#This scene is still impossible to color btw

[awesometothe3rd]

"It is most annoying."

[tryandbehappy]

What I realized after June and Nick’s scenes:

First of all I’m so relieved they didn’t turn Nick into a villain. Not even in June’s eyes.

Yes, she was shocked. Yes, she walked away. But he had a chance to speak, and he used it.

He told her:

— he didn’t know that Wharton would kill the handmaids,

— he saved Janine or at least he knew she was important to June and promised to find out where she is

— and he tried to do the best he could in an impossible situation

She knew it wasn’t for Gilead and his loyalty to it 🙏 like everyone around her thinks btw. She knew he did it to survive.

That doesn’t make him innocent but it does make him human.

And still the man who’s always been on her side.

Then came the hardest part:

He told her the truth. Because for too long, she saw him through rose-colored glasses.

She didn’t really want to think about what he had to do to save her.

Like when he led the raid on the farm. He couldn’t cancel the mission but he took control of it

so he could spare her, protect her as much as possible. (Because any other commander would get her killed, he had to control it)

And yes, people died there and he was in charge. Or he had to kill 2 guardians (one of them is 19! Nick is so deeply broken he did this). He did it to protect her and her husband even.

She also didn’t really consider what kind of situations she was putting him in (especially lately)

From the safety of Canada, it was easy to think of Nick as this strong, stoic soldier who would always figure it out, the one who’d just handle it.

But she forgot what Gilead really is.

She forgot what it’s like to live under constant danger, where every decision could get you killed.

She forgot how impossible the choices are, how no one gets to be clean.

That’s what he throws in her face now.

“But you love me. So what does that make you?”

And that hits her hard. she forgot what Gilead taught her:

There are no perfect heroes! Everyone breaks.Everyone does things they hate.

She knew this.

She’d already been through this transformation.

But now, in Canada surrounded by activists, by ideals, by pressure she started seeing the world in black and white again. And Nick just shattered that illusion.

And the most important thing?

She doesn’t hate him. She hates that she still loves him. It’s just so wrong for her (it’s like classic endgame btw 😂)

And that means:

This is not the end for them.

Because this isn’t new information. She always knew who he was. She just buried it deep.

And now she remembers.

My guess?

Something will happen: a betrayal, a moral dilemma, a war decision and June will be forced to make the same impossible choice Nick did (or someone around her)

And then she’ll understand him fully.

Because her story isn’t any cleaner than his. And war is not about being black and white. And she knows that. She just forgot.

And now she has to reclaim that truth and decide:

Can I love someone fully not in spite of the darkness,

but with it?

[losyash]

SHIMON ARC: Hibari to Tsuna

Recently I've been liveblogging my Shimon arc reread to my friends.

On chapter 323 one of them said they always wondered if the headband being there meant something. And yes, curtains might be blue because it's a nice color. But no. No, curtains being blue is incredibly goddamn important.

HEAR ME OUT

First, to recap what is happening: Shimon arc, pre Adelheid vs Hibari battle they briefly argue about Tsuna and Enma and decide on their pride and the rules of the battle: to seize each other's handband. Adelheid creates an ice prison that is impossible to penetrate from outside and 500 ice clones to fight Hibari. He fights them all, tells Adelheid she is wrong about Enma and small animals (which i will talk about later) and uses minirolls to crush the ice fort from the inside. After this he gets her handband, they talk about Tsuna again and Hibari drops his "it is because of the sky the cloud can float freely" thing.

Before I delve into it, however, I feel like I should take a quick dive in Tsuna-Hibari relationship from Hibari's perspective.

To put it simply, at first Hibari does not give a single fuck about Tsuna personally. Even after this glorious scene happens

All Hibari thinks about that day is that he wants to meet Reborn again. During the course of Daily life arc however Hibari messes with him plenty. Ny the time 43rd chapter (sakura viewing) rolls around, Hibari's opinion on Tsuna is summarized by this:

And this is actually the key. Hibari does not understand Tsuna. To him Tsuna is some weird ass alien creature who does not fit his rigid worldview. At first Hibari tries to make him make sense again by asserting himself over Tsuna and putting him back to the role of herbivore which he does follow every time except when he doesn't?? For some reason?????

Kokuyo arc is the arc that changed the manga tone in general but it's also the arc that changed Hibari himself. He is brutally shown that he as he is does not have the power to do whatever he wants. Something has to change. And Hibari seeks that change in Tsuna, who somehow managed to defeat Mukuro when Hibari himself failed.

chapter 123, cloud battle aftermath

He stops trying to still Tsuna. Instead he wants now to understand what the fuck is up about him and what can he do. The answer is Tsuna can burn a man alive in a fit of rage btw.

BUT THE THING IS. THE THING IS EVENTUALLY HE DOES UNDERSTAND TSUNA. AND THIS LEADS US TO TAKE A LIL BREAK FOR THE PRIDE TALK

Now, the obvious thing: headband symbolizes Hibari's pride.

Here is what he says, when first asked about it:

But also Hibari vs Adelheid battle is the one that finally clears up what the hell does "pride" mean.

The thing is. What Hibari is saying (and what he tried to make Tsuna understand, because the whole battle here his two goals are to win (duh) and to help Tsuna find his conviction again) is that the actual meaning of "What is your pride?" is "What makes you yourself?". You, as a person, should be proud of who you are. And he tells Tsuna, that it is whatever he cannot give up, whatever makes the very core of Tsuna's self is what he should fight for (And then Tsuna tells Enma "You are my pride" which is very juicy but deserves its own post).

Okay, now with this out of the way, let's get to the next thing:

Hibari vs Adelheid (but not the violent edition)

Hibari and Adelheid are not only fighting, they are also talking to each other. And by talking I mean arguing. About Tsuna and Enma and little animals.

Here is important thing to note first: asking around some people who know some people who know japanese gave me information that actually "small animal" is. Not different from herbivore at all. They are apparently used intechangingly based on how much space speechbubble has.

This does affect things: when it is usually thought that Tsuna in Hibari's eyes carves a new category for himself, not worth calling by name nor insulting nickname, nor he can be classified as a simple herbivore, he is just his own thing. Instead it seems like Tsuna changed Hibari's opinion on entire population of herbivores-small animals. (and if those people just got me confused ill die of shame (;-;)b)

ANYWAY, THEIR DEBATE

yes i had to put it all here. it's good. read it.

Do you see it guys? Do you see how far he came from daily life? He now really does understand Tsuna. He cracked the code. And he does now acknowledge that yeah Tsuna (and by extention other ppl like him. Like Enma) has his own way to live life and it does work for him. Tsuna is not weak. Being a herbivore does not automatically mean being weak.

Another interesting thing here is this:

"Why is a man like you with the likes of Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"I'm not with him"

And I think it's important to remember here that Adelheid does see Tsuna=Vongola boss thing. To Tsuna it's Him and His Friends against Enma and His Friends. To her? It's Vongola vs Shimon

And when she talks to Hibari about Tsuna, she is saying "Why are you with Sawada Tsunayoshi?" but what she means is "Why are you with Vongola?" and this difference does impact Hibari's answer. Case in point:

I DON'T LIKE THE WAY YOU SAID THAT... WELL... TRUE ENOUGH.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CLOUD GUARDIAN OF THE VONGOLA'S SKY? ACCORDING TO WIKI, THIS:

A drifting Cloud, whom cannot be bound. Protecting the famiglia from an independent standpoint.

AND SO

I am sorry, I am very normal about this, promise.

And so Hibari basically admits that he will not be bound to Tsuna, but he will be around, involving himself when he feels like it. They're friends your honor.

BUT THERE IS MORE.

The attribute of the cloud flames is propagation. Why is it relevant?

this is the hype up text at the end of chapter 322.

and this is the last page of chapter 323.

Remember i briefly mentioned Hibari stagnating in daily life arc and realizing that there must be something more during Kokuyo arc? He found it. Tsuna is the one who gave him this opportunity. Just being around Tsuna allowed Hibari to grow. To propaga- Okay, that does sound silly. But I think the point still stands. Tsuna gave Hibari space to grow, and frankly, Hibari is grateful for that.

now we are entering the deranged territory

Hibari watched Tsuna grow all during the course of the manga and at some point Tsuna DID outgrow him. Not psychologically, but powerwise? Def. And Hibari cannot be not aware of that.

You might ask, how is he okay with that, but the thing is, Hibari is actually very chill with not being the strongest person in the room. What he actually needs is people to respect him and his authority as Disciplinary Committee chairman and Namimori protector. Reborn respects it and is stronger than him. Does Hibari want to fight him? Yes. But he is not actually going out of his way to attack him.

Tsuna has a great deal of respect for Hibari, and in turn Hibari does not feel the same hostility to him he does towards Mukuro despite Tsuna being totally able to win against him in a fight. Once again, rip Byakuran.

BUT. HIBARI IS NOT GOING TO STOP GROWING ANYMORE. HE LEARNED HIS LESSON, HE IS NOW ENDLESSLY EVOLVING OR SOME SHIT.

AND

WHAT I AM SAYING IS

HE IS NOT ONLY NOT GOING TO STOP HELPING TSUNA TO BE BETTER BUT HE ALSO IS GOING TO USE TSUNA AS BENCHMARK

NOT AS SOMEONE TO BE LIKE. BUT SOMEONE TO BE BETTER THAN

THE PRIDE AS SYMBOL OF SELF AND AND THE BAND AS SYMBOL OF PRIDE

AND DISCIPLINE BEING THE KEY TO BETTERMENT OF SELF

HE DECLARES TSUNA BOTH HIS FRIEND AND HIS RIVAL THATS WHAT THE BLUE CURTAINS MEAN I REST MY CASE

[nature-girly]

My thoughts on Section 31

Just an FYI this is completely negative and filled with spoilers so don’t read if that bothers you. This is 100% my opinion. It also got really long.

I watched it assuming that I wouldn’t like it but I felt compelled to out of curiosity. Somehow it’s even worse than I expected. It gave me a headache. I’m not going to explain the plot because I simply cannot. It makes no damn sense. I’m instead writing about certain aspects of the movie that bothered me or stuck out. 

It doesn’t feel like Star Trek at all and is incredibly generic. It honestly reminds me of Guardians of the Galaxy: a ragtag team of alien criminals has to team up to save the galaxy. There’s a lot of violence and fight scenes, swearing, and attempts at humor. 

The depiction of Section 31: I haven’t watched DS9. My only prior exposure to Section 31 is from ENT which I watched four-ish years ago, so I won’t comment on this too much. I hate how they’re glamorizing it, making it seem like a necessary evil. Star Trek has always been about contemporary social or political issues and this honestly feels pro-military/government propaganda.

The movie starts when Georgiou was a teenager living in the Terran Empire. Three minutes in, she tells her family about how she had to fight against other children in the Empire’s version of the Hunger Games. Very original. She won by killing everyone which is how she became emperor.  

They somehow made the Mirror Universe boring. There are plenty of interesting Mirror Universe fics out there that I recommend reading instead.

The dialogue is awkward and oddly immature considering what the movie is about. I did not expect the emperor of the Terran Empire to describe sex as “sexy time”. Also “Chameloids are the only species in the galaxy immune to Delta sexy time charm.” Some other examples: “there’s the guy with all the high-end mech, standing in the back looking like he has thoughts.” Georgiou also told someone that they look like a Swiss Army knife. Huh? “don’t get you prime directives in a bunch.” “Butt pretzel” “Tight-ass” “What the shit, man?! You said that she was gonna be doing the face punching!” “If I wanted someone to like me, I’d get a dog.” “Your corporate culture was straight-up shit.” “So that’s why you were hiding in a bar at the ass end of nowhere.” “Once again, small shite for the win, mama.” “Chaos is my friend with benefits.” I’ll stop now. 

THIS is Rachel Garrett?!? Why did they do that to her? On TNG she was a morally upstanding Starfleet officer. It bothers me so much that she’s part of section 31 in this. She was forced to join Section 31’s mission. She criticizes their methods, but it come off as annoying and self-righteous rather than making her seem like a good person. The good Star Trek characters in the 80s/90s would’ve rather quit Starfleet than sacrifice their morals like that. They could’ve easily come up with an original character instead.

The costumes and set design: Everything is dark. My dad said it’s probably to cover up the absurd amount of CGI which would make sense. The costumes and sets are mostly black with accents of silver, gold, a little white, dark blue, and dark red. Star Trek used to be so damn colorful. I miss those days. 

The (super advanced) technology and fashion are especially ridiculous, considering this takes place around the same time as TOS. Their tricorders have touchscreens BTW. 

The characters whisper or talk quietly the entire movie and it was impossible to watch without subtitles. 

There were a few very 2010-sounding pop songs in the soundtrack.

None of the actors are remotely good. Michelle Yeoh is a good actor (I’ve seen her in other things) but, because of the weak dialogue, she’s not convincing.  

The villain has a facial disfigurement. Why is Hollywood still doing this in 2025? 

The characters are jaded, snarky, unsympathetic and not particularly interesting. The writers failed to make me care about any of them.

I miss when Star Trek criticized the American healthcare system, capitalism and class differences, talked about reproductive rights, and other ethical issues. If this is the future of Star Trek, then I'm scared.

To summarize:

[cassecorrea]

I’ve seen a lot of people do these and I wanted to get in on the action even though it’s super late

Thoughts on The Little Mermaid (2023)

Likes:

- I will forever preach about how my favorite scene is the one after KTG when they sneak back in!!! Soaking wet!! Giggling!! Quiet!! Late at night!!! I love it!!

- after reading about this I’m actually VERY glad they went with short dresses for Ariel — good costume design choice!! A big ballgown would hide the very fact that she’s human now!

- the Caribbean 👏🏼 calypso music 👏🏼 need I say more?

- how Eric finds out her name ☺️ written in the stars ☺️

- the opening quote! The fact that she doesn’t shed a tear until the end!

- the fact that the ending focuses on their new adventures together in the future

- part of your world reprise 2!! It should’ve been longer!!

- the jade mermaid figurine 🥹 (btw I want one please someone make a replica… that I can afford LOL)

- back to costumes, I love her blue dress!! (Tho Lashana(?) had her animated dress’ color palette so like… it was right there XD) but I also loved her pink dress!! And the ponytail!! She needed more hairstyles 😭

- I LOVE the fact that the mermaids are covered in scale patterns, that they don’t have skin at all but shimmering scales all over

- the fact that king Triton just SPAWNS???? From fish???? With the fish cape???? Now what was that about — also, how old are all the sisters if he’s been ruling for centuries??? Questions questions

- I love how Ariel and Eric meet on the beach in the OG but as a variant I did also like that a fisherman finds her (also I love how we see her struggling to swim to shore) this movie also made me realize how impossible that hair flip scene is since she’s standing on nothing and her hair would be behind her but it’s pretty so who cares

- Awkwafina my girl was the perfect scuttle

- scuttlebutt was so unnecessary but it’s low-key a bop so I’m not complaining (though Ariel and Eric SHOULDVE HAD A DUET ok bye) wait why isn’t there a single pop version of a song from the soundtrack like with every other film? Demi lovato singing let it go, Christina Aguilera reflection, zayn a whole new world, John legend and Ariana beauty and the beast, like BRO we needed one for under the sea!! Or part of your world!! Or kiss the girl! Ugh missed opportunity

- her hair on land TwT is so pretty TwT the shades of gold and red and orange ahhhh (maybe could’ve done with a few more red strands but it was still gorgeous) plus the shells in her hair!! She needed more!!

- I’m all over the place but the library scene !!! Ariel’s curiosity!! Ariel always disappearing LMAO someone needs to nail that girls fins to the floor is right

- love that they took out the writing plothole

- Jodi!! With the fork!!

- Grimsby being the ultimate shipper

- yo Vanessa’s actress?? For having so little screen time she BODIED that role

- Halle’s voice duh

- for the first time was such a needed song, love the cinematography especially in her room (her eating the soap!!! Lmao)

- go back home to daddy, and nEVER. LEAVE. AGAIN.

- Ursula looking all zombie and kaiju-esque?? Definitely to hide weird cgi but it looked so creepy and cool

- Eric struggling back to shore at the end and immediately calling to search for Ariel as he stumbles from exhaustion

- Ariel diving for the trident instead of Eric!!

- scuttle and Sebastian were a hilarious duo lmao

- Ariel’s mermaid design (but the early screen test footage version looked so pretty too… more thoughts in the dislike section about this)

- Ariel saving Max!!

- the whole market sequence tbh

- Ariel’s bones cracking when she transformed back into a mermaid!! But I’m so mad we never once got to see a full transformation scene lmao more about that later

- Ariel just putting everything in her mouth 🌷

- the grander orchestral soundtracks in each song

- Ariel’s grotto is bigger

- ariel killing Ursula (it’s her villain!!!) and having to drag herself across the deck (eric saved her with the harpoons so stop complaining)

- Ariel finding the telescope

- the shot of ariel swimming to the surface with her reflection on top with the fireworks!!!

- Ariel forgetting about the kiss

- Ariel singing along to under the sea!!! To show that she doesn’t absolutely hate her home!!! She just wants more!!! And the way she sings music is to me specifically !!! And the fact that she sings more period! I always thought she should’ve sang a lot more than twice in the original version for being known for her voice

- Ariel saving/healing Eric quicker with her siren song???

- the fact that one of my fave Disney ships is now getting all the love they always deserved ☺️

Dislikes:

- her sisters do more than the og but they still need to be shown more… and have lines lol. I read the companion novels for this version and they’re so prominent and have cool abilities and cultures and kingdoms but !! They don’t show any of that in the movie !! Like why add lore if you’re not going to show it… also I like the fact that in the companion novels they rule over fictional seas and their world map is different from ours, but then in the film they just mention real world locations like… pick one

- okay I gotta talk about it 😔 Ariel’s ocean transformation dress. Not to mention that whole scene. It’s one of my favorites in the original and they just… scrapped it. I was looking forward to them actually showing Ariel’s transformation back into a human at the end because I thought the original should’ve included it too (hello I love a good Barbie transformation scene) but they still didn’t show it… AND they didn’t even show the gold magic going to her tail OR her reaction!!! Like BRO WHAT???? And the fact that they took out her magical dress???? And just put her back in RAGS like they put my poor girl in a torn up smelly dress and for what 😭 not to mention the fact that they imply she had to swim naked, find the rags dress, and climb up all those stairs AHEM YEAH THEY ALSO TOOK OUT THE RISING FROM THE WATER SCENE LIKE BRO also if they didn’t want to include the ocean dress (mistake but ok, they could’ve had her scales transform into a dress but ok) they could’ve at least fixed up her blue dress… added some shimmer or shells and coral idk man

- yeah she needed at least one more day outfit… my girl wore the same dress for three days in a row… and one of those days it fell in a lake…

- the fact that every transformation scene was either dark and hidden or not shown at all (come on budget??)

- the screen test version where Ariel had more upper body and arm scales… was better. She just looked so empty compared to her sisters it was a weird choice they made to make her top look more like an actual bandeau bra with a harsh cut off and everything

- yes Ariel and Eric needed a duet

- where was the ensemble?? The choir??? Both in under the sea and kiss the girl??? Under the sea should’ve had a lot more people singing as the song went on especially since he’s talking about instruments and animals (that don’t even get shown???) but instead it sounds so empty since he’s singing by himself until Halle joins and a tiny quiet ensemble — and in kiss the girl it was such a BAD choice to have it just be scuttle Sebastian and flounder I’m sorry but it ruined the sultry smooth jazz calypso vibe of that beautiful song 😭 flounder’s vocals threw me so far out of it lmao they could’ve started the song singing it but the ensemble should’ve come in!!! Where were the harmonies!!! Anyway the broadway version is my fave listen to that instead

- the lyric changes were so unnecessary… Ursula’s a villain, duh she’s gonna spout some shady misogynistic advice… plus that was my fave part of the song 😭 also the whole “use your words boy” line was unnecessary… because when he leans into kiss her multiple times he doesn’t even ask………… like they missed the point there (also why was he already so willing to kiss her, he should’ve been super reluctant 😭)

- they took out les poissons which, fine, I guess but we’re not even gonna have a kitchen scene in any way?? Also Ariel got over the whole food for slaughter thing real quick but I’m glad they brought it up at all

- they could’ve had Sebastian rap at the ending bridge of under the sea (as an alternative to scuttlebutt)

- where was the finale song !!! With all the merpeople and humans singing together!!! At least have Ariel sing the deleted clip of it !!! Now we can walk now we can run… ugh we needed it

- loved the ending… but that final shot was a bit wonky?

- where was the cruise ship????? If we’re not gonna see the wedding on the ship (missing triton’s water spout and rainbow) fine but not even the engagement cruise?? Hello budget??? We didn’t even get to see Ariel swimming her butt off to get to Vanessa?? But we got her tackling her instead 😭😭 odd choice

- I’m sorry but the visuals were not giving on wild uncharted waters, at least in the first half… like show something!! Show him on the beach at least!! At Ariel’s rock??? Show flashbacks?? Idk something??

- the fact that Sebastian is no longer the court composer 😔 and he’s not dignified anymore he’s just an abused wannabe advisor who is harassed like whaaaaat he’s supposed to be one of her father figuresssss,,, also the fact that he’s so miffed and takes things into his own hands during KTG is because he’s a composer, it’s why he mentions bands and instruments in under the sea!!

- I was afraid of this when the casting announcement was first made but I was looking for some more expressive… expressions from Halle :( mainly in the poor unfortunate souls scene and when she has no voice, like she does a great job but I do think she needed to be more expressive in some parts

- why does Ariel call him father?? And not daddy?? Small nitpick but it seemed a lot colder/distant when she called him father lol like it threw me out of it in the goodbye scene

- the whole concert scene was gone lmao not to mention that we barely even see other merpeople or their culture, we literally just see the sisters in an otherwise empty sea until the ending

- no lyrics to Vanessa’s song :( but it was sung beautifully. Oh also it made no sense that Vanessa’s melody started singing before she even put the necklace on?? Like wha?? Why would Ariel’s melody change on its own? Also why did Vanessa not talk in Ariel’s voice? That girl had three voices come out of her XD I guess they wanted the actress to be able to talk??

- also I wish Vanessa were black too since she was supposed to look so similar to Ariel and be mistaken for her (Halle could’ve played her, or even Chloe!) but the actress did a great job so it’s fine

- I’m sorry but Eric should’ve been Hispanic imo… :( they made sure it takes place in the Caribbean but still had a white Eric? Who was adopted? Idk man I wanted a Latino prince :/ also wasn’t a fan of the way they styled his hair or stubble because he looks much better in other things he’s been in

- Eric had only one outfit, even for his wedding XD, and what was up with that weird blue vest

- the shot of Ariel in the sun was too blurry and dark :( didn’t give off the same vibes as the og

- the sky in the part of your world reprise is so pale, they could’ve upped the saturation behind her :( the shot didn’t give the same oomph

- Ariel creeping up the rock… why

- the weird shot in part of your world where her hand is through the hole but it cuts to her being on the rock at the bottom? Made no sense lol also they could’ve upped the saturation of her hair underwater the way it looks in the sunlight since it’s all cgi

- they couldn’t even give my girl an actual high quality mermaid tail to base the cgi off of?? H2O had a much smaller budget but had actual detailed tails 😭

- for the first time was great but melody wise it didn’t seem to fit the rest of the soundtrack? It was much more broadway-ie

- why didn’t the eels talk? Why did Ursula not even talk to them? Ariel killing them literally is what gets her mad and go kraken on her but… they barely had a relationship in this one

- ^ like why did Ursula say the word pathetic out loud? To no one? How was that not an immediate turn off for Ariel? Plus the skulls??

- where was Eric’s flute? Playing Ariel’s melody? And Vanessa walking across the beach all majestic like?

- I’m sorry but the queen was so unnecessary… I get what they were going for with the Triton parallels but they could’ve done that with Grimsby in the beginning or his court or whatever, why give a mom who’s barely in the film then immediately changes her mind in the very end without us seeing it?

- Carlotta 😭 poor girl was written out!!! Lashana was obviously supposed to be her so why change her name?

- I do kinda wish they made the three days longer (give her a week?) but I get why they didn’t, that’s just a personal thing

- some of the underwater scenes were shot at an angle that were unflattering to Halle which pissed me off because she looks stunning in every other part of the movie

- why did Eric’s castle look like a gray European fortress 😭 where were the red tiled roofs and the canals

- Atlantica went from a glowing golden magical city-palace to an underground rocky coral cave… couldn’t we have done a mix?

- flounder was so unnecessary he was barely in the movie in favor for the scuttle/Sebastian dynamic

- max was barely in the movie :(

All in all I HOPE they make a sequel (but please don’t base it off of the terrible animated one lmao please no kids) and give Ariel and Eric a duet, give Eric a tail!!! Make him explore her world too!!! And actually address the fact that Ursula killed the queen like the companion novels state… also please include a full transformation scene lol also why does no one make a version where she can switch between worlds freely, it’s okay I’ll write that into my own version

[nemetonisevilpassiton]

Hello! From what I gathered you are DarkAthena's meta account (i hope I'm not mistaken) and I just discovered your meta and I must say I really like it! At multiple occasions you mention symbolism and colour theory in teen wolf. I wondered if you would be willing to do a more complete summary of your understanding of it. I have a few idea of my own but I especially liked when you talked about mirror and Scott Mccall's messed up reflection of the self and I 100% agree with Stiles and transitional spaces (keys, door, etc).

Well all that to say I'd be really interested in your interpretation of Teenwolf's symbolism:)

this is a bit of a - symbolism is a huge chasm of a topic, and there are symbols we understand and ones that are clearly there but make no sense - like Chris Argent keeps showing up in scenes with frogs, ceramic frogs, frogs in a shadow box [in his office] and it's like, okay your association is frogs - but what does it mean, is it the way he flip flops on his opinions, is it a reference to the frog and the scorpion and how he is always going to be the victim ....

the thing with symbolism is you have three issues

people agree what the symbolism is and disagree what it means

people disagree what the symbolism is but agree with the final conclusion

people disagree there IS symbolism

now the color theory/symbolism primer is the result of LOTS of work that happened in the background, with people going look! and then it falling apart and worked over and ground into the dirt and still it's not definitive because it's an impossibility. Even if Davis et al sat down and laid it all out - people would still disagree with it

the primer

now most cinematic [and to an extent literary] symbolism is based on Freud, specifically Freud's dream dictionary [yes, really] and the problem is that most western writers know that symbolism, so they continue what they see etc - this is true of colour theory and was the WORST because teen wolf's colour references are reversed because the symbolic associations of godai [the five elements, each representing a season] are reversed

so if we take the basic Earth - it represents repression, claustrophia [I read the other ask, give me a moment] the keeping of secrets, the concept of compression. Like in ATLA the city that denies the war is Ba Sing Se - a city of earth benders with a huge earth wall. See how it works and that's normal. You bury things you don't want people to find so earth = hiding things, lying to keep a secret.

now in teen wolf Earth represents the opposite, the release, the revelation of secrets, rebirth, Derek's evolution is in the earth series [4] and look how much of that series takes place underground, in the vault, in la iglesia, the underpass at the school

mirrors = mirrors mean differnet things to different characters, traditionally a mirror is used to reassure that the self is correct or to tell an undeniable truth [Snow White, Nehelenia's mirrors] which applies to Stiles

they can mean a transition between places, or how those places are seen [Alice through the looking glass, or Candyman] that applies to Lydia

or they can show just how fractured a character is - the broken mirrors [a lot of slasher movies] = Scott

but add on to that the phantasmagoria sequences which were called mirror verse because often details were reversed = it's a very complicated theory that involves a lot of pointing that and that charlie day jpeg with strings and stress

Scott's symbol is shadow - which was a nightmare to work out btw, look how often he is show in shadow, he saw his beast self in a shadow etc - and when I pointed that out the wankstorm could have been seen from space = but all it means is that he has a dual nature - rather than derek who is one as a wolf and a man = werewolf, scott never reconciles

when you point them out they are super easy to go - oh yeah that makes sense, but other people might go - melissa has all those owls because she likes them,

all the way through 6a the meta pack were screaming about the yellow wallpaper and no one knew why until lydia pulled away the yellow wallpaper to reveal the door and we're like WE TOLD YOU because when you dig in and look critically you start to see patterns and those patterns go back to something famous, like how in canaan it was like event horizon- we knew EH was there, but couldn't prove it

and that's the ultimate truth

its not about what you think - but what you can prove

now if you wanna headcanon stiles as penelope from the odyssey [the fic i'm working on] you don't need proof, but if you wanna mess around with the guts of it [a good critical look is often like a dissection]

symbolism can be a nightmare, it can also be an easy step into deeper literary theory - which is what it is - we call it meta because we don't have to put it in the proper format and link a bibliography with books we pretended to read

symbolism is like - oh this appears a lot - does it mean anything

but sometimes the symbolism makes a clear point that just isn't there

derek is association with stairs - traditiionally stairs represent sex [think of old movies where characters would go upstairs, fade to black and it's obvious they had sex] up means accepting, down means rejecting, and derek doesn't even walk down stairs until season 3, he jumps - which prepresents an unwanted sexual attack

see that's solid

but Derek buried peter in the basement - gothic symbolism representing sex, specifically repressed desire [think fall of the house of usher] at the bottom of the stairs - which in symbolsim add them up and you get = Peter violently sexually abused Derek and Derek is hiding it

but there is no evidence of it whatsoever - so somewhere the symbolism as it is historically doesn't match, and it might just be that by burying peter he releases him [see the jennifer and nurse jennifer theory] from his madness and the set was too small for it to be anywhere but the bottom of the stairs

and yet people can argue that it's solid even though it's not explicitly supported, because Peter certainly encouraged the relationship with paige which ended so very badly....

symbolsim - it's a fancy word for your guess is as good as mine but at least now we've gotten past the point where the very mention of colour theory gives me eye twitches

[byunbaekhyunie]

Hey! May I ask, as a non-gif maker, what exactly is the problem with the coloring? What is good/bad lighting? How do you correct it?

I see a lot of creators mention coloring, so I’d like to learn more❣️

of course ! this can get quite convoluted so i’ll try to keep things as simple as i can but, it did get quite lenghty so i put it under the squiggle

coloring, which is just shorthand for color correcting/grading, is the process of altering the colors of whatever source material you’re working with in post ; I’d say it accounts for maybe.. 50 to 75% of the final visual impact of the gif so it’s quite an important step but it’s an art more than a science so every cc color corrects in their own way and because of that, there are no definitive answers to your questions because there is no right or wrong way to grade or even light a scene (unless you’re perpetrating racial discrimination lol), it just depends on what end result you’re trying to achieve ! but i will offer my personal perspective and hope it's helpful to you ^^

so what is good and bad lighting... yk i wish i could say smth simple like "i like natural lighting better than studio lights" but thing is, sometimes you have the potential for great lighting but because the camera settings weren't properly adjusted, you get mad overexposure or super high contrast or whatever it is, the two are codependent so really my answer would be that i like when the footage i'm using was shot in log with little to no alteration because no matter what the lighting was, i should have enough data to get me where i want to be. but that's hardly ever the case, and that's what makes color grading often a lot harder for gif makers, is that we have to work on top of however many layers of destructive alterations the footage went thru before getting to us

that being said, i hate a color cast they’re a pain to correct properly. which brings us to our current case in point, the cursed 230714 mubank stage. this is a raw screengrab from the file after encoding

as you can see it's VERY pink, the color balance is all wrong, if you look at the robe you can tell the blacks are way too red and the highlights in his face are unnaturally pinkish, and yes that stems from the fact that they were using red and white overhead lights for this stage but also, i think i can safely say it probably got exasperated in post, on top of the skin smoothing filters they use but that's a whole other can of worms x_x it's also a lot of contrast to start with and it's slightly overexposed

btw i should say that i like well lit neutral tones, i don't like when things are too warm, too cool, too saturated, too contrasty or too dark, ideally i want my gifs to look as if you were watching the thing irl with your own two eyes, that's what i'm aiming for when coloring. again, to someone who doesn't mind smth a bit more stylized, this probably wouldn't be a big deal but to me, that's bad lighting and bad postprod

so how do you go abt fixing it? well, beats me ! i've tried a few different things and it's nearly impossible to readjust the balance to restore the flesh tones to smth more natural.. here's the first coloring i did, in split so you can compare better

i don't like it because it's too bright still, colors are way too saturated, there's too much cyan to counteract the pinks and his skin looks too yellow to my liking

and there's coloring two

i like the overall balance a lot more in this one but the highlights are still way too yellow but i can't neutralize them without having the whole thing turn blue i was working on a third attempt but ps crashed and i don't feel like troubleshooting anymore ><

i hope that was instructive in any way ! sometimes i feel like i'm a bit scattered and idk if i'm making much sense but don't hesitate if you need me to clarify anything !

[soupbabe]

So after watching the new Pixar’s film Luca I have a request for bucci gang!. How would they react if y/n was a sea monster. Like on land y/n has a human form unless they accidentally come into contact with water

Bucci Gang w a Sea Monster! Reader

Aaaa I've been wanting to watch Luca!! It looks so cute <3 <3 Btw when thinking about the sea monster when writing this, I definitely thought about the monster designs from the movie !

Bruno Bucciarati

I would like to think that he met you while you were in your sea monster form

He marveled at the bright colors of your scales and fins

He has a habit of staring at them for too long (he just thinks they're hypnotic in a way), just hit him with a "See something you like" and boom

Flustered Bruno

You gave him no warning when you showed him your human form for the first time

He panicked when you jumped onto the land without a care

He was in the middle of scolding you when your bright scales turned into [Skin Tone] skin and your tail disappeared

Although he does think that your human form is just as nice as your monster form, he had to hit you on the side of your head so you wouldn't give him a heart attack like that again

Leone Abbacchio

He just thought you were weird at first tbh

Just giving you weird stares when you over prepared for the rain or refuse to go out at all

He was actually kind of curious, but it's not something that would bother him

It was revealed to him when you two were on a mission together

The forecast was wrong that day, leaving you exposed in the rain

Out of all things, he didn't expect you to have some monstrous form

He just kind of let out a small "Oh" then ordered you to continue on with the mission

Very underwhelming -_-

If it makes you feel any better, he did compliment you on your new form after the mission, saying that you look nice

Giorno Giovanna

Like Abbacchio, he had his suspicions about your odd behavior when it came to water

But he's more upfront about it, giving his own investigation on it

Even though there's not much to investigate, you trusted Giorno and admitted to it when he started asking questions

When you two had enough free time, you both sneaked off to a secluded area of water

When he saw your transformation, he was stunned

He kept looking at the bright multicolored scales, subconsciously tracing his fingers on your webbed hands

It was only until he heard your laughs and a light hearted "That feels weird" he snapped out of his trance, his face heating up

Pannacotta Fugo

If you were to ask Fugo if sea monsters were real, he would flat out call you an idiot

But that changed when you two were assigned to a mission

It was supposed to be a simple interrogation by a dock, but the man quickly turned violent

It was revealed that he had a water based stand and he managed to grab Fugo, forcing him in the water

Fugo was drowning, unable to summon Purple Haze knowing his condition + knowing you were nearby

His vision started getting blurry, when he felt the stand around him disappear and he saw a brightly colored creature come his way

You quickly brought him onto shore and did any necessary check ups on him, though you were still submerged in the water

When he came back to his senses and saw a creature that somewhat look like you, smiling at him I think he freaked out for about a minute

He's a man of logic, not bothering with the entertainment of literal monsters roaming Italy. I think it's reasonable to say that he would be freaked out

Once he calmed down, I think he would love to know everything about what you are and how it is being part monster

Narancia Ghirga

This man just accidentally spilt his water on you and your monster form activated

He freaked out, not expecting you to go fish mode

Once you reassured him, telling him that you were okay, he only had one thing on his mind

"Can I touch you? I just wanna know if the scales are slimy or something!" "Narancia, I'm not a frog!"

He was staring at you wide eyed and with a big smile, making it impossible for you to deny him

He kept feeling your arms, the webbing around your hands, and your tail

He saw you as the coolest person to ever exist

"Now how do I become one! :D"

Guido Mista

Mista was staying at your place for a while, his apartment's water shut off and he needs some time until he can pay for it

Just so happens that the only day he decided to take a shower, you were also in the bathroom

You were using your bathtub relaxing, finding it to be easier in your aquatic form

Your peaceful time was ruined by a (rather girlish) scream and the sound of Mista's gun being drawn out

"Okay! What the hell is that thing and where's Y/N!?!"

You were still in a state of shock (also registering that Mista takes his gun to the bathroom) until one of Mista's pistols spoke up for you, mentioning that the 'creature' looked a lot like you

You have to remind yourself to give number 1 a treat later for defending you

You had to carefully explain to Mista that you were yourself, just in a different form

Oh that changed Mista's mood in an instant, already forgetting about the scene he caused (and that he was there to finally take a shower) to geek over your new look

He had so much fun messing with your tail and squishing your cheeks with his hands so you'll have "fish lips" as he called it

[nyx-aira]

Hi! I was thinking of a young Agatha Harkness x reader fic//one shot where after her fight with the coven, Agatha finds a cottage in the woods to wait out the aftermath, but it turns out reader lives there? I love your work btw!

End my suffering

Requested by @booklovinbi and @midnight-lestrange

Request #2: Hey, can you please do where y/n has kinda the same powers as Wanda, but her color is blue, and she has a fight with Agatha (for who she has feelings, because they were getting close/same for Agatha) During the fight y/n loses and maybe gets seriously injured and waits Agatha to kill her, but instead Agatha kneels and carry her back home, where she takes care of y/n. In the end Agatha kisses y/n and then Agatha is ready to leave but y/n takes her hand and pulls closer for the kiss. Could you write it?

Summary: Agatha is accused of breaking the rules of the coven. As things spiral out of control she injures you badly. What is she going to do now?

A/N: I mixed your requests, I hope that was alright. I didn't follow them exactly but I still hope you like them. Also thank you so much for 200 followers guys, you're amazing.

TW!: Angst, mention of violence, brief mention of blood, brief description of injuries (let me know if I need to add anything)

Tag list: @escapetodreamworld @midnight-lestrange @king-star @ynscrazylife @booklovinbi @mysticfalls01 @adorkwithaplan

The coven had been your home as long as you could remember, growing up there and learning magic as the town folk had cast you out after they killed your mother, falsely accused of witchcraft, it was quite ironic if you thought about it, sending the one away that was actually a witch. You owed the coven your life and you were endlessly grateful for that, loyal until death.

That's why you didn't question it when you were told to meet up by the waterfalls at midnight. Waiting with your sisters you heard her before you could even see her, pleading with the witches dragging her through the forest, fear clearly visible on her face, Agatha. She was brought onto the platform and bound to the stake, magic bonds restricting her movements. Struggling she looked around, scared, terrified. You hid your face under your hood, averting your gaze, you didn't like this but you had faith in the head witch, believing there must be a good reason for this.

And so the trial began.

"Agatha Harkness, are you a witch"

"Yes I am a witch."

She still struggled against her bonds, fear visible on her face but there was something in her voice, something that made your skin crawl and hands shake.

"Yet you have betrayed your coven."

You gasped at that, growing angry, how dare she betrayed your sisterhood. Revealing yourselves you caught her gaze, shock and hurt crossing her features as she recognised you but you only sent her an icy glare.

"I have not."

"You stole knowledge above your age and station, you practiced the darkest of magic."

"I know..I know nothing of these crimes."

She was becoming desperate, you could hear it in her voice, pleading with the head witch for her to believe her.

"I..I swear it."

"Enough deception!"

At these words Agathas demeanour changed, she stopped struggling against her bonds, straightening up to her full height, all the fear gone from her face, replaced with something you could only identify as pride.

"I did not break your rules. They simply bent to my power."

At this she smirked, watching with delight as the faces of your sisters fell in shock, bathing in the feeling of recognition and fear. You stared at her, unbelieving of what she just said. You knew Agatha, you knew her very well, she was power-hungry and malicious but you could have never fathomed that she'd ever do something like this. Seeing your shocked expression she straightened up a little bit more, the mischievous glint in her eyes glowing brighter.

With a nod of the head witch your sisters began chanting, slowly at first, growing louder every second.

Agathas confident smirk vanished at that, getting replaced by tremendous fear as she realised what was about to happen.

"Wait.."

Her pleas were ignored as they continued the chant. Feeling the familiar rush of magic surge through your body you focused on the task at hand, ignoring the little voice in your head that told you to stop, not wanting Agatha to get hurt.

"No. I can’t control it! I..."

The chanting grew louder, drowning out the desperate cries of the chained witch.

"If only you would teach me! Help me! Please!"

Agatha tried to catch your eyes, you could feel her staring at you, her desperate cries making your heart clench in doubt, a single tear running down your face. Your feelings threatening to break your concentration you pushed them away, ignoring the pain it brought you.

"Mother, please."

You looked up at these words. Mother. You didn't know that. Hadn't been aware that Agatha was the daughter of the head witch. Dread started to settle in the pit of your stomach, you knew how this was gonna end and you found it hard enough already to even think about it. But Agatha was her daughter....

"Please! Mother!"

Ignoring the desperate cries of her daughter the head witch join in the chant. Horror manifested on Agathas face, screaming for help, pleading, but nobody listened to her. It dawned to her that this was the end, she was gonna die.

"No!"

A guttural scream tore itself from her body as she was blasted with the spell. Screaming her lungs out, her cries so loud they must be heard from miles away, her body shaking under the force of the energy, knees buckling, only the chains holding her in place.

Tears streaming down your face as you continued to focus your energy on the screaming witch, the sounds of her agony making you sick, you never wanted this. But your loyalty was to the coven, no matter how hard it made your heart ache and break in two.

You realised something was wrong when you saw the frightened look on her mother's face.

Agatha grunted, her pained screams turning into something else, the blue energy turning purple, capturing you and your sisters, holding you in place. Agatha looked around, seemingly surprised at the new development, her face changing from agony into something more sinister, something more Agatha.

You felt her magic hit you as you screamed out in pain, falling to the ground, ending the chant in an instant. You robbed away on your knees, coughing and panting, your whole body felt like it was burning and you had trouble breathing, everything becoming a blurry mess.

You couldn't see what was happening but judging by the pained screams of your sisters and the dark magic in the air it wasn't good. You groaned, getting up to your knees, a scream getting stuck in your throat when you looked into the dead face of one of your sisters, her lifeless corpse laying in front of you. Scared you looked around to see all of them dead, turned into corpses, no more than rotten flesh and bones.

Your head whipped around when you heard another scream. Looking at the scene that played in front of you, you saw mother and daughter facing each other.

Agatha was getting burned by her own mother. The head witch flying high in the air, focusing all of her energy on Agatha, trying to kill her. But it wasn't working, the blue energy turned purple, the head witch grunting as she started to crumble, turning older until her corpse hit the floor, the lifeless body dropping down not far from you.

You watched as Agatha looked at her hands, seemingly surprised by the sheer power of her magic. Shrugging it of she grasped the end of her dress as she ascended the stairs of the podium, looking like the dark goddess she was.

You held your breath as she crouched down in front of her mother, taking the brooch from her neck and pocketing it. She got up to leave when she caught a glimpse of you, still moving, alive. Her face darkening she marched towards you, hands igniting with purple magic, eyes pitch black and full of hatred, she was angry.

Your eyes widened in horror as she stalked towards you, frantically trying to get up. Your head was pounding, everything was spinning and you just felt sick. You're whole body burning like it was on fire but at the same time shivers rocked your limbs, making it impossible to move, not taking your trobbing leg and hurting ribs into consideration. It was quite possible that you had broken a couple of bones when you were slammed against the tree. Your head was starting to ring as you tried to stay conscious, the pain intensifying, you felt like you were burning on the inside, your body aflame.

In an weak attempt to protect yourself you tried to bring up an energy field, a spike of agony shooting through you as you tried. It felt like you were being ripped apart, your magic attacking you, hurting you. A feral scream tore itself from your throat, tears blurring your vision even more, feeling something drip down your nose you realised it was blood. The torturous sensation continued to move through your body, stealing your breath, making you feel like your organs were torn apart.

Black spots started to appear on your vision and you dug your nails into your thighs, trying to stay awake, trying to distract yourself from the hell you were going through. It wasn't working, the pain becoming too much you let out another strangled gasp, forcing some air into your lungs, everything was on fire, your body burning from within.

You didn't realised you were crying, tears mixing with the blood on your face, you couldn't take it anymore.

You heard footsteps move in your direction. In your pained agony you somehow managed to open your eyes, recognising the familiar silhouette of Agatha and her purple magic.

You stared at her for a long time, laying bloodied and bruised on the ground, dying. You took all of your strength to say the next words, feeling like knives slit your throat as you did.

"Please...just end my suffering..please.."

You pleaded with the other witch, your voice nothing more than a whisper, bringing you immense pain just from speaking. You wanted it to end, you couldn't take it anymore. Waiting for Agatha to bring you mercy you didn't realise she was crying, crouching in front of your broken body, not knowing what to do.

She had hurt you, she had done this to you, it dawned to her. Horror prominent on her face, this was her doing. Agatha let out a wrenched sob, clutching her chest, this was her fault, she had hurt you, had cursed you.

And now you were so scared of her that you were pleading with her to kill you, seeing it as the only option.

In your fragile state you realised that she was moving towards you, expecting the final blow you shut your eyes, praying that your pain would end.

Instead you felt gentle fingers on your forehead, soothing your pain and caressing your face. You instinctively leaned into the touch, seeking the feeling of calmness and peace that emitted from Agatha. She carefully turned you around, pulling your head in her lap, laying her hands on your chest she began chanting a spell you weren't familiar with, purple glow surrounding both of you, a familiar feeling surging through your body. The pain became less prominent, the feeling of burning up inside turning more into a fever than actually hurting you. Your head cleared up as well, still fuzzy but you could form a coherent thought again without screaming in agony.

After what seemed like an eternity the purple glow faded, leaving you exhausted, tired and still in a lot of pain, groaning as you felt your definitely broken ribs.

Agatha laid a soothing hand on your cheek, whispering comforting words as she shifted her position, a jolt of pain moving through your body at that. She apologised immediately and in your hallucinating state you could have sworn she pressed a short kiss on your cheek.

Gently hoisting you up she picked you up bridal style, whining at the movement your head lolled to the side, burying it in her neck.

The last thing you remembered was Agatha tightening her hold on you and the rush of wind, then everything went black pulling you into blissful nothingness.

When you woke up everything hurt, your head was ringing, your chest was hurting and you were sore, everywhere. You groaned, trying to sit up but a gentle hand pressed you back down, the scent of lavender and magnolia hitting your nose. You abruptly open your eyes, staring at Agatha who sat perched on the edge of your bed, still holding your hand, a concerned look on her face. You looked up at her in panic and saw silent tears running down her cheeks, her lip quivering.

"I'm so sorry angel."

You wanted to answer her but your voice was raspy and it just hurt using it, in fact everything hurt, making you feel tired and exhausted.

Agatha passed you a glass of water, gently holding your head as you greedily gulped down the liquid, spilling a little bit on the covers. She placed the glass back on the nightstand and checked your head for your fever, sighing in relief as it had gone down significantly the last couple hours.

Starting to shift in bed you let out a horrified gasp as you saw your body. You were only wearing a long linen top and the sight that greeted you was horrifying. Your whole torso was covered in cuts and bruised, bandages wrapped around your chest and left leg, your skin a mix between blues and purples.

"I tried to heal as much damage as I could, love, you have to believe me but even my magic has its limits, I'm so so sorry."

You could hear the sadness in her voice, the guilt and the pain at seeing you like that. Agatha was devastated and she didn't try to hide it.

The next days passed in a similar manner. Agatha taking care of you, making you food, reminding you to drink and changing your bandages. You still didn't know where you were or how exactly you got there but as you could barely move from the bed you decided that answering these questions could wait.

You were still very weak, dizzy spells hitting you out of nowhere and your limbs still sore. You were tired all the time, spending most of the day either sleeping or somewhere between conscious and the alluring darkness that sometimes threatened to overcome you.

Agatha was at your side most of the time, not comfortable with leaving you alone since you had passed out on day three, giving her a major scare. She would often sit by your side, reading some kind of spell book or practicing some easy spells. Her presence had a calming effect on you, her magic pulsing through the air and sparks of it landing on your skin. It felt different than before, darker, more powerful but not with an ill intent behind it. It was more of an old friend, welcome you back, it was alive and dangerous and you found yourself more often than not captivated by the powerful witch next to you, weaving spells through the air, her dark magic singing to you.

Your magic had changed as well, what had been blue energy before was now orange with a hint of pink. You didn't understand it, neither did Agatha but something had happened, something had changed inside of you, inside both of you and it was showing.

It was another stormy afternoon, rain hitting the windows and wind howling outside. You were feeling better now, able to walk around the cabin which was located in a part of the forest you've never been before. You're broken bones had been healed completely, curtsey of Agatha who had been going through all the spell books available to find the right healing potion. The dizzy spells were gone as well but the darkness lurking in the corner of your mind, luring you to follow it was still there, still prominent and it was tempting. Your magic did not return to its original colour, it also changed in its appearance, more of glowing whisps than the crackling blue energy it was before. You also felt different, more aware, more awake and most importantly, you could feel Agatha. Her emotions and feelings, tickling the corners of your mind. She was a mess. Guilt and sadness still dominant, feeling responsible for you. There was also something else, something you couldn't decipher but it left you feeling lighthearted and giddy.

You were sitting by the window seat reading one of Agatha’s spell books, more complicated than any spell book the coven had ever allowed you to read, you found out that you liked Agatha’s method of learning way better. Trying out a new spell the coral mist weaved around your hands, turning into an energy ball and then back into the unassuming whisps that always followed you around. You couldn't stop it and Agatha didn’t know why either. You figured you didn't mind, it was as if your magic was protecting you, always following you around if the need to defend yourself should arise. Putting the book back on the shelf you looked around your little cabin, it had become your home in the last few weeks, deeply hidden in the forest, surrounded by so many protecting spells you had lost count. You liked it here, the quiet of the forest and the closeness to nature, it was peaceful.

Agatha was out collecting some herbs and flowers, you had offered to go with her but she was still fussing over you, always making sure you were okay, having her hands on your body in any way, shape or form. Holding your hand while you were sitting together and reading, sitting close to you when you were having lunch, her leg brushing up against yours, an arm around you if you were taking a small walk, almost as if she'd expect you to fade out of existence this very moment. You didn't mind if you were being honest, you liked the way she cared about you, like she genuinely cared for you. It made you feel all fluttery and giddy but you dismissed the feeling as just being happy you weren't alone.

Roaming around the cabin you searched for something to pass the time as you waited for Agatha to return. Settling for reading some poetry you walked back to the window seat, tucking your feet unter your body you started reading, listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the windows as the rain started to get heavier.

You didn't hear the door open or Agatha stepping inside, too focused on your poems. That's why you let out a shrill shriek as you felt her cold hands on your neck. You whipped your head around to see her smiling down at you, a mischievous glint in her eyes. You both started laughing and had to take a moment to calm down again.

Wiping tears out of your eyes you looked at her, the rain had made her hair somewhat curly, a rosy tint to her cheeks from the cold outside, her hooded cape hiding most of her dress and corset. You found yourself lost in her baby blue eyes, the colour reminding you of the stormy sea and the rainy sky, you were mesmerised by her beauty. Shaking your head you came back to reality, Agatha looking at you with the same look she had on her face every time she looked at you. There was this feeling again, the feeling you couldn't decipher, not even with your newfound powers.

"What are we making for dinner today?"

Your voice seemed to snap her out of her thoughts and she took of her cape, placing the basket with flowers and herbs on the counter. She had also brought some vegetables from your little garden outside the cabin. You've always had a green thumb and magic didn't limit you to seasonal vegetables and berries which was useful if you were living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Walking over to the fireplace you looked at what you had to work with, Agatha stepping right behind you, her hand draped around your waist.

"See something you can work with hun?"

The nickname made you blush as you sorted through your ingredients, seemed like today's dinner was gonna be vegetable soup and some of the bread you had made a couple days ago.

While Agatha was magically cutting vegetables you were hearing the fireplace, lighting it with a flick of your hand, the coral mist protecting your hands from the orange flames. Preparing dinner together you and Agatha whirled around the kitchen, the other witch always touching you in some way, whether that was her just "passing by" or needing something from behind you, brushing your hand when she passed you something. Her actions made you smile, the fluttery feeling returning to your stomach and you couldn't brush it of as easy anymore.

As you waited for the soup to finish you cleaned up the kitchen and Agatha set the table, moving plates and glasses through the air, the familiar feeling of her magic present. You felt two arms wrap around you waist and you gasped in surprise as you felt her warm body pressed against your.

"Take a seat dear, I'll handle the rest."

Ignoring your protests she stirred you to the table, pulling out a chair for you and making you sit down. She squeezed your hand and gave you a short kiss on the head, rubbing your arm as she continued to clean the kitchen, making a show out of it to make you laugh.

You were wheezing from her dance number with the broom, Agatha dramatically giving a bow in your direction and shooting you a not so subtle wink.

She brought over the tray with the soup and bread, the tray floating besides her as she gracefully took a seat, placing down the food in front of you.

She was telling you about her walk in the woods, how she had seen a baby fox and the beautiful flowers she found near a cliff. You were mesmerised by her voice, wanting to listen to her for hours, just hearing her talk made you feel at peace. Made you feel at home.

As the sun set the two of you moved to the living room, cuddling close to each other as the cold of the night started to set in. You both had your magic to keep you warm but this didn't stop you from laying your head on Agatha’s shoulder, shuffling closer to her side as she began to read out of your poetry book you had spent the afternoon with.

You felt yourself getting tired as she continued to read, burying your face in the crook of her neck, her fingers absently stroking your hair as she recited old poems about love and passion.

Agatha smiled down on your sleeping form as she put the book away, careful not to wake you. She looked at your relaxed face, a little smile on your lips. You were beautiful. She had always thought you were but with her strict mother and the coven she had always pushed these feelings aside, having had more important matters at hand. But now, now there was no denying that she had fallen for you, had fallen for you a long time ago. The last couple of weeks had shown her that, she loved waking up to you bustling around the cabin, always finding new things to do. She realised that she never wanted to live without you ever again. The reason why you were here reminding her that her perfect little world could easily be crushed. The images of you laying on the forest floor still haunting her dreams sometimes, making her want to climb into your bed and hold you close, never ever letting you go. She had sworn herself that she would protect you, no matter what she had to sacrifice for it.

Gently getting up from the couch she picked you up, carrying you to your shared room, carefully placing you on your bed, tucking you under the covers she gave you a quick kiss on the cheek.

Getting up to go to her own bed she felt your hand grasp hers, looking at you she saw you half asleep looking up at her with a loving smile on your face.

"Stay please."

Your request caught her off guard but she quickly caught herself as she climbed under the covers, you body cuddling close to her the minute she did. Wrapping her arms around you she pulled you closer, savouring the feeling of your body so close to her. She felt you bury your head in her chest, mumbling something that sounded an awful lot like I love you, her heart starting to pound faster at these words. Tucking a stray piece of hair behind your ears she closed her eyes, feeling happy and content as you fell asleep in her arms.

"I love you too angel, I love you too."

You woke to the sun shining through the window, grumbling you flicked your hand to draw the curtains when you heard a slight chuckle from behind you. Agatha. You remembered last night, how you had asked her to stay and how good it had felt to fall asleep in her arms, giving you the feeling of safety and home. You turned around to see her proped up on her elbow, a beautiful smile visible on her face.

"Good morning sweetheart."

"Have you been watching me all this time?"

Her cheeks started to turn a scarlet hue at your question. She nervously looked down at her hands, playing with little whisps of her magic.

"I didn't had the heart to wake you, you were sleeping so peacefully dear."

Now it was your turn to blush, your cheeks turning the colour of your magic that always surrounded you. It wavered around your hands, like the fog that surrounded your cabin in the mornings.

You looked at Agatha, messy hair framing her face, piercing blue eyes staring at you as if you were the single most important thing in the world, purple magic swirling around her hands. She looked like a goddess.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a hand caressing your face, you looked up to see Agatha hovering over your body, holding your hand, your faces so close you could feel her hot breath. You gave a her a short nod and at that she closed the gap in between the two of you.

Your hands tangled in her hair, pulling her closer, her body flush on your. This kiss was everything you dreamed it would be and so much more. You felt like your nerves were on fire, the only thing you could feel was Agatha and her magic. It curled around you, making your skin tingle and cheeks flush, melting together with your own magic, intensifying the experience. You felt Agatha deepen the kiss and you let her, pouring all your emotions into it, never wanting it to end. You could feel every single emotion of the witch on top of you, happiness, adoration, joy, passion and love, so much love. You could feel her, feel her soul spark with joy as she finally had found you, finally had found the missing piece, her other half, her soulmate.

When you broke apart the room was basked in purple and coral light, your magic swirling around the room, connected with each other. You looked at Agatha who had a loving smile on her face. She pulled you up and you were basically pulled into her lap. Cradling your face you could see some tears in the corner of her eyes. Wiping them away she speaks, her voice not more than a whisper.

"Please tell me this is not a dream."

You shake your head and take her hands in yours, absently drawing small circles on them.

"No definitely not a dream."

At this Agatha smiles, crushing her lips on yours for another passionate kiss.

You knew the future wasn't gonna be easy but together you were unstoppable.

You had found your missing half, your soulmate.

[illmoraineakoi]

Fam I'm more confused about that disco dance floor-lookin thing.

Did Victim used to frequent weird clubs and bars or smth???

Also, those are EXACTLY the type of sparkles that were used when RGBY were revived; they're green not yellow.

[Red arrows indicate which sparkle the sample color was taken from. The ones in the memory ARE slightly paler and a bit more yellow-y than the scene from AvA8, but it's possible that's because Victim is viewing it on a screen.]

[The one thing missing in the memory that the revival scene had is the numbers and letters converging to reform the stick]

This is potentially Victim's own memory based on the fact it looks like that's his arm is in view in a first person perspective like how Chosen's POV was in the memory scanner. MEM_0012 likely implies it's Memory 12.

Victim might be rewatching some of his own old memories because he might have recognized the green from Orange in Chosen's memory. Or, if it's not his own, it's SOMEONE'S that they already had access to or on file. Meaning Victim or someone else has witnessed something akin to Orange's revival powers before.

I feel like with how similar the effect is there must be some sort of connection with or to Orange. Alan and his team wouldn't make it so similar otherwise.

I wonder if a stick is getting revived in this memory or if they're actually dematerializing. And if either of those two options has to do with the weird dance floor thing, bc it kinda looks like something is going THROUGH the floor.

This stick figures in the BG of the memory are also not the traditional stick figures we've seen the majority of the time. The one in the upper right corner in particular appears to be more like a Henry Stickmin style.

Also, in the full image, there's a grey blob to the left side.

The grey was very similar to Victim's own coloring, and kinda looks a bit like a hand nubbin, so I wondered if it could've actually been a Victim clone (which would be huge if one existed and was just walking around outside of the Box.) I took a sample of the color and

Well that's not fucking ominous or anything.

[Victim's hexcode is #505050 btw. It's not ALWAYS that, bc of lighting and environmental hue tinting and effects and stuff, but most of the time it's 505050. Still, that is one hell of a choice for a color.]

I love that we've gotten four teasers for this episode and yet it's still virtually impossible to connect them or put them together in any meaningful way. They definitely chose the sneak peaks well.

So, what do we think about the yellow sparks? I've seen it compared to the sparks from when RYGB get revived by Orange

[snimeat]

Do you have any coloring tutorials or would you be willing to make one? Your coloring is always out of this world idk how you do it but it's amazing!!

is anyone really interested in how i colour? stappp let me just sksksksksksksksk, this is soooo fucking nice to hear omg. thank you nony so much💕

okay, i don’t have a tutorial to give you since i’m literally yoloing my life through colouring. i mean, it’s mostly me choosing randomly depending on my mood and how dark i want things to be because, if there’s one thing i prefer is dark, gloomy, noisy and film photography inspired pictures. i do use adobe lightroom for it. that’s the one i found myself most comfortable with, the free version btw. there’s some other free apps you could use, like snapseed, but i find this one better. it’s also quite easy for someone like me, with zero experience. there’s many options within the app too, the only way you can understand how you like things it’s testing, trying to see what style you might enjoy more. i can’t give you much explanation on how each function works as i, myself, am a beginner. i haven’t looked up any tutorials so everything you see on my edits is just me clicking and figuring things out as i go. my advice for you is to do the same, click on everything, go to the extremes on each side of the app, try everything out. lightroom allows you to click on the picture to see a before and after each edit you make, so that might help you on your journey. also, put things on 0 to 100, i mean, if you’re confused and don’t see any difference that could help you.

so, for example, my last the eclipse, episode vii edit — i chose this still randomly. for this show i’m mostly using the default vintage 6 on the lightroom app. then i changed everything according to how light the still is or how dark it is originally. also, the app allows you to edit one picture and copy paste everything onto the others so you don’t have to do it one by one, which makes everything a lot easier and faster.

BEFORE AND AFTER some scenes, even if they’re in 1080p, the quality doesn’t turn out that good when you screenshot them (at least for me), so one of the reasons i love my grainy, noise option is for this exact reason. it makes things look less shitty and they give off the vibes i’m looking for. sometimes, some stills help with their natural lighting, some others makes my life a bit harder because they’re quite dark already so i need to balance it all out with the exposure, the shadows and highlights, otherwise you can’t see anything. it’s mostly a game of “how dark and dramatic can i still make this and make it look good?” for me.

for instance, colouring some kinnporsche scenes were a nightmare, now i can’t remember which ones gave me a headache though. take for example this Pete scene from episode x instead of the default vintage 6, i used vintage 7. that’s basically all i used for kinnporsche after episode iii, i think. i tend to use more the “vintage” default pack within the program because it gives the vibes i want. sometimes i use the “artistic” one too, but that’s mostly in singular edits, not for shows i keep up from beginning to the very end.

COLOURING so, idk how much helpful this can be for you nony but that’s mostly it. i decide everything when i’m on the app testing everything out. most of the time the first frame i choose decides the colouring for the next ones. the only time the last frame decided the colouring was the eclipse episode vii. i edited the last frame first then applied everything to the other ones. sometimes though, some colouring works for some scenes better than they do others so i need to individually change whatever made that scene impossible to see. to give you a example, sometimes the colour is too red so the temperature or the saturation, sometimes it’s the shadows or the vibrance. i do also touch on the colour mix and colour grading but, again, totally preference here. keeping the eclipse example, these are my setting on lightroom:

[mr-walkingrainbow]

can we get a super fluffy bad weather abimel fic? love your stuff btw <3

Aww thank you!!!

BAD WEATHER HERE WE GO!

I was very very conflicted, because y’all know I live for thunder angst. But because of my simping ass their is distinctively two different Columns in the Abimel prompt list

Thunder angst

And Bad weather

So as much as I want to turn this into thunder angst

I’m just gonna write bad weather

So hear y’a go!

“Goodbye my love!” Abigael calls out to the Vera Vaughn house.

“Bye Cariño!” Mel replies sweetly.

“Ugh! You guys are just couple goals!!!” Maggie groans from where she lays sprawled on the couch.

Macy doesn’t acknowledge the question, too buried in her book in the corner.

Mel raises an eyebrow, “Thanks Mags, but you know you could be couple goals as well, if you just finally told Jordan your feelings?”

“Hushhh hush hushhyyy,” the empath half silences half groans, “I don’t wanna focus on him, I wanna focus on how adorable you and Abigael are”.

“AGHHHHHHHH!”

The loud scream pierces the house, everyone jolts, minus Macy. Who really, is just that into her book.

“CARIÑO?!?” Mel yells, jumping to her feet and racing to the door.

Abigael is still standing in the doorway, back facing the Latina.

“Abby?” She prods quieter.

Slowly, the hybrid turns to Mel.

A small puff of air escapes the lesbians chest, as the site of red angry dots coating half of Abigaels body.

“Mel,” Abby speaks in a lofty robotic way, “Mel it’s snowing.”

And that’s how we lead to her current situation.

A fires crackling, the thermostat practically melting, and Abbys bundled up in every single blanket they own, yet she’s still shivering like a popsicle.

“B-b-blood-dy H-hell.” Her teeth chatter violently as she curses.

“I’m so sorry Mi amor! I should have checked the temperature.” Mel apologizes once again.

“What’s wrong with her?” Maggie questions nervously, “She was only outside for a second? She shouldn’t be this affected.”

Abby tries to explain, but her teeth clank to much to even get a sentence out.

Mel places a warm hand on her forehead, stroking it just how she likes it.

“S’ok Cariño,” she assures, “I’ll explain. You just focus on getting warmed up.”

Abby nods, hesitating in a way that causes her to gaze to linger.

It’s a bit gratifying, how she can tell exactly what’s she’s thinking.

If the hybrid could, she’d be blushing lightly. But since she was so cold, it was impossible. But Mel can tell by the angle of her eyebrows.

And she understands.

She nods assuringly, and makes sure to keep stroking the laters forehead.

Abby mumbles something gratefully, sinking into the touch.

Maggie looks at them, knowing something passed between them without her knowledge.

And Mel isn’t sure if it’s because of her empath powers, or just her natural sisterly instinct, but slowly, her sister nods along too. A smile gracing her appearance.

“So basically, the cold effects Abby different then us.” The Latina spoke, drawing the subject away from her girlfriends silent implication.

Maggie’s eyebrows furrowed, “We said that before, but why is it?”

“We’ll, she’s part demon.”

“Yeah but so is Macy, and she doesn’t get this severe?” The brunette gestured towards their sister, who peeked up curiously at her name.

Mel took the moment to roll her eyes at the eldest, who somehow only just was pulled from her trance.

“Well Macy isn’t the same as Abby.”

-“Wait, your comparing me to Abby?” Macy interrupted, eyes trailing, and widening, once she saw the frozen girl, “Wow?! What happened?”

“Really Mace?” Maggie glared slightly, hands on hips.

The eldest waved her hands in the air, “What?! I’m in the middle of a deeply interesting book about the physics of life and gravity and how-“

-“A-And I’m Al-r-ready b-bored!” Abby coughed from her cocoon of blankets. Lapsing into another bought of violent shivers.

Mel quickly turned, “Shhh, shh, it’s ok, just go back to sleep. Just keep getting warm and cozy.”

She pressed another kiss to her girlfriends brow, wrapping her more efficient in her little ‘Snuggle coon’.

Abby relaxed only when Mel continued her comforting movements on her forehead.

Macy glared fiercely, not happy with her book being so blatantly insulted, “Remind me why we can’t just let her freeze.”

“Because if you even attempted to I would tackle you to the floor with no hesitation,” Mel stated with emphasis, “No ones allowed to hurt Abigael.”

“Besides the fact that she looks like a Lil Puppy Overlord all wrapped in those blankets!” Maggie (of course) cooed.

The eldest looked miffed, “Yeah you need to get your eyes checked Mags.”

Mel started to growl, which quickly got Macy to shut up.

“As I was saying, Abigaels physically, and hereditarily, part demon. Macy is a witch, but with demon blood. Theirs a different. Especially in how they react to things.”

“But how does that make her so perceptible to the cold?” Macy questioned.

“We’ll her temperature is naturally higher the ours, yours is a tad bit higher due to your blood, but not nearly as high as hers.”

Maggie looked confused, “But wouldn’t that just protect her from the cold more?”

“Hypothetically, yes,” Mel paused, “Think of her as a flame. Now picture an Ice cube. You wouldn’t. Put an ice cube directly in the fire or something hot, because although really cold, it’s much more consequential. Now the flame, ergo Abby, is really hot, in more ways then one.”

“Yeah, yeah,” her younger sister smirked, “We get it, you simp the ground she walks on.”

“Mags!” The Latina squeaked, blushing madly, “Enough of that! Anyway, she’s literally hot. So slowly, in a gradual sense, she’d last longer then most people. But it’s when it’s abrupt cold, like snow hitting her, or unprepared weather, that effects her more drastically then us. Because her temperature doesn’t regulate like ours do.”

Her sisters took the information in, nodding accordingly.

“Now, I love y’all, but I have to tend to the popsicle I’m calling my girlfriend.”

Macy eagerly left the room, while Maggie brightened, “Ooh! I’ll make her Moms power cocoa! Y’a know, the one she’d make just when-“

-“We turned from cheerfully numb to painfully cold,” Mel finished with a bittersweet smile. The cocoa always seemed to infuse all the love a mother felt for her daughter, “Yeah, Abigael would love that. Thanks Mags.”

“No problem!”

Her attention immediately shifted back to her girlfriend, who was practically being swallowed by all the blankets around her.

“Ok, it’s just me now, so you can stop pretending to be asleep.” Mel whispered.

Abby peeked open an eye, “H-how’d you know?”

She smiled warmly, “Oh Cariño, I know you my love. I know that your not truly asleep until your breathings light, and your eyebrows lax. …. Also you’d twitch every time I’d stop touching your forehead.”

Abigael blushed at the last part, glancing anywhere but Mel.

“Hey, look at that,” Mel commented ruefully, “At least you can blush again.”

The hybrid groaned, letting herself sink into the blankets in her embarrassment.

“Aww, mi amor,” she cooed lightly, pulling back the blankets till she could see her girlfriends face again, “How are you feeling Cariño?”

“Like a B-bloody popsicle.” Abby grumbled.

“We’ll fortunately your Body temp seems to be doing better, your teeth aren’t chattering as much and your starting to gain some color back.” She noted dutifully.

Abby groaned again, overall looking miserable.

“I hate snow:” she complained bitterly.

“I’m sorry,” Mel apologized earnestly, “Do you want some snuggles?”

Abigael brightened, “Oh god yes your like a mini furnace, but Mel..?”

The Latina smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll still stroke your forehead. Y’a know it’s ok to ask? I’m not gonna hold it against you?”

Abby nodded, although she still didn’t look quite convinced.

Mel understand, although it hurt her, Ratcesca had infused into the girl that asking for things she liked was foolish and weak.

She was their to slowly disband all the toxic knowledge that monster had unforced in her.

The lesbian quickly braced herself for what was going to feel like the heart of a volcano, before shifting under the heaps of blankets.

Nevertheless, she’d jump into a real one if it meant her girlfriend would feel better.

Mel wrapped her arms around Abigael, spooning her as much as she could.

“Better?” She questioned softly?

“Almost.” Abby whispered back.

She understood immediately, and started to caress the lattera crown, smiling when the other started to purr in contempt.

“Oh I love you Melanie.” The hybrid murmured blissfully, “Even if I’m freezing my blood out.”

“We’ll I for once love you too,” Mel replied warmly, “Even if I’m about to die of heat stroke.”

“Oh shut it!” The later smiled fondly.

The lesbian just laughed, loosing herself in the repetitive motions.

About five minutes later, Maggie came in with her moms power cocoa.

She smiled at the scene before her.

Wrapped in about fifty blankets, Mel and Abigael were snuggled in the heart of it. Both peacefully sleeping entwined.

“Oh,” she cooed adoringly at the cuteness, placing the cocoa mugs nearby, “Like I said. Total couple goals.”

[cuntinaclownsuit]

oh no... i heard that there would be a new the man who fell to earth movie or series (can't remember which it was) and got really excited because i love the novel as well and it would be so cool to see an accurate adaption. i haven't seen the trailer but i take your word for it not looking great in terms of sticking to the original plot.

don't get me wrong tho i do appreciate the 1976 movie. i mean i guess it has some artistic value (and bowie) 😅 but like i said i'd love to see an accurate adaption because the novel is so great and because it is quite short there would be no need to leave things out like in most book to movie adaptions.

btw have you heard of the man who fell to earth series they did in the 80's? the entire pilot episode is on youtube and i tried to watch it but didn't get too far because it was so bad. i'm still planning to watch the whole thing some day but i need to gather some strength first. 😂😂

It is so nice to finally find someone who's read the book. Also, this is gonna be like an essay length response because I can talk forever on this topic

I think the new movie/series/whatever definitely has a lot of potential but only if you view it without trying to compare it to the original movie and/or novel and just see it as a piece of stand alone media (which is impossible for me to do so I probably won't watch it cause it'll just make me mad ). I thought the design for the Antheans looked really cool, even though it wasn't totally accurate. And I'm sure the visuals will be rad the actors will probably do a decent job. For the plot it seems like it's going to be more about saving Earth from political drama and less about building a spacecraft to save the remaining Antheans (that might not be right but it's the impression I got from the trailer). And it seemed like they combined Nathan Bryce and Betty-Jo's characters into one... like why? And she has a daughter for some reason... also why? I know you can't really judge anything based off of two minutes of clips but from what I saw I don't have a high hopes for it.

Now when it comes to the Bowie version, the thing that disappoints me most about it is that they literally got The David Bowie - the best possible role for Thomas Jerome Newton (other than the hair color and height, the descriptions of him in the book fit Bowie EXACTLY) - and yet they STILL managed to ruin it. If the script had been decent it could have been an excellent film but no they had to change the story line up, add a pointless romance (despite the fact that Newton literally has a wife), and like five unnecessary sex scenes that add absolutely nothing. They made Nathan Bryce into an asshole perv, they made Betty Jo into Mary Lou, who is arguably the most insufferable character I've ever had the displeasure of encountering in a movie. However, that being said there are quite a few good parts. The scene where Newton smacks the tray of cookies is hilarious even though it's probably not meant to be. The Anthean costume design is absolutely rad as fuck. The scene where Newton reveals his alien form to Mary Lou is great and the one time where I can compliment Candy Clark's acting. The scene where the song Try To Remember plays is my favorite part of the whole thing. But all in all I honestly hate that movie.

And I have heard of the 80s one! But I didn't know it was a series, I thought it was a film. When I looked for it a few years ago I could never find anything but I looked up the plot on wikipedia, saw that they changed all of the characters names for no reason, and decided it probably wasn't worth finding to watch.

I could go on forever about this but I'll stop. Thank you for giving me an excuse to rant about it though 😂

[rubiaryuplays]

Titling Troubles Tilt This Translator

(Case 4, part 2)

From the previous post, still talking to Mr. Natsume about the case...

Indeed. In the JP, he uses "迷感至極" (maikan shigoku), which means the most annoyingly, frustratingly confusing feeling one can muster. Alternatively, you can think of it as "ROFS" for "rolling on floor suffering".

This be his colorful description of the scene of the crime. From the JP, the phrase is "死屍累々" (shishi ruirui), or "corpses all around". Of course he's exaggerating, Ryu, he's a poet!

Herlock Sholmes and the Case of the Hapless Japanese Student... which in hindsight, could be the subtitle to this entire game, now that I think about it.

Haha, yeah, Mr. Natsume says this line as if he were banishing evil spirits, and it's also true to the JP. Just for reference, the original phrase is "悪霊退散" (akuryou taisan), basically "demons begone!"

Ah, this is about when the police and said demon detective had him arrested. He was just nibbling on some cheese... Btw, in the JP, he uses the phrase, "質実剛健" (shitsujitsu gouken), meaning "unaffected and sincere, full of vigor", referring to how he was just minding his own business.

This is the last of his poetic outbursts for the time being, where he complains about being questioned in "impossible English". In JP, he cries out with "卑怯千万" (hikyou senman), literally "cowardly thousands" or basically "the big meanies!" But of course, English is what Soseki Natsume has been studying for this whole year!

...Damn, even in Victorian England in the year 1900-ish, Apollo still can't catch a break.

Well, the Japanese don't really have a word for "esquire" (they just say the English word), but this is basically what he called him in the JP too.

--

And once again I am forced to split this post into another page because tumblr is doodoo with posting more than 10 pics at a time!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

What do your elf eyes see? Runaan and Nyx

This is exactly the kind of distraction I needed today, so please feel free to get inordinately excited about this like I did.

First, a collection of fun but seemingly unrelated eye facts in TDP:

Runaan has mild heterochromia, with his left eye being just a little lighter in hue than his right.

Viren’s eyes are gray, until Aaravos puts bug spit on one of them and turns it a nice purple like his own astral-projection eyes.

Nyx has obvious heterochromia, with one blue eye and one brown.

And the oasis in the Midnight Desert sure is fun, pretty, and mysterious.

Eyes are cool, eyes are fun. They’re pretty, and there’s some cool subtext about seeing clearly, vision, etc. etc. going on too.

But I’m gonna talk about color today. Actual literal eye color. And what it means for Runaan, Nyx, and the defense of Xadia.

Here’s a smidge of background: @kotikala​ had an awesome hc that Nyx was actually guarding the oasis, that her endless nomadic lifestyle was really so someone was always nearby for some reason. I added the observation that the big weird swoops in the black sand looked not-random, and kind of like huge (warding?) runes one might draw with the tail of an ambler, which could be refreshed against windstorms on every circuit around the desert.

The oasis is clearly Moonshadow. The obelisks, the towers, and even the tents are bristling with Moonshadow motifs.

Maybe Nyx is there because Skywings like to be mobile and Moonshadows don’t. And also because shadows are hard to come by in a desert.

So what does the oasis have to do with eyes?

Let’s set the scene with some S3 developments.

Viren’s eyes used to match, until Aaravos performed some kind of spell and turned one of them a different color.

The thing is, when one of Viren’s eyes changed color, so did one of Aaravos’s.

he looks so adorkable right side up, omg

Aaravos’s top of pupils, right and left:

Aaravos’s bottom of pupils, right and left:

In the dungeon, too, because lighting is lighting and I don’t have a 3D turnaround for his astral form:

Aaravos’s top of pupils, right and left:

Aaravos’s bottom of pupils, right and left:

His right eye, presumably, has changed to match more closely with Viren’s right, as if he has given up some of his color to affect it.

*rubs hands gleefully* So let’s take a look at Nyx and Runaan’s eyes. If their left eyes have some kind of similar connection, the blue of her left eye should match pretty closely with the blue of his right eye. So, just a quick dropper test to get us started:

Bottom of Nyx’s left and Runaan’s right eyes:

Top of Nyx’s left and Runaan’s right eyes:

UMM!! 

I... I can barely tell them apart, guys. And I can’t remember who’s is whose, so:

<Mythbuster> Remember kids, the difference between science and messing around is writing it down. </Mythbuster>

Runaan, upper iris, right eye (bg color is Nyx):

Nyx, upper iris, left eye (bg color is Runaan):

Runaan, lower iris, right eye (bg color is Nyx):

Nyx, lower iris, left eye (bg color is Runaan):

(They’re not perfectly identical--and pixels be pixels--but I don’t have a 3D turnaround headshot for Runaan to compare with Nyx’s, so I had to use a screenshot in the best lighting I could find. Even then, it’s nearly impossible for me to spot the difference.)

The design team could’ve picked any color for Nyx’s left eye if they only wanted her to be a cute Skywing with heterochromia. But they picked the colors of Runaan’s right eye. (btw I checked, and her right eye doesn’t match Ethari’s) And since we’ve seen Viren’s eye change color due to magic, and we can tell that Aaravos’s eyes don’t 100% match after the eye spell he did, I think this counts as a secret parallel in the show.

I think it means that Runaan can see through Nyx’s eye, at least sometimes. Probably with some extras that Aaravos just skipped over with Viren, like asking permission and being able to withdraw it. Consent is not Aaravos’s strong suit, but Runaan would want a willing ally for security’s sake--even if he has to work with a chaotic Skywing. (omg the Rayla parallels, omg the Callum parallels)

Why would Runaan want to do a spell like this? Security of the oasis. It’s a Moonshadow place, clearly very important since it’s guarded by the Wonderwall. And he’s the leader of the assassins. Security--protecting Xadia--is his whole job. Nyx could be some kind of ambling security camera for him.

Why would Nyx agree to something like this, though? This trope can be very iffy, and as we’ve seen with Viren, it’s easy to abuse it. Maybe their arrangement gives her almost complete autonomy in the desert with no one pestering her except some random bossy Moonshadow elf every full moon or something, and he’s not even there in person, he just knocks on her eye and asks to take a look around for a second, maybe to make sure the Wonderwall looks tip top and the tents are okay. (because Moonshadows like tents, apparently) 

We don’t know anything about the oasis yet other than what it looks like, so maybe it doesn’t get much, or any, use, and Runaan’s connection to her is more of a Use In Case Of Emergency kind of thing and they’ve never even talked aside from when the spell was created. Either way, changing eye color via a watching spell might be a small price to pay for all the cool salvage she finds all over the desert while she’s “working.”

Additionally, Nyx’s staff has Moonshadow motifs in it. Moonshadow colors, Runaan’s actual shoulder markings, Moon rune points! I love headcanoning that Ethari made it for her--and then she used it to smack his arrow. What a chaos bird.

Rayla seems to recognize something about it, while Callum’s all “Something so strangely familiar.” Yeah, you think?

Alternately, there could be some angst in here. Just because Nyx has Runaan’s eye color and an Ethari Special in her hands doesn’t mean she really wants them. Maybe she, and maybe Runaan too, feel this is one of those “duty first” kinds of things. I can see Runaan making this part of his “my heart for Xadia” mentality, doing whatever it takes, but maybe this explains why Nyx is her particular brand of chaotic. Skywings like their independence, and living with the possibility of a broody Moonshadow borrowing your eye sometimes is likely less independence than Nyx would like if she had her druthers. If she didn’t enthusiastically sign up for the eye spell, she could act more rebellious and chaotic than she normally would--destroying lighthawks, stealing dragons, you know, the whole Hanna Solo bit.

If I had to guess, I’d go with some cooperative shenaniganry, like echoes of the Order of the Phoenix from 300 years ago. Standing against Aaravos put the elves all on the same side, so Runaan resigns himself to this extra duty pretty quickly, and Nyx finds a way to answer the question “But what’s in it for me?” pretty quickly.

As for how Runaan might use this, say, while he was in an extreme situation? Well, first of all, he wouldn’t if he was planning to die in Viren’s dungeon. If he called for help, he’d only be endangering more elves. Plus, his honor was a bit tattery at the moment, and he might’ve felt he didn’t deserve saving even if it were easy (don’t, don’t get me started). 

And second, I’ve got no idea how their connection might function, except that it’s got to be different than Aaravos and Viren’s. Is it to do with her staff, maybe, and certain phases of the moon? That seems very Moonshadow. 

Also, thirdly, I don’t know how much these two characters interact, so it’s possible Runaan “I have trust issues” of the Moonshadow Elves wouldn’t trust Nyx to carry a message for him to the nearest shady pawn broker, let alone Ethari. But I did think about it, ha. I’m really hoping now that we get to see some hints or use for this connection in future seasons, whenever we get to learn more about the oasis! 

The only downside I’m getting from this wild detail and fun headcanoning is that I really enjoyed Nyx having natural heterochromia. But she’s still amazing, and her eyes are still brilliantly pretty, and I support her. 

Anyway here’s Nyx giving Rayllum the bird.

I’m cackling at the thought that she gave it to Runaan at some point, too.

[peppersonironi]

How I Picture a Batfam Age Reversal

I’m going to write this as a fic (And I want to go on into a young justice world where dick forms the team and his siblings are protective) but here is the outline in bullet points in case anyone is interested. Please note this is VERY first draft.

Ages (At end) & Order:

Damian- 24

Duke- 21

Stephanie- 20

Tim- 21

Cassandra- 19

Jason- 19

Barbara- 15

Dick- 13

Damian is Ten when he is sent to live w/ his father. Bruce is 30.

They don’t really work well together at first. But Selina, Alfred, and Clark somehow get it through Bruce’s thick skull that he has to care for this child.

Damian keeps sneaking out on patrol, against B’s wishes. Eventually, he let’s Damian join and tells him to choose a name (Not what we meant, Bruce!)

Damian wants to go for something like Shadow, or Demon, but Bruce puts his foot down. He says that Damian shouldn’t try to be darkness.

Damian is pouting in the gardens when he finds a wounded robin. It’s wing is broken. He demands that the animal should be taken to a shelter, and carries it in his hand the whole way there.

The bird makes it, and Damian demands to be called Robin. He designs his suit, going slightly more colorful. “I might be called Robin, but I am NOT wearing brown, Pennyworth.”

Bruce introduces him to Superboy (Jon, note: less age dif) and the pair are close friends.

He is Robin for a little over seven years before he begins to fight with Bruce about being allowed to patrol alone, and being his own hero. (basically what happened w/ Dick).

Damian leaves Gotham, opting to claim Bludhaven. Jon joins him. He suggests they call each other Nightwing and Flamebird. Damian thinks it’s a bit childish, but he can’t say no to Jon. They’re costumes are here. (done by @hyperactive-lectiophile! Fantastic job!)

They eventually realize they’re in love w/ each other, all while trying to figure their lives  out. Damian briefly tries to join the police. He hates it. Eventually, he enrolls in BH college for a major in Art and a minor in business.

Later in Gotham, the We Are Robin/Robin War stuff happens. Long story short, Duke is adopted. 

Damian is angry to find out he has a new brother, goes to Gotham to yell at Bruce, but then meets Duke. They bond, and are close siblings. Damian makes his father promise to not adopt any more strays.

Stephanie Brown wants to stop her Father, so she sews up a costume and goes out as Batgirl. Bruce is apprehensive at first, but his family basically yells at him to train the poor girl before she gets hurt.

He does, and after Steph meets Damian, who she absolutely adores (He loves her too. The way she pisses his father off is legendary), Stephanie decides she wants to be Robin. Batgirl was good for dealing with her father, but she wants to belong to this new family, and, w/ Damian’s blessing, she makes a new costume.

Unfortunately, after a while, Stephanie is killed by Black Mask (her death is faked, like in the comics, but the Fam doesn’t know)

Enter Tim Drake. Batman has been going crazy over grief, and not even Nightwing, Catwoman (this is SOOOO batcat, btw) or The Signal can calm him down. Tim steps right up, and demands to be robin.

Damian and Bruce fight over this. Surprisingly, Damian is the one who thinks Tim should be given a chance. He sees how his father has been acting. Damian knows that Tim must be brilliant to figure out their identities, and thinks that should count for something. Duke takes his side, knowing that it takes guts to talk to batman, and be willing to join him. Bruce, meanwhile, is a constant chant of “no more dead robins”. After a while, and lots of arguing, Tim takes his place as Robin. They redesign the suit, and he takes his place as robin.

It’s little while after this that Stephanie comes back. Tim offers Robin back, but Stephanie declines. They talk and grow closer. At one point they talk about Stephanie’s new moniker. She says she doesn’t want to be Batgirl either. She wants something new. Tim suggests Spoiler (Bad pun turned brilliant idea?).

Cassandra Cain arrives on the scene next. She saves the commissioner’s life (like No Man’s Land, minus No Man’s Land), and Stephanie immediately imprints on this tiny assassin child (So do the rest of the family, but Steph claims the fourteen-year old first. She and Bruce fight over custody.). She offers Cass Batgirl. Gotham gained a new vigilante, and Bruce Wayne adopted a new child. (Faster than the comics, I KNOW. But Cass deserves happiness)

Everyone loves their new sister, and everyone spoils her. Duke is the one to take her to a ballet the first time. She immediately begs to be put into lessons.

Somewhere in here Tim’s mom dies and his dad is in a coma. Bruce takes him in.

Eventually, Bruce decides to offer Tim Red Robin, hoping to avoid the strife he had with Damian. (Like in the comics, Bruce was going to give Jason Red Robin)

Tim is unsure of this, and puts off deciding. Then little Jason Peter Todd decides to jack the tires of the batmobile and is immediately taken in.

Everyone is captivated by the tiniest addition to their family, but it's also at this time that Jack Drake finds out about Robin and forces Tim to quit. Tim gives Jason his blessing to become Robin.

Everyone pitches in on helping train the newest Robin. Damian teaches the kid things he learned from the league (non-lethal things, since Damian loves this kid), Duke teaches him escrima fighting, Stephanie (Much to Bruce’s dismay) has a full seminar of the delicacies of glitter bomb making. Tim teaches the kid hacking, when he can get away from his dad. 

Unfortunately, when Jason has been Robin for almost a year, he is killed by the Joker.

The family is torn apart by greif. But this time around, Bruce has a much larger support system. All of them lean on each other.

The only time that Damian ever broke his no-kill rule while living with his father was to kill the Joker. He hunted and murdered the clown, sparing Harley. He had been friends with Quinzel since he was Robin, and knew how the Joker treated her. Harley became the batfam’s honorary aunt after this.

Bruce was too emotionally tired to fight with Damian over his actions, so no one said anything. Eventually, Bruce and Damian did argue. Damian refused to apologize,, though he did promise his father to never kill again. Their relationship was strained for a while, but they worked through it.

Less than a year later, Jack Drake dies, and Tim comes back onto the vigilante scene. He refuses to become Robin, however, choosing to take Bruce up on his offer and become Red Robin. He designs his own suit, and the world seems to slowly become normal. Or some semblance of it.

One night, the circus is in town and the whole family (except Alfred) is home. Duke, Tim, and Steph drag Bruce, Cass, and Damian to go see it.

It is on this night that Dick Grayson’s parents fall to their death. Dick is sent to live in juvi, meanwhile Bruce tries to adopt Dick. He succeeds, and the manor once again has a bright young child running through it’s halls.

Dick figures out the secret identities of his family and instantly demands to be allowed out. He wants to take down Zucko, and won’t settle for every single member hunting for him. Dick wants to take down his parent’s murdered himself. He tries to sneak out multiple times, but is always stopped.

Damian talks to Dick (They are extremely close) and explains the origins of Robin. He says that the mantle was born out of a want to distance himself from the revenge and violence of the league. Dick cries when he learns this and says that his own parents used to call him Robin. He suggests that the mantle is more than a personal need. Robin is Family.

Damian almost immediately demands that Dick be trained and help catch Zucko. Bruce is confused, as before, Damian was strongly against letting a nine-year-old fight crime. Damian explains (after much cajoling. He might be more emotionally open and healthy than when he first arrived in the manor, but the kid is still constipated) what Dick had said, and that Damian understands the kid’s need for direction. “When I first came here, I needed Robin. I might not have known it, but I did. Richard needs Robin now, as well.”

The family took sides on the issue, but eventually Dick (with the aid of his puppy-dog-eyes™) won everyone over. He got his own Robin costume, and they caught Zucko.

Dick refused to stop being Robin, and so Gotham gained a new bird.

Dick was Robin for almost two years when The Red Hood made his appearance in Gotham. No one knew what he wanted, as he didn’t seem to do much beyond killing criminals. They thought he was a vigilante at first, but then he began to take over the criminal underbelly of Gotham, regulating crime. On top of that, Red Hood targeted Robin. Attacking the boy wonder when no one else was around. After the red helmeted rogue let loose a few hints about the league of shadows, Damian interrogated his mother, who explained the identity of The Red Hood, and how she had set him on Gotham.

As soon as the family figured out the newcomer’s identity, and the reason he was alive Damian tracked him down. He knew how to deal with pit rage from his childhood, and brought the lost bird back to the nest.

The family was whole for the first time in years. Jason was still angry and resentful, but he had his family back. Jason was grateful for Damian taking revenge for him, and they were once again close. 

Slowly, Jason let everyone back in, including Bruce. Dick is wary at first of this new older brother, but the little chicken nugget quickly warms up to Jason, and even convinces him to teach him how to shoot a gun (In secret, of course, Dami and Bruce would blow a gasket). Jason couldn’t resist the kid. It was physically impossible.

A year later, Cass decides to pursue dance as her career. She gets a job with the Hong Kong Ballet company. She moves there, and decides to take a new moniker: Black Bat. Her family is so proud of her, but they miss her dearly. Duke visits often, bringing new back to the family.

The absence of Batgirl is filled after a while by Barbara Gordan. She makes her own costume and starts going out. Once again, Stephanie Brown adopts a smol bean (Well, not legally. The commissioner is still alive) and outfits her with a more Gotham-friendly suit and weaponry (I.e. heavy kevlar and leather)

Babs is taken whole-heartedly into the fold, and is made an honorary sister.