#also I will get around to the new season but it’ll be at least 2 weeks

[timecryptid]

Have I watched the most recent season of Big Mouth? No

Am I however once against getting obessed with Nick x Missy aka a ship which has like 5 episodes in total and of those episodes they are actually dating for like 2 and there is no fanart and the only fanfiction exists solely in my head? Yes

[burntheedges]

Pas de Deux Masterlist

Din Djarin x f!reader | 18+ | ~40k words | complete 1/15 main masterlist | ao3

summary: When Din Djarin – principal dancer at Concordia Ballet Company and generational talent in the classical style – suddenly left CBC and joined the Nevarro Ballet Theater mid-season, it shocked the ballet world. You never would have guessed that he would change your life, too.

full fic tags/warnings (spoilers!): modern AU, ballet AU, fluff, angst, flirting, dancing, lots of ballet terms (I’ll define things/link videos/etc. -- see below), misunderstandings, character study, romance, pet names (sweetheart, beautiful), lots of tension, later: smut, kissing, grinding, fingering, p-in-v sex, creampie, each chapter will have its own tags, Din lifts reader (see note below about reader)

a/n: welcome to the Din ballet fic!! I started writing this in April and it’s finally finished! I’ll post a new chapter every Wednesday, there are 14 total. There’s some smut coming but it’ll be a while, folks. See my notes below about reader in this fic and ballet in general. Thank you @katareyoudrilling for being the best beta, as always!! This fic is so much better because of you. 🧡 And thank you to @almostfoxglove for reading over it and confirming I didn't forget all my ballet, lol. 🩰

note about reader: in this fic you’re a ballet dancer, first soloist at Nevarro Ballet Theater company. I haven’t mentioned the reader’s body size or shape (or hair) basically at all, even to the point of avoiding clothing (except for costumes), but I understand the image that goes along with ballet – I danced for almost 20 years. Din does lift you many times. Please feel free to picture whatever you want, but I know that this might seem more limited. You also have a best friend named Adrian who is in the company with you. I never specified age, but to make first soloist most would be in at least their early 20s. Din is 27.

Chapter list and notes about ballet under the cut! Comment or reblog to join the tag list. 🥰🩰

Chapter List

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

** Bonus: Amazing art of Din by @kenobiwanx!! **

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

...

some notes about ballet: I will share links to videos and such as much as possible, but here are some definitions to get us started – principal, (first) soloist, corps de ballet, variation, and class vs. rehearsal:

Principal - this is the highest level a dancer (of any gender) can reach in a company. Dancers are ‘promoted’ through the ranks. Principals usually have exceptional technique and artistry and can perform solos, pas de deux (partnering), headlining and/or the most challenging roles, etc. (e.g., the white (Odette) and black (Odile) swans in Swan Lake, both usually performed by one principal). Sometimes dancers are hired directly in as principals (like Din, in this fic). Smaller companies might have 5-6 principals, while larger ones could have as many as 20. Nevarro is somewhere between medium and large and has around 14 principals, including Din.

First Soloist - not every company has this rank, but it’s in between principal and soloist. Nevarro has 4 but they are counted among the soloists (12-14ish total). Soloists are often understudies for larger parts, and first soloists would do the same. In this fic reader is a first soloist, just promoted at the start of the season.

Soloist - this is sort of a middle level, for dancers who are doing very well and have proven themselves capable of taking on bigger roles. Many ballets have multiple roles, including supporting roles in the narrative, for soloists and principals to showcase many dancers’ talents. A smaller company might have 5-6 soloists, and a larger company might have as many as 20. (Larger companies also do more shows.) Nevarro is somewhere between medium and large and has around 12-14 soloists, including first soloists.

Corps de ballet - this is the lowest/starting level in a company. It’s where most would start from and has the largest number of dancers – these are the dancers who come out on stage in large groups or form the background unnamed roles in narrative scenes (like a party). Reader started in the corps and was promoted to soloist and then first soloist.

Variation - a solo dance, usually a piece from a larger ballet (e.g., the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker). We say ‘variation’ because there are many ballets that have been choreographed differently by multiple people in the ballet world (e.g., there are famous versions of the Nutcracker by Petipa, Gorsky, Balanchine, Nureyev, Baryshnikov… and more). So there can be multiple variations of a solo from a single ballet, and more can be created or altered, etc. But in general the term just means solo.

Class vs. rehearsal - most companies distinguish between ‘class’ and ‘rehearsal’. Class is for the whole company and focused on improving technique. It’s quick and often repetitive and everyone sort of knows what to do. Most people would have ‘their’ spot at the barre and fall into a typical order for going across the floor. After class, most would go into multiple hours of rehearsal, PT, strength training, etc., depending on whether it was a performance day or not. Most companies are rehearsing for more than one performance at a time, so they might have a longer rehearsal for the show coming up this or next weekend, and a shorter one for another performance a bit farther away. But in the days leading up to a show, that show’s rehearsals would probably take over. This can vary by company. On show days, most would have fewer rehearsals with a 1-2 hour break before the call time to get ready.

Season - companies have 'seasons' which just refers to their plan for shows/schedule for the upcoming year. They might refer to like a fall season and a spring season, or the might have a full year schedule with different parts (fall/winter/spring), or they might have only a spring season that runs into early summer. It depends on the company and the size! In this fic Nevarro has a fall season and a spring season, but they tend to think about it as a full year for contracts/etc. They would have 3-4 big shows planned (think Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Onegin, etc.) in each part of the season (so, 3-4 in fall and 3-4 in spring). And then they'd fill in the gaps in the schedule with "mixed programs", which are programs with multiple smaller ballets or pieces that feature a lot of dancers. So a mixed program might have a 20 minute Balanchine ballet, a pas de deux, a full corps piece from a larger ballet, and a piece for like 8 dancers. or something. Mixed programs are often when choreographers-in-residence and on staff get to debut their own work.

[rowanthestrange]

The Media Overanalysis (O)Mega Essay: Why Rogue Is The Bad Guy. Duh.

Code Mauve. Sorry, you’re a mutual and directly responded, so now you get The Post. It was bound to be someone eventually, and it was you. It’s nothing personal. You were just the first to dare my parapet.

@icantleave replied: rogue definitely isn't the master because the master is simply incapable of cosplaying someone this genuine and unlike himself, his disguises are always essentially very him with a few traits hidden or amplified.

Either there is a psy-op and Disney aired a different version of this or a solid quarter of you got brain broken by American Mr Darcy- no don’t try and run, get back here. The only running you’re doing is this essay equivalent of a 10k.

You are intelligent. All of you. And yet what the hell does this mean? “rogue definitely isn't the master because the master is simply incapable of cosplaying someone this genuine and unlike himself”

We’re going through this episode. All of it. This is not actually an ‘it is the Master’ post, it is a ‘but at the very least he sure acts like the Master would’ post, which is the above premise. But also just in general that Rogue is The Bad Guy.

Take it as the Master cosplaying Jack; a Pantheon member whose theme is Roleplay who like the others has watched the show and is deliberately filling the void daddy created and getting in by cosplaying the Master cosplaying Jack (has to be doing both to be skilled at Roleplay ala Maestro and the Toymaker’s skills in their areas, else he’d just be shittily cosplaying Jack); or literally he is just baddie Chuldur #6 fanboy who wants to bang the Doctor he saw on TV cus he’s sexy and they get Doctor Who out there as well as Bridgerton. All the concepts are adjacent:

Baddie fanboy roleplaying as Jack to fuck-slash-fuck-with the Doctor.

Places people. Let’s take it from the top:

-We start with a scene showing someone (Chuldur #2) who wants to roleplay as the bad guy because that would be fun.

-(Bonus: the writers talking about themselves - “Wonderful party, your Grace.” “Some are saying best of the season. A triumph. A new standard set. And I, of course, could not comment. But I think the real estimation of an evening is in the matches made.” I quite agree.)

-(We are also in Tredegar House, which you may recognise from The End Of Time, Spyfall, and other times in New Who. We like this place.

-There is electronic interference in Ruby’s earpiece. The Doctor scans this and finds it’s coming from Rogue. The Master is a frequent user of manipulative electronics both towards other people and to disguise himself. Put a pin in this, it’ll come up at the end. ✅

-The Doctor meets Rogue to the backing of hit pop song, Billie Eilish’s “I’m The Bad Guy”. The Master is a famous lover of fun pop, and being obvious to an oblivious Doctor. ✅✅

I wrestled with iMovie at midnight to put the lyric subtitles to this video and you are going to watch and appreciate it:

[If at any point you want out of this essay, all you have to do is come back to here and watch this video again while singing in your head along with the lyrics to receive a passing grade.]

-They deliberately work the lines around the music, not just thematically but so you can clearly hear what the backing song is. And made sure they kept the scene going long enough all the way into the next section just so they could keep the line: “I like it when you take control, even if you know that you don't, own me, I'll let you play the role, I'll be your animal.” Fuck’s sake. Most Thoschei song. Interchangeable freaks.

-Rogue is critiqued by the Doctor for not acting appropriately broody enough. The Master well known for being a fairly shit actor. ✅

-That is an American accent. This is a red flag for either being a Pantheon member, or the Master Dressing For The Occasion (which Rogue certainly has).

-“Do you practise in a mirror?” - him roleplaying would mean literally yes.

-“I didn’t know the Duchess employs a court jester.” - Alexa please search every time the Master has called the Doctor some derivation of clown. ✅

-“O…Kay…Rude. Lord-?” “Not a Lord.” Our last outing with the Master was all about his psyche-destroying discovery of being made from the Not-A-Time Lord Doctor; and if he is Pantheon The Rogue roleplaying as the Master, then just chef’s kiss line. But I will be magnanimous this early in proceedings, and let you go ‘technically a valid meta read is saying that conforms he’s not a Time Lord’. But the paragraph stands.

-He calls himself Rogue:

1. noun: a dishonest or unprincipled person. "You are a rogue and an embezzler" Similar: scoundrel, villain, reprobate. 2. noun: an elephant or other large wild animal living apart from the herd and having savage or destructive tendencies. "a rogue elephant"

If it’s the Master then straight up naming himself “The Bad Guy” is on brand. The Master is a Rogue Time Lord. That is what fandom has long called them - ‘Rogues and Renegades’. The Master is shite at names, if you haven’t had the pleasure of the Third Doctor’s company yet. Shitty anagrams, tenuous links to goals and character aspects, and crappy puns are the standard ✅. If Pantheon, then his choice in lifestyle that’s more about personally having fun (ultimately still Doctor compatible), with a group, in a non-competitive game which has no win condition other than enjoying the game, though rip to the NPC’s being played with as character, would definitely put him somewhat apart from the wreaking havoc on the universe others. If a Pantheon member, he literally did choose his own name from D&D.

-Just generalised throughout: Rogue is not actually suave. Some people find his secret awkwardness under the posh gear charming. The Master is not suave and is awkward, but desperately tries to style it out like he is anyway, that’s just his character. ✅

-We kinda feel like we’re going into some Karny Shobogony kind of cave area, we’re not, but just for the hitting home that this is another Upper Class Gallifrey mirror for the season. You don’t need to think the Master’s involved for this, don’t worry, wasn’t in Dot And Bubble was he, but that was a clear enough mirror. A person appearing as a servant forces their way up the social ladder. If you like some mirror play and are really deep in your TC ‘what kind of person would name themselves Master’, you’re having fun. Also I can’t see that type of death lightning without thinking of Simm!Master. Costly effect, but we went with it, and it does add some panache.

-Chuldur #5 is roleplaying Emily (this is used both in her disguise and out - potentially playing the same ‘character’. We’ll come back to this too, explore more later), who will be something of our Master this evening in the Gallifrey mirror if you’re going in for it. Also coincidentally is half the mirror pair with Ruby to the Doctor and Rogue. “Emily, please-” “But you consume me sir. I think of you every waking hour and I hate myself for it!” yeah we know babe… Anyone else hearing Dhawan!Master’s “I cannot bear that”?

-“I love these old skies” - all the stars makes it arguably sound more like a Flux reference rather than just light pollution. And we all know what event by who triggered that off.

-Finally we get more lines from Rogue, this has all been very one-sided. “Do you never stop chattering?” - a frequent refrain of the Master, who, fun fact has told the Doctor to shut up in every incarnation in New Who (and probably Old but this is the trivia I have) ✅

-If Rogue is supposedly wanting to stop the bad birdies, real weird he doesn’t give an appropriately flying fuck about the mysterious lone shoe. And simply says “I suggest look for the other shoe” like it doesn’t matter with a shrug. Because the Master is stupid and shite at keeping in-character. ✅ Makes sense if he’s on the bad guy’s team though. Also Cinderella. Noticing themes in today’s mirror subtext.

-They find it plus corpse. “And you knew. You didn’t even flinch.” Actually wrong, the Doctor can’t see behind him but we can. Rogue doesn’t flinch at the shoe, or coming up to the body, but when the Doctor says it’s the Duchess, Rogue does a slight ‘oh’ lean back, and then a sigh with a bit of a slump. To me this reads as a ‘oh you fucking idiots’ for doing it this blatantly, but I won’t mark it, cus you could argue that ultimately maybe a bounty hunter might care more about the death of the duchess in particular and sigh about it etc. (Or he is Pantheon roleplayer getting annoyed his gang can’t stick to a character and risking the outline going off-track and more bodycounty). “And you knew” - Rogue doesn’t keep eye contact but closes his eyes, opens them immediately up and a little to the side, thinking of what to say next style. ((This specific circumstance he couldn’t have known about prior, cus the murder happens while he’s inside))

-“This is a murder far beyond the technologies of planet Earth. It could only be done by someone brilliant.” “And monstrous.” [-horny flirting tone looking him up and down] “And ruthless.” “And contemptible.” Both: “You.” He is the Master and in with the bird gang. No bounty hunter with a heart of gold is calling the murderer brilliant because also, may have been easy to miss, but the Doctor hasn’t done anything brilliant yet unless you include owning a scanner and briefly infodumping about constellations. That is a Master talking about himself kinda line. ✅

-The Doctor thought Rogue was a murderer who was calling himself brilliant, and it only made him more horny, and proceeded to dance along with that little two-step. If I’m Master-brained, what’s he? Cus he’s usually only into one murderer. If that guy had snogged him instead of pulling the gun they’d have fucked right then and there, that scene has so much sexual tension that should not be there.

-Edit - courtesy of @katoska: “#though dimensionally transcendental pockets would explain where he'd hidden that big gun in that form fitting outfit.” - And why wouldn’t you have given him one of Jack’s guns, they’re all smaller? But they made Rogue a huge one.

-“So who do you think I am?” “I know you’re a Chuldur.” “The shapeshifters? Ha, I’ve heard of them. I’ve never met one,” *tilting head back towards Rogue and smiling* “Unless I have.” Please, if nothing else, come out of this thinking at minimum he is bad birdie Chuldur #6. Maybe we’re rewriting Frobisher. Heavily, heavily rewriting.

-“[his ship] cloaked behind that shed.” Calling the TARDIS a shed. It was Three that technically said it but the Master has repeatedly expressed his disdain for our beautiful police box before so that’s a Master-fitting line, be it intentional disdain or not yet. ✅

-Won’t call it a point, but he tells us he is a bounty hunter sent here to find them for the money. (Note: not kill - at the very least a bounty hunter would be bringing back the body to get, you know, the bounty). Aside from being a cheap and easy backstory it’s evidently morally bad, for all the Doctor literally goes ‘that is so…cool’ - which is absolutely not his usual position on bounty hunters.

-The thing he uncloaks the ship with? Same thing that controls the traps. How multitool. How sonic screwdriver. Or Laser screwdriver TCE as you prefer.

-His ship is a bird. It has wings, two eyes, and a beak. He is with the birds. He is The Bad Guy ✅. He is using and familiar with the bird ship; or at the insane alternative a TARDIS that completely disguised itself both outside and inside as neighbouring bird ship. There is no good guy answer for why he is in a bird ship. We never ask how the birds got here. But it was probably the bird ship. Bird ship.

-Meta so I can’t give it a point cus it’s beyond our scope but: “Oh you’re the Duchess! Of course, I should have scented you.” Not immediately recognising one of your own species when you should have sensed them thank god that’s not a mirror.

-His ship has an angular console in the middle of it with mirroring angular shape above it, the same taste in decor as the Master does with a TARDIS, like it’s almost designed to put you in mind of one, cute. ✅

-“This place is a mess.” Dhawan!Master’s TARDIS house and console room proper were a massive mess, these guys share housekeeping habits too. ✅

-“I live alone.” The Doctor notes this sort of ship would be piloted by two. Aw sad. Except he’s lying, he’s obviously lying, because he has dice on the table and he’s not playing D&D in his bird-shaped ship alone or with only two fucking people, is he? You need a group. Maybe of Bird roleplaying enthusiasts. Liar. Bad conduct. And failed to remove the evidence that contradicted the lie - dumbass Master behaviour. ✅

-Rogue declares “You’re a killer.” And the Doctor goes “Oh well,” before trying to sonic himself out of the situation, without actually defending himself against the charges. Maybe doesn’t feel the need to. For some reason.

-“What do those things do?” “It’s a trap. Triform on.” Now that could easily be a Master when he’s being sexier line, complete with his classic dumbass behaviour of declaring to the Doctor that something’s a trap before actually springing it. ✅

-He says he is going to send the Doctor to the incinerator. Why? ‘Uh he’s a bounty hunter’ Yeah. So why would he burn the evidence that would get him the money? Can’t just rock up and say ‘I dealt with it I pinkie-promise’.

-The Doctor attempts to sonic his way out of the trap before it finishes charging. Rogue says immediately that it’s deadlocked. The one thing that stops a sonic screwdriver. You can’t deny, that is the level of forethought the Master would manage to scrounge together. ✅

-Rogue scans the Doctor’s gadget, allowed in cus it doesn’t recognise it as dangerous device (oh the old ‘temporal grace field’ in the TARDIS, that’s a nice little mirror), and apparently the scans say it’s a screwdriver. I can’t prove this is a lie, but even we don’t think it’s a screwdriver, the last one with 14 literally was so much not a screwdriver it couldn’t unscrew screws, so unless it connects to the system with the name 15_screwdriver_1 again, feels too convenient. But a toxic Doctor fanboy would be able to identify what it was.

-I don’t know why we have a Sonic Monocular scene that cost us money and effort to produce when we could have just glanced across the table, but since all things that cost money in production have a reason, maybe the laser screwdriver style object we pan over? Point of interest but not a countable one, and either way the main argument is aligning character traits not convincing you he literally is the Master.

-“Roll for insight”, he cracked a smile, so surprising it uncloaked the Doctor’s full Scottish accent. This is the first positive character trait we have seen. We are just shy of halfway through the story.

-Telling the Doctor to “Roll for insight” after he sees the dice, is a dungeon Master’s instruction.

-of course he likes D&D, he plays it with the birds on the bird ship, he’s sent the birds he plays it with off out to continue the game in Bridgerton, he’s being their dungeon Master in real life too

-Seriously if you think Rogue is genuinely just a good guy bounty hunter and we should believe that uncritically, why would they tell us he likes roleplaying in D&D so much he picked his name from it? He roleplays. That’s one of the very few things we know about him. Why not chess? Or Minecraft? He could have liked Tetris? Why would he like roleplaying in the episode about roleplaying if him roleplaying isn’t relevant?

-The Master too adores roleplaying while also not being that great at it. Just putting that out there.

-“And it says that you’re wired for sound!” *sonics* ‘I Just Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ by Kylie Minogue plays. *Rogue looks up in full wide-eyed uh-oh then turns to the Doctor* “Now this is a surprise.” - I mean, yeah, it is actually. I mean why would there be such anachronistic music playing in a ship owned by a guy from…well funny I guess he never said and the Doctor never asked. Well from a species like…well alright uh guess we didn’t do that either. Said ‘planet Earth’ that’s a pretty alien way of phrasing it. “Hey but in the Whoniverse Britney Spears’ Toxic is a traditional Earth ballad”, and maybe usually I’d let it go, but this is the second anachronistic bit of music we’ve heard, and the third we hear later is even more pointed to draw your attention to it. No. It’s weird. You know who it wouldn’t be weird to though? Our pop loving Master! And that’s the most Thoschei Thesis Statement song in Kylie’s repertoire! ✅ (Or Pantheon sharing daddy’s Spice Girls thing for 90’s pop). The Master would also absolutely have forgotten to delete his playback history before all this and pull an ‘oh shit’ face not from embarrassment but cus he knows this looks fucky because he doesn’t have a poker face he’s an idiot that panics the second anything in his plans ever goes wrong. ✅

-The Doctor mouthing: “Boy your loving is all I think about.” A sentiment that’s cropped up multiple times now this episode. Also in a Master mirror. Mhm. It’s a sickness babes.

-But hey we’re up to two positive character traits for Rogue so far - likes D&D and Kylie (both anachronisticly).The Doctor was willing to follow him out and blow him in the shrubbery for less, and honestly, respectable. “I just have a crush on prettyboy American Mr Darcy” is a defence, not a good one, but still.

-The Doctor and Master with one turning the music on and the other trying to turn it off would be a scene, you can imagine it, don’t lie, you’re imagining Missy and Twelve right now. (I think for annoyer-and-annoyed Three and Delgado could go either way depending on the episode. How appropriate for them.) ✅

-Also Rogue attempting to snatch the sonic screwdriver from the taller Doctor’s hand as he plays keep-away. Bitchy, gay, very character-breaking with the rest of the episode, deeply funny. The Master would. ✅ Then gathering himself, putting on the I’m In Charge voice and holding out his hand for the Doctor to hand it over and he does. (Huh, have you guys as a whole watched Delgado? Is this what creates the ‘the Master would never’? Cus actually if you’ve not seen these two just be a bit silly with each other and think that’s just fan characterisation that would actually explain a lot. Eh, but Missy and Twelve(/Clara) have some silly too, if not Three and Delgado level. Hm, to ponder).

-Psychic paper would also not work on the Master and he would say “it says ‘you’re hot’” to fluster the Doctor. Also we know he’s lying about it saying that, because he’s the one saying he’s seen it written, yet immediately follows up as the Doctor babbles with, Rogue: “Is it ‘you’re hot’, or I’m hot’?” Rogue would know which word was written the funny ambiguity is only from the non-seer’s side on hearing the other person say ‘you’re’. ✅

-“Suits you, flustered, it’s a good look for you.” Finally we get some fun confidence - which only appears the second he actually gets an upper hand with the Doctor on the back foot. Like someone else we know. Also yet again we have the phrase “a good look” for you in this episode all about shapeshifting. The phrase is applied to Rogue by the Doctor, to the Doctor from Rogue, and among the birds to each other. It establishes an equivalence between them, which is odd if Rogue is supposedly the only one not shapeshifting and roleplaying.

-The boss thing, callback to the Meep. Again this isn’t a ‘convince you it really is the Master’ thing, it’s character analysis that their traits overlap and he is a bad guy. But since we’re here, the Master is often technically working for someone else he intends to double-cross while thinking he’s ahead of them (nearly every time incorrectly), and we know he is/will be involved with the Pantheon — given this guy is a dice rolling gameplayer, the Master gambling and losing to the Toymaker, just vibes like it’d be out of order and future toothening imo — while there’s nothing to say our hidden ‘The Boss’ is Pantheon, I’m gonna Occam’s Razor and assume both those plot threads tie together, and for now that’s a reasonable way to explain how the Master got involved with the Toymaker at all.

-“I’m just so trigger happy.” Literally a Master line, and one we just had: “Oh, shoot. I should've said, somebody needs to cut you down to size, then zapped you. I was just trigger-happy. I'll use it next time.” ✅

-Floating Doctor heads literally the Master’s nightmare. Literally literally but I can’t remember where from and ‘master nightmare floating head doctor who’ gets you about as useless information as you’d imagine.

-Look. Rogue goes from confidently being about to kill the Doctor. The Doctor forces the scanner to show some other of his faces with the psychic paper, does his whole speech saying he’s “not a Chuldur. I’m something much older and far more powerful. A Lord of Time from the lost and fallen planet of Gallifrey” (this is a special surprise that will help us later) “Now, let me go, bounty hunter. We have work to do.” It is cringe, it is up himself and lording over others which is nearly always punished, the Doctor uses his special Deep And Majestic voice, and our stoic confident Rogue is suddenly wide-and-starry-eyed and breathily says, “Wow.” In the fakest response I have ever seen. Sadly I am not allowed more than one video. But oh my God, if you need a refresher it’s 18:14. And if you think it isn’t fake, yes you need the refresher.

You can’t be buying that OwO “Wow”. You think that was the turning point? I know I’m supposed to provide better analysis, but the writing is cringe, the acting is completely counter to what it was a moment ago for both parties, is over the top, and you think a bounty hunter would do a 180 from that?? Why?? ‘Oh you’re showing me the faces you’ve been before, yeah, I know, you’re a shapeshifter’. Nothing in the scanner says he’s a Time Lord, just the words from his mouth, why would he not be lying to save his own skin? And again, what would a Time Lord mean in the universe now? Who gives a shit, if you know what they are you know they’re all dead and reasonable shot you’re happy about that. Failing even that, Rogue is working for the same Boss as the Meep - if the word Time Lord rang a bell it’d be cus Fourteen caused problems last time ‘bring him to me’, surely. “Wow” uwu so cool! Really??? Nothing, not a thing Rogue has done so far, indicates he would be “Wow” to that. Not a damn thing.

Fakest response I’ve ever seen - Groff is actually a good actor so it’s supposed to be fake, at least one of the writers is award winning and may well be both, and Ncuti went out of his way to make it look like unnatural arrogance that doesn’t fit with the previous acting choices either in this scene or the whole show so far. So either all these people were crap at their jobs, or, it’s supposed to smell like bullshit. Would the Master look exactly as fake going “wow” because his character needs to have the heel-turn now? Yes ✅. And that you pulled this speech in front of him would complete its vast circle of cringe and roleplaying.

And what happens next? We cut straight to Ruby and Cosplaying Chuldur #5: [Giggling] “We can’t keep hiding like this!” You guys are smart, don’t pretend you’re not smart, if you follow me you know how good writing works, and are choosing to ignore the meta and mirrors and themes of the episode in a way you wouldn’t with a normal Rusty-written one that you’d sit and deeply analyse. Different writers yes, but smart and capable and award winning ones. These aren’t two disparate stories smushed together, they’re the same story in different keys, that’s the Rule One here.

Continuing, Ruby tries to convince High Society Lord- Lady that she doesn’t have to marry another Lord but could be a normal person, and then the Lady says “I’ll marry someone lesser, and smaller…it may not be love but perhaps a kindly smile at dinner…and then a shared grave” cus she doesn’t want a normal person, that’s what Ruby wants her to want, she wants to marry her kinda shitty Lord. Because that’s what this fantasy roleplay is all about.

Okay essay portion over we got out of hand, bullet points, re-engage.

-A motherfucking owl hoots, with the subtitle “owl hoots”, while Rogue recloaks the giant bird ship, giving us a second look at it again, making sure we get the full distance shot and shimmery cloaking effect to highlight the wings if they get lost in the shadows. Rogue. Is with. The birds. It’s a bird ship. There is no good guy explanation for the bird ship and its D&D equipment that can only be used by multiple people in our episode about obsessive-roleplaying birds.

-Rogue has now packed. ‘What?’ Rogue has now packed. He is now carrying a small bag, cross-body strap over his shoulder. We will not use anything from this bag or see him access it or acknowledge it at all. He’s just brought it with him. Perhaps like he knows he’s not going to be going back to the ship again. Curious.

Dice Bag propoganda post

-“You ready for this?” [low tone] “It’s not my first shed.” - woah woah woah, where’s all the sparkle of a minute ago babes, I thought you were ‘OwO wow’, if you know what a Time Lord is you know what a TARDIS is, but you’re not excited no mo? Or he’s doing it to deliberately make the TARDIS inside reveal cooler in contrast because he knows how much the Doctor likes this moment.

-“O my God” - haha namedrop. This happens to be Mastery behaviour cus this is just the Dhawan!Master pretending to be O entering the TARDIS scene. You were catfished by this before, come on babes. ✅

-“Come with me, and we’ll be, in a world of pure imagination…” - what are you imagining babes? Are ya roleplaying son? Cosplaying? Engaging in a bit of the old fantasy right now. No? He’s just feeling in a chocolatey kind of mood? Uhuh.

-“I’m in love!” - Now isn’t this a 180 on the character? From so reticent and ‘most serious man on earth’ to loudly declaring his love for the ship. Which just so happens to be the Doctor’s number one kink. And what does the TARDIS do in response? She growls. Rule one basic storytelling - the new boyfriend is evil, we knew cus the beloved dog growls at him. Rogue said he was in love and she growled. Gave Jack a bar, an ensuite, and let him tinker with her insides. But to Rogue she growls. Baddie. ✅

-The TARDIS lights are in a red-and-white checkerboard pattern. Our dimensionally transcendental TARDIS is literally a 5d chessboard. I won’t count it, but come on.

-Speaking of dimensionally transcendental, that’s exactly what Rogue called her. Yet didn’t anticipate a TARDIS thirty seconds ago. It takes work to argue he knows about dimensionally transcendental spacetime ships but not know of TARDISes that Time Lords travel in, but does know enough about Time Lords to be dazzled by them when he clearly isn’t of earthly Lords. Much easier to go ‘eh’ keeping the story straight when you’ve got extra knowledge you’re pretending you don’t have, but also need to come across as intelligent, is hard. We’ve all played D&D or at least Let’s Pretend. It’s hard. Lying is hard.

-After a quick “and so clean” back-and-forth, Rogue runs up the stairs, hand on the bannister and leans on the railing. The TARDIS growls again, louder, like a whale. Like she did in the episode with the Not-Things, and with The Maestro. (Arguably her ‘Pantheon’ noise?) Both of them notice. Rogue’s expression immediately turns from an awed open-mouthed smile to blankness, with a head tilt and turn, slowly coming back. “What was that?” The Doctor claims indigestion and she doesn’t like bounty hunters. Not true of the ones with hearts of gold. We’ve seen her with Jack, and River, and she adores them. “It’s the moral void - no offence.” So you’re admitting it. Stating it directly. He’s not got a heart of gold, the omnipotent spacetime ship can see that he’s a moral void. That is what you have said. ✅

-“And this, from the ancient and fallen world of Gallifrey…Where the hell is that?” *buzzer* Wrong. You tried to be clever and aren’t - that wasn’t the line. The line was ‘lost and fallen’ not ‘ancient and fallen’. Oh but Gallifrey is ancient though- *buzzer* He says in the same sentence he doesn’t know of Gallifrey. And yet, he got all wide and starry-eyed over a Time Lord, when he is saying he knows nothing about them. Why? Because he can’t keep his character straight pun intended, which is a character trait of another undercover ex-agent we know. ✅

-“Well I might take you one day.” - bananas response by the Doctor for multiple reasons. ‘I’ll take you to my lost and fallen homeworld’ ok what? Second, Fifteen has for once been very open about his loss in this regard, said repeatedly that it’s gone, and how much it hurts him. Said it to Ruby, to Carla, to complete strangers. But here he’s out of character. Why? Maybe he’s roleplaying one that doesn’t hurt. Maybe because he thinks it’s the Master and is fucking with him. But I’m going with the roleplaying and saying what this character feels. Fucky from the Doctor rather than Rogue.

-“In a few minutes it will no longer be a deathtrap, you are welcome.” [Rogue casually] “Why, what does it do now?” This is all important but also pause to reflect for a moment on whether the character we saw up to this point would have handed his essential survival and work gear to a shapeshifter who claimed to be a Time Lord with zero proof and let him just modify it however. ‘He’s just a very trusting bounty hunter, is all.’ I mean he wasn’t at the start of all this though, was he.

-Doctor boundaries: I can’t let you kill it, “So instead we will transport it to a random barren dimension, no-one to hurt, no way back.” Passing over the obvious, the Doctor is the one programming this. We agree we’re probably not literally installing a randomiser onto the device, we’re just randomly picking one and assigning those coordinates. How do you know it’s barren? Oh the TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental we just reminded people, so she can probably see, she’s picking it. Ok. …So there’s no reason she wouldn’t have a record of what she set it to. That’s information we should have. Ok. Which are the letters Rogue says. Ok. What about your bounty job? Not even a response to the no-killing? Or that this seems worse if anything? No. Just ok. We’re saying that a lot in this episode. Ok. Just going along with things. Ok. I know what that word means. Ok.

-“Who did you lose?” “How do you know?” “Cus I know.” Cus we covered this earlier actually when he mentioned the usually two-person’s for captaining an asteroid hopper. Forgot? No worries Rogue, been a long ten minutes. No attempt to make a proper backstory just stares at the Doctor like a cow looking at an oncoming train and goes, “There was- …Yeah. We travelled together, we had fun, you know. And then a day came along, and at the end of that day…I lost them.” Now if this was the Master you’d be saying no shit he can’t provide details and only parrot what the Doctor always says in these situations, he is a moral void, bro has one friend and only knows what it’s like to love that one friend obsessively, he can’t even empathise enough to improvise a backstory that feels realistic. Maybe only lies have details but you can argue my guy didn’t even commit to a gender. It’s also a valid read to assume he’s just short on words at losing his fellow they/them bounty-hunter crook friend. Maybe the OwO Time Lord thing is enough to make him open up a little even if the Doctor’s done nothing to earn that trust yet. But both work just fine, if it was the Master it’d be how he’d do it. ✅

-“What about you?” The Doctor’s expression hardens here. Maybe cus it just hurts. Maybe for other reasons. [coldly, we linger on him] “I lost everyone.” Rogue still with too-wide-cow-train eyes . “But at the party I saw you with that woman...” That tone. And how we immediately wave his ‘Best Friend’ aside. Look, again it’s a watch the scene. These two are good actors, they’re excellent. And down to the ‘huh’ head tilt before Groff’s line with every microexpression he is radiating a guy playing a role while still trying to poke his roleplaymate in his open wound with a stick. There has never been just one layer in anything in the show so far why would it start now in the episode about cosplaying people to death do you part, why? Why?? The one mirror everyone can accept is Captain Jack and he was literally a con man. This is a con man you are being conned. If you look at his face and think he’s being earnest you are extra weak to con men do not give strangers your credit card details. Didn’t you have jerk friends? We all had jerk friends. That is the expression the jerk friend made when they were just asking questions *blink* *blink* don’t get upset. Or Groff is a garbage actor. But he isn’t. Just the character he’s playing is crap at acting. Go back and watch O, the cow-eyes are textbook liar, any liar, but especially the Master ✅. They’re doing a scene, it is diegetic. The acting is diegetic.

-“You don’t have to stay a bounty hunter, [beat pause] Rogue.” You can say it’s just cus he knows Rogue isn’t his real name but the Doctor’s usually fine with that sort of thing. “You could travel with me[…]the worlds I could show you…” “And what if I like what I do? Would you travel with me?” “That is quite an argument. ((No it isn’t he doesn’t like bounty hunters)) I’ll tell you what, when we both get out of this, let’s argue across the stars.” This is the Doctor and Master scene, we do these scenes every incarnation all the way since half-share in the universe, you don’t have to think he’s the Master but we know these lines damn well are. ✅

-They nearly kiss but the TARDIS cockblocks them with a beep of being finished with the rewiring, because again, she doesn’t like the moral void, and does not want the Doctor to stick his dick in it. And what does the Doctor say as he steps back from their almost kiss? “The trap is ready.”

-[Rogue is sans new bag for the indoor scenes here, I believe this is just a costuming error that happened from them probably reshooting the dancing a bajillion times, it will come back when they’re back outside again and in every subsequent scene onwards]

-They meet back up with Rubes and Roleplaying Chuldur #5. Ruby asks a very good question. “Ok, but what does anyone get out of killing these people? I mean I know they’re posh nobs and all that, but we found the housekeeper dead. I mean why would anybody do that?” And the Doctor, instead of saying ‘it’s how they steal their bodies they’re shapeshifters’ says the meta-important answer first. “The dance. The drama. The emotion.” THIS IS ABOUT GALLIFREY. High society here is a mirror for the aforementioned fallen Gallifrey. The Master didn’t just genocide the Time Lords, he killed every Shobogon/lay-Gallifreyan without Child-stolen regenerations, he killed every TARDIS, every living thing on the planet. Why? The drama.

-“It’s cosplay. All of this is cosplay.”

-The Doctor turns to a non-plussed looking Rogue and says: “You said that a Chuldur comes to a planet and tries on people like outfits just for the fun of it.” …Wh- when? When did he say that?? (I’m being facetious - he doesn’t). Also does that seem rich coming from the ‘multiple costume changes per episode’ Doctor? Mirrors.

-(If the background music here is Vitamin String Quartet I don’t recognise it unfortunately. Fun Fact, I used them exclusively as background music for my own wedding, cus I thought it’d be fun for people to try and guess the songs if things got boring and it’d be a conversation starter. Ate my wedding cake to Poker Face. We like resonating with the universe here.)

-“Those TV signals beam out across the stars.” “What are these T-V signals?” I can’t add more than one video, so if you’re not willing to take the description on faith it’s 24:45. But watch Rogue here. He slightly turns to her with a little glare and that exact same frustrated little sigh he did with the Duchess corpse earlier. Dungeon Master’s stupidest soldier? Cus you’d think if he was annoyed she was being anachronismatised (real word), he’d have given the Doctor the shut up glare but doesn’t give him bother for it at all. Maybe he’s just a conflict averse bounty hunter. But that’s what the Master would have done, he has low lackey/idiot friend tolerance. Both reads valid. ✅

-The Doctor dances, we know what that’s a metaphor for and what episode it’s from. Good thing Rogue knows all the moves ahead of time.

-Just putting the reminder here cus there’s no clear place - I go with Master because Dungeon Master, I’m A Bad Guy, the mirrors *gestures at everything above* etc. but mostly because this is a deliberate attempt to cosplay Jack. Thus it requires someone who has watched the show. The Pantheon, the Master seems like a good bet, however, could admittedly be Chulder #6 (and they’re just supposed to be a very strong but purely mirror for the Master) and because of their different dimension-ness has watched the show on TV and has figured out how their self-insert is gonna bang the Doctor. But one way or the other, our baddie here has seen Doctor Who The TV Show in the same way the birds watched Bridgerton and this is an intrinsic part of this that shouldn’t be separated. That we have a fanboy who is deliberately cosplaying Jack and invoking him and references to that episode is important.

-Rogue: “So what is this ancient Earth tradition of cosplay?” No-one said it was ancient (twice now), no-one said it was Earth, no-one said it was tradition, even Ruby had to clarify ‘so you mean it’s literally dressing up and playing at Bridgerton?’ Rogue almost certainly already knows what it means. And we know the birds do. This is our baddie having fun. Because as the Doctor says next: “Oh, Rogue. It’s when fans dress up as characters that they like.” (Point to Pantheon, because roleplaying the Master would be dressing up as a character from Doctor Who that they like).

-General note again: both prior to but especially 13’s era really spent some subtext time building up the whole ‘The Doctor’ and ‘The Master’ are roles they play. If you know you know. We’ve been continuing on Chibs’s themes. Just reminding.

-The Doctor takes the male i.e. leading position judging by the other couples visible. As per traditional Thoschei.

-Lights dim in our usual diegetic/non-diegetic playing that we’ve been doing. Soft point to Pantheon - remember if The Rogue’s theme is Roleplaying it must be a double bluff for him to actually be being skilled at it, and he is cosplaying the Master cosplaying the Doctor, with the conceit that the Doctor gets this but not that it’s someone cosplaying the Master, thus he’s winning. If he is Pantheon this is the only potential evidence of fuckery besides having brought non-native-dimensional creatures into ours, which we do have other explanations for.

-“We need to have a big fight so one of us can storm out and the Duchess follow us.” “The Chuldur cosplay, not me.” Mhmm. You had D&D dice. But regardless if you buy that, we have now spontaneously swapped from engaging starry-eyed Personality B, back to Personality A: strong and silent.

-“How dare you my Lord! You would ask me to give up my title? My fortune? But what future can you promise me? *Rogue shaking his head, not good at deviations from the script, nor is the Master fwiw* ✅ “You cad! Tell me what your heart wants, or I shall turn my back forever!” “I…” Fifteen whispers, “Say anything.” If you are not internally writing the pre-show Doctor/Master fanfiction I cannot help you. Jo describing the Master like a jilted lover or whatever the hell it was. But at least here, with admittedly a little open-mouthed smirky smile, Rogue gets down on one knee and offers his ring. (From non-marriage hand, 4th finger, don’t completely see him pull it off but he was wearing it in the dance scene). If we are re-writing history with this cosplay, which given the Doctor’s reaction he certainly seems to consider it meaningful, that’s definitely what the Master would do here. ‘This is what I wanted you to do back then.’ ✅

-Obviously the Master has used that sort of flat-topped large round ring before, we’ve had the callback to it with the red-nailed woman and the tooth just recently. The insignia is not entirely decipherable. Most default I’ve seen is an angel (Master coding, especially if we’re wearing it upside-down hoo), I’ve also seen a ‘rod of asclepius with 3d coiling tails’ (A Doctor fanboy who has come prepared for this moment), and just plain bird of some kind given the little wings.

-The Doctor says a very genuine “Sorry I can’t- …I ca-” and runs off. (Which definitely happened the first time). This almost certainly isn’t River trauma, Twelve wore the implied wedding ring until it fell off when he regenerated. And we’re just supposed to be making a scene and this is an obvious way to do it - he’s already nearly kissed him and invited him, the Doctor put relationship on the cards, and could easily still be haha fun joke but you are still coming right? If it was just Yaz Making Everything Feel Like Touching A Hot Mind Stove then the near kiss feels like that would have been included in the trauma reaction. So presumably engagement based triggering specifically. Probably not from Cameca either. That had cocoa involved.

-Rogue seems a little surprised at this reaction. Fair all round, the Master might not have expected it either, but also the sort of thing a fanboy might not have been able to pre-empt - it wasn’t in the show after all.

-They actually join back together almost immediately and they run outside, so it wasn’t that overwhelming.

-“Oh, we must play them!” - no ‘aha’s’ from the peanut gallery, we already saw the birds can potentially not recognise each other in costume, and in the baddie camp (bird ship, he’s in a bird ship) we can be pretty sure that Rogue didn’t arrive here looking like Mr Darcy since none of the others were pre-costumed and just nicked people when they got here. (number 2 shows they didn’t pre-organise characters - “nice costume”). If Chulder #6 - nicked a guy. If Pantheon - conjured himself a bespoke Darcy form. If the Master potentially still body-stealing or simply we’re cloaked - remember the electronic interference from the start that pointed the Doctor to him specifically rather than the Chuldur? Dhawan!Master previously cloaked himself, plenty of scope there. (Why would the Master need to cloak? If the Doctor’s already familiar with his form. Either from other plans or the fact that, well, there’s a world where this could literally still be Dhawan!Master.)

-The Master nicks bodies by the way, for New Who-onlys. We haven’t actually done it for a while, and for earring interference reasons I don’t believe we’re doing it now, but it’s actually a Classic Who staple.

-“Now keep the Duchess talking, a Chuldur is strong, and if she starts to change you it won’t stop.” First, now that’s a meta, second, do we want to add a sketchy point for the gendering of the Chuldur? Cus we’ve seen one of them explicitly say they’re fine with different bodies (‘oh I wanted to be the Duchess’)? Hm. It’s an assumption on thin ice but I’ll allow it. We don’t ask Rogue why he knows so much about the Chuldurs considering they’re different dimension beings. There are non-problematic options there to be sure. But will say that Dhawan!Master was previously messing around with different dimension beings hoping to find out if they were what the Doctor was, got trapped in their dimension at the end, and these ones are literal shapeshifters. If it is the Master, he has plenty of reason to be here with them and know a lot about them. ✅ If he is a Chuldur, well, obvious reason.

-[Rogue now has his bag back on. This is why I believe it’s a costuming error it wasn’t on indoors just then - the TARDIS and real outdoor areas were obviously filmed in very different times and places, the fact the bag travelled to both is suggestive that it was clearly supposed to be a part of his outfit at this point. BTS: the indoor and outdoor scenes were obviously filmed at different times, (3 weeks of night shoots oof) they’re not actually walking in and out of the building. But it’s also a deliberate costuming addition after the ship because he wasn’t wearing it in the night scenes where he’s holding the Doctor at gunpoint or anything. Tl;dr - no bag before the “Wow” heelturn in the ship, carries bag after.]

-There’s not one but multiple of the Chuldur shapeshifters. A ‘family’ according to Rogue. (Who are playing two characters that are getting married. Oh Doctor-Master mirrors, never change). Something you’d think would be on the bounty hunter note - are you just getting paid for the first one? Can you claim extra if you make multiple runs? These are important questions. Or not.

-“I want to be the Doctor.” …How does she know it’s the Doctor? ‘Uh, the Duchess was introduced to him earlier.’ Yeah. The Duchess. Who died. Childur 1 was still the housekeeper when that happened. She knows who the Doctor is.

-Doctor-Master inverting with the “Run.” “I’m the one who usually says that.” Our beloved theme returns to us. Of course maybe it’s just the cosplaying self-inserting whatever could be any baddie by which i mean really only Pantheon or Chulder #6. Bird ship. The Master was literally cosplaying as the Doctor the last time we saw him, like physically in the Doctors clothes. And probably underwear. Does anyone in this essay smoke weed?

-“Breaking spines! Removing tonsils! Live vivisection!” Gallifrey Time Lords mirror previously engaged, re-engage plus Timeless Child. But we uh haven’t had them do any of that stuff yet and they already suck people dry (don’t. I think it’s meant to be a kind of bolus, if you know your birds of prey) so I don’t know why this line is here. Actually maybe I do - now they’re roleplaying playing scary beasts hunting prey, doesn’t mean they’re actually going to do any of those things. Removing tonsils stands out. …We have a rogue (can’t say that now. Odd?) line from Ruby at the beginning about falling over in front of a fit dentist, the Master’s in the Toymaker’s gold tooth, tonsils feel adjacent, it’s almost certainly just funny, and it is, but if that bangs any bricks together in someone’s head go to town.

-I think the “breaking spines! removing tonsils! live vivisection” line is there to showcase that they are roleplaying Baddies. Because while murdering, they have done literally nothing like that, and it’s the sort of silly thing a child would say when playing a monster trying to think of the nastiest things a monster could do). “We still have the big finale wedding to come. And then… London. We can play our games on a magnificent scale. Parliament first, then royalty. I can be King. And we can start wars with the French and the Spanish and the Portuguese, and everyone who doesn’t look British.” This is their spitballing Season Two. As another point to all being one character and that them being Secret Monsters may be accounted for in the game - Emily is always called Emily whether humanning or in bird form.

-The Doctor and Rogue hide in the carriages. (Matilda style). If you’re building that pre-show Thoschei story, hiding from Time Lords in a TARDIS was probably already there, but if it wasn’t, now it is. Or hurr durr hiding in a carriage is funny I don’t know.

-“Back to the house. We must advance with the wedding! That should get them out of hiding.” …Bestie? What does that mean? Why would that get what we were led to believe that you believe are ‘two random interesting people one introduced to you earlier as the Doctor’ out of hiding? They have skedaddled so as not to be eaten by birds, right? They’re gone, lassie, why would they come back? …Unless she already knew who a character called the Doctor was before they were introduced? And that the Doctor’s M.O. will bring him back? Cus they’ve been watching more than one show.

-We modify the transporter: “I can make this transport gate carry four.” “What if there’s more?” “Right…Six. Six maximum.” How convenient. Personally don’t feel that worry is realistic for the character to have (while acceptable to write), and that if Rogue was as he was originally portrayed, he would be saying “Worst comes to worst, I could always…” *lifts jacket* *Doctor has brief moment of distracted horniness* “Nobody is going to be shooting anybody.” But he’s so perfect pacifist for the Doctor so quickly, I guess he just never would. Of course if he’s on their side, especially if also a Chuldur, he’s not wanting to kill any of them.

-Also feels like a Dungeon Master-whisper in the ear the Doctor just goes with: What if there’s more birds? *sets it to 4* What if there were more. *immediately sets it to 6 skipping 5 entirely*. (We talked about Missy’s comment of there always being a way out being potentially meaningful re: the Master’s traps for the Doctor; and counterbalancing the Doctor giving them a way out ‘come with me don’t be evil’. This would be a fun thing to do with that. Trying to create and order a good story and satisfying conclusion based on the Doctor and other players’ choices - pure DMing work at its finest.).

-“And I thought I was interesting. A bookish little wallflower risking it all for a secret love… But you. You are wild, and brave, and rude, living a life of adventure” again you don’t have to be team Master to enjoy the Gallifrey mirror. The potential in these mirrors for the Master is mmm gorgeous and I’m so here for it. Going back in time to when One ran away with Susan and slapping him for not proposing because he would have come with you, we could fix the universe, we-

-Question, cus I’m bored and this has become sort of a general analysis essay: When the birds transformed there were at least some people inside who screamed, you hear them. …Why is the party still here and going on and everyone’s chilling. Eh maybe Dot And Bubble explained that. Or maybe it was delayed screaming at seeing the gays. That’d be a Time Lord mirror. A marriage proposal probably gets you arrested for public indecency.

-The birds speak English, French, and German. Or at least a few words thereof. Multidimensional telly and I’m surprised it’s got foreign channels? How anglocentric of me. *shakes head*.

-“This is the endgame, Chuldur’s leave no witnesses ((yes they do they just abandoned bodies everywhere)), they’ll slaughter everyone.” If he’s not a bad guy then why, why the fuck, did he spend about fifteen minutes fucking around and not shouting “If we don’t stop the Chuldur they’re going to massacre everybody the second they stop having fun! Yeah, I’m bringing the gun!” like you mention this now??? Of course he mentions it now, he’s building dramatic tension because he is like our favourite dramatic bitch. ✅

-R:“I’m sorry.” 15:“They got her.” Ruby cosplaying as a Chuldur cosplaying as Ruby (see you thought my Pantheon cosplaying as the Master cosplaying as Jack was too much - we did double-layering in the episode itself) enters the room. Rogue gives his line but immediately turns away and watches only the Doctor and his reaction (who stares for a moment then gets up and walks away). Autism collective that we all are, this:

is not an expression of someone whose heart is breaking for his new friend. Just so we’re clear. Which is an odd choice for a new love interest - no sympathetic pain, eyes closing, not even a pat on the arm. He’s just observing what the Doctor does, and then gets up and follows the Doctor out. ✅ If he’s a good guy (he’s not, bird ship) you’re not selling him well. And if he’s a bad guy turning noble, he doesn’t have that part down yet. (Also Rogue said he’d tried looking for Ruby but they’d locked the doors. They manage to get through the section they’re in just fine. YMMV. Not enough on its own imo).

-“Madam. Your Grace …Your Birdiness. I cannot sanction wedlocke…between creatures from Hell.” They let the vicar be the one with the banger line, damn. Only one with a spine. Dead obviously but getting a high-five from some angel out there. (Me turning that into a vicar’s reaction to being asked to wed the Doctor and Master, whatever the fuck they are.)

-Speaking of which, here we explicitly see a Chuldur kill a man and copy his outfit but not his face. The Chuldur. Have no difference. Between body. And clothing. *flashback the Not-Things, and Fourteen regenerating* If you weren’t sure they were mirrors, you should be now.

-“How long do they live for?” “Chuldur?” “Mhm.” *Rogue comes up from behind to stand alongside him where he can see him.* “They have a lifespan of about six-hundred years.” “Good, good. That’s a long time to suffer.” A slight negative in ‘this can be validly read as the Master’ behaviour, because this yields only a tiny expression change of a slight raise of eyebrows, not a wild-eyed smile, and I don’t think the Master’s been able to restrain himself that well since he was Delgado. God what that man could convey with an eyebrow. Also we’ve all agreed that the funniest thing is that the plan doesn’t even change, he just knows how long their torment will last now and is happy about it, and if you ever need to explain the horror underpinning the Doctor it’s that.

-Now this is a hell of a thing to reveal about yourself to your brand new love interest and companion. That you’re down for some serious torture. Thirteen went well out of her way to be a monster only when they couldn’t see her. (Works nicely as a soft threat though. ‘If you’re involved with killing mine, I will torture you til you die or the sun does’. Good to have boundaries in a relationship.)

-“Taste his inhuman scent.” - A) Nice double-meaning line considering *gestures above*, B) Confirmation she knew earlier the Doctor wasn’t human, and so combining that with the belief he would come back if they started the wedding…

-“And I am one of a kind.” “He is quite unique…” Hold this in your mind we’ll be back to it in just a minute. *

-The birds immediately recognise the transport trap, by name, and that there’s only one third of it. Which would make a lot of sense if Rogue and the birds’ ship are the same bird ship so they’ve seen it before. Can’t be that they’ve encountered Just A Bounty Hunter Rogue before - he ‘didn’t know’ there was more than one, there’s no visual recognition, and previously it led to an incinerator not something escapable from.

-That we don’t see presumably Rogue placing the other traps, not even a glimpse of someone shuffling in the background, is to me extremely interesting. Not only like with the Carla flashback scene, playing with the unseen, but perhaps critically that this certain someone might know where the cameras are…

-Were you going “why don’t they just take their shoes off” when they got stuck in the triform? Well makes sense that they didn’t now, right?! Cus we know now there’s no difference to them between their clothing and their skin! …Admittedly Ruby…hopefully is fine and as human…well maybe not human…hopefully she’s whatever she was at the start of the episode. I, uh, maybe would mark that down as a concern though.

-Ruby’s chemistry with Lady roleplaying #5 was rewarded by attempted murder as Emily sought to turn into her. That happens a lot here. Let’s not worry about them as the partner mirror for Doctor-Rogue. Or what just happened with Dhawan!Master and 13. If you consider ‘Poker Face’ to be obviously meta-relevant here but ‘I’m The Bad Guy’ not earlier, question yourself.

-* I told you we’d be back. “She smells like a Chuldur.” “Idiot! It’s a false scent from that cheap psychic jewellery!” - The Doctor smells unique but this doesn’t mean they aren’t palling around with the Master. We’re specifically given a reason for this to not be an issue and well, I guess that would explain why she gets earring interference when Rogue’s around huh? If they’re using the same technology. (Same goes for a Chuldur faking being a human etc.)

-Do I believe the Master could perform a fireman’s lift to yeet #5, yes surprisingly, he is actually physically strong, a fencer, rower, and it’s been noted before. (Ainley’s six pack haunts me still). Dhawan!Master in particular has lugged corpses. It’s only running he doesn’t do/have stamina for. However, do I think he would risk it in-situ just for cool points? Don’t know. However, for this free bit of mental torture to work, the final bird has got to be in the enclosure. If it’s not all or nothing, then of course the Doctor would release Ruby. To get the Doctor to have to choose either to kill his companion or the world? He would carry the earth like Atlas. ✅

And that’s what he immediately proceeds to do with no hesitation. ✅

“Doctor, press send. We’ve only got one chance.” “I can’t.” “Press. The button.” *The Doctor openly, loudly panicking* “It will send Ruby!” “No, Doctor, it’s fine.” “NO! No! No! No!” “If you don’t press send, the Chuldur will escape and Ruby dies anyway.”

The Rogue that you think is real is not doing this. Is not convincing the Doctor to kill his companion. He is taking out his gun, and shooting the struggling birds while they are still stuck to the glue trap. It’s not a nice thing. But it is the Heart Of Gold thing. But he’s not that. He’s just The Bad Guy. ✅

“They’ll kill us. Then this house. Then London. Then the world. You know that. You absolutely know it.”

He doesn’t. The Doctor doesn’t know a thing about the Chuldur other than that they are shapeshifters and what he’s seen. How does he even know what London is?? And he wasn’t there for the scene where the Chuldur said it themselves.

He can’t have logicked that out. There were a few deaths sure, but one housekeeper and a duchess not only isn’t ‘these are extremely dangerous and fast killing machines’-worthy, that leap doesn’t make sense.

It’s not even true in their possibly-just-roleplay Baddie Plan. ‘And we’ll start wars with x y and z and everyone who isn’t British! Bloodshed, cannons, gunpowder!’, like that is a lonnnnnnng plan. Like I said before this situation is no ‘we don’t have time to run away and regroup’ thing, they’re slow killers, and especially with Ruby with battle mode engaged she at least would be fine. But it’s that taking over London bit. Very specifically. He claims he hasn’t met them, doesn’t know how many there are, he’s not admitting to any prior knowledge of these guys. So the only way he comes up with that line is if he already knew what they wanted out of their campaign in the first place.

They have not yet proven any more dangerous than any human gunman, in fact less, they clearly can’t spray bullets, they kill one at a time and so far only people they’ve wanted the appearance of in some way. They have been in rooms crammed with people who survived the encounter. Are you going to have to leg it to the TARDIS to regroup? Yes. Would people die? Sure. But probably not her, she’s fast and has a battle bot controlling her movements. Multiple posh nobs have died already and we only got a little sad over the housekeeper. Our hearts will survive. The one putting the pressure on the situation is not the Chuldur. It’s Rogue. There is no time limit. No rush. It’s waiting for you to press the button on the Laser TCE- I mean control stick. But Rogue is not giving him a second to think. ✅

*Rogue approaches, step by step.*

“So can you do it?”

GUYS, your supposed hero is TORTURING the Doctor, who is fucking ugly crying his two broken little hearts out. ✅

“Can you lose your friend to save the world.”

‘I am very sane and staring at you in a normal way the normal amount. Choose to kill your friend yourself, or choose to allow the genocide of every person on this planet including her. I want to see you choose, choose, choose.’

“Ok, but what does anyone get out of killing these people? I mean I know they’re posh nobs and all that, but we found the housekeeper dead. I mean why would anybody do that?”

“Remember how we used to run through those streets as children? The alleys where we'd hide from Borusa as we skipped classes? All gone now. Come on, ask me why I did this.”

*Sobbing Doctor shakes his head, making his decision* [quietly] “No.”

*Rogue with hitherto unseen tenderness, wiping one of his tear away* “I know.”

No, he doesn’t! If he is a random fucking bounty hunter he does not in fact know that. He knows because he already knows the Doctor. From real life or from being a bad guy who just kind of likes to watch TV - which actually I guess does describe the Master✅✅

*Rogue kisses him. Because a tortured ugly crying Doctor is hot to him.* ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

(If I need to explain why the Master snogging the Doctor here, or the fact that he genuinely loves him in his own twisted way, you can’t be helped, or maybe were just a Ten viewer when you were 8 so missed stuff, and have watched nothing else in the show and just stumbled back in here - go watch Twelve there’s Simm!Master in it for you, and Thirteen’s second series onwards).

Live ‘About To Be Ripped Apart By Murderous Birds In Another Dimension If She Even Physically Survives The Trip’ Slug Reaction. Ruby straight up like ‘well at least he won’t be alone’, babes we’re gonna get you some sertraline, a psychologist, it’s gonna be ok, you’re worthy of life, we’re gonna get you help, we have a therapy circle.

The grin and hoppidy-skip jump Rogue does here when they break for air and he’s holding the Laser TCE/controller is a level of happiness we have yet to see from Rogue. A still cannot do it justice. (40:17 - though if you’re going, may as well watch the whole torturing scene from 39:00). It’s a bit more than a wee smile.

Then Rogue leaps over and knocks Ruby out of the triangle! Something he could apparently have done at literally any time before or during torturing the Doctor to his breaking point!

Why can he do this when she is molecularly bonded to the floor? We don’t know! It’s not explained! But he clearly knows his fucking device doesn’t he?! Why didn’t he tell the Doctor at any point that it would be possible to get Ruby out with a thing called a matter exchange? Who knows?! Maybe it slipped his mind til the last moment? The Doctor being the one to take her place would sure have been an answer, but oh well!

‘Maybe he didn’t want to risk his life for Ruby’s unless he really had to.’ - Then that’s shit hero and love interest behaviour isn’t it! But since it says “Matter Exchange” I’m pretty sure he could also have knocked Ruby out of the triangle using that vicar corpse on the floor a few feet away, then neither would have to die! So he must be real sure he’s gonna be ok! ✅

He’s so happy and chill. The music is happy too. Rogue jauntily throws the bouquet - ahh look who’s next to be married *wink*. This is the happiest and funnest and most genuine he’s looked the entire episode. Almost like he got exactly what he wanted! ✅

“Find me.” *click*

Ruby you’re such a dick, why couldn’t you be as happy as him? If you’d trusted the Doctor to find you instead of you die by bird and/or dimensional anomaly before he got there this could have been such a peppy scene the whole time. It’s almost like Rogue is absolutely certain he’s not going to die doing this. You know I know a character who’s been transported to a different dimension at the end of his episode before and got out of that just fine! ✅

Almost like this was the end of a live D&D session he was hosting. That’s a wrap everyone, great job. Just imagine what I’ve got in store for us next week. Good thing the car transports all six of us together! Well done for not panicking, screaming, or interrupting what I had going on with the Doctor at the end, and trusting this wasn’t going to teleport you into an incinerator. Thanks for playing along, excellent improv as always, I’ll be marking your RP points highly.

And then the Doctor screamed “I’ll find you! I promise I’ll find you!” it was very romantic, and then he got out the sonic and started scanning everything for traces, anything, he was still upset and panicky of course, I mean his new love interest had just snogged him and given his own life to save Ruby’s. But Rogue had believed in him to do this impossible impossible task so he would. So he and Ruby ran back to the TARDIS as fast as they could, maybe she’d picked something up or *gasp* she was the one who configured the trap in the first place so maybe there would be a record of what random dimension she chose! Except she wouldn’t let them access it for some reason and she kept growling and the Doctor was crying with anger and-

No wait, none of that happened, sorry, not sure why I thought it did.

Actually the Doctor went to comfort Ruby and her comfort him, sombrely put the bouquet down where Rogue was. (And left the trap technology behind. So got engaged and invented a glue/tarmac trap.) The Doctor remotely sent the Bird Ship to orbit around the moon, “so it can wait…as long as it takes”. In the 19th century. …Babe, you know they can see the moon, right? They have telescopes. This is a mavity waiting to happen.

(Genuinely choosing not to think about how we last left Dhawan!Master messing about with the two moons in the 1900’s, I’mma be real, I don’t know what was going on and when there, hope it doesn’t fit in actually because I’m not gonna get it. If he’s the Master he turns up, that’s all I ever need to know.)

-“Can’t we use the TARDIS and go find him?” Ruby asks. Good question. If the TARDIS can determine whether a dimension is uninhabited or not that’s definitely gonna narrow it down. Maybe she could outright search for him? If she, you know, didn’t hate his moral void.

-“There are as many dimensions as there are atoms in the universe.” *Ruby arm cuddles* “Anyway! It is what it is, so onwards, fine, next.” So is it ‘as long as it takes’ or are you not even going to try and find him? That and the bouquet really feels like you’re giving him up for dead and just hoping he finds his way back himself some day. It’s not what you were told to do. You can wear that ring and salute the sky with a smile all you like. He said “Find him.” Bad fiancé behaviour.

Cus the thing is, here is the ‘uwu small bean Rogue’ paradox. If this is just a normal guy, he’s not making it back on his own. He’s dying to the birds. The Doctor isn’t looking for him, and Rogue clearly didn’t think he could return on his own - he says “Find me” not “I’ll be back”. So if you believe we’re going to see Rogue again…he’s going to not be a normal guy, but be the type who can survive and make his own way back from a wrong dimension surrounded by free murderous birds. *piano rendition of The Cat Came Back starts playing* ✅

But luckily he’s not normal. He’s a man/bird with so much forethought he knew he wasn’t going to be coming back to his bird ship and took whatever it was that can save him from a teleport trap from the spaceship with him in that bag. Always have a getaway plan. That’s Masterful thinking. Unless you just think he wanted his wallet and keys on him ✅ (Point against Pantheon though - pretty sure being able to move reality around doesn’t require props. But then D&D. Maybe he just likes props.)

-“Doctor, you don’t have to be like this.” “I have to be like this because this is what I’m like.” And in our story about roleplaying, shouting out our longtime theme of the most important roleplaying of all, that we follow a character who’d rather be called Lulubelle playing The Doctor™. Doctor Who is a show.

-The fires whole and reflected and internal everywhere, like our Gallifrey mirror is on fire.

-Final additional literal-meta that may be of interest: the costume designer said Ncuti’s outfit is designed as a nod to Three - the original Thoschei pairing origin. We canonise Shalka!Doctor - famously and frankly exclusively known as ‘that animated one who made a robot boyfriend Master to be his Companion’, with lines in the episode Cornell said was indeed intended to suggest a relationship there and would have continued had that pilot been picked up. Relevant or not we’ll see.

And to all those who read that and yet still think that I am just very cynical and mean, and he really does have a single heart of gold, he’s just got flat affect and is socially awkward and autistic maybe and-

His ship IS A FUCKING BIRD. OWL HOOTS.

🎉 You did it! You read the full analysis! Great job! You passed Media Overanalysis, Rogue Edition. I told you it was a 10K. Look at how much you just read that had already been effectively covered in the first minute with just one thing.

“I’m The Bad Guy. Duh.”

(‘I am now convinced, but do you have a blessedly far shorter essay about why a Chuldur/Pantheon The Rogue perfectly cosplaying the Master cosplaying Jack would be the way to go?’ Why yes I do, strawman.)

Assorted later Additions:

Pantheon!Rogue: Why the bird ship?

Maybe that’s why the ship’s so fucky actually, DM’s love their props, this is about playing D&D In The Real World, so maybe he got one originally, short hop standard Asteroid Hopper. but now they’ve just kept (perhaps Pantheon-magically) editing it over time as the campaign and rule of cool needed. Appearance, better space travel, time travel etc. “It should look like a bird!” “…Yeah! It should look like a bird! Great idea Emily, we’ll work that in!” Of course if he’s a Chuldur this is just…their ship. Maybe classicly upgraded.

What might Rogue’s original plan for the Chuldur’s live D&D Session supposed to have been:

We know they were going to have a big wedding, but maybe that they’re also Baddies going to take over the world muhahaha! Cus they went into that monster-playing real quick and also they said that the panicking and screaming is their favourite bit - so there must have been a plan to include that after the wedding part of the game! They thought the wedding would lure The Doctor out so there must have been nefariousness in it or else why would The Doctor be drawn out? They were playing Baddies! So, thinking like what our lead bird would want for a moment, if you were to DM that, maybe he’s both playing the bounty hunter sent to catch them …But maybe also was going to do an “I Object!” scene too. Their faces in that scene, they’re so excited. Let’s say Rogue doesn’t know the Doctor was coming in advance. He’s already got ‘I’m The Bad Guy’ playing if this wasn’t a live magical edit on seeing him. Oh, maybe that’s why he chose to look like Mr Darcy. Maybe he was going to woo one of them - a good reason to already have the ring. Cus a big wedding can’t go right, that’s not drama, that’s boring. We know he’s probably cloaked - not only do they not recognise him but we have Ruby’s earring interference pointed directly at him (same tech frequency problems?) and even mention the psychic jewellery’s ability to mask a scent with a false one. So he was an NPC just meant to turn up and add some of their beloved drama. So he’d woo a Chuldur, he’ll object and then he would reveal himself as a bounty hunter with his Big Glowy Gun and trap! It was a dastardly trick! You knew he was a Rogue and a cad all along, you just let yourself fall for his deceit! *teleports to ship rather than incinerator* BRO. Even the bird’s D&D plot would naturally be the ‘I was tricking you and am actually your enemy’ twist!

Post-Empire, The case for the Chuldur Phoenix: Rogue being (unbeknownst to himself) the Master cosplaying a Chuldur cosplaying the Master.

[tenderhungering]

veep headcanons? :3

oh this will take a WHILE……i love veep so much. i’m about to wrap up season 6 right now ! i think i’ll do little headcannons / analysis for each character ! i might do a part 2 because i want to also do some more supporting characters. like you know damn well im gonna wanna write for catherine and marjorie as a whole,,,

Selina

named catherine “catherine” like her mother in order to be able to yell said name in anger the way she never could yell back at her mother

the severe mommy issues make her need every single one of her staff to be emotionally involved in her. if she isn’t the center of their life, she gets anxious about it, even angry. she needs to be validated

depends heavily on spellcheck,,, i just think she hates phones for some reason.

she can tell EXACTLY how someone is feeling by making it up in her head and believing it ❤️

got arrested once in her youth and it was wiped off the record. #supportwomen’swrongs

Amy

would do super super well taking up something that makes her adrenaline pump. they keep trying to get her to relax by making her get massages, meditate and be in quiet. she needs NOISE. she should be allowed to beat someone up at least once a day

had a little gray cat whenever she was younger. she likes them ! they’re similar to how she is whenever it comes to boundaries.

bisexual but she has a stressful job so she doesn’t have time to think about that rn

she would benefit from me in her life actually

actually really liked dan bc dan seems to personalize the relationship to the person (dan is so kind ❤️) so she was into him but suddenly got the ick.

Dan

trigger warning for SA and grooming: i think dan’s relationship with sex is so affected by the fact he slept with his teacher whenever he was younger in exchange for a good grade. it has made him view it was an exchange, a transactional affair. it’s why he’s so shit at intimacy, he doesn’t see to get anything out of it.

watches all the latest movies but it’s only because he keeps taking women out to go see them:

has a really sensitive stomach,,,,he says it’s something he ate but i feel like whenever he gets anxious it happens to

catholic guilt galore but he’s busy so he CANNOT get into it

he’s so the type of boyfriend who does baby talk and when he’s recorded he gets real mad about it. get that camera OUTTA here

Mike

he is like a baby duckling to me that’s why he wanted to raise them actually

has so many useless apps on his phone. why do you have a flashlight app you have a flashlight BUILT into the phone. its okay though bc he watches lot of youtube tutorials

probably wanted to vlog at some point but he got yelled at by selina in a clip so he stopped

the personality hire,,, everyone loves him but god he can be so bad at his job sometimes. everyone gets mad but never enough to fire him

because he started dating wendy, he started to dress up a little more ! ties and handkerchiefs match. i love you dad

Jonah

he so ran one of those private meme accounts whenever he was younger but he got so bad at everyone saying they were lame he just posted a screenshot that said SUCK MY DICK SON and blocked everyone

his incessant gross comments are a result of being around a bunch of rich white men that happen to be politicians that tend to laugh at them. he has daddy issues. he needs the validation

his little curls going missing are a result of him getting his hair straightened because he wanted to look more professional actually. he burnt his hands so he begged his mom to help him

gets really anxious about his health CONSTANTLY and has a will written out already because he’s scared one day it’ll (he doesn’t know what) catch up to him

Gary

he knows the lyrics to every new pop song ever. he loves it. he used to play Just Dance whenever he was in college or something i don’t know i feel like he might’ve even been in a club that requires that

has an extensive skin care routine. he puts on those fluffy headbands sometimes but stopped bc he realized it was to keep your hair dry and his is so short lmao

definitely has an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. he just pops a pill of whatever and hopes that it works (it doesn’t)

needs heavy validation from authority figures,,,like badly,,, i think that’s why he enjoys it so much whenever any of selina’s boyfriends acknowledge him as a person (or anyone gives him any importance)

he needs someone to tell him what to do because he is so lost on having any identify that isn’t directly tied to someone else ? he’s not even really sure what he himself likes anymore. uses “we” more than he uses “i”

[timbit-robin-art]

Opinions on Morro coming back in the new season of ninjago

I wasn’t too big into Morro (I didn’t hate him, I just didn’t get attach to him like I have with my main ninja crew), but I think it’s an interesting direction.

Now, I have to be completely honest; I have not seen anything from Dragon’s Rising yet. I know, it’s been a while since seasons 1 and 2, but you have to understand that as an OG, I have to be in the right mindset for the new era. I want to give it a fair shot.

Anyways. I actually do have something to say about Morro’s return, even if I have yet to see Dragon’s Rising. Bringing back Garmadon was A Choice(TM) that I was iffy on, but I think knowing that they’re planning on bringing Morro back would actually help me put my feelings about the 2018 era to rest. It makes sense in my mind that if Garmadon somehow came back, then naturally anyone else involved with the Preeminent can also come back. I’m kind of surprised they haven’t done it sooner. If you don’t count Day of the Departed, that is.

… Speaking of Day of the Departed, I kind of wish they stuck with Cole being a ghost, at least for a little while longer. Same with Jay’s eyepatch in season 6. It made the group look like they’ve absolutely been through it when you compare to how they began. Timeskip designs, or whatever. But that’s just me.

I’m sure you weren’t expecting this as an answer, but yeah. Here you go. When I eventually get around to Dragon’s Rising, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Morro.

[heyclickadee]

A couple of season three thoughts:

1. We don’t actually know what being clone x’d means. We talk about it as though a clone is completely wiped clean, total mind reset, but the Clone x we met in season two wasn’t really a blank cypher. He was more of a zealot. He had a personality, in fact he had a very strong personality, it was just a terrifying one, and the way he talks about being “elevated” a “believer” makes him seem a lot less like a drone and more like a fanatic. I think what’s happening is another step or two in chip augmentation beyond what we saw happen with Crosshair, so it goes beyond blind obedience and right into almost religious devotion. It’d mean the clone underneath is still there, but twisted around the programming in a terrifying way. I hope our boys find a way to help the X’d clones.

2. I still kind of want the new doggo to be what Rubies look like when they grow up. Partly because I really want to see the Durands come back.

3. One Tech lives possibility that we ought to consider is Tech coming back with a TBI. Aphasia, memory loss, Tech having to re-learn certain motor skills or even how to fly—that could happen. And it could happen through a weird Star Wars lens, of course, but it could happen. It could also be very interesting to watch. And if I see anyone saying that it would have been better if Tech had died if he does come back with a TBI (or a Star Wars metaphor for TBI) then I swear to God that it is ON SIGHT.

4. Angsty possibility: Omega hits a point in Tantiss when she does lose hope, and that’s what pushes Crosshair to start trying to help her with the escape. Not because he has any hope, but because he can’t stand to see her like that.

5. I still think Omega and Crosshair escape Tantiss as early as episode two, mmmaaaaaybe episode one, and that they get separated so that Crosshair reunites with at least Hunter and Wrecker (and Echo if Echo’s not off doing secret things) well before Omega does, but I also: one, hope that we get at least one episode of Omega and Crosshair free, together, and just trying to survive, and; two, I don’t think Omega’s going back to Tantiss after that. I think she gets caught and that she and Crosshair get separated, but I also think that we’re not going back to Tantiss again until the end of the season after the first few episodes, and that when the team does go back, it’ll be as a whole team, and it won’t necessarily be to rescue Omega.

6. The moment Crosshair finds out that the boys kept his armor is going to kill me. You know they could have sold it. They’ve been broke and struggling enough the whole show to have had justification in doing so, but they didn’t.

7. I kind of want to see an episode where everyone’s separated. No two or three together, everyone just on their own.

8. They’ve been dragging AZ around for two seasons. I mean, not literally, they left him on Kamino and then on Ord Mantell, but they’ve kept that little medical droid around on the show and made him accessible to the gang, and I would like to know why. Chekov’s AZ

9. Also chekov’s zillo beast, chekov’s Romar’s last words to Omega, etc.

10. I’m. Very excited for Hunter this season.

[josephsaturn]

Gonna post some SW AU ideas

(Fair warning: most of these are tcw/clones-adjacent because that’s where the brainrot is lmao

Also I am ONLY fully done watch the first 2 prequel movies and season 1 of tcw. I know what’s gonna happen after, but not every detail of it.)

Starting with:

Shmi the Nanny

Ok so.

A few months after Anakin is taken to become a Jedi, Jango goes to Watto’s for help on his ship, so Watto sends Shmi to go work on it while Jango watches. Idk, he’s probably got nothing better to do. While she’s working on fixing the problem, he decides to pass time by telling her about the kid he just got: how he’s the sweetest thing ever, how he looks like an angel, maybe he even stops Shmi’s work to show pictures or something. But, the important thing is this: he knows that Kamino’s no place to raise a child, and he trusts both the nanny-bot and the Kaminoans about as far as he can throw them.

Getting an idea, he then looks at Shmi and asks if she has any experience with kids.

She, obviously, answers yes.

Jango walks back in to Watto’s store, stays in there for a few minutes, and when he comes out, he tells her that she’s coming with him to be his kid’s nanny.

I wanna make it clear that Jango DID NOT free Shmi: she’s still got her chip, Jango’s just got her detonator. He’s simply her new owner, and, as Shmi’s gonna learn, a REAL piece of work.

So they go to Kamino, and meet up with whichever Kaminoan is there to greet Jango. He introduces Shmi as Boba’s live-in nanny for when Jango goes on bounties and such, and they take her to the Tipoca apartments to get settled in. While walking there, Shmi notices the tubes carrying the other clones on the weird merry-go-round thing in canon, and gets told that those are the Jedi’s clone army.

The Jedi.

The very same Jedi she allowed Ani to go live with.

Why did the Jedi need an army?

But they make it to the apartments, Shmi gets one right next to the Fetts, and Jango introduces her to little baby boba, only a few months old. She also gets introduced to the Cuy’val Dar, since she’ll be in close quarters with them.

For the first few days, Shmi just walks around, taking in all of the sights Kamino has to offer (like all the WATER, holy kriff), but gets rebuked by whoever’s nearby when she tries to go into the cloning facility.

Finally, Jango harshly wakes her up in the middle of the night and takes her to his apartment, telling her that if anything happens to boba, it’ll be on her. With that, he leaves, and shmi falls asleep on the couch, only to be woken up by boba’s crying.

She ends up taking care of him for a month and a half, Jango nowhere in sight for all of it, only for him to return in the middle of the day and coldly kick Shmi out of the apartment.

The pattern repeats: Jango leaves for at least a month, comes back for just a week or two, then it’s back out again.

Some highlights of this idea:

Shmi bonding with certain members of the Cuy’val dar, with one of them even giving her her own blaster

Shmi officially meets the rest of the clones when Boba turns four, having lost him after turning her back on him for only a minute. Alpha-17 finds him and gets him back to her

Boba gets to listen to some of her stories/eat food from tattooine

Boba in general growing up with a positive influence instead of being a super-duper isolated brat.

Shmi straight up killing Dred priest when news of his fighting ring reaches her

Shmi thinking about how the only people she likes on this miserable planet are just the kids (and yes the men bred to die are kids to her. Sue her she literally watched them grow up) cuz the adults are different shades of asshole

And other stuff

Lemme know what you think!

[theforgottenmcrmy]

live reactions to house of the dragon season 2, episode 3

this is still for my own amusement, but as always, I’m open to polite discussion🖤

spoilers below the cut

Still loving this new intro, is it just me, or is it changing with each episode? it’s definitely changing, right?

Ooooooo we’re getting right into the Bracken and Blackwoods, let’s freaking go! 👏🏻

Lmao, everyone calling Rhaenyra a kinslayer, conveniently forgetting Aemond threw the first stone with Luke

Blackwoods standing on business, as usual 💅

Wait that transition was💀 We’re not even into the thick of the war yet, and look at the cost…

Rhaenyra “I cannot fault him for keeping his oath” you’re too good for this world ma’am

Rhaenys spitting stone cold facts. And so poetically too.

This might be a hot take, but I don’t feel like Rhaenys suggesting Rhaenyra make another attempt at peace with Alicent would be a weak move. She’s right on the money with suggesting they’re both largely backed into their respective corners by the men who surround them. One last attempt at peace, woman to woman, is not a sign of weakness (in my opinion at least).

Crispy Cole having imposter syndrome already?!💀👀

this man has the balls to abandon his duty to canoodle with the dowager queen, but can’t take the position of Hand in stride with a bit more confidence?

Lmao, Aegon’s own council doubting him and Cole already😂😂😂

Daeron mentioned again, I want to see the Blue Queen let’s go 🤞🏻

Aemond holding onto that same coin, interesting…

Cole really having a chuckle at Ser Arryk’s death as though he did not single handedly sentence him to that death. And a few people are still disputing that this guy has to be one of the worst ever in Westeros?

I’m pretty sure Aemond’s trying to bait Aegon here, plant some doubt in his head about his suitability to actual fighting in the war🤔

Mysaria, the voice of the small folk

Does this mean Laenor’s dead? And it was recent? I can’t help but think Seasmoke at least would have tried to follow him years ago when he left… and if he’s just recently become restless, what changed?

I understand why Rhaenyra is asking what she is of Rhaena, and I don’t think she’s doing it to hurt Rhaena at all. But Rhaena, that poor girl🥲 she needs to have her moment, even if it’ll take a few episodes or longer. Not to prove her worth to others, but to herself.

Also, definitely getting Daemon vibes from her, in terms of wanting to prove herself

HARRENHAL, here we go! 👻

I know this is supposed to be serious and hall because Harrenhal is haunted, but Daemon sneaking around Scooby Doo style waiting for something to come at him is so unintentionally funny to me

Speaking of Scooby Doo, not the bat flyby😂

Also, Daemon’s armor is sickkk.

Wonder if Daemon ever thought, “This is where Rhaenyra’s last serious lover died. So wtf am I doing here?!👀”😂😂😂

Daemon “knock out guard first, ask questions later” Targaryen

“I’m claiming Harrenhal.” (Tywin Lannister voice): “Any man who has to say he claims a castle did not truly claim the castle at all”

It was so anticlimactic too😂 you will not convince me that the writers don’t know what they’re doing, rightfully throwing in these sort of bits to diffuse the tension

Alys Rivers, that you?!?!?!👀

Simon Strong disowning Larys😂 we love to see it.

Sin begets sin begets sin. This line has no right to go so hard-

“The throne?”

“It’s a big chair, made of swords.”

Music this season is (not surprisingly) serving as always

Do you think Ser Gwayne has his suspicions about Criston and Alicent yet?🤔

This man is so bold, I stg- if you’re that bold, Ser Crispy, why don’t you show Aemond what you just received from his mother? Or better yet, Aegon?

It’s kind of ironic, how Cole has probably deluded himself to thinking he finally has this great courtly and noble love with the widowed queen- all without seeing the hypocrisy of it all.

Rhaenyra needs to set these men straight. I cannot believe how quick they are to suggest she go into hiding. She’s already made plans to send her most vulnerable children away to safety. You cannot convince me that, were she a man, her councilors would not even dare to make this suggestion to her.

Rhaenys steadfast support of Rhaenyra is going to make the inevitable hurt that just more.

Rhaenys suggesting Rhaena become the heir to Driftmark?👀 I like the idea tbh

This is the last time we see them have a one on one conversation, isn’t it?🫥

Chillllllllllls with the dragon eggs. Morning is coming.

Joffrey😓 and Viserys and Aegon.

Helaena trying to rationalize her son’s death.😭 And still acknowledging the small folk…

Also, poor Helaena forgiving her mother🥲 she’s a better woman than me, because I could never.

Larys, the pot stirrer. I swear this man’s only motivation in life is chaos.

But I do have to wonder, is his allegiance really to Aegon, or is it some backwards attempt to keep Aegon safe to garner Alicent’s favor still?

Her name is escaping me rn, but not the poor girl who Aegon assaulted STILL being assaulted by men at her new job😭

I get the desire to make the connection with the audience that Ulf has to Targaryens, but of alll the people the writers could have chosen from, choosing Viserys and Daemon’s father doesn’t sit well with me. Not saying it is impossible, but from what we know of Baelon and Alyssa’s relationship, it just doesn’t seem super likely he’d have a lot of bastards running around out there.

Ulf, already showing his turncoat ways🫢

Oh Lordy, that’s a bit graphic

Aegon, still being a terrible bully to his younger brother. Great to see how little his truly changed over the years.

Oh Lordy, the Aemond girlies are going to go absolutely feral after this scene———

Daemon might have been the one to call him Ser Crispin, but his daughter is about to make the name become a reality 😂👏🏻

Just the foreshadowing of Rook’s Rest is already too much for me personally🥲

Here we go, more mystery solving antics from detective Daemon…

🫨🫨🫨

Now if that man didn’t truly love Rhaenyra in his own way (or at least have some guilt over what he had done) why the hell would he have had that reaction to that vision?

The Sept?👀

SEPTA RHAENYRA👏🏻

The new Kingsguard members might not have even recognized Rhaenyra if they had seen her

Alicent swearing on the memory of her mother, just like Rhaenyra had years before🫢

Literally seeing a lightbulb moment go off in Rhaenyra’s head-

Ooooooooooo god, Alicent realizing all this started because of a misunderstanding and her hearing what she wanted to hear👀

And of course, she has to double down. It’s already gone too far.

I do have to pity Alicent a little here. Just like Cersei, she has to admit that she knows her son has become a monster she cannot control.

Alicent can think she is taking the upper hand now, but the next time she sees Rhaenyra, it’s likely to be another story😏

Chillllllllls for next week’s preview

[mollowosh]

V's Last Tea Shop | Day 3 (Actual Play)

This is the second session of my actual play of Last Tea Shop (it's session 2 but day 3 because time doesn't move linearly in the game). I suggest starting at Day 0, and also checking out my starting point so you have a better idea of what's going on.

Supplies:

Ancient seashell (1)

Bright gumdrop (1)

Sea salt (1)

Today’s weather is bruised purple fog. Any visitors might be pained.

It's day 3.

The little bell hanging over the door rings, and I look up from my book to see someone new stumble into my shop. He’s got a brown satchel slung around his shoulder, light grey leather coat, and a modest green flat cap on. He looks tired, the sort of tired that can only be accumulated through years and years of a life strained and void of comfort. 

“Hello there!” I say to him, closing my book and placing it on the counter.

He perks up, almost a flinch. “Oh oh… hi. Hello.” His voice matches his demeanor of exhaustion. “I’m uh… just looking for a someplace to rest for a little bit.”

“Well then, I think you found it. Stay as long as you like here, it’s safe - more importantly, it’s warm. You aren’t looking too good, would you like a cup of tea?”

“Ah, can you tell it’s been a rough journey? I’m not sure how much tea would help at the moment.”

“It’ll probably help more than you think. It’s also free, so…”

“Sure, I’ll take some.”

I spend 1 sea salt to create a Comforting Brew. While preparing the traveler his drink, I strike up another conversation.

“Tough journey, huh? You talkin’ bout the walk here, or just… life?”

“Both, I guess? I was a messenger. See a lot of weird shit in this line of work, but it was the only thing I found I could do. Dangerous work, at least in my area. Sorta job that’ll bite you at some point or another.” His tone darkened a bit at that line, and he closed his eyes. In a brief moment of silence I could almost see memories playing behind his eyelids, rest and restlessness fighting for the state of his memory. There was pain in there, relief perhaps, most certainly something lost.

“So it bit you, huh?” I said as I poured his beverage from the pot to a smaller cup.

“Ah, not really. It’s just nicer to think that it did. I uh… had something to deliver to some kind of noble, someone wealthy. It was just the beginning of spring, a time in which the sunshine finally peaks through the cloudy and damp mess that I call home and gets the flowers to bloom. Everything turns from shit to perfect for the season, and everyone tries to get out of their obligations to spend time in it. Unfortunately, when people are signing off or handing off work to others, that means they have more messages for others that they aren’t keen to deliver themselves. I decided that this was my last delivery for the season, as I had saved up just enough to afford a month or two relaxing on the balcony rather than trudging all day. Got impatient, you can get that, right? At some point, while riding my horse through a village and looking at chairs I didn’t have the time to sit in, I decided to take a shortcut. There’s this forest, Angelwood pass, that cuts a pretty narrow path through the mountains. You can either go completely around the range, which will probably take you a week or two, or you can walk through Angelwood valley, which is three to five days.”

“Sounds like a no-brainer.”

He picked up the mug and took sips between his words. “Would be, if not for snow. You see, the snow hadn’t yet melted, so if there had been an avalanche or somethin’ during winter, the mountains around the valley would’ve cradled the snow in place, making a wall that nobody’s getting through. No one I asked knew whether or not anything of the sort had happened, but I know it has done so exactly once in the few decades I been around there. Just to be safe, if people don’t know whether or not it’s blocked, I go around. If it’s blocked, I won’t know until about three days into the journey - in which case I’d have to turn around and take the other path, a minimum addition of a week to the journey - I didn’t bring the resources for that. But I was anxious to be done with this job, and I’d only ever heard of the valley getting clogged once ever, so I took it. Stupid, ain’t it? Wasn’t too long ago, and I can’t now ever imagine making a choice so reckless.”

“So you got stranded out there?”

“Would’a been easier if I did. No, when I saw that wall of snow too impossibly high to climb, I let out every swear word I knew, maybe invented a few new ones, and began trudgin’ back where I came. Like I told you, I didn’t have the resources for that, but I wasn’t ready to die. Did what I could, used as sparsely as possible, but I got down to empty with three day’s journey left to my destination. Don’t sound too long, but that’s more than enough time for things to go south. See, you’d think I’d be worried about runnin’ out of food or water, but I can survive long enough without it to get where I’m goin’, even eat my horse if need be. Most precious resource for me is bullets. Reason my work is so dangerous and well paying is there’s always monsters lurking around where people don’t go. I’m being paid to travel through their home, they ain’t happy about that. My gun’s the only thing that keeps me safe, so when I run out of ammunition, I’m in serious trouble. And I was, I swear I felt them stalkin’ me like they could smell my bein’ defenseless. Didn’t take long for one of ‘em to attack, out of a bush leaped a hywolf, claws out, teeth on all three of its heads gnashing and hungry. No chance with a dagger there. 

But I didn’t die then. You see- typically I take letters, but this time it was a long wooden box. It is strictly against the rules to open it, but… desperate times call for desperate measures, I thought maybe there was a chance it would help me. And by sheer miracle, I was right - I pulled out a great ornery sword bejeweled at the hilt with brilliant green emeralds, and without a second thought or breath swung the thing into the side of the beast. The sword must’ve been forged by a true expert, cause it cleaved its way all the way through that hywolf, and without a moment it was dead in front of me. So for the next three days, I had no choice but to keep using the thing to protect myself, it was the only way to get there safe.

Then I got to the destination, a small kingdom in the middle of nowhere, and washed the sword in a river before putting it back in the box. I was instructed by guards to hand it to the client himself. I realized then that this wasn’t any old noble or merchant - it was the king, although of a kingdom small enough to often be left out of maps, he was the most important man for miles. He opened the box, inspected the sword, and asked me why it was blunt. It wasn’t, still could have sliced clean through either of us, but this man had a keen eye for it. I told him the truth, that I was stranded out in the open and needed a weapon to get there in one piece.”

“I’m guessing he didn’t like that.” 

“Not one bit. Before I knew it, or had the chance to ask any questions, his two guards were grabbing me and took me to the river to have me drowned. Was awful. Gods, and so stupid. I should have done anything else. Shouldn’t have taken that job right before a vacation, taken that shortcut, packed so few bullets, told him that I opened his box… Now I’m in this shithole - no offence.”

“None taken. I understand why anyone would prefer to be alive.” I placed his tea on the table in front of him and took the seat opposite.

“So much left to do. Never got nowhere in life, just spent doing jobs here and there, saving up so I could… I don’t even know, it’s all a waste now. Can’t use any of what I collected. Wanted to settle down, find a job that let me rest, maybe make a few friends…” He took his little mug and continued drinking.

“Just a waste,” he said between sips.

“I’m really sorry to hear that. I get a lot of people here with regrets, more often than not that’s what I’m talking to visitors about. But you’ll let go of that, very soon I hope. Whatever happened in your life, it’s time to move forward, and that’s ok. Can’t change the past.”

His shoulders lowered a little bit and face became less tense. “Thanks, hope I can get all the rest I was working towards in life soon.”

I realized that he finished his cup, so I took it off the table and stood up. ”Do you want a refill of that?”

“Um, no, I’m good. I ought to get going soon.”

I notice a bit of hesitation in that sentence. “You alright? Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Well… I haven’t met many others on my trip here, but I’m getting the sense that people don’t really ask questions around here. It’s a lot as it is, I suppose.”

“Yeah. Do you have any questions?”

“Well… I guess, what are we doing here? What is either of us trying to get to?”

“Ah, well that’s a tough one. I don’t really know. My purpose is to serve travelers like you tea, and the travelers’ purpose is to get where they’re going. I don’t really have any more insight than you do.”

“So this really is just a place for me to take a break, huh?”

“Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Are you dead?”

“I don’t know. Really, I don’t. All my visitors are, but you already knew that.”

“Hm. That’s real odd, huh?”

“I suppose so.”

“Alright,” he stands up, floor creaking under his shifted weight as he prepares to depart. “Thank you, str-” suddenly he stops in his tracks, and his brow furrows in confusion.

“Is everything alright?” I ask.

“Uh-” he reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out a small green envelope. “I just remembered. I have a message. I didn’t- I… I think it’s for you. I don’t…”

He hands it to me as I walk up to him, both of us confused into silence. “Yeah, that’s for you,” he says. “I don’t… I don’t know. I should get going.”

“Alright, take care of yourself. The fog should be clearing, the sun’s finally peaking through.”

“Thank you for the tea.” He turns around, opens the door, and mutters to himself, “it’s like spring, again.”

As the door shuts, I open the envelope and take out a neatly folded piece of parchment. I don’t typically receive messages from any visitors, most certainly not of a nature as vague as this.

I unfold it, and it reads:

Hello V, I’ll be arriving in something like 20 days. Until then, just keep doing what you do. Save some ingredients, a quartz crystal or something, I’m probably going to want a Draft of Recall. From, Veiled One

Time moves forward 6 days.

[thecleverqueer]

Ways I see Episode 8 of Ahsoka going:

Full discretion, I haven’t the slightest clue (which makes me nervous).

Up until now, I’ve had a pretty clear idea of where the narrative was headed, but I’m in the dark now. Still, here are my theories:

Thrawn absolutely makes it back to the known galaxy. I feel like this is an obvious given based on previous narratives (Mando season 3 and Filoni /Favreau interviews indicating that they wanted Thrawn to be the main villain of the era). I don’t know what Thrawn’s motivations are. Possibly revenge. Possibly a promise that he made to the emperor. Regardless, he’s going to bring the Imperial Remnants together. They’ll be a formidable force to be reckoned with. They’ll lead directly or slightly indirectly into the First Order.

Morgan Elsbeth will either make it out with Thrawn or will be killed by Ahsoka. I assume the three mothers will be in tow (with or without Elsbeth). It’s pretty apparent that those boxes that Thrawn was loading onto his ship are Nightsister (or Nightbrother) remains. This will be another problem for the New Republic to deal with. They’ll likely rebuild Dathomir while allying themselves with the Imperial Remnants. They’ll also likely show up in Skeleton Crew (pure speculation, but pirates and the undead chasing kids around sounds like a good time). I’m betting on Elsbeth’s survival.

Baylan is absolutely staying behind to chase after whatever greater voice calls to him. They may leave this plot thread open since Ray passed, but I feel like whatever it is he’s after; he’ll ultimately unleash. We won’t find out what it is this season. Maybe the movie? Maybe season two of Ahsoka should it get a second season? I don’t know. Ultimately, it’ll be a problem. It will likely require Ahsoka and all of her little Bokken Jedi (stray cats) to deal with.

Shin will either return to Thrawn with no other options in front of her, or she’ll turn to the light and join Ahsoka and her Bokkens. I imagine she’ll likely work with Thrawn and Elsbeth for a while longer, and they’ll abuse her. She’ll turn to the light inevitably. Clearly, it calls to her.

Now for the heroes… I can see this going one of three ways:

1.) I think this is the least likely options, but they all make it out of Peridea safely… by the skin of their ass. They’ll end the series where they link up with Hera on Lothal, and there will be an emotional “well, we’re fucked, but at least we have each other” moment. I don’t think this is likely because I honestly don’t think Ahsoka thought this through, and I don’t think they have the coordinates to get back without the whales that go to Peridea to die. Which leaves me with two more likely scenarios:

2.) All three heroes (Sabine, Ezra and Ahsoka) are left at the end of the story… stranded on Peridea. With no logical way home, they’ll have to work together to find a way to navigate back on Ahsoka’s shuttle in a later story. An argument can be made that Ezra’s constant banter about “going home” is a twisted foreboding where the narrative swiftly gut punches him and goes, “well actually.” Watching them navigate this new galaxy together in an attempt to get home could be compelling in the event they have actually green-lighted a second season of Ahsoka.

3.) Ezra makes it out in a dramatic fashion on the Chimera trying to stop Thrawn from getting back to the known Galaxy… which basically makes him Thrawn’s captive once more, and Ahsoka and Sabine are left stranded on Peridea… and, honestly, this seems like the most likely scenario. This really raises the stakes in a lot of different ways. First, we have Ezra back home, but not the way he’d planned to be back at all. Second, we have Sabine and Ahsoka trying to figure out a way off Peridea together which will allow for character development on the part of Sabine (she clearly has many lessons to learn as she has basically damned the galaxy over an attachment which we know is a big no-no in the “Star Wars: Lessons” department, and never ends well). It could also open the door for more mystical adventures, and a potential for them to work together to try and stop Baylan from doing whatever it is that he’s doing. We could also just have the two of them trying to navigate back through the unknown galaxy with Huyang which would doubtlessly be pure gold.

Things I don’t think will happen to the heroes (that other fans are hellbent on):

*Ezra dies.

If it were Lucas, and Sabine did what she did… Ezra absolutely would die, but this is Filoni and Disney. Ezra lives.

*Ezra sacrifices himself, and stays behind alone.

I don’t think that this would be a fair option considering that it was Sabine that screwed the Galaxy, and basically made Ezra’s self-imposed exile meaningless. I think he gets back to the known galaxy… either with Thrawn or with Sabine and Ahsoka.

*Sabine sacrifices herself, and stays behind alone.

Sabine is the one that has the lesson in “letting go” and “sacrificing for the greater good” to learn, but I can’t see Ahsoka letting Sabine stay on Peridea alone. Also, Sabine getting left behind would ensure another story would be wasted going back to Peridea again to fetch another lost Comrade… which is lazy and lame.

*Ahsoka sacrifices herself, and stays behind alone.

While this could happen, it would be lame and not very narratively fulfilling mainly because Ahsoka jumping into a whale’s mouth to save Sabine was enough of a sacrifice. It is Sabine that needs to learn the lesson, and she’ll learn nothing if she gets to go back to the main galaxy with Ezra and live happily ever after with he and the Ghost Crew while Ahsoka sacrifices herself and stays behind. Also worth noting, the whole premise of the series is this master/ apprentice relationship between Ahsoka and Sabine which has been fractured and should be at least on the mend by the end of the series /season. It seems clear that Filoni’s goal (as well as the way the show has been marketed) here is to make Sabine part of the disaster lineage which will require Sabine and Ahsoka to spend more time with one another. I think if one is left behind, the other will be there too.

*Ahsoka dies.

Ha ha ha ha ha! Ahsoka can’t die. Let’s move on.

*Ahsoka will be saved by the Skeleton Crew.

So, I will start by saying that I don’t know a lot about the Skeleton Crew, but from what I do know, it’s about kids getting lost in the Star Wars Galaxy. They run into Jude Law, and they have to find their way home. I tend to think that they’re going to end up lost in the known galaxy, not Peridea because how TF would they end up there? There’s also been rumors about pirates and Jawas, which once again, are in the known galaxy (and maybe this will finally open the door for a live-action Hondo).

Anyway, there are two big reasons that I don’t think Ahsoka will even show up in Skeleton Crew (and if she does, it’ll only be as a minor cameo). 1.) it’s supposed to be about the kids in the show and their experience, and if Ahsoka shows up in this capacity, then the show immediately becomes about Ahsoka being rescued. Let’s be honest. Ahsoka would absolutely hijack their show, and if you’re trying to build new characters and stories, this isn’t how it’s done. 2.) Dave neither wrote nor directed any Skeleton Crew, and Dave is pretty protective of Ahsoka and her story. I don’t think, at this point, that Dave would let anyone write canon stories about her without direct, credit-worthy involvement. I might be wrong, but look at the track record. I think I’m right.

Anyway. I guess we’ll see.

[japrilfools]

Predictions for Grey’s tonight/this season:

I think Kwan feels the same as Millin, but I think he’s not going to say it. If he TRIES to, I think they’ll be interrupted, and it’ll lead to conflict for the two of them all season

Helmika are going to sneak around and there will be several funny scenes that come from it

Lumone is going to have hella miscommunication all season but officially get together by the end of S20 or S21

Jolink might fight this season, but I don’t think they’re gonna break up. I think their build up era is over and they won’t break up until after they’re married and get a divorce. I love them but also it’s Grey’s and divorce is inevitable for most couples

When Nico comes back this season, Schmidt is either 1) not going to get back together with him or 2) going to wait a while before he’s willing to try again (as he should)

I think Capshaw will only be back for one ep, but I think we’re going to get a calzona endgame confirmation. I also think they might write something in about them adopting more babies

Amelia is definitely getting together or at least sleeping with that new peds surgeon (at least I think she’s a peds surgeon) from the trailer

I still think Catherine is going to die at some point this season, especially with Richard already on the edge. (And I stand by the delusion that this will lead in to a japril spinoff)

I think that we’ll have more returning guest stars than Arizona and Nico this season, but I think they’ll be unannounced (I think it’s POSSIBLE we might see a Yang surprise appearance because of Teddy)

I don’t think Teddy will die, but I think that if Yang shows up (which is a big if) she might go to Switzerland

I think that when they finally make Meredith and Nick official, she’ll be gone for good except a few guest star episodes

[djinnandtea]

The Old Centaur's Almanac Guide to Romance

A human/centaur Solstice romance in three parts

Chapter 1 (Chapter 2, Chapter 3)

Helena’s bookshop was not designed like any other bookshop she could remember going to before she had been taken. The walkways were not meant to accommodate only a human body or two, and her seating options varied in size so as to fit the smallest pixie up to any mid-sized troll. She offered not only complimentary tea and coffee, but a handful of other brews she purchased each week from the herb stall down the road, and her books could be purchased with both silver and gold coins, as well as other bartered goods and even the occasional favor. She was proud of her shop and what she had built for herself since being brought to Fae, and she reminded herself of this pride every day that she went in to work during the month of December. 

It was by far Helena’s busiest month. The solstice was the most important holiday of the year for the fae who lived in her city, and while Helena had grown to appreciate the event on her own terms, it was still not a time she was particularly fond of. Especially not when it meant her usually quiet bookshop, with it’s steady-ish stream of regulars, turned into the madhouse it always became during the two to three weeks leading up to the longest night of the year. 

It was only the sixth of December, and already Helena was over it. 

“Fifteen more days,” said Marin, her assistant shopkeeper, as Helena walked through the door of Bibliotaph and hung up her coat and scarf. She straightened her black turtleneck and her tartan mini skirt, and brushed a few wisps of brown hair out of her face.

“That’s too many days.”

Helena made her way around the counter to set her purse down in her office and begin dealing with the day’s to-dos. Her priority was preparing for the three boxes of almanacs she was expecting, which had already been delayed once. Given almanacs were the number one seller of the season and the entire reason Bibliotaph was flooded during the month, it was a near-catastrophic situation. Without almanacs, not only would the shop be overwhelmed with visitors asking for them, but there would be no money to be had to soften the irritation. The shop would lose business. 

“Any word on the almanacs,” Helena called out to Marin as she began sifting through her stack of post. 

“Yes,” replied Marin. “Niko called just before you got here. They’re finally ready, and he’s sending his brother over in around an hour to drop them off.”

“Oh, thank Oak.” She checked her wristwatch. “At least they’ll be here a little bit before we open.”

Marin walked into the office and handed Helena a cup of coffee. “It’ll be all right.”

Helena smiled as she took the mug out of Marin’s bark-like hands. “You’re a blessing.”

The dryad tilted her head and smiled. “And so you are blessed. Now come out and sit with me for a minute before you deal with that mess.” Marin nodded towards the stack of mail Helena was holding. “I’ve already looked through it myself, so I know there isn’t anything urgent.”

Helena sighed. Marin was right, and they both knew it. Besides, the way they had been staying late and arriving early since the last week of November meant that there was little else to do besides wait for the almanacs. They had arranged and finalized most everything else. “Yeah, yeah, all right.”

It wasn’t that Helena didn’t enjoy passing the time with Marin, but that she was anxious in general for the day to start and the rush to begin. Almanacs were a traditional gift to give for the solstice, which also marked Fairy New Year, and while they’d had enough to get them through the first few days in December, they’d run out the day before. Helena wouldn’t feel comfortable until Niko’s brother brought over their shipment and she could get them set up on the shelves. 

“You know,” she said as she sat with her coffee, “I didn’t know Niko had a brother.”

The centaur who published Helena’s preferred brand of almanacs was a rather private person, so she supposed it shouldn’t surprise her she had more to learn about him. Niko was nice enough, and a brilliant craftsperson, and that was good enough for her.

“Me neither. He said his name is Alexandros.”

“Well, I hope Alexandros doesn’t mind the snow.” 

“Did it start finally?”

They both turned to watch the snow begin to fall in earnest out their front shop window. “I think I need to put out an extra doormat,” Helena said, already dreading the mess. 

Marin nodded. “I’ll do it in a minute. Let’s have our coffee first.”

 They did, drinking their cups slowly and comfortably. Marin was right; it was good to take a moment to pause. It wouldn’t hurt anything. However, only five minutes later, they were interrupted by someone ringing the shop bell. 

“What on earth,” muttered Helena as she hopped off her stool behind the counter and set down her coffee. She could see from the window that it was a centaur waiting for her outside. He had a large box in his arms and two more saddled on either side of his back.

“Hello!” he yelled through the closed door. “It’s cold as Ash out here!”

Helena tossed a look back at Marin. “He can see I’m about to let him in, right?”

Marin snorted. Helena unlocked and opened the door. 

“Yes, I can see you’re about to let me in,” the centaur said with a wide smile. “But how I love to complain.”

Helena stepped aside so he could enter. She eyed his boxes of books. “Well, since you’re bringing my almanacs, I suppose I’ll allow it.”

“A fair trade,” he replied. “May I set these down?”

“On the counter is fine,” Marin said, gesturing towards it. 

“Do you need help unloading?” Helena asked. 

The centaur smiled again. “No, Miss, thank you. I’ve got it.”

She watched him deftly turn from one side to the other to unhook the boxes of books that he’d saddled to himself with some kind of harness. 

“You do got it,” she said appreciatively. She knew from personal experience that the boxes were heavy. “I guess that you’re Alexandros?”

He straightened up, dusting his hands on a handkerchief he produced out of the small leather shoulder bag he wore across his chest. “Please call me Alex. Are you Helena?” He extended a hand to shake. 

Helena took it, unable to stop herself from looking the centaur up and down. “I am. It’s nice to meet you.”

He nodded. “And you.” He turned to introduce himself to Marin.

Alex was nothing short of beautiful. Part of this was his looks. His equine half was a lovely dapple gray, with black at the base of his tail and a bright white down to the tips, and his human half—which was largely covered by a deep green woolen sweater—was handsome, too. While the equine ears at the top of his head (which sported a lush mane of gray curls) at first threw Helena for a loop, the green of his eyes and the warmth of his smile countered any uncertainty she may have felt about the rest of him. 

“You know,” she said as Alex turned away from Marin and began taking in the rest of the shop,  “you’re here a lot earlier than your brother said you’d be.”

Alex looked back at her with a small smile. “Is being early a problem now, or do you like to complain like me?”

Helena folded her arms and jutted a hip. “I didn’t know I was complaining.”

 Her answer amused the centaur. He bowed his head at her with a flourish of his hand. “Then, I beg your pardon.” A pause. “Would it help if I said that your shop is lovely?”

Helena flushed at the praise. “Only if you meant it.”

“Of course I do. How long have you been in business?”

“Just over five years. And thank you.”

He turned back to the shelves, walking carefully down one of the aisles. “What did you do before?”

A harmless question on the surface, but still Helena tensed. “I was in midwifery.”

Alex stepped out of the aisle and swung around to look at her, his smile gone. “I’m sorry,” he said gently. 

Helena shrugged. “I was a nurse back home. The fae who took me knew that I could help.”

The silence held for an uncomfortable moment. Then Alex flicked his tail and turned back to the shelves. 

“Do you prefer books to babies?” he asked.

Helena rolled her shoulders to ease the tension there, and then began opening one of the boxes. “I prefer self-employment to indentured servitude.”

From behind one of the bookcases, she heard Alex snort. “Now that is a sentiment I wholly agree with.”

“Do you work with Niko?” Marin said, as if oblivious to the shift in mood and as she began to open another of the boxes. 

Alex appeared out the other end of the aisle. “Yes and no. I illustrate the almanacs, but otherwise have nothing to do with his business.”

Helena choked on her breath. The illustrations were the biggest selling point of the almanac, after the stellar accuracy of its predictions. She had always assumed Niko had been the genius behind the whole of it. 

“Why has he never mentioned you before?” she asked, her hand roaming over the beautifully detailed cover of the almanac she was holding. “Your name is nowhere on the books!”

Alex shrugged. “It’s never mattered to me.” His tailed flicked again. 

“You do amazing work.”

He shrugged again. “I should head back. I’m sure Niko has more deliveries for me.”

“Oh,” Helena said before she could stop herself. “Of course.”

Alex caught her gaze and held it. “I can come back later.”

She swallowed. “We’re open until 4:00 p.m.”

He tilted his head. “And if I want to see you outside of business hours?”

Helena couldn’t help her surprised huff. “Then you’ll have to make an appointment.”

Alex held her eyes for another moment, and then ducked his head with a small laugh. “It was very nice to meet you both,” he said, nodding to Helena and then Marin. “I really must go.”

He turned and left without waiting for a response, and Helena watched him take off back to his brother’s workshop through the front windows. 

“Holy Oak,” Marin muttered. “He sure was something.”

Helena cleared her throat and smoothed down her skirt. “I’ll never understand centaurs. We need to set these up on the front display and the end caps.”

“Helena! He was completely interested in you.”

She turned to look at the dryad. “Clearly not interested enough. We need to work.”

“So mysterious, you have to admit.”

Helena gave her a warning look. “Marin….” 

“All right, all right!”

They unpacked the almanacs, and Helena did everything she could to put thoughts of Alex out of her mind. 

[raccoonfallsharder]

Do you have any advice on making time for writing and avoiding burnout? I'm impressed by the amount of projects you have and how they're consistently high quality.

oh love. sunshine. you tiny fresh vanilla seed (precious & delightful // it is a luxury to interact with you). so first i’m gonna apologize because there’s a 99% chance this is not the advice you’re looking for and SURPRISE i wrote another novel. (so also jot this down… my being prolific is helped by the fact that i literally cannot shut the fuck up to save my life). anyway here are my rules for writing

1. don’t look at the man behind the curtain (in this case that’s me). I had 70% of window and probably 90% of sweatshirt girl drafted before i even started revising && posting individual chapters/ installments. it gives the illusion of me cranking out a new chapter every week but i do NOT do that. i just try to revise once a week. maybe write a half+ chapter of something new. it’s not an illusion i create on purpose. i just know i need TIME to rest my brain before I come back and revise or it’ll start all looking the same to me. so i def frontload my writing before i start posting.

i also do this because i need at least the ghost of an ending to keep writing

i also never originally intended to post window or sweatshirt girl - i was originally just writing for me. so they were mostly done before i even decided to post

i ALSO work at a school and while i do have hours over the summer, i am doing much less (imo) important things when there aren’t students around, sooooo i end up daydreaming and drafting a lot

my writing is also powered by depression (“write the world as i want it to be”) and frankly i don’t recommend that to anyone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

so if i look like i’m producing a lot it’s just because of the way this year has unfolded, and once we get through the next few chapters of window i’m sure I’ll hit a lull because I’m still struggling to write those chapters (sorry in advance folksss)

2. i swear to god creativity (like everything in nature) happens in cycles. blah blah no flower blooms all year && no tree bears fruit every season. fallowness is IMPORTANT for growing gardens. if you are in a slow space - let yourself be slow. sink into the quiet season. speed&&quantity are SO overrated and if you overcultivate your soil there will be no nutrients left for your crops. let the snows come in && blanket you on occasion. they are their own kind of blank page (i swear to fuck sometimes i sound like some kind of ai generating bad proverbs but you knew what you were getting when you came to my asks i guess! i am unashamed)

tbh i have a modest art side-hustle and am working on painting a project that WILL take YEARS - and this whole summer, i have neglected that project in lieu of being a rocket fangirl because frankly my brain needed a break. guess what? my followers understand and it has not been a problem. because any fellow creative should know that the process takes time and is always in flux

(3) a lot of people will tell you - write a little every day. write even if it’s bad. you can always come back with fresh eyes later. I support these ideas in theory. i keep my writing && my sketchbooks where i can access them almost anytime, and even if it’s only for ten minutes, i do write something most days. but more than this - listen to your body and your brain and your heart. and for fanfiction especially - ONLY write when it’s fun. if you start writing from obligation instead of love, you will burn out faster, create less, and even resent this thing that should be an escape for you. (and your readers will feel it, even if they don’t know why). (also your readers - if they are good people - will understand this && support you) (and if they’re not good people, they don’t deserve your heart like that). if your body says take time off then TAKE TIME OFF. don’t let capitalism brainwash you into believing all your joys must entail consistent labor, that every good thing comes with a side of drudgery, or that you can’t stop something once you start it. they don’t. it doesn’t. you can. let yourself have a scrap of unfettered && unpressured happiness in this place. you deserve it, i fuckin swear that to you on my goddamn life.

(4) maybe im inadvertently repeating myself but please. be kind to yourself. let your community be kind to you too. we are supposed to take care of each other. give yourself grace && know we are on your side

okay wow i’m so sorry. fuck me that’s not what you were asking for but it is the best && most earnest && most true advice i can give you. “carve some time out every day” is nice and aspirational and maybe give it a try, but life is hard and don’t blame yourself if you can’t. let fanfiction be a force for joy in your days/nights, not a chore. nope im just saying the same shit over and over LOOK. i love you. you are good. life is short. have fun. that’s truly all & the most important things I have inside me, and I’m sorry for my limitations. for whatever that is worth

♡♡♡

[bridgertonopinions]

Thank you for this blog and your time/energy in running it! I've really been enjoying it during this break between pt 1 and 2. It's all in good, speculative, fun lol

I wanted to ask about what you think the future seasons will look like? I know we're almost to the end of Polin and (potentially LW), but I can't imagine that every season can continue like this.

I could see QC, Violet, and Lady Danbury being regulars through the end of the tv series. But if we ever get to Gregory or Hyacinth's story, all the Bridgertons would have been married and moved on, and family at the heart of the series would be fundamentally changed. I just don't see how we could get 8 seasons out of that. It's getting old fast (at least for me).

In the books, the Bridgerton family element is maintained throughout the series. They pop in for the season, balls, marriages, children, scandals.. I also believe they all live in relatively the same area so it's easier to have side stories and still be a part of the main storyline. It already feels a little odd to not have Daphne/Simon or Kate/Anthony around much if they're such a close-knit family.

I can't imagine always having a main couple for a season and then they fade into the background or disappear completely. The number of siblings dwindling and their new families not continuing to be a part of the story. I know the actors get a surge of popularity so it's probably hard to manage everything after their seasons or they want to move on to other bigger, better opportunities.

But I hope the show finds a way to be more of an ensemble show, where we still get the focus on a sibling finding love but also continue to see our faves in their marital bliss and after their happy ever afters.

This turned out longer than I intended, but can't wait to hear your thoughts or anyone's elses. I hope you have a great day today and the haters get off your back!

Love all of this! I could talk about it for hours

Now I think that going forward Shonda is going to fight for the couples to come back, and I think it’ll be interesting to see just how involved Polin will be next season, if the stick to the book it’ll shift a lot of things for the tone of the show

But I do hope they keep each “main” couple coming back even if it is a smaller role like Kanthony

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

not sure, It seems like Ryan really likes Emma. I mean he made Scream Queens with her in the lead role, and she was also the lead in 'AHS 1984' and 'Delicate.' Additionally, I believe Ryan is someone who thrives on messiness and drama. And to be honest a emma/ evan reunion would make noise i think.

This is my fear about season 13, he’ll get Evan and Emma together anyways just for the drama 🙄 if so, at least don’t have their scenes together and them filming at the same time on set together…

I don’t know what the writing will look like for season 13, if it’ll be something brand new or closing up more loose ends?? There are definitely some open plots left from season 2 (Kits kids), season 3 (the witches), season 4 (Jimmy’s baby), season 6 (Flora), season 7 (the new scum cult), season 8 (the new antichrist plus the witches and they might free Madison from hell…. ). It ends with season 8 for me lol I feel like it could be a season dedicated to all the offspring of the characters and what they’re up to?? I guess we’ll see…..or maybe Evan will finally get the space season he’d been wanting all along?

Also, I’m excited that Beauty will be filmed on a large budget and around Europe. I’m really curious to see what they do with Evan’s look. And hopefully Shay will be the stylist, she just had Evan looking so yummy in dhmer even though he was a monster lol

if evan is involved, i hope it’s not RM mucking it up in an attempt to “relive” the glory days of AHS. let it just be something new and different and hopefully halfway decent 🫠 that’s just my opinion though.

glad i’m not the only one who was thinking of shay 😂 come through!

[anotherbluesunday]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love 💗

so both @kybee1497 and @ablatheringblatherskite asked me this question a while ago and i forgot to answer. so sorry! life has been a little rough but it’ll be okay. 💜

1.) In My Blood (Wednesday): Basically my take on what should happen in season 2 with all the hallmarks of romance, blood/gore, major character death, friendship, and betrayal! I also introduce my favorite oc Mara in this fic and now she’s become a staple in my Wednesday fics. lol.

2.) Violet Midnight (Wednesday): A college au that centers around two students in the music composition program who learn how to love again through their shared understanding of what it means to hurt and their love for music. This fic is currently ongoing and the next chapter will be releasing soon!

3.) Star Atlas (Wednesday): This story is one I have written and deleted many times for other fandoms and it just seemed to work for wyler. It’s a story of what it’s like to fall in love young as a scientist and the sacrifices that must be made. It will have plenty of action, adventure, and scifi horror laced in as things ramp up. Currently it is a WIP and the next chapter will be released in early August.

4.) Last December (Painter of the Night): This was the last queer romance I wrote before going on hiatus and then returning to writing for Wednesday. It is an unexpected and quiet romance story between a young surgical resident and an art student set against the winter backdrop of New York city. It’s more realistic and stark than my other stories and dives deep into the turmoil of letting go of unrequited love while simultaneously falling for someone else.

5.) Transatlanticism (Attack on Titan): This is the first fic I ever completed and the first one I was ever really proud of because I truly evolved as a writer and a person through this work. It’s a queer love story, as per usual with me, set in Naples, Italy and follows the story of two archeaology students falling in love. However, there’s a timer on their love and soon they will be forced to part ways. This story really focuses on the act of becoming vulnerable with romantic partners and what it means to truly trust someone and love them so deeply it transcends being soulmates. It’s a favorite story of mine and I hope you all like it too.