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incognit0slut · 4 months

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Much Ado About Nothing (Act I, Scene I: The Silent Agreement)

Ever since that night, you and Spencer have always been at odds, but there is one thing you both agree on.

Part warning: just two idiots bickering nonstop Words: 1,6k A/n: so nervous about starting this but welcome to the first part! It's a short introduction though I'm trying to make longer chapters in the future

SERIES MASTERLIST | MAIN MASTERLIST

Hate was too strong of a word, too intense and dramatic for the subtler, more nuanced disdain you felt toward him. It was more like a persistent itch you couldn’t scratch, a pebble in your shoe, or a fly that wouldn’t leave you alone.

You didn’t hate him. You didn’t even dislike him all the time. But there were moments when you wanted to shake him, or yank his tie hard enough to shut his smart mouth. Because every time he started throwing around statistics and facts, he made it sound like you couldn’t possibly understand, as if you weren’t on the same intellectual level as him.

And right now was one of those times you wanted to wipe that smug look off his face.

“You’re wrong,” you argued, not breaking eye contact as you leaned across the cluttered map with pins and photos of various crime scenes. “The Unsub doesn’t fit the profile of someone who strikes randomly. Look at the pattern, the meticulous planning in each location—it’s obvious they selected victims based on specific criteria, not opportunity.”

Spencer scoffed, his eyes narrowing slightly. “The victims have nothing in common. Different ages, different backgrounds, different cities. How do you explain the randomness of the victims if it was planned?”

“It’s the chaos that’s planned, the seeming randomness, each victim is at a pivotal point. The Unsub is not just killing; they’re sending a message through the timing.”

“A message? Or is that just what you want to see?”

You frowned, not liking the condescending tone in his voice. “Reid, not everything has to fit into your neat little boxes of logic. Sometimes, you have to look beyond the obvious.”

“You mean baseless assumptions?”

“How about intuition?” you snapped back. “How about pattern recognition that isn’t immediately visible but becomes clear when you consider the psychological aspects?”

“You mean your hunches?

You gritted your teeth. “It’s not about my hunches. It’s about understanding the Unsub’s mind. They’re choosing victims who are at turning points in their lives for a reason. Maybe it’s symbolic, maybe it’s personal."

“Or maybe you’re just reading too much into this.”

Your frustration bubbled over. You knew if he weren’t talking to you, he might actually agree—No, he would definitely agree. You had enough experience working with him to understand his analytical style and to know that he valued well-reasoned arguments. Yet now it felt like he was purposely dismissing your perspective.

He wasn’t being fair.

“You know what? Sometimes I think you’d argue with a freaking wall if it meant you could prove a point.” To me at least. "Not everything is a textbook case, and not every answer is in your precious statistics.”

You saw him raise an eyebrow. “And you’d dismiss all logical analysis if it meant you could rely solely on intuition. How is that any more valid?”

“It’s not about relying solely on intuition,” you defended. “It’s about seeing the connections, the human behavior that your statistics can’t always explain.”

“But you’re assigning meaning where there might be none.” He gave you a pointed look. “Not only is that dangerous, you’re being reckless.”

Red. You were seeing red. Your retort was on the tip of your tongue when a sharp clearing of a throat suddenly interrupted. You both turned to see Hotch standing at the corner of the room.

"Let's redirect this energy towards something productive," Hotch interrupted, you could almost feel the weight of his stare. "Both of your insights are pointless if you keep arguing like this.”

“I wasn’t arguing.”

You rolled your eyes. “Sure, you weren’t.”

Your boss sighed, the kind of deep, exasperated sigh that seemed to pull the oxygen out of the room. “Just... work together. Please.”

The plea was simple, filled with the tiredness of having had this conversation more times than anyone cared to count. He then turned to leave and the room suddenly felt too big, the silence too loud.

You glanced over at Spencer the same time his eyes fell on you. But before either of you could say anthing, the door jerked open, and you watched as Derek sauntered into the room.

“Did you two fight again? Because Hotch asked me to babysit you.”

You scoffed. “Really? Those were his exact words?”

“Of course not, he asked me you needed supervision because you can’t stop sniping at each other.”

“Supervision,” you muttered under your breath, the word sounding ridiculous because it was the last thing you needed. “We don’t need supervision.”

“Exactly. What you both need is a babysitter.”

“We’re also not kids.”

Derek chuckled, leaning against the doorframe. “Could’ve fooled me. Given how loud you were, I half-expected someone to start throwing toys.”

Spencer was quick to defend himself. “We were having a professional disagreement.”

“A professional disagreement?” Derek mocked, pretending to be deep in thought. “That’s what they’re calling it these days?”

You huffed, crossing your arms. “Yes, Morgan, some of us prefer to call it that instead of ‘arguing like toddlers’.”

The grin spreading across his face was so annoying that you wondered whether you should’ve put your frustration on him instead. Derek pushed himself off the doorframe and walkes over to Spencer, casually draping an arm around his shoulders.

“Alright, Pretty Boy, let’s hear your side of this professional disagreement.”

Spencer shifted uncomfortably under his arm but managed to maintain his composure. “We were discussing the Unsub’s choice of victims. I believe the randomness is genuine, while someone,” he glanced pointedly at you, “Thinks there’s a pattern.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “What pattern?”

You stepped forward, determined to explain. “Look at the victims’ timelines. They were all at critical junctures—new jobs, big moves, major life changes. The Unsub isn’t picking them randomly; they’re choosing people going through something significant.”

Derek nodded thoughtfully, removing his arm from Spencer’s shoulders. “Alright, I see where you’re coming from. And you, Reid, think it’s just a coincidence?”

“I think the Unsub might be targeting randomly to avoid detection. Patterns can be dangerous for them.”

You sighed. “Can we at least agree to look at both possibilities? If we cross-reference the victims’ life changes with significant dates in the Unsub’s background, we might find a connection.”

You held his gaze as he studied you. You were right, you both knew you were, but you could tell admitting he was wrong was the last thing he wanted to do. There was a tense silence as he considered your suggestion, his eyes flicking between the evidence board and you.

Finally, he nodded, albeit reluctantly. “Fine. We can analyze both angles and see if there’s any overlap.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Derek chimed in with a smirk, clearly enjoying the moment. “You know, you could’ve gotten more work done if you two still got along.”

Derek’s words hit harder than you expected, a bittersweet reminder of a time when things were simpler. He was right, of course. There was a time when you and Spencer were more than just colleagues locked in constant debate. You were friends—good friends, even. You could almost hear the echoes of shared laughter that had once come so easily.

You remembered late nights at the office, the two of you working over case files and tossing ideas back and forth. Back then, your debates had been lively, yes, but never tinged with the frustration and competition that seemed to color your interactions now.

And to make matters worse, Derek suddenly voiced out the question neither of you dared to ask out loud.

“You guys used to be inseparable,” he mused, glancing at the two of you with an amused smile. “Wonder where it went wrong.”

You knew he was joking, but his words carried an uncomfortable truth that you couldn’t ignore. You could also tell it affected Spencer because his eyes met yours silently.

You both were thinking the same thing. You were sure of it, because everything had changed after that night, that one night you wished to forget. That one night when you thought your friendship would change for the better, but instead, it turned into a moment of clarity, a freaking slap to the face.

The change was immediate, like the abrupt silence that follows a sudden, jarring noise. What had once been effortless and natural now felt forced and awkward. The distance between you grew. The ease with which you once communicated had been replaced by a strained formality, as if both of you were trying too hard to pretend that nothing had changed.

It was as if you had made a silent pact to never speak of that night, an unspoken agreement to bury it deep and carry on as best you could. Both of you were too proud, too scared to address the elephant in the room.

You looked away, unable to hold his gaze any longer. The weight of the unspoken words pressed heavily on your chest, and sure, it seemed childish to harbor such disdain at your big age, but you couldn’t help it. It wasn't just the loss of a friendship that stung; it was the betrayal of knowing someone so close could cause you such pain.

Because Spencer Reid had hurt you deeply that night, so much so that a small, spiteful part of you wanted to hurt him too.

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infoglitch · 3 months

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Why am I doing this again? Oh right cause I'm one of the few who will die on the that crwby ain't shit-(god if I keep ignoring writing my shitty fanfics people are just gonna assume i'm bitch made)

Oh boy here I go again poking the damn bear with my shit takes-

(also before I begin I want to ensure that my message is given context, I hate crwby as writers not as people, I hope people don't misconstrued that because otherwise that's just gonna be frustrating to deal with)

Pyrrha is a wasted character and a PRIME example that crwby can't write women.

Oh boy pyrrha Nikos where do I begin with this cardboard cut out of a character.

So since a few (and I mean A FEW) people choose to live in denial of the obvious fact that crwby cant write and that to claim they can is possibly the most bullshit statement ever.. its time to take out the belt (bout to go Hellsing abridged in this bitch)

I'm mainly using Pyrrha because she is the most GLARING example of how bad the writing of Rwby can get.

Granted I am notorious for consistently and without calling Pyrrha the worst character ever (about as bad as later volume Blake.. then again just Blake in general- hoo boy I really am gonna piss people off huh?) this is mainly due to the fact.. she's quite literally a peice of cardboard and i actively cheer whenever I rewatch her death... Ok that last bit was an over exaggeration but you get the point.

Now to begin why I actively believe Pyrrha is terrible, we need to talk about.. the noodle knight.. sometimes I despise the fact I like jaune but regardless-

Jaune as a character is fundamentally a side character... Yet he has consistent screen time.. again.. and again.. and again. To the point where you could jokingly say he's the real main character since Crwby just love putting him in as much screen time as possible. (However I more take it as the fact jaune is just a scapegoat for Crwbys incompetence. But that's for when I piss of the rwde aspect of the community, because oh boy.. is there an argument I want to rip to shreds and call blatant bullshit.)

But outside of the screentime he is mildly interesting and has made a few actions that add dimension to the character... But why do I bring up jaune when talking about Pyrrha? It's due to the fact Pyrrha's entire character revolves around jaune.

Pyrrha is rarely shown to interact with the rest of JNPR, it's practically non-existent if jaune is not somewhere.

But some of you might say (and honestly I don't blame you and would agree with you) "Pyrrha is a side character, she doesn't need depth." To which.. yes... But she was a part of team JNPR, her death is treated as if it should have affected everyone. Hell her death caused ruby to awaken her silver eyes. But there's one problem.. technically two

1. Team JNPR (or more accurately JNR) are still active participants in the cast, you'd think them being side characters they would eventually be thrown away.. but they aren't. So that would supposedly mean their important.. which includes Pyrrha but if that's the case then why isnt she given depth, you can't three people of an extra be important enough to be a part of the cast and given development but Also have the other team member not be given some given some kind of development, that doesn't work either don't give development to ALL OF THEM or do the inverse.

2. she isn't shown to interact with team Rwby by herself, she's never given any scenes to show that she is friends with ATLEAST ruby, so her death impacting others that SHOULD be her friends doesn't make sense now because there's no scenes with her interacting with them by herself.

Every scene that is pivotal is in some form or way connected to Jaune, but even though characters like her can be good if written well, she isn't.

Pyrrha is never once given anything that is specifically to show off her, she's always written to focus on jaune. Even her death which was supposed to affect all of team Rwby and Jnr only was shown to affect jaune.

To many it may seem like it's not an issue she only showed up for three volumes before kicking the bucket and dying. So what's the point of talking about her?

Well from me specifically, the problem is the fact Pyrrha is not a rare case of bad writing, not just for characters either, may I remind you all of the white fang subplot. Don't worry I won't go into too much detail I'm writing an entirely different post about how the faunus/white fang subplot got swept under the rug because surprise surprise crwby writers are shitty at writing.

Alright time to get on my soapbox to sound all high and mighty.

to explain it simply. The white fang arc was supposed to be a lesson that is meant to talk about how racism is wrong and the fact that it only hurts innocent people, (both of obviously the oppressed and the innocent people who are unintentionally associated with the oppressor, hatred breeds hatred y'all know the phrase) but instead its not even given anything specific. This is especially a problem considering one of our main characters is supposed to be the protagonist that helps talk about the issue. Instead of anything specific that shows the faunus are oppressed and that humanity still has extremely bigoted and shitty people all we get is.. cardin and that's about it.. and then in volume 5 (or 4 I unfortunately lose track sometimes) it's just wrapped up with.. Adam being taken down and the white fang essentially being forgotten about.. the white fang, you know the organization that is full of faunus who do want equality but are somewhat misguided.. their apparently just disbanded after the piss baby that is "Adam Taurus" just gets defeated.. is it me or doesn't it make more sense to atleast hear mention of some white fang stragglers who still misguidedly fight in the name of equality. Honestly it feels like it got rushed and not properly expanded on.

To put it bluntly I find it just so weird that crwby has been shown to not be able to handle topics that are a little more nuanced and decided to sweep it under the rug, same with writing characters that could be interesting, but instead are just turned into cardboard cut outs. Yet there are people who claim that Rwby is better than any media *cough cough* the Twitter bastards *cough cough* which.. look i love Rwby to death, it's music is fuckin magnificent early volume versions of the characters can be.. minus jaune kinda (man does got a few bumps when it comes to being a fan) but Rwby is.. mediocre. But it's not it's fault, that's just what happens when writers aren't able to properly write a story, characters, a world for the story, literally almost every attempt at adding depth to rwby.

Ok.. I'm fuckin tired I'm expecting a lot of people to disagree (I'm praying the majority aren't just gonna throw insults and nothing else because honestly that just makes anyone look stupid.

Alright time to get off the soap box and return to the cave where I write shitty Rwby fanfics and equally shitty original story.

#rwby discussion #does this count as rwde?#nah its not.#rwby

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tadpolesonalgae · 5 months

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god you were not kidding about the last scene of ch. 16 with mor being angsty..... 😭😭😭 my heart is shattered.. i can see why mor could be upset at her and maybe mor is also not thinking too straight bc of how eris is involved and az having a near death experience but 😭😭 telling someone that attempted to kill themselves not too long ago that they're just not meant to be the first choice for anyone.... 😬 mor.. my fav sapphic girlie..... please tell me it was a lapse in judgement and ur gonna reconcile with reader... i was lowkey rooting for the friendship between u two 😔😔

but genuinely i wonder what caused this pivotal change in mor???? bc in previous chapters she's been really empathetic about reader and even with the unrequited love situation between reader and az, she was trying to make az understand reader's perspective of being heartbroken?? so mor suddenly using that as a way to hurt reader (by mentioning the whole never being the first choice thing) feels??? like maybe im underestimating just how much mor is affected/hurt by reader going to eris and/or how az almost died thru reader's actions (even if she didn't mean to get him shot by the arrow obviously)???

plus reader is feyre's SISTER.... it's not like feyre's gonna be delighted to hear that her best friend just told her sister she's never gonna be the first choice 😭 i have so many questions for mor... maybe bc i don't want to believe she'd be that cruel to someone in that way but damnnn

anyways that was such an intense (but not in a bad way!) chapter and im so excited for what's to come 💯

‘and az having a near death experience but 😭😭’

I completely forgot this would be a factor too 🫢🫣

‘mor.. my fav sapphic girlie..... please tell me it was a lapse in judgement and ur gonna reconcile with reader... i was lowkey rooting for the friendship between u two 😔😔’

Oooh would you like to see a reconciliation between the two of them or for it to spiral into a Rhys/Nesta kind of relationship? I can’t really imagine reader ever getting that angry at someone she wasn’t close to though—Mor would have to say something really awful to get reader to fight back 👀

‘but genuinely i wonder what caused this pivotal change in mor????’

To be fair, it genuinely might be a case of us just having different perceptions of the characters? I’m thinking Mor will be feeling betrayed, and that since so much has happened (like Az nearly dying, reader nearly dying, stuff going on in the background, Azriel being busy with Court work, the general stress of having a baby around 🫢) everyone’s emotions are high and maybe have been for a while, so reader’s own breakdown perhaps hit something in Mor, too? Also I think it’ll be a question on whether Mor continues to feel so resentful toward reader since emotions can surge up for a while and it might take a bit for them to calm to make a more logical(?) decision?

‘plus reader is feyre's SISTER....’

I’m still kind of theorising about who will side with who on this? Because between the born-fae characters I feel they’d understand one another more, but then the sisters will probably side with reader so what will happen between Feyre and Rhys, or Nesta and Cassian? Will they just agree it’s a difference of opinion or will it actually cause an argument? I don’t know, just some fun things I’m enjoying thinking about :) 🧡💛

‘anyways that was such an intense (but not in a bad way!) chapter and im so excited for what's to come 💯’

Thank you so much!! I’m glad you enjoyed it! I actually started writing Chapter 17 last night—there are some parts I might edit down to make shorter but it’s been started! 🧡💛

#anons <3 #cbmthy

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cospinol · 7 months

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TODAY’S EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Koku you amethyst time!!!!!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 And it’s apparently the moment that the show’s staff have been waiting for just as eagerly as I have because it’s the best looking episode not just of this season but maybe… of the entire series since its inception…????!! I genuinely can’t think of another one that has Multiple dedicated cuts of detailed action in a row like the sequence from kyou kai snapping on the mountain road to the encounter between shin and kyou kai + rai do and koku’ou at kan ki’s camp, and certainly not one anywhere near as good looking, it’s such a treat…!!!!!!!

[quick aside, before I forget I want to add that rai do is addressing shin as ‘obocchan’ in the last cap above :DDD truly the gift that keeps on giving]

And anyways that’s without even touching on how good this sequence would be regardless of looks because it’s still Amethyst Plot time 🥰❤️💞❣️💓💍💘 Bi hei giving in to peer pressure in just the kind of moment of weakness that you can’t actually detest him for (of course you would want to believe him when he tells you it wasn’t a civilian village..), kyou kai absolutely fucking snapping, the cool head ten maintains between trying to hold shin back and immediately pivoting the hi shin unit to a defensive formation for the real possibility that shin and kyou kai actually start pvp against the kan ki army , and of course shin and kan ki putting their cards on the table :)))))

^ my favourite panel of him ever now animated!!!!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 and my favourite moment in the exchange between them, shin’s is still yet to come (I think all his talk in this week’s episode about kan ki not being equipped to handle sei’s dream of unification *is* sweet and sincere but it’s also dumb and that’s why kan ki is able to refute him so easily; the point that really matters and where his moral stance becomes unassailable, for me, is in the fact that it’s all for hyou’s sake. there’s no counter-argument about what you may or may not be turning a blind eye to there, it’s the mandate made absolute and incorruptible instead…) but this is maybe my favourite line of kan ki’s ever… he’s just following through on the promise he made you; these are the rules you agreed to play by! 🥰🥰🥰 i don’t even need to go into the premium emycore aspect of ever part of this sequence lol, the indulgence of it all…

also I was pleasantly surprised to see that they preserved just about all all of the gore from the scenes covered in this week’s scenes; there are some minor changes (the zhao soldiers kan ki is having the saki clan interrogate early in the episode are shown a little less mutilated than they are in the manga, and there’s no nudity) but they really are minor which bodes pretty well for the saki clan artworks coming up soon :~) I think there’s a chance we might not see that scene until the week after next since next episode’s primary focus will of course be Bi Hei And The Hi Shin Unit as per the ep title, but i’m so curious to see what they do with it since the anime has *always* omitted saki and saki-adjacent activities in the past. but I won’t get ahead of myself when we still have all of bi hei’s crisis to savour first :D

also, in shin’s speech telling kan ki off, we got a little additional visual of ran dou from sanyou campaign! always on the lookout for scenes from s1-2 appearing in flashback in the current art style <3

and i really had forgotten what he looked like lol even though this is another scene I absolutely adore for similar reasons to the one in the camp in this episode - though there’s no mou ten around to step in and defend shin this time, of course… :)

#not to go to bat for a really worthless minor character for a second here but ran dou looks cool actually #like really good-looking in the context of the type of guy he is anyways. sorry lol #I reread a little sanyou looking for his original scene but I can’t start talking about that arc proper now or I’ll never stop lol. anyways #hey if this season is still 2 cours we’re only a few weeks away from seeing mou ten in his winter outfit!!!!!!#the prettiest any character has ever looked in the entire series I love him so much 🥰#kingdomposting #txt #really really can’t overstate how good this episode looked we are SO LUCKY #also so many kan ki lines that i couldnt cap for this post for the sake of Appearances but are just. highest concentration premium emy #the scene where he’s sitting on the table at the camp!!!!!!!! agghfhgbgbf #you know how it is with mountain bandits…#also unrelated but. I won’t hold ten’s stupid comments about prisoners of war in coalition arc against her here #but obviously the events here Did make me think about them and they Are still stupid lol

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visualnovelzombie · 2 years

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Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 4

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER FREE discussion post for “Echo - Wednesday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

Chase wakes up from the previous night's events from Leo ringing the doorbell to Carl’s house. Carl is reluctant to attend his surprise party, wanting to spend the day with just Chase, but relents after some prodding from Chase. The group arrives and Carl is put off despite everyone trying to cheer him up through the day. ‘Banter’ plays despite the “warm glow of our little get together chill[ing]”

After a rough start to the party, the group pivot to talking about a townie going through it out on the roadway

The group decides to change from the extremely sordid topic and start opening Carl’s presents. Leo purchased ‘horn bands’ for Carl under Chase’s name. Chase reflects how the two made fun of the college ‘bros’ who would wear them during their time at Pueblo together. Flynn gets Carl a lighter from the nearby Reservation, notably Jenna scowls at mention of the Reservation. Tj accidentally breaks a plate and Carl uses the commotion to break from the party. Chase finds Carl toking up on his balcony and talks to the ram as “Come Over” starts to play.

Carl comments on his agoraphobia-esque symptoms and comments on the focus being on him as made the party difficult to enjoy.

Chase asks if he makes Carl nervous and the ram responds with a warm smile.

Carl opens up to Chase a lot during the following conversation, describing how being forced into doing things is what drags him down, even the notion of it, and how he likes Chase because the otter never makes him feel like that. The two banter and border line flirt with each other until they see someone below on the hill.

The music cuts as a townie, Duke, is on an apparent bad trip, suddenly turning and noticing the two on the balcony. Chase comments he doesn’t seem ‘high’ and just as the man starts to approach the house, Jenna opens the balcony door and two boys turn to meet her. Jenna and Carl start to argue, Jenna demanding Carl returns to the party while Carl refuses. Aptly, ‘Argument’ begins to play. Jenna ignores Chase as she continues on a mini-tirade.

Carl is unable to fully stand up for himself, his demeanor and recent high making it harder to argue with Jenna.

Jenna leaves the balcony and Chase embraces Carl after the unusually scathing argument.

The scene ends and we’re met by Carl in his room at night time, asking a pretty poignant question.

Carl probes Chase further as the two play a fighting game together, Carl more invested in the conversation as he continues to drink and ignore the match. Carl comments how it was hard to talk to either Leo or Chase when the two were together. Chase deflects the issue and Carl continues the conversation by letting Chase know about his upcoming job interview on Friday Saturday. Chase agrees to take Carl to the interview as Carl pops another poignant question…

Chase FINALLY realizes what’s up and starts prodding the ram for how he’s REALLY feeling.

The two slur their speech a few times and Chase considers helping Carl ‘experiment’ when we’re met with a Choice

>Is different:

Chase agrees to it and Carl awkwardly meets Chase on the beanbag they're sharing. The two kiss deep as Carl pulls Chase into it more… and just as they start Carl passes out on top of Chase, barely sliding off the otter back onto the beanbag.

Despite the warm and inviting CG, Chase is uncomfortable and crushed under the ram. Chase still gets some enjoyment out of the predicament, and comments how finally having someone to sleep with again after so many years is comforting before falling asleep.

In the background of the CG we see a little Illithid friend…

>Is drunk. I shouldn't let him

Chase puts his foot down and says Carl is too inebriated to be asking for that kind of stuff right now. Carl flops onto Chase but after an Otter ‘URK’, moves over to more comfortably cuddle instead. Chase says if Carl can ask again tomorrow while sober he’ll agree, and Carl protests before passing pout. Chase mentions being touch starved, and how he might not have the chance if Carl is sober due to the ram's shyness…

Reconvergence:

A memory sequence beings to play, opening on a young Tj crying on a desert background. Chase comments how hitting the lynx is always more fun, as the two play with water balloons together as children. The two overhear two other kids, Clint and Jeremy, start to harass Carl from the other side of the house they’re playing by. “Loneliness” starts to play Chase instructs Tj to get Leo on the onset of bullying. Carl is unable to stand up for himself as the two kids mess with him, eventually deciding trying to run from the situation. Clint ramps up the bullying to more than teasing, grabbing Carl by his horn’s and pulling on him back, causing his spine to bend painfully. Chase only watches as him and Carl make eye contact for a moment...

Leo eventually arrives, and through some fuzzy English, threatens the two boys to leave Carl and other others alone. The two bullies gang up on Leo and Chase calls out to warm the wolf over the attack. Leo gets hit as a result from being startled and is jumped by both of the bullies. The music cuts and as Leo recovers and starts to beat up Jeremy and Clint as ‘Metting2’ begins to play, the music shared with previous dream sequences. Clint screams as Leo brutalizes him…

Chase comments on Leo’s brutality, but chooses to not stop the wolf and decides he NEEDS to apologize to Carl for not helping earlier instead...

The landscape begins to twist as we’re met with a red sky as things become clear we’re in a dream.

Carl’s house is twisted and wrapped, bigger with different architecture than before. Chase is unable to enter the house but looks around for an opening, finally spotting a basement window…

Chase wakens from the nightmare in daze, unable to see Carl in his room. A constant thumping noise can be heard and Chase calls out for Carl. A voice accompanies the sound. Chase ventures into the basement after the noise and voice, recognizing Carl’s voice muttering and repeating something. Chase decides to confront whatever is making the noise.

Chase begins to open the door but stops as he hears someone running towards it and slamming it open… only to be greeted by Carl covered in white dust.

Carl says he sleeps walk, and that’s why he must have been down in the crawlspace. Carl ignores Chase’s questions as the two argue over the incident. Chase tries to see what was going on in the crawlspace, but Carl grabs him, begging to not be left alone. The day ends...

-----------------------------------

That ends Wednesday for our reading! Thank you to everyone who participated! I love feedback and discussion but just people enjoying the journey and reading these as letsplay is fun too ~

Our Reading for next week is: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as they’re all VERY short days.

Stop at the following screen (that takes place on Saturday!):

Thank you everyone again, and remember this is SPOILER FREE discussion.

Link to SPOILER DISCUSSION HERE

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

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mitigatedchaos · 2 years

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"now [the culture] seems to be (gradually) moving under its own power again." I'm not saying you're wrong! There's a hint of this maybe? But I'd be very interested to hear what made you come to that conclusion.

From an ideological level, we can see a certain amount of exhaustion with identitarian politics after it failed to yield the dividends it was supposed to, partially discrediting its advocates in a way that couldn't be achieved by argument. And that politics was behind the bizarre "Corporate Memphis" style which aimed to be as inoffensive as possible through the removal of faces, loosening of the human form, etc.

I think the culture is still moving fairly slowly. Something like Season 5 of Samurai Jack, which popularized Carpenter Brut with its trailer, was not the culture moving under its own power, but rather a bunch of determined 50-year-old men gritting their teeth and dragging it, whether it wanted to move or not.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the culture moving under its own power, but depends on Japan as part of the loop, which isn't sustainable. It's the same for the recent movie Bullet Train, which I recommend.

But if you want to talk object level, I don't listen to terrestrial radio, but I do listen to music in stores, restaurants, etc.

In that line, Molly Burch - Emotion feat. Wild Nothing.

Two things. One, you can hear the vaporwave in this, right? That terrible nostalgic longing that burst onto the scene back in 2016 or so. Vaporwave was an offshoot, and now it's being reintegrated.

Two, who the fuck is this? I was never one for celebrities, but I've never heard of this person in my life, and I'd have to guess this is relatively mainstream from hearing it out in the wild.

Something like 2017's The Killers - The Man is good stuff, but they're an act from the mid-00's. If they put out good new stuff, that's good, but that doesn't indicate replacement personnel once they age out.

Part of what's going on - and I think Kontext will agree with me - based on Zoomers and even Gen-X wearing katakana T-shirts and hoodies as like a completely normal thing, and T-shirts for classic rock bands for some Zoomers, is a reboot from 2008 culture drawing more closely from the more heavily online, anime con, etc factions within the culture. We may be about to witness 00s-wave.

I'm from the '00s myself, and listened to electronica before it became (seemingly) the standard. Before there were vtubers, I was on Second Life. Before transgenderism burst onto the scene in national politics, I knew some transgender people. Now people are talking about AI alignment, and Eliezer Yudkowsky may become a household name before this decade is through. EAs are a world-known thing now.

Overall I would say that my forecasting horizon is converging with the current timeline. I may lose my advantage in about 3 years.

I'd wager that what we're going to see is not an instantaneous roaring back of the culture, but rather an organic regrowth over a period several years.

One possible pivot is that as conservatives take up the tools of censorship currently favored by the identitarian left, factions within the left that want to exit the sterile, sexless 10's will use this as an excuse to paint censorship as 'uncool.' The original arguments were largely social power politics rather than the modern [rational/military/industrial/technocratic] style that we see among the Rationalists (as the "lost" materialist progressives), and this would allow a social power answer, at a potential loss of ability to coordinate adherence to social rules more generally.

#anons #asks #media_tag #music_tag

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thisisyourprincipalspeaking · 2 months

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Hi principal,

A few things:

I do like seeing the discourse here, but I have some thoughts.

1) him marrying this person and her being known as his first wife really isn’t a big deal in any matter of things. Look at the people in your every day life and that should tell some of you. People get divorced all the time unfortunately and some marry a few times before finding the right person to settle down long term. Then dial it up to Hollywood and you’ll see this rings true 20 fold. I think too many people think - marriage = forever having kids = forever.

Unfortunately, I know that to definitely not be true. Nobody knows what will happen in the future so I really don’t think people should focus too much on that.

2) I understand the innate root of upset for many is that he chose her to settle down with. They thought he should have wanted better and the fact that he didn’t means he’s just as bad or undeserving of someone better or he couldn’t get anyone better. I truly loathe this narrative because it doesn’t allow people to make mistakes and it fuels the assumption that if you don’t pick or find the right partner something must be wrong with you. Life isn’t always this black and white. Think of all the people you know in your lives and some who have partners you may or may not like. Some people you think are wonderful but their partners are terrible, or some people you think are terrible but their partners are wonderful. I don’t like to make the generalization that only good people date or marry good people and bad people only date or marry bad people because we know this isn’t always the case.

3) Hindsight is 20/20. I think slowly people are starting to see that and I think as time moves forward, you’ll see more of that come to light.

Lastly, principal, you mentioned that she’s had so many doors open to her due to this association and she’s done nothing with it, which could make the argument this is real and just messy. I can somewhat agree with that but I also feel that I can tell she’s simply just not good and Hollywood is rejecting her as we speak. I think she’s been given many opportunities and I do think she’s come to the states not to sit in a basement but to go to LA and NYC for castings and auditions. And I don’t think she’s gotten far because while her association may help get her attention or even foot in the door, her lack of talent and prowess says otherwise.

I don’t think there’s a clear way to assume she’s “done nothing with it” simply because we don’t know. But I do think she has tried and it’s not working out. I think thats why recently you’ve been seeing her more and more be in her home country. She appears to be trying to pivot back over there.

I’m not surprised. She is not cut out for Hollywood. I think a few years ago she thought she could become someone but now she’s realizing it’s not that simple.

hi nonnie, thanks for your thoughts.

i see what you're saying, but i'd like to offer a different way of looking at it. yes, divorce is quite common in modern society. people can absolutely get married multiple times before one 'sticks', or they can alternatively live single, or co-habitating, co-parenting, etc, whatever works for them. for ce, she will forever in the media be known as his 'first wife'. if they do split, and either gets re-married, or even publicly dates someone, they will always have a connection. so unfortunately for the ce fans out there, her name will often be associated with his from now on. and the biggest issue in all of this is that this decision, no matter how solid or long-term it may be, diminishes everything he said he was for years. it's putting in big, neon signs that associating with antisemitic, racist, fat shaming, lazy elitist bigots is just a "mistake" that we should all overlook and "get over it" when it's the full opposite.

fair point. we all know couples that seem unsuited, and just like this one, we will never really know what's going on behind the scenes, despite what they present. every individual makes their own choices, and we may never know their motives. i do also feel a lot of fans feel they really know this man. they make wild claims about what his likes and dislikes are, his preferences on things like diet, vacation, women, etc. they do not actually know him, but the version he presents himself as. many of us do this with social media. we present the version of ourselves we want the world to see. celebrities, imo, are like that, but elevated. they have teams of people who are paid to push the narrative of the celebrity as one thing, but behind the scenes they are another.

i just hope people are taking in information and making their own decisions. those who follow tumblr accounts who claim to 'know things' without evidence or the slightest detail being correct, or sharing their 'evidence' can claim anything they want.

and yes, that is fair, nonnie. i made an assumption, which admittedly, i try not to do. we don't know what she is doing behind the scenes, and casting is a two way street, but she has no new projects. she has a new apartment in porto with her bookshelves and birthday cake and any projects she has been a part of undergo reshoots and are delayed in releasing. it does seem like she may be going back to the porto and european market. maybe her soulmate has a role for her soon?

#anon asks #chris evans #chris evans fandom #chris evans shitshow #fandom drama #celebrity gossip #this is your principal speaking

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smokeybrandreviews · 2 years

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Ant-Man and the Lazy Culture War

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has been released to mixed reviews, much like all of Ant-Man’s solo efforts. I haven’t seen it yet, mostly because life is in the way right now and a series of events has forced me to budget my loot pretty stringently for at least the next two weeks, but a lot of my friends have seen it. They’re all singing the thing’s praises, telling me I'm missing out on a real ride. I believe them, of course, but that’s mostly because i am an admitted Marvel shill and Jonathan Majors is letting his Kang really hang out for the first time. I hear brilliant things about The Conqueror, mostly that he’s the best thing in the goddamn movie, and I'd be lying if i said i wasn’t looking forward to seeing it for myself. That said, the Ant-Men movies aren’t ever really that pivotal to the overall narrative in an MCU saga outside of introducing a character for later. Quantumania sounds similar in that regard with a glimpse of “The Council of Kangs” in one of the post credit scenes. The reception to Quantumania is a very interesting one to me. It’s being critically panned, once of he worst review MCU films to date, but seems to be embraced by audiences. Cats are having a straight up having a blast watching this film. It’s nuts to see because this is frustrating those weirdly chauvinistic man-children who refer to the suddenly diverse MCU, as the M-She-U.

I follow a lot of these asshole on the Youtubes because i find their laughable takes to be ridiculous. That and they have legitimate scoops about projects. Mr. H reviews, The Midnight Edge, and occasionally, Yellow Flash, tend to drop a gem or two, if framed in some wildly problematic politics. I’d be lying if i said Doomcock’s coverage of all things Lucasfilm wasn’t informative but his whole “War on Pop Culture” angle is f*cking bullsh*t. Feeding the current Conservative Culture War for views is a little bit morally bankrupt but get your bread, i guess? I, obviously, do not agree with that aspect of, what i imagine, is some sort of counter-Woke movement or whatever? I’ve made it very clear what my stance of Hollywood Wokeness is over the years. Suffice it to say, i think Tinseltown has a long way to go with their diversity on screen but the concessions made thus far, feel substantial. We have a long way to go but i recognize there is effort to build a more inclusive Hollywood and that needs to be said. Which is why listening to these “Pop Culture Warriors who defend Western Culture” melting down about Ant-Man III, is so captivating to me.

This sect of fandom are those cats who hold the whitest, most penis’d, version of sh*t as unassailable. The Infinity Saga was so great because of “Straight White Leads.” Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel is a b*tch and unlikable because she dared to say “We’ve seen white dudes in movies for years and it’s time for a bit of diversity.” Hollyweird critics are bought and paid for so you shouldn’t listen to anything they say about films. It’s the audience that decides and people like Grace Randolph are the bane of Western Society. If you haven’t picked up on the code, “Western” anything means white. White and very male. Ant-Man III is currently sitting at an astonishing eight-four percent Audience Score of Rotten Tomatoes. The Hollywierd critics, of course, hate it. That rating is hovering around fifty percent but that Audience score, the ones these assholes use to “prove” She-Hulk was awful and the Snyderverse is genius, is fantastically positive. People love Quantumania, regardless of the black villain, female co-leads, and female legacy replacement. Ant-Man III is peak M-She-U and Audiences, their metric for relevance, are eating this sh*t up! It’s f*cking wild to see, especially the cope.

Like, these assholes have, for years, bet their entire argument on Audience participation. That we, the public, vote with our dollars and our attention. Disney doesn’t know what the Audience wants and the M-She-U is trash because of it it. Straight White Male heroes area dying breed and that means ‘Western Culture” is being persecuted. But then Disney drops Quantumania and people love it to the tune of 118 million, the best opening of the Ant-Man franchise to date. This dude’s films are inconsequential, street-level romps, that flirt with the greater MCU narrative at large. They never do this well because they’re not built to do this well and yet, here we are. Why do you think that is? Maybe it’s the things that people are saying they love about this film, mostly Kang (played by a black man in Jonathan Majors) and Paul Rudd. It’s wild to see these talking heads who, admittedly have solid scoops most of the time, fuel their bank accounts by proliferating Culture War nonsense, seek to tear down Quantumania’s success by honing in on the sh*t the actual Hollyweird critics they hate so much, ding the movie for.

Bad effects. Mojo looks like sh*t. Everything is hollow green screen. The story, itself, is pedestrian at best. Marvel Studios is sh*t to their effects artists and you need to be mad at the crunch. All of these things are very valid criticisms which makes modern Marvel kind of sh*t. These films are formulaic and they do feel like production line entries. Those are facts. Those are things which have been a problem for a while in the MCU, particularly the Effects Artist thing. That said, where the f*ck is your M-She-U argument? Where the f*ck is your “forced diversity” argument? Whee the f*ck is any of the culture war nonsense you spews in light of the actual Audience enjoying Ant-Man III, even though it’s arguably one of the worst MCU entries to date? Maybe your entire outrage culture is manufactured for clicks? Maybe your entire arguments is based on racist, sexist, bullsh*t? Look, whether we like it or not, these assholes sometimes have a point. Kathleen Kennedy absolutely ruined Star Wars. She did. That’s a fact. The MCU has been on a quality decline since Endgame but that sh*t was always going to be a hard act to follow. Indiana Jones V sounded awful and wildly disrespectful to a legitimate icon of cinema and I'm glad they decided to change basically he entire film. These cats were right to call for a boycott of Aquabro II over the inclusion of Amber Heard. A broken clock is correct twice a day but not this time. Not with Quantumania and i am getting so fat on this rich ass schadenfreude.

#Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania #Ant-Man III #Quantumania #Marvel #MCU #Some ol' bullsh*t

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smokeybrand · 2 years

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Ant-Man and the Lazy Culture War

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cookinguptales · 2 years

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The only thing that makes sense to me to explain the Nandor/Laszlo beef is that it most likely has to do with Laszlo forcing Guillermo away to the UK. I found it extremely odd that Guillermo didn't explain why he didn't go with Nandor right after Nandor brought it up to him after they reunited (so either the explanation is gonna come up and be used as a plot device later, or the writers don't care about brining up the explanation at all. I think it's the former, because again it made no sense for Guillermo not to defend himself when it wasn't his fault that he didn't show up at the station and for Nandor not to press him for an explanation).

Their quarrel is in the episode description so you know it's gonna be a huge (and pivotal) argument between the two characters. The only thing that truly pisses off Nandor is when it has to do with Guillermo's safety/well-being, but only this time it could be because they weren't able to go on their adventure and it would showcase how affected Nandor really was about it. And the only thing that really pisses off Laszlo is when his wife's well-being and emotions are on the line. Nandor could be pissed about Laszlo taking Guillermo away from him at that station and Laszlo could be pissed about thinking that Nandor doesn't care at all about Nadja's safety. Just a complete misunderstanding between the two vampires which I could totally see happening.

I believe either Nandor (or Marwa) is gonna call off the wedding right before they get married, so if it's the episode right after the wedding I could easily see the recently failed marriage leaving Nandor in a VERY sensitive headspace and becoming a ticking time-bomb of emotion ready to explode.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking about something similar...

That said, it's really difficult to know how much Nandor knows about the circumstances of Guillermo's disappearance.

"You feel disrespected. Much in the same way you disrespected me by leaving me all alone at a train station in New Jersey with my dick in my hand!"

"That wasn't my fault."

"Agree to disagree."

made it sound like Nandor has already heard his explanation and just doesn't really care about it or think it was good enough. It's deeply unfair, but like... Nandor is unfair sometimes. lmao

At the same time, Nandor also genuinely didn't seem like he knew that Guillermo had gone with Nadja and had returned in the same episode. He was bemoaning the fact that Guillermo was gone, to his mind for good, and he didn't seem to have any idea where he'd gone. And then minutes later, Guillermo came out of the box and fell through the floor. So when would he have gotten his explanation...?

(Also, Nandor seemed to know that Nadja was coming home because she brought Nandor at the same time as a surprise for Laszlo, but he didn't know that she'd shipped home Guillermo? So was she in contact with him and just didn't tell him where Guillermo was all this time?)

There's a bit of a Scene Missing Here while Guillermo got changed, so it could have happened there, but you're right, it's very unclear. It seems like that's a scene we should have gotten. Like you, I want to know Nandor's reaction to finding out what happened with Guillermo. Did he just accept that Guillermo travels by shipping container now?? (Is this like... another situation like the raw chicken where Nandor just does not know How Humans Work or...)

It's also possible that Guillermo explained it to him after that hurt/comfort scene (MY HEART) and that's why Nandor went along with Guillermo giving Laszlo and Nadja the silent treatment. He did seem to be fully supportive of Guillermo's anger, even if he didn't necessarily share it. Again, it's hard to know if Nandor knows exactly what the two of them did to him or if he just knows they put him in a box for a while. lmao

So there are really two ways that this could lead to a blow-out with Laszlo. Either you're right and Nandor genuinely does not know why Guillermo ditched him and when he finds out he'll be furious, or he already knows but has decided to let it go -- until he's already in a heightened emotional state and it comes back out. We know that Nandor has a tendency to hold onto slights for long periods and will sometimes bring them up for no damn reason a long time later. (See: him bringing up Guillermo making fun of him for the #2 thing like half a season later)

I tend to agree with you about the wedding being called off. I think we'll probably start to see why in ep 4, but who knows what the particulars will be. (Part of me wonders if Marwa will dump him the second Nandor's used up all his wishes and the Djinn will no longer poof her back to the fucking shadow realm. She seems like a woman who might know a lot about self-preservation.) All I know is that it's starting to seem increasingly doomed. lmao. And yes, I think that Nandor will be extremely touchy if that happens. Or if it isn't called off, if wedded bliss is not all it's cracked up to be.

With all that in mind, I could see a throwaway comment by Laszlo about Guillermo being enough to set Nandor off. But, y'know, it's also possible that Laszlo will do something shitty to him in the next couple episodes. He could even be the reason the wedding gets fucked up. There's really no way to know.

I'd love it if they ended up fighting about Guillermo!!! Obviously. And it could definitely happen. But I mean... Laszlo is not always known for his great decision-making skills and neither is Nandor. So they could be at each other's throats for any reason in The Pine Barrens. And I do think it'll be a real fight considering Laszlo appears to have gone for a fucking headshot when he shot at him.

All that said, I think the very important thing to remember here is that The Pine Barrens is where the Jersey fucking Devil lives, so they'll probably have to work together to deal with that particular problem. lmao.

(Also like..... does Sean own that cabin? It seems very Sean chic in there. Did he lend them the cabin? IS HE THERE?)

#wow this reply got long #but I've been throwing around a lot of ideas haha #replies #wwdits #nandermo #wwdits s4 spoilers

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alexzalben · 3 years

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howd did u interpret rue and jules final scene? i thought it was so weird that they had rue basically imply that she wasnt even sure if she loved jules since she was high most of the time. but like she was sober for most of the first season? idk i get why they cant be together atm, but if thats really the end of their relationship itll kinda seem like a slap in the face lmao. they were such a pivotal part of the show and made out to be this great love story and soul mates, so itd be crazy to have them end everything without a single truthful convo between the two of them

I totally agree with you, and I did interpret the way that was played as well as Jules' narration immediately afterwards as the show/Rue moving on. I do think there's an argument to be made that the show pretty explicitly had Rue trade one addiction - drugs - for another addiction - Jules. But that doesn't make what they felt for each other any less real, just the way Rue was coming about it was too intense, and not healthy. Point being, there is more to say, and I agree that for something so central to the series it's a mistake to "permanently" break them apart now, if that is indeed what's happening.

#euphoria

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esther-dot · 2 years

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Good morning. I wanted to ask about your statements that Cersei isn't a direct threat to Sansa as much as Sansa's other abusers, which startled me, to be honest.

I agree she's not a direct sexual threat, but she manipulated and emotionally abused Sansa. She was more than happy to let Sansa be beaten and raped by her son, and probably would have even protected and made excuses for Joffrey. She later played a key role in setting Sansa up to be raped by Tyrion. This wasn't a case of her merely standing by and passively letting it happen; she actively worked to entrap Sansa into being sexually abused.

And she doesn't stop there. At present, in the books, she is quite literally trying to kill Sansa. She may not be the one physically holding the weapon, but she's the one behind all the evil men who are out there searching for Sansa now to bring her back and kill her. Cersei is the direct, driving force behind that. I just find it very strange to think that Cersei is less a threat to Sansa because her abuse of Sansa hasn't been physical, or more accurately, because she's used others to perpetrate her physical abuse on Sansa instead of doing it herself.

I realize I may sound argumentative, but I'd truly like to hear more of your thoughts on this.

I’m not sure which of my posts you’re responding to, but I never meant to imply that Cersei isn’t evil. Sansa hates her and is afraid of her for a reason. I did recently try to explain that her not being a sexual predator of Sansa’s means that I can “enjoy” her as a villain and her scenes with Sansa even when I don’t enjoy other villains. (link) The Hound, Tyrion, Joffrey, LF, Marillion…if the threat isn’t explicit rape in the moment, they are sexually interested in Sansa and that makes my skin crawl because we know where it’s going. I’m not denying that Cersei abused the trust Sansa placed in her, or that she ignored the threat Joffrey was, or that she doesn’t want her dead after Joffrey’s death, I simply find her a more interesting villain than some of the others because of how she and Sansa share certain parallels/experiences, because of that mentor/mentee role she has with Sansa, because of how she is a foil to Sansa, not merely another predator. I’d rather read that than yet another man lust after/assault Sansa.

I never thought Cersei would kill Sansa because I never thought Sansa would die, so emotionally, I didn’t have barriers to engaging with their scenes. I simply wasn’t afraid of what I would read next. That isn’t the case for Sansa with any other villain. I suppose I just find the threat of sexual violence so overwhelming in her scenes with other villains I don’t appreciate the dynamics the way Martin intended. As in, LF and Sansa is mentor/mentee, but all I can think is “groomer” and dread what is coming. Intellectually I understand what else is there, but all I want is for Sansa to be far away from them. I might have “enjoyed” LF the same way I enjoy Cersei if he wasn’t molesting Sansa. If he was simply a cold, calculating man who wanted power and was willing to murder and cause wars to get it, to use Sansa to get the North, I might have thought, “oh, what a fun, conniving villain!” But he’s sexually assaulting a little girl, so all I want is for him to die. I just don’t have that same visceral reaction to Cersei in her scenes with Sansa as I do to other villains.

I do find this part of your ask confusing:

She later played a key role in setting Sansa up to be raped by Tyrion. This wasn't a case of her merely standing by and passively letting it happen; she actively worked to entrap Sansa into being sexually abused.

I feel dumb but I actually don’t remember this? 😬 Tywin is the one who decided that Tyrion would marry Sansa, Tyrion is the one who decided actually, he did want to marry her and sleep with her, so I’m not sure why Cersei is to blame? I feel like I must have forgotten something very pivotal here, but in the same scene that Twyin announces Sansa’s fate, he’s just ordered that Cersei will likewise marry and have children against her wishes ie he is doing the same thing to both these characters because he is a pos, and I find it strange to act like Cersei, who couldn’t save herself, could have saved Sansa?

I’m really not sure what else to say that I didn’t when I responded to my last batch of anti Cersei asks, but I suppose where we aren’t seeing eye to eye is that I don’t think it’s weird people enjoy the villain in a Disney movie or fairytale. Cersei at times is so cartoonishly evil, it reminds me of that. Does the evil queen want her huntsman to cut out Snow White’s heart? Sure! Is she still a fun villain? Yup! To me, Cersei registers like that. She fits in with the fairytale side of Sansa’s story whereas sexual assault is just too common in our world for it to entertaining. So, I feel like you and I don’t truly have an argument. I agree that Cersei is a villain in Sansa’s story, she just happens to be my preferred villain, and I would have loved for the two to be reunited to bring things full circle, but I’m not under any delusions about her.

#ask dot

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trektraveler · 3 years

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Story Announcement: Coming later this month... Practically Magic

Summary:

Growing up in the same tiny mountain town, Y/N Owens and Dean Winchester despised each other. The only thing they ever agreed on was their need to escape. Life took them in opposite directions and neither of them ever looked back.

So, when their paths cross over a series of gruesome murders in their hometown it was no surprise that old friction heated up again.

Dean never dreamed he’d be teaming up with a psychic, the FBI frowned on that sort of thing, but he was desperate. When that psychic turned out to be Y/N Owens, Dean knew two things for sure. One, Y/N was the real deal and two, he was in real trouble.

Pairing: Agent!Dean x Psychic!Reader, Dean x Reader, AU Dean x You

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, John Winchester, Bobby Singer

Warnings: Slow Burn, Serial Killer Elements, Witches, Haters to Lovers, Claustrophobic Elements, Murder Scenes

Author’s Notes: This is an AU taking elements from the film Practical Magic and applying them to a fictional world where Dean Winchester is an FBI Agent. You will find parallels from that movie here, some quotes and other elements that capture the essence of the world of the Owens Witches. Hopefully!

Prolog

Word Count: 484

You ever watch a movie or read a book that imprints itself on you in such a way that everything in your life seems like a reflection of it? An echo. An answer. Like the universe is using your life to interpret this story through the circumstances of your existence. Maybe it just seems that way because it comes into your life at a pivotal point in your development. Or maybe it’s because you were part of a generation that fought epic lightsaber battles on the playground. Maybe it’s because you were raised in a house that was woven of moonlight and mountain magic. Maybe it’s because your grandmother invited your imaginary friends to dinner and cast spells to banish the monsters under the bed instead of telling you they didn’t exist.

Practical Magic.

I was only a kid when that movie played on the single screen theater in my tiny town. Who knew that an hour and forty-four minutes of pure Hollywood fantasy would change my life forever? The parallels between the fictional world and mine were uncanny. The rambling house on a hill, the orphaned girl raised by eccentric relatives, hell… I even had the last name. Owens.

And we were different, I was different. The argument could be made that we were witches, although we didn’t jump off the roof and fly like Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest. But we all had our gifts, mine was sight. One of the most unique and difficult to bear. Especially as a child. Try explaining to your teacher how you were able to blurt out answers before they even asked the question. Imagine sobbing under the kitchen table, inconsolable that your mother had died, even before the sheriff could deliver the news.

Funny how being different is portrayed as an asset, it always ends up an essential part of the hero’s journey. You’d think that people would remember that when they encounter someone a little out of the ordinary. But that’s just a pretty fiction, reality is much colder. The truth is that not every odd little girl grows up to look like Sandra Bullock. Not everyone has true love waiting for them, complete with color coded eyes that make him easy to spot. Real life is much harder to navigate, even for a psychic.

Having the sight didn’t mean I could always see trouble on the horizon. Hell, if that were the case, I’d have bought a lotto ticket and headed for the coast instead of back to the mountains that bore me. Back into the inescapable orbit of the Winchesters. But that’s fate for you.

So yeah, keep rosemary by your garden gate and plant lavender for luck like a good little witch. Just remember, when you see that 67’ Impala rolling into town it’s no different than seeing a circle around the moon. It’s a sign of trouble not far behind.

#agent!dean x reader #agent!dean x psychic!reader #au dean winchester #FBI Dean Winchester #jensen ackles fanfiction #spn fic #dean x you #dean x reader #Practically Magic

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morganaspendragonss · 2 years

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I feel like the Carlos/TK drama really highlighted the issue that they continue to work on in their relationship: communication. Carlos clearly was feeling insecure about his place in TK's recovery but never voiced his concern. Instead of bringing it up in conversation he took the passive aggressive way and decided to seek the attention he wanted from TK in a negative manner. TK was actually very calm during the conversation but I don't think the conversation was ever fully finished. I think Carlos needed time to process what TK told him and they really needed to have more discussion. I do feel like the writers did make it seem with the whole photo album part of the episode that Carlos was never going to be enough when it came to comforting TK about Gwyn which is just wrong but that could just be my interpretation of the scene. To me it also seemed like TK needed to communicate more with Carlos as well. Obviously he wants to shield Carlos from the bad parts of his addiction but Carlos has never been through this and he has no idea what to expect. And he is part of it because he is part of TK's life. I think the writers have done a really good job this year of showing that there are no winners or losers in arguments. One person is not always right and the other wrong. Relationships are far more complex and that includes arguments. These characters are humans and will make mistakes but it is about how they pivot and adjust in the relationship that make them relatable.

sorry it took me so long to answer this one!

i disagree with you slightly when it comes to the photo album scene, i personally took that as carlos realising there are limits to what he, personally, can do. not that he'll never be enough, but that there are times where he won't, and can't, be.

they definitely need to communicate more, and i felt that tk was actually really good at that this ep. he didn't hide anything from carlos, he was honest with him when he needed to go to two meetings in a day, and he was honest with him about how it's sometimes not enough just to talk to him - and, believe me, that is a difficult conversation to have.

that being said, i agree that the conversation at the dinner table was unfinished. this is why i want, desperately, an actual apology from carlos. but, also, they do need to talk properly about this and set some actual boundaries because if they don't make it explicit, then those lines are going to keep getting accidentally crossed and it will keep causing situations like this

#holly answers things #911 lone star #anonymous #s3 chat

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number5theboy · 4 years

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I wanna hear your material on why five should’ve been the one to pull the trigger!! I kinda agree but I haven’t read the comics-

Anonymous asked: Whats the rant on five pulling the trigger? I havent read the comics but i know he hes the gunman and says 'i never really liked you" or something similar

A piece of writing that is part rant, part analysis, and part creative writing for the two of you so kind as to drop into my inbox, as well as @mysticmoondustt, @maren-emilie, @waywardd1 and @millartiste, and @poisonpam, whose marriage proposal started all this.

User @sunriseseance brought to my attention that the way I framed this sidelines Allison completely and takes away from her character arc, which was not my intention in writing it, but is something this text communicates anyway. Giving over Allison’s (aka the only black woman in the cast) important story beat over to Five (aka one of the several white boys) without making the effort of keeping Allison just as important to the story was poorly thought-out. I have thus edited and rewritten the following with that in mind.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Five’s Storyline Deserved To Be Properly Tragic or: Why Five Ultimately Causing The Apocalypse in The White Violin Would Have Rounded Out His Arc

In this mini-essay, I go into detail as to why I think, from a story-telling perspective, Five should have been the one to ultimately cause the apocalypse by intervening with Vanya rather than Allison. The apocalypse is Five’s storyline. It’s his trauma, his pain, and what he has worked towards preventing for forty-five years, and yet, he is almost completely written out of the pivotal events in The White Violin, the Season 1 finale, and has little to no impact on why the apocalypse does happen, in the end. Making Five the one who triggers the apocalypse would make his entire storyline become the proper tragedy it is supposed to be, with him being the last domino to fall into place, his action of disrupting Vanya being what makes her fall, makes her destroy the moon, and makes Five the man who causes what he so desperately wanted to stop. The easiest way to do that would be to give Five Allison’s role of being the one to point that gun at Vanya, but as explained above, that was the original argument of this text, and one that was insensitive and should have had more effort put into. The following rewrite still sees Five firing the gun, but in a different context and with a different lead-up, one where Allison’s moment of mercy and kindness to Vanya comes before Five’s decision to fire the gun, so that Allison’s moment with Vanya and the moment that inadvertently causes the apocalypse are two separate ones rather than a single one. I just really would have loved to see Five and the apocalypse be a self-fulfilling prophecy. One still should keep in mind that this does appropriate a moment that was solely Allison’s in canon and should thus still be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, I do think that it would have made sense for Five to fire the gun that causes the apocalypse. There are so many established points in Five’s storyline that build up to him being the character most relevant and most appropriate to point that gun at the back of Vanya’s head: his ruthlessness in eliminating anyone who stands between him and preventing the apocalypse, the fact that he is the only sibling we’ve seen kill methodically in cold blood, how Five is pragmatic by nature and was ready to sacrifice a single life in exchange for saving billions, his awareness of space and how to use it to his advantage, his tendency to use other people’s weapons to his own advantage, the fact that he is the only sibling Vanya doesn’t resent for their childhood, the fact that he trusts and likes Vanya, that when faced by Luther with the choice between violence and love before, Five chose love… But Five was not the triggerman, and the following, under the cut, explores the ending of an arc that could have been.

I’m going to start with Vanya’s demise and how the apocalypse happens in the source material. Full disclosure, I still have not read the comics, but I have seen the last few pages of the Apocalypse Suite, and even though my argument as to why Five should have been the triggerman for Vanya in the show is not based on ‘because it was him in the comics’, I still think it’s relevant for the point I’m trying to make. In the Apocalypse Suite, Klaus distracts Vanya as she is playing her violin, and Five takes that moment to go and shoot her in the head. Despite the concert coming to a bad close, it was a little too late, the moon still comes crashing toward Earth, and Five says: “You know something, Vanya…? I never liked you.”. It doesn’t quite stop there, but for the purposes of this mini-essay, that’s enough. What does matter is that the TUA showrunners have this nasty habit of taking bits of the comic and putting them into the show, but usually warped to the point of disrespect, where they simply never looked deep enough into why comic fans liked a moment, and instead just want to ~subvert their expectations~. Here, I think the subversion is not necessarily about the actions, as they are still similar (gun is fired in the vicinity of Vanya’s head, it takes her out, but not enough to prevent the apocalypse) and is instead about the identity of the triggerman. Or rather, triggerwoman.

In the show, Allison holds that gun to the back of an oblivious Vanya’s head before shifting it to next to her ear, and then pulling the trigger. The sound of the gun going off disrupts Vanya, who faints, but the energy she had been pulling from the soundwaves had to release to somewhere, and it bundles into a beam that shoots up and destroys the moon, giant pieces of which barrel to Earth.

And it’s a good ending for their arc. It’s the ultimate proof that even at Vanya’s lowest, in a moral sense, literally suspending their brothers in midair and hurting them, Allison still loves her, enough to not hurt her. Allison wants to do right by her, and it shows in its most extreme in this moment. The only thing that bothers me personally about this moment is that the second it showed that it was Allison holding the gun, I knew Vanya would not be harmed, I knew that Allison loved her too much, that Allison had flat-out refused to even consider Luther’s proposal that they should be prepared to stop Vanya by any means necessary. And so I started thinking about which character could make this moment more tense. Who was “with Luther on that one”? Who knows that they “can’t give her a chance to fight back”? Who have we seen to be merciless and cutthroat, who has ruthlessly killed people in cold blood because they stood between him and preventing the apocalypse? Which sibling pointing a gun at the back of Vanya’s head would have actually given the viewer pause and make them consider the possibility that one of the Hargreeves would be hard enough to shoot his own sister in the head?

It could have gone like this, with several references to Five’s fighting skills that were established beforehand but mysteriously absent during the actual climax. It starts as it does in the show, Luther rallying his brothers to attack and Allison refusing to be part of it. But instead of trying to convince us that Five would be stupid enough to run straight on at Vanya, Five blinks away and disappears. The other three still get caught in Vanya’s energy tentacles, but Allison is not. We see Five appear next to the Commission soldiers he killed when protecting Klaus, swiping one of their guns, showcasing both his spatial awareness and his tendency to use enemy weapon to his advantage, which we saw in both the Istanbul Not Constantinople scene and in him getting the upper hand on the Handler. He blinks away again.

Cut to Vanya on stage, holding her brothers, fixing them with a merciless and empty gaze. Then there is a small noise on the side of the stage, and Vanya looks over. It’s Allison, one hand behind her back, similar to the Luther and Vanya scene from Season 2, and we see the gun gleaming there, showing that both Allison and Five had the same tactical idea. But Allison is not pointing the gun, because she saw a glimpse of good in this violinist just moment before, when she smiled at her. I’m turn about whether or not Allison should be holding a sign in this. If she would, it’d be interesting for it to read ‘I love you’, even though that’s terribly cliché, it’s also the sentence that made Vanya lash out at Allison in the first place. I like the idea of Vanya seeing it again and the memory of her regret at her action, at the pain she caused someone who only tried to be there for her, to make amends, to support her, to love her, break the façade of the White Violin as she recognises her sister, looks at her, truly sees her. The energy tentacles release her brothers in one swoop, them falling to the floor, exhausted, as the tentacles retreat back into Vanya, but she underestimated her powers.

There’s too much, the energy slamming back into her, and for a moment, you see Vanya through the mask of the White Violin, scared of the power she holds and doesn’t know how to control. It’s an overload, like it was when she was little, and because nobody ever took the time to teach her how to control it, she doesn’t know how. Allison’s fingers twitch around her gun behind her back, and then her gaze shifts. Five steps behind Vanya and points the gun at the back of her head. And the viewer remembers everything Five has gone through because of the Apocalypse, what he had to become to survive, how he sacrificed everything to come back and stop the end of the world. How ready he was to end the life of an innocent gardener to change the course of history. And here is where a more interesting subversion of the source material would come in. Remember comic!Five saying “You know something, Vanya…? I never liked you.”?

Because show!Five is established to like Vanya, love her even. She was the first one he told about the apocalypse and that he wants to stop it (Five having that gun would also have made the first season come full circle in an incredibly satisfying way) , the first one he trusted, the sibling he treats with gentleness and kindness even though he is not gentle or kind. Her words brought him comfort for decades in the barren wasteland, and he is the only sibling that she canonically doesn’t resent for how she was treated in their childhood. She had bandaged up his wounds, probably the first time since he left the Academy on that fateful day without saying goodbye that someone touched him carefully, lovingly, and she told him that she hadn’t seen him in a long time and that she didn’t want to lose him again. And now he is faced with the prospect of shooting her in the head to achieve what he worked forty-five years towards.

And here is the kicker if this would have been the version we got to see in the show: there would have been foreshadowing to this very moment, because it would not have been the first time in the show that Five pointed a gun at a sibling. As Five set to go kill the previously mentioned innocent gardener with his father’s rifle, Luther grabs Delores and dangles her out of the window, giving Five the choice between the literal embodiment of the better half of his mind, the one who thinks beyond, the one created out of love, or the bloodshed he had been trained to solve every problem with. Bluntly put, Luther put him on the spot and made him choose between love and violence.

Five chose love.

Over Vanya’s shoulder, Five meets Allison’s eye. And even though she’s terrified of this side of Vanya that makes her pulsate with energy, on the brink of world extinction, she still looks him in the eye, and almost imperceptibly shakes her head, a silent plea to spare Vanya. Because Allison knows what Five has done, she has easily called him a mass murderer before, she knows that he could do it. And so he grips the gun he’s pointing at Vanya just a little tighter, to keep himself from trembling. He moves his arm just a little, bringing the barrel of the gun next to Vanya’s ear, and he pulls the trigger. The gunshot goes off, Vanya’s crumbles to the floor, Allison rushes to her side to catch her. The energy bundles and shoots out, straight into the core of the moon. On stage, Five looks in disbelief at the gun in his hand. He did it. It’s over. And Vanya is still alive.

And then Klaus’ voice pipes up. “Guys? Do you see that big moonrock coming towards us?”

And Five looks up. And Five understands, in a second, in a moment. He pulled that trigger, and the world is doomed. His singular act of mercy brought about exactly what he had given up everything to prevent happening.

As the song that played over Five’s arrival in the apocalypse says: this race is a prophecy. It’s just that nobody told Five that it is a self-fulfilling one.

I just think it would have been good to give some kind of pay-off to Five’s apocalypse storyline that isn’t him running away from it at the end of the season. I think having him be the one who ultimately brings the apocalypse about through the act of shooting that gun would have rounded out his arc. As I said in the beginning, this is the revised and re-edited version of this, which involves Allison in more of the plot. Her inadvertently causing the apocalypse in the show has no real bearing on her mind or her character past the act of firing the shot, while the same action would have deeply shaken Five to the core, and so I personally think it should have been Five to actually carry out that last action. In this new and improved version, I tried my best to keep Allison’s connection to Vanya, her act of love, and just have Five be the executioner rather than the only one in the scene. It’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement on the very narrow view I had before. I just think Five being a self-fulfilling prophecy would shift the dynamics between him and the Hargreeves in Season 2 interestingly. It would be more justified how harsh and dismissive the Hargreeves are towards Five. It would make his decision to take Vanya back to do right by her even more interesting, as it would be him choosing love over violence again immediately after it failed spectacularly for him, and his and Vanya’s dynamic in Season 2 so much more tense and high-stakes. It was wrong of me to completely strip Allison of any agency in this scenario, and I hope I have done better this time around, while still keeping my conviction that Five inadvertently causing the apocalypse would have been a better culmination of his arc.

#The Umbrella Academy #Five Hargreeves #my meta #Replies #nocternaljunipers

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