#alice liking a uniform? so funny

[hauntswitch]

Im so sorry but the L word is absolutely fucking hilarious - none of these women have an ounce of morality between them and yet they're all somehow still loveable characters. Despite the atrocities. And the bad 2000s haircuts. And the deeply questionable fashion choices.

[ai-megurine]

HOTD S2 episode 2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" reaction

• This OST! Djamin Rawadi is a god

• Can we appreciate Aegon's friends? Staying with him despite the state of madness he's in and closing the door to make sure he has some privacy

• oh so that shot of Aemond was him realising that he was the target!!!!

• I'm sorry I'm not that sympathetic to Alicent's tears? I just wish we could see more of Helaena grieving. I love the dress though

• ALICENT B&C IS NOT ABOUT YOU

• Otto shut up.

• Get Tom an Emmy, an Oscar and every single award in the world. His "what?" of disbelief to Otto stuck with me, dunno why

• In love with Larys' entrance. No one notices him until he speaks, he's in the background. Perfectly suits him

• "Bitch Queen of bastards" lmfao

• Love that the Council is shutting up and just letting Aegon rant. They're all scared of him in a way

• Who knew I'd ever be happy to see Larys?

• "I'll kill him myself" feed him to Sunfyre pls. Or Shrykos

• Aegon losing it every time Otto speaks is such a mood

• Jasper Wylde has a lign! Who knew.

• "We know our enemy!" with the little hand thingy was funny, I'm sorry

• Tyland!!

• "you're already seen as weak" oh fuck you Otto

• Why would anyone think that Rhaenys committing mass murder means Rhaenyra should be Queen???

• Aegon "my little son's body" broke me.

• Alicent calling Aegon "my darling" was sweeter than I thought.

• oh so Helaena can be a spectacle but not you??

• HELAENA MY LOVE

• LET ME HUG YOU

• DAEMON WHEN I CATCH YOU

• BALERION HIMSELF COULDN'T PROTECT YOU

• Oh my lord she's holding Jaehaerys' clothes 😭😭😭

• She's grief personified I can't breathe

• Phia is an angel

• THE TEAR ON HER CHEEK

• AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH the "I don't want them closer I don't know them" breaks me. She's my angel, I will fight the world for you

• ALICENT WHO CARES YOU'RE BANGING COLE. IT HASN'T BEEN 24 HOURS SINCE JAEHAERYS DIED

• "This is for my boy" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

• The toy horse 😭😭😭😭

• The music is so good

• (when did they have the time to make all the uniforms and banners??? Sewing ladies have been doing overtime)

• Blood IMMEDIATELY giving up all the information was low-key funny but it really showcases who he is. A big bully who uses his strength to hurt people weaker than hip (women and children) but the second he's caught? He folds like a coward.

• Lmfao Larys' face. Even he was like "damn dude I didn't even start"

• Who the fuck is the herald? I thought Otto would be the one doing this

• OH MY GOD THEY SEWED THE HEAD BACK?????

• ANGEL, BABY, I LOVE YOU

• DAEMON I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF

• The little circlet on his bead 😭😭😭😭

• why barn owls on the shroud? I mean it's Helaena and she's flawless so I like it anyway

• So the death of Jaehaerys has FINALLY been acknowledged as kinslaying as well

• Blood's face when he understands that Aegon is coming and that it's going to be painful

• Noooooo, I wanted more pain for Blood

• Oh no my girl being so overwhelmed. She's in pain 😭😭😭

• Oh Rhaenyra's reaction to B&C

• I mean why wouldn't they accuse you? Like? Bestie? Who would it profit to kill Aegon's heir?

• Is Daemon actually smirking???? This man istg

• Rhaenys immediately knew, this woman is too good for these people

• Rhaenyra's realisation

• "Killing it"??? IT???? WOMAN.

• DON'T YOU FUCKING LAUGH. If you felt any ounce of remorse, you would be screaming in rage about it

• "you have wounded me" BESTIE A CHILD DIED WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STANDING

• JFC the way she reacted when he broke that glass!!! She's obviously scared, it's definitely not the first time.

• Emma the actor that you are. Rhaenyra looks ready to rip Daemon's head with her bare teeth (which she should do, it would be iconic)

• You are a monster dude

• Oooh that silence

• "because of your virtue" hshshsjsj

• Bestie Viserys named Rhaenyra heir out of grief and guilt

• "You're pathetic" is so iconic, love it

• Baela exists! That coat is atrocious though

• So no risking Jace but Baela is fair game huh? Bitch (and I don't even like Baela). Good scene though

• Behold, Daemon runs away from his family

• HELAENA STILL DOESN'T HAVE A GUARD???? WHAT???? AEGON HAS TWO HE COULD SPARE ONE

• Oh god her and Aegon. Grieving, broken, but unable to connect. I feel like she wanted to reach out in the stairs, but he runs away because he's on the verge of breaking down and be can't have that in public.

• The nodding???

• NOOO THE BED

• I mean, I know it's better but

• Oh god the mattress covered in blood

• The juxtaposition with Rhaenyra being with her son is heartbreaking. The way she realises that this is what Helaena lost, that Jaehaerys was that age

• ALICENT STOP THINKING ABOUT YOU BANGING COLE NO ONE CARES

• Also Cole should be guarding Helaena and Jaehaera

• The religious trauma of consensual sex

• I wished the Alicole storyline would take less screen though, I mean good for them but that mess of a relationship shouldn't overshadow Helaegon's doomism and greek tragedy right now

• Cole needs to stop beefing with the rest of the world, Arryk isn't responsible for it

• Love Arryk for calling out Cole

• LMFAO THE OTHER KINGSUARDS NOPPING OUT. Valid ngl

• YOU'RE MAD SER. Love him

• Cole's hypocrisy is a delight. He's a terrible person, but he's so interesting

• Why don't they use poison though

• Laenor being mentioned? Neat. Him teaching the boys about fishing and Sea Shanty is pretty fun

• Damn that scene is actually good!! A shame I couldn't care less about Baela and Rhaena

• Oh so that's the famous brothel scene?

• Aemond's mummy issues on fill display 🙏🏻

• I love the relationship between him and the madame ngl. Like I know he pays her for it but her gentleness with him seems to be at least partially genuine. Her facial expression when he doesn't look at her are pretty telling

• Hugh Hammer the return! Fuck if I care but hey, I'm not against them developing the Dragonseeds. I wish Nettles was around too. I guess Hugh will join TB after his family's death? Or he'll be a spy for TG? Dunno

• So we know Baela ends up with Alyn, and he looks so much bigger and older than her 😭 Like it makes sense but DAMN

• I genuinely cannot begin to care about Corlys to save my life

• WAIT RHAENYRA DIDN'T KNOW WHO MYSARIA WAS???? THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY

• Mysaria being a good character wasn't on my bingo card but I don't dislike it

• Seasmoke following Addam around like a lost puppy is so funny to me. Also his sounds are so cute. I guess Laenor died off screen?

• The focus on the smallfolk is great. It reminds me of Varys' quote about the smallfolk always being the one to suffers.

• Cheese didn't suffer enough and I wish that dog a very nice "find a better owner"

• "Oh, I had them hanged" is so fucking funny.

• Otto is right, though. Like, this was a terrible idea.

• Ooooh mentioning Jaehaerys was a dumb move. You should Aegon isn't going to be rational about it

• Aegon, you can show strength by, you know, USING YOUR DRAGON. Honestly a public execution of Blood would have been better

• Otto's "wtf" face is so funny. I love him. Tom and Rhys are carrying this entire episode. Phia too, but she's less present

• Otto, do you REALLY think Aegon gives a single fuck about Viserys???

• Otto being fired for upteenth time is so funny. This man files for unemployment every three weeks

• Otto's last act of defiance was great

• Yeah, Mysaria isn't exiting the show

• Oh, that's how she'll stay

• Elinda Massey exists!

• I'm glad they didn't make Rhaenyra fight Arryk like some believed. It makes much more sense for her to be genuinely scared for her life. Like, Arryk is a grown ass man in armour and literally one of the best knights of his time

• They deserved better

• Otto unknowingly dissing his daughter's bf right in front of her was peak irony.

• "Petty revenge"? A FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD WAS DECAPITATED

• FUCK YOU ALICENT. Your son isn't "valuable", he's YOUR SON

• DAERON MENTION!!!!!!!! VICTORY!!!!!!!!

• The generational trauma of zero communication 🙏🏻

• Aegon sobbing and breaking down

• Nooooooooooo

• My love

• Let me hug you

• He's so beautiful

• A fallen angel

• CRISTON LEGIT SITTING ON HER BED WAS SO FUNNY LIKE WHAT

• HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WAITING

• ALSO WHO IS GUARDING HELAENA

Conclusion :

Tom is a god, Phia is an angel, I will start a cult for Ramin Djawadi. The acting in general was top notch, but Tom and Phia have ascended to god-like.

Helaegon's doomism and Greek tragedy will be my death, I love them your honour.

The focus on the smallfolk was very good, and I hope they do it for both sides.

[livyslabyrinth]

imagining yttd characters with a partner pokemon and the image in my head is too cutee.

shin with an espeon because he canonically likes cats. he probably wanted an umbreon to match the cat plush in sou’s room but eevee followed him to work on a day shift and evolved, but he loves his partner anyways :)

sara with umbreon because she wanted a black cat in the manga. the type matchups make sense to me with shin having the weaker matchup.

gin with a growlithe and q-taro with an arcanine would be so cuteee. they’re father and son to me idc 😭

joe with a rockruff omlll. his uniform would always be a little roughed up because he can never resist playing with his partner!!

a zorua would go so well with reko’s color scheme aaaaa. maybe having it use rain dance during live venues to preform with her!!

nao with an altaria because the artbook said she likes fluffy thingss. i could totally see her napping with an altaria. little bit angsty here, but maybe a mishima’s smergle she raises after his death

alice with a zebstrika or furret because he likes striped things. i like to imagine his pokemon would occasionally bicker with reko’s zorua, but get their ass beat every time 😭

kai would have a ghost time to freak the yabusames out like he did in ytts. maybe a sableye or a yamask, but i feel like he would look so cunty with a froslass!!

i have no reason for this one but keiji with a gible makes sense in my head. idk… i can just see him doing his best to calm down a rambunctious gible that’s chasing the other participants around.

anzu with a blacephalon because its clownlike and not as off-putting as mr mime. i don’t like mr. mime, and i also feel like it’d be an uncreative cop-out to give her.

kuramada with a primape or hitmonlee that he spars with from time to time. they have specially tailored boxing gloves :”)

mai with a fidough. no explanation needed. your honor, they have matching bread hats!! she lets her partner help in the kitchen and just prays the fda doesn’t swing by.

i imagine kanna with a sweets themed pokemon bc of her pudding bucket in ytts. maybe a milcery or alcremie. i imagine shin’s espeon has a timid nature and she has to let it slowly warm up to her and her partner pokemon.

i feel like hinako would have a giant terrifying ass pokemon, slightly due to the fact that she’s intimidating and mysterious herself. mostly due to the fact that i think it would be really funny for the shortest character to have a giant scary pokemon lurking behind them.

ranmaru is kinda gloomy, so i feel like he would empathize well with a mimikyu and they would bond in no time. his partner is terrified of sara’s umbreon and every time he tries to approach her, mimikyu panics and he gives up. poor guy :(

hayasaka with a really mischievous rotom that he cannot control is a really cute image in my head, so i’m giving him that

[dominiquethevampire]

Every Cirque Du Freak Character Ranked By Their Likelihood of Having An Affair With My Wife

Hello everyone. I have reason to believe that my wife Susan is participating in a sexual affair with one of the characters from Darren Shan’s Saga of Darren Shan. She’s starting keeping IV bags of blood in the fridge, won’t stop talking about when the next Festival of the Undead is, and I found a ticket for the Cirque Du Freak hidden in the bottom of her underwear drawer.

It’s been tough to narrow down the suspect but I think I’ve finally got the definitive list here, ranked from least to most likely to be having an affair with my wife.

26. Madam Octa

Pretty self-explanatory. She’s a spider. And very faithful to her spider boyfriend, if what Seba tells me is true.

25. Sam Grest

He’s like, 12, so that would be pretty messed up. Plus, my wife always says she wishes I wasn’t so childish and immature, so I can’t see how she’d find any appeal in Sam.

24. R.V.

The hook hands might make things difficult. I haven’t noticed any cuts on my wife’s body, but to be fair I haven’t seen her undressed in about five years so I can’t be completely sure.

23. Harkat

My beautiful sweet angel Harkat would NEVER do that to me. He’s also completely lacking genitals, which makes it pretty hard to fuck my wife, I think.

22. Kurda Smahlt

Come on. We all know what team he plays for.

21. Seba Nile

I think Seba’s years of having sex are long over. I can’t even imagine it. It’s like imagining your grandfather having sex. Ew. Get that thought out of my head NOW!

20. Darren Shan

I don’t think Darren’s got that dog in him. Besides, he’s pretty busy saving the entire vampire clan and also being a Prince at 30 years old. When would he even have the time?

19. Paris Skyle

He’s pretty old like Seba, but he does have that spry young energy in him. He might want one last romp in the hay before he kicks the bucket, so I can’t completely rule him out.

18. Evra Von

I don’t fully trust the snake. He gives the vibe that he and Merla might like a third in their bed sometimes. Which is funny because when I asked my wife if we could have a threesome with her hot 22-year-old coworker she said no and didn’t speak to me for a week. Seems kind of hypocritical, Susan.

17. Debbie Hemlock

Since Debbie’s an English teacher her and my wife would probably bond over reading books or something boring like that. I don’t mind Debbie fucking my wife if it means I get to stop hearing about whatever shitty new book Colleen Hoover has released.

16. Arrow

I can definitely imagine Arrow and my wife having a beautiful and brief “Bridges of Madison County” type affair while I’m away on a work trip. He’s such a good guy that I can’t even be too mad about it.

15. Hibernius Tall

It’s always the tall skinny guys that are packing the baseball bats.

14. Gavner Purl

I don’t think Gavner’s morals would allow him to sleep with my wife. However, I fully believe they would have an emotional affair over the course of a few years. He’d tell her she reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, talk about his tragic backstory, and she’d fall in love with how “vulnerable” and “sensitive” he is. News flash!He’s never getting over Liz! You’re just a placeholder!

13. Annie Shan

Annie’s a single mother and emotionally unstable from a lifetime of trauma. Prime candidate for having an affair.

12. Alice Burgess

How could I possibly compete against a lesbian in a police uniform? This might be pretty hot, actually. I wonder if they’d let me watch.

11. Desmond Tiny

They wouldn’t outright sleep together, but just look at what happened with Darren and Steve’s moms. If my wife ends up pregnant, I’m definitely getting a paternity test.

10. Tanish Eul

I know he’s disgustingly unattractive and a cowardly asshole, but I can’t rule him out. She married me after all, so it’s possible she has a type. She also came home last week with a Dior bag and some Louboutins that we definitely can’t afford, so it’s possible they have some sort of sugar daddy/sugar baby arrangement.

9. Vanez Blane

My wife passed her Trials a few years ago and yet she still goes to “training sessions” with Vanez every Tuesday and Thursday. Seems suspicious.

8. Vancha March

Yeah, he’s disgusting and ill-mannered. But he’s also jacked and can spit some pretty serious game. And my wife currently has a UTI, and if anyone’s gonna be responsible for that it’s Vancha.

7. Evanna

She’s got the whole rope bondage outfit AND can transform her appearance. All she needs to do is change herself into Dr. House and my wife is as good as hers.

6. Wester Flack

I mean, we all know what he did to Larten. Cough, Alicia, cough. Do I really think he would respect the sanctity of my marriage?

5. Gannen Harst

He’s hot as hell and has that quiet stocism that women love. I suppose since the vampaneze can’t tell lies I could just ask him, but I don’t know if I’m ready to hear the truth.

4. Mika Ver Leth

Mika would definitely fuck my wife and not even think twice about it. I guess I’m not really allowed to complain about it because he’s a Prince and could easily have me thrown on the stakes in the Hall of Death. You win this time, Sire Mika.

3. Larten Crepsley

He’s dashingly handsome and has that timeless Quicksilver charm that the ladies all fall for. But my wife is still alive, unlike every other woman Larten’s been involved with.

2. Arra Sails

Arra would have zero qualms about cheating. We know for a fact she’s all about being “passionate in the coffin” and she quite literally asked Larten when Alicia was going to die so she could fuck him. The only reason she’s second on the list and not first is because I can’t imagine her having a positive interaction with another woman.

1. Steve Leonard

Is this even a question? Obviously it’s Steve. He got his best friend’s teenage sister pregnant and took off. He’s probably inside my wife right now, telling her what a loser I am and they’re both laughing about it. Fuck you, Steve.

[bimyself06]

Ok so here's the thing many Green Fans need to understand. Every single time there's been conflict between the Greens and the Blacks in the show (I would say F&B too but I haven't read it so if there are instances of this happening in the books let me know) it's because the Greens instigated the conflict.

During Rhaenyra and Laenor's wedding Alicent wears her "iconic" green dress and interrupts the king in the middle of his speech taking the spotlight away from the bride and groom(whose wedding let's remember is happening because she married the king and he needs to make amends with the groom's family for snubbing their valyrian daughter in favor of the daughter of a second son) and then Sir Crispin attacked a knight under House Velaryon's employment who is also a member of nobility, killed him and put the Royal Family and their guest in danger.

(This one is going to have many people coming for my throat pointing out how Daemyra were literally having sex during this event) During Laena's funeral none of the Greens are wearing the proper mourning color, black. I've Googled and zoomed at the scenes were they appear and all of them are dressed in green, a very dark green but still green. Sir Crispin I can excuse he is(as much he really should have lost his job if not his head a long time ago with his actions and attitude) in active duty as a member of the Kingsguard and is in uniform, therefore he cannot wear black and kids are well kids, Alicent and Otto have no excuse however. It would have been like Rhaenys and Corlys dressing themselves and their kids in blue at Aemma's funeral. Then later that night Aemond sneaks out to where Vhagar is resting to claim her after just attending the funeral of the dragon's last rider, without asking for permission or the deceased rider's family's blessing or letting Rhaena try to claim Vhagar. This and his taunts are what causes the fight that leads to him loosing his eye. Then hours or minutes later it's Alicent who attacks first, not Daemon (who just found out that the grandson of the man he hates claimed his late wife's dragon and attacked his daughters), not Corlys or Rhaenys(just buried their daughter, her dragon has been claimed, and their grandchildren and heir attacked in their own home), not Rhaenyra (who's sons have been attacked and who just recently lost a man she loved as well as a good friend(the directors may not have shown this in favor of rhaenicent friendship but Laena and Rhaenyra were friends possibly lovers in the book) and currently has her former friend demand the eye of her child who was your defending his brother and his cousins).

During the dinner scene it was Aemond and Aegon who started things, or well Aegon tried to start things. Yes Luke was laughing as the pig was brought in, but has it ever occurred to anyone that he may have been talking to Rhaena and Baela or maybe even Daemon and his mom and one of them told a joke he found funny enough to laugh; literally everyone was laughing in that scene but Aemond and Aegon. But no Aemond didn't stop to think for a second and instead decided to insult his nephews and by result his sister.

The war is self explanatory. I have seen many green stans say how the greens never wanted war, but let's all remember that they were the one's who started everything by killing all of Rhaenyra's supporters who didn't bend the knee to Aegon, killing Luke while he was acting as a messenger which I'm pretty sure is taboo and considered a big no no in Westeros with out considering the whole kinnslaying thing.

Literally everything that goes wrong for the greens is brought upon them by their own actions and decisions. Jace and Luke's "bullying" of Aemond is also instigated by a member of team green, Aegon. Alicent is fully aware yet she does nothing to stop it just let's it continue.

[foreversnews]

1:am July 4th, sitting here flipping this Tamia I'm so into you song in to a slow sample

thinking of new ways to trust myself

this song has always reminded me of a special kinda of feeling around love. or infatuation at least right now this specific scope of "love" feels more to me like alice millers cover of spell on you by Nina Simone

or frank ocean seigfeind

or looks good with trouble by Solange

slow sample just going on loop as I write this

" I can't realllyyy exxxxplaainitttt"

slowed down at about 45.5 bpm

I used to hear this and think of the most life affirming guilty embarrasingly mushy love

where my young imagination could only think of me walking in the sunlight with a pretty girl, not even touching her, just walking

funny how I always thought romance could save me from something

even as a kid I would almost stay up all night before the first day of school, finally I get to see girls !!

I could get a girlfriend !!

life was simple like that then, elementary school me lol

wanted to feel like something to somebody so baddd

"iiii rreeaallly liiikke what youuu dooonne too meee"

as slowed sample plays*

this song it still hasn't lost its shiny touch

makes me think of someone that I haven't spoke to in while an

meiby in a way I thought she could save me from myself

if I pretend enough

if i talk enough

if i give enough

if I tell you any and everything

nothing stopped the inevitable end

as the loop still runs *

"doooonnee toooo meee"

I think of the countless beds I found myself in the search of the comfort of the that little kid that just wanted to feel like that song feels

cords and rhythms bouncing off my shoulder blades

quick as a lie Is told

as love is perceived

I've ran out of rhythms to not see in this

"whhhaaat youuuu Donnee too meee "

as the sample plays on loop *

playing out the cyclical natures of my most intimate desires coverd by cathexis of pretty faces and gentle misreadings

but to young people who like each other isn't there any more to think a out??? haha my young mind thought it was that easy

making Valentine day cards. hiding them in desk and sing to girls during recess lol

I found (Mei)self dreaming this person again.

how can I begin to think about this in a way the keeps me intact ?

because after all this is who I built for better or worst

become charming people will forget how you've warn that same unwashed uniform shirt to school 5 days In a row

maybe she might look past the body odor you quite don't know how to get in order yet lol

ive always found myself obsessing over what my first time would be like

would it be like one pf those songs of the weekends trilogy ? high school me would think about lol

after all it seems like the perfect sounds track to this double reality I found myself in from a young aspiring towards everything and hopping to find home

'IIIII ammmsoooo iii inn too you"

sample still runs *

being a young boy not really aware of my innocence

didn't feel like I had anything worth seeing

like I was guilty from the first perception of others

the only thing that I could see for myself was desire of romance

maybe I could think about this all day and nothing else

I remember one day my dad would update me on his latest sexual prized catch and how sexy she was, how ,such she pleased him

"iccaannnntt reallly exxplaainne It"

Sample does on *

.........................................................

now my conquest for the ultimate I immature romance, devided in two sexual prowas and power.

after all if my dad is telling me all these details it must be somthing worth doing right?

was he only telling me this to escape his own feelings of loneliness

maybe if he reflects some sort of cool posture ill look at him in a way that helps him look at himself

funny how that goes

bc here I am now hoping to see my value in bodies, faces,ect

but how can I ask them to see omthing I havnt deeply interrogated ?

I know now that love feels more like Alice Coltranes going home

unknowable, only lived and acted out in my own personal being

romance is just a extent of ritual maybe

the coldness of my young self non knowing how to cope with poverty, with abuse and misuse of my young body, mind.

its not far off that, that became the only motivating factor win my life but I deeply want to know myself in everyday possible

not from a automated idea in hopes of finding someone

im not personality package, a body to be used, an idea to be exploited

but then again.

'iiiii reeallly liikkke whhaat youuuuu donnneee to mee iii cannnnt rreealllly exxpllaainne iiit iiiimm sooo iiinn too youuu"

last sample flip*

maybe this coldness is what ive never recognized.

(im rambling and speaking in fragments but I wanted to be honest with how many turns my brain was making "

[loonarmuunar]

I wish to hear more about the Kid Sara AU.

Please continue I will listen to this forever.

Sara is a Polite little lady and so always calls almost everyone Mr/Ms, y’know? Except she’s still a little kid so she has some silly names for people.

Sooo what Sara calls everyone!

Joe

Joe is just Joe bc he is her Best Friend (babysitter)‼️

Keiji

Mr. Policeman. She doesn’t know his name is Keiji, she heard him call himself “Mr. Policeman” and assumed that was his name. Policeman Shinogi.

Mishima

Mr. Professor Mishima. Similar situation to Keiji, saw Nao calling him Professor Mishima and Sara just slapped a “Mr” in front.

Alice

Mr. Pajamas at first, but then Keiji tells her he’s wearing a prisoner uniform and she goes “>:00!!!”. After that point he’s Mr. Bad Guy!!!! Bc he’s a CRIMINAL!! And criminals are Bad Guys!!!!! But time passes and Sara is like “Hrm okay… I GUESS ur not bad…” so then he’s Mr. Good Guy. Alice just wants her to call him by his actual name. He then becomes Mr. Alice Guy. He thinks this might be worse.

Gin & Kanna

Y’know how they call Sara “big sis/sister” in the game? Big brother Gin and big sister Kanna :]

Everyone else she just calls “mr/ms [first name]”. Unless I think of something funny for a character.

Also VERY important (to me): Keiji calls her “little lady/little miss” and she loves it. It makes her feel very grown up!! But she is NOT little, Mr. Policeman >:( she’s a big girl she swears!!

[umedao]

Heartslabyul, but they're in teyvat

I've been having a lot of genshin x twst brainrot lately so here we go, I'll try to draw them later but rn I don't have my tablet with me so please bear with the messy text block

((note that if we're speaking twst lore then technically ALL of them would be catalyst user (save for rook, silver, sebek and maybe vil since he did fencing but we're not gonna talk about them here) but we're going to ignore all of that and go with aesthetic/vibes))

starting from ace, I feel like he'd either use bow or polearm because as seen in the og alice in wonderland movie, all of the trump soldiers use some sort of lance(?), but I'm going with bow because I feel like it matches his vibes the most. rust would fit his overall visual especially with his dorm uniform (bc I am not about to teyvat-ivy their outfits I Am Not The Art Archon).

if we’re talking about kits/skill set, I picture him having an anemo vision (dead friend aside and purely by aesthetic bc we dont know much abt his past/um/I will not kill deuce) and being an off-field dmg dealer sort of like yelan and his skill being an enemy aggro that also do a mini swirl like mona’s/faruzan’s. so a sub dps maybe.

then we go to deuce, I want to say he’s a catalyst like heizou that punches his enemies like he got a personal grudge but listen to me : deuce with a claymore. deuce just. swinging that shit around and beating the mobs to death. I mean I can picture him being a catalyst that do normal, sort of calm attack until you make him do his charged attack and it’s a rage-filled uppercut sort of but. claymore deuce. deuce wielding song of broken pines.

now about the kit, I can’t see him with any other vision than hydro and I’m torn between him being an elemental dmg dealer with parry gimmick like beidou or just a full blown physical dps. while hydro isn’t a good element to do physical reaction, at the same time I also see him being able to deal some sort of decent physical dmg so I’m really conflicted about what his kit is going to be like. but I DO see that he’s going to be the type thats going to scale off of hp like zhongli or nilou.

next is trey, I see him as somewhere between sword or polearm, but then I decided on polearm because imagine trey with those baker hand swinging a polearm around. also he reminds me of thoma for some reason (househusband material, serving powerful/important figure??). Also he’d look good wielding skyward spine, no?

I cant decide on his vision but I can see him being dendro, mainly bc he’s green and also that the whole reaction with dendro kinda(?) fits his unique magic ig. Which means he’d probably be both a healer and em support/buffer. I think he’d have kits similar to shenhe and bennett where he increases dmg with his skill while he heals and buffs em/atk with his burst and doing small continuous dmg.

cater is kind of hard for me to picture in this setting. like ace I do think that bow fits his vibe, but so does polearm and sword. I literally cannot decide. I wanted him to be like childe where he wields one weapon and change stance during skill, but I already have different idea for his skill that would match his um better so. I ended up going with polearm after seeing mika with that crossbow

just like his weapon, I cannot decide on a vision for him. it’s either cryo or electro, based on his personality alone. he reminds me of fischl in a weird way. kit wise I think he’s going to summon his clone for his skill that function more as totems like yae’s that also do aggro (it is a bit funny imagining like 3 caters ganging up on a mob in game tho lmao). I think it wont do that much damage but it’ll be a consistent element applicator. as for his burst I really have no idea except maybe it’ll be like gorou where he’ll summon just 1 copy/totem that follows the character and also buffing/dealing damage alongside them(?)

now riddle, we can already tell that this boy is a full blown catalyst dps. I’m sure he can wield a sword/polearm just fine but catalyst just seems to fit his vibe the most. blackliff agate would look sick on him even if it’s not a 5 star weapon.

and yeah he’s definitely pyro. his kit would also be like yanfei and klee mainly bc I cannot think of a way to integrate his unique magic completely (zhongli’s burst is literally stunning the mob and his um is more close to taking the vision away from his enemy teyvat-wise). so he’d be a normal+charged atk focused dps. like yanfei he’d have this point(?) thingy(???) on his back everytime he do normal attack and if he do charge attack with them (max 4) he’d do big damage. I think his skill would have that pyro/elemental res effect while dealing damage and I think it would be cool if his burst is a one-shot pyro hit that deals lots of dmg like hu-tao’s while also giving him the maximum amount of point for charge attack. 

That is all for now, I think. might also do a hsr au with heartslabyul (please don't ask me why I keep throwing them into aus. I. Am not. A Heartslabyul fan I swear ((that's a lie)))

[fictionfixations]

i should probably make an update on my project sekai progress right so um hello

4/5 of my members are now in dark outfit hehehehe dark theme for the win (cant remember who wasnt but um not as many as i do now) well i mean miku is in white but it still works nicely although rins still brightly colored so until i pull another 4 star im keeping her on cause i like her :D

anyway i find it kinda funny that i gave mafuyu like the costume with the rose but i ended up pulling a 4 star of her so she has a new costume now that didnt last long 💀 she still has the rose accessory tho

heres team so far. i was really reluctant to replace miku cause i really like the white haired one's design BUT i can set it so every miku in 3d is white haired miku (excluding if i use like the members who sang the song cause then that versions miku appears) so im fine with it now

anyway i think rin has a banner rn but i think i wanna wait

tbh didnt expect to like this character so much but he became a favorite (idk what it is with my first like SSR or gold or 4 star/5 star or whatever the equivalent is in other games being my favorite)

now mafuyu is the one i was interested in before i started. i dont know anything about her story or what shes really about but i like purple empty kinda characters (does yuri from ddlc count??) and anyway i assume she gets help so good for her

idk how i got a kaito but somehow it heard that i had a kaito on my team he was just 3 star so now hes 4

RINN precious baby. so. i really like servant of evil and daughter of evil.. ...and alice of human sacrifice so. like it couldve been either her or len, rins just rlly cute i just wanna give her a hug

anyway before i got her a new costume she was wearing like the alice in wonderland kinda thing. well its really more like checkered n stuff but it really gives me alice in wonderland vibes (i also have been really fixed on twisted wonderland so it gives me huge heartslabyul dorm uniform vibes)

[typingtess]

NCIS: Los Angeles Season 14 Rewatch:  “Flesh & Blood”

The basics:  Investigate a Navy wife fleeing the scene of her husband’s murder.

Written by:  Chad Mazero co-wrote “Internal Affairs”, “Revenge Deferred”, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”, “The Noble Maidens” and “Pandora’s Box”.  Wrote “Tidings We Bring”, “Can I Get a Witness”, “All Is Bright”, “Diamond in the Rough”, “High Society”, “Murder of Crows”, "Overdue" and "Sorry for Your Loss".

Directed by:  Daniela Ruah directed “Russia, Russia, Russia”, “Lost Sailor Down”, “Pandora’s Box” (co-written by Chad Mazero) and “Live Free or Die Standing”.

Guest stars of note:  Pamela Reed returns from season 11’s “High Society” as Roberta Deeks, Bar Paly returns from “Of Value” as Anastasia “Anna” Kolcheck, Natalia Del Riego is back from “Game of Drones” as Rosa Reyes, Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier is back from the previous episode “Dead Stick” as NCIS Reserve Agent Shyla Dahr, Marnee Carpenter as Alice Morgan, Lauren "Lolo" Spencer as Ella and Rif Hutton as Navy Commander Albert Burns

Our heroes:   Work with an abused wife to find some explosives while working through some home issues.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen:  Waiting for Hetty to get married. Sam:  Worried that Callen is avoiding getting married. Kensi:  Feels like she’s not prepared for motherhood. Deeks:  Bad baseball game in June of 1990. Fatima:  Absent. Rountree:   Looking to put his Beale bucks to good use. Kilbride:  Not pleased with Deeks’s attitude about the Navy spousal abuse response.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen:  Orphan. Sam: Once again looking for a caretaker for Raymond. Kensi:  Hanging with Bertie, buying cleats with Rosa at the mall and negotiating teen angst. Deeks:  Owes Kensi for hanging with Bertie. Fatima:  Not around. Rountree:   Called “Shark Tank” by Shyla. Kilbride:  Not pleased with the Navy’s spousal abuse response in the cut scenes.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange?  Don’t know but Anna wants her found so she can marry Callen.

Who's down with OTP:   Anna and Callen are trying to negotiate their way around a wedding date.  Kensi and Deeks are trying to negotiate their way around Bertie.

Who's down with BrOTP:  With the teams mixing and matching all episode, not a lot of BrOTP time but Shyla worked well with all.

Fashion review:  Callen starts the episode in a black running shirt and black shorts.  Wears a button down medium blue shirt for the rest of the episode.  Sam has a wine colored long-sleeve tee-shirt.  Kensi is in a white tee-shirt with thin blue stripes.  Cornflower blue long-sleeve tee for Deeks.  Rountree is wearing a light brown long-sleeve tee.  Kilbride is in his civilian uniform with a medium blue three-piece suit, pale blue dress-shirt, blue tie.

Music: Not today.

Any notable cut scene:   Finally!  As Rountree is packing up for the day, Shyla asks him if he wants to go out for some tacos.  He can’t – he’s meeting with his friend David Packer about his investment money.  Shyla asks him not to.  Understanding that she may be overstepping, she knows Rountree has a real fire inside after what happened with Jordyn and the LAPD.  The person Rountree needs to invest in is himself. 

As they leave, Sam is find a caretaker for his Dad.  The Admiral says that gets Sam a good night’s sleep.  The Admiral also thinks Alice Morgan deserved better.  The Admiral thinks maybe they should blow up the whole damn book on abuse cases.  Then promises to if Sam tells anyone he said that, the Admiral would make sure Sam didn’t get a good night’s sleep ever again.

Quote:  Deeks:  So it's, uh... June 30, 1990.  And my mom decides she wants to take me to watch the Dodgers play the Cardinals.  And I will never forget that day.” Alice:  “I don't care about sports.” Deeks:  “That's funny, 'cause I don't care about sports either.  No, the reason I remember it is because it was so hot.  Like, L.A. had been coming off this massive heat wave and I can still see the ice cream cone melting as it's being passed down the row.” Alice:  “Now you want to talk about weather?” Deeks:  “Actually, I do, because...that is the other thing that I can still see from that day, is my mom.  And she's sitting next to me in this 90-degree heat, except for the fact that she is wearing...she's wearing jeans and a long-sleeve turtleneck.  And she was covered up like that the whole entire summer.  Not that it matters, because she couldn't cover the bruises on her face.” Alice:  “Did he spare you, at least?” Deeks:  “No.   I mean, but I was a kid, right?  Kids are supposed to have bruises.  I'd just tell the teachers that, um...I got another fight in the playground.  What do you tell people?” Alice:  “I don't have anyone left to tell.  He made me push everyone away.” Deeks:  “Yeah, they do that.”

Runner up:  Rountree:  “Was all that true? About your dad?” Deeks:  “Every word of it.”

Anything else:  At night in a suburban neighborhood, a woman is frantically packing her things.  She gets a phone call from her father and tries to blow him off.  Seeing her in a mirror, her clothes are covered with blood.  Her father is recommending a Tom Hanks movie as she is trying to get him off the phone.  She tells her father she loves him as she tries to leave the house.  A man’s dead body is making it hard to open the door.  But she succeeds.

Callen arrives home with two smoothies.  He’s worn out which surprises Anna.  She ran for six-miles, he “bailed” after two.  Since the bagel place didn’t have bagels, he brought smoothies.  Anna wanted bagels before her job interview that day.  She also wants to pick a wedding date.  Every time of the year Anna mentions, Callen has a reason not to get married at that time.  She offers him an out when it comes to getting married.  He wants to get married, Callen assures her, just find the right time to do it.

At the Blye-Deeks home, everyone is running around as the day starts.  Rosa is missing her backpack.  When Kensi tosses it, Deeks walks right into the tossed backpack.  Rosa and Deeks review her latest assignment as they hustle to leave.  Deeks gets a phone call – it’s Bertie.  She’s been on the road for six months of “eat, pray and loving” her way across the country.  Deeks thinks this is all TMI.  After seeing “Nomadland”, Bertie rented out her apartment so she is going to crash at the Blye-Deeks residence.  She needs someone to be there to let her in.  Rosa really needs to leave for school so they are going to figure something out.

Walking near the gym, Shyla hears Rountree working out and quoting “300”.  He’s working on an ancient martial arts technique to strengthen his grip and arms.  When Rountree gets a text, he asks Shyla to look at his phone – they could have a case.  Instead, Rountree has a text from “Packer” who is talking about his pants being on fire.  Packer is a friend of Rountree’s from Quantico.  Packer is starting a clothing line and Rountree is a possible investor.  He’s looking to grow some of the money Eric left them all last year.  After what happened to Rountree and Jordyn, he's looking to invest that money into a growing business.  Shyla would have taken the Eric money and spent some time in Tokyo.

Sam has a call and so does the Admiral.  Both are unhappy with their calls.  Sam lost another caretaker for Raymond, NCIS is making Kilbride go through another round of approvals for expenses.  Cranky men in Ops alert.

The Admiral looks around an empty Ops and wonders where is everyone.  On the screen is the dead man blocking the door from the opening scenes.  He is Lt. Jeff Morgan, an intelligence officer working out of a DoD Task Force.  Morgan was stabbed several times.  There are real concerns because Morgan was part of a team developing software to integrate intelligence gathered by all branches of the armed services.  If an outsider or foreign government got access to that software, they’d have access all U.S. military intelligence.  Sam asks if there are any suspects – China, Russia, Iran or Alice Morgan, Jeff’s wife.  She’s was seen leaving the house at the estimated time of death. 

In the office driveway, Kensi and Deeks are arguing about who is going to help Bertie unpack.  Deeks is owed a favor by Kensi and he’s calling it in. She’s not interested in helping unpack all of Mama Deeks’s Michael Bublé fannish things.   Besides, Deeks should help his mother.  Callen arrives but isn’t interested in hearing any of this – he’s an orphan.  Deeks says that funny, Callen doesn’t agree. 

Sam joins the trio, the most we’ve seen of this foursome together in a while.  He's been working since 8AM and everyone else just arrived.  Callen and Sam are off to the boatshed to meet with Morgan’s CO, Sam would like Kensi and Deeks to join Rountree at the crime scene.  Sighing Kensi mentions she has some accrued leave Kilbride wants her to take so she’ll help Roberta, get Rosa from school and Rosa can meet Bertie.  Deeks tells Kensi he owes her. 

At the house Morgan household, Rountree found a locked laptop – Shyla is getting a warrant to get in.  Deeks is looking through some magazines while Rountree picks up the Morgans’s mail.  One magazine has expensive furniture.  Speaking of money, LAPD found a Rolex on Morgan’s wrist and a Lexus in the garage – this wasn’t a robbery gone bad.  Rountree is confused – a junior officer like Morgan doesn’t make Rolex money.

Deeks flips through Morgan’s credit card bills – they are big.  Since Alice Morgan didn’t have a job, the only way they could afford their lifestyle was if Jeff Morgan was selling military secrets.  Deeks sees that the credit card bills include electronic toll charges – an EZ Pass.  They can find Alice Morgan’s location that way.

In the boat shed, Morgan’s CO, Commander Burns, is not thrilled to be there.  There are cellphones for meetings like this.   He should be in his office dealing with the fallout from the tragedy of Morgan being killed and not sitting in the boatshed – a “Bubba Gump’s”. 

Sam asks about the software.  According to Burns, it tracks everything from emails between intelligence offices to weapons and ordnance use and supplies.  Morgan was doing data analytics for the team but a month ago, he started visiting weapon manufacturers to make sure their software would work the with military’s new software.  Burns really didn’t have much of an opinion of Morgan except he was a good kid.  With hundreds of men under his command, he really didn’t know much about him.  He remembers Alice Morgan was quiet and unfriendly.  Burns is done with Callen and Sam.  He’ll answer any other questions by phone – he has work to do.  Callen and Sam want to check into Morgan’s travel vouchers to see where he went and who he saw.

In Ops, Shyla was able to get into the locked laptop but most accounts were logged out.  She was able to get into Alice Morgan’s text messages – the laptop and Alice’s phones were synced up.  There was a confirmation code for a company called Home Connection – discrete vacation rentals.  Shyla finds Alice Morgan booked a home on Larchmont an hour after she was seen leaving her home the night before.

In Larchmont, Rountree is really impressed with the area.  Good investments homes, water views – Rountree is talking about investments when Deeks says “Alice Morgan” who he sees leaving the rental house.  Rountree says “Alice Morgan” which has the same effect of yelling “federal agents” since Alice starts to run.  After she throws a branch cutter at Deeks, Rountree gets her to stop as she’s climbing a fence.  She is armed but surrenders. 

In interrogation, Deeks is on the right side of the table while Rountree is in the corner.  Deeks is rattling on about the “Chose Your Adventures” books when Rountree says they have witnesses who saw her flee the scene of a murder.  Rountree and Deeks can sit with Alice in interrogation all day or they can help her.  Alice wonders where they were six months ago when she asked for help.  Deeks wants to know what happened six months ago.  Alice says she talked and talked and talked and nobody wanted to help.  She moves in her chair, making sure her jacket and long sleeves cover her arms.  An obviously bothered Deeks wants to take a break.  He’s getting everyone coffee.

Callen and Sam return to the office.  Cheryl, Raymond’s latest caretaker who is very into birds according to Callen, quit when Raymond started talking about war pigeons.  Mentioning that Raymond’s previous caretaker quit when he wouldn’t ride in her Mazda – Raymond likes American-made cars – Callen thinks Sam is avoiding the real issue.  Sam loves this conversation because Callen is all about avoiding issues…like his wedding date.  Sam is sure Anna will understand whatever is holding Callen back.  The Admiral walks by – everyone to Ops.

Shyla tells an arriving Callen and Sam that Alice Morgan isn’t talking.  Commander Burns sent over Morgan’s travel vouchers.  Comparing the travel vouchers to Morgan’s EZ-Pass charges, “something is rotten in Denmark” according to Shyla.  Morgan visited a number of companies that made high-grade military explosives.  After every meeting, he would go someplace 20-miles past his home.  Using Kaleidoscope, Morgan is seen driving into a storage facility in El Monte two-days before he was killed.  Sam gets a call from the caretaker agency.  He’s taking it outside of Ops.

Deeks returns alone to interrogation with a cup of coffee for Alice.  He explains it is June 30, 1990 and his mother takes him to a Cardinals-Dodgers game.  He remembers that day.  Alice doesn’t care about sports.  Deeks doesn’t either but he will always remember that day.  It was so hot.  Ice cream cones were melts as they were being passed down the row.  Alice doesn’t want to talk about the weather either.  Deeks does.  Because all he really remembers from that day – his mother wearing jeans and a long-sleeve turtleneck.  Not that it really mattered – she couldn’t cover the bruises on her face.  She wore clothes like that for the entire summer. 

Alice asks if “he” spared Deeks.  Deeks says no but kids are supposed to have bruises.  He would tell the teachers he was fighting in the playground.  “What do you tell people?”  Alice said she had nobody to tell.  Her husband made her push everyone away.  Deeks asks how long has the abuse been going on.  Physically, Alice tells him, three-years.  “Mentally, who knows.”  She doesn’t have access to their bank account.  Morgan controlled every part of her life.

Deeks asks if a few months ago, she told the Navy.  There was a  military hotline and she called.  She didn’t hear back.  She filed a report with the family advocacy center who told her they’d look into it.  Deeks has to asks and understands if she did – did Alice kill her husband?  She didn’t – she found him dead when she arrived home.  What surprised Alice was even after everything he did, she tried to save him.  It doesn’t surprise Deeks. 

Deeks asks why did she run.  Alice explains that her husband was a valuable asset to the military, “I’m not.”  She was afraid her reports would be used as motive.  She asks for a few minutes and Deeks agrees.  As he’s leaving, she mentions that her husband would smell like motor oil after he returns from his business trips.  

At home, Bertie is telling Rosa about skinny dipping at a Ramada Inn off the Strip in Vegas.  Kensi isn’t thrilled.  Rosa is really entertained.  She would like to see Adele in Las Vegas, a friend has a condo and the family would let her use it.  The friend, Tay, is from her calculus class and Bertie is down on calculus.  With a disastrous marriage, three dead-end jobs and a brush with a pyramid scheme, she never used the Pythagorean theorem.  That’s really geometry, Kensi notes but Rosa is in love.  Bertie is the coolest.  Since Rosa needs to soccer cleats, she asks Kensi to take her and Tay to the mall.  Bertie moves on to a story about taking a sound bath behind a DQ in Marfa.

At a storage unit facility, Callen, now teamed up with Shyla, is brought to Jeff Morgan’s storage unit by the manager.  The place was cleaned out but still smells like almonds and motor oil – explosives manufacturers put the scent into their product on purpose.  Callen finds a small piece of C-4.  Shyla doesn’t think Morgan was killed for the software, he was killed after using his access to these explosive manufacturers to procure some product.  Callen worries about where the explosives are now.

The woman managing the storage unit place wants all the inside scoop if there is a dead body – she has a true crime podcast.  Three men were removing boxes from the back of the storage facility when the woman started her shift.  She doesn’t have access to the video surveillance, however, only her boss can do that.  Shyla wants the woman to call her boss – they need the footage now.  Shyla is also going to contact Commander Burns to figure out what is missing.

In Ops, Kilbride confirms that Alice Morgan contacted the military abuse hotlines to Deeks and Rountree in the boat shed.  The people running the hotlines say they take all abuse complaints seriously but there wasn’t enough information to move it to NCIS.  The Pentagon invested $1-billion to remedy this situation after past failures.  Deeks wonders how much of that money could have been saved if this was a priority from the start.  The Admiral is not pleased with Deeks’s statement.  He says since Alice didn’t kill her husband, figure out if she knows who did and disconnects.

Looking at Deeks, Rountree asks how much of the story he told Alice was true.  “Every word of it,” is Deeks’s reply.

Bertie finished doing laundry though Kensi out of the dryer sheets.  Asking for Rosa, Kensi explains that she’s negotiating between Tay and a friend over a disagreement.  She also tells Bertie that she doesn’t have to do laundry.  Bertie missed doing the laundry.  Kensi tries telling her mother-in-law that she and Deeks missed her but Bertie knows better. 

Bertie also knows Kensi is feeling a bit overwhelmed by parenthood.  Kensi notes that she’s not “technically” Rosa’s parent.  Bertie asks Kensi if she loves Rosa and wants to keep her safe.  Kensi does on both.  Bertie follows up - does Kensi fear she isn’t doing enough even though she’s exhausted from doing too much.  “Every single morning.”  Bertie doesn’t care about “technically” – Kensi is Rosa’s parent.  Kensi spent her entire NCIS career being one step ahead of everyone else.  She thought she could do that with being a parent.  She couldn’t.

Bertie offers some words of wisdom from her mother about being a parent – it’s like being pecked to death by a chicken.  That’s not helpful. 

Shyla has news for “Shark Tank” – Rountree.  She’s sending video of the three men who took the explosives from the storage unit but the footage is awful.  Rountree goes into interrogation to see if Alice knows any of the men.  Alice recognizes one of the men – she met him at a wine festival.  She remembers the date – it was her birthday.  She thought he was doing something nice for her birthday.  Obviously not.  As Rountree goes to tell Shyla, Alice asks Deeks what happened to his father.  Deeks tells her he shot him and two weeks later, he was in jail.

Callen and Shyla return to the office.  She gets a call as she returns to Ops, Callen goes to see Sam in the bullpen.  They are on a video call with Commander Burns.  He assures Callen and Sam that he’s been working with ATF.  15 to 25 pounds of C-4 is missing with a lot of blasting caps and detonation cord. Callen asks abuse complaints about Morgan.  Burns did not have enough evidence to move forward.  Before Callen and Sam could press him, Shyla needs them in Ops.  They quickly end the call but promise to call back.

In Ops, Shyla found Morgan had several bank account Alice Morgan knew nothing about.  Several of them received $9,000 deposits in the prior week – a transaction amount just under the amount of money a bank would have to report to Feds.  Met World Holdings sent the money.  It is owned by an Ivan Parson, who looks like one of the man in grainy video.  Met World Holdings is an import/export business – they move fine foods and fine wines.  Parson is connected to extremist groups in Ireland, Germany and Indonesia. 

The Admiral is looking for a sitrep.  Met World Holdings has an unoccupied space in Hollywood.  Deeks is getting Alice to a safe house so Callen, Sam and a seven-minutes out Rountree are at the unoccupied space.  The Admiral reminds everyone that the job is to get back the explosives without blowing up a city block.  The only way LA is going down in flames is if the Admiral has the match.

Callen and Sam move near the building.  They can see some shelves of items and a man but he’s not Parsons.  Going through the back door, Callen and Sam see Parsons.  Sam throws a wine bottle to get one of the men’s attention.  Sam quickly takes him out but makes enough noise to get Parsons and a minion to run.  Callen tackles the friend but Parsons gets to his vehicle.  An arriving Rountree stops him but Parsons throws his bag of explosives in the air and shoots them.  That sends Rountree flying but Sam takes down Parsons with ease.

As Parsons is being taken away, Callen tells Sam and Rountree that Morgan wanted to back out of the deal but Parsons already paid for the explosives.  Morgan was either scared or greedy.  He also wasn’t as tough as he thought he was.

Deeks joins Bertie on the back porch.  They share a couple of beers as Bertie asks if he got all the cats out of the trees.  Deeks said he did his best.  Deeks wants to talk about “Dad”.  Bertie isn’t interested in her past.  Deeks doesn’t think that’s fair – it is their past.  He only wants to know how she made it through.  “Vicodin and Sally Jessy Raphael,” is her answer.  She doesn’t know. 

Bertie explains that Deeks’s father took everything from the two of them, including the person Bertie used to be. But when he was gone, with Deeks’s help, she got that person back.  She’s made a lot of mistakes since that in her life but it is her life.  Deeks approves. 

Kensi and Rosa join Deeks and Bertie on the patio.  They’re just back from the mall.  Rosa would like to visit San Francisco and Deeks is all in on that.  Bertie invites herself – she knows a thruple up in Barstow that can rent then an RV.  Deeks is horrified by his mother being in a thruple.  Bertie assure him she’s not a part of the thruple, she just knows one. 

Anna returns home.  She thought they were going to dinner but Callen has a candles and some wine.  He also got bagels.  He loves Anna and he’d marry her tomorrow.  When they get married, he wants to be surrounded by everyone that means everything to them.  Arkady and Hetty are part of the package.  Anna isn’t happy but Callen explains Hetty has been in his life from the beginning.  He can’t get married without her.  She has more of the story and he needs her to tell it.  If he doesn’t do this, Hetty will always be the other person in the room.  He doesn’t need a lot more time but Anna is giving him all the time he needs.  She only asks the he tell the truth, even with it is hard, especially when it is hard.  He promises he will.

What head canon can be formed from here:   While the case of the week wasn’t much, that felt intentional.  The guys who stole the explosives were plot points.  They weren’t the typical bad guy – they were a bunch of dudes.  The hour instead was about family relationships.  It started with the Kolcheck-Callen and  Blye-Deeks households, moved to Rountree talking about his sister, Sam with his father and then the case of the week.

This was a terrific Deeks episode.  Light and goofy dad/husband at home, sad and serious with Alice and later with the Admiral, Rountree and Bertie.  There should be a bonus for the person who decided Pamela Reed would work as Deeks’s mom.  Just as light and goofy she could be in most of the episode, she was sad and serious near the end.  That scene with them alone wasn’t just family, it was two survivors who built themselves the lives they enjoy.

For a program and an NCISVerse that is mostly pro-military, there was a real sense of disgust by Deeks and disappoint/disgust late in the episode by the Admiral over the handling of Alice’s abuse case. 

Loved the explosion that sent Rountree flying – that’s the show I know and love.

Episode number:  Episode 307 overall, the fifth episode of season 14.

[fanficfish]

a couple of persona 4 headcanons

Just a list of my Persona 4/affiliated media headcanons (I really hope this doesn’t get buried lmfao…also before you ask no I don’t normally post persona I kinda got hooked through the Honkai SR fandom. What can I say, Yu’s very relatable about not wanting to upset and needing to protect the cute kid calling you “big bro”)

I have no idea what’s going on with the whole “Teddie lives with Yosuke” thing because I have literally searched up everything (don’t ask about my youtube watch history please) and here’s my take on it: Yosuke basically came home with a Teddie in tow, presented him as a guy with nowhere to go who was willing to work for his keep, stuffed him in his closet because the “spare bedroom” is his dad’s home office or something, and at some point the Hanamuras just accepted they have two sons now because how can you not like sweet, innocent, naive-but helpful Teddie? Also Yosuke played Teddie’s disappearance off as him being at Yu’s or something. I have no idea how that man pulled this off but it worked. (yes I”m a sucker for hanabros)

I still can’t decide which i prefer: Yu x Yosuke or Yu x Rise (I do like the idea that RIse grabbed Yu, flung him over her shoulder, and marched off into the sunset, though like…have you seen the Persona 4 partner dances???)

I’m actually kinda surprised Yu just goes back to wherever he came from for his third year, like just stay in Inaba for your last year of highschool? You already stayed a whole year. And he canonically has parents who are away a lot on business. But to make sense of this, I propose: He goes back only because the school he’s going to gives him a leg up into the uni he wants to go to (which is understandable. Inaba is a tiny rural town in the middle of nowhere, he’ll probably get some better connections in a city school or something). He definitely comes back on every holidays possible, and messages his friends so often that his new friends at his other school are just like “bro….please at least wear the right uniform….”

RIse’s idol group starts flinging around wild theories on what she did during her year-long break. It ranges from everything from hooking up with three different guys (they spied on her while she was doing a video call with the others (FaceTime apparently existed in 2012, which I kinda forgot about. I think the flip phones kinda just threw me off.)

Yukiko and Chie definitely get together. Have you seen those two? They’re definitely roommates, at the last.

At some point someone asks about Teddie’s bear costume, and Yosuke covers up by saying Kanji made some alterations to it. Kanji does not approve, and Yosuke is seen later running through Inaba with an angry Kanji on his heels.

Also that new outfit Teddie wears in the epilogue of Golden? That’s just Yosuke’s old stuff - Teddie still wears the first human clothes he ever got for fancy occasions, but between Yosuke and Chie they manage to talk him into regular stuff. 

And they definitely have a running joke where they introduce Teddie as an exchange student from France (with that bright blond hair and Ouran Host Club-esque style choices, it was bound to happen) whenever they meet someone new. Yosuke knows Teddie will play along anyways, but buys him sweet treats as a bribe anyways. They usually drop the act pretty quite, but it’s really funny for the Hanabros. Especially if Teddie is crossdressing, because that man totally kept his Alice outfit. 

Kanji, unfortunately for Yosuke, uses Teddie as a model whenever he decides to get creative. Yosuke is considering getting a second closet because Teddie shares most of Yosuke’s old stuff. Like clothes (Yosuke is the only one who has stuff in Teddie’s size, and Teddie’s growing a bit anyways), In the winter, Teddie regularly shows up to places wearing Yosuke’s sweaters and jackets, and Yosuke is just thankful that Kanji makes Teddie stuff like that in Yosuke’s size so both of them can wear it. 

TImeskip: Nanako moves to the city with Yu for highschool, so she can attend a more liberal-arts focussed school. Yu doesn’t mind (he’s like, 26 at this point, and probably works some kind of office job (he likes a bit of quiet in his life, after the chaos called his teenage years and having famous idol Rise Kujikawa as a mate) (and also he gets free Nanako time) and Dojima, finally taking more breaks from work, sometimes drops in to say hi and maybe buy dinner.

Yu also gets to shovel talk Nanko’s first boyfriend. Nanko has to spend half an hour reassuring him that Yu is actually in fact a really nice guy….and then turns around to see Yosuke and Rise waiting for their turn to shoveltalk. And while Yu is scary, having your girlfriend’s older brother’s brofriend and Risette staring you down was not a good follow up. Nanako is rightfully mortified, Yu does in fact bake apology cookies, and Yosuke and Risette manage to drag the couple into an impromptu dance session to ease the tension just a little after nearly scaring the poor kid half to death. (The poor kid is someone in the Phantom Theives, because I saw a really cool AU on AO3 and it lives rent-free in my head. And I like the idea of Nanako becoming a Phantom Thief because “it runs in the family, thanks a lot Yu >:l “

Naoto ends up taking Aketchi under her wing. Does she mind? I mean, to her he’s not entirely horrible. Is she pleased with his actions? …that’s debatable

Inaba becomes known for having great weather. Except for the one time Marie catches a bug going around the town, that ends up behind a horrible mid-January snowstorm. .

Those are the ones I have right now. I’m still working my way through everything (HSR is taking over my brain, I love the Astral Express crew dynamic-)

(also I'm really disappointed we didn't get human Teddie dancing with the others. I need that boost of serotine of watching Yosuke and human Teddie try to dance together.)

[hihi-heart]

Been a while (I think?) but, do you often or sometimes listen to j-rock/band music on Spotify if you feel bored?

Ex.: Alice Schach & the Magic Orchestra, pitcher56, any CHAINSAW MAN related rock OSTs, etc.,

/genq

To my knowledge, I haven't gotten into much j-rock. I do sometimes listen to modern Japanese music. Listened to BABYMETAL during its earlier years, though only out of curiosity.

The only j-rock song I can think of is Senbonzakura or "One Thousand Cherry Trees", a vocaloid song about Japan's westernization and militarization during the Meiji restoration and Taisho Era.

(From here, I infodump about the song's intricacies and go over other Japanese songs I enjoy. Couldn't help myself. Keep reading for my analyses and overviews!)

The song's actually pretty fascinating. It uses a lot of idioms and indirect meaning, typical for older-styled Japanese songs. The idioms include references to weaponry, religion, and period imagery.

The song's visuals use an over-the-top pop portrayal of the time periods. To simplify, the time had a mix of Japanese tradition and western sensibility.

Miku's outfit is based on a army uniform but includes furisode kimono sleeves, a miniskirt, and shoes that combine loafers with geta sandals. Really leaning into the song's historical and anachronistic themes.

All of these aspects have caused some localization problems. Some English translators have put in a pro-war message that isn't explicitly stated. I will say, war propaganda songs then were incredibly subtle at the time, more than Senbonzakura. Both because that was the style at the time and probably to have more effective propaganda.

I'd say, one should expect anything made in modern Japan to be anti-war. They generally don't want a repeat of WWII.

-

Other Vocaloid Songs I Listen To

"Ah, It's a Wonderful Cat Life" is just a cute song about two cats in love. The boy cat wants the girl to join his life as a stray. The girl, however, is a house cat and doesn't want to leave her pamper life or her owner. Both yet still want to be together. This one is just nostalgic, grew up loving this one.

"The Tailor of Enbizaka" is about a kimono tailor who kills a man's family out of a jealous delusion that he's her lover. Like Senbonzakura, the lyrics never states this explicitly but the tone and visuals make it obvious.

Fun fact: The red, green, and black pattern on the side is based on kabuki curtains.

"Feathers Across the Seasons" follows an old folktale called Tsuru no Ongaeshi or "Crane's Return of a Favor".

On a snowy mountain lives a happy couple. The man eventually becomes ill, leaving the woman to provide for both and earn money for medicine. The woman is hinted to actually be a shapeshifting crane that the man once saved. She then returned to him as a woman to marry him. As favor for saving her, the wife weaves and sell cloth made of her own feathers, sacrificing her own wellbeing for her husband's life. It's implied the husband dies, leaving the crane wife a grieving widow.

Some think the wife also dies, after using her last feather. I don't think that's the case though. But, like poetry, it's inappropriate to reference death directly, so without visuals, both deaths are ambiguous.

-

Other Japanese Songs

Easy Breezy by Chelmico. I just heard the song from the anime Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! It's a fun song about creating and having fun regardless of what other people will think of you. Very appropriate for Eizouken, funny considering I don't think it was made for the show.

Nippon Egao Hyakkei or "Hundreds of Japanese Smiles" by Momoiro Clover Z. This song is mainly based in Rakugo, a traditional form of comedy. A single storyteller tells a long tale to build up to a big punchline. These stories rely on wordplay and delivery, so it's a bit hard to get into without a innate understanding of Japanese. The music video also uses elements of kabuki and festivals.

It has a simple message of enjoyment, to just laugh regardless of what strife comes along your way.

Through these songs, I realized that there's a common sentiment to enjoy life regardless of social expectations.

-

Pacfiic Overtures

I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention Pacific Overtures. This musical is American-made. But it's based in Japan before the Arrival of the Black Ships and then before the Meiji Restoration. The original production is styled mainly after kabuki with a gradual westernization in visuals and instrumentation.

Pretty much every song here is great, my top three being The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea (the song above), There is No Other Way, and Someone in a Tree.

I recommend watching the original version then the 2003 Japanese prodution. That one removed the explicit kabuki elements, opting to use the more subtle parts of Japanese culture with a modern taste. (Using the 2004 Broadway revival since that was based on the Japanese one.)

-

As you can tell, I prefer songs based on traditional music and history, something a little more that I can sink my teeth into. Also musicals but that's a topic for another day. Sorry for rambling, had to take the opportunity.

[lultimagoccia]

𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧

What's your phone wallpaper? pics of my kid because my kid is OBJECTIVELY the cutest, ever. Last song listened to: i have literally had this video / song stuck in my head. all. day. Currently reading: slowwwwly reading through " stress - free productivity " by alice boyes, phd because i'm really trying to use my time in ways that feel more important to me. always feel like i'm wasting all my free time and it's an immensely frustrating feeling. Last movie: i think it was " inside out 2 " ....... i don't watch many movies PFF Last show: UHH prolly " bluey "?? What are you wearing right now? my work uniform. i. still gotta change out of it and get ready for bed oop Piercings/Tattoos: my ears were pierced as a kid but it always hurt like hell putting earrings in so i stopped a long time ago. kinda wanna get a tatt sometime. Glasses/Contacts? glasses foreverrrrr Last thing you ate? leftover apple cinnamon waffles with peanut butter n' a l'il caramel sauce =u= yom yom Favorite Colour: pink!! Current obsession: sticker scrapbooking, i am OBSESSED rn. i've collected stickers since i was a kid and it's nice to finally put them to a good use. Do you have a crush right now? i mean, there's various fictional characters i am attracted to yeah. Favorite fictional character: i have a few, but scratch from " the ghost and molly mcgee " has def become incredibly near and dear to my heart. there's a reason i use him as my fc!! he's funny as hell, his design is SO appealing to me, and i just fuckin' love his character arc in the show. really think it's dana snyder's best role to date, he just absolutely hits the comedic and emotional beats SO well. Last place you traveled: a few states over to see my mom a few years ago.

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Mikan (pt. 39)

I'm sorry. What lies ahead is more of a rant than anything else. It's not required reading in any case. Feel free to read if you want my take on the specific reasons why this ending is so lackluster.

We've come really far to get here, though! If you've read every part of to this, that is CRAZY. I think it's crazy someone would write so much about this, and I was the one who did it. Maybe we're both crazy.

<- Prev Next ->

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Eight

Time to meet Mikan! A second-year high school student living in a village near the ocean who lives with her grandpa and a strange bear. She has two friends who don’t seem to wear the uniform. Her life is simple, from the outside.

But she is a person shrouded in mystery! Even to herself! She has lost two whole years of memories due to an illness she had as a child. In her mind, she suddenly went from being in the fifth grade to entering middle school, which must have been jarring for her. All she knows is her grandpa, an ever-present bouquet whose flowers never wilt, and a teddy bear who came with a letter from a mysterious sender, whose name has been redacted. But this bear is not a normal bear! He is animate and can move and clean (and beat her up). The strangest thing is that it only moves in front of her and her Jii-chan. Mikan’s reputation in the village has been affected by this strangeness in her life. She is viewed as being an odd girl, a bit of a space case. 

Mikan is the crazy girl in the village. I would have loved to see more of that...

It seems Mikan has always been a weirdo. I speculated at the start of this essay that Mikan didn't always fit in with kids in her village, and it seems that's still the case now. Where Mikan thrived was Alice Academy, where she was surrounded by fellow weirdos, where she made amazing friends and bonds that would last forever.

Despite the bear’s strangeness, she is very close to him. He’s a part of the little family she has with Jii-chan. 

Mikan may be a strange girl surrounded by strange things, but she is an optimistic and cheerful girl who likes to look forward to every new day. 

At the end of the school day, Mikan’s teacher warns his students about mysterious disappearances and suspicious people in town. All of the victims seem to be girls Mikan’s age, so the police warn against teen girls walking by themselves. Mikan finds this situation strange since their town is so peaceful and idyllic, and doesn’t seem like the place for a string of kidnappings. The teacher freaks out and insists on Mikan paying attention, shaking her by the shoulders and telling her to take care of herself or else he’ll have to watch over her 24/7… which is gross. Get away, Mikan!

Seeing her get harassed isn't enjoyable though. I hatE her stupid friends. Gross. Creepy. Unsettling. One of her friends is a grown man in disguise. I want to rip his head off.

Mikan leaves school crying after that ordeal and her friends just laugh it off, teasing her for being the teacher’s favorite and what bad luck that must bring. I don’t find it funny but nobody asked me! In any case, her friends write off their teacher’s concern because of Mikan’s cuteness, which she seems to love hearing.

Clubs and afterschool activities have been canceled because of the kidnappings, so we have a sense of how dangerous these events are. 

Someone calls out to her on their way home--a boy who wants to talk in private. Her friends muse on how many guys confess to Mikan despite her “common” looks--and I must reiterate again how important it is to me that Mikan is not some drop-dead gorgeous model like Nobara or Hotaru are clearly made out to be. Also her friends suck. They figure her mystery might be attractive to boys, and that might be true, but I think her sweetness and bubbly energy might also play a role.

He does indeed confess to her and Mikan apologizes, citing her ignorance in the world of dating. She thanks him for liking her but turns him down. Her rejection of him is not personal at all, and thus wholly non-offensive. She doesn’t seem uncomfortable or put off by his affections, and I think that might soften the blow of her rejection a little.

Her friends scold her for turning him down, since he’s smart and in a prestigious club, and Mikan concedes that he did seem cool, but that she won’t date for anything less than love. They continue to bully her for rejecting him when love comes after dating, and Mikan sees their point, especially because she hasn’t had her first love yet, but she is sure, somehow, that she did love someone during the time she lost. As a result, whenever she talks to a boy, no matter how impressive or cool he seems, she always compares him to that feeling of love she still carries with her, for a person she doesn’t even remember. 

Ah, the consistent endurance of love. The question of whether love is something that can be forgotten or whether it becomes a function as natural as breathing or digestion. For Mikan, it seems to be the latter. She remembers that she was--is still--in love with someone, and dating carries no interest to her if it can’t compare to that feeling. 

The love is certainly not past tense, either, because she still feels it--an ache, a pain, a lonely feeling. She misses this person. 

There's potential here but no follow through. What we get is just endless disappointment.

They stop by the ocean and Mikan relishes the moment, always happy to see the sea, as if she is watching it for someone else too. She recalls feeling that way watching the snow fall, looking at the sky, feeling happy like she was watching for somebody else, and then explicably crying, unable to stop. No matter what she does or experiences, her heart is pulled to that love.

And what do I think of all this?

It’s pretty confusing, the way it’s written. It’s no secret I fucking hate these chapters, and there’s a lot of reasons, but this scene is something I can’t relish in because it can be read a few ways and I can’t help but feel like I know which is the way Higuchi intended it. 

It’s pretty clear from the blurry panels of forgotten memories that Mikan is thinking of multiple people as she stares into the ocean, thinking of Hotaru as she stares at the snow. And yet, this whole monologue of hers seems to be thinking of one person. What does this mean?

Well, primarily, I think Mikan’s amnesia mixes the love up, and I feel l want to believe that’s narratively intentional, that Mikan loves and misses many people, but can’t parse out that fact. Instead it feels like she just loved one person that much that everything reminds her of a love she can’t remember. 

In my opinion, this love is varied, because she loved a lot of people in different ways: friends, family, Natsume (who has always been different). I think she is put off by romance because of her enduring romantic love for Natsume, but it’s not only Natsume that she thinks of when she sees the ocean. Mikan loved so many people and now she misses them, all the friends and teachers and classmates and family she met and lost. It would make sense then that amnesia!Mikan might look at the moon and think of Natsume, or at the stars and think of her mother. Maybe she hears a violin and misses Sumire, or cries whenever she studies because she wishes Yuu was there--all without actually remembering the person, just the love. As a result, because she knew and loved so many people, she would get reminded of that love whenever she does anything. 

What puts me off about this is the rest of this arc and the unproportional emphasis on Hotaru. I already hate the choice to have Hotaru save Natsume so her fate hasn’t actually been sad to me for a few years now--just deeply annoying and pointless. I am of the opinion that Mikan entering the academy was a change for her, that she was a weird girl in her old village, who didn’t have many close friends until she met Hotaru. Then she went to the Academy and was able to make many friends with people who loved and accepted her. She finally found somewhere she belonged. 

These ending chapters, thus, should have been about her enduring love for everyone, how the bonds she made at the Academy were impossible to forget. Instead, the reunion with Natsume and her entire class is condensed to one chapter--and very little of it is pleasant--with the entire final chapter being about Hotaru, as if to make the point that despite all of the love Mikan gathered and gained, Hotaru is still the person she loves the most, and by a huge margin, almost to the point where her other loved ones don't really matter at all.

AnyWAY, the kidnappers have found her and Mikan is terrified and confused. A mysterious explosion seems to save her from the kidnappers, and when she looks through the flames, she can see the silhouette of a person in the distance, a silhouette that makes her heart beat faster. She instantly becomes overwhelmed, because now it’s not just external events confusing her; she’s confounded by what’s going on inside of her head too. 

On the other side of her, another man knocks the kidnappers out with his hand powers. And that makes her heart beat too. But Mikan assumes her discomfort around this new man is because he must be part of the kidnapping group. 

Reminding myself that this is a ship essay and that Higuchi gave me a couple crumbs to work with... There's just not even enough to make a crouton with.

Then it turns out Shi-chan is actually Goshima in disguise and if you aren’t touched or particularly interested in this redemption, join the club! The “Goshima has been by Mikan’s side for years, protecting her” idea means absolutely nothing to me when it all happened in one condensed chapter, when he’s been seen bullying and even physically hurting her in his girl disguise, and when I never really cared about Goshima as a character to begin with. Too little, too late, too weird. I find this off-putting, actually. Whose idea was it to trust Goshima with anything after he’s been established to not be trustworthy, just for the sake of giving him a chance to “redeem himself”? For all the nonsense about Mikan having to forget everything just in case she gets targeted by enemies, they sure did take a huge risk letting Goshima anywhere near her after he knowingly caused her mom’s death.

Anyway, Mikan is overwhelmed and confused, because her close friend just turned into a man and there’s a lot of weirdos around and they’re talking about stuff she doesn’t understand--

And then she bumps into someone as she’s backing away, someone who instantly grabs her hand and pulls her closer.

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Nine

Her heart beats fast again, and for some reason, looking at this guy makes her think of that feeling of love she had mused on before, how she somehow knows she was in love before. Somehow, just looking at him and touching him, makes her feel like this stranger knows her, makes her feel something strange and yet unbearably familiar. She knows she’s felt this before--

The potential of this! It's almost interesting but it only lasts three seconds, so who cares?

The stranger gropes her chest.

But of course he does! This arc SUCKS! There’s so little good about it, why would the NatsuMikan reunion be any different??? I am ANGRY. I HATE this arc, not even joking. I’m not exaggerating; I genuinely hate this finale.

Anyway. 

She starts freaking out--understandably--that this stranger, who made her feel feelings she was sure she wouldn’t find with any of the other guys who confessed to her, felt her up out of the blue for no fucking reason. She starts screaming for help but he seems unbothered. All of the strange men seem unbothered, actually. 

Then, to make matters even worse, three new weirdos arrive. I don’t know why they thought it was a good idea to ambush her with so many strange people at once, all of whom are men, right after she’d been almost kidnapped. They talk about and at her without her knowing them and it’s uncomfortable. If you think I only dislike Natsume’s first actions with her here, you’re wrong! All of it is thoughtless and inconsiderate. 

Who thought to themselves, “Y’know there’s a string of alice-related kidnappings near Mikan and she’s been warned not to walk by herself because these are predominantly male attacks on young female victims her age, so we should make sure to save her with an all-male team of suspicious characters who are sure to act strangely and frighten her”? Because whoever did is a fucking idiot.

Why am I surprised though? It’s one of the teachers for sure, and the Academy staff hasn’t impressed me much this whole manga. 

They seem to know her name and talk about her like they’re familiar with her, which only freaks her out more. She lays eyes on a blond person who is supposed to be handsome and princely according to her thoughts (but I always despaired about how the finale boys look more than twice the age they’re supposed to be and are bizarrely broad). 

But they all voice the same sentiment that the blond boy brings up: they have missed her and wanted to see her for a long time. They’re going to take her away. 

Mikan considers this: a group of strange men appears at just the right time to save her from kidnappers, and they claim to be friends from a time she has forgotten, and now want to take her away from home. 

She starts to run away, horrified, because obviously these guys are also kidnappers!

She despairs about why her life has to be so messy and mysterious, just as that gropey guy jumps in front of her to stop her from escaping. They make eye contact and the build-up here is that something drastic might happen, that she wouldn’t be off-base if she assumed he’d attack her somehow.

Instead, she is embraced by this stranger, and she’s taken aback by the sudden and uncalled-for sweetness. Until he starts screaming at her that he isn’t about to let her go. He says more cryptic stuff about searching for her endlessly, about how it felt to wake up without her, how hard he had to work to stay alive for this moment, that she shouldn’t have forgotten him.

And poor Mikan can only stand in his arms and listen, overwhelmed but undoubtedly touched somehow. 

“Even if you have forgotten your memories, and the alice stone you had back then, you are mine.” 

Mikan starts to cry, remembering that she had once been in love with someone, that she had turned down every guy who approached her because no matter how cool or handsome they were, they could never compare to that feeling of loving someone so much--a feeling that she only feels in this stranger’s arms. 

Ahh...

Without understanding why, she hugs him back and cries in his arms, thinking about how she feels with this crazy dude she just met, her entire body overcome with electricity, with the “painful intensity of love.” Yes, love, for someone she just met. Love, for someone she’s loved for a long time, even though she’s forgotten him.

Because even though his name and face and all the memories with him have been forgotten, the love she has for him has never budged.

She cries and hugs him until her attention is drawn to his pocket, where something is flickering. He pulls it out to show her, a little pebble. He puts it in her hand and it is instantly resorbed, and WHOOSH!

She starts to cry. Because she remembers everything now! Just like that!

It’s almost as if having her lose all her memories two chapters ago didn’t actually MEAN ANYTHING! The lack of build up to this moment, the all-over-the-place quality of these chapters… it just doesn’t feel as exciting as it should.

It all just feels pointless. Or at least it does to me. Like. What was the point?

She says Natsume’s name as she cries, instant relief at being able to see someone she was sure she would never see again, someone who had maybe even died. Yet here he is, right in front of her, alive. She has recovered her memories so now when Natsume hugs her again, it’s not out of the blue and she instantly reciprocates. 

Insert witty or sappy comment here.

She is then greeted with an onslaught of “What about me?” and “Do you remember me?”, which she answers in the affirmative for all. 

This whole scene is pretty rushed and unsatisfying but Mikan has a happy reunion with people she loves and now remembers. 

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty

I don’t relish analyzing these chapters because I hate them. There isn’t much to analyze, really, but there is a lot to critique and I don’t like being negative about Gakuen Alice, so I prefer to just ignore these chapters whenever I can. In fact, most of the time I'm able to forget these chapters enough that they don't feel like a part of canon at all to me, giving me the opportunity to consider alternate and better endings. I like very little that is offered here. These chapters just piss me off, and that sucks because I set out on this essay because I knew that the manga has so much to offer in terms of intelligent story-telling and this ending just messes it all up.

It is apparently a miracle that Mikan has managed to regain her memories, even if it’s a small portion of what she’s lost (and that feels pointless too). But Mikan is sure she didn’t cause the miracle, because she heard a voice when she resorbed the alice stone that wished she’d regain her lost memories. That girl’s voice set off a big wave of memory, apparently. So it wasn’t even the alice stone. 

Apparently, even though she was surrounded by people she loves, nobody’s voice or appearance unlocked any solid memories, but Hotaru’s disembodied voice does? Now, I don’t like that at all, personally, because to me it seems antithetical to Mikan’s character and undermines the love she has for everyone else, both her romantic love for Natsume and her platonic love for her friends and family. This last chapter irritates me so much, in fact, because it seems to be making the point that Mikan doesn’t just love Hotaru the most, but that she loves her so much more than everyone else, and those kinds of revelations being shared openly in front of everyone else who loves her just rubs me the wrong way and gives me a gross feeling.

I find it hard to picture that Mikan’s love for the others couldn’t even come close. It’s stupid.

I'm so mad. Mikan, didn't Jii-chan teach you any manners? What the actual fuck would make you say something like that in front of all these people who love you? That's so annoying. This chapter is not canon to me, I'm sorry.

She even says she “always loved that person more than others” IN FRONT OF EVERYONE ELSE AROUND HER. All these people who have been missing her and waiting to see her, and she just says “I love someone else way more than y’all!” like it’s no big deal!

And that’s why I dislike the scene in 178, where Mikan talks about her overpowering love for one person. Because to Higuchi, this isn’t an amalgamation love thing, it’s focused solely on Hotaru, implying that sure, maybe Mikan is happy to see all her friends again, but the person she’s cried over and missed for all these years is just Hotaru. It sucks, man.

Mikan was a lonely person before she went to the academy. Sure, she went to chase Hotaru, but there's so many bonds and relationships she built while at that school, with teachers, with classmates, with her upperclassmen, all people who impacted her and changed her and made her better. People she cried about leaving, people she didn't want to forget. People she was willing to lock herself in a labyrinth to save, people she would have put herself in danger for.

This final chapter says those people don't matter. The only person who matters or has ever mattered is Hotaru. It makes me feel gross, because that's not the story we've been reading.

Anyway, they all fill her in and Mikan has to deal with Goshima, who murdered her mom, and we have to watch yet another moment of her blindly forgiving someone because holding grudges is bad! Then again, Mikan apparently doesn’t even remember her parents, so her forgiveness isn’t entirely informed by actual memories or feelings, just the general vibe that Goshima is nice now and shouldn’t feel bad about murder anymore. 

You're a creep, Goshima! Who the hell would trust you, that doesn't even make sense! It's not "mercy", it's stupidity. Let him prove himself in some other way, not with the duty of protecting your niece, the daughter of the woman he killed. All of Shi-chan's actions are ten thousand times worse when you keep in mind that was actually a grown man.

“Everyone needs to smile!” and just get over whatever bad stuff happens, I guess. If someone wrongs you, you have to forgive them, or else you’re just being a negative nancy!

SHE EVEN ENDS UP APOLOGIZING TO HIM for not appreciating how much pain HE was in! I HATE THIS ENDING SO FUCKING MUCH.

“Let’s just forget about it!” I hate this ending.

There’s absolutely no attention paid to pain, to suffering, to abuse. There’s no respect given to characters like Natsume who underwent horrific trauma at the hands of abusive teachers, a character who might not feel as inclined to forgive as Mikan is. There’s no appropriate time spent considering these feelings. There's no care here. Instead, Higuchi’s narrative implies that bad things should be forgotten and you should in fact apologize to those who wronged you for not realizing they’re in pain!

(I actually did reference this in ATRAD, so if this seems familiar, that’s why. I put a lot of emphasis on Luna and forgiveness, and Mikan’s feeling as if she should forgive because that’s what she’s supposed to do, and what would bring happiness to everyone else. I specifically talked about it because of how much it bothered me in the manga.

“Well, Luna and I were talking about the past issues here.” Kuonji gestured between the two girls. “Now, Mikan, we all know that what Luna did was horrible. Luna knows better than anyone that it was wrong. She’s talked to me about it and I think it causes her more pain than it does you, knowing that her actions caused you pain.”

“She tried to kill me,” Mikan muttered. 

“Now, imagine how she feels, knowing that?” Kuonji said gently. )

I feel no desire to talk about this boring information that gets dumped on us all of a sudden in the last chapter. What’s the point? It’s irrelevant. This is the LAST chapter of Gakuen Alice and it’s used as an information dump to justify the nonsense that’s happening, that undermines everything else. What’s there to analyze?

Whatever.

It's a combination of things. I hate Hotaru's role in this end. I hate Mikan's behavior in this chapter. I hate that nearly every page in this chapter is text heavy and loaded with new information that has no place in a finale. I hate that nothing matters. They all deserved better.

Mikan is reminded of Hotaru’s name and she has a little breakdown trying to get why that name is the only one on her heart (WHAT???), when she meets even more people--including Shiki, and she’s told that Mikan is crucial in the efforts to find this Hotaru person. Mikan is again brought to tears when she hears Hotaru’s voice wishing her a happy birthday, recorded on mushrooms that Ruka has kept all this time. 

Mikan is then given a choice: to leave with these people as a quasi-Alice, to help save Hotaru, or to forget everything again and go back to her normal life.

The fact that anybody is concerned about what she’ll choose is fucking stupid.

It’s not even a choice. Obviously we know what she picks.

But her reasoning is for some reason entirely about Hotaru, and saving Hotaru, when all her other friends are standing around her hoping that this isn’t the last time they see her. THIS PISSES ME OFF.

She then meets all her other classmates all at once. Randomly. It’s rushed, it’s not heartfelt. It feels like things are being done just to finish them. The only thing of any value is the memory that Mikan wanted to see the ocean with everyone when things at the Academy become better. And it looks like things are better! So they’re all together at the beach! Yay! I don’t care.

It’s time to go on a trip to save Hotaru! Right away. Like right now. And even though Mikan is reuniting with everyone she’s loved at the Academy, the only one who actually matters is Hotaru for some reason. 

I remember looking through the raws of this chapter when it first came out and the empty, stirring feeling in my stomach. The lack of interest I had in anything that was happening visually, the huge bubbles of text, the presence of way too many characters. This should go without saying but I didn't actually read any translation of this ending until years after it came out. I've probably read these final chapters 3-4 times total since they came out. They're just not important to my experience of this story at all.

Do I like Mikan chasing after Hotaru at the end just like she did in the beginning? Hmm. No. I hate it. I hate Hotaru saving Natsume for Mikan’s sake. I hate Hotaru being stuck in time-space. I hate Mikan acting the exact same as she did in the first chapter, as though she didn't grow or change at all, as if all the love she’s gained with other people doesn’t compare at all to her love for Hotaru, downplaying how much everyone else means by a lot. I hate the open-endedness. I hate that none of the reunions hold any weight and none of them make me feel anything, not even the NatsuMikan one.

ME. I don’t feel ANYTHING in these chapters but annoyance. I’m the kind of person who cries just thinking about Pengy or Natsume and Ruka’s backstory. I cry all the time. I cried watching House almost every episode. I cried watching the lamest romcoms known to man. I cry everytime I watch a true crime documentary and everytime a mom says "I'm proud of you" to her kid on TV and everytime I look too long at my cat. I cry about fucking EVERYTHING. And Higuchi didn’t make me feel fucking anything with the finale to her manga. 

I’m sick and tired of these chapters. They’re not canon to me. They feel disrespectful to me and annoying and I hate them. I prefer Kageki, or even better--imagining an entirely different ending, particularly because of Mikan. Anyway.

It’s no secret, I think, that I hate the GA finale. I am not a big fan of the way Natsume’s death was resolved, or how Ruka’s arc was left hanging open, or how Hotaru got trapped in space time. I don’t like that everything that happens to Mikan in the end doesn’t even matter, that everything in the ending is pointless and results in no change, no development, no consequence. 

I’ve said before that I personally can’t write unhappy endings, but I can sometimes cope with them in other people’s stories if that’s the best resolution for the characters. GA is a strange example of an ending because it wanted to have both a happy and unhappy ending, which just resulted in it being a meh ending at best (and excruciatingly irritating at worst). The ending insults all of Mikan’s non-Hotaru relationships and all the readers who liked them. The reunions are all rushed and thus none of it makes an emotional impact. 

The worst part, in my opinion, is that the chapters leading up to this finale (so the last couple dozen) aren’t much better because they lend a hand to this. Character arcs are the most important part of a story’s narrative in a work like this. This manga has been incredibly well-written up to this part, particularly in regards to most of the main four having well-defined arcs. There’s three types of character arcs, I think:

Character evolution would usually refer to any kind of change, but for the sake of clarity, for this, I’ll use it as a positive change. Think of a character who has trust issues. Character evolution would mean that he eventually starts trusting in people. The story would climax with his trust in someone being tested and him choosing to trust anyway. That’s what character-based storytelling is all about, fulfilling someone’s character arc by addressing their faults and obstacles.

I’ll use the term character “devolution” to refer to a character arc where the character has a negative arc progression. Technically, this is character evolution as well, just of the negative variety, but for clarity’s sake I’ll call it devolution or deterioration. Let’s say, there’s a character who just wants to protect her younger sister. Over the course of the narrative, her actions become more and more drastic and she does increasingly atrocious things in the name of protecting her sister until she’s become something akin to a monster, maybe even the story’s villain. A well-written character arc does not have to be focused on positive change.

The last type of character arc would be… none. Some characters are called “static” which means they stay the same throughout the story. The story isn’t circled around testing them or pushing them into developing. Characters like this are more involved in challenging other characters.

I think Hotaru is more or less a static character. She becomes a little more open with her emotions, sure, but the little changes she makes are almost imperceptible on a narrative level. If you look at the individual arcs and think about Hotaru’s actions, she rarely plays an active role. She is usually a catalyst for Mikan’s actions, or a strong supportive role. It’s what her character does best because that’s just what static characters do! I don’t think there’s much wrong with characters like this, and people use “static” as a negative term way too often, but I strongly believe Hotaru would make that same sacrifice for Mikan in chapter one that she makes at the end, which makes the action less potent. Mikan’s desire to be able to sacrifice comes from being inspired by Hotaru’s sacrifice. Hotaru doing what she’s always done as the climactic action in the manga sucks out all the narrative potency from the ending when there’s two characters with unresolved arcs. Hotaru would have worked best in a strong support role here, and I think it would have been more meaningful to have Hotaru chase Mikan rather than the other way around again. 

I’ve seen that referred to and praised as some kind of narrative bookend or parallel, but to me it always felt lazy, like there was no real change to Mikan or Hotaru’s characters for all of these almost two hundred chapters. It rubs me the wrong way, and maybe that’s because I’m focusing too much on character arcs and narrative, but hey! That’s what I was trained to look at in college, so I can’t change this about myself.

Exhibit B is Ruka, who I think was pushed to the side unceremoniously and whose arc was completely ignored. Yes, I did mention character devolution. It’s possible that a good arc for Ruka would look like him being faced with the opportunity to save Natsume and, despite his very best efforts, not being able to, or even making things worse inadvertently, suddenly feeling like he’s received proof after all these years that he truly is a burden. That’s a sad arc progression, but it works narratively. It would seem strange in a work like GA, which tries to be positive, but it works. But he didn’t get that. Ruka is too easily escorted from the action, from the climax, entirely sidelined. Ruka’s arc is pretty clear--what his biggest issue is and what he needs to change about himself in order to live a successful life is painted for us from the beginning. He’s not static like Hotaru, especially because his character arc is brought up multiple times in multiple arcs and he makes a little progress each time, as a way to tease a huge event on the horizon where he will be fully confronted with his burden complex. He is not given this opportunity and the spotlight is ceaselessly handed elsewhere, making his character inconsequential when it comes to Natsume’s death. A spit in the face.

The only character whose arc seems perfect to me is Natsume’s, funnily enough, but only to an extent. Natsume dying for love is perfect for him, and I believe that ending his arc any other way wouldn’t be as meaningful to his character. This has been set-up from the beginning, almost as if fate has commanded that he would die no matter what changed in his life. And that’s great because we see him change his perspective from Chapter 16, when he’s happy to kill himself, relieved that his suffering will soon be over, into his eventual death, where he can’t accept that his life is over because he doesn’t want it to be. He does everything he can to save Mikan, but ultimately when death comes for him, he doesn’t really want to go. That’s PERFECT! The thing that ruins it is Hotaru rescuing him for Mikan’s sake. Natsume’s martyr complex throughout the manga reveals to us just how little his existence means to him. He always comes dead last to himself and what he needs is other people choosing him first and making him feel like his life is significant and means something other than what he can do for others. Hotaru saving him puts his actual existence dead last. She doesn’t save him for him, but because of Mikan. Hotaru doesn’t really care about Natsume, so when she saves him, it reinforces the idea that Natsume exists for other people, that all he’s good for is what he can give. The absolute WORST part of that is that Higuchi Tachibana didn’t even think of that. There’s no evidence that this story choice wants to explore what that means for Natsume, how that choice would impact everyone involved. The carelessness and sloppiness is what bothers me here, that Natsume’s nearly perfect arc is tainted by the fumbling effort to put Hotaru in an active role that doesn’t benefit her character arc, that negatively impacts everyone else’s arcs.

And then there’s Mikan… Who I believe was done pretty dirty. Mikan had a clear character devolution. She goes from being a generally upbeat but still emotional girl, capable of sadness and anger and who doesn’t let herself get treated poorly, who generally wants to be useful, to contribute something, to be able to sacrifice things. The sacrifice part got a lot of focus throughout, and whenever she gets the chance, she throws herself at it. The best part is that Mikan doesn’t so much “make the choice” to sacrifice as she feels it’s the only thing she can do. There is no alternative to her because she doesn’t even think of it. It’s only when she’s confronted with Kazumi giving her a choice at the end: save Natsume or keep your alice, that her sacrifice feels like a personal choice rather than an instinctive action on her point. Honestly, Mikan has always been a character motivated to do good, so her arc is less about learning to do good and more about realizing that she does do good already. Additionally, she has the abandoned nullification alice arc, where Mikan feels like her alice is completely useless, like it doesn’t benefit anybody. But there is one thread that has tied to that throughout the manga, from the very first arc, and that’s Natsume. If Natsume was always meant to die, Mikan was always meant to save him. That’s clear from the start, when Narumi says “There might be someone out there in need of your alice” over a panel of Natsume. It was as much a part of implicit destiny as Natsume’s death, as the two of them falling in love. And that was specifically in terms of her silly nullification. Her nullification should have played a role here, and the fact that it didn’t annoys me. I don’t like Mikan having the stealing alice at all, we been knew. It completely dismisses the nullification alice from her storyline for no real narrative reason. Mikan having the stealing alice doesn’t really do much for her character. It acts as a plot lubricant, as a tie to her mom, but for Mikan’s existing arc--nothing. 

There’s the fact, too, that Mikan saving Natsume would have communicated to him that his life means something, if only it means he lives. That he doesn’t have to give anything, as long as she can have him breathing. It would have meant so much for both of their character arcs. It would have been the pretty, perfect way to tie it all. I know there’s a lot of focus nowadays on “subversive” story telling, on setting up one story only to turn it over with some contrived plot twist for the sake of shocking the audience. “You thought this would happen, but you’re stupid for thinking so, because this is happening instead!” I think that kind of plot doesn’t act in contribution to character arcs, which is actually the only thing I care about. In a story like GA, character has been central, so it should continue to be. To me, Mikan being unable to save Natsume feels stupid and pointless, not in a “sometimes you fail” kinda way, because Mikan has already been taught that lesson. That would hit harder, maybe, if Natsume did die for real here, if he never came back. It would be sad, but it would be potent and meaningful. Instead, Natsume can be saved, just not by her. She is incapable of doing the one thing she was set up to do from the start. Instead, her role is stolen by Hotaru and the act of saving Natsume is no longer an act of love for him, but an act of love for Mikan, which is just insulting to all the characters involved. 

Ultimately, how can this finale make you feel anything if the characters have been abandoned for the sake of a lazy “bookend” of Mikan chasing Hotaru once more? All the arcs were abandoned in favor of servicing a sloppy and rushed ending, where no character gets the attention they deserve. The finale just does what it can with the resolution it’s been presented with, and that’s why it sucks so bad. Three chapters isn’t enough to clean up the mess from the last twenty or so chapters, but it doesn’t even try. 

I think the last chapter is the worst chapter in Gakuen Alice, hands down. But it’s only made possible by the subpar story told prior to it, specifically about Natsume’s death, which is the climax of the story. That climax is deceptive too, because you cry so much--about Natsume dying, Mikan leaving, Hotaru sacrificing herself, Ruka being left behind by everyone he knows--that you don’t even notice how bad the writing is! And all the stuff that’s making you cry is cheap character ploys to make you feel in the moment without giving you an actual conclusion. GA isn’t just open-ended because Hotaru is still missing; Mikan, Ruka, and Natsume are still missing character arc closure. 

And considering how intelligent the story-telling has been up to now, it feels out of the blue and unfair to have such an awful ending.

What a disappointment.

Palate cleansing NatsuMikan to soothe your soul after you had to read all that nonsense and negativity. Sorry about all that.

Conclusion

Yeah, so like i said: a rant. Tomorrow I'll wrap up all of this with a little touch on Kageki, but there's not much to analyze there because NatsuMikan aren't focal.

I'm sorry if this was very negative. Like I'd mentioned a hundred times already, it's hard for me to be negative about GA. I don't like whining or complaining and staying butthurt about an ending that was published more than ten years ago feels unproductive. If anything, I take it as a learning moment. I use this to teach myself how vital endings are, and how not to do them. I also generally don't think of these chapters at all. I sometimes flat out forget the story ended this way until someone reminds me.

In my head, the character arcs are resolved and Hotaru never got lost to time-space because that's stupid. I have quite a few alternate endings in my head, but I prefer all of them to the one we got.

Thanks for reading, folks! Just one more time and then we can move on with our lives and go back to pretending this manga is perfect.

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[pterodactylterrace]

House of the Dragon, Episode 1, explained poorly.

We open up with Old King Jaehaerys calling a great council in Harrenhal to decide the next heir. There are 14 claimants, but only two anyone takes seriously. Rhaenys, eldest descendant or Viserys, eldest male descendant.

Viserys wins, because she lacks a penis. We zoom in on Jaehaerys who has the look of “we are so effed” as a voiceover explains that the only thing that can defeat the house of the dragon, is itself.

Next scene we see a dragon flying around the skies of Kings Landing. Big yellow dragon. These small folk are way too chill about a dragon flying overhead. Dragon lands, a bunch of people in robe uniforms, shaved heads and speaking High Valaryian start talking to the dragon while a blonde girl jumps off her back. One of the kingsguard says he is glad she is back. He doesn’t like her flying, thinks the dragon will “spoil” her somehow.

Alicent mentions that Syrax is getting big, almost as big as Caraxes. Rhaenyra points out that’s almost big enough to saddle two. Alicent affirms she is more comfortable on the ground. They take a carriage (or wheel house, idk the difference) back to the castle and walk arm in arm through the halls.

Rhaenyra goes to visit her crazy pregnant mother (like her belly enters a room five minutes before she does, could go any day now kind of pregnant), who chides her for flying while she’s in her current condition. Rhaenyra begins asking about her mother’s well-being. Her mother tells her that having babies is how they serve the realm. Rhaenyra states she would rather be a knight and ride to glory in battle. Her mother insists their royal wombs mean their battlefield is giving birth, then tells her to go bathe because she stinks of dragon.

We cut to Viserys and his small council just as he delivers the punchline to his joke. Everyone laughs, but idk if it was funny or not. Corlys is upset about a pirate infestation in the Stepstones with a leader calling himself the Crabfeeder. He calls himself the “prince admiral”. Rhaenyra shows up and Viserys scolds her for being late, as when the cup bearer is late, it leaves people wanting for cups. She says she was visiting her mother, and Viserys sniffs her and asks “on dragon back?”

Beesbury is in an old white man tizzy because Daemon isn’t there, and he has spent like A LOT of coin revamping the City Watch. He would like a report on how well the improvements have done. I think Beesbury is the master of coin? They make little jabs at each other, Corlys goes back to talking about the Triarchy and the Crabfeeder. The shipping lanes are in danger. Otto tells him they will talk about it. They change the subject again to the heirs tournament.

Viserys asks if the due date is still accurate and the maester tells him they are doing their best, but this is ye olde times and this isn’t exactly something you can control the timing of. Rhaenyra is going around filling cups, as a cup bearer does. Corlys does not want any wine (Ooooooohhhhhhhhh 🫢 ye olde passive aggression!). Viserys is thrilled to bits to be having a son soon. He declares that his heir will put all the hand wringing to rest. Idk how, he’s a baby. Is he going to drag Daemon in by the ear and make him attend meetings, or go defeat the crab feeder himself? He really needs to lower his expectations. He isn’t even born yet, maybe relax a bit.

Harold of the kingsguard (I think that’s his name) is walking Rhaenyra to the throne room. Daemon is sitting on the iron throne. Harold about shits himself, and Rhaenyra is just like “I got this bro”. Then they start speaking High Valaryian to each other. Daemon declares the tournament is for him because he is Viserys heir. They talk and he establishes himself as the cool Uncle. He bought her a gift. A valaryian steel necklace. Like his sword. He puts the necklace on her. She somehow takes off the one she was already wearing with one handed sorcery. Daemon declares that they both now have a small piece of their ancestry.

Now we are outside. Alicent is sitting with Rhaenyra’s head in her lap, quizzing her on Nymeria’s husbands. Alicent picks up on her disagreeable mood. Rhaenyra is worried for her mother, and just wants her father to have a son so she can go on an adventure with Alicent on dragon back and eat nothing but cake. Alicent gets up to leave. Rhaenyra finally answers the question about Nymeria and then rips the page out of the book and says “fuck the septa” when Alicent says the septa will be upset.

Cut to Viserys with a boo boo on his back. It’s not healing. It’s actually getting worse. They don’t know what it is. Viserys insists it’s a boo boo from sitting on swords all day. Valid. The arch maester or whoever the lead doctor is in this thinks bad humors of the mind are the problem. Otto insists it be kept quiet. They discuss treatment plans. None sound fun. Viserys just decides fuck it and goes with their treatment plan.

Switch to Aemma, chilling in the tub. I feel you girl, late in my pregnancy, that’s where I spent most of my time too. Viserys is visiting. He thinks the water should be warmer. Aemma says she wouldn’t be surprised if she had an actual dragon after how rough her pregnancy has been.

Rhaenyra wants a sister. She has named her Visenya and picked out a cradle egg that reminded her of Vhagar. Viserys says they have their own Visenya in Daemon.

Viserys insists that the baby is a boy, and tells her about a dream he had about his son being born wearing the conquerors crown. Aemma isn’t jazzed about the thought of giving birth to a baby wearing a crown. She tells him she isn’t having anymore, and lists off all the tragic losses they have suffered. She apologizes for failing him.*

Now we are out in Kings Landing with the city watch. Daemon gives a rousing speech and they all scamper off through the streets, rounding up all the bad guys they can find. They even go into people’s homes to make sure no ne’er do well skips out on this super fun party.

Otto is NOT happy, but Daemon insists he did the right thing, and he was dispensing the King’s justice. He asks Lyonel Strong for his opinion. Lyonel seems mildly horrified, imo.

Otto brings up Daemon being more devoted to the city watch than to his wife. Daemon calls her his “Bronze Bitch” says she is happy for his absence and that sheep are prettier, then he takes a shot at Otto’s late wife. Otto rises to his feet, Viserys scolds Otto for letting Daemon rile him up. Viserys tells Daemon not to have a repeat of the previous night. Daemon leaves.

Cut to a pleasure den. Daemon is having some troubles performing. His paramour asks if he would prefer a blonde maiden. Also important to note: his paramour has a very thick accent, somewhat difficult to understand. She hypes him up, reminding him of who he is. He has a kick ass sword and the noodle boi himself, Caraxes is his mount. So Daemon is like, THE MAN.

TOURNEY TIME! I don’t understand the rules of jousting. Viserys makes a big speech at the beginning from his viewing box, announcing that his wife has gone into labor. Rhaenyra shows up late to the party during his announcement.

Horses are running at each other, and I think they are supposed to knock each other off their horse with a stick. I don’t know these houses or their crests. Green shield, red archer guy is down. Cole of the storm lands wins that round.

A Baratheon asks for Rhaenys favor, declaring her “The Queen Who Never Was”. She wishes him luck, and he insists he doesn’t need it. Otto tells Viserys he could have Baratheon’s tongue for that comment, but Viserys brushes it off saying wagging tongues won’t change the succession.

Rhaenyra and Alicent gossip. I guess some Elinor person is pregnant? Are we supposed to know who that is? Cole unhorses Baratheon. Baratheon does a sick backflip. Probably should have taken that luck… Rhaenys hides a smile behind her cup.

Rhaenyra asks about Cole. Harold doesn’t know anything besides who his parents were, and that he just defeated two Baratheons. Guess green shield was another Baratheon? I thought they had a stag, not an archer.

Daemon gets to choose his opponent because he is special. He chooses Otto’s eldest son because petty. Daemon has a really sick dragon helmet, black horse, black armor. Looking fucking sick. Hightower boy looks like he put a bucket on his head and cut some eye holes. First pass, no one falls. Second, Daemon trips the Hightower boys horse. Then he asks Alicent for her favor. Otto is FUMING.

The maester whispers something to Otto, who then passes it to Viserys. Aemma isn’t having an easy labor. The baby won’t come.

We return for some jousting. Green shirt gets knocked down and doesn’t like it, so he jumps up and pulls red checks off his horse. Doesn’t seem cool to do, but apparently that’s allowed? Just straight up unaliving someone because you lost. Ok, then. Whatever floats ye olde boat I guess. Rhaenys and Corlys discuss how none of the knights have seen true battle, as the last wars were fought like 70 years ago. Switch to a montage of wanton brutality inter cut with reactions from our favorites.

Back with Aemma, the maester suggests a radical action to save the baby. Viserys agrees, knowing Aemma won’t survive, be he like… REALLY wants a son, so...

Jousting time again! Daemon is up against Cole now. The horsies really want to run at each other. They probably didn’t see the other one trip earlier. First pass, nothing happens, they both hurry to grab a new lance. Daemon knocks his squire (I believe that’s who that is?) down when he grabs his lance. Just rude.

Close up of Viserys telling Aemma it will be ok, and that they are going to bring the babe out. Aemma is not on board with this idea, just btw.

Jousting time, Cole knocks Daemon onto the rail, which he slides down until he falls off. Daemon decides to continue in a contest of arms. Cole has a morning star, Daemon has Dark Sister. The morning star shreds Daemon’s shield. Cole gets the chain of his morning star around Daemon’s sword and manages to knock him to the ground. He throws what is left of his shield at Cole and kicks him down. Daemon stands up and begins to celebrate. Cole smacks him with his whirly spike ball and pins down his sword hand, advising Daemon to yield. He offers to help Daemon to his feet. He refuses.

Alicent makes a note that Cole is Dornish as he comes over to ask for the favor of the princess. Not sure if it’s important, but a favor is some little circle ring craft the ladies slide around the knights lance, so the knight at least gets a handmade trinket. If they survive.

Back with Viserys, the baby is born, but he starts coughing as Viserys names him “Baelon”.

Otto tells the nobles in the box seat of the tournament ground the news. He whispers, but Rhaenyra knows exactly what that must mean: a major complication in the birth.

Now we cut to the seaside where they have arranged a funeral pyre for Aemma and Baelon. He only outlived his mother by a few hours. Rhaenyra ponders if her father ever found happiness during those hours and laments to Daemon that she will never be a son. Daemon encourages her to give the command to light the pyre, insisting now is when her father needs her the most. She finally manages to give the command, and her dragon lights the pyre.

In the small council room, Otto presses Viserys about not having an heir. Corlys points out that Daemon is Viserys heir. Lyonel agrees. Beesbury is not jazzed about the idea of Daemon as king, and neither is Otto. Viserys lists off all the jobs Daemon has gone through, master of laws, he was a tyrant. Master of coin, he is going to beggar the realm. (Not Otto’s fault Daemon has been bad at every job he has been given). Otto admits he doesn’t think Daemon should be at court, but Viserys disagrees. Mellos suggests Viserys name an heir instead. Lyonel asks who else has a claim. Otto suggests the king’s firstborn child, Rhaenyra. No one else seems too thrilled because she lacks the one thing any king needs. A penis. Mellos points out that there is no law against it, a queen has just never sat the throne by tradition and president. They squabble about it.

Viserys is upset about having to choose between his brother and his daughter. Corlys reminds them that there other claimants. Like the queen that never was. More squabbling. Viserys lashes out at them, yelling about how his wife and son are dead and they are crows there to feast on their corpses.

In the tower of the hand, Otto is sexily sealing a message to be sent to Oldtown. Alicent comes to visit her father, and she is clearly upset by the events of the previous days. Otto suggests Alicent go visit the king and offer him comfort. She is nervous about it and begins chewing her nails. Otto suggests she wear one of her mother’s dresses.

Viserys is playing with his ye olde Lego set, looking at his late wife’s wedding ring. Alicent goes to visit him and brings a giant history book. She offers her condolences on the losses he has suffered.

Meanwhile, Daemon is partying in a whorehouse. He is the heir once again.

Otto gives a report the next day on how Daemon bought out a pleasure house to entertain his friends. Daemon toasted to prince Baelon, styling him as “the heir for a day”. He has three different witnesses that all attest to it being a celebration.

Viserys is sitting on the iron throne, crown in his head, Blackfyre in hand. Black and red Targaryen cloak about his shoulders. Daemon tells him the cuts the very image of the conquerer, but Viserys just cuts to the chase and asks “did you say it?” Daemon plays dumb. Viserys tells him to address him as ‘your grace’ or he will have his kingsguard will have his tongue.

We can watch the panic in Daemon’s eyes as he tries to come up with something. Daemon claims to have been mourning in his own way. Viserys berates him for not being there for him or Rhaenyra. He tells Daemon he has only ever thrown anything Viserys gives him in his face. Daemon accuses him of trying to send him away to the Vale, or the City Watch. Then he asks to be made hand. Because he is Viserys brother. Then he tells Viserys he is weak and that he needs Daemon. Viserys drops the bomb that he is naming a new heir, and commands Daemon to return to his wife in the Vale and to not make a big fuss about it. As Daemon leaves, Viserys cuts his finger on the throne.

Down in a sept, Viserys is petting lit candles. Rhaenyra visits him and he asks her what she sees when she looks at the dragons. She sees the Targaryens. Viserys tells her that the control they have over the dragons is an illusion. He then tells her she will be named heir.

Alicent helps Rhaenyra to dress for the ceremony. One by one, the Lords and Ladies of notable houses pledge their allegiance to Viserys and his new heir, Rhaenyra.

Viserys also tells her about Aegon’s dream. He foresaw the end of the world of men. It is to begin with a terrible winter, gusting out of the distant north. Aegon saw darkness riding on those winds, and whatever dwells within will destroy the world of the living. When the great winter comes, all of Westeros must be united, and if the world of men is to survive, a Targaryen must be seated on the throne. The secret has been passed down. Not sure why you would keep something like that a secret. Seems pretty important for everyone else to know about the end of the world of men. It would probably make it easier to hold the throne if they thought they would die otherwise, but what do I know?

Daemon takes his favorite whore with him when he leaves on Caraxes while Viserys names Rhaenyra as his heir to everyone.

[unauthorizedmagicians]

Season 1 Episode 3 - Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting

aka the episode we foreshadow the foreshadowing

i dont do slow like girl maybe u should

fogg with the og glasses is so funny like. i know. he gets better ones its just so

i forgot they get disciplines before the trials

professor march the man with absolutely zero lines

sunderland is holding brakebills on her back

wait nvm he does have lines

alice pouring 3 tons of sugar in her coffee lfsjkhdgsj

im conviced their cups are empty

let urselves in is my favorite thing they ported over from the books. josh hoberman taking 8 full hours like

GIRL WHAT IS THAT KEY FOR

margo is so cunty i love her. and then eliot stumbling over drunk

why is there a girl wearing the like uniform sweater. like nobody else is wearing merch except her

woof

q being a swift done me so wrong

julia bipolar headcanon? (i have bd)

garden variety haunting, band named called it

they need to stop doing stupid shit and then ppl would stop dying

book fucking pt 1™️

doing it without a net so u cut off all her resources. mhm. sure. jane and marina are foils but that's just me

"that wasn't so hard was it"

penny lives in the psychics hippie palace for like .2 seconds

penny traveler reveal

they really played up emily's like doe eyed bullshit

book fucking pt 2

eliots broken ass spanish lmfao

el just like rubbing the box with the books in them like sh sh sh ur home now

HE'S SO OVER Q'S INCEL BS ITS SO FUNNY

"u can't blame me" yes she can and she will

he was quite literally groveling not one episode ago i hate him

el's slow clap in the back like "congrats u fucked urself i called it"

"you've been a thin layer of insouciance over an open pit of self-pity your entire life" YOU TELL HIM FOGG

the fact that they put that nasty ass truck on this pristine set is hilarious

kady in shirts with slits up to her belly button. need i say more

foreshadowing the foreshadowing part 1 million 12 thousand 4 hundred and 2

BRO HOW DID SHE GET SO MANY STARS SO FAST

magic is drugs appearance pt 1

breakfast club reference teehee

"why do you think you had to save me?" FUCK

also girl u weren't close he just wanted u to join him