#and at this point I just latch onto her because we are so similar so

[tamaharu]

a sumi haircut variation ive been testing out. i wanna say its a bit post-canon, not too far off, maybe a year or so. hasnt quite figured out what to do with herself yet, but shes getting there. only a little ways away from graduation.

[back2bluesidex]

Slide - The Trial - MYG

Pairing: Producer!Yoongi X Lyricist!Reader 

Theme: Angst, smut, unplanned pregnancy. Fwb to ?

Word count: 1.1k+

Summary: 

"Caught in a daze, I persuade her with my own complications"

Alternatively, 

You have some questions and Yoongi has no answer.

Listened to Slide by Chase Atlantics

Warnings: Angst, reader's turning point. Yoongi's suffering has began.

Minors do not interact!!

Series Masterlist | Masterlist | Patreon (for early access)

Taglist requests are closed for now

A/N: another Yoongi's pov. before we dive into reader's post miscarriage angst. also, I have tagged everyone who asked to be tagged after I closed the request for the first time but I have only tagged the blogs which have age mentioned in their bios.

Read the next chapter

“I want a daughter first and then… ummm… probably a son too. We will name her Yunri. Yoongi plus Gyuri, Yunri.” Gyuri had told him once, latching onto his arm as if it meant everything to her. 

Yoongi knew he should have felt warmth bubbling in his chest, he knew he should have felt giddy but what he felt was dread running through the entire course of his body. 

Getting married, having kids are two of the things he never planned for in life - not even when he fell in love with Gyuri, not even when he got engaged to her somewhat against his own will. 

But now he feels weird, he feels something really really uncomfortable in his chest as he stares at your weak frail form weeping while sitting at the couch. 

His own limbs feel like jelly as he realizes again that you were pregnant and the baby was his. 

A baby - his and yours. 

Why doesn’t it feel so dreadful anymore? 

Yoongi puts the entire weight of his body on his arms and pushes himself off of the ground. His toes carry his body towards you. 

But he is afraid - what if you push him away now? What if you break when he touches you? 

What if you scatter and disappear in fine dust as soon as he gets close to you? 

What if… what if… all of this is a dream? 

You don’t look at him when he silently sits beside you. It hurts him but he knows better than putting the blame on you. 

If anyone is to be blamed, then it’s him for sure. 

Yoongi opens his mouth to say something - anything. But he only gapes like a fish out of water because his thoughts don’t form a coherent sentence. 

Your face is covered with your small palms, Yoongi wants to reach out, clutch those and apologize to you until you forgive him for all the damages he has done. 

But he can’t. 

Again he is afraid to break you even more. 

“Why.. why didn’t you tell me?” Yoongi doesn’t recognize his own voice when it leaves his throat. There is much more pain than he has heard himself speak with in a while - certainly for the first time after Gyuri left. 

You sniff, then rub tears off your eyes and stare blankly at the ceiling.

The scene is awfully similar to your and his first night together. He still recalls losing himself in those dark eyes of yours little by little and then finally diving into your abyss.  

“There are tons of reasons why. But even if I did, would it change anything?” your voice is completely opposite of his - steady, firm, doesn’t bear a single hint of all the tears he has been watching you shade. 

You are truly just another version of him. 

“That doesn’t answer my question, Y/N. Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?” Yoongi scoots a little closer to your body. 

You sigh, a deep, resigned sigh that says you are exhausted - both mentally and physically. 

“If I told you, wouldn’t you think that this is an excuse? For keeping you all to myself? For not letting you go back to the only woman you have ever loved? Wouldn’t you, Yoongi?” You finally look at him, eyes red with continuous crying. 

Yoongi can’t stare into your eyes now. He is ashamed because you are right. He would have thought you are just like other women out there - trying to latch onto him for god knows what. 

He licks his lips instead, prepares to say something but you cut him off again. 

“Also you said … you don’t want to have kids.” your voice trembles now. 

Again you are right - Yoongi definitely doesn’t want kids. But then why losing your and his baby tugs painfully at his heartstrings? 

Why? 

“But I am responsible for your pregnancy, I- I should have been there for you.” Yoongi tries to reach out for your hand but you move away, standing on your weak feet. 

“There’s no point of regretting now. The baby is gone.” you inhale a long breath and then continue, “but I really want to know what you are doing here? At this hour? Right after rejecting me?” 

Yoongi stands up too, somewhat hyper, “I didn’t reject you. I was- I was just shocked. You ran away before- before I got to utter a single word, Y/N. I wanted to go after you but-” 

“But then the right person came to claim you and you ended up lost in her lips, am I right?” you don’t scream but anger is evident in your voice anyway. 

Yoongi recalls the doctor asking him not to stress you out any more. 

“It was a trial, Y/N. Me and Gyuri getting back together was a trial. I knew it wasn’t a good idea but when she begged me- I- I couldn’t say no. I knew I was hurting you too and I thought getting back with her would set you free. But I- I was wrong. I wasn’t free myself. I kept thinking of you.” Yoongi stops, gulps the lump in his throat and proceeds to continue, “I know I sound selfish but I got attached to you during our time together. And it is not meaningless to me as you happen to believe. You are more meaningful than most of the people in my life… including Gyuri. I… I broke things off with her, this time forever. And I came to tell you that… that I want to try being with you. If you’d let me.” 

You scoff, “and why so? Why do you want to try being with me?” 

Your question renders Yoongi speechless. He doesn’t know the answer to your question. 

“Tell me, Yoongi, why do you want to try? What is it that you feel for me?” you press more. Your new found determination of cornering him shocks him, but he knows he is the one to blame. 

And now that he wonders the answers, he can’t find any firm sentence to offer you. 

He still doesn’t know what he feels for you. 

“I- I don’t know. I don’t know what I feel for you.” 

You laugh, dry but dripping with amusement and anger, “then I would ask you to leave. You may only come back with the thought of getting together with me when you are sure about my place in your life.” 

You slowly walk away from him, taking careful steps towards your bedroom. 

Yoongi stands there as he feels the void in his chest getting bigger and bigger. A tear escapes his eyes but he still doesn’t know what he is crying for - you? The unborn baby? Or himself? 

His real trial, probably, begins here. 

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[elvensorceress]

In all the excitement about bi!Buck, (which— yay! Amazing! Very exciting! No notes!) I think there’s a part of this story we’re missing. I haven’t seen anyone talk about it, so have some rambling.

 It wasn’t just Buck who looked at this experienced, older, queer man and wanted to know him. It was also Eddie. 

We have never seen Eddie go so hard, so immediately for anyone. To the point his best friend of years felt like he was being ignored by him. Yes, Buck wanted Tommy’s attention for obvious reasons. But he was also slighted by the perceived lack of attention from Eddie. 

Suddenly, Eddie is spending multiple times a week going out with this man. Going to Vegas with this man. Working out with him, working on his car with him, doing karaoke and trivia night with him? Asking his alleged girlfriend to babysit more than once so that he can go out with Tommy? Obviously, it was from jealous!Buck’s point of view, but seriously. If Buck felt ignored, what is Marisol even thinking? Did Eddie bother to make time for his new girlfriend? What spare time would he even have if they work several 24 hour shifts and he’s also gone out with Tommy at least three times in one week? And is probably planning more?

Not that I think Eddie’s feelings for Tommy are necessarily in the same vein as Buck’s feelings for Tommy. But my gosh, Eddie giggly and kicking his feet and twirling his hair while on the phone with Tommy was so very loud. And actually a pretty neat contrast to being distracted and trying to text Marisol “hey mari it me eddie” to ask her out. Eddie’s sudden infatuation with Tommy was a thousand times more than anything we’ve seen from him for anyone. Considering that what he stated he wanted was the magical chemistry he’d found when he and Shannon got together, like… is that not what he just found with Tommy? 

Again, it doesn’t necessarily mean Eddie has any explicit romantic or sexual attraction toward Tommy. I suppose he could? But the point is more that wow, there is some kind of intense draw pulling Eddie to him even if we interpret it as platonic. 

Buck says at the end of the ep that they met this guy and he was so cool and Buck wanted to get to know him. Which makes sense given that Buck is canonically crushing on him and going to be dating him. But Eddie was actually the one who got there first. Eddie also had a reaction somewhere along those lines of “he’s really cool, I need to know him” to the point where he’s all of a sudden spending most if not all of his free time with him. 

And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this person Eddie wants to spend time with is an experienced, out queer man who is comfortable in his own sexuality and his own masculinity. (He has so much in common with Eddie! They have so many similar interests! They have a magical click together that makes Eddie want to be around him all the time! There’s so much they can do together!) 

Eddie might not have even known it, maybe in the same way Buck also didn’t know it, but Eddie definitely latched onto that, too. Which is very interesting, no? Very— queers finding each other and bonding over shared experiences even before they know that’s what they’re doing. 

It can easily be someone who is likely confused about their own feelings but knows they are having certain feelings just not the names to put to those feelings, and consequently seeking guidance and reassurance that there are other people who are just like them who have these feelings as well. It’s realizing how they can be themselves, that they can be queer in a way that fits who they are instead of what they might conceptualize as queer because of stereotypes and preconceived notions. It’s learning you can be you and also be queer. That there are people like you out there. 

Eddie found something with Tommy that he hasn’t been shown to have found anywhere else. It’s a new and different thing for him, too. And if it were just about excitement over a new friend, why is it so much so quickly all at once? Eddie’s a social person. He’s a friendly, charming, charismatic person. He has friends. But it feels like this is a very different sort of friendship for him. 

And the fact that this is the same man who just gave Buck his bisexual awakening is verrrry inch resting. 

Also regardless of what kind of feelings Eddie and Tommy might have been having for each other, they were so going on dates. Flying someone to Vegas because you have tickets that have been sold out for weeks to something they enjoy? Like damn Eddie. You pulled a sugar daddy. 

Anyway. Eddie is queer, too. Double sexuality awakenings, ready go!

That is all! 💕

[vivacissimx]

The puzzle piece about Rhaegar that is really interesting but unfortunately often overlooked is that he was relieved when he realized he was not TPTWP. Yes, relieved. Conflicted too which I will get into. And I believe it is obvious that when Rhaegar first read about Aegon's prophecy, he was not enthused— It seems I must be a warrior is trotted out to talk about Rhaegar's gender expression, his disconnect with capital m Masculinity that is purposely contrasted to Robert Baratheon reveling in it (indeed only making sense within the context of violence, battle, war) but there is more to the compulsion involved in the words It seems and I must than just It seems I must become an archetype. Socially becoming a fighter was already expected of him but he was not, presumably, in compliance with this expectation. The prophecy motivated him in a different way than you will be socially rewarded for acting as a man does.

Which brings me to another point i.e. how Rhaegar perceived himself prior to reading what he read; his connection to the tragedy of his birth and the grief, the resentment, the awkward dynamics between members of his family. "Oh he was a child" yes but we're told that Rhaegar did not act like, think like, or even particularly get along with others his age. So it's safe to say he was aware of Summerhall and felt it's shadow surrounding him from a young age. And Aegon's prophecy, combined with the Ghost of High Heart's prophecy, the events of Summerhall, put this weight on his shoulders completely into context. It was not that Rhaegar desired to be TPTWP because he took to it with determination but no particular joy. Every indicator just seemed to demand he give himself over to fulfilling this role. TPTWP was coming from Aerys and Rhaella's line? Well, he was their only child. Consult Maester Aemon on the matter? Yeah kid it's you. Ancient scrolls? Dusty, but they agree. Dead ancestors? Oh wait, they died so YOU could live. Woah.

This understanding basically necessitates us looking to ASOS Daenerys who also has some knowledge of TPTWP prophecy, and thanks to the Rhaegar-Daenerys pipeline, we can imagine that Rhaegar had similar thoughts to Daenerys, such as when she asks herself: The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters. Who are Rhaegar's fellow two heads? Daenerys wonders at this, telling Jorah that her brothers are dead. Well Rhaegar's brothers die too, right in front of him. Rhaella suffers miscarriage after stillbirth after crib death. She is punished for this by Aerys via isolation and presumably Rhaegar is also kept separate from her— textually we know that Rhaegar was expected to take a sister to bride, i.e. further targcest was going to be enforced by Aerys, and to Rhaegar the loss would have also been of the other two people who would have fulfilled the requirements of the prophecy. Yes that's true. However, it was also the loss of his mother.

Rhaella was 13 when she had Rhaegar so it would be ridiculous to even think that she, a child, a Queen from when Rhaegar was 3, was this grand maternal figure to him. Of course she wasn't. There was too much on her shoulders. Too much on Aerys's shoulders as well, to be any sort of father except the kind who trotted Rhaegar out as an impressive little heir from time to time. Rhaegar was Aerys's success (it's the duty of the patriarch to sire sons who will continue the line) but as Rhaegar's siblings failed to survive, that success became a dicey thing. So when Viserys was born & survived, there is a thought that Rhaegar would latch onto such a sibling. This isn't the case— in fact, Viserys is Rhaella's. She coddles him. Keeps him close. Safe from Aerys (who already has Rhaegar). Viserys tells Dany stories about Rhaegar but this is done in the sense that he does not truly know Rhaegar. Why wouldn't Rhaegar have spent more time with Viserys, if he was motivated by fulfillment of the prophecy?

Because Viserys was Rhaella's, perhaps. Rhaegar never truly got to be his mother's son. To leech Viserys away from her... there's something in that. When Rhaella warmly welcomed Rhaegar's daughter, too. Rhaella's was Aerys's wife and property, which Rhaegar knew because he was also Aerys's property. Rhaella was mother to his brother. Rhaella was a grandmother to his daughter. She was everything but the woman who raised him.

"Rhaegar was a lonely man anyway due to his depression" yes that's true. There is an asceticism to Rhaegar Targaryen. The places he enjoys are bare and stripped, places he can keep his own company: Summerhall, the place of his birth, haunted, full of magic. Dragonstone where he retreats after his marriage, a place where the last embers of Valyria's magic died. Later the Tower of Joy is in a barren desert. But he finds a beauty in these places. He writes music that pushes him back into the shared world, songs he shares with people, about people, about lovers and those who sacrificed and who he is deeply moved by— almost like he's motivating himself. People are drawn to him.

Despite his lack of connection to Rhaella and Viserys he does bond with people. Arthur Dayne, who for all we can try and complicate, apply horseshoe theory to, is meant as the juxtaposition to characters such as the Smiling Knight. Brave as brass Myles Mooton whose memory his people still call upon. Richard Lonmouth and Jon Connington, both technically vassals to Robert Baratheon, funny little irony there. Princess Elia his wife who he is fond of along with the Dornishmen she comes to court with, "particularly" Prince Lewyn of the Kingsguard, who is in Rhaegar's confidence (per AWOIAF). These bonds seem strong because not a whiff of possible disloyalty on Rhaegar's part ever reaches Aerys despite it definitely existing and Aerys actively looking for it (again per AWOIAF). Do these confidantes know about Aegon's prophecy? IDK. At least in JonCon's case the answer seems to be no. However we also know JonCon wasn't actually the closest to Rhaegar. Nonetheless, I think we can assume that outside of Arthur Myles and Richard most of these were political relationships which Rhaegar pursued and all were concerned about Aerys's instability— there is also Tywin who Rhaegar performs certain overtures towards (such as knighting Gregor, Tywin's man, at a time when the Aerys-Tywin relationship had just grown particularly sour) indicating he'd like him as an ally. This is all straying away from TPTWP but I think it's important, it shows that even imbued with purpose, Rhaegar was in a position that did not lend itself towards him being able to take much action...

Then winter breaks. Spring comes. Nobody knows it's false yet. Rhaegar's whole deal is this coming Long Night. Everyone takes, quite literally, a breath of fresh air, and the tourney of Harrenhal commences, with Rhaegar as a shadow sponsor, thinking to call an informal Great Council which will begin to deal with Aerys (step 1)(step 1 failed).

This is where matters of prophecy come back into focus. I've covered Rhaegar's various relationships, the shallowness of them, the stagnancy in Developments due to Aerys's paranoia, etc. Harrenhal is not a solitary place but it is flush with magic in a way similar to Summerhall and Dragonstone— all places where dragons have died Harrenhal is thematically the cannibal dragon let's not get into that. And this is important to Rhaegar's characterization because of how things unfold with Lyanna Stark in several ways: 1) Lyanna cries to his song. Before they formally meet Lyanna is touched by the magic and purpose and sacrifice and yes, love, of which Rhaegar sings. It speaks to her. Of course, many others likely cried too. Common occurrence, see: A song of love and doom, Jon Connington recalled, and every woman in the hall was weeping when he put down the harp. Not the men, of course. Rhaegar gender moment but I digress. 2) Rhaegar's discovery of her as the KOTLT despite Robert & Richard Lonmouth both vowing to do so, those raucous manly men, both of whom failed; Rhaegar's subsequent hiding of her identity to unknown consequence for himself if any. All he produces is her shield which is painted with a tree on it, a purposeful callback to Duncan the Tall's shield, both Lyanna and Dunk being 'false knights' yet, in their actions, true ones. Sorry I love Lyanna so much I can't resist plugging her greatest hits 3) Rhaegar winning the tourney, the only tourney he's ever won... and immediately tainting his victory by awarding it to Lyanna instead.

I bring this all up and frame it because here we see that Rhaegar is not really invested in his own victory or legacy or even really his honor. His wife Princess Elia is there and she is pregnant with his son, something he could commemorate in the same vein that Aerys "honored" Rhaegar by showcasing him at various tourneys, an ode to a future warrior king, but Rhaegar doesn't do that. It's not his victory as a Man. It's never been about his victory as a Man. It doesn't even need to be his victory.

Neither does Aegon's prophecy. Rhaegar rapidly realizes that on two fronts: second, the false spring ends. It wasn't real! Rhaegar's spring isn't the lasting one. First, though, is that Rhaegar and Elia's son Aegon is born, a difficult birth in which Elia is rendered infertile. Who does this remind you of? Oh right, Aerys with Rhaella— only Rhaegar does not go about trying to impregnate Elia again. Rhaegar becomes convinced Aegon is TPTWP— something he was already thinking, prior. Rhaegar was never so invested in himself being TPTWP that he could not be convinced otherwise. Maester Aemon: Rhaegar, I thought... the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King's Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet. Rhaegar agreeing "when he was young" and being "certain the bleeding star had to be a comet" all indicate that he had been looking into the possibility that TPTWP was Not Him for a while. The visits to Summerhall— maybe they were a search for proof by encasing himself in the lingering magic of the place? He still messed up the prince/princess translation presumably because baby Rhaenys never seemed to be in the conversation. (The bleeding star was in fact a comet, funnily enough, a little consolation prize for the pretty boy.) Here's what we know: in Daenerys's vision, Elia asks if Rhaegar will write Aegon a son, we can assume because he wrote their firstborn Rhaenys a song, but Rhaegar says no, he already has one. The song of ice and fire. Aegon doesn't get a song. Why? Rhaegar believes he must be a warrior.

Yet, he sings for him anyway.

Rhaegar's "it seems" and "I must" and distance from Viserys and inner conflict about Aerys and doubt about his own place in the grand scheme of things all come to fruition with Aegon's birth. Rhaegar isn't TPTWP— and it spurs him into action. A weight is off his shoulders so now he can act. As in the case of crowning Lyanna, when the purpose of a task is not to honor or elevate him, we see Rhaegar able to perform in ways he could not before.

Namely there are two veins: acting against Aerys and seeking out information of the prophecy, but Rhaegar's general direction (through the Riverlands past Harrenhal) seems to indicate that he was headed towards the Ghost of High Heart. Not Summerhall, a place of mysticism meant to soothe Rhaegar. Rather a place of pain. The Ghost of High Heart who gorged on grief at Summerhall, who only ever demands Jenny's song (which Rhaegar seems to have wrote), who sees in Arya who looks like Lyanna, who looks like Jon, death. But instead of ever making it there... Rhaegar meets Lyanna.

And then they disappear. There are the Rhaegarwars to consider so I'm just going to say that, at the least, Lyanna did not want to marry Robert though society dictated that she must, and in removing her, she was removed from this. From there she came to be in Dorne in a place that was desolate desert, but similar to Summerhall, which was also abandoned, held something of magic in that it was near where Those Who Sing The Song of the Earth had split the Arm of Dorne. We can say a lot more about this but that's not the point of the post. I have explained Rhaegar as a person disconnected from his mother, later a person who in several manners refuses to act as Aerys did towards Rhaella, indicating that disconnect troubled him — Rhaegar's limited amount of close relationships with people he admired and the deep loyalty shown to him, presumably for a reason — Rhaegar's willingness to interrogate himself & his assumptions about the world.

So when I say Rhaegar was relieved what I mean is that upon suspecting and, to his mind, confirming that he was not the fulfillment of Aegon's prophecy, Rhaegar became proactive in ways he had yearned for but not been able to before. The Rhaegar that died with Lyanna's name as his last word was not a Rhaegar who died thinking the world was doomed without him. I think the Rhaegar that died on the Trident was a Rhaegar who had escaped the shadow of fate only to meet it, face to face.

[mozart-in-a-gokart]

My Thoughts On How TUA Season 4 Should Have Ended

Read it like a script outline maybe? Idk I never took screenwriting?

Way more detail below the cut:

Im so sorry if this whole thing comes across as very fan fictiony towards the end. I did my best.

::Here are some refreshers for some of the concepts I touch on at the beginning and where my logic comes from::

Note: I may have spelled Luther as Luthor throughout this and I realized this only after I was just about to post this so… bear with me.. thank you.

So we learned these things previously:

Season 1

Viktor was the trigger for the big world ending apocalypse

Season 2

Viktor was the trigger for the 3rd world war that ended the whole world

Season 3

Viktor has the ability to transfer marigold .We learned that from the whole storyline with Harlan in season 3.

Viktor had the ability to stop Allison from resetting the universe but chose-not to at the very end of the season.

Edited Addition: The Kugalblitz itself was the result of a grandfather paradox involving the umbrellas in the sparrow timeline. (I.E. You go back in time, you kill your grandfather, therefore you have no way of existing later.). Their parents were dead so the universe couldn’t handle these extra variables that shouldn’t and theoretically couldn’t have existed, so it collapsed in on itself.

Season 4

When the universe is reset all of the October 1st kids seem to exist because Lila also exists in the reset universe (we don’t see the sparrows unfortunately so this is a toss up but for the purposes of this I assume they exist we just never saw them.)

Edited to clarify a point: Lila’s parents are still alive in this timeline, meaning she was born to two parents with no marigold. This further backs up the idea that the same must be true for the rest of the Hargreeves siblings because if it wasn’t, one of two things would have had to have occurred. One: The marigold would have had to have been released. However, If it had the umbrellas would all have been born with their abilities, which they did not have at the end of season 3 in the new universe. Two: Another Kugelblitz would have occurred because they wouldn’t have parents and therefore would have had no explanation for existing in the new universe, causing yet another cascade failure.

Abigail has this insane amount of guilt that comes from creating both the Marigold and Durango.

The show seems to establish that in Abigail and his marriage, Reginald is the one who considers the children expendable and always has. Abigail seemed to care about them quite a bit (at least until the last episode)

Abigail manages at the last second to convince Reginald to die with her and let the cleanse happen because it’s THEIR FAULT all this is happening, not the umbrellas

When Lila and Allison’s family get on the train they do in fact transfer over and are inserted into the “correct” and “one true” timeline. They are essentially rewritten by the universe to allow them to exist there.

With all these things in mind this is what I think should have happened

Abigail should still have managed to convince Reginald that this was all their fault but it should have happened earlier in the episode.

Abigail should have put an emphasis on the fact that it isn’t the umbrellas fault at all and that they have a right to exist. That it’s the least they can do is try and help them figure a way out of this after everything they have been put through both in Abigail’s name, and by Reginald himself.

Reginald finally grows as a person, accepts this, and they both go with Viktor on the crusade to save Ben.

While on the journey Abigail learns about Viktors ability to transfer Marigold from one person to another and she LATCHES onto this.

Abigail and Reginald have a discussion about a plan that involves transferring the Marigold to both of them of Viktor can’t manage to convince Ben.

(Maybe there’s a scene similar to season 2 where Viktor talks with sparrow Ben in his mind. Sparrow Ben ends up making the point that they have to let him go. HES NOT THEIR BEN. He NEVER has been. They have to let him go. Let him do this selfish thing. He misses HIS family. His SPARROWS. Let him die.)

This is a good end IMO for sparrow Ben because he isn’t out Ben. We’ve all been talking about Ben being Ben for so long we forget this Ben is literally A DIFFERENT PERSON. He sees the umbrellas as his family’s murderers. It’s tragic but, I can’t see this Ben ever truly growing to love the umbrellas the way he seemed to with the sparrows

With that Obviously the plan to stop the cleanse by convincing Ben falls apart. Plan A never works.

They all would congregate back at the dilapidated Hargreeves mansion.

They all still talk about options and Five still says that the only way to end this once and for all is by destroying all of the marigold (Instead of being all defeated about it I think he should be angry and wired when he’s talking about it. I hate this drowned kitten looking guy. Where’s my embodiment of the it’s always sunny Pepe Silva Meme)

While they all argue about trying to use the subway to save themselves and Five doesn’t think it will work Reginald steps forward and tells them all to be silent.

They all force of habit stop and stare at him.

He says that he and his wife may have a way to save them all.

Klaus, Luther, Diego, and Five are all against letting him talk

Lila, Allison and Viktor are willing to let him talk what harm could he do now at the end.

He asks Five about the subway and if he’s right that you leave it at the exact moment in time you entered. Five agrees as far as he knows that’s correct.

Reginald and Abigail ask Five to blink all of them there, right now so they have a bit more time to explain.

Five says no not until they tell everyone what’s going on. He’s had enough running around and beating around the bush. Reginald explains things now.

Reginald does.

He explains that their bodies in this particular universe were not made originally of marigold. They were just born here. So theoretically, if they no longer had Marigold in their system. The Umbrellas themselves won’t need to be erased. They could attempt to escape with their family.

Luther points out that they don’t know how to extract the marigold.

Viktor reminds them that he can transfer it but he doesn’t know how good he is at it. Plus he needs to transfer it somewhere. He can’t just release it.

Reg : “That is correct. You would need to transfer the marigold to another vessel. It won’t work if it’s not in something living.”

Diego: “What’re you saying?”

Five: “He’s saying one of us has to stay behind Diego.”

Allison: “So what? You’re asking one of us to volunteer? To choose to be erased?”

Everyone starts up angrily shouting at Reginald who is interrupted by Abigail.

Abigail: “None of you would stay behind.”

Five: “Elaborate?”

Abigail: “Five you blink everyone to the subway. While we’re there Viktor transfers all of the marigold from all of you to Reginald and myself. All of you board the train. We will stay behind.”

Everyone is silent and staring

Klaus: “you’re cool with this Dad?”

Reginald: “I am not your father young man. I am Not your Reginald Hargreeves. I am however, a Reginald who knows how to respect hard work, which you all seem to have been doing for a great many years trying to stop exactly this thing from occurring. I understand that my wife and I helped set this in motion and I am nothing if not accountable.”

Luther: “wow… “

Abigail: “Let us do this?”

Lila is immediate in her agreement

Five doesn’t like the idea of this but it’s all they’ve got.

They all start teleporting as the Bennifer Cleanse beast starts shattering the windows to the house

We watch time seem to slowdown because the creature understands that the marigold isn’t “in this dimension anymore” it doesn’t know where to look.

We watch a subway staircase form in the center of the room and see tendrils of the Flesh Creature winding around it but never down in it because it doesn’t have a way into the subway. (You have to blink there)

We have a moment where the Umbrellas link hands in a circle and glow (like we do every season. It’s tradition)

We go around the circle through each of the umbrellas faces and watch the marigold pulled from them slowly. And transferred into Reginald and Abigail who are standing in the center we see it leave them and they all collapse

Viktor still has a little bit left in him and says he doesn’t have the strength to transfer it

Everyone looks defeated at that

Diego and Lila while they’re looking at one another

Allison and Klaus are hugging one another

Luther and Five collapse on the bench

Viktor says it’s alright. That he’s gonna stay. He’s gonna choose to stay and be part of the solution this time. He owes it to them for ending the world three separate times (He’s gonna choose to save everything and not cause it)

They all hug him at the door to the train and say “goodbye”

Five is keeping the train door open by standing in front of them

Klaus hugs Viktor and thanks them for being the only normal one of the bunch and keeping them down to earth

Klaus: and hey! Don’t sell yourself short! That third time wasn’t really YOUR fault. Allison was the one who—

Allison shoves Klaus out of the way and into the train.

Allison and Viktor hug the longest out of everyone.

Allison: “I’m gonna miss you so much.”

Luthor picks Viktor up and spins them around : “I’m sorry for not being a better brother. You deserved more.”

Viktor: “ make it up to me by finding Sloane in the next world and naming your first born Viktor.”

Luther is laughing and nodding boarding the train

Diego shakes Viktor’s hand and apologizes for blaming them for so much in previous years. “I was really closed off and I should have been better. I love you brother.”

Viktor: I love you too Diego”

Diego’s holding back tears as he boards.

Five is the last to say good bye

The two are just staring at one another quietly

Five: “You know… I never thanked you…”

Viktor: “For what?”

Five: Not giving up on me the first time

Viktor is confused

Five: “When I disappeared years and years ago. When I came back pogo told me about the Sandwiches and the lights and everything. I know it’s too late, but I’d be remiss if I never said it. So, thank you. For not giving up on me.”

Viktor smiles at him.

Viktor: “I guess I should say the same.”

Five cocks his head

Viktor: “You never gave up on us. Every single time the world was ending. You never gave up on saving us. You drove yourself insane trying to save us all and we never thanked you.”

Five scoffs

Five: “Guess we’re both thankless assholes…”

Viktor: “Nah”

Viktor shakes their head and pulls five in for a hug

Viktor: “Thank you for everything Max.”

Five slowly hugs them back

Five: “Don’t call me that”

Viktor pulls back

Viktor: I’m sacrificing myself for your asses. I can call you whatever I want.”

Five steps back

Five: “Goodbye Viktor”

They give all wave at Viktor as the doors start to close

Suddenly an umbrella Lodges itself in the doorframe and everyone including the audience is shocked

Abigail has stopped the doors from closing

Viktor whips around to see Reginald right behind him

Reginald: “Must I do everything around here.”

Reginald, now with marigold and Lila’s abilities of Mirroring, mirrors Viktors ability and removes the last of the marigold from him before pushing Viktor through the doors and onto the train.

Abigail lets go and the train doors close leaving all of the Umbrellas and extended family shaken

Abigail waves at them as the train starts pulling away and we see Reginald tip his cap to them

Reginald: Farewell Children of the Umbrella Academy.

Abigail: You were Extraordinary.

The train pulls away and we see Reginald and Abigail take each other by the arm and walk towards the exit of the subway

The camera is frozen in place and we watch them ascend the stairs. We hear the scream of the The Cleanse Creature echo the the subway stars start shaking

Tiles crack and light starts flashing from the stairway the ceiling begins to cave in and we transition to the umbrellas on the train

Viktors been helped up and they’re all dazed and confused just waiting for “it” to “happen” whatever “it” is

We get a similar scene to the original scene where they’re letting the cleanse consume them

During this scene is when Five explains that they will all likely forget one another. Because their parents are in all different parts of the country. They will have never met. It’s a hard reset.

This makes all of them sad (OBVIOUSLY) so we get the same cleanse conversation as more of a we don’t know if we will ever see each other again and if we don’t I just wanna say this to you all kind of conversation

We still end it with Klaus saying “You know, I just wanna say I love you guys… but you are all assholes.”

Everyone laughs and as they’re laughing music swells

We get a cut of the subway flashing colors because the reset is happening

We get flashes of color washing over each of them with the various scenes of them from previous seasons and those timelines disappearing

We flash through them in order of number

Luthor

Diego

Allison

Klaus

Five

Lila (as six instead of Ben roll with me I promise I have a reason)

And Viktor

The final flash is a long shot of all of them smiling in the train car and the camera zooms down it and into the same wormhole at the end that leads to the “real” timeline

We cut to black

There’s beats of silence (yes multiple)

The audience is thinking “Are we ending it here? Is it gonna be ambiguous? Are we about to see credits?

No.

Slowly a stereo fades into view we’re staring at it

Someone walks in front of it wearing a very familiar jean coat

We hear the stereo button click and The song “I Think We’re Alone Now” starts playing

We watch Viktor pull a woman who looks very much like sissy into their arms and they start to dance laughing loudly. There’s a pure white violin in the corner that looks like it’s been used so often and so long but so lovingly. We zoom out the window out the window and see this is on a farm somewhere we focus on the windmill wheel turning

It transitions to the wheel of a beat up old car arriving at the park. We watch Lila and Diego’s kids stumble out of the car holding skate boards and bubble wands. They’re older than they were. Lila shakes her fist at them from the passenger window. She’s shouting at them. You can hear her shouting be careful! And then shouting more in Punjabi

We don’t see who’s in the drivers seat but we zoom in on Lila’s fist and it transitions to another fist. This one gripping a paper and shaking it as it moves across a classroom towards the front.

We follow the page as it’s placed on a desk then pan up to a figure in a suit writing complex equations clearly having something to do with physics or rocket ships in chalk across a board

On the desk is a nameplate that comes into view only when the figure turns around to address the room and we see very clearly it’s an adult Five. The nameplate reads Maximillian Murphy PHD.

He’s addressing the class and telling them to get their assignments in by Monday if they want input before the final assessment. Mrs. Murphy will take them from you if you have them now. He gestures to the woman who set the paper down on his desk in the transition who comes around the desk and sits on it. She’s wearing a polka dot blouse. He’s finally found a real Delores.

The two smile at one another and we pan up to the ceiling and zoom in on a vent grating which transitions to the front grill of a bus

We see muddy shoes scramble up the steps and cut to the inside of the bus. We see the figure only from the back as they scramble down the middle of the bus clutching a rucksack wearing very old fashioned Amish clothes. We only see them from the front when finally fall into a seat next to a guy reading a book wearing dog tags who looks like he’s just getting back from deployment somewhere

We watch Klaus turn and greet Dave in the modern day and hear them have the same conversation we heard on the bus in Vietnam on this bus in the middle of nowhere USA

We transition from Klaus laughing here to a time a bit in the future. Klaus laughing wearing clothes more like him and pulling Dave down a street past a shop window full of movie memorabilia we hear him saying something about wanting a good view of the take off. Trust him just come this way’

We zoom in on a script that transitions to one that lands on a coffee table. We watch Ray pick it up and Allison settle herself on a chair near by. We watch and hear them talk about this new pilot for this new show And how “it’s a good one I can feel it” “okay. Let’s do this then.” In the background we can see acting awards on a shelf. Alison isn’t just a commercial actress. She has been in things and is good at it. Claire comes barreling down the stairs and jumps between them on the couch. “Wheres the remote! It’s starting!”

We see Allison and Ray lean in forgetting the scripts

We pan across the room and it all melts away into a car radio

We see a hand turn it up and we hear it talking about the first launch nasa’s funded on a while. Space stuff.

We follow the figure who turned up the radio as they lean out of the car and gesture wildly as Lila and the kids to come over here quickly!

You see all of them start sprinting to the car to listen.

We watch through the front windshield of the van Lila climb in and kiss Diego. The kids all pile in and stare at the radio in Awe.

We get a shot of Diego turning up the radio dile which transitions to a gloved hand adjusting diles on what is clearly the console of a rocket ship. We pan up and it’s LUTHOR. Space boy ready for take off

We hear the the count down of a take off start over the last portion of “I think we’re alone now” by Tiffany

The screen gets smaller until Luthor is in a neat box in the middle of the screen as we count down characters are added to the screen in their own boxes all tuning in to watch this launch

Ten - Sloan with a little girl on her lap pointing at the tv from the couch in a house that is so clearly hers and Luthors. She’s mouthing wave bye to daddy! It’s your daddy! Bye space boy!

Nine - Dot, Herb, the handler, and someone with a gold fish print Hawaiian shirt (AJ for sure), dressed to the nines are sitting in a backyard with a radio on listening and laughing

Eight - hazel and Agnes turn up the volume of a Tv at a doughnut shop they both clearly own. Hazel is behind the counter and Agnes’s waiting tables. The few tables seated have people we recognize there. Cha cha. Eudora and Detective Beaman.

Seven - Viktor and Sissy watching the tv over their living room couch

Six - Grace stopping with a baby carriage at a store front filled with tvs. Her baby on her hip pointing at the tv mouthing the the word rocket to the baby who giggles

Five - Five, His Wife and a bunch of other professors or huddled around an old tv in a lab in a physics building. one of the scientists is holding an open notebook with sketches of the comic characters in it. It’s Gabriel Bá. You can see him mouthing “come on come on!”

Four - Klaus and Dave sitting on a blanket on a hill near the nasa bad along with a ton of other people on blankets pointing and holding binoculars. Gerard way and his wife are among them.

Three - Allison, Ray, and Claire all leaning in to watch eagerly

Two - Diego Lila and all their kids leaning in to hear

One - every box but the ones with the Umbrellas go black.

It’s a close up of all of their eyes. They all read as excited. Looking up towards the future. “the beating of our hearts is the only sound”

All those squares go black on some tambourine beats

Houston we have liftoff.

Credits roll.

END CREDITS SCENE.

A close up of Ben’s eyes. We zoom out. We’re back on that train in Korea. We see him frown a second as he realizes something. He puts the book down a second. He looks out the window. Looks at his phone. There are text messages that read “dude where are you? We’re watching the launch without you!. How’d you miss this?!”

You see him realize.

In Korean “Motherfu—“

We cut to black again and cut him off.

The End

Is it cheesy? Maybe? But you know I think we deserve a little cheesy.

[majorbaby]

The reason Klinger's dress-wearing has aged well is because while the showrunners knew many people in the audience would see a man-in-a-dress gag, they intended for his wardrobe to be a form of protest. This is not unlike Hawkeye's theatrics or Henry and Trapper's loose morals, which are also subject to the perception of audiences old and cough cough current.

Klinger's not embarrassed to wear dresses any more than Hawkeye, Trapper and Henry are embarrassed when Margaret catches them screening a porno in the CO's office. At the time the show was trying very hard to tell us that the most embarrassing thing a man can do be duped by the violent myths of patriarchy, nationalism and hatred.

There are still things to critique about how it was done. There probably were way more people in the 70s laughing at a man in a dress when they saw Klinger than there were people perceiving him as a genderqueer icon. The laugh track playing when he enters the frame is indication enough to me that the show was leaning into that - although they also campaigned for the laugh track to be dropped entirely and here's an example of how including it really changes the tone of the show.

(Aside: The actual affront to the Klinger character for which I see no upside is when the jokes become about his race, class and intelligence - a lot of this happens after the laugh track is dropped and he's not wearing dresses anymore)

I also think it's important to give credit where credit is due, and honestly the state of primetime television then and now means that Klinger just being there is worth something on its own. And in my opinion I think it's great that there's canonical similarities between Hawkeye's anti-establishment values and Klinger's. I don't fault people for latching onto Hawkeye in that regard because he is the protagonist, but in 2023 I can point out that Klinger lacks the race, class, career and narrative protections that Hawkeye enjoys - while saying much of the same things that Hawkeye does.

If you see him as a rebel with a cause today, I think it's important to know that he has always, canonically been a rebel with a cause, even with regards to gender expression.

The army brutally enforces conformity to gender roles, we see Margaret struggle with this repeatedly. Margaret likes feminine things and wants to feel pretty, but she's gotta be in uniform because the army is important to her, and she's shown to suffer for it. Klinger meanwhile doesn't give two shits about the army and so he's free to wear whatever he wants. That's intentional messaging. It didn't purely "age well" - it was good shit in its original form and context. There were good people with good intentions who wrote him like that.

[lilia-calderus-pet-goat]

This is a very sleep deprived thought—and I don't actually believe it, per se—but.

I've seen a lot of people who are deeply unsatisfied with the retcon of it being Agatha that bound Jen's magic. Mainly, because it felt like shoe-honing. Especially since Agatha made such a point about going out of her way to not kill Jen despite hating her, because she respected her work too much.

I think many interesting discussions can be had about this. I've talked about this before—the fact that Jen's character felt sort of neglected in the finale, and the fact a lot of people struggled to connect with her prior to rewatches. (I myself didn't have this problem, but still, my criticisms are still of the same nature-)

So anyway, Agatha probably chose to bind Jen to keep her out of the way, not realising the weight of that, the intersectionality—perhaps not caring about the suggesting very much at all. Because, you're a midwife, Jen. You can still do good. You will do good, just out of my way. And I truly do believe this is how it went.

But what if Agatha hadn't been the one to bind her? What if, in a brief moment of clarity, Agatha locked in to get everyone out? Her movements are always supposed to be calculated, so is carelessness really in her repertoire?

Maybe, just maybe, she heard Jen say that, “I'll be damned if I let one of you two idiots die,” and that triggered her. Maybe because of pride—god knows she was overwhelmed before the final trial and all her walls had come right back up. But the same didn't apply to Jennifer. She had actually changed. Jen had actually re-discovered her worth. She'd remembered who she was, power or not. She was someone Agatha respected in spite of the resentment. Someome who heals, nurtures, helps, does good. Not the vain, surface-level, self-serving fraud—who had previously been on a dark path too similar to Agatha's own, so close to complete cynicism. Lilia had saved Jen from that path and oushed her to be the path ahead. The Obstacles? Agatha.

And Agatha won't accept Jen's help—not after what happened to Alice, which to Agatha's & Billy's eyes alike stands as evidence of the fact she is a monster. She won't even accept to acknowledge her own character development, as a mere episode ago she jumped in front of a sword to save Lilia. She won't, above all, acknowledge that Jen has grown to care about her. Instead, she will do everything tomake that kdea crumble. She will destroy it.

All she needs to do is shape the narrative Billy truly thinks is true, and so it can become the truth. Billy, who created the condition in which it was possible for Alice to break her generational curse. Who found the spirits of Evanora and Nicky alike. All the trials were his limited understanding of the coven & of witch folk. (Jen's was right out of her vision board, she looked like one of her clients—nothing like the rootworker midwife we know she used to be. Alice's is in the seventies, which mathematically makes no sense with her age as she would have been born in the eighties to be the age she is on 2025—but Billy based everything about her trial on Lorna, because that's what he was familiar with. Agatha's mind he couldn't read—all he knew about her was that something happened to her son. So he puts a grown woman in children's clothing, to force therapy on her—and she regresses into the hurt little girl she was at the stake. Lilia, whose mind is the loudest & most easily accessible to Billy, had the most personalised trial, but even then, it latches onto the witch stereotypes that she so desperately hates. All of those do help the girls—minus Agatha—but still don't fully represent them. As for the green witch trial, well, it took him a while to cook it up, because he just found out Rio is death. Anyway, I digress—) My point being, if you can shape Billy's understanding of a situation, you can have some power over what happens. (One trial for each witch, the public transport system, etc.)

Would it be such an impossible stretch to say Agatha painted herself as the villain once more, embracing the part presented to her, the oart most familiar, the oart she knows best to simultaneously reject Jen's offered sisterhood/peace/altruism AND make sure the road gave Jen her powers back? She gets Jen out of the way—go do good again, just out of my way—because she's hellbent on the narrative that Agatha Harkness can't be anything but a covenless witch.

And what's the next thing she does, after assuring Billy that the road took Jen to safety after giving her what she wants?

She tries to get what she wants, because she knows Billy is in no real danger in his own road. Give me a little power-boost, dungeon master, get me out of here, come on. But he doesn't trust her. And if he doesn't trust her—she can't possibly convince him to willingly hand himself over to Rio.

So she gives him what he needs, what he wants from the road. She guides him—cradles his head and helps him fight the guilt, she helps him save Tommy. The second abomination that Lady Death was trying to prevent has already been re-born, but Rio's too busy playing mother-knows-best in suburbia on Agatha's rooftop.

So Agatha gets Billy out, accepts that, “sometimes boys die,” that death herself can't be blamed for Nicky—she forgives Rio—and starts to mourn herself. She's gotten Jen & Billy out. She can stay here and die the villain. But the road presents her with the opportunity to live—from death, life—(she also realises right then that Nicky was also Rio's, btw)—and she makes her dramatic exit. The rest is... A different post.

[phalangemedes]

CAMPAL LIT ANAL 🔥🔥🔥

To start off with, a personalised character debrief, of sorts, so the nonsense I'm about to spout stems from my known perception of them rather than just inherent batshit:

PALAMEDES SEXTUS: Tall ergo mouse faced man with the jokes and no brain shut off button. Burdened with gifted kid ego AND gifted kid guilt. Disabled even for a necromancer (not genetic turbo cancer for the nuke blast creation of thanergy but allergies, aerospace thick specs, lingering hint of the 'tism (social cues whomst, Mr that evil nun who thinks I'm a murderer is now my BEST FRIEND. Decided he was going to marry a girl because he liked that she was puzzley. His life partner is low emotive and he's never noticed.) (RE:marry Dulci the man is a glutton for a hyperfixation. 12 years and he's like 'we'll be married, Cam's my best man, I love them')). Bred for necromantic psychometry and groomed for Wardenhood (I used "groomed" because he was a literal child when they lauded his intellect as sufficient enough to egregiously test him to see if he was worthy of the title of Master Warden (spoilers, a 13 year old is a tiny baby child, no matter how cute, clever OR smug they are) This neatly slots into the "gifted kid" issues in that his parents ALLOWED this to happen, nay, encouraged it as an accolade. So I wouldn't say he was actively abused, but neither was he "cared" for, which is prime reason as to why he latched onto the only emotionally available peer AND was self sacrificial to a scary fault (re: ka-boom)

CAMILLA HECT: Tall TANK with too much inside to contain without fidget. Burdened with an inferiority complex 20 miles wide and a dunces hat of imposter syndrome. (Some of this is that The Sixth don't really respect swordhands, some of it is that in the capacity they DO respect it, she isn't ranked the most highly (RE: Not an Alexandrite. I assume Epeids? Cause she will class herself as competent and I think the Sixth aren’t stupid enough to put her in the spec ed class once she’s a Cav Prime.) Low EXTERNAL emotion, high energy, Palamedes is patently the words and she's happy with that. (As we go through HtN and NtN it reads more and more like alexithymia, more so when she just finally bursts the fuck into tears). Focuses a little too hard on being "useful", to the point and beyond of harm/self harm. Treats loyalty in a similar manner. A 0% or 100% kinda bitch. Close with her sister, but NOT her fathers, which is an interesting one because we have minimal backstory on that one, but it very much READ as a "forbidden" thing to be with Palamedes not just in the act of lyctorhood ascension but a 'They never understood' way. So her choosing to be Cavalier Primary was her choice AGAINST the wishes of other, societally and inter-familially.

ADDENDUM to Cam: She is a Carer, not in a motherly carer role, a Carer with a capital C. She cares for those with disadvantages in a MANNER I have witnessed IN the caring profession. This is MOST notable in the dynamics with Nona but she does the same with Pal. Where Pyrrha gives Nona fun dad treatment, with no less care, and Palamedes is the voice of gentle reason, consent and options, Cam is loving enforcement and active encouragement. It’s a theme. I’d like it highlit to those of you that have never had one or interacted in what is a COMPLICATED dynamic, a Carer is not a SERVITOR, they are a companion, they see you at your weakest and tackle ills with compassion. Is it a CHOSEN role.

Likewise Cam being raised female and not necromantically inclined (on planet eugenics and Your Eggs Are So Useful To Us BabyGirl) has just had humility beaten into her, but there are various places (Dr Sex coming to mind the most vividly, Pal trusting her with reconstruction of his skeleton, him trusting her opinion on things HE is looking at necromantically) where she is AS bright as him, but is not afforded the same societal perks as him as a necro.

tl;dr

Golden boy brain box who is struggling to live up to it, doing anything to be Good Enough. Held together by Cam's trust in him.

Black sheep who is struggling to perceive herself as worthy, doing anything to be Good Enough. Held together by Pal's faith in her.

Cool, we got it? ONWARD.

GENDER; PERCEPTIONS AND CHANGES:

Pre-Canaan through Canaan:

Palamedes Sextus, Master Warden of The Sixth House is a seeker of knowledge, his pronouns are forgot/to/eat (j/k.) I don't think he perceives himself as much of anything, until he's forced to. He is a man as The Master Warden and for Dulcinea, but I wonder how much of that is the "breeding program" ethos of the Sixth and how much of that is his OWN perception of himself because he's not a TRADITIONAL feeling man, even compared to other men in the canon. When I joke he's a he/him lesbian it's because he FEELS, not female, but feminine. In how he interacts with space and people, with the touchy-feeliness, with the way he expresses himself vociferous and poetically. 'Male' to him seems to be a mantle he wears above the neutrality of who he is and the femininity of his affections.

Camilla Hect, Hand of the Library, is a swordswoman and a cavalier and a hand. Cam is beautifully ungendered, but not in the same way as Palamedes is more of a... I feel like she'd be shocked to be told there's a binary? Just generally. She's practical, but butch, she's just Camilla. A she/her in the same way as a ship or a car. Not like a mother but like a deity -- and THAT is from Palamedes' perception of her. If he's a good boy, she's the Goddess he lays his altar out for. She’s not a ‘woman’ for anyone, not her house, not him. I think that’s important.

New-Rho:

I know there're alotta trans allegories here, but I'm gunna be a party pooper and say this is QUEER but not trans, not because it doesn't follow the path but because I don't think there is a Tomb binary to start with. There's a fluidity and flux IRL doesn't have (because people like their lil ticky boxes). And Pal doesn't feel different IN Cam, he feels the same. More him. He's more outwardly affectionate, he's more fussy and stroppy. He's him but Settled. I think he likes being whatever he is as Camilla. I think because he always liked Cam more.

Cam remains Cam. And I am delighted with this because Palamedes' influence within AND without is the same? I fucking love this woman, she popped out the womb like this and she's just keeping on trucking. Someone thinks she's a sex worker? Unfussed. Someone thinks she's fucking Crown? Mild distaste but that's more on the fact Corona is a biiitch. Dual daddying with Pyrrha? It's a TITLE, Cam seems to like titles. Maybe that's what it is, Camilla's self expression is a list of titles given to her by those who love her. The only one she’s picked for herself is Cavalier.

PAUL:

LEAST they/them they/them in the world. OBSESSED with them, they have the feminine energy that Palamedes carries but in Cam's body?? But the siege weapon threat of Cam?? Obsessed to get to know them more. I sense I shall kiss them on the mouth.

THEM AS CHARACTER ARCHETYPES VS "PEOPLE":

I think in part some of the issue with Palamedes and Camilla is how, on the whole, they seem to have been type cast as Male Boss and Female Minion. Because a tall dude with some authority and a quiet woman are put together and people get weird about that. (Even IRL. ‘Which one of you’s the fork?’ well firstly, she’s the knife, SECONDLY… that’s my tall glass of baby girl that speaks in a countertenor)

And this is a two fold issue:

THE FIRST: The Necromancer and Cavalier dynamic as portrayed by Muir.

It's seen as crass to dick down your cavalier (From Abigail and Magnus, through to Judith and Marta with canonical romantic refusal and LATTERLY Judith's SECONDARY canonical refusal of Coronabeth. Interestingly I don't see much shit about Isaac and Jeannemary but that's another hillock to rot on.).

But that doesn't seem to be the main issue WITHIN FANDOM or (more) people would be coming for Abigail and her lovely ottery meat shield.

Or Griddlehark.

Harrow and Gideon are lauded as the greatest romance of all time and the power dynamic there is TRULY whack. (affectionate)

Heir to the throne and indentured slave?

Necromancer made of a bajillion babies and a Base Level Not-Even-Squaddie.

Abuser and abused.

FORCED cavalier and necro?

Witness and sacrifice.

Even if you view them as a complicated sister dynamic... there are ABUNDANT issues there and a staggering co-dependancy that plays out in a sapphic lobotomy. So we have a base line of what, in the Nine Houses, classifies as a Fuckin' Ride Or Die of a relationship.

(this is without the fact that the NORM is for a baby to be specifically born for a Necromancer. Either RE:The manyfold uncles or like Babs being chosen as a zygote. Which do I have to explain how eugenics and baby-promises are worse than two people choosing each other or NAH?)

THE SECOND: People see a man and a woman and they give them preordained gender roles, which they then do some A/B/O level gymnastics to make them negatively fit into the necro and cav dynamic. It's funny because they're grey librarians who look like librarians. They look similar, they act similar but for some reason the fact Cam has tits gets some WILD hottakes.

(My favourite (said with spite and loathing) was someone asking if Cam fancied Harrow because she let Nona touch her… I.. I just??? She was letting Nona express herself in a safe way, Nona, who is a VULNERABLE ADULT with sensory issues. (yes this was reddit how did you guess))

Which.. is peculiar when you think of how we meet them, in an investigative role where they are immediately, companionably mocking each other? Where, out the gate, Cam lunges to protect Pal and as quickly as that happens he calls her back to protect her?

The Cavalier is there to protect the Necromancer. And yet he is IMMEDIATELY portrayed as a shield.

There's also an inherent, and non-canonically spoken of trust about what Pal EXPECTS of Camilla. It starts off with her with the rapier and how although adept with it, it is not her main skillset. And it's played against the bum rush way Gideon had to give in the two hander, but it's also, OBVIOUSLY, something Camilla has done forever and a day. So their roles are already non-traditional, with the basics of 'your cavalier should be your sword' cause girly pop let his barn door have two because she patently WANTED THEM.

Likewise, when hoorah boot clack salute, stick up her arse, repressed lesbo challenges them for their keys Cam is hot to go, but she waits for him to catch up. And he was erring on denial, he was erring on losing KNOWLEDGE, which is his main gain from any situation, to make sure she didn't get injured. But he puts her in that fight for HER HONOUR first, not his, not the Sixth's, Camilla Hect.

When she's injured, other than a brief moment of being a catty princess to Jody and Marta who lol DESERVED, he CHECKS Cam. He's frightened, he's fretting, he just wants her to not have been stabbed quite a lot, and PATENTLY blames himself. He is a PHYSIOLOGICALLY ADEPT necromancer and he FEARS for her injury, because of the pain not the complications of healing. It's an obvious show of how he perceives her as an extension of himself but NOT a tool.

Likewise, the only thing Pal ever did wrong and honestly, Dulci you aquatic-bint your way out of that river and give him a SLAP, was that he left her when he went to nuke Cytherea. He did it as a kindness, he didn't want her to see, he THOUGHT he did the right thing. And he didn't, and there wasn't a right thing, but oh my god dude.

He acted like a cavalier to guarantee her safety.

And I see a lot of 'oh well he did it cause he was upset about Dulci' like?? Cytherea SPOKE to them about the Avulsion trial. He had to look "Dulcinea" in the eye when she asked him to siphon Cam. Do you not think he wasn't already turbo pissed off? Hurt? Upset? Do you not think he was already mourning her, that he chose Cam over her, because he said “no”?

Which is a good segue into 'Paul is problematic'. First up, buckle up my darling little babies, spiritual cannibalism isn't exactly a fuckin' jolly holly time anyway, cause it was made by a man with the moral compass of a rabid wolverine and tits covered in biscuit crumbs.

At no point does Palamedes not feel dreadful for squatting inside Camilla. He is the (un)embodiment of a nervous friend sitting on a mostly full sofa trying to make himself as small as possible and wincing whenever he accidentally touches someone. He is there ONLY because it's what she wanted. And we know that because they discuss it, PRIVATELY, and it overheard by Nona. He also offers Cam the choice, they keep going as they are, or they do something else. But it is together, whatever they do is together. And she chooses to not suffer alone. And that some a y'all shit on that is a choice.

Harrow TBI's herself to not lose Gideon, but when two people enter into togetherness with consent it's a no?? They had a big ol’ adult chat (or 50 off screen, who knows, babygirl can’t shut up so I imagine it was more) and there’s booing and hissing.

Wah wah they're co-dependent it's not healthy, SURE, but it’s extreme circumstances, it's grimdark space heresy. Cam is a victim of torture, starvation and other such New Rho hells. Palamedes was in the purgatory of river isolation post suicide and his only hope of survival was Cam. They are the reason the other kept going. Paul is them keeping going, Paul is their promise to the other that it'll be okay, because they're there. Yes, they're co-dependent but they are each other's reason for being.

Even in the real world, when everything is subterranean, sewer level shit, you are told to find a reason to keep going. It can be a concert in a few months, or your ageing cat, it can be your mother or your tomato plants. And it's not long term, but THEY don't have long term.

And they BOTH chose. Palamedes had no promise of what would happen once he was booted back out of Babs, did he go back in Cam and risk her soul, or did he try another body? Was he already compromised by Tridentarii taint? But he was willing, if it was for her.

Likewise she was at the precipice of a wound that really needed a necromancers attention (look how BoE left Judith, like jesus colostomy christ the woman is a menace but shoving a carrier bag in her then blood letting her to refuel your stolen tesla is rough guys). It needed HER necromancers attention. And that wasn't happening. And she couldn't take not having him any more.

And they didn't go into it blind, The Sixth as a house patently had more knowledge on the melange of souls than most (via all the secrecy that was shared with BoE etcetc), and Pal had just learnt more, first hand, shoved up inside Naberius feeling their edges bleed together. And they had felt what it was to be Them before. They BOTH experienced that, like, blood-sweat and worried daddy lap aside, they both knew it would hurt her, and I have no doubt it cut Palamedes up, but it ate some of him too. 'Oh it hurt her more' my DUDE the man was already bone dust and fuck all else all that COULD be hurt WAS hurt.

THIRDLY (I realise there was not initially three points but there sure fucking is now LESSGO):

SACRIFICE. I've seen it said, repeatedly, they have an uneven power dynamic because Cam 'sacrifices' herself for him.

WELL. Let's break that down with a direct comparison.

Gideon Nav, a woman who had never been loved, but had sometimes been useful, sacrificed herself for a chance to die with the knowledge of being wanted. She knew and wanted to be eaten, absorbed, nothing more than her sword. This was seen as a rejection by Harrow for reasons even GIDEON was aware of, poor kid.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, woman who, understandably, thinks she's cursed as all fuck, refused to take the sacrifice of Another Body and in the process made Gideon think she was being rejected. I think she is less aware, but not totally unaware. And it was in desperation. And she is so young, they both are, they were scared and staring at a bone wall or forever death.

But my point is their togetherness, no matter how complete, was born of VIOLENCE and the eradication of one of them, the violence of need, of desperation to belong, to not be torn from the one consistent point in their lives : each other.

Camilla Hect saw the buckshot shrapnel of her life partner embedded in Canaan's masonry (this is an actual sacrifice, he sacrificed himself for her safety) and chose to take the red string of fate and GANK IT until she got Palamedes back. Because they had a (theoretically possible) predetermined get-out-of-jail-free plan for if something took him first. They planned to never be apart, this was one plan of many.

And Palamedes Sextus, for his part, did everything he could to keep them safe, keep her safe, to make sure, even in the end, they would be together in the safest, sanest way possible. He dredged her from death both times they were shot, he sewed her back together from within the cage of her body. He resurrected them. He was a god FOR them, so they could stay them.

Was it actually safe and sane? Compared to gutty stabs and being consumed by a IANTHE, honestly, yeah.

Was it ideal? No, but it was better than death.

They lived, together. Discussed it, chose it.

If Palamedes is Decisive Consent and Camilla is Patient Protection, Paul is a Conversation with a lil line of kisses at the bottom. They're not made from love, they're made from necessity, but they are born BECAUSE of love, gentility. The difference between rabid hunger after suffering food scarcity and spending 14 hours cooking a meal for someone you love. They are both acts of consumption, but the tone is so vastly different.

✨anyway yeah hi I fucking love Cam and Pal and this is the hill I've chosen to climb and repeatedly die on✨

(I'd like to postface this with I love ALL these characters, I slag them off with the love of literary analysis, and none of them ever did anything wrong they are my tiny angel baby war crimes whom i wub them a normal amount.

...And I'm not getting the books out to quote shit so you're gunna have to embrace the Vibes.<3)

(shout out to @grievingbovine this is (partially) their fault *heart hands*)

[k9punkout]

yeah. so this image.

honestly i want to set till aside for a bit here (since when could i do THAT) and focus on luka's expression.

it's blank, carefully smoothed over, emotionless. a mask, as luka's been known to put on. but this level of neutrality is actually rather unusual for luka. his normal facade is laid back and charismatic, and it's how he normally looks when terrorizing his opponents on stage. it's a game to him, so he allows himself to have fun.

not here, though. here, his expression is so dead compared to how he usually is. you could even see disdain peek through onto his face. and if luka's having TROUBLE keeping his face devoid of emotion, imagine the barely contained things he's really feeling.

his fingertips are normal in color. his collar is red. luka's said that he monitors his heartbeat and keeps it under control at all times (trauma), and since he's so obsessed with heartbeats you'd assume that any situation in which he loses control of it would be due to a severe emotional reaction. and here he is, barely keeping his own composure.

why? what about till would warrant this sort of hateful reaction in him? my personal theory: it's their similarities in backstories, and their differences in dealing with it.

till and luka have such similar backstories- both of which being abused and exploited in severe cases all throughout their lives for the sake of creating the perfect tortured artist/performer, latching onto a happy and energetic girl from anakt who was probably the first person to show either of them human decency and growing unhealthily attached to her.

the difference between the two of them, however, is in the people they become because of it.

till learned to hate. he knows that the way he's being treated isn't love, because no one had ever told him that it was. urak openly despised and abused him in several ways, and he's been made aware that his life is a living hell. he responds to the trauma. he grows aggressive. he barks and bites, he fights back.

luka, however was always being told that the way he was treated WAS love. he sits docile throughout the torment because he was being manipulated into thinking it was all for his own benefit (i have a more in depth analysis of that. somewhere on my acc) and that this is the best route for success. he is taught to be grateful for his own trauma.

so, I'm sure you can imagine how he must've felt when he saw Till, who was put through things akin to him, fight back against his oppressors. 'who is this ungrateful kid? how dare he disrespect the segyein like this, doesn't he know that he was given a rare and privileged opportunity to have intense training like this? doesn't he know of the opportunities he's been given? doesn't he know he was only made to please?'

'why is he fighting? why does he hate them so much? what is wrong with him? why does a small part of me want nothing more than to be like that?'

till's rebellion bothers luka so much because it makes him wonder if his own childhood really was for his benefit. if he really was made exclusively to be used. if none of the pain was just tough love, if there was a reason why none of it ever felt right.

seeing such an enraged and agonized reaction to something so similar to the events he suffered has him questioning EVERYTHING, and he hates it. he hates till for it. but he simply labels it at looking down upon his lack of gratitude for his owner, the user, the one they were meant to please.

'there is no point in fighting. why does he insist on doing it? why isn't he happy for a privilege such as this? our fathers love us, so we should love them in turn.'

[xxlady-lunaxx]

hsjsjsjdhdhd love your sanegiyuu+ kamado siblings notes omg pls write it if you want!!! i would love to see it fully fleshed out.

and pls take your time w my requests!!! i am always willing to wait 💜

i mean technically it was your idea so lots of props to you<3 also i'm glad you don't mind bc fuck i've been taking so long 😭

For a while now, Sanemi's had his eyes set on Giyuu. If asked, he wouldn't have been able to pinpoint a specific time when stirrings began to make their appearances. But did it really matter?

After a couple sessions of ranting about Giyuu and a couple more lectures by Obanai to just ask the fucking man out, he steeled himself to the task, asking his crow for directions and marching towards Giyuu's estate. As it turned out, fate seemed to have other things in mind.

Tanjiro and Nezuko were at Giyuu's house that evening, crowding around him and overwhelming him with lively chatter—though it was mostly Tanjiro. As they spoke, a sudden aroma of ohagi and tea hit Tanjiro and he froze, an almost frown threatening to wilt his smile. Sanemi was here, and he was coming. He turned to Nezuko, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"Nezuko, we have to protect Giyuu-san now, okay? Shinazugawa-san's coming here and he's mean—he's the one who stabbed you, remember?"

Nezuko gave a quick nod, still clinging onto Giyuu's arm.

Giyuu noticed the new presence a second later and Sanemi's appearance became visible as he started down the path towards Giyuu's house and the trio.

"Shinazugawa...? Why is he here?" Giyuu muttered, mostly to himself.

His words brought an instantaneous result and Tanjiro and Nezuko latched onto him, swarming him with distractions. He stumbled slightly at the sudden amount of complete and utter attention, blinking quickly and trying to keep up with their conversations.

Sanemi, who was only a couple yards away now, was scowling. Because of course the Kamado's were here. Of course. But they annoyed him so much and he really wanted to scream now. But he kept going because no doubt Obanai would berate him if he came back and reported that he hadn't even tried.

As he gained closer ground, Tanjiro peeked back and glared furiously at him, his usually soft and smile-graced face now contorted in a stupid, petty frown. Honestly, Sanemi wanted to laugh. And run away. Because Hashira or not he understood perfectly well the overprotectiveness siblings could hold and Giyuu and the Kamados were basically family at this point so he was sure this wouldn't end well.

Nevertheless, he approached Giyuu whose head tilted so adorably in question. As Sanemi went to speak, Nezuko pulled on Giyuu's haori sleeve, mumbling something unintelligible. Apparently, Giyuu understood because he picked her up, bouncing her gently on his hip. Tanjiro skirted in front of Giyuu, creating some sort of human blockade which seemed to be to stop Sanemi from talking. Irritating, but he would have to make do.

"Hey, uh, Tomioka?" Sanemi started. His words were drowned out by a sudden stream of mostly incoherent sentences that Tanjiro shouted, pushing tons of enthusiasm into, shooting Sanemi another glower before going back to Giyuu.

Sanemi let out a breath and said, louder this time, "Tomioka! Tomioka- Uh, God, can you hear me...?"

Giyuu seemed unable to make sense of anything now as Nezuko joined in, huffing and mumbling, adding to the chaos of sound. Tanjiro turned slightly to Sanemi, just enough so he could see the grin that accompanied his chorus of words.

"Shit- Can you guys just shut the fuck up?!" Sanemi snapped, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Nezuko made a sound equivelant to a gasp and gave Sanemi an accusing look, crossing her arms. Tanjiro, delivering a similar reaction, reached up to cover Nezuko's ears.

Giyuu frowned. "Don't swear in front of innocent children, Shinazugawa... It's not very moral."

Sanemi scoffed. "Innocent? They're children of the fucking devil, for god's sake!"

Tanjiro waved his hand at Sanemi as if he were a fly as Giyuu held Nezuko closer to himself protectively. "No, they're not..." he mumbled, looking like he wanted to swat at Sanemi himself now.

Nezuko, noticing an opportunity, promptly burst into tears. Giyuu shot Sanemi a look, muttering, "Look what you've done!" before he attended to the little girl, whispering soft reassurances and patting her head. He carried her into his house, Tanjiro close at his heels.

Sanemi simply stared for a long moment as the door closed behind them. Then he grumbled, turning and stalking back home.

The next day, he stole some of the Sakura Mochi that Obanai had bought for Mitsuri and went back to Giyuu's house. He found Tanjiro and Nezuko there yet again, although luckily Giyuu seemed to be out somewhere at the moment. He approached them more cautiously this time. They both stared up at them from their seats on the ground, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Uh... Here," he said, holding out the Sakura Mochi he had taken. They promptly refused it. He gritted his teeth, suppressing a string of obscenities. "You can have this... It's sweet? You'll like it, I swear."

They didn't budge. He let out a frustrated groan.

"Take it!! Oh, gods, just take it!!" he snapped, barely resisting the urge to crush the mochi and throw it at their faces.

Nezuko crossed her arms and turned her face up, eyes closed indignantly. Tanjiro copied her, mimicking the petty pose. They stayed like that no matter how much Sanemi begged for them to just take the fucking mochi until Giyuu appeared, looking slightly worn out (supposedly, he had been training).

"Huh...? Shinazugawa?" he said, uncertainty lacing his tone.

Sanemi instantly changed his expression, giving him the best smile he could muster through all his frustration and turning away from the Kamados. "Heyy... Tomioka... Hey, uh, can we talk? Preferably somewhere priva-" Sanemi started, cutting himself off with a yelp as Nezuko ambushed him, jumping onto his back.

For a moment, Sanemi was very tempted to grab her leg and throw her into the furthest country from here. But as her arms latched onto his shoulder, holding tightly as to not fall, memories stirred in his mind and he got a different idea. He still did hold onto her legs, but instead wrapped them around his waist, hoisting her up so she would stay, and turning back to Giyuu as if he wasn't just giving a piggy-back ride to the devil of a little girl who had just jumped on him.

"So?... Can we talk?" Sanemi asked, ignoring Giyuu's half bemused, half amused expression.

On Sanemi's back, Nezuko appeared confused because she didn't do anything at first. Then, apparently deciding it wasn't that bad, leaned onto Sanemi, laughter bubbling in her chest.

Of course, Tanjiro quickly decided this wasn't a good thing and snatched Nezuko back, hugging her tightly to his chest.

"He doesn't want to talk, Shinazugawa-san," he said firmly, as if Giyuu had somehow confirmed this.

Meanwhile, Giyuu was just staring at them with an expression that spoke clearly for itself. He really didn't know what to do anymore.

"He never said that," Sanemi argued, glaring at Tanjiro.

"His silence was answer enough!" Tanjiro shot back.

As they bickered back and forth, Giyuu finally spoke up, causing a pause in their conversation.

"Why do you want to talk...? And why do you keep coming to my house?" he asked, frowning. "Are you stalking me?"

Tanjiro looked on the verge of laughter but stopped Sanemi before he could speak, apparently wanting to embarrass him as much as he could. "He wants to ask you out, Giyuu-san."

Giyuu was only more confused. "Ask me... out? We're outside now, though."

Tanjiro shook his head and not for the first time, Sanemi resisted the urge to punch the boy in the face.

"Not literally outside. Shinazugawa-san likes you, I mean. He wants you to be his boyfriend, I think." Tanjiro crossed his arms, turning to glare at Sanemi before freezing when he saw the obvious flush that was spreading on Giyuu's face.

"What?" Giyuu asked. Possibly, he was on fire. Just his face.

Tanjiro sighed. "Nevermind... Please ignore everything I said."

Giyuu, however, did not ignore it. He turned to Sanemi, eyes wide. "You like me? I thought you hated me?"

Sanemi let out a breath, wishing he could crawl into a hole and die—because honestly this was so much worse than he'd imagined. Giyuu deciding he hated him and stabbing him was really a much better result.

"Yeah, well, I don't. Surprise!" Sanemi said, voice taking a sarcastic at the end. He was so ready to just completely drop the whole notion of dating Giyuu if all these difficulties became normality.

Giyuu opened and closed his mouth several times before he spoke. "You want to date me...?"

"Is that not obvious?"

Considering this, Giyuu said, "Are you sure?"

"What, do you need me to spell it out for you? Yes, I want to date you. Will you just respond or something?? Do you wanna go out or not?" Sanemi asked, a bit too harshly.

"I-" Giyuu started.

Tanjiro cut him off. "I don't want you dating him."

Sanemi rolled his eyes. Big surprise there. "Okay? Why?"

"Because you're mean! And you stabbed Nezuko! If you apologize, then maybe..." Tanjiro said, crossing his arms. It was obvious he expected Sanemi not to apologize.

But at this point, Sanemi felt that if he just left all his effort and suffering would be wasted. So, instead, he caved, bending down to talk to Nezuko who was still in Tanjiro's arms.

"Uh... Hey, kid," he said awkwardly. "Sorry...? For hurting you. And breaking your box."

Nezuko considered this, then nodded approvingly. It didn't take much to please her, Sanemi guessed with a triumphant glance at Tanjiro who was not very happy.

"You also have to promise to devote your life to Giyuu-san and never make him sad and-" Tanjiro tried, but Giyuu interrupted.

"Tanjiro... That's too much. He doesn't have to do anything for me," Giyuu said.

"But-" Tanjiro protested, only for Giyuu to cut him off again.

"No, Tanjiro, it's-"

This time, Sanemi butt in, saying, "Yeah, okay, I promise to do my best. Can we get back to the topic??"

Tanjiro sighed. "Fine."

Satisfied, Sanemi turned back to Giyuu. "So?" he prompted.

"I... Yeah, I want to date..." Giyuu mumbled, averting his eyes.

Tanjiro looked very, very irritated but Nezuko had already moved one, playing with Tanjiro's haori sleeve.

Sanemi flashed a smile. "Great."

Ok also have a doodle of Sanemi winning over Nezuko's heart bc why not:

i wrote this in an hour i'm sorry its bad- :'> btw what this is based off of: here

[enchanting-chit-chat]

Theory About Baby Beetlejuice 🍼👶🧷🩸

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ (2024) and many speculations.

A few months ago, Tim Burton introduced some new additions to the Beetlejuice universe: one of the new characters is a bizarre, monster infant, officially named 'Baby Beetlejuice'. He definitely made a shocking first impression around the world.

He is supposed to be nothing more than an illusion, a twisted joke conjured by Beetlejuice. In this article, the birthing scene is explained as a tribute to Geena Davis' performance in 'The Fly' (1986). Additionally, this fellow theorist's post (moonsceptre) pointed out that Baby Beetlejuice looks and acts very similarly to the monster baby in the film 'It's Alive!' (1974). So, all things considered, it would be easy to dismiss the demon baby as a quirky little easter egg and nothing more.

Yet... the same baby reappears in Lydia’s dreams at the very end of the movie. Usually, recurring elements in filmmaking are called motif, and may serve several purposes to the storytelling. This raises a question: does Baby Beetlejuice actually represent something more?

I’m not sure! But let’s dive in and see if we can make sense of it all. ✨

First, a recap. During its first appearance, Lydia ‘gives birth’ to Baby Beetlejuice after a magical, immaculate pregnancy that lasts about 15 seconds. The ‘father’ takes one quick look at the baby and unceremoniously kicks him across the room. As if that wasn’t crazy enough, Baby Beetlejuice immediately crawls back to Lydia and latches onto her legs, biting her thighs repeatedly as she desperately tries to shake him off.

Then, Baby Beetlejuice appears again in a dream - a dimension linked to the subconscious mind. This time, he’s born in a hospital, and his mother is Astrid, Lydia’s daughter. The little devil immediately starts killing the nurses, biting them to death. He even crawls onto the ceiling to chase and eat a fly. Finally, he plops onto Astrid’s lap, already calling her ‘mama.’

What can be the meaning behind all this?

My short Answer: Lydia's anxiety and hopes for a mysterious future.

Long Answer: In 'The Fly', Veronica witnesses her partner slowly change both physically and mentally - in an alarming, mysterious way. Later on, as she learn that she's pregnant with his baby, she has a nightmare about giving birth to a monstrous creature.

In a similar way, I believe that Baby Beetlejuice may embodies all the anxiety and negativity that Lydia associates with the ability to see and communicate with ghosts - a gift she unintentionally passed on to her daughter. A gift that can potentially destroy both of their lives. This is why Lydia tried so hard to keep Astrid safe and distant from her spirit work, for as long as she could. However, at the end of Beetlejuice 2 she realizes she can’t protect Astrid anymore, because ghosts are naturally drawn to those with the gift. Therefore, Lydia wishes for a better life for her daughter... and for herself as well.

This theory is supported by some dream decoder's websites, as well as this weirdly specific article:

Apparently, different dream experts agree that “dreaming about giving birth to a monster” is quite common and often has nothing to do with actually having a baby.

(although it can sometimes be associated with the actual fear of childbirth/being pregnant/becoming a mother, sometimes referred to as 'tokophobia')

In dreams, this scenario often reflects fears about the outcome of a situation, decision or project, and even the desire to explore an alternative way of life. The monster itself typically embodies change, worries, and repressed feelings, but also the possibility of new beginnings. In real life, it can be interpreted as a useful and even positive vision.

...but hey, that's just a theory! A Beetlejuice theory! Until next time, have a fantastic week! ✨

[biggie-chcese]

This is the post where I talk about Yakou, Vivia, and Yuma

(buckle up, buttercup it's a spoiler-ridden ramble)

so these three knuckleheads (and makoto, but this post ain't about him) just so happen to be my favorite characters in the game. and part of the main reason for that is, well, *gestures vaguely at all of Chapter 4*, but also just the dynamic that these three share. a long time ago, i made a memey post about this dynamic, and while i'm sure you can very easily infer what i'm trying to say in it, i'll still clarify it here:

vivia and yuma both have very, very similar feelings towards yakou.

now, this is not a sentence i'm saying with shipping goggles on- i want to make it clear that this post is not about romantic ships. it's a joint canon character analysis, and i think it's important to stress this early on.

let me start from the end of the beginning: the part in chapter 0 where yuma just left the labyrinth, and despite his best efforts in fighting the peacekeepers with facts and logic, still finds himself about to be arrested. it's important to consider just how yuma's state of mind is at this point in the game. thanks to both the brutal massacre on the train and his amnesia, yuma is helpless. he's traumatized, and aimless, and feels like he has no one on his side. this even includes shinigami, because while they develop into incredible partners later on, at this point in the game, yuma does not see her as such.

it's not shinigami who saves him from this predicament, despite how much she brags about allegedly doing so. it's yakou who comes to his rescue. and when he's under yakou's protection, yuma even internally voices his relief: "finally, an ally."

now, yakou is the first person yuma sees this way. when he got onto the amaterasu express, he was immediately thrust into a situation where he couldn't trust anyone on board, including himself. the people he could've trusted died before he had the chance, and the peacekeepers are most certainly his enemies. so yakou is the one that yuma latches onto. over time, that submarine, the friends he'd meet, the memories he'd make, yakou himself, and everything he represents would become home to yuma. but that's a bit later. for now, yakou guides him through the city, and then to the roof where they'd look over the vast expanse of neon lights and share a much needed moment of solace. a moment of peace... and quiet.

speaking of that phrase, i am going to start talking about vivia now.

from vivia's DLC, we learn a lot about his first days in kanai ward. he arrives to the city depressed, constantly searching for his own peace and quiet. thanks to his forte and his upbringing, he's traumatized, and aimless, and feels as though he has no one on his side. when yakou gives him the rooftop talk he gave the other detectives, vivia is notably pretty cold with him. he immediately makes it clear to yakou that he doesn't intend to go around saving people, or solving mysteries, or even making friends. he even tells yakou to leave him alone.

this i find really interesting, because when yuma approaches him in the prologue, vivia is very receptive to him to the point of even calling him kind for bothering to speak to him. i think this is because of yakou. it's yakou's persistent kindness that eventually helps vivia inch out of his shell, bit by bit, until he's finally happy to be receiving that kind of attention from others. in that DLC, yakou showing just how much he cared over and over again saved vivia in a very different way than yuma. but don't get it twisted- there's a lot they share in common.

let's look at the way vivia talks about yakou and the submarine itself. in chapter 3, he calls the fireplace within it his "beautiful bed of peace and quiet." in chapter 4, he stresses it again, saying "Surprisingly... I liked it there... The little bit of peace and quiet I found at the Nocturnal Detective Agency." and in the epilogue, he looks back at the chief's empty chair, and says "It was rather... comfortable in here."

from this, it's easy to tell that the submarine, the friends he'd met, the memories made, yakou himself, and everything this man represented, was home to vivia. sound familiar?

and i wanna touch on the other detctives too, because i am not implying that vivia and yuma have stronger bond with yakou than them or anything. they, too, deeply care for their chief and vice versa. in fact, yakou treats all of the detectives pretty much the same way (this is also part of why the yakou fathero trope doesn't personally appeal to me- it's almost always exclusive to yuma, which i dont think is the case in canon. the only thing exclusive to yuma is the pushing around and light bullying from yakou, and this is because yuma lets everyone treat him that way). yakou sees the detectives not only as colleagues, but also as people he needs to protect. even in chapter 4, when he puts everyone in danger, he still had their safety in mind- otherwise he'd only bring fubuki and desuhiko along for his plan. halara and vivia were there to keep everyone safe, and yuma was to not be involved at all. of course, he didn't account for yuma's impeccable ability to get into trouble... but more importantly, he didn't account for the possibility that the detectives would bother to stay with him and try to save him.

they all love their chief so much. they all try to save him. they all break down when they can't. and while i don't find vivia and yuma's love for yakou greater than the other detectives', i do think it's different.

halara, fubuki, and desuhiko all have these implied outer lives from what we see in the game. once they're out of kanai ward, they still have people, passions, and duties to return to. but the same can't be said for vivia and yuma.

in his dlc, vivia says himself that he has no one. this means that, despite the big family he was raised in, it's likely none of them are keeping contact with him. he says he has no regrets- only things to do before he quietly passes on. the man came to kanai ward looking for a place to die. this is the attitude of someone who fully believes he has nothing to lose.

yuma has amnesia for most of the game, so he quite literally lost everything. he even says so. as far as he's concerned, everything he holds dear is localized entirely within kanai ward. also, it's not like the man he used to be- number one, who famously works alone- had anyone to begin with. even though there is a very different set of issues from vivia's happening here, selling off your memories is, frankly, also the attitude of someone who fully believes he has nothing to lose.

this very similar setup is why i think they see yakou as someone who takes up a large portion of what they consider their entire world. vivia simply sees this in a more metaphorical sense while, for yuma, it's much more literal. in a way, this also kinda parallels how these two act.

so you may be wondering why any of this matters. like, okay, they both feel the same way towards yakou. then what? well i just think it makes chapter 4, an already amazing chapter, even more compelling!!

think about it this way: chapter 4 is a clashing of ideals under the same exact desires- to protect yakou. to protect their home. to protect everything they hold dear and return to how things were before.

but the ways they go about doing this are completely different. yuma chooses to protect his home by revealing the truth and weathering the oncoming storm, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. vivia chooses to protect his home by sticking to a comfortable lie, preventing anyone else from seeing the cracks in the walls and skeletons in the closet.

but, regardless of their methods, everything they do is because of love. it's because of care. it's because of gratitude. it's because of this deep desperation to cling on to what they believe is all they have left...

...despite the fact that it's already slipping between their fingers like sand...

and this. this is what i think makes vivia's choice to let go of that desperation, take yuma's hand, and fight at his side as a detective all the more powerful.

[lovemyromance]

Let's talk about the dreaded pliant bones argument in ACOTAR

First of all, I don't ever want to see this stupid argument anywhere, especially after HOFAS. Second of all, none of the Archeron sisters are Illyrian so they do not have Illyrian anatomy suitable for childbirth. And yet, we see Feysand and Nessian as mates. So it's not like SJM even cared about that herself.

Then ACOSF happens, and oh no, c-sections don't apparently seem to exist and it becomes a BIG DEAL™ that Nesta changed only her own body and Feyre's body to have Illyrian anatomy.

People have been latching onto this argument like Rose on the goddamn Titanic, anything to cling to their sinking ship.

Let's not forget that Elain & Nesta had their bodies changed already once before, against their will. Why the hell would Nesta change Elain's body without obtaining consent after that traumatic experience? That would be a gross violation of bodily autonomy.

And Nesta was shown how to change the bodies. Which could hint that she still knows how, should a similar situation arise again.

But none of that even matters! What matter is that it's 2024 and we are still saying a woman can't be with the man she loves because she can't give him biological children. That is the crux of the argument Gw*nriels always try to skip around and say without saying. Like "oh no!! She can't have his babies!! Ship sank. It's over. The End."

As if a woman should be reduced down to her ability to procreate. This is not the middle ages people! Wake up!

Also, not to mention, even if we use that disgusting logic - The only other female in this series that is mentioned to have Illyrian anatomy is Emerie. Are we shipping Azriel with Emerie now? Because she can FOR SURE have his babies, if that's all that matters. Who cares about her own desires and personality and sexual preferences if she can have illyrian kids??

Now let's consider what people have been latching onto:

Gwyn...is flexible and adapts to training moves quickly. That's why Nesta commented she had "pliant bones", that's IT. She is part nymph and "has different anatomy than high fae", sure, but is that anatomy in any way, Illyrian? Water nymphs don't have Illyrian leathery wings either so I don't understand why insisting Gwyn has "pliant bones" is in any way endgame ship material. Why would her half-water nymph heritage give her the anatomy to birth a full grown illyrian-winged baby??

And then there's the cowards that use this argument by hiding behind SJM herself by saying "Well, I hate it too, but SJM is *kinda* known for writing like this and her characters are all male-dominated, fae-territorial blah blah, she is *kinda* hinting at endgame because the womb thing–" NO. No.

Don't hide. Tell the room exactly what you are saying. Which is the exact same misogynistic spiel as above, where you try to use gross medieval logic to justify your mf fictional ship, but you hide your faces when you say it. Because you know it's wrong, but you're still not above using that as "evidence" in your ship's favor.

I've even said before, I don't care what SJM says. If I don't like a misogynistic take, I am not using that as evidence in any capacity for any reason.

I'm not even being biased by my preferred ship. I genuinely just want people to stop using this argument because it's hurtful to women as a whole. Ship wars are fine, but ffs, when did we get to the point where we are pitting two women against each other based on whose uterus is more suitable??

And before you even say "I just have a problem because I ship Elriel" No. No.

It's about these kinds of cheap arguments in general. I have also never been one to go off saying how Gwyn can't be a valid love interest because her past SA trauma - That argument is also archaic and hurtful. I've never once used it. I don't like seeing it.

Can we just - Not do it? The only reason such arguments have gained traction is because they're constantly echoed by the toxic sides of the fandom online. It's gross and I don't want to be a part of a group that condones that.

Ship who you want, but let's just be respectful about it. We should not have to resort to cheap arguments like the above.

[kurithedweeb]

Y'all, in Void Paradox there are two people from other realms who could be the great hero meant to fight the void alter, right? Jayden from Estorra and Laurance from MCD. What if it was only meant to be Jayden?

Hear me out: Jayden had already been there for a while by the time Laurance appears, he's been there long enough to study the local town and set up camps and explore around a bit. Modzilla explains that there's a sort of grace period between when the hero appears and when the alter does, but it starts going after Laurance & Aphmau the day Laurance appears. Plus, the way the void works is that it kills the hero and then eats the dimension and it's never been beaten before, so it's possible that with two heroes it was beaten or sealed away (which we don't really see) and they both return to their home dimension, but maybe Laurance returns to his home dimension because he was never meant to be killed by the void.

My idea is that Laurance slipped through the cracks between dimensions and landed in the MMW/VP dimension by mistake and his unexpected arrival corrupted the alter's form. The alter's whole thing is that it copies the hero's everything, and that would include Laurance's Shadow Knight stuff. Maybe it changed into Laurance specifically because it could tell just how powerful his Shadow Knight form makes him (ridiculously powerful compared to most other Shadow Knights according to canon) and that, because of his Shadow Knight form, of the two heroes it's been presented with Laurance is the stronger one, so if it took the form of Jayden Laurance would beat it. But perfectly mirroring the hero means that the alter also gets the hero's weaknesses, and with Shadow Knights that means it has to deal with the Calling, which is why it's so obsessed with Aphmau, because she's similar enough to Laurance's Lord Aphmau to have a little bit of the Calling latch onto her. The alter keeps winning because it has none of the morals Laurance has and no fear of using his Shadow Knight abilities, whereas Laurance is afraid that if he relies on them then it'll be harder and harder to resist the Calling.

I also think he's probably way more freaked out internally than we see considering he's from fantasy medieval times and I refuse to believe he speaks the same language even though I can totally believe that Jayden does. For as often as he's used for very serious exposition, Laurance is amazing at deflecting with humor and covering up his real feelings. He uses flowery language and long-winded speeches to buy time and dance around his real points, and he does this to spare Aphmau's feelings when he's under the impression that she's his lady, opting not to tell her Garroth was the one who knocked him out and took the amulet he was guarding at the end of MCD S1 and moving on before she can ask anything about it.

He's been scheming in his head the whole time, is what I'm saying. Collecting all the thoughts he has on realm travel to see if he can puzzle out a solution, and recognizing that the thing in Polly & Laila's basement is a portal is what makes him decide for sure to go along with everything.

[snickerzanddoodlez]

U got headcanons?

For Wordgirl? Yes, lots of headcanons!

-Wordgirl and Tobey are both autistic! A fairly common one, but I really like it. (An argument could be made for literally every Wordgirl character, but these are my big ones!)

Wordgirl is shown to have a lot of trouble with being too blunt, being unsure what to do in

For Wordgirl? Well, we see that she’s extremely fixated on both words themselves and Pretty Princess and Magic Pony Power Hour. 

She excels in language (which is due to her being Lexiconian, I’ll admit, but regardless) to the point where she isn’t allowed to compete in certain things anymore, while struggling severely in art related things. She also gets needlessly bothered by words being used incorrectly (any Learnerer episode is a good example of this), which is something I see exhibited by my sister a lot!

She *loves* collecting things for Pretty Princess, and in El Queso Mysterioso we see that she KNOWS IT WELL- even being able to identify the actor for “non-speaking toadstool 51” (or whatever it was) which is also very similar to my sister- she knows voice actors, episode numbers, etc like the back of her hand, it’s almost uncanny (and I mean that in the best way possible)

She’s also shown to have a “different” sense of humor in a way, often being the only one to laugh at her own jokes- and as well as this, she seems to have a hard time “people-ing” sometimes (especially in ways that other characters don’t). She seems to have a hard time holding back her reactions / being “tactful” at times, shown especially in the episode “Judging Butcher”- in my opinion, anyways.

I think the social things specifically could in some situations be defended by “well, Lexiconian culture is different!” but she barely grew up on Lexicon so I don’t think it works.

As far as Tobey, well, I over-analyze every scene he’s in- speaking or not- just because I love him that much, so uh…some of this is more background-y stuff!

In Tobey’s Playground Calamity, he’s shown to cover his ears when the rest of his class claps- “sensory overloads” are common in those on the spectrum and as someone who suffers from those, I absolutely relate 😭 

As well as this, in “Mobot Knows Best” he’s shown to be overwhelmed when Becky and Violet invade his personal space, which is normal, but he seems somewhat distressed / nervous as well as confused, which makes it seem a little different.

He’s also….extremely fixated on robots, which are certainly his special interest (“Special interests are frequently developed by individuals with autism spectrum disorder, expressed as an intense focus on specific topics.”). His room is shown to be entirely robot themed, and he’s always thinking about them, seemingly-

He, as well, seems to have issues socializing. In a scene from “Trustworthy Tobey”, when he’s shown borrowing a book from Tobey, he seems a bit…”tactless”, for lack of a better word(girl), and his bluntness doesn’t seem to be out of carelessness as much as ignorance.

He’s shown to be very blunt and kind of (heavy quotes here) “different”, so….them’s my two cents!

Kid Math is also autistic but I don’t feel the need to defend that one

-Beau canonically loves birdwatching, so I like to imagine he used to have a pet bird named “Chica”! (This is specifically because I once doodled the following stupid interaction:

Beau, holding up a bird: “And this is my pet bird Chica!”

Tommy: “Like from FNAF?”

Beau: “get out of my house”

-Tommy is Seymour Smooth’s son and has been sent onto May I Have a Word as a spy. Belle Stunning is his mother because the layers of drama that adds makes me laugh.

-Scoops’ favorite musical is Newsies.

-Tobey tried to force himself to just latch onto Victoria instead of Becky, which is part of why we see him hanging out with her so much in “Kid Math 1&2”, but he quickly realized that she didn’t like him and he didn’t even like her.

-Kid Math has a crush on Violet. Just look at their little interaction and the foot-kick he does in the Kid Math episodes after talking to her!

-Dr. Two-Brains loves the movie Ratatouille and cries every time he watches it. His Henchmen like the Barbie movies, and Dr. Two-Brains berates them for watching them (but secretly likes a few of them).

[shadowqueenjude]

Coming out with my truth 🙋‍♀️

So I read the Throne of Glass series before I read the ACOTAR series, and you know my favorite character is Lorcan (Chaol is a close second). And when Azriel was first introduced, I thought he seemed similar to Lorcan in many ways:

1. Being preoccupied with the same woman for 500 years

In Lorcan’s case, it was a little different. We don’t know when exactly Maeve took Lorcan in, but he reads as a teenager. Imagine being a poor kid on the streets, having these death powers you’re terrified of. Then this beautiful, rich queen takes you in and tells you you’re worthy and gives you a home and a life and a purpose. It’s only natural to develop an idyllic relationship and even a crush on them, especially when they’re actively manipulating you and abusing you using the blood bond. Unfortunately, poor Lorcan had no idea what the fuck love even was, so he thought it was love. Then he met Elide, his mate, and realized it was not.

In Azriel’s case, it seems like he’s convinced he’s unlovable and therefore he has latched onto Mor because he knows he has no chance with her (as she prefers women) but she’ll also never go away (or so he thinks). There are no stakes in going after someone like that, and so he continues to do it. When he finally stops going after Mor, he latches onto Elain instead, another unavailable woman. Because no matter how much he rants and complains about the cauldron, Elain is still Lucien’s mate and will never be able to give herself fully to him. I must confess I was genuinely shocked that Moriel at some point was endgame, but I am not at all surprised she retconned it because it would’ve been extremely icky.

2. Their mates are exceptionally well loved by everyone who meets them and they both have a cunty “mean girl” bestie who would literally die for them. Elide’s “mean girl” bestie is Manon, of course. Gwyn’s “mean girl” bestie is my bbg Nesta.

3. Both of them have strange shadowy “death powers” that are so rare and unheard of that no one really knows what they’re about.

4. Both of their mates have experienced some kind of SA.

Now, many characters have, but the reason it’s so important for these two characters particularly is how much it has affected them compared to other characters. Elide and Gwyn’s arcs, in many ways, revolve around their experience. Gwyn’s journey from being raped and rescued and brought to Night where she mainly lived in the library, afraid to come out because of what happened to her. Then later learning the mental and physical techniques of the Valkyries to eventually overcome it to an extent (but she still returned to the library at the end of ACOSF which shows she hasn’t fully recovered).

Elide’s SA in the Morath dungeons leading to her having difficulty believing in the goodness of men. In her POV saying that the only way she’d ever feel desire is with someone who she trusted so deeply all the horrors went away. Her finding that in Lorcan. Her journey from being a scared woman with some wits to being the bad bitch who lifted Lorcan’s axe to kill the ilken and came up with the plan to destroy Erawan.

Also a bonus: Azriel and Lorcan are the subbest men SJM has ever written😂

Things that we saw with Elorcan that I think we’ll see with Gwynriel:

In Kingdom of Ash, there is a scene where Elide watches Lorcan torture someone and she does not balk from it. I believe Gwyn will have a similar moment with Azriel.

With Elide, we saw her make the first move on Lorcan. Just like that, I think Gwyn will be pursuing Azriel.

We eventually saw Elide take up a leadership position as Lady of Perranth. I believe we’ll see something similar when Gwyn becomes the High Priestess of Prythian.

That was long. Anyway if you read this far thank you!