song, as she referenced her scars before “Drew stars around my scars” in Cardigan.

OK- I'm going to go deep into song by song later, but I just wanted to get something out there!!! Also def interested in hearing what everyone else thinks!

EDIT: I just found some lyrics from The Lakes in an article from Billboard. I wanted to add them in even though we don’t have the full song because I felt like we really ended on a sad note with hoax and then when I saw these I was like there is hope!!

SO the lyric Billboard included in their review was “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground / With no one around to tweet it” which is a continuation from the line from “Hoax” - “ This has frozen my ground”. What I’m taking from this is that in the final song Taylor finds hope <3

[harley-style]

Side note though, do you yall think he was able to "hear" the narrator because, in his essence, dave is time??? Like okay hes a knight but as far as we know hes the ONLY god of time available. Rose had this omnipotent like state (i say like bc its not close but its the best comparison i can make???? Dont judge me pls) so i was wondering if anyone else does.

Like dirk is. Dirk took over the narration. Its there. So what abt the rest????

If you think about it, if the epilogue took their god tier states into equation with ALL of them (shut up u guys i havent finished any route yet let me dream) then theyd be (unintentionally) governing over their aspect in some way.

Take john for example. He's the heir of breath, and loosely that means he inherits wind or "freewill" . In the epilogue, we see him contemplate over two choices that absolutely dictate which direction the timeline you're following goes. (Well quite obviously there is that underlying 'theyre both connected to each other because some events of one route is relevant to the other etc etc' but come on we were introduced to the alternate timelines for a reason.) John is GIVEN the ability to CHOOSE his fate, or to choose where the wind blows if we were diving deep into metaphorical symbolism. He is literally the God tipping his hand on a gamble to decide the outcome of Sburb, and consequently earth C.

(Im not even going to touch on the fact that the whole retcon john does in the meat route is directly parallel to the clay puppetshow caliborn made on the go. I just. No.)

Next i suppose is jane. Her godtier title is the maid of life. So she governs life. And not just the happy shit either, no, she also most likely governs the utter shittiness on the other side of the coin. The complex, morally ambiguous, and very hostile state life can sometimes become. In the epilogue, she's running for president, a position none of us thought she would have gunned for.

But then, i thought to myself. Perhaps that's simply our natural behavior talking???

I know its kind of contradictory-- shes a goddess of life, so why am i talking about behavior when its such a mortal way to describe it? Here's my answer: because we are a collective amount of LIVES. Jane is basically representative of what we could be. Some of us gun for high positions, some of us are shoved into the spotlight, some of us just want to sit back and enjoy it. I havent seen all of the routes but i DID read through them enough to see some signs (not evidence enough, unfortunately, but im having fun) where she is these things. For my first point (high positions thing), jane is aiming to be president of earth c. Need i say more?? Second point: shoved into the spotlight. Dirk is relentless in his campaign to make jane the president. He tried to persuade dave to quit making karkat a candidate, so i got the feeling that he wanted absolutely no one in the way of jane reaching presidency. Third point is the sitting back thing. At one point we see jane and jake together and they, befitting of adults who havent really...grown up yet begin drinking. Jane, in this case, has a fuck all attitude.

Okay im done talking about jane her topic is painful i could rant about it for days

ROXY

shes the rogue of void. At the very start of the route her presence seemed very...muted, to me. It wasnt as blatant as before. She was there, much like the Void is, but...we dont notice. It was weird not having roxy liven up the situation, but it was there. I saw.

U guys have to cut me some slack for not reading the full routes but i did get summaries to read so I got the general gist, but at one point roxy came out as non-binary (or genderfluid, i cant quite remember) and used they/them pronouns ( we cant touch on the trans thing bc ad much as i am proud of rox, its a thing that presents another matter entirely and will steer me away from the point). When i was theorizing about this, my thought process went a bit like this:

Void is the abscence of all things. Non-binary is a gender that is, well, the absence of two major gender roles.

Void is flexible, it can be anything at all. ROXY , in two different routes, are radically very different in outcome, showing a certain adaptability and flexibility to a situation.

(Sorry for sounding farfetched, but i thought it was cool.)

Yall know about rose's near omnipotent like powers. She knows. She sees all, and shes having a poor mental constitution because of it. So like. Seer of Light? Yeah. Its obvious. She scrys for the rest of them.

SO ABOUT DAVE. the narrative standpoint describes ALL major events in a timeline. Guess who's pulling the strings behind the narration? Dirk.

(Yall dont know but i keep getting lost in what i type. When i wrote the last sentence my mind was going to Kick Ass and the evil rich dad. Im so fucking sleepy.)

And because Dirk is narrating what happens in the timeline, obviously someone well versed in TIME will be able to tell if something weird was going on.

Thts my theory (or headcanon, it cant hurt to dream) of how dave managed to become self aware enough to make his own decision of kissing karkat. It is bc he is the god of time, and directly messing with the narrative standpoint of things comes dangerously close the breaking the fourth wall, which i assume is held up by a barrier of TIME and SPACE. The end.

dave shouting at the narrator to get out of his head, making his first kiss with karkat arguably the only definite act of pure free will in a story where every action is being influenced by hidden speakers on *both* sides, just, absolutely, fucking, RULES