#Thus coming up with stories based on that and twisting them into sth either way more positive or straight up tragic depending on his mood?

[yujeong]

Update: I finished the 1st part of the book (apparently I missed the fact that the book is divided by parts lol, I'm doing great I swear) called "1. Earth and the Overlords" Btw, besides what I'm doing here, I can't emphasize enough how fun this book is to read. If you find the subject matter interesting and haven't read it, do so, it's very cool. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I've read up to page 67, which is where the first part ends, and I had a delight trying to connect the dots, a totally normal behavior as we've established. So, the rest of the story goes like this:

We first get to see more of Stormgren's time in captivity, and there's this line that made me laugh out loud in the tube: "Joe was an altogether more complex individual, though sometimes he reminded Stormgren of an overgrown baby." Joe, for context, is the man who kidnapped Stormgren, so I believe you can tell why I was laughing like a crazy person in public. Oh I would almost forget to mention: the reason Joe is an "overgrown baby" is because "emotion and extreme conservatism clouded all his judgements" = "resentment for the main family clouded all of Vegas' judgements." Now, the interesting thing here is how the rest of the story about Stormgren's kidnapping is kind of a canon-divergence plot of how the safehouse arc could go. And I say kind of because as you can imagine, I have a big ass imagination for connecting the two in the first place. So, after a while, the heads of the organization that opposes the Overlord occupation comes to visit because they want answers which Stormgren can presumably provide. Even though before, this Joe guy seemed sketchy and perhaps dangerous, suddenly in front of those guys he's reserved and careful in his movements. All I'm saying is that this is a canon-divergent story of Vegas holding Pete hostage, acting all tough in front of him, but then Gun comes and interrogates Pete and Vegas is suddenly a sad little kitten in the corner. I can imagine Vegas reading the book at that point and imagining this happening. I'm sure he must have thought at least once that "I have the guy my father asked me to kill right there. If he finds out, I'll get the beating of a lifetime" and even though in the book, it's done on their orders and all parties know about it, I can still connect it somehow. Stormgren eventually escapes via the help of Karellen, who knew he had been kidnapped but did nothing for weeks while giving excuses, and this deadass reminded me of the main family forgetting about Pete. I won't waste much more of your time, I only have two more instances: - Stormgren is still suspicious after he escapes, and wants to know what Karellen looks like, because eventually Karellen will reveal his appearance to mankind in 50 years, but Stormgren will have died by then. For that, he goes to a scientist friend, who makes a magical light thingie in order for Stormgren to use it and reveal Karellen's appearance -> this reminded me of Pete going to Arm for the device Pete used on Vegas' computer to take his files - Eventually, Stormgren reaches 90 by the end of the first part, and he lives close to a lake with a forest surrounding him. If this isn't Vegas' subconscious showing him images of Pete surviving and growing old at the safehouse (he was reading the book after beating him bloody with a belt and tasering him), then idk what it is. (It's 100% not that but idc, I can be delulu all I want okay?) Sorry for not being as coherent this time, I think my brain malfunctioned after trying to find the similarities between the two stories. I loved how more subtle they were this time, and how I needed to dig a little deeper to find them. See you in the next one :3

VegasPete and Childhood's End: a deranged attempt at connecting two completely unrelated things

Hello there, fellow VP enthusiasts. This post here is my remaining 2 braincells trying to come up with ways the silly, little book known as Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and the silly, little couple known as VegasPete are connected, and how the show chose this book for Vegas to be reading in episode 11 for reasons beyond its title. I swear it's true, I asked Pond, he told me about it, trust me. I said in the tags of this post that I have started reading the book because I have a fic idea I wanted to write (which will happen next year now, after I finish the book), and after I shared my observations on the kindergarten mafia server, I thought to myself why not make a Tumblr post too? So, here I am. I would like to clarify that I will be spoiling major parts of the book, obviously, so anyone who doesn't want to get spoiled, don't read this post and the ones after it. Also, this is the version of the book I bought like 5 days ago from a well-known bookshop at the center of Athens, which sells English books too, bless them. Just so you know what my source is. (Unfortunately, getting the version Vegas was reading might be difficult - if not impossible - in Greece to find, because I believe it's one of the first editions? I'm not sure. Nevertheless, I have the book in my hands, which is what counts.) If I make any mistakes in regards to the information I'll provide about the book, the story and the characters, I apologize in advance. It'll probably be me not being careful enough while reading it and missing sth. So, without any further delay, here we go:

The basic premise of the book is a concept that's become cliche in the recent years: aliens called the Overlords have taken over the Earth, bringing prosperity to it but leaving humans with having no actual freedom in their choices. So, reading up to page 34, we learn that there's a specific Overlord called Karellen who's responsible for ruling the Earth, and we also get introduced to Stormgren who's the intermediary between Karellen and the human race, with the title of "Secretary". At first, I had made the connection of Vegas being Stormgren and Karellen (or the Overlords in general) being Gun, because Stormgren trusts Karellen with ruling the human race, just as Vegas idolizes his father who can totally bring prosperity to the family and make it better by force (an important element since the Overlords just came and declared themselves the rulers of the planet and took over). Also, there's an element of secrecy with Karellen, because it's been 5 years since he arrived on Earth but no one, not even Stormgren, knows what he looks like. This causes Stormgren to be a bit suspicious of Karellen, which he rarely shows and tries to push the feeling down when it resurfaces. In the same way, I thought this could connect to Gun who's hiding stuff from Vegas - Porsche anyone? - which Vegas will start having thoughts about post ep 11. All of that is fine and good, BUT I wouldn't be a Pete girlie if I didn't try to include my boy in this. I think all of the above I mentioned is more about Pete than Vegas. And, judging by how obsessed Vegas became with Pete post ep 10 - after their masks fell off and he saw who Pete truly was - I am confident in my belief that Vegas reading Childhood's End would think of Pete, not himself (sth he already does at this point but you get what I'm saying). SO, Stormgren is actually Pete, who follows Karellen's words almost blindly, and almost is an important word here because in the book, he does argue back about things and is vocal about his opinions, even if Karellen smartly turns them down. Karellen is generally very softly spoken, polite and very human like in the way he talks, so in my opinion he resembles Korn way more than Gun. There's also a character who calls Stormgren out on his blind faith in Karellen, and if this isn't Vegas telling Pete that "there's no such thing as honesty", I don't know what it is. Now, for the fun part: Stormgren gets kidnapped by a group of humans who want the Overlords to leave and not only is the dude semi-casual about it on the surface while keeping his panic under wraps, in the end his captors, after explaining how they got him and what their plan is, throw a pack of cards at him and ask him to play poker with him, which causes Stormgren to laugh like he hasn't laughed in years. I'm just imagining Vegas reading this and shaking his head, putting on his clown shoes, thinking: these guys are so stupid, encouraging their captive be this nonchalant around them, I would never.