#and i was literally trying to get back into him again idk why and then. everything changed and i was so heartbroken

[holypeanuts]

ummmm yapping (kinda analyzing) about the recent ddvau chapter or whatever !! 😋😋

BTW THIS ISNT A POST ABOUT DEFENDING ANY CHARACTERS PLS.. 🙏😞

I'm just yapping about what I'm seeing mostly idk

comic/art creds : @kitsuneisi

OK STARTING OFF WITH THIS PART!!! ^

there's so much that can be taken from this image alone GAHHH

in this chapter hotguy talks about the "view" of grians hospital room (which is CRAZY conversation starter btw 😧) which means he was definitely trying to get the upper hand here. Reminding grian how easy it is to track him, or spot him out.

Considering how grian acts around HG hes very closed off to him- so, in order to get information out of him (<grian), HG chose the more (IMO) authoritative approach. he deliberately chose a way of wording to make grian feel small, vulnerable, and almost more likely to share information due to the pressure of authority.

I mean, it'd be a lot easier to get information out of someone who's scared.

(AGAIN, NOT DEFENDING HOTGUY HERE!!!!This is definitely not a good thing to do, but it's also very common for cops / detectives to use fear or pressure as a tatic to get information out of suspects.)

Pressure makes people crack, which is what HG wants! He wants grian to "crack".

Ok that was way to long. 😞 Sorry chat

ONTO THIS PANNEL ^

We already know grian is standoffish towards HG but with HG's body language I don't think he was prepared for that wall to be put up so quickly..., or at least not to this degree!

Grian is obviously unsettled by HG's presence right now, and since the first part of their conversation was literally HG saying (more like implied but whatever) he was watching him; it makes sense why he is!!

Grian (mother spore) caused a lot of damage to both property and people (even if it wasn't technically grian who did it) he's obviously concerned about the consequences of what happened.

And if the law enforcement is anything like how I'm imagining it is then, he should be concerned about being arrested! Even if it wasn't his fault, he could still very well be blamed for the incident. It was still his body that was being used for the damage.

Okay, I feel like HG was trying to be nice..? Supportive...??? Here.. Like, it reminds me of #those people who're saying they aren't racist but the way they say shit is so ignorant that it makes you like.... Go "umm"... Ykw I mean???

Like it was low-key ignorant considering HG himself isn't actually mutant. So it just makes it worse that he phrased it like that.

I also feel like this was a way to show off the power imbalance here as well. Especially with how HG is practically on top of grian, while grian looks unsettled (and while injured), it really just shows their imbalance even more!!!

Which kinda makes the situation worse! 😭

Okay, so now he's going back to the pressuring route...,

While he's still leaning over grian... (ITS A POWER IMBALANCE THING GUYS I SWEAR!!!! I scream as they drag me into a padded room) oughhhh ☹️

With the way HG said "as far as they are aware, you were possessed by something that gave you wings" and the following up with "as far as I'm aware" I feel like he's trying to hint to grian that he knows something (he doesn't actually☠️) that he (<grian) doesn't want him (<HG) to know! Trickery !! 😮

This is also a very common cop (/ authority) tatic btw! Like saying they know things (while being vague, like, majority of the time) while (usually) knowing nothing. They use it as a way to say "hey, we know things! So it's best to fess up now since we already know LOL. (^_-)"

AGAIN WITH THE POWER IMBALANCE CAUSE WDYM "let's not forget"!!!! At the beginning !! bros low-key manipulative! (｀´）

But manipulation is also needed in this line of work. so while I don't necessarily hate him for trying to get information out that way, I can completely understand why grian does NOT like the way HG is going about this. Being basically interviewed (coughsss interrogated) in this manner is extremely off-putting, stressful, nerve-racking and, annoying to deal with as the "suspect" <idk how else to phrase it sorry 😞

OOOOO OKAY where to start,,

The way he hugs him while basically saying hes kinda fucked if others find out about what happened AGGHHH tearing my skin off WTF IS HIS PROBLEM. 😭😭😭

THE "for now" IS SO OMINOUS.. are we foreshadowing rn chat

"it was just you and me" classic cop line! WOWZERS

But that line is kinda subtly telling grian that he can't hide something from him because he was there to see the carnage! He's basically saying "don't lie cause I'll know" or something like that

^^ (I'D LIKE TO PREFERENCE THIS BY SAYING THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION, YOU CAN SES IT HOWEVER YOU FEEL IT IS!!)

"your secret is safe with me" waiter,! Waiter! More power imbalance please!! 🍽️

THE WAY HG LOOKS AT GRIAN DURING THE HUG AHHHH falls to my knees and shreds my shirt apart in that one werewolf meme style

Umm okkk I think I'm done 🤓

[pogues4lifeee]

👉(*′′′>﹏<′′′*👈) migraine - rafe 👉(*′′′>﹏<′′′*👈)

Summary: You are Rafe’s younger sister and Sarah’s fraternal twin. You were supposed to hang out with the pogues today, but you got one of your awful migraines and rafe takes care of you.

warnings: descriptions of vomiting, please skip if this triggers you.

word count: 1.9k

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

I woke up to a knock on my door. I opened my eyes and looked over to the door to see Sarah open it and walk in.

“Why aren’t you ready yet y/n?” Sarah asked me.

“What are you talking about Sar?” I asked, groggily

“Boat day with the Pogues, remember? It’s already 8” she said

“Shit I forgot.” I said. “You go ahead, I’ll meet you guys there.” I said, rolling back over.

“Ok, see you there y/n.” Sarah said, leaving the room.

I sat up, when I was met with the familiar sharp pains in my head and blurriness in my left eye. I groaned in pain. 

I’ve been getting migraines for around 3 years now, ever since I was 15. They started when my dad and Rose started fighting more and more. When they started, they were manageable, but throughout the years, they’ve been getting worse and worse. Now. they’d become unbearable. My head would be throbbing with random sharp pains and my left eye would become crazy blurry, I would get nauseous and throw up sometimes, and I wouldn’t even be able to eat or drink anything without it coming up. And to make things worse, I had run out of my migraine meds, and I could already tell this was one of those days where nothing would stay down as I was already feeling so nauseous. 

I knew there was no way I could survive in that summer sun with the pogues all day, because not only could I not drink water, but if I wasn’t drinking beer with them, they would know something’s up. I pulled out my phone, turning the brightness all the way down and opened up the group chat. There were a couple new texts from the pogues.

jb: whooooo boat day!!!!

brainiac pope: i’ll meet you guys there in 30 minutes, my pops made me do a couple deliveries

kie: headed to the chateau now!

captain maybank: hey sarah, r u and y/n on ur way?

fav sister (sarah): i'm coming, y/n will meet us there, she woke up super late as always lol

jb: honestly, i expected that 

I had to come up with a lie fast, so i typed:

y/n: About that guys, I can’t come today. Dad wants me to help him prep the Druthers for the hurricane later this week.

fav sister: I thought Rafe was helping him with that tomorrow

y/n: nope, he changed his mind i guess, lucky you got out early

captain maybank: you’re literally his favourite kid how did you not get out of it

y/n: idk ig he needs 2 ppl or smt

kie: ok, we will miss you!!!

I shut my phone off and tried to fall back asleep, but my bed wasn’t doing it for me, so with whatever strength I could gather, I went downstairs to the pullout couch with a trash can. I sat down on the couch, bringing my knees up to my chest and resting my head on the cushions. I whined in pain, feeling another sharp pain shoot through my skull. I tried to fall asleep, but the throbbing in my head and the sickness in my stomach kept me up. I couldn’t even do anything at all since my nauseousness would come back. I was so thirsty and hungry but I knew I couldn’t eat or drink anything or else I would throw up. I just wanted to sleep and be left alone today. After about 3 hours, I managed to doze off for a bit. 

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

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be over at around 7:45.”

The sound of someone’s voice woke me up. I opened my eyes again, feeling the throbbing and nausea coming back. I winced in pain, looking over to see who it was. It was Rafe. I immediately settled back in. Rafe was the only person who knew about my migraines, and he always took great care of me. But Rafe was just telling someone, probably Topper or Sofia, that he would be going over in a couple hours. I froze, trying to be unnoticeable, because if Rafe saw me here, he would want to take care of me and I couldn’t let him cancel his plans.

Rafe and I were each other's favourite siblings. Ever since we were little, we would always take care of each other. He would always comfort me when I was upset, I would always cover for him when he snuck out, and we were just always there for each other.

Rafe was about to step out of the house, but another sharp pain hit, and it was the worst one I’d had all day, causing me to let out a loud whimper. I covered my mouth, hoping Rafe didn’t hear it, but of course he did.

“Y/N?” he asked, looking around. 

He came into the living room, seeing me in a ball on the couch, covered in my favourite fuzzy pink blanket. He jogged over to the couch and got down on his knees next to me.

“Hey hey hey, what’s going on? Is it one of your migraines?” he asked.

I nodded slightly, afraid to speak or move my head too much. 

“Did you drink any water?” he asked

“No, it’s one of those days where nothing will stay down.” I said.

“Did you take your meds?” he asked

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m all out.”

“Okay, hang tight.” he said, heading towards the door. He left, closing the door softly, so that the sound didn’t cause my headache to get worse. I sat there, massaging my head, trying to ease the pain a little bit. After 15 minutes, I heard Rafe’s car pull back in the driveway. He gently opened the door, holding a small paper bag. He went into the kitchen, and I heard the fridge open quietly. Another strong wave of pain hit me. I groaned loudly, trying to focus somewhere other than my awful headache, but I couldn’t. The waves of pain were getting more frequent now, occurring every couple minutes. Rafe walked into the living room, holding a glass of water and my migraine pills.

“You’re a fucking lifesaver, Rafe.” I say, accepting the pills and water from his hand. I put the water down on the table and swallowed the pills dry. 

“You need to drink water.” Rafe commands. 

“I can’t Rafe, I can’t keep anything down today.” I said.

“No no, drink it. If it comes back up, then I won’t make you drink anymore for a while at least, but it will help a little bit.” he said. 

I was about to argue back, but the pain shut me up. I took small sips of water, turning into gulps as I finished the whole glass. Rafe sat down next to me and started massaging my head. He always knew exactly what to do in these situations. 

“Have you eaten anything?” he asks, whispering.

“Rafe, I already told you, nothing will stay down.” I said.

As if on cue, I felt the water I drank start to come back up.

“Rafe, the water is coming back up.” I muttered

Rafe immediately got off the couch and grabbed the trash can from beside the couch and handed it to me. I lifted it to my mouth as I gagged up the water that Rafe made me drink.

“Okay, we’ll take it easy for now,” Rafe said once I was done vomiting. “For now, try to go to sleep.” 

I nodded and laid down on the couch, bringing my knees up to my chest. Rafe laid back down next to me, going back to massage my head. Within 15 minutes, I fell back asleep. 

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

I woke up to see Rafe sitting in the reading chair next to the couch, texting someone. He had changed from the polo shirt and jeans he was wearing earlier to a graphic tee shirt and sweats. His eyes immediately fell on me and he got up and came over to the couch. 

“Hey sleepyhead, feeling any better?” Rafe asked with a small smile.

“What time is it?” I asked Rafe.

“It’s about 8:15 now, you slept for almost 7 hours,” he said.

“What happened to your plans?” I asked. 

“I told Top I couldn’t make it.” he said.

“Why?” I asked, still half asleep. 

“I wasn’t about to leave you to deal with this by yourself.” he said. “Are you feeling better at all?” 

“Actually, yeah,” I said. “My head still hurts, but I think I can manage water and some food now.” I said.

“That’s good. I’ll go make you something.” He said, tuning to leave the room. I stopped him.

“I’m sorry.” I said. Rafe turned to look at me.

“What the fuck are you sorry for?” he asked, getting down on his knees to meet my eyes.

“I’m sorry you had to cancel your plans to take care of me.” I said. 

“Don’t apologize,” Rafe said. “It’s not your fault.” He got up and left the room 

 I sat up, crossing my legs. I pulled out my phone, the brightness still all the way down. I opened my text messages. I had one from Sarah and a couple from the pogues. I opened the one from Sarah first.

fav sister: Sleepover at the Chateau, come if you want. We missed you today!

I opened the text from the pogues 4 life group chat. 

jb: hey y/n, you almost done? today was no fun without you

captain maybank: yeah, I had no one to shotgun a beer with!

kie: hey I offered!

captain maybank: yeah, but it's not the same kie!

kie: whatever

pope: we missed you today though y/n and we hope u can come for the sleepover.

I texted a quick ‘thanks, missed you guys too.’ and put my phone away just as Rafe came back with another tall glass of water, some toast with avocado on it, and another one of my migraine pills on a tray.

“Here you go m’lady.” he said, setting the tray on my lap. 

I took a bite of the avocado toast and took a sip of the water. . 

I finished eating quickly, took my meds and got up, picking up my phone. Rafe immediately got up, making sure I was good.

“I’m gonna go upstairs to sleep.” I said. 

“You want me to come upstairs with you?” he asked.

“No, you go out with Topper. You shouldn’t have cancelled your plans just to take care of me.” I demanded.

“Not a chance in hell. I cancelled for a reason y/n. The only question is do you want me to come upstairs or stay down here?” he asked again.

“Come up with me please?” I asked.

“Of course.” Rafe said, getting up and following me up the stairs. 

I got in my bed and snuggled under the covers. Rafe got in after me, kicking off his slippers. He started to rub my back and massage my head again. Before I drifted off to sleep, I looked over at Rafe.

“I think I already said this, but thank you Rafe. I love you so much and thank you for taking care of me.” I said.

“Anytime y/n/n. You would take care of me in this situation, plus I know how bad your migraines can get, especially if you don’t have your medication.” he said, taking a small break from massaging my head. 

I gave him a little hug before turning back around and drifting off to sleep for the night.

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

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update, I’ve been super busy lately and haven’t had much time to write, but I’m back! (I say as if 2 days is a long time). Love you guys so much!

[tacky-optic]

its that fanciful romanticistic day yet again so JIGZENI HEADCANONS be upon ye (in no particular order of importance or seriousness)💥💥💥

- zenigata is jig’s type. gotta get that outta the way first lmao

- favorite fic tropes: reluctant partners, wound dressing, cigarette lighting, slow burn, frenemies with benefits 

- and ok as much as id love this dark noir grizzled detective/hitman mobguy romance love/hate situationship whatever they're probably on the heathier end of the 10 possible lupin ships. they're both just too fucking honest and awkward about romantic sorta stuff yknow

- they both like really black coffee. like nasty "how tf can you drink this its literal tar" black

- zenigata runs hot, jigen runs cold-- obligatory "opposites attract" dynamic

- they both overthink things and small, awkward, semi-flirty situations haunt them for hours. they've brushed knuckles accidentally at a bar once i stg. worst day of their lives they still can't stop thinking about it

- really stand-offish around each other in public (virtually no pda outside of things people might not notice; nudging feet under a table, lighting each other's cigarettes (which is practically kissing for these people let's be real), hands brushing when theyre cuffed in the back of a prison van together, etc etc. normal guy shit)

- they feel obligated to not acknowledge each other, essentially. they're not SUPPOSED to acknowledge each other, it'd break the status quo, "why does that inspector that's always on the news suddenly care about his rival’s partner so much" -- people would get suspicious. best to simply not

- but when they're in private they NEED to be near each other at the very least. eyeshot/earshot. tbh this basically boils down to jigen lounging on top of zenigata. see temp boyfriends-- jigen uses that cop like a basking rock lmao

- facial hair... jig probably digs the five-o-clock shadow look but it usually means "bad mood" for zeni. real late nights, real big loss, real bad scolding from the higher-ups. lupin's dead for the third time this year and he's at the end of his rope about it. shit like that.

- lupin domesticated the shit outta jigen ok. he's the mother hen now. he knows what it looks like (and feels like) when someone's not taking care of themselves so he does the whole shebang-- cooking, cleaning, making sure everyone's hydrated n fed n not slowly rotting. he scolds lupin (plotting heists spiral) and goemon (training spiral) enough that they know to be more careful, but zenigata doesn't get that sorta constant attention since he's solo most of the time

- what im getting at is that jigen checks in after really rough shit ykno. things that might not hit their side very hard but he knows is devastating for zenigata. makes sure he isnt drinking himself into a gutter, makes sure he's sleeping, makes sure he isnt eating exclusively half-assed cup noodle, makes sure he gets cleaned up/shaved. then when zeni's tentatively grateful and Over It and threatening to arrest him again (in that order) he dips

- I FUCKING LOVE THE PATCHUP TROPE and i blame this fandom exclusively. there's this one jigzeni fic where zenigata admits to practically being the gang's third-pick medic and i really really like that idea. so yeah that mother hen shit goes both ways because thats just how zenigata is innately

- hes super cushy with jigen specifically cause jigen's kinda like when you try to clip a dog's nails when they do NOT want that to happen. theres always the looming threat that shit might get loud. and bitey. aaany moment now. but jigen sucks it up real quick when he sees how big this fuckin guy's hands are and how good he is with them winkwinkwink

- put these two alone together for too long and they'll blurt out shit that they BOTH need to hear but have always been too. idk. nervous? afraid? to say. probably afraid. they hate that it's so easy to talk about what's weighing on them

- mostly intrusive thoughts about lupin, but sometimes it's little stuff. i.e. "i actually don't like black coffee all that much but i can't bring myself to sweeten it up because i feel like i don't deserve it/it doesn't feel like i earned it."

- neither can bring themselves to tell the other that That Doesn't Make Sense and is In(s)ane. they both know it's nonsensical and neurotic but they both feel the same deep deep down, too. they get why. they hate it they HATE that they align on a intuitional level

- but once they break that initial barrier of extremely awkward silence where they just KNOW they're thinking the same thing, they can not and will not shut up about how they're feeling

- don't get me wrong. jigen totally vents to lupin (and to goemon and 10000% to fujiko too) but only zenigata can match that same level of angst he has and that's what makes said venting actually, genuinely, deeply relieving. because fuck, he gets it

- they're a tag team of worry. hype men of worry. there's this one mike birbiglia bit from "old man and the pool" -- can't even enjoy a comedy special without this pairing whacking me upside the head with a two-by-four, smh-- that is apparently jigzeni to me:

- "she's worried, and then because she's worried, i'm worried. we're like an anxious improv group. like... i initiate with a worry. she "yes and..."s the worry with some misgivings. i close out the scene with some neuroses, and then sometimes we have sex, and that's so fun."

- on that note, jigen's Worry is very much internal whereas zenigata's is very much not. this is borderline fascinating to them. "how're you so calm all the time" versus "how're you so hopped up on all this energy all the time". the answer is waiting till 2am to unpack by screaming into a pillow and/or drinking till they zonk out

- they tend to gravitate to certain places for what i guess you would call "noncommittal company"-- ambience, if anything-- and since they tend to be holed up in the same areas random bar encounters happen frequently

- they talk about drinking habits a lot. preferred drinks, cocktails, brands-- they're both big fans of whiskey

- jigen buys them both a bottle of real high-their top-shelf shit after particularly rough yet successful heists (the ones where they team up to take out nazis or whatever the hell) and zenigata (after a lot of convincing) never really turns jigen down when he offers him a glass

- okay so either these two happen slowly over many, many months (with the backdrop of many, many years behind them) or they happen IMMEDIATELY, no unpacking, no real deep thought from either of them. if they don't have that “ah, fuck it” moment then they've got a lot of silent pining to look forward to (which i rant about [here])

- damn i think thats it. im pretty shit at coming up with really cushy slice of life bits lmao, it always devolves into deranged character analysis

- some day i will comprehend the art of cozycomfy 'this is how they like their toast' stuff......some day

[camels-pen]

consider sanuso bodyswap where Sanji is of course "admiring" Usopp's body and Usopp is trying desperately to keep himself from getting worked up so that he doesn't light himself on fire.

Luffy and Chopper are not helping. They are in fact doing the opposite of helping. They've ramped up their pranks and are doing anything possible to get Usopp angry so that he combusts, freaks out, and then dives into the ocean to put himself out. They think it's hilarious.

Nami and Brook are Also not helping, since they're conspiring with Sanji to put on a fashion show with Usopp's body. Sanji called it "not wasting a precious opportunity to get him in something other than overalls". Usopp called it mutiny and he was gonna- dive into the ocean, holy fuck Sanji why is it so easy to catch fire?!

Best part about this is that Sanji assured him, several times, that his body doesn't get hurt by catching fire. Usopp still jumps into the ocean every time.

Robin pipes up at one point, asking if Sanji was immune to just his own flames or all flames. Sanji just kind of shrugs and said it depends. Franky, having just been leisurely watching all of this gets an idea. Would his Franky Fireball hurt Sanji's body or just give him more fire to work with?

He tries to coax Usopp into agreeing to test it out and, somehow, he manages it. Albeit, Usopp is all knocking knees and chattering teeth, a very odd sight from 'Sanji'. As part of the deal though, he can only shoot a fireball the size of his hand.

Usopp meant his small hand. The one Franky used for tinkering and fine detail work. He did not, however, clarify this.

So, when a fireball the size of Franky's big hand comes out, well. Usopp runs for his goddamn life.

It takes him a few moments- and the voices of his friends sounding distant and below him- to realize he hadn't, in fact, run to the men's quarters, but rather into the fucking sky.

And oooooh, boy he is gonna kill Sanji one of these days. Why was his body's first fucking instinct when running to go up, what the actual HELL-

Usopp lit himself on fire again.

He curses out Sanji as his Sky Walk fails in the same moment and he plummets towards the deck.

[asgardian--angels]

pls stop characterizing viktor as angry and violent i s2g fdsgfgdfh

[jackass-jones]

Shinjiham is cute when it’s romantic but tbh I think i vastly prefer the idea of them being best friends instead. Like, neither of them really saw it coming and weren’t really looking to get another best friend (Shinji has Akihiko, Kotone has Junpei and Yukari respectively) but it happens anyway. Kotone takes a liking to Shinji much faster than she does anyone else and I’d say a big reason is just the fact that he’s so reserved that it allows Kotone to do most of the talking while he just listens and they love this arrangement cuz Kotone doesn’t get to talk about her own interests very much. Though I think some of her needs to talk to Shinji stems from this insecurity that he isn’t happy in the group and she has this people pleasing problem and wants everyone to be happy so she makes a much bigger effort to talk to Shinji. And it’s very unfortunate because Shinji intentionally acts cold and distant because he doesn’t want to form any attachments because he wants to die soon, but aaaaaaaagh dammit this girl just keeps talking to him and being sweet and encouraging him to engage in his interests and share them with the others and he just can’t seem to say no when she’s got those damn puppy eyes. And Kotone is just able to get him out of his shell by being persistent but not in an overwhelming way, she’s very cheerful and supportive of him. And Shinji is able to offer her support by encouraging her to talk about herself and by making sure she’s taking care of herself. They just click really well and make such a positive dent in each other’s lives and it’s all about basic acts of kindness going a long way you know?

[hauntingblue]

ARCANE EPISODE 7!!!!

MY GOD I WASNT READY FOR ANY OF THIS!!! WHAT WAS THAT!!!

Also ekko wallpaper I got with my fries lmao

[pollen]

i've been diving a lot deeper into adhd symptoms and comorbidities and misdiagnoses and whenever i tell my boyfriend something i learned that sounds like me he responds with something like

[unnamed-atlas]

Finally finished sweet tooth s3. Having incredibly mixed feelings

[magiefish]

THEY DID THE METACRISIS AGAIN.

AND THIS TIME HE'S NOT EVEN SAFELY CONTAINED IN HIS OWN UNIVERSE!

AND THEY MADE THE FIRST BLACK DOCTOR PLAY SECOND FIDDLE TO A WHITE ONE AND

OH MY GOD TAKE THAT BOYS TARDIS AWAY FROM HIM GODDAMIT I WANT TO WATCH HIM

DIE

[prismatica-the-strange]

Nope, I'm still crying

[galacticlamps]

actually ascension needs its own post since that's the one with the most details to speculate over and im starved for soho talk so i will talk to myself if need be

First the cover again, because I kinda can't get over it:

my only thing is that I had been hoping we might get Lizbeth on a cover again since she's never been on one of the boxsets before, despite being the 2nd person credited on all 4 of them (even if that's just alphabetical, still, she's the only one of the four main characters who never makes the cover)

But letting that go...

I know we already kinda knew the brief for this one but damn I didn't expect it to go quite this hard. Maybe that's just because the Parasite & Ashenden covers were (comparatively) similarish to each other and I was so pleased with Unbegotten's, and then got so used to it as the placeholder for Ascension while they kept postponing it, I wasn't expecting anything this colorful or detailed or with what I can't help but register as Fun New Outfits even though these are still like, pretty damn basic as far as costumes go. Still, it's a different vibe from everyone in suits and trenchcoats on every cover, technically. (Oh the woes of being an audio fan such that two characters owning sweaters actually does qualify as new information)

On top of just being visually delightful though, I know we knew religion was gonna be a fairly big part of this one, but I didn't actually expect to get quite this much of it - though I'm glad of it for a number of reasons. The BF twitter already made the ineffable joke so I don't have to, but also yeah I did very much spend all of season 2 episode 4 of good omens half convinced Samuel Barnett & Dervla Kirwan were about to pop up around any given corner (if you will go around being gay supernatural and horrible at your messy bureaucratic jobs in midcentury soho then I'm sorry, this is where my brain's gonna go) - so, fuel to that fire. But in terms of actual important things, at least one of my Soho wishes looks to be being granted because we have a Rev Edward Folgate on the cast list, which must mean we're finally meeting Norton's father, even if his mother & brother don't appear (which they could, technically, I've definitely seen BF not list all the doublings on their cast tabs before). Religion, domesticity, and the nuclear family are all things that absolutely fascinate me when it comes to Norton's character, so getting any amount of story involving his father & his church is something I've been actively hoping for for a long time now.

(I will say I'm a tiny bit bummed Saffron Coomber isn't on the cast list to play Mia again, but I kinda figured she wasn't going to be since Greg Austin's Armitage, who's making his first recurring appearance after originating in Unbegotten, was listed ever since the boxset was announced - presumably if she was also returning, that would've been handled in the same way. But since Unbegotten ended with Lizbeth and Mia going on a date, I still held out hope. Who knows though, maybe things did go well for them and Lizbeth just has a better work/life balance than Norton so she can date someone without them getting dragged into every scifi plot. I know that's not a very common accomplishment for any Torchwood agent, but a gal can hope)

At this point I know I'm completely in the realm of speculation & even wishful thinking, but I'm really really hoping we get some more clues as to Norton's overall timeline in this one, and I have a feeling that even if there's nothing as direct as dates given, the events of a plot like this one are going to heavily influence my personal interpretation of it.

To say that life & death are major themes for the soho crew feels wildly reductive, but even by Torchwood's standards and taking into account its origins as a piece of media with Jack Harkness & his newfound immortality at the heart of it, the living/dead status of this bunch has always been fantastically up in the air to me. Obviously Ghost Mission introduced Norton as kind of a ghost before revealing more obvious ghostly characters later on to which the title might have been referring, but his being from the past did beg the question of his survival into Torchwood's present era all the same, which Outbreak later alludes to much more directly, and his habit of showing up via hologram in multiple stories only further obfuscates any certainty we might have about where & when he definitely can be said to be alive and well. Then you've got Lizbeth and Gideon both being effectively 'brought back to life' via paradoxes that prevented them ever having died in the first place. Again, they are very very far from being the only Torcwhood characters this happens to (for a sprawling EU, it's really rather impressive how often & in how many different ways Torchwood as a whole manages to circle back to being about like. chaotic undead queers at the end of every day. though I suppose that consistency is part of why I keep falling in love with its different iterations again and again). That's without even getting into the question of Norton's dubious fate in God Among Us - and I say dubious because I know some people take that to be his ultimate death, but I personally think that reading something as vague as that as having any kind of finality rather goes against the spirit of this whole world/series, not just because I want him to live. (There are obviously other ways to make him survive/reappear, but I don't see this as a River Song scenario where we can safely assume one of his earlier-released adventures had to happen at the end of his personal timeline). But wherever God Among Us falls for him, he does very much meet God in it - or at least, a god, since the sentinel in Unbegotten is also described as a god of sorts, and even if he doesn't ultimately have the status of the god Jacqueline King is playing there, Unbegotten is still full to bursting with ghosts/undead/came back wrong/echo characters to continue underscoring that life/afterlife theme.

So all things considered, even allowing for the fact that we know Norton's twin hobbies are lying about himself and abusing time travel to suit his own ends/ever-shifting alliances, I find it difficult to believe we could get through a whole 6-part boxset about religion & death without something providing some kind of compelling evidence about where this adventure fits in among his other run-ins with apocalypses and gods and ghosts and dead-but-still-here characters/creatures, so I'm very much looking forward to any further exploration on that front.

And lastly, and least intellectually, I really want to know what the hell 20th-century Torchwood's obsession with Reginalds is. Reading through the cast list, I had to do two separate doubletakes over the character 'Sir Reginald Peebles' - firstly, because I had Reginald Rigsby on the brain, this being Soho (and the other Troughton brother being so active on BF's releases for this same month) - and secondly, because reading this in conjunction with the announcement for the July monthly adventure in which the new main Torchwood guy of the 20s is apparently called Sir Reginald Dellafield, there was a brief moment where I took that monthly release to be a tie-in with Ascension. I don't expect it to be, but damn. was it really so popular a name?

anyways, catch me thinking about those stained glass windows for the next couple months I guess (and knowing Torchwood Soho, for a long long time after it comes out as well lol)

[tariah23]

They’re calling my baby Gojo, Joseph Joestar now

[mbat]

i hate so deeply the fact that im so paranoid that any person i enjoy online is secretly a horrible person

like theres been so many youtubers that have been awful people that its left me scared that every single one of them is awful and so im sitting here overanalyzing against my will and reminding myself every 5 minutes not to get too attached

[virtue-boy]

Its kind of insane like genuinely insane how many people on here have no idea what life is like for average people in the third world / global majority and the Neo-colonialism that creates those conditions to support conditions in the North and how insanely cruel they can be as the absolute baseline and the type of killing and death that maintains the boundaries between the north and the south.

Like tell me you've never met an immigrant or refugee without telling me. Do you genuinely not know what happens to people who get deported, or work in the farms or meatpacking factories that feed the North?? The child deaths in the border crossings? The mines all over the globe? The people that die from lack of baseline vaccinations and sanitation and healthcare trademarked by western companies? The literal MILLIONS of third worlders killed in the wars across the globe defending US economic hegemony? The agent orange, the land mines, the carpet bombing, the drones? What the fuck is wrong with you?

[girlivealwaysbean]

i never grew up it's getting so old